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By J. Keeler Johnson ("Keelerman") Twitter: @J_Keelerman

Now that the Kentucky Derby is over, things are starting to calm down a bit in the world of Thoroughbred horse racing, but that doesn't mean this weekend is going to be a quiet one! A quality group of stakes races is on the agenda, led by the $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) at Belmont Park, a major prep for the June 11th Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Let's take a look at the entries!

# Horse Jockey Trainer Last race 1 Supah Czech Jose Lezcano Michael Gorham 1st Maiden Special Weight (VIDEO) 2 Singleton Manuel Franco Nick Zito 4th Maiden Special Weight (VIDEO) 3 Adventist Irad Ortiz, Jr. Leah Gyarmati 3rd Wood Memorial (gr. I) (VIDEO) 4 Decorated Soldier John Velazquez Todd Pletcher 1st Northern Spur Stakes (VIDEO) 5 Governor Malibu Joel Rosario Christophe Clement 2nd Federico Tesio Stakes (VIDEO) 6 Wild About Deb Trevor McCarthy Philip DAmato 1st Maiden Special Weight (VIDEO) 7 Unified Jose Ortiz Jimmy Jerkens 1st Bay Shore Stakes (gr. III) (VIDEO) 8 Lost Iron Junior Alvarado Bill Mott 1st Maiden Special Weight (VIDEO)

One of the best-known horses in the Peter Pan is Adventist, who broke his maiden by 11  lengths in December at Aqueduct before finishing third in the Withers Stakes (gr. III), Gotham Stakes (gr. III), and Wood Memorial (gr. III), beaten by an average of just two lengths in each race. These performances left him just short of qualifying to the Kentucky Derby, and thanks to his solid record in graded stakes company and status as a Derby contender, he should draw a lot of wagering support in the Peter Pan.

But the Peter Pan will mark Adventist's first start away from Aqueduct, and the form of Aqueduct's Kentucky Derby prep races was not flattered when some of Adventist's main rivals from the series-Shagaf, Outwork, and Trojan Nation-finished well back in the Derby. Furthermore, Adventist received pretty ideal trips in both the Wood Memorial and Gotham, settling off the pace in races that featured solid early paces and very slow closing fractions, but he still couldn't seal the deal.

For these reasons, I think Adventist can be beaten, and I think Unified is the most likely to do so. Trained by Jimmy Jerkens, Unified is unbeaten and unchallenged in two starts so far, winning a six-furlong maiden special weight at Gulfstream by three lengths in 1:08.95 seconds before following up with a similarly easy win in the seven-furlong Bay Shore Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct, in which he stopped the clock in 1:22.86.

Watching Unified run, it's easy to get the feeling that you're watching something special, like a future grade I winner in action. Although he's only sprinted so far, his pedigree (by Candy Ride out of the Dixie Union mare Union City) is strong, and I don't think he'll have any trouble with the nine furlongs of the Peter Pan Stakes, especially since the race is held around one turn. Furthermore, as the only true front-runner in the race, he should be able to seize the early advantage and control the pace, although drawing post seven gives him the option of settling off the lead as well. To me, Unified looks like a very talented horse that will be tough to beat in this race.

For the exacta and trifecta, I would strongly consider Decorated Soldier and Wild About Deb. The former broke his maiden by 7  lengths at Tampa Bay Downs on March 12th, then stretched out to a mile and overcame a very wide trip to win the Northern Spur Stakes at Oaklawn by a neck. Trained by Todd Pletcher, who has won the Peter Pan three times, Decorated Soldier has excellent tactical speed and a grinding style that suggests he could do well with more distance. I think he could wind up being a legitimate Belmont Stakes contender, so I wouldn't overlook him this Saturday.

As for Wild About Deb, he finished second to the future stakes winner Uncle Lino in his debut at Del Mar last November, then returned from a four-month layoff to win a nine-furlong maiden special weight at Santa Anita in 1:49.02 seconds. That race was on the same day as the Santa Anita Derby, and Wild About Deb actually recorded a faster final time than Exaggerator did in the feature race, although the track seemed to slow down as the day went on and Wild About Deb received a Beyer speed figure of 90 compared to Exaggerator's 103. Still, Wild About Deb's performance was eye-catching, as he won by six lengths with the talented next-out maiden winner Prince of Arabia finishing third.

Given how well California-based three-year-olds have performed while shipping out of town this year-Nyquist and Exaggerator ran 1-2 in the Kentucky Derby, Cupid and Collected have won graded stakes races, and the maidens Laoban, Trojan Nation, and One More Round placed in graded stakes races-I think it would be wise to give Wild About Deb a very close look in the Peter Pan Stakes. Although I still believe Unified is the most likely winner, Wild About Deb could offer great value for the exacta, and in the event that Unified goes off at a short price, Wild About Deb could be worth a win bet and inclusion in the multi-race wagers as well.

I would also like to briefly mention Governor Malibu, who has crossed the finish line first in three straight races, including the nine-furlong Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park, which he won by a nose before being disqualified to second. He's got a nice record and has faced some good horses, including the two-time stakes winner Awesome Speed, but against a field of this caliber, the bottom of the superfecta might be the best he can achieve.

Now it's your turn! Who do you like in the Peter Pan Stakes?

*****

J. Keeler Johnson (also known as "Keelerman") is a writer, blogger, videographer, handicapper, and all-around horse racing enthusiast. A great fan of racing history, he considers Dr. Fager to be the greatest racehorse ever produced in America, but counts Zenyatta as his all-time favorite. He is the founder of the horse racing website http://www.theturfboard.com/.
Kimberly B. Griest

Kimberly B. Griest, 57, of Gardners, PA passed away Thursday, May 12, 2016 at her home after a courageous battle against a muscle disease. She was born October 8, 1958 in Carlisle Hospital, she was the daughter of Joy A. George Ott of Carlisle and the late Frank Ott.

Kimberly graduated from Big Spring High School and went on to earn her Bachelors Degree at Wilson College in Chambersburg and a Masters Degree from Penn State. She retired from Sprint Inc. after 20 years. Kimberly was a member of the Uriah United Methodist Church. She was a lover of all animals, especially her two dogs, Josie and Heidi.

In addition to her Mother, she is survived by her loving husband of 30 years. Randy E. Griest of Gardners; many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held Monday, May 16, 2016 at 11:00 AM in the Hollinger Funeral Home, 501 N. Baltimore Ave., Mt. Holly Springs, PA 17065 with Rev. Harold Yeager officiating. There will be a visitation one hour prior to the service. Interment will be in the Uriah United Methodist Church, 925 Goodyear Road, Gardners, PA 17324. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Helen O. Krause Animal Foundation, PO Box 311, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055. Visit www.hollingerfuneralhome.com for condolences to the family.
Naloxone, an antidote to heroin and opioid overdoses, is now being carried by all Carlisle police officers, according to Interim Police Chief Lt. Stephen Latshaw.

He mentioned that while some officers have been carrying the antidote for some time, as of Friday, all officers will be equipped with it.

Cumberland Goodwill EMS Assistant Chief Nathan Harig said naloxone is an important tool in the ongoing fight against the growing narcotic epidemic.

It is most beneficial in opioid overdose patients who, because of the drug in their system, no longer have the drive to breath that happens automatically in a normal human, he said. What weve found is that if naloxone is given while an overdose patient still has a pulse, it generally leads to a better outcome including a reversal of the effect of the narcotic. The longer an overdose patient who isnt breathing goes without receiving naloxone or ventilations, the greater chance they will lose a pulse and statistically have a more poor outcome.

In 2015, Cumberland Goodwill EMS administered naloxone approximately 60 times in the Carlisle area with about an 87 percent successful reversal rate, according to Harig.

Weve even started to encounter patients whom we have already reversed at least once in the past year, Harig said. Narcotic overdoses are a significant epidemic for this area in particular. Its impacting people of all backgrounds, races, classes, and income levels, and we welcome every step possible to try and create a healthier community.

Carlisle Mayor Tim Scott believes now that the boroughs police force is fully equipped to join the battle against opioid and prescription medication overdoes.

The magnitude of the addiction and overdose death epidemic in this state is astounding  at least seven Pennsylvanians die every day from a drug overdose, he said. Our police officers risk their lives daily so that others may be protected. CPD, under the leadership of (Interim) Chief Latshaw, is once again demonstrating their extraordinary commitment to our community and willingness to go the extra mile to protect and serve.
Maintenance on the wastewater collection system in Shippensburg Borough is scheduled to begin next week along King Street.

The work will be performed by Utility Services Group from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. May 15-19 and May 22-26.

Borough Manager John Epley said the mechanical cleaning and tele-video work will provide a detailed look at the sewer line. The work, discussed last week by the Shippensburg Borough Council, is part of an inflow and infiltration study that was required by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection following the accidental release and subsequent cleanup of plastic discs into Middle Spring Creek in 2014.

Epley said the work is expected to cause minimal noise and disruption of traffic. Residents may also notice slight bubbling and splashing of water in commodes.

For those two weeks, there is going to be some sound coming from the street, Epley said. The good thing is that even though its going to be making some noise, its a continually moving project so they wont be sitting in one place for very long.

According to Epley, two crews will move north along King Street, from Stewart Place to H & H Chevrolet, at a rate of 2,000 feet per night.

One crew will run the machine that will clean the line, he said. Theyll power wash out the sewer line, moving ahead of the video camera crew ... (which) will be further down the street.

The video crew will put a wheeled device down into the line ... That device is remotely driven by an operator and will document any breaks or cracks in the line.

He said that in order to get a good video of the line and see if there are any cracks, the line has to be cleaned.

The work is being done at this time in anticipation of future PennDOT repaving.

We want to be ahead of PennDOT if repairs (to the line) are needed, he said.

Also at the meeting, the council approved two projects at Branch Creek Place.

The work will include improvements of the building facade and repaving of the parking lot. It will be done at no expense to the borough; Messiah Lifeways, sponsor of Branch Creek Place, applied for two grants to fund the projects.

In addition, the council approved a donation of $2,000 to Shippensburg Emergency Medical Services toward the purchase of a Lucas Automated CPR Device.

The equipment is placed around the chest of a person in cardiac arrest and performs CPR while the patient is transported to the hospital.

Currently, Shippensburg EMS has two Lucas Devices in use. It would like to purchase one or two additional units, but the cost is $15,000 each.

Donations of $2,000 and $5,000 have also been received from Southampton Township Franklin County and Southampton Township Cumberland County respectively.
Mechanicsburg Borough Police reported late Friday evening that Carole Felmlee, who was reported missing earlier in the day, has been located. Police did not release any more details.

Posted earlier on Cumberlink:

Mechanicsburg Borough Police are looking for a missing woman after she failed to attend a family event Thursday evening.

Police said they received a report from the family of Carole Felmlee, 69, on Thursday after she was supposed to show up to a family event. Her cellphone is going unanswered, and police said information points to the possibility that she may be in the area of Brandy Lane in Mechanicsburg.

Police said the last time Felmlee was seen was at 8 a.m. Thursday while eating breakfast. She did not attend a doctor's appointment Friday morning on Linglestown Road in Harrisburg, the family told police.

Felmlee requires oxygen for a health condition and should have an oxygen tank with her, police said. She drives a silver 2002 Honda Civic with Pennsylvania registration GCF7984.

Police ask anyone with information to contact them at 717-691-3300.
After 6 years, Newport skate park closer to becoming a reality

Friends of Newport Skatepark has advocated for the city to offer space for a new public skatepark since 2016. Now a plan is in place.
The Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office has charged five people in an alleged organized crime ring that reportedly sold cocaine out of a local restaurant.

Gilbert Davalos Gonzalez, 44, of Harrisburg; George Velez-Ayala, 31, of Steelton; Sergio Becerra Santiago, 30, of Harrisburg; Carlos Javier Mendoza, 52, of Harrisburg; and Emmanuel Rodriguez Dejesus, 35, of Harrisburg, have all been charged with felony racketeering and conspiracy to commit felony racketeering, as well varying counts of felony drug manufacturing charges after police say they were selling cocaine out of Mendozas restaurant, M&J Pizza Shop.

The six-month investigation, which began with an arrest in State College in September, involved numerous controlled purchases, wiretaps and a search of Velez-Ayalas home, which uncovered about 500 grams of cocaine, according court records.

On Sept. 24, State College Police apprehended a man referred to as T.H. who had been selling cocaine from his apartment, a grand jury finding of facts stated.

T.H. told police he had purchased numerous ounces of cocaine from Mendoza and Gonzalez at Mendozas restaurant, police said.

Over the next six months, T.H. assisted police in conducting multiple controlled purchases of cocaine from the group, sometimes in excess of 50 grams each and costing nearly $2,000, according to the grand jury report.

Several of the purchases were allegedly conducted in an office inside M&J Pizza Shop, which is located in the Cedar Cliff Mall.

Through surveillance and court-approved wiretaps, investigators with the Attorney Generals Office were able to connect all five men to the operation, the grand jury report stated.

During some of the phone conversations, the men used automotive language in an attempt to conceal their illicit behavior, court records showed.

In one conversation, the cocaine was referred to as an engine and referred to lower quality cocaine as the little engine, according to the grand jury.

Santiago and Gonzalez were denied bail and are currently in Cumberland County Prison.

Mendoza is in Cumberland County Prison in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Dejesus was released on $75,000 unsecured bail, and Velez-Ayala was released from prison after posting $100,000 bail, according to court records.

All five men are schedule to appear in court for preliminary hearings on May 25.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
HARRISBURG  It bordered on pleading. Two Midstate lawmakers making another pitch to Gov. Tom Wolf.

Governor, please sign this bill, Rep. Stephen Bloom, R-Carlisle, said at a Thursday morning Capitol news conference. Let our kids keep their best teachers.

Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, joined the chorus.

As leaders we cannot  and the governor should not  endorse a system that promotes failing teachers over distinguished educators, he said.

The push is for House Bill 805, which would end Pennsylvanias seniority-based policy when it comes to teacher layoffs. Currently, longevity is prioritized over performance. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association supports HB 805. PSBA President Kathy Swope recalled that in 2012, Pittsburgh laid off 16 teachers who had the highest performance rating.

Those who lose under this backward-thinking employment practice are Pennsylvanias children, Swope said.

Supporters call it the Protecting Excellent Teachers Act and it relies heavily on teacher evaluations. In the event of furloughs or layoffs, educators in the needs improvement or failing category would be laid off ahead of teachers rated proficient or distinguished.

The school districts already have the tools to remove ineffective teachers, argues Wythe Keever, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association. All it takes in Pennsylvania is two unsatisfactory evaluations and a tenured teacher can be dismissed, and it does happen.

The teachers union hates HB 805. Keever says it sends a terrible message to current and future teachers:

It says one day in a few years after your salary goes up, you could be targeted, Keever said.

But Bloom insists that under his bill, all teachers rated distinguished, regardless of salary or seniority, would be untouchable during layoffs.

The governor is also opposed and questions the legislatures priorities.

We should not be focused on how to conduct mass layoffs, Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan said. We should be focused on how to invest in education and to ensure that money is going into the classroom.

Wolf also dislikes the current teacher evaluation system, saying its too reliant on test scores.

The governor threatened to veto HB 850 when it passed the House and Senate earlier this week. That prompted Bloom and Aument to put on the full-court press with a news conference and a handwritten letter urging Wolf to reconsider.

So, will he?

Sheridan didnt hesitate when asked about the governors intentions Thursday afternoon.

He plans to veto this bill, Sheridan said.
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.

Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today

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.
International research led by the University of Adelaide has for the first time shown a direct link between continued marijuana use during pregnancy and pre-term birth.

The study evaluated data from more than 5500 pregnant women from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom who took part in the SCOPE (SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints) study. Of those women, 5.6% reported using marijuana before or during pregnancy.

A research team led by the University of Adelaide's Robinson Research Institute considered a range of risk factors - such as cigarette smoking, age, obesity and socio-economic status - and their links to serious pregnancy complications.

The results, published online ahead of print in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, show that once all other major risk factors have been accounted for, continued marijuana use through to 20 weeks' gestation is independently associated with a five-fold increase in the risk of pre-term birth.

"Our results suggest that more than 6% of pre-term births could have been prevented if women did not use marijuana during pregnancy, irrespective of other risk factors," says lead author Professor Claire Roberts from the University's Robinson Research Institute.

"In the Australian participating center, which has a higher proportion of pregnant marijuana users, almost 12% of pre-term births could have been prevented.

"This is the first time that continued marijuana use in pregnancy has been independently linked to pre-term birth. Based on our findings, we consider marijuana to be a major public health concern for pregnant women and their babies."

The study found that:

 Among the 236 pre-term births recorded in the group, women who continued to use marijuana at 20 weeks' gestation had a significantly shorter gestation (just less than 30 weeks on average) compared with those who did not use marijuana (more than 34 weeks on average);

 The proportion of very early pre-term birth was also higher, with 36% of marijuana users having delivered at less than 28 weeks' gestation and 64% at less than 32 weeks, compared with non-users: 5% at 28 weeks' gestation and 16% at 32 weeks;

 The Australian participating center had the highest rate of women using marijuana before or during pregnancy (12%), followed by New Zealand (5%), Ireland (4%) and the United Kingdom (4%).

Professor Roberts says these results have implications for pregnant women the world over.

"In the United States, 23 states have now legalized marijuana in some form, either for medicinal or recreational use. Canada's government has also promised to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use. Such widespread legalization of marijuana raises concerns about its safety for pregnant women.

"Anecdotally, we know that some women are using marijuana to reduce nausea in pregnancy, even though there is no medical evidence to support this. Our study was unable to determine whether there is a 'safe' time prior to 20 weeks' gestation to give up marijuana. Therefore, we recommend total abstinence from marijuana during pregnancy," she says.

Source: University of Adelaide
Maternal stress and depression during pregnancy may activate certain protective mechanisms in babies. Psychologists from the University of Basel together with international colleagues report that certain epigenetic adaptations in newborns suggest this conclusion. Their results have been published in the journal "Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience".

In their study, the researchers observed that increased concentrations of maternal stress hormones, depressive symptoms and general adversities during pregnancy were accompanied by epigenetic changes in the child. As a result of these changes the oxytocin receptor gene, which is important for social behavior and stress adaptations, is activated more easily. This mechanism could indicate that in these cases, the babies adapt to develop more resilience to cope with future challenges and adversities.

Switch reprogrammed

Whether a gene can be activated or not also depends on methyl groups that attach to the DNA and function as a switch. The researchers found that children from mothers with increased stress and depressive symptoms show a reduced methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene at birth. This results in the gene becoming more easily activated, which leads to a facilitated production of oxytocin receptors for oxytocin to react with and unfold its effects. Oxytocin not only has an important function in mother-child bonding and in induction of labor and lactation, it also influences social behavior.

For their study, the team of Prof. Gunther Meinlschmidt from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel examined 100 mothers and their babies during and after pregnancy. They collected umbilical cord blood from 39 newborns and assessed the stress hormone cortisol in saliva samples of the mothers. In addition, the researchers evaluated stressful life events and mental health of the mothers via questionnaires. Since the data were only analyzed up to the newborn phase, no conclusions were drawn with regard to the long-term consequences that the epigenetic programming of oxytocin receptors might have for the children.

"Resilience research only at the beginning"

Researchers from the University of Basel, Ruhr University Bochum, Exeter University, McGill University Montreal, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Trier, Zurich University of Applied Sciences and the Stress Center Trier were involved in this study funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Previous studies have shown, that adversities during pregnancy can increase the risk for mental disorders and physical diseases in the mother's offspring. However, science has so far dedicated much less attention to potential protective mechanisms of the child.

"Resilience research in this area is only at the beginning," explains Meinlschmidt. The observations made provide first evidence that an adverse environment during pregnancy could also activate protective mechanisms. "We need a comprehensive understanding of the psychological processes that allow humans to sustain long-term health even over generations despite adversities," says Meinlschmidt. Based on this knowledge, resilience processes could be promoted in order to try preventing the development of mental disorders and physical illnesses.
Gastroenterologists on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas are evaluating a new procedure for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) leaks and perforations, a complication that can result from laparoscopic surgery on the esophagus, stomach and small intestinesand outcomes have been promising.

Steven G. Leeds, MD, medical director of minimally invasive surgery research and a gastroenterologist on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center, describes the procedurereferred to as endoluminal vacuum (E-Vac) therapyas "source control" for leaks that spring up in the gastrointestinal tract, which can cause life-threatening infections. During the procedure, a surgical sponge is adhered to the hole in the GI tract and covered with a cellophane membrane. Negative pressure is then applied to generate inflammation between the sponge and the tissue; the inflammation expedites healing.

Dr. Leeds' latest paper on the subject, Endoluminal Vacuum Therapy for Esophageal and Upper Intestinal Anastomotic Leaks, was published online by the journal JAMA. Co-authors are James S. Burdick, MD, and James W. Fleshman, MD., also on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center and investigators with Baylor Scott & White Research Institute.

Repurposing E-Vac Therapy for GI Needs

This procedure isn't newat least not in general surgery. Surgeons have used the method to promote healing for decades. It wasn't until 2008 that researchers in Germany used this method for GI wounds. Then, in 2013, surgeons at Baylor tried the procedure on a patient who had exhausted all other options for treating an esophageal leak.

By using the tried-and-true method for treating surgical wounds inside the body, researchers were able to effectively patch the hole, stop the leakage and heal patients who were otherwise too sick for surgery.

"It actually works really well," Dr. Leeds said. "It's probably changed the face of how surgeons take care of wounds." He added, "We have been able to rescue patients from hospice, accept patients from other hospitals who have had major surgical complications and use this technique in ways it's never been described before. In all these situations, the patients have had good outcomes and restored their ability to eat when they hadn't been able to in the past."

A Novel Approach with Remarkable Results

Since 2013, Dr. Leeds and fellow gastroenterologists on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center have performed this procedure on 46 patients, published a paper in Surgical Endoscopy (with one more pending) and presented the E-Vac method at three conferences. Most recently, Dr. Leeds discussed successes with this procedure at the North Texas Chapter - American College of Surgeons 2016 Annual Meeting.

In the paper printed in Surgical Endoscopy in August 2015, Dr. Leeds reported the effects of E-Vac therapy in patients with upper intestinal leaks. Ultimately, he and his team treated a total of six patients using this method, and all six patients were completely healed in an average of 36 days. For a surgical complication that can result in death, a success rate this high shows promise, Dr. Leeds said.

"The outcomes have been remarkable," he said. "It's very exciting. This is truly a novel approach to healing GI perforations and leaks from surgery."

Currently, gastroenterologists on the medical staff at Baylor Scott & White are creating a registry of patients who have been treated with E-Vac therapy and hope to use this data to know more about the effects and uses of this procedure. Doctors also hope to develop an algorithm to treat more complicated leaks and introduce the method to other areas of surgery, such as transplant, thoracic and trauma.
Texas is about to play host to the first ever delegation of innovative medical technology companies from the United Kingdom.

It is recognised that the UK has a world-leading reputation in life sciences. Its 18bn ($26.3) medical technology sector employs over 88,000 people and has changed millions of lives across the globe.

This month, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FOC), its trade investment body (UKTI) and the UKs medical technology industry body, the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), are bringing a select delegation of medical technology pioneers to Austin, San Antonio and Houston. This is the first trip of an 18-month programme.

After eight months of planning with medical centres, university hospitals and the United States Armed Forces, the British visitors will meet with Texan hospitals and life sciences organisations. The objective is to foster new relationships to develop and adopt cutting-edge medical technologies in the state.

For Texan-based companies, its an important opportunity to learn about and engage with the UKs health system and understand how the market works.

Peter Ellingworth, ABHIs Chief Executive Officer, says:

We are very excited to be strengthening relationships for the medical technology sector between the UK and this great state. I know there is a huge amount we can learn from one another. We are honoured to be hosted by the state of Texas, as it works to become a world leader in health and life sciences.

The delegations members come from companies whose products and services are truly life changing:

Paxman make a scalp cooler that stops patients from losing their hair during chemotherapy. Pulse Flow Technologies make wearable technology for the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. Snap40 make wearable tech that allows patients to stay at home and yet be monitored for vital signs and risk.

Source: http://www.abhi.org.uk/
Dennis Sheppard wondered about the timing of his draft notice.

I lived in Lancaster and had a good job with ALCOA I wanted to make sure I could keep, so I called up and asked the Selective Service board where I was in the draft. They said dont worry about it. Two months later I got the draft notice, he laughs. Maybe I shouldnt have made the phone call.

I went to New Cumberland for in-processing. A sailor came in and said We need volunteers. A bunch of people raise their hands and got picked for the Navy. Air Force came in, same thing. A Marine came in, stocky guy, and in a grunty voice says, I need three Marines. Nobody raised their hand. I was up front line and he said You three. I stepped forward and he says, Not you, you skinny runt, the guy next to you. So thats how I ended up in the Army.

Sheppard left for Vietnam on Christmas 1969, landing at Tan Son Nhat airbase in Vietnam. He recalls being warm in his winter uniform and smelling something like sewage. He also took note of the first men he saw.

... There was the walkway where short brick wall separated us from the people going home. I looked at those guys and smiled and nodded and said How you doing? But they didnt even recognize me. They didnt smile, didnt nod, werent talking among each other. They just stared like zombies. These kids were 18, 19, but they looked 40, 50 and 60 to me. I didnt understand that until later.

After in-processing, they gave us paper and an envelope and said Write a letter as if you were dead, and put the name of the person you want it sent to on this envelope. You write the letter and youre supposed to keep it with you, so if something happens theyll send it. Id been married for a couple of weeks. What do you say? Dear loved one, if you get this letter Im dead it was nice knowing you? Years later my wife threw it away, she didnt want to open it.

I spent two weeks in Long Binh picking up cigarette butts, K.P., etc. And they had us help fill body bags. I walked into the warehouse and saw 200, 300, 400 bodies lying there on the ground. That was eye opening. You realized that now youre in a war. And they wanted that impact to make you realize that this isnt a game, this isnt training.

Duties

Sheppard worked as a pay clerk for six units, taking care of Special Forces teams, aviation units and transportation units. He spent time mostly in the office unless he was on guard duty, on a convoy or into the field to handle pay issues from Special Forces who couldnt come back to base.

Out there if the enemy is planning to attack, they arent going to say The finance clerk is coming out today, so we might as well stay home, he said. If youre out there youre going to face the music like everyone else. Same with convoys. A cook riding shotgun for some transportation unit when they get ambushed is facing combat. Hes a cook. Hes not going to get recognized for that little bit of sacrifice he made because no one cares except him. Those are some of the things I experienced.

Im not an Infantryman, I dont talk about battles. Thats in the history books. I talk about what happens when they come back. In the base camp they dont have to worry about ambushes anymore, they dont have to worry about firefights. Wed still get mortared and attacked sometimes, but it wasnt the same as being out there.

What do soldiers do in the rear? Some drink. Some used drugs. Some visited prostitutes. Others played games and gambled. The down time causes problems. Sheppard said it was dangerous with 20-year-olds who carried weapons and got into fights. Handling them was different than a fistfight back home.

I had trouble once on guard duty. Thered be four people on guard: two stay awake, two sleep in shifts. I got stuck with three guys that used drugs, and they fell asleep. I couldnt wake them up. I had to stay up or all four of us would end up court martialed.

Three a.m. and Im fighting to stay awake, staring at a dark jungle, seeing things and trying to decipher whats real and whats a hallucination. Suddenly I saw two eyes staring at me. I thought was I was dead. I started spraying the area with my M16, then everyone opened up. The three guys on drugs woke up and started shooting, but they were behind me and almost shot me.

It was a cobra. It came up in front of me and opened its hood, and I thought the black dots were eyes, so I opened up. I got the snake, but everyone likes to embellish, so they wrote home that we were attacked by NVA.

Tension

I saw a lot of racial tension. Imagine an African-American from Chicago sent to Vietnam. Hes in a unit with guys from the South, and theyre flying the Confederate flag. How do you handle that? Youre 20 years old; youre going to be on edge. Youre going to hear the N Word, no doubt about it. And youre going to see stuff thats anti-you. So how are you going to handle that? Youve got a grenade, youve got a gun, youve got a knife. Are you going to lose it and cause serious trouble? Are you going to try to learn to be diplomatic when youre twenty?

Not everyone handled it that well, some people couldnt handle it and they would frag someone or shoot them. You had 20-year-old guys drinking and they had loaded weapons, so life wasnt easy on the base. That doesnt get in the history books.

Thats why I think some of the guys looked 40 years old when they were heading home, because of the stress. It was 24/7. It wasnt just when you were in the field. You worry about the enemy; you also worry about the people on the base.

Though what he saw on and off base and experienced in ambushes is difficult to live with now, Sheppard said he would do it again.

Im proud of my military service and I would do it again if I had to. I had to fight for my benefits and for recognition for some of the things I did, but I would do it again because I was born with that Apple Pie, Chevrolet, U.S.A. all the way thing. I read books about war heroes, Audie Murphy, so that was in my blood. And it did change me. When I went over, I was a soft-hearted guy. I would try to avoid fights. When I got back, I would go to the roughest section of town because I missed that adrenaline rush. I would look for fights. I still had a kind heart, but I put myself out there when I shouldnt have to get that rush.

I do have physical problems from Agent Orange exposure and PTSD. I have nightmares. I see the face of the guy that killed himself in front of me and the bodies that lay around after a mortar attack. You pay a price as a soldier. You lose something of yourself and you can never get it back.
In a pair of related studies, chemists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified and designed dozens of molecular warheads that not only can detect a key biomarker of cancer, but also could be developed into a potent new class of drug candidates for a range of diseases.

A number of these molecules are already hidden in drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), raising the possibility that these widely used pharmaceuticals could be made even more effective using more potent/selective covalent inhibitors or warheads.

The studies, which were published recently in the journals Chemical Science and Chemical Communication, were led by TSRI Associate Professor Kate Carroll.

Kate Carroll is an associate professor on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI).

The molecules in question are known as nucleophiles (literally, nucleus lovers), which share their electrons with electrophiles (literally, electron lovers) and serve as their atomic dance partners. This sharing of electrons creates an interaction known as a covalent bond, which some consider the fundamental basis of chemical reactivity.

Electrophiles have been available to the scientific community for decades for use as tools to probe levels of cysteine sulfenic acida marker for cancer and other diseasesand to install as warheads or covalent modifiers in drugs that target high levels of sulfenic acid in cells.

The downside of electrophiles is that they compete with high concentrations of off-target nucleophiles in the cell, such as glutathione. In addition, this class of covalent inhibitors indiscriminately targets the protein in healthy and diseased cells. To counteract this effect, our complementary approach would use nucleophile warheads attached to a binding scaffold that would target sulfenic acid on therapeutically important proteins in unhealthy cells under oxidative stress, said Carroll.

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To produce a library of designer nucleophiles with far greater reactivity, Carroll and her colleague, Senior Research Associate Vinayak Gupta, developed a unique screen. So far, some of the nucleophiles they identified possess more than 200 times the current standard for sulfenic acid probes.

We now have about 150 of these warheads in our library, Carroll said.

While the greater interest in the scientific community has been in electrophiles, the TSRI team also examined previously unidentified nucleophilic functional groups, such as those within the Pfizer rheumatoid arthritis drug tofacitinib (XELJANZ).

The nucleophiles we identified in this study represent the first covalent strategy to target sulfenic acid that should be highly enabling for the drug discovery community, Gupta said. Moreover, our findings that tofacitinib reacts robustly with sulfenic acid shows that warheads or other functional groups in these drugs may indeed have new or alternative mechanisms of action.

Vinayak Gupta is a senior research associate at Scripps Florida.

Carroll added:

Tofacitinib may have multiple modes of action that include a nucleophile targeting cysteine sulfenic acid in the active site of JAK kinases. If the nucleophile contributes positively to therapeutic outcome, it might be possible to optimize that chemical property and make the drug more effective.

Carroll says she uncovers more instances of nucleophiles hidden in plain sight every day, suggesting that nucleophiles may, in fact, be unsung central players in these reactions.
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved signing of a pact between markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), Abu Dhabi for mutual co-operation and technical assistance.



The SEBI's pact with its Abu Dhabi counterpart will promote further development of economic links and cooperation between the two signatories and will help create conditions for development of securities markets in the two countries.



It would also contribute towards strengthening the information sharing framework between the two regulators.



The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SEBI and FSRA, Abu Dhabi, for mutual co-operation and technical assistance between the two regulators, an official statement said.



Apart from Abu Dhabi, SEBI has signed bilateral pacts with a number of countries. Besides, it is a signatory to global market regulators' grouping IOSCO's MoU (Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding).



In order to encourage the exchange of information and assistance, Sebi has been signing pacts with the jurisdictions who are yet to become a signatory to the multilateral MoU of International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).












A Bengaluru firm has developed an app to keep women safe especially those who travel at night. Track Me Mobi, launched by the Software Technology Parks of India, is aimed at the 30-40,000 women working in the software sector.



The passenger scans a QR code to access the driver details, which can then be shared with a family member at the start of the trip.



Speaking to CNN-News18, Director of Software Technology Parks of India, Prabir K Das said that the app isn't restricted to women working in the IT sector.



"The solution we wanted had to be very comprehensive and we needed to look for the right person to carry out, which is when we decided to work with Prasenjeet. The app isn't just restricted to the women working in the IT sector, anyone can use it", he said.







Bengaluru police lauded the app and wanted the integration of police into the app's ecosystem.



"While the app has basic features like messaging the family members and the office, the next important modification should involve integrating the police into the system. It is crucial for the law enforcement to reach the victim at the earliest. The response time must be short. Such modifications will definitely improve the app", said DCP East, Boralingaiah.



Developer of the app, Prasenjeet Pati of Afixi Techonologies said that his application also works in the absence of an internet connection.



"Our app informs family members right at the start of the trip of the persons whereabouts and continues to confirm throughout the trip if the passenger is fine or not. The unique pin system ensures that the driver cannot tamper with the app. If no information reaches the family members periodically, the app assumes the person is in distress and immediately alerts people in a 3 step process", he said.



Track Me Mobi also works in the absence of an internet connection, sending automatic text messages. It also offers a fare calculation based on estimated distance and constant tracking of the route.
New Delhi: Indian Navy on Friday categorically denied reports that inferior quality steel was used by Italian company Fincantieri in the construction of a naval tanker.



"All things were followed diligently and all approvals taken. No inferior material was used in the construction of INS Deepak. Everything is of top quality," Navy PRO Captain DK Sharma told reporters.



He also rejected reports which said an inquiry was ordered and that files related to the tankers were being reopened.



The allegations were that inferior quality of steel was used by the Italian firm Fincantieri - a Finmeccanica subsidiary like AgustaWestland - which caused an incident on board the tanker in 2010.



"MoD has not opened any inquiry into navy tankers with so called sub standard steel," PTI quoted unnamed defence ministry sources as saying.



However, the deal had come under criticism of the CAG in 2010.



A source in the Navy said a few minor cracks were observed on the superstructure when the ship was coming back from Russia with aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.



"The cracks probably occurred due to a combination of factors like sub-zero temp in the region, heavy sea, stormy conditions among others. The repairs were carried out in Lisbon by original equipment manufacturer and the ship was made ready in a few hours.



"Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause was conducted and there was no material failure found. The ship is fully operational since and has been deployed extensively," the source said adding the ship is now deployed in the Persian Gulf.



(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: The parents of TV star Pratyusha Banerjee, who was found dead at her residence in Mumbai on April 1, on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted by the Bombay High Court to actor-producer and Rahul Raj Singh accused of abetting her suicide.



In their petition filed before the apex court, her parents alleged that the High Court had granted the relief to Singh and he can tamper with the evidence. They have sought custodial interrogation of Singh contending that there were several deep injury marks on the body of the deceased.



The High Court had on April 25 granted anticipatory bail to Rahul who has denied the allegations levelled against him.



The police had earlier filed a report before the High Court in which it had alleged that Rahul, who was staying with Pratyusha at a flat in Goregaon in Mumbai, used to assault her and borrow money from her.



The 'Balika Badhu' fame actress was found hanging at her residence in Goregaon and was rushed by Rahul to a hospital in Andheri where she was declared dead.


The BJP hit out at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, which it dubbed "maha jungle raj".

Law and order situation in Bihar has turned so bad that people are migrating out. It is not 'jungle raj' but 'maha jungle raj', Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Senior journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, bureau chief of Hindi daily 'Hindustan', was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Siwan on Friday.Ranjan, 42, was fired at when he was travelling on his motorcycle near the fruit market on Station Road at around 7:45 pm, Superintendent of Police Saurabh Kumar said.The bullets hit Ranjan on the head and neck, and he died on the way to hospital.Police said the motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained. Ranjan had persistently written against law-breakers of the area.Reports said the assailants were on two bikes and were waiting for Ranjan while he was on his way back home.Attacking Nitish Kumar, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said while the chief minister was visiting Varanasi, the people of the state were migrating out as criminals were "ruling the roost."
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Kerala Police to set up an SIT to probe into allegations of wife-swapping lodged by the estranged wife of a naval officer.



The apex court, which ruled out CBI investigation into the FIR alleging that besides the husband of the woman, four other Navy officers and a spouse of one of them were indulged in wife-swapping in the force, directed the Kerala DGP to set up the SIT headed by a police officer not below the rank of a DIG and conclude the probe in the 2013 FIR "preferably" within three months.



A bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and justices R Banumathi and UU Lalit, while rejecting the plea for CBI probe, said, "It is well settled that the extraordinary power of the constitutional courts in directing CBI to conduct investigation in a case must be exercised rarely in exceptional circumstances, especially, when there is lack of confidence in the investigating agency or in the national interest and for doing complete justice in the matter."



Justice Banumathi, penning the verdict, said, "Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in hand, in the light of principles, we are of the view that the case in hand does not entail a direction for transferring the investigation from the state police/special team of state police officers to CBI. The facts and circumstances in which the offence is alleged to have been committed can be better investigated into by state police."



It also rejected the submission of the estranged wife of the navy officer that the cases, filed by accused including other naval officers in the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the FIR, be transferred to the Delhi High Court.



The apex court also said that it transfers a case from one state to another only if there is a "reasonable apprehension on the part of a party to a case that justice will not be done".



"Mere apprehension that the accused are influential may not be sufficient to transfer the case. Since a special team of state police officers is constituted for further investigation, we are not inclined to order the transfer of the criminal miscellaneous petitions from the High Court of Kerala to the High Court of Delhi," it said.


New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday asked JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar to immediately bring to an end the indefinite hunger strike by students and said it would hear their writ petitions challenging the university's disciplinary action only if they end the agitation.



The court also sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the University to function properly and there will be no agitation.



Justice Manmohan said, "You (Kanhaiya) can 'articulate' to the students sitting on hunger strike from past 16 days to end the agitation, allowing the university to 'function properly'.



"They (JNU students) will have to end their agitations/ strike. You will have to withdraw the strike immediately. No one should be on hunger strike." It further asked senior advocate Rebecca John, who was representing Kanhaiya, to ask him to speak to the students to end their strike.



"You (Kanhaiya) are a ranger and if you speak to the students, they will abide by you and will end their strike. You withdraw this agitation as you can do it," the court said, adding, "if you abide by our directions only then I will hear the petitions before me."



"Have faith in judiciary. You will have to give an undertaking that you are going to end the strike and allow the college to function properly. You have to ensure that there is no agitation," the judge observed.



The court further asked Kanhaiya's counsel to pursue with them to end their strike. The counsel present in court on behalf of JNUSU president and others said they will cordinate with the students and will get back to the court.



The court has adjourned the matter till further communication is received from the students' leader. The court gave the directions during hearing of pleas by Kanhaiya and others challenging the university's disciplinary action.



Apart from Kanhaiya, Ashwati A Nair, Aishwariya Adhikari, Komal Mohite, Chintu Kumari, Anwesha Chakraborty and two others had challenged the order of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against them.



Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya moved the court earlier this week against their rustication. Umar had also been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000, while Anirban had been barred from JNU campus for five years from July 23.
A new UK study has found that children who start to walk, run, and jump earlier are more likely to have stronger bones later in life.



Carried out by a team of researchers from from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Bristol, the study looked at data from 2,327 participants which assessed their movement at 18 months of age, and then the size, shape and mineral density of their hip and shin bone at 17 years of age.



The results showed that there was an association between movements such as walking, running and jumping at 18 months old and stronger bones as a teenager.



The researchers also found that this association was even stronger in males than in females, suggesting that early movement does not play such a key role in female bone development.



Both findings also support earlier studies by the researchers which have already shown that physical activity and exercise have a greater effect on bone development in males than in females, and that babies who start to walk earlier could have up to 40 percent higher bone mass in their shinbone compared babies who are still crawling at the age of 15 months.



The team believe that the increased bone strength in later life could be caused by the stress that toddlers place on their bones in early life by moving around. The bones react to this stress by becoming wider and thicker, therefore making them stronger.



Another theory put forward by the team is that toddlers who move around a lot in early life are also naturally more physically active in later life.



The results could now be used to help identify individuals at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis and bone fractures in later life, with lead researcher Dr Alex Ireland commenting, "Importantly, the results could have implications for later life by helping medical practitioners to anticipate and detect those who are at a greater risk of osteoporosis or fractures, thus helping them to devise prevention and coping strategies.For example, attainment of these movement skills at an early age can be easily improved even by simple parent-led walking practice at home."
In the run up to the Assembly polls, Tamil Nadu has set a record of its own. Election Commission-appointed surveillance teams have seized over Rs 90 crore in cash in Tamil Nadu.



However, the EC, in a latest data said, out of the total Rs 94.88 crore seized in Tamil Nadu, Rs 45.65 crore was released after verification, as it was "not linked" to any political party or candidate at the hustings.



A total of Rs 22.87 crore has been seized in Kerala, out of which Rs 1.43 crore has been released while in poll-bound Puducherry, out of the total seizure of Rs 4.08 crore, Rs 4.3 crore has been released.



Similar seizures in West Bengal and Assam, where polls have ended, stand at Rs 20.75 crore (Rs 4.67 crore released) and Rs 12.33 crore (Rs 5.42 crore released) respectively.







Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry will go to polls in a single phase on May 16.



Keeping in view the abuse of money power in Tamil Nadu, the EC had issued some special instructions to be followed by observers and members of the surveillance teams deployed in the state.



The Commission had sought "stepped-up vigil" across Tamil Nadu to detect and intercept cash and other inducements being used to lure voters and ensure that a level-playing field is maintained.



The counting of votes in all the five states is slated for May 19.



The Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 4 after the Commission had announced the schedule for the Assembly polls.


Washington: Four influential American lawmakers have introduced an amendment bill which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US defence ties on par with that of US' other NATO allies. The move comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit to the US in June.



Moved by Congressmen George Holding, Ed Royce, Eliot Engel and Indian-American Ami Bera, the amendment submitted to the House Committee on Rules on Wednesday institutionalises the US government's focus on US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to New Delhi that Washington is a reliable and dependable defence partner.



Aimed at bolstering defence ties between the US and India, the legislation would amend the National Defence Authorisation Act, which is considered a must-pass bill.



The amendment has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, as demonstrated by the fact that the House India Caucus Chairs (Congressmen Holding and Bera) sponsored it along with the Chair and Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee (Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, respectively).



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, maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, enhance India's military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co- production/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.



"Strengthening the strategic partnership between the US and India is critical to address the shared security challenges our two nations face," Holding said.



"As the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy, the US and India share common values and a growing partnership on many fronts, especially on defence cooperation. India plays a critical role as a strategic partner to the US and as a pillar of stability in South Asia," Bera said.



The move was welcomed by the US-India Business Council. "The legislation that was originally introduced by Congressman Holding is moving through the legislative process. Now that we have bipartisan support from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House India Caucus, we believe this amendment has a good chance of making its way into the House's version of the defence authorisation bill," said US-India Business Council President Mukesh Aghi.



Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn, the Senate India Caucus Chairs, introduced a similar bill earlier this week in the Senate.



Modi is expected to visit the US for a bilateral summit with President Barack Obama in June. He may address the joint session of Congress during his visit.
Islamabad: The Indian lobby has been making "untiring efforts" to reverse the US decision and block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has told the Senate.



Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion moved by Mohsin Khan Leghari and others over the withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16s fighter jets to Pakistan by the US, Aziz said the government is pursuing the issue of sale of F-16s with the country at different levels and forums.



"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself," Aziz was quoted as saying by an official statement.



"The move was however defeated proving the strong merit of our arguments, and the effectiveness of our outreach to the US at various levels, particularly to the US Congressional leaders," he said.



Congress opposed funding of these eight aircraft through foreign military funding of the United States, he pointed out.



Aziz said Pakistan Defence Minister has written a letter to his American counterpart highlighting the importance of F-16s in the war against terror. He said Defence Consultative Group of the two countries would meet at the end of next month where this issue would also be substantially discussed.



The Advisor said that Pakistan-US relationship was on positive trajectory during the last three years with significant progress in the realms of political, economic and defence ties.
Kang the Conqueror - the powers and origin of the next big MCU villain

Here's everything you need to know about Kang the Conqueror, the next big MCU villain
Is this your candidate?

Everybodys gotta be covered... Universal health care. The governments going to pay for it.

... single payer, it works in Canada; it works in Scotland.

I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun.

I am very pro-choice. When asked about banning partial birth abortions, the answer was unequivocally, No.

On who would make the best deal with Iran: Hillary has always surrounded herself with the very best people. I think Hillary would do a good job.

On Nancy Pelosi: Im very impressed by her. I think shes a very impressive person. I like her a lot. She was really gonna look to impeach Bush and get him out of office, which, personally, I thought would have been a wonderful thing.

The economy does better under the Democrats than it does under the Republicans.

The candidate supported the failed stimulus, auto bailouts and bank bailouts, saying it was what we need and praising Obamas failed schemes of building infrastructure, building great projects, putting people to work in that sense.

The candidate declared, ...the government should stand behind (the auto companies) 100 percent because they make wonderful products.

Something that has to get done., was how the candidate referred to the bank bailouts, noting the government can take over companies, and, frankly, take big chunks of companies.In 2009, the candidate shared these views on President Obamas stimulus plan with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News: I thought he did a terrific job. This is a strong guy; knows what he wants, and this is what we need. First of all, I thought he did a great job tonight. I thought he was strong and smart, and it looks like we have somebody that knows what he is doing finally in office, and he did inherit a tremendous problem. He really stepped into a mess, Greta.

Think it sounds like Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton?

These are the words of the presumed Republican nominee Donald Trump.

It takes a lot of faith to believe he has dramatically changed his views, especially when it comes to executive actions, something constitutional conservatives rail against.

I wont refuse it. Im going to do a lot of things, Trump said when asked if he would use executive orders in an interview on Meet the Press.

I mean, (Obama)s led the way, to be honest with you.

Of course, Trump claims with no uncertainty that HIS executive orders will be for the right things. How do we know? Because Obamas executive orders are for the wrong things?

Who decides what the right things and wrong things are? The President?

No. It is the people through their elected representatives.But Im going to use them much better and theyre going to serve a much better purpose than hes done, Trump said.

Who says? You? Certainly not the framers of the Constitution.

When Obamas executive orders are added to his presidential memoranda, which have as much authority as executive orders, Obama has, indeed, issued more presidential actions than any other U.S. president in history.

As Trump is so impressed with Obamas leadership, expect even more government by executive fiat by Trump.

Not that Hillary would be any better.

No, its easy to predict Hillary would expand on all of the worst of these practices to the detriment of the country.

This is why Republicans believe they need a much better candidate.

Or do they?

Trump is responsible for increased Republican Party registrations around the country. There is no other compelling reason for people to sign up.

On March 15, more Republicans voted in all 5 states than in 2012. North Carolina GOP primary turnout was 16 percent higher. Ohio posted 68 percent more voters.

Democrats, meanwhile, saw their turnout drop in all five states. In Ohio, 50 percent of the 2012 Democratic primary voters stayed home.

Republicans have momentum, while democrats must frighten people to vote against Trump, not for Hillary.

Should Trump win, his cabinet needs to make this the best government possible.

Should Hillary win, we will experience the Chinese curse of living in interesting times.

Rick Jensen is Delawares award-winning conservative talk show host on WDEL. Email him at rick@wdel.com.
THE LIVING DEAD

About $25 million in payments have been gobbled up annually under the Food Card programme by persons long deceased or who have migrated, Minister of Social Development Cherrie-Ann Crichlow-Cockburn disclosed yesterday.

Persons would have been using food cards that would have been granted to recipients who would have either migrated or would have died or they would have just passed them on to friends and family, the Minister said, as she briefed the nation on a temporary suspension of thousands of cards. She did so at the weekly post Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.

The abuse of the card appeared to have been unearthed during a process of implementation of a biometric system, started in 2014, which was meant to tighten wastage. Crichlow- Cockburn said about 46,296 were in receipt of Food Cards after a period of enrollment between July 2014 to July 2015. But of these, only 33,681 came forward for a review, in relation to the biometric system. Of these, only 29,681 were found to be still eligible for receipt and use of a food card.

What that would have meant is that by removing those 4,000 persons it would have saved the Government leakage to the tune of $25 million annually, she said.

That leakage could not continue so a decision was taken to remove them. Further, about 13,000 persons  accounting for $78 million in payments annually  did not respond at all after phone calls, visits and notification in the media.

Their cards have been placed on hold. However, they still have a chance to enroll in the next three months.

The Minister said her ministry manages 175,000 grant recipients.

She may soon have more. Minister of Finance Colm Imbert and Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds yesterday disclosed details of what they described as a bizarre and very strange social programme which saw salaries paid through the Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) used to benefit, ostensibly, the parents of children with cerebral palsy.

Imbert said an ongoing audit had found that about 300 persons were hired as area managers and were paid salaries fortnightly, because they were parents of children with cerebral palsy.

This took place under the programme known as URP - Social. The Finance Minister said the programme should have been a grant and said it would be handed over to the Ministry of Social Development for review on a, case by case basis.

(See Page 11A) There is a big difference between a salary and a grant, Imbert said. It cannot be right to identify someone as an area foreman. It was obviously wrong when the intention was to give them a grant. It should have been done another way, not hidden or covered under the URP payroll. The information looks very odd. Hinds said about $3.1 million per year would have been paid out since August 2011.

We had no way of knowing whether the person claiming this salary in the Ministry of Works and Transport was in fact the parent of a child who suffered with this condition, Hinds said. He too said an audit will be done.
Duke goes to the police

It was shortly after 2 pm when a sombre Duke, clad in a black business suit, emerged from a black BMW on St Vincent Street in the heart of the city and briskly walked to the PoS Criminal Investigation Division (CID) where he and his attorney John Heath, were met by lead investigator Assistant Superintendent Ajit Persad and Woman Police Sergeant Narine .

This was some three hours after a party of officers had gone to the PSA headquarters on Abercromby Street. However, the trade union leader was not there. They were subsequently contacted by Senior Counsel Gilbert Peterson who advised them that Duke was in his company and would be making himself available to the police at about 2 pm .

When they arrived at the Central Police Station yesterday, Duke and his attorney were escorted to a room in the CID where the trade union leader was officially informed that he was the subject of an investigation involving an alleged rape. His lawyer was then spoken to and Duke was allowed to sit in a chair inside the CID, where he continued to be detained .

I WILL DEFEND MYSELF About an hour after that detention a statement on a PSA letterhead quoted Duke as saying, I note the allegations that have been made against me that were circulated extensively in some of the print, electronic and social media .

These allegations are absolutely untrue and I intend to defend myself vigorously. Not detailing what the allegations against him were, Duke said in the official statement, I have communicated my intention to my family, my lawyers and to the appropriate authorities to cooperate fully with a proper police investigation in the matter. I therefore reserve more extensive comments on the situation to a more appropriate time. I remain committed to delivering on the mandate given by my membership to improve the lives of public servants around the country and to carry out my duties as committed without bias .

I will defend my reputation as necessary and appropriate and would like to thank those who have reached out to help on this matter .

I ask everyone to allow time for the truth about these allegations to emerge and request all other parties to allow due process on this matter. Newsday understands that the police have the option of keeping Duke in custody for 48 hours without being charged with an offence. However, it is understood that officers are liaising with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in what has become a high-profile matter .

WOMAN MAKES ALLEGATIONS Dukes detention followed reports to the police by a 33-yearold female research assistant employed by the PSA of a rape on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency on the Port-of-Spain waterfront. According to the police reports, the woman was taken to a room where she expected she would be attending a meeting. However, she was attacked and sexually assaulted .

The woman then went to the Cunupia Police Station at 6 pm the same day and reported to officers that she had been raped, naming her alleged attacker. The woman was referred to the Central Police Station at about 9 oclock that evening where she made a further report. She was medically examined by a District Medical Officer and returned to her central home .

The alleged victim has not been to work since the incident. Newsday understands that the team of investigators probing this alleged rape have to carry out intense investigations before a file could be submitted to the DPP for directions .

Newsday further understands that some of the executive members of the PSA are standing firmly behind Duke and are planning to show their support by gathering around the PoS CID today .
State considers increasing speed limit to 100kph

This matter is receiving active consideration, Hinds said at the Cabinet media briefing held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair. It requires data collection and analysis. He said the speed limit could not be changed on a whim on the basis of noise or emotion.

Hinds also said no party had approached him in relation to the issue. He said 100 kph would apply to certain specific areas.

We are looking at that and I will keep the nation posted, the Works Minister said. He congratulated drivers on obeying the current limit. When asked about persons who slip over the limit, the Minister, who is an attorney, made his position clear.

You ought to pay close attention to the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, he said.

Hinds said Cabinet had also considered measures such as clearing of rivers and dredging in relation to the rainy season.

Acting Prime Minister Colm Imbert said the 100 kph limit was something the State would go after.
Mayors will now be elected

The reform will only come into force after the next local government election which will be conducted using the present system.

The present system is a mixed one involving proportional representation for the selection of aldermen and direct election of councillors. Khan said, though, that proportional representation could be removed after the current election cycle but the jury is still out. The minister made these announcements at the Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Port-of-Spain.

On how a mayor will be selected, he said, Mayors and chairmen or corporations will have to come from the elected body. We will be moving away from mayors being aldermen and you vote for a council and you dont know who the mayor is. Councillors will also be full-time. Asked by Newsday if the system of proportional representation will remain in place, Khan said this would only be the case for the upcoming election, due between October 2016 and January 2017.

We will still have the firstpast- the-post system for councillors but we will go with the proportional representation for the aldermen as originally articulated in relation to the Municipal Corporations Act, Khan said.

He was asked if current draft legislation on local government reform  which Khan said has already been prepared  envisions proportional representation remaining a feature of the political landscape.

Proportional representation? Absolutely not, especially with regards to the election of councillors.

The jury is still out on whether we will keep the component for the aldermen but that is still under active discussion. He said the election will be held by the end of this year. The election will take precedence over reform efforts.

Khan also said the plan to hire about 1,400 municipal police officers remains on stream. However, legislative reform will have to be tabled to deal with an anomaly which sees these officers subject to no disciplinary body. He said the municipal police fall under the Public Service Association and the Statutory Service Commission.

However, they are police officers, are precepted  carrying firearms  and do police work.

They are supposed to fall under the Police Service Commission, the minister said. As we speak there is no way to discipline a municipal police officer if they transgress. He said the question of equal pay for municipal police is was being actively handled by the Attorney General as we speak. The Privy Council ruled in January 2015 that a gap in regulations frustrated officers right to seek redress.

Khan said the plan to abolish the Ministry of Local Government was behind schedule.
SC upholds constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation

Published: May 13, 2016

The Supreme Court has upheld constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation as the right to life under Article 21 includes the right to reputation.

Ruling in this regard was given by two-judge SC bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant on combined petitions filed by a number of politicians and public figures.

The petitioners had alleged that the provisions of criminal sanction act as a censoring device thus violate the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution.

Legal Provisions on defamation: Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860 make defamation a criminal offence. As per Indian laws defamation cases are both a civil wrong and a criminal offence. In a criminal wrong a person can invite imprisonment up to two years as per section 500 of IPC, while in a civil wrong a person may be sued for monetary compensation.

Supreme Ruled that

Freedom of Right to speech and expression enshrined under Article 19 of Constitution does not confer any right to a person to trample the reputation of others.

Right to free speech is not absolute, so it does not mean freedom to hurt anothers reputation which is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Defaming a person amounts to offence against society and the government is entitled to lodge a case against a person under criminal defamation law.

Magistrates across the country to observe extreme caution while issuing summons in private defamation complaints.

Henceforth the interim protection will continue and criminal proceedings will remain stayed before trial court.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2016

Topics: judiciary  Penal Laws  Supreme court  UPSC

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Bashing multi-nationals not helpful

I speak of the current and increasingly common practice of bashing multinational companies.

There are some who would have us believe that MNCs do not have the countrys interest at heart, or that much of the value we create is moved out of the country, but allow me to paint a different picture by using BP as an example. In BPs 55 years of operations in Trinidad, our upstream business alone has generated over US $50 billion or over TT $300 billion of operating cash flow. Out of that, Christie said, bpTT has paid approximately 50 percent to the government in taxes and royalties, reinvested approximately 35percent in our local operations to continue to find and develop new oil and gas resources, and returned approximately 15 percent to the shareholders in bpTT. Christie acknowledged that energy MNCs like bpTT might not be the flavour of the month when our tax payments have declined with lower prices, lower production and increased investments but he pointed out that these three factors are exactly why our taxes are lower. True partnership has real value in terms of growth and prosperity and our results demonstrate that both country and company have benefited materially from our partnership with TT. I am sure this is also the case for a vast majority of multinationals in TT. Are there opportunities for improvement in this partnership? Of course there are, but the overwhelming evidence of benefits speaks for itself, Christie stated.

The bpTT boss was addressing members of the business community yesterday during the American Chamber of TTs (Am- Cham) annual general meeting (AGM) at Hilton Trinidad, Portof- Spain.

Questioned by reporters afterward about which MNCs have complained about bashing, Christie made it clear that locals in general are actually very welcoming but we want to make sure that those small pockets dont in fact create a discourse which is not helpful. Pressed to give an example of at least one MNC operating in TT which has experienced this, Christie declined to be more specific. Instead he made reference to observations, even in the press, about MNCs not working for the country of TT, taking things out but not putting things in...We dont find those particularly helpful or in the spirit of partnership and cooperation. US Ambassador to TT, John Estrada, also attended AmChams AGM.

Asked if he had heard similar bashing stories from US companies, Estrada told reporters, not at all. The few that I have spoken to, its been a good experience. Some of them are challenged a little bit but overall, its been a good experience for most of them...A few indicated the process may be a little slow to get agreements done, Estrada said.

Speaking earlier during the event, he advised against turning inward and trying to block the establishment of foreign companies in TT and/or use of foreign labour.
Demming calls dismissal unfortunate

It was a great opportunity simply because I met Trinidadians who seemed to be very serious about what they were doing, so they did not appear to me to be lazy or partisan. They appeared to just want to do the work. It was an absolutely stimulating and inspiring experience to work with young people who want to work, she told Newsday.

Asked about her being a threat to Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, Demming said it was just an, idle threat. There is no way that a citizen could be a threat to a Member of Parliament, so I see that as an idle, vacuous threat, she said.

Demming said she would continue to be a consultant and support non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The TDC was not my primary occupation, it was just one of the things that I did. So there is no question where my life goes from here. My life continues. I did not see it coming because I am a conciliator by nature, so I do not see firing people as a way to solve a problem unless someone is fired for some kind of malfeasance Firing people would not solve problems. I made the comment that Trinidad cannot fire everybody we disagree with. Trinidad has to start to look at diversity, divergence, distinct views and differing views, she said. Demming said people would not always agree with your views. If we all agreed with each other life would be pretty boring. So we have to find a way to accommodate differences and the world today is characterised by difference and diversity, so we have to get with the programme.

All the ideas I got were from the people who are employed at the TDC because those are the experts.

If you have to get a point of view, then that is the place to get it. I spent a lot of time with the staff, when I needed information or needed to be briefed on something.

To me, we have set ourselves back with this stance and the stakeholders who are the restaurateurs, the hoteliers, the tour operators and all the people who they employ. That is the tourism sector.

Those are the people who come together and once again we have dashed their hopes. Somebody has to gather these people again and give them some kind of direction about where are we going and that is the tragedy of what has happened that we have ignored two big groups.. the internal TDC audience and the stakeholder audience, Demming said. Demming said she did not plan to take any action against the ministry, but said TT has to find a different way to appoint ministry boards.
Ag PM: No mention of gunman from Rowley

As to whether it was real or it was a hoax I cannot say, Imbert said. Even if it has happened, it has not affected the team (on the trip). According to a news report earlier this week 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 John Mahama and Rowley who were due to visit.

The Ghana portion of the Prime Ministers trip ended on Wednesday.

That day began with a series of meetings between business representatives of both nations. Following these meetings, Rowley attended the opening of a new branch of HFC Bank. Republic Bank Ltd is now the majority owner of HFC in Ghana. The delegation then made its way to Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Rowley laid a wreath in honour of Ghanas first president.

He then paid a courtesy call on former president of Ghana Jerry John Rawlings.

The Prime Minister left Ghana on Wednesday. He arrived in London yesterday morning, according to Imbert. In London, Rowley attended an anti-corruption summit hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. That summit has been overshadowed by some controversy after Cameron was captured by television cameras telling the queen, Weve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.

Nigerian and Afghanistan, possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world. This led to calls for Cameron to apologise, but Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said, He was telling the truth. Camerons anti-corruption summit also came weeks after he was rocked by disclosures that he once benefitted from family offshore arrangements, even as he has sought to crack down on these.

TT was due yesterday to pledge, at the summit, to work towards the establishing a registry of company beneficial ownership information; cooperate and share information with nations; improve civil asset forfeiture legislation. According to an official statement submitted to the summit, this country is also proposing to table laws dealing with bribery and bid-rigging.
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A Minnesota-based local doctor has now become the focal point of recent inquiry into the pop icon's demise as revealed in a search warrant. The family physician who is an obstetrics specialist reportedly treated Prince twice in the weeks leading up to his death.

According to Los Angeles Times, family doctor Michael Todd Schulenberg arrived at the popstar's estate, Paisley Park studios, on April 21 to deliver lab results only to discover that the musician died after collapsing in an elevator of his home.

In the affidavit filed by a Carver County investigator in connection with the medical search warrant, Dr. Schulenberg had met with Prince the day before his death and also on April 7 when the star canceled his Atlanta show.

As reported by New York Times, Dr. Schulenberg carried out a series of tests and then wrote a prescription for an undisclosed medical condition. The doctor then stated that he went over to Prince's house to hand over the test results to his patient. The search warrant seeks to uncover medical records from North Memorial Medical Center where Dr. Schulenberg used to work.

With the search warrant, investigators are currently looking into the relationship between Schulenberg and Prince as well as the musician's interaction with known individuals who form part of his inner circle, CNN reported.

So far, authorities have not uncovered any particular prescription trail that would suggest an opioid treatment. There are also no evidence that would indicate the possibility of the star shopping prescriptions from a number of doctors as often the case in many high profile celebrity deaths.

On the other hand, the police also raised the possibility of 'drug runners' sending medications for the popstar. As of press time, investigations have not yet reached their conclusive end. Furthermore, autopsy results are still pending.

In the light of Prince's recent death, opioid addiction has been identified as one of the leading causes of some of celebrities 'demise. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 26.4 million to 36 million people are hooked on opioid-based substance abuse worldwide with 2.1 million Americans suffering from opioid-related ailments and disorders.
The world woke up earlier this week to news of a Canadian teenager finding a long-lost Mayan city. New reports now suggest the find may not be a city all, Mayan least of all.

The findings, which were announced with the backing of Canadian Space Agency and the University of New Brunswick, have been cast in doubt after experts recognized satellite images as cornfields or marijuana cultivation.

Teenager William Gadoury of Quebec had theorized that Mayan cities should align with Mayan constellations. By overlaying constellations on modern satellite imagery he short-listed about 117 locations that could be probably Mayan cities. The Canadian Space Agency offered to help with its satellites. RADARSAT-2 was pressed into service and it came up with a few locations that looked like long-lost cities. The discovery was announced to the press and it went viral.

"The whole thing is a mess - a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall," anthropologist Dr. David Stuart, reportedly wrote in a Facebook post.

Patches identified in the satellite imagery that have been reported as lost cities could be abandoned fields, suggest experts who argued that Mayan constellations have nothing to do with the cities and modern-day constellations that we know.

"Maya constellations that we know of, with the exception of Scorpio, bear no relation to those we find on modern star maps," Anthony Aveni told Wired. Areas that were pointed out on satellite images of Mexico were also recognized by a team of researchers working in that area. However one of images lies close to an ancient site. While they appreciated the teenager's interest, they criticized the space agency and university for not verifying claims on the ground.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, born in an Alabama farm in July 1899, was the last living American who was born in the 19th Century. She has been a witness to two world wars and 20 US presidencies. She died at the age of 116 years and 311 days.

And now the latest oldest person in the world is an Italian woman, Emma Morano, who is also believed to be the last living person born in the 1890s.

Susannah Mashott Jones had 10 siblings. Her grandparents had been slaves while her parents had been crop pickers.

Having gone to a special school for young black girls, she finished graduation from high school in 1922.

Her first shift was to New York where she worked as a nanny, helping to open a scholarship fund for African-American women.

Until the end,she was extra active and remained part of the tenant patrol of her nursing home till she turned 106.

Hence, Jones was a living legend and link with history. Her birth year, 1899, itself was a momentous year as a historical chapter from history books. Some events linked with that year include:

--The Second Boer War started in South Africa, the US and the Philippines got into a war and aspirin was invented.

--Her birth was also before Queen Victoria's death in Britain, before Marconi's first ever wireless transmission, and even before the Wright Brothers' first aircraft.

How did she manage to live such an interesting life? Her formula is clear and simple---lots of sleep, no smoking or drinking.

There was a rather complex reason too. In an interview with Time Magazine last year, she said she loved to eat "four strips of bacon with scrambled egg every day."

She loved to buy high-end lace lingerie, reported her family. She once confessed to nurses during a medical check-up: "You can never get too old to wear fancy stuff."

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Circuit Court Judge Wendy Wexler Horn began day three of the trial of Bradley Glen Turner with a reading of instructions to the jury.

Turner was charged in St. Francois County with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the killing of 27-year-old Bobby Lee Graham Jr. in November 2014.

She informed jury members of the elements required to find him guilty of murder in the first degree and, if they were unable to determine he was guilty of such, the elements required to find him guilty of murder in the second degree.

She also explained to them the elements required to find Turner guilty of voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter in the first degree or involuntary manslaughter in the second degree if they were unable to find him guilty of murder.

Horn then read instructions to the jury that they must consider in determining whether Turner is guilty of armed criminal action in connection to the killing of Graham and in relation to their determination of his guilt of murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

Next, she explained to jury members the elements and circumstances for determining that Turner was justified in using lethal force to defend himself. She explained to them how to apply the law regarding self-defense to the particulars of this case, including how to determine whether Turner or Graham were the initial aggressor and whether Turner reasonably believed his life was in danger prior to killing Graham.

She cautioned the jury to carefully consider the entirety of the evidence presented during the trial.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ben Campbell then gave his closing argument to the jury, beginning by breaking down each element of the charge of murder in the first degree filed against Turner.

Campbell took some time pointing out to the jury what he believed to be a major flaw in Turners claim of self-defense. During the trial, Campbell showed a video to the jury of Turner and Sammy Dunlap withdrawing money from the ATM at First Bank in Bismarck. Because Graham was not with Turner and Dunlap in the video and because there was no sign that Turners clothing was wet or that he was bleeding or otherwise injured, Campbell proposed that Graham was not killed until after Turner left Dunlap in Bismarck.

Furthermore, Campbell said, Dunlap testified he saw the handle of a knife on the console of the truck, which means, Campbell said, that Graham would have been unarmed when Turner went back to the bridge and killed him.

Campbell proceeded to talk about what he perceived as additional flaws in Turners version of what happened during the early morning hours of Nov. 19, 2014, including the location of blood found under and around the bridge on Davis Crossing Road.

He also contested Turners claim that he killed Graham with the lock-handled knife  rather than the filet knife belonging to Graham and Harris  which was found in the closed position near Grahams head at the crime scene.

Toward the end of his closing argument, Campbell questioned, if he was indeed acting in self-defense, why Turner never told anyone where he killed Graham and why he covered up the body. Campbell proposed that Turner didnt want Grahams body to be found because the number of stab wounds didnt support his claim of self-defense.

Ryan Martin, Turners defense attorney, began his closing argument by stating that the evidence presented during the trial clearly showed that Turner killed Graham in self-defense.

He listed the witnesses who testified about threats Graham made against Turner for having a relationship with Amy Harris and about Grahams reputation for violence.

Martin reminded jury members that a knife sheath was removed from Grahams clothing during the autopsy and showed them Turners brown Carhartt jacket with holes torn into it, purportedly when Graham attempted to stab Turner.

He brought to the jurys attention certain statements made by Harris and Turner while they were on the stand that supported his contention that Graham encouraged Turner to stay at his house on Nov. 18 in order to wait for the right time to attack Turner.

He also pointed out that Graham was the driver of Nolan Dunns pickup and was in control of where the men went and where they stopped early in the morning of Nov. 19.

Martin reminded jurors of Turners testimony about the events at the bridge and details of the confrontation. He reminded them that Turner removed the wallet from Grahams pocket after he was dead and gave it willingly to Harris.

He pointed out that if Turner wanted to conceal Grahams body, he would have likely removed it and buried it somewhere in the woods rather than leaving it under the bridge. Martin reminded jury members that Turner testified that he didnt want to kill Graham and felt remorseful about it so covered his face and body with Grahams coat.

Martin explained that the wounds on Turners hand werent visible in the ATM video because the hand that was injured, his left, was in his pocket and he used his right hand at the ATM.

He also pointed out that the ATM video showed that Turner did not rob Sammy Dunlap, contrary to testimony by Harris who said she overheard Turner planning to rob Dunlap of his money when they went to the Bismarck ATM.

Martin brought up the fact that Turner didnt call the police but said that does not mean the killing was not in self-defense. He pointed out that Harris also did not call the police until a relative of Grahams told her she needed to call 911.

At the end of his presentation, Martin asked jurors to consider why Campbell showed Harris a photograph of Grahams dead body while she was on the stand the day before. He suggested it was simply a manipulative tactic used by the prosecutor to elicit sympathy from jurors because, of course, it made her cry. He pointed out that, according to her and Turners testimony, she did not cry after Turner told her on Nov. 19 that he had killed Graham.

After the conclusion of Martins closing argument, Campbell gave a brief rebuttal argument before Horn sent the jury off to deliberate.

After four hours of deliberating, the jury reached a verdict. After receiving the written verdict from the jury, Horn read it for the record. For count one, the jury found Turner guilty of voluntary manslaughter; for count two, the jury found him guilty of armed criminal action.

According to section 565.023 of the Missouri Revised Statutes, a person commits the crime of voluntary manslaughter if he causes the death of another person under circumstances that would constitute murder in the second degree  except that he caused the death under the influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause.

Voluntary manslaughter is a class B felony, carrying a sentence of five to 15 years. Armed criminal action can carry a sentence of up to life in prison.

The jury deliberated again to determine a sentence and recommended a 15-year sentence for the manslaughter charge. The judge will determine a sentence for armed criminal action. Turner is set for sentencing July 15.
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court directed budget airline Spicejet to pay Rs 10 Lakh as damages to a flyer, suffering from cerebral palsy, who was forcibly offloaded in 2012, saying the manner in which she was deboarded depicts total lack of sensitivity.

The apex court noted that the disabled flier Jeeja Ghosh was not given appropriate, fair and caring treatment which she required with due sensitivity and the decision to de-board her was uncalled for.

On our finding that SpiceJet acted in a callous manner, and in the process violated Rules, 1937 and Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), 2008 guidelines resulting in mental and physical suffering experienced by Ghosh and also unreasonable discrimination against her, we award a sum of Rs 10,00,000 as damages to be payable to her, a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and R K Agrawal said.

Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight on February 19, 2012 from Kolkata when she was going to attend a conference in Goa hosted by NGO ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together), the second petitioner in the case.

The apex court said the decision to offload Ghosh was taken by the airlines without any medical advise or consideration and her condition was not such which required any assistive devices or aids.

Even if we assume that there was some blood or froth that was noticed to be oozing out from the sides of her mouth when she was seated in the aircraft (though vehemently denied by her), nobody even cared to interact with her and asked her the reason for the same.

No doctor was summoned to examine her condition. Abruptly and without any justification, a decision was taken to de-board her without ascertaining as to whether her condition was such which prevented her from flying. This clearly amounts to violation of Rule 133-A of Rules, 1937 and the CAR, 2008 guidelines, the bench said.

What is to be borne in mind is that they are also human beings and they have to grow as normal persons and are to be extended all facilities in this behalf. Persons with disability are a most neglected lot not only in the society but also in the family. More often, they are an object of pity.

There are hardly meaningful attempts to assimilate them in the mainstream of the nations life. The apathy towards their problems is so pervasive that even the number of disabled persons existing in the country is not well documented, the bench said.

It said that the work experience and other qualifications of Ghosh amply demonstrates how a person suffering from cerebral palsy can overcome the disability and achieve such distinctions in her life, notwithstanding various kinds of retardation and the negative attitudes which such persons have to face from the society.

Ghosh is a living example who has, notwithstanding her disability, achieved so much in life by her sheer determination to overcome her disability and become a responsible and valuable citizen of this country.

A little care, a little sensitivity and a little positive attitude on the part of the officials of the airlines would not have resulted in the trauma, pain and suffering that Jeeja Ghosh had to undergo. This has resulted in violation of her human dignity and, thus, her fundamental right, the bench said.

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New Delhi :

It will be a hectic day for Rajya Sabha as around 53 parliamentarians are set retire and the Congress is mulling to bring privilege motions against BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar accusing them of lying blatantly during the AgustaWestland debate.

AICC also announced that the party will file defamation case against a US-based website, www.pguru.com, whose material was used by the BJP MP in the Upper House debate.

It alleged that the website is linked to the Sangh Parivar. While speaking to reporters Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh told that both Swamy and Parrikar have blatantly lied in Parliament by creating a web of deceit in front of the people.

Noting that the Defence Minister authenticated documents in the Lok Sabha, he claimed it was not the judgement of the Italian court.

Claiming that the nine pages from the website are false, Ramesh said the party would be filing a defamation case against it.

He claimed that besides Swamy, S Gurumurthy and IIM professor R Vaidyanathan are linked to the website being run by a person named Shri Aiyar from the Silicon valley.

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Raipur:

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh tonight described as baseless and politically motivated the allegations of Swaraj Abhiyan leaders of floating a global tender in a shady manner to purchase a specific AgustaWestland helicopter by paying over 30 per cent commission without exploring options.

The allegations levelled by former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan are baseless and politically motivated. There was no irregularity in the helicopter deal. It was done through the global tendering process, maintaining full transparency, the CM said at a press conference at his official residence here.

He said senior Congress leaders were facing heat over the AgustaWestland chopper deal scam involving corruption to the tune of several crores of rupees and these baseless charges against a BJP-ruled state was an attempt to divert the attention.

He (Bhushan) is trying to dilute the issue, Singh said.

Earlier in the day, Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav in Delhi accused the Raman Singh government of paying USD 1.57 million as commission to a company registered in tax-haven British Virginia Islands to procure the chopper.

The two also sought to link Raman Singhs son Abhishek to the controversy saying he formed a company called Quest Heights Ltd on July 3, 2008, almost six months after the bulk of the payment was made by the state government to Sharp Ocean, an agent company.

When asked whether he will pursue legal action against Bhushan, Singh said he will consult his lawyers.

Procurement of the helicopter was done after taking consent from the technical committee constituted for the purpose in the state. Full transparency was maintained in the entire procurement process, the CM said.

The allegations were based on the Comptroller and Auditor Generals report for the year ended March 31, 2011, but the report only pointed out that the delay in procurement of the chopper led to the extra expenditure of Rs 65 lakh, Singh said.

Jharkhand had procured the same chopper in 2006, he said, adding the company increased the price for the Chhattisgarh government in 2007.

Abhishek, the MP from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, also denied his links to the deal. He also denied having offshore bank accounts.

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New Delhi :

India has approached Interpol for issuance of an arrest warrant against liquor baron Vijay Mallya in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the ED. The development comes in the backdrop of Britain recently declining Indias request to deport the businessman from there.

Officials said CBI has forwarded a request in this regard to the global police after its sister probe agency ED sought a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the beleaguered businessman to make him join the investigation.

CBI acts as the nodal office for execution of Interpol warrants in India.

An RCN is issued to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action in a criminal case probe.

Once the notice has been issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action.

The Enforcement Directorate has been trying to make Mallya join investigation in person in the over Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case in which it had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) early this year.

It has almost exhausted all legal options to make Mallya join the probe including issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him by a Mumbai court based on which it made the request for revocation of his passport and subsequently sought his deportation.

However, Britain has made it clear that Mallya cannot be deported and asked India to seek his extradition instead.

The British government said it acknowledges the seriousness of allegations against Mallya and was keen to assist the Indian government in this case.

ED is also mulling attaching domestic assets and shares worth about Rs 9,000 crore owned by Mallya in this case.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had yesterday said in Parliament that India will now have to initiate extradition process after a charge sheet is filed to bring back the embattled tycoon to face money laundering charges and to recover Rs 9,400 crore extended as loan to his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines by banks on which he has defaulted.

Cancellation of passport does not result in automatic deportation, that is the stand taken by UK, Jaitley had said.

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Tokyo/New Delhi:

Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co today announced plans to acquire 34 per cent stake in beleaguered compatriot Mitsubishi Motors Corporation for 237 billion yen (over USD 2 billion). Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, (MMC) announced that they have signed a basic agreement to form a far-reaching strategic alliance between the two Japanese automakers.

The strategic alliance will extend an existing partnership between Nissan and MMC, under which the two companies have jointly collaborated for the past five years, the two companies said in a joint statement.

Commenting on the development, Nissan Chief Executive and President Carlos Ghosn said: It creates a dynamic new force in the automotive industry that will cooperate intensively, and generate sizeable synergies. We will be the largest shareholder of MMC, respecting their brand, their history and boosting their growth prospects.

Terming the deal as a breakthrough transaction and a win-win for both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, he added: We will support MMC as they address their challenges and welcome them as the newest member of our enlarged alliance family.

Nissan said the decision to acquire a strategic stake in MMC marks the latest expansion of its Alliance model, built around a 17-year cross shareholding arrangement with Renault. Nissan has also acquired stakes or signed partnerships with other automotive groups including Daimler, and AvtoVaz.

On closing of the deal, which is expected by the end of the year, Nissan will become the largest shareholder of MMC, it said, adding MMC would propose Nissan nominees as board directors in proportion to Nissans voting rights, including a Nissan nominee to become Chairman of the Board.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp is currently in the midst of a scandal for overstating fuel economy. Last month, the company had admitted that it overstated the mileage of four of its mini-vehicle models affecting 6,25,000 cars.

This agreement will create a long-term value needed for our two companies to progress towards the future. We will achieve a long-term value through deepening our strategic partnership including sharing resources such as development, as well as joint procurement, MMC Chairman and Chief Executive Osamu Masuko said.

Nissan and MMC have agreed to cooperate in areas including purchasing, common vehicle platforms,

technology-sharing, joint plant utilisation and growth markets, the statement added.
A man from Park Hills admitted in federal court in East St. Louis on Friday that he coerced a 15-year-old girl from Madison, Illinois, with promises of a modeling career into prostituting herself in three states.

Marcus Dewayne Thompson, 28, pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion and sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion.

His wife, Robin Thompson, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday to the conspiracy charge.

In early June of 2015, Marcus Thompson convinced the girl to accompany him with promises of helping her get modeling work, according to his plea. He took her to Farmington, where he picked up his wife. Marcus Thompson told his wife that he was going to make money by "posting" the teen on Backpage.com.

The couple did, according to their plea agreements, posting explicit pictures of the girl online, and arranging sex acts with men in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana. Marcus Thompson also stole a camper in which the group lived.

Robin Thompson negotiated prices, helped get hotel rooms, provided condoms for the teen and kept records of the transactions. She also told the teen that she would harm her if she tried to escape or talk to authorities.

Robin Thompson admitted prostituting two other women online. Her husband's plea made no mention of that.

At his sentencing, set for Sept. 29, Marcus Thompson faces 27 to nearly 34 years in prison. He has prior state felony convictions, for "stealing cars," he told U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan in court Friday. Asked by Reagan how far he'd gone in school, Thompson replied, "I think 10th" grade.

Robin Thompson faces roughly 18 to 22 years in prison when she is sentenced Sept. 15.

Thompson's lawyer, Ethan Skaggs, declined to comment after the hearing, as did Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Kapsak.

The investigation began in early July, when a 15-year-old girl at Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital in St. Louis told authorities about what had happened.

Investigators then subpoenaed Backpage.com and found that the Thompsons' cellphone was used to place ads in Orlando and Pensacola in Florida, as well as Atlanta, Nashville and Dallas in June and early July of 2015, Special Agent Eric Ruhe wrote in a court affidavit.

Police found a ledger listing customer information, prices and sex acts in Marcus Thompson's truck in August after the couple was pulled over by a Ste. Genevieve police officer.

At the time of his arrest on the federal charges, Marcus Thompson said that he'd just started work with a produce company in Missouri and had 3-year-old twins.

Robin Thompson was working for a nursing home. The couple also had an 8-month-old at the time, court records show.
New Delhi :

In an epic decision, the Supreme Court has upheld defamation as a criminal offence under Indian Penal Code. The apex court has rubbished plea by several leaders including BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal among others.

The top court also said that even freedom of speech should have reasonable restrictions and it has directed magistrates across the country to observe extreme caution while issuing summons in private defamation complaints.

While deciding on the petitions, the apex court also ruled that the petitioners can move the High Courts against summons issued in defamation cases, that too within eight weeks. The petitioners will have interim protection and criminal proceedings will remain stayed before the trial court.

The petitioners had argued the Indian Penal Code Sections 499 and 500, which prescribe a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment for defamation.

The verdict was delivered by the two-judge bench of justice Dipak Misra and justice Prafulla C Pant.

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Boston:

Encapsulating blood samples in air-dried silk protein can preserve them for long periods of time at high temperatures without refrigeration, scientists have found. The technique developed at Tufts University in the US has broad applications for clinical care and research that rely on accurate analysis of blood and other biofluids.

Blood contains proteins, enzymes, lipids, metabolites, and peptides that serve as biomarkers for health screening, monitoring and diagnostics. Both research and clinical care often require blood to be collected outside a laboratory.

However, unless stored at controlled temperatures, these biomarkers rapidly deteriorate, jeopardising the accuracy of subsequent laboratory analysis. Existing alternative collection and storage solutions, such as drying blood on paper cards, still fail to effectively protect biomarkers from heat and humidity.

The scientists successfully mixed a solution or a powder of purified silk fibroin protein extracted from silkworm cocoons with blood or plasma and air-dried the mixture.

The air-dried silk films were stored at temperatures between 22 and 45 degrees Celsius. At set intervals, encapsulated blood samples were recovered by dissolving the films in water and analysed.

This approach should facilitate outpatient blood collection for disease screening and monitoring, particularly for underserved populations, and also serve needs of researchers and clinicians without access to centralised testing facilities, said David L Kaplan, professor at Tufts School of Engineering.

For example, this could support large-scale epidemiologic studies or remote pharmacological trials, Kaplan said. We found that biomarkers could be successfully analysed even after storage for 84 days at temperatures up to 113 degrees F, said Jonathan A Kluge, who was a postdoctoral associate in the Kaplan lab at the time of the research.

Encapsulation of samples in silk provided better protection than the traditional approach of drying on paper, especially at these elevated temperatures which a shipment might encounter during overseas or summer transport, said Kluge.

The silk-based technique requires accurate starting volumes of the blood or other specimens to be known, and salts or other buffers are needed to reconstitute samples for accurate testing of certain markers, researchers said.

Researchers demonstrated silks ability to stabilise a variety of bioactive materials including antibiotics, vaccines, enzymes and monoclonal antibiotics with numerous biomedical and biomaterial applications. The study was published in the journal PNAS.
New Delhi:

As Parliament session ended without passing the landmark GST bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today rued the Rajya Sabha not approving the biggest indirect tax reform measure since independence, saying states stood to benefit the most from it.

The Prime Minister, who spoke in the Upper House as it bid farewell to 53 retiring MPs, noted that Rajya Sabha members are representatives of the states and the interest of their state should be a priority for them.

While important reform measures were passed, it would have been better if two critical decisions had also been approved, he said, referring to Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Bihar would benefit from GST, Uttar Pradesh would benefit from GST. Barring one or two states, all states would have benefited from GST, he said.

Goods and Services Tax, which is to subsume all indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax into a single GST rate, was to be implemented from April 1, 2016 but opposition from Congress over key clauses including cap on the tax rate had stalled its passage in the Upper House.

Lok Sabha has already approved the constitutional amendment but it remains pending in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA does not have a majority.

Modi said the second crucial legislation was the one to create CAMPA.

States would have got Rs 42,000 crore if we had decided on the legislation, he said, adding each state would have got Rs 2000-3000 crore.

The bill seeks to establish the national compensatory afforestation fund to promote afforestation and regeneration activities as way of compensating forest land diverted to non-forest uses.

This (Rs 2000-3000 crore) is not a small amount, he said, adding availability of the funds before the beginning of the monsoon season would have greatly benefited the states.

We will have to wait for 4-5 months now, he said, ruing that the move beneficial to states has been left out.

The Upper House, he said, has a special privilege as it can bid goodbye to retiring members and also welcome new ones. Lok Sabha does not have this benefit.

Expressing gratitude to the retiring members, he said the 53 members in their six-year tenure have seen two governments.

Both governments benefited from their knowledge and experience. This government benefited less, the previous one benefited more, he said.

The nation has benefited from their Parliamentary contributions, he said.

Speaking after Modi, Congress leader Anand Sharma noted that while the House had cleared important legislations like Bangladesh land boundary agreement, insurance bill that had been pending for seven years and the insolvency bill, it was true that there was delay in some.

He blamed ideological differences for it, saying they had led to stalling of the GST bill for years when the UPA was in power.

UPA had piloted the GST bill but BJP-ruled states like Gujarat had opposed the draft.

A wrong image was created outside that no work is transacted in Rajya Sabha, he said, adding obstructions are part of democracy and are used to put across reservations on policies and programmes.

He, however, regretted the bitterness in political discourse saying debate and discussion are part of Indias rich democratic legacy.

One has to be able to listen to dissenting voices without taking them personally but as ideological differences, he said.

Government role in building consensus is important. Opposition also has a role but government has a bigger role, the Congress leader said.

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Beirut:

Hezbollah today announced the death of its military commander in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine. He said a few months ago, I will not come back from Syria, unless a martyr or carrying the flag of victory. He is the top commander Mustafa Badreddine. And he came back today as a martyr, the Shiite movement said in a statement carried by the Al-Manar TV channel.



Hezbollah, along with Iran, is battling on the side of the regime in Damascusmaking the trio de facto allies on the ground. Israel fears that the chaos in Syria could help strengthen arch-enemy Hezbollah, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted in April that the army had attacked dozens of convoys there that were transporting weapons to the group.



Todays statement gave no further details about how Badreddine died. Badreddine was one of five figures from Hezbollah accused of the assassination of Rafic Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon.



In 2012 the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Badreddine along with a number of others in Hezbollahs leadership, for the movements active support to the regime of Syrian President Bashar (al-)Assad, as well as its role in terrorist activities. Hezbollah is listed as a terrorist group by Washington.

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Washington:

Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area. The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource-rich sea.



However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension. I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about Chinas activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.



The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.



We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows, Earnest said, adding that this operation was undertaken in consistent with that principal.



A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an islands territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure. Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.



The concerns and the tensions that exist around the South China Sea do not actually directly involve the US. The United States is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea, Earnest said.

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New Delhi:

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a stay order over all disciplinary action against JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others.



This came after the court heard the pleas by Kanhaiya and others challenging the universitys disciplinary action against them.



Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya had moved court earlier this month against their rustication. Umar was asked to pay a fine of Rs 20,000, while Anirban Bhattacharya was banned to enter JNU campus for five years from July 23.



Earlier today, Delhi High Court had asked Kanhaiya Kumar to immediately bring to an end the indefinite hunger strike by students.



The court also sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the University to function properly and there will be no agitation.



Justice Manmohan said, You (Kanhaiya) can articulate to the students sitting on hunger strike from past 16 days to end the agitation, allowing the university to function properly.



They (JNU students) will have to end their agitations/ strike. You will have to withdraw the strike immediately. No one should be on hunger strike.

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Kolkata:

Carmaker Toyota is working on a petrol variant of its multi-purpose vehicle Innova after the companys sales took a hit following a ban on registration of diesel cars with 2,000cc and above engines in Delhi-NCR. Delhi-NCR is the biggest market among other regions of the country. Since sales of Innova and Fortuner have stopped there, there will be considerable impact in overall sales, VP of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Sailesh Shetty told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Innova Crysta here.



Last year, we had sold 1.39 lakh cars in the country. This year, the sales figure will be in that region, Shetty said today. He further said, We are meeting all the emission norms as per government regulations... Diesel is a good fuel and we hope that the ban will be lifted some day. However, we are working on the petrol engine of Innova, the highest selling MPV in the country.



He said that Toyota had not been able to sold any Innova or Fortuner vehicles in Delhi NCR since the ban was imposed since December-end. Sales of MPVs in India was between 8,000 to 9,000 units per month, he said, adding that 7 per cent of the sales has been hit in Delhi-NCR following the ban. The earlier version of Innova would be phased out which would be replaced by Innova Crysta. In the meantime, the new vehicle saw a good response from consumers on the first day of its launch.



Over 60 per cent of the 15,000 bookings we have received so far are for the automatic version that too of the top-end model, Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice chairman Shekar Vishwanathan told reporters after launching the new MPV in Mumbai.



As of now, the customers in Mumbai will have to wait for more than two months to get delivery. As the demand increases they will ramp up output and lower the waiting period, he said. The topend Innova Crysta (2.8-liter, 8-seater with AMT) comes for Rs 20.77 lakh here while the low-end model is priced at Rs 13.83 lakh.



He said since 2005, the year Innova was first launched, the company has sold a little over 6 lakh Innovas in the country, while globally it has 1.6 million customers. The Innova was sold only in three markets apart from India - Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai.



Innova has been the market leader from the start. Despite the market getting so much cluttered with almost all companies having at least one model in the MPV segment, it still enjoys 35 per cent market share, the company said.
New Delhi:

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to release all the outstanding and necessary funds for MNREGA scheme to the States and directed it to pay compensation for delayed wages to the farmers in drought-affected areas. Government cant hide behind a smokescreen for lack of finances, the court said.



A bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and N V Ramana directed the States to appoint commissioners for effective implementation of provisions of National Food Security Act and strengthening of public distribution system especially in drought-hit areas.



The bench also directed the government to set up Central Employment Guarantee Council as envisaged in the statute and to ensure compensation for crop loss in such areas.



The apex court said that States cannot say they will not follow the law enacted by Parliament and rule of law binds everyone including the States. The bench directed that mid-day meal should be continued throughout the summer season in drought-affected areas.



The apex court, however, refused to appoint court commissioners for implementation of the directions given by it, saying it is not disposing of the plea and will hear the matter on August 1. The apex court pronounced three-part judgement today concerning different issues while the first one was pronounced on May 11.



The court had on May 11 said if the state governments maintain an ostrich-like attitude towards disasters like drought then the Centre cannot wash off its hands from the constitutional responsibility as the buck stops with it in matters concerning common people. It had passed a slew of directions on the issue of tackling a drought-like situation.



The bench had said that if Centre and state governments fails to respond to a developing crisis or a crisis in the making then the judiciary can and must consider issuing appropriate directions but a Lakshman rekha must be drawn.

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New Delhi:

Reinstated Harish Rawat-led Uttarakhand government today gave an assurance in the Supreme Court that it will not evict nine disqualified Congress MLAs from official homes provided to them. The apex court, which also took on record the May 11 Gazette notification of the Centre revoking Presidents rule in the hill state, recorded the statement made on behalf of state Parliamentary Affair Minister Indira Hridayesh that the rebels will not be evicted from their official houses.



A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh also asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Hridayesh, that no facilities in the accommodations will be taken away and posted the plea of disqualified rebels for further hearing on July 12.



Rebel MLAs including Subodh Uniyal and Umesh Sharma, represented by senior advocate C A Sundaram, said that they be not evicted from their official residences till their pleas against disqualification are decided.



They also agreed to the suggestion of the bench that they will not take their salary. At the outset, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, submitted the copy of the Gazette notification, revoking the Presidents rule in the state.



The bench, which has kept pending the plea of Centre that it rightly invoked the Presidents rule, then fixed the petition for further hearing on July 12.



The bench, meanwhile, issued notice on a separate appeal of rebel Congress MLA Shaila Rani Rawat that she was wrongly disqualified by the Speaker after imposition of Presidents rule. She has filed plea through lawyer M L Sharma. Rawat was reinstated as Chief Minister after the Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on the floor test in the Assembly.



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, the apex court had said.

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New Delhi:

Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Enterprises has entered into an agreement to acquire four brands from Pfizer for a consideration of Rs 110 crore. The companys consumer products division has entered into an agreement to acquire four brands from Pfizer Ltd for a consideration of Rs 110 crore, Piramal Enterprises said in a filing to BSE. The acquisition includes brands Ferradol, Neko, Sloans and Waterburys compound, it added.

The agreement also includes the trademark rights for Ferradol and Waterburys Compound in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Piramal Enterprises said. Commenting on the development, Piramal Enterprises Executive Director Nandini Piramal said: The consumer products division of the company currently ranks seventh in India but we aim to be a top 3 player in the OTC market by 2020.

The company believes these brands from Pfizer will fit our portfolio and also strategically help us move closer towards our stated objective, she added.

Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) is currently present in the segments of Healthcare, Healthcare Information Management and Financial Services. Shares of Piramal Enterprises today closed 3.89 per cent up at Rs 1,263.60 apiece on BSE.
A Washington County man has been formally charged after he reportedly burglarized his former roommates home by stealing a gun which was later discovered to have already been reported stolen by someone else.

Carl D. Smith, 47, of Cadet, is being charged with a class C felony of receiving stolen property, a class C felony of unlawful possession of a firearm and a class A misdemeanor of unlawful possession of a weapon.

According to a probable cause statement, on March 30, Smith was named as a suspect in a burglary at a home in the 10,000 block of Lyndale in Mineral Point. The victim told police that his safe containing a black Rossi Model 351 .38 special snub nose handgun was stolen from his house between March 26-27.

The report said the victim stated Smith used to live with him and had mentioned in the past he wanted to purchase the firearm on several occasions.

The report said on March 30 a deputy saw a vehicle with Smith in the passenger seat and pulled them over to make contact. The deputy asked Smith to exit the car and told him he needed to speak with him in reference to a burglary.

The report said Smith stated he was aware of the incident and would speak with the deputy. The deputy reported that he escorted Smith to his patrol car and patted him down for weapons. The deputy reported while patting Smith down he felt what he believed to be brass knuckles and placed him in handcuffs.

The report said Smith said the item in his pocket was not brass knuckles, but a belt buckle. The deputy removed the item and identified them as brass knuckles. The deputy told Smith brass knuckles were illegal and he was under arrest.

The report said the deputy went back to the vehicle after Smith was secured in his patrol car. The deputy told the vehicle owner about the information he received on Smith and that he may be in possession of a stolen firearm.

The report said the deputy went to the passenger side of the vehicle where Smith was sitting and when he opened the door he saw the hand grip of the firearm sticking out from underneath the front seat.

The deputy reported the firearm he found was an exact match for the one reported stolen in the burglary. The report said when the deputy ran the serial number through the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System is came back as being reported stolen through the Washington County Sheriffs Department from a secondary victim on Feb. 8.

Smith was being held in the Washington County jail on a $23,000 bond.
Beijing:

Chinese police has detained 140 suspects in a social media fraud scheme where they cheated male victims by swindling their money.



Police mounted four operations from May 5 to 12 in Dongguan City and Shenzhen to nab the suspects, who allegedly used social media to commit fraud, Shenzhen police said.



The suspects, organised as a pyramid scheme, registered WeChat and QQ accounts, sought male victims and swindled their money, it said in a statement.



The sum of money taken from the victims has not yet been published.



According to police documents, a victim, surnamed Liu, was cheated out of 8,000 yuan (about USD 1,200) after he befriended a stranger through the shake your phone function on WeChat.



Liu became emotionally involved with the purported female friend, who later borrowed money but soon disappeared, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

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New Delhi:

With the killing of a journalist in Siwan in Bihar, BJP today attacked Nitish Kumar for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state which it dubbed as maha jungle raj.



BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said while the chief minister was visiting Benaras, the people of the state were migrating out from the state as criminals were ruling the roost.



He also described the killing of a journalist in Siwan as an attack on the fourth pillar of democracy.



Chief Nitish Kumar, who also holds charge of Home department, is moving around in Benaras and even journalists are not being spared in Bihar. Law and order situation in Bihar has turned so bad that people are migrating out. It is not jungle raj but maha jungle raj, he said.



The BJP leader said 11 crore people of Bihar had elected Nitish Kumar as their chief minister with the hope of orderly rule in the state where lives of everyone were protected.



Today, criminals are ruling the roost in Bihar and not law and order. When ruling party leaders and legislators are involved in crime, how can one expect the law and order to be normal and when asked the chief minister avoids answering the issue of rising crime. He talks of Bihar being liquor-free, but the state has become full of crime instead, he said.

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DEAR HARRIETTE: My wife passed of a terminal illness six years ago. I was married to her for 15 years, and she was the love of my life. Our son is 14 years old and has fond memories of his mother, as well as remembering her final months.

I have dipped my toe into the pool of dating and found a woman whose company I truly enjoy. She is around my age, is very educated and has lived an interesting life. She has no children. I brought up the idea of bringing her around to meet my son, and she is willing to do so. When I told my son later that night, it ended with him screaming at me and slamming doors -- disastrous to say the least. My son refuses to meet my new girlfriend. Should I surprise him when he comes home after school? I feel like once he meets her, he'll see how great she is. -- Merging Sides, Boston

DEAR MERGING SIDES: You definitely should not surprise your son with your girlfriend when he comes home from school. That could make him feel unsafe in his own home. Instead, take your time. Talk to your son about dating, in general, so that you can learn his thoughts for himself and for you. He is at the age where he may be thinking about girls, which could only more strongly conflict with the notion of seeing you date.

Tell him little things about your girlfriend so that he becomes familiar with her through your stories. Let him know why you would like for them to meet. Over time, you can win him over.

DEAR HARRIETTE: I am a bit of a stickler regarding the English language. It was my major in college, and my passion for the language continues to grow through reading and studying. I have a friend who mispronounces words frequently. English is not his second language -- he is simply lazy about learning the proper pronunciation.

I would never correct someone who was just learning to speak a new language, but I have no excuse not to correct him. I do not reprimand him; I simply pronounce the word he was attempting to say. He will either roll his eyes or just ignore me. I feel as though I am being helpful. Many others would just silently judge whereas I am making an effort to fix his pronunciation issues. At a larger dinner recently, I was called "rude" for correcting my friend on his pronunciation. Should I still keep correcting? I believe I am helping him, but not everyone sees it this way. --Stickler, St. Louis

DEAR STICKLER: Stop being the grammar police, particularly in public. You actually were breaking the basic rules of etiquette by correcting your friend at that large dinner.

I tell you this as one who cringes when I hear grammatical errors. I, too, offer corrections here and there to people I love and to those I believe will listen. Actually, people who speak English as a second language will likely appreciate the corrections more than native English speakers. The point is to offer constructive criticism strategically and only to those who welcome it. Otherwise, keep your edits to yourself.

Harriette Cole is a life stylist and founder of DREAMLEAPERS, an initiative to help people access and activate their dreams. You can send questions to askharriette@harriettecole.com or c/o Universal Uclick, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106
BellMediaPR.ca

Twitter.com/BellMediaPR

TORONTO, May 13, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Astral Out of Home, a division of Bell Media, announced this week the Toronto and Western Canada winners of its CARTE BLANCHE FOR CREATIVES contest. Launched in March, the seventh edition of CARTE BLANCHE set a new record, receiving 341 original pieces of creative from across Canada.

"We are thrilled with the record-breaking number of submissions this year," said Michael Alexandor, Vice-President, Marketing and Innovation, Bell Media Sales. "The quality of the submissions continues to be world-class; the pieces showcase great ideas for the best brands created specifically for Astral Out of Home transit shelters in the Toronto market and large format digital billboards in Western Canada. The creative talent in the industry is remarkable. Thank you to the jury for their tremendous work in selecting the top work. Congratulations to all finalists and to our winners!"

Toronto

Grand Prize: "Cloudy Vision"  John St. (Bus Shelter)

Created by Jenny Luong and Martin Stinnissen

and Client: Ministry of Transportation of Ontario

Second Prize: "Theft Coverage"  Ig2 (Bus Shelter)

Created by Zachary Bautista and Ariel Riske

and Client: Desjardins Insurance

Third Prize: "Convertible Shelter"  Zulu Alpha Kilo (Bus Shelter)

Created by Andrea Romanelli and Jonathan Taylor

and Client: Audi

Western Canada

Grand Prize: "The Molson Live Beerboard"  Rethink (OOH)

Created by Sean O'Connor and Melissa Haebe

and Client: Molson Canada

Second Prize: "Anytime"  Rethink (OOH)

Created by Leia Rogers and Morgan Tierney

and Client: Shomi

Third Prize: "Art Any Time"  One Twenty Three West (OOH)

Created by Kate Roland and Allison Chambers

and Client: Vancouver Art Gallery

The winning teams will attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, while their clients will be offered a $50,000 campaign on the Astral Out of Home network. Winners in the Montreal market will be announced on May 26.

CARTE BLANCHE FOR CREATIVES was conceived and developed by Astral Out of Home in 2010 to support and reward creativity.

The winning campaigns and finalists can be viewed on the competition website or on Facebook and Twitter.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

@BellMediaSales

facebook.com/BellMediaSales

@BellMediaSales

Bell Media Sales Showcase Page

About Astral Out of Home

Astral Out of Home, a division of Bell Media, is one of Canada's leading out-of-home advertising companies with over 30,000 advertising faces strategically located in the British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia markets. Driving innovation on one of the country's the most dynamic media platforms, Astral Out of Home is committed to staying at the forefront of the latest technological trends, offering advertisers the opportunity to deliver powerful messages that engage and connect with consumers. For more details, visit www.bellmedia.ca.

SOURCE Astral Out-of-Home

Image with caption: "Toronto Grand Prize: Cloudy Vision from John St. (CNW Group/Astral Out-of-Home)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160513_C4501_PHOTO_EN_689851.jpg

Image with caption: "Western Canada Grand Prize: The Molson Live Beerboard from Rethink (CNW Group/Astral Out-of-Home)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160513_C4501_PHOTO_EN_689849.jpg

For further information: Olivier Racette, Bell Media, 514.939.5001 x3193, or [email protected]
Q1 highlights

Surplus earnings of $382 million

Total assets of $255.1 billion , an increase of $7.0 billion

Tier 1A capital ratio of 15.8%

Assets under management and under administration, up $5.7 billion , to $409.0 billion

Net interest income up $54 million , or 5.4%

Guy Cormier , Senior Vice-President, Cooperative Network and Personal Services, elected to the position of Chair of the Board, President and CEO of Desjardins Group

A socially minded and innovative cooperative group

First quarter results

LEVIS, QC, May 12, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - At the end of the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, Desjardins Group, Canada's largest cooperative financial group, posted $382 million in surplus earnings before member dividendsa decline of $82 million compared to the same quarter of 2015. The decrease was due to two events related to the first quarter of 2015: the gain realized on the acquisition of State Farm's Canadian activities and the favourable change in the fair value of derivative financial instruments used to hedge foreign currency deposits for all of Desjardins Group.

"Our performance is what allows us to fulfil our cooperative mission for our members and communities," said Guy Cormier, the newly elected Chair of the Board, President and CEO of Desjardins Group. "Desjardins manages to perform in an increasingly fierce competitive environment while the entire industry adapts to new processes. I am proud and above all honoured to lead Desjardins into this new era. During my mandate I intend to realize three major ambitions to make us first in people's hearts again. They are: reconnecting Desjardins with its purpose, harnessing its full potential for the benefit of members and clients alike, and to invest in people first."

The entire loan portfolio grew $7.4 billion in the last year, despite strong market competition and pressure on profit margins. The result was a $54 million increase in net interest income, to $1,049 million (Q1 2015: $995 million).

Other operating income(1) was $725 million, slightly lower than in the same quarter of 2015. The primary reason was the gain realized on the acquisition of State Farm's Canadian activities in the first quarter of 2015. This decrease was offset by growth in income from credit card and point-of-sale financing activities, as well as income related to assets under management from the sale of various products.

The provision for credit losses was up slightly to $91 million (Q1 2015: $89 million), mainly due to growth in the loan portfolios of Card and Payment Services.

Non-interest expense reached $1,797 million (Q1 2015: $1,752 million). This was due to business growth, particularly in credit card and point-of-sale financing activities, as well as annual salary indexing.

Total assets of $255.1 billion, up $7.0 billion

As at March 31, 2016, total assets were $255.1 billion, up $7.0 billion since December 31, 2015. This was largely attributable to securities as a result of growth in market operations and deposits.

Strong capital base

Desjardins Group maintains strong capitalization in compliance with Basel III rules. Its Tier 1A and total capital ratios were 15.8% and 16.9%, respectively, as at March 31, 2016, compared to 16.0% and 17.2%, respectively, as at December 31, 2015. In this regard, following an extensive consultation with members, they agreed on the importance of a financially strong cooperative, as it is the custodian of their assets.

Segment results for the first quarter of 2016

Personal Services and Business and Institutional Services

For the first quarter of 2016, surplus earnings before member dividends from the Personal Services and Business and Institutional Services segment were $211 million (Q1 2015: $196 million). The increase was largely due to increased sales of financial products by the caisse network and growth in credit card and point-of-sale financing activities.

Wealth Management and Life and Health Insurance

Surplus earnings generated by the Wealth Management and Life and Health Insurance segment were $97 million, relatively unchanged from the same period of 2015. They were part of the segment's ongoing business development.

Property and Casualty Insurance

For the first quarter of 2016, net surplus earnings of the Property and Casualty Insurance segment were $39 million (Q1 2015: $76 million). This was largely due to the gain realized on the acquisition of State Farm's Canadian activities in the first quarter of 2015. The decline in the segment's surplus earnings was nevertheless offset by more favourable claims experience in automobile insurance and organic business growth, compared to the first quarter of 2015. Like its peers in the insurance industry, Desjardins Group is following closely the developments in Alberta. Based on the information gathered to date, the estimated impact on its earnings is not considered significant.

Key Financial Data

FINANCIAL POSITION AND KEY RATIOS (in millions of dollars and as a percentage) As at March 31,

2016 As at December 31,

2015 Assets $255,137

$248,128

Residential mortgage loans $102,992

$102,323

Consumer, credit card and other personal loans $21,115

$21,204

Business and government loans(2) $36,570

$36,809

Total gross loans(1) $160,677

$160,336

Equity $21,824

$21,725

Tier 1A capital ratio 15.8%

16.0%

Tier 1 capital ratio 15.8%

16.0%

Leverage ratio 7.5%

7.8%

Total capital ratio 16.9%

17.2%

Gross impaired loans / gross loans and acceptances(3) 0.35%

0.34%



COMBINED INCOME



For the three-month periods ended (in millions of dollars and as a percentage) March 31,

2016 December 31,

2015 March 31,

2015 Operating income(2) $3,495

$3,445

$3,604

Surplus earnings before member dividends $382

$462

$464

Return on equity(2) 7.1%

7.9%

9.5%



CONTRIBUTION TO COMBINED SURPLUS EARNINGS BY BUSINESS SEGMENT

For the three-month periods ended (in millions of dollars) March 31,

2016 December 31,

2015 March 31,

2015 Personal Services and Business and Institutional Services $211

$297

$196

Wealth Management and Life and Health Insurance 97

127

98

Property and Casualty Insurance 39

113

76

Other 35

(75)

94



$382

$462

$464



CREDIT RATINGS OF SECURITIES ISSUED

DBRS STANDARD &

POOR'S MOODY'S FITCH Caisse centrale Desjardins









Short-term R-1 (high) A-1 P-1 F1+

Medium and long-term, senior AA A+ Aa2 AA- Capital Desjardins inc.









Medium and long-term, senior AA (low) A A2 A+

More detailed information can be found in Desjardins Group's interim Management's Discussion and Analysis, which is available on the SEDAR site under the Capital Desjardins inc. profile.

About Desjardins Group

Desjardins Group is the leading cooperative financial group in Canada and the sixth largest cooperative financial group in the world, with assets of $255.1 billion. It has been rated one of the Best Employers in Canada by Aon Hewitt. To meet the diverse needs of its members and clients, Desjardins offers a full range of products and services to individuals and businesses through its extensive distribution network, online platforms and subsidiaries across Canada. Considered North America's strongest bank according to Bloomberg News, Desjardins has one of the highest capital ratios and credit ratings in the industry.

1 See the "Basis of presentation of financial information" section

2 Includes acceptances.

3 See the "Basis of presentation of financial information" section.

Caution concerning forward-looking statements

Certain statements made in this press release may be forward-looking. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve assumptions, uncertainties and inherent risks, both general and specific. It is therefore possible that, due to a number of factors, the predictions, projections or other forward-looking statements, as well as Desjardins Group's objectives and priorities, may not materialize or may prove to be inaccurate and that actual results differ materially. Various factors that are beyond Desjardins Group's control, and therefore whose impacts on Desjardins are difficult to predict, could influence the accuracy of the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information on these and other factors are available under the risk management section of Desjardins Group's 2015 Management's Discussion and Analysis. Although Desjardins Group believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance or guarantee that these expectations will prove to be correct. Desjardins Group cautions readers against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements when making decisions. Desjardins Group does not undertake to update any written or verbal forward-looking statements that could be made from time to time by or on behalf of Desjardins Group, except as required under applicable securities legislation.



Basis of presentation of financial information

To assess its performance, Desjardins Group uses IFRS measures and various non-IFRS financial measures. Non-IFRS financial measures, other than the regulatory ratios, do not have a standardized definition and are not directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies, and may not be directly comparable to any IFRS measures. Investors may find these non-IFRS measures useful in analyzing financial performance. The measures used are defined as follows:

Gross impaired loans / gross loans

The gross impaired loans / gross loans indicator is used to measure the quality of the loan portfolio. It is gross impaired loans expressed as a percentage of total gross loans.

Return on equity

Return on equity is used to measure profitability. Expressed as a percentage, it is equal to surplus earnings before member dividends, excluding the non-controlling interests' share, divided by average equity before non-controlling interests.

Income

Operating income

The concept of operating income is used to analyze financial results. This concept allows for better structuring of financial data and makes it easier to compare operating activities from one period to the next by excluding investment income. The analysis therefore breaks down Desjardins Group's income into two parts, namely operating income and investment income, which make up total income. This measure is not directly comparable to similar measures used by other companies.

Operating income includes net interest income, net premiums and other operating income such as deposit and payment service charges, lending fees and credit card service revenues, income from brokerage and investment fund services, management and custodial service fees, foreign exchange income as well as other income. These items, taken individually, correspond to those presented in the Combined Financial Statements.

Investment income

Investment income includes net income on securities at fair value through profit or loss, net income on available-for-sale securities and net other investment income. These items, taken individually, correspond to those presented in the Combined Financial Statements. Investment income also includes income from the insurance subsidiaries' matching activities and from derivative financial instruments not designated as part of a hedging relationship.

(in millions of dollars) March 31,

2016

December 31,

2015

March 31,

2015 Presentation of income in the Combined Financial Statements Net interest income $1,049

$1,107

$995 Net premiums 1,721

1,641

1,876 Other income











Deposit and payment service charges 118

124

118

Lending fees and credit card service revenues 168

161

154

Brokerage and investment fund services 260

263

252

Management and custodial service fees 98

72

93

Net income on securities at fair value

through profit or loss 512

230

1,174

Net income on available-for-sale securities 79

72

105

Net other investment income 50

48

44

Foreign exchange income 16

21

26

Other 65

56

90 Total income $4,136

$3,795

$4,927 Presentation of income in Management's Discussion and Analysis Net interest income $1,049

$1,107

$995 Net premiums 1,721

1,641

1,876 Other operating income











Deposit and payment service charges 118

124

118

Lending fees and credit card service revenues 168

161

154

Brokerage and investment fund services 260

263

252

Management and custodial service fees 98

72

93

Foreign exchange income 16

21

26

Other 65

56

90 Operating income 3,495

3,445

3,604 Investment income











Net income on securities at fair value

through profit or loss



512

230

1,174

Net income on available-for-sale securities 79

72

105

Net other investment income 50

48

44





641

350

1,323 Total income $4,136

$3,795

$4,927

SOURCE Desjardins Group

For further information: (media inquiries only): Andre Chapleau, Public Relations, 514 281-7229 or 1 866 866-7000, extension 5557229, [email protected] ; Daniel Dupuis, CPA, CA, Senior Vice-President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, Desjardins Group
Prostate Cancer Canada invites workplaces and individuals across the country to join the fun for a good cause

TORONTO, May 12, 2016 /CNW/ - This morning marked the launch of Canada's second annual Plaid for Dad campaign in support of Prostate Cancer Canada (PCC). To formally announce the start of the campaign, Vice-Admiral Mark Norman, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, arrived at the shores of Toronto's harbourfront aboard a naval ship waving official plaid flags.

In the spirit of uniforms that symbolize the protection of others, we will be honouring the men and women in uniform who protect Canadians every day as well as promoting a uniform that symbolizes the protection of the one in eight Canadian men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime  plaid.

Launched for the first time last year, Canadian workplaces and individuals are again invited to designate the 'Casual Friday' before Father's Day as a day to wear Plaid for Dad in support of the one in eight Canadian men who will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. After weeks of fundraising and events, Canadians can wear their plaid ensembles on Friday, June 17th and share photos online using the hashtag #PlaidforDad to showcase their involvement.

"Plaid for Dad is an easy and fun opportunity for organizations and individuals to support a cause that impacts all Canadians on some level," said Rocco Rossi, President and CEO of PCC. "Businesses can take this time to promote their commitment to team-building and philanthropy by making a difference in the lives of all Canadians affected by the most common cancer in men."

Looking to update your plaid? Hudson's Bay has you covered.

Canada's most iconic retailer, Hudson's Bay has declared its support for the cause by becoming the Official Retail Partner of Plaid for Dad. Through the support of the HBC Foundation, six different, limited-edition Hudson North plaid shirt designs have been created, with $12 from each sale going to benefit prostate cancer research. The shirts will be available mid-May 2016 at all Hudson's Bay locations across Canada and at www.thebay.com.

To learn more about Plaid for Dad, please visit plaidfordad.ca.

About Prostate Cancer Canada

Prostate Cancer Canada is the leading national foundation dedicated to the elimination of the most common cancer in men through research, advocacy, education, support and awareness. As one of the largest investors in prostate cancer research in Canada, Prostate Cancer Canada is committed to continuous discovery in the areas of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and support.

SOURCE Prostate Cancer Canada

Image with caption: "Prostate Cancer Canada team members pose in their best plaid with members of the Royal Canadian Navy, Toronto Police & Fire, as well as business leaders from far and wide to mark the launch of #PlaidforDad. (CNW Group/Prostate Cancer Canada)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160512_C2039_PHOTO_EN_689612.jpg

For further information: For Media Inquiries please contact: Zandra Miljan, Senior Communications Advisor, Prostate Cancer Canada, Conseillere Principale des Communications, Cancer de la Prostate Canada, Office: 416-441-2131 ext./poste 264, Mobile: 647-462-1886, Email: [email protected]
SAINT JOHN, NB, May 13, 2016 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada is providing funding that will prevent and combat homelessness in Saint John. Wayne Long, Member of Parliament for Saint JohnRothesay, made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families Children and Social Development, at an event today.

Through the Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS), the Human Development Council is receiving more than $1.2 million over five years to support projects that help prevent and reduce homelessness by administering funds for local organizations and coordinating their roles.

As part of this funding, Housing Alternatives Inc. is receiving more than $85,000 this year to help up to ten people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness find and maintain stable housing. Housing Alternatives will hire a staff member to act as the hub of a team of service providers, who will connect clients with housing options as well as to other services and support that they may need.

Quick Facts

Budget 2016 proposes to invest an additional $111.8 million over two years, starting in 201617, in the Homelessness Partnering Strategy to help homeless Canadians find stable housing.

over two years, starting in 201617, in the Homelessness Partnering Strategy to help homeless Canadians find stable housing. This investment will give communities the support they need to help prevent and reduce homelessness, including Housing First activities, better emergency response services, and support for youth, women fleeing violence, and veterans.

Under the HPS, more than 35,000 Canadians who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless have benefited from education and training opportunities; over 34,000 have received help to find work; and nearly 6,000 new shelter beds have been created.

Quotes

"The Government of Canada recognizes the pressing need to prevent and reduce homelessness in Canada. Investing in Canada's communities is not only about creating good jobs and encouraging clean economic growth. It is also about building stronger communities and empowering all Canadians to build better lives for themselves."

 The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development

"Homelessness is a harsh reality for too many Canadians. Providing support to local organizations like Housing Alternatives Inc. is crucial to successfully providing people in need with stable housing and support for any underlying issues, such as mental health or addiction."

 Wayne Long, Member of Parliament for Saint JohnRothesay

"Our Housing First program, through collaboration with municipal, provincial and federal partners such as the Government of Canada's Homelessness Partnering Strategy, will have a significant, immediate impact on the most vulnerable members of our community. Housing First embraces a non-judgmental, holistic approach that will have widely felt community benefits, including reduced hospital stays and interaction with the justice system as well as other social services."

 Kit Hickey, Executive Director, Housing Alternatives Inc.

"Homelessness is a broad and complex social issue that requires the coordination of an entire community. The Human Development Council is proud to play a lead role in supporting our Community Council on Homelessness."

 Greg Bishop, Community Entity Coordinator.

Associated Links

Homelessness Partnering Strategy

Housing First

Budget 2016

Follow us on Twitter

SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

For further information: Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]
(TSX: KBL)

EDMONTON, May 12, 2016 /CNW/ - K-Bro Linen Inc. (the "Corporation") will host its Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 9:00 am Eastern Time at the offices of Stikeman Elliott LLP, Toronto, Ontario, which will be broadcast via conference call and webcast. The presentation will include a formal meeting component followed by a presentation by Linda McCurdy, President and CEO, and Kristie Plaquin, CFO.

Date: Wednesday, June 8, 2016 Time: 9:00am ET Call: 1.888.231.8191 (Canada and USA)

Participants are asked to call at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.

This meeting will be webcast live over the internet and can be accessed by all interested parties at the following URL http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=1182321&s=1&k=C80F9B1780049B672CE4E030545FA7F2

To listen to the live webcast, visit the Corporation's website at least 10 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software.

CORPORATE PROFILE

K-Bro is the largest owner and operator of laundry and linen processing facilities in Canada. K-Bro provides a comprehensive range of general linen and operating room linen processing, management and distribution services to healthcare institutions, hotels and other commercial accounts. K-Bro currently operates nine processing facilities and two distribution centres under three distinctive brands, including K-Bro Linen Systems Inc., Buanderie HMR and Les Buanderies Dextraze, in ten Canadian cities: Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

Additional information regarding the Corporation including required securities filings are available on our website at www.k-brolinen.com and on the Canadian Securities Administrators' website at www.sedar.com; the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR").

K-Bro est le plus important proprietaire et exploitant de buanderies au Canada. K-Bro fournit une gamme etendue de services de buanderie aux etablissements de soins de sante, hotels et autres clients commerciaux. K-Bro exploite actuellement neuf usines et deux centres de distribution sous trois entites distinctes, incluant K-Bro Linen Systems Inc., Buanderie HMR et Les Buanderies Dextraze, dans dix villes canadiennes: Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Regina, Saskatoon, Prince Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver et Victoria.

Vous pouvez obtenir des renseignements supplementaires sur la Societe, y compris les documents deposes aupres des autorites de reglementation, sur notre site Web, au www.k-brolinen.com et sur le site Web des autorites canadiennes en valeurs mobilieres au www.sedar.com, via le Systeme electronique de donnees, d'analyse et de recherche ( SEDAR ).

SOURCE K-Bro Linen Inc.

For further information: Kristie Plaquin, Chief Financial Officer, K-Bro Linen Inc. (TSX: KBL), Phone: 780.453.5218, Email: [email protected]; Web: www.k-brolinen.com
TORONTO, May 13, 2016 /CNW/ - The Ontario Public Service Employees Union is expressing surprise and disappointment at a position paper of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario that calls for the elimination of Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) from acute care settings in the province's hospitals.

"Everything about health care these days is based on integrating people with different training into a multi-disciplinary team that meets patient needs in the best way possible," said OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas. "For the RNAO to come out and say that RPNs have no place in acute care is not only disappointing but offensive as well."

OPSEU represents 40,000 Ontario health care workers.

"OPSEU represents Registered Nurses (RNs) and RPNs alike, as well as workers in over 250 other health classifications," said Barb Deroche, chair of the OPSEU Health Care Divisional Council. "We understand the scope of practice for all the jobs in health care, and the valuable contributions all health care workers make to the well-being of Ontarians.

"We are disappointed that in the current climate of cuts to hospitals, the RNAO report would single out ways to further cut health care workers from the system."

Thomas called on the RNAO to re-evaluate its position.

"As I said yesterday in my annual statement on Nursing Week, I'm an RPN, and my wife Val is an RN," he said. "In my family, and in my union, we appreciate the work of all the people working on the frontlines of health care in Ontario.

"I just wish the RNAO did, too."

SOURCE Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU)

For further information: Warren (Smokey) Thomas 613-329-1931; Barb Deroche 613-876-1738
MONTREAL, May 13, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Back in 1992, Rapid Eye Movement sleep, or REM, was on everyone's lips thanks to a now legendary American rock band. Everybody hurts, they sang. For decades, scientists have fiercely debated whether REM sleep  the phase where dreams appear  is directly involved in memory formation.

Now, a study published in Science by researchers at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute (McGill University) and the University of Bern provides evidence that REM sleep does, indeed, play this role  at least in mice.

We already knew that newly acquired information is stored into different types of memories, spatial or emotional, before being consolidated or integrated, says Sylvain Williams, a researcher and professor of psychiatry at McGill.

How the brain performs this process has remained unclear - until now. We were able to prove for the first time that REM sleep is indeed critical for normal spatial memory formation in mice , explains Dr. Williams, whose team is also part of the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal research network. Williams co-authored the study with Antoine Adamantidis, a researcher at the University of Bern's Department of Clinical Research and at the Sleep Wake Epilepsy Center of the Bern University Hospital.

A dream quest

Hundreds of previous studies have tried unsuccessfully to isolate neural activity during REM sleep using traditional experimental methods. In this new study, the researchers used optogenetics, a recently developed technology that enables scientists to target precisely a population of neurons and control its activity by light.

We chose to target neurons that regulate the activity of the hippocampus, a structure that is critical for memory formation during wakefulness and is known as the "GPS system" of the brain, Williams says.

To test the long-term spatial memory of mice, the scientists trained the rodents to spot a new object placed in a controlled environment where two objects of similar shape and volume stand. Spontaneously, mice spend more time exploring a novel object than a familiar one, showing their use of learning and recall. When these mice were in REM sleep, however, the researchers used light pulses to turn off their memory-associated neurons to determine if it affects their memory consolidation. The next day, the same rodents did not succeed the spatial memory task learned on the previous day. Compared to the control group, their memory seemed erased, or at least impaired.

Silencing the same neurons for similar durations outside REM episodes had no effect on memory. This indicates that neuronal activity specifically during REM sleep is required for normal memory consolidation, says the study's lead author Richard Boyce, a PhD student who, ironically, often stayed up all night while performing the experiments.

Implications for brain disease

REM sleep is understood to be a critical component of sleep in all mammals, including humans. Poor sleep-quality is increasingly associated with the onset of various brain disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

In particular, REM sleep is often significantly perturbed in Alzheimer's diseases (AD), and results from this study suggest that disruption of REM sleep may contribute directly to memory impairments observed in AD, the researchers say.

This work was partly funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), a postdoctoral fellowship from Fonds de la recherche en Sante du Quebec (FRSQ) and an Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate scholarship (NSERC).

"Causal Evidence for the Role of REM Sleep Theta Rhythm in Contextual Memory Consolidation", Science, published 13 may 2016.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aad5252

About Dr. Sylvain Williams

Understanding the neural circuits underlying learning and memory is the major research focus of Sylvain Williams, PhD, a member of the Douglas Institute Research Centre since 1999. He is currently full professor of psychiatry at McGill University.

About Richard Boyce

Richard Boyce, lead author of the study supervised by Drs Williams and Adamantidis, conducted his PhD studies through the Integrated Program in Neuroscience (IPN) offered by the McGill University.

About the CIUSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal

The Centre integre universitaire de sante et de services sociaux (CIUSSS) de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal is made up of the CSSS de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile, the CSSS de Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle, St. Mary's Hospital, St. Anne's Hospital, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, West Montreal Readaptation Centre, Grace Dart Extended Care Centre, and Batshaw Youth and Family Centres.

The Douglas Mental Health University Institute is a world-class institute affiliated with McGill University and the World Health Organization. It treats people suffering from mental illness and offers them both hope and healing. Its teams of specialists and researchers are constantly increasing scientific knowledge, integrating this knowledge into patient care, and sharing it with the community in order to educate the public and eliminate prejudices surrounding mental health.

SOURCE Centre integre universitaire de sante et de services sociaux de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal

For further information: and interviews: Bruno Geoffroy, Information officer, Public relations services, Media relations - Research, Centre integre universitaire de sante et de services sociaux de l'Ouest-de-l'Ile-de-Montreal, Tel. : 514 630-2225 ext. 5257, [email protected]
VEGREVILLE, AB, May 13th, 2016 /CNW/ - TerraVest Capital Inc. (TSX: TVK) ("TerraVest" or the "Company") a manufacturer of fuel containment and pressure vessels as well as an oil field service provider is pleased to announce its results for three and six months ended March 31st, 2016.

The second quarter is generally one of TerraVest's stronger quarters, on a seasonal basis, however dramatic reductions in oil and gas activity have impacted certain segments. Despite these impacts, the Fuel Containment division performed well year-to- date and the Company maintains a strong balance sheet. TerraVest is well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities that arise as a result of the oil and gas downturn and management continues to remain optimistic in the long-term outlook for the Company.

Highlights in the quarter include:

Revenues of $43,415 for the quarter up 5% from the comparable period in fiscal 2015;

Adjusted EBITDA of $4,821 down 20% from the comparable period in fiscal 2015;

Repurchased convertible debentures with a face value of $155 at an average price of $90.90;

Repurchased 31,700 common shares at an average price of $6.25.

"Although our oil and gas segments continue to face the challenges of today's macroeconomic trends, we feel we are in a strong position to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise during this downturn. At the present time, we have in excess of $10.0 million in cash on the balance sheet, and we continue to deleverage throughout the downturn." said Charles Pellerin, Executive Chairman of TerraVest.













Three months ended March 31 Six months ended march 31

2016 2015 2016 2015

$ $ $ $ Sales 43,415 41,441 99,177 94,445 Cost of sales 34,479 33,002 76,705 71,829 Gross profit 8,936 8,439 22,472 22,616 General and administration expenses 5,236 4,068 9,940 9,068 Selling expenses 1,130 1,084 2,270 1,799 Financing costs 853 555 1,750 1,213 Operating income before tax 1,717 2,732 8,512 10,536 Income taxes 479 282 2,340 2,752 Net Income 1,238 2,450 6,172 7,784 Allocated to non-controlling interest (29) 86 67 360 Net income available to common shareholders 1,267 2,364 6,105 7,424 Weighted average shares outstanding - Basic 18,240,759 18,081,588 18,260,072 18,098,868 Weighted average shares outstanding  Diluted 18,270,346 18,081,588 21,122,004 18,098,868 Earnings per share  Basic 0.07 0.13 0.33 0.41 Earnings per share  Diluted 0.07 0.13 0.32 0.41

TerraVest's second quarter ended March 31st, 2016 saw an increase in revenue of approximately 5% versus the comparable period ended March 31st, 2015. Adjusted EBITDA decreased by approximately 20% in the same periods. While revenue increased primarily due to the addition of Signature Truck Systems, strong demand for certain Fuel Containment segment products and the weaker Canadian dollar relative to the US dollar, EBITDA declines were primarily the result of declines in the Fabrication and Service Segments.

Outlook

OUTLOOK

The first two quarters of fiscal 2016 have been weaker than the prior year and we expect this to continue throughout the remainder of the year. The company's Western Canadian business units are experiencing dramatic declines in business activity as a result of one of the worst oil downturns in history and management expects to see this to continue for some time. The company's focus for 2016 has been and will continue to be cost cutting and process optimization in an effort to prevent its oil and gas exposed businesses from consuming cash during the downturn. Leaving aside the Fabrication and Services segments, TerraVest's Fuel Containment segment has performed well year to date, as a result of strong demand for its residential and commercial fuel tanks. Management expects the trend to continue with these product lines, but cautions that the recent unseasonably warm winter will likely dampen demand for its propane truck product line over the near term. All in all, the company has a strong balance sheet, is well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities that arise as a result of the downturn and is actively looking to do so.

Thus far in 2016 the Fuel Containment segment has experienced healthy demand for its entire suite of propane products both in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the low price of oil has resulted in increased demand for this segments residential and commercial heating tanks, both metal and fibreglass. Sales of these products grew by 38% in the quarter and by 13% year-to-date. However, during the second quarter, warmer weather conditions in parts of the Northeast impacted demand for propane related products and demand is expected to be lower in the short-term. Most recently, the Fuel Containment segment developed the capability to assemble larger propane trailers out of its U.S. facilities (in addition to assembly of Bobtail propane trucks). Management expects that these additional capabilities will only enhance the segment's long-term growth prospects for propane related products in the U.S. The current backlog in the Fuel Containment segment's propane tank business is approximately $7,849.

The Fabrication segment continues to experience pricing pressures and project cancellations or deferrals, from certain of its customers paralleling the state of the oil & gas market. In an effort to mitigate the impacts of a negative outlook for the western Canadian economy, management took steps in 2015 and in the second quarter of 2016 to reduce staffing levels in the Fabrication segment and continues to evaluate all cost saving opportunities. Additionally, the Fabrication segment continues to take advantage of this economic slowdown to improve manufacturing processes through investment in equipment and changes to our plant work flow. These changes should result in cost rationalization, shorter lead times and increased capacity that will persist beyond an eventual recovery in oil prices. The Fabrication segment's backlog is approximately $14,576 which is not as strong last year and has been impacted by the continuation of the low oil prices affecting the oil and gas industry in its entirety.

The Service segment's results in the first half of fiscal 2016 were weaker than the prior year's comparable period as a result of pricing pressures and reduced activity due to the continued depressed oil and natural gas prices. Although this segment has faced pricing pressure from its major customers, management is working diligently to maintain rig utilization levels and reduce operating costs. The Service segment is a resilient business and as oil companies cut their capital budgets an emphasis is placed on well optimization which helps mitigate the cyclicality for this segment. We expect the low oil price environment will continue to put pressure on field rates and utilization levels for the foreseeable future.

Dividend

TerraVest is also pleased to announce that The Board of Directors has declared its quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share upon the outstanding Common Shares in the capital stock of the Company being payable on July 11, 2016 to shareholders of record as at the close of business on June 30, 2016. The ex-dividend date is June 28], 2016. The dividend is designated an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes.

Additional information can be found in TerraVest's unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements and MD&A which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this news release are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our strategic direction and evaluation of the business segments and TerraVest as a whole, and other plans and objectives of or involving TerraVest. Readers can identify many of these statements by looking for words such as "expects" and "will" and similar words or the negative thereof. Although management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.

By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and, accordingly, forward looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. There is significant risk that the forward-looking statements will not prove to be accurate. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements because a number of factors may cause actual future circumstances, results, conditions, actions or events to differ materially from the plans, expectations, estimates or intentions expressed in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements.

Assumptions and analysis about the performance of TerraVest as a whole and its business segments, the markets in which the business segments compete and the prospects and values of the business segments are considered in setting the business plan for TerraVest, plans and/or ability to pay dividends, outlook for operations, financial position, results and cash flow, other plans and objectives and in making related forward-looking statements. Such assumptions include, without limitation, demand for products and services of the business segments in respect of the Canadian and other markets in which the businesses are active will be stable, and that input costs to business segments do not vary significantly from levels experienced historically. Should any of these factors or assumptions vary, actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements.

The information set forth under "Risk Factors" in the annual information form of TerraVest dated December 10, 2015 and under "Risk Factors" in the MD&A of TerraVest for the year ended September 30, 2015, identifies risk factors that could affect the operating results and performance of TerraVest and its business segments and the values of the business segments and TerraVest as a whole. We caution that the lists of factors discussed in such information is not exhaustive and that, when relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to TerraVest, investors and others should carefully consider the factors discussed, as well as other uncertainties and potential events, and the inherent risks and uncertainties of forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements herein are made based on the assumption that TerraVest will not be affected by such risks, but that, if TerraVest is affected by such risks, the forward-looking statements may become inaccurate.

The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by applicable securities laws, TerraVest does not undertake to update such forward-looking statements.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

For Non-GAAP financial measures please refer to the definitions outlined the TerraVest Management's Discussion and Analysis dated December 10, 2015.

SOURCE TerraVest Capital Inc.

For further information: Mitchell Gilbert, TerraVest Capital Inc., Chief Investment Officer, (416) 364 -0064, [email protected]; Paul A. Casey, CA, TerraVest Capital Inc., Chief Financial Officer, (780) 632-2040, [email protected]
Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Thursday night, condemned the invasion of his Abuja residence by gun-wielding op...

Former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, on Thursday night, condemned the invasion of his Abuja residence by gun-wielding operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, noting that this was the fourth time in a week that the anti-graft agency was invading his home.Condemning the invasion in a statement, Jude Ndukwe , SA Media to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, said: Earlier today (Thursday), the EFCC invaded the residence of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode even when he was still in their custody. What miffed us most was their mode of operation which was forceful, provocative and dangerous as they wielded their guns with needless threats.The worst is that the invasion was without a warrant as they forced their way in, and after terrifying all the staff at home including the infant, they whisked the laundry man away even though he was later released. This is the fourth time the EFCC operatives would be invading Chief Fani-Kayodes residence just under a week.We condemn this act of executive lawlessness, harassment and intimidation. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has served this country even at the highest levels and he deserves some courtesy. We call on the EFCC to endeavour to carry out their functions within the ambit of our laws and stop brazenly betraying the fact that Chief Fani-Kayode is under persecution.The world is watching! Recall that after many weeks of verbal exchange, Chief Fani-Kayode visited the EFCC office in Abuja, on Monday. The spokesman of former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathans Campaign Organisation, was being questioned on N840 million he reportedly received a few days to the presidential election. Also recall that on Tuesday, the EFCC secured a remand warrant to further detain Fani-Kayode, who was detained on Monday.The remand warrant which was secured, the EFCC said would enable it to keep the former minister beyond the stipulated time allowed by law, thus, enabling its operatives to conduct proper investigation into how he got the money, what it was used for and who the beneficiaries are.
The Kaduna State Government has not started enforcing the prohibition of begging and hawking.

The Kaduna State Government has not started enforcing the prohibition of begging and hawking.A statement realised by the Special Assistant to the Governor (Media and Publicity), Samuel Aruwan explained that the prohibition of begging law will not take effect until after 60 days.The statement added that it is the police that is currently undertaking arrests within Kaduna as part of security operations directed by the Inspector General of Police.The Kaduna State Government has not directed the police to enforce the begging law, which is not due to come into force yet.Malam Nasir El-Rufai has repeatedly stated that rehabilitation opportunities would be offered for the disabled.The State Executive Council has just approved a Disability Policy, which is a necessary precursor to the drafting of any bill or other measures to promote the rights of the disabled.However, the Kaduna State Government is not in a position to impede security operations that are adjudged necessary by the security agencies.As part of preparations for the regional security summit, the Police Commands of States within the neighborhood of Abuja which includes Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa states and the FCT, are undertaking security operations. This includes actions to remove street beggars, hawkers and all abandoned vehicles along the major roads.These police actions have nothing to with the Kaduna State Government. The government is engaging with the police on behalf of all residents of the state, including the disabled, for a proper management of the situation.The Kaduna State Government wishes to appeal for calm. It commends the people for the orderly response to the fuel price adjustment by the Federal Government, and requests their continued patience for the supply of petroleum products to improve.
Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari, says he will on May 29 speak on the recovered stolen funds from persons that had been indicted in...

The report is expected to be part of his speech on that day recognised as Nigerias Democracy Day.In an interview within the UK, where he took part in the London Anti-Corruption Summit, President Buhari said: So far, what has come out, what has been recovered, in whatever currency, from which ministry, department and individuals, I intend on the 29th to speak on this because all that Nigerians are getting to know are from the newspapers, radio and television.We want to make a comprehensive report by May 29.On whether the names of the corrupt government officials or those indicted would be published, he said it would eventually be done.We want to successfully prosecute them. But you know you cant go to the court unless you have the documents to do your prosecutions  where some of these people sign for these monies, send it to their personal bank accounts.Their banks gave a statement that the money is there when it came how much of it available and so on.Never Heard The Word PaddingOn the 2016 budget and the delay that had characterised its processing, he pointed out that if he had not uncovered the padding of the budget, corruption would have crept into the budget, blaming it on technocrats.I never heard the word padding until this year. I never heard about it. And what does it mean?It means that the technocrats just allow the government to make its noise, go and make presentation to the National Assembly so they will remove it and put their own. So, when we uncovered this, we just have to go back to the basics again, he told Channels Televisions correspondent, Chukwuma Onuekwusi.President Buhari also made comments on security issues, fight against Boko Haram, increasing herdsmen attacks on communities, militancy in the Niger delta and what will happen to those bowing up gas pipelines in the oil-rich region.He stressed that he had asked the Chief of Naval staff and other Service Chiefs to work together and make sure that those blowing up installations and subverting the investment in Nigeria would be dealt with eventually.When I was in the Petroleum Trust Fund, we made a comprehensive study of cattle routes and grazing areas through Nigeria. I am referring the Governors Forum and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development to it. Let them see what they can do and save the situation.There seem to be some credibility to the fact that there are other than Nigerian cattle rearers involved, he said, linking the development to the crisis in Libya.Now this is because of what happened in Libya. When Gaddafi during his 43-year regime, he trained some people from the Sahel Militarily, he trained them.When his regime was overthrown, those people were again dispatched to their countries. They are gone, carrying their weapons and they found themselves even in Boko Haram, he explained.President Buhari further said that the increasing herdsmen attacks on communities in Nigeria had become a governmental project, with the government ready to trace them, disarm them and if necessary try them and discipline them.President Buhari had during the London Anti-Corruption Summit requested for the repatriation of funds that had been stolen and taken to the UK by past government officials.
Nigeria's Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, has dismissed the public outcry against a document revealing his demand of a N13m loan f...

Nigeria's Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, has dismissed the public outcry against a document revealing his demand of a N13m loan from the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC.According to him, those who leaked the letter are making a mountain out of a mole hill.Nigeria was invited to the International Conference on Tourism. A memo was raised to National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for special advisers, directors, other key officials and I to attend the conference. In fact, I have a personal Invitation from the Information Minister of China.So, we decided to obtain a loan from NBC, one of the parastatals of our ministry, a loan which will be paid back, of course. I am surprised that this has become a subject in the public domain," he said on Radio Continental.Nigeria's public office holders are often accused of being selfish and corrupt by the public. British Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently called Nigeria a "fantastically corrupt" country.
The Commandant General, Riverine Security (Coast Guard of the Federation), Commander Bibi Oduku, has said the militants bombing oil instal...

The Commandant General, Riverine Security (Coast Guard of the Federation), Commander Bibi Oduku, has said the militants bombing oil installations in Delta State under the cover of Niger Delta Avengers, NDA hails from Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state.He also fingered an ex-militant leader, who he accused of "aiding and abetting criminals in their community in the recent attack on oil and gas installations within and outside the kingdom."Commander Oduku asserted: "Investigation by our security outfit has shown that Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, which has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta are from Gbaramatu kingdom."According to him, "It will be difficult for an outsider to storm Gbaramatu community and carry out such coordinated attacks on oil facilities without insider collaboration."It is not possible for any militia groups to carry out attacks in Gbaramatu without the permission or blessings of the said ex-militant leader. The people of Gbaramtu are enlightened enough to understand the economic and environmental implications of pipeline bombing and spill, and as such will not allow outsiders to carry out attacks on oil facilities within and close to the kingdom," he said.He said his Coast Guard of the Federation was prepared to put an end to the activities of Niger Delta Avengers, which had claimed responsibility for the latest attacks on oil installations in the area and environs and called for the support of government and stakeholders to actualize the aim.Oduku also tasked traditional rulers, community leaders and well- meaning Niger- Deltans to denounce the activities of group as devilish, advising youths in the region not to join this group and other militia groups.
The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) said Thursday that government never consulted them on the recent price hike of premium motor spi...

The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) said Thursday that government never consulted them on the recent price hike of premium motor spirit otherwise known as Petrol nor allow them to make input before the announcement.In a state signed by the President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Acting Secretary General, Comrade (Barr.) Simeso Amachree described the presence of organised labour at the meeting where the decision was taken as"premeditated ambush by the government which clearly did not invite us for any dialogue".The Congress said they were unaware of how the government arrived at the new price as well as the decision of the government to allow market forces alone determine the cost of the product.The statement explain that when the government brought up the issue of a price increase, leaders of organised labour present at the meeting requested for time to consult their various organs and report back and were allowed to leave the meeting for consultation.The statement reads: "The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria wishes to state emphatically that we do not know how the Federal Government arrived at the new price of N145 for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol. Neither do we appreciate how they arrived at their decision to allow market forces alone determine the cost of the product."The Congress wants to use this opportunity to put the records straight concerning the development. The organised labour received a 24-hour notice inviting us to meet with Vice President Osinbajo and some other key government functionaries including the Minister of Labour and Employment, the Minister of Information, the Chairman of the Governor's Forum, and the Minister of State for Petroleum."Others include the principal officers of the National Assembly led by the Deputy Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chairmen of the respective Committees on Petroleum in both chambers of the Assembly."The meeting held yesterday. The call for meeting stated no specific agenda, and we were left to conjecture. Little did we know that the government had already concluded plans to hike the price of petrol. Indeed we were taken aback."The meeting had the leadership of labour in attendance, but we never made any input. Not with the shock we experienced at the premeditated "ambush" by the government which clearly did not invite us for any dialogue."When they stated their plan to introduce the new prices, our response was to ask for time to consult with our respective executive organs and subsequently revert appropriately. The government representatives agreed. And so we left."We were therefore totally confounded and shocked when we got to know that they later went on air announcing new prices for petrol. But our focus and hope remain strong. We know what to do."Thus the TUC has scheduled an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council (NEC) for Friday 13 May, 2016 to x-ray the government's pronouncement and take a stand on the matter in the best interest of Nigerian workers and the masses of our people."To say Nigerians are disappointed and dismayed at the fuel price hike would be a colossal understatement, especially as the present APC government repeatedly insisted during their pre-2015 election campaigns that there was already nothing like subsidy during the immediate past administration. Alas, what a great volte face! What betrayal in high places!"For sure, we know that the fuel scarcity the nation is currently experiencing is artificial, and we have observed comments of those benefiting from the system commending the latest development."For us, the fact that petrol is currently selling for between N150 and N250 per litre does not mean that such outlandish prices should be maintained, least of all endorsed as official policy. We are meeting soon and will come out with our position. God bless Nigeria and her people".
The new militant group in the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), has stated that its ultimate goal is to secure a Sovereign Stat...

The new militant group in the Niger Delta, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA), has stated that its ultimate goal is to secure a Sovereign State of Niger Delta for its people.The group vowed to hoist its flag, display its currency and passport, ruling council and territory to the world come October 2016.Spokesperson for the group, which had repeatedly claimed responsibility of the recent renewed pipeline bombings in the region, Colonel Mudoch Agbinibo, stated this in a press release made available to Nigerian Tribune on Thursday, in Warri, Delta State.Also, NDA described President Muhammadu Buhari and some of his cabinet members as practically ignorant of the actual situation and plight of the Niger Delta region, hence, their uninformed utterances on happenings in the area.To the president, Buhari, we are sure you have not been to the creeks of the Niger Delta before and 90 per cent of your cabinet members do not know how the region looks like.You think the Niger Delta region is full of animals, who are going to frustrate your government, the group noted.They accused Buhari of jettisoning the rule of law in his anti-corruption campaign, citing the detention of Nnamdi Kanu as uncivilised.Your government that is not following rule of law, unlawful detention of innocent people like Nnamdi Kanu.
The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has expressed optimism that the on-going struggle for the restoration of Biafra republic must sure...

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB has expressed optimism that the on-going struggle for the restoration of Biafra republic must surely come to pass and when restored, would outlive the existing entity called Nigeria.Deputy leader of IPOB, Uche Mefor who was reacting to a statement credited to David Cameron, the British Prime Minister that "Nigeria is fantastically corrupt", stated in a press statement issued to newsmen, via e-mail, that he agreed in totality with Cameron that Nigeria, as a nation is actually too corrupt and blood shedding that the only way out is for the members to intensify efforts to restore Biafra.According to the statement, "We members of IPOB worldwide under leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the Director of Radio Biafra accuse Nigerian leaders of hallucinatingBiafra predates you and your Nigeria, Biafra will outlive you and Nigeria".The statement further read in part: "Nigerians are as corrupt as those they are prosecuting. They have blood in their hands. They are ethnic bigots, unrepentant dictators, religious fundamentalists and arch genocidists. They are arch supporters of terrorism and they also have franchise in Boko Haram insurgency"."They circumvented the electoral laws in many occasions. They do not understand the basic tenets of democracy. They do not understand what inclusive governance/development is and as such thinks that they are ruling a particular section of the country"."These are men whose only mission is to annihilate their perceived enemies with air of finality. They ordered the commission of crime against humanity and an enforced disappearance of Biafran youths and refused to watch the atrocity they committed"."It is hypocritical in the circumstance to having admitted that they are the leader of the most 'fantastically corrupt' country. Why then is the British government inviting them? We will always be vindicated"!
President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that he gets so worried about the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, making it difficul...

President Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that he gets so worried about the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls, making it difficult to continue to meet with their parents.The 216 schoolgirls from Chibok secondary schools were kidnapped from their hostelmore than two years ago.In an interview with CNNs Christine Amanpour in London, the president said he had met twice with the families of the missing schoolgirls but said he tries to limit his meetings with them for his own emotional balance.I try to imagine my 14-year-old daughter missing for one to two years a lot of parents would rather see them in their graves than the condition they are in now.Its tragic, he added.Asked about a video  exclusively obtained by CNN last month  that showed some of the missing schoolgirls alive, President Buhari said he had not seen the clip and insisted that he would not have shown it to the families even if he had seen it.How can we show it to them when we dont know where they are? he asked. If we know where they are then we can organize to secure them. If they are divided into 5, 10 groups all over the region, theres no way we can spontaneously and simultaneously attack all those locations. The important thing is to get them alive, he said.CNN reported last month that Boko Haram had made ransom demands for their release.However, the president said that his administration is still trying to establish bonafide Boko Haram leadership before entering into talks with them.When we identify it, we are prepared to talk to them. We cant just talk to whoever gets a video clip, he said.
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Read the full transcript of the much talked about interview of President Muhammadu Buhari with Amanpour on CNN

Read the full transcript of the much talked about interview of President Muhammadu Buhari with Amanpour on CNNAMANPOUR: President Buhari, welcome to the program.MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA: Thank you.AMANPOUR: You are here for an anti-corruption summit and try to tackle this big scourge. Of course it's been overshadowed by what the prime minister said to the queen about your country and Afghanistan, calling you "fantastically corrupt."What is your reaction to that?BUHARI: Well, I think he's being honest about it. He's talking about what he knows about the two of us, Afghanistan and Nigeria, and by what we are doing in Nigeria by the day. I don't think you can fault him. I hope he did not address the press.He said it privately and somehow you got to know it.AMANPOUR: That's true. He said it privately; he didn't think that it was going to be broadcast but it was.And you are being very blunt and very honest yourself by saying that he was right. And you told me, Mr. President, during your campaign that we have to kill corruption or else corruption will kill Nigeria.How are you doing?Are you making any inroads?BUHARI: Yes, we are. And those that are following the developments see it. Nigerians now are acutely aware that what we were saying during our campaign, that was no exaggeration.And a few instances where $2.1 billion --AMANPOUR: Billion?BUHARI: -- billion, not million, dollars were voted for military hard and software for the operations against Boko Haram. Those responsible sat done as if they were going to have lunch or dinner and shared it and put it in their accounts.AMANPOUR: You're kidding.The money that you designated to fight your major terrorist group, Boko Haram, they put it in their pockets?BUHARI: Yes.AMANPOUR: And what do you do with these people who do that?Do the heads roll in terms of losing their jobs, getting fired?BUHARI: Well, most of them are now behind the bars. We're getting the documents corrected in a way so that we can secure successful prosecution.AMANPOUR: You've also talked about having gone through a lot of papers and found sort of legions of so-called "ghost workers," people who are pulling salaries who don't even exist or for jobs that don't even exist. I think 23,000 of these so-called ghost workers --BUHARI: So far.AMANPOUR: Are there many thousands more?BUHARI: I suspect, yes.AMANPOUR: So you've been getting rid of them systematically?BUHARI: We have to. They never existed, so the question of getting rid of them does not arise. All we are doing now, those who have been signing those vouchers and pocketing the money, we have to return it. It's a question of for how long have they been doing it and for how many.AMANPOUR: You obviously knew that this corruption was a major problem because you took it as your main plank and platform during your campaign.Since becoming president, are you more shocked or less shocked by the extent of corruption that's crippled so many of the structures andinfrastructure of Nigeria over the years?BUHARI: Much more shocked.AMANPOUR: You're more shocked?BUHARI: Yes.AMANPOUR: The issue of Boko Haram is something that the whole world is looking at Nigeria for, particularly these poor girls, the Chibok girls, who have become an international symbol --[14:15:00]AMANPOUR: -- for all that is wrong with this terrorism, with this radical Islamism and with the attack on civilians, especially girls. Give me a status report of your promise that you would have defeated Boko Haram by the first year of your presidency.BUHARI: Well, those following us closely will know that, when we came in, Boko Haram was holding at least 14 out of 774 local governments in Nigeria. They pitched their flag and called it some sort of a republic, a caliphate of some sort.But now you ask the people of the state, Borno, Boko Haram is not holding any particular local government. But what they are doing, they have gone down to technology, improvised explosive devices for soft targets, such as mosques, marketplaces, motor parks and just killed people en masse.That's what they are doing. So they have rapidly alienated themselves to the public.AMANPOUR: These girls are still captive, many of them. Your government received a proof of life video for about 15 of them earlier this year.CNN, our colleague, Nima Elbagir, who was in Nigeria, got a hold of this video. She was shown it. And she then showed it to the families.And this was the first they had seen of proof of life of their lovely girls, of their missing girls.Why did it take our colleague to have to show the families?Why didn't the government share this information with them?BUHARI: I haven't seen that video. But even if I see it, I will be very careful about showing it to the family. There is no point to deliberately raise the hope of the families if you can't meet them.I saw the families as a group twice. One, they came to visit my wife. Two, they came as a group to see me. And the less I see them, the better for my own emotional balance.AMANPOUR: It makes you sad.BUHARI: Yes. I try to imagine my 14-year-old daughter, 14 to 18, missing for more than two years, trying to imagine what condition are they in. A lot of the families would rather see their graves than imagine the condition they're in now.AMANPOUR: It's tragic.BUHARI: It's tragic.AMANPOUR: President Buhari, thank you very much indeed for joining us.BUHARI: Thank you, Ms. Amanpour.Watch video below
The Senate is set to debate the controversial fuel price increase next week, it emerged Thursday. This is coming even as two senators h...

The Senate is set to debate the controversial fuel price increase next week, it emerged Thursday.This is coming even as two senators have already disagreed over the propriety of the new fuel price regime.A source close to the leadership of the Senate who disclosed the plan by the Senate to discuss the fuel price increase, noted that "it will afford Senators to tell their constituents where they stand on the burning issue."He said, "Surely we are going to discuss it when we reconvene next week. Some Senators are, no doubt, agitated about the way and manner the increase was announced while some others are bound to support the new policy."But it is necessary that we discuss the issue so as to let our constituents know where we stand. I can tell you, as explosive as the debate might be, the leadership of the Senate will not be opposed to the idea of debating the matter."He noted that although the Presidency invited the leadership of the National Assembly to brief them on the need to deregulate the petroleum downstream, "before those who attended the briefing could leave the venue of the briefing, the announcement was made."Meanwhile, Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Abu Ibrahim and Chairman, Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, sharply disagreed over the necessity for the new fuel price regime.While Senator Ibrahim (Katsina South) threw his back behind the new fuel pump price of N145, Senator Sani (Kaduna Central) insisted that the increase would come with a lot of social implications.Senator Ibrahim said, "Every Nigerian knows that fuel price increase will eventually come.Everybody knows that the country cannot continue to sustain a corrupt petroleum product regime. It may be a little difficult in the beginning but after some time things will be better.He continued, "Nigeria is still the cheapest when you look at the countries around us. We need to explain to Nigerians that the new policy is for the good of the country. To leave fuel price as it is may be populist but we have to accept the inevitable. I was opposed to fuel price increase before because I believed that the money will be squandered but now we have a government that can use the money for the benefit of Nigerians and in the best interest of the country."I believe we have accepted the inevitable. There is no subsidy in the budget, where are we going to get the money. Our subsidy was actually subsidizing other countries. The countries around us are still paying higher prices including Ghana, Angola and Kenya. So I believe that it is rational, it is for the benefit of Nigerians and it is long overdue."Senator Sani on his own said, "I represent Kaduna Central Senatorial District and I am also from a long history of political movement. We are opposed to any policy that will inflict hardship on the people. We have been consistent over the years. The same oil that we are told is no longer being sold as it used to before, why can't it be made available to the people."Increasing fuel price comes with a lot of social problems. If the price of petroleum goes up so also will be school fees, cost of food stuff, medical bill and others."Increasing fuel price incites social discontent. I cannot be in the street some two or three years ago opposing the increase in the price of petroleum products only for me to now justify it. I am opposed to it because I can see a lot of influence of capitalist world.They wanted Naira devalued, they wanted the refineries sold. Now they are pushing for fuel price increase."If we are going to address the problem, why can't we wait until the refineries were going to build come on stream. Our bureaucrats are disconnected from the reality on the ground."Asked if he would join any protest that might be engendered by the new fuel price regime, he said he would rather deploy his energy to oppose the increase on the floor of the Senate.Senator Sani added, "You have to insist on your right. Whether there is subsidy or no subsidy, the fact remains that Nigerians do not want fuel price increase."
Labour leaders in the country are meeting today to decide on a possible protest against the increase in the price of petrol.

Labour leaders in the country are meeting today to decide on a possible protest against the increase in the price of petrol.President Muhamamdu Buhari had on Wedsneday raised the price of PMS from N86.50 to a maximum of N145 per litre.The new policy allows marketers to import petrol and sell at their price but not exceeding N145 per litre.The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is meeting in Abuja while the oil workers are meeting in Port Harcourt.The oil workers are made up of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and the Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN).Alhaji Tokunbo Korodo, the South-West Chairman of the union, said in Lagos yesterday no official of the two unions would make any official statement until the two bodies deliberated on the matterThe labour unions in a swift reaction after the announcement described the hike as as insensitive, saying it would call out its members as well as labour affiliates for a protest.
By Bola Tinubu The Presidents decision to reallocate funds once earmarked for the fuel subsidy and commit these to other more socially...

By Bola TinubuThe Presidents decision to reallocate funds once earmarked for the fuel subsidy and commit these to other more socially productive services and undertakings was a difficult decision.It was also a necessary one. Politically, it would have been easy for the president to sit back and let the subsidy remain in place, yet in the art of governance, the easiest policy is rarely the best one. As originally envisioned, subsidy formed a basic part of the social contract between the people and government. It was a benefit all were to enjoy.Yet, because past governments were not for and of the people, the true meaning and objective of the subsidy policy became lost. Tinubu Over the years, the operation of the measure was distorted to where it no longer functioned for the benefit of the masses but for the undue enrichment of a small club of businessmen, some legitimate in their work, some not.Instead of remaining a positive aspect of the social contract, subsidy was transformed into an opaque haven of intrigue and malfeasance. It was turned into a shadowy process from which the unscrupulous extracted large sums of money without providing the services and products duly paid for. Fake businessmen became true billionaires over night as if by supernatural force.They paraded themselves as such.Meanwhile, the rest of the nation, the innocent people, where left to face erratic supply and were made to groan in the misery of long fuel queues and the high costs and loss of time attendant to this situation.To allow this unfairness to continue would have been a breach of the promise made by this government to the people. While we all have an emotional and sympathetic attachment to the ideals upon which subsidy was founded, we all must recognise that the institution was hijacked years ago. Instead of a bonus to the masses, it became a factory of corrupt enrichment, so imbued with trickery deceit and theft, it stopped serving the interests of the people. It became a weapon of profiteering.The machinery of the subsidy had become so polluted that it was no longer feasible to talk about reforming it. Either it had to cease or we would have to surrender to the corruption now inherent in it. This administration entered office with a mandate of CHANGE. The government could not forever sit back and allow this dire inequity to continue, less it forfeit the essence of its mandate. We all want fuel at a cheaper price.Under subsidy, we got the right price but not the fuel. Meanwhile, some were getting rich on the common mans predicament. They were laughing to the bank while the rest of Nigeria waited on the petrol line.This is not the way to democratic development. It is a recipe for creating a class of economic predators that would feed off the people and in time gain such power and wealth that they would seek to buy and control, if not own, government as well. President Buhari has with this decision put an abrupt and just end to the assault against our economy and political system. He has made a courageous and prudent decision. It is time to end fuel subsidy and begin to subsidise the true needs of the people.To Mr. President, I say congratulations for having the courage to remove subsidy. The president has taken this tough decision in the interest of the present and future generations of Nigerians. For some time, I have been a proponent of this action. I believed the ending of subsidy was the only sure way to put to sleep the myriad demons that had invaded the subsidy process, sucking the blood of Nigeria, swallowing much of our needed money. The rentiers will no longer be able to make free money at our common expense.They will no longer be laughing to the bank while you languish on endless fuel queues. Nigeria has taken the historic step needed to create a competitive environment that that will eliminate smuggling, provide incentives for private refineries and attract foreign investments in the downstream sector and create employment. Instead of just shipping off oil and having the more expensive finished products sent back to us, Nigeria will move closer to realising its potential to become the plastic centre of the continent by manufacturing numerous by products. Nothing can stop Nigeria from being the net exporter of fertiliser from the bye products of the oil industry. I am hopeful but also realistic about this measure. I am also mindful of the situation of our people.This change will mean higher fuel costs in generally, and I would be lying if I said this will cause no pain or dislocation. However, it will lead to better supply and end the hidden substantial costs associated with long waits and delays for fuel. The days and hours of waiting for fuel will be a thing of the past. In a perfect setting, I wish we could have sanitised the subsidy regime and thus continued with it.However, I believe that President Buhari correctly understood that there are to many malefactors and flaws in system for that hell to be turned into heaven. Better that we remove it.But I believe he is removing it not for the austere purpose of saving money but for the nobler purpose of putting those same funds to fairer, more equitable use in order that government might better serve those of us who are truly in utmost need. Now that the subsidy is being phased-out, we should simultaneously phase in social programmes benefiting the poorest and most vulnerable among us.Programmes such as transportation grants, school feeding, improved basic medical care and coverage for the poor, and potable water projects are profound social objectives that can be funded with the money that was once going to rentiers and speculators.This way we can use government funds to ensure that fruits go to the hungry, not the already well fed. Thus, I ask everyone to take a step back to coolly and objectively assess what has been decided. We must not make the mistake of allowing our political and sympathetic attachment to subsidy blind us to the hard fact that the purpose and benefits of subsidy had long ago been taken from the common man to reside in the purse of an elite few.We cannot persist in this imbalance and think it will help us to develop. Instead, it is better to end subsidy and use the funds to establish well-targeted anti-poverty programmes that actually assist the people in need. True, this measure will increase fuel cost in the immediate term, and government must be vigilant to ensure that market forces are allowed to work properly and bring about a fair balance between supply, demand and longer-term favourable pricing. Collusion and manipulation of the market must never be allowed.If government sets the system fairly, it will ensure better supply and with it economic certainty. Over the longer term, it will boost investment that can spur employment across several sectors.Perhaps more importantly, it will liberate money that government can now use to lower the social costs of living for our brothers and sisters who really need the help. While this may not be perfect, it is a much better deal than the one the subsidy offered us. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has accused current set of Nigerian governors of squandering their states funds on pe...

A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has accused current set of Nigerian governors of squandering their states funds on personal luxury, saying it was the main reason why they cannot pay workers salaries in their respective states.Speaking against the backdrop of the recent demand for more funds by the governors to meet up with their statutory obligations, Kalu said that the demand was unnecessary, revealing that the States already have sufficient funds to function optimally.He hinted that the governors have the penchant of drawing a whooping sum of N35 million as traveling allowance, saying that unless they stopped tampering with the security for personal use, the states wouldnt see development.Kalu who spoke to State House Correspondents after a private meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinabjo at the presidential villa, Abuja on Friday however gave exceptions of some governors whom he said were fixing their states.He said: I think most of these governors are doing very well and some of them also are living in the euphoria of the office.You can see most of them who are very active, I dont need to count them for you.The issue of crying for fund, honestly, in my opinion, these governors have enough fund to work for their people because if you check, the money drawn as security vote is excessive. They should stop that.Unless they stop drawing on security vote they will not have enough fund to work with and most of them are living in absolute luxury, which is not their money that they worked out for. So it is impossible to continue living in this manner.Most of the governors are even living in Abuja now, they dont even live in their states, honestly. If you look at the books very well, in each trip they make, they will take traveling allowance of N35 million, which is un-heard of.What are you going to do with that. So, how are we going to progress. Not all the governors. I have gone through Rivers, I see that Rivers is hitting the ground. I have gone through Adamawa and I see Adamawa is hitting the ground.I have gone through few more states, they are hitting the ground, they are working. I dont speak with sentiments. I dont speak for anybody. You can see those who are working and those who are not working. Let them sit down and do the job they are elected for.The former governor also added that the private sector had a role to play in national development if the government could create an enabling environment for them.Well, the private sector will also need government guarantees and access to credit. We need power to be able to revamp the economy. The economy should not be lived only by crude oil.The economy should be seen, we can produce a lot of things and export, we can also do farming and we still can do our mineral resources and we need to diversify, that is the key.When people see people like us who have been governors, we made a lot of sacrifices in going to sit down there.Because I can make much more money than sitting down there for eight years. So it was a sacrifice that is worth doing for our people because education health and all the rest I have forgotten right away, he said.
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) were playing Nig...

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said that President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) were playing Nigerians Advanced Fee Fraud over the removal of fuel subsidy and increment of pump price from N86.50 to N145 per litre, describing the increment as wickedness taken too far and asking; was the federal government paying up to N58.50 as subsidy on one litre of petrol before now?Governor Fayose, who reiterated his call on Nigerians, especially the labour movement to resist what he called this wicked act of President Buhari and his party, added that those who opposed removal of fuel subsidy in 2012 and funded the Occupy Nigeria protest must not be allowed to get away with this imposition of hardship on Nigerians now that they are in power.He said labour unions, civil society organisations and other well-meaning Nigerians should stand up and be counted at this crucial time in the life of the common people of Nigeria, adding that there is no justification for the increment at this period when government is not paying salaries regularly, Nigerians are losing their jobs daily, prices of foodstuffs have gone over the roof and life has become so difficult for the common people.To labour Nigerians with this increment is wickedness taken too far! In a statement on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose said: In 2012 when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan removed fuel subsidy and increased petrol price to N141 per litre, crude oil was selling at $111 per barrel. How then can petrol price be increased to N145 per litre when crude oil is now selling at $40 per barrel?It is on record that on May 2 this year, the federal government, in the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) Template released in Abuja, told Nigerians that it was subsidising petrol at N12.62 per litre.If as at May 2, petrol was being subsidised at N12.62 per litre, and now that the subsidy of N12.62 has been removed, what ought to have been added to the N86.50 pump price should be N12.62, which would have increased pump price to N99.12 per litre.Increasing petrol pump price by N58.50 when the federal government claimed it was subsidising the product at N12.62 per litre is clear political 419, which is aimed at further impoverishing Nigerians as the government will be making profit of N45.88 on each litre of petrol bought by Nigerians.How can any government with human feelings attempt to make profit of N45.88 per litre on Nigerians, who are no longer getting their salaries regularly? How can Buhari and his party impose another N45.88 per litre levy on Nigerians who are already facing severe hardship? This is wickedness!Speaking further, Governor Fayose said there was no justification for the removal of subsidy and increment of petrol pump price to N145 per litre now that crude oil price is $40 per barrel when the same product was increased to N141 per litre in 2012 when crude oil was $111 per barrel. While describing President Buhari as a hypocrite, the governor said, Nigerians should be reminded that the president once said that petrol subsidy never existed and that it was a fraud.How then can the same President Buhari tell us that he has removed the same subsidy he claimed never existed?The reality is that these people lied to Nigerians too much. They made promises they knew they wont fulfil just to get to power. Now they are showing Nigerians their true colours.They are showing Nigerians that they have come to punish them with hardship. Buhari and his APC promised to reduce petrol pump price to from N87 to N45 per litre; petrol is now N145.They promised to create three million jobs per year; they have instead created millions of unemployment.They said $1 will be equal to N1; $1 is now N320. They promised to create better live for Nigerians, they have instead created hardship by making prices of basic commodities to skyrocket through their lack of policy direction.
The Linwood Police Department is requesting the publics assistance. Last night at approximately 8:48pm an Officer from the Linwood Police Department was assisting a disabled motor vehicle on New Rd. near Seaview Ave. A vehicle travelling north, sideswiped the officers vehicle as he exited. As a result, the patrol car door was struck and the officer narrowly avoided being hit. The vehicle is described as a silver or grey Nissan Altima or similair type vehicle. If you have any information please contact the Linwood Police Department at 927-5252. Posted by Linwood Police Department on Thursday, May 12, 2016

LINDWOOD -- Authorities are seeking the public's help in identifying the vehicle that nearly struck a police officer responding to a disabled vehicle in South Jersey.

A Linwood Police officer was assisting a disabled vehicle on New Road in the area of Seaview Avenue at roughly 8:48 p.m. Thursday, police said.

A vehicle was traveling north when it sideswiped the officer's vehicle as he exited the car. The patrol car door was struck and almost hit the officer.

Video from the officer's body camera captured the incident as he was nearly struck by the car. The video was shared on the police department's Facebook page in hopes of identifying the vehicle.

Police describe the vehicle as a silver or grey Nissan Altima or similar-type car.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Linwood Police Department at 609-927-5252.

Brittany Wehner may be reached at bwehner@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @brittanymwehner. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
NEWARK - International students from eight countries were among the graduates Friday as Ramapo College held its commencement ceremony at the Prudential Center.

The students from Bulgaria, China Azerbaijan, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Turkey and Vietnam were among the 1,509 graduates who received degrees, according to college spokeswoman Angela Daidone.

Daidone said the graduates included 65 Educational Opportunity Fund students coming from backgrounds disadvantaged by low income but who are highly motivated for success.

Also graduating were 15 United States armed forces veterans and 99 students affiliated with the Office of Specialized Services.

The President's Award of Merit was awarded to alumnus Dr. Joseph Barone, who specializes in reconstructive surgery of genito-urinary tract of infants and children.

Lindsay Hughes of Milford, a communications arts major, was the student speaker.

The commencement speaker was Anthony T. Padovano, who holds doctorates and professorships in theology and literature. Padovano is the author of 29 books, including three award-winning plays, translated into nine languages, said Daidone.

Padovano was the first elected president of CORPUS, a ministerial community. He is a founding member and a professor of literature and philosophy at Ramapo and has served for 30 years as pastor of The Inclusive Community, where Catholics and Protestants worship together.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
FORT LEE -- Authorities have arrested a South Carolina trucker who they say was caught carrying out a scheme meant to avoid paying tolls.

Marcus Antonio Wright, 34, of Sumter, S.C., was arrested Thursday morning after he was pulled over while driving through a George Washington Bridge toll, Port Authority Police announced Friday.

Wright's blue 2006 Kenworth tractor trailer had driven through an EZ Pass only lane, but did not have an EZ pass transponder, police said. Nearby officers noticed the truck did not have a front license plate, and pulled it over, police said.

Wright gave police a South Carolina license plate that was found to be a fabricated version of a plate that had been suspended in the state of Maine in February.

"It's basically a scam to avoid paying the tolls," PAPD spokesman Joseph Pentangelo said.

Wright was arrested on theft of service, toll evasion, and other traffic charges, police said. He was released pending a June court date in Fort Lee municipal court, authorities said.

The truck, a refrigerated trailer hauling cucumbers, was impounded, they said.

The arrest came two days after other truckers allegedly pulling the same stunt were found to have dodged about $6,000 in tolls. It is unclear how many toll payments Wright may owe, Pentangelo said.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at

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The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
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St George Illawarra second-row forward Joel Thompson is set to miss the Round 11 Telstra Premiership clash with the Rabbitohs after being charged by the NRL Match Review Committee.

Thompson has been charged with a grade one careless high tackle on Canberra's Blake Austin in the Dragons' golden point win at UOW Jubilee Oval on Thursday night.

The base penalty for that charge is 75 points, which means a player would not usually miss any games. However Thompson has two prior similar offences in the past two years, both carrying 50 per cent loadings, which take his charge to 150 points. Even with an early guilty plea, which allows for a 25 per cent discount, Thompson would still have 112 points and would miss one game.

Thompson also has 52 carryover points from a previous charge.

The Dragons have until noon on Tuesday to enter a plea.
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Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute

Multiple locations

The two spine surgeons at Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute have more than 26 years of collective experience and perform 21st-century techniques.

Drs. Nick Nenadovich and Anthony Thompkins are both fellowship-trained and board-certified physicians who have been awarded honors for their published research projects in their specialty.

At Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute, we take a multi-disciplinary approach, which includes pain management and psychology combined with minimally invasive spine surgical techniques, says Dr. Thompkins. This approach allows our patients to have state-of-the-art technology and a faster recovery. Our group has decades of experience and we have earned the trust and confidence of our patients and families.

Dr. Nenadovich says they are honored to be recognized by the community for their work.

The surgeons at Lakeshore Bone & Joint Institute have trained at many of the finest medical universities in the country, he says. Dr. Thompkins and I both have over two decades of experience, specifically in spinal care and treatment. Its important to note that not only do we work and practice medicine in Northwest Indiana, but we are raising our families here and call Northwest Indiana our home. We appreciate the recognition of being Best in the Region in Spine Care . . . We will continue to strive for the exceptional level of care that our patients deserve.

SECOND PLACE: Dr. Zeshan Hyder  Bone & Joint Specialists

9001 Broadway

Merrillville, Ind.

(219) 795-3360

THIRD PLACE: Community Spine & Neurosurgery Institute

801 MacArthur Blvd. Ste. 405

Munster, Ind.

(219) 836-5167

1600 S. Lake Park Ave. Ste. 1102

Hobart, Ind.

(219) 942-6510
Students participating in Dunes Learning Center programs at their school, planted 200 trees across Hobart, Portage, and East Chicago in honor of Arbor Day last month. Thanks to the Million Trees Project.

A project of Living Lands & Waters, The Million Trees project engages communities, students and teachers through tree preparation and planting events. Increasing biodiversity, providing habitat and food for wildlife, increasing air and water quality, reducing erosion and sedimentation, and enhancing aesthetics are just a few of the benefits derived from planting trees, they say.

It turns out that Cargill, in nearby Hammond, has donated approximately 25,000 trees over the past 4 years as part of that project. This year, 200 trees100 burr oak and 100 white swamp oakfound their way into the hands of Dunes Learning Center outreach coordinator, Amber Horbovetz. She works on educational restoration and st! ewardship projects with more than 2,500 kids across the region and knew just what to do with the saplings. Planting a tree is an activity that captures kids imaginations and empowers them, she says. Within hours, the trees were in the eager hands of 200 young environmental scientists.

Mighty Acorns students took the majority of the trees home, with the intent of planting them in their communities. I remember a student saying, "The more trees we plant, the better we can make the Earth!"" Sarah Gill, a teacher at Jones Elementary in Portage told us. I was so proud of that comment.

Arbor Day is held every year on the last Friday in April. Learn how you can celebrate Arbor Day in your community at www.arborday.org.
CROWN POINT  First Financial Bank has announced it will open a branch in Gary, which will be its first branch in Gary and its eighth in the Region.

Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson spoke Friday morning at the Morning Business Hour gathering at the banks branch in Crown Point on Broadway, touting the new First Financial branch for Gary as one in a string of successes achieved by working with others.

Partnership is one of the hallmarks of our administration, she said. I could sit in my office in City Hall and make (all the decisions.) But Ive (realized) the importance of having people in the room who are smarter than I am.

Public/private partnership has been essential in the effort to revitalize Gary, she said. Among the more notable successes has been a new road built with the cooperation of Majestic Star Casino, which ended up saving the city $14 million. With the help of local and state Indiana University officials, plans have moved ahead for University Park on Broadway.

First Financial Banks new Gary branch will be in the Ultra Foods Store, 6010 W. Ridge Road. The center is set to open in late summer.

First Financial Banks expansion into Gary is an investment in our community, said Michael Schneider, First Financial Bank market president. At First Financial, we see it as our responsibility to enhance economic opportunities and build partnerships in the communities we serve. Im excited to bring our client-centered, value-added approach to banking to the city.

First Financial Bank, founded out of Hamilton, Ohio, in 1863, has 101 banking centers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

First Financial Bank will announce plans for a ribbon-cutting as well as information regarding a campaign to give back to the community at a later date.
Gordon Biffle Jr. used to prepare food in the kitchen and pretend he was doing his own "Food Network" show.

Now he's on TV.

Biffle, the co-owner of Big Daddy's BBQ in Gary and Hammond, has cooked his signature barbecue on "The Steve Harvey Show," "Windy City Live" and several other Chicago-based programs.

He started barbecuing outside his Gary home, where passersby would stop to buy his meat. Then he sold it at a church next to a flea market. Then he opened a restaurant. Then another. Then he and his wife both quit their jobs to focus on the business.

Biffle, who now lives in Winfield, since has won several awards for his barbecue. In addition, he has begun to mass produce his sauces and seasonings, and hopes to open a food truck and a Crown Point-area restaurant soon. Along the way, he has promoted himself tirelessly on traditional media (television and print) and new media (Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat).

"I always said 'I'm not going to work as hard no more,' when I left my other job," said Biffle, 45. "I come to find I work even harder. At 3 a.m., I'm always thinking about the restaurants, the issues we have, how to solve them."

More people 'take a shot'

Biffle is part of the newest generation of entrepreneurs in the Region, business owners who have to be more technology and media savvy than their predecessors.

They're also a diverse bunch, as companies are more likely than ever to be owned by women or minorities. According to government figures released in December, the number of minority-owned firms in the U.S. rose to 8 million in 2012 from 5.8 million in 2007. Meanwhile, the number of women-owned businesses was at 9.8 million in 2012, an increase of 2 million from five years earlier.

With the prospect of steady work no longer a guarantee, even for college graduates, Northwest Indiana residents are increasingly going it alone.

"It seems like more people are willing to take a shot at starting their own company," said Dushan Nikolovski, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Success at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond. "Whether it's because of the way corporations are changing, the downsizing, there is a greater entrepreneurial spirit in young people."

But he noted that success takes preparation. Eighty percent of startups fail within the first 18 months, he said, so researching whether there's a market for your product or service is essential. He added that with the rapid speed of change in the economy, written business plans are essentially obsolete.

"Companies like Apple and Zappos and Google, they've always had the ability to see what the market needs and have the ability to adapt. Startups should have the ability to adapt," he said.

With the decline in American manufacturing, small businesses play a bigger role in the economy than ever before. So you don't have to start the next ArcelorMittal to make a difference.

"Certainly we'd love to have more steel mills open up, but where would they open in the Region?" Nikolovski said. "More public and private funding should go toward helping startups and small businesses regionally."

Cleaning up in business

Breanne Stover, of Crown Point, started her company, Our Space Textile Hive, after getting laid off from her job at the mills. Needing income quickly, she thought back to the laundry bags full of dirty work uniforms she would always see at job sites. She started asking if she could wash them.

She rented out a laundromat that had gone out of business. Later, she expanded her business to bars, restaurants and mechanic shops. She began selling her own industrial work wear and uniforms. She bought a Navy laundry facility and moved it to Griffith.

Stover's story is illustrative of the new economy. She graduated with a pre-med degree, then decided, after doing an internship, that she no longer wanted to work in medicine. So she went into sales for a large corporation, was laid off and had no choice but to go into business for herself.

"It was out of necessity," she said.

She's glad the chance arose. The freedom allows her to spend more time with her kids. She gets to create opportunity for others, employing about a dozen people. She's able to come up with ideas and put them into practice, a rewarding experience.

A few years ago, she learned the importance of diversifying. When the economy crashed in 2008 and the steel industry declined with it, she had to find other avenues of income. That led her to start customizing apparel for employers, allowing her creative side to flourish.

"I think at first I was probably afraid to make mistakes," said Stover, 33. "I have learned over the years if you're making mistakes at least you're getting an education out of it. My failures have been my education."

A family-fit enterprise

Despite being raised in a family of entrepreneurs, Feras Musleh, of Crown Point, didn't always dream of running his own business. But after working in the corporate world, he realized its impersonal feel just wasn't for him.

So in 2013, he teamed with his father and brother to start an Anytime Fitness franchise in LaPorte. He had worked out at that gym in college, loving how it was open 24 hours, never packed and catered to adults.

Three years later, he's set to open his fifth location, in Lemont, Illinois.

"Once I started working for corporate America I just figured, I don't want to work for a big company, I want to work for something smaller. You feel more valued as a member of a small organization," said Musleh, 30. "I don't necessarily have to work for myself; we always have to work for someone. I just wanted to stay small. I like the whole family-owned and -operated thing."

It's the same reason he works with small, community banks: Because, as a customer, you actually get to talk to the decision-makers.

Musleh hopes to have 10 locations by the end of 2017, and also diversify into other businesses, like supplement sales.

While he still visits his gyms, technology allows him to run them from his computer in Crown Point, an opportunity that didn't exist decades ago. For entrepreneurs, other things haven't changed.

"The whole aspect of putting in the time and work, that's still the same," Musleh said. "It's not for everyone. It's a 24-7 gig. You don't get days off like if you were an employee. You have to love what you do. You have to live it."
CROWN POINT  EMon Ferguson pleaded with a judge Thursday to release him from Lake County Jail and place him on an electronic ankle monitor.

Ferguson, 23, of Gary, told Lake County Criminal Judge Diane Boswell that he needed to keep working to help his wife with bills so they wouldnt get evicted. He told her he was taking online college classes. He told her they didnt have any money to post bond.

Boswell remained firm that she wasnt releasing him on an ankle monitor, explaining he had a similar past case.

You cant stay out of trouble, she said.

Boswell reduced the cash bond in the case from $7,500 to $3,500. As of Friday, the bond had not been posted and he remained in Lake County Jail, according to court records.

Thursdays hearing was in sharp contrast to the mercy he received in December 2014 when a plea agreement allowed him to dodge time in prison.

Ferguson pleaded guilty to burglary, a Class C felony, after admitting that on Sept. 11, 2013, he broke into a building in the 2300 block of West 20th Avenue in Gary. Boswell sentenced him to two years on house arrest followed by two years on probation.

In that case, Boswell released him on an ankle monitor after Ferguson impressed her with his determination after he sold his food at the jail. He used the money to buy paper and pencil to write to his then fiancee who helped him research his name. Boswell had inquired about his name during a hearing.

During his sentencing hearing in 2014, Ferguson told Boswell he had spent his time out of jail obtaining documents such as a birth certificate and a state identification card that he never had because of his turbulent upbringing. He wore a suit that was passed down to him after his cousin died.

He was still completing his probationary term in the case. A petition to revoke his probation was filed because of the latest charge.

In the recent case, Ferguson was charged with burglary, a Level 5 felony, after he was found April 30 in the basement of a vacant building, according to court records.

The owner of a vacant home in the 2200 block of Nichols Place in Gary called his son to search the home after he saw a man and a woman carrying a box of pots and pans from the home.

When the father and son went to the basement, they heard a man say, Excuse me, and found Ferguson, according to court records.

Ferguson told police his wife had kicked him out of their home during an argument, and a friend told him about the vacant building. He went into the homes basement and dozed off on top of a pile of old clothes, according to the affidavit.

Ferguson was found with a coin pursue, coins and a Las Vegas magnet that the homeowner said belonged to his deceased wife, according to court records.

His next court hearing is scheduled for June 30.
CROWN POINT  Two men with ties to the Aztec Souls street gang were sentenced Friday after admitting to breaking into a Schererville home.

Hammond residents James L. Matthews, 20, and Omar Pichardo, 19, pleaded guilty to burglary, a Level 5 felony. Lake County Criminal Judge Salvador Vasquez sentenced each man to 18 months in community corrections followed by 18 months on probation.

As part of the agreement, other criminal cases the men faced were dismissed.

The men admitted to on Dec. 8, 2014, breaking into a home in the 4900 block of West 75th Avenue in Schererville where they took two televisions, jewelry, watches, an iPad and a craft bag, according to the plea agreement.

Paul Beauchamp, 20, also was charged in the burglary. Charges against him are still pending.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney David Rooda argued for the men to serve at least two years in prison, noting they had prior contacts with police as juveniles.

Police alleged the men had ties to the Aztec Souls street gang. Matthews said he has distanced himself from the gang. Pichardo maintained he wasnt in a gang.

Tina Matthews, the mother of James Matthews, described her son as a sweet, young man. She said he spends more time with his family and stays home more often. Tina Matthews said it broke her heart when she found out her son was in a gang after she had spent so much time trying to keep him away from gangs.

James Matthews said he works in construction, and is trying to better himself. He said an officer who stopped him recently complimented him for staying out of trouble.

Defense attorney Samuel Vazanellis, who represented both men, told the court Pichardo was expected to finish high school this summer. He argued that a prison sentence would harm his clients.

I think we still have a chance with these two, Vazanellis said.

Pichardo apologized and said he knew what he did was wrong.

Im still young, Im trying to make my mom proud, he said.

Vasquez asked the men if they thought their mothers were proud to be in court for the sentencing hearing. Speaking to Pichardo, he asked him if this was how he repaid his mother for immigrating to the United States for a better life.

You should be ashamed of yourself, Vasquez said.

Still, Vasquez said the men didnt appear to be horrible people, but they needed more guidance in their lives.

Its not right to send them to prison, this time around, Vasquez said.
CROWN POINT  A woman who had accused a Chicago man of raping her is now charged with false informing, according to court records.

Lester J. Butler, 38, had been accused of raping the woman April 20 inside an East Chicago home, according to court records. All of the criminal charges, including a Level 1 felony charge of rape, against Butler were dismissed last week.

According to a motion filed by the Lake County prosecutor's office, the state moved to dismiss the charges against Butler after the woman testified in open court and provided a letter stating the allegations were false and untrue.

In the letter, the woman states that she doesn't want to pursue any criminal charges. She also wrote that she was making the request without any outside pressure or influence.

The state's motion to dismiss the case was granted May 5, and Butler was released from Lake County Jail.

The next day, the woman was charged with false informing, a Class A misdemeanor. According to the affidavit, the woman was charged with false informing, because her testimony in court and the letter indicated she gave false information in regards to the commission of a crime.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said the woman told detectives and a deputy prosecuting attorney that the rape didn't happen. He said the East Chicago detective on the case determined that what unfolding was serious enough that it warranted them seeking a charge of false reporting.

"It's fraud on the court," Carter said. "We can't tolerate that."

In his experience, Carter said he has seen similar situations but noted it is "extremely rare."

Butler said he met the woman on an online dating website and had known her a couple weeks before friends began sharing with him a news story about the charges.

The allegations spread on social media like wildfire, and he said it even led to people making threats against his life.

He said they had a consensual relationship, but he maintains that they didn't have sex on April 20. He recalled she gave him gas money when they saw each other on April 20.

Butler said his friend and the woman all traveled together to the East Chicago Police Department when he surrendered to police.

He urged people to gather all the information about an incident before jumping to judgement.
PORTAGE  Two Hammond men were arrested Thursday evening after they led police on a chase in excess of 100 mph.

Christopher Baxter Jr., 35, and Jorge Vargas, 34, were both charged with felony resisting by fleeing and reckless driving, a misdemeanor.

According to police, the incident began in Burns Harbor when police there were chasing four motorcycles traveling west on U.S. 20. The motorcycles got onto westbound Interstate 94 and police lost sight of them.

Two of the motorcycles got off the interstate and headed north on Ind. 249. Portage police picked up the pursuit.

Police followed the two at a high speed, believed to be in excess of 100 mph, according to the report, as the motorcyclists disregarded a traffic signal at Ind. 249 and the U.S. Steel Bridge, turned north and eventually began heading west on U.S. 12.

According to the report, the two were passing other vehicles along U.S. 12, sometimes driving head on into oncoming traffic.

That officer terminated the pursuit due to the recklessness of the motorcyclists. He saw them turn south onto County Line Road.

At that time, a second Portage officer spotted Vargas and Baxter make a u-turn and head back north on County Line Road. The initial officer turned onto County Line Road and blocked the two with his squad car as they drove toward him.

Vargas and Baxter were taken into custody and are in the Porter County Jail.
INDIANAPOLIS  A Dyer homeowners association went too far when it ordered a resident who replaced her termite-infected cedar siding with vinyl siding to remove it, a divided Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

In its 2-1 decision, the appeals court concluded that Castlewood Property Owners Association, Inc. did not have a legal right to bar Leticia Guerra-Danko from installing rough cedar finish siding, which is classified as vinyl siding, on her home.

The association claimed Guerra-Dankos use of vinyl siding violated an informal prohibition on the product in the subdivision, as well as a protective covenant aimed at preserving neighboring property values that requires preapproval of exterior home alterations.

Judge John Baker said since the vinyl siding ban was not in writing and the association presented no evidence Guerra-Dankos siding is aesthetically problematic or likely to economically harm her neighbors, the associations order to remove it was unreasonable under state law.
CROWN POINT  The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has corrected a union leader's driving record to reflect he has two reckless driving convictions in the last five years.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard A. Carter said Friday the new record will be used in any future cases involving Randolph L. Randy Palmateer, 37, business manager for the Northwestern Indiana Building and Construction Trades Council.

Palmateer's amended record now includes his arrest by Crown Point police Aug. 8, 2011. Local court records state the prosecutor charged Palmateer with OWI (operating a vehicle while intoxicated). Palmateer later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of reckless driving in that case.

Palmateer declined comment Friday.

Carter said that the 2011 arrest and conviction were missing from Palmateer's record earlier this month when his staff mistakenly gave Palmateer a second plea bargain in connection with Palmateer's March 25 arrest at a Hammond sobriety checkpoint.

Carter's office charged Palmateer with OWI again. But Carter said he and his staff thought it was Palmateer's first such offense since it wasn't in his permanent BMV record.

Carter said that if they had known Palmateer had a prior drunken driving arrest, they would have pressed for a trial and a conviction on the OWI charge, which could have carried stiffer penalties.

Instead, the prosecutor gave Palmateer the opportunity to plead guilty May 2 in Hammond City Court to reckless driving under a deal where the newest OWI charge was dropped.

Palmateer did plead guilty to reckless driving, agreed to undergo alcohol counseling, pay court fees and costs of $383 and submit to supervision of the court's probation department for 180 days. He avoided jail time, suspension of his driving privileges and a larger fine.

Carter said earlier he was upset over the mistake and ordered an investigation. He said Friday, "We found and submitted all the paperwork to (BMV) to truly reflect his record. He now has two major traffic violations on his record."

Carter said his research didn't find any evidence of fraud over the missing 2011 record so he cannot petition the court to overturn this month's plea bargain.

Josh Gillespie, deputy commissioner of communications for the BMV, said Friday, "The changes added yesterday were from orders from the court, not from the prosecutor. A prosecutor can't tell us to add or take away anything."

Gillespie said the Lake Station City Court had failed to submit the 2011 case to the BMV. "Some of this we only recently received."

He added the BMV record doesn't reflect police allegations that Palmateer refused to take breath tests because the Lake Station City Court in 2011 and the Hammond City Court this month ordered those to be deleted.

The Hammond City Court judge issued an order May 2 stating he heard evidence of Palmateer's arrest and "now finds that the defendant has not refused to submit to a chemical test for intoxication on March 25, 2016 and orders the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to set aside and vacate the refusal suspension on the defendant's permanent driving record."

The BMV report indicates Palmateer could have his license suspended next month, Sarah Adolf, a BMV spokeswoman said. The record indicates a failure to file proof of insurance coverage.

Palmateer's BMV record also includes nine violations for speeding, seat belt violations and disregarding a traffic signal dating between 1995 and 2008.
MERRILLVILLE  Town officials have learned how devastating pending property tax assessment appeals could be if they are successful.

Bob Swintz, a town financial adviser, created a report looking at four of the largest big-box appeals being sought in town.

Big-box stores are basing appeals on the value of vacant stores. Swintz told town officials Meijer, Menards, Lowe's and Costco all have pending appeals for their locations in Merrillville. Each of the appeals is in various stages and some go back several years.

If those appeals are successful and the assessed values of those properties drop by 35 percent, Merrillville would owe refunds of $1.3 million to Meijer, $747,000 to Menards, $1.06 million to Lowe's and $103,000 to Costco. Swintz said those amounts don't include interest.

It's unknown at this time if the appeals will be approved or how much the assessed values of the properties would decrease. The amounts associated with the 35 percent reductions are currently being viewed as worst case scenarios, town officials said.

Town Attorney John Bushemi said any potential refunds could be paid back over a five-year period.

The stores seeking appeals are located in the Merrillville Road and Mississippi Street tax increment financing districts, and the town has bonds associated with those districts.

Swintz said repaying debt in those TIF districts doesn't appear to be an issue if the appeals are successful, but it is questionable if the town would be able to pursue other projects it intends to fund with TIF money.

You have to really look close at what you want to do, what your projects are, Swintz said.

Successful appeals also could affect an educational program the Redevelopment Commission has in place because there would be less funding available in those districts.

Last year, the commission approved a plan to provide $310,000 grants each year through 2019 to the Merrillville Community School Corp. for college and career readiness programs in schools.

The town designated TIF district funding to pay for the grants. Municipal redevelopment commissions are allowed to commit up to 15 percent of the fund balance from TIF districts each year to education grants.

Schererville and St. John are among local communities also are facing big-box property tax assessment appeals. Merrillville is collaborating with those municipalities to fight the appeals. A meeting involving officials from the communities is expected to occur in early June to continue those efforts.
HAMMOND  Hammond police are investigating reports that two teachers at Bishop Noll Institute had inappropriate conversations with students there.

In the first case, a 33-year-old male teacher reportedly sent texts and Facebook messages to the student, who thought they were inappropriate and told another teacher, who advised calling the police.

Hammond police were called at 1 p. m. Thursday to the private Catholic college preparatory high school at 1519 Hoffman St.

An officer spoke with the student and school officials while taking down a suspicious incident report. So far, no arrests have been made and no criminal charges have been filed.

Hammond police detectives are investigating.

The Diocese of Gary issued a statement saying the teachers account may have been hacked.

On Thursday, May 12, 2016, an allegation was made that a messaging communication took place from a faculty member to a student that was inappropriate. The faculty member may be a victim of account hacking, the diocese said in the statement.

However, this early in the investigation by public authorities and Bishop Noll administration, we have not had ample opportunity to confirm the entirety of the allegation. This matter is being taken very seriously and the appropriate steps have been taken to protect all BNI students.

Hammond police said two additional reports were filed Friday at the school involving a different teacher. The first of these involved what may be considered inappropriate communications between a man who was then an athletic coach and a female student, according to police. The allegation stems from January 2015, police said.

The second of these reports involves the same man, who is now a teacher, who had allegedly sent inappropriate communications approximately three months ago to a female student, according to police. No arrests or charges had been filed as of late Friday, but it is believed the teacher mentioned in the second and third reports had been relieved of duty as of Friday afternoon, said police.

Anyone with information about the cases should call Hammond Police Department Sgt. Chris Matonovich at (219) 852-2963 or Sgt. Mark Biller at (219) 852-2966.
The pungent smell that spread across Northwest Indiana on Thursday likely happened because someone dumped a petrochemical down the drain, and the East Chicago Sanitary District is working to track down whos is responsible.

A strong odor of natural gas, diesel fuel and sulfur caused East Chicago and Hammond residents to suffer from burning eyes, throats and noses late Wednesday night. Over the course of the next day, people complained about the pervasive stench as far away as Munster, Lansing, Highland, Griffith and Schererville.

Its the third time someone has dumped a petrochemical into the East Chicago wastewater system, though this is the first time anyone has smelled it outside of the East Chicago Sanitary District Plant on Indianapolis Boulevard, plant operator Keith Perry said. Winds had been gusting at around 10 mph to 15 mph off of Lake Michigan when the noxious smell spread.

It has to be a company because of the sheer volume of it, Perry said. Once you smell it, you never forget it. Its a petrochemical odor with three or four different flavors. Its really sickening. The first time I couldnt even breathe.

NIPSCO responded to multiple calls but found no natural gas leaks anywhere, spokeswoman Kathleen Szot said. Gas-like odors often come from the BP Whiting Refinery or the Safety-Kleen re-refinery in East Chicago, but they both were ruled out this time, said Ronald Novak, Hammond Department of Environmental Management director.

East Chicago resident Monqiue Kurmis, who lives in the Prairie Park neighborhood, awoke Friday to a rancid smell that forced her to rip open all the doors and windows in her house. NIPSCO responded and told her there was petroleum in the sewers underneath her home, and that it needs to be flushed out.

Shes been flushing her toilets with clean water and bleach to try to keep the stink out.

It keeps coming back, Kumis said. It can really make you sick. Its no fun anymore to live here.

The odor first surfaced at the East Chicago wastewater plant a month ago, and then again two weeks ago, Perry said. It always occurs on a Thursday, which leads East Chicago Sanitary District officials to believe some company is deliberately dumping a chemical.

Its some hazardous chemical that dont know what to do with, Perry said. Theyve been getting away with dumping it because they didnt get caught the first time. Its illegal without a discharge permit. You cant even change your oil and put it in the drain, and this isnt oil. Its some wild stuff.

The East Chicago Sanitary District has tracked the smell down to a pump station, and are awaiting lab results to confirm it.

If they catch the company doing the dumping, they plan to notify state and federal authorities  pending the execution, Perry said.
The Hammond Police Department will hold its next Hessville Crime Watch meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Jean Shepherd Community Center, 3031 J.F. Mahoney Drive.

Sgt. Scott Holbrook, who is the Hammond Police Department's Hessville community affairs officer, will offer residents tips about crime prevention and listen to their concerns.

Hammond has 11 crime watch groups, which aim to make neighborhoods safer and give residents and business owners a sense of ownership and pride in their communities. The Hessville group meets at the Jean Shepherd Community Center on the third Thursday of every month.

For more information, contact Holbrook at (219) 852-6376.
CHESTERTON  An Indiana State Police sergeant and others were taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries following a five-vehicle crash Friday afternoon on the Indiana Toll Road.

Westbound traffic was backed up for miles hours after the crash at about 1:22 p.m. about 1 1/2 miles east of the Chesterton exit.

According to a preliminary investigation by Trooper Luis Ruiz, a westbound 2014 Volvo semitrailer, driven by Gary McDonald 40, of Washington, Illinois, was in the right lane when he hit the rear of the car ahead of him.

The box trailer, owned by Air-Land Transport Service out of Morton, Illinois, was loaded with 7,500 pounds of empty sacks and skids. According to police, McDonald said he glanced at his GPS, then mirror, and when he looked up traffic was at a standstill.

McDonald reportedly tried to swerve, but hit the rear of a 2011 Ford Escape, driven by Britni Walter, 20, of Southfield, Michigan. Police said the collision caused the Escape to be pushed into the rear of a 2009 Ford Focus, driven by R. Scott Berkley, 61, of New Brighton, Pennsylvania. The second collision caused the Escape to go into the guardrail and roll over onto its drivers side, according to police.

The Focus was pushed into the rear of a 2015 Freightliner semi pulling a tanker, loaded with liquid plastic. The semitrailer was owned by Schneider National out of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and driven by Shadon Hart, 53, of Baton Rouge, Lousiana.

Police said after McDonalds semi hit the Ford Escape, it swerved to the left and hit some crash barrels before hitting the rear of a 2010 state police car, driven by Sgt. William Jones, 43, a 20-year veteran of the department. Jones was reportedly sitting facing westbound traffic in the cross over at the location with all his emergency lights on to warn motorists of slowed/stopped traffic caused by construction in the area.

Jones, Walter, and a passenger in her vehicle, and Berkley and a passenger in his vehicle, were taken to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. Police said Hart and McDonald were not injured. McDonald was taken to Porter Regional Hospital in Valparaiso for a blood draw, which police said is standard procedure in this type of crash. He also reportedly was cited for unsafe lane movement and following too closely.

All westbound traffic was temporarily diverted off at the U.S. 421 exit while reconstruction of the crash took place. The injured were transported, and the vehicles were removed. All lanes were reopened at about 3:45 p.m., although traffic remained backed up for hours longer.
From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, drivers are invited to take a test drive of a new Ford. For each test drive, Ford Motor Co. will donate $20 up to $6,000. The program is sponsored by Currie Motors of Valparaiso. Go to fordofvalpo.com for more details.
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SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois House voted unanimously Thursday to approve $700 million in stopgap funding for social service programs that havent received any state money since the budget year began July 1.

The measure, which is expected to come to the Senate floor for a vote Thursday afternoon, would draw $450 million from a special fund dedicated to social services. The other $250 million would come from other special state funds.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent legislative leaders and Gov. Bruce Rauner a framework for next years budget.

The proposal includes $5.4 billion in new revenue, which would be generated by raising the states personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.85 percent and by expanding the sales tax to some services, according to a member of the group. The lawmakers also outlined $2.4 billion in cuts.

They would also borrow $5 billion to pay down the states backlog of unpaid bills.

Because lawmakers were directed to focus solely on the budget, the talks did not include any measures on Rauners pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda. A separate group of lawmakers is discussing those issues.

Illinois is still operating without a full budget for the current year, and lawmakers face a May 31 deadline to pass one for the new year that begins July 1.
It was an emotional reunion in Brooklyn: a man met the firefighter who saved him when he was just a young boy two decades ago. NY1's Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report.



It's been 20 years since these two last came face to face.

Arif Wedderburn was 3 years old when firefighter Erik Weiner pulled his near-lifeless body from a raging fire.

"Mr. Weiner, I'm really trying my best right now not to cry right now," Wedderburn said. "This is monumental. This doesn't get to happen often. And I just honestly want to say thank you."

Wedderburn, who now lives in Baltimore, says he's been dreaming of this reunion for years.

It was on May 8, 1996 when a fire broke out in his Brownsville apartment. Firefighters found his older sister dangling from a window.

"She was at the window. I put the mask on her. Next thing I know, she said, 'My brother is in there,'" Weiner said.

Though just a toddler, Wedderburn remembers being trapped.

"When I woke up, the carpet was just engulfed in fire. I was alarmed. I started to cry. I didn't know what to do," Wedderburn said. "Got into the living room and stopped, dropped and rolled, and kept doing that until I was unconscious."

Weiner battled smoke, flames and searing heat to find the boy.

"First pass I made, I didn't find him. Second pass, I still didn't find him. Things weren't going our way," Weiner said. "But the last one, I remember seeing him on the ground, and I figured the first thing he needed was my mask. I put it on him."

Safely outside, Wedderburn was resuscitated. Weiner was hospitalized for second-degree burns and cuts to his eye.

Back in 1996, after returning to the firehouse, Weiner said, "I was just happy I was there. Everything worked out good, and I was in the right place at the right time."

But Wedderburn and his mother say Weiner's actions were much more than that.

"I was brought back for a reason," Arif Wedderburn said. "He was an angel sent. He was a complete angel sent."

"You tore the oxygen mask from your face and placed it on the face of my son. I believe it was in that moment, his life was saved," said Ivion Wedderburn, Arif Wedderburn's mother.

Ivion Wedderburn wrote a thank-you note after the fire. On Thursday, she finally had a chance to give it to Weiner, the now-retired hero who saved her family 20 years ago.
NYPD officials say they are turning up the heat on gangs around the city before the summer's hot weather arrives. NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger has the details.

The NYPD says it just getting started with dismantling gangs. In the last month, at least 219 gang members have been arrested for violence and drug dealing.

"We wanted to set the tone through these tack-downs just before the summer  when violence traditionally spikes  to send the message that violence will not be tolerated in this city," said NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill.

The arrests have taken place in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Harlem, and East Harlem, with names like Operation Peacekeeper and Operation Stoppin' The Poppin.

"We've taken these groups  mainly who've self-identified, by the way  on social media, and others through graffiti, as well as body markings," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "They're the ones creating the crime in this community. We've gotten a lot of positive feedback."

"On Webster Avenue, the Young and Rich Savages, this is a subset of the Mac Baller Bloods," Boyce continued. We arrested 11 subjects."

Wednesday, police arrested 21 people in an alleged gang bust in the Bronx.

Two weeks before that, officials conducted the largest gang takedown in city history, arresting more than 100 people during an overnight raid of Bronx public housing complexes.

And they promise there's more to come, with numerous gangs slated to be hauled in.

"We are going to take another 20 down before the Fourth of July," Boyce said Thursday. "So if I was a gang member creating havoc and doing violence, I'd be afraid of going to jail. Especially a lot of these gang members  they are being prosecuted federally, which means they are going westbound."

Statistics show gun arrests are up by 22 percent so far this year and shooting incidents are the lowest they have been in decades.

The police department says that it is not trying to keep this a secret, and that it knows who are the violent gangs and individuals. Police say they will definitely be arrested if they don't stop the violence.

"We are calling in gang members beforehand, before cases are initiated in some occasions, and saying, 'We know what you're doing. Stop or we will be coming after you.'" said Dermot Shea, the NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Operations. "So it's not just arrest and put in jail as the sole answer; that is one of the strategies deployed."

"If they are not nervous, they should be nervous," O'Neill said. "This is something that we do and do very well."

And the chief says these investigations have been going on for over a year, so there's plenty of evidence.
A man who held a "Free Hugs" sign in Times Square was arrested Thursday afternoon after he assaulted a tourist, according to the NYPD.



The 22-year-old tourist from Canada said the man, Jermaine Himmelstein, 24, assaulted her around noon after she and an another woman from Canada refused to give him a tip, according to NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill.



The victim said she and another woman from Canada had asked Himmelstein to take a picture with them after seeing him with the sign.

After that friendly exchange, however, he demanded money, according to police, and argued with the women.

According to officials, Himmelstein punched the 22-year-old in the face, giving her a black eye. Her eyes are now swollen shut, officials said, and she also sustained bruises and cuts.

At a press conference, O'Neill said the suspect has multiple prior arrests, and "several were for the same type of offense."

Police said Himmelstein ran off after he assaulted the tourist before officers caught him in Union Square.

Himmelstein is charged with assault.

Authorities say he has an arrest on his record from last month for a criminal mischief charge, according to officials, and also served time in 2013 on a property damage charge.

Mayor Bill de Blasio recently signed legislation to create special zones where characters and street performers can seek tips. De Blasio says he hopes it will be in place before the summer.


Five young boys have now been arrested in connection with the burning of a school bus for Jewish children in Brooklyn.

Earlier this week, police arrested an 11-year-old boy, accusing him of setting fire to this empty bus in Crown Heights on Sunday.

Now police say another 11-year-old, a 12-year-old and two 14-year-olds have also been arrested.

Investigators say all five are from Brooklyn and are seen in this surveillance video.

The boys have been charged with arson and criminal mischief as well as hate crimes.
The Obama administration is directing public schools around the country including those here in New York City, to allow transgender students access to bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

An official letter is being sent to public school districts Friday.

While the letter sent from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice does not have any new legal requirements, the White House says it is meant to clarify the need to educate students in non-discriminatory environments.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, "There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex."

Jared Fox, the city Department of Education's LGBT Community Liaison, also released a statement backing the directive, adding, "We have guidelines in place to ensure every school building provides a safe and supportive learning environment that allows students to use the bathroom of their gender identity."

New Yorkers who spoke with NY1 say they support protections for transgender people.

"I think it's a step in the right direction, so I think small steps. I think people might be a little bit hesitant to go with it at first. I think with time, everybody will be accepting," said one New Yorker.

"Nobody has the right to tell them, 'Oh, this is wrong. We have a law against that or for that.' It's a basic human right," noted another New Yorker.

This comes during a legal battle between the Justice Department and North Carolina over that state's so called "Bathroom Law."

North Carolina and the federal government sued each other earlier this week, with the state's Governor Pat McCrory arguing that the law is "common sense privacy policy."

That measure says transgender people must use bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificate.
There is a lot of interest right now in Mayor Bill de Blasio's fundraising habits, as they are the subject of several federal and state investigations.

And de Blasio made it clear that despite the attention from prosecutors and others, he is going to keep raising money for his mayoral re-election campaign.

De Blasio indicated in a radio interview on WNYC on Friday morning that he might even be willing to welcome the help of a Super PAC in that effort.

Super PACs can accept unlimited sums of money, but they are prohibited from coordinating their efforts with a specific candidate's campaign.

Some politicians, like Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, have ruled out accepting Super PAC support.

The mayor suggested he might want a Super PAC in his corner because he expects wealthy individuals and businesses fighting his agenda to bankroll a candidate to challenge him next year.

"I've said clearly: if other people choose to run for this office, God bless them. I'm convinced that at least one candidate will come forward who is heavily, heavily financed by the hedge funds or other powerful interests," de Blasio said on WNYC. "We are going to have to make decisions at that point about how to handle things."

De Blasio said he has already been the target of well-funded ad campaigns against him, well before he was up for re-election.

"Landlords, multi-national corporations, hedge funds  grand total $11 million in issue advertising directed against me in just over two years. So, we can count," the mayor said in the WNYC interview. "We understand that very powerful forces are going to challenge our progressive agenda, and we are going to be able to fight back from the grassroots."

Despite his refusal to rule out a Super PAC, the mayor says he is focused on raising small donations from New Yorkers.

De Blasio held a fundraiser Thursday night at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg that more than 600 people attended, according to the campaign and a source inside.

The mayor said he expects to have raised $750,000 from the event, when public matching dollars are included.

Tonight on Inside City Hall, I'll be talking with a Republican who may challenge de Blasio next year: City Councilor Eric Ulrich of Queens. We'll see what he has to say about the investigations into the mayor.

And then we'll have our Friday Reporters Roundtable. That's all at 7 and 10 p.m.
The Curtis Institute of Music, the prestigious conservatory in Philadelphia, announced on Thursday that it has been given a $55 million gift from the outgoing chairwoman of its board, Nina Baroness von Maltzahn. It is one of the largest gifts ever made to an American music school, and a statement from the conservatory described the gift as the largest single donation it had received since Mary Louise Curtis Bok established its tuition-free policy in 1928.

The statement said that the gift would be added to its endowment to help support a number of strategic initiatives  one of which is to remain tuition-free  as the conservatory prepares to celebrate its centennial in 2024.

The baroness, who joined the Curtis board of overseers in 2008, became a trustee in 2010 and began a two-year term as chairwoman in 2014, said in a statement that the schools students had grown close to her heart. To hear them perform, to support their learning and to see them flourish is immensely gratifying, she said.

Mark Rubenstein, who will succeed her as chairman of the board, thanked her for her generosity. Curtiss signature full-tuition scholarship policy has kept the school at the forefront of the worlds conservatories, he said in a statement. However, with no tuition revenue, it also means that the generosity of individual donors is of extreme importance.
My analysis of how Israel might see its own rational self-interest was apparently shared by no less distinguished a neocon than President Obama. As Leon Panetta noted in my magazine article, perhaps his main job as secretary of defense was to restrain Israel from bombing Iran  by convincing them that America would do it for them, if Iran actually threatened to build a bomb.

The panel at the Hudson Institute was organized by Lee Smith, an ardent opponent of the Iran deal. Smith is definitely a right-winger, rabid even. He is also my friend, and he knows a ton about things beyond politics that I also care about, like the novels of Naguib Mahfouz and how to make the pivot at second base. And, believe it or not, Smith was also my friend back when we were neighbors in Brooklyn. He was the editor of the Village Voice Literary Supplement and an ardent admirer of Edward Said (sorry, Lee). I agreed to sit on his panel after he called me up to interview me about an article that I wrote in The New Yorker about a truck driver named John Coster-Mullen, who reverse-engineered the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I explained to Smith what I considered to be an important difference between nuclear know-how and infrastructure, one that I thought was being blurred by the rhetoric of both sides in the Iran deal debate. Thanks to Coster-Mullen, I told him, I had the plans for a nuclear bomb in my desk drawer at home  but I lacked the tens of billions of dollars necessary to proliferate. I thought that Smiths article was fair to what I wrote, so I agreed to be on his panel.

Heres what I said at the opening of the panel  which hasnt been tweeted or written about by anyone yet, so far as I can tell, even though its the very first thing I say in the video:

Unlike many of you, Im a writer. Im a journalist. Im not involved in partisan politics. Ive generally considered myself to be a liberal Democrat. These principles [of bipartisanship and consensus] historically are noncontroversial ones. Theyve been embraced by every American administration since World War II. To find them being undone in this very rapid way, given the potential consequences of unchecked nuclear proliferation  not just in the region but also in Asia  is and should be a terrifying thing for Americans to contemplate, whatever their feelings about this president or Republicans or Democrats. As someone who has reported in and around questions related to nuclear programs and gray market economies, I am startled by the lack of attention and clarity that is obvious in the way these stories are being reported.

About an hour into the discussion, I suggested, in response to a question, that a nuclear deal with Iran  if it destroyed existing nonenrichment standards  might lead to widespread nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. Another person who thought the same thing, it turned out, was Hillary Clinton, speaking to Fareed Zakaria the previous year. I believe strongly that its really important for there to be so little enrichment or no enrichment at least for a long period of time because I do think any enrichment will trigger an arms race in the Middle East, Clinton said. Maybe the things Clinton said on CNN in 2014 werent supposed to be true in Washington in 2015, but they were, and still are. For anyone who has thought much about nuclear weapons  which I have, having written long pieces on the subject for both Harpers and The New Yorker  the prospect of dismantling nonproliferation safeguards and standards that have kept tens or hundreds of millions of people safe since Hiroshima and Nagasaki is terrifying.

So, do I support the Iran deal? On balance, I suppose I do. Its a complicated agreement and Im not an expert (Im a journalist), but after talking to people who are experts  including Leon Panetta, who told me that he supports the deal with reservations  I imagine its probably a good-enough idea that I should have some reservations about, too.. I will wait and watch and see what happens, just like everyone else.

Finally, I would like to turn to the protestations of two journalists, Jeffrey Goldberg and Laura Rozen, who felt wounded by a very brief passage in my article, in which they were named as people who helped retail the administrations talking points.

The reason I chose to cite Rozen and Goldberg as important conduits for the administrations foreign policy message is based on two kinds of evidence. One: This very idea was suggested to me in taped interviews with White House staff members who dealt with these journalists; in interviews with other journalists; and in interviews with other people who read their work. Two: My own reading of both Rozen and Goldberg for years had suggested to me that this was a fair thing to say about their work. It seemed at least worth mentioning the names of some journalists in a 9,500-word article about a writer who tells stories to the public, using journalists as one of his instruments. If I didnt name any of those journalists, readers might fairly conclude that Rhodes was in fact terrible at his job  or that journalists, especially those who live in Washington, belong to a special category of person who must never be criticized, even gently.

And this is why, I think, my story ignited such a firestorm. It was a portrait of an honest, dedicated person with a great deal of power in Washington who happens to be deeply critical of the press  not out of cynicism or anger, but out of regret over the seemingly vanishing possibilities of free and open discourse. I did not pry this critique out of Rhodes, nor did I introduce him to it. He has far more familiarity with the 21st-century news cycle than I do. It has been fascinating for me to watch my story, which was largely read on its own terms outside of Washington and even by the White House itself, go through the looking glass of social media. The story itself has vanished, replaced by a digital mash-up of slurs and invective, supported by stray phrases that have been mechanically tweezered from different texts. The issues that Rhodes raises in my profile  about the reshaping of the media, the way American foreign policy has shifted, the way the world works now  none of these things are being discussed, either. Somehow, for a small group of people with very loud megaphones, the point right now seems to be me  or rather, a digital pinata they have slapped my name on. It seems fair to say that Rhodes won our bet.
One could be forgiven for experiencing some whiplash from the spate of intense auctions this week. One moment, the art world was bemoaning Sothebys poor Impressionist and modern sale on Monday evening as confirmation of a softening of demand. The next moment, the art world was celebrating Sothebys successful contemporary sale on Wednesday evening as evidence of the markets resilience.

All in all, these disparate results suggest more about the categories than they do about the overall art climate. Contemporary, Todd Levin, an art adviser, said on Thursday, is now the market barometer.

Christies Impressionist and modern sale on Thursday evening confirmed this perspective, with a noticeably subdued sale of works by Monet, Modigliani and other late-19th and early-20th-century masters that raised $141.5 million, including fees, from 51 lots, 86 percent of which sold. This was just above the low estimate for the sale, $134 million.

The result was in striking contrast to Sothebys contemporary sale the night before, when a selling rate of 95 percent and a total of $242.2 million confounded doomsayers.
Steven Soderbergh takes viewers on a wild, pharmaceutically induced ride in Side Effects, starring Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum. Lenny Kravitz seeks perfection in Just Let Go. And eight documentaries celebrate those struggling against the odds in Justice for All.

Whats on TV

SIDE EFFECTS (2013) 9 p.m. on Starz. Emily (Rooney Mara), a despairing young New Yorker, turns to a prescription antidepressant after her hedge-fund cowboy husband (Channing Tatum) returns from four years in prison for insider trading and sets off a severe depressive episode in his wife. She mourns what she has lost: Champagne in crystal flutes, a sleek sailboat and a Mercedes in the driveway of their Greenwich mansion. Then a ghastly incident occurs, and its up to Emilys prescribing physician (Jude Law) to get to the bottom of what went wrong. But her former therapist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) isnt being very helpful. The plot of Steven Soderberghs tight and twisty pharma-caper may be predictable (and more than a little preposterous) in retrospect, A. O. Scott wrote in The New York Times, but he handles it brilliantly, serving notice once again that he is a crackerjack genre technician.
John Bradshaw, whose ideas about family dysfunction and the damaged inner child concealed within most adults made him one of the most popular and influential self-help evangelists of the 1990s, died on Sunday in Houston. He was 82.

The cause was heart failure, his son, John Jr., said.

Mr. Bradshaw drew on his unhappy childhood as the son of an alcoholic father, his own drinking problems and his work as a counselor to develop a set of explanations for myriad psychological ills.

In his television shows on PBS and in books like Bradshaw On: The Family (1986) and Homecoming: Reclaiming and Championing Your Inner Child (1990), he argued that millions of adults fail to achieve healthy relationships because they have never come to terms with the shame, self-blame and toxic guilt caused by parental abuse, physical or emotional.

Until they learned to seek out and heal the hurt child within, he said, most adults stumbled through life, expressing their pain through self-destructive behavior and entering into unhappy love relationships with similarly damaged partners, each hoping to find in the other a loving, approving parent.
It is hard to avoid presidential politics this year at SALT, where prominent hedge fund managers weigh in on subjects like the economy and geopolitics and tax policies in the United States. It is the main topic in the speeches delivered on the brightly lit stage and in the closed-door meetings and Champagne-filled after-hours events.

Mr. Trump picked Mr. Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive who is a hedge fund veteran, to be his finance chairman to help him raise as much as $1.5 billion for his campaign.

For many on Wall Street, however, publicly supporting Mr. Trump is awkward. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has been vocal in speaking out against hedge fund managers, talking tough about their pay and saying they get away with murder. He has also said he plans to put an end to a tax advantage called carried interest that enables private equity and hedge fund executives to treat their income at the lower capital gains rate, rather than having it taxed as ordinary income.

Many of the biggest political backers in the financial world have put sizable amounts of money into the failed campaigns for other Republican presidential hopefuls, like Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. While many have said they would never support a Democratic candidate, they have also publicly objected to Mr. Trump.

Before becoming one of the first on Wall Street to back him, Mr. Scaramucci had been one of Mr. Trumps loudest critics. Less than a year ago, he called Mr. Trump a hack politician, warning that his politics were divisive.
Thieves have again found their way into what was thought to be the most secure financial messaging system in the world and stolen money from a bank. The crime appears to be part of a broad online attack on global banking.

New details about a second attack involving Swift  the messaging system used by thousands of banks and companies to move money around the world  are emerging as investigators are still trying to solve the $81 million heist from the central bank of Bangladesh in February. In that theft, the attackers were able to compel the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to move money to accounts in the Philippines.

The second attack involves a commercial bank, which Swift declined to identify. But in a letter Swift plans to share with its users on Friday, the messaging network warned that the two attacks bore numerous similarities and were very likely part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks.

The unusual warning from Swift, a copy of which was reviewed by The New York Times, shows how serious the financial industry regards these attacks to be. Some banking experts say they may be impossible to solve or trace. Swift said the thieves somehow got their hands on legitimate network credentials, initiated the fraudulent transfers and installed malware on bank computers to disguise their movements.
Death Toll



Its difficult to arrive at exact numbers of dead and wounded given the chaos in Syria; the deliberate secrecy from many warring parties, including the government; and the dangers that prevent monitoring groups from physically reaching many parts of the country. This is not uncommon in wars; death toll estimates from World War II still vary. Personally, I find the upper range of estimates for the Syrian conflict, nearing half a million dead, quite plausible.

The United Nations stopped officially counting deaths at just over 100,000, in July 2013, saying that it could no longer independently verify them and thus could not present its figures as reliable. But the violence has only escalated since then, with more government airstrikes and use of heavy weaponry, continuing battles between the government and myriad insurgent groups, and the emergence of the Islamic State.

A report from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in August 2014 put the number of documentable deaths at more than 191,000, with caveats that many other reported deaths were excluded because they could not be verified to the same degree. A year later, United Nations agencies were using an estimate of 250,000.

But other groups put the numbers much higher. The Syrian Center for Policy Research  which until recently worked in Damascus, the Syrian capital, meaning it was tolerated by the government  put the number of dead at 470,000 as of December 2015. That figure is close to what the United Nations envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said he estimated (400,000) based on his own personal analysis.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which uses a network of sources inside the country, says it has documented more than 270,000 deaths as of February  meaning it has names, dates and other details for each one  but estimates the total to be 370,000. The Violations Documentation Center, one of the more rigorous of the nongovernmental bodies working inside Syria, has documented more than 131,000 deaths on the anti-government side alone, not counting those fighting on the side of the government or for the Islamic State.


Our regrets go back to the decade The Times was founded.

William Henry Hurlbert had just seen a friend off at the piers on July 15, 1859. Perhaps he returned to his office on Park Row in a jollier mood than usual when he sat down to write an editorial about the Quadrilateral fortresses of northern Italy. If we follow the windings of the Mincio, he instructed readers, we shall find countless elbows formed in the elbows of the regular army.

Notwithstanding the toil spent by Austria on the spot, we should have learned that we are protected by a foreign fleet suddenly coming up on our question of citizenship, he continued, less and less steadily. A canal cuts Mantua in two; but we may rely on the most cordial Cabinet Minister of the new power in England.

Instructed never to touch a word of Hurlberts writing, the proofreader let it through and into print.

The correction was both lighthearted and defensive. It blamed a confusion of manuscripts for the perfectly unintelligible editorial. Since the blunder had already given other newspapers a chance to have fun at our expense, The Times said, Our apology is addressed to the world of readers alone.
Frustrated by a lack of progress over a new contract, faculty members and employees at the City University of New York voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a mediator was unable to broker a deal with the administration, their union said on Thursday.

Any strike would not take place until the fall, according to Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents 25,000 CUNY employees. State law makes it all but illegal for public employees to go on strike, so union leaders could face arrest and union members could face fines if they walk out.

Still, out of more than 10,000 ballots cast over a two-week period, 92 percent of union members said yes to a possible walkout.

It sends an extraordinarily clear message to the CUNY chancellor and also to Albany, said Ms. Bowen, who is also a professor of English at Queens College and at CUNYs Graduate Center. We feel that we have pursued vigorously every other avenue.
Mr. Smikle said that Mr. Percoco, Ms. Wolfe and others were clearly advised by legal counsel that fund-raising earmarking was a circumvention of the states campaign finance limits. Eventually, the coordinated effort became divided after internal strategic and operational disagreements, he said. Citing published reports, Mr. Smikle added that the mayors group is now under investigation, suspected of using earmarked funds through the Democratic county committees of Ulster and Putnam Counties.

An election lawyer for the mayor, Laurence D. Laufer, who advised on the Senate effort, dismissed Mr. Smikles version of events.

There was clear legal guidance provided to all parties that was rigorously adhered to, he said in a statement provided by Mr. de Blasios campaign. The notion that the state party had concerns about any legal issue, or backed away from the effort because of that, is patently ridiculous.

The state party, according to correspondence reviewed by The Times, continued to pay roughly $1 million for television commercials, mailings and consultants as part of the effort up until the final weeks before the election, with most of that money raised by Mr. de Blasio.

The mayor, a Democrat, has repeatedly defended the fund-raising campaign, saying in a recent radio interview, We specifically followed  every step along the way  legal guidance. He and others have said political campaigns have used similar practices for decades.

The criminal investigation, by the office of the Manhattan district attorney and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is focused on allegations that the mayor, his aides and a team of consultants and labor union representatives whom he assembled sought to use county committees and the New York State Democratic Senate Campaign Committee to evade the $10,300 limit on donations to individual candidates. County committees can receive contributions of $102,300.

It is a felony for donors to earmark contributions to the committees to be passed on to certain candidates. Prosecutors involved in the investigation interpret the statute, which has never been tested in court, to mean that it is also a felony under state election law to solicit donations in order to avoid contribution limits, people briefed on the matter have said, an interpretation that Mr. de Blasios campaign lawyers dispute.
Excuse me? The terms "liberal" and "progressive" are one and the same. Mental midgets use the word "Progressive" because they are ashamed of the word "liberal" and think nobody will notice.



Try reading this without the crack pipe in your hand. I SAID Trump is not a conservative ideologue. But his platform on the issues is to the right of Ronald Reagan. His tax plan is almost a mirror image of Reagan's. And if you somehow think there's a difference between right wing and conservative, why do you morons continue to refer to Rush Limbaugh as right wing when he is the Dean of the EIB Institute for ADVANCED CONSERVATIVE STUDIES.



Crack rots the brain, son. Drop it.



I spell the word right. I'm not some ignorant **** who thinks he can win an argument by pretending the other side can't spell, ********. Secondly, considering that the Democrat Party has nominated NOTHING BUT ******* LIBERALS since Kennedy was shot, I'd say that's a pretty accurate statement about the majority of the Democrat Party. MORON.



Progressive means LIBERAL. And Liberals HATE all forms of religion.



If that were the case, Mitt Romney would right now be running for reelection as president.



You lose again, bitch.



I understand more than you do, cretin.



You seem to have nothing but time on your hands. Gingrich IS a genius. He balanced the budget in the 90s, BITCH.
Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed a closed-door crowd of roughly 600 in a Brooklyn bowling alley on Thursday night for a birthday party that doubled as a fund-raiser and an early rally for his 2017 re-election campaign.

To a room packed with supporters  lobbyists and actors, taxi drivers and public-relations experts  Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat, pitched his run for a second term as essentially defensive, urging those in the crowd to help stand with him against the powerful forces arrayed against the progressive change brought by his administration. These changes will not last if we are not strong and we are not vigilant, he said, his voice stretching into a campaign cadence. The billionaire class does not give in easily to a progressive agenda.

As he had done in his 2013 campaign, Mr. de Blasio incorporated his family from the start. His wife, Chirlane McCray, introduced the celebrity draw for the $100-minimum-donation event, the comedian Louis C.K. During his 14-minute speech, the mayor brought out his son, Dante, now in college, whose presence in campaign advertisements helped secure victory, and tousled his hair.

The event was the first hosted by Mr. de Blasio, who turned 55 on May 8, since a raft of investigations into aspects of his fund-raising by state agencies, the Manhattan district attorney and the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York came to light starting last month.
Hours after senators voted overwhelmingly to put her on trial for alleged financial trickery, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil denounced the effort to impeach her as a coup.

I may have committed errors, but I never committed crimes, Ms. Rousseff said.

That is debatable, but Ms. Rousseff is right to question the motives and moral authority of the politicians who are seeking to oust her. The Brazilian president, who was re-elected in 2014 for a four-year term, has been a lousy politician and an underwhelming leader. But there is no evidence that she abused her power for personal gain, while many of the politicians orchestrating her ouster have been implicated in a huge kickback scheme and other scandals.

Brazils Supreme Court ruled last week that Eduardo Cunha, the veteran lawmaker who has led the effort to oust Ms. Rousseff, must leave office to stand trial on corruption charges. Vice President Michel Temer, who took charge of the country on Thursday, could be ineligible to run for office for eight years because election authorities recently disciplined him for violating campaign finance limits.
Washington  ON Monday, the Iranian militarys deputy chief of staff announced that the Islamic Republic had successfully tested yet another ballistic missile  this time, a high-precision midrange weapon with a reported reach of 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles, and with a degree of accuracy that he claimed to be without any error. If these statements are true, the entire Middle East, including Israel, is within the reach of the mullahs missiles.

It was not revealed if this missile had its genocidal intent actually inscribed on it, as other missiles recently tested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have  with the inscription in Hebrew Israel should be erased from the map. But it hardly matters. The mullahs objectives are plain enough for anyone with eyes to see: The Iranian regime is continuing its determined march toward not only a nuclear weapon, but also the means to launch it, first against Israel and then against the United States.

This reality makes all the more inexplicable President Obamas steadfast faith that, since the election of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013, Iran has been charting a more moderate course to the detriment of the old-time hard-liners, and that Mr. Rouhani and his administration would be reliable partners in negotiations over Irans nuclear program.

To give credit where credit is due, the regime in Tehran has been frank and open about its continued hostility toward America and Israel. In the months since the Obama administration and the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (the group commonly referred to as the P5 + 1) concluded the deal with Iran called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Revolutionary Guards have tested at least four ballistic missiles. Flush with the $100 billion they claim to be getting in assets unfrozen under the deal, the mullahs have gone on a spending spree, finally purchasing, among other things, the Russian S-300 missile system, which is now being delivered to them.
FRONT PAGE

An article on April 13 about wildfires that are burning earlier and longer referred incorrectly to the scope of fires that burned in the United States in 2015. The 10.1 million acres that burned that year were the most in a year since before 1960, not the most on record. (Statistics dating to 1916 show that in some decades the amount of acreage burned routinely exceeded 20 million annually and even 50 million at some points.)



An article on Thursday about the large number of corporate mergers that have been withdrawn in 2016 described a merger between the Irish drug maker Shire and Baxalta incorrectly. It is Shire that is acquiring Baxalta, not the other way around.

INTERNATIONAL

Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about President Obamas planned visit to Hiroshima, Japan, erroneously attributed a distinction to Secretary of State John Kerry. He is the highest-ranking American administration official to visit Hiroshima, not the highest-ranking American official. (The highest-ranking American official to visit the city is Nancy Pelosi, a former House speaker.) The error also appeared in this space on Thursday in a correction for an April 12 article about a visit by Mr. Kerry to Hiroshima.



An article on April 16 about criticism of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, for allowing the prosecution of a German comic who had satirized the president of Turkey in crude terms misspelled, in some editions, the given name of a legal expert who said Ms. Merkel had faced a difficult decision. He is Constantin van Lijnden, not Konstantin.
For his bookshop and website One Grand Books, the editor Aaron Hicklin asked people to name the 10 books theyd take with them if they were marooned on a desert island. The next in the series is the author Marlon James, who shares his list exclusively with T. (Through May 22, One Grand is hosting a pop-up shop at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.)

[UPDATE, June 12, 2020: When T editors resurfaced this list for readers this year, James noted that he would replace Stephen Belchers Epic Traditions of Africa with Jean Rhyss Wide Sargasso Sea.]

Summer Lightning and Other Stories, Olive Senior

Because she taught me everything about matching devastation with economy. The entire future of Caribbean prose is mapped out in this collection of stories, and I dont know a single Caribbean writer who doesnt reread it often.

The Master and Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov

Nude vampires, gun-toting talking black cat, and devil as ultimate party starter aside, the miracle of this novel is that every time you read it, its a different book.
SAN FRANCISCO  Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, Chinas biggest ride-hailing service, moving for the first time into on-demand transportation in one of the largest-ever strategic investments by the iPhone maker.

The move is highly unusual for Apple, which has generally been quiet when it comes to deal making.

While the company, based in Cupertino, Calif., has bought technology start-ups here and there, its last big investment was the acquisition of Beats, a headphone maker and music service, for $3 billion in 2014.

At the time, the Beats deal was also regarded as a departure for Apple.

Apples move into a Chinese company is also notable. Apple is attempting to reinvigorate flagging iPhone sales in China, the companys second-largest market, and just last month Apple shuttered its iBooks and iTunes movie stores in the country.

Didi exemplifies the innovation taking place in the iOS developer community in China, Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, said in a statement. We are extremely impressed by the business theyve built and their excellent leadership team, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow.
A federal judge in Brooklyn ruled on Thursday that prosecutors could not force Facebook to remain silent about 15 grand-jury subpoenas involving the companys customers.

The judge, James Orenstein, said that the prosecutors had legitimate concerns that their investigations might be compromised, but he added that the governments boilerplate requests, made in identical language in each of the 15 applications for a gag order, were insufficiently detailed.

Government prosecutors and agents have a difficult job investigating crime, and one that is made more difficult by the fact that some of the investigative techniques they must rely on can backfire by alerting criminals to the fact of the investigation, Judge Orenstein wrote. But he went on to say that law-enforcement officers cannot obtain an order that constrains the freedom of service providers to disclose information to their customers without making a particularized showing of need.

A handful of cases have emerged in recent months laying bare the tensions between the governments desire to conduct criminal inquiries, sometimes secretly, and the rights of companies like Facebook to have autonomy over their businesses.
WASHINGTON  Detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could plead guilty to criminal charges in civilian court via video teleconference under a provision being considered by the Senate that could open a new avenue to whittling down the prisons remaining population.

The Senate Armed Services Committee announced late Thursday that it had included the provision in the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The bill, which now goes to the full Senate, would also authorize detainees who pleaded guilty through video teleconference to be transferred to other countries to serve their sentences.

The legislation would largely extend an existing ban on bringing detainees to the United States. Mr. Obama had asked Congress to lift that ban; his plan for closing the prison is to bring a small number of detainees who cannot be transferred to a replacement wartime prison on domestic soil.

However, the bill would allow the temporary transfer of detainees to the United States for emergency medical treatment, the committee said. The base in Cuba has only limited medical equipment and capabilities.
A schools obligation under federal law to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns, the letter states. As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students.

As soon as a childs parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that differs from previous representations or records, the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly  without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced. It says that schools may  but are not required to  provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek additional privacy for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing emerging practices that are in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education Departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and best practices for the treatment of transgender students.

Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive, wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, the head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division.

Thomas Aberli, a high school principal in Louisville, Ky., said the new guidance would help administrators across the country who are trying to determine the best way to establish safe and inclusive schools. He said his school had little to work with when it drafted a policy that was put in place last year.
WASHINGTON  The Senate next week will vote on three proposals for financing to combat the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which causes birth defects and which public health officials say will soon pose a major threat in the southern United States.

Democrats and Republicans have been deadlocked over a request by the White House for $1.9 billion in emergency financing to combat the virus, with the Obama administration sharply criticizing Republican Congressional leaders for stalling and the lawmakers demanding that the White House better explain how it would use the money.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, on Thursday initiated procedural steps to take votes on a proposal that would grant the Obama administrations full $1.9 billion request as well as two other measures that would provide $1.1 billion.

The administration first requested the emergency money in February, but was rebuffed by congressional Republican leaders who urged it to redirect $510 million previously allocated to fight Ebola  a move that was made last month.
BRASILIA  The new Brazilian presidents first pick for science minister was a creationist. He chose a soybean tycoon who has deforested large tracts of the Amazon rain forest to be his agriculture minister. And he is the first leader in decades to have no women in his cabinet at all.

The government of President Michel Temer  the 75-year-old lawyer who took the helm of Brazil on Thursday after Dilma Rousseff was suspended by the Senate to face an impeachment trial  could cause a significant shift to the political right in Latin Americas largest country.

Temers government is starting out well, Silas Malafaia, a television evangelist and author of best-selling books like How to Defeat Satans Strategies, wrote on Twitter.

Hell be able to sweep away the ideology of pathological leftists, Mr. Malafaia added of a conservative lawmaker whom Mr. Temer chose as education minister.
SYDNEY  A private security contractor has been killed at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad, Australias foreign minister said on Friday.

Australian news media reported that the man had been shot, but a spokeswoman for the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, would not confirm that. The circumstances surrounding his death will be thoroughly investigated, she said in a statement.

The 34-year-old contractor, who was not identified, worked for Unity Resources Group, an Australian firm that provides security services at the embassy.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  The residents of a rebel-held Syrian town, besieged and bombarded by government forces for more than three years, learned Thursday morning that an international aid delivery was headed their way, for the first time ever. So they began to gather, as close as they could get to a government checkpoint that seals them off from the outside world.

But they got nothing. Instead, at days end, government officials turned away the convoy, revoking permission negotiated in advance. And moments later, two civilians, a father and son, were dead, hit by a shelling attack on the area where they had been waiting.

The U.N. and International Committee of the Red Cross (I.C.R.C.) aborted the mission to Daraya because the convoy was refused entry, due to the medical and nutritional supplies on board, the United Nations spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a written statement, referring to the town. These conditions, imposed by government security personnel, were unacceptable, and contrary to earlier guarantees and approvals obtained by the Syrian government.

Residents of the town blamed government forces for the attack; the Syrian government is likely to blame insurgents. But to people living in Daraya  a working-class suburb of the capital, Damascus, that was one of the first areas to rise up in street protests against the government  the days events summed up their abandonment.
Angry over what it described as Saudi sabotage, Iran said Thursday that Iranian citizens would not participate this year in the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, the host country of Islams holiest places.

Saudi Arabia said Iran was to blame for the problem, accusing the Iranians of making unacceptable demands.

It was unclear from the statements by both sides whether the dispute was intractable or could still be solved ahead of the hajj, which takes place in September.

Regardless, the statements reflected the worsening relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia, longtime regional rivals that are on opposite sides of conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
WASHINGTON  The Navy on Thursday reassigned the officer who commanded the 10 sailors who were detained by Iran in January after their boats strayed into its territorial waters, the service said in a statement.

The officer, Cmdr. Eric Rasch, was relieved of his duties because the Navy had lost confidence in his ability to command, the statement said.

The Navy said the decision was made after a preliminary investigation, but it provided no other details. It is expected to release the findings of the inquiry in the coming weeks. Some of the sailors are expected to be reprimanded.

On Jan. 12, two patrol boats that were being moved to Bahrain from Kuwait came within a few miles of Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf, the home of an Iranian military base, after making a navigational error, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that month.
PHILADELPHIA  It remains hard to fathom the artistic tastes and inclinations of Angel Corella, the beloved former star of American Ballet Theater who has been artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet since 2014. Hes been scrutinized for the number of dancers he has fired and hired; he also deserves attention for his eclectic taste.

But is taste the word? In this 2015-16 season, the first in which he has had full artistic control of the company, hes revived the most obviously flashy 19th-century war horse, Don Quixote (seen onstage in March), but next month (June 9-12) adds Trisha Browns postmodernist O Zlozony/O Composite to the repertory. The 2016-17 season will feature the same ambitious but puzzling diversity, ranging from Le Corsaire (a rival of Don Quixote for 19th-century flash) to Ben Stevensons Cinderella and The Third Light, a recent piece set by the experimental David Dawson to music by Gavin Bryars. The company, formerly one of the foremost troupes in Americas Balanchine diaspora, still performs as many ballets by Balanchine as it has in decades past, although there are signs that it now dances his work with an alien accent.

On Thursday night, the company presented A Program of Firsts, an exciting-on-paper triple bill of Balanchines Serenade, Matthew Neenans Archiva and Liam Scarletts Asphodel Meadows. Serenade, famous as the first ballet created by Balanchine in the United States, was staged by Kyra Nichols, the superlative former principal of New York City Ballet, who danced lead roles in that work for over 30 years. Mr. Neenan has been the troupes choreographer in residence since 2007 and is much in demand around the country; Archiva was a world premiere. And this was the American premiere of Asphodel Meadows, the work that put Mr. Scarlett on the map in a 2010 staging by his native Royal Ballet in London. All three works, however, had drawbacks.

Tchaikovskys inspiring Serenade for Strings, the score that gives Serenade its name, acquires an awkwardly heightened edge to its orchestral sonority at Philadelphias Academy of Music here, presumably as a result of assisted acoustics. Ms. Nichols has taught the Pennsylvania dancers plenty about the Balanchine style, above all how energy continues through a fixed position, how lines stretch in space and how speed can be combined with control. In the leading role of the Waltz and Elegy heroine, Lillian DiPiazza has a beauty and poignancy, but she lacks the technical assurance that yields true authority.
PARIS  For nearly five decades, the French conceptual artist Daniel Buren has been applying stripes in varying colors, sizes and materials to assorted objects and environments, including bridges, bus stops and museum walls.

The latest canvas for Mr. Buren is the Louis Vuitton Foundation building here, a Frank Gehry design that rises above the Bois de Boulogne like a ship cresting a wave.

Mr. Buren has covered the museums 12 glass-paneled sails with a checkerboard of translucent colored gels, punctuated by panes of white stripes. The installation, The Observatory of Light, opened on Wednesday and runs through the end of the year.
Francois Morellet, a French painter and sculptor whose use of unorthodox materials like neon lights, sticky tape and metal rods left a distinctive mark on postwar abstract art, died on Tuesday at his home in Cholet, France. He was 90.

His family confirmed the death.

Although his early work was representational, Mr. Morellet moved decisively toward abstraction. He concluded that his work should make it possible for the observer to find what he wants to find, he told The New York Times in 1985, the same year that a retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum essentially introduced him to an American audience.

He had his first solo exhibition as an abstract painter in 1950 at the Galerie Creuze in Paris. From then on, he applied himself to eliminating the artists sensibility from his art, assembling lines into hypnotic shapes, incorporating kinetics in his sculptures and installations, and using chance to determine aesthetic choices. In the early 1960s Mr. Morellet helped found the Groupe de Recherche dArt Visuel, which emphasized public participation in art and played down the role of the individual creator.

In the 1960s he began a series of works called Sphere-Trame, balls made from grids of metal rods.

In 1965 his work was included in The Responsive Eye, the Museum of Modern Arts landmark exhibition of Op Art.
Beyond the galleries, the Snohettas interior attractions are many: a multipurpose performance space, two restaurants and a spacious third floor reserved almost entirely for the museums exemplary photography collection (with a coffee bar in its midst), and terraces for viewing sculpture. Amphitheater seating overlooks the new Howard Street entrance, whose lobby holds, just barely, an enormous spiraling sculpture by Mr. Serra that is part of the Fisher Collection.

Image The new buildings rippling, sloping facade. Credit... Henrik Kam/SFMOMA

The facade is supposedly inspired by the waters and mists of San Francisco Bay, but its associations are free-range, variously artificial and natural. It conjures an iceberg, a pueblo and an exceptional cruise ship, but also seems pleated, hand-carved and digital. (It could also be an enormous cloth Anachrome painting by Piero Manzoni.) The exterior stimulates sight, mind and imagination, readying you for the unpredictable pleasures and demands inside.

Once youre there, this subtle flexing of the senses continues, stimulated not just by the art but also by the continual surprises of the buildings design and details. Nothing really repeats, exactly, most excitingly in the broad corridors along the buildings east facade, where staircases alternate with big windows. These offer panoramic views, while their thick frames echo the light wood flooring and provide wonderfully deep window seats. The interplay of geometry, material, light, space and angle of view relates to installation art and is one of the buildings hallmarks.

The main flaw of the Snohetta building may be that the San Francisco Moderns 1995 structure was not demolished to make way for it. In a feeble attempt at unification, Snohetta replaced the original black granite staircase with a wider one in light wood, but the Third Street lobby retains its black floor and its ridiculous full-height atrium. Outside, the symmetrical Botta building now sits before its larger, softer-looking sibling like a pharaonic gate.

Still, the Botta building offers exceptional galleries, now refurbished, and Snohetta took care to knit the levels inside the structures almost seamlessly.
Recklinghausen, Germany

Ruhrfestspiele Various venues, through June 19

The Confederation of German Trade Unions is a co-sponsor of this theater festival, an international, interdisciplinary affair that is one of the oldest summer events in Europe. The festival focuses on heady, experimental theater pieces, and works that push genre boundaries. Highlights this year include an adaptation of Oresteia by the Italian director Romeo Castellucci, and a stage adaptation of the French writer Michel Houellebecqs novel, Submission, about an Islamic political party coming to power in France. Some dance works like this one will appear in the festival alongside traditional theater. ruhrfestspiele.de

Florence, Italy

Jesters, Villains and Players at the Medici Court Galleria dArte Moderna di Palazzo Pitti, through Sept. 11

This exhibition explores the art of the Medici court in the 17th and 18th centuries, focusing on depictions of social outcasts, like gamblers, jesters and dwarves. Around 30 artworks are on view, including pieces by Gabbiani, Bocchi and Bosch. The show examines how the appetite for renderings of unusual subjects in that period opened up new artistic possibilities for painters. polomuseale.firenze.it
I think [the COP21 climate agreement] will provide a tipping point where the drive for decarbonization picked up momentum and hopefully became unstoppable. The direction of travel is clear. The only question is the pace.

 Alden Meyer, Spokesman, Union of Concerned Scientists

If you follow the news, it seems like all thats going on these days is the unpopularity contest. Were about to be given a choice between two of the most unpopular presidential candidates ever to run for office, and we get to vote for the one we dislike the least.

Whoopee.

Thankfully, despite all the screaming headlines about shock-jock jabbering and insider politicking, there actually is something else happening. Namely, we live on a planet that were in danger of rendering uninhabitable and were finally doing something about it.

So if you, like me, find the grind of the seemingly endless presidential campaign draining and disheartening (and its only May!), allow me to share a few news items that might cheer you up. Since the potential impact of these developments is far more important than who becomes our next president, I think we should call them the real news of our times.

Our starting date is Dec. 12, 2015, when the COP 21 climate agreement was adopted by 196 nations in Paris. The crux of the agreement is that each of the participating nations each has made significant emissions reduction pledges. To meet their commitments, these countries will use a combination of mandates and incentives to make dramatic cuts in fossil fuel use and equally dramatic increases in renewable-energy investment and development.

So what happens when virtually all the worlds nations make a pledge to combat climate change? Here are some of the major effects that occurred in the first four months after the agreement was reached.

 In December 2015, a few days after COP21 was adopted, the International Energy Agency, the go-to authority on energy trends used by major players when planning investment and development, slashed its forecast of coal demand growth.

 In January 2016, New York called for zero coal power by 2020; clean energy investment surpassed $129 billion for the first time; the U.S. stopped issuing new coal-mining leases on federal land; the international (G-20) Financial Stability Board announced a climate financial disclosure task force; China announced plans for a significant expansion of its carbon trading market; Californias insurance commissioner called for fossil fuel divestment; Vietnam announced plans to phase out coal; and Copenhagen announced plans for fossil fuel divestment.

 In February Oxford and Cambridge universities initiated a fossil-fuel divestment process; the California teachers investment fund divested from coal; President Obama proposed a $10-dollar-per-barrel oil tax to fund clean transportation (some version of which seems like a long-term inevitability); 17 U.S. states took steps to accelerate renewable energy development and Apple issued $1.5 billion in green bonds.

 In March, Oregon became the first state to mandate coal-free power by 2030 and 50 percent renewable power by 2040; J.P. Morgan stopped financing new coal mines; the Rockefeller Family Fund began divesting from fossil fuels; China suspended the construction of new coal plants for three years; renewable-energy investment expanded to twice that of coal and gas; Yale divested $10 million from fossil fuel development; Israel announced an $8 billion economic boost from carbon cuts and Norways wealth fund banned 52 coal-linked firms.

Thats just the beginning. In part because of COP21, fossil-fuel divestment and renewable power investment will be the major economic story of the coming decades. Will these steps be sufficient to turn the tide of climate change? Well explore these issues in upcoming columns, but in the meantime I thought you would like to hear some real news, and good news, at your ecological house.
HONG KONG  For the past year, nearly 400 objects and more than 1,000 posters have been crammed into a 400-square-foot office space here  artistic remnants of the Umbrella Movement, the 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations that shook Hong Kong for more than two months.

During those weeks, thoroughfares turned into colorful and immersive public art exhibitions, as protest sites bloomed with sculptures, installations, banners and other emblems of dissent.

The question now is, whats to become of it all?

After the protests ended quietly in December 2014, groups like the Umbrella Movement Visual Archives and Research Collective took in many of the works. The collective manages the storage space in Kowloon, across the harbor from Hong Kong Island, where some of the most violent demonstrations occurred.

Among the works sheathed in clear plastic wrap or tied up in industrial-size black trash bags are a Bridge of Democracy staircase and a giant yellow banner bearing the characters for I want genuine universal suffrage.
The final 10 places in the Eurovision contest were decided Thursday night in the events second semifinal, including songs from Australia and Ukraine that have stirred controversy over questions of political and commercial content.

The other countries advancing to Saturdays final in Stockholm were Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia.

Australia, which received dispensation to participate in the competition in 2015 and again this year, is widely considered one of the front-runners, for Dami Ims Sound of Silence.
That morning at 8, Ms. Callan recalled, Mr. Fuld shared the earnings report with the firms 50 top managers in a meeting that lasted a half-hour. Ms. Callans conference call was at 10 a.m. He kind of pats me on the back and says, Good luck, Ms. Callan told me at our lunch. I was like Oh, my God. Like it just hit me at that point, like, there is a lot of pressure here. Theres a lot at stake, a lot at stake. She handled the call well. Lehmans stock rose some 15 points while she was talking. Its funny, she told me, I remember I came back upstairs, and Dick said, The only one complaint I have is that you shouldnt have hung up the call because as long as you were on there the stock kept coming up. It was definitely a very surreal experience.

During our lunch, she shared what clearly was the firms mantra that Lehman would not go the way of Bear Stearns. It was better managed, it was better funded, it had taken fewer risks, and its clients were more supportive of it. It also had faced near-death experiences at least twice before, after the 1998 Long-Term Capital Management collapse and after the Sept. 11 attacks left the firm temporarily homeless. Unlike Bear, she said, Lehman knew to expect the unexpected. Theres a lot of hubris in our business, she told me. And Ive found this just talking to my peers  no one ever thinks itll happen to them, right? Were the only ones, I think, around who think itll happen to us because it happened to us, but most of the others, they never quite really believe it could happen to them. And thus dont fully think about their game plan accordingly.

But she was wrong about Lehman. The day after our lunch, David Einhorn, an activist hedge fund manager, announced at the annual Sohn Conference in New York that he was shorting Lehmans stock because of accounting irregularities. Lehman has been one of the deniers, Mr. Einhorn told The New York Times. In June, Lehman announced the first quarterly loss in its 150-year history.

Ms. Callan became the point person at Lehman for dealing with Mr. Einhorn. That tactic failed miserably, and swiftly. Three weeks after our lunch, she was gone from Lehman (along with Mr. Gregory). She says she resigned. But word leaked into the media that Mr. Fuld had fired her. As with most everything that went on at Lehman, she writes in Full Circle about her firing, I thought the idea was to make Dick look good. She added, Accepting a resignation just didnt have the same ring to it. We needed to be fired! Three months later, Lehman was gone, too.

For many years after, Ms. Callan refused to talk to the press about what happened at Lehman. She spent hours being deposed in the litigation over the Lehman bankruptcy but never spoke publicly. Then, in March 2013, she resurfaced with an opinion article in The Times, with a dateline of Sanibel Island, Fla., where she had moved with her husband. (They also have a house in Shelter Island, N.Y.) She has resurfaced again in Full Circle, written as Erin Callan Montella, as a blessed mother and wife. She seems to have found a measure of peace. Good for her. But there are still a lot of questions to be answered about what happened at 745 Seventh Avenue.
RushCard, which last fall pledged to reimburse thousands of customers who could not use the money in their prepaid card accounts because of a technical problem, this week agreed to pay $19 million to settle a lawsuit with cardholders over the incident.

The settlement, plus $1.5 million in lawyers fees, is subject to court approval. But it adds up to many times the amount of money the prepaid card provider had promised to set aside to repay customers whose checks bounced or who otherwise had to pay fees because their accounts were unusable. RushCard customers were unable to use their money, some for more than a week, after a botched computer conversion over the Columbus Day weekend in 2015.

We are pleased to have reached this preliminary settlement, which will resolve the claims of our cardholders, Rick Savard, the chief executive of UniRush, the parent company of RushCard, said in a statement. We believe this settlement fairly compensates our customers who were inconvenienced.
TOKYO  Honda plans to recall 21 million more vehicles worldwide to fix defective airbags supplied by the equipment manufacturer Takata, a senior executive at the carmaker said on Friday.

The Japanese automaker made the estimate public after American regulators more than doubled the scope of an airbag recall in the United States, identifying another 35 million to 40 million vehicles they said needed fixing. Honda, which is Takatas biggest customer, is now recalling 51 million vehicles in total.

The Honda executive, vice president Tetsuo Iwamura, did not specify how many of the vehicles that Honda plans to recall are in the United States or other countries. But many of the vehicles are likely to be part of the American recall expansion, which was ordered last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Takata-made airbag inflaters can explode with too much force when the airbag deploys in a crash, sending shrapnel shooting into a vehicles cabin. The fault has been blamed for at least 11 deaths worldwide and more than 100 injuries.
Current and former colleagues of Mr. Rusbridgers, who acknowledged criticism of his business decisions, characterized him as a brilliant journalist  not to mention a talented pianist, an affinity he explored in a 2013 book  and nearly universally declined to discuss his departure for attribution, describing it as a sad way to end his affiliation with the institution.

Mr. Rusbridger, who was born in Zambia and graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1976 with a degree in English, started as a journalist at The Cambridge Evening News. He joined The Guardian in 1979, and in 1988 became an editor there. In 1994, he was promoted to deputy editor, before taking over the next year as editor in chief, a position he held until his departure last spring.

Cerebral and academic, with often unruly hair, Mr. Rusbridger had an inner steel that won him admiration and devotion. Early in his career at The Guardian, Mr. Rusbridger led the newspapers tenacious investigation of what became known as the cash-for-questions scandal in Parliament, which contributed to the fall of the Conservative government of Prime Minister John Major in 1997. Mr. Rusbridger stared down a libel suit against the newspaper by a powerful former minister involved in the scandal, Jonathan Aitken, who was ultimately jailed for perjury. In the hypercompetitive and partisan world of British journalism, Mr. Rusbridger was sometimes a lonely figure, often more admired in the United States than among his rivals at home.

As Mr. Rusbridgers vision for the newsroom played out, the strategy appeared to have the full support of the top brass. Shortly after Mr. Rusbridger retired in 2015, Mr. Pemsel, the chief executive, said he was hugely excited at the prospect of managing the next phase of growth at The Guardian, building on our international audience, capitalizing on the many commercial and digital opportunities. Around that time, another top executive said the companys finances had been good that year.

Then the bottom fell out. Print advertising cratered, and expected digital money never materialized.

Support for Mr. Rusbridger suddenly shifted, as he was cast as a negligent manager who had saddled the paper with a slew of problems. Janine Gibson, a favorite of Mr. Rusbridgers who lost out in the race to succeed him, left with other senior Guardian journalists, further shifting the way his legacy was viewed in the newsroom. In January, Mr. Rusbridgers choice as The Guardians opinion editor, Jonathan Freedland, stepped down in what was seen as a leftward shift in the organizations editorial stance. And Ms. Viners plans for the newsroom seemed increasingly at odds with Mr. Rusbridgers, making the idea that he would soon return, as essentially her boss, increasingly unsavory.

The negative sentiment started to rise in recent months, as several news media reports detailed a rising tide of internal discord, quoting high-ranking insiders who placed the blame for the companys woes on Mr. Rusbridgers policies and what they saw as his intractability. A critical article in Prospect Magazine took aim at Mr. Rusbridgers decisions to lavish money on new presses and delightful new offices. It prompted Mr. Rusbridger to strike back, defending the move to make a significant investment in digital today in the hope of having a sustainable business tomorrow.
Hawaii took the Japanese auto parts maker Takata to court on Friday, accusing it of covering up a deadly airbag defect and demanding a $10,000 penalty for every affected car owner in Hawaii.

The lawsuit, filed in Hawaiis First Circuit Court, makes Hawaii the first state to sue Takata over its faulty airbags. The lawsuit also names Honda Motor, the automaker most affected by the continuing mass recalls of Takata airbags, as a defendant, and demands that each company do more to raise awareness of the dangers the defect poses to car owners.

Were not going to sit back and wait for more accidents to happen, Steve Levins, the states director of consumer protection, said in an interview. Were also seeking that consumers be compensated for any losses associated with this incident, whether thats alternative transportation costs, or a diminished value of their vehicle.

At least 10 deaths in the United States, and three overseas, have been linked to the defect, which can cause pressure to build up in and rupture the steel interiors of the airbags, sending metal debris flying into the cars cabin. More than 100 people have been injured.
A New York City police official was found dead on Friday in a car on Long Island, where he is believed to have shot himself, the authorities said.

The official, Inspector Michael Ameri, the commanding officer of the Police Departments Highway District, was found in Suffolk County with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Stephen P. Davis, the departments top spokesman, said in a statement.

The authorities in Suffolk County said detectives were investigating a death that was reported shortly before 1 p.m. in Babylon.

Inspector Ameri, 44, was a friend of Deputy Inspector James Grant, the commander of the 19th Precinct on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, who had been reassigned as part of a wave of discipline amid a sprawling federal inquiry into municipal corruption in New York. Inspector Grant was placed on modified duty last month.
A 34-year-old man from the Bronx was sentenced on Friday to 18 years in prison for fatally hitting his infant nephew in the head while he was watching the baby.

The man, Luis Cartagena, pleaded guilty last month in State Supreme Court in the Bronx to second-degree attempted murder for hitting the 2-month-old, Joemill Greer, on Oct. 27, 2014; Mr. Cartagena said he struck the child to stop him from crying.

He did not alert the authorities or the childs mother that the boy had been gravely injured, prosecutors said. The child died four days later.

The defendant didnt even call 911, Darcel D. Clark, the Bronx district attorney, said in a statement. Now he will spend 18 years in prison for ending a life that had barely begun.
Some of the people suspected of having been involved in the scheme to close lanes of traffic to the George Washington Bridge in 2013 received a reprieve from a federal judge on Friday.

The judge, Susan Wigenton, of the United States District Court in Newark, had set a deadline of noon on Friday for federal prosecutors to release a list of people who they had not charged with any crimes, but who they contend were involved in a plot to tie up traffic in New Jersey leading to the bridge.

But late on Thursday, a lawyer for a person on that list of so-called unindicted co-conspirators asked the judge to block the release to protect the reputation of a client identified only as John Doe. The lawyer, Jenny R. Kramer of Chadbourne & Parke in Manhattan, said in her motion that maintaining her clients anonymity was crucial to preserving his constitutional right against being branded with a badge of infamy.

The judge gave the news organizations that had sought the list until 12:30 p.m. on Friday to respond to Ms. Kramers motion and pushed back the deadline for the release of the list until Tuesday. The original deadline was set in an order the judge made on Wednesday, in which she stated that the list should be made public because there is very little that is private about the lane closures or the lives of the people allegedly connected to them.
Pentecost service: First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 432 Ferry St. S.W. in Albany, will present a jazz service at 10 a.m. Sunday, which is Pentecost.

FCC Music Director Gary Ruppert has prepared jazz arrangements of 11 songs and hymns, including "Let Us Go to the House of the Lord," "All Things Bright and Beautiful," "'Tis a Gift to Be Simple," "Let Us Break Bread Together" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." The jazz-infused choir anthem will be "Psalm of Celebration" by Mark Hayes. The Chick Corea pieces "Crystal Silence" and "Spain" also will be performed.

The veteran soloists are longtime mid-valley residents who attend First Christian: Ruppert on piano, Jim Guynn on soprano saxophone, and Paul Pritchard and Karen Ruppert, vocals.

Movie screening: Calvary Baptist Church, 800 34th Ave. S.E. in Albany, will show the award-winning movie "Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors" at 6 p.m. Sunday.

Concerts: The Oregon Sacred Festival Chorale will present two performances of a concert titled "Alleluia!" this month.

The first concert is set for 6 p.m. Sunday at Lebanon Assembly of God, 726 W. Oak St. The second will take place at 6 p.m. May 22 at Albany First Assembly of God, 2817 Santiam Highway S.E.

Those attending will be invited to join in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. A freewill offering will be taken at both concerts, and all proceeds will go directly to Teen Challenge, Mennonite Disaster Service and Willamette International. Further information is available at www.OSFChorale.weebly.com.

Fundraiser: Child Evangelism Fellowship of Linn County will hold a fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday at Burgerville, 2310 Santiam Highway S.E., Albany.

The event will raise funds for Christian Youth in Action, a program that sends teens to a training camp to learn skills for teaching children in CEF's summer ministry.

Information: 541-258-7150.

VBS: Albany Mission Baptist Church, 710 S.W. Walnut St., will hold a vacation Bible school, "To the Edge: Encounter the God of the Universe!," from 9 a.m. to noon June 20 through 24, with a program at 6:30 p.m. June 24.

The VBS is open to children from kindergarten through grade 8. Rides are available.
The arrest on a New York City sidewalk was so startling to a bystander that he took a video of it. And when he posted the video online with the label Police Brutality, some viewers denounced the officers tactic as disturbing and inhumane.

The video showed a man lying on the ground, his ankles and legs bound in bright orange tape, both hands secured behind his back. Four to five officers searched the pockets of his pants and jacket. They then lifted him up, dropped him onto a white bag, strapped him in and covered his head. He was carried, wrapped up like a mummy with only his feet poking out, and deposited  alive  against a wall.

Ive never in my entire life seen anything like this, said the unidentified man videotaping the arrest near a subway stop at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue earlier this year.

But the scene was not that unusual, and coming amid national scrutiny of the authorities use of force and protests after episodes like the death of Eric Garner, who was put in a chokehold by an officer and died in police custody on Staten Island, there is no evidence that the officers involved in the arrest in Manhattan violated police policy.
For years, Jermaine Himmelstein, 24, has held a sign offering Free Hugs in public places like Times Square and Washington Square Park, a seemingly kind offer that could brighten the days of tourists and lunch-breakers.

For years, it hasnt worked like that. The sign is a lie; Mr. Himmelstein has frequently accosted people who dont tip him, in some cases assaulting them. Far from spreading joy, he was described in a 2013 profile in The New York Times as a creepy legend.

On Thursday, he was arrested and charged with robbery after punching a 22-year-old Canadian tourist, a woman, in the face at 46th Street and Broadway in Times Square, sending her to a hospital with severe swelling to her face, the police said. She had taken a photo with Mr. Himmelstein and refused his demands to pay him, the police said.

While being escorted out of a police station on Thursday, he told reporters: I was aggressively asking for tips, according to NBC New York.
SINGAPORE  Is the governments war on Singlish finally over? Our wacky, singsong creole may seem like the poor cousin to the islands four official languages, but years of state efforts to quash it have only made it flourish. Now even politicians and officials are using it.

Trending at the moment is ownself check ownself, which was popularized by Pritam Singh, a member of Parliament from the opposition Workers Party. He was mocking the ruling Peoples Action Party (P.A.P.) for saying that the government was clean and honest enough to act as its own guardian.

Singlish is a patchwork patois of Singapores state languages  English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil  as well as Hokkien, Cantonese, Bengali and a few other tongues. Its syntax is drawn partly from Chinese, partly from South Asian languages.

Steady poon pee pee, from the Hokkien, means to be so poised as to deserve an admiring whistle. A snooty person is yaya papaya: with yaya perhaps originating from yang-yang (god of gods in ancient Malay) or jaja (father in old Javanese), and the papaya thrown in for the derisive rhyme. Blur like sotong means to be clueless: Sotong is Malay for squid.
THERE is one last, great thing President Obama can do this spring for community colleges. It would be a capstone to all of his efforts over the past seven years: the American Graduation Initiative in 2009, when he told the country that the community colleges are an undervalued asset; the White House Summit on Community Colleges in 2010, at which he said community colleges were the unsung heroes of Americas education system; and last years State of the Union proposal to lower the cost of community college  to zero.

His critics are right to point out how little has changed in material terms (our graduation rate is still low, and most students still pay tuition), but as a community college instructor I can say that, in spiritual terms, he has helped immeasurably with the one resource that has most needed a boost: school pride.

Take it from my students. When Mr. Obama was first elected, I taught at Washtenaw Community College in Southeast Michigan, a school that was sandwiched between the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. In my classrooms I always saw the bright, bold logos and snarling mascots of those four-year schools on students sweatshirts and hats, but almost never did someone wear something promoting our own, dear W.C.C. When I asked them about their pride in our school, some laughed, and most looked at me quizzically.

After one of these class conversations, I spoke further with a student, an Iraq war veteran and a young father. From his writing and from what he said in class, I had known him to be proud of his country, his family and his work, both in the Marines and in school. But he also spoke of his embarrassment at being a community college student. When he talked to people about being in college, he told me, I tell them I go to a satellite school of U. of M.
To the Editor:

Re Senator Demands Answers From Facebook on Claims of Trending List Bias (Business Day, May 11):

It is disingenuous for Senator John Thune to ask Facebook to explain how it curates its news feed. Are we to believe that he has made a similar request to Fox News or The Wall Street Journal? I have always been under the impression that Republicans are against government intervention in business. Has this view changed  or is it permissible only when the senator has a particular vested interest?

As pointed out by one of the people you quote, Mr. Thune has a curious set of priorities when so much of the Senates work remains undone. Would it be too much to ask that he concentrate on the nations business rather than worrying about how his own political party is portrayed in social media?

REX JOHN

Rancho Mirage, Calif.

To the Editor:

Re Algorithms With Agendas and the Sway of Facebook, by Farhad Manjoo (State of the Art column, front page, May 12):

For as long as there have been writers, editors and publishers, we have let other people decide what news we read and what news we dont. On the Internet, we can choose a news source we believe to be objective, find a source that will tell us only what we want to hear or leave it to chance.

Somehow, however, people are appalled that Facebook, a social networking site, might be manipulating an algorithm that is supposed to tell people what news is important  as though an algorithm is some sort of totem of objectivity or that measuring how many people are clicking on one story or another is an indication of newsworthiness in the first place.
Florida, it seems, has always been a popular destination. Even the first known Americans gravitated to the state.

Of course, they probably went for the mastodons.

Underwater archaeologists and other researchers have taken a second look at a sinkhole 30 feet deep in the Aucilla River in northern Florida that is rich with remnants of stone tools, as well as fossilized mastodon bones and dung.

Although scientists had studied the location, known as the Page-Ladson site, for more than a decade and knew how old some of the material was, they could not come up with definitive evidence that humans and mastodons were there at the same time.
Of all that can transpire in a bedroom, nothing can be as titillating to the religious, or those of us who write about them, as a dying mans conversion.

Oscar Wildes deathbed baptism remains a coup for the Roman Catholic Church 116 years later, and an embarrassment for those who cherish his legacy of hedonism. In his new biography of the poet Wallace Stevens, Paul Mariani repeats the claim that Mr. Stevens was baptized by a priest as he lay dying in a Hartford hospital.

There are others. Karen Edmisten, in her 2013 book Deathbed Conversions: Finding Faith at the Finish Line, recounts, with varying degrees of historical support, the putative deathbed conversions of Buffalo Bill Cody, John Wayne, the gangster Dutch Schultz and the mathematician John von Neumann.

The latest controversy about a late-in-life religious turn involves Christopher Hitchens, one of worlds most prominent atheists. In his new book, The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the Worlds Most Notorious Atheist, the evangelical writer Larry Alex Taunton writes about his friendship with Mr. Hitchens, the witty and impious author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, who died of esophageal cancer in 2011. Mr. Taunton describes intimate talks that occurred during drives the two took together, which left him wondering if a dying Mr. Hitchens was edging toward belief in God. Unsurprisingly, evangelicals have celebrated the book, while some of Mr. Hitchenss secular friends have winced.
Lawmakers in those states looked to policies on drunken driving for cues on how to legislate against driving while high. But the body absorbs alcohol and cannabis in different ways, the study said. While drunkenness directly correlates to alcohol in the bloodstream, cannabis impairment takes place only when THC makes its way into the fatty tissue of the brain.

Regular marijuana users, including those who take the drug medicinally, often show no signs of impairment after using, according to Jolene Forman, a staff lawyer for the Drug Policy Alliance, a drug-reform advocacy group. She also said that marijuana can stay in the blood for hours, days and even weeks after its effects wear off.

As a result, the presence of THC in blood is not a useful indicator of whether the drug is impairing that persons ability to drive. Furthermore, the study said, The practical reality of identifying evaluating, arresting and sampling suspected impaired drivers means that the THC concentration measured in the blood specimen reflects neither the concentration in the subjects blood at the time of arrest, nor the concentration of active drug in the brain.

In Montana, Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Nevada, drivers are presumed guilty if they have a certain amount of THC in their blood. Colorado also uses a threshold to assess impairment, though it allows suspects to provide evidence at trial that they were not impaired.

The AAA study recommended that laws relying on thresholds be tossed out and that other factors be used. Mr. Nelson said that, ideally, those would include the failure of a standard field sobriety test and the results of a drug assessment conducted by a trained specialist. That assessment would include a blood test to confirm whether cannabis (or any other drug) was present in the bloodstream.
The agencys director, James Comey, has linked rising crime to less aggressive policing  the viral video effect, he called it this week, rejecting the more racially charged Ferguson effect. His theory, however, found little support from the White House, law enforcement groups, criminologists or even the group that gave him the new data on Friday.

Mr. Comey said that a string of videos that went viral on the Internet had led some officers to become reluctant to confront suspects. He conceded that he was operating off anecdotal evidence, but such reluctance, he said, could be contributing to the increase in homicides in some cities  an increase that he said left him deeply worried.

Something is happening, he said on Wednesday.

But the White House pushed back again on Friday. The White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said that the increase in homicides in some cities was a concern and that the administration had already taken steps to address it, including a roundup by the Marshals Service last year of some 8,000 fugitives.

But he said that this is not a widespread phenomenon, at least based on what we know now.

Regarding Mr. Comeys theory, Mr. Earnest said: This administration makes policy decisions that are rooted in evidence, that are rooted in science. We cant make broad, sweeping policy decisions, or draw conclusions based on anecdotal evidence. Thats irresponsible and ultimately counterproductive.

Murders and most other types of crime have dropped since an alarming peak in the early 1990s and are now near historic lows. Criminologists said that while a rise in homicides in some cities in 2015 and early this year was potentially worrisome, it was far too early to draw any conclusions.
Officials in Georgia have decided not to file charges in the death of a 3-year-old boy who pulled a gun from his fathers backpack and fatally shot himself in the chest in April.

The boy, Holston Cole, was one of four young children who died from accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wounds during a one-week span in April. According to a statement released by the Paulding County Sheriffs Office on Thursday, sheriffs detectives and the county district attorneys office decided not to move forward with charges, saying the evidence suggested that the shooting was not intentional.

Detectives confirmed that this was an accidental shooting and that charges will not be pursued, the statement said.

The deaths of the four children in one week encapsulated how cases like these can be handled differently from state to state, and depending on the details of each case:

 After ShaQuille Kornegay, a 2-year-old in Kansas City, Mo., shot and killed herself with a gun her father often kept under his pillow, the authorities charged her father, Courtenay Block, with second-degree murder and child endangerment.
No one was setting land speed records Thursday morning during the Upper Willamette District FFA tractor driving contest at the Linn County Fair & Expo Center.

The event was sponsored by the Linn County Farm Bureau's Young Farmers and Ranchers Program.

But chapter members from Central Linn, Scio, Lebanon, Santiam Christian, Harrisburg and Mohawk Valley gained a lot of experience backing up, balancing loads, driving a straight line and maneuvering a tractor and trailer through a tight obstacle course.

Winners qualified for the state contest which is held annually during the Oregon State Fair. There were four driving areas plus a multi-question written test.

Anthony Anderson, 14, a freshman at Central Linn High School, patiently waited his turn stacking a pallet that held a 5-gallon bucket filled with water. The goal was to use the tractors three-point hitch coupled to a set of forks to pick up the pallet and bucket, and move both several feet without spilling the water or hitting a couple bales of straw.

Anderson didnt spill any water, but his pallet was about eight inches off center.

I already did the tractor loading and balancing, he said.

Contestants were asked to back their tractors tires onto wooden planks on a beam  like a teeter-totter. The objective was to roll the tractor far enough onto the planks to bring it in balance with planks raised off the ground on both sides.

Its supposed to simulate driving a tractor onto a trailer and balancing the load, Anderson said.

He added that although the contest was a bit stressful, it also was a lot of fun.

Its challenging, but a new experience, he said.

Dalton Tenbusch, 16, also a Central Linn freshman, said this was his first tractor-driving skills contest, although he has competed in other FFA events. He said the written test covered numerous farm safety and knowledge areas, including avoiding injuries, signage and identifying tractor parts.

Harrisburg sophomore Austin Catterson, 16, said he had troubles placing the pallet, too.

I was off to the right a little, he said.

Catterson said he was using the contest to brush up on skills hell use this summer helping neighbors bale hay.

Cole Setmikel, 14, a freshman at Santiam Christian, said he found the cultivating contest the easiest, but admitted he was a little rusty overall.

Harley Morley, 15, of Lebanon said he enjoyed driving new John Deere and Kubota equipment, donated by Pape' and Linn Benton Tractor, since his familys two old tractors arent currently operational.

The tractor loading was tough, but I got it to balance, he said. I was horrible at cultivating and smashed a bunch of plastic cups.

Scio sophomore Brooke Nelson, 17, didnt complete the maneuvering contest in the allotted four minutes, but she still had a good time.

I was nervous, she said. I just ran out of time.

Nelson said she raises goats and shows them at the Linn County Fair. Her goal is to live in the country and be a chef, so understanding agriculture and where food comes from is important to her.

Each of the events had its own set of criteria, but some common deductions included if the driver killed the tractors engine, grated gears, had a rough clutch engagement or rode the clutch (kept their foot on the clutch pedal after shifting).
When Latrell Head, a 32-year-old single father in Atlanta, entered a nursing home after a leg amputation in October, workers there for a while would not allow him to leave to see his 8-year-old son or search for an apartment. Such facilities typically require relatives to sign residents out. A prisoner has more rights than I have, he said he felt.

Mariussi Ogando-Rodriguez, 29, said she feels lonely among the hundreds of mostly older residents at the Manhattan nursing center where she has lived for three years. A former accounting student and cashier at Chipotle, she needs dialysis three times a week, but could care for herself. Gesturing toward a group of people watching television last week in a recreation room that smelled like urine, she said, Sometimes I feel desperate.

A range of factors conspire to prevent residents from leaving. In many states, Medicaid programs restrict home health services, limiting the hours of care, for example. Waiting lists are common. Mentally ill people, for whom nursing homes are shelters of last resort, are particularly difficult to place. And everywhere, it seems, affordable, accessible housing for disabled people is in short supply.

Living at home is not the right choice for everyone, of course, even with assistance. Some people are too ill. Managing aides can be daunting, and family members might not be able  or willing  to care for relatives or share their homes, particularly when cognitive skills are impaired. For those without family, living alone can be isolating.

Still, about half of Medicaid spending on long-term care now goes toward services in the home or community, compared with less than 20 percent two decades ago, though that varies widely by state. Health care officials predict demand for in-home services will only grow as the population ages. Emily Johnson Piper, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said, The baby boomers in Minnesota and across the country have the expectation that they will be offered and afforded availability of services for them to live out their retirement years in their communities.

Many states have concluded that caring for people at home is more cost-effective. Washington State, for example, has found that its costs for one nursing home resident would pay for home care for seven people. Alabama calculated that it cost the state about $25,000 a year less, per person, to offer care at home.
Before Missouri put a prisoner to death on Wednesday, for example, it refused to say in court whether the lethal barbiturate it used, pentobarbital, was produced by a compounding pharmacy or a licensed manufacturer. Akorn, the only approved company making that drug, has tried to prevent its use in executions.

Pfizers decision follows its acquisition last year of Hospira, a company that has made seven drugs used in executions including barbiturates, sedatives and agents that can cause paralysis or heart failure. Hospira had long tried to prevent diversion of its products to state prisons but had not succeeded; its products were used in a prolonged, apparently agonizing execution in Ohio in 2014, and are stockpiled by Arkansas, according to documents obtained by reporters.

Because these drugs are also distributed for normal medical use, there is no way to determine what share of the agents used in recent executions were produced by Hospira, or more recently, Pfizer.

Campaigns against the death penalty, and Europes strong prohibitions on the export of execution drugs, have raised the stakes for pharmaceutical companies. But many, including Pfizer, say medical principles and business concerns have guided their policies.

Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve, the company said in Fridays statement, and strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.

Pfizer said it would restrict the sale to selected wholesalers of seven products that could be used in executions. The distributors must certify that they will not resell the drugs to corrections departments and will be closely monitored.

David B. Muhlhausen, an expert on criminal justice at the Heritage Foundation, accused Pfizer and other drug companies of caving in to special interest groups. He said that while the companies have a right to choose how their products are used, their efforts to curb sales for executions are not actually in the public interest because research shows, he believes, that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on crime.
There will be no contested convention this year. But that doesnt mean it wont get contentious.

And while there is little doubt that Donald J. Trump will emerge from the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as the partys presidential nominee, there is still some uncertainty about what could unfold there starting July 18.

Over the course of four days, Mr. Trump will have to navigate potential hazards, like hostile delegates suspicious of his conservatism and determined to thwart his candidacy. Complicating matters further, many of those delegates possess an intricate knowledge of the parliamentary process that establishes the conventions rules and program. Any of them looking to make trouble certainly could try.

Recent political conventions have grown so scripted and choreographed that moments of true spontaneity are rare. This year, when history seems to be providing little guiding precedent, could be the one that shatters the calm. Here are some of the wild cards that could roil the event in Cleveland:

The vote for vice president

Convention delegates are under no obligation to vote for the vice-presidential candidate Mr. Trump chooses. That vote is held separately, and if enough delegates object to Mr. Trumps choice for any reason  too liberal, too moderate, too inexperienced, too much of an insider  they can vote the nomination down.

Some conservatives have demanded that Mr. Trump name his vice-presidential contender well before the convention, a position that appears to be more than just the usual griping. Many delegates suspect Mr. Trump is not a sincere conservative, and they want to be reassured by having him choose a running mate they trust.
But in a Wall Street Journal op-ed article this week, Mr. Jindal was singing a different tune about Mr. Trump. Explaining why he would vote for the partys new standard-bearer, he said that Hillary Clinton would be a far scarier alternative. I do not pretend Donald Trump is the Reaganesque leader we so desperately need, but he is certainly the better of two bad choices.

Other establishment figures are also coming around faster than some expected. Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, publicly endorsed Mr. Trump without hesitation after their meeting on Thursday in Washington. Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and passionate pro-Israel advocate, endorsed Mr. Trump in a Washington Post op-ed article on Friday.

You may not like Trumps style or what he says on Twitter, but this country needs strong executive leadership more today than at almost any point in its history, Mr. Adelson wrote, calling on all Republicans to coalesce behind him.

While critics such as Mitt Romney have continued to speak out against Mr. Trump, much of the Never Trump contingent seems to have gone quiet. For them, there is 2020 to think about, and those who disapprove of the candidate might not want to be seen as having helped Mrs. Clinton win the presidency if she defeats Mr. Trump in November.

The biggest uniting force in the Republican Party is the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency, said Ryan Williams, a political consultant and former spokesman for Mr. Romney. That is a motivating factor in mollifying even some of Mr. Trumps harshest critics.

Still, for those who fought the hardest against Mr. Trump, making peace will not come easy.

Senator Marco Rubio stood by his pledge to support the Republican nominee in an interview with CNN this week, but he struggled to reference Mr. Trump by name and said that his concerns about his former rival continue to apply.

The wounds appeared to be most fresh for Mr. Cruz, who until last week was hoping to capture the nomination at a contested convention. He said in a radio interview on the Michael Berry Show on Thursday that he still plans to go to Cleveland July 18-21 to cheer on the delegates, but it was clear that the ill will toward Mr. Trump has not subsided.
WASHINGTON  After meeting with Donald J. Trump this week, Speaker Paul D. Ryan uttered the words many in his party longed to hear: I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified.

It is hard to win without party unity, as both Democrats and Republicans have learned. But neither party has confronted the prospect of a candidate denounced by some of its leading lights as a pathological liar unfit to be commander in chief and in need of therapy.

Here are four reasons congressional Republicans are desperate for unity this year, and for Mr. Ryan to endorse Mr. Trump.

1. Do the math

Congressional districts are far more gerrymandered than they were even 20 years ago; Republican members of Congress, by and large, come from very Republican districts. In the relatively few swing districts, Republicans cannot afford to alienate their base voters, many of whom may have voted for Mr. Trump in the primary (or other Republican presidential candidates) but could stay home in November if they are put off by party infighting.
New York - 13 May 2016 // SOUNDBITE (English) Andrea Voyer, parent: It doesnt bother me at all, I dont see why it should influence or affect safety or security in the bathroom that kids who gender identity is not their sex are using that bathroom. // SOUNDBITE (English) Andrea Voyer, parent: (why this is an issue?) I think probably it is one of the last stands in terms of this policing of gender and sexuality and behavior around those things. People have given up on preventing gay marriage - its just one of the last stands that people can take right now where they have a voice where they get heard having these conversations. // SOUNDBITE (English) Henry Murphy, parent: This is an elementary school so as long as the child identifies with a certain gender and makes that clear to the school and they are consistent with that gender and the use of whatever bathroom they want, Im ok with it as long as the school monitors the situation and its not abused. // SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Rodriguez, parent: You have to put yourself not only in the parents situation, but as the kids shoes as well. You gotta try and understand where theyre coming from and how they feeling. You never want to shun nobody or shut them down because they have different feelings from what everybody else is feeling. I feel when a person feels that that is automatically a form of bullying - mentally and emotionally. You have to try and relate to them in some type of way and give them their privacy to figure it out - as well as us people who dont normally get it, we are trying to understand that too - we got to understand that and give them their respect and their privacy.
A torrent of online reaction followed the release on Friday of federal guidance to public school districts in the United States that for the first time addresses how they should enforce the rights of transgender students.

The joint directive from the Department of Justice and the Department of Education says that schools must allow students to use bathrooms based on their gender identity and touches on issues including housing, locker rooms, pronouns and gender references on identity documents.

The measure, which is the Obama administrations latest to address the civil rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people, has attracted both criticism and support, much of it reflecting bipartisan lines.

Representative Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, said the directive was executive overreach. He told CSPAN: And its a topic were likely to bring up in a future hearing before the task force that I chair.
Brushing aside protests from immigrant advocates and both Democratic presidential candidates, the Obama administration is moving ahead with a surge of deportations in the coming weeks, aimed mainly at mothers and children from Central America, immigration officials said Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security is stepping up the pace of deportations to send a tough enforcement message to Central America and to try to head off a seasonal swell of illegal crossings of the southwest border, the officials said. Those crossings generally rise during the summer, and administration officials are especially concerned because there was an unexpected increase in the numbers of migrants last fall.

The new plans do not include intensive raids like those over one weekend in January, when about 120 women and children were detained for deportation in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas, the officials said. Instead, immigration agents will speed up the arrests of individual families, which they have been making nationwide since the January raids.

Marsha Catron, a spokeswoman for the department, said those operations focus on migrants who were caught at the border after Jan. 1, 2014, denied asylum by immigration courts, and ordered deported by judges. Agents also will arrest migrants who came when they were minors but turned 18 while fighting deportation in the courts, making them ineligible for protections as children.
BUENOS AIRES  A judge in Argentina on Friday indicted former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other officials on charges of manipulating the nations Central Bank during the final months of her administration.

Mrs. Kirchner and the officials are accused of entering into contracts to sell the Central Banks dollars at below-market rates during her presidency in order to shore up the Argentine peso.

The judge, Claudio Bonadio, said that it was unthinkable that a financial operation of this magnitude could have been carried out without the explicit approval of the highest political and economic decision makers of government.

Judge Bonadio will now deepen his investigation, legal experts said, to decide whether the case goes to trial or is dismissed. Mrs. Kirchner can appeal her indictment.
MANILA  For more than a decade, a mysterious explosion at the Evergreen Hotel in Davao City has been a footnote in the long, checkered history between the Philippines and its former colonial master, the United States. But among those who never let it go was the citys mayor, Rodrigo Duterte  who is now poised to become the Philippines new president.

In an interview last year before he announced his candidacy, Mr. Duterte went so far as to acknowledge hatred for the United States stemming from the obscure episode, when an American named Michael Terrence Meiring was charged with possession of explosives but managed to flee the Philippines.

Mr. Meiring called himself a treasure hunter and joked about being with the C.I.A., meaning Christ in Action. He told the hotel staff not to touch a metal box in his room, apparently with good reason. On May 16, 2002, the box exploded, mangling his legs and damaging the hotel.

But three days later, despite severe injuries and the charges against him, Mr. Meiring vanished from his hospital room. Philippine officials later said that men waving F.B.I. badges had taken him in the dark of night and flown him out of the country without their permission.
Linn County Clerk Steve Druckenmiller predicts the states new Motor Voter registration system will add as many as 7,000 eligible voters in Linn County alone.

I think its great, said Druckenmiller, who lobbied in favor of the process before the Legislature.

Oregon Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins said last week the system has enrolled 51,558 new voters since January 1.

More than half of the states 100,000 new voters have registered through Oregon Motor Voter, she said.

Many of these new registrants are first time voters and, with just a week until election day, I want to encourage every Oregonian to make a plan to get your ballot in by 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 17, she said.

Ballots must be received by the county clerk no later than that time. Postmarks do not count.

United States Postal Service officials say ballots could take up to 5 to 7 days to reach county elections offices once they are put in the mail. Given Oregons geographic diversity, delivery schedules will vary across the state.

Voters can look up their closest official ballot drop box at www.oregonvotes.org/dropbox.
HONG KONG  China is undertaking a diplomatic and public relations blitz to rally support for its sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea ahead of a decision by an international court that may rule against Beijing.

Beijing says it owns the islands, rocks and shoals  and the waters around them  in a giant expanse of the South China Sea, overlapping with claims made by countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. In the past month, China has said that countries like Cambodia and Russia have taken positions supportive of its stance.

In a bid to make its control of the area a fait accompli, China in the past two years has built seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, equipped with airstrips, radars and ports and staffed by thousands of workers and soldiers.
LONDON  More than seven decades after World War II ended, unexploded munitions remain a hazard in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.

In the latest such scare in Britain, hundreds of people in the historic and picturesque town of Bath were evacuated from their homes on Thursday afternoon after contractors discovered, under a former school playground, a 500-pound bomb believed to date from World War II. Some spent the night at a local racetrack.

On Friday, the authorities set up a 1,000-foot perimeter around the site of the bomb, the former Royal High Junior School in Bath, and closed a vast network of roads around it. They planned to place about 275 tons of sand around it, and then take it to a remote location, where they will carry out a controlled explosion.

Image Police officers in Bath, England, diverted traffic from an exclusion zone set up after contractors unearthed a bomb from World War II on Friday. Credit... Ben Birchall/Press Association, via Associated Press

Not everyone inside the evacuation zone was ordered to leave; some chose to remain, but were advised to move to a safe distance from the playground.
PARIS  The Belgian government, a member of the American-led coalition that has been bombing Islamic State targets for nearly two years, said Friday that it was expanding Belgiums airstrikes beyond Iraq into neighboring Syria.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Charles Michel of Belgium said the decision to broaden the targets of the six F-16 fighter jets it contributed partly reflected pressure from the coalition.

Mr. Michels spokesman, Barend Leyts, said Belgiums decision also was part of a joint effort with the Netherlands, Belgiums close ally, to battle the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL. Belgium and the Netherlands take turns in participating in the coalitions airstrikes.

The United States military first began hitting the Islamic States Iraq positions in August 2014 after the extremist group seized parts of northern Iraq and the Iraqi government requested American help. The next month, the United States widened the airstrikes into Syria, home to the Islamic States de facto capital in the city of Raqqa.
BAGHDAD  To document the crimes of Saddam Hussein, Kanan Makiya studied thousands of documents smuggled out of Iraq, and years later his findings helped the United States make the case for war. He became famous as the foremost Arab intellectual to support the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and on the day Baghdad fell to American forces, he was in the Oval Office watching the news with President George W. Bush.

For years afterward, as Iraq fell apart, Mr. Makiyas pen went silent while he struggled to make sense of what happened and his own role in the catastrophe.

As a Middle East scholar at Brandeis University, Mr. Makiya is a man of facts and history. Ultimately, though, he decided the best way to express what he felt became of Iraq was to write fiction. Only with a novel, he says, could he access the larger meanings and deeper truths about what went wrong post-2003.

The result is his recently published novel, The Rope, the title a reference to the hanging of Mr. Hussein. The book, in fictionalizing many of the familiar traumas and struggles of Iraq over the last decade, is at its broadest an indictment of the countrys Shiite leaders. These are the former exiles who were Mr. Makiyas friends from their days working in opposition to Mr. Hussein, and who came to rule Iraq after the invasion and still largely do today, having driven the country to the edge of collapse with their scheming and corruption.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  In his more than three-decade career as a militant operative, Mustafa Amine Badreddine embraced an array of real and assumed identities  bomber, playboy, commander  evolving along with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization he helped to create.

He was accused of having helped plan the truck bombing that killed 241 United States Marines in Beirut in 1983, introducing the world to the militant guerrilla network that would later become Hezbollah.

Hijackers acting on Mr. Badreddines behalf repeatedly demanded his release from a Kuwaiti prison, but he escaped with the help of Saddam Husseins 1990 invasion. He built a reputation for partying in the Lebanese coastal casino town of Jounieh, and was accused of having plotted far-ranging attacks. They included one of the most brazen assassinations, that of Lebanons former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, on a seaside Beirut boulevard.

When Mr. Badreddine, 55, was killed this week in a huge explosion near Damascus, the Syrian capital, as Hezbollah confirmed on Friday, he had moved on yet again. Mr. Badreddine was Hezbollahs top military commander and had been leading its expanding operation in Syria.
We observe the world how it is today and make these very simple projections and turn them into a terrible scenario, said Johannes Koettl, senior economist at the World Banks Social Protection and Labor Global Practice. This approach fails to take into account that the world is changing.

It is long past time to shed three pernicious myths about the United States economy and aging.

Myth No. 1: Older adults dont work, so they weigh down the economy.

You have most likely seen variations on the old-age dependency ratio. The ratio compares the number of people ages 15 to 64 (workers) with people 65 and older (retired, not working). It paints the familiar picture of an increasing number of nonworking older adults. The ratio is alarming since it assumes everyone 65 and over isnt working.

But millions of older Americans are staying employed or looking for work well into the traditional retirement years. There are a variety of reasons: Boomers are well educated and healthier than previous generations. Work is less physically taxing in a service-dominated economy. More older people need an income to supplement slim savings.

Whatever the mix of motivations, the labor force participation rate of men 60 and over is up nearly one-third, to 35 percent today from a low of 26 percent in 1996, according to Barry P. Bosworth and Gary Burtless, economists at the Brookings Institution, and Kan Zhang, a senior research assistant at George Washington University. The participation rate of women shows a parallel increase, climbing to 25 percent from 15 percent.

According to projections by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2024, men ages 65 to 74 could show a participation rate of 34 percent and women 26 percent.
A high school senior with only one grandparent who even went to high school comes to terms with the pressure he feels to be the one who breaks the degree-free cycle. And another traces the fine details of her fathers  and her familys  struggle to forge a middle-class life, through her memories of his art and the artifacts they find buried in an arroyo in New Mexico.

Each year, I put out an open call for college applicants to send in essays about money, work, social class and related issues that theyve submitted to undergraduate admissions offices. This year, we received 231 of them and enlisted Ralph Johnson, senior director for college success for the Democracy Prep public schools network and a former admissions officer at Brown University, to help pick the four that we are publishing. We pay the four writers as we would freelancers.

In narrowing them down from among the best dozen or so that we received, Mr. Johnson said he put himself back in the mind-set of the gatekeeper role he once held at Brown, when there were so many essays to read that he felt guilty being in a house of worship without a pile of paper in front of him.

What he looked for then is the same thing he encourages his students to strive for now. Some kind of spark, he said. It needs to be something that isnt in their transcript or test scores and give admissions officers something to talk about when theyre in the meeting room deciding on that candidate.

For more students than you might think, writing about money is how they seek to stand out. Of the 4,809 complete personal statements in the database at AdmitSee, a service that allows people to make money by renting access to their own essays and applications, 5 percent are about overcoming financial obstacles. A further 20 percent used words like tuition, loan and income in essays about career aspirations, diversity and family background.
That takes time and requires advice, he said.

The rewards of giving to a larger, established institution are readily apparent  the admiration and respect of your peer group, and the certainty that its a professional and well-run institution that will use the money well, Mr. Foster said. When someone makes a gift to their 25th anniversary fund at Princeton, theyre saying, Its Princeton. Its great. They dont think its going to change the trajectory of education at Princeton in the next 25 years.

But such giving isnt rewarding enough for some philanthropists. Emily Nielsen Jones and her husband, Ross Jones, a private equity executive, began giving in ways that would seem big by most standards. They helped finance the creation of a preschool in Boston that has grown into the Park Street School.

Still, as their wealth increased, she wanted to do more on a big issue: stopping the trafficking of women and girls and, more broadly, changing gender norms around the world.

It came from a deep feeling that we needed to ramp up ethically, Ms. Jones said. But then it was, how do you do that?

Ms. Jones, who started the Imago Dei Fund, wanted to look broadly for groups to finance, from the innovative projects at larger nonprofit groups to working directly with religious leaders.

That changed the direction of our philanthropy overall to make sure we were not guilty of a blind spot of just funding the rock star social innovators who went to the Kennedy School but also change agents working around the world, she said.

One of these is Tostan, an organization in Senegal that aims to end female genital cutting and forced marriage. Her big bet on that group was particularly rewarding, she said. Ive worked with these imams who led the anti-genital cutting practice, she said. They described that they had been resistant because this was how it was for centuries but they said when you get new information, you need to move on.
THOUSAND OAKS, CALIF.  There is no way to spoil the end of HBOs All the Way. The final scene is the same as it was in the 2014 Broadway play on which its based and the same as what actually happened in November 1964. Lyndon B. Johnson wins, and its a landslide.

A bungalow in the foothills an hour northwest of Hollywood stands in for the patio of Johnsons Texas ranch. Here at dusk on a cool September evening, vans began dropping off the 120 extras from a base camp several miles away. The nights scene was an intricate Steadicam shot that would travel 360 degrees around Bryan Cranston and Melissa Leo, who play President and Lady Bird Johnson.

This is the night of the election, said the director, Jay Roach, standing on set a few hours before the overnight shoot was to begin. L.B.J. gets the news here with this vocal party of Democratic operatives and Hubert Humphrey and Lady Bird.

All the Way is about the turbulent year from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963 to President Johnsons victory over Barry Goldwater. It has the same frontman and writer as the play: Mr. Cranston, who won a Tony Award for his Broadway performance, and Robert Schenkkan, who faced the challenge of adapting his play to the screen and staying true to history.
The childrens privations were minor but keenly felt: Strohs mother foraged for secondhand clothing, made the children come home from the country club for lunches of peanut butter and jelly and insisted on driving to vacations even in Florida and on Marthas Vineyard.

Her father, Eric, on the other hand, spent the Stroh money recklessly, becoming a compulsive collector of antique revolvers, rare guitars and leather-bound first editions  as well as a volatile, depressive alcoholic. Despite his laissez-faire attitude, he knew how to instill certain fears. At regular intervals, Eric played the abductor in a cruel game designed to teach 7-year-old Frances how to avoid being kidnapped. And when the family car crossed into Detroit, he instructed the kids to lock their doors, because all the people on the street were black.

Despite the fortress mentality, for Frances the money was more a structural promise than a daily reality. In her teenage years, insulation meant both safety and ennui: We took risks  big ones  as a diversion from our boredom. . . . The trick was recognizing where the lines were and then letting someone else cross them. This trick worked more often than not, but getting expelled from prep schools became a family tradition. Later, so did divorces.

The impression of a safety net enables her to spend her 20s pursuing creative fulfillment. In flight from Michigan and the familys legacy of failure, she wins a Fulbright scholarship to London and finds marginal success as an installation artist, turning a broken inheritance into layers of moody abstraction.

Beer Money sidesteps a comprehensive account of business mismanagement in favor of intimate family vignettes. Chapters are divided by stark, eerie photographs  some of them taken by Eric, a talented amateur portraitist who never fully developed his craft, and others taken by the author, emblems of her early search for an appropriate medium.
Dec. 6, 1948  May 7, 2016

Goethe: A person should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.

Michael Fridley died of an aggressive cancer that did not allow time for treatment. Born in Sutter Creek, California, he and his family have made Corvallis their home for the last 18 years. A modern Renaissance man, Michael had an inquiring mind, a love for learning, and a passion for music and creative expression. His life was guided by the ideals of integrity, kindness, and quiet generosity.

He loved being a student, as evidenced by his educational achievements: at California State University, Sacramento he earned a bachelors degree in guitar performance and in history, and his Master of Arts in Music. At the University of the Pacific, he earned an M.A.T. in Music Education and an Ed.D. in Instruction and Curriculum, with an emphasis in music and a minor in computer-assisted Instruction.

As an educator, he taught private music lessons for many years, spent five years teaching music in elementary school settings, and taught music classes at California State University, Sacramento, Sacramento City College, San Joaquin Delta College and Skagit Valley Community College. He was also an assistant professor in the music department at the University of Montana Western for three years before taking a position as an education specialist at the Oregon Department of Education in Salem.

As a musician, his breadth of knowledge about music history and experience with diverse musical styles was a source of inspiration to many. Throughout his life he appreciated and performed rock, blues, folk, country, bluegrass, jazz, classical and early music. His first instrument was the trumpet, but by high school the guitar became his focus. He also played lute, banjo and recorder, relishing the collaboration of playing in ensembles. Guided by a desire to serve the music, when he took a solo it was to enhance and extend the creative choices of the musicians he loved to play with.

He is survived by his wife, Victoria; son Daniel; parents Garnett and Mary Fridley; sister and brother-in-law Nancy and Hank Luckie, their daughters, Tessa and Stacy, and their families; aunts Kate Beck and Pearl Harrison; and many cousins. He also leaves behind his second family through marriage: Sandi and Kerry South, Cheryl and Darrell Johnson, and Rick Davis. He will be remembered by many friends and by the rich musical legacy he leaves behind.

A musical celebration of Michael Fridleys life will be at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at the West Hills First Congregational United Church of Christ in Corvallis. A reception will immediately follow.

For those wishing to make a donation in honor of Michaels memory, the family would like you to please consider the ArtsCare program at the Arts Center, Benton Hospice Service, or an organization of your choice that promotes music education and performance.
With dignity and feeling, the Shilka replied that she had hungry women and children on board, and that the French had always been renowned for their chivalry.

The Jean Barthes calmed down and immediately dispatched a lifeboat carrying chocolate, flour and condensed milk.

The refugee must always do battle with her body, so fragile at the most inopportune times. In these stories, Teffi rarely acknowledges that she has a body, much less a previously pampered female one, enduring cattle cars, unheated rooms and ceaseless periods of waiting in the elements while in late middle age. When she describes having the Spanish flu while living in a window-full but paneless hotel room in Kiev, Teffi practices what her fellow emigre Shklovsky called estrangement, or defamiliarization  the artistic practice of describing things as they are perceived and not as they are known. The news of her grave illness makes the papers, and the displaced persons crowd, which has nothing to occupy it but the fruitless wait for the death of Bolshevism, decides to assemble at Teffis bedside:

From morning until night my room was crowded with people. They must have all found it very entertaining. They brought flowers. They brought sweets, which they then ate themselves. They talked and smoked. Young couples arranged trysts on one of the windowsills. Everyone swapped theatrical and political gossip. There were people I didnt know at all, but they smiled and helped themselves to food and drink the same as everyone else. Sometimes I felt superfluous amongst this merry crowd. Fortunately, though, they soon ceased to pay me any attention.

The refugees of Kiev were dying from the Spanish flu, which Teffi survived despite her crowds of well-wishers. The refugees later in her journey were dying from typhus, which Teffi avoided. Her physicality comes through in rare passages devoted to the things she carried, two of which get an ode. One is her seven-stringed guitar. The other is the coat: A womans sealskin coat represents an entire epoch in her life as a refugee. . . . We put these coats on as we first set out, even if this was in summer, because we couldnt bear to leave them behind  such a coat was both warm and valuable and none of us knew how long our wanderings would last. I saw sealskin coats in Kiev and in Odessa, still looking new, their fur all smooth and glossy. Then in Novorossiisk, worn thin around the edges and with bald patches down the sides and on the elbows. In Constantinople  with grubby collars and cuffs folded back in shame. And, last of all, in Paris, from 1920 until 1922. By 1920 the fur had worn away completely, right down to the shiny black leather. The coat had been shortened to the knee and the collar and cuffs were now made from some new kind of fur, something blacker and oilier  a foreign substitute. In 1924 these coats disappeared. All that remained was odds and ends, torn scraps of memories, bits of trimming sewn onto the cuffs, collars and hems of ordinary woolen coats. Nothing more. And then, in 1925, the timid, gentle seal was obliterated by invading hordes of dyed cats. But even now when I see a sealskin coat, I remember this epoch in our lives as refugees. In freight cars, on the decks of steamers or deep in their holds, we spread our sealskin coats beneath us if it was warm or wrapped ourselves up in them if it was cold.

Appearing early in the book, this passage contains Teffis eventual trajectory: After several years of wanderings, she landed in Paris, where she lived three decades, until her death in 1952. The book, however, ends mid-journey, in the uncertainty that is the hallmark of the refugee state: The author is saying her goodbye to Russia, but she cannot know where she is going next, when or how.

Memories is a collection of 31 interlocked untitled vignettes that Teffi released serially starting in 1928 and that was published in Russian, as a book, in Paris in 1932. Perhaps because Teffi was remembered as an exceedingly popular writer (to the extent that she was remembered at all), it took an uncommonly long time for her to be rediscovered by Russian-language readers. While other emigres were published in their homeland just as the Soviet regime was collapsing in the late 1980s, Teffi did not make her literary return for another 20 years. The English translations are coming only now, and a biography is expected.
STREET OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS

Big City Dreams Along a Shanghai Road

By Rob Schmitz

Illustrated. 326 pp. Crown Publishers. $28.

Just talk to any Chinese who lived through that time, a middle-aged man whose father spent nearly 20 years in a labor camp for practicing capitalism tells the radio reporter Rob Schmitz, in Street of Eternal Happiness, his new book about some of the ordinary people he encounters in his Shanghai neighborhood. We all have the same stories.

The man means to dismiss the indignities families like his suffered during the Mao era, but what he says is also true of the past decade. Anybody who has read about the frothy excess and casual injustice of contemporary China will certainly recognize the sympathetic portraits that Schmitz paints of struggle and success along the bustling, leafy stretch of road where he lives, in the former French Concession in Shanghai.

It has long been de rigueur for foreign correspondents to expand their dispatches into book form to better document the amusing and bewildering society around them. Although this combination of note-dumping and extracurricular reporting can lead to the recapitulation of some common themes, even a sense of familiarity wouldnt make the four in-depth profiles Schmitz weaves together  fashioned out of a wider series he reported for American Public Medias Marketplace  any less poignant or enjoyable. Books by John Pomfret and Leslie Chang may offer more distinctive or insightful introductions to the dislocation caused by Chinas rapid development, but Schmitzs eye for scenes and ear for dialogue give an immediacy to his stories that more expository works often lack.
Johnson eventually contracted these men out to a turkey-processing plant in rural Iowa. There, for more than 30 years, they lived  and some of them died  in the little town of Atalissa, in a mouse-, mold- and roach-infested abandoned school building. They earned virtually nothing for their work eviscerating turkeys, and were increasingly abused and humiliated if they didnt perform up to speed. They were denied proper medical care for a dizzying array of ailments, and were kept off government assistance. All the while, they were promised a retirement home on Johnsons Texas ranch that, of course, was never built; they were rendered quiescent by Johnsons minions with food, beer and, on occasion, the services of local prostitutes. When that didnt work, they were chained to their beds, or beaten and kicked repeatedly. Bosses shouted profanities at the men, and some of them were forced to carry heavy weights around the school gym as punishment.

What makes the story all the more ghastly is that this decades-long saga of abuse occurred in plain sight. For many years, until a new and more brutal group of overseers almost completely isolated them from the surrounding town, the boys were a part of the Atalissa community: customers in the local bars, participants in church services, performers in the annual Atalissa Days parade. At times, some residents would even visit them in the boarded-up turquoise building that was their home.

Locals knew, yet somehow didnt know, what was going on under their noses. As early as 1974, a young social worker sent a warning to his superiors, accusing Henrys Turkey Service  the company that employed Johnsons boys  of running a form of modern slavery. He was ignored by superiors who felt that the schoolhouse wasnt their problem. In 1979, two Des Moines Register journalists wrote of the appalling conditions in which the men lived and worked. Those articles, too, were ignored. Sheriffs deputies, far from investigating the property, simply returned runaways to the home. Federal investigations into the companys labor practices found some wrongdoings, but no one bothered to follow up. Over time, the abandoned schoolhouse, with its many disabled residents, simply became part of Atalissas background landscape.

Barry, a reporter and columnist for The New York Times (where The Boys in the Bunkhouse originated), chronicles this scandal from its beginning to its eventual unraveling  through the hard work of a Des Moines Register investigative journalist, several dedicated social workers and a federal labor law attorney  after Johnson died. The last of the men were retired from the turkey plant less than a decade ago.

It is a powerful story, weakened only slightly by the authors sometimes clumsy attempts at folksiness. Why didnt the boys complain? he asks one of the workers.  You take it like a man. Thats right, pilgrim. You take it like a man.
Other high places register the wreckage of lost religious faith. An addled minister, his black bowler hat perched upright on his narrow head, like a fortified town on a hilltop, believes his pet parrot, with a Pentecostal lick of yellow flame on its head, is a messenger of God. Chased from the church, man and bird head for the liberating mountains. In Good News for Modern Man, a garrulous marine biologist named Birch, armed with binoculars, keeps tabs on a captured colossal squid he calls Mabel. From his sticky cliff on a volcanic island off the coast of New Zealand, he also spies on local girls bathing. When I began my study of the colossal squid, he confesses, I still believed in God. Now, instead, he converses matter-of-factly with the ghost of Darwin. When a band of protesters arrives, intent on freeing Mabel, Birch decides to take action of his own.

There is in these tales a recurrent feeling of queasy anticipation, as one of McFarlanes characters observes, as if some terrible thing might happen at any moment. In one story, two young brothers, daring each other on, climb high into the branches of an artificial Christmas tree at a mall, even as it shakes alarmingly, like something in a fairy tale waking up. Its a mood you associate with Flannery OConnor, evidently one of McFarlanes influences, as well as Patricia Highsmith. In the disturbing title story, a drought-addled sheep farmer, hearing on the radio that significant biblical events tend to happen on hilltops like Ararat and Golgotha, packs up his few remaining sheep and his possibly clairvoyant son and heads for the hills, since God is in the high places. It turns out, however, that father and son have different hopes for their burnt offerings. The father, understandably, prays for rain. Thats all you want? his son asks, incredulously. As for himself, he wants to be changed. Only one of them gets his wish.

There is a countervailing tendency in these tales, as though safety itself is the dangerous fate to be avoided. Like the teacher in the story titled Buttony, many of McFarlanes characters feel the urge to live in a heightened way. Risks of various kinds are at the heart of Art Appreciation, a fine story about an insurance agent and sometime gambler named Henry, whose mother has won the lottery, though her hoped-for largess remains uncertain. At one point, Henry impulsively plunges his arm into a fountain adorned with a statue of Apollo, until it had soaked far beyond the elbow of his navy suit, and he held it there, or rather the water seemed to hold it. He can think of no reason for this sudden, sodden audacity that nonetheless strikes him as remarkable. When, equally impulsively, he kisses a discarded girlfriend among the trees outside the dog track, he feels another brush with Greek myth, as if he were only pressed to a tree that had once had a girl inside it. At such moments, danger seems to release the imagination.

While lesser writers use similes to render descriptions more vivid, McFarlanes heighten aspects of her characters and advance her plots. When the marine biologist compares his diaphanous squid to my mothers underwear soaking in a holiday basin, we get a sense of both his deep attachment to the squid and his stunted sexuality. When the sheep farmer likens his wifes body to the thin run of a creek in the bed, a low creek that puts out the small noises of a comfort it cant deliver, we know the drought has extended from the parched fields to his own bedroom. In a clever story called Exotic Animal Medicine, a veterinarian is called from her impromptu wedding to place an emergency catheter in a cat. When she drives as if she were landing an enormous plane full of porcelain children on a mountaintop, we can tell what a careful surgeon she is, even as we surmise that there will be some breakage before the story is over.
RE: THE OBAMA RECOVERY

Andrew Ross Sorkin interviewed President Barack Obama about his economic legacy.

It takes far too much effort to follow the dots for the vast majority of Americans. Those who feel a general uneasiness, even as they know it is not as bad as it was, believe it is not as good as it used to be and blame the president for what they sense is a far too tepid recovery.

It matters not that the Republicans orchestrated much of the slowness, that they forced austerity measures upon a nation crying out for an infusion of capital. It is seemingly almost forgotten that President Obama inherited an absolute economic disaster and was called upon, in the face of unrelenting Republican obstructionism, to right a sinking ship.
Great! he said, promising to bring something to school the next week.

At the university? I asked him in disbelief.

But it made sense. A. didnt have his own place, and our parents wouldnt have allowed us to have each other over (throughout our five-year relationship, my parents never knew he existed). Like many couples of our generation in Iran, we struggled to find time alone. The university was the only place we could be together for long periods. A. said we would find a place to drink together in the park next to our main building, where my girlfriends and I often hid to smoke cigarettes.

Even though I tried to act cool, I worried about handling the effects of alcohol. I was scared that the university guards would catch us and that wed be expelled, maybe much worse  a lashing is the punishment under Islamic law. And yet there was something about being at the university, with all those rules, that made such brashly illegal acts so very desirable.

One day the next week, A. whispered to me with a big smile that he had it. He told me to meet him at 3 in the afternoon. I had butterflies all morning and couldnt concentrate in any of my classes. We met up and walked to the park next to the university. After we found a secluded bench far from the guards, A. pulled out a Sprite bottle from his book bag; he had filled it with moonshine in the dormitory the night before. The mens dorm was always less strict than ours. They werent checked by the guards at the doors, so they smuggled in alcohol, cigarettes, weed, hash, opium, anything you can imagine. It was safer to drink and do drugs there because no one would tell the guards. But women were checked when they entered their dorms, and my hall mates constantly ratted out my friends and me just for smoking cigarettes.

A. pulled out a disposable cup and poured. He took a few sips before offering it to me. I kept looking around to make sure no guards were walking by. I nervously took a very small sip and then waited. I thought something would happen to me right away. But nothing did, and so I drank a bit more. I took an even bigger gulp, until A. told me to slow down. By that point, I knew he had figured out that this was my first time.
Film history is filled with movies that have been mangled by their producers, maladroitly distributed and generally born under a bad sign  they are often misunderstood by critics and consequently difficult to see. But these films also hold a special place in cinephile hearts.

Such films maudit (cursed films), as the French call them, can be cultist holy grails. Samuel Fullers German telefilm Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972) is one. Ivan Passers thriller Cutters Way (1981) is another.

Out on disc from Olive Films in a directors cut some 25 minutes longer than its United States release version, Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street was the first movie that Mr. Fuller  a prolific writer-director of offbeat, wildly energetic action films  made in full awareness of his paradoxical status. While washed up in Hollywood, he had become a revered figure first for French and later German and American new wave filmmakers.

Given the opportunity to direct an episode for the West German TV series Tatort (Crime Scene), Mr. Fuller appears to have enjoyed creative carte blanche, writing what he called a cartoon caper movie concerning an international blackmail ring in Cologne. The outfit, led by an icy professional fencer, specializes in photographing politicians in compromising positions. Intrigue follows when the ring is infiltrated by an American private eye (Glenn Corbett) representing one of the victims.
In Neighbors (2014), Seth Rogen plays Mac, a befuddled new dad locked in a battle of wills against a rowdy, dope-smoking fraternity that moves in next door. In Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, opening Friday, May 20, his foe is a sorority fighting for the right to drink booze in their own houses, just like frats do. The movies are funny in part because Mr. Rogen  marijuana advocate and star of stoner comedies like Pineapple Express  is so intently playing against type. He should be the one people are calling the cops on, not the other way around.

The truth is, while his real high school buddies were in college, Mr. Rogen was already gainfully employed. At 18, this Canadian-born actor was writing for Undeclared, the Judd Apatow TV series about, yes, college. I remember being like, yeah, [expletive] them, theyre still in school  Ive got a job, I live in L.A., he said. And then I visited them and stayed in the dorms, and it blew my mind. It was so much fun. I was like, they live in these little rooms. They dont have to do anything.

In an interview in Universal City, Calif., Mr. Rogen, 34, talked about Neighbors 2; his coming animated feature, Sausage Party (he plays a lovesick wiener); and The Interview, a 2014 comedy about Kim Jong-un that led North Korea to threaten retaliation against the United States. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Frat boys are easy to hate. Did you have concerns about vilifying sorority members?

Whats different about this movie is that the sorority members are doing something that is just and correct in a lot of ways. That being said, I think young people are just scary to old people, and that actually made it easy to villainize them. As an older person, youre just horrified of an 18-year-old. The moral part of their brain isnt fully developed. When I was 18, I was psychotic.
LONDON  The British director Terence Davies paused mid-remark, closed his eyes and quoted from Siegfried Sassoons Concert Interpretation: No tremor bodes eruptions and alarms/They are listening to this not-quite-new audacity/As though it were by someone dead  like Brahms. He opened his eyes and burst out laughing. I did that at my drama school audition, he said.

Mr. Davies, 70, has an excellent memory. He remembers the poems he has read and reread over the years and long stretches of dialogue and images from movies he saw as a child. He remembers how cobblestones look after rain, how sun slants through clouds and how miserable he felt as a young man stuck in a clerical job. And he remembers, vividly and with some bitterness, the long and difficult path to making Sunset Song, his new film opening May 13 in the United States and based on the 1932 novel of the same name by the Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

A movie with a catch or sob in its singing voice: a beautifully made and deeply felt adaptation, Peter Bradshaw wrote in The Guardian when the film was released in Britain in December.

Getting there took awhile.

Eighteen years ago, I first took the idea to the U.K. Film Council, and we were so shabbily treated, Mr. Davies said. It went on and on, and we had to jump through every kind of hoop, and eventually they said, It hasnt got legs, because all they wanted to do was make money and compete with America. It was appalling!
On Feb. 14, 1892, the Rev. Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst delivered what Daniel Czitrom, a Mount Holyoke College historian, calls the most politically explosive sermon in New York history.

Billy McGlorys brothel on East 14th Street operated openly, protected by the police and prosecutors and by the lying, perjured, rum-soaked and libidinous lot who ran New York, Parkhurst said furiously from the pulpit.

Within weeks, a Manhattan grand jury, convened to call Parkhursts bluff, rejected his claim. Instead of retreating, however, the dogged Presbyterian minister teamed up with a suburban Republican state senator, Clarence Lexow, marshaled evidence of officially sanctioned vice, and started a decontamination crusade that resonates today in echoes of police brutality and corruption, income inequality, restricted immigration, vote suppression, links between evangelicals and politics and, as Professor Czitrom writes, the nations profound fear and distrust of New York City.

In New York Exposed: The Gilded Age Police Scandal That Launched the Progressive Era (Oxford University Press, $27.95), the author describes the Lexow Committee as the first in a cycle of police investigations, perhaps the one that exposed the most pervasive corruption (nearly half the forces captains were implicated) and brought about the least immediate reform (virtually all the criminal cases against the police collapsed).
Benefit concerts

set at 2 venues

Oregon Sacred Festival Chorale will hold its eighth annual benefit concert, Alleluia!,at two venues this month.

Concerts will be held at both Lebanon First Assembly of God and Albany First Assembly of God. The Lebanon concert will be 6 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at 726 W. Oak St., and the Albany concert will be 6 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at 2817 Santiam Highway S.E.

Admission is free, although a free will offering will be taken. Proceeds will benefit Adult and Teen Challenge, Mennonite Disaster Service and Willamette International.

Oregon author

to talk about book

Oregon author Jane Kirkpatrick will bring to life "The Eliza Spalding Stories at a presentation sponsored by the Linn County Historical Society.

The gathering will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the Lakeside Center of the Mennonite Village, 2180 54th Ave. S.E., Albany. It is free and open to the public.

Kirkpatricks most recent novel, The Memory Weaver, is set in Brownsville in the 1850s and explores the stories of Eliza Hart Spalding and her daughter, Eliza Spalding Warren.

The senior Eliza Spalding worked with her husband, Henry, as a missionary to Northwest Nez Perce tribes in the Lapwai Valley of Idaho. They are credited with creating a written version of the Nez Perce language and using it to translate the gospel of Matthew.

At age 10, their daughter, studying at the Whitman mission about 100 miles away, barely escaped with her life after Cayuse Indians murdered 12 people there in 1847.

Kirkpatrick, who lives in central Oregon, is known for her historical fiction. She is the recipient of the 2005 Distinguished Northwest Writer Award.

Car show benefits

homeless kids

LEBANON  Preregistration ends May 15 for a car show to benefit the Lebanon Community School Districts homeless program for students in need.

The fifth annual No Limits car show will be Saturday, May 21, in the parking lot of Lebanon High School, 1700 S. Fifth St. Preregistration is $15 and day-of-show registration is $20.

Registering starts at 8:30 a.m. The show runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The event includes a small silent auction, with tickets up for bid to various locations and events, including the Oregon Jamboree.

Food and other items also will be available to purchase. All proceeds will be put toward the Kids in Need homeless program, which provides school supplies and clothing for students who need them.

To register a car, contact Roseanne Hartness at 541-405-5000 or 541-259-8907.

Auditions set

for 'Oklahoma'

LEBANON  The Lebanon Association for Theater Arts has scheduled auditions for its summer musical, Oklahoma! and invites the public to come try out.

Auditions will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, May 16 and 17, at Cascades Elementary School, 2163 S. Seventh St., Lebanon. Callbacks will be May 18.

Performances will be 7 p.m. Aug 2-6, with an additional Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. Aug. 6.

Audition material needs to be prepared in advance and can be found online at http://lafta.webs.com. For more information, contact lafta.board@gmail.com.

VFW Auxiliary

hosts soup-a-thon

Members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary are having one last soup-a-thon benefit for National Guard families on May 18. The dinners are expected to resume in October.

Participants are invited to come to the all-you-can-eat soup supper from 4 to 7 p.m. at the VFW Post 584, 1469 Timber St.

Between 10 and 20 soups will be offered to sample, and requests are encouraged. Homemade cornbread and dessert completes the meal.

The cost is $4 per person.

For more information, contact the VFW Hall at 541-928-7925.

Albany Online

accepting enrollment

Albany Online, a free online education program provided by the Greater Albany Public Schools, is now accepting enrollment for the 2016-2017 academic year.

An enrollment information session is planned for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at the district office, 718 Seventh Ave. S.W. Any families considering an alternate education plan are invited to attend.

Albany Online, in conjunction with K12/FuelEd, offers a comprehensive curriculum aligned with the states common core requirements. Courses are accessible to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays and breaks. All teachers are provided by K12 and meet the Oregon licensure requirements.

In addition to the online courses, students within the district can enroll in electives at their resident schools depending on available space. Classes follow the regular public school calendar.

For more information, contact the program at 541-924-3759 or online at www.albany.k12.or.us, under the schools option and the other link.

Speaker to address

low vision group

Laura Ericks will be the featured speaker at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, for a meeting of the Mid Valley Low Vision Support Group at Brookdale Grand Prairie, 1929 Grand Prairie Rd.

Ericks will talk about how she copes after suffering blindness and damage to her kidneys due to illness and a reaction to medication.

A variety of brochures from state and federal services for blind and low vision people will be available for take home, as well as catalogs for low vision equipment.

The support group is free to attend. All are welcome. Coffee and cookies will be provided.

For more information, call 541-928-5008.

Swim lessons

at Albany pool

The Albany Community Pool will open registration for summer evening youth swim lessons for ages 3 and older at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19.

Registration is at the pool, 2150 36th Ave. S.E. Cost is $38 for eight classes. All classes are taught by certified Red Cross Water Safety instructors.

The 30-minute lessons are 6 to 8:05 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sessions will be held June 7 - 30 and July 5 - 28.

For more information, call 541-967-4521 or visit http://www.cityofalbany.net/departments/parks-and-recreation/albany-community-pool

Movie night

at the pool

Albany Parks & Recreation Department will show The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave at 7 p.m. Friday, May 20, for Family Movie Night at Albany Community Pool.

The pools location is 2150 36th Ave. S.E. Movie-goers are encouraged to bring a favorite inflatable and watch the movie while they swim.

Family cost is $10 for the first six; additional children $2 each; $3.25 for ages 18 and under; and $3.50 for those over 18. Children under age 6and/or using a lifejacket must have an adult within reach of them in the water.

For more information, call the pool office at 541-967-4521 or visit http://www.cityofalbany.net/departments/parks-and-recreation/aquatics/albany-community-pool.
The woman who walks the most famous turtle in New York City reported for duty at his home in Harlem on Monday afternoon.

He had left her a large present in the apartment hall and was leaving another in the kitchen.

Thank you, buddy, Amalia McCallister said to Henry, the African spurred tortoise, also known as the Notortoise BIG on his Facebook and Instagram accounts. I really love that.

Ms. McCallister, who recently beat out hundreds of people to make $10 an hour cleaning up after a reptile the size of a roasting pan, was unfazed. She swabbed Henry with baby wipes, rubbed turtle conditioner into his bumpy shell and pointed him toward the door.

Henry, surprisingly agile for a 17-pound tortoise, raced for the exit. Ms. McCallister locked the door behind him and carried him down two flights, mindful of his legs, armored with spiky scales, and the possibility that he would soil her long blue dress.
The last time Robert Caro set foot in Robert Moses office, Moses abruptly ended their interview and never spoke to him again. On a bright morning last week, Mr. Caro, 80, climbed into the back seat of a rented Toyota Camry to visit that office for the first time in 48 years.

In the interim, Mr. Caros biography of the public works titan, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, which he wrote for an advance of $5,000, has had 49 printings and was recently bought for publication in China, where it has been available in unauthorized editions.

In the front seat of the car sat the prime minister of the Netherlands.

Hi, Im Mark, said the prime minister, Mark Rutte.

Mr. Rutte and his friend Koen Petersen, a historian and coffee company executive, had invited Mr. Caro to lunch last year and asked if he would someday show them some sights from the book. They said they visited the city every year with a copy of The Power Broker.
Theres a world of fish in here, he said, stopping at one stand. Thats dogfish, which is used in England for fish and chips. You got monkfish right out the water off Long Island. You got pompano, in from Florida.

Mr. Feig estimates that he buys $1 million worth of fish a month at the market, but that is not the only reason he is continuously courted by sellers at their stalls. He has worked with many of them for decades. He greets the sellers with gibes. He tastes their raw tuna, sniffs their scallops, has them open oyster after oyster so he can eye them.

This is my home  were part of a family here, said Mr. Feig, who does not mind the chilly temperature in the market, nor the fish smell, nor the ungodly hours.

After all, he said, compared with the old outdoor Fulton market, This is paradise.

This is beautiful, he said. Theres no rain, no snow. The ground is level.

But it lacks the central location of the old Fulton market, said Mr. Feig, who is married with two grown children and lives in West Nyack, N.Y. Nor does it have the lore. Yes, there are characters here, but not like Bo, the fish loader at Fulton Street with a glass eye. Hed tell buyers hed keep an eye on their boxes of fish, and then take out his eye and put it on the box, said Mr. Feig, who sat on a packing crate and whipped out his notebook, which is protected by a metal binder to prevent the fish guts from soaking through.

Mr. Feig said he grew up in public housing in the Gun Hill section of the Bronx and began working summers at the fish market, where his grandfather sold shrimp in the summer and shad in the winter, on South Street.

He said he became adept at slicing shad to remove the roe. His speed  about 500 fish, or 2,000 pounds, an hour  was so impressive that he would challenge any two cutters at the market to keep up with him. Mr. Feig said his uncle once won $1,000 backing him in a race against a pair of cutters.
SEOUL, South Korea  FOR years, thousands of North Koreans have been sneaking across the border into China to escape oppression. The Chinese authorities routinely hunt down defectors and return them to North Korea, where they face torture, forced labor, life in a prison camp or even public execution.

This past year much has been written about the people fleeing the Middle East for Europe. The world should also pay attention to the North Korean refugee crisis, and to the desperation that drives it. North Koreans are forced to work at state jobs in a moribund economy. Countless parents watch their children go to bed hungry. Many North Korean families feel they have no option but to try to escape.

In 1997, I defected as a naive 17-year-old girl who simply wanted to explore the world. I was fortunate to live on the border with China and could pick up Chinese TV channels, which opened my eyes. I stole into China, where I remained in hiding for more than 10 years, and eventually found my way to South Korea.

As many as 200,000 defectors are living secretly in China. The Chinese government considers them illegal immigrants  even though they are refugees. As a signatory to the United Nations convention on refugees, China is obligated to not repatriate them, yet it cooperates with North Korea to find defectors and even pays its citizens for turning them in.
Barbara Johnson, 58, Ms. Sapps mother, said: I was excited for her, but I was scared and nervous. But its different now. A lot more streetlights, a lot more police officers. I feel at ease when she leaves me and goes home.

Since Ms. Sapp arrived, Blink Fitness opened on Macombs Road in Mount Eden, about a half-mile from her apartment. More people are moving to the area, many priced out of Harlem and starting another wave of migration  and displacement.

The gentrification experience can be different for parents who have remained in the old neighborhood, because they live in a rent-regulated apartment or own a home that has perhaps greatly appreciated in value. The neighborhood being up-and-coming is a status symbol for them, said Ms. Burke, the teacher from Crown Heights. Its like, Look at us, weve always lived here, but now its a place where people are clawing down doors to get in. 

Her mother appreciates the new amenities in Crown Heights, particularly the arrival of a bank branch on her corner and shops selling organic produce. Before, you couldnt even get a bagel in this neighborhood, said Myrna Burke, 64. Nor does she miss the days when she worried if her children would be safe walking home from the subway station on Franklin Avenue. Now on a weekend, it is so busy, she said. On Saturday, you come out of your door and its like, Whoa! Its nice. Its more lively.

Two years ago, Andre Springer, an artist, was renting an apartment for around $900 a month on the top floor of his mothers townhouse in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Then she decided to sell the building that she bought in 1996 for around $150,000.

Mr. Springer, 33, handled the sale for his mother, Jacqueline Spencer, 56, an immigrant from Barbados who works for the Department of Education. He listed the building on Decatur Street for $1.2 million, hoping to deliver her a comfortable retirement. The house ultimately sold early last year for $825,000, falling short of expectations, but Ms. Spencer was able to buy a house in Rosedale, Queens, with the proceeds. Mr. Springer now pays $700 a month for a bedroom in a two-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, receiving a discount for walking a dog.

Mr. Springer has mixed feelings about relinquishing his childhood home. She saw the opportunity to sell her home and be in a quieter neighborhood. But for me, it kind of hurt, he said. Until she moved away, I always felt like I had a place to go back to, a place that I could call my own.
It wasnt until a friend invited him to design a collection of rugs that the textile designer Zak Profera found his true calling. Before that, Mr. Profera was working in music marketing.

I thought, This is what I need to do to be happy,  said Mr. Profera, 32, who started his New York textiles company soon after creating those rugs for Decorative Carpets in Los Angeles. I knew I couldnt afford to do rugs, he explained, and thought fabric would be similar.

His company, Zak&Fox, makes graphic textiles for designers like Robert Stilin and Workstead. But Mr. Profera still cant resist a good rug, so he also collects and sells vintage Turkish and Persian carpets, and Overland, the fabric collection he introduced this month, was inspired by those designs.

Its easy to be seduced by pattern, he admitted, but when youre choosing a new rug there are other, equally important, things to consider:

 Will the rug be in a high-traffic area like an entrance hall? If so, think durability. Ask yourself, Mr. Profera said, will this rug get trashed in a year, or will it stand the test of time?
Now, under one roof, Ms. Paulus can have a home life and, thanks to an office on the second floor, a somewhat less stressful life in the theater. I can say, Why dont you come over to my house?  she said. Ive finally grown up. I can host people. We can bang on the piano in the living room or put a track on the sound system. Its been great to have that studio environment.

Ms. Paulus exudes decisive competence, the exact quality youd want in a director. Correction: Ms. Paulus exudes decisive competence when dealing with the many moving parts of a musical or opera. Swatches are put in front of me constantly, she said. I make thousands of choices about set design and props and the colors of costumes.

But when she was tasked with selecting furniture and accessories for her townhouse, all that enviable certainty went right out the window. Ive never been able to make home-decorating decisions with ease. Ive just never been able to get it together, she said. Someone told me, Its because you use all of that particular energy for your work. You have nothing left for your home life. 

Fortunately, she has friends. They told her to paint all the walls white, and the director took their direction. Those same friends told her about the ABC Carpet & Home warehouse outlet in the Bronx, where she and her husband bought almost everything for the house in one fell swoop. The haul included a glass-and-chrome etagere, a glass-and-chrome coffee table, a dining table and a pair of gray velvet tufted benches that Ms. Paulus has since conceded should have stayed on the showroom floor.

I sat on them and they were comfortable, she said defensively. And then I spent the next six months going into the living room and rearranging them. My husband finally said, I think youve made a mistake and we should just start over. 

So it was back to ABC for a sleek gray couch and an easy chair. One of the tufted benches now resides in Ms. Pauluss office. Its mate was relegated to the foyer, a handy perch for visitors, who are asked to remove their shoes before heading upstairs. This is a nod to Ms. Pauluss heritage; her mother was Japanese. Further honoring the familys background, Ms. Pauluss sister, Janet, made 1,000 origami cranes as a housewarming present for the familys previous residence. A symbol of good luck and good health, they hang in multicolored strands in a corner of the den/playroom.

Scattered among the many new pieces of furniture is a cache of treasures that Ms. Paulus has taken from place to place: the tiny white rocking chair that was made by her father; a collage of photos from her parents childhoods; a picture she painted in high school that her mother and Mr. Weiner had framed. That picture hangs in the kitchen, one of Ms. Pauluss preferred hangouts, not because she cooks  she doesnt  but because so much of our life happens there, she said. And theres an adjoining sweet little balcony, Ms. Paulus said. You walk out there and youre in this enclave of brownstones. Our neighbor has a fountain that runs all spring and summer. Its a little oasis.
Whats a nice state representative like Andy Olson doing inserting himself into what almost certainly will be one of the most contentious issues of the 2017 legislative session?

Legislative leaders recently announced a panel of lawmakers charged with working up a transportation package for next years session. Olson, the Albany Republican, is on the panel; apparently, Olson thought he hadnt paid sufficient dues during his time working on another high-profile issue  namely, how the state would implement the legalization of marijuana after voters approved Ballot Measure 91 in 2014.

The job of the transportation committee (which includes another mid-valley legislator, Sen. Fred Girod of Stayton), will be to wade again into the midst of an issue that had a spectacular flameout during the 2015 session. That Olson, he knows how to pick em, eh?

Olson also knows this transportation package is a big deal for Oregon: Our bridges need updating, our roads need maintenance, and we need a plan of action to ensure the best possible transportation for ALL of Oregon, he said in a press release announcing his appointment to the committee, which will be dubbed The Joint Committee on Transportation Preservation and Modernization. (At least Olson wont have to hear the seemingly endless jokes he endured during his service on the marijuana panel, which also was a joint committee. Get it? Yeah, were sorry.)

The 2015 Legislature also knew that the states bridges need updating and that its roads require maintenance. But it was unable to figure out how to pay for the transportation package. Republicans said early on that they wouldnt be able to endorse the 4-cent-per-gallon boost in the gas tax that was proposed as a funding source if Democrats pushed through a renewal of the states controversial Clean Fuels Program. Republicans argued that the program, a Democratic priority, could increase fuel costs by as much as 19 cents a gallon, and that it wasnt fair to saddle taxpayers with two separate increases at the pump  and that the increases would be particularly painful for rural Oregonians.

Democrats went ahead with the Clean Fuels Program. Gov. Kate Brown signed it into law. And then Democrats were astonished that Republicans stood by their vow about the gas tax  and since it was a tax increase, requiring a supermajority in both houses, at least one Republican vote was required.

Thats where matters stood when the 2015 Legislature adjourned. The subject was deemed too controversial and complex for the 2016 short session (and thats all well say about that, at least for the time being.)

Now, Olson and his colleagues are taking up this vital cause. They plan fact-finding trips throughout the state: You cant do this without serious study, he said.

And hes serious that the transportation package must benefit all of Oregon, not just the Portland area and the Oregon coast. Whatever we do, he told us, the voters need to perceive the value for what theyre getting.

That could put the Clean Fuels Program back in the spotlight. Olson said theres likely no way to completely repeal the program. But if the Legislature could find some ways to roll back that estimated 19-cents-a-gallon impact, it could help to clear the road for serious consideration of an increase in the gas tax.

After all, the states roads and bridges arent getting any better.

But when the heat starts to build over this political hot potato, Olson might find himself thinking nostalgically about the days when implementing marijuana legalization was the only joint committee he had to worry about. (mm)
In a poem, it is possible to talk to someone who is dead, and maybe even to reach some kind of tentative, hard-won reconciliation or understanding. This poem is the final entry of Sally Keiths collection about the loss of her mother. Poem selected by Matthew Zapruder.

Credit Illustration by R. O. Blechman

63.

I hear my mother on the phone. She says the moon is far away. The moon is white and full and underneath the water is black. The arc of light once marking the water by now is pared to a fleck. The moon is almost full, I correct, looking up Where the moon hangs beside the untextured black of the branch. The sky is dug. It deepens, a deepening blue. When she tells me there is wind at the river, I know The motorboat knocks at the dock. Where I am, it is still. The edge of the moon closest to the earth  Translucent, as if the smallest piece has been shaved from the back. Between our two points, the land is long. Her hair that was gray is almost all white. However deep the water is depends on the pull of the tide, depends On the laws of the moon. It is barely dusk where I walk. Silver glows on the antelope backs. The trees curl up around the creek. She is the mother. I explain the moon to her and she explains it back.
An independent report analysing New Zealands life insurance industry reveals the number of people insured in New Zealand has been static for over three years  highlighting a need for industry-wide change across a number of key areas including improved transparency, an increased focus on consumer education, and access to trusted advice.Key findings from Resetting Life Insurance, undertaken by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER), show that over a nine year period, new customer rates for life insurance were the lowest of any insurance category (12%), while house insurance premiums almost tripled, health insurance increased by 84%, contents insurance by 45% and car insurance by 19%.New Zealand has the third lowest penetration of insurance among 31 OECD countries with only Greece and Mexico lagging behind.Dr Jeffrey Stangl, executive director of education partnerships at Massey University and financial capability advocate, says the report highlights the need for some changes within the industry in an effort to build consumer trust and meet the evolving needs of New Zealands diverse population.The report shows that Kiwis are prioritising house, health, content and car insurance but fall short when it comes to protecting their finances and their lives. Increased transparency is important for the industry to address when looking at ways to improve consumer trust in life insurance as a category, and to ultimately help Kiwis have a financial plan in place if the unexpected happens.Underpinning this is consumer education and access to advice to help people understand what options are available to them and what insurance is right for them based on their needs. Life insurance isnt just about a lump sum payment for your dependents when you die. What about income protection for the twenty-something single renter who finds themselves unable to work? What about disability cover for the main income earner with a family and a mortgage who is permanently disabled due to an injury?Laurence Kubiak, chief executive of NZIER, says the report findings suggest an increasingly varied dwelling model in New Zealand, the impact of which has diversified the life insurance market and changed traditional entry points.The traditional prime life insurance market, house owners with dependents and a mortgage, now represent just 30% of households in New Zealand. The biggest and fastest growing group by household type is those in rented accommodation  with this shift some of the traditional triggers for when people think about life insurance and how it fits into their lives have been removed, says Kubiak. Sovereign s chief marketing and strategy officer, Chris Lamers, agrees the industry has to evolve to meet the changing needs of a changing audience.We know we have low levels of life insurance in New Zealand and to be falling further behind other OECD countries is sobering. We have to change  our challenge is demonstrating to these different family groupings and individuals that they need to have a plan in place for when things go wrong, and life insurance can be a critical part of this  last year alone Sovereign paid out $350 million in claims to people all over New Zealand.As part of a focus on financial capability within New Zealand, its important to address the risk low levels or no insurance at all poses to individuals and the national healthcare system. To help Kiwis have a plan B in place, we need build an industry that consumers trust and understand.
Just sharing all the goodies we ate on my recent Boston - NYC trip with my friends in celebration of our upcoming graduation whoohoo.





The people on the East Coast sure love to walk everywhere. On this trip I discovered that Apple health app also works as a pedometer - I walked an average of 24,000 steps over 7 days with a peak of almost 34,000 steps..... yet I still managed to gain 3 lbs from all our eating! That just shows how delicious food is here





BOSTON

Flour Bakery : Enjoying Flour Bakery right next to MIT! The chef is a Harvard graduate who majored in Mathematics and Econ, hated and quit her job to be a pastry chef (having zero experience), working her way up from be very bottom!





Their motto: "Make life sweeter... eat dessert first!"





Legal Sea Foods - it may be a chain, but I still enjoyed their food and the view at the one on Copley. I had the char grilled haddock, while my friends had the fish and chips (huge), and the classic lobster roll.

The famous Mike's Pastry - this is from the original in North End (a new one opened in Harvard square). It's packed with 5 lines, but it moves quick. The lobster tail is the famous pastry (like a crispy cream puff), as well as the cannolis (mint, amaretto, double chocolate, and florentine). My friend also got us the Boston Cream Puff and Boston Cream Pie.

Tea Do - in the Boston Chinatown, a cute hipster place where you can play games like Jenga and Uno here as well. I recommend checking out their speciality boba menu - with funky names like Grasshopper, The Hulk, and Fire Dragon (Red Bean, Milk, Grass Jelly, Tapioca)

NEW YORK CITY

It's not gourmet, but you can fill you ice cream cravings with one of the many ice cream trucks in NYC - you can even have a double ice cream in a double cone! Perfect for sharing - B models the ice cream (alas it was eaten before I could snap a whole picture).





Beyoglu - Turkish food in Upper East Side! Here is their hummus and pita, falafel, and sigara borek (film dough stuffed w feta). Try their turkish coffee too - it's unique.





The fabulously unhealthy Serendipity 3 in NYC - get ready for diabetes. Here's the Forbidden Broadway Sundae, Strawberry Fields Forever Sundae, and their famous Frozen Hot Chocolate. Thisour dinner (they have real food but people say just come here for desserts). The boys were lame and couldn't handle the sugar -had to finish it all (who me?)Schmackary's Cookies - here's the Funfetti, Chocolate, and Bacon(!) cookies. They're like little cakes with the icing.
NEWPORT BEACH  Locals and tourists driving east on Balboa Boulevard will soon see a sign welcoming them to Balboa Village, or Home of the Fun Zone.

The City Council voted 4-3 in favor of a $234,398 contract to build an entry arch sign across Balboa Boulevard at Adams Street, as part of an ongoing effort to revitalize the historic but struggling area.

The arch sign will be adorned with LED fixtures and decorative lighting.

Council members Kevin Muldoon, Duffy Duffield and Scott Peotter opposed the sign at Tuesdays meeting, saying it was too expensive.

Proponents, including business owners at the Fun Zone, said the sign will help bring foot traffic to the area, as well as sales tax and parking revenues for the city.

I think it will really create an identity, a sense of identity, in this new-found revitalization that will be occurring in Balboa Village, Mayor Diane Dixon said.

Duffield said the area has just one main road and people dont need a way-finding sign, adding he wished the sign was smaller.

Im a business man, I just dont see the connection of this sign saving everybodys business, he said. You have a very seasonable business, and I do too, and we just have to live with that.  Its not going to stimulate business in the winter.

City spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said the construction schedule wont be decided until the city finalizes the agreement with AToM Engineering Construction and holds a meeting with the contractor. The contractor must finish the project in 100 consecutive working days once construction begins, according to a staff report.

Built on the site of an old boat yard in 1936, the Fun Zone at Balboa Village was once a family destination in Southern California, featuring amusement park rides, arcades, shops and restaurants.

But the area lost its luster after failed preservation and renovation efforts.

If you just walk around Balboa Village for about an hour, (you see) the place needs a lot of help, Marcel Ford, president of the Balboa Village Merchants Association, said at Tuesdays meeting.

The City Council in 2011 appointed a Citizen Advisory Panel to set a vision and strategy for Balboa Village. The panel suggested improving appearances of commercial buildings, attracting more tenants and supporting cultural venues such as ExplorOcean and Balboa Theater, according to the 2012 Balboa Village master plan.

If you look at it, its hard to believe its in Newport Beach, Ford said. When you see Fashion Island and you see Mariners Mile  Balboa Village is kind of beat up, needless to say. So we are working our way out of it.

Contact the writer: 949-445-6397 or tshimura@ocregister.com
LAGUNA BEACH  City officials say this seaside town that draws nearly 6 million tourists a year is on course to become even more popular.

While the city already has a long-standing reputation for its arts community and picturesque beach coves, social media has made local secret spots public.

What used to be secret beaches and hiking trails have been outed, said City Manager John Pietig. These services are further enhancing our popularity.

Pietig and Laguna Beach Mayor Steve Dicterow on Thursday addressed local business owners, residents and city stakeholders during the annual State of the City held at the Montage Resort. About 180 people attended the event put on by the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce.

The key is balancing the influx of tourists  more traffic and parking requirements  with residents who want to enjoy a community largely funded by property tax. Last year the city took in $29 million in property taxes, which made up 54 percent of the citys general fund. Last year property taxes increased 3 percent.

Property tax revenue is expected to increase dramatically as residents who bought their homes in the 1960 and 70s start selling them, said Dicterow.

Were a population of 23,000, he said. I expect it will still be 23,000 as the County of Orange moves toward 4 million.

Were under incredible pressure from development all around us but we also have to manage our visitors that amount to as many as 100,000 a week. We exist for the purposes of serving our residents.

Dicterow talked about public safety and a strategic plan implemented by Laguna Beach Police Chief Laura Farinella, who was hired from her position at the Long Beach Police Department a year ago.

Laura is one of the greatest outside hires in the history of this city, Dicterow said.

Farinella has added two officers for downtown foot patrol, traffic control personnel and a dispatcher to assist with increased police and fire calls.

She also has started weekend year-round traffic control. The city has seen an improvement in traffic with the use of parking lots outside the downtown  the Act V parking lot along Laguna Canyon Road and Mission Hospitals lot at the south end of town. The city also uses electronic signs posted at entrances along Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road to inform visitors of events, police enforcements and general announcements.

The popular free trolleys have helped visitors leave their cars at the lots outside the city. Residents, especially those who live along Coast Highway, have been eager to use the trolleys to get to local beaches and the downtown when traffic congestion is high.

Laguna Beach started running four trolleys up and down Coast Highway and Laguna Canyon Road in the summer of 2000. The service ran when festivals were going and beach traffic was high. That summer, 119,671 riders hopped aboard, paying $1 or $2 for an all-day pass.

Two years later, the city made trolley service free. That drove up ridership to 260,000.

By the summer of 2015, the service was expanded to 21 trolleys, carrying 656,936 riders. Laguna also expanded the service last year to run on weekends year-round.

The trolleys are hugely successful, Dicterow said. They move people around but they are also an attraction.

Other public safety improvements include adding another fuel modification zone in Nyes Canyon, an area that hasnt had brush cleared out in 40 to 50 years. A lifeguard tower has been added at Anita Street beach.

Last year, Laguna Beach lifeguards saved 5,560 lives.

Thats one life an hour, Dicterow said, dividing the number into the number of daylight hours.

The city has improved its infrastructure with an improved sewer system on the Third Street hill, officials said. Crews are working on the citys storm drain and channel in the downtown. Street surfacing is being done throughout the city.

In a historic decision, Laguna Beach County Water District in February struck a deal with the Orange County Water District that ensures that two-thirds of Lagunas water supply will come from groundwater in the Santa Ana River Basin.

The Laguna district agreed to pay the Orange County Water District $3.1 million for access to the water, OCWDs engineering and water resources. The $3.1 million is less than the cost of Laguna Beach County building a water treatment facility and well.

Contact the writer: 714-796-2254 or eritchie@ocregister.com or Twitter:@lagunaini
It was an opportunity not to be missed: Seven days visiting Cuba before throngs of American tourists and companies invade it.

Our group of 37, booked through five Chambers of Commerce across the country, met in Miami for our people-to-people Cuban visit. Seven of us came from the North Orange County Chamber of Commerce to see and experience that intriguing island, once the playground of Americas rich and famous.

Cuba of 2016 is a muddle of contrasts and often stuck in the past. We traveled in a modern Chinese-made touring bus, but I felt like wed entered the 19th century. Our fancy bus whizzed down the highway, passing horse-drawn wooden wagons. Other times, wed see oxen pulling a plow, or a goat-drawn wagon. Not everyone in Cuba drives a 52 Chevy, or a Yank Tank as the old American cars are called, and many Cubans dont own cars.

While I expected to see Yank Tanks, I also expected a heavy military and police presence, including armored trucks and tanks, but did not. Ive seen heavier police presence in New Yorks Times Square than in Havana. We had no restrictions where we could go, and were only advised not to photograph at airports or military facilities.

At Ernesto Che Guevaras mausoleum and museum soldiers were present. My friend and I had our photo taken with a soldier on guard. He had a small, holstered pistol, no Uzi or bullet bandolier. And he smiled for the photo. Ches image is everywhere on buildings, T-shirts and statues, especially in Havana.

We learned from our Cuban guide, Yarni, that only recently were Cubans allowed at the beach resorts were we stayed for a few days. But the cost is prohibitive since Cubans earn about $20 a month. Yarnis doctor husband earns $60 a month.

While the beaches are postcard beautiful, valleys breathtaking, Havanas sleek, modern structures are often next to old, crumbling buildings.

The Rolling Stones gave a free concert in Havana weeks before we attended a park concert where musicians played beautifully with very old instruments. Contrasts everywhere.

Even their currency is a contrast. Visitors use Cuban Convertible Pesos, or CUCs. Cuban nationals are often paid in both CUCs and CUPs, or Cuban Pesos. CUCs are more valuable. And American credit and debit cards are not accepted, but are expected to be soon.

While Cubans are still issued ration books for buying staples, and often face shortages, we were served cruise-line quality cuisine at our hotels and paladars, or family-run restaurants.

Our hotels had cable television with CNN, not available to the locals. Internet service is spotty, but many Cubans have cell phones and gather around a hot spot.

Cuba is a country of contrasts and is in transition; slowly working its way into the 21st century with friendly people who have a glimmer of hope for a more open, brighter future that I hope includes freedom of press.

Terri Daxon, a freelance writer, is the owner of Daxon Marketing Communications. Contact her at daxoncomm@earthlink.net.
The Orange County Sheriffs Department has released footage that shows a suicidal man shooting at deputies with an automatic rifle in a call in San Juan Capistrano last month.

On April 27, deputies responded to a call in the 27000 block of Paseo Castile, where a man was in his garage with a gun and was threatening to kill himself.

According to a social media bulletin shared by the department, the man started firing without provocation at the three deputies with the rifle.

The deputies were unable to return fire due to poor sight lines and concern that they couldnt see who else may have been inside the garage, the Facebook post stated.

After firing dozens of rounds, the suspect walked out of the house and dropped his weapon. He was arrested and no injuries were reported.

We share this video to demonstrate the extremely dangerous and unpredictable job that our deputies encounter.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com
Mothers are celebrated the second Sunday in May. Thoroughbred horses run for the roses the first Saturday in May.

And letter carriers?

With their Stamp Out Hunger campaign, they collect donations of non-perishable food on the second Saturday in May, which is this weekend.

That means letter carriers will pick up donated items Saturday on their normal delivery route.

The National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, now in its 24th year, is the largest single-day collection of donated food in the country. Last years total donation: nearly 71 million pounds of food.

Its pretty simple: Residents leave non-perishable food near their mailboxes in a sturdy bag or box ahead of their usual mail delivery time and the letter carrier picks it up.

There is nothing more convenient than setting out a bag of groceries by your mailbox and knowing that your letter carrier will get that food to a vulnerable family, said Mark Lowry, director of Orange County Food Bank.

Letter carriers participate voluntarily. If food left by a mailbox is not picked up on Saturday, people are advised to contact their local post office or place the food out on Monday when missed donations will be collected.

The donations are distributed in the communities where they are collected. In Orange County, most of the food goes to Orange County Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank. The Orange County food banks count on the Stamp Out Hunger campaign to keep their shelves stocked during summer months when donations tend to drop off.

At the same time that donations slow, demand goes up because kids are out of school and therefore dont get their free-and-reduced-price lunches, leaving many families wondering where theyll get enough food to feed the kids, said Barbara Wartman, director of marketing and public relations at Second Harvest.

Last year, Second Harvest took in slightly more than 173,000 pounds of food, according to Wartman. Orange County Food Bank received 207,761 pounds of food in 2015, Lowry said.

Other food collected locally by the letter carriers goes to the United Labor Agency and some Orange County cities distribute the donated items directly to food pantries in their communities, Lowry said.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7793 or twalker@ocregister.com
SACRAMENTO  The California Senate on Thursday reversed the fundraising blackout it imposed after a series of ethical violations led to the suspension of three senators in 2014, a day before senators would have been forced to stop some fundraising just ahead of the June primary.

The restrictions barred lawmakers from seeking or accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists during certain periods. One such period begins after the governor releases his revised budget, which is scheduled for Friday.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said incumbent senators shouldnt have to unilaterally disarm in the face of opponents who can raise and spend millions to attack them.

This is David vs. Goliath, and we cannot take away the slingshot from David, de Leon said after the vote.

He pointed to Sen. Jim Beall, a San Jose Democrat who is being challenged by term-limited Democratic Assemblywoman Nora Campos. Campos faced no fundraising restrictions because the Assembly did not adopt them.

Campos has also benefited from independent expenditures by an outside group funded by oil interests, which has so far reported spending $340,000 to boost Campos.

The oil companies are now invested in trying to prevent my re-election, Beall said. Im working hard to persevere.

The race has turned unusually personal, including dueling allegations of physical attacks by Campos husband and a labor official who supports Beall, which Campos highlighted in a Capitol news conference this week.

Beall was the only Democrat to vote against suspending the fundraising ban, which was approved in a 24-8 vote. Six of the supporters were Republicans. Eight lawmakers sat out the vote, all but one of them Democrats.

The rule change takes effect immediately. Because the restrictions were only in the Senates internal rules, not state law, they arent subject to approval by the Assembly or the governor.

Lawmakers who raised money from lobbyists during a blackout period would have been subject to disciplinary action ranging from reprimand to expulsion.

The fundraising restrictions were adopted two years ago in response to scandals that brought the Legislatures integrity into question.

A prominent lobbyist received a record fine for illegally throwing lavish fundraisers for top elected officials at his home.

Sen. Rod Wright of Los Angeles was convicted for lying about living inside his district. Sen. Ron Calderon of Montebello and Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco were suspected of taking bribes.

Calderon has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. Yee was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison.

Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who serves as president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, said she has mixed feelings about lifting the fundraising ban.

On the one hand, she said, its questionable whether a ban thats limited to certain time periods would actually prevent lobbyist money from reaching legislators through donations at different times or to outside groups.

On the other hand, Levinson said, the ban was a reaction to scandals that tore into public confidence in the Senate, and the push to reverse it shows lawmakers rely on the money.

There is something really kind of disgusting about walking across the street, picking up a check form a lobbyist, and then going back to the Capitol to vote on a measure that affects that lobbyist, Levinson said.
PARIS  As protests raged in the capital and across the country, Frances Socialist government survived a no-confidence vote Thursday after it forced a controversial labor law through Parliament in a last-ditch attempt to curb unemployment before next years presidential election.

Although the no-confidence motion failed, it was a public rebuke of an increasingly unpopular government viewed as politically impotent and increasingly out of touch with the interests of even its own supporters.

The legislation  which significantly loosens the countrys stringent labor regulations  was adopted Tuesday without a vote in Parliament, scandalizing deputies and provoking a motion of censure, which would have stopped the law.

The new law speaks to issues far broader than French politics. It is an attempt to combat unemployment  an issue all over Europe that is especially acutein France, where the rate has stubbornly lingered over 10 percent for some time now, just below its high in the mid-1990s.

Since the end of March, hundreds of thousands of predominantly young protesters have swarmed public squares and city streets across France in demonstrations that recall the student revolts of 1968.

On Thursday, thousands of young people gathered outside the National Assembly in Paris. They were protesting the governments move to loosen Frances famous worker protections, among the strongest in the world, which limit the workweek to 35 hours and prohibit firms from firing employees even for economic reasons.

Many view this weeks changes as a leftist governments abandonment of leftist ideals.

Its a leftist government that was elected, said a high school student who identified himself only as Mathurin, but theyre sort of traitors, as far to the right as theyve moved.

Manuel Valls, Frances prime minister, said in Parliament on Tuesday, This reform has to go through, the country must move forward.

Some French economists point out that the young and unemployed are protesting a set of measures that were largely introduced to help the young and unemployed.

Im not sure that French people really understand whats in this law, said Stphane Carcillo, a professor at Sciences Po, a Paris-based research institution.

The unemployment rate in France is high for structural reasons, not just because of the crisis, he said, citing a traditionally corporatist society that continued to maintain a generous social security system even after postwar growth began to stagnate.

Its definitely a law that should have been passed a few years ago, Carcillo said.
SANTA ANA  A loan officer is accused of stealing a customers identity to purchase a motorcycle and SUV, and police suspect more people could have been swindled, officials said Friday.

Maxwell Hernandez, 25, of Corona was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of grand theft auto and identity theft after he purchased a new Toyota 4Runner and Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Hernandez was a loan officer at RFG Services, 1522 E. 4th St. in Santa Ana last year when he befriended one of his customers who planned on refinancing a home and provided Hernandez with personal information on the application.

That customer allowed Hernandez to borrow his car and when Hernandez returned it last week, he left paperwork inside that indicated a new Toyota 4Runner, worth $47,000, had been purchased in the customers name.

Police were contacted and arrested Hernandez when he arrived at a dealership to pick up the 4Runner after it was serviced, police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Detectives later found that Hernandez also purchased a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle, worth $32,000. The dealership took a photo of him on the new bike, which has not yet been located.

Whoever has it should contact the police, because its now listed as a stolen vehicle, Bertagna said.

Because of Hernandezs access to other customers personal information, police are asking any potential identity theft victims who have worked with Hernandez to call

Detectives are asking that if anyone used Hernandez for a financial transaction. to check credit reports. Anyone who hase been a victim of identity theft involving Hernandez has been asked to call Santa Ana police Cpl. Shannon Rackley at 714-245-8431.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or aduranty@ocregister.com
LONDON  The Obama administrations calls for restoring global business ties with Iran are falling flat in Europe, where risk-averse banks told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday that they dont believe they can do business in the Islamic Republic without triggering U.S. sanctions.

Nearly a year after the U.S. and world powers struck a deal to ease financial penalties against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, the Tehran government complains that U.S. policy is denying that promised relief. Kerry and other top officials have been fanning out across the globe to correct what Kerry called misinterpretations or mere rumors about what kind of transactions are still prohibited.

The nuclear deal removed broad U.S. sanctions on Irans economy, clearing the way for foreign companies to conduct business. Some specific entities, including companies associated with Irans Revolutionary Guard, remain off-limits under sanctions intended to punish Iran for other behavior such as its ballistic missiles program and sponsorship of groups the U.S. considers terrorist organizations.

We want to make it clear that legitimate business, which is clear under the definition of the agreement, is available to banks, Kerry said after an unusual meeting in London with top financiers. As long as they do their normal due diligence and know who theyre dealing with, theyre not going to be held to some undefined and inappropriate standard here.

Europes banking powerhouses were unconvinced.

We will not accept any new clients who reside in Iran, or which are an entity owned or controlled by a person there, said Standard Chartered. Nor will we undertake any new transactions involving Iran or any party in Iran.

The London-based bank settled with New York regulators in 2012 for $340 million after being accused of scheming with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars.

Deutsche Bank acknowledged increased expectations on the banking sector to facilitate business with Iran due to eased sanctions, while noting that other U.S. and European Union penalties are in place.

Therefore, Deutsche Bank continues to generally restrict business connected to Iran, the bank said in a statement. Deutsche Bank declined to answer questions about what exceptions, if any, it would entertain.

For a banks lawyers and compliance officers, thats a recipe for heartburn. Iran and its Revolutionary Guard are notorious for using front companies and opaque financial transactions to circumvent sanctions.

Foreign governments, banks and other companies want written clarification from the U.S. Treasury Department  essentially a guarantee they wont be punished. But Washington is reluctant to do that, not wanting to appear to be softening its firm penalties for non-nuclear behavior.

Yet the Obama administration is eager for banks to accept its word and do business with Tehran because some Iranian hard-liners have threatened to tear up the nuclear deal without the promised relief. That would damage President Barack Obamas foreign policy legacy and could mean Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapon.

Ross Denton, a London-based sanctions and international compliance expert at the law firm Baker & McKenzie, said its impossible for banks to accurately determine with whom in Iran theyre really dealing because the country is so isolated from the modern financial system. Major global accounting and risk-management firms dont operate there, putting banks at risk of unwittingly violating sanctions.

The problem is not where you can see it, Denton said. It is where you cant.

The administration has preserved a prohibition on Iran accessing the American financial system or directly conducting transactions in U.S. dollars. That has caused confusion and practical impediments because international transactions routinely are conducted in dollars.

In addition to Standard Chartered, HSBC agreed in 2012 to pay $1.9 billion to settle a U.S. Justice Department probe into money-laundering that involved Iran.

Executives and compliance directors from Barclays, Lloyds, Credit Suisse and Societe Generale also attended the meeting with Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, the State Department said.

Hammond told reporters afterward that if world powers are to ensure their objective of normalizing relations with Iran, they must succeed in persuading banks that its safe to invest.

Its the first hurdle in the race, Hammond said. If we fail at this one, then well never get the chance to demonstrate all the other benefits that can flow from this agreement that we spent so much time and energy delivering.
MOSCOW  As U.S. and allied officials celebrated the opening of a long-awaited missile defense system in Europe with a ribbon cutting and a band, the reaction in Moscow on Thursday was darker: a public discussion of how nuclear war might play out in Europe and the prospect that Romania, the host nation for the U.S.-built system, might be reduced to smoking ruins.

We have been saying right from when this story started that our experts are convinced that the deployment of the ABM system poses a certain threat to the Russian Federation, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, told reporters in a conference call.

Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of security for Russia, he said. The president himself, let me remind you, has repeatedly asked who the system will work against.

The United States has asserted that the anti-ballistic missile system would protect only against rogue states, particularly Iran, and provide no protection for either Europe or the United States from Russias far larger arsenal of nuclear missiles. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization site will be controlled by a U.S. officer.

The system, called Aegis Ashore, was essentially transferred from a seaborne launchpad onto land in Romania, at the Deveselu air base. The United States on Friday planned to break ground on a second site, in Poland, that should be completed in 2018. But a deputy U.S. defense secretary, Robert Work, reiterated Thursday there are no plans at all to strengthen this missile umbrella to protect against Russia.

In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Russian defense experts consider the site a threat.

We still view the destructive actions of the United States and its allies in the area of missile defense as a direct threat to global and regional security, Zakharova said.

She said that the Aegis Ashore launchpad was practically identical to a system used aboard Aegis warships that is capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles.

While the United States says it has no Tomahawk missiles at the site in Romania, the launchpad violates a 1987 treaty intended to take the superpowers off their hair-trigger nuclear alert, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, by banning land-based cruise and medium-range missiles with a range from 300 to 3,400 miles.

The short flight time of these missiles diminished to mere minutes the window Soviet leaders would have had after a warning to decide whether to launch a second strike, raising the risks of mishaps. Any redeployment of nuclear-capable missiles in Central Europe would roll the clock back to this nerve-racking 1980s status quo.

We have to announce this openly, without any additional diplomatic formulations, Zakharova said of the Russian assertion the site violates the intermediate-range missile ban. We are talking about violation of this treaty.

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has warned that a U.S. anti-missile deployment in Eastern Europe could prompt Russia to withdraw from the treaty. The United States last year accused Russia of violating the treaty by failing to declare the true range of two missile types.

Last fall, Russian security officials appeared to drop hints of another military response to the missile defense system  a nuclear-armed drone submarine. Russia, this leak appeared to say, has options.

During a high-level security meeting, a television camera zoomed in on an open binder showing the weapons design, ostensibly by accident.

The drone, according to easily decipherable text accompanying the design drawing, would be capable of carrying a large nuclear device into coastal waters and detonating it, touching off a radioactive tsunami to flood and contaminate seaside cities.

The submarine would defeat important economic objects of an enemy in coastal zones, bringing guaranteed and unacceptable losses on the countrys territory by forming a wide area of radioactive contamination incompatible with conducting military, economic or any other activities there for a long period of time, it said.

A Russian commentator, Konstantin Bogdanov, wrote on Lenta.ru, a news portal, that the anti-missile sites in Eastern Europe might even accelerate the slippery slope to nuclear war in a crisis.

They would inevitably become priority targets in the event of nuclear war, possibly even targets for preventive strikes. Countries like Romania that host U.S. anti-missile systems might be the only casualties, he wrote, whereas the United States would then reconcile with Russia over the smoking ruins of the East European elements of the missile defense system.
The current tour, The Who Hits 50!, began its U.S. leg in Tampa, Florida, in April 2015. It was announced as the band's final tour. As tour dates pushed into 2016, the 50 was replaced with the number 51 on the band's website. 2017 dates have now been added as well.
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va.  The doctors wanted to talk about illness, but the patients  often miners, waitresses, tree cutters and others whose jobs were punishingly physical  wanted to talk only about how much they hurt. They kept pleading for opioids like Vicodin and Percocet, the potent drugs that can help chronic pain, but have fueled an epidemic of addiction and deadly overdoses.

We needed to talk about congestive heart failure or diabetes or out-of-control hypertension, said Dr. Sarah Chouinard, the chief medical officer at Community Care of West Virginia, which runs primary care clinics across a big rural chunk of this state. But we struggled over the course of a visit to get patients to focus on any of those.

Worse, she said, some of the organizations doctors were prescribing too many opioids, often to people they had grown up with in the small towns where they practiced and whom they were reluctant to deny. So four years ago, Community Care tried a new approach. It hired an anesthesiologist to treat chronic pain, relieving its primary care doctors and nurse practitioners of their thorniest burden and letting them concentrate on conditions they feel more comfortable treating.

Since then, more than 3,000 of Community Cares 35,000 patients have seen the anesthesiologist, Dr. Denzil Hawkinberry, for pain management, while continuing to see their primary care providers for other health problems. Chouinard said Community Care was doing a better job of keeping them well overall, while letting Hawkinberry make all the decisions about who should be on opioid painkillers.

Im part FBI investigator, part CIA interrogator, part drill sergeant, part cheerleader, Hawkinberry said. He is also a recovering opioid addict who has experienced the difficulties of the drugs himself.

Even for people with access to the best doctors, it is hard to safely control chronic pain. Community Care is trying to do so for a disproportionately poor population, in a state that has been ground zero for opioid abuse from the very beginning of what has become a national epidemic.

Now, the difficult work of addressing the nations overreliance on opioids, while also treating debilitating pain, is playing out on a patient-by-patient basis, including in a patchwork of experiments like this one. About 70 percent of the 1,200 patients currently in Community Cares pain management program receive opioids as part of their treatment, which may also include non-narcotic drugs, physical therapy, injections and appointments with a psychologist.

Many had already been on opioids for many years before they met me, Hawkinberry said, adding that his goal is to get them on lower doses, and to try other ways of managing their pain, with his own experience as a cautionary lesson.

He became addicted to the opioid fentanyl when he was an anesthesiology resident, he said, and had to wage a legal fight to stay in the program. He relapsed four years later while working at a West Virginia hospital and underwent treatment and monitoring by a state program for doctors with addiction problems. He says he has been in recovery and has not used drugs for almost nine years.

Chouinard said that Hawkinberrys experience made him all the better positioned to know what this is like and to screen for drug abuse.

Patients who are prescribed opioids have to submit urine samples at each monthly appointment and at other random times, and to bring their pills to every visit to be counted. About 500 have been kicked out of the program for violations since it started in 2012.

In addition, Community Cares pain management clinic is closely monitored by the state as one of six licensed to operate under a 2012 law meant to cut down on pill mills.

The organizations primary care providers talk frequently with Hawkinberry about the patients they share with him. Because they use the same electronic medical record system, they can keep close tabs on how their patients pain is being treated  and he on how their other health problems, like high blood pressure, are being addressed.

We can even instant-message each other, and we do that a lot, said Dr. Kimberly Becher, a primary care doctor at Community Cares clinic in Clay, a town of 500.

In the past, Community Cares doctors would sometimes send patients to outside pain specialists, which Becher said yielded poor results because of a lack of communication.

The close contact has especially helped complicated patients like Frances Key, who was struggling to control her diabetes and high blood pressure when she started seeing Hawkinberry three years ago. Addressing her back pain with physical therapy and hydrocodone, typically taking one low-dose pill a day, has helped her lose 50 pounds and manage her other chronic conditions.

I was a mess when I first came  I hurt all the time, said Key, who injured her back lifting a deep fryer at her job in a deli. I can go for a walk now; I can play with my grandkids.

One day last month, Hawkinberry saw four new patients and prescribed opioids to one: a carpenter with a congenital hand deformity that had become more painful, keeping him out of work.

Hawkinberry prescribed the patient a low dose of hydrocodone, 5 milligrams, three times a day until he returned in a month  a therapeutic trial, he said, to help control the patients pain while he started physical therapy.

These are not decisions that I make lightly, Hawkinberry said afterward. I fret over them; I pore over the risks and the benefits and try to really analyze, both objectively and subjectively, whether or not its a good idea.

Chouinard said that in addition to improving patient safety, the program had helped her recruit new doctors and nurse practitioners.

I have family practice docs coming out of residency programs call me and say, Ive heard your health centers dont require us to manage chronic pain  can I talk to you? she said.

If the program has a downside, she said, it is the challenge of replicating it at other community health centers around the country. Community Care, which initially paid for the program with a grant and then lost money on it for a few years, has tried unsuccessfully to hire a second pain specialist as it has grown.

Nor is it clear how much programs like this can help stamp out opioid addiction. West Virginia still has one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in the nation, and while deaths caused by prescription opioids are decreasing, those caused by heroin and fentanyl are climbing.

Dr. Carl Sullivan III, director of addiction medicine at West Virginia University, said that Hawkinberry was one of very few people I could trust to do chronic pain right. But he said the field of pain management in West Virginia remained seriously undermanned.
TEHRAN, Iran  Iran will not send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year for the annual hajj, an Iranian official said Thursday, the latest sign of tensions between the two Mideast powers after a disaster during the event last year killed at least 2,426 people.

Iran said Saudi incompetence caused the Sept. 24 crush and stampede in the area of Mina during the hajj, which all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform once in their life. Iran has said the disaster killed 464 of its pilgrims.

Ali Jannati, Irans minister of culture and Islamic guidance, said negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were aimed at trying to resolve the issue of security during the hajj, but failed to make any headway.

We did whatever we could but it was the Saudis who sabotaged it, Jannati said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. Now the time is lost.

Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A later IRNA report in English on Jannatis comments, which came during a visit to the Iranian holy city of Qom, called the decision tentatively confirmed, suggesting it may not be final.

Tensions between the two longtime rivals soared after Sunni-led Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric on Jan. 2. Nimr al-Nimr was convicted on a string of charges, including sowing dissent and stirring violent anti-government protests in the predominantly Shiite east, something denied by his family, who say al-Nimr never advocated violence nor picked up a weapon.

Al-Nimrs execution sparked widespread protests in Shiite-led Iran, which views itself as the protector of Shiites around the world. Demonstrations outside of Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran and Mashhad turned violent and protesters stormed the buildings. Riyadh responded by cutting diplomatic relations with Tehran.

The two countries also support opposing sides in Syrias civil war and the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country.

Since Saudi diplomatic posts remain closed in Iran, Saudi officials had said Iranians would need to travel to embassies in other countries to apply for hajj visas, Jannati said. He described that as another sticking point in the failed negotiations.

In the absence of an Iranian consular office in Saudi Arabia following the severance of ties between Tehran and Riyadh, Irans proposals regarding visa application, air transport and security of pilgrims were not accepted by the Saudi officials, Jannati said.

Since February, Switzerland has been representing the interests of Saudi Arabia in Iran and those of Iran in Saudi Arabia, delivering basic consular services, such as issuing visas in cases where the two countries agree to it.

Jannati said Saudi officials had not accepted Irans request to facilitate visas to the kingdom through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, though he did not specify which types of visas the request was referring to.

The Swiss department of foreign affairs said that as a general rule it does not comment on activities linked to the protecting power mandate exercised by Switzerland, in reference to its role.

The disaster in Mina was the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage, according to an Associated Press tally of the dead based on state media reports and officials comments from 36 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the hajj. The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since Sept. 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy.

Last years hajj, which drew 2 million pilgrims, also saw a crane collapse in Mecca kill 111 worshipers.

Iran called for an independent body to take over planning and administering the five-day hajj, but the kingdoms ruling Al Saud family is unlikely to give up its role in administering the holy sites. That, along with Saudi Arabias oil wealth, provides it major influence in the Muslim world.

Iran has boycotted the hajj before. In 1987, demonstrating Iranian pilgrims battled Saudi riot police in clashes that killed at least 402 people. Iran claimed 600 of its pilgrims were killed and said police fired machine guns at the crowd. Iran did not send pilgrims to the hajj in 1988 and 1989, while Saudi officials severed diplomatic ties over the violence and Iranian attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf.
BERLIN  The German government is rushing to integrate hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, offering them language classes and the prospect of work. But in a country known for its matter-of-fact acceptance of public nudity and creative forms of lovemaking, it is also trying to teach the mostly-Muslim migrants about the joy of sex.

Operating under the premise that many Syrians, Iraqis and others seeking asylum here are naive about the predilections and pitfalls of the European boudoir, Germanys Federal Center for Health Education has gone live with a sexual education website for adult migrants. Using highly graphic diagrams and images, the $136,000 site outlines everything from first-time sex to how to perform far more advanced sexual acts.

After a rash of sexual assaults allegedly committed by suspects including asylum seekers on New Years Eve, the Germans have been on a mission to re-educate migrants, especially males, about sexual norms in the West. In Munich, public pools, for instance, published cartoons warning migrants not to grope women in bikinis. Also in Bavaria, public money is partially funding sexual education classes including lessons for male migrants on how to correctly approach German women.

But if all that is stick  the new government website is definitely more carrot: a guide to the pleasures of sex and the single migrant (or married, for that matter).

Its not all fun and games. There are educational warnings on how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and useful information for family planning. There are also explanations  which advocates say are needed for some refugees  on the need to respect gays and lesbians.

But while the illustrations may be more health class than Hustler, the site nevertheless engages in a surprisingly blunt lesson on the giving and receiving of sexual pleasure.

Sexual intercourse is fully illustrated here, along with a suggestion to vary movements in speed, rhythm and intensity and a special tip that it can be enjoyed while lying, sitting, standing or squatting.

For example, the man can be on top of the woman, the woman on top of the man or the man behind the woman, the site states.

It then probes deeper into the world of sexual gratification, including graphic descriptions of the various ways to perform oral sex, anal sex and masturbation.

On the other side of the Atlantic, such material might cause a stir. But Germany is a nation where public nudity at parks and beaches remains relatively common, and where blunt public discussions of sex are comfortably held without prudish reserve. Thus, most observers seem to be taking it in stride, with even the harshest criticism against the site more of a grumbling than a show of genuine outrage.

Yet it has raised a few eyebrows.

What is being done with our money, incredulously Tweeted Michael Bramer, a German freelance artist.

Others defend the site overall as a highly useful educational tool while suggesting it should have been aimed at the public more broadly. It is condescending, they say, to assume that migrants from the Middle East know nothing about the risks  and pleasures  of sex.

Some, however, argue that Germanys liberal attitude toward sex must be respected  including by conservative religious newcomers who are not used to such openness. It is, in no small measure, part of the integration process of refugees.

Heinz-Jrgen Voss, a sex scientist at the University of Merseburg, argued it was racist to assume that Syrians and Iraqis, for instance, were less schooled than Germans in the wonders of sex. That said, he argued, its important to promote this kind of open and free sexuality, to fight for it, he said. Its not something that the state can force people to do, to live openly. But it needs to be negotiated.

Given the string of sexual assaults committed by suspects including migrants in Cologne, the site has additionally turned into a target for some anti-migrant voices.

These men often know exactly what is allowed and what isnt, but they simply arent interested, since the laws and culture of this country never interested them in the first place, wrote the conservative blogger Anabel Schunke. It is terribly naive to think that a complete socialization and cultural formation since early childhood could be wiped out by some nice images and integration classes.

Nuri Kseli, a spokesman for Islamic Relief Germany, an organization thats also working with refugees, said he didnt find anything particularly offensive about the new website. But he did question its necessity, and argued that such explicit teachings could prove frustrating for some migrants stuck in refugee camps and with limited access to sexual partners.

Although this is a human need of course, people have bigger problems, he said. And, he argued, most of them are staying in emergency shelters for a long time without any access to private spaces. To confront them with such an issue in that situation might even be counter-productive.

For the dateless migrant, however, the site also offers insights into how to release sexual energy. It is OK, the site says, to like pornography.

The site, which went live in March, is available to anyone with the URL. But officials say it was devised to be disseminated by doctors and other medical professionals who are working with migrants. Asked if some might be startled the by its blunt treatment of sex, Christine Winkelmann, head of HIV and STD prevention at the Federal Center for Health Education, said: Just like all content found online, people can decide themselves what they want to see and what they dont want to see.

We completely trust in our experts who are spreading the information that they are able to judge who to show it to, she added.
The mystery of a shark head found on a dock in Newport Beach by a Huntington Beach high school student could be solved by DNA testing being done by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The image of the decapitated shark sparked an online frenzy after two 16-year-old students, Madi Makoff and Clay Kirksey, posted it online.

Many thought the image was of a great white shark, which are illegal to catch. But some online commentators argued that the fish was a mako shark, which are legal to catch.

Were trying to determine if this was a citable offense or not, said CDFW spokeswoman Carry Wilson. At this point, we want to confirm if it was a white shark. They look very similar.

The state agency has been in contact with the fisherman, who is from Costa Mesa but could not be named because of the ongoing investigation, and he has been compliant.

Samples were taken from the docks, on Lido Peninsula, as well as fillets from the fisherman, to be processed and compared in a lab using DNA technology, Wilson said.

If it is a great white shark, that could come with a maximum fine of $1,000 and six months in jail. But if its a mako, theres no violation.

As far has he knew, he had collected a mako shark, Wilson said. We just want to confirm he was correct in that. It is the fishermans responsibility to know what they are taking, even if they look very, very similar.

Wilson said the CDFW learned about the shark head after it spread on social media.

I guess someone reported to us because it was posted to Instagram. Its a sign of the times  it becomes a big deal in a hurry.

Contact the writer: lconnelly@ocregister.com
SAN FRANCISCO  Four San Francisco city supervisors have joined the fight to pull Police Chief Greg Suhr from his job and launch a nationwide search for a new chief.

The move comes on the heels of intense protests and a 17-day hunger strike by five people calling for his ouster over racist text messages from officers and the fatal police shootings of four minority men in the past two years.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1s11fku ) Supervisors Jane Kim, David Campos, John Avalos and Eric Mar say they have lost faith in Suhrs ability to reform the department.

Suhr has said he has no intention of leaving his post.

Suhr can only be fired by the mayor or the police commission.

On Tuesday, Lee reiterated his commitment to keeping Suhr as chief, saying to replace him would delay implementation of departmental reforms.
Hawaii took the Japanese auto parts maker Takata to court Friday, accusing it of covering up a deadly air-bag defect and demanding a $10,000 penalty for every affected car owner in Hawaii.

The lawsuit, filed in Hawaiis 1st Circuit Court, makes Hawaii the first state to sue Takata over its faulty air bags. The lawsuit also names Honda Motor, the automaker most affected by the continuing mass recalls of Takata air bags, as a defendant, and demands that each company do more to raise awareness of the dangers the defect poses to car owners.

Were not going to sit back and wait for more accidents to happen, Steve Levins, the states director of consumer protection, said in an interview. Were also seeking that consumers be compensated for any losses associated with this incident, whether thats alternative transportation costs, or a diminished value of their vehicle.

At least 10 deaths in the United States, and three overseas, have been linked to the defect, which can cause pressure to build up in and rupture the steel interiors of the air bags, sending metal debris flying into the cars cabin. More than 100 people have been injured.

Hawaiis lawsuit says that its residents are at particular risk because of the states high temperatures and humidity levels. Auto safety regulators have determined that long-term exposure to moisture and temperature fluctuations over time can degrade the explosives, or propellant, used to deploy the air bag, making it more unstable and prone to cause the air-bags interior to rupture.

Based on those findings, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration this month ordered Takata to work with automakers to recall an additional 35 million to 40 million air bags nationwide, bringing the number recalled in the United States to 64 million. Automakers had initially limited some of their recalls to humid regions, including Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Now, the recalls span the globe. A senior executive at Honda, Takatas biggest customer, said Friday before the suit was filed that it planned to recall 21 million more vehicles worldwide to fix Takatas defective air bags, bringing its global tally to to 51 million vehicles.

The Honda executive, vice president Tetsuo Iwamura, did not specify how many of the vehicles that Honda plans to recall are in the United States or other countries. But many of the vehicles are likely to be part of the American recall expansion.

Hawaii is not seeking compensation for crash victims. Instead, it demands that Takata reimburse or otherwise provide relief to car owners affected or otherwise inconvenienced by the recalls. No air-bag ruptures have been confirmed in the state, though Levins expressed concern that there were rupture incidents local authorities were not aware of.

The suit also seeks civil penalties of as much as $10,000 against Takata and Honda for every car owner affected, for violation of Hawaiis consumer protection laws. About 70,000 cars have been recalled in Hawaii over Takata air bags, Levins said, meaning the suit could end up costing Takata and Honda $700 million each, on top of possible restitution or injunctive relief costs.

Takata and Honda did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the suit. Takata has said in the past that it is cooperating with all investigations into its conduct and is ramping up its production of replacement parts. Other air-bag makers are also helping to supply parts.

The states Office of Consumer Protection was set to brief reporters on the lawsuit Friday in Hawaii.

Hawaiis suit creates another headache for Takata, which faces a Justice Department investigation, a barrage of personal injury claims and a class-action suit brought by affected car owners.

It remains unclear whether other states will file similar suits. But it is common in situations that extend across state borders for multiple states to file similar suits.
Orange Countys GOP Congress members have fallen into line, saying theyll support Donald Trump for president. But if they are doing so enthusiastically, it wasnt apparent. None supported Trump prior to Ted Cruz dropping out May 3.

I have always voted for the Republican nominee and will do so this year because a third term of the Obama-Clinton administration would be disastrous for Southern California families and our nation, said Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton, in an emailed statement that didnt mention Trump by name.

The countys other three representatives similarly framed their decision as being driven by opposition to a Hillary Clinton presidency, rather than support for the policies and personality of Trump.

I will vote for Trump, said Rep. Mimi Walters, R-Laguna Beach, whod previously backed Jeb Bush. The alternative, a Clinton presidency and four more years of (President Barack) Obamas economic and national security policies, is not an outcome I find acceptable.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, is an erstwhile Cruz supporter who told MSNBC after Nancy Reagan died in March that the former First Lady would be appalled at the lack of civility by Mr. Trump.

Rohrabacher had his sense of humor intact when I asked him about his change of preferred candidates.

I think Trump came along and stole the nomination from the Republican establishment fair and square, said the one-time speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. Now the Republican Party will settle on him or there will be a huge lurch to the left.

I would feel a lot better about the way Ted Cruz would lead this country but I find Donald Trumps policies a lot better than those Clinton would put in place.

Most enthusiastic was probably Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who previously backed Marco Rubio but will now be a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention.

Donald Trump is the obvious choice for every American suffering from eight years of disastrous economic policies and anti-job regulations that have caused real pain to tens of millions of Americans who need and deserve better, he said in prepared statement.

More shifting alliances

Before Trump emerged as the presumptive GOP nominee, there was lots of talk about Democrats and independents re-registering so they could vote for him in the primary. Unlike California Democrats, who allow independent voters to participate in their presidential primary, Republicans in the state do not.

But in Orange County, there was no particular rush to the GOP by voters already registered, according to statistics released Thursday by county Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.

Since the start of the year, 26,784 of the countys 1.36 million voters changed their registration. Of those, 43 percent changed to Republican and 35 percent changed to Democrat. Thats about the same proportion as overall county registration, which is 40 percent GOP and 33 percent Democrat.

As for those who were fed up with both parties, 18 percent changed their registration to no party preference. Overall, 23 percent of the countys voters are unaffiliated.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com
SANTA ANA  After a jury on Thursday told a judge it was hopelessly deadlocked, a mistrial was declared in the murder trial of a man accused of strangling a woman before she was set aflame.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael J. Cassidy, after two days of jury deliberations, made the decision in the trial of Zenaido Baldivia-Guzman after learning that the panel believed further consideration would not help. Eleven of the 12 jurors believed he was guilty of first-degree murder.

Jurors, during deliberations, sent several notes to the judge asking for clarification on the charges Baldivia-Guzman faced. Some questions centered on premeditation and deliberation, factors in the difference between first- and second-degree murder.

The judge scheduled a court hearing for May 24, by which time prosecutors must decide whether they will proceed with a second murder trial.

Baldivia-Guzman, 30, is one of two brothers accused of kidnapping a woman from the streets of Santa Ana on Sept. 4, 2009, strangling her, setting her aflame and leaving her body to be discovered the next morning in an industrial park near Alton Parkway in Irvine.

Authorities never have been able to identify the woman. But authorities said that DNA found underneath one of her fingernails led police to Baldivia-Guzman and his brother, Gabino.

In interviews with police, the brothers said that after a night of drinking, they had gone out to get a girl. They said that Gabino Baldivia-Guzman talked the woman into willingly getting into his work van but said she freaked out after realizing the other brother was in the back.

Zenaido Baldivia-Guzman acknowledged to police that he struck the woman while trying to get her to stop screaming. But he denied intentionally choking her to death. Detectives were unconvinced, authorities said, noting that the woman had been strangled with enough force to break a bone in her neck.

The brothers admitted to police that they left the womans body at the Irvine industrial park. Zenaido Baldivia-Guzman told investigators that it was his brother who decided to douse the woman in gasoline and light her on fire.

Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Herrera said that Zenaido Baldivia-Guzmans actions constituted first-degree murder.

Gabino Baldivia-Guzman is being tried separately. If convicted, both men would face life without the possibility of parole

Contact the writer: semery@ocregister.com
Orange County Catholics, both clergy and lay members, reacted with enthusiasm to Pope Francis announcement Thursday that he is willing to create a commission to study whether women can be deacons in the Catholic Church, a role that is currently reserved for men.

Francis agreed to a groundbreaking proposal to create an official study commission during a closed-door meeting with about 900 superiors of womens religious orders, who had gathered in Rome for their triennial assembly, according to The Associated Press.

In the Catholic Church, deacons are ordained ministers who can preach and preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals, but cannot celebrate Mass. The pope, however, did not give any indication during his 75-minute conversation with the sisters that the churchs longstanding prohibition on female priests will change.

The popes willingness to consider women serving as deacons is good news for the church, said Sister Jayne Helmlinger with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

Women serve the church in countless ways, she said. Were leaders of ministries and service organizations. Many women serve as scholars and spiritual directors and have certainly reflected deeply on Scripture. I believe we would rise to the occasion of any new opportunity to build Gods kingdom and serve our brothers and sisters.

Pope Francis announcement on this issue has been a long time coming, said Monsignor Arthur Holquin, pastor emeritus at the Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano. There is historical evidence that women did serve as deacons during the early years of the Catholic Church, he said.

I would be delighted to see women serve in the role of deacon at the altar, he said. Im particularly happy that he said this while talking to women religious.

Holquin recalled a controversial investigation initiated in 2012 into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the largest leadership organization representing U.S. nuns who provide health care, education and other services for the poor. The Vaticans Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Pope Benedict XVI, called out the organization for protesting the churchs doctrine on ordination of female priests and ministry to homosexuals.

That investigation was a disaster and it was a demoralizing experience for so many dedicated religious women in our church, Holquin said.

Pope Francis was instrumental in ending that investigation last year, and now seems to be trying to heal those wounds, Holquin said.

Pope Francis is indeed a pope of many surprises, he said.

From the start of his pontificate, Francis has insisted that women must have a greater decision-making role in the life of the church, while reaffirming that they cannot be priests.

He repeatedly has said that he values the feminine genius, that theres no reason why a woman couldnt head certain Vatican offices and that the church hierarchy would do well to hear more from women because they simply see things differently from men.

But he has also hit a few sour notes with women, calling Europe an infertile grandmother, urging nuns not to be old maids and once terming new female members of the worlds leading theological commission as strawberries on the cake.

On Thursday, he drew round after round of applause as he spoke freely with the sisters, asking them to challenge him and lamenting how so often nuns find themselves working as servants for priests, bishops and cardinals in ways that undervalue their dignity.

The sisters cheered when he suggested that priests should instead pay local women to do the housework so that the sisters could teach, care for the poor and heal the sick, Catholic News Service said.

I like hearing your questions because they make me think, Catholic News Service quoted Francis as saying. I feel like a goalie, who is standing there waiting for the ball and not knowing where its going to come from.

For women in local parishes, its an exciting new opportunity, said Sharon Andersen, a member of St. Bonaventure Roman Catholic Church in Huntington Beach for more than 40 years.

When her husband, Jim Andersen, was ordained as a deacon at the church in 2007, Sharon Andersen underwent training sessions along with him.

Yet he was the only one to be ordained as deacon, she said. Thats wonderful and I support him in that. But I think there should be an option for women to become deacons if thats what they are called to do. If God is calling you to be a deacon, and the only reason you cant is because youre a woman, thats not right.

Andersen added that she would not be in favor of allowing women into priesthood.

Its traditionally been a male role, she said. I dont know if the nuns would want to be priests. They have a very different ministry and role in the church and they seem to be happy performing that role.

The diaconate is a ministry of service, and deacons are naturally more connected to the community, said Leia Smith, an Orange County Catholic Worker who runs the Isaiah House shelter for homeless women in Santa Ana.

It would be interesting to see if (Pope Francis commission) will find that there is historical precedent and therefore a modern place for women who may be called to ordained service, she said.

To see women at the altar, reading the Gospel and preaching the homily, can be a powerful thing, Smith said.

Well get to hear womens voices in places where they may not have been previously heard, she said. There are plenty of women who do amazing amounts of service but just arent recognized. They arent able to preside at a wedding or preach a liturgy, and it adds a different dimension when women have that opportunity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
13/05/2016 - Sweden should address housing shortages, begin integration activities early, and improve the support for those with low skills to speed up the effective integration of refugees, according to a new OECD report.

Working together  Skills and labour market integration of immigrants and their children says that in 2014-2015, Sweden saw the largest per-capita inflow of asylum seekers ever recorded in an OECD country. With a strong economy and well-developed integration infrastructure, Sweden is better equipped than many other OECD countries to integrate refugees, but the large number of arrivals is testing the efficiency of the reception and integration system.

"While innovative policies to speed the labour market integration of skilled migrants have been introduced, more needs to be done to help others, particularly women, people with low skills, and those who arrive around the end of compulsory schooling" said Stefano Scarpetta, OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, presenting the report in Stockholm with Swedens Minister for Employment, Ylva Johansson. Helping all refugees acquire basic foundational skills and supporting employers in their use of migrant skills would help."

The shortage of housing has led to settlement delays that postpone the start of integration activities. Swedens highly-skilled labour market, where only 5% of the jobs require only low levels of skills, presents a challenge for new arrivals with low levels of education, who generally have difficulty fulfilling the requirements of more demanding positions.

The cornerstone of Swedish integration policy is a two-year introduction programme of education and labour market activities to promote job readiness. While the programme is often too long for highly-educated migrants, those lacking basic skills need a more flexible approach combining longer-term educational support with gradual labour market introduction. In 2015, only 28% of low-educated foreign-born men and 19% of low-educated women were in employment one year after the programme.

Tight budgets will require efficiency improvements

Stronger and more structured co-ordination between the Public Employment Service and the municipalities is required to ensure coherent pathways to employment and avoid duplication of services. Wage subsidies to promote employment of migrants are effective but they tend to be too complex and the burdensome administration has limited uptake; reforms are needed to ease the path into unsubsidised employment, the OECD report finds.

Many municipalities in Sweden have been reluctant to settle refugees, in part due to the high cost of social assistance for those who do not get jobs. After three years in Sweden, employment rates among low-educated refugees are less than half those seen among the medium- and highly-educated refugees and funding mechanisms should reflect expected costs.

As in many other OECD countries, the children of immigrants do worse than children with native-born parents. In Sweden, these differences are smaller than elsewhere, which is particularly striking considering the challenges faced by their parents  many of whom arrived as refugees. This is an indication of successful integration in the long-term, according to the report. At present, Sweden is facing the challenge of providing help to the large number of asylum seekers below 18 (71 000 in 2015), half of whom arrived unaccompanied and are particularly vulnerable. Many are keen to enter the labour market but often lack the necessary skills. More should be done to ensure these young arrivals remain in school in order to boost their long-term job prospects.

Employment disparities by educational attainment (2014)

Percentage point differences in the employment/population ratios between native- and foreig-born, 25-64 years old

For more information on Working together  Skills and labour market integration of immigrants and their children - Sweden, journalists should contact Thomas Liebig of the OECDs International Migration Division.

Working with over 100 countries, the OECD is a global policy forum that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world.

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Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
Members of The Port Project from Portarlington recently attended a filmmaking workshop in The Gateway Youth Project, Athlone ahead of their entry to the X-HALE Youth Awards 2015.

Members of The Port Project from Portarlington recently attended a filmmaking workshop in The Gateway Youth Project, Athlone ahead of their entry to the X-HALE Youth Awards 2015.

The local youth group are entering a film into the forthcoming X-HALE event, which is an initiative developed by the Irish Cancer Society to encourage young people to take action on the issue of smoking in their own communities.

As part of X-HALE, the Irish Cancer Society hosts the annual X-HALE Youth Awards which sees youth groups from around the country enter community action projects and film projects around the issue of smoking.

Members of The Port Project attended the filming workshop recently, in preparation of their film entry to the X-HALE awards in the summer to learn about film producing and editing.

All of the youth groups involved in the film and community action workshops have received grants from the society to develop their project. In total this year, 36 groups have received funding and a further 15 groups have received training support. The society has awarded over 123,000 to youth groups and organisations through the X-HALE Youth Awards to create smoking related community awareness projects since the initiative started five years ago.
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Bayer is exploring a potential bid for U.S. competitor Monsanto in a deal that would create the worlds largest supplier of seeds and farm chemicals, according to people familiar with the matter.

The German firm has held preliminary discussions internally and with advisers about buying Monsanto, which has a market value of almost $40 billion, said the people.

Bayer, which is valued at about $96 billion, has discussed how to finance a deal including potential asset sales, the people said. No final decision has been made, and the Leverkusen-based company could decide against a bid or pursue other transactions with Monsanto, including joint ventures or asset sales.

Representatives for Bayer and Monsanto declined to comment.

Putting the worlds largest seed maker together with the German company that invented aspirin would bring together brands such as Roundup, Monsantos blockbuster herbicide, and Sivanto, a new Bayer insecticide lethal to aphids and whiteflies but not to bees, as well as seeds for crops ranging from corn to sugar cane.

A deal would also help Bayer and Monsanto bolster their positions amid a wave of consolidation in the industry. Rivals Dow Chemical Co. and DuPont Co. announced last year plans to combine operations in a $130 billion transaction, while China National Chemical Corp. agreed in February to acquire Syngenta of Switzerland for $43 billion.

St. Louis-based Monsanto has explored possible deals with Bayer as well as German competitor BASF, people familiar with the matter said in March. Bayer and Monsanto have discussed a number of options from a full combination to the German firm selling all or part of its crop sciences business, as well as joint ventures, the people said at the time. When Bayer raised the idea of a full takeover of Monsanto in March, the U.S. firm said it was not interested in selling, and it sees itself as more of an acquirer, two of the people said this week.

If Bayer goes ahead with a bid, it would raise pressure on BASF to consider an offer, the people said.

Still, any deal would face regulatory scrutiny as the industry consolidates. Government regulators globally have nixed more than $20 billion in deals this week, including CK Hutchison Holdingss bid to buy Telefonicas O2 wireless carrier in the U.K. and the merger of Staples and Office Depot.

Monsanto is grappling with a global slump in agricultural commodities after its offer to buy Syngenta for about $46.2 billion was spurned last year. Sales in the quarter ending in February declined 13 percent from a year earlier to $4.53 billion. Corn and soybean prices fell in the last three calendar years, cutting net farm income in the U.S. and hurting demand for everything from tractors to weedkiller.

A deal with Bayer would help the company reduce its reliance on the agriculture industry, while Monsanto would strengthen Bayers seed business, one of the companys priorities. Bayer said last month that it planned to introduce new genetically modified soybean seeds in Brazil to challenge Monsantos dominance.
WASHINGTON  More than 120 members of Congress say the Federal Reserve has a striking diversity problem, one thats hurting the economic prospects of millions of Americans.

You could call it FedSoWhite.

The lawmakers wrote to Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Thursday complaining about what they called the disproportionately white and male leadership at the nations central bank.

Given the critical linkage between monetary policy and the experiences of hardworking Americans, the importance of ensuring that such positions are filled by persons that reflect and represent the interests of our diverse country, cannot be understated, said the letter, signed by 116 House members and 11 senators, including presidential candidate Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

When the voices of women, African Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected, said the lawmakers, who were all Democrats except for Sanders, whos an independent, though hes seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

The diverse group of House and Senate members praised Yellen, the first woman to lead the Fed, for her strong leadership and efforts to help raise wages while combating economic inequality.

But they said the Fed had failed to fulfill its statutory obligation to represent the public, without discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, or national origin and called on Yellen to take steps to promptly begin to remedy this issue.

All five members of the Fed Board of Governors are white and three are men.

All 10 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, the monetary policy-setting body that includes Fed governors and a rotating set of regional Fed bank presidents, also are white and six are men, the letter said.

In addition, 11 of the 12 regional Fed bank presidents are white and 10 are men, with no African-Americans or Latinos.

Regional presidents are appointed by the directors of each Fed bank. The Feds Board of Governors in Washington approves the appointments.

In addition, the lawmakers cited a recent study by the Center for Popular Democracy, a worker advocacy group, that said 39 percent of all regional Fed bank directors came from financial institutions, while 11 percent were from community, labor or academic organizations.

Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., who signed the letter, pressed Yellen at a House hearing in February to consider getting an African American, for the first time in history, to be a regional president of a Federal Reserve bank.

Yellen said she absolutely would and regretted there hadnt been such an appointment.

Its our job to make sure that every search for those jobs assembles a broad and diverse group, Yellen said.
Just in time for Nebraska drivers unhappy with their choices for license plates  funny-looking sower, anyone?  the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce on Friday unveiled a new specialty license plate with a message: We Dont Coast.

Theres nary a sower to be seen.

The plates simple design  with a classically clean layout and color palette  might stand in contrast to the coming-soon-to-a-car-near-you standard-issue plates, designed by the State Department of Motor Vehicles and contractor 3M.

The World-Herald found that the Sower at the center of the initial design for the states new standard plate actually had been based on a sower on a bell tower at Michigan State University  not the Sower atop the Nebraska State Capitol.

Thats all been sorted out, with state workers getting out their erasers and redoing the Sower as an authentic Nebraskan.

The chambers plate, unveiled Friday, wont be another Plategate. The provenance of the chamber plate is known from the start: Its designed by Secret Penguin, an Omaha branding firm. For $70, you can let other drivers know We Dont Coast. (The chamber must collect 250 prepaid applications and get design approval from the state DMV before drivers get the green light to begin coasting  or not coasting, as it were. The signature threshold used to be 500 before the motor vehicles department would consider an organizations application for a specialty license plate, but that is changing to 250 in July, a DMV employee said.)

The chamber says itll keep the public updated on the DMVs decision and when the plates will begin to be issued.

The left-hand corner of the proposed license plate has a patterned design reminiscent of a high-tech quilt or tapestry. Thats intentional, said Dave Nelson of Secret Penguin.

The pattern represents the community  a tapestry of people who are all stronger, together, he said.

He promises that the plate will be non-intrusive.

Kim Sellmeyer, the chambers creative director, said ever since the chamber launched the anti-coasting campaign in 2014, a corresponding specialty plate had been an idea.

Its a way for the community to show their support and pride for greater Omaha, she said.

The We Dont Coast moniker, of course, is a double entendre: Omaha is a can-do type of place, the branding wizards behind the slogan wanted to emphasize. But also, dont be ashamed of where youre from: Were not on the coasts, and thats just fine.

Lets not be apologetic about our location, Sellmeyer said.

Just in case there are any questions, thats Nebraska. No Michigan sowers on this plate.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1185; brad.davis@owh.com; @bradleydaviswsj
The nuclear plant at Fort Calhoun is simply too expensive to run when compared to other, cheaper forms of power, the Omaha Public Power Districts chief executive said Thursday. So it needs to shut down by the end of the year, he said.

OPPD President and Chief Executive Tim Burke told the utilitys board of directors that it no longer makes financial sense to continue operations at Fort Calhoun, which is the smallest nuclear power plant in the United States. The site for the plant was purchased in 1965.

The board will reconvene on June 16 to make a decision on Burkes recommendation.

Closing the plant would mean lower overhead costs when it comes to complying with federal nuclear regulations and other expenses  including the $20 million a year OPPD pays an outside firm to run the plant. That firm, Exelon, has run Fort Calhoun since 2013 after OPPD was rapped hard by federal regulators for serious safety lapses; the plant was shut from mid-2011 until December 2013 as the utility dealt with Missouri River flooding and correcting violations of federal nuclear safety rules.

Shutting the plant permanently would move the utility away from relatively expensive-to-generate nuclear energy in an era of low-priced natural gas and an increasing reliance on wind power.

The recommendation to shut the plant comes with a guarantee, Burke said: Ratepayers wont see a general rate increase until at least 2022 because of the savings from shuttering Fort Calhoun.

You have to say enough is enough and curb the costs, OPPD board member Tom Barrett said. Thats the cold, hard facts of this business.

The costs of nuclear generation put it at a disadvantage to wind and natural gas, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The EIA in June of last year reported the total costs per megawatt-hour for a new nuclear plant to be about $95. In comparison, the cheapest natural gas-fired generation is about $75 or less per megawatt-hour and wind generation is about $74 per megawatt-hour.

The average U.S. residential utility customer in 2014 used about 11,000 kilowatt-hours of energy.

Still, board Chairman Mick Mines said theres no doubt that the recommendation would significantly affect the livelihood of plant employees. But the board has a responsibility to act in the best interest of ratepayers of the publicly owned utility, he said. You cant ignore the money, Mines said.

If the board decides to close the plant, job losses would still be at least a year or two away because a nuclear plant cant just be switched off. Ongoing licensing requirements and procedures mandated by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission mean a process of at least 18 months  and monitoring for longer  to power down the plant.

The utilitys nuclear operation consists of almost 700 employees, most of whom are at the plant about 15 miles north of downtown Omaha on the Missouri River.

In an interview, Burke told The World-Herald on Wednesday that regulatory pressure to reduce carbon emissions, a goal to make rates more competitive and depressed prices on the wholesale electricity market influenced managements recommendation to shut down the plant.

From September 1973 through March 2012, Fort Calhoun accounted for more than 34 percent of OPPDs annual electricity generation.

The plant in recent years has been under the microscope of U.S. regulators: Problems at Fort Calhoun came to a head when the plant was taken offline for refueling in April 2011, then suffered a fire and reeled from troubles related to the historic flooding of the Missouri River that year.

Soon after that, federal regulators found dozens of safety deficiencies and put the plant in an intense oversight program to address significant performance and/or operational concerns.

After power production ceased in April 2011 and regulators ratcheted up oversight, OPPD in 2012 entered the 20-year, $400 million contract with Exelon; that Chicago-based nuclear company is the largest of its kind in the United States and now runs the Fort Calhoun plant for OPPD, which continues to own the plant and has its own staff connected to the plants operation.

Many of OPPD nuclear plant workers would lose their jobs if they arent placed elsewhere in the company. Burke said the impact that closing the plant would have on the personnel involved was the toughest part of the decision to make the recommendation.

To see the way those men and women worked, to see them put their lives and souls into keeping the plant safe during the flood and the manner in which they restored the plant ... they started the plant back up and have made continued improvements and performed their jobs, Burke said in the interview, his voice cracking. During Thursdays presentation to the board, OPPD senior managers also fought back tears.

Were not recommending to cease this because of performance, because weve seen performance as high as its been in years, by all measures, he said.

The plant restarted in December 2013 and has operated under a normal level of federal regulatory oversight since April of last year.

Now, board member Anne McGuire said, the plants performance is the best its been since before the flood.

The plants now-rectified regulatory problems arent the reason for the recommendation to power down, though. Its simply become too expensive from a cost-benefit perspective to operate the countrys smallest nuclear plant, Burke said.

The utility spends $250 million each year to produce energy and maintain facilities at Fort Calhoun.

Thats a hurdle, Burke says, when it comes to achieving its goal of taking rates from about 7 percent below the regional average to 20 percent below that average.

And the utilitys revenues have been falling. First, there is lower demand for electricity as customers move toward energy efficiency. Second, the utility is getting less money for the excess power it generates that it sells on the open market.

Recently, an oversupply of natural gas and increased regional wind energy production have made it increasingly difficult for OPPD to make up for revenue shortfalls associated with flat or falling demand for electricity, Burke said.

Even though the utility in 2015 sold more energy to off-system customers than it did in 2014, year-over-year revenues from those sales were down 12 percent.

Thats due in part to the added expense and overhead that accompanies nuclear power generation; utilities competing with OPPD in the open market that generate excess power via natural gas, for example, have a leg up on the local utility because their fuel is cheaper and they dont have the increased regulatory scrutiny or nuclear infrastructure driving up prices.

The added overhead of operating the nuclear plant has made OPPDs excess energy less competitively priced in the marketplace, said Tim Gay, vice chairman of the OPPD board.

And despite a pending court challenge that has left in limbo President Barack Obamas plan that sought to restrict carbon emissions from power plants, OPPD is determined to proceed with a power-generation plan that reduces greenhouse gas emissions from its own facilities, Burke said. The so-called federal Clean Power Plan offers utilities no incentive for existing nuclear power, which is emission-free, despite a preliminary proposal that would have included some nuclear generation offsets in emissions calculations.

Despite having adopted a new generating portfolio plan in 2014, Burke said, now were back two years later with complete market changes, complete technology changes and more clarity around some of the regulations.

Since then, the value proposition for maintaining operations at OPPDs sole nuclear power plant hasnt gotten any better; Burke said that even if the federal emissions plan credited nuclear operators for reducing emissions, the impact to the local utility would be negligible.

John Keeley, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry advocate, said the Fort Calhoun situation is an example of the vulnerability of similar nuclear plants to market conditions  mainly, the sources of energy that, at the moment, can produce electricity more cheaply, like natural gas and wind. (Five nuclear plants have closed in the past few years; two others are set to close.)

Furthermore, Keeley said, nuclear power isnt given enough credit by federal policy for the emissions-free energy that it produces.

There is an urgent need to develop policies that will prevent additional, premature nuclear plant retirements, Keeley said, because the economic and environmental consequences are enormously negative.

Part of OPPD Chief Executive Burkes recommendation to the board includes replacing some of Fort Calhouns 478.1-megawatt capacity with wind energy and natural gas. Burke said not all of the nuclear plants capacity must be replaced because demand isnt forecast to rise as consumers homes and businesses become increasingly energy-efficient.

OPPD ratepayer Mark Welsch, who attended Thursdays meeting, commended the utilitys management team and board for taking up the issue. Welsch is the head of the Omaha chapter of the advocacy group Nebraskans for Peace. He said the utility should be tilting toward renewable sources of energy, like wind.

Im very proud to be a customer-owner of OPPD right now, he said. The board is taking a hard look at a very hard potential decision it will have to make.

If the board follows through on the recommendation, OPPDs wind and renewable generation will make up 49 percent of its energy portfolio by 2020, up from 38 percent that is currently forecast.

OPPDs relationship with renewables grew in 2014 when the utility approved a long-term generation plan that included the phase-out some of its coal-burning units, conversion of others to natural gas and the addition of 400 megawatts of wind power from a massive wind farm near ONeill, Nebraska.

Under the plan presented Thursday, those plans would remain intact, but Burke said the most economically viable course is one that does not include nuclear power and effectively ends more than 40 years of nuclear generation.

Contractors broke ground on Fort Calhoun Station on Feb. 9, 1968, and the plants first sustained nuclear reaction was at 5:47 p.m. on Aug. 5, 1973.

Burke said he expects the plant to enter a cold shutdown in October of this year, if the board proceeds with the recommendation. In a cold shutdown, pressure and temperature conditions within the plants nuclear reactor are lowered to a level that prevents a nuclear chain reaction from occurring.

From there, the utility would proceed with various regulatory applications required to decommission the plant. That process includes dismantling the facility, decontaminating it and safely storing or disposing of radioactive materials.

Burke said spent fuel rods probably would remain at the site  there is nowhere else to take them because a proposed radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain in south-central Nevada is still in limbo. For now, radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is stored on-site in concrete casks.

Decommissioning can take 10 years under a process known as Decon, under which a plant is dismantled and contaminated materials are either decontaminated or removed. In a deferred dismantling process known as Safstor, facilities are maintained for a period of up to 60 years and radioactivity decays to a safe level.

OPPD in its 2015 annual report estimated that the costs to decommission Fort Calhoun would be about $884 million. The utility has socked away about $373 million for those costs.

The board will take 30 days to consider managements proposal, during which time it will field concerns and suggestions from stakeholders and ratepayers.

The states other nuclear power plant, the Nebraska Public Power Districts Cooper Station at Brownville, continues to be an important part of NPPDs long-term strategy for a diverse energy mix, a company spokesman said.

He said there has been no similar discussion by board members of NPPD, which is based in Columbus. That plant, which NPPD operates  unlike the OPPD plant, which is operated by the contractor  can generate 810 megawatts compared to Fort Calhouns 478.1.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1534, cole.epley@owh.com

* * *

By the numbers

$178,300,000 construction cost

478.6 megawatts of generation capacity

119,370,005,130 total amount generated kilowatt hours*

378,985,700 highest monthly generation of kilowatt hours (Jan. 2007)

34.1 percent percentage of OPPD generation since Sept. 1973

$250 million annual operation, maintenance and investment cost

694 employees connected to plant

*as of March 2012
When Nicola Thorp showed up at PwC, a finance company in London, late last year, she was wearing flats  what she thought were smart, sensible shoes for her first day on the job as a receptionist.

But the 27-year-old temp worker was told by PwC that she would have to put on something a little taller. Specifically, footwear with 2- to 4-inch heels.

Thorp refused, countering that shed have to spend the day on her feet.

I said I just wont be able to do that in heels,  Thorp told BBC Radio London on Wednesday. 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.

When she pointed out that men wouldnt be expected to do the same work in heels, she said, her new colleagues laughed and dismissed her from work without pay.

Portico, the outsourcing company that had hired Thorp for the job, argued that she had agreed to a dress code. But Wednesday the company relented, saying, With immediate effect all our female colleagues can wear plain flat shoes.

Thorp has seized the opportunity to petition the United Kingdom government to outlaw mandatory high heels.

Current formal work dress codes are outdated and sexist, she writes in her petition to Parliament. As of Thursday, the petition was just shy of the 100,000 signatures required to force Parliament to consider it.

Research into the health effects of high heels suggests that mandatory, all-day stilettos might be a bad idea.

Studies indicate that, over time, high heels restrict muscle function and reduce blood flow through the lower limbs; the shoes can increase the bone-on-bone forces in the knees; and a literature review traced the effects of pump shoes all the way up the spine.

University of Alabama at Birmingham scientists estimated that there were 123,355 injuries related to high heels between 2002 to 2012 in the U.S., about 2.6 percent of which were treated in emergency rooms.

I think dress codes should reflect society, Thorp told the BBC, and nowadays women can be smart and formal and wear flat shoes.
WEST DES MOINES  West Des Moines police say they have charged a bus driver with having a gun on school grounds.

The incident began about noon Wednesday when police say Des Moines Police Capt. Mike Hoffman was driving an unmarked car and a private bus started tailgating him on Interstate 235.

Police say the bus driver honked his horn and flashed his lights before passing the officer.

Hoffman followed the bus to Valley High School and approached the driver, 64-year-old Paul Smiley-Oyen, of Ames, who was holding a handgun.

He was charged with possessing a firearm on school grounds. No students were on the bus.
SCHUYLER  A Schuyler man has been give 30 to 40 years in prison for stabbing a woman.

Forty-three-year-old Amauri Herrera-Alvarez was sentenced Wednesday in Colfax County District Court. He had pleaded no contest to a charge of attempted murder after prosecutors dropped a weapons charge. He was given credit for 555 days already served.

Prosecutors say the incident was discovered Nov. 2, 2014, outside a Schuyler apartment building. An officer cut a rope Herrera-Alvarez was using to hang himself from a tree. Inside the building they found the injured woman, who was in a relationship with Herrera-Alvarez.

Herrera-Alvarez intended to plead not guilty by reason of insanity but eventually was found competent to stand trial.
AgustaWestland- How the media narrative changed in favour of the deal

Feature

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The change in the media narrative where the AgustaWestland case is concerned is one of the many angles that is being probed by the CBI. Earmarked Rs 50 crore to manage the media, the CBI will get its answers from James Christian Michel an alleged middleman for AgustaWestland.

Over the past few days he has been seen on television handing out interviews. As strange as it may sound the man marked a fugitive by India has over the past couple of days made himself quite accessible. The CBI says that in this entire case, a select section of the media played a crucial role. The evidence against these media personnel will be circumstantial in nature, the CBI says.

Circumstantial evidence:

There were a couple of publications and a blog which were aware seven months in advance that the deal would be through. While there is no harm in journalists knowing in advance about a decision, there were others who ensured that the narrative was changed.

While the Indian Express continued to put out the best stories regarding this scam there was another section which always ran a counter narrative to what was being said. This the agencies find was quite suspect. Several stories which praised AgustaWestland are also under the scanner.

The CBI says that it is not trying to indicate that anyone who wrote pro Agusta articles are accused. However these persons would help the CBI understand the role of Michel who was specifically told to manage the media.

The money trail leading up to journalists would be a hard one to track. There are two specific cases which indicate a money trail. As per some of the diary entries, the middlemen had claimed that they had spent Rs 28 lakh on a journalist and his wife who went on a junket. While a chunk of the money earmarked for the media was spent on a junket to Italy, the investigators are trying to find out another trail of Rs 5 crore which could have been paid as kickbacks to a senior journalist in Delhi.

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Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 11:42 [IST]
Indias Action plan for Tobacco-free states

Feature

oi-Lisa

By Lisa

History is full of researches that were done to figure out the harmful effects of tobacco on the health of the one who consumes it. The research done has usually focused on the harmful effects of cigarette smoking. Research study since 1950 has shown link between smoking and lung cancer.

This is the reason why the government of India issues advice that smoking and lung cancer are related. It is known to all that tobacco use is the biggest cause of preventable death world over. Half the people who consume tobacco products die from the results of tobacco use.

As per the estimate of World Health Organisation (WHO) each year around 6 million deaths are caused by consumption of tobacco. Last century has witnessed 100 million deaths due to consumption of tobacco. This is the reason why the Union Government of India and various state governments are trying to lower tobacco consumption and going for being tobacco free.

Here is the timeline of when cities, states and villages were declared smoke free in India.

2007 - Chandigarh declared as the first smoke free city.

2007 - Kottayam in Kerala declared as the second smoke free city.

2007 - Shimla in Himachal Pradesh declared as the third smoke free city.

2010 - Sikkim declared the first smoke free state.

2014 - Himachal Pradesh became the second smoke free state.

2014 - Gariphema village in Nagaland declared the first tobacco-free village.

2016 - Kohima in Nagaland declared the fourth smoke free city.

In February 2014 Assam became the first state that went on to ban consumption of all form of smokeless tobacco by a law. Even pan masala which contain tobacco and nicotine are banned in Assam. Not just that Assam has also banned manufacture, advertisement, trade, storage, distribution and sale of smokeless tobacco products.

It comes as a pleasant surprise that Nagaland which has the second highest smoker population in India is opting for smoke free village and city. As per the Joint Director of Health and Family Welfare Department of Nagaland, 57% of people in Nagaland smoke. 28% school children chew tobacco and 14% students smoke. The worst part is that around 41% children buy tobacco products for their parents or family members or other elders.

Union Government too has taken measures to discourage the consumption of tobacco products:

Enactment of the "Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, (COTPA) 2003". Ratification of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Launch of the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) in the year 2007-08, with the objectives to (a) create awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption, (b) reduce the production and supply of tobacco products, (c) ensure effective implementation of the anti-tobacco laws and (d) help the people quit tobacco use through Tobacco Cessation Centres. Notification of rules to ban smoking in public places. Notification of rules to regulate depiction of tobacco products or their use in films and TV programmes. Notification of rules on new pictorial health warnings on tobacco product packages. Launch of public awareness campaigns through a variety of media. Government of India has issued regulations under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 which lay down that tobacco or nicotine cannot be used as ingredients in food products. Manufacturing or sale of certain smokeless tobacco products has been prohibited under these regulations. Tobacco products are regulated by the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA 2003), which contain provisions, inter alia, relating to ban on sale of tobacco products by or to minors, ban on sale of tobacco products within 100 yards of educational institutions, ban on promotions and advertisements of tobacco products, etc.
Is refugee issue losing appeal in Tamil Nadu election?

Feature

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

The issue of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees is something that both the major Dravidian parties always eye to encash during elections, be it state or national.

Assembly Polls 2016 Coverage

But has this weapon started losing its edge for both parties now? Are the Tamil voters slowly feeling disillusioned with the recurring promises that both the AIADMK and DMK make on the issue over the years but are proving to be hollow?

AIADMK supremo and the current chief minister, Jayalalithaa, has promised dual citizenship for all Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu but it is seen more as a desperate attempt to score the maximum brownie points and beat the DMK in the race to emrge as true sympathisers for the Tamil cause.

Jayalalithaa's promise also sounds hollow because the Constitution of India doesn't recognise dual citizenship and to make way for her promises, the law of the land has to be amended---something which in itself will be a full-fledged political battle. Besides, if such an idea is even meted, similar demands will be raised from refugees who have come from other countries to take shelter in India. It will only have a snowfalling effect.

The AIADMK government's decision to give a monthlt grant of Rs 1,000 to every Tamil refugee in the state has also been called to be insufficient and chaotic. For those refugee families that depend on the dole, it's a big problem if the money doesn't come on time. Many are even thinking of going back to Sri Lanka where homes are being rebuilt after the war or even go to countries like Canada to join other members of their family.

The refugees are in the middle of building network across the globe and money gets being circulated among them.

But in Tamil Nadu's politics, the issue might have a limited life now. With the horrific memories of the decades-long war becoming more a matter of distant past, the prospects of generating symathy votes are getting lesser and the ordinary Tamil voters no longer feel to care much about the Tamil refugee problem.
India always views war as last resort, but... : PM Modi to armed forces in Kargil

Azad hits out at PM Modi over Somalia remark in Kerala

India

oi-PTI

Ayoor (Kerala), May 12: Congress on Friday, (May 13) hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comparison of Kerala with Somalia and said it was not only an insult to people of the state but also has invited wrath abroad for dragging a poverty-stricken country into domestic political discourse.

Addressing political rallies in Kollam district here, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghaulam Nabi Azad expressed his dismay over the Prime Minister's "unpalatable" remark and unbecoming of a prime minister.

"By making such comments, the Prime Minister has denigrated the nation and its shining achievements. He has not only insulted the highly erudite and world renowned people of Kerala state but has invited international wrath for dragging in a poverty-hit country, thus creating an embarrassment for the country," he said.

He said there was all respect for Somalians but comparing people of Kerala which has a literacy rate of 100 per cent with them is "regrettable".

"Prime Minister and his ilk should immediately offer unconditional apology in unequivocal words to the people of Kerala and desist from such utterances in future," he said.

He said such a comment from the Prime Minister only reflected Modi's ignorance about the pace of development of Kerala state.

"If Modi had a little knowledge of what Keralites have been contributing in the nation building, he would have not equated Kerala with poverty stricken Somalia," he said.

He also drew a comparison between Kerala and home state of the Prime Minister -- Gujarat -- and said Kerala has infant mortality rate of just 12 deaths for thousand, the lowest in the country, and Gujarat has the infant mortality rate of 36 much closer to National average of 40.

"Prime Minister should bother to talk about the development of Kerala under UDF Govt rather than making wild utterances. His statement is not only condemnable but it has been an insult to Karalite pride which people of Kerala reject vehemently," he said.

PTI
BJP, PM Modi to get 'shock treatment' in polls

India

oi-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, May 13: BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who compared Kerala to Somalia during an election rally, kicking up a furore, will get a 'shock treatment' in the May 16 assembly polls, senior congress leader A K Antony said on Friday (May 13).

"The Prime Minister's remarks comparing Kerala and Somalia will result in both him and BJP getting a 'shock treatment' in the hustings," he told reporters at Kollam.

Modi had compared the infant mortality rate among tribals in the state with that of African country Somalia during the poll campaign rally earlier this week, triggering widespread criticism among political parties in Kerala.

Antony took a swipe at the visits of the PM and union ministers to the state in the run up to the polls, saying "The Prime Minister and a dozen central ministers are camping in the state since the past few days. If there is a need the cabinet can meet in Kerala."

Antony also attacked the CPI(M)-led LDF, saying it will have to sit in the opposition for another five years. Alleging that the Prime Minister was 'cheating' the state with his promises, Antony said that after the Puttingal temple tragedy at Kollam, in which 109 persons were killed and several others injured, Kerala's only plea had been to declare the mishap as a national disaster, which was not considered.

The state's plea to amend the CRZ norms brought by the centre, taking into consideration the difficulties faced by fishermen in coastal areas was also turned down, he said.

He said if the ruling congress headed UDF was given a chance to govern the state for another five years, it would take up peoples' welfare, development and education matters in such a way that Kerala will become the number one state in the country.

PTI
Cabinet approves infusion of Rs 1,500 crore in IREDA: Here are the Highlights

Cabinet okays rail link to 3 religious places in Gujarat, Rajasthan; project to cost Rs 2,798 crore

Cabinet approves National Intellectual Property Rights

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, May 13: The cabinet on Friday approved the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy designed to safeguard trademark identities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said here.

He said the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has prepared the draft policy in this regard.

IANS


With AQI of 259, Delhi's air on day before Diwali least polluted in 7 years

Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution

Dawood Ibrahim lives in Pakistan. So what? Pak will never admit: P Chidambaram

India

oi-Pallavi

New Delhi, May 13: In the wake of revelations that India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan, back here P Chidambaram said that even if that was confirmed, Pakistan will not hand him over to India.

A sting operation conducted by CNN-18 News, whith the help of two Pakhtuns, identified Dawood's Karachi-based residence with address bungalow no. D-13 Block 4 Clifton.

Chidambaram said, "The whole world knows that Dawood Ibrahim has an address in Pakistan. In fact, we have shared it with the Pakistan government. They have of course denied it. Many people have confirmed that this is the house in which he stays. He stays between Pakistan and Dubai."

He further added, "You think they are going to put him on a platter and hand him over to you? This is not a failure of any Indian government. The problem is with Pakistan. No Pakistan government is going to admit that Dawood has sought refuge in their country."

Of the five addressed provided in the dossier in India, only one of the addresses- D-13, Block 4, Clifton, was in high security zone.

The channel said in a statement, "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. 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."

[Read: TV sting confirms Dawood's presence in Karachi ]

The News Channel also seemed to have spoken to police officers in Karachi and the security guards at Dawood's mansion. All of them confirmed that Dawood stayed there.

The Channel said,"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."

[Read: Dawood Ibrahim's bungalow in Karachi is similar to Laden's hideout ]

OneIndia News
Enough of protests, want to focus on studies now: HCU students

India

oi-Pallavi

Hyderabad, May 13: The resignation letter of ex-SFI student Raju Kumar Sahu has triggered a different aspect of protest for Rohith Vemula. A section of the students who are neutral to the protest complained that the classes be resumed as academics is being affected.

Sahu in his letter said, " the real losers of the entire game are none other than the common students, who have suffered in terms of placements."

This opinion garnered a lot of support from a lot of students. "The SFI had promised during elections that if the party wins, it will work for placements of students. There are so many students who come from poor families and hope for placements. However, the SFI only protested for its own benefit,"said an MCA student. Speaking of the woes of a few departments who were ignored during the placement, the student also said that placements were high in MBA and MTech students, but the other departments like Computer Sciences, English and Communication, Economics, and the Sciences, suffered.

Another student said, "I am not against the protests. Even I want justice for Rohith Vemula. But not at the cost of future of thousands of students like me."

[Read: Hyderabad shocker: Congress, Left funded movement to get justice for Rohith Vemula? ]

SFI members, however, have a different opinion. They said, "Sahu was definitely influenced by Surya Prasad, an MCA student who had quit SFI soon after Rohith Vemula's death. A few days ago, when I spoke to him, he was scared of being booked in the March 22 incident in which Rohith supporters, including him, ransacked the VC's lodge. Perhaps, his seniors influenced him against the same and made him take such a decision."

Some agreed saying that his political ideology was never clear. "He was elected as a candidate for the students' election only to gather more votes from the computer sciences department which has the highest share of students on campus. Sahu was not among the active members of SFI and was merely used for vote bank purpose," said a PhD student.

Seeking help from the university authorities and the police, Sahu said,"As you know, the recent developments in the University of Hyderabad, I have resigned from SFI because of its dividing and alienated politics and fake propaganda. I am feeling afraid now about my security. I feels (sic) that ASA, JAC and SFI people can harm me. Please take into serious consideration to this issue and provide me safety."

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 12:54 [IST]
Flash back at 3 years of Siddaramaiah's rule in Karnataka

India

oi-Shreyas

Bengaluru, May 13: Into three years of Congress rule led by Karnataka's mass leader, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, it has seen upheavals and downhills. It seems, Siddaramaiah left no stone unturned to protect one of the most lucrative seat even when internal bickering and allegations of corruption surfaced.

In the first year of governance, Siddaramaiah who himself staunchly affiliated to AHINDA (acronym for minority, backward and Dalit sections) focused on upliftment AHINDA through food security and welfare schemes. It appears, he has won the hearts of these sections and a brief chat with a few mass on Siddaramaiah's leadership divulge AHINDA category satisfied with the schemes.

The educated and the upper caste are miffed over these schemes, mainly issuance of 1 KG of rice for 1 Rs for BPL (Below Poverty Line) card holders. The opposition parties in the Karnataka bought no time to term the scheme populist. This hints at Siddaramaiah led Congress government in its first year 'disproportionately' focused on AIHINDA and failed to expand vote base.

CM working towards development

Legal Advisor to the Karnataka Government Brijesh Kalappa and national spokesperson of the Congress said "Siddaramaiah is a man with the mass and has no corruption charges against him. He is steering the government in the state in right direction."

Kalappa delineating achievements of the government pointed that CM in the first year focused on upliftment of downtrodden. The second year CM worked considering the future of the state in mind. Third year he worked on Urban Development.

Kalappa stressed that there are no allegations of corruption against Siddaramaiah, and he was elected to the post of CM to the effect of BJP's rout as people were miffed by the BJP whose top leader B S Yeddyurappa went behind bars on the serious charges of corruption.

A close friend-turned-foe of Siddaramaiah, G T Devegowda speaking to OneIndia launched a scathing attack against the Congress government. Analyzing three years of government's work in the state, G T laughed and said "this is the worst government I have seen so far in my political career."

Worst governance

It could be recalled that G T Devegowda has closely seen Siddaramaiah as a friend and co-leader in the JD(S) party. "We all had good will and mammoth expectations on Siddaramaiah, but all went in vein," G T expressed disappointment.

Earlier BPL card holders were eligible for 30 Kgs of rice in a month, each KG costing 1 Rs, but now the distribution has come down to 4KG. This explains how committed the Congress government is in working in the direction of invigoration of AHINDA.

Pointing fingers at Congress cabinet, G T said the ministers are in sleepy mode and development in the state is in limbo. He alleged that ministers are not functioning due to which development in the state is moving in a snail-like pace. The government failed to take control of drought situation, while education department under the government is working haphazardly.

Arrogance is a trait of Siddaramaiah

"Arrogance of Siddaramaiah, as I have seen him closely from many years, is one of his traits due to which he has failed to take confidence of IAS officers working in the state government," G T opined. Siddaramaiah is no fit to CM. Albeit he worked under tall leaders namely, Ramakrishna Hegde, J H Patel and Devegowda, he does not possess a quality a CM should have.

BPL mess

G T Devegowda pressed on real issue that is troubling the state. The government is now saying to get BPL card afresh, one needs to have Adhar card. Due to this people are running from pillar to post to enroll for Adhar and many have been denied BPL. Why Adhar card is necessary to get BPL? Is this not an injustice to poor? G T asked.

Failure in Power and Irrigation sector

Irrigation and power sector in the state are the most badly handled sectors. Power cuts have angered the general public and laxity in irrigation has burdened the farmers. In all way, the government has failed to deliver the promises it promised for the people, especially the needy, G T observed.

In three years; haunt of trouble for CM and Congress

In 2015, trouble started to mount on CM. Internal bickering in the Congress contributed to gathering of steam of appointing Dalit CM in Karnataka. Present Home Minister Parameshwar's name tuned in as preferable man for the post.

Brijesh Kalappa admits that there was such demand to which Sonia Gandhi did not concede. Siddaramaiah, however, succeeded in gaining the trust of Congress high command and convincing Gandhis. In 2016 also after S M Krishna met Sonia Gandhi, rumors were rife that planning of changing the CM in Karnataka is in the offing.

No change in CM

But Brijesh Kalappa says there is no question of changing the CM as Siddaramaiah is working for betterment of the state. Sonia Gandhi is always averse to mid term change of CM position and she has not done so in any state in her 17 to 18 years of career. He said any change will have devastating impact on the Congress.

PU leak

The Congress party found itself in soup, when question papers of PUC Chemistry examination were leaked twice. General public were angered over the mishandling of the examination and the impact likely to loom over 2018 assembly polls.

Troubling son

Siddaramaiah's son Dr Yathindra too gave an opportunity for the opposition to reap political benefits. Allegations of conflict of interest was leveled against the CM after a private diagnostic firm, Matrix Imaging Solutions Pvt Ltd to which Yathindra was a director bagged a tender to establish a lab at Bangalore Medical College Research Institute. Siddaramaiah resorted to damage control mode by his son resigning from the post of director.

A watch of Siddaramaiah led Congress rule

Hublot, a wristwatch worth Rs 70 lakhs of the CM hit the headlines after JD(S) leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy raked up the issue. While the opposition demanded the resignation of CM, here too CM left no stone unturned to protect his CM seat. Siddaramaiah, famously known for his socialist background and who received a costliest wristwatch gift returned the watch to state and secured the post thus pacified the controversy.

OneIndia News
Hyderabad shocker: Congress, Left funded movement to get justice for Rohith Vemula?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

Hyderabad, May 13: It has been four months since the students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad, are fighting to get justice for Rohith Vemula. Rohith, 26, committed suicide inside the campus of the university in January.

Rohith's tragic death has become a rallying point for all those who have long been saying that there exists a systematic discrimination of Dalit students in the higher educational institutions across the country.

Now, a student leader alleged that the movement to get justice for the Dalit research scholar Rohith has been sponsored by the Congress and Left parties.

Raj Kumar Sahu, after he resigned from the Left-affiliated student's union SFI at the university, said the movement has "become opportunistic."

In his resignation letter, Sahu has said that the "present state of affairs at SFI, HCU is murky". He added, "The politics of SFI is opportunistic and not based on principles."

However, the SFI has dismissed Sahu's allegations. According to members of the SFI, Raj is "parroting what the ABVP has been saying."

After Sahu's shocking allegations, the union minister M Venkaiah Naidu of the BJP, tweeted, "HCU students union secretary resigns and makes startling revelations. Left and Congress role exposed in Rohith Vemula's episode."

"They need to apologize to the nation," Naidu added.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 10:45 [IST]
Karnataka cabinet reshuffle: Major changes on the cards

India

oi-Vicky

Bengaluru, May 13: The Congress in Karnataka is on course correction mode. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced in Mysore that there would be a cabinet reshuffle at the end of this month and the lobbying has already begun.

CM Siddaramaiah against whom his own party men have complained is expected to drop under performers in his cabinet and induct some young faces.

There have been problems with the Housing and Educational ministries in the recent past. While Siddaramaiah himself had said that the Housing Ministry had not met its target, the leak of the II PU Chemistry paper which led to the exams being postponed twice has also put the education ministry in poor light.

Need to act:

The Congress High Court which initially received a representation to change the Chief Minister has however decided not to consider the same for now. Instead it wants the Chief Minister to reshuffle the cabinet and drop under performers who have been giving the opposition enough fodder to launch attacks.

Karnataka likely to have two Deputy Chief Ministers

According to sources the Chief Minister in consultation with the High Command has prepared a list of seven ministers who will be dropped. There is expected to be a change in the housing, primary and secondary education, transport, infrastructure ministries. The ministers heading these ministries are likely to be dropped and fresh faces inducted.

The Chief Minister has decided to go in for young faces as it is expected that they may perform. There is also a growing clamour within the Congress to induct the speaker of the legislative assembly Kagodu Thimappa into the ministry.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 9:47 [IST]
Kerala: BSF inspector shot dead by jawan after argument over leave

India

oi-PTI

Vatakara (Kerala), May 13: A BSF inspector, who had come for poll duty during the May 16 Assembly election, was shot dead allegedly by a jawan here following an argument over leave late last night, police said.

Inspector Ram Gopal Meena (45) from Rajasthan was shot allegedly by Umesh Prasad Singh using his service rifle, police said.

Meena was rushed to a hospital, but he succumbed to injuries on the way.

The incident occurred around 11.30 PM. The BSF personnel, who had come to Kerala as part of central forces for deployment during election, were staying at the Islamic Academy, a higher secondary school at Kottakal near Vatakara in Kozhikode district.

PTI
Kerala CM accuses Gov of 'acting as RSS tool' on his order to VCs to resign

Kerala: Election campaign for May 16 Assembly polls to end tomorrow

India

oi-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, May 13: The fierce two-month long electioneering for the May 16 Assembly polls would come to an end on Saturday in Kerala where Congress led UDF and CPI-M head LDF were engaged in a neck to neck race, with BJP-NDA trying to break the bi-polar politics.

A total of 2.61 crore electorate are expected to cast their votes to elect 140 law makers in the assembly out of 1,203 candidates in the fray, of which 109 are women.

Kerala polls: NDA candidate backs Modi, invites visits to Wayanad to see state's 'Somalia'

If it is a do-or-die battle for the rival Fronts, for BJP it is a prestigious fight to realise its long cherished dream of opening its maiden account in the assembly.

As for UDF, the poll is crucial not only to retain power in the state but a success would also present an opportunity for the Congress to stage a sort of comeback at the national level after its loss in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

On the other hand, a drubbing in the polls for the LDF would spell doom for Communist Front especially at a time when they are trying hard for a comeback in West Bengal, once a Left bastion. The last leg of poll campaign saw an unprecedented number of national leaders beelining to canvass for their respective parties.

Though campaign started on state-centric issues like solar and bar bribery scams, it took new turn as days prolonged. The campaign witnessed sparring between leaders of BJP, Congress and CPI-M after Prime Minster Narendra Modi, who virtually stormed the state during the three-day whirlwind campaign, kicked up a row over his comparison of Kerala with Somalia.

Congress insures booth agents in violence-prone Kerala

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, heading the UDF campaign, was quick to seize the remark to hit back at BJP and Modi, saying "the Prime Minister has insulted the people of Kerala". Electioneering also saw war of words between BJP and Chandy over the expenses born for bringing back the nurses from strife torn Libya to Kerala.

AICC Chief Sonia Gandhi, CWC member A K Antony, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI National Secretary Sudhakar Reddy, CPI-M leader and Tripura Chief Minister Nirpuan Chakravorty, Former Prime Minister Deva Gowda, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were among the prominent politicians who campaigned for their respective candidates.

The BJP this time is fighting along with its key ally Bharath Dharam Jana Sena,(BDJS), a new party formed by Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam, a powerful outfit of backward Ezhava community.

PTI
Amitabh Bachchan reveals he had to get stitches after he cut a vein on his leg

Malegaon blasts: Charges against Sadhvi Pragya dropped

India

oi-Vicky

Mumbai, May 13: The National Investigation Agency has dropped charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon blasts case. The NIA has cited want of evidence.

The National Investigation Agency which is probing the Malegaon 2008 blast case is likely to told the court that is no evidence against Sadhvi Pragya.

Of all the accused in the case, the NIA suggests that the case against Sadhvi is the weakest.. She had been arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on the charge that it was her motorcycle that was used to plant the bomb at Malegaon in 2008. However a detailed investigation found that the motor cycle was never used by her. The NIA has also not been able to find any evidence regarding her participation in the conspiracy.

For Sadhvi Pragya, the first relief came when charges slapped under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act had been slapped. While the ATS which probed the case at first had claimed that she had played a major part in the conspiracy, the NIA has found no such evidence.

The motor cycle which was registered in her name was used to place the bomb. However the NIA has learnt that the bike was used by Ramachandra Kalasanghra an absconding accused in the case. He was using the bike for two years and could have had used the same in the blast as well.

The NIA told the court later today that there is not enough evidence against Sadhvi to charge her in this case. The final decision would however lie with the court and if the same is accepted she will walk free after 8 years.

Did ATS plant the evidence?

The National Investigation Agency is likely to state that the probe by the ATS in connection with the Malegaon 2008 blasts case was a flawed one. Evidence fabricated and witness statements taken under duress is also to be part of the NIA's submission in this case.

This case had generated a lot of interest when the ATS began probing the same. The ATS took over the probe after a blast in Malegaon, Maharashtra on September 29 2008 had killed 6 and injured 100.

The first person to be picked up in connection with this case was Sadhvi Pragya Singh after it had been found that the bomb was planted on a motor cycle which was registered in her name.

Malegaon: Sadhvi Pragya likely to walk free after 8 years in jail

The investigation

The ATS quickly concluded that it was the handi work of a Hindu group. The ATS was then headed by Hemanth Karkare who was killed by terrorists in the 26/11 attack. Later on the NIA took over the probe and the same was headed by Sanjeev Singh an officer in the rank of Inspector General. This team had recorded the statements of 164 witnesses.

The case was later handled by a team headed by G P Siingh which re-recorded the statements. In the second round the witnesses told the NIA that they were forced to implicate the accused persons. This led to the NIA stating that the statements of the witnesses were recorded under duress.

The NIA dropped drop charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh under the stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act.

The other accused have been charged under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act or the UAPA. This would negate a lot of the evidence which otherwise would have been admissible under the MCOCA.

OneIndia News
Malegaon: Sadhvi Pragya likely to walk free after 8 years in jail

India

oi-Vicky

Mumbai, May 13: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is likely to get some relief and there is a possibility of her early relief. The National Investigation Agency which is probing the Malegaon 2008 blast case is likely to tell the court that is no evidence against Sadhvi Pragya.

Of all the accused in the case, the NIA suggests that the case against Sadhvi is the weakest.. She had been arrested by the Maharashtra ATS on the charge that it was her motorcycle that was used to plant the bomb at Malegaon in 2008.

However a detailed investigation found that the motor cycle was never used by her. The NIA has also not been able to find any evidence regarding her participation in the conspiracy.

Pragya may walk free

For Sadhvi Pragya, the first relief came when charges slapped under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act had been slapped. While the ATS which probed the case at first had claimed that she had played a major part in the conspiracy, the NIA has found no such evidence.

The motor cycle which was registered in her name was used to place the bomb. However the NIA has learnt that the bike was used by Ramachandra Kalasanghra an absconding accused in the case. He was using the bike for two years and could have had used the same in the blast as well.

The NIA is likely to tell the court later today that there is not enough evidence against Sadhvi to charge her in this case. The final decision would however lie with the court and if the same is accepted she will walk free after 8 years.

OneIndia News
This is 21st century, where have we reached in name of religion: SC on hate speeches

SC directs Kerala Police to set up SIT probe into wife-swapping in Navy

India

oi-Pallavi

New Delhi, May 13: The Supreme Court has directed the Kerala Police to set up a special inestigation team (SIT) to be headed by a deputy inspector general rank officer, to investigate allegations of wife-swapping among Indian Navy officers.

Headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, a bench declined a plea filed by the estranged wife of an accused Naval officer for a CBI probe into the charges and asked the police to complete the probe within 3 months.

The bench said, "It is well-settled that the extraordinary power of the constitutional courts in directing CBI to conduct investigation in a case must be exercised rarely in exceptional circumstances, especially, when there is lack of confidence in the investigating agency, or in the national interest and for doing complete justice in the matter."

It further added, "The facts and circumstances in which the offence is alleged to have been committed can be better investigated by the state police."

The Kerala POlice argued that already 70 witnesses have been examined in the case. In her petition, the woman requested that the case be transferred from Kerala High Court to Delhi High Court as the atmosphere there was not complaisant for the case and that the accused were highly influential people.

Married to the accused Naval officer in 2012, the woman alleged that her husband, parents-in-law and sister-in-law had subjected her to physical and mental torture.

She also levelled sexual abuse charges against five naval officers, including her husband, and wife of one of the officers, alleging that they indulged in wife swapping.

OneIndia News
With AQI of 259, Delhi's air on day before Diwali least polluted in 7 years

Delhi LG and CM greet people on Diwali, ask people to be mindful of pollution

Supreme Court upholds defamation law contested by Rahul, Kejriwal

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, May 13: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of India's criminal defamation law that was contested by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

The petitioners had argued that the criminal defamation law was in conflict with the freedom of speech and expression. But the top court did not agree.

The bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C. Pant, while upholding the relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Penal Code, notably Section 499 of the former and Section 500 of the civil law, said defamation doesn't have any "chilling effect on freedom of speech".

"It is not necessary for all in the chorus to sing the same song," Justice Misra said, pronouncing the judgment.

A magistrate should be extremely careful in issuing summons on a plea for the initiation of any criminal defamation case, he said.

The verdict was reserved on August 13 last year after the court heard the matter for over a month.

Section 499 deals with words spoken or written by someone with the intention to harm the reputation of another. Section 500 deals with the possible sentence for defamation, which may be a simple imprisonment for a term up to two years, a fine or both.

The verdict assumes significance in the light of a host of defamation cases in the political spectrum, especially the one filed against Chief Minister Kejriwal by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

IANS
D-Syndicate raises its ugly head again: This time on the target are Hindu leaders

TV sting confirms Dawood's presence in Karachi

India

oi-Jagriti

New Delhi, May 13: A sting operation carried out by a TV channel has claimed to confirm the address of Dawood Ibrahim, a UN-designated global terrorist and a fugitive from Indian law, in Pakistan.

The sting confirmed Dawood's address in Pakistan, wanted in India for the past 23 years. Guards and locals were interviewed in the sting carried out by CNN-News18.

The address confirmed by the TV channel is the same D 13, Block 4, Clifton, Karachi, which has been shared by India with Pakistan on several occasions.

Soon after the report, government confirmed to pursue its case that Pakistan hand over the 1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind back to India.

"The news reports referred only corroborates the facts that were already available with us. We will continue to pursue this matter and we expect Pakistan to hand over this international terro rist to us," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup was quoted as saying at a media briefing.

Dawood Ibrahim's bungalow in Karachi is similar to Laden's hideout

The official said India had in the past shared details of Dawood, including his possible locations in Pakistan with Islamabad. "Dawood Ibrahim is a UN-designated global terrorist and a fugitive from Indian law, at several point of time his details have been shared by the Indian government with the govern ment of Pakistan," he added.

Dawood is the mastermind of the 1993 Bombay blasts that left 257 people dead.

OneIndia News
Nitish Kumar has been affected by his age: Prashant Kishor

Could not care less: Nitish on Amit Shahs jibe

Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again

News flash: Journalist Rajdev Ranjan shot dead in Siwan, Bihar

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Bengaluru, May 13: Special PMLA court likely to pronounce its order on Chhagan Bhujbal's bail application today. In other news, one person died after a clash broke out between students in Kota (Rajasthan), last night.

Get all the latest news updates of the day:

11:15 pm: Students from Bihar will be safe in Kota, no one will make them leave: Shahnawaz Hussain on Bhawani Singh's statement.

11:10 pm: It has never been this bad in Bihar, this is not "jungle raj", this is "maha jungle raj": Shahnawaz Hussain on Rajdev Ranjan.

11:00 pm: No matter who the criminal, the Govt is determined to catch them in 48 hours: Ajay Alok (JDU) on Rajdev Ranjan.

10:50 pm: Feels like a perceprion of "jungle raj" is being built on. Govt is very serious against crime of any kind: Ajay Alok (JDU) on Rajdev Ranjan.

10:40 pm: Really troubling, journalists now being targeted. Manorama Devi's matter hasnt even cooled down, now this: SK Modi

10:30 pm: It has come to this, now journalists are being killed. Nitish ji is quiet, so is Lalu ji: RP Rudy on Rajdev Ranjan being shot dead.

10:00 pm: Bengaluru: 3 yr old girl sexually molested by a 45 yr old man. Girl was attending unauthorised child daycare facility run by accused's wife.

Child's parents lodged a complaint with the police after child's medical examination. Both accused & his wife have been arrested.

9.07 pm: BSF apprehended one person near international border in Ramgarh sector of Samba (J&K). - ANI.

9.00 pm: Prime Minister Modi will be accompanying SL President Sirisena to Ujjain on May 14.

8.50 pm: Problems faced by Indian fishermen, various ecological projects being implemented by India & efforts to increase trade & investment also discussed.

8.45 pm: PM Modi met Srilankan President Maithripala Sirisena, said that President Sirisena's visit for Simhasth Kumbh 2016 was very significant as it showed the deep civilisational ties between India and Sri Lanka.

Journalist Rajdev Ranjan, who has been shot dead in Siwan (Bihar). More details awaited pic.twitter.com/UG5emui4Es  ANI (@ANI_news) May 13, 2016

8.25 pm: Journalist Rajdev Ranjan shot dead in Siwan(Bihar) - ANI.

7.45 pm: Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav writes to Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje expressing concern after murder of a Bihari student in Kota.

7.39 pm: For security in Kota it is necessary that these criminal students from Bihar are asked to leave, says BJP MLA Bhawani Singh.

7.23 pm: Bihar Police puts up 'absconding' posters of suspended JDU MLC Manorama Devi in Gaya Road rage case.

7.15 pm: Have shown my displeasure to procedure followed by NIA in filing chargesheet,was not informed till last moment, says NIA Special, PP Avinash Rasal.

7.00 pm: Lieutenant General NK Mehta(AOC) demoted to Brigadier on charges of fraud and malice by Armed Forces tribunal bench (Lucknow).

6.35 pm: Lieutenant General NK Mehta (AOC) demoted to Brigadier on charges of fraud and malice by AFT Lucknow after his OA was dismissed.

6.25 pm: I am not resigning as NIA officials have said sorry and regretted.Matter is pacified now, says NIA Special Public Prosecutor, Avinash Rasal.

6.15 pm: No inferior material was used in construction of INS Deepak, everything is of top quality, says Captain DK Sharma,Navy PRO.

6.00 pm: All things were followed diligently and all approvals were taken, says Captain DK Sharma,Navy PRO on INS Deepak construction.

5.45 pm: CBI arrests ADFM of Railways from Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) and a tax assistant from Kashipur (U'khand) in separate cases of bribery.

5.37 pm: I have been preparing for this for so long, I have been training so hard. I think I deserve a trial, says Sushil Kumar on Rio Olympics 2016

5.15 pm: KS Ahmed arrested, admitted his role during interrogation, will be produced before magistrate for judicial custody.

5.00 pm: CBI again examines former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair in Antrix case,he is being examined on his role in commission of offence.

4.45 pm: Four armed terrorists of Muslim Tiger Force of Assam (MTFA) apprehended by Army from Bongaigaon district of Assam.

4.30 pm: Bankers led by SBICAP Trustee takes possession of Vijay Mallya's property in Goa.

4.15 pm: CBI registers a case against a Deputy Commandant of CRPF, Ranchi (Jharkhand) for alleged illegal involvement in recruitment process in CRPF.

4.00 pm: The 9 disqualified MLAs had approached SC against alleged eviction notice sent by the state Government in Uttarakhand row.

3.45 pm: CBI registers a case against a Deputy Commandant of CRPF, Ranchi (Jharkhand) for alleged illegal involvement in recruitment process in CRPF.

3.31 pm: Congress delegation to meet EC today to submit petition against PM Modi for his 'divisive and intemperate remarks' used in Kerala.

3.30 pm: Bihar police provides security to Gaya road rage case victim Aditya Sachdeva's family.

3.12 pm: Kanhaiya Kumar 's lawyers tell HC that they are ready to end strike provided the JNU admin assures there won't be any action against them.

3.11 pm: HC directs JNU administration's counsel to explain the University's stand on the matter. Hearing at 4 pm today.

2.28 pm: 5 naxals arrested in a joint operation by Gaya and Jehanabad police in Bihar.

2.27 pm: Rahul Gandhi's aide Kanishka Singh sends legal notice to BJP MP Kirit Somaiya,asks him to apologize in 3 days or face legal action.

2.09 pm: But don't malign the name of Shaheed Hemant Karkare.Centre including PM wants to save the ppl involved in terror activites, says Digvijaya Singh.

2.08 pm: Want to tell Centre that we know you want to save Malegaon accused and you hv connections with them, says Digvijaya Singh.

2.06 pm: The NIA has filed it chargesheet in the Malegaon case.charges against sadhvi pragya singh dropped for want of evidence.

1.43 pm: Objective of policy is to create awareness about economic,social &cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society, says Arun Jaitley.

1.42 pm: Today, Cabinet approved National Intellectual Property Rights Policy, says FM Arun Jaitley

1.29 pm: ITI student lynching case: Local TMC leader Tapas Malik sent to 13 day police custody.

1.15 pm: NIA to file chargesheet in Malegaon blast case, today.

12.30 pm: Former India captain Rahul Dravid and ex-Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena appointed to the ICC Cricket Committee.

12.15 pm: Salman Khan hit and run case: Hearing in SC over Maharashtra Govt's appeal against Salman Khan's acquittal in the case adjourned for August.

11.42 am: Blast in an abandoned house in Purulia village in West Bengal's Murshidabad district; no casualties reported.

11.20 am: PM Narendra Modi makes a farewell speech for retiring MPs in Rajya Sabha



PM Narendra Modi makes a farewell speech for retiring MPs in Rajya Sabha pic.twitter.com/RNWHIem6sh  ANI (@ANI_news) May 13, 2016

11.12 am: Sushil Kumar writes a letter to Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal , requesting him to conduct a wrestling trials.

10.50 am: Malegaon 2008 blasts case: NIA seeks time from NIA Special Court, Mumbai for submiting 2nd supplementary Final Report under sec173(8) of CrPC.

10.38 am: Cloudburst causing flash floods in Jammu & Kashmir kill at least 3 students.

10.18 am: CBI summons IDS Infotech MD Pratap Agarwal and CEO of Aeromatrix, Praveen Bakshi for questioning, today in the AgustaWestland case.



10.10 am: Suspended JDU leader Manorama Devi files anticipatory bail after arrest warrant was issued against her over liquor prohibition.

9.38 am: Bihar Police to soon seize suspended JDU leader Manorama Devi's properties, if she does not surrender.

9.30 am: Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group says its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in Syria.

9.20 am: CISF personnel arrested at IGI airport for molesting passenger; Police say the incident happened on May 4.

9.00 am: BSF jawan Ramgopal Meena allegedly shot dead by colleague in Vatkara, Kerala. Search launched to nab the accused.



8.40 am: NIA to drop charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Col Purohit under MCOCA, chargesheet under UAPA likely to be filed today.

8.18 am: Several dead in blast in Turkey's Kurdish majority southeast: ministry.

8.00 am: Indian Railways sends a 4,00,00,000 bill to Latur for its 'Water Train' services in the drought-hit region.

OneIndia News
Even if not contesting 2020 polls, Hillary Clinton will not be entirely out of scene

Hillary Clinton says Julian Assange must 'answer for what he has done'

Clinton, Sanders oppose US plans to raid illegal immigrants

International

oi-PTI

Washington, May 13 : Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have expressed opposition to the reported plans of Obama administration to conduct largescale raids targeting illegal immigrant families from violence-hit Central American countries.

Clinton and Sanders in separate statements called on President Barack Obama not to go ahead with largescale raids after news reports in this regard surfaced on Thursday.

US polls 2016: Hillary Clinton wins Guam; it looks almost over for Sanders

"I urge President Obama to use his executive authority to protect families by extending Temporary Protective Status for those who fled from Central America," Sanders said.

Clinton said: "We need a comprehensive plan to stop the root causes of the violence in Central America and expand orderly resettlement programmes. Large scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country."

Clinton said she is against largescale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities. "I am concerned about recent news reports, and believe we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night. Families fleeing violence in Central America must be given a full opportunity to seek relief," she said.

We need to take special care of children, said Clinton

"We need to take special care of children  which is why I've laid out a plan to guarantee all unaccompanied minors are provided access to counsel. We must also fix our asylum and refugee systems, and work with regional partners to strengthen conditions in Central America," Clinton said.

Sanders said he is opposed to "the painful and inhumane business" of locking up and deporting families who have fled horrendous violence in Central America and other countries. Sending these people back into harm's way is wrong, he said.

"I recently met a young Salvadoran woman who came to the US on her own at the age of 15 to flee gangs trying to recruit her. I've also spoken with many children who have told me with tears streaming down their faces that they live in daily fear that their parents will be taken away," Sanders said.

The operation, reportedly planned over this month and the next, aims to round up and deport immigrants who have evaded deportation orders or not shown up for court hearings.

PTI
Donald Trump's ex-butler calls for Obama to be killed

International

oi-PTI

Washington, May 13: A former butler of Donald Trump, who has worked for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 17 years, has called for killing US President Barack Obama in a hate message posted on Facebook, prompting the Secret Service to investigate the matter.

The Trump campaign has denounced the message and distanced itself from what it described as a "horrible statement" made by Trump's longtime former butler 84-year-old Anthony Senecal. Senecal worked as Trump's butler for 17 years before being named the in-house historian at the tycoon's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Secret Service, which has the responsibility to protect the US President and his family, said it would investigate the matter.

"The US Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation," its spokesman Robert Hoback said. In a message posted on Facebook, Senecal, 84, expressed profound hatred for President Barack Obama and declared he should be killed, according to Mother Jones magazine which first reported the massage.

The message could only be read by Senecal's friends and is not public. A picture of the message was posted by Mother Jones in its news report yesterday. "I wrote that (Facebook message). I believe that," Senecal was quoted as saying by Mother Jones.

"To all my friends on FB, just a short note to you on our pus headed "president" !!!! This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term !!!!!," Senecal said in his Facebook post.

"Instead he still remains in office doing every thing he can to gut the America we all know and love !!!!! Now comes Donald J Trump to put an end to the corruption in government !!!!," the post reads.

The hate message was immediately condemned by the Trump Campaign. "Tony Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the President," a Trump campaign spokesman said in a statement, according to ABC News.

According to news reports, Senecal has written anti-Obama hate messages in the past also. There was no immediate response from the White House.

PTI
Fact Check: Did Trump thank Musk for welcoming him back to Twitter

Johnny Depp does it again, says Donald Trump would be final US Prez

International

oi-Sandra

Washington, May 13: Hollywood actor Johhny Depp has once again voiced his concerns against presumtive GOP nominee Donald Trump saying that if Trump becomes the next President, he would be the final president for US.

Depp, who was in London to promote his latest film said: "If Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, in a kind of historical way it's exciting because we will see the actual last president of the United States."

Actor Johnny Depp mimicks Donald Trump, calls him a 'brat'

It just won't work after that, he added.

Depp had earlier this year called Donald Trump a 'brat.' Depp, was addressing students at the Arizona State University when he said that 'there's something created about him in the sense of bullydom.'

The actor went on to do an impression of Trump portraying him as a spoiled child. "I want the Taj Mahal, I want the Taj Mahal, cause you know everything is mine even if I don't own it," the actor said in Trump's accent.

Meanwhile, House speaker Paul Ryan and Trump concluded a highly anticipated meeting amid signals that the party will work to piece itself together after a fractious primary.

OneIndia News
Slip of Tongue in Pak Parliament: Speaker pronounces Nawaz Sharif's name instead of Shehbaz Sharif

Nawaz Sharif likely to return to Pakistan next month: Imran Khan

Maryam Nawaz gets her passport back after 3 years; meets father Nawaz Sharif in London

Nawaz Sharif to leave for Turkey on May 14

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Islamabad, May 13: Amid opposition protests in the National Assembly over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's continuous absence, the Pakistan premier was on Friday set to embark on a one-day private visit to Turkey, media reported.

The prime minister was expected to attend the National Assembly session on Friday to face a number of questions tabled by the opposition members over the issue of Panama leaks but, according to Dunya News, the decision to attend the house was suddenly postponed till Monday.

It was also announced that Sharif would go to Turkey on Saturday on a private visit.

Meanwhile, opposition members staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against Sharif's continued absence from the House.

Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Naveed Qamar said opposition lawmakers won't sit in Parliament until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responds to their questions.

Later, the assembly session was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

On the other hand, a joint meeting of the opposition parties chaired by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan took place at Parliament House. Members of PPP, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf and other opposition parties participated in the meeting.

The meeting decided to boycott proceedings until the Prime Minister arrived in the House.

The opposition has demanded that it be taken into confidence on the Panama Papers Leaks.

The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. News daily Indian Express was also among those with which the information was shared.

The names of a number of politicians across the world have figured in the Panama Papers -- which name 259 Pakistanis as having interests in offshore companies. Sharif's three children are among those named as having offshore wealth.

IANS


Pak-US ties witnessing a 'downward slide' over F-16s: Aziz

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, May 13: Pakistan's ties with the US has witnessed a "downward slide" amid a row over a decision by the Congress to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said.

Briefing the Senate, Aziz candidly admitted that Pakistan-US ties were under stress for the past three months over the F-16 issue but the two were working to resolve it.

"In the past three months, however, the upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," Aziz said yesterday during a debate on the US decision to withdraw a proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16s.

Aziz also mentioned the 'India factor' for at least three times during his speech.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself."

But "we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defence deals concluded between India and the US during US Defence Secretary's recent visit to India.

We have also emphasised the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia," the adviser said. At another point during his speech, Aziz spoke about Indian using the Pathankot attack against Pakistan in the US.

"The Indian lobby in the US has also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, specially after the Pathankot incident on January 1, 2016," he said. Aziz said that US-Pakistan ties had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents like the WikiLeaks revelations, Raymond Davis and Abbottabad operation.

But Since 2013, the top diplomat said, Pakistan's relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory."

He said Pakistan was working on multiple levels to improve ties and sort out differences on various issues. He mentioned about the differences between the US and Pakistan over the handling of the issue of Dr Shakil Afridi, arrested for allegedly helping CIA track down Osama bin Laden, and the fight against Haqqani network and the nuclear issue.

He also briefly mentioned Pakistan's efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and said a key meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US would be held in Islamabad on May 18 and 19.

PTI
Pakistan's relation with US under stress: Aziz

International

oi-PTI

Islamabad, May 13: Pakistan's relation with the US is under stress due to a decision by the Congress to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said.

Briefing the Senate, Aziz candidly admitted that Pakistan-US ties were under stress for the past three months over the F-16 issue but the two were working to resolve it.

"In the past three months, however, the upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," Aziz said yesterday during a debate on the US decision to withdraw a proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16s.

Aziz also mentioned the 'India factor' for at least three times during his speech.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself." But "we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defence deals concluded between India and the US during US Defence Secretary's recent visit to India.

We have also emphasised the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia," the adviser said. At another point during his speech, Aziz spoke about Indian using the Pathankot attack against Pakistan in the US.

Pakistan has one month's time to grab US F16 deal

"The Indian lobby in the US has also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, specially after the Pathankot incident on January 1, 2016," he said. Aziz said that US-Pakistan ties had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents like the WikiLeaks revelations, Raymond Davis and Abbottabad operation.

But Since 2013, the top diplomat said, Pakistan's relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory." He said Pakistan was working on multiple levels to improve ties and sort out differences on various issues.

He mentioned about the differences between the US and Pakistan over the handling of the issue of Dr Shakil Afridi, arrested for allegedly helping CIA track down Osama bin Laden, and the fight against Haqqani network and the nuclear issue.

He also briefly mentioned Pakistan's efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and said a key meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US would be held in Islamabad on May 18 and 19.

PTI
Israel has secret ties with 'many' Arab states, says Cabinet minister

After years on the run, Hezbollah financier lands in Brazil police net

Wait and watch, be ready from tonight: Hezbollah warns Israel after drone strike

Top Hezbollah commander killed in air strike in Syria

International

oi-Jagriti

Damascus, May 13: A top Hezbollah commander has been killed in an air strike carried out by Israel in Syria, media reported.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, a top commander of Lebanon-based Shia militant organisation Hezbollah died in an Israeli air strike near Damascus airport on Tuesday, reported the BBC citing Lebanon's al-Mayadeen TV.

Israel is yet to comment on the claim of his death. Badreddine and three of his accomplish are accused of assassinating former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri in Beirut in 2005.

Badreddine, born in 1961 and a senior figure in Hezbollah's military wing, took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," said Hezbollah announcing his death.

Car bomb kills 8 in shrine suburb of Syrian capital

He reportedly served as an adviser to the group's overall leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah - the Party of God - is a Shia Islamist political, military and social organisation that wields considerable power in Lebanon.

Hi death has come as biggest blow to the group since the CIA-aided 2008 assassination of its military commander Imad Mughniyah.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 11:26 [IST]
Back from Libya: They have a local to thank profusely

Kochi

oi-Vicky

Kochi, May 13: For the 18 people who returned from the war torn Libya after being stranded for six months, it was a happy home coming. While there may be a debate between the Kerala and the Union Government who paid for their return, there is one interesting fact that one must bear in mind.

The Indian Embassy in Libya was not exactly helpful. It was a Libyan national who took in the 18 persons of which 11 are children. Their return itself was magical, say Joy A J the father of Nivya who returned to Kerala.

16 Keralites, including infants, arrive home from Libya

A Libyan helped us

The returnees have vowed not to return to Libya. The situation is bad over there they say. Joy says that he will not let his daughter and her family go back to Libya. Only we know what we have gone through.

"My daugther, my son in law and grand daughter have experienced the worst and we will not let them go back," he says.

While there is a spar on as to who gets the credit for ensuring the return of these 18 persons, what one needs to understand is that the Indian Embassy in Libya was not entirely helpful. Those who returned yesterday have alleged that several times the calls were not answered by them.

With no where to go and none to help, the returnees had become desperate. Finally help came in the form of a Libyan national who they do not want to name for security reasons. He took all of them in and accommodated them in a home around 60 kilometres from the Tripoli airport.

The war is bad out there they say. There was no electricity, water shortage among other problems. Even the journey to the Tripoli airport was a tense one. They finally took the flight out of Tripoli and arrived at India via Istanbul and Dubai.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Friday, May 13, 2016, 9:28 [IST]
A dream, a call and some courage: How a 15-year-old stopped her marriage

Prime accused in Bengal student lynching arrested

Kolkata

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kolkata, May 13: Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallik, prime accused in the lynching of a 24-year-old ITI student in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said on Friday.

Mallik, a panchayat member representing the Trinamool, had been absconding since Monday when Koushik Purakait, an ITI student was lynched by a mob in Harindanga village near Diamond Harbour, accusing him of being a cattle thief.

[24-year-old ITI student lynched in Bengal]

"Mallik was arrested late Thursday night near Duttapukur (in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district)," said a police officer.

The family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident alleging the police to be "biased".

Meanwhile, the Diamond Harbour Bar Association said no advocate will represent Mallik who will be presented before a court on Friday.

"As a mark of protest against this barbaric incident, the bar association has unanimously resolved that none of its members will defend Mallik. I am a Trinamool member and our MP Abhishek Banerjee has instructed that any party member indulging in any wrong doing should be dealt harshly," said Sudip Chakraborty of the association.

While the family has named 10 people in its complaint including Mallik alleged to have led the lynching, the police have arrested five people in this connection.

Purakait had come to visit a relative's place and was roaming around when a mob confronted him with stealing a buffalo and thrashed him.

Purakait was taken to the city's SSKM Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The incident attracted widespread condemnation with opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the lynching.

IANS
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Saigon Beverage Company (Sabeco) coupled with the Ministry of Industry and Trade is seeking approval from the Vietnamese government to sell 53 percent of its stake through public auction.

A report by the Vietnam Beverage Association showed that the country is the fifth largest consumer of beer in the world, with Sabeco accounting for 46 percent of the domestic market share.

Should the plan be approved, the rate of state ownership in Sabeco will fall from 89.59 percent to 36 percent.

This is not the first time Sabeco has outlined a proposal to sell a majority stake. Many experts say that Sabeco is viewed as one of the most profitable state-owned companies in Vietnam, forcing the government to weigh up the pros and cons before delivering the final decision.

A representative from Sabeco told VnExpress that investors need to meet specific requirements to purchase its stake. At present, the government has yet to approve the plan, so Sabeco is not able to list those requirements for strategic investors.

So far, more than ten investors have registered an interest in buying into Sabeco, including big names like Heineken (the Netherlands), ThaiBev (Thailand) and SAB Miller (the U.S.). Millionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi from ThaiBev previously offer $2 billion for a 40 percent stake, but the company turned him down.

The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors has also asked the ministry and the government to sell off nearly 90 percent of the state-owned stake in Sabeco.

Ten years ago, Sabeco was far larger than Vinamilk (Vietnams top dairy company) and its profits also doubled Vinamilks. Now Vinamilks profits are three times more than Sabecos, the association said, adding that eight years since its IPO, Sabeco's growth remains sluggish despite its development potential.

Last year, Sabeco sold 1.5 billion liters of beer, accounting for 44.6 percent of the beer consumed in Vietnam in 2015.

Though acting as the dominant player in the local beer market, Sabeco is facing challenges with Heineken becoming Vietnams second largest beer supplier and domestic beer consumption leveling off in the first four months of the year.
Vietnam will form working groups including organic businesses to study the existing challenges the sector is facing and revise existing legislature to encourage organic farming, said Agriculture Minister Tran Thanh Nam.

Vietnam discussed measures to promote organic farming and overcome existing challenges at a workshop organized yesterday by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Science and Technology in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran Quoc Khanh, deputy minister of science and technology, said organic farming is an important solution to the current food safety issue. He added that organic agriculture increases productivity and incomes while lowering greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.

However, land devoted to organic farming remains modest, Khanh added.

A Department of Crop Production representative said the lack of a domestic organic certification is one of the barriers facing the expansion of organic farming. Vietnams organic exports are dependent on foreign organizations like Control Union, IMO and JAS to verify they meet international standards. In addition, there are hardly any support policies for organic farming. Current regulations focus mainly on safe production and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP).

Vo Minh Hai, director of Vien Phu Green Farm, agreed, saying that the biggest challenge faced by organic businesses is policy, which lacks transparency, including unclear standards for clean production and certification.

For agriculture to be sustainable, Hai said Vietnam needs a breakthrough shift from current chemical intensive farming to environmentally friendly practices to remain internationally competitive and improve public health. The policy should clearly differentiate support policies so that farmers, agribusinesses and investors can distinguish the benefits of chemical intensive and environmentally friendly farming.

According to Nam, Vietnam has the natural and social resources to grow organic rice, tea and vegetables. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development plans to promote Vietnams organic products both domestically and internationally so that consumers, businesses and international organizations understand the potential of Vietnams organic market.
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As rapid growth of the aviation industry may jeopardize Viet Nams targets to reduce CO2 emissions, the country discussed solutions to green the sector at a workshop yesterday in Hanoi.

UNDP has proposed to Vietnam to include green investment, carbon offset mechanism and green fees in the Draft Action Plan to Reduce CO2 Emissions in Civil Aviation in order for Vietnam to meet the global goal of carbon neutral growth in aviation by 2020.

The consultation workshop was attended by the Ministry of Transport, Viet Nam Aviation Authority, airlines, airport authorities, UNDP, International Air Transport Association (IATA), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Bakhodir Burkhanov, Deputy Country Director of UNDP in Viet Nam said "reducing CO2 emissions [in aviation] is directly related to reducing fuel use, a significant expense for all airlines." In addition, "energy efficiency of airport operations reduces long-term costs, stimulates technological innovation, and, as the evidence shows, improves customer satisfaction."

He also advocated for a "small green fee" to be levied on Vietnam's 35 million passengers a year. "These funds can help co-finance, for example, the conversion to electric vehicles in all airport operations across the country, the scale-up of energy efficient technology for airport heating and cooling, and the introduction of renewable energy to power the growing number of [new] airports," said Burkhanov.

ICAO expert David White presented the organization's guidance on State Action Plans to reduce CO2emissions in the aviation sector while Caesar Velarde, ICAO Senior aviation and environment expert, shared Indonesias experience and lessons learnt in Green Aviation.

Specifically, ICAO is set to introduce market-based measures under its global framework, including a carbon off-set mechanism.

It will "stimulate new sources of finance to help Viet Nam achieve its CO2 reduction targets," said Burkhanov, by, for example, scaling up investment in sustainable forest management through carbon sequestration.

Christopher Abram, Director of the USAIDs Environment and Social Development Office in Viet Nam, echoed the proposed measures, saying "the green aviation action plan is an opportunity to strengthen energy and fuel efficiency, to drive down costs, and maintain the health of this fast-growing sector.

With year-on-year growth of 14 percent, Viet Nams civil aviation sector is one of the fastest growing in the world. The aviation sector has been a key driver of Viet Nams overall economic progress. But rapid growth of the industry puts in jeopardy the achievement of Viet Nams targets to reduce its national CO2 emissions.

The workshop was organized by the project management unit of "Strengthening Capacity and Institutional Reform for Green Growth and Sustainable Development in Viet Nam" project - a partnership between Ministry of Planning and Investment and UNDP.
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Queen Jules and a friend laughing at protesters

As heavy backlash and criticism is currently coming the way of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA), following molestation accusations against Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo, a female member of the church appears to be totally unfazed.

The woman identified as Queen Jules Okezie took to her social media page to mock those protesting against Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo

Okezie in her caption mocked the protesters saying that the church will stand despite all tribulations.

Sharing the post on her Facebook page, she said: So we were in church today laughing our eyes out, protest indeed.the church will stand and the gate of hell shall not prevail.
May 12, 2016 | 10:55 pm PT

The World Bank has decided to issue an $150 million loan for structural reforms in Vietnam, the bank said on Friday.

The loan will support the Vietnamese government's socio-economic development plan aimed at macroeconomic stablity, public sector governance and an improvemed business environment, the World Bank said in a statement.

"With this third operation, the World Bank continues its support to enhance Vietnams competitiveness thereby laying the foundation for future growth and prosperity." said Achim Fock, the World Banks Acting Country Director for Vietnam.

"During the last five years, there has been steady progress in advancing structural reforms in critical areas such as the banking sector, management of state-owned enterprises and the business climate. These reforms need to be sustained during the implementation of the new five-year plan 2011-2016 to unlock Vietnams full growth potential," he added.

The 29 1/2-year loan in dollars with a 10-year grace period financed by the World Banks International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the financing window for middle-income countries, will be disbursed in several tranches.

According to the World Bank, the loan will provide a flexible budget for the Vietnamese government to:

(i) Maintain macroeconomic stability. Strengthening financial sector governance and fiscal management, including policies for non-performing loans and promoting the restructuring of banks, and debt and treasury management.

(ii) Create a more transparent, efficient and accountable public sector. Strengthening public administration, state-owned enterprise management and public investment management for more transparency and improved regulatory environment.

(iii) Improve the business environment. Reducing administrative burdens and strengthening tax and procurement policies, including streamlined administrative procedures.

The loan concludes a series of three from the World Bank, registered as EMCC.

The first loan supported a number of pieces of legislation and government decisions to promote reforms including prime ministerial decisions to restructure general corporations and state economic groups; strengthen supervision in the banking sector and the institutional framework for debt management. The laws on tax administration and anti-corruption were amended to introduce new provisions aimed at improving public administration.

The second loan built on those to promote increased foreign participation in the banking sector and adopt a plan to address non-performing loans; strengthen medium-term debt management and improve the efficiency of public financial management; promote restructuring of state economic groups and improve transparency in state-owned enterprises; and strengthen the legal framework for public procurement, value-added tax and corporate income tax.
Residents are complaining that complicated addresses are making it a nightmare for their relatives, friends and delivery companies to find their homes.

Under the burning heat in May, a delivery man named Hai was running around Huynh Tan Phat Street looking for a house in Alley 1806. He searched for over 30 minutes but decided to give up after the sweat pouring off his forehead soaked his shirt.

Ive been doing this job for two years but this is the first time Ive seen such an crazy house number. I thought it was a fake address until the owner came out to collect the goods herself and showed me her house.

One of the houses in Alley 1806.

Long house numbers are not something new in Saigon's Nha Be town, and hundreds of families there are facing the same problem.

Local resident Nguyen Van Tu told VnExpress: The old couple living near my house have just moved. They were afraid that if they suddenly got sick, they would die before an ambulance could reach their house.

A local standing in front of her house.

Tran Ngoc Anh Quan, vice chairman of Nha Be's Peoples Committee, explained: Adding numbers to houses is based on the rules set by Ho Chi Minh Citys Department of Construction. We are asking the department to change house numbers for local citizens but this will cause some trouble related to their personal papers.
Alternative music singer, Simisola Ogunleye, popularly known as Simi has called for better protection of Nigerian women and girls from physical abuse and rape.

News Agency of Nigeria reports that in an emotional post on Wednesday, Simi decried the treatment of women in Nigeria and the lack of action from family and society when they are assaulted.

She wrote on her verified Instagram page, Women, even little girls are not safe in this country. First, there is oppression, abuse.

When something does happen to you, nobody fights for you. The family says Protect our name, the church says touch not my anointed.

The government just does not give. So men, please when people are fighting for women, say they are feminists and want equal rights for women, I hope you remember how unprotected they are and fight with them.

Women, when you see another woman fighting for you and your rights, if you dont like the approach because you think everything is all about submission, your life is constantly at stake.

If it hasnt touched you yet, count your blessings. Open your eyes, the world does not favour you. Fight back.

As for these animals, you can only slap and rape for so long. One by one, judgement will find you and drag you down. I know men go through sexual assault too!

I acknowledge it but women and children are more vulnerable. Lets fight for and protect the most vulnerable in the society, Simi said.

NAN reports that her statement comes on the heels of two high profile alleged abuse, among others that have flooded social media in the last couple of days.

On Friday, Busola Dakolo accused Biodun Fatoyinbo of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly of raping her when she was a teenager, in a now-viral interview.

Also, on Tuesday, surveillance footage showed Senator Elisha Abbo physically assaulting a woman in an Abuja shop with the assistance of a policeman.

The events and others like it have prompted several social media calls for more justice for women, especially when they have been raped or physically assaulted.

(NAN)
One week after mass fish deaths were reported in the central province of Thanh Hoa, a sugar factory that has admitted to illegally discharging untreated wastewater into a river has agreed to compensate local farmers.

The Hoa Binh Sugarcane and Sugar JSC said it would pay VND1.4 billion ($63,000) in compensation to hundreds of fish farmers who have suffered from the mass fish deaths along the Buoi River.

The compensation is calculated based on the market price of VND80,000 per kilogram for more than 17 tons of fish that were killed by polluted water, affecting 34 households in the area.

The sugar firm has promised to pay the compensation no later than next Wednesday.

Local authorities also asked the company to provide rice to 79 households for the next six months and support affected farmers with 2 tons of fish to renew their stocks.

We were rushing to put the factory into operation as the sugarcane harvest was at its peak and our stocks were extremely low. [Thats why] our company has not installed a wastewater treatment system, explained Nguyen Manh Hung, deputy chief executive of the company.

The lower section of the Buoi River, several kilometers away from the sugar factory, has turned a muddy blue and started to smell. Photo by Le Hoang

Environmental authorities said the factory will be closed for six months until a treatment system is installed.

Although test results have as yet been revealed, local authorities said the sugar firm had illegally discharged untreated wastewater into the Buoi River.

The company also admitted to discharging about 300 cubic meters of untreated wastewater per day into the river in late April and early May. However, Chief Executive Nguyen Khac Chuyen said he doubted that his company was the sole offender responsible for polluting the river and affecting the livelihoods of local people. He asked authorities in Thanh Hoa and Hoa Binh provinces to conduct a thorough investigation to expose other possible culprits.

Local residents discovered dead fish floating in the river on May 4, and said the water had turned a muddy blue color and started to smell.

Since then more than 17 tons of fish belonging to 34 farmers in Thach Thanh district in Thanh Hoa have died, statistics from the district's Peoples Committee show.
Popular Vietnamese comedian Hong Quang Minh, who was arrested in California on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young boy, has hired a new lawyer to be his legal representative at his second court hearing that is taking place today.

The new lawyer is Japanese- American Mia Yamamoto will replace two Vietnamese lawyers who attended the first hearing last month.

Minh Beo, his stage name, decided to turn to new lawyer yesterday after a friend convinced him to do so.

Minh told his brother that the friend promised to pay all the fees for the lawyer, Minh's uncle Thien Thanh said.

The new lawyer is a trans-woman, with over 30 years of legal experience. In 2002, she was voted among the 100 most influential lawyers in California.

Mia Yamamoto. Photo by asianamericapodcast

Thien Thanh, his uncle told VnExpress that Minhs former lawyer, Do Phu said that evidence of Minhs crime was unclear. All the messages between Minh and an undercover police officer who pretended to be a child were written in Vietnamese without accents, so were easily misunderstood.

Minh was reportedly holding auditions for a project he was working on in California, and is accused of forcing a boy to perform oral sex on March 23 when the victim arrived for the audition. The boy reported the incident to police and an investigation was launched, the Orange County Register reported, citing prosecutors.

The next day, an undercover officer posing as a minor contacted Minh, prosecutors said. Minh is accused of attempting to set up a meeting with the officer with the intent of committing a sexual assault.

Police arrested Minh on March 24, and he was charged with one count each of oral copulation of a minor, attempting to commit a lewd act upon a child under the age of 14, and meeting with a minor with the intent to engage in lewd conduct.

Minh performs in a show

At present, Vietnam and the US havent signed mutual legal assistance agreements, so violators are punished in accordance with laws of the country where they commit the crime.

If convicted of the charges he faces a maximum prison sentence of five years and eight months, and a lifetime sex offender registration, the Orange County District Attorneys Office said in a statement to local media.
Senator Elisha Abbo (Adamawa North District) has finally tendered his apology to the lady he assaulted at a sex toy shop in Abuja, after the video went viral on Tuesday.

Abbo who is the youngest senator in the 9th National Assembly was caught on Close Circuit Television (CCTV) installed in the shop assaulting the lady.

The video showed the senator exchanging altercation with the shop attendant and when he tried to seize her phone another lady standing close to him in the store intervened in an attempt to dissuade him from seizing the said phone.

The interference provoked the senator who then started hitting her in the face repeatedly that led to many Nigerians calling for his arrest.

The lawmaker while addressing a press conference on Wednesday in Abuja said he regretted his actions and apologised to his victim (Barbra) and her family as well as all Nigerians.

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Among the most troubling imbalances in today's global economy is the massive German external current account surplus. Yet stuck within the Euro, Germany is unable to allow its currency to appreciate without at the same time making the currency it shares with those hapless economies like Spain and Italy appreciate as well. To square this circle, Germany would be doing both Europe and the global economy a great service if it were to now exit the Euro.

That Germany is running a disturbingly large external imbalance is hardly open to question. According to the most recent official balance of payments data, Germanys external current account surplus rose to the highest level on record in March 2016. It is now on track to remain above 8 percent of GDP for the year as a whole. Making this surplus all the more troubling is the fact that it is occurring at a time that the German economy is cyclically in a very much stronger position than that of its European partners.

It is little wonder then that the International Monetary Fund considers that the German current account surplus is around 5 percentage points of GDP too high and that the German real exchange rate is considerably undervalued. Back in July 2015, the IMF estimated that the German real exchange rate was undervalued by between 5 and 15 percent. However, since then the Euro has depreciated by around 10 percent, which would make the German currency undervalued by between 15 and 25 percent according to the IMFs methodology.

It is also little wonder that the US Treasury has now classified Germany as a country that might be gaining an unfair competitive advantage with respect to the United States by currency manipulation. It has done so in its latest currency report to Congress in which it placed China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan on a new currency watch list. It warned that all five countries faced extra scrutiny and potential retaliation by Washington as a result of concerns over growing imbalances in their trade relationship with the US.

The normal way to address large external imbalances while maintaining internal balance is by a combination of exchange rate adjustment and a change in domestic demand policies. In the case of Germany, this would involve an exchange rate appreciation of around 20 percent coupled with a move to a very much more expansionary fiscal policy. The change in fiscal policy would be aimed at offsetting the hit to the German economy from a stronger currency that would crimp German export growth.

The major obstacle to such a course of action is that Germany is stuck in the Euro. This necessarily means that Germany cannot get an exchange rate appreciation without forcing an equivalent exchange rate appreciation on the other 17 countries that also have the Euro as their currency. Such an appreciation would of course be the last thing that already ailing economies such as Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Spain now need. It would deal a real body blow to these economies, which are yet to regain their pre-2008 output levels.

Making matters worse, these countries are burdened with very high public debt levels and with still sizeable budget deficits. Those weak public finances do not leave them any room to use fiscal policy to offset the adverse effect to their economies that might be expected from a more appreciated exchange rate.

The most elegant way to cut this Gordian knot would be for Germany to exit the Euro. That would allow the new German currency to appreciate significantly against a Euro that would now exclude Germany. By so doing, it would also allow for the much needed external rebalancing within its own economy and the rest of the European economy, which could highly benefit from a very much weaker currency.

If the European economy is not to lose yet another decade, and if the countries in its Southern periphery are ever to dig themselves out from under their debt burdens, Europe needs to shake itself free from the currency shackle that has condemned it to poor economic performances and to an unraveling of its politics. This makes it all the more urgent that Germany exercise real leadership in Europe by now exiting the Euro.

Desmond Lachman is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He was formerly a Deputy Director in the International Monetary Funds Policy Development and Review Department and the chief emerging market economic strategist at Salomon Smith Barney.

Interested in real economic insights? Want to stay ahead of the competition? Each weekday morning, E21 delivers a short email that includes E21 exclusive commentaries and the latest market news and updates from Washington. Sign up for the E21 Morning eBrief.
The United States and Russia, as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, have renewed their commitment to the implementation of cessation of hostilities in Syria.

Intensive efforts to end the fighting are underway in several hot spots, including Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta, and Latakia.

The joint U.S.-Russia statement demands that parties cease indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including civilian infrastructures and medical facilities.

Russia has committed to working with the Syrian authorities to minimize aviation operations over areas that are predominantly inhabited by civilians or parties to the cessation.

As co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, the United States and Russia are urging all states to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2253 and prevent any material or financial support to Daesh or al-Nusrah Front or any other designated terrorist organization.

Another area of grave concern is the delivery of much needed humanitarian assistance to civilians inside Syria. Since January 2016, the U.N., with help from the International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent, has taken significant steps to deliver aid to 255,250 people in besieged areas and 472,975 people in hard-to-reach areas.

However, many Syrians with urgent needs have yet to be reached. Life-saving assistance, including certain medical supplies and personnel to ensure their proper use, have been denied to populations in need.

The co-chairs reaffirmed that all parties must allow immediate and sustained humanitarian access to reach all people in need, throughout Syria, particularly in all besieged and hard-to-reach areas, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Humanitarian access, including by medical personnel, to the most urgent areas must be a first step toward full, sustained, and unimpeded access throughout the country.

The United States and Russia are committed to finding a political resolution to the Syrian conflict. It is critical that all parties to the conflict and other members of the international community promote and support a political settlement in Syria. In this regard, the United States and Russia strongly support efforts to end violence and bloodshed, counter the threat of terrorism, and ensure the implementation of international humanitarian law.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

The Conservative Party of Canada on Thursday introduced the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials (Sergei Magnitsky Law) bill in House of Commons and the Senate to sanction human rights crimes and corrupt practices.

In a statement, Law and Order in Russia said that the Magnitsky bill was introduced by James Bezan in the House of Commons and Senator Raynell Andreychuk.

"The purpose of the Magnitsky Law is to sanction those who are committing serious human rights crimes within their countries, or the corrupt individuals who are stealing the assets of people," said Bezan.

Former justice minister Irwin Cotler, one of the strongest advocates of Magnitsky legislation in Canada, last year urged Canadian lawmakers to adopt the law. He commented, "It is timefor us to treat Russian domestic human-rights violations as seriously as we do violations of political independence and territorial integrity Countries that value human rights and the rule of law must use the measures at our disposal to hold violators to account and discourage future violations."

The Canadian Magnitsky Law (C-267) and (S-226) provides for visa sanctions and asset freezes against foreign nationals responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

Speaking about the effect of the Canadian Magnitsky Law, Bezan, added, "This would provide the tools and......................

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U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain Captain Christopher John Antal resigned from the U.S. Army Reserves on April 12 in opposition to U.S policies regarding militarized drones, nuclear weapons and preventive war. Antal stated he could not serve as a chaplain for an "empire" and could not "reconcile his duty to protect and defend America and its constitutional democracy and his commitment to the core principles of his religious faith including justice, equity and compassion and the inherent worth and dignity of every person" with policies of the United States.

His letter of resignation stated that he resigned because he could not support "unaccountable killing" through the U.S. armed drone policy and the Executive Branch claiming "the right to kill anyone, anywhere on earth, at any time, based on secret evidence, in a secret process, undertaken by unidentified officials."

Antal also cites his opposition to the U.S. nuclear weapons policy calling it a policy of "terror and mutually assured destruction that threatens the existence of humanity and the earth."

In his letter of resignation, Antal refuses to support the U.S. policy of "preventive war, permanent military supremacy and global power projection" in what he calls "imperial overreach through extra-constitutional authority and impunity from international law."

From September 2012 through February 2013 Chris Antal was an Army chaplain to a signals battalion supporting the 3rd Infantry Division at Kandahar Airbase in southern Afghanistan. While his unit did not have operational responsibilities for drones, Chaplain Antal saw drones launch and land where he gave services for military personnel killed in Afghanistan and whose remains were being transported back to the United States.

Additionally, he was concerned about the use of drones after hearing about a drone attack in which a grandmother had been killed while picking okra in a field near her home in the region around the military base.

On Veterans' Day 2012, identifying himself as an Army chaplain in Afghanistan, he posted " A Veterans' Day Confession for America " on the Unitarian Universalist site, A Quest for Meaning, in the form of a poetic testimony.

Antal wrote, "We have sanitized killing and condoned extrajudicial assassinations " war made easy without due process, protecting ourselves from the human cost of war./We have deceived ourselves"denying the colossal misery our wars inflict on the innocent."



Rev. John Antal, who resigned as an Army chaplain in protest of drone warfare, nuclear weapons and other aspects of America's perpetual wars.

(Image by Unitarian Universal) Details DMCA



He had delivered this sermon during a worship service of military personnel and contractors who had freely gathered for a service in the Unitarian Universalist tradition at Kandahar Air Base.

Antal's commanding officer was informed about his article, told him "you make us look like the bad guys" and "the message does not support the mission." The commander said he had lost confidence in Antal and had him investigated, grounded from travel and officially reprimanded by a letter from a general officer at Division level.

Antal was sent back to the U.S. with a "do not promote" evaluation and discharged from active duty. Antal challenged the punishment through New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and her congressional inquiry resulted in his re-activation and promotion to Captain in the U.S. Army Reserve.

The Rev. Antal spoke on March 30 at the Veterans for Peace symposium "Inside Drone Warfare: Perspectives of Whistleblowers, Families of Drone Victims and Their Lawyers," held at the University of Nevada Las Vegas Law School with military and CIA drone whistleblowers. The symposium was held during the week of vigils called "Shut Down Creech 2016" at Creech Drone base, 60 miles outside of Las Vegas.
An unemployed Romanian taxi driver hacked into the email account of former Bill Clinton aide, Sid Blumenthal, according to several news reports back in March 2013. In spite of the fact that the hacker, "Guccifer," distributed copies of email correspondence between Blumenthal and Hillary Clinton during her tenure as Secretary of State, and which appeared to include sensitive information about Benghazi, this did not seem to cause much interest at the time.

Guccifer more recently released some previously unpublished doodles by former President Clinton which also indicated that he had breached the account.

Hillary and some of her staff insist that everything was above board. But others believe that her unsecured server may have allowed a major breach in US security. It is suspected by some that other countries such as Germany, China and Russia may have more of Hillary's missing emails than the US does.

No one seems to be sure how much more the hacker might have collected or disbursed, or if other hackers may have gotten into the server. However, on Monday Judge Andrew Napolitano told Megyn Kelly that the Kremlin says it is considering releasing "the 20,000 of Mrs. Clinton's emails that they have hacked into."

It's a tangled web, with so many details coming in at different times, that it is hard to keep up with it, and difficult to understand how new information may fit in with what is already known.

Enter a voice of clarification: The Clinton Email Scandal Timeline by Paul Thompson.

Thompson is author of The Terror Timeline, (Harper Collins, 2004) about Islamic terrorism during the Bush Administration.

His Clinton Email Scandal Timeline is a neutral, nonpartisan summary of facts which are simply lined up in chronological order. He offers a choice of short, medium and long versions designed to fit the reader's personal timeline!

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DESPITE HAVING LIVED in Israel for 22 years with no criminal record of any kind, Omar Barghouti (above) was this week denied the right to travel outside the country. As one of the pioneers of the increasingly powerful movement to impose boycotts, sanctions and divestment measures (BDS) on Israel, Barghouti, an articulate, English-speaking activist, has frequently traveled around the world advocating his position. The Israeli government's refusal to allow him to travel is obviously intended to suppress his speech and activism. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was one of the world leaders who traveled last year to Paris to participate in that city's "free speech rally."

As the husband of a Palestinian citizen of Israel, Barghouti holds a visa of permanent residency in the country, but nonetheless needs official permission to travel outside of Israel, a travel document which -- until last week -- had been renewed every two years. Haaretz this week reported that beyond the travel ban, Barghouti's "residency rights in Israel are currently being reconsidered."

The travel denial came after months of disturbing public threats directed at him by an Israeli government that has grown both more extreme and more fearful of BDS's growing international popularity. In March, Israel's Interior Minister Aryeh Deri threatened to revoke Barghouti's residency rights, explicitly admitting that this was in retaliation for his speech and advocacy: "he is using his resident status to travel all over the world in order to operate against Israel in the most serious manner. ... he took advantage of our enlightened state to portray us as the most horrible state in the world."

Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch told The Electronic Intifada that "Israel's refusal to renew Barghouti's travel document appears to be an effort to punish him for exercising his right to engage in peaceful, political activism, using its arsenal of bureaucratic control over Palestinian lives." She added: "Israel has used this sort of control to arbitrarily ban many Palestinians from traveling, as well as to ban international human rights monitors, journalists and activists from entering Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories."

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Insurance Industry in Gambia, Key Trends, Growth, Size, Share and Opportunities to 2018

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "The Insurance Industry in Gambia, Key Trends and Opportunities to 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.SynopsisThe report provides in-depth industry analysis, information and insights into the insurance industry in Gambia, including:The Gambian insurance industrys growth prospects by insurance segment and categoryThe competitive landscape in the Gambian insurance industryThe current trends and drivers in the Gambian insurance industryChallenges facing the Gambian insurance industryThe detailed regulatory framework of the Gambian insurance industryTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Executive summaryGambia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a world ranking of 168 out of 187 according to the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Report 2013. High poverty rates and lack of economic diversity make the country highly vulnerable to financial crises and food price volatility. However, stable economic development and the governments initiatives to improve the industrys awareness level supported its growth during the review period (20092013), which grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.8%.The Gambian insurance industry is small, but remains attractive and provides ample growth opportunities for global investors, as penetration remains low.Browse Detail Report With TOC @ScopeThis report provides a comprehensive analysis of the insurance industry in Gambia:It provides historical values for the Gambian insurance industry for the reports 20092013 review period, and projected figures for the 20132018 forecast period.It offers a detailed analysis of the key segments and categories in the Gambian insurance industry, along with forecasts until 2018.It covers an exhaustive list of parameters, including written premium, incurred loss, loss ratio, commissions and expenses, combined ratio, total assets, total investment income and retentions.It profiles the top insurance companies in Gambia, and outlines the key regulations affecting them.Reasons to buyMake strategic business decisions using in-depth historic and forecast industry data related to the Gambian insurance industry and each segment within it.Understand the demand-side dynamics, key trends and growth opportunities in the Gambian insurance industry.Assess the competitive dynamics in the Gambian insurance industry.Identify the growth opportunities and market dynamics in key segments.Gain insights into key regulations governing the Gambian insurance industry, and their impact on companies and the industry's future.Key highlightsThe Gambian insurance industry is dominated by the non-life segment, which accounted for the largest share of the gross written premium in 2013, with 61.6%The life insurance segments contribution to GDP stood at just 0.15%, while the non-life segments was 0.37% and the personal accident and health insurance segments was 0.08%The Gambian insurance industry recorded a low combined ratio for the life, non-life and personal accident and health segments during the review periodThe Gambian insurance industry is small but competitive, with the presence of both domestic and foreign businessesThere were 13 insurance companies and nine brokerage firms operating within the industry as of 2013The Gambian insurance industry is regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of the Gambia (CBG)For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Tyre Market Analysis, Trend, Size, Growth and Forecasts in Nearly 70 Countries 2019

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Tyre Market to 2019 - Market Size, Growth, and Forecasts in Nearly 70 Countries" to its huge collection of research reports.This comprehensive publication enables readers the critical perspectives to be able to evaluate the world market for tyres. The publication provides the market size, growth and forecasts at the global level as well as for the following countries:Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, VietnamTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The market data covers the years 2008-2019. The major questions answered in this comprehensive publication include:What is the global market size for tyres?What is the tyre market size in different countries around the world?Are the markets growing or decreasing?How are the markets divided into different kinds of products?How are different product groups developing?How are the markets forecast to develop in the future?Which are the most potential countries and markets?Browse Detail Report With TOC @The market information includes the total market size for tyres as well as the market size and trends for the following kinds of products:New pneumatic tyres for buses and lorriesNew pneumatic tyres for carsNew pneumatic tyres for aircraftNew pneumatic tyres for motorcyclesNew pneumatic tyres for bicyclesOther new pneumatic tyresRetreaded tyresCamelback strips for retreading tyresSolid and cushioned tyresInner tubes for motor vehiclesInner tubes for bicyclesOther inner tubesThe publication is designed for companies who want to gain a comprehensive perspective on the global tyre market. This publication makes it easy to compare across different countries and product groups to be able to find new market opportunities and make more profitable business decisions.For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Asia Pacific Coating Resins Market to Exhibit CAGR of 7.0% between 2015 and 2023; Vietnam Offers Huge Growth Opportunities

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Transparency Market Research has recently published a new research report that studies the Asia Pacific coating resins market in detail. The research report examines the trends and dynamics governing the overall market along with analyzing the historical data pertaining to the market. According to the report, the Asia Pacific coating resins market stood at US$15.24 bn in 2014 and is likely to reach US$27.87 bn by 2023, rising at a steady CAGR of 7.0% between 2015 and 2023.The research report, titled Coating Resins Market - Asia Pacific Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023, explains coatings resins to be primary polymer compounds. These polymers are used for making various types of coatings. Today, coating resins are seen in several industrial verticals such as building and construction, marine, automotive, furniture, and electronics. Building & construction was the largest end-user segment of the coating resins market in Asia Pacific in 2014.The rise of the coating resin market in Asia Pacific will be a result of the burgeoning construction industry in the region. The rising number of construction contracts and sites in countries such as Vietnam, India, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia are likely to augment the overall market. The flourishing automotive industry in the Asia Pacific region will also be responsible for the growth of the coating resins market in the region between 2015 and 2023. The electronics and marine industries will contribute to this ongoing dynamic.Browse the full Coating Resins Market Report At :The strong market drivers will be tugged in the opposite direction by the strict government regulations pertaining to suspended particulate emissions and VOCs. This problem will be further compounded by the volatility of raw material prices. However, Vietnam is poised to offer a range of new opportunities to this market in the coming years.The Asia Pacific coating resins market is segmented on the basis of product, technology, end users, and countries. The key products available in this market are acrylics, epoxies, alkyds, urethanes, unsaturated polyesters, and others such as amino coating resins. The technologies being used in the Asia Pacific coating resins market are waterborne, solventborne, powder, high solids/radiation cures, and others such as hybrid technology. The end users of coating resins are the building and construction, automotive, marine, electronics, furniture, and other indsutries such as aerospace sectors. The countries assessed in this market are India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Rest of Asia Pacific.In terms of countries, China held a significant share in the Asia Pacific, accounting for nearly 50% of the total market in 2014. This growth was a result of the developing building and construction and automotive industries. The second-largest share in the Asia Pacific coating resins market was held by India in 2014. This demand was driven by increasing infrastructure activities in the country. In the coming years, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Thailand are anticipated with witness a steady growth rate in the market all through 2023 due to increasing activities in the automotive, building and construction, and marine industries.Some of the important players in the Asia Pacific coating resins market are Allnex Belgium SA/NV, Nuplex Industries Ltd., DIC Corporation, Royal DSM N.V., Evonik Industries, Arkema S.A., Eternal Resin Co. Ltd., and BASF SE. The research report profiles these players to offer readers a comprehensive understanding of the competitive landscape of the Asia Pacific coating resins market. Furthermore, the research report also provides a thorough explanation of the number of employees, an overview of the brands in under these companies, business overview, recent/key developments, acquisitions, business strategies, and financial overview of these top players for the coming few years.Get Free PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical insights :Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700New York
Bio-Implants Market Growth with Worldwide Industry Analysis to 2025

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Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Bio-Implants Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.An implant is a medical device which replaces, supports or enhances a missing, damaged or existing biological structure. An implant is man-made device which is inserted into the human body cavity. Bio-implants are made from biological cells which are compatible with the human body cells. For instance, bio-implants are used in the treatment of skin burns or sores caused by surgeries. Eye bio-implants are used in the treatment of cornea sores or chemical damages in the eye.Bio-implants Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe advantage of bio-implants over the conventional forms of implants is that bio-implants is a fast method of treatment with negligible complications. The bio-implant owing to its nature builds into the human body organ naturally. The bio-implants are similar in morphology to the original human body tissue. Bio-implants do not necessarily need incisions but bio-implants are pressed through the human body organ. Bio-implants provide lifetime guarantee and heal the human body organ rapidly. However, high treatment costs and reimbursement issues are the factors that could hamper the growth of the global bio-implants market. The bio-implant approvals are regulated by a large number of laws which could act as a hurdle in the global bio-implants market due to this time consuming approval process.Bio-implants Market: SegmentationThe global bio-implants market is classified on the basis of type of implant, therapeutic area and geography.Based on type of implant, the global bio-implants market is segmented into the following:AllograftAutograftXenograftRequest Free Report Sample@Based on therapeutic area, the global bio-implants market is segmented into the following:OrthopedicsDentalOphthalmicOthersBio-implants Market: OverviewThe global bio-implants market is forecast to witness significant growth rates due to the rapidly improving healthcare infrastructure in developed as well as developing regions. The increasing prevalence of chronic health disorders especially in the aging population coupled with rising disposable incomes is expected to propel the growth of the global bio-implants market. The geriatric population is expected to double in 2030 as compared to 2010. This is a major factor that is expected to determine the growth of dental bio-implants and orthopedic bio-implants. The dental therapeutic area subsegment is estimated to account for a significant share in the global bio-implants market. By therapeutic area, orthopedics is the key growth subsegment in the global bio-implants market which is projected to register a high CAGR among other subsegments during the forecast period.Bio-implants Market: Region-wise OutlookDepending on geographic regions, global bio-implants market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is the largest market for bio-implants in terms of revenue due to the large number of players in bio-implants and strong healthcare infrastructure. Europe is the second largest bio-implant market owing to the technological advancements in healthcare and considerably high geriatric population in the region. North America and Europe together account for a major share in the global bio-implants market. The MEA region has witnessed mass productions of bio-implants in diverse therapeutic areas which makes the MEA a potential bio-implant market. Also, the bio-implants in MEA bio-implant market are cheaper as compared to the global prices and are able to meet domestic demand.Visit For TOC@Bio-implants Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players identified in global bio-implants market are LifeNet Health, Arthrex, Inc., Clinic Lemanic, Nobel Biocare Services AG, Osprey Biomedical Corporation, Alpha Bio Tec, MiMedx Group, Inc to name a few. The global bio-implants market players are involved in collaborations, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions in order to enhance product development process and expand the global bio-implant footprint.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Facial Rejuvenation Market Rising due to Increasing Disposable Income of Consumers

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Facial rejuvenation is a term given to a group of procedures that help restore the youthfulness of the face. This can be achieved by either surgical or nonsurgical methods, or a combination of the two, depending on the particular case. Facial rejuvenation procedures are mainly cosmetic, and dont affect the bodys internal functioning. The market for facial rejuvenation procedures has been expanding at a steady growth rate in recent years due to the growing desire of elderly and middle-aged people to restore a youthful look, and the increasing purchasing power of these demographics, which allows them to avail the latest facial rejuvenation market.Interested in report: Please follow the below links to meet your requirements; Request for the Report Sample:According to Persistence Market Research, the global facial rejuvenation market was worth a massive US$18 bn in 2014 and is expected to further expand to US$26.5 bn by 2021 at a steady CAGR of 4.90% therein.Facial Rejuvenation Market Growing due to Increasing Disposable IncomesDeveloped countries such as the U.S. and countries in Western Europe are home to a significant population of consumers wishing to eradicate any signs of aging from their face and preserve a youthful look. Due to rapid urbanization and increasing Westernization of developing countries, several people in emerging countries have started to follow Western fashion, which has led to cosmopolitan demand for facial rejuvenation procedures.As the economic condition of emerging countries has steadily improved, the disposable income in the hands of citizens has also increased drastically in recent years. This has led to an increase in the amount spent on luxuries such as facial rejuvenation. The increasing sophistication of facial rejuvenation procedures, which has led to the development of pain-free and efficient procedures, has also led to a rise in the demand for facial rejuvenation.On the other hand, a lack of trained professionals, especially in relatively remote and emerging areas, is a major restraint acting on the global facial rejuvenation market. Medical evidence for the efficacy of most facial rejuvenation procedures is also lacking, which has emerged as another key restraint for key players in the facial rejuvenation market to overcome.Request TOC (table of content), Figures and Tables of the Report:North America Leads Global Facial Rejuvenation MarketRegionally, the global facial rejuvenation market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America led the global market in 2014 with a share of close to 33%, due to the prosperity of and high awareness regarding facial rejuvenation among customers in countries such as the U.S. and Canada. In the forecast period, the Asia Pacific and Latin America markets for facial rejuvenation are expected to exhibit the highest growth rates.Among the various types of facial rejuvenation products available in the global market, botulinum products are the most popular. Botox is a well-known facial rejuvenator used by several consumers and its effectiveness in tightening the skin and eradicating wrinkles, in spite of its several health risks, is responsible for the high share of this segment. Other key facial rejuvenation products on the market are chemical peels, dermal fillers, laser surfacing treatment, and microabrasion equipment. The botulinum products segment is expected to account for around 37% of the global facial rejuvenation market by 2021.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a full-service market intelligence firm specializing in syndicated research, custom research, and consulting services. PMR boasts market research expertise across the Healthcare, Chemicals and Materials, Technology and Media, Energy and Mining, Food and Beverages, Semiconductor and Electronics, Consumer Goods, and Shipping and Transportation industries. The company draws from its multi-disciplinary capabilities and high-pedigree team of analysts to share data that precisely corresponds to clients business needs.PMR stands committed to bringing more accuracy and speed to clients business decisions. From ready-to-purchase market research reports to customized research solutions, PMRs engagement models are highly flexible without compromising on its deep-seated research values.ContactPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United StatesUSA - Canada Toll Free: +1 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
DNA Testing Market : Global Industry Size, Share, Outlook And Forecasts 2015-2022|Brisk Insights

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http://www.pdfdevices.com/global-dna-testing-market-is-expected-to-grow-at-the-cagr-of-9-9-during-2015-2022-brisk-insights/

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According to a recently published report, the DNA Testing Market is expected to grow at the CAGR of 9.9% during 2015-2022. The segmentation of GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET is based on product type, technology, application, end userand geography. The report on GLOBAL DNA TESTINGMARKETForecast, 2015-2022 (byproduct type, technology, application, end userand geography) provides detailed overview and predictive analysis of the market.Browse Here For Full Report With ToC :Growing infectious and chronic diseases is the key driver to DNA testing market. The patient population is increasing rapidly due to growing infection caused by fungi, bacteria viruses;the need to detect the disease earlier DNA testing is being used. Increasing point of care center is another factor influencing the market largely. Point of care centers provides diagnosis and testing convenient to the patient residence and facilitates immediate results.Scope of the report1. GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET by product type, 2012  2022 ($ billion)1.1. Instruments1.2. Reagents1.3. Software & Services2. GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET by technology, 2012  2022 ($ billion)2.1. PCR2.2. Microarrays2.3. In situ hybridization2.4. Sequencing Technology2.5. Mass Spectrometry3. GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET by Application, 2012  2022 ($ billion)3.1. Oncology3.1.1. Prostate Cancer3.1.2. Breast Cancer3.1.3. Colorectal Cancer3.2. Infectious disease testing3.2.1. Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)3.2.2. Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)3.2.3. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)3.2.4. Tuberculosis (TB)3.2.5. Chlamydia Trachomatis and Neisseria Gonorrhoeae (CT/NG3.2.6. Human Papillomavirus (HPV)3.2.7. Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA)3.3 Myogenic disorder diagnosis3.4 Clinical diagnosis confirmation3.5 Prenatal diagnosis3.6 Pre-implantation diagnosisRequest For Sample :4. GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET by end user, 2012  2022 ($ billion)4.1. Point of Care4.2. Central Laboratories/Diagnostic Centers4.3. Self Testing/OTC5. GLOBAL DNA TESTING MARKET by, regional outlook, 2012-2022(in $billion)5.1. North America5.2. Europe5.3. Asia Pacific5.4. RowOur Blog :Contact Us :Jennifer SmithOffice 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottinghamNG1 6DQUnited KingdomPhone : +448081890034 (UK)Email : sales@briskinsights.comWebsite :About Us :Brisk Insights is a global market research firm. Our insightful analysis is focused on developed and emerging markets. We identify trends and forecast markets with a view to aid businesses identify market opportunities optimize strategies.Working in a highly dynamic and multi-dimensional business makes decision making complex. Effective business decisions are a result of the synthesis of market information. Our Research and data analysis is an efficient and cost-effective way of providing robust market analysis and can yield highly valuable intelligence relating to consumers, competitors and markets.Office 1094109 Vernon HouseFriar LaneNottingham
New report shares details about the Global Medical Swab Market 2016 Outlook, Growth and Analysis to 2020

http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/medical-swab-market-2016-global-industry-size-trends.html

http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/report/65245/request-sample

Global Medical Swab Industry is an in-depth report that offers a unique mix of specialist industry knowledge and the region-wise research expertise. The report delivers the market Outlook, Strategy, size, Growth, Share, Analysis and the trends for each sector.The Medical Swab market research report distils the most essential aspects of the market and presents them in the form of a comprehensive and cohesive document. The findings of this report have been obtained via a balanced mix of both primary and secondary research. Interviews of C-level executives in the Medical Swab market form a chunk of the qualitative analysis contained in this report.Read Complete Report with TOC @To begin with, the report defines the Medical Swab market and segments it based on the most important dynamics, such as applications, geographical/regional markets, and competitive scenario. Macroeconomic and microeconomic factors environments that currently prevail and also those that are projected to emerge are covered in this report.With a view to deepen the scope of the analysis, the report also tracks milestone developments and regulations that have shaped the Medical Swab market thus far. To help readers effectively plan their future strategies, the report provides a set of expert recommendations. The analysts working on the report have successfully identified expected policy changes, industry news and developments, and trends and opportunities  this information can be harnessed by companies to strengthen their market presence.Download sample report @Other important aspects that have been meticulously studied in the Medical Swab market report are: Demand and supply dynamics, import and export scenario, industry processes and cost structures, and major R&D initiatives.Based on all of this information, the report provides recommendations and strategies to the following market participants: New players, investors, marketing departments, regulatory authorities and suppliers/manufacturers. The Medical Swab market research study has been composed using key inputs from industry experts. Furthermore, the extensive primary and secondary research data with which the report has been composed helps deliver the key statistical forecasts, in terms of both revenue and volume. In addition to this, the trends and revenue analysis of the global Medical Swab market has been mentioned in this report. This will give a clear perspective to the readers how the Medical Swab market will fare worldwide.Chem Gadgets is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651
Research report covers the Triallyl Isocyanurate Market Growth, 2016-2026

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1459

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1459

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/triallyl-isocyanurate-market

Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Triallyl Isocyanurate Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016-2026" report to their offering.Triallyl isocyanurate is used as a cross linking in the manufacture of agrochemicals, flame retardants and synthetic rubbers. It is synthesized by gradually adding cyanuric chloride to excess of alcohol or allyl chloride in the presence concentrated aqueous phase. For various applications, triallyl isocyanurate can be blended to change its chemical and physical properties. For instance, brominated form triallyl isocyanurate is used in the manufacture of flame retardants based on olefin and styrene resins. Using triallyl isocyanurate in the end products provides it with resistance to heat and weather. It improves the products heat stability and dispersibility. It is also used as a polymerization of divinylbenzne and methacrylate which finds application in artificial kiadneys as an adsorbent of urea. Triallyl isocyanurate can be also used in the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to create chiral stationary phase that is used in resolution of amino acids. It is also used in the formulation of water treatment chemicals. End use industries of triallyl isocyanurate include agrochemicals, synthetic rubber and flame retardant.Request Free Report Sample@Triallyl Isocyanurate Market: Drivers and ChallengesGrowing agriculture sector globally is expected to drive the triallyl isocyanurate market. Growing food demand is expected to drive the agriculture sector. The need to fulfill the food demand has led to implement ways to avoid the food spoilage and wastage. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) has incorporated agrochemicals such as fungicides as the major component to avoid the food spoilage and wastage. Furthermore, rising demand from automotive industry is expected to drive the triallyl isocyanurate market. Triallyl isocyanurate is used in the manufacture of tires and various other small components such as gaskets, soles and others. The cost of synthetic rubber is low as compared to the natural rubbers and also provides high efficiency, ease of processing and advantageous properties. Automotive industry is driven by changing lifestyle and rising disposable income in developing countries of Asia Pacific. Additionally, growth in footwear industry across the globe is anticipated to boost the market. Synthetic rubbers manufactured using triallyl isocyanurate are used in the manufacture of soles and used as an elastomer in the raw materials of footwear.However, acute toxicity of the triallyl isocyanurate to human is expected to hamper the market growth. It is being regulated with the Code of Federal regulations set by the Food and Drug Administration as triallyl isocyanurate is used as a cross linking agent for plastic that are used in the food packaging.Request For TOC@Triallyl Isocyanurate Market: SegmentationTriallyl isocyanurate market is segmented on the basis of application and region. Based on application, the market can be segmented into rubber, plastics and others. By region, the triallyl isocyanurate market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Japan.Triallyl Isocyanurate Market: Regional OutlookAsia Pacific emerged as the largest market for triallyl isocyanurate in terms of consumption and production. Rising demand for synthetic rubbers from automotive industry and footwear industry is expected to drive the triallyl isocyanurate market in the region. Furthermore, growing agriculture industry is contributing significantly to the demand of triallyl isocyanurate. North America followed the Asia Pacific in terms of consumption. Automotive industry and agriculture are the major end-use industries of triallyl isocyanurate in the region. The demand for triallyl isocyanurate in North America is expected to grow at a moderate pace in the next few years. Europe is expected to show sluggish growth in the next few years as triallyl isocyanurate is acutely toxic to human and health regulations in the region are very stringent.Browse Full Report@Triallyl Isocyanurate Market: Key PlayersGlobal triallyl isocyanurate market is characterized by high level of consolidation. The market have experience significant level of mergers and acquisitions in the last few years. Major players have maintained presence across value chain by integrating forward and backward. Key players in triallyl isocyanurate market include ECEM European Chemical Marketing bv, Evonik Industries AG, Liuyang Leader Materials&Technology Co., Ltd., Hunan Yixiang Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. and Beijing Credit New Material Co., Ltd.Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018Valley Cottage, NY
New report shares details about the Global N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide Market 2016 Outlook, Growth and Analysis to 2020

http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/market-analysis/nn-dimethyl-acetamide-market-2016-global-industry-size.html

http://www.9dresearchgroup.com/report/65255/inquiry-for-buying

Global N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide Industry is an in-depth report that offers a unique mix of specialist industry knowledge and the region-wise research expertise. The report delivers the market Outlook, Strategy, size, Growth, Share, Analysis and the trends for each sector.The report provides an executive-level blueprint of the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market beginning with the definition of the market dynamics. The analysis classifies the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market in terms of products, application, and key geographic regions. With focus on presenting a detailed value chain analysis, the study evaluates the set of region-specific approaches forged by the industry. To determine the market potential for N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide in the international scenario, the study delves into the competitive landscape and development landscape exhibited by the key geographic regions.Get full report with TOC @Development plans and policies significantly impact the market dynamic. The report therefore studies in detail the impact of the strategies, plans, and policies adopted by leading vendors of the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market. Manufacturing cost of products and the pricing structure adopted by the market is also evaluated in the report. Other parameters crucial in determining trends in the market such as consumption demand and supply figures, cost of production, gross profit margins, and selling price of product and services is also included within the ambit of the report.To provide a detailed analysis on the competitive landscape, the report profiles the key players in the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide industry. Information present in these chapters includes details of products manufactured by the leading companies, product specification and price, and production capacity. Using reliable analytical tools, the report evaluates the information sourced from both primary and secondary research. Results obtained through the detailed analysis helps in presenting refined forecasts regarding growth prospects of the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market. Apart from this, the analysts have also conducted upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis to compile and present an exhaustive study on the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market.Inquiry for buying report @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the N.N-Dimethyl Acetamide market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.Chem Gadgets is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651
UK Petrochemicals Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Price Trends and Capacity Forecasts Outlook to 2016

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http://www.researchmoz.us/the-uk-petrochemicals-industry-outlook-to-2016-market-size-company-share-price-trends-and-capacity-forecasts-report.html

http://www.researchmoz.us/latest-report.html

Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "The UK Petrochemicals Industry Outlook to 2016 - Market Size, Company Share, Price Trends and Capacity Forecasts" to its huge collection of research reports.GlobalDatas report, The UK Petrochemicals Industry Outlook to 2016 Market Size, Company Share, Price Trends and Capacity Forecasts provides an in-depth coverage of the UK petrochemicals industry. The report covers the UK petrochemical complex details and presents installed capacity by process and technology. In addition, it presents petrochemicals demand and production forecasts, end use market share, price trends, trade balance data and company shares of the major petrochemicals producers in the UK.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report classifies 23 petrochemical commodities into five different product families according to their chemical properties. It provides information about petrochemical complexes of each product family with details of operators, equity partners with their stakes, year of commissioning and production capacity. Overall, the report presents a comprehensive coverage of The UK petrochemicals industry including all the major parameters.The five product families mentioned in the report are Aromatics and Derivatives, Olefins and Derivatives, Vinyls and Styrene and Derivatives, and Methanol and Derivatives.ScopePetrochemicals industry supply scenario in the UK from 2000 to 2016 consisting of capacity growth, installed capacity by production process and technologyInformation of all active and planned petrochemical complexes with capacity forecasts up to 2016Detailed information such as operator and equity for all active and planned projects of five product families covering aromatics and derivatives (benzene, toluene, Purified Terephthalic acid (PTA) and phenol), olefins and derivatives (ethylene, propylene, butadiene, polyethylene, Ethylene Glycol (EG), Ethylene Oxide (EO), acrylonitrile, Styrene-Butadiene rubber (SBR) and polypropylene), vinyls (PVC, VCM and VAM), styrene and derivatives (styrene, polystyrene, EPS and ABS) and methanol and derivatives (Methanol and acetic acid)Market dynamics and trade balance data of petrochemical commodities from 2000 to 2016 consisting of market size, demand and production outlook, demand by end use sector, average prices and import and export dataCompany snapshots including company overview, business description, capacity shares of key petrochemicals producers in the UK and information on the current and upcoming petrochemical complexesBrowse Detail Report With TOC @Reasons to buyObtain the most up to date information available on the petrochemicals industry in the UKBenefit from GlobalDatas advanced insight on the petrochemicals industry in the UKIdentify the macro and micro-economic trends affecting the petrochemicals industry in the UKUnderstand the market positioning of petrochemicals producers in the UKDevelop market-entry and market expansion strategiesBenchmark your operations and strategies against the major companies in the UKFor Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
HVAC Equipment Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Research Report 2014 - 2022

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http://www.researchmoz.us/hvac-equipment-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2012-2018-report.html

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "HVAC Equipment Market (Equipment Type: Heating (Heat Pumps, Furnaces, Unitary Heaters, Boilers), Air Conditioning (Room Air Conditioners, Unitary Air Conditioners, Coolers and Others), Ventilation (Ventilation Fans/Air Pumps, Humidifier/Dehumidifiers); End-use Application: Residential, Commercial, Industrial) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2014 - 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment implement heating or cooling for residential, industrial or commercial buildings. The HVAC systems also provide fresh outdoor air to remove interior airborne contaminants such as volatile organic compounds and odors emitted from interior furnishings or various cleaning chemicals among others. The HVAC equipment are anticipated to penetrate into both residential and commercial market segments in the coming years. The industrial segment is another key segment that is expected to witness moderate growth over the forecast period. The demand for air conditioning equipment was the largest globally and thus, this segment dominated the HVAC equipment market in 2013.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Key factors driving the global HVAC equipment market include rising urbanization, increase in new households and average construction spending, and rise in disposable income. Another key driver of this market is the growing demand from commercial segment and high growth and demand for HVAC products in the Asia Pacific region. However, a major factor restraining the growth of HVAC equipment market is high energy consumption of HVAC equipment. The market opportunities in the coming years are related to the growing trend of smart homes, development of energy efficient systems and adoption of green technologies by HVAC equipment manufacturers. Energy efficiency is thus one of the key concerns that global manufactures are focusing on. A large number of players such as Daikin, Carrier and Lennox have already started launching energy efficient HVAC products.The global HVAC Equipment market is segmented by equipment type, end-use application and geography. The market by equipment type is segmented into heating, air conditioning and ventilation. The heating equipment further studied include heat pumps, furnaces, unitary heaters and boilers whereas the air conditioning equipment include room air conditioners, unitary air conditioners and, coolers and others. The ventilation systems are further segmented into ventilation fans/air pumps and humidifiers/dehumidifiers. The market by end-use application is segmented into residential, commercial and industrial sector. The market size and forecasts in terms of revenue (US$ Bn) for each of these segments have been provided for the period 2012 to 2022, considering 2012 and 2013 as the base years. The report also provides compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) for each segment of the market for the forecast period from 2014 to 2022. Geographically, the HVAC Equipment market has been segmented into five regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America.Browse Detail Report With TOC @The report includes market dynamics, porters five force analysis, legal and regulatory standards for HVAC equipment market. The report also includes analysis of key participants in the HVAC equipment along with their role in the ecosystem. The market share for different equipment types such as heat pumps, furnaces etc. have also been included in the report. We have included future trends that will impact the demand. The study provides market estimation in terms of revenue and forecast for the period 2012 to 2022.Some of the key manufacturers of HVAC equipment include Daikin Industries Ltd., Carrier Corporation, Haier Ltd., Samsung Electronics, Panasonic Corporation, Lennox International Inc., AB Electrolux and LG Corporation among others.This report analyzes the global HVAC Equipment market in terms of revenue (US$ Bn). The market has been segmented as follows:HVAC Equipment Market, by Equipment Type:HeatingHeat PumpsFurnacesUnitary HeatersBoilersAir ConditioningRoom Air ConditionersUnitary Air ConditionersCoolers and OthersVentilationVentilation Fans/Air PumpsHumidifiers/DehumidifiersHVAC Equipment Market, by End-use Application:ResidentialCommercialIndustrialHVAC Equipment Market, by Geography:North AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeEU7CISRest of EuropeAsia-PacificChinaJapanIndian SubcontinentAustralasiaRest of Asia PacificMiddle East and Africa (MEA)GCC CountriesNorth AfricaSouth AfricaRest of MEALatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaFor Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Construction Equipment Rental Market Size, Share, Growth Trends and Opportunities (2016-2020)

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Construction Equipment Rental Market: Trends and Opportunities (2016-2020)" to its huge collection of research reports.The report titled Global Construction Equipment Rental Market: Trends and Opportunities (2016-2020) analyzes the significant trends and potential opportunities in the global construction equipment rental market. The report summarizes market overview, market sizing and growth, top players of the market and regional breakdown.The report also emphasizes on the opportunities available for the market and chief factors that will be responsible for growth in the market. The market size and forecast in terms of value for global market has been provided for the period 2016 to 2020, considering 2015 as the base year. The report provides the compound annual growth rate (%CAGR) for the forecasted period 2016 to 2020. Over the next five years the market is projected to grow on account of increasing investment by government in construction activities, advanced equipments in rental fleets, lower maintenance cost and equipment outsourcing etc.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report summarizes detailed country analysis of the US, Canada and UK in terms of value with actual and forecasted revenue. North American countries have the largest market share in global construction equipment rental market. The US is the largest market among North American countries. Europe is the second largest market for equipment rental market globally. In European countries the UK is the largest market.Furthermore, the report also profiles key market players such as United Rentals, Sunbelt Rentals, Neff Rentals and H&E Equipment services on the basis of attributes such as company overview, recent developments, strategies adopted by the market leaders to ensure growth, sustainability, financial overview and recent developments.Country Coverage- The US- Canada- UKBrowse Detail Report With TOC @Company Coverage- United Rentals- Sunbelt Rentals- Neff Rentals- H&E Equipment ServicesFor Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Boilers Market for Power Generation - Global Research Report 2015 - 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Boilers (Subcritical, Supercritical, and Ultra-supercritical) Market for Power Generation - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This research study analyzes the market for circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers in terms of installed capacity (GWe). The market has been segmented on the basis of type, application, and region. The global CFB boilers market has been segmented into six regions: North America, Europe, China, Japan, Australia, India, South East Asia, and Rest of the World. For the research, 2014 has been taken as the base year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2015 to 2023. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional as well as country-specific level from 2015 to 2023. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the CFB boilers business. The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the global CFB boilers market. These market dynamics were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive analysis of the global CFB boilers market with the help of Porters Five Forces model. This analysis helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the market structure and market profitability. The forces analyzed are bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the CFB boilers business globally. There are currently numerous drivers of the market. One of the most prominent drivers is the need to reduce carbon footprint and SOx & NOx emissions. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the CFB boilers market on the basis of geography. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.The CFB boilers market was segmented on the basis of type into subcritical, supercritical, and ultra-super critical boilers. The market was also segmented on the basis of application into oil and gas, chemicals, manufacturing, and others (Pulp and paper and food and beverages). CFB boilers vary according to the type of fuel used in power generation. The CFB boilers market was analyzed across six geographies:North America, Europe, South East Asia, India,China, Japan and Australia and Rest of the World. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the CFB boilers market. Key players in the market include Alfa Laval AB, Alstom SA, AE&E Nanjing Boiler Co. Ltd., Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc., Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), DongFang Boiler Group Co. Ltd., Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Ltd., Formosa Heavy Industries Corp, Amec Foster Wheeler plc, Harbin Boiler Engineering Co., Ltd., Metso Oyj, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Shanghai Boiler Works Co., Ltd., and Thermax Ltd. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.Circulating Fluid Bed Boilers Market: By TypeSubcriticalSupercriticalUltra-supercriticalCirculating Fluid Bed Boilers Market: By ApplicationOil and GasChemicalsManufacturingOthersCirculating Fluid Bed Boilers Market: By RegionNorth AmericaEuropeChina, Japan and AustraliaIndiaSouth East AsiaRest of the WorldBrowse Detail Report With TOC @Table of ContentChapter 1 Preface1.1 Report description1.2 Market segmentation1.2.1 Global CFB boilers market segmentation1.3 Report methodology1.4 AbbreviationsChapter 2 Executive SummaryChapter 3 Market Overview3.1 Introduction3.2 Value chain analysis3.3 Market drivers3.3.1 Growing demand for energy in Asia Pacific, and RoW3.3.2 Rising concern for environmental protection and emission control3.3.3 Lower running cost, better fuel flexibility and higher reliability3.4 Market restraints3.4.1 High degree of erosion and particle deposition at joints3.5 Opportunities3.5.1 Increasing emphasis on clean energy3.6 Porters five force analysis3.6.1 Bargaining power of suppliers3.6.2 Bargaining power of buyers3.6.3 Threat of new entrants3.6.4 Threat from substitutes3.6.5 Degree of competition3.7 CFB boilers: Market attractiveness analysisChapter 4 Global Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Boilers Market: Product Segment Analysis4.1 Global CFB Boilers market: Product overview4.2 Global CFB boilers installed capacity share, by product, 2014 and 20234.3 CFB Boilers Market: Product Analysis Global installed capacity of subcritical CFB boilers, 2014  2023, (GWe)4.3.2 Global installed capacity of supercritical CFB boilers, 2014  2023, (GWe)4.3.3 Global installed capacity of ultra-supercritical CFB boilers, 2014  2023, (GWe)Chapter 5 Global Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) Boilers Market: Application Analysis5.1 Global CFB Boilers market: Application overview5.1.1 Global CFB boilers installed capacity share, by application, 2014 and 20235.2 CFB Boilers Market: Application Analysis5.2.1 Global CFB boilers installed capacity in oil and gas industry, 20142023 (GWe)5.2.2 Global CFB boilers installed capacity in manufacturing, 2014  2023 (GWe)5.2.3 Global CFB boilers installed capacity in other industries, 2014  2023 (GWe)For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Medical Nutrition Market Research Report 2016 | New Release

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Medical Nutrition Industry 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Medical Nutrition Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Medical Nutrition industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Medical Nutrition market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Medical Nutrition industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Vitamin U Capsules Market Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2016

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Vitamin U Capsules Industry 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Vitamin U Capsules Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Vitamin U Capsules industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Vitamin U Capsules market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Vitamin U Capsules industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Global Dental Ultrasonic Scaler Market Analysis, Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2016

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Dental Ultrasonic Scaler Industry 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Dental Ultrasonic Scaler Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Dental Ultrasonic Scaler industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Dental Ultrasonic Scaler market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Dental Ultrasonic Scaler industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Browse Detail Report With TOC @Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.For More Information Kindly Contact:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare,Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Shale Shakers and Desanders Market Segment Forecasts up to 2023:TMR

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Drilling fluids are used for lubricating and cooling the drill bit. Along with this functions, the drilling fluid carry the drilling cuttings and mud away from the bore hole. Thus they form an important part of the drilling process. The drilling fluids is made by mixing some chemicals in the water or oil based solution. Thus to reduce the drilling expenses and also due to the environmental concerns, this fluid are treated after drilling process, for reuse. Cuttings and muds are important as they contains stones samples that can give idea about the surface of the drilling area. Hence, to minimize the drilling fluid losses, solid control system is used to separate drilling fluid from the drilling cuttings.In-depth research report on Shale Shakers and Desanders Market with Full TOC at :Solid control equipment separate the undesirable and harmful solids from the drilling fluid mixture. Thus they add to the efficiency of drilling process and increase the quality of the mud. Theiroutput can be seen through faster and efficient rigs, dual gradient drilling and improved fluid designs. The solid control system usually consist of equipment arranged in series as mud tank, shale shaker, vacuum degasser, desander, desilter, and drilling centrifuge. The solid control equipments market can be divided based on the end user such as onshore and offshore activities.The shale shaker is a vital equipment for waste treatment.The waste isprocessedfirst in the shaker before transferring it to the other equipment.It is used to separate solids with diameter above 75m. The shale shakers consist of wire mesh screen placed above the vibrating tray. The vibration action of the screen facilitate passing of the liquid through it and the rock solids remain on the screen. However the screen needs to be checked regularly for efficient working. The shale shakers market can be segmented on the basis of the screen type used such as hookstrip screen panels, pyramid screens, frame panel shaker screen, and steel frame screens, among others. Desanderuses centrifugal sedimentation and density difference principle, to separate the solid waste of diameter 45-74m from the drilling fluid. They are usually cone shaped structure, installed on the top of the mud tank. Apart from drilling activities, the hydrocyclone desanders are used in industries such as chemical, medicine, food industries and for environmental protection.For further inquiries, click here :The American Petroleum Institute (API), has claimed that every foot drilled generates approximately 1.2 barrels of drilling waste fluids. Thus the impact of waste on the cost and effectiveness of the drilling activities has become the major concern for the upstream companies. This along with the policies related to environmental hazards have turn into major driver for he solid control equipments market. North America has the major share of approximately 50% in the solid control equipments market. The increase in exploring activities for shale gas, coal beds and methane in this region can be seen as the major opportunity for the growth of solid control equipment. Europe followed by Asia pacific are the other major regions for these equipments market.The market for the solid control equipment is in growth stage for regions like South America and Africa. The major companies are using the strategy of contracts and agreements for penetration in this areas. The products are being modernized to provide more efficiency such as higher-capacity shakers, bigger centrifuges, and better screen designs.Some of the key manufacturers of shale shakers and desanders are Kosun Machinery Co. Ltd, Baker Hughes Inc., Derrick Equipment Company, Halliburton, Kemtron Technologies Inc., Imdex Ltd, Clean Harbors Inc., Schlumberger, Scomi Group BHD, GN Solid Control, Secure Energy Services Inc., Weatherford International and National Oilwell Varco Inc., among others.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 Sate Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY 12207
Evolution of Intranasal Drug Delivery Applications with focus on pain management drug delivery system

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Intranasal drug delivery systems administer drugs through nasal route for local or systemic action based on the desired therapeutic modality to the patients. Nasals drugs may be prescribed for acute or chronic treatments and include antibiotics, snuffs, vasoconstrictors, local anesthetics, pain relief drugs, calcium supplements and antihistamines and others. Such drugs are administered in several dosage forms like nasal sprays, ointments and solutions. Drug candidates with poor oral absorption and exposed to first-pass effect in the body are preferred in formulation of nasal drug delivery.Browse Full Report :The global intranasal drug delivery market is categorized by its therapeutic applications:Allergic infectionsAnalgesicOsteoporosisPain managementSexual dysfunctionVaccinesGlobally, North America is the largest market for intranasal drug delivery application and is followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. Developing countries of Asia, Middle East and Latin America are expected to witness maximum market growth due to development of economy, improved healthcare infrastructure, escalating penetration of medical insurances and growing incidences of chronic diseases.Patent expiration of blockbuster drugs, high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes, adoption of self administration practices, rising demand for home healthcare devices and increased focus on pediatric and elderly patients are some of the major factors impelling the market growth of intranasal drug delivery systems across the globe. Other factors driving this market include rapid research and development and adoption of new drug delivery technologies and devices, fast onset of action and reformulation of oral drugs and injections into the formulations to be administered by nasal route. However, drug formulation failure and market recalls, and technical barrier may pose a challenge to the growth of this market.Aegis Therapeutics LLC, Alza Corporation, AstraZeneca PLC., MedImmune, Inc., Baxter International, Inc., Becton, Dickinson and Company, GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Johnson & Johnson, Inc., Marina Biotech, Inc., Merck & Co., Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. and Rexam PLC are some of the major players contributing to the global intranasal drug delivery applications market.Request A Sample Of This Report:This research report analyzes this market depending on its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldThis report provides comprehensive analysis ofMarket growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for upcoming yearsAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact us:Mr. Sudip STransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email:A sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Increasing Count of Surgical Procedures to Boost Operating Room Equipment Market

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According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research Operating Room Equipment Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2015 - 2023, the global operating room equipment market was valued at US$ 23.9 Bn in 2014 and is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2015 to 2023 to reach US$ 42.9 Bn in 2023.Read More:An operating room, also known as an operating suite or operation theatre, is a facility wherein all kinds of surgical procedures take place on patients for the treatment of different pathological or physiological conditions within a sterile environment. The operating room, comprising technically advanced equipment, enables better operational efficiency and enhanced patient care by empowering healthcare professionals and surgeons with the ease of handling surgeries and greater flexibility. Technological advancements have brought in a lot of improvements in surgical procedures.Hybrid operating rooms are a case in point. These are a sophisticated form of operation theaters that feature the integration of imaging modalities with surgical functions and thus ensure improved operational efficiency. Operating rooms have become more commodious with advanced and new operating equipment becoming an integral part of the latest hybrid operating rooms. The global operating room equipment market stood at US$ 23.95 bn in 2014 and is anticipated to touch US$42.87 bn by 2023, rising at a 6.90% CAGR between 2015 and 2023.Increasing Count of Surgical Procedures to Boost Operating Room Equipment MarketThe rising number of ambulatory centers and increasing product innovations owing to technological advancements are amongst the top factors stimulating the growth of the market for operating room equipment. In addition the increasing count of surgical procedures globally and the rising aging population also propel the development of the market. Furthermore, the growing occurrence of a number of chronic diseases also impacts the market positively. The increased affordability of C-arms further aids the markets growth. On the other hand, the soaring cost of operating room equipment is a key factor impeding the growth of the market.Movable Imaging Systems Led Market in 2014In terms of product type, the market for operating room equipment is segmented into biomedical systems, movable imaging systems, anesthesia systems, endoscopes, operating room lights, operating tables, operating room integration systems, surgical imaging displays, microscopes, and surgical booms. Amongst these, in 2014, movable imaging systems held the largest share in the market owing to the availability of public and private funding for purchasing these systems. In addition, a number of initiatives being taken by governments globally for the modernization of hospitals is also increasing demand for movable imaging systems.Request A Sample Of This Report:Europe Operating Room Equipment Market to Expand at Fastest Growth RateIn terms of geography, the operating room equipment market is segmented into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). Amongst these, in 2014, North America held the largest share in the market owing to the introduction of technologically advanced equipment in place of traditionally utilized equipment in the region of North America. On the other hand, Europe is predicted to be the most swiftly growing market for operating room equipment and will be trailed by the Asia Pacific region. This is due to the ongoing development of the overall market for operating room equipment, the increasing aging population in Europe, the rising demand for minimally invasive surgical techniques, and the increasing count of surgical procedures within Europe.The key players operating in the market for operating room equipment are GE Healthcare, Allen Medical (Hill ROM), KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, Olympus Corporation, Mizuho OSI, Maquet Holding B.V. & Co. KG (Getinge AB), Philips Healthcare, Skytron, LLC, Siemens Healthcare, Steris Corporation, TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG, and Stryker Corporation, among others.The global operating room equipment market has been segmented as follows:Global Operating Room Equipment Market, by Product TypeMovable Imaging SystemsBiomedical SystemsEndoscopesAnesthesia SystemsOperating TablesOperating Room LightsSurgical Imaging DisplaysOperating Room Integration SystemsSurgical BoomsMicroscopesGlobal Operating Room Equipment Market, by GeographyNorth AmericaoU.S.oCanadaEuropeoGermanyoU.K.oRest of EuropeAsia PacificoChinaoIndiaoRest of Asia PacificRest of the WorldoLatin AmericaoMiddle East & AfricaAbout UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact us:Mr. Sudip STransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email:A sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Attapulgite Market to Log 8.30% CAGR to 2020 fueled by Growing Number of End-Use Applications

Attapulgite Market

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Attapulgite is a crystalline hydrated magnesium aluminosilicate that contains three dimensional chain structures, which give it unique colloidal and sorptive properties. Attapulgite is a naturally occurring clay mineral that belongs to the fullers earth family of minerals. Attapulgite offers high porosity and unique colloidal properties such as resistance to higher concentration of electrolytes and high surface area. Based on its physical and chemical characteristics, attapulgite is primarily classified as colloidal grade (gelling grade) and sorptive grade (non-colloidal sorbent grade). Attapulgite finds applications in end-use industries such as paints & coatings, oil & gas, cat litter, medical & pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, paper and chemical.Browse the full Press Release:Attapulgite is primarily used to manufacture cat litter absorbents. Cat litter absorbents manufactured using attapulgite offer prompt absorption of litter and unpleasant odor. In addition, the growing preference of pet owners for organic and natural cat litter absorbents is expected to boost demand for attapulgite, especially in developed countries such as the U.S and UK Increase in drilling activities is likely to augment the growth of the attapulgite market. Attapulgite is used in drilling applications solely because of its suspending properties in oil and grease. It is used for drilling mud of a higher salinity than seawater. Thus, growth in drilling activities, especially in oil and gas extraction and construction activities is anticipated to boost the demand for attapulgite in the coming years. At the end of 2013, the U.S. was the largest producer of attapulgite due to the presence of large mineral reserves in the country. However, stringent mining regulations in the U.S. are expected to hamper the growth of the attapulgite market in the near future. Increasing demand in various end-use industries is also likely to open new avenues for the attapulgite market in the next few years.The colloidal grade attapulgite (gelling grade) segment dominated the global attapulgite market, accounting for over 65% share in 2013 in terms of volume. Colloidal grade attapulgite is consumed in large quantities in end-use industries such as oil and gas, chemicals, cosmetics, and paints and coatings. The segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period due to its use in a wide range of applications such as adhesives, sealants, caulks, drilling mud, liquid pesticides, liquid detergents, animal feed and suspension fertilizers to provide reinforcement, suspension and binding.Cat litter absorbent and oil & gas were the largest end-use industries in the global attapulgite market in 2013. These segments together accounted for over 60% of the global attapulgite market in 2013 in terms of volume. Development of innovative cat litter absorbents that are eco-friendly, neutralize bad odor and quickly congeal after soiling is expected to augment the cat litter absorbent segment during the forecast period. The oil & gas segment is likely to witness the fastest growth in the attapulgite market during the forecast period due to increasing drilling activities across the world. Furthermore, the medical & pharmaceutical segment is anticipated to witness the second-fastest growth in the attapulgite market due to rising consumer preference for naturally derived products over synthetic medicines. Additionally, the paints & coatings segment is projected to exhibit above average growth, as traditional organic thickeners are being replaced with attapulgite in the manufacture of water insensitive films.Request a Brochure of this Report :North America dominated the global attapulgite market, accounting for approximately 35% share in 2013. Abundant attapulgite-rich fullers earth deposits in North America are expected to boost demand for attapulgite in the next few years. Restrictions on the use of synthetic chemicals due to stringent environmental regulations are anticipated to favor the use of natural products such as attapulgite. However, Asia Pacific is projected to witness the fastest growth in the attapulgite market during the forecast period due to rapid industrialization, which would lead to an increase in construction and drilling activities. Furthermore, growth of the healthcare sector in the region is likely to drive the attapulgite market in the next few years.The global attapulgite market was highly consolidated, with the top two players accounting for approximately 57% share of the total market in 2013. Active Minerals International was the largest attapulgite manufacturer in 2013, followed by BASF. Other key players operating in the attapulgite market include MinTech International, Inc., Oil-Dri Corporation of America, Gunjan Minerals Pvt. Ltd., Geohellas S.A., Gujarat Minechem, Ashwa Minerals Private Limited and Manek Minerals.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactMr. Sudip S90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Mexico: AT&T and Televisa Emerge as Viable Challengers to Telmexs Leadership in the Telecom Services Market and Market Revenue to Grow at a CAGR of 4.3% to Reach $26.5bn in 2020

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Mexico: AT&T and Televisa Emerge as Viable Challengers to Telmexs Leadership in the Telecom Services Market Size and Share Published in 2016-04-12 Available for US$ 990 at Researchmoz.usDescriptionTo Browse a Full Report at:With revenue of US$21.5bn, or 1.9% of GDP, the telecom services market in Mexico was second only to Brazil in Latin America in 2015. Over the next five years, Pyramid Research expects Mexicos total market revenue to grow at a CAGR of 4.3% to reach $26.5bn in 2020, making it the fastest-growing market among Latin Americas largest markets. Growth will be underpinned by the entry of new players and consolidation among existing operators, which will contribute to lower prices and enhanced geographic coverage, helping to increase Mexicos currently low penetration levels. We expect mobile data, fixed broadband Internet and pay-TV to be the main drivers of top line revenue growth over the 2016-2020 period.Key FindingsDespite the governments claims that more than $10bn has been invested in Mexicos telecom industry since the new law went into effect, the overall impact on service revenue has thus far been muted. In local currency, telecom services growth over the past two years has been relatively flat, while in US dollars, the market is down 21.0% as a result of the devaluation of the Mexican peso.Of an estimated $21.5bn in total service revenue, 46.3% came from voice services, both fixed and mobile, in 2015. Though voice remains the largest revenue generator, the service is under significant pressure given the combined impact of the elimination of long-distance tariffs, the application of asymmetric interconnection rates on America Movil, the elimination of international roaming and long-distance fees on North America-bound traffic, and rising competition, particularly from low-cost MVNOs.In 2015 we saw companies take important steps to challenge America Movil's leadership. AT&T acquired mobile operators Iusacell and Nextel, giving it 8.0% of mobile subscriptions (and 18.0% of mobile services revenue). Televisa acquired cable operators Cablecom and Telecable, bringing its broadband Internet and pay-TV market shares to 18.6% and 60.4%, respectively. With competitive pressures rising, operators have announced ambitious investment plans for 2016-2018.Pyramid Research expects M&A activity in Mexico and the US to continue in 2016, with Televisa, Movistar and AT&T all looking for assets in Mexico that can accelerate the availability of quad-play offerings as well as cross-border synergies. Potential targets include the Alestra/Axtel tie-up, Maxcom and Megacable. America Movil, for its part, may look for additional assets in the US to counter AT&Ts expansion in Mexico.Opportunities for equipment manufacturers and software providers will be plentiful in the near term. We expect the new 700MHz wholesale LTE network to represent one of the most attractive LTE equipment opportunities in Latin America in the near term, helping to explain why vendors such as Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei have expressed interest in participating in the tender. In addition to LTE deployments, operators will also be focusing on fiber-optic network buildout, SDN/NFV opportunities and the launch of IT and cloud-based services for enterprise customers.Download Sample of this Report at:SynopsisMexico: AT&T and Televisa Emerge as Viable Challengers to Telmexs Leadership in the Telecom Services Market provides an executive-level overview of the telecommunications market in Mexico today, with detailed forecasts of key indicators up to 2020. It delivers deep quantitative and qualitative insight into the Mexican telecom market, analyzing key trends, evaluating near-term opportunities and assessing risk factors, based on proprietary data from Pyramid Researchs databases.The Country Intelligence Report provides in-depth analysis of the following:Regional context: telecom market size and trends in Mexico compared with other countries in the Latin American region.Economic, demographic and political context in Mexico.The regulatory environment and trends: a review of the regulatory setting and agenda for the next 18-24 months as well as relevant developments pertaining to national broadband plans and other infrastructure developments.A demand profile: analysis as well as historical figures and forecasts of service revenue from the fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data segments.Service evolution: a look at changes in the breakdown of overall revenue between the fixed and mobile sectors and between voice, data and video from 2013 to 2020.The competitive landscape: an examination of key trends in competition and in the performance, revenue market shares and expected moves of service providers over the next 18-24 months.In-depth sector analysis of fixed telephony, broadband, mobile voice and mobile data services: a quantitative analysis of service adoption trends by network technology and by operator, as well as of average revenue per line/subscription and service revenue through the end of the forecast period.Main opportunities: this section details the near-term opportunities for operators, vendors and investors in the Mexican telecommunications marketReasons To BuyGain in-depth analysis of current strategies and future trends of the Mexican telecommunications market, service providers and key opportunities in a concise format, to build proactive and profitable growth strategies.Understand the factors behind ongoing and upcoming trends in the Mexican communications, fixed telephony and broadband markets, including the evolution of service provider market shares, to align product offerings and strategies to meet customers demand.Leverage the graphical information (more than 20 charts and tables in the report based on the Pyramid Research forecast products), to gain an overview of Mexicos telecom market.Analysis of key telecom players in the markets and major business strategies being adopted by them, to identify the opportunities to improve market share.Explore novel opportunities to align your product strategies and offerings to meet the requirements and succeed in the challenging telecommunications market in Mexico.Make an Enquiry:Table of ContentExecutive summaryMarket and competitor overviewRegional contextEconomic, demographic and political contextRegulatory environmentDemand profileService evolutionCompetitive landscapeMajor market playersSegment analysisMobile servicesFixed servicesPay-TVIdentifying opportunitiesOverall market opportunitiesResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives.Contact Us:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare, +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948sales@researchmoz.us
United States Alprazolam Industry 2016 Market Medical Uses, Adverse Effects and Research Report

http://www.researchmoz.us/united-states-alprazolam-industry-2016-market-research-report-report.html

http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=685525

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United States Alprazolam Industry 2016 Market Research Report Size and Share Published in 2016-03-31 Available for US$ 3800 at Researchmoz.usDescriptionTo Browse a Full Report at:The United States Alprazolam Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Alprazolam industry.The report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Alprazolam market analysis is provided for the United States markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status.Development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and Bill of Materials cost structures are also analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins.Download Sample of this Report at:The report focuses on United States major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Alprazolam industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered.With 140 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Make an Enquiry:Table of Content1 Industry Overview1.1 Definition and Specifications of Alprazolam1.1.1 Definition of Alprazolam1.1.2 Specifications of Alprazolam1.2 Classification of Alprazolam1.3 Applications of Alprazolam1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Alprazolam1.5 Industry Overview of Alprazolam1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Alprazolam1.7 Industry News Analysis of Alprazolam2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Alprazolam2.1 Bill of Materials (BOM) of Alprazolam2.2 BOM Price Analysis of Alprazolam2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Alprazolam2.4 Depreciation Cost Analysis of Alprazolam2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Alprazolam2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Alprazolam2.7 United States Price, Cost and Gross of Alprazolam 2011-2016About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives.Contact Us:ResearchMozMr. Nachiket Ghumare, +1-518-621-2074USA-Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948sales@researchmoz.us
Genius Vision Announces UPnP Discovery Directory for IP Cameras

Genius Vision has created a new, user-driven platform to improve global IP camera compatibility.The company Genius Vision recently introduced a new addition to their website, which is called the UPnP Discovery Directory for IP Cameras.UPnP Discovery allows their software to discover and identify the manufacturers and models of IP cameras. It lists the extended camera compatibility and its very useful and simple for users to manage, even within a complex system. This directory is currently the only one of its kind.The most unique and helpful aspect of UPnP Discovery is that the directory was created for users and by users. Any user can visit the directorys webpage and add additional content at any time. Users can also search the directory using keywords, to easily and quickly find what theyre looking for. The companys hope is that users will continue to add new content until the directory has all of the information it could possibly have.The platform that is used to allow users to interact and add info to the directory is called the Community Platform. Genius Visions Community Platform is a service, which is an initiative to improve global IP camera compatibility by sharing IP camera connectivity information, such as RTSP, UPnP, HTTP, ONVIF, etc.For more information about the platform, directory, or any of Genius Visions other products and services, you can visit their website.Genius Vision is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, and owns multiple world-leading software development technologies and methodologies, which ensures their delivery of the most powerful and reliable products available. The current focus of their product development team is to complete a platform for high definition (including megapixel) IP video management. For more information, you can visit their website at geniusvision.net.Genius VisionEmail: partners@geniusvision.netTelephone: +886 (2) 27527612Address: 3F., No.66, Fuxing N. Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City 104, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
portskyline.JPG

A recent Pew Research Center study shows the middle class declining in Portland and three other metro areas in Oregon.

(LC- Janet Eastman)

The middle class is shrinking all over.

According to a Pew Research Center study released Thursday, however, it's shrinking faster in Bend than almost anywhere else in the country. Portland shows a bigger decline than the national average, too.

Oregon's four metro areas included in the Pew study -- Bend, Eugene, Medford and Portland -- all followed the national trend to some extent. Pew found that the middle class was smaller in 2014 than it was in 2000 in 203 out of 229 U.S. metropolitan areas surveyed.

Pew defines "middle class" as adults whose annual household income is between two-thirds and two times the national median, based on the number of people in the household. In 2014, the national middle-income range was about $42,000 to $125,000 annually for a household of three.

Michael Sayer, a 22-year-old student at Portland State, said Thursday afternoon that he's pinching his pennies, so he can make it in the city.

He lives at his parents' home in Portland and has a job at Xerox. Even so, he said having supportive parents has been the only thing that allowed him to stay out of debt while in college.

Someday, though, he said, "I am looking forward to living on my own."

In Bend, the proportion of residents in the middle class dropped from 59.5 percent in 2000 to 51.1 percent in 2014, a decrease of 14 percent. Only eight metro areas out of the 229 nationwide showed bigger declines.

Those living above middle class in Bend grew by 25 percent, and those below it grew by 18 percent. Both ends of the barbell grew, in other words, while the middle thinned out.

Portland's middle class decreased by 10 percent. Meanwhile, the lower and upper classes both increased by 14 percent.

Eugene and Medford were more middle-of-the-pack nationally, with middle classes declining 8 percent and 6 percent, respectively.

In Medford, the upper class declined at a faster rate than the middle class, dropping 7 percent.

Christian Kaylor, an economist at the Oregon Employment Department, said the term "median income" becomes deceptive when more people are on the lower and higher end of the spectrum and fewer people are actually in the middle.

Kaylor said policymakers will likely struggle to find common ground in the future as a result of the decreasing middle class. It's harder to craft policies that generate consensus among voters at opposite ends of the income spectrum.

"When you're a government agency trying to craft policy on any topic, it's hard to do because you're having two conversations," he said. "One would apply to six-figure income houses and another to five-figure income houses."

Kaylor said the trend also points to an increase in high-paying jobs in Portland. That, in turn, drives up housing and other costs - pricing out lower- and middle-income residents.

Twenty-four-year-old Maddie Dailey, originally from Salt Lake City, was walking in downtown Portland on Thursday. She said with housing costs in the city increasing rapidly, the "middle class is pushed out to the peripheries."

-- Natasha Rausch
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A former banker at Wells Fargo claims in a lawsuit that the institution lacked basic loan documentation on an untold number of its mortgages and deceived customers about it. The bank, which operates out of its namesake downtown tower, denies any wrongdoing.

(Grant Butler/The Oregonian)

A Damascus man claims he was terminated by Wells Fargo & Co. in 2014 after he discovered the bank was repeatedly collecting on mortgage loans for which it did not have the proper documentation.

When Duke Tran, 54, complained about the practice, he claims he was told to lie to customers. When he resisted, the bank fired him in November 2014, Tran said.

In a whistleblower lawsuit unsealed a week ago, Tran claims Wells also defrauded the U.S. government. He argues the bank illegally collected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal foreclosure-prevention funding for loans the bank knew lacked proper documentation.

Wells Fargo denies any wrongdoing.

Tran's lawsuit recalls the foreclosure wars that accompanied the 2008-11 housing crash and recession. Some of the banks whose aggressive subprime lending helped cause the crash then let loose a wave of home foreclosures without recent precedent. It did so despite widespread protests that the lenders lacked the proper documents to prove they had standing to legally repossess the homes.

Last month, Wells Fargo paid a record $1.2 billion to settle a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit claiming the bank had for years engaged in reckless underwriting and lending and then relied on government mortgage insurance to pay for the loans when they went bad.

Tran's wrenching transition from happy 10-year veteran at Wells Fargo to self-proclaimed whistleblower began in December 2013 when he fielded a call from a couple terrified they were going to get foreclosed out of their home. They were overdue on their second mortgage and Wells Fargo was demanding a balloon payment.

Tran, who worked at the bank's Beaverton call center, checked and checked again. He claims he could find no trace of the couple's loan in the bank's computer system and he told the couple so.

Tran says his bosses were not happy. Three months later, on April 21, 2014, Tran and the rest of his team received an email from a supervisor telling them that full disclosure was a bad idea.

"Please remember when you come across a situation where we have a lost contract, deed, any type of document, really, but especially when It relates to securing a property, we are not to share that with the customer," reads the email, which Tran submitted into the court file.

Tran was troubled. The first-generation Vietnamese-American and volunteer in the US Army Reserve considered it illegal and unethical for the bank to threaten foreclosure when it didn't have the mortgage contract in question.

"The company told me to lie about that," he said in an interview. "I don't think that's right, for the customers, for the company or the entire country."

Tran continued to question the policy. In response, he claims, his managers grew increasingly critical of his performance. On Nov. 24, 2014, Wells Fargo fired him.

Last June, Tran filed the whistleblower suit alleging bank managers illegally retaliated against him. He filed the suit also on behalf of the federal government, alleging Wells Fargo violated the False Claims Act when it collected $1.4 billion in government foreclosure prevention funding.

Wells Fargo spokesman Tom Goyda said the bank violated no law. "We believe that our claims submitted to the government under the Home Affordable Modification Program were proper and were subject to substantial oversight and review, and will be prepared to defend our record against the claims in the lawsuit."

In whistleblower suits like this, the Department of Justice investigates and considers whether to intervene in the case. It declined to do so in this matter.

Michael Fuller, Tran's Portland lawyer, said his client is hopeful that other Wells Fargo employees or former employees will come forward and tell their stories.

-- Jeff Manning

503-294-7606, jmanning@oregonian.com
Michael Johnson escapee.jpg

The Clark County Sheriff's Office says Michael Diontae Johnson (shown in both photos) used another inmate's identification and clothes to mistakenly be released from the county jail on May 12. An investigation is ongoing to determine how and why the other inmate participated in Johnson's escape.

(Clark County Sheriff's Office)

UPDATE: Accused Clark County jail escapee arrested in Illinois

The convict's plan apparently worked like a charm: Switch ID wristbands with a fellow inmate scheduled for release in just hours. Put on his clothes. Trade cells. Sign the other inmate's name to the paperwork. Walk out the door.

That's what Michael Diontae Johnson did to escape Thursday from the Clark County Jail, investigators allege in court records. Jailers didn't discover the mistake until three hours later. Johnson, 30, is still on the loose.

LaQuon Boggs in 2015

But how and why 19-year-old LaQuon Carson Boggs - the other inmate - got involved remains unclear and under investigation.

Johnson was sentenced last year to 24 years in an Arizona prison for kidnapping and aggravated assault. He was sent to Washington on April 26 to face felony assault, harassment and intimidating a witness charges in Clark County.

He was one of three inmates who left private cells to prepare for release about 8:15 a.m. Thursday, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court.

A jail officer asked the inmates their dates of birth, checked their wristbands and sent them to a second officer who asked them other questions about their identities.

Johnson signed Boggs' name to receive the property and money confiscated from Boggs when he entered jail, the affidavit said.

Johnson, wearing Boggs' clothes and wristband, was released at 8:30 a.m., the county sheriff's office said. An officer wrote in her report that Johnson's clothes "seem to fit well."

It was around noon during lunch when the jail staff realized Boggs was still in custody and Johnson was missing, the affidavit said.

It's not clear from the court documents how or why Johnson and Boggs switched wristbands, clothes and holding cells.

The escape "required prior planning and the active cooperation of the second inmate," Undersheriff Mike Cooke said in statement.

Boggs was sentenced in March to five months in jail for second-degree robbery for stealing alcohol from a Wal-Mart in Vancouver last October, court records show. He received credit for jail time he already served.

Boggs has since been released. He is under investigation in the escape, said Clark County Jail Chief Ric Bishop.

The mistaken release was "unfortunate" because the jail is about a month and a half away from installing a biometric screening tool that "would have prevented this type of escape," Bishop said. The system requires providing the correct set of fingerprints to be released.

Typically, inmates have to answer biographical information about themselves before they're released and jail staff often use their photos for verification, Bishop said. He wouldn't comment on Johnson's release, citing the continuing investigation.

Johnson, now accused of second-degree escape, is described as 5-foot-4, 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. The Sheriff's Office asks anyone who sees him to call 911.

Boggs was listed in court records as 3 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
A Portland man jailed in Clark County was mistakenly set free after he posed as another inmate scheduled for release, deputies said.

Michael Diontae Johnson, 30, escaped around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, the Clark County Sheriff's Office said in a news release. He was in jail pending trial on assault, bail jumping, harassment and intimidating a witness charges, deputies said.

Michael Diontae Johnson

He had previously been convicted on assault and kidnapping charges in Arizona, deputies said, and was transported to Clark County for a trial for the local charges.

Jail officials figured out he was gone during a meal and headcount, deputies said.

"I can't comment on the manner in which Johnson switched identities with the other inmate," Undersheriff Mike Cooke said in a statement. "I can say, however, that this escape required prior planning and the active cooperation of the second inmate."

Sgt. Fred Neiman, a sheriff's office spokesman, said deputies aren't currently releasing any information about the second inmate.

It's likely he will face some sort of additional charges, Neiman said.

U.S. Marshals Service and Clark County sheriff's detectives are searching for Johnson and investigating his escape. He's described as being about 5-foot-4 and 140 pounds, and he has black hair and brown eyes.

Neiman said he wasn't sure of any leads in the case early Thursday evening.

"They'll be turning over every rock to try to find him," he said.

Deputies ask anyone who sees Johnson to call 911.

Clark County Jail Chief Ric Bishop said in a statement that the jail is installing a biometrics screening tool that will prevent such escapes. The system will be put into action in about six weeks, he said.

It will collect inmates' fingerprints when they're booking into the jail and confirm them before they're released, deputies said.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
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Rona Wang, a senior at Lincoln High, excels as a poet and essay writer -- and also has exceptional math achievement. She is one of Oregon's 29 winners of a National Merit $2,500 scholarship this year.

(courtesy of Rona Wang)

Rona Wang

Oregon has a 29th winner of a National Merit $2,500 scholarship, the top tier award in the yearly contest for outstanding college-bound seniors.

She is Rona Wang, a senior at Lincoln High who has won national recognition for both her writing and her math prowess. She's headed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall.

Wang won the top-drawer scholarship, which signifies students have the strongest combination of accomplishment, skill and potential for collegiate success of all the state's PSAT test-takers, National Merit officials said Thursday.

But they said they received her official acceptance of the award one day after they sent out notices to media outlets nationwide, including The Oregonian/OregonLive, listing each state's winners. So she was not included on the Oregon list.

She joins fellow Lincoln High senior Alex Zhang, three Clark County students and 27 other Oregon students in receiving a $2,500 scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.

-- Betsy Hammond
psu campus.JPG

Portland State University in downtown Portland.

(Staff)

Portland State University landed a $1.2 million federal grant last month that officials say allows the school to make an "incredibly significant" expansion in advanced training programs that will benefit blind and visually-impaired students in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and Hawaii.

PSU already has a Visually Impaired Learner program in its Graduate School of Education that pumps out credentialed special education teachers trained to work with blind and visually impaired students in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Hawaii.

But the largely online program doesn't go in depth into life skills -- such as how to get around in traffic, get by and be independent at home, on public transportation or in other real-life scenarios.

"We don't teach them about how to teach a kid to use a cane," program director Holly Lawson said of the program, which focuses more on the classroom. "It's all very introductory."

The program focuses on Braille and other assistive technologies, Lawson said.

But the U.S. Department of Education's five-year grant will help the university develop five in-depth courses on orientation and mobility. Eventually, PSU will train and certify 38 new orientation and mobility specialists. Thanks to the federal grant, students in the program will also receive financial aid assistance as an incentive.

Lawson said the grant is "incredibly significant" and helps fill a growing gap in educators who have specialized skills to benefit the blind or visually impaired. The university is teaming up with other states to promote the program.

There are no orientation and mobility program in the Northwest, Lawson said, to train teachers in advanced mobility and real-life scenarios for blind and visually impaired students.

Lawson said she expects many of the students already in the Visually Impaired Learner program will add the mobility certificate as a second endorsement.

Teachers with these specific skills are needed in rural areas in particular.

Blind students are "low incidence, but high need," she said.

Thirty students will enter PSU's Visually Impaired Learner program this year, Lawson said. She hopes to start offering classes in the certificate program in 2017.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
A sheriff's deputy who shot and wounded a man at his Cornelius home last month apparently mistook an object in his hand for a gun, his sister said Thursday.

Deputy Wes Johnson fired at least one shot at 54-year-old Greg Howard Moore during a disturbance call the night of April 7, said Sgt. Bob Ray, a Washington County Sheriff's Office spokesman. The sheriff's office hasn't said where or how many times Moore was hit.

Moore's sister, Laurie Dennis, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that her brother was hit with shrapnel from the deputy's shots, mostly along his left side, causing injuries to his arm, chest and hip. Her account and a report from the county probation department provide the first look at what unfolded at Moore's house that day.

Dennis, who wasn't there at the time of the shooting, said her brother is a former mechanic at a car wash company who has struggled with anger problems in recent years.

On the night of the shooting, she said, Moore had an object in his hand - possibly a J-hook - and held it out a window when he was shot. Moore's defense attorney was out of the office and could not immediately be reached Thursday.

It's unclear how Moore was holding the object or whether he made any threats to police. The Sheriff's Office declined further comment, citing its continuing investigation. Johnson, a deputy assigned to patrol Cornelius, was placed on standard administrative leave after the shooting but has since returned to duty.

Dennis said the shooting has raised questions among her family members about whether police could have done more to de-escalate the situation. Her information is coming from her brother and a few police reports made available to her, she said. The Sheriff's Office hasn't released those reports publicly.

Deputies responded about 8 p.m. on April 7 to Moore's home in the 700 block of South 25th Place after a neighbor reported that Moore was breaking windows and damaging his property. Moore was on post-prison supervision for 2013 convictions for possessing methamphetamine and attempting to assault a public safety officer. He faced a warrant for failing to report to the probation department two days earlier, according to Washington County Parole and Probation records.

The probation records say Moore was "throwing things out of windows, screaming and breaking windows in his home." The deputies saw him through the window and discovered the warrant, which had a safety warning for officers.

The deputies asked Moore to come out because of the warrant and Moore responded that "he did not believe that warrants were real," according to the records.

Moore continued to yell at police. At one point, Moore came to a window "with what was believed to be a pistol," according to the records, and the deputy shot him.

But Moore "continued to refuse to surrender," the records say. The county's Tactical Negotiations Team responded and about 90 minutes later officers took Moore into custody. His sister said he had passed out during that time.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Sheriff's Office described Moore as being "uncooperative," but has never said what specifically prompted the shooting or how many times Johnson fired. They also have declined to say whether Moore had a weapon.

Dennis said the deputy fired three times at her brother from an AR-15. The deputy, she said, was positioned on a deck in the back of the house, near a sliding door and near the bedroom window where her brother held the object. The shots went through the side of the house, she said, before they broke apart and the pieces hit Moore.

"He was shocked that they shot him," Dennis said.

The deputy fired, Dennis said, soon after a team of deputies started to enter Moore's home from another side of the house. At some point, the police had tried to call Moore, she said, but couldn't reach him because he didn't have his phone with him.

Dennis said her brother told her he was moving the object in his hand along the window sill, knocking off broken glass from the damaged window when he was shot. She said she didn't know what, if anything, he said to police.

Officers believe Moore threatened to shoot a sheriff's police dog, Dennis said, but her brother thinks the deputies misunderstood him. While he was talking to the deputies, he had turned up some music, she said. He also didn't remember the deputies saying he had a warrant.

Dennis said Moore didn't want to come out because the last time he was arrested, police used a Taser and tackled him to take him into custody. Investigators searching the home after the shooting didn't find any weapons, Dennis said, but they found two J-hooks by the back window.

Probation records say that Moore in the past has been labeled as a "low risk offender," but his behavior has become more violent and that he didn't cooperate with police during an arrest in February so they used a Taser.

After spending two days in the hospital, Moore was arrested and booked into the Washington County Jail on a parole violation and menacing charge, according to jail records. Authorities haven't said whether the deputy is the alleged victim of the menacing, and a criminal complaint filed last month against Moore in Circuit Court names no victim.

Moore spent 30 days in jail for the parole violation, according to the probation department. His sister posted bail for him last week on the menacing charge, and he has since been released.

His trial is set to begin next week.

-- Rebecca Woolington

503-294-4049; @rwoolington
David Allen Charlton

A man accused of shooting at police officers in Gresham in late April -- hitting one of them -- has been indicted on four counts of attempted aggravated murder, court records show.

David Allen Charlton of Portland, 40, is accused of shooting a Fairview officer near his waist after crashing an SUV and fleeing the scene in Gresham, police said. Officers fired back and hit Charlton multiple times, according to a Gresham police news release.

A grand jury cleared the three involved officers of wrongdoing, police said, and each is authorized to return to duty. Police said Fairview Officer Scott Shropshire, who was shot, was released from a hospital the day after the shooting.

Charlton is still hospitalized, police said.

He's also facing charges of second-degree assault, felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a short-barrel rifle, failure to perform duties of a driver when property is damaged, and delivery of heroin and methamphetamine, according to police and court records.

Officers initially responded to Southeast 188th Avenue and East Burnside Street shortly before 11 p.m. April 27 on the report of a traffic crash, police said. Charlton hit a wrought-iron fence near a nearby apartment complex entrance, grabbed bags from the SUV and ran away, police said.

Shropshire and Gresham Officer Michael Brooder, partners in the East Metro Gang Enforcement Team, happened to be the closest police unit at the time of the crash, authorities said. They were quickly backed up by Gresham Officer John Heer.

The officers confronted Charlton in the 18900 block of Northeast Couch Lane, and he immediately shot at them, police said.

Charlton, who served 13 years in prison for a 1999 bank robbery, was wanted for a federal parole violation at the time. Officers responding to the scene didn't know he was wanted or armed, police said.

Tony Hernandez of The Oregonian/OregonLive staff contributed to this report.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
Heroin Drug

In Oregon, members of the public can carry and administer naloxone, a drug that reverses an opiate overdose.

(Lindsay Perry/Stamford Advocate/The Associated Press)

A new designer street drug has hit the Portland area in its deadly march across the country.

In early May, a student on a local campus nearly died after snorting a few granules, according to the Multnomah County Health Department. She was resuscitated only after medics performed CPR and administered a few doses of naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of opioids.

Normally, one dose of naloxone is enough to reverse an overdose.

Doctors at the Oregon Poison Center were so alarmed about the severity of her condition that they obtained some of the powder from one of her friends and had it tested at a specialty lab at the University of California, San Francisco.

They discovered that it was furanylfentanyl, a derivative of fentanyl, a synthetic opiate used in hospitals to treat severe pain. Fentanyl and its analogs are 100 times more powerful than morphine and heroin.

Fentanyl is known on the street by a variety of names, including Apache, China girl, China white, dance fever, friend, goodfella, jackpot, murder 8, TNT, Tango and Cash. Furanylfentanyl is also called FU fentanyl. Fentanyl isn't new in Oregon but furanylfentanyl has never turned up before.

"The disturbing thing about this is that it's a drug that even drug dealers might not be familiar with," said Dr. Paul Lewis, health officer for Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.

Portland area health officials have alerted police and colleges statewide about the threat the drug poses.

Within minutes, it can cause permanent brain damage or worse. Even a little bit can cause a person to stop breathing. The student only snorted an amount small enough to fit on a pin head, according to a release from the Multnomah County Health Department.

No one's died in Oregon, said Dr. Zane Horowitz, medical director of the Oregon Poison Center. "We want to get the message out there that this is a dangerous drug. It's likely on college campuses," he said.

Multnomah County officials declined to identify the campus where the recent overdose occurred, citing confidentiality reasons.

Oregon's Good Samaritan law prohibits the arrest of anyone who calls 911 after an overdose. The state also allows the public to carry and administer naloxone, which has saved many lives.

In Oregon, fentanyl in general has been linked to about 20 deaths a year since 2009, Lewis said. In Portland last year, an inmate died after taking the drug in Multnomah County jail. Health officials fear the numbers could go up with this new drug. Already, Multnomah County faces two opioid deaths a week.

Recent Fu fentanyl-linked deaths include a man in the Chicago area in April and at least 19 deaths in North Caroline since the beginning of the year. Two high schoolers in North Dakota overdosed this month but survived.

The drug has also been sold in the form of eye drops and a nasal spray. When used that way, the threat could be even higher, Horowitz said, because users are less likely to contain the dose.

This latest form of the drug is being manufactured by Chinese laboratories to circumvent a Chinese ban on exports of fentanyl to the United States, according to a report on Stat News, an online affiliate of the Boston Globe.

Other reports say it's available on illicit sites on the Dark Web, a part of the Internet that requires special software to access. Furanylfentanyl is so new that it's not yet illegal in the United States. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is moving to ban street sales, Stat said.

"It seems like every six months we're hearing about a new designer drug," Horowitz said. "But this one we're really worried about. This one is a killer."

-- Lynne Terry

lterry@oregonian.com; 503-221-8503
1zika.JPG

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, pathologist Brigid Bollweg works in Colombia's National Institute of Health in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 26, 2016. Margaret Honein, of the CDC, said during a press conference in Colombia that apart from microcephaly, babies whose mothers have had Zika during pregnancy may eventually acquire impaired hearing or vision.

(The Associated Press)

By Dana Milbank

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican, has called himself "pro-life" since he came to Congress a decade ago. This month, he's proving it.

Buchanan last week announced his support for President Obama's request for $1.9 billion to fight the Zika virus -- a decision he based in part on "new research revealing that Zika eats away at the fetal brain and destroys the ability to think."

He's right about that. The mosquito-borne virus is going to cause thousands of babies in this hemisphere to be born with severe birth defects, and Zika is on the cusp of devastating the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico and of spreading to the southern United States. Untold numbers of the unborn are being irreversibly harmed.

And yet the supposedly pro-life majorities in both chambers of Congress have done nothing with Obama's request, more than three months after he made it in early February. Republicans demanded that the administration repurpose money that was supposed to have been spent fighting Ebola, and the administration did so even though that virus has resurged in Africa. Now, the congressional delay is hampering our ability to monitor the spread, to test possible victims and to prepare a vaccine.

In fairness, the congressional lethargy isn't limited to Zika. The House has been in session only 210 of the 491 days of this Congress, including 36 days on which no legislative business was done, according to House Democrats' tally. Only 150 bills have been signed into law -- a fraction of historical totals -- and 25 of those were ceremonial renamings of buildings and roads.

But with Zika, the delay is inevitably going to cause more fetuses to be deformed -- and perhaps aborted -- and a caucus supposedly devoted to protecting them is silent. There may never be a consensus on abortion, but can lawmakers not agree to fight a virus that destroys the brains of fetuses?

The few Republican officials who have called for action on the Zika funds have close-to-home reasons. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, where the risk of spread is high, is coming to Washington this week to urge Congress to act. His fellow Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio, pleaded for action, too. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) has also supported Zika spending; she's pregnant with her second child.

On Monday, the National Governors Association, whose mostly Republican members will be on the hook when Zika arrives, urged Congress to act, saying "the nation is on the threshold of a public health emergency" and the prospect of "children born with severe, lifelong birth defects."

But there's quiet from the anti-abortion lobby. Groups I checked with haven't taken a position on the Zika response, other than a few that have said laws against abortion should not be loosened in Latin American countries because of the virus.

National Right to Life published an argument in March questioning whether Zika causes birth defects and citing a study that said only 1 percent of babies born to mothers with the infection have the brain condition called microcephaly. "Abortion advocates would have had us believe the risk of microcephaly was much higher," it said.

But Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told a Washington Post editorial board meeting Tuesday that "I can almost guarantee you" that the rate of birth defects is higher than 1 percent; another study puts it as high as 29 percent.

Fauci said "it is very likely we're going to see local outbreaks of Zika in the United States," and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico "is on the precipice of a really serious disaster." Extrapolating from the pattern of the chikungunya virus, spread by the same mosquito, Fauci said that 25 percent of Puerto Rico's population of 3.55 million can be expected to contract Zika over the next year -- including "a lot of pregnant women."

And Ed McCabe, chief medical officer for the March of Dimes, told me Tuesday that Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes is on the "doorstep" of the mainland, too. "Every day we wait, we're at greater risk," he said. "Congress needs to act."

Will GOP congressional leaders listen? Democrats have proposed replacing the ad hoc responses to outbreaks (Zika, Ebola, pandemic flu) with $5 billion a year for the moribund Public Health Emergency Fund. This won't happen in the current political environment.

But taking a sensible step to stop Zika's spread? Let's hear no more from so-called defenders of the unborn until they've done it.

Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, Milbank.

(c) 2016, Washington Post Writers Group
Portland homelessness: On May 3, I attended a neighborhood meeting with Portland Mayor Charlie Hales about the homeless intake center proposed for the Washington High School property. We finally heard some of the details of this 100-bed intake shelter, which the mayor acknowledged is effectively a done deal. The mayor's input focused on the need to support his budget and tax increases because the proposed shelter will be "enormously expensive." The property has no plumbing or any other necessities to provide the services he proposes for 100 "invited" guests. The mayor did promise to provide cost projections before the deal is completed.

When the subject of the 525 bed Wapato jail was brought up, Hales blamed the county for failure to consider this facility, even though the city and county recently agreed to work jointly on the "houseless issue." Later in the meeting, Hales tipped his hand when he indicated that one main consideration is that it is a jail, which offends many people. It seems that he and county politicians would rather leave the neighbors at daily risk (numerous examples of which were provided) rather than offend the campers at this location.

Hales has opened up the cost issue. The large group of attendees at this meeting, who were overwhelmingly opposed to this reckless two-year experiment, should demand fiscal accountability from the city, county and school district.

Ray Van Beek

Southeast Portland
Oregon standoff in Harney CountyHarney County Judge Steve Grasty

In an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive on January 25, 2016, Harney County Judge Steve Grasty spoke about the reasons he had cancelled a community meeting originally scheduled for later that night at the Harney County Senior Center. He also touched on other issues he and the county face as a result of the ongoing Ammon Bundy-lead occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Grasty cancelled the meeting due to concerns about possible demonstrations and blocking of the center's entrance by armed protesters ahead of the meeting. Dave Killen/Staff

UPDATE: Recall petition against Harney County Judge Steve Grasty validated

A recall petition has been filed against Harney County commissioner Steve Grasty in the aftermath of the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by armed militants earlier this year.

Petitioners say they gathered 566 signatures, the Oregon Secretary of State's Office reported Thursday. The valid signatures of 444 active registered Harney County voters are needed to force a recall election or compel his resignation. Grasty is the County Court judge -- not a judge in the traditional sense, but essentially chairman of the county commission.

If the petition is validated, Grasty will have to resign or submit a "statement of justification" that would be printed on the ballot. If Grasty chooses the latter, a recall election would be held within 35 days of the end of the resignation period.

But Grasty has no plans to step down.

"People elected me to a six-year term, and that's what I'll do unless they decide it should become less," he said late Thursday.

"I love this place," Grasty said. "I love these people. I'm humbled to serve them, and it's my intention to do it for the length of the term."

Grasty announced before the occupation that he didn't plan to seek re-election. He's served three terms, entering office in January 1999. His current term lasts until the end of the year.

Officials are working to verify the signatures, said Laura Terrill, chief of staff for the secretary of state.

Kim Rollins of Burns submitted the paperwork to launch the recall drive, according to the state agency. Rollins, who had been critical of Grasty in an Oregon Public Broadcasting report, declined to comment Thursday night.

Grasty had been adamant that Ammon Bundy and his supporters leave Harney County after they took over the refuge outside of Burns on Jan. 2 to protest federal land-use policies and the imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond.

"Many of us are frustrated by state and federal regulation of land use. Some here are mightily angry about our economy which we cannot control," Grasty said in a statement in January when the occupation was about three weeks old. "Most of all, many of us are appalled by those who were neither invited nor welcomed, but who purport to speak for our county's residents."

The standoff ended with the arrests of Bundy and more than two dozen others and the death of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy'' Finicum, who was shot by Oregon State Police during a confrontation at a roadblock between Burns and John Day.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015
Have you ever wondered how the rest of the world would vote in our presidential election? Probably not, but Finder.com decided to find out anyway.

The customer-service site surveyed 18,256 adults in nine foreign countries, asking them to choose between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for U.S. president.

The top vote-getter overall and in eight of the nine countries was Clinton, the Democratic front-runner and former U.S. secretary of state. She came out on top by wide margins in Germany, Spain, France, Japan, Great Britain, Brazil, Australia and Mexico. Clinton was most popular in Japan, where she took 63 percent of the pretend vote.

The outlier was Canada. It went for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has praised Canada's universal health-care system and some of its other liberal social programs. Sanders, who's been dogging Clinton throughout the Democratic presidential primaries, gained 31 percent support from our northern neighbor. Clinton came in at 29 percent.

Across the nine countries polled, Clinton took 46 percent of the vote, Sanders 14 percent, Trump 10 percent. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who has suspended his campaign, gained 4 percent. "Other" candidates made up the remaining 26 percent.

Trump, the businessman and reality-TV star who is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, ended up in single digits in most of the surveyed countries. Interestingly, he performed best in Canada, where he had the support of 14 percent of those polled.

Finder.com conducted the poll during the last week of April using Google Consumer Surveys and Survey Monkey. Check out the complete results and methodology.

-- Douglas Perry
Get ready to scale Beacon Rock once again.

The main hiking trail at the popular Beacon Rock State Park is set to re-open this Saturday, May 14, according to Washington State Parks.

The Beacon Rock Trail has been closed all season, after storm damage this past winter took it out of commission. It was a blow to those touring the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge, where the rock is perhaps the most prominent attraction.

The 1.8-mile hike winds up an extensive network of switchbacks, made of stone, wooden planks and metal railings to the top of the 848-foot monument.

Beacon Rock was originally named by Lewis and Clark on their 1805 expedition, though for years it was known as Castle Rock. In the early 20th century the original name was officially re-established at the request of Henry Biddle, a pioneer who saved the rock from demolition and built the Beacon Rock Trail to the top.

Modern rock-climbing trails at the rock were also damaged in the winter storms, and will remain closed through July 2016 in select areas. Check the Washington State Parks website for updates before you go.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
For anyone old enough to remember him, President Lyndon B. Johnson was a larger-than-life figure, a son of Texas whose political rise and fall was Shakespearean in its triumphs and tragedies. Johnson is such a complicated man, and his career spanned so many significant moments in American history, that historian Robert Caro has already written four books about Johnson, with a fifth on the way.



It would be easy to portray Johnson, who, as vice president, ascended to the presidency in the shocking wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination, as a Texas-accented cartoon.



But Bryan Cranston knows better, as he demonstrates in the HBO movie, "All the Way," which is carried by Cranston's dynamic performance as the late president. Cranston surely knows his way around the role by now, since he won a Tony award for his performance in the 2014 Broadway production.



The HBO movie is adapted by Robert Schenkkan from his play, commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, and first performed there in 2012, under the direction of Bill Rauch. Rauch, who's also artistic director of the festival, stayed with the play, directing Cranston in the Broadway production, which earned Schenkkan the 2014 Tony for outstanding play.



In "All the Way," Schenkkan foregoes Caro's epic approach, and smartly focuses on Johnson's first year in office, from Kennedy's death in 1963 through the 1964 presidential election, when Democratic candidate Johnson beat his Republican opponent Barry Goldwater in a landslide.





As "All the Way" dramatizes, the journey to that stunning election-night victory was packed with tension and risk, as Johnson used all of his skills to push forward the landmark Civil Rights Act, and cement his status as a worthy successor to JFK.



"All the Way" -- the title echoes Johnson's 1964 campaign slogan, "All the Way with LBJ" -- gets a top-drawer translation to HBO, with Steven Spielberg on board as an executive producer, and Jay Roach -- who has made a specialty of real-life political dramas for HBO, with "Game Change" and "Recount" -- directing.



Cranston is helped tremendously by the wizardly makeup and prosthetic work designed and supervised by Bill Corso, with Frank Perez. Their work transforms Cranston. Looking at his face, with Johnson's nose, and oversize ears, it's hard to imagine this is the same actor who was Walter White in "Breaking Bad."



But Cranston's incisive performance goes beyond simply looking like the late president. His LBJ swivels from folksy friendliness to vulgarity to end-justifies-the-means naked power plays in the blink of an eye. Cranston, thankfully, doesn't overplay any of Johnson's moods. His subtlety and intelligence keep Johnson human, and as multi-dimensional as the man himself.



The Johnson dramatized in "All the Way" wants to move the country forward, and, as he says, drag the South out of its racist past. Johnson is both ruthless and vulnerable, determined to hold on to power, and committed to using his mandate to help bring about the sweeping changes of the "Great Society," which ushered in such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start, along with support for the arts and civil rights.





"All the Way" shows so much of the backroom dealings, influence-peddling and strategic threats that typified Johnson's approach that it can be a bit plodding and talky. There's an awful lot of people declaring what they're going to do, including Johnson telling a longtime ally, "I love you more than my own daddy, but if you get in my way, I'll crush you," and so on.



Fortunately, the events are so momentous, and the cast so outstanding, they keep the stakes high. Anthony Mackie plays Martin Luther King, Jr. as a canny idealist, who knows Johnson needs the support of the African American community to win the election. But, as the civil rights movement is building in strength, King also keeps the pressure on Johnson to pass the Civil Rights Act and, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act, legislation to prohibit discrimination at the polls.



Everyone in the cast delivers vivid performances. Melissa Leo is a supportive, level-headed Lady Bird Johnson. Bradley Whitford (with upward-vaulting eyebrows) makes Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's punching bag and eventual vice president, pragmatic and long-suffering. And Frank Langella is especially expert as Sen. Richard Russell, the Georgia Senator whose friendship with Johnson hits a roadblock when Russell opposes Johnson's efforts to end segregation, a stand that, as Johnson says in "All the Way," means Southern politicians will flee the Democratic party -- as they did.



"All the Way" ends with Johnson exulting in winning the 1964 presidential campaign. But history isn't that generous. At the end, there's a coda of mentions of what came after, Johnson's escalation of the Vietnam War, and the lives lost there; Johnson's decision not to seek re-election in 1968; and his death of a heart attack, at age 64 in 1973.



Johnson's legacy is still debated, and "All the Way" isn't likely to change the minds of those who have already decided whether Johnson is a hero or a villain. But in its best moments, the movie shows how Johnson could be both, at the same time.



"All the Way" premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 21 on HBO



-- Kristi Turnquist







kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist
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Nov. 20

Stewart Ivar Pedersen was sentenced on another case, and found in violation of the suspended sentence where the defendant pleaded no contest to second-offense domestic battery.

Dec. 1

Ronnie William Jordan was sentenced after pleading guilty to theft.

Dec. 4

Alisha Ann Hughes was sentenced after pleading no contest to use or possession of drug paraphernalia, amended from possession of a controlled substance.

Jan. 4

Jovanni Gonzalez was sentenced after pleading guilty to a pedestrian under the influence on highway.

Jan. 13

Andrew James Hockenberry was sentenced after pleading guilty to possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

Jan. 20

Philip Wayne Garcia was sentenced after pleading no contest to contracting without a license.

March 1

Christopher Brian Thompson was sentenced after pleading guilty to battery.

March 15

George Cooper Phillips was bound over to district court on a charge of battery by a prisoner, probationer or parolee.

March 17

Paul Overley was bound over to district court of charges of possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy to violate the controlled substances act.



Christopher Brian Thompson was bound over to district court on a charge of battery by a prisoner, probationer or parolee.
The Hemlock Business Association met recently at Maple Grille.

The group discussed community beautification, participation in the Saginaw County Home Builders Association Home Show at Saginaw Valley State University, the potential of obtaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and heard comments from members regarding happenings in the community.

The organization also voted to monetarily support the Hemlock Robotics Team, Gray Matter, in its quest to compete at the world competition in St. Louis, Mo.

The Hemlock Business Association welcomed its newest member, Frostys Freezer & Pizzeria. HBA will host its next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, May 17, at noon at Frostys.

For more information or to learn how to join HBA, contact one of the executive officers: Monte Wilder, president (989) 781-3131; Lynn McCoy, treasurer (989) 781-1430; Jessica Cappell, secretary (989) 798-2288.
ADA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)  A Grand Rapids-area school district and an author have responded to a parent who wants to ban an anti-bullying children's book because it's about a boy who likes to wear a dress.

Lee Markham contacted Forest Hills Public Schools administrators Wednesday with concerns about the book, "Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress," which is being read to his child's third-grade class. He told WOOD-TV that the book promotes another lifestyle that goes against societal norms.

"For one thing, if any of those kids weren't thinking about wearing dresses, now they are," Markham said.

Superintendent Dan Behm said the book isn't part of the normal curriculum, but is being read in response to students who were asking questions about people who dress differently.

Author Christine Baldacchino told The Grand Rapids Press that she's surprised by the backlash. She said the book's lesson is not to judge or ridicule someone who dresses in an unfamiliar way.

"I don't want Morris being labeled at all, whether it be transgender, gay, or straight. Right now, he's a boy expressing himself, and that's all we know and should care about," Baldacchino said.

She also said that the book's subject is taunted by his classmates who don't understand why he likes the dress in the classroom's dress-up center.

"Kids need the leeway to be able to discover who they are," she said. This is about people just trying to be themselves and expressing themselves the way they want to."

Behm said the students responded to the book by pointing out that the boy's attraction to the dress is similar to different preferences for things like hair styles, hobbies and sports.

"The students showed an easy understanding of this new learning and were ready to move on to know more about math, language arts, science, geography, and the arts," he said.

The school district has no plans to pull the book from the shelves.
Emmaus House of Saginaw will host a reception in honor of co-founder and Executive Director Emeritus Sister Marietta Fritz. The reception will take place on Friday, May 20, from 2-5 p.m. at the First United Presbyterian Church, 121 Harrison Street, Saginaw.

Emmaus House of Saginaw is a transitional living program for women coming from jail, prison or alcohol/drug rehab and serves women in the Great Lakes Bay Region and throughout the state of Michigan. To date, Emmaus House has served more than 1,250 ladies.
Melanie Maxwell

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP)  A judge has approved a request to evaluate the mental competency of a Michigan man accused of poisoning unpackaged food at grocery stores.

The Ann Arbor judge approved the request by defendant Kyle Bessemer's lawyer on Thursday. The lawyer, Christopher Renna, sought the evaluation for competency and criminal responsibility based on conversations he had with Bessemer and his family.
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Michigan State Police: The Amber Alert for Sapphire Palmer has been canceled. Sapphire was safely located by law enforcement in Florida.

No other details were released.
May 12

Mark A. Amador, 27, of Ceres, California, was arrested on Interstate 80 for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $445



Christina N. Braithwaite, 32, of Sparks was arrested at the Washoe County Jail for obtaining or use of another persons ID for harmful or unlawful purposes. Bail: $20,000



Teisha M. Dennis, 35, of Elko was arrested at 3021 E. Idaho St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $1,945



Anthony J. Dohrmann, 42, of Weisser, Idaho, was arrested at 2050 Idaho St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $375



Nicole L. McKay, 35, of San Francisco, California, was arrested at the Elko County Jail for the arrest of a fugitive felon from another state. No bail listed.



Taylor R. Miller, 25, of Elko was arrested at 2065 Idaho St. for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $415



Mathew D. Moore, 21, of Elko was arrested at 7:30 a.m. at 2065 Idaho St. for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. Bail: $1,380



Mathew D. Moore, 21, of Elko was arrested at 1:53 p.m. at the Elko County Jail for revocation of bail. Bail: $5,000



Leif S. Paullus, 48, of Elko was arrested at Sixth and Silver streets for failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. Bail: $325



Catrina R. Randall, 18, of Spring Creek was arrested at 200 Ash St. for violation of probation or condition of suspension and use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail: $640



Jeraldine G. Thomas, 46, of Elko was arrested at Aspen Way and Mountain City Highway for three counts of failure to appear after bail for a misdemeanor. $1,835
FLINT, Mich. (AP)  The state of Michigan will pay all Flint water bills in May to encourage the flushing of lead from old pipes and the recoating of plumbing with a corrosion chemical.

Gov. Rick Snyder made the announcement Thursday at a news conference with Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, who unveiled an advertising campaign urging residents to run cold water for 10 minutes a day for two weeks.

"Essentially, May will be a free water month," Snyder said. "With respect to the water portion of the water and sewer bill, there won't be a charge."

The state already was covering roughly two-thirds of the water portion by providing a credit for use from April 2014, when the city switched to the Flint River while under state emergency management, until the water is declared safe to drink again without a filter. Residents have been using faucet filters and bottled water while enduring the monthslong emergency.

The flushing strategy began May 1. For 14 days, residents are encouraged to run cold water at the highest flow from their bathtub for five minutes and from their kitchen faucet for five minutes, with the filter removed or bypassed.

It will cost the state an estimated $1.7 million, depending on participation.

Flint, which has about 100,000 residents, is still recovering from using the Flint River for 18 months without corrosion controls. The water leached lead from pipes. The city switched back to another source in October.

Experts last month warned that people leery of using the water weren't running enough of it to rid the system of toxic lead, slowing the efforts to clean out lead deposits and recoat the pipes and plumbing to make them safe again.

"The flushing program is another necessary step to fixing the city's broken water system," Weaver said.

Longer term, she has committed to replacing thousands of lead services lines that connect water mains to homes and businesses.

The state has allocated at least $2 million for the initiative, and the Republican governor  who has apologized for his administration's failures related to the water crisis  is asking lawmakers for $25 million more.

___

Eggert reported from Lansing, Michig
photo provided

Sen. Jim Stamas was recently named 2016 Senator of the Year by the Michigan Lodging and Tourism Association (MLTA).

Its an honor to be recognized for supporting Michigan tourism, which supports thousands of small businesses and generates billions of dollars in revenues for local communities, schools and the entire state, said Stamas, R-Midland. The Pure Michigan program provides a great return on investment and a direct, measurable effect on boosting tourism in Michigan. For every dollar we invested in Pure Michigan, the state got back more than seven dollars in revenue last year. Thats good for both Michigan tourism and Michigan taxpayers.
There could be many interesting questions on the ballot this election year, but the Commerce Tax repeal is not likely to be one of them.

Nevada Supreme Court justices booted the referendum this week because it failed to explain what impact it would have on the state budget. That the repeal would result in less revenue seems like a no-brainer, but its proponent Ron Knecht took the opposite tack in claiming it would not result in budget cuts.

The petition wasnt on sturdy legs going into this weeks court hearing anyway, as fewer than half the number of signatures needed had been collected and the deadline for filing them is only about five weeks away. Starting over at this point would be pointless.

There were several arguments for or against signing the petition, but the pro argument that got our attention was that it would lock in the business income threshold at its current $4 million. The original proposal was for a $1 million threshold, which could have a major impact on small businesses.

Now that the repeal effort is all but doomed, lawmakers in the next session are free to tweak the law in any direction they choose.

In the meantime, businesses face the awesome task of figuring out the Commerce Tax in time to file the first return due Aug. 15. All businesses are required to file a return, but only those with gross revenue exceeding $4 million a year will have to pay the tax.

With less than two months remaining before the first reporting period begins on July 1, now is a good time to figure out how to file the return. The Nevada Department of Taxations website has a big button on the home page that says If you received your Welcome to Nevada Commerce Tax letter, please click here for instructions.

The department has also been conducting workshops to inform business owners about the new returns  but only in the major metropolitan areas. That didnt sit well with the local Chamber of Commerce, and they convinced the tax department to come here on May 25. Watch for details on time and location to be released soon.

In the meantime, two other statewide questions have already been certified to be on the ballot. Question 1 would require private gun sales to be conducted through a licensed dealer who runs a background check, and Question 2 would legalize marijuana for adult use, with the funds going toward education.

Several other petitions are striving to make the ballot by the June 21 filing deadline. The Free Press will track successful drives in order to keep readers informed about questions they will be asked when they go to vote on Nov. 8.
Whooping their war cries, hundreds of bare-chested Dothraki riders gallop into battle across a desert plain. The scene, from the sixth series of HBOs Game of Thrones, was shot in the Bardenas Reales nature reserve in Spains northeastern Spanish region of Navarra using locals as the fearsome mounted warriors.

Meanwhile, on the Canary island of Fuerteventura, a well-known time traveler awakes. After a long and difficult journey, he arrives on his native planet of Gallifrey. This is the fourth episode of the BBCs Doctor Who that has been filmed in Spain in three years: swapping the broadcasters Cardiff studios for the Iberian Peninsula is becoming something of a habit.

Spain is once again becoming a favorite location for foreign television companies, enjoying a run akin to its 1960s heyday when Italian film director Sergio Leone built a mini Hollywood in the deserts of Almeria. The appeal is easy to explain, says Carlos Rosado, president of the Spain Film Commission (SFC): After part of the fifth series of Game of Thrones was filmed in Seville, HBO wanted to come back, but on one condition: there had to be a tax incentive. Rosado negotiated the corporate tax reforms with representatives of the Spanish government: We were the only country without tax breaks.

Rosado managed to change that, though the breaks are less generous than in France and Germany. Since 2015, big foreign production teams have enjoyed a 15% tax break on expenses compared to 30% in France and 40% in Germany.

Spain is once again a favorite location for foreign television companies, enjoying a run akin to its 1960s heyday when Sergio Leone built a mini Hollywood in the deserts of Almeria

But Spain makes up for the shortfall, says Rosado: Its cheaper, our people are well trained, we have a proud cultural heritage, the climate is better and its easy to get around. In the morning youre in the snow on a mountain and in the afternoon youre on a tropical beach. Its a small country full of contrasts.

This is how Doctor Who was freezing in the snowy Sierra Nevada of Granada one week and baking in the arid Spaghetti Western desert in Almeria the next. He didnt need the tardis, the two locations are just a couple of hours apart. A year later, the Doctor was walking on the moon  in fact, he was on another Canary Island, Lanzarote, where the production team enjoyed a tax break of 30%.

Penny Dreadful is another series taking advantage of Spains new tax incentives. The third season was shot in Sergio Leones American west in Almeria, but the conditions have improved over the last half century. Besides the tax breaks, there are other developments that appeal. Before, they had to bring their own team, says Rosado. But now theres an industry here thats qualified to help. We dont just provide extras. We can contribute anything from electricians to actors.

Josh Harnett in Penny Dreadful, part of which was filmed in Almeria.

Rosado cites the experience of Fresco Films, the company that produced Game of Thrones and Emerald City, and filmmakers such as Paco Cabezas, who has directed four episodes of Penny Dreadful. I had access to better resources than in a lot of films, says Cabezas, who also shot the Nickelodeon comedy series, Lost in the West in the area. After Almeria, I dont know whats left: weve had horses, shoot outs with vampires, snakes

But what does Spain get out of it? Rosado points out that apart from boosting its tourism brand, there are also economic benefits. Around 40% of our budget is spent on services, local workers and hotels. In Exodus, they spent 800,000 on petrol. Another factor  its good for Spains reputation. If HBO are happy, that has a knock-on effect and the local industry grows.

And HBO - and others  are happy because Spain appears to have it all; beaches, volcanoes, deserts and medieval cities. Game of Thrones conjures up the past with the historical walls and cobbled streets of Peniscola and Girona and, while the remake of Oz, Emerald City was shot in the old quarters of Malaga, Seville and Granada, and the pilot episode of Still-Star-Crossed brought Romeo and Juliets Verona to life in Salamanca, Caceres and Plasencia.

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But Spain has more to offer than fantasy locations. In the miniseries The Night Manager, Madrid and Mallorca provide the backdrop to the action between Spanish actor Antonio de la Torre and bad guy Hugh Laurie. Whats more, a number of the supporting actors have real Spanish accents: Theres an extra tax incentive for using Spanish talent, says Rosado.

While Rosado is positive about the future and keen to avoid the mistakes of the past, Cabezas says the Spanish government could provide more incentives to attract foreign television and film companies. Theyre not going to find another city like Almeria anywhere, he says, but they have to sort out the tax situation. This generates wealth. Its worth hundreds of advertisements.

English version by Heather Galloway.
A vast fire and huge plumes of dense black smoke at Spains largest car tire dump has two regions on alert.

The blaze started in the early hours of Friday at the controversial and illegal tire cemetery, which had been attracting criticism from environmental groups and residents for years.

The dump is located in Sesena, a new town some 36 kilometers southwest of Madrid that is also partly within Castilla-La Mancha. Both regional governments issued a Level 1 alert, and school children were sent home in Sesena. Later on Friday afternoon residents from the El Quinon de Sesena housing development were also evacuated from their properties, due to the risk from the fumes. Around 9,000 people live in the apartments.

Alert raised

At around 1.30pm on Friday, Castilla-La Mancha raised the alert level to 2.

This will allow water aircraft to drop large amounts of water from above and put out the fire faster. At this point we had two options: let the fire burn all the tires or think about the environment and prevent the flames from spreading. We chose the second option, said regional premier Emiliano Garcia-Page, who has traveled to the site of the blaze.

We recommend that people in nearby areas keep their doors and windows shut to avoid exposure

Luis Villarroel, chief regional firefighter

Garcia-Page added that the effort will require several days because there are an estimated five million tires at the dump. He also said that the army is on standby in case its help should be required.

Arson suspected

Authorities are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze, but are increasingly thinking that it might have been deliberate.

I've been talking with the two workers at the gas station who raised the alarm, and they told me that the fire started on one side of the dump, which makes us think it was not a random occurrence that could have happened in the central portion, said Garcia-Page. Besides, it was not so hot last night as all that. But for now we are not drawing any conclusions.

Stay indoors

Ten firefighter units from Madrid and Toledo are working with heavy machinery to put out the fire. Luis Villarroel, chief of the regional firefighting force, said that around a fifth of the thousands of tons of accumulated tires are burning.

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We are now focusing on preventing the fire from extending to other areas, he said. We recommend that people in nearby areas keep their doors and windows shut to avoid exposure.

The dump contains an estimated five million discarded tires spread over 9.8 hectares of land. So far, one hectare is affected by the flames.

Were okay at school, it doesnt smell like smoke. But we have to remain vigilant, said Marta Fernandez, a primary school teacher in the nearby municipality of Valdemoro.

Authorities have asked residents to reduce their exposure to the smoke and to close their doors and windows. All schools in Sesena have suspended classes and the local police are telling people to stay indoors, especially if they have respiratory problems.

The town of Sesena was already notorious for a massive residential development that stood empty for years and came to symbolize the excesses of the Spanish real estate boom. Meanwhile, the tire dump was declared illegal in 2003 for failing to meet environmental requirements.

English version by Susana Urra.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.

Thursday, May 12

12:05 a.m.  Police investigated a driver license violation at Washington Street and Whispering Oak Drive.

Wednesday, May 11

12:16 a.m.  Deputies were sent to assist paramedics with a highly intoxicated 29-year-old man in front of a Lee Township mobile home park. The man had been involved in arguments with multiple people. The man was taken to the hospital for treatment of his high level of intoxication.

10:17 a.m.  A woman reported a man was flying a drone over her Edenville Township home. She confronted the man and wanted to knock down the device. The drone was 150 feet above ground, and the man was not violating any laws. The woman was told she could not damage the drone.

11:58 a.m.  A deputy investigated a case of littering and trespassing on hunting property in Homer Township. It is believed the subjects involved had driven into the woods to use drugs due to items that were left behind.

12:07 p.m.  Officers investigated a hit and run traffic crash at Eastman Avenue and North Saginaw Road.

12:14 p.m.  Police investigated a case of fraud in the 600 block of Columbia Street.

1:52 p.m.  A Jerome Township woman reported someone tried to obtain unemployment benefits using her personal information.

5:32 p.m. Deputies were called to a Mount Haley Township home for a domestic assault involving a man and woman, ages 37 and 40. The man was arrested on a warrant. A report on the assault is being sent to the prosecutor.

6:29 p.m.  Property was stolen from the 4900 block of Isabella Street.

7:53 p.m.  A Midland Township home was broken into, and property valued at a total of $720 was stolen.

8:02 p.m.  Police investigated a driver license violation in the 3900 block of East Ashman Street.

10:38 p.m.  Police investigated a personal protection order violation.

11:34 p.m.  Deputies were sent to a report of a fight in Lee Township. The people involved left the area before officials arrived.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department.

Tuesday, May 10

4:03 a.m.  A Greendale Township man, 53, was arrested in that township for third-offense drunken driving and driving on a suspended license. He was cited for no proof of insurance and refusing a preliminary breath test.

9:40 a.m.  A deputy assisted two Department of Human Services workers at a Lee Township home.

9:53 a.m.  Police investigated a driver license violation at James Savage Road and Waldo Avenue.

11:34 a.m.  Deputies were sent to Mills Township for a report of a 63-year-old man who shot his dog.

2:37 p.m.  A deputy was sent to M-20 after a report of a car that was speeding and reckless driving. The driver, a 23-year-old man, was stopped and given a verbal warning for improper lane use.

4:58 p.m. A Lee Township homes mailbox was struck by a vehicle.

7:10 p.m.  Gasoline, valued at $31.61, was stolen from a Village of Sanford gas station.

8:43 p.m. A $280 weed cutter was stolen from a storage shed at a Jerome Township home.

8:48 p.m.  Police investigated a breaking and entering in the 7300 block of Aster Street.

9:27 p.m. A motorist was arrested at Eastman Avenue and Dilloway Drive for driving on a suspended license.
Dilma Rousseff speaks to supporters moments after she was suspended from the presidency. Antonio Lacerda (EFE)

More information Rousseff apela a la movilizacion para revertir su salida del poder

Addressing the nation in an impassioned televised speech from the presidential palace just minutes after she was suspended from the presidency of Brazil by the countrys Senate, a defiant Dilma Rousseff called on Brazilians who are against this coup to stay mobilized, united and peaceful.

Rousseff has made it clear over the last five months that she intends to fight her impeachment over accusations she hid a deficit in the public accounts in the run-up to the 2014 elections by using money from a state-owned bank.

And now, after a simple majority of the 81-member Senate voted to impeach her on Thursday, she has been suspended from office for the next six months while it hears her case. In the meantime, she insists she will continue to fight.

Vice President Michel Temer, who has taken over from Rousseff, has already announced a new Cabinet and his intention to focus on the countrys economy and implement business and investment-friendly policies.

The 68-year-old two-times president said the impeachment was the oppositions opportunity to roll back the policies she had implemented for Brazils poor

Flanked by ministers and supporters, Rousseff admitted during her 14-minute speech to making mistakes but that she had not committed any crimes, and insisting: I did not violate budgetary laws.

She added: What is at stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the Brazilian people and the constitution.

Dismissing the impeachment process of the last five months as fraudulent and sabotage, she vowed to fight the charges against her, insisting she was confident she would be found innocent.

The 68-year-old two-times president said the impeachment was the oppositions opportunity to roll back the policies she and her predecessor, Lula da Silva, had implemented for Brazils poor and lower-middle classes.

They have taken by force what they could not conquer at the ballot box, she said of the opposition. Its the most brutal of things that can happen to a human being to be condemned for a crime you didnt commit. There is no more devastating injustice, she added.

Brazils first female president

Her voice momentarily wavering, Rousseff continued, saying that she was proud to have been Brazils first female president, and referred to the military regime that ran the country for two decades until 1985 and her cruel treatment at its hands.

I have suffered the invisible pain of torture, the emotional pain of illness, and now I suffer once more the equally unspeakable pain of injustice, she said, referring to her battle with cancer.

What hurts the most in this moment is the injustice. Its the realization that Im the victim of a judicial and political farce. But I do not falter. I look back and I see everything we have done. I look onward and I see everything we need to do  I look at myself and see the face of someone who, even though marked by time, still has the strength to fight for their beliefs and rights, she concluded.

After her speech she left the presidential palace and shook hands with the estimated 3,000 supporters gathered outside.

In another speech outside she told supporters she could feel their love and energy on what she called a tragic day for the country.

The Senate will vote again in October to decide Rousseffs future. This time a two-thirds majority will be required. But that is a long way off, and in the meantime, real power will be in the hands of Michel Temer, who has gone from being Rousseffs political ally, to her worst enemy, and in her words, the father of the conspirators.

Rousseffs opponents in Congress have used the accusations of hiding the budget deficit in 2014 to remove her from office, but many also blame her for the recession that has hit the country, with an economy that has shrunk 3% this year and that has seen Brazils international credit rating plummet. The only way forward, they argue, was for a change of government.

Rousseffs supporters point out that she won 54 million votes in the 2014 elections and that any manipulation of the countrys accounts or the grave economic situation are not just cause for removing her from office. Elections are due in 2018.

English version by Nick Lyne.
Tano Y Chamorro, or Land of the Chamorro is written on every license plate on the island of Guam. For Guam natives, the island is not just a home, but a certain island spirit is pervasive to their way of life.



With his eyes lit with excitement, Tech. Sgt. Rolando Jose, 44th Aerial Port Squadron air transportation special handler, said he is proud to share stories of his island, culture and family background. Born and raised on Guam, Jose has been an Airman in the U.S. Air Force Reserve for the past 11 years.



Currently, Asian Americans and Pacific islanders make up about 4.5 percent of the Air Force, making him part of one of the smallest demographics to serve in the military. The month of May is designated to celebrate the heritage and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific islanders in the military.



Especially knowing what a small percentage we represent, I feel proud to serve in the U.S. Air Force, Jose said. You can go on a deployment and see somebody from Guam or the Pacific region, and even though you never met this person, you feel linked to them. The culture is very family oriented and you feel an instant bond.



With a Chamorro, Chinese and Filipino background, Jose grew up in a culture in which family is of vital importance and has learned from an early age to always offer a helping hand. Service to others, he said, is seen as important for building ones character.



Throughout his adolescence, Jose said he has heard many stories about his familys experiences during times of adversitystories that have remained with him throughout the years. His father grew up during wartime in the Philippines, and made the decision to live alone from the age of 13 after the death of his parents. Jose also heard stories of his aunts who experienced hardships amid the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II.



Through my parents and other relatives experiences, I learned to value the things that you have now and also instill that in my children, Jose said. Knowing about my familys background, provides motivation for me to strive to be the best I can be, and to never stop reaching for my goals.



It was also his family that led him to his military journey after working for a few years following high school. Jose was initially unsure about enlisting in the military, but at the advice of his uncle and cousins who served in other branches, he decided he wanted to pursue this career path. In 2005 he enlisted in the Air Force Reserve at the age of 22.



I never thought I would be doing this; but here I am, 11 years later, Jose said. Its very rewarding to serve in the career field I'm in. Being an air transportation special handler is not the easiest job, but I'm always learning new things and I love it.



Jose is responsible for the loading and unloading of cargo pallets and potentially hazardous material. Once he ensures hazards such as car batteries have been documented properly and military equipment and passenger cargo have been properly inspected, it is then loaded onto trucks and aircraft.



Tech. Sgt. Jose is a dedicated and motivated Airman who contributes valuable experience and expertise to the overall mission and more importantly is a great mentor and leader to our team, said Master Sgt. Vincent Toves, 44th APS NCO in charge of the special handling section. He is a supportive wingman that integrates the military core values and philosophy in his military duties and civilian life. His character is energetic and essential to the overall representation of the 44th APS.



When not wearing his Airman Battle Uniform, Jose continues to use his skillsets he learned in the Air Force when he dons his second uniform as a Transportation Security Administration agent at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport. As the first line of defense at the airport, he checks baggage to ensure attacks are prevented and to keep thousands of people safe when flying to and from the island.



With three deployments already under his belt, Jose said he has gained perspective on what it means to really appreciate the little things life has to offer.



Military life is very different from civilian life, Jose said. We are so used to comforts at home, but during deployments we have to make do with what we have. This is why I like being a civilian and a military member because I get to see both sides of the spectrum.



Jose said he realizes not everyone gets to enjoy the little luxuries in life, which often have to be fought for. To him, this is yet another reason to believe in giving back to the community.



It all stems back to my parents and the way they raised me, he said. I like helping people and encourage my kids to do the same. My children and I are involved in community service through our church as well as a kids club where we participate in cleanups and give back to the community.



Jose said juggling military, civilian and family life can be a difficult task, but he loves the challenges and is becoming a better person because of them.



Throughout the years, island upbringing and cultural values have been important in his life and he strives to pass these ideals on to the next generation. Growing up, having respect not only for community elders but for all is a fundamental part of the Chamorro culture, Jose said, inspiring him to appreciate and respects hearing the advice and lessons from his wingmen in the military.



During my time in the Air Force, the skills and advice I received from leaders has remained with me, he said. Personally, now that I am in the position Im in as a leader, its not about myself anymore; its about my Airmen. If I know I made an impact on their career, thats what is really rewarding.



Serving with passion on his home island, Jose has decided to reenlist and remain in the military for the long haul. With a promotion to the rank of master sergeant on the horizon, he said hes inspired to keep reaching for future goals, but at the same time to never forget his roots and where he came from.



I love the Air Force and what I do, Jose said. I want to continue to serve past 20 years, if possible. I did not think I would get this far in my career so soon, which is a huge accomplishment for me. My motivation for all I do are my children; everything I do is for them and I make it my mission to make sure they go farther than me and are set up for success.








Marines soar through Yokota skies

Drop Zone coordinators with the 36th Airlift Squadron set up an angle marker at Yokota Air Base, Japan, May 11, 2016. U.S. Marine Corps from the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force conducted weeklong jump training from an Air Force C-130 Hercules, assigned to the 36 AS. The training not only allowed the Marines to practice jumping, but it also allowed the Yokota aircrews to practice flight tactics and timed-package drops. (U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe/Released)
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea -- Beginning with a three-month deployment from Beale Air Force Base, California, 40 years ago, the U-2 Dragon Lady has flown over South Korean skies in countless air operations.

Formerly Detachment 2 from the 9th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron Blackcats celebrated this monumental feat with a 40th anniversary ceremony May 6 here.

First, this is a celebration of the heritage we have at Osan as the Blackcats, said Lt. Col. Todd Larsen, 5th RS commander. Second, this is a celebration from the Blackcats to ourselves, as well as Team Osan for the support they provide us every day.

The 5th RS, the fifth oldest Air Force squadron dating back to World War 1, was reactivated in October 1994 as Det. 2 to assist in the defense of the Republic of Korea through the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission in the Southeast Asia region.

Whether we were the Det. 2 or the 5th RS, we have always been the Blackcats and well continue to be while were here at Osan, said Larsen.

Were as much a part of Team Osan as we are of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, he added.

The Blackcats mission at Osan is to protect the Korean peninsula as well as support Pacific Air Forces, which wouldnt be feasible without the Blackcat Airmen to support the U-2.

Were a combined maintenance and operations squadron, which there arent many left in the Air Force, said Larson. Inside our squadron, we have about 200 men and women supporting our four aircraft, which speaks highly to their ability to overcome the obstacles that our mission has.

Staff Sgt. Milton Keith, one of the 5th RS crew chiefs, spoke up about his service to this aircraft and his squadron.

It brings me great pride to be able to be one of the very small percentages within the Air Force to crew this awesome, old airplane, said Keith.

After the ceremony concluded, Team Osan members toured the facility and took family pictures with the 5th RS iconic aircraft.
Statement by the Press Secretary on the Presidents Travel to Vietnam and Japan

The President will travel to Vietnam and Japan May 21-28, on what will be his tenth trip to Asia. This trip will highlight the Presidents ongoing commitment to the U.S. Rebalance to Asia and the Pacific, designed to increase U.S. diplomatic, economic, and security engagement with the countries and peoples of the region.

The President will first visit Vietnam, where he will hold official meetings with Vietnam's leadership to discuss ways for the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to advance cooperation across a wide range of areas, including economic, people-to-people, security, human rights, and global and regional issues. In Hanoi, the President will deliver a speech on U.S.-Vietnam relations. During meetings and events in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the President will discuss the importance of approving the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year. The President also will meet with members of civil society, the Young Southeast Asian Leadership Initiative,

entrepreneurs, and the business community.

In Japan, the President will participate in his final G-7 Summit in Ise-Shima. This gathering will enable the G-7 leaders to advance common interests across the full range of economic and security priorities and to address pressing global challenges. The President and Prime Minister Abe will meet bilaterally to further advance the U.S.-Japan alliance, including our cooperation on economic and security issues as well as a host of global challenges. Finally, the President will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
WAIANAE, Hawaii -- Natural disasters are scary and many have witnessed the damage from what a hurricane or tornado can do to a community. Having a plan will help mitigate some of the risks.

Soldiers assigned to 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, participated in the Waianae Military Civilian Advisory Council and recently talked to the local community about disaster preparedness.

"We received a warm welcome and engaged in several conversations about the Army's ability to respond to disasters around the island," said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Krystal Cope, 2nd IBCT Aviation Officer. "This is a great opportunity for all groups to develop a better understanding of what resources would be needed and how to best utilize those resources in the event of a disaster."

The intent of the fair was to inform the citizens of Waianae who the community leaders and volunteers were and what organizations are available at the time of a disaster.

"Bringing together various government, non-government organizations and military representatives across all aspects, allows everyone to work together towards achieving a common emergency preparedness, response and recovery plan," said Cope.

During the meeting Warrior Brigade Soldiers highlighted specific plans and assets available to the community. Sgt. 1st Class Ian Brown, 2nd IBCT civil affairs noncommissioned officer in charge, briefed the citizens and some of the volunteers on the defense support to civil authorities and the equipment and assets available from Schofield Barracks in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

"The benefit for the community is the understanding of the process, in order to bring federal forces in to the disaster relief operations and the capabilities of the forces involved," said Brown.

Areas of concern from Ken Gilbert and Alice Greenwood, both local residents, were what plans are in place if Waianae is cut off during a disaster and where the staging areas are for personnel and relief supplies.

While the National Guard is the lead military agency in the event of a natural or man-made disasters, Paulette Dibbler, from the American Red Cross, mentioned Waianae High School (85626 Farrington Hwy, Waianae, Hawaii 96792) and Nanakuli High and Intermediate School (89980 Nanakuli Ave, Waianae, Hawaii 96792) are the only places designated by the ARC as staging areas for supplies and shelters for the citizens of Waianae.

"The military, whether National Guard or federal forces, bring a unique set of capabilities and assets to disaster response operations," Brown added. "The ability to move large amounts of personnel, both into and out of the disaster zone, and relief supplies either by ground or by air."

Footnote: According to Army Doctrine Reference Publication: Disaster relief missions are provided for under Department of Defense Directive (DODD) 3025.18, Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA). DODD 3025.18 defines Defense Support to Civil Authorities as - support provided by U.S. Federal military forces, DOD civilians, DOD contract personnel, DOD Component assets, and National Guard forces (when the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Governors of the affected States, elects and requests to use those forces in Title 32, United States Code, status) in response to requests for assistance from civil authorities for domestic emergencies, law enforcement support, and other domestic activities, or from qualifying entities for special events.
PACIFIC OCEAN - USNS Mercy (T-AH 19), a hospital ship operated by Military Sealift Command, departed San Diego May 11 for Pacific Partnership 2016, an annual maritime operation designed to improve disaster response preparedness while enhancing partnerships with participating nations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

Pacific Partnership, in its 11th year, is the largest annual multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the region, and was born out of the military-led response to the tsunami that struck parts of Southeast Asia in December 2004.

This year's mission is led by Commodore, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 23, embarked on Mercy, along with more than 600 military and civilian personnel from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Japan.

Indonesia, Timor Leste, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, and Vietnam are slated to host Mercy during PP16 and participate in subject-matter expert and civil-military exchanges, emphasizing the importance of cooperation on a global scale in preparing for and responding to disasters. Japan will also lead a mission to Palau.

It is a privilege and honor to be the Pacific Partnership mission commander. As in previous years, it attracts a very talented and dynamic group of professionals who will not only share their knowledge with our partners, but learn a great deal from the partner nations we are visiting, said Capt. Tom Williams, commodore, DESRON 23. Pacific Partnerships enduring value is in building professional and personal relationships in times of calm to be better prepared for crisis, so when disaster strikes we have a mutual understanding of how to work together to achieve common goals.

Mercy will also be providing humanitarian relief and training as medical, dental, civil-engineering, and veterinary teams partner with each host nation in conducting civic-action projects, community health exchanges, medical symposiums, and humanitarian and disaster relief (HA/DR) drills.

This being the 11th year of Pacific Partnership we have the benefit of looking back at all previous missions, especially last years Pacific Partnership 2015, and build upon our formula, using that information to tailor what we plan to provide in each host nation based on their specific needs and capabilities, said Capt. Melanie Merrick, commanding officer of Medical Treatment Facility USNS Mercy. Im looking forward to the great work we will do on this mission, and to continue to learn from our partners.

Engagements between Pacific Partnership participants and host nations are intended to improve capacity, enhance regional partnerships, and increase multilateral cooperation for HA/DR preparedness.
HIROSHIMA, Japan -- Marines with Marine Wing Support Squadron 171 simulated aircraft salvage and recovery operations during exercise Thunder Horse 16.2 at the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces Haramura Maneuver Area in Hiroshima, Japan, May 11, 2016.

The exercise focuses on reinforcing skills that Marines learned during Marine Combat Training and throughout their military occupational specialty schooling in order to maintain situational readiness.

The aircraft salvage and recovery was conducted to show that our unit is capable of performing these types of operations, said 1st Lt. Frederick Holwerda, current operations officer with MWSS-171. These operations could be conducted anytime an aircraft makes an unexpected landing and cannot make it back to its maintenance area on its own.

Motor transportation operators, combat engineers, heavy equipment operators, and aircraft rescue and firefighters worked together to recover the simulated downed aircraft.

The opportunity to train in this environment helps Marines within different squadrons enhance their technical skills, field experience and military occupational specialty capabilities.

We had to learn to overcome obstacles when working in the mud and conducting our jobs fluently while wearing gas masks, said Pfc. Dalton Tennyson, a motor transportation operator with MWSS-171.

The Marines received a brief about the situation, conducted a convoy to the crash site, posted security, searched and assessed the area, located missing debris from the aircraft, lifted the aircraft, set it down on the back of a 7-ton medium tactical vehicle replacement and disguised the aircraft before returning back to friendly lines through a tactical convoy.

We had the expeditionary fire rescue Marines out there, and they were the first on scene, said Holwerda. They conducted extrication operations where they cut into the aircraft to assess the situation, extract any victims on-board and take out any sensitive equipment from the aircraft.

The Marines conducted the recovery operations once in the morning and again in the afternoon. During the second recovery, Marines had to overcome difficulties such as working in gas masks, having access to only one side of the aircraft and driving vehicles through tougher terrain.

Confidence in the Marines was through the roof the second time we conducted this training, said Staff Sgt. Justin Barnes, assistant chief of operations with MWSS-171. The team building and camaraderie we hoped for during this exercise happened." Seeing the gained knowledge and confidence from the Marines gratified me.

Holwerda said this is the first time MWSS-171 has trained in aircraft salvage and recovery at this magnitude.

This is extremely important because if an aircraft has a mishap for some reason in Japan, we are trained and ready to execute the recovery of an aircraft, said Holwerda. We have the capabilities and the knowledge within the squadron who know how aircraft salvage and recovery works. That allows us to support the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and give the Marine Corps a few more valuable assets.

Barnes said the exercise helped him recognize his capabilities, limitations, strengths and weaknesses as a Marine, which will help him become a better leader.

I appreciate the struggles the Marines encountered, said Barnes. Being able to push myself and my Marines through until the end increased our confidence, and we become a better team.
Trump arrives for his meeting with Congressional leader Ryan in Washington. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (AFP)

More information Donald Trump y Paul Ryan se unen para derrotar a Hillary Clinton

Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, the speaker of Congress, have put their ideological differences aside and agreed to work together to defeat Hillary Clinton in the upcoming November 8 elections.

While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground, read a statement issued on Thursday by the pair, who have only met once before, briefly.

Ryan has still declined to formally endorse Trump but said their conversation was encouraging.

The United States cannot afford another four years of Obama in the White House, which is what Hillary Clinton represents, read their joint statement.

Since Trump established himself as the likely Republican nominee, Ryan has been among his staunchest opponents within the party

The 45-minute meeting between Ryan and Trump was also attended by Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus. Afterwards, Ryan told reporters it was the first step toward uniting the party but that further meetings would be required. Trump also talked face to face with Senate leaders.

Since Trump established himself as the likely Republican nominee, Ryan has been among his staunchest opponents within the party, criticizing his insults to Muslims and women, as well as his friendliness toward racist groups.

Stick to the script, or ad-lib? Sometimes Donald Trump says he wants to raise taxes on the rich; sometimes he says he wants to lower them. He proposes increasing the minimum wage, but says American workers are paid too much. He has said women who have abortions should be punished, and then backtracks. He says he will be presidential, and then launches bitter personal attacks on his rivals and allies alike. He suggests he will soften his remarks regarding Muslims and be more conciliatory toward Republicans, while at the same time saying he owes the party nothing and that voters like his irreverent style. Despite the contradictions, Donald Trump looks set to win the nomination of a party that has traditionally imposed a rigid ideological will on its candidates and representatives. Obviously, there is a problem here.

Ryan is a traditional Republican who favors cutting back government assistance, free markets and defends interventionist foreign policies. Trump, a novice politician who has proved difficult to classify, disagrees with Ryan on spending cuts, tax policy and has called for protective tariffs. Similarly, the two mens approach to public speaking could not be more different: where Trump is brash, Ryan is low-key.

What brings them together is their interest in uniting the party. Trump needs widespread Republican support to help him mobilize voters and raise money. Ryan fears the growing schism could hurt Republican members of Congress who are up for re-election on November 8. Republicans currently hold a majority in both houses.

And both want to defeat Clinton, the frontrunner in the Democratic primaries race. A divided Republican Party would virtually guarantee a third Democratic term in the White House after Obamas eight years, something that has not happened since 1940.

English version by Nick Lyne.
VIETNAM -- The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency returned from a recovery mission in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, April 12, after deploying in an effort to recover the remains of a U.S. Air Force pilot and navigator who were lost when their RF-4C Phantom aircraft went missing during a reconnaissance mission during the Vietnam War in January 1968.Braving austere conditions, the team faced a 51 degree slope in order to successfully excavate the possible resting place of the service members. In total, the team excavated 800 square meters which led to the discovery of possible life support equipment and possible remains.

"DPAAs mission is a great example of how our country repays the debt we owe all our service men and women for the sacrifices they make every day, said John Campbell, an archeologist with the Corp of Army Engineers. Both in the closure it can provide to the families of lost service members, and the participation of active service members in bringing their comrades home.

Comprised of 16 members, the team included specialized individuals specifically trained for medical aid, explosives detection and mountain repels training. The joint effort ensured that all obstacles faced by the team were handled safely and professionally.

The team faced a lot of challenges with the adverse mountain conditions, unpredictable weather and the intense operating tempo, said U.S. Air Force 1st Lt. Christopher Perez, team leader. From day one until the end, they all kept in mind the reason they were there. When they were tired, they focused on keeping the nations promise, and it made all the difference, and they did an admirable job.

The mission was the second time DPAA was sent to Socialist Republic of Vietnam this fiscal year, continuing in their diligent effort to account for missing Americans from past wars, for the fullest possible accounting to their families and the nation.

Being able to do this job is an awesome feeling and an honor, said U.S. Army Sgt. Hector Garcio, who assisted in the recovery. Being in pain at times while on the site digging, screening, building and hiking means nothing and the pain is replaced with excitement and joy when we find a fallen service member. I always keep the thought of the service member we are looking for while I am in pain to keep me going. I also keep their family in my thoughts as well knowing that I am helping them get closure. At the end of the day, it is worth all the pain and soreness when we get to bring a fallen service member back home and fulfill our nations promise of leaving no one behind.
Question: While you are Googling any number of subjects, Google itself is naturally keeping track, too, so its data research can reveal what interests us. Can you name the top 10 cities in Illinois for Google searches for "adult-related and/or sexual-related materials"?
NORMAL  The new location for the McLean County Chamber of Commerce Twin Cities Showcase got high marks from people attending Thursday's event at Illinois State University's Bone Student Center.

It's much easier to get to the different displays, said Mary Shive of Bloomington, who has been to several past showcase trade shows.

The move to ISU was needed because the showcase had outgrown previous locations, according to Charlie Moore, the chamber's CEO.

Eighty businesses and organizations along with 17 food vendors filled the Brown Ballroom and Circus Room. Organizers expected attendance of 500 to 700.

We had a waiting list of businesses who couldn't get in, said Moore.

Shive said she and a friend attend the show because we like to come and see what's new.

Among companies at the show for the first time was The Magic Blue Box, a marketing company that recently became part of Snyder Corp.

Standing at his booth, Dan Woodman said he enjoyed having the opportunity to meet a lot of people and tell them about his business.

Bloomington-Normal is lucky to have a Chamber that's so active, Woodman said.

Katy Selzer, sales marketing manager for the Bloomington-Normal Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the showcase was more than a chance to explain what the CVB does.

It's a chance to network with people and ask what ... activities they are involved with outside of the community that we could potentially bring to Bloomington-Normal, said Selzer.

Taste of the Showcase, presented by Hy-Vee, was a big draw.

Shive liked that the food vendors were spread out around the two rooms and not just in one place.

The crowd grew as the lunch hour neared and those eating the free food weren't the only ones who were pleased.

When I see people lined up for my food it makes me happy," said Allen Chambers, a chef at the Parke Regency Hotel and Conference Center. That's why I wore my 'happy hat' today.

Jessica Gregory, catering manager at Hy-Vee, said people are still getting to know what's offered at Hy-Vee, which opened a little over a year ago.
BLOOMINGTON  The Bloomington Police Department is seeking a man on weapons charges after officers found a gun inside a vehicle parked outside a West Market Street store in April.

BPD is seeking information on the whereabouts of James L. Fields, also known as "Smooda" or "Smuda," of Bloomington.

Fields is described as 19 years old, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and 175 pounds. He has brown eyes, black hair and has a 3-to 4-inch scar on his right forearm, said police.

Fields is currently wanted in McLean County on charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and aggravated unlawful use of weapons. The police department cautioned Fields should not be approached and should be considered armed and dangerous.

The charges stem from an April 15 incident in the parking lot of the Red & Blue Food Mart, 1001 W. Market St.

A BPD street crimes unit officer, while passing the store on patrol, spotted Fields talking to another person in the parking lot. The officer turned his squad car around and approached the vehicle Fields was seen in, but he was no longer inside, said BPD spokesman Sara Mayer.

The officer smelled an odor of cannabis coming from the vehicle, leading to further investigation. A handgun was found inside. An investigation into who owned the gun led to police obtaining a warrant for Fields' arrest, said Mayer.

Fields has ties to the Chicago area, and it is possible he may be there, said Mayer.

Anyone with information on Fields' whereabouts is asked to contact Bloomington Police Department at 309-820-8888. People can remain anonymous by contacting McLean County Crime Stoppers at 309-828-1111.
BLOOMINGTON  A man from Atlanta, Ga., and a woman from LaGrange, Ind., face methamphetamine trafficking charges after a routine traffic stop turned up high-quality crystal meth in their car.

Driver Shawn Castleman, 35, and passenger Melysa Coffin, 28, were charged Friday with possession of meth with intent to deliver the drug, meth trafficking and unlawful possession of meth. Castleman also was given three traffic citations.

Both were jailed in lieu of posting $200,035.

Authorities said McLean County Deputy Bryan Hanner stopped the car Wednesday for speeding on 3850 East Road near Saybrook east of the Twin Cities.

Coffin's 3-year-old daughter, who was in the car when it was pulled over, was taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services.

The quantity and quality of the drug are a first for the county, Sheriff Jon Sandage said Thursday, adding the meth is worth about $30,000 on the street.

Crystal meth is a highly addictive street drug that can be snorted, smoked or injected with a needle. Abuse can lead to serious health conditions, including memory loss, aggression, psychotic behavior and potential heart and brain damage, according to the Foundation for Drug-Free World.

"This amount going to one destination was surprising to me. It tells me there is a market for it out there. These drugs were on route to Saybrook for distribution in eastern McLean County," said Sandage.

Detective Tim Tyler, one of the officers involved in the investigation, said, "I've never seen that much meth in one spot in my life."

The largest portion of the drug known as "ice" because it resembles crushed ice, was in a single-serve plastic milk jug found inside the car. Also located were several smaller packets, presumably ready to sell, said authorities.

The crystal meth is more potent than its counterpart that is commonly manufactured using cold pills and farm chemicals, said Tyler, adding the drug came from a source outside the U.S.

"This came straight from Mexico. It was in Atlanta (Ga.) this time yesterday," said Tyler.

Sandage said more arrests could be made in connection with the investigation.

The arrests also were the first drug bust for "Rico," the second K-9 unit recently acquired by the sheriff's department.
NORMAL  Less than two weeks before the last day of school, students at Normal Community West High School walked the halls with the Illinois governor.

Gov. Bruce Rauner visited the school Thursday afternoon to chat with students and discuss education funding.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos and McLean County Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel greeted the governor and introduced him to members of the school board. When Rauner discovered that Gail Ann Briggs has served on the board for 40 years, he gave her a hug.

Thank you for your leadership. God bless you, said Rauner.

He stopped by the school library where a Spanish class was wrapping up presentations. Rachael Hernandez, who chairs the foreign language department, asked freshman duo Justin Endsley and Clayton Davis to show their project to the governor.

Dont be nervous. Hes just another person, Hernandez told the boys.

Endsley and Davis showed the governor the presentation on a laptop. NCWHS Principal Dave Johnson explained how students use laptops through the districts one-to-one device rental program.

I was a little nervous, but it was nice to meet him, said Endsley.

Rauner chatted with other students in the library before swinging by a technology class.

Senior Micaela Harris tagged along on the governor's tour, taking photos and notes for the school newspaper where she is editor.

Ive covered a lot of political things in town. I went to the Donald Trump rally. Im really into politics, said Harris.

She plans to study political communication at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Her first pick was Bradley University in Peoria, but she said the state's higher-education funding problems prompted her to apply elsewhere.

On the tour, Daniel told the governor about the districts freshman mentoring program and high graduation rate.

Thank you for being such hardworking students, Rauner said to an auditorium of Wildcats. Im fighting to increase the support for schools. Education is my No. 1 passion.

Students asked questions about college funding and how the governor plans to bring both parties in Springfield together to reach a budget decision.

We have to change the funding structure to free up some money, said Rauner. Im trying to stop deficit spending. No matter what happens with the state budget, I want to make sure your school is funded.

After the assembly, Harris said she was proud of the questions her classmates asked but she didnt hear anything new from the governor.

He didnt give an exact timeline, and it was a lot of the same stuff weve been hearing, she said.

Before his visit to Normal West, Rauner made an appearance at Ozark House restaurant in Bloomington where law enforcement leaders graduated from the Police Executive Role in the 21st Century program.
BLOOMINGTON  A legacy of anti-blackness continues to have a negative impact in America, but collective efforts and resilience can bring change, a black activist said Thursday in her keynote address to a racism summit at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Malcolm X is not coming back to save us. There is no Martin Luther King in 2016. There is no single charismatic leader coming to save us or free us, said Charlene Carruthers, a 2007 IWU graduate who is national director of the Black Youth Project 100.

But it is within our collective power to do it, Carruthers told a crowd of more than 150 people at the Hansen Student Center.

Black folk embody resilience, said Carruthers, adding that resilience is not just enduring. We have to aspire to more than struggle.

Carruthers' remarks came at the end of the first day of a three-day conference, Summit: New Frontiers in the Study of Colorblind Racism.

Associate professor Meghan Burke, who organized the summit, said the turnout has been good for the conference-style presentations.

She hopes to continue to build dialogue between scholars and those working on the problems when the summit continues Friday with a panel at 9 a.m. in Room 202 of State Farm Hall. It will bring together academics researching racism and representatives of local organizations working for social justice.

In her talk, The Legacy and Impact of Anti-Blackness in America, Carruthers said, Anti-blackness is a belief that there's something wrong with black people.

She noted that, until recently, blacks in Chicago were 15 times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession even though marijuana use is roughly equal among blacks and whites.

Carruthers blamed the disproportionate arrests and incarcerations of blacks on the black community being more scrutinized and targeted.

She doesn't believe having more black people serve as police officers will fix the problem.

Carruthers, who lives in Chicago, said, The new police chief is black. I don't feel safer.

Instead, I think we have to completely change how we deal with conflict and harm, she said. The system is not working.

There should be other options when problems arise besides calling the police, such as community-based respondents, Carruthers suggested.

Among those at the talk was IWU history Professor Emeritus Paul Bushnell, who was involved in the civil rights movement and participated in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in the early 1960s.

He thinks the growth of Black Lives Matter and similar movements is a reflection of the frustrations of those who feel society has not made the progress that is needed. But he sees signs of hope.

We're getting some more very able black leadership into public life, he said after Carruthers' talk.

In answer to a question from a recent graduate who wants to be an activist but fears getting burned out in the struggle, Carruthers said, Take care of yourself. You can't do it alone.  You have to build a community around you.

She also suggested seeing activism as a craft.

Just as an artist has to spend hours and hours and years and years developing their craft, the organizers, the scholar, has to do the same thing, said Carruthers.
Anyone who has seen crime and violence up close like I have will tell you that we should do whatever we can to prevent that pain and suffering. A key way to reduce future crime and violence is to get kids on the right path to success early in life and keep them on track.

I firmly believe, as do hundreds of my law enforcement colleagues around Illinois who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, that some of our best crime-prevention tools are quality preschool, voluntary home visiting assistance for new moms, after-school programs and interventions for troubled kids like Redeploy Illinois. These programs help build safe, prosperous communities.

This is why Im dismayed that local agencies providing these vital services, like Childrens Home + Aid, Project Oz, and the Bloomington-Normal Boys and Girls Club, have yet to receive any reimbursement from the state almost 11 months into the fiscal year.

I encourage our state leaders to listen to those of us on the front lines of the fight against crime, end the budget impasse and get down to the important business of shaping priorities for our next fiscal year. The safety of our communities and a future with successful kids and families depends on your actions.

Jon P. Sandage, Bloomington

The writer is McLean County sheriff.
Rescued Spaniards arrive in Borneo after 10-day sea ordeal The couple will travel to Spain on May 17, but relative says they might return to Malaysia

Spaniards Marta Miguel and David Hernandez in the Hospital Gleneagles in Malaysia. Noel Caballero (EFE)

Two Spaniards who were rescued in the South China Sea after drifting for 10 days arrived at the Malaysian airport of Kota Kinabalu on Friday.

Marta Miguel, 30, and David Hernandez, 29, were greeted by family members who had flown to the area to help with the search operation.

Sporting a beard, a red shirt and a wide smile, Hernandez stepped out of the aircraft, walked down the ladder, and tearfully embraced a relative.

The sea is merciless, but it was also generous with us

David Hernandez

In statements to the Spanish news agency Efe, they said that they never lost hope that someone would find them.

We always had that hope. We never thought that this was the end, said Marta Miguel.

The sea is merciless, but it was also generous with us, added David Hernandez, alluding to the fish that they were able to eat.

The couple will fly to Spain on May 17, said Luis Miguel, Martas father, in statements to the Spanish public radio station RNE.

Luis Miguel said he did not rule out the possibility that Marta and David might go back to Malaysia if they feel that they have to make their dreams come true. The couple had settled on the island of Borneo in January, and they were working at a tourist resort with a view to opening their own business later on.

But Martas father said he hopes they will not return. I wouldnt like that, its been very traumatic for everyone, themselves included, he admitted.

After being rescued by Vietnamese fishermen on Thursday, the Spaniards and two boat companions  their boss and a co-worker at the resort  were flown on a Bombardier CL415 seaplane from a Malaysian naval base to Kota Kinabalu, on the northwest coast of Borneo.

They have been through two medical checkups and were found to be in good health, according to Spanish diplomatic sources.

Missing since May 2

The boat went missing on May 2, during a journey from the island of Balambangan to Kudat, on Borneo. The trip normally takes around two hours. According to Luis Miguel, Martas father, a large wave tipped the vessel over, and after that the engine would not start.

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Because they lost everything that was on board when the boat capsized  including their bottled water  they took sips of the rainwater that they slowly filtered in a bag. The 12- to 15-meter vessel had life jackets but no GPS system.

Malaysian authorities said they learned about their whereabouts when they caught a Vietnamese ship fishing illegally in Malaysian waters. The fishermen told them that two other ships flying the Vietnamese flag had rescued the group.

We are still gathering information about what happened, said Captain Robert Teh Geck Chuan, director of the Search and Rescue Department.

English version by Susana Urra.
SPRINGFIELD  Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly voted unanimously Thursday to approve $700 million in stopgap funding for social service programs that havent received any state revenue in nearly a year.

In the latest sign of bipartisan progress toward ending the states budget impasse, now in its 11th month, Republicans joined the Legislatures supermajority Democrats in approving the measure despite last-minute concerns from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners administration.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers also has sent Rauner and the four legislative leaders a framework for a balanced budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The proposal includes $5.4 billion in new revenue, which would be generated by raising the states personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.85 percent and by expanding the sales tax to some services, among other changes, according to a member of the group.

The lawmakers also outlined $2.4 billion in savings, including a $400 million reduction in Medicaid spending, about $450 million from letting the state off the hook for repaying money borrowed from special funds to plug holes in last years budget, and $750 million from pension changes Rauner has proposed.

State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, who is a member of the bipartisan budget group but declined to go into detail about its work, said the conversations among lawmakers have been sometimes heated but generally productive.

Theres been a lot of progress in the last couple weeks, Rose said. Theres a long way to go.

State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, another participant who likewise declined to give details, said they were asked by legislative leaders and the governor to put together a balanced-budget scenario but it would be up to the leaders to round up the votes to pass a budget.

Notably absent from the groups work has been any talk of items on Rauners pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda. Thats because the group was assigned to stick to the budget.

But House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said any final agreement on budgets for this year or next absolutely must include some of the reforms the governor and his party are pushing for.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, is part of another bipartisan group of lawmakers that has been discussing the governors reform agenda, which includes changes to workers compensation laws, a property tax freeze and other items.

Talks are slow, but the commitment continues, Brady said.

The $700 million stopgap bill would authorize the use of $450 million from a human services fund that receives dedicated revenue to support programs such as addiction treatment, autism services and rape crisis centers. Another $250 million would come from other special state funds for specific purposes such affordable housing and foreclosure prevention programs.

The funding would account for about 46 percent of what the programs received last year.
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After a series of debates and discussions, House lawmakers in Ohio passed a plan to legalize medical marijuana in the state. This is said to be a huge leap from a locality which has now shown interest to legalize cannabis than recreational drug.

According to Cincinnati.com, bill sponsor Rep. Stephen Huffman lauded the move saying this is the best thing for patients in Ohio. "I am absolutely convinced that there is therapeutic value in medical marijuana," Huffman said.

On the other hand, Rep. Dan Ramos believes that medical marijuana also serves as an alternative for people with chronic pain. The Lorain County representative explained that there were no marijuana overdose deaths but those linked with opiates rose to more than 2,000.

25th State To Legalize Medical Marijuana

Cleveland.com added that Ohio is now the 25th state in the country to legalize the medical marijuana. Physicians in the state can now recommend a type of marijuana depending on the use of the patient. Smoking of cannabis, however, will not be allowed.

Aside from the prescription, the state will also issue the licenses for the growing, testing, processing and selling of medical cannabis. Other important details, including the fees, will be decided by a control commission.

It is also stated in the bill that parents and caregivers of patients will not be held or jailed for possession. However, it was noted that companies can still maintain a drug-free workplace and those who will violate will not receive any compensation.

Patients In Dire Need

Rep. Tim Brown told Sentinel Tribune that people in the state have long wanted to legalize marijuana in Ohio which pushed them to carefully study the need for it. He noted that they heard a lot of stories of people who needed the intervention of medical cannabies and how dire their situations were.

Now that the plan for the bill has been approved, it will be sent to the Senate where some changes are expected to be made. Lawmakers are positive it will be passed as early as June.
Alarming as it may sound, the death rate of Hawaii tourists has been slowly climbing. Many of these tourists either die on the water or die even after heroic rescue efforts were made. According to critics, the state is negligent in giving its 8 million annual tourists ample warnings against the dangers accompanying water activities.

Huffington Post said, it seemed that one tourist die every week in Hawaii. Death occurs basically from vacation activities. Three of the main causes include hiking, snorkeling and swimming. Although most of these are water-related injuries, there are also those who suffer from spinal cord damage. Just this week, three deaths resulted from engaging in water activities.

Three Deaths In A Single Week

The deaths for this week involved a 27-year-old Japanese, a 21-year-old Chinese and a 70-year-old Australian. The Japanese died while scuba diving and a spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical Services said that he was already unresponsive in the water.

The Chinese on the other hand died after engaging on a waterfall hike. The Chinese woman was found by fellow hikers already submerged in the waterfall pond.

The old Australian was snorkeling off a Kauai Beach but was found 20 feet from the shore lifeless. He was floating face down on the water.

How To Increase Survival Rates

According to Civil Beat, the key to survival in water-related incidents is to get the victim out of the water. Medical attention should also be quick enough or else the survival rate diminishes at every passing second.

In terms of snorkeling, lifeguards often find it hard to identify persons in distress as people who are snorkeling are mostly stationary. From the perspective of a lifeguard, those who snorkel look pretty much the same. They also don't want a situation where they will interrupt a vacationer who is snorkeling even though he does not need any rescuing.

At present, state government is trying to find a balance between educating visitors without compromising tourism. Hawaii Tourism Authority said that they want to develop a consistent and strong message informing visitors but they also don't want to scare them away.
A boy who grew out his hair for pediatric cancer patients is now diagnosed with the disease itself. The seven-year-old boy from California was discovered with tumors on his hip and around his eye, already battling stage four cancer.

Meet Vinny Desautels

Vinny Desautels is a seven-year-old from Roseville California diagnosed with the devastating disease after complaining of a knee pain, CNN reported. When Vinny developed a swollen eye, his parents initially thought it was brought by season allergies. However, Vinny soon complained of knee pain.

When Vinny's parents check him out, the discovered a lump on their son's hip. This prompted them to immediately seek emergency help. On April 28, an x-ray revealed a large growth on Vinny's hip, which sent him to seek further tests in a hospital in Sacramento.

May God watch over little Vinny Desautels



May your good heart remain strong and see you through this battle



The world is rooting  #ChildrenOfTheRage (@OGMaco) May 11, 2016

After blood tests, MRI and CT scans, the large growth on his hip and eye were confirmed tumors. The family is still waiting for the final diagnosis from Vinny's doctors if he is indeed suffering from Ewing's sarcoma. This is a rare type of cancer that usually forms around the bone or soft tissue.

"We know it's cancer, stage four, because it spread in two different locations and it's aggressive," Jason Desautels, Vinny's dad, said. "Now we're trying to figure out what we're dealing with so we can come up with a plan." The young boy is scheduled to begin bone marrow biopsy and chemotherapy treatment this week.

Vinny's Fight Against Cancer

Metro UK said that Vinny grew his hair until it was 13 inches long, fighting off comments from other kids about his hair. He donated his hair to Wigs For Kids With Cancer.

"I want to help people so they don't have to go to the doctors to fight cancer," Vinny said to Fox40. However, in a sad twist of fate, Vinny is now facing his own struggle with the disease.

Vinny's grandparents initiated a fundraising campaign by setting up a Go Fund Me page, hoping that it could alleviate the financial burden of his parents. Added that, Vinny's parents are expecting another child.

"Our precious grandson, Vinny Desautels, is fighting a battle that no child should have to fight - the fight against cancer," his grandparents said. "Over the next days, weeks, and months ahead they will need to be at countless doctor appointments, hospital stays and surgeries."
New York public schools will be using a graphic novel to teach students about the life story of Rep. John Lewis. The award-winning graphic novel tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s.

The novel will be adding to the "Passport to Social Studies" program taught to eighth-grade students. Teachers are expected to develop lessons from the book as they teach about the civil right's movement. Studying the book will be part of an expansive new curriculum developed by the New York City Department of Education.

The graphic novel, called "March", is a trilogy that became a popular selection for university reading programs. The series of graphic novels is a #1 NYT-bestselling phenomenon, which also earned a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award.

"March" is a dynamic and powerful visual testimony of the civil rights movement, narrated by Lewis, one of its major figures. The book brings the African-American struggles to life through the lens of Lewis' remarkable journey and encapsulated the most important themes of the Civil Rights Movement, according to Dave Gilbert from Mars Hill University.

Lewis wrote on his Facebook page on Monday that he is deeply moved that New York Public Schools are adding a book about his life story to the Social Studies curriculum. Lewis shares that it is a major step in ensuring that every young person receives the best possible education about non-violence and the Civil Rights Movement.

Co-author of the book Andrew Aydin said he hoped the inclusion on "March" would encourage the use of more graphic novels in schools. Aydin co-wrote the book with Lewis and Nate Powell, according to the Huffington Post.

Aydin wrote on his Facebook page that the inclusion of March is major step forward for teaching movements and the use of comics in the classroom. "Hopefully the first domino of many," according to Aydin.

Representative John Lewis was born in Alabama and attended segregated public schools as a child. It was a nonviolence workshop that he attended while he was a college student in Nashville, Tennessee that changed his life.

He was chair of the Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee from 1963 to 1966. Lewis gave a milestone speech at the 1963 March on Washington, according to Top Shelf Comix. In 1965, Lewis was brutally beaten during a voting rights demonstration known as "Blood Sunday" at Selma, Alabama.
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS

There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
Walgreens recently launched a new online platform for mental health patients. People with mental health struggles can now easily talk to a physician as the drug store paired up with Mental Health America.

According to Chicago Business, they paired up with the non-profit organization, Mental Health America. Their aim is to create an additional section on their website which provides an outlet of mental health patients seeking help.

The gigantic drug store came up with the online outlet for people with mental health concerns as they wished to screen more or less 3 million people for mental health problems. Though their goal for mental health screening may be a little ambitious, it is doable.

Part of what Walgreens offer is their "telehealth" solutions wherein people access a mental health screening tools to help them with their diagnosis. The "telehealth" option for Walgreen's website is provided by the Florida-based company, MDLive.

Another option that was provided by Walgreen's website is their Breakthrough service wherein mental health patients can have a live chat with a psychiatrist and therapists through their mobile devices. Walgreen's website mentioned that the services were roughly around $60 per session.

Though it was stated that the video therapy is already offered through Walgreen's personal application, it is still unavailable. Walgreens is making a move in providing health care options for individuals undergoing mental health issues.

According to their official website, the Walgreens pharmacist will be working closely with the patients in terms of offering their services. Listed below are the breakdowns of different services that Walgreen's mental health care provides:
A paternity claim was recently filed by Colorado inmate Carlin Q. Williams, 39, saying that he is Prince's son. Williams is seeking ownership of the music legend's estate.

Backed by his attorneys, Williams says that he is the only heir to the music legend's fortune. The claim was filed in the same Minnesota court where the siblings of Prince are also battling claim for his money, NBC News reported.

Inmate Claims Prince Is His Father

Williams says that his mother had unprotected sex with Prince back in July 1976. The paternity case involved a sworn affidavit by Williams' mother, Marsha Henson.

She narrates that she met Prince in Kansas City Missouri back in 1976. They met in a hotel lobby and drank. Henson narrates that they went to another hotel and got a room, where they had unprotected sex. Prince would have been 17 or 18 years old at that time, CNN reported.

The inmate's mother swore in an affidavit that she is sure that Prince is the father of her son. She says that she is certain because she knows that she did not have intercourse with anyone else six weeks prior to her encounter with Prince. She also assured that she did not have sex after until Carlin Williams was born. Williams was born in April 8, 1977.

Prince's Death Has Led To Multiple Paternity Claims

The death of Prince Rogers Nelson, famously known as Prince, has led to multiple claims of relationship and paternity. Lawyers handling his estate report that they get as many 600 to 700 calls a day. Callers often narrate that they have pictures of Prince in their family reunion or have known Prince in various ways.

Williams seeks DNA testing to prove that he is the icon's heir. He is also currently serving time in the federal prison for 92 months. He was charged guilty of felony and possession of firearms.

Patrick Cousins, who is now representing Williams, was the attorney to Prince back in 2004. He noted that Williams already contacted him previously regarding the paternity claim but it was not pursued, according to NBC News.

Other than his siblings, people related to Prince are his two ex-wives. His only son died when he was 1 week old in 1996.
French authorities are now investigating the death of a 19-year-old, who recorded her death on Periscope, a popular live-streaming application, on Tuesday. Police officials believe she is a rape victim based from her texts to a friend days before her death.

The New York Times said the incident happened at around 5 p.m. at the Egly station, which is about 25 miles away from Paris. Local prosecutor Eric Lallement noted that the victim, known as Oceane, even sent a text message to a friend of her ex-boyfriend.

She reportedly told her the story of being raped by her former boyfriend. Oceane also informed her textmate that she will kill herself because of the horror she has gone through in his hands.

Five Periscope Videos

According to Time, the fatality recorded five videos on Periscope which showed her last moments before committing suicide. These video clips have already been removed from the live streaming medium.

It was discussed in the New York Times report that the video has, however, been shared on YouTube but the suicide scene was omitted. It only included the parts where the woman was trying to tell her audience about what she was about to do.

"The video I am doing right now is not made to create buzz, but rather to make people react, to open minds, and that's it," Oceane said. "No, I am not going to kill myself. I have reached the point where nothing pleases me. Nothing can make me want to get up in the morning."

Teenager jumps to her death

People were chatting in the video their comments that they are waiting and that they think whatever Oceane is trying to do is exciting. The video then becomes dark and without any noise.

The New York Times said that after a few minutes, a voice can be heard screaming from a distance. An emergency worker then speaks, "I am under the train with the victim; I need to move the victim."
Robert L. Dear Jr., the man responsible for the shooting at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs last year, has just been declared unfit to stand trial. According to Judge Gilbert A. Martinez, the suspect is "mentally incompetent" and announced that Dear must be sent to a mental hospital to restore his competency.

The Courtroom Drama

Judge Gilbert A. Martinez's ruling was based on the reports of the two state psychologists who have met with Robert L. Dear Jr. Both psychologists reported that the suspect was not competent.

According to New York Times, Robert L. Dear Jr. was unhappy with the judge's ruling. He shouted that the decision was "prejudiced" and called Judge Martinez a "filthy animal."

Is Robert L. Dear Jr. Competent?

This isn't the first time that Dear's competency has been questioned. Prior to the Planned Parenthood shootings, the suspect believed that the federal government is after him. In addition to that, the suspect had installed a listening device in his pickup truck to find out if "the feds" are on to him.

Dear had also attempted to fire his public defenders and decided to serve as his own lawyer (via New York Times). The outburst had resulted in Judge Martinez calling for a competency evaluation.

The Crime

On November 27, 2015, Robert L. Dear Jr. went on a shooting spree in a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs. Upon his arrest, Dear declared that the center was "the most evil place in the world" and he had only decided to surrender after "flipping a card." The suspect believed that the card was a message from God telling him to give up to the authorities.

Dear's shooting spree resulted in the death of three people while nine others were wounded. The suspect has been charged with 179 counts, which includes first-degree murder and attempted murder. Robert L. Dear Jr.'s case will be reviewed again in August 11.
The effects of good gut bacteria from will be explored in a study that links probiotics and fasting to diabetes prevention. The Auckland study proposes that with help from probiotics and considerably lowered calorie intake, Type 2 diabetes risk may be lessened.

Scoop reports that the Health Research Council in New Zealand awarded University of Auckland's Dr Rinki Murphy a grant of $149,000. The study will focus on the effects of probiotics in pre-diabetes cases.

This is in line with the priority that New Zealand is now allocating to the prevention of pre-diabetes counts from progressing to Type 2 diabetes. Probiotics are being tapped for this goal as real life setting often made lifestyle intervention unrealistic to implement.

"There is way too much stigma attached to #diabetes and way too much stigma attached to prediabetes." - @kellyclose | #OnItMovement  Amer. Diabetes Assn. (@AmDiabetesAssn) May 11, 2016

Previous methods used toward this goal proved unwieldy. Side-effects often made the methods difficult to sustain. "The effects of certain strains of probiotics in the prevention of Type2 diabetes are strongly encouraging with reduction in gestational diabetes, improvements in insulin sensitivity and weight loss seen with Lactobacillus supplements," Dr Rinki Murphy said.

With help from the recent fund infusion, a particular Lactobacillus rhamnosus (HN001) strain will be tested in different to pre-diabetes patients. The effect on blood glucose levels and on body fat distribution will be monitored through MRI scans.

The new study aims to determine if administering probiotic supplement to these patients will increase Type 2 diabetes prevention even more. Pre-diabetes patients for this test will come from different ethnicities.

"...#diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, amputations, and blindness in working age adults." - Dr. Ratner | #OnItMovement  Amer. Diabetes Assn. (@AmDiabetesAssn) May 11, 2016

Pacific, Indian and Maori pre-diabetes patients often ranked with the highest numbers of pre-diabetes and diabetes cases. Probiotics will now be tested among them and among other ethnicities to see if this supplementation is the safe solution to the problem.

The second phase to the study will partner probiotics supplement with intermittent fasting for the subjects. As New York Times reports, fasting (or lowered calorie intake) in itself is already expected to retard Type 2 diabetes progression.

Dr Rinki Murphy qualified intermittent fasting to pertain to reduced calorie intake in two days of each week. Each fasting day allocates 650kcal per day for male patients and 600kcal per day for female patients.

This second phase to the study will use the determined dosage of probiotics to see if its combination with staggered fasting is more effective than intermittent fasting alone. This second phase will be administered to a larger group of pre-diabetes patients.
Earth Science class taught us that when an area sits in the middle of a tectonic plate, it will rarely experience earthquakes. Based on this simple fact, Southeastern United States have nothing to worry about because they land on the side of tectonic plates, but surprisingly, recent earth-shattering episodes have hit the region. Why is that so?

The Cause Of Recent Earthquakes In Southeastern United States

A new research sought to explain this phenomenon, as reported by CBS News. Researchers cited the possibility of the bottom of the North American tectonic plate peeling off and affecting the plates where the southeastern states lie. They estimate that this activity has been occurring for the past 65 million years.

A quick search on National Geographic explains that the activity in the mantle drives plate tectonics. This means that what happens in the mantle contributes to volcanoes, seafloor spreading, mountain-building, and earthquakes. The study of the mantle is important to determine exact causes of earthquakes.

Using 3D photos of the uppermost part of the Earth's mantle, the research team headed by seismologist Berk Biryol discovered that the thickness of the plates located at the southeastern states is becoming uneven with thick parts of old rock and thin regions of young rock, both dense but varying in degree. The researchers deem that this is the cause of gravity pulling down denser areas towards the mantle and the heavier regions were caused by new material being added to the plate. The asthenosphere, a liquid layer below the tectonic plates, most likely have received parts of the plate areas that broke down in the mantle.

This means that parts of the mantle are peeling off, leaving holes that can be filled by the lighter material in the asthenosphere. The replaced areas, in turn, become thinner and are more prone to slip along fault lines that cause earthquakes, according to CBS News.

Nothing To Worry About In The Near Future

As per CBS News, this is not a cause of worry for residents in the southeastern parts of the U.S. yet. Berk Biryol says, "I don't think things will be changing in the future, at least not in our lifetimes or our grandchildren's life. Geological processes take place over long periods of time and nothing will change dramatically overnight."

According to the Daily Mail, the most recent earthquake that hit southeastern United States was the 2011 5.8-magnitude quake near Mineral, Virginia. The southeastern part of U.S. is around 1,056 miles from the nearest edge of the North American plate that covers North America, Greenland and parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, as described by Daily Mail.

How will this study help in preparation for earthquakes? Tell us what you think in the Comments section below!
Uh-oh! The recent Mayan civilization discovery of William Gadoury, a 15-year-old Canadian teen from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudiere, Quebec, was reportedly debunked by some Mayan experts. According to the experts, Gadoury's findings lacked evidence.

The remarkable story of William Gadoury's unearthing of a long-lost Mayan city went viral on the internet Wednesday. Even though Gadoury's work was praised by the Canadian Space Agency, which provided him the satellite images, some experts were doubting the said discovery since the idea of correlating the Mayan settlements location with stars is "utterly unlikely."

Why Experts Doubt William Gadoury's Mayan Civilization Discovery

One of the reasons why some experts were skeptical about Gadoury's recent Mayan city discovery was the fact that the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico City cannot confirm the existence of the new Mayan city. According to Fox News Latino, the Mayan experts also noted the Canadian teen's theory was off, saying nobody knew if the city was indeed Mayan-built.

Mayans Did Not Build Their Cities Based On Constellations

In addition, an INAH official said the hypothesis saying the Mayans created their cities based on their civilization's ancient astronomical constellation has been long rejected by its anthropologists. The statement was also echoed by other experts.

"The Maya did not design their cities nor their landscapes based on the stars," Autonomous University of Yucatan's Department of Anthropology professor and researcher Christopher M. Gotz said. "They did so based on mundane factors such as water sources, availability to raw materials and access to cultivable soil."

Newly Found Mayan City's Location Has Been Explored Since 1930s

Experts were also doubting Gadoury's discovery since the location of the long lost Mayan city in the thick jungles of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico had been extensively explored before. In fact,Tulane University's National System of Researchers and PhD in anthropology member Sr. Rafael Cobos Palma told Verne the area had been comprehensively reconnoitered by several Mexican and non-Mexican researchers since the 1930s.

Long Lost Mayan Settlements Are Merely Abandoned Cornfields

Another reason for experts' skepticism on Gadoury's findings was the features shown in the space-based photos. University of Southern California: Dornsife anthropologist and remote sensing experts Thomas Garrison said the rectangular feature and the secondary vegetation were "clear signs" of a relic milpa or an old fallow cornfield, Gizmodo notes.

Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas anthropologist David Stuart also agreed with Garrison, calling Gadoury's discovery as "junk science" on Facebook. Slovenia's Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies associate professor and head researcher Ivan Sprajc, on the other hand, said the correlation between the location of Mayan settlements and the constellations is "utterly unlikely," as previously reported.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA and Japan's space agency have all verified that Gadoury's discovery include a pyramid and about 30 structures. Gadoury named the newly discovered Mayan city K'aak Chi or "Mouth of Fire."

So, what do you think about Gadoury's Mayan city discovery? Share your thoughts below and follow Parent Herald for more news and updates.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner split 10 months ago. However, the ex-couple decided to continue to co-parent their children. In their previous interviews, both said that they will do their best for their children, but is their friendship for their children only? There are rumors that the "BVS" star is trying to win his ex-wife back.

Ben Affleck Trying To Win Jennifer Garner Back

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are only a few of the celebrity couples who remain friends after their split. However, it seems that the "Argo" star is still into his ex-flame. There are reports claiming that the "Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice" star is planning to reconcile with the "Elektra" star.

"Ben wants Jen back," a source close to Jennifer Garner told People. "Ben wants to get back together. He wants her back."

Another source said the same thing to another publication. "Ben is hoping his summer movie shoot in London will give him the opportunity to convince Jen to give their marriage another chance," the source told In Touch Weekly.

Although there are high chances of reconciliation for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, it would be a tough battle for the "Town" star. The source added that the "Alias" actress told her ex-husband that she will not take him back, but Ben Affleck just won't take no for an answer.

Jennifer Garner And Ben Affleck Taking A Break In London

Amidst the split and reconciliation drama, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck will be spending a month in London with their three children Violet, 10, Seraphina, 7, and Samuel, 4, for a family vacation People reported.

"Jen has said Paris is where she has amazing memories of Ben," a source close to the "Miracles from Heaven" star told the publication. In fact, there are rumors that the estranged "Daredevil" couple is being affectionate to each other.

However, multiple sources believe that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are just doing this for their kids. They added that there are no signs of rekindled romance, at least, not for now.

Do you want Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck to reconcile? Will it serve them better if they rekindle their romance? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) plays a huge role in technology, education and research. AI is complex, but it is more efficient and reliable than humans when it comes to the workforce because it is fast and it doesn't get tired. According to new reports, AI investment continues to grow.

Artificial Intelligence from Science Fiction To the Industry

Most of the things we see about AI springs from science fiction movies. However, AI has already crossed the boundaries from the big screens to the industry. You can now see AI operating in major factory floors, cognitive technology and even in medicine.

According to CRN, investment in AI has skyrocketed in the past years with over $3 billion in VC funds investing in cognitive technologies from 2011 to 2015. In fact, during that time, over 100 AI companies merged or were acquired by Alphabet, IBM, Facebook, Amazon and Google.

Aside from this Parent Herald previously reported that the Obama administration is also planning to use more AI and machine learning in improving government services. The White House announced that they would use AI-driven system on programs and delivery of services related to the urban system, smart cities, mental and physical health, social welfare, criminal justice, environment and more.

Is AI A Threat To Humanity?

AI is very promising when it comes to innovations. However, many fears AI because of its potential to replace humans in the workforce. In a separate report from Parent Herald, middle and working class may face job displacement due to AI.

However, Stephen Hawking suggested that we should not fear AI or robots, but capitalism. "Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution," Hawking said per Huffington Post.

If machine owners will rule in the new era, the corporations they own won't be providing jobs to actual humans. So, this depends on the distribution because AI is not intended to replace humans in the workforce.

Are you happy with the growth of AI investment or are you afraid that it will invade the workforce and replace humans? Do you agree with Stephen Hawking that we should not fear AI but capitalism? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is supposedly in love with the lifestyle of "Tomb Raider" star Angelina Jolie. Kate Middleton is supposedly such a fan of Jolie that the Duchess is planning a get-together among Prince George, Princess Charlotte and all six of the Jolie-Pitt kids.

Celeb Dirty Laundry cites allegations that Kate Middleton and Angelina Jolie had a gab-fest over tea at the Kensington Palace in 2015. From then on, Kate Middleton and Jolie had supposedly been BFFs of sorts.

The Duchess visits @LandRoverBAR on 20 May to see @1851Trust inspire the next generation in sailing and science pic.twitter.com/Ene8HMPg6S  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 10, 2016

As Brad Pitt extends his stay in London to film "Allied," a drama based on World War 2, Kate Middleton allegedly took the opportunity to invite the Jolie-Pitt kids around with the "Maleficent" star to Anmer Hall. The news paints Kate Middleton this shade of desperate to cling onto Hollywood glamor by cultivating a friendship with Jolie.

While Kate Middleton playing fan girl to Angelina Jolie may be a tad far-fetched to take seriously, both women share much in common. The Duchess of Cambridge and Jolie are both strong figures in humanitarian events and are each taken to task in worthy engagements.

In fact, Kate Middleton will be on a STEM errand at Portsmouth with 1851 Trust. Hello! magazine reports that during her visit, Kate Middleton will be launching 1851 Trust's sailing projects, which are both under partnerships with UKSA and the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation.

The Duchess is attending her first engagement as Patron of mental health charity the Anna Freud Centre. pic.twitter.com/H1DFQkYLWO  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) May 4, 2016

Kate Middleton will also attend the opening of the Tech Deck Education Centre, which will encourage visitors to learn more about the innovation and technology involved sailing as a sport. Portsmouth schoolchildren, who are part of the #STEMCREW digital workshops for America's Cup challenge, will meet with the Duchess Of Cambridge.

On her end, Angelina Jolie and her family are four months into supporting their adopted family in Cambodia. According to The Daily Mail, the Cambodian children whom Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and the Jolie-Pitt kids "adopted" late last year are adjusting well to their new life.

Pitt, Jolie and their children first met Leida Shoun and her siblings during the filming of "First They Killed My Father" in Siem Reap, Cambodia last year. Shoun and her siblings had been begging money from the tourists, who passed through their town.

Brad Pitt initiated friendship with the Shoun children by offering to treat them to ice cream. Shiloh and Zahara maintained connection with the children as the weeks progressed, experiencing first hand how the poorest of the Cambodian poor lived.

Following in the examples of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, the Jolie-Pitt kids sought to help Leda Shoun and her 11 siblings with food and supplies. Jolie arranged to support and finance the education of the Shoun children at the New York International School Cambodia.

Angelina Jolie and Kate Middleton may not be the Hollywood BFFs that allegations paint them to be. However, both Kate Middleton and Jolie continue to show strong in influencing change for the good in their own respective arenas and across the globe.
Civil initiative intends to hold march in Yerevan

A civil initiative calling itself We are the masters of our country is holding a march in Yerevan at 6p.m. on May 13. In a statement released on Friday, the initiative said the march will be held in several directions at a time. The group demands that the government allocate at least $30 000 to the families of the soldiers killed in the April skirmishes in Karabakh and at least $5000 to the families of the soldiers wounded in action. It also demands 1. to dismiss Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of the Republic Armenia, and Yuri Khachaturov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, and Haykaz Baghmanyan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, for their inaction and inability to control the situation on the border which resulted in human losses during Azerbaijan's large-scale offensive against Karabakh, 2. to oblige Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer of Armenia (Mihran Poghosyan) to transfer to the state budget the entire income he receives from his offshore companies registered in Panama, 3. to oblige about 100 oligarchs to pay to the state budget at least $10 million 4. to refrain from signing any document related to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and maintain the status quo, exclude territorial concessions and deployment of peacekeepers in Artsakh and/or neighbouring territories.
That cup of coffee you got from a Starbucks joint is in danger. A new report found that majority of the countries that produce coffee beans will halt their operations a few decades from now, and global warming is the culprit.

According to the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, 80 percent of lands in Brazil and Central America will be unstable for the farming of Arabica by 2050, MIT Technology Review reported. Arabica is the most popular variety of coffee and accounts for majority of the coffee consumed globally.

A 50-percent decline in the global production of coffee is also expected by 2050, the report stated. Experts have predicted that consumers will see price hikes and lesser quantity.

Change In Business Plans

By that time, coffee buyers will likely resort to building a new list of suppliers and form new supply routes, MIT Technology Review further reported. This process is not just complex, but also expensive.

Over 50 countries are active in coffee farming including Brazil, Indonesia, Tanzania and Vietnam. Most of these nations experience global warming that decreases coffee output in farms.

Severely damaged crops are the result of leaf rust and dangerous plant diseases. In 2014, coffee farms in Chiapas, Mexico lost 60 percent of their output thanks to rising average temperatures.

Vietnam is seeing a 30 percent decrease in its production of robusta and Arabica coffee beans, the Wall Street Journal reported. The El Nino-related drought in the country damaged almost 250,000 acres of coffee trees, with the Central Highlands as the hardest hit area.

Starbucks Prepares

Starbucks, a famous coffee seller around the world, has come up with measures to combat the looming problem. The company is working alongside farmers to successfully produce coffee despite the warm climate. That includes growing coffee beans that abide by a fixed set of standards like using shade, tree conservation to safeguard crops and controlling risks from pests and disease.

Starbucks said 99 percent of its coffee is currently complying with those standards. Its own coffee farm in Costa Ricabought in 2013was transformed into a laboratory for testing coffee-growing methods and experimenting on plants to make it stronger against warmer temperatures.

The company also offers better financial support and advice to coffee farmers when a difficult farming environment presents itself. This way, the workers' productivity is increased.

Starbucks efforts may have produced positive outcomes, but it failed in some ways. A type of coffee it developed in Costa Rica is resilient to fungal infestation, but its growth is slow and it yields poorly.
The number of children infected with chickenpox in Michigan has increased this year. A news release from the Michigan Department of Health stated that there are 239 chickenpox cases through April, a 57 percent surge from the ones recorded during the same period in 2015.

Majority of the children infected with chickenpox or varicella this year weren't vaccinated, the Detroit Free Press reported. Dr. Eden Wells, the chief medical executive of the Michigan Department of Health, said the chickenpox vaccine is a necessity due to its safety and effectiveness on recipients.

Chickenpox: Signs & Symptoms

Those infected with chickenpox show symptoms including fever, loss of appetite, tiredness and extremely itchy blister-like rash spread on the body, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, listed. People who received a vaccine for chickenpox can still be infected with the disease, but the symptoms are usually milder.

Children should receive vaccination between 12 and 15 months of age. The second dose should be administered when they are four to six years old.

The effects of chickenpox can be severe for some individuals. That includes people above 12 years old, pregnant women, those who have chronic skin or lung disorders, persons who have a weak immune system and those with a fever above 102F. Chickenpox is also more serious if a rash becomes red, warm, tender and leaks pus, which are indicators of a bacterial infection.

Parents Urged To Keep Their Kids Up-To-Date With Vaccines

Studies conducted by the CDC found that the recommended 2-dose vaccine administered to children has an 89 to 98 percent effectiveness rate in mild-to-moderate chickenpox cases, the Detroit Free Press wrote. That same dose is also 100 percent effective in the prevention of severe chickenpox.

The Michigan Department of Health has urged parents to ensure that their children have adequate vaccination against chickenpox. The same warning was issued by the state in December 2015, when chickenpox outbreaks occurred in Calhoun, Grand Traverse, Muskegon and Wayne, according to a separate report from the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan requires children to be vaccinated against chickenpox and other diseases before gaining acceptance at schools. The virus spreads through coughing, sneezing, and being in contact with chickenpox blisters.

Chickenpox Linked To Common Brain Cancer

A research conducted by scientists from the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine found that children who acquired chickenpox are less likely to develop glioma, a type of brain cancer. Gliomas are a common kind of tumor, and is difficult to extract with surgery because of its finger-like composition that slinks into the brain's healthy tissues, the John Hopkins School of Medicine wrote.
When a 2,500-year-old coffin from ancient Egypt was found in 1907 by the British School of Archaeology, many believed that it only contained mummified internal organs removed from embalmed bodies. But when British curators requested a CT scan of the ancient coffin for an upcoming exhibition, they saw the scanned pictures of a mummified fetus.

Experts believe that the mummified fetus lived for only 16 to 18 weeks of the gestational period, which makes it the youngest mummified body ever found. The previous mummified fetuses discovered lived for about 25 weeks and 37 weeks into gestation.

"From the micro CT scan it is noticeable that the fetus has its arms crossed over its chest," a Fitzwilliam Museum representative described the mummified fetus to Discovery News. "This, coupled with the intricacy of the tiny coffin and its decoration, are clear indications of the importance and time given to this burial in Egyptian society."

The curators found out through the CT scan of the coffin that the mummified fetus' skull and pelvic area have already collapsed. However, its legs, arms and all of its fingers and toes are still visible.

So why exactly did ancient Egypt mummify their dead? Ancient Egyptians believed that a person's soul leaves its body after death but would reunite with it after the burial, Ancient Egypt explains.

Therefore, mummifying the body would allow the soul to find, recognize and return to its body and live for eternity. This recent discovery of the mummified fetus shows that the ancient Egyptians believed that a soul already exists in fetuses.
The 9-year-old girl from Tennessee who was allegedly abducted by her uncle has been found safe on Thursday. Surprisingly, it was not the Tennesse Bureau of Investigation (TBI) that rescued her, but two strangers who held the uncle at gunpoint as they waited for law enforcement officers to arrive.

The 9-year-old Carlie Marie Trent was found by the heroic strangers in Hawkins County, East Tennesse. She was allegedly abducted by her uncle, Gary Thompson, who is currently in custody and charged with aggravated kidnapping.

"Carlie is safe tonight because of an entire community pulling together with law enforcement to bring her home," TBI director Mark Gwyn said during a press conference via Fox News. The officials added that there are currently no indications that Carlie was harmed by her uncle.

UPDATED: TBI: 'Heroes' rescue missing East Tennessee girl Carlie Trent https://t.co/DxKSXs8yCd pic.twitter.com/2iYxr0FT9Z  knoxnews (@knoxnews) May 12, 2016

The heroic strangers who rescued Carlie Marie Trent were Donnie Lawson and Roger Carpenter. The pair was monitoring properties as the TBI advised citizens to do, when they found the girl with her uncle in the rural area of East Tennessee.

Carpenter -- a minister in a Baptist church - pointed a gun at Simpson while Lawson called the authorities. "I think this is a clear message to the public that we need your help on these kind of cases," Gwyn explained.

The TBI explained on Wednesday that the case was more than just a custody dispute and that the girl could be in imminent danger. The bureau even placed Simpson in its top 10 most wanted list.

Simpson is married to the sister of Carlie's biological father, James Trent, and the couple used to be the guardians of the girl. However, Trent won a custody battle and her daughter was returned to her. Carlie Marie Trent disappeared after being picked up by Gary Simpson from school on May 4 without the permission of James Trent, NBC News reports.
The introduction of Black Panther, also known as T'Challa, has been considered by most Marvel fans as one of the best parts of the recently released worldwide blockbuster phenomenon "Captain America: Civil War." Luckily, fans will not have to wait long to see the Black superhero back in the big screen as Marvel Studios is currently prepping for "The Black Panther," a standalone film with Chadwick Boseman reprising the role of the warrior king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.

Marvel's 'The Black Panther' To Be Released In 2018

According to the Hollywood Reporter, American actor Chadwick Boseman will be starring in Marvel's "The Black Panther" solo movie, before reprising the role in the epic two-part "Avengers: Infinity War." The release date of T'Challa's standalone film is on Feb. 2, 2018, with production slated to start early next year.

Marvels "The Black Panther" will be helmed by Ryan Coogler whose past works include "Creed" and "Fruitvale Station." Joe Robert Cole will co-write the script with Coogler, while Kevin Feige will be the producer.

Lupita Nyong'o To Join Marvel's 'The Black Panther' As Chadwick Boseman's Love Interest?

A source has confirmed to the Variety that Academy award-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o is currently in talks with Marvel Studios to join "The Black Panther." Nyong'o, who recently lent her voice to Maz Kanata of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and Mother Wolf Raksha of "The Jungle Book," will be starring as Chadwick Boseman's love interest.

Lupita Nyong'o's specific character in Marvel's "The Black Panther" is still unknown, however, some comic book fans speculated that she will be taking the role of Malaika, a member of the Order of the Panther and the Wakandan trade ambassador to Paris who had a brief romance with T'Challa. Others have also predicted that Lupita Nyong'o will be playing as Queen Divine Justice, the daughter of a tribal chieftain who is in conflict with T'Challa.

Captain America, Hawkeye & Scarlet Witch May Appear In Marvel's 'The Black Panther,' Based on the 'Civil War'

Some Marvel fans predicted that T' Challa's fellow Avengers Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) will be appearing in "The Black Panther." According to the Movie Pilot, there is a big possibility that Captain America will join the standalone film because of the post-credits scene in "Civil War" that shows T'Challa introducing Steve Rogers to Wakanda and his Temple of the Black Panther.

A lot of Marvel fans also predicted that Hawkeye may appear in "The Black Panther" since he is already considered fugitive from the law after standing beside Captain America in the "Civil War" conflict. Moreover, Scarlet Witch is also speculated to appear in T'Challa's standalone film as she might follow Hawkeye, whom she had established a deep friendship during the "Civil War."

Are you excited about Marvel's "The Black Panther"? Share your thoughts below.
Young people in Kazakhstan were told that they will be exchange students in the United States. Little did they know that they are walking towards a sex trafficking scheme.

The college students were recruited by Jeffrey Jason Cooper, 46, from Kazakhstan to Florida in 2011, the Washington Post wrote. They were told that they will be working at a yoga studio near Miami doing clerical duties, an opportunity that will allow the foreigners to be immersed in the American culture and interact with the people.

Taking Advantage Of The Summer Work Travel Program

Cooper posed as Dr. Janardana Dasa, the owner and director of Janardana's Yoga and Wellness S.A. His indictment stated that Cooper recruited college students from Kazakhstan through the U.S. State Department's Summer Work Travel Program, which gives foreign students a chance to live and work in the U.S. during their college summer vacation.

For students to be eligible for the Summer Work Travel Program, they must be proficient in English and have finished at least one semester of their post-secondary education. The program warns international exchange companies against jobs linked with human trafficking, including modeling agencies and janitorial and housekeeping agencies.

Cooper was indicted in the Southern District of Florida this week on charges of sex trafficking, wire fraud and bringing foreigners to the U.S. for prostitution. He will be charged for using a facility for illegal sex operations as well.

Sex In Exchange For Money

After the students from Kazakhstan arrived in Florida, Cooper told them that there was no yoga facility and they will be performing erotic massages and sex acts in exchange for money, the indictment noted. Cooper's female companions taught the foreign nationals how to perform their sexual duties.

Punishment

In June 2011, Cooper was questioned by the placement company whether the foreign students were forced to do sensual massages, but he denied it. In August 2011, two young women were rescued from the facility by law enforcement officials, Newsweek reported.

Cooper will have a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted for the sex trafficking charges, the Washington Post wrote. The wire fraud charges will put Cooper in prison for a maximum sentence of 20 years.

Sex Trafficking Data

A study found that human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal body globally, according to UCLA. Around 21 million women, men, girls, boys and transgender people were trafficked around the world.

Seventy-four percent (15.4 million) of that estimation are adults, while 26 percent (5.5 million) are children younger than 18. Out of these numbers, women and girls are the most trafficked individuals.
Taking good care of yourself during your pregnancy, particularly in the first trimester, is a must to ensure that your baby is also healthy. There are many factors that could affect pregnancy and one of which is recent findings on marijuana consumption causing pre-term birth.

A study conducted by the University of Adelaide found that mothers who use marijuana during their pregnancy are five times at risk of premature or pre-term birth. The research involved some 5,500 expectant mothers from Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland and New Zealand. Over 5.5 percent of whom admitted they consumed pot during the first 20 weeks of their pregnancy, 9news.com.au reported.

Should You Abstain?

The report said there is also no medical evidence that would support the claims that marijuana can help ease nausea during pregnancy. According to the study's main author, Professor Claire Roberts, marijuana consumption is now a "major public health concern" among mothers and their babies, especially that it is the first time it has been directly linked to pre-term risk. The study was not able to establish whether there was a safe period to consume cannabis before the pregnancy, and so Prof. Roberts recommends that mothers should totally abstain from marijuana.

Do Doctors Agree?

A report from Fox21, meanwhile, noted that doctors differ on the issue given the lack of research and evidence on the short-term or long-term dangers of using cannabis during pregnancy. Others say that the child is likely to be affected later in life in terms of cognitive and mental development. Some believe that the benefits of cannabis consumption among pregnant women can outweigh the risks it poses to the mother and child, such as when their lives are in danger during delivery. But neurologist Dr. Malik Hasan said that medical marijuana should be consumed in moderation.
Technology is evolving fast and with greater connectivity through the Internet, many look into it as a tool to transform the lives of many people. One of the things discussed in the World Economic Forum in Africa is how the digital technology can aid Africa's economic transformation and social development. Is Africa ready for digital education?

As reported by TIME, some people believe that digital education will be the answer to the education crisis in Africa. However, this is in contrast to studies that showed "people learn best when learning is active." TIME moderated the debate during the forum between education professionals and digital technology evangelists looking into the potential and pitfalls of digital education.

Some of the interesting points made include what Colin McElwee, co-founder of Worldreader digital library, said that there is a great opportunity for the country given that 2G network has already reached 75 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, Temitope Ola, head of Swiss Institute of Technology's MOOCs for Africa, said, "Where there are no schools, where there are no teachers, we need to embrace digital to the fullest."

"Where there are no schools, where there are no teachers, we need to embrace #digital to the fullest." -Temitope Ola #af16 #digitaleducation  Worldreader (@worldreaders) May 12, 2016

While the country can embrace digital education, many believe that it can't be 100 percent digital. As Fred Swaniker, founder and chief executive officer of African Leadership University put it, Africa needs an "Education that blends online and offline interaction...blending best of both worlds."

Regardless of whether it is digital or not, education should be given a priority. Giving more people access to education can help them have a better life by enabling them to have greater control of their "financial destiny," TechCrunch noted. The publication said the people is one of the most important resources of the country, and investing in their development will result in key long-term benefits for their communities and the country as a whole.




Kate Middleton and Prince William have been plagued with several nasty rumors ever since they first confirmed that they are dating. Now, new reports suggest that the Duchess of Cambridge does not trust her husband anymore that she forced the father of Prince George and Princess Charlotte to stay at home while Prince William made a private visit to Disney World.

Kate Middleton grounds husband Prince William and forced him to stay at home

Rumor mills are spreading that Kate Middleton has grounded Prince William and forced him to stay. The Duke of Cambridge was not about to join Prince Harry's trip to Orlando for the Invictus Games 2016.

Instead of letting Prince William and brother Prince Harry enjoy some private moments remembering Princess Diana, Kate Middleton reportedly required the father of Prince George and Princess Charlotte to stay at home. For starters, Prince Harry headed to Orlando for the Invictus Games 2016.

Talking to Robin Roberts of "Good Morning America" show, Prince Harry reminisced about that trip to Disney World together with Princess Diana and Prince William, calling it one of his happiest memories of their late mother. With this, fans have raised their brows and said that Kate Middleton has been very insensitive for not letting her husband join the ginger-haired prince.

Kate Middleton does not trust Prince William anymore after meeting Jecca Craig

Reports about Kate Middleton grounding Prince William has sparked another rumor saying that the sister of Pippa Middleton does not trust her husband anymore. To recall, Kate Middleton was reportedly mad with Prince William when she learned that he met with ex-girlfriend Jecca Craig during his trip to Kenya.

Fans have speculated that Prince William might have been caught cheating on Kate Middleton several times already that his own wife does not trust him any longer. So, instead of letting him join Prince Harry at Invictus Games 2016 in Orlando, Kate Middleton's husband Prince William headed to Oxford to officially open the Blavatnik School of Government.

Do you think Kate Middleton is very insensitive for grounding and not letting Prince William join Prince Harry in Invictus Games 2016 at Orlando? Do you think Kate Middleton has enough reasons not to trust Prince William anymore? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below.
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Investors are eagerly watching to see whether Apple will enter the automotive business, especially after the news about Apple secretly working on a partnership with Magna. Apple continues to hire a wide range of automotive experts, and the company is exploring building a self-driving car. Late last night Reuters broke the news that Apple had invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service called Didi Chuxing. The move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies Inc's chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments.

Reuters reports that "Apple reaps much higher margins on the iPhone than most auto makers enjoy, but the investment suggests that the tech giant is contemplating transportation services that could prove more lucrative, said Bob O'Donnell, an analyst with TECHnalysis Research. "This investment shows they are thinking not just about cars but business models around transportation, and that is a very encouraging and interesting sign," he said.

In February Bloomberg reported that "Google is preparing to offer its own ride-hailing service, most likely in conjunction with its long-in-development driverless car project. Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, had informed Uber's board of this possibility, according to a person close to the Uber board, and Uber executives have seen screenshots of what appears to be a Google ride-sharing app that is currently being used by Google employees. The first rumors of this surfaced last December.



So Apple's latest investment is showing us a similar line of thinking between autonomous vehicles and an Uber style service.

The Reuters report further notes that "Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement that the funding from Apple was the single largest investment it has ever received. The company, which previously raised several billion dollars, dominates the ride-sharing market in China. The company said it completes more than 11 million rides a day, with more than 87 percent of the market for private car-hailing in China."

It would appear that Apple's longer strategic move here is to get the leap on Uber and Google in China and possibly provide them with a mass market to test market vechicle technologies.

In the shorter term, Cook told Reuters that they remained focused on the in-car experience with its CarPlay system, which links smartphones to vehicle infotainment systems. "That is what we do today in the car business, so we will have to see what the future holds," he said. For more on this, read the full Reuters report here.

Forbes adds that "Didis president Jean Liu said the Apple deal happened quickly, following a meeting in Apples Cupertino headquarters with CEO Tim Cook on April 20th. Liu couldnt offer specific areas in which the companies would cooperate but said on a conference call that the companies would benefit each other "on product, technology, marketing, and many other levels."

On the more practical side of Apple's news, the Forbes report further noted that "For Apple, the immediate upside of its $1 billion Didi investment could be payments. Chi Tsang, an HSBC analyst in Hong Kong stated that the deal could "give their users another reason to use Apple wallet," adding that Apple Pay could be used to pay for Didi." The analyst also thought that there could be a co-branding aspect to this. For instance, an advertisement could say "Were launching Apple Wallet in Beijing and you can use it to order Didi and get a five kuai (yuan) discount."

When you think of the 11 million rides a day covering 400 cities that Didi Chuxing generates, that's certainly a way to put Apple Pay on the map very quickly in China.



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In Yuma, Arizona, fourth-grade teacher Blanca Rivera wasn't thrilled when she heard that Apple would be providing each of her 31 students with an iPad. She thought iPad's were "just for games," and wondered how they would help students learn, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"Eight months into the school year and her students are using iPads to create presentations about angles, produce videos about the water cycle, and assemble digital books about fractions.

Ms. Rivera's school, H.L. Suverkrup Elementary, is part of an innovative effort by Apple to use technology to help level the playing field between rich and poor students. The experiment, part of an Obama administration initiative, is aimed at overcoming obstacles that have hobbled previous efforts to realize the promise of tablet PCs and other gadgets to make learning more enjoyable and effective.

Apple is trying to change that partly through more support for educators. At 114 schools nationwide, including eight in Yuma, it is providing each student with an iPad, teachers with iPads and MacBook computers, and classrooms with Apple TVs." Whether or not Apple is providing these schools with software they acquired from 'LearnSprout' is unknown at this time.



The report further noted that "At some schools, Apple also helped build Wi-Fi networks. The company, which committed $ 100 million to the nationwide effort in 2014, assigns an employee to spend 17 days a year at each school, training teachers and helping prepare lessons. The employees, all former teachers, recommend apps and sometimes demonstrate techniques on teaching with iPads.

Apple is targeting schools with scant technology resources. Yuma is a farming community near the Mexican border with 18% unemployment. Per-pupil spending here is slightly more than half the national average. Nearly all the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Some teachers worry about what will happen after three years when Apple's grant expires and the district can't afford to buy new tablets. "That's been on the front of my mind since the day I wrote the grant proposal," said Trina Siegfried, who oversees the program.

Apple's Eddy Cue, senior VP of Internet Software and Services, said that if the technology proves effective, it will be easier to find continued funding. "You have to solve the problem you have today and not worry about the problem you're going to have tomorrow." For more on this story, see the full Wall Street Journal report here.

To date, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a group of wealthy nations, recently said schools investing heavily in technology showed "no noticeable improvement" in test scores. The group said students who use tablets and computers heavily actually tend to underperform those who use them moderately.

Yet to be fair, there hasn't been a program like the one that Apple has put together. As a new pilot, Apple may be able to break the mold of previous technology implementations. And considering that Apple is going out of their way to support schools with scant technology resources, there's nothing to do here but applaud Apple for making the commitment that they have, instead of trying to erect a negative wall of skepticism. It's a real case of either seeing the glass as half empty or half full. If you're an optimist you'll see the latter.





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This is an extremely interesting article from Fortune magazine  scarcely a leftist, anti-capitalist rag  that I highly recommend for a view of how Mr. Donald Trump would likely govern the United States were we foolish enough to elect him. It goes nicely with my previous post about his legendary business prowess.

Here are the five salient characteristics of his business career that Fortune identifies:

He always comes first. He wants you to know how rich he is. He sues first, asks questions later. Hes taken on debt recklessly. He thinks hes great at everything.

Seriously, its a very good article, based on a variety of interviews, data, and analysis. Trumpists should avoid reading it, but, instead, should chant over and over again Trump in 2016! alternated with Make America great again!

Posted from New York City
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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

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Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

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The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

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The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN

This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan

Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments

Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan

Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement

With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building

OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh

USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens

ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression
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I just received a note from my old friend Rod Mead-Sperry at Lions Roar.

The American Zen teacher Blanche Hartman, Zenkei Roshi, died early this morning, the 13th of May. She was ninety years old.

Images of Blanche just raced through my mind.

We started Zen practice at close to the same time, both of us with Mel Weitsman at what was then called the Berkeley Zendo. Neither of us recall meeting in those days, although we were both confident we actually sat together on any number of occasions. My connections to the Zen center were light, focused on coming to morning zazen for a year or so and not much more before moving on to study with Jiyu Kennett. She dug in, studying both with Mel and with his teacher Shunryu Suzuki. She would go on to become a leader at the San Francisco Zen Center complex, and a significant figure on the American Zen scene, certainly one of the most respect guides along the Zen way we here in North America have produced to date.

Blanche was born in 1926, in Birmingham, Alabama. While born into a Jewish family, she attended Catholic schools. In Birmingham of that day, probably a wise decision on the part of her parents. In her late teen years, her father who was in the military was transferred to California and she moved with her family. She earned a degree in chemistry at the University of California in Berkeley and worked in that field.

She met Lou Hartman and they married in 1947. Lou worked as a writer and producer and for a number of years in the mid 1950s as a radio personality hosting This is San Francisco. Both he and Blanche were active in the social causes of the day. Lou was blackballed from the industry in the notorious Red Scare years after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He died in 2011.

They would have four children together. And they followed each other into the Zen life, formally joining the Zen Center in 1969. They would end up living at all three of the centers. They were ordained together By Richard Baker Roshi in 1977. She received Dharma transmission from Weitsman Roshi in 1988. She would succeed Mel Weitsman as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, serving between 1996 and 2003.

She was a product of the principal adaptation of the Soto style of training to the West, and to my mind an exemplar of that way. The term Zen center was first applied to the institution that Suzuki Roshi led in San Francisco. It adapted and blended elements of monastic training and temple life, creating what I believe is a powerful model for Zen formation. And in many ways Blanche was, for me, proof of that style of training.

She continued a life long concern with the issues of social justice, and was a fierce advocate for womens access to the full range of Zen training. She also was deeply interested in the traditions of sewing within Zen practice, studied it closely, and would become a beloved teacher of that particular discipline. (I post a video clip of this at the end of this reflection.)

Over the last two decades our paths would cross on occasion, most often in relation to the American Zen Teachers Association and the Soto Zen Buddhist Association. She was kind to me, and ready with a word, as she thought appropriate. She thought I should be teaching full time, and came up with a couple of ideas about how I could afford to retire from my UU ministry early. While I never found them particularly practical, and felt more than she did that my UU ministry was Dharma work, I appreciated her caring and even thinking about it. And I came to think of her as a mentor, certainly as one of my Zen elders.

Endless bows.

For an interview with Blanche & Lou conducted by David Chadwick, go here.

For a Dharma talk, go here.

For a collection of audio recordings of her Dharma talks, go here.

For a link to purchase her book, go here.

For some more details about her last years, I recommend a visit to the Boundless Life site.
Patna: Train services in Bihar were paralyzed on Wednesday due to the ongoing agitation by over 53,000 Home Guard jawans in Bihar whose indefinite strike entered into its sixth day today with no sign of retreat.

Railway traffic was disrupted in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Purnia, Madhubani, and other parts of the state as the protestors blocked tracks by sitting on it and by placing tree logs to prevent trains from passing.

{gallery}newsimages2015/may/052015{/gallery}Home Guard jawans launched their strike after talks failed between their representatives and the state government last Thursday. The demands include a raise in the daily allowance from Rs. 300 to Rs. 500, regularization of their jobs, one time retirement benefit of Rs. 3 lakhs, raise in the retirement age from 58 to 60, and Rs. 10 lakh in compensation to the families of the jawans who die in the line of duty.

The state-wide protest also had impact on road traffic with vehicles lined up for miles on most major highways and other roads. Unconfirmed reports said at least one sick person died in Hajipur when the ambulance carrying him to a Patna hospital got stuck in the massive gridlock on the Gandhi Setu.

Home Guards Association President Arun Kumar Thakur called the strike a total success which, he said would be followed up by a day-long 'fill the jail' campaign on Thursday.

The Director General of the Home Guard P. N. Rai appealed to the protestors to call off their strike and return to duty.

Meanwhile, the state government responded by threatening to take serious legal actions against the agitators for the death of the patient on the Gandhi Setu.

"If the reports of death are true then we will hold the Home Guard jawans responsible for it and take serious action against them," said Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar.
Gaya: Parents of the slain Gaya youth Aditya Sachdeva on Thursday hit back at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav for comparing their son's murder to Pathankot terror attack saying if that was si then Rocky Yadav, his mother and absconding Janata Dal  U legislator Manorama Devi, and her criminal husband Bindi Yadav must be treated as terrorists as well.

Chanda Sachdeva, still grieving for the loss of her son who was shot dead allegedly by Manorama Devi's son Rocky Yadav last Saturday night in Gaya, condemned Tejaswi Yadav for his insensitivity towards their loss by comparing her son's killing to Pathankot Air Force station attack in January this year in which seven Indians were killed.

"If our son's death is the result of a terrorist attack then his killers must be treated as such," she told the reporters in Gaya on Thursday.

Sachdeva family also demanded a CBI probe into the incident saying the state government was trying to protect the killer and his family.

Meanwhile, police said the autopsy of Aditya revealed he was shot from a distance of more than three feet. He died of one bullet would.

On Thursday, Tejaswi Yadav tried to walk back his comments saying he did not mean to compare Aditya's killing to Pathankot terrorist assault despite him being on record.

"I just tried to say that each time a crime is committed in Bihar, opposition terms it as 'Jungle Raj'. All I was saying that crime also happens in other states including Delhi where more road rage cases are registered than anywhere else," the Deputy Chief Minister said.

His father and party President Lalu Prasad Yadav also rushed to his rescue saying his son's words were twisted by the media.

"He did not say anything wrong. His words were misinterpreted in the media. We strongly condemn the killing of Aditya Sachdeva but the government is taking strong action against the culprits," the former Chief Minister of Bihar said.
Siwan: Six days after a Gaya youth was shot dead by the son of a Janata Dal  U legislator, criminals in Siwan, the home turf of incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Mohammed Shahabuddin, gunned down a senior journalist on Friday night.

As reported, Rajdev Ranjan, the bureau chief of the Hindi daily 'Hindustan', was shot from close range by motorcycle-borne assailants near Siwan railway station.

A resident of Siwan, Ranjan was walking to his home from the railway station when five motor-cycle borne criminals ambushed him as one of the gunmen opened fire at him. The veteran journalist with nearly a quarter century of experience was hit in his head and neck.

He was rushed to a Siwan hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Ruling Janata Dal  U leaders in Patna, meanwhile, condemned the killing saying killers of Ranjan would be found and punished soon. They, however, tried to shrug off the accusations of the return of the Jungle Raj in Bihar saying such incidents occurred in other states as well, including the one in Chatra district in BJP-ruled Jharkhand where 35-year old local reporter Akhilesh Pratap Singh was shot and killed on Thursday night.
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Banks Still Wary Of Doing Business With Iran Despite U.S. Urging

05/13/16

Source: RFE/RL

Some of the top European bankers who met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to hear assurances that they can resume business with Iran still have no plans of doing so.

Britain's Standard Chartered bank, which, along with France's BNP Paribas, has been fined billions of dollars for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran in the past, issued a statement after the meeting on May 12, saying it hasn't changed its plans.

"We will not accept any new clients who reside in Iran, or which are an entity owned or controlled by a person there... Nor will we undertake any new transactions involving Iran or any party in Iran," the bank said.

French bank Societe Generale said "remaining uncertainties" will prevent it from resuming commercial activities with Iran.

"Differences between European and U.S. systems generate significant operating risks for financial establishments," it said.

Deutsche Bank, whose chief executive John Cryan met with Kerry, acknowledged afterwards the "increased expectations on the banking sector" to facilitate business with Iran.

But the bank said that, with many U.S. and EU sanctions still in place, "Deutsche Bank continues to generally restrict business connected to Iran."

Banks remain particularly wary of the U.S. ban on dollar-based transactions with Iran being processed through the U.S. financial system.

All of the big global banks have extensive ties with American banks and markets, and it would be difficult for them to avoid at least technical violations of such a ban even when processing transactions that are authorized under the nuclear deal.

Moreover, banking executives say they are wary about the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. The likely Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, like other Republicans, has vowed to take a tougher line on Iran.

"What if Trump wins? Do you want to get involved with contracts now that perhaps in six months would be unenforceable?" a banking source told the Reuters news agency.

Not all of the nine banking executives who met with Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond issued a statement afterwards.

HSBC's U.K. head Antonio Simoes and Credit Suisse Chief Financial Officer David Mathers were among the senior bankers who attended, along with executives from Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and Lloyds.

But none of those banks issued statements saying they planned to venture into Iran, either.

Despite Kerry's strenuous efforts to assure banks that the United States won't stand in the way of legitimate deals with Iran, banking officials said they simply remain unconvinced.

Banks have asked for written assurances from the U.S. Treasury Department -- essentially a guarantee that they won't be punished if they do deals with Iran.

But Washington has been reluctant to provide them with these assurances for fear that it would appear to be softening tough U.S. sanctions that remain in place for Iranian activities like ballistic missile development that are not related to its nuclear program.

As a result, "the assurances given by Kerry are still vague and that goes for the whole U.S. approach. There is 'no letter of comfort' for the banks," one official told Reuters.

The response of banks is not good news for the United States and other world powers, which have been striving to show Iran that there are tangible benefits from forgoing nuclear weapons development.

Hammond said that world powers must succeed in persuading banks that it's safe to invest.

"It's the first hurdle in the race," Hammond said. "If we fail at this one, then we'll never get the chance to demonstrate all the other benefits that can flow from this agreement that we spent so much time and energy delivering."

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
White House, Congress Clash Over Aide's Tactics Pushing Iran Deal

05/13/16

Source: RFE/RL

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said he created an "echo chamber" to sell the Iran nuclear deal to the press and Congress.

The White House and congressional Republicans sparred on May 12 over an aide who was reported to have used questionable tactics to "sell" the Iran nuclear deal to Congress and the press.

#BREAKING: WH adviser Ben Rhodes asked to testify on the Hill over Iran deal comments https://t.co/Z0bomP3Ya5 pic.twitter.com/GETwEWyGQO  The Hill (@thehill) May 11, 2016

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told The New York Times Magazine last week that most of the reporters covering the deal knew little about it, so he was able to create a story line that bolstered the White House's case.

The story said that Rhodes misrepresented the timeline of the negotiations and created what he called an "echo chamber" of supportive experts to affirm the White House's favorable views to the press and Congress.

The article created a furor in Congress, where a House oversight committee is demanding that Rhodes testify on "White House narratives on the Iran deal" at a hearing on May 17.

In addition to the hearing, one Republican lawmaker has filed legislation to rein in the National Security Council (NSC) for growing too large and overreaching.

"Now we hear reports of NSC staffers running misinformation campaigns targeted at Congress and the press," said Representative Mac Thornberry, author of the legislation.

Since the article was published, Rhodes has contended that the White House's case was based on facts.

My take on the NYT Mag's (kind of duplicitous) Ben Rhodes profile. (Warning: No one comes off very well.) https://t.co/38DAj9wiuE  Fred Kaplan (@fmkaplan) May 10, 2016

The White House on May 12 did not rule out the possibility of Rhodes testifying next week, but it accused Republicans of indulging in "political theater" over the article.

"I think there are some people who have some explaining to do when it comes to the wildly false accusations that they made about the Iran deal. And it's not the administration," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"It's Republicans who are demonstrably wrong when it comes to the Iran deal," he said, accusing some lawmakers of being "wildly misinformed, mistaken or lying" by exagerrating how much Iran would benefit financially from the deal.

The chairman of the House oversight committee, Representative Jason Chaffetz, said on Twitter he'd be glad to have the deal's critics testify as well, if Rhodes is "man enough to show. Let's discuss the truth."

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Supporters of Nuclear Deal Should Promote Iran Human Rights

05/13/16

Opinion article by Barbara Slavin (source: VOA)



Iran Human Rights, the Regional Context and Constructive Criticism

(A panel discussion at the Atlantic Council)





Every day brings another horrific story of human rights abuses in the Middle East.

From the killing fields of Syria to the carnage in Yemen to the crowded prisons of Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and Israel, there are enough atrocities in the region to absorb the energies of dozens of human rights organizations.

The international community has limited resources to deal with these abuses and is hampered by double standards that target U.S. adversaries over U.S. allies. But international pressure can help, especially when coupled with domestic activism and diplomatic engagement.

At a panel discussion Wednesday at the Atlantic Council that this reporter moderated, Ahmed Shaheed, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran, expressed optimism that the Iranian government could improve its record on human rights in the aftermath of a landmark nuclear deal.

Cautious engagement has some utility, Shaheed, who has produced ten reports on Irans human rights record since 2011, said. These interactions should be designed to produce results through dialogue that is visible, benchmarked and credible rather than shouting at each other from a distance.







Artwork by 12Petals Media Group





Iranian President Hassan Rouhani campaigned in 2013 on a platform that prioritized a nuclear deal that would ease the burden of sanctions. He also promised that he would lighten the burden of the security state on the Iranian people.

He achieved the first goal last year with the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) but has yet to deliver on the second.

In fact, there has been a continuing crackdown on freedom of the press and civil society as well as discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities and arbitrary imprisonment of Iranian dual nationals including an Iranian-American, Siamak Namazi, and his 80-year-old father, Baquer.

Also recently jailed was a young British-Iranian woman, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was separated from her two-year-old daughter after she tried to return home from a family visit to Iran.

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American academic who was imprisoned for four months in 2007 after she visited her mother in Iran, told the Atlantic Council that the Iranian authorities may have mistaken Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, for a reporter. There has been a concerted effort by Iranian intelligence and security authorities to undermine Rouhani by jailing journalists and civil society activists, Esfandiari said. Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been contradicting the president and undercutting his authority. Usually, she told this reporter, Khamenei waits until a president is on his second term before fighting with him in public. Rouhani is expected to run for re-election in 2017.

It is clear that Khamenei and the Iranian security establishment are worried about the implications of the nuclear deal and its potential to strengthen the private sector and civil society in Iran. Recent parliamentary elections also showed Iranians preference for moderates who seek more interaction with the West, a more robust economy and greater political freedoms.

Unlike Saudi Arabia - which has no written penal code and people can be sentenced to death for such things as practicing witchcraft - Iran has civil rights protections written into its laws and constitution. It has also signed international human rights conventions and has a number of civil society groups within the country as well as an active and vocal diaspora.

Human rights activists say outsiders should press Iran to implement its own laws. Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watchs Middle East and North Africa Division, said the answer is not more U.S. economic sanctions that target the Iranian people in general. She told the Atlantic Council that most members of Congress who argue for more sanctions against Iran now are seeking to overturn the nuclear deal and dont give two diddlies about human rights.

Hadi Ghaemi, founder and executive director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, said Rouhani should not be let off the hook about his campaign promises. Having told the Iranian people that they would be freer under his administration, Ghaemi said Rouhani cant have it both ways,.

Ghaemi pointed to the success of recent international campaigns in securing freedom for Iranian political prisoners, such as Atena Farghadani, a young cartoonist who was jailed after posting caricatures of Iranian politicians as animals on her Facebook page. Her 12-year sentence for undermining national security was reduced to 18 months after an international outcry. A campaign in 2010, in support of activists within Iran, prevented the execution of a woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who had been sentenced to death by stoning .

Shaheed has never been allowed to visit Iran but said he has found it easier than previous U.N. special rapporteurs on Iran to compile his reports because of modern technology. He said he has interviewed 700 witnesses, one-third of them in Iran, without compromising their safety or security.

While rejecting Shaheeds requests to visit the country and decrying his appointment as evidence of political double standards, Iranian authorities have responded to his allegations. His campaign against Irans heavy use of capital punishment for drug-related crimes also appears to be resonating.

A new parliament that is to take office at the end of this month is dominated by Rouhani supporters and is less likely to pass repressive laws than the current legislature.

Ghaemi, whose organization supported the nuclear deal, said that those who advocated for the agreement have a moral and strategic obligation to put human rights as a major topic of discussion with the Iranian government going forward.

The Barack Obama administration did not make political or social reform a condition of the deal - contrary to allegations in a recent article about Obama aide Ben Rhodes in the New York Times Magazine.

But that does not mean that the U.S. should stop pressing for Iran to improve its record on human rights or to release jailed Iranian-Americans such as the Namazis.

As this reporter stated in a brief for the Atlantic Council:

No outside country or body can dictate to a sovereign Iran how it should treat its own citizens. There are double standards in terms of the amount of negative attention the US government and media pay to Iran compared to other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain, Israel, and Egypt, with which the United States has closer ties. Still, it would be easier for the Obama administration and its successor, as well as other Western democracies, to work constructively with a less repressive Iran. An improvement in Irans human rights record could bring major economic benefits to the Islamic Republic, bolster the JCPOA, and facilitate Irans reintegration into global and regional security discussions.



Note by VOA: VOA will present the policies of the United States clearly and effectively, and will also present responsible discussion and opinion on these policies. - VOA Charter


Where Iran Sanctions Relief Falls Short

05/13/16

By Esfandyar Batmanghelidj (source: LobeLog)

Photo: Steel plant in Hormozgan province in southern Iran (photo by Islamic Republic News Agency)





Over the last few weeks, the debate about supposed U.S. obstruction of sanctions relief has reached a fever pitch. Secretary of State Kerry has brushed off criticism from Europe and Iran, making it clear that the US stands by its obligations under JCPOA. He has stated that US sanctions are used as an excuse to hide the fact that some European companies dont want to do business or they dont see a good business deal. Jarrett Blanc, deputy lead coordinator for Iran nuclear implementation echoed this sentiment when addressing an Iran business conference in Zurich, the first time the State Department has spoken at such a gathering. He noted that hesitations go beyond US sanctions and that business decisions, not surprisingly, in fact take into account concerns well beyond sanctions. These statements have raised concern among deal supporters in Europe, Iran, and the United States that the deal is at risk, especially if momentum doesnt materialize before the prospect of a Clinton or Trump presidency.

However, the recent debate about obstruction of sanctions relief overlooks the fact that compliance with US regulations requires two steps: understanding the current status of US sanctions on Iran and ensuring that any transaction facilitated by a financial institution doesnt contravene those sanctions. It is certainly true that the U.S. Treasury and its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) could do more to elucidate precisely how they will enforce the post-JCPOA Iran sanctions since European financial institutions, given a history of hefty fines, will not tolerate such a degree of confusion and ambiguity. However, even if the US regulations were crystal clear, determining whether a given transaction is compliant will remain difficult. This second dimension to compliance is what banks call know your customer or KYC, and it requires a high degree of due diligence to ensure that parties in a given transaction (even the simple transfer of funds from one account to another) do not fall afoul of the remaining US sanctions. Although progress is being made on the first step of compliance, with US regulators and European bankers and businessmen opening a dialogue, the second step remains a challenge with no clear solution.

In order to put banks at ease, the onus will be on Iranian companies to raise levels of transparency and accountability. Moving from a closed, inward-looking economy to one properly integrated into the global systems for finance and trade will require new business practices. This has been well noted in the numerous country reports written by major law firms such as Dentons, Eversheds, and Clyde & Co, as well as advisory companies such as McKinsey, Control Risks, Economist Intelligence Unit, and PwC.Iran understands the need for greater transparency, but the transition is only just beginning. Most Iranian business leaders considered a nuclear deal an unlikely occurrence until quite late in the negotiations. Few began serious preparations for post-sanctions business development until after Implementation Day. As a result, only a handful of Iranian companies in each sector can provide investors detailed and reliable materials on investment and partnership opportunities at the present time. Companies often lack clear and comprehensive websites, let alone detailed third-party due diligence reports or feasibility studies for the projects they are touting. As such, the majority of Irans investment opportunities are not bankable-that is to say an investor cannot have a high degree of confidence in the verifiability of the project at hand. If the investor cannot be sure of fundamental details, then the cautious banks will be even more hesitant to provide financing or simply facilitate the necessary transactions. They will not be able to ensure compliance, even if the US regulations and other relevant sanctions are crystal clear.

The Blind Spot

The majority of the major deals announced since Implementation Day, which have not progressed beyond Memoranda of Understanding, are between European MNCs and Iranian partners who have a historical working relationship. Companies like Airbus, Bosch, Daimler, Danieli, NovoNordisk, Scania, and Siemens are not new in the Iranian market, and therefore the sizeable investments promised can be made with the confidence built from an iterated relationship with the Iranian counterparty. New players are facing an interesting dilemma. They are making country visits to Tehran every week and are speaking with potential partners. But while the initial conversations are almost always positive, making clear the much touted investment opportunities, the mechanics of those deals remain difficult to pin down. Reluctant to lose the positive tempo of initial visits, European companies have attributed that hesitation to the ambiguity around US sanctions-Secretary Kerrys comments are accurate. These new entrants certainly find it far easier to blame US sanctions than to explain the inadequacy of a potential Iranian partners provided information. It is also hard to blame the Iranian companies that have so little recourse and support in actually producing reports and documentation to the standards Europeans desire even in a so-called emerging market.

Here, then, is the true blind spot of US sanctions relief for Iran. Its not so much that banks feel uncomfortable with transactions, but actually that the third-party service providers banks and businesses rely on to provide an objective, verifiable, and bankable picture of a given opportunity, counterparty, or transaction are not able to operate. The same companies that have produced the initial flurry of reports about Iran-management consulting firms, accountancies, credit agencies, and law firms-are finding it very difficult to understand exactly how they can service Iranian clients in the current regulatory environment. These global companies have massive US operations and countless US persons working in an inherently polycentric corporate structure. They are in some ways the most multinational of all multinational corporations. For example, every McKinsey office in Europe is technically a Delaware corporation. These companies, which act in many respects as the architects of global standards for business practice and governance, are perhaps more hamstrung than the banks, which have relatively ring-fenced corporate structures.

This situation presents the fundamental challenge of unlocking post-sanctions Iran. The investment opportunities exist, and there is a real will to engage both in Europe and in Iran, but actionable information is in short supply. The big four accountancies are circling Iran, attending conferences, publishing reports, and sending non-US citizens on country visits. Despite the high levels of interest, however, work has been slow to start. It is time-consuming, costly, and logistically difficult to create a compliant Iran advisory practice within these major firms.

General License H was a much-touted development to the OFAC guidance update to US sanctions on Implementation Day. It authorized U.S. persons, including employees and outside legal counsel and consultants to provide training, advice, and counseling on the new or revised operating policies and procedures, provided that these services are not provided to facilitate transactions in violation of U.S. law. In short, US lawyers and consultants can now help US companies and the foreign subsidiaries of these companies get the basic architecture of their own compliant Iran strategy in place. However, the same US persons and the companies they advise, remain explicitly unable to rely on [General License] H to export U.S.-origin goods to Iran. The trouble is that U.S.-origin goods encompasses a prohibition on reexporting from a third country, directly or indirectly, any goods, technology, or services that have been exported from the United States. Furthermore, beyond the initial permitted consultations, U.S. persons cannot partake in Iran-related day-to-day operations of a U.S.-owned or -controlled foreign entity engaging in activities with Iran, including by approving, financing, facilitating, or guaranteeing any Iran-related transaction by the foreign entity.

This language raises many important questions for a company whose primary service is advisory. Can the exchange of ideas and information have a national origin such that it would be defined as a service exported from the U.S.? What does facilitation mean in terms of consultancy or due diligence work, which will nearly always be insisted upon by one or all of the involved parties? What is the red line where the provision of training and advice to help devise a ring-fencing structure for a non-US subsidiarys Iran business becomes day-to-day involvement in the new Iranian venture? Finally, if the advisor is a third party in a given transaction, is there a meaningful point at which the exportation of a service is is intended specifically for Iran, and thereby prohibited, or in fact intended and performed for the non-Iranian party?

What the US Should Do

We live in a global ideas economy, where some of the worlds most important companies do nothing more than ensure other firms are working in the most intelligent, strategic, and transparent ways. If Iran is going to become a responsible player in the global economy, it needs access to the free market for ideas. US sanctions policy must ensure that channels for the transfer of knowledge and expertise are left open and that the worlds leading advisory firms can take the lead in sifting through the Iranian opportunities, raising capacity in Iranian companies, and providing transparency for European banks and businesses. A new, expanded general license for advisory practices would eliminate the hassle and cost of setting up a proper Iran advisory practice and get the right expertise into the country at this crucial stage. There already exist broad exemptions for activities such as journalism, publishing, and conference organizing, which presuppose an open exchange of information. The spirit of these exemptions needs to be extended to a broader notion of knowledge transfer that allows for holistic compliance-focused advisory services to be provided to Iranian clients without the arbitrary prohibition of activities by US entities.

Policymakers would be hard pressed to find a way that a management consultant or tax expert trying to explain to an Iranian company how the world expects them to do business would contravene the purpose of US sanctions. On the contrary, policymakers might keep primary US sanctions in place until enough knowledge has been transferred to Iran to raise transparency and governance standards. This will enable US regulators to have a greater degree of confidence in the ability of private businesses to themselves judge the appropriateness of transactions at such time that the US is ready to consider a lifting of primary sanctions on Iran. To be clear, management consultants and other advisors are plainly not a panacea for Iran, but they can have a major influence in shaping the direction of intelligent commercial development. Consider the significant role played by McKinsey in formulating Saudi Arabias new Vision 2030 plan. Iran needs similar expertise and vision now.

The adage trust but verify was bandied by the Obama Administration to explain the methodology of JCPOA. The verification of the IAEA-a third party-was crucial to bringing the nuclear deal to fruition. Rather than complaining about banks and historical fines, we should realize that the economic implementation of sanctions relief under JCPOA will also require its own kind of third-party verification. Kerry is telling the banks to trust that sanctions relief is real, but he isnt giving them the tools to verify that opportunities are actionable. This is where sanctions relief is falling short.

About the author:

Esfandyar Batmanghelidj is the founder and organizer of the Europe-Iran Forum, a leading economic conference. He is also a researcher on Iranian political economy and social history.
Maryam Mirzakhani, First Iranian Woman to be Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

05/13/16

Source: Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA)



Maryam Mirzakhani



Maryam Mirzakhani, a Professor of Mathematics at Stanford University, was recently elected to the National Academy of Sciences. One of the highest honors for scientists in the United States, new members are elected by current members based on their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. These members serve as advisors to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine. Past honorees include renowned scientists Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell. Mirzakhani was one of the 84 new members and 21 foreign associates elected into the nonprofit organization this year. She will be formally inducted next April in Washington D.C.

Dr. Mirzakhani was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. As a teenager in 1994, she won a gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad, becoming the first female Iranian student to do so. The following year, she was the first Iranian student to achieve a perfect score at the Olympiad and win two gold medals. After high school, she attended Sharif University of Technology in Tehran and later earned her PhD from Harvard University.

Dr. Mirzakhanis research focuses on hyperbolic geometry, although she has expertise in abroad array of mathematical fields. Her ability to borrow techniques from different fields is part of what makes her research so brilliant and innovative.

Of her mathematic approach to developing new proofs, she says: It is like being lost in a jungle and trying to use all the knowledge that you can gather to come up with some new tricks, and with some luck you might find a way out.

Dr. Mirzakhani was a 2004 research fellow at the Clay Mathematics Institute and previously worked as a professor at Princeton University. In 2014, she won the Fields Medal which is considered one of the most prestigious awards offered to mathematicians. She became the first woman and the first Iranian to win this award. Iranian President Rouhani congratulated Mirzakhani, making the statement: I congratulate you for winning the topmost world prize in mathematics. Today the Iranians can feel proud that the first woman who has ever won the Fields Medal is their fellow citizen. Yes! The most competent must sit at the highest position and must be the most respected.

Dr. Mirzakhani has also been awarded the Clay Research Award as well as the Blumenthal Award for Mathematics. She is married to theoretical computer scientist, Jan Vondrak, and they have one daughter.

PAAIA congratulates Maryam Mirzakhani on this and her many other tremendous achievements.







Maryam Mirzakhani profile by WIRED Science
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Microsofts improving the biometric login capabilities of Windows 10 Mobile in the coming months. The company plans to add fingerprint sensor capabilities to Windows Hellothe biometric login feature built into the operating systemin the mobile version of Windows 10 this summer. Windows 10 Mobile already supports retina detection, which is used by the Lumia 950 and the 950 XL.

Microsoft revealed its plans for fingerprint sensing during the Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) planning event, which was held in China in March. Earlier this week, Microsoft released its presentation slide decks from the events on Channel 9, allowing the public to find out about its plans.

To use the new fingerprint scanning capability your phone will have to come with the hardware required to use it. The first handset to use the fingerprint capability will likely be HPs Elite X3. The company previously announced it would offer dual biometrics on the phone with iris detection and fingerprint scanning.

Why this matters: Unlocking your phone with a retina scan feels cool and very futuristicalmost Mission Impossible-like, you might say. But its also an impractical feature, at least in my experience on the Lumia 950. Retina scans are far slower than entering a PIN, to the point that I often forget the feature is there and just quickly zip through my code instead. Retina scans also dont work at all when youre outdoors on a sunny day. Fingerprint scanning, meanwhile, tends to be very responsive, and many hardware makers already have experience with the technology.

[via MSPoweruser]
Financial transaction network SWIFT has renewed its warning to customers to be on their guard following the discovery of malware at another bank using its services.

The bank first asked customers to take steps to secure their systems in the wake of an attempt to steal US$951 million from Bangladesh Bank in February. Attackers there appear to have used custom malware installed on computers at the bank to send fraudulent messages over the SWIFT network seeking to transfer money from the banks account with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

That attack appears not to have been an isolated incident, as SWIFT said Friday it has now learnt more about a second instance in which malware was used.

While SWIFT did not name the target, a report from security researchers at BAE Systems, also published Friday, pointed to a commercial bank in Vietnam as the latest victim.

The malware attacks were not directly on the transaction network or core messaging system, but instead were targeted at customer banks secondary security controls, SWIFT said.

With its ability to transfer billions of dollars to accounts around the world in a few keystrokes, the SWIFT financial transaction network is increasingly being instrumentalized in cyber attacks on financial institutions.

While the number of cases of fraud at its customers is so far small, forensic experts believe the new discovery is part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks, SWIFT said.

Posting on the BAE Systems threat research blog, researchers Sergei Shevchenko and Adrian Nish said what ties together the cases discovered so far is the use of an unusual file wipe function the malware uses to make deleted files unrecoverable. The function first fills the file with random characters to ensure nothing can be recovered from the sectors it occupies on disk, then changes its name to a random string before deleting it.

In both cases, SWIFT said in its latest warning, the attackers have exploited vulnerabilities in the systems banks use to initiate fund transfers, stealing banks credentials and using them to send irrevocable fund transfer orders over the SWIFT network.

In addition, the attackers have tampered with secondary controls such as records of statements and confirmations that the banks use to recognize fraud. For example, SWIFT said, in the latest case the attackers targeted the banks PDF reader, using malices software to modify it so as to hide traces of the fraudulent transactions in PDF reports of payment confirmations.

SWIFT asked its customers to review security controls across all their payment systems, from employee checks to cyber defenses. Banks using PDF reader applications to review confirmation messages should take particular care, it said. The asked banks to help track down the fraudsters by advising it if any incidents were discovered.
Apple has invested US$1 billion in Chinas largest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, in a move that could give it an opportunity to participate in the local companys bid to build a data-driven ride-share platform.

Didi, which is already backed by big local players like Tencent and Alibaba, said it has raised the Apple investment as a part of its latest funding round. The investment by Apple is the largest single investment Didi has ever received, it added.

Apple has been indicating that such an investment was coming for some time now, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. The company has already said that it plans to increase its services revenue and that the Chinese market is a key component of its overall strategy going forward, Moorhead said.

China is already the second largest market by revenue for Apple, though revenue fell 11 percent from this market in the last quarter.

CEO Tim Cook said recently the company would invest in mergers and acquisitions to boost its various businesses, including services.

The Chinese company has teamed with other players to form an alliance to counter the growing influence of Uber Technologies. Didi announced in September last year a $100 million investment in Lyft, which would allow Lyft users visiting China to access Didi services from their native apps. Didi has also invested in regional players like Indias Ola and Malaysias GrabTaxi.

The company is a big player in China, and completes over 11 million rides a day on its platform, serving close to 300 million users across over 400 Chinese cities, with a wide range of mobile technology-based transportation options.

There has been speculation previously that Apple would get into self-driving cars. A partnership with Didi could give Apple an opportunity to sell its technology in 5 to 10 years to the ride-hailing company, as it and its rivals like Uber transition to autonomous cars, Moorhead said.

The investment, which would use the large amount of funds Apple holds overseas, would also give it a prominent place on the table in Chinas transportation industry, he added.
Google has changed the way developers build applications that understand human language  and in the finest tradition of the Internet, has named the result after Boaty McBoatface.

The company announced a new SyntaxNet open-source neural network framework that developers can use to build applications that understand human language. As part of that release, Google also introduced Parsey McParseface, a new English language parser that was trained using SyntaxNet.

The launch is a move to democratize the tools for building applications powered by machine learning. Google claims that Parsey is the most accurate model in the world for parsing English. Making it freely available to developers means applications that need to understand natural-language queries will be easier to make.

Parsey  along with the rest of SyntaxNet  is made possible by powerful machine learning tools. Its built to tackle the problem of understanding humans, which is incredibly difficult for computers. Thats because we speak and write ambiguously, and while human beings are remarkably good at parsing all that, computers have a harder time with it.

By making tools like these available, Google can empower developers and other computer-science researchers to build applications that better understand human input, without requiring those people to resort to typing out exact commands in perfect machine-readable syntax.

All this is part of an arms race by tech companies to be the best at creating new intelligent capabilities that developers can use to build applications. IBMs Watson platform is a rival to Googles tools, and Microsoft has its own contenders.

Those capabilities are used to create things like intelligent chatbots that people can interact with using plain text. Having Parsey McParseface interpreting the queries coming into a bot could make it easier for the bot to respond intelligently.
A U.S. senator will introduce legislation to roll back new court rules that allow judges to give law enforcement agencies the authority to remotely hack computers.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, will introduce a bill that would reverse a court procedure rules change, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, that would allow lower judges to issue remote hacking warrants.

The rules change, requested by the Department of Justice, expands the geographical reach of police hacking powers beyond local court jurisdictions now allowed through court-ordered warrants. Previously, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibited a federal judge from issuing a search warrant outside his or her district.

The changes go into effect on Dec. 1 unless Congress moves to reverse them.

Several digital rights and civil liberties groups, along with some tech companies, have opposed the changes. The new rule creates new avenues for government hacking that were never approved by Congress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a blog post in April.

The new rule, allowing warrants targeting data concealed through technological means, would give police permission to target users of VPNs or the Tor anonymous browser, the EFF said. If this rule change is not stopped, anyone who is using any technological means to safeguard their location privacy could find themselves suddenly in the jurisdiction of a prosecutor-friendly or technically-naive judge, anywhere in the country, the group added.

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, will sign on as a co-sponsor of the legislation, scheduled to be introduced next week, said a spokeswoman for Wyden. The proposal has generated bipartisan interest in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, she said.

The bill may be difficult to pass in a national election year, when controversial legislation usually stalls. But Wyden certainly is going to put this at the top of the priority list, his spokeswoman said.
Varuzhan Hoktanyan: What was the use of giving Davit Harutyunyan's email address? (video)

Hovik Abrahamyans latest call for the speedy fight against corruption has created a dubious impression, says Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of the Transparency International anti-corruption center. First of all, I think considering the current situation they came to understand that our statehood is periled if things continue in the same way in many sectors. The four-day April war also showed it. I repeat that the level of corruption in a country like ours, which has neither gas nor oil, is a serious challenge and it can really lead to the loss of our statehood, he said. At the same time, Mr Hoktanyan could not understand why the Armenian PM decided to speak about corruption at this moment. Somehow, it made an impression of a declarative statement. What was the use of mentioning the email address of Davit Harutyunyan if we have an anti-corruption council? I think if the latter starts working seriously, we can already see results. In reply to A1+ whether everything will again remain on paper, Varuzhan Hoktanyan said, I think they will. This is a difficult step to take for it requires political will. In some countries it was done through coups or spontaneously but they realized that the moment had matured and they could no longer continue to live in that way and the same Godfathers of corruption either resigned or made major changes.
Google for Work President Amit Singh is leaving the companys business-focused division to tackle new challenges on the virtual reality side of the house.

Singh will be joining the Google VR team to lead its business and operations efforts, he said in a tweet Friday. The company hired him six years ago from Oracle to lead the Google for Work team, and he was at its head for the launch of a number of key enterprise-focused products, including Android for Work and Chromebooks for Work.

Thrilled to be joining Google VR team to lead biz and ops. Incredibly proud of @googleforwork and where they are headed  Amit Singh (@aksingh77) May 13, 2016

Those products have been important parts of Googles strategy to bring in businesses as paying customers. It will be interesting to see what his move means for the companys VR ambitions.

Currently, most of Googles VR offerings are aimed primarily at consumers, but Singhs move to the world of virtual reality may signal something of a shift.

The news comes roughly six months after Google hired VMware co-founder Diane Greene to lead a team overseeing its business-focused efforts, including Google for Work.

Google confirmed it is actively seeking to replace Singh, and Greene will work with the Google for Work team until a replacement is hired. Its unclear whether Singhs replacement will come from within Google.

Interestingly, rumors have begun swirling that Google plans to announce a new Android VR platform next week at its I/O developer conference. Its still not clear what Android VR would be capable of, or how it would stand out from the existing Google Cardboard ecosystem.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed sensible legislation aimed at protecting small businesses from costly lawsuits over technical violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Senate Bill 269, by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside, provides businesses 15 days to fix minor violations of the ADA upon receipt of a complaint or written notification. The sorts of violations covered by the law include faded or damaged paint in parking lots.

For too long, the good intentions of the ADA have been used to enrich trial attorneys and serial plaintiffs, rather than actually encouraging compliance with the law. Upward of 40 percent of all ADA lawsuits in the nation occur in California, often against small businesses that cant absorb the cost of defending lawsuits.

Thats because violations of the ADA, even without any evidence of actual harm, are considered breaches of Californias Unruh Civil Rights Act, thus entitling successful litigants to a minimum of $4,000 in treble damages. This conflation of the ADA and state civil rights law has spawned a cottage industry of serial litigants who have targeted businesses for the most petty of violations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act was intended to increase compliance and access, not become a source of income for trial lawyers, said Tom Scott, California executive director for the National Federation of Independent Business. This bill gives small businesses the opportunity to correct minor violations without a costly shakedown lawsuit.

SB269 is Sen. Roths second attempt at curbing ADA lawsuit abuses. Last year, he introduced Senate Bill 251, which called for protecting businesses with up to 100 employees and also called for a tax credit to help businesses bring their properties up to compliance with the ADA. Though SB251 was overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature, Gov. Brown vetoed the measure on the grounds the state couldnt afford the tax credit.

Fortunately, Sen. Roth quickly returned with an iteration that was easier to pass, and which still possesses great potential to cut down abuses of the ADA.

SB269 is a bipartisan, commonsense solution that will guarantee access for disabled Californians by providing small businesses with the tools and resources necessary to comply with state and federal disability access regulations, Sen. Roth said in a statement.

We thank Sen. Roth for standing up for both the small business and disabled community. We hope any further abuses of the ADA can be addressed in a similarly bipartisan matter.
Inland Southern California has fewer middle income residents than it did in the year 2000, according to a report released this week by the Pew Research Center.

Its a disturbing finding, but not entirely unexpected, said Anil Deolalikar, founding dean of UC Riversides School of Public Policy.

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario is among 203 of 229 U.S. metropolitan areas with a decrease in share of middle income households, according to Pews statistics in Americas Shrinking Middle Class.

The middle-income share here dropped from 53 percent in 2000 to 51 percent in 2014. Middle income is defined as three-person households that make $42,000 to $125,000 annually.

The share of households that make less grew by 0.9 percent in the same period, from 34.8 percent to 34.7 percent. The share of households that make more picked up 1.1 percent of the share, from 12.3 percent to 13.4 percent. Numbers may not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

Thats a bad trend, because that indicates a concentration of income at the top, Deolalikar said in a phone interview. The region is losing middle class jobs, thats basically what this is.

Loss of share was greater in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan area, where middle income households make up 46.5 percent, down from 47.3 percent in 2000. It was among about a quarter of the metropolitan areas where middle class adults do not constitute a clear majority of the adult population, the report said.

Middle income households have been hurt by a drop in average imcomes over the last eight years and most of Inland growth has been in lower-income jobs, Deolalikar said.

Theyre getting a smaller share of a pie thats decreasing in size, not an increasing pie.

Median income of middle-income households dropped 6 percent, $77,898 in 1999 to $72,919 in 2014, according to Pew. Median incomes for lower income households dropped 10 percent. It dropped 7 percent for upper income households.

The School of Public Policy has launched an initiative to study and seek solutions for poverty on a local as well as global level.

A shrinking middle class is unfortunately the reality not just in many parts of the United States, but also in many other parts of the world, Deolaliker said. We see this happening in Japan. We see it happening in many European countries. And possibly this is one of many factors responsible for the growth of extremist politicians all over Europe and the United States.
A widening wealth gap is moving more households into either higher- or lower-income groups in major metro areas, with fewer remaining in the middle, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

Watch for updates as we sift Inland numbers from the Pew analysis.

In nearly one-quarter of metro areas, middle-class adults no longer make up a majority, the Pew analysis found. Thats up from fewer than 10 percent of metro areas in 2000.

That sharp shift reflects a broader erosion that occurred from 2000 through 2014. Over that time, the middle class shrank in nine of every 10 metro areas, Pew found.

By Pews definition, a three-person household was middle class in 2014 if its annual income fell between $42,000 and $125,000.

Middle class adults now make up less than half the population in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Houston.

Staff writer Fielding Buck contributed to this report.
Quoting Aesops Fable about the ant and the grasshopper, Gov. Jerry Brown warned Friday, May 13 that the state needs to prepare for the next recession and cautioned against new spending commitments.

The surging tide of revenue is beginning to turn, the governor said during a news conference in Sacramento to discuss his revised budget plan. Thats why its very important and best that we prepare for a time of necessity.

The ant and the grasshopper fable concerns a grasshopper who spent the summer singing begging for food from an ant who stored up food for winter. While the state in recent years has seen revenues grow beyond estimates, the May revenue forecast has been cut by $1.9 billion to reflect poor April income tax receipts and mediocre sales tax receipts.

Even if voters extend Prop. 30 tax hikes to fund education, the long-term budget outlook is barely balanced, according to a news release from the governors press office. When asked whether he supported extending the taxes, Brown said: Im leaving that to the people of California.

Democratic lawmakers in the state Legislature want to spend more on social programs. But as hed done before in his second go-around as governor, Brown cautioned against new spending thats not backed up by new revenue.

I know theres all this need  but we have to live within the framework that were given, he said, pointing to shows showing the volatility in capital gains tax revenue and the boom-and-bust nature of state finances.

The governor also referred to a Moodys assessment that put California 19th among 20 large states in being prepared for the next recession.

The revised $122.2 billion budget  down from $122.6 billion proposed in January  does include more money for education. Theres $2.9 billion more for the Local Control Funding Formula in an effort to give more money to under-funded schools, and $25 million in one-time money will go to the California State University system to allow students to earn degrees more quickly.

In addition, the revised budget endorses a $2 billion bond from money originally targeted for mental health care to allow the Department of Housing and Community Development to focus on chronic homelessness.

The budget also includes more spending on services for the developmentally disabled and bigger payments to Medi-Cal providers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
In a sign of the Democratic establishments support for Inland Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon will be in the area on Saturday, May 21 to campaign for Brown, who faces a tough re-election challenge from a liberal Democrat.

Rendon, D-Lakewood, will visit Browns campaign headquarters in Rialto, according to a campaign news release. I am proud to endorse Assembly Member Cheryl Brown for re-election to represent the 47th Assembly District, Rendon said in another news release. Cheryl is known for informed and thoughtful deliberation, voting her conscience, and putting the people of her district first.

Rendons visit underscores how the party apparatus is trying to help Brown in a spirited contest against attorney Eloise Reyes. Earlier this year, the California Democratic Party endorsed Brown, who represents a district that includes part of the city of San Bernardino as well as Colton, Fontana, Rialto and Grand Terrace.

Reyes backers include environmental activists and labor unions, who are upset with Browns votes on gun control and other matters. Liberals were especially angry with Browns opposition last fall to a portion of a climate change bill that called for cutting petroleum usage by motor vehicles.

Brown, who is part of a block of moderate Assembly Democrats, said she was concerned the petroleum restrictions would have adversely impacted her constituents, many of whom drive long distances to work. The provision was stripped from the final climate change bill, which Brown voted for.

Since then, Browns critics have launched a Chevron Cheryl campaign intended to portray her as beholden to corporate interests.
For two hours Wednesday morning, students at Dorothy Grant Elementary School in Fontana got a break to spend some time with someone special: their dads.

More than 150 fathers spent the morning on campus for Donut with Dad, which the school and Fontana Unified hope will become an annual event across the district.

As for the students who dont have fathers in their lives, police, firefighters, paramedics and helicopter pilots from eight emergency service agencies were there to fill in for the day.

The event was the idea of Fontana Unified School District police Officer Sean Shanen, who visited at a similar event in Los Angeles Unified School District earlier this school year.

Once I got there, I had to get involved, he said. This is what were about as a police agency.

The student he had been paired with in Los Angeles was initially withdrawn. She didnt have a lot of positive contact with police officers or even men in her life. But by the end of the day, she was all smiles and was laughing and upbeat, Shanen said.

It was an overwhelming experience, he said.

As of 2014, there are 4,869 children in foster care in San Bernardino County, according to KidsData.org. In Fontana, that number is 319, according to the San Bernardino County Department of Human Services.

Students on Wednesday paired off with dads or the first responders, read books together and later shared Krispy Kreme doughnuts, coffee and juice in the school cafeteria. Then they got the chance to check out the emergency service vehicles  including two helicopters  parked on the schools playground.

Its almost like a Career Day and Read Across America in one, Shanen said.

Michael King, the lone father on the Grant Elementary PTA board, said he sees the value in Wednesdays event, which the PTA helped organize.

I grew up without my father, he said, sitting in the school cafeteria with his three daughters. Ive made it a point to be involved in their lives.

The effort appeared to be appreciated. As students lined up with their fathers to go into the cafeteria for doughnuts, children repeatedly hugged and kissed their fathers, many of whom arent otherwise regular presences on campus, according to Principal Anne-Marie Cabrales.

We want (the students) to make sure they feel they are loved, that they are important, she said. Its also a chance for them to see officers in a positive light.

It had value for the adults as well.

Enjoy your time here with your children, Shanen told the assembled fathers, arrayed on the cafeteria benches. Because theyre going to get older.

Contact the writer: beau.yarbrough@langnews.com; @LBY3
A Riverside police sergeant faces trial on one count of felony willful child cruelty in connection with a September 2015 altercation with a family member after the defendants personal vehicle was damaged.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Michael Donner found after a preliminary hearing Wednesday, May 11, that there was sufficient evidence to hold Benjamin Russell Shafer, 43, for trial on the one charge. The judge dismissed a felony assault charge.

Shafer was placed on paid administrative leave after the charges were filed and remains on leave, Riverside police spokesman Lt. Christian Dinco wrote in an email.

The alleged victim and another witness are teenagers, and the Riverside County District Attorneys Office filed immunity agreements in exchange for their testimony at Wednesdays hearing, according to court records.

The Press-Enterprise does not typically identify victims of alleged child abuse, or report details that would serve to identify them.

The teens testimony conflicted with what they initially told investigators, and tended to discount criminal wrongdoing allegations against Shafer.

The judge said it will be up to a jury to hear witness testimony and decide the truth.

The Sept. 7 confrontation at Shafers home near Lake Mathews south of Riverside occurred after the alleged victim let a friend drive Shafers vehicle, without Shafers permission, and a minor accident occurred, according to testimony and an arrest warrant declaration.

Following a three-month investigation by the Riverside County Sheriffs Department, Shafer was arrested in December and was soon released on $35,000 bail.

Five people witnessed the initial altercation outside the home. At Wednesdays hearing, only the alleged victim, one teen witness and two public safety officers testified.

The arrest warrant summarized interviews with witnesses who said Shafer smacked the alleged victim in the face, slammed him against the car hood, knocked him to the ground and, inside the residence, grabbed him by the neck and pushed him.

In court, the alleged victim testified Shafer did not push him, that he fell back on his own and hit the vehicle, then they scuffled.

Contrary to what she told investigators about seeing the entire incident, the other teen witness admitted in court that other witnesses filled in holes in what she had seen. She testified she didnt see Shafer hit the alleged victim.

District Attorney Kevin Beecham focused on discrepancies to impeach the witness. Defense attorney Virginia Blumenthal argued that the teen boy was acting out of control, and that at most her client should face a misdemeanor charge.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9075 or gwesson@pressenterprise.com
Police K-9 Finn looked proud during a Youtube video describing his helpful role in coaxing a suspect out of hiding.

The suspect, who was not named in the video, had been a habitual car thief in the city and had outstanding felony warrants, police say.

Officers were called about noon to the area of Magnolia Avenue and Canterbury Road for the suspect, who was not named in the release.

A K-9 officer was called to the area with Finn and the suspect was found hiding in the attic of a home.

Police said in a Facebook post that once the suspect learned of the 4-year-old dogs presence, he surrendered.

He was arrested for his outsanding warrants, police say.
Recognizing the huge economic potential of Inland Southern Californias Latino population, on-demand transportation company Uber on Thursday launched its app-based service that empowers customers to request rides from Spanish-speaking drivers.

Its the latest move by the swiftly growing company that is certain to trigger praise from fans  and criticism from Uber haters. But it was a natural next step, the company said, following the successful debut of a similar service in San Diego in February 2015 and in Los Angeles and Orange County a month later.

Our team saw an overwhelming demand for it, said Zara Rahim, a spokeswoman for Uber in Los Angeles, in a phone interview.

The service targets a region where Spanish is spoken in one-third of the homes, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau survey. Thats not as high of a rate as Los Angeles County has, but its higher than that of Orange County.

Some, however, are critical of Ubers efforts in any language.

Cesar Hernandez, of Riverside-based transportation company ETS, maintained that Uber has made unfair inroads into the on-demand transportation service by avoiding local regulation and fees.

There is not a lot of cash business out there for the cab drivers, Hernandez said, like there used to be before.

PROMISING MARKET

Given the success Uber has had with its program in Californias coastal communities, Ira Kalb, assistant professor of clinical marketing at USC, said it makes good business sense to roll the service out in ethnically diverse Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In marketing, we always look at the target audience and try to figure out what the customer wants and is not getting, Kalb said.

He suggested the timing of the launch was good, too, given some of the polarizing immigration rhetoric of presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Hes offended some people who speak Spanish, Kalb said. I think there is maybe more of a cultural reason to offer this in Spanish, to make people feel more welcome and less alienated than they would be otherwise.

Christopher Thornberg, director of UC Riversides Center for Economic Forecasting and Development, also termed the move a smart marketing decision.

I would even go so far as to call it genius. There is clearly a demand for this, Thornberg said.

Noting that Southern California also is home to many people who speak many other languages, he said Uber would be well served to consider adding language-tailored services for them. For now, though, Rahim said Uber service across Southern California will be provided in English and Spanish.

Thornberg said he can appreciate the value of Ubers new service.

Im uncomfortable if Im in a city in another country, and I get in a cab and the driver doesnt speak English, he said.

And Thornberg said he can understand why someone would jump at the opportunity to take a ride with a driver who speaks Spanish.

BEHIND THE WHEEL

Rob Wilhelm, an Uber driver based in Loma Linda, is bilingual and one of more than 800 drivers who was tapped to launch the service.

Even before the launch, Wilhelm said, up to 12 percent of his customers spoke Spanish.

They want to go places but they dont know how to tell you where they want to go, he said. A lot of them have it written on a piece of paper.

What usually comes next may be an indication of the potential for success in the Inland area.

When they find out I speak Spanish, Wilhelm said, they are happy as can be.

Alfred Jaramillo, 57, of Upland chose to work for Uber about a year and a half ago to put food on the table for his family.

Jaramillo normally starts his shift in the evening and drives until 3 or 4 in the morning. He drives all over Southern California, including greater Los Angeles.

As he is talking, his phone beeps, indicating someone is requesting a ride.

I notice right away when a customer prefers speaking in Spanish, he said. If they request a ride to go to the pharmacy, like CVS, for example, then I will ask them in Spanish if I should wait for them.  They do not want to call another driver.

Out of the 15 to 30 customers Jaramillo drives during one of his shifts, he says about 40 percent prefer to speak in Spanish.

Uber is trying to bridge the communication gap, Jaramillo said, and I think that is important.

HOTELS AND BARS

Not everyone is a fan of Uber.

Hernandez, vice president of operations for ETS, which operates Triple A Yellow Cab, Checker Cab and Inland Empire Cab, says Uber has an unfair advantage on his regulated industry.

Uber has affected everybody in this industry, Hernandez said. Every year it affects us more and more. Uber has just taken a lot of the business.

In an anecdotal picture of how the industry has changed, he said some drivers have waited at bars to drive home intoxicated patrons, only to watch dozens walk out and into Uber cars.

The same thing at hotels, Hernandez said.

Thornberg dismissed the criticism, saying there is always angst when a new innovation comes along.

The people who raised horses for a living werent too pleased with the people who made the automobile, he said.

And the people who made candles were pretty upset when Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he added.

Staff writer

Angela Maria Naso

contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9699 or ddowney@pressenterprise.com
A freeway motorist suffered neck and back pain during a collision with a tree bordering a Moreno Valley off-ramp, according to the California Highway Patrol website and preliminary reports from the scene.

The crash happened at 9:13 p.m. Thursday, May 12, beside the eastbound lanes of Highway 60 at Perris Boulevard.

The driver was along in the SUV, according to preliinary reports.
A security contractor at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad has been shot and killed, Julie Bishop has confirmed.

In a press statement today, Bishop said the 34-year-old man was working for the Unity Resources Group, providing security services to the Australian Embassy when he was killed.

The circumstances surrounding his death will be thoroughly investigated, she said.

The Government extends its condolences to the family of the Australian man over this tragic incident. All appropriate assistance is being provided to his family.



Fairfax reports that another Unity employee is being questioned about the shooting.

I am advised the high level of security is being maintained at the embassy, said Bishop.

The embassy is located within the green zone. It moved there in 2005 after a car bomb was detonated near its previous location in a high-risk part of the city.



Photo: Getty / Wathiq Khuzaie
Weve gotta start this article off by asserting very clearly that drink-driving is a bad, no good, straight dumbass thing to do. Its selfish, shortsighted, and endangers the health of more than just the person doing it.

And far beyond the physical, mental, or moral punishments, navigating the legislative minefield after youve been caught drink-driving can be an absolute headache, and an expensive one at that.

As far as Australia goes, its Victoria that has some of the stiffest and strictest penalties for people caught drink-driving currently on offer.

The Andrews State Government will soon introduce new legislation that will see all drink-driving offenders slapped with an Interlock device order upon the reinstatement of their license, regardless of the level of blood alcohol found in their system, or whether it was a first offence.

The Interlocks will be mandatory for all offenders for a period of at least six months, and will cost the user significant amounts of money in order to install, remove, and maintain the devices.

Even further still, the Government has stated it is considering a proposal to lower the legal drink-driving limit from the current .05 down to .02. For the majority of people, a BAC of .02 is reached after barely one drink.

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan pulled very few punches in asserting his Governments commitment to road safety.

Too many drivers pay the fine and forget about the potential consequences of drink-driving. Fines and demerit points alone arent working, more is needed to help reduce the number of Victorians who lose their lives or are seriously injured on our roads every year because of drink-driving.

If the figures indicate that would improve behaviour wed look at [lowering the limit to .02], absolutely. Im sure some would think its appropriate and some wouldnt think its appropriate. We make no apologies for wanting to drive the death toll down.

Meanwhile Assistant Police Commissioner Doug Fryer took it a step beyond even that, suggesting that the legal limit might need to be lowered specifically for people between the ages of 21 and 25, due to over-representation of drink-drivers from that age bracket.

The Interlock legislation is due to be introduced to Victorian State Parliament soon.

Source: ABC News.
Woody Allen has responded to the recent controversies surrounded him kinda.

ICYMI, Ronan Farrow yesterday penned a powerful essay for The Hollywood Reporter, condemning the media for helping silence his sister Dylan Farrow, who alleges that their father Allen sexually assaulted her as a child.

It was timed to coincide with the opening of Allens latest film Cafe Society at the Cannes Films Festival, where the director later found himself the butt of a rape joke made during the opening ceremony.

Its very nice that youve been shooting so many movies in Europe, said master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte, even if you are not being convicted for rape in the U.S.

The joke drew gasps from the audience, who only moments before had given him a standing ovation. Awks.

So, yeah, Allen has responded  *kinda*  to both recent controversies, which are really only satellite controversies to the very major one: that Allen allegedly sexually assaulted his daughter when she was seven years old. (Read more here.)

When asked if he would read his sons damning essay (in which Farrow explicitly says he believes his sister), Allen essentially compared it to a film review. and he doesnt read film reviews.

I never read anything, Allen said. I never read what you say about me or the reviews of my film. I made the decision I think five years ago never to read a review of my movie. Never read an interview. Never read anything, because you can easily become obsessed with yourself. [Its] a bad idea to consume yourself with this stuff. You should do your work, not call up and find out how the grosses are, how is the film doing, how are the reviews. Forget about all that. Just work. Its worked for me. Ive been very productive over the years by not thinking about myself. I dont like to hear that a critic thinks my film is a masterpiece and I dont like to hear that a critic thinks my film misses.

When the same journalist pointed out the obvious  This isnt a critic. Its your son.  Allen shut the question down: Ive said all I have to say about it.

Ronan Farrow. Source: Getty / Monica Schipper.

He was slightly more blase about the rape joke, however, claiming that comedians should be allowed to make any joke they choose, and it would take a lot to offend him.

I am a non-judgmental or [non]-censorship person on jokes, he said. Im a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want.

Blake Lively, who starts in Allens latest cinematic offering, feels differently.

I think any jokes about rape, homophobia or Hitler is not a joke, she said when asked to comment on the speech. I think that was a hard thing swallow in 30 seconds. Film festivals are such a beautiful, respectful festivals of film and artists and to have that, it felt like it wouldnt have happened if it was in the 1940s. I cant imagine Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby going out and doing that. It was more disappointing for the artists in the room that someone was going up there making jokes about something that wasnt funny.

She didnt comment on Ronans essay, however, stating that she hadnt read it yet and it would be dangerous to comment on something she hadnt read. Fair enough.

Source: Variety.



Photo: Getty / Fok Kan.
Whos on your dream dinner party guest list? A non-negotiable of mine for as long as I frothed on fashion is Isabella Blow, icon / stylist / muse / ultimate designer champion.

If you dont know who she is, youll almost definitely know the famous faces she gave rise to: Alexander McQueen, Philip Treacy, Stella Tennant, Sophie Dahl  all her discoveries.

Blow took her own life in 2007  a few short years before her close friend, McQueen, took his  but left behind an epic legacy of v. v. v. v. rare fashion that has to be seen to be believed.

Luckily your chance is here, cos an exhibit featuring 100 of her wardrobes most jaw-dropping pieces  from McQueens debut collection, of which she bought every single piece, to Manolo Blahniks she wore down to stubs and, of course, fuck-off hats  hits Sydneys Powerhouse Museum this weekend, its first visit to Australia and only its third pitstop worldwide.

Isabella Blow: A Fashionable Life came about when her close friend, fashion ledge and artist Daphne Guinness, couldnt bear to see her treasures go under the auction block at Christies following her suicide, and bought the lot back in 2010 (t/y Daphne, seriously).

Photo: Roxanne Lowit / Trunk Archive / Snapper Media.

Even if youre not a fash-packer who lives and breathes the industrys history, you cant help but be drawn in by the insights into Blows colourful life because they literally jump off the clothes.

Taking PEDESTRIAN.TV around the exhibit, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) curator Roger Leong was quick to point out all the little details that make the exhibition so special.

At a lunch with Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast, she wore a pair of antlers covered by a black lace veil. When he asked how she was ever going to be able to eat, she said: Nicholas that is of no concern to me whatsoever, he laughed, incredulous at how she managed to keep said antlers on her head when it took four people an hour to hoist them onto an exhibit mannequin.

How did she keep them on her head and eat at the same time??? Magic

The first ensemble you see as you walk in, by McQueen for Givenchy, is paired with an ahmazzzzzingggggg anecdote about Blow purchasing $$$$$ couture pieces and expensing them back to her former employer, the Sunday Times, as business attire like a BOSS.

Strong look ^^^

On another occasion, she dragged an oily prisoners chain that was the accessory to an outfit inspired by Joan of Arc through the Paris apartment of Karl Lagerfeld, leaving a trail of muck all over his plush cream carpet.

Blow bloody loved to party, and you can literally see ciggie burns on dresses she wore to soirees, trains filthy from trailing along the ground and three sizes of the exact same, much-loved shoe with the heels whittled down to uneven stumps.

All in all the exhibits many parts make up a vivid portrait of a woman who didnt give a shit about what anyone thought of her, and looked fkn fabulous at the same time.

VALE ISSY

Isabella Blow: A Fashionable Life

runs from 14 May  28 August, 2016, at the Powerhouse Museum. Grab your tix online HERE.

Lead photo: Donald McPherson / Contour by Getty Images.
Armen Martirosyan: Hovik Abrahamyans statement was not as expressive as that of Serzh Sargsyan (video)

There is no need to expect crucial breakthrough after the upcoming meeting of Presidents of Armenian and Azerbaijan, says Vice-Chairman of the Heritage Party, Armen Martirosyan. He says majority of people in Armenia and Artsakh are determined to fight to the end and there can be no talk about the return of the liberated territories. Should Serzh Sargsyan agree to territorial concessions he will have serious problems in his country and many will call him a traitor, Mr Martirosyan told reporters on Friday. Speaking about the Prime Ministers statement in which he called for speedy fight against corruption, the Heritage party member said it cannot ne don for a simple reason. They are representatives of corrupt and illegitimate power and governance. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit, he stressed. Armen Martirosyan says Abrahamyan was to have ended his statement by saying that they have understood the consequences of their terrible actions and they resign leaving the field to those forces who have not been involved in corruption. Hovik Abrahamyans statement was not as emphatic and expressive as that of Serzh Sargsyan, Martirosyan added.
Armenian FM meets with French lawmakers

Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian met Jean Bizet, Chairman of the French Senate European Affairs Committee, in Paris. The sides discussed efforts towards overcoming the consequences of large-scale military actions unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh, possibilities of resumption of the negotiations. Regarding that, Edward Nalbandian attached significance to addressed statement, issued by Jean Bizet on April 7, assessment of the situation and proposed steps towards settlement of the issue. Necessity of implementation of a mechanism for investigation of the cease-fire violations was stressed. During the meeting, Armenia-European Union relations, negotiations on a new legal framework for cooperation, start of the dialogue on visa liberalization were reflected on. On the same day, Edward Nalbandian met members of Parliamentary Friendship Groups of the Senate of France and National Assembly of Armenia, with whom discussed a range of issues on the development of the Armenian-French relations, cooperation between legislative bodies of the two states, cooperation within Parliamentary Assemblies. Overcoming of consequences of Azerbaijans aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh was in the center of the meeting. Edward Nalbandian thoroughly presented to the French Senators efforts exerted by Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in this direction. During the meeting, developments unfolded in the Middle East, fight against terrorism, migration crisis were touched upon.
This photo provided by the New York State Park Police shows Robert Macleod, who is charged with attacking a Japanese tourist in Niagara Falls, N.Y. A Japanese tourist is being credited with helping build a case against Macleod, who suspected of throwing her to the ground and stealing her purse and shoes after she got lost and asked him for directions during a visit to Niagara Falls. (New York State Park Police via AP)
FILE In this file photo taken on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, A sign reads: "Russian National Anti-doping Agency RUSADA" on a building in Moscow, Russia. The IOC "would not hesitate" to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated, according to the Olympic body's medical director. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
Serzh Sargsyan did not come out to speak to citizens (video)

19.50 The march held by "We are the citizens of our country" civil initiative ended in Proshyan street. As it was expected Serzh Sargsyan did not come out to talk to the participants of the action. The group announced that they would come again, bringing more people with them. The marchers are now descending Proshyan street accompanied by police officers. 18.55 Getting to Serzh Sargsyans summer house on Proshyan street, the group gave him 10 minutes to come out and listen to their demands. The neighbourhood of Marshal Baghramyan metro station is closed at this moment. 18.44. We are the masters of our country civil initiative is holding a march in central Yerevan which started from the intersection of Baghramyan-Proshyan streets. As reported earlier the march will be held in several directions at a time. The group demands that the government allocate at least $30 000 to the families of the soldiers killed in the April skirmishes in Karabakh and at least $5000 to the families of the soldiers wounded in action. It initiative also demands to dismiss Edward Nalbandian, Foreign Minister of the Republic Armenia, and Yuri Khachaturov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia, and Haykaz Baghmanyan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces, for their inaction and inability to control the situation on the border which resulted in human losses during Azerbaijans large-scale offensive against Karabakh; to oblige Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer of Armenia (Mihran Poghosyan) to transfer to the state budget the entire income he receives from his offshore companies registered in Panama; to oblige about 100 oligarchs to pay to the state budget at least $10 million; to refrain from signing any document related to the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and maintain the status quo, exclude territorial concessions and deployment of peacekeepers in Artsakh and/or neighbouring territories.
Statewide high school football playoff matchups announced

EAST LANSING  On Sunday, the pairings for the 2022 MHSAA Football Playoffs were announced, which begin Oct. 28-29 with District Semifinals in the 11-Player Playoffs and Regional Semifinals in the 8-
Philadelphia's $5 billion pension fund is an asset some city officials would love to direct toward investing in the city's rundown neighborhoods and prospective employers. (With updates 5/18. See also my column in May 30, 2016 Philadelphia Inquirer.)

Sadly, the city owes its pensioners a lot more than that -- $11 billion -- after years of underpayment and mixed investment yields. It's going to be tough to make up the difference in the years ahead. Maybe extra tough if we give the fund new missions, like local economic development.

The shortfall forces the city to spend more than $600 million a year, or nearly one-sixth of its budget, in hopes of shoring up the pension fund so it doesn't run out, which would leave taxpayers with a much bigger annual bill.



Most of City Council showed up Wednesday (5/11/16) to review pension prospects and pet projects. Here's what they asked and how pension chief Francis Bielli and city finance director Rob Dubow fielded their queries:

BIELLI gave the short report. He noted that the system's asset/liability ratio fell to 45% this year, from 46% last year, due partly to flat investment results that missed its 7.75% longterm target, in belated acknowledgement that few if any pension fund returns have averaged that high over the past 3, 5 or 10 years (as I noted in Sunday's Inquirer.) Cutting the target slightly, from 7.8%, also increased the reported deficit.

And, demographics: "We have 35,200 retirees, and (only around) 25,000 active employees (paying into the fund). Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, most of them have more workers than retirees. Our investment returns are not the issue."



Hedge fund returns that once juiced Philly returns have dragged performance down the past two years. The board this year has voted to sell all but 2 of its 7 hedge fund investments.



16% of managers are "diversity" firms, Bielli noted. 12% of assets are "local."

DARRELL CLARKE, the council chair, asked how the pension system will "reduce management fees and costs."

BIELLI said hedge funds accounted for more than half the system's $28 million in yearly manager fees. With most of the hedge funds fired and the survivors' fees getting negotiated down, that number should drop, Bielli said.



CLARKE cited this Charles Schwab TV ad: "Why do we pay fees when we lose money?"



BIELLI: "Great question... There are management fees and performance fees... We don't think it's justified unless the fund is making money." Especially with "alternative investments" where some fees are keyed to high profits. With most stock and bond funds, "you pay a much smaller fee," around 0.13% of assets managed/year, which Bielli noted is a lot less expensive than hedge funds (up to 2%, plus a share of profits.)

CLARKE asked how much money from the city sales tax extension was budgeted to the pension system.



BIELLI: It will "incrementally increase" to "$50 million by 2020." City finance manager Rob DUBOW noted the city five-year PICA plan calls for $180 million in sales tax support over that period.



CHERELLE PARKER praised Bielli and the pension plan for "managing the system" past the "vagaries associated with the market" despite what she regards as unfair attacks in the press, such as a failure to celebrate Philadelphia's cutting its assumed annual rate of return to 7.75% from even more unrealistic previous figures.

But she also noted pensions will eat up more than 15% of the next city budget. She noted that most "hedge fund and portfolio managers are white," and cited a McKinsey study noting that "diverse companies were more likely to provide financial returns above the medium."



BIELLI agreed, and attributed minority outperformance to the fact that "emerging managers" -- money newly invested -- tends to outperform larger and more established funds. He added that one of the city's two remaining hedge funds is a "diversity" firm.

PARKER said she's glad to leave it to investment pros to decide whether city pension funds should be in stocks or other investments, rather than shifting that responsibility to workers through "defined-contribution" or 401k type plans: "That's not what I do," and many employees don't feel qualified to make those decisions, either

ALLAN DOMB asked how much money would be needed to fund the city's controversial DROP early retirement program -- About $1.25 billion, Bielli confirmed. Domb noted how employees in Chicago and some other cities contribute more than Philadelphia city employees are currently made to pay their pension plans; asked when other city employees will join police and firefighters in negotiating to end overtime earnings from pension calculation; and suggested he will have "six steps to solve the pension."



BIELLI said he looked forward to Domb's suggestions, noted there is currently a union/administration task force laboring away on its own recommendations, and suggested Domb maybe coordinate.



Dubow later clarified for me that most of that DROP expense would be paid anyway to pensioners even without early retirement -- just at a later date. So what is the program's net cost? The city's last estimate -- a cumulative $230 million -- was calculated by Boston College experts back in 2010. It's more by now, but the city doesn't know how much more.

Domb told me later: "What we need to do falls in four categories: Increased funding; Increased employee contribution; Reducing cost of living; Changing the benefit structure." Citing Pew research, Domb pointed to Atlanta's 2011 reforms, Chicago's 2013 reforms and Jacksnonville, Fla.'s 2015 reforms as models for Philadelphia.

"(Ex-Mayor Rendell aide and Comcast XVP) David L. Cohen and some other smart people tutored me and the other new Council members on pensions, and PICA (the city's state-oversight fiscal board) has made a lot of good recommendations, and they've made me an advocate of good ideas that have been developed by smarter people than me.

"I know pensions are a sensitive subject. But this is a major problem -- along with (education and public safety) -- and it needs to get solved. A private business trying to run a plan with more retirees than workers like this, would be out of business. We have to make it so the pension will be there in 30 years, when people need it.



"So here goes: We have to look at making today's optional Plan 10 (bare-bones guaranteed pay, plus a 401k type plan) mandatory for new hires. We need to eliminate DROP (early pension payout program). We need to eliminate overtime for those jobs that still use it in calculating pensions. We ought to extend (non-union) vesting to qualify for a pension, from 5 years to 10 or more."



He's also not sure $600 million a year is enough for the city to be spending on pensions: "It's our responsibility to be there for the people who have served."

DEREK GREEN asked about the plan's Opportunity Fund, which previous pension staff set up to find more new and diverse managers.

BIELLI noted it was the pension system board that set up that target. "The Board's first and foremost obligation is to hire good investment managers," he added, noting again that "emerging managers have outperformed established managers."



He noted that the board's new advisor, MARQUETTE CONSULTANTS of Chicago, holds an annual emerging-managers symposium that Philadelphia plans to attend again this year: "They have a very, very good outreach to minority managers."

HELEN GYM asked Bielli "for a list of managers and compensation." State investment funds publish that information, online, two to three months after the end of each calendar year. In Philadelphia you have to ask for it.

BIELLI said he'd send.

GYM wants the pension fund to list all "Investments in companies that have closed plants in the U.S. and opened in other countries," and asked if there are restrictions on investing in companies that hurt Philadelphia jobs.

BIELLI noted that Pfizer, which considered merging with an Irish company to cut its U.S. income tax, is widely-held in U.S. stock-index funds, including some that Philadelphia owns.

GYM: What about "companies that have moved their corporate offices or subdidiaries overseas? It's important for us to understand which companies are invested in building (the economy here). We want to be thoughtful about companies that avoid payment of taxes."

Also, "how much do you have invested in companies in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania?"

BIELLI: "12.28% of the fund is invested in Philadelphia, a little higher if you count suburban."

GYM: "Is there any barrier to investing in our local economy?"

BIELLI: "We prefer to hire local," when choosing between two similar managers.

GYM: "But if 88% (of the city's investments) are going (to) outside (managers,) what exactly are the factors preventing money from going local?

BIELLI "Various factors..." Local firms might not respond to pension Requests for Proposals. Or local firms might "not be performing as well... If there are two equal managers, we will always go to the local one."

GYM: "But what are the barriers to (making) greater investments in Philadelphia? It sounds like we are in the area of guessing."

BIELLI: "They perform, or they don't perform..."

GYM: Which is it? The lack of local managers? Or that they don't perform? Or we don't know?

BIELLI: "I'm not confused. The bar is whether they are performing, or not?"



If Gym sounds persistent in pursuit of a local-investment agenda, she clarified later for me that she is still at the fact-finding stage: "My office is just starting to look at these issues. We are working to better understand our options and their limitations as we consider pension investments."

DAVID OH: Asked about city controller Alan Butkovitz's suggestion that the city "buy out" pensioners with an upfront payment discounted from the alternate defined-benefit until-you-die checks.

DUBOW: Actuarial review suggests a "straight buyout" wouldn't significantly reduce the pension system's deficit.



OH: "I would be concerned about people cashing in needed retirement funds," but wouldn't buyouts work for people who had other pensions and weren't in danger of poverty?

DUBOW: "Could be."

OH: Asked if there should be more "professional pension managers on the pension board."

DUBOW: "We do have professional eyes looking" at the pension plan.



OH: "We need systemic change..."

DUBOW: "We can't earn our way out (of the pension deficit). We have to think of systemic solutions. It's not an investment problem."

PARKER: Maybe we should have a hearing on pension buyouts. Treasury and IRS have said these "are not allowed in the private sector."



She asked for progress on "revenue-generating solutions" such as using particular taxes or city assets to fund the pension plan. "I take this very personal. Most (pension) solutions should come through collective bargaining."



She also asked about Maryland and New York City initatives to allow more people to "buy into" public pension plans.

BIELLI: "Pensions and Investments (magazine) in its May 9 issue writes about how Maryland now allows people without pensions to deduct into the state defined-contribution plan. That would be beneficial for people who don't otherwise have access...



"Our defined-contribution plan is approaching $1 billion. We have 20,000 participants, vs. 13,000 in 2009."

BOBBY HENON wanted to know about "international investments. Verizon (with 40,000 workers on strike) is offshoring its workforce, its call centers."

He also asked if the city pension plan faces a state takeover, since its assets are less than 50 percent of its liabilities.



DUBOW: "If you are below 50% funded you are taken over by state. But we are still exempt from that."

That's true, for now, but legislation pending in Harrisburg could result in Philadelphia merging its underfunded plan into one of the state-run systems.



In a follow-up conversation, Bielli repeated city officials' contention that investment returns "have not been the problem" in causing the plan's shortfall. He blamed historic "underfunding."

The plan was last nearly solvent -- with assets 80% of liabilities -- in 1999, after borrowing $1 billion in an expensive and ill-timed bond issue. Much of that money was lost in the subsequent dot.com bust; taxpayers are still paying off the bonds.

After that, Mayor John Street for several years paid enough into the pension funds to keep the deficit down -- then reduced payments to the state-manded minimum in his second term. Nutter initially boosted pension payments, temporarily suspended them when tax revenues fell in that recession, and eventually paid the money back "with 8% interest," ahead of schedule, Dubow reminded me.

For all the explanations, the bottom line is that city pension assets are low and declining as a percentage of obligations, and the pension deficit is larger than the city's yearly budget. Thus the urgency to find more funds and cut costs.
There are three of us who all like to race and we wanted a trail on Vedder that you could race consistently without really touching your brakes, and having as much fun as possible, and have it be as fresh as possible. [We wanted] a trail that's not like most of the trails in the valley that are super built up, more of a raw trail; something different than all of the other trails. - Max Leyen
The following is the opinion of the author. It does not necessarily represent the opinion of Police Magazine or its staff or Bobit Business Media.

National Police Week starts Sunday and runs through May 21. This is a sacred time for the men and women of law enforcement, their loved ones, and especially the survivors of fallen officers. It is the time when the lives sacrificed during the previous year are honored and the names of the fallen, which have been carved into the granite of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, are unveiled. It is a somber time, a reflective time filled with unbridled emotion.

Thousands of law enforcement officers from not only the United States but from all over the world have converged on Washington, DC, to show solidarity, respect, and honor for their brothers and sisters who gave their lives for their communities. Among them will be the families of the fallen and their anguish will be a palpable fog of pain as tears of sorrow and loss soak into the hallowed ground. Wives, husbands, parents, and children will silently run their fingers over the names of their fallen loved ones almost as if they were being granted one final touch.

The events surrounding these days of honor are scheduled to begin Friday (May 13) night with the annual Candlelight Vigil, which is held within the center of the Memorial. During the vigil the light from thousands of candles will reflect off of the proudly worn gleaming badges of the assemble company. Tears will unapologetically glide slowly down the faces of these men and women whose practiced stoicism will this night be surrendered.

Law Enforcement and political leaders will address the crowds at a variety of Police Week events. They will speak of honor and of duty. They will talk about integrity and loss and sacrifice. Those chosen to speak will be people of prominence and influence and their words will have power if they are spoken from the heart. If they are not, if they are hollow and bereft of passion, then the words themselves though mechanically correct will be devoid of meaning and in fact insulting.

It is for that reason that I publicly call for banning President Barack Obama from addressing a Police Week gathering of officers, survivors, and supporters. I make this plea with a heart heavy with disappointment and the pain of betrayal. For I believe that our president has not only abandoned the men and women of law enforcement but has actively pursued an agenda that purposefully undermined the American people's trust in those who sacrifice so much for the communities they serve and protect. I am not alone. Untold numbers of law enforcement officers feel as I do. So to allow him the opportunity, the honor of appearing before this gathering would be an affront to the survivors and Law Enforcement Officers throughout the United States.
Based on statements containing "delusional beliefs" that accused cop killer and active shooter Robert Lewis Dear made to a detective and to psychologists, a Colorado judge ruled on Wednesday that Dear was mentally incapable of participating in the case against him, reports CNN.

After two days of hearings in April and May, 4th Judicial District Judge Gilbert Martinez deemed Dear incompetent to stand trial for the time being. The ruling puts the criminal case on hold while Dear undergoes treatment at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo to restore him to competency, Martinez said.

Seeking to dispel perceptions that the ruling might indefinitely stall proceedings, Martinez told reporters after Wednesday's hearing that "competency is a determination of the defendant's current mental status." Every 90 days hospital staff will send a report to the court on his status and whether they believe he is competent to stand trial. The first one is due August 11.

"Nobody has said that he is permanently incompetent," Martinez said. It's not unusual that people are restored to competency. "There are cases where people have been found permanently incompetent. Those are rare situations."

Dear, 57, is charged with 179 felony counts including murder and attempted murder in the November 27, 2015, shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. Officer Garrett Swasey of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) police department was killed that day.

Related:

Video: Colorado Officer, 2 Civilians Killed by Abortion Clinic Active Shooter

Video: Planned Parenthood Attack Suspect Says 'I Am Guilty'
Legislation set to be introduced to Congress on Thursday would create a new national standard for when police officers can use deadly force and require police academies to teach officers de-escalation techniques.

The bill, called the Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act of 2016, is authored by Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), who has been among the most outspoken members of Congress in calling for federal action to reform police tactics.

We want our officers using force really that [is] proportional to the situation, Moore said in an interview on Wednesday. This is about giving police officers additional training assets with regard to encounters that dont necessarily have to end up with a use of deadly force.

Moores proposal targets police training and would require U.S. police officers to be trained in non-lethal force, to go through crisis intervention training to help them deal with the mentally ill, and to use the lowest level of force possible when responding to a threat. If passed, local police departments would have one year to comply with the new training standards or would face reductions in federal grant money.

Nobody wants to see a police officer second guess a situation where they themselves will be murdered or maimed, Moore told the Washington Post. But I feel there is a huge chasm between officers who claim that they fear for their life and the actual facts of life and how they could have de-escalated these situations.

Those standards are drawn from a recent report by the Police Executive Research Forum, an influential Washington-based policing-policy think tank.
A murder suspect left handcuffed and unsupervised in the backseat of an Orange County Sheriff's Office vehicle broke a divider in the car and twice got his hands on deputies' shotguns, court records show.

The first time, he managed to load the gun before deputies discovered what he was doing, said Capt. Angelo Nieves, a sheriff's office spokesman.

"You had a criminal that was intent on potentially committing additional violence to our deputies," Nieves told the Orlando Sentinel.

Jose Antonio Torres, 29, was arrested after Orange County deputies found him in a missing Casselberry man's truck on Orange Blossom Trail. He later led deputies to the woods where he and Jennifer Smedley, 44, allegedly left the body of James Watrous, 58.
Officer William Arzuaga (Photo: Evanston PD)

Since January, Evanston, IL, on-duty police officers have been required to carry a tourniquet as part of their uniform.

That extra item proved especially critical in a call last month in which an Evanston police officer applied a tourniquet to help save a gunshot victim, who otherwise might have bled to death, the department said in a release issued Thursday.

The Evanston Police Department publicly commended Evanston Police for his quick actions in response to a call of a gunshot victim at 2:33 p.m. April 21 on the 1900 block of Jackson Avenue.

In that incident, officers located a 17-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to his leg, said Cmdr. Joseph Dugan, the department spokesperson. Arzuaga, a member of the department's problem-solving team, was one of the first officers on the scene and observed the victim bleeding from his left leg, Dugan said.

Dugan said the officer, an Air Force veteran who has been with the department for 11 years, quickly applied his tourniquet in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The victim was subsequently treated by Evanston Fire, the Chicago Tribune reports.
A police officer was flown to the hospital Monday after suffering serious head injuries in a construction incident in Milford, MA.

The officer was hit in the head by a Bobcat construction vehicle while working at an Eversource job on Water Street, according to police.

Officer Nate Hathaway suffered serious injuries when he was hit in the head by a bucket attached to a Bobcat machine.

Hathaway and another officer were directing traffic when Hathaway was struck by the Bobcat and knocked unconscious.

The Milford Police Chief says doctors are worried about possible internal bleeding. "We're praying and hopeful for his speedy recovery," Chief Thomas O'Loughlin told WCVB TV.
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The thought of an openly gay Disney hero has the Religious Right engaging in a gigantic circle jerk of heterosexual solidarity. If youre familiar with Twitters give Elsa a girlfriend movement (#GiveElsaAGirlfriend), begun by 17-year-old Alexis Isabel Moncada, then you know what Im talking about.

Frozen was the Religious Rights most hated movie EVER. Kevin Swanson, whom youve met in these pages before, and who is the big Ted Cruz supporter who wants to execute Girl Scout leaders for promoting homosexuality, really hated Frozen. Even before the idea surfaced of giving Elsa a girlfriend, Swanson was convinced the movie was a Satanic plot to convince our little girls to take a swim to the Isle of Lesbos.

In response to the move to give Elsa the freedom to love another woman, conservative group CitizenGo, reports Right Wing Watch, is circulating its own petition demanding that Disney follow its normal trend and create a Prince character to fall in love. Maybe they should just go ahead and make Elsa look like Phyllis Schlafly while theyre at it.

So now we have, in response to the give Elsa a girlfriend movement, the #CharmingPrinceForElsa movement, because what gal is complete without a guy to mansplain things to her? You know, so she can understand her place in the world.

As RWW explains, In an email to CitizenGo members yesterday, Gregory Mertz wrote that the prospect of Elsa being a lesbian was frightening and urged members to tweet with the hashtag #CharmingPrinceForElsa:

Disney is facing fierce pressure from liberal groups who are demanding their writers turn Queen Elsa into a lesbian during the sequel, Frozen 2. Please join the 37,000 whove already signed our petition against thisabsurd movement. With our petition, were suggesting Disney with a much better idea An idea that promotes solid family values to our children and represents the natural family. Join the 37,000  sign our petition, now, to Disney asking that Elsa fall in love with a Prince. #CharmingPrinceForElsa:  Queen Elsa a Lesbian? Thinking about our children, this idea is frightening.

I dont know what the big deal is. These idiots already thought Elsa was gay for loving her sister.

Now, having hated the heck out of Frozen, Kevin Swanson is setting aside murdering Girl Scout leaders long enough to scream that giving Elsa a girlfriend is somehow homosexualizing kids:

Anybody who has the guts to stand up against the homosexualizing of kids in the present day will be shamed for it, he said, and that means that the homosexualizing of kids will be, I think, wholesale happening across this country in the next two, three, four, five, 10 years. Of course Elsa is going to get her girlfriend eventually. Thats the way you destroy sexuality. Thats the way you destroy an entire civilization. The entire social system of the United States of America is collapsing. You have got to be sure that you have homosexualized four-year-olds and six-year-olds and eight-year-olds and ten-year-olds in order to destroy a civilization, he added, because the destruction of a civilization happens over two or three or maybe four generations max. In order to bring a civilization down, youve got to homosexualize the kids.

Somebody is obsessed about homosexualizing, isnt he? But this is not the place to examine Swansons fantasies. The thing is, homosexualizing isnt a thing, because homosexuality isnt really a thing. Its not contagious. Its not taught. Its not a lifestyle.

The notorious Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, who does nothing but tell lies about homosexuality, claims that LGBT activists will use any vehicle they can to indoctrinate children, but as The Washington Post reports that isnt really much of a problem:

Among the 126 releases from major studios that GLAAD analyzed, just 22 included characters identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, and they were disproportionately white and male, according to the study. In 2014, 32.1 percent of LGBT characters were people of color. In 2015, that number dropped to 25.5 percent.

Its too late for Elsas ethnicity to change, but its not too late for her to come out.

The funniest thing about this is that the Old Testament doesnt even preach against lesbianism, because there is no fluid exchange. Every sperm is sacred, but female secretions are not. And lets not forget about Ruth and Naomi in Genesis 1:14, who, according to the Bible, felt about each other in the exact same way Adam and Eve felt about each other.

It isnt until the sexually frustrated Paul of Tarsus wrote to Rome (Romans 1:26-27) that we find out women on women are as bad or worse than men on men. But lets not pretend this is a Law of Moses issue: it isnt. Pauls hangups are Pauls hangups  there is no biblical basis for his prejudices.

So lets leave Elsa alone. If she wants to get with another girl, so what? Dont like it? Dont watch the movie. There are plenty of heroes for white male Christians out there who are more than willing to mansplain things to their princesses.

The Religious Right talks a big fight about religious freedom, but as this latest example of them trying to shove their religion down our throats shows, the one thing they absolutely do NOT want is religious freedom.

Photo: Disney
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John Boehner put his terrible political instincts on public display again by claiming that he would be surprised if Hillary Clinton had to withdraw from the Democratic nomination and be replaced by Joe Biden.

While addressing the SALT Conference in Las Vegas, Boehner claimed that Clinton may have to withdraw and be replaced by Vice President Biden:

Boehner says he "would not be surprised at all" if Clinton "has to withdraw" and Biden "parachutes in." #SALT2016  Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 12, 2016

Boehner also expressed his faith in Trumps ability to win:

Boehner: "Anybody who doesn't think Donald Trump can win, just watch." #SALT2016  Phil Mattingly (@Phil_Mattingly) May 12, 2016

John Boehner was a terrible Speaker of the House because his political instincts are horrible. Boehner rose to power in the House because he had an ability to get along on a personal level with everybody in Congress not named Ted Cruz. Once he became Speaker of the House, Boehner spent years making one bad decision after another while being humiliated by the extremists in his own caucus.

The idea that Hillary Clinton will have to magically leave the presidential race is the kind of wish/hope that Boehner ran the House on. Republicans, like Boehner, would love to run against Joe Biden, because it would give them a third shot at running against Obama. Why Republicans think that they would do better against Biden using the same arguments that Obama beat them with twice is beyond logical comprehension.

With his comments about Biden replacing Clinton, John Boehner has moved from being the worst Speaker in history to using applying his natural lack of political instincts to being the worst pundit in history.
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*The following is an opinion column by R Muse *

It was just a matter of time before bigoted North Carolinians concluded that since there are no official genital police or armed toilet patrols posted at school bathrooms, it was time to allow students to carry defensive weapons at school for bathroom protection. Weapons on school grounds is an insane idea, but in response to North Carolinas discriminatory HB2 it is a natural progression from just discriminating against transgender people, either real or imagined, to condoning using violence against them.

This development is likely why the Department of Justice reacted swiftly to the North Carolina HB2 law by first warning the Republicans the law violated several federal statutes, and then filing suit against religious North Carolina Republicans. The idea of the government suing to stop the law to prevent student on student violence in the public schools is something sane human beings likely never considered.

Unbelievably, the Associated Press reported that the Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education debated and then removed prohibitive language and amended its policy on students carrying defensive weapons in school. The boards decision was that students should be allowed to carry what they denoted as defensive weapons such as mace, pepper spray and razors; especially in case they suspect a transgender student is using the wrong bathroom.

One board member suggested that students really need these tools in light of HB2. It is a tepid concession that there has never been a problem with toilet IDs until Republicans enacted a law targeting transgender people.

According to one school board member, Chuck Hughes,

Depending on how the courts rule on the bathroom issues, it may be a pretty valuable tool to have on the female students if they go to the bathroom, not knowing who may come in. The potential for injury to students just using the bathroom obviously never entered into the decision-making process because transgenders.

Even though other school board members questioned the wisdom of changing these rules and allowing female students to carry pretty valuable tools like pepper spray and razors as weapons to use against other students, they acquiesced to the fear factor.

Some of the board members were at first skeptical that mace, pepper sprays and razors would only be used as a last resort for self-defense. In fact, the school boards attorney, Ken Soo, took the time to explain to the board members that there are several cases on record of students using defensive sprays against their teachers. Mr. Soo didnt mention the cases where students used pepper sprays or razors against other students; likely because it wouldnt have changed the board members minds.

Predictably, the school board members voted in favor of changing the policies because like HB2, arming students with razors and pepper spray is a solution in a search of a problem that simply doesnt exist. If North Carolina thought they were in a legal battle over the unconstitutionality and violations of Civil Rights laws with the passage of HB2, wait until bigoted students begin macing other students they believe or suspect have genitals that may or may not comport with the gender on their birth certificates.

A rash of anti-LGBT bills are either being considered or have recently been passed through several state legislatures since the Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sex marriage. In fact, bills focusing on policing and restricting transgender peoples use of bathrooms are becoming particularly common; the new cause celebre for the religious Republicans culture of hate.

States such as Kansas, Tennessee, Washington, South Dakota, Texas and South Carolina have all considered bills targeting and limiting transgender persons rights in general, but particularly restricting their access to the toilet. Like in North Carolina, when there are no official police involved, it wont be long before those other states begin allowing students to carry weapons to use against other students.

Apparently this non-issue is presenting itself in schools at an alarming rate because conservative lawmakers are so desperate to sate the religious anti-LGBT bigots they are justifying discriminatory laws with claims that they are trying to protect the kids. If that is the case, then arming students with pepper spray and razors eliminates the need for discriminatory laws like HB2.

This entire transgender toilet usage issue, like HB2, is nothing more than fear-mongering to justify discriminatory legislation targeting the LGBT community; and frightened evangelicals are reacting as expected. For example, in Illinois a group of over 50 families and the religious Thomas More Society filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that transgender students were an infringement on their childrens privacy and caused them trauma. On the West Coast in California, the hate-driven Westboro Baptist Church folks gathered and protested at a school in the Los Angeles Unified School District because it added a gender-neutral bathroom; apparently the LAUSD sought to proactively prevent the kind of bigotry issues, and possibly violence, that is running rampant in North Carolina and several other states.

As noted by Casey Quinlan at Think Progress, these bathroom laws primarily target transgender women. Conservatives claim trans women pretend to be trans to sexually abuse cisgender women but dont seem concerned that cisgender men may be sexual predators posing as protesters concerned about cisgender womens safety. There are many groups sending men into womens bathrooms to police the users with no regard for the privacy of women.

The Washington Post reported that police charged one such bathroom patrol protester someone said was a shooter at a Target store with provoking a breach of the peace causing panic among store employees and customers. All over fear of who is using a bathroom and the pressing need to intervene; at least the man was not armed with pepper spray and a razor.

It is hard to imagine any school board ever considering allowing students to arm themselves for anything, much less bathroom visits. But it is not surprising that the weapons are considered defensive as a protection against a manufactured threat which is all this fright-fest over transgender people really is.
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A bad day got even worse for Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans today as their chosen candidate in Colorado had a total meltdown and seemed to threaten a reporter with his dog during a television interview.

Marshall Zelinger of Denver7 posted this clip of the Republican Partys best hope of capturing a Senate seat melting down in Colorado.

Check out the bizarre behavior of candidate Jon Keyser:

Zelinger asked Keyser about forged signatures that has been uncovered on his petitions to get on the primary ballot. Keyser repeated his talking point that he is on the ballot, and then things got really, really strange.

Keyser asked the reporter, Were you the guy who was creeping around my house yesterday?

Zelinger, I knocked on your door.

Keyser, You woke up my kids. My baby cried for an hour after that. Did you get to meet my dog?

Zelinger, I met your dog and your nanny. Your nanny was very kind. Your dog was kind.

Keyser, My dog is a great dog. Hes bigger than you are. Hes huge. Big guy. Very protective. Look, heres the thing

Zelinger, I dont know what that means.

After an exchange about the size of the dog, Keyser kept repeating his talking point about being on the ballot. All told the best Republican hope for picking up a Senate seat repeated his talking point eight times in two and a half minutes.

Republican candidates having meltdowns has become the norm in the age of Trump, but Keysers behavior was off-putting that it went above and beyond. It is clear that Keyser was threatening the reporter with his big dog. The topic was forged petition signatures, but Keyser changed the subject to his dog with the implied threat being that Zelinger better not knock on Keysers door again.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has had a very bad day. He was forced to be joined at the hip with Donald Trump, and now his best hope for picking up a Senate seat may have completely self-destructed. Senate Republicans are hanging on to their majority by a thread, and that thread may have snapped while rambling about his dog./
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The following is an opinion column by Rmuse

Of all the actions taken by Barack Obama throughout his tenure as President, it is probable that none have received more opposition than those related to combatting the clear and present danger of anthropogenic climate change. Whether it was being engaged in a global climate accord in Paris, or an historic agreement with China, or tasking the Environmental Protection Agency to come up with new rules to protect the Americas water according to orders from the Supreme Court, Republicans vehemently opposed them.

It is likely that the EPAs Thursday announcement and release of a final version of federal regulations to curb one of the most dangerous and powerful greenhouse gases, methane, will incite Republicans to a new level of fossil fuel outrage. This is particularly true because methane, the main component of natural gas, has never been regulated, and it is produced by another dangerous extraction technique Republicans will fight to the death to protect; hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

This new set of requirements is particularly important for America because the nation is increasingly relying on natural gas for electricity generation as opposed to dirty coal. That expanded use of natural gas, and the environmentally-hazardous extraction technique fracking, has brought methane levels to dangerous new highs. It is a major problem for Americans health and serious obstacle in the pressing fight against climate change; a fight President Obama has led nearly single-handedly.

Now, the problem with methane emissions is that although they are lower than carbon dioxide emissions, and stay in the atmosphere for a relatively short period of time compared to CO2, it is incredibly more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. What that means is it is the most significant near-term threat of global warming and it was long-past time for the President to take action.

Over at Mother Jones, Tim McDonnell, wrote a fairly in-depth and comprehensive report on the dangers of increased methane emissions that is worth a careful read. McDonnell honed in on the issue of how not confronting methane-producing fracking may hurt the Presidents climate legacy, but it also explains why methane is so dangerous and why the President had to act if America was going to reduce atmospheric warming.

McDonnell wrote:

When unburned methane leaks into the atmosphere, it causes dramatic warming in a relatively short period of time. The natural gas system produces methane emissions at nearly every step of the process, from the well itself to the pipe that carries gas into your home. Around two-thirds of those emissions are intentional, meaning they occur during normal use of equipment. For example, some pneumatic gauges use the pressure of natural gas to flip on or off and emit methane when they do so. The other one-third comes from so-called fugitive emissions, a.k.a. leaks that happen when a piece of equipment cracks or otherwise fails.

Those equipment failures, cracks, and improper or no maintenance procedures were responsible for the state of emergency from the largest methane leak in history. The Southern California disaster caused an entire community to relocate all the while the fossil fuel industry claimed methane is safe. Even a relatively environmentally-friendly state like California lacked a robust enough set of standards and regulatory oversight to force fracking companies to control methane emissions. And with none in place at the federal level, it required a concerted effort to finally staunch the methane cloud wreaking havoc on nearby communities and the atmosphere.

One of the reasons many environmentalist groups were skeptical of the Presidents dedication to combat climate change early on was the strategy of swapping the countrys coal consumption for natural gas. This was particularly troubling because up until yesterday there were as many rules or regulations on methane emissions as there are on fracking; absolutely none. However, the new regulations, although a monumental change, are really only a partial solution to a big problem.

Like a lot of the new emissions standards enacted during the Obama Administration, these new rules only apply to and effect new and modified natural gas infrastructure. In that sense they are similar to the EPAs new rules on most coal-fired generation plants and do not apply to already existing systems. According to some analysts estimates a little over 70 percent of natural gas-sector methane emissions from now until 2025 will come from sources that already exist. Still, regulating 30 percent of the methane emissions is a giant improvement to no regulations whatsoever. Besides, Republicans have attempted to block new regulations on new and improved coal-fired plants so it is in keeping with the Administrations incremental changes to environmental protections. Sweeping changes would likely result in an all-out shooting war between the fossil fuel industry advocates and Americans concerned about climate change or clean air and water.

Still, the regulation announced today achieves one of the final remaining big items on President Obamas climate change checklist. Although not a perfect remedy, the Presidents new rules will reduce gas-sector methane emissions 40 to 45 percent below 2012 levels by 2025. The rules simply tighten the allowed emissions from pumps, compressors, wells, and other fracking and gas extracting infrastructure by requiring more frequent surveys for leaks and implementing a data-gathering survey. Just the information gathered from frequent surveys will provide officials and gas producing companies an informed understanding of the high levels of methane leakage there is so they can take action to prevent it.

Now, Republicans will claim, as is their wont, that the new regulations will inordinately place financial burdens on consumers and the profitable fossil fuel industry, but like everything Republicans claim about regulations, that is not the case. According to analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency, the new regulations might cost as much as $530 million by 2025, but they will also produce $690 million in environmental benefits during the same period. No matter what political persuasion one holds, a $160 million benefit to combat climate change and protect Americans from methane pollution seems like a fiscally-responsible action.

There is no doubt the Republicans in Congress serving the whims and wishes of the Koch brothers and fossil fuel industry will cry foul and immediately take steps to block the Presidents new rules on fracking emissions. Not because there is any question about the devastating effects of increasing methane emissions, but because it is an environmental regulation enacted by President Obama and affects their favorite major donors. Most Americans will likely never notice or hear about the President addressing fracking, but when they do and if they have even a passing regard for their families well-being, one hopes they will thank the President for doing what no Republican will ever consider; addressing climate change and reducing just one of the dangers of fracking.
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BYRON  When Jessica Lemickson saw a business location for lease kitty-corner across U.S. Highway 14 from the Byron Kwik Trip, she knew it was time to take the next step and start her own floral business, called Med City Floral Design.

She has worked for about 16 years in all aspects of the floral industry, from selling for a wholesale grower to working with florist shops all over Minnesota. On the retail side, she also did a lot of planning for weddings, corporate events and funerals. With all that experience behind her, she thought Byron was the ideal location from which to serve the businesses and residents of the region.

At the Byron City Council meeting Tuesday, Lemickson's request for a conditional use permit to expand the display area outside her shop at 11 Second Ave. Southwest was approved.

Her products include fresh cut flowers, indoor houseplants and, at this time of year, an array of bedding plants and outdoor floral baskets. Balloons also are available.

During the holiday season, she plans to offer wreaths, garland and tree toppers, as well as holiday centerpieces and flowers.

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As she learns the needs of her clients, she also will be bringing in appropriate gift products.

"I really like it here," she said Thursday morning. "Everyone has been so welcoming."

The shop will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and, seasonally, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Lemickson said she plans to deliver in the region if customers request it.

The phone number for the business is 775-6563.
A Cannon Falls man made his first appearance this week in Olmsted County District Court, where he has been accused of sexually assaulting two children.

Dustin Thomas Ehrich, 30, has been charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, all felonies. He remains in custody in lieu of $300,000 conditional bail and is due back in court May 24.

The investigation began May 5, when authorities learned one of the victims had confided the alleged abuse to a friend after a lesson in school about "good touches" and "bad touches." The friend then told a parent, who reported it to authorities.

Ehrich targeted the reporting victim after that child saw him behaving inappropriately with another child, the criminal complaint says. Ehrich allegedly forced the reporting victim to touch his genitals over his clothes; he pulled down the reporting victim's pants and touched that victim once, the child said.

The other victim told investigators Ehrich made her rub his genitals before she could play a video game, court documents say; the sexual contact occurred several times, and involved more than just touching. Ehrich allegedly told the child not to tell anyone their "secret."

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The first-degree counts carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $40,000 fine, or both. The second-degree counts are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, a $35,000 fine, or both.
AUSTIN  An Austin man charged with third-degree murder-drugs for allegedly arranging the sale of heroin to a man who died of an overdose has pleaded not guilty.

Jordan David Flugum, 20, entered the plea Thursday in Mower County District Court. He remains in custody in lieu of $100,000 bail, and is due back in court Sept. 16.

The investigation began about 12:45 p.m. March 27, when a woman reported she'd found her son unresponsive in his bed. Responding officers found Jordon Jensen, 20, dead.

The mother told authorities Jensen was a heroin user. Police found two syringes in Jensen's coat pocket; the medical examiner noted needle-track marks inside Jensen's elbow, the complaint says.

Jensen's father told police his son had arrived at his house about 9 p.m. March 26, slurring his words and unable to ride his bicycle home. Jensen's father walked him back to the mother's house; on the way, Jensen reportedly acknowledged that he needed treatment.

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An autopsy conducted at Mayo Clinic listed the cause of death as "acute heroin and methamphetamine toxicity."

Flugum told authorities Jensen asked him for heroin through a Facebook message on March 26, offering a 55-inch TV in exchange for the drug. Jensen was going to pawn the TV for cash, but the pawn shops were closed, so Flugum asked his heroin dealer if he'd accept the TV, court documents say.

The dealer agreed to the exchange, providing about a gram of heroin  worth about $200  for the TV.

About 5:30 p.m. that day, Flugum went to a drug house in northeast Austin. Jensen was there, too, and reportedly overdosed after Flugum arrived, prompting Flugum and another man to slap him, then put him in the shower when he didn't respond.

Jensen eventually came around, reports say, and wanted to do more heroin; Flugum and the other man told him not to do more. Flugum took Jensen's remaining heroin and needles so Jensen wouldn't use more  and used it himself, the complaint says.

Jensen left the drug house soon after.

Flugum told investigators he thought Jensen had used about a quarter-gram of heroin that day, but said Jensen had told him he'd done some meth before the TV-heroin exchange.

The other man in the drug house that day confirmed Flugum's account of the events.

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If convicted, Flugum faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, a $40,000 fine, or both.
Dear Answer Man, who appoints the city's Ethical Practices Board and who are the members?

Great question. The rarely heard-from Ethical Practices Board met Wednesday and jumped into the hot, election-year political debate about how Rochester city boards and commissions are appointed, and whether they're "inclusive" and diverse enough.

The board asked the city attorney to draft a letter to Mayor Ardell Bredeand City Council members that recommends changes to make the appointment process more transparent and consistent.

The Ethical Practices Board was formed in 2008 and members are appointed not by the mayor or council but interestingly enough, by a three-person committee consisting of the Rochester Community and Technical College president, the University of Minnesota Rochester chancellor, and the highest ranking officer of the Olmsted County Bar Association who's not associated with the Rochester City Attorney's Office.

Members serve a three-year term and may serve up to two consecutive terms. I'll link to all the pertinent webpages , including the 2015 annual report. (Curiously, there's only one board opinion , dating from 2009, posted on the website.)

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The current members are:

Audrey Ericksen, chairwoman, support service coordinator for the Mayo Department of Nursing.

Joe O'Toole, vice-chair, spiritual care director at Madonna Towers.

Kay Batchelder, board secretary, who has been involved in many local boards, commissions and nonprofits, and was appointed by Gov. Jesse Ventura to the state Board of Education.

Annie Henderson, co-owner of Forager Brewery with husband Sean Allen, who's running for City Council president. Her term expired April 30, according to the website, and Ericksen said the committee will meet May 25 to "consider appointments ... I can't confirm if Annie reapplied. She remains a member until someone is appointed to the expired term." Seems loosey-goosey to me, but so be it.

Kylie Osterhus, a Mayo Clinic quality assurance specialist.

Note the Mayo connection, FYI, since that comes up frequently in talking about Mayo's ties to the city council. Shocked? Neither am I. Rochester's population is about 110,000. Mayo, by an extravagant margin the biggest employer, has about 35,000 employees here. I refuse to be shocked that their employees are represented on elective and appointed boards. If being shocked is your cup of tea, then prepare to be shocked by other conflicts represented by jobs, family connections, church affiliations and whatever.

The ethics board discussion Wednesday was triggered by an "informal request for an opinion" from City Council Member Michael Wojcik, who's upset that Taylor Ridderbusch, public affairs director for the Rochester Area Builders, was among the recent appointees to the DMC-related Heart of the City t ask force. Ridderbusch happens to be a state-registered lobbyist and Wojcik, aside from having a rocky relationship with the Builders, thinks registered lobbyists shouldn't serve on that type of committee.

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FYI, Ericksen tells me Wojcik's request was only for an opinion -- "it was not a formal complaint."

Regarding Wojcik's beef with Ridderbusch, John Eischenof the builders group says, "We are disappointed that Taylor was singled out for an Ethical Practices Board inquiry. Taylor brings value to the Heart of the City task force and is an excellent choice to serve his community in that role. As a newly transplanted 'millennial,' he will be able to bring fresh perspectives to the discussion as well as a working knowledge of city process."

If you think Ridderbusch's lobbying job is a major problem, then it's fair to review who else is on that Heart of the City committee and what they do for a living:

Javon Bea, Oronoco businessman, Kahler Hospital Group leader and one of the very biggest developers in town.

Jenna Bowman, executive director of the Rochester Downtown Alliance.

Nick Campion, Rochester City Council member, works for DoApp Inc.

Gail Eadie, Mayo Clinic architect.

Ahmed Elkhalifataha,senior manager, Oxford Property Management.

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Tom Fisher, director of the Metropolitan Design Center at the University of Minnesota.

Jeanine Gangeness, Winona State University associate vice president and chief of WSU's Rochester campus.

Tom Hexum, Rochester businessman and developer (Shoppes on Maine).

Stephen Lehmkuhle, University of Minnesota Rochester chancellor.

Nick Moucha, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Sunny Prabhakar, co-founder of The Commission , which describes itself as a "volunteer organization that is made up of young professionals for young professionals," and hosts business networking events, among other activities.

Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, medical director of Mayo Clinic's patient experience.

Taylor Ridderbusch, public affairs director for Rochester Area Builders.

John Wade, co-owner of Clements Chevrolet Cadillac Subaru and former Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce president.

See any other potential conflicts here? Any ways in which people might leverage the committee to benefit their employer or their own personal or political interests? And is it more disqualifying to be a lobbyist than to be among the richest people in Rochester, the best-connected, the most politically powerful, etc.? I don't think so.
RED WING  Red Wing's iconic Barn Bluff will also be known by its Dakota name, He Mni Can, going forward, city Planning Director Brian Peterson said Thursday.

A proposed Barn Bluff restoration project will focus on cultural heritage of both the Dakota people who called He Mni Can home for hundreds of years and the European settlers who have seen Barn Bluff as a monument and resource in the settlement of this country for the past 150-plus year, said Bruce Chamberlain, a Minneapolis-based landscape architect helping the city of Red Wing develop its master plan for the bluff.

"Barn Bluff is an important part of the Dakota community." Chamberlain said Thursday night at the Barn Bluff Master Plan Open House at the Red Wing Library

The city has spent the past eight months working on the draft of the plan, and is ready to hand it over to the planning advisory commission before final approval by the city council.

"When we talk about a master plan, what it really does is lay out a vision, certainly, but it's also an investment strategy for a long period of time," Chamberlain said.

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The master plan would also help qualify the city for state funding for the project. Peterson said the cost to implement the master plan is about $6.5 million, over 10 years.

Sarah Evenson, another Minneapolis-based landscape architect working on the master plan, said the city has identified four areas of improvement for the park.

The park entry will need simplified parking, information signage  to keep signage off the top of the bluff  restrooms and ADA accessibility to a proposed Dakota monument and to the Carlson Kiln.

The kiln would be a second focus area for the bluff plan. Evenson said the goal is to make it safe and build a plaza in front that is accessible to wheelchairs and people with limited mobility.

The final two focus areas will be the east and west overlooks atop the bluff, and the trail system that gives access to and connects the overlooks. The master plan includes realigning the trail to the west overlook to avoid Native American burial sites that are along the current trail path. Trails will also be re-engineered to make them hold up against erosion. "We're designing the trails to standards that will last, hopefully, 50 years," Evenson said.

The goal is to keep the trails narrow  wide enough for single-file hikers  atop the bluff.

Todd Avery, a Red Wing resident who said his family has roots in the town going back to the 1870s, said there are sections of the trail that were essentially two lanes on top of the bluff. Those two-lane trails were mentioned by naturalist Henry David Thoreau, who visited Red Wing and climbed the bluff in the mid-1800s.

"It's a feature that at least needs to be recognized," he said. "Though there probably isn't much of that left."

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Another piece of Barn Bluff history that needs to be remembered, he said, is how the bluff became a city park in the first place. Around 1908, a group of citizens concerned that the bluff was being eroded by all the mining for limestone, purchased the bluff from G.A. Carlson Company. That early effort to save Barn Bluff is an important part of the city's recognition of how the bluff's natural beauty is an asset to the city, Avery said.

As for the Carlson Kiln that was part of that mining operation, Avery said, "It's a monument to the destruction of the bluff. Should it be saved? Yeah, I suppose."

Barn Bluff painting policy

Also at the meeting, officials discussed about the city's policy concerning messages painted on the Barn Bluff's rock face, after the city's coverage of a Prince symbol recently caused an uproar.

The city's interim policy is to listen to any complaints about painting on Barn Bluff, and then let City Council President Dean Hove and Mayor Dan Bender make the final decision if any words or symbols painted on the bluff should be whitewashed by city crews.

"We won't send crews to paint it unless it's some form of profanity," Peterson said, adding that political messages are also banned.

The city plans to hold several more meetings on the painting issue this summer, said Red Wing Planning Director Brian Peterson.

Joe Gibart, who painted the Prince symbol on Barn Bluff that was covered over, said the policy on painted messages on the bluff should be simple. "We should go back to what it was four months ago."

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That, he said, was essentially no policy.

"There hasn't been a policy up to this point, and it hasn't been a problem," said Michelle Henshell, who lives in River Falls, Wis., but considers Red Wing home. "It took care of itself. If you don't like it, repaint it yourself."

Barn Bluff, including the paintings near the west overlook, are a big part of what makes Red Wing unique among river towns, she said.

"Why is the painting on the bluff bad, but the mural on Third Street is fine?" The answer, she acknowledged, is one was paid for and the other is considered graffiti.

To gather information on the issue, Peterson asked attendees to leave comment cards. Among the posters around the room was a photo of the bluff with markers for people to write their comments graffiti-style on the poster. Dozens of comments expressing a variety of opinions were written on the poster by the end of the night.
WINONA  Some residents were surprised to find a bear wandering their backyards early Friday.

Reports started coming in at 6:15 a.m. about a black bear near Jay Bee and Wildwood Drives in Winona. Police Chief Paul Bostrack said that one of the callers snapped a quick photo of the bear wandering out of the woods.

"It didn't do any damage, didn't have any problems," Bostrack noted. "It just kind of walked into the backyard, and it walked back into the woods. No aggressive behavior whatsoever."

The bear in the photo, although photographed from a distance, showed that the animal might have been small in size.

Bears are typically attracted to the smell of garbage or bird feeders, which might be the reason the bear was found wandering in the yard. Sightings in town are pretty rare.

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"Occasionally we'll have reports of people seeing black bears," Bostrack said. "We remind people that wild animals are more likely fine and to try and keep their distance. Make some noise, and they'll probably go away."

On May 1, authorities euthanized a 200-pound black bear in Chatfield that had refused to leave and showed signs of aggression.

However, Bostrack warned residents not to "shoot a bear" if spotted.

"Definitely shouldn't be doing that unless they had a very good reason," he said. "The better route is to call us, and we'll deal with it through the DNR."
CALEDONIA  For the first time in about 60 years, Caledonia residents won't have a public swimming pool to go to this summer.

But next year, they will have a much better one.

The pool will be demolished this summer and a new one built. The old one is leaking water, is outdated and its bath house needs a lot of work.

City Clerk Adam Swann said demolition will begin next month. The new pool is expected to be ready in early June 2017.

The new pool will have a zero-depth entry area for young children, and the bathhouse will be new, he said.

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If the city gets enough private funding, they might add some of the amenities sought by residents, but the basic plumbing and other work will be done so the amenities could be added later, he said.

The project will cost about $1.65 million, Swann said.

Private pledges have totaled $850,000, but thus far only $690,000 has been collected, he said. The city received $12,000 specifically for a diving board, he said.

Voters rejected bonding for a more expensive pool more than a year ago, but a referendum for a more modest pool got the OK of voters, 261-242. That allows the council to allocate up to $1 million.

The Caledonia City Council will vote on bonds for the pool during its May 23 meeting, he said.
KASSON  After a year of failed negotiations and impasses, the teachers' union and the Kasson-Mantorville District School Board finally reached a tentative agreement on teacher contracts.

Kasson-Mantorville Education Minnesota and the K-M school board mediated from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at the DoubleTree Hotel in Rochester before reaching an agreement, according to a KMEM statement.

Many KMEM union members and supporters showed solidarity for the negotiators by wearing royal blue and gray, while walking the block in front of the DoubleTree.

"We believe we negotiated the best possible contract for both sides at this time," the KMEM statement reads. "KMEM feels that we had a great mediator."

Negotiations between the KMEM and the K-M school board have been ongoing since April 2015, and in January the board previously requested that the union present a proposal of a 7.07 percent increase over two years to the membership, according to a previous reports.

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KMEM cited 30 or more "language issues" within the originally proposed master agreement, which the union believed was "unfair" for the total membership.

The union rejected that proposal, which included salaries and benefits for all the teachers and staff, using comparable data from surrounding school districts such as Byron, Triton and Pine Island.

The negotiators will bring the tentative agreement to their members on Monday, May 16, and to vote soon after. The agreement itself still needs to be ratified by both the union and the school board.
Mayor Ardell Brede vetoed a tiered fee portion of Rochester's food truck ordinance on Thursday.

Last-minute changes to the city's food truck ordinance on May 2 introduced a tiered fee system that reduced proposed start-up costs for operators and also allowed for non-motorized food units, including trailers.

These changes were considered to be the final touches on an ordinance amendment months in the making .

Brede said his reasoning behind the veto was that the city doesn't use a similar fee system for Rochester's brick and mortar restaurants.

The Rochester City Council now has to decide if it wants to override the veto before a final vote on the ordinance takes place on June 6.

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City Council Member Nick Campion, who proposed the tiered fee system, voiced his disappointment on the veto via Twitter.

Very disappointing. #rochmnMayor uses veto on entrepreneur friendly fees. Council can send clear message w/ override.

 Nick Campion (@Campion4Council) May 12, 2016
The journey of food trucks into downtown Rochester hit a slight detour after part of a proposed new ordinance was vetoed by Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede.

Brede vetoed the portion that would have trucks and trailers pay on a tiered fee system, which he said would be "unfair" for some of the small businesses in town.

"It's a fairness issue," he said. 'We got people starting businesses that are just as strapped initially. We don't make adjustments on their taxes. They pay the full amount, and they don't get a break. Why don't we do this for any new business or restaurant coming into town? That's the part I vetoed."

Council member Nick Campion introduced the tiered fee system that would essentially allow mobile food unit owners to pay lower fees in their first two years of business.

The council had considered a yearly $150 licensing fee and $1,350 franchise fee for food truck owners. On a tiered system, reductions for the franchise fee would be $750 during the first year of a truck and trailer's operation, making the total cost $900.

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Then, the fee would increase to $1,100 during the second year, and for the following years, the owner would pay $1,500  a combination of the annual $150 licensing fee and a $1,350 franchising fee.

Campion said he was disappointed in Brede's veto. He believes food trucks and restaurants aren't comparable in this case.

"It is a reasonable line of thinking," Campion said. "However, it's a little bit like 'apples and oranges.' Can you directly compare a food truck to a restaurant? Some think you can, and some think you can't."

Campion also was frustrated that there was "little warning" for the veto. He wishes that objections were laid out in front.

"Many people observed the council who fought through this trying to build a system that was equitable," Campion explained. "It's certainly dismaying having to go back and take a look at this and possibly reworking this legislation. There's probably good reason, and the mayor will probably be sharing his reasoning moving forward."

But Brede said he initially planned to accept the rule but decided on the veto after mulling it over.

"I support food trucks and want them in town," he said. "I would've voiced my opinion that I just don't like it. We're not being fair. That's not the way we're doing for any other new business. ... It's a fairness issue."

Both Brede and Campion don't anticipate the timeline to be extended further than anticipated. The new regulations were supposed to go into effect on June 12 or sooner depending on what the council decides.

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Overriding Brede's veto requires at least five votes; the previous resolution was passed 5-2.

"The council invested a lot of time trying to get this as reasonably set as possible, until now, it's coming back," he said. "I hope that this doesn't delay the window anymore."

Campion said he would try to have a discussion with Brede before the council meeting to discuss the process that went into the veto.

"We just need to see what the alternate proposal would be," he said. "I'm a person that looks for compromise where it serves the community. If there is an alternate plan to better serve the community plan, then I'm going to listen. I want to move forward in getting these businesses on the streets this summer."
Prince's autopsy, particularly the toxicology report, may clarify whether prescription painkillers played any part in his death.

Determining whether the music superstar died of a drug overdose likely will involve not only tests of his blood, urine, liver tissue and fluid from the eyes, but it also will require compiling evidence from Prince's medicine cabinet, his medical history and possibly information from witnesses and those who knew him.

Authorities haven't said when results of the April 22 autopsy will be released, only that it would take weeks.

What's already known?

Questions about Prince's health surfaced April 15, when his plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Ill. He was found unconscious aboard the aircraft, a law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

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While the plane was on the tarmac, the official said, first responders gave Prince a shot of Narcan, an antidote used to reverse suspected opioid overdoses. The official said investigators are looking at whether Prince overdosed on the flight and whether an overdose killed him six days later. One possibility is the powerful painkiller Percocet or something similar, the official said.

A medical examiner completed the physical autopsy in four hours on April 22, the day after Prince was found dead at age 57. His remains later were cremated. The Midwest Medical Examiner's Office did not release a preliminary cause of death based on the autopsy alone and has said the toxicology results would take weeks.

Why does it take so long?

Toxicology reports can be based on multiple rounds of tests, escalating in sophistication as pathologists, toxicologists and chemists work together to answer questions, according to the College of American Pathologists.

First, basic screens are run on blood and urine to detect categories such as opiates, amphetamines, marijuana, alcohol and barbiturates. Confirming those results can take days and sometimes requires repeated testing.

More tests then are run to identify each chemical's unique fingerprint by measuring its mass and other traits. Sometimes, a specialty lab is called in to test for specific drugs. Finding multiple drugs in a person's system can add time to the process.

Tests typically are run on various fluids and tissues including bile and the eye.

"The blood only gives you a snapshot of exactly what was happening at the moment of death," said Dr. Bruce Levy, a pathologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "By looking at other body fluids or tissues, you can get more of a sense of history of a person's use of a drug or medication."

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What could the autopsy show?

The autopsy report will help clarify whether Prince had a medical issue such as a heart problem that might explain his death, said Dr. Paul Wax, executive director of the American College of Medical Toxicology.

"If he didn't have some other medical condition, then was there enough evidence based on the forensic toxicology testing and other information from pill bottles, family, friends and eyewitnesses to suggest that the death was from drugs?" Wax asked.

If prescription drugs are involved, Prince may have been taking medications exactly as directed, or taking more than prescribed. The report could include evidence that prescriptions from several doctors were involved, or may say nothing about the source of any culprit drugs.

Death certificates sometimes include mention of "polysubstance abuse"  abuse of three or more drugs  or "substance abuse" or perhaps "drug use disorder," Wax said. In Minnesota, such terms can be listed as a contributing factor.

What drug levels are lethal?

It's tricky. Anyone who takes prescription opioid painkillers for a long time builds a tolerance to the drugs. A dose that could kill one person might provide medicinal pain relief to another.

"That's the problem with opioids," said Dr. Lewis Nelson, medical toxicologist at New York University School of Medicine. "Unless you have a good sense of how much opioid the person was using in the past several weeks, it's hard to know how to interpret a post-mortem blood level."

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Crucial evidence such as pill bottles, Prince's medical history and other information would come into play, Nelson said. "The number has to be contextualized."

Would brand name Percocet show up on an autopsy report?

Percocet would show up as separate listings for its ingredients  acetaminophen and oxycodone  on a typical forensic toxicology report, Wax said.

Oxycodone is an opioid, but both ingredients can be dangerous. Acetaminophen overdoses kill about 150 people per year, and would show up as liver damage on an autopsy report. Overdose from opioids, including oxycodone and heroin, killed nearly 29,000 people in 2014.

What might not be released publicly?

Minnesota law gives medical examiners broad authority to access a deceased person's medical records, including those on mental health and chemical dependency. The state allows medical examiners to include references to mental health records in a final summary report, but shields the records themselves from public disclosure. That allows a measure of confidentiality.

"I think the autopsy report will be very objective," said Dr. Yashpal Agrawal of the College of American Pathologists. "It will say what the drug levels are, what drugs were found and give an opinion about what it means." He does not expect the autopsy report to make conclusions about addiction or chemical dependency.

Who is the medical examiner?

Dr. A. Quinn Strobl, who has been the chief medical examiner at the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office since late 2009, performed the autopsy on Prince herself. Her office is the official coroner for 19 counties in Minnesota, including Carver County, where he was found dead.

Strobl has been a practicing forensic pathologist since she finished her fellowship in 2005 and is board-certified in anatomic, clinical and forensic pathology.

According to a 2009 (Minneapolis) Star Tribune article, Strobl is a native of Philadelphia who attended Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She considered going into family practice and surgery, and decided being a medical examiner was a good mix of the two.

"I interact directly with the family, I deliver the diagnosis and I answer a wide spectrum of questions," she told the newspaper. "I don't deliver the bad news. Hopefully, I deliver answers."

What happens next?

Autopsy reports usually include a cause of death such as "opioid poisoning" or "congestive heart failure" and a manner of death, such as "homicide," ''suicide," ''accident" or "undetermined." But those categories have no legal standing, according to Dr. Dave Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner and president of the National Association of Medical Examiners.

"Medical definitions largely are there to classify a death for statistical purposes," Fowler said. "It's more of a public health tool than it is a legal or law enforcement tool."

Asked whether a determination of "accidental overdose" would make it more difficult to file any charges, Fowler said: "Medical examiners are not in the position to be judge and jury. The legal decision is made by local prosecutors or grand juries. They have the authority to file charges. Whatever we call it doesn't make any difference to them. It shouldn't."
The morning before Rochester Community and Technical College's 100th commencement, the college's top leaders gathered in a meeting with media to talk about the college's future.

The leaders, part of the All College Leadership committee, put forward a united front Thursday and said the college's top leadership is ready to move forward.

"These are the people that stay," said Interim President Joyce Helens of the committee. "My tenure was short; I always knew that, but they will be here and stay here."

The committee, made up of administrators, faculty and union leadership, was created in January in an effort to bring together the college's top leaders to work on efforts such as preparing for the college's re-accreditation visit set for April 2017. They've also created a master academic plan, which will guide the college for the next three years, and a "Vision 2020" plan, which is the college's strategic plan.

"Everyone here has a different perspective and sees things differently because they're from different areas of the college," said Greg Mosier, vice president of academic affairs.

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Concerns over hiring practices and a lack of communication about that process came up in recent months, but the committee is a part of the college's effort to ensure communication happens and that any future problems are dealt with. She added it's the first time in the college's history such a group has been gathered.

"This is the good that can come out of discord," said Ginny Boyum, dean of academic affairs.

The college has been in transition the last few months, following former president Leslie McClellon's rocky tenure, during which concerns rose over her leadership, hiring practices and spending. McClellon announced her resignation in December, effective in January.

Helens has led the college since that time , but after June, she will be returning to her own college, St. Cloud Community and Technical College.

In April, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities announced the search for a new permanent president hadn't turned up any viable candidates . MnSCU announced plans to appoint another interim president for up to two years, while the college looks for its next permanent leader.

The college's next interim president will be announced Wednesday, said leaders. Helens added the vice president of student affairs and enrollment management also will be announced next week.

In addition, an institutional researcher position, which was cut during McClellon's tenure, was recently filled, helping with the college's accreditation effort.

Despite the setbacks in finding a permanent president, the college's leaders said they're ready to put the past behind them.

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"We're looking forward," said incoming Faculty President Dave Atwood.
LANESBORO  Two bridges on Minnesota Highway 250 north of Lanesboro that cross two branches of the Root River will be replaced, with work beginning Monday.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said the $3.8 million project will be used to tear down the narrow bridges and replace them. The project also involves improving the roadway approaches because they are narrow and have sharp bends. Work should be done in September.

The bridge over the South Branch Root River is on the edge of Lanesboro while the one of the North Branch Root River is several miles farther north. The two branches of the river meet a few miles east of Lanesboro.

The highway itself will be closed on June 6 after school is dismissed for the summer and detoured for construction of the south bridge in Lanesboro, which will be closed through most of the project. A new bridge will be built very close to the present one.

The north bridge is expected to remain open for a majority of the construction project, except during grading of connections back into the existing Highway 250 alignment. A new one will be built a bit farther away, so the present one can still be used until the new one is done.

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A small number of weekday river closings, however, will be necessary at stages during construction for safety, MnDOT said.
Photo: VOV

During the meeting, Prime Minister Hun Sen appreciated the visit by Minister To Lam and the Vietnamese delegation, which he said would promote the development of the traditional, friendly, comprehensive and cooperative relations between Cambodia and Vietnam.

He also thanked the Vietnamese Party, Government and people for their great assistance towards the national construction and development of Cambodia.

He congratulated Senior Lieutenant-General To Lam on being elected as a member of the Politburo by the 12th National Party Congress and adopted to hold the position of Minister of Public Security by the National Assembly.

He expressed his wish that the police forces of the two countries would continue to increase cooperation to prevent crime, especially organizational crime, trans-national crime, drug crime, trafficking crime and trade fraud crime, contributing to protecting security and order, serving the national socio-economic development in each country.

Minister To Lam thanked the Cambodian Prime Minister for the warm reception.

Informing the Cambodian Prime Minister of the cooperation plans between the two Ministries of Public Security, Minister To Lam showed his happiness with the great achievements in terms of politics, economics, culture, society, security and defence that the Cambodian Government and people had reached.

He confirmed that on the basis of the cooperation agreement signed in 1997 and the cooperation plan in 2016 between the two Ministries of Public Security, the cooperative relations between the two ministries continued to be reinforced, which made important contributions to ensuring security and order in each country./.
The VN1182 flight from Ho Chi Minh city landed at Cai Bi Airport at 09h25, while the VN1183 flight took off from Cat Bi airport at 10h45.

Vietnam Airlines CEO Pham Ngoc Minh said that by using Boeing 787 Dreamliner (a long-range, mid-size wide body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by US-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes) on the routes to Hai Phong city, the new 4 star full-services in Cat Bi airport demonstrates the carriers capacity in developing its network of domestic and international air routes, thus fully meeting the increased demand from travelers.













Photos: Vietnam Airlines

Vietnam Airlines has been flying from/to the port and industrial city of Hai Phong since the 1990s. In the future, it is expected to open new routes to the locality, especially international ones, as well as using modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus 350-900 XWB aircraft.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific operate around 100 flights per week in Hai Phong, in which Vietnam Airlines owns three routes (Hai Phong - Ho Chi Minh city/Da Nang/Nha Trang, while Jetstar Pacific provides aviation services for two routes (Hai Phong - Ho Chi Minh city/Buon Me Thuot).

The city of Hai Phong, one of 28 provinces/cities coast, belongs to the Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific double-trademark to meet the travel demand for passengers in the Northern coastal area./.
According to custom, the government and opposition benches in the British House of Commons are separated by a length equivalent to "two swords and one inch."

The practice harks back to a time when members of Parliament regularly carried blades.

Presumably, the distance was meant to guard against the possibility that verbal sparring could easily erupt into physical confrontation  an event that wasn't unknown on the floor of the U.S. House in past centuries, either.

The tradition remains intact today, a reminder "to seek resolutions by peaceful means."

We've come a long way since the days when armed combat was a possible resolution to political disputes.

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We are, in some ways, more civilized than our forebears.

And in our modern democracy, good people on opposing sides of an issue can engage in cordial-but-spirited debate on a controversial subject without tearing each other to shreds.

At least that's what we'd like to think.

But one need only open the morning paper, click an Internet browser or turn on the television to see that although it is absent long swords, our current political environment is combative and trending the wrong direction.

The 2016 election cycle provides fruitful illustrations.

Just listen for two minutes of almost any speech given by reality TV star turned presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Or look at his Twitter feed.

It is largely a catalog of insults, sometimes bordering slander, and veiled threats issued to his critics and political opponents, Republican and Democrat alike.

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Trump is the most notorious current offender, but he's not alone.

During an early Democratic presidential debate, Hillary Clinton boasted to the audience that the "enemy" she was most proud of making is "probably the Republicans."

Perhaps more disturbing than her response were the cheers and applause from the audience.

That's because politicians like Trump and Clinton, for all their faults, are merely playing to an American public that welcomes this view of one's political opponents. That is, those who disagree with you aren't just wrong, they are evil.

With the ubiquity of social media, we live in a society full of people who regularly espouse malevolence for those who do not share their opinions.

Read the comments on almost any news article or opinion piece  or maybe better yet, don't.

While a few are cogent and measured responses to the argument presented, the majority are full of ad hominem attacks on the author and other commenters.

Or consider the "discussions" that take place on social media.

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Just last week I watched with a combination of amusement and disgust as a Facebook page for local moms erupted in insults when its members began debating a new policy regarding transgender students in public schools.

I cringed when I read the comments of one participant who assailed a woman who did not share her opinion by claiming that an Internet search revealed that she was widely disliked in the virtual world.

In the profound words of the late Andrew Breitbart, the ever-controversial but insightful right-wing journalist, "politics is downstream of culture" and not the other way around.

So while we blame our politicians for playing to our basest instincts  which they seem to do with zeal  they often just reflect the lack of civility that drives our daily interactions.

Indeed, our cultural devolution is driving our political decline and not the other way around.

Instead of swords we have comment boxes, Facebook "debates" and Twitter feeds.

Instead of fists we use insults and slander.

The damage caused by our incivility may not be physical, but it is no less dangerous to democracy.

And unlike our forebears who had the "two swords and one inch" rule to compel their good conduct, we operate without constraint, perpetuating a culture of incivility.

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
There is a crisis in America. A rise in concentrated poverty in the last quarter of a century has led to drastic social and economic inequalities unprecedented in the history of our country.

According to Robert Putnam's book "Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis," a rising gap between the middle-upper classes and lower classes has resulted in such social dynamics as poorer children having fewer close friends, narrower social networks and a smaller range of informal mentorship than their more economically affluent peers.

These dynamics have presented new challenges for the American public school system. While the last 15 years saw federal and state policy initiatives use punitive measures upon public schools as a means to improve them, the state of Minnesota took a different approach and instead invested in public education. This proactive and progressive approach is manifesting itself in a significant initiative that aspires to transform how teachers are prepared: the Education Village at Winona State University.

WSU was founded in 1858 as the first teacher preparatory school west of the Mississippi River.

The American Midwest is known for being the hotbed for preparing America's teachers, and WSU plays a central role in providing public schools with highly qualified and prepared teachers to guide and enlighten America's youth.

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As a result, WSU is no stranger to being a proactive and benevolent partner with the Rochester community. The Winona State University-Rochester campus continues to expand educational opportunities in the area. Additionally, WSU's outreach in Rochester public schools resulted in a graduate induction program that places highly qualified licensed teachers in the classroom and the recently unveiled STEM Village, which empowers teachers by providing them with easy access to curricular materials that public schools otherwise may not have enough funds to purchase and provide.

The newest educational initiative from WSU is its boldest to date and promises to continue this trend of extending the university's reach beyond Winona. The state of Minnesota is in the midst of renewing this historical initiative by planning to invest nearly $31.2 million in bonding funds to renovate three old buildings on the Winona campus and transform them into an Education Village, where teacher preparation is conducted collaboratively with the communities and schools of southeastern Minnesota.

Imagine busloads of school children learning with teacher candidates in a large maker-space designed to experiment with the most modern digital technologies as a means to enliven a science or geography curriculum. Children will compete and collaborate with one another using miniature cars they've created themselves, experiment with electrical properties using squishy circuits or even explore and examine the outdoors from up high using drones they operate.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Imagine the opportunities opened up for teacher candidates as they regularly interact with school children in their preparation and how these children benefit with hands-on, innovative programs that are not usually available to them otherwise.

Programs like these promise to create close interaction with teacher candidates and school children and will make southeastern Minnesota the talk of the nation as an area for teacher preparation, but we do more than just teacher preparation.

The Education Village also will become a center for older adults who aspire to grow in the areas of leadership, counseling, community education or educational policy. It will be a gathering place that empowers all public and private organizations surrounding it.

The Education Village is scheduled to be unveiled in spring 2018. The Minnesota State Legislature allocated the bond funding for the first phase in 2014, resulting in $5.9 million for architectural design. The second phase calls for $25.3 million in renovation, which Gov. Mark Dayton included in his bonding proposal earlier this year.

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A legislative bonding decision is needed for these funds, and we hope Minnesota legislators will make the Education Village a reality for all of us.

Get ready. Get excited. And, most importantly, share your support for the Education Village with your local state representative. Visit wsu.mn/EdVillage to learn more. Southeastern Minnesota is about to be part of something very special that uplifts your children and your community

James E. Schul, of Winona, is an assistant professor in the Education Studies Department at Winona State University.
As the Rochester City Council and Olmsted County Board gathered this week to discuss housing needs and opportunities, it was obvious voices were missing from the conversation.

As John Errigo of the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund reviewed findings from a recent study conducted by the former Cornerstone Partnership, he noted discussions with developers indicated support for inclusionary housing policies that would create more clarity, reduce time for gaining approvals and level the playing field for projects. However, it raised a question about whether there is an agreement among all area developers.

"I wouldn't use the word consensus," Errigo said. "Developers will have differing opinions, but more than one developer said that."

We've heard developer support for taking action to create more affordable housing options. Mike Paradise of Bigelow recently sat down with the Post-Bulletin Editorial Board and told us as much, but he also noted needed voices have been missing from the conversations.

He noted a 2014 housing summit drew only two people directly involved with local construction. He and Joe Weis of Joseph Development joined a conversation dominated by people from nonprofit and government agencies.

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"I was a little bit concerned about the fact that you weren't getting all the right players involved in the whole thing," he told us, noting they were invited but opted not to attend. He added: "It's really hard to get them to come in and sit down at these meetings and participate, but they need to."

Errigo and others can report endlessly about what they hear from builders and developers, but too often the words fall flat until they are heard from the sources. Unfortunately, the builders and developers, as well as real estate agents and bankers, often are busy with business during the week and evenings, and weekends offer precious family time.

Yet, they need to find time to join the conversation, which is why we're excited to hear Steve Borchardt, housing initiative director for Rochester Area Foundation, is hoping to spur those discussions. He's planning to bring builders, developers and others together to discuss obstacles to creating affordable housing, as well as potential strategies.

"Hopefully, I can convince them to participate in something like this," Borchardt said, noting the builders and developers have been maligned in the past, but many people forget many also took a hit during the economic downturn.

We're hoping Borchardt's efforts can make builders and others comfortable with talking about their concerns and potential solutions. Maybe that comfort also will allow more open conversations that can help guide public policy and address the need for affordable housing.

Simply talking with Paradise demonstrated to us that there are numerous ideas that could help alleviate some need. Among them, Paradise suggested finding ways to encourage new construction to fit the needs of aging baby boomers, which could strengthen the overall market by opening their larger homes for sale. "We have to have an overall healthy housing environment," he said.

To do that, we need to hear more concerns and ideas. Monday's meeting between the county board and city council was a good step along the way, but it also highlighted that there is a long distance to go.

Hopefully, more travelers will join the journey by ending speculation and helping forge the best path for all.
The CBS News affiliate in Los Angeles reported yesterday that Bruce Caitlyn Jenner is having second thoughts about her transition and might possibly switch teams back to being a Bruce. A Jenner spokesperson ridiculed the report, which was enough for Snopes to declare the report categorically false.

I dont see why Jenner should be forced to choose one or the other. Why not both? Why not alternate depending on the circumstances, such as when theres a long line for the Womens restroom at sporting events? That would he an extremely handy time to be Bruce again, for at least five minutes. Jenner can go by Brucelyn.

Oh, wait, I forgot. The Obama Administration is abolishing Boys and Girls bathrooms in public schools as of today, in what the New York Times describes as a letter that does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administrations interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

In other words, another executive diktat. (Can I use diktat in a post about bathroom facilities? Besides, I am sure there are people out there think diktat is a tattoo on. . . never mind. Of course, maybe that suggests someone should open a new line of private bathrooms, without specified genders, but called Members Only.)

Anyway, the Department of Education has often threatened to cut off funds for any educational entity that defies one of these friendly, extra-legal guidance letters, but has never actually gone through with the threat. I think school districts everywhere should loudly and proudly announce their defiance of this latest guidance letter, and dare the Dept. of Education to cut off their federal funds. And then see how many members of Congress from those states want to get re-elected this year.
Today federal judge Rosemary Collyer issued a decision in House of Representatives v. Burwell, the case brought by the House to challenge the legality of the Obama administrations payments of Obamacare subsidies to insurers, despite the fact that Congress refused to appropriate money for such subsidies. Judge Collyer ruled the administrations payments unconstitutional. I find her reasoning highly persuasive. Here is the decision in full:

HofR Challenge to ACA DCt 5-12-16 by John Hinderaker

This is one of many instances where the administration has simply ignored federal law or the Constitution and proceeded illegally. After the decision came out, Josh Earnest expressed confidence that it will be reversed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Given how the Democrats have stacked that circuit, and given the propensity of Democratic judges to vote as a bloc in cases they see as political, that prediction might come trueif not on the merits, then perhaps on standing, although if the House doesnt have standing to challenge the administrations spending money that it didnt appropriate, I dont know who would.

The case is destined, in any event, for the Supreme Court. By the time it gets there, presumably we will have a ninth justice. Which reminds us, once more, how important this years election is.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz has invited White House national security adviser Ben Rhodes to a May 17 hearing on the Iran deal. Chaffetzs invitation follows the New York Times Magazine profile of Rhodes in which Rhodes brags about the success of the lies he disseminated on behalf of the Iran deal. The Hill reports that Rhodes has not yet responded to the invitation and that he may be subpoenaed to testify.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest was asked about the matter at the press briefing yesterday (video above, about five minutes). Earnest indignantly responds with a list of Republican congressmen who protested the financial windfall of $100-150 billion that Iran was to reap as a result of the deal. Earnest leads off with this, for example: Congressman Ken Buck of Colorado promised in August 2015 that Iran would get $100 billion to $200 billion in sanctions relief. Congressman Buck is either wrong or lying and he can discuss that with the committee.

This seems to be Earnests leading point. Naming other congressmen, he repeats it. They had it wrong and they should be the ones to testify, according to Earnest. I dont know whether our critics were just willfully misinformed, mistaken or lying, Earnest said. But if Republicans were interested in getting to the bottom of this, then they just swear in members of their own conference.

Earnests response is sarcastic and juvenile. The Republicans  why, theyre worse than Rhodes! Earnest speaks on behalf of the boy with his hand caught in the cookie jar, or of the boys boss.

But thats not all. We also have todays headline in Earnests local newspaper: Iran claims $100 billion now freed in major step as sanctions roll back. In the text of the story Brian Murphy reports: Irans government spokesman, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, said more than $100 billion has been fully released and available for Iranian use, according to comments on the website of state-run Press TV.

Was Earnest joshing? Is this some kind of a joke? Perhaps Rep. Chaffetz should add Earnest to the witness list for his May 17 hearing.

As I have repeatedly pointed out, Iranian spokesmen have provided more reliable news on the Iran deal than has the Obama administration. David Samuelss profile of Rhodes now goes part of the way toward explaining how this came to be. It is indeed an issue worth exploring.

Via Alyssa Canobbio/Washington Free Beacon.
One of the things the Power Line Editorial Board did in our rare in-person gathering on Wednesday in Johns kitchen/newsroom was tape a new episode of the Power Line Show, where we kick around with Scott his daily beat reporting of the trial of the Minnesota Men. You can access the episode through our custom window to the right, or listen down below.

The heart of this show, however, is my interview with Robert G. Kaufman, my colleague at Pepperdine University and author of a brand new book out just this week, Dangerous Doctrine: How Obamas Grand Strategy Weakened America. In addition to talking about what a successor administration needs to do to repair the damage, I also got Bob reminiscing about his years at the University of Vermont in Burlington, where he knew a certain local political figure named Bernie.

Suffice it to say, Bob did not/does not feel the Bern. Youll enjoy his comments about the Ben & Jerrys candidate toward the end.
For reasons that will become apparent, Ammo Grrrll MY GOOD RIGHT ARM. She writes:

When I was a kid, I remember hearing my father refer to Lil, the senior sales clerk in his drugstore, as my good right arm. I figured out it meant a very valuable person without whom he could not get along. Little did I know how apt that phrase would become.

You know how sometimes people sustain injuries either in brave or humorous ways that make good stories? This will not be one of those.

My good right arm is semi-disabled and in pain from a deep bone bruise and blows to both my bicep and tricep. The bruise  pretty much in the shape of Texas across my entire right bicep  is black, blue and green. It is painful enough that it makes raising my right arm, or using it in a variety of ordinary ways, difficult to impossible. For example, I could sell tickets to have people watch me brush my teeth with my left hand. Now would be a good time for John H. to organize a target-shooting rematch. Id have to rely on ricochet shots.

OK, Ill just go ahead and tell you straight up what happened. I walked very rapidly (F=MA) into a sliding screen door that had been open just moments before and that I thought was still open. At least it wasnt the glass door. I bounced like a kid on a trampoline and was flung into a solid metal doorjamb, whacking my arm in two places and, for extra style points, coming back for another bounce to my shoulder blade. I said to myself, Thats gonna leave a mark. Good call. By Gods grace, I did not also fall down.

Here are some fun facts associated with the accident: I was in Alexandria, MN for my mothers memorial service and to help out Daddy. I had flown to the Twin Cities from Phoenix and then had driven a 14-year-old beater we keep there for just such trips. Which meant that I not only had to drive back to my sleeping quarters from the friends house with the Vicious Attack Screen Door, but that two days later, I had to drive the 138 miles back to the Twin Cities. With one good arm. The WRONG one to boot.

And then figure out how to negotiate the plane trip with carry-on luggage back to AZ. Fun!

Pain is a curious teacher. You learn just how many traumatized little muscles and tendons and ligaments are necessary to towel dry your back after a shower. (Ans: too many to do it.) You learn you can flip a fried egg without pain but practically fall to the floor if you try to stir scrambled eggs. You learn which shirts you can put on with one hand and which you cannot put on even with help. (It takes a village) And you learn how bad guys are at putting a Scrunchie in your hair.

You learn that pain alone doesnt kill you. I already knew that from when I took karate. Our instructor, a combat veteran Army Ranger, would make us do 40 pushups, 10 each of four sadistic kinds. When students would groan and complain, he would say, Could you do one more pushup for a million dollars? Yes, sensei! Could you do one more pushup if a knife was coming through the floor? Yes, sensei! Well, then you can do one more pushup! Point taken. However, I was 25 then. Now, I amnot.

I thought sure my absentee hostess would have some Advil around or failing that, heroin. No. All medicine cabinets empty. Uh-oh. Didnt feel like doing any extra one-handed driving in the dark to locate pain meds. I had the baby aspirin I take every day for my heart. There were 3 left in the bottle. I felt like I was in a cowboy movie where they take out a bullet with a shot of whiskey and a piece of wood to bite down on. Sadly, no whiskey either. I lived.

With a disability even as minor and temporary as mine, the pain comes also to ones sense of self. A veteran cook who can whip up a good meal in 20-30 minutes, I found myself trying to make a Smoothie, adding a tablespoon of flaxseed with my left hand and spilling it every place but into the blender. Sigh. I have learned to do everything more slowly and carefully.

The weekend also brought lessons of perspective. Driving back into the Twin Cities with my one good arm (no AC, no horn, crappy power steering), I spent the night at the home of dear friends who were waiting on information about whether their sons cancer had spread. Baruch Hashem (thank God), it had not. Perspective.

Naturally, I have many friends and relatives who live with long-term or permanent disability every day. I salute you one and all for your grace and courage. May medical miracles come quickly.

Oh, I also learned just how many people have walked through sliding doors: everybody!
As the anti-corruption summit gets underway in London, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI has asked Nigeria to pay particular attention to the identities of politically exposed persons (PEPs) who are beneficial owners of extractive industries assets.

The Regional Director, EITI Africa and the Middle East, Eddie Rich, told PREMIUM TIMES that Nigeria and 50 other EITI-principles-implementing countries have given their commitment to publish the beneficial owners of active companies in their extractive sector by 2020.

Mr. Rich said although Nigeria has expressed commitment to tackle corruption and check terror financing through beneficial ownership, the country still has to pay particular attention to small, but important details when publishing identities of PEPs as owners of these companies.

The other countries include Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Cote dIvoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Republic of the Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Yemen and Zambia.

Mr. Rich said the model EITI beneficial ownership declaration includes fields for disclosing information on beneficial owners who are PEPs holding public office positions and roles, or other reason for PEP designation, and the dates of holding such office.

He said all those requirements make it possible for the public to be well informed to be able to hold all company owners accountable as well as determine if anyone was involved in acts of corruption or terror financing.

To ensure that the beneficial ownership definition includes appropriate reporting obligations for PEPs, it is recommended that Nigeria works out activities aimed at investigating existing national definitions and reporting requirements for PEPs, Mr. Rich said.

He urged the Nigerian government to take steps to identify the national policy objectives on beneficial ownership to align with the definition prior to the collection of the full information by 2020 as required by the EITI Standards.

On British Prime Minister, David Camerons statement that Nigeria is a fantastically corrupt country, Mr. Rich said the fight against corruption was never done and a lot of tools would be needed to take it to the end.

EITI does not do everything and is not a clean bill against all corruption, but it does shine a light into many corners of the room, he stated.

The UK Summit is an opportunity for all countries and stakeholders to learn from each other and jointly agree to some commitments. Nigeria will hopefully commit to some relevant actions to the challenges it faces and making best use of the EITI process within that, Mr. Rich said.

A Nigeria EITI delegation led by the Executive Secretary, Waziri Adio, is attending the London summit which would be an opportunity for participants to share ideas on how to enhance the already existing commitment towards tackling corruption in the global extractive industry.
By Murithi Mutiga/CPJ East Africa Correspondent

On April 19, the live coverage of proceedings in the Tanzanian parliament ended as a government decision to halt the service went into effect. The move, announced by Information Minister Nape Nnauye in January, has led to protests from the opposition party and journalists groups, who said they view the decision to stop live broadcasts of parliamentary debates as tantamount to censorship.

When Nnauye announced details of the ban in Parliament on January 27, he said that the live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings by the state broadcaster, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, cost too much, according to news accounts. At a press conference on February 2, Nnauye said that the service cost the state broadcaster $2.1 million a year. Opposition parties dismissed the argument that the service was halted because of costs and offered to pay for the service, but their offer was rejected the media reported.

Live broadcasts of parliamentary proceedings, which air for about four hours a day while parliament is in session, are popular in Tanzania. In a country where the ruling party has held power for more than half a century, the broadcasts are viewed as a rare outlet where the relatively small but lively opposition can hold the government to account and citizens get an unvarnished version of government matters being discussed by parliamentarians.

Instead of a full broadcast of proceedings, the parliaments press team will distribute selected highlights to TV stations at the close of a days session, according to press accounts.

Absalom Kibanda, an editor with the independent New Habari newspaper and a former chairman of the Tanzania Editors Forum, told CPJ there was little trust that selected highlights would accurately reflect the proceedings. He said that the governments move was widely viewed as an attempt to stifle press freedom.

Live broadcast of parliamentary proceedings is one of the most important avenues through which the people can see their elected representatives holding cabinet ministers and government officials to account. The government has however never been comfortable with this and has tried to ban the broadcasts several times before, and we are very disappointed that they have carried through with their threats this time, he said.

At a news conference about the decision on April 24, Theophil Makunga, chairman of the Tanzania Editors Forum, said, We condemn the decision for it has denied people their rights to information  To prohibit cameras in the debating chamber is an open strategy to violate freedom of press.

Ayub Rioba, the managing director of the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, which provided the live feed, did not immediately respond to CPJs request for comment.

The BBC reported that since the coverage was halted members of parliament have been recording parliamentary debates on their mobile phones and uploading the footage to social media. A petition has also been set up on the social causes website Change.org, urging the government to reverse the decision.

Parliament, which is dominated by the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Party of the Revolution), has tried to halt the service before. In February 2013, it announced that live broadcasts would be replaced with footage recorded and edited by parliamentary authorities, according to press accounts. Officials backtracked after protests by journalist groups, including the Media Council of Tanzania. On that occasion, the cost of the service was not cited as an issue.

Although President John Magufuli, who came into office in October 2015, and his administration have been praised for its anti-corruption drive, the government has taken measures to limit media freedom. CPJ reported in January on the closure of a weekly Swahili-language newspaper, Mawio, which was shut down after it reported on the political crisis in the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar. In March, a journalist was abducted and beaten by unknown assailants while reporting on an election in Zanzibar, which was boycotted by the opposition.

By regional standards, Tanzanias press is relatively free but the new government has not taken steps to repeal restrictive media laws including the Statistics Act endorsed in 2015, which proposes penalties for any journalist publishing inaccurate unofficial data, according to news reports.

Neville Meena, secretary of the Tanzania Editors Forum, said that editors were seeking a meeting with parliamentary authorities to seek to reverse the decision halting live broadcasts.

Murithi Mutiga is CPJs East Africa correspondent. He covers East Africa for the Guardian (U.K.) and is a columnist and consulting editor for the Sunday Nation based in Nairobi.

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists
Barely a week after he became governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello approved for himself a total of N260 million as security votes, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report today.

Mr. Bello, who is currently Nigerias youngest governor, was sworn into office at an elaborate ceremony on January 27 after his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, fielded him as replacement for its former candidate, Abubakar Audu.

Mr. Audu was in clear lead in the November 21, 2015 governorship poll but suddenly died before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) concluded the election.

Mr. Bello was fielded as the APC replacement during the rerun poll in some areas of the state. His candidacy was fiercely opposed by the deputy governorship candidate of the party, James Faleke.

On Mr. Bellos first day in office, the Permanent Secretary in the Government House, Ilemona John, initiated a memo titled, Request For Security Fund.

In the document, Mr. Bello was requested to approve N15 million as his security fund.

He approved the payment of the fund two days later, on January 29.

The Government House Permanent Secretary raised yet another memo just four days later on February 2, with a fresh request for security fund. This time, the amount was jerked to N20 million.

The governor did not waste time as he gave prompt approval for the release of the funds on the same day.

It however became apparent that the money was not enough because Mr. John again raised another memo for the release of more security funds the following day, February 3.

In the new memo, Mr. Bello was requested to approve the release of the sum of Five Million naira (N5, 000,000, 00) only for the replenishment of your Excellencys security fund which has just been exhausted.

Mr. Bello granted approval immediately.

Not done, the permanent secretary who is a Reverend Pastor, quickly returned with another request on the same day (February 3, 2016) seeking Mr. Bello to release another N20 million for the replenishment of his security fund which has just been exhausted.

The governor did not hesitate to give the approval for the release of the funds.

Five days later, on February 8, the Permanent Secretary, again initiated a memo indicating that Mr. Bellos security fund had yet again been exhausted and sought approval for N100 million to be released to replenish it.

Governor Bello granted approval the following day, February 9.

A few hours later on February 9, Mr. John raised another memo informing his principal that the security fund he approved hours earlier had been exhausted and that he needed to approve another N100 Million.

Mr. Bello readily granted approval on the same day.

PREMIUM TIMES cannot say exactly how much has so far been spent as security funds, but documents obtained so far indicate that between January 27 and May 12, Kogi State taxpayers could have coughed out billions to their profligate governor.

N148 Million for furnishing and renovation of office

While Mr. Bello was drawing millions under security funds, he also approved over N148 million to furnish and renovate his office at the Government House.

For this, Mr. John, the Government House permanent secretary, as usual, came up with another memo on February 1.

The memo was titled, Request for the furnishing and maintenance of the Governors Office, Kogi State Government House.

In it, Rev. John requested the governor to approve N99, 983, 994.00, being a proposal by a company, Maj Global Construction Company Ltd, for the furnishing and renovation of the governors office.

Mr. Bello promptly granted approval on the same day the request was made.

However, Rev. John returned a month later on March 4, with a memo telling the governor that the over N99 million he earlier released for the furnishing and renovation of his office, was not enough.

He, therefore, requested the governor to release additional N48, 593, 250.00 for additional works on the renovation/furnishing and maintenance of the governors office at Kogi Government House.

Governor Bello gave approval on the same day the request was made.

PREMIUM TIMES also obtained copies of the document detailing the release of the fund approved for the furnishing and renovation of the governors office.

The first document dated February 4, from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development showed that the sum of N99, 983, 994.00 was released as Grant/ Special imprest in favour of the perm secretary in the Government House Administration.

The other document, dated March 9, was also for the release of N48, 593, 250.00 as Grant/Special imprest in favour of the permanent Secretary, Government House Administration to cover additional works for the furnishing and maintenance of the Governors office at Kogi Government House.

While the governor engaged in a spending spree for his luxury, state workers and pensioners remained unpaid for months.

Analysts believe that while Kogi State has had a flicker of militant activities by members of the Boko Haram group, the state has remained largely a relatively peaceful state.

Mr. Bellos defence

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted the spokesperson to the governor, Kingsley Fanwo, he confirmed the spending but said they were necessary.

It is public knowledge that Kogi State has been contending with serious security breach for the past 10 years, Mr. Fanwo said.

As a result of the location of the state as gateway to many states of the federation, the state drifted into a criminal hotbed.

Also, years of gross maladministration and blinding embezzlement has left the youth bare, exposing them to all sorts of criminal activities to survive. Kogi became a haven of robbers and kidnappers.

As a responsible government, he argued that the Yahaya Bello administration has taken security to the front burners by strengthening the states security architecture in order to make it inhabitable for hoodlums and criminal elements.

Because of his principals huge investment, he said security in the state had greatly improved while however, adding that security vote is not usually a subject for public consumption and no cost can be higher than human lives.

He said Governor Bello would continue to prioritize security because it was one of the main objectives of his election.

Continuing, he said, Let me also put on record that the Governor Yahaya Bello administration is contractually committed to fighting corruption and enthroning transparency in the polity. These are the terms of his social contract with the Kogi people.

If you have ever been to the Kogi State Government House in Lokoja, you will appreciate the rot of the architecture. It was not befitting of one of the most historic Government Houses in Nigeria.

In tandem with the present administrations drive to turn the economy of the state to a private sector driven one, we need to start our charity at home. People must love to come to our Government House to transact businesses.

For these reasons, he said the Government House was undergoing massive renovation to make it habitable and to mirror the image of the state as a first-rated tourist destination.

Being what he described as an accomplished business mogul who believes he assumed power by the grace of God, he said Mr. Bello had always reiterated his determination, not only to block corrupt practices, but to also ensure corrupt officials of government were made to face the wrath of the law.

To underscore its transparency, he said the administration opened its account books to the people of the state.

Besides, he said the governor constantly briefed the media on the income and expenditure of government.

Massive constructions are ongoing in the state and the Governor is focused on ensuring transparent and active performance of this years budget, the governors spokesperson said.

The antics of our opponents will be judged by the people of the state who are already witnessing the benefits of the New Direction Programs. The bulwark of the Yahaya Bello administration is transparency.
Four major players in Nigerias oil and gas sector have been linked to the $115 million (N63 billion) allegedly distributed as bribes to some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission by former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, during the 2015 general elections.

Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who is currently in the United Kingdom, where she is being investigated for money laundering, allegedly gave the bribes to the officials in the build-up to the elections to ensure the re-election of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Jonathan was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the March 28, 2015 presidential election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for Cross River State, Gesil Khan, who was then in Rivers State, allegedly got N185, 842, 000 from the money.

Others allegedly bribed were Fidelia Omoile (Electoral Officer in Isoko-South Local Government Area of Delta State)  N112,480,000; Uluochi Brown (INECs Administrative Secretary in Delta State)  N111,500,000; a former Deputy Director of INEC in Cross River State, Edem Effanga N241,127,000 and the Head of Voter Education in INEC in Akwa Ibom, Immaculate Asuquo  N214,127,000.

The EFCC believes the $115 million was provided by Northernbelt Gas Company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, Auctus Integrated Investment Limited and Lenoil Company Limited, all of which allegedly paid the money to Fidelity Bank before the funds were distributed to the electoral officials involved in the scam.

The Commission also said it believed the $115 million came from the proceeds of stolen crude oil.

The Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Nwankwo, who used his bank to distribute the funds, was recently arrested by the EFCC.

Bribing for contracts?

Sources in the EFCC said the election cash made available by the oil companies between January and April 2015 contravened the Money Laundering Act, while the intent and purpose of the monies contravenes the anti-corruption Act.

This newspaper also gathered that some officials of the companies might face multiple charges including that alleging that they offered bribe to the former petroleum minister with a view to securing lavish contracts and allegedly bribed INEC officials to block the push by the opposition party at that time to dethrone Mr. Jonathan.

We further learnt that Auctus Integrated Company gave $17,884,000, while Northern Belt Gas Company deposited $60 million and Midwestern Oil and Gas, contributed $9.5 million.

The fourth company, Lenoil, deposited $1.85million, our sources said, while Mr. Okonkwo received $26million in cash from Mrs. Alison-Madueke.

After receiving the funds, according to investigators, Mrs. Diezani disbursed the money to some election officials and monitors.

When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Midwestern Oil and Gas to react to the allegations against the company, a female voice, who answered the telephone, simply said she was in the front office and that she had no clearance to speak on the matter.

When we requested to speak to anyone with clearance, she asked for more time, but later returned to say, We are sorry no one is available to talk to you now.

Similarly, efforts to speak with Kola Adesina, the largest shareholder of Auctus Integrated Investment Limited, also failed as his representative, who answered our call said he was not in a position to comment on the matter.

We also made frantic efforts to speak with officials of Northernbelt Gas Company without success.

When we visited the address listed on registration documents as head office of the company in Abuja, we found that it was a private residence and the occupants told us they had no knowledge of any firm called Northernbelt Gas Company.

We also tried to speak with Abubakar Tambuwal, a director of the company, but several calls made to him were unsuccessful. He also did not respond to a text message sent to him.

Profile of the companies

Northernbelt Gas Company was incorporated on February 2, 2012, with Registration number RC 1007819. The company had No. 5 Gidado Abu Road in Finance Quarters, Wuye Abuja, as its corporate headquarters.

The companys documents showed that Mr. Tambuwal was made the company secretary on April 7, 2014.

Auctus Integrated Investments Limited was incorporated on October 25, 2013 with a registration number 1147968 and has its corporate headquarters address as Block 5, Water corporation road, Ijora G.R. A. Lagos State.

The third company, Midwestern Oil and Gas, was initially registered as a company owned by the government of Delta State on 15 December 1999 during the administration of James Ibori as governor.

The company was registered with 50 million shares, which was increased to 150 million shares in 2012.

Its registration number is RC 370639.

The permanent secretaries in the states Ministries of Commerce, Tourism and Cooperation, that of Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as well as the Solicitor General and permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Delta State, were the initial directors.

Company documents at the CAC show that the company changed directors over 20 times since its incorporation in 1999.

Currently, 50 million shares belonging to the company are owned by 19 other companies. There is also no document to show who owns the remaining 100 million shares belonging to Midwestern Oil and Gas Limited.

Details about the fourth firm, Lenoil Company Limited, are not immediately available to PREMIUM TIMES.

EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated to address complaints by some individuals named in the earlier version that they were not part of the decision by their companies to funnel funds to Mrs. Alison-Madueke.
President Muhammadu Buhari should immediately reverse the new policy measure he announced for a deregulation of Nigerias petroleum downstream because of the unbearable effects it will have on Nigerians, a senator from Kogi State, Dino Melaye, has warned.

Mr. Melaye, writing on his Facebook page Thursday night, said the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress should intervene in the matter, threatening to mobilise Nigerians for mass protests if his demand is not met.

Mr. Melaye posted the demand from London where hes currently attending an anti-corruption summit with Mr. Buhari.

My sincere advise is for the National Chairman of party to our party to suggest that the federal government immediately reverse the announced increase in the pump price of PMS, Mr. Melaye wrote. If after 7 days from Monday there is no reversal, I will mobilize Nigerians from all walks of life for the mother of all protest. This is not what we promised Nigerians. The time is not right and the negative effects will be unbearable. A word is enough for the wise.

The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibe Kachikwu, had on Wednesday announced the new measure which saw the price of a litre of petrol skyrocket from 87 to 145, confirming a PREMIUM TIMES report that alerted Nigerians to the plan by the federal government.

Civil society groups, including the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Transition Monitoring Group, have also rejected the measure and vowed to mobilise Nigerians for a forceful reversal.
For the second consecutive sitting, the absence of an interpreter Friday stalled the trial of four Mexicans at the Federal High Court, Asaba, Delta State.

Cervantos Madrid Jose Bruno, Rivas Ruiz Pastiano, Castillo Barraza Cristobal, and Partida Gonzalez Pedro are charged alongside five Nigerians for allegedly operating a laboratory for illicit production of methamphetamine.

The Nigerians suspects are Chibi Aruh, William Agusi, Umolu Kosisochukwu, Izuchukwu Anieto, and Anthony Umolu Ckukwemeka.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency was to arraign the suspects before Judge A.O Faji on a five-count charge of conspiracy to form and operate a Drug Trafficking Organization to process and export methamphetamine.

They were also accused of illegal extraction of ephedrine, preparation of methamphetamine and unlawful possession of 1.5 kilogramme of methamphetamine, a drug similar to cocaine, heroin, LSD contrary to NDLEA Act, Cap N30 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

At the last court sitting, the defendants could not take their plea after the four Mexicans claimed they could not understand English language.

The judge adjourned after the defendants counsel rejected an interpreter provided by the NDLEA on the grounds of bias.

A second interpreter  Miguel Guadalupe Renteria Gutierrez, a Colombian whose mother tongue is Spanish  produced by the NDLEA on Friday was, again, rejected by the defence after it emerged that his residence permit in Nigeria will expire in October.

The prosecuting counsel, Lambert Nor, said the continued rejection of interpreters was a ploy by the defence to delay trial.

There is no guarantee that any interpreter who begins a trial will end it because only God can determine that, Mr. Nor said.

If this interpreter is accepted, the agency will produce another one to continue with the case in October if his residence permit is not renewed.

Benson Ndakara, the defence counsel, said although he had initially accepted the second interpreter, he would prefer an interpreter that would be around till the end of the trial.

The judge adjourned till June 7 and advised both counsels to clear areas of disagreement to allow for speedy trial of the case.

The prosecutor shall take steps under the Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) treaty to produce a suitable interpreter that will be available throughout the trial, the judge said.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Muhammad Abdallah has reiterated the commitment of the Agency to leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice.

This is a very important case to the country and our international partners because the illegal laboratory in question has the capacity to produce 4,000kgs of methamphetamine per cycle at optimum production level, said Mr. Abdallah, a retired Colonel.

The Agency is determined to halt the proliferation of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories in the country by ensuring that justice is seen to be served.

The NDLEA had discovered, in March, a super laboratory for the illicit production of methamphetamine located at Asaba, Delta State.

This super methamphetamine laboratory, similar to the ones found in Mexico, is the first to be discovered in the country, according to the NDLEA.

The laboratory has a capacity of producing between 3,000kg to 4,000kg of methamphetamine per production cycle.

A significant feature of this laboratory, the NDLEA said, is that the production process is more technical and sophisticated because it uses the synthesis method of methamphetamine production.

All the principal actors linked to the laboratory were apprehended in a simultaneous raid on members of the syndicate in Lagos, Obosi in Anambra State, and at the laboratory in Asaba, Delta State.

The NDLEA said the cartel first brought two Mexican methamphetamine experts, Messrs Cervantos and Pastiano to Nigeria, but because of the size of the laboratory and the volume of work, Messrs Cristobal and Partida joined the team.

Our investigation revealed that a successful test production was done at the laboratory in February 2016, the NDLEA had said in a statement at the time of the discovery.

The laboratory was raided while the second production cycle was ongoing, the statement said.

Items recovered at the laboratory include 1.5kg of finished methamphetamine and 750 litres of liquid methamphetamine. Other items found in the laboratory include industrial pressure pots, gas cylinders, gas burners, facial masks and numerous chemicals.

Also recovered in this operation are Toyota Tundra, Mercedes Benz Jeep ML and a Toyota Corolla car.

Mr. Abdallah warned that unless drastic measures are taken against this trend; the rise of super laboratories would put Nigeria on the global spotlight in methamphetamine production.

This is because the laboratory operates at an industrial scale with a high yield of 3,000kg to 4,000kgs of methamphetamine per production cycle, Mr. Abdallah, a retired Colonel, said.

Nigeria methamphetamine is now competing with others in Asia and South Africa markets. The super laboratory does not need ephedrine because it uses the synthesis method.

Drug cartels are now shifting from simple method of methamphetamine production to a more complex process.
A former chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, has reacted to President Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadus response to the British Prime Minister, David Camerons description of Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt nation.

Mr. Odinkalu told PREMIUM TIMES that while he had no problem with the presidents comment that an apology from Mr. Cameron was unnecessary, the president ought not to have agreed with Mr. Cameron that indeed Nigeria was corrupt.

People can reach their own conclusions. Mr. Cameron can say things like he said. I personally like the presidents initial response about not needing apology, Mr. Odinkalu said. I think it is wrong for the president to say he agrees Nigeria is fantastically corrupt. I find that fantastical myself!

Kolawole Banwo, senior programme officer of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center, said Nigerias president must never forget the task of protecting the countrys image.

The Nigerian leader goes with the Nigerian people and should manage information as much as possible.

It is okay to be passionate about the fight against corruption, but you must also know that you carry 170 million individuals along with you, so Nigerian leaders should be careful.

We already know that the past government was corrupt, thats why we voted them out and there are loads of issues to be tackled, so they should focus on the issues of governance, rather than repeating what Nigerians already know, Mr. Banwo said.

But a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Samuel Ologunorisa, described Mr. Camerons remarks as a demonstration of arrogance.

Considering the relationship between Nigeria and British, it was arrogance on the part of Cameron to have made that kind of comment, said Mr. Ologunorisa.

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Godwin Obla, however said the comment, as well as Mr. Buharis response were in order.

The truth is that Nigeria is corrupt; why are we calling for an apology? Cameron has expressed his opinion and if you feel he is not correct, prove him wrong.

You cant even sue him for libel because at the end, will you be able to justify that Nigeria is not corrupt? he stated.
A former manager of a polymer banknote manufacturer, Securency International Pty Ltd of Australia, Peter Chapman, who allegedly bribed Emmanuel Okoyomon, a former Managing Director of Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) to secure a multi-million-euro contract, has been convicted by a Southwark Crown Court in the United Kingdom, UK.

Mr. Chapman was convicted on May 11 just as his Nigerian accomplice continued to face extradition procedure in Nigeria.

The news of his conviction was on Thursday relayed by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the UK to the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, who was on a visit to the SFO in London.

The visit was part of efforts to strengthen cooperation between the SFO and the EFCC, the spokesperson for the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said in a statement Thursday.

The trial of Mr. Chapman, according to the SFO, began on April 4, 2016. Among other allegations, he was said to have paid bribes in order to secure orders for the purchase of reams of polymer substrate from Securency. The total value of the bribes he was accused of paying to the agent was approximately $205,000.

The SFOs director, David Green, said, This has been a long, detailed investigation and a complex prosecution involving assistance from a wide range of jurisdictions. Crimes like this damage the UKs commercial reputation and this conviction shows that such activity will not be tolerated.

In expressing its delight at the successful prosecution of Chapman, the SFO expressed gratitude to the EFCC, along with other law enforcement agencies, including the Australian Federal Police, the National Crime Agency, the Metropolitan Police, the Central Authority of Nigeria and authorities in Brazil, the Seychelles, South Africa, Canada and Spain for their assistance in this case.

Mr. Chapman was arrested at Heathrow Airport in April 2015, having been extradited from Brazil, and was charged with six offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906 on April 30, 2015.

His co-accused, Mr. Okoyomon, who was arrested by the EFCC for his role in the bribery scam, is however, currently battling to stop his extradition from Nigeria to the UK for trial.

Justice E. S. Chukwu of a Federal High Court, Abuja, had on May 4, 2015 ordered that he be extradited to the UK to face charges of corruption and money laundering.

However, Mr. Okoyomon, through his counsel, Alex Izinyon, SAN, approached the Court of Appeal, seeking a stay of execution of the order of the court.

Through his other counsel, Mike Enahoro, he also approached a Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja, seeking to be granted bail from prison, where he had been remanded after Justice Chukwu ordered his extradition.

However, on September 11, 2015, Justice Valentine Ashi of the FCT High Court sitting in Apo, Abuja ruled as an abuse of court process the bail application brought before it by Mr. Enahoro.

The trial judge berated Mr. Okoyomons counsel for deliberating employing delay tactics to frustrate his extradition to the UK for trial.

In the meantime, Mr. Okoyomon awaits the ruling of the Court of Appeal on his application seeking a stay of execution of the Federal High Courts order that he be extradited to the UK for trial, just as Brazil did for Mr. Chapman.

Mr. Okoyomons extradition is being sought by the UK government over his alleged role in the bribery allegation involving officials of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the NSPMC and Securency International Pty Ltd of Australia between 2006 and 2008.


A four-storey shopping complex constructed by the Ogun State Government has collapsed with many people feared dead.

The project at the popular Itoku market of Abeokuta caved in Friday morning, trapping several construction workers, witnesses said.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun has arrived at the scene and is coordinating the rescue effort.

A witness said the building collapsed at about 9.00am, as workers were busy at the site. Six people were rescued and immediately taken to the hospital thirty minutes later, the source said.

Rescue efforts have continued more than three hours later, as personnel of the Fire Service, Ogun State Emergency Management Agency, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, work to remove the debris to reach trapped victims.

Mr. Amosun appealed to families of those affected to be patient as efforts were ongoing to save lives of those trapped.

By 12.30PM, the governor said he had directed that a crane be deployed to quicken the rescue effort.

The building project was handled by Validdus Construction Services, James Town Development and Hakmode Ventures, PREMIUM TIMES understands.
A former presidential aide, Doyin Okupe, has prostrated repeatedly before former President Olusegun Obasanjo, begging the former head of state to forgive him over insults he hurled at him while he (Okupe) served as spokesperson for ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr. Okupe visited Mr. Obasanjo on Sunday at his Hilltop G.R.A. residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, those familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES.

The former presidential aide made the surprise visit to the former president to seek reconciliation after remaining estranged from the former leader for years.

One source said security operatives at Mr. Obasanjos residence initially blocked Mr. Okupe from accessing the former presidents home but that he was allowed in after baba came downstairs and told the boys to let him in.

Photographs of the visit obtained by PREMIUM TIMES show Mr. Okupe prostrating repeatedly and pleading for forgiveness.

Sources said Mr. Obasanjo initially rejected Mr. Okupes plea, saying you cannot abuse me in the papers, on TV, on radio and on the streets and then come here to privately apologise.

Why dont you mount the same platforms you used in abusing me to apologise to me? a witness quoted Mr. Obasanjo as saying.

Baba said he was baffled to see Okupe verbally assaulting him in the media just because he was given appointment by Jonathan, the source said. If he were a true son of Yorubaland, he would not have gone to that extent because Baba was the first to appoint him a media aide over 16 years ago.

Baba appointed him as one of his first aides when he became the first president after democracy returned to Nigeria in 1999, only for him to turn his back against Baba when he got a similar appointment from Jonathan many years later. Now that he has gone to bite more than he can chew, hes desperate for Babas forgiveness.

Theres an adage in Yoruba that says when a dog has gone to put itself into fury inferno, it will become desperate to return to its owner, the source added.

After a brief intervention by those present at the meeting, sources said, Mr. Obasanjo agreed to forgive Mr. Okupe because he (Obasanjo) is an elder statesman and father to many.

Baba said he has forgiven him because of his respected position as an elder statesman, but that may not stop him (Mr. Okupe) from committing the same offence in future, the source said.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr. Okupe confirmed he visited Mr. Obasanjo to seek reconciliation.

I went to Obasanjo to settle and resolve my long-standing misunderstanding with him, Mr. Okupe said, adding that Obasanjo is like my father and I am his political son.

In Yorubaland, when an elder is angry with you, the younger person begs. I am not ashamed to beg Obasanjo, Mr. Okupe said.
EDITOR NOTE: This story has been updated. There were some inaccuracies in the earlier version. Stevens Johnson Syndrome is not a new disease, and is not contagious. We have been advised that neither the minister nor Dr. Olanrewaju Falodun said so at the event. The error is that of our reporter. We apologise for the mix-up.

===============

A Nigerian, Fadeshola Adedayo, on Friday commenced a 17-day marathon from Abuja to Lagos to call attention to the health condition known as Stevens Johnson Syndrome, an unusual allergic reaction.

Stevens Johnson Syndrome is an immune complex mediated hypersensitivity reaction that typically involves the skin and mucous membranes and was first described in 1922 by Albert Stevens and Frank Johnson, said Dr. Olanrewaju Falodun a Senior Consultant Physician/Dermatologist at the National Hospital, Abuja.

SJS is a rare and unpredictable reaction, and is also a minor form of toxic epidermal necrolysis with less than 10 percent body surface area involvement, the consultant said.

Having lost his older brother to the condition in 2012, Mr. Adebayo will make stopovers as he raced along, sensitising as many people as possible about the syndrome and the need to avoid self medication.

Self medication is believed to be one of the causes of the condition.

Mr. Adebayos brother, Mr. Adeoshunola (a medical doctor), had gone for community service in Lagos, and in the course of his work, he sustained a needle stick injury while managing a patient.

While going through treatment, he later developed an uncommon reactions that unfortunately led to his death.

Mr. Adebayo said he was embarking on the marathon to call attention to the condition and ensure that Nigerians understand the danger of self medication.

The Minister of Health, Isaac Adewole, was part of the ceremonial commencement of the marathon as he raced within the Abuja metropolis with other Nigerians.

Briefing journalists afterwards, Mr. Adewole said, We have to find a means to communicate with Nigerians so they should all be aware of this dangerous disease and it is the sole business of government to enlighten the society by trying to increase their awareness, knowledge and to improve their quality way of life.

Mr. Falodun, the consultant at the National Hospital, said, SJS is a rare but serious and potentially life-threatening cutaneous drug reaction. Incidence of SJS is estimated between 1.1 and 7.1 cases per million per year and is more prevalent in women than men. Incidence in Europe is two per million per year, Mr. Falodun said.

He confirmed that two cases had so far being handled at the Abuja National Hospital, saying one patient already passed while the other was still undergoing treatment.

He said the incidence was higher in Africa due to extensive use of herbal preparations and the prevalence of HIV.

He listed the symptoms of the SJS disease to include fever, sore throat, running nose, fatigue, general aches and pains, ulcers in mouth, genitals, anal regions as well as conjunctivitis.

The health complications, Mr. Falodun said, are pigmentation problems, skin scarring, scarred genitals, joint pains, lung diseases, obstructive disorders and eye complications, adhesions, ulcers, and blindness.

He however said the cause of the disease remained unknown in a quarter to half of cases but that self-medications appeared to be one of its causes.

He advised Nigerians to avoid misuse of drugs, while individuals with previous drug reactions should always inform healthcare practitioners so that in future they would be able to predict who is at risk of the disease using genetic screening.

Here are ways Mr. Falodun said SJS could be managed by hospitals:

1. Cessation of suspected drugs

2. Hospital Admission: Preferably in burns unit/intensive care

3. Nutritional and Fluid replacement

4. Temperature maintenance

5. Pain relief

6. Mouth-care
Ogun State Government says it has successfully rescued all 16 construction workers trapped under a collapsed shopping mall.

The government however warned that non-construction workers may still be under the wreckage.

The government-owned mall, which was under construction at Itoku market, Abeokuta, collapsed early Friday trapping several workers who were on the site.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who arrived the site shortly after, helped in coordinating rescue efforts.

Six people were earlier removed from the rubbles and taken to hospital, a witness said.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dayo Adeneye, later said that no one had been confirmed dead yet.

He said five workers sustained injuries and were receiving treatment at State Hospital, ijaiye, Abeokuta, while eight were rescued unhurt.

At the moment, records from the site engineers indicate that there were 16 workers on site at the time of the unfortunate incident and they have all been accounted for, he said.

Eight of them were rescued un-hurt, five who sustained different degrees of injuries are presently receiving treatment at the state hospital Ijaiye, Abeokuta, one is critically injured, while two have been discharged, Mr. Adeneye explained.

The commissioner added that efforts to clear the rubbles at the collapsed building site were ongoing. He said the operation must be carried out carefully as some non-construction workers may have been trapped under the ruins.
Today, Friday 13, finishes the 10th edition of Busan Contents Market, which has been considered very positive by most of the participants, especially the new comers that have found in Busan a good place to expand their business towards the Korean and Pan Asian markets.

The encouraging outcome should be interpreted in a context: BCM is a very simple, well-organized and effective show. International exhibitors from Europe, USA and Latin America, which are here for the first time, have met new clients that are not seen in other big shows like the MIPs or even ATF. New buyers from Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mongolia, among other smaller markets, have taken part of BCM 2016.

For sellers, it represents a good opportunity to be in touch more frequently with Asian clients during the year. As we are based far away from here, we have to chose one market per year to cover Asia Pacific. But BCM could become a second dedicated market, one of them highlight. Instead, other local and Asian distributors say the market is quieter in comparison with other editions.

At least two similarities between ATF and BCM, the two markets Prensario have attended in the continent, have been noticed: first, they both attract Asian buyers from many Asian countries; second, the majority of them do not participate in other shows. They are smaller companies that fly to Singapore or Busan because it is close and no so expensive.

On the academic side, two main events have taken place: the MIPAcademy, which is also developed in Singapore, and Asia next Generation Contents Forum Seminar, which gathered key executives from Korea, Japan and China to discuss the hot topics about the drama and documentary industries, as well as the mobile content development.

Japanese drama is going through difficult times: two years ago, five series were broadcast per week in each channel, but today they are only two. As they are very expensive to produce, commercial TV networks have replaced them with low cost variety shows on prime time, which work much better and receive more ad investments. Three years ago, a successful series in Japan got 15 rating points. Today, the same series can get 10-12 points. It is also happening to the established brands as Aibo (TV Asahi) or Sunday Theatre (TBS).

With a growing Internet ad spending, online drama production is getting stronger. For instance, Netflix will launch in June 3 in 190 territories its very first original Japanese series Hibana (10x45), while Fuji TV will do the same with Ashita mo kitto kimi ni koi suru (4 episodes) on Fuji on Demand (FOD). Koji Kanazawa, VP, Association of All Japan TV Program Production Companies, explain: In the future, romantic dramas will no longer be broadcast on TV. Rather, online video distribution is likely to be the norm.

China is strengthening the relationship with Korea after the most recent success Descendants of the Sun, the first Korean drama to be available simultaneously in iqiyi.com (China), where it has reached 3 billion clicks, and KBS2. Korean series work really well so we need to think and create together new high quality projects to be aired in both countries and abroad. We strongly believe in co-productions, remarks You Xiaogang, president of the China Television Drama Production Industry Association.

KBS executive director in global center, Jae Hon Song, adds: During this days, new TV channels have appeared in Korea and competition is getting tougher. But also, people is watching less drama, so now a series that reaches 15% is consider a success. Descendants of the Sun has rocketed 38%, its a huge sensation.

Because of the international success of Korean dramas from KBS, MBC, SBS, CJ and JTBC, other pay TV networks have started to bet on them: Channel A returned to the drama production after 3 years, while skyTV has launched two brand new series this BCM.

Korean and Asian drama series are going though challenging times right now, but at the same time the genre continues to represent a huge opportunity for business development in the region and worldwide. Probably, the most important one.

Fabricio Ferrara, from Busan


Pobierz zdjecie Przeczytaj o zasadach pobierania zdjec President Andrzej Duda in Canada (photo by Andrzej Hrechorowicz / KPRP) (1)

Paul Wells interviews Polish President Andrzej Duda. The interview was published at Macleans.ca on May 12, 2016.

The NATO summit in Warsaw in July will be preoccupied with challenges on NATOs southern border, including the migrant crisis. Do you worry that NATO is too worried about the south and has not paid enough attention to the east?

President Andrzej Duda: The Alliance must be based on the concept of solidarity and co-responsibility. Thats why there should be no division between the east and the south. Security cannot be divided. NATO must guarantee equal status to all its members and monitor all threats. The Warsaw summit should yield exactly such an outcome. We should forge a collective strategy for the east and the south, aimed at protecting the territory of all member states, protecting peace, protecting international lawno matter where the current threats come from. It means that the eastern flank should be strengthened through defence infrastructure and reconnaissance capabilities. Meanwhile the southern flank needs a clear mandate for common action. I am convinced the Warsaw summit will bring us some definitive answers in this respect.

What are Polands specific military requests along NATOs eastern border? Some reporters have suggested about 5,000 troops could be stationed in Poland and the Baltics, on a rotating basis. Would that be enough?

I have been saying repeatedly: specific quantities do not matter. NATO should demonstrate that it is capable of creating new forces which would protect its eastern flank. It would constitute an enormous change. NATO must show it is a living, vibrant alliance. The threat from the east is not temporary. International rules have been trampled on, the sanctity of borders have been violated. Therefore I want NATOs presence in the eastern flank to be substantial and adequate, considering the level of insecurity in our region. Specific numbers and specific locations are still subject to negotiation. From our point of view having American, Canadian or British troops on a rotating basis in Poland and in the Baltics would be an enormous boon to our defence capabilities. Not only in terms of physical presence. Regular joint exercises mean higher level of combat readiness and better coordination in command-and-control. This is particularly important taking into account the changing face of modern battleground. There are new challenges NATO must adapt to: from hybrid activities to cyberwarfare.

Elections produced two new governments in the fall of 2015: Justin Trudeaus Liberal government in Canada, and a PiS parliamentary majority in Poland. Have you seen any change in Canadas response to the Russian challenge in Ukraine, and toward NATO in general, since last autumn that are worth bringing to the publics attention?

Canada and Poland should further their efforts to reinforce the Ukrainian democracy. There has been a string of Polish-Canadian initiatives aimed at strengthening the civic society in Ukraine and improving the democratic process at the municipal level. Both Poland and Canada should be advocates of long-lasting, peaceful solutions in eastern Ukraine, based on unconditional respect of international law.

The new PiS government has been controversial, not only in Poland. In April the European Parliament passed a motion saying it is seriously concerned that the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland poses a danger to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Why does the PiS government not take the EUs concerns seriously?

This is an internal political conflict, triggered by the previous governing coalition. It attempted to take ownership of the Constitutional Tribunal, violating the constitution (which was later confirmed by the Constitutional Tribunal itself in one of its rulings). If they had succeeded, right now the opposition parties would have 14 out of 15 judges of their own choosing. Sadly, the head of this institution, Mr. Andrzej Rzeplinski, was actively promoting those unconstitutional amendments. He assumed the role of a politician, going far beyond his mandate. The current majority is just trying to restore pluralism and balance in the Constitutional Tribunal and is seeking to reach a compromise with the opposition.

While in Canada you will visit with many Polish-Canadians. What will you tell them about Polands decision to accept no more migrants from Syria and the surrounding region?

Poland is ready to admit every refugee who arrives in Poland, fleeing the war in the Middle East, no matter their faith or economic status, provided that they comply with our legal regulations and want to stay in our country. The point is that very few of them choose Poland as their final destination. Thats why we strongly oppose the relocation quotas and penalties that the European Commission is trying to impose on all member states. We cannot forcefully retain migrants in Poland. What if they wish to travel to Germany, Denmark or Sweden? What if they want to join their families in Hamburg or Malmo? Should we detain them? Restrain their freedoms? This policy is hardly humanitarian.

Polands government is considering legislation that would make it a criminal offence to suggest Polish responsibility for the Holocaust. The Nazi regimes murderous coercion of ordinary Poles is well known, as is the Polish peoples fierce resistance. But surely that resistance was not unanimous? Surely it should be acceptable for historians to examine the role individual Poles played during the war years, even if some contributed to the Nazi atrocities?

Over six thousand Poles are listed in the Yad Vashem Institute as the Righteous Among the Nations. Can you name at least one of them? Probably not. Their sacrifice was mostly anonymous. A few weeks ago I had the honour to participate in the opening ceremony of a museum in Markowa, in southern Poland, commemorating the martyrdom of the Ulma family. During the war they saved a Jewish family from extermination. And they paid for this heroic deed with their own lives. All members of the Ulma family were slaughtered by Germans. All eight of them, including small children. Is this story really so well-known abroad? I dont think so. The name Markowa doesnt appear too frequently in foreign media, unlike the outrageous term Polish death camps. Do you know that in wartime Poland, as opposed to many other countries in Europe, the Germans were unable to install a puppet regime? Do you know that the Polish government in exile and the Polish Underground Army appealed for all Poles to help Jews, in spite of the fact that the people who hid their Jewish neighbours faced instant execution? The new government has no intention to sue historians who investigate Polish anti-Semitism. Their books are not only acceptable, they are necessary to fully understand all intricacies of the common history of Poles and Jews. Alas, for many years, we have witnessed a process of shifting blame for the Holocaust on others. No, we were not responsible for the Holocaust. The German Nazi regime was. Full stop.

PiS governments have been preoccupied with establishing that many Poles, still alive, collaborated with the Communists during the Cold War. How could their collaboration with an authoritarian regime cause them public blame, while an earlier generations interaction with an earlier oppressor, the Nazis, becomes a forbidden topic of historical investigation? This looks like a serious double standard.

No, it doesnt. As I said before, there was no Polish puppet regime steered by Germans during the war. Acts of anti-Semitism and atrocities committed by individuals were unacceptable but rare. But we have admitted the truth. We have recognized the fact that some Poles behaved hideously under occupation. Conversely, most communist apparatchiks were neither prosecuted nor officially condemned for what they did in the 50s or in the 80s. After the fall of communism many of them lived unmolested in their villas, cashing in hefty pensions. And many Poles who collaborated with the regime continued their careers in academia, business, politics. Can you spot the difference? Ill give you one telling example. When Mr. Jan Tomasz Grosss books about Polish anti-Semitism were published in Warsaw, they were widely acclaimed by liberal critics. Meanwhile historians who were trying to describe the involvement of current elites in the communist system of oppression were ostentatiously discredited and ostracized. Yes, double standards were applied in Poland, but the other way round.

The NATO summit in Warsaw in July will be preoccupied with challenges on NATOs southern border, including the migrant crisis. Do you worry that NATO is too worried about the south and has not paid enough attention to the east?

President Andrzej Duda: The Alliance must be based on the concept of solidarity and co-responsibility. Thats why there should be no division between the east and the south. Security cannot be divided. NATO must guarantee equal status to all its members and monitor all threats. The Warsaw summit should yield exactly such an outcome. We should forge a collective strategy for the east and the south, aimed at protecting the territory of all member states, protecting peace, protecting international lawno matter where the current threats come from. It means that the eastern flank should be strengthened through defence infrastructure and reconnaissance capabilities. Meanwhile the southern flank needs a clear mandate for common action. I am convinced the Warsaw summit will bring us some definitive answers in this respect.

What are Polands specific military requests along NATOs eastern border? Some reporters have suggested about 5,000 troops could be stationed in Poland and the Baltics, on a rotating basis. Would that be enough?

I have been saying repeatedly: specific quantities do not matter. NATO should demonstrate that it is capable of creating new forces which would protect its eastern flank. It would constitute an enormous change. NATO must show it is a living, vibrant alliance. The threat from the east is not temporary. International rules have been trampled on, the sanctity of borders have been violated. Therefore I want NATOs presence in the eastern flank to be substantial and adequate, considering the level of insecurity in our region. Specific numbers and specific locations are still subject to negotiation. From our point of view having American, Canadian or British troops on a rotating basis in Poland and in the Baltics would be an enormous boon to our defence capabilities. Not only in terms of physical presence. Regular joint exercises mean higher level of combat readiness and better coordination in command-and-control. This is particularly important taking into account the changing face of modern battleground. There are new challenges NATO must adapt to: from hybrid activities to cyberwarfare.

Elections produced two new governments in the fall of 2015: Justin Trudeaus Liberal government in Canada, and a PiS parliamentary majority in Poland. Have you seen any change in Canadas response to the Russian challenge in Ukraine, and toward NATO in general, since last autumn that are worth bringing to the publics attention?

Canada and Poland should further their efforts to reinforce the Ukrainian democracy. There has been a string of Polish-Canadian initiatives aimed at strengthening the civic society in Ukraine and improving the democratic process at the municipal level. Both Poland and Canada should be advocates of long-lasting, peaceful solutions in eastern Ukraine, based on unconditional respect of international law.

The new PiS government has been controversial, not only in Poland. In April the European Parliament passed a motion saying it is seriously concerned that the effective paralysis of the Constitutional Tribunal in Poland poses a danger to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Why does the PiS government not take the EUs concerns seriously?

This is an internal political conflict, triggered by the previous governing coalition. It attempted to take ownership of the Constitutional Tribunal, violating the constitution (which was later confirmed by the Constitutional Tribunal itself in one of its rulings). If they had succeeded, right now the opposition parties would have 14 out of 15 judges of their own choosing. Sadly, the head of this institution, Mr. Andrzej Rzeplinski, was actively promoting those unconstitutional amendments. He assumed the role of a politician, going far beyond his mandate. The current majority is just trying to restore pluralism and balance in the Constitutional Tribunal and is seeking to reach a compromise with the opposition.

While in Canada you will visit with many Polish-Canadians. What will you tell them about Polands decision to accept no more migrants from Syria and the surrounding region?

Poland is ready to admit every refugee who arrives in Poland, fleeing the war in the Middle East, no matter their faith or economic status, provided that they comply with our legal regulations and want to stay in our country. The point is that very few of them choose Poland as their final destination. Thats why we strongly oppose the relocation quotas and penalties that the European Commission is trying to impose on all member states. We cannot forcefully retain migrants in Poland. What if they wish to travel to Germany, Denmark or Sweden? What if they want to join their families in Hamburg or Malmo? Should we detain them? Restrain their freedoms? This policy is hardly humanitarian.

Polands government is considering legislation that would make it a criminal offence to suggest Polish responsibility for the Holocaust. The Nazi regimes murderous coercion of ordinary Poles is well known, as is the Polish peoples fierce resistance. But surely that resistance was not unanimous? Surely it should be acceptable for historians to examine the role individual Poles played during the war years, even if some contributed to the Nazi atrocities?

Over six thousand Poles are listed in the Yad Vashem Institute as the Righteous Among the Nations. Can you name at least one of them? Probably not. Their sacrifice was mostly anonymous. A few weeks ago I had the honour to participate in the opening ceremony of a museum in Markowa, in southern Poland, commemorating the martyrdom of the Ulma family. During the war they saved a Jewish family from extermination. And they paid for this heroic deed with their own lives. All members of the Ulma family were slaughtered by Germans. All eight of them, including small children. Is this story really so well-known abroad? I dont think so. The name Markowa doesnt appear too frequently in foreign media, unlike the outrageous term Polish death camps. Do you know that in wartime Poland, as opposed to many other countries in Europe, the Germans were unable to install a puppet regime? Do you know that the Polish government in exile and the Polish Underground Army appealed for all Poles to help Jews, in spite of the fact that the people who hid their Jewish neighbours faced instant execution? The new government has no intention to sue historians who investigate Polish anti-Semitism. Their books are not only acceptable, they are necessary to fully understand all intricacies of the common history of Poles and Jews. Alas, for many years, we have witnessed a process of shifting blame for the Holocaust on others. No, we were not responsible for the Holocaust. The German Nazi regime was. Full stop.

PiS governments have been preoccupied with establishing that many Poles, still alive, collaborated with the Communists during the Cold War. How could their collaboration with an authoritarian regime cause them public blame, while an earlier generations interaction with an earlier oppressor, the Nazis, becomes a forbidden topic of historical investigation? This looks like a serious double standard.

No, it doesnt. As I said before, there was no Polish puppet regime steered by Germans during the war. Acts of anti-Semitism and atrocities committed by individuals were unacceptable but rare. But we have admitted the truth. We have recognized the fact that some Poles behaved hideously under occupation. Conversely, most communist apparatchiks were neither prosecuted nor officially condemned for what they did in the 50s or in the 80s. After the fall of communism many of them lived unmolested in their villas, cashing in hefty pensions. And many Poles who collaborated with the regime continued their careers in academia, business, politics. Can you spot the difference? Ill give you one telling example. When Mr. Jan Tomasz Grosss books about Polish anti-Semitism were published in Warsaw, they were widely acclaimed by liberal critics. Meanwhile historians who were trying to describe the involvement of current elites in the communist system of oppression were ostentatiously discredited and ostracized. Yes, double standards were applied in Poland, but the other way round.
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R Sridharan, president of AIPIMA and Vimal Mehra, past-president of AIPIMA, in this interaction, say, the association is doing all it can to...
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Coolpad's latest smartphones, Coolpad Max and Coolpad Max Lite, have a unique feature that allows users to separate their personal and professional lives but still only using one device

JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global smartphone brand Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) today confirmed that it is to launch its flagship Coolpad Max and Coolpad Max Lite smartphones, both equipped with unique Dual Space feature, on May 16, 2016.

Many people struggle to find the right balance between their personal and professional lives, sometimes using two phones as a solution. Dual Space helps users to separate their personal and professional lives by allowing them to have two accounts on WhatsApp, Facebook, Line, BBM, and other social media applications on a single device.

To protect both personal and professional information, Coolpad has installed encryption technology that ensures any data, contacts, photos, videos, and applications stored on the smartphone can be well protected without worrying about data leakage.

"We present this Dual Space feature to bring future technologies to users' fingertips," said Natalie Chen, Branding Director, PT. Coolpad Electronics Indonesia. "With the Dual Space feature, users can feel more secure without worrying about potential issues such as personal information being leaked."

Coolpad Max is specifically aimed at those who want to keep their personal and professional lives separate, without the need to use two smartphones at once, while the Coolpad Max Lite also offers the same Dual Space feature and comfortable, durable and symmetrical design.

Coolpad Max has a 99% pure metal unibody chassis design, and utilizes 54 precise processes and 10 CNC milling to increase durability, while the pinned edge curved glass 2.5 screen is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating films.

The Coolpad Max's symmetrical design sees the camera lens placed in the middle of the phone to prevent possible finger coverage when taking a picture. It also houses a symmetrical earpiece speaker plus BOX Integrated Sound Chamber delivering clear sound during phone conversations and clear playback when enjoying music and videos.

Coolpad holds 13 patents in developing this Tridimensional Coupling Antenna technology. Ultra-thin 1.4mm dual-antenna lines on the phone chassis offer up to 60% stronger signal transmission and up to 30% better signal reception.

About Coolpad

Founded in April 1993, Coolpad is one of the top smartphone brands in China, and was established by Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. ("Yulong Telecommunications").

Yulong Telecommunications released its IPO on the Hong Kong stock market (HKEx) in 2004 under the name China Wireless Technologies group (stock trade code: 2369), which was later changed to Coolpad Group.

With six R&D facilities worldwide, the company continues to invest heavily in developing innovative cellular, wireless, and mobile technology products. Coolpad has become one of the top cellular device manufacturers in the world and was recently ranked 7th largest smartphone OEM by IDC.

Coolpad has been recognized with many industry accolades, including a recent ranking of #342 on the annual China Fortune 500 companies list by FORTUNE 500 CHINA Magazine in 2013. Coolpad also ranked 47th on the China top 100 Electronics & Info Enterprises list.

The company is committed to consistent future success, which we believe will come in the form of building a powerful global brand with the vision of 'Empowering everyone everywhere'.

SOURCE Coolpad
French Senate Shows Solidarity With Africans, By Rejecting Government Palm Oil Tax

LAGOS, Nigeria, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IMANI Center for Policy and Education, sub-Saharan Africa's second most influential think tank, and the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), the leading Nigerian think-tank, call on the French Government to withdraw its planned palm oil tax, due to the major negative impact on African farmers and communities.

The French Senate, on May 11th, voted to reject the tax  but it is likely to be resurrected by the Government and the National Assembly.

Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President and CEO of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, said -

"The French Government's palm oil tax is a direct attack on the livelihoods of African farmers. Across Africa, including in Ghana, farmers cultivate oil palm as a means to improve their lives and escape from poverty. President Hollande's tax puts at risk farming communities across sub-Saharan Africa. For that reason alone, it must be dropped.

"French Senators have realized that France's commitment to Africa cannot be measured in words  but only in actions. The action of rejecting the palm oil tax shows that the French Senate supports African development.

"It is unacceptable that French President Hollande is determined to inflict pain on Africa by advocating a harmful palm oil tax."

Thompson Ayodele, Director of IPPA, said:

"Instead of imposing a damaging palm oil tax, President Hollande should stick to his promise made in 2012 that he would not interfere in Africa's development. This is one more broken promise by Hollande to the people of Africa.

The French Government must drop this tax immediately"

The French Government's planned differential palm oil tax is a clear barrier to trade that would block market access for palm oil, a critical commodity across sub-Saharan Africa. The tax is clearly advocated to support uncompetitive domestic French interests. In doing so, President Hollande is raising food prices for his own people, and hitting some of the world's poorest communities at the same time.

Over 30,000 Ghanaians are engaged in the palm oil industry  and 80 per cent of Ghana's palm oil production comes from small farmers. The Agence Francaise de Development (AFD)  the French overseas aid agency  has even financed small farmer oil palm schemes in Ghana, illustrating the benefits brought by palm oil. Worldwide, there are over 4 million palm oil small farmers. Small farmers produce 80 per cent of Nigeria's palm oil, and they rely on it to feed their families and improve their living conditions.

French taxpayers support the AFD's work, successfully utilizing palm oil as a tool to build agricultural success in Africa. Now, Hollande wants to impose taxes on the palm oil that results from that African success. Giving to Africa with one hand, and taking away, through a palm oil tax, with the other hand. This is an age-old colonial strategy for keeping the developing world poor.

French taxpayers also have every right to be confused: their taxes are used to help Africa, and then their Government imposes punitive taxes on the people they are supposed to help. Those taxes, too, raise prices for French consumersensuring that Hollande's palm oil tax really will hurt everyone, even his own voters.

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.

IMANI Center for Policy and Education is one of Africa's leading think-tanks, recently ranked the second most influential think tank in sub-Saharan Africa that produces high-quality, relevant research. IMANI Center focuses on working with governments, businesses and civil society to shape the national, regional and global agenda.

SOURCE Initiative for Public Policy Analysis; IMANI Center for Policy and Education
DUBLIN, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Lease Corporation International (LCI), the aviation leasing arm of the Libra Group, has delivered the first new AW139 helicopter to Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service based in Australia. The aircraft is currently en route and will arrive at Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service's main base in Newcastle, New South Wales, in June to enable pilots along with rescue and medical crews to begin training.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/803523)



This is the first of four AW139 helicopters to be leased from LCI and delivered over the coming months. Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service is a not-for-profit, community-supported operation providing essential aeromedical, search and rescue services. Each year the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service undertakes more than 1,400 missions across the Hunter, Central Coast, Mid North Coast, New England and North West regions of Australia.

Following fit-out for EMS operations in Australia and crew training operations, the first helicopters will enter service during the first quarter of 2017 and will be operated under contract for NSW Ambulance, on behalf of NSW Health within the Government of New South Wales. Introducing these helicopters is part of the NSW Government's commitment to improve its Helicopter Retrieval Network through the provision of higher quality clinical care, faster and safer than before

The high-specification aircraft, including full medical and rescue equipment and winch, have been financed under a tripartite, 10-year arrangement with Westpac Banking Corporation, an existing financier of LCI and long-term naming rights sponsor of the helicopter operator.

Richard Jones, General Manager at the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service, comments: "After many years of planning, we are all extremely happy to receive the first of our new AW139 helicopters for deployment across the region. This first delivery of four helicopters in our contract with LCI is both progress in our story and a boost for our community-based service. The leasing arrangement we have in place with LCI for these AW139 helicopters will enable us to provide the highest level of service and care to the people of New South Wales."

LCI Executive Chairman Crispin Maunder adds: "LCI is proud to be supporting the brave men and women of Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service who risk their lives to save others in emergency situations. This first delivery is a further step in the transformative upgrade process for the service as it deploys the latest helicopter technology in critical care missions. By the end of this year LCI will lease ten AW139 helicopters for aeromedical operations in Australia which highlights the important role that leasing has in this market."

About Lease Corporation International (LCI):

Since its inception in 2004, LCI has acquired fixed wing and rotary aircraft with a value of around US$6 billion. LCI is owned by Libra Group (http://www.libra.com), an international business group with 30 subsidiaries operating across five continents. Libra Group's subsidiaries are primarily focused on aviation, shipping, hospitality, energy and real estate, along with selected diversified investments.

LCI's helicopter division comprises a fleet of delivered and ordered helicopters approaching ninety new units, including the market-leading AgustaWestland AW139, AW169 and AW189 helicopters and next-generation Airbus Helicopters EC175. Its helicopters are currently in operation across five continents - Asia, Australasia, Africa and Europe.

http://www.lciaviation.com

About Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service:

Originally formed by the Newcastle branch of Surf Living Saving Australia as a surf rescue and coast patrol service in 1975, Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service is a is a not-for-profit, community-supported operation providing essential aeromedical, search and rescue services in a region of 1.2 million people. On the back of continued support, no-one has ever paid to be airlifted from an emergency.

http://www.rescuehelicopter.com.au

SOURCE LCI
BATH, England, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcriptogen Ltd is a drug Discovery Company pioneering effective treatment for Pancreatic Cancer with minimal side effects using an approach never used before. The research has been spun out of Kings College and the company is based in Bath and London. Pancreatic Cancer treatment is an unmet need: 8,500 die in the UK and the chance of surviving 5 years is 5%.

Dr Savvas Neophytou, Partner and Head of Life Sciences at Deepbridge Capital, commented:

"We are delighted to be providing funding and support to Transcriptogen. From an investment perspective, cancer treatments are not only satisfying a growing international need but for many also evoke an emotional connection. The proposition and team at Transcriptogen represents an appealing investment opportunity."

Richard Turner, CEO of Transcriptogen, commented:

"We are pleased to have secured this funding via Deepbridge. It builds on funding of over 2.5m from research organizations to get us to where we are. Deepbridge join Astra Zeneca and Kings College as our other major shareholders. The next step for Transcriptogen is to take our lead molecule into the clinic and begin human trials."

For further information please contact:

Richard J Turner: Telephone 07879 423828. Rjt@catvp.com

Paragon House, Lyncombe Vale Road, Bath, BA24LS

Notes for Editors

Transcriptogen's drugs inhibit the transcription factors that control the function of all genes. These transcription factors are often found to excess in cancer cells. Core intellectual property and know how is based on five years of research within University College London, funded by organizations including Cancer Research UK and the Commonwealth Fund.

This research has revealed that control of the transcription factors allows the possibility of successfully treating cancer with a dramatic reduction in side effects. The agents patented by Transcriptogen Limited - which selectively bind to the human genome to control transcriptions factors - are active at very low concentrations. They therefore have lower toxicity than conventional cancer chemotherapies.

Transcriptogen Limited has a portfolio of molecules derived from its lead generation platform technology. The initial focus is on pancreatic and breast cancer but the pipeline of drugs to be developed by Transcriptogen Limited are potentially effective in treating all forms of cancer.

This release was issued through WebWire(R). For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

Related Links

http://www.transcriptogen.com



SOURCE Transcriptogen Ltd
SNAP grants assist income-qualified, special-needs homeowners with critical home repairs and modifications. The grants are administered through the Hancock Resource Center (HRC), a nonprofit based in Waveland, Mississippi, that assists low-income citizens with home repairs, homebuyer counseling, and community development.

"Our partnership with the Federal Home Loan Bank helps us to better serve people and communities," said C. Jerome Brown, senior vice president and director of Community Development at The First, A National Banking Association. "Ms. Delaney-Padilla, like so many in this area, needed extra support to restore their lives, and that's what we are called to do."

The storm brought water nearly 3 feet high into Ms. Delaney-Padilla's 120-year-old home, which was already elevated 3 feet on cinder blocks.

HRC contractors gutted the walls from 4 feet down, rewired the home, and installed new sheetrock, door frames, flooring, cabinets, and countertops.

"Jean's story shows the power of resilience," said HRC Construction Coordinator Jane Stock. "It's such a great feeling to know she's in a safer home now because of HRC's support."

Ms. Delaney-Padilla is one of six homeowners in the Bay St. Louis area awarded SNAP grants in 2016 through HRC and The First. The $1 million in 2016 SNAP funding, made available in January on a first-come, first-served basis, has been exhausted.

"After Katrina, I was having issues with the power," she said. "I didn't have the money to fix the wiring. When the house finally got rewired, I could sleep so much better at night. Now I wake up, and I'm smiling. The house doesn't look like a hurricane hit it."

Since SNAP's inception in 2009, more than $10.6 million has been awarded in grants through FHLB Dallas member institutions to assist more than 2,000 families across FHLB Dallas' five-state District of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas.

"SNAP is part of FHLB Dallas' mission to assist our members in funding affordable housing in our District," said Greg Hettrick, first vice president and director of Community Investment at FHLB Dallas. "The First shares our commitment to community investment. They are a valued partner, and we appreciate the positive results they create through this program."

About The First, A National Banking Association

The First, A National Banking Association, headquartered in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, began as a dream on a back porch in South Mississippi. A group of local businessmen talked about creating a bank that would take care of business by taking care of people one customer at a time... and The First was born. Now, that dream has grown from a back porch to cities and towns all over South Mississippi, South Alabama, and Louisiana. The First is more than a bank... because it is still a group of friends building relationships and taking care of business one customer at a time! The First currently has 32 locations and assets exceeding $1 billion.

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas is one of 11 district banks in the FHLBank System created by Congress in 1932. FHLB Dallas, with total assets of $49.5 billion as of March 31, 2016, is a member-owned cooperative that supports housing and community development by providing competitively priced loans and other credit products to approximately 850 members and associated institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas. For more information, visit fhlb.com.

Contact:



Corporate Communications

Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

www.fhlb.com

(214) 441-8445

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SOURCE Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas

Related Links

http://www.fhlb.com


NEW ORLEANS, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 365 Connect, a leading provider of award-winning marketing, leasing, and resident technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry, announced today that the company has received a gold Hermes Creative Award for its Marketing Syndication Platform. This prestigious international award recognizes 365 Connect's capabilities to deliver innovative and creative solutions to meet the rapidly-changing needs of the multifamily housing industry.

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The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition created to honor both traditional and developing media. The winning entries are selected by an international panel of judges. These industry professionals seek companies and individuals who exceed a high standard of excellence, and in their success, serve as a benchmark for the industry. As a truly international competition, The Hermes Creative Awards received over 6,000 entries this year from the expanse of the United States and Canada, as well as fifteen various countries throughout the world.

Among the many talented companies that entered this year's competition, 365 Connect was fortunate enough to be honored with the Hermes Creative Awards' gold level award for its revolutionary Marketing Syndication Platform. The 365 Connect Marketing Syndication Platform delivers automated listings with real-time updates to high-traffic housing search engines and classified websites. Ultimately, it offers a fully-integrated solution that eliminates redundant marketing efforts and seamlessly updates pricing, imagery, content, and availability from a single platform. The platform is proven to reduce operating expenses, while simultaneously increasing qualified prospect traffic for multifamily housing operators.

Administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, which oversees awards and recognition programs, winning entries are selected from 195 categories. Categories include advertising, marketing, branding, integrated marketing, and electronic media.Recognizing the highest standards of excellence, a Hermes Creative Award is a tremendous achievement that acknowledges outstanding talent within the marketing and communication industries.

365 Connect Founder and CEO, Kerry W. Kirby, stated, "365 Connect is pleased to have its technology platform acknowledged on an international level, and we are truly honored to receive this highly acclaimed awards. Our focus is to connect both future and existing residents with where they live by providing a host of services, resources, and communication tools. This award emphasize our dedication to meeting our clients' needs of optimizing lead flow, reducing marketing spend, and extending their communities' reach across the web."

To date, 365 Connect has received a total of 37 national and international technology awards. The 365 Connect Technology Platform is highly recognized by its peers for its unique ability to market communities on high traffic sites across the Internet, automate social media postings, and deliver desktop and mobile platforms where prospects and residents alike can transact business. Today, 365 Connect's innovative technology platforms are utilized across the nation by the most respected national, regional, and local multifamily housing operators.

About the Hermes Creative Awards: The Hermes Creative Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. The international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production, web, and free-lance professionals. The Association oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges, and sets standards for excellence. The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) began in 1995 as a means to honor outstanding achievement and service to the communication profession. As part of its mission, AMCP fosters and supports the efforts of marketing and communication professionals, who contribute their unique talents to public service and charitable organizations. For more information, visit www.HermesAwards.com

About 365 Connect, LLC: 365 Connect is a leading provider of award-winning marketing, leasing, and resident technology platforms for the multifamily housing industry. Delivering a fully-integrated solution that eliminates redundant marketing efforts, simplifies transactions, and provides services after the lease is signed, the 365 Connect Platform interfaces with a variety of third-party applications to streamline operations and enhance user experiences. Powering the resident lifecycle since 2003, 365 Connect delivers game-changing results for its clients and the residents they serve by remaining laser-focused on connecting people with where they live. Explore: www.365connect.com

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

SOURCE 365 Connect

Related Links

http://www.365connect.com


More than 480 representatives from 250 Canadian enterprises and 150 Chinese enterprises attended the conference. During the conference, there was a contract signing ceremony for 37Games, China and Archiact, Canada. Earlier in March, 2016, 37Games announced its investment plan with Archiact, a Canadian virtual reality technology company. 37Games has already invested $3,166,700 in Archiact and acquire 6,846,539 shares (10%) of the company's stock. The investment and acquisition has drawn wide attention and is supported by both the Consulate-General of Canada in Guangzhou and the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, China.

Frank Shen from Archiact with Hu Yuhang from 37Games

Archiact, founded in 2013, is a leading force in the development of virtual reality products. Its star product, Lamper VR, is currently the only VR game that is supported on all mobile VR platforms. Meanwhile, Archiact has signed contracts with developers of the most popular VR games in the Oculus store, like DarkNet, to be the only publisher of those games in the Chinese and greater Asian-Pacific market. 37Games' founder and President Li Yi Fei told the press that Archiact's competence as a VR developer and extensive network within the industry were some of the factors 37Games valued the most upon their acquisition.

37Games, a top 30 internet company in China, started its overseas expansion early in 2012 and was one of the first Chinese companies that exported their browser games to the international market. It has been a market leader in Asian markets like Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its market share in Europe, America and some other English speaking countries is also growing rapidly. In terms of mobile games, 37Games is developing steadily in the SEA market and outperforms its peers. Last year, 37Games initiated its "Rising Dragon" Plan, investing 100 million dollars (USD) in game studios all over the world within the next 5 years to expand its worldwide market share. Investing in Archiact is part of the plan, as VR games development has been included in 37Games future business scope. With Archiact's help, 37Games will enjoy extensive advantages in the emerging VR games market.

Contact Person: Shadow Hong

Cell Number: 136 3245 9767

Email: [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/366862

SOURCE 37Games
This year, the A+Awards received thousands of entries from more than 95 countries. A Jury-selected winner and a popular choice winner was awarded in each of the 113 categories. Popular choice winners were determined by the more than 400,000 public votes cast from more than 100 countries and territories.

Over 400 luminaries from the worlds of architecture, art, and design gathered for the A+ Awards gala on May 12th at Highline Stages in New York City. The event was hosted by HGTV star John Gidding. The late Zaha Hadid was honored with a special video tribute. Five achievement awards were presented to the following:

Emerging Firm of the Year: Chris Precht + Dayong Sun (Penda)

The Impact Award: Daniel Feldman + Ivan Quinones (Feldman and Quinones)

Product of the Year: Samsung Gear VR

Advocate of the Year: Paul Goldberger (Author and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic)

Firm of the Year: Jeanne Gang (Studio Gang)

Noteworthy guests in attendance included Marc Kushner and Matthias Hollwich, co-founders of HWKN (Hollwich Kushner) and Architizer, Anthony Cenname (Publisher, WSJ. Magazine) Toshiko Mori (Toshiko Mori Architect), Jeanne Gang (Studio Gang), Christopher Sharples (SHoP), Daniel Arsham + Alex Mustonen (Snarkitecture), Dominic Leong (Leong Leong), Chris Precht (Penda), Daniel Feldman + Ivan Quinones (Feldman and Quinones), Carlos Quevedo Rojas (Carquero), Paul Goldberger, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic, Robert Hammond, Co-Founder, Friends of the Highline, Dan Barasch, Co-Founder, The Lowline, Gary Handel, Handel Architects, and Benjamin Prosky, Executive Director of the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (AIANY) and the Center for Architecture.

In collaboration with its partners, The Wall Street Journal, WSJ. Magazine, Dwell, the Webby Awards, Phaidon, and Cool Hunting, and with support from sponsors including LEGO, Sunbrella, and Audemars Piguet, the A+Awards reaches an audience of more than 300 million via media outlets across the globe.

Eight firms were asked to build models of their award-winning projects using professional white Lego bricks, which were displayed at the event. The Brooklyn-based firm Snarkitecture created the bespoke A+ Awards trophy. Winners from the Typology and +Plus Categories will be featured in a stunning hardbound book published by Phaidon, packed with full-color images and insightful commentary by the creators of each project.

ABOUT ARCHITIZER: Architizer is the world's largest database of architecture online. With more than 40,000 architecture firms that have uploaded 100,000+ buildings, Architizer is the premier online destination for architects and architecture fans. Architizer continues to innovate and develop tools to empower architects in a networked world. We are changing the way they get inspired, find the products they need, and tell the world about their work.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367408

SOURCE Architizer

Related Links

http://awards.architizer.com


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Twenty-five years ago, as its founders established the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) to help entrepreneurs achieve their dream of business ownership, they received strong support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a philanthropy dedicated to promoting a just, equitable and sustainable society.

AEO is proud to recognize the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation with its prestigious Impact and Investment Award. The Mott Foundation will receive the award during AEO's National Conference and 25th Anniversary Celebration on May 18-20 at the Hyatt Regency Washington, D.C. on Capitol Hill.

The Mott Foundation was the first institution to invest in AEO. It has consistently supported the organization, providing much needed funding to enable AEO and its members to support the aspirations of those in underserved communities. In so doing, the Mott Foundation has played a critical role in the expansion of microbusiness opportunities for families and individuals across the U.S. The Mott Foundation's core belief has been that economic participation is critical to moving low-income Americans toward greater prosperity. It is a pillar that guided the Mott Foundation's programming that addressed poverty in the U.S.

"Millions of Americans dream of realizing financial success through small businesses," said Connie Evans, AEO's President and CEO. "Through its support for Main Street businesses and microbusinesses, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation helped to pump life into the hopes and aspirations of so many Americans. AEO proudly honors their dedication and commitment."

Furthermore, Ms. Evans said, "With the generous support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity has been able to advance the microbusiness field, while expanding opportunities for entrepreneurship and helping a new generation of entrepreneurs overcome barriers, as well as assisting underserved entrepreneurs and business owners in starting, stabilizing and expanding businesses."

Microbusinesses are small ventures of five employees or less, often led by women and people of color. With the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and others, AEO is able to help people realize their dreams and become business owners. The Mott Foundation has been instrumental in supporting AEO's efforts to ensure that Americans all across the economic spectrum have access to critical resources and services that allow them to create wealth, assets and healthy communities.

Because of the generosity and vision of The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, AEO and its members have been able to promote business ownership, empower Main Street business owners and expand microbusiness development as a solution for reducing poverty.

(To schedule a print or broadcast interview with AEO's Connie Evans, please contact Michael K. Frisby at [email protected] or 202-625-4328.) Click HERE to register for the conference.)

About Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) is the voice of innovation in microbusiness and microfinance in the United States. For 25 years, AEO and its more than 450 member/partner organizations have helped millions of entrepreneurs contribute to economic growth while supporting themselves, their families and their communities. AEO members and partners include a broad range of organizations that provide capital and services to assist underserved entrepreneurs in starting, stabilizing and expanding their businesses. Together, we are working to change the way that capital and services flow to underserved entrepreneurs so that they can create jobs and opportunities for all. Learn more about The Association for Enterprise Opportunity at http://www.aeoworks.org/

Contact:

Michael K. Frisby

[email protected]

202-625-4328

SOURCE Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO)

Related Links

http://www.aeoworks.org


TAMPA, Fla., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BPL Plasma, a leader in the blood plasma industry for over 35 years, is proud to support the Hemophilia Society of Greater Florida at the Woodstock Walk for Bleeding Disorders on Saturday, May 14. The employees at our Dunedin and Temple Terrace Plasma Collection Centers are looking forward to raising funds to improve the quality of life for people with bleeding disorders and their families through education, information and referral services, advocacy and research.

BPL Plasma is dedicated to the collection of high quality plasma for life-saving therapies. Products made from plasma, gathered at our 34 other BPL Plasma Collection Centers located throughout the United States, are used to treat bleeding disorders, immune deficiencies, shock, trauma, and burns.

BPL Plasma and more than 90 employees at our Dunedin and Temple Terrace Plasma Collection Centers look forward to supporting the local Hemophilia community.

About BPL Plasma

BPL Plasma is a subsidiary of Bio Products Laboratory, Ltd., a leading manufacturer of plasma-derived protein therapies with global headquarters in Elstree, England, and a presence in more than 45 countries worldwide. The Company has over 60 years of experience developing and manufacturing plasma-derived therapies since being established in the United Kingdom as part of the Lister Institute in 1950, and currently markets a wide range of products including coagulation factors, human immunoglobulins, and albumin. BPL is committed to continued investment in research and development to maintain its role as a supplier of high-quality products to patients and healthcare providers worldwide.

BPL Plasma operates 34 FDA-licensed blood plasma collection centers throughout the United States. We pride ourselves on operating modern plasma collection facilities staffed with trained and friendly personnel.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150605/221243LOGO

SOURCE BPL Plasma
WATERTOWN, Mass., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE: BFAM) (the "Company") today announced the pricing of the previously announced underwritten public offering by certain of its stockholders, which include certain of the Company's executive officers and directors (the "Selling Stockholders"), of 2,115,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $65.75 per share. The Company has agreed to repurchase from the underwriter 1,000,000 shares of the 2,115,000 shares of common stock being sold by the Selling Stockholders at a per-share purchase price equal to the price payable by the underwriter to the Selling Stockholders. As such, only 1,115,000 shares of the 2,115,000 shares of common stock being sold by the Selling Stockholders will be sold to the public. The Selling Stockholders will receive all of the net proceeds from this offering. No shares are being sold by the Company.

Barclays is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering.

An automatic shelf registration statement (including a prospectus) relating to the offering of common stock was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 25, 2014 and became effective upon filing. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus included in that registration statement and the documents incorporated by reference in that registration statement as well as the prospectus supplement related to this offering. You may obtain these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. When available, copies of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the offering may also be obtained from Barclays Capital Inc., c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717, telephone: 1-888-603-5847, or by emailing [email protected].

The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. Any offer to buy the securities may be withdrawn or revoked, without obligation or commitment of any kind, at any time prior to notice of its acceptance given after the effective date of the registration statement relating to the securities.

About Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc.

Bright Horizons Family Solutions is a leading provider of high-quality child care, early education and other services designed to help employers and families better address the challenges of work and family life. The Company provides center-based full service child care, back-up dependent care and educational advisory services to more than 1,000 clients across the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and India, including more than 150 FORTUNE 500 companies and more than 80 of Working Mother magazine's 2015 "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers." Bright Horizons has been recognized sixteen times as one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" and is one of the UK's Best Workplaces as designated by the Great Place to Work Institute. Bright Horizons is headquartered in Watertown, MA.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release includes statements that express our opinions, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or projections regarding future events or future results and therefore are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the offering. These forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "projects," "approximately," "intends," "plans," "estimates" or "anticipates," or, in each case, their negatives or other variations or comparable terminology. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future, including risks and uncertainties relating to the consummation of the proposed offering by the Selling Stockholders and the repurchase by the Company and the risks identified, or incorporated by reference, in the prospectus supplement or accompanying prospectus.

Contacts:

Investors:

Elizabeth Boland

CFO  Bright Horizons

[email protected]

617-673-8125

Media:

Ilene Serpa

VP  Communications  Bright Horizons

[email protected]

617-673-8044

SOURCE Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Related Links

http://www.brighthorizons.com


NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's LLC, the leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today plans for continued development in Dallas, Texas, with two new openings slated this year in Allen and Garland. This announcement comes on the heels of a successful first quarter, which marked the company's 18th consecutive quarter of positive growth with a 2.5 percent system-wide same store sales increase. With seven existing locations in the market, the expansion efforts in Dallas are part of Captain D's overall franchise expansion plans this year, with a goal to open 17 restaurants by the end of 2016.

"Captain D's experienced a surge of franchise growth at the end of last year and we've continued to ride that momentum in 2016 with franchise development agreements signed to open at least four new restaurants this year," said Michael Arrowsmith, chief development officer for Captain D's. "We've identified the Southwest as a key market and see tremendous opportunity, specifically in the greater Dallas area. With a handful of successful restaurants in the market, we look forward to leveraging our existing relationships to further propel our brand's presence in Dallas and are eager to welcome new franchisees to our growing Captain D's family."

Among existing franchisees in Dallas is Lisa Starnes, a restaurant industry veteran who's owned Captain D's locations in Dallas for more than two decades. Starnes is a Tennessee native and grew up eating Captain D's as a child. When she came across the opportunity to purchase her first location, she jumped at the chance. Franchising was a viable career move for Starnes, as it provided her the freedom of ownership under a proven system with best-in-class training, corporate support and quality products to serve customers. Starnes owns and operates seven Captain D's restaurants in Dallas, all of which have completed renovations to reflect the brand's new restaurant design, and has plans to develop an additional location in the market this year.

"My family and I have spent the past 20 years growing our Captain D's business in Dallas. With my son Rhys also working alongside us, we truly see Captain D's as a part of our family," said Starnes. "Captain D's embodies a culture that enables team members to take pride in what they do  providing the community with a welcoming atmosphere to enjoy a freshly plated, quality meal with friends and family. We value our guests and look forward to continuing to serve them for years to come."

Joining Starnes in the Dallas market is husband and wife franchisee team Mohammad and Amira Alalimiy. With a combined 20 years of successful franchise restaurant experience with Golden Chick and operations experience with brands such as KFC and McDonald's, this is the first Captain D's franchise for the pair who plan to open their first location in Allen, Texas later this year. Eric Kim has also joined the Captain D's team. A second generation Dairy Queen franchisee, Kim plans to open his first location in Garland this fall.

Captain D's success in the first quarter was further driven by the system-wide launch of its Nashville Hot Fish, reflecting the company's seafood expertise and product innovation. Additionally, Captain D's credits its new restaurant design with contributing to franchise development interest. To date, 43 percent of all restaurants have been reimaged to the brands new vibrant, coastal design, with another 80 locations to be remodeled by the end of this year. With these efforts, Captain D's has remained true to what it does best  serving high-quality seafood with warm hospitality at an affordable price in a welcoming atmosphere.

With 517 restaurants in 26 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-550-4877.

ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S

Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has 517 restaurants in 26 states, plus military bases around the world. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for 47 years. Captain D's serves a widely variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature hand-battered fish, which is cooked to order to ensure freshness. The restaurants also offer premium-quality grilled fish, as well as shrimp, chicken, surf and turf, hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com.

Contact:

Andie Biederman

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160202/328742LOGO

SOURCE Captain D's

Related Links

http://www.captainds.com


ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Catalina, the personalized digital media company, announced today the transition of its Chief Executive Officer Jamie Egasti to the role of Vice Chairman, effective May 16, 2016. Greg Delaney, a current Director at Catalina and former Chief Operating Officer of Acosta Sales & Marketing, will serve as interim Chief Executive Officer.

"Jamie has been instrumental in establishing Catalina's strategy for the future. He has overseen the beginning of the transformation of Catalina's technology, product and operations, including the launch of our BuyerVision digital advertising product, the successful growth of the Nielsen Catalina Solutions joint venture, the acquisition of Cellfire and a comprehensive re-platforming of the company's data and technology stack. We are delighted that Jamie will continue as Vice Chairman and greatly value his vision and leadership," said Josh Lutzker, Chairman of Catalina's Board of Directors.

Egasti will continue to advise the company on strategic priorities and customer matters while Delaney will assume day-to-day management of Catalina.

"Greg is ideally suited to serve in this interim role for Catalina and is the right leader for the business while we perform a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer," said Lutzker. "He has deep experience within the industry and a track record of successful executive leadership."

Delaney brings extensive financial, operational and strategic experience in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) and retail industry. Prior to joining Catalina, Delaney spent nearly 15 years at Acosta, holding several leadership roles including Chief Financial Officer, Director and, most recently, Chief Operating Officer. At Acosta, Delaney led the company's expansion into new channels and services, playing an integral role in Acosta's growth. Earlier in his career, Delaney held a variety of senior management positions at Price Waterhouse, Barnett Banks, Beringer Wine Estates and Encore Development. Currently, he serves as Director of the Vi-Jon Corporation, a portfolio company of Berkshire Partners. Delaney graduated from Illinois State University and is a certified public accountant.

Delaney said, "I am excited to join Catalina and to help execute on its strategy. Catalina's mission is to power results that matter most to our CPG retail and brand partners by delivering meaningful value to the world's consumers. I strongly believe Catalina is uniquely positioned to succeed in this mission through its unparalleled reach that spans both the digital and physical realms, as well as through the Company's highly differentiated data and capabilities that allows Catalina to more effectively target, deliver and measure the ROI of promotion and advertising dollars. Catalina's insights, scale and data can differentially power the results that matter most to CPG retail and brand partners and will deliver meaningful value to the world's consumers through its growth strategy. Catalina is on the right path, thanks to its strategic direction and Jamie's leadership over the past five years."

About Catalina

Catalina's personalized digital media drives lift and loyalty for the world's leading CPG retailers and brands. Catalina personalizes the consumer's path to purchase through mobile, online and in-store networks powered by the largest shopper history database in the world. Catalina is based in St. Petersburg, Florida, with operations in the United States, Europe and Japan. To learn more, please visit www.catalina.com or follow us on Twitter @Catalina.

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SOURCE Catalina

Related Links

http://www.catalina.com


Available on LT, LTZ, and High Country trim levels, the High Desert package combines refined exterior styling, an all-new cargo system that is lockable and water resistant and available Magnetic Ride Control suspension on High Country.

"The High Desert package blends the capability and utility of Silverado with the refinement and luxury of Suburban," said Sandor Piszar, director of Chevrolet truck marketing. "It's ideal for those customers who want both the security of a lockable cargo area, as well as the flexibility of a pickup truck bed."

An all-new flexible, lockable storage system in the cargo bed locks cargo away safely and protects it from the elements. The system installs over the roll-formed, high-strength steel bed to add dual side storage bins and a three-piece hard tonneau cover. Inside, a cargo divider can be raised to secure smaller items, or lowered to access the full length of the bed floor. As with all Silverado LT, LTZ, and High Country models, the tailgate locks with the keyfob, enabling users to secure their cargo with the push of a button. The High Desert package on the LT trim level features 20-inch wheels with all-season tires, while 22-inch wheels and all-terrain tires are available on LTZ and High Country trim levels.

The High Desert is also the first Silverado offered with Magnetic Ride Control suspension, which delivers more precise body motion control. Its sensors "read" the road every millisecond, triggering damping changes in as little as five milliseconds in electronically controlled shock absorbers that replace conventional mechanical-valve shocks. They're filled with a magneto-rheological fluid containing minute iron particles and under the presence of a magnetic charge, the iron particles align to provide damping resistance. Changes in the magnetic charge alter the damping rate of the shocks, with changes occurring almost instantly.

Silverado's EcoTec3 6.2L V-8, is available on LTZ and High Country models and is backed by the new Hydra-Matic 8L90 eight-speed automatic transmission. The engine is SAE-certified at 420 horsepower and 460 lb.-ft. of torque, making it the most powerful engine offered in a light-duty truck.

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world's largest car brands, doing business in more than 115 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367433

SOURCE General Motors; Chevrolet

Related Links

http://media.gm.com


HOUSTON, TX, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - The founding shareholder, former chairman and Chief Executive Officer of InterOil Corporation ("InterOil" or the "Company") (NYSE: IOC), Phil Mulacek, and Petroleum Independent & Exploration, LLC ("PIE Corp.") (together, the "Concerned InterOil Shareholders"), announced today that they have delivered to the Board of Directors of InterOil (the "Board"), pursuant to InterOil's by-laws, notice of the nomination of five highly-qualified, independent directors (the "Shareholder Nominees") to be elected at the annual and special meeting of shareholders of InterOil, to be held on June 14, 2016 (the "AGM"). At the AGM, shareholders will also be asked to approve a number of corporate governance proposals (the "Proposed Resolutions"), which were included in the requisition of a special meeting of shareholders (the "Requisition") dated March 21, 2016 by the Concerned InterOil Shareholders and other shareholders of InterOil representing in total approximately 7.6% of the outstanding shares of the Company.

The incumbent Board has presided over a massive destruction of shareholder value. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe that the incumbent Board has failed to provide effective oversight of management and has adopted a flawed managerial and operational structure. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders further believe that these mistakes have significantly damaged the interests of InterOil's shareholders and jeopardized the future of the Company.

In March of this year, frustrated with the poor decision-making of the incumbent Board and management team, the Concerned InterOil Shareholders and certain other shareholders made the Requisition in order to introduce the Proposed Resolutions, which are a series of important corporate governance reforms designed to protect shareholders from destructive Board actions. The Board initially refused to even acknowledge and disclose the lawful Requisition, which forced the Concerned InterOil Shareholders to seek redress from the Supreme Court of Yukon, at their own expense, to compel the Board to act on the Requisition and bring the Proposed Resolutions to a vote at the AGM.

The Proposed Resolutions are reasonable proposals intended to make the Board accountable to shareholders, improve the composition of skills on the Board, align the Board's interests with shareholders and introduce basic corporate governance practices, including more complete disclosure. Unfortunately, the incumbent Board opposes every single one of the Proposed Resolutions and is now actively working against their adoption.

The Board's baffling opposition to measures intended to remedy the unaccountability, poor decision-making processes and destruction of shareholder value, have led the Concerned InterOil Shareholders to believe that even if the Proposed Resolutions are passed at the AGM, the incumbent Board will not make a good faith attempt to implement them. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders have concluded, after much deliberation and thought, that the only way to ensure that the Proposed Resolutions are implemented in a credible way would be to nominate the Shareholder Nominees for election to the Board at the AGM . The Concerned InterOil Shareholders may also nominate a sixth highly-qualified individual.

HISTORY OF VALUE DESTRUCTION BY THE INCUMBENT BOARD

Since Mr. Mulacek's retirement as CEO in April 2013, InterOil's share price has declined by about US$60 per share. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe the incumbent Board is responsible for this substantial destruction of shareholder value. Among other things:

The incumbent Board has pursued value destructive transactions and done so without shareholder approval, including the sale of more than half of InterOil's gross interest in the Elk and Antelope gas fields to TOTAL, S.A. ("TOTAL") on terms that caused the share price to plummet over 50% in the following month and a half, wiping out US$2.5 billion in shareholder value.

in shareholder value. The incumbent Board has proven that it lacks needed expertise and understanding of exploration and development operations in Papua New Guinea , which has led to cost overruns, repeated operational failures and high and increasing debt levels for the Company.

, which has led to cost overruns, repeated operational failures and high and increasing debt levels for the Company. The incumbent Board is taking a destructive short-term view of InterOil's business, sacrificing long - term shareholder value by allowing management to dispose of assets at fire-sale prices and destroy useful equipment, and to dismiss hundreds of recently hired and trained employees.

The incumbent Board has failed to disclose developments to shareholders that the Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe to be material, and has emphasized non-material announcements to provide the appearance of progress.

Compensation levels of the incumbent Board and management, including substantial "golden parachutes" for management in the event of a change in control of the Company, are far out of scale for a company like InterOil with no net revenue from upstream operations and no operatorship of PRL 15 (Elk and Antelope fields) or other material lease operations.

Current Board members' interests are not aligned with the interests of shareholders. Most of the InterOil shares owned by current directors were received as share grants from the Company without material purchases from their own funds.

THE CONCERNED INTEROIL SHAREHOLDERS PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS WOULD:

Compel the Board to seek shareholder approval of material transactions that involve more than 10% of the Company's total asset value . Shareholders must have some check on the Board to ensure that the incumbent Board's track record of entering into value destructive transactions without shareholder approval cannot continue.

Shareholders must have some check on the Board to ensure that the incumbent Board's track record of entering into value destructive transactions without shareholder approval cannot continue. Require at least one-third of the Board members to have direct operating experience in exploration and development in remote jungle areas . The Board must have the necessary expertise to be able to provide effective oversight of management to avoid a repeat of the poor managerial and operational decision-making that has plagued InterOil since Mr. Mulacek retired as CEO in 2013.

. The Board must have the necessary expertise to be able to provide effective oversight of management to avoid a repeat of the poor managerial and operational decision-making that has plagued InterOil since Mr. Mulacek retired as CEO in 2013. Require third party analysis to support discovery announcements and evaluate the commercial potential of the Company's assets . To promote transparency and accountability and avoid market distortions, the Board must provide accurate and independently verified reserves information to the public and shareholders, and the Board and management must be prevented from misstating the significance (or insignificance) of "discoveries" and other material developments.

. To promote transparency and accountability and avoid market distortions, the Board must provide accurate and independently verified reserves information to the public and shareholders, and the Board and management must be prevented from misstating the significance (or insignificance) of "discoveries" and other material developments. Compel the Board to develop and vigorously enforce a disclosure policy that exceeds the regulatory minimum. Shareholders deserve a full and complete understanding of their investment based on a policy of full disclosure instead of minimum compliance with required standards.

Shareholders deserve a full and complete understanding of their investment based on a policy of full disclosure instead of minimum compliance with required standards. Require a threshold price per share as a condition to any change of control payments to management; limit aggregate Board cash compensation to US$600,000 ; and restrict the sale of equity grants received by Board members for a year after their service ends . The Board must be aligned with shareholders and incentivized to act in the long - term best interests of the Company. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders also want to ensure that the Board and management seek the best price for InterOil in the event of a sale of the Company, and only benefit if shareholders also benefit.

THE CONCERNED INTEROIL SHAREHOLDERS' FIVE HIGHLY-QUALIFIED NOMINEES:

Phil Mulacek  Mr. Mulacek is the Chairman of Asian Oil & Gas Pte Ltd. and the founder and President of PIE Corp. based in Houston, Texas. Mr. Mulacek is the founder of, and served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of InterOil from its inception on July 1st, 1997 until his resignation as Chairman on August 3rd, 2012. On April 30th, 2013, Mr. Mulacek retired as Chief Executive Officer of InterOil.

During his tenure at the Company, its market capitalization grew from approximately US$10 million (~ US$0.50/share) to over US$4.5 billion (~ US$92.00/share) at his departure. The Company also constructed the first petroleum refinery in Papua New Guinea, a 36,000 bpd facility at Napa Napa, with a fully integrated downstream business that contributed to support the Company.

Mr. Mulacek led InterOil's discovery of the world-class Elk and Antelope gas fields in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea, with approximately 10 to 15 tcfe of certified hydrocarbon resource, and the nearby Triceratops gas field, with approximately 1 tcfe of certified hydrocarbon resource. These fields have been among the largest onshore discoveries in Papua New Guinea and Asia in recent years.

Since retiring from InterOil in 2013, Mr. Mulacek has remained actively involved in the upstream oil and gas industry in Papua New Guinea, the US and elsewhere globally through his affiliated companies with offices in Singapore and branch offices in the United States. He resides in Singapore.

David Lasco  Mr. Lasco has 40 years of business and financial experience. Mr. Lasco is the founder and CEO of privately held Lasco Development, a construction and real estate company formed in 1996, including dozens of affiliates and subsidiaries that he has managed. His primary business experience is in the acquisition, developing, building and management of residential and commercial real estate projects ranging from single tenant build to suit projects to multi-million dollar housing developments and multi-unit million dollar apartment and commercial rental facilities. Prior to founding Lasco Development, Mr. Lasco was an initial investor, officer and board member of a telemarketing company in the U.S. which, through his management skills, grew into a multi-location, multi-million dollar national telemarketing sales company with over 2000 employees during his tenure.

David Vance  Mr. Vance is a senior corporate and project finance attorney and CFA charter holder with more than 30 years of experience in Asia and the US in major project investment and development, including LNG projects and oil and gas matters in Papua New Guinea. He is currently Upstream Counsel for Asian Oil & Gas Pte Ltd. in Singapore and a Non-Executive Director and member of the audit committee of Kina Petroleum Ltd. (ASX:KPL). Prior to joining Asian Oil & Gas, Mr. Vance was Senior Commercial Manager for InterOil and a partner in the Tokyo office of U.S. law firm Paul Hastings.

Henry Olen Overstreet - Mr. Overstreet has 47 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and currently acts as an upstream oil and gas drilling contractor with operations in the United States and overseas.

George Cammon  Mr. Cammon is a 37-year veteran of the oil and gas industry, with experience in oil and gas exploration, appraisal and intervention. Mr. Cammon is currently the Drilling and Engineering Manager for PIE Operating.

If properly managed, the Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe that InterOil still has the potential to create billions of dollars in value for shareholders. The Shareholder Nominees are all highly-qualified and knowledgeable about InterOil's business, and would bring much-needed shareholder-focused representation into the boardroom, as well as capital allocation and operational expertise and deep industry specific experience. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe that all of these fundamental competencies are lacking and required on the Board.

Shareholders, the Concerned InterOil Shareholders intend to solicit BLUE forms of proxy in the coming days to enable you to vote for the Proposed Resolutions and our highly-qualified nominees. Do NOT vote on the Management proxy card. Discard any materials you receive from Management.

Advisors:

The Concerned InterOil Shareholders have retained Wildeboer Dellelce LLP and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP as its legal advisors, Evolution Proxy, Inc. as its proxy solicitor, and Bayfield Strategy as its strategic communications advisor in connection with this matter.

Cautionary Statement Regarding ForwardLooking Statements:

This press release contains forwardlooking statements. All statements contained in this filing that are not clearly historical in nature or that necessarily depend on future events are forwardlooking, and the words "anticipate," "believe," "expect," "estimate," "plan," and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forwardlooking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of the Concerned InterOil Shareholders and currently available information. They are not guarantees of future performance, involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and are based upon assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders do not assume any obligation to update any forwardlooking statements contained in this press release.

Information Contact:

For additional information on this press release and a copy of the Requisition (including the Proposed Resolutions), please contact the Concerned InterOil Shareholders at +1 (832) 510-7028, or by email at [email protected]

Media Contact:

Bayfield Strategy, Inc.

Riyaz Lalani

+1 (416) 907-9365

[email protected]

Information in Support of Public Broadcast Solicitation:

The Concerned InterOil Shareholders are relying on the exemption under section 9.2(4) of National Instrument 52102  Continuous Disclosure Obligations to make this public broadcast solicitation. The following information is provided in accordance with corporate and securities laws applicable to public broadcast solicitations.

This solicitation is being made by the Concerned InterOil Shareholders and not by or on behalf of the management of InterOil.

The address of InterOil is 163 Penang Road, Winsland House II, #06-02, Singapore, 238463.

The Concerned InterOil Shareholders have filed an amended and restated information circular dated May 12, 2016 (the "Concerned InterOil Shareholders Circular") concerning the Requisition, the Proposed Resolutions and the Shareholder Nominees. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders Circular is available on InterOil's company profile on SEDAR at .http://www.sedar.com and on the Concerned InterOil Shareholders' website at http://www.concernedinteroilshareholders.com. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders have also filed a statement of beneficial ownership on Form 13-D (the "Form 13-D"), as amended, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Form 13-D also includes the Requisition as an Exhibit and is available at https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1221715/000114420416090986/v435587_sc13d.htm and on the Concerned InterOil Shareholders website at http://www.concernedinteroilshareholders.com.

The Concerned InterOil Shareholders intend to solicit proxies in support of the Proposed Resolutions, the Shareholder Nominees and against resolutions being put forward by InterOil at the AGM. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders may solicit proxies by mail, telephone, facsimile, email or other electronic means as well as by newspaper or other media advertising and in person by directors, officers and employees of the Concerned InterOil Shareholders who will not be specifically remunerated therefor. In addition, the Concerned InterOil Shareholders may solicit proxies in reliance upon the public broadcast exemption to the solicitation requirements under applicable Canadian corporate and securities laws, conveyed by way of public broadcast, including press release, speech or publication, and by any other manner permitted under applicable Canadian laws. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders may engage the services of one or more agents and authorize other persons to assist them in soliciting proxies on behalf of the Concerned InterOil Shareholders.

The Concerned InterOil Shareholders have hired Evolution Proxy, Inc. to act as proxy agent for the Concerned InterOil Shareholders with respect to a formal solicitation of proxies. Services provided by Evolution Proxy, Inc. are based on a fee of $150,000, and subject to certain restrictions, an additional fee of $6.00 for each telephone call to or from InterOil shareholders. All costs incurred for the solicitation will be borne by the Concerned InterOil Shareholders.

A registered holder of common shares of InterOil that gives a proxy may revoke it: (a) by completing and signing a valid proxy bearing a later date and returning it in accordance with the instructions contained in the form of proxy to be provided by the Concerned InterOil Shareholders, or as otherwise provided in the proxy circular, once made available to shareholders; (b) by depositing an instrument in writing executed by the shareholder or by the shareholder's attorney authorized in writing, as the case may be: (i) at the registered office of InterOil at any time up to and including the last business day preceding the day of the AGM or the day of any adjournment or postponement of the AGM, or (ii) with the chairman of the AGM prior to its commencement on the day of the AGM or any adjournment or postponement of the AGM; or (c) in any other manner permitted by law.

A nonregistered holder of common shares of InterOil will be entitled to revoke a form of proxy or voting instruction form given to an intermediary at any time by written notice to the intermediary in accordance with the instructions given to the nonregistered holder by its intermediary. It should be noted that revocation of proxies or voting instructions by a nonregistered holder can take several days or even longer to complete and, accordingly, any such revocation should be completed well in advance of the deadline prescribed in the form of proxy or voting instruction form to ensure it is given effect in respect of the AGM.

Neither the Concerned InterOil Shareholders, nor any directors or officers, or any associates or affiliates of the foregoing or the Shareholder Nominees has: (i) any material interest, direct or indirect, in any transaction since the beginning of InterOil's most recently completed financial year or in any proposed transaction that has materially affected or would materially affect InterOil or any of its subsidiaries; or (ii) any material interest, direct or indirect, by way of beneficial ownership of securities or otherwise, in any matter currently known to be acted on at the AGM, other than the Proposed Resolutions and the election of the Shareholder Nominees.

However, certain of the Concerned InterOil Shareholders are the beneficial holders of minority indirect participation interests in certain of InterOil's petroleum prospecting licenses and petroleum retention licenses in Papua New Guinea under indirect participation agreements with InterOil. The Concerned InterOil Shareholders believe that these indirect participation interests are not material to InterOil but are nevertheless fully aligned and not in conflict with the interests of InterOil's shareholders.

SOURCE Petroleum Independent & Exploration, LLC
JACKSON, Mich., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Planning for the future to fill vital, good-paying, skilled energy industry jobs with veterans, Consumers Energy is working with Power for America and the Michigan National Guard to launch the Michigan Gas Boot Camp program.

"Consumers Energy is very proud to partner with our union, the Utility Workers Union of America as well as the Michigan National Guard to provide a quality workforce, now and in the future. Veterans bring discipline and skills that are valuable to our customers and company," said Dan Malone, Consumers Energy's senior vice president of energy resources. "This partnership is enhancing our workforce and will allow us to successfully cross the finish line together with those who served."

Nearly half of the energy workforce in the U.S. is or will become eligible for retirement in the next few years, according to the Center for Energy Workforce Development. This provides opportunities for new employees -- in this case Michigan National Guard members and honorably discharged military veterans.

"The leadership abilities, team orientation and commitment to safety learned from their service mirror the skills needed in the energy industry, while providing a path for honored veterans to transition into good-paying, family-sustaining jobs. This is a true win-win for the energy industry, Michigan families and the energy future of the state," said D. Michael Langford, national president, Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO. The Power for America Trust provides skilled training by and for current and prospective union employees at Consumers Energy and other partner utilities.

The four-week boot camp includes hands-on and instructional training. Successful applicants will acquire the skills and knowledge needed to be placed in entry-level natural gas jobs including gas lines construction laborer, gas lines construction fuser and meter reading positions. After a positive 90-day internship, full-time employment is offered with Consumers Energy.

Gas boot camp graduates join an Enhanced Infrastructure Replacement Program staff of nearly 500 permanent yet seasonal workforce employees dedicated to replacing and installing new gas pipelines, mains and services. They work across Consumers Energy's natural gas service territory, which includes 1.7 million homes and businesses. Consumers Energy also agreed to increase its skilled workforce by selecting one internal candidate to receive the same training for every veteran that attends the boot camp.

Each boot camp training session took place at Power for America's Potterville training facility. Over 200 applicants from across the state were interviewed and 40 veterans were selected to attend the initial camp. Thanks to the partnership with the Michigan National Guard, boot camp participants too far from home to make the daily trip to Potterville were offered housing and meal accommodations at the Guard's Battle Creek facility.

"The Michigan National Guard is proud to support this program and looks forward to supporting future classes. This program highlights the power of partnerships. Everyone wins: veterans, families, Consumers Energy, the Michigan National Guard, Power for America and the State of Michigan," said Michigan National Guard Brig. Gen. Michael A. Stone.

Consumers Energy, Michigan's largest utility, is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy (NYSE: CMS), providing natural gas and electricity to 6.7 million of the state's 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

For more information about Consumers Energy, go to www.ConsumersEnergy.com.

Media toolkit

LEARN MORE: For more information and to apply for the gas boot camp, go to: www.gasbootcamp.com

OTHER JOBS: Learn more about other Consumers Energy job opportunities: www.ConsumersEnergy.com/jobs

ENERGY INDUSTRY: Learn about other energy industry jobs: www.getintoenergy.com

Check out Consumers Energy on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consumersenergymichigan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/consumersenergy

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/consumersenergy

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/consumersenergy

SOURCE Consumers Energy

Related Links

http://www.consumersenergy.com


NEW YORK, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Alternative rock group Dirty Heads will release their self-titled, fifth studio album, July 15th across all digital and physical retailers/partners via Five Seven Music. Fittingly, on 4/20 the World Famous KROQ premiered the first single off the album "That's All I Need". The feel-good anthem, produced by Justin Gray (John Legend, Mariah Carey), is available as a free instant download today for those who pre order the album, available HERE. The self-titled album is being released just before the band hits the road this summer with Sublime with Rome, Tribal Seeds and special guests Bleeker (See full tour dates below). In support of the album pre sale today, Dirty Heads have released the music video for "That's All I Need" HERE.

While most bands reserve a self-titled album for their debut, the Dirty Heads, held off for an album deserving of the moniker. The band found one, in their fifth studio release, a total culmination of their signature sound. Drawing on the alternative rock, hip-hop, folk and reggae sounds from albums past to create something elevated and exciting. The band worked with top multi-genre producers such as Da Internz (Rihanna, Nicki Minaj), Drew Pearson (Katy Perry, Zac Brown Band) David Kahne (Lana Del Rey, The Strokes), and Jimmy Harry (Madonna, Diplo). The diversity of the production on this project is a true testament to the Dirty Heads versatility. "With this album you can expect the pure Dirty Heads sound at its finest--a perfect blend of hip-hop and reggae," says vocalist Jared Watson. "We have songs that range from summer anthems, songs you can vibe out to, and songs that really challenge you to think further. It's everything the Dirty Heads stand for and what we've become up until now."

The band purposely created an album to serve as the perfect playlist for both Day and Night. The first half of the record offers fans the perfect summertime fun playlist, while the second half offers a mellower vibe, reminiscent of a relaxed summer night with friends.

"In a world where music listeners no longer listen to albums cover to cover but rather discover their favorite songs from playlists on platforms like Apple Music or Spotify, we chose to curate a playlist for our fans with our new music" says Watson.

Queuing up excitement for today's album pre sale availability, the Dirty Heads have released the music video for the new single, "That's All I Need" HERE.

Dirty Heads will also be hosting a Reddit AMA today, Friday, May 13th at 12:30PM PST/ 3:00PM where fans will have the opportunity to ask the band any question in real time, ahead of the new album release and summer tour with Sublime with Rome. Fans who purchase tickets via Ticketmaster for the tour will also receive a FREE "Summer 2016" Sampler, which includes music from all four bands on the tour (See The Full EP Listing Below)

Formed in 2003 out of Huntington Beach, CA, Dirty Heads Jared Watson (vocals), Dustin "Duddy B" Bushnell (vocals/guitar), Jon Olazabal (percussion), Matt Ochoa (drums) and David Foral (bass) released their debut album, Any Port In A Storm in September of 2008, which features the RIAA certified gold track "Lay Me Down," a song that spent 11 weeks at #1 on the Billboard alternative chart, more than any single that year by any other artist. Dirty Head's most recent release Sound Of Change turned heads upon its July 2014 release, with Esquire saying "Sound of Change is brimming with the kind of catchy hooks that keep you plugged in for both their complex tones and cheerful breakdowns we want seconds of whatever this pop/dance/rap hybrid is serving up." The album debuted at #8 in the Billboard Top 200 chart and its first single, "My Sweet Summer", was a #3 hit at alternative radio. DIRTY HEADS marks the bands fifth studio album, out July 15th, 2016.

Dirty Head Self-Titled LP

DAY

1. That's All I Need

2. The Truth

3. Doesn't Make You Right

4. Feeling Good

5. Under The Water

6. Too Cruel

NIGHT

7. Oxygen

8. Red Lights

9. Smoke & Dream

10. Moon Tower

11. Realize It

SUBLIME WITH ROME & DIRTY HEADS Tour:

07/01  St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre #+

07/02  Miami, FL @ Bayfront Park Amphitheatre #+

07/03  Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre+

07/05  Charlotte, NC @ Uptown Amphitheatre #+

07/07  Baltimore, MD @ Pier Six Concert Pavilion+

07/08  Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center #+

07/09  Philadelphia, PA @ Festival Pier (at Penn's Landing) #+

07/10  Wantagh, NY @ Nikon at Jones Beach Theater #+

07/12  Boston, MA @ Blue Hills Bank Pavilion #+

07/14  Sterling Heights, MI @ Freedom Hill Amphitheatre #+

07/15  Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center+

07/16  Indianapolis, IN @ Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park #+

07/17  Chicago, IL @ FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island #+

07/19  Lawrence, KS @ Crossroads #+

07/22  Eagle, ID @ Eagle River Pavilion #+

07/23  Missoula, MT @ Big Sky Brewing Company #+

07/24  Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater #+

07/25  Eugene, OR @ Cuthbert Amphitheatre #+

07/27  Murphys, CA @ Ironstone Amphitheatre #+ (on sale April 7)

07/28  Concord, CA @ Con9ord Pavilion #+

07/29  Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater**

07/30  Chula Vista, CA @ Sleep Train Amphitheatre #+

07/31  Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre+

08/03  Corpus Christi, TX @ Concrete Street Amphitheater #+

08/05  Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheatre # ^ (on sale April 1)

08/06  Dallas, TX @ Gexa Energy Pavilion # ^

08/07  The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman # ^

08/14  Salt Lake City, UT @ Reggae Rise Up **

08/16  Morrison, CO @ Red Rock Amphitheatre **

08/19  Jordan, NY @ Kegs Canalside **

08/20  Middlebury, VT @ Vermont Hard Cider Company #

* - with Tribal Seeds, Hieroglyphics, New Kingston

# - with Dirty Heads

^ - with 311, Dirty Heads, Matisyahu

+ - Bleeker

** Dirty Heads Headline Dates /Festival

SUMMER 2016- Sampler Track Listing:

"GASOLINE" (Remix) - Sublime

"MY SWEET SUMMER"  Dirty Heads

"SURRENDER"  Tribal Seeds

"HIGHWAY"  Bleeker

Order tickets to the Tour via http://www.dirtyheads.com/tour

About Five Seven Music:

Since 2009, Five Seven Music Group has fostered and ignited the careers of critically acclaimed and successful indie and alternative acts under Eleven Seven Music Group. Following its flagship release, JET's Shaka Rock, the label would go on to sign Dirty Heads, Dark Waves, Nico Vega, Bleeker, ROMES, and Attica Riots. 2013 saw Five Seven achieve unparalleled success with the latter as Nico Vega's "Beast" landed a sync in the trailer for BioShock: Infinite, selling over 100,000 units. Dirty Heads' "Lay Me Down" would earn a spot on Billboard's All-Time Top Alternative Songs as a testament to the label's growing profile. As part of Eleven Seven Music Group, Five Seven provides all the necessary support in-house from marketing, promotion, publicity, licensing, and touring.

For Additional DIRTY HEADS Information:

https://www.facebook.com/DirtyHeads

https://www.instagram.com/dirtyheads/

https://twitter.com/dirtyheads

www.dirtyheads.com

Media Contact for DIRTY HEADS:

Angela Burke at Five Seven Music

[email protected]

Tour Press:

Graham Nolan at Five Seven Music

[email protected]

SOURCE Five Seven Music Group

Related Links

http://elevensevenmusic.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Evelo Biosciences, the pioneer of Oncobiotic Therapies, microbiome-based therapeutics for cancer, is dedicating $1M to award up to 10 grants for joint studies exploring the human microbiome and cancer. Evelo will participate in the National Microbiome Initiative Event, hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on Friday, May 13th. The event will mark the official launch of the OSTP's National Microbiome Initiative (NMI). Evelo's commitment to cancer microbiome studies will be included in an OSTP Fact Sheet of microbiome initiatives.

Evelo is the first company to systematically identify, characterize, and understand the biology of cancer-associated bacteria (CAB), providing novel insights into immuno-oncology and cancer metabolism. With this new funding opportunity, collaborators will use multidisciplinary approaches to illuminate how the human microbiome influences cancer susceptibility and progression, adding thousands of new samples to Evelo's cancer-associated bacteria (CAB) Database. Evelo will consider proposals for both basic and translational research but favor studies performed in patients, which can be stand-alone or in collaboration with Evelo. Evelo will collaborate with researchers to identify novel therapeutic targets with the potential to be developed into breakthrough microbiome-based cancer therapeutics.

During the event, the White House Administration will announce steps to advance the understanding the microbiome and enable protection and restoration of healthy microbiome function. The event will be webcast live at www.whitehouse.gov/live on Friday, May 13, 2016 from 1:00-4:00PM EDT.

About Evelo Biosciences

Evelo Biosciences is dedicated to transforming cancer therapy through a deep understanding of the mechanisms and biology of the cancer microbiome. Evelo is developing Oncobiotic therapies, derived from its Bacterial Immune Activator (BIA) and Cancer Associated Bacteria (CAB) proprietary platforms, designed to disrupt the tumor microenvironment, activate the immune system against tumors and interfere with tumor metabolism. Founded by Flagship VentureLabs in 2015, Evelo is the world's first microbiome company focused on the treatment of cancer. For more information, please visit www.evelobio.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160328/348603LOGO

SOURCE Evelo Biosciences

Related Links

http://www.evelobio.com


MIAMI, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fathom, the pioneer in social impact travel and Carnival Corporation's (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) 10th brand, today announced additional sailing dates, extending Fathom MV Adonia's stay in the Caribbean region through December 2017. The move comes as demand continues to grow for Fathom  a different kind of cruise that combines one's love of travel with the desire to make a difference in the world.

"We have been humbled by the tremendous response Fathom has received from travelers eager to experience Fathom while helping the Dominican Republic to flourish and making history through human connections and immersive experiences in Cuba," said Tara Russell, president of Fathom and global impact lead for Carnival Corporation. "Fathom resonates with travelers as the best way to travel with intention, to culturally immerse, to experience and to see more. For example, Fathom visits three incredible, diverse locations in Cuba during its itinerary while having the convenience of unpacking once and savoring the comforts of premium accommodations aboard the intimate, small-ship, MV Adonia  not to mention its excellent and diverse dining, service and onboard amenities."

According to Russell, Fathom also appeals to travelers as a meaningful way to experience personal growth while making purposeful and engaging contributions to the world, starting in the Dominican Republic. "There is genuine excitement about Fathom's ability to empower travelers to serve and immerse alongside locals in the Dominican Republic to create scalable and sustainable, transformative impact that will play an important role in helping the Caribbean region flourish," she said.

Fathom will depart on weekly seven-day voyages from PortMiami aboard the MV Adonia, a 704-passenger vessel redeployed from Carnival Corporation's P&O Cruises (UK) brand and ideal for delivering an intimate onboard experience. Dates for seven-day voyages departing on Sundays roundtrip from Miami during 2017 include the dates below. Fathom's reservations systems will be ready to take 2017 bookings by June 1, 2016.

Dominican Republic :

Dec. 4 , Dec. 18 , Jan. 1 , Jan. 15 , Jan. 29 , Feb. 12 , Feb. 26 , March 12 , March 26 , April 9 , April 23 , May 7 , May 21 , June 4 , June 18 , July 2 , July 16 , July 30 , Aug. 13 , Aug. 27 , Sept. 10 , Sept. 24 , Oct. 8 , Oct. 22 , Nov. 5 , Nov. 19 , Dec. 3 , Dec. 17 , Dec. 31

Cuba:

Nov. 27 , Dec. 11 , Dec. 25 , Jan. 8 , Jan. 22 , Feb. 5 , Feb. 19 , March 5 , March 19 , April 2 , April 16 , April 30 , May 14 , May 28 , June 11 , June 25 , July 9 , July 23 , Aug. 6 , Aug. 20 , Sept. 3 , Sept. 17 , Oct. 1 , Oct. 15 , Oct. 29 , Nov. 12 , Nov. 26 , Dec. 10 , Dec. 24

"The decision to add 2017 Fathom sailing dates underscores our enthusiasm for Fathom and our experience to date with the impact it is having," said Arnold Donald, CEO of Carnival Corporation. "The feedback from travelers, travel professionals, community leaders and our own employees has been extremely positive. Our travelers and trade partners are asking for additional sailing dates  and we are happy to oblige."

Additional information about sailing dates and the Fathom experience in the Dominican Republic and Cuba may be found at www.Fathom.org. To book trips on dates not yet listed online, please call 1-855-932-8466.

Prices for the seven-day trips to the Dominican Republic start at $974 per person, excluding taxes, fees and port expenses and including all meals on the ship, onboard social impact immersion experiences, three on-shore social impact activities and related supplies. Prices vary by season.

Prices for seven-day itineraries to Cuba start at $1,899 per person, excluding Cuban visas, taxes, fees and port expenses and including all meals on the ship, lunch during scheduled on-the-ground activities, onboard immersion experiences and certain on-the-ground cultural immersion activities. Prices vary by season.

About Fathom Travel to the Dominican Republic

Fathom is a different kind of cruise that combines one's love of travel with the desire to make a difference in the world. Fathom is defining a new category of travel, Social Impact Travel. Part of the Carnival Corporation (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) family, Fathom offers consumers authentic, meaningful travel experiences to enrich the life of the traveler and work alongside locals as they tackle community needs in the Dominican Republic. Fathom is unique in that it leverages Carnival Corporation's expertise and scale for a one-of-a-kind business model to create long-term collaboration with its partner countries, allowing for sustained social impact and lasting development. Fathom will serve the sizable and growing market of potential social impact travel consumers  approximately one million North Americans  in addition to global travelers already pursuing service-oriented travel experiences worldwide.

Sailing aboard the MV Adonia, a 704-passenger vessel redeployed from Carnival Corporation's P&O Cruises (UK), Fathom will engage, mobilize, educate and equip travelers on every Dominican Republic trip allowing for rich personal enrichment and thousands of impact activity days per visit and tens of thousands of travelers a year to communities of promise, providing unprecedented scale for impact.

About Fathom Travel to Cuba

On May 1, 2016, Fathom became the first cruise company to sail from the U.S. to Cuba in more than 50 years. Fathom's round-trip culturally immersive cruise itinerary initially features experiences in the Cuban port cities of Havana, Cienfuegos, and Santiago de Cuba, providing travelers the opportunity to enjoy a rich and vibrant culture that until now most U.S. travelers have only seen in photographs. Designed for rich immersion and ease of travel, the Fathom Cuban itinerary offers passengers a comfortable cabin including all the amenities of a modern hotel, plus the luxury of having to unpack only once. Every night, Fathom travelers return to the comforts of the MV Adonia, where they can relax knowing that all the details of getting from location to location in Cuba are handled.

For more information about Fathom or to book a voyage, contact your Travel Professional, call Fathom toll-free at 1-855-932-8466 or visit www.Fathom.org.

SOURCE Fathom

Related Links

http://www.fathom.org


LEXINGTON, Ky., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's, America's largest fast-casual Italian chain, today announced that it has been named a Gold Stevie Award winner in the Company of the Year  Food and Beverage category in the 14th annual American Business Awards.

The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S., with categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management, marketing, human resources, new products and websites. More than 3,400 nominations were submitted this year and judged by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

"We're honored to win this award and it proves that it's an exciting time to be a part of the Fazoli's franchise family, following our sixth consecutive year of positive comp-sales growth," said Carl Howard, president and chief executive officer of Fazoli's. "Winning the Gold Stevie Award in the Company of the Year Food and Beverage category further fuels our desire to expand Fazoli's presence nationwide so our customers can enjoy our savory, always fresh Italian food and table service no matter where they are."

Fazoli's strong performance, combined with an industry-leading new franchisee incentive program, continues to drive the brand's expansion. With plans to open 12 new restaurants this year, Fazoli's also recently opened in Montgomery, Alabama and Macon, Georgia, where the company set an all time sale record for an opening week. The company is targeting new franchise development in markets including Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Knoxville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and several other markets to grow and further catapult the brand's development nationwide.

New Fazoli's franchisees are eligible for discounts of up to $20,000 off the initial $30,000 franchise fee. Royalties have been cut to 2 percent from 4 percent for the first year, and to 3 percent for the second year. Vendor fees also will be discounted for the first 12 months. The incentives are available to franchisees who sign agreements now through July 31, 2016.

With nearly 220 restaurants in 26 states, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth, and the company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, connect with Fazoli's online at www.fazolis.com, www.ownafazolis.com, @Fazolis, and https://www.facebook.com/Fazolis.

About Fazoli's

With approximately 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a Fast Casual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities, including new operator incentives.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

Contact:

Sloane Fistel

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

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SOURCE Fazoli's

Related Links

http://www.fazolis.com


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile and online technology and evolving consumer tastes are changing the dynamics of renting property, and the debate on whether the regulatory response from state and local governments clashes with individual property rights will likely continue, according to speakers at a panel discussion on the current issues surrounding short-term rentals at the 2016 REALTORS Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

The timely conversation on the increasing popularity of short-term rentals and whether or not they infringe upon property rights was debated by a panel consisting of prominent, but differing, voices in the industry. Providing their insights were Matt Kiessling, director of coalitions and grassroots for the Travel Technology Association; Craig Kalkut, vice president of government affairs at the American Hotel & Lodging Association; and Brian Blaesser, a partner at law firm Robinson & Cole LLP.

According to co-moderator Christopher McElroy, a Realtor from Colorado and chair of NAR's State & Local Issues Policy Committee, owning property comes with a "bundle of rights," which includes the ability to rent an owned property to another individual. However, in recent years, advancing technology has expanded choices for consumer travel and changed rental market time frames from what was traditionally six months or longer to much shorter periods. In addition to obstacles related to taxes and regulation, issues can arise when rentals are used in ways that aren't in alignment with the character of a neighborhood.

"The increased popularity of short-term rentals puts additional pressure on availability and affordability [of lodging options] in tourist communities, and now local governments are looking at ways to tax them in a similar way as hotels or bed-and-breakfasts," said McElroy.

Blaesser, who leads the real estate development practice at his firm's Boston office, explained that local governments are seeking to regulate rental housing in various ways, including through registrations and inspections. He said a disturbing trend is that communities are placing limits and being more restrictive. "Fundamental property rights state that you should be able to buy, rent or sell a property. Limiting renting is taking away one of those three rights, and further regulations beyond registration and inspection can be dangerous."

Kiessling and Blaesser both agreed that renting out a home for less than 30 days is a residential use. Homeowners are simply taking advantage of popular platforms that allow them to rent out their property for supplemental income. As long as nuisance isn't a problem, the right for them to rent out their property  regardless of the timeframe  is their choice.

Kalkut, acknowledging that seeking out residential properties for vacation and weekend getaways is becoming more popular among travelers, stressed that there needs to be a legal and level playing field between the lodging industry and the many short-term rental platforms available today. In some cities where these rentals are very popular, it is currently illegal for a homeowner to rent out their property for less than 30 days if they aren't home. Another issue is the equal payment of taxes. Whereas hotels are very heavily taxed  paying up to 15 percent or more in occupancy taxes to state and local governments  the same cannot be said for some of the social rental platforms.

Added Kalkut, "There's also mounting evidence that people are buying multiple properties just to rent them out for short-term purposes. This in turn drives up home prices for traditional buyers and brings up the question on whether this act is a commercial activity."

From Kiessling's perspective, he stressed the overall need for continuity and a level of fairness among state and local governments. Inciting laughter from the crowd, he joked that restricting short-term rentals is a law from a bygone era, and regulations need to change to support short-term rental activity. "We should be creating laws with purpose," he said emphatically.

Blaesser believes the regulatory response regarding short-term rental issues is not going away any time soon. The growing appetite to both rent and rent-out properties for short-term purposes will cause state and local governments to review and potentially introduce more regulations that may threaten personal property rights.

Data from NAR's 2016 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey proves Blaesser's point that short-term rentals are becoming more popular. According to the survey, 42 percent of recent investment buyers did or tried to rent their property in 2015 for less than 30 days and plan to do so again this year.

Blaesser advised Realtors to read the recently released white paper on residential rentals prepared in consultation with NAR. The paper analyzes the issues raised by different regulatory approaches, provides Realtors with ways to address short-term rental obstacles, and outlines best practice approaches to rental housing that Realtors can use in discussions with local government officials.

"Ultimately, as long as nuisance isn't a problem, the person coming in or out the door doesn't matter," concluded Blaesser. "Realtors should use this argument as their starting principle when discussing short-term rental issues with their clients and local officials."

The National Association of Realtors, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the "News, Blogs and Videos" tab on the website.

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SOURCE National Association of Realtors

Related Links

http://www.realtor.org


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Obama administration sent guidance to schools throughout the country directing school administrators to allow self-identified "transgender" students to use the restroom and changing rooms of the student's choosing. This "significant guidance" claims to be adding no new "requirements to applicable law." However, its description of Title XI requirements is clearly legally binding. The administration is attempting to pressure schools to adopt the administration's poorly-supported interpretation of "sex discrimination" (banned under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972) to cover "gender identity" under threat they may withhold federal funds from states' education programs.

The Obama administration has already filed a lawsuit against North Carolina because of the state's newly enacted law, commonly referred to as HB 2, which designates restrooms in government buildings for biological males and biological females.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

"Once again the Obama administration is going beyond the limits of their constitutional authority to rewrite laws legally adopted by Congress. Under the guise of 'protecting students from discrimination,' these federal agencies are using the bully pulpit to strip parents and local school districts of the right to provide a safe learning environment for their children.

"Parents should demand that school boards not sacrifice the safety of the children out of fear of losing federal funding, which on average only amounts to about nine cents of every educational dollar. It is also time for the Republican leadership in Congress to act and rein in this administration. Bottom line, the president's decree should be resisted with every legal and moral instrument we have available to us in this country.

"If the American people do not speak up now on an issue like this, there's no limit to what President Obama's administration, or future liberal presidents, will be emboldened to do," Perkins concluded.

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SOURCE Family Research Council

Related Links

http://www.frc.org


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA has selected eight technology proposals for investment that have the potential to transform future aerospace missions, introduce new capabilities, and significantly improve current approaches to building and operating aerospace systems.

Awards under Phase II of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program can be worth as much as $500,000 for a two-year study, and allow proposers to further develop concepts funded by NASA for Phase I studies that successfully demonstrated initial feasibility and benefit.

"The NIAC program is one of the ways NASA engages the U.S. scientific and engineering communities, including agency civil servants, by challenging them to come up with some of the most visionary aerospace concepts," said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington. "This year's Phase II fellows have clearly met this challenge."

Phase II studies allow awardees to refine their designs and explore aspects of implementing the new technology. This year's Phase II portfolio addresses a range of leading-edge concepts, including: an interplanetary habitat configured to induce deep sleep for astronauts on long-duration missions; a highly efficient dual aircraft platform that may be able to stay aloft for weeks or even months at a time; and a method to produce "solar white" coatings for scattering sunlight and cooling fuel tanks in space down to 300 F below zero, with no energy input needed.

The selected concepts are:

Advancing Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitats for Human Stasis to Mars, John Bradford , Space Works, Inc. in Atlanta

, Space Works, Inc. in Cryogenic Selective Surfaces, Robert Youngquist , Kennedy Space Center in Florida

, in Directed Energy Interstellar Study, Philip Lubin , University of California, Santa Barbara

, Experimental Demonstration and System Analysis for Plasmonic Force Propulsion, Joshua Rovey , University of Missouri in Rolla

, Flight Demonstration of Novel Atmospheric Satellite Concept, William Engblom , Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida

, Further Development of Aperture: A Precise Extremely Large Reflective Telescope Using Re-configurable Elements, Melville Ulmer , Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois

, in Magnetoshell Aerocapture for Manned Missions and Planetary Deep Space Orbiters, David Kirtley , MSNW, LLC in Redmond, Washington

, MSNW, LLC in Tensegrity Approaches to In-Space Construction of a 1g Growable Habitat, Robert Skelton , Texas Engineering Experiment Station in La Jolla, California

NASA selected these projects through a peer-review process that evaluated innovativeness and technical viability.

"Phase II decisions are always challenging, but we were especially challenged this year with so many successful Phase I studies applying to move forward with their cutting-edge technologies," said Jason Derleth, the NIAC program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Whether it's tensegrity habitats in space, new ways to get humans to Mars, delicate photonic propulsion, or any one of the other amazing Phase II studies NIAC is funding, I'm thrilled to welcome these innovations and their innovators back to the program. Hopefully, they will all go on to do what NIAC does best - change the possible."

All projects are still in the early stages of development, most requiring 10 or more years of concept maturation and technology development before use on a NASA mission.

NIAC is funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, which innovates, develops, tests, and flies hardware for use in NASA's future missions. Through programs such as NIAC, the directorate is demonstrating that early investment and partnership with scientists, engineers and citizen inventors from across the nation can provide technological dividends and help maintain America's leadership in the new global technology economy.

For a complete list of the selected proposals, and more information about NIAC, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/feature/niac-2016-phase-i-and-phase-ii-selections

For more information about NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech

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SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


MT. LAUREL, New Jersey, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Impulse Dynamics, developer of the Optimizer IVs implantable device for treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF), announced today that the company has closed a $30 million financing round.

The equity financing round was led by the investment fund of Dr. Peter Lee Ka Kit, Vice Chairman of Henderson Land Development Company Limited, a leading Hong Kong-based property developer. "There is a significant need for a device-based technology that can offer symptom relief to heart failure patients who no longer respond to optimal medical therapy," said Dr. Peter Lee Ka Kit, who has also made numerous charitable donations supporting initiatives to help heart disease patients in China. "The Optimizer device is a unique technology that addresses this unmet need. We look forward to supporting Impulse in its commercial and clinical efforts globally and specifically in the Chinese market."

The Optimizer device is based on Impulse Dynamics' novel Cardiac Contractility Modulation (CCM) technology and delivers non-excitatory electric pulses to the heart muscle, initiating multiple biochemical and neurohormonal changes to the myocardium. As a result, the contractility of the myocardium increases with no concomitant increase in oxygen consumption, enabling the heart to work more efficiently. It has already been successfully launched in Europe and is available in cardiology centers in a number of countries. CCM therapy has been implanted in over 3,000 patients to date and is the only device therapy available for patients with narrow QRS complex.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Peter Lee Ka Kit as an investor in Impulse Dynamics. It is a reaffirmation of the value of CCM therapy for patients and healthcare systems globally," said Dr. Simos Kedikoglou, Chief Executive Officer of Impulse Dynamics. "CCM is a well-established technology that meets a major need. Our lead investor in this round will play a crucial role in making CCM technology more widely available to heart failure patients especially in China."

Proceeds from the financing will support Impulse Dynamics' continued global commercial expansion, as well as clinical and product development.

About the Optimizer and CCM Therapy

The Optimizer IVs device which delivers CCM therapy has been successfully launched in Europe and other international markets and is available in a growing number of cardiology centers around the world. The therapy has been implanted in about 3,000 patients to date and is the only device therapy available for patients with narrow QRS complex. Impulse Dynamics has completed a vast number of clinical studies, including several randomized controlled trials, as published in over 60 publications in leading medical journals. The Optimizer IVs is limited to investigational use in the USA.

About Impulse Dynamics

Impulse Dynamics N.V., a member of the Hobart Group companies, is focused on the development of electrical therapies for the treatment of chronic heart failure. As a global leader in cardiac medical innovation, Impulse Dynamics has operations in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information please visit http://www.impulse-dynamics.com

About the Hobart Group

The Hobart Group accelerates ideas and develops and commercializes medical technologies, targeting top healthcare markets with significant unmet needs. Its growing portfolio of companies covers the fields of cardiology, diabetes, oncology, neurology and rehabilitation. Together, Hobart Group companies employ over 200 scientists, engineers, regulatory and business experts across four continents, benefitting from the group's financial strength, clinical expertise and extensive international market knowledge across Europe, the US and Asia. For more information please visit http://www.hobart-group.com

CCM and Optimizer are trademarks of Impulse Dynamics N.V.

Contact:

Mrs. Sharon Alon

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +1-347-566-6113



SOURCE Impulse Dynamics
SINGAPORE and PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights

Elk-Antelope appraisal to finish 2016, FEED 2017, construction 2018

Antelope-4, 5 and 6 appraisal complete; decision pending on Antelope-7

Credit facility increased to $400 million and extended to end of 2017

and extended to end of 2017 Provides funding flexibility beyond the certification process with Total

InterOil Corporation ("InterOil", NYSE: IOC; POMSoX: IOC) today updated its operations and financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2016.

PRL 15 Joint Venture Update

The PRL 15 joint venture, operated by Total SA of France, is nearing the final stages of the Elk-Antelope appraisal program. The Papua LNG project's basis of design work is expected to progress to front-end engineering and design work in 2017.

During a visit to Papua New Guinea in mid-April, Total indicated that the Papua LNG Project remained a top priority for the Company with construction planned to start in 2018, creating with it about 10,000 jobs.

InterOil Chief Executive Dr Michael Hession said: "We continue to make significant progress executing our strategy and advancing the development of the Elk-Antelope fields.

"InterOil is poised to benefit from development of the Papua LNG Project and to monetize InterOil's assets for the benefit of all InterOil shareholders."

Recent Antelope appraisal work encouraging

In early 2016, an extended well test of Antelope-5 flowed a total volume of 760 million standard cubic feet of gas (mmscf) over 14 days and then was shut-in for 16 days to record the subsequent pressure build-up. The well flowed at over 57 million standard cubic feet gas per day (mmcfpd) for the majority of test through two parallel 48/64" chokes.

Test results supported previous interpretations of excellent reservoir quality and well deliverability.

In addition connectivity between Antelope-5 and Antelope-1 was confirmed.

Significantly, no barrier, such as a western bounding fault, could be seen on the flow test.

Antelope-6 also provided structural control and reservoir definition on the field's eastern flank with the well encountering top reservoir within expectations at about 2,076 meters (6,811 feet) true vertical depth sub-sea (TVDSS).

The presence of about 42 meters (138 feet) of dolomite in the 138 meter (453 feet) reservoir section above the gas-water contact was positive, as was the multi-rate flow test over an interval from 2,076 to 2,142 meters (6,811 to 7,027 feet) TVDSS, which achieved a final stabilized flow rate of 13 mmcfpd over 24 hours through a 40/64" choke.

Gauges in Antelope-5 and Antelope-1 recorded pressure variations during the Antelope-6 flow test, which indicated strong connectivity between these two wells and Antelope-6, 2.5km away.

Strong connectivity is encouraging and supports a simpler and lower cost LNG development.

Antelope-6 reached a total depth of 2,462 meters (8,077 feet) TVDSS.

Site preparation continues at the proposed Antelope-7 well pad for a minimal regret cost.

This preparatory work will facilitate drilling as quickly as possible if the joint venture decides to drill Antelope-7.

The PRL 15 joint venture have held a technical workshop and have agreed to consider a decision on Antelope-7 this quarter. InterOil believes that an Antelope-7 appraisal could assist in identifying additional multi-Tcfe resources on the western flank of the Antelope field.

On completion of the appraisal program, two independent certifiers will take four to six months to determine the resource size. If the joint venture decides not to drill Antelope-7, the certification process would then be implemented with Antelope-6 being the last well in the appraisal program.

Financial summary

Summary of Consolidated Quarterly Financial Results -- Past Eight Quarters Financial Statements

Quarters ended

($ thousands except per share data) 2016 2015 2014 Mar-31 Dec-31 Sep-30 Jun-30 Mar-31 Dec-31 Sep-30 Jun-30 Total revenues 921 11,690 11,822 (13,643) 13,215 (13,182) 10,749 13,689 EBITDA (1) (14,575) (81,543) (101,838) (30,583) (20,317) (60,443) (12,133) (10,253) Net (loss)/profit (16,978) (83,830) (103,725) (32,531) (21,869) (64,205) (16,930) 52,265 From continuing operations (16,978) (83,830) (103,725) (32,531) (21,869) (62,474) (14,622) (15,765) From discontinued operations - - - - - (1,731) (2,308) 68,030 Basic (loss)/earnings per share (0.34) (1.69) (0.29) (0.66) (0.44) (1.30) (0.34) 1.05 From continuing operations (0.34) (1.69) (0.29) (0.66) (0.44) (1.26) (0.29) (0.31) From discontinued operations - - - - - (0.04) (0.05) 1.36 Diluted (loss)/earnings per share (0.34) (1.69) (2.09) (0.66) (0.44) (1.30) (0.34) 1.05 From continuing operations (0.34) (1.69) (2.09) (0.66) (0.44) (1.26) (0.29) (0.31) From discontinued operations - - - - - (0.04) (0.05) 1.36

Note: EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is reconciled to IFRS under the heading "Non-GAAP Measures and Reconciliation". More details can be found in InterOil's Financial Statements and Management and Discussion Analysis for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 on www.interoil.com .

InterOil recorded a net loss of $17 million for the quarter ending March 2016, compared to a net loss of $21.9 million for the previous corresponding period ending March 2015.

During the quarter, administrative and general expenses increased by $3.9 million, mainly due to the restructuring of operations and corporate functions.

These increases were partly offset by a $16 million decrease in exploration costs as a result of lower exploration seismic activities in the first quarter of 2016, as well as a $5.1 million decrease in finance costs.

As previously announced subsequent to the end of the quarter, InterOil increased its credit facility from $300 million to $400 million and extended the maturity date of the facility to the end of 2017. This proactive step has increased InterOil's financial flexibility to be funded beyond the Elk-Antelope certification process with Total SA.

At the end of the March quarter, InterOil's pro-forma liquidity was $253 million.

As previously advised, InterOil reduced its expected 2016 expenditure guidance to a range of $155 million to $170 million, with most spending focused on the Papua LNG Project.

If Antelope-7 is drilled, InterOil expects to contribute its 36.5% share of the gross well costs. This net cost would be an addition to the 2016 budget estimate.

Conference call information

A conference call will be held on May 13, 2016, at 8:00 a.m. US Eastern time (8:00 p.m. Singapore) to discuss the financial and operating results. The conference call can be heard through a live audio web cast on the company's website at www.interoil.com or accessed by dialing (800) 230 1085 in the US, or +1 (612) 234 9960 from outside the US.

A replay of the broadcast will be available soon afterwards on the website.

About InterOil

InterOil Corporation is an independent oil and gas business with a sole focus on Papua New Guinea. InterOil's assets include one of Asia's largest undeveloped gas fields, Elk-Antelope, in the Gulf Province of Papua New Guinea, and exploration licences covering about 16,000sqkm of the Eastern Papuan Basin. Its main offices are in Singapore and Port Moresby. InterOil is listed on the New York and Port Moresby stock exchanges.

Investor Contacts

Singapore Singapore United States Michael Lynn Senior Vice President Investor Relations David Wu Vice President Investor Relations Cynthia Black Investor Relations North America T: +65 6507 0222 E: [email protected] T: +65 6507 0222 E: [email protected] T: +1 212 653 9778 E: [email protected]

Media Contacts

Singapore United States Ann Lee Communications Specialist James Golden/ Aaron Palash Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher T: +65 6507 0222 E: [email protected] T: +1 212 355 4449 E: [email protected]

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes "forward-looking statements" as defined in United States federal and Canadian securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that InterOil Corporation expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements, including in particular information and statements relating to resources, hydrocarbon volumes, well test results, the estimated timing of the LNG project, the timing and quantum of the certification payment, the costs and break-even prices and potential revenues of the LNG project, the estimated drilling times of the exploration or appraisal wells and estimated 2016 budgets and expenditures. These statements are based on our current beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to the company. No assurances can be given however, that these events will occur. Actual results could differ, and the difference may be material and adverse to the company and its shareholders. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company, which may cause our actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include the risk factors discussed in the company's filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and on SEDAR, including but not limited to those in the company's annual report for the year ended December 31, 2015 on Form 40-F and its Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2015. In particular, there is no established market for natural gas or gas condensate in Papua New Guinea and no guarantee that gas or gas condensate will ultimately be able to be extracted and sold commercially. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and the fact that this release remains available does not constitute a representation by InterOil that InterOil believes these forward-looking statements continue to be true as of any subsequent date. Actual results may vary materially from the expected results expressed in forward-looking statements. InterOil disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities laws. InterOil's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in the company's Form 40-F, available from the company at www.interoil.com or from the SEC at www.sec.gov and its Annual Information Form available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

Disclosure of oil and gas information

Trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A Tcfe conversion ratio of one barrel of oil to six thousand cubic feet of gas is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead.

Well test results should be considered as preliminary and not necessarily indicative of long-term performance or of ultimate recovery. Well log interpretations indicating gas accumulations are not necessarily indicative of future production or ultimate recovery.

SOURCE InterOil Corporation

Related Links

http://www.interoil.com


LINCOLN PARK, N.J., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lincoln Park Bancorp (OTC Bulletin Board: LPBC) (the "Company"), the holding company of Lincoln Park Savings Bank, announced net income of $240,000 or $0.14 per share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to net income of $218,000, or $0.13 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

Net interest income after provision for loan losses increased by $103,000, or 7.70% to $1,441,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to $1,338,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. The increase in net interest income after provision for loan losses was specifically due to an increase in interest income on securities of $145,000 to $1,200,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to $1,055,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015 and an increase in interest income on loans of $151,000 to $962,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to $811,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. The increase in interest income was offset by an increase in interest expense of $121,000 to $690,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to $569,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. Non-interest expenses increased by $102,000, or 9.85% to $1,138,000, for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to $1,036,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, primarily due to increases in equipment, advertising, salaries and employee benefits and other miscellaneous expenses.

Non-interest income increased by $14,000, or 46.67% to $44,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to $30,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015, primarily due to a decrease of $11,000 on fees and service charges.

Income tax expense decreased by $7,000 to $107,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to $114,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

At March 31, 2016, the Company had total assets of $257.9 million and stockholders' equity of $18.6 million. In addition, the Company had net loans of $85.9 million, total investment securities of $157.9 million, deposits of $116.0 million, brokered deposits of $25.5 million and total borrowings of $95.8 million as of March 31, 2016.

Lincoln Park Savings Bank is a New Jersey state-chartered savings bank that conducts its business from two offices in Morris County, New Jersey, its main office in Lincoln Park and a second branch in Montville. The Company's common stock is traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "LPBC".

The foregoing material may contain forward-looking statements concerning the unaudited financial condition, results of operations and business of the Company. We caution that such statements are subject to a number of uncertainties and actual results could differ materially, and, therefore, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims, any obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions that may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.

Contact: David G. Baker

President and Chief Executive Officer

(973)-694-0330

SOURCE Lincoln Park Bancorp

Related Links

http://www.lincolnparksavings.com


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennials are bucking trends, changing the landscape of America, and sharply different from previous generations in many different ways. One of the most visible and consequential ways is through millennial homeownership numbers, according to experts on generational trends and homeownership presenting at the 2016 REALTORS Legislative Meetings & Trade Expo.

While all generations have their own hardships, opportunities and defining features, millennials are coming of age in a time of deep demographic transformation, experts say. In a session titled "The Minds of MillennialsMotivation, Mobility and Making Home," moderated by National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun, panelists discussed what the shift means for the American way of life.

"America in the near future will look nothing like the America of the past," said Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Pew Research Center and author of the book "The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown". "These shifts are creating big generation gaps that will put stress on our families, our politics, our pocketbooks, our entitlements programs and perhaps our social cohesion."

Millennials, Taylor said, are different from their parents and grandparents in ways that are already impacting all aspects of life. For example, he noted that millennials (those born after 1980) are less religiously affiliated and slow to marry and have kids. They grew up with cell phones and on social networking sites while also obtaining a high level of education, but are still struggling financially because of the economy. Politically, half of the generation identifies as independent, more than ever have before. While seemingly small differences, these characteristics have very real effects on homeownership. After all, he noted, 39 percent of millennials are still living with a parent or relative, citing the record share of young households holding student debt.

Jessica Lautz, managing director of survey research at NAR, agreed that homeownership among millennials is taking a hit. Student loan debt, flat wages, rising home prices (making it harder to get into the homeownership game) and rising rents (complicating the saving process), are delaying milestones such as marrying and having children - major events in life that often cause young people to buy a home.

The real estate industry is already feeling the impact of these factors on millennials in regards to home buying. First-time buyers have in the past accounted for about 40 percent of homebuyers; however, NAR data show that number has trended downward since 2011 and currently sits at 32 percent. And while married couples are the largest group of buyers (currently 67 percent of all buyers), single females make up the second largest group of buyers, and that share has also dropped from 22 percent in 2006 to 15 percent in 2015.

Still, one big thing hasn't changed, according to Lautz. "Even with all these statistics showing how things have changed for millennials and the fact that they are worse off financially than previous generations had been, the median age of first-time buyers has stayed relatively unchanged at 31," Lautz said. "This means that they are ready and willing to buy if they can in fact break into the market. It's getting more difficult to get to that point, but the desire to do so hasn't changed."

And while the path to homeownership is harder now for millennials carrying student debt, dealing with rising rents, and experiencing stagnant wages, NAR research shows that millennials still see the value in owning and home and once they are ready, they are looking to a real estate agent in higher numbers than ever before.

"We are seeing that millennials are using agents at much higher rates," Lautz said. "You might assume that they would prefer to take on a purchase or sell on their own, being raised in the digital age, but instead, we have found that these buyers and sellers want someone to help them through the process, not unlike the way their parents have helped them through their young adult life. Not having been through the process before, they rely on real estate agents to get them through the competitive market and to the finish line."

The National Association of Realtors, "The Voice for Real Estate," is America's largest trade association, representing 1.1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the "News, Blogs and Videos" tab on the website.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150210/174673LOGO

SOURCE National Association of Realtors

Related Links

http://www.realtor.org


PUNE, India, May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Agrochemicals Market-Mergers & Acquisitions - Global Trends (2000-2016) and Outlook by Deal Type (Acquisitions, Agreements, Divestitures, Mergers & Others), Segment (Crop-Protection Chemicals, Herbicides, Fungicides, Insecticides & Others), and by Region", The global market in the year 2013 stood at USD 41.12 Billion, marking a massive 43% growth compared to USD 28.78 Billion in 2007.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )

Browse 9 market data Tables and 58 Figures spread through 123 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Agrochemicals Market-Mergers & Acquisitions"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/agrochemicals-market-mergers-and-acquisitions-51370455.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Increased participation of private players and their rigorous effort in improving products which has resulted in meeting the customer requirements worldwide have brought enormous growth in the Agrochemicals Market. The private sector has emerged as key players in driving new developments in agriculture, globally. Greater focus on R&D, improved support of intellectual property rights (IPR), the extension of agricultural input companies' footprint worldwide, and supporting government regulations have resulted in improved participation of private companies in agricultural research investments.

Agrochemical companies have marked a new trend in consolidation since 1990. Intense competition among the top players in the Agrochemicals Market has resulted in various deals including mergers & acquisitions, with top six companies dominating more than 80% of market share. This indicates that maximum number of deals has been by Monsanto (U.S.) followed by Bayer AgroSciences (Germany) and Syngenta AG (Switzerland). However, the recent merger announced by DuPont (U.S.) and Dow Chemicals (U.S.) will make them the top player in the Agrochemicals Market.

Crop protection chemicals to attract more Mergers & Acquisitions in the Agrochemicals Market

Among the various segments, crop protection chemicals held a major deal share during the period March 2000 to March 2016. Crop protection chemicals, which held a market share of about 89.3% in the year 2013, witnessed a large number of deals. Rising costs of R&D, new product development, crop-protection formulations, and allied products have overall attracted mergers & acquisitions in the crop-protection chemicals segment. Mergers & acquisitions in the crop-protection chemicals has enabled large-scale agrochemical manufacturers to improve their product line and expand their market share, globally.

Herbicides: The most attractive segment in the Agrochemicals Market for Mergers & Acquisitions

Among various agrochemicals, herbicides remain the prime focus for investments by agrochemical companies. They cover a variety of crop and non-crop applications and are widely used in field crops such as cereals, corn, soybean, rice, rapeseed, sugarbeet, cotton, sugarcane, and sunflower. The other crops which use herbicides are fruits and vegetables.

Make an Inquiry: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=51370455

The rising costs in the R&D expenditure and new product development and intense competition among the top players is encouraging high number of deals in mergers & acquisitions in the Agrochemicals Market

Maximum deals (by acquirer) are witnessed by companies headquartered in the Asia-Pacific region due to extensive crop cultivation potential in India, China, and Japan followed by North America and Europe, as major agrochemical companies are located in Europe followed by North America. Rest of the world forms a minor share which includes Brazil that has a huge cultivable area and demand for agrochemicals. Maximum deals (by target) are witnessed by companies headquartered in North America and Europe, as in these regions the agrochemical markets is well developed and has many companies offering various agrochemical products.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolios of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such as Syngenta AG (Switzerland), Bayer CropScience (Germany), BASF (Germany), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Monsanto (U.S.), and DuPont (U.S). Other players such as United Phosphorus Limited (UPL) (India), China National Chemical Corp (China), ADAMA Agricultural Solutions (Israel), Nufarm Limited (Australia), and Sumitomo Chemical (Japan) are also profiled in this report.

The report covers major deal types including acquisitions, agreements, divestitures, collaborations, partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, and mergers. The major segments covered are crop protection chemicals, herbicides, biological products, agricultural technology, insecticides, and other agrochemicals.

In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analyses deal share analysis (by value and number), deal share analysis of top players, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging & high-growth segments of the global Agrochemicals Market, high-growth regions, countries, and their drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.

Browse related reports:

Agrochemicals Market by Type (Fertilizers & Pesticides), Fertilizer Type (Nitrogenous, Potassic, & Phosphatic), Pesticide Type (Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, Neonicotinoids, and Bio-Pesticides), Sub-types & Crop Type - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/global-agro-chemicals-market-report-132.html

Crop Protection Chemicals Market by Type (Herbicides, Fungicides, Insecticides, and Others), by Crop Type (Cereals & Grains, Oilseeds & Pulses, Fruits & Vegetables, and Others), by Geography - Global Trends and Forecast To 2019

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/crop-protection-380.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.

Contact:

Mr. Rohan

Markets and Markets

UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ

Magarpatta city, Hadapsar

Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India

1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]





Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/agriculture-industry

Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
PUNE, India, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report "Molluscicides Market by Source (Chemical Molluscicides, Biological Molluscicides), Type (Metaldehyde, Methiocarb, Ferrous Phosphate), Method of Application (Sprays, Powders, Pellets), Application, and by Region - Global Forecast to 2021", The market is projected to reach a value of USD 695.8 Million by 2021, at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2015 to 2020.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )

Browse 103 market data Tables and 66 Figures spread through 200 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Molluscicides Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/molluscicide-market-177621172.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The market is driven by factors such as increasing cultivation of horticulture crops, sudden influx of snails in new regions, and newly developed rain-fast characteristics of molluscicide products.

The powder method of application segment is projected to be the fastest-growing market during the period 2016-2021

The powder formulations of molluscicides are gaining popularity among agricultural producers due to the ease of application of this method. Powders can be used in various levels of active ingredient concentrations and also in the form of combinations of two or more active ingredients. This particular method also prevents unwarranted harm to non-target species.

Make an Inquiry: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=177621172

Rapeseed, corn, rice, wheat, lettuce, and strawberry are the major crops in the Molluscicides Market

Field crops accounted for the largest share in application of molluscicides in 2015. Under this category rapeseed, corn, rice, and wheat are the crops that are projected to account for the major shares in 2021. Horticultural crops accounted for the second largest share in 2015. The strawberry crop under this category is expected to grow at the highest CAGR primarily due to the growing demand from various food industries that require higher yields of cultivation.

North America and EU regions dominated the Molluscicides Market in 2015

The North American region was the largest market for molluscicides in 2015. Countries such as U.S., Canada, and Mexico are major producers of corn, rapeseed, and horticultural crops. The countries in the EU such as France, Italy, U.K., Spain, and Germany produce fruit and vegetable crops and possess a large domestic market for turfs & ornamentals. Even though EU molluscicde regulations are stringent, the production of molluscicides is high due to snail and slug infestation that causes significant economic losses. Slug infestation is high on lettuce, tomato, and strawberry fields in the U.S. Countries such as Brazil and Argentina are also active for molluscicides usage. Asia-Pacific countries are at the growth stage in this market. China is the major country, followed by Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolio of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such Lonza Group AG (Switzerland), Bayer CropScience AG (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd (Israel), Marrone Bio Innovations Inc. (U.S.), American Vanguard Corporation (U.S.), De Sangosse (France), W. Neudorff GmbH KG (Germany), Doff Portland Ltd (U.K.), and Certis Europe B.V (the Netherlands).

In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analyses industry analysis, market share analysis of top players, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging & high-growth segments of the global Molluscicides Market, high-growth regions, countries, and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities.

Browse related reports:

Insecticides Market by Type [Organophosphorus Compounds, Pyrethroids, Neonicotinoidsn Methyl Carbamate, and Others (Macrocyclic Lactones, Phenylpyrazoles, and Benzoylureas)], by Crop Type (Cereals & Grains, Oilseeds & Pulses, Fruits & Vegetables, and Others), & Geography - Global Trends and Forecasts to 2019

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/insecticide-market-142427569.html

Agrochemicals Market by Type (Fertilizers & Pesticides), Fertilizer Type (Nitrogenous, Potassic, & Phosphatic), Pesticide Type (Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, Neonicotinoids, and Bio-Pesticides), Sub-types & Crop Type - Global Trends & Forecast to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/global-agro-chemicals-market-report-132.html

About MarketsandMarkets:

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.

Contact:

Mr. Rohan

Markets and Markets

UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ

Magarpatta city, Hadapsar

Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India

Tel: +1-888-600-6441

Email: [email protected]



Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical

Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets

Visit MarketsandMarkets Website: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com

SOURCE MarketsandMarkets
SAO PAULO, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LIDE  Grupo de Lideres Empresariais ('Group of Business Leaders'), together with AS/COA  Americas Society / Council of The Americas, will host the LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST and LIDE BUSINESS LUNCH on May 18, at 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. in New York. The event provides an opportunity for officials, entrepreneurs and American and Brazilian investors to strengthen and promote bilateral relations between the two countries in this new political and economic phase for Brazil.

Intended for banks, investment funds and rating agencies, the LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST will feature as speaker the Governor of Mato Grosso, Pedro Taques (MT); and the LIDE BUSINESS LUNCH will welcome the Governor of Goias, Marconi Perillo (GO). These gatherings will take place at the Americas Society, a traditional American institution that brings together the main U.S. investors in Latin America.

For Luiz Fernando Furlan, chairman of the Board of LIDE, and former Minister of Industrial Development and Foreign Trade, "these two states afford excellent opportunities for U.S. investors, showcasing Brazil's potential even more overseas, particularly in light of the economic situation we're faced with now. Because of the wide range of options they offer for investment, such as agriculture, industry, energy and mining, Mato Grosso and Goias can function as springs to drive the country's recovery," Furlan asserted.

According to Roberto Giannetti da Fonseca, Vice Chairman of the Group, who will also be mediating the discussions, "it should be emphasized that, in spite of reversals, the Brazilian economy is among the ten biggest in the world, and is already giving signals of its recovery, which inspires us to hold the LIDE BUSINESS gatherings in New York."

This will be the second edition of this event which, in 2015, featured a presentation by the Governor of Sao Paulo, Geraldo Alckmin, and brought together 320 investors, bankers, rating analysts and American and Brazilian entrepreneurs, also in New York.

The LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST and LIDE BUSINESS LUNCH are sponsored by MARFRIG. The official suppliers are CDN, F&Q, RODOBENS COMUNICACAO EMPRESARIAL and TRAVEL ACE. FORBES and PR NEWSWIRE are media partners. The LIDE BUSINESS BREAKFAST also has sponsorship from the GOVERNMENT OF MATO GROSSO and KROTON. The LIDE BUSINESS LUNCH has sponsorship from MITSUBISHI and institutional support from the GOVERNMENT OF GOIAS.

Contact:

Pamela Viotto

[email protected] / (11) 3039-6069

SOURCE LIDE BUSINESS
CALGARY, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) reported the voting results from its annual meeting of shareholders held May 12, 2016 in Calgary, Alberta (the "Meeting"). Each of the matters voted upon at the Meeting is discussed in detail in the Company's Management Information Circular dated March 23, 2016 (the "Information Circular") and is available on the Company's website under "Investor Centre  Shareholder Information" at www.pembina.com.

A total of 202,898,241 common shares representing 54 percent of the Company's issued and outstanding shares were voted in person and by proxy in connection with the Meeting. The voting results for each matter presented at the Meeting are provided below:

1. Election of Directors

The following ten nominees were appointed as directors of Pembina to serve until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the Company, or until their successors are elected or appointed:

Nominee

Percentage of Votes in Favour

Percentage of Votes Withheld Anne-Marie N. Ainsworth

99.57%

0.43% Grant D. Billing

96.83%

3.17% Michael H. Dilger

99.38%

0.62% Randall J. Findlay

98.18%

1.82% Lorne B. Gordon

95.48%

4.52% Gordon J. Kerr

81.06%

18.94% David M.B. LeGresley

98.98%

1.02% Robert B. Michaleski

99.24%

0.76% Leslie A. O'Donoghue

96.87%

3.13% Jeffrey T. Smith

99.62%

0.38%

2. Appointment of Auditors

KPMG LLP, Chartered Accountants, were appointed to serve as the auditors of the Company until the close of the next annual meeting, at remuneration to be fixed by the directors on the recommendation of the Audit Committee.

3. Approve shareholders rights plan

An ordinary resolution to continue Pembina's shareholder rights plan, and ratify, confirm and approve Pembina's amended and restated shareholder rights plan, as set out in the Information Circular, was approved with an approximate 96 percent of votes cast in favour.

4. Acceptance of Company's Approach to Executive Compensation

On an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibility of the board of directors, the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the Information Circular was approved with an approximate 95 percent of votes cast in favour.

Additional details in respect the Meeting's voting results can be found on Pembina's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

About Pembina

Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for over 60 years. Pembina owns and operates an integrated system of pipelines that transport various products derived from natural gas and hydrocarbon liquids produced in western Canada and North Dakota. The Company also owns and operates gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the entire hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to working with its community and aboriginal neighbours, while providing value for investors in a safe, environmentally responsible manner. This balanced approach to operating ensures the trust Pembina builds among all of its stakeholders is sustainable over the long-term. Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com.

SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation

Related Links

http://www.pembina.com


KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) today welcomed local officials and the public to the grand opening of the Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection Store at 125 W. DeKalb Pike, King of Prussia.

With more than 12,000 square feet, the King of Prussia store features nearly 1,800 wines and 1,150 spirits, as well as 1,660 Premium Collection luxury items. It will also feature a wine specialist and Chairman's Selection wines, which offer consumers select, highly rated wines at significant savings over nationally quoted prices.

This new store, which is located in a shopping center with ample parking, offers a warm, welcoming atmosphere for consumers to browse the extensive selection and taste featured wine and spirits. The focal point of the new store is a center table, where customers can find staff to answer questions or provide individualized recommendations. The center table provides space for highlighting promotional items, a tasting bar to sample new products and a collection of educational materials for customers such as:

Answers to frequently asked questions about wine and spirits

A vintage chart

A food pairing outline

Party planning guide

Calorie chart

Tips for responsible hosting and consumption

"Making our stores more appealing and customer-focused not only improves shoppers' in-store experience today, but the investments in more enticing facilities will also deliver significant long-term dividends to the state," said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden.

Throughout the design and construction of the new facility, the PLCB was committed to developing a store that is attractive and environmentally responsible. The majority of the store's lighting is state-of-the-art LED or energy-efficient compact-fluorescent lighting, using a fraction of the energy of traditional lighting.

The King of Prussia Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection Store will be open from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM Monday through Saturday, and from noon to 5:00 PM on Sundays. To find additional store locations, visit www.FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com.

The Fine Wine and Good Spirits store at 143 S. Gulph Rd. is now closed.

The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide and licenses more than 20,000 beverage alcohol producers and retailers. Taxes and store profits  totaling more than $14.5 billion since the agency's inception  are returned to Pennsylvania's General Fund, and the PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit www.lcb.state.pa.us.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn Kelly, 717.303.8522

SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Related Links

http://www.lcb.state.pa.us


PHOENIX, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media Advisory For Phoenix On Tuesday, May 17, 2016

WHO: Notable government, education, and industry officials will participate, including:

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton

Chris Camacho , President & CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council

President & CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council David Adame , President & Chief Economic Development Officer, Chicanos Por La Causa

President & Chief Economic Development Officer, Chicanos Por La Causa Loretta Mayer , Founder, Senestech

, Founder, Senestech Lawrence H. Parks , Senior Vice President, FHLBank San Francisco

, Senior Vice President, FHLBank San Francisco John Hanna , Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters

Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters Don Thierault , President, Industrial Tool, Die & Engineering, Inc.

WHAT:

Mayor Stanton will speak followed by a press availability with the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. The Bank is announcing that the Phoenix region is participating in its Quality Job Growth and Business Expansion Financing initiative. The initiative will direct $40 million in grants to fund organizations that support quality job development and small to mid-tier business expansion in underserved West coast communities, including Phoenix. After the media availability, FHLBank San Francisco will hold a roundtable discussion where local, regional, and national experts will explore best practices for creating quality jobs and expanding small businesses. Following a series of seminars, the Aspen Institute will write a summary report that will be used to shape the RFP process for grants.

WHERE:

University of Arizona College of Medicine  Phoenix

Virginia G. Piper Auditorium

550 East Van Buren Street

Phoenix, AZ 85004-2230

WHEN:

8:00 AM Breakfast (Media Invited)

8:20 AM Mayor Stanton

8:35 AM Elliott D. Pollack, CEO, Elliott D. Pollack and Company

9:05 AM Overview  FHLBank San Francisco's Lawrence H. Parks

9:15 AM Media availability

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Michael K. Frisby 202-625-4382 or [email protected]

Kevin Blackburn 510-377-8999 or [email protected]

(Please contact Mr. Frisby or Mr. Blackburn to schedule a broadcast or print interview with Mr. Parks to discuss the initiative.)

SOURCE FHLBank San Francisco
BEIJING, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (the "Company") (NYSE: QIHU), a leading Internet company in China, today announced its receipt of an update from the buyer group on its proposed going private transaction. The buyer group has informed the Company that the work towards satisfying the conditions precedent under the previously announced merger agreement is progressing as expected.

About Qihoo 360

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd. (NYSE: QIHU) is a leading Internet company in China. The Company is also the number one provider of Internet and mobile security products in China as measured by its user base, according to iResearch. Qihoo 360 also provides users with secure access points to the Internet via its market leading web browsers and application stores. The Company has built one of the largest open Internet platforms in China and monetizes its massive user base primarily through online advertising and through Internet value-added services on its open platform.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.

In China:

Tel: +86 10-5878-1574

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd.
TULSA, Okla., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carol Mersch, a Tulsa, OK author and entrepreneur, has released Reflections of the Moon: Retrospections on Earth, Mankind, and War to honor long-time friend, Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/367179

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/367180

Mitchell, founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), passed away Feb. 4, 2016, on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his Apollo 14 moon mission in 1971.

Reflections of the Moon is a collection of quotes from Mitchell gathered during Mersch's years of interviews, research and travel alongside the astronaut. The book is a 200-page collection of his observations on "life after space" gleaned from the extraordinary and sometimes controversial astronaut during their 20+ year friendship.

Mitchell's comments span subjects ranging from mankind, sustainability and war, to his views on extraterrestrial life -- a subject that drew both criticism and support from the media -- as well as his cutting edge studies on quantum entanglement, a phenomenon that explores the power of the mind to impact outside events.

"As tiny as our physical bodies are on the scale of the universe, our minds can reach out to become one with all that is," Mitchell said.

"He attracted people for his beliefs in the power of our own consciousness to impact the world around us as much for his astronautic adventures," Mersch said. "I am a better person for having known him."

Reflections of the Moon is available in paper and eBook through Pen-L Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and local booksellers. (www.Pen-L.com/Reflections.html)

Apollo 14 Astronaut Edgar Mitchell

Edgar Mitchell earned a Ph.D. from MIT in Aeronautics and Astrophysics. He was the Apollo 14 lunar module pilot and the sixth man to walk on the surface of the moon. In 1972 he founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) a group of 40,000 members worldwide devoted to sustain-ability of our planet and conscious awareness.

He was scientist, philosopher, moonwalker, sought-after speaker, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee, which is why Mersch believes "His ideas deserve a long, thoughtful look."

About Carol Mersch

A successful entrepreneur and business owner, Mersch met Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell on a business trip in the late '70s. An Oklahoma author specializing in narrative non-fiction, her book The Apostles of Apollo released in 2010 chronicles Mitchell's role in landing the first (King James Version of) the Bible on the Moon on Feb. 5, 1971.

FOR EXPANDED TEXT OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Carol Mersch . . .

Email; see www.providenceworks.com and www.carolmersch.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

Preston F. Kirk, APR, Kirk Public Relations, Austin TX, 830-693-4447; Email.

SOURCE Carol Mersch

Related Links

http://www.carolmersch.com


Record-breaking auction in Toronto attracted 4,050+ people to bid on 3,000+ items on May 11  12

TORONTO, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Two weeks after its largest Canadian auction ever in Edmonton, Alberta, Ritchie Bros. was breaking records again with its largest Ontario auction ever. On May 11-12, 2016, Ritchie Bros. sold more than 3,000 equipment items and trucks for CA$36+ million (US$28+ million) at its Toronto site.

The unreserved auction attracted 4,050+ bidders, in person at Ritchie Bros.' Toronto auction site (in Bolton) and online. About 89 percent of the equipment was sold to Canadian buyers. Buyers from the United States purchased 9.5 percent.

"The size of this Toronto auction reflects the trust our customers place in our unreserved auctions," said Anna Sgro, Senior Vice President, Ritchie Bros. "We helped hundreds of sellers reach competing buyers from every province and 44 other countries, both on-site and onlineno one else delivers that kind of audience. Online buyers purchased more than CA$16 million of equipment, or 46 percent, which is a new Ritchie Bros. record in Ontario, showcasing the strength of our internet bidding platform."

Close to 600 owners sold equipment in the auction, including Technicore Underground and Alloa Excavating.

"I've been buying and selling with Ritchie Bros. for 30 yearsI trust them," said Tony Dimillo, CEO of Technicore Underground, a Newmarket, ON-based tunnel contractor that was selling heavy haul trucks and live-bottom trailers. "The trucks and trailers we sold this week were specifically bought to move earth for the Eglinton Crosstown subway project. The project is complete so we brought them to Ritchie Bros. and I'm pleased with the results."

"We are retiring from the apartment restoration business after 30 years and came to Ritchie Bros. to sell everything," said Tony Alloa, President of Caledon, ON-based Alloa Excavating. "I've bought before, but this is my first time selling with Ritchie Bros.it was an emotional experience, but it went well. They are a truly ethical and professional company."

Specific equipment sales highlights:

16 Kenworth T800 T/A heavy haul trucks sold for a combined CA$2.05+ million

14 ABS 48-ft Quad/A live-bottom trailers sold for a combined CA$1.25+ million

Seven Caterpillar 740 6x6 articulated dump trucks sold for a combined CA$962,500

Two Mack GU813 dump trucks sold for a combined CA$222,500

A 2007 Caterpillar D8T crawler tractor sold for CA$215,000

A 2014 International 5900I SBA Paystar Eagle dump truck sold for CA$157,500

A 2011 John Deere 350D hydraulic excavator sold for CA$135,000

A 2015 Volvo VNL64T670 sleeper truck tractor sold for CA$125,000

Auction quick facts: Toronto, ON (May 2016)

Gross auction proceeds  CA$36+ million (US$28+ million)

CA$36+ million (US$28+ million) Amount sold to online bidders  CA$16+ million (US$12+ million)

CA$16+ million (US$12+ million) Total registered bidders (onsite and online)  4,050+ bidders from 44 countries

4,050+ bidders from 44 countries Online registered bidders  2,300+

2,300+ Number of lots sold  3,000+

3,000+ Number of sellers  595+

There are 95+ upcoming auctions on the Ritchie Bros. auction calendar at rbauction.com, including the next Toronto auction in July. Anyone interested in consigning equipment and trucks to the next Toronto auction should contact the site directly at +1.905.857.2422.

About Ritchie Bros.

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is the world's largest seller of used equipment for the construction, transportation, agriculture, material handling, energy, mining, forestry, marine and other industries. Ritchie Bros. TM solutions make it easy for the world's builders to buy and sell equipment with confidence, including live unreserved public auctions with on-site and online bidding (rbauction.com), the EquipmentOneTM secure online marketplace (EquipmentOne.com), a professional corporate asset management program, and a range of value-added services, including equipment financing for customers through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services (rbauction.com/financing). Ritchie Bros. has operations in 19 countries, including 44 auction sites worldwide. Learn more at RitchieBros.com.

Photos and video for embedding in media stories are available at rbauction.com/media.

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Related Links

www.rbauction.com


LAKE FOREST, Ill., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RoundTable Healthcare Partners, an operating-oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the health-care industry, announced today that its portfolio company Renaissance Acquisition Holdings, LLC ("Renaissance") has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its topical pharmaceutical business (the "Topical Division") to Mylan N.V. ("Mylan"), a leading, global generic and specialty pharmaceutical company, for $950 million in cash at closing, plus additional contingent payments of up to $50 million, subject to customary adjustments. The closing is conditional on regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.

The Topical Division of Renaissance is a fully-integrated, specialty pharmaceutical business focused on the manufacture, development, sales and marketing of branded and generic topical pharmaceutical products. RoundTable started Renaissance in 2010 when it acquired two leading contract manufacturing and development organizations, Confab Laboratories, based in Montreal, and DPT Laboratories, based in San Antonio, Texas. Through significant investments in senior leadership talent, product acquisitions, research & development, capital expenditures, the creation of a dermatology salesforce and the development of a pipeline of over two dozen topical ANDAs and NDAs, Renaissance has developed into one of the largest, privately-held, vertically-integrated specialty pharmaceutical companies in the topicals/dermatology market in North America.

"On behalf of RoundTable, I would like to thank the outstanding management team and dedicated employees of Renaissance for creating a leading specialty pharmaceutical company," said Pierre Frechette, Senior Operating Partner at RoundTable and the Chairman of the Board of Renaissance. "We believe Mylan is an excellent strategic partner for this business, its employees and customers going forward."

As part of this transaction, Renaissance will continue to own and operate its sterile-focused specialty pharmaceutical business with development and manufacturing facilities in Lakewood, New Jersey.

Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Renaissance. Sidley Austin LLP acted as lead legal counsel to RoundTable.

About RoundTable Healthcare Partners

RoundTable Healthcare Partners, based in Lake Forest, IL, is an operating-oriented private equity firm focused exclusively on the healthcare industry. RoundTable partners with companies that can benefit from its extensive industry relationships and proven operating and transaction expertise. RoundTable has established a successful track record of working with owner/founders, family companies, management teams, entrepreneurs and corporate partners who share a vision and believe in the value creation potential of its partnership model. RoundTable has raised $2.75 billion in committed capital, including four equity funds totaling $2.15 billion and three subordinated debt funds totaling $600 million. More information about RoundTable Healthcare Partners can be found at www.roundtablehp.com.

SOURCE RoundTable Healthcare Partners

Related Links

http://www.roundtablehp.com


SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The SEAL  Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Family Foundation is pleased to announce that its fifth annual fundraiser on Saturday, April 30, 2016 raised more than $1.2 million with the help of dozens of sponsors. The SEAL-NSW Family Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that raises funds and awareness for programs supporting the NSW families on a local, national and global scale. The event thanks Navy SEALs and their families for their service, and honors fallen heroes.

Philanthropist and Event Co-Chair, Madeleine Pickens, states, "We are so proud of our sponsors. Without their generosity and, more importantly, their heartfelt desire to help these brave warriors and their families, we could not have raised the funds we did. Many of these sponsors have been with us from the event's inception, and together we have raised almost $5 million for the SEAL-NSW Family Foundation." The event is co-chaired by Madeleine Pickens and Dominique Plewes.

This year's venue sponsor was Del Mar Country Club, Southern California's premier country club. Additional sponsors included Jacqui and Colin Paterson, American Airlines, Simpson Chevrolet Buick GMC, Douglas Allred Company, David & Holly Bruce, George and Helene Gould, Ferrari of San Diego, Hoehn Motors, Inc., Hearing Lab Technology, LM Newman Family Foundation, Jenny Craig, Blast Motion Inc., Bumble Bee Seafoods, Cymer, Corky's Pest Control, Dan & Kameron Comstock, Eaton Vance, Emerick Construction Co., Janus Captial Group, John Matty Co., the Kimmelman Family Foundation, the Manoogian Family, Net Jets, Modern Builders Supply, Pamplemousse Grille, ResMed/Farrell Family Foundation, Yamaha Motor Corporation, and Wells Fargo among others.

CAPT (Ret.) William Fenick, Executive Director, SEAL-NSW Family Foundation, said, "We could not provide our meaningful programs for the Navy SEAL families without the generous contributions of our sponsors. We view the Navy SEAL family as the backbone of the Navy SEAL, the foundation that allows him to focus on his mission. Our programs support these unique families and I'd like to thank our sponsors for making it possible."

About SEAL  Naval Special Warfare Family Foundation

The SEAL-NSW Family Foundation supports individual and family readiness through an array of programs specifically targeted to assist the Naval Special Warfare community in maintaining a resilient, sustainable, and healthy force in this era of persistent conflict and frequent deployments. With SEALs, their ability to stay fit and focused determines the success of every mission. Part of our job is to facilitate that focus by ensuring every SEAL knows his family is, and will be taken care of. Our motto is "Taking care of THEIR families while they protect OURS." The SEAL-NSW Family Foundation's programs include supporting the families of the fallen, families with special needs children, family integration opportunities throughout the year and emergency funding to assist with the unexpected issues that arise when SEALS are deployed. For more information, visit www.sealnswff.org.

Contact: Beth Binger

BCI

Mobile: (619) 987-6658

[email protected]

SOURCE SEAL - Naval Special Warfare Family Foundation

Related Links

http://www.sealnswff.org


SAN DIEGO, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotera Wireless, a leader in the drive to make healthcare safer through continuous multiparameter patient monitoring, will exhibit its ViSi Mobile System at the American Association of Critical Care Nurses National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition being held in New Orleans from May 17 to May 19, 2016. Meeting participants are invited to stop by Sotera's booth #2747 to learn more about the advantages of patient surveillance monitoring in general medical and surgical hospital units.

The ViSi Mobile System is a wireless, wearable platform that continuously monitors all patient vital signs and communicates data to clinicians. By alerting clinicians to vital sign fluctuations that signal patient deterioration, the ViSi Mobile System can enhance a hospital's rapid response system.

"We support the movement to explore innovative ways to detect and respond to deterioration in the health of hospitalized patients and believe that continuous surveillance of patient vital signs is key to both recognizing and reporting physiological instability," said Rosemary Kennedy, Sotera chief nursing officer. "Evidence demonstrates that the highest-specificity indicator for at-risk patients is a combination of heart rate, respiratory rate, systolic blood pressure and change in mental status. The ViSi Mobile System monitors heart rate, respiration rate, and continuous non-invasive blood pressure (cNIBP), along with SpO 2 , pulse rate, and skin temperature, providing a multiparameter solution.

Each year more than 6,000 influential nurses attend The Critical Care Exposition, the largest, most comprehensive trade show for acute and critical care nurses, advanced practice nurses, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, nurse managers as well as progressive care, transport and emergency department nurses who treat critically ill patients. The Exposition is a source of leading technology, innovation and education relevant to the practice of nursing medicine.

About Sotera Wireless

Sotera Wireless, Inc. is a San Diego-based healthcare technology company dedicated to a new generation of comprehensive vital signs monitoring. Sotera's mission is to improve patient safety by empowering clinicians to detect early signs of deterioration in virtually any care setting and enable early intervention and rapid response, all without limiting the patient's freedom of movement. More information on the company or its ViSi Mobile System can be obtained at soterawireless.com or by sending an email to [email protected].

For more information on the ViSi Mobile System stay connected via:

ViSi Mobile on Facebook

ViSi Mobile on Twitter

ViSi Mobile on YouTube

Sotera Wireless on LinkedIn

Sotera and ViSi Mobile are registered trademarks of Sotera Wireless, Inc.

SOURCE Sotera Wireless

Related Links

http://www.soterawireless.com


DALLAS, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pilots from the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA) joined with Labor from across the country to stage informational picketing in front of the White House on Thursday. The groups rallied in opposition of the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) tentative approval to grant Norwegian Air International (NAI) a foreign air carrier permit. The pilots at Southwest, like many others, believe the DOT's decision sets a dangerous precedent in aviation and demonstrates the administration's unwillingness to enforce trade agreements and ensure a level playing field for American workers.

"Southwest pilots are proud to stand with our peers and oppose this dangerous decision," said Captain Jon Weaks, SWAPA President. "If not reversed, Norwegian Air International will possess an unparalleled advantage over U.S. carriers and that is a direct threat to the thousands of aviation workers who operate and support the nation's international flights."

Norwegian Air Shuttle (NAS), NAI's parent company, currently flies to the U.S. using Norwegian crews, operating under Norway's labor and social laws. NAS could expand its current operation to meet its growth plans but instead chooses to evade Norwegian labor and social laws and establish an Irish-based subsidiary. This scheme is in direct violation of article 17 of the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement.

SWAPA urges the DOT to reverse its tentative decision and preserve a fair and level playing field for U.S. workers by denying NAI a Foreign Carrier Permit.

Located in Dallas, Texas, the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association (SWAPA) is a non-profit employee organization representing the more than 8,000 pilots of Southwest Airlines. SWAPA works to provide a secure and rewarding career for Southwest pilots and their families through negotiating contracts, defending contractual rights and actively promoting professionalism and safety. For more information on the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, visit www.swapa.org or Twitter @swapapilots.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association

Related Links

http://www.swapa.org


SAN FRANCISCO and COLUMBIA, Md., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- SparkPost, the leading cloud email service, today announced that CEO Phillip Merrick was presented with the award for technology CEO of the Year by the Tech Council of Maryland. The 28th annual industry awards recognize individuals and businesses that have had a positive impact on the state's technology industry over the last year. The awards were given during a dinner attended by more than 600 technology and business leaders.

The Tech Council recognized Merrick for his leadership, working with the teams that directly contributed to the growth of SparkPost's customer base, while also forging significant business agreements, including a strategic partnership with HP. Merrick and the SparkPost team continue to innovate, providing developers and businesses with the technology they need to deliver, manage and analyze marketing, transactional and customer engagement email streams.

"The SparkPost team has worked together to help the company accomplish some pretty remarkable things," said Merrick. "I am honored to share this prestigious industry award with them."

"The technology and life science communities in Maryland are rich with innovation and talent, which is epitomized in the winners of our 2016 Industry Awards," said Rene B. LaVigne, president and CEO of Iron Bow Technologies and TCM chairman-elect. "We are proud to honor our recipients for their accomplishments and, through all of our nominees this year, to showcase the impressive work that is being done across our state."

"They say that behind every CEO is a dedicated team of tireless professionals. Nowhere is this more true than here at SparkPost," Merrick concluded. "I am proud to work every day with people who are excited about what the future holds, developing products that will continue to help our customer base achieve success in 2016 and beyond."

About the Tech Council of Maryland, Inc.

The Tech Council of Maryland (TCM) is the largest technology trade group serving the advanced technology and biotechnology communities of Maryland. TCM's mission is to advocate for the interests of the technology community, further the role of technology in the Maryland economy, and nurture an environment where technology companies can collaborate, grow and succeed. For more information, visit www.techcouncilmd.com.

About SparkPost

SparkPost is the world's #1 email infrastructure provider. Customers including LinkedIn, Twitter, Groupon, Marketo, Zillow, CareerBuilder, Pinterest, the Financial Times and Comcast send over 3 trillion messages a year, more than 25 percent of the world's legitimate email. These companies chose us to provide the deliverability, speed and insight they need to drive customer engagement for their business. Follow us on Twitter @SparkPost or go to sparkpost.com.

Press Contact

Rachel Kaseroff

SparkPost

(415) 341-5625

[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150827/261556LOGO

SOURCE SparkPost

Related Links

http://www.sparkpost.com


AUSTIN, Texas, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- St. David's HealthCare, which provides care for more Central Texans than any other healthcare system, today announced the investment of more than $275 million in the region's healthcare infrastructure over the next two years. The investments include the acquisition and equipping of a newly constructed hospital in North Austin for $135 million, an initial $20-million investment for the development of a new hospital in Leander, a $70-million expansion at St. David's Medical Center and a $50-million expansion at St. David's South Austin Medical Center.

"This acquisition of a new hospital in the northern region of the market, development of the new Leander facility and significant expansions at two of our largest hospitals, mark another milestone in an unprecedented era of growth for St. David's HealthCare," David Huffstutler, president and chief executive officer of St. David's HealthCare, said. "As this region experiences rapid growth and as St. David's HealthCare develops additional programs and services, we are committed to expanding our network so that we may continue to meet the needs of the community with the highest quality care."

"The St. David's HealthCare announcement of a $275-million capital investment in Central Texas is important on a number of levels. With 60,000 people moving to Austin each year, we must constantly expand our healthcare infrastructure to keep up," Steve Adler, Mayor of Austin, said. "However, capacity alone is not the answer, which is why St. David's is so vital to this regionit brings top-quality healthcare to the Austin area and helps us maintain our position as America's best place to live."

"The Austin business community applauds this extraordinarily significant announcement," Tony Budet, president and CEO of the University Federal Credit Union and current chair of the Austin Chamber, said. "Access to top-quality healthcare is essential to the long-term sustainability of our entire region. We commend St. David's HealthCare for making an investment of this magnitude, especially one that benefits all corners of our community."

New Hospital in North Austin

This newly constructed facility, originally built by a developer, was designed as a specialty surgery hospital. The 8.5-acre property includes a 146,381-square-foot hospital and an adjacent 80,000-square-foot medical office building. The property also includes a 500-space parking garage.

The hospital features 40 patient rooms, including 12 VIP rooms; 10 operating rooms; six-bed intensive care unit (ICU); and an emergency department, in addition to other hospital, clinical and support functions.

The opening of the hospital is expected to create approximately 130 new full-time positions, with that number expected to increase to more than 150 in the first five years of operation.

St. David's HealthCare intends to operate the facility, which will be a campus of St. David's North Austin Medical Center, as a specialty surgery hospital. St. David's HealthCare will operationalize plans for the facility over the next few months and will announce details on the facility opening in the near future.

Leander

St. David's HealthCare has announced the acquisition of approximately 52 acres of land in Leander, Texas, contingent on finalizing agreements with the City of Leander. The healthcare system will initially invest approximately $20 million to bring to Leander a healthcare facility, to be constructed in phases, beginning with a freestanding emergency department (ED) and including future plans for a full-service hospital.

The first in Central Texas to develop a freestanding ED, St. David's HealthCare will construct in Leander an 11,200-square-foot freestanding ED with 10 to 12 rooms. The facility will also feature advanced testing capabilities including radiological testing and a medical lab. It will be staffed by board-certified emergency medicine physicians affiliated with St. David's HealthCare and nurses trained in trauma care. Completion is anticipated in 2017.

The remaining plans for the site include at least one medical office building and an 80-bed hospital with the capacity to grow as the community grows.

During the emergency center's first year of operation, it is expected to hire 25 employees, including nurses, imaging personnel, laboratory personnel, registration staff and support personnel. With the future construction of the hospital, more than 200 jobs will be created.

St. David's Medical Center

The rapid growth of the world-renowned Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center, combined with the growth of the hospital's surgical services, have necessitated the expansion of the cardiac electrophysiology program, medical/surgical bed capacity and intensive care unit (ICU) bed capacity at St. David's Medical Center. St. David's HealthCare is investing $70 million to expand these services. The expansion project, which commences this summer, will include:

12 additional ICU beds;

24 additional medical/surgical beds that will be used primarily for the care of electrophysiology patients;

A new electrophysiology center with six new electrophysiology lab suites and space for the addition of a seventh suite in the future; and

Two additional operating rooms (ORs).

With this expansion, to be completed within the next 18 to 24 months, St. David's Medical Center will have more than 462 beds, including 40 ICU beds, and a total of 19 ORs.

St. David's Medical Center expects to hire more than 50 new employees, with 90 additional positions being added within five years.

St. David's South Austin Medical Center

With programmatic growth in areas such as oncology and trauma at St. David's South Austin Medical Center as well as the organic growth in the south of the market, St. David's HealthCare is investing $50-million in a capital expansion project at St. David's South Austin Medical Center, which includes the hospital's emergency department and patient care room capacity. Completion is expected in late 2017 or early 2018.

St. David's South Austin Medical Center's emergency department (ED) is the largest volume ED in Central Texas, serving approximately 110,000 patients per year. To accommodate this volume, the hospital will increase the size of the emergency department by nearly 14,000 square feet, including the addition of 16 beds and the expansion of other support functions in the emergency services area.

In addition, St. David's South Austin Medical Center will add an additional 26,000 square feet, including a new 34-bed medical/surgical unit, to be developed as an additional floor on top of the hospital's South Tower.

To support the increased services resulting from this expansion, the hospital will hire 50 new full-time employees in the first year, with the expectation that the number of positions will double within five years.

This $275-million investment will be paid for out of St. David's HealthCare operations. No debt will be incurred by the healthcare system, and because of St. David's HealthCare's business model, no philanthropic dollars will be used to support the project.

St. David's HealthCare

With more than 110 sites across Central Texas, St. David's HealthCare includes seven of the area's leading hospitals and is one of the largest health systems in Texas. The organization was recognized with a Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awardthe nation's highest presidential honor for performance excellencein 2014. St. David's HealthCare is the third-largest private employer in the Austin area, with more than 8,700 employees.

St. David's HealthCare is a unique partnership between hospital management company HCA and two local non-profitsSt. David's Foundation and Georgetown Health Foundation. The proceeds from the operations of the hospitals fund the foundations, which, in turn, invest those dollars back into the community. Since the inception of St. David's HealthCare in 1996, more than $269 million have been given back to the community to improve the health and healthcare of people in Central Texas.

Media Contacts:

Kristin Marcum, Erin Ochoa, Misty Whited, Kat Harris

Elizabeth Christian Public Relations

512.472.9599

SOURCE St. Davids HealthCare
NEW YORK, May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- This study focuses on China's Televions market trends. In the two past decades, the market has been growing at a fast pace. The dramatic expansions of the manufacturing capabilities and rising consumer consumptions in China have transformed China's society and economy. China is one of the world's major producers for industrial and consumer products. Far outpacing other economies in the world, China is the world's fastest growing market for the consumptions of goods and services. The Chinese economy maintains a high speed growth which has been stimulated by the consecutive increases of industrial output, imports & exports, consumer consumption and capital investment for over two decades. Rapid consolidation between medium and large players is anticipated since the Chinese government has been encouraging industry consolidation with an effort to regulate the industry and to improve competitiveness in the world market.

Although China has enjoyed the benefits of an expanding market for production and distribution, the industry is suffering from minimal innovation and investment in R&D and new product development. The sector's economies of scale have yet to be achieved. Most domestic manufacturers lack the autonomic intellectual property and financial resources to develop their own brand name products.



This new study focuses on market trends and forecasts with historical data (2005, 2010 and 2015) and long-term forecasts through 2020 and 2025 are presented.

The primary and secondary research is done in China in order to access up-to-date government regulations, market information and industry data. Data were collected from the Chinese government publications, Chinese language newspapers and magazines, industry associations, local governments' industry bureaus, industry publications, and our in-house databases.

Asia Market Info & Dev Co. is one of the leading sources for up-to-date market information and research on the fastest-growing Chinese markets. We have published over 2,000 reports focusing on the Chinese markets, industry forecasts and company profiles. We provide hard-to-find market data and analyses. Our publications are intended to help international marketers identify business opportunities and promote their product sales in the Chinese markets.



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03809751-summary/view-report.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

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HOUSTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- OFSCap, LLC (OFSCap) today announced that its affiliate The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse (Clearinghouse) is expanding its presence into Mexico. Clearinghouse and OFSCap will jointly offer advisory services through a concierge office in Mexico City dedicated to serving financial institutions, family offices and high net worth individuals. Services offered include acquiring and divesting oil and gas assets, engineering and technical advice, valuations, and capital raises in Mexico and the United States.

"Our recent acquisition of Clearinghouse will combine OFSCap's expertise in global investment banking and distribution with Clearinghouse's unique position of being a leading U.S. acquisitions and divestitures (A&D) business," said James C. Row, CFA, Founder and Managing Director of OFSCap. "Our partners and dealmakers can navigate local markets, including Mexico; bridging relationships and creating success for our clients."

Beatriz Camarena Maney, Principal of Clearinghouse International and Co-Founder of OFSCap, and Humberto D. Sirvent, Co-owner of Clearinghouse and Head of Institutional Sales/OFSCap Managing Director, will lead the Mexico initiative.

Ms. Maney also serves as VP of the Finance and Energy Committee at the AEM (Asociacion de Empresarios Mexicanos) in San Antonio and was formerly General Counsel and co-owner of Producers Energy, LLC. In Mexico, she served as international legal liaison to foreign oil and gas entities for Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX).

Mr. Sirvent also is co-founder of Roca Energia, a merchant energy company in Mexico. His expertise in institutional fixed income sales and wealth management is the result of 10 years with Merrill Lynch and UBS Financial Services. He is OFSCap's lead partner for private equity, family offices, high net worth individuals, institutions and pension plans as well as distressed debt in energy projects and financings.

About The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse

The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse, founded in 1992, is the only oil and gas acquisition and divestiture advisory firm offering live auction and negotiated transaction services in the U.S. and now Mexico. Clearinghouse's database is considered the largest broker/dealer approved database of buyers and sellers of energy properties in the market. Since its inception, Clearinghouse has sold over 500,000 properties valued at $13.2 billion through more than 32,000 transactions. High-level reserve engineering, geo-science and land expertise support the company's marketing and advisory services. www.ogclearinghouse.com.

About OFSCap, LLC

OFSCap is a boutique energy investment and merchant bank, providing high quality advice and services to corporate and institutional clients. The company provides expert services and research coverage in the exploration and production, oilfield services, power, distribution and renewable energy sectors. The company brings together investment banking skills with energy industry expertise in providing financial and strategic solutions. OFSCap's team is comprised of proven executives with over $100 billion in transactional experience. www.OFSCap.com.

SOURCE OFSCap, LLC

Related Links

http://ofscap.com


CLEVELAND, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Saint Martin de Porres High School's founding President, Richard F. Clark announced today that Saint Martin is the proud recipient of a joint $250,000 gift from The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE: SHW) and the newly established Connor Foundation, from Sherwin-Williams Executive Chairman Chris Connor. This generous gift will support Saint Martin's A Step Along the Way capital campaign which will fund Saint Martin's new school building, a $26 million investment in the community.

The gift was first announced by Sherwin-Williams President and CEO John Morikis during the Company's 150th Anniversary gathering.

The Corporate Work Study Program office suite in Saint Martin's new 65,000 square foot building will be named The Connor Center for Leadership in recognition of Chris Connor's enormous generosity and leadership at Saint Martin since Sherwin-Williams joined as a Corporate Work Study Program partner in 2005, and in celebration of his highly successful tenure as Chairman and CEO at Sherwin-Williams. Mr. Connor said, "The Connor Foundation applauds the excellent work of Saint Martin, and the Cristo Rey Network, as they continue to impact the lives of talented high school students in Cleveland.

"We are proud to make this combined gift to ensure that Saint Martin de Porres High School will continue to provide educational and leadership opportunities that we know will lead to success in their students' lives. We expect these talented students will become the leaders of tomorrow for our community and exemplify the Jesuit motto of becoming men and women for others."

According to Richard Clark, "Since 2005 Chris Connor has viewed Saint Martin's work-study program as a win-win for students and employers in Cleveland. When he and Sherwin-Williams originally signed on, they brought validity and name recognition to our program, but more importantly they got to know our students. For over a decade, students' lives have been changed because of their experiences at Sherwin-Williams and at Saint Martin, and that is a result of Chris's conscientious, community-focused leadership. We are humbled by this gift and are excited that The Connor Center for Leadership will be the future home of our Corporate Work Study Program."

With this gift, Sherwin-Williams and the Connor Foundation join numerous other corporations, foundations and individuals who are supporting A Step Along the Way, including The Cleveland Foundation, The Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation, Dominion East Ohio Gas, Forest City Realty Trust, Giant Eagle and Parker Hannifin among others. Construction is underway, and Saint Martin anticipates the first phase of the building to be complete by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year.

About Saint Martin de Porres High School

Founded in 2003, Saint Martin de Porres High School is a member of the Cristo Rey Network. Saint Martin has a student body of 400 students in grades 9-12, all of whom are from families of modest economic means. Saint Martin delivers a distinctive approach to education that equips students with the knowledge, character, and skills to transform their lives. From freshman year, Saint Martin establishes a culture of high-expectations by blending rigorous academics, four years of professional work experience, Catholic moral values, and support for students to and through college. The school's alumni base is nearly 600 men and women, many of whom were the first in their families to attend or graduate from post-secondary education.

About the Cristo Rey Network

The Cristo Rey Network comprises 32 Catholic, college preparatory high schools for underrepresented urban youth. Through rigorous academics, coupled with real world work experience, Cristo Rey students graduate high school prepared for success in college and in life.

About Sherwin-Williams

Founded 150 years ago in 1866, The Sherwin-Williams Company is a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution, and sale of coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. With 47,000 associates and $11.3 billion in sales, S-W is the USA's #1 paint and coatings company; #3 in the world. The Company manufactures products under well-known brands such as Sherwin-Williams, HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Krylon, Minwax, Thompson's Water Seal, Ronseal, Sayerlack, Euronavy, Altax and many more. With global headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, Sherwin-Williams branded products are sold exclusively through a chain of more than 4,100 company-operated stores and facilities, while the company's other brands are sold through leading mass merchandisers, home centers, independent paint dealers, hardware stores, automotive retailers, and industrial distributors. The Sherwin-Williams Global Finishes Group delivers a wide range of products to the automotive refinishes, product finishes, and protective and marine markets in 115 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.sherwin.com.

Contact:

Devon Lynch-Huggins-Szep

Saint Martin de Porres High School

Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations

216.881.1689 ext 380

[email protected]

Mike Conway

The Sherwin-Williams Company

Director Corporate Communications

216.515.4393

[email protected]

SOURCE The Sherwin-Williams Company

Related Links

http://www.sherwin.com


WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The union representing Transportation Security Officers at our nation's airports is calling on Congress to pass emergency legislation funding the hiring of 6,000 additional full-time screeners to alleviate long airport security lines.

"These additional TSOs will at least begin to address the shortage of TSOs needed to reduce the delays passengers are facing in airports across the country," American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. wrote in a letter sent to House and Senate leaders on May 12.

Congress should approve funding to hire 6,000 additional airport security officers to alleviate long lines, says the union representing Transportation Security Officers said. The American Federation of Government Employees sent a letter to House and Senate leaders on May 12 calling on emergency legislation to fund the additional employees.

The Transportation Security Administration currently has about 42,000 officers on the job, down from 47,000 in 2013. At the same time, the volume of passengers has risen 15 percent, from 643 million to 740 million.

A proposal to shift $34 million in Homeland Security funding so TSA can hire about 800 additional officers next year and cover overtime for current officers does not address the long-term critical funding shortfalls facing the agency, Cox said.

"Congress has starved TSA of the resources it needs to meet growing demands at our nation's airports. Shamefully, it has even diverted some of the money passengers pay in security fees, shifting those funds from TSA to pay down the federal budget deficit," Cox said.

Instead of ensuring that TSA has adequate funding to maintain sufficient staffing, Congress has imposed an arbitrary cap on the number of full-time TSOs for consecutive years.

"The long wait times we're seeing now are a direct result of Congress' failure to give TSA the money it needs to do its job. Congress needs to provide TSA with stable, long-term funding so our overworked officers can get the help they need and airline passengers don't have to wait hours to get through security lines."

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 670,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.

For the latest AFGE news and information, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367420

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131120/MM21150LOGO



SOURCE American Federation of Government Employees

Related Links

http://www.afge.org


NAMUR, Belgium, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- VolitionRx Limited (NYSE MKT: VNRX), a life sciences company focused on developing blood-based diagnostic tests for a broad range of cancer types and other conditions, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016.

First Quarter 2016 and Recent Company Highlights:

Clinical:

Announced results from a 430 patient study in pre-cancerous colorectal adenomas, in which a panel of five NuQ  biomarker assays in an age adjusted algorithm accurately detected 75% of high-risk colorectal adenomas and 86% of stage 1 colorectal cancers, the best adenoma detection rates to-date by VolitionRx.

biomarker assays in an age adjusted algorithm accurately detected 75% of high-risk colorectal adenomas and 86% of stage 1 colorectal cancers, the best adenoma detection rates to-date by VolitionRx. Released results from a prostate cancer study that demonstrated a single NuQ  biomarker assay detected 71% of early stage I prostate cancer cases at 93% specificity, significantly higher detection rates compared to the current standard of care, the PSA test

biomarker assay detected 71% of early stage I prostate cancer cases at 93% specificity, significantly higher detection rates compared to the current standard of care, the PSA test Reported results from a NuQ trial in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), the Company's first study for a non-cancer indication; NuQ detected IPF in 86% of trial subjects

Regulatory:

Received CE Marks for two NuQ  biomarker assays, NuQ  V001 and NuQ  T003, to detect the presence of colorectal cancer signatures

biomarker assays, NuQ V001 and NuQ T003, to detect the presence of colorectal cancer signatures Received ISO Certification EN ISO 13485:2012 for quality management system for design, development, production and distribution of NuQ blood tests

Operational:

Strengthened leadership team with appointment of Dr. Jason Terrell as full-time Chief Medical Officer and Head of U.S. Operations, and Louise Day as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

as full-time Chief Medical Officer and Head of U.S. Operations, and as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Completed secondary offering of approximately 4.3 million shares of common stock, generating net proceeds after fees and expenses of approximately $12.8 million

"We had an extremely productive first quarter, as we significantly advanced our clinical programs and achieved a number of important regulatory and operational milestones. CE marking of NuQV001 and NuQT003 represented a key step in our path to European commercialization of the NuQ blood test for colorectal cancer, whose launch we plan for later this year," said Cameron Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer of VolitionRx. "We are excited about our progress in Europe, and we are continuing to advance our U.S. clinical and regulatory strategy as well. Later this year, we intend to initiate an FDA-endorsed clinical trial of NuQ. Importantly, we expect to submit a 510(k) application to the FDA, which, if approved, would give NuQ marketing clearance for use as an adjunct test for colorectal cancer. Our strategy positions NuQ for potential FDA clearance and commercial launch as early as 2017. VolitionRx continues to generate the data necessary to submit a PMA for the potential FDA approval of our NuQ test for the early detection of colorectal cancer."

Mr. Reynolds added, "In addition to the continued execution of our commercial strategy, we have had several important clinical accomplishments thus far in 2016. In a targeted clinical trial of 430 pre-cancerous colorectal adenoma patients with Hvidovre Hospital and the University of Copenhagen, a panel of five NuQ biomarker assays in an age adjusted algorithm detected 75% of high-risk colorectal adenomas and 86% of stage I colorectal cancers. These are our highest adenoma detection rates yet, and they demonstrate the power of NuQ, not only for the detection colorectal cancer, but also for pre-cancerous polyps. Furthermore, at the AACR Annual Meeting in New Orleans, we presented the results of a prostate cancer study conducted in collaboration with the Surrey Cancer Research Institute at the University of Surrey in the UK. In this study, a single NuQ biomarker assay detected 71% of early stage I prostate cancer cases with 93% specificity, significantly higher than the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which is the current standard for prostate cancer detection. We are continuing to explore the potential of NuQ to diagnose diseases other than cancer. We released data from our first non-cancer clinical trial with Liege University Hospital in Belgium, in which NuQ detected 86% of subjects with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a deadly lung disease. We believe that NuQ has broad potential across a variety of indications beyond cancer and plan to assess these applications further."

"As of today, we have more than 50 antibody programs in development. A majority of the early programs have been successful and are now used in our Clinical Validation Studies. The goal is to continue investing resources into this strategy in order to build our own proprietary antibody banks. Moreover, this will secure the supply of highly performant antibodies, which we believe will lead to more reliable clinical results and products further down the line."

"In March, we completed a successful secondary offering of common stock in which we issued approximately 4.3 million shares and generated net proceeds of approximately $12.8million after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and expenses payable by us. We completed the first quarter with a strong cash position of $17.0 million, providing us with the financial resources needed to fund our ongoing trials and initiate new ones, as well as to support our commercialization initiatives in Europe, the U.S. and other markets. Our solid leadership team was enhanced by Dr. Jason Terrell's transition to full-time status as Chief Medical Officer and Head of U.S. Operations and Louise Day's appointment as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Overall, we believe we are ideally positioned to meet our key clinical, operational and strategic objectives, and we look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead," Mr. Reynolds concluded.

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

For the three months ended March 31, 2016, VolitionRx reported a net loss of $2.5 million, or $0.13 per share. This compares to a net loss of $2.0 million, or $0.12 per share in the first quarter of 2015.

Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2016 totaled $17.0 million, compared with $5.9 million as of December 31, 2015.





About VolitionRx

VolitionRx is a life sciences company focused on developing blood-based diagnostic tests for different types of cancer. The NuQ tests are based on the science of Nucleosomics which is the practice of identifying and measuring nucleosomes in the bloodstream  an indication that cancer is present.

VolitionRx's goal is to make the tests as common and simple to use, for both patients and doctors, as existing diabetic and cholesterol blood tests. VolitionRx's research and development activities are currently centered in Belgium as the company focuses on bringing its diagnostic products to market first in Europe, then in the U.S. and ultimately, worldwide.

Visit VolitionRx's website (www.volitionrx.com) or connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or YouTube.

An animation introducing VolitionRx's Nucleosomics technology can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38dodCpyXf0.

Nucleosomics, NuQ and HyperGenomics and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts

Louise Day, VolitionRx

[email protected]

Telephone: +44 (0) 7557 774620

Kirsten Thomas, The Ruth Group

[email protected]

Telephone: +1 (646) 536-7014

Investor Contacts

Scott Powell, VolitionRx

[email protected]

Telephone: +1 (646) 650-1351

Lee Roth, The Ruth Group

[email protected]

Telephone: +1 (646) 536-7012

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements in this press release may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "aims," "targets," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "optimizing," "potential," "goal," "suggests," "could," "would," "should," "may," "will" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of the Company's bodily-fluid-based diagnostic tests as well as the Company's ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. For instance, if we fail to develop and commercialize diagnostic products, we may be unable to execute our plan of operations. Other risks and uncertainties include the Company's failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products in the clinical IVD market; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in the Company's development pipeline or any other diagnostic products the Company might develop; the Company will face fierce competition and the Company's intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; and other risks identified in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Nucleosomics, NuQ and HyperGenomics and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to in this press release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE VolitionRx Ltd
Organized by Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd., about 130 works from 40 artists and groups from 15 countries are on display, including paintings, sculptures, installments and videos from famous names such as Choe U-Ram, Ann Hamilton, Florentijn Hofam, John Koormeling, Olafur Eliasson and Martin Parr.

One of the most notable pieces is Hamilton's Again Still Yet, a large loom made from the seats and stage of Wuzhen's iconic Guole traditional Chinese Theatre, which inspires the re-understanding of the relationship between seats, stage and theatre and the re-imagining of the structural value of work in life.

"Utopia is directly related but also contrary to social reality," explained Feng Boyi, the exhibition's curator. "Heterotopia is a representation of varied phenomena and results on a real level in the process of imagining, pursuing, and practicing utopia.

"While China is the place that most embodies some characteristics of heterotopia, Wuzhen, a 1,000 year-old water town, is a good example of China's urbanization and its progress of social transformation. And while preserving traditional cultural resources is imperative, it is equally important that their redevelopment be adapted to fit the special environment of China and to satisfy people's living conditions and needs for a modern life."

Art Wuzhen is held in the West Scenic District, the part of Wuzhen that perhaps best typifies a Southeastern Chinese water town, and the North Silk Factory, a renovation of an abandoned 1970s factory. The two sites embody Wuzhen's traditional rural and industrial past as well as its creative present.

Besides the exhibitions, more than 20 additional events, including artist lectures and workshops, have also been set up to help bring visitors deeper into the contemporary art world.

For more information, visit:

Website: http://en.artwuzhen.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artwuzhen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artwuzhen

About Wuzhen

Wuzhen is an ancient traditional Chinese water town located a one-hour drive from Shanghai. It combines more than 10 cultural landscapes including folk museums and celebrity residences with contemporary art elements and modern resort facilities to offer visitors an unparalleled leisure experience.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367273

SOURCE Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://en.artwuzhen.org


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

Hash: SHA1



=====================================================================

Red Hat Security Advisory



Synopsis: Moderate: docker security, bug fix, and enhancement update

Advisory ID: RHSA-2016:1034-01

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Extras

Advisory URL: https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1034.html

Issue date: 2016-05-12

CVE Names: CVE-2016-3697

=====================================================================



1. Summary:



An update for docker is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7

Extras.



Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact

of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which

gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from

the CVE link(s) in the References section.



2. Relevant releases/architectures:



Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras - x86_64



3. Description:



Docker is an open-source engine that automates the deployment of any

application as a lightweight, portable, self-sufficient container that will

run virtually anywhere.



Security Fix(es):



* It was found that Docker would launch containers under the specified UID

instead of a username. An attacker able to launch a container could use

this flaw to escalate their privileges to root within the launched

container. (CVE-2016-3697)



This issue was discovered by Mrunal Patel (Red Hat).



Bug Fix(es):



* The process of pulling an image spawns a new "goroutine" for each

layer

in the image manifest. If any of these downloads, everything stops and an

error is returned, even though other goroutines would still be running and

writing output through a progress reader which is attached to an http

response writer. Since the request handler had already returned from the

first error, the http server panics when one of these download goroutines

makes a write to the response writer buffer. This bug has been fixed, and

docker no longer panics when pulling an image. (BZ#1264562)



* Previously, in certain situations, a container rootfs remained busy

during container removal. This typically happened if a container mount

point leaked into another mount namespace. As a consequence, container

removal failed. To fix this bug, a new docker daemon option

"dm.use_deferred_deletion" has been provided. If set to true, this

option

will defer the container rootfs deletion. The user will see success on

container removal but the actual thin device backing the rootfs will be

deleted later when it is not busy anymore. (BZ#1190492)



* Previously, the Docker unit file had the "Restart" option set to

"on-failure". Consequently, the docker daemon was forced to restart

even in

cases where it couldn't be started because of configuration or other issues

and this situation forced unnecessary restarts of the docker-storage-setup

service in a loop. This also caused real error messages to be lost due to

so many restarts. To fix this bug, "Restart=on-failure" has been

replaced

with "Restart=on-abnormal" in the docker unit file. As a result, the

docker

daemon will not automatically restart if it fails with an unclean exit

code. (BZ#1319783)



* Previously, the request body was incorrectly read twice by the docker

daemon and consequently, an EOF error was returned. To fix this bug, the

code which incorrectly read the request body the first time has been

removed. As a result, the EOF error is no longer returned and the body is

correctly read when really needed. (BZ#1329743)



Enhancement(s):



* The /usr/bin/docker script now calls /usr/bin/docker-current or

/usr/bin/docker-latest based on the value of the sysconfig variable

DOCKERBINARY present in /etc/sysconfig/docker. /usr/bin/docker and

/etc/sysconfig/docker provided by the docker-common package allow the admin

to configure which docker client binary gets called. /usr/bin/docker will

call /usr/bin/docker-latest by default when docker is not installed. If

docker is installed, /usr/bin/docker will call /usr/bin/docker-current by

default, unless DOCKERBINARY is set to /usr/bin/docker-latest in

/etc/sysconfig/docker. This way, you can use docker-latest or docker

without the need to check which version of the daemon is currently running.

(BZ#1328219)



4. Solution:



For details on how to apply this update, which includes the changes

described in this advisory, refer to:



https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258



5. Bugs fixed (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/):



1186066 - The docker stop operation doesn't work with --pid=host containers

containing multiple processes

1261565 - docker-storage-setup service fails after initial successful run if

DEVS is defined in /etc/sysconfig/docker-storage-setup

1266307 - Capture information about the remote user connecting over socket in

/run/docker

1268059 - docker exec setting the wrong cgroups

1272143 - Can't start containers that use supplemental groups but lack

/etc/groups

1303110 - [extras-rhel-7.2.4] Docker does not own /usr/lib/docker-storage-setup

1309739 - docker push fails when pushing image to docker hub

1316651 - Docker run read-only: System error: read-only file system

1319783 - [docker] Use Restart=on-abnormal instead of Restart=on-failure

1322762 - sha256 Conflict while pull images after upgrade

1328219 - [extras-rhel-7.2.4] include docker-common subpackage in

'docker' to handle /usr/bin/docker for docker and docker-latest

1329423 - Skip /dev setup in container when it is bind mounted in

1329450 - CVE-2016-3697 docker: privilege escalation via confusion of usernames

and UIDs

1329743 - Unable to push images to private registry using docker-1.9.1-25 and

python-docker-py-1.7.2-1

1330595 - /usr/bin/docker wrapper script: $@ must be quoted

1330622 - enhance condition judgement in /usr/bin/docker script

1331007 - SELinux regression in docker-selinux-1.9.1-37

1332592 - Incomplete requirement on docker-common



6. Package List:



Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras:



Source:

docker-1.9.1-40.el7.src.rpm



x86_64:

docker-1.9.1-40.el7.x86_64.rpm

docker-common-1.9.1-40.el7.x86_64.rpm

docker-forward-journald-1.9.1-40.el7.x86_64.rpm

docker-logrotate-1.9.1-40.el7.x86_64.rpm

docker-selinux-1.9.1-40.el7.x86_64.rpm



These packages are GPG signed by Red Hat for security. Our key and

details on how to verify the signature are available from

https://access.redhat.com/security/team/key/



7. References:



https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3697

https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/#moderate



8. Contact:



The Red Hat security contact is <secalert@redhat.com>. More contact

details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/



Copyright 2016 Red Hat, Inc.

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--

Enterprise-watch-list mailing list

Enterprise-watch-list@redhat.com

https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/enterprise-watch-list


Care Worker Provides Critical Psychosocial and Medical Help

May 3, 2016

Wabei, a 25-year-old Zambian mother was suicidal. She and her Namibian husband were both HIV positive, as was one of their children. Now she was pregnant again. When Martha Ziezo, a community home based care provider, met Wabei, she found a woman who felt helpless and stigmatized. Wabei thought that her lack of Namibian identity papers was a barrier to receiving treatment.

Martha accompanied Wabei to the local traditional authorities who in turn provided her a written testimonial which she took to the Regional Health Director of the Zambezi region. She then acquired an authorization letter allowing her to receive ART (antiretroviral treatment).

Martha also helped Wabei navigate the proper channels so that her whole family could become enrolled in Project HOPEs Orphans and Vulnerable Children program in Namibia.

Although Wabei lost two children  one to pneumonia and one to malnutrition  she and her surviving children are now enrolled in the Project HOPE supported OVC program.

Project HOPE began strengthening health care services and providing health education in Namibia in 2002 while implementing HIV/AIDS workplace education programs. HOPEs programs have since grown to include tuberculosis (TB) treatment and education, strengthening the coping capacities of households and communities caring for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), working to prevent HIV/AIDS among young women and village health banks.

The OVC program under the Namibia Adherence and Retention Project (NARP) was implemented by Project HOPE Namibia with Catholic AIDS Action (CAA) and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). NARP is a three-year project implemented in six regions of Namibia, including the Zambezi region. One of the services included in the package is the provision of treatment adherence and retention support. Providers are trained to follow up to ensure individuals and families are enrolled in care, remain in care, and if they are on treatment, take their medications correctly.

The psychosocial and medical support that Wabei has received was critical in the healing of her family.

Thank you Martha and the CAA Staff for what you have done for me, says Wabei. You saved my life when I wanted to kill myself, you visit me every time to encourage me. It is because of you that I feel strong now. If it wasnt for you I could be dead leaving my children suffering without a mother. Martha, you are like a mother to me, an angel in time of need. Continue helping other people the way you did to me.
Hyderabad, May 10 : A city court on Tuesday convicted eight members of a "snake gang" involved in various crimes by threatening the victims with snakes.

The ninth accused was acquitted by the court.

The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on Wednesday by the Ranga Reddy district court.

The main accused, Faisal Dayani, a gym instructor, and the others were convicted for dacoity.

The prosecutor said under section 395 of the Indian Penal Code, the accused may be sentenced to life or rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to 10 years.

However, the charge of gangrape against the accused was dropped as the victim withdrew her statement.

The sensational activities of the gang came to light in 2014 when a girl 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 gang, however, has been charged under Section 354 B of Nirbhaya Act (assaut or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe woman).

The gang was allegedly involved in extortion and settling of disputes. Its members used snakes to threaten their victims. Police had also seized four horses from their possession. They have also been charged with showing cruelty to animals.
New Delhi, May 10 : Denying interim relief to JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the rustication order passed by the university against them over a controversial event on Kashmir in the campus.

Justice Manmohan said he will "not stay the order" and issued notice to the Jawaharlal Nehru University, asking it to file its response along with all relevant documents, including the enquiry report.

"I have to ask for records. I have to see whether fair procedure was followed. I have to look into the facts. The matter requires consideration and decision can't be taken overnight," said the judge posting the matter for May 30.

Khalid and Bhattacharya approached the court against the rustication order and Rs.20,000 fine imposed against Khalid. The university took the action on April 25 after a probe panel set up by the varsity administration found them guilty of "misconduct" and "indiscipline".

The two students were found guilty of staging a protest demonstration under the pretext of holding a poetry reading, the chief proctor had said.

Counsel, appearing for both, told the court that they were rusticated without proper hearing and notices, arguing both were hiding for 10 days and thereafter surrendered and were sent to jail and how can an enquiry committee be set up behind their back.

On the other hand, counsel for JNU said that notices were served to them at their residential addresses and jail. After the counsel for Khalid raised objection on Rs.20,000 fine imposed on him, the university said it will extend the date of its payment till the next date of hearing.

The February 9 event led to the arrests of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya on sedition charges after it was alleged that participants at the event shouted anti-national slogans. Delhi Police repeatedly claimed they had evidence against Kanhaiya Kumar and the other students but failed to produce it in court, leading to their release from jail on bail.
New Delhi, May 10 : Ten emeritus professors of JNU on Tuesday wrote to Vice-Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar saying they were disturbed by the curbs on freedom of speech on the campus.

The letter said the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus had always been a space where free speech was allowed and speakers from outside the university were also invited.

"As emeritus professors we are disturbed by the turn of events at the campus. The university has always been a space where we allowed free discussion of issues raised by students and faculty," the letter read.

"In the course of such discussion whether in seminars or at other informal gatherings, speakers from both within and from outside the university were invited to participate."

They also criticised the university administration over the punishment handed out to the students who organised the controversial February 9 event on Kashmir on the campus.

"The current administration has clamped down on free discussion by imposing severe punishments of fines and rustication on those who organised (the) meeting. This despite the fact that they were arrested and sent to jail," the letter stated.

The letter also requested the university administration to reconsider its order banning the entry of outsiders in the campus.

JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and 18 other students had gone on a hunger strike from April 28 to protest against the punishment handed out to them by a high-level committee that probed the February 9 event where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Following the event, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested on sedition charges.

The committee report, released on April 25, fined Kanhaiya Kumar Rs.10,000 and rusticated Khalid and Bhattacharya.

Kanhaiya Kumar has since withdrawn from the hunger strike. On day nine on Tuesday, the remaining 14 students continued the hunger strike despite the authorities calling the activity "unlawful".
Kabul, May 11 : Twelve militants were killed in military operations launched by the Afghan army, the defence ministry said on Wednesday.

"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.
New Delhi, May 11 : A special court here on Wednesday ordered that the CBI be handed over a copy of New Delhi Exim director Suresh Singhal's statement in a coal block allocation case allegedly involving former parliamentarian Naveen Jindal.

Singhal moved an application last month, whereby he had sought pardon and expressed his desire to become an approver in the case.

Following the court's directions, Singhal's statement was recorded before a magistrate here last month and the copy was submitted in a sealed cover in the court of Central Bureau of Investigation Special Judge Bharat Parashar.

The CBI told the court that the copy of Singhal's statement was required for deciding whether he can turn approver or not.

The accused also sought a copy of Singhal's statement.

The court said it will decide whether the statement's copy can be supplied to the accused as well after the CBI filed its response.

The court asked the probe agency to file a reply on Singhal's plea by May 13.

The court last month found prima facie evidence against former parliamentarian, industrialist and senior Congress leader Naveen Jindal, former union minister of state for coal Dasari Narayana Rao, former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and others in a case related to the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Gagan Sponge.

However, Jindal, Rao, Koda and others denied the charge and sought discharge from the case.

The CBI in April last year filed a chargesheet against Jindal, Koda, Rao and former coal secretary H.C. Gupta apart from New Delhi Exim director Suresh Singhal, Jindal Realty director Rajeev Jain, Gagan Sponge directors Girish Kumar Juneja and R.K. Saraf, Sowbhagya Media's managing director K. Ramakrishna and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg.

Five private companies -- four based in Delhi and one in Hyderabad -- were also named in the charge sheet.

The companies are Jindal Steel and Power Ltd., Gagan Sponge Iron Pvt. Ltd., Jindal Reality Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi Exim Pvt. Ltd. and Sowbhagya Media Ltd.
Rome, May 11 : 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.
New Delhi, May 11 : Making an impassioned plea to safeguard parliament's powers, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday asked the Congress party to reconsider its opposition to the Goods and Services Tax Bill and withdraw its insistence on handing over dispute resolution under GST to the Supreme Court.

"If India has to grow, please reconsider your position on having a provision (GST Bill) that would surrender legislative jurisdiction to the courts," Jaitley said replying to the discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the Finance and Appropriations Bills.

The Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill were later approved by the upper house by voice vote.

"Step by step, brick by brick the edifice of India's legislature is being destroyed," Jaitley said, referring to the Congress proposal to appoint a judge to settle disputes between the Centre and states on GST.

"This is a political issue ... you can't hand over this power to the judiciary," he added.

On the Congress demand for a constitutional cap of 18 percent on GST, Jaitley said though he had no problem with the rate proposed there could not be a constitutional limit placed in case adverse situations arose in future.

"There cannot be a uniform tax for all commodities. There are 'aam aadmi' (common man) commodities that could attract 5-6 percent tax.. that the GST Council will decide. But why should luxury products like a BMW car be taxed only 18 percent," he asked.

In this connection, he said that the new fiscal had begun on a hopeful note with India's indirect tax collections for April rising 42 percent to over Rs.64,000 crore
Washington, May 12 : As a triumphant Donald Trump comes to Washington to meet House speaker Paul Ryan, rank-and file House Republicans are pressing the latter to fall behind the party's presumptive presidential nominee.

Ryan's resistance to endorsing Trump could lead to the party fracturing as "It makes it harder to unite," said Raul Labrador, a leader of conservative House Freedom Caucus ahead of the Thursday meeting between the speaker and the party's new standard-bearer.

Commenting on Ryan's remark that "it's Donald Trump's duty to unite the party," another member asked at a meeting of House Republicans Wednesday, "So Mr. Speaker, what's your job regarding unity?"

"To pretend we are unified without actually unifying means we go into the fall at half-strength," said Ryan, "This election is too important to go into an election at half-strength."

Many House Republicans members, according to CNN shared some of Ryan's concerns about the controversial billionaire, but after his lengthy string of convincing primary victories, they are resigned to lining up behind Trump.

Ryan ha also suggested he hoped Trump would show an openness to change on both substance and tone when they meet on Thursday, but Trump believes he has the "mandate" to be himself and has no intention of reinventing himself for the presidential poll.

Meanwhile, Trump's candidacy is said have sparked 'a surge' in citizenship, voter applications among Latinos primarily motivated by Trump's plans to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and building a wall on the US-Mexico border, the Washington Post reported.

On the Democratic side, a group of staffers and volunteers of Bernie Sanders, who is giving a tough fight to frontrunner Hillary Clinton, are pressing him to get out of the presidential race after the Democratic primaries and concentrate on building a national progressive organization to stop Donald Trump.

With Sanders unlikely to get enough delegates to beat Clinton, they want him to launch an independent political group far larger than any other recent post-campaign political operations, such as those started by Howard Dean or Barack Obama, the Politico reported.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
Thiruvananthapuram, May 12 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi owes an apology, not silence, to Kerala for comparing the state with Somalia, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said on Thursday.

"Modi left Kochi last night without withdrawing his remarks. Malayalees all over the world are upset over the remarks of the PM," Chandy said in a Facebook post.

He was referring to the prime minister's remarks made at election rallies he addressed for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"With the pride of the Malayalees deeply affected, none expected silence from PM. Instead what all thought was he would withdraw the statements and apologize. Keralites continue to expect that the PM would apologise," said Chandy.

Modi said on Sunday that "the child death ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is scarier than even Somalia" - provoking protests across the state.

Modi also cited media reports that said tribal children in Peravoor were seen foraging for food in a garbage dump to make his case that the state had not been properly governed.

Chandy said Modi's comparison of Kerala, whose high social indicators are widely acknowledged, with Somalia was absurd.

After the protests, Modi was expected to retract his statement and apologize but he did not, Chandy said.

On Wednesday, Modi continued his attack on Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), without responding to criticism over his controversial remarks.

Chandy earlier wrote to Modi urging him not to bring "disrepute" to the Prime Minister's Office by airing "baseless remarks" about Kerala.

The BJP, which has never won an assembly or Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, has been making a valiant attempt to defend Modi.
Washington, May 12 : The US is to launch a new ground-based missile defence system in Romania on Thursday amid increased tensions with Russia.

The system, to be operated by NATO, is finally getting launched nearly a decade after the US first announced plans to do so, only to encounter a pushback from Russia.

The US has long insisted that the shield not intended to target Moscow's missiles, but Russian officials have slammed the move as an "attempt to destroy the strategic balance" in Europe, CNN reported.

The system is to be turned over to NATO command and will be housed at a US naval support facility in Deveselu, the site of a Romanian military base.

On Friday, another phase of the project will be launched in Poland with a groundbreaking ceremony at Redzikowo, near the Baltic Sea.

Aegis missiles are to become operational there in 2018.

The Aegis Ashore Missile Defence System is capable of firing SM-3 defensive missiles that can "defeat incoming short and medium range enemy missiles", according to Shawn Eklund, a spokesman for the US Navy.

Eklund told CNN that the facility will be manned by approximately 130 US sailors.

The inaugural ceremony for the new system will be attended by top U.S. and NATO military officials.

The Romania installation is the first land-based defensive missile launcher in Europe and will join other elements of the NATO defensive shield, including a command-and-control centre at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, a radar installation in Turkey and four ships capable of identifying enemy missiles and firing their own SM-3s based in Spain.
Hanoi, May 12 : Four tourists, who disappeared while sailing near Malaysia's Borneo island, were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat, an official told EFE news on Thursday.

The official from the Maritime Authority of Malaysia, said the four tourists -- Spanish couple David Hernandez and his girlfriend Marta Miguel, Chinese national Tommy Lam and a Malaysian woman, Armella Ali Hassan -- disappeared on May 2 while the group was travelling in a boat from Balambangan Island towards Kudat district in Borneo; a journey they should have completed in two hours.

Malaysian authorities believe engine failure caused the boat to capsize and be swept away by the currents, and ruled out the possibility that the four might have been captured by pirates in the waters close to the Philippines.

The tourists are being transported back to Kota Kinabalu in Borneo's eastern Sabah state where they are expected to arrive on Thursday night or Friday morning.
Brasilia, May 12 : Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is set to face trial after the Senate on Thursday voted to impeach and suspend her.

Fifty-five of the 81 members of Brazil's upper house voted in favour of the motion. Twenty-two voted against, BBC reported.

Rousseff, the country's first woman president, is accused of illegally manipulating finances to hide a growing public deficit ahead of her re-election in 2014, which she has denied.

Vice-President Michel Temer will now assume the presidency while Rousseff's trial takes place which may last upto 180 days, media reports said.

Rousseff made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to stop proceedings, but the move was rejected. Her suspension brings an end to 13 years of the rule of her Workers' Party.

The senators were each given 15 minutes to speak, with a buzzer indicating when their time was up. In total 71 of the house's 81 members spoke.

Former president Fernando Collor de Mello, himself impeached by the senate in 1992, said that he feels the country has "regressed politically", CNN reported.

His colleague Armando Monteiro said the impeachment was politically motivated and would set a dangerous precedence.

"We will, indeed, be promoting a rupture in the nation's institutional order."

Rousseff, who was first sworn into office in January 2011 and started a second term in 2015, has called the steps to remove her a "coup".

Rousseff has been also blamed for the worst recession since the 1930s, now in its second year.

Senator Waldemir Moka told the upper house during the motion that if the impeachment trial was successful, the future president would assume a government with a 250 billion Brazilian real debt ($72 billion) according to conservative projections, with the possibility of being up to 600 billion real ($174 billion).

Rousseff would be suspended during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro which starts on August 5.

When the investigation ends -- which could be as late as November -- the process would return to a special Senate committee.

At that point, Rousseff would have 20 days to present her case. Following that, the committee would vote on a final determination and then present it for a vote in the full senate.

It would take a two-thirds majority to then remove the president from office.
New Delhi, May 12 : Indian Naval Ships Delhi, Tarkash and Deepak on Thursday reached Kuwait on a four day visit, an official statement said.

The statement said Indian naval officers and sailors would undertake professional interactions with their Kuwait counterparts pertaining to nuances of maritime operations, including means of combating maritime terrorism and piracy.

They will also call on senior government and military authorities, sporting and cultural interactions and sharing of best practices, aimed at enhancing cooperation and strengthening mutual understanding between the two navies, are also planned.

The visiting ships are also likely to conduct exercises with the Kuwait Naval Force, it said, adding defence cooperation between India and Kuwait has been steadily growing through high level visits, training exchanges and port visits by naval ships in recent past.

India and Kuwait are also members of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), a voluntary and co-operative initiative between 30 countries of the Indian Ocean Region, which has served as an ideal forum for sharing of information and cooperation on maritime issues.

Indian Navy's ships Delhi, Deepak, Trishul and Tabar last visited Kuwait in September 2015. A delegation from the Kuwait Naval Force also participated in the recent International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam.

INS Delhi, an indigenous guided missile destroyer, is commanded by Captain Sandeep Singh Sandhu, INS Tarkash, a stealth frigate is commanded by Captain Pradeep Singh and INS Deepak, fleet replenishment tanker, is commanded by Captain Sujit Kumar Chhetri.
Damascus, May 13 : Nearly 120,000 Palestinian refugees have left Syria as a result of the long-lasting war, the head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees said on Thursday.

Before the war, there were 560,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria, but as the war continued, between 110,000 to 120,000 left the country, said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Xinhua reported.

Krahenbuhl said 45,000 Palestinians had left Syria for Lebanon, 15,000 for Jordan, half of the overall number for Europe via Turkey, and the rest for countries in Asia and Latin America.

Regarding the UNRWA efforts, Krahenbuhl said the situation of the people in the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus, is still desperate, noting that the aid efforts to Palestinian refugees in areas near Yarmouk have recently improved.

He noted that the UNRWA has concentrated on giving aid to the neighbourhoods near Yarmouk camp.

The Yarmouk camp is a large district in southern Damascus. It has recently become a stage of intense battles between the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.
Islamabad, May 13 : Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz conceded that relations with the US has been under stress for the past three months because of conditions Washington had attached to the funding of F-16 fighter jets sale.

The confession was made by the adviser on Thursday while concluding a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Dawn online reported.

The adviser said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents including WikiLeaks and the Abbottabad operation where former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed.

Since 2013, he said Pakistan's relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory".

"In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," he said.

Aziz said that the US action might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been categorically rejected by Pakistan.

The adviser, however, assured the Senate that in view of the importance of the issue, Pakistan is making all-out efforts to finalise the F-16 deal with the US administration.

However, senators have termed the US a friend which could not be trusted anymore.

They also criticised the US for expanding its relations with India.
Mumbai, May 13 : Filmmaker Omung Kumar's wife Vanita Omung Kumar, also the production designer for his film "Sarbjit", says creating a Pakistani ambience was a tough task for her.

"Creating Pakistan for 'Sarbjit' was a tough task for me. We could not go there to shoot for various reasons. So to find a place like a Pakistani jail was so difficult. Pakistan jails are very different. They are like huge and have major areas. The walls are like a fort," Vanita told IANS.

"So we went to Palghar fort and it was so interesting. They had these Islamic arches so I created the whole jail in Palghar. I have kept the beauty of the fort intact and it's completely in a real zone," she added.

Randeep Hooda plays Sarabjit Singh in the film, which is a biopic on the Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death.

Vanita, who is also co-producing the film, says it is very special to her.

She said: "Co-producing happened because this film is like our baby. A lot of hard work, passion, blood and sweat has gone into making this film. It's not just a film. It's like a mission and I just hope people feel the same way as we did while making this film. It's not just another film. It's a very special film for all of us."
Chennai, May 13 : Actor Allu Arjun, who is basking in the phenomenal success of his latest Telugu outing "Sarrainodu", says he hasn't yet been used to his full potential and that there are many genres and different subjects that he would like to explore.

"I feel I haven't been used to the fullest of my potential. There are so many genres to explore and diverse subjects to work on," Arjun, one of the top cine stars in Telugu film world, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

He also feels he has restricted himself to one industry, thereby losing out on opportunity to work with directors from other languages.

"In the next five years, I am keen on expanding my base as a pan south Indian actor. Since most of our films cater to crossover audiences, I think it's time we make films for multilingual viewers. If 'Baahubali' could rake in over Rs.200 crore, it was only possible because it was released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi," he said.

"There has always been a market for bilinguals. It's just that we have realised it late, but I'm glad filmmakers are finally open to the idea. I'm really looking forward to work with directors from Tamil and Malayalam film industries," said Arjun, who will next team up with Tamil filmmaker Linguswamy for a yet-untitled Tamil-Telugu bilingual project.

While he remained tight-lipped about the impending project, he said: "I like new challenges. Working in a new industry will open the door to new horizons. Recently, I was in Bangalore to promote my film and the reception I got there took me by surprise. With such unprecedented support, I see it as a great industry (Kannada) to explore."

On a career high with three back-to-back blockbusters, Arjun's "Sarrainodu" is unstoppable at the ticket window, having recently grossed over Rs.100 crore.

Commenting on the successful run of his film, he said: "I just hope this momentum doesn't stop. The pressure to succeed has considerably increased as people will now expect my next film to do much better."

Even though the masses loved the film, it didn't elicit positive response from the critics.

"You can't expect critics to appreciate all kinds of cinema. They are intellectual, well read, so I don't think they can understand this film," he said, adding what really matters to him finally is whether he is given a good film or not.

He also said there's a strong reason why he did "Sarrainodu".

"I've always wanted one of my films to be in top five grossers across all areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Although some of my films are in the top league in Telangana, I couldn't create a similar impact in Andhra Pradesh. 'Sarrainodu' helped me achieve it," he said, and added that the film stands next to "Baahubali" in terms of overall revenue share across most areas in Andhra too.

"This film has served the purpose 200 percent," said an elated Arjun, who also has a yet-untitled Telugu medical thriller with director Vikram Kumar in the offing.

"Vikram and I are attempting something that hasn't been done in Indian cinema before. It's too early to talk about it," he said, assuring to share more information closer to the film's launch.

(Haricharan Pudipeddi can be contacted at haricharan.p@ians.in)
Kabul, May 13 : At least 29 militants were killed during military operations conducted by Afghan security forces in 17 of the country's 34 provinces, the defence ministry said on Friday.

About 40 militants were wounded and five suspected militants were detained in the raids, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Afghan army launched the raids in close coordination with police and personnel of national intelligence agency. The joint forces also seized weapons and ammunition besides defusing several landmines," the ministry said, adding that the security forces also confiscated two vehicles and eight motorbikes.
New Delhi, May 13 : Baba Hardev Singh, spiritual head of Sant Nirankari Mission, died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada, an official of the organization said here on Friday.

Kripasagar, press and publicity incharge of the mission, said they were deeply saddened by the news Baba Hardev Singh's death. He was 62.

"It was sudden and sad news for us," Kripasagar told IANS.
New York, May 13 : The 83-year-old father of Ami Bera, the only Indian descent Congressman, has pleaded guilty to illegally funding his son's election campaigns with at least $260,000. putting at risk his reelection in November.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell announced Tuesday that Babulal Bera admitted to making contributions to Ami Bera's two election campaigns fraudulently in the names of other people and over the legal limit.

Prosecutors have cleared Ami Bera of involvement in the campaign funding scam, but it makes his reelection prospects harder as he is already facing opposition in his constituency from trade unions in his own Democratic Party. He was reelected to a second term in 2014 by less than 1,500 votes after a bruising campaign. The race was the costliest House of Representatives campaign that year with the two parties together running up a tab of $21 million.

Federal prosecutor Phillip A. Talbert told reporters on Tuesday that there was "no indication" that the Democratic Representative or his staff were involved in the illegal election financing and that they had cooperated with the prosecutors.

Ami Bera, a medical doctor who represents the from the 7th California District in the state capital area, told the Sacramento Bee newspaper that he had no idea that his father had illegally financed his campaign. He said that he has sent the money contributed by his father to the US government.

In 2010 Ami Bera lost his first election campaign for the House of Representative for which his father, a retired chemical engineer, contributed $240,000. The successful 2012 campaign received $40,000 from his father.

According to the Federal Election Commission, the maximum amount an individual can contribute to a candidate was $2,400 in 2010 and $2,500 in 2012.

Babulal Bera was charged in the federal court for the Eastern California in Sacramento before Judge Troy L. Nunley, who is to sentence him in August. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years on two charges, but is unlikely get the harsh penalty given his age. The Los Angeles Times reported that the prosecutors are recommending a prison term of upto 30 months.

Court papers said that Babulal Bera asked about 90 friends and relatives to send over 130 contributions to his son's campaign in their own names and then he reimbursed them so that he himself will not appear to have exceeded the legal funding limits.

He is the third person of Indian descent to run afoul of the election laws in the past two years. Conservative author Dinesh D'Souza was convicted in 2014 of illegally contributing $20,000 to the unsuccessful Republican Senate campaign of his college friend, Wendy Long. Although New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara sought a jail term, the judge gave him a $30,000 fine and eight months of community confinement that allowed him to continue working.

Sant Singh Chatwal, a hotelier, pleaded guilty in 2014 to making illegal contributions of $188,000 to three candidates and was fined $500,000 and sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service. In an unusual move, the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn at that time, Loretta Lynch, did not disclose who received Chatwal's illegal contributions. Media reports, however, identified one of the recipients as Hillary Clinton who received them when she ran for Senate. Lynch is now the US Attorney General.

The scandal casts a shadow on Ami Bera's reelection bid in November when he will face the Republican Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones. He is up against serious opposition within his own party because of his support for President Barack Obama's Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, which trade unions consider anti-labour.

Because of trade union opposition he was unable get the endorsement of his local party unit to run for reelection and he had to get the backing of the state party convention. Unions have held protests against him in his district and vowed to defeat him as they say 12-nation TPP will lead to loss of jobs and lower wages in the US because of the cheaper imports it will allow.

Ami Bera's 2014 victory was a nail-biter. On election night he was about 3,000 votes behind Republican Doug Ose, but as postal and other ballots were tallied over a two-week period he emerged the winner by just 1,432 votes.

According to media reports, Bera raised $3.7 million and outside organisations like the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $6.5 million promoting him in the 2014 election. Ose raised $3.2 million and the National Republican Congressional Committee and others contributed almost $7 million to campaign for him.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in)
Ahmedabad, May 13 : Former Gujarat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to undermine the judiciary's independence.

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, made available to IANS, Mehta pulled up Jaitley for remarking that the judiciary was destroying the edifice of India's legislature "step by step, brick by brick".

"It is not the judiciary which is seeking to undermine the executive or the legislature," Mehta, formerly in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said in the letter.

"Rather, it is the executive, led by Modi, which is doing it on purpose, seeking to destroy the independence of judiciary in order to remove all the hurdles which he believes are coming in the way of establishing his autocratic rule."

Mehta quoted Modi as telling a gathering of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts that courts "need to be cautious against perception-driven verdicts" and that "perceptions are often driven by five star activists".

Mehta's letter to Jaitley said that Modi's efforts were to drive home the point that the judiciary should not go by the perception held by activists and others critical of the government.

He also alleged that the government does not appear "very keen to allow a smooth functioning of the Supreme Court collegium, which has the powers to appoint judges".

Mehta said these were some instances where the Modi government was trying to undermine the judiciary's independence.

Saying Jaitley may be finding the atmosphere under Modi "suffocating", he said: "I have personally suffered such suffocation in 2002 when I was industries minister under Modi (in Gujarat)."

Once a leading BJP leader in Gujarat, Mehta was the chief minister from October 1995 to September 1996. He quit the BJP in December 2007 after opposing then Chief Minister Modi.

He joined the Gujarat Parivartan Party but quit that too when it merged with the BJP in February 2014.
Hyderabad, May 13 : The world's largest cargo aircraft AN-225 Myria landed here for a stopover on the way to Australia from Turkmenistan.

The aircraft of Antonov Airlines of Ukraine touched down at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport early on Friay for a 24-hour halt.

Airport operator GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL) said in a statement that the aircraft will proceed to Jakarta in Indonesia and from there to Perth.

The big bird has been parked at the airport's Code-F (Airbus A380 Compatible) cargo apron.

"We are most happy that the largest aircraft in the world is landing for the first time in the largest democracy of the world," Ukraine ambassador to India Igor Polikha said.

"The Indian public and Indian specialists will see with their own eyes the unique potential of Ukraine aviation industry."

The flying behemoth, which holds almost 240 world records, is powered by six supercharged turbo-fan engines, operated by a six-man crew, and lifts a mammoth 640 tonnes of MTOW (Maximum Take Off Weight).

The aircraft is 84 metres long, 18.1 metres high, has a wingspan of 88.4 metres and a fuel capacity of 300,000 kg. Its maximum speed is 850 km per hour with a 15,400 km range and 11,000 metres cruising altitude.

The Hyderabad airport was chosen for the halt based on several factors, such as runway length, ground manoeuvering area, technical facilities, air traffic density and proximity to the trans-continental air route.

Only a few airports in the world can handle the aircraft's landing and take-off since its wing span is wider than even the world's largest passenger carrier, the Airbus A380 double-decker aircraft.

"The landing of AN-225 Myria is a testimony to our robust infrastructure, technical expertise and operational efficiency," said S.G.K. Kishore, CEO, GHIAL.

The development at a time when Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence has signed a strategic pact last month with ANtonic Company of Ukraine for the assembly, manufacture and maintenance and repair of is platforms in India, both for the commercial and the military market.

Reliance Defence together with Antonov will 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.

India is said to require over 200 medium lift turbofan aircraft valued at Rs.35,000 crore, which is the backbone of all tactical transport support of the air force, army and paramilitary forces.

"Reliance and Antonov have ventured out to create India's aerospace major in the private sector," said Air Marshal M. Matheswaran (Retired), president of aerospace business for Reliance Defence.

"Their technical expertise with Reliance's business innovation is sure to translate 'Make in India' a huge success."

Talking about the joint venture, Sergey Semovonik, vice president for Antonov, said: "Yesterday, Antonov with Reliance Group submitted the joint proposal for the creating of passengers regional aircraft. Today, we brought the largest aircraft to India to make the Indian side confident that Antonov is capable and a reliable partner."
Islamabad, May 13 : Pakistan's ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani has, responding to the New York Times editorial, said that Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan. He termed it the result of the collective failure of the international community, it was reported on Friday.

In a letter to the newspaper, the ambassador said, "Allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful, especially when Pakistan has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of civilian casualties are the direct result of the US-led war in Afghanistan after 9/11."

"Instead of complaining the heavy cost imposed on us due to sustained external intervention in our neighbourhood, Pakistan has consistently cooperated with the US and coalition forces in sharing intelligence and decimating the terror outfits operating from the region," Jilani said.

"Since 2009, Pakistani forces have been engaged in incremental operations to clear the Pakistani soil from all the terrorist networks concentrated in this area because of the competing interests and mutual rivalries of the big powers," he said.

It was Pakistan's military which "fractured the back of Taliban" through indiscriminate counter-terrorism operations, the envoy added.

His letter read: "Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability. Omitting such fundamental questions, that impede a long-term solution to the Afghan problem, smack partisanship on part of the New York Times."

Jilani emphasised that Pakistan does not benefit from instability in Afghanistan and was determined to restore peace and prosperity in the neighbouring country.

The Pakistan envoy went on to say that the country played a completely neutral role in the Afghan elections and offered every possible assistance to the Afghan government to find a political solution in the country.

"The ongoing process involving the US and China besides Pakistan and Afghanistan has rightly agreed that the long-term peace in Afghanistan can only be achieved through reconciliation between the various Afghan stake holders. It is imperative that this peace initiative be given a chance to succeed what the war has failed to achieve in the last fifteen years," he added.
New Delhi, May 13 : With a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, the union cabinet has approved the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy which seeks to safeguard trademark identities, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Friday.

"India's intellectual property laws are comprehensive and WTO compliant. The implementation of the new intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy will not require any changes in law," Jaitley told reporters here while informing them about the cabinet decision taken at a meeting on Thursday.

He said the new policy has been prepared based on the recommendation of an expert group appointed by the Department of Industrial Policy Promotion (DIPP) which was again examined and studied in details by a group of secretaries.

The policy, which seeks to encourage "inventability" in various sectors including pharma, music and literature, will, henceforth, be monitored and supervised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and not the HRD ministry as was done in some cases earlier, he said.

"The new IPR policy will have seven basic objectives," he said adding that it will also create adequate public awareness, administration, enforcement and adjudication on the IPR laws.

"One most important feature will be the development of human capital," Jaitley said.

The enforcement of the new policy will help ensure that "from 2017 onwards, it will take only one month to register a trade mark".

Answering questions especially with regard to pharma sector, the finance minister said: "Indian model is legal, equitable and WTO compliant".

Jaitley underlined that "balancing of patent laws with health considerations" will be essential to keep drug prices affordable.

In many countries drug prices have gone up, he said adding "life saving drugs" ought to be made available to the citizens at an affordable costs.

"The objective of policy is to create awareness about economic,social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society," Jaitley said.

To a question on the United States' concerns about India's IPR regime, Jaitley said: "Monopolies are loved by those who own them but any country is entitled to concerned about their interest."
New Delhi, May 13 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders on Friday expressed grief over the death of Baba Hardev Singh, the head of spiritual outfit Sant Nirankari Mission.

Modi said Baba Hardev Singh's demise was tragic and a great loss to the spiritual world.

"My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time," Modi said in a tweet.

Gandhi expressed shock and grief over the death of Baba Hardev Singh and offered condolences to all his followers.

"Spiritual values of equality and simplicity perpetuated by him and the Nirankari Samaj will forever remain relevant," she said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was deeply pained to learn of the demise of Baba Hardev Singh.

"He was a not only a spiritual leader but also a social reformer," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also condoled the death of the spiritual leader.

Baba Hardev Singh died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada, an official of the organisation said here on Friday.
New Delhi, May 13 : Reinstated as the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would think twice before imposing President's Rule under Article 356 in any state.

"What was the need to impose President's Rule in the state? The floor test in Uttarakhand has taught BJP a lesson. It will now think twice before imposing Article 356 in any state," Rawat said in an interview with ETV News.

He said that the sting operation against him was a "political conspiracy" and that he could be arrested any day.

"I am waiting for the day when CBI arrests me for the sting. A day before the floor test, CBI called me for questioning in Delhi. I was unwell and according to the provisions of CBI, it could have come here to question me since I am a senior citizen," he said.

"The sting operation was a political conspiracy by the BJP," Rawat added.

Days after the political crisis erupted in Uttarakhand, the rebel Congress legislators had released a video clip on the sting which allegedly showed that Rawat tried to bribe them to return to his camp.

In his interview Rawat also ruled out early assembly polls in the state.

"I know that I will get good results if I call for polls now. But in the last two months, due to the political crisis, the state has suffered a lot in terms of development. Hence, my priority is to speed up the development works in the state," he said.

Without directly blaming National Security Adviser Ajit Doval for the political crisis in the state, Rawat said: "I have no evidence against Doval but I can say that his son had met one Congress legislator a day before the floor test."

On being asked if the Bahujan Samaj Party legislators who supported the Congress in the floor test would get ministerial berth in the new cabinet, Rawat said it was for Mayawati to decide.

"I can't decide about the BSP MLAs. The decision has to be taken by their party chief, Mayawati. All I can say is that I want to take everyone along with me when it comes to governance," he added.

Rawat returned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand after winning the confidence vote held on May 10 on the order of the Supreme Court. The central government revoked President's Rule in the state after the Congress got support of 33 members of the assembly of the 61 who voted, ending the political turmoil in the state.
Islamabad, May 13 : Amid opposition protests in the National Assembly over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's continuous absence, the Pakistan premier was on Friday set to embark on a one-day private visit to Turkey, media reported.

The prime minister was expected to attend the National Assembly session on Friday to face a number of questions tabled by the opposition members over the issue of Panama leaks but, according to Dunya News, the decision to attend the house was suddenly postponed till Monday.

It was also announced that Sharif would go to Turkey on Saturday on a private visit.

Meanwhile, opposition members staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against Sharif's continued absence from the House.

Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Naveed Qamar said opposition lawmakers won't sit in Parliament until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responds to their questions.

Later, the assembly session was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

On the other hand, a joint meeting of the opposition parties chaired by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan took place at Parliament House. Members of PPP, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf and other opposition parties participated in the meeting.

The meeting decided to boycott proceedings until the Prime Minister arrived in the House.

The opposition has demanded that it be taken into confidence on the Panama Papers Leaks.

The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper SAddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. News daily Indian Express was also among those with which the information was shared.

The names of a number of politicians across the world have figured in the Panama Papers -- which name 259 Pakistanis as having interests in offshore companies. Sharif's three children are among those named as having offshore wealth.
New Delhi, May 13 : Baba Hardev Singh, spiritual head of the Sant Nirankari Mission, died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada, on Friday. He was 62.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders expressed their condolences over the death of Baba Hardev.

"It was around five in the morning when his car met with an accident and he died," an official of the organisation told IANS here.

He said arrangements are being made to bring the mortal ramains of the spiritual head to Delhi and details about it would be known soon.

"With profound pain and sorrow, this is to inform you that His Holiness Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj has merged into this Almighty God," said an official statement issued by the mission.

The sect, with millions of followers across the world, has also requested them not to rush to the mission headquarters in New Delhi to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.

Modi said Baba Hardev Singh's demise was tragic and a great loss to the spiritual world.

"My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time," Modi said in a tweet.

Sonia Gandhi expressed shock and grief over Baba's death and offered condolences to all his followers.

"Spiritual values of equality and simplicity perpetuated by him and the Nirankari Samaj will forever remain relevant," she said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was deeply pained to learn of the demise.

"He was a not only a spiritual leader but also a social reformer," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also condoled the death of the spiritual leader.
Kathmandu, May 13 : Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha arrived here on Friday to perform at a concert named 'Amarpanchhi' which is set to take place at Tundikhel, in the centre of the Nepali capital.

The concert, to be held on Saturday, is being organised by Spouse Association of Nepal Army which is leding by the wife of Nepal's Army Chief General Rajendra Chettri.

Sonakshi's visit was kept secret from the media to keep the crowds away as there is a huge craze for Bollywood stars in Nepal. When landing in Kathmandu, Sonakshi looked sporty wearing a black cap, glares, and a white T-shirt on a black top.

This is Sonakshi's first visit to Nepal.

She had tweeted: "Nepal!! See u tomorrow, 14 May at Tudikhel. #AmarPanchhi - Rising from the ashes. Lets dance #TogetherforNepal".

Another actress, Malaika Arora Khan, will be joining Sonakshi at the concert. Malaika is scheduled to reach here later on Friday.

They will perform at the charity program for victims of last year's earthquake that took a toll on the city and its dwellers. Actresses from the Nepali film industry Rekha Thapa, Richa Thapa, Nisha Adhikari, Priyanka Karki, Indira Joshi, Sushma Karki, Keki Adhikari and Sahana Bajracharya, among others, will perform at the programme.
Kuala Lumpur, May 13 : Spanish nationals Marta Miguel and David Hernandez, who disappeared 11 days ago while sailing in Malaysian waters north of Borneo island, said on Friday that they never lost hope of being rescued.

"We always had hope, we never thought that this was the end," Miguel told EFE after passing a checkup at Gleneagles Hospital in the northeastern state of Sabah.

Miguel and Hernandez, along with Malaysian national Ali Hassan Armella and Chinese Tommy Lam, were rescued on Thursday by Vietnamese fishermen in waters in the South China Sea, about 370 km west of where they disappeared.

The four were travelling in a 12-metre-long boat from Balambangan island to Kudat, Sabah state, on a route that usually takes about two hours.

But a wave knocked them over, and broke the boat's engine, causing the vessel to drift as it was dragged by the current.

"The first three days we saw the coast is far but after the seventh day we could not see the coast," said Miguel, hours after stepping on land.

Good weather, a calm sea and fish jumping into the boat helped them survive until they were rescued by the fishermen.

"The sea is relentless but was also generous to us," Hernandez said.
Srinagar, May 13 : Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik on Friday criticised the Mehbooba Mufti government for "stifling the voice of separatists" and also attacked its industrial policy.

"When out of power, (chief minister) Mehbooba Mufti behaves like a human rights activist, but when in power, she unleashes state terrorism," he said at a press conference here.

He hit out at the state government for disallowing a seminar called here by the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.

"Disallowing debate and discussion is the worst kind of state terrorism perpetrated by the state government," he said.

Malik also said the industrial policy announced by the state government was similar to the setting of East India Company through which the British finally subjugated India.

"Kashmiri businessmen and industrialist must boycott this policy. We will oppose the policy tooth and nail."

He also said the people and the separatists would not allow setting up an ex-servicemen (Sainik Colony) in Kashmir.
Ranchi, May 13 : Unidentified gunmen shot dead a journalist, Indradeo Yadav, in Jharkhand's Chatra district, police said on Friday.

The assailants, who were on motorcycles, fired five rounds of bullets on the Chatra-based journalist on Thursday night. He died on the spot.

The attack took place while he was returning home after work. Yadav was a correspondent for a local TV channel.

"We have got some vital clues including video footage of the bike and its number. The CID and forensic science team are investigating. We will soon crack the case," Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey told IANS.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the killing and directed the police to arrest the criminals at the earliest.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who was in Chatra on Friday campaigning for the Panki by-election, met the journalist's family members.

He voiced concern over the "worsening" law and order situation in Jharkhand.

"On a regular basis murders are taking place in Jharkhand. Even journalists are not safe under the BJP government. The law and order situation is worsening," he said.

The Jharkhand Journalist Association (JAA) and other media associations have condemned the killing.

A JAA delegation met police chief Pandey and Home Secretary N.N. Pandey and demanded the arrest of the accused and Rs.50 lakh compensation to Yadav's family.
Mumbai, May 13 : Filmmaker Shirish Kunder's debut short film "Kriti" will be launched on Muvizz.com, a video on demand platform, next month.

The poster of the film, produced by Muvizz.com and presented by actor Manoj Bajpayee, was unveiled on Friday.

The 18-minute psycho-thriller will showcase the three leading actors, Manoj, Radhika Apte and Neha Sharma in a mysterious and spine-chilling manner as portrayed in the poster.

Manoj said in a statement: "Acting in short films gives me an opportunity to work with different filmmakers and the digital medium offers such creative satisfaction."

The film promises to be an intriguing mix of drama and suspense. It revolves around a writer (Manoj), who after an unexpected set of events finds himself in the middle of a psychological drama. Radhika and Neha's characters will further add to this mental whirlpool.

Manu Rishi will play a pivotal role as a police officer in the film.

Piiyush Singh, co-founder, Muvizz.com, said: "We are excited to work with such immensely talented actors. Shirish has done a great job and we hope to create such amazing content with him again.

"'Kriti' has been written in such a way that it will not only have a lasting impression but will also keep you thinking about the film long after it ends."
Brussels, May 13 : Almost half of the 15.5 million children in the EU under the age of three were cared for by only their parents in 2014, with 28 percent attending some form of formal childcare, official data showed on Friday.

Being looked after by only their parents was the main childcare arrangement for this age group in a majority of EU member states, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

However, there were big differences between member states. Countries which had the highest proportion of young children looked after by a stay-at-home parent were Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary and Slovakia, while the lowest figures were recorded in the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark and Cyprus, Efe news reported.

In 2002, an EU initiative to provide childcare for at least 33 percent of children under three was created as an incentive to encourage women to stay in the workforce upon becoming mothers.

This target of 33 percent of formal childcare, whether full-time or part-time, was reached in 10 EU member states in 2014, including Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Slovenia, Spain, and Finland.

Overall in the EU, fewer than a third of children under three attended formal childcare, meaning the target was still not reached, said Eurostat.
New Delhi, May 13 : Suresh Chand Sangi, Trauma Nurse Coordinator at JPN Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi, was awarded the National Florence Nightingale Award 2016 by President Pranab Mukherjee, a statement from AIIMS said on Friday.

Sangi, who was awarded on Thursday, had joined the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in December 2006 and was posted in its Trauma Centre since 2007.

He has been actively involved in various academic activities, research studies and projects and is also nurse incharge of the Advanced Trauma Skills and Simulation Facility (ATSSF) at JPN Apex Trauma Centre, AIIMS.

Sangi contributed in improvement of trauma care by being an active team member for arranging training programmes for doctors, nurses and paramedics nominated by various government organisations as well as other ministries, the statement said.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 13 : The heat is on in Kerala and the political parties are adding to it. With the assembly election slated for May 16 (Monday) in the state, parties are sparing no effort to reach out to the voters in the last leg of campaigning.

Amid the election frenzy, the rival combinations of parties are claiming they will win the polls. While the Left Democratic Front (LDF) believes history will repeat in the state and it will rout the ruling dispensation, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is certain it will overcome the anti-incumbency factor.

"There is disenchantment in the state against the UDF government, which is corrupt. We are confident that we will win over 100 seats in the 140-member assembly," said opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

The mood is equally upbeat in the Congress-led UDF camp. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said: "We will create history by returning to power. No government in the state's history has achieved as much as we achieved in the last five years. We are united like never before."

But as political observers here point out, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies could be the decisive factors in several assembly constituencies and make things difficult for both UDF and LDF.

The BJP has never won a seat in the state. But the saffron outfit is hopeful it will open its account this time. The party's aspiration has been buoyed by its alliance with the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS) which has been launched by influential Hindu Ezhava leader Vellapalli Natesan.

"We are on a strong footing this time. We will create history," said state BJP president Kummanem Rajasekheran. His faith is based on the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many union ministers campaigned in the state, and party president Amit Shah have been camping for the last several days.

However, the Congress dismissed the BJP's confidence, saying the saffron alliance will have no impact.

"The tie-up between the BJP and the Bharath Dharma Jana Sena will be washed out. They will have no impact on the voters," said state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran.

Similar views have been expressed by the Left camp which is banking on the charisma of its nonagenarian leader V.S. Achuthanandan and CPI-M politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan.

Notable candidates from the UDF include Chief Minister Chandy, state Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and former finance minister K.M. Mani.

Top contenders from the Left Democratic Front include former chief minister Achuthanandan and Vijayan.

Besides state president Rajasekheran, the BJP has fielded former union minister O. Rajagopal, and former state party presidents V. Muraleedharan, C.K.P. Padmanabhan, P.K. Krishna Das and P.S. Sreedharan Pillai among others.

In all, the BJP is contesting in 98 seats, the Congress in 87 seats and the CPI-M in 85 seats. There are 782 independent candidates.

A total of 1,203 contestants, including 109 women, are in the fray.

About 2,61,06,422 registered voters will exercise their franchise.
New Delhi, May 13 : The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail, till July 31, to Jharkhand Ispat Pvt. Ltd. directors R.S. Rungta and R.C. Rungta, who had been convicted and sentenced to four year jail term in a coal block allocation case.

Justice Siddharth Mridul granted bail to the duo on a personal bond of Rs.10 lakh each with two sureties of the like amount.

The court i its order said: "The sentence awarded to the appellants (Rungtas) by the trial court by way of judgement and order on sentence dated March 28 and April 4 respectively, impugned in the appeals, is suspended and they shall be released on interim bail till July 31."

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not oppose the interim bail to the directors - R.S. Rungta, 79 and R.C. Rungta, 60.

In the first sentencing in a coal block allocation case, a trial court on April 4 had sent the duo to jail for four years for the offence of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code in bagging a coal block.

Sending them to jail, the trial court had said that "white collar criminals are more dangerous" to society".

The court had also said that they had "fraudulently" and with a "dishonest intention" deceived the government in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.
Mumbai, May 13 : In a complete about turn, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday gave a clean chit to Malegaon blast key accused Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur and five others, paving the way for their early release from prison.

However, eight more accused, including LT. Colonel Prasad Srikant Purohit, will continue to be prosecuted for their role in the September 29, 2008 terror bombing that claimed at least seven lives in the Muslim majority town of Maharashtra's Nashik district.

The NIA in its supplementary charge-sheet filed before a special court here decided to drop terror charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the accused, an official said. Confessions made before a police officer are admissible in a court under the dreaded law.

Those who remain accused will now be prosecuted under the lesser stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, for their role in the bombing that had brought to fore the so-called "right-wing terror" in India. Most of the accused in such terror cases were linked to Hindutva groups, including the Rashtriya Jagran Manch and Abhinav Bharat.

The accused given clean chit on Friday include the Sadhvi, Shiv Narain Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Pravin Takkalki alias Mutalik, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury.

"During investigations, sufficient evidences have not been found against (the accused) and the NIA has submitted in the final report that the prosecution against them is not maintainable," the NIA said, after public prosecutor Geeta Godambe filed the charge sheet in the court of Special Judge S.D. Tekale.

The premier terror probe agency said no offence was established under the MCOCA in this case against anybody and the NIA made it clear that it didn't not rely on the confessionals recorded by the Mumbai Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) under the law.

The Sadhvi's lawyer Sanjiv Punalekar told IANS that the NIA had decided to drop charges against his client due to lack of sufficient evidences against her.

"The charges against the six accused have been dropped while the charge sheet is being filed against the other remaining accused," Punalekar told IANS.

The six accused are likely to be released from prisons soon, he told reporters.

The Malegaon 2008 blast was the first terror case involving the hitherto unknown "Hindu extremists" and was initially investigated by police and later by the ATS led by its chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the November 26-28, 2008, Mumbai terror attacks.

In April 2011, the case went to the NIA which was formed in 2009, months after the Mumbai carnage. The NIA earlier had maintained the list of 14 accused named by the ATS. Two more - Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sadeep Dange - had been declared absconding.

The NIA took charge of the Malegaon case in view of its nationwide ramifications and because of the involvement of the accused who were also wanted in other terror cases in different parts of the country.

The Malegaon blast case probe had riled the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other right-wing groups, accusing the then Congress-led government of giving religious colour to terrorism by going after Hindutva activists without any evidence against them.

On Friday when the charges against the main accused were dropped, the Congress' Digvijaya Singh hit out at the NIA and the BJP-led government for safeguarding "terrorists". He also lashed out at the NIA for invalidating Hemant Karkare's probe.

"They are saying that Karkare filed a wrong report. We know you want to safeguard them (the accused) and we also know you have links with those who are involved in terror activities. They should at least spare a martyr," Digvijay Singh said.

But the government denied there was any political interference in probe.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju said: "The law is taking its natural course. The investigators now have the freedom to investigate without pressure unlike during the previous regime."
New Delhi, May 13 : Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Friday alleged that the "dirty tricks department" of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was "selectively leaking confidential documents to certain news channels" to target the opposition.

"There is a serious question on how highly classified MoD, CBI and ED documents have been selectively leaked to certain news channels and agencies. This selective leaking creates an incomplete picture before the public," Sharma said in context of the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

He said his party was "able to give the complete story, on the record" in parliament.

"There is a dirty tricks department in the BJP government, which is putting senior leaders and bureaucrats under surveillance, manufacturing documents, and using state agencies and sections of media to target opponents," he said.

The Congress spokesman also accused the government of "abusing" its powers to de-stabilise Congress-led Uttarakhand government.

"The second half of the budget session became a fresh session because of the government's wrong decision to justify unconstitutional de-stabilisation of the Uttarakhand government, by encouraging defection and promoting an environment where money power and the central government's power were abused," Sharma said.

He said that Congress was acting as a responsible opposition and the passage of 22 legislations during the session was a testimony to it.

"It is a record in itself. Since 2014, 80 bills have been passed. This is testimony of a mature opposition. This is also a rejection of the canard spread by Prime Minister Modi and the BJP that opposition was hindering passage of bills," Sharma said.

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New Delhi, May 13 : The defence ministry on Friday denied ordering any probe in the alleged use of inferior material in construction of Indian Navy's tanker INS Deepak.

"No inquiry has been opened into any Navy tankers with so-called sub-standard steel," an official said in wake of reports that fleet tankers, bought from Italian firm Fincantieri, were made of inferior grade steel.

A Comptroller and Auditor General report in 2010 had said fleet tankers being constructed by a "foreign vendor" did not meet the specifications of the steel as envisaged in the request for proposals.

It also said commercial negotiations with a foreign vendor for procurement of a fleet tanker, despite being protracted and delayed, did not take into account the quality of steel offered by the vendor. Excess provisioning of spares of Rs.30.44 crore and under realisation of offset benefit to Indian industry were also noticed in the procurement of the tanker worth Rs.936 crore.

Navy spokesperson Captain D.K. Sharma said all necessary procedures were followed "diligently" in acquisition of these tankers.

"Necessary procedures were followed diligently prior to the acquisition of these tankers. Also all approvals were obtained before signing the contracts," he said.

INS Deepak, one of the two tankers with Indian Navy, had developed cracks in its hull when it was escorting INS Vikramaditya to India from Russia.

Navy officials however said that the cracks that appeared in the superstructure of the ship could have formed due to combination of a number of factors, including sub-zero temperature in the region, heavy seas and stormy conditions.

"The repairs were carried out in Lisbon by the original equipment manufacturer and the ship was made ready in a few hours. The board of inquiry constituted then to investigate the cause found no material failure.

"The ship is fully operational since and has been deployed extensively," said a navy official.

INS Deepak currently on deployment in the Persian Gulf and is in Kuwait at present.
New Delhi, May 13 : The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of India's criminal defamation law that was contested by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy.

Upholding sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code and sections 199(1) to 199(4) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, a bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C. Pant in their judgment said that the defamation doesn't have any "chilling effect on freedom of speech".

"Once we have held that reputation of an individual is a basic element of article 21 of the constitution and balancing of fundamental rights is a constitutional necessity and further the legislature in its wisdom has kept the penal provision alive, it is extremely difficult to subscribe to the view that criminal defamation has a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression," said Justice Misra pronouncing the judgment.

"Reputation being an inherent component of article 21, we do not think it should be allowed to be sullied solely because another individual can have its freedom, and it "cannot be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other's right of free speech".

Not accepting the contention that defamation would be criminal only if it gives rise to incitement to constitute an offence, the court said: "It is difficult to accede to the submission that defamation can only get criminality if it incites to make an offence.

"The word 'defamation' has its own independent identity and it stands alone and the law relating to defamation has to be understood as it stood at the time when the constitution came into force."

The court rejected the argument that the defamation of an individual by another can be a civil wrong and could not be made a crime in the name of fundamental rights as protection of private rights qua private individuals cannot be conferred the status of fundamental rights.

"Individuals constitute the collective. Law is enacted to protect the societal interest. The law relating to defamation protects the reputation of each individual in the perception of the public at large. It matters to an individual in the eyes of the society. Protection of individual right is imperative for social stability in a body polity and that is why the state makes laws relating to crimes.

"... There is a link and connect between individual rights and the society; and this connection gives rise to community interest at large. It is a concrete and visible phenomenon. Therefore, when harm is caused to an individual, the society as a whole is affected and the danger is perceived," it said.

But noting that "is not necessary for all in the chorus to sing the same song", the court, in a caution to prevent any misuse of criminal defamation law, said that a magistrate should be extremely careful in issuing summons on a plea for initiation of any criminal defamation case.

Referring to the apex court's earlier judgments on the issue, the court said: "We have referred to these authorities to highlight that in matters of criminal defamation the heavy burden is on the magistracy to scrutinise the complaint from all aspects. Application of mind in the case of complaint is imperative."

On the effect on the petitioners Gandhi, Kejriwal and Swamy, the court said that now it would be open to them "to challenge the issue of summons before the high court either under article 226 of the constitution or section 482 CrPC, as advised and seek appropriate relief".

To decide on their next course of action, the court granted them eight weeks time.
New Delhi, May 13 : A wildlife welfare organisation on Friday criticised and urged the US-based online retailer Amazon to take down protected wild and aquatic animal specimens and hunting equipment from its 'sale list'.

The Wildlife SOS, a Delhi-based NGO, also informed Union Minister Maneka Gandhi about the sale. Gandhi, an animal lover, has condemned the online retailing giant for selling such ware.

Wildlife SOS launched an online petition asking Amazon to stop selling snares and other items that encourage or propagate maiming, hunting and killing of wildlife. The petition has gathered nearly 7,000 signatures so far.

"The Government of India and NGOs like Wildlife SOS are struggling to protect our wildlife and make this country safer for animals, yet we have a giant like Amazon shamefully selling wildlife specimens and animal traps that directly contribute to the slaughter of wildlife," Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi said in a statement, according to Wildlife SOS.

Snares, traps and specimens like alligators, snakes, bats, butterflies, spiders, ladybugs, beetle, scorpions, frogs and several aquatic animals like seahorse, starfish, octopus, crab and shark teeth among others are on sale in both the Indian and international website of Amazon.

Most of the animal specimens being sold, like "the Wild Gator head" have their genuineness guaranteed and customers are assured that these specimens were taken from the wild.

The Amazon website listed these under the 'Toys and Games' section.

The snares and traps Amazon offers are described by the website as "best suited for rabbit and squirrel", but wildlife lovers maintain the snares could be used to trap bigger animals, like leopard and tiger, as well.

"Traps and Snares that Amazon is selling on its website are indiscriminate killing products that will kill anything from a hare, porcupine to a leopard or tiger," Wildlife SOS said.

The co-founder of Wildlife SOS, Geeta Seshamani said in a statement that a recently rescued three-month old sloth bear cub 'Rose' had lost her limb because of a snare like the ones that Amazon sells on its website.

"The snare tore off her left forelimb and left her severely injured and handicapped for the rest of her life. Witnessing the trauma of this bear cub solidified our conviction that snares are the most cruel hunting devices," Geeta said.

She added, "We were horrified when we discovered that a reputable company like Amazon is selling wildlife trapping equipment like snares online, as well as instruction manuals on how to make your own snares. We urge Amazon to stop doing this."

Condemning such devices and specimens for being offered online, Wildlife SOS said that these are being sold not just in the USA, but also in India where all wild animals are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and hunting is illegal.

"It seems incredulous that a company like Amazon would list items like wild animal specimens that are listed under protected species in India. We hope Amazon will take these down immediately on compassionate grounds and also in respect of India's laws and the conservation efforts in India," said Karthik Satyanarayan, co-founder of Wildlife SOS.
Islamabad, May 13 : A 12-year-old boy was killed in a southern district of Sindh province in Pakistan after reportedly being gang-raped, strangled and thrown into a water drain by two suspects, the police said on Friday.

A top police official from Tando Mohammad Khan district, Shabir Ahmed Sethar, said police have arrested two suspects Abdul Sattar Sathio and Mashooq Ali Sathio who have confessed to the crime, Dawn online reported.

Sethar said the accused revealed that they have been involved in such acts before as well. The postmortem report of the deceased has established gang rape and strangling of the throat, he added.
New Delhi, May 13 : Reacting to a report by a three-member committee that went into violence in Haryana during the Jat agitation, the Congress on Friday said it was an attempt to "cover up" the whole affair.

Saying that the report maintains a conspiratorial silence on the suspect role of Bharatiya Janata Party ministers and leaders, the Congress reiterated its demand for a time-bound investigation by a Supreme Court judge into the violence.

The committee, headed by former director general of Uttar Pradesh and Assam police Prakash Singh, was set up to probe lapses on part of officials during the Jat agitation in February. It has held certain police and administrative officers guilty of laxity.

The panel submitted its report to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Friday.

"The report of former Indian Police Service officer Prakash Singh, who was brought from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Vivekananda Foundation to investigate the widespread riots and loss of lives and properties in Haryana, has turned out to be 'operation cover-up' to help the BJP," Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

"The committee, which is bereft of any legal or constitutional sanction, has prepared its report to serve the vested and partisan interest of the Khattar government. No wonder that the report maintains a conspiratorial silence on the suspect role of Bharatiya Janata Party ministers and leaders in the entire episode.

"Shockingly, it also gives a clean chit to the state Crime Investigation Department, which utterly and miserably failed to forewarn about the riots and possible damage," added Surjewala.

He further accused the panel of failing to fix responsibility.

"The committee questioned the role of 90 state government officials but completely absolved itself of fixing their responsibility in the riots and made no recommendation regarding action against them," the Congress leader said.

"We reiterate our demand for a time-bound investigation into the riots by a Supreme Court judge, fixing of responsibility, action against the guilty and full compensation to those who lost their properties and lives," Surjewala added.
Mogadishu, May 14 : Somali forces on Friday killed seven Al Shabaab fighters during an operation near Wajid town that is located in southwestern region of the horn of African state.

Local officials told Xinhua the military's onslaught against Al Shabaab was carried out by an elite unit from the police and national army.

"During the latest operation, our forces killed seven Al Shabaab militants and recovered lethal weapons. We also lost two soldiers during the combat," said Mohamed Isak, a local administrator.

The official added that the special operation was successful, and will extend to other Al Shabaab hideouts.
Brasilia, May 14 : Suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said here on Friday the country and its democracy faced grave risks under the leadership of an "illegitimate government" headed by her former vice president, Michel Temer.

"I don't know if the risk exists now, at this moment. But I think that an illegitimate government will always require illegitimate mechanisms for remaining in power," Rousseff told foreign correspondents at the Alvorada Palace, the president's official residence, a day after the Senate voted to put her on trial for allegedly breaking budget laws.

Rousseff will be suspended from office for the duration of the trial -- a maximum of 180 days.

If she is convicted by a two-thirds vote in the Senate, considered highly likely given the upper house's 55-22 vote in favour of the impeachment trial, then Temer, a former ally turned foe, will serve out the rest of her term, which is due to expire on January 1, 2019.

Rousseff vowed, however, during Friday's press conference to prove her innocence during the trial and return to power.

Referring to Temer's administration, Rousseff said that based on his initial pronouncements it would be "laissez-faire with respect to the economy and conservative in social and cultural matters".

Noting that all 24 cabinet members unveiled by Temer on Thursday are white men, she also said it was regrettable that for the first time in many years "there are no women or blacks in the Brazilian government".

"There's a problem of representation," particularly with respect to women, who make up more than 50 percent of Brazil's population, she added.

"Inequality in Brazil is a black, female, youth and also, obviously, a male (problem), but blacks and women are essential if we want to build a country from the social, cultural and human rights standpoint."
"We can deploy infrastructure in hours instead of months. Hardware is now software."

A NYC area IT consultant and MSP, outlines the business opportunities that cloud computing presents and the ease of deploying cloud resources, hence the phrase, Hardware is now software. The general movement of computing resources from in-house servers to the cloud, and the advantages of the companys managed cloud services offerings are also presented in a new article on the eMazzanti Technologies website.

The article lists remote, anywhere access; rapid scalability; pay as you go pricing; and the ability to offer new products and services as characteristics of cloud computing that enable business growth. The companys use of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform to deliver infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and other cloud services is also explained.

Managed cloud services put enhanced competitiveness, agility and scalability within reach of businesses of all sizes, stated Jennifer Mazzanti, President, eMazzanti Technologies. Private cloud, hybrid cloud and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) solutions help to level the playing field with larger organizations.

Below are a few excerpts from the article, Opportunities for Business Growth Enhanced by eMazzantis Expanded Cloud Services.

The cloud is now powerful and fast enough that we are in the midst of a paradigm shift, states Mark Clawson, Cloud Services Manager, eMazzanti Technologies, Seattle. Its leading us to a world of desktop dumb terminals that access all of the computing power and data storage in the cloud this time around rather than on a mainframe.

Microsoft and other major players are betting on the shift. They have gone all in, setting up data centers, networks and management frameworks to provide cloud computing on a massive commercial scale to businesses of all sizes. The transformational power of the cloud is substantiated by this investment in cloud resources and the popularity of cloud services.

For customers wanting to access IT resources on the cloud, eMazzanti employs powerful Microsoft Azure app fabric tools to manage and deliver resources from the Microsoft data centers. Cloud deployment options include on-premises cloud, hybrid cloud, and disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS).

Based on Microsoft Azure technology, eMazzantis cloud services provide the highest level of cloud security available. Microsoft employs data security transparency, penetration testing and elaborate measures to make users cloud data super-secure, the article concludes.

eMazzantis cloud services offerings were recently expanded by the acquisition of certain business assets and personnel from an unnamed Microsoft Partner. eMazzanti will be working with strategic partners to provide cloud hosting and managed cloud services to their customers, as well as eMazzantis existing customer base.

One of the primary benefits of eMazzanti managed cloud services is that we can deploy infrastructure in hours instead of months. Hardware is now software, explained Clawson. The cloud resource flexibility that customers enjoy is truly remarkable.

Enterprise customers can be confident in eMazzantis track record with cloud customers and secure, high-performance cloud services built with Microsoft Azure resources, often through their existing software partners. Organizations of all sizes consider eMazzanti a capable, trusted partner to evaluate, deploy and manage growth enabling cloud computing initiatives.

Read the full article here.

Related resource information:

Affordable Cloud-based Disaster Recovery Available to NYC area Businesses

Loyalty, the Law and the Cloud

About eMazzanti Technologies

eMazzantis team of trained, certified IT experts rapidly deliver cloud and mobile solutions, multi-site implementations, 247 outsourced network management, remote monitoring and support to increase productivity, data security and revenue growth for clients ranging from law firms to high-end global retailers.

eMazzanti has made the Inc. 5000 list six years running, is a 2015, 2013 and 2012 Microsoft Partner of the Year, and a 5X WatchGuard Partner of the Year. Contact: 1-866-362-9926, info(at)emazzanti.net or http://www.emazzanti.net Twitter: @emazzanti Facebook: Facebook.com/emazzantitechnologies.
Miniatures and Peruvians in Duncan in May.

A variety of breeds and classes of horses will be arriving in Duncan in the coming weeks with the scheduled Oklahoma Miniature Horse Club, Inc's Mini Stampede, as well as the Sooner State & Southwest Peruvian Horse Shows. The two individual events will encompass many different skills and talents that will be enjoyable for all ages.

Miniature horses are found in many nations, primarily in Europe and the Americas. Miniature horses are determined by the height of the animal, which is usually less than 3438 inches. While miniature horses are the size of a very small pony, many retain horse characteristics and are considered "horses" by their respective registries. Miniature horses are friendly and interact well with people, which leads them to often be kept as family pets, though they retain natural horse behavior, including a natural fight or flight instinct. They are also trained as service animals, as well as other show type events.

While the world's horsemen moved from naturally gaited horses to trotting horses, Peruvians continued to breed their naturally gaited "Caballo Peruano de Paso." Every purebred Peruvian horse has a champagne gait, which is the trademark of the breed. Thanks to its unique, inborn, four-beat lateral gait, the Peruvian is the smoothest riding horse in the world. He is also considered one of the showiest of all horse breeds because of an inner pride and energy that make him travel with a style and carriage as if always "on parade". In addition, the Peruvian is the only horse in the world with "termino", a graceful, flowing movement in which the forelegs are rolled towards the outside as the horse strides forward, much like the arm motion of a swimmer.

Make plans to see these beautiful animals this month at the Stephens County Fair & Expo Center, 2002 S 13th Street in Duncan, Ok. The Oklahoma Miniature Horse Club, Inc.'s Mini Stampede will take place May 13-14, while the Sooner State & Southwest Peruvian Horse Show will run from May 27-29. Detailed schedules and more may be found on their individual websites.

For more information contact The Duncan Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-782-7167 or tourism(at)simmonscenter(dot)com or by visiting http://www.visitduncan.org.
We view all our clients as special and unique, and work extremely hard to tailor our communication initiatives to their goals and objectives..the results we deliver, are the keys to our success.

Team Fleisher Communications is pleased to announce recognition by the Central Ohio chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) as this years winner of a prestigious PRism award and a PRism Award of Excellence. This marks the third consecutive year that Team Fleisher has won multiple awards for exceptional public relations (PR) activities. Team Fleisher was honored with the 2016 PRism award for its multifaceted campaign in the area of crisis communications and the Award of Excellence for marketing communications of existing products.

It is a very special honor to be recognized by PRSA for the recent campaigns we created and implemented for two of our clients, said Team Fleisher founder Marcy Fleisher. We view all our clients as special and unique, and work extremely hard to tailor our communication initiatives to their goals and objectives. We never lose sight of the fact that the partnerships we form with them, and the results we deliver, are the keys to our success.

In March 2015, the City of Bexley, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, and the Bexley Area Chamber of Commerce were at the center of a growing national debate regarding discrimination against individuals based on sexual orientation. The controversy arose when a Bexley photographer and Chamber member declined to video a same-sex wedding. Through social media, the couple quickly directed criticism at the photographer and the Bexley Chamber, drawing both local and national media attention. Concerned about public perception, negative publicity, and the loss of both credibility and membership, the City and Chamber retained Team Fleisher Communications to manage the crisis.

Team Fleisher developed and implemented a multi-faceted crisis communications campaign that consisted of positive message creation, media training for spokespersons, internal communication to Chamber members and Bexley residents, and outreach to media through traditional and social media channels. Within one day, the tone of the news coverage changed. News stories, as well as social media posts, began to reflect the positive action the City and Chamber planned to take against sexual discrimination. This shift resulted in far fewer critical comments, and focused on giving the City and Chamber the time to evaluate the situation and move forward with real intent and purpose. Three months after the crisis, the City Council of Bexley voted unanimously to pass a non-discrimination ordinance. The City had used this crisis to come together to stand against discrimination. Team Fleisher Communications was proud to be a part of this initiative. In 2014, Team Fleisher also won a PRism award for its crisis communications work involving the largest and deadliest Legionella outbreak in Ohio history.

Osborn Barr, a St. Louis-based advertising agency, turned to Team Fleisher for help with one of its clients.The United Soybean Board, a group of farmer-directors who oversee the investments of the soy checkoff to maximize profit opportunities for all U.S. soybean farmers, was looking for ways to educate farmers about the high oleic soybean business and its benefits. Osborn Barr was looking for a partner to assist them in reaching local consumer media markets in order to reach farmers and encourage them to grow more high oleic soybeans.

Together, Osborn Barr and Team Fleisher launched an outreach initiative focused on the annual Columbus Food Truck Festival, which attracts more than 40,000 people over a three-day period. Three participating food trucks agreed to cook with high oleic soybean oil, and several industry and farm leaders were enlisted to talk about high oleic soybean oil and its benefits for food companies.

In preparation for the event, messaging documents were targeted to consumers and farmers, and media training was provided to each of the truck operators. At the same time, the festivals social media channels, as well as those of the Board and the food trucks, were used to build buzz and momentum. A carefully constructed pitch was delivered to a unique list of influencers and media outlets statewide, followed by personal phone calls in order to secure coverage.

Team Fleisher had three weeks to deliver media coverage. One dozen media stories were secured, with one-third of them live coverage from the festival. The earned media was then leveraged in social media and in marketing collateral sent directly to Ohio farmers, consumers and those in the food industry.

Team Fleisher, along with other award recipients, was recognized at the 2016 PRism Awards dinner held at The Columbus Athenaeum on Thursday, May 12.

Tweet This: Proud to win 2016 #PRism awards for crisis communications PR work and marketing communications. #WeveGotThis TeamFleisher.com

About Team Fleisher Communications

Team Fleisher Communications delivers outstanding communications solutions based upon decades of experience. We have a proven track record of securing results for organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. As senior-level communicators and former journalists, we understand how to tell stories, pitch reporters, secure earned media and leverage coverage. We work fast and efficiently to get the job done right. And we deliver results  always. For more information visit TeamFleisher.com.
We are pleased to be able to bring an award-winning financial literacy program as a great solution for our banks to earn CRA service credit.

To keep the momentum going from National Financial Literacy Month which occurs each April, findCRA(TM) a Louisville-based online platform focused on social impact and community reinvestment, announced today that they have partnered with MoneyIsland(TM) a market-leading financial literacy online experience focused on financial education whether it be in the home, school or community group. Through this partnership, findCRA will offer MoneyIsland as an additional CRA service to its growing network of bank partners throughout the United States.

MoneyIsland has transformed over 125,000 kids into financial gurus through its program offered in over 2,500 classrooms throughout the country. It is an instructive, entertaining online experience and offline curriculum which educates students in three key areas  Saving & Spending, Sharing & Investing and Using Credit Wisely while simultaneously building math skills. MoneyIsland was recognized as Best in Show at Finovate and received the EIFLE Award for Instructional Game of the Year. The program allows community banks to develop strong relationships with local children and students and their parents while also receiving CRA credit during their federal examinations for their support of MoneyIsland.

We are pleased to be able to bring an award-winning financial literacy program to our bank partners in the findCRA Network. As we continue to expand our services nationally, MoneyIsland is a great solution for our bankers to earn CRA service credit. Knowing that we are supporting a program that teaches thousands of kids the fundamental financial skills needed to succeed as adults is rewarding, and we look forward to developing new bank partnerships for MoneyIsland, said Ben Loehle, CEO and Co-Founder of findCRA.

findCRA is an innovative, online platform that connects nonprofits and other community partners with banks to build stronger communities. The team at findCRA, under the leadership of Co-Founders Ben Loehle and Brian Waters, will work closely with MoneyIsland to connect with banks and secure new bank partners to offer the program both directly on their banks website and through schools and other community partners in each banks markets.

As a father of four, I know the importance that financial literacy plays in cultivating a childs future success and security and thats what sparked my passion for developing MoneyIsland. As the Mayor of MoneyIsland, Im glad to have findCRA as our newest Island ambassadors to help spread the word on how to save Stone Broke through our fun and innovative financial literacy program, says Seth Forsyth, General Manager.

To see specific ways to participate in the MoneyIsland program as a banker, visit http://www.findCRA.com/MoneyIsland
On April 28, 2016 participants from companies located in the Asheville area took part in the Fit Company Challenge, a corporate wellness event hosted by the Fit Company Institute providing area companies an opportunity to show the importance of living a fit and healthy lifestyle. Participants worked in teams of 3 to 4 towards completing a variety of fitness stations tailored to challenge the team members current fitness level and earn points towards their companys overall score.

At the first inaugural event in Asheville, Champion Credit Union took the top company spot in this years Large Team division. The Asheville Fit Company Challenge was an amazing experience for our organization and one that we hope to participate in again, said Jake Robinson, President & CEO at Champion Credit Union. The spirit of competition and encouragement of others really brought out the best in our employees and will help propel our internal wellness program to new heights.

Epsilon, Inc. took the top spot in the Medium Team division, and Sara Levine, Director of Human Resources was thrilled to have Epsilon team members compete together. At Epsilon, we encourage our employees to reach their personal fitness goals by competing in races and events. We are proud of our team for the seriously intense workout they completed and for the camaraderie they shared with each other at the Fit Company Challenge.

On event date, with the help of over 20 volunteers assisting the contenders, participants challenged their strength, conditioning, power, agility, and ended with a test of endurance in order to show their companies and colleagues that they practice what they preach. Participants used their involvement to bring out company team members, and family members to cheer them on and promote the importance of having fun and effective corporate wellness programs at their companies.

The challenge was held at UNC Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina, a short drive from downtown Asheville.

The following is a list of the top finishers in Asheville that participated in the 2016 Fit Company Challenge:

Fit Company Fittest Awards

Fittest Companies Overall

1. Champion Credit Union

2. Epsilon, Inc.

3. Phenix Research Products

4. Sanesco International

Fittest Companies by Division

Large Division:

1. Champion Credit Union

Medium Division:

1. Epsilon, Inc.

2. Phenix Research Products

3. Sanesco International

Fittest Teams By Level

Course 1  Level 2

1) Champion Credit Union - #58



Jake Robinson

Nathan Whitson

Marc Trull

Ben Bailey

2) Epsilon, Inc. - #65



Shannon Wood

Eric Oelschlaeger

Tom Benzon

TJ Wilkes

3) Phenix Research Products - #66



Andrew Pickens

Bryant Belin

Justin Fell

Course 1  Level 1

1) Champion Credit Union - #52



Lori Chappell

Noralynn Gudger

Brittainy Crawford

2) Phenix Research Products - #68



Dawn Clark

Debi Brucker

Niki Metcalf

Jan Luquire

3) Epsilon, Inc. - #64



Sara Levine

Gabe Huntress

Mike Kane

Course 2  Level 2

1) Phenix Research Products - #67



Greg Schulz

Phil Wikoff

Rob Harmon

2) Champion Credit Union - #58



Jake Robinson

Nathan Whitson

Marc Trull

Ben Bailey

3) Epsilon, Inc. - #65



Shannon Wood

Eric Oelschlaeger

Tom Benzon

TJ Wilkes

Course 2  Level 1

1) Champion Credit Union - #52



Lori Chappell

Noralynn Gudger

Brittainy Crawford

2) Sanesco International - #61



Laura Esmond

Michael Keating

Nathan Bridges

Eric Schiling

3) Phenix Research Products - #66



Andrew Pickens

Bryant Belin

Justin Fell

Course 3  Level 2

1) Phenix Research Products - #67



Greg Schulz

Phil Wikoff

Rob Harmon

2) Phenix Research Products - #66



Andrew Pickens

Bryant Belin

Justin Fell

Course 3  Level 1

1) Champion Credit Union - #52



Lori Chappell

Noralynn Gudger

Brittainy Crawford

2) Sanesco International - #61



Laura Esmond

Michael Keating

Nathan Bridges

Eric Schiling

3) Epsilon, Inc. - #63



Kelly Mitchell

Michael Baldwin

Eric Stinehart

Organizations that brought out testers to assist contenders on event date and sponsored the event include 



Blue Ridge CrossFit

Hard Exercise Works

About the Fit Company Institute, LLC:

The Fit Company Institute is based in Austin, Texas and is dedicated to help companies thrive through wellness. The Fit Company Challenge helps companies be their best by creating the most productive, focused, energetic, happiest, and cohesive teams possible.

Find more at http://www.fitcompany.com and upcoming events in Nashville, Austin, Minneapolis, and Chicago.
On April 30, 2016 participants from companies located in the Atlanta area took part in the Fit Company Challenge, a corporate wellness event hosted by the Fit Company Institute providing area companies an opportunity to show the importance of living a fit and healthy lifestyle. Participants worked in teams of 3 to 4 towards completing a variety of fitness stations tailored to challenge the team members current fitness level and earn points towards their companys overall score.

At the first inaugural event in Atlanta, Videa took the top company spot in this years Large Team division. Im proud of team Videa for highlighting our companys focus on healthy, active lifestyles in winning the Fit Company Challenge, said Shereta Williams, President of Videa. Everyone showed up with enthusiasm, had a great time and finished strong despite some challenging moments. It was a fantastic team building experience and we look forward to participating in future challenges.

Aeon Global Health took the top spot in the Medium Team division, and Tara Carney, Director of Marketing was thrilled to get the team out for an event that mixed team building with fitness. Aeon Global Health had such a great time participating in the Fit Company Challenge in Atlanta. We had been looking for team building opportunities so this was a perfect fit for us. As a healthcare company, we strive to be a fit and healthy organization. Our employees had great fun and look forward to next time! Go Team Aeon!!

On event date, with the help of over 20 volunteers assisting the contenders, participants challenged their strength, conditioning, power, agility, and ended with a test of endurance in order to show their companies and colleagues that they practice what they preach. Participants used their involvement to bring out company team members, and family members to cheer them on and promote the importance of having fun and effective corporate wellness programs at their companies.

The challenge was held at Georgia Tech, a short drive from downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

The following is a list of the top finishers in Atlanta that participated in the 2016 Fit Company Challenge:

Fit Company Fittest Awards

Fittest Companies Overall

1. Videa

2. Aeon Global Health

3. Softpath System

4. Pinnacle Health Group

Fittest Companies by Division

Large Division:

1. Videa

Medium Division:

1. Aeon Global Health

Small Division:

1. Softpath System

2. Pinnacle Health Group

3. Scout

4. Credigy

Fittest Teams By Level

Course 1  Level 2

1) Aeon Global Health - #86



Savior Vallejo

Galina Syssoeva

Alexis Phillips

Chana Hayes

Course 1  Level 1

1) Videa - #74



Angela Craig

Myles Henderson

Mike Lorenzana

Daniel Vetter

2) Videa - #73



Fatine Bennani

Zak Koganitsky

Mei Lingwood

Peng Chen

3) Aeon Global Health - #88



Tom Depew

Crystal McDonald

Laura Chubb

Course 2  Level 2

1) Videa - #80



Jon Clausen

David Vamadevan

Zach Graham

Yatti Desai

2) Videa - #81 (Tie)



Janna Valentine

Jennifer Gaul

Emma Church

2) Aeon Global Health - #86 (Tie)



Savior Vallejo

Galina Syssoeva

Alexis Phillips

Chana Hayes

3) Aeon Global Health - #88



Tom Depew

Crystal McDonald

Laura Chubb

Course 2  Level 1

1) Videa - #73



Fatine Bennani

Zak Koganitsky

Mei Lingwood

Peng Chen

2) Pinnacle Health Group - #84



Sandra Jenkins

Larry Benjamin

Robert Waters

Monae' Bester

3) Videa - #74



Angela Craig

Myles Henderson

Mike Lorenzana

Daniel Vetter

Course 3  Level 1

1) Videa - #73



Fatine Bennani

Zak Koganitsky

Mei Lingwood

Peng Chen

2) Videa - #79



Chris Millett

Greg Gold

Konstantin Voin

Shiv Venkatakrishna

3) Videa - #78



Gavin George

Phillip Lubbehusen

Mike Katica

Organizations that brought out testers to assist contenders on event date and sponsored the event include 



Catalyst Fitness

Vibe Ride

About the Fit Company Institute, LLC:

The Fit Company Institute is based in Austin, Texas and is dedicated to help companies thrive through wellness. The Fit Company Challenge helps companies be their best by creating the most productive, focused, energetic, happiest, and cohesive teams possible.

Find more at http://www.fitcompany.com and upcoming events in Nashville, Austin, Minneapolis, and Chicago.
I was the victim of the unthinkable and I am still standing and living my life

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, every 9 seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten. On March 13, 2012, Charlotte Williams experienced this statistic herself and was shot within point blank range by her husband who she had known for over 30 years.

After the assault, Williams recognized the need to share her story with others to let them know they are not alone and that moving forward in life is possible.

In her new book, Unbreakable Spirit, Williams shares about the moments leading up to being shot, to the excruciating days immediately following the incident, and the equally painful years after the assault during which she began the process of healing.

I was shot twice in the leg with a .357 Magnum revolver, which is one of the most powerful handguns in the word, Williams says. The accomplishment of surviving and making it through an arduous recovery was an experience within itself, but I was able to beat the odds.

With hope that sharing her experience will help other victims through their own healing process, Williams describes steps she had to take in order to recover including pursuing counseling for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, joining support groups and attending physical therapy.

I was the victim of the unthinkable and I am still standing and living my life, Williams says. You can heal and recover too.

Unbreakable Spirit

By Charlotte Williams

ISBN: 978150358

Available in softcover, hardcover, e-book

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Xlibris

About the author

Charlotte Williams is a recently retired quality engineer after providing 26 years of service with National Oilwells Varco. In her free time, Williams is an active member of the American Society for Testing and Material and the American Society of Mechanical Engineering. She currently lives in Costa Mesa, California where she continues to write.

# # #

**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

For review copies or interview requests, contact:

Brittney Beck

630-336-1072

bbeck(at)bohlsengroup(dot)com
LBGH presents Gilsbars Danielle Carlson (Senior Wellness Consultant) and Paul Johnson (Director of Population Health Management) with the award at LBGHs annual luncheon in Baton Rouge.

The Louisiana Business Group on Health (LBGH) has once again honored Gilsbar with its Distinguished Worksite Wellness Award. As part of its Working Well in Louisiana initiative, the LBGH recognizes businesses that are building a healthier, more productive Louisiana through worksite health and wellness programs. LBGH is the only unified voice representing employers solely on health care issues in Louisiana through market-based solutions.

Gilsbar works to be a catalyst in the development and execution of health and benefit management strategies that create healthy businesses. This vision starts from the ground level at Gilsbar, where employees are encouraged to help design and participate in the Gilsbar Wellness Program and are offered the following wellness related benefits:



Paid vacation, personal days, and holidays

$750 in possible wellness program participation incentives

Volunteer opportunities on company time

Gym membership reimbursement

Wellness seminars held on-site

Team and individual wellness challenges

Gilsbar will continue to lead by example in our belief that health and wellness is an important business issue and by participating in the initiative led by the LBGH to improve the quality and value of healthcare in Louisiana.

###

About Gilsbar, LLC

Established in 1959, Gilsbar, LLC is one of the largest privately-held insurance services organizations in the country. Recognized as a catalyst for creating healthy businesses, Gilsbar, LLC offers self-funded and fully-insured benefit plan management services, along with Wellness, Advocacy, and overall Population Health Management. Gilsbar, LLCs integrated delivery model improves the health and well-being of its members, resulting in significant health plan savings for its clients.

Gilsbar, LLC has been honored by Inc. magazine for its sustained growth, Modern Healthcare and Business Insurance magazines as a Best Place to Work, and WELCOA and the American Heart Association for its proven wellness methodology.

For more information, visit http://www.Gilsbar.com.
The Aurora-RiskyProject solution allows users to integrate their critical chain schedule analysis with project risk analysis and management. This will help industries solve their complex scheduling and risk management challenges.

Many industries such as aerospace, defense, and pharmaceuticals have faced with extremely complex projects that require an advanced scheduling and risk analysis and management capabilities. This solution will allow our users to integrate the results of their risk analysis directly into Auroras scheduling engine, as well as perform risk analysis based on schedules created in Aurora, said Intaver Institutes Michael Trumper, and should provide a lot of added value to both of our software.

Auroras multi-project critical chain capability, combined with Stottler Henkes underlying intelligent scheduling engine, has saved Boeing, Pfizer, NASA and many others millions of dollars while increasing throughput, says Stottler Henkes Robert Richards, PhD. Aurora manages resource-constrained operations more efficiently than traditional systems by applying domain-specific knowledge and heuristics, and leveraging advanced graph theory and other mathematical algorithms to generate schedules that are shorter than those provided by other project management software, continues Dr. Richards.

About Intaver Institute

Intaver Institute Inc. is a leading innovator in the field of project risk management and project risk analysis software, offering our clients unique, cost effective software solutions to their project and portfolio management challenges. Intaver Institute is dedicated to advancing and adding to its Event Chain Methodology. This technology is the foundation of project management software product RiskyProject: a project risk management, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, and project performance measurement tool. Intaver Institute is a privately held company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Email: info(at)intaver.com. Web: http://www.intaver.com.

About Stottler Henke Associates

Founded in 1988, Stottler Henke Associates, Inc. creates and applies artificial intelligence and other advanced software technologies to solve problems that defy solution using traditional approaches. Stottler Henke delivers innovative software solutions for education and training, planning and scheduling, knowledge management and discovery, decision support, and autonomous systems. In a White House ceremony, Stottler Henke was awarded the prestigious Tibbetts award, which honors small businesses for outstanding technical achievements and innovation. US Government agencies have designated ten Stottler Henke systems as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) success stories. Stottler Henke was the subject of a NASA Hallmarks of Success video profile for its work developing and later commercializing advanced scheduling and training software systems. Stottler Henke is headquartered in San Mateo, CA and operates software development offices in Seattle, WA and Boston, MA. Email: info(at)stottlerhenke.com. Web: https://www.stottlerhenke.com.
TESOL Research The deadline is 4 July 2016. Winners will be announced in September.

TESOL International Association will begin accepting TESOL Research Mini-Grant proposals on Wednesday, 11 May 2016. Each award provides up to US$2,500 for applicants who are currently working on or beginning research projects aligned with the TESOL Research Agenda. The deadline is 4 July 2016. Winners will be announced in September.

Proposals will be reviewed by the TESOL Research Professional Council. Preference will be given to collaborative research that involves any combination of classroom practitioner, administrator, and/or an outside researcher. Award recipients will share preliminary research results at the TESOL Research Agenda Fair at the TESOL International Convention & English Language Expo in Seattle, Washington, USA, 2124 March 2017.

For more information about the TESOL Research Mini-Grants, please visit the Call for 2016 TESOL Research Mini-Grant Proposals page. To see the winners of last years TESOL Research Mini-Grants, see the 2015 TESOL Research Mini-Grant Recipients page.

About TESOL International Association

Founded in 1966, TESOL International Association is a professional community of educators, researchers, administrators, and students committed to advancing excellence in English language teaching for speakers of other languages worldwide. With more than 13,000 members representing over 150 countries, TESOL fosters the exchange of ideas, research, and peer-to-peer knowledge, and provides expertise, resources, and a powerful voice on issues affecting the profession. Through professional development programs, its international conference, special interest groups, and publications, TESOL engages tens of thousands of professionals to collaborate globally and create a world of opportunity for millions of people of all ages who want to learn English.
Visitors will have the chance to experience some of the latest tools, tactics and technologies changing the way companies connect with their audiences.

Multi Image Group, the premier live event production company, together with its AV rental and sales division, AV Rental Depot will be showcasing their unique technologies and content development capabilities side-by-side at InfoComm 2016, June 8-10 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

InfoComm is the largest event in the United States focused on the pro-AV industry, with more than 950 exhibitors, thousands of products, and 40,000 attendees from 108+ countries.

At booth C4740 and C4739, visitors will have the chance to experience some of the latest tools, tactics and technologies; changing the way companies connect with their audiences. Come see mind-expanding innovations such as Dreamoc holographic displays, Transparent LCD displays, multi-touch kiosks and touch tables.

Innovation-seekers will also be able to participate in a hands-on interactive capabilities demonstration as well as receive an opportunity to win a tech-related prize, such as a GoPro, when they take a spin on an interactive digital wheel.

MIG is an event production company specializing in live events, creative digital content and exhibitions. At the intersection of creativity + technology, their teams generate innovative ideas that energize, engage, inform, and inspire audiences.

AVRD is a highly respected South Florida source for AV equipment rental and sales; well-known in the industry as a trusted & value-adding partner.

Those interested in attending can receive a complimentary exhibit hall pass from Multi Image Group by request through the companys website here: http://bit.ly/1Oo5M5C.
Belatrix Software, a leader in software development in Latin America, held its inauguration party at its new offices in the capital of Argentina. Belatrix expects that this new addition will help it continue to recruit top talent in the region, to enable it to further deliver and improve services to its clients.

The company recently reached 400 employees, distributed between their offices spanning from Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina, to Lima, Peru. Belatrix announced its plan to increase three-fold its number of employees, and reach 1200 people in the next four years. Our landing in Buenos Aires is an achievement that leaves us full of excitement and energy. Its a highly competitive market, but this center will enable us to continue to gather the best talent in the region shared Luis Robbio, Co-Founder and CEO of Belatrix Software. Growing in three different locations ensures we can keep up with, and surpass, the excellence our clients are used to, since we can access the biggest talent pools of Latin America.

In addition to Belatrixs executive team and key clients, Carlos Pallotti, Undersecretary of Technology Services and Products for Argentinas Ministry of Production, attended the event. In a speech, he highlighted the importance of export-focused service companies for the Argentinian economy.

Carlos Pallotti also recently announced a new law intended to promote the development of the services industry in Argentina. The project plans to bring 100,000 new people to this growing industry, reflecting its tremendous potential. This project was the big announcement at Argencon, one of the most important business promotion missions to the USA that took place in April in New York. The event brought together CEOs and politicians from the most important companies from Argentina, with Belatrix among them.

About Belatrix Software

Belatrix Software helps clients achieve the full impact of their R&D capabilities developing high quality, innovative software, QA, testing and mobile solutions that enables clients to generate best-in-class software products, decrease time to market, and gain competitive edge.

Belatrix's clients include both established Fortune level and emerging, venture backed firms. Some of the firm's clients are Disney, Adobe, SiriusXM, mFoundry, and Chatham Financial. Belatrix is a South American company with offices in Naples, New York, Buenos Aires, Mendoza, and Lima. For more information, please call +1 (855) 521-4533 or visit http://www.belatrixsf.com.
eBid Systems, a provider of cloud-based procurement software, today announced the release of its new product, ProcureWare. ProcureWare will be presented to the public for the first time at the Institute of Supply Managements ISM2016 annual conference May 15-18 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

ProcureWare was developed over the course of the past three years to bring a fresh approach to supplier management, sourcing, and contract management. With the e-procurement industry dominated by solutions designed only for the largest organizations, ProcureWare was created to make procurement software that is far easier to user, quicker to implement, and more affordable. Now solutions previously accessible only to the Fortune 1,000 are available to a much broader base of buying organizations.

ProcureWare is not just an incremental improvement of an existing application but a new platform that represents our vision for the future in supporting how companies engage with their suppliers, said Keith Jones, founder and president of eBid Systems. Unlike a software startup coming into the space, we have had the opportunity of working side-by-side with sourcing organizations over the last 15 years who have told us what they want. In addition to launching with an impressive feature set, we have also created a scalable and configurable platform that will serve our clients for years to come. While it was tempting to rush a product to market, we decided it was more important to build a platform that would adapt to our vision for the future of procurement.

New features of the ProcureWare application include:



Localized into any language or currency

Increased flexibility and configurability

Detailed audit log of system changes

Enhanced reporting, charting, and dashboards

Shared procurement events calendar

Granular user roles and permissions

The launch of ProcureWare coincides with the companys brand update and release of a new corporate website at http://www.ebidsystems.com. This updated brand was conceived to reflect a fresh, new platform and simplicity that carries over into the software itself.

Through this time of growth, the company is dedicated to remain true to its principle of client service, said Danielle Stoehr, Director of Client Services. We have clients who have been with us for more than 10 years and we can now say with confidence that we have a platform that will grow along with them over the next decade.

About eBid Systems

Since 1999, eBid Systems has been providing powerful and reliable vendor management, sourcing, bidding, and contract management software to satisfied clients across a range of industries. eBid provides easy-to-use, affordable, and customizable Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) used by large and small private and public sector organizations. Today the company is proud to serve a global customer base and to count customers that have been clients for more than a decade.

ProcureWare is a registered trademark of E-Bid Systems, Inc.
The Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+) is just a day away from kicking off its East Coast Regional Meeting in New Orleans. This event will take place May 13-15 at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans (601 Loyola Avenue, New Orleans) and will draw more than 200 oncology nurse and patient navigators from east of the Mississippi.

Over the course of 48 hours, attendees will learn about some of the most pressing issues in the field of navigation, including survivorship planning, the role of palliative care, and adherence to the Commission on Cancer guidelines. The meeting will also feature a special Code of Ethics Workshop for patient (nonclinical) navigators as well as plenty of networking opportunities.

As a nationally recognized leader in the effort to standardize and bring value to the navigation profession, AONN+ will be administering the Oncology Patient Navigator-Certified Generalist (OPN-CG) beta test in conjunction with this years regional meeting. About two dozen patient navigators are expected to sit for this exam.

AONN+s regional meetings were launched in 2015 as a way to provide navigation professionals with access to education and support closer to home. Each year, the location of the meeting alternates between the East Coast and the West Coast.

In addition to oncology nurse and patient navigators, conference attendees will include oncology social workers, case managers, oncology nurses, nurse practitioners, practice managers, and physicians. AONN+s next event is its Seventh Annual Navigation & Survivorship Conference, which will be held in Las Vegas, November 17-20, 2016.

For more information and the complete agenda for the East Coast Regional Meeting, please visit aonnonline.org/regionals.

About the Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (http://www.aonnonline.org)

AONN+ is the largest national specialty organization dedicated to improving patient care and quality of life by defining, enhancing, and promoting the role of oncology nurse and patient navigators.

The organization, which has more than 5,500 members, was founded in 2009 to provide a network for all professionals involved and interested in patient navigation and survivorship care services to better manage the complexities of the cancer treatment process.

The Journal of Oncology Navigation & Survivorship (JONS) (http://www.jons-online.com) is the official publication of AONN+. It is published six times a year and features topics related to patient navigation and survivorship care. JONS offers original research, best practices, interviews, case reports, and study highlights, as well as a platform through which navigators can share research and views on navigation and survivorship issues.

CONQUER: the patient voice magazine (http://www.conquer-magazine.com) is AONN+s premier forum for patients with cancer. CONQUER features articles written by and for patients with cancer, survivors, nurse navigators, and other oncology team members. This magazine addresses the issues that patients, their family members, and caregivers face every day in an easy-to-read format. Issues include interviews with patients with cancer, information on access to care, and articles on lifestyle topics such as nutrition, stress management, personal finance, and legal and employer issues. CONQUER also features patient stories that are nominated for the AONN+ HERO OF HOPE award, which is presented at the AONN+ Annual Conference. All stories are compiled in a special issue of CONQUER at the end of the year.
The Ovation Fertility research presented in Las Vegas will benefit all patients who are considering IVF to build their families.

Leaders in reproductive medicine will hear about the latest research on freezing embryos for IVF from Ovation Fertility. The growing network of Ovation Fertility physician practices and IVF labs work together to make advanced reproductive technology (ART) options more effective, more affordable and more accessible.

The annual meeting and educational conference of the American Association of Bioanalysts, AAB, and the College of Reproductive Biology, CRB, takes place May 12-14 in Las Vegas. Ovation Fertility partner physicians and IVF lab directors present topics that align with the goal for presentersto build the best ART program possible.

Dr. Bruce Shapiro, founder of the Fertility Center of Las Vegas, an Ovation Fertility partner practice, will present at the CRB symposium. The renowned Las Vegas fertility specialist will deliver two presentations, Has the Time Come for a Freeze-All Strategy in ART? and Convincing Patients an eSET Strategy is Good for Them.

Ovation Fertility Newport Beach and Ovation Fertility Nashville join forces

Additionally, Lab Director Dr. Mitchel Schiewe and Technical Supervisor Shane Zozula of the Ovation Fertility Newport Beach will present two abstracts on research performed in conjunction with Ovation Fertility Nashville and the University of California, Berkley.

Effect of Accidental Warming Intervals on the Survival of Vitrified Human Blastocysts examines the viability of vitrified blastocysts, or frozen embryos, to hypothetical brief exposures to room temperature. The study confirms how the insulating effects of a closed vitrification system, like microSecure (developed by Dr. Schiewe), can serve to protect embryo viability under sub-optimal handling conditions.

Human Blastocyst Toxicity Potential of Different Vitrification Solutions: Experiment II examines how extended exposure to different vitrification solutions impacts blastocysts. The study showed that embryos are tolerant of more concentrated stable solutions and has better defined a safe window of exposure.

According to Dr. Bruce Shapiro, We are proud of the collaborative efforts among Ovation Fertility labs and partner practices. The greatest advances in reproductive medicine result from the collective knowledge and experience of fertility professionals. The Ovation Fertility research presented in Las Vegas will benefit all patients who are considering IVF to build their families.

The Fertility Center of Las Vegas, Henderson, Los Angeles is one of the leading fertility centers in the world and, since 1988, has helped create thousands of families by providing the most advanced fertility treatments available today. They are a full service clinic offering traditional and third party solutions with offices in Nevada and California. For information, call +1-702-254-1777 or visit their website at http://www.FertilityCenterLV.com

Ovation Fertility - Ovation Fertility, founded in 2015 by a consortium of thought-leading reproductive endocrinologists and embryologists, is a national fertility service provider offering all aspects of fertility treatment for intended parents, including embryology, andrology and genetic testing as part of the in-vitro fertilization process. Ovation Fertility partners with prominent physician clinics that are committed to reducing the average cost of a live birth through IVF by advancing the industry standard in fertility treatments. For more information, visit http://www.ovationfertility.com.
Mr. Holyfield attributes TTRs award-winning workplace to TTRs professionals. We look for professionals that (1) work hard, (2) are upbeat and positive, and (3) are good at what they do.

TTR, the leading supplier of sales and use tax answers, was recently ranked 5th Best Place to Work in the Oregon Business Magazine's annual 100 Best Companies to Work for in Oregon. Shon Holyfield, CEO of TTR, Inc. was interviewed on TTRs award and asked to discuss this achievement.

A local newspaper had this to say about its interview with Mr. Holyfield.

When he walks around the office, Shon Holyfield shares inside jokes with every person he passes. He shares kind words about all of the staff in his building. He walks through TTRs sales group, makes funny faces at a few reps, gets a few others to smile, and the impact is obvious. Within just a few minutes, its clear why TTR, headquartered in McMinnville, was named one of Oregon Business Best Companies to Work For in Oregon. Its not about the Nerf guns lying around or even the tax answers, although that certainly plays a big role. For Shon and the whole TTR team, its about these daily interactions, big and smallits about the people.

Mr. Holyfield is proud of TTRs extensive client list (now over 2,600 companies), but hes far more excited to talk about the people at TTR. He routinely rattles off details about the people, their interests, hobbies, and passions in life. When asked about Oregon Business recognition, he points outside his own office and says its because of everyone out there that we received this award.

Mr. Holyfield attributes TTRs award-winning workplace to TTRs professionals. He also says that TTRs method of hiring helps attract the right candidates for TTRs diverse culture. We focus on three primary characteristics in hiring here at TTR. We look for professionals that (1) work hard, (2) are upbeat and positive, and (3) are good at what they do. It can be tough finding all three qualities, but we always get two out of three with our people and work together to strengthen development areas.

Mr. Holyfield also emphasizes the importance of creating a safe environment. A key component to a successful workplace is the creation of an environment where people dont get made fun of or ridiculed.

Im not a fan of making fun of others. It discourages people from coming to you when they need help for fear of being mocked. In a work environment, the most common reason things dont get done are due to professionals not fully understanding a particular area or task. If the environment is safe, they will come forward quickly and speak up. They know they will not get in trouble if they ask for help. In an unsafe environment that mocks, makes fun of, or punishes those that dont understand, employees usually dont speak up. I prefer a safe environment that fosters increased collaboration and teamwork and removes the stress of possibly feeling stupid.

Mr. Holyfield will speak on these and other key tips on building an award-winning workplace at the TeleStrategies Taxation Conference - May 16-18, in Phoenix, Arizona at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.
A recent report from Michigans Mackinac Center asserts that there is little or no relationship between student achievement and marginal increases to what the report characterizes as the already high levels of spending in that state. Yet, as explained in a review published today, the report clashes with existing research about the positive impact of funding nationally and in Michigan. The report also never substantiates its assertion that Michigans present spending levels are high, on average, or uniformly high across all children, districts, or schools statewide.

Rutgers University professor Bruce Baker reviewed School Spending and Student Achievement in Michigan: What's the Relationship? for the Think Twice Think Tank Review Project at the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulders School of Education.

The report discounts a significant body of peer-reviewed research that specifically shows positive effects of previous Michigan school finance reforms, including positive effects on state assessments and educational attainment, concentrated on those students who had attended (pre-reform) the lowest funded schools or lower performing schools.

Additionally, Professor Baker notes, the report mistakenly contends that increased spending on schools as they presently exist would necessarily be inefficient and ineffective. This contention is undermined by the lack of evidence for more efficient alternatives and by existing research showing the value of resources such as increased teacher salaries and smaller class sizes. Both a recent major national study and a Michigan-specific study show funding increases as efficacious when allocated primarily toward these traditional investments.

Professor Baker concludes that the empirical analysis included in the report lacks depth and rigor when compared to four other quality studiesthree of which were peer-reviewedeach of which find positive effects of prior school finance reforms in Michigan.

Find Bruce Bakers review at:

http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/school-spending

Find School Spending and Student Achievement in Michigan: What's the Relationship?, by Ben DeGrow and Edward C. Hoang, published by the Mackinac Center, at:

https://www.mackinac.org/archives/2016/s2016-02.pdf

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) Think Twice Think Tank Review Project (http://thinktankreview.org) provides the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. The project is made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: http://www.greatlakescenter.org/

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/

Find Documents:

Press Release: nepc.info/node/7987

NEPC Review: nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/school-spending

Report Reviewed: mackinac.org/archives/2016/s2016-02.pdf
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine announced new functionality to AASM SleepTM, a state-of-the-art telemedicine platform for sleep medicine. As the first telemedicine platform to be designed, developed and custom-built by a professional medical society, AASM SleepTM is the standard-bearer for a new era of sleep medicine.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) announced today that AASM SleepTM, a state-of-the-art telemedicine platform for board-certified sleep medicine physicians and accredited sleep centers, now has a new patient self-pay feature that facilitates convenient, secure payments. The new functionality of AASM SleepTM is on display May 14-17 in the Minneapolis Convention Center at booth #2020 of ATA 2016, the annual conference and trade show of the American Telemedicine Association.

Telemedicine is changing the health care landscape by improving patient access to care, said AASM Executive Director Jerry Barrett. As the first telemedicine platform to be designed, developed and custom-built by a professional medical society, AASM SleepTM is the standard-bearer for a new era of sleep medicine that will enhance the availability of affordable, convenient, patient-centered care nationwide.

AASM SleepTM provides a comprehensive solution for the field of sleep medicine. A core component of the system is a secure, web-based video platform that facilitates live, interactive consultations and follow-up visits between patients and sleep medicine providers, regardless of distance. AASM SleepTM also features an interactive sleep diary, sleep log and sleep questionnaires, and it can sync with Fitbit sleep data, giving sleep physicians an unparalleled view of their patients sleep habits.

By delivering live, secure video consultations through WebRTC technology, patients can easily speak with qualified sleep clinicians straight from their web browser, said Steve Van Hout, AASM assistant executive director and chief architect of AASM SleepTM. With the additional features contained within the AASM SleepTM platform, sleep medicine practices have all of the tools necessary to begin their own telemedicine program. While AASM SleepTM contains custom-designed features for sleep clinicians, our long-term plans also involve providing the platform to other specialties to increase the patient populations that can be served.

As about 70 million Americans suffer from sleep problems  and nearly 60 percent of them have a chronic disorder such as obstructive sleep apnea or insomnia  the need for quality care in sleep medicine is evident nationwide. Untreated sleep disorders are associated with increased risks for numerous medical complications, including hypertension, heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes and depression. The effective treatment of a sleep disorder also is essential to prevent excessive daytime sleepiness, reduced alertness and impaired cognitive functioning, which can contribute to workplace accidents and drowsy driving.

AASM SleepTM launched in January 2016, giving sleep medicine providers around the country an innovative way to provide convenient, high quality care for patients.

Sleep medicine is a recognized medical subspecialty with a biennial board certification exam provided by six member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). To date, more than 6,000 physicians have been certified in sleep medicine by a specialty board of the ABMS. The AASM accredited a sleep center for the first time in 1977, and today there are more than 2,500 AASM accredited sleep centers across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

For more information, visit http://www.sleeptm.com.

###

About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Established in 1975, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) improves sleep health and promotes high quality patient centered care through advocacy, education, strategic research, and practice standards. The AASM has a combined membership of 11,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals. For more information about sleep and sleep disorders, including a directory of AASM accredited member sleep centers, visit http://www.sleepeducation.org.

Fitbit is a registered trademark and service mark of Fitbit, Inc. SleepTM is designed for use with the Fitbit platform. This product is not put out by Fitbit, and Fitbit does not service or warrant the functionality of this product.
Patrick A. Salvi is seen at Daley Plaza with his sons, Patrick A. Salvi II and Brian Salvi

Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. is proud to announce its attorneys recently have achieved more than $1 billion in verdicts and settlements on behalf of injured clients they have represented. The law firm joins a very select group of plaintiff law firms in the country to have accomplished this milestone.

In 1978, Patrick A. Salvi began his legal career working for his father, Albert S. Salvi, in Lake Zurich, Ill. In 1982, Mr. Salvi established his own law firm, The Law Offices of Patrick A. Salvi P.C., in Waukegan, Ill. Mr. Salvi won several groundbreaking personal injury cases during his first few years in practice. This helped launch the firm to one of Illinois premiere personal injury firms.

As his law firm grew, so did its name, transitioning to Salvi & Schostok P.C. in 1998, and then Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. in 2000, a year after the firm opened an office in Chicago. Today, the firm has 15 lawyers who are supported by a staff of more than 35 people. Two of those attorneys include Mr. Salvis sons, Patrick A. Salvi II and Brian L. Salvi. Patrick Salvi II joined the firm in 2007 and was named partner in 2012. Patrick Salvi II has himself won numerous multi-million dollar verdicts. Brian Salvi joined the firm in the fall of 2013.

Over the past decade, Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C. has routinely been listed as one of the top law firms in Illinois with the highest reported settlement totalsmany of them record setting in numerous Illinois counties.

Mr. Salvi has become one of the most prominent attorneys in the country. He was selected in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to the Illinois Super Lawyers Top 10 List. In 2016, Mr. Salvi was named one of the top 10 Illinois lawyers in all categories by Leading Lawyers Magazine. He was also named one of the Best Lawyers in America by Woodward/White, Inc. Additionally, Mr. Salvi was the recipient of a 2011 and 2012 Award for Trial Lawyer Excellence by The Jury Verdict Reporter and Law Bulletin Publishing Company.

While Mr. Salvi is proud of his achievements, he considers his greatest success building a team that enjoys an excellent reputation and strives for justice on a daily basis. The total number of verdicts and settlements obtained by attorneys in the Chicago and Waukegan offices includes 215 cases with verdicts or settlements of $1 million or more, all adding up to more than $1 billion.

For more information on Patrick A. Salvi or the law firm Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., please contact Marcie Mangan, Public Relations Manager, at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan(at)salvilaw(dot)com.
Global law firm Greenberg Traurig LLPs Real Estate Practice earned a first place ranking on the Leading Real Estate Law Firms for 2016 list by Commercial Property Executive (CPE). CPEs annual law firm ranking is a weighted formula based on a variety of factors, including revenue and revenue growth, the number of offices and lawyers dedicated to the sector, the growth of the real estate practice, and the size and nature of its top deals. This years rankings will be published in the May 2016 issue of CPE and Multi-Housing News (MHN).

We are proud to receive this recognition as a leader in the real estate industry, said Robert J. Ivanhoe, chair of the firms Global Real Estate Practice. Our robust team of first-rate attorneys continues to achieve the highest standard of excellence when handling complex real estate legal issues.

CPE highlighted Greenberg Traurigs nearly 300 real estate lawyers around the globe across 35 offices and an impressive roster of notable deals handled by the Greenberg Traurig team in 2015 alone. The publication noted the firms signature deal in its representation of Albertsons in connection with the $9 billion leveraged buyout of the Safeway grocery store chain, which closed in January 2015.

To be named the No. 1 real estate law firm in the nation by Commercial Property Executive is not only an honor, its also a testament to our hardworking team of real estate attorneys who are motivated and committed to delivering quality service to our clients, said Corey E. Light, co-chair of the Global Real Estate Practice.

Additionally, Greenberg Traurigs real estate attorneys were involved in the second largest office building transaction ever; one of the largest hotel sales in real estate history; the highest price per room for a hotel sale in the United States; one of the highest per key hotel transactions in Florida history; and the largest acquisition of a United States office tower outside of New York. Outside of the United States, in Warsaw, the firm added two leading real estate teams, 12 new attorneys, in Central Europe to its existing group. The Berlin office also added an award-winning real estate team of nearly 40 attorneys, doubling the firms real estate group in Europe.

Greenberg Traurigs Real Estate Practice has received several accolades, including: 2015 Law Firm of the Year  Real Estate Law, U.S. News  Best Lawyers; 2013 and 2010 Award for Excellence in Real Estate, Chambers & Partners; 2015-2013 Listed as "Top-Tier" in Real Estate, The Legal 500 United States; and 2015, 2013, 2012, and 2011 Real Estate Practice Group of the Year, Law360.

About Greenberg Traurig's Real Estate Practice

The Greenberg Traurig Real Estate Practice is a cornerstone of the firm and recognized leader in the industry. The firms real estate attorneys deliver diversified and comprehensive legal solutions for property acquisition and investment, development, management and leasing, financing, restructuring, and disposition of all asset classes of real estate. The team draws upon the knowledge and experience of nearly 300 real estate lawyers from around the world, serving clients from key markets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. The groups clientele includes a broad range of property developers, lenders, investment managers, private equity funds, REITs, and private owners. The firms real estate team advises clients on a variety of matters across a broad spectrum of commercial, recreational, and residential real estate, including structured equity and debt and the hybrids.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 1,900 attorneys serving clients from 38 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm is No. 1 on the 2015 Law360 Most Charitable Firms list, third largest in the U.S. on the 2015 Law360 400, Top 20 on the 2015 Am Law Global 100, and among the 2015 BTI Brand Elite. More information at: http://www.gtlaw.com.
The Money Source was named the winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in the Management Team of the Year category in the 14th annual American Business Awards.

The American Business Awards are the nations premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations  public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The Money Source, a national wholesale and correspondent lender, was nominated in the Management Team of the Year category for Business Products or Services.

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word meaning crowned, the awards will be presented to winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on Monday, June 20. Tickets are on sale now.

The Money Source was recognized for its managements focus on an innovative company culture led by core values. The New York-based wholesale and correspondent lender was one of the only mortgage companies to be honored in the management team category.

Our management teams greatest accomplishment has been building a culture and an environment that rewards innovation and exemplary customer service, said Darius Mirshahzadeh, CEO of The Money Source. The Money Source is proud to be recognized as a model of how the mortgage industry should do business.

More than 3,400 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Startup of the Year, Executive of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year, and App of the Year, among others. The Money Source was nominated in the Management Team of the Year category for Business Products or Services.

Other winners in the Management Team of the Year category included publicly traded mortgage technology firm Black Knight Financial, John Hancock Financial Services and ride-sharing company Zipcar.

The judges were extremely impressed with the quality of entries we received this year. The competition was intense and every organization that has won should be proud, said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards.

Details about the American Business Awards and the list of 2016 Stevie winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About The Money Source

The Money Source is a leading correspondent and wholesale lender, and mortgage servicing company, with offices in Walnut Creek, Calif.; Melville, New York; Tempe, Ariz. and Meriden, Conn.

For more information on The Money Source, visit: themoneysource.com

About the Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, the American Business Awards, the International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Great Employers, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.
Baffin Bay where scientists found 4.5 billion-year-old silicate material formed when baby Earth was less than 50 million years old. Photo credit Don Francis

University of Maryland Professor of Geology Richard Walker and fellow scientists in a multi-institution research team have found two birthmarks within Earths mantle (the rocky middle layer between Earths metallic core and outer crust), consisting of silicate material formed when our planet was less than 50 million years old.

The team of researchers from the University of Quebec at Montreal, the University of Maryland, the Carnegie Institution for Science, the University of CaliforniaDavis, McGill University and the University of CaliforniaSanta Barbara found clear signatures of this distinctive material in two widely separated locations on the globe, Baffin Bay in the North Atlantic and Ontong Java Plateau in the western Pacific Ocean. Their work appears in the May 13 issue of the journal Science.

According to Walker, chair of UMDs Department of Geology, this is the first clear indication that portions of the mantle formed during Earths primary accretion period still exist today. What weve found are surviving parts of Earths primitive mantle that have been preserved for four and a half billion years, and I think thats kind of exciting!

Scientists believe Earth grew to its current size through the accretion of material from collisions with bodies of increasing size over several tens of millions of years early in the history of the Solar System. The last and most massive of these impacts was a collision between the proto-Earth and a planetoid approximately the size of Mars that resulted in the formation of our moon.

Scientific consensus long had held it unlikely that any vestiges of rock from the earliest-period of Earth history survived. It was thought that the physical mixing and internal heat caused by the many collisions with other solar system bodies would have homogenized material from Earths early mantle. However, that view began to change with findings in 2012 by Walker and colleagues that indicated some material from the primitive mantle continued to exist until at least 2.8 billion years ago.

In the current paper, the authors note that: Four and a half billion years of geologic activity have overprinted much of the evidence for the processes involved in Earths formation and initial chemical differentiation, However, they write that high-precision measurements of the ratios of different forms (or isotopes) of specific elements can provide a view of events that occurred during the first few tens of million years of Earth history, using short-lived radionuclides [unstable forms of chemical elements that radioactively decay] that were present when Earth formed.

According to Walker, the teams identification of primitive mantle material was based on detection of an overabundance of an isotope of tungsten. The radioactive element hafnium, decays into the tungsten. 182-hafnium is a form or isotope of the element that was present when our Solar System formed, but is no longer present on Earth today. The decay of 182-hafnium into 182-tungsten is so rapid that variations in the abundance of 182-tungsten relative to other isotopes of tungsten can only be due to processes that occurred very early in the history of our Solar System.

Corresponding author on the Science paper is Hanika Rizo is a professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Quebec at Montreal. During the research for this paper, she held a joint appointment at the University of Maryland and the Carnegie Institution of Washington as a post-doctoral researcher.

This research was supported by NSF grant EAR-1265169 (Cooperative Studies of the Earths Deep Interior program) to Professor Richard Walker of the University of Maryland and grant EAR-1250419 to Sujoy Mukhopadhyay of the University of CaliforniaDavis.
For more information about the class action lawsuit against T-W Transport call lawyer Nicholas De Blouw at (866) 771-7099

The San Diego employment law attorneys at Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik filed a truck driver class action lawsuit against T-W Transport, Inc. alleging that the transportation company failed to lawfully compensate their Truck Driver employees for all their non-driving activities, including time spent performing pre and post trip inspections of the company's trucks. The T-W Transport truck driver lawsuit is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court, Case No. 37-2016-000130010-CU-OE-CTL. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

The lawsuit filed against T-W Transport, Inc. by the San Diego employment law attorneys at Blumenthal, Nordrehaug & Bhowmik claims that trucking company did not have a business practice that allowed their truck drivers off-duty thirty minute uninterrupted meal periods in accordance with California law. The T-W Transport truck driver lawsuit claims that the failure to provide California meal breaks is evidenced by T-W Transport's business records which contains no evidence of meal breaks.

Further the class action lawsuit alleges that T-W Transport truck drivers were paid on a piece-rate basis. The lawsuit alleges that the truck drivers were not paid all minimum wages to which they were owed because T-W Transport allegedly only paid them for miles driven. The class action claims that the truck drivers should have been paid minimum wages for their non-driving tasks, these tasks allegedly included time spent waiting for Defendant's loads to be ready for transport, among other non-driving tasks.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against T-W Transport call lawyer Nicholas De Blouw at (866) 771-7099 today or click here for more information.

Blumenthal, Nordrehaug, & Bhowmik is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, San Francisco County and Chicago, Illinois. The firm represents employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, truck driver claims, and other types of illegal workplace conduct.
AEMS Service Company

AEMS Service Company (AEMS or the Company), a leading HVAC and plumbing services provider located in Central New Jersey, announced that Sudeep Das, a private investor and resident of Princeton, New Jersey, has purchased the Companys business. The Company shall continue operating under its current brand.

AEMS has a long history of servicing businesses and homeowners with a full range of heating, air conditioning, energy management systems, and plumbing services. The Company was founded in 1979 by Roy Matthews, who will transition from day-to-day operations to a strategic advisory role. The rest of the current team, including Mike Ruberto, who has been responsible for service delivery and customer relationships for the last 10 years, will remain intact and continue in their respective roles.

I am incredibly excited to purchase a company with 37 years of history in the HVAC and plumbing services industry here in New Jersey. I am very much looking forward to partnering with the team, many of whom have worked here for a decade or longer and have deep expertise in tackling complex customer issues. Together, I hope to carry on the legacy of quality of work and responsiveness that this Company was built on, grow the business organically and through add-on acquisitions, and ultimately, strengthen our status as the service provider and employer of choice in this region, said Sudeep Das, president and CEO.

Even though there is a change in ownership, the company will stay at 395 Main Street in Tennent, New Jersey, where it has been located for over 20 years. AEMS will retain all employees.

I searched for years to find a motivated buyer who shared my views on how to run and grow a 5-star service organization. Sudeep Das embodies all the business qualities and skills that I am certain will continue AEMSs proud traditions, and build on them. Our shared goal is to always exceed expectations. said Roy Matthews, founder of AEMS.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About AEMS Service Company. AEMS is an HVAC and plumbing services provider located in Central New Jersey. Founded in 1979, the Company has a long history of designing and providing effective energy management solutions to businesses and homeowners in the State of New Jersey and surrounding areas. For more information, go to AEMSServiceCo.com.

About Sudeep Das. Sudeep is a civil and environmental engineer by training, and has a total of 17 years of experience in the private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and technology services industries. Sudeep is a graduate of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, University of Toledo's College of Engineering and Malaviya National Institute of Technology (India). Sudeep and his family are residents of Princeton, New Jersey.
Luxury furnishings brand Christopher Guy today announced that it would be participating in two exciting events in New York this coming week:

ICFF: is North Americas premiere trade showcase for architecture and fine interior design. The four-day show attracts more than 700 exhibitors from all points of the globe that specialize in high-end luxury design, and is attended by more than 32,000 discerning architects, interior designers, developers, retailers, and manufacturers from leading international firms. Exhibitors from more than 30 countries come to ICFF to present the best in contemporary design in the categories of furniture, lighting, carpet, flooring, textiles, wallcoverings, accessories, kitchen, and bath. In addition to manufactured products, there is a wide range of bespoke furniture, lighting and finishes. The event is held at Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center from May 14  17, 2016. Christopher Guy will be showcasing its elegant and timeless designs at booth 3609 (L3).

Kips Bay Decorator Show House: Christopher Guy is participating in this event as a $25,000 sponsor. This cant-miss decorators dream, where 21 world-class design firms participate in temporarily transforming spaces in a five-floor limestone mansion on Manhattans Upper East Side to oh-so-beautifully decorated rooms. This highly anticipated event is currently being held at The Carlton Townhouse on East 61st Street, and is open to the public on May 12 until June 9. All proceeds of the Show House benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club.

Christopher Guy Harrison, founder, CEO and chief designer for Christopher Guy, will be attending the Show House event and is available for a select number of media interviews in New York City on Wednesday, May 18.

For more information, or to arrange a time to speak with Mr. Harrison, please contact:

Birgit Muller

Brand Ambassador for Christopher Guy

birgit(at)brandamb.com

###
Renowned illustrator, graphic designer and author Bob Gill This talk will be the best representation of my thesis, of design as idea. Its taken a long time; Ive worked on it for my whole career. It is my suggestion to the world of design, and the best of what I have to offer. (Bob Gill)

designjunction + Dwell on Design opens today (May 1315, 2016) with a display of cutting-edge design and a highly-curated design talks programme. Taking place within the ArtBeam venue in New Yorks Chelsea arts district, the event marks the first partnership for designjunction and Dwell on Design during NYCxDESIGN.

The exhibition space features more than 20 contemporary design brands including Artek, Artcoustic, Buster + Punch, Dyke & Dean, Iota, Muuto, Haberdashery, Cuero Design, AARA, Nicolas Buforn, Quadrant, Bokara Rug Company, Designarium, Electric Objects, Stufff Concept Store and Melin Tregwynt.

designjunction + Dwell on Design offers a curated talks programme developed by Dwell editor-in-chief and EVP content, Amanda Dameron. The programme features a host of highly regarded industry professionals including leading architects, designers, creative directors and curators on panels that include opportunities for CEUs (Continuing Education Units) credits. This years theme is Exploring the built environment in the modern world.

On Friday, May 13, renowned illustrator, graphic designer and author Bob Gill  who has influenced modern typography, design and graphics for more than 60 years  will headline the talks programme. Other key speakers include: Dorothy Cosonas, creative director of KnollTextiles, and Tim deFiebre, furniture designer and former assistant to Ward Bennett, who will discuss their experiences as stewards of modern design legacies; and Kinder Baumgardner, president of SWA Group, who will share his vision on the potential impact of driverless cars.

On Saturday, May 14, architect Matthias Hollwich and Mikael Ydholm, head of research at IKEA, will discuss how architects and designers are using human-centered research to identify and address today's emerging problems. Rosanne Somerson, president of Rhode Island School of Design, will discuss the productive merits of boredom in an age of social media and how it affects our lives. Saturday will end with a talk on how architecture can engage with the public through design, where Oana Stanescu, cofounder of Family, will join Will Prince of PARC Office to introduce us to the new and imaginative ways in which architects and designers are creating works for the public user.

Sunday, May 15 will begin with a talk on the topic of online commerce with Bradford Shellhammer of eBay, Maria Molland Selby of Splacer, and Teddy Fong of Capsule discussing how digital platforms can engage with users and bridge the gap with a brick-and-mortar presence. Nina Stritzler-Levine, curator and director of the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, will discuss the work of Alvar Aalto's wife, Aino Marsio-Aalto, bringing it to the forefront of public attention. Sundays programme will finish with Caroline Baumann director of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and landscape designer Margie Ruddick discussing landscape as an important discipline and aspect of design, as well as a national museum's civic responsibility to preserving green space.

In addition to the talks programme, designjunction + Dwell on Design will provide a community hub for design and architecture. WeWork, the archetypal co-working space, will bring a pop-up workspace to the ArtBeam venue with free wi-fi and furniture provided by Muuto. The shows cafe area, furnished by Vitra and Artek, welcomes every visitor with a free espresso  served by coffee sponsor illy.

Tickets are available online here.

For the full talks schedule and programme, click here.

Contacts

All media enquiries should be directed to the designjunction team at Caro Communications:

E: designjunction(at)carocommunications.com
The HUL-LED25WRE-CPR handheld LED spotlight from Larson Electronics is constructed with a single CREE 25 Watt light emitting diode that produces 2,000 lumens of intense light. It is combined with a high output parabolic reflector to produce a narrow spot beam reaching a distance over 3,000 feet long. The CREE LED in this unit generates a robust 80 lumens per watt with 70 percent lumen retention at 50,000 hours, giving them better efficiency and operational life than traditional light sources. LED lights run at significantly cooler temperatures and draw fewer amps than traditional hunting spotlights, making it a more economical choice when considering the power source.

This 25 Watt handheld LED spotlight is built for durability and comfort with an ultra-durable ABS polymer body, an ergonomically designed five inch nylon handle, and a light head that can be adjusted vertically. The five inch diameter lamp and reflector assembly is protected by a polycarbonate lens that is sealed against water and dust to provide an IP65 rated weatherproof protection. The booted push button provides additional protection from dust and water and is conveniently placed, allowing operators easy forefinger access to the switch. This spotlight operates on 12-32 volts DC and includes an optional power cord to operate on any ATV, boat or vehicle. Cord options include a 16 foot coil cord with a cigarette plug, a 16 foot straight cord with a cigarette plug, a 21 foot cord with battery clamps, or a 21 foot cord with ring terminals.

The beam on this ultra-compact LED spotlight is very effective to the far end of its reach at over 3,000 feet, said Rob Bresnahan, CEO of Larson Electronics. Featuring LED technology, the HUL-LED25WRE-CPR spotlight produces less heat than a comparable halogen spotlight and the operational life is exceptional.

Larson Electronics carries an extensive line of LED light towers, portable power distributions, explosion proof lights for hazardous locations, portable work lights and industrial grade LED area lights. You can view Larson Electronics entire line of lighting by visiting them on the web at Larsonelectronics.com. You can also call 1-800-369-6671 to learn more or call 1-214-616-6180 for international inquiries.
With 390 locations opened and 75 more scheduled to open this year, Which Wich Superior Sandwiches has seen rapid growth throughout the country. Which Wich is now proud to announce that the brand is looking for multi-unit operators to expand throughout Massachusetts. With a second Which Wich location now serving freshly made, customizable wiches at the University Center in Westwood, Which Wich is poised to continue rapid growth within the market.

Massachusetts is an important part of Which Wich Superior Sandwichs growth strategy, said Jeff Vickers, Which Wich Senior Vice President of Development. The Which Wich brand is a favorite among both children and adults, and our unique ordering system makes us stand out above our competitors. The ability to customize more than 50 varieties of sandwiches with over 40 different toppings at one price is an experience our customers love.

Diya Patel, owner and operator of the brands Sommerville, Mass. Location, echoed that sentiment.

Which Wich offers a wide variety and people love it, Patel said. Our guests love the colors, the system and the ability to pick up the bag and create their own sandwich.

As Which Wich focuses on continued development across Massachusetts, the brand has identified Newton, Lexington, Woburn, Burlington, Cambridge & Stoneham as strong opportunities for growth.

The continued development of Massachusetts will also help drive new multi-unit growth throughout the rest of the Northeast, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine, said Vickers.

Which Wich currently has locations in 39 states and the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. New territories remain available across the United States with a heavy focus on the addition of new locations in Chicago, Phoenix, , Houston, Miami, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Washington D.C./Baltimore metro areas. The brand is also focused on international expansion across Europe and Asia.

To learn more about franchising opportunities visit: http://www.whichwich.com/#!/franchise.

ABOUT WHICH WICH:

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches was founded in Dallas in late 2003 by restaurant entrepreneur Jeff Sinelli. The national sandwich franchise chain is best known for its customizable sandwiches, creative ordering system, and personalized sandwich bag. In 2014, QSR named Which Wich one of their "2014 Best Franchise Deals" and Forbes listed Which Wich as one of their 2014 30 Best Franchises To Buy. Which Wich is also the recipient of the 2015 Nations Restaurant News MenuMasters Healthful Innovations award. Which Wich currently has 400 locations open or in development in 39 states and 10 countries. For more information, visit http://www.whichwich.com.
"The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied. Justice Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition."

With that two-sentence order, the Supreme Court brought the long-running Google Books case to a close on April 18. After ten years, two lawsuits, one failed settlement, a parallel case against Google's library partners, and five landmark copyright decisions there is nothing more for the courts to say. Google Books is legal. Full stop.

If the news felt a bit anticlimactic, it wasn't just because of the Supreme Court's dull legalese. Googles scanning project and the subsequent lawsuits once commanded the attention of the publishing and library worlds. But over the years they became peripheral. As Google copied some 20 million volumes from library shelves, the sky did not fall on publishers, or copyright owners. Rather, the end of the litigation merely confirmed a few realities of modern publishing.

First and foremost among these realities: digital is here. It's staying. It's a thing. In 2004, when Google began its scanning project, the most alarming aspect for many was that it amounted to an involuntary transition from print to digital. A decade later, print and digital are coexisting and the level of comfort with digital books is high, and rising. Turning paper into pixels no longer comes with the shock of the new.

Technologists, on the other hand, feared that a loss in the Google Books case would devastate innovation in any business that so much as breathed on a copyright. When the Authors Guild and a group of publishers first sued Google in 2005, the ink was barely dry on the earliest holdings that search engine indexing was a fair use, and the legality of creating search engines for copyrighted content was still subject to serious dispute. Those fears have subsided. Judge Pierre Leval's magisterial opinion in the Google case is an authoritative restatement of modern fair use, but it breaks no new ground. After a decade of legal decisions, the proposition that search engines are fair use is so well established as to be boring. While there are still interesting cases at the margins (what counts as a search engine? And when does a search engine go too far?) technologists today have secured their landing zone.

Meanwhile, the legal storms of the last decade have swirled elsewhere. Remember that time the CEOs of five major publishers conspired with each other and Apple to fix e-book prices? The entire agency model controversyfrom when Amazon first started talking with publishers about a futuristic new device it was calling the Kindle, to the Supreme Court's decision not to hear Apple's appeal in its price-fixing casetook place while the Google Books litigation was pending before the courts. As someone who followed every twist and turn, it pains me to admit it, but the Google Books litigation turned out to be a decade-long distraction from the genuine tectonic shift taking place in digital publishing.

There was a time, of course, when it seemed like the Google Books litigation might actually be a key instrument in the transition from print to digital. From October 2008, until it was rejected in March 2011, a proposed settlement sought to turn Googles index into something of an online bookstore. But the settlement was at once too ambitious and too restrictive to do what the industry needed. Its attempt to draw in out-of-print and orphan books took it far beyond what class action law is designed for. And, its Google-only nature made it unsuitable as a long-term foundation for a diverse publishing ecosystem.

The great irony is that books have become something of an afterthought for Google. Today, Google Books is a bit of a ghost town. The Google Books blog, and Googles library newsletter were shut down long ago. And the leading visionaries behind Google Books have all moved on to dream other dreams. The initial fear that Google would dominate publishing, crushing all beneath its robotic boots, was once at least plausible. But Google Play Books is now a punchline, as is the idea that the revenue generated from searches and snippets of out-of-print books was a treasure trove stolen from rightsholders.

If the breathtaking ambition of the Google Books settlement was its undoing, however, such ambition also galvanized new thinking about how to carry forward the centuries of our cultural legacy locked away in print. The HathiTrust, a coalition of research libraries, used the digital copies Google gave back to its members to provide full-text digital editions to print-disabled students, for example, setting a new standard of inclusive access. The Digital Public Library of America now brings together librarians that want to do everything they can for public access to books within the confines of current copyright law. And the Copyright Office has begun to study how licensing systems could potentially enable even more access.

So, hail and farewell to the Google Books case. Born in controversy, it mellowed with age. Though its end is mourned by a few, its legacy will be remembered by many.

James Grimmelmann is a Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and a Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, and a former contributing editor for Publishers Weekly.
Ten years and 800,000 words ago, Justin Cronin, at the time a well-regarded, if largely unknown, author of literary fiction and a recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award, started telling a storyone that he didnt think would be published.

It began as a game, Cronin recalls. My eight-year-old daughter, Iris, challenged me to write about a girl who saves the world.

Cronin and his daughter spent much of the next autumn wandering the streets of their Houston neighborhood, she on her bike, him jogging alongside, spinning out a tale that had only two inviolable rules. The first: everything in their story had to be interesting. The second?

Cronin smiles. It had to have one character with red hair, he says, adding you dont have to guess what color hair my daughter has.

That story eventually became The Passage, a landmark work of supernatural fiction that not only topped bestseller lists nationwide, but transcended the genre, and was named one of Time magazines Books of the Year in 2010. In the second volume of the Passage trilogy, The Twelve, Cronin expanded on his success.

Now, with the publication of The City of Mirrors, the sagas final volume (one that has already garnered intense pre-publication praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal), the journey is ending not just for the characters readers have come to know and love (Peter, Alicia, Amy, and others), but for the author himself.

Ten years is a long time in the real world, Cronin notes. Time enough for children to grow up. His daughter Iristhe little girl who started telling tales of the Passage with himis off to college, the bicycle she rode around Houston replaced by a slightly battered Mini Cooper. His son, a preschooler when the story began, is now taller than his wife.

The world grows, Cronin notes wistfully. The Passage trilogy began in one phase of my life; it ends in another.

Cronin will sign books at the Penguin Random House booth (2433) today, 10-11 a.m.

This article appeared in the May 13, 2016 edition of PW BEA Show Daily.
There are a lot of heavy hitters this year at BEA, and plenty of books generating excitement. But four titles consistently came up in conversations with book buyers: Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, The Nix by Nathan Hill, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, and The Girls by Emma Cline.

Top of that list is Colson Whiteheads The Underground Railroad, coming from Doubleday in September. Its the story of a young woman trying to escape bondage and make it to the North from the Antebellum South. Bill Carl, assistant manager of Wellesley books in Wellesley, Mass., says hes so excited, Im jumping up and down. Jake Cumsky-Whitlock, head buyer at Kramerbooks & Afterwords in Washington, D.C., calls The Underground Railroad an unflinching, arresting, and unforgettable book. He says he has high hopes that this will be the title to vault Whitehead to the next plateau of recognition. Matt Keliher, manager at Subtext Books in St. Paul, Minn., calls Whiteheads book an absolute bombshell.

Next is a debut novel, The Nix by Nathan Hill (Knopf, Aug.) which Cathy Langer, head buyer at Tattered Cover Books in Denver, Colo., says has some of the funniest writing Ive read in years. And the 1968 Chicago Convention [where the book is set] is so timely. Valerie Koehler of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Tex., is another fan: The staff is going to do a bookclub this summer with this one. Jamie Fiocco of Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., says The Nix is very entertaining. I think folks are really going to like his style. Its a big book but reads very quickly. Jamie Thomas, the store manager of Women & Children first in Chicago said its the newest in a long line of fat, bold debut novels. But its the most assured Ive read in a long time.

Then theres Commonwealth (Harper, Sept.), Ann Patchetts new novel that Langer says has fans chomping at the bit. Matt Norcross, co-owner of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich., calls Patchetts latest quick and snappy. A thoroughly enjoyable take on the modern familyheartwarming but with complications and tragedy.

The Girls, the debut novel that won a headline-grabbing advance for author Emma Cline from Random House, is exciting booksellers. Its easy to see it as simply the gripping story of a young woman caught up in a violent hippie cult, yet its Clines unsparing examination of young womens relationships that will stay with me long after the chills have gone away, says David Enyeart of Common Good Books in St. Paul, Minn. Sarah Hollenbeck, co-owner of Chicago's Women & Children First, says that The Girls captures so viscerally what it is to be young and femalethe serrated desire to be desired, the vulnerability, and the loneliness that feels like forever.

Plenty of other books are on booksellers radars. Paul Yamazaki, the head buyer of City Lights Booksellers in San Francisco, weighs in on several of his favorites, from Jonathan Safran Foers Here I Am (FSG, Sept.), which he predicts will be very big, to Mauro Javier Cardenass The Revolutionaries Try Again (Coffee House, Sept.). Hes a tremendously skilled storyteller and monologuist; his writing is so exuberant. Yamazaki is also bullish on Tim Murphys Cristadora (Grove, Aug.). Its the best novel Ive ever read about the cost of activism. Another of his picks is Blood at the Root: A Racial Cleansing in America (Norton, Sept.) by Patrick Phillips, in which Phillips looks at the Atlanta suburb where he grew up and questions why the community is so white. Yamazaki is particularly impressed that Phillips writes with a poets view.

Vivien Jennings, the owner of Rainy Day Books in Fairway, Kan., says shes looking forward to Candice Millards new book, Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, A Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill from Doubleday. This is her best book yet, Jennings says. She always makes history come alive through the individuals, and our customers have been anxiously awaiting this new book. Maria Semples new novel, Today Will Be Different (Little Brown, Oct.) is another one that Jennings expects to be big. Everybody wants to know where is Maria Semple going to go next after Whered You Go Bernadette? Jennings says.

Langer has some big non-fiction on her list, starting with the Eleanor Roosevelt biography by Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3, The War Years and After 1939-1962 (Viking, Oct). We know it will do incredibly well, Langer says. Blanche Cooks biographies are tried and true.

Then theres Marrow: A Love Story by Elizabeth Lesser (Harper Wave, Sept.). Its offbeat. Its about the authors struggles with her sisters cancer. Its about deep sibling love, Langer says. I think its going to touch a lot of hearts, as we say, and the writing is incredible.

Another is Truevine: Two Brothers, A Kidnapping, and a Mothers Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South by Beth Macy (Little Brown, Oct.) about two African-American brothers in the 1890s who are kidnapped and sold to the circus. Their mother, a maid, spends years looking for them. Its well-written investigative journalism going back over 100 years. Its an interesting premise as well. And, Langer adds, Tattered Cover did well with the authors previous book, Factory Man.

She loved Amor Towles' latest novel, A Gentleman in Moscow (Viking, Sept): fabulous and the perspective on the early decades of the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of an aristocrat under house arrest in the Metropole Hotel is really provocative. And a debut on her must-read list is Mischling by Affinity Konar (Lee Boudreaux, Sept.).

Angela Schwesnedl, the co-owner of Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis, Minn., and a first-time BEA attendee, made a serious effort to grab The Mothers by Brit Bennet (Riverhead, Oct) and is looking forward to Marcy Dermansky's The Red Car (Liveright, Oct.)

From revered small presses, theres Martin Seays The Mirror Thief (Melville House, May) which is exciting Matt Keliher, the manager at Subtext Books in St. Paul, Minn. Gina Frangellos novel Every Kind of Wanting (Counterpoint, Sept.) is a favorite of Sarah Hollenbeck, who calls it gorgeous. The Ghosts of Birds (New Directions, Oct.) by Eliot Weinberger will be a big title for Jeff Deutsch, director of the Seminary Coop in Chicago. Weinberger is a literary giant and any new collection of his should be cause for celebration, Deutsch says.

And we are always on the lookout for a quirk, as is David Enyeart, who calls the memoir GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human by Thomas Thwaites (Princeton Architectural Press, May) in which Thwaites aims to escape the pressures of modern life by becoming a goat. Thwaites is pleasant company on his oddball exploration, and by the time hes scampering across an alpine meadow with a herd of real goats, readers of this unusual little book will have a new appreciation of what it means to be an artist and a human being.

Update: Affinity Konar's surname was incorrect in an earlier version of this story and has been corrected.

Read about the show's big children's books here.
Ted Geltner. Univ. of Georgia, $32.95 (406p) ISBN 978-0-8203-4923-7

Geltner brilliantly renders the life of the late writer Harry Crews (19352012) in this well-researched and vivid biography. It captures the wild spirit of an unflinching American writer from his early years in impoverished Bacon County, Ga. (which Crews devastatingly captured in his most beloved book, A Childhood), to his years as an esteemed but volatile faculty member in the University of Floridas creative writing program. In just two decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s, Crews went from working as a junior college composition teacher to being a friend of Madonna and featured writer for Playboy. Geltner traces much of the inner pain in Crewss life back to his tense relationship with his brother, Hoyett; the suspicion that his father was not his biological parent; and the shocking death by drowning of his young son. Geltner deftly examines each of Crewss books and, without glossing over his alcoholism, shows that the hard living for which Crews was known did not break his ability to write. His discipline and respect for the art were reflected in the motto displayed above his desk: Get Your Ass on the Chair. Geltner proves that Crews was not just a great Southern Gothic writer, but a great American one, too.
Lawmakers are trying to work on the state budget impasse, but energy providers hope they will focus on legislation to deal with Illinois' long-term power needs before the scheduled May 31 adjournment. The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers reports that all three industries back measures that they say are vital to the state's energy future and economy.

Exelon Generation supports a measure that would extend state subsidies to nuclear power plants that are struggling financially. The bill includes $140 million in funding for the solar power industry.

A group of central and southern Illinois lawmakers is pushing for legislation that seeks to preserve coal as part of the state's energy mix.
CHICAGO (AP)  The family of a white Chicago police officer who shot a black teenager 16 times has spoken out publicly for the first time since he was charged with murder, defending him as dedicated officer, husband and father who didn't set out to kill anyone.

The wife, father and other relatives of Jason Van Dyke spoke to the Chicago Tribune with the officer's approval for a story published Thursday. Van Dyke, following his attorney's advice, declined to be interviewed.

They described the 38-year-old Van Dyke as a caring father who dotes on his two daughters. A brother-in-law who is black said it's unfair to assume 17-year-old Laquan McDonald's race influenced Van Dyke's decision to use deadly force in the October 2014 encounter.

His wife, Tiffany, said Van Dyke became an officer because he hoped to make a difference. But she said years working in high-crime areas sapped his optimism and left him emotionally closed-off.

"When you start out and you're so optimistic about helping others ... but unfortunately, people don't want the help any longer or they don't trust you to be able to help them, it does change you," she said. "It doesn't make him a bad person ... but it does take a toll and does make a person different."

Police dashcam video of the shooting was released in November on a judge's order after the city fought to keep it from public view. It contradicted accounts by Van Dyke and other officers on the scene that McDonald, who was holding a knife, lunged at officers. Hours before the images became public, prosecutors charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder. He has been suspended with pay since.

Tiffany Van Dyke said she has not watched the video, but acknowledged that she would have to as the trial nears. She said, though, that it won't change her belief that her husband is innocent.

The shooting was the first time Van Dyke fired his weapon in the line of duty during 12 years on patrol. He has 53 commendations, but also 20 formal complaints against him, the Tribune reported, citing department records.

McDonald's great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, said he feels compassion for Van Dyke's family but little sympathy for the officer, who he says acted as "judge, jury and executioner."

Van Dyke's attorney, Daniel Herbert, has said Van Dyke feared for his life and acted properly in the McDonald case.

While responding to a deadly police shooting in 2005, Van Dyke described in a deposition having "tunnel vision" while rushing to a scene after hearing an officer might have been injured. He said his mind went into "fight or flight" mode.

Tiffany, a 35-year-old fitness instructor, said she hopes that speaking out will help people see her husband's human side.

"His favorite thing, he used to say, was he loved to drive through a neighborhood and see someone wave to him and he'd wave back," she said of his early years in policing.

One of his proudest moments, she said, was helping secure the parade route for President Barack Obama's January 2013 inauguration.

Van Dyke's father, Owen Van Dyke, said his only son loved the outdoors and rode his bike from dawn to dusk while growing up in the suburbs.

"What happened is a terrible tragedy, but our son is not a murderer," he wrote in a statement to the Tribune.
The Quincy Herald-Whig reports that 27-year-old Christopher O. Brown of Revere, Missouri, entered the plea Thursday in a western Illinois court to one count of solicitation of murder for hire. Two other similar charges involving a 20-year-old woman and a 2-month-old child and two sexual abuse charges were dropped as part of a plea deal.

A Hancock County judge immediately sentenced Brown to 25 years in prison.

Court documents say Brown offered another Hancock County Jail inmate $15,000 and a $20 jail commissary to kill the 4-year-old.

The child's grandma says the child is traumatized and needs therapy.
Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain. Iowas state motto is powerful and succinct. This motto has seemingly been Iowas guiding star since our founding. Iowa eliminated a ban on interracial marriage in 1851. Iowa granted its Black citizens the right to vote years before the federal government. Iowa fought for liberty during the Civil War, sending more troops per capita than any other state to end the scourge of slavery, and played a role in the Underground Railroad. Iowa was among the earliest signers of the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. Iowa became the first state to desegregate our schools, was one of the earliest states to recognize marriage equality and until recently was ranked among the most accessible states for voting access.
With yet another poll showing plunging downstate support for Gov. Bruce Rauner in a Republican district and the intense Republican freakout over Donald Trump's impending presidential nomination and its impact on independent suburban women, there appears to be a growing feeling among Democrats, particularly in the Illinois Senate, that they need to get out of the way to let the other party crash and burn.

The almost year-long state government impasse is most definitely having an impact on Gov. Rauner's poll numbers. Bernie Schoenburg reported in the State Journal-Register last week that a Public Policy Polling poll of appointed Republican state Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez's Springfield-area district had Rauner upside down, with 37 percent approving of the way the governor is doing his job, while a majority of 54 percent disapproved. Rauner won that district 58-37 in 2014, according to Illinois Election Data's numbers. So, basically Gov. Rauners numbers have flipped almost entirely the other way.

Another PPP poll of GOP state Rep. Terri Bryant's southern Illinois district near Carbondale was even worse for the governor. Rauner won Rep. Bryant's district 60-33, but 57 percent of voters in that district disapprove of Rauner's job performance, while only 33 percent approve. Thats just about a mirror opposite image of his 2014 result. Both polls were taken April 14-17 and had margins of error of a bit over 4 percent.

A PPP poll taken last August in Bryants district had the governors job approval rating at 40 percent and his disapproval rating was 51. So, thats a net loss of 13 points in eight months. And, again, this is a Republican district, albeit one that has plenty of government workers.

Rep. Bryant is also experiencing a freefall if the pollsters numbers are correct. Last August, PPP had her at a 50 percent job approval rating and a 27 percent disapproval rating. Now, shes at 42 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval. Thats a huge 24-point swing.

Meanwhile, Gallup's daily March tracking polls showed 70 percent of women nationally had an unfavorable view of the presumptive nominee Trump. That number is surely higher in the more Democratic-leaning Illinois, where independent suburban women have been the deciding factor in just about every major statewide race since 1990.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why Gov. Rauner recently let it be known that he won't endorse Trump and wont attend the Republican convention in Cleveland this summer, and why, as I write this, appointed Comptroller Leslie Munger is expected to make the same decisions because shes up for special election this fall.

And you also dont have to be Einstein to realize that the one-two combo of Rauner and Trump could spell big trouble for down-ballot Republicans.

On the other hand, Gov. Rauner's team says it has polling which shows, by a 2-1 margin, that voters blame House Speaker Michael Madigan more than the governor for the ongoing impasse. To voters, Madigan is "the all-knowing puppet-master," explained one Rauner official last week. Madigan's been around so long and is believed to have so much control over Illinois politics and government that he's seen by voters as "the key to getting something done."

So, as long as this impasse is going on, Rauner's legislative allies have a handy pivot they can use, paid for with oil tanker loads of the wealthy Rauners cash. Whenever Democratic legislators or candidates demand their Republican opponents answer for the latest Trump outrage or their support for and/or from the unpopular Rauner, the Republicans can turn it back on the Democrats by demanding they justify their support for and/or from the obstructive Speaker Madigan (or Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Madigan, in the case of Senate candidates).

But even if yet another Fire Madigan effort by Republicans isn't as effective as they believe it will be (the first two tries failed badly), many Democrats will freely admit right now that voters are overwhelmingly blaming incumbents rather than a single political party or person for the impasse -- and there are a whole lot more Democratic incumbents than Republicans in the General Assembly.

In a campaign, once your opponent goes down you never take your boot off that persons neck. So, with Rauner and Republican legislators going down and Trump about to make a big splash, there's naturally plenty of temptation among a certain type of Democrat (*** cough *** intheHouse! *** cough ***) to keep this impasse going.

But all those legislative Democrats may wind up doing if the impasse lasts through November is unhelpfully distract Illinois voters from the weirdness at the national and statewide levels.
"I think it would be bad for us as a party, but I think it would be worse for the general public," UK Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake told Tova O'Brien

4 hours ago
HAP Consortium comprising Hyundai Rotem and Posco Engineering from Korea and Apex Communications, Malaysia, has been awarded a Ringgits 1.62bn contact for the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of the trains and depot. MRT requires 58 four-car trains to operate the line at 3min 20s headways.

Bombardier and Global Rail have won a Ringgits 458m contract to install, test and commission the signalling and train control system for the line. A fully automated driverless system is planned.

Malaysian Resources Corporation and IJM Construction have won contracts worth Ringgits 2.1bn for the construction of elevated sections totalling7.2km of the 52.2km line which will run in an arc from Sungai Buloh to the northwest of Kuala Lumpur round to the eastern side of the city centre and then south via Sungai Besi to Putrajaya. The SSP Line, as it is also known, will have 11 underground and 26 elevated stations.

"Earlier, we saw many of our civil works being awarded," says the CEO of MRT Mr Seri Shahril Mokhtar. "We have now moved to the stage where we are awarding Systems Work Packages. This is very good progress for the SSP Line."
The new trains will replace a mixture of locomotive-hauled trains and modernised EMUs, most of which will be more than 40 years old by 2019.

Full details regarding the new trains will be revealed by SOB once contractual procedures are completed. In its September 2015 tender, SOB stated it was seeking six trains for the Voralpen Express services plus a further five for regional services. The financing for the new trains was agreed in 2014 by the Swiss federal government and the cantons concerned.

The new trains will have more space for bikes, luggage and skis than the existing trains but will not have buffet cars. The interiors for the new trains will be based upon feedback from existing passengers via online surveys.

In December 2013 the Voralpen Express became the sole responsibility of SOB after Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) sold all its shares in the venture to SOB for SFr 4.2m.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied and halted the permitting process for the $700 million Gateway Pacific Terminal project in Washington State because of objections by the Native Americans of Lummi Nation based on their land and fishing treaty of 1855.

The Gateway Pacific Terminal in Cherry Point, Wash., was intended to be one of the largest U.S. ports for export of coal to markets in Asia. SSA Marine and Cloud Peak Energy planned to ship coal by rail from Montana and Wyoming over BNSF to the new port proposed by Pacific International Holdings LLC, and claimed thousands of jobs would be created. Environmental and community groups raised questions of rail grade crossings, train frequencies and sustainable development.

Ultimately, Corps Seattle District Commander Col. John Buck ruled on May 9, 2016 based on the Lummi Nations land rights:

I have thoroughly reviewed thousands of pages of submittals from the Lummi Nation and Pacific International Holdings. I have also reviewed my staffs determination that the Gateway Pacific Terminal would have a greater than de minimis impact on the Lummi Nations usual and accustomed rights, and I have determined the project is not permittable as currently proposed.

The Lummi Nation signed the Treaty of Point Elliot in 1855, which established the Suquamish Tribes Port Madison, Tulalip, Swinomish, and Lummi reservations and guaranteed fishing rights in perpetuity at each tribes Usual and Accustomed (U&A) fishing areas. The GPT project area is included in their U&A fishing area.

Gateway Pacific Terminal planners may alter their proposal to address the Lummi Nations land rights, though the Army Corps of Engineers concluded their release with this caveat: If in the future the Lummi Nation withdraws its objections to the proposal, the proponent could reinitiate processing of the application. A number of other tribes have expressed concern about effects of the proposal on their treaty rights, so if processing of the application resumes, consultation with those tribes would occur as needed to collect information and make decisions with respect to effects of the proposal on their rights.
As U.S. universities expand into Asia and the Middle East, a survey of 47 heads of higher education reveals frustration at the pace of change in Europe. So are European institutions innovating enough to remain competitive?

Higher education is changing worldwide and European institutions recognise the need to keep up. For many, innovation has become the word of the day.

Higher education institutions face increasing competition, as more students gain access to courses and diplomas outside their home countries. Some world-renowned educational institutions are establishing centres in other countries, such as the Harvard Center in Shanghai or New York University in Abu Dhabi.

At the same time many higher education institutions are turning to commercial services to help them in student recruitment, testing and course delivery.

These developments prompt the question: Are traditional European universities innovating enough to remain competitive? A three-year study funded by the European Commission and led by RAND Europe and the University of Maastricht sought to answer this question. As part of the study, the heads of 47 European universities across nine EU countries were asked their views on innovation in higher education. A level of pessimism was revealed.

The majority of respondents recognised that their institutions would require significant changes and innovation in the next five years, but said the current pace of change was far too slow.

University heads are not the only ones that questioned the institutional capacity for change. Academics and administrators interviewed as part of the project often referred to the organisational constraints they faced when trying to innovate.

Drawing conclusions across the broad swathe of European universities is challenging, particularly given the diversity of higher education systems and conditions within different European countries. What is possible in one country's higher education system may not be possible elsewhere.

Universities in some European countries can evolve with a relatively large amount of autonomy, whereas those in others cannot.

For instance, universities in the UK, France, and Latvia are free to set their academic structures, create legal entities, design the content of their courses, and exercise discretion over their financial management.

However, countries like Sweden or Slovakia are more restricted, with guidelines issued for academic structures, legal entities, and financial management.

In addition, there are significant differences in financial resources across higher education systems in Europe. Public spending on higher education in the UK was 187 times more than in Latvia in 2014, according to the Commission-backed Eurydice network (PDF).

In the face of this disparity, our study highlights good examples of innovation taking place across multiple European universities in different countries, perhaps demonstrating the potential of European universities to innovate regardless of their location and funding.

Examples include the University of Alicante in Spain, which has an ambitious virtual campus strategy aiming to capitalise on Massive Open Online Courses; Anglia Ruskin University in the UK, which prides itself on being a leader in delivering work-based programmes; and the University of Strasbourg in France, which has invested in an Institute on the Development of Pedagogic Innovation to support innovation in teaching.

These initiatives have three key things in common. First, they meet the needs of the university and its mission. Second, all the initiatives were set up with clear leadership and a commitment to innovate. Finally, they all have articulated strategic plans with mandated actions and performance indicators, which help them obtain support and measure achievements.

Yet, the existence of strategic planning is far from obvious in some settings. Our study found that three out of ten universities reviewed by researchers did not publicise a strategic plan, either because their adoption was on hold or it did not exist.

As Burton Clark, renowned educator, researcher and professor of education, once explained, University autonomy is not enough to make institutions change if the institutions and their leaders choose to look to the past rather than the future.

Although the recommendation appears to be simple, the message is clear: Universities will go further if they incorporate innovation in clear institutional strategies which are made public.

Cecile Hoareau McGrath is a senior analyst at RAND Europe. Her work is concentrated on comparative education policies, particularly in higher education. Emma Harte is an associate analyst at RAND Europe with a research focus on studies in higher education, innovation, and social inclusion.

This commentary originally appeared on Science|Business on May 12, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Spains Televes has taken its IPTV hospitality solution to the Dhammakaya Temple, Thailands largest Buddhist centre.





Based in Bangkok, the temple hosts over 3,000 monks and other religious personnel, and can gather more than 100,000 believers during Sundays congregations.The Santiago-based broadcasting company has designed and deployed a complete telecom infrastructure for video delivery, including IPTV, different viewing points throughout the temple, and a closed television circuit. It has also installed a content distribution network for the centres own TV channel.The project has been carried by both the Televes team and the companys official partner in Thailand, Patararungroj.Due to the special significance of the work environment, this project has been a real challenge for Televes regarding how to adapt hospitality solutions to the clients very specific needs, said the company.
Univision is launching a Los Angeles-based Hispanic production centre, Univision Story House, through which it has already signed a content agreement with HBO.





The project targets original productions for young Hispanics and a multi-cultural audience in the US, and will be part of the recently created Fusion Media Group Among the first productions to be carried will be two projects from HBO: Outpost, a ten-episode series combining journalism and adventure; and Hate in America, an investigative journalism report, presented by Univisions Jorge Ramos, about recent hate crimes in the US.Univision Story House will be supervised by Camila Jimenez Villa, who has also been appointed president and content director of Fusion Media Group . Juan Rendon will be the creative director, and Christian Gabela has been named VP and GM.There are many untold stories about Latin America and the US inter-cultural experience, said Rendon. Thanks to the different backgrounds and roots of our team, we will tell these stories in the most authentic way.Our main goal is to become a content reference for an emerging population group in the US, independently of brands, platforms or languages, added Jimenez Villa.
Court rules against compulsory treatment for opposition activist

MOSCOW, May 13 (RAPSI)  A District Court in Voronezh, a town in southwestern Russia, has dismissed a move for involuntary psychiatric committal of Dmitry Vorobyevsky, a well-known Voronezh opposition activist, filed by a local psycho-neurologic clinic, in its entirety, lawyer Sergey Loktev told RIA Novosti news agency on Friday.

Local media reported about Vorobyevskys committal on May 7, later the news was published by Amnesty International. The town Prosecutors Office has been carrying out an examination of this information acting on instructions from the higher regional authority.

The court examined the motion for compulsory treatment of the opposition activist on Thursday.

The court rejected the claim lodged by the psycho-neurologic clinic. Vorobyevsky was let go home from the courtroom,  Loktev said.

Earlier, psycho-neurologic clinic officials, regional health authorities and the court chair declined to comment on the situation to RIA Novosti.

Dmitry Vorobyevsky is an opposition activist well known in the town of Voronezh. He is a permanent participant of all protest actions, always having on display a poster demanding the countrys leadership to resign.
Russian lower house adopts bill on protection of military judges

MOSCOW, May 13 (RAPSI) - The State Duma, Russias lower house of parliament, passed in both the second and third reading on Friday a bill that would authorize military police to ensure security of military judges and members of their families, RIA Novosti reported.

The initiative was submitted by the government and proposed amendments to the federal constitutional law On Military Courts of the Russian Federation.

Currently, measures to ensure the safety of military courts judges, judges of judicial panels for military personnel, members of their families as well as measures to ensure the safekeeping of their property are carried out by internal affairs agencies and commanders of military units.

Under the bill, Russias Military Police officers will discharge these duties on equal terms with the aforementioned bodies.
St. Petersburg International Legal Forum to be held on 18-21 May

ST. PETERSBURG, May 13 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) - The VI Saint-Petersburg International Legal Forum (LF), Russias Justice Ministrys annual conference, will bring together lawyers from over 80 countries on 18-21 May, the LF press office told RAPSI on Friday.

Ministers of Justice, chairmen of the Supreme and Constitutional courts from different countries, representatives of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and Court of the Eurasian Economic Union, heads of the leading legal firms, chief legal officers from major companies, judges, representatives of state regulators, international organizations and legal schools are named among participants of the conference.

The Forum will take place in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building of the Hermitage Museum, Residence of Russias Constitutional Court and Small Hermitage.

The VI Saint-Petersburg International Legal Forum is aimed at promotion of justice development in a time of global changes.

The conference offers its delegates an opportunity to identify models for solving most complicated legal issues and share best practices for establishment of a favorable business environment and development of responsible entrepreneurship.

According to the LF press service, in 2015, over 3500 delegates from 84 states including Australia, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, UK, Vietnam, Germany, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand, USA, Ukraine, France, South Korea and Japan, took part in the Forum.
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As we see a surge in inflation globally, it is now critical that everyone is aware of the implications this will have along every step of the insurance and reinsurance value chain.
Robert S. Ford, a resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, was the United States ambassador to Syria from 2010 to 2014. This article was published in collaboration with the Institute, and is part of MEI's scholar series titled "The Middle East and the 2016 Presidential Elections." The views expressed are the authors own.

By the time President Barack Obama departs the White House in January 2017, the Islamic States territory in Iraq will be further reduced. Its fighters will formally control only a few isolated pockets, probably around Mosul in northwestern Iraq. The outgoing Obama administration can at least take comfort in the fact that its actions drained the Islamic State's resources and helped fighters claw back ISIS-held territory.

However, Iraq will remain far from a success story, or at least not what Obama had hoped for when he entered office in 2009. Iraqi security forces will continue to battle a tough Islamic State insurgency, much worse than the security challenges they faced in 2009-10. The new administration will labor to keep Iraq together as Iraqi Kurds push for independence and the national government struggles to maintain cohesion amid economic hardship and challenges to local governance. Without Iraqi national reconciliation, especially in restive Sunni Arab districts, the new U.S. administration will face a long slog against an ISIS insurgency in a constantly wobbly Iraq.

Follow-through needed

As administration officials rightly point out, the Islamic State has lost much ground in Iraq since the peak of its advance in mid-2014. The so-called caliphates fighters have lost most of the provinces of Diyala and Salahuddin and big portions of Anbar and Nineveh. It was never going to take Baghdad in any case, but ISIS is today less able to threaten the Iraqi capital and its 5 million inhabitants. Significantly, the Iraqis, with help from the U.S.-led coalition, have cut main road links between ISIS strongholds in Syria and those in Iraq.

Taking and holding ground does matter: the Islamic States administration has demonstrated an ability to govern, and while it may not be hugely efficient, the militant organization even collects taxes and writes parking tickets. Recapturing ISIS-held towns and cities in Iraq and Syria will steadily reduce the Islamic State's capacities. In this sense, fighting against the Islamic State resembles a conventional war, one that the Iraqis and their American friends are winning.

ISIS, however, has a history that goes beyond an established, murderous administration and physical control of geography. Thousands of its fighters will never flee or surrender, but will instead return to its previous form as an underground insurgency, as it was prior to 2014. If ISIS is as smart as al-Qaeda has been in Syria, it might even become a softer, gentler, and still entirely lethal entity learning from the mistakes of its brutal rampage of 2014-2016. In that case, it will be even harder to defeat entirely.

After miserable experiences in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, as well as in Libya in 2011, American presidential candidates should finally understand that fighting terrorism and restoring security in weak Arab states is about far more than carpet-bombing or boots on the ground. U.S. policymakers are hopefully readying for governance in the areas recaptured from the Islamic State, and spurring Iraqis to prepare for the same. The next administration needs to think less about the military aspects of defeating ISIS and more about governance in order to completely uproot the movement and address any grievances that may allow it to fester. These concerns arent as ostentatious as military operations, but they are vital. Some ideas for the next administration to consider include:

A capable, local police force ready to assume authority on streets cleared of the Islamic State.

Judicial authorities ready to process security cases and other disputes among residents, which are certain to arise in communities returning to towns from which they were displaced.

Materials and teams ready to repair water plants and pipelines, power stations and transmission lines, hospitals and schools, and staff capable of running the facilities so that life can return to normal for local populations as quickly as possible.

Trained local administrators and officials -- even provincial assembly members, if needed -- able to interact with the public and react to complaints or information received.

Teams in the national government in Baghdad to help provincial authorities quickly with additional resources, ranging from troops to medicine.

President Obama rightly noted, when he announced the dispatch of U.S. forces to Iraq in July 2014, that the ultimate answer to destroying the Islamic State is national reconciliation. If Iraq cannot restore civic life in areas freed from ISIS, national reconciliation will stumble and perhaps even fail. We have seen before how ISIS will readily fill the local voids created by ill-managed and corrupt local governance and unpopular security forces.

In truth, national reconciliation has a long road to follow. Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi is vastly less sectarian than his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. Indeed, one wonders whether the Obama administration was pressing al-Maliki and his team about their corrupt and divisive policies in the months before the Islamic State overran western Iraq. Al-Abadi was an engineer living in Britain until the collapse of Saddam Husseins regime, and he lacks a broad support base in Iraq. Nor does he have a militia, as do some of his Shiite political rivals. Al-Abadi is largely dependent on the goodwill of others in his Shiite political coalition, including men reliant on Iranian money and arms for their influence.

When push comes to shove -- and it often does in Iraqi politics -- al-Abadi could find himself stymied. His tendency as prime minister to operate with only a small team and minimal consultation has exacerbated his challenges. Al-Abadi could not obtain agreement on his preferred appointees for the interior and defense ministry portfolios in 2014, and he has had major difficulties changing the cabinet this year, even with the visible support of the highly influential Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Protesters storming the Green Zone and the Iraqi parliament was only the latest example of al-Abadis weaknesses.

Barriers to unity

In contrast to al-Maliki, al-Abadis relationship with the Iraqi Kurdish region has been correct, even if not warm. The al-Abadi government has not stormed about Kurdish oil exports that it interprets as a violation of an agreement struck in 2015. Although it reduced transfer payments to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in response to fewer export receipts from the Kurds, the Baghdad government quietly continued other payments, including some employee salaries. With world oil prices down, however, Baghdad is less able to buy Iraqi Kurdish loyalty to the state. The Kurds have never relinquished their right to seek independence, and even with ISIS pressing them from the west, Iraqi Kurds are speaking openly again about independence. The premier seems little inclined to stop them.

KRG President Masoud Barzani is a careful calculator and tough negotiator. Some of the Kurdish talk may be posturing, and Barzani wouldnt make rash moves. Pressure from the Islamic State, and the near bankruptcy of the KRGs treasury, are slowing the drive to independence. It is, however, feasible that Iraqs Kurds may move to declare independence, with some kind of assurance from Turkey, within the next five years. How smooth that process will be depends on whether there can be an agreement about the exact border between rump Iraq and the new Kurdish state. Barzanis fighters now control the oil town of Kirkuk, but few Arabs, Sunni or Shiite, will readily accept Kurdish rule over it without serious concessions in return.

Unlike the Kurds, Iraqs Sunni Arabs do not seek their own state and will likely cling to some relationship with Baghdad. Their lands are mostly desert, and few hydrocarbon fields have been developed to bankroll a Sunni Arab entity, even if the Sunni Arabs could unite themselves to establish one. Their dependence on Baghdad and its budget has only sharpened the struggle for power and influence among Iraqs Shiite and Sunni Arab communities. Greatly outnumbered, the Sunni Arabs keep losing ground -- literally. As noted in reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and recently The Atlantic, many Iraqi Sunni Arabs are not safe in Baghdad or in nearby provinces governed by Shiite political blocs and militias. The ugly sectarian killings, which reached their peak in 2006-07, have returned.

Reconciliation between the Shiite and Sunni Arabs will require a much larger degree of self-governance and local security arrangements for both communities; financed largely, at least at the beginning, by Baghdad. Many Sunni political figures who used to decry federalism -- including tribal leaders and political bloc leaders -- now seek it. The constitution does not permit Sunni Arabs to declare a federal region or two unilaterally; they will need approval from other Iraqi provinces. Shiite political leaders - who, along with the Kurds, embraced federalism back in 2005 -- have been reluctant to consider the idea. Moreover, given the splits among Iraqs Sunni Arab community, local governance may need to be very local to be sustainable; Sunni Arabs from one tribe or community may not be accepted in Sunni Arab communities elsewhere. The shortage of reliable administrators in Iraq, especially in Sunni regions, makes governing Sunni Arab communities and fostering durable national reconciliation particularly difficult.

The Iraqi government in the second half of 2016 will have to confront these governance issues more directly, at a time when its cohesion is under unprecedented strain. Even if it holds together, Baghdads budget is under terrible pressure, and the country is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund. Given the extent of Iraqs imbalances, the IMF will demand major reforms relatively quickly. Iraqi leaders wont like austerity and IMF benchmarks, and we can expect anger, more street protests, and more demands for government shake-ups. There will likely be pleas for American intercession with the IMF. Baghdad may also plead for more help with civilian assistance programs and training, on top of military aid. The United States knows firsthand the difficulties in training and fielding able administrators, judges, and police. Previous attempts by well-resourced American provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq have had mixed results in the past. The American experience in Mosul, Fallujah, and Hit in 2012-2014 was abysmal and helped the Islamic States surge. The new administration will have to consider early in its tenure whether governance is an area in which it can help. If it cannot, then it also needs to determine what political, diplomatic, and military tools it could use to help keep Iraq from slumping into a constant, low-grade combat that would make containing the Islamic State even harder.

Installing and empowering good governance is a great deal more than refugees simply returning to their liberated homes. The Obama administrations reverse body count of Sunni Arabs returning to their homes in some select towns says nothing about whether they can find basic services, new jobs, and expect fair treatment from local police and judges. A military-only approach to ISIS will not eradicate the militant group entirely. The next U.S. administration will need to develop a more nuanced policy to secure the future of the Iraqi state, and do so in a manner that minimizes fighting and addresses the underlying grievances that allowed the Islamic State to incubate. Without national reconciliation, the Iraqi state will never be stable, and the seeds for extremist, revisionist groups like ISIS will remain.
The appalling churn of events in the Middle East has blasted to smithereens not just untold human lives, but also stories we had long told ourselves about the region. Chief among these fictions is the desirability -- which we so often confuse with inevitability -- of the nation-state. In other words, a political construct endowed with a recognized state, institutions, and borders. Like a desert mirage, Middle Eastern nation-states have been evaporating before our eyes, leaving us to confront a bloody and battered reality.

Thanks to historys cunning, this month marks the centenary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the invariably credited source of this particular fiction. The nation-states that are neither nations nor states -- as we now see with Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon -- were the offspring of two mid-level government representatives, the Englishman Mark Sykes and Frenchman Georges Picot. They made for an odd couple. Sykes was a dashing, neer-do-well aristocrat who, before entering politics, published accounts of his travels across the Ottoman Empire. Picot, on the other hand, hailed from a family of professional colonialists, dedicated to Frances civilizing mission to the worlds benighted peoples. Behind closed doors, the two men redrew a map of the region to reflect their nations imperial ambitions.

Much has been written about the historical consequences of the map annotated and, in the lower right-hand corner, signed by Sykes and Picot. A single sheet of paper, covered by a web of continuous and dotted lines enclosing the pastel-colored British and French zones, has borne a tremendous burden. Nearly everything that has since gone wrong in the Middle East has been laid at the feet of the maps creators. Like 9/11 or Auschwitz, Sykes-Picot has become a sinister synecdoche for a world-historical event of the first order.

But the meaning of this map -- or, for that matter, any map -- runs deeper than we suspect. Of course, we tend to think of maps as mirrors of nature, faithful renderings of land and water, mountains and plains, as objective as an MRI of our digestive tract. Unlike a cigar, however, a map can never be just a map. Over the last few decades, a new generation of geographers has, in effect, remapped their profession. They argue that cartography, notwithstanding its use of calipers and computers, is less a science than it is an art, one that projects our collective fears and hopes, aspirations and anxieties onto paper or screen. The grids and colors, legends and dimensions are rhetoric by other means, a particular representation of reality designed to persuade or seduce the viewer.

For this reason, maps are no more transparent than a Giotto portrait or Greek pottery. The work of human intelligence, they necessarily obscure as much as they reveal, and offer only opacity when we hope for insight. This calls into question our assumption, both as their makers and viewers, that we control maps. But the late geographer Brian Harley burst that bubble several years ago. Maps, he argued, also control us through their internal logic. It makes us, he declared, prisoners in its spatial matrix.

This has tremendous implications for the ways in which we might think of the legacy of Sykes-Picot. To those who have strength in the world, Harley once observed, shall be added strength in the map. At the most superficial level -- maps are profound in their superficiality -- we see this demonstration of strength in the lines etched by Sykes and Picot. The diplomats diced and sliced the carcass of the Ottoman Empire according to their governments geopolitical aims, while dismissing the religious and historical realities on the ground. As David Fromkin notes in his definitive study A Peace to End all Peace, France no less than England was deluded in its belief that the Muslim population wished to be ruled by them.

But cartographic delusions were hardly new. From the medieval Crusades and through the Enlightenment, the West mapped the East according to its desires and dreams. In his classic work Orientalism, Edward Said dwells on the imaginative geography that has long framed the Wests perception of the Middle East. It is an outlook, Said argued, that allowed us to manage -- and even produce -- the Orient. While his claim lacked nuance, it underscores a fatal Western habit: to draw boundaries where none before existed and define others by names no one had before recognized.

As a result, by 1915, when Sykes convened a governmental committee to map Britains aims in the Middle East, he was simply joining a long tradition. Not surprisingly, his committee erased the borders and place names established by the Ottoman rulers. Turning to the ancient Greek and Latin texts they had swotted as students, they cobbled together words from Greek and Latin, baptizing the newly-created regions as Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. (A corruption of Philistia, the swath of land once occupied by the Philistines.) It was as if Britains battle for the Middle East was lost in the classrooms of Eton.

The Sykes-Picot map conveys another cartographic illusion: the etching of lines and coloring of regions seem to suppress the agency, or freedom, of the human beings living in those demarcated places. Yet, the imposition of the Sykes-Picot map inspired the rise of nationalist movements, as well as pan-Arabism, across the region. As early as 1917, even Sykes recognized that his map was an artifact of a bygone era.

Moreover, even today we tend to assume the Middle East settlement of 1922, for which Sykes-Picot is a cornerstone, was entirely the work of the Western powers. We came, we mapped, and we conquered. Yet as revisionist historians persuasively argue, local actors -- Muslim and Christian, Arab and Turkish and Persian -- all played pivotal roles in these events. The maps were indeed drawn up in the smoke-filled rooms of Paris and London, but acting upon them were those whose lives they pretended to determine.

In his novel A Mapmakers Dream, James Cowan recreates the life of Fra Mauro, a 16th century monk who wishes to create a map of the world without ever leaving his cell. Gazing at his creation, the monk realizes: I begin to see a portrait of myself. When you next gaze at a map of the Middle East, the trick is to glimpse not just a portrait of Sykes and Picot, or those of their descendants. Instead, it is to see the countless faces of those whose lives will always resist the abstractions of lines and hues.
This piece originally appeared in TomDispatch. [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.]

MASTERS OF MANKIND (PART TWO)

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.
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HOME > The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race 28 Exclusive: 'The Amazing Race' team Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins talk (Part 2)

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/13/2016



eliminated "Dating Couple" Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins, determining Season 28's Final 3 teams during the penultimate broadcast of the CBS reality competition.



ADVERTISEMENT Burnie and Ashley became the eighth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's eleventh Pit Stop at Shenzhen Library Terrace in Shenzhen, China, in last place.



Burnie and Ashley were a tough team to beat all season long, as they finished in second place numerous times. The couple therefore became a target in China because no one wanted to go up against them in the final leg.



During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Tuesday, Burnie and Ashley talked about their experience. Below is the concluding portion.



Reality TV World: Do you think it's a tougher blow to get eliminated before the final leg than it would be to race in the final leg and lose the million? What do you imagine is worse?



Burnie Burns: Man, that's a great question! That's a great question. We don't know because we only did our way.



Ashley Jenkins: We'd be more than happy to try the other way!



Burnie Burns: (Laughs) Yeah, we'd be happy to do a do-over! I can say that Ashley and I -- I'm pretty sure it was in Armenia -- we were like, "Okay, if we get eliminated tomorrow, I would still be really happy with this experience." And then when we got to China, we realized, "We've gone the whole way. We will be at every step of the way until the finish line."



So we thought we were very grateful to be able to travel to every country [this season], so that was the good part to us. So, I mean, obviously we want to be racing for the million dollars though. That's definitely preferable to being eliminated.



Ashley Jenkins: Yeah, we're gamers. We don't like losing at any level.



Burnie Burns: Yeah.



Reality TV World: How long do you think it took you to complete the art gallery Detour task?



Burnie Burns: The hardest part about it was -- and it shouldn't have been the hardest part of it -- we kind of nailed the hanging of the paintings pretty well, even though our art gallery, well, I was watching it back and there's a point when we go into [Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl]'s art gallery.

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Ashley Jenkins: They had a huge art gallery!



Burnie Burns: Our art gallery was so small that we were in, we couldn't flip over paintings in it. We had to take paintings outside, flip them over and bring them back in. There was no way anyone else needed to do this.



Ashley Jenkins: (Laughs)



Burnie Burns: There's a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube channel called "walking in circles." It took us forever to get the paintings and find the art gallery. We asked probably three people for directions and nobody could read the address. They all just, like, pointed in the general direction. That was probably the single most frustrating part of that.



Ashley Jenkins: I think we spent at least 15 or 20 minutes carrying around a whole bunch of heavy paintings and everyone pointing us in a different direction. It was extraordinarily frustrating.



Burnie Burns: Yeah, if I look at this leg like a game level, the way it was designed, it was designed so well. Because it was basically a whole day of trying to find things and get directions while in a place where the language barrier was probably the hardest.



In the amusement park, we had to run around and find things, and the only people we could ask were tourists in the amusement park, and then we had to find the art gallery, and then we had a Pit Stop that was in a two-block radius and we had to find that. So it was really well-designed.



Ashley Jenkins: After this leg, I started learning Mandarin.



ADVERTISEMENT Burnie Burns: (Laughs)



Reality TV World: I don't blame you. (Laughs)



Ashley Jenkins: I can ask, "Where is the library?" in Mandarin any day!



Burnie Burns: She also bought that unicycle.



Ashley Jenkins: I did. You have to take the moments you fell down as an opportunity to save yourself, and so, I'm going to conquer a unicycle and I'm going to conquer Mandarin.



Burnie Burns: There you go!



Ashley Jenkins: And then, I will be that much stronger.



Reality TV World: You two made the biggest move this season by U-Turning Tyler and Korey to ensure Brodie Smith and Kurt Gibson would be the only team completing both sides of the Detour so they'd go home. Korey felt bad about U-Turning the guys at first and Tyler had to talk him out of it. Did you experience any guilt after that? Did Brodie and Kurt ever say anything to you?



Ashley Jenkins: We traveled a lot in the early part of the Race with Brodie and Kurt, and we really like those guys. We think the world of them. They are both incredible competitors and they're both such nice guys as well. We also lost three footraces to the mat to those two players.



Burnie Burns: We lost in Mexico City, we lost in Chamonix, and we lost in Dubai. Three straight footraces we lost to those guys.



Ashley Jenkins: So we knew that if we were to have any sort of chance at taking the million dollars, they would make it that much harder for us. That was one consideration, but we also, when we got to that U-Turn board, all you can do is play with the pieces you're provided. And we had a couple of options there. Because [Brodie and Kurt] were already U-Turned, we could either leave it and let them U-Turn someone else...



Burnie Burns: Probably [Sheri LaBrant and Cole LaBrant].



Ashley Jenkins: And stay in the Race, or we could have U-Turned someone else on their behalf -- and that probably would have been Sheri and Cole -- or we could make sure that they went out. From a strategic standpoint, only one of those made any sense.



ADVERTISEMENT Burnie Burns: Yeah. I mean, you get to that board and the scenario is that you can't change what you are presented with. We just looked at what was there and we had to make the best choice for our team at that point in time. We were the strategy team. I think that was our strength. And, you know, we never asked the fast team not to run.



I think I would've felt more guilty if we had gotten all of these second places, we get to the U-Turn board and are like, "Nope, we're just going to move on! We're not going to use the U-Turn." I would ask as a viewer, like, "Does this team want to win?! Why are they doing this?"



You know what I mean? It's like, that was our opportunity as a team that's racing people who are probably 15 years younger than me and professional athletes. You've got to take the opportunities you can to win. And in terms of Brodie and Kurt, they haven't complained about it one time.



I mean, I think there's been a lot of people complaining on their behalf, but they understand it. They are professional athletes and professional competitors. Yeah, we've seen them since the Race and it's always been -- everything has been fine.



Reality TV World: What's the status of your relationship now? How are things going?



Burnie Burns: Well, we broke up right after the Race.



Ashley Jenkins: (Laughs)



Reality TV World: (Laughs) I was hoping there was an announcement or something!



Burnie Burns: Yeah, we're engaged now! We got engaged about a month after we got back from the Race.



Ashley Jenkins: Burnie didn't tell me this, but apparently when we were in Bali, he spent some of our leg money to buy a ring.



Burnie Burns: I did. I bought a little string ring, but then when we got back to the U.S., it didn't feel like that was appropriate. So, I replaced it with a real ring. And yeah, we got engaged shortly after that.



Reality TV World: Well congratulations! And lastly, at the time you guys left the Race, which team were you rooting for to win?



ADVERTISEMENT Burnie Burns: On the mat, I don't think we were rooting for anybody in particular, but they asked, "Who do you think is going to win it?" And we said, "Tyler and Korey." Just looking at averages and the strength of the teams...



Ashley Jenkins: They've been so dominant the last half of the Race.



Burnie Burns: But anybody can win it! That's what we were thinking, you know? [Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina] won the first leg, they didn't use any of the power pieces. And Sheri and Cole...



Ashley Jenkins: You said, "They refuse to die."



Burnie Burns: Yes! (Laughs) They refuse to die.



Ashley Jenkins: They never give up. There were so many tasks that we gave up on and they stuck through.



Burnie Burns: Oh yeah. They just, man, did [great]. So we're not rooting for anyone in particular. We really liked all the teams, but I think Tyler and Korey -- I'll say what I said on the mat when we were eliminated -- I think they're the strongest team and going into the finals, they are going to carry that through.



To read the first half of Burnie and Ashley's exclusive interview with Reality TV World,





About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS eliminated "Dating Couple" Burnie Burns and Ashley Jenkins, determining Season 28's Final 3 teams during the penultimate broadcast of the CBS reality competition.Burnie and Ashley became the eighth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's eleventh Pit Stop at Shenzhen Library Terrace in Shenzhen, China, in last place.Burnie and Ashley were a tough team to beat all season long, as they finished in second place numerous times. The couple therefore became a target in China because no one wanted to go up against them in the final leg.During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Tuesday, Burnie and Ashley talked about their experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.Man, that's a great question! That's a great question. We don't know because we only did our way.We'd be more than happy to try the other way!(Laughs) Yeah, we'd be happy to do a do-over! I can say that Ashley and I -- I'm pretty sure it was in Armenia -- we were like, "Okay, if we get eliminated tomorrow, I would still be really happy with this experience." And then when we got to China, we realized, "We've gone the whole way. We will be at every step of the way until the finish line."So we thought we were very grateful to be able to travel to every country [this season], so that was the good part to us. So, I mean, obviously we want to be racing for the million dollars though. That's definitely preferable to being eliminated.Yeah, we're gamers. We don't like losing at any level.Yeah.The hardest part about it was -- and it shouldn't have been the hardest part of it -- we kind of nailed the hanging of the paintings pretty well, even though our art gallery, well, I was watching it back and there's a point when we go into [Tyler Oakley and Korey Kuhl]'s art gallery.They had a huge art gallery!Our art gallery was so small that we were in, we couldn't flip over paintings in it. We had to take paintings outside, flip them over and bring them back in. There was no way anyone else needed to do this.(Laughs)There's a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube channel called "walking in circles." It took us forever to get the paintings and find the art gallery. We asked probably three people for directions and nobody could read the address. They all just, like, pointed in the general direction. That was probably the single most frustrating part of that.I think we spent at least 15 or 20 minutes carrying around a whole bunch of heavy paintings and everyone pointing us in a different direction. It was extraordinarily frustrating.Yeah, if I look at this leg like a game level, the way it was designed, it was designed so well. Because it was basically a whole day of trying to find things and get directions while in a place where the language barrier was probably the hardest.In the amusement park, we had to run around and find things, and the only people we could ask were tourists in the amusement park, and then we had to find the art gallery, and then we had a Pit Stop that was in a two-block radius and we had to find that. So it was really well-designed.After this leg, I started learning Mandarin.(Laughs)I can ask, "Where is the library?" in Mandarin any day!She also bought that unicycle.I did. You have to take the moments you fell down as an opportunity to save yourself, and so, I'm going to conquer a unicycle and I'm going to conquer Mandarin.There you go!And then, I will be that much stronger.We traveled a lot in the early part of the Race with Brodie and Kurt, and we really like those guys. We think the world of them. They are both incredible competitors and they're both such nice guys as well. We also lost three footraces to the mat to those two players.We lost in Mexico City, we lost in Chamonix, and we lost in Dubai. Three straight footraces we lost to those guys.So we knew that if we were to have any sort of chance at taking the million dollars, they would make it that much harder for us. That was one consideration, but we also, when we got to that U-Turn board, all you can do is play with the pieces you're provided. And we had a couple of options there. Because [Brodie and Kurt] were already U-Turned, we could either leave it and let them U-Turn someone else...Probably [Sheri LaBrant and Cole LaBrant].And stay in the Race, or we could have U-Turned someone else on their behalf -- and that probably would have been Sheri and Cole -- or we could make sure that they went out. From a strategic standpoint, only one of those made any sense.Yeah. I mean, you get to that board and the scenario is that you can't change what you are presented with. We just looked at what was there and we had to make the best choice for our team at that point in time. We were the strategy team. I think that was our strength. And, you know, we never asked the fast team not to run.I think I would've felt more guilty if we had gotten all of these second places, we get to the U-Turn board and are like, "Nope, we're just going to move on! We're not going to use the U-Turn." I would ask as a viewer, like, "Does this team want to win?! Why are they doing this?"You know what I mean? It's like, that was our opportunity as a team that's racing people who are probably 15 years younger than me and professional athletes. You've got to take the opportunities you can to win. And in terms of Brodie and Kurt, they haven't complained about it one time.I mean, I think there's been a lot of people complaining on their behalf, but they understand it. They are professional athletes and professional competitors. Yeah, we've seen them since the Race and it's always been -- everything has been fine.Well, we broke up right after the Race.(Laughs)Yeah, we're engaged now! We got engaged about a month after we got back from the Race.Burnie didn't tell me this, but apparently when we were in Bali, he spent some of our leg money to buy a ring.I did. I bought a little string ring, but then when we got back to the U.S., it didn't feel like that was appropriate. So, I replaced it with a real ring. And yeah, we got engaged shortly after that.On the mat, I don't think we were rooting for anybody in particular, but they asked, "Who do you think is going to win it?" And we said, "Tyler and Korey." Just looking at averages and the strength of the teams...They've been so dominant the last half of the Race.But anybody can win it! That's what we were thinking, you know? [Dana Borriello and Matt Steffanina] won the first leg, they didn't use any of the power pieces. And Sheri and Cole...You said, "They refuse to die."Yes! (Laughs) They refuse to die.They never give up. There were so many tasks that we gave up on and they stuck through.Oh yeah. They just, man, did [great]. So we're not rooting for anyone in particular. We really liked all the teams, but I think Tyler and Korey -- I'll say what I said on the mat when we were eliminated -- I think they're the strongest team and going into the finals, they are going to carry that through.To read the first half of Burnie and Ashley's exclusive interview with Reality TV World, click here THE AMAZING RACE 28 MORE THE AMAZING RACE 28 NEWS << PRIOR STORY

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Incessant arguments of caliber and handgun vs. long gun aside, the best home defense weapon you can get is a Callahan full-bore auto-lock double cartridge thorough gauge  especially if you can get one with a customized trigger. It's the best gun made by man.

Failing that, a 10mm semi-automatic is a great option: just not for everybody. This is because the 10mm will ride roughshod over some shooters. If you can effectively drive this caliber  please forgive the mixed metaphors  then you'll be able to exploit the ballistic advantages it provides over the venerable but effective .45 and much younger .40. Grain for grain, the 10mm is a substantially more powerful round. It's actually more akin to the old .41 Magnums used by cops in the 70s, though the two rounds are not as close as some would have you think.

That's why we chose a .45-to-10mm conversion as the second gun in our series that began with Searson's Piece Maker in Issue 25 (Brownell's Gunnery insert page 12). Not because conversions are a great way to get access to every bathroom in Target, but because having the option to shoot both the Ten and the Forty-Five is a great and wonderful thing.

Like, getting a massage from six hands worth of great and wonderful.

Granted, such a conversion might not be as obvious or as intuitive as making one from .40 to 9mm but there are a number of reasons to do soso long as you respect Newton's Third Law. With 700 foot pounds on tap, the greatest attribute of the round is also the one that puts most shooters off.

So why choose the 10mm?

Greater magazine capacity and improved terminal ballistics are the two most obvious. Throw the right Pearce Grip, Arredondo or other magazine extension on there and you can have as many as 20 rounds with which to greet uninvited guests in the middle of the night. 10mm ammo can be purchased in types ranging from 125gr solid copper all the way up to 220gr hardcast. This provides an incredible amount of diversity, for anyone who might have to smokecheck a pack of homicidal circus clowns to someone under siege by rampaging bears.

It's also important thing to remember here is youre not losing the .45. Youre just adding the versatility of the 10mm. Having the ability to shoot different ammunition from the same gun (with a barrel change) is never a bad thing, although if you have the same distractibility that I do you might consider using one of those adhesive label printers to keep your barrels and magazines straight.

Put a weapon light on it and you might just have one of the best bedside/nightstand guns around  though I personally would never carry one out and about, and I wouldn't carry one with a short barrel

That seems to be a contradiction, I know. Fact is, a G20, G21 or similar sized pistol is just too big and heavy for me to want to haul it around all the time. I might consider carrying it in a few specific instances, like if I was in some remote area of Wisconsin or in between Rosie O'Donnell and a buffet table, but otherwise I'll leave it in a nightstand safe at home where hopefully I won't every have to use it.

Our conversion took less than 2 hours to accomplish. It would have been faster but we forgot some of our tools. Alterations were made to a used Glock 21 purchased online from J&G Sales. It took about 5 minutes to find what I wanted and order it, though contrary to what Amy Schumer and other idiots would have you believe, I still had to wait for it to arrive at an FFL and then do the background check before taking possession, just like any other Title 1 firearm.

After that it was a simple matter of grabbing our parts from Brownell's and getting to it. Upgrades included a titanium safety plunger, Zev Ultimate Trigger Kit, Bar-sto barrel and a new extractor. Strictly speaking we didnt need to change out the latter, but for $20 we figured we might as well be thorough. Here's a list of what we used while rebuilding for horsepower.

Lightning Strike  Titanium Safety Plunger

ZEV Technologies  Fulcrum Ultimate Trigger

Bar-Sto Precision Machine  Semi-Fit Barrel

XS Sight Systems  24/7 Big Dot Tritium Express Set

Glock Extractor w/ Loaded Chamber, New Style

Glock Spring Loaded Bearing LCI

We also threw a Surefire X300 Ultra on there, because a weapon built for defending hearth and home should have. a. light. on it.

The end result? We went from a gently used G21 in .45 to a smooth-shooting pistol chambered what's prob'ly the most effective auto cartridge around, with the option to switch back to .45 in moments. Sure, it could use some body work but so could a lot of MILFs and they're still fun to play with.

Now, that would be the end of the story, but some of you are no doubt posing a very good question.

If the 10mm is such an effective round, why didn't it catch on? Why isn't it more widespread nowadays?

The short answer is, recoil management and evolution. Issues with recoil management led to a reversion to 9mm in some cases and the development-then-adoption of the .40 S&W round in others. Evolution, of both gun and bullet, have largely removed a need for such a bullet. This leaves it as the gun of choice for a much smaller group. In fact, 10mm handguns have been described as the weapons of the cognoscenti. There's a lot of truth to that.

The 10mm cartridge is rightfully described as a niche or cult round, and that's not likely to change. Not as long as modern ammunition delivers good performance even in smaller calibers.

Few people consider evolution when they're talking guns or defensive rounds and frequently conflate the weapons and ammunition of a quarter century ago with those of today. The two are by no means the same. Just like cars, airplanes and breast implants, guns and bullets are constantly improved with technology. This has been true, albeit at varying rates, since long before Claude-Etienne Minie had his epiphany. Hell its been around since before anyone thought to call deflagration, well, deflagration. Couple this evolution with advancements in metallurgy, better CNC machining potential and other manufacturing improvements and you wind up with more effective weapons all around.

Consider just this one 3 year stretch. Interestingly it's around the time I first began carrying a firearm professionally.

To examine the relative improvement in cartridges, the three best ammunition types per caliber were selected based on their wounding value. An average wounding value per caliber and test year was computed for each cartridge. The average wounding value of the three best .45 Auto cartridges increased by 63 percent over the 3- year test period. Accuracy indexes also rose slightly between 1989 and 1992. Wounding value and accuracy both improved in the 10mm Auto cartridges tested.  (Stone, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Vol. 64, Jan. 95)

The rate of bullet improvement might change, but improve they do. Getting 1350 fps out of a 9mm handgun these days is not a challenge. Twenty-five years ago many pistols couldn't have handled it.

With the ready availability of excellent 9mm, .40 and .45 semi-auto cartridges today, most to them substantially easier for the average shooter to control, why would you carry a 10mm?

Well  cuz you can, and cuz you want to. If you can and you want to.

It isnt new. The G20 came out over a decade and a half ago. I dont claim to know its original history. Ive heard its development ascribed to different people, so lacking any certainty Ill go with the Bren Ten Birth of the 10mm Auto and the Whit Collins  Jeff Cooper connection as my origin story of choice.

According to the original ammunition manufacturer (Norma) the first food for a 10mm was a 200gr full-jacketed truncated cone bullet loaded to a mean pressure of 37,000psi, generating a muzzle velocity of 1200fps and energy at the muzzle of 635 ft-lbs. Thats getting close to some low end rifle loads. Newer bullets, with more recent bullet technologies, are substantially more effective now than they were then  and they were at the top of the scale when they first came out.

The first modern production 10mm rounds first became available in the early 70s. Prototyped from .30 Remington Auto rifle shell cases cut off and straightwalled to accommodate a .38-40 Winchester bullet, it quickly proved to be a formidable cartridge. It did not rise to prominence, however, until after a 1986 gunfight in Dade County, Florida between 8 FBI agents and 2 bank robbers. The fight ended in the deaths of 2 agents and the wounding of five others. The death of the 2 suspects is noteworthy not because they deserved to live but because of how long it took to put them down. This led to a tremendous push for a more powerful round and a change from revolver to semi-auto. By 1989 repetitive testing showed the 10mm to be effective in 2 key areas  perhaps the 2 key areas (at least as I understand it): energy transfer and ballistic transfer. By the end of 1990 nearly 10,000 FBI agents were in the field with it.

After the shooting of a number of FBI agents by two felons in Miami on April 11, 1986, the 9mm round lost favor with the FBI. After a battery of tests in which the operative criterion was how deeply a round penetrated, the new 10mm standard was adopted for use in a Smith and Wesson Model 1076 Third Generation pistol. The FBI Academy's Firearms Training Unit conducted eight tests. The tests revealed that an FBI-specified loading by Federal Cartridge Company, using a 180-grain Sierra hollowpoint traveling at 1,035 feet per second out of a 6-inch test barrel, was second only to the Norma 170-grain JHP in its penetration. The Norma round, however, was deemed too unmanageable in the shorter barreled pistol favored by the Firearms Unit. As of November 1, 1990, the first groups of 9,500 agents were going into the field with the new gun and cartridge. At the time of the writing of this article, there had been no firings in the line of duty. Law enforcement agencies will be watching the FBI's shooting reports to determine if they justify switching to the 10mm cartridge also. Lydecker, Law Enforcement Technology Jan 1991

More agents carrying 10m followed, but none of them kept them for very long, for reasons articulated above. The 10mm Auto was an extremely effective bullet; it was just too difficult to manage for the typical agent (or LEO  it was also adopted by such agencies as the Kentucky and Virginia State Police). This led to the evolution of the .40, which is a story for another day.

Another fair question is, why didn't you get something in ten before now? Well, 2 reasons. First, for pragmatic home defense. I eschewed the 10mm for years because no one else in my house would have been able to effectively run it. That has now changed, and other members of my family now have the background, training (and are old enough) to have their own preferred tools. Another was my first experience with it, which was shooting an S&W 1076. In retrospect I probably let my dissatisfaction with the weapon (that's a polite way of saying I thought it sucked sweaty dog balls) color my perception of the round. The greatest reason, however, was without a doubt finances  I've never been the guy who had large numbers of handguns. A pistol is a tool and I've owned a couple to use as tools, but it has only been recently that I've been in a position to buy one for no more compelling reason than I just wanted it.

Thankfully that has changed, which is why I now have a Browning Hi-Power and a newly upgraded Glock 21 converted to shoot 10mm.

Life is good and so are guns.

Stepping it Down: Forty to Nine

If you aren't looking for something with the horses of a 10mm and cannot find a Callahan Full-Bore Thorough-Gage, you could also consider a .40 cal to 9mm conversion  note, that's forty caliber, not forty millimeter. If you've got the stones to handle a 40 mike-mike semi-auto handgun you clearly need no advice from someone like me. That, or your name is Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun.

We did that very thing with another Glock while working on that G-Ten. The .40 is a fairly hot round, certainly more difficult for some people to manage than a 9mm, and while many people are perfectly capable of driving a .40 with great accuracy the ammunition is more expensive. So why not have the option of a second caliber?

There's no reason not to. Here's what was added to the G23 while converting it to 9mm:

Apex Tactical Specialties Inc  Ultimate Safety Plunger

Trijicon  HD Tritium Night Sight Set

Lone Wolf Dist  Conversion barrel

Apex Tactical Specialties Inc  Action Enhancement Trigger w/Gen 3 Trigger Bar

Almost forgot  you will also need magazines for it  a gun's gotta eat. The ones we used for the 40-to-9 can be found here; for the .45-to-10, right here.

Now, keep in mind that none of this is going to make you a better shooter. It may improve your performance, but it won't make you any less of a soup sandwich behind the trigger if you haven't mastered the fundamentals. So, definitely fine-tune your blaster, absolutely  but if you're spending money on equipment to fix problems instead of ammo and training you're wrong.

Skills first. Gun improvements after. Aesthetic improvements last.

Should you consider a conversion? That's a question only you can answer. If you can drive it effectively and afford to feed it during training, sure. Don't buy one without trying it, and like any defensive weapon you might have to stake your life on, don't take any single person's opinion as gospel, no matter what their background is. Get multiple perspectives and get one on the range. You wouldn't buy a vehicle sight unseen without driving it, and that's not a machine built for the purpose of killing someone.

That's it for now. Go forth and conquer.
A report from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department said on May 6 around 12:45 a.m., an officer responded to a complaint that someone had put soap in the fountain at the south end of Herty Field on the University of Georgia campus.
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By Lauren Forcella of the Redding Record Searchlight

Dear Straight Talk: Ive been searching for insight regarding our 13-year-old daughter. Public affection with her best friend Ashley has increased and it seems they are intimate behind an always-closed door. I dont think my daughter is gay (we are not homophobic  my brother is gay), however, Im extremely uncomfortable with their secrecy. We dont allow our 17-year-old son closed-door privacy with his girlfriend. Im not a helicopter parent but Im considering disallowing their overnights. Would it be detrimental to ask if she is being intimate with Ashley? If she denies it, then what? My radar knows differently. The other concern is that she was cutting herself last year and shes confided shes cutting again. (Yes, she sees a counselor.) Ashley was involved and weve heard she cuts too  shes from a very troubled family. My daughter is an excellent student and our relationship is pretty open, but this is challenging.

 Worried Mom in Monclova, Ohio

Frankie, 24, Sacramento: Communicate without shaming, accusing or dismissing your daughters feelings. To reduce embarrassment or emotional overwhelm, start with, How are you feeling lately? I realized my attraction to girls in middle school but didnt act on it or discuss it with my parents until college. Even then (though they are incredibly accepting and supportive of gay rights), I didnt have the courage to come out as bisexual. Your daughter may not be gay or bisexual. Perhaps she is experimenting, or her friend is pressuring her. Start an open-bedroom-door policy for all guests. Walk by and monitor activities. This situation requires helicoptering! If they are being intimate, then no, they shouldnt be sleeping together. This doesnt mean you shame and alienate, but kids want boundaries not parents in the clouds. Trust your intuition!

Brandon, 21, Mapleton, Maine: Your daughter may be going through a bisexuality movement common among 13-t o 15-year-olds from California to Florida. Its almost like an initiation to determine if youre straight or gay. Its very widespread in rural Maine. When I was a senior, the entering freshman class had nearly a quarter of the boys and half the girls experimenting. Same-sex activity isnt home free from disease. Ive heard of 11-year-olds bringing home genital herpes.

Cutting must be addressed swiftly to avoid long-term effects. As a former cutter, having to constantly hide the scars is tedious. Your daughter needs your affection, compassion and guidance.

Jessie, 21, Eugene, Ore.: Establish a doors-open rule for all guests. Regarding sleepovers, tell her you respect all orientations  thus her rules are the same as her brothers. Also, its OK to express dislike of choices or friends (though never in front of them!) My mom encouraged such mutual honesty. She also always reminded me that decisions have consequences and to ask myself if the worst possible consequence of a decision was worth making that choice.

Stressful choices often go hand in hand  and cutting is very serious. In addition to her counselor, are there other adults close to your daughter? I benefitted greatly from an aunt and uncle who shared their youthful experimentations and lessons learned. They never preached and didnt automatically report our discussions to my parents. Even though my mom is one of my best friends, theres still a line.

Dear Worried: Many young girls who write us with bisexual stress are cutting. Any sexual activity too young usually leads to depression. With experimental sex it can spiral into a very dark place. Im glad you heard it from the panel: Communicate, but trust your intuition; establish an open-bedroom-door policy for all guests; disallow overnights with Ashley. In a loving-firm manner, find the strength to enforce the rules your daughter desperately needs. Read more at www.StraightTalkTNT.org.

 Lauren

Straight Talk TNT.org is a nonprofit that tackles youths toughest issues with youths wisest advice. Go deeper in todays conversation or ask a question by clicking www.StraightTalkTNT.org or writing PO Box 1974 Sebastopol, CA 95473. Please join our effort with a contribution.
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By Amber Sandhu of the Redding Record Searchlight

The Shasta County Public Health Department will use a $50,000 grant from Partnership HealthPlan to begin measuring adverse childhood experiences among Shasta County adults  the first time such a study has been conducted since 2012.

Hill Country Health and Wellness Center, Shasta Community Health Center, and Mercy Medical Center's Maternity Center and Family Medicine programs will work on the project starting in June.

Health care providers at those medical centers will ask patients whether they experienced adverse childhood experiences such as divorce, exposure to drug abuse, mental illness and physical abuse. They hope to find out how many residents have experienced adverse childhood experiences and whether resources exist locally to help today's parents cope with the effects of those and break the cycle.

Last time the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency conducted such a study, it found that 28.9 percent of Shasta County adults had experienced more than five adverse childhood experiences, compared to California's 8.7 percent average. Only 16.1 percent of Shasta County adults reported experiencing no adverse childhood experiences, compared to California's 40.6 percent.

A study by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control found that children who suffer unhealthy and hurtful experiences before 18 are more likely to suffer health issues. These experiences have "impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity."

The ACEs test is a set of 10 questions that asks about abuse, neglect and household dysfunction experienced before age 18. Every "yes" answer scores a point. The higher the number of points, the more at risk the person is at for negative health outcomes.

Terri Fields Hosler, Shasta County Public Health branch director, said the study is an acknowledgment that people "experience some tough things" growing up that can impact them later in life.

A person with a score of four or more ACEs is at high risk for injuries, heart disease, cancer, chronic lung disease, liver disease, suicide attempts, HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and other mental and physical health conditions, and early death, according to a past presentation provided by Dr. Andrew Deckert, health officer with the Shasta County Public Health Department.

Robin Glasco, chief operations officer at Shasta Community Health Center, who also sits on the Shasta County Public Health Advisory Board, said that two out of the Health Center's seven pediatricians are on board to conduct ACE screenings in June.

"We hope to encourage other providers to come on board," she said.

Physicians will ask parents about their childhoods as well as ask about their current lives that could create adverse experiences for their own children. They will start with those families coming in for their well-child visits. She said according to feedback from her clinical staff, the well-child visit is the "least burdensome" and gives them more time to listen to a patient's story.

Parents and legal guardians who come in for the well-child visits will be offered the ACEs screening, which is voluntary, Glasco said.

Clinicians will be instructed on how to give the screenings and have a list of community resources they can refer parents to, Glasco said. In the future, they hope to provide incentives for people to take part in the study by offering items such as gas cards to help them get to meetings such as parenting classes.

Hosler said she expects each of the medical facilities will conduct the program "slightly differently," but the intention is to eventually expand the program so other physicians take it on. She added that through ACEs screening they hope to support the person by connecting them to community resources such as parenting classes to help break the "generational cycle."

Glasco said they will begin screening in June or July.

"We're enthusiastic about getting this started," she said.
Image courtesy of Trinity County Sheriff's Office Authorities say they are looking for this man in connection to a robbery at Umpqua Bank in Weaverville on Monday afternoon.

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The man suspected of robbing the Umpqua Bank branch in Weaverville is also wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with seven other bank robberies since 2013.

The FBI is also seeking help identifying the robber, described as armed an dangerous by authorities.

The Weaverville robbery was reported at about 1:10 p.m. Monday. Employees told Trinity County Sheriff's deputies a white man about 6 feet tall with a clean shaven face, black pants, a black long-sleeve shirt, a beanie-type hat and large sunglasses had entered the bank and demanded cash while armed with a "semi-automatic firearm," deputies said.

He then left the bank with an unknown amount of cash, according to the Sheriff's Office.

The FBI suspects the man of committing a second robbery Monday at the Tri Counties Bank branch in Durham. In that case, the man displayed a black handgun and demanded money.

The other robberies include:

Oct. 29, 2013, and Jan. 10, 2014 at the Umpqua Bank located on Browns Valley Road in Napa

Feb. 21, 2014 at Westamerica Bank in Glen Ellen (Sonoma County)

July 28, 2014 at American River Bank in Pioneer (Amador County)

Oct. 27, 2014 at Bank of Rio Vista in Walnut Grove

July 13, 2015 at Liberty Bank in Felton (Santa Cruz County)

The FBI is asking anyone with information to call 1-800-225-5324 or submit tips to tips.fbi.gov. The Sacramento field office can be reached at 916-481-9110.

Law enforcement agencies in each city where a robbery occurred are also seeking information. Anyone with information on the Weaverville robbery can call the Trinity County Sheriff's Office at 623-2611.

The FBI's full wanted poster can be viewed here.
Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight

Law enforcement officers from different agencies fire a 21-gun salute during Thursday's memorial ceremony outside the Shasta County Courthouse.

SHARE Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Briar Segal of the California Highway Patrol plays "taps" on his bugle as Joshua Sipola of the Redding Police Department salutes. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Officers wore black ribbons on their badges during Thursday's ceremony paying tribute to fallen peace officers. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight A wreath is placed at Thursday's annual Shasta County Peace Officers' Memorial ceremony outside the Shasta County Courthouse in Redding. Jim Schultz/Record Searchlight Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko was the keynote speaker at Thursday's annual memorial honoring those peace officers killed in the line of duty.

By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

As officers wore black ribbons across their badges in remembrance of colleagues lost, a ceremony honoring 16 Shasta County peace officers killed in the line of duty was held Thursday outside the Shasta County Courthouse in Redding.

It's an annual event. And it's always a somber one.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko, who personally knew two of the Shasta County peace officers who fell in the line of duty since 1885, said those 16 officers won't be forgotten.

Not by him, not by the community. Not ever.

"We never forget," he said.

Held every year in conjunction with similar state and national services, the annual Shasta County Peace Officers' Memorial Coalition memorial ceremony included poems, prayers, music and the release of doves to honor the fallen.

The job of a law enforcement officer is demanding, and it's a calling to help serve others, Bosenko said.

Bosenko, the keynote speaker at the ceremony, was joined by Superior Court Judge Greg Gaul, who read the names of the fallen officers, and retired Redding police Sgt. Dan Kupsky, who delivered the welcoming address.

The ceremony also included a 21-volley salute, an aircraft flyover, the posting of colors, bagpipers and a bugler playing taps. It was first held in Shasta County in May 1988. That first ceremony featured five deputies standing together in front of the courthouse to honor slain peace officers.

But in 1993, a formal committee that included law enforcement officers from the city, county and state agencies came together and formed the Shasta County Peace Officers Memorial Committee.

That group, which is now the Shasta County Peace Officers Memorial Coalition, also dedicated the following year a memorial monument on the grounds of the courthouse that pays tribute to the fallen peace officers.

Killed in line of duty

Here is a list of Shasta County law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty:

James A. Greelee, constable, April 1885.

James D. Campbell, constable, Dec. 9, 1895.

Charles Cummins, constable, June 4, 1902.

John Jack Hewitt, constable, May 8, 1907.

William Blake, deputy constable, Nov. 25, 1911.

Albert F. Ross, sheriff, Jan. 23, 1919.

John Reives, Redding City marshal, Jan. 14, 1921.

Paul Lane, officer, Redding Police Department, Jan. 7, 1942.

Walter R. Krukow, warden, Department of Fish & Game, April 20, 1947.

Dan Heryford, deputy, Shasta County Sheriffs Office, May 25, 1950.

Earl Sholes, undersheriff, Shasta County Sheriffs Office, May 25, 1950.

Owen Ted Lyon, officer, Redding Police Department, May 19, 1967.

Arthur E. Dunn, officer, California Highway Patrol, July 9, 1977.

George W. Redding, officer, California Highway Patrol, Aug. 17, 1977.

Dennis M. Skip Sullivan, deputy, Shasta County Sheriffs Office, Oct. 10, 1987.

Kenneth F. Perrigo, deputy, Shasta County Sheriffs Office, Oct. 21, 1991.
SHARE Steve Baird Ted Gaines Rob Rowen

By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight

As the three-way race for the 1st Senate District heads into the June 7 primary, Republican incumbent Ted Gaines and his two challengers, Democrat Rob Rowen and Republican Steven Baird, offer diverging views to address California's homelessness crisis and its broken mental health system.

Gaines says he wants to work with faith-based and nonprofit organizations alike to find solutions that don't involve "raising taxes or growing the size of our government."

Baird and Rowen echoed similar sentiments about more collaboration among churches and community groups but took their plans further. Baird would push to defund all services to undocumented immigrants and shift the money toward homeless services. Rowen says the solution is to go after corporations dodging taxes by fixing loopholes.

California cities, big and small, have seen a dramatic rise in homelessness, with tents popping up in places not seen before. That's created uneasy feelings. Here in the North State, residents and business owners have been speaking out about the nuisances brought by encampments and the need for mental health services.

Gaines said he hears these concerns at public forums he hosts.

Some blame the federal court-order to reduce prison crowding and sentencing changes. Places like the North State, where the job market is tighter, were not equipped to handle the influx of inmates released from prison, said Ed Rullman, a hotelier on Hilltop Drive who leads the Redding Merchants Crime Watch.

He does not hold out hope for relief from the state and thinks any sort of solution will have to come from the local level.

"We are f'ed when you think about it," Rullman said. "They let them out with (little money) in their pocket and no place to live. 'Now I'm free. How am I going to survive?' I mean we created that environment. I don't know that they (Gov. Jerry Brown and Sacramento lawmakers) can fix it as easily as they created it. It's going to take a lot of years."

Homeless advocates such as the Rev. Ann Corrin of Pilgrim Congregational Church said the state should be leading the nation in the fight against homelessness. "There needs to be more clear regulations from the state to guide local governments," she said of ordinances targeting people on the streets. "It's not like we have to reinvent the wheel. There are responses out there nationally."

Senate Democrats have been talking about a $2 billion housing bond to build permanent housing for homeless people who have mental disorders. The initiative would be funded by Proposition 63, the 1 percent income tax on state millionaires to pay for mental health services.

On the Assembly side, Democratic legislators last month called for a $1.3 billion plan to create more affordable housing and shelter the homeless by using a one-time tax windfall. But Republican lawmakers say the plan would only throw money at a problem.

Gaines said he voted against his counterparts' proposal, saying government alone is not the solution to the issue or to any problem. "The plan was too expensive and didn't guarantee that enough funds would be spent locally in our community," he said.

Baird and Rowen, too, agreed the solution has to be broader.

As Rowen sees it, income inequality is part of the problem. The vast majority of the wealth is concentrated in a few and more and more demands are being placed on the working class, he said.

By closing the tax loopholes, Rowen said the state would have a new revenue stream to reduce homelessness and increase mental health care access. One of those would be to impose an extraction tax on oil companies.

"They should pay an extraction tax like they do in Alaska and Texas. It's an untapped revenue stream," Rowen said.

Baird said any money used has to already exist in the budget. He said the state can cut services to undocumented immigrants and save billions. He would favor disbursing the money proportionally to counties.

"The state may be a source of funding but it shouldn't be the solution," Baird said.

He thinks the best approach is to categorize specific groups, with veterans shooting to the top of the list. "They served our country and deserve our service," he said.

Gaines spoke of finding community-based solutions to help veterans transition back to civilian life.

Rowen talked about veterans who self-medicate to cope with their post-traumatic stress disorder and the need for more treatment for them. He also was interested in seeing more counties testing out tiny homes for the homeless.

"If they are sick, they need treatment. But if they choose that lifestyle, it's hard for me to look at my children and say that's what you are supposed to do, support that," Rowen said. "Hand-outs, I am not in favor of that."
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By Steven Yaccino, Bloomberg News

NEW YORK  As Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and their armies of anti-establishment supporters denounce the nations political system as rigged, centrist independents whove long tried to disrupt the two-party duopoly see their best opening in years.

Welcome to our world, says Greg Orman, a Kansas businessman who made an unsuccessful independent Senate bid in 2014. (T)he fact that the primary process is biased has opened the eyes of voters.

Orman is now working with a group called The Centrist Project that wants to tackle Washington gridlock by electing more independents to the Senate this year. The organization, which helps raise money for Capitol Hill hopefuls, supported a handful of independent Senate campaigns during the 2014 midterm elections, including Orman in Kansas and Larry Pressler, a former U.S. senator, in South Dakota. Orman and Pressler did better than expected, but ultimately lost to Republicans.

On Thursday, The Centrist Project was set to announce the groups first endorsement of the 2016 cycle: Margaret Stock, an immigration attorney in Anchorage, Alaska, who renounced the Republican Party and embarked on an independent Senate run earlier this year. Stock is a Harvard law graduate, a retired officer of the military reserves, and a 2013 winner of the MacArthur Foundations so-called genius grant for, among other work, designing a program at the Pentagon to help enlist more immigrants with language and medical skills into the armed services.

The idea that dysfunction in Washington and disunity in the two parties will allow moderate independents their own lane in the center is a longtime dream of a certain breed of American politician  and almost always a pipedream. With few exceptions, efforts to run centrist candidates as independents have failed to catch on with voters. Independents have usually been spoilers for one party or the other. But this year, Trump and Sanders have exposed the deep schisms and lack of establishment control in their respective parties, and the hope of people like Orman is this will weaken their hold on voters. This presidential race is so historical that something different is going to happen, said Charlie Wheelan, a public policy professor at Dartmouth University and founder of The Centrist Project. We dont know what that is yet, but its hard to believe that things will go back to normal.

If there were ever a place to make inroads for independents, Alaska, far outside the political mainstream to start with, seems as good a place as any to start. More than 50 percent of voters in the state are not registered with either major party, according to data from the State of Alaska Division on Elections. Two years ago, the state elected an independent governor, Bill Walker, booting incumbent Republican Sean Parnell after only one full term.

What you see with the presidential campaigns, theres a big disconnect between the parties and the people, says Stock, who left the Republican Party earlier this year because of its position on immigration reform and other policies. Ive been a Republican my whole entire life, but the Republican Party left me, she said. Theres been a whole host of issues theyve drifted away on  the way they fund the federal government, campaign finance, Im very uncomfortable with Citizens United. Stock has pledged not to take contributions from corporate political action committees.

Stock needs to collect roughly 3,000 signatures before mid-August to get her name on the ballot and run against Republican incumbent senator Lisa Murkowski, who eked out a re-election victory six years ago as a write-in candidate after she lost the GOP primary. There is currently no declared Democrat in the race, which political analysts categorize, at this moment, as likely to stay in the Republican column in November.

Anythings possible, but you bet on the incumbent almost anywhere unless theres a scandal or something, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center of Politics at University of Virginia, dismissing reports that there are a growing number of voters around the country who are unaffiliated with either of the two major parties. Theyre hidden partisans. All the studies in my field show they vote their hidden party at basically the same rate (as self-identified Republicans or Democrats).

But state-level efforts to recruit more independents to run for elected office are growing  a farm team of sorts for future races  and attempting to tap into the same anti-party energy that has swamped the presidential race.

In Oregon, a record 17 independent candidates will be running for public office this year, marking the first time since 1912 that a third party will be allowed to participate in the states primary election. The Independent Party of Oregon was recognized as a major organization only last year when its members exceeded 5 percent of registered voters in the state.

I think people are really starting to wake up and become very disenchanted with politics, said Phil Fuehrer, state chairman of the Independence Party of Minnesota, which was formed in 1992 to help Ross Perots presidential bid and is running candidates in congressional and state legislative races this cycle.

In Massachusetts, the United Independent Party has seen a spike in new membership in recent weeks  its currently signing up between two and three thousand new members a month, said James Conway, a field director for the party. While the group is still finalizing its slate of candidates for the general election, Conway said hes been reaching out aggressively to local chapters of Sanders campaign to recruit new supporters.

An expected general election match-up this year between Trump and Hillary Clinton has led to growing speculation that there may even be room for a third-party candidate in the White House race.

Meanwhile, some namebrand conservatives  including William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse  refused to back Trump and called for a third-party alternative in the presidential race. The lack of GOP unity has added to Republican concerns that Trumps unpopularity may have a negative effect on House, Senate and state-level GOP candidates.

While still unlikely, a potential third-party presidential bid could cause voters to look closer at down-ballot independents, said Orman, author of the newly published book titled A Declaration of Independents. Or, at least, thats the hope. While Orman hasnt made any final decisions about running for elected office again this year, he has been involved in recent efforts to recruit third-party presidential candidates to run against Trump and Clinton.

In most states, independent candidates have until late summer or early fall to decide whether to run for office, so the number of this cycles credible independent candidates will not be known for several months.

I think the rhetoric of this presidential race will stretch people to the breaking point, said Wheelan. This is as fertile ground as we can possibly ask for.



2016 Bloomberg News

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By Ryan Sabalow

An Auburn, Wash. brother and sister have been sentenced in Tehama County after officers found 40 pounds of heroin stashed in the dash of their sedan early this year.

Drug agents say the heroin bust was the biggest of its kind in the north state.

Juana Esquivel-Pena, 35, and Oscar Esquivel-Pena, 23, were arrested in January by California Highway Patrol officers after they were pulled over on northbound Interstate 5 near the Glenn County line.

Eric Maher, the commander of the Tehama Inter-agency Drug Enforcement task force, said the officer grew suspicious when the siblings gave conflicting statements.

A drug-sniffing dog was brought to the car and quickly smelled the dope. The couple's car was towed to the Red Bluff CHP office, where officers conducted a thorough search, Maher said.

They found the huge stash hidden in the Toyota's dashboard, Maher said.

"There's huge voids in dashboards especially when you take out the airbags," Maher said.

It's estimated the heroin was worth more than $5 million had it been sold on the street, Maher said.

The heroin haul is the largest ever seized by north state drug agents, said Shasta County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Foster, whose North State California Multi-jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team (Cal-MMET) drug agents held the previous north state record for a 2008 heroin bust on I-5 near Redding.

In that case, agents found 17 1/2 pounds of black tar heroin hidden in a sedan on northbound I-5. The estimated street value of that bust was $2.8 million.

Juana Esquivel-Pena was sentenced last week to 12 years in state prison. Her brother was sentenced to two.
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Which country has the highest percentage of its Muslim population fighting for the Islamic State as foreign recruits? Algeria? Afghanistan? Indonesia? Nope.

Try Finland. No. 2 is Ireland, followed by Belgium, Sweden and Austria.

What do these countries have in common, besides being European? They're wealthy, democratic and have high levels of education, health and income. They also have very low levels of economic inequality.

These findings appear in an eyebrow-raising report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, an economic research nonprofit, whose recent work also identified another important factor driving radicalization: a lack of assimilation. In other words, the Islamic State draws heavily from groups who do not adopt the culture of the country in which they live in and do not truly become a part of it.

These conclusions fly in the face of conventional wisdom: that radicalization flows from economic inequality. "Our results show that ... economic conditions are not the root causes of the global development of ISIS foreign fighters," the report says, using another common name for the Islamic State.

In fact, the report finds strong positive correlations between Islamic State recruitment and high gross domestic product per capita as well as high rankings in the Human Development Index and the Political Rights Index, two composite economic measurements. In short, most Islamic State recruits come from societies replete with comforts and rights.

So what convinces young men in such advanced societies to join the Islamic State? A failure to assimilate, according to the National Bureau report. To measure that, the organization looked at indexes for ethnic, linguistic and religious fractionalization developed by Harvard researchers and calculated the probability that two random individuals in any society would not share the same ethnicity, religion or language.

European countries have low fractionalization levels and lack an assimilationist ethos, which means that Muslim immigrants do not acculturate. "The difference with America is the melting pot," one of the report's authors, Efraim Benmelech, said in a phone interview.

In other words, the report supports the common-sense proposition that a disgruntled population that does not feel it is part of something greater than itself is likely to have members who will fall prey to itinerant snake-oil salesmen such as Islamic State recruiters. I and others have written about this link for some time.

Some European leaders also make this point. British Prime Minister David Cameron has said repeatedly that terrorism is not really caused by Western foreign policy, poverty in the Middle East or the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. "Even if we sorted out all these problems," he once said, "there would still be this terrorism."

Many who believe those three causes are to blame, however, persist. The French socialist economist Thomas Piketty  whose 2013 best-selling book, "Capital in the Twenty-First Century," warned about gaping wealth inequality in the West  laid blame for the Islamic State on all three in an article in Le Monde written just after the November terrorist attack in Paris. "Only an equitable model for social development will overcome hatred," he wrote.

The authors of the National Bureau paper, however, write their findings "directly contradict the recent assertions by Thomas Piketty. ... The large number of foreign fighters coming from highly equitable and wealthy countries like Finland, Belgium, and Sweden  run contrary to those claims."

Benmelech told me on the phone: "Public housing could lead to segregation, because you are placed in a neighborhood with people just like you," he said. Inequality, where mobility exists, can spur striving.

He later added in an email: "There is growing awareness, at least anecdotally, of the lack of assimilation as an important cause in terror recruiting. However, it is yet to be determined whether income inequality promotes or degrades assimilation. Some European countries may be more generous than the U.S. in providing social benefits, but it is unclear whether this social safety net increases the likelihood of assimilation.

"While the U.S. is infamous for its high degree of income inequality, its 'melting pot' culture that promotes assimilation may be one of the best deterrents against radicalizing people to join ISIS  and may explain why the United States ranks a distant 36 in the number of ISIS foreign fighters compared to its Muslim population."

Considering the anti-assimilation bent of current U.S. immigration policy, however, this is cold comfort. Is a European-like atmosphere in our future? It's a question worth asking, sooner rather than later.

Mike Gonzalez is a senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation's Davis Institute for International Studies.
Trai, in its directive, said that service providers would have to pay consumers for all dropped calls: Re 1 per call, subject to a maximum of Rs 3 a day.

Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, while striking down the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias decision asking service providers to compensate subscribers for dropped calls, called it 'arbitrary, ultra vires, unreasonable and not transparent'.

These words pretty much sum up Trais knee-jerk reaction to the problem that had become a hot political issue last year.

True, Trai cannot be faulted for its intent: as the regulator, it should indeed worry about the quality of telecom services.

But in its eagerness to be seen as strict on service providers, it overlooked some basic factors.

The first factor Trai overlooked is that the licence conditions allow up to two per cent of calls to be dropped.

But Trai, in its directive, said that service providers would have to pay consumers for all dropped calls: Re 1 per call, subject to a maximum of Rs 3 a day.

This was a violation of the licence conditions and the Supreme Court rightly saw through it.

The second is that there exists no mechanism in the world to tell a dropped call from voluntary disconnection.

The Trai penalty was open to abuse.

It would be perfectly possible for a rogue customer to disconnect a call and then claim compensation.

What also contributed to the problem of dropped calls was spectrum migration. The first lot of spectrum was issued for 20 years, after which service providers had to buy it afresh.

Many bought spectrum in a different frequency subsequently.

This led to customers migrating from one band to another, causing unavoidable technical glitches. It takes up to a year to sort this out. Trai jumped the gun in imposing the penalty.

The dropped-call penalty would have raised the cost of doing business for the service providers.

Not only would they have to pay compensation, they would also have to set up call centres to handle compensation claims and maintain an army of lawyers and technical experts to sift through the claims. Naturally, service providers are now relieved.

This case was being eagerly watched by other sectors as well which were worried that they could be penalised for faulty service delivery, even if that is partly caused by circumstances beyond their control.

The lesson to be learnt by regulators as well as the government is that the quality of any service can improve only when the right inputs are available -- a penalty cannot always solve the problem.

For instance, penalising the airline need not necessarily address the issue of flight delays; instead, the problem of flight delays could be addressed more effectively by improving the airport infrastructure.

Similarly, the issue of clogged telecom networks can be addressed through additional spectrum.

Here, the regular auction of airwaves, coupled with the nod to spectrum sharing and trading, has helped matters. It has also helped that the central government has been exhorting its offices across the country to host telecom towers.

Homeowners are reluctant to rent out their terraces to such towers because they fear the radiation they emit can be harmful to their health; this has impacted service quality.

One of the justifications for the penalty was that the service providers had under-invested in equipment and the penalty would bring them to book.

But with number portability, and the existence of over half a dozen brands, any service provider that cuts corners and offers poor service is bound to lose customers.

In case the service providers collude with fellow service providers to maintain similar levels of service, the matter should be addressed by the Competition Commission.

The penalty was never the right solution.

Image: Prem (3), the son of an idol vendor, plays with a mobile phone in front of the idols of Hindu god Krishna. Photographs: Ajay Verma/Reuters
Globally, 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation.

Direct intervention in schools by ensuring that children have access to safe, hygienic and regularly maintained toilets will increase their attendance and engagement.

This will translate into good toilet habit among children and their families and communities.

Naina (name changed), aged 13, no longer has to wait for eight hours to reach home before she can use a clean, safe toilet and does not miss school during her periods any more.

Bhaskar (name changed), having stumbled over broken tiles and potholes, would shamefully resort to using the shrubs outside his school.

Not any more, because his school toilet is now repaired and well lit-up.

Naina and Bhaskar both study in government schools where children suffer innumerable difficulties and indignities in not being able to access safe and clean toilets.

Globally, 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation.

Lack of basic sanitation affects peoples dignity and escalates the spread of life-threatening diseases that can be fatal to children and their families.

Governmental bodies and world leaders have increasingly called attention to the sanitation crisis by organising events such as World Toilet Day and more recently, by including access to water and sanitation for all in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In India, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has galvanised strong support from all stakeholders.

In a country where more than 600 million people still resort to open defecation, the construction of 10 million new toilets, with toilet facilities in 90 per cent of schools in one year, is no small feat.

However, reports suggest that four out of every 10 of these school toilets are non-usable or dysfunctional because of lack of regular maintenance.

In rural India, one out of every two toilets in schools is unusable, leading to continued open defecation. India reports the highest number of diarrhoea deaths among children under five, open defecation being the main reason.

Further research suggests that 23 per cent of girls drop out of school on reaching puberty, but access to safe and hygienic toilets can increase their attendance by up to 11 per cent.

While government schools have an annual maintenance grant for the upkeep of their facilities, they may not have the necessary resources to channel these funds into repairs and maintenance of toilets.

There is also enough evidence that inculcating toilet habits in children translates into toilet habits for the entire family, thus helping reduce the incidence of open defecation in communities.

Sanitation is inherently linked to the nature of our business and in response to the global call for action, we developed a multi-country programme to provide access to sanitation in Latin America, Africa and India.

In India, based on feedback from government stakeholders and our NGO partners, we decided to approach the sanitation issue from a different angle: fix what has been built and focus on school toilets.

These can range from something as simple as fixing a door latch for privacy, attaching soap dispensers in wash basins or replacing broken commodes to more fundamental interventions such as paving the floor to prevent slips and falls, replacing the water pipes that bring water to the basins, preventing water clogging, repairing the flushing systems and regular cleaning of septic tanks.

These are not challenging tasks, but they need to be identified and fixed because our children deserve usable toilets, which have a direct correlation with their attendance and engagement in school.

In our endeavour to focus on children as future change agents, we have identified schools and anganwadis across Delhi and the National Capital Region, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra in partnership with Charities Aid Foundation, to address specific barriers children face in using existing toilet facilities.

We are doing this by identifying specific issues school by school, engaging key influencers and school authorities, deploying resources for specific repairs or renovation and setting up hygiene clubs to inculcate good toilet habits among children.

In addition to this direct intervention in schools, it is equally important to develop commercially viable and scalable solutions for sanitation in India.

As co-founders of the Toilet Board Coalition, a global body comprising companies, government agencies, sanitation experts and non-profit organisations, we are also partnering with sanitation social entrepreneurs Svadha and eKutir in Odisha, to build a market-driven sanitation model.

Beyond the financial support, it is important to build capabilities.

Our employees from around the world are volunteering their time and skills to train these social entrepreneurs in areas of marketing, sales, finance, research and engineering to build a sustainable sanitation model.

In sum, industry needs to complement the governments focus on building new toilets with sustainable interventions in areas of repair, maintenance, education and change of behaviour.

Only if we tackle both the hardware and software issues, can we move the needle on sanitation and create a lasting impact.

Image: Residents of a free-housing colony are forced to buy water from a commercial tanker because of shoddy supply piping in their buildings. Photograph: Rupak De Choudhury/Reuters.

Achal Agarwal is president, Kimberly-Clark Asia Pacific
'The day-to-day control of banks is in the hands of political bosses and bureaucrats who are not answerable.'

'The political system uses the banks as a helicopter to throw money to the sector they want to patronise in order to win the next election.'

IMAGE: 'For any industry to function, there have to be norms,' says S Muralidharan, former managing director, BNP Paribas. Photograph: Thomas Peter/Reuters

S Muralidharan retired as the managing director of BNP Paribas after serving the bank for 20 years. He started with the State Bank of India and worked there for 12 years.

The banker, bottom, left, tells Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com what ails the banking sector and how it can be nurtured back to good health.

Currently, there is panic in India about public sector banks. As a former banker, do you feel there is reason to panic?

There is good reason to panic, but it is not good to panic.

If you want to take calm and collective action, you cannot panic. When you panic, you take bad decisions.

Banking has, over several decades, emerged as the single most important sector in the economy. If something goes wrong with the banking sector, it can cause havoc in all the other sectors.

For example, in the 2007-2008 meltdown, one investment bank failed and the panic resulted in the collapse of many more banks.

As a result, no bank was lending money to another bank even though, earlier, they had been doing it everyday to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

When they stopped doing what is called overnight lending, the entire banking system came to a standstill.

When the banking sector comes to a standstill, everything including small time borrowing and lending or any kind of transaction between any two people comes to a halt.

Panic between banks is a bad thing. It can make the entire economy collapse.

Do you think the Reserve Bank of India is responsible for the present mess in the banking sector?

The short answer is no. As a banking regulator, it is the job of the RBI to regulate banks. It is like holding a parent responsible because the parent pointed out the wrongdoing of the child.

Similarly, because the RBI identified your non-performing assets and bad loans, you cannot say the RBI is responsible for the bad loans you created. The argument of the banks that they had bad loans, but didn't want the RBI to point it out is ridiculous.

Okay, there is some merit in the banks in saying that the RBI can't suddenly come down on them like a ton of bricks.

For the record, the RBI has been saying for a long time that the norms for recognising NPAs is fishy and that they (the banks) should come down from the one year norm to 180 days to 90 days, etc. This has been going on for many years.

So the banks' stand that the RBI is responsible is utterly ridiculous.

Another criticism is that the Indian banking sector is not ready for international norms like Basel 3. Do you agree?

This is what I call Indian exceptionalism. For each and every thing, they say India is different and it will not work in India.

Does India have three legs and two heads? The fact is, we are not different behaviourally from anybody else.

So you feel in a globalised world, at some point or the other, such common norms have to be implemented?

Absolutely yes. For any industry to function, there have to be norms. You can't have a free-for-all system in any business and more so in banking.

Whether you like it or not, the reality is that banking is the most important sector in an economy.

As the importance of money grows in societies, banking becomes inevitable as money has to move. And when money has to move, there have to be regulations.

In 2016, we cannot say that we do not want regulations. We are 5,000 years late for that!

The question is, do we have sensible banking regulations?

Do we?

By and large, I would say, yes. The RBI's role is a bit like parenting. The banking regulator has to regulate the bank.

It is true that we have too many laws. Like (eminent jurist and the late Supreme Court justice) V R Krishna Iyer said, an Indian is violating 137 laws at any point!

There are no clear cut laws that say if you do this, this and this, the banks will be happy and the economy will flourish. You have to do corrections all along.

But, generally, there is a need to minimise the number of regulations so that the regulations that are there can be supervised effectively.

Bankers say it is due to the global economic slowdown that many infra projects got stuck and became NPAs.

It was not recession that put all the infra projects on hold; it was because they could not acquire land. The local, civic government could not help the projects with the necessary permission to complete the process.

Though there are many reasons, I feel this is the first thing they should look at.

Before you sanction a loan to an infra project for a five lane highway, a bank should look at whether the acquisition of land is possible. Without looking into the aspect, if you provide a loan to the project, who is to blame?

You can't blame China or the USA or global recession for projects that are getting stalled.

The government gives sanction to build an airport to a company that has no expertise in the field and then bankers give loans to such projects.

Who is to blame -- the banks that give loans to such inexperienced people or the political system that forces banks to give loans?

All of them have to share the blame.

I would say the biggest problem we face is the moral hazard in the banking system.

Sixty per cent of our banking is under government control. There is a fundamental problem with this.

The day-to-day control is in the hands of political bosses and bureaucrats who are not answerable. The political system uses the banks as a helicopter to throw money to the sector they want to (patronise) in order to win the next election. This has to stop.

It was reported that wilful defaulters owe banks up to Rs 4 lakh crores...

I would blame the moral hazard arising out of political ownership and control on the banks as the main reasons for this.

Another reason is that most of these banks are into everything, from lending Rs 15 to Rs 15,000 crores. And this happened because of political interference.

Is merger an answer to this problem?

Merger is not a solution at all. Nobody should be too big to fail.

The idea to merge all the subsidiaries of State Bank into one is a stupid idea from all angles.

What is needed is questioning the independence of the top management of government-owned banks.

You mean accountability?

Accountability in banking is usually used in the sense of who actually did something wrong? Can you fix it on somebody's head?

The leader of a bank cannot say he didn't know what was going on. He has to be accountable, but everyone is in survival mode. Now, there are committees and committees and nobody is accountable.

You said merger is not a solution. There are talks of downsizing...

Yes, they should keep banks smaller. In fact, the government has already started creating small banks with specific intentions.

For example, the types of skills required for rural lending is different from lending done in an urban area.

What the banks have to do now is to keep the bad loans aside so that new businesses don't get pulled down.

The RBI's decision to ask the banks to find out how bad they (the bad loans) are and then come out with a solution is quite wise.

In India, people think businesses are forever. No, they are not.

Like animals and humans, businesses also die due to various natural causes.

If you take the (top) 100 businesses of the US in the last 100 years, many of them do not exist at all. We must accept that businesses become irrelevant after a while and can fail. It's like people dying.

Do you see a revival of the banking sector?

It has to when there are a lot of good things going for the economy.

When you have an economy that grows at 7 to 8 per cent with 1.2 billion people, adding more and more to the spending population over the age of 18 the size of which is more than many countries, obviously there has to be a revival.

But it depends a lot on political will.

The political reality is that when you need radical surgery, they are using a bandage.

S Muralidharan's photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj
It is watching e-commerce policy fineprint before spelling out India plan

American e-commerce giant Amazon is not the only multinational grappling with policy bottlenecks in India. Chinese internet major Alibaba, which is planning a direct India entry in the e-commerce space, is also learnt to be watching the policy space closely before it takes a plunge.

Making Alibaba nervous is the Press Note 3 or the latest guideline on e-commerce brought out by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) that restricts discounting by sellers on any online marketplace platform.

In addition, high level of cash-on-delivery in Indian e-commerce space and return of goods that comes with it are another area of concern for the company.

While permitting 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in online marketplace, the guidelines said e-commerce entities providing marketplace will not directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods or services and shall maintain level-playing field.

The implication is that there will be crackdown on companies which offer freebies, discounts or cashback. Another guideline coming in the way is that no e-commerce entity will permit more than 25 per cent of the sales through its marketplace from one vendor or its group company.

Alibaba, which already has investments in Snapdeal and One97 Communications-owned Paytm, did not want to comment on the challenges or hurdles that it must cross to enter the India market directly.

However, industry watchers and analysts are listing out the roadblocks before the Chinese company. According to Arvind Singhal, founder of Technopak, a retail consultancy, the e-commerce regulation is the single biggest challenge before Alibaba right now. How discount is to be defined is also not clear, Singhal said. "It's arbitrary and not at all transparent." But, there's more.

An executive at an international analyst research firm said the Jack Ma-led company is trying to iron out issues with the customs department in India. He explained that Alibaba is likely to host sellers with a large number of Chinese goods as its USP (unique selling product).

Since return of goods is quite common when a customer is making payment after delivery, the company is working out the modalities of shipping back the Chinese merchandise in case of return, he said.

Aamir Jariwala, secretary, E-commerce Coalition, said re-export norms while shipping back products on return could turn out to be a big logistics issue. At times, the cost of return could be as much or more than the price of the product being returned, he pointed out.

Industry estimates peg cash-on-delivery at around 60 per cent of the total in the country. Although the average rate of return of goods is anything between 5 and 10 per cent of the items sold, it could be much higher in some geographies and pincodes.

Experts also argue that the problem resolve on its own over a period of time as cash on delivery would reduce as the market matures.
Bankruptcy Code will consolidate existing laws related to liquidation and sick industries

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 regarded as the most critical regulatory change for the ease of doing business in India and a move that will strengthen the loan recovery process, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The news pushed up bank stocks, taking the Nifty Bank and PSU Bank higher by about a per cent each. But, investors need not hurry to buy bank stocks, as the Bill is unlikely to improve the asset quality of banks materially in the near term.

First on the positives, the Bankruptcy Code will consolidate the existing laws related to liquidation and sick industries and create a new institutional consisting of insolvency professionals (IP), IP agencies, information utilities and a bankruptcy board to resolve insolvency.

More importantly and first of its kind, the Code has set a time limit of 180 days (extendable by 90 days), within which the resolution has to be completed.

Also, as any financial or operational creditor may initiate the insolvency resolution process, the Code vests more powers with banks to stringently monitor their clients.

The Code will also see professionals engaging with the management of the distressed companies who would in turn be supervised by a regulator. As in the case of the Companies Act, unpaid employees and secured creditors will get priority for pay-out as per the Code in the case of liquidation.

Analysts at Nomura say the Code is a big positive for the banking sector. "As the Code gives banks a legal path for recovering their dues in a time-bound manner, it should make lenders more confident in lending and borrowers more accountable", they elaborate.

While other experts agree with this view, they feel that the time involved in implementing this code could delay the benefits accruing to banks.

"It will take at least a year to create the infrastructure to implement the Bankruptcy Code. Therefore it is unlikely that the benefit of this is felt in the asset quality of banks any time soon", says Pankaj Agarwal of Ambit Capital. Therefore FY17 could also be a year of elevated asset quality pressures as the Code may not benefit banks in the near-term.

Added to the implementation timeframe, analysts at Religare feel that delays may also stem from want of accurate or timely information and inefficient adjudicatory mechanisms.

The research house which remains negative on the banking sector says that it may take three-five years for issues to resolve under the Bankruptcy Code. With these finer aspects to take note of, the Bankruptcy Code for now is more a sentiment booster, though post implementation it could have a significant bearing on the asset quality of banks.

Some, however, also believe that the defaulters or potential defaulters will now think many times before skipping/delaying payments, and that should reflect positively on banks in the form of lower or at least a slowdown in bad loans.

Photograph: Reuters
The government's initial promise and energy seems to have dissipated, says Shyam Saran.

Disappointed expectations threaten to cast a shadow over the Modi government as it completes two years in office.



This is a pity, because even those who were not enamoured of his politics wanted Narendra Modi to succeed for India's sake.



His reputation for decisive leadership and for getting things done, his modern temperament and public embrace of economic reforms and liberalisation, combined with the Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary majority, represented a rare confluence of ingredients for India's long awaited emergence as a major and successful plural democracy.

Mr Modi's early actions appeared to confirm that transformation was around the corner.



This was the first prime minister who did not shy away from a public commitment to move away from a subsidy- and entitlement-based policy to one based on empowering the citizen and creating jobs.



He has been upfront in welcoming foreign investment as contributing to the country's development.



He has launched schemes which, if implemented, could be significant in ensuring inclusive growth.



These include the Jan-Dhan scheme for financial inclusion, the crop insurance scheme for farmers and extending, step by step, the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for targeted subsidies.



Unfortunately what we are witnessing now is the familiar problem of slow, even faulty, implementation.



In addition, electoral pressures appear to be slowing the pace of reform. There is the danger of revival of populist policies.

Any ruling dispensation in India has maximum political clout and space for undertaking significant reforms in the first few months after being elected.



Thereafter, diminishing returns set in as the focus shifts towards political consolidation. The Opposition begins to regroup and prevent departures from populist measures.



For the same set of reforms, progressively more political capital needs to be expended the later one is into the tenure of the government. This is evident in the way politics has played out over the past two years.

One is surprised by Mr Modi's accommodating attitude towards those elements in the BJP and the RSS who are clearly not aligned to his development and modernisation agenda, the non-sectarian and non-partisan spirit of his slogan, "Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas" ("Together with all, development for all") and his fervent advocacy of plural democracy.



A significant part of Mr Modi's appeal to the youth of India and which gave him an electoral edge over rivals was his projection as a leader who had transcended India's caste and sectarian divide and was attuned to the aspirations of a generation coming into its own.



The inept handling of students' agitations in Hyderabad and Delhi, now playing out at Jadavpur University in Kolkata, threatens to lose him the support of this most important constituency.



The politics of polarisation being indulged in by these elements will end up overturning Mr Modi's positive and potentially transformative agenda.



Any calculation that once the politics of polarisation has delivered, as is assumed, electoral gains and political consolidation, there will then be time to implement the original progressive agenda, is an illusion.



Once the genie of sectarianism is out of the bottle, it will be difficult to contain it.

The economy appears stable but is not growing at a rate which can deliver jobs and earnings for young people entering the market each year in their tens of millions.



While there is an increase in foreign investment, domestic investment and employment remain flat. The situation is complicated by a global economy and trade still mired in persistent stagnation.



Structural reforms such as the adoption of the GST, a flexible labour regime and rationalisation of land acquisition regulations have fallen off the policy radar while the banking sector, in particular public sector banks, increasingly stressed by growing non-performing assets, can no longer delay long-pending restructuring.



Several ad-hoc measures are being taken to deal with specific situations but an overall economic strategy, within which these moving parts can fit together with a degree of coherence, is absent.

We live in a world where most challenges are cross-domain with strong feedback loops.

The current drought is as much a problem of water security as it is of food and energy security. There is a climate change dimension which we cannot ignore. Yet we do not see any cross-sectoral assessments or responses.

Foreign policy is one area where Mr Modi displayed sound instincts, innovative initiatives, and energy to match.

His over-riding priority to the neighbourhood was long overdue and the consolidation of strategic partnerships with the US and Japan showed an awareness of India's economic and security challenges and the countries best placed to help India meet those challenges.

His posture towards China was carefully nuanced, balancing cooperation with clear determination to safeguard India's interests.

There is now a growing perception that these early and positive trends are getting dissipated and there is no overall national security strategy within which a coherent and effective foreign policy may be formulated and effectively executed.

It is clear that Mr Modi wants to be seen as an international leader with a close and personal relationship with the world's key leaders.

Personal diplomacy can be a useful instrument for advancing national interest provided one is clear about what one wants to extract as a benefit and what one must resist in making concessions demanded by the other side.

One must never sacrifice substance for the privilege of getting a seat at the high table or being accorded pomp and ceremony. Image must serve substance not the other way around.

There also continues to be more stress on events and not enough on process in the conduct of foreign relations.

The commitments made in the first wave of visits, for example to neighbouring countries, remain largely unimplemented. And this undermines the credibility of the government and Prime Minister Modi himself.

Institutional reform to enable speedy and quality delivery is needed urgently

The third year of a five year tenure of a government is, in a real sense, a make or break period.

There is still time to return to the original and expansive national agenda.

The space for course correction still exists. For India's sake one hopes that Mr Modi will grasp the opportunity firmly before it slips into the what-may-have-been land.

The writer is a former Foreign Secretary. He is currently Chairman of RIS and Senior Fellow at CPR.

Photograph: Reuters
United Progressive Alliance government had piloted the GST bill but Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states like Gujarat had opposed the draft.

As Parliament session ended without passing the landmark GST bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday rued the Rajya Sabha not approving the biggest indirect tax reform measure since independence, saying states stood to benefit the most from it.

The Prime Minister, who spoke in the Upper House as it bid farewell to 53 retiring MPs, noted that Rajya Sabha members are representatives of the states and the interest of their state should be a priority for them.

While important reform measures were passed, "it would have been better if two critical decisions had also been approved," he said, referring to Goods and Services Tax Bill and Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority.

"Bihar would benefit from GST, Uttar Pradesh would benefit from GST. Barring one or two states, all states would have benefited from GST," he said.

Goods and Services Tax, which is to subsume all indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax into a single GST rate, was to be implemented from April 1, 2016 but opposition from Congress over key clauses, including cap on the tax rate had stalled its passage in the Upper House.

Lok Sabha has already approved the constitutional amendment but it remains pending in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling National Democratic Alliance does not have a majority.

Modi said the second crucial legislation was the one to create CAMPA.

"States would have got Rs 42,000 crore (Rs 420 billion) if we had decided on the legislation," he said, adding each state would have got Rs 2000-3000 crore (Rs 20-30 billion).

The bill seeks to establish the national compensatory afforestation fund to promote afforestation and regeneration activities as way of compensating forest land diverted to non-forest uses.

"This (Rs 2000-3000 crore) is not a small amount," he said, adding availability of the funds before the beginning of the monsoon season would have greatly benefited the states.

"We will have to wait for 4-5 months now," he said, ruing that the move beneficial to states has been left out.

What Rajya Sabha can do for the states, no other House can do, Modi said.

The Upper House, he said, has a special privilege as it can bid goodbye to retiring members and also welcome new ones. Lok Sabha does not have this benefit.

Expressing gratitude to the retiring members, he said the 53 members in their six-year tenure have seen two governments.

"Both governments benefited from their knowledge and experience. This government benefited less, the previous one benefited more," he said.

The nation has benefited from their Parliamentary contributions, he said.

Speaking after Modi, Congress leader Anand Sharma noted that while the House had cleared important legislations like Bangladesh land boundary agreement, insurance bill that had been pending for seven years and the insolvency bill, it was true that there was delay in some.

He blamed ideological differences for it, saying they had led to stalling of the GST bill for years when the United Progressive Alliance was in power.

United Progressive Alliance government had piloted the GST bill but Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states like Gujarat had opposed the draft.

A wrong image was created outside that no work is transacted in Rajya Sabha, he said, adding obstructions are part of democracy and are used to put across reservations on policies and programmes.

He, however, regretted the bitterness in political discourse saying debate and discussion are part of India's rich democratic legacy.

"One has to be able to listen to dissenting voices without taking them personally but as ideological differences," he said.

"Government role in building consensus is important. Opposition also has a role but government has a bigger role," the Congress leader said.

Image: A labourer pushes a hand cart loaded with sacks of rice at a wholesale market in Kolkata. Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters. The image is used for representational purpose only.
Bangladesh's decision to execute Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed in 1971 has provoked anger across the Muslim world -- expected rage in Pakistan and unexpected condemnation from Turkey's President Erdogan who hailed Nizami as a 'mujahid.'

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived in Dhaka hours after the execution, an important expression of India's support to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, explains Rajeev Sharma.

IMAGE: Lawyers and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami activists protest inside the Supreme Court in Dhaka. Photograph: Andrew Biraj/Reuters

On May 10, Bangladesh executed the senior-most Islamist leader Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed during the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971.

Interestingly, Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was in Dhaka the very next day for a two-day visit during which he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali and other senior officials.

Jaishankar's prompt visit was India's way of telling the Hasina government that it fully supports the efforts to bring the perpetrators of the '71 atrocities to justice.

The foreign secretary's visit at this juncture is important diplomatic symbolism and expression of India's solid support to Hasina at a time when Pakistan and her arch rival Begum Khaleda Zia have upped their ante against her government.

The next few weeks will be crucial for Bangladesh as Begum Zia and the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh are expected to unleash a wave of violent protests across the nation to avenge Nizami's execution.

Nizami's trial began six years ago. He is the fifth top perpetrator to be executed, after his final appeal against his death sentence was rejected by Bangladesh's supreme court and he refused to seek presidential clemency.

Significant repercussions are expected which may destabilise Bangladesh. The legal exercise of bringing 1971 war criminals to book is seen by pro-Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood as being the handiwork of the Hasina government claiming that the lawsuits are aimed at exterminating Islamist groups.

Questions are raised why nothing was done for 45 years after the crimes were committed, if at all they were committed as is being claimed. Many of those indicted for war crimes held ministerial and official positions in the government. The naysayers -- and their numbers are significant -- dub the legal exercise as a war on Islam.

Leaders of Begum Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party, an ally of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, cancelled programmes to avoid being intercepted by the media, fearing questions about their reaction to Nizami's execution. A couple of leaders, when contacted by the local media, declined to offer comment except to say that it was done as per the supreme court's judgment.

Pakistan is expectedly unhappy with the events in Bangladesh. 'The leaders who have been hanged or sentenced by the Bangladesh government committed the crime of showing loyalty to Pakistan 45 years ago,' Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar said, alluding to the fact that Bangladesh was then East Pakistan, part of the Pakistani nation.

Pakistan's national assembly passed a unanimous resolution, condemning Nizami's execution.

Within Bangladesh the execution saw some angry reactions and scattered violence by Nisami's supporters. At Dhaka's main mosque, about 300 men who gathered to offer prayers, shouted slogans that his death should not go in vain.

Human rights groups say the legal procedures followed during the war crimes trials in Bangladesh fall short of international standards. The Hasina government maintains that the trials are supported by Bangladeshis, evident by the fact that Nizami's execution was cheered by hundreds of people on the streets of Dhaka.

The US reaction has been one of caution. While it supported justice being carried out, the State Department -- which recently dispatched its top diplomat for the region, Nisha Desai Biswal, to Dhaka after the wave of Islamist killings of liberal voices -- said it was vital that the trials were free, fair and transparent and conducted in accordance with international agreements.

While Bangladeshis affected by the crimes committed in 1971 will derive some solace with each execution of its perpetrators, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and its patrons in Pakistan will prepare for opportunities to extract retribution.

Rajeev Sharma, an independent journalist and strategic analyst, tweets @Kishkindha
Modi's Kerala-Somalia comparison kicked up a row especially since statistics demonstrate that the PM in the wrong. Data shows that infant mortality in Kerala is the lowest in the country, almost a third of the national average.

Equating such a state with a nation like Somalia shows a disconnect unbecoming of a prime minister, says Uttaresh Venkateshwaran.

IMAGE: Comparing Kerala with a near failed state like Somalia was an indecorous statement and unbecoming of a prime minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi 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 community in Kerala is worse than Somalia. The state can meet only 13 per cent of their requirement of agricultural products. Even after 70 years of independence, Kerala depends on other states for 70 per cent of its power requirements. Similarly, most of the youth in Kerala are forced to leave their home state in search of 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 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 per cent 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 per cent 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 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, accounting for more than 60 per cent 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 per cent, data from Economic Survey of 2015-16 states. This is 21 percentage points higher than the national average of 73 per cent.

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.

Below is a chart comparing Kerala with several Indian states with regards to their respective Human Development Index ratings.
'In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism, the BJP would not have become a force today.'

E C Ayisha's prowess as an orator is well known in northern Kerala.

One of the prominent woman faces of the Muslim community in the state, Ayisha has been involved in political and social activities since she was 12 years old.

The 53-year-old Jamaat-e-Islami member is contesting the 2016 assembly election on a Welfare Party ticket from Malappuram.

Taking an afternoon break from campaigning, Ayisha spoke to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com

You were part of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a socially conservative political movement which started in Malappuram way back in 1948. How did you become a part of such a movement?

My family was associated with the movement.

My father was first with the Communist party, but later started working with the Jamaat-e-Islami. He was so progressive that he wanted to educate me -- a girl -- and make me an active social worker.

When Muslim families were not educating their daughters, my father sent me to college.

When Muslim women did not participate in public functions, I became the unit president of the movement aged 12.

That was the beginning of my public life. My father used to prepare my speeches and help me speak them properly.

When I entered public life, the fight between religions was not that grave; there was harmony in society; between people belonging to different religions.

E C Ayisha. Photograph: Sreeram Selvaraj for Rediff.com



'When Narendra Modi came to power, we expected him and the BJP to provide good governance. Now we know that we cannot expect that. They have made people of the country so communal that there is now a kind of suspicion in the minds of ordinary people as well.'

Growing up, we lived in perfect harmony. What you see today, the skirmishes between religions, is nothing but political. People are being divided on the basis of religion to capture power.

Like many people, do you attribute this to the Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power at the Centre?

Definitely! Problems had started before, but it aggravated with the BJP coming to power at the Centre.

It was because of the soft approach to Hinduism that the BJP became strong.

In Kerala, if the Left had worked on stopping fascism, the BJP would not have become a force today.

Are you saying that the BJP is a fascist communal party?

What do you call those who murder people for eating beef, but fascists?

Look at what women are subjected to in a state like Uttar Pradesh! Who are the people behind such atrocities against women?

When such fascist elements get power, they think they can do anything in this country.

As a Muslim, do you feel insecure?

There is definitely a kind of uncertainty in the minds of minorities.

See what these BJP leaders, including some MPs, say when there is a problem somewhere? That you go to Pakistan. Is this the way to react?

Remember how they stuffed food into the mouth of a Muslim during Ramzan?

When something like this happens in other parts of India to a person belonging to your community, it is but natural that we also feel restless.

We feel no importance is given to the Constitution today. Only the Sangh Parivar's agenda is given importance.

Do you feel a Muslim need not say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'?

What does 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' mean? It says Bharat is like your mother. Do the people who want everyone to say 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' respect the mothers of this country?

The slogan is just a tool to politicise the issue and divide people.

This is a secular country and the Constitution gives us the freedom to live following the beliefs of every person.

Are you not part of a conservative organisation like the Jamaat-e-Islami?

For the last five years, I am with the Welfare Party. It was the Jamaat-e-Islami that took active interest in starting the Welfare Party which has distinguished people from various political organisations who joined us because they were frustrated with other political establishments.

I do not know whether you know, but the Jamaat-e-Islami has always worked towards the uplift of women. Otherwise, how do you think I worked with it for so many years?

Where do you think I would have got the strength to be so active in public life if it was so conservative?

Five years ago, the Jamaat-e-Islami organised a women's conference in Kerala and over a lakh (100,000) women attended the conference.

I would say that not a single political party gives due recognition to women. They do not let women come up in politics.

The Congress claims the party encourages women to grow in the party. How many women barring Indira Gandhi occupied the top position in the party? She became prime minister only because her father was Jawaharlal Nehru!

Sonia Gandhi is the party president only because she is the daughter-in-law of the Nehru family.

Are there no able women in the party now? Not a single political party in India allows women to come up in politics.

Women are oppressed and suppressed in politics.

On the other hand, our Welfare Party has the policy to have 50 per cent of candidates as women. Unfortunately, we could not find that many eligible women.

Do you believe the Congress used Muslims as a vote bank?

Yes, they look at Muslims as a vote bank. They make promises to Muslims because they want to retain power, but they have not fulfilled the promises.

Still we want the Congress to be there because it is a secular political party. We want it to come back strong, as only it can create a balance and stop the fascist forces.

When Narendra Modi came to power, we expected him and the BJP to provide good governance. Now we know that we cannot expect that.

They have made people of the country so communal that there is now a kind of suspicion in the minds of ordinary people as well.

The BJP is becoming strong in Kerala...

That is our grouse. Both the UDF (United Democratic Front) and the LDF (Left Democratic Front) are not effectively stopping these fascist forces.

When small parties like ours come up they say we will let fascist forces grow, but what are they doing to stop such forces?
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh described as baseless and politically motivated the allegations of Swaraj Abhiyan leaders of floating a global tender in a shady manner to purchase a specific AgustaWestland helicopter by paying over 30 per cent commission without exploring options.

"The allegations levelled by former AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) leader Prashant Bhushan are baseless and politically motivated. There was no irregularity in the helicopter deal. It was done through the global tendering process, maintaining full transparency, the CM said at a press conference at his official residence in Raipur.

He said senior Congress leaders were facing heat over the AgustaWestland chopper deal scam involving corruption to the tune of several crores of rupees and these baseless charges against a Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state was an attempt to divert the attention.

"He (Bhushan) is trying to dilute the issue, Singh said.

On Thursday, Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav in Delhi accused the Raman Singh government of paying $1.57 million (Rs 10 crore) as commission to a company registered in tax-haven British Virginia Islands to procure the chopper.

The two also sought to link Raman Singhs son Abhishek to the controversy saying he formed a company called Quest Heights Ltd on July 3, 2008, almost six months after the bulk of the payment was made by the state government to SharpOcean, an agent company.

When asked whether he will pursue legal action against Bhushan, Singh said he will consult his lawyers.

Procurement of the helicopter was done after taking consent from the technical committee constituted for the purpose in the state. Full transparency was maintained in the entire procurement process, the CM said.

The allegations were based on the Comptroller and Auditor Generals report for the year ended March 31, 2011, but the report only pointed out that the delay in procurement of the chopper led to the extra expenditure of Rs 65 lakh, Singh said.

Jharkhand had procured the same chopper in 2006, he said, adding the company increased the price for the Chhattisgarh government in 2007.

Abhishek, the MP from Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha constituency, also denied his links to the deal. He also denied having offshore bank accounts.

I have nothing to do with it, Abhishek said in a statement.

I am also being accused of working with Sarda Brothers company. But I want to clarify that Sarda Brothers had never been my employer. All allegations against me are politically motivated, just to malign my image, he said.
A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court on Friday rejected the bail plea of Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who has been arrested in a money laundering case in connection with the alleged Maharashtra Sadan scam.

The court had earlier extended the judicial custody of Bhujbal and his nephew Sameer Bhujbal till May 25.

Bhujbal had cited health reasons for seeking a bail.

The Enforcement Directorate had last week arrested Chhagan Bhujbals 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 at Bandra.

The ED 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 states PWD minister.

The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau had earlier filed two first information reports 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.
The Madras high court on Friday refused to vacate its interim order restraining the office-bearers of 'Abdul Kalam Vision India Party' from using the name and the pictures of late President A P J Abdul Kalam but allowed them to use it in individual capacity as a candidate.

Vacation court judge Justice M V Muralidharan, however, modified the May 6 last order to the extent allowing the office-bearers to use the name in individual capacity and not in the name of a political party since its registration and recognition was yet to be decided by the Election Commission.

Defendants permitted to use the name, figure, picture of Kalam in individual capacity as candidate and not in the name of the political party, the judge said in his order and posted the matter to June 3 for further hearing.

The court had earlier granted the ad-interim injunction on a civil suit from A P J Mohammed Muthu Meera Maraikayar, elder brother of Kalam, restraining the defendants from using the name/figurine/picture of Kalam as a part of the party name or in the flag of their political party or for any other political activity.

Ponraj, who worked as Secretary to Kalam, along with S Kumar and R Thirusenduran, formed the political party -- 'Abdul Kalam Vision India Party' on February 28.

Maraikayar submitted that they started the political party only with a view to encashing the love and faith the people of the nation reposed on his brother.

In the application seeking vacation of the stay, the office-bearers of the party said the court ought to have considered that the name of the political party was not a prohibited name or against the Constitution.

They further contended that the suit was not maintainable when the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer issued election notification for Tamil Nadu Assembly 2016 and commenced the election process.
Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday described the Congress-Dravida Munetra Kazhagam alliance for the May 16 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu as an "unholy" one while bringing up the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

"When we look at the unholy Congress-DMK alliance what we find is when people of this country speak about Congress and DMK alliance, the only memory we have is that of 2G scam which horrified the entire nation," Irani said at an election rally, canvassing for state Bharatiya Janata Party president Tamilisai Soundararajan in Chennai.

Soundararajan is contesting from Virugambakkam constituency in Chennai. "When we look at the alliance of Congress and DMK, you find that they did corruption not only 2G, but they did not spare even helicopter procurement for the nation," she said.

Ridiculing the DMK for not yet identifying M Karunanidhi's successor, Irani said, "In their hands they have taken the rising sun as the party symbol. But when you ask the people of Tamil Nadu which son rises (after Karunanidhi), they will tell you that till now, even within the DMK, a decision has not been taken on who shall rise and who shall be left behind."

The Union minster said people should ponder over whether it was Tamil Nadu's destiny to be "hijacked" by the interest of one family.

On the freebies given by the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam, Irani, without naming the party, said one has to ask why this political party has not strengthened the citizens economically.

"On the one hand we have one party (AIADMK) which makes promises, distributes things... you need to ask yourself why this political party has not strengthened citizens economically, so that they themselves can look after their needs."

Making a reference to the works of great poets Subramania Bharati and Thiruvalluvar, she said for the first time in the nation's history, it was under Narendra Modi's leadership

through the HRD ministry that "we have recognised the contribution and the richness of Thirukkural (treatise) and we got it to the rest of the country through our school systems and universities".
Last updated on: May 13, 2016 22:08 IST

Rajdeo Ranjan, bureau chief of Hindi daily "Hindustan" was shot dead in Bihar, reports M I Khan from Patna.

A senior journalist was shot dead in Bihar's Siwan district on Friday night by unidentified gunmen, police said.

Rajdeo Ranjan, bureau chief of Hindi daily "Hindustan" of Hindustan Times group, was shot dead at busy fruit market near station road in Siwan, a district police official said.

Ranjan, 45, died on the way to hospital, officials added.

According to police officials, a case has been lodged and investigation has began into it.

The working journalist union has condemned the incident and demanded arrest of criminals within 48 hours.

The incident happened while chief minister Nitish Kumar was reviewing the Gaya road rage incident involving the son of one of his partys MLC, Manorama Devi, who was later suspended.

In Jharkhand, Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), a journalist of a news channel, was gunned down by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district, police said.

Singh was attacked near panchayat secretariat of the village last night, a police official said.

A bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked Director General of Police D K Pandey to arrest the assailants at the earliest.

A delegation of local journalists met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha and demanded adequate compensation to the family of the victim.

With PTI inputs

Photograph: ANI_News/Twitter
Jawaharalal Nehru University students union leader Kanhaiya Kumar on Friday campaigned for his friend and college mate Mohammed Mohsin P, a Communist Party of India candidate contesting from Pattambi in the district for the May 16 assembly polls.

Addressing an election rally at Pattambi, Kumar deplored the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing Kerala with Somalia.

"Kerala is one of the most literate states in the country. The place is also known for its progressive values and gender justice," he said and wondered how the prime minister could make such a comment about Kerala.

Referring to the brutal rape and murder of a Dalit woman at Perumbavur in Kochi, he said everyone should stand together to ensure justice for the victim.

He urged the gathering to fight "to preserve the Constitution and democracy in the country".

The student leader said this constituency was earlier represented by Marxist veterans like E M Shankaran Namboothiripad and it was the responsibility of everyone to ensure the victory of the Left candidate.

30-year-old Mohsin, a research student in JNU, is making his debut in electoral politics by contesting against sitting Congress MLA C P Muhammed in Pattambi.
NBU: Ukrainians sell $343.8 mln more currency than they buy in April 2016

Ukrainians in April 2016 sold to banks $343.8 million more foreign currency than bought, according to the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

According to the regulator, this is $84 million, or 32.3% more than in the previous month.

The volume of foreign currency sales by the public in April increased by 28.3%, to $384.5 million, purchases by 2.17%, to $40.7 million.

In 2015 Ukrainians sold to banks $1.55 billion more foreign currency than bought, while in the previous year the volume of forex purchases $2.41 billion exceeded its sales: a total of $5.61 billion was sold and $8.02 billion was bought.
The National Green Tribunal on issued notices to Madhya Pradesh government and organiser of three-day event 'Vaicharik Mahakumbh', to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, for alleged violation of environment laws.

The notices were issued on the basis of a petition filed by environmental activist Ajay Dubey alleging that large number of trees were cut without taking necessary permission and following proper guidelines to make way for the venue of Vaicharik Mahakumbh, a gathering of religious and political leaders to discuss various issues concerning people and society at Ninora hamlet near Ujjain.

Dubey claimed that adequate arrangements for management of waste were not made that may cause serious health hazards to people living in the area. The central zonal bench of the green tribunal has directed that notices to be issued in the matter and put the matter for next hearing on May 30.

The notices have been issued to chief secretary of the state, collector of Ujjain, commissioner of Indore Municipal Corporation, district forest officer of Ujjain, regional officer of Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board and Anil Madhav Dave, convener of the event.

"The organiser and state administration have not made adequate arrangements for waste disposals. They have also used hazardous materials like asbestos and bitumin for constructing temporary toilets and roads respectively. Also large number of trees have been cut to make ways for the event venue," the petitioner claimed.

The 'Vaicharik Mahakumbh' started on Thursday. It is among one of the various activities being undertaken by the state administration as part of the ongoing month-long Kumbh festival in Ujjain. The Kumbh ends on May 21.

The prime minister is scheduled to participate in the Vaicharik Mahakumbh on Saturday.
'What is the point of having this money when my constituents don't?'

A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com and Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com hit the campaign trail with H Vasanthakumar, the Congress' businessman candidate in Tamil Nadu.

IMAGE: Adoring constituents gather around Vasanthakumar in Perumalnagar village. All photographs: Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com

The Congress has been out of power in Tamil Nadu for almost half a century, but nevertheless, the richest candidate in the state in this election belongs to the party.

Harishankar Vasanthakumar needs no introduction to most people in the state, who know him as the owner of Vasanth & Co, a multi-branch retailer of FMCG products on easy terms.

He also is a media baron of sorts, owning his television channel named, aptly perhaps, Vasanth TV.

The Congress candidate from Nanguneri in Thirunelveli district has declared assets worth a whopping Rs 337 crore (Rs 3.337 billion).

"What is the point of having this money when my constituents don't?" he asks disarmingly when we meet him during his election campaign in Perumalnagar village where he has just met a gathering of adoring constituents in a temple.

On the way out he is mobbed by villagers, with who he evidently shares an easy camaraderie, with no sign of the giver and the taker between them.

IMAGE: Wherever he goes, Vasanthakumar is mobbed by villagers with whom he shares an easy camaraderie.

Vasanthakumar represented the constituency in 2006 but was trounced in the Jayalalithaa wave five years later. Undeterred, he stood for the Lok Sabha election in 2014 from Kanyakumari, when he had declared Rs 287 crore (Rs 2.87 billion) worth of assets, ranking as the richest candidate even then.

He lost that election by a narrow margin to the Bharatiya Janata Party, beating both the Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the All India Dravida Munetra Kazhagam to the second place; no mean feat in Tamil Nadu for a Congress candidate.

In 2006 Vasanth Kumar had won from Nanguneri when the Congress had an alliance with the DMK. This time too the two parties are in an alliance. So is it a cinch? The question hangs easily in the agrarian constituency, as we drive through the mud lanes and past hutments, Hindu shrines and Christian prayer halls.

"Aiyya, eppadi irukeenga? (Sir, how are you?)," an old man exclaims, his mouth open in a toothless grin, as the small convoy of vehicles halts at a crossroad for the candidate to press some flesh.

Nanguneri falls on the National Highway that goes from Kanyakumari to Bengaluru. Despite the dustbowl look of the place, tracing the candidate is not difficult. Just follow the trail of burst crackers, passersby offering help in moments of indecision.

IMAGE: Children wave cardboard fans at the moving convoy. Vasanthakumar is known to give Rs 1 lakh to any topper from his constituency, and Rs 10,000 to anyone who scores above 95%.

For all his wealth and reputation, Vasanthakumar, one finds, shares warm vibes with the villagers. Most of them seem to know him personally and he talks to them with a familiarity that comes from regular interaction.

His convoy is very small, unlike the ones the state has witnessed in the past when the DMK and Congress campaigned together. Apart from the open-top jeep which we clambered up eagerly, there is his personal car and a Maruti Omni that is being used by the Vasanth TV crew busy recording his every word, every move. Two others in the jeep with us are distributing cardboard fans with his symbol on it.

The convoy follows a predictable pattern and phraseology. Selvaraj, who was in the front seat with a mike, announces the candidate's arrival with a flourish only seen in Tamil Nadu. "Ungal veettuppillai Vasanthakumar, Kamarajarin vaarisu, ungal kanneerai thudaikka odi odi varugirar (the son from your home, heir to Kamaraj, Vasanthakumar has come to wipe away the tears from your eyes)," Selvaraj talks up the candidate as we amble along the mud roads.

Vasanthakumar has also put out a 44-page, all-colour, glazed newsprint magazine size booklet listing what he had done for the constituency the last time he represented it. And it is an impressive list, which perhaps explains why the people are so visibly warm towards him.

IMAGE: Vasanthakumar's convoy is really small. Apart from this open-top jeep, there are only two other cars, one of which holds a TV crew.

Now, in the afternoon heat, unfortunately for him, however, there are not many people around in the village, only a gaggle of people here and there. "Ellam velaikku poyirukkanga (all are out on work)," he tells us apologetically. "There will be more people in the evening."

Numbers or not, the complaints come pouring in, the subject of litany the usual in a top-down democracy like India. At one place there were complaints that a certain bus was not stopping at their village.

One of his assistants notes this down, "I will make sure it stops. How many places do you want it to stop?" he asks. The villagers are happy with just one stop.

In another village, Vasanthakumar reminds a woman that he had built a water tank in their village and she must vote for his 'hand' symbol for further 'development.' "The biggest problem in this area is water and power and that is why I built the water tank." Actually he built not one but two water tanks "for the two groups, one this side one that side."

IMAGE: Thanks to the afternoon heat, there are hardly any people around, but whenever the convoy stops, people gather around Vasanthakumar with their complaints, and he patiently listens to them.

In the next village, Thattankulam, a woman tells Vasanthakumar to lay a cement road near her house. "But there is a road there already there," he points out. "It is only 50 feet long, please take it further, into the field," she requests. "Sari, manu poduma (okay, please put in a petition)," he responds and she is happy. "My son works for you, he is a driver," she tells him proudly. "He works for our channel sir," the know-all assistant chips in.

At one place there was a small gathering of women, their natural shyness in the presence of city folk abandoned for the candidate. One young girl was poring through the electoral list of the village, checking it against voting slips. An important exercise to remind the voter of the candidate with elections just four days away.

As we leave one village to go to the next, the heat seems to have got the better of Vasanthakumar, who asks his assistant if he could travel in his car that is trailing us. "The next village is nearby, please stay on the jeep," he is told. "You have no problems, I am the one that has been standing in the heat for the last 30 days," the candidate replies with a sigh.

IMAGE: Vasanthakumar has been campaigning for the last 30 days in the scorching heat.

What marks the convoy out is the absence of alliance partners in the campaign, notably the elephant in the room, the DMK. "If I invite one person, someone else gets upset, so I don't call anyone. When they join me, I welcome them, if they don't, I don't bother," is Vasathakumar's quick reply.

Though the DMK depended on the Congress to form a government in 2006, they did not share power, keeping intact Tamil Nadu's reputation for eschewing a coalition government. "This time it will be different," insists Vasanthakumar. "If we win more than 40 seats, we will this time."

The Congress has been allotted 41 seats by the DMK, against its demand for 70.

Some things don't change in Tamil Nadus electoral campaign -- like the bursting of crackers. The ornate talking up of what the candidate can do. Aartis on the way (which perhaps would be seen in the evening, when there are more people). And the custom of ponnadai (wrapping a shawl around the candidate). The latter was in evidence all through both the villages we traversed.

In Thattankulam, a constituent greets Vasanthakumar with a shawl, a small bouquet while another complains, "There is a lake in our village, but even when it rains it does not store water as the walls have collapsed. Please do something." Asking his assistant to take a photograph of the same, Vasanthakumar tells him, "Kavalai padaadheenga (don't worry), I will get it done, manu podunga."

At another home he askes a young girl what she is doing. Just appeared for the SSC exams, and would score 450/500 marks, she tells him. "You score 499 marks, and I will give you one lakh rupees," he tells her, and she is agape.

IMAGE: There is a lack of alliance partners in Vasanthakumar's campaign. And he is confident of a win this time.

"Every year, I give the topper from my constituency one lakh rupees," he tells us. "And Rs 10,000 for everyone who scores above 95%."

"Padippu thaan sir mukkiyam (education is everything). (The legendary Congress leader K) Kamaraj told the people to study, learn English, but the last 50 years they have only been told to study Tamil. And because of that, they have stayed where they were."

As we take his leave, one wonders if a top businessman like him who lives in distant Chennai will have time for his constituents. How will you manage, we ask him. "When I was the member of the assembly earlier, I came here every weekend, and I will come here again," he says, adding with a twinkle in his eye, "With lots of money."

Vasanthakumar is the brother of Kumari Ananthan, the erstwhile president of the Tamil Nadu Congress whose daughter Tamizhisai Soudararajan heads the state BJP.

"We are a 100-strong family," Vasanthakumar chuckles, "but we don't discuss politics."

Though politics, for the time being at least, seems to have put a freeze in the relationship between uncle and niece. "We have not spoken to each other since," he adds. "Yaarukku theriyum saar (who knows) how it will be presented to the high command!"

The 'high command,' the popular euphemism for Sonia-Rahul Gandhi, is clearly favourtably disposed towards Vasanthakumar.

In the 2014 election, his constituency Kanyakumari was the only one that Sonia Gandhi campaigned for in the state. In the present election, his seat was among those Rahul was expected to visit before fever put paid to his Tamil Nadu plans.
Contrary to reports, the defence ministry has not opened any other deal for investigation besides the AgustaWestland chopper contract, defence sources said on Friday.

The remarks came in backdrop of media reports that the MoD has opened an inquiry into a 2009 purchase of two naval tankers.

The allegations were that inferior quality of steel was used by the Italian firm which caused an incident on board the tanker in 2010.

"The MoD has not opened any inquiry into navy tankers with so called sub standard steel," sources said.

However, the deal had come under criticism of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 2010.

A Navy spokesperson said necessary procedures were followed diligently prior to acquisition of these tankers.

The official said a few minor cracks were observed on the superstructure when the ship was coming back from Russia with aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.

"The cracks probably occurred due to a combination of factors like sub-zero temp in the region, heavy sea, stormy conditions among others. The repairs were carried out in Lisbon by original equipment manufacturer and the ship was made ready in a few hours.

"Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause was conducted and there was no material failure found. The ship is fully operational since and has been deployed extensively," the official said adding the ship is on deployment in the Persian Gulf as of now.

Image used for represntation purpose only
Amid the charges and counter-charges over the AgustaWestland issue, the Congress on Friday accused the Modi government of "working overtime" tapping the phones of opposition, civil servants and judges.

Party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters: "There is a dirty tricks dept in the Bharatiya Janata Party government, which is working overtime tapping phone of opposition, civil servants and judges".

He alleged that the government is putting senior leaders and bureaucrats under surveillance, manufacturing documents, using state agencies and "pliable" sections of media.

Cautioning the government to stop this game of political blackmail, he said it was "spreading canards" and making attempts to "defame".

Wondering as to how classified documents of ministry of defence, of the Central Bureau of Investigation, of Enforcement Directorate, have been selectively leaked to few channels and agencies, he said this created an "incomplete picture".

"The selective leaking and distribution of classified documents creates an incomplete picture. The whole picture is brought out by opposition in Parliament", he said.

He said the government instead of targeting the opposition, should focus on delivering on its promises. "They have failed miserably when you look at the state of economy, job growth, falling exports and falling investment rate".

Turning to the just concluded session, he said budget session has passed 24 laws. It is a record in itself.

Noting that since 2014 when the Modi government assumed office, more than 80 bills have been passed, he said adding that this is "testimony of a mature opposition".

"This is also a rejection of the canard spread by PM Modi that opposition was hindering passage of bills", he said.

Seeking to turn tables on the BJP, he said that many of the bills passed were held hostage by BJP while in the opposition.

At the outset, Sharma targeted the government over the Uttarakhand issue.

"The second half of budget session became a fresh session because of the wrong decision of this government to justify the unconstitutional destabilisation of the Uttarakhand government, by encouraging defection and promoting an environment where money power and the Unions power were abused," he said.

Giving a word of advice and caution to the government in the backdrop of AgustaWestland issue, he said it should seriously reflect and stop what they are doing and they would "end up seriously compromising defence acquisition and defence preparedness" of the country.

Citing an instance, he said that since the Bofors case, India has not acquired any major artillery system since 1988.

Sharma was sharply critical of the way the Prime Minister Narendra Modi went about on the issue of Rafale fighter deal without the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security.
The National Investigation Agency on Friday dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case while charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act have been given up against all the other 10 accused including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

During investigation, sufficient evidences have not been found against Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet that the prosecution against them is not maintainable.

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the probe into the Malegaon blast which was described as a handiwork of people associated with Hindu right wing groups.

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai anti-terrorism squad Hemant Karkare, who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, the ATS had booked 16 people but filed chargesheets on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court.

Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before Bombay high court and the Supreme Court challenging the chargesheet and applicability of the MCOCA in the case.

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The agency also said during investigation that it has been established that no offence is attracted in this case under the MCOCA, in which any statement given before a superintendent of police-level officer is admissible as evidence.

In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOCA by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present final report, the agency said in its chargesheet.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act and the Explosives Substance Act.

Director General of NIA Sharad Kumar told reporters on Friday that there was no dilution in the case.

Asked about the stand taken by the agency in the past when it had opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi and others even in the Supreme Court, he said, Till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet).

The chargesheet was submitted by public prosecutor Geeta Godambe before Special Judge S D Tekale in Mumbai.

Special Public Prosecutor in the case Avinash Rasal said he was not informed about the filing of the chargesheet (by the NIA). I am hurt and I may resign from the case, Rasal said.

The Congress attacked the NIA decision to drop charges against Sadhvi Praygya.

Senior leader Digvijay Singh said as I had predicted the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and the RSS (Rashtriya Swwayamsevak Sangh) have started the process of saving the Sangh activists involved in terror cases.

Was the DG of NIA given extension for this? he asked.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegation saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. We allow agencies to work independently, he said.
Yadav admits he shot 20-year-old Aditya Sachdeva.

Suspended Janata Dal-United member of legislative council Manorama Devi, whose son had allegedly shot dead a youth for overtaking his vehicle, filed an anticipatory bail petition on Friday in the district court in connection with recovery of liquor bottles from her house during a search.

On behalf of Manorama Devi, advocate Qaiser Sarfuddin filed the bail petition in the court of (in-charge) District Judge S N Singh who posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

While talking to reporters in Gaya after filing the petition, Sarfuddin said that Manorama Devi, who has been absconding ever since the liquor bottles were found from her Gaya residence, will not surrender before the court.

Manorama Devis counsel further claimed that she has been implicated in the case as the allegations levelled against her are false.

The counsel said that she was not named accused in the first information report in connection with liquor bottle recovery case.

Meanwhile, the police on Friday pasted the order for attachment of property of Devi in three places after getting the court nod to do it.

The order was pasted at Manorama Devi's residence at posh Anugrah Puri colony, Gaya railway station and her husband Bindi Yadav's mixer plant in Bodh Gaya from where their son Rocky Yadav was arrested in connection with the murder of a youth.

Earlier in the day, the Gaya police made a plea to a district court to grant permission for property attachment of Devi which was accepted.

A day after her suspension from the JD-U, the excise department on May 11 sealed residence of the MLC in connection with recovery of liquor bottles as police stepped up search for the legislator who could not be traced.

Officials of the excise department, with the help of police, sealed the residence of Manorama Devi in posh Anugrah Puri colony, Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik had said.

The Gaya police acquired a warrant of arrest against her on Wednesday in the liquor case.

The house was sealed in the wake of a case registered against the MLC with Rampur Police Station in connection with recovery of 6 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor from her house during Monday's search for her son Rocky Yadav who allegedly shot dead a youth in Gaya on Saturday night.

Wife of Rashtriya Janata Dal strongman Bindi Yadav, Manorama Devi became an MLC from JD-U in 2015. Earlier, she was an MLC from the RJD from 2003 to 2009.

Meanwhile, Rocky Yadav confessed to the police on Friday that he had fired a shot on the youth, Aditya Sachdeva, a charge which he earlier denied.

Rocky has revealed that he fire a bullet on Aditya following a heated exchange, a district police official in Gaya said.

Earlier, Rocky had denied his involvement in the killing.

Rocky informed the police that after the incident, he escaped to Patna and then to Delhi. But, after his father Bindi Yadav was arrested in this case, he was forced by his mother to come back.

The post-mortem report has confirmed that Aditya died due to bullet injuries in the neck. The report says that there was no other injury except the bullet wound.

According to the report, the bullet fractured his first and second cervical vertebra into multiple pieces. Two broken pieces of the bullet were lodged into the body. They have been retrieved and handed over to the police.

With inputs from M I Khan in Patna
Ahead of 16 May assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, election flying squad personnel on Friday seized Rs 10.48 lakh cash, suspected to be meant for distribution to voters, from the car of a local All Indian Anna Munnetra Kazhagam functionary, police said.

The election flying squad personnel found the cash in the car of Aythioyapattinam AIADMK union secretary A P Mani as he tried to leave his house near Yercaud in the district, they said.

As Mani could not account for the money, it was seized and later handed over to Yercaud constituency Returning Officer Sundaram, police said.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the petitions by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code providing for criminal defamation.

The petitioners had argued that the criminal defamation under these sections of the IPC travelled beyond constitution's article 19(2) that imposes reasonable restriction on the freedom of speech and expression.

The verdict was reserved on August 13 last year after bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant heard the matter spread over a month.

Swamy and Gandhi have been charged with criminal defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC for their political speeches made in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra respectively, while Kejriwal is facing cases under the same provisions lodged Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and others.
An American police officer, who brutally assaulted an Indian grandfather and left him partially paralysed, is no longer facing state criminal charges in Alabama.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said the state no longer wishes to pursue a criminal case against Madison police officer Eric Parker in Limestone County Circuit Court.

"After a careful review of the witness testimony included in 2,000 pages of federal trial transcripts and a re-evaluation of the evidence, we are seeking to dismiss State charges against Parker," Strange said in a release on Friday.

Parker, 27, is accused of assaulting 58-year-old Indian grandfather who was taking a stroll around his son's home when he was brutally assaulted by him in February last year.

He was fired six days later and police arrested him for misdemeanor assault. Parker was cleared of federal civil rights charges in January, after two mistrials.

Following the back-to-back mistrials, US District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala in January granted a motion to acquit, saying there would not be a third federal trial.

With the federal case concluded, Parker had been scheduled to face a bench trial in district court in LimestoneCounty starting on June 7. That was for the misdemeanor assault charge, which carries up to a year in jail.

Strange on Friday filed the motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charge.

"Without a doubt this is an unfortunate case and we agree with US District Judge Madeline Haikala that 'The result in this case is by no means satisfying. Hindsight brings clarity to a calamity...," wrote Strange.

"After a review of the federal trial testimony, it does not appear that there would be sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, we have a duty to move to dismiss the charge," he added.

Newly-appointed District Judge Douglas "Doug" Lee Patterson, who had said he was ready to move forward with the trial since it is a misdemeanour and there was no need to prolong the case, approved the request to drop the charge.

"The State of Alabama having filed a motion to dismiss this action and the Court having considered the same it is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that this case is dismissed," he ruled.

The former Alabama police officer also faces a lawsuit filed against him by Patel.

The assault had sparked outrage in the Indian community and India had raised the issue with the US, demanding expeditious investigation into the matter. The governor of the US state of Alabama had apologised for the brutal police assault on Patel.
In a counter-attack at the Centre, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Friday demanded to know how Rocky Yadav got a license for his pistol without proper verification in Delhi, and called for a thorough probe into it.

"They (National Democratic Alliance) should first explain as to how he (Rocky) got license for his pistol in Delhi without verification," he told reporters at PatnaAirport while returning from Delhi.

The Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said.

"We demand a probe into the license issued to Rocky without proper procedure of verification," he said in a strong counter-offensive against BJP which had gone hammer and tongs against the Bihar government over the murder of Aditya Sachdeva on Saturday last by Rocky in a road rage incident.

The Gaya police maintained that the pistol license to Rocky Yadav had been issued from Vasant Kunj area of Delhi. The Bihar Deputy CM also said the fugitive member of Legislative Council and mother of the accused would be arrested.

He said RJD workers met the aggrieved family of standard XII student Aditya Sachdeva who died after being allegedly shot at by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav for overtaking his SUV.

Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had commented two days back in Delhi as to why the term "jungle raj" was not referred to incidents like Pathankot attack, large number of road rage cases in Delhi and killing of an officer in Jharkhand.

The comment drew sharp reaction from his political rivals who took exception of him bringing up the Pathankot terror attack issue while referring to the audacious Gaya road rage case.

In another broadside at the Bharatiya Janata Party, Tejaswi also wondered "why the BJP is not talking about 'jungle raj' (regarding) what they did in Uttarakhand?"
The largest agroholding in Eurasia in terms of land bank, Ukrlandfarming, has agreed to restructure debt on the loan worth almost $60 million for the period of eight years with U.S. export-import agency, the company has reported, referring to Board Chairman and key shareholder (95% of shares) Oleh Bakhmatiuk.

"Ukrlandfarming continues its transparency policy in relations with creditors and investors. Our financial readjustment and stable growth restoration plans are usually conservative and take into account not only current, but potential risks for business development. This allows us to successfully finish talks on restructuring of debts and retain production facilities, jobs and recovery potential," Bakhmatiuk said.

"An agreement on $90 million loan restructuring with Canada's export-import agency is waiting for approval. All procedures have been agreed. Negotiations with European export-import agencies are at the final stage. By the end of June the total restructured debt would reach $1.3 billion," the businessman said.

The company earlier agreed to reschedule debt on the syndicated loan of over $200 million from Deutsche Bank and Sberbank of Russia. The holding obtained consent of almost 100% of investors in its $500 million eurbonds to postpone the payment of the coupon.
Last updated on: May 13, 2016 11:54 IST

Friday is the last day of the Rajya Sabha during the current session.

The Congress will be giving privilege motions against Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in the Upper House accusing them of lying blatantly during the AgustaWestland debate.
This weeks collection of stories that prove we live in a truly mad, mad world.

1) This aint no super glue commercial

A woman has been left with hair extensions stuck to her head after mistakenly buying the 'glue-in' beauty product online.

Lauren Dewick, 25, said the black and pink pre-bonded hair extensions with keratin tips were so bad, even pliers have failed to remove the fake hair -- leaving her with 'half' her hair missing as well as bald patches.

The mother-of-two, from Hull, East Yorkshire, bought the 'glue-in' extensions on the internet and attached the extensions in February but has been trying in vain to remove them for nearly a week.

The extensions, which were predominantly black with around 50 strands of pink thrown in, came with blocks of glue already fixed to the tips.

Lauren said: 'We've been trying to take them out all weekend, but the glue bonds that are left in are not softening at all - they are rock solid.

It was the first time Lauren had hair extensions and splashed out to make sure she bought good ones.

2) Whats crawling inside your burger?

Ever been on the move and wanted to grab some grub, say a burger. Now that youve thought about those succulent burgers for a second: Think again!

A new study has revealed more may be lurking in your burger than you anticipated.

Experiments carried out on 258 unlabelled samples of ground meat, frozen patties, fast-food burgers and veggie varieties from 79 brands spanning 22 retailers using state-of-the-art genomic sequencing, scientists at Clear Labs, screened the products for authenticity, examining them for nutrition-content accuracy, including calories, carbohydrates, fat and protein.

But, their investigations revealed some unexpected results.

Three samples tested positive for rat DNA, while one contained traces of human DNA, the researchers revealed.

Thirteen per cent of all the products were found to be 'problematic', but that figure rose to 23.6 per cent when the scientists examined the vegetarian products.

Of those, two samples contained traces of beef DNA, while one black bean burger contained no black beans at all.

The researchers noted all tests are run through a secondary analysis pipeline and scrubbed for statistical accuracy and error.

3) Food for thought

Mama always told us not to play with scissors. But eating corn off a power drill? She skipped that one. Mustve thought we were smarter.

A YouTube video showing a woman in China attempting to eat corn with the help of a spinning drill is proving to be a cautionary tale for the rest of us.

The woman was left with a large bald patch on her head after her hair was caught and ripped out during an attempt to eat corn from a rotating drill has released further footage to prove the accident was real.

The painful video featuring the Chinese woman attempting the ten second 'corn drill challenge' emerged on Sunday.

It shows the excruciating moment a lock of her long hair was caught in the power tool and ripped from her scalp but she doesn't appear to make a sound nor react in pain as she reaches up to feel her hairless scalp.

4) Cheeky!

A 10-metre high sculpture of a man grabbing his own buttocks is part of an art exhibition that has been shortlisted for the prestigious Turner Prize.

Anthea Hamilton is one of four artists nominated, receiving a nod for her solo show Lichen! Libido! Chastity! at SculptureCentre in New York, which features two hands clutching the bare bottom, as well as a brick-printed suit.

The other artists on the shortlist are Michael Dean, Helen Marten and photographer Josephine Pryde, whose installation Thinking By the person I Am at CCA Wattis in San Francisco includes a small working train.

Now thats art. Isnt it?

5) Show me the money!

Leicester City diamond ring inspired by the Premier League trophy is unveiled - but it will cost you 225,000

Leicester City WAGs are sure to have their eyes on this 225,000 ring which was inspired by the Premier League trophy itself.

The giant sparkler features a 5.01 carat central diamond set inside a yellow gold crown surrounded by blue sapphires.

The ring has two gold lions facing each other on the silver band and will be engraved on the inside with the total number of points notched up by the new champions.

6) The cat that got the cream

This lovable moggie celebrated its birthday in style by getting more than a mouthful of this pinky pink cake.

And the pet will likely now also be lapping up the attention as the images go viral for the world to see.

The contents of the cake are unknown but presumably the owner knows sweets are not good for your cat and it was specially baked.

At first the cat can be seen -- dressed a festive bonnet for the occasion -- eagerly licking the cream off the top of the cake as if it were an ice lolly.

Now theres one satisfied kitty.

7) Woman wants to celebrate 100th birthday... by pole dancing?

Becoming a centenarian is just another year for Beatrice Ingerling.

Unlike most oldies though this ole dish is not like your friendly neighbourhood granny.

Ingerling celebrates her 100th birthday this Saturday and she plans to show her appreciation to her guests by pole dancing.

That's right. This centenarian like to gyrate on a pole.

Ingerling has even had a pole installed in her home in Chesterfield, Virginia, just so she can do a few spins for family and friends at the party.

Ingerling is healthy enough for physical activity. Shes not even on medication, unless you count the daily glass of wine.

8) Take that old age

An Indian couple who are both in their 70s have had their first child after undergoing two years of fertility treatments.

Daljinder Kaur, who is believed to be about 72 but is lacking a birth certificate, gave birth to a healthy baby boy April 19 at Haryana's National Fertility Center, which is famed for offering fertility treatments to women well past menopause.

The baby was fathered by Kaur's husband of 46 years, Mohinder Singh Gill, 79.

"Every one asked me to adopt a baby but I never wanted to. Now I have my own child," Kaur told The Telegraph. "We will raise him and give him a proper education. I had faith in Almighty that I will have my own baby, and God answered my prayers."

Now thats some baby.
The costs involved in putting together a successful rally are bizarre, report A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com and Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com

IMAGE: A large crowd awaits Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa at a rally in Tirunelveli, southern Tamil Nadu. Photograph: Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com

When Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa addressed a 50,000-strong election rally at the Bell ground in Tirunelveli on Thursday, May 12, it was the southern most she had ventured out in this election season.

In her style made famous this election, she flew down to Madurai from Chennai, from where she took a helicopter to Tirunelveli, the helipad a kilometre or so away from the venue.

Despite the blazing heat the venue wore a festive look, after all it was the chief minister, and that too Amma, who was coming. She was scheduled to visit Tirunelveli earlier, too, but that public meeting somehow got shelved twice

So when Thursday's rally went off as planned, with loads and loads of people sporting the party colours, waving the party flag, none could have been more relieved than the state's tourism minister, the legislator from Srivaikuntam in Thoothukudi, S P Shanmuganathan.

Not only is he the only minister from the three districts -- Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi -- whose MLA aspirants were presented to the public by Jayalalithaa, he was also by virtue of his solo minister status responsible for the rally going off well.

And what exactly does that mean?

IMAGE: AIADMK functionaries at Jayalalithaa's Tirunelveli rally. Photograph: Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com

It is a numbers game, says a lower level functionary in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam who is one of those responsible for the event.

Each party wants to show off the extent of its support by drumming up a crowd that will impress the undecided voter as well as send shivers of worry down the opponent's spine.

By that yardstick, Thursday's rally was a sell-out, no doubt, but does the crowd turnout mean that everyone who was there at the rally will cross off the Two Leaves on May 16?

There are two kinds of people every party has to deal with, says Solomon, an AIADMK functionary from Thoothukudi district. "There is the thondar (volunteer), who is totally devoted to the party, its programmes, and will blindly follow the leader. But the thondars alone cannot ensure the party's victory, it is up to them to convince the undecided voters and the rest about casting their vote for the party."

And the thondar's own future in the party depends on one, how many people they can rustle up for the leader's meetings, and two, how many of them he can convert into voters first, and thondars later.

And, among the attractions, money has a major role to play.

Conversations with a few political activists paint the following picture of how a rally is put together, with the Thirunelveli event as an example.

According to them, Shanmukhanathan would have relegated the responsibility to three regional secretaries, one in charge of each district.

These secretaries, in turn, would have farmed out the various tasks -- from transporting people from the region, to organising the stage, the sound system, the buntings and cut-outs, giant TV screens etc -- to the various branches in each constituency, each seat having at least 170 branches, says a person involved in the organisation.

"There is a fixed template for this, everyone knows who does what, feedback is constant, so, in reality, it is not as complex as it may seem to you. You see, this is what we do, like how you do your job," says an AIADMK thondar, adding that he brought three vans of people to the rally.

IMAGE: Buses and vans that bring people to the rally. Each branch ferries 510 vans, carrying 7,650 people per constituency/candidate. Photograph: A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com

Each branch will commit to ferrying three vans of attendees to the public meeting, each van carrying 15 persons. That is, each branch ferries 510 vans, carrying 7,650 people per constituency/candidate. Thursday's AIADMK rally covered 18 constituencies, which in theory puts the number of people ferried at 137,700!

While to the untrained eye it seemed the rally had at least one lakh (100,000) people in attendance, a policeman said there were not more than 50,000 present. The number of chairs hired may seem like a good indicator, but that won't account for the standees, the stragglers on the sidelines, etc.

For the people being brought to the rally, it means a day out with no loss of income. While Solomon says each person is paid Rs 200 apart from food and drinks, another thondar says they pay Rs 300 per person.

A simple calculation shows mind-boggling costs.

Hiring a van costs Rs 2,000 each; each van carries 15 persons at Rs 300 each; the cost per van thus comes to Rs 6,500. For three vans per branch, it is Rs 19,500. Multiply that by 170, the number of branches per seat, it is Rs 3,315,000 in one constituency.

That is just the cost incurred in ferrying 510 vans of people per seat. Multiply it by 18, the number of seats covered in Thursday's rally, and you will get an estimate -- mind, this is only an estimate, the actual costs are known only to the party higher-ups -- of the sums involved in electioneering.

The flaw in the theory, however, is exposed when you use the same formula to arrive at the number of attendees. Each van with 15 people, three vans per branch, 170 branches per seat. So one seat sends only a meagre 7,650 people to the rally.

But Thursday's rally covered 18 candidates; so multiply 7,650 by 18, the total number of attendees, on paper, comes to 137,700 -- which wasn't the case. "So, even the costs are actually less, as the turnout is less," says one party worker.

"The number each branch/seat is to send is the expectation from them. Obviously, some meet the target, some don't," says Solomon.

Retribution is not far behind for laggards who don't spread the party image well enough. Their services are not utilised the next time, which is a major loss in income, apart from in prestige.

While putting bums on seats is the major head of expenditure, for a political party, there are the other costs involved. Like for hiring chairs, the sound system, cameras, sound crews, putting up hoardings, cutouts, publicity, the list is endless.

All these costs are borne by the party, with the candidates at times bearing a fraction of it to meet Election Commission scrutiny.

IMAGE: Each attendee got a plastic bag containing a Glucon D packet, Britannia Marie, three water pouches, a rubber wrist band and a cloth cap at Thursday's rally. Photograph: Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com

Thursday's rally by Amma had an extra feature never seen before. Each chair was given a plastic bag (50 paise) containing Glucon D packet (Rs 25), Britannia Marie (Rs 5), three water pouches (Rs 3), a rubber wrist band and cloth cap (Rs 1.50), that is, Rs 35 per bag.

For 50,000 people, this would have cost Rs 1,750,000.

Incredulous and wide-eyed at the sums conjured up, you ask innocently, "And all this cost is accounted for properly?" leading to guffaws all around.

"Karuppu panam, aiya, black money," offers one. "Don't you read the newspapers, about the crores of rupees being seized by the Election Commission in Tamil Nadu? That money is actually meant to meet such expenditure only."

Apparently, this is the standard model in place for all political parties, and the beauty of it is it can be scaled, for a parliamentary poll as well for a zilla panchayat election.
Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam's book India's Wars: A Military History, 1947-1971 is an eye-opener.

India's Wars gives the reader deep insights into little known aspects of combat, the sharp military minds that shaped battlefield tactics and the precision with which they were executed.

Deeply researched and passionately written, Air Vice Marshal Subramaniam -- a fighter pilot who has commanded a MiG-21 squadron and a base comprising India's frontline fighter, the Sukhoi-30MKI -- offers a fresh and extremely readable perspective on modern Indian military history.

Rediff.com brings you an exclusive excerpt from India's Wars about leadership in the 1971 war, India's greatest military triumph, published with the author's kind and gracious permission.

IMAGE: Indian soldiers fire on Pakistani positions during the 1971 War. Photograph: Getty Images

What then were the major operational takeaways from the 1971 war from an Indian perspective?

While much of the current discourse on the 1971 war concentrates excessively on the meticulous military planning and orchestration at the highest level, particularly at Eastern Army Command Headquarters, it is the conversion of that plan into more than just successful operational outcomes that takes pole position.

This was only possible because of the initiative and innovation by field commanders like Lieutenant General Sagat Singh, Captain Swaraj Prakash, Group Captain Wollen and Group Captain Chandan Singh.

Had Sagat Singh not bypassed Akhaura, Bhairab Bazar and Sylhet; had Chandan Singh not responded as he did when it came to urging the Mi-4 helicopter crews to press on regardless as they transported men, logistics, ammunition and artillery guns across the River Meghna; had Wollen not asked his MiG-21 pilots to experiment with steep-dive attacks on Tezgaon airfield; and had Swaraj Prakash and Major General Uban not kept almost half a division tied down in the Chittagong sector, Dacca may not have fallen when it did.

For the first time after Independence, India made serious attempts at shaping the battlefield in the sector of its choice, the eastern sector, before engaging in full-scale operations.

Whether it was covert operations by small teams of R&AW-trained Mukti Bahini operatives initially, or large battalion-sized incursions from November onwards, the psychological impact of the Mukti Bahini can hardly be disputed.

Lieutenant General Shammi Mehta puts the overall contribution of the Mukti Bahini in the right perspective by praising them effusively:

One of the greatest contributions of the Mukti Bahini was in providing intelligence for manoeuvre. If I had to manoeuvre in a vacuum in Bangladesh, I would have ended up waging attrition warfare like in the western sector. During the initial stages of the war, we almost exactly knew where the enemy was thanks to the Mukti Bahini and later on, even if we did not, we could predict their moves thanks to the inputs given by the Mukti Bahini.

In the western theatre, though, the Indian Army entered the war with a rather defensive mindset much to the chagrin of Lieutenant General Candeth, the commander of the Western Army Command.

The concept of 'Offensive defence', which gained traction from Army HQ, had its merits as the war on the western front unfolded. It called for exploiting fleeting opportunities while retaining a defensive balance; dynamic generals like Pinto exploited this flexibility and tasted success in Shakargarh and Basantar with a refreshingly aggressive approach at every stage.

Up north, an aggressive corps commander like Sartaj Singh managed to stabilise Chhamb and score victory after victory in northern Kashmir, Kargil and Turtok sectors. However, despite making good progress, an inspirational leader like Major General Zorawar Chand Bakshi was held back in a defensive role after making spectacular progress in the Chicken's Neck area. Holding the west was imperative for the success of India's two-front strategy.

General Shammi Mehta highlighted that in all of India's earlier wars, attrition warfare ruled the roost without much success whenever two forces bashed against each other head-on without much success, inspired by what he calls the 'hierarchical inheritance of Montgomery, the grand-dad of attrition warfare'.

He points out that wherever the Indian Army tasted success in 1971, it was because of prosecuting manoeuvre warfare.

Dispelling the widespread notion that only armoured corps officers possessed the mind set of a manoeuvrer, General Pinto, a hardcore infantryman, looked at manoeuvre as a state of the mind and not merely a movement of forces on the ground. He went on further to highlight that proactive and reactive strategies of warfare were merely an extension of manoeuvre and attrition warfare.

Pakistan, he added, were purely reactive in 1971. When asked whether he was surprised that Pakistan did not use their idle armoured division (6 Armoured Division) against his 54 Division, he chuckled and said, 'Had they done so, I would probably not be here talking to you.'

He was equally critical that India's idle and sole armoured division (1 Armoured Division) was not rushed to his sector once he had made inroads. Closing the discussion on the battle of Basantar, he laughed his still infectious laugh and said, 'The offensive-defensive concept still baffles me.'

In the overall context, however, it was a balanced mix of manoeuvre, aggression and offensive defence that resulted in a comprehensive military victory for India.

The next major operational takeaway from a joint perspective was that training, logistics and infrastructure requirements had been well anticipated by India in the six months prior to the war.

Across the border, the Pakistan armed forces had got lethargic and used to the trappings of political power. Their army was mainly engaged in 'mass-killing operations' in East Pakistan, and was not really prepared for war.

When asked how his division trained for war, the ninety-two-year-old General Pinto said, 'We were much better prepared than the formations had been in 1965. As the divisional commander, I spent a lot of time in conceptual thinking and then testing these concepts during sand-model discussions.

'Though the peacetime location of my division was in Secunderabad, we made regular visits to the I Corps HQ at Mathura and onwards to our operational locations. We knew exactly what we had to do when the balloon went up. Intellectual sharpness is essential in modern warfare; the air chief, P C Lal, was one of those with a sharp and incisive mind,' he chuckled.

IMAGE: Station Commander, Guwahati, Group Captainj M S D Wollen, fourth from left, standing, with the Commanding Officer and ground crew with one of the 'Runway Buster' bombs.

The ground crew christened the bomb 'Road to Dacca'. Photograph: Kind Courtesy Bharat Rakshak

While the IAF went about building airfields, stringing across air defence networks and developing innovative tactics, the PAF had slackened its usually stringent operational training. It failed to build on the operational successes during the 1965 war despite best attempts by Air Marshal Nur Khan, the PAF chief during the interim years, to keep pace with the IAF.

The IAF gained complete air superiority over East Pakistan in a few days and flew over 2,300 sorties of fighters, helicopters and transport aircraft.

With near parity in the western sector between the IAF and PAF, the IAF flew more than twice the number of sorties in 1971 compared to 1965.

Furthermore, though it was not able to achieve complete air superiority, it was able to keep down the PAF and prevent it from operating to its full potential.

The PAF suffered greater attrition in the 1971 war as compared to 1965 and had to reckon with a resurgent IAF as the war progressed. Interdiction of follow-on forces and operational support requirements by the IAF proved to be quite decisive when it came to denying the Pakistan army of reinforcements when they were needed the most.

The innovative bombing of a Pak artillery brigade in Haji Pir and the largest ammunition dump in the Changa Manga Forest by An-12 transport aircraft led by the brilliant Wing Commander Vashisht contributed immensely to the IAF's deep interdiction campaign. He too was awarded the Mahavir Chakra for his exploits in battle.

Though (Air Chief Marshal P C) Lal had articulated a departure from old aerial strategies, the temptation of creating an impact by Strategic Interdiction was too great and the IAF did carry out some effective strikes on the Kiamari oil refineries at Karachi harbour, Sui gas plant in Sind, Mangala dam and the Attock oil refinery near Rawalpindi.

Even though some Indian military historians have questioned the impact of such strikes on a short war such as the one fought in 1971, their offensive flavour certainly had an impact on the Pakistani mindset and demonstrated India's willingness to strike deep in order to hurt an adversary's economic potential.

Please don't miss the next part on May 17!
Trapped Between War and Peace: The Case of Karabakh

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Gulshan Pashayeva Publication Date 2 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Trapped Between War and Peace: The Case of Karabakh, 2 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573570f14.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Link to original story on Jamestown website

Large-scale armed clashes between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, from April 2 to 5 (see EDM, April 6), drew the international spotlight back to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh, which has commonly been perceived as "frozen" for over two decades. This armed conflict passed through different stages of the conflict cycle. However, despite a ceasefire agreement reached by the conflicting parties in May 1994, successive mediation efforts led by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group were not successful in achieving any breakthrough in the negotiation process, and no peace agreement has yet been signed. A situation of no war but no peace has prevailed for almost 22 years.

But following the diplomatic failure of the Kazan summit on June 24, 2011, and influenced by elections in Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2012 and 2013, respectively, the situation on the ground gradually changed. At the same time frozen negotiations have further hardened the positions of the conflicting parties and intensified the militarization of the Armenian-Azerbaijani front lines.

The escalation of violence along the Line of Contact (LoC) in early August 2014 was a first sign of the changed situation. However, three consecutive meetings that took place in August, September and October 2014 between Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan-through the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State John Kerry and French President Francois Hollande-contributed to a decrease in the number of frontline skirmishes at this time. Nevertheless, the situation escalated again on November 12, 2014, when an Armenian Mi-24 military helicopter was shot down by Azerbaijani armed forces after it crossed the LoC, reportedly preparing to attack Azerbaijani positions Apa.az, January 27, 2015; CACI Analyst, December 10, 2014. That was a second dangerous turning point in the conflict cycle.

Furthermore, the four days of fierce clashes along the LoC in early April 2016 were the deadliest since the 1994 ceasefire agreement. Azerbaijani positions and residential areas located along the LoC were subjected to severe mortar and artillery fire from the Armenian side, and the Azerbaijani forces responded with a counter-attack, consequently retaking several strategic heights (Azernews, April 14). The situation along the LoC has deteriorated further due to the Armenian shelling of Azerbaijani settlements in the Terter and Aghdam districts during the night of April 27-28 (Trend, April 28). One civilian was killed and eight others were injured (News.az, April 28). The Azerbaijani minister of defense, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov, gave the order to retaliate against the Armenian Army's firing positions (News.az, April 28). This re-escalation of the armed conflict sheds light on a number of important issues, as discussed below.

First of all, Armenia is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Yet, as noted by Russian political analyst Arkady Dubnov, Yerevan did not receive any expected support from these organizations due to their members' lack of a unified position on the Karabakh conflict. On the other hand, Azerbaijan showed the world that its military rhetoric is not empty. And Baku proved successful in carrying out its multi-faceted political, psychological and diplomatic plan to draw the world's attention back to the Karabakh conflict, which was an unpleasant surprise for Yerevan (News.az, April 19).

Second, despite Russian's active diplomatic activity and a ceasefire agreement reached at the level of the chiefs of the general staffs of the armed forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia on April 5, 2016, Armenian President Sargsyan said in an April 25 interview with the Bloomberg News Agency that it is "unreasonable" for Armenia to resume peace talks with Azerbaijan over Karabakh without security guarantees. He also rejected a proposal for Russian peacekeepers to enter the conflict zone to separate the two sides (Contact.az, April 25).

Third, the international community frequently fails to distinguish the territory of contested former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) from the seven other adjacent occupied Azerbaijani districts (Lachin, Kelbajar, Gubadly, Zangelan, Agdam, Fizuli and Jebrail) abandoned by their previous Azerbaijani inhabitants in 1993. These districts were transformed by Armenian forces into "buffer zones" and are considered bargaining chips in the negotiations process. However, according to the 2010 report prepared by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs' Field Assessment Mission to Azerbaijan's occupied territories surrounding Karabakh, an estimated 14,000 people were still living in miserable conditions in small settlements in the towns of Lachin and Kelbajar at the time of the report's publication. Moreover, according to the Field Assessment Mission, "for administrative purposes, the seven territories, the former [Nagorno-Karabakh] Oblast, and other areas have been incorporated into eight new districts" (Osce.org, March 24, 2011). And in a recent statement, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan said, on April 24, that there would be "no word about an inch of territory to be conceded to Azerbaijan" (Panorama, April 24). All this indicates that Armenia believes it will be able to keep all these territories under its control.

However, the current status quo is no longer satisfactory, and a huge gulf of distrust separates the opposing parties. It is apparent that this once-forgotten conflict could now culminate in either a renewed outbreak of violence, leading to further armed clashes; or it could be resolved by signing a peace agreement that could bring long-awaited peace, prosperity and development to all parties to the conflict. But one thing is clear: as Dr. Novruz Mamedov, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan, states, there is a need for serious change in the substance of the mediation. Not only the attitude toward the conflicting parties must be changed, but also a concrete and clear-cut position will need to be demonstrated (Caucasus International, September 30, 2015).

The overall Karabakh peace process could be revitalized via a new approach to encourage the active engagement of all members of the OSCE Minsk Group. A seven-point plan on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict offered by the German Foreign Office may be a good example in this context. At the core of this plan lies "using dialogue as well as stabilizing and trust-building measures to achieve a stabilization of the cease-fire and an entry into a negotiated solution. This involves intensifying the work of the Minsk Group, exploring potential points of compromise and eventually entering negotiations for a long-term peace accord" (News.az, April 9). But it remains to be seen whether Berlin's more active involvement in the peace process will lead to tangible results.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
The updated memorandum of cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could be agreed in the coming weeks, Finance Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk has said.

"Now, after appointment of a new government, the second party [to the agreement] is present  to agree on a new memorandum within a matter of weeks," he said in a video interview posted on the ministry's website.

Danyliuk explained the break in cooperation with the IMF was due to temporary political instability in Ukraine, while the sides continue to adhere to a common vision on the necessary reforms.

"Now I'm returning to Kyiv and will continue working with the IMF," he said.

The IMF mission on May 10 started its work in Ukraine in the framework of the second review of the EFF program. The mission will run until May 18.
Stavropol Patriots Sound Alarm That Dagestani Oligarch Is Taking Over Region

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Valery Dzutsati Publication Date 2 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Stavropol Patriots Sound Alarm That Dagestani Oligarch Is Taking Over Region, 2 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735712f4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Link to original story on Jamestown website

Regional activists in Stavropol region have sounded the alarm, alleging that a Dagestani oligarch is planning to buy up the region's politicians. A source said that the Dagestani billionaire, Magomedrasul Omarov, wants to expand his influence to neighboring Stavropol region via the Rodina party, which has branches in both Dagestan and Stavropol region. According to the source, Omarov leads the party's Dagestani branch and plans to use it as a vehicle for spreading his influence to Stavropol region. As the regional print and traditional electronic media is tightly controlled in Stavropol region, the anonymous source made the revelations through Instagram (Instagram.com/p/BEic_MouHXi, April 23). The anonymous source struck a nerve among many ethnic-Russian residents of Stavropol, who zealously guard the region against what many regard as the encroachment of the North Caucasians on "ethnic-Russian land." Hence, the publication sparked a heated debate locally (Kavkaz Segodnya, April 23).

Like many Russian oligarchs, Omarov became rich off his lengthy and successful career in the government. For a long time, the head of the Dagestani branch of Rodina led the republican road maintenance service (Rodina.ru, accessed May 2). In 2010, Omarov was appointed as head of the Makhachkala sea port (Kavkazsky Uzel, May 30, 2010). In 2002, the official-businessman survived an attempt on his life, in which three people were killed, including Omarov's aide and two bodyguards (Kommersant, April 23, 2002). Road maintenance services across the North Caucasus are quite corrupt and their heads normally are quite wealthy, which allows them to survive nearly all political upheavals. Omarov is apparently trying to use the Rodina party machine to be elected to the Russian State Duma.

Elections to the Russian State Duma are scheduled to take place across the country in September. Rodina is one of the Kremlin-made parties trying to run to the right of the ruling United Russia party. The party grew out of the social movement Rodina-Congress of Russian Communities, and its Russian nationalist overtones have persisted ever since. It is also quite close to President Vladimir Putin and sometimes referred to as "Putin's Special Force [Spetsnaz]" (BBC News-Russian service, October 1, 2012).

One of the well-known "hawks" in the Russian government, Dmitry Rogozin, used to be the head of the party. Now, Rodina is led by Aleksei Zhuravlyov, who also heads a movement in support of the army, navy, and the military-industrial complex (Rodina.ru, Dobrovol.info, accessed May 2).

Given Rodina's positions, it is not surprising that Stavropol Cossacks, who regard themselves as the defenders of Russia in the North Caucasus, "the first line of defense" against the expansion of Muslim North Caucasians, have joined the party in large numbers. The news about their leadership "selling them out" to a Dagestani oligarch caused an uproar among Rodina members in Stavropol. Omarov reportedly offered to finance Rodina's chapter in Pyatigorsk, which is led by Mikhail Seredenko. Omarov allegedly wants to snatch the eastern areas of Stavropol region that border Dagestan, which has experienced a steady outflow of ethnic Russians and an inflow of non-ethnic-Russian Dagestanis. Besides being regional Rodina party leader, Seredenko is also a Cossack. The authorities apparently disliked him for demanding greater property rights for Cossacks and removed him from several positions within Cossack organizations. According to Seredenko, Pyatigorsk Mayor Lev Travnev is behind the attack on him. Seredenko claims Travnev was charged with criminal offenses in the past and should be brought to justice. Seredenko said that regional authorities are attacking him and his party because its popularity in Stavropol region is growing. He also warned that regional authorities should avoid pitting ethnic groups against each other. Seredenko defended Rodina's nationalities policy, saying that out of 26 candidates of the party, "only one is an ethnic Dagestani," as if having an ethnic non-Russian on a party's list of candidates were something shameful and ignoble (Kavkazskaya Politika, April 26).

For an outsider, the brawl in Stavropol may seem bizarre. After all, both ethnic Russians and Dagestanis are citizens of the same country and, supposedly, have the same right to elect, be elected and "spread their influence." However, given the current realities of the Russian Federation and the North Caucasus, the issue of ethnic and religious identity is quite important for regional politics. Areas are associated with dominant ethnic groups and violations of this de facto order are not easily tolerated. The Russian government frequently shames the North Caucasians for adhering to their clans and the region's persistent interethnic animosities. However, when it comes to areas presumed to belong to ethnic Russians, such as Stavropol region, the positions of the majority of Russian political forces and the Russian government coincide, with all of them seeking to prevent what they regard as the encroachment on Russian territory by non-Russians. While Moscow likes to accuse foreign forces of trying to break up the Russian Federation, the Russian government's own contribution to the persisting political divisions in the country is often overlooked.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Russia Seeks to Reenergize Its Pivot to the East

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Pavel K. Baev Publication Date 2 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Russia Seeks to Reenergize Its Pivot to the East, 2 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 85, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573571844.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Over the past several years, whenever Moscow entered into a difficult encounter on the Western "front," it has typically tried to show interest in expanding ties in the Asia-Pacific. In the last couple of weeks, the fruitless meeting of the NATO-Russia Council was followed by several risky intercepts and mock attacks by Russian fighters over the Baltic Sea (RIA Novosti, April 30; see EDM, April 21). Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov found it opportune to label Lithuania the most "Russophobic" state and to warn Sweden against joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but his promise of "military-technical" counter-measures did not go over well at all in Northern Europe (Rosbalt, Newsru.com, April 29). It was far easier for Lavrov to communicate with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and to pave the way for President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in June (Kommersant, April 30). He also scored diplomatic points by securing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Sochi in early May (Forbes.ru, April 28).

Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs presents this long-discussed meeting as a victory over US objections, but Abe and Putin may have rather different expectations about their upcoming tete-a-tete (Lenta.ru, April 16). Japanese authorities assume that Russia's deepening economic crisis will compel Putin to be more flexible regarding the deadlocked dispute over the South Kurile Islands, compelling him to bargain for a compromise (Rbc.ru, April 28). In Moscow, the prevalent assumption is that Tokyo is so worried about the deepening strategic partnership between Russia and China that it is ready to bracket out the eternal disagreements over the lost islands and to soften the sanctions regime (Kommersant, April 15). The fact of the matter is, however, that Japanese businesses find the investment climate in Russia singularly unattractive, even in the energy sector, and so these companies are generally not all that upset with sanctions (Carnegie.ru, April 28). What Japan is indeed worried about is the series of missile tests executed by North Korea. But Russia can only express disapproval of such reckless behavior and, apparently, sees no need to actively do anything about it, despite the obvious risk for nearby Vladivostok.

Lavrov was eager to condemn, together with Wang, the United States' plans for deploying in South Korea new elements of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, claiming that such actions are more destabilizing for regional security than North Korea's misbehavior (Newsru.com, April 29). Addressing a meeting, in Beijing, of 26 Asia-Pacific region foreign ministers, Russia's top diplomat was also happy to elaborate on the topic of US responsibility for the escalation of global conflicts and the spread of the international terrorist threat. And Lavrov expected to find perfect accord with his Chinese audience (Kommersant, April 28). Yet, Russian rhetoric on the steady growth of tensions in the "multi-polar" world and on the growing probability of clashes between the main "poles" tends to surpass the level of bellicosity China feels comfortable with (Rbc.ru, April 29). Beijing prefers to emphasize new stability underpinned by its "peaceful rise," and it seeks to minimize the fallout from any micro-confrontations on China's hugely important economic relations with the US.

Some Russian experts argue that anti-Americanism makes for a poor foundation on which to build a friendship with China (Russiancouncil.ru, April 27). However, problems in Russian-Chinese relations go deeper than just missing the proper tone in aggressive rhetoric. Gazprom keeps insisting that the work on the so-called "$400 billion" contract, signed in May 2014, is on track, though it is clear that at current prices the agreement is not only three times cheaper but also has negative cost-efficiency (RIA Novosti, April 26). Furthermore, the plan to compensate for the deep decline in bilateral trade by expanding Russian arms exports to China has hit bureaucratic delays: neither the contract on modern Su-35S fighters nor the contract on the S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system has been finalized (Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, April 29). Beijing balked at Moscow's attempts to persuade Saudi Arabia and other Gulf exporters to "freeze" oil production in order to ensure a price rise. And these attempts were destined to fail because Iran is unwilling to curtail its plans to expand into global the oil markets. As such, China has become more aware that its interests in the Middle East are in serious disagreement with Russia's interests (Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 26).

Putin himself tried last week to put a positive spin on Russia's "pivot" to the East by attending the first launch of a Soyuz space rocket from the newly-built Vostochny cosmodrome in the Amur oblast. He had to stay overnight because the launch was postponed by one day. This minor setback revealed so many problems with the construction of this vast (550 square kilometer) space center that instead of awards, he issued reprimands to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin and other top officials (Kommersant, April 28). This pet project has been beleaguered by endless problems and registered tall cost overruns; it remains half-accomplished and is poorly connected to the regional infrastructure (Novaya Gazeta, April 27). Indeed, at the present level of petro-revenues and considering the level of corruption inherent to Putin's system of governance, Russia cannot afford such mega-projects-nor can it succeed in advancing the state-centric program for developing the Far East (Rbc.ru, April 27).

The Russian state is a poor manager of the depressed and heavily militarized economy of this region, and that makes Moscow-with its heavy reliance on military instruments of policy-a deficient actor in the multi-lateral political processes driving the Asia-Pacific. Putin poorly connects with the networks of regional leaders who put a high premium on economic growth. And his propensity for surprise moves in projecting power earns him little respect even in China because the resulting economic decline is too obvious. The paradox of Russia's "pivot" to the East is that it is both driven and enfeebled by the confrontation with the West since Moscow has to focus its attention and to concentrate the bulk of its dwindling resources on managing this confrontation. By annexing Crimea and making war in Donbas, Putin has established that Russia's future would be decided by the conflict with Ukraine-and there is no escape from this fateful geopolitical catastrophe.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Critics Question Decision of Georgian Minister of Defense to Abolish Conscription

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Giorgi Menabde Publication Date 29 April 2016 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Critics Question Decision of Georgian Minister of Defense to Abolish Conscription , 29 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573572bc4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Georgia's Minister of Defense Tinatin Khidasheli stated, on April 20, that she was prepared to end conscript service and fully transition the country's army to a professional military force. "The defense ministry of Georgia has already made this decision, and legislative support is required. We will remove the conscription system starting in 2017. Naturally, this does not signify the process will be over in 2017. Our mission is to start establishing the voluntary military service system in 2017, and this system works in many NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] member countries," the defense ministry head stated (Cbw.ge, April 20).

Khidasheli is considered one of the most pro-Western politicians in Georgia. She is also this South Caucasus country's first female minister of defense. Khidasheli has built a reputation for herself as a proponent of the greatest possible integration of Georgia into NATO. She backs deep reforms in the armed forces to make them more compatible with Euro-Atlantic standards (see EDM, March 11).

Minister Khidasheli is convinced that reforms in the Georgian military will bring Tbilisi closer to NATO, thus making the country's integration into the Euro-Atlantic security system more realistic. It is not an accident that she made her announcement about the professionalization of the army in the run up to the next NATO summit, which is scheduled to take place in Warsaw, in July. In Warsaw, Georgia may receive a new status-an associated partner of NATO, which some are interpreting as an intermediate step on the way to receiving a Membership Action Plan (MAP) from the Alliance (Kommersant, April 17).

A number of Georgian experts consider the transition to a fully professional army to be an important step toward reforming the Armed Forces and the final departure from their "Soviet legacy." However, Vakhtang Maisaya, a doctor of Military Sciences, says that Minister Khidasheli is not the sole author of this idea. "The transition to a professional army was actively discussed several years ago. As of today, the Georgian army is already predominantly professional. About 90 percent of the armed forces are contracted individuals. Conscripts make up 10 percent of the total, but they do not engage in combat operations," Maisaya said. According to the expert, the majority of conscripts do not serve in the army but in "specialized armed structures," such as the State Protection Service, State Security Service, Penitentiary System, and so on. Conscripts are practically absent from the army and its combat units (Author's interview, April 22).

Defense Minister Khidasheli intends to increase Georgia's credentials in the West by showing her country is prepared to reject its Soviet-era conscript system in order to reach higher compatibility with NATO standards. Conscript service, however, persists in many Alliance member states, even though "such influential NATO countries as the United States, the United Kingdom and some others" have moved to all-professional forces. "Abolishing military conscript service will become an important progressive step that will signal the quick development of our country," Maisaya argued (Author's interview, April 22).

According to Maisaya, forming robust military reserve forces after the military draft is abolished will be the most important and challenging step in the army reform. "Currently, the main objective should be to make use of the reserves and work out mobilization plans that signal the defensive strength of the country. The government has worked out the concept, and it fully corresponds with NATO standards," the expert asserted (Author's interview, April 22).

It is noteworthy that in the same statement about the transition to a fully professional army, Defense Minister Khidasheli introduced the "Armed Forces Mobilization and Reserve Concept Project." "We are talking about three main directions-army reserve, professional reserve and territorial reserve. We sent the initial draft version to NATO experts. The mid-term version, elaborated as a result of public discussions, and the corrected version will be introduced to them during the Georgian Defense and Security Conference that will be held in Tbilisi, on May 24-25. By that time, we will have the final and collated version, and we plan to submit it to the parliament of Georgia in June and then publish the document" Khidasheli said. According to the minister, "An effective and accessible mobilization and reserve system is very important for the effective functioning of the defense system" (Newsday.ge, April 20).

The editor-in-chief of the military-analytical journal Arsenali, Irakly Aladashvili, thinks that the transition to an all-volunteer army is quite risky and challenging from a financial standpoint. Abolishing the conscript service means losing personnel that provide auxiliary services in the army for free. "Currently, conscripts carry out many duties in the army, including logistics, service, guarding objects, etc. If the mandatory conscript service is abolished, the government will have to hire people to carry out the same duties but for material compensation, and that will become a heavy burden for the military budget. As far as I know, the budget for this year does not envisage such expenses" Aladashvili said (Author's interview, April 22).

Furthermore, he noted that the Ministry of Interior and some other government agencies disagree with Khidasheli's initiative to abolish mandatory military conscription out of the concern that they would also have to transition to all professional servicemen. "Overall, in the Armed Forces [], conscripts make up no more than 10 percent of the personnel; but that 10 percent will have to be replaced with hired employees with minimal salaries of 1,000 Georgian lari [$440]," Mr. Aladashvili pointed out. Another serious risk is the "possible disconnect between society and the army, when the majority of citizens start to think that serving in the army concerns others but not them," the expert warned.

According to existing legislation, every male Georgian citizen who reaches 18 years of age must serve in the army for a minimum of 15 months. However, there is a system of deferments in place. A potential conscript may defer military service by 18 months if he pays 2,000 lari ($885), but he can do so only twice in the period between the ages of 18 and 27 (Ambioni, February 28, 2013). In 2015, the overall manpower in the Georgian military was 37,000 (Radiotavisupleba.ge, September 24, 2015).

Since conscripts only make up a tenth of the Georgian army, and since the abolishment of the draft is tied to multiple financial challenges, the Ministry of Defense's initiative is little more than a political move. But this move is designed to signal to Georgia's allies the country's high resolve for further Euro-Atlantic integration.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Islamic State Continues to Gain Influence in Southern Russia

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Mairbek Vatchagaev Publication Date 29 April 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 84 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Islamic State Continues to Gain Influence in Southern Russia, 29 April 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 84, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573573194.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Link to original story on Jamestown website

Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a mountainous republic in the northwestern Caucasus, has long been out of the news when it comes to attacks by the armed Islamist underground movement against government forces. Russia's security services effectively destroyed the Karachay jamaat in 2005-2007 (Agentura.ru, 2007). The Karachay jamaat has since been unable to resume operations, even though the Karachay jamaat was the first in the post-Soviet space at the start of the 1990s. The remaining forces of the jamaat joined the Kabardino-Balkarian jamaat at the time of the Caucasus Emirate, and the unified organization was called the Velayat of Kabarda, Balkaria, and Karachay (Kavkazcenter.com, May 11, 2009).

News of possible insurgent activities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia unexpectedly started to emerge at the end of 2015. A group of young people announced through social networks that they had taken an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The statement was spread via the WhatsApp application, which is intensely monitored by the Russian security services for the purposes of locating all suspicious individuals. According to Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky, at the end of December, the authorities launched a criminal investigation into the militants of Karachaevo-Cherkessia who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. He said the investigation was being conducted in accordance with Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code, covering terrorist activities. The authorities are investigating ten individuals in connection to the case. Thus, while experts and analysts consider Karachaevo-Cherkessia free of militants, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Interior have quietly worked to neutralize a group that declared itself part of the international jihad. Przhezdomsky said that "those people gathered together in some place, video-recorded their fealty to ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-since renamed the Islamic State, IS] and sent it via WhatsApp to Syria. In their message, they said they were prepared to fight a 'holy war.' " The NAK spokesman said that the Karachaevo-Cherkessian Islamists managed to establish contact with one of the leaders of the Islamic State and received instructions about preparing terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation (Uinp.info, January 29). Government forces killed three militants and detained six more during a special operation (Rosbalt.ru, December 24, 2015).

Is it possible that the emergence of the group is an isolated case in the republic? That is unlikely, because an ethnic Karachay, Abu Jihad (Islam Atabiev), serves as the "right-hand" to the most notorious leader of the Islamic State from the Caucasus region, Umar al-Shishani (Tarkhan Batirashvili). Abu Jihad, 33, comes from the village of Ust-Jeguta, in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and has been on the United Nations Security Council's list of the most wanted members of the IS in Syria since October 2, 2015. The fact that someone of Karachay origin has such a high rank within the IS would sooner or later have prompted some Karachays to try to contact him. In recent months, there have been regular reports of various individuals in Karachaevo-Cherkessia being detained or arrested for expressing sympathies for the Islamic State or attempting to join the group. In 2015, the authorities launched a criminal investigation against two locals in Karachaevo-Cherkessia for making public calls in the media to carry out terrorist attacks. The authorities also accused 31-year-old Mussa Shardan and 25-year-old Rustam Suyunchev of calling to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. In November 2015, Shardan and Suyunchev, using the pseudonym Amr Amri, published a video titled "The IS Threatens Putin." The authorities said that the two men called for terrorist and extremist activities, and justified terrorism (Ekhokavkaza.com, April 15).

In March 2016, the North Caucasian District Military Court sentenced a resident of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Temirzhan Eslimesov, to two and a half years in prison for involvement in a terrorist organization. The court determined that Eslimesov flew from Mineralnye Vody airport in Stavropol region to Turkey with the intention of traveling on to Syria, for training by the militants there in the use of weapons, military tactics, sabotage and terrorist methods. Eslimesov then planned to engage in armed actions against the Syrian Arab Republic within the Caucasus Emirate international terrorist organization. However, for reasons beyond his control, the aspiring militant's plans failed, as he was arrested by the Turkish authorities and handed over to the Russian security services (Regnum, April 19).

The desire to participate in the jihad in Syria has also spread to women in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. Several nurses from the republic flew from Stavropol, Krasnodar and Makhachkala to become members of the Islamic State. According to a North Caucasian website, these four females work at a hospital in Syria, where they helped wounded IS militants. The Russian Investigative Committee's branch in Karachaevo-Cherkessia launched a criminal investigation against the four nurses who allegedly help the IS-23-year-old Dana M., 27-year-old Alina Ch. and two sisters, 25-year-old Madina B. and 26-year-old Marina B. The authorities said they determined that the four suspects repeatedly flew from Stavropol, Makhachkala, and Krasnodar to Istanbul and back in 2014 and 2015. In Turkey, locals helped them to cross the border into Syria and reach Al-Raqqa. The authorities assert that the four suspected females share an extremist religious ideology and voluntarily joined the Islamic State's affiliate organization, the Abu Hanif jamaat (Donday.ru, April 4).

The publicly exposed ties of the Karachaevo-Cherkessian radicals to the Islamic State are only part of the actual magnitude of such ties. The real situation is probably much worse because Karachaevo-Cherkessian officials try to hide such incidents in order to avoid scaring off tourists from the republic, give that tourism is one of Karachaevo-Cherkessia's major sources of revenue. The situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia indicates that southern Russia is becoming increasingly radical, as the ideology of the Islamic State spreads.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
How Islamic State Gained Ground in India Using Indigenous Militant Networks

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Animesh Roul Publication Date 29 April 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, How Islamic State Gained Ground in India Using Indigenous Militant Networks, 29 April 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573573764.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Link to original story on Jamestown website

A series of arrests this year in India has highlighted how India has been unable to escape its overtures as Islamic State (IS) continues its attempts to expand its geographical and online reach beyond Iraq and Syria.

While IS propaganda has so far struck a chord with only a small number of India's Muslims, reports have emerged that the group's jihadist ideals spread via web forums and social media have inspired many individuals formerly affiliated with indigenous militant formations such as the Indian Mujahideen and the Student Islamic Movement of India.

Following sporadic incidents over the last couple of years-such as the appearance of IS graffiti and the group's black flag in Kashmir and Tamil Nadu, and even reports of masked men dressed in fatigues bearing IS insignia-India seems to be waking up to the reality that IS has made both a real and virtual footprint in the country (Daily Excelsior, June 18, 2015; The Hindu, August 7, 2014).

Radicalization

The call of IS has not only resonated with South Asia's myriad militant groups, but has also reached new individuals, galvanizing support and fomenting radicalization through effective use of social media such as Twitter and Facebook. The oft repeated exhortations of IS are based on the supposition that all "true Muslims" should be part of its brand of jihad and serve the Caliphate. This has resonated relatively well across South Asia, including India with its 170 million-strong Muslim population.

IS began its efforts to infiltrate India with the aim of acquiring resources and manpower. Several Muslim youths from India have reportedly traveled to fight under the IS banner in Iraq and Syria since June 2014. The official "guestimate" suggests that so far, over 25 young people of Indian origin have joined and fought alongside IS forces in Syria. Of those, seven fighters have been killed and a number of others have returned home and undergone rehabilitation (The Hindu, December 27, 2015). Overall, the statistics suggest a relatively poor performance by IS in India, but the interdiction of many young IS aspirants at the exit points of the country and the unearthing of the IS-inspired extremist network the Junud-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind (JKH, or Soldiers of the Caliph in India) in late January 2016 demand serious attention (DNA India, January 27).

India's National Investigating Agency (NIA) and Maharashtra State police, along with other domestic intelligence agencies, made a total of 14 arrests of JKH members in the final week of January 2016 (Asian Age, January 24). Among those arrested were Muddabir Mushtaq Sheikh (alias Abu Musab), the apparent leader of IS in India. He was apprehended in Thane in Maharashtra, while four followers were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh's Haridwar locality. The rest were apprehended from different parts of the country as a result of a nationwide search and sweep operation covering at least five states: Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh. Muddabir's arrest brought IS and its systematic online recruitment drive in India into the limelight. As a result, it emerged that JKH was planning to carry out terror strikes at installations in major cities across India as part of an IS network, although the alleged plot appears to have only been in its early stages.

Army of the Caliph

The remnants of the indigenous Indian Mujahideen, which is now in disarray, have developed linkages with the IS leadership in Syria and Iraq. This can be seen in the establishment of Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT), an India-centric militant group based on the Afghanistan and Pakistan borders. Shafi Armar, a former Indian Mujahideen militant and one of the founders of AuT, along with his elder brother, Sultan Armar, were the first to pledge support to IS. By joining with IS and pledging bayat to its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they hoped to unite IM and sympathizers of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The Armar brothers fled to Pakistan to set up AuT in the wake of the countrywide crackdown on the IM network in 2008. Via its media arm called al-Isabah Media, AuT has focused on recruiting Indian-origin fugitives in Pakistan to participate in fighting in both Syria and Afghanistan.

Sultan Armar died in March 2015 on the Syrian battlefields fighting alongside IS forces Indian Express, March 20, 2015). When his elder brother was killed in Kobani, Syria, Shafi Armar took the reins of the AuT and al-Isabah Media, with the intention of expanding the group's network inside India. He pumped money and online resources into recruiting operatives to form JKH, using internet chartrooms and messaging applications such as Trillian and Facebook to recruit mostly former IM cadres and members of SIMI. Before forming JKH, Safi Armar had attempted to raise another IS-linked unit. Known as the "Ratlam Module," it was led by an individual named Imran Khan Muhammad Sharif and four others in Madhya Pradesh, but all of its members were arrested in April 2015 (The Pioneer, May 7, 2015).

Shafi Armar is believed to have died in a U.S.-led drone strike against IS forces in Syria in late April 2016 (The Hindu, April 25).

Use of Online Resources

JKH's use of the internet was significant. Following the NIA-led raids in January, the intelligence agency confirmed that those arrested were connected online, and that their online involvement had led subsequently to physical meetings at different locations in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Tumkur, Saharanpur, Lucknow, and Pune. Nafees Khan of Hyderabad and Rizwan of Uttar Pradesh were recruited via Facebook and accessed bomb-making knowhow from publishing platforms like "justpaste.it" (The Quint, January 29). From the social media accounts of Obeidullah Khan of Hyderabad, investigating agencies found IS videos and images that were frequently shared by him with his followers. It is also clear the group's members used the internet to connect with Shafi Armar who was based in Syria at the time.

The last secret meeting of JKH, according to the NIA investigation, was held sometime in the first week of January. The arrested men were instructed not only to plan terror attacks in India, but also to recruit and strengthen the group's cadre base. Under the guidance of Shafi Armar in Syria and Mudabbir in India, JKH's objectives were to carry out attacks with the intention of establishing the rule of sharia in India and encouraging submission to the Islamic Caliphate. In addition, JKH has been working to spread IS propaganda and recruit young Indians to travel to Iraq and Syria (Indian Express, February 8; Economic Times, February 9).

While Mudabbir served as the chief of the JKH in India, he identified Rizwan Ahmed Ali (Khalid) of Uttar Pradesh as the group's deputy chief. Meanwhile, Najmal Huda, originally of Uttar Pradesh and later resettling in Karnataka (Mangalore), was identified as the military commander of the JKH. He acted as a recruiter for aspirant youths, communicating to them the activities and ideology of the IS. The Hyderabad-based Nafees Khan (also known as Abu Zarrar), originally from Mumbai, has been identified as JKH's logistics and finance chief (Economic Times, February 10).

Mudabbir and his lieutenants had amassed nearly INR 10 lakhs (approximately $15,000) in different banks. He received nearly INR 6.50 lakh ($9,000) through the hawala informal banking channels from Shafi Armar or Yousuf Al Hindi. Substantial amounts of those sums were distributed among the members of the group for planning and logistics purposes (Economic Times, February 9). Another concerning development was that the JKH leadership was planning to set up a central media wing with subsidiary units in almost all of India's major cities, including the capital of New Delhi and the financial capital of Mumbai.

JKH also made use of the teaching and sermons of senior Islamic scholars like Mufti Abdus Sami Qasmi, a resident of Delhi and an alumnus of the infamous Darul Uloom Deoband Islamic institution in Uattar Pradesh. As a preacher of the IS ideals, Qasmi often gave incendiary, anti-India sermons and lectures on Islamic affairs at madrasas across India (Indian Express, February 7). In addition, the group also engaged Mohammed Abdul Ahad (also known as Bada Ameer), a U.S.-educated computer professional who was deported from Turkey, along with his family; Turkish officials arrested them as they attempted to travel to Syria in January 2015. Ahad reportedly helped the group by sharing his knowledge of Syrian terrain and IS ideology (The Hindu, January 25).

The discovery of JKH and the arrests of its members in January have brought to light the threat of IS-inspired extremism in India. While the bulk of the Indian Muslim population has rejected the group's ideals, a small number of extremists were able to organize themselves to a worrying degree simply by using the internet and social media to tap into existing indigenous militant networks. Despite cracking down successfully on the Indian Mujahideen in 2008, the Indian authorities cannot afford to be complacent.

Animesh Roul is the Executive Director of Research at the New Delhi-based Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict (SSPC).

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Iraq's Shia Militias: Helping or Hindering the Fight Against Islamic State?

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Zana K. Gulmohamad Publication Date 29 April 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Iraq's Shia Militias: Helping or Hindering the Fight Against Islamic State?, 29 April 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573573f74.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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The rise of Islamic State in Iraq has contributed to the increasing prominence of Iraq's Shia militias. However, while the militias are united in their desire to defeat IS, there are nonetheless clear divisions among them arising from narrow self-interest, differing ideologies and political loyalties, and Iranian interference. There is additional competition between some militias over aid and salaries (al-Monitor, September 8, 2015).

The al-Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group for majority Iraqi Shia militias, was established in June 2014 in response to the IS seizure of nearly one-third of Iraq. PMF forces successfully defended the Karbala and Najaf governorates in southern Iraq from the advance of IS forces. The PMF spearheaded the military campaign alongside the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) in the Baghdad belt, Salah al-Din, and Diyala governorates. Compared to the less effective ISF, the PMF have been both active and eager in the fight against IS, due in part to their ideal of Shia jihad in a conflict between two rival religious doctrines.

In February, in a move to tighten control over the disparate groups that make up the PMF, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi installed Muhsan al-Kaabi, a former senior Iraqi army officer, as his administrative deputy to the PMF. Al-Kaabi's appointment was intended to limit the PMF deputy chairman, the pro-Iranian Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (Iraqi News Network, March 3). Efforts at reform, however, have a long way to go.

Establishment of the PMF

The PMF was created on the order of Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq's then-Prime Minister, in 2014 with the unanimous backing of the Council of Ministers. Recruitment was aided substantially by a historic fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest marja ("Source of Emulation") of the Shias, which called on "all able-bodied Iraqis" to defend their country (Terrorism Monitor, April 17, 2015). The number of active PMF members is unclear, but unofficial estimates range from 80,000 to 120,000 (The World Weekly, February 26, 2015; al-Hashd al-Shaabi, August 3, 2015).

The group falls under the authority of the prime minister, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the defense ministry. Its supporters have been lobbying for the group to gain full legal status as part of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) (al-Mada, February 25). While the Iraqi Council of Representatives (ICR) has approved and allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to the PMF from the 2015 and 2016 budgets (Rudaw, January 6), however, debate continues among Iraqi officials over what its exact legal framework should be (al-Jazeera, March 10, 2015).

Categorizing the Militias

The militias can be divided into three major unofficial blocs, based on similar objectives rather than formal alliances, with a fourth constituting affiliated non-Shia militias that include Sunnis, Yazidis, Christians, and other minorities (Niqash, June 20, 2015; al-Bayan, July 7, 2015).

The first and most influential bloc is the pro-Iranian militias, established by the Iranian regime. Of these, the Badr Organization, headed by Hadi al-Amiri, is the largest and best equipped, manned by approximately 20,000 fighters (al-Jazeera, June 10, 2014). Others include Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), Kataib Hezbollah (KH), Saraya al-Khorasani, and Harakat al-Nujaba, that follow the Iranian supreme leader's doctrine, wilayat al-faqih, and have political aspirations.

They have also been the most effective against IS, with the Badr Organization dominating Diyala governorate (Hatha al-Youm, May 25, 2015). They have access to rockets, heavy weaponry, and intelligence both from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Iraqi government, as well as benefitting from the expertise of Iranian military advisors (Kitabat, March 5, 2015; Fars News Agency, July 17, 2015).

The second bloc are the pro-Sistani militias, the Hashd al-Sistani, made up of the Liwa Ali al-Akbar, Furqat Imam Ali al-Qitaliyah, and Furqat al-Abbas al-Qitaliyah (Shabakat Imam Ali, May 18, 2015; Imam Hussain, January 3, 2015; Imam Hussain, November 1, 2014; al-Kafeel, March 1). They are close to Prime Minister Abadi and have gradually increased to approximately 20,000 fighters, though they have the potential to reach 50,000 (al-Jazeera, June 10, 2014).

Their recruits are largely volunteers who signed up in response to Sistani's fatwa and most have no political ambitions. They are backed by pro-Sistani institutions or Shrine Foundations such as Ataba Al-Abbasya, Ataba al-Alawyyia al-Muqadasa, and Ataba Al-Hussaniya al-Muqadasa (al-Sumaria, September 26, 2015; Wakalat al-Nnabaa, February 5). They are fewer in number than their pro-Iranian counterparts, but have the support of the Iraqi defense ministry and increasingly fall under the ISF's command (al-Jazeera, February 26).

Furqat al-Abbas al-Qitaliyah and Liwa Ali al-Akbar have a relatively high percentage of Sunni fighters among their number; in Liwa Ali al-Akbar's case, the number is as high as 16% (Middle East Eye, December 1, 2015).

The third bloc is made up of loyalists of Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and militias supporting the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), led by Ammar al-Hakim. These are two powerful Shia political factions with complex links to Iran. Despite their rivalries, they are categorized together due to their loose adherence to the federal government in Baghdad. Such pro-Hakim militias include Saraya Ansar al-Aqeeda, Liwa al-Muntathar and Saraya Ashura, while the main pro-al-Sadr militia is Saraya al-Salam (Saraiaalaqeda, March 1; al-Hurrya, March 14, 2015). The leaders of both factions have said their forces will follow the ISF's instructions in the battle against IS (al-Hayat, March 30, 2015).

The Shia militias are disorganized and undisciplined, however, as well as prone to confrontation with each other and occasionally the Iraqi government. There were clashes between Saraya al-Salam and AAH in Baghdad in 2015 and in al-Muqdadia in 2016 (Sqqur al-Arab, February 6; Baghdad Center Human Rights, 2015), while Saraya al-Khorasani has clashed with police in Balad in Diyala (Baghdad Center Human Rights, April 3, 2015). AAH's leader Qais Khazali denounced Iraq's parliamentary political system, calling for a presidential system to be put in place instead (The New Arab, August 17, 2015). Khazali's demands should be interpreted in light of his support of al-Maliki.

Further, when Operation Conquest "Fatah," the preparatory Mosul operation intended to liberate the areas surrounding the city, was launched on March 24, it coincided with some of the PMF militias-notably those with strong ties to Iran and Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr-rejecting the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition in Iraq (Iraq Krama, March 18; al-Mustaqbal news, March 26).

Consequences for the Fight Against IS

The political divisions between the Shia militias have had significant consequences in regard to their effectiveness on the ground and their coordination with other anti-IS forces, particularly with the U.S.-led coalition.

When the Iraqi government operation in Tikrit launched on March 1, 2015, headed by Iran's Qud's Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, faced a stalemate, Abadi ordered the militias to pull back to pave the way for US air strikes. However, the pro-Iran militias who were leading the fighting refused, angry at U.S. involvement (Fars News Agency, March 11, 2015; al-Etejah TV, March 29, 2015). The pro-Iranian militias then announced their withdrawal from the battlefield, leaving the pro-Sistani and al-Sadr militias to back the ISF and continue the operation. This marked the first apparent split on the battlefield between the prime minister's allies and the pro-Iranian militias (al-Araby al-Jadeed, March 28, 2015; al-Jazeera, March 30, 2015).

Then, once Tikrit was liberated on March 31, the pro-Iranian militias returned to carry out revenge attacks and have subsequently been accused of human rights violations (Human Rights Watch, September 20, 2015). Pro-Iranian militias in Amerili in Salah al-Din governorate and in Jurf al-Sakhaer (southwest of Baghdad) have faced similar accusations (Alalam, October 26, 2014; Herak, December 17, 2014).

Pro-Iranian militias were sidelined during the operation to free Ramadi, which fell to IS in May 2015, because the central government wanted to tread delicately in Sunni tribal areas. The city's liberation in December that year represented a success for the ISF, particularly the counter terrorism forces of the elite al-Firqah al-Dhahabiya, or "Golden Division," and hundreds of local Sunni tribes. But smaller groups of pro-Iranian militias tacitly infiltrated the Ramadi operation to avoid being marginalized in the operation (Sky News Arabia, September 23, 2015; Rudaw, December 29, 2015).

The buildup to operations in Mosul was beset by a heated political dispute over the PMF's proposed involvement. While the PMF insisted on being part of the Mosul operation, many Iraqi Sunni politicians-among them a Sunni bloc in the ICR known as Tahaluf al-Quaa and council members from Ninewa province (of which Mosul is the capital)-refused to agree to it (Iraq Network, February 20).

Instead, the Sunnis supported the participation of Arab Sunni tribes (Hashd al-Watani and Hashd al-Ashaari) and the ISF (al-Hayat, February 21; Donia al-Watan, March 21). They joined the ISF, Peshmerga, and local Sunni fighters, along with U.S. advisors and marines based at Fire Base Bell in Makhmour in the vicinity of Mosul (Rudaw, March 8; Kurdistan 24, March 9). It is still possible Shia militias will join the operation or smaller units may participate covertly in order to fight IS (Nahrain Net, March 21).

Looking Forward

While Iraq's Shia community has praised the role of the PMF in defending Baghdad and liberating parts of the country from IS, the indiscipline and division between the various Shia militias will ultimately hamper Iraq's ability to effectively tackle IS and poses a risk to the country's future political stability.

Greater understanding between major anti-IS factions should be encouraged. Pro-Iranian and Muqtada-aligned militias should also be kept out of the Mosul operation and other military operations in non-Shia areas. Ultimately, all of the militias will need to be dismantled and integrate into the ISF.

Zana K. Gulmohamad is a PhD Candidate in Politics at the University of Sheffield where he is researching Iraq's politics, security and foreign relations.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Jahba East Africa: Islamic State Alters the Dynamic of Somalia's Conflict

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Sunguta West Publication Date 29 April 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Jahba East Africa: Islamic State Alters the Dynamic of Somalia's Conflict, 29 April 2016, Terrorism Monitor Volume: 14 Issue: 9, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573574534.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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With the emergence of a group in Somaliland calling itself Jahba East Africa, it appears Islamic State (IS) is becoming an independent entity in Somalia's insurgency. This development will likely complicate the conflict both for the African Union forces in the country and the indigenous al-Qaeda-linked Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahedeen, or al-Shabaab.

IS already had a presence in Somalia following a split within al-Shabaab itself, but the extremist group has slowly become more autonomous, supposedly carrying out its first attack in Somalia in April via an unnamed affiliate.

IS Makes Its Entrance

In April, an unnamed pro-IS group claimed responsibility for an attack on troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The group claimed to have detonated an improvised Explosive Device (IED) on the outskirts of the capital, damaging an AMISOM vehicle. Although both AMISOM and Somali government officials have acknowledged the attack, they have refused to accept that IS was behind it (Horseed Media, April 26, 2016).

This is the first time a pro-IS group has made an official claim of an attack in Somalia, a country dominated by al-Shabaab. For many, the incident is a confirmation of the emergence of IS in Somalia and underlines a change in the fortunes of al-Shabaab, which- although controlling large swaths of southern Somalia-has been weakened by AMISOM's superior firepower.

The supposed pro-IS attack in Mogadishu comes at a critical juncture for al-Shabaab. The group has been in seeming retreat recently, abandoning strategic territory it has held since 2006 when it swept largely unchecked across southern Somalia while promoting its radical form of sharia. While it has suffered major setbacks, al-Shabaab remains a deadly force, continuing to carry out strikes on targets in Somalia and neighboring Kenya. It is now also proving itself willing to combat IS.

Al-Shabaab Hits Back

In recent years, al-Shabaab has proven to be a resilient force with the ability to mount devastating attacks against better armed forces, often inflicting heavy casualties. In January, its fighters overran a Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) camp in El Adde in southern Somalia. There has been no official confirmation of the number of Kenyan troops killed in the attack, but it is thought to be high-possibly as many as 200-although Kenya has denied that figure (Kenya Daily Post, January 26, 2016).

Al-Shabaab is now attempting to ease the pressure in central and southern Somalia by moving further north into the semi-autonomous states of Gulmudung and Puntland, as these areas are presently outside of AMISOM's zone of operations. Reports indicate that the militants have been planning attacks in Puntland, using fishing boats to move arms and ammunition up the coast (Wardheer News, March 21, 2016). In March, senior al-Shabaab leaders were reported to be delivering fiery sermons from the coastal village of Garmaal after secretly entering Garacad, a historical fishing town in Puntland State (Garowe Online March 15, 2016). Garmaal residents identified senior al-Shabaab leader Saacid (Mahan) Karate, who reportedly urged them to cooperate with the militants because they were promoting the Islamic faith. The fighters hoisted their flag in the village, but later retreated.

Al-Shabaab has staged other similar temporary takeovers of a number of villages; the moves have led to a new and unprecedented security challenge for Puntland President Abdihakin Abdullahi Haji (Garowe Online, March 15, 2016).

Internal Divisions

Al-Shabaab has encountered some resistance to its northern push. In late March, fierce fighting in Gulmudung left at least 115 al-Shabaab fighters dead, with more than 100 others captured by the state's security forces (Ethiopian News Agency, March 28, 2016). The more significant challenge to al-Shabaab's operations, however, comes not from external resistance or even from AMISOM forces and the Somali national army (SNA), but from the emergence of IS in Somalia, which has forced a split, thereby weakening the group.

In November 2015, there were clashes between the two factions after al-Shabaab attacked bases belonging to its pro-IS faction. Then in December came the first reports of a clash between the two factions in the remote region of Bari, in semi-autonomous Puntland State (Horseed Media, December 24, 2015). The clashes have made it difficult for Sheikh Ahmad Umar (alias Abu Ubaidah), the al-Shabaab leader since the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdi Godane, to keep the group united.

Godane was killed in a US airstrike in August 2014 (Daily Nation, September 5, 2014). When Umar took control of al-Shabaab, he pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Now threatened by a major split in the group, Umar has allegedly detained, tortured, and even killed those attempting to abandon their allegiance to al-Qaeda in favor of IS (Intelligence Brief, November 2015; The Star, April 28). It would appear, however, that such actions have only helped boost IS recruitment.

Indeed, the emergence in April of Jahba East Africa-which pledged its allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi-is a significant indication that IS is becoming an independent entity in Somalia (Shabelle News, April 9, 2016). Jabha's strength and military capabilities are still unknown, but an official indicated that the group had militants from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania among its ranks (Horn Affairs English, April 17, 2016). The group is believed to be headed by former high-ranking al-Shabaab military and spiritual leaders, who pledged allegiance to IS in October 2015 (Citizen TV, October 25, 2015). A key actor among them is Abdulkadir Munin, who once lived in London but moved to Puntland in 2010 to join al-Shabaab. When he announced his allegiance last year, Munin, a charismatic preacher, had a following of about 100 fighters (Radio Dalsan, October 23, 2015).

Changing Conflict Dynamics

From the outset, Jahba has criticized al-Shabaab over what it describes as a failure to fully appreciate the ideal of the Caliphate. According to Jahba leadership, al-Shabaab has become a physical and psychological prison from which all Somalis should free themselves (Tuko, April 7; Twitter, April 9).

Reeling from recent successful operations by AMISOM and the SNA, al-Shabaab appears to feel the pressure from the emerging IS presence in the region, a threat it appears unable to contain. With the establishment of Jahba East Africa and the growing divisions within al-Shabaab, Somalia's insurgency risks becoming a three-way conflict between al-Qaeda loyalists, fighters linked to IS, and the 22,000-strong AMISOM force that continues to try to bring a decisive end to the conflict.

Sunguta West is an independent journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Belarus Reforms Its Elections and Commemorates Chernobyl

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Grigory Ioffe Publication Date 6 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Belarus Reforms Its Elections and Commemorates Chernobyl, 6 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735750f4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Western organizations tend to use a single set of criteria to evaluate the electoral processes and the sundry aspects of the democracy and human rights situations in various non-Western countries. Many consumers of those ratings give no second thought to this practice, implicitly believing that everybody should be like "us." Some, however, like Stephen White of the University of Glasgow, label this point of view "values imperialism" (Vestnik-MGIMO, 2014). Whereas, those subjected to a one-size-fits-all evaluations scheme tend to grumble against it but, at times, grudgingly follow the evaluators' suggestions. These non-Western governments often do so out of a desire to curry favor with international investors and lenders, not because there is a domestic call for change. Arguably, such is the case of Belarus, whose Central Electoral Commission (CEC) recently agreed to introduce more transparency into the electoral process following recommendations from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), issued after the 2015 presidential elections.

The new ruling will specifically introduce local electoral commissions in Belarus, in time for the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for September 11. Though any electoral reforms requiring a change in the legal code will be put off until after that date. The local commissions will be staffed on the basis of open discussions rather than top-down appointments. Also, decisions regarding arguments about local elections will be published online. Finally, the international observers will be able to closely monitor the process of ballot counting (Tut.by, April 27).

Two sets of observations confirm that calls for those electoral changes were almost certainly not solicited from within Belarus. First, according to a March 2016 national survey conducted by the Institute for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (IISEPS)-the most reputable domestic polling firm, which uses Western funds-public support for the pro-European democratic opposition is at an all-time low. And these low ratings come amidst a steep economic decline in Belarus-that is, when ascribing political blame on the government for the population's everyday hardships should be easier than ever. However, only 11.3 percent of Belarusians trust the opposition; in December 2012, 20 percent did, and in March 2015-18.8 percent. The opposition is pervaded by internecine fights. The 2010 presidential hopefuls Vladimir Neklyaev and Nikolay Statkevich tour the country, appealing to local opposition activists to collectively conduct the so-called Belarusian National Congress. But the largest members of the opposition, like the United Civic Party and the Movement for Liberty, do not support the idea (Naviny.by, April 28).

Second, the pro-government side itself also does not appear ready to take part in a competitive electoral process. Notably, the pro-regime Belaya (White) Rus movement, headed by the former deputy chair of the presidential administration Alexander Radkov, currently controls 67 out of 110 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament. But the fact that these 67 members of parliament (MP) represent this common affiliation is largely unknown since those MPs do not form a single parliamentary fraction and Belaya Rus is not registered as a political party. Presenting the proposed electoral process changes before activists of Belaya Rus, CEC chairperson Lydia Ermoshina, who had until recently been under European Union sanctions, sounded like a cheerleader for liberal reform. She admitted that candidates running for seats in parliament rarely engage in public debates-during the last campaign, only 7 percent of the candidates did-and they do not publish their programs in the media. In Grodno Oblast, for example, not a single pre-election debate took place, and in half of all precincts, MP candidates ran unopposed. "These are not elections, these are appointments," Ermoshina admonished the members of Belaya Rus. "Do not simplify your life by such elections! The voters ought to see the electoral process There should be no spots banned for canvassing. The more bans, the more violations. There should be abundant places for electoral meetings The passive conduct of the previous parliamentary elections was a disgrace," she declared (Tut.by, April 20).

A bit more grassroots activism was expected from the Chernobyl March, an opposition-led rally that occurs annually, on April 26, in commemoration of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which heavily affected Belarus. Seventy percent of the radionuclides discharged by the failed nuclear reactor were deposited in Belarus; the fallout contaminated 20 percent of its agricultural lands and 25 percent of its forests. More than two million people, who lived in 3,600 census-designated places, including 27 cities and towns, found themselves on land irradiated by more than 5 curies per square kilometer; this area exceeded its counterpart in Ukraine, where the reactor was located, by a factor of 4.8 (Imhoclub.by, April 26). This year, however, only about 1,000 people joined the Chernobyl March, whose major theme was to protest the ongoing construction of the nuclear plant in Ostrovets, in northern Belarus. The expected activism did not quite materialize (RFI, April 27).

Although some consider Chernobyl the utmost mobilizing event that precipitated national consolidation in Belarus, apparently that consolidation is still far from extensive. As Dmitry Trenin, who heads the Moscow Carnegie Center, wrote in regard to Belarus's eastern neighbor, "Russia has a population but no nation, as a nation rests on a feeling of solidarity and on a readiness for horizontal cooperation. Russia has nothing of the kind, and it does not have a full-fledged elite either that would be preoccupied with state interests" (Lenta.ru, April 22). "[S]ome important substantive generalizations about the Russian society retain validity when it comes to Belarus" (Grigory Ioffe, Reassessing Lukashenka: Belarus in Cultural and Geopolitical Context, 2014, p. 67), and Trenin's observation is no exception.

The US State Department has linked the cancelation of economic sanctions to how the upcoming parliamentary elections in Belarus will be conducted (Tut.by, April 30). Meanwhile, Freedom House (FH)'s latest score on freedom of the press in Belarus appears to be lower than that in Iran and Syria. Even the author of the Belarus section of the FH report has publicly criticized the organization's overly harsh scoring convention when it came to this Eastern European country (Tut.by, April 13). And some opposition-minded journalists reinforce this impression (Facebook.com/artyom.shraibman, April 27). The opinion that authoritarianism has somehow been deceitfully imposed on the allegedly benighted Belarusians, whom better-positioned and informed outsiders (i.e., Westerners) seek to enlighten and liberate, is deeply flawed. More willingness to understand the non-Western cultures and more cultural empathy would greatly benefit the evaluators. It is simply illogical and imprudent to crave Belarusian democracy more than Belarusians themselves do (see EDM, May 16, 2013).

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Russian Media Grossly Exaggerates Level of Support for Islamic State in Europe's Chechen Diaspora

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Mairbek Vatchagaev Publication Date 6 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Russian Media Grossly Exaggerates Level of Support for Islamic State in Europe's Chechen Diaspora, 6 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573575604.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Russian media coverage of the Islamic State (IS) continues to expand. Earlier, the Russian press primarily covered the Caucasus Emirate, Hizb ut-Tahrir and other Islamic movements. Now, all Islam-related themes are marked with the label "Islamic State."

No reliable data is available on how many Chechens have emigrated from Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union. Immigration services in Europe, the United States and Canada usually registered Chechens as refugees from the Russian Federation, without paying much attention to their ethnic identity. In any case, estimates suggest that more than 100,000 Chechens have left the country. Moscow is concerned about that and, from time to time, launches informational campaigns that portray the Chechen emigrants as troublemakers and terrorists, although that cannot be true by definition (Vesti.ru, April 28, 2013).

Russian media extensively and gloatingly wrote about an alleged Chechen terrorist cell that operated in France at the start of the 2000s. Investigators nicknamed the Islamist group the "Chechen" group because one of its 25 members attempted to find contacts among Chechens in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge, in 2000. Russian media outlets chose to ignore the absence of any actual ties between the Islamist group in France and Chechens, but continued to fuel discussion of a "Chechen network of terrorists." Moreover, the Russian press explicitly characterized the single suspect who attempted to find contacts among the Chechens in Pankisi into "a group of Islamists, who fought in Chechnya and Pankisi" (Lenta.ru, February 16, 2015).

Thus, the vast majority of Russian readers presumably did not know that there was not a single ethnic Chechen among the two dozen suspects arrested in France, or that the title assigned to the group was speculative and misleading. News reports about arrests of Chechens who supposedly financed terrorists by sending money via Western Union are also mostly propaganda rather than based in fact (Rbc.ru, January 20, 2015). The Chechens who sent money to Syria said that they were trying to help Syrian refugees, not the insurgents. However, in its coverage of the Chechens in France, the Russian media, as usual, left out such details.

In search of sensationalist stories, the Russian website Rukavkaz.ru, which specializes in news from the Russian North Caucasus, claimed that the French authorities had sentenced four Chechens for helping jihadists in Syria. Citing reputable foreign news agencies, the website reported that a French court had sentenced 20-year-old Khamzat Ilyasov to five years in prison for traveling to Syria, and 46-year-old Bai-Ali Makhauri to four years in prison for providing logistical, financial and other types of support to the militants. Also, two cousins who were involved in the group, both of them 27 years old, were each sentenced to two years in prison (Rukavkaz.ru, April 28).

The original news report on the sentencing of these four Chechens, however, dates back to April 2015, which could not have escaped the attention of the website that reported it again one year later. At the time, TASS and RIA Novosti extensively covered the incident in France (RIA Novosti, April 17, 2015). Thus, Russian media appear to be engaged in a sustained campaign to discredit Chechens who reside in Europe.

The Russian propaganda campaign claiming that European Chechens are flocking to the Islamic State had some factual basis until 2013, but that was no longer the case in 2015 and 2016. European Chechens' interest in the Islamic State disappeared as quickly as it appeared during the war in Syria in 2012-2013. The tough response of European authorities to people who traveled to the Middle East and returned with military experience and hatred for the rest of the society helped stem the process.

For example, in February, a Paris court heard the case of a Chechen who is living in France as a political refugee. Investigators said that the suspect spent several weeks in Turkey during the summer of 2015 and "may have visited" Syria. However, they did not have any actual proof and only suggested that the suspect may have gone to Syria while he was in Turkey. The court naturally did not accept such arguments and released the young man, who asserted that he had visited Istanbul with the intention of marrying an ethnic-Chechen woman he had met online.

Despite the seemingly unjustified actions of the police, there is also a positive side to its vigilance. Young people now realize they will not be able to go to the Middle East to fight and return to France without consequences. Out of the estimated 40,000 Chechens living in France, only seven have been imprisoned for supporting the Islamic State, and none of the latter visited Syria. According to the Chechen diaspora, two to four Chechens living in France may have gone to Syria, at least one of whom was killed back in 2013. Against the backdrop of the thousands of French citizens who have taken part in the Syrian conflict (RIA Novosti, December 23, 2015), the Chechen participation is quite insignificant.

Russian media sometimes spread reports about the arrest of Chechens in France, but they do not mention the cases when the French authorities release suspects or refuse to initiate criminal proceedings for lack of corpus delicti. Thus, the Russian audience receives the impression that France has no problems other than fighting Chechens. The Chechen diaspora quickly integrated into French society and has not been a problem, either for the authorities or society at large. The Russian propaganda machine should stop looking for enemies in places they do not exist.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Kudrin's Return to the Russian Government

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Vladislav Inozemtsev Publication Date 6 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Kudrin's Return to the Russian Government, 6 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 89, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573575c44.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Since 2011, when then-President Dmitry Medvedev fired his and (much more importantly) then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, Russian liberals have dreamed of his return to the government. Indeed, liberal groups in Russia believe that Kudrin, seen as an outspoken pro-market reformer, could effectively counter the siloviki (security services personnel) inside Putin's inner circle. After the Russian economy started to contract, back in 2014, and as the tensions between the country and the rest of the world increased, the idea became even more insistent and was continuously debated domestically (Vedomosti, December 29, 2015).

At the close of April 2016, Kudrin finally returned to the halls of power. First of all, he was promoted chairman of the Council of Trustees of the Center for Strategic Research, an expert institution famous for drafting Putin's presidential agenda in 2000. And almost immediately thereafter, he was named the deputy chief of the Economic Council under the President of Russia (Rbc.ru, April 30). This news resonated positively with the majority of Russian liberal economists, who have argued that this was the right move on the part of the Kremlin (Slon.ru, April 27). Yet, some have also pointed out that Kudrin's new powers only enable him to submit some reformist proposals to the government-not implement them. Therefore, these observers insist, Kudrin's new positions close to the Kremlin will not necessarily change Russia's economic policies (Obozrevatel.com, April 29). That may, indeed be true. But arguably, the likely failure to put in place future economic reforms will stem not so much from Kudrin's administrative inability to influence Putin, but rather because he has never actually attempted to play the role of a liberal reformer when he last served in government.

As is commonly known, Kudrin has, for years, been among Putin's closest allies. He became a deputy mayor of St. Petersburg in the 1990s, while Putin served as the first deputy chairman of the municipal government. And later he accompanied the future head of state to Moscow, after Anatoly Sobchak, St. Peterburg's mayor since 1991, was defeated in free and democratic elections, in 1996. Putin and Kudrin were supposedly not only friends, but also business partners-they were both accused of financial impropriety involving the construction company "Twentieth Trust," which officials suspected of siphoning money from the St. Petersburg city budget (Novayagazeta.ru, March 23, 2000). Immediately after Putin was elected president, Kudrin took the office of finance minister and was appointed to the position of first deputy prime minister.

Once in the government, Minister Kudrin worked on centralizing state finances. In 2000, federal budget receipts accounted for 51.5 percent of all the taxes and other incomes collected in the country, while 48.5 percent went to the regional and local budgets; but in 2012, that proportion rose to 69.5 versus 30.5 percent, respectively. Moreover, he succeeded in introducing a tax on the extraction of natural resources, which was predominantly aimed at squeezing "excessive" profits from the oil and gas industry. This policy, in particular, was a core factor in turning Russia into a "petro-state"-the share of this tax in federal budget receipts rose by 11.2 times between 2000 and 2012 (Gks.ru, accessed May 6). In addition, Kudrin initiated a special customs duty on exports of oil and gas. Consequently, the Russian budget now depends on custom duties to the same degree that the United States' federal budget was dependent on them back in 1876 (Richard Selcer, Civil War America: 1850 to 1875, 2006 p. 78).

In 2004, Kudrin established the so-called Stabilization Fund for accumulating money from oil and gas export receipts, in anticipation of "difficult times." This Fund, accounting for $156.8 billion in early 2008, was successfully used to counter the budget crisis of 2009, and is now being spent on covering the federal budget deficits. Having been split into the Reserve Fund and the National Wealth Fund in 2008, this pool of money has also been used to finance dozens of ineffective, state-owned banks and enterprises since 2014 (Rbc.ru, March 5, 2015). Taken together, these financial policies hardly resemble liberal economic theory. Rather, they highlight Kudrin's role, while in government, as Putin's exceptionally loyal and effective ally.

In recent years, Kudrin has positioned himself as the leader of the liberals, launching several public initiatives and persuading several Russian oligarchs to fund them. But his economic and political proposals look far from truly "liberal" when looked at more closely.

First, his idea to raise the retirement age for both Russian men and women (Interfax, April 26) suggests a particularly limited approach to economic reforms. Russia faces a distinct lack of labor resources. And active modernization of the economy arguably calls for raising Russia's labor productivity in order to decrease the need for larger numbers of new workers to support the growing cohort of retirees. Notably, Russia's overall labor productivity has, for years, stood at one third of the level in the US (Kommersant, August 31, 2015). But instead, Kudrin's focus on raising the retirement age is a clear message that there will be no real structural reforms applied to the Russian economy.

Second, Kudrin became famous last year for proposing that the next presidential elections be conducted in 2016 instead of 2018, as they are currently scheduled (Interfax, June 18, 2015). Such a change would also accomplish little besides securing Putin's reelection before the economic situation in the country deteriorates to a degree that might challenge his standing as a credible contender.

In conclusion, Alexei Kudrin's appointment likely does not signal any serious economic or political changes coming to Russia. Instead, the move apparently reflects the government's realization of the need to respond with smarter strategies to keep the current system intact. And if so, Kudrin will probably be able to help perpetuate the existing regime for years to come. After all, he not only facilitated Vladimir Putin's rise to the top of the power structure in Russia, but Kudrin also aided in securing his position there for so long. Once again, there may be no real good news for Russia's liberals coming from the latest personnel changes in Putin's inner circle.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Investigators at the Crimean branch of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have launched a criminal inquiry against Ilmi Umerov, deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars' Mejlis, which is banned in Russia, on suspicion of inciting violation of Russia's territorial integrity, Crimean Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya said.

"While in Ukraine in March 2016, Umerov spoke live on ATR television, where he publicly called for the need to violate Russia's territorial integrity. Subsequently, Umerov's speeches were put out on the Internet," Poklonskaya wrote on her Facebook page.

The inquiry was opened under Article 280.1 part two of the Russian Criminal Code, she added.

"Currently, Umerov is being questioned at the FSB department office," she said.

A source familiar with the situation told Interfax that Umerov was released on travel restrictions, and investigators are going to search his house. This information was also confirmed by Mejlis members.

"The FSB investigator has given Ilmi Umerov a statement not to travel outside the city. FSB officers will conduct a search at his house. Following which, he will most likely be left at home," Mejlis' first deputy speaker Nariman Jelialov wrote on his Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Mejlis leader Refat Chubarov wrote on Facebook that his deputy was arrested by the FSB in Bakhchisarai, and then moved to Simferopol for indictment.

In April, the Crimean Supreme Court declared the Crimean Tatar Mejlis an extremist organization, and banned its activity in Russia. The decision prompted sharp criticism in Ukraine and the West.

Umerov had, for many years, led the Bakhchisarai district administration in Crimea.
Can Adygea Continue to Avoid Problems Related to the Spread of Radical Islam?

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Mairbek Vatchagaev Publication Date 5 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 88 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Can Adygea Continue to Avoid Problems Related to the Spread of Radical Islam?, 5 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 88, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735768c4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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The Republic of Adygea is located in the middle of the northwestern Caucasus, in the watershed of the Kuban, Laba and Belaya rivers. Although historically the area was the homeland of many Circassian tribes, wars and the forced deportation during the 19th century have resulted in Circassians, today, comprising only 26 percent (110,000 people) of the republican population, while ethnic Russians make up 63 percent (270,000 people) of the total (Ethno-kavkaz.narod.ru, accessed May 5). Moreover, Russian authorities intentionally separated Adygea from the rest of the North Caucasian republics and included it in the Southern Federal District (Ufo.gov.ru, January 19, 2010). These factors-a minority status, isolation from the rest of the North Caucasus-are now shaping the rise of Islamic radicalism in the republic after being non-existent for years.

Local Islamic communities are subordinate to the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Adygea and the Krasnodar region, which is headed by mufti Askarbiy Kardanov. Approximately 50 mosques operate in Adygea, which is about four times more on a per capita basis than, for example, in the Republic of Ingushetia. Around four times more Muslims live in Ingushetia than in Adygea, but the number of mosques is the same in both republics. The second Russian-Chechen war, which started in 1999, eventually led to the resistance movement's transition from nationalist Chechen separatism into the North Caucasus-wide Islamist movement that was officially proclaimed in 2007. The leadership of the newly created Islamist movement also attempted to establish a jamaat in Adygea. In 2008-2009, according to media reports at the time, an Adygean jamaat called "al-Garib" was proclaimed and became part of the all-Caucasian front (Kavkazcenter.com, September 23, 2009).

In the summer of 2009, its leader, Asker Setov (a.k.a. Amir Abdelvakhab), was arrested and sentenced to prison (Segodnia.ru, August 17, 2009). The al-Garib jamaat never conducted much activity apart from making several public statements, even though the authorities considered the threat posed by the jamaat to be quite real (see EDM, October 5, 2009).

Authorities paid special attention to the Muslim community in Adygea, bearing in mind that the republic is close to Sochi and to the Shapsugs, who reside on the Black Sea coast. Despite all the precautions taken by the Russian government, occasional media reports suggest that the situation in Adygea is far from calm. For example, local authorities continue to deport Circassians from the republics of the North Caucasus, including Adygea, where they settled after immigrating to their historical homeland (Aheku.net, April 4, 2014).

Russia welcomes the repatriation of ethnic Russians from the "near" and "far" abroad but regards the repatriation of several thousand Circassian refugees from Syria or Turkey as undesirable (Kommersant, February 20, 2012). Russia's attitude predictably creates tensions in the republic.

In the city of Adygeisk 3,400 residents recently petitioned the Public Chamber of Russia to oversee the situation involving former imam Yusuf Sheujen. The authorities suspected the Muslim cleric of recruiting his mosque's parishioners to fight in Syria (Yuga.ru, August 20, 2015).

The Spiritual Board of Muslims of Adygea and Krasnodar denounced Sheujen, but the incident showed that the radicalization of youth is well underway in Adygea along with the other republics of the North Caucasus. Families that lost children in the war in Syria blame it on Yusuf Sheujen. Some whole families have moved to the Middle East. For example, Yuri and Maya Nehai from Adygeisk lost a son, daughter-in-law and a one-year-old granddaughter who moved to Syria. The same thing happened to six other families that included young parents with small children (Natpressru.info, August 22, 2015).

Apart from young people who moved the Middle East under the influence of Islamic State propaganda, some middle-aged Adygeans have also travelled there. A court in Adygea determined that a 39-year-old resident of the city of Maikop, Murat Shovgenov, watched videos on the Internet and decided to leave Russia and join the Islamic State (Adygproc.ru, December 29, 2015). In December 2015, the authorities placed a 42-year-old resident of Adygeisk, A. Khagur, under arrest for attempting to join the Syrian militants. Turkish authorities reportedly detained him and handed him over to Russia (Adygtv.ru, April 13). However, the authorities cannot catch everyone.

According to the head of Adygea's branch of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Oleg Seleznev, about 3,000 Russian citizens are currently fighting in the ranks of terrorist organizations in the Middle East. He said that 22 residents of Adygea left to fight in Syria (Kavkazsky Uzel, March 29). The authorities launched seven criminal cases against suspected members of international terrorist organizations. Arrest warrants have been issued for all the suspects. Two residents of Adygea have been sentenced to prison terms for making preparations to join armed groups in Syria.

The situation in Adygea appears to be unfolding in a fashion similar to other republics of the North Caucasus. The only thing that is different in Adygea is the demographic minority status of the Circassians in the republic, which makes them more sensitive to political issues. Adygea's Circassians tend to regard Islamic radicalism as a possible answer to the challenges they face locally-challenges and hardships they are often unable to express politically. Ethnography scholars pointed out that back in 2013, Adygea was transitioning from a nationalist to an Islamist discourse, and this was likely to result in the radicalization of the republic (Bigcaucasus.com, January 7, 2013).

The situation in Adygea, however, appears to be somewhat similar to that in North Ossetia-Alania. No concrete information is available regarding the radicalization of Ossetian Muslims, but that does not mean it is not going on. In other words, Islamic radicalism is spreading across all the Muslim communities of the North Caucasus, and the only differences are in the degree of its penetration of the societies.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
An Unfrozen Karabakh Threatens to Ignite Entire Region

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Pavel Felgenhauer Publication Date 5 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 88 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, An Unfrozen Karabakh Threatens to Ignite Entire Region, 5 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 88, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573577c74.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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The Azerbaijani-Armenian confrontation over Azerbaijan's breakaway territory of Karabakh has been simmering for years. The 1994 ceasefire was broken time and again, soldiers on both sides were killed year after year, and all attempts to find a political solution to the conflict ended in deadlock; but the outside world paid little attention. There were always more important issues in the greater Middle East, in East Asia, in Ukraine, in the Balkans, in the Baltics, or between neighboring Georgia and Russia. But last month, on April 2, the Karabakh standoff suddenly erupted. Skirmishes along the line of conflict (LoC) escalated into full-scale battles, and Azerbaijani forces went on the offensive, taking a number of Armenian frontline positions while successfully repulsing Armenian counterattacks. By April 5, the so-called "four-day war" was essentially over-both sides agreed to a ceasefire, though skirmishes along the LoC continued. The Azerbaijani military continued to hold on to some of its captured frontline positions-much to the Armenians' embarrassment (Vlast, April 9).

But Karabakh has again begun to slip from the limelight, with the international community apparently believing Moscow could use its considerable influence in both Yerevan and Baku to force the warring parties to the negotiating table and somehow keep a semblance of peace. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to the two regional capitals with new peace proposals from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group (co-chaired by Russia, France and the United States). However, he failed to restart negotiations. According to informed sources in Moscow, Azerbaijan is eager to talk, believing tactical successes during the "four-day war" gave its government a strong negotiating advantage. The Armenians, apparently for the same reason, refused to talk. Both sides remain on a war footing. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan reportedly conveyed to Lavrov Armenian displeasure with Moscow's policy of balancing between Baku and Yerevan. Moreover, he refused to allow Russian peacekeepers into Karabakh (Kommersant, April 26).

Armenia is a long-time Russian ally, a member of the Russian-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union. But Russia's interests in the post-Soviet South Caucasus include Georgia and Azerbaijan, together with Armenia. Moscow seemingly wants to dominate the entire region, up to the former Soviet border with Turkey and Iran. Unequivocally taking sides in the Karabakh confrontation would not serve Russian long-term intentions. Russia has been selling large quantities of heavy armaments to Azerbaijan and providing Armenia lesser amounts and less-advanced heavy weapons-though either for free or on long-term credit, which will unlikely ever be repaid by this impoverished land-locked South Caucasus state. Last February, Russia gave Armenia a $200 million credit to buy new weapons, reportedly including long-range "Smerch" multiple rocket launch systems (MRLS), TOS-1A "Sunburn" heavy flamethrowers, and other weapons. Azerbaijan, using its oil wealth, reportedly procured some $4 billion worth of Russian weapons, including new S-300PMU2 and TOR-M2 antiaircraft missiles, hundreds of T-90C tanks, long-range heavy artillery, "Smerch" and TOS-1A systems, attack and transport helicopters, as well as other items. Armenia also has S-300PS missile systems-an older, non-digital, Cold War-era variant, granted by Russia (Vedomosti, February 25).

Both Baku and Yerevan protested Russian arms sales to the other party (see EDM, April 14), but with little success. After the early-April clashes in Karabakh, Armenian officials and the public called for Russia to stop supplying Azerbaijan with weapons, alleging they were being used against Armenian soldiers. But Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced Russia will continue to sell arms to both sides: "If we will not, others will step it, which will make things worse and possibly destroy the present balance in the region" (Interfax, April 9).

In the "four-day war," Armenian forces in Karabakh lost territory and officially declared 92 servicemen had died in action (RIA Novosti, April 13). Azerbaijani heavy guns reportedly devastated Armenian frontline fortifications. The TOS-1A "Sunburn" delivered thermobaric ordinance, also known as fuel or vacuum "bombs," which scorched the Armenian soldiers in their dugouts and bunkers-a tactic first massively used by the Russian military in the Second Chechen war, in 2000-2001, and now in Syria, in Latakia province and in Palmira (see EDM, April 6, 14). Sargsyan fired several top generals allegedly responsible for failing to report the concentration of heavy Azerbaijani weapons, including TOS-1A close to the LoC. Armenian forces also suffered from an apparent breakdown in command and control as well as a lack of supplies to treat the many soldiers with severe burns inflicted by the attacking enemy TOS-1As (Kommersant, April 26).

The Azerbaijani offensive on April 2 seems to have been primarily intended to achieve a tactical victory and to heighten patriotism in a population badly hit by falling oil and natural gas prices. Both goals were achieved, but the temptation seems high in Baku to continue to press its apparent military advantage. In preparation for war, Azerbaijan closely cooperated with Israel to modernize its military, acquire reconnaissance and attack drones as well as medium- and long-range (150 kilometers) missiles with GPS targeting capabilities, modernize its T-72 tanks for modern warfare, and to procuring other modern weaponry. In drone equipment and in network-centric warfare capabilities, Azerbaijan today exceeds the Armenian military; the latter is armed with mostly heavy Soviet weaponry of the 1980s. During the "four-day war," Azerbaijan's forces reportedly scored several high-value precision hits, humiliating their Armenian opponents (Interfax, April 7).

To survive politically, Sargsyan cannot show any weakness, cannot negotiate any concessions, and must soon score some victory (military or political) to counter the Azerbaijani successes. This week, the Armenian government had reportedly approved and sent to parliament a resolution recognizing the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic's independence-a move that could have triggered a regional war. Later the Armenian authorities apparently backpedaled, announcing the independence resolution would be postponed and enacted only if major fighting resumes in Karabakh (Interfax, May 5). The temptation to use force seems to dominate both sides of the Karabakh dispute, while negotiations are deadlocked and the influence of outside powers is limited. Moscow's proclaimed attempt to balance Baku against Yerevan is faltering and may have backfired by straining relations with both sides. An all-out regional war hangs in the balance and could drag in outside powers-Russia and Turkey, which are already at loggerheads over Syria. Meanwhile, both Moscow and Washington are, today, already deeply involved in numerous acute conflicts worldwide. Thus, the ability of Lavrov and his US counterpart, John Kerry, to effectively manage them all at once may be simply strained to the hilt.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Crimea's Supreme Court Bans Crimean Tatar Mejlis Based on Fictitious Claims

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Idil P. Izmirli Publication Date 4 May 2016 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Crimea's Supreme Court Bans Crimean Tatar Mejlis Based on Fictitious Claims, 4 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573578ae4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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On April 26, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea officially banned the Mejlis, the quasi-governing assembly of the of the Crimean Tatar people (Qha.com.ua, April 26). After this verdict, all Mejlis activities were suspended across the entire territory of the Russian Federation, including in occupied Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in March 2014 (Qha.com.ua, April 26). The court case was set in motion in February 2016, when the occupying authorities' so-called Crimean Prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya petitioned the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation and argued that a prohibition against the Mejlis was necessitated by Federal Criminal Code 9 and 10, "On Combatting Extremist Activity." On April 18, the Ministry of Justice included the Mejlis on its federal registry of radical and extremist civic and religious organizations, whose activities must be suspended by law (Qha.com.ua, April 19). Based on this ruling, the Mejlis could no longer organize public events, meetings or gatherings, participate in elections and referendums, publish in the mass media, utilize transportation provided by the government or municipality, or use bank accounts for anything other than daily activities (Qha.com.ua, April 26).

During the court process, Poklonskaya presented a 600-page report and five or six DVDs purported to show the "extremist" activities of the Mejlis. Many of these articles were fictitious and unrelated to the Russian Federation's jurisdiction. One piece of evidence presented a nonviolent protest that took place in 1988, when there was no Mejlis and the majority of Crimean Tatars were still living in exile after by Soviet authorities deported them from the peninsula on May 18, 1944 (Qha.com.ua, April 25).

Immediately after the Crimean Supreme Court's ruling, long-time leader of the Crimean Tatars and former Mejlis chairman Mustafa Cemilev put out a press release. In it, Cemilev affirmed that the prohibition represents a wider and intensifying campaign of intimidation tactics directed against the organization by the region's occupying authorities. The Mejlis headquarters in Simferopol has 33 members, and there are an additional 230 local Mejlises spread across Crimean towns and villages. Each of these local Mejlises has 3-15 members, which brings the organization's total membership to around 2,500 people. By outlawing the Mejlis, Cemilev reiterated, approximately 2,500 individuals, as well as who are associated with them, will face persecution and jail sentences for their so-called "allegiance" to an "extremist organization" (Qha.com.ua, April 27).

In reality, the outlawing of the Mejlis is illegal because it is based on an absurd claim. The Mejlis is neither a civic nor a religious organization and was never registered in Crimea as such (Turkasi.net, September 5, 2015). The Mejlis is a national assembly, the elected representative and the highest executive body of the Crimean Tatars, who do not have their own state. The Mejlis was instituted to defend the rights of Crimean Tatar people deported from their historical homeland by Joseph Stalin in 1944. The organization has focused on the improvement of the lives of the returnees to their peninsular homeland, including the preservation of Crimean Tatar education, ensuring justified land access, as well as the restoration of the Crimean Tatar language and culture through nonviolent means (Lr4.lsm.lv, April 26).

The Mejlis was established in Crimea in 1991, and was later legalized in Ukraine, in 1999, by a presidential decree signed by Leonid Kuchma, who formed the umbrella "Council of Representatives of the Crimean Tatar people under the President of Ukraine," which included the Mejlis (Liga.net, October 1, 2014). The Mejlis had good relations with Ukraine's next head of state, Viktor Yuschenko, whom the organization enthusiastically supported during the 2004 presidential elections. Even during the subsequent Viktor Yanukovych era, the Mejlis continued to work peacefully, although it faced some minor challenges from the government.

One of the real reasons behind the present ban was the Crimean Tatars' broad loyalty to Ukraine and their overwhelming determination to refuse to abide by the rules of the occupying Russian authorities (Qha.com.ua, April 26). The Mejlis headquarters was the only building that, after the annexation, flew the Ukrainian flag-despite consequent physical violence at the hands of the riot police (see EDM, April 28, 2014). Before the annexation, Crimean Tatars organized pro-Maidan meetings in Simferopol and supported Ukraine's territorial integrity alongside their compatriots in Kyiv's Maidan. Moreover, they, as a group, openly boycotted the March 16 Russian-imposed referendum on the status of Crimea. After the annexation, the Mejlis pointedly refused to recognize Crimea's annexation (Patrioty.org.ua, March 3).

The occupying Crimean government has used propaganda and disinformation tactics in its efforts to oppose and shut down the Mejlis. First, the self-proclaimed prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, labeled Cemilev a destabilizing agent, a provocateur supported by Western intelligence agencies (Krymr.com, April 21, 2014). Then, the Russian authorities targeted outspoken Crimean Tatars with house searches and routinely confiscated their personal computers, laptops, cell phones and books (Qha.com.ua, March 4). Russian officials have also tried to coerce Crimean Tatar youth to work for the Federal Security Services (FSB) and to inform on their own people (Qha.com.ua, March 26). As Russia's multi-faceted disinformation and "forced assimilation" tactics fell through, however, the Crimean authorities pursued an old Soviet tactic of creating a puppet ethnic institution filled with Crimean Tatar collaborators-the Kyyrym birlingi (see EDM, October 28, 2014). Thus, the Mejlis had to go.

International organizations and human rights watchdogs, such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations, and Amnesty International, as well as a number of Western governments including the United States, have openly criticized the Russian authorities for outlawing the Mejlis. But Crimean Prosecutor Poklonskaya promptly shrugged off this strong reaction from Western powers, claiming that it, in fact, clearly proved her allegations that Cemilev was actually a foreign agent (Qha.com.ua, April 22).

In a post-verdict press conference, on April 26, the Mejlis' current chairperson, Refat Chubarov, announced that from this day forward, the organization would work in an emergency mode from Kyiv, where the body is now temporarily located (Qha.com.ua, April 26). During this emergency mode, a special council will be in charge, to be headed by Cemilev, Chubarov, and eight other Mejlis members, all whom were barred from Crimea by the occupying authorities and permanently settled in mainland Ukraine (Qha.com.ua, April 26). Chubarov stated that they were also opening two Mejlis offices abroad, in Washington and in Brussels, in the fall (Qha.com.ua, April 22). Although the Mejlis will again be able operate freely, it remains to be seen how much this forced exile may hamper their ability to help Crimean Tatars left behind.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Spanish Court Issues Arrest Warrants Against Russian Officials Accused of Organized Crime Links

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Alex Calvo Publication Date 11 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 92 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Spanish Court Issues Arrest Warrants Against Russian Officials Accused of Organized Crime Links, 11 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 92, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57357dad4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Reports on May 3 revealed that the Spanish National High Court's Central Investigative Court Number Five issued a series of international arrest warrants against 12 Russian citizens, including some figures considered close to President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, among them Nikolay Aulov, the deputy chief of Russia's Federal Drug Control Service. The court case, presided over by Justice Jose De La Mata, follows Spain's 2008 Operation "Troika," which had targeted the "Tambovskaya" and "Malyshevskaya" Russian mafia clans (Elmundo.es, May 3).

The alleged head of the Tambovskaya mafia clan, Gennadios Petrov, was arrested by the Spanish Civil Guard, in 2008, in Calvia (Majorca, Balearic Islands), following an investigation utilizing extensive phone taps over the course of 2007-2008. Some of the intercepted conversations were between Petrov and Aulov. Others featured Petrov and Igor Sobolevski, a former top official in Russia's Office of the Attorney General, considered "one of the most wanted" by the Spanish judiciary. This prompted investigators to conclude that both Aulov and Sobolevski had been corrupted and were at the service of Petrov's organization (Diariodemallorca.es, May 6, 2011). According to Justice De La Mata, Sobolevsky informed Petrov "about security forces actions against organized crime" (Elmundo.es, May 3).

In his January 22 court decree, De La Mata alleges that Aulov has a "tight relationship" with Petrov, securing for him and his entourage "licenses and concessions" from "Russia's highest administrative instances" in exchange for money or favors (Larazon.es, May 3). Petrov obtained certain jobs for Aulov, according to the court decree, using his "relations with his country's political spheres" (Actuali.cat, May 4).

In 2011, Petrov's defense attorney asked the court to interrogate both Aulov and Sobolevski, and the petition was accepted on appeal on May 4, 2011, despite opposition from the public prosecutor's office. The National High Court considered the interrogations "fundamental for the right to defense of the accused" and sent Russian authorities a request for international judicial assistance with an attached questionnaire (Diariodemallorca.es, May 6, 2011).

But Moscow rejected the request, and on October 19, 2015, Spain's Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Division of the Office of the Attorney General put forward a 250-page document detailing its charges. This document contained an extensive list of Russian former and current public officials accused of being part of Petrov's network (Abc.es, October 20, 2015). In June 2015, public prosecutors delivered to the court a 452-page report arguing that this network "keeps strong links with Russia's economic, political, judicial and police power in Russia, as well as with members of international organized crime for the achievement of joint projects," adding that "[Petrov's network] achieved a clear penetration of his country's state structures." According to the Prosecutors' Office, the 27 accused, together with other people that had not been located, constitute a "criminal community" settled in Spain from 1996. From their base in the country they "have been controlling the criminal activities of their respective groups, which they lead in their countries of origin," committing crimes including "murder, arms trafficking, extortion, fraud, influence peddling, [and] drug trafficking," with the resulting "huge financial returns [] channeled to Spain." Prosecutors consider the Tambovskaya and Malyhevskaya mafias to be tightly connected, "with a clear division of tasks," whose "core criminal" activities in Spain consist of "introduction of capital and indiscriminate subversion of corporate and business law" involving "tax evasion." The main leaders, according to the Prosecutors' Office, are Petrov, Alexander Malyshev, Sergei Kouzmine, and Vitali Izgilov (tried and found guilty in Spain, and expelled from the country), each having "his own sphere" and lieutenants, but all acting with "full coordination" (Abc.es, June 2, 2015).

Petrov was arrested in Majorca, where his mafia network reportedly laundered 50 million euros ($57 million). But the geographical scope of its activities was much wider. For example, the mayor of Lloret de Mar, in Catalonia's Costa Brava, was found guilty, in November 2015, of corruption and of having been bribed by Petrov, who was also sentenced, in connection with a real estate project in the town. The then-mayor, Xavier Crespo, received, among other "gifts," a watch and a free trip to Moscow (Diariodemallorca.es, June 4, 2015; Vilaweb.cat, November 6, 2015).

Police Colonel General Nikolay Aulov was appointed deputy director of the Federal Drug Control Service of the Russian Federation in June 2008, while remaining the chief executive of the Operational-Investigative Department. The Federal Drug Control Service reacted harshly to reports of the recent Spanish arrest warrant, labeling it "surprisingly unprofessional" given that the decision had been taken "on the basis of telephone conversations" without the "proper phonoscopic examination." Aulov's agency further argued that the arrest warrant "is not legal, but political-the next step in the implementation of a political order to discredit officials of the Russian Federation" (Interfax via LNR News, accessed May 11).

On March 14, 2016, United Russia lawmaker Vladislav Reznik's attorney, Alexandr Gofshtein, said that he had appealed against the international arrest warrant targeting his client and his wife, who are accused of money laundering in this case. Gofshtein claimed that the case was "clearly political" and based on "fabrications" and "manipulations," complaining about the lack of any evidence against Reznik and the "astronomical" 133-million-euro ($151 million) bail. He also asserted that, based on WikiLeaks revelations, Spanish anti-corruption Public Prosecutor Jose Grinda Gonzalez "agreed his procedural decisions with US authorities, with the goal of discrediting, at all costs, Russian authorities and some of the country's representatives." The Duma also defended Reznik, who is deputy chair of its financial markets committee, with Deputy Speaker and United Russia Secretary General Serguei Neverov stating: "I believe this situation [] like the doping scandals and other groundless accusations against Russian high officials, to be nothing else than a renewed attempt by Western governments to tarnish our country" (Lavanguardia.com, March 14).

Russian-Spanish relations have been reasonably good over the last few years, with Madrid regularly providing key logistical support for the Russian Navy at its African exclave of Ceuta, near Gibraltar, despite growing tensions between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Moscow caused by the Ukraine war (see EDM, September 3, 2015). When, in November 2013, Spanish judges issued an arrest warrant against some Chinese leaders in a human rights case, this prompted Spain's government to push forward new legislation seriously restricting the judicial branch's territorial jurisdiction (Elperiodico.com, November 16, 2015). It remains to be seen whether Moscow will successfully apply similar pressure on Madrid in this case-perhaps using the Spanish corporations Talgo, Iberdrola, and Repsol, which remain active in Russia, as bargaining chips.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Natural Gas Routinely Embezzled in Dagestan, Former Official Alleges

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Valery Dzutsati Publication Date 11 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 92 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Natural Gas Routinely Embezzled in Dagestan, Former Official Alleges, 11 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 92, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57357e714.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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At the start of May, an unusual trial concluded in Dagestan. Regional authorities charged the republic's former deputy prime minister, Magomedgusen Nasrutdinov, with fraud and sentenced him to five years in prison and a hefty fine. Investigators said he had unlawfully privatized one million meters of Dagestan's natural gas pipelines. Nasrutdinov comes from a "dynasty" of natural gas dealers in the republic. His father, Nasrutdin Nastrutdinov was a prominent figure, who laid the foundations for the republic's natural gas system. Thus, it is highly unusual for prominent figures like that to end up behind bars in the North Caucasus (Onkavkaz.com, May 5).

Investigators claim that in 2002, when Nasrutdinov was the CEO of Dagestanregiongaz and chairman of the board of another gas company, Daggaz, he brokered a deal between the two companies. As a result, Daggaz took over more than one million meters of gas networks in nine municipalities. The company paid about $2 million for the network, which was allegedly worth four times more. A decade later, in 2013, Nasrutdinov reportedly offered to sell the networks back to the giant Russian gas monopoly Gazprom for about $150 million. His prosecution was probably Gazprom's retaliation for the local official's impertinence. Nasrutdinov's lawyers said that prosecutors closed the court hearing to the public for the first several months under the pretext that there was a secret witness from the FSB (Federal Security Service). However, the testimony of the secret witness turned out to be futile. Nasrutdinov's defenders said that in May 2001, the Dagestanregiongaz and Mezhregiongaz companies decided to sell their gas networks, which were their non-core assets, and Nasrutdinov, as the then-CEO of Dagestanregiongaz, had to implement that decision (Kommersant, March 3). His lawyers also exposed some glaring irregularities in the prosecution, such as the signature of a deceased person on a document (Chernovik.net, April 22).

The criminal prosecution of top officials in the North Caucasian republics is a rare phenomenon. A Dagestani deputy prime ministerial post is a high enough position to guarantee immunity from government persecution. Only high-profile figures in Moscow, such as Gazprom officials, or Dagestani governor Ramazan Abdulatipov could have initiated the investigation against Nasrutdinov. Whether it is Gazprom's revenge for Nasrutdinov's refusal to play by their rules, Abdulatipov's jealousy, or the illegal schemes the former official used, the most interesting part for the public is that the imprisoned government official started to talk openly about the notorious issue of the backlog in payments for natural gas in Dagestan.

At the time of Nasrutdinov's arrest in January 2014, the backlog in payments for natural gas in Dagestan was about 17 billion rubles. By 2016, it had nearly doubled, reaching 28 billion rubles ($430 million) (Onkavkaz.com, May 5). Currently, the backlog in payments for gas and electricity in the North Caucasus exceeds half of all of Russia's backlog in payments for these utilities, while the population and the area of the region constitutes only a small fraction of the country. The Russian government has repeatedly raised the issue of low fiscal discipline in the North Caucasus, but the backlog in payments has continued to grow unheeded (Kavkazskaya Politika, May 4).

One possible explanation is that Moscow views the North Caucasus as a separatist region that needs to be made as dependent on Russia as possible. Creating the backlog in payments for utilities allows the Russian government to have both fiscal and rhetorical tools to signal that the region is unable to pay for its utilities and therefore cannot survive on its own. Another possible explanation is that uncontrolled financing of the regional elites has created a sense of impunity and given them opportunities to misappropriate the energy funds.

Nasrutdinov concluded his court testimony by stating: "Normal losses of gas used to be 3 percent. During the worst years, in 1999, we complied with such losses. Now, the authorities introduced losses of 40-42 percent, as the norm! Can you imagine? Gas comes into Makhachkala, and 40 percent of it goes up into the air?! Our city would have gone up in flames, and we would have experienced endless explosions. That gas is being stolen!" (Chernovik.net, April 22).

According to the former official, Dagestani enterprises illegally pay gas companies in cash, and the latter then redistribute the consumed gas of the enterprises among the general population. Unscrupulous gas companies then claim the population of the republic does not pay for the consumed utilities, Nasrutdinov said (Onkavkaz.com, May 5).

Dagestan extracts its own natural gas, unlike the majority of the other North Caucasus republics. In fact, natural gas reserves are quite significant in the republic-an estimated 800 billion cubic meters-and Abdulatipov has complained Moscow did not allow the republic to exploit them (Kommersant, February 6, 2014).

Moscow's unwillingness to extract the Caspian Sea gas in Dagestan once again indicates that it fears the republic could one day become energy self-sufficient and secede from Russia. The trial of one of Dagestan's top gas industry official suggests that Moscow's willingness to tolerate a large payment backlog for utilities in the republic may be wearing thin. As the economic crisis takes its toll on Russia, Gazprom and the Russian government are seeking to further reduce their financial losses.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Karabakh: A New Theater for Drone Wars?

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Azad Garibov Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Karabakh: A New Theater for Drone Wars? , 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57357ec04.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Serious renewed violence broke out between the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan last month (April 2-5, 2016), with fighting in the separatist Azerbaijani region of Karabakh reaching levels not seen since the ceasefire of 1994. One the distinctive features of the recent escalation, which has come to be known as the "Four Day War," was the extensive use of sophisticated military hardware, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, as well as for use in ground attacks. In fact, the Karabakh conflict may be the first-ever inter-state armed conflict in which drones have been deployed on specifically combat missions. While reports of downed enemy drones in and around Karabakh have been fairly commonplace in recent years, the deployment of UAVs to the so-called "Line of Contact" (LoC) received ample media coverage only after the recent fighting. Azerbaijan has downed three Armenian drones since the beginning of April, one of which was destroyed during the Four Day War (Trend, April 3), while two others were shot out of the sky in the following weeks (Azvision.az, April 7, Ann.az, April 19). Armenia claimed it had downed ten Azerbaijani UAVs during the four days of fighting, but only two cases were confirmed to date with video and photos (Ng.ru, April 22).

The first ever known combat use of a "kamikaze drone" also reportedly took place during the recent fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia. On April 4, an online video surfaced showing a drone over Armenian positions in Karabakh that appeared to be an Israeli Aerospace Industries Harop (YouTube, April 4). According to the Armenian Ministry of Defense, the drone hit a bus carrying volunteers from Armenia's Sisian region to the battlefield, leaving seven dead and several wounded (Panarmenian, April 11). One of the wounded later died in the hospital, on April 21 (News.am, April 21).

According to Azerbaijani sources that have not been officially confirmed, the Harop launched six precise shots during the fighting, destroying targets such as the 2S3 Akatsiya artillery system, Armenian air defense units, an assembly point of soldiers, and a military runway at an airbase (Azeridefence.com, February 20).

Following the Harop deployment, Armenia voiced sharp protests to Israel over its supply of modern weaponry to Azerbaijan (Massispost.com, April 11). Meanwhile, Armenian Deputy Defense Minister David Tonoyan confirmed that Yerevan had also been offered advanced military hardware by Israel, including drones, but that they had turned down the offer (Armedia.am, April 11). Despite criticism by Armenia, Israel will reportedly continue delivering new drones to Azerbaijan based on previous contracts (Panarmenian, April 12).

The first reports of Azerbaijan's drone acquisition date back to 2008-2009, when the country purchased a number of Israeli UAVs, such as the Hermes 450, Aerostar and Orbiter M (Haqqin.az, August 7, 2015). In 2009, a contract was signed with Israel on co-manufacturing and assembling drones in Azerbaijan (Ng.ru, April 22, 2016). Domestic production was launched in March 2011, when President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated Azad Systems, a joint venture between Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense Industry and Israeli drone manufacturer Aeronautics Industries (News.az, March 11, 2011).

In October 2011, Azerbaijan signed a deal to license and domestically produce 60 Aerostar and Orbiter 2M drones. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Azerbaijan had acquired about 30 drones from Israeli firms Aeronautics Industries and Elbit Systems by the end of 2011, including at least 25 medium-sized Hermes 450 and Aerostar drones (Thegroundtruthproject.org, October 23, 2012). In 2012, Azerbaijan concluded another $1.6 billion arms deal with Israel to purchase UAVs as well as anti-aircraft and missile defense systems (Haaretz, February 26, 2012). According to Oxford Analytica, Azerbaijani purchases from Israel Aeronautics Industries in March 2012 reportedly included ten high altitude Heron TPs, one of the most advanced Israeli drones in service. As of 2012, purchases and production have netted Azerbaijan 50 or more UAVs that are similar in class, size and capabilities to the United States' Predator- and Reaper-type drones-the key components of the US drone strike campaigns in Pakistan and Yemen (Thegroundtruthproject.org, October 23, 2012). According to SIPRI, between 2010 and 2014, Azerbaijan was the fifth-largest importer of unmanned aircraft in the world, and Israel was Azerbaijan's top supplier (News.az, March 17, 2015).

Azerbaijan currently operates Hermes 450, Aerostar, Orbiter M, Harop, ThunderB and Heron TP type drones. Two of them, the Hermes 450 and Heron TP, could be armed with air-to-surface missiles. Together with the Harop, they can be used for ground-attack missions, most importantly for suppressing enemy air defenses in the event of the resumption of full-scale war.

Armenia's UAV program is quite modest in comparison. The country claimed it had started indigenous drone production in 2011 (Azatutyun.am, June 20, 2011). The Krunk, the first locally manufactured drone, was displayed on September 21, 2011, during a military parade in Yerevan (Panarmenian, October 3, 2013). Armenia also imported drones from Russia, its traditional arms supplier. According to Russian drone manufacturer Ptero, it sold four E5 drones to Armenia in 2012 (News.az, December 29, 2012). In 2014, local company Instigate Robotics acquired government permission to launch drone production in Armenia (News.am, January 30, 2014). In April 2015, at an arms show in Erebuni airport, Armenia demonstrated its domestically produced X-55 drones, which are very similar in appearance and characteristics to Russian Ptero drones (Ng.ru, April 22).

Currently, Armenia has domestically produced Krunks, Bazes and X55s, and imported Ptero drones, all of which are relatively low-tech UAVs with limited capabilities in terms of speed, flight altitude, endurance and operational range. None of them can be armed for ground-attack missions.

If the 1991-1994 war was fought with mostly insurgent tactics, a possible new war in Karabakh promises to be a conflict of modern weaponry, in which having a technological edge over the enemy and effectively deploying sophisticated military hardware could be crucial in defining the outcome of operations. Drone deployment is one of those fields where Azerbaijan currently has an ostensible edge over its rival. Although Azerbaijan was the major employer of drones in the recent fighting, the relatively higher "casualty rate" among Armenian UAVs could be explained by their technological inferiority. Azerbaijan's economic capabilities (the country's $4.8 billion military spending for 2015 dwarfed Armenia's $447 million military budget-Bloomberg, April 6) have enabled it to create a much larger and technologically superior drone fleet. Azerbaijan also seems to be better at mastering the effective deployment of UAVs in actual combat, as proven by the increasing precision of its strikes on enemy positions and improved operational command in the battlefield.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Dagestan-Azerbaijan Relations: a New Flash Point in the Caucasus?

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Paul Goble Publication Date 10 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 91 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Dagestan-Azerbaijan Relations: a New Flash Point in the Caucasus?, 10 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 91, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57357f114.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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The Dagestan Days festival opens in Baku this week (May 12-13), during which ties between that republic in the Russian North Caucasus and Azerbaijan will be celebrated and new business deals announced (Azertag.az, May 7). However, relations between these two Muslim republics are increasingly tense. Problems stem from their religiously and ethnically intermixed populations as well as controversies over land and water rights. These issues would exist even if no other powers were involved. But the Dagestani-Azerbaijani relationship is further strained by the broader geopolitical competition in the Caucasus between Russia, Turkey and Iran as well as the willingness of each of these powers to exploit such tensions for their own purposes.

In advance of the festival in Baku, Dagestani journalist Eduard Urazayev has surveyed some of these issues and suggests that, while "externally everything always is presented as wonderful," it is "unfortunately" the case that just below the surface there are real dangers-even if the media in both Dagestan and Azerbaijan generally refuse to discuss them given their sensitivity. Moreover, he argues that the clearest indicators of how problematic the relationship has become can be seen in the absence of Azerbaijani investment in Dagestan as well as the slowness with which Dagestan has responded to the land needs of Azerbaijani refugees from the Karabakh war who relocated to the Northeastern Caucasus republic (Kavpolit.com, May 4).

Another problem in relations is the situation of members of Dagestani nationalities living just across the border in Azerbaijan. Under Azerbaijani law, they have equal rights; but they have sometimes complained of mistreatment not only because they are Sunni Muslims living in a predominantly Shiite state but also because they have sought to maintain their ties with co-ethnics in restive Dagestan. Both of these factors have caused Baku to view them with suspicion. And such an attitude is exacerbated by Azerbaijan's desire to present itself as a full-fledged participant in the international battle against Islamist extremism. Furthermore, Moscow has used these groups, the Avars and Lezgins in particular, to put pressure on Baku or even undermine Azerbaijan's control of its territory (see EDM, July 2, 2012; December 9, 2014).

Indeed, as Azerbaijani officials have previously pointed out-though which Urazayev does not mention-representatives of these two ethnic communities pose more of a religious threat than an ethnic one. One study found that the majority of 1,500 people from Azerbaijan who have gone to Syria to fight in the ranks of the Islamic State are from the predominantly Sunni north of the country and thus almost certainly consist of Avars and Lezgins rather than ethnic Azerbaijanis (Kavkazoved.info, November 6, 2015). As in Russia and Central Asia, Baku is particularly worried about how such people will behave when they return to Azerbaijan, especially given their links not only to the Islamic State but to the restive Muslim republic to the north, where most of their co-ethnics live.

These Azerbaijani concerns were heightened by more recent revelations about the increasing involvement of Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey with their respective co-religionists inside Azerbaijan. Urazayev says that these developments have raised questions about the ultimate loyalty of those ethnic minorities to the Azerbaijani state. So far, these developments have not really affected the situation, he continues, "but if at the geopolitical level any radical shifts begin to take place, then this could be reflected on the Dagestanis in Azerbaijan," with a possible crackdown by Baku that would have consequences in Makhachkala and Moscow. From Baku's perspective, the recent flare-up of violence between Azerbaijan and Armenia and Russia's tilt toward Yerevan make this all the more likely (Kavpolit.com, May 4).

And there could be two even more immediate triggers for new tensions, albeit ones neither Baku nor Makhachkala (including Urazayev) has talked much about. First, there is the continuing issue of the proper division of the use of water from the Samur River, which flows through Dagestan for most of its course but for 38 kilometers it is the border between that republic and Azerbaijan. In Soviet times and continuing until 2010, Moscow controlled the division of water between the two. But six years ago, Moscow and Baku agreed to a 50-50 split, an arrangement that not all Dagestanis have been happy with (Nazaccent.ru, August 13, 2014).

Under most conditions, such a split does not cause a problem for either side; but droughts last year and in 2016 have raised tensions because the river has almost completely dried up, leaving far too little water for residents on either side to irrigate their crops. Consequently, both have been left with less food and lower incomes. Dagestanis have complained to Moscow but so far without success; and Baku has been unresponsive, at least in part because those most affected on its side of the border are not ethnic Azerbaijanis but rather Avars and Lezgins.

Second is the issue of land for Azerbaijani refugees from the Karabakh war, who have relocated to Dagestan. Their numbers are relatively small, and Makachkala has tried to help them. But the two southern districts of that republic are dominated by Avars and Lezgins, who seem less inclined to help the refugees than officials in the Dagestani capital or Moscow (Pcnariman.livejournal.com, November 30, 2013).

In short, the border regions of Dagestan and Azerbaijan are showing signs of becoming a tinderbox that could easily burst into flame at the slightest provocation.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Russia Withdraws Su-25s From Syria

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Roger McDermott Publication Date 10 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 91 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Russia Withdraws Su-25s From Syria, 10 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 91, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57357f9e4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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Russia's air operations in support of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), which commenced on September 30, 2015, continue to experience modification and experimentation despite President Vladimir Putin's order to begin withdrawing military forces in mid-March. Efforts to bring a meaningful ceasefire to Syria's civil war has had little impact on Russian political-military decision-making regarding the need to steadfastly support the SAA in its latest efforts around the heavily populated city of Aleppo (Vedomosti, May 5). However, though the Aerospace Forces (Vozdushno Kosmicheskikh Sil-VKS) campaign continues, albeit at a reduced tempo, Moscow has announced the complete withdrawal of its Su-25 ground-attack aircraft from its airbase near Latakia. Their role, performance, missions and actual departure from Syria reveal considerable detail concerning VKS operations and the possible "lessons learned" that the Russian General Staff may draw from these experiences. Indeed, the deployment of various military assets in the theater of operations in Syria has provided the General Staff with an experimental combat testing ground, which is the sine qua non of reaching an understanding of the overall nature of Moscow's use of hard power. It appears that, to an extent, this also applies to well-known and reliable assets such as the Su-25 (Interfax, May 4-9; see EDM, January 26).

On May 4, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the defense ministry's spokesman, announced the Su-25 withdrawal. Konashenkov noted their departure among around 30 aircraft from the airbase, but said the remaining air grouping deployed in Syria is sufficient to support an effective fight against "terrorist groups." At the same time, he dismissed reports that the VKS was responsible for recently bombing a hospital in Aleppo, as alleged by the London-based Observatory for Human Rights in Syria. Officially, the VKS operation targets groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, supports the SAA, and strictly adheres to various forms of ceasefire. Moscow is keen to advertise its constructive role in distributing humanitarian aid, demining in Palmyra, and it has quickly denied using ordinance in civilian areas (TASS, May 7; Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Izvestia, May 4). Much of the Russian media coverage concerning the "withdrawal" of forces from Syria, or the latest decision to pull out the Su-25s from Latakia, is scant on detail, leaving commentators guessing about the operational motivations.

Of course, the deployment of Su-25s as part of the VKS air grouping in Syria came as no surprise, as most of the air group consisted of platforms traditionally used in Russian military operations. The Su-25 (Grach, Rook), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) designation "Frogfoot," first entered service in the mid-1970s, designed for close-air-support (CAS) operations for Soviet Ground Forces. Since its introduction, the Su-25 has been a hallmark of Russian air operations, known familiarly by various terms such as the "flying tank"; recent VKS pilots say the Su-25 is like flying a Kalashnikov. In line with Putin's order to begin withdrawing forces from Syria-misinterpreted by some as meaning a total end to Russian operations-the Su-25s can quickly be re-deployed if necessary (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, April 26).

The aircraft is a veteran of conflicts in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, both Chechnya wars, and the August 2008 Russia-Georgia War. Despite its modernization, even the latest variant-the Su-25SM-cannot protect itself against many current anti-aircraft systems and is consequently seen as too vulnerable for modern conflicts. Its twin weaknesses are a proclivity for early detection and its inability to evade enemy air defenses. During the Russia-Georgia War, Su-25s and Su-25SMs proved vulnerable to enemy small arms fire and man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS). In the VKS operations in Syria, these aircraft performed an estimated 3,500 sorties out of a total, to date, of around 9,000. In its combat missions in Syria, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and special operations forces were the eyes and ears of the platform, with much of its ordinance proving to be highly accurate. The Su-25, despite the deployment of more modern assets, is the real workhorse of the air campaign (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, April 26).

Two questions emerge from the removal of the Su-25s from Latakia: why did Moscow choose to do so at this time, and what did the General Staff glean from their combat performance? It appears that the progress of the campaign and the recent advances made by the SAA resulted in the decision to pull the Su-25s; they were no longer needed as the fighting had ebbed in its intensity. As far as the experimental dimension, their role in Syria-though quite standard and operating at altitudes to avoid MANPADS (above 5,000 meters)-was also tied to refining modernization plans (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, April 26).

An important aspect of the plane's use in Syria relates to the intermittent calls to completely scrap and replace the fleet of Su-25s. Since 2011, the defense ministry examined several such schemes, with consensus emerging around developing a new workhorse platform based on the Su-25SM. However, according to the chief designer of the Su-25, Vladimir Babak, the deep modernization of the platform began immediately after the conclusion of the Russia-Georgia War and envisaged equipping it with a modernized pressurized cabin, new electronics, including jamming equipment and radars, and the latest anti-tank missiles. The task of modernizing the Su-25s involved enabling the platform to be used in theaters with advanced air defenses and correcting its existing weaknesses. The result of the modernization effort is to introduce the Su-25SM3, with advanced capabilities, including modern electronic warfare (EW) systems, in particular the "Vitebsk-25" protection system. The Vitebsk-25, also developed for use on board Mi-8AMTSh, Mi-8 MTV-5, and Ka-52 helicopters, protects the aircraft against advanced MANPADS and allows the targeting of enemy radars using the Kh-58 missile (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, April 26).

The VKS plans to procure at least 45 Su-25SM3s by 2020. In addition, the defense industry is working on another Su-25 upgrade: the Su-25SMT. This modernized platform will possess the same modernized electronics and capabilities as the Su-25SM3, but with an increased flight range: with its pressurized cabin, it will operate at up to 12,000 meters, thus ensuring its longer-term importance in modern warfare. With much of this planning stemming from 2008, the Su-25 modernization plans were consolidated. They are cheaper to produce than other modern platforms and will take the place of multirole strike aircraft. In this sense, at least some of the military experimentation in Syria is nothing revolutionary, but merely an ironing out of details concerning ongoing modernization (Voyenno Promyshlennyy Kuryer, April 26).

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
The Baltic Sea Region: A New 'Powder Keg?'

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Sergey Sukhankin Publication Date 9 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 90 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, The Baltic Sea Region: A New 'Powder Keg?' , 9 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 90, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573581f24.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

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During the first half of this month (May 2-19), Estonia is hosting one of the largest military exercises in its post-Soviet history-"Spring Storm 2016" (Delfi, May 2). These war games are being carried out in the three Estonian counties that border Russia: Tartu, Polva and Vorumaa. The military forces involved (approximately 6,000 persons) are coming from six countries of the Baltic Sea region-Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Germany-plus the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. In addition, Poland is contributing Su-22 strike aircraft, while the US sent F-15 fighters, heavy-lift CH-47 Chinook helicopters and multi-mission tiltrotor V-22 Osprey military aircraft. Furthermore, the UK Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft stationed at the Amari aerodrome, in Estonia, will also be taking part.

The Spring Storm military exercises are part of a strategy aiming to foster closer ties between members and partners of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the Baltic region, in the face of an increasingly bellicose and assertive Russia. At the same time, Lithuania has been working to tangibly intensify its military cooperation with Germany. Reportedly, the two governments have agreed that at least 600 members of the German Bundeswehr, along with several hundred military vehicles, will soon be deployed to Lithuania (Delfi, April 29, 2016). The ultimate number, however, will be specified after NATO's summit in Warsaw, which will be held on July 8-9, 2016. Moreover, Lithuania is currently hosting special forces exercises, including both domestic and NATO personnel, until May 20. The geographic scope of these special forces exercises is impressive: training sites will be scattered among 16 cities, including Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipeda (TASS, May 2).

Russia's reaction to these activities has been confrontational. The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the State Duma, Alexei Pushkov, claimed that NATO is instigating a new cold war and warned that these activities will not go unnoticed. Notably, he also identified the Baltic Sea as a region of Russia's special interests (TASS, May 2). The conservative paper Moskovsky Komsomolets hastened to compare the war games in Estonia with those routinely carried out by Russia on NATO's doorstep. It gloatingly pointed out the extremely limited scale of the North Atlantic Alliance's exercise, while noting that is not unusual for 100,000 military personnel to be assembled for large war games in Russia (Moskovsky Komsomolets, May 2).

Yet, such triumphalism aside, the Russian side evidently feels ill at ease with the growing NATO presence in the region. The chief editor of Arsenal magazine and a well-known Russian military expert, Viktor Murakhovsky, speculates that the Alliance's declarative description of the exercise in Estonia seriously understates its true purpose. Murakhovsky is convinced that the true objective of Spring Storm 2016 is to establish the infrastructure necessary for larger NATO forces to be deployed in case of escalation between the North Atlantic military bloc and the Russian Federation. As he underscores, Russian military strength in the region-the core of which is made up of three divisions and the 1st Tank Army-is no match for the combined forces of all the NATO member states (Moskovsky Komsomolets, May 2). However, Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu has stated that NATO's actions are pushing Russia to add three additional divisions before the end of the year: two in the Western and one in the Southern Military District (MD) (TASS, May 4).

Indeed, to date, in spite of the visible intensification of NATO activities in the Baltic, its regional military potential continues to look dwarfed by the number of Russian military units in the country's west. The tentative strength of the Western MD (which borders on the Baltic states) alone is remarkable: as many as 20,000 military personnel may be involved in various exercises held in the Western MD on any given day (Nevskii-bastion.ru, February 2). Namely, in 2016, Russian military forces stationed in the Western MD are to undertake 30 major war games and 3,000 small- and medium-size drills (Klops.ru, December 10, 2015).

In this regard, Kaliningrad Oblast and its military strength (both actual and potential) deserve special attention. The most recent military exercise on this exclave notably finished on May 1 (Mil.ru, May 1). The intense militarization of this westernmost Russian region is exacerbated by the weakness of NATO's regional presence and the limited military capabilities of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and even Poland, which is currently in the midst of its massive ten-year military modernization program (Niezalezna.pl, May 2). On April 15, Mikhail Aleksandrov, the leading expert at Moscow State University's Center for Military-Political Studies (supported by the arms-industry concern Almaz-Antey), boasted that the Russian Armed Forces can establish effective control over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia within 2-3 days, and the North Atlantic Alliance would be unable to react in time (Newsbalt.ru, April 15).

Consequently, Moscow has been testing NATO's resolve and reaction time by continually provoking Alliance forces on the Baltic Sea. Namely, Latvia has reported that the number of Russian military jets and battleships approaching the Latvian exclusive economic zone (EEZ) conspicuously increased from 250 in 2014, to 270 in 2015 (TASS, May 2). And lately, the Russian side has not only been provoking NATO's weakest members (as was the case previously), but US military forces as well. The number of such actions in the Baltic skyrocketed this past April, ranging from a series of dangerously close flyovers of the missile destroyer USS Donald Cook to incidents of a Russian Su-27 performing barrel rolls over a US RC-135 reconnaissance plane in international airspace (see EDM, April 21). The extremely tense atmosphere was further aggravated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who not only accused Lithuania of being the most Russophobic NATO member state (Delfi, April 29), but also ominously warned Sweden (and implicitly Finland) about repercussions that would ensue should it join the North Atlantic Alliance (Mid.ru, April 28).

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia naturally view the strengthening of NATO forces in the Baltic Sea in a positive light, particularly for the defense of their territorial integrity. But the course and trajectory of these developments are highlighting another vital aspect: that Russia's stated interests and assertive geopolitical ambitions in the Baltic region are growing rapidly. Moscow claims that any attempt by the West to tip the balance is likely to produce an acute reaction from Russia. Meanwhile, escalating tensions in the region will continue to intensify the anti-Western propaganda coming from Russia (for both internal and external consumption) as well as lead to the ongoing development of Kaliningrad as a Russian bastion against the West.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Circassian Activism Appears to Be Thorn in Russia's Side, Despite Its Moderation

Publisher Jamestown Foundation Author Valery Dzutsati Publication Date 9 May 2016 Citation / Document Symbol Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 90 Cite as Jamestown Foundation, Circassian Activism Appears to Be Thorn in Russia's Side, Despite Its Moderation, 9 May 2016, Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 13 Issue: 90, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573582c74.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Link to original story on Jamestown website

Yana Amelina, a well-known Russian journalist in the Caucasus who heads the Caucasian Geopolitical Club, unexpectedly lashed out at Circassian activists for their attempts to "revive" the Circassian question. According to Amelina, the Circassian question was already "over" at the time of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but recently, some in the United Kingdom, Georgia, and Turkey have tried to revitalize the Circassian movement. The expert scorned Circassian Flag Day, which Circassians celebrate at the end of April, denigrating it as an insignificant event. Russian experts like Amelina have increasingly used threats to convince Circassian activists to give up on their attempts to defend their interests. Once again, Amelina warned that Circassians should not rely on the UK and Turkey as allies, because they previously used them in a "futile war against Russia" and eventually abandoned them (Rusplt.ru, May 4).

Circassian activists have tried to attract the world's attention to the plight of their people in the past years. The Russian empire used military force, famine and disease to expel the majority of the Circassian population from their homeland in the North Caucasus in the 19th century. About 90 percent of the Circassian population ended up outside their homeland. The Russian government, however, has refused to recognize its negative impact on the Circassian nation or to alleviate its consequences. Many Circassians campaigned against the Sochi Olympics, claiming that Sochi was the "land of genocide." But Russia refused to recognize the conquest and ethnic cleansing of Circassians from the Black Sea coast as "genocide." The Russian authorities did not even offer significant incentives for the Moscow loyalists among the Circassians. Moscow did not rescue the Syrian Circassians, which would have allowed it to pose as their savior and win over some Circassians.

Amelina quotes Circassian activist Andzor Kabard, who said Russia failed to use the repatriation of the Syrian Circassians, as a political tool to assuage Circassians and improve its reputation. According to Kabard, Russia thereby lost a major lever for influencing the Circassian community. Amelina dismisses Kabard's efforts to organize Circassians worldwide via the Internet by distributing virtual "Circassian passports" and conducting a "census" among them. According to Amelina, Circassian leaders rejected the idea as "virtual and stillborn." The expert also noticed the recent spike in activities of the Circassian cultural center in Tbilisi, Georgia. The head of that center, Merab Chukhua, reportedly received support from Circassians in Turkey and from Swedish academic circles (Rusplt.ru, May 4).

Irakly Gogoberidze, a pro-Russian writer who poses as a Georgian, warns that Georgia should abandon its efforts to support the Circassians or face a backlash from Russia. Gogoberidze claims foreign powers send "thousands of dollars" for "further incitement of ethnic hatred, and unleashing a new fratricidal war" (Worldandwe.com, May 5).

The new verbal attacks on Circassians come at a time when Circassian activists are fairly reticent about their further actions, although Circassian Flag Day and the Day of Remembrance usually take place in April-May. Meanwhile, the attacks on Circassians were not limited to verbal assaults. A well-known Circassian activist, Adnan Khuade, was sentenced to 15 days in detention for driving his car without a license. In addition, the road police, who are notorious throughout Russia for corruption, accused him of trying to bribe road police officers. Khuade is known for holding multiple protests demanding that Russia repatriate Circassians from war-torn Syria (Natpressru.info, May 6).

In March, unidentified individuals vandalized a Circassian monument in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, specifically dedicated to the memory of those who died during the Russian invasion of Circassian land in the 18th and 19th centuries. A Circassian activist, Astemir Shebzukhov, made a formal appeal to the authorities asking them to investigate the incident. However, the police, who usually handle such investigations, rejected Shebzukhov's appeal (Natpressru.info, May 6).

Whether or not they were part of a campaign by Russian authorities remains to be seen, but the series of incidents and accusations by Russian experts against Circassian activists demonstrate that Moscow is worried not only about Circassians taking actions against the government but also about Circassians simply having their own days of remembrance and strengthening their identity. The Russian government at the highest level has said numerous times that it is determined to fight "falsifications of history." Moscow regards all interpretations of history except those that are officially approved as "false." The Circassians' consistent narrative about their destruction by the Russian empire and subsequent exile poses a general challenge to the Russian government. Circassians have largely become aware of their history and rocky relations with Russians, and Moscow finds it hard to fight against that. The Russian authorities are thus nervous because they cannot force Circassians to forget what they learned. The Circassian question undermines the "correct" version of Russian history, which traditionally portrays territorial conquests by the Russian empire as benign for the people who were conquered. In many cases, Russian historians completely deny that these were conquests at all, referring to conquered areas as having "voluntarily joined Russia." Circassians are now aware of having been both conquered and destroyed by Russia. This self-awareness concerns Russian experts and shows the limits of Russian state propaganda.

Copyright notice:  2010 The Jamestown Foundation
Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and Turkish National Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz have discussed prospects of future cooperation between their countries, in particular, on defense and trade.

"I am glad that lately, we have seen a very good improvement of our bilateral cooperation, and I believe we are now laying down foundations for our deeper cooperation, be it political, economic or defense," Groysman was quoted by the Cabinet spokesperson as having said on Thursday.

Turkey is one of Ukraine's biggest partners, the two countries have great potential for more economic and energy cooperation, while their defense cooperation will help Ukraine increase its defensive capabilities, the Ukrainian premier said.

"My message is this: we deepen our relations, broaden trade, move towards a free trade area, and we are ready to further deepen our cooperation in all spheres," Groysman said.

For his part, Yilmaz said Turkey will continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to achieve peace and prosperity. "We see Ukraine as one of our most important partners in the region," he said.

The Turkish defense minister noted the two countries' potential in developing defense-industrial cooperation and defense technologies. "The Black Sea does not separate; on the contrary, it unites our countries. Cooperation in this area will be useful, both for Turkey and for Ukraine," Yilmaz said.

The minister also backed the idea of the two countries completing talks over the free trade area before the end of 2016. This, too, will help increase Turkish investments in Ukraine, Yilmaz said.

Trade between Ukraine and Turkey in 2015 stood at $4 billion, he said. At the same time, there is a significant potential to increase it, said the Turkish minister, calling for measures to achieve high targets.
Disclaimer

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.
Iran: British Iranian arbitrarily arrested and detained in solitary confinement

Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as Article 19, Iran: British Iranian arbitrarily arrested and detained in solitary confinement, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573584ae4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

ARTICLE 19 is extremely concerned by the arbitrary arrest, and subsequent detention without charge, of a British Iranian woman. She is currently in solitary confinement in Iran, having reportedly signed a confession under duress, the contents of which remain unclear. Her family have been informed that the investigation relates to an issue of 'national security' however no further information has been provided.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe has not been allowed access to a lawyer, neither has she been able to visit her daughter or call her husband; from the airport, she was transferred to an unknown location in Kerman Province.

"The arrest of Zaghari-Ratcliffe is extremely concerning, and indicates that Iran continues to detain without charge or due process under the pretense of 'national security' concerns." said Thomas Hughes, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19.

On 3 April, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested at Imam Khomeini Airport when returning to the UK from holiday in Iran, visiting her family. Zaghari-Ratcliffe currently works as a project manager for the Thomson-Reuters Foundation, which delivers charitable projects around the world, though it does not work in Iran.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe's one-year-old daughter, Gabriella Ratcliffe, who was travelling with her mother, has had her British passport confiscated, so is unable to leave the country, and remains in Iran with her grandparents.

"Nazanin is a kind, caring and sociable person, who would do anything for her family. It will be torturing her to be stuck in solitary confinement, away from her baby and all her family, thinking about all the worry that they are going through and whether she will be able to see them again. I have not been able to reach her at all, or speak to her," said her husband, Richard Ratcliffe.

Iran continues to arbitrarily arrest journalists, artists, and human rights defenders without charge: Zaghari-Ratcliffe is among the most recent of these. The intention behind her arrest remains unclear.

"We again urge that Iran upholds its international human rights obligations, including the right to a fair trial: Zaghari-Ratcliffe must be released immediately, and the right to a fair trial must be upheld," added Hughes.

With diplomatic relations improving between Iran and the UK, ARTICLE 19 urges the UK, and the international community more widely, to increase pressure on Iran to fulfil its human rights obligations.

Furthermore, we call on Iran to uphold its national and international human rights obligations, including the right to fair trial, and demand the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other remaining journalists, artists, and human rights defenders in prison.

Notes:

Richard Ratcliffe, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband is available for interviews on: 07867198082 or free.nazaninratcliffe[@]gmail.com;

Richard Ratcliffe has started a petition, 'Free Nazanin': https://www.change.org/p/david-cameron-mp-free-nazanin-ratcliffe

Photos and videos are available here: https://www.facebook.com/Free-Nazanin-864780913667531

Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19
Mexico: Without free press there is no democracy

Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 3 May 2016 Cite as Article 19, Mexico: Without free press there is no democracy, 3 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573585e74.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Freedom of the press is a key indicator for the democracy of a country. In Mexico, serious human rights violations do not exist if they are not spoken about and dissenting voices can be silenced without any consequence.

Reality is more powerful than any official line. However, submerged by a human rights crisis, society is a witness to the shutting down of independent and inclusive spaces. Dissent is uncomfortable for government and state authorities, but more so it is indispensable to an informed society that can openly criticise.

May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day. In Mexico the outlook for media work is poor: since 2000, ARTICLE 19 has documented 93 murders of journalists, the most recent 20 during the presidency of Enrique Pena Nieto.

Journalists have found self-censorship is the only way to stay safe, particularly in regions where the greatest number of attacks are recorded. Without guarantees of safety, journalists have sacrificed freedom for security. Silence causes even greater harm when impunity prevails in the majority of attacks reported. In some regions, to tackle this, journalists have created networks to protect by themselves and speak out.

The deterioration of the freedom of the press is part of the reality that ARTICLE 19 has documented in our first report into attacks against the press in 2016.

From January to March 2016, 69 attacks against the press have been documented, including the murders of three journalists: Marco Hernandez Bautista, on 21 January; Anabel Flores Salazar, on 8 February; and Moises Dagdug Lutzow, on 20 February.

When broken down by region, Veracuz with 17, Guerrero with 11, and Mexico City with nine, account for the greatest number of attacks. In 2015, these regions also recorded the greatest number of attacks against the press.

Of those documented so far this year, public officials were pinpointed as the alleged perpetrators in 33 cases. Of those 33, 12 implicated members of the armed forces and federal police. The authorities often deny responsibility without initiating any investigation into implicated public officials, which obstructs justice and the right of the victims to the truth.

In the first quarter of 2016, ARTICLE 19 documented 15 threats, one attack against a communication platform, 19 physical or material attacks, 12 cases of harassment, eight acts of intimidation, six cases where journalists were illegally detained, and five cases of institutional violence (where the State uses its judicial system to punish critical press).

In total, 44 of the recorded attacks targeted men, 19 targeted women, and 6 were directed towards communication platforms.

Murders of journalists

On 21 January 2016, Marco Hernandez Bautista, correspondent for Noticias Voz e Imagen de Oaxaca, was shot and killed in the municipality of San Andres Huaxpaltepec, Oaxaca. He had been covering the local elections and their impact on powerful groups. He had also covered former presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's tour of the region and the situation of community radio in the area. He had already expressed fear of reprisals because of his work.

Anabel Flores Salazar, reporter for El Sol de Orizaba, was detained at dawn on 8 February 2016, by individuals dressed in military uniform. She was tortured and killed, and her body found on the side of the road, the following day, in the municipality of Tehuacan, Puebla. From the moment of her disappearance being reported, the authorities took steps to smear her reputation by stating that she was under investigation for links to organised crime, discounting Flores' work as a journalist as having any relevance to her murder. Flores had been investigating forced disappearances in the region and had used police sources for previous stories.

Moises Dagdug Lutzow, presenter on XEVX "La grande de Tabasco" and on local television channel TVX, was killed inside his own home, in Villahermosa, Tabasco, on 20 February. He has received death threats and had made changes to his home security system in slight of these facts. Dagdug Lutzow was publically critical of the administration of state governor, Arturo Nunez Jimenez.

Attacks online

Online attacks against journalists are becoming increasingly common. During the first three months of 2016, 15 online attacks were recorded: six threats through social media; eight cases of harassment (also through social media); and one cyber-attack against a communication platform.

The press is an easy target online. Such attacks can appear effective at censoring the media for a number of reasons: the consequences are not just the blocking of information but there are also financial consequences, such as the cost of repairs and the procuring of security services. At the time of the attacks, most online media platforms do not have access to the necessary tools for digital protection.

Any effort by the authorities to investigate attacks online, is normally fruitless. There is a tendency to disregard or give little credence to the facts, claiming that no crime has been committed, despite that these attacks often already exist on the statute books.

Critical and investigating journalists are faced with local and federal laws that allow the use of malware to spy and retain personal communications data. Regardless of whether these tactics are used or not in practice, the knowledge that these potential tools exist is enough to inhibit the free exercise of the right to freedom of expression, with chilling effect.

Violence against women journalists

Up until the end of March 2016, ARTICLE 19 documented seven attacks, where gender played a key role. These cases are characterised by having very specific effects of the personal, psycho-social, and professional lives of women journalists.

It is fitting to highlight that four of the documented cases occurred through social networks: two categorised as sexual harassment; one a threat of sexual violence; and another a death threat.

As has been outlined in M.I.E.D.O, a report documenting attacks against the press in 2015, attacks against women journalists and communicators, with a specific gender component, include: direct messages that aim to provoke, censure, or self-censure; invasions of privacy and spying; intimidation or editorial pressure; harassment and threats, particularly of sexual violence or threats directed at family members.

Attacks against community radio

Community radios fulfil a social function in the exercise of freedom of expression and Access to information. Communities are able to use community radio to raise their voices, express themselves and demand for their rights to be respected within a space where their cultural identity is recognised.

Attacks against community radio and their workers have not ceased. During the first quarter of 2016, ARTICLE 19 documented three attacks against community radio stations and their workers.

The state carries out disproportionate operations where federal police, and in some cases members of the armed forces, assault and detain those who work in community radio. The activities of the Federal Telecommunications Institute with regards to community and indigenous media are often reduced to just simply persecutions of community radio stations.

In light of the increasingly hostility against the press in Mexico, ARTICLE 19 calls on the Mexican government to take concrete steps to tackle impunity and prosecute those responsible for attacks against the media.

On World Press Freedom Day, ARTICLE 19 stands in solidarity with media workers and communicators who face untold risk in exercising their freedom of expression, in Mexico and worldwide.

Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19
Thailand: Five years on, international organisations renew their call for the release of Somyot Phrueksakasemsuk

Publisher Article 19 Publication Date 29 April 2016 Cite as Article 19, Thailand: Five years on, international organisations renew their call for the release of Somyot Phrueksakasemsuk, 29 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735864d4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

On the eve of the five-year anniversary of his detention, we, the undersigned international organisations, condemn the ongoing and arbitrary deprivation of liberty of human rights defender Somyot Phrueksakasemsuk and call on Thailand's authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him.

Somyot, 54, is currently incarcerated in Bangkok's Remand Prison, where he is serving a 10-year sentence following his conviction on charges of lese-majeste under Article 112 of Thailand's Criminal Code. Article 112 states that "whoever defames, insults or threatens the King, the Queen, the Heir to the throne or the Regent shall be punished with imprisonment of three to 15 years." This imprisonment is in addition to one more year, which was an earlier suspended sentence for defamation in another case.

Several UN human rights monitoring bodies have voiced concern over Somyot's deprivation of liberty. In an opinion issued on 30 August 2012, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) affirmed that Somyot's detention was arbitrary. The WGAD called on Thai authorities to release Somyot and award him compensation.

A former labor rights activist and magazine editor, Somyot was arrested on 30 April 2011, five days after he launched a petition campaign to collect 10,000 signatures required for a parliamentary review of Article 112. On 23 January 2013, the Bangkok Criminal Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison on two counts of lese-majeste. Somyot was convicted for allowing the publication of two satirical articles in the now-defunct magazine Voice of Taksin, of which he was the editor. The articles were authored by someone else and deemed by the Thai authorities to have insulted King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

On 19 September 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld the Bangkok Criminal Court's lese-majeste conviction of Somyot. The Court of Appeal failed to notify Somyot, his lawyer, and his family members that the hearing would take place on that day. On 19 November 2014, Somyot filed an appeal to the Supreme Court against his conviction.

Somyot's conviction and his detention do not comply with Thailand's international legal obligations. Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Thailand is a state party, provides that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right includes "freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds."

In its authoritative General Comment on Article 19, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), the body that monitors compliance with the provisions of the ICCPR by state parties, has affirmed that "all public figures, including those exercising the highest political authority such as heads of state and government, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition." The HRC specifically expressed concern regarding lese-majeste laws and stated that "imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty" for defamation.

On 23 September 2014, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) voiced its disappointment over the Court of Appeal's ruling that upheld Somyot's conviction. On 11 August 2015, OHCHR urged Thailand to amend the "vague and broad" lese-majeste law to bring it in line with international human rights standards. OHCHR also called for the immediate release of all those who had been jailed for the exercise of their right to freedom of expression.

We also condemn the flaws and delays in the judicial proceedings against Somyot and the courts' repeated refusals to grant him bail. Somyot has unsuccessfully petitioned for bail 16 times - the last time in November 2014.

Somyot is one of the few lese-majeste defendants who have appealed their convictions up to the Supreme Court. Somyot has maintained his innocence and has refused to plead guilty. In consideration of the very high conviction rate in Thailand's lese-majeste trials, most defendants plead guilty in order to obtain a significant reduction of their prison sentence and become eligible to apply for a pardon from the palace.

We urge the Thai government to end the persecution of Somyot and immediately set him free to return to his wife and family. In addition, we call on the Thai government to provide Somyot adequate compensation and effective remedy for the arbitrary deprivation of his liberty.

Signed:

Amnesty International

Article 19

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights

Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

Civil Rights Defenders

Clean Clothes Campaign

Committee to Protect Journalists

FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights

Fortify Rights

Front Line Defenders

Human Rights Watch

International Commission of Jurists

Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada

PEN International

Reporters Sans Frontieres / Reporters Without Borders

World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

Copyright notice: Copyright ARTICLE 19
'Alarming' reports of major violations in south-east Turkey  UN rights chief

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, 'Alarming' reports of major violations in south-east Turkey  UN rights chief, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735883140d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

10 May 2016 - The United Nations human rights chief today reported having received a succession of alarming reports about violations allegedly committed by Turkish military and security forces in south-east Turkey over the past few months, and urged the Turkish authorities to give independent investigators, including UN staff, unimpeded access to the area to verify the veracity of such reports.

"More and more information has been emerging from a variety of credible sources about the actions of security forces in the town of Cizre during the extended curfew there from mid-December until early March," the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a press release.

He added that the picture that is emerging, although still sketchy, is "extremely alarming," and strongly condemned violence and other unlawful acts committed by the youth groups and other non-state agents, allegedly affiliated with the PKK , in Cizre and other areas.

"I regret any loss of life as a result of terrorist acts wherever they have occurred," Mr. Zeid said. "However, while Turkey has a duty to protect its population from acts of violence, it is essential that the authorities respect human rights at all times while undertaking security or counter-terrorism operations - and international law prohibiting torture, extrajudicial killings, disproportionate use of lethal force and arbitrary detention must be observed."

The High Commissioner said he had received reports of unarmed civilians - including women and children - being deliberately shot by snipers, or by gunfire from tanks and other military vehicles.

"There also appears to have been massive, and seemingly highly disproportionate, destruction of property and key communal infrastructure - including buildings hit by mortar or shellfire, and damage inflicted on the contents of individual apartments and houses taken over by security forces," he said. "There are also allegations of arbitrary arrests, and of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, as well as reports that in some situations ambulances and medical staff were prevented from reaching the wounded."

On top of all this, he noted that there has been huge displacement triggered by the curfews and by subsequent fighting, shelling, killings and arrests in many places in the south-east.

"Most disturbing of all," the High Commissioner said, "are the reports quoting witnesses and relatives in Cizre which suggest that more than 100 people were burned to death as they sheltered in three different basements that had been surrounded by security forces."

"All these allegations, including those levelled at the groups fighting against the security forces, are extremely serious and should be thoroughly investigated, but do not appear to have been so far," Zeid said. "The Turkish Government has not responded positively to requests by my Office and other parts of the United Nations to visit the region to collect information first-hand."

The UN Human Rights Chief noted that more information has emerged from Cizre compared to other districts, towns and villages in the south-east - including Silopi, Nusaybin and the Sur district of Diyarbakyr, the main city in the region - which were sealed off for weeks on end, and are still next to impossible to access, because of the heavy security presence.

"In 2016, to have such a lack of information about what is happening in such a large and geographically accessible area is both extraordinary and deeply worrying," Mr. Zeid said. "This black-out simply fuels suspicions about what has been going on. I therefore renew my call for access for UN staff and other impartial observers and investigators, including civil society organizations and journalists."

Noting alarm bells rung by other international human rights entities in recent weeks, Mr. Zeid called for a prompt investigation and prosecution of all those suspected of being involved in violations of the right to life, including extrajudicial killings and disproportional use of lethal force, and stressed that the judiciary should act independently from all other branches of the State, including the military and the Executive.

He also called on the Turkish authorities to allow the return of all those who have been forcibly displaced, and urged them to ensure that, in future, curfews are limited to the minimum duration necessary and with due concern for human rights obligations and humanitarian considerations.

The High Commissioner noted Turkey's continued engagement with UN human rights bodies, including the recent visit of UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; the recent review of the country's record by the UN Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; and the ongoing review by the UN Committee against Torture which will issue its concluding observations on 13 May.
In Portugal, Ban urges end of 'horrible' war in Syria in meeting with Syrian students

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, In Portugal, Ban urges end of 'horrible' war in Syria in meeting with Syrian students, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735884840d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - As part of his visit to Lisbon, Portugal, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today met with a group of Syrian students, commending them for their strength and resilience and stressing that the only sustainable solution to the education crisis in Syria is ending the "horrible" war.

"I am greatly saddened and appalled by all that we see in Syria - the tremendous loss of life, the massive destruction and displacement," said Mr. Ban, adding that the UN is doing "everything in its power" to end the fighting.

"I want to thank all of you for sharing your stories and experiences. I commend you for your strength and resilience," Mr. Ban said.

"I know that the global response often focuses on immediate needs - and yet a growing number of Syrian students are unable to pursue their dreams and aspirations of higher education," he added.

The Secretary-General underscored that of the many Syrian students who are now refugees, only a small percentage continues their education in exile. Recalling that his own school was destroyed when he was a child, the Secretary-General acknowledged that the war is taking a "severe toll" on education throughout Syria.

"Education is vital for the future of individuals, and for the future of a country," he stressed. "It unleashes innovation and entrepreneurial skills that are important for economic activity and job creation, all critical for stability during times of reconstruction and for longer-term sustainable development."

Mr. Ban said he was encouraged that the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul later this month would provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of education in emergency situations.

In addition, he said that the high-level meeting on addressing large movements of refugees and migrants, to be held on 19 September, would also provide an opportunity to agree on equitable responsibility-sharing by Member States in responding to the refugee crisis created by wars.

This should include discussing the creation of more legal pathways, such as scholarship visas, which will allow young people to escape persecution and wars and continue their education, Mr. Ban said.

"The only sustainable solution to the education crisis in Syria is ending this horrible war. Until then, we must do all we can to provide young people with the educational opportunities that they and their countries need," the Secretary-General said.

"I have no doubt that the expertise, skills and knowledge you will gain in Portugal will contribute one day to rebuild Syria," he added.

During the meeting, the Secretary-General thanked the chairman of the Global Platform for Syrian Students, Former President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio, for his leadership and long-time commitment to "build bridges of understanding and inclusion among communities around the world."

The non-profit organization was founded in 2013 with the support of the Council of Europe, the League of Arab States, the International Organization for Migration and the Institute of International Education.

The Secretary-General gathered with the students following a meeting with Augusto Santos Silva, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal, in which they discussed the current political situation in Guinea-Bissau, as well as Mozambique and Brazil.

Mr. Ban is also scheduled to meet today with the Portuguese Prime Minister, Antonio Luis Santos da Costa.
Top UN and African Union officials condemn deadly violence at camp for displaced in North Darfur

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Top UN and African Union officials condemn deadly violence at camp for displaced in North Darfur, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735887240c.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, have jointly condemn Monday's attacks by armed groups on an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp and the shooting at a nearby market in Sortoni, North Darfur.

"The attacks resulted in the killing of five people, including two children and the wounding of several individuals, including a peacekeeper from Ethiopia serving with the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID)," said a statement issued by Mr. Ban's spokesperson in New York.

The two officials expressed their serious concern over the recent escalation of tensions between nomadic and IDP communities in the area, and called on them to refrain from acts of violence and resolve their disputes through dialogue.

"They urge the Sudanese authorities to investigate and promptly bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice," said the statement.

Underscoring that the continued implementation of UNAMID's mandate is imperative to maintain security and protect civilians across Darfur, including those displaced as a result of the most recent fighting in Jebel Marra between the Sudanese Government and the Sudan Liberation Army/Abdul Wahid, the two urged all conflict parties to resume negotiations without further delay, under the auspices of the AU High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and South Sudan (AUHIP), with a view to achieving a comprehensive political solution that addresses the root causes of the conflict.
Syria: first 10 days of May 'disappointing' for humanitarian work  UN advisor

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: first 10 days of May 'disappointing' for humanitarian work  UN advisor, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573588ae40b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - The first 10 days of May have been "disappointing" for aid work in Syria as the breakdown of a truce made aid deliveries dangerous and difficult to plan, the United Nations-appointed humanitarian adviser said today,as aid agencies announced that Syrian authorities had turned away a convoy to the long-besieged town of Daraya.

"The breakdown of the cessation of hostilities was a catastrophe for humanitarian work," Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, told reporters in Geneva, where the intra-Syrian talks, comprising political and humanitarian task forces, had been under way.

Mr. Egeland said that March had been a good month that had seen "very few people displaced and very few relief workers attacked and bombed." April, however, had been "terrible," with colleagues killed in many places and medical workers hardest-hit. Of late, the situation has varied from place to place, changing constantly. "It is very, very difficult for us to plan anything for the coming days," he said.

Humanitarian convoys have permissions to reach only less than half of the 905,000 people they hoped to serve this month. There has not been a greenlight to go to all of the locations in Aleppo, where people are bleeding and are in great need.

The good news is that today, the first humanitarian assessment mission on its way to Daraya, which is probably the place in Syria where the greatest unmet needs exist, he said.

Similar assessment missions or assistance missions are planned in the coming days to all of the remaining besieged areas yet to be reached, including Duma, Erbin, Zamalka and Zabadin, "In the next 10-day period, all of these could be covered," he said.

However, later in the day, the UN announced that the joint aid convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the UN was refused entry to Daraya, at the last Government checkpoint despite having obtained prior clearance by all parties that it could proceed.

"Daraya has been the site of relentless fighting for more than three and a half years, and we know the situation there is desperate," said Yacoub El Hillo, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria.

"Civilians trapped here are in need of humanitarian aid. We were hoping that today's delivery of life saving assistance would have been a first step and lead to more aid being allowed in. The UN continues to call for all parties to lift sieges on civilians in Syria," he underscored.

The convoy was due to provide essential medical supplies to the town's health facility, distribute nutrition items for children and lead a vaccination campaign for children under 12, as well as distribute hygiene materials. This would have been the first ever joint convoy aid delivery to the town, which has been under siege since November 2012.

"Communities in Daraya are in need of everything, and it's tragic that even the basics we were bringing today are being delayed unnecessarily. We must be able to provide aid impartially and safely," said Marianne Gasser, Head of the ICRC in Syria.

"There must be minimum conditions for independent humanitarian action in Syria. Today those conditions were not met. We urge the responsible parties to grant us this access immediately," she added.

Speaking ahead of his advisor, Mr. de Mistura explained that the cessation of hostilities will be among the main subjects of the next International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting to be held in Vienna. The ISSG, which along with Russia and the US, comprises the UN, the Arab League, the European Union and 16 countries, has been seeking a path forward to end the Syrian crisis for the past several months.
'Closely following' events in Brazil, Ban calls for calm and dialogue among all sectors of society

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, 'Closely following' events in Brazil, Ban calls for calm and dialogue among all sectors of society, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573588cd12.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - According to a United Nations spokesperson, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been following closely recent events in Brazil, after the country's Senate voted overnight to suspend President Dilma Rousseff.

"The Secretary-General calls for calm and dialogue among all sectors of society. He trusts that the country's authorities will honour Brazil's democratic processes, adhering to the rule of law and the Constitution," Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the top of the regular daily briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

He added that Mr. Ban is grateful for the important contributions of Brazil to the work of the United Nations.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and the European Union Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos discussed a broad range of issues at their meeting on Thursday evening.

Avramopoulos informed Poroshenko about the status of the European Commission's legislative proposal to scrap visa requirements for Ukrainians, currently under consideration of the EU institutions, the Ukrainian president's press office said.

The pair has agreed to coordinate Ukrainian and EC efforts to ensure a swift favorable outcome on the matter. "We must join our efforts to speed up introduction of visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens," the president said.

Avramopoulos welcomed the appointment of Yuriy Lutsenko as Ukraine's new Prosecutor General and expressed hope that the move will intensify the reform of the prosecution system and the fight against corruption.

The pair stressed the need to speed up introduction of the EU-Ukraine association agreement.

Poroshenko also informed the EU commissioner about the situation in Donbas and Ukraine's efforts to implement the Minsk agreements, including the results of the latest meeting of the Normandy Quartet foreign ministers in Berlin.

"It was noted once again that the EU sanctions against the Russian Federation will remain in place until Moscow fully implements the Minsk Agreements and restored the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including over Crimea," the press office said.

Poroshenko also pointed to what he described as a significant deterioration of the situation around Crimean Tatars' rights in Crimea.

"The situation with the rights of the Ukrainians, including the Crimean Tatars, is catastrophic," said the president. He added that in this situation the EU should not only continue but significantly toughen its sanctions against Russia.
Cambodia: UN experts urge end to attacks against civil society, human rights defenders

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Cambodia: UN experts urge end to attacks against civil society, human rights defenders, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735892340b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - United Nations human rights experts today called on the Government of Cambodia to stop a clampdown on civil society, human rights defenders, parliamentarians and UN personnel, and instead protect civil society and respect fundamental freedoms in the country.

"The escalation of criminal charges, questioning, court proceedings and public statements against them must cease," the experts said in a joint statement. "We urge the Cambodian authorities to ensure a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and civil society, which play a critical role in holding the Government to account and bringing benefits of human rights to the whole of Cambodian society."

The experts are Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Rhona Smith, Special Rapporteur on Cambodia.

Their appeal comes as the courts investigate an alleged extra-marital affair of an opposition parliamentarian, as well as the related allegations of bribery brought against staff members of a prominent human rights organization known as ADHOC. An anti-terrorism department inexplicably initiated these charges, and then anti-corruption unit further pursued the case after ADHOC had provided legal and material support.

"We are also troubled by the actions taken by Cambodian authorities to deter and disperse peaceful demonstrations and arrest individuals protesting what they see as Government's mounting persecution of civil society and unjustified restrictions of fundamental freedoms in the country," they stressed.

Accusatory statements by senior Government officials towards the participants of the so-called 'Black Monday' campaign and labelling peaceful protesters as 'rebel groups' are highly regrettable, the experts noted, stressing that such actions are clearly inconsistent with Cambodia's obligation under international human rights law to respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

Members of ADHOC have been accused of bribery for providing legal and financial support to a young woman at the centre of the extra-marital affair scandal. The authorities claim that the non-governmental organization (NGO) 'bribed' her to deny the affair.

ADHOC members maintain that the support was part of their regular human rights work and given at the individual's request for sustenance and transport to government offices for questioning. The staff members face five to ten years in prison, if convicted.

"The investigators' relentless quest for a confession by the young woman, their subsequent outright reliance on it to initiate the other 'bribery' cases against defenders, as well as public statements by senior State officials portraying the accused as guilty, generally suggest that this entire episode is nothing more than a politically-motivated persecution of civil society. It also raises serious questions about woefully flawed due process," the experts said.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
Yemen's food situation on verge of 'humanitarian disaster'  UN

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Yemen's food situation on verge of 'humanitarian disaster'  UN, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358950371.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

12 May 2016 - The food security and nutrition situation in Yemen will turn into a humanitarian disaster unless urgent funding is accessible for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to deliver timely aid in the April/May cereal and vegetable planting season and the summer fishing season, and vaccinate livestock before winter, the United Nations agency has warned.

Around 14.4 million people  over half of Yemen's population  urgently need food security and livelihood assistance, FAO reported earlier this week. The volume of food required in Yemen is far greater than humanitarian actors can provide. Agriculture must be an integral part of the humanitarian response to prevent Yemen's dire food security situation from worsening.

Increasing households' resilience to food security threats will contribute to saving many lives. Emergency agricultural interventions are critical to preserving household. Food production and income generation are especially vital in hard-to-reach areas where aid access is limited.

The factors negatively affecting the food security include a reported desert locust outbreak, which threatens the livelihoods of more than 100,000 farmers, beekeepers and herders in five governorates, and the April flooding, which put 49,000 people in need of urgent assistance, the FAO said.
UN envoy urges South Sudan to implement pledges to address sexual violence crimes

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN envoy urges South Sudan to implement pledges to address sexual violence crimes, 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735896740d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 May 2016 - Concluding a four-day visit to Juba, South Sudan, the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict has urged high-level authorities of the Transitional Government of National Unity to implement commitments made to address sexual violence crimes.

"Successful implementation of the Peace Agreement will require that sexual violence crimes are monitored, tracked and reported, and are addressed in all transitional justice processes," stressed the Special Representative, Zainab Hawa Bangura, in a press release.

The Special Representative said the commitments are contained in a Joint Communique that she and President Salva Kiir signed on 11 October 2014, as well as in a Unilateral Communique issued on 18 December 2014 by current First Vice-President Riek Machar.

In their respective communiques, the signatories had committed to immediately cease and prevent the commission of sexual violence crimes, hold perpetrators accountable, improve services to survivors, and ensure that sexual violence considerations are included in the ongoing processes of security sector reform, as well as disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, Ms. Bangura said.

"I commend the steps taken by both signatories to put in place arrangements to facilitate the implementation of these commitments, including the designation of High-Level Focal Points, the creation of Technical Working Groups and the development of Implementation Plans, as well as the signing of undertakings by 53 senior commanders of the SPLA-IO [Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition]," the Special Representative said.

Despite these commitments and the progress made to implement them, Ms. Bangura emphasized that sexual violence crimes have continued to be systematically committed in the context of the conflict.

''Now, more than ever before, it is imperative for the authorities of the Transitional Government of National Unity to ensure accountability for these crimes," she added.

During her visit, the Special Representative engaged with the leadership of the SPLA and the South Sudanese National Police Service (SSNPS), who she said have committed to taking concrete and time-bound actions to address sexual violence in accordance with Security Council resolutions 1960 (2010) and 2106 (2013).

"My Office will pursue its support to the SPLA and SSNPS in developing Action Plans, which will provide a structured and comprehensive framework through which to address sexual violence crimes," Ms. Bangura said.

The Special Representative, who visited South Sudan at the invitation of the Government, met with President Kiir, First Vice-President Machar and other key government officials. She also held meetings with women's groups providing services to survivors, the humanitarian community, and the diplomatic corps.

This visit follows Ms. Bangura's previous visit in 2014, during which she met with survivors and survivors' groups, and underscored the urgent need for resources to support multi-sectoral services for survivors, who often suffer trauma, marginalization and stigmatization.
Yemen: UN-brokered peace talks continue in parallel meetings

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Yemen: UN-brokered peace talks continue in parallel meetings, 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5735899340d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 May 2016 - The United Nations-facilitated Yemeni peace talks continued today in parallel meetings, with a committee making headway by exploring a proposal to release 50 per cent of all prisoners and detainees held by the parties before the month of Ramadan.

According to the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, the political committee discussed aspects of the resumption of State institutions and political process. The parties discussed the need to provide an enabling political environment.

In the security committee, the parties began to present their visions on withdrawals and the handover of weapons, specifically mechanisms of withdrawal and assembling of forces.

The prisoners and detainees committee considered a proposal to release 50 per cent of all prisoners and detainees held by the parties before the Holy month of Ramadan. The discussion included a review of the necessary implementation mechanisms and selection criteria of initial releases. The delegates agreed to develop proposals for upcoming meetings.

The delegations reaffirmed that their discussions will be guided by the three reference points; the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative and Implementation Mechanism, the National Dialogue Outcomes and the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. They renewed their commitment to dialogue as the only means to put an end to the war and return to peaceful and orderly transition.

"I am pleased by the seriousness demonstrated by both parties," the Special Envoy said, urging the media to avoid disseminating rumours that disrupt the peace process. "We are hopeful that this collaboration will lead to real peace and I call upon everyone to support Yemen during this critical phase."

The three committees will reconvene tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile in New York, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said that while conflict continued in some parts of Yemen, the cessation of hostilities was largely holding in the past month.

This provided some opportunities for humanitarian partners to expand responses in certain areas, conduct assessments or directly monitor activities that up to that point had been monitored remotely, Mr. Dujarric said.

In Sa'ada Governorate, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) was able to re-start the rehabilitation of a water facility in Kitaf district, serving some 10,000 people, which had been damaged by airstrikes. The cessation also coincided with an ongoing food distribution to about 270,000 people in the area.

Emergency clean water was trucked to Taiz Governorate, benefitting over 45,000 people, and three mobile health and nutrition teams were deployed in Taiz City, where partners delivered medical supplies for over 130,000 people, the spokesman said.

From 12-15 May, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will conduct a joint mission to Sana'a, to gauge the current humanitarian situation and the operational response.
Iraq: UN envoy condemns 'cowardly' bomb attacks in Sadr City and Baquba

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Iraq: UN envoy condemns 'cowardly' bomb attacks in Sadr City and Baquba, 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573589cd40b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 May 2016 - The United Nations envoy for Iraq has strongly condemned the car bomb attack that occurred earlier today in a busy market in Sadr City, claiming many lives and leaving scores injured.

"These are cowardly terrorist attacks on civilians who have done nothing but going about their normal daily lives," said Jan Kubis, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Iraq, in a press release issued today by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

This latest attack comes after a car bomb was detonated on 9 May near a restaurant in Baquba, which also left large numbers of casualties.

"Such acts of terrorist violence are certainly against all the principles of decency and humanity, and as such must be strongly condemned," Mr. Kubis stressed.

"I call on the authorities to do their utmost to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice, and express my deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and wish the injured a speedy recovery," he added.
In Madagascar, Ban calls for end to corruption, reports on 'alarming' cost of hunger

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, In Madagascar, Ban calls for end to corruption, reports on 'alarming' cost of hunger, 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/573589eb40d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 May 2016 - During his visit to Madagascar today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Malagasy parliamentarians to end the corruption that has weakened their society, while launching a report on the cost of hunger in the island nation.

"Your elections last year represented an important milestone that ended five years of political crisis," Mr. Ban said in an address to the joint congress of both the Senate and the National Assembly of Madagascar, a country which lies off the southeast coast of Africa.

This is the third and last stop of the UN chief's trip to the region which began last Saturday, and included the Seychelles and Mauritius.

"Madagascar is at a crossroads. I see huge challenges and even greater opportunities," he said, underlining the existence of widespread poverty, weak economic growth and high unemployment, as well as the country's water which is reportedly "among the worst in the world."

"This Parliament has the democratic legitimacy to guide Madagascar in meeting the challenges ahead. You can end the corruption that has weakened Malagasy society. You can help fight the illegal trafficking of natural treasures. In this way, you can be fully accountable to the voters," the Secretary-General stressed.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) meets with Honore Rakotomanana (centre), President of the Senate of Madagascar, and Jean Max Rakotomamonjy, President of the National Assembly of Madagascar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) and wife Yoo Soon-taek tour a Lemur Park near Antananarivo, Madagascar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is welcomed by President Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana of Madagascar, on his arrival in Antananarivo. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is awarded a national decoration of the Republic of Madagascar by President Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana of Madagascar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2nd left) with President Hery Martial Rajaonarimampianina Rakotoarimanana (2nd right) as well as Mr. Ban's wife, Yoo Soon-taek, and First Lady Voahangy Rajaonarimampianina (right). UN Photo/Mark Garten

A member of the audience takes a snapshot of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as he delivers his remarks. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a group photo following a town hall meeting with UN staff members serving in Madagascar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre left) and wife Yoo Soon-taek (centre right) in a group photo with members of the UN Country Team serving in Madagascar. UN Photo/Mark Garten

  Noting that military operations "can never excuse human rights violations - here or anywhere," the UN chief said there is no place for torture in the modern world, including in Madagascar: "I urge you to end all rights violations, including mob justice and extrajudicial killings," he insisted, applauding the country for abolishing the death penalty.

Thanking the active network of female Parliamentarians who champion the cause of nutrition, Mr. Ban recalled that Madagascar is a member of his Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.

"I commend your commitment to improving nutrition. Nutrition is about more than feeding people. It requires attention to health, agriculture, education, women's empowerment and water," he said, declaring the launch of the UN report on the cost of hunger in Madagascar.

"It paints an alarming picture. Nearly one out of two children here suffer from stunting. This is a tragedy for individuals and a disaster for development. Undernutrition costs more than a billion and a half dollars each year in Madagascar. That is almost 15 per cent of GDP. The human toll is immeasurable," he warned.

Later, at a press conference with Malagasy President Hery Rajaonarimampianina, Mr. Ban told reporters that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can help Madagascar open a new future.

"I am pleased that it is widely supported by the country's officials and development partners. The United Nations will do everything possible to help this country reach the Sustainable Development Goals here," he said.

He also commended Madagascar for being among the more than 175 countries that have signed the Paris Agreementon climate change, and urged the Parliament to ratify it immediately.
UN human rights panel condemns civilian attacks in Syria; calls for accountability

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 11 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN human rights panel condemns civilian attacks in Syria; calls for accountability, 11 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358a2240d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

11 May 2016 - Strongly condemning recent attacks on civilians, hospitals and clinics, and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Syria, a United Nations-mandated human rights inquiry today called on all parties to cease the unlawful attacks and return to a full cessation of hostilities.

"These incidents demonstrate the undeniable fact that this conflict has repeatedly exacted its heaviest toll on civilians," said Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, in a press release issued today by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

"This flagrant disregard for international humanitarian law is not new, but rather is the continuation of a well-established trend of unlawfully attacking medical sites and personnel, places of refuge, and infrastructure necessary for civilian life," he stressed.

Specifically, the Commission condemned in the strongest terms recent attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, notably on hospitals and clinics in Aleppo city, and on a camp for internally displaced persons in Idlib.

"Aerial bombardments, ground shelling and rocket fire have consistently been used in deliberate, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on areas where Syrians civilians live and where they struggle to survive," the Commission said.

Moreover, the Commission emphasized that since the attacks against Al-Quds hospital in Aleppo governorate on 27 April, there have been more than a half dozen attacks against other medical facilities in the area, all of which are specifically protected sites under international humanitarian law. Scores of civilians and medical personnel have been wounded or killed in these attacks, and the attack on 5 May on the Kamounah camp for IDPs in Sarmada, Idlib, also reportedly killed and injured dozens of civilians.

In recent weeks, markets, bakeries and a water station have also been aerially bombarded. With the 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 stressed.

"At a time in which the cessation of hostilities agreement has increasingly deteriorated, it is paramount that all parties to the conflict and those States seeking a peaceful resolution, demand civilian protection measures be taken," said the Commission, calling on all parties to cease the unlawful attacks on civilian areas, especially humanitarian locations and specially protected sites under international humanitarian law.

Destruction in Salah Ed Din neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria. Photo: OCHA/Josephine Guerrero

The Commission said it has repeatedly noted that international humanitarian law's 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, and some are war crimes, the Commission said.

"Failure to respect the laws of war must have consequences for the perpetrators," Mr. Pinheiro stressed. "Accountability must be part of the process of returning Syria to peace. Until the culture of impunity is uprooted, civilians will continue to be targeted, victimized and brutally killed."

The Commission said it strongly supports all efforts to find a political solution to the conflict, including a return to a full cessation of hostilities. It added that it remains committed to fulfilling its mandate to investigate and document all violations occurring in the context of the Syrian armed conflict, regardless of who commits them.

The Commission was established by the Human Rights Council in August 2011 to investigate and record all violations of international human rights law and allegations of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Commission is also tasked with identifying, where possible, those responsible for these violations with a view to ensuring that perpetrators are held accountable.

In addition to Mr. Pinheiro, the Commission consists of Karen Koning AbuZayd, Special Adviser on the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants, and Carla del Ponte and Vitit Muntarbhorn, who serve as Commissioners.

The Commission will present an oral update to the Human Rights Council in Geneva during an interactive dialogue at its 32nd session in June.
UN experts urge Sri Lanka to adopt measures to fight torture and strengthen justice system

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN experts urge Sri Lanka to adopt measures to fight torture and strengthen justice system, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358a9b40b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

10 May 2016 - Two United Nations experts have urged the Government of Sri Lanka to replace the legal framework that allowed human rights violations to occur and to establish democratic institutions in line with international human rights standards.

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, in a press release issued today by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The experts, speaking at the end of their official visit to Sri Lanka on 7 May, welcomed the fact 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 re-instatement of the Constitutional Council. But more reforms are needed before Sri Lanka can be considered to be on a path to sustainable democratization, the two experts stressed.

The testimonies I heard from victims, including detainees, who took the risk of speaking to me despite safety concerns, persuade me that torture is a common practice inflicted in the course of both regular criminal and national security-related investigations, said Mr. Mendez. 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.

The nature of the Sri Lankan criminal justice system may indirectly incentivize the use of torture, Mr. Mendez noted, highlighting in particular the practice of extracting a confession to build a case.

I have been assured by the authorities that confessions alone are not sufficient evidence for a conviction; however, in practice, 90 per cent of convictions are either solely or mainly based on a confession, he said.

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, Ms. Pinto added.

Call on Government to repeal Prevention of Terrorism Act

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, the experts 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 stressed.

Delays in the administration of justice

The two experts also highlighted significant delays in the administration of justice in Sri Lanka.

Even in ordinary cases that are non-political and not related to the armed conflict, judicial proceedings can last years. Such delays often amount to a denial of justice, especially for victims and suspects remanded in pre-trial detention, Ms. Pinto said.

Suspects are subjected to lengthy remand periods with many being detained for years, some even up to 15 years before trial. I urge Sri Lanka to make use of bail and alternatives to incarceration, especially for non-violent offences, Mr. Mendez said.

The administration of justice must be more transparent and democratic. Transparent procedures and institutions play an important role in strengthening democracy and protecting from arbitrariness, said Ms. Pinto. The expert recommended that the Sri Lankan authorities urgently review and publicize the procedures for the appointment, transfer, promotion and discipline of judges and State counsels.

In this context, she noted the extreme politicization of the removal procedure in force for judges of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. Recalling the highly controversial impeachment of the Chief Justice in 2013, Ms. Pinto urged the authorities to replace this procedure with one that safeguards independence and provides for all due process guarantees.

I am also concerned that the diversity of the population is not reflected in the composition of the judiciary, the Attorney-General's office, or the police, or in the language in which proceedings are conducted. The authorities should take immediate measures to increase the representation of minorities in these bodies and ensure the availability of quality interpretation and translation, she added.

I did not receive any complaint of mistreatment in prison, but I am deeply concerned about the more than deplorable prison conditions, including deficient infrastructure and severe overcrowding, Mr. Mendez said. In addition, I have come across cases of prolonged or indefinite isolation in Terrorism Investigation Division detention facilities. These combined conditions constitute in themselves a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

Regarding transitional justice, the experts concluded that serious reforms to the justice sector should not only reinforce its independence, but also contribute to guarantees of non-recurrence. If implemented in good faith and trusted by victims, transitional justice measures can also fulfil the State's obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish acts of torture, thereby contributing to preventing their persistence in the future.

Mr. Mendez, who has completed an end-of-mission statement, will present a comprehensive report containing his findings and recommendations to the Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2017. Ms. Pinto, who has also completed an end-of-mission statement, will present her comprehensive report in June 2017.
Senior UN aid official condemns killings of displaced civilians by armed local tribes in North Darfur

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Senior UN aid official condemns killings of displaced civilians by armed local tribes in North Darfur, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358b0d210.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

10 May 2016 - The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan has condemned the reported shooting deaths of six civilians, including two children, by armed local tribes in Sortony  next to a site for recently displaced people from the mountainous Jebel Marra area in North Darfur.

The killing of the displaced people [IDP] and the injuring of an unconfirmed number of other individuals, including a peacekeeper from the African Union-UN Mission in Darfur [UNAMID], occurred after a reported rise in tensions between displaced people and armed tribesmen over cattle raiding. The injured are being treated at a medical clinic in Sortony, said the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, Marta Ruedas.

Since early 2016, increased hostilities between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Abdul Wahid faction of the Sudan Liberation Army have forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes to other areas in the Darfur region, including Sortony.

Emergency relief to tens of thousands of displaced people from the Jebel Marra area, which straddles three Darfur states, has been ongoing since February.

In Sortony, 33 Sudanese aid workers from five national and international organisations are dispensing emergency relief that includes food, water and sanitation. The Government's Water and Environmental Sanitation department and the national non-governmental organization Anhar Peace for Development Organisation are among those providing emergency shelter, household supplies and nutritional supplements to treat those suffering from malnutrition, including children, elaborated Ms. Ruedas.

The humanitarian community relies on UNAMID's convoy escorts to provide timely emergency relief and civilian protection to those affected by conflict.

The Sortony IDP site is adjacent to that of UNAMID. Since 2007, UNAMID has been working in Darfur, protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian assistance delivery by UN agencies and other aid organizations and providing safety and security to humanitarian personnel.
African Union-UN mission launches campaign in west Darfur against use of child soldiers

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, African Union-UN mission launches campaign in west Darfur against use of child soldiers, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358b35313.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

10 May 2016 - The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has launched a campaign in west Darfur, Sudan, to raise awareness on the need to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers by armed forces and groups across the region.

In a press release, UNAMID said the campaign  whose theme is 'No Child Soldiers  Protect Darfur'  was launched by its Sector West Child Protection Unit (CPU) at Krinding (1) Camp for internally displaced persons in El-Geneina, west Darfur, bringing together more than 90 participants, including women and youth groups, children and local community leaders including Sheik of Sheikhs (prominent leaders) of the camp.

Addressing the gathering, UNAMID CPU Team Leader in West Darfur, Paul Bugunya, noted that the campaign is in line with the Mission's mandate to protect civilians, stressing that it also aims to ensure that children are afforded an opportunity to grow and attend school.

During the launch ceremony, UNAMID distributed vests inscribed with messages that promote the protection of children and discourage adults against the use of children as child soldiers. Copies of the definition of child soldier according to the Paris Principles of 2007 were also distributed.

In addition, the UNAMID CPU briefed the internally displaced persons on the seriousness of violating children's rights. The unit also urged the community to discourage children younger than 18 years old from enlisting into the armed forces or armed groups, and to report any forms of abuse or violations of child rights to child protection officers and local authorities for investigation.

Also speaking during the campaign's launch was Ahmed Mohamed Issa, a youth leader in the camp, who explained that some children, after observing the vulnerability of their families, decide to join armed groups as a way of seeking protection through the arms they legally obtain when they are recruited.

None of us would love to see his/her child in the armed forces or with armed groups, but as internally displaced persons, people feel deep pain when our women and children go to farms, collect firewood or water and they are harassed, he said.

Speaking on behalf of the women in the camp, Sadia Ahmed noted that poverty is one of the key drivers of child recruitment into armed forces or armed groups in Darfur.

The UNAMID CPU intends to roll out the campaign throughout the region in the next few months.
The European Parliament has adopted a resolution on the situation with Crimean Tatars living in Crimea during its debates in Strasbourg about the state of democracy and human rights in the world.

MEPs strongly condemn the decision of the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea on April 26, 2016 to ban the Mejlis, the legitimate and recognized representative body of ethnic Crimean Tatars.

They demand the immediate reversal of this decision, which they say constitutes "systemic and targeted persecution of Crimean Tatars" and "is an attempt to expel them from Crimea, which is their historical motherland".

In the document they urge the Russian Federation, "which under international humanitarian law bears ultimate responsibility as the occupying state in Crimea, to uphold the legal order in Crimea, protect citizens from arbitrary judicial or administrative measures, and conduct independent international investigations of any violations of international law or human rights committed by the occupying forces and the so-called local authorities."

The resolution also reiterates parliament's condemnation of "the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation" on 20 February 2014, which it says was a "breach of international law", and also its "full commitment to the sovereignty, political independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders".
UN regrets execution of six people in Afghanistan

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 10 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN regrets execution of six people in Afghanistan, 10 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358b5440b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

10 May 2016 - The United Nations human rights arm has expressed regret over the execution of six people in Afghanistan on Sunday, amid serious concerns about compliance with fair trial standards, and reports about the widespread use of torture and ill-treatment as a means of extracting confessions.

We fear that there could be more executions in the near future, said Spokesperson Rupert Colville of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

International law requires that the death penalty may only be carried out in line with a final judgement rendered by a competent court after a legal process with all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial, including legal representation and the right to appeal to a court of higher jurisdiction, he said.

The Government of Afghanistan has publicly stated that, based on its review, all fair trial rights were respected in these cases. But, the criteria and methodology used in this review have not been made public and the review lacked transparency, he noted.

Given this lack of transparency and substantial concerns about compliance with fair trial rights in other cases, serious doubts about Afghanistan's compliance with international law remain, he said.

While OHCHR recognizes the increasing security challenges faced by the authorities and growing public pressure to reduce the violence, there is no evidence to confirm that the death penalty is a stronger deterrent than other forms of punishment.

The Office urged the President to refrain from approving death sentences and immediately introduce an official moratorium on the use of death penalty. The Afghan authorities were also urged to expedite legal reform, including of the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, to allow for death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has also expressed regret over the execution of the six people. The UN notes that there is no conclusive evidence of the deterrent value of the death penalty, and that the use of capital punishment does not contribute to public safety.

UNAMA encourages the Government of Afghanistan to expedite legal reform, which would allow death sentences to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Ban condemns deadly terrorist attack against police officers in Egypt

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Ban condemns deadly terrorist attack against police officers in Egypt, 9 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358b6940d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

9 May 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday, which reportedly killed eight police officers, his spokesperson said.

The Secretary-General conveys his condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of Egypt, said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The United Nations stands firmly with the people of Egypt in their fight against terrorism, he added.
Syria: UN adviser on preventing genocide expresses outrage at ongoing civilian attacks

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: UN adviser on preventing genocide expresses outrage at ongoing civilian attacks, 9 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358b8d40b.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

9 May 2016 - The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed his outrage today at the ongoing indiscriminate and seemingly calculated attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Syria.

In a note to correspondents, Mr. Dieng said that between 27 April and 5 May, there were at least six attacks on medical facilities by different parties to the conflict in the north-western governorate of Aleppo alone, marking the deadliest two weeks since the cessation of hostilities accord, which came into effect on 27 February.

These attacks reflect the continued blatant disrespect of international humanitarian law by all parties to the conflict, and may constitute war crimes, the Special Adviser stated. The international community cannot allow the perpetrators of flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law to enjoy impunity.

Mr. Dieng emphasized that just a few days ago, in its Resolution 2286 on health care in armed conflict, the Security Council had reiterated the need for Member States to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law and ensure that responsible parties are held to account.

It is crucial that the Council consistently apply this principle, he stressed.

Specifically, Mr. Dieng noted that the attack against the Al Quds Hospital on 27 April reportedly killed 55 civilians, including the last paediatrician in the city, while on 5 May, an attack on the Kamouna Internally Displaced Persons camp in northern Idlib governorate killed at least 30 civilians.

Member States have a duty not to fail the Syrian people yet again and to uphold their pledge to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the Special Adviser said.

In this respect, he said that the international community should step up its commitment to end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes in Syria and thus contribute to preventing new atrocities from being committed.

For this reason, I strongly support the Secretary-General's repeated calls to the Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, Mr. Dieng said.

In a humanitarian update, a spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today noted that on 4 and 8 May, two inter-agency convoys delivered critical life-saving assistance to 3,250 people in the hard-to-reach Syrian town of Qaratien in Rural Homs province, with food, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, as well as other relief items.

On 6 May, an inter-agency convoy targeting 35,000 people in the hard-to-reach town of Bloudan, in rural Damascus, delivered essential relief items, including water and sanitation, health, hygiene and education supplies. This was the second of two convoys to the town, the first one of which was in mid-March.

Since the beginning of 2016, inter-agency operations have reached more than 780,000 civilians in need in besieged, hard-to-reach areas and across conflict lines. Many of these people have been reached more than once.
UN refugee agency notes 'profound concern' over Kenya's plan to close refugee camps

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN refugee agency notes 'profound concern' over Kenya's plan to close refugee camps, 9 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358bef1ba.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

9 May 2016 - The United Nations refugee agency today expressed profound concern over the Government of Kenya's announcement this past week that it intends to end the hosting of refugees because of economic, security and environmental burdens, and called on the Government to reconsider its decision.

On 6 May, Kenya's Ministry of Interior said that the Government had disbanded its Department of Refugee Affairs and was working on a mechanism for the closure of the country's refugee camps  a move that could affect as many as 600,000 people, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a press release.

For almost a quarter of a century Kenya has played a vital role in East Africa and the Horn of Africa in providing asylum to people forced to flee persecution and war. The safety of hundreds of thousands of Somalis, South Sudanese and others has hinged on Kenya's generosity and its willingness to be a leading beacon in the region for international protection. Tragically, the situations in Somalia and South Sudan that cause people to flee are still unresolved today, the agency added.

UNHCR said it has been, and will continue to be, in touch with the Kenyan Government to fully understand the implications of its statement.

We recognize that Kenya has played an extraordinary role over many years as one of the world's frontline major refugee-hosting nations, and that inevitably this has had many consequences for the country and its population, the agency said.

UNHCR said that, for these reasons, it has been a prominent advocate for robust international support for Kenya, including support for host communities and a careful listening to their concerns.

In today's global context of some 60 million people forcibly displaced, it is more important than ever that international asylum obligations prevail and are properly supported, UNHCR said.

In light of this, and because of the potentially devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of people that premature ending of refugee hosting would have, UNHCR is calling on the Government of Kenya to reconsider its decision and to avoid taking any action that might be at odds with its international obligations towards people needing sanctuary from danger and persecution, the agency added.
Egypt: UN experts report worsening crackdown on protest

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Egypt: UN experts report worsening crackdown on protest, 9 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358cc240d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

9 May 2016 - Three United Nations human rights experts today urged the Egyptian Government to put an end to the disproportionate reactions against the exercise of the rights to assembly and expression in the country.

"The worsening crackdown on peaceful protest and dissent in Egypt represents a further setback for an open political environment and a vibrant civil society," saidthe UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression, David Kaye; on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai; and on human rights defenders, Michel Forst.

"The use of force against civil society and against the expression of dissenting views on political issues contribute to a deteriorating climate for the promotion and protection of fundamental rights that form the essential components of a democratic society," they stressed.

The rights experts condemned the authorities' harsh response to the largest protests in Egypt in the past two years with mass arrests and use of force in a continued clampdown on peaceful protestors, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders. They also criticised the storming of Egypt's Journalists' Syndicate by security forces on 1 May, a first since its founding 75 years ago.

On 15 and 25 April, protests took place across Egypt and security forces responded with tear gas and use of force to disperse the protestors. Over 380 protestors, journalists and human rights defenders were arrested during the demonstrations. Security forces also stopped pedestrians in Cairo and inspected their social media accounts for 'anti-Government publications' and 'inciting pictures".

The UN human rights experts reiterated their call on the Egyptian authorities to cease curtailing public freedoms and instead take active steps to encourage the peaceful and legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of expression and assembly in the country.

In addition, they voiced particular concern over the use of national security provisions and counterterrorism legislation to target individuals exercising their rights, in particular journalists and human rights activists.

"Security concerns should not be used as a pretext to harass journalists, lawyers and protestors and ban peaceful political opposition, which will undermine not only public debate and fundamental rights, but security and long-term stability," the experts stressed.

Independent experts or special rapporteurs are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.
Three years of violence halt government health services in Central African Republic  UN

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 9 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, Three years of violence halt government health services in Central African Republic  UN, 9 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358cdd40d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

9 May 2016 - More than three years of violence have dismantled the already very fragile health structures in the Central African Republic (CAR), bringing the government service delivery capacity to a complete stop, and leaving thousands of people vulnerable to diseases and with little access to health services, the United Nations humanitarian aid office said over the weekend.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that access to health is very poor throughout the country, except in the capital Bangui, and insecurity also impedes or delays responses elsewhere.

Currently 1 million people are assisted by 31 health cluster partners including non-government organizations and UN agencies. Aid agencies use mobile services to help thousands of displaced in areas not covered by the Ministry of Health's basic facilities.

Preventive activities, primary and secondary health care, all functional referral hospitals, early warning mechanisms and rapid outbreak response capacity and psychosocial support remain essentially reliant on humanitarian actors, OCHA said.
UN chief 'following closely' political developments in Comoros

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 6 May 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN chief 'following closely' political developments in Comoros, 6 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358cfd40d.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

6 May 2016 - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that he is following closely political developments in Comoros in the wake of the recent judgment of the Constitutional Court ordering a partial re-run of the elections for President and for Governor of Anjouan.

"The Secretary-General reiterates his commitment to supporting the efforts of the Comorian authorities to create a climate of confidence, conducive to peaceful, inclusive and credible elections," said a statement issued by his spokesperson.

According to the statement, the UN will work together with the African Union in this regard.

"The Secretary-General urges the Government and all the actors involved in the electoral process to respect the legislation and the established rules, in conformity with the protocole d'accord of 15 March 2016," the statement concluded.

The new polls are scheduled for 11 May.
Syria: Comprehensive humanitarian access needed after aid delivery to besieged Daraya thwarted and followed by deadly shelling

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Syria: Comprehensive humanitarian access needed after aid delivery to besieged Daraya thwarted and followed by deadly shelling, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358d834.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Syrian government's refusal today to allow a sorely needed humanitarian aid convoy into the town of Daraya is a cruel reality check of the suffering of thousands of civilians besieged there since 2012, Amnesty International said.

The cancellation of the delivery was followed by mortar shelling of Daraya by government forces, killing a father and his son and injuring at least five other civilians. The delivery would have been the first since the siege began more than three years ago but was eventually cancelled after Syrian government forces held it up for some seven hours outside Daraya. It included medical and educational items and baby milk but, critically, did not include food.

"Not only was the limited aid long overdue, and it excluded food, the number one need for thousands of civilians, but it was blocked and then followed by what appears to have been indiscriminate shelling, killing and injuring civilians," said Neil Sammonds, Amnesty International's Researcher on Syria.

"Thousands of civilians in Daraya need food and other essential humanitarian aid. They need also to be spared from relentless and unlawful military attacks by government forces. This is not only what the people of Daraya need to survive, but also what is demanded by international humanitarian law, UN Security Council resolutions and by the International Syria Support Group."

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Syria: Armed opposition groups committing war crimes in Aleppo city

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 13 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Syria: Armed opposition groups committing war crimes in Aleppo city, 13 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358dc54.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo city have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate attacks that have struck civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques, killing and injuring civilians and displaying a shameful disregard for human life, said Amnesty International.

The organization has gathered strong evidence of serious violations from eyewitnesses, and obtained the names of at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, who were killed by attacks in Sheikh Maqsoud between February and April 2016. More than 700 civilians were also injured, according to the local field hospital. Video evidence seen by Amnesty International shows artillery shelling, rocket and mortar attacks carried out by the Fatah Halab (Aleppo Conquest) coalition of armed groups in the area, targeting the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) controlling the area.

"The relentless pummelling of Sheikh Maqsoud has devastated the lives of civilians in the area. A wide array of armed groups from the Fatah Halab coalition has launched what appear to be repeated indiscriminate attacks that may amount to war crimes," said Magdalena Mughrabi, interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

There are around 30,000 civilians living in Sheikh Maqsoud which is a predominately Kurdish part of Aleppo city. The area is controlled by YPG forces and surrounded from the northern, eastern and western fronts by opposition armed groups who have targeted it from all three sides. Syrian government forces control areas south of Sheikh Maqsoud. In 2014, YPG forces started fighting against the armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS). In recent months however tensions have increased with opposition armed groups, particularly in the Aleppo area. Attacks by armed groups have killed at least 62 YPG fighters, according to the Families of the Martyrs Association.

In recent days the very fragile cessation of hostilities across Syria agreed to in Geneva in February was extended to areas around Sheikh Maqsoud in the Aleppo Countryside governorate. However, attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud have continued unabated over the past few months.

Mounting evidence of indiscriminate attacks

Satellite imagery, obtained by Amnesty International and corroborated by testimony from residents, shows destroyed and badly damaged houses in a residential street in the western part of Sheikh Maqsoud, more than 800 metres away from the frontline.

Mohamad lost seven members of his family when his home in Sheikh Maqsoud was struck by an improvised 'Hamim' rocket launched by an armed group on 5 April 2016. Those killed included his 18-month-old daughter, his two sons, aged 15 and 10, and an eight-year-old nephew. He and two of his other young nephews sustained shrapnel wounds and were critically injured. His home is 800 metres away from the frontline.

"There are no [military] checkpoints near my house. It is a residential street and there are even people displaced by fighting or who fled airstrikes in Aleppo city living on the same street," he told Amnesty International.

Two days earlier Mohamad's neighbour's house was hit by a mortar which killed two children.

Another resident of Sheikh Maqsoud told Amnesty International that the shelling intensified in February and that people spent days in their homes unable to leave. She described how her home was attacked in April by what she believed was a weapon fitted with a gas canister.

"All I remember was the walls collapsing and hearing an explosion. We got injured - I had shrapnel in my hands and legs [] We live [] very far away from the frontline. There are no checkpoints close by or any other military points," she said.

Saad, a local pharmacist living in Sheikh Maqsoud, described 5 April 2016 as "the bloodiest day the neighbourhood had witnessed". Shelling from armed groups continued for nine hours straight, he said.

"We counted at least 15 Hamim rockets and more than 100 mortars. The shells were falling everywhere, it was indiscriminate," he said.

Among the weapons used by the armed groups are unguided projectiles which cannot be accurately aimed at specific targets such as mortars and home-made 'Hamim' rockets, as well as other projectiles fitted with gas canisters which are known as "hell cannons". These weapons are inherently indiscriminate and should not be used in the vicinity of civilian areas.

"By firing imprecise explosive weapons into civilian neighbourhoods the armed groups attacking Sheikh Maqsoud are flagrantly flouting the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets, a cardinal rule of international humanitarian law," said Magdalena Mughrabi.

There are also allegations that members of armed groups attacking Sheikh Maqsoud may have used chemical weapons. A local doctor told Amnesty International that on 7 and 8 April he treated six civilians and two YPG fighters for symptoms including shortness of breath, numbness, red eyes and severe coughing fits. Several of the victims, he said, reported seeing yellow smoke as missiles impacted. A toxicologist consulted by Amnesty International, who viewed video-clips of the apparent attack and reviewed the doctor's testimony, said the patients' symptoms could be the effects of a chlorine attack. A subsequent statement purportedly issued by the leader of the Army of Islam armed group said that a field commander had deployed an "unauthorised weapon" on Sheikh Maqsoud and that he would be held to account.

International community must not tolerate abuses by armed groups

Two of the armed groups attacking YPG forces in Sheikh Maqsoud - Ahrar al Sham and Army of Islam - have sent their own representatives to the UN-brokered negotiations over the Syria conflict in Geneva. The other armed groups have approved other delegates to represent them at the talks.

"The international community must not turn a blind eye to the mounting evidence of war crimes by armed opposition groups in Syria. The fact that the scale of war crimes by government forces is far greater is no excuse for tolerating serious violations by the opposition," said Magdalena Mughrabi.

The terrifying accounts from civilians in Sheikh Maqsoud shed light on the horror of daily life in pockets of the city under constant attack by armed groups that are violating the laws of war with impunity.

"International backers of armed groups operating in Syria must ensure they are not fuelling abuses by transferring weapons that are being used or might be used by armed groups to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law," said Magdalena Mughrabi.

Amnesty International is calling on the Gulf states, Turkey and others believed to be providing support to armed groups in Syria to immediately block the transfer of arms to armed groups, including logistical and financial support for such transfers, where there is credible evidence that they have committed serious human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law. Only those groups that meet stringent reliability tests which demonstrate that they can act consistently with full respect for international human rights and humanitarian law should be considered for future supply.

Deteriorating humanitarian conditions

As well as being subjected to indiscriminate shelling, civilians in Sheikh Maqsoud are effectively trapped in the area amid a deteriorating humanitarian situation. Continuing clashes have prevented aid from entering Sheikh Maqsoud and people from leaving. Government forces have only allowed civilians requiring medical attention out of the area on the side that they control and have also restricted the entry of medical supplies and food - with only vegetables and bread allowed in. According to residents, the pharmacies in Sheikh Maqsoud are empty, many have shut down.

"We barely have any food left in the neighbourhood," one resident said adding that aid supplies were running out rapidly.

"Sheikh Maqsoud is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. It is critical that the Syrian government and armed groups urgently allow unfettered access for humanitarian aid and allow civilians who wish to leave the area to do so," said Magdalena Mughrabi.

Background

The armed groups carrying out indiscriminate attacks on the Sheikh Maqsoud area are part of the Fatah Halab military coalition which includes: Islamic Movement of Ahrar ash-Sham, Army of Islam, al-Shamia Front, Brigade of Sultan Murad, Sultan Fatih Battalions, Fa Istaqim Kama Omirt Battalions, Nour al-Deen Zinki Battalions, 13 Brigade, 16 Brigade, 1st Regiment (al-Foj al-Awal) and Abu Omara Battalions.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights at least 23 civilians were killed by YPG shelling and sniper attacks in opposition-held areas in Aleppo city between February and April 2016.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Uganda: President Al-Bashir must be arrested and surrendered to the ICC

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Uganda: President Al-Bashir must be arrested and surrendered to the ICC, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358e534.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Uganda must immediately arrest Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Amnesty International today. Omar Al-Bashir, who is on the court's wanted list, arrived in Kampala this morning to attend the inauguration of President Yoweri Museveni.

"Uganda must face up to its international obligations and arrest Omar Al-Bashir who is wanted on charges of genocide," said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International's Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

"As a signatory to the Rome Statute, Uganda has an absolute obligation to surrender him to the ICC. Failure to do so would be a breach of its duty and would be a cruel betrayal of the hundreds of thousands of people killed and displaced during the Darfur conflict."

The situation in Darfur, Sudan, was referred to the ICC in 2005 by the UN Security Council. Arrest warrants against President Al-Bashir have been outstanding since 2009 on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur from 2003 to 2008.

A recent ruling by the Supreme Court of South Africa called the behaviour of South African authorities "disgraceful" for their failure to arrest President Al-Bashir according to their obligations under South African legislation implementing the Rome Statute, when he travelled to Johannesburg to attend the African Union Summit in June 2015.

In March 2010, the Ugandan parliament passed the International Criminal Court Bill which fully incorporated the law of the ICC into Ugandan law. The bill also provides for the arrest and surrender of suspects to the ICC. Speaking at the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC in November 2015, Uganda's representative unequivocally stated the country's "support to the International Criminal Court in the fight against impunity" and that "this commitment remains unwavering" However, Uganda has also at times been critical of the ICC.

"President Al-Bashir cannot be allowed to evade justice any longer," said Muthoni Wanyeki.

"The government of President Museveni must act now to arrest him and ensure that the next flight he takes flies directly to The Hague where justice awaits him."

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Kyiv accuses militants of once again using 120mm mortars banned by Minsk accords

Militants opened fire on Ukrainian military positions ten times on Thursday, using 120mm mortars, banned by the Minsk Agreements, on a number of occasions, the press center of Kyiv's army operation has reported.

"Our positions came under fire twice in Avdiyivka in the Donetsk region. The adversary used grenade launchers of different systems, small arms, large-caliber machineguns, 82mm mortars, as well as 120mm mortars, which are prohibited by the Minsk Agreements," the press center said in a report published on its Facebook account.

According to it, militants' units fired small arms and under-barrel grenade launchers at Ukrainian army positions near Stepny and Novozvanivka in the Luhansk region.

Militants' units also used automatic grenade launchers against one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' checkpoints in the vicinity of Novotroitske, near the city of Mariupol, late on Thursday evening.
Iran: Teenager tortured into 'confessing' days away from execution

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Iran: Teenager tortured into 'confessing' days away from execution, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358e8f4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The Iranian authorities must urgently halt the scheduled execution this Sunday of a teenager who was just 15 years old at the time of his arrest, said Amnesty International.

Alireza Tajiki, now 19 years old, was sentenced to death in April 2013 after a criminal court in Fars Province, southern Iran, convicted him of murder and rape primarily on the basis of "confessions" extracted through torture which he repeatedly retracted in court. His execution is due to take place on Sunday 15 May in Shiraz's Adel Abad Prison in Fars Province.

"Imposing the death penalty on someone who was a child at the time of the crime flies in the face of international human rights law, which absolutely prohibits the use of the death penalty for crimes committed under the age of 18. It is particularly horrendous that the Iranian authorities are adamant to proceed with the execution when this case was marked by serious fair trial concerns and primarily relied on torture-tainted evidence," said James Lynch, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.

"Iran's bloodstained record of sending juvenile offenders to the gallows, routinely after grossly unfair trials, makes an absolute mockery of juvenile justice and shamelessly betrays the commitments Iran has made to children's rights. The Iranian authorities must immediately halt this execution and grant Alireza Tajiki a fair retrial where the death penalty and coerced 'confessions' play no part."

Amnesty International has repeatedly called on the Iranian authorities to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

Alireza Tajiki was arrested along with several other young men in May 2012 on suspicion of murdering and raping his friend who was stabbed to death. He was denied access to lawyer throughout the entire investigation process. He was placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, without access to his family. During this period he was subjected to torture and other ill-treatment, he said, including severe beatings, floggings, and suspension by arms and feet, to make him "confess" to the crime. He later retracted the "confessions" both before the prosecution authorities and during his trial, and has since maintained his innocence consistently. However, despite this, his "confession" was admitted as evidence during proceedings against him.

In April 2014, a year after Alireza Tajiki was first convicted his verdict was quashed by a branch of the Supreme Court which found the investigation incomplete due to a lack of forensic evidence linking him to the sexual assault. It ordered the Provincial Criminal Court in Fars Province to carry out further investigations and to examine his "mental growth and maturity" at the time of the crime in light of new juvenile sentencing guidelines in Iran's 2013 Islamic Penal Code.

The Code allows judges to replace the death penalty with an alternative sentence if they determine that there are doubts about the juvenile offender's "mental growth and maturity" at the time of the crime.

In November 2014, the criminal court resentenced him to death, referring to an official medical opinion that found he had attained "mental maturity". However, the court's decision made no reference to concerns the Supreme Court had raised about the lack of forensic evidence, suggesting the investigation that had been ordered was not carried out. The court also relied once again on Alireza Tajiki's forced "confessions" as proof of his guilt, without conducting any investigation into his allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.

Despite these flaws, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence in a paragraph-long February 2015 ruling that relied on the principle of "knowledge of the judge", which grants a judge discretionary powers to determine guilt in the absence of conclusive evidence.

More than 970 people were put to death across Iran last year. In January 2016 Amnesty International published a report which found that despite piecemeal reforms introduced by the Iranian authorities in 2013 to deflect criticism of their appalling record on executions of juvenile offenders, they have continued to condemn dozens of young people to death for crimes committed when they were below 18, in violation of their international human rights obligations.

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
Nepal: 9-Point Deal Undermines Transitional Justice

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 12 May 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Nepal: 9-Point Deal Undermines Transitional Justice, 12 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358efc4.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Nepal's leading political parties should not bargain away justice for victims of serious human rights abuses as part of an agreement to form a new coalition government, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International said today. A new agreement between the ruling parties threatens to entrench impunity for those who planned and carried out killings, enforced disappearances, torture, and other crimes in Nepal's civil war, just as the country's long delayed transitional justice process is finally about to get under way.

On May 5, 2016, presumably in a bid to retain the support of the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M) for the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) coalition government of Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, the two ruling coalition partners agreed to a nine-point deal containing provisions that aim to shield perpetrators of abuses in Nepal's decade-long civil war. Provision 7, which directs the authorities to withdraw all wartime cases before the courts and to provide amnesty to alleged perpetrators, is particularly problematic.

"This political deal between the ruling parties is extremely damaging to the credibility of an already deeply politicized and flawed transitional justice process in the eyes of Nepal's victims," said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific director at the International Commission of Jurists. "Moreover, it flies in the face of Nepal's international human rights obligations and the rulings of its own Supreme Court by trying to wash away the crimes of the conflict by attempting to coopt pending criminal cases and provide blanket amnesty to alleged perpetrators."

The Supreme Court of Nepal has, in several instances, reaffirmed the principle under international law that amnesties are impermissible for serious international crimes. However, Nepal authorities have consistently ignored the orders from the country's highest court.

Nepal has an obligation under international law to investigate and, where sufficient evidence exists, prosecute crimes under international law, including torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, extrajudicial executions, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 14 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT)  both treaties to which Nepal is a party  require states to ensure the right to an effective remedy and reparation for victims of human rights violations.

"The political deal by the ruling parties to grant amnesty to those responsible for conflict-era human rights abuses is a callous attempt to disregard Nepal's international treaty obligations by violating victims' right to an effective remedy," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Nepal's political deal jeopardizes the war victims' last best hope for justice and accountability."

The applicability of this international obligation under Nepali law was reaffirmed by the Nepal Supreme Court in its 2015 decision in the Suman Adhikari case, striking down provisions of the Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act, 2014 (TRC Act) that it ruled were inconsistent with international law and ordering the government to amend the TRC Act, the May 2014 legislation creating the two transitional justice mechanisms, the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons (COID) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

The Supreme Court ruled in the same decision that criminal cases already before the judiciary could not be transferred to the two commissions, confirming that the judiciary and not the commissions had the authority to determine the criminality of conflict-era human rights violations.

"Nepal's ruling parties cannot bargain away victims' rights to truth, justice, and reparation by using the commissions as a substitute for their legal obligations to investigate and prosecute human rights abuses through the criminal justice system," said Champa Patel, South Asia Regional Office director at Amnesty International.

The ICJ, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, along with Nepali civil society, victims' groups, the United Nations, and the international diplomatic community, have consistently called for the Nepal government to amend the TRC Act in line with Nepal's international obligations as well as the Supreme Court's jurisprudence, in order to ensure a credible transitional justice process that safeguards victims' rights and conforms to rule of law principles.

In a flagrant display of deliberate disregard for the rule of law, however, the ruling parties' deal to amend the TRC Act by attempting to reinforce the same amnesty provision that has been repeatedly struck down by the Supreme Court ignores both the country's international legal obligations and the binding judgments of its own apex court, and further threatens the prospects for post-war justice and accountability in Nepal.

The ICJ, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International therefore call upon the Nepal government to take immediate and effective steps to safeguard victims' rights to truth, justice, and reparation through a credible transitional justice process that is free of any political interference or any forms of pressure or intimidation.

Copyright notice:  Copyright, Human Rights Watch
Uzbekistan: Massacre's Abusive Aftermath

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 13 May 2016 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Uzbekistan: Massacre's Abusive Aftermath, 13 May 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/57358f594.html [accessed 25 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

The United States, European Union, and other international actors should renew their calls for accountability by the Uzbek government 11 years after the Andijan massacre, Human Rights Watch said today. Uzbek government forces killed hundreds of mainly peaceful protesters in the eastern city of Andijan on May 13, 2005.

International entities and governments should also raise their concern about Uzbekistan's abysmal rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council. They should challenge the Uzbek government's persistent refusal to cooperate with UN monitoring bodies by creating a dedicated position for an expert to ensure sustained scrutiny and reporting on the human rights situation in the country.

"Eleven years on, the killings in Andijan and the government's ruthless campaign against all forms of dissent in its aftermath define Uzbekistan's atrocious human rights situation," said Steve Swerdlow, Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Washington, EU member states, and other capitals have yet to hold the Uzbek government accountable for the massacre, allowing the downward spiral in Tashkent's rights record to become the norm."

Before dawn on May 13, 2005, armed men broke into the prison in Andijan, a city in the Fergana Valley in eastern Uzbekistan. The gunmen freed 23 local businessmen who had been sentenced for "religious extremism," and took over local government buildings. Throughout the day, thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters flocked to the town's central square to speak out against poverty, unemployment, and government repression. Government forces in armored vehicles and snipers fired indiscriminately on the crowd, blocking off the square as people attempted to flee, killing hundreds. Government troops then moved through the square and executed wounded people where they lay.

Uzbekistan's international partners, including the US and EU, should make clear that unless the Uzbek government makes measurable improvements in human rights, they will impose targeted restrictions such as visa bans and asset freezes against Uzbek government entities and individuals responsible for grave human rights violations, Human Rights Watch said. They should also seek to establish a special rapporteur devoted to Uzbekistan's human rights record at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

There has been no discernible improvement in Uzbekistan's rights record in the last year. The government, led by the authoritarian president, Islam Karimov, has imprisoned thousands of people on politically motivated charges, including human rights and opposition activists, journalists, religious believers, artists, and other perceived critics. Many are in serious ill-health and have been tortured, and their sentences have been arbitrarily extended in prison.

The US State Department's annual country report on Uzbekistan recognizes a wide spectrum of human rights abuses by the government. But the US administration, along with the European Union, has preferred a policy of private dialogue, without any serious policy consequences for the abuses. At the same time  and without any commitment for meaningful change  the US has re-engaged on certain elements of military cooperation.

For a decade, the State Department has designated Uzbekistan a "country of particular concern" due to its crackdown on religious freedom. But the White House has not imposed sanctions, citing national security grounds. While the designation itself is significant, it has not kept pace with the scope and severity of the abuses in Uzbekistan. Nor has the full spectrum of diplomatic opportunities and tools been tapped to raise concerns or press for redress.

While the Uzbek government allowed a long-serving political prisoner, Murod Juraev, to leave prison in November, 2015 at the end of a 21-year term, it refused to disclose the whereabouts of two other political prisoners, Akram Yuldashev and Nuriddin Jumaniyazov. The refusal to provide, or concealment of, information on the fate or whereabouts of a person deprived of their liberty constitutes an enforced disappearance  a crime under international law  and is prohibited in all circumstances.

In January 2016, Human Rights Watch learned that the 52-year-old Yuldashev, one of Uzbekistan's most prominent religious figures, had died in prison in 2010 of tuberculosis. He had been due for release in February 2016, but no one knew of his death because the authorities had refused to provide information about his whereabouts or fate since 2009.

Among those imprisoned for no reason other than peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression are 14 human rights activists: Azam Farmonov, Mehriniso Hamdamova, Zulhumor Hamdamova, Isroiljon Kholdorov, Gaybullo Jalilov, Nuriddin Jumaniyazov, Matluba Kamilova, Ganikhon Mamatkhanov, Chuyan Mamatkulov, Zafarjon Rahimov, Yuldash Rasulov, Bobomurod Razzokov, Fahriddin Tillaev, and Akzam Turgunov.

Five more prisoners are journalists: Solijon Abdurakhmanov, Muhammad Bekjanov, Gayrat Mikhliboev, Yusuf Ruzimuradov, and Dilmurod Saidov. Three are opposition activists: Samandar Kukanov, Kudratbek Rasulov, and Rustam Usmanov. Seven others are independent religious figures and perceived government critics: Ruhiddin Fahriddinov, Botirbek Eshkuziev, Bahrom Ibragimov, Davron Kabilov, Erkin Musaev, Davron Tojiev, and Ravshanbek Vafoev, and one, Dilorom Abdukodirova, was a witness to the Andijan massacre.

One immediate step the US, EU, and other countries should urge the Uzbek government to take is to end its longstanding denial of access for the UN's own rights monitors. None have been granted access to the country since 2002, and the government of Uzbekistan has ignored the requests made by 14 of the rights monitors to visit Uzbekistan to monitor its human rights situation.

Members of the UN Human Rights Council, including the US and EU member states, should publicly and privately insist that Uzbekistan fulfill core human rights commitments as a condition for maintaining bilateral relations, Human Rights Watch said. The Uzbek government should:

Free all imprisoned human rights defenders, journalists, and political and religious prisoners;

Allow unimpeded operation of nongovernmental organizations in the country;

Cooperate fully with all relevant UN monitors for various human rights issues;

Guarantee freedom of speech and of the media;

Carry out the conventions against forced and child labor, including fully cooperating with the International Labour Organization (ILO); and

Fully align its election processes with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) standards.

"Uzbekistan is skilled at exploiting the desire of its negotiating partners to see progress, while giving no ground," Swerdlow said. "The governments that cooperate with Uzbekistan should change this dynamic and respond in a substantial way to Tashkent's abuses."



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Ukraine's Health Ministry intends to revoke the simplified registration of medicines applied in countries with tough regulation initiated several weeks ago by Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, Executive Director of Patients of Ukraine Olha Stefanyshyna said at a briefing on Thursday.

She said that these provisions submitted by the Health Ministry are outlined in the amendments to government bill No. 4484 on the deregulation of the pharmaceutical market in Ukraine submitted to the Verkhovna Rada on May 10, 2016.

"When the prime minister at a cabinet meeting said that he seeks to deregulate the pharmaceutical market, it was a miracle for us. Patients of Ukraine were glad to see the bill appeared on the parliament's website two weeks ago and it was a progressive measure. However, several days ago we revealed that the document was replaced: the bill registered by the prime minister was completely changed. We know that the Health Ministry submitted proposals to the bill, and that it now has no influence over access to vitally important medicines," Stefanyshyna said.

A partner of Arzinger law firm Lana Sinichkina said that the Health Ministry introduced two provisions in the bill that complicate the medicine registration procedure in Ukraine.

The Health Ministry proposes to restrict a list of medicines with fast track down to those, which have no branded equivalents in Ukraine. This means keeping current pharmaceutical market monopoly in place and restricting competition. The ministry also added several 'blurred' requirements obliging applicants to submit information and documents according to a list, which is not specified.

The lawyer said restriction of competition on the pharmaceutical market would result in increased prices for pharmaceuticals.

"The worst thing is that the proposed changes came from the Health Ministry. This means that today's ministry is actually lobbying for the interest of some pharmaceutical manufacturers, instead of protecting patients and sincerely attempting to expand accessibility to medicines," Sinichkina said.

Stefanyshyna said Patients of Ukraine asks the government to return to the initial version of the document.
What you need to know about Powerball and the $610 million jackpot
European Union Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos, said the Ukrainian Interior Ministry has done its best to fulfill the action plan on EU visa liberalization regime for Ukrainians.

This follows from the Ukrainian ministry's press service post on its website on the results of the commissioner's meeting with Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on May 12.

Avramopoulos said that today Ukraine was not just another state, which longs for Europe, but also a guarantor of stability in the region.

He said that Ukrainians should feel themselves part of a 'happy' generation, which experiences all these social and political changes.

"You're not alone in this process. These efforts you apply are of an extremely great importance. You achieved great results and I believe that day isn't far away, when the Ukrainians will be able to freely travel around Europe. As far as I understand, citizens of Ukraine are waiting for this moment," the commissioner said.

For his part, Avakov has stressed fulfillment of EU visa liberalization requirements goes hand in hand with reforming of Interior Ministry structures.

"We launched it two years ago by approving the strategy, which has been agreed with EUAM [European Union Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform Ukraine]. And we're fulfilling it. The EU is one of our main partners in police reform," the minister added.

The EU commissioner underlined that it is also important to unite the efforts of EU and Ukrainian law enforces to reach common results.

"I'll ask the Interpol director to come to Ukraine so that we will be able to unite the efforts. We'll also appoint a special communicator with Europol. We would not just combat organized crime and terrorism, but exchange information through building trust. Let's move into this direction. I'm asking you to let us know when you need this," the commissioner said.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau of Poland have agreed to cooperate in the exchange of information and experience in preventing corruption, investigations and revealing corrupt schemes.

The press service of NABU said the memorandum was signed by the bureaus in Warsaw.

"We've studied Poland, Romania, Austria and the experience of other countries to select the best model for combating corruption in Ukraine. I'm sure that it is important to maintain tight relations with anti-corruption agencies of other states. Corruption schemes being investigated by our detectives mainly do not end in Ukraine," NABU Head Artem Sytnyk said.

He said talks about the memo had been held since last year.

"The functions of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau of Poland are similar to NABU's functions. Our analysts and detectives had a chance to study the experience of their Polish colleagues," he said.

The arrival of NABU representatives to Poland was organized with support of the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian Security Sector Reform Ukraine (EUAM Ukraine).
FRIDAY

An opening reception for three new exhibits will be presented from 5-7 p.m. at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 220 Cypress St. The exhibits are 'Authentic Texas: People of the Big Bend,' the West Texas Photographic Society's annual exhibit and new works by members of the center.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

As part of the Paramount Film Series, 'My Fair Lady' will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Film historian Robert Holladay will present a lecture on the film at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org.

SATURDAY

A free showing of a 2008 G-rated animated movie will begin at 11 a.m. at the South Branch of the Abilene Public Library, 1401 S. Danville Drive. Popcorn and drinks will be provided. Participants are invited to bring a sack lunch and a pillow.

The Chautauqua Learning Series will continue with a history film of the audience's choice from 11 a.m. to noon at Buffalo Gap Historic Village, 133 N. William St., in Buffalo Gap. Admission is free.

Sisters Linda Broday and Jan Sikes will sign copies of their books from 1-3 p.m. at Texas Star Trading Co., 174 Cypress St.

The Family Fun Saturday art program will be presented from 1-4 p.m. at the National Center for Children's Illustrated Literature, 102 Cedar St. Free admission.

SUNDAY

Military Appreciation Day will take place from noon to 5 p.m. at Buffalo Gap Historic Village, 133 N. William St., in Buffalo Gap. Admission is free for active and retired military and their families.

Sunday is the deadline for early registration for the Children's Art & Literacy Festival, featuring the work of Mark Teague, on June 9-11 in downtown Abilene. Early registration is $7 for children and $12 for adults; late registration is $10 for children and $15 for adults. To register, go to www.abilenecalf.com.
A physicians group and an organization of doctors' spouses teamed up Thursday morning to provide students at Ortiz Elementary School with a little extra protection for their noggins, just in time for youngsters to take the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.

The Texas Medical Association Foundation and the Big Country County Medical Society Alliance gave out the safety equipment as part of Hard Hats for Little Heads, gifting helmets to students who own bicycles, Rollerblades or any other means of transportation on wheels.

'It's really a good idea,' said Dr. Tushar Shah, a local pediatrician. 'Lots of times, when I talk to parents and I ask them what do (their children) do to be active, they say, 'Oh, they ride a bike.' 'Does he have a helmet?' 'No, he just rides in the backyard.' But you can fall in the backyard. I think it's important you have a helmet at all times. Most of the kids think they're a better rider ... and it might not be their fault, it might be someone else who hits them.'

The alliance provided a majority of the funding for the local helmet giveaway, according to Kristy McDonough, who organized the distribution efforts.

About 200 helmets were given out.

In addition to helmets, students also received information on bicycle safety and how to properly wear the helmets, including how tight the straps should be and which portion of the helmet should be pointed forward.

Many of the students expressed excitement at getting their own helmets. First-grader Ma'Naya McGee said she was just waiting to go home and wear it while riding her pink bicycle.

'It's awesome,' Ma'Naya said about receiving her helmet.

Representatives for the alliance said the program likely would move to a different AISD school next year.
When it comes to being a teacher, Dan Allen has it down. Or so his most recent principal, Jennifer Raney, says.

Raney said Allen, who has taught biology the last 32 years at Abilene High School, is 'a legend,' consistently producing positive results not just in his own classroom but across higher education and into life beyond school.

'At the end of every year, I send out a survey,' Raney said. 'And part of the survey says, if you had a student come through before, did we prepare them for college? Do you feel like your student was ready? And I cannot tell you the number of times a parent had put, 'My child had Dan Allen' and 'He or she, whichever, they were ready for school ... because Dan Allen taught them how to study, how to be organized and taught them how to not give up in the first year. He is just amazing.'

Allen was among roughly 60 Abilene Independent School District employees recognized Thursday during the retirement portion of the service award ceremony for a career shaping the minds of students in the district.

He said he loves to hear from the students who come back or write him to share their successes with him. It doesn't matter to him whether they went on to have careers in science or not, the contact is what creates the memories he'll fondly hold on to after leaving.

Then there's the outdoor life he enjoys so much. He said he appreciates the time he spent with students in the outdoor education program, with trips to Big Bend each year for 17 years. They'd camp and hike trails, canoe and just enjoy nature. So now that's he's done, he figures that outdoor life is where he's heading again.

'(I plan) to do everything I didn't have time to do,' he said. 'I'll do some traveling, maybe sample a few trout streams and do some hiking and camping. My wife (Karen Allen) and I will do some traveling. She's my best friend.'

While Thursday's event culminated in the ceremonial ringing of the bells by the retiring faculty members and administrators  as some, like Raney, are retiring as well  the district also recognized the efforts of those who hit service milestones with the district.

A number of employees earned awards recognizing their 15, 20, 25 and 30 years of service to Abilene ISD, but only five reached 35 this year. Two others topped 40 years of service to the district and current Construction Coordinator Joe Humphrey was singled out for 50 years.

Michael Newton, principal of Dyess Elementary, was one of those 40-year honorees. He said he didn't think he would have reached that milestone when he first started.

'I had not planned that far ahead,' Newton said. 'I was telling Joe Humphrey I could've retired at 28 years. But I've been blessed over the last 10 years to be the principal of Dyess Elementary, so that has made my career a lot longer than I ever thought it would be.

'There are many, many things that remind me each day why I go to work, and it's just the small victories of seeing children succeed and that child that you know you thought wasn't going to make it. I did 28 years at the high school and I still have my students come up to me. That's the joy of what I do, when they tell you you've been a good teacher and a good role model.'

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
Halloween events, fall festivals pack October in Abilene, Big Country

From family-friendly to frightful, there are plenty of opportunities to don the costumes and scare up some treats.
Powerful thunderstorms brought almost 5 inches of rain in some areas of the Big Country on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, but with the always-welcome precipitation came some problems.

Callahan County sustained so much damage that County Judge Roger Corn on Thursday declared a state of disaster.

Precincts 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the county have 'sustained substantial loss of road material and damage at bridges, culverts and low-water crossings,' according to the declaration. Corn also referred to 'tremendous physical and economic losses.'

Abilene Regional Airport reported 2.79 inches of rain, while other parts of the city measured almost 5 inches of precipitation. The storms also brought hail ranging from pea and dime size to much larger, according to some residents, some of whom reported receiving dings to their vehicles.

In Taylor County, the Abilene Fire Department reported receiving at least eight calls for water rescues since 10 p.m. Wednesday night. In at least four incidences, fire crews helped people out of stranded vehicles.

As of 5 p.m. Thursday, the Butternut and Mockingbird underpasses still were closed, according to city officials, but the Pine Street underpass was reopened during the morning. Water was 8 feet deep in the Mockingbird Lane underpass, the city reported, and was in the 6-foot range in the other two.

In Brownwood, officials told residents and businesses to take 'proactive measures' for possible high water conditions Thursday, according to a media release.

According to the National Weather Service, Lake Brownwood is expected to crest late Friday at 3.5 to 4 feet above spillway.

The good news ...

The rains have been a boon for local lakes, but all that bounty comes with a potential cost.

'You're well-saturated and everything's full,' said Joel Dunn with the National Weather Service Office in San Angelo.

And that means the potential for flooding, Dunn said, especially in Abilene, where 'it floods pretty quickly.'

'If these rain chances continue (as they are forecast), that is absolutely at the forefront of our mind, along with severe weather,' Dunn said. 'We keep a pretty close eye on hydrology.'

Rain chances dip to 20 percent Friday night, then rise again to 50 percent Saturday and up to 60 percent during the day Sunday, and 40 percent overnight Sunday, according to the weather service.

According to Water Data for Texas, Lake Fort Phantom Hill was 100 percent full Thursday, compared with 35.5 percent a month ago and 75.3 percent six months ago.

Lake Abilene was 99.8 percent full. A week ago, it was 92.8 percent full, while a mere month ago it was 31.9 percent full. A year ago? There was no lake.

Lake Proctor and Lake Brownwood also were at capacity, as were Lake Coleman and Lake Stamford. Possum Kingdom was 99.4 percent full, up from 80.9 percent a year ago.

But not all area lakes have enjoyed the same level of rain. Lake Sweetwater, for example, was 18.5 percent full, while O.H. Ivie Reservoir was 13.9 percent full.

Rodney Taylor, director of water utilities for the city of Abilene, said that Lake Abilene went over its spillway this week, the level continuing to rise very slowly above the spillway as additional stormwater flows enter the lake. That overflow spills into Elm Creek, which flows through Abilene State Park.

Hubbard Creek Reservoir is up about a quarter-foot and still rising, Taylor said.

'Lake O.H. Ivie is up about one-tenth of a foot today, but there is not much flow showing on its tributaries,' he said.

Lake Fort Phantom Hill has been full for several weeks, he said.

'Due to the recent heavy rains, the lake level is more than 2 feet above spillway level. There are a few homes located along the lake shoreline that tend to have flooding issues when the lake fills to this point,' Taylor said.

Because Lake Fort Phantom Hill is full, there is no need to activate scalping pumps, he said.

Reporter-News journalists Brian Bethel and Titus Falodun contributed to this story.
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No Ukrainian troops were killed in action in the zone of the military operation in Donbas in the past 24 hours, but two servicemen were wounded after striking explosive devices, Andriy Lysenko, an official with the Ukrainian presidential administration, has reported.

"No Ukrainian troops were killed or wounded in action in the past 24 hours," Lysenko told a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

He said two servicemen who were guarding the frontline territory in the area of Horlivka struck explosive devices.

Lysenko added that the enemy had breached the ceasefire regime on the Luhansk track (in the Krymsk and Popasna districts) three times.

On the Donetsk track, two attacks were registered in the Avdiyivka industrial zone. "Both attacks lasted almost two hours. Fire was opened from the side of Yasynuvata. The enemy first used 82mm and 120mm mortars (over twenty mines were launched)," Lysenko said.

He said five attacks were registered on the Mariupol track, including three mortar attacks. Specifically, the enemy opened fire on Novotroitske and Shyrokyne.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko said he has no intention of interfering in the work of prosecutors, but asked new Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko to "deliver a result."

"Your hands are untied  deliver a result. This applies to the Maidan, Odesa, and the crimes committed by the former administration," the president told Lutsenko when he was introduced to the staff of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv on Friday.

The president said changes in the system of conviction in absentia will help bring investigations to a logical end. At the same time, he said he is "not going to interfere in the work of prosecutors."

"I am not going to interfere in the work of prosecutors, let alone investigations into specific cases [...] I don't have a ready list of people to be imprisoned," Poroshenko said.

The president also recalled that the appointment of the new prosecutor general was a requirement of the IMF.
The Cambodian government must immediately end its attacks on civil society members, rights activists, and political opposition figures and take effective steps to preserve political freedoms in the Southeast Asian country, a group of United Nations experts on human rights said on Thursday.



The U.N. appeal follows the jailing last week of five officers of the Cambodian rights group ADHOC on charges they had conspired to bribe a woman to deny she was a mistress of deputy leader Kem Sokha of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).



Government handling of the case and prejudicial public statements by senior officials of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) suggest that this entire episode is nothing more than a politically-motivated persecution of civil society, the May 13 U.N. statement said.



We urge the Cambodian authorities to ensure a safe and enabling environment for human rights defenders and civil society, which play a critical role in holding the Government to account and bringing benefits of human rights to the whole of Cambodian society, the statement said.



Government responds



Speaking in an interview with RFAs Khmer Service on Friday, a government spokesman slammed the U.N. experts remarks as interference in the countrys affairs, saying that the U.N. itself should learn from Cambodias experience.



I don't think that U.N. officials are capable of managing a country, Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said.



Look at the Middle East. There, the U.N. can only do things to try to ease tensions, but they have no experience in keeping the peace.



The five ADHOC members were arrested only because they had broken the law, Phay Siphan said, adding, Cambodia welcomes the contributions of NGOs in helping to develop the country."



'Tipping point'



Political tensions between the ruling CPP and the CNRP have grown worse in recent months, with the government arresting more than a dozen opposition lawmakers including Senator Hong Sok Hour, CNRP media director Meach Sovannara, and Um Sam An, an opposition member of parliament.



Cambodias contentious and at times violent political situation has pushed it close to a dangerous tipping point, the United Nations special human rights envoy to Cambodia said in March.



Rhona Smith, the U.N. special rapporteur to Cambodia on human rights, said that tensions driven by the rivalry between the two parties had grown worse since her last visit in September 2015.



The political situation, which includes renewed threats, judicial proceedings, and even physical beatings of members of the opposition is worrying, she said in a reference to the CPPs crackdown on CNRP politicians and activists.



Reported by Sothearin Yeang for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Police check the ID cards of netizens at an internet cafe in Shandong, China, in a file photo.

China's police force has launched a whistleblower website targeting people who spread rumors online in a further bid to control what the country's 700 million internet users see and post online.

The ministry of public security and the Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo launched the National Platform to Refute Rumors to garner "tip-offs" from those wishing to report "false" online information, official media reported.

Anyone found "spreading rumors" on Sina Weibo will have their accounts terminated and may be investigated by police, according to the Global Times, which has close ties to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Activists said the website is aimed at ensuring that ordinary citizens don't use social media to challenge the official version of events.

"Historically, the police just want to suppress the truth and persecute any organizations that support democracy and freedom of speech," Sichuan-based activist Huang Qi, who founded the Tianwang rights website, told RFA.

"It's ridiculous to imagine that such an evil organization would suddenly turn into a defender of the truth; it will just turn into a laughing stock," he said.

A netizen who gave only a nickname, Xiao Biao, agreed, blaming frequent online rumors on a lack of press freedom in China.

"What they are doing is ridiculous; it's an attempt to suppress and cover up information," he said. "In a country with freedom of speech and freedom of the press, you would never get so many rumors flying about in the first place."

"These rumors spring from the absolute power of the government, which has suppressed freedom of speech and of the press," he said.

Positive and healthy internet

The new website, which follows a campaign by President Xi Jinping for a "positive and healthy" internet, isn't the first collaboration between police and major internet service providers.

Last year, Beijing announced it would station specialist police officers in major internet companies to help protect against hacker attacks, "violent terrorist information," fraud and data theft, pornography and gambling.

But police have also targeted people who used social media to send out unofficial and unedited information about breaking news stories.

Last August, authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui jailed veteran activist Shen Liangqing on public order charges after he retweeted a social media post about the devastating chemical warehouse explosions in Tianjin.

Shen, a former state-prosecutor-turned-whistle-blower who wrote a book detailing abuses under the ruling party's internal disciplinary regime, was handed a nine-day administrative sentence by police in the provincial capital Hefei.

And China's draconian internet agency, the Cyberspace Administration, said it suspended more than 360 social media accounts after the blasts rocked Tianjin.

Last October, three people in the eastern province of Shandong were also jailed briefly for sending out tweets about an explosion at a chemical factory near their homes in Zibo city that wasn't reported by the country's tightly controlled media.

The three were accused of sending out tweets saying that there had been a large explosion at the Zibo Dongda Chemical Industries after local residents heard a loud blast on Tuesday evening, in the absence of any official explanation for the blasts.

Last year, police said they had arrested more than 15,000 people in recent year for cyber crimes.

Reported by Xin Lin for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
North Korean authorities have increasingly been mobilizing housewives and forcing them to contribute money to and work on various regime-mandated projects in cities and counties around the country, disrupting their livelihoods and family life, sources inside the country said.

Groups of the women, referred to as street laborers, are being forced to work whenever the ruling Korean Workers Party issues a work order, they said.

If women do not participate in these forced tasks, then judicial authorities will not allow them to participate in individual business ventures such as selling goods or fruit in local markets, said a source in North Hamgyong province. For this reason, women have no choice but to focus on big project tasks.

After the Korean Workers Party issues a project plan, the tasks to implement it are handed down to the counties and cities, which mobilize and monitor citizens assigned to perform the work, he said.

Power plants, munitions factories and model factories are among the large party-mandated construction projects built by the mens construction corps, while the housewives construction corps works on foster care facilities for orphaned or unwanted children and road construction projects, the source said.

Big building projects and [plans] within the province are monitored by provincial officials and dont receive any support from the Korean Workers Party, he said.

The state only issues the policies, while citizens must bear the costs of construction themselves, he said.

Because many factories in North Korea do not operate on a regular schedule due to a lack of raw material and electricity, workers are often idle and must get by on less-than-subsistence wages, said another source from North Hamgyong province.

There are countless numbers of factories that have stopped their operations because of the lack of materials, not just in North Hamgyong province but also in the entire nation, he said.

Yet, the government is still making a fuss about opening the Seventh Workers Party Congress, he added, referring to a rare party gathering held this month in Pyongyang.

Efficient workers

But while regular factory workers or builders working on large construction projects are left to kill time during their work hours, the female street laborers work efficiently, he said.

The reason these women work faithfully on railway maintenance or building construction is because they must quickly finish the tasks in order to have time for their individual business, he said.

The women must support their families through such supplemental work, while their husbands are at work, the source said.

In order for these women to continue their individual business without the judicial authorities cracking down on them, they must be able to successfully perform the duties doled out to them by authorities and use their support funds [for the projects] very well, the source said.

Street laborers are known for their hard work and efforts, but there are certain pathetic aspects of what goes on behind the labor, he said.

The source cited the example of a woman from Songpyong district in Cheongjin city who could not pay her support payment for local projects because she lacked the money.

She held out until the judicial authorities cracked down on her individual business, which caused her family to suffer from hunger, he said.

North Korean authorities frequently mobilize and force citizens, including university students, to build new structures and spruce up existing buildings in the run-up to major regime events such as the recent Korean Workers Party Congress in Pyongyang.

Reported by Jieun Kim for RFAs Korean Service. Translated by Jackie Yoo. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Bangladesh says it has protested to Myanmar about an incident this week in which mortar-shell fire from the Burmese side of the frontier hit a Bangladeshi border guard outpost.

We, through the foreign ministry, have lodged complaints with the Myanmar authorities about it. The border guards of the two countries will meet and discuss the issue, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told RFA on Friday.

Our forces immediately retaliated with counter firing.

No one was injured in the Wednesday night incident in which six mortar shells came down and exploded at a helipad at a Border Guard Bangladesh outpost in Alikadam Upazila (see map below), a sub-district in southeastern Bandarban district, BGB officials said.

A BGB operation to search for the people who launched the mortars was ongoing as of Friday along a hilly and porous section of Bandarbans border with Myanmar, said Khan, whose ministry oversees the border guard.

Khan said Bangladeshi authorities also were trying to determine whether the mortars were fired by the Arakan Liberation Army, a Myanmar rebel group that operates just across the border in Myanmars Arakhine state, or by Myanmars Border Guard Police (BGP).

Officials with Myanmars embassy in Dhaka could not be reached for comment.

Since the incident Bangladesh has reported no other incidents of cross-border shelling.

Porous border

Bangladesh shares a 271 kilometer (168.3 mile) border with Myanmar in its southeast. A stretch of at least 150 km (93.2 miles) is porous because of rugged, hilly and densely forested terrain.

The Arakan Liberation Army (ALA) has been active on both sides of this stretch. In August 2015, it was involved in skirmishes with BGB units, which led to the arrests by Bangladesh of four suspected ALA members.

These included Renin Su, an alleged ALA leader and Dutch citizen of Myanmar origin who is now in jail. According to Bangladeshi officials, he had frequently visited the Chittagong Hill Tract region over an 18-year period and was staying illegally in Rangamati district when Bangladeshi authorities picked him up last year.

Aside from the presence of rebels along the border, tensions exist between the two countries over the issue of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar crossing into Bangladesh as they flee from persecution at the hands of the neighboring countrys Buddhist majority, where they are not recognized as citizens.

Border guards on both sides of the frontier have occasionally exchanged fire. The latest skirmish took place on May 30, 2014, when a Bangladeshi border policeman was killed in an unprovoked attack from Myanmar, according to Bangladesh.

Shelled

The shelling incident occurred between 9:30 and 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, when six shells landed at a BGB camp in the Bulu Para sector of Alikadem Upazila, slightly damaging the helipad, officials said.

The shelling, we suspect, came from the other side of the border. We responded with spontaneous shelling and beefed up security and surveillance. None of our forces was injured, Col. Habibur Rahman, a BGB commander, told reporters Thursday.

He said the BGB had informed Myanmars Border Guard Police about the incident.

The Myanmar army had been fighting with Arakanese rebels inside its territory, Rahman added.

The shells could have been fired by any of the sides, he added.

A thaw in relations?

According to a diplomatic expert, Bangladesh has been interested in improving relations with Myanmar, especially since Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy took office in Naypyidaw.

Suu Kyi, now Myanmars foreign minister, had said that she planned to improve relations with all neighbors, including Bangladesh.

As a democratic icon, Suu Kyi would try her best to thrash out all bilateral problems with Bangladesh. Our prime minister also wants warm relations with our second neighbor, Myanmar. So, I think both governments would behave responsibly, Ashfaqur Rahman, a former Bangladeshi ambassador, told RFA.

Reported by RFA.
Myanmar protesters and monks from the hard-line Buddhist group Ma Ba Tha rally outside the U.S. embassy in Yangon, April 28, 2016.

More than 500 people protested on Friday in Myanmars northern city of Mandalay, demanding that the government officially denounce the U.S. government's use of the term Rohingya to describe western Myanmars Muslim minority group.

About 50 Buddhist monks from the nationalist organization Ma Ba Tha and members of the Mandalay nationalist Saturday Group led a march along one of the main roads in east Mandalay, shouted slogans, and carried placards condemning the U.S. embassys use of Rohingya.

About 1.1 million Rohingya live in western Myanmars Rakhine state where they are persecuted and stateless, and live in squalid displaced persons camps.

Myanmar does not officially recognize them as an ethnic group and denies them basic rights, while hard-line Buddhists and other nationalists assert that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

We are demanding that the current government and Foreign Affairs Ministry officially announce that we dont have a Rohingya ethnic group in our country and demand that the U.S. embassy officially renounce the term and pledge not to use it in the future, said Pyae Phyo Aung, one of the protest organizers from the Saturday Group.

The dispute arose after the U.S. embassy had extended condolences to the families of 21 people who died when a boat transporting them capsized on April 19. It cited local reports that identified the victims as Rohingya who had lived in an internally displaced peoples camp in Sittwe.

The nationalists said they will keep protesting until the U.S. government officially acknowledges that the Rohingya are not included among Myanmars official ethnic groups.

In late April, about 300 nationalists, including Buddhist monks, publicly denounced the U.S. for using the word Rohingya during a protest march from Yangon University to the American embassy in Myanmars former capital.

Call for expulsion of Muslims

In a related development, about 700 residents of Rakhines capital Sittwe, sent a signed letter to state Chief Minister Nyi Pu on Friday, demanding that he expel all Muslims from the citys Aung Mingalar ward, a local resident said.

Colonel Htein Lin, Rakhines security and border affairs minister, said the state government could not expel the Muslims from the ward right away, and that he would conduct a verification process to determine which ones were not registered to live there, Sittwe resident Than Tun told RFA.

Government officials, representatives from the Muslim community, and youth groups will conduct checks of residents in Aung Mingalar ward on May 21, Than Tun said.

The ward is the only Muslim area in the city and has about 4,000 Muslim residents, according to a 2012 list by immigration officials, he said.

The number of people living in this ward is more than we had thought, he said.

We have heard that a foreign country is planning to build a hospital, schools and market in this ward, Than Tun said. We are worried about the possibility of having problems between Rakhine ethnics and the Muslims. Thats why we are demanding they be expelled from the city.

Scot Marciel, the U.S. ambassador to Myanmar, said on Tuesday that the country would continue to refer to western Myanmars Muslim minority group as Rohingyas, brushing off an official request and street protests over the term.

Myanmar's Foreign Ministry, headed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, last week advised foreign embassies in the country to avoid using Rohingya after nationalists staged a protest outside the U.S. embassy.

About 140,000 Rohingya were forced to live in apartheid-like conditions in squalid camps after violence erupted between them and local Buddhists in 2012, leaving more than 200 dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Since then, thousands have fled on rickety boats to seek refuge in other Southeast Asian countries. About 120,000 Rohingya remain in the camps.

By Set Paing Toe and Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
At a Thursday meeting the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine decided to ban three Russian channels - Questions and Answers TV Channel, Usadba (Estate) TV, and House Pets TV from the list of foreign television channels with permission for retranslation in Ukraine.

According to the press service of the National Council, the grounds for excluding these channels were the placement of commercial advertising by these broadcasters, which is a violation of the requirements of Part 9, Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On Advertising"  it is forbidden to "transmit (retransmit) advertising in programs on channels of foreign broadcasting organizations that are broadcasted (rebroadcasted) on the territory of Ukraine, if the foreign broadcasting organizations do not fall under the jurisdiction of member states of the European Union or states, which have ratified the European Convention on Transfrontier Television".

"The ruling will come into force in a month after its adoption. If the owners or distributors of these programs guarantee eliminating violations, the National Council may reconsider its decision," the statement says.

Having considered the appeals of LLC Sport Media Group (Riga), and guided by the requirements of Article 13 of the Ukrainian Law "On Protection of Public Morality", the regulator allowed it to rebroadcast the erotic program NuArt TV on cable from midnight to 04:00.
A prominent Iranian cleric has called on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to intervene in the case of a reformist lawmaker who has been barred from taking her seat in parliament after photos published on social media reportedly showed her not wearing a hijab.

In an open letter posted May 11, Ahmad Montazeri called the disqualification of Minoo Khaleghi by the powerful Guardian Council illegal and a big insult to the Iranian nation, particularly to the informed and vigilant people of Isfahan.

One of 18 women elected to the 290-seat parliament, Khaleghi won election in February in the district of Isfahan where Montazeri is based.

One of your duties is to protect and preserve the honor of the [Iranian] establishment, Montazeri wrote to Khamenei.

By allowing Khaleghi to be sworn in and serve in the new parliament, the damage to the clerical establishment will be largely undone, he wrote.

Montazeris late father Grand-Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri was known as the spiritual leader of Irans opposition movement, and he retains wide popularity among many Iranians.

The Guardian Council disqualified Khaleghi from taking her seat after photos were reportedly published on the social media app Telegram that showed her in public in Europe and in China not wearing the headscarf that is compulsory in Iran.

Khaleghi, who could not be reached for comment, has said that the photos are fake.

Iranian law requires women to cover their hair and body in public.

The Guardian Council, which previously had vetted and approved Khaleghi to run for parliament, has not explained its decision publicly. The powerful hardline body has informed Khaleghi of the reasons for her disqualification and provided her with evidence.

Reformists have claimed that the case is politically motivated and warned that disqualifying her after being initially allowing her to run sets a dangerous precedent. Isfahans reformist front said it was a rare and unacceptable decision by the Guardian Council.

The Interior Ministry has said parliament should be making such decisions, not the Guardian Council.

Media reported last week that Khaleghis case has been referred to the Dispute Settlement Committee of Branches, which is supposed to report to Khamenei.On May 11, hardline news agencies reported that the committee had accepted the decision by the Guardian Council to bar Khaleghi from parliament.

But the New York Times reported that Khaleghi and her allies were hopeful that Khamenei would step in and reinstate her.

There is a small chance she might be qualified, Farshad Ghorbanpour, a political analyst close to the government, told the newspaper.

President Hassan Rohani also appeared to support Khaleghi, saying in comments published on May 1 that the election of 18 women was a record and that they should be congratulated.


Some of the top European bankers who met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to hear assurances that they can resume business with Iran still have no plans of doing so.

Britain's Standard Chartered bank, which, along with France's BNP Paribas, has been fined billions of dollars for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran in the past, issued a statement after the meeting on May 12, saying it hasn't changed its plans.

"We will not accept any new clients who reside in Iran, or which are an entity owned or controlled by a person there... Nor will we undertake any new transactions involving Iran or any party in Iran," the bank said.

French bank Societe Generale said "remaining uncertainties" will prevent it from resuming commercial activities with Iran.

"Differences between European and U.S. systems generate significant operating risks for financial establishments," it said.

Deutsche Bank, whose chief executive John Cryan met with Kerry, acknowledged afterwards the "increased expectations on the banking sector" to facilitate business with Iran.

But the bank said that, with many U.S. and EU sanctions still in place, "Deutsche Bank continues to generally restrict business connected to Iran."

Banks remain particularly wary of the U.S. ban on dollar-based transactions with Iran being processed through the U.S. financial system.

All of the big global banks have extensive ties with American banks and markets, and it would be difficult for them to avoid at least technical violations of such a ban even when processing transactions that are authorized under the nuclear deal.

Moreover, banking executives say they are wary about the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. The likely Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, like other Republicans, has vowed to take a tougher line on Iran.

"What if Trump wins? Do you want to get involved with contracts now that perhaps in six months would be unenforceable?" a banking source told the Reuters news agency.

Not all of the nine banking executives who met with Kerry and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond issued a statement afterwards.

HSBC's U.K. head Antonio Simoes and Credit Suisse Chief Financial Officer David Mathers were among the senior bankers who attended, along with executives from Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, and Lloyds.

But none of those banks issued statements saying they planned to venture into Iran, either.

Despite Kerry's strenuous efforts to assure banks that the United States won't stand in the way of legitimate deals with Iran, banking officials said they simply remain unconvinced.

Banks have asked for written assurances from the U.S. Treasury Department -- essentially a guarantee that they won't be punished if they do deals with Iran.

But Washington has been reluctant to provide them with these assurances for fear that it would appear to be softening tough U.S. sanctions that remain in place for Iranian activities like ballistic missile development that are not related to its nuclear program.

As a result, "the assurances given by Kerry are still vague and that goes for the whole U.S. approach. There is 'no letter of comfort' for the banks," one official told Reuters.

The response of banks is not good news for the United States and other world powers, which have been striving to show Iran that there are tangible benefits from forgoing nuclear weapons development.

Hammond said that world powers must succeed in persuading banks that it's safe to invest.

"It's the first hurdle in the race," Hammond said. "If we fail at this one, then we'll never get the chance to demonstrate all the other benefits that can flow from this agreement that we spent so much time and energy delivering."

With reporting by Reuters and AP


Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised families of Afghan combatants killed in the fighting in Syria, according to a newly released video that could be aimed at boosting morale among troops deployed to support Tehran's regional ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"I'm proud of you," Khamenei told the families in the March 27 meeting, video footage of which was first made public this week.

The release of the video on May 12 comes amid Tehran's mounting casualties in Syria, where 13 Iranian military personnel were killed last week in clashes with insurgents near Aleppo. It was Iran's heaviest single-day death toll in the conflict.

A few hundred Iranian and Afghan fighters are believed to have been killed in Syria during the five-year-old war, including several senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

In June 2015, Iran's state IRNA news agency reported that about 400 Iranians and Afghans had been killed in Syria in the past four years.

About 150 more are believed to have been killed since then, according to reports by local media outlets that have been publishing their names and photos of their funerals.

Tehran says it has deployed only "military advisers" to boost Assad. In April, it said it has deployed a commando unit of its army to Syria to serve as "advisers."

Iranian media claim that Iranian and Afghan combatants who join the fight in Syria are "volunteers" who defend holy Shi'ite sites and are referred to as Defenders of the Shrine.

Afghans are being deployed as part of the Fatemiyoun Brigade, which reportedly consists of Afghan refugees, mainly Hazaras, living in Iran. Fatemiyoun's commander, Alireza Tavasoli, was killed in Syria in March 2015.

Human Rights Watch says thousands of them are undocumented Afghans recruited by the IRGC since November 2013, including some who, according to the rights group, have been coerced into joining the fight in Syria.

"Iran has not just offered Afghan refugees and migrants incentives to fight in Syria, but several said they were threatened with deportation back to Afghanistan unless they did," Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said earlier this year.

In the March meeting, Khamenei told the families of some of the Afghans killed in Syria that "martyrs who die on this path are privileged."

"In fact your children have created a shield with their life to protect the holy shrines from these evil [forces]. Therefore their status is very important," he said.

Despite the rising death toll, Iranian authorities have suggested that Tehran will not accept any compromise on the fate of its ally, Assad, who has Russia's backing as well. The United States and its allies accuse Assad of indiscriminately bombing his own people and insist on his exit.

Iranian state media quoted Khamenei's adviser on international affairs, Ali Akbar Velayati, on May 8 as saying that Iran's red line is Assad remaining in power until the end of his term.
A group of gunmen stormed a cafe in a town north of the Iraqi capital on May 13, leaving at least 13 people dead and 15 wounded.

The attack occurred in Balad, a predominately Shi'ite town about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group posted a statement online claiming responsibility for the attack.

The assault in Balad comes just days after the deadliest violence in Baghdad this year killed 93 people and wounded 165 in a wave of bombings that was claimed by the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.

Three gunmen, armed with machine guns, opened fire into the crowd in the cafe in Balad early on May 13.

Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests.

Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the IS extremist group, which still controls vast areas of northern and western Iraq and has frequently targeted the country's Shi'a majority, which it considers heretics.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters


A court in Kazakhstan's central city of Qaraghandy has jailed two locals on terrorism charges.

On May 13, the Qaraghandy Region's Specialized Inter-District Court found Valery Khadykin and Quanysh Zhumaghaliev guilty of propagating terrorism, inciting religious discord, and recruiting militants for the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria.

Khadykin, who is a Russian convert to Islam, was sentenced to 8 years and Zhumaghaliev to 5 years and three months on the same day.

Investigators said the two were uploading material on the Internet calling "real Muslims to join jihad in Syria."

Kazakh authorities have said that hundreds of the Central Asian state's citizens are fighting alongside extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Based on reporting by today.kz and Interfax


Rattled by widespread protests against a government land-sale proposal, Kazakh authorities continue to take steps aimed at tamping down public anger.



In the latest move, the office of Prime Minister Karim Masimov issued a rare apology for the government's handling of plans to auction off fallow agricultural land to private bidders, and announced the formation of a State Commission for Land that will include opposition politicians and serve as a forum to discuss the contentious issue of land privatization.



The announcement in late March that the land would be auctioned beginning in July sparked protests across the country, fueled largely by concerns that Kazakh land could end up under foreign ownership and the prospect of corruption.



The government -- after initially trying to assuage fears by clarifying that foreigners are not legally allowed to own Kazakh agricultural land or participate in the auctions, while acknowledging that foreigners would be able to rent such land for up to 25 years -- eventually backed down and announced that it was postponing the plan to 2017.



On May 12, Masimov's office admitted to "mistakes committed by the government" in failing to adequately explain amendments to the country's Land Code that paved the way for the auctions.



The office also released a list of the 75 people who will sit on the newly formed commission, including opposition Social Democratic party leader Zharmakhan Tuyaqbay and several political and public activists known for their criticism of the government.

Change Of Approach



The release of the list came less than a week after President Nursultan Nazarbaev personally stepped in to say he was postponing the implementation of the plan, while also revealing that the economy minister who announced it had been fired and commission was being formed to discuss the issue.

The economy minister's deputy was also fired as part of the shake-up and the country's agriculture minister stepped down after being reprimanded by the president.



These combined steps mark a significant change of approach in a country where the views of the public or political opposition are rarely considered in government decisions, and Astana has taken a hard line on dissent in recent years.



Public protests had become rare since police shot dead at least 16 protesting oil workers and their supporters in the southwestern city of Zhanaozen and the nearby town of Shetpe in December 2011.



That ended on April 23, however, when at least 1,000 men and women rallied in Kazakhstans western city of Atyrau to protest the land-sale plan.



Rallies followed in several Kazakh towns and cities after Nazarbaev criticized the action and vowed to punish those who spread the idea that foreigners would end up owning Kazakh land.



The threat did not stop activists from announcing that mass protests would be held across the country on May 21, however, leading the government to take a more moderate approach.



Despite the concessions, however, activists have not officially called off their plans to protest.


Pakistan and Bangladesh on May 12 summoned each other's ambassadors to register "strong protest" in a dispute over the execution of an Islamist leader in Bangladesh.

The two Muslim nations used to be two halves of the same country until Bangladesh broke away in a 1971 war of independence.

Bangladesh has in the past few years been prosecuting people accused of carrying out crimes in support of Pakistani forces during the war, and has executed five of them -- the most recent one, Motiur Rehman Nizami, on May 11.

Pakistan called Nizami's hanging "unfortunate" and said attempts by Bangladesh to malign Pakistan were "regrettable."

Bangladesh retorted that it "deeply regrets" Pakistan's "malicious campaign...against the trials of the crimes against humanity and genocide in Bangladesh."

Relations between the two countries have never recovered from the 1971 war in which Bangladesh claims that 3 million people were killed.

The war crimes tribunal that sentenced Nizami, a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamist party, has been criticized as not up to international standards by human rights groups, but the trials are supported by many in Bangladesh.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Just 120 kilometers separated NATO and Russian forces this week, as Georgia hosted U.S. and British troops for live-fire exercises.

The military maneuvers were designed to increase the ability of Georgia's armed forces to work as part of NATO's rapid-response force.

But the high-profile exercises also illustrated something else. Even as Georgia's armed forces become increasingly interoperable with the Western alliance, the door to NATO membership -- while theoretically open -- remains effectively closed.

And to the north, Moscow is biding its time as it seeks to reassert its dominance over Tbilisi -- one way or another.

On this week's Power Vertical Podcast, we discuss Georgia's quest for security against a resurgent and revanchist Russia.

Joining me are James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House and an expert on Moscow's relations with former Soviet states, and Tbilisi-based political analyst Ghia Nodia, a professor at Ilia State University.

Enjoy...

Listen to or download the podcast above or subscribe to The Power Vertical Podcast on iTunes.

CLARIFICATION: During the discussion on this podcast, I incorrectly referred to "Association Partnerships" that NATO was reportedly considering offering to Georgia and Ukraine at the alliance's upcoming Warsaw summit. In fact, NATO is not considering Association Partnerships for these two countries. In recent remarks in Kyiv, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow referred to a possible "Comprehensive Assistance Package," that would consolidate the alliance's support for Ukraine. This would be similar to the Substantial Assistance Package that Georgia received at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales.
RFE/RL's Crimean news desk, Krym.Realii, has welcomed Moscow's decision to unblock its news website in Russia and Moscow-annexed Crimea.

A spokesman for Russia's media regulator, Roskomnadzor, Vadim Ampelonsky, said on May 13 that Krym.Realii ("Crimea.Realities") was unblocked after RFE/RL's Crimean news desk followed a request by Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office to remove from the site "materials that contain illegal information."

However, RFE/RL's Crimean desk says it removed no content from the site in response to the May 12 blocking of its website by Russian Internet providers.

RFE/RL's Crimean desk chief Volodymyr Prytula said that "we received no demands from Roskomnadzor calling for the removal of any kind of content. So we removed no content."

"Crimea.Realities will continue providing unbiased information to the people of Crimea, considering the blockage of information and the tremendous pressure on information," Prytula added.

With reporting by Interfax
Masked men whisked away the family of a Russian whistle-blower and then burned down their home in the North Caucasus region of Chechnya, according to media reports.

Ramazan Dzhalaldinov, who was not in Chechnya at the time, had recently complained to President Vladimir Putin about corruption in the region.

Dzhalaldinov, currently in the neighboring Russian region of Daghestan, said in a video on the website of the Chernovik newspaper on May 13 that masked men entered his house overnight and took his wife and three daughters away in a car, telling them that they were in danger.

The men, he said, then left them several kilometers away, saying that their house was in flames and warning them not to make any complaints.

When Dzhalaldinov's wife and daughters returned home by foot they found their house severely damaged by fire.

Dzhalaldinov, an ethnic Avar, had to flee Chechnya after he uploaded a video on the Internet on April 14 in which he urged Putin to personally intervene in a row in his home village of Kenkhi, where he said residents were forced to pay bribes to local authorities.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 13 that, if the reports about the men burning down Dzhalaldinov's house were true, law enforcement would intervene.

Based on reporting by Chernovik, RIA Novosti, and Kavkaz-uzel.ru
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak and Turkish National Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz have agreed to develop a joint plan to deepen cooperation in the defense sector.

"I met with National Defense Minister of Turkey Ismet Yilmaz. During the meeting I briefed the counterpart on the current situation in the anti-terrorist operation zone. We also discussed the reform of the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as the expansion of cooperation between the defense ministries of our countries," Poltorak wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.

"We agreed to develop a joint action plan to deepen cooperation in military and technical sector, on logistical support, personnel training, as well as on the joint actions in the Black Sea Basin," the Ukrainian minister said.

Poltorak said the relevant documents are expected to be signed at the next meeting of the two ministers.

"My counterpart said Turkey sees Ukraine as a friendly and brotherly country. Turkey supports our desire to pursue reforms, and wants to see Ukraine peaceful and prospering. Mr. Ismet Yilmaz thanked the Ukrainian army for its extraordinary fortitude in defending our territorial integrity and independence," Poltorak said.
Three top editors have left the respected Russian media group RBC, whose investigative reporting has scrutinized the dealings of the country's business and political elites, including President Vladimir Putin's friends and family.

RBC General Director Nikolai Molibog said on May 13 that Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, editor in chief of the overall media group; Maksim Solyus, editor of the RBK newspaper; and Roman Badanin, editor of its news agency "are leaving the company as of May 13 due to the absence of common viewpoints regarding the company's future."

RBC shot to national prominence thanks in large part to its investigative reporting since it was purchased by billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov in 2010.

This reporting has at times irritated the Kremlin. Text messages between Molibog and a Kremlin official that were leaked by a hacking group last year indicate that RBC's coverage of the Ukraine conflict angered senior officials responsible for overseeing the media.

In one text to Molibog, who confirmed the veracity of the communications, the official used the word "brutal" to describe an RBC report about Russian soldiers fighting Kyiv's forces alongside separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The exit of the three editors, which comes amid widespread speculation that the Kremlin's frustration with the company's independent-minded editorial approach is mounting, triggered immediate fears that RBC's investigative reporting would be reined in.

"Independent journalism has died in Russia over the past few years, and RBC during these two years has become the most important independent publication in Russia with first-rate investigation and an unassailable reputation," the Riga-based Russian news portal Meduza wrote in a May 13 editorial.

"Today, a true miracle was destroyed right before our eyes," it added.

Osetinskaya, a former editor in chief of the respected Vedomosti daily, and Badanin wrote in May 13 Facebook posts that they were not commenting on their departures.

Osetinskaya said she was "shocked" by the outpouring of support. "That means it wasn't all in vain," she wrote.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted by the Interfax news agency on May 13 as saying that the departure of the RBC editors was not linked to politics or pressure from the Kremlin.

The announcement comes amid media reports that the Moscow city police have launched investigations into alleged fraud in a company controlled by RBC, which owns a news portal, a television channel, a newspaper, and a magazine among other entities.

A spate of recent national TV reports have also been critical of Prokhorov, who has largely played by the Kremlin's rules since Putin came to power 16 years ago.

In 2012, he ran against Putin in the presidential election with a pro-business campaign that was widely seen as approved by the Kremlin in order to allow liberal voters to vent dissatisfaction with the government at the ballot box.

In January 2015, RBC became the first media outlet to write about Katerina Tikhonova, the young woman believed to be Putin's younger daughter -- despite the Kremlin's long-running refusal to confirm details about the president's family. Tikhonova is currently running a development project at Moscow State University.

RBC did not identify Tikhonova as Putin's daughter in the article -- that claim was made later by journalist Oleg Kashin and opposition leader Aleksei Navalny on social networks.

In a broadcast last month, Russian state media boss and television anchor Dmitry Kiselyov held up a copy of RBC's newspaper and accused the holding of helping the United States with its deep coverage of the Panama Papers financial-document leak, in which Putin allies figure.

With reporting by Meduza and TASS
A Russian opposition activist, who was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric clinic in the southwestern city of Voronezh, has been freed.

Lawyer Sergei Loktev told RFE/RL on May 12 that Dmitry Vorobyevsky was released from the clinic after a local court rejected a request by doctors to keep the activist in the psychiatric clinic.

Police and medical personnel forcibly moved Vorobyevsky to the psychiatric clinic from his home on May 6.

Police said that Loktev was forced to the clinic after unnamed neighbors complained about his behavior.

However, Loktev says his client does not look like a person who may hurt other people or himself.

Vorobyevsky is well-known for taking part in anti-Kremlin protests.

In the Soviet era, authorities forcibly placed individuals to psychiatric clinics to crackdown on dissent.


Ukraine and its allies have adamantly rejected Russia's claims that Kyiv is developing a "dirty bomb" to use against Moscow's forces, and Ukraine's foreign minister says he has invited experts to visit Ukrainian facilities to see for themselves that Ukraine has nothing to hide.

Russia's claims that Kyiv is planning to deploy a so-called dirty bomb -- a conventional warhead laced with radioactive, biological, or chemical materials -- came in a series of calls between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his counterparts from several NATO countries.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Britain, France, and the United States issued a joint statement on October 23 dismissing the claim after Shoigu's calls with their defense ministers in which the Russian minister presented no evidence for the claim.

"Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory," according to the statement.

But Russia doubled down on its assertions, which come after weeks of military defeats for Russia in southern and eastern Ukraine.

"According to the information we have, two organizations in Ukraine have specific instructions to create a so-called dirty bomb. This work is in its final stage," Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said on October 24.

The chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, later on October 24 spoke by phone with British Chief of Defense Staff Tony Radakin, who rejected Russia's allegations that Ukraine is planning actions to escalate the conflict.

"The military leaders both agreed on the importance of maintaining open channels of communication between the U.K. and Russia to manage the risk of miscalculation and to facilitate deescalation," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Gerasimov also held a phone call with his U.S. counterpart, General Mark Milley, to discuss the risks of the use of a dirty bomb in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin-controlled RIA Novosti news agency.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on October 24 weighed in on Moscow's repeated allegation, saying NATO also rejects it.

Stoltenberg said he had spoken with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace "about Russia's false claim that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory."

"NATO Allies reject this allegation. Russia must not use it as a pretext for escalation. We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine," he said on Twitter.

Moscow's claims that Ukraine could employ a dirty bomb raised concern that Russia could use such a device and blame Kyiv.

A senior U.S. military official said the United States has seen no indication that Russia has decided to use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons in Ukraine, including a dirty bomb.

The official, who spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity, also said the Ukrainians are not building a dirty bomb.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price also said the United States has not seen any indication that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon but said there would be consequences for Russia whether it used a dirty bomb or any other nuclear weapon.



"It would certainly be another example of President Putin's brutality, if he were to use a so called 'dirty bomb.' There would be consequences for Russia whether it uses a 'dirty bomb' or a nuclear bomb. We've been very clear about that," Price told reporters.



He did not provide details about those consequences.

Ukraine earlier called the accusation that Ukraine was building a dirty bomb absurd, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog accepted his request to send experts to Ukraine to refute Moscow's claim.

Kuleba said he invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to "urgently send experts to peaceful facilities in Ukraine which Russia deceitfully claims to be developing a dirty bomb."

Kuleba said Ukraine has always been transparent and has "nothing to hide."

The IAEA said later on October 24 that it was preparing to send inspectors to two Ukrainian sites.



IAEA chief Rafael Grossi confirmed in a statement that both locations are under IAEA safeguards and have been visited regularly by IAEA inspectors.



The IAEA "is aware of statements made by the Russian Federation on [October 23] about alleged activities at two nuclear locations in Ukraine," Grossi said, adding that both were already subject to its inspections and one was inspected a month ago and no undeclared nuclear activities or material were found.



"The IAEA is preparing to visit the locations in the coming days," it added.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Kuleba in a phone call on October 23 that the world would "see through any attempt by Russia to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation [of the war]."

Blinken and Kuleba discussed the U.S. and international commitment to continue supporting Ukraine with "unprecedented security, economic and humanitarian assistance for as long as it takes, as we hold Russia accountable," the State Department's call readout said.

They further noted ongoing efforts to manage the broader implications of the Kremlins war in Ukraine, it added.

With reporting by AFP
A top Hizballah military commander has been killed in an explosion in Syria, dealing a blow to the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group and its support for the Syrian government.

Hizballah sources have blamed the death of Mustafa Badreddine in an explosion near Damascus airport on an Israeli air strike, although a deputy leader was later quoted as saying the group would announce its findings "within hours."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on whether it was involved in Badreddine's death. But its forces have carried out targeted assassinations against Hizballah in the past.

Badreddine has been a key figure in the military activities of Hizballah, a sworn enemy of Israel whose military arm has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to help Russia and Iran prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against internal and external enemies.

"There is no question that Hizballah lost a very important commander, the Iranians lost a very important interloper, and the Assad regime lost a great supporter," Yaakov Amidror, who was national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011-13, said of Badreddine's death. Amidror said it would have a deep impact in Syria.

Turkey and the United States have led efforts to put pressure on Assad to step down since his regime responded brutally to antigovernment unrest that began early in 2011, including by arming Syrian rebel groups.

Longtime Damascus ally Russia bolstered its military presence in Syria and launched a bombing campaign in late September that it said was aimed at keeping Assad in power and striking "international terrorist" targets.

Air strikes and other intense violence has continued in Syria despite a shaky "cessation of hostilities" agreed among international powers.

Amidror said rebels in Syria gained from Badreddine's death and that Israel also benefited.

Badreddine, who was on a U.S. terrorist blacklist, was one of four people being tried in absentia by a UN tribunal for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Hizballah did not provide details of Badreddine's death. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to the group, initially said he was killed in an Israeli air strike -- though that report was later removed.

Hizballah lawmaker in Lebanon Nawar al-Saheli later on May 13 said he awaited the results of an investigation but added that "this is an open war" and "certainly Israel is behind this." He vowed that "the resistance will carry out its duties" in response.

Announcing Badreddine's death, Hizballah said in a statement, "He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982."

An unnamed deputy leader of the group was quoted as saying on May 13 that Hizballah would "continue in the path" of Badreddine.

Russian officials did not immediately comment on Badreddine's death.

But Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised Badreddine in a letter of condolence as having "dedicated his whole life to the fight against injustice and terrorism," according to news agency ISNA.

Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of Badreddine's brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, the chief of Hizballah's military wing who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

"Today Hizballah is very much involved in Syria, and all its focus is in Syria," former Israeli official Amidror said. "But behind the corner, a year from now or a month from now, we might have to face Hizballah on the battlefield. If Hizballah has to go to the battlefield without a commander like Badreddine, it's better for Israel."

Amidror declined to speculate on whether Israel assassinated the commander.

Israel has assassinated Hizballah leaders in the past, including a 1992 helicopter strike that killed Abbas Musawi, the previous secretary-general of the organization. In December, militant Samir Kantar, who was imprisoned in Israel for three decades, was killed in an air strike on a residential building in a suburb of Damascus. Israel has also targeted convoys of Hizballah weaponry on the Lebanon-Syria frontier.

With reporting by Daniella Cheslow and AP, AFP, ISNA, and Reuters
For a long time the Turkish government was accused of assisting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) group. These accusations were heard especially since the battle Syrian Kurds fought with ISIS over the town of Kobani on the Syrian-Turkish border almost a year ago.

Turkish forces avoided any action to help the local Kurdish militia to take Kobani from ISIS. This even provoked a higher suspicion that Ankara does not want to fight the brutal Islamic group.

Is Ankara really helping ISIS? There have been reports, photos, and video footage of arms and ammunition being shipped from Turkey into Syria. Some Turkish journalists are even being tried in Ankara for revealing those reports and information. Countries and groups not so sympathetic to Ankara and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, have been arguing that these shipments were sent to ISIS.

There has been no proof of that accusation, while we know that Ankara has been arming and training armed rebel groups other than ISIS who fight the Bashar al-Assad government -- some also considered "radical Islamist" and "terrorist."

The "hardest" proof showing the alleged support of the Turkish government for ISIS were documents showing that ISIS has sold part of the crude oil exploited in its territory to some Turkish citizens, including a few described as "Turkish government employees." We also know that, desperate to exchange their oil for hard currency, ISIS has also been selling crude to some in the Assad government and neither of these cases is enough to prove the direct involvement of either Ankara or Damascus as an institution, or a senior Turkish or Syrian official.

Both ISIS and Kurdish militias hold territories on the Syrian side of the Turkish border.

In the last few months Turkish forces intensified their air and cross-border attacks against ISIS militants. They have been doing the same, even more aggressively, with the Kurdish militant groups that they accuse of being an extension of Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that has been raging a bloody war against Turkey for the last 32 years.

Turkey is a NATO ally of the West while the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq as well as Kurdish militia groups in northern Syria (along part of the Turkish border) are the most reliable armed force for the West to fight against ISIS.

But the fact is that unlike in the West, fighting ISIS has never been and still is not Turkey's No. 1 priority -- that would be fighting PKK terror and separatism.

Kurdish militant groups also have their own agenda and priorities. But fighting ISIS is not their top priority either. They have used the Syrian civil war to take control of territories inhabited by Syria's Kurdish minority and they are trying to expand that territory at the expense of other ethnic groups. They have even been accused of ethnic cleansing to reach their expansionist goal.

Their strategic goal seems to be to fill the gap of some 90 kilometers of the non-Kurdish part of northern Syria along the Turkish border. Ankara's top concern is that this would mean expanding the Kurdish presence along the entire Syrian border, completing the ground for a "Greater Kurdistan" and even giving them access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Two years ago when the Iraqi city of Mosul was falling into the hands of ISIS, Iraq's semi-independent Kurdish regional government under Masud Barzani delivered some weaponry to ISIS in order to weaken Iraq's central government and later withdrew its troops without fighting the advancing ISIS militants. Hiwa Afandi, the head of the Kurdish region's information-technology department, even tweeted that "Strategically, it is a huge mistake to eliminate ISIS before we are done with Hashd militiamen. They represent a much bigger danger to Iraqis." Hashd is a collection of mainly Shi'ite militia groups that was created to support Iraq's central government.

Add to this mix a few dozen small and big players -- countries, ethnic, religious, or political groups with overlapping and contrasting interests. It seems to be a perfect Middle Eastern classic: You don't know who is your enemy's enemy for how long.

Meanwhile, a few nations like Iraq and Syria are dying and the wholesale conflict is threatening to spill over to so far more stable nations like Turkey.
Russia's increased military assertiveness was high on the agenda as U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the leaders of five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said on May 13 at the end of the meeting with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

Obama said the six countries agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.

Earlier, Obama said that while willing to deescalate tensions, Washington would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea region, including "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."

The meeting came hours after U.S. and Polish officials symbolically broke ground for a new U.S.-led facility as part of NATO's European missile-defense shield in northern Poland.

On May 12, the United States activated a first-of-its-kind, ground-based missile-interceptor site in Romania, despite Moscow's protests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on May 13 that U.S. antimissile systems in Europe will "force" Moscow "to consider putting an end to the threats emerging in relation to Russia's security."

Speaking at a meeting with military officials, Putin described NATO's missile-defense program as a threat to global security.

Putin said that Russia "will do everything needed to ensure and preserve the strategic balance, which is the most reliable guarantee from large-scale military conflicts."

However, Putin said that Russia would not get drawn into a new arms race.

Work on the site in Redzikowo in the north of Poland is to be completed at the end of 2018.

Situated some 250 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, it will host 24 land-based SM-3 missiles as well as antiaircraft systems.

The installation in Poland is the final site of the European missile shield, which will be handed over to NATO in July and run from a U.S. air base in Germany.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and dpa
Serbian people, like their political leaders, seem to be in two minds about the world and their place in it. According to a recent poll, 42 percent of young people in Serbia would like to see the Russian political system implemented in their country.

But on the other hand, when asked where they would ideally like to live, 70 percent of those between 18 and 35 chose the United States or Europe. Clearly, there is some confusion here. Is it possible that the average young Serb sees the future of their country as a version of Vladimir Putin's Russia, while at the same time dreaming about living in the West?

The poll, run by the Belgrade-based Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS), concluded that the number of Serbian citizens who have a positive view of Russia is growing. As one Belgrade resident phrased it, "My mind is in Europe, but my heart and soul are in Moscow."

Renowned historian Latinka Perovic attributes this mind-set to the fact that Serbs do not really know Russia. "They have only a folk image of Russia. Russia is a kind of mirage for Serbia. We want to be part of the EU, but we imagine that we can also maintain good relations with Russia," she said, adding that Russians and Serbs share a vision of a "great state" that must be preserved at all costs, including by the use of force at home and abroad.

According to analysts, at the heart of this confusion is an unanswered question about the kind of society that most Serbs would like to see -- an autocracy with an overbearing state that dominates society, or the democratization of society and the rule of law.

Milivoj Beslin, another historian, believes that the Serbian media's pro-Russian bias is responsible for the confusion. In a December 2015 interview with the daily Danas, Beslin pointed out that all media outlets, whether government-controlled or run by the opposition, are uniformly pro-Russian. "The interests of the autocratic Russian regime are identified with the Serbian public interest in our media space," Beslin said.

According to Beslin, this means that certain inconvenient facts are never mentioned in the Serbian media. For instance, that the total of Serbian exports to Kosovo is greater than its exports to Russia. Or that Russia is not among the major donors of foreign aid to Serbia. Or that no nation is required to give up its separate identity and culture to join the EU, while in Russia, minorities have been assimilated and Russified, and languages other than Russian extinguished.

This media uniformity and ideological orthodoxy results in an image of Russia -- and its relationship with Serbia -- that is almost entirely divorced from reality. For instance, Russia has been willing to offer credit to Serbia and facilitate purchases of Russian military equipment, but it was the EU that provided most of the economic assistance to Serbia in the wake of the devastating 2014 floods.

Former Serbian Ambassador to Moscow Jelica Kurjak disagrees and doesn't think that Russian influence in Serbia is growing. "When you become disappointed in one option [the EU], it is normal for the other one to seem more attractive. Pro-Russian sympathies have never really waned -- not even when a larger percentage of people favored EU membership," Kurjak has said.

"There is a certain segment of the population, 35-50 percent according to various sources, or at least one-third and probably more who are always favorably inclined toward Russia, and expect great things from it. This third or more of the population is just more prominent or vocal."

If you try to sit on two chairs, you just end up falling into the gap in between. This is how Beslin described Serbia's foreign policy that aims to strike a balance between the EU and Russia. He maintains that oscillating between these two poles is not good for Serbia:

"One risks losing the trust of both sides. There is a myth about [Yugoslav leader Josip Broz] Tito's Yugoslavia staking out a similar position 'between East and West.' But this is false. In the early 1960s, Yugoslavia was in a deep economic crisis because both markets [Western and Eastern blocs] were closed for its goods. The nonaligned countries were far away, and as trading partners they were insignificant. The key trade partners were the same then as they are now -- Italy and Germany."

To tip the balance, Russia is attempting to peddle influence with a combination of soft and hard power.

The Serbian-based Center for a Civil Society has carried out research into the "soft" Russian influence in Serbia. The NGO calculated that there are currently 40 Internet sites and organizations in Serbia that are promoting Russia and its policies. According to CEAS director Jelena Milic, Serbia is experiencing a perfect storm of Russian interests focused on disrupting processes of democratization and Euro-integration.

At a recent panel in Belgrade, Beslin said that Russian influence in Serbia was going beyond the use of soft power: "The Russian presence is visible in different areas, from the military and intelligence to media, the economy, and religion."

However, Russia, and its Serbian sympathizers, have been very clever in exploiting cultural affinities between the two countries, and supposedly common goals -- such as blocking Kosovo's path to sovereignty -- while obscuring Serbia's real economic and political priorities, which would mean unequivocally embracing the EU.

Perhaps it is this that explains the paradox revealed by the recent polls. In spite of Russian propaganda, most young Serbs see themselves as citizens of Europe, but at the same time they are enthralled by an idea of a Russia they barely know -- an image of a powerful, well-ordered state, naturally inclined toward its smaller Slavic brother. An image projected by the media playing on the hopes and anxieties of its audience.
The White House and congressional Republicans sparred on May 12 over an aide who was reported to have used questionable tactics to "sell" the Iran nuclear deal to Congress and the press.

Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told The New York Times Magazine last week that most of the reporters covering the deal knew little about it, so he was able to create a story line that bolstered the White House's case.

The story said that Rhodes misrepresented the timeline of the negotiations and created what he called an "echo chamber" of supportive experts to affirm the White House's favorable views to the press and Congress.

The article created a furor in Congress, where a House oversight committee is demanding that Rhodes testify on "White House narratives on the Iran deal" at a hearing on May 17.

In addition to the hearing, one Republican lawmaker has filed legislation to rein in the National Security Council (NSC) for growing too large and overreaching.

"Now we hear reports of NSC staffers running misinformation campaigns targeted at Congress and the press," said Representative Mac Thornberry, author of the legislation.

Since the article was published, Rhodes has contended that the White House's case was based on facts.

The White House on May 12 did not rule out the possibility of Rhodes testifying next week, but it accused Republicans of indulging in "political theater" over the article.

"I think there are some people who have some explaining to do when it comes to the wildly false accusations that they made about the Iran deal. And it's not the administration," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

"It's Republicans who are demonstrably wrong when it comes to the Iran deal," he said, accusing some lawmakers of being "wildly misinformed, mistaken or lying" by exagerrating how much Iran would benefit financially from the deal.

The chairman of the House oversight committee, Representative Jason Chaffetz, said on Twitter he'd be glad to have the deal's critics testify as well, if Rhodes is "man enough to show. Let's discuss the truth."

With reporting by AP and Reuters
The DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague is exhibiting the work of 23 photojournalists, many of whom have received a Pulitzer Prize or a World Press Photo award. The exhibition is a stark survey of the lives of people in today's conflict zones.The name of the project, UPFRONT, refers to the dangerous front lines where these photojournalists work. Their courage enables viewers to witness events unfolding as if they were present themselves. Often, war photographers are freelancers without any institutional support who set out for the most dangerous conflict zones, such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Congo, Libya, or Haiti, in order to bear witness.(WARNING: Some graphic images)
KYIV. May 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) has obliged Stockman Interhold S.A. (British Virgin Islands) to transfer its shares in Assofit Holdings Limited, the project company of Kyiv-based Sky Mall, to ownership of Arricano Real Estate Plc (both based in Cyprus).

Arricano Director General Mykhailo Merkulov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday that LCIA issued the verdict on May 5, 2016 in the arbitration on ownership rights to Assofit.

"Litigation over Assofit Holdings Limited, the project company that invested in Sky Mall, lasted for over five years in several jurisdictions, including in LCIA. The company presented the interests of its shareholders  Arricano and Stockman The headline-making decision of the court is that within one month, until June 5, 2016, Stockman is to transfer shares in Assofit to Arricano for $0," Merkulov said.

He said that under the court decision Arricano can demand to refund losses seen when the company lost control over Sky Mall from Stockman if the latter does not transfer its shares in Assofit to Arricano.

Head of the law group involved in the lawsuit to return Arricano's assets, Yevhen Maleyev said that the company is to achieve the restoration of the structure of Assofit's assets at the moment when arbitration began to return control over management and financial flows of the mall.

He said that Assofit is to restore control over Prizma Beta LLC (the formal owner of the mall) shares of which were transferred to other companies. The mall with all its facilities, which were transferred to bank Pivdenny in 2014, is to be returned to ownership of Prizma Beta. Assofit is to return some $100 million worth of loans.

Merkulov said that the return of control over Sky Mall could be delayed if officials do not help in the matter.

"We cold return Sky Mall by legal actions as prescribed in law, this is the issue of time. This could take 10 years, and with political will this could happen in a month," he said.

Arricano Real Estate Plc, a leading developer on the Ukrainian real estate market, builds shopping and leisure centers.
A 30-year-old man was arrested Friday morning in the death of a 19-year-old woman in Amelia County, according to the Amelia Sheriffs Office.

Stephon Lamarr Wallace, 30, of Chesterfield County has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of ShyNisha Walker, 19, the sheriffs office wrote in a statement.

Walker was found May 4 beside a private driveway in the 17000 block of Patrick Henry Highway, the sheriffs office said Tuesday.

Capt. James L. Moler declined to disclose Walkers cause of death.

The state medical examiners office in Richmond referred questions about how the victim died to Amelia authorities.

Moler said investigators need to interview potential witnesses before publicly releasing Walkers cause of death.

Moler couldnt immediately say what relationship, if any, Wallace had to the victim.

Wallace was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force and Amelia investigators.

Wallace is being held without bond and is due in court Monday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Amelia County Sheriffs Office at (804) 561-2118, or Amelia County Crime Solvers at (804) 561-5200.
(Global Times) 09:30, May 13, 2016

China was the most promising consumer market in Asia in 2015, and will probably remain so in the next four years, according to a Bloomberg report released Thursday.

"Even as China's economy slows and its population ages, it appears set to remain the most attractive Asian market for retailers in the years ahead," said Bloomberg economists in "Insight: Asia retail forecasts show China market to stay No. 1."

The report said the Asia-Pacific region accounted for just under a third of Apple's revenue, and more than half of the revenue of Yum! Brands, operator of fast food chains including KFC and Pizza Hut, in 2015.

"Asian consumers have shifted from bit-part players in the drama of global demand to a leading role," it said.

In ranking of the most promising consumer markets in 2015 by Bloomberg Intelligence Economics, China, Japan and India came first, second and third.

"For China and India, that reflects their massive young populations and large economies," the report said.

Following India were Australia, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia. Pakistan and Bangladesh ranked at the bottom of the list.

Using GDP and GDP per capita forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, and demographic forecasts from the United Nations, it's possible to project the ranking scores forward to 2020, the report said.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, slowing further from the previous quarter but better than many had feared.

And foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland continued to rise in the first four months of this year, official data showed earlier this week.

FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 4.8 percent year on year to 286.78 billion yuan (45.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-April period.

China will encourage an overhaul of its consumer goods industry to meet the needs of increasingly picky buyers, according to a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting Wednesday.

The government will back enterprises to spend more on design and R&D, the statement said.
Virginia State Police on Friday morning released new details on the arrests of a former Nelson County sheriff and a former sheriff's lieutenant.

Former Sheriff David Brooks, 54, of Shipman, and former Lt. Becky Adcock, 58, of Piney River, turned themselves in Thursday and were released on their own recognizance.

"In November 2015, the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations Appomattox Field Office initiated an investigation into the allegation that Brooks, while employed by the Nelson County Sheriffs Office, directed members of the sheriffs office to use public funds to conduct a non-law enforcement investigation in the City of Lynchburg in October 2013. Adcock was employed by the Nelson County Sheriffs Office and was actively involved in the 'investigation,'" Virginia State Police said in a news release.

Brooks was indicted by a multi-jurisdictional grand jury on a felony charge of embezzlement and three misdemeanor charges: being an accessory to unlawfully creating an image of another; unlawful dissemination of images of another; and malfeasance.

Adcock was indicted on a charge of illegal video recording and making a false report to a law enforcement officer, both misdemeanors.

The prosecutor in the case, Lynchburg Commonwealth's Attorney Michael Doucette, said Thursday he could not discuss details behind the indictments, citing confidentiality reasons.

Court documents show the indictment against Brooks concerns unlawfully creating an image of another former Nelson County deputy who was a nonconsenting person and was nude or partially nude in a hotel or motel room.
A recent demolition dispute has led to deadly fighting in Huiji area of Zhengzhou city, central Chinas Henan province, on May 10, 2016, resulting in four deaths and one person severely injured.

The incident broke out when a villager named Fan Huapei slain a tow truck driver right outside of his home before killing three others later. The bloodshed ended as police force responded to the violence at the scene and gunned down Fan. It is reported that Huiji area is currently undergoing renovation and demolition.

But new twist of this incident is emerging as the news is developing. The police and the witnessing villagers apparently gave two different versions of what had happened on that day. A video footage circulating online in the evening of May 10 shows that police and SWAT team opened fire to a vehicle in the distance; while many villagers shouted and begged the police to stop. Their voices could be heard asking the police to give a chance for the suspect to surrender. However, their pleading only met with police backing them away with rifle.

In an announcement made by Zhengzhou city police station on Chinas microblogging site Weibo, it says that Fan Huapei had killed three and injured one with a knife. He was then behind the wheel and drove recklessly, while yelling out threatening words. The statement said it was at this moment when Fan was shot dead after he continuously ignored the warning issued by the police.

However, reporters from Caixin went to the village and pieced together another version of the story from villagers. They said that prior to Fan was killed, he saw a tow truck driver outside of his home. Fan believed that the driver was from the demolition crew and that he was to cut off the electricity in order to evict the villagers. In a quarrel Fan killed the driver with a knife. He then went to the demolition commanding office in the region, and slain its deputy manager Chen Shan. Driving home, Fan saw two handymen for AC maintenance. He believed that these people were there to demolish his homes AC. Another brawl started between them, and Fan killed one, injured another. Fan was then gunned down by the police who arrived at the scene. Villagers told Caixin reporters that Fan was outside of the vehicle when police zeroed in. It was impossible that Fan could drive recklessly around as the police said, the villagers to Caixin reporters. Moreover, contrary to what the police statement said, no warning was issued from the polices side, according to the witness of the villagers.

Fans family members who watched the deadly scene unfolded cried to the police, Dont shoot please, we can persuade him to yield. Yet police officers barred them from communicating with Fan.

A warehouse keeper, Fan has left behind his recently hospitalized father, mother, wife, and seven-year-old daughter. Caixin reporter discovered that Fans seven-story house has built up a debt of 700,000 to 800,000 yuan (around $107,400 to $122,800) among his friends and relatives. The reimbursement he received from the government for demolition was far from paying off the debts.

One unnamed villager told Caixin reporter, Our Huiji area has seen a large scale of forced demolition. They slam whoever fights back and snatch phones that they found have recording of their conduct. There are people jumping off the building and all sorts of things.

Zhengzhou Evening News reported that Fan was drunk after having 24 bottles of beer with two of his friends at noon of May 10. Police report said that Fans blood alcohol concentration reached as high as 152.09 mg/dL  severely intoxicated.

Fans funeral, set up by his family, was held on May 11. Over a thousand villagers attended. They offered wreaths, donation, and flowers. Villagers told Caixin reporter that Fans family has received order from authorities to cancel the mourning ceremony.
RICHMOND  Gov. Terry McAuliffe says the day he acted to restore voting and other civil rights to more than 206,000 felons was my greatest day as governor.

McAuliffe, speaking Thursday evening in an African-American church in Richmonds Church Hill neighborhood, drew a standing ovation with a full-throated, impassioned defense of his surprise decision on April 22 to sign a blanket order for restoration of civil rights for ex-offenders, of whom almost 3,100 already have registered to vote.

He reminded the audience of nearly 100 people of the 114-year history of Virginias constitutional disenfranchisement of convicted felons, many of them black. He scorned critics who have called his action a political ploy to help Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton win the presidency and his former aide Levar Stoney become mayor of Richmond.

Those who know me know this has nothing to do with politics, the Democratic governor said from the pulpit at 31st Street Baptist Church. This has to do with justice. This has to do with morality.

McAuliffe introduced Stoney, who sat in the third pew, and credited Stoneys work as secretary of the commonwealth for enabling the governor to issue a blanket restoration that some of his predecessors had considered but declined to do.

But in remarks after the speech, the governor said his appearance was not designed to boost Stoneys bid to be elected mayor in November.

This is his race, McAuliffe said. Everybody knows were like brothers and best friends, but its his race.

The audience inside the church included a throng of Democratic office holders  members of the Virginia Senate, House of Delegates and Richmond City Council, including Del. Delores McQuinn, D-Chesterfield, a former city councilwoman who organized the forum to help answer peoples questions about restoration of rights.

We stand lock-step with you in this long-overdue action of restoring thousands of Virginians their voting rights, their civil rights, and really their human dignity, McQuinn told the governor.

The Rev. Morris Henderson, senior pastor at 31st Street Baptist Church, praised McAuliffe for ending what he called the systematic disenfranchisement of black voters who have completed their sentences for felony convictions.

He displayed the wisdom and the moral fortitude  what did I say? Moral fortitude  that none of his recent predecessors had shown, Henderson said.

Dont be dissuaded, my brother, the pastor told the governor. Forget what you political naysayers might say.  This may well be your finest hour.

McAuliffe called the action deeply personal, based on conversations with and letters from people who had waited decades to be able to vote. He reminded the audience that in the past, a felon would have to complete a 13-page, notarized application to the governor and pay all fines and accumulated penalties.

You know why it was 13 pages, he said. You know why it took a notary. It was to make it hard.

The governor also brushed off criticism that his order restored rights for felons convicted of violent crimes, and said he didnt care a whit about the details of an analysis his secretary of the commonwealth released Wednesday showing that almost 80 percent of those whose rights were restored had been convicted of nonviolent offenses.

Once youve paid your debt to society, I want you to have a job, I want you paying taxes, I want you back in the system, he said.

McAuliffe also took a swipe at Republican critics. I think big, I act big, he said. Some folks on the other side think small and act small.

Earlier Thursday, Rep. Robert Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, said on a conference call arranged by Democrats that the restriction on felons voting rights that McAuliffe sought to undo disproportionately affects African-Americans and that it was no accident.

Scott said McAuliffes action helps reverse a vestige of the discriminatory restrictions  including poll taxes and literacy tests  that date to the state constitution implemented in 1902. Democrats ran state government when that version of the state constitution was implemented.

Republicans in the state legislature have criticized McAuliffe for the April 22 blanket order, saying it exceeded his authority under the current state constitution, implemented in the early 1970s. They have retained a prominent conservative lawyer to mount a legal challenge against the governors action.

Scott accused Republicans of voter suppression, saying they have been doing everything they can possibly do to deny the right to vote.
An aerial photo taken on Sept. 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in South China Sea.(Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States has misjudged China on the South China Sea issue and this will be costly, said a China studies scholar.

The United States has misjudged China, its intention and its role in relation to the South China Sea issue, Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute, the National University of Singapore, told Xinhua through the phone on Monday.

"It based its judgment on its own historical experience as an expansionist empire and its deeply rooted great-power ideology, and not on China's diplomatic performance in the region," he said.

U.S. STRATEGIC MISJUDGMENT

Zheng, a well-known scholar on China studies, said that China, unlike the United States, "does not have a missionary culture or missionary diplomatic policies."

While heavy U.S. presence in the region is regarded by some in China as a threat, China does not have its own version of the Monroe Doctrine to drive U.S. influence out of the region, he said.

U.S. concerns about the freedom of navigation are not justified, either. China wants to safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea more than any others as it depends heavily on the important sea routes there.

Generally, China and the United States do not have direct geopolitical conflict in the South China Sea, Zheng said.

"A misjudged strategy will be costly to America," he said.

China has said it welcomes the United States to play a positive role in regional peace and stability, like contributing to maritime security.

China has voiced support for a dual-track approach on the South China Sea issue. It advocates common efforts by regional countries to safeguard regional peace and stability and insists that the South China Sea disputes should be dealt with through peaceful bilateral channels between countries directly involved in the disputes.

APPROACH ADVOCATED BY CHINA

The U.S. has repeatedly emphasized that the South China Sea issue "must be resolved peacefully without a big nation presiding over smaller neighbors." But Zheng said the implied accusation that China is a bully is essentially biased.

The U.S.-backed approach of internationalizing the disputes is simply not helpful, as territorial disputes often leave no room for the claimant states to back down, and any efforts to create a hype will only escalate tension, he said.

Late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, admired worldwide as a great leader and known for his pragmatism, recognized that the South China Sea disputes could be resolved and therefore proposed joint development.

The approach advocated by Deng is better because it suits the complicated historical context. China and its neighbors in the South China Sea region had co-existed for thousands of years before the creation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China has also proved that it deals with its smaller neighbors with due respect and treats them as equals. China and Vietnam, for instance, solved their land border dispute long ago through bilateral negotiations, with China making quite a few concessions.

"This case proved that it is unfair to call China a big bully to smaller nations," Zheng said.

In Zheng's opinion, China has tried to avoid creating a hype over the South China Sea issue. It is not the first country to carry out reclamation and building projects on the islands and reefs as countries like the Philippines and Vietnam had long been doing this.

Even in the face of U.S. interference, China has not wavered in its pursuit of regional peace and stability.

NO WINNERS

The U.S.-backed approach of making the South China Sea disputes an international and increasingly complicated geopolitical issue will be costly to all parties concerned, Zheng said.

While it is not in the interests of China to see a hype over the South China Sea issue, China will have to respond to provocations. It absolutely has the capacity to resist U.S.-backed provocative acts if necessary.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) faces a dilemma as some of its members try to impose their disputes with China onto the ASEAN platform against the will of other members.

Zheng said the region has been less stable since the United States interfered with its policy of "pivot to Asia."

Moreover, it is not necessarily in the interests of even the claimant states to internationalize the South China Sea disputes.

"Some of the politicians are doing it out of political considerations with no regard for their national interests," Zheng said.

The U.S. interference is a strategic miscalculation and carries a cost for the United States.

The interests of the regional countries and those of the United States are not always the same. "While there is national interests convergence between the United States and these (claimant) states in some areas, the maximization of national interests of these states is not necessarily in the interests of the United States," Zheng said.

"It benefits the United States little with its interference; its intervention has only brought forward a lose-lose situation for all concerned," he added.

Zheng said China has shown unwavering strength in face of pressure on the South China Sea issue.

"China needs to be patient, as rationality is borne from patience," he said.
A STEELWORKER among 700 made redundant from Tata has spoken of his joy at landing a new job under a special retraining scheme.

Graham Makepeace (54), pictured, took on a multi-skill training course covering plastering, plumbing and joinery after losing his job last year.

Now he has landed a full-time job with Barratts and David Wilson Homes, saying the Taskforce Resource Centre training support had been invaluable.

He said: It was without doubt really hard leaving Tata and not being sure what my options were. The staff at the resource centre were great though and were very supportive. Without this training I would have been in a more difficult position.

What I would say to anyone else in my position is that its difficult taking those steps, but its definitely worth persevering with.

About 700 Tata workers at Rotherham and Stocksbridge lost their jobs in Tatas cost-cutting changes.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills provided funding to help those affected, with extra cash from UK Steel Enterprise.

More than 500 people attended two job fairs to meet 35 recruitment organisations plus the Taskforce Resource Centre.

One-to-one support was offered to help prepare CVs and access training funding.

Rotherham Borough Council leader Cllr Chris Read said: We appreciate this has been a very difficult time for workers, their families, and supply businesses.

The partners have been making every effort to help those affected by helping people find alternative jobs, access training, or simply highlighting new opportunities.

Former Tata employees wanting help and advice can phone Sarah Stanley on 01709 254564.
Based on the results of evaluation in accordance with JORC code, prepared by independent expert Micon, as at January 1, 2015 ALROSAs resources totaled 1,077 mln cts, reserves totaled 658 mln cts.Resources grew by 11% compared to the previous valuation as at July 2013, reserves increased by 8%.Resources grew due to extension of evaluation perimeter: for the first time ever, resources of Verkhne-Munskoe deposit, Zaria pipe of Aikhal division, Pionerskaya pipe and Lomonosov pipe of Lomonosov division, alluvial deposits incl. AO Nizhne-Lenskoe were evaluated in accordance with JORC code.Reserves increase is primarily associated with raised evaluation of reserves of Mir pipe and International pipe, and with inclusion of alluvial deposits incl. AO Nizhne-Lenskoe in evaluation perimeter.ALROSAs JORC Reserves and Resources Report is available at ALROSAs website in the Reserves and Resources section.
The rough diamond market has seen the worst of its troubles, according to DiamondCorp chairman Euan Worthington cited by Rapaport.

Early indications in 2016 are that there has been some stabilization in prices for polished stones as inventories are being drawn, said Worthington. This is feeding through to better prices for rough diamonds and signs that the cycle has bottomed.

The RapNet Diamond Index (RAPI) for 1-carat, GIA-graded polished diamonds rose 1.4 percent sequentially in the first quarter, but fell 4.6 percent below its level last year.

DiamondCorp, the diamond development company behind the Lace mine in South Africa, restarted commercial sales of stones from the site earlier this year for the first time since 1931. The company sold 8,648 carats of diamonds for an average price of $175 per carat.

Paul Loudon, the companys chief executive officer, said 2016 will be a watershed year for the company as we finally make the long and difficult transition to diamond producer.

The company reported it reduced its loss last year to $3.5 million (GBP 2.4 million) from $4.7 million in 2014.




The Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) has sold 270 000 carats of diamonds since its set up in February, a government official says.

Mines minister Walter Chidhakwa was quoted by African Report as saying that government a good decision by consolidating mining in Marange.

Seven companies operating in Marange were forced out by government early this year as their licences had allegedly long expired.

The companies were also accused of resisting the move to consolidate diamond mining.

Meanwhile, Harare, was said to have set a target of 1 million carats of diamonds per month for the new firm.

"We used to do 15 million carats (a year), which means we were doing more than half a million carats per month," Chidhakwa was quoted saying.

"We also did 12 million carats annually, which was one million carats per month. Now if we go back to one million carats per month, you find a price of $70 to $80 per carat, which is $70 to $80 million per month.

"We multiply this by 10 months and get $700 million plus the extra two months, we get an average of $800 million."

ZCDC was projected to directly inject $800 million in dividends annually to the national fiscus.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




In the recently published data of The World Gold Council, it is indicated that India's gold demand dropped sharply during the March 2016 quarter on account of a 19-day strike in March by the country's jewellers over the re-introduction of the one percent excise duty.

According to the Council, the overall gold demand was 116.5 tonnes during March quarter 2016, down 39.2 percent from 191.7 tonnes during the March 2015 quarter. The fall in the jewellery segment was 41 percent to 88.4 tonnes in the March quarter 2016 from 150.8 tonnes during the March 2015 quarter, hitting a seven-year low.

"Q1 2016 saw Indian jewellery demand hit a seven-year low of 88.4t, a 41% year-on-year decline. This is 44% below the five-year quarterly average for India of 156.7t and indicates the extent of the troubles faced by that market during the quarter," the WGC report said.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished




Mahesh Khemlani, president of the Panama Diamond Exchange, and Ali Pastorini, PDE's Senior Vice President, are visiting the Near and Middle East, as part of the bourse's international outreach program, which is aimed at building ties between Latin American gemstone and jewelry traders operating at the World Jewelry Hub in Panama City and members of the global trade.

Ms. Pastorinil visiting Istanbul, Turkey, on May 11 and May 12, where she meets with Turkish industry leaders and representatives of the local industry. She is being hosted in the city by the Istanbul Chamber of Jewelry (IKO).

She will then continue on to Dubai, UAE, where she will be joined by Mr. Khemlani, from May 14 to 19. There they are scheduled to meet with companies headquartered in the Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC) that are interested in expanding their involvement in the Latin American markets. They also will attend the congress of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), which will take place in the city from May 16 to 19.

"There are synergies that we plan on promoting during our meetings, linking suppliers and buyers interested in developing commercial relationships with both large companies as well as with individual traders in Latin America," said Mr Khemlani.

"We have been developing our business connections with the Turkish and Dubai centers for many months already, and have a received great deal of positive feedback. Both Turkish Airlines and Emirates are now launching regular air services to Panama, facilitating the easy movement of people, goods and services between our countries," said Ms. Pastorini.



Alex Shishlo, Editor of the Rough&Polished European Bureau in Brussels




The United Nations on Human Rights of Migrants said 300 000 migrants are involved in diamond mining activity, mostly illegal, in the eastern Lunda Norte province, in Angola.

The organisations special rapporteur Francois Crepeau was quoted by Angop as saying that the southern African country should create diamond mining cooperatives to curb illegal mining

He also said that Angola should come up with mechanisms to ensure the purchase of stones being sold on the informal market.

The majority of the migrants living in Angola were said to be active in the informal trading of diamonds.

Angolan police arrested 11 foreigners last January for illegal exploration and sale of diamonds in central Bie province.

Those arrested included four Mauritanians, four Congolese and three Guineans.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished




A group of 40 foreigners from the U.K., Russia, Spain, Thailand and other countries recently attended a lecture on Chinese traffic laws in Shanghai. Some of the attendees volunteered to join local police officers in stopping traffic violations on Nanjing West Road after the lesson.

The hour-long presentation, given by the Jing'an Exit and Entry Administration for employees of companies based in Shibei Hi-tech Park on Jiangchang Road, consisted of a digital slide show and a question and answer session.

Vika Korpusova, a Russian woman who has been living in Shanghai for three years, was among the foreigners who volunteered with police after the lecture.

"I don't think many foreigners in Shanghai know the local rules. And because many people don't know, they don't follow them," she said.

During the lecture, police officers gave examples of the most common traffic violations among foreigners, in the hope of getting more foreign residents in Shanghai to learn about the local rules. According to the presenter, the most common violation among foreigners is riding with a passenger on the backseat of scooters. The second most common violation is riding without a bike license.

One police officer said that many foreigners believe it's legal for them to drive in China with an international drivers license. In fact, foreigners must obtain a local license to legally drive in China.

Police said they plan to launch more events to involve foreigners in improving traffic condition in the city.
Putin authorized to reduce state-owned share in ALROSA to 33%

13 may 2016 News

(INTERFAX.RU) - The state-owned stake in ALROSA may be cut to 33.001%. This level is fixed by the decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on May 12, which amends the list of strategic enterprises and joint stock companies in Russia.

Currently, the Russian Federation has a shareholding of 43.9% in ALROSA, which means that under the limit set by the decree the company may float not more than 10.9% of its stock within the frames of privatization.

The government has been discussing the size of the companys equity to be offered for privatization for several months. Yakutia owns 25% plus 1 share in ALROSA and does not consider the possibility of floating its package of shares. Another 8% of shares is owned by Yakutias uluses (municipalities), and these shares cannot be traded away under the law of this republic. The maximum size of the federal stake in ALROSA, which could be sold while preserving total control of Russia and Yakutia over the diamond miner, was 18.9%. It is the latter amount of shares on which the Economic Development Ministry insisted to be put up for sale, but the Ministry of Finance did not support the move.

In mid-April, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who heads the Supervisory Board of ALROSA, said that the government intended to privatize 10.9% and the option of selling 18.9% was not discussed. However, at the end of the month, Alexey Ulyukayev, Minister of Economic Development once again said that he considered it possible to place the state-owned stake of 18.9% in ALROSA for public trading on the Moscow Exchange.

The press-service of the Economic Development Ministry explained to Interfax that the planned reduction of the state-owned share in ALROSA to 33.001% did not exclude further sale of an eight-percent state-owned stake in the company.

"According to the forecast privatization plan, the stake of the Russian Federation is to be reduced to 25% plus 1 share. Thus, during the first phase of the companys privatization it is planned to divest a 10.9-percent share owned by the government. As a next step, the presidential decree may be amended to lower the stake of the Russian Federation to 25 percent plus 1 share - that is, to sell another eight percent of the state-held block of shares in the course of a new round of privatization," the ministry noted.

The Ministry of Economic Development has chosen Sberbank CIB to organize the privatization of ALROSA and this decision is to be approved by the government.

ALROSA held its IPO on the Moscow Exchange in the autumn of 2013. At that time, the Russian Federation and Yakutia sold a 7-percent stake each in ALROSA and another 2-percent stake was floated by the diamond miner's subsidiary. With shares placed at 35 rubles, the entire company was valued at 258 billion rubles.

In late March, Andrey Zharkov, President of ALROSA said that it would be the best privatization option for the company if its shares were offered for sale to a wide range of investors.






Swiss stocks lost ground Thursday despite a strong performance from one of the nation's big insurance companies. Concers about an possible exit of the UK from the European Union weighed on European .

Zurich Insurance shares jumpe 6.5 percent. The Swiss insurer reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter profit, helped by improvements in its flagship general insurance .

LafargeHolcim first-quarter operating profit fell more than analysts expected.

The Swiss Market Index was down 0.66 percent at 7,885, having lost about 10 percent year-to-date.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc. (SMT.L) reported Friday that its fiscal 2016 net return on ordinary activities before taxation was a loss of 13.92 million pounds, compared to profit of 723.17 million pounds last year.

Net return on ordinary activities after taxation was loss of 14.78 million pounds, compared to profit of 722.07 million pounds a year ago. Net return per ordinary share was 1.15 pence loss, compared to 58.74 pence profit last year.

Income declined to 32.91 million pounds from 38.96 million pounds a year ago.

The company said its Annual General Meeting will be held in Edinburgh at the Merchants' Hall on June 30.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
SiriusXM (SIRI) announced it and Sirius XM Radio Inc., its operating subsidiary, have entered into agreements with Sirius Canada Holdings Inc. to recapitalize Sirius XM Canada (XSR.TO). SiriusXM and certain Canadian shareholders will form a new company to acquire shares of Sirius XM Canada not already owned by them pursuant to a plan of arrangement.

Sirius XM Canada's shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive, for each share of Sirius XM Canada held, consideration of C$4.50 in cash, shares of SiriusXM common stock, a security exchangeable for shares of SiriusXM common stock, or a combination thereof.

Following the closing of the recapitalization, Slaight Communications and Obelysk Media will, on a combined basis, own 67% of the voting shares of Sirius XM Canada and 30% of the economic interest in the recapitalized . SiriusXM will increase its economic ownership of Sirius XM Canada from 37% to 70% and own 33% of the voting shares.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
After having a strong start in the Indian premium SUV segment with a single product, Jeep has been facing the pressure of slowdown like every other OEM in the country. The FCA-owned SUV brand registered a decline of 17% in FY2019, selling about 16,000 units.

Moving forward, Jeep India is planning to take advantage of the popularity of 7-seat premium SUVs in our market to expand its business. Economic Times reports that, according to its sources, the American SUV brand is currently working on a new 7-seat SUV which will be positioned above the Compass.

The new model in question will be based on Compass platform and will have FCAs Ranjangaon plant as its primary manufacturing base. Likely to be called as Grand Compass (or Compass Long), the 7-seater will be locking horns with the likes of Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour, and Skoda Kodiaq. The upcoming 7-seat variants of the MG Hector and Tata Harrier (to be called as Buzzard in international markets) will also compete with the new Jeep.

The publication reports that the Jeep Compass 7-seater will be ready alongside the mid-life refresh for the existing 5-seater variant. Both products are expected to be ready by second half of 2020 or early 2021. Given that the Compass is already heavily localized, we expect the 7-seater variant to be priced aggressively.

The new larger SUV above the Compass suggests that Jeep India is looking to augment its portfolio with high margin models rather than volume generators. Having said that, Jeep is also working on a smaller crossover for India that would slot below the Compass to take on the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos.

While India will be the key market for the upcoming Jeep Grand Compass, the vehicle would help FCA gain right inputs and attributes for the upcoming global compact Jeep. The volume potential of the Fortuner rival means that India could quickly rise to become one of the primary markets for the brand.

The Jeep Grand Compass is most likely to retain its smaller siblings powertrain lineup. The 1.4-liter MultiAir turbo petrol is good for 163 hp while the 2.0-liter MultiJet diesel unit produces 173 hp.

Source
Order books for the updated BS6 versions of the Mahindra XUV500 and Scorpio SUVs are opened

Customers can reserve a vehicle for INR 5,000 in addition to selecting the accessories. The price announcement and deliveries are expected to commence a few days after the lockdown ends. Bookings can be made at the companys https://www.mahindrasyouv.com/ website. BS6 XUV500 is offered in 4 variants  W5, W7, W9 and W11 (O). BS6 Scorpio variants on offer are S5, S7, S9 and S11. Only manual transmission is on offer, with same diesel engine that powers the current XUV500 and Scorpio.

The opening of bookings indicate that the Indian UV specialist has more or less depleted or confident of depleting its BS4 stock in time. The initial deadline of April 1, 2020 is set to be extended to compensate for the disruption in business due to the COVID-19 emergency. The government is expected to give the OEMs an extension of few days to clear out the old stock.

Both XUV500 and Scorpio are inching closer to the end of their life cycles. The BS6 update comes as a buffer before the next generation models get ready to take over the baton. The next generation models of both the SUVs were originally expected to be ready in 2021. It remains to be seen if the ongoing crisis will have any impact on the timelines.

Coming back to the BS6 versions of Mahindra XUV500 and Scorpio, there are no noticeable cosmetic changes. Both vehicles continue to employ the 2.2-liter turbocharged diesel engine. On board the Scorpio, the engine develops 140 hp and 320 Nm of torque while the XUV500 receives a version which is good enough for 153 hp and 360 Nm of torque. The BS6 upgrades didnt change the performance figures. A 6-speed manual transmission is standard on both the models while the XUV500 can also be specified with a 6-speed automatic unit.

The prices are expected to witness considerable inflation but given the market conditions, we expect Mahindra to absorb the portion of the hike to encourage sales. The updated Scorpio will have the Hyundai Creta and Seltos in its sights while the XUV500 will be rivaling the MG Hector and Tata Harrier.

The prototypes of next generation Mahindra XUV500 and Scorpio have been are currently in advanced stages of validation. The new XUV500 is based on a new architecture which will employ a new 2.0-liter diesel engine considerably more power than the current 2.2-liter unit. The same engine is reported to serve the new Scorpio as well.

As per the partnership with Ford, the next gen XUV500s platform will also spawn an crossover carrying the blue oval badge. However, the Ford version is expected to feature a completely different top hat and interior.
On test in Chengalpet near Chennai, the new Mahindra compact SUV was spied by Rushlane reader Stalin Raj. Due to make global debut at the 2018 Auto Expo next week, this new compact SUV will be one of the many new cars to be showcased by Mahindra at the 2018 Auto Expo.

Based on the Tivoli, which was showcased in India at the last Auto Expo in 2016, subscribes the brands latest design philosophy. In the global area, the compact crossover locks horns with the likes of Hyundai Creta, Nissan Kicks, Honda HR-V, etc.

In India, the Tivoli will not be sold under the SsangYong name, but under the Mahindra banner. It will be a premium offering as compared to other Mahindra products. It will be available in both petrol and diesel engine options. Internationally, the petrol motor is a 1.6-litre unit which is capable of 126 PS and 160 Nm of torque. The diesel mill also displaces 1.6-litre, and is good for 115 PS and 300 Nm of torque. Both manual and automatic transmissions are on offer. Higher variants are equipped with a 44 system. In India, down-tuned 1.5 liter motors of the same 1.6 liter motors are expected to be offered.

In addition to powerful motors, expect the SUV to feature state of the art connected technologies from Mahindra and latest in features and safety. It will come with touchscreen infotainment unit along with steering mounted controls. For safety, dual airbags in the front, ABS with EBD will also be offered.

Mahindra will offer two SUVs based on the Tivoli platform. One will be a shorter sub 4 meter variant and other will be a longer variant. The shorter variant will be a 5 seater unit while the longer one will be a 7 seater option. More details will be revealed once the car is revealed by Mahindra in a few days.

Stay tuned for latest news and updates from the 2018 Auto Expo.
HELSINKI, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Vantaa District Court of Finland has sentenced a Chinese man employed by Finnair to one year and eight months' imprisonment for smuggling undocumented migrants to Europe, reported Finnish national broadcaster Yle on Thursday.

The Chinese man, who worked as a steward for an Asian subcontractor of Finnair, was detained by the Finnish Border Guard in February on suspicion of aggravated facilitation of illegal entry into the country.

The man had allegedly smuggled 33 Chinese people in the past three years into continental Europe via Finland by helping them to bypass the border control at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport without the required visas.

He used a staff identity card to open a side door at the airport, allowing the smuggled people to evade the border checks for entering the Schengen area. All of the migrants continued travelling to other Schengen countries.

Finnish media reported earlier that the steward charged the migrants 10,000 euros(11,370 U.S. dollars) for an adult, and 30,000 euros for a child. Among the 33 illegal travelers, 14 were underage persons.

The Finnish court, therefore, ordered the defendant to pay a total of 30,000 euros of his illegal gains to the state of Finland.

When the news was first reported in April, Chinese embassy in Finland reaffirmed Chinese governmental opposition to human smuggling.

The embassy said it had requested the Finnish authorities to handle the case impartially and in accordance with the law. It also called for protection of legitimate rights of the suspect.
I, like many other of us, have witnessed the true Saab spirit fade away amongst the enthusiasts,  one by one.

However , during these years , I have also witnessed pioneers in the field blossom and fight on through the storms .

And regardless of the speculations that may revolve amongst the community, theres no doubt in my mind that these guys possess extreme knowledge and a forever burning passion for Saab.

What Im talking about and what caught my attention is the Saab nuts at Nordic Performance in Norrkoping, Sweden, and their custom built 9-3SS Aero. Ive seen this build emerge from a mind so detailed, accurate and refined, that youre still able see the typical lines and shapes we all know so well, despite the fact that this is an extremely modified car. The custom-built front and the cocky appearance overall gives you a good idea of what lies beneath the surface. So, hereby I would like to introduce this stunning and impressive build to the rest of the Saab world

The Eliminator Nordic Extreme

Saab 9-3SS Aero 05

With its top speed on 240km/h @ 7000rpm, 500HP/550Nm (2,0bar boost pressure, ethanol) and 480hp/500Nm (petrol), and a total wight at 1120kg/2470lb(without driver),  this beast is high-speed tooled from a solid billet of pure power and adrenaline.

And heres some of the specs..

Chassis:

Full rollcage by Chromoly / lightweight steel built by Broderna Bage

Ohlins 3-way shock absorbers w. Ohlins coilovers front & back

357mm front brake discs w. six piston brake calipers, rear ventilated Aero brake discs,Yellowstuff brake pads

918 ET 20 OZ Titanium racing alloys

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 235/35-18 tires

Engine:

T8 racing engine management system by Nordic

Fully forged B207R 1998CC engine

Darton engine sleeves

Verdi forged rods

JE custom made forged pistons

Balance shaft deleted

1200CC Bosch Impedance fuel injectors

Chain-driven water pump

Garret GTBB 30/76 turbo

DO88 intercooler

Nordic custom made extractor manifold

5-speed Quaife gearbox kit with OBX slip differential

Rolf Uhr, the driver of this racecar is no stranger to Saab. Ever since he got his drivers license back in 1971, with a Saab V4 as his first car,  he has since then been faithful towards the car brand (with the only exception of two Opel vectras performed in Stcs). Hes pretty much done it all, rally, rallycross, and ice rally and racing, a constant involvement in the brand in many different ways. Rolf actually stopped active competing in 2002, but since he received an invitation to join timeattack in 2015, hes been hooked. They acquired a 9-3SS that Saab themselves had built to run as a long-lap car, and it was equipped with a 1, 9TDI diesel engine. At the end of last season they decided to replace the engine with a custom built B207R engine, and they decided to go all the way up to Pro Class at timeattacknu.se series (meaning free modifications with only requirement of street legal tires). The first race this year is held at Kinnekulle racetrack, Sweden 3rd-5th of June.

Were sticking our necks out this year, and we are determined to place SAAB back on the map as a race car. And were planning to do that with our custom built and reinforced original Saab.   Rolf Uhr, Nordic Performance

For more info, pictures and updates, follow Nordics journey here on Facebook

Timeattacknu.se Facebook page

Photos by APEX-FOTO
Getting the US-China relationship right should be a top priority, in the eyes of two former senior US government officials.

James Baker, who served as secretary of state in George H.W. Bush's administration, said one of the biggest challenges facing American policymakers today is how to react to the rise of China as a global power.

"It's extremely important that we get it right," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on Thursday. "It's important that China gets it right, too, in terms of their relationship with us."

Baker believes there are areas of convergence of interests with China, but that areas of tension will continue to exist.

"We need to cooperate with China where we can," he said, citing the issues of regional security, energy security and trade.

"But we need to manage differences that are going to exist," he said, noting the matters of human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the South China Sea.

"It's not foreordained that United States and China are going to become enemies, at least in my opinion, if we play our cards right," said Baker, who also served as secretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration.

"There is no more serious diplomatic burden that we are going to have looking forward than managing the US-China relationship right," Tom Donilon, former national security advisor in the Obama administration, told the committee.

He said it's a great challenge for policymakers on both sides, given the dynamic of a rising power and existing power throughout history.

While historically the most likely outcome between an established power and an emerging power is conflict, Donilon said conflict is not inevitable.

"I do not see international relations as a subset of physics," he said. "Our countries' leaders can avoid conflict through steady engagement and a concerted effort to avoid strategic miscalculations."

Donilon believes a major test of the US-China relationship going into the next year is the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He was referring to the deployment of the THAAD missile system and other measures the US is likely to take against the threat from the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. He acknowledged that it would make China uncomfortable strategically.

Both China and Russia have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the deployment of a THAAD system in South Korea and regard it as a strategic threat to their territories.

"The dialogue on this with China is quite urgent," Donilon told the senators. "It's a real test for the relationship going forward."

Both Donilon and Baker emphasized the importance of a continued US military presence and security alliances in East Asia. They expressed concerns over what they described as "aggressive" and "provocative" activities by China in the South China Sea.

Many Chinese regard the US as a major player behind the scenes in stirring up tensions in the South China Sea to advance its rebalance to Asia strategy and curtail the growing influence of a rising China.

Former Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying and National Institute for South China Sea Studies Director Wu Shicun expressed such a view in a lengthy article published in the National Interest on May 10. The article defends China's actions and stance by detailing the historical developments involving the South China Sea issue, details not typically found in US news media reports.

Chinese suspicions do not seem unwarranted. A Washington Post editorial on Thursday expressed concern over Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's bid to mend ties with China.

"It nevertheless appears that the already complicated US mission of mustering counterweights in East Asia sufficient to deter China's overreaching is about to get still more difficult," the editorial said.
(Global Times) 11:04, May 13, 2016

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

London has just elected Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party's candidate, as its new mayor. The victory is supposedly historic in more than one ways.

To begin with, he received the largest ever number of votes of any elected London mayoral candidate and won with a margin of over 10 percent. Most importantly, as the son of Pakistani immigrant parents, he is the first Muslim mayor in a major European capital. The latter meant his election made international headlines.

However, apart from producing a Muslim mayor, the contest was rather boring. After all, many polls had suggested for months that Khan would be the eventual winner. In a mostly pro-Labour city where 45 of the 73 seats in 2015 general election were held by Labour, to welcome a Labour mayor after the eight-year reign of the Conservative mayor Boris Johnson is more like return to normalcy. Also electing a mayor from immigrant background was only a matter of time considering the fact that London is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world and 44 percent of its 8.6 million residents are ethnic minorities.

Khan's success can be attributed to many elements. In a city like London with a diverse population, Khan's self-made success from a son of bus driver to a well-established lawyer turned Member of Parliament, is better received than the story of his opponent Zac Goldsmith, who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Although the two advocate similar centrist public policies on housing, transportation and the environment, they diverge sharply on the EU. Khan supports UK in the EU, while Goldsmith supports Brexit. The Brexit stance doesn't go down well in London where the big business community and the City of London benefit from EU membership.

Khan's victory is note-worthy for many reasons. London is an important city and the mayor of London is not just a regional politician. Khan will soon be considered as a heavyweight in his party just like his predecessor is now a serious contender for the next Conservative leader after David Cameron. Khan's success could be a boost to the Labour Party but also potentially threaten the current leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Nevertheless, it has become a phenomenon for a simple reason: Khan is Muslim. Although he tried to play down his religion during the campaign by saying he has many identities and being a Muslim is just one of them, his opponent launched a campaign anyway by focusing on his faith and referring to Khan as a "radical" who shared platforms with Islamist extremists. Even though this tactic didn't work well in London, it does reveal a true picture of European politics and society.

The recent refugee crisis and the IS-inspired terrorist attacks have fueled the hidden Islamophobia in Europe, which generally stems from public anxiety over immigration and the integration of Muslim minorities into majority cultures in Europe. Anti-Muslim protests in Germany and the rise of right-wing parties across western and northern Europe are symptoms. Europe has become schizophrenic. They could not let go the equality and human rights values they have long held high, but the expanding Muslim community in Europe makes them extremely uncomfortable.

London is probably inclusive and diverse as it boasts, but Europe in general is not the promised land depicted for Muslim communities. Integration difficulties persist and the rise of Islamophobia aggravates the problem. In this sense, the success story of Khan is just an exception.

The author is an assistant research fellow with the Department for European Studies, China Institute of International Studies. [email protected]
Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car

I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ...
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May-13-2016 00:13 TweetFollow @OregonNews 10 Pounds of Heroin, 14 Pounds of Meth Seized in Huge Drug Bust Salem Police Conclude Major Drug Investigation

Photo: Salem Police Dept.

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Salem Police Department's Street Crimes Unit, assisted by the Marion County District Attorney's Office, the Salem DEA office, the Western Interagency Narcotics team (WIN), and the Portland Police Bureau, concluded a nearly two month long drug investigation Tuesday evening with the arrest of seven individuals and the service of seven search warrants. The operation began just before 6:30 PM with the nearly simultaneous stop of three separate vehicles in the vicinity of Lancaster and Beverly NE. Following the vehicle stops, search warrants were served in the 3700 block of Beverly Av NE, the 400 block of Fountain Valley Way NE, the 900 block of Shores St NE, the 5100 block of Wittenberg Ln NE, the 1500 block of Hawthorne Av NE, and the 2500 block of Ptarmigan St NW. Meanwhile, WIN served a search warrant in the 9600 block of SW 160th in Beaverton, and the Portland Police Bureau served a search warrant in the 8200 block of NE Hancock. The Salem Police Department seized over ten pounds of heroin, over 14 pounds of methamphetamine, and in excess of two pounds of cocaine. In addition, over $466,000 and six vehicles were seized. Arrested in Salem on a long list of drug related charges were the following individuals: Victor Palafox, 23 years of age from Salem

Vanessa Gonzalez, 22 years of age from Salem

Guillermo Palafox-Santos, 42 years of age from Salem

Elsa Garcia-Barrera, 47 years of age from Salem

Christopher McNaught, 37 years of age from Salem

Crystal Bingham, 36 years of age from Salem

David Bacon, 52 years of age from Beaverton They are all being held in the Marion County Correctional Facility. _________________________________________

Crime | Drugs | Prison | Oregon | Most Commented on





Articles for May 12, 2016 | Articles for May 13, 2016 |
LONDON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China is committed to clean governance and is "building stronger institutions to tackle corruption from its roots," a senior Chinese anti-graft official said here Thursday.

China has made tremendous efforts to promote clean governance and curb corruption, winning trust and support from the people, China's Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian said in a written statement presented to the Anti-Corruption Summit held in London.

The first focus in China's anti-corruption drive "is to improve the (Chinese Communist) Party's style by going after formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance," the minister said.

"The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued an eight-point decision in this respect, demanding investigations into and tougher punishment for corrupt behavior," he noted.

The targeted "corrupt behaviors" range from dining and gifting with public funds, accepting gift money at weddings, funerals or other special occasions and visiting private clubs.

Between 2013 and 2015, 114,000 violations against the "eight-point decision" were investigated nationwide, exposing 150,000 Party officials, among whom 65,000 were disciplined, according to Huang.

China has also toughened the punishment on corruption with "zero tolerance," and "made it clear that anyone breaking those rules will be dealt with regardless of their positions," he added.

Between 2013 and 2015, 750,000 people were disciplined nationwide, including 36,000 facing criminal charges.

His statement continued: "The central authorities dispatched inspection teams to local authorities, government agencies, state-owned companies and government-affiliated institutions.

"Their task is to see whether the policies of the central authorities are faithfully implemented, particularly whether there are violations of political discipline and rules, including the eight-point decision."

China is also "building stronger institutions to tackle corruption from its roots," Huang said.

"China has been deepening all-round reform to eliminate the breeding ground for corruption," he stressed.

Huang also urged countries around the world to deepen international anti-corruption cooperation at the Anti-Corruption Summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired the summit at Lancaster House in London on Thursday. Presidents from Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and other countries, senior ministers from G20 countries, as well as leaders from international organizations are attending the summit.
Kansas not planning to require COVID-19 vaccine to attend school

There is no plan to require the COVID-19 vaccine for school attendance in Kansas, as the CDC puts the shots on the childhood vaccination schedule.
When President Barack Obama tours Hiroshima's haunting relics of nuclear warfare, he will be making a trip that past administrations weighed and avoided.

For good reason: The hollowed core of the city's A-Bomb Dome and old photos of charred children are sure to rekindle questions of guilt and penitence for World War II's gruesome brutality.

Obama's visit later this month already is stirring debate on both sides of the Pacific about the motivations and justifications for the nuclear attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anything he says will be sharply scrutinized in the U.S., Japan and beyond. Anything resembling an apology could become a wedge issue in the U.S. presidential campaign and plunge Obama into the complicated politics of victimhood among Japan and its Asian neighbors.

"I don't have any problem with him going, but there is nothing to apologize for," said Lester Tenney, a 95-year-old American survivor of the 1942 Bataan Death March, when the Japanese marched tens of thousands of Filipino and U.S. soldiers to prison camps, and hundreds to their deaths.

Forty-two years ago, a White House aide suggested President Gerald Ford visit the city where 140,000 people were killed in the inferno on Aug. 6, 1945. A senior adviser, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, vetoed the idea: "It could rekindle old animosities in Japan at a time when we are striving for new relationships."

Asked in 2008 if he might go, President George W. Bush was noncommittal. In the end, it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend the city's annual memorial service. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled there last month.

Obama won't say sorry, U.S. officials have emphasized repeatedly since announcing the trip. Instead of revisiting the fateful decision to drop the bombs, the president will "shine a spotlight on the tremendous and devastating human toll of war" and "honor the memory of all innocents who were lost," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

In some ways, Obama has it easier than his predecessors. Japanese survivors, known as "hibakusha," have long refrained from demanding an apology, seeking to mobilize Hiroshima's revered sites for the causes of pacifism and denuclearization. Even if Obama's effort to reduce America's arsenal has stalled, most Japanese support his much-recited preference for a nuclear-free world and last year's arms-control deal with Iran.

Nevertheless, Ian Buruma, a professor at Bard College and author of "Year Zero: A History of 1945," said visiting Hiroshima is risky because of the lack of consensus in the U.S. or Japan about the bombings.

Many Japanese see the attacks as atrocities; others view them as punishment for Japan's hostile acts, which included conquering much of Asia and launching the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, that led the U.S. into the war. And in the U.S., too, the debate rages 71 years after "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" fell from the sky.

A majority of Americans justify the bombings for hastening the war's end. Historians are split. Buruma said camps include those who believe President Harry Truman, barely sworn in, failed to stop "bureaucratic momentum" toward using a weapon that took so long to develop. Others argue U.S. leadership mainly wanted to intimidate the Soviet Union.

While a majority of Americans view the bombings as hastening the war's end, historians are split. Buruma said camps include those who believe an inexperienced President Harry Truman failed to slow bureaucratic momentum, and those who argue U.S. leadership mainly wanted to intimidate the Soviet Union.

"I don't think there will ever be clarity," he said.

Japan's debate often has made it hard for U.S. presidents to visit, Buruma said.

Nationalists put forward the idea that the atomic bombs "evened out" Nazi-allied Japan's wartime atrocities, he said. The war in the Pacific killed millions across Asia, including perhaps 14 million Chinese, and Japan was responsible for chemical weapons attacks, widespread torture, forced labor and sexual slavery. American deaths topped 100,000; a quarter-million were wounded.

Meanwhile, left-wing Japanese groups sought to incorporate Hiroshima into their propaganda of Soviets and communists as forces for peace, and the Americans as warmongering imperialists, Buruma said.

With time, however, these movements largely receded as the U.S.-Japanese alliance matured.

"Think about it: The White House announces a visit to a place where the United States incinerated a city and over 100,000 people, stating clearly that it is not going to apologize," said Jennifer Lind, professor of government at Dartmouth University. "In most relationships, this would trigger outrage not excitement_among the other country. People would be criticizing their leader as selling out."

Still, Lind saw Obama making a "very liberal move" that will open him up to criticism. Disarmament is a partisan issue, she said, because conservatives emphasize the centrality of nuclear arms to U.S. national security policy and most Americans see the atomic bombings of Japan as having ultimately saved lives.

That is not the dominant narrative in Japan, whose reluctance to broach its own wartime record is often compared unfavorably to the "Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung," or responsibility for the past, that is a lynchpin of Germany's post-1945 identity. Japan has offered various apologies for its wartime conduct, but conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's approach to issues such as comfort women has angered neighbors anew.

For China, the war started four years before Pearl Harbor when Japanese forces pushed into the country's heartland. No one knows how many died. Many Chinese believe Japan has never shown true contrition, which shapes its view of Obama's trip.

"Japan's right-wing forces have always been trying to whitewash the country's cruel, heartless and reckless role as an invader during World War II," the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid, said in an editorial this week, criticizing Obama for allowing Japan to play victim.

That view is shared by some in South and North Korea, where resentment lingers from Japan's brutal 35-year colonial rule of the peninsula. Hundreds of thousands of Koreans were conscripted to fight for Japan, consigned to slave-labor conditions, and forced or deceived into prostitution.

"Japan invited the nuclear attack," South Korea's mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said.

-AP
Russia's arms industries have met most production goals for new weapons, but some contracts haven't been fulfilled, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

Putin, who spoke at a meeting with military officials and defense industry leaders in Sochi, said the military last year received 96 planes, 81 helicopters, 152 air defense systems and 291 radars among other new weapons.

Despite Russia's economic downturn, the Kremlin has pushed ahead with an ambitious arms modernization program amid tensions with the West over Ukraine.

Putin said that some of last year's contracts hadn't been honored and urged officials to analyze the reasons behind the failures, but gave no details. He said that that the government will continue to support defense industries, work to create new jobs and raise salaries.

The meeting was part of a series of conferences Putin has held with the top brass and military industries. Earlier this week, he hailed the performance of Russia's new weapons in Syria, but said that the campaign has revealed some problems that need to be fixed. He offered no specifics.

On Thursday, the president inspected a lineup of new military vehicles, but the military had an awkward moment when Putin wanted to get inside one of them, called Patriot, but the door didn't open.

A general then tried to open the door for Putin in front of TV cameras, but he pulled the handle off instead. He then successfully opened a back door.

The vehicle's maker, UAZ, explained the gaffe by saying that the door was locked.

-AP
Efforts to focus on how local authorities live up to promises and tackle the scourge of pollution

A resident reacts to the air in Handan, Hebei province, in April. The city, known for its highly polluting industries, such as steel, is facing an industrial transformation. Provided To China Daily

Environmental inspections by the central government have been given more power and increased importance, and will include all provinces, according to a Chinese environmental official.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection will be China's second national authority, after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to have the power to send inspection teams and hold discussions with provincial leaders.

Fourteen more provinces will be subject to central government inspection this year after a pilot mission was completed in heavily industrialized Hebei province, Liu Changgen, head of the National Environmental Protection Inspection Office, said in a web interview.

Plans for the follow-up inspections are awaiting approval from national authorities, so it is not yet clear when they will begin, according to sources close to the matter.

Findings from the Hebei inspection disclosed on Wednesday showed many problems, ranging from rapid ecological degradation to ineffective reinforcement of laws and regulations.

Liu said the central-level inspectors held discussions with all top provincial officials during their monthlong mission to Hebei, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of the nation's steel output and is among the most heavily polluted provinces.

Surrounding Beijing, Hebei had five of China's 10 cities with the worst air pollution problems in the first quarter of this year, according to the Environment Ministry.

Liu said that during the inspection, his colleagues and he received more than 100 calls a day from Hebei residents telling them of local pollution problems.

He said the environmental protection inspection teams will prioritize efforts to review how local authorities have met their promises and solved problems the inspectors find.

Liu said the Environment Ministry has formed a talent pool of more than 120 people devoted to the inspections, and they will be sent randomly to targeted areas. Such inspections will cover all provincial areas every two years.
A senior Chinese diplomat has underlined that the Arbitral Tribunal on the South China Sea has no jurisdiction, and that any ruling would be invalid under international law.

The Philippines initiated the South China Sea arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in early 2013. A decision is expected sometime in May or June.

Xu Hong, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's director general of treaties and law was speaking at a news conference called to explain China's position on the deliberations in The Hague.

Xu said any application for arbitration had to meet at least four preconditions, and noted that the Philippines had not met any of them.

If the subject matter is beyond the scope of the UNCLOS, he said, then the dispute shall not be settled by compulsory arbitration

Xu said that on January 23, 2013, one day after the arbitration process was began, the Philippines issued a document that clearly stated that the arbitration was about sovereignty.

The official further pointed out that any signatory to the UNCLOS may declare that it will not accept compulsory arbitration with respect to disputes concerning, among other things, maritime delimitation.

China has declared that compulsory dispute settlement procedures do not apply to maritime delimitation, therefore, Xu says, the Philippines was wrong to have gone to arbitration.

Secondly, Xu said, in the case that disputing parties have agreed on other means of settlement, compulsory arbitration is not an option.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, or DOC, in 2002.

Article four of the DOC says all sides, including the Philippines, agreed to settle territorial disputes through negotiation and consultation by the countries directly concerned.

Parties involved in disputes are also obliged to discuss the means of settlement first, which, Xu says, the Philippines did not do.

Xu further notes that all these preconditions bar UNCLOS contracting states from initiating arbitration.

Xu says the tribunal in this case had failed to comply with the preconditions, and therefore China will neither accept nor recognize the decision made by the tribunal.

He says China shall never change its position over the dispute in the South China Sea, and reiterates that China enjoys sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and surrounding waters.

He finally notes that China stands ready to solve disputes through direct negotiations with countries in the region with the aim of jointly maintaining peace and stability.
By Peggy Kelly

Santa Paula News

Volunteers who will be pre-trained to save lives in a simple but effective way are now being sought for a special American Red Cross/Santa Paula Fire Department program to install smoke detectors in area homes.

Sara Northrop, preparedness manager of the ARC Central California Region said the area that will be targeted in the May 14 Home Fire Campaign is from Richmond Road to East Santa Paula Street and Grant Line to Ojai Street.

We worked with the Santa Paula Fire Department to determine which area was most in need, of the free smoke detectors said Northrop.

Having an operating smoke alarm in the home cuts the risk of death from a fire by 50 percent. As it is there are seven deaths a day across the nation from fire with many of the deaths resulting from no smoke detector or an inoperable detector in the structure.

There is no need for prior training or skills for Home Visit Teams, but they must register in advance so they can receive all the instructions the morning of the event during orientation.

Northrop said volunteers can choose what they contribute either as an Installer, Educator or Reporter. There are even more volunteer opportunities in various ways, from supply preparation and pre-canvassing to community outreach and volunteer recruitment and correspondence among others.

So theres no need for a fear of power tools or public speaking to stop volunteers from signing up. Everyone, she noted, can play an impactful role! This truly is a fun and meaningful event. The more volunteers we can get the more Santa Paula residents we can help.

The May 14 Home Fire Campaign will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The American Red Cross and the Santa Paula Fire Department invite you to help canvass homes throughout our community to install free smoke alarms for families, while empowering them to make smart choices in an emergency.
By Peggy Kelly

Santa Paula News

Dinner and dogs were ready to roll at 5:30 p.m. sharp when the Community Center started to fill with participants and supporters of the Santa Paula Police K-9 Unit.

The April 27 annual K-9 Spaghetti Dinner is where the Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation put on the dog  or rather three dogs  by honoring retired K9 Zak, ready to rumble Ace and the SPPDs newest K9 Django, along with their handlers former SPPD Sgt. Larry Johnson, Sr. Officer Allen Macias and Officer Daniel Gosselin.

Mayor Martin Hernandez, Vice Mayor Jenny Crosswhite and Councilmembers Ginger Gherardi and John Procter as well as Police Chief Steve McLean were among the dinner guests and eager raffle ticket holders sold and delivered by SPPD Explorers.

Lucky winners were announced by emcee Don Johnson with help from SPPD Cadet Martha Brown, who was in charge of the raffle.

Johnson is a Santa Paula Police & Fire Foundation Board Director, the organization staging the event to benefit the K-9 program.

Every penny raised here tonight will go to the guys down here, said Johnson as he pointed out the K-9 teams.

Youre going to meet our newest dog, Django the gatherer, who likes to pick up everything he sees and deposit it in a neat pile, and see what Sr. Officer Macias and his dog Ace do

Macias addressed the crowd noting that without this event and your support of the foundation we would not be able to buy these dogs.

Gosselin also thanked the foundation noting that each dog  K-9s are imported from Germany  costs $9,000 and initial training adds another $5,000 to the base cost. Additional specialized training adds to the cost.

K-9s and their handlers have a unique and tight relationship: the dogs live at the homes of their human partners and become a part of the family.

And being a K-9 Officer means long hours and hard work: both Macias and Gosselin thanked their wives  Jennifer and Paige respectively  for their support of not only being understanding but also opening their homes to a K-9 family member.

An exciting video outlined the training and actual field work of the SPPD K-9s followed by recognition for former SPPD Senior Officer Larry Johnson and Zak; Johnson was lauded for 10 years of dedicated service to the citizens of Santa Paula.

Now a UCLA Campus Officer, Johnson said I miss the excitement of Santa Paulawhere I work now is 15 square miles and a lot less excitement. I miss the people of Santa Paula and the officers I worked with.
The Weibo post also includes contact information. Officials remaining in Libya can be reached via +216-2948-5589. [Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]

Chinese authorities have decided to shut down the country's embassy in Libya amid the worsening conflict in the country.

The announcement, made via the foreign ministry's official Weibo account, is also warning against Chinese national visiting Libya.

In announcing the temporary closure of the Chinese embassy, the Foreign Ministry says it will still maintain some officials in the country in case of emergencies.

The Chinese embassy in Libya will be shut down until at least November.
Santa Paula News

By Letitia Austin

The English Learner (EL)/Migrant Conference offered by the Santa Paula Unified School District was held at Santa Paula High School on Saturday, April 16. This was the 5th year the conference was held for parents and caregivers to learn about the education of their children and to better assist them with being successful students. Parents have requested this conference and look forward to attending each year.

Over the years, the conference has drawn between 150 -200 people to attend and a team of EL/Migrant staff members plan a series of different workshops each year for parents and students. SPUSD Superintendent, Alfonso Gamino, was the Keynote Speaker for this years conference. Other guest speakers were past participants in the EL/Migrant program when they were students at Santa Paula High School.

Currently, these individuals are attending a university or are professionals and educational leaders, said Rocio Bravo Chavez, the School Counselor/Migrant Coordinator at Santa Paula High School. It was great to see how former SPHS students are now successful students at a university and in the workforce.
Matawan, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/13/2016 -- For as long as she can remember, even hearkening back to being a toddler, Matawan native Sarah Ross helped her brother Mendy and her mom and dad Aaron and Devorah reach out and help fellow Jews in the area. She has worked for several Jewish leaders engaging in outreach, doing Hebrew School, planning programs and running camps in support of Jewish communities near and far.



After her recent wedding, Sarah cultivated a finer appreciation for the word far. That's because she and her husband, Rabbi Levi Partocuhe relocated to Montpellier in the south of France to establish a Chabad presence to support Jewish needs and interests in this thriving city.



Montpellier is located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the South of France along the Mediterranean Sea, close to Spain. It is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice. Montpellier is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. Nearly one third of the population is comprised of students from three universities and three higher education institutions that are outside the university framework in the city. It is believed that about 20,000 of these students are Jewish.



Chabad endeavors to create a Jewish presence on campus, and will serve Montpellier's tourists every summer to keep Jews connected even while away on vacation or attending classes.



From Matawan to Montpellier, Sarah's commitment to contributing and helping her community is as strong as ever.



Her husband, Rabbi Levi Partouche is cut from the same cloth. Levi, a native of Montpellier, France and the son of Rabbi Peretz and Georgette Partouche, was also involved in community outreach by assisting his parents. His passion for helping others has led him across the globe to far-flung destinations including South Korea, Venice, Prague and Switzerland. Levi became an ordained Rabbi in 2014 and hopes to put his knowledge, experience and love of life and Jews to good use by leading Chabad of Southwest Montpellier. Chabad of Southwest Montpellier is the Center for Jewish Life for students and families. They provide a wide array of programs aimed to connect people to their heritage and roots, no matter their affiliation or level of observance.



A crowdfunding campaign is underway to help Rabbi Levi Partouche and his wife Sarah expand their center for Jewish life for Jews visiting or living in Montpellier. With a modest funding goal of $20,000 they plan to expand programs and services designed to make every Jew feel at home whether they are a student, a tourist or a professional in town for meetings.



The official crowdfunding campaign on YouCaring - https://www.youcaring.com/chabad-south-west-montpellier-565170
Lewes, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/13/2016 -- The Cards and Payments Industry in Nigeria: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2019 report provides top-level market analysis, information and insights into Nigeria's cards and payments industry, including:



- Current and forecast values for each market in Nigeria's cards and payments industry, including debit and credit cards.



- Detailed insights into payment instruments including credit transfers, payment cards and checks. It also, includes an overview of the country's key alternative payment instruments.



- E-commerce market analysis.



- Analysis of various market drivers and regulations governing Nigeria'a cards and payments industry.



- Detailed analysis of strategies adopted by banks and other institutions to market debit and credit cards.



- Comprehensive analysis of consumer attitudes and buying preferences for cards.



- The competitive landscape of Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



The Cards and Payments Industry in Nigeria: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2019 report provides detailed analysis of market trends in Nigeria's cards and payments industry. It provides values and volumes for a number of key performance indicators in the industry, including credit transfers, check payments and payment cards, during the review period (20102014).



The report also analyzes various payment card markets operating in the industry and provides detailed information on the number of cards in circulation, and transaction values and volumes during the review period and over the forecast period (20152019). It also offers information on the country's competitive landscape, including market shares of issuers and schemes.



The report brings together Timetric's research, modeling, and analysis expertise to allow banks and card issuers to identify segment dynamics and competitive advantages. The report also covers detailed regulatory policies and recent changes in regulatory structure.



Scope



- This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



- It provides current values for Nigeria's cards and payments industry for 2014, and forecast figures to 2019.



- It details the different demographic, economic, infrastructural and business drivers affecting Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



- It outlines the current regulatory framework in the industry.



- It details marketing strategies used by various banks and other institutions.



Reasons to Buy



- Make strategic business decisions, using top-level historic and forecast market data, related to Nigeria's cards and payments industry and each market within it.



- Understand the key market trends and growth opportunities in Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



- Assess the competitive dynamics in Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



- Gain insights into marketing strategies used for various card types in Nigeria.



- Gain insights into key regulations governing Nigeria's cards and payments industry.



Key Highlights



- To limit the foreign exchange outflow from the country, in December 2015 the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) imposed a ban on the use of debit and credit cards abroad, and on transactions in foreign currencies. This prevented Nigerian customers from using cards to make purchases from overseas retailers, or from foreign e-commerce sites. However, following a severe consumer backlash, the ban was partially revoked in January 2016, with banks enabling consumers to use foreign exchange services with limits on transaction values. In January 2016, for instance, GTBank permitted customers to transfer foreign currency via online banking, its mobile app, or at any branch nationwide, subject to a daily limit of US$10,000 (NGN1.7 million). Similar restrictions were imposed by other banks, such as First Bank of Nigeria and Sterling Bank. This restriction is anticipated to slow payment card transaction volumes and values.



- Following government measures to curb cash transactions and promote electronic payments, the CBN reduced the daily cash withdrawal limit from US$908.4 (NGN150,000) to US$363.4 (NGN60,000) from August 2015. Previously, the CBN imposed a surcharge of US$0.4 (NGN65) from fourth withdrawals from non-base-bank ATMs from September 2014. Enforcement of these regulations supports the government's policy of making Nigeria a cashless society.



- Contactless technology is gaining prominence in Nigeria. In May 2015, six banks  UBA, Access Bank, First Bank, Zenith Bank, Skye Bank and Diamond Bank  signed an agreement with payment solution provider Unified Payments to launch PayAttitude, to promote contactless payments in Nigeria. PayAttitude is a near-field technology (NFC)-enabled tag-based mobile payment solution that works with contactless POS terminals. UBA introduced debit cards in Nigeria in November 2015 enabled with NFC technology for use at contactless POS and ATM terminals.



Spanning over 56 pages, 45 Tables and 17 Figures "The Cards and Payments Industry in Nigeria: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2019" report covers Introduction, Definitions and Methodology, Key Facts and Events, Payment Instruments, E-Commerce, Alternative Payments, Regulations in the Cards and Payments Industry, Analysis of Cards and Payments Industry Drivers, Market Segmentation and New Product Launches, Payment Cards, Debit Cards, Credit Cards, Commercial Cards, Card Issuers, Appendix. This report Covered 8 Companies - United Bank of Africa, First Bank of Nigeria, Access Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Ecobank Nigeria, Interswitch, Visa, MasterCard.



For more information Visit at: http://www.marketresearchreports.com/timetric/cards-and-payments-industry-nigeria-emerging-trends-and-opportunities-2019



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The Cards and Payments Industry in Estonia: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2020 - Visit at - http://www.marketresearchreports.com/timetric/cards-and-payments-industry-estonia-emerging-trends-and-opportunities-2020



The Cards and Payments Industry in the Czech Republic: Emerging Trends and Opportunities to 2020 - Visit at - http://www.marketresearchreports.com/timetric/cards-and-payments-industry-czech-republic-emerging-trends-and-opportunities-2020



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Mar's mission is now possible by visiting the salty lakes of Turkey. The research done on the Turkish lakes found that insects are able to survive in high salt concentration surrounding, which is the more likely situation and requirement to survive in Mars.

Turkey citizen microbiologists came to the idea of a possible life by observing a variety of insects found in the Acigol Salda and Yarisli lakes. The study on these species has given a positive insight that these living creatures may survive in other planets thus pointing out that Mars may be habitable. The findings are a breakthrough discovery in the sense that this will not only support possible life on Mars, but on moons and other planets, as well.

For years, scientists have been trying to find evidence of possible life on the red planet. Until today, NASA has been working side by side with Germany in observing the atmosphere of Mars using the airborne telescope Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.

SOFIA's outreach programs' director Dana Backman said through Space.com, "What we're doing is adding a piece to a puzzle about the overall chemistry and physical processes in the Martian atmosphere, in which oxygen is an important player because it's such a reactive substance."

Measuring the vitals and oxygen levels of the planet's atmosphere has been an important part in piecing the study together. With a place to observe these data, the Turkish scientists may apply this information to strengthen their research of the Martian life, New Scientist reported.

Istanbul Technical University's Nurgul Balci also stated in a report that "What we would like is to identify species [that give us the] potential to study survival on Mars or in other extraterrestrial conditions."

Mars and Turkey lakes surveys did not leave them empty handed. Throughout their research they found a specie under the sediments of Lake Salda called Carnobacterium viridians. Scientists claim that this specie dubbed as one of the Mars bugs is likely to survive the environment of the red planet.
The World Health Organization states that there is a growing problem in large cities in poor and middle-income countries today. They are facing excessive high air pollution that causes the killing of more than 3 million people every year.

The U.N. health agency cited that 56 percent in high-income countries and 98 percent in poorer countries don't meet the WHO air quality guidelines. WHO further stated that ambient air pollution, made of high concentrations of small and fine particulate matter, is the greatest environment risk to health, causing more than 3 million premature deaths worldwide every year.

This is based on the findings in the WHO's Third Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, the country reports and other sources from 2008 to 2013. This involves examining outdoor air in 3,000cities, town and villages--but mostly cities in 103 countries. Africa did not contribute any data.

Dr. Maria Neira, a WHO director for environment and public health said that urban air pollution continues to rise at an alarming rate, wreaking havoc on human health. She further said that awareness is rising and more cities are monitoring their air quality. This makes the global cardiovascular and respiratory related illnesses decrease.

WHO listed Zabol, Iran as the city with the highest air pollutants. New Delhi that had previously topped the list is now on No.11. On the other hand, the India's four cities-Gwalior, Raipur, Patna and Allahabad are in the world's top ten polluted cities.

WebMD states that air pollution is an environmental illness because of its toxic chemicals and pollutants. This can increase the risk of asthma, lung cancer, allergies and respiratory disease. Other signs of potential problems include a runny nose, increased phlegm, dizziness and burning, itchy eyes. Janice Nolen of the American Lung Association explained that pollution makes lungs more vulnerable to respiratory infection. This causes headaches and then triggers the heart attack.
New evidence suggests that Southern Arabia was a shelter, or refugium, for a chunk of displaced human population 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age. According to a report, scientists found DNA evidence that backs the theory.

A major part of our planet was rendered uninhabitable during the last Ice Age, however there were still habitable zones were people could take shelter and survive. University of Huddersfield researchers specializing in human DNA analysis have found new proof that Southern Arabia was one of these refugia. Later on, the population of the Southern Arabia shelters dispersed and flourished in Arabia, Horn of Africa, and maybe even further with the start of the Late Glacial Period about 15,000 years ago.

According to the prevailing view, it was believed that Arabia did not witness a large settlement of people until around 10-11,000 years ago when agriculture developed. However, the recent findings published in journal Scientific Reports show that the territory of Southern Arabia has been lived in longer than what was generally estimated.

The discovery of an Ice Age shelter in Arabia, and the consequent flourishing migration, is based on the analysis of R0a which is a rare mitochondrial DNA lineage found most commonly in Arabia and Horn of Africa. The detailed study of the R0a DNA by Dr Francesca Gandini, a research fellow in archaeogenetics, and her team led to the conclusion that its root was more ancient that previously thought.

Therefore, the researchers suggested the presence of at least one glacial shelter in Southern Arabia during the last Ice Age of the Pleistocene period. According to the study, the post glacial period saw population dispersals from Arabia to eastern Africa about 11,000 years ago. Furthermore, there is also evidence that humans from the R0a haplogroup, meaning ancestral clan or single line of descent, travelled into Europe through the Middle East. The experts also speculated that there might have been a gene flow into the areas of present day Iran, Pakistan and India.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Out of the 530 graduates who attended the Florence-Darlington Technical College commencement exercises Thursday at the Florence Civic Center, the majority of them fit into three categories named by FDTC president Bed P. Dillard III: first in family to graduate, employee or parent.

When asked to stand if they fit into either of the categories at the Thursday graduation, nearly the entire class stood.

I think everyone in the graduating class stood, Dillard said to the crowd Thursday evening. It just demonstrates the tenacity and persistence that this class has in understanding how valuable education is.

Although only 530 graduates were able to attend the ceremony, another 333 were part of the class. Dillard said the class of 2016 is probably the largest graduating class in the history of the college.

We know each of youve worked extremely hard, and youve stayed the course, and we celebrate your success this evening, Dillard said.

Among the graduates was 20-year-old Isabella Chevalier. She graduated from the Caterpillar Dealer Academy at FDTC and was the only female in the program that is part of what is considered a male-dominated field of diesel engine maintenance.

Theyve been very welcoming to me," Chevalier said. "It was very rough in the beginning, because I had a lot of, I guess, bad ideas of a girl coming into a mans world. But after I got past that, I showed them I could do it.

Chevalier said she didnt know she could do mechanics until her senior year of high school. She had a truck and wanted to work on it on her own. She took an auto mechanics class that was offered through her high school in North Carolina and fell in love.

I knew that was exactly what I needed to do with my life, Chevalier said. Less than half a year later, I was enrolled in this program.

Chevalier said she is enrolled with Caterpillar through the program.

The commencement speaker for Thursdays ceremony was Florence School District One Superintendent Randy Bridges, who encouraged students to focus more on their dreams than memories.
HEMINGWAY, S.C.  Fire Chief George Sutton and Police Chief Bryan Todd told Hemingway officials Thursday night that transitioning from analog to digital radio systems is imminent for the towns public safety officers.

County officials, Sutton told council, will be advocating for a one-cent capital sales tax increase through a referendum in November, in order to raise the $1 million dollars it needs for the transition. Kingstree, Todd said, has already procured their needed radios, and arent relying on the county, just in case the referendum fails.

Todd said the county needs to make the transition by November, as part of the states Palmetto 800 radio system.

"It's a mandate," Sutton said. "We really have no choice."

Each radio costs about $4,000 and there is a monthly participation fee per radio, Sutton said. The town needs about $70,000-$80,000 to buy the new digital radios.

Joe Lee, town administrator, said he is hoping to get a 55 percent-45 percent grant from the USDA to help pay for the radios, a new fire truck and a new police car.

The town hopes to buy a fire truck that the City of Johnsonville Fire Department is getting rid of, Sutton said, for about $140,000.

The move does not affect the towns public works department radios, Ken Laster, department supervisor said.

Council will discuss the funding more in the coming months.

Council reviewed a change to the towns personnel policy, discussing changes regarding employees wearing of jewelry and tattoos.

Tattoos are to be covered, officials said. City staff will review the wording of the proposed policy change and bring it back to council for approval.

The town continues to work to get its city hall and police station renovated and updated, Lee said, adding that a grant that Williamsburg County is getting will help with facades in the town.

Kingstree, Salters, Lane  Greeleyville, Hemingway; theyre all included in the county grant, Lee said.
BEIJING, May 12 -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to beef up industrial capacity cooperation with Morocco when meeting with King Mohammed VI in Beijing on Thursday.

The Chinese government supports Chinese companies taking part in the infrastructure construction and industrialization in Morocco, he said, suggesting cooperation in the areas of industrial parks, high-speed railways and renewable energy.

China will step up efforts to transfer applicable technology and train technical and managerial personnel for Morocco, in a bid to enhance the self-development capacity of the country, said Li.

He expressed hope that the two sides would concentrate on several demonstrative cooperative projects, so as to boost common development and prosperity.

Li said he appreciated King Mohammed VI's decision granting Chinese citizens visa-free access from June 1 this year, stressing that China is willing to work with Morocco to facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two sides.

King Mohammed VI said Morocco appreciates China's achievements in development and the strong measures it has taken to address climate change.

He spoke highly of China's policy towards Africa and China's proposition of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries as well as peaceful settlement of disputes.

Morocco hopes to cooperate more with China in infrastructure building, high-speed railways and green industries and expand people-to-people exchanges, said the King.

Top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang also met with the King on Thursday.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), called on the two sides to boost cooperation by implementing the ten China-Africa cooperation plans and jointly advancing the Belt and Road initiative.

The NPC is ready to expand friendly exchanges and enhance legislative cooperation with Morocco's parliament, so as to provide legal guarantees for bilateral political, economic and cultural exchanges, said Zhang.

King Mohammed VI started his state visit to China on Wednesday.
DOHA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The Arab nations at a cooperation forum with China said here Thursday that they support Beijing for its efforts to settle territorial and maritime disputes through talks.

In a statement issued at the 7th Ministerial Meeting of China-Arab Cooperation Forum, the participating Arab countries said they support China's efforts to peacefully resolve territorial and maritime differences with certain nations through friendly dialogues and negotiations.

They also stressed that the rights of sovereign nations as well as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signatories to choose how they solve their disputes should be respected.

Earlier, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Araby made a similar remarks at a joint press conference with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani.

He said both the Arab world and China will continue to support each other on issues concerning their respective core interests.

Under the theme of "Working together on the Belt and Road Initiative and deepening China-Arab strategic cooperation," the seventh CASCF ministerial meeting will be held Thursday in Doha, capital of Qatar.

Around 200 representatives from 22 Arab countries will discuss the future development of the China-Arab relations with Chinese delegations led by Wang Yi.
The Philippines held its national elections on Monday, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte was declared the winner of the presidential election. Besides the presidency, the vice-presidency, 24 Senate seats and all 286 seats in the lower house were on offer.

In the wake of the elections, Dutertes governing ideas, tough personality, future foreign policy and even private life have made national headlines. His attitude toward China and the South China Sea issue have also drawn a lot of attention from Western media.

Duterete once opposed resolving the South China Sea issue through international arbitration, but later declared his support for arbitration. He simultaneously opposed declaring war against China and publically criticized former President Benigno Aquino III for being not tough enough on the Huangyan Island issue.

He also said previously that he would resolve the disputes over the South China Sea through multilateral negotiations with the U.S., Japan, Australia and other sovereign claimant countries if he were elected.

Duterte's wavering stance on the South China Sea issue reflects his insufficient knowledge of the issue. During his presidency, Aquino III encouraged the idea of a "China threat" to gather support for his provocation of China in the South China Sea.

Misled by their president, many Filipinos now hold a negative attitude toward China. As Mayor of Davao, Duterte had little opportunity to participate in international affairs; hence, his understanding of the South China Sea issue is not comprehensive.

It's unlikely that Duterte will disavow the current arbitration, given that the Philippines is expecting a favorable result. In such a situation, any candidate rejecting the arbitration would lose support and trigger attacks from opponents.

During a regular press conference held by China's foreign ministry on Tuesday, several questions were posed about Chinas relationship with the Philippines. The answers conveyed a two-fold message. Firstly, China attaches importance to China-Philippines ties, and has made efforts to improve those ties in recent years. China is now focusing on the future relationship between the two countries. Chinese leadership believes that the traditional friendship between the two peoples should not be broken but instead cherished by both governments.

Secondly, the Philippines should adjust its policy on the South China Sea issue. China has pointed out that the recent obstacles in bilateral relations originate mainly from the Philippines' stubborn stance. China hopes to see a positive change after these elections, so that both sides can resolve the disputes in an appropriate manner.

For Duterte, it is in the interest of the Philippines to maintain a sound relationship with China. Though the country is currently maintaining relatively rapid economic growth, its development is still hindered by some roadblocks like a high poverty rate. Duterte once suggested that China to offer assistance in improving the Philippines' infrastructure; this has been also a primary focus of China's approach to bilateral cooperation in recent years.

Disputes will be resolved by the two countries seeking common ground and meeting each other halfway. If the newly elected officials in the Philippines focus on big picture foreign policy and move past the old mentality, they will undoubtedly be paving a path back to sound bilateral relations and ongoing regional development. China hopes to see the new government make the right choice.

(The author is an expert on international affairs.)

This article was edited and translated from Source: People's Daily
The ongoing investigation into the death of a 29-year-old Beijing man who was found dead in police custody on Saturday evening has seen a new development. The prosecutor has announced that a third-party accredited body will be entrusted with performing a post-mortem examination at of Lei Yangs body.

The official told Xinhua that, after intervening in the case, the Procuratorate has made site surveys, retrieved relevant video materials, and confirmed information from Leis family, local residents and the police. He added that the post-mortem examination will also be supervised by a medical examiner from the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate.

Lei, who graduated with a master's degree from the prestigious Renmin University, died on the night of May 7, after police raided a foot massage parlor that was alleged to be hosting prostitution. Police claim that Lei had hired a prostitute for 200 yuan when they apprehended him.

After his death, Leis family raised doubts about the official police story and demanded further investigation. Their main concern is whether the law enforcement officers involved in Lei's death followed protocol. To find out what really happened, they agreed to have a post-mortem examination performed on Lei. The case is still under investigation.
Lu Zhaoning, a Chinese-American, has donated 173 items documenting Japan's use of chemical weapons, bacteriological weapons and forced recruitment of "comfort women" during the Sino-Japanese War. These materials include the documents and photos of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, declassified documents and photos of the U.S. military and photos of "comfort women" collected by Japanese soldiers.

Since 2004, Lu, who was born in Nanjing, has donated 1,500 items to the Memorial Hall for Compatriots Killed in the Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Forces of Aggression.(Photo/Xinhua)
Press Release

May 13, 2016 GREATER GOVT SUPPORT, MORE FUNDS FOR OFW WELFARE PROGRAMS UNDER NEW OWWA LAW - ANGARA Senator Sonny Angara has hailed the signing into law of a bill that institutionalizes and strengthens the government's support to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families by introducing reforms to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA). "Nagpapasalamat po ako sa ating Pangulong Aquino at sa ating mga kasamahan sa Senado at Kongreso sa pagpasa ng batas na ito na naglalayong palakasin ang mandato ng OWWA upang mas matugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng ating mga dakilang OFW at ang kanilang mga pamilya," said Angara, acting chairman of the Senate labor committee and sponsor and one of the authors of the new OWWA law. Under Republic Act 10801, OWWA is declared as a national government agency and an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment, and would now receive government funding instead of relying solely from the contributions of its OFW members. The recently enacted law also mandates greater representation of OFWs in the OWWA Board of Trustees by increasing the number of representatives from the OFW sector from the present three to five (two from land-based OFWs, two from sea-based OFWs and one from the women sector) while representatives from the government will be reduced from seven to six. "As the principal agency of the government that serves and promotes the rights, interest and welfare of OFWs and their families, the composition of the OWWA Board of Trustees must be reformed to really represent the OFW sector. Sa ilalim ng batas na ito, higit nang mabibigyan ng boses ang ating 2.4 milyong OFWs sa kung saan mapupunta ang pondo ng OWWA at sa kung anong programa at serbisyo ang dapat bigyang prayoridad at lalo pang paigtingin," Angara said. RA 10801 further boosts the government's capacity to assist migrant workers who lost their jobs by making the reintegration of OFWs one of the core programs of OWWA, which will be funded with not less than 10 percent of the total collection every year. The reintegration program includes granting of loans and other financial support, trainings on financial literacy, entrepreneurial development, techno-skills, business counseling as well as job referrals for both local and overseas employment. The new law also seeks to ensure transparency in the utilization and management of the OWWA funds, and mandates the OWWA to maintain an interactive website to collect OFW feedback, comments, suggestions and complaints on existing programs and services. "Gaano man kalayo ang mga OFW sa ating bansa, nais nating iparamdam sa kanila, sa pamamagitan ng batas na ito, na mayroon tayong gobyerno na nakikinig at agad tumutugon sa kanilang mga hinaing at problema. We should better equip and strengthen the OWWA so it can truly fulfill its special duty of developing and implementing welfare programs and services that respond to the needs of its member-OFWs and their families," Angara said.
Press Release

May 13, 2016 Legarda Urges Gov't to Utilize IRRI Programs to Improve Agriculture in PHL Senator Loren Legarda today said that the government must utilize the research programs of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) to improve agricultural systems in the country and to adapt to the changing climate. Legarda visited the IRRI headquarters in Los Banos, Laguna on Thursday, May 12, and was briefed on the latest programs of the organization. The briefing was led by Dr. Bruce Tolentino, Deputy Director General for Communication and Partnerships, and Dr. Jackie Hughes, Deputy Director General for Research. "Our government agencies, especially the Department of Agriculture (DA), should strengthen their collaboration with the IRRI. Many of IRRI's programs would help the government proactively address the drought caused by the El Nino, not only through drought-tolerant crops but also through water-saving technologies such as the alternate wetting and drying (AWD)," she explained. Legarda, who chairs the Senate Committees on Finance and Climate Change, said that as PAGASA now warns of an impending La Nina, the government should have already prepared farming communities to adapt to the phenomenon. IRRI has the SUB1 variety of rice that can withstand floods up to 17 days. The Senator took note of several programs of IRRI that are already being done in other countries. In India, women are being empowered and provided livelihood through community nursery services; while in the Mekong Delta, climate-smart villages have been established to improve the capability of rural communities to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. "We must employ these programs here in the Philippines. The community nurseries will help further our initiatives to capacitate women to redefine rice farming. The climate-smart villages are much needed to improve resilience of farming communities to climate challenges. The DA, Climate Change Commission, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should also collaborate with IRRI in the conduct of capacity-building workshops for local government units (LGUs) from provincial down to the barangay level," Legarda explained. The Senator also lauded IRRI for its partnership with the DA for the Heirloom Rice Project, which helps identify, preserve and propagate traditional rice varieties in the Philippines, particularly in the Cordillera Region and the Ifugao Rice Terraces, where most kinds of the heirloom rice are grown. "We are fortunate that the IRRI headquarters is here in our country. We should take hold of that opportunity to improve our agricultural systems and farming communities, provide better livelihood opportunities for the rural population and indigenous communities, and preserve our heritage and cultural integrity," Legarda concluded.
Legarda Welcomes Gender-Sensitive Approach to Governance

Senator Loren Legarda today welcomed the move of presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to ensure a gender-sensitive approach to governance.

Legarda made the statement following reports that outgoing Senator Pia Cayetano has joined Duterte's transition team to ensure that women are well-represented in the new administration and men who will hold government positions are gender-sensitive.

"It is important that the incoming administration gives priority to gender equality. We need leaders who will make sure not only gender equality, but also gender equity in the government's policies and programs," she said.

"We need to give both men and women equal opportunities and access to resources, but we must do so fairly and based on gender-specific strengths and challenges," said Legarda, who authored several women empowerment and gender-sensitive laws.

The Senator said that the Philippines is a leading nation in Asia, and even in the world, in closing the gender gap. She noted that in the annual Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Philippines ranks first in Asia, and always at the top ten countries globally.

"We must build on our gains and continue to provide equal support to men and women in reaching their full potential as individuals and as citizens participating in nation building. A gender-sensitive administration is most welcome," Legarda concluded.
Gabriel Bodenheimer could have lost his job when he recently came out as transgender to leaders of a San Francisco Catholic high school. Instead, in what some call a momentous step, the English teacher will remain at Mercy High, fully accepted as a man.

The announcement of support by an order of the Sisters of Mercy, which owns and operates the four-year college preparatory school for girls on 19th Avenue, offers a rare policy position on transgender rights from within an internationally respected Catholic order.

While there is no official Catholic policy or doctrine regarding transgender people, church leaders have addressed the issue, noting God created males and females and that anatomy defines identity.

This is significant for us; we did not take this lightly, said Sister Laura Reicks, president of the 16-state region of the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community. We feel because of our values, the choice was this, but that didnt mean it was easy.

Reicks said the decision aligns with Pope Francis message of mercy and of treating every person with dignity. Yet the Pope has also criticized the idea that gender exists on a spectrum and doesnt necessarily match with birth sex, saying these are theories dont recognize the order of creation.

The Sisters of Mercy decision, announced Wednesday, specifically reflects policy within the orders West Midwest Community, which sponsors or co-sponsors six high schools, including Mercy High in Burlingame and Cristo Rey High in Sacramento.

However, it is likely to ripple through a growing national debate on transgender rights, including access to gender-specific facilities like bathrooms and locker rooms.

The orders leaders told staff, students and parents that the sisters prayed for guidance, and conferred with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, but ultimately came to the only decision that aligned with their values.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Supporting the dignity of each person  regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identification  was paramount, Reicks said.

Take a higher road

We have not had any other teachers ask for any kind of coming out before, Reicks said. This is just our way of continuing to live out what our founders of Sisters of Mercy had always said, that regardless of what type of prejudice or feeling in society, we have to take a higher road and look at the person and how we can be supportive of each person.

Sisters of Mercy is a canonical religious order that reports to the Vatican. The broader organization sponsors dozens of schools across the U.S. and in four other countries.

Cordileone, who has drawn criticism for a rigidly conservative stance regarding gay rights, neither condemned nor fully endorsed the decision in San Francisco.

Often in such situations a balance must be struck in a way that distinct values are upheld, such as mercy and truth, or institutional integrity and respect for personal decisions affecting ones life, he said in a statement. He emphasized that such decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, allowing for prudential judgment.

Michael Macor/The Chronicle

Reicks said the decision exemplified an overarching position within the order to hire teachers without considering gender identification, race, religion or sexual orientation.

Their personal lives are completely separate from their qualifications as teachers, she said. We are concerned about the education of young women and we do not consider personal criteria when we hire the best person for each position.

Even so, the schools employment contract does require teachers to be familiar with and support the philosophy and values of the school and to honor Catholic identity, regardless of personal faith.

Bodenheimer, who follows the Jewish faith, said he never sought to break ground in transgender rights.

I love teaching at this school, he said, adding that after four years it was time to come out.

It was very important to speak, and name myself, and not be silent, he said Thursday in a phone call between classes. The response I got was tremendously positive.

Previously, Bodenheimer was known as Gadielle, though students called him Ms. Bodenheimer or just Bodenheimer.

But on Wednesday night, he received an email from a student  a simple, mundane note about rescheduling a meeting because of a doctors appointment.

It started with, Dear Mr. Bodenheimer.

Students unfazed

That was really a great moment, he said, noting that students, concerned about final exams, were largely unfazed by the announcement. This is consistent with who I am. This is not some shocking information.

School leaders, however, told the community that counselors would be available to help students and staff members process the acceptance of Bodenheimer as a male rather than female teacher. In addition, an informal meeting for parents was scheduled for Thursday night.

This is still being processed, said Diane Lawrence, board chairwoman for Mercy High, adding there had been no complaints from within the community so far. We work with the girls on being respectful, respecting the dignity of others. In my mind, this exemplifies what were teaching.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
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Bay Area fishing groups joined environmental and consumer advocates Thursday in a lawsuit that aims to stop a genetically engineered fish infused with genes from other species from finding its way onto dinner plates.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, challenges the November approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a plan by AquaBounty Technologies Inc. of Massachusetts to bio-engineer a sterile salmon that would grow extremely fast, be used solely as food and, if all goes as planned, never set a fin in a natural body of water.

The doctored salmon, engineered from both Atlantic and Pacific salmon and a slithery creature known as an eelpout, would be the first genetically engineered animal produced for human consumption.

Government regulators and the manufacturer insist the product is safe. But the notion of genetically altered seafood has created a furor among environmentalists, who have dubbed the species Frankenfish and say it could spread mutant genes and circulate diseases in wild salmon if an accident or sabotage ever set it loose.

Our main concern is that the FDA approval was done without any consideration for what these Frankenfish might do if they escape into the wild in places where wild salmon live, said John McManus, the executive director of the Golden Gate Salmon Association, which joined the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermens Associations, the Center for Food Safety and eight other environmental organizations in the suit.

What has ended up happening in every place where there are farmed salmon is the nets rip and the fish escape, McManus said.

The modified fish, known officially as AquAdvantage Salmon, is an Atlantic salmon that has been infused with a growth hormone gene from Pacific salmon, also known as chinook, and DNA from an eelpout. The DNA comes from what is called an antifreeze gene that allows the eelpout to live in ice-cold water.

Most to be sterile

AquaBounty, which first developed the salmon in 1989 and submitted its FDA application in 1995, intends to produce only female salmon, 95 percent of which would be sterile. The hybrid salmon would grow twice as fast as other salmon, allowing more lox, salmon steaks and other seafood to be produced.

The plan is to raise the eggs on Prince Edward Island and then, after they hatch, grow them in landlocked tanks in Panama, where they would be processed and shipped to restaurants and grocery stores throughout the United States and possibly around the world.

AquaBounty is confident that the approval will stand, and that the FDA has been extraordinarily thorough and transparent in the review and approval of our application, said Ron Stotish, the companys chief executive officer.

FDA officials said they could not comment on pending litigation, but the agencys environmental assessment declared the fish safe as food and downplayed concerns about mutant fish spreading into the environment.

Escape-proof facilities?

The salmon would be produced and grown-out only in secure facilities with multiple and redundant forms of effective physical containment that have been verified and validated by FDA, the report said, adding that the likelihood is very low that salmon could escape from containment, survive and become established in the local environments.

AquaBounty said it chose Prince Edward Island because it is surrounded by saltwater, and the eggs can only survive in freshwater. Panama was chosen to grow the fish because the water there is too warm for the fish to survive were they to escape.

Stotish told The Chronicle in 2010 that the new fish product will reduce pressure on wild fish stocks and allow experts to focus more on recovery and conservation.

At a time when our seas are fished to the verge of extinction, he said, we have an ethical obligation to use every tool in our toolbox to explore alternatives to meet demand for seafood.

Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, an opponent of genetic engineering, said there are cracks in AquaBountys assurances.

History teaches us that there is no such thing as a fail-safe, Huffman said. These fish can interbreed with our wild Pacific salmon and we shouldnt start down that slippery slope.

GMO corn crops

Genetically engineered food has become a lightning rod for criticism across the country and in Mexico, where environmental groups say bio-engineered corn has infected native crops, costing U.S. farmers billions of dollars.

Fourteen California lawmakers urged the FDA to deny the application for engineered salmon until all the ecological concerns could be addressed. Under pressure, the FDA banned the import and sale of the fish until the agency publishes final labeling guidelines for informing consumers of such content.

Huffman says the process was flawed because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service never got a chance to weigh in.

The FDA was the wrong agency to be reviewing this, he said, because they know nothing about fisheries and the environmental impacts and risks.

Besides the question of whether it is humane to engineer an animal for consumption, critics say it will take an incredible amount of seafood to feed the salmon.

Brettny Hardy, the senior associate attorney for Earthjustice in San Francisco, said the 5 percent of the fish that are not sterile could out-compete the critically endangered Atlantic salmon in Maine, the closest wild population, if they got out of their pens on Prince Edward Island.

This sets a precedent for other applications to come, Hardy said. AquaBounty has talked about engineering trout and other kinds of fish as well. ... They are looking to produce these animals in the U.S. and other countries, so the risk of animals getting out of those facilities could be even greater.

Even without the lawsuit, it could be a while before the engineered fish get into local frying pans. It will take up to 18 months to raise the mixed-breed critters and bring them to market, according to the company.

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite
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Nick Tommarello wanted to invest in ideas that inspired him.

When his friend started building an exoskeleton to help disabled people stand and walk again, Tommarello wanted to invest. It wasnt just that he liked his friends idea and wanted to help. He wanted equity, a tangible stake in the company that he could sell and trade for profit.

But he couldnt. He wasnt worth enough, financially.

Right now, the rich have a government-protected monopoly on investing, Tommarello said.

That changes Monday, when a provision of the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act takes effect. The crowdfunding regulation will allow businesses to offer equity to people regardless of their net worth.

Prior to the Jobs Act, investing in private companies that might end up being worth billions of dollars  the Facebooks and Ubers of tomorrow  was a privilege limited, for all practical purposes, to private institutions and wealthy individuals known as accredited investors. To be accredited, you need to have an individual income of at least $200,000, a joint income of $300,000 or a net worth of more than $1 million.

Starting next week, anyone can invest in businesses they care about by logging on to a website, known as a funding portal, that meets the laws requirements. The portals are designed to make sure that investors understand the risks in putting money into private companies.

Tommarellos company, Wefunder, is among a handful of services approved by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority as funding portals that will begin offering services Monday. The Securities and Exchange Commission regulates Wefunder and its competitors.

New standard

Weve been waiting for four years for this moment, said Tommarello, whose frustration at being closed out of investments inspired him to create Wefunder. Were going to make sure that we very quickly become the new standard for how its done.

Tommarello started developing a prototype for Wefunder even before the Jobs Act became law. The legislation opened up the possibility that ordinary people could buy shares in startup businesses.

Excited by this possibility, Tommarello joined a grassroots lobbying effort in Washington. He started a petition on which would-be investors signed their names and wrote how much money they would invest if they were allowed. The pledges amounted to more than $4 million.

It was surreal that a couple of tech people were now lobbyists, Tommarello said.

Indiegogos co-founders were also among those calling for change. Indiegogo is a leader in the traditional crowdfunding business, where people contribute money for early access to products or perks related to an endeavor they want to support. But the only stake such crowdfunding supporters got was emotional, not financial.

Campaigns on Indiegogo have raised more than $850 million  but project backers have not received any ownership stakes. Securities law prohibited the company from expanding into equity crowdfunding, as its co-founders, Slava Rubin, Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell, had hoped to do when they started the company in 2008.

Indiegogo plans to unveil its crowdfunding strategy later this year.

Equity crowdfunding has the opportunity to be a game changer for America, since the last time common people were able to invest in their neighbors was 1932, Rubin said.

Thats a gross overstatement, of course. Neighbors invest in neighbors all the time on a small scale. Rubin was referring to the Securities Act of 1933, which, in an effort to protect consumers from fraud, set stringent disclosure rules for businesses wishing to solicit equity offers, and limited the amount companies could raise from unaccredited investors. The new portals are designed to make investing in small businesses as easy as buying publicly traded stock through an online brokerage.

By easing the burden for companies to get money from retail investors, the Jobs Act has opened both opportunity and risk. Critics argue that companies desperate for funds will take advantage of naive retail investors after getting turned down by banks and traditional investors.

Proponents of funding portals point to the scrutiny SEC and the financial industry authority have placed on the educational material and warnings investors will see before they put money down. Those caveats may not tamp down the eagerness of new investors to get in on what they see as the next big thing, though.

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The temptation for investors, especially investors who are not used to making these types of investments, is to think they cant lose, said securities attorney Jesse Debban, a partner at Farella Braun & Martel. Thats far from the case.

Investors must also be aware that private stocks will probably not provide the quick returns seen on the public market, warned Richard Swart, the chief strategy officer at NextGen Crowdfunding, a website that educates investors and connects them with funding portals like Wefunder.

There are risks, and you have to be able to hold those investments for years, Swart said. You cant track the performance of these stocks. Theyre basically illiquid early investment in small companies that in theory could grow, but its not a trading stock.

Investors should not spend money on private equities that they cant afford to lose, he said.

Would-be unicorns

Tommarello suspects that the businesses most likely to participate wont be would-be unicorns, who will still seek out sophisticated venture capitalists, nor will individuals flood in seeking to make lottery-style Silicon Valley bets. More likely, he said, the beneficiaries will be the small businesses that he and his eight-person team encountered on a two-week train ride across the country, and the people who want to back them.

In Chicago, the Wefunder team met a rocket scientist working to revitalize his Southside community by creating a Little Italy for African American cuisine. A man they met in Cleveland had figured out how to age whiskey in one day instead of 12 years, an opportunity opened up by shortages in older vintages.

Those entrepreneurs, Tommarello said, will now be able to seek out investment far and wide.

The wisdom of the crowd is good, Tommarello said. Why should a few guys in suits allocate all the capital? Why cant people figure out what they want and invest in it?

Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail jfloum@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfloum
In the United States, Yahoo lost the Internet search battle with Google years ago.

But in Japan, Yahoos brand is still all the rage.

Yahoo Japan, a joint venture between Yahoo Inc. and Tokyo telecommunications giant SoftBank Group, operates the countrys most popular Internet sites for PC users, according to research firm Nielsen. And when it comes to mobile users, Yahoo Japan sites are a close second to Googles.

Large companies close ad deals based on whether marketing firms can land prominent ad placements on Yahoo Japans home page. And even fast-growing companies like BuzzFeed that are experts at making stories go viral in the U.S. team up with Yahoo Japan to distribute content.

Yahoo Japan is the dominant digital force in Japan, reaching almost every Japanese Internet user, wrote BuzzFeed President Greg Coleman when he announced a joint venture with Yahoo Japan last year.

In many ways, Yahoo Japan is on a different path than its U.S. counterpart, even though both have faced similar challenges.

Yahoo Japan commands 31 percent of Japans search market  the largest share the Yahoo brand holds in any part of the world, according to analysis firm StatCounter. (A Yahoo Japan representative said the company believes its market share is higher but did not give a number.)

And even as Yahoos core business in the United States suffers from falling banner-ad revenue, Yahoo Japans business is going strong. Its revenue grew 52 percent to $6 billion in the fiscal year that ended March 31, compared with a year earlier. Profit was nearly $1.59 billion, an increase of about 29 percent.

Yahoo Inc.s revenue for its most recent calendar year, in contrast, was $4.97 billion.

And despite sharing a name, Yahoo Japans biggest shareholder, SoftBank (which considers Yahoo Japan a subsidiary), is quick to note differences with the Sunnyvale company.

Yahoo U.S. ... they are in negative, suffering. Thats the situation that they are experiencing for a few years, said SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son in a recent earnings presentation to investors. Yahoo Inc. and Yahoo Japan happen to have the same brand, but the situation with Yahoo Japan is that since its foundation, it has never seen a decrease in operating income. (His comments were translated into English.)

Why has the Japanese Yahoo prospered while its U.S. counterpart struggles? Son credited SoftBanks leadership, in a dig at Yahoo Inc.s management. SoftBank owns a 43 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, while Yahoo Inc. holds 35.5 percent.

Yahoo declined to comment for this article. A request for Yahoo to respond to Sons comments was not immediately returned.

Yahoo Inc. is exploring a sale of its core business  with Verizon considered the most likely buyer  and may also get rid of its shares in Yahoo Japan. Son said that if another company were to buy Yahoos stake in Yahoo Japan, he does not think it would impact Yahoo Japans business.

Cultural knowledge

Yahoo Japan benefited from its early entry into the Japanese Internet market and its deep knowledge of Japanese culture, helping it ward off competitors Google and Facebook, analysts said. And as people shifted to searching for content on their smartphones, Yahoo Japan invested in other areas of its business that would give mobile users more reasons to visit their site.

Yahoo Japan recognized that the market continues to evolve and they need to evolve with it, said Rowan Ewart-White, a director at Storm Research. The best way to do that is to have sufficient diversification. You put your fingers in enough pies and understand how the market is changing and how you can grow with that.

At the same time, Yahoo Japans home page retains a look that Americans might find dated. Littered with text, it hasnt changed much since the site was created in 1996. It uses an old logo  colored bright red  even after Yahoo Inc. deliberately revamped its purple logo (Pantone Violet C, to be exact) in 2013.

Its kind of a mystery in many ways, said David Rittenhouse, a representative director at Ogilvy Japans digital media division, Neo.

Yahoo Japan spokesman Masaki Hanyuu said the company had the option of going purple, but decided to stick with red for the logo. Yahoo Japan is only partly owned by Yahoo, so we kept our independence, he said.

While it may be difficult to understand due to differences in culture and customs, in Japan, red signifies the sun and fire, so the color gives the impression of being powerful and active, Hanyuu said in an email.

The alliance between SoftBank and Yahoo began when Son visited Silicon Valley in November 1995, interested in the promising U.S. company. He met with Yahoos founders, Jerry Yang and David Filo, over takeout pizzas in their Mountain View office, according to Atsuo Inoues book Aiming High. As a result of that fateful meeting, SoftBank invested $2 million.

Talking with Jerry Yang and David Filo, I thought they were the ones, Son told Inoue. I decided to bet everything on them. A month later, SoftBank approached Yang about creating Yahoo Japan, a joint venture with Yahoo that would provide a Japanese language portal in Japan.

Early success

Analysts attribute Yahoo Japans early success to developing a portal with Japanese consumers in mind. The search functions were in Japanese, and the team curated thousands of websites, according to Aiming High. SoftBank also led a big push to connect people in Japan with inexpensive DSL and opened up free Internet cafes called Yahoo BB Cafes. Feature phones were created with a button that would easily send users to Yahoo Japans home page.

For many in Japan, their first exposure to broadband (Internet) was through Yahoo. It became a household name, said Kenji Kushida, a Japan Program Research Associate at Stanford Universitys Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

Japanese consumers embraced Yahoo Japan, making it difficult at first for U.S. companies like Google and Facebook to break into the market. And unlike Yahoo Japan, other companies tried to take their U.S. platforms and make them work in Japan, analysts said. Japanese customers like a lot of text on their screen, so Googles simple design may not have been attractive to them.

Yahoo Japan wasnt just a translation, said Nick Kapur, an assistant history professor at Rutgers University. The various services that the portal offered were much more tailored to Japanese needs and Japanese culture.

Aging population

Analysts and historians also say Yahoo Japan benefits from being in a country with an aging population  median age 46  that tends to hold on to older technology and habits. Fax machines are still used there, CD stores exist and many offices still store paper records in binders, Kapur said. Feature phones are still used by a number of people who open their phones to a home screen not based on Apples iOS or Googles Android.

Things that have died out elsewhere in the world, they just take a longer time to die out in Japan, Kapur said. There is just enough of these older people for some of these products to survive.

After Yahoo Inc. lost the search battle to Google, Yahoo Japan decided in 2010 to power its searches with Googles technology. Yet even though the underlying algorithms belong to Google, Japanese users such as 42-year-old Mie Yee still go to the Yahoo Japan website to search for content.

Yee, a math teacher who lives in Osaka, has used Yahoo Japan for two decades to browse the Internet, send email and shop. Every morning she spends 10 minutes on Yahoo Japan to check the weather and news.

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When I bought my first PC in the late 90s, Yahoo was popular, Yee said. There were Yahoo salespersons in every train station and shopping mall trying to sell us on Yahoo Japan. My first email was from Yahoo Japan. ... I sometimes use Google to search for American stuff, but I usually stick with Yahoo Japan for Japanese things.

The connotation of working for Yahoo in the U.S. and Japan also have different meanings.

Some recruiters in the U.S. say they favor resumes from workers at Google or Facebook over those from Yahoo employees, because of Yahoos reputation as a struggling company. In Japan, employees with Yahoo experience are seen as valuable.

It is seen as very much a sign of credibility, of trustworthiness and stability, with respect to digital media, Rittenhouse said.

Advertising on Yahoo Japans home page is a big deal, Rittenhouse said. To land a home page ad for a week would cost tens of millions of Japanese yen, he added.

You can win or lose a pitch based on your ability to get access to Yahoo Japans most difficult (ad) inventory, Rittenhouse said.

These days, Yahoo Inc. continues to receive significant revenue from Yahoo Japan, a little over $200 million this year through search and royalty deals. An advertising partnership involving Yahoo Inc., a European subsidiary and Yahoo Japan will expire on Aug. 31 2017. A separate deal between Yahoo Inc. and Yahoo Japan for its logo has no expiration date.

Yahoo Japan continues to move forward. The company faces similar headwinds to its U.S. counterpart, including more people using iPhones or Android smartphones that dont automatically direct users to Yahoo Japans portal. In 2009, Yahoo Japan purchased a controlling stake in video platform Gyao, but the number and variety of videos is still less than on YouTube, analysts said. And while growth for Yahoo Japan and Google have slowed down, Facebooks market share is rising.

Yahoo Japan held its own for quite a long time, and has a lot of momentum, but I think there is competition, and over time, that competition may take its toll on them, Rittenhouse said.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee

Timeline

1996 Yahoo and SoftBank create Yahoo Japan

1999 Yahoo Shopping and Yahoo Auctions available in Japan

2001 SoftBank creates Yahoo BB broadband service

2003 Yahoo Japan lists shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

2006 Yahoo Keitai mobile service offered to SoftBank wireless subscribers

2009 Video-streaming service Gyao acquired

2010 Yahoo Japan teams with Google on Web search

2014 Credit card subsidiary YJ Card created
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An alarming spate of shootings on East Bay freeways, including a pair this week in which one person was killed and two others injured, has one city looking to take matters into its own hands by deploying highway cameras.

City leaders in Pittsburg are expected to decide Monday whether to commit $100,000 toward a surveillance program to detect violence along Highway 4, where a 25-year-old San Francisco woman on Wednesday became the latest to die from gunfire sprayed from a passing car.

Her death was the second fatal freeway shooting in Pittsburg in the past month and at least the 18th episode of highway gun violence in the East Bay since November. In all, four people have died. One shooting, on Interstate 80 in January, injured a small child when bullet-shattered glass sailed into the backseat of a car.

Were very concerned with the activity on the highway, Pittsburg police Capt. Ron Raman said Friday. Were trying to take a proactive approach.

Authorities cant explain the spike in freeway shootings or say whether the crimes are related. But they do say most if not all of the shootings can be tied to gang activity.

In many cases, members of rival street gangs are going after each other or people they know, according to the California Highway Patrol, which is leading a task force of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies investigating the violence.

We offer assurance to the public that we take their concerns very seriously and understand that although we know these shootings are not random, this fact can be of little consolation to the motoring public, the CHP said in a statement Friday. We have made the investigation of these crimes a top priority, and are working diligently to apprehend the suspects.

The investigation has recently expanded to include monitoring of known East Bay gang members and a crackdown on illegal guns and drugs in the region, according to the CHP. Officials acknowledge, however, that the work is slow going.

Gang shootings are extremely difficult to investigate, as victims and witnesses are often uncooperative with law enforcement investigators, the CHP said in its statement.

One arrest has been made. McCoy Tiasawan was taken into custody in early April on suspicion of opening fire on a car with three occupants on Highway 4. Nobody was hurt in the incident.

Of the 18 shootings since November, 10 have taken place on Interstate 80 and at least three were on Highway 4, according to the CHP.

2 recent fatalities

One of the most brazen occurred March 12 on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge, when two gunmen in a sport utility vehicle pulled alongside a party bus and opened fire. Four people were hurt.

The latest shooting took place about 10:30 p.m. Thursday on eastbound I-80 in Hercules, east of Pinole Valley Road. Someone in a white sedan shot the 25-year-old driver of a Nissan Altima, hitting him twice in the leg and prompting him to swerve into the center divide.

The victim was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. The suspect fled.

A day earlier, San Francisco resident Shanique Marie, 25, died when she was hit by gunfire from another vehicle while driving west on Highway 4 in Pittsburg near Railroad Avenue.

Her car careened into an embankment and rolled over. A male passenger was injured. Again, the suspect fled.

Less than a month earlier, Antioch resident Uriel Moreno, 28, died near the same spot. Bullets from a passing vehicle sprayed his Chevrolet Impala on April 19 on Highway 4 near Loveridge Road. Morenos car came to a stop after crashing into a fence along the freeway.

Easy to avoid being caught

Raman, the Pittsburg police captain, said it can be easy for shooters to get away with crime on the freeway.

Its easier to avoid detection on the interstate when youre going 60, 70, 80 mph, he said. When youre driving 80, its hard to hear gunshots. Evidence will be lost. People will often think its a collision.

The citys plan for boosting freeway surveillance would put six to eight cameras on Highway 4. It would expand the citys current surveillance of streets, parks and public buildings.

The Police Department says the program has helped deter lawbreakers and would do the same on the freeway.

If you go through the city of Pittsburg and you commit a crime, Raman said, youre going to be caught on camera.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Hamed Aleaziz contributed to this report.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander
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A man stabbed in an east San Jose parking lot stumbled into a restaurant and died early Friday, officials said.

2 tourists went missing on hike to Maui waterfall, 1 body found

Authorities responded to the restaurant in the 1600 block of Story Road around 12 a.m. and discovered the victim, who was not identified, suffering from at least one stab wound. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, said Sgt. Enrique Garcia, spokesman for the San Jose Police Department.

Preliminary investigation revealed the victim was stabbed in the parking lot and went inside the restaurant where witnesses called 911, Garcia said.

He said the killer, an adult male wearing dark clothing, fled the scene on foot before police arrived.

The search for the killer continued Friday afternoon and detectives said a motive had yet to be determined.

There have been 18 homicides in San Jose in 2016, according to the department.

Anyone with information about the incident can call Detective Sgt. Bert Milliken or Detective Raul Corral of the San Jose Police Departments Homicide Unit at (408) 277-5283. Anonymous calls can be made to the departments Crime Stopper Tip Line at (408) 947-STOP.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
Teaching is a family tradition for Reyna Jones. Her parents were teachers in the South Bay, saving enough money to buy a home in Campbell. Her grandmother was a teacher in East Palo Alto. Jones has continued the tradition, teaching special education students at Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara.

But while her family members were able to afford a middle-class lifestyle on teachers salaries, Jones, a single mother, lives paycheck to paycheck.

Even if I were married, I dont think I could replicate the same type of situation I grew up in, she said. I will never be able to afford to buy anything in this area.

Like Jones, many teachers in Silicon Valley are experiencing the economic pressures of living in boom towns. Rents and home prices have soared, forcing some at Santa Clara Unified to move as far away as Stockton, Lathrop and Los Banos in the Central Valley, where housing is still affordable. This despite the district paying relatively well compared with others in the state.

In an attempt to retain teachers, Santa Clara Unified provides 70 units of subsidized housing in an apartment complex called Casa del Maestro, or House of Teachers. The project, Californias first subsidized teacher housing site, was developed on a former school site in 2002 and expanded in 2009. Today, a growing number of school districts  particularly in the pricey Bay Area  are considering similar endeavors to try to curb teacher turnover.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle Show More Show Less





Other districts follow lead

San Francisco Unified is planning a 100-unit housing complex for public school teachers and paraprofessionals, which it hopes to open by 2020. Cupertino Union is considering building 200 affordable housing units on a vacant piece of district land. And Newark Unified is considering underutilized property it owns for a potential housing site.

San Mateo County Community College and Los Angeles Unified School District are among a handful of other districts across the country that already offer housing for educators.

Teacher housing is an additional tool to recruit people, said Dominic Dutra, a Bay Area real estate developer who helps school districts plan and build teacher housing. School districts have all of this underutilized land, and heres a policy that helps them be competitive.

Jones landed a spot in Casa del Maestro in 2014, a year after taking a job at Cabrillo. Her apartment has two bedrooms  one for her, one for her 17-year-old son  two bathrooms, a walk-in closet and a porch. At $1,705 per month, rent eats up about 30 percent of her $70,000 salary. If she lived in market-rate housing, Jones would have to spend nearly half of her income on a two-bedroom apartment, according to the most recent estimates from real estate rental site Zumper.

Theyre throwing high-rises up all over, but we cant afford to live there, they cost $3,500 to $4,000 a month, she said. We work hard, and we should have a place we can go home to thats nice instead of living in some dump.

As Silicon Valley becomes economically inhospitable for teachers, some are moving to less expensive parts of the state. Santa Clara Unified anticipates about 7 percent of its teaching staff will resign after the school year. While the district doesnt track why teachers leave, theres wide agreement that the regions high cost of living is a major factor.

District officials worry it will get harder and harder to fill the vacant positions because of a statewide teacher shortage.

Last year, the statewide educator portal EdJoin listed more than 42,700 open teaching jobs in California, a figure more than 60 percent higher than 2013s count, according to a recent report from the Learning Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization focused on elementary and secondary education.

Santa Clara County saw a 56 percent increase in vacant teaching jobs over the time period.

Several factors, including people leaving the profession, are fueling the shortfall. Layoffs during the recession, paired with retirements of Baby Boomers, caused many schools to trim staff dramatically during the late 2000s. Some districts are trying to bring staffing back to pre-recession levels, but the number of people receiving credentials in California has been declining for years because of waning interest in the profession.

At this point, the teacher shortage is starting to become serious, said Patrick Shields, who co-wrote the Learning Policy Institute report. Shields added that California experienced a similar shortfall in the late 1990s, and it took a wide array of programs to stabilize the teaching force. There has to be a multifaceted approach to the problem now as well.

Effects of turnover

In places like the Bay Area, many policy experts believe, the regions high cost of living is closely linked to teacher turnover.

First-year teachers in San Francisco need to spend about three-fourths of their earnings on a median-priced one-bedroom apartment, according to rental estimates from Zumper. Rent would eat up 42 percent of the highest-paid starting teachers salary at Santa Clara Unified.

The effects of teacher turnover have widespread impacts, particularly in hard-to-staff fields like special education, math and science.

When teachers reach three, five, seven years, they have certain skill sets under their belt, theyve grown up through the district so to speak, said Andrew Lucia, the districts assistant superintendent of human resources. If theyre not able to stay, we lose that investment, which (hurts) students.

Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle

The state Legislature is considering a package of bills aimed at recruiting and retaining teachers. Two directly tackle the difficulty some have securing housing.

AB2200, introduced by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond, proposes transferring $100 million to a newly created branch of the California Housing Finance Agency, which would be used to help build affordable housing for teachers.

One part of the solution

SB1413, introduced this year by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would make it easier for school districts to leverage federal, state and local funds to develop housing for teachers. The bill passed the Senates Transportation and Housing Committee in April, and Leno hopes it will land on the governors desk by late summer.

The bill will be one part of the solution in enabling teachers to live in the communities where they teach, Leno said. This crisis affects the Bay Area probably more than any other part of the state, potentially more than any other part of the country, so we have to be as creative as possible in coming up with solutions.

The state Legislative Analysts Office, however, released a report last month suggesting that market forces will correct Californias teacher shortage, and it encouraged the Legislature to avoid implementing broad policies.

The office recommended recruiting teachers from parts of the country with a surplus  New York, for example, produces far more teachers than it can hire, according to the report  and to try to bring retired teachers in high-need areas back into the classroom.

Casa del Maestro alleviates some of the financial pressure teachers in Silicon Valley face. One and two-bedroom units in the apartment complex, a stones throw away from the huge Apple campus under construction, go for between $1,110 and $1,805 per-month  well below market rate. The proximity to schools in the district cuts down on transportation costs.

Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle

The handful of cities that have built similar complexes are seeing positive effects on teacher recruitment and retention. A 2013 survey of teachers in coastal Dare County, N.C., which has 36 subsidized apartment units for teachers, found that affordable housing was the biggest factor in teachers desire to continue working in the region.

The cost of living in the touristy beach community surpasses most other neighboring counties.

The housing has helped us staff positions that are difficult to fill, said Elisabeth Silverthorne, executive director of the Dare Education Foundation, which partnered with a statewide credit union to build the complex. At one point, we had almost an entire foreign language program living there, and those are teachers that are hard to hire in this area.

Feeling sense of community

For Raquel Arcinas Clark, a special education teacher at Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara, Casa del Maestro also provides a sense of community.

I have the freedom here to be myself and not worry about getting broken into, or about money so much, she said. Everyone around you is a teacher, so we all know each other and look out for each other.

Arcinas Clark lives in a one-bedroom apartment with her husband, Steven. Pictures of her family in the Philippines adorn the refrigerator, personal paintings hang on the walls, and a large garage allows Steven Clark, a machinist, to enjoy his hobby of fixing cars and motorcycles.

Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle

The couple have lived there for five years, which means theyre beginning to look for a new home  the complex has a seven-year residency limit.

The school district had a mortgage-assistance program for people leaving Casa del Maestro, but the program has been discontinued because of funding shortages, according to district spokeswoman Jennifer Dericco. Even if that financial help still existed, Steven Clark doubts they would find a home in their price range.

Nothing is under $1 million nearby, and if it is, its a serious fixer-upper, he said. We couldnt even afford the taxes on that.

Demand surpasses supply

Arcinas Clark thinks the subsidized apartments should be open to teachers indefinitely, but the supply of units doesnt meet demand. Theres a 30-person wait list to get into Casa del Maestro, and openings are rare, Dericco said. And as Santa Clara Unified grows alongside the regions population  four new schools are scheduled to open by 2019  competition for the units will most likely get tougher.

The district would like to build additional teacher housing, but all of its vacant land will be used for new school construction, Dericco said.

Casa del Maestro has helped, but its not sufficient. We have close to 900 certified members, and only 70 units there, said Michael Hickey, president of Santa Clara Unifieds teacher union. The main way to keep teachers and have them live in Silicon Valley is to increase pay.

Gabrielle Lurie/Special to The Chronicle

If the Clarks cant find anything affordable in Silicon Valley, they may have to leave the district. The couple already are looking at Tracy and the Anderson Valley as potential new homes. While the pay for teachers with 10 years of experience is tens of thousands of dollars less in both areas, the lower salaries could be offset by a lower cost of living.

The median sale price for a home in Silicon Valley was $830,000 last year, more than double the median sale price in California as a whole, according to a recent report by Joint Ventures Silicon Valley, an economic think tank.

Im worried because after next year, I dont know where Ill be, Arcinas Clark said. We really like the teacher apartments, but once the seven years are over, theres a chance the district may lose some very good teachers.

Joaquin Palomino is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jpalomino@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JoaquinPalomino
This is news no one wants to report.

The Chronicles front page from May 13, 1932, covers the discovery of the body of aviator Charles Lindberghs child.

The baby son of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was found dead this afternoon. The child had been murdered. Two tremendous blows on the head ended the life of the child, the official autopsy by Dr. Charles A. Mitchell, county physician, disclosed tonight, the story on The Chronicles front page read.

It was as if some adult person had held the baby tightly in his arms and deliberately hammered the head with the purpose of causing instant death, the story reported.

Two months before, the 20-month-old who was named for his famous father disappeared from his crib in New Jersey. Pieces of a ladder were found nearby, along with a tire track. For more than nine weeks, police and federal investigators traced clue after clue but found no sign of the baby.

The hunt ended when truck driver William Allen found the skull and contacted a local police officer. The remains looked like they had been disturbed by animals, but the head injuries were obvious.

After more than two years, German immigrant Richard Hauptmann was arrested and charged with the kidnapping and killing. Nearly four years after the babys body was found, Hauptmann would die in the electric chair, professing his innocence until the end.

See more front pages: Go to SFChronicle.com/covers to search a database of hundreds of Chronicle Covers articles that showcase the newspaper's history.

Chronicle Covers is a project that highlights one classic Chronicle newspaper page from our archive every day for 366 days. Library director Bill Van Niekerken, art director Danielle Mollette-Parks, producer Michelle Devera and editorial assistant Jillian Sullivan contributed to the project. Tim ORourke is the executive producer and editor of SFChronicle.com. Email: torourke@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TimothyORourke

More from the Archive The Vault Home of the San Francisco Chronicle's archive and more than 150 years of journalism covering the Bay Area and beyond.

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Donald Trumps family should surely stage an intervention aimed at encouraging him to modulate his Falstaffian presentation of self; but the presumptive Republican nominee needs no guidance when it comes to armed interventions.

Indeed, his deep skepticism about the value of foreign military ventures is especially heartening to an American public grown wary and weary of costly, inconclusive conflicts. And his outright repudiation of the prevarications that duped so many  including Hillary Clinton  into authorizing the invasion of Iraq in 2003 stands testament to his political courage, given that it was a Republican president and his elite coterie who brought about that debacle.

Beyond Iraq, candidate Trump has sharply criticized American involvement in the overthrow of Moammar Khadafy in Libya  a pet project of then-Secretary of State Clinton  and the waffling, wandering Obama administration policy toward Bashar Assad in Syria. In the latter case, Trump has taken the view that the Russians are most likely to be able to bring the civil war in that sad land to an end  an assertion well borne out by the impact of Vladimir Putins actions there over the past six months. In this respect, Trumps clear willingness to recognize the role of the Russians in world affairs is refreshing, a latter-day echoing of Tocquevilles long-ago prediction that the United States and Russia would each, one day, sway the destinies of half the globe.

Thus, it is quite clear that a Trumpian foreign policy would engage preferentially in diplomatic negotiations in response to crises that might lead to armed conflict  no surprise coming from the author of The Art of the Deal. Given that the American approach to the world has become so highly militarized since the end of the Cold War  a trend embraced by presidents of both major parties  it is high time for a course correction aimed more at jaw-jaw than war-war.

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Clearly, the American public feels the need for such a shift, and the surprising strength of Sen. Bernie Sanders candidacy is no doubt due in part to his wariness about the use of force.

For Clinton, the campaign discourse about intervention must be chilling. Sanders has landed sharp blows about her foreign policy judgments, themes that Republican Trump will surely be ready to repeat and expand upon in the coming months. Thus she may be denied the White House in 2016 for having supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003  much as Barack Obama was able to defeat her in the 2008 primaries for the same reason. It could be deja vu all over again.

On the other hand, Donald Trumps high personal negatives with women and Hispanics may outweigh the edge he gains by associating himself so closely with the clear preference of the mass public  nearly 60 percent per a recent Pew Poll  that the United States should adopt a less interventionist foreign policy. Trump has been something of a tightrope walker at several points in his business career, so it is unsurprising that his presidential campaign should be poised on a similar knife-edge.

Whatever the outcome of the election, though, it is crucial that in the coming months the public  and the media  insist upon a thorough debate of the matter of military intervention. The misadventure in Iraq wasted trillions, shattered countless lives, and blew up the larger Middle East, proving the point  yet one more time  that the currents of culture and history cannot be rerouted by force of arms.

Thus we are fortunate to have two presumptive presidential candidates who represent such starkly differing views about the utility of military intervention. If the media do their job with diligence, and the mass public insists on the critical analysis of this issue, it will be a win-win situation. A President Donald Trump would come into office leery about the use of force from day one, and even a President Hillary Clinton would pause, when that call comes in at 3 a.m., before authorizing military action.

Of course, it should also be noted that Sanders, given his own cautious views and thoughtful voting record on issues of war and peace, would have no vulnerability to a Trumpian attack on this policy front  were he somehow to become the Democratic nominee. A most intriguing thought.

John Arquilla is professor of defense analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. The views expressed are his alone.
Haarala Hamilton / Haarala Hamilton

Every so often  in particular when scrolling through my Instagram feed  I get a little depressed about the state of recipes. Each one seems like another iteration on the last; its hard to feel like anything is original anymore.

So when a book like Sirocco comes across my desk, its a good reminder that there are, in fact, people who are still experimenting with new flavors and combinations Id never think of  or even see  in my everyday cooking life.
Its a Bay Area problem: looking for the healthiest way to live, whether adopting a new workout at the gym, eating organic  or even finding a safer breast implant.

A new, structured saline implant, called the Ideal implant, is finding favor with women concerned about putting chemicals in their bodies. Unlike traditional, balloon-like saline implants or firmer silicone gel varieties, the Ideal implant consists of several stable shells layered atop one another, like nesting Russian dolls, but is filled with saline, not silicone gel.

A decade in the making, the new implant, which hit the market in November, was created by Dr. Robert Hamas of Dallas, a 35-year-veteran of cosmetic plastic surgery, after an airplane flight in which he watched his wifes glass of water splash during turbulence, while his scotch on the rocks, loaded with ice cubes, spilled nary a drop. His stacked shells provide more structure and less wrinkling under the skin than saline implants can cause  without the fears that ruptures of silicone gel implants can instill.

So far, the device, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has resonated with women in health-conscious regions like Seattle and the Bay Area more than with those seeking cosmetic enhancements in cities such as Los Angeles and Miami, where appearance is a bigger priority, Hamas said on a recent Bay Area visit.

Those patients include a 25-year-old technician from Santa Cruz who specifically searched the Internet for a local surgeon using the Ideal implant to rejuvenate her breasts, which changed shape after breastfeeding a son for eight months. She decided on Dr. Regina Rosenthal of Campbell, one of six Bay Area doctors who are using it in their practices.

I'd say 90 percent of the food I eat is organic, and about the same percentage applies to my beauty and hair products, said the patient, who asked that her name be withheld to protect her medical privacy. So there was no way I wanted a synthetic substance leaking into my system, especially as it does so slowly without the patient even knowing its ruptured! And since so many synthetic materials are being discovered to cause cancer, I was very uncomfortable with the idea of a synthetic substance circulating in my body.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 2 1 of 2 Courtesy of Dr. Robert Hamas Show More Show Less 2 of 2 Courtesy of Dr. Robert Hamas Show More Show Less



There are concerns surrounding saline and gel implants.

In 1992, silicone gel implants were taken off the market after the FDA determined manufacturers had failed to provide enough safety data. They were reintroduced to the market with a thicker formulation of so-called cohesive gel, in 2006, according to the FDA website.

Short-term studies show silicone gel implants to be safe, but no multidecade studies have been conducted, so doctors are unsure of the long-term effects of silicone gel implants in the body.

Ruptures occur in both varieties at a rate of 5.6 percent: When saline implants burst, they deflate like a tire and spread saltwater into the body, but when silicone gel implants rupture, its virtually impossible to detect. Thats why the FDA recommends magnetic resonance imaging, or an MRI, for every woman with silicone gel implants beginning the third year after augmentation and every two years after that, for life. Mammograms are not sensitive enough to detect ruptures.

Each of the doctors interviewed for this story said few, if any, of their patients follow the FDA guidelines, due to the cost: a single MRI can be $2,000 or more, and insurance doesnt cover it. With the need for an alternative clear, Hamas figured Silicon Valley investors would seed his startup. He was wrong.

I made many trips up and down Sand Hill Road and what I got from the people there was, Everybody wants gel, he recalled. I said, I dont know who youre talking to. I think women would rather have a saline implant that feels natural than have silicone gel in their body. I knew this is what happens when they rupture. Theyre a mess.

So he turned to medical colleagues and funded the company with stocks sales to plastic surgeons and friends.

Of 200 plastic surgeons nationwide using the Ideal implant today, 120 are shareholders in Hamas company. In the Bay Area, Rosenthal is an investor, along with Dr. Eric Bachelor of Danville, Dr. Robert Lowen of Mountain View and Dr. Daryl Hoffman of Palo Alto. Two other Ideal implant supporters, Dr. Vivian Ting of Walnut Creek, and Dr. Kimberly Henry of Greenbrae, are not stakeholders.

Hoffman, who has performed a dozen procedures with the Ideal implant since December, is unapologetic about recommending it.

You cant get insurance to approve an MRI for an asymptomatic patient  someone who doesnt have any symptoms  and Ive tried, he said. One woman had a mastectomy and reconstruction, and I showed the insurance company the product brochure saying its required, and they still wouldnt approve it.

Rosenthal, who made a $5,000 investment, said she believes in the importance of options. Although most of her patients still choose silicone gel implants, 10 have decided upon the Ideal implant for peace of mind, she said.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

Said Rosenthals patient, who recycles and tries to avoid Bisphenol A, a compound in plastics that some contend is toxic, I will totally go eat at a restaurant that I know isn't organic or will happily eat a meal that my boyfriends mom has cooked for me, but for the most part I try to keep my lifestyle natural and healthy. This is my one body, and I want it to feel the best that it can.

Carolyne Zinko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: czinko@sfchronicle.com

Most common breast implants

Saline implants are filled with a saltwater solution, much like a water balloon and can wrinkle under the skin. When ruptured, they deflate immediately, sending saltwater into the body. They are sold in the U.S. by Mentor and Allergan.

Silicone gel implants are made with a sticky, cohesive silicone gel. When they rupture, they may produce hard lumps over the implant or chest area, and cause pain, or other changes in sensation. Silent ruptures produce no symptoms, so the FDA recommends an MRI the third year after augmentation and every two years afterward. They are sold in the U.S. by Allergan and Sientra.

Structured saline implants are made with a series of internal baffles or shells that hold saline solution in place and create more fullness than traditional saline implants. When ruptured, they deflate immediately. They are sold in the U.S. by Ideal.

Number of augmentations performed in the U.S. in 2015:

279,143  a 31 percent increase over the year 2000.
After three years of renovations, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is reopening on May 14. The new SFMOMA is gleaming white and twice as large as its boxy brown predecessor. Its in no danger of being dwarfed, even among the South of Market neighborhoods collection of rising towers.

The latest chapter in the history of SFMOMA is defined by power and wealth. Its a strange contrast with the first chapter of that history, which began just a few years after the 1906 earthquake reduced the city to rubble.

A group of civic elites known as the San Francisco Art Association decided to create a museum dedicated to contemporary artwork. Their first museum, which opened in 1916, folded after a decade. But in 1935 they succeeded in founding the San Francisco Museum of Art.

Grace McCann Morley, its first director, found herself leading a museum that from its inception was plagued by troubles. Unlike the de Young Museum or the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, it was privately funded, and those funds were scarce.

The museum was also housed on the cramped fourth floor of the War Memorial Veterans Building, not an ideal location, according to SFMOMA Deputy Director Ruth Berson.

It had no street presence whatsoever  you couldnt just walk into the lobby of the building, you had to take an elevator to get there, Berson said. The other thing was that the spaces were never intended to be galleries, so they didnt have the proportions (for exhibits) that one would have preferred.

Morley was one of the museums first assets. Described by Berson as a dynamo, Morley quickly set about transforming the museum into a hot spot for contemporary art. In one of her first feats, Morley helped arrange for the mammoth 1934 Carnegie International, European Section, U.S. Selections exhibitions to be shipped across the United States  a logistical nightmare in the age of trains.

Over the next two decades, Morley and the Trustees organized exhibitions for well-known artists and emerging talents, including Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz and Henri Matisse. Berson also noted that the museum gave Jackson Pollock his first solo exhibition in 1945.

The outbreak of World War II influenced much of Morleys administration. In 1939, the museum arranged for an exhibition titled Twentieth Century German Art (Banned) that featured degenerate artwork banned in Nazi Germany. Throughout the war, Morley sought out local artists with useful skills to contribute to the war effort, and in 1945, the museum temporarily relocated to a downtown store so the building could host the United Nations charter meeting.

At the end of the war, Morley began working for UNESCO, where she founded the International Council of Museums. Her work with these organizations eventually forced Morley to leave the museum in 1958. But Berson said she left behind an impressive legacy.

She accepted photography into the collection at a very early stage, Berson said. Her first architecture exhibition was in 1940, way before anybody was thinking about that.

Joe Rosenthal/The Chronicle

Morleys replacement, George Culler, inherited a museum with greater resources, which he focused largely on education and outreach. Among the programs that were funded during his administration was Insights, which inspired bizarre experimental art like Snowjob, a performance piece by Bonnie Sherk that involved dumping 2 tons of snow in downtown San Francisco.

When Gerald Nordland took the reins in 1966, the nation and the Bay Area were in the midst of radical cultural and political transformations. Nordland was determined to incorporate new trends by organizing shows that pushed the boundaries of art.

Some of these exhibitions proved to be quite memorable, like a 1969 showing of Jay DeFeos The Rose, a 2,300-pound painting so difficult to transport that it inspired a documentary. Later that year, the museum became the only West Coast museum to host the controversial exhibit Contemporary Black Artists.

In 1970, the museum resurrected its film program. Although it was shuttered eight years later because of financial strains, the program made a splash with its first exhibition, a floating TV-sculpture called The Videola by Don Hallock and several other artists.

Nordland also oversaw a period of growing prestige for the museum. In 1972, the museum expanded into the third floor of the Veterans Building. It also established the Museum Intercommunity Exchange to foster greater collaboration with its peers in New York; Washington, D.C.; and Europe.

Henry Hopkins became the museums director in 1974. Today, Hopkins is probably best remembered for adding the word modern in 1975 to the name of the museum. But during his 12 years as director, he also led SFMOMA through a period of explosive growth, creating new departments and enlarging its collections.

Hopkins organized a record number of shows that relied solely on SFMOMAs collection, which had swollen with acquisitions over the previous decade. Hopkins, who particularly liked Abstract Expressionists, was instrumental in securing artwork by Clyfford Still and Philip Guston.

Also during Hopkins administration, SFMOMA established its first department of photography in 1980, and in 1983 it created the department of architecture and design  the first of its kind on the West Coast.

These enhancements increased the prestige of SFMOMA, but Hopkins was never satisfied with the museums location. In a 1980 interview for the Archives of American Art, he recalled visiting the museum before he was director and wishing the staff had the funds to buy 500 gallons of white paint to freshen up the tawdry building.

In 1987, the Museum of Contemporary Art opened in Los Angeles, ending SFMOMAs unofficial status as Californias premier contemporary art museum. The Board of Trustees and its new director, John Lane, began searching for a new home for the museum. They soon set their sights on Third Street in the South of Market area.

South of Market was a little bit of a dicey neighborhood back in the day, Berson said, recalling that the museums neighbor was an empty parking lot surrounded by chain-link fence.

But the move paid off. When SFMOMA reopened in 1995 in a new building designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta, membership jumped from 12,900 to more than 31,000. Lane launched SFMOMAs website that same year, increasing public awareness of upcoming exhibits.

Michael Maloney

Lane took advantage of the new wealth brought in by the dot-com bubble to acquire significant works for the museum, including pieces by Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Brice Marden. David Ross, who took over as director in 1998, continued this trend, acquiring pieces by Ellsworth Kelly, Charles Sheeler and Rene Magritte.

Under Ross directorship, SFMOMA began to focus heavily on digital arts. The museum launched e.space, an online curatorial space that featured SFMOMAs Web-based art. In 2001, the museum exhibited 010101: Art in Technological Times to showcase the rosy future promised by technological advances. But the prediction turned out to be premature.

At that time we had the dot-com bubble in San Francisco, Berson said, noting that when it burst, we certainly felt it.

Ross resigned in 2001 to pursue a career in the technology field. The board of trustees selected Neal Benezra as SFMOMAs new director in 2002.

Benezra was an easy choice: Born in Oakland, he fell in love with SFMOMA when he visited it as a child. As a young adult, he had even applied for an internship at the museum but had been turned down.

Laura Morton/Special to the Chronicle

Returning as director 20 years later, Benezra inherited a museum that was suffering from layoffs and a $2 million deficit. To re-energize it, Benezra organized blockbuster shows. In 2002, the Marc Chagall exhibition broke the attendance record for the museum. In 2008, the Frida Kahlo exhibit broke that record again. The museum also featured the work of other popular artists, such as Diane Arbus, Sol LeWitt and Jeff Wall.

SFMOMA also continued to expand its educational opportunities. In 2002, the museum opened the Koret Visitor Education Center  the first drop-in education center in a U.S. museum. In 2005, the education department started a podcast series on artists and programming at the museum called Artcasts. Berson noted that when the museum reopens, they hope to serve 55,000 students a year  up from 18,000 when SFMOMA closed.

When visitors enter SFMOMA in May, they will be greeted by expanded gallery spaces, stairs that mimic San Francisco streets, a contemporary photography center and other unfamiliar sights.

But finding traces of SFMOMAs history wont be difficult. Among the hundreds of paintings, photographs and installations on display will be works of art that have traveled with the museum since its inception. As Berson pointed out, its ultimately the artwork that will inform visitors about the history surrounding them.

Eli Wolfe is a Bay Area freelance writer.

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art: Reopens May 14th at 151 Third St., S.F. Galleries will be open 10 a.m.-8 p.m. on opening day. Regular museum hours will be 10 a.m.-5 p.m. every day except Thursdays, which will be 10 a.m.-8 p.m. $25 for adults, $22 for seniors, $19 for young adults, and free for youth 18 and younger. (415) 337-4000 www.sfmoma.org.
BART directors approved labor agreements with the transit agencys three largest unions Thursday  a move to assure passengers and voters that no strike is forthcoming.

The Board of Directors voted 7-2, with Directors Zakhary Mallett and Joel Keller opposed, to approve the agreements, which extend current contracts, set to expire in 2017, until 2021. The extension comes with raises of 2.5 percent the first two years of the contract and 2.75 percent the last two years. The cost of the extensions is $85.9 million over four years, about $15 million more than the transit system had projected to spend.
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A man stabbed in an east San Jose parking lot stumbled into a restaurant and died early Friday, officials said.

New details emerge on car buried at $15 million Atherton mansion

Authorities responded to the restaurant in the 1600 block of Story Road around 12 a.m. and discovered the victim, who was not identified, suffering from at least one stab wound. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, said Sgt. Enrique Garcia, spokesman for the San Jose Police Department.

Preliminary investigation revealed the victim was stabbed in the parking lot and went inside the restaurant where witnesses called 911, Garcia said.

He said the killer, an adult male wearing dark clothing, fled the scene on foot before police arrived.

The search for the killer continued Friday afternoon and detectives said a motive had yet to be determined.

There have been 18 homicides in San Jose in 2016, according to the department.

Anyone with information about the incident can call Detective Sgt. Bert Milliken or Detective Raul Corral of the San Jose Police Departments Homicide Unit at (408) 277-5283. Anonymous calls can be made to the departments Crime Stopper Tip Line at (408) 947-STOP.

Hamed Aleaziz is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: haleaziz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @haleaziz
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In an apparent fit of road rage on Bike to Work Day, an 18-year-old Oakland woman driving in San Franciscos Tenderloin on Thursday plowed into a cyclist, dragging his bike down the street and causing him to suffer pelvic lacerations and a fractured back, police said.

Witnesses told authorities that the bicyclist, a 26-year-old man, got into an argument with someone in the womans car, which carried two passengers in addition to the suspect, TajZanae Zakira Thomas. During the verbal altercation, police said, the man banged on the window of her car and then rode his bike in front of her vehicle.
San Mateos police chief said Thursday that two investigations of sexual impropriety  one criminal and one administrative  will move forward even though the accused officer has resigned.

The investigations have been active for seven months.

Chief Susan Manheimer did not identify the officer or provide details of the allegations except to say that someone complained about his conduct in October. She said more information would be provided when the county district attorney and the city police department investigations are done, although the findings wont be finalized for some time.

Manheimer relayed her message as an open letter to our community to say the department had acted promptly on the complaint and, apparently, to dispel any rumors to the contrary.

We want you to know that within hours of the first allegation that came forward by a victim of sexual impropriety by an officer, we immediately contacted the San Mateo County District Attorneys Office and asked for a full and independent criminal investigation, Manheimer said.

The department also placed the officer on indefinite leave and began its own investigation, after which the officer resigned, she said.

The alleged conduct, if true, is deeply troubling and more importantly, a disturbing breach of the public trust, the chief said.

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov
George Lucas can put his art museum wherever he wants, we're still going to consider him a native son.

The creator of "Star Wars," was born on May 14, 1944 in Modesto. But the Bay Area is where his genius matured, leading to the launch of two of the most popular film franchises ever: Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
A federal appeals court panel appeared to be divided Friday on whether the government must disclose the names of Latin American military leaders it has trained at the installation formerly known as the School of the Americas, whose graduates include some who have been implicated in human rights abuses.

The Defense Department facility at Fort Benning, Ga., now called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, provides training in combat and counterinsurgency techniques. The Obama administration has maintained President George W. Bushs refusal, starting in 2004, to make the names public, saying their privacy and safety could be threatened.

But in the preceding 10 years, the government had released the names of 60,000 present and past trainees, dating to 1946. Among them were Salvadoran officers linked to the 1989 killings of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. Another graduate was the late Roberto dAubuisson, a rightist Salvadoran politician accused by opponents of organizing death squads.

There have been no reports that any trainees had been harmed by the past disclosures, as U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton of Oakland noted in her April 2013 ruling requiring release of the post-2004 trainees names to SOA Watch, whose members have protested at the school for more than two decades. Her ruling has been blocked while the government appeals.

At Fridays hearing of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld said it seems plausible that Latin American officers identified as U.S. military trainees could be tortured or shot. But I cant find the evidence, he told Justice Department lawyer Steve Frank.

We dont have to wait until someone is killed, Frank replied. He said the Freedom of Information Act, invoked by advocates of disclosure in this case, allows the government to maintain secrecy based on its assessment that release of the names would create a likely risk of harm.

Judge Paul Watford seemed unconvinced. Noting that U.S. military officials had agreed with the decision to release the names between 1994 and 2004 of past trainees, he said the court was entitled to be somewhat skeptical of the governments about-face.

But Frank said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a game changer that created a new awareness of the potential dangers.

Judge Sandra Ikuta, the third panel member, said rulings in other cases supported the governments argument that disclosure isnt required if future harm seems likely. And Kleinfeld told a lawyer seeking release of the names that since terrorist groups have declared war on the U.S. ... it seems obvious its pretty risky to reveal U.S. connections to foreign military leaders.

The attorney, Duffy Carolan, replied that disclosure allows the public to have an informed debate on significant foreign policy issues, such as U.S. involvement in Latin American military coups. She said four Honduran generals involved in the overthrow of the nations government in 2009 had trained at the school.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
WASHINGTON  Pressure is mounting on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign for president, with Democratic Party leaders raising alarms that his continued presence in the race is undermining efforts to beat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump this fall.

The new concerns come after Sanders recent wins over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next weeks primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clintons nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their partys nomination.

I dont think they think of the downside of this, said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a Clinton supporter who hosted the 2008 meeting that brokered post-primary peace between Clinton and then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

Its actually harmful because she cant make that general-election pivot the way she should, Feinstein said. Trump has made that pivot.

Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid again Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.

I would just hope that he would understand that we need to begin consolidating our vote sooner rather than later, said New York Rep. Steve Israel, a Clinton backer and former chief of efforts to elect Democrats to the House. Democrats cannot wait too long.

Sanders is having none of it, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.

On the Republican side of the race Friday, Trump said he would not disclose even what tax rate he pays until an IRS audit of his tax returns is complete.

Its none of your business, he told ABCs Good Morning America when asked what tax rate he pays. Youll see it when I release. But I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns until, he says, an IRS audit is done. He says he will gladly release them when that happens, but makes no guarantees it will happen before Election Day.

In an interview with the Associated Press this week, Trump said he hoped the audit would be done in time but feels no obligation to the public to get the returns out before people vote.
Their exhumed bones point to the hard lives of slaves: arthritic backs, missing teeth, muscular frames. In death, they were wrapped in shrouds, buried in pine boxes and  over centuries  forgotten.

Remains of the 14 presumed slaves will soon be reburied near the Hudson River, 11 years after construction workers uncovered the unmarked grave site. This time, local volunteers are honoring the seven adults, five infants and two children in a way that would have been unthinkable when they died. They will be publicly memorialized and buried in personalized boxes beside prominent families in old Albany.
1 Officers wounded: Two police officers in Manchester, N.H., were shot early Friday and the suspected gunman was arrested. Ian MacPherson, 32, is facing two counts of attempted capital murder in the shootings of officers Ryan Hardy and Matthew OConnor. Hardy approached MacPherson because he matched the description of a suspect in an armed robbery, authorities said. MacPherson allegedly shot Hardy in the face and torso. He was in stable condition. Shortly later, MacPherson allegely shot OConnor in the leg. He was treated and released from a hospital.

2 Solar plane: A solar-powered airplane landed in Tulsa, Okla., late Thursday after taking off from Arizona on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey. The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Phoenix and landed without incident at Tulsa International Airport around 11:15 p.m. The plane had departed from Moffett Field in the Bay Area on May 2 on its way to Arizona. The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The plane is expected to make at least one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa.
DALLAS  Texas complicated school finance system is constitutional, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday  a surprise defeat for the 600-plus school districts that endured more than four years of costly legal battles hoping judges would force the Republican-controlled Legislature to fork over more funding.

The all-Republican court reversed a lower judges decision that had sided with schools and found that school district funding was inadequate and unfairly distributed among wealthy and poor areas because of $5.4 billion in classroom cuts approved by state lawmakers in 2011.

The 9-0 decision ends a case that was the largest of its kind in Texas history. Major legal battles over classroom funding have raged six times since 1984.

Our Byzantine school funding system is undeniably imperfect, with immense room for improvement. But it satisfies minimum constitutional requirements, the court ruled. Accordingly, we decline to usurp legislative authority.

The court also said there doubtless exist innovative reform measures to make Texas schools more accountable and efficient, both quantitatively and qualitatively but it added that our judicial responsibility is not to second-guess or micromanage Texas education policy.

The school funding mechanism is a Robin Hood formula where wealthy school districts share local property tax revenue with districts in poorer areas. Districts rely heavily on property taxes because Texas has no state income tax.

Texas State Teachers Association President Noel Candelaria said in a statement: It is a sad day when the states highest court decides that doing the least the state can do to educate our children is enough.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the leader of the Texas Senate and former head of its powerful education committee, admitted that Robin Hood doesnt work well and that lawmakers would continue making improvements to school funding. But with the court fight over, the pressure is off.

The school funding issue, for now, has been resolved, Patrick said. The Supreme Court said were right.

At issue were the massive cuts to public education and related classroom grant programs that the Legislature approved in 2011, when the states economy was still reeling from the recession. That prompted school districts to sue, arguing they could no longer properly function.
WASHINGTON  Democrats may argue over whether places like Denmark and Norway are model societies. President Obama is sure.

Apparently well beyond concerns about being branded a socialist, Obama on Friday celebrated the five Nordic nations as examples of reliability, equality, generosity, responsibility, even personal happiness.

As he welcomed the Nordic leaders to the White House, he owned up to thinking perhaps the small havens of social liberalism should take the reins every now and then.

He joked: Why dont we just put all these small countries in charge for a while?

The remark in some ways encapsulated a White House summit with the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. The discussions covered a slate of issues weighing heavily on the region  including concerns about Russian aggression, managing refugee flows in Europe and fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria  but little disagreement among nations that largely see eye-to-eye.

From the State Dining Room, Obama said the leaders spoke about augmenting special operations forces fighting Islamic State in the Middle East. He also hailed Denmark for almost doubling its troop commitment toward the multinational forces assisting Afghanistan.

Three of the five nations are NATO members, including Denmark and Norway, which each have contributed nearly as many troops on the ground in Iraq as Germany. Sweden and Finland are neutral but are participating in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State.

Fridays meetings and state dinner come during a U.S. political season in which the Nordic countries have made surprising cameos.

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have publicly debated whether Denmark, Sweden and Norway should be models for U.S. policy on workers rights and paid family leave. Clinton notably dismissed the notion in a debate last year, declaring, We are not Denmark.

On the Republicans side, Donald Trump has suggested the U.S. should untangle itself from the sort of international partnerships Obama and Nordic allies readily embrace.

Obamas position Friday was unequivocal.

The world would be more secure and more prosperous if we just had more partners like our Nordic partners, he said, standing alongside President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and Prime Ministers Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson of Iceland; Lars Loekke Rasmussen of Denmark; Stefan Lofven of Sweden; and Erna Solberg of Norway.
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More than six decades after Alfonso Gonzales last attended USC, he found out one surprising detail.

He never actually graduated in 1953: He was one unit short of receiving his zoology degree.

At the age of 96, Gonzales figured there was only one thing to do.

"I decided I might as well go," Gonzales said by phone to SFGATE. "I know I'm 96 years old, but I'm going to try and make it  and I did."

On Friday, Gonzales will receive his diploma in zoology from USC, despite the fact that the degree hasn't been offered in 40 years. The university worked with Gonzales and Aaron Hagedorn, instructional assistant professor of gerontology at USC who created a course for Gonzales to make up for his last credit.

Gonzales will be USC's oldest graduate, the university noted.

Hagedorn said that Gonzales was studious and truly did want to learn, taking his coursework seriously, reading the required book and speaking with students. Hagedorn noted that Gonzales even wore the same suit, tie, hat and satchel that he wore when he first attended USC, saying even that detail was important to Gonzales.

"He really wanted to inspire his family," Hagedorn said. "There's seven generations of his family (that he lived through) and they're not all going to college, but he wanted to set an example for them."

Family members said they weren't surprised that Gonzales was willing to return to school. Gonzales' grand-niece, Dorinda Geddes, said that family members from as far as Hawaii were flying in to watch Gonzales graduate.

"It's an honor, my whole family is stoked about it," Geddes said. "It's quite an accomplishment." Geddes said that while she's unsure if any family members are headed back to college because of Gonzales, she said that he was looking to inspire the family.

"I know that the younger generation, he wanted to let them know that anything can be done," Geddes added. "I'm hoping that reaches not only my kids, but my whole family."

Hagedorn spent three hours with Gonzales each week for the spring semester, saying Gonzales had a lot of personal stories to share. He was a World War II veteran and owned his own soil business for several years, retiring at the age of 88.

"As I got to know him, I discovered what (Gonzales) really wanted was to just have an exciting college experience and relive what it's like to be a college student," Hagedorn said.

"I asked him, 'Do you still feel like a college-aged student here?'" Hagedorn recalled. "And he said, 'Yes.' Deep down he still feels like them. He's 96 on the outside, but still 21 on the inside."

When asked about how he felt about finally receiving his diploma, Gonzales said, "Well, I always felt like I was a college graduate, so this is really going to complete my education. And I feel real fine in getting my degree."

Gonzales will receive his degree on Friday with USC's Davis School of Gerontology, although he will receive a degree in zoology.
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Californias U.S. Senate race has been overshadowed by the high-profile presidential campaign but that might change a bit Friday when Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez launched TV commercials.

Harris, the California attorney general, dropped three launched three TV commercials featuring endorsements from two progressive icons: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and farm workers advocate Dolores Huerta. U.S. Rep. Sanchez released four spots that highlighted her Washington, D.C. experience and working class background.

Warrens ad, in particular, is intended to reach out to supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders who might shrug off Harris who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president  as someone who has spent much of her career as an elected official. And the Spanish-language Huerta ad is intended to blunt support among Latino voters for Sanchez, the Santa Ana Democrat.

Elizabeth Warren and Delores Huerta are unique icons of strength and honesty in our culture, Harris strategist Sean Clegg said Friday.

The ads, including a third titled Fearless for the People will air statewide starting Friday on broadcast and cable outlets.

The Sanchez ads highlight her federal experience, including being a member of both the House Armed Services and the Homeland Security committees, as well as her vote against the Iraq war.

In two 15-second Spanish-language ads, Sanchez talks about her working class background and her desire to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship.

My parents were hard-working Mexican immigrants, Sanchez says in the ad, entitled Familia. I will lead the fight for immigration reform. I come from you and Ill fight for you as your U.S. senator.

This is direct communication to the voters, Sanchez spokesman Luis Vizcaino said Friday. She didnt need surrogates to say that she was a leader. She lets her accomplishments speak for themselves.

The Sanchez ads will start running in what the campaign described as key TV markets statewide on both English- and Spanish-language outlets as well as online. The Sanchez campaign declined to identify those markets.

Harris leads Sanchez in the latest polls, with former California Republican Party chairmen Duf Sundheim and Tom Del Beccaro, and Silicon Valley businessman Ron Unz trailing far behind. The top two finishers in the June 7 primary move onto the general election in November.

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
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SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown warned of impending deficits and the need to pull back new spending in his $122.2 billion revised general fund budget released Friday.

Brown said the state will need to cut spending if California voters dont approve a measure probably headed for the November ballot that would extend Proposition 30s personal income tax hikes on the wealthy. But he also said he is not endorsing the initiative because he promised Prop. 30 would be a temporary tax and he is prepared to lead the state without the extra dollars.

Using Aesops fable on the ant and the grasshopper to illustrate the need for planning ahead for tough times, the governor said history shows California will inevitably experience another recession and that the state must not create new programs that it wont be able to afford later.

Like everything else, things dont last forever, Brown said at a Capitol news conference. Right now the surging tide of revenue is beginning to turn as it always does. Thats why its very important and best to be prepared for a time of necessity.

In April, the state collected lower-than-projected sales and income tax revenue, prompting the governor to reduce his 2016-17 budget proposal by $1.9 billion. Brown said the budgets for the next two years would be balanced with no new spending, but that by 2019 the state could face a $4 billion deficit.

Californias K-12 schools receive the biggest single portion of the general fund  37 percent, largely thanks to Prop. 98s complicated funding mechanism that guarantees increases. That means schools would get $45.6 billion in the next fiscal year  a $2.9 billion increase compared with this year.

Tuition at the University of California and California State University would remain frozen, while the latter will receive an additional $25 million in one-time funding to improve the rate in which students finish with a degree in four years.

The budget allocates $3.5 billion in state and federal funding for various affordable housing and homelessness programs. Brown said low-income residents are struggling to pay rent and the state has a disproportionately high number of homeless people.

Housing concerns

Assembly Democrats pushed Brown to do more to address affordable housing issues across the state. They asked for $1.3 billion in surplus revenue to be used to help workers afford housing and to shelter homeless people. But Brown did not include that money in his revised budget.

Instead, Brown proposed shortening the review and permitting process to build housing. He also said he supports a $2 billion bond  that includes $267 million during the upcoming year  from future Prop. 63 mental health revenue to pay for homeless and affordable housing programs, which Senate Democrats proposed.

Brown acknowledged that during budget negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Legislature over the next month it will difficult to persuade some to sign on to his plan to keep $2 billion for reserves.

When you dont spend today, you are minimizing the pain later, Brown said. Is that going to be a hard sell? Yeah, but Im going to be pretty resolute in this budget.

Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake (San Bernardino County), said he agrees with what Brown is saying.

Unfortunately, sometimes his actions dont match his words, Obernolte said. In recent months he has committed the state to billions of dollars in additional government spending. (Such as) the minimum wage increase he just signed into law a few weeks ago.

After signing legislation in April to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2022, the first step is a 50-cent wage increase that is effective Jan. 1, 2017, at a cost of $39 million to the state in the 2016-17 budget.

Other items

Also in the budget:

In an effort to address a teaching shortage, the budget includes $10 million in one-time money for grants to public and private colleges and universities that create pathways for students to graduate in four years with their bachelors degree and a teaching credential.

The University of California will receive $25 million promised in last years budget for enrolling 5,000 more in-state undergraduate students this year.

This month, the state will begin offering Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented children under the age of 19 years at a cost of $188 million as part of last years budget deal.

Budget revisions released in recent years have been sweetened with additional money the state had not expected after tax revenue exceeded estimates. The legislature is obligated to pass a state budget by June 15 and will spend the next month going over details.

Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez
There is no way that San Francisco Republican ad-maker Bob Gardner, who has crafted political commercials for Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gerald Ford, was going to vote for Donald Trump. And he sure wasnt going to vote for a Democrat.

Gardner wanted to do something to stop Trump, and four decades of filming ads had taught him it would take a different kind of ad to hurt the billionaire, who has survived all the attempts to take him down.

So over a week last month in Los Angeles, Gardner produced four very different 30-and 60-second anti-Trump spots, including one that went after Trumps nationally discussed manhood.

Gardner envisioned running the ads prior to Californias June 7 primary, which the political punditocracy had predicted would, for the first time in decades, play a part in determining the partys nominee.

Then Indiana happened, Gardner said, referring to Trumps decisive May 3 primary victory there. The landslide spurred Trumps last two competitors  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich  to end their campaigns. It also rendered Californias primary as little more than a Trump coronation party.

So what to do with the four 30-second ads that Gardner produced? On Thursday Gardner posted them to YouTube.

Could they turn out to provide a 2016 road map for kneecapping Trump  despite being released as the political ad version of Bob Dylans The Basement Tapes?

Their genesis began a couple of months back, when Gardner surveyed anti-Trump ads and concluded they all sounded like, well, political ads. They would call out one of Trumps sins  say his disparaging comments about women or Mexicans. And then, as that familiar sounding Ominous Political Attack Ad Music rumbled in the background, an announcer with an authoritative voice would urge voters not to vote for such a heinous character.

Those kinds of ads wouldnt work, Gardner said. They havent worked.

Hes impervious to those kinds of attacks, Gardner said Thursday. They just dont make any difference  just like the debates didnt make any difference.

Gardner said he knew anti-Trump super PACs would be hesitant to fund the ads because of their irreverent approach. So in early April, he said set about raising money himself. It took me less than a week to raise between $80,000 and $100,000 from conservatives opposed to Trump.

His approach was to try to replicate the thoughts of real people. Instead of calling out Trump, some of the the characters in the ads are pro-Trump, some are anti-Trump and some are on the fence. He calls the approach positive negative.

The most provocative one features a tattooed twentysomething woman looking directly into the camera as she goes through a series of yoga poses.

I like macho guys  take-charge, competent guys  guys with big hands. Real men, she said. But real men dont go around dissing Muslims and Mexicans. They dont make demeaning remarks about women. Theyre not bullies. And real men dont talk about their size. Guys like Donald Trump who brag about how big they are are usually ... the woman says and holds her thumb and forefinger an inch apart.

You cant be president, Donny boy, she say.  You just dont measure up.

Would that ad even made it past the network TV censors?

Im 90 percent sure it would have made it onto cable, Gardner said. Broadcast, Im not so sure.

In another, one-minute piece, four beer-drinking men (blue collar guys as Gardner sees them) are playing poker when one wonders aloud if Trump is a good poker player.

Dont bite my head off or anything, but I kind of like the way he says things, the man said. Hes not politically correct or anything.

Hes not correct, period, another guy at the table says, as the cards are dealt.

Seriously, though, hes a very successful businessman, the first man says. Hes a world-class deal-maker ...

The other three guys burst out laughing. He bankrupted a casino, dude, one says.

Another says, Look, we made the wrong bet last time and lost. Lets not double- down ...

...And end up with Hillary, another one says.

In a third ad, two women are talking in a diner as a clip of Trump saying, Were going to make America great again plays on an nearby TV. One woman looks at the TV and says, He sure knows how to turn on a crowd. Theyre crazy about him.

When her dining partner says hes the one who is crazy, the first woman said He just wants to make America great again. After seven years of Obama. No one respects us. The government does not work and the economy is still in the toilet.

Thats true, the second woman responds. But if f you dont like Obama, wait until Trump gets in. Hes vain, thin-skinned, my-way-or-the-highway. Hes says hes a Republican and a conservative but its really all about him. Me, me, me.

The fourth ad is sillier, featuring a baby watching a Trump TV commercial while expressing misgivings  through a voice-over  about how mean Trump is and how worried he is that his father will vote for him. Gardner called it his homage to the E-Trade commercials that featured talking babies.

At this point, with Trump being the likely GOP nominee, Gardner just hopes the ads will make people think, Is this the right guy?

He has little expectation of a big audience, now that its unlikely there will be a contested GOP convention or a third-party candidate.

All of those scenarios sound crazy, Gardner said. But in this craziest of election years, its hard to make any kind of prediction. It might not be so crazy.

Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
BRASILIA, Brazil  Brazils new finance minister said Friday that hell tackle pension reform and labor law reform, signaling potentially sensitive changes for a sputtering economy a day after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended.

Henrique Meirelles is the key member of the Cabinet assembled by interim President Michel Temer, who has vowed to focus on pulling Brazil out of its worst recession since the 1930s.

Meirelles told a news conference that he would work on reforms of a costly pension system that allows many people to retire in their 50s.

Retirement must be self-sustaining over time, said Meirelles, who was widely respected for serving as Central Bank chief during the boom years from 2003 to 2010.

He also said Brazil needs to raise worker productivity, and this comes through labor law changes.

Temer gathered his new team at the government headquarters following a chaotic day that saw the Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government  a move she branded a coup.

Our biggest challenge is to stanch the process of free fall of our economy, Temer said at a swearing-in ceremony Thursday for the 22 ministers. First of all, we need to balance our public spending. The sooner we are able to balance our books, the sooner well be able to restart growth.

He also promised to support the widening investigation into corruption at the state oil company that has already ensnared leading politicians and even implicated Temer himself  as well as several members of the new Cabinet.

His choice of ministers also raised criticism for its makeup.

People expected brilliant Brazilians and they got a mediocre group of politicians, mostly little-known congressmen, said Francisco Fonseca, a political scientist at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas think tank. It is a very conservative, very religious cabinet, with no blacks and no women.

Brazil is a majority non-white country and six women, including one black, were in Rousseffs Cabinet when she began her second term last year.

Rousseff vowed to fight her ouster, calling it a coup led by a social and economic elite that had been alarmed by the policies of her leftist Workers Party, which had held power for 13 years.

Rousseff warned that Temer plans to dismantle government social programs that benefit around one-fourth of the Brazilian population. He insisted the programs would be maintained and perfected under his leadership.

But his choice to lead the Social Development Ministry, Osmar Terra, acknowledged that could be tough.

What President Michel is proposing is that those programs be the most sheltered (from cuts). But if the budget hole is very big, well see, he said. The country is bankrupt.

Rousseff will be suspended for as long as 180 days pending a trial in the Senate. If two-thirds of the 81 senators vote to find her guilty, Temer would serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in December 2018.
1 Missile defense: A U.S missile defense site in Romania aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats became operational Thursday, angering Russia, which opposes having the advanced military system in its former area of influence. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tried to reassure Russia as he spoke at a ceremony attended by U.S., NATO and Romanian officials at the Soviet-built base, located 110 miles southwest of Bucharest. Stoltenberg said the interceptors were designed to tackle the potential threat posed by short and medium-range attacks from outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

2 Nepal rebuilding: Nepals earthquake reconstruction agency has increased by more than $1 billion its estimate of the money needed to rebuild nearly 1 million houses damaged by a powerful earthquake last year. The Reconstruction Authority said in a report Thursday that $7.86 billion will be required, up from the $6.69 billion estimated last year by the government. Nepal has been criticized for the delay in the reconstruction more than a year after the April 2015 earthquake. It took months to form the reconstruction agency and appoint officials while millions of people were left without their homes. Foreign governments and donor agencies have already pledged $4.1 billion in financial help, out of which the government has managed to sign agreements for only about $2.3 billion. The earthquake and aftershocks killed nearly 9,000 people and injured more than 22,000.
BEIRUT  Lebanons Hezbollah on Friday mourned its top military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in an explosion in Damascus, the highest-level figure yet from the militant group to die since it threw itself into Syrias civil war.

Badreddine, 55, had been the mastermind of the groups involvement in Syrias civil war, which has been crucial to preserving President Bashar Assads hold on power against rebels but which has come at a heavy cost for the Iranian-backed Shiite guerrilla force, with more than 1,000 fighters killed.

His death was a severe blow to Hezbollah, robbing it of a commander with decades of experience. But observers said the group was not likely to scale back its intervention in Syria, where it has fighters battling alongside Assads army on multiple fronts.

I really do think it will affect their morale. This is not just their commander in Syria. This is one of the most elite and uniquely pedigreed Hezbollah personalities, said Matthew Levitt, director of Stein Counterterrorism Program at the Washington Institute. But I dont think they are going to waver in their commitment in this, he said, pointing to Hezbollahs own interest in stemming Sunni militants in Syria and the determination of Iran, Hezbollahs top backer, to keep Assad in power.

The cause of the explosion Thursday night that killed Badreddine remained a mystery. Hezbollah said it occurred near the Damascus airport, without giving further details.

The airport is close to the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, where the group has strong presence and several military positions. The group said it was investigating whether the blast, which wounded several others, was from an air raid, missile attack, artillery shelling or other causes.

Hezbollahs traditional enemy, Israel, has assassinated leaders from the group in the past. But Sunni opposition forces could also be behind the explosion, including militants like the Islamic State group or al Qaeda branch in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, initially said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike but later removed the report. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Hezbollahs deputy leader, Naim Kassem, said that by Saturday the group will release information on who was behind the killing of Badreddine.

We will continue to confront Israel and we will continue to confront Takfiris, he told a gathering ahead of Badreddines funeral. Takfiris is a term for Sunni extremists. Badreddines body was draped with the groups yellow flag. For us, there is only one enemy, which is Israel and those siding with it.
Registrations Up 3 Percent

The Associated Press reports, The number of registered voters in New Mexico has i

as election officials process a final flurry of registration forms.

Teen Vote

More than 1,200 17-year-olds registered to vote in this years primary.

Clinton Plans New Mexico Campaign Stop

Former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to campaign for his wife in New Mexico on May 24 and 25. Clinton plans a few

Candidate's Residency Questioned

Questions are being raised about Jeff Varela Jr.s residency ahead of next months House of Representative District 48 primary election.

Varela faces Linda Trujillo and Paul Campos in the June 7 Democratic primary.

New Rules

The EPA announced

and cut the size of the methane cloud over the Four Corners.

The rule requires all U.S. oil and gas operators to capture methane and other volatile organic compounds that are currently released into the atmosphere during drilling.

Mike's Father Speaks Out

Gary Mike, the father of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, met with reporters last night to

following his daughters tragic murder.

Officers Honored

The names of four New Mexican law enforcement agents

will be honored Friday as their names are etched onto the Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in Washington DC.

SF Hospital Expansion Begins

Christus St. Vincent Hospitals

broke ground on Thursday. Construction, which will include a new wing and will convert semi-private rooms into 36 new private rooms, is expected to be completed in 2018.

Nuclear Watchdogs File New Lawsuit

Staci Matlock at The New Mexican reports, Los Alamos National Laboratory managers and the U.S. Department of Energy face

if a federal court agrees with allegations that they failed to meet the terms of a hazardous waste agreement with the state.

The nonprofit Nuclear Watch New Mexico filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court, accusing the federal government and lab managers of over a dozen violations of a 2005 consent order to clean up hazardous waste left after decades of nuclear weapons and chemical research. Under federal law, if the nonprofit wins the case, the lab and the federal agency could be on the hook for $37,500 a day for each violation of the order.



The lawsuit says the Department of Energy and Los Alamos National Security, a consortium of companies that manages the lab, failed to comply with the state order by Dec. 6, 2015, a deadline agreed to a decade ago.



A spokesman for the department declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying, We do not comment on pending litigation.

TGIF

We all waited for it, now the weekend is just around the corner. If you're looking for something to do in Santa Fe, be sure to check out

.

Santa Fe Reporter
The government is to invest an extra $20 million over four years to support tourism, with $12 million heading to a new fund to help communities with small infrastructure projects as tourism numbers are forecast to climb to 4.5 million by 2022.

The new funding is in addition to the more than $130 million a year the government currently spends in the tourism sector.

Local government bodies will need to apply to the new Regional Mid-Sized Tourism Facilities Fund to access the $12 million and Prime Minister John Key said theyd need in many cases to match dollar for dollar any funding they receive.

If theres someone with a very small rating base that doesnt have the money, wed probably pick up the bill but we do want to leverage it if we can, Key said.

The need to upgrade infrastructure in areas affected by the big upturn in international visitors has been identified as a key priority by the industry.

Key said one of the aims of the fund will be to help local communities manage freedom campaign issues such as human waste being left on the side of the road, but he added the funding would go on more than just new toilets. It was also likely to be spent on things like new signage and more parking facilities, he said.

A working group, including sector representatives, will help set up the application process and funding criteria for the grants.

When asked whether $12 million is sufficient, particularly given his earlier statements that international visitors contribute over $900 million in goods and services tax a year, Key said it was probably not enough long term. Its a good starting point. Over time there is the potential to do more, he said.

Tourism New Zealand will get $8 million of the extra $20 million the government is putting up to target key growth markets such as India and the US eastern seaboard.

With strong economic growth prospects, Indias potential as a source of visitors is high. And the highest number of visitors from India peak in May  one of our shoulder seasons, Key said.

Tourism NZ chief executive Kevin Bowler said additional marketing activity will begin immediately in the US to capitalise on newly announced air services which are expected to result in a 30 percent increase in seats between the US and NZ. It is moving to spend all of its annual $80 million marketing budget on encouraging high-value tourists in the shoulder season, given capacity constraints at peak times in the tourism hotspots such as Queenstown.

Key also announced additional investments in three new tourism projects  with $2.5 million for the development of new facilities at the New Zealand Maori Arts & Crafts Institute in Rotorua, over $1.2 million to Timber Trail Adventures for the development of a new 80-bed lodge on the Timber Trail cycleway, and half a million dollars for the development of a new bungy launch system at Queenstown Bungys Nevis site.

The government has now invested $14.6 million in 22 projects with applicants contributing $44.3 million.

As well as the direct government investment, a steering group of government and tourism sector people has been established to try to accelerate investment in new hotels.

One of the big constraint issues identified at this weeks Trenz tourism conference in Rotorua has been a lack of accommodation with Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick saying the city needed help attracting investment in a new five-star hotel.

The Prime Minister said hes also due to make an announcement this weekend relating to a new cycle trail in the South Island.

The Tourism Industry Association announced a re-branding this morning to Tourism Industry Aotearoa and launched a new website to better reflect its role as a voice for the industry rather than as a member association.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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Xero, the cloud-based accounting software firm, may reach positive operating earnings in 2018 and achieve bottom-line profit the following year, according to brokerage First NZ Capital.

First NZ analyst James Schofield reiterated his 'outperform' rating on Xero following the release of its full-year results yesterday.

Xero posted a 67 percent gain in revenue to $207 million, while its net loss widened to $82.5 million. The company said it burned through $86 million in the latest year, down from $88 million a year earlier, and its cash holdings stood at $184 million at March 31, meaning it had enough left to reach breakeven without having to raise more capital.

"The result confirmed cash burn has now peaked," Schofield said in his report, adding that for now he has removed his assumption that Xero will look to raise more equity in 2018 via a US listing. The reduction in cash burn won't be in a straight line, given the company's requirements over the next few years, but is likely to "drop quite materially in FY18," he said.

Xero shares surged 7.7 percent to $16.60 on the NZX today, having fallen 1.7 percent yesterday when its results were announced. The shares have declined 17 percent in the past 12 months. Shareholders have been taken on a wild ride by the shares in the past five years, with a peak of $45.99 in March 2014 after a steep ascent, followed by an equally steep decline to reach $15 in October of that year.

Schofield raised his target price for the stock to $21 from $20.50, reflecting "slightly accelerated medium-term cash flows". While North American customer growth was weaker than expected (a "slight miss") it was more than offset by a bigger-than-expected uplift in the UK market. He revised his estimate for customer growth to reach 1.32 million in 2018, from a previous forecast of 1.28 million.

Xero has remained "an extremely high-risk investment" because of competition from incumbents such as Intuit, Sage and MYOB, internet security, execution, managing growth and geographical spread, key man risk, especially around founder and chief executive Rod Drury, service pricing and the risk of short-term stock price volatility, Schofield said.

Paid subscribers jumped to 717,000 in 2016, from 475,000 in the 2015 March year, the full-year results showed. Australia led the growth, with a 54 percent increase to 312,000, while UK subscribers jumped 60 percent to 133,000, beating Schofield's estimate of 126,000. New Zealand subscribers rose 35 percent to 186,000 and those in North America gained 77 percent to 62,000, just missing Schofield's estimate of 64,000.

The stock is rated a 'buy' based on the consensus of seven analysts surveyed by Reuters.

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Associate Tourism Minister Paula Bennett has welcomed new forecasts showing tourism expenditure is expected to grow by 65 percent to $16 billion in 2022 although she admits it comes with a few challenges.

Tourism industry leaders at the annual Trenz conference say theyre looking to government to help with capacity and infrastructure constraints during peak season due to the growth in international visitors.

Bennett said Prime Minister John Key, who is also Minister of Tourism, will be making an announcement on that front tomorrow.

The government has specific sympathy for towns with a small rating base or that just have a large number of tourists passing to fund new infrastructure to support the expected influx of visitors, she said.

Yesterday the Tourism Industry Association said addressing capacity and infrastructure complaints was its main priority this year, with more hotels required along with better roading, sewage and other infrastructure, particularly in some of the smaller regions.

The big push by Tourism New Zealand is getting more visitors in the shoulder seasons and to disperse away from the traditional hotspots such as Queenstown and Rotorua into other regions.

The New Zealand Tourism Forecast 2016 - 2022 report, released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment at TRENZ today, shows China is expected to surpass Australia as New Zealands largest tourism market by spend in the next two years. Most Chinese visitors arrive during the Chinese New Year which falls in the peak season.

The TIA has identified 18 initiatives to grow an expected shortfall in tourism workers due to the upturn and Bennett said the government was making progress on a number of those.

She said a key one was trying to give regional workers 12 months' employment rather than just four months during the summer peak, including connecting different companies who may want to employ the same worker at different times of year.

More than 50 percent of all international tourists visit a Department of Conservation site and there have been calls for a charge to visit the national parks.

Bennett said she didnt favour charging people for access to the national parks but consideration was being given to charging for other services provided on the DOC estate.

New Zealand is forecast to hit 4.5 million visitors by 2022 from $3.1 million last year, reaching 4 million by 2019.

Visitor spend is expected to grow faster than volume with Chinese visitors expected to account for 20 percent of total arrivals and a third of total spend by 2022.

The United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Germany - New Zealands other large tourism markets - are expected to remain healthy with projected growth ranging from 3.2-to-7.4 percent a year to 2022.

India is expected to be a strong growth market off a low base, hitting a forecast 93,000 by 2022 or 10.6 percent annual growth. Indians tourists typically come during the shoulder season and MBIE is picking it could become a major market for New Zealand with the rise of the Indian middle class.

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The Financial Markets Authority has won its appeal against a High Court ruling that it breached Vivier & Co's rights to natural justice by failing to provide the firm with detailed evidence for the decision to remove it from the Financial Services Providers Register.

The market watchdog removed Vivier, which counts one-time political operator Luigi Wewege as managing director, from the register last year because it didnt believe the company was providing services in New Zealand. Vivier successfully appealed its deregistration in the High Court last September, arguing the FMA only began to investigate the firm after a member of the public passed on an Interest.co.nz online news article, linking the firm to sub-prime mortgages in Ireland. The FMA subsequently appealed that decision.

The Court of Appeal today overturned the High Court ruling and ordered that Vivier be deregistered, saying that the FMA was entitled to rely on its expert knowledge of financial markets in New Zealand and overseas when assessing whether Viviers registration was misleading or damaging.

The appeal court also found that the FMA didn't rely on a media report about the accusations of tax fraud and money laundering made in Ireland against Vivier and therefore didn't need to disclose that to the company. Accordingly there was no breach of natural justice by the FMA.

Vivier is owned by chairman Gary Warner, who is general manager of another Auckland-based financial services provider, Apex Capital Investment. Vivier was incorporated in 2001 with a core focus on "savings accounts featuring above average returns", according to the company's website.

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Capt. Dingeman van der Steenstraten, Royal Netherlands Air Force 459th Flying Training Squadron T-6 instructor pilot and native of Haarlem, Netherlands has been in the Royal Netherlands Air Force for 16 years and is the Instructor of the Week at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, for the week of Mar. 8-14, 2016.

Most significant accomplishments:

Van der Steenstratens most significant accomplishment is becoming a father.

Airmans story:

I enlisted in the Royal Netherlands Army in 2000 and got accepted into the Royal Netherlands Military Academy in 2001, said van der Steenstraten. I graduated in 2005 and worked as a mechanized reconnaissance platoon commander until 2007. I transitioned to the Royal Netherlands Air Force and graduated the Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program class 08-03. I flew C-130s until 2015 and was then selected to return to Sheppard to become an instructor pilot. Being an instructor is the best job ever. I am married and am the father of two wonderful boys.

Supervisor comments:
UNITED NATIONS: India has said there is a need to monitor social media carefully with due safeguards for freedom of expression as such platforms are being misused "to disastrous effect" by terrorist groups to lure youths to their extremist designs.



India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin also voiced concern over the "targeted propaganda of hatred" on such platforms which were created to bring people together.



Given the misuse of social media "to disastrous effect by terrorist groups", there is a need to monitor social media carefully with due safeguards for respecting freedom of expression, he said at the UN Security Council open debate on 'Countering the Narratives and Ideologies of Terrorism'.



"The Hydra-like monster of terrorism continues to spread across continents in developing and developed countries alike, aided by the targeted propaganda of hatred over the ever growing social media networks that were designed to bring people together," added the Indian envoy.



Akbaruddin said the rise of ISIS, which is drawing foreign terrorist fighters, a majority of them being males between mid-teens and mid-twenties from vastly varying ethnicities and economic status, is a sign of the immense complexities of the push and pull factors involved.



"Radicalisation can be prevented only if the youth develop stakes in their mainstream socio-political and economic milieu. Taking long-term care of the de-radicalised is also an important aspect in convincing the possible recruits of alternatives available to them," he said.



The Council, in a presidential statement, noted with concern that terror groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda crafted distorted narratives based on misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence.



In an apparent reference to Pakistan, Afghan envoy Nazifullah Salarzai blamed the creation of the Taliban in his country in 1994 for opening the current "tragic chapter" of terrorism in the world.



Without naming Pakistan but in a strong criticism of the country, he said the Taliban came before other terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram and ISIS, and "their backers" had characterised the kind of terror the world was witnessing today, including stoning women to death, closing girls' schools and introducing suicide attacks that had brutalised Afghanistan's entire population.



Thousands of men had received training and logistical support in terrorist camps, acting as a precursor of current terrorists staging attacks in Asia, Europe, the US, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, he said.

(Reopens FGN12)



Salarzai asked how the Taliban and its brutal practices had come into being whereby they knew how to drive tanks and fly jets while staging conventional warfare and capitalising on prolonged political conflict in Afghanistan.



He said the most cost-effective and easiest recruit methods stemmed from religious outfits, sloganism and preying on weaknesses emerging from a prolonged conflict.



He questioned the continued motivation to use violence through proxies to pursue political goals and said the three main causes were a negative State rivalry in the region, tensions between military and civilian control in politics and trust deficits among States that had prevented constructive dialogue.



"In our case, it is not the ideology, but the initiation, enabling and facilitation role of political actors and their use of radical ideology for short-term gains that need to be addressed," he said.



Targeting the promoters and drivers of such policies that used violence to pursue political goals within State structures was crucial in dealing with threats of violent extremism, Salarzai said.



The differentiation between good and bad terrorists by a few actors was futile since all forms of terrorism must be condemned, he said.



Using Afghanistan as an example of how terrorists had taken advantage of a prolonged conflict, he said the world was now in dire need of reducing State rivalries and addressing trust deficits.

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BENGALURU: Since the turn of the decade, start-ups have gradually begun to shape the countrys economy, with over 4000 start-ups creating 80,000  85,000 jobs. India currently stands as the third largest base of technology  startups and it is only going to get better in the coming years. The emergence and impact of start-ups is not gone unnoticed by the government, which is now planning to financially assist technology incubation centres that helps start-ups in setting up their business.

Of the thousands of start-ups that are cropping up each year, at least 500 of them are seeded in about 200 incubators throughout the country. Last year alone the department of science and technology that handles about 100 incubators, spent around Rs 40 crore on these incubators in a bid to increase the number of business incubators.

"If we get enough number of companies from the incubators, India will be different ten years from now," IIT Madras professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala told Economic Times.

This move by the government will enable incubators to oversee the funding of at least 25 new start-ups every year. It will also come up with new schemes for innovation by starting business challenge program in five lakh schools, to ingest innovation in schools.

ET reports that Jhunjhunwala has been involved in incubation at the IIT Madras incubation centres, which has so far formally incubated 99 companies in three incubators in its research park whilst in IIT Bombay, the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) has incubated 78 companies.

"The more science there is in a startup, the richer the ecosystem needs to be. Startups need depth of expertise in many areas, and founders usually do not have all the technical knowledge. They need equipment hard to find except in a government lab, but the equipment in labs are not available easily to outsiders. Startups also need help with intellectual property strategy," V Premnath, director of NCL Venture Centre told ET.

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WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has slammed Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for mocking an Indian call centre worker during an election rally this week, saying it shows disrespect towards the community and is reflective of his divisive rhetoric.



"Donald Trump mocking Indian workers is just typical of his disrespect that he has shown to groups across the spectrum," said John Podesta, chairman of the Clinton Campaign.

"He has run a campaign of bigotry and division. I think that's quite dangerous for the country when you think about the fact that you need friends, allies. The kind of campaign he is running breeds disrespect across the globe and breeds division and danger here at home," he told reporters in Germantown, Maryland after formally launching 'Indian- Americans for Hillary', an effort by the community to rally behind the Democratic presidential front runner.



Podesta was reacting to Trump's apparent use of a fake Indian accent to mock a call centre representative in India during a campaign rally in Delaware this week.



The real estate tycoon said that he called up his credit card company to find out whether their customer support is based in the US or overseas.



At the same time, he described India as a great place, asserting that he is not angry with Indian leaders.



Meanwhile, an Indian-American entrepreneur also hit out at Trump, calling his comments "demeaning".



"When Donald Trump fakes the accent of an Indian at the help desk, it is demeaning and demonising to me personally," said Frank Islam, a top Indian-American bundler in the Clinton campaign who has helped raised more than $100,000 for her.



A resident of Maryland, Islam is part of the newly launched 'Indian-Americans for Hillary'.



He also disagreed with the remarks of Republican Governor from Maine, Paul LePage, who had said that Indian workers are "worst" and "hardest" to understand.



"I do not know, where he got that impression. I consider Indian-Americans very hard working and they aim high," he said.



"I consider Indian-Americans to be thoughtful, constructing, hardworking and resilient. So I do not agree with him," Islam said, adding that the community played a key role in strengthening the country.

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WASHINGTON: Observing that India has made significant progress in implementing the civil nuclear deal in the last 18 months, the Obama administration told lawmakers that it is now up to individual companies to take decisions in terms of risks and opportunities.

"One of the areas we have been able to have significant breakthroughs is the civil nuclear cooperation. We have seen in the past year-and-a-half significant progress with respect to India establishing its liabilities law which are compliant with international convention on supplementary compensation," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on South Asia.

India, she said, has now ratified it and is now a member of the international Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.

"India has established an insurance pool," she said in response to a question from Congressman Brad Sherman who wanted to have an update on the civil nuclear deal.

"I think, each individual company at this point has to make its own commercial decisions in terms of risks and in terms of opportunity. I think we are starting to see companies making those decisions," Biswal said.

"It is at this point largely a commercial decision. We stand ready through the US Government, through our financing bodies to support," the senior State Department official said.

It is believed that Westinghouse Electric and Nuclear Power Co-operation India Ltd are in advance stage of talks for building six nuclear reactors in Gujarat.

The long awaited commercial deal could be inked during next month's expected visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington. There has been no official confirmation of Modi's travel to the US yet.

Read Also:

'Hillary Clinton Ahead of Donald Trump Nationwid; Deadlocked in Key States'

U.S.-India Defence Cooperation Act Introduced In Senate

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Hula group creates global connection When the pandemic ushered everyone indoors, Moorpark resident and longtime dancer Lisa Rauschenberger decided to get people back outsidesocially distanced, of course. She began to hold weekly hula lessons at...

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2015 IRONMAN Asia Pacific Champion Jeff Symonds travelled in to The Woodlands, Texas from Victoria, Canada two weeks in advance of race day in order to get himself acquainted with the muggy conditions, the race course and the local community. Unfortunately while previewing the course following one of the strong rains that hit the area last week, Symonds crashed on his bike and a subsequent x-ray revealed a fractured elbow. Not one to roll over quickly, Symonds has stayed in town to carry on with his pre-race preparations in hopes of lining up at the start on Saturday.



All photographs  Lars Finanger / Slowtwitch

Freshly printed race kits from Castelli arrived into town ahead of Symonds and he looks pleased with the finished product.

Within an hour of landing in Houston, Symonds was on the pool deck for an easy swim to shake off the day of travel. The session was coached by his homestay Dana Lyons, who owns coaching groups Finish Strong and SelecTri, a team for youth and juniors athletes.

Lyons gives Symonds directions on how to get to a good cycling loop in town.

Out on the ride around Woodlane, a popular route for area cyclists, Symonds found some new friends and managed to snap a selfie with the pack of Irish Wolfhounds.

Sterling Ridge Orthopedic and Sports Medicine (SROSM) hosted an evening of Q&A with Symonds that was well attended by The Woodlands triathlon community.

Symonds and SROSM owner, Dr. Keith Johnson, a multiple-time IRONMAN finisher himself, showcasing Symonds trademark Get Ugly t-shirts and a replica race kit raffled off during the event.

The next day Symonds was back at SROSM to find out the results of an x-ray, which showed a compression fracture to his radial head.

A brace similar to that worn by Houston Texas pro football player JJ Watt inspired Symonds to strike a pose.

Despite the fractured elbow, Symonds has been getting in the water every day.

No trip to Villa Sport is complete without a visit to their sauna, an important session in Symonds pre-race routine.

During his two week stay in town, Symonds has eaten at Torchys Tacos a handful of times.

Symonds and fellow pro Emma-Kate Lidbury handed out finishers medals at the IRONKIDS 1-mile run this past Saturday.

His home stay has an impressive pain cave set up and Symonds has been sticking to his daily cycling workouts.

After a quick indoor cycling session on the CompuTrainer, Symonds and Lyons chat over coffee. With over 50 age-group athletes racing IRONMAN Texas, Lyons is a man on the move during race week.

A morning tempo run session is on Symonds' schedule, one of his last hard runs leading before race day.

Symonds found the crushed limestone trails around the Bear Branch Sports Complex to be perfect for his tempo runs.

At the conclusion of his run workout, Symonds evokes his inner JJ Watt with a celebration pose.

A rare meal where Symonds chose not to eat at Torchys.

Back to Sterling Ridge Sports Medicine to check in with the doctors to see how his elbow is progressing.

Dr. Jackson, an upper extremity and hand specialist, explains the healing process and discusses with Symonds a roadmap moving forward. As of the publishing of this feature, Symonds was still undecided whether or not he will race on Saturday.
Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid against Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders' decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.
Michael Totten;

I spent more than a decade interviewing people all over the world, sometimes on the phone and via email, but most of the time in person on the other side of the world. I've interviewed every type of person imaginable, from military commanders and heads of state to war refugees and homeless people who sleep outside in slums.

Trust me on this: government officials are almost always the worst sources and interview subjects. That's true everywhere in the world. They live in rarefied bubbles. They lie. They leave things out, sometimes because they want to and sometimes because they have to. They're often incompetent and even more often shockingly ignorant. Everyone has opinions, and lots of people have agendas, but nobody has an agenda the way government officials have agendas.

It has never even occurred to me to an interview a government official in one country about what's happening in another country.

There are exceptions. Occasionally I've been delighted by government officials in the most unlikely places, including in Cairo. In general, though, they're the least interesting and the least reliable.

The last person you should be talking to, in other words, is Ben Rhodes.
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Even in a fleeting conversation, it's easy to see the newly-crowned ACT nurse of the year, Anne Corney, and midwife of the year, Hana Sayers, both have a deep well of compassion, empathy and desire to do good.

Ms Sayers, a former restaurant manager, was a new mother herself, with a three-month-old son, when she decided to switch careers and study midwifery at the University of Canberra.

ACT midwife of the year, Hana Sayers. Credit:Karleen Minney

"I really wanted to do it," she said, with a laugh, acknowledging it was a huge commitment.

"I put in my application when I was about 30 weeks' pregnant and I couldn't sleep for about a week I was so excited."
In a quiet suburban street in southern Canberra, there's a store that won't accept your money. Unless of course, you have special privileges.

Downtown Duty Free in Curtin shares a building with a recruitment agency and is a short walk from several high commissions and embassies. It's a five-minute drive from a hub of foreign diplomats in Yarralumla and Deakin.

Canberra's diplomatic community in Canberra has its own store in Curtin. Credit:Jamila Toderas

When contacted by The Canberra Times, staff said the only way to purchase items was by showing a diplomatic passport.

When regular Australians shop at duty-free stores at airports, we're limited to 2.25 litres of alcoholic beverages or 50 cigarettes. Those products need to valued at $900 or less or you'll have to put something back.
The owner of a wall unit at the centre of allegations of theft from Fluffy homes came forward on Friday as it emerged that her former house had been demolished on Thursday, in the midst of the furore.

Eden O'Mara watched her former Kambah home being demolished, but was unaware of the storm that erupted following the CFMEU's discovery of the cabinet and other items on Wednesday, after a worker came forward.

Eden O'Mara with daughters Kimberley, 10, Jennifer, 12, and Rachael, 7, outside their Mr Fluffy house in Kambah that was demolished on Thursday. She is devastated by the discovery of a cabinet she believes is hers in a shipping container. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

The unit was discovered marked with red paint and sitting in a shipping container in a yard leased by Brisbane firm Caylamax Demolition behind the Griffith shops - a site earmarked for future use by the Manuka childcare centre.

Mrs O'Mara has yet to see the unit but is convinced from photographs that it is hers - and the address matches the one reported by the whistleblower worker.
Sydney will feature three Swans Academy products in their match against Richmond at the MCG on Saturday with young flyer Jack Hiscox set to make his debut in place of midfield star Josh Kennedy.

Hiscox was included when Kennedy was ruled out on Friday due to a hamstring twinge. The 21-year-old is a former 800 metres running champion and will bring elite endurance and goal-scoring ability to the line up. He joins exceptional young Academy graduates Isaac Heeney and Callum Mills, as Sydney look to consolidate their 6-1 start to the season.

"We put a lot of work into these guys," reserves coach Rhyce Shaw said of the club's academy products. "I think that's something we're really proud of. Jack hasn't just been an overnight success. He's been in the system three or four years with the Swans, we've put a lot of hours into him and he's coming good now. He's still got a long way to go, for sure, but his ability is really shining through, which is great for us."

Shaw said Hiscox could prove a handful for the Tigers' defence.
The Singapore Airlines management team and its auditors at KPMG have discussed "different possible scenarios" about the financial position and capital needs of Virgin Australia after Air New Zealand placed its 25.9 per cent stake up for sale.

Notably, both agreed there was no need for an impairment of Singapore's stake in Virgin even though it is trading below the value at which Singapore bought it, based on the scenarios discussed.

Singapore Airlines owns a 23.11 per cent stake in Virgin Australia. Credit:Warren Hackshall

Singapore chief executive Goh Choon Phong on Friday told analysts his airline was watching the situation at Virgin "closely", according to Bloomberg. He added gaining approvals for trans-Pacific flights from Australia was not currently a priority for Singapore Airlines.

Singapore last month raised its stake in Virgin to 23.11 per cent from 22.91 per cent at a price of 46.72 a share, leading to analyst speculation it might buy the Air New Zealand stake and make a bid for the remainder of the Australian carrier.
Myer boss Richard Umbers' $600 million transformation strategy for the grand dame of Australian department stores is gaining traction and investor support but analysts warn the department store is benefiting from more than two decades of choppy sales as well as the underperformance of discount operators Big W and Target.

Myer and David Jones are reaping sales from their investment in digital purchasing platforms as well as the weak Australian dollar, according to retail analysts, which is believed to be driving double-digit sales growth in both chains' cosmetics and accessories segments.

A weaker Australian dollar has slowed overseas online beauty and apparel purchases and market watchers suggest Myer and David Jones are benefiting from a shift back to domestic retailers.

David Jones' South African owner, Woolworths Holdings, will provide a trading update in July but broker Citigoup claims Myer's strong third quarter sales show it is taking market share from its arch-rival.
Uber drivers are banding together to fight for what they believe are fair working conditions from the company that has become the symbol of the 'gig' economy.

In just over a month, the Ride Share Drivers' Association of Australia has signed up 60 paid members across the country and its organisers say they are adding more by the day.

It's a tactic that workers have used for centuries, and now it's heralding a big shake-up of the sharing economy.

"People have started to see what's really happening and they're not happy about it," Dan Manchester, the organisation's founder says.
A law firm representing 100 exploited workers at 7-Eleven has warned it will take legal action unless it receives an undertaking that the confidential files of workers will not be passed on to the convenience store giant.

Maurice Blackburn wrote to forensic accountants at Deloitte who were charged with assessing the claims to seek an urgent undertaking to protect their clients from intimidation and retribution from their former bosses.

Maurice Blackburn employment principal Giri Sivaraman said he was seeking an undertaking by midday Monday May 16 not to give clients names to 7-Eleven or the firm will seek an injunction.

"It is disappointing that it had got to this point, but we don't have any confidence that 7-Eleven will do the right thing, which is why we are now seeking to take strong further action to protect these workers," Mr Sivaraman said.
"Most people on the front lines know that this is not a diversity problem," Lampkin said. "Executives who are far removed [know] it's easy for them to say it's a pipeline problem. That way they can keep throwing money at Black Girls Code. But, the people in the trenches know that's b-------. The challenge is bringing actual visibility to that." Lampkin said data, not donations, would bring substantive changes to the American tech industry. "Now we actually have data," she said. "We can tell a Microsoft or a Google or a Facebook that, based on what you say that you want, these people are qualified. So this is not a pipeline problem. This is something deeper. We haven't really been able to do a good job on a mass scale of tracking that so we can actually validate that it's not a pipeline problem." Google's employee demographic data for 2015.

The "pipeline" refers to the pool of applicants applying for jobs. Lampkin said some companies reported that there simply weren't enough qualified women and people of colour applying for these positions. Others, however, have a much more complex issue to solve. Unconscious bias "They're having trouble at the hiring manager level," Lampkin said. "They're presenting a lot of qualified candidates to the hiring manager and at the end of the day, they still end up hiring a white guy who's 34 years old." Hiring managers who consistently overlook qualified women and people of colour may be operating under an unconscious bias that contributes to the low recruitment numbers. Unconscious bias, simply put, is a nexus of attitudes, stereotypes, and cultural norms that we have about different types of people. Google trains its staff on confronting unconscious bias, using two simple facts about human thinking to help them understand it: "We associate certain jobs with a certain type of person." "When looking at a group, like job applicants, we're more likely to use biases to analyse people in the outlying demographics."

Hiring managers, without even realising it, may filter out people who don't look or sound like the type of people they associate with a given position. A 2004 American Economic Association study, "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal?", tested unconscious bias effect on minority recruitment. Researchers sent identical pairs of resumes to employers, changing only the name of the applicant. The study found that applicants with "white-sounding" names were 50 per cent more likely to receive a callback from employers than those with "black-sounding" names. The Google presentation specifically references this study: Taken from Google, the company has made unconscious bias training part of its diversity initiative. "Every other industry is seeing the benefits of diversity but tech," Lampkin said. "I think it's just as important an investment as driverless cars and 3D-printing and wearable [technology] and I want to take the discussion away from social impact and more around innovation and business results that are directly linked to diversity."



Lampkin said that, when meeting with tech companies, she had learned to frame diversity and recruitment, not as social issues or an act of goodwill from companies, but as acts of disruption and innovation that made good business sense. "I don't want to get pigeonholed into, 'Oh, this is just another black thing or another woman thing'," she said. "No, this is something that affects all of us and it's limiting our potential." Similar to Tinder Similar to Tinder, Blendoor matches employers and applicants by skill sets, interests, education level, and which position companies are recruiting for. Age, name, gender, and race are all hidden from employers, reducing the likelihood of unconscious bias affecting recruitment. Lampkin, who coded the app herself, says companies respond best to putting diversity into business terms. "Facebook, for example, invests a lot in partnerships," she said. "They needed help understanding the ROI [return on investment]  so I built that into the app. So now companies can establish who they're partnering with for diversity and candidates can establish what organisations they're a part of. And so, we'll be able to provide conversion data showing how well organisations are actually helping for the pipeline of candidates for these companies."

So, for example, if Facebook invests in Black Girls Code, which teaches coding skills to girls of colour, Blendoor will provide data on how many applicants are emerging from that program to apply to the company. Ideally, as they invest more, they will see more diverse candidates. "The other feedback I got," Lampkin said, "was that oftentimes [companies] see really awesome, diverse candidates that are just missing a couple core skills. And they wish there was a way that they could drive these candidates toward development programs and then reach out in six to 12 months." Learning and development Blendoor will refer promising candidates to learning and development programs to sharpen those skills, making sure they aren't wholesale rejected from the tech industry simply because they need polishing. The app also tracks both applicant and recruiter behaviour, helping companies visualise their weak points in finding diverse candidates. And while there's a pipeline leading in to tech fields, there's also one leading out. Lampkin said Blendoor would allow employees to report on and rate their employers, providing honest data on how accommodating companies were for diverse candidates.
The upside is that many of us are able to engage directly with members of Parliament, even the Prime Minister. And fact-checking is easier once you establish which sources to trust.

These days we are living more in our heads and less in the real world. We have fewer embodied and spontaneous experiences with strangers, and more disembodied ones, although usually with people we have chosen to follow; people whose political preferences align with our own. It's made us more tribal, more like the followers of Donald Trump, given us more blindspots.

Millions of us are wedded to Facebook. It's a vast digital kingdom, rising above the territory of emails, that each party will try to conquer.

More than any previous election campaign this one will be won or lost using digital media.

Meanwhile, journalists are under siege. Those on the campaign trail are tethered to devices that won't let them rest, and they are encouraged to use them to engage with the public when they've time to spare  time they would have once used to reflect. Sleepless parliamentary staff are chained to the same devices.

Campaigns impose their own structures: morning alerts, risk-averse and scripted events, hand-shaking and limited main-street and shopping mall encounters. Reporters look for the cracks and fault lines, but not for long as they'll need to move on, catch that bus before it takes off for another scheduled pseudo "engagement".

Parliamentary radio reporter Francis Keany vividly describes his life on the 2013 campaign trail in his new book Follow the Leaders: How to survive a modern day election campaign, launched last month. He survived thousands of kilometres travel, a bare-bones media budget and painfully long days with the wonders of over-the-counter medication, caffeine, rare family reunions and opportunities to speak to people outside the bubble of politics. The book is full of hurried, strange and surreal moments to the tune of slogans repeated ad nausea.

"The press conference begins and five minutes later the press release is issued, giving us zero time to digest a complex promise about a 1 per cent levy on big business to cover Abbott's controversial paid parental leave scheme ... Anger [among reporters] is clearly picked up by the microphones which is echoed by plenty of comments online," Keany notes of day three.

The new technology is incredibly useful. "You can quickly Google and fact check during a press conference, you can gauge reaction on Twitter and your bosses can listen into live feeds with suggested questions and quotes," he tells me. But he adds, that being tethered stifles him.
Greens leader Richard Di Natale took full advantage of all the attention this week. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The independent polling expert John Stirton observes that "anything that draws the Greens into the race and makes them relevant is good for them  it makes them players, and that's what they need to be". Di Natale, took full advantage to set himself apart from what he disparages as the "Coles and Woolies duopoly of Australian politics". "Nothing brings Labor and Liberal together faster than attacking the Greens": former Greens leader Bob Brown. Credit:Dallas Kiponen The Greens were certainly players during the years of the Gillard government, when they used their numbers in the House and Senate to form a power-sharing arrangement with Gillard that gave them great influence over the legislative agenda.

And it was the prospect of that happening once again in seven weeks' time that set Turnbull and Shorten off this week. It began when the sole Greens member in the House of Representatives, Adam Bandt, said that, in the event of a hung parliament, his party would negotiate a power-sharing arrangement with Labor rather than the Liberals. At the first opportunity, Gillard's successor as Labor leader said he wouldn't consider a coalition with the Greens in any circumstance. Said Shorten: "Can I put it another way to Mr Bandt and the Greens - tell 'em they're dreaming," he said. "No deals with Labor about forming a coalition. No deals." Adam Bandt, rather forlornly trying to salvage some relevance, rejoined: "Sometimes dreams come true." Labor's deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek, had a comeback to that one, too: "I don't know about his dreams, but that is more of a nightmare for the average Australian."

Most would be "horrified by the idea of another hung parliament," she said. Turnbull thought so too: Most voters looked back on the hung parliament "with a degree of horror". Said the Prime Minister: "There is absolutely no chance" of a power sharing arrangement with the Greens. "Yes I can rule out any collaboration with the Greens." It was Labor, he said, not the Coalition, that would do a deal with the Greens, and what would be the result? "It will be much higher taxes," said Turnbull, "and a relaxation of our border protection rules." He's right that that's exactly what the Greens would demand. They do propose higher taxes. But not as high as their enemies like to imply. Overall, di Natale tells me, "we will increase government revenue to approximately 26 per cent of GDP, the same level as under John Howard, in the next four years". The peak level under Howard was 25.7 per cent in 2005-06. Last budget year it was an estimated 23.5 per cent, according to the Treasury. So the Greens do propose a substantial increase in total tax collection of more than 2 per cent of GDP, more than $30 billion in today's dollars.

But Turnbull didn't mention the dirty, not-so-little tax secret of this year's Turnbull-Morrison budget  the Coalition plans to increase revenue collection along a similar trajectory. The Turnbull-Morrison budget estimates total revenues this budget year equal to 23.9 per cent of GDP, rising to 25.1 in 2019-20. That'd be a rise in tax collections under the Coalition of 1.6 per cent of GDP or about $26 billion in current dollars from last year to the end of the forward estimates, mostly through the automatic encroachment of "bracket creep" where rising wages push earners into higher tax brackets. The Greens, on this measure, are not as radical as Turnbull likes to imply. Unless he considers his own budget radical. Like Labor and Liberal, the Greens promise a gradual return to a balanced budget through the economic cycle. As for border protection rules, Turnbull is right about that. The Greens favour onshore processing and would close what di Natale calls the "hell holes" of detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island. This is one of the Greens' most potent points of differentiation with the "Coles-Woolworths duopoly". It holds great appeal for many Greens voters and potential swinging voters, and the Greens aren't going to budge on it.

But if the Greens do get anywhere near government, they will need to think carefully about this. They need to find a way to treat asylum seekers more humanely but without risking a reopening of the people trafficking. Uncontrolled and uncontrollable movements of people into Europe is feeding the rise of an ugly Far Right movement and tearing the EU apart. Di Natale took full advantage of all the attention. He stepped into the spotlight and did daily press conferences plus multiple interviews on ABC radio, ABC TV, plus interviews on Sky News and even Triple M radio, not known for its embrace of politically leperous radicals. Appearances on shows like 7.30 and Lateline is absolute gold for a minor party leader during an election campaign. "Minor party politics is in large part the relevancy struggle," says Ben Oquist, Bob Brown's former chief of staff and now executive director of the Australia Institute. "It's why Nick Xenophon works so hard at his creative 'stunts' for example. For minor parties oxygen isn't everything, but it's almost everything." Di Natale, a GP and a farmer, acquitted himself well. He projects a matter-of-fact rationality that well serves a party seeking to lose its radical hue. Bob Brown says that the Greens have long had a serious economic policy but haven't been able to break out of the perception that "the Greens are bad for the economy because Labor and the Liberals say so". But it's more than that. It's the Greens party itself that's the problem and this week yielded an example.

The party candidate for the inner Sydney seat of Grayndler, now held by Anthony Albanese, was revealed to have called for the downfall of capitalism. Further, in a Greens rally last year, Jim Casey said: "I would prefer to see Tony Abbott returned as prime minister with a Labor movement that is growing, with an anti-war movement that was disrupting things in the streets, with a strong and vibrant women's movement, Indigenous movement, and a climate change movement that was starting actually to disrupt the production of coal." Adam Bandt, standing next to him, only applauds. This is precisely the reason the Greens have trouble going mainstream. Calling for the overthrow of capitalism? Preferring a prime minister with antithetical views to your own as an opportunity for disorder in the streets? This is fringe stuff from campus politics in the Cold War. If these views prevail in the Greens, or even look like they might prevail, it's a ticket back to the 3 per cent share of the vote that the Greens attracted in 1998. Under Bob Brown, the Greens performed the unprecedented feat of increasing their share of the vote at five consecutive elections, peaking at 11.76 per cent in the House in 2010. This was the highest share for a third party in the history of the parliament, according to the Parliamentary Library.

After the power sharing deal with Gillard, Labor suffered a fall of 4.6 per cent in its primary vote at the 2013 election and the Greens suffered a loss of 3.1. It was the party's first backward step To recover to its previous peak and beyond, to become an accepted part of the mainstream, the Greens need to weed out radical ideological artefacts like Jim Casey and emphasise practical reform. It needs to mould itself more to Richard di Natale's practical progressivism than Vladimir Lenin's revolutionary Marxism. Today, the party is polling at an average of about 11.5 per cent across the major published polls. Poll watcher John Stirton says that electoral history suggests the Greens can realistically expect a share of around 9 to 10 per cent at this election, a recovery but still below its best. Unless, of course, it can keep winning the precious oxygen of public exposure. The party hopes to increase its number of House seats from the current one, Bandt's seat of Melbourne, to two or three, with the Victorian seats of Batman and Wills, both held by Labor, their best chances. In a tight finish, this could again give the Greens a big say in a new Parliament.
About a month ago, when it became apparent that the centre-right opposition in Brazil would succeed in their politically-driven impeachment of the leftist president Dilma Rousseff, one of the biggest concerns raised by many observers was that the development gains made under 13 1/2 years of Workers' Party rule would be reversed. The early signs from the centre-right presidency of Michel Temer are not promising. Within scant hours of being elevated to the presidency from the vice-presidency, Temer dropped a presidential decree reducing the number of government ministries from 32 to 23. On the face of it this is a good thing and will help to reign in a bloated bureaucracy that places serious strain on the national budget. But deeper examination raises some serious concerns. Among the disestablished ministries are the Ministry of Agricultural Development and the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality and Human Rights. Brazil's interim President Michel Temer. Credit:Getty Images Brazil is a country of contradictions. It is a fabulously wealthy place, but one which is staggeringly unequal where literally tens of millions of citizens try to eek out a subsistence living in remote rural areas. Assisting these people is the central mission of the Ministry of Agricultural Development, a department that has played a critical role in the great strides Brazil has made over the last decade in poverty reduction. Equally worrying is the decision to shutter the Ministry of Women, Racial Equality and Human Rights. Although recently ruled by a woman, Brazil is still cursed by serious gender biases and glass ceilings. The country also exhibits levels of racism that beggar belief, with young black men in poor urban communities facing a worrying high chance of either arbitrary detention or extra-judicial execution, and this is for those who are not driven to join narco-mafias due to the lack of opportunities and social services. Indeed, in many ways one of the core challenges facing Brazil is human rights, precisely the policy area championed by this now-defunct department.

In his inauguration speech, Temer made the appropriate noises that his administration would be about inclusive growth, prioritising restarting the economy while simultaneously protecting the social programs launched by the two previous leftist presidents. Yet, it is hard not to escape the feeling that these are simply weak words uttered simply, as the Brazilians say in reference to the half-hearted abolition of slavery in 1888, "for the English to see". The optics of Temer's cabinet are not good. It is entirely male, effectively excluding the perspective of just over half of the Brazilian population from the main policy-making table. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise. After all, shortly after it became apparent that Temer would eventually replace Dilma, the staunchly right-wing news magazine Veja ran a cover on Temer's wife with a headline lauding her as the ideal: beautiful, reserved in nature, and content to manage the home. In contrast, another rightist magazine IstoE labeled Dilma as 'hysterical'. Temer's cabinet is also entirely white. Almost half have been drawn from congress  a body wracked by corruption  and nearly all of them are from the south-east of the country. In many ways his team represents a microcosm of the national elites who have been protesting so vociferously against Dilma. This creates a serious danger for Temer's presidency, one which is also under the threat of impeachment proceedings. A dark and ugly division is emerging in Brazil. Lula and Dilma's success in bringing over 30 million people out of poverty and into the middle class has driven massive changes in the country's socio-economic structure. The comfortable days of the past where the predominantly white middle and upper classes working office jobs could easily afford domestic servants and expect instantaneous and cheap service have faded away. Indeed, this was the major complaint voiced in the country's leading newspapers after Dilma won re-election. The terror felt by the majority of poor Brazilians, who cannot afford the time to protest between the multiple jobs they need to survive, is that Temer's government is going to be a 'revenge' of the elite. Temer's promise to strengthen and improve the administration  often neo-liberal code for cutting  of the country's hallmark social programs like Bolsa Familia is thus critical. Failure on this front could have dire social consequences.
The first week of the official election campaign has produced vigorous policy debate on superannuation, tax cuts, education, the economy and housing affordability. That's encouraging.

But the Coalition has run a scare campaign on asylum policy and will benefit from a multimillion-dollar lobbying effort by real estate agents to save the capital gains tax and negative gearing tax breaks from Labor.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull believes a close victory will keep him secure in the job. Credit:Andrew Meares

There's been too much playing the person not the issue, too. Former Tony Abbott chief of staff Peta Credlin called Malcolm Turnbull "Mr Harbourside Mansion". It was a cheap shot that belittled the aspirations of many Australians who similarly started out in single-parent families and worked their way to success. Labor pitched in, too, by focusing on Mr Turnbull's seemingly innocuous links to a company named in the Panama Papers tax haven leaks.

At the other end of the spectrum, a low-wage man who dared criticise the government's tax cuts plan on the ABC was hailed by some for raising a legitimate policy point from his own experience. But he was subjected to personal bullying and humiliation by many others.
Gladys Berejiklian's second budget risks making the smallest splash of any in recent NSW history.

It's not that it's destined to be particularly boring. It's because the NSW Treasurer is due to deliver her key economic statement on June 21 - just a fortnight out from the July 2 federal election.

Berejiklian will be acutely attuned to the politics of the timing.

As such, the argument goes that she will be desperate not to do anything that risks turning voters against the Coalition federally in the crucial state of NSW.
Funding cuts an election issue The loss of arts funding is threatening to turn into a major election issue, with O'Callaghan blaming the situation on a rash decision to siphon $105 million from the Australia Council in the 2015 budget (later partially restored by new Arts Minister Mitch Fifield). "A most bittersweet day for all," he said. "Delighted for our colleagues who got funded, devastated for those who didn't. And all this was completely unnecessary financially - caused by a rash decision by former Arts Minister and the current government." "Outrageous": Michael Lynch. Force Majeure's chairwoman Jo Dyer said comments made on Friday by Australia Council boss Tony Grybowski were "frankly insulting".

"I have a lot of respect for Tony Grybowski and many of the staff of the Australia Council but it is frankly insulting to say on this day of devastation that no companies have been cut or defunded as a result of this process," Dyer said. "Many fine companies, including ours, have gone from having stable, multi-year funding to having to apply for reduced, one-off, project-based funding in hyper-competitive rounds. They've been defunded." Other arts organisations that missed out on four-year funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, announced on Friday, include the National Association for the Visual Arts, the literary journal Meanjin and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. A number of NSW arts companies also missed out on Australia Council funding including Legs on the Wall, PACT Centre for Contemporary Artists and the Lismore-based Northern Rivers Performing Arts. 'Horrible day for the arts'

The executive producer of Legs on the Wall, Kath Melbourne, said it was a "horrible day for the arts". She said the physical theatre company could not make up the funds previously provided by the Australia Council and was unlikely to survive in its current form. "We had previously been on $178,000," she said. "We did not get a little shaved off our previous grant, or even our ask halved, we were simply awarded zero dollars by the panel." NORPA's general manager Patrick Healey said the company, based in northern NSW, had expanded after being invited by the Australia Council to apply for six-year funding, which after the 2015 budget was replaced with four-year funding, which it has not received. "We are now in a situation where we may face a budget shortfall at a critical time in our evolution, having recently achieved national success with locally produced works including Railway Wonderland and with more new works currently in development," he said. Healey suggested the federal government had favoured large, city-based arts companies at the expense of NORPA, which is situated in the federal seat of Page held by The Nationals' Kevin Hogan.

"The Catalyst funding, deemed necessary to counteract the loss of funds provided to the Australia Council, was expected to create greater opportunities for organisations like NORPA," Healey said. "However it appears to have over-spent its budget allocation by expanding federal government support to already heavily-subsidised companies such as The Australian Ballet." Dance Awards at risk National dance organisation Ausdance also missed out on funding, which has put the future of the Australian Dance Awards at risk. Ausdance had been operating with annual Australia Council funds of $261,066, which allowed for an operating budget of $427,740 for 2016, according to acting chief executive Neil Roach. "The loss of funding from the Australia Council will cripple the organisation, which has a 40-year legacy of supporting professional dance, dance teaching, and dance development and research projects," Roach said.

"It will have to seriously consider the future of the Australian Dance Awards and other projects as it looks to survival, and the voice of dance will be diminished by a federal government policy that concentrates arts production in existing companies, and subjects it to a political influence through Catalyst funding." Arts Party leader PJ Collins said the grants distributed by the Australia Council were "an insult to community and Not-For-Profit organisations everywhere". "With a federal budget worth over $470 billion announced last week, the Australia Council has only $28 million to spread across the entire country and cover theirfour-year funding program for cultural work." Hundreds of job losses are predicted as a result of the funding cuts suffered by small and mid-sized arts companies. The Confederation of Australian State Theatre Companies, meanwhile, has issued a statement calling on the federal government to review its budget cuts to the Australia Council after the announcement that 62 arts organisations will be defunded after failing to secure key organisation core funding.

"These cuts have an impact just as dramatic and negative as the arts industry has feared and will cause irreparable damage across the sector  one that contributes over $4.2 billion to GDP in Australia," the CAST Executive Council said. But Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations appear to be winners from the grants round with 17 organisations funded, while regional and remote organisations reportedly received 25 per cent of the funding on offer. News of the funding cut for Force Majeure comes as the company prepares to embark on a national tour of Never Did Me Any Harm, its co-production with the Sydney Theatre Company. The contemporary dance company is also preparing to premiere new work Off The Record at Carriageworks in August, where Force Majeure is a resident company.
The Butchers of Berlin

CHRIS PETIT

Chris Petit's book is filled with suspense and dread.

SIMON & SCHUSTER, $29.99

Chris Petit's The Butchers of Berlin is set in Nazi Germany in 1943, when murder was occurring on an industrial scale. August Schlegel usually works white-collar crime, but is called over to homicide when corpses turn up in the streets flayed beyond recognition. The powers that be seem keen to blame a group of Jewish butchers, though the evidence does not point that way, and as Schlegel begins more than a cursory investigation, he is lumped with a new "partner"  a sinister SS officer determined to make sure he does not turn the wrong stones. Is there a maniac on the loose, or is there method to the madness, a message in blood? Petit, also known as a filmmaker, has created a gripping period procedural  one so shrouded in guilt, suspense and outright dread it almost approaches horror.
Billy Connolly's journey is in the tradition of John Steinbeck's Travels With Charlie in Search of America. Instead of a van and a dog for company, he travels with a film crew from Chicago to New York, around the whole country  taking in 28 states and covering 13,000 kilometres  in trains.

If dreamers travel on trains, as Connolly suggests, then the names of trains such as Empire Builder are emblematic of the American Dream.

This is as much a cross-section of the country as a trip: from the Minneapolis bar that invented the hamburger, to Montana and the last of the cowboys, Tucson where a Titan 11 Missile Combat Crew Commander tells him what it was like to have her finger on the button, to the Alabama grave of Hank Williams, and Penn Station.
This revelation, at once momentous and limited, changed Lee's life. To make sense of his personal loss, and to explore his connectedness to black America, he took up photography. I became friends with Lee around the time he began making pictures of black fathers and their children in the Bronx and elsewhere; that project led to a book, "Father Figure," for which I wrote a preface.

For Lee, collecting found photographs of African-Americans  a project he called "Fade Resistance"  had an additional and deeply personal meaning. Lee was raised in Germany by Korean parents. In his 30s, his mother told him that the man who raised him was not his biological father. But because her relationship with that man, who was black, had been fleeting, she refused to tell her son more about him.

Found photographs have long been important to artists like Lee. Photos taken by amateurs can sometimes acquire new value on account of their uniqueness, their age or simply the knowledge that they were once meaningful to a stranger. As part of a group, they can evoke a collector's sensibility or tell us something about a historical period in a way professional photographs might not.

The photographs were Polaroids, taken between the 1970s and the 2000s. Zun Lee bought them at flea markets, at garage sales or on eBay. Most of them depicted African-Americans: people wearing stylish clothes, relaxing in the yard, celebrating birthdays. A few depicted people in prison uniforms. All the photographs had somehow been separated from their original owners and had become what Lee calls "orphaned Polaroids".

Later, Lee began to collect the Polaroids  thousands of them  that ended up in "Fade Resistance". Who took these photos? Who do they depict? The basic contextual details we would usually expect from snapshots are missing here. The absence of this information is bittersweet: We are bewildered, but we are also ferried over from imagery into imagination. In Lee's case, the story of his orphaned Polaroids took a surprising turn.

When he uploaded some of them to Facebook, the social network's facial-recognition technology immediately began to match them with real people. Lee was not sure who was doing the tagging. Intrigued and wary, he sent a message to one individual who was tagged in several of the pictures. There was no response. Then, several weeks later, he got a message from the same man: a curt request that he take the pictures down.

I, too, collect found photographs, but my collection is in the dozens, not in the thousands. I buy not with any idea that I might show them to anyone, but because I like the way certain pictures look. A few years ago, I bought a cache of photographs from a thrift store in Brooklyn, 35 or so pictures that I selected out of a pile of hundreds. There was a photo of a group of well-dressed Asians in a restaurant, with Westerners in military uniforms. There were pictures of babies, and pictures of blurred landscapes.

Twenty-two of the pictures I bought that day featured the same woman at different stages in her life. She was sometimes alone and sometimes with family. But there she was, in picture after picture, from as far back as the late 1930s until at least 1980. She was dark-haired (was she Italian?) and had an unmistakable, toothy smile and cheeks that rose high on her face. A few of these photos had inscriptions, in pencil or pen, on the back or along the white border on the front. "Rock of Gibralter [sic]  Margaret, Kate & myself." "Lake Huntington, May 1939."

I felt I was somehow rescuing these pictures from the anonymity of the pile. I named the woman Mrs. X. I didn't put my images of Mrs. X online, in part because I didn't want anyone to recognise her. I also felt a little guilty: "My" images of Mrs. X? I had the sense that my possession of these pictures was not their ideal posterity. They should be in the keeping of people who knew this woman, who cared about her. (Imagine your own most precious family photos permanently in the hands of a complete stranger.)
THE LADYKILLERS (97 minutes) PG

Directed by Alexander Mackendrick in ominous Technicolour, this perfect 1955 black comedy from Britain's famed Ealing studios has some of the eerie whimsy of a Dickens ghost story. Alec Guinness writhes unforgettably as the leader of a gang of criminals who meet their match in a sweet little old lady (Katie Johnson). Screens as part of the Great Britain Retro Film Festival. Digitally projected. Cinema Nova, today, 11.25am.

Intolerable Cruelty.

MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (94 minutes) MA

The souped-up second instalment of George Miller's action trilogy sees Max (Mel Gibson) battling leather-clad bikies in a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by archetypal figures such as the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) and the Feral Kid (Emil Minty). Vastly influential worldwide since its release in 1981, this remains one of the few essential Australian films. Digitally projected. ACMI, today, 4pm. Tickets $7 or less.
Paul Capsis has hair long enough to pull up on top of his head in a fine resemblance of Quentin Crisp's magnificent quiff. Crisp famously frothed his hair up into something resembling a meringue-headed duchess. He had to. There was an enormous bald spot on the crown he wanted to conceal. Masculine, feminine, androgyne, he combined them all.

"By 1966 his hair had fallen out from all the henna he'd put in it," Capsis says. "But he found a new way to make it up, which gave him that feminine look."

Paul Capsis stars as Quentin Crisp in Resident Alien. Credit:Simon Schluter

Crisp's hairdo is not unlike the foamy waves of product-enhanced hair now popular among all sorts of young men, but they'd probably consider Crisp's jauntily tilted fedora a hindrance.

Capsis  wearing a Crispian black felt fedora when we meet - doesn't usually sculpt his dark tresses, but he does like to play with them as he chats, twisting them and tossing them over his shoulder with great panache. This performer, who's won five Helpmann Awards, is perfect for playing Crisp, but he certainly has his own eclat, his own warmth, and his own disputes with some of things Crisp thought and did. And yet there are many things connecting the two men.
At the time of Klein's interview, global news was dominated by two events that scientists have linked to climate change: the devastating coral bleaching affecting the Great Barrier Reef, and the bushfires raging through Alberta, in Klein's home country of Canada, destroying hundreds of homes and forcing the evacuation of almost 90,000 people  the latter event in particular spotlighting the direct threat to safety and life as we know it posed by global warming. "I think for a long time those of us who live in wealthier countries imagined that we're safe, we're not in the Marshall Islands or we're not in Bangladesh, we're going to be OK," Klein says. "And now we're seeing that we're not as safe as we thought." Klein herself admits she was late to drawing the links between the social justice concerns that fuelled her earlier work and climate change. Like many people, she saw the science as too complicated, the issue too wonky or too abstract, and the potential solutions as so overwhelming as to be alienating. But she came to see the connections. This Changes Everything, the culmination of five years' research, is a title with a dual meaning: not only that climate change threatens to change everything about our world, but that everything  capitalism, the way we power our societies and regulate polluting industries  is going to have to change to arrest it. Some of this, she says, is an opportunity to do things she and other activists had long been pushing for: to revive local economies, invest in public infrastructure, reduce inequality and "reclaim our democracies from corrosive corporate influence".

It's a provocative work that not only targeted the fossil-fuel industries and climate sceptic movement, but also what Klein describes as the "fetish of centrism" preventing those who recognise climate change as real, including many environmental groups or politicians on the centre left, from taking sufficiently bold action. "For a quarter of a century, we have tried the approach of polite incremental change, attempting to bend the physical needs of the planet to our economic model's need for constant growth and new profit-making opportunities," she wrote. "The results have been disastrous." Almost two years after the book was published, it's clear everything hasn't changed in response to climate change. But Klein sees some green shoots, such as the Pope's encyclical on climate change  which shared her own focus on the links between inequality and environmental degradation  or the surprising level of popular support for US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has campaigned aggressively on ending fossil-fuel subsidies and implementing a tax on carbon. "I feel like a huge amount has changed [since 2014]. I understand if it doesn't feel that way in Australia, because I feel like Australia is one of the countries where the policies are taking the longest to change, or even changing in the wrong direction," she says. "But we still don't have a political class in power that is willing to do it, and we're up against the wall. I'd never describe myself as optimistic, but I think there's still a chance that we can turn this around, and the stakes are so high that if there's any chance then I'm going to devote all my energy into increasing those chances."

Klein, now 46, has changed a bit herself since she turned her focus to climate change. She says she's playing a more active role in politics than ever before, and in 2012, had a son. While the language around climate change and parenthood are often interlinked  "think of the children"  Klein is hesitant to say motherhood has made her a more devout activist. "I don't think there's something essential about being a mother that makes one care more  But we respond to life as the people that we are, and I am a mother and I do fear for my son's future. "I certainly can't deny that and every time there's a study that talks about what it's going to be like in 2050 or 2060, I do that little mental calculation." A seemingly obvious contradiction in being a modern climate change activist  and indeed in inviting Klein to Australia to collect an award for this work  is that to do so she must make use of a key fossil-fuel-guzzling industry to do it: air travel.

It's a hypocrisy she is cognisant of. "I strongly believe that it is policy that is going to get us out of this, not individual consumer decisions, but ... I think that it matters," she says. "I do try to live in a way that reflects my values, and my great sin is flying  I recognise that it's real contradiction and I try my best to make my travel worth it in terms of the political impact that I have and to group my bookings together so that I do long-haul flights much less frequently." Past recipients of the Sydney Peace Prize, which is worth $50,000, have included figureheads of the political left and have frequently attracted controversy with their visit. Writer and activist Arundhati Roy made headlines in 2004 when she used her address to denounce then US President George W. Bush as a war criminal and condemned prime minister John Howard's role in the "illegal invasion" of Iraq (comments that would scarcely raise an eyebrow today) while recipients such as Palestinian activist Hanan Ashwari, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the philosopher Professor Noam Chomsky, have been denounced by some in the Australian media for having "one-sided criticisms of Israel", as associate professor Philip Mendes argued in The Australian in 2011. Asked how she might deal with any controversy about her own work that may accompany the prize, Klein confesses the backlash associated with past recipients is news to her.
The risk for a PM, in these head-to-head encounters, is all on the downside because the incumbent is meant to do better.

For Malcolm Turnbull though, it might also be the safest place to hide: out in the open, in plain sight. Why else would he have chosen that moment for his first outing with his political stalker, Bill Shorten?

Friday night, take-away night. When a few hours in front of the box with pizza and beer looms like a trophy. Tune out time.

So if you have to do it, why not get one out of the way early, and better still, when most people are looking elsewhere.

Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull went head-to-head in Friday night's debate. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Not that Turnbull is scared of Shorten. But he would be awake to the danger: a bad slip by the PM or a tear-away win for Shorten could reframe this election contest.

A rookie Prime Minister in unfamiliar territory should observe the orthodoxy: agree to as few public debates in an election campaign as you can reasonably grant, without looking weak or evasive. Why elevate your opponent? Why give the pretender more shots at the title than absolutely necessary?

Of course, not granting any debates is not an option either. It was the very first question of the campaign, bar none: "We haven't discussed debates but I look forward to having a number of them," Turnbull had responded.
The federal government's Green Army of young jobseekers enlisted to restore the environment has suffered mass casualties, including chafing "injuries", chemical exposure and 900 recruits who were discharged or abandoned their posts.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott's pet policy began in mid-2014, but has been criticised for diverting funds away from other conservation projects, excluding workers from federal workplace protections and paying participants a low allowance.

The government says it gives young jobseekers new skills and better job prospects while helping the environment.
The "is she or isn't she" queen Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) is up to her old ticks again.

The former reality TV star and model, 28, appeared on KIIS 1065's Kyle and Jackie O Show on Friday in what was dubbed a "radio exclusive" not to be missed, while other publications said she would be making a "big announcement" as rumours floated once more about whether she might be pregnant with her second child.

Lara Bingle Worthington, pictured at the InStyle Awards on Thursday in Sydney. Credit:Getty Images

But when she turned up for the much-hyped interview slot, the subdued fashionista said any pregnancy news was "personal" to herself and her actor husband, Sam Worthington, and she was just popping by to say "hi".
The worst has happened. Just when you thought it was safe to look back at the catwalks, here designers go again, surprising us with their uncanny knack of throwing something completely unexpected (read: bloody awful) at an unsuspecting public and having the audacity to call it fashion. And boys, don't think you're in the clear  this is actually all about you.

You see, socks with sandals have entered fashion as a proper trend. Yes, socks  with sandals. What was once a look to be mocked openly and particularly loved by '90s tourists (mainly from northern Europe, who perfected their outfit with knee-length shorts, T-shirts and the obligatory backpack) are now on the feet of, well, at least the male models who wore them in the fashion shows.

Are sandals with socks a ridiculous catwalk trend or about to be embraced by the masses? Credit:Tullio M. Puglia

Don't think these are your more flamboyant designers, either. Sure, Versace did a version. But so did the master of basics, Calvin Klein, and the classic brand Bottega Veneta. Pairing socks with a slide is now not only acceptable, it's downright high fashionable.

You know that when a store like Zara picks it up, the trend is going to be big. That's right, boys: it's not just a ridiculous catwalk show that's not going to translate to the masses. You won't be able to laugh this one off when it's on the high street. It's going to be in your face, everywhere you look, in all the time it takes to say, "fashion, you've foiled me again".
The Sun-Herald has also seen evidence that chiropractors have been entering Sydney hospitals, including neo-natal intensive care wards and surgical wards, to treat patients without the required permission.

The injury was reported to the Chiropractic Board of Australia, which closed the case without reporting it to the public and allowed the chiropractor to keep practising as long as they undertook education with an ''expert in the field of paediatric chiropractic".

A baby's neck has been broken by a chiropractor in an incident doctors say shows the profession should stop treating children.

NSW Health has warned that any chiropractor working in a hospital without permission could put patients at risk, while the Australian Medical Association NSW says the behaviour is "outrageous".

Melbourne paediatrician Chris Pappas cared for a four-month-old baby last year after one of her vertebrae was fractured during a chiropractic treatment for torticollis - an abnormal neck position that is usually harmless. He said the infant was lucky to make a full recovery.

''Another few millimetres and there would have been a devastating spinal cord injury and the baby would have either died or had severe neurological impairment with quadriplegia,'' he said.

Dr Pappas complained to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, which referred the case to the Chiropractic Board. Three weeks ago, he received a letter from AHPRA saying the case had been closed after the chiropractor committed to completing further education.

Dr Pappas said he was concerned the decision was an endorsement of chiropractic treatment for infants when there was no scientific evidence to support it.
Even Jeff Kennett, the man who in effect launched Transurban through its Melbourne CityLink contract in 1996, now warns governments against granting the company more toll road projects, arguing that taxpayers are being "ripped off". Toll road giant Transurban is positioning itself to manage the entire road networks of Australia's three major cities. Credit:Eddie Jim "Transurban people must be laughing absolutely underwater," Mr Kennett said. "They are a very successful company, they have been very clever in using their intellectual property and powers of persuasion to pull the wool right over the eyes of the government." Few, if any, countries in the world have allowed a private operator to control so much of their road network. Credit:Paul Revere

Company briefs to investors reveal how Transurban is seeking to further entrench its position. It has earmarked the yet-to-be-built Outer Sydney Orbital, an Outer Ring Road in Melbourne, and the Western Orbital Motorway in Brisbane, as roads it hopes to include in its growing stable. Transurban's strategic position in all three major cities has also helped it secure a string of lucrative projects under "unsolicited" or "market-led" proposal policies, which allow the private sector to propose and win infrastructure projects without competition. The company's $5.5 billion Western Distributor proposal to build a second crossing in and out of Melbourne's western suburbs is close to being signed off by the Andrews state government.

The $1.3 billion Tullamarine freeway widening project, the $3 billion NorthConnex road in NSW and the $450 million Logan Enhancement in Queensland were all projects dreamed up by Transurban and ticked off by state governments. Transurban told investors this month that reform of road pricing in Australia was "an inevitability," and that, before long, a form of tolling was likely to apply in future across entire road networks. Australia's already inadequate system of road taxes, based on car registrations and fuel excise, is under threat with fuel efficient and electric cars likely to further reduce revenue. Both sides of politics are gradually warming to the idea of introducing road user pricing across all roads.

In February, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said a "better calibrated user pays system" clearly has "some attractions" but would need to be "fair and equitable". The Productivity Commission, the Harper review into competition policy, Infrastructure Australia and the 2009 Henry report have all recommended various forms of road pricing. Transurban has also initiated a study on the impact on the driving behaviour of 1200 customers of different road pricing schemes, with a view to advising governments how to introduce a user-pays system The company's chief executive, Scott Charlton, declined to be interviewed by Fairfax Media.

But in records of a recent private briefing to investors - obtained by Fairfax Media - he boasts that the company was "one of the biggest, largest managed motorway networks in the world". He denied it was a monopoly as it could not control prices. Mr Charlton told investors he expected road pricing in the next decade or two. "When we first started talking about it three years ago, it was shut down pretty quick by the federal politicians and some of the state politicians," he said. Now with its Victorian road use study, Mr Charlton said, both major parties have said "yes, we should look at it."

The company's staggering growth since 1996 has led industry analyst Credit Suisse to note that it now operates "without strong competition" on the eastern seaboard. Its tolls revenue has surged 400 per cent in a decade to $1.5 billion and is expected to rise a further 50 per cent to $2.3 billion a year within two years. It also anticipates a big boost in business of up to 25 per cent from the introduction of driverless cars. Since it announced last December it was in exclusive negotiations with the Andrews government over the Western Distributor, Transurban's shares have surged nearly 20 per cent.
A jury will have to decide if this alleged mental impairment, caused by an underlying major depressive disorder, was so substantial that it reduces his culpability from murder to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The lifelong farmer, 81, feared his family would be "financially ruined" by successive investigations and prosecutions by authorities over illegal land clearing on their various properties around Croppa Creek, north of Moree, in north-eastern NSW.

Farmer Ian Turnbull had lost capacity for self-control and couldn't tell right from wrong when he fatally shot environmental officer Glen Turner, a court has heard.

On Friday, Mr Turnbull's barrister Todd Alexis, SC, told the NSW Supreme Court that Mr Turnbull had lived through the "feast and famine of farming life" but had always managed to provide for his extended family.

The .22 cal Browning pump action rifle in the rear tray area of Ian Turnbull's white Nissan Patrol Turbo diesel utility Credit:NSW Police

However, in the lead-up to Mr Turner's death, he crumbled, particularly when the combined $5 million his son and grandson had recently invested in two properties, Colorado and Strathdoon, appeared to be at risk because of illegal land clearing he had undertaken to help ready the farms for cropping.

"You might think he is made of tough stuff and I think he was, but until his dealings with Mr Turner in 2012 and the Office of Environment and Heritage bought proceedings against him in the courts, he had never had to deal with this sort of thing before," Mr Alexis said.

The court heard Mr Turnbull and his wife Robeena helped their son Grant and grandson Cory purchase the farms, which were heavily mortgaged, and he undertook clearing of native vegetation because there was a "commercial imperative" to make the farms productive as soon as possible.
When Lisa McAdams left her abusive marriage with her two children, a few suitcases and $33 in her pocket, she considered herself lucky to find a place in a Sydney women's shelter where she could begin to rebuild her life.

"It saved my life," she said. "It's as simple as that."

Ms McAdams was stunned to learn that the refuge would no longer cater specifically to women escaping domestic violence after it was caught up in a NSW Government reform which resulted in the merging of hundreds of homelessness services.
A Chinese student missing in Sydney has been found five days after her friends last saw her at an inner-Sydney church service.

Zhejuan Huang, 23, was reported missing after she failed to attend a University of Sydney study group this week.

Found: Chinese student Zhejuan Huang. Credit:NSW Police

Her friends said they had not seen or heard from her since she attended St Barnabas Church at Broadway on Sunday afternoon.

Police said the last confirmed sighting of Ms Huang, who is also known as Janice, was at Coogee on Tuesday afternoon.
Does this sound like a cemetery to you?

Cars branded in bespoke purple livery, a proposal to build an on-site childcare centre, fancy annual reports nestled in a box tied up with ribbon, expensive uniforms designed by Kim Kardashian, and plans to set up an e-commerce site competing with Ancestry.com selling cemetery records.

Headstones at Rookwood cemetery. Credit:Rick Stevens

These are just some of the excesses either OKed or under consideration that Rookwood's newly appointed interim administrator Jason Masters will confront.

Mr Masters was appointed on Friday by the NSW government as interim administrator of Rookwood General Cemeteries Trust. His appointment follows an investigation by the independent Cemeteries and Crematoria Association of NSW, which identified serious problems with its governance and pricing, and alleged serious mismanagement by its chief executive.
A date has been set for Gerard Baden-Clay's penultimate day in court.

On July 26, a full bench of the High Court of Australia will sit in Brisbane to hear an appeal against the controversial downgrading of the one-time real estate agent's murder conviction to manslaughter last year.

The bench, which will comprise of up to seven of the most senior figures of the Australian judiciary, will then take between three and six months to consider the arguments of the prosecution and defence, before making what will be the final ruling on one of the highest profile and long-running cases in Queensland history.

Their ruling will be final. There are no further avenues for appeal.
Students were amazed. "I feel like I am part of history because of Jill and this class!" wrote one in the class's online forum. "Just when I wanted to nominate Jill Watson as an outstanding TA in the CIOS survey!" said another.

Ashok Goel, a computer science professor, did not reveal Watson's true identity to students until after they'd turned in their final exams.

Artificial intelligence: students were surprised to learn they had been dealing with a bot all semester.

To help with his class this year, a Georgia Tech professor hired Jill Watson, a teaching assistant unlike any other in the world. Throughout the semester, she answered questions online for students, relieving the professor's overworked teaching staff.

Now Goel is forming a business to bring the chatbot to the wider world of education. While he doesn't foresee the chatbot replacing teaching assistants or professors, he expects the chatbot's question-answering abilities to be an invaluable asset for massive online open courses, where students often drop out and generally don't receive the chance to engage with a human instructor. With more human-like interaction, Goel expects online learning could become more appealing to students and lead to better educational outcomes.

"To me this is a grand challenge," Goel said. "Education is such a huge priority for the entire human race."

At the start of this semester Goel provided his students with a list of nine teaching assistants, including Jill, the automated question and answering service Goel developed with the help of some of his students and IBM.

Goel and his teaching assistants receive more than 10,000 questions a semester from students on the course's online forum. Sometimes the same questions are asked again and again. Last year he began to wonder if he could automate the burden of answering so many repetitive questions.

As Goel looked for a technology that could help, he settled on IBM Watson, which he had used for several other projects. Watson, an artificial intelligence system, was designed to answer questions, so it seemed like a strong fit.
It has been reported Apple is considering killing off iTunes music downloads entirely.

Neumayr made it clear that he was responding to both of the timelines proposed in today's earlier story from Digital Music News .

Rumours indicate the death of iTunes music downloads is near, but Apple says it isn't so.

In a statement to Re/Code , Apple representative Tom Neumayr said "Not true".

"According to sources with close and active business relationships with Apple, discussions are now focused 'not on if, but when' music downloads should be retired for good."

There are two timelines involved. One would end song sales within two years, and another strategy would see Apple ride out iTunes sales for the next three to four years.

It's not a question of if but when Apple will phase out its online music store in favour of Apple Music, Apple's year-old streaming music service, Digital Music News says.

One Apple executive noted that "keeping [iTunes music downloads] running forever isn't really on the table anymore".

The company expects paid music downloads are likely to be an afterthought in an industry dominated by streaming.
Australia's air safety watchdog is investigating a serious safety incident at Melbourne Airport this week in which the tail of a Jetstar aircraft struck the runway during take-off, forcing the pilot to abort the flight.

Jetstar abandoned the scheduled Wednesday flight to Hobart after the plane became airborne and returned to Melbourne.

jetstar Credit:Paul Rovere

There has been no report of injuries to passengers.

However, the tailstrike is a serious incident according to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which has launched an investigation into what went wrong.
Andrew Plunkett has a 10-a-day habit that doesn't cost him a cent.

He feeds it while at work, in the vast packing shed or out in the orchard among the apple trees.

The Goulburn Valley orchardist eats up to 10 apples per day, but not always down to the core.

It is a habit that is both good for his health and good for his business, providing instant feedback on the quality and taste of his product.
The Western Australian Planning Commission has come under fire for rolling out a planning approval process that residents say bypassed transparency and accountability, and left key stakeholders in the dark.

Residents of the eastern Perth suburb of Viveash, who fought hard to save bushland including seven mature eucalyptus wandoo trees from being ripped-up by developers, have slammed the process they followed to engage with the WAPC as "pointless".

The WAPC asked the City of Swan to comment on development company Pindan's bid to create 75 lots on Winston Crescent and Bernley Drive in Viveash and because of its level of public interest, the city sought feedback from nearby residents.

The city received eight submissions raising concerns about the lack of consultation, the loss of vegetation and the lack of public open space.
Despite having failed to conceive during 46 years of marriage, Mrs Gill, a devout Sikh, says she never gave up hope. "My grandmother told me something I always remembered. She said 'as long as you have breath in your body, keep trying to fulfil your dreams'."

"How could I have become pregnant, at my age, if God hadn't destined this for me?' she asks, speaking to Fairfax Media from her home in Amritsar, northern India.

New Delhi: If anything will help one of India's oldest mothers , Daljinder Kaur Gill, aged around 70 (she is not sure of her age), to raise her baby boy, it won't be energy drinks, age-delaying pills, yoga or a nanny but her faith in God. She invokes him every few sentences, perhaps with reason.

In a society that places great value on marriage and children, they were an unusual couple. Many an Indian woman is abandoned by her husband if their union remains "issueless".

But her husband, 79-year-old Mohinder Singh Gill, has been committed to her and never once blamed her. He says that no one ever made them the butt of jokes or snide remarks. "How could they? Everyone knows that all couples want a child, so how could they say anything mean about us?" he says.

Adoption was dismissed by both of them out of fear of how a child of different genetic material might turn out. Eventually, they opted for IVF treatment at a clinic in the state of Haryana in 2007.

Mrs Gill says that Dr Anurag Bishnoi, owner of the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby Centre, tried repeatedly to dissuade her, saying her body was too old and that the stress would be too great, but she insisted.

Two attempts using her egg and her husband's sperm had previously failed. Even then, they kept hoping. "We said that we must keep trying as God would not want us to give up on him. Everything is in his hands," says Mrs Gill.
Beirut: The Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Friday that one of its top commanders, Mustafa Badreddine, had been killed, and Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen said he had died in an Israeli air strike in Syria, in what would be the biggest blow to the group since the CIA-aided 2008 assassination of its military commander Imad Mughniyah.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest-ranking officials in the group, according to security sources.

"He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said in a statement announcing his death, describing Badreddine as "the great leader of jihad". He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said.
Brussels: The number of migrants arriving in Greece dropped 90 per cent in April, the European Union border agency said on Friday, a sign that an agreement with Turkey to control traffic between the two countries is working.

The agency, Frontex, said 2,700 people arrived in Greece from Turkey in April, most of them from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, a 90 per cent decline from March.

Under the EU's agreement with Turkey, all migrants and refugees, including Syrians, who cross to Greece by boat are sent back.
CAYHILL:--- St. Maarten Medical Center is pleased to announce the permanent call-up in service of Dr. Patricia Mercelina-Roumans at the hospital.

Dr. Mercelina-Roumans will work together with the Obstetrician/Gynecologist medical team to provide continuity of care whenever a specialist is off island.

With 18 years of experience, including 10 years of experience at the SMMC, between 1999 and 2009, Dr. Mercelina-Roumans is happy to return to the island and people.

I always loved it here. What I like the most about working at SMMC is that you can give the personal care that the patient need; not only what is according protocol.

When Dr. Mercelina-Roumans left St. Maarten, she returned to Holland where she worked in a big and growing hospital as Department Head OBGYN, doing clinical work and training resident doctors.

Ive always taught the doctors that they need to focus on giving personalized care to their patients, and keeping that patient-doctor relationship through scheduling as much as possible; otherwise, they can lose too much valuable information about their patient.

Of course, this is easier to achieve in a smaller hospital like this. Even though I will only work whenever there is a need for a replacing OBGYN, I am happy that I can again give the care that is needed, to our population on the island and of course our neighbors and visitors.

The SMMC is happy to welcome Dr. Mercelina-Roumans as a permanent call-up for the OBGYN services.

In photo attached: Dr. Mercelina-Roumans.
International Knowledge Exchange Program provides 24 interns to local businesses!

Great Bay:--- From May 13  18, 2016, eight (8) local entrepreneurs will work with international students and faculty, as part of the International Knowledge Exchange Program (IKEP). This is the first time that St. Maarten is a part of this program, which chooses different countries every year.

Started by the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (COESL) in 2013, IKEP helps to develop students into global citizens while supporting sustainability of the entrepreneurs throughout the region. Headed by Dr. Marcia Brandon, a premier expert on entrepreneurship development and sustainability in the Caribbean, COESL has a variety of programs throughout the region to stimulate entrepreneurship and transform communities in a dynamic way. The IKEP is in partnership with the leading entrepreneurial university of the Midwest, Fort Hays State University (FHSU), where FHSU students and faculty travel to an island in the Caribbean and use their knowledge and skill set to meet a business need of a local entrepreneur.

This year twenty-four (24) interns on both graduate and undergraduate level and three faculty will be on St. Maarten for a few days. The interns have a variety of skill sets including accounting, digital media, web development, spreadsheet planning, and math. The interns are divided to groups of three and each group is assigned to a locally based entrepreneur based on the business need. This year, students from the University of t. Martin get to assist the international interns by giving facilitating information and assisting in local research. The interns will work with entrepreneur, adding value to the entrepreneurs business while experiencing firsthand the challenges that many entrepreneurs face. This is at no cost to the entrepreneur.

Foundation INFOBIZZ, the preferred regional partner for COESL is the lead coordinator for this program on St. Maarten. With the aim to develop successful entrepreneurs, INFOBIZZ has hosted a variety of events and programs to help empower entrepreneurs locally, reaching over 1000 entrepreneurs since its launch in 2013. To ensure that St. Maarten students benefited from this unique opportunity, University of St. Martin (USM) joined INFOBIZZ to ensure success. In addition to coordinating students to support the international interns, USM has ensured that classes are available for entrepreneurs who may not have an office to work with the interns.

INFOBIZZ was tasked with finding the local entrepreneurs. This was done through a simple email registration and the program was filled within 48 hours of opening registration. The entrepreneurs that will take part in this program span a variety of businesses including an administration company, car rental, management consultancy, and real estate agency. These entrepreneurs will meet the interns and faculty on May 13 at the opening of this program. Upon completion, the entrepreneurs will receive a Certificate of Completion for this program from Fort Hays State University.

For more information on INFOBIZZ and support programs for entrepreneurs, please call +1-721-523-1842 or email coordinators at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The Central Committee will meet in an urgent session on May 13, 2016.

The Central Committee meeting has been set for Friday at 2.00 pm in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is Discussion on the joint draft Kingdom Law Dispute Regulation (Geschillenregeling) from Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten.

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The House of Parliament will sit in an urgent plenary public session on May 16. The Minister of Finance will be present for the session.

The plenary public meeting reconvenes on Monday at 9.00 am in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg.

The agenda point is Short, medium and long term financial outlook of St. Maarten.

This urgent plenary session of the House was requested by Members of Parliament (MPs) MP F.G. Richardson, MP G.C. Pantophlet and MP S.A. Wescot-Williams.

Members of the public are invited to the House of Parliament to attend parliamentary deliberations.

The House of Parliament is located across from the Court House in Philipsburg.

The parliamentary session will be carried live on St. Maarten Cable TV Channel 120, via Pearl Radio FM 98.1, the audio via the Internet www.pearlfmradio.com and via www.sxmparliament.org.
Canada, Theory  May 13, 2016  Paul Kellogg

A concrete understanding of contemporary Canadian economic development depends in part on a grasp of the current institutional structures within the North American economic bloc and how this regional trading bloc interacts with others within the world market. In terms of tracing the history of capitalism in the Canadian context, the next question becomes what are the comparative forms of colonization within the Americas as well as the role of staples commodity exports in that development. Due to these different historical roots, capitalist development has in fact taken different forms, in which varied patterns are persistent through the competitive dynamic of capitalism. For Canadas particular economic history, this has often meant studying how natural resource extraction affected the trajectory of capitalist accumulation, and the related formation of class structure and differentiation in the country. The important role of resources sectors to Canadian development, and Canadas proximity to and relation with the USA trade and investment, formed the context in which the staples theory of growth developed and became accepted among Canadian academics and policy makers. The staples-related economic policy issues and their related academic debates produced an intellectual environment that allowed institutionalism, in addition to radical and Marxist perspectives, to share the political and intellectual stage. During the 1970s, a New Left with a Left nationalist critique of Canadian dependency, and a connected political movement centered within the New Democratic Party (NDP), concluded that national sovereignty in the world economy ought to be the priority for the Left. However, dissidents from the Marxist tradition in the New Canadian Political Economy argued against staples theory. As an alternative, they articulated a class analysis of Canadian advanced capitalism in terms of the new state theories associated with New Left radicals Ralph Miliband and Nicos Poulantzas. These Marxists argued against many of the themes of staples theory and its explanatory limits, which for them implied that political economy must emphasize and begin methodologically with the social relations of production. Upon this basis, the nature of the staple and the technologies of extraction can then be understood free of the distortions of Staples theory and lead to a proper understanding of Canadian economic development, and class and state formation. Other Marxists have added that class analysis, while key, is one side of the reproduction of capitalism. The other involves the dynamics of capital accumulation, which structures the economic development of society and determines its dominant mode of production. In capitalism, the separation of producers from means of subsistence under the rule of private

property produces the law of value as an emergent property, where profits drive economic growth, and thereby the reproduction of society. Paul Kelloggs Escape from the Staple Trap: Canadian Political Economy after Left Nationalism (2015b) is an ambitious book that offers the first of a two-volume history of

Canadian political economy from a perspective that is highly critical of the staples tradition. It makes a Marxist critique of the empirical cogency of the staples account of Canadas position in the world market, the class nature of the Canadian social order, and the political implications of the analysis for the Left. Paul Kellogg is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Master of Arts Integrated Studies Program, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Athabasca University. Robin Chang is in the Department of Political Science at York University, where he studies Marxian political economy and is writing his dissertation on the political economy of health and healthcare in Canada and the United States.

Debating Staples and Capitalism

Robin Chang (RC): There are many articles on staples theory and the staples tradition

written from critical political economy and Marxist perspectives. Could you, first of all, give a brief definition of what is staples theory, who created it, and how it has influenced Canadian political economy and economic policy? And what does your book seek to add to this debate?

Paul Kellogg (PK): In the world as a whole, the concept of a staple trap has been extremely important for conceptualizing developmental dead-ends in sections of the Global South. Think of Ethiopia and coffee, Bolivia and tin, Cuba and sugar, Jamaica and bauxite. These are some of the classic examples where very poor countries had a staple commodity, could raise money through exporting that commodity, but had an extremely difficult time diversifying away from dependence on that

commodity. The United Nations uses the term commodity dependence, defining this as occurring when the value of commodity exports exceeds 60 per cent of the countrys merchandise export value. Ninety-four countries fit this profile in 2012-2013, up from 88 in 2009-2010, of which, 45 were in Africa, 20 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 19 in Asia and 10 in Oceania (UNCTAD, 2015, p. 15).

The concept of unequal exchange is important here. The price for the commodity on which these countries depended tended to stagnate or decline, while the price for the imports needed as inputs into industrialization tended to increase. The countries were caught in a staple trap. Understanding this developmental problem was very important for left currents in the 1960s and 1970s, allowing for a conceptualization of the way in which imperialism and Global North dominance could maintain the oppression of whole swathes of the world, even with the winding down of direct colonial rule. Most closely identified with this approach, were Andre Gunder Frank and

the dependency / underdevelopment school (Frank, 1979); and Immanuel Wallerstein and the World Systems Theory (WST) school (Wallerstein, 1974). The political conclusion both drew from this economic analysis was that nationalist resistance to imperialism would lead to the struggle for socialism.

This entered the Canadian discourse through various routes. Intellectually, the figure of Harold Innis is central. Innis theorized that resource staples  fur, fish and feathers  determined a particular path for the development of the Canadian economy (Innis, 1962). Interest in Innis developed simultaneously with the enormous radicalization of the 1960s and 1970s. That radicalization had a very large anti-imperialist component to it, informed by versions of the political economy outlined above, along with  because of the horrors of the Vietnam war  a particular focus on U.S. imperialism. This then intersected with an emerging concern about U.S. ownership of large sections of the Canadian economy. Through the scholarship and activism of Mel Watkins, Kari Polanyi Levitt, Gary Teeple, and others, a left-nationalist dependency school of thought came to dominate the left, crystallizing in the political formation called the Waffle  first within, then briefly outside the NDP. The sharpest formulations of this left-nationalist dependency school were contained in Levitts (1970) Silent Surrender: The Multinational Corporation in Canada , and the very influential collection (Canada) Ltd.: the political economy of dependency edited by Robert Laxer (1973). It is the latter that most forcefully argued for a linking of the nationalist with the socialist struggle.

But of course, the context in Canada is quite different from the peripheral economies that were the focus of both the dependency and WST schools of thought. Canada was then and is today an advanced capitalist economy, and nationalism in such an economy is not the preserve of the left. The concern about high levels of U.S. ownership of the Canadian economy did not originate in the left, but rather in the Conservative administration of John Diefenbaker. It was under his watch, that the mechanisms were put in place to more thoroughly track levels of U.S. ownership of the Canadian economy. Further, it was not just the social-democratic NDP that incubated left-nationalism. The Liberal Party of Canada  the traditional governing party of the Canadian elite  played a very large role in this process. Most centrally, Walter Gordon, Minister of Finance from 1963 to 1965, was instrumental in helping to shape the left-nationalist worldview.

In the years since, there have been many critiques of this dependency and left-nationalist approach. A perspective helpful in conceptualizing oppressed nations of the Global South was less helpful when applied to a member nation of the G7. In the anti-globalization movement at the turn of the century, a left-nationalist framing of a country that headquartered Barrick Gold, Magna International and Bombardier, seemed archaic.

Many of the critiques of left-nationalism, however, let slip in through the back door its core assumptions. For instance, an important attempt at reframing Canadian Political Economy this century deployed World Systems Theory in order to conceptualize Canada as a semi-periphery  stuck between the core countries of the world economy  the U.S., Germany, and others  and the exploited periphery (Clarkson & Cohen, 2004). The second chapter of the book challenges this and documents that without question, Canada has to be conceptualized as part of the core of the World System. Perhaps Greece, Portugal, Mexico and Venezuela can be conceptualized as semi-peripheries. It is not credible to put a country such as Canada in the same category.

One of the key concepts deployed to critique Waffle-era political economy was the concept Rich Dependency (Panitch, 1981). Canada was a rich country  one of the richest in the world. But it had developed this wealth in the context of dependent development, ceding elite control to corporations in the United States. This is, however, unsatisfying. The whole point of the dependency school was to develop a framework to explain underdevelopment. Canada  in capitalist terms  is one of the most developed countries in the world. Further, the implication of the rich dependency framework is that while Canada is not underdeveloped now, its structures of dependency will ensure that it becomes so in the future. But the 1980s have been displaced by the 1990s and now by the 21st century, and Canada remains at the core of the world system, an advanced capitalism sharing with a handful of other economies a position at the top of the hierarchy of the world economy.

It is not sufficient to notice that an economy such as Canada exports staples. The question must be asked what kind of economy? If this export of staples is organized in an economy with a high level of productivity  in historical materialist terms, with a high and rising organic composition of capital  then the fact of a heavy reliance on export staples will have very different ramifications than in an economy with a low level of productivity  a low organic composition of capital (See Chase-Dunn, 1998, p. 207; McNally, 1981). This is, I think, the central point. Capital is indifferent as to the use-value of the commodities labour produces. It is exchange value that takes centre stage, and the accumulation of capital makes this possible.

RC: The extractive sector continues to be a substantial percentage of Canadian trade. It is particularly key to the economics of First Nations, as well as particular provinces like Alberta. For an alternative to staples theory led research into the extractive sector, do you think that with respect to scholarly literature that comparative colonization studies can provide an adequate explanation for the development of the different economic zones in the Americas at least into the mid-19th century?

PK: If by this you mean integrating into a class analysis the central role played by settler-colonialism, then I strongly agree. Canada is a capitalist economy with a capitalist state. Understanding the class exploitation and class struggle dynamics of that economy and state remain fundamental tasks. But it is a capitalist state shaped by a long and violent history of settler-colonialism. The release of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015) makes this abundantly clear.

While Canada is one of the most developed capitalist economies in the world, this development is distributed extremely unevenly. There are pockets of intense poverty. A class framework allows some of these pockets to come into focus. An anti-colonial framework allows for even greater clarity. I grew up in Cornwall, Ontario. Class and exploitation were visible in the pulp and paper, rayon and other mills that surrounded the town. A class framework brought the poverty of the waterfront area into focus. But to fully understand the depth of inequality in the area, you have to also bring into focus Cornwalls neighbour, Akwesasne  and that demands an anti-colonial framework.

Look what happens when we struggle to see capitalism with anti-colonial eyes. H. Clare Pentland (1981), for instance, makes a powerful case that the bedrock upon which Ontario industrialization was built, was the market-oriented wheat farming which developed in the years following the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists. But on whose land were those wheat fields planted? Labour and capital are necessary to accumulation. So is land, a point impressed upon me through long and fruitful discussions with Abbie Bakan. The TRC report highlights the way in which the acquisition of land and the establishment of capitalist sovereignty were accomplished through racism and violence.

Comparative colonization studies enhance our ability to engage in comparative capitalist studies. While what is today Ontario developed productive agriculture in the 19th century, what is today Quebec had a much more difficult time  experiencing famine in the 1830s, witnessing population flight throughout the century, tens of thousands abandoning their homes and fleeing to the United States as economic refugees. My book, building on the work of Pentland and McCallum (1980), argues that Quebecs difficulties were bound up with the archaic structures of the semi-feudal seigneurial system  preserved well beyond its best-before date by British colonial authorities, more interested in preserving elite rule in Quebec, than in fostering economic and social development.

Development Trajectories

RC: Id like to ask you about your understanding of capitalism in terms of the Modern debates in Marxist historiography over the agrarian versus urban origins of capitalist development. The major theory you identify as the foundation for the staples interpretation of Canadian society as a dependency in the world market is Immanuel Wallersteins world systems theory, combined with ideas related to Paul Baran. Robert Brenner and Ellen Wood have written a great deal identifying and problematizing the rational choice basis of the commercialization model explanation for the origins of capitalism. As a result, there are differences by several hundreds of years over when capitalism can be said to have begun. What is your relationship to Brenners critique in your general understanding of capitalism, and relationship to world systems and dependency theory?

PK: This question provides a good segue into some of the key themes I hope to develop in the second volume of the book. I think here again, we are confronted with the importance of using an anti-colonial lens along with class analysis.

Lets frame the issue this way. No doubt a particular configuration of class relations took hold in England, not necessarily prior to other places in the world, but with deeper roots and greater stability. In that sense, the British story is important. However, a narrow focus just on developments within Britain, imprisons the debate into a narrow binary  agrarian versus urban. Was the British countryside the key? Was the British city the key? I think we will never find the key if we fixate on Britain, whether that be the British countryside or the British city. Capitalism per se emerges with the shift to the cash nexus. That requires, well, cash  in the first instance, gold and silver. In the 16th and 17th century, the vast majority of the cash  the gold and silver  which accumulated in the treasuries of Europe, did not come from the market, but came from the bowels of the earth in Bolivia and Mexico, extracted through the genocidal deployment of forced indigenous labour. I learned about this helping out with Toronto Bolivia Solidarity and teaching at Trent University in the Department of International Development Studies. Potosi in Bolivia with its vast veins of silver and gold, is indispensable to the establishment of the rule of capital.

We think of capitalism as a system of exploited free wage labour. However, without the forced labour in the mines of Bolivia and Mexico, there would have been no flood of gold and silver into the world system, there would have been no cash nexus, there would have been no capitalist world system. You cannot see the origins of capitalism without seeing Potosi. Further, the triangular trade which allowed Europe to cement its position at the centre of the world economy, had at its core not the question of free labour, but of slavery. You cant see the origins of capitalism without seeing Sao Jorge da Mina in what is today Ghana  and all the other internment camps on the West African coast. In terms of the way you ask the question, we might say that it is time that the origins of capitalism debates properly engaged with Eric Williams (1961) and Walter Rodney (1974).

RC: Brenners account has been argued to fit the Marxian theoretical view that the law of uneven and combined development captures the cross-national differentiation and therefore the historically rooted hierarchy in the world market on the one hand, and the apparently surprising way that formerly underdeveloped nations may develop industrially and commercially very rapidly under certain economic and international political conditions. What is your relationship to the theory of uneven development and can it play a role in an alternative theorization of the world market?

PK: I think what is important here is not a theory of uneven development, but of uneven and combined development. It is the combined question that is very important  combining aspects of one era with aspects of the contemporary era. Radhika Desai (2013) has brought this to our attention very clearly in her recent Geopolitical Economy .

Uneven and Combined Development (UCD) as a framework is profound, but needs to be separated from the political question of Permanent Revolution. The two are often seen as essentially connected, and I disagree, a point I made in a recent article in Rethinking Marxism (Kellogg, 2015a). The case of China is an enormous example of Uneven and Combined Development. However, there is no need to notice this UCD story and conclude that what happened in 1949 was Permanent Revolution  the combining of the anti-colonial bourgeois revolution with the socialist revolution. The society of the Great Leap Forward famine and the Tiananmen Square massacre does not seem, to me, to represent anything we can recognize as socialist.

However, what 1949 did accomplish was the establishment of effective sovereignty. To be more precise, from the 1940s through to the 1960s  against the resistance of Great Powers centred in Europe, Japan, the United States and Russia  the modern Chinese state was able to establish effective sovereignty. The key was not the socialist revolution, but the anti-colonial revolution. I think we have underestimated the importance of anti-colonial sovereignty movements as indispensable in providing political and state frameworks in which economic development can take place. With this modification, then, I find the UCD framework compelling.

Imperialism and Militarism

RC: Id like to ask you about your understanding of the world market in terms of debates in radical political economy over imperialism. Your

book contains a theory of military parasitism, which argues that Canada is an advanced capitalist nation that has a silent partnership with U.S. imperialism whose military contracts benefit Canadian capital accumulation. The 1970s debates over the military-industrial complex, concerned with the contradictions of military spending in monopoly capitalism, produced many different theories as a subset within the imperialism debate. Rosa Luxemburgs is one theorization, which led to modern versions by Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, James OConnor, and other political economists.

What is your theoretical understanding of what is the impact of military spending on the accumulation of capital, understanding that capitalism is, according to Marxist political economy, dominated by the profit motive?

PK: Again, this takes us into terrain central to the second volume. The profit motive is central to capitalism, but we have to say more than this. Profits can be acquired through production. They can also be acquired through pillage. The history of capitalism sees both co-existing. Each has its own benefits and costs.

The benefits of pillage are many. Concentrating on the expansion of the means of destruction can allow a state to bypass the more complex developmental steps required in expanding the forces of production. The Vandals and the Vikings were iconic examples of this. So were the absolutist states of late-feudal Europe. The imposition of the Rule of the Cash Nexus (discussed earlier), does not demonstrate the productive superiority of Europe, but rather its destructive superiority. European civilization was in no way more advanced than the American or African or Asian civilizations it encountered. It certainly did not possess a more productive economy. But it was more destructive. Shaped by a millennia of chaos following the fall of the Roman Empire, there developed a horrifying mass tolerance of and capacity for violence. It was this violence which was exported to the rest of the world in the form of European colonialism, laying the basis for the capitalist world economy.

In the 19th century, the British navy and in the modern era, the United States Pentagon, represent the continuation of the pillage aspect of capitalism. A focus on refining the means of destruction, allowed both to experience the many benefits of empire  access to markets, propping up of compliant compradors to facilitate the extraction of resource wealth, an ability to deploy a national currency as world money. All of these allowed tremendous wealth to flow into the British Isles in the 19th century, and into the U.S. in our era. Like the Vikings and the Vandals, the British and U.S. empires became adept at violently extracting surplus produced elsewhere.

However, there are also costs to empire. Sustaining one half of the worlds destructive power (as the U.S. has for decades) completely distorts U.S. central government finances. Huge portions of the central governments budget are permanently directed toward the military, resulting in an over-developed warfare state, and an underdeveloped welfare state (Kellogg, 2013). The second volume documents the way in which the maintenance of a welfare state is not simply good ethically. It has positive effects economically, because of the central role played by human capital in a modern economy.

Further, the diversion of surplus toward the warfare state, over time, has a profoundly negative impact on the civilian economy. The U.S. is a society that proclaims its opposition to all industrial policies. But, the privileged role of the Pentagon has in fact created one of the most aggressive state-directed industrial policy regimes ever seen in the history of capitalism. Civilian industries are starved over time, hence the Rust Belt in the Midwest and Northeast. Military industries are privileged and pampered, resulting in the Gun Belt in the south and west (Koistinen, 2012). The economic geography of the United States is a twisted and dysfunctional product of an addiction to war.

This is unsustainable in the long run. Over time, the question of productive capacity is more important than the question of destructive capacity. One consequence of sustaining a permanent war economy, has been the long-term secular decline since the end of the Second World War of the place of the United States in the world economy, and this decline continues in the 21st century. Its economy is, of course, absolutely bigger than it has ever been. But its relative position, by all measures, has declined and continues to do so. The George W. Bush administration gathered around itself the PNAC (Project for a New American Century) group of intellectuals who argued that this economic decline could be compensated for and offset by an aggressive assertion of military power (New Citizenship Project, 2006). The resulting fiascos in Iraq and Afghanistan did not simply fail militarily, politically, and ethically, they laid the groundwork for the Great Recession of 2008-2009, accelerating rather than reversing the relative decline of the U.S. I am well aware that there are many who dispute this position (Panitch & Gindin, 2012), but in my opinion the evidence for this decline is overwhelming.

Canadas relationship to this has been complex. Military parasitism has allowed Canadian capital to participate in the exploitation of sections of the world kept safe for capitalism by U.S. empire (the Caribbean being a classic example) while avoiding the overhead costs of empire. The benefits accruing to Canadian banking, mining and other capitalists have been substantial. However, the military parasite approach also involves exporting into the arms producing sector of the United States (or military client states of the U.S. such as Saudi Arabia). This makes Canadian capitalism quite vulnerable to the restructuring North America will confront should the maintenance of a massive arms economy become too costly for the U.S. elite.

RC: Id like to ask you a question in theoretical terms about how the Left does and should relate politically to trade agreements such as the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and this years Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the ways that neoliberal policy

thinking and the power of the capitalist power is extended. The theory of imperialism is key to locating Canada or any nation in the world market. I was wondering what is your relationship to Nikolai Bukharins theory of the internationalization and nationalization of capital in the Canadian context. This theorization is famous for concluding that capitalist competition increases interdependence between actors in the world economy on the one hand, and at the same time divides the world market into regional blocs. How should the Left understand and relate politically to neoliberal projects such as TPP in contemporary North American politics?

PK: The English translation of the title of Bukharins book is Imperialism and World Economy (1915a). It really should be World Economy and Imperialism (Bukharin, 1915b). The difference is not trivial. The central importance of Bukharin is not associated with his theory of imperialism, but his insistence on taking a world economy approach to all national economic questions. It is in this sense that I think Bukharin is an important thinker.

His framework does help us understand the push for blocs of capital such as NAFTA and the TPP. Increasingly, national economies are too small on their own to compete effectively in the world market, and there is a tendency toward regionalization. This helps us understand what NAFTA and the TPP are  moves toward regionalization and cartelization of corporate control  and on that basis we have to oppose them.

However, all sorts of dangers immediately emerge. The most readily available epistemologies to deploy in the face of either NAFTA or the TPP or the EU are various versions of nationalism. Again and again, this has resulted in the left keeping strange company. In Canada, the left nationalists made common cause with the Liberal Party in the campaign against Free Trade. It was, of course, the Liberal Party which, when in office, implemented NAFTA. In Britain in the campaign against the EU, George Galloway has shared a platform with Nigel Farage. And in North America, the most vocal critic of trade deals in the current moment, is none other than Donald Trump.

I think we have to pause here and learn lessons from history and from the Global South. From history, we should study Leon Trotskys notion of a socialist United States of Europe (Trotsky, 1923). Lenin had historically opposed the idea (1915). I think Trotsky was correct, and Lenin wrong. Trotsky was indicating the way in which the left has to acknowledge the limitations of a strictly national focus on economic development.

From the Global South, we need to take seriously the noble experiment of ALBA  the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Kellogg, 2007). This alliance has fallen on hard times, given the austere economic conjuncture being faced by Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela in particular. However, from its launch in 2005, ALBA articulated a non-nationalist vision of economic development, a solidaristic vision, which has been too little studied in North America. We need to offer a progressive politics of regional solidarity to counter the capitalist politics of regional exploitation.

Conclusions and Openings

RC: The book concludes very clearly that in the Canadian context, social injustice and inequality to do with race, gender, and class have to be understood in terms of a historical materialist conception of capitalism, and with them the revolutionary political implications that follow. Based on your class analysis, Id like to ask you about the contemporary terrain in Canadian politics. First, how would you identify what are the most important current political interventions and locations in Canadian society the Left ought to pursue as part of a revitalization of the Left?

PK: This is a wonderful question, but it does take the discussion quite a ways outside the framework of both books. Here I will only attempt a few very general remarks.

The left needs to seriously embrace a non economic-reductionist approach to class. An economic reductionist approach narrows our vision to the workplace and trade union organization. Given the low level of strike activity and the erosion of unionization rates, this can lead to a profound pessimism. But the answer to that pessimism is being provided outside the traditional structures of the workers movement  in Idle No More, in the Climate Justice movement, in Black Lives Matter, in the rage against the Ghomeshi ruling, in the Quebec student strikes. These are not external to the rebuilding of workers resistance, but integral components of it. We know this from past experience. The general strike in France in 1968 would not have happened without the preceding youth/student rebellion. Left sovereigntist resistance to martial law in Quebec in 1970 was the immediate background to the magnificent workers uprising in 1972. The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement (DRUM) represented the high water mark for the U.S. workers movement in the 1970s, and DRUM was a direct product of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

Building this kind of solidarity across movements also requires building solidarity across borders. This is quite relevant to the analyses of both books. The left-nationalist dependency school, both in its heyday and in the shadow it still casts over political discourse in Canada, tended to displace our focus from the Canadian elite to the U.S. or other foreign elites. In the current context, the tar sands problem has often been framed as pitting us against non-Canadian corporations which are directing the exploitation of this resource. I have an article coming out in the Journal of Canadian Studies (Kellogg, 2015c), showing that, in fact, the tar sands are in their majority exploited by Calgary-based Canadian corporations. Larry Pratt and John Richards in Prairie Capitalism (Richards & Pratt, 1979) were prescient in this regard. One side of the politics flowing from this is restrictive  when it comes our struggle for climate justice, just as it was for the anti-war movement in Karl Liebknechts time, the main enemy is at home (Liebknecht, 1915). The other side is expansive. We have many allies with whom we can link arms across all borders, including the one between Canada and the USA.

RC: What kind of transitional programmatic demands seem most important to build upon in order to relate different groups and perceived interests together to build and expand popular unity?

PK: It would be out of place for me to make specific suggestions. The key demands will emerge organically  and creatively  from the movements themselves. The role that political economy can play here, perhaps, is to indicate the way in which economic demands are intrinsically bound up with political demands. Here, we can profit by bringing into focus the political economy of Rosa Luxemburg (1915). There is a recurring tendency in historical materialism to try and understand capitalism solely through abstract formulae. It cant be done. You can to some extent conceptualize the market in the abstract. This was the method of Adam Smith, David Ricardo and the classical economists, and in the current day the method of the neoliberals and the monetarists. But the market is not the same as capitalism. The market  as Rosa Luxemburg showed more clearly than any other  can never on its own adequately valorize the products of labour. Capitalism has always married the market to this or that system of violence, forced labour, genocide and war. This is not contingent, but systemic.

So to challenge capitalism economically, we will be up against capitalism politically  against its racism, its drive to war, its refusal to deal with the continuing realities of settler-colonialism, etc. This is not a moral question, but one embedded within the logic of capitalism itself.
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Who did it best: Cast your vote for the high school football player of the week

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A look at the WIAA soccer playoff field entering sectional play

Here's a look at the sectional semifinals Thursday night and the possible matchups for the finals Saturday.
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A 3D map of the universe from 12 to 14.5 billion light-years away. Analyzing the positions of ancient galaxies helped a team of scientists verify Einstein's general theory of relativity, which describes how gravity warps space and time.

Just over one hundred years after Albert Einstein proposed his general theory of relativity, scientists have mapped nearly 3,000 ancient galaxies to confirm its rules held true in the early universe.

The galaxies in question, which are 13 billion light-years from Earth, formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. Researchers created a 3D map of the galaxies' positions to confirm that the effects of relativity are consistent through the life of the universe, suggesting that dark energy plays a role in the universe's expansion.

Using the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's Subaru telescope in Hawaii, researchers measured how the faraway galaxies clustered together and how quickly they moved through space. The team of scientists, led by Teppei Okumura and Chiaki Hikage of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Tokyo, and Tomonori Totani of the University of Tokyo, used Subaru to make the first comprehensive study of early galaxies at such a far distance. [The History and Structure of the Universe in Pictures]

"Among the various cosmological observations, large-scale structure surveys are considered to be extremely powerful tools," the scientists said in the new work, published April 26 in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan.

Scientists originally proposed the existence of dark energy, which makes up the bulk of the universe but cannot be directly detected, to explain how the universe is expanding, which ordinary matter and energy cannot account for. An alternative explanation of that expansion, however, relies on Einstein's general theory of relativity breaking down over time. Therefore, the team's confirmation that relativity holds true even in the universe's early ages supports the existence of dark energy.

"We tested the theory of general relativity further than anyone else ever has," Okumura said in a statement.

"It's a privilege to be able to publish our results 100 years after Einstein proposed his theory."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebookor Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
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Erdogan cannot afford to appear weak in the fight against terror. "For you, it's the refugees, for us, it's terror," says one official in Ankara. The belief is that counterterrorism policy is more important to the Turkish population than visa freedoms -- which explains why Erdogan is prepared to allow the refugee deal to fail should Brussels remain firm.

Furthermore, the Turkish president believes he has more negotiating leverage. Ankara has closely followed the European debate over refugee policy and the rise of right-wing populist parties in recent months. The president, say sources close to him, is convinced that the EU will ultimately back down and grant visa freedoms to the Turks. But if Europe does remain steadfast, says Elif Ozmenek Carmikli of the Ankara-based think tank International Strategic Research Organization, the question is when, not if, Turkey will revoke the refugee deal. To do so, Erdogan wouldn't even have to put the migrants in buses and drive them to the border, as he threatened in a conversation with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker last autumn. It would likely be enough were the Turkish police and military to cease patrolling the Turkish west coast and were Turkey to stop taking refugees back from Greece.

On Wednesday, Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir went on a goodwill tour in Strasbourg, visiting with important European parliamentarians like Martin Schulz, Manfred Weber and Elmar Brok, but the atmosphere was cool. At Erdogan's behest, Bozkir made it clear just how delicate a change to the anti-terror laws is in Turkey. But in Brussels, many believe the laws also provide Erdogan the tools he needs to take action against disagreeable critics. Several journalists, opposition politicians and activists have been arrested as suspected terrorists under provisions of the law. And for the EU, this is the decisive point. But the European Commission is fully aware how high the hurdle is for Turkey. "The demand targets the DNA of Erdogan's system," says one Commission source.

The most recent proposal to resolve the conflict has come from Ankara and calls for extricating the issue of Turkish anti-terror laws from the visa freedom debate and making the issue a part of Turkey's EU accession negotiations instead. The suggestion has received some support from within the European Commission, but Parliament President Schulz immediately rejected it.

Paying Attention

Currently, officials are looking into whether the results hoped for from a change to Turkey's anti-terror laws -- the protection of Kurds, opposition parliamentarians and journalists -- can be achieved in a different way. If they can, that would be a path worthy of discussion, say EU diplomats.

EU negotiators are paying particularly close attention to a constitutional amendment that the Turkish parliament intends to pass next week. The change would make it possible to lift the parliamentary immunity enjoyed by Turkish lawmakers and it is feared that such a change could disproportionately affect Kurdish parliamentarians . "Were that to come, it would have the flavor of a coup d'etat," says a Brussels source.

The tone between Ankara and Berlin is likely to worsen even further on June 2, when the German parliament intends to pass a resolution commemorating the 1915 genocide carried out by Turkey on the Armenians. Out of consideration for the sensitive negotiations with the government in Ankara, coalition parliamentarians opted not to pursue such a resolution last year. But now, with Erdogan not showing much interest in de-escalation, Merkel's conservatives along with the SPD want to pass the bill in three weeks' time. The draft resolution speaks clearly of "genocide" and of "planned expulsion and destruction." Germany's Foreign Ministry is certain that Ankara will summon the German ambassador to Turkey on the same day the resolution is passed.

Just how bad things are looking for the treaty can be seen in the fact that both sides are preparing for its failure. Erdogan would construe it as a European conspiracy against Turkey and his confidants are already fanning the flames of anti-European sentiment. Erdogan adviser Yigit Bulut says he never actually believed that the treaty with the EU would work.

More Europe

On the other side, the European Commission says that, if Turkey ceases patrolling its coastline and the number of refugees crossing the Aegean increases as a result, the hotspots on the Greek islands are ready. Because the Macedonian border would likely remain sealed, Greece would then become a gigantic refugee camp. Additional funding and assistance for the Greek administration are on standby for such an eventuality. Rejected asylum-seekers would then have to be flown home from Greece, but doing so would require repatriation deals with the source countries, and such deals currently exist only with some of them. Syrian refugees, of whom some 2 million are currently living in Turkey, couldn't be sent back to their war-torn country anyway. They would remain in the EU.

A failure of the deal would seriously damage Europe's relations with Turkey for years to come and could result in a return of the refugee crisis. But the consequences would be significant for Merkel as well. It would mark the largest and most significant failure of her time in office in an area that has long been seen as her greatest strength: foreign policy.

The opposition in Turkey is also concerned about the deal's potential failure, even if the introduction of visa freedoms would be a feather in Erdogan's cap. The EU's reputation and influence have suffered tremendously in Turkey in recent years, says Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP). During meetings with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and SPD head Sigmar Gabriel this week in Berlin, the Turkish opposition leader warned against the EU putting too much pressure on Turkey. "That doesn't help us," he says. Europe should show flexibility on the visa question, he adds, which could help the EU win back the support of the Turkish population.

"Visa liberalization is a beginning," says Kilicdaroglu. "We don't need less Europe in Turkey. We need more."

By Christiane Hoffmann, Horand knaup, Peter Muller, Ralf Neukirch, Maximilian Popp and Christoph Schult
The plan is also controversial within the EU. The "risks" listed in the action plan includes the fact that equipment financed by the Emergency Trust Fund could be abused by repressive regimes and used in the oppression of the civilian population. A general with Sudan's Interior Ministry told SPIEGEL and ARD that technology would not just be used to register refugees, but also all Sudanese. The regime's goal appears to be the absolute surveillance of its people.

Can Sudan Be a Serious Partner?

Experts like Peter also express doubts about whether Sudanese leader al-Bashir is prepared to take serious action against migrant smugglers. Human Rights Watch has claimed in reports that the Sudanese regime itself works together with criminal networks. The report alleges that the police and military have sold refugees to human traffickers. The European Commission, meanwhile, has warned EU ambassadors in a classified memo that Sudan is primarily interested in polishing its image abroad.

Germany and the other EU member states nevertheless seem determined to push ahead with their pact with the despot. Sudanese authorities say there have been numerous visitors from Germany in recent weeks who were there to discuss the construction of closed camps. When questioned about its role, Germany's GIZ issued a written reply that there were no concrete plans in the country yet.
Berlin, May 13, 2016 (SPS) - Members of Parliament Bundestag, Frank Heinrich (CDU), Kerstin Tack (SPD), Sevim Dagdelen (Die Linke) and Katja Keul (Alliance '90 / The Greens) and members of the board of the Association "Freedom for Western Sahara have demanded the organization of a referendum of self-determination in Western Sahara.

According to a press statement from the said members of the Bundestag issued Thursday on occasion of the debate at the plenary session of the German Parliament (Bundestag) on Western Sahara by the Alliance '90 / The Greens Party under the title "25 year of ceasefire agreement in Western Sahara - Implement UN Resolution 690, to hold the referendum ".

"We demand to do everything you can do to organize a referendum as soon as possible, as well as to extend the mandate of MINURSO to monitor human rights."SPS

125/090/TRA
Organised in conjunction with BBC Farming Today, which will be airing the debate at 6.30am on Radio 4 on Saturday 14th May, 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, he added.

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 was also far from certain, with tremendous concerns over the Euro, EU growth, and middle Eastern migration. This project is failing, he added.

But leaving the single market wouldn't be a disaster. 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.
The 750,000 facility, which will operate alongside Harper Adams existing dairy unit, will serve the Agricultural Engineering Precision Innovation (Agri-EPI) Centre, which received 17.7 million investment under the Governments Agri-tech Strategy to help the UKs agri-food sector develop advanced technologies that will increase productivity and sustainability in UK agriculture.

The Centre will have hubs in Edinburgh, Harper Adams University (the Agri-Innovation Hub, already under construction) and Cranfield University, but will also be served by a series of farms and processing facilities equipped with the latest sensing and imaging equipment  including the new precision dairy unit at Harper Adams.

The new dairy will be one of three such units within Agri-EPI, with Kingshay Farming in Somerset and SRUC in Dumfries involved in establishing the others.

Professor of Applied Animal Behaviour, Mark Rutter, explained:

The new dairy facilities within Agri-EPI will enable scientists, the dairy industry and agri-engineering companies to work together to develop the next generation of dairy housing and management.
Every company -- regardless of size -- has the ability to give back to its community. This can encompass anything from donating time to an animal shelter to raising thousands of dollars to a school or nearby hospital. Here at Nextiva, weve long had a culture of community giving (check out this video of our CEO in the 2014 ALS Ice bucket Challenge), but only recently did we decide to formalize our program.

Related: Businesses Must Make a Stand on Important Social Issues

Last fall, we launched Nextiva Cares, the philanthropic arm of our company, and decided to focus on a different charity every month. In October, we gave money to the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix to help with the construction of its new medical school. Since then, weve initiated food drives, toy drives and Thanksgiving turkey donations. Earlier this year, we decided to turn to social media and asked our followers to join in on the fun.

Target: The Phoenix Childrens Hospital.

Goal: To raise as much money as possible to help construct its new Pediatric Trauma Center.

We announced the partnership on social media and told followers that for every like, re-tweet and share they offered, we would donate $1 to the cause. We werent sure what the response would be, but within minutes, we had 100 shares. Within days, we had 1,000, and within weeks 5,000.

By the end of the month, we presented the hospital with a check for more than $12,800 -- an event documented on the local news. Now, our team is busy crafting another fundraiser for the Nextiva Cares program.

Are you a business owner who wants to give back? Get started with these tips.

1. Pick a charity.

Start local. Are you a pet owner? Consider partnering with an animal shelter. Could your business provide pro bono work (i.e., law, tax or psychology-related)? Reach out to a womens shelter and offer assistance. Could your local food bank or food pantry use some help?

Make a list and discuss options with your management team. Talk about how you will incorporate your companys mission, and employee work schedules. Decide if you want to donate time (staffers cutting out of work two hours early every other Friday) or money. If the latter, start brainstorming fund-raising options (I recommend the social media route).

2. Reach out.

Most charities will welcome the help, so reach out and schedule a meeting. Come prepared with ideas, but also leave space to hear how your assistance/funds can go the furthest. Be open to pivoting your plans to suit their needs.

Related: Corporate Social Responsibility Done Right: 5 Ways to Help Your Company Shine

3. Choose a cadence for your program.

Do you want to give back once a year or once a month? Want to focus on one charity per month or one per year? Get realistic with the constraints in time and financials that you'll face with these types of partnerships. It makes sense to start small at first, gauge employee/donor interest and build from there.

4. Dont expect a return.

The most successful corporate-giving campaigns do not factor in ROI, but instead give back for the greater good. Your company should have the same mission.

Donors will be able to see through business motives (i.e., increasing sales and marketing numbers) when asked for money.

Related: 7 Steps to Up Your Corporate Social Responsibility Game

So, instead, focus on helping others without any benefit to your company, and your authenticity will shine through.

Related:

How to Start a Charitable-Giving Program at Your Company

7 Ways to Leave the World a Better Place

3 Methods to Transform into a Socially Responsible Organization



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
F ormer Bank of England hawkish rate-setter Andrew Sentance made his own contribution to National Limerick Day yesterday.

There was an economist called Sentance/ Who believed he was talking good sense/ These low rates are bad/ And theyre driving me mad/ So its high time to end all this nonsense.

The Bank decided otherwise, holding rates at 0.5% 

If Carlsberg did football... oh, hang on

Carlsberg may be sponsoring this years Euro 2016 tournament in France but spare a thought for Dutch boss Cees t Hart after the Netherlands failed to qualify.

English exec Chris Warmoth, who heads the brewers Asian division, ribbed his boss this week after he was asked about the benefit of Carlsbergs sponsorship.

Because Cees t has no vested interest in this area, with Holland not participating, Im sure hell answer, Warmoth quipped. The forlorn Dutchman failed to rise to the bait.
S hares in Coca-Cola HBC lost their fizz today as the Greek-based bottler of the famous soft drink revealed that foreign exchange movements have eaten into revenues this year.

The FTSE 100 company, which is also listed in Athens, said revenues sank 2.7% to 1.3 billion (1 billion) in the first quarter of the year, though total volume of sales slightly improved to 439.6 million unit cases.

Weak emerging markets currencies combined with a strong euro knocked revenues, which on a constant-currency basis rose 2%.

Chief executive Dimitris Lois said: While soft in the quarter, pricing trends in developing markets are improving.

Investors were unconvinced and the shares fell 56p, or 4%, to 1341p. With little appetite for bold bets, it was another day to take profits as the FTSE 100 drifted 39.18 points lower to 6065.01. Concerns about more shaky Chinese data over the weekend kept buyers on the sidelines.

The insurers were also on the losing side, with Direct Line 11.4p cheaper at 362.1p and More Than owner RSA off 10.9p at 465p. Traders suggested it could be in the wake of weak demand for US bonds, but also pointed at the profits slump from Italian insurer Generali.

Investors were still wary of Inmarsat, down another 54p to 740p after last week, warning that sales this year would be lower than expected. Today, the shares continued on their slippery slope as satellite rival Eutelsat dived 30% in Paris after a profit warning.

On the mid-cap index, tech firm Micro Focus dropped 52p to 1511p as major shareholder Wizard, a consortium of investors including the US hedge fund Elliott, edged closer to the exit. Wizard sold 24 million shares at 1505p each for 362 million, leaving it with a 2.6% stake. Oil and gas firm Hunting plunged 31.75p to 266.5p after warning yesterday that trading in the first quarter was very weak. Canaccord said it was worse than we feared.

With the price of gold shining, it was only a matter of time before its rise was reflected by City analysts. Credit Suisse topped up its target price on Acacia Mining by 80p to 380p on the basis, helping the former African Barrick Gold up 4.5p to 332p.

On AIM, online casino 32Red jumped 9.46p to 125.71p after a deal to sponsor Leeds United next season and a strong trading update.

Indian renewables firm Mytrah Energy improved 2.22p to 52.47p after more power was commissioned at three of its projects.

However, controversial changes to the terms of share options mean chairman and founder Ravi Kailas will now get his hands on close to 6 million in shares effectively for free.
T he experience of shoppers, staff and suppliers will now play a part in setting what remuneration Tescos chief executive gets, the grocers annual report revealed today.

Dave Lewis landed 4.6 million in pay and bonuses last year but has been granted options over a potential 2.16 million shares  worth 3.4 million at todays share price  under its long-term share scheme.

The shares will vest in 2019 depending on his success in turning round the supermarket, which faces battles including a Serious Fraud Office investigation over an accounting scandal and rampant discounters.

But Tesco said today that 20% of the award will be based on factors including the share of customers recommending it as a place to shop as well as supplier and staff satisfaction.

The more traditional total shareholder return benchmark accounts for 50% of the bonus plan and cash generation 30%.

Last month Tesco reported annual profit of 162 million, up from a 6.3 billion loss  the biggest-ever on Britains High Street  in 2015.

Despite the signs of progress, Stefan Stern of the High Pay Centre said Tesco should tread carefully when it comes to executive pay.

I think business leaders need to think very carefully about the impression they create through the rewards they take out of business, particularly if they are in a highly competitive, price-sensitive market.
D uncan Bannatyne, the TV star and outspoken critic of tax havens, faced embarrassment today after it emerged he will himself own part of his soon-to-be-floated health clubs empire through a tax haven.

After the 300 million flotation of The Bannatyne Group, part of the business will be owned by a Bannatyne family company in the British Virgin Islands.

The complicated structure will see BVI-based Bannatyne Brand Management Limited (BBML) sell the fitness chain the right to use the Bannatyne brand name in return for shares in the newly floated company.

Bannatyne has previously attacked fellow Dragons Den star James Caan for using a vehicle based in the Cayman Islands, another well-known tax haven.

He refused to go into business with Caan in 2010, saying: I am not feeding the coffers of the Cayman Islands or British Virgin Islands.

Last year, the 67-year-old Scot claimed BBML was set up because the Bannatyne group needed investment and shareholders wanted anonymity.

However, stock market listing documents seen by the Evening Standard show for the first time that the former Dragon owns 20% of the BBML offshore vehicle, with the remaining 80% controlled by members of his family.

Four of his daughters, Jennifer, Eve, Hollie, and Abigail, are also named in the documents as shareholders of The Bannatyne Group.

It is thought BBML will own a small percentage of the listed company.

Over the past three years, The Bannatyne Group, which has about 2800 staff, paid BBML 5.3 million for the rights to the Bannatyne name, but no longer owes fees under the new arrangement.

Last year, it paid 2.25 million.

Bannatyne declined to comment. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing.

Stockbrokers Allenby Capital and Mirabaud Securities are looking for institutional investors for the listing, likely to be next month.

Bannatyne is selling around 75 million of the company, which will be used to refurbish the health clubs gym facilities. The entrepreneur will retain around three-quarters of the company and is not looking to boost his personal fortune.

Last year, the groups revenues rose 3% to 100.9 million, with pre-tax profits reversing a slump in 2014 to leap 138% to 8 million.

The board will be led by Playtech chairman Alan Jackson, who stepped down as The Restaurant Groups chairman yesterday.

Bannatyne is taking a non-executive seat on the board. Justin Musgrove, who spent 19 years at Center Parcs, is chief executive, and Kenneth Campling took over as finance boss early last year after the exit of Christopher Watson, who was found guilty of taking almost 8 million from the business to pay off gambling debts.
T he election of Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London has already had a profound effect on political culture. Last night I dreamt that my wee brother had become the Mayor of Glasgow.

I texted him about how daft that was and got a message back saying he was about to announce his campaign team and that I wasnt on it. Story of my life.

Sadiqs election generated a feelgood factor not experienced in the capital since the 2012 Olympics, and of course a large part of it was down to the fact that he was different  the Muslim son of a bus driver (dont know if you guys picked up on that?)

Weve talked about changing political culture for a long time but his election was something many never thought they would see. A longstanding Labour supporter of black and Asian candidates told me: Weve waited a long time for this. It feels like our Obama moment.

And I kind of know what he means. Things feel different. The media representation of what a Muslim man looks like is already redefined. Its not a man with a crazed look in his eye and a hook; its not a political prisoner; its not an enemy or a victim.

Its a successful, professional politician gleaming in a sunlit Southwark Cathedral surrounded by figures from different faiths. Its a global statesman welcoming important foreign dignitaries to this great city. Its an adoring husband with his super-smart, lawyer wife Saadiya, whom he clearly relies on for support and strength and their two daughters  its the portrait of an everyday, aspirant British family.

Now that weve seen one big change in our political culture lets see it more widely in the culture of our city. London is one of the hottest creative spots on the planet.

Our art, music, theatre, fashion, film and all the rest make our city shine, and very rich, but theres a problem when it comes to the culture within our culture.

When our mayor goes to the National Theatre or the Royal Opera House, his face shouldnt be the only non-white one there.

I urge Sadiq Khan to embrace culture and the creative industries in all their artistic and commercial glory but he should make it his mission to ensure that they do more to open up to people from all communities and backgrounds  particularly young people.

Sadiq has said he will be a mayor for all Londoners and how poetic would it be if the bus drivers boy from Tooting made everyone feel that we had a genuine share in our capitals cultural treasure trove.

Just like politics, culture should be for all, not just a few at the top.

Stars like Sheridan deserve respect

Sheridan Smith has been signed off for four weeks for stress and exhaustion from her lead role in Funny Girl after a number of cancelled performances. Can we all just give this woman a break? She is not a machine. She is a talented actress who we have all come to love until she demonstrates some signs of being a human being.

Shes burnt out. Her father has cancer. She just missed out on a Bafta for her heartbreaking performance in The C Word, playing her friend Lisa who died of cancer. Anyone with any empathy spotting a theme? Shes had a really s*** time.

If we dont want our artists to be allowed to experience real emotions like grief, maybe we should banish humans and just have machines in lead roles like in War Horse?



Tories should apologise for their smears

A week is a long time in politics. Last Thursday the Tories were still running a losing mayoral campaign. Now Sadiq Khan has won and Michael Fallon faces legal action from Suliman Gani, the Tooting iman, whom the Defence Secretary said supported Islamic State, comments Gani says put his and his familys life at risk. (Gani said he backed the creation of an Islamic state, not the extremist group.)

Fallon says it was an inadvertent error but Im not sure. He is the guy who hysterically said Ed Miliband is willing to stab the UK in the back to become prime minister. The PM has now also issued an apology, but its not good enough. Fallon, David Cameron and Zac Goldsmith should apologise for using such embarrassing smear tactics. As someone once said: Britain can do better than this.

* Nicola Thorp got grief for not wearing high heels for her first day working as a temp receptionist at PwC. When she complained that men werent asked to wear them, her boss sent her home without pay.

This has generated a petition to parliament. Obvs. But I think we should amend it to make it compulsory for everyone to wear heels. Once men had got over the horror of toe cleavage Id just love to see how their size-12 tootsies fared after a day of basically walking on your tip-toes doing very expensive self-harm.

I know the thought of seeing Terry from IT in stilettos and leather hotpants like the bloke on the Money Supermarket advert is probably making you feel queasy but think about it ... if men could walk in our shoes and then realised we can run in heels, surely we can run the world?
T he ambitious plans outlined today by Sadiq Khan for reducing traffic pollution through a new toxicity T-charge and a raft of other potentially far-reaching measures are hugely encouraging. As this newspaper emphasised during the mayoral contest, improving the quality of our air is one of the most critical challenges that this city faces over the coming years; a point distressingly highlighted by figures last month suggesting that more than 1,000 Londoners have already lost their lives this year because of long-term exposure to the tiny particulate pollutants pumped out in exhaust fumes. Mr Khans decision to respond so quickly, only a week after taking office, is therefore commendable.

The proposed T-charge, which would use the same camera technology as the existing congestion charge to levy a fee on drivers of the most polluting vehicle models, is the most eye-catching of the measures outlined today and should help make central Londons air cleaner. Action to benefit the rest of the city is also proposed, ranging from a potential expansion of the new Ultra Low Emission Zone, already planned for the city centre for 2020, up to the South and North Circular Roads to a series of changes to reduce bus pollution. Such measures are important because good quality air is essential for all Londoners, not just those living or working in the centre.

Other reforms are likely to require government help. Mr Khan wants Transport for London to examine a diesel scrappage scheme, which would encourage motorists to replace polluting cars sooner, but is likely to need funds from Whitehall. These should be provided, although it will be a test for the Mayor to see whether he can work with the Tory-controlled Treasury to secure this.

There is an economic imperative too. Londons future success, so crucial to the country, depends on this city remaining a healthy and appealing place to live. Mr Khans task in delivering this will not be easy. But as he strives to bring us all cleaner air, he deserves our support.

House price challenge

In the seven years to 2015 the proportion of first-time homebuyers earning more than 50,000 a year rose from 27 per cent to 42 per cent. For those on middle incomes of 20,000-50,000, the idea of owning a property is ever more difficult to realise.

Sadiq Khan has promised that under his mayoralty London will get more homes. In recent years, there was too much focus on the luxury market, with ordinary buyers priced out. Measures including more tax on buy-to-let properties and the prospect of increased transparency for foreign and off-shore investors could ease that problem. Developers say they now concentrate on more affordable schemes. Yet affordability is relative and the new mayor must maintain pressure on the citys home builders. In particular, he must ensure Londoners get first refusal on new properties  they shouldnt be marketed in China unless there are no takers here. We shouldnt forget renters. Steps to improve the security and affordability of tenancies would create more options for Londoners who dont fancy being burdened by a hefty mortgage.

Our understudy stars

Understudy Natasha Barnes has stepped into Sheridan Smiths shoes as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl to rave reviews and is set for an extended run. Her success follows Noma Dumezwenis Royal Court triumph last year, when Kim Cattrall withdrew from the lead role in Linda. When big names pull out, ticket-holders shouldnt despair  they can witness a new star being born instead.
F or centuries, artists, scientists and thinkers have built machines in their own image. They have made mechanical monks, flute players and draughtsmen  even an armoured knight, conjured up by the great Leonardo da Vinci. Paradoxically, they all tell us what it means to be human.

A few days ago we launched a Kickstarter campaign to rebuild Eric, an iconic British robot. Born in 1928, in Gomshall, Surrey, Eric was the UKs first humanoid robot. Blue sparks flew from his mouth as he spoke and he caused a sensation on a world tour. When Eric mysteriously disappeared in 1929, the nation lost a British take on a profound aspect of robots that is often overlooked: this armoured, knight-like bot offered a distorted aluminium mirror with which to view the human condition.

Our dream is that Eric will be one of the stars of an exhibition next February that my colleague Ben Russell has worked on for five years. With luck, Eric will join the most significant collection of humanoid robots ever to gather in one place.

Surviving images show that on Erics chest is emblazoned RUR  a reference to Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti (Rossums Universal Robots), a 1920 science fiction play by the Czech Karel Capek, who first coined the word robot, the Czech for serf.

Many people see this play as marking the dawn of robots. In fact, first light glimmered centuries earlier. For millennia we had reimagined ourselves with painting, carving or sculpture but through robots we started to recreate ourselves as mechanisms, revealing a fundamental urge to forge mechanical reflections of our own image.

Take me to your leader: Kate Perks of the Science Museum with a 1967 Cygan robot, which will feature in the show / Alex Lentati / Evening Standard

Between the medieval period and the 17th century the universe began to be seen as a machine. Routine movements of the heavens found physical form in the creation of clocks in the Middle East, Europe and China. These self-regulating machines are, in the most general sense, robots. The mechanical metaphor extended as we started to rationalise the body as a machine to figure out how our innards worked.

In the Renaissance, machines were thought the work of man, and living things were the work of God alone. But da Vinci looked to the miracles of the natural world for mechanical inspiration, and in his notebooks can be found references to gears, wheels and pulleys to animate a robotic knight for a pageant in Milan in the 1490s.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, as automata and industrial mechanisms imitated our behaviour, human beings were being reduced to machines  as my colleague Ben puts it, small, frightened pieces of automata in a huge and overwhelming industrial machine.

One doll-like scribe built by Pierre and Henri Jaquet-Droz was able to write any text up to 40 letters long. It could even beg the question I do not think, do I therefore not exist? The automaton was seen by Mary Shelley, who animated the inanimate with Frankenstein.

Next month in the museum, Sir Chris Frayling will give a talk on how Frankenstein is the creation myth of today which shapes our attitudes to re-animators, replicants and, of course, robots too.

In the 20th century the focus shifted towards machines that seemed intelligent. Among the innovators was William Grey Walter, who pioneered autonomous robots such as cybernetic tortoises, which he showed off in the Science Museum during the Festival of Britain in 1951.

More recently, as humanoid robots have starred in Star Wars, Ex Machina and the Terminator films, their sphere of influence has expanded. Early robots lived in churches. By the 19th century they had moved to factories, while 20th- century varieties tended to be found in theatres, cinemas and showrooms.

At the end of the 19th century Oscar Wildes The Soul of Man Under Socialism had welcomed the mechanisation of tedious labour, but todays robots are quite another story as they take over work and the home.

Once upon a time they tackled jobs that were dull, dumb, dirty or dangerous. But even at the outset they had greater ambitions. Eric himself was built to stand in for a human, the Duke of York, who had dropped out of opening The Society of Model Engineers, and made his debut at its annual exhibition by standing, giving a speech and then taking a bow. Today robots are taking on increasingly autonomous roles and theres been much speculation about which professions will be outsourced to machines, and when.

In popular culture, humans and machines are usually seen as separate, often pitted against each other. Even though some do look a bit scary (a remarkable American robot, Atlas, comes to mind) the reality is that many are being designed to work with us as co-bots.

Theres another, more intriguing, possibility. As long ago as 1839, Edgar Allan Poe told the tale of a wounded soldier whose body was rebuilt using synthetic parts. This is what we call a cyborg, or cybernetic organism, a term coined in 1960 when discussing how to blend technology with the body to help astronauts survive in space.

In recent years, humans have steadily fused with pacemakers, prosthetics, insulin pumps, cochlear implants, exosuits and other devices. Within a decade or two it wont be so easy to distinguish enhanced humans from humanoid robots. We are even beginning to question what we mean by flesh and machine. At the end of this month, at the Hay Festival, I will interview Venki Ramakrishnan, president of The Royal Society, who was awarded a Nobel Prize for revealing the secrets of the ribosome, a molecular machine consisting of almost half a million atoms.

Within every cell of your body, ribosomes toil with mind-boggling precision to create proteins, many of which form molecular machines that walk, ratchet, twist and whirl. From the perspective of modern science, were all chemical robots.

Robots will run from February 8 to September 3, 2017, at the Science Museum, where Roger Highfield is the director of external affairs.
Review at a glance









T he Big Short successfully blended comedy and drama in attacking the financial markets. Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster, is a simpler beast. George Clooney plays a monstrously over-confident TV financial adviser, Lee Gates. Lees personal life is going down the tubes, with his marriages getting shorter, an escort service the first number on his speed dial, his skilful producer Patty (Julia Roberts) quitting her job, in despair at his incorrigibility.

Then one of Lees tips comes back to haunt him. A few weeks back he enthused about an investment firm, Ibis, trading through ultra-high-speed algorithms, as a safer bet than a savings account. Now it has lost $800 million in one day, the shares have plummeted, and its chief executive (Dominic West) has disappeared.

As Lee begins his spiel, a low-wage loser called Kyle (appealingly played by Jack OConnell, good at being angry) bursts into the studio with a gun and suicide-bomb vest, which he forces Lee to wear, while the live broadcast continues.

Hostage to fortune: George Clooney struts his stuff in Jodie Fosters comedy-thriller

Kyle has put all his inheritance, $62,000 from his late mother, into Ibis and now he wants revenge. From here on, its a pretty straightforward hostage stand-off movie with a drumming soundtrack, in which Lee not only shows resource in surviving the situation but genuinely tries to get some answers for Kyle about how all that money could disappear (the answer, disappointingly, is not systemic villainy, nor even computing madness, but one bad egg).

There are a couple of funny moments  one when Lee tries to get his viewers to push the Ibis stock back up to save his life, only for it to sink; another when Kyles pregnant girlfriend is brought on to calm him but instead attacks him furiously: Youre not a man, youre a bitch, you cry when you f***, pull the f***ing trigger.

But essentially this is a uncomplicated comedy-thriller, in which Clooney comes good for the little guy and finds his own redemption, Julia Roberts changes her mind, and the markets are not guilty (although, it has to be said, Hollywood corn is always naughtily enjoyable at Cannes amid the grimly serious auteurs, delivering three hours of depression confined to a single flat in Romania, etc).

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A n acclaimed Chinese restaurant run by a chef who could not wait to escape from the kitchen when he was growing up has been shortlisted for the Evening Standard London Restaurant of the Year award.

Andrew Wong, 34, was drafted in to help at his parents Victoria restaurant as a dishwasher from the age of eight or nine. He said: I absolutely didnt want to do it anymore, I spent that much time in a kitchen, I never thought Id enjoy myself as much as I have.

After studying chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford  following in Margaret Thatchers footsteps  and anthropology at LSE, Wong was drawn back to the family business when his father died during his second year as a student in London.

He enrolled at Westminster Kingsway College culinary school and discovered he had a natural aptitude and genuine passion for cooking after all.

ES London Restaurant Awards promo

Wong entered Chinese cookery contests and eventually won the Chinese Masterchef title in London. He travelled around China working in kitchens ranging from a noodle stand in Chengdu to the Millennium Hotel in Qingdao.

The London restaurant reopened as A Wong three years ago and has been winning plaudits ever since. Wong said his vision has been to give people a little insight into the cuisine of China as a whole rather than a particular region. Dishes are slightly smaller than usual to encourage diners to experiment. Similarly, the widely praised dim sum are sold individually, from 1.30 for clear shrimp dumpling, sweet chilli sauce, citrus foam, rather than lumped together in a basket.

A 55 10-course tasting menu visiting many regions includes Anhui province red braised fermented fish belly with mixed vegetables and dried shrimps, and Yunnan seared beef with mint, chilli and lemongrass served with a pulled noodle cracker and truffle. The winner of the Champagne Laurent-Perrier Restaurant of the Year will be revealed at the Evening Standard Restaurant Awards on the opening night of Taste of London Festival on 15 June.

Voting for the Champagne Laurent-Perrier London Restaurant of the Year Award is open until 23:59 on Sunday, June 12 at: standard.co.uk/esrestaurantawards

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Details added (first version posted on 12:51)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Seba Aghayeva - Trend:

Azerbaijan has started a decisive stage to eliminate the consequences of Armenian aggression, liberate its occupied territories and restore its territorial integrity, said Azerbaijan's Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.

He made the remarks May 13 in Baku during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments along the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan stand at the root of the conflict, noted the deputy minister.

Khalafov also expressed regret that the conflict is called the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Unfortunately, the former authorities of Azerbaijan failed to prevent it and in 1992, at the time of adoption of the Helsinki document on the conflict, it was named the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. "In reality, it is the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan are the root of this conflict."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Asebaa
T ravel doesnt have to break the bank if youre willing to travel to off-the-beaten-path destinations.

From unspoilt beaches in East Africa to quaint cobblestoned streets in Quebec City; whether youre looking to soak up the sun or get your cultural injection, there are plenty of unsung holiday locations that will spare you from spending an arm and a leg this year.

But if youre unsure of where to start looking for a brilliant deal, Lonely Planet has done the hard yards for you, scouring the globe to find the cheapest holiday destinations for 2016.

Their round up of budget holiday hotspots covers beach escapes, city destinations and exotic adventure stays, meaning theres something for every intrepid traveller - whether youre travelling solo or with a family in tow.

So give your wallet a rest this summer and get more bang for your buck by clicking through our gallery of money-saving destinations.

Follow us on Twitter: @eslifeandstyle

Pictures provided by alamy.com
D o yourself a favour and experience the new-gen Singapore...

No longer merely a clean and green place to do business, the Lion City is roaring. With its mix of international and local talent, Singapore is in overdrive with new culinary concepts and an exploding nightlife scene. Avoid the tourist laden Orchard Road and Marina Bay Sands, and opt instead for the art deco 'hood of Tiong Bahru. Bar and restaurant hop through Chinatown's converted pre-war shophouses. Explore the leafy, colonial ex-army barracks of Dempsey Hill. And, of course, drink in the views from several rooftops. But there's no need to avoid the classics: the unbeatable street food and local flavours of Singapore.

Tiong Bahru

Tiong Bahru Market

For an old-meets-new take on Singapore, head to one of the island's oldest housing estates and first hipster hood, Tiong Bahru  early. Wander the ground floor of the traditional wet market to watch the quintessential haggling over fresh produce (meat, fish fruit) before heading upstairs for breakfast at the open air hawker centre. It is everything typically Singaporean: fresh baos, wonton noodles, bak kut teh, Chinese-style carrot cake the list goes on.

Afterwards peruse the colourful art-deco shops of Tiong Bahru, filled with modern bakeries, cafes, bars and bookstores.

Chinatown

For up-tempo dining, hit Chinatowns famous Keong Saik Road. The shophouses, once home to seedy brothels and KTV lounges now house the hottest eateries on the island. Case in point: Burnt Ends. Manned by Australian chef Dave Pynt, his inventive take on wood grilling and barbecue (which first turned heads at his Burnt Ends pop up in east Londons Climpsons Arch) keeps this 25-seater restaurant perennially packed with Singapores louche crowd and industry insiders, from in and out of Singapore.

Burnt Ends Food

Next door, youll find the equally popular four floors of Potato Head Folk. Burgers on the first and second floors, cocktails on the third and a small but packed rooftop bar on the fourth. Other favourites on the street include the rowdy modern izakaya, Neon Pigeon, Jason Athertons The Study (British cuisine), or for Atherton's take on Spanish, go around the corner to Esquina.

Neon Pigeon

Finish up with a bar hop down Hong Kong Street and Bukit Pasoh Road. Consistently rated in the world's best bars lists, a gimlet or two at Singapores original speakeasy, 28 Hong Kong Street, is a no brainer. Move on to the Latin American vibes of Vasco and finish with a nightcap at the sleek Ginza-style speakeasy D.Bespoke.

Dempsey Hill

Reddot Brewhouse Dempsy Road

Once a British army camp, the leafy, colonial enclave of Dempsey Hill may be unassuming, but its a hive of activity, with cafes, bars and restaurants all housed in the abandoned barracks buildings and charming black and white colonial houses. Here, the choice is yours: foie gras and bacon marinated burgers at the Roadhouse, European inspired cuisine at White Rabbit, inventive Asian brasserie fare at Chopsuey Cafe, or go for the authentic Singaporean favorites: seafood lovers should make tracks to Long Beach Seafood for its infamous chilli crab, while those on the hunt for Tamil cuisine should make a bee line to Samys Curry House, an institution famous for its hot, no-frills south Indian curries, served on banana leaves.

Chop Suey Cafe at Dempsey Hill

As with dining options, watering holes are not hard to find in Dempsey Hill  you just need to know what you want. From Singapores first locally owned microbrewery, RedDot BrewHouse, to all manner of margaritas at the aptly named Margaritas, to al fresco drinking at the The Green Door  its all there.

Rooftops

Loof Bar

Eschew the sky high rooftops like CE LA VI and Altitude for those with a little more soul. Loof fits right into this category. The original rooftop bar in Singapore still pulls a crowd of mostly locals looking for a post-work watering hole in fun, casual atmosphere: think loud tunes, affordable drinks and beer pong. Keep it casual, but go slightly more intimate at Potato Head Folks fourth floor tiki bar with views over Keong Saik Road. For a glossier affair, nab a table in the man-made SuperTree by Indochine, an al fresco rooftop bar with striking views of Singapores skyline, including the Eye and Marina Bay Sands.

Potato Head Folk Rooftop

Chloe Sachdev is a lifestyle and travel writer. Follow her on Instagram here.

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T he father accused of killing six-year-old Ellie Butler in a fit of rage told jurors today he initially thought his partners pregnancy was the kiss of death.

Ben Butler, 36, is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering his daughter, 11 months after winning a custody battle to get her back.

Prosecutors allege Butler and his partner Jennie Gray, also 36, covered up the murder at the family home in Sutton, south-west London after their daughter suffered catastrophic head injuries in October 2013.

Giving evidence, he told jurors he met his partner, who is also on trial facing a charge of child cruelty, in a bar in 2006 and they had a "casual" relationship.

When he first heard she might be pregnant, he thought it was the "kiss of death", the court heard.

But he went on to describe fatherhood as "amazing", adding: "I still remember she [Ellie] was sucking on my little finger.

"Before I have got friends and family with babies, they bring them round and put them on your lap and it's f****** boring, but with her I felt it was completely different.

I was really proud of her."

The court heard how Butler was jailed for 19 months for "shaking" Ellie in 2007 when she was seven weeks old, but his conviction was quashed on appeal.

Butler also said today that he was being unfairly tried for arguing with his wife and refused to be "muzzled" during an angry rant in which he accused experts of being "biased" and "corrupt".

The prosecution say Butler had a volatile character and was frequently on the verge of losing his temper  citing abusive messages to his partner, in which he appears on the brink of violence.

Speaking about the earlier case in 2007, Butler said: "It's a f****** disgrace. Make no mistake about it. It has been slammed by the High Court judges, the way the trial was conducted.

"It was unfairly conducted. I had an unfair trial."

He went on: "It feels like I'm having an unfair trial now because firstly, I have been charged with murdering my daughter but you are trying me for arguing with my wife.

Mr Justice Wilkie warned he was getting into "difficult territory" but Butler retorted: "I'm not going to be muzzled - it's how I feel."

The judge said: "No-one is wanting to muzzle this witness," to which he replied: "Sounds like you are."

Butler denies murder while both defendants, of Sutton, south-west London, deny child cruelty. Gray, 36, has admitted perverting the course of justice in the wake of Ellie's death.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
A burglar who robbed elderly and disabled people after tricking his way into their homes in a six-month crime spree has been jailed for eight years.

Jesse Coker was branded loathsome after admitting 18 raids on pensioners in sheltered and assisted accommodation, including one victim aged 99.

He posed as a delivery man, a window cleaner, an electrician and even a social worker to get inside. Then Coker, 50, grabbed purses and cash before fleeing. One victim, 90-year-old Constance Tidy, lost 4,000 of her savings when Coker got into her home in East Dulwich.

Anna Manchini, 92, was targeted twice in the space of a week by Coker, who liked to return and burgle homes where he knew the occupant was frail and infirm. The 99-year-old victim was also robbed twice by Coker at her sheltered housing scheme in Greenwich. Some of the pensioners have been left unable to sleep and scared to leave their homes, Inner London crown court heard.

Coker, who has been a burglar since he was 10, achieved notoriety in 2012 when he broke into the home of Britains oldest woman, Grace Jones, just days after her 112th birthday.

He was jailed for four-and-a-half years in 2012 but was let out midway through the sentence  and within weeks had returned to crime.

Coker pleaded guilty to 15 burglaries and three attempted burglaries. Judge Roger Chapple, the Recorder of Southwark, branded him despicable and said he should be jailed for as long as possible to protect the public.

The judge told him: You targeted the elderly, the frail and the vulnerable  and the category of victims makes these offences frankly loathsome.
A "cruel and vindictive" Met Police detective who made fake leaflets advertising his ex-partner as a prostitute has been jailed.

Detective Sergeant Ian Mangham, 50, put his ex-girlfriend's phone number and address on cards advertising sexual services, which he stuck in phone boxes and pub toilets.

This led to her receiving calls from men seeking sex and even knocks at her door in the middle of the night, Hammersmith magistrates court has heard.

It was part of a campaign of harassment which also included turning up at her home late at night and bombarding her with junk mail and unwanted brochures.

He had started seeing the woman, who is now 38, when she went to police as a victim of domestic abuse and the couple had a four-year relationship.

Mangham, who has served in the Met for 26 years, was convicted of harassment and sentenced to 16 weeks prison at Hammersmith magistrates court.

He was also ordered to pay 3,000 compensation and 500 costs.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: In summing up, the judge said Mangham's actions were cruel and vindictive.

He said he had no option other than to give him an immediate custodial sentence.

The Met said a misconduct review will now be carried out.
A teenager who stabbed to death a college student with a fearsome Zombie Killer knife should be publicly named to try to stop similar attacks, a judge has ruled.

Blaise Lewinson, 17, bought the notorious machete-type weapon online and used it to attack Stefan Appleton just yards away from a childrens playground.

Stefan, 17, a promising college student, was stabbed in the heart when he tripped and fell as Lewinson approached.

The killer then fled on the back of a moped, shouting out the name of a local gang as the bike sped away.

Stabbed to death: Stefan Appleton / PA

Jailing Lewinson for life with a minimum of nine years, Judge Richard Hone QC said he should be identified for the first time after his conviction last month.

"There is in this case, because of the nature of the weapon, a public interest in deterrence", said the judge.

"It is important individuals who commit top-of-the-range offences should be named and the public should know the identity."

Lewinson, of Copenhagen Street, Islington, was just 16 when he killed Stefan in Nightingale Park on June 10 last year.

He and another 17-year-old who was driving the moped were acquitted by a jury of murder, but Lewinson faces a lengthy prison sentence today after being found guilty of manslaughter.

Stefan and his friends were playing a game of "pound up"  throwing coins against a wall - while young children played nearby on the swings and slides, the court heard.

"That peaceful scene was shattered and Stefan Appleton's young life was suddenly and violently ended", said prosecutor Simon Denison QC.

Lewinson jumped off the moped and pulled out the Zombie Killer knife, running towards Stefan and his friends who turned and fled.

However, Stefan tripped over a low fence and fell to the ground where he was stabbed through the heart and chest.

Mr Denison applied for reporting restrictions on Lewinson's identity to be lifted, saying the type of weapon had attracted national media attention.

"This was not the sort of small kitchen knife that is so often so foolishly carried by young people and then is used in a moment of madness", he said.

"This was a weapon with no legitimate purpose. It is called a Zombie Killer, which sounds as if it should be a toy, but it is anything but.

"It was a very big knife like a machete, and in the wrong hands it was a deadly weapon. That is the type of knife that was used to kill Stefan Appleton."

Following the conviction, Stefan's family called for a ban on Zombie Killer knives in the UK.

His father, David Noel, 55, said: "Why would you want to buy something like that and how can they be for sale?

This boy went online and ordered the knife with his street name, whatever that is, to his own address.

Its crazy. How can he order something like that when hes not 18 and have it delivered to his address under his street name?
A nurse at a mental health hospital in south London died after being stabbed at his workplace.

Police today launched a murder investigation after being called to The Southleigh Community in Brighton Road, South Croydon, at about 2.30pm on Thursday.

A man, who police said was in his 60s, was found at the mental health centre suffering from stab wounds and he later died from his injuries.

A spokesman for the unit, which is run by Inmind, today confirmed to the Standard the victim was a nurse at the hospital.

The spokesman added: We are greatly saddened to confirm that a member of staff lost his life yesterday following an incident in the hospital.

Our deepest sympathies are with his family, friends and colleagues.

He was a valued and respected member of staff who will be deeply missed.

We cannot say more as we are working closely with the police on their ongoing investigation into this incident.

The man's next of kin have been informed and formal identification is yet to take place.

A post-mortem examination will be carried out at Croydon Mortuary on Saturday.

A 40-year-old was arrested by murder detectives and was taken to a south London hospital for treatment for a hand injury.

Police said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.

Anyone with information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
P olice are hunting two men after a double stabbing in central London.

Scotland Yard today released CCTV images of the men they wish to speak to in connection with the attacks near Tottenham Court Road.

Detectives said the victims - two men aged 21 and 26 - were "lucky not to have received life-threatening injuries" after being knifed in Grafton Way.

They were taken to a central London hospital and were later discharged following the incident at about 6.40pm on April 18.

Temporary Detective Constable Arif Sheikh, from the Met's gang crime unit in Camden, said: "This was an unprovoked violent attack on two males in broad daylight, with a number of bystanders present.

"The attack involved the use of knives and the victims are lucky not to have received life changing injuries.

"I would appeal to anyone who may have witnessed the incident or have information to contact us as soon as possible."

Anyone with information is asked to call Camden CID on 07833 986367 or 020 8733 6136, or contact Crimstoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
T he home of Ukip MEP Tim Aker has been searched by police investigating allegations of sexual assault, the Standard can reveal.

Officers searched the house in Grays, Essex, with Mr Akers consent, after a former Ukip activist contacted police alleging that the East of England MEP had attacked her.

Mr Aker, 30, who has been an MEP since 2014 and was previously head of Ukips policy unit, voluntarily attended a police interview over the claim. The alleged attack is said to have taken place last September after a Ukip event attended by party leader Nigel Farage.

The woman first complained to party chairman Steve Crowther in December and it is understood last month she decided to make a police report after being disappointed with the outcome of the Ukip national executive committees review of her complaint.

Officers conducted a video interview with her on April 26 and three days later searched Mr Akers home in his presence. Essex police are also investigating an allegation of malicious communications after the alleged victim reported that letters about her and Mr Aker had been sent anonymously to politicians and members of the public. Mr Aker is also understood to have complained to police about the letters.

An Essex police spokeswoman said: Norfolk police were contacted on April 26 with a report of a sexual assault which took place in Essex Police inquiries are continuing.

A spokesman for Ukip said Mr Aker denied the sexual assault allegation against him.

Of course he denies it, he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The European Court of Human Rights has adopted a decision to review two grievances on the crimes committed by Armenian armed forces on the frontline in April, said Chingiz Asgarov, chief of section of the department on work with law enforcement bodies at Azerbaijan's Presidential Administration.

He made the remarks May 13 in Baku during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments along the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

Asgarov noted that the citizens have filed grievances over the crimes committed by Armenian armed forces.

"Applications to the European Court of Human Rights should be submitted by lawyers," he said. "If the communication process with regard to these grievances starts soon, the Azerbaijani side will take relevant steps."

Based on the information received from lawyers, Asgarov said that grievances over the houses destroyed by Armenian armed forces will also be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights soon.

"People should appeal to the European Court over the damages, the destroyed houses, since their rights defined by the European Convention have been violated," he added.

On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements.

Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. Ignoring the agreement, the Armenian side again started violating the ceasefire.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
M ore police officers are to be deployed on neighbourhood patrols in London as part of Sadiq Khans new vision of policing the capital.

Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said he was reviewing the forces neighbourhood policing model as a result of meeting the new Mayor.

In his manifesto Mr Khan pledged to boost local officers on patrol in wards and he told the Evening Standard that he had raised the issue at his first meetings with the Met chief.

He said: It is reassuring to have a commissioner who understands Londoners concerns and last Thursdays election gives me a mandate to carry through the promises I made.

I am clear after speaking to the current commissioner and previous senior officers how important neighbourhood policing is. As a dad with two teenage daughters I also understand how important it is we tackle knife crime. He was talking after meeting Sir Bernard at an armed police terror training exercise in central London in which he praised the work of firearms officers.

Sir Bernard said a review was under way of the Mets neighbourhood policing model, saying: We will work on neighbourhood policing to see if we can improve that.
A woman was left "shocked and afraid" after being sexually assaulted on a packed commuter train.

The victim had boarded a train at London Bridge when she was "touched inappropriately", police said.



In an attempt to stop him, she lowered her jacket but a minute later he placed his hand under her coat and continued to touch her.

British Transport Police's PC Mark Luke said: The victim was shocked and deeply afraid by these actions.

I am pleased the woman had the confidence to report the incident. Everyone has the right to travel on the rail network without fear of crime or intimidation.

The man who alighted at East Croydon between 6.42pm and 6.58pm is described as a small built, 5ft 8 pale looking Indian man in his 30s with short black cropped hair.

He was wearing a light coloured shirt, a light blue tie and a navy blue suit with a black jacket over the top.

He was also chewing loudly which could have made him stand out.

Anyone with information about the incident on April 27 should call 0800405040 or text 61016 quoting reference 224.
T he government is considering changing the law after a father who took his six-year-old daughter out of school to go to Disney World won a landmark High Court ruling.

The Department for Education insisted school attendance was "non-negotiable" and said it would look to change legislation and after Jon Platt successfully overturned a fine for taking the girl out of school.

Mr Platt, 44, refused to pay a 120 fine after taking his daughter to Florida during term time.

He was fined by Isle of Wight Council which then spent thousands taking him to court in a failed attempt to enforce the penalty.

Mr Platt  who himself spent about 13,000 fighting the fine  hailed todays ruling as a victory for parents, after judges agreed the family holiday was not illegal.

I am obviously hugely relieved, he said outside the Royal Courts of Justice.

Family break: Jon Platt took is daughter to Disney World in Florida during term time

I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me, but for hundreds of other parents.

However, the DfE seemed determined to ensure that the ruling would not lead to more and more parents taking their children out of school for term time holidays, when prices are more affordable.

The department responded by saying it was disappointed in the judgement and may now seek changes to the law.

A spokeswoman said: The evidence is clear that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupils chance of gaining good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances.

We are confident our policy to reduce school absence is clear and correct.

We will examine todays judgement in detail but are clear that childrens attendance at school is non-negotiable so we will now look to change the legislation. We also plan to strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities.

The dispute initially went before Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court in October, when Mr Platt won the case.

Magistrates decided he had no case to answer because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter  who is now aged seven and can only be referred to as M for legal reasons  had failed to attend school regularly.

Two High Court judges today held up the ruling in Mr Platts favour.

They ruled that the magistrates were entitled to take into account the wider picture of the child's attendance record outside of the dates she was absent during the holiday.
L ondon teachers should stand at bus stops to ensure children from rival gangs do not attack each other at the end of the school day, a new report says.

Members of different gangs can be taught without problems while they are on school premises, but pupils are at risk when they travel to and from school, according to the charity Catch22.

It warned that pupils are hiding weapons near their schools before entering classrooms and then picking them up for their journeys home.

The Catch22 report, entitled Safer Schools: Keeping gang culture outside the gates, urges schools with potential gang problems to introduce a visible end of school day presence.

It added: Where there are concerns around the potential for gang-related violence to occur in a schools surrounding vicinity, the school should provide a staff presence at the school gates, as well as at the main bus stops used by pupils to return home.

Researchers analysed how five alternative provision schools for pupils excluded from mainstream schools  two of them in London  handle gang problems.

One pupil told researchers: In our school the kids would leave and there would be two members of staff at the gate, two members of staff on the main road and two members of staff near the bus stop, because let me tell you, weve got rival gang members in here.

So me and you can laugh and joke like, yeah, were cool, but I know, and you know, that after school its all different: Im coming for you.

The report also recommended teachers at schools with gang members should be trained about gang culture, and pupils at risk of joining gangs should be taught about character and resilience.

It also recommended police visit schools to challenge negative perceptions about them.

A survey of teachers by Catch22 found that one in four were concerned about rising gang activity, with one in three reporting a knife incident in school in the past year.

But it also found teachers are keeping gangs out of school. Sixty-five per cent of staff knew of pupils involved in gangs outside, but just 22 per cent saw gang activity inside. Chris Keates, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, said controlling behaviour outside school would put staff at risk, and added: Thats a matter for the police.

Dr Mary Bousted, head of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: We would support staff providing a presence at the school gates to keep its pupils safe.

"But off the school premises, with the exclusion of school trips, staff have no special powers to intervene if there are incidents or fights...school staff should not be expected to put themselves at risk.
A north London branch of Sainsbury's has sparked a backlash online after asking artists to refurbish its staff canteen for free.

The supermarket giant's Camden Road branch made an appeal for "an artist to volunteer their skills" and decorate the cafeteria.

An advert, published in a local paper, promised whoever took up the task would "gain particular experience in the creative industry".

The ad stated: "Happy colleagues offer great service and continued success. Your work will contribute to their success.

"Get your work recognised. Share your gift with the heart of Camden."

But Sainsbury's has now apologised after the ad was met with derision on social media.

Katie Marie Andrews tweeted the advert, writing: "Hi @sainsburys can you send me free food? It's a great 'opportunity' to impress me with your 'skills'. #payartists"

And Bethany Black wrote: "Hey @sainsburys how do you fancy donating a month's shopping, I can't pay but it'll be great exposure for you."

Barney Farmer tweeted: "Sainsbury's is GIVING you the one OPPORTUNITY to help save a MULTIBILLION quid concern a few bob."

A spokesman for the company said: Were discussing this with our store in Camden.

"The advert was placed in the local paper following a colleague discussion around ways to improve the canteen and offer an opportunity to the local community.

"It is not our policy to hire volunteers and we are sorry for this error of judgement.
A woman was allegedly raped in a south-west London cafe by a worker after she went there following a row with her boyfriend.

The alleged victim said she visited Ostara in Merton Road, Southfields, alone earlier this month after an argument with her partner and later woke up at the cafe naked from the waist down.

The woman said she had a receipt for one drink bought at the cafe shortly before closing time, but had no further recollection of her time at the premises.

The allegation of rape emerged after papers were submitted to a licensing sub-committee meeting at Wandsworth Council on May 4 for a review of the premises' licence.

The cafe had its licence temporarily suspended following the hearing.

According to claims made in papers submitted to the council, the woman left the cafe after a worker who was allegedly lying beside her, began touching her intimately.

The woman arrived home at about 5am the day after the incident and called the police at 11.53am.

Officers attended the cafe the same day and a member of staff was arrested in connection with the allegation of rape. He was later bailed.

Police were told by the owner of the premises the CCTV had not been working on the date of the alleged incident, which Wandsworth Council said was a breach of the premises' licence.

A request for a review of the licence was submitted to the council by the Metropolitan Police on May 4 and the licensing sub-committee suspended the cafes licence.

At a second licensing hearing on May 9, the council agreed the temporary suspension could only be lifted once CCTV was reinstalled at the cafe to the satisfaction of police.

The council also agreed the accused staff member, who has been suspended from work, would not be allowed to enter the premises at any time.

A council spokesman said: "The police have requested a review of this establishments licence and a full hearing will be heard later this month.

"An interim suspension of the license was put in place pending the owner complying with a number of conditions to the satisfaction of the police."

The council spokesman added the cafe had since met the police condition and are back trading.

Marek Nahmmacher, 49, owner of Ostara, told the Standard: "Police and the council are fully satisfied that the premises are safe and fulfil all licensing conditions. Ostara is also delighted with the huge amount of local support.

"The allegation is vehemently denied and will be strongly defended in court.

"The case has nothing to do with me nor with the running of the bar as it was not during opening hours."

A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman confirmed officers were investigating an allegation of rape.

The spokesman added: "The victim was taken to the Havens for assessment, and is now being supported by specially trained officers.

"A 59-year-old man in the Southfields area was subsequently arrested on suspicion of rape and has been bailed until a date in late July."

A full licensing review hearing will take place on May 26.
A man plunged 100ft to his death from the rooftop bar of a luxury hotel in the heart of the Square Mile.

The man in his 40s fell from the Double Tree by Hilton, near the Tower of London, shortly before 5pm yesterday.

Balazs Szeljak, 35, a shift manager at the nearby Cheshire Cheese pub, said: A man ran in to say someone had just fallen.

Some people were screaming. He said he couldnt help him, there was nothing he could do as he was in such a bad way.

By the time I got outside the police had already sealed off the area and were telling people to get inside.

Police ordered customers at other nearby pubs and restaurants inside as paramedics battled to save the victim who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Guests at the Hiltons 12th-storey SkyLounge bar were led away by staff as a section of the terrace was cordoned off.

A City investment broker who had been drinking at the SkyLounge said: We were outside on the rooftop bar in a private area when suddenly all these police came up.

The staff told us they had to cordon off the area. It was pretty packed we were all ushered inside. We didnt know what was going on.

City of London Police are not treating the death as suspicious.

A spokeswoman said: Police and London Ambulance Service were called at 4.51pm to reports of a man, believed to be in his 40s, that had fallen from a building in Pepys Street.

He was initially in a serious condition and then pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin are being informed.

A Hilton spokesman said: An incident has happened at the hotel and the police are investigating.

A DoubleTree spokeswoman said: It is with deep regret that we can confirm the death of a man at the hotel yesterday evening.

"Team Members acted swiftly to alert the authorities and the police and ambulance services were onsite shortly after the incident occurred.

"The police have since confirmed that the death is not being treated suspiciously.

"Safety and security at the hotel are of paramount importance and we continue to make every effort to ensure that all practises are in line with our strict safety and security procedures.

For confidential support on mental health call the Samaritans on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or attend a local Samaritans branch.
T he Turner Prize has always aimed to shock, and it might just have managed it this year with one piece that leaves very little to the imagination: nominee Anthea Hamiltons most famous piece is a larger-than-life sculpture of a mans derriere, spread open by his hands.

But The Londoner was rather more shocked when leafing through the latest edition of The Spectator and finding, on page 44, a very similar image. Except this was not by some Turner Prize-seeking artist but by a 16th-century Flemish painter, name unknown, whose own depiction of buttocks is now hanging in the Grand Palais in Paris, as part of the new Carambolages show.

The bottom, adorned with an extra thistle, is part of a satirical diptych. On the opposite panel is a cartoonish figure pulling a horrified face. The show is a surreal and scatalogical collection of art and objects, each suggested by the previous. This is not the story of art as it was understood by the late EH Gombrich the Spec notes.

Hamilton has yet to reply to our query about whether she had seen the Flemish buttocks, before her own 18-foot sculpture embedded in a brick wall was created and shown as part of her Lichen! Libido! Chastity! show at the SculptureCenter in New York.

The Londoner wondered if the Grand Palais knew London was agog over a pair of buttocks, not so unlike the ones hanging casually on their wall. Being typically French, the gallery says its own show hasnt raised many eyebrows.

We have 11 bottoms in the exhibition, and a video ... All we can say is that we havent heard anybody complain about it till then.



Momentum is lost on EU Referendum

Is Jeremy Corbyn losing Momentum? Though formerly Eurosceptic, the Labour leader is now campaigning for Remain. As an organisation created to support Corbyn, it would seem logical for Momentum to join him in the campaign but a message on its Facebook wall yesterday said: While local Momentum groups are free to take their own positions, Momentum does not currently have a national position.

Members are invited to take part in an online vote before its national committee meeting on May 21. But worry not, undecided socialists: Momentum lists an event: EU Referendum: What Should the Left Say? When is it? Two days after said national committee meeting.

Foodie fever at Fortnum's

To Fortnum & Masons Food & Drink Awards last night. Judges and winners from The Great British Bake Off were out in force, with Mary Berry, , gleefully cheering on the ceremony, and Nadiya Hussain mingling all evening. Americans were also well represented: their ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun, got up on stage to introduce the Judges Choice, which went to Patrick Holden, founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust. The Drink Book of the Year award, too, went to a fellow American: Madeline Puckette. The most glamorous person on the night, though, was still the deeply British Nigella Lawson.

***

Though some Tories are distancing themselves from Zac Goldsmith after he lost the mayoral race, he can still at least count on his family. The Londoner was at Working Titles HQ in Marylebone last night for the Junior Ocean Councils Fish School, and bumped into his brother Ben.

I was so disappointed, he said. [But] he got more votes than Boris in 2008, so I think he put on a good show. Ben found out about Zacs loss as he touched down in Italy, where he and his wife Jemima Jones had a babymoon in Portofino.

Last nights sustainability-focused event was hosted by Pixie Geldof, but maybe next time she could organise a concert  like her dad Bobs Live Aid  and call it Fish Stock?

Leave or stay with Euro vision?

With Eurovision on our screens tomorrow night  just over a month before the EU referendum  will the song contest swing hearts and minds? We asked the in/out campaigns.

If the panel of judges had a vote in this referendum, we are confident they would give the Leave campaigns nul points for losing the economic argument so comprehensively, was Stronger Ins stern response. We expect our supporters will take a break from campaigning, they added, and come together on the night to celebrate Britains place in Europe. How heartwarming  but what about the Brexiteers? Surely theyll have the TV turned off, while leafing through the Magna Carta?

Were all lovers of Eurovision here in the Leave.EU press office, we were told. We doubt it will influence the referendum but if our entry, Joe and Jake, dont win perhaps our next campaign will be against the unfair bias within Eurovision.

But what of Vote Leave? They did not return our emails.



Russians are in on the joke

Far from the Ferrero Rochers and fancy receptions of the old days, embassies now also have to conduct a lot of their diplomatic business online. Look at @RussianEmbassy, the Twitter account representing Putins nation in the UK. Russian ministry of defence: Extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo, it robustly tweeted yesterday. The Russian Embassy tweeter appended to the worrying news flash a picture of menacing-looking trucks. Said picture, however, looked familiar to nerdier followers, who pointed out that the image actually came from Command & Conquer: Generals, a video game. A curiously relaxed attitude
B ank of England governor Mark Carney could sway the result of the Brexit vote, according to a new poll today.

The BMG Research survey for the Standard found more undecided voters trust the bank chief, rather than a string of senior politicians, to give an honest view of the pros and cons of the UK quitting the EU.

Mr Carney issued his strongest warning yet yesterday about the economic risks of Britain splitting from the EU, saying that it could push the country into recession.

The poll found 16 per cent of adults who are undecided about how to vote in the June 23 referendum trust Mr Carney to give them an honest view. Boris Johnson was second on 13 per cent, followed by Prime Minister David Cameron on 11 per cent and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on eight per cent.

Michael Turner, of BMG Research, said: Ominous forecasts from the Governor will be seen as an ace in the hole for the Remain team.

Chancellor George Osborne scored just one per cent. However, a startling 35 per cent trusted their local pub landlord most.

BMG Research interviewed 1,521 adults across the UK between April 21-26. Sample sizes were smaller when broken down between people who described themselves as Remain, Leave or undecided.
A Channel 4 News journalist who died of cancer aged just 41 was described as most brilliant and irreplaceable by colleagues today.

Presenters Jon Snow and Krishnan Guru-Murthy were among colleagues paying tribute to senior foreign affairs producer Sarah Corp.

In a statement, Channel 4 News said: Its been a deeply personal loss for us on Channel 4 News, but is a serious loss, too, to our journalism.

She was an irreplaceable presence in many parts of the world from which we reported.

Snow, who looked emotional as he collected a Bafta for the channels news coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks last week, called her my dearest and most brilliant producer.

He said: If Channel 4 News foreign coverage stands out, it is in very strong measure down to the work of Sarah Corp,

This extraordinary period of instability across the world, Sarah had to work on most of it, and yet it never jaded her - she never lost her humanity.

Guru-Murthy said Ms Corps death on Tuesday had left everyone quietly devastated.

Sarahs great talent was knowing how to play to the strengths of the people she was with while quietly compensating for their weaknesses...She also told you exactly when you were wrong or in danger of being wrong.

"So she would give you the confidence to be bold on air because you knew she would reign you in before you said something stupid.

Ms Corp was brought up in Blackheath with her father John, an oil trader, and mother Prue, a modern languages teacher and concert manager.

A talented musician, she attended the James Allens Girls School before reading history at Selwyn College, Cambridge.

She joined ITN in 1998 as a newsdesk assistant at Channel 4 News, progressing up the ranks before being made senior foreign producer in 2011.

She worked on virtually every major story of the past 15 years, from the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the earthquake disaster in Haiti, the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt, and the Libyan revolution.

In 2008 she married Charles Bates in Blackheath and the couple lived in Prague and East Dulwich.

She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer around 18 months ago and spent the last year off work having chemotherapy.

Her final assignment was the Hong Kong umbrella revolution in October 2014.

Her family, including sister Rachel, editor of ITV News London, and Elinor, conductor and assistant director of music at James Allens girls school, were said to be understandably devastated by her death.

Foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Rugman, who travelled with Ms Corp to Mount Sinjar covering the Yazidi massacre, said she was one of the finest television journalists of her generation.

Mr Rugman said Ms Corp kept much of the details about her illness private.

She was incredibly private about it. She wanted us to remember her at the height of her powers so she kept a lot of what she was doing from us, deliberately.

And she preferred to spend her final months with her husband Charles, whom she adored.

The last time her colleagues saw her was around three weeks ago at a leaving party for a veteran cameraman, he said.

That was the last time any of us had the chance to say goodbye.

International editor Lindsey Hilsum added: She was the hub. She was the person who kept everything going. She was the person who made sure it was right. Sarah was the one who held us all together.

She was the most extraordinary producer and the most extraordinary friend.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Armenians desecrated the dead bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen killed during the April events on the frontline, senior assistant to Azerbaijan's military prosecutor, Colonel Safar Ahmadov said.

He made the remarks May 13 in Baku during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments along the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

Ahmadov noted that during the inspection of the dead bodies of servicemen handed over to the Azerbaijani side, it was revealed that those bodies were desecrated.

A criminal case has been initiated upon the fact in Terter District Prosecutor's Office and an investigation is underway, he added.

"Moreover, the Eskipara village of Azerbaijan's Terter district was subjected to shelling on Apr.26-28. An artillery shell was found on a cotton field in the village," said Ahmadov. "It was revealed that it is a poisonous 122-mm artillery shell."

An investigation on the criminal cases continues, he added.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
P resenter Emily Maitlis today backed the receptionist sent home from work for refusing to wear high heels, saying something so blatantly sexist exposes so much.

Actress Nicola Thorp was told by a Portico temp agency supervisor that she could not work at the offices of City accountants PwC in her flat shoes.

The broadcaster told the Standard: Its laughably fabulous that someone actually said that out loud in this day and age. We always worry that things are being thought or insinuated  covert racism, homophobia or sexism  but this was overt.

Reflecting on the scrutiny she receives about her own appearance, Maitlis added: Most of the time, I think that its a slightly controlling way of telling women they shouldnt be doing their jobs.

When the 45-year-old, who has worked for Newsnight since 2006, was at Sky, she recalls being advised to have a manicure because shed be holding up the newspapers for the paper review while her male co-stars asked guests questions. I said, or we could swap [roles] and I wouldnt have my nails on TV.

Outraged: Actress Nicola Thorp was sent home from the job

Maitlis also defended her BBC colleague, political editor Laura Kuenssberg, in the wake of a petition calling for Kuenssberg to be sacked for showing bias against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Everyone at the BBC gets told theyre biased, said Maitlis. The good news is that its always from at least six political parties. In the last two years, Ive heard it from Ukip, Labour, the Tories, the Greens, the Lib-Dems and the SNP. Im not sure about Plaid [Cymru]! If you get that consistently from all sides, you think: This is probably about something else.

On Tuesday, the petition was taken down amid claims its supporters were aiming sexist abuse at Kuenssberg. Maitlis believes this is symptomatic of the way women in the public eye are treated.

Nicola Thorp sets up petition after being forced to wear heels at work

The weaponry that is used against women can be viscerally ugly. Men will talk about how much they hate other men on Twitter, or about how stupid they are, but they dont threaten them with rape.

[When women are criticised], it always comes down to how ugly you are and how theyre going to rape you.

Maitlis, whose new current affairs series This Weeks World  which she describes as brain food  starts tomorrow on BBC2, recalls an interview she did with the comedian Dapper Laughs last year. The response was so weird. God, youre an ugly bitch, I want to rape you. When did that become an acceptable response to something you didnt like?

The answer is probably always, but people now write it with that wonderful distance of anonymity. No one would ever say that to your face.

Portico has promised to review its dress policy.

Maitlis said This Week's World will explore the madness of the world and try to add understanding. Its looking for the pattern in the chaos."

As a journalist, she feels the rules are rapidly evolving in an era of rolling news and one in which terrorists are increasingly trying to exploit the media. The questions I ask myself now really scare me. If I'm reporting on a developing crisis  I might be standing outside the kosher supermarket in Paris and talking about the people we think are hiding inside  I suddenly think, 'Oh my God, they're watching this'.

"If I start saying we know theres a mother with a baby in there what have I just done? You dont want to gag yourself but you don't want to help terrorists."

Having covered many shootings in the US - including the 2015 Charleston Church massacre - she would also like less attention given to the perpetrators.

"The next shooting after Charleston was the reporter on TV, and the [perpetrator] quoted Charleston. I just remember thinking oh God because we didnt shut up about Charleston.

"If it were up to me, Id love to put all school shootings in America as a news in brief, saying there was a terrible, sad shooting, and only talk about the victims.

"Not give the shooter any publicity at all. That's utopic. Id lose my job probably, but Id love to take out the glamourisation of having all that media attention as a mass murderer."

The launch of Maitlis's new series comes the week after former-BBC economics editor Robert Peston started his political talk show on ITV, Peston on Sunday.

Maitlis said she'd missed it but "heard nice things". As she is known for using a large analysis screen during general elections and Peston's show has a starring role for what he dubbed "screeny", Maitlis said she was "trying to work out if I should be jealous".

This Weeks World starts tomorrow on BBC2 at 5:20pm


A police chief has said she is "profoundly sorry" for inaction and a lack of compassion for the family of a teenage boy who drowned in the Thames.

The body of 16-year-old Ellis Downes was recovered from the River Thames at Culham, Oxfordshire, late on Monday night by volunteer divers following an appeal for help by his family.

He had disappeared after getting into trouble swimming in the river on Saturday night.

Initially the volunteer divers had been stopped from searching by Thames Valley Police - which scrapped its own underwater team as part of budget cuts - before they were finally allowed into the water.

Ellis Downes, who went missing on Saturday evening after being swept away by the River Thames / Downes family

Ellis' grieving parents and the volunteer team hit out at the force over the response and how they were dealt with.

The force also refused to answer media questions about the search and the volunteer team, before then referring itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission over its handling of the case.

And today, it made an abject apology to the Downes family, although Ellis' sister Alex said it meant nothing without proper action in the future.

In a video message, Thames Valley Police Assistant Chief Constable Nikki Ross said: "I am profoundly sorry for the treatment of the Downes family over the weekend, in particular the level of support, the level of compassion, the lack of information and communication that we afforded them, and in particular Mr and Mrs Downes and Ellis's two sisters.

"This fell far below the standards that we would expect from our staff and I apologise for that."

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Ellis's sister Alex had appealed online for volunteers to help in the search last weekend, claiming police had begun to scale back their operation due to a lack of resources.

On Wednesday Thames Valley Police said it referred itself to the IPCC because of "family and community concerns" around the investigation.

Ms Ross continued: "As a mother myself I cannot begin to understand the distress that the family is feeling but I would expect more care and compassion to be shown to people in these circumstances.

"Our action and our inactions will be subject of a thorough investigation and we have referred ourselves to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to ensure that that's done.

"Once again I'm profoundly sorry and apologise on behalf of Thames Valley Police for any added distress that we have caused to the family at this very difficult time."

Miss Downes responded on Facebook: "This public apology is the least we expected.

"We know of course an apology is never going to bring Ellis back, but it's a start.

"Words mean nothing without actions though.

"Ellis has made a massive impact on everyone's lives who have heard his story and he would be so happy that he's become 'famous'!

"All we want now is for things to change about the way TVP handle operations so that we can prevent this happening again in the future, then hopefully thanks to Ellis, no family will have to go through this ever again."
F ashion giant Calvin Klein is facing a backlash over an "upskirt" photo advert on its Instagram page.

The brand was accused of "glamourising" sexual harassment after posting the photo of 22-year-old Danish actress Klara Kristin promoting the company's spring 2016 underwear range.

The image shows her posing with her underwear on show and the camera angle facing upwards from underneath her slip dress.

The photo, posted to the official Calvin Klein Instagram account, features the slogan: I flash in #mycalvins.

US campaign group The National Center on Sexual Exploitation branded the image offensive and launched a petition calling for the advert to be removed.

By normalising and glamorising this sexual harassment, Calvin Klein is sending a message that the experiences of real-life victims dont matter, and that it is okay for men to treat the women standing next to them on the bus as available pornography whenever they so choose, a statement on the groups website said.

We are calling on Calvin Klein to not only remove this offensive ad, but also to suspend its Erotica advertisement campaign, and to issue an apology to victims of sexual harassment or assault everywhere.

The row comes as campaigners say there has been a rise in "upskirt" photographs being taken of women on smartphones in public.

Other images from the campaign include Kendall Jenner provocatively squeezing a grapefruit and a topless Saskia de Brauw  the Dutch artist and model.

The upskirt shot also sparked a backlash on social media, with many describing it as predatory and trivialising sexual harassment.

Despite its criticism, Calvin Klein appears to be sticking to its guns as the image, which has more than 43,000 likes, remains on its Instagram site.

The UKs Advertising Standards Authority said it had received a "handful" of complaints about the advert.

An ASA spokesperson said: At this moment in time, there is no evidence that this particular advertisement is running in the UK.

If it does appear in the UK, we would assess any complaints we have received carefully before making a decision on whether to investigate.

The Standard has contacted Calvin Klein for comment.
A Jewish teacher who fabricated a knife attack by Islamic State terrorists in France was today given a six month suspended prison sentence.

Tzion Saadon, 57, told his lies in November, a few days after 130 people were murdered during a single night of violence in Paris.

Inviting journalists to his home in Marseille, he said three men had assaulted him as they shouted Islamic slogans, and Death to Jews.

Showing of his stomach wounds, Saadon even said one of his attackers wore an Isis T-shirt, and displayed pictures of Mohamed Merah, the Al-Qaeda gunmen who murdered both Jews and Muslims in 2012.

But there were no independent witnesses to Saadons ordeal, and forensic examinations later proved he had caused the knife slashes himself.

Saadon kept up his story throughout his trial in Marseille, but prosecutor Andre Ribes said: The truth is he wasnt assaulted in the way he says.

President Francois Hollande himself had been among those who commented on the Saadon case last year, saying it was a barbarous example of rising anti-Semitism.
M arvels TV series Agent Carter has been cancelled by ABC  and fans of the show arent happy at all about the news.

The show starred Hayley Atwell, continuing her role as Peggy Carter which she first portrayed in Captain America: The First Avenger.

The first series, set in the aftermath of that film and World War II, found Carter working in the Strategic Scientific Reserve, but denied an active role in the agency due to the sexist attitudes of the time.

Marvel's Agent Carter season 2 trailer

The show ran for two seasons, with the second moving the action to Los Angeles, and occasionally starred Dominic Cooper as a young Howard Stark (aka Iron Mans dad).

With the show partly having come about due to enthusiasm for the character from fans, many are disappointed that the series wont be returning  and while some are hoping that Netflix or Amazon may pick up a third season, Hayley Atwell seems to be moving on with a lead role in new ABC show Conviction.

Best TV dramas 2016 1 /38 Best TV dramas 2016 The Missing The addictive and twisty second series of the BBC's crime anthology series BBC/New Pictures/Robert Viglasky Dark Angel Joanne Froggatt stared as Victorian mass murderer Mary Ann Cotton in this ITV drama ITV Close to the Enemy Stephen Poliakoff's post-war drama thriller BBC/Little Island Pictures Ordinary Lies The BBC anthology drama returns with more twisted tales BBC/Red Productions/Adrian Rogers The Night Of Riz Ahmed stars in HBO's critically acclaimed crime mini-series HBO Cold Feet The classic ITV comedy-drama returns - and it's just as good as it ever was ITV Victoria ITV have given Poldark some stiff competition with this period drama about a young Queen Victoria ITV Poldark The BBC's hit drama returns with more brooding, and less naked scything BBC/Robert Viglasky One of Us The BBC kept everyone guessing with this claustrophobic four-part whodunit Ripper Street The fan-favourite Victorian police drama returned for Series 4 BBC/Tiger Aspect 2016/Bernard Walsh The Secret Agent Toby Jones led the cast in the BBC's Joseph Conrad adaptation BBC/World Productions/Mark Mainz/Matt Burlem The Living and the Dead The BBC's gothic romance debuted in full on iPlayer BBC Preacher AMC's adaptation of Garth Ennis' cult comic book is available week-by-week on Amazon Prime Amazon / AMC Versailles A raunchy royal romp around the court of King Louis XIV, spicing up Wednesdays on BBC Two Canal +/ BBC Locked Up The Spanish prison drama came to the UK thanks to Channel 4's Walter Presents series Channel 4 / Global Series Peaky Blinders The Birmingham-set gangster thriller was more popular than ever in its third series BBC/Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd/Tiger Aspect/Robert Viglasky The A Word The BBC gave us a nuanced and emotional take on autism BBC/Fifty Fathoms Marcella Anna Friel stars in ITV's British take on the Scandi-noir thriller ITV Grantchester James Norton is back as the crime-solving vicar ITV / Lovely Day Stag The comedy-thriller from the team behind The Wrong Mans is both hilarious and chilling BBC/Des Willie/Hal Shinnie/Matt Burlem Vinyl Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger present a glossy drama about the Seventies music industry HBO American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson Cuba Gooding Jr leads an all-star cast in a dramatic re-telling of the 'trial of century' BBC/Fox Happy Valley Sarah Lancashire returned as Sgt Catherine Cawood for a second series of the gritty crime thriller BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall The X Files Mulder and Scully return for a brand new set of mysteries War and Peace The BBC's epic adaptation of the Russian literary classic BBC/Mitch Jenkins Call the Midwife The BBC period drama moved into the Sixties for Series 5 BBC/Neal Street Productions/Sophie Mutevelian Dickensian Charles Dickens' most famous characters collide in this historical soap BBC Jericho ITV's British western set in the wilds of Yorkshire Silent Witness The hugely popular detective drama returns for a 19th series

Upsettingly, this leaves Atwells final moment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as  CIVIL WAR SPOILER ALERT  her funeral scene in the third Captain America film, an extra sore point for fans of the character. It is now unlikely that Carter will return in the overlapping TV and film franchise.

Fans have been sharing their responses on Twitter as they react to news of the shows demise.

Marvel's Daredevil, Season Two - Netflix 1 /6 Marvel's Daredevil, Season Two - Netflix The Punisher Jon Bernthal plays legendary Marvel anti-hero Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, in Daredevil Season 2 Netflix Elektra Elodie Yung joins the cast as the blade-wielding Elektra Netflix The holy trinity Matt Murdock, Karen Page, and Foggy Nelson are back Netflix The Punisher Another look at Frank Castle Netflix Daredevil Matt Murdock all suited up in her superhero outfit Netflix

Worst of all, viewers never got the chance to see Peggys lasting legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe come together  the founding of organisation SHIELD.

Still, thanks for all the memories Peggy.
R oss Kemp has admitted to feeling nervous and emotional during his first day back in Walford.

The soap star-turned-documentary filmmaker, who returns to EastEnders on Friday night, claims that he was coerced into returning by Barbara Windsor.

Speaking on This Morning, he said: It was great to work with Steve McFadden again, who plays Phil, and with Letitia Dean, who plays Sharon.

First scene, first morning, three days in after coming straight back from Mozambique, jet lagged, really scared, really nervous.

EastEnders - Best Villains 1 /10 EastEnders - Best Villains Janine Butcher What hasn't Janine done? Walford's Queen of Evil has spread rumours about Jamie Mitchell's bedroom antics, blackmailed Ian Beale, pushed her blubbering husband Barry off of a cliff, and stabbed herself in an attempt to frame Stacey Slater for attempted murder. Dirty Den Watts Den is Walford's original baddie. He was so keen to retain the title that he even came 'back from the dead' to continue his villainous ways. He served up divorce papers to his first wife Angie on Christmas Day but failed to escape from his second wife Chrissie who thumped him on the head with a doorstop. Stella Crawford Poor Ben Mitchell was subjected to months of abuse from Stella Crawford. The lawyer bullied the boy and even manipulated him into convincing his father Phil Mitchell to get down on one knee and pop the question. As with all EastEnders villains, Stella never did get her happy ever after and met her grizzly end after being confronted by Phil on their wedding day before throwing herself off of a building. Archie Mitchell No one seemed to escape Archies dastardly actions. He stole the Queen Vic from his fiance Peggy Mitchell, devised schemes to control his family, blackmailed Ian Beale and raped Stacey Slater. After narrowly escaping being buried alive by Phil Mitchell, he was whacked over the head with the famous Queen Vic bust. Trevor Morgan Unfortunately for Little Mo there was no end to Trevors wicked ways. He pushed her face into the Christmas dinner and forced her to eat the remains off of the carpet, isolated her from her family, burned her hand with an iron, raped her as punishment for attending her sister Lynne Hobbs's wedding, and tried to frame her for attempted murder. Steve Owen Steve killed Saskia by thumping her with an ashtray before burying her in Epping Forest and proceeding to frame Matthew. Despite his villainous traits he did manage to fit in one good deed. He passed baby Louise (who he planned to take to America with Lisa) to her father Phil Mitchell seconds before his car exploded. Nasty Nick Cotton Nasty Nick's devilish ways are endless. He beat up and killed Reg Cox who was found dead in the show's first episode. He claimed to be a born again Christian but then attempted to kill his "Ma" Dot - twice, murdered Eddie Royle, tried to con Dot by fooling her into thinking he had AIDS and was responsible for the death of DCI Emma Summerhayes after tampering with the brakes in Roxy's car. Andy Hunter He was a member of organised crime gang, The Firm, so there was to be no curbing his gangster ways. He conned his way into bed with Kat Slater and split her up from Alfie. But after two years of torturing Walford residents, he was killed by archenemy Johnny Allen who threw him off of a motorway bridge.

I got ambushed by Barbara, he said, explaining his reasons for returning. And who would say no to Dame Barbara?

Ive got a career making documentaries as you know.

I have had a tough year Ive been to Iraq, Syria and to sandwich that between Walford, I thought was maybe a bridge too far.

Barbara Windsor talks about last scenes in Eastenders on Good Morning Britain

Speaking about the level of expectation that he feels this time around, Kemp said:

When I first joined it, 20 years ago, there was no expectation and of course as you get older there is more expectation placed upon your shoulders and I didn't want to let people down, particularly Barbara.

The actor confirmed that he would be returning for a further three weeks worth of episodes following the death of Peggy Mitchell.

I have to go back for another three weeks to finish off the storyline, after Peggy leaves.

So its been an interesting year, I think Ill be in therapy by the summer!"
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

Armenians did not shoot down an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told Trend May 13.

The ministry was commenting on the Armenian media reports which said that allegedly an Azerbaijani drone was shot down.

The ministry said all the UAVs at the disposal of the Azerbaijani armed forces are unharmed.

"The Armenian side has shot down its own drone by mistake and is now trying to mislead the Armenian public by releasing such information," said the Defense Ministry.

It was earlier reported that Azerbaijan's armed forces carried out a forced landing of an Armenian X-55 UAV, which was attempting to fly over the Azerbaijani positions along the frontline on May 13.

Thus, two Armenian UAVs got neutralized on May 13.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Azerbaijani Armed Forces killed more than 320 Armenian servicemen during the April clashes on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Vagif Dargahli, spokesman for Azerbaijan's defense ministry, said.

He made the remarks during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments on the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

He added that more than 500 Armenian soldiers were injured, 30 enemy tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as more than 25 artillery pieces were destroyed.

Dargahli said that Armenia was carrying out various provocative actions prior to the April events as well. For example, in 2014, immediately after the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenian side held large-scale military exercises in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, he said.

Dargahli further reminded that Armenia has been shelling Azerbaijani civilians as well.

The shelling of civilians became frequent since March 2016, said Dargahli, adding that in response to these actions Azerbaijani Armed Forces inflicted strikes on the enemy positions, having destroyed numerous manpower and military equipment of the enemy.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Details added (first version posted on 13:37)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

Azerbaijani Armed Forces killed more than 320 Armenian servicemen during the April clashes on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, Vagif Dargahli, spokesman for Azerbaijan's defense ministry, said.

He made the remarks during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments on the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

He added that more than 500 Armenian soldiers were injured, 30 enemy tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as more than 25 artillery pieces were destroyed.

Dargahli said that Armenia was carrying out various provocative actions prior to the April events as well. For example, in 2014, immediately after the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenian side held large-scale military exercises in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, he said.

Dargahli further reminded that Armenia has been shelling Azerbaijani civilians as well.

The shelling of civilians became frequent since March 2016, said Dargahli, adding that in response to these actions Azerbaijani Armed Forces inflicted strikes on the enemy positions, having destroyed numerous manpower and military equipment of the enemy.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

As many as 32 criminal cases in connection with the premeditated murder of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenia and destruction of property were initiated in the prosecutor's offices of Azerbaijan's Terter, Aghdam, Fuzuli and Agjabadi districts in April 2016, head of the investigation control department of the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan Nazim Abbasov said.

He made the remarks May 13 during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments on the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

"Armenia has violated the rules of international humanitarian law," said Abbasov. "The deaths of six civilians was caused by shots fired at settlements."

The head of the department also noted that 641 houses were damaged, adding that work on collecting the proofs of crimes committed by the Armenian side continues.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria Daniel Mitov.

President Ilham Aliyev recalled with pleasure his meetings with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliyev and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov both in Bulgaria and Azerbaijan.

The president of Azerbaijan stressed the importance of the fact that these meetings were held on a regular basis. Noting that relations between the two countries are developing successfully and in the spirit of friendship, the president said Bulgaria is one of Azerbaijan's closest friends.

President Ilham Aliyev assessed the level of political ties as good, adding that Azerbaijan is interested in expanding economic cooperation with Bulgaria.

The president praised Bulgaria's high-level representation in the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, adding that the project is being successfully implemented.

Emphasizing high-level relations between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria, President Ilham Aliyev thanked Bulgaria for supporting Azerbaijan's plans for partnership with the European Union. Expressing hope over successful continuation of negotiations with the European Union, the president said there are good opportunities for expanding cooperation between the two countries, which, he said, is of strategic importance.

President Ilham Aliyev said the bilateral relations are based on sincere, friendly and mutual trust, and pointed to active cooperation in the field of culture.

The president said he hopes that Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov's visit to Azerbaijan will be fruitful.

Mitov thanked the president for hospitality and stressed the high level of ties between the two countries. The Bulgarian foreign minister said the bilateral relations are friendly and strategic in nature, and noted the necessity of strengthening ties in this regard.

Speaking of energy projects, the Bulgarian minister said the Southern Gas Corridor project is of strategic significance for his country. This project will open up opportunities for not only Azerbaijan and Bulgaria, but also for expanding Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation, the Bulgarian foreign minister said.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views over the expansion of opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, tourism, information and communication technologies and other areas.
Postal workers will be collecting non-perishable food items at residents mailboxes on Saturday, May 14 to help stamp out hunger in the Panhandle.

For nearly 20 years, letter carriers and volunteers for the Postal Service have been collecting food during the U.S. Postal Services Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The event, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers in conjunction with the United States Postal Service collects items and distributes them to area food banks in the nations biggest food drive.

Letter carrier Randy Wallerich volunteered a few years ago to be in charge of organizing the event in Scottsbluff, Gering, Mitchell, Kimball and Alliance.

I spent 31 years in military as an enlisted man and it was difficult to make ends meet, so my wife and I had to go to food banks for food, he said. I dont think anybody in this country should have to go without food.

Wallerich has been to several countries where he has witnessed people go hungry on a daily and a weekly basis. He has seen many places where there is little to no food.

We do so many other things, like when tsunamis happen overseas, but we dont take as good a care of our own, he said.

Food pantries benefiting from this years event include St. Agnes Catholic Church, Community Action Partnership of Western Nebraska (CAPWN), Chuck Wagon Ministries and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, all in Scottsbluff. Mitchell and Alliance also have food banks where the food gathered is distributed.

At CAPWN, theyve told me the last four or five years, theyve been really down on how much people are giving, he said. Food banks are really needed.

All residents need to do is place the items in bags next to their mailbox or post office box and letter carriers will pick them up during their route on Saturday. Rural carriers will also be picking up food donations. If people do not want to leave bags by their mailbox, the Gering and Scottsbluff post offices will serve as a drop-off location.

They can drop the items off at the post office if they dont want to overburden their carriers, Wallerich said. Ive had some customers tell me they didnt want me to have to carry it up and down the street.

Volunteers from Boy Scot Troops 3 and 17, and members of the Elks will be assisting letter carriers so carriers dont get completely overwhelmed.

They let me have the day off so I can help out more and it goes a little smoother, he said.

The post office accepts any non-perishable items, such as canned goods, pasta cereal or rice, but nothing in glass containers.

Participants can leave a bag of non-perishable food where a carrier normally delivers mail on Saturday. Some of the items that can be included are canned goods (such as fruits, juice, soup and vegetables), canned meats and fish, boxed goods (such as cereal) and pasta and rice.

For more information, visit https://www.nalc.org/community-service/food-drive.
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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The world community has started to realize that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the region's biggest threat, and it focuses on the importance of the conflict's settlement, Bahar Muradova, the vice-speaker of Azerbaijan's parliament, said.

She made the remarks May 13 during the hearings in the Azerbaijani parliament on the "Recent developments on the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law."

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

Muradova said that everyone is aware of Armenia's actions on the contact line of the country's and Azerbaijani troops.

"The Armenian side is taking consistent and purposeful steps, inciting Azerbaijan and its supporter countries and by continuing aggressive policy carries out drills in Azerbaijan's territory with the participation of Armenian servicemen," said the vice-speaker.

Armenia destroys cultural monuments of Azerbaijan on the occupied territories, Muradova said.

"People were killed, property was damaged as a result of the criminal actions of the Armenian side in early April," Muradova said. "Azerbaijani army launched a counter-offensive in order to prevent these actions, and the country regained control over a part of its territory. The myth of the Armenian army was destroyed, processes undesirable for the Armenian government began, there started to appear statements in Armenia that no one needs the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."

"This confirms the fact that the conflict should be resolved," said the vice-speaker. "Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh region are citizens of Azerbaijan. We need to solve their problems as well, free them from the power of the Armenian leadership, ensure the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to their native lands. Azerbaijan is able to respond and will do so regarding all the provocations by Armenia."
Friday, 13 May 2016 23:39:04 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

A major Brazilian exporter told SteelOrbis that $400/mt FOB remains the reference price for slab exports of the basic commercial grades, in a 10-day period of stability for the first time since an upward trend started at $230/mt FOB in December 2015.





Prices could increase again in the short term, reflecting links with steel prices in China, the source said, adding that forecasts are difficult due to uncertainties there.





In April, ArcelorMittal Tubarao exported slab at $235/mt, ThyssenKrupp CSA at $249/mt and Gerdau Acominas at $234/mt, all FOB conditions, with price deals probably closed in February.








President Klaus Iohannis has promulgated on Friday two laws, one of which aiming at Romania's acquiescence to conventions and protocols referring to the European Organization for Nuclear Research.

According to a release by the Presidential Administration, the head of state has promulgated the Law for Romania's joining the Convention for the establishment of a European Organization for Nuclear Researches, adopted in Paris on 1 July 1953, as amended, and the Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Organization for Nuclear Researches, adopted in Geneva on 18 March 2004, according to agerpres.ro Another law promulgated by President Iohannis refers to the ratification of the Agreement on the defence cooperation between the governments of Romania and the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, signed in Algiers on 7 December 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

Azay Guliyev, Azerbaijani MP, vice-chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Committee on Political Affairs and Security, was in Copenhagen on May 12 to meet with Roberto Montella, Secretary General, a statement published on the website of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly says.

Guliyev, who traveled to Helsinki earlier this week to meet with Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva, discussed with Montella and PA staff various ideas for enhancing the Assembly's impact in addressing challenges in the OSCE region.

Guliyev was also briefed by staff on the most recent developments in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, in advance of his leadership of an OSCE PA election observation mission to expected elections on June 5.

Other topics of discussion included preparations for the visit to Azerbaijan later this month by the Assembly's Special Representative on the South Caucasus and the situation in the region, as well as preparations for the upcoming Annual Session in Tbilisi, in early July.

Guliyev was elected Vice-Chair of the General Committee on Political Affairs and Security at the Istanbul Annual Session in 2013 and has been re-elected twice. He has been a member of Azerbaijan's OSCE PA Delegation since 2005 and has participated in election observation missions to Belarus, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
In a remarkable case of predator becoming prey, Monsanto is being discussed as a target of the takeover wave it helped spark a year ago.

Before Monsanto made a run at Swiss company Syngenta, the world of corporate agriculture looked stable. Six seed and crop-chemical firms competed globally, but none was big enough to be dominant.

Syngenta rejected Monsantos $45 billion offer last June, but the industrys equilibrium clearly had been shaken. In December, Dow Chemical and DuPont agreed to combine their ag businesses to create a clear No. 1 player. By February, Syngenta would sell itself to a state-owned Chinese company.

That left Monsanto and two German companies, Bayer and BASF, eyeing one another warily. They reportedly talked about joint ventures and other deals but couldnt agree on anything. Now, according to published reports, both Bayer and BASF have considered making bids for Monsanto.

The thought of Monsanto being bought should frighten anyone whos concerned about the St. Louis economy. Not only is this one of our largest corporate headquarters, its also one that has considerable growth potential.

So, we have to hope this latest takeover frenzy is just talk. Jeffrey Stafford, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago, thinks theres a good chance that nothing will happen.

I think they see themselves as an acquirer, he said of Monsantos management. I dont think they would see themselves as just a division of a larger German chemical conglomerate.

Bayer or BASF could make a hostile bid, but Stafford thinks the price tag will give them pause.

Based on the pricing of the Syngenta deal, and accounting for Monsantos growth potential, he thinks the board would hold out for at least $120 a share, or $52 billion. The stock closed Thursday at $97.92.

Bayers market capitalization is about $90 billion; BASFs is $70 billion. Absorbing Monsanto would require a lot of debt or a considerable amount of share dilution, either of which would be out of character for the conservatively managed German businesses.

Well see, said Stafford. If Bayer can offer a really nice price for Monsanto, maybe management might reconsider. Im not sure the price is going to be high enough.

For longtime Monsanto watchers, this takeover talk creates flashbacks to 1999, when Monsanto was bought by drugmaker Pharmacia & Upjohn. Pfizer later acquired Pharmacia and didnt want the agriculture business, so it spun Monsanto off as an independent company.

The old Monsanto was in play largely for two reasons: It made the blockbuster drug Celebrex, which bigger companies coveted, and it had invested billions of dollars building its seed business, which was slow to pay off.

The new Monsanto, by contrast, can deal from a position of strength.

Its seed traits are in 80 percent of the corn and 90 percent of the soybeans grown in the U.S., and it has new products that should keep revenue growing for years.

Stafford thinks the company can do just fine on its own. Thats maybe one of the misconceptions out there that these companies need to consolidate, he said. I dont think things are so bad in the ag industry, and the long-term growth products are intact.

Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant has made similar comments. On April 6, he told analysts that the company was focusing on research and on commercialization deals and would no longer see large-scale M&A as a likely opportunity.

You can take that as a no to overtures from Bayer, BASF or any other big player. For St. Louis sake, lets hope he sticks to that answer.
NetJets, the luxury plane unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, agreed to settle U.S. charges that it discriminated against immigrant workers by requiring them to provide extra documents to prove their employment eligibility.

The settlement calls for NetJets to be monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice for two years, improve training of its human resources staff, and pay a $41,480 civil penalty, the department said on Friday.

NetJets denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and cooperated in the probe. A spokesman had no immediate comment.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, NetJets specializes in "fractional" aircraft ownership, which lets individuals and companies buy shares of private jets, and travel on short notice with greater privacy than on commercial aircraft.

The government accused NetJets of improperly requiring newly-hired non-U.S. citizens to provide specific documents demonstrating their eligibility to work that it did not require U.S. citizens to provide.

It also said NetJets discriminated against existing workers, by unnecessarily forcing legal permanent residents to reconfirm their employment eligibility, and requiring newly naturalized citizens to submit more documents to prove their citizenship.

NetJets recently had about 6,540 employees.

Berkshire has been run since 1965 by Buffett, the world's third-richest person, according to Forbes magazine.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company owns close to 90 businesses, and needs a little over one minute to generate operating profit equal to the NetJets penalty.
The hero in Highly Illogical Behavior has a small world. Since he stopped going to school, Solomon doesnt leave his house. He usually doesnt even venture into the backyard.

Its only John Corey Whaleys third book for young adult readers, but the author is already a hit, a guy who can figure out how to make fascinating the world of a friendless, agoraphobic teen who is obsessed with Star Trek and strategy games.

One way is to bring in two other teens, Lisa and Clark. Unknown to Solomon, Lisa is using his situation as the subject of an essay for her college application. She thinks if she can cure his agoraphobia, shell get a scholarship to a good school of psychology.

Lisa knows it wont be easy, especially pretending to be his friend instead of his counselor, but she knew hed thank her in the end, secret or no secret, Whaley writes.

Of course, readers have their doubts.

Whaley will be in St. Peters next week to discuss Highly Illogical Behavior. His first book, Where Things Come Back, won the Printz Award in 2012. His second, Noggin, was a National Book Award finalist in 2014.

I tend to write about outliers, outsiders, I guess says Whaley, 32, who lives in Southern California. I grew up in a really small town in Louisiana, and I always felt like I was misplaced there.

As a teacher in Louisiana, Whaley wrote his first novel, but it took him four years to find an agent, who quickly sold the manuscript.

Whaley (who goes by Corey but thought using his full name seemed more literary) quit teaching. After several years of facing classrooms of middle school and high school students, talking about books to strangers isnt too hard.

But he has struggled with severe anxiety, which led to his new book.

I started realizing how much I misunderstood about mental illness ... and the strange way we talk and dont talk about it.

For Solomon, staying at home, avoiding public places, is his way of dealing with anxiety. His worried parents dont push him, figuring its better for him to be happy at home.

Its OK not to be cured, the novel conveys.

Although Whaleys own anxiety disorder is treated with medication, he says he is never going to be cured.

Being able to write about contemporary and personal issues makes Whaley really appreciate the young adult audience  and his peers.

What I love about the young adult community is talking about things in our society that we want to change.

Young adult authors have a unique opportunity to enlighten readers and help them change  or stay the same, Whaley says. Theres no subject off-limits for these writers.

Were not living in a world where teenagers arent thinking about these things.

On Sunday, a reviewer for the New York Times wrote: At a time when young adult literature is actively picking away at the stigma of mental illness, Whaley carves off a healthy chunk with style, sensitivity and humor.

But hes not trying only to teach a lesson. Even with a serious subject, he introduces typical teen concerns: love, sexual orientation, friendship, school.

So it all works, Whaley makes it personal: Ultimately I hope thats what makes my books personal to my readers.
"Stories of Honor" coordinated by H.E.R.O.E.S. Care on behalf of St. Louis Regional Alliance for the Troops. Select stories are chosen by a board of appointees. Each selectee is recognized with a plaque, a prize pack and night of honor at Ballpark Village.

The reception came more than four decades late, but for Jim Volmert it was worth the wait. Like many of his Vietnam comrades, Volmert didn't have a warm welcome back to the states. As he arrived at Lambert International Airport still in his uniform, he was called things such as, "Baby Killer."

Still, the frosty welcome home didn't dampen Volmert's pride in serving his country. Every Wednesday, Volmert meets with his fellow veterans for a coffee talk meeting in Troy, MO. A couple of years ago, representatives from the Honor Flight Program came to the meeting and asked the veterans to apply for the program.

Honor Flights bring veterans to Washington D.C. for a reception and tours of the various war monuments. Volmert was selected to go in 2015. "I didn't hear from them for six to eight months, so I really didn't think I was going to make it," Volmert said. "I was very surprised, especially at the reception, everywhere we went, they treated you like a hero."

One emotional part of the trip was visiting the Vietnam Memorial. Volmert found and traced the names of two of his friends  James Taylor and Frederick Schmitt  among the 58,000 names of soldiers who didn't make it home. "On the fl ight home they mentioned that we would be getting letters and most of the honor flight participants received several letters," Volmert said. "I was fortunate enough to receive 42 letters from family, friends and relatives. That was very, very emotional."

Pictures from the trip, as well as other memories from Volmert's service, have been placed in a well-crafted scrapbook by Volmert's wife, Marilyn. There are pictures of Volmert next to the 105 millimeter howitzer that he helped operate, the traces of Taylor and Schmitt's names and some of the letters Volmert received from friends and family on the way home from that honor flight. In the middle of the scrapbook is a certificate awarding Volmert the Bronze Star for his bravery during the Battle of Fire Support Base Oran.

Volmert was in the First Infantry Division, Second Battalion, 33rd Battery. The North Vietnamese wanted Oran, near the Michelin Rubber Plantation, because it was protecting Saigon and it blocked their access to Cambodia. At about 3 p.m. on Feb. 1, 1969, Volmert's Infantry was attacked by the North Vietnamese. They were outnumbered fi e to one. "I was praying and I really didn't think I was going to make it through that," Volmert said. "As they were coming over the wall attacking us, we were so outnumbered I didn't think we had a chance. Luckily, other support artillery and anti-personnel helicopters assisted us during the attack."

There were five 105mm howitzers at Oran placed in a star formation to cover all sides. The cannons could fi re at a distance of seven miles, but during the attack the cannons were calibrated in direct fi re mode, which meant they were pointed directly at the enemy. "We were using the beehive rounds and killing them as they were trying to come over the wire," Volmert said. "And the number of enemy that was dying was so intense that they were throwing their comrades on top of the sand bag and barbed wire wall to climb over to get to us." Beehive rounds are a special shell that when shot out of the cannon exploded into thousands of pieces of shrapnel designed to take out dozens of the enemy with one shot.

The first wave of the battle raged until well after midnight. It started back up again around 3 a.m. the next morning and lasted several more hours before the North Vietnamese retreated. During the battle, Taylor was hit in the face by a rocket propelled grenade, killing him instantly. Volmert remembers an incident with Taylor a couple of days before. Morale was getting low for Volmert's men, so he arranged for a shipment of what he simply referred to as a "case of cold beverages" to be brought to them, which was strictly forbidden while soldiers were in the fi eld. Taylor, Volmert's superior, found out about it and confronted Volmert about it. "He said, 'you know, you could be court marshaled for this,'" Volmert said. "I said, 'yes, but morale was low and I thought they needed a boost.' He said, 'The only problem is you didn't offer me one.' So I did." That was the last "cold beverage" Taylor would have.

Volmert received the Bronze Star for his bravery during the Fire Support Base Oran siege. Volmert's efforts were directly responsible for forcing the enemy to retreat and that his outstanding display of "aggressiveness, devotion to duty, and personal bravery is in keeping with the fi nest traditions of military service," according to a letter written by Col. Archie R. Hyle. "I had no idea that I was going to receive a Bronze Star," Volmert said. "I was also offered the Purple Heart. I had some shrapnel injuries, but I refused to take that because I figured that should go to the real heroes and that's the ones who didn't make it through, the ones on the wall. The Bronze Star, I couldn't refuse."

Volmert, 73, will celebrate his 40th wedding anniversary with Marilyn in September. They have six children, eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He owned and operated a car dealership in Troy until he sold it and retired in 2005. Volmert is still active in his church, Sacred Heart in Troy. His father, Edward, served in World War II and his son, Todd, served in Desert Storm. While he is proud of his family's service, it's one tradition he wouldn't mind doing away with.

"I hope and pray that none of my grandchildren have to serve in a war," Volmert said.
Three months before the nations eyes were affixed on Ferguson, Roslyn Brown was dragged out of her Pine Lawn home in handcuffs by the citys police force.

It was May 19, 2014. At 5:44 p.m., Pine Lawn police Lt. Steven Blakeney, backed by a slew of other officers, busted the door handle on Browns home to get in and arrest her.

The charges?

Thirty-three alleged violations of housing code ordinances, as well as the ubiquitous north St. Louis County charge of failure to comply.

The police took Brown and her 5-year-old daughter to jail.

I was bewildered and terrified, she said.

Then she fought back.

Two years later, Brown is an alderman in Pine Lawn. Blakeney is facing a possible 20-year prison sentence on federal charges that he illegally arrested a mayoral candidate for political payback. Pine Lawns former mayor, Sylvester Caldwell is already in federal prison on corruption charges. The citys Board of Aldermen now has a majority of members supported by Brown and her citizens group, the Pine Lawn Coalition.

Brown disproved the axiom: You cant fight City Hall.

This is how she did it:

I wrote everybody, after she was arrested, Brown said, from state representatives to aldermen to law enforcement officials.

For years, long before Michael Brown was shot in the streets of Ferguson or the state Legislature started paying attention to municipal court abuses in St. Louis County, Pine Lawns corrupt mayor, his hand-picked aldermen and his police lieutenant attack dog were using the citys government apparatus to enrich themselves and bully residents.

It was the very definition of tyranny that sent people to the streets in protest.

Through over-policing, constant ticketing for traffic or housing violations, the citys leadership was hindering the success of people in our community, Brown said. We were a community that was basically silenced because of fear.

Two months after being dragged from her house, Brown wrote a 30-page screed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

They were the only ones who responded, she said.

By September, Caldwell had been indicted by the feds for corruption. Blakeney would take longer, but he was in their sights.

The challenge now was to organize. Brown and others formed the Concerned Citizens of Pine Lawn. In 2015, the group successfully elected two aldermen, Adrian Wright and Rosalyn Halk. It wasnt enough, though. They knew they needed a majority.

Eventually, in part because of connections made during Ferguson protests, Browns group connected with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, the Organization for Black Struggle and the nonprofit ArchCity Defenders. The Pine Lawn Coalition was formed. They learned how to organize, how to take the citys power back through democracy.

It had to be a grass-roots campaign where youre winning house by house and street by street, Brown said.

In April, they won.

The coalition elected a three-member slate to the board: Brown, Elwyn Walls and Nakisha Ford-Smith. As it happens, Ford-Smith is the former mayoral candidate who had been illegally arrested by Blakeney in 2013. Along with another alderman who is sympathetic to their cause, the coalition now has six of eight members on the board.

Change is coming.

On May 22, they plan a rarity in Pine Lawn, a town meeting at Barack Obama Elementary School from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., where residents can explain to their elected officials how they want to see their tax dollars spent.

It is the epitome of one of the chants that was heard often on the streets of Ferguson, Pine Lawn and St. Louis over the past two years: This is what democracy looks like.

For the first time, we are welcoming people to participate in this citys governance, Brown said.

On the agenda? New goals for policing and courts. Repealing abusive ordinances. Returning power to the Board of Aldermen. Listening to residents.

Its a movement that started because one resident had enough of being abused in her own town.

The police officer who put me in the car, two years ago, said something to me, Brown said. He said, If you dont like it, take it to the next level. Well, I did better than that. I decided to become the next level.
ST. LOUIS  Firefighters evacuated two buildings and blocked streets west of downtown about 9:50 a.m. Friday because of a gas leak at 800 North 17th Street. The situation was under control within about a half hour.

There was no explosion or fire, nor reports of injuries.

Fire Capt. Garon Mosby said a backhoe struck a 1-1/2-inch plastic high-pressure natural gas line in a parking lot outside an Imo's Pizza warehouse, just north of 17th and Delmar Boulevard. Some of about 20 Imo's employees evacuated said they smelled the gas and heard the rushing sound.

Officials said another 20 employees were evacuated from a nearly Verizon facility.

The scene is about a block and a half west of the City Museum, but it was unaffected.

On Wednesday, gas escaping from a line broken during excavation work in Carlinville, Ill., about 60 miles northeast of St. Louis, leveled a house in an explosion that hospitalized two people.

And in Maryville last month, an excavating machine broke a gas line that exploded into a fireball that burned a worker who died of the injuries about three weeks later.
BERKELEY  A suspect trying to outrun police in Kinloch led them on a chase Friday morning that ended with one officer and his ride-along passenger hospitalized and a fiery crash that left two cars and a home scorched in neighboring Berkeley.

I heard a boom and the whole house shook, said Christy Harper, who lives in the home destroyed by fire.

The suspect crashed into the home Harper rents and the Chrysler 300 car she bought just last month. She, her boyfriend and her 2-year-old daughter escaped out the back without any burns.

The suspect ran off and was being sought. Kinloch city officials refused to say why the officer was chasing him.

It happened about 2:45 a.m. Friday, ending not far from Interstate 170 and Airport Road.

The Kinloch officer was identified as Robert E. Brooks, 49, whose injuries were described as serious. His passenger was Matthew K. Johnson, 31, who suffered moderate injuries.

Johnson was participating in a program that lets civilians ride on patrol with an officer to get a taste of police work.

The Missouri Highway Patrol had no role in the chase or crash but was asked to investigate the aftermath.

Patrol Sgt. Al Nothum said a different Kinloch police officer, not Brooks, started chasing a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo that went into Berkeley. As it raced south at Jackson and Fourth avenues, it collided with the police car driven by Brooks.

After the impact, the Monte Carlo went airborne, Nothum said. It smashed into a parked car and the house at 5955 Jackson Avenue. Both those vehicles and the home went up in flames.

The car knocked through a wall and nearly went into the basement, said Battalion Chief Kelly Hughes of the Berkeley Fire Department.

The fire consumed the cars, damaged the home and was hot enough to melt siding off a neighbors home, Hughes said. No one in either dwelling was hurt.

Nothum said he did not know why the chase began, and added that Kinloch police did not know the identity of the person they were pursuing.

An officer at the Kinloch station declined comment and referred all questions to the chief, who did not return a message.

Frank McCall Jr., the police chief in Berkeley, said none of his officers was involved and he also did not know the reason for the chase.

Police radio traffic indicated at 2:35 a.m. that the car was wanted for a traffic violation of failure to yield.

Kinloch City Administrator Justine Blue said she and Mayor Darren Small would not comment because the matter is under investigation. She also had no details on the injured officers injuries or condition.

Its an ongoing investigation, Blue said. Were still trying to nail down what happened.

Harper, who lived at the home that burned, is angry and frustrated.

The police had no business chasing nobody, she said.

She returned late Friday morning to look at the charred remains. She said lost belongings include couches and TVs she was renting, as well as a dining room set and electronics she had been able to pay off. She said she and her daughter will be staying with relatives.
EAST ST. LOUIS  A man from Park Hills, Mo., admitted in federal court here Friday that he coerced a 15-year-old girl from Madison with promises of a modeling career into prostituting herself in three states.

Marcus Dewayne Thompson, 28, pleaded guilty of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion and sex trafficking of a child by force, fraud, or coercion.

His wife, Robin Thompson, 25, pleaded guilty Thursday to the conspiracy charge.

In early June of 2015, Marcus Thompson persuaded the girl to accompany him with promises of helping her get modeling work, according to his plea. He took her to Farmington, Mo., where he picked up his wife. Marcus Thompson told his wife that he was going to make money by posting the teen on Backpage.cm.

The couple did, according to their plea agreements, posting explicit pictures of the girl online, and arranging sex acts with men in Florida, Georgia and Louisiana. Marcus Thompson also stole a camper in which the group lived.

Robin Thompson negotiated prices, helped get hotel rooms, provided condoms for the teen and kept records of the transactions. She also told the teen that she would harm her if she tried to escape or talk to authorities.

Robin Thompson admitted prostituting two other women online. Her husbands plea made no mention of that.

At his sentencing, set for Sept. 29, Marcus Thompson faces 27 to nearly 34 years in prison. He has prior state felony convictions, for stealing cars, he told U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan in court Friday. Asked by Reagan how far hed gone in school, Thompson replied, I think 10th grade.

Robin Thompson faces roughly 18 to 22 years in prison when she is sentenced Sept. 15. Her photo was not available.

Thompsons lawyer, Ethan Skaggs, declined to comment after the hearing, as did Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Kapsak.

The investigation began in early July, when a 15-year-old girl at Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital in St. Louis told authorities about what had happened.

Investigators then subpoenaed Backpage.cm and found that the Thompsons cellphone was used to place ads in Orlando and Pensacola in Florida, as well as Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Dallas in June and early July of 2015, Special Agent Eric Ruhe wrote in a court affidavit.

Police found a ledger listing customer information, prices and sex acts in Marcus Thompsons truck in August after the couple was pulled over by a Ste. Genevieve, Mo., police officer.

At the time of his arrest on the federal charges, Marcus Thompson said that hed just started work with a produce company in Missouri and had 3-year-old twins.

Robin Thompson was working for a nursing home. The couple also had an 8-month-old at the time, court records show.
MONTGOMERY CITY, Mo.  The rifle seized by state troopers from Pablo Antonio Serrano-Vitorino at the end of a 17-hour manhunt was linked by ballistics to the death of a stranger who lived nearby, investigators testified in a hearing Thursday.

Associate Circuit Judge Kelly C. Broniec ordered that Serrano-Vitorino  who allegedly killed Randy J. Nordman of New Florence on March 8 while on the run after a quadruple murder in Kansas  must stand trial here for first-degree murder, armed criminal action and burglary.

The preliminary hearing replaces the grand jury process commonly used in urban areas as a path to trial. The next hearing will be June 1.

Serrano-Vitorino, 40, also faces first-degree murder charges in Kansas City, Kan., where he lived and is accused of fatally shooting four men in a neighbors home. A Mexican citizen, he returned to the U.S. illegally some time after being deported from California in 2004.

Chained and in an orange jumpsuit, the defendant did not speak during the two-hour hearing. An interpreter translated the proceedings into Spanish for him.

Nordmans stepdaughter, Tasha Lawson, 26, said later she attended because I wanted to see the guy who took my dad from us and caused us so much pain. It actually was hard to look at him. I cried when he came in the room.

Julie Nordman, who heard the shot that killed her husband, did not attend.

Pedro Garcia, one of eight people who made the trip in support of the Kansas victims, said he hopes for a death sentence. Authorities have not said if they will seek one.

Six officials laid out details of what happened after a 100-officer dragnet focused on Interstate 70 and Missouri Highway 19 at New Florence. A pickup linked to the Kansas killing the night before was found abandoned four miles away on the shoulder.

They said Nordman, 49, was shot once in the chest, severing his aorta, in a struggle in his garage about 7:30 a.m.

Only 800 feet away, in midnight rain about 17 hours later, two Missouri troopers found the suspect hiding in a ditch with the rifle propped against his side. He did not resist.

He just

appeared exhausted and soaking wet, Sgt. Brooks McGinnis testified.

Patrol Sgt. Jason Clark said lab tests linked the rifle to a bullet fragment in Nordmans body and an empty casing in his garage. Clark also said DNA from blood on a tablecloth in Nordmans kitchen was almost certainly Serrano-Vitorinos.

New Florence is 75 miles west of St. Louis and five miles south the courthouse.

Randy Nordman was a machinist in Wentzville and an enthusiast of radio-controlled model race cars.

Serrano-Vitorino has been held in the Montgomery County Jail, where Sheriff Robert Davis said he had tried to commit suicide by cutting himself with a razor one day after his arrest.

Serrano-Vitorino had several run-ins with law enforcement that never led to an arrest on the immigration violation. In one case, he walked out of a Kansas court just before a federal detainer document arrived.

Members of the Missouri Senate cited Serrano-Vitorino in approving a bill that would make illegal re-entry a state violation as well as a federal one. As of Thursday, the bill was before the House with one day left of the legislative session.
ST. LOUIS  Rep. William Lacy Clay added his name on Thursday to a call for St. Louis Alderman Chris Carter to resign in the wake of allegations of spousal abuse.

Clay, a Democrat, released a statement calling the allegations "very serious."

"I agree with Democratic Committeewoman Pamela Boyd (27th Ward)  in the best interests of the citizens of the 27th ward, Alderman Carter should resign," Clay said.

Earlier in the day, a defiant Carter, a Democrat, posted on Twitter: "I AM NOT RESIGNING."

Carters wife called police about 11:20 a.m. on April 30 to report that Carter had injured her during an argument at a home in the 4200 block of East Gulf Shore near Florissant.

Police are considering whether to apply for state charges or file a summons against him.

Clay raised questions about why Carter was at a residence outside of the city, although it appears that the couple had been separated.

"Honest public servants should live in the district that they are elected to represent," Clay said.
WASHINGTON  Illinois members of Congress continue to fight the location of a new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency complex in St. Louis, with Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, suggesting that Congress could refuse to appropriate money for it.

A Senate defense spending bill sets aside $801,000 toward acquiring land in north St. Louis, and $72 million to plan and design the $1.75 billion facility, which would replace the current, aging one in St. Louis.

But the House Appropriations Committee has tentatively zeroed out money for acquisition and cut the planning funds to $36 million, meaning that the Senate and House must negotiate final numbers on the projects initial phases. That process could take months, and is likely to last beyond the June 2 date that NGA Director Robert Cardillo says he will announce a final decision on the NGA site.

Illinois members of Congress want the NGA to go against its initial recommendation and build the new facility near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County. They have argued that the environmental assessment report backing the St. Louis site is flawed. They also say the facility would be safer and more integrated into national military and intelligence communications networks if located near the Illinois air base.

Bost and Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Reps. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, and Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, met Thursday with Cardillo to reiterate their arguments. Bost said Cardillo turned down his request to extend the public comment period on the decision, which Cardillo has already done once.

David Berczek, a spokesman for Cardillo, said that the director felt it was a constructive engagement that helped him to continue to think through the process leading to his issuance of a record of decision in early June.

Missouri members of Congress have made dual national defense and local economic benefit arguments for the St. Louis site, saying it is important for the federal government to keep the high-tech facility in an urban area, with all its amenities, while boosting the St. Louis economy in an area of the city that needs it.

Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters this week that he saw no roadblocks to the St. Louis site, and a member of his staff pointed out that the Houses defense budget blueprint cut the new site funding before Cardillo announced its tentative location in April. Blunts staff attributed the Houses lower funding levels to displeasure among House appropriators over how much information about the new site NGA officials were providing.

Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, said that there is nothing in the tentative House funding proposal that will sidetrack the project from going ahead in St. Louis, and that she has been working with House appropriators, whom her staff describers as supportive of the NGA relocation, to make sure the proper levels of funding are available. Part of the problem, a Wagner spokeswoman said, is that the NGA has not yet provided House appropriators with a full cost estimate.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said Friday she would be surprised if the Illinois opponents prevail.

I believe that the agency is confident in their decision, McCaskill said. I do not think that anything has come up that would change their decision, and I would be bitterly disappointed that, after a thorough process, that the member of a congressional delegation that didnt prevail is going to say we will just stop it altogether if we cant win. .... I would be surprised if you would see that level of irresponsibility exhibited in the Senate.

But Bost has written the Corps of Engineers inspector general asking for an investigation into how NGA arrived at the St. Louis site for the new facility. That process could take time and may not even come to fruition, and its unclear if it would have any effect on the final site.

Without naming names, Bost said he believed there has been political pressure to locate the new facility in St. Louis. Members of the Missouri delegation have publicly disclosed their lobbying efforts with the Obama White House, but they have maintained that the national security argument for St. Louis was a powerful one.

Illinois delegation members have raised concerns that the St. Louis site does not provide big enough buffer zones against possible attacks. Bost said an Army Corps of Engineers official in the meeting with Cardillo on Thursday suggested that the facility may have to go subterranean  underground  to meet government safety requirements.

NGA spokesman Berczek said that building below ground has not been part of the master planning for any of the four sites considered for the new facility.

Bost, whose district includes the site near Scott, said he told Cardillo that he was left with no other choice than to continue to fight the St. Louis location, including using the governments purse strings to stop or slow planning and land acquisition.

These are things if you dont have the money you cant do. Bost said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who previously directed the NGA, told the Post-Dispatch recently that federal intelligence officials anticipated a cross-border battle on the location of the new facility.

Obviously I knew from the get-go that one delegation or the other was going to be unhappy about this decision-making process, Clapper said. But he also said he had no basis for countermanding Cardillos decision.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

The presentation on Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe to be held in Baku, was jointly organized by Knowledge Foundation under the President of Azerbaijan and Baku City Circuit operation organization at BHOS.

Head of students' affairs department Habiba Sadigli welcomed the guests and underlined the fact of formation of positive image of Azerbaijan due to recent hosting internationally significant events and competitions in our country.

The head of international projects section of Knowledge Foundation Riyad Mammadzade, lead advisor of monitoring group on perspective development and projects Almaz Akhundova, the head of fan club on Baku Formula 1, the founder of the website f-1.az Rahim Aliyev joined the meeting.

Rahim Aliyev gave detailed information about forthcoming event. He said that Baku would host 8th Formula1, Grand Prix of Europe previously organized in 21 countries which would be distinguished with its uniqueness.

Throughout competition, cars will be heading along seaside avenue, crossing around historical 'Old City' ('Icheri Sheher').

Rahim Aliyev also said that more than 500 TV spectators and fans of Formula 1 competition would be concentrated on Baku turning the capital of Azerbaijan into global spotlight.

Then some videos on Formula 1, Grand Prix of Europe, Baku, were shown. Finally, Rahim Aliyev answered students' questions. It should be stated that June 17-19. 2016 for the first time in its history Azerbaijan will host Formula 1, Grand Prix of Europe.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri lawmakers made their final push to loosen state gun laws Friday, sending Gov. Jay Nixon an 11th hour plan to make it legal for people to carry concealed weapons without a permit.

The 72-page proposal also includes an expansion of Missouris self-defense laws by allowing a person to use deadly force in public places if they believe a reasonable threat exists.

If youre going to attack somebody youve got to pay the consequences, said Republican Rep. Galen Higdon of St. Joseph.

The measure drew heated opposition from Democrats who were unable to block the GOP majority from advancing the legislation. It moved out both chambers with enough votes to override a veto of the governor  24-8 in the Senate and 114-36 in the House.

Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, said a heavily armed Missouri would take the state back to the 1800s.

What kind of world do we want to live in? Holsman said. Isnt it our job to make our citizens safe?

Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, who sponsored the proposal, said he sought the changes to help people protect themselves and their families.

Under the permit-less carry provision, for example, people could legally carry a concealed firearm anywhere they now can carry guns openly.

The proposal would expand the so-called castle doctrine, which allows a person to use deadly force to defend themselves at home or on their property. House guests, such as a baby sitter, also would be covered if an intruder entered a home.

We already have a gun violence epidemic, said Rep. Stacey Newman, D-Richmond Heights.

This law is a shoot first, ask questions later, added Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, who was among the eight Democrats in the Senate who opposed the expansion.

Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, said the stand your ground measure would ensure people don't suffer legal repercussions for defending themselves.

Were going to give that added level of protection to those who are attacked, Dixon said.

"I should be able to protect my Second Amendment rights, protect my family," said Rep. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg.

Gun control organizations said the action was disappointing and urged Nixon to veto the legislation.

This bill would dismantle our current law and make it easier for dangerous people to carry hidden, loaded handguns in public while also turning everyday conflicts into deadly encounters by emboldening people to shoot rather than resolving disagreements in another way, said Becky Morgan of Columbia, leader of the Missouri chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Police groups also have expressed concern about the changes, including the Fraternal Order of Police. The head of the Missouri FOP earlier said permit-less carry was ludicrous and could lead to untrained citizens carrying guns down St. Louis streets.

Rep. Kim Gardner, D-St. Louis, said the change could endanger law enforcement personnel.

"It puts them at risk," Gardner said.

The legislation is Senate Bill 656.
JEFFERSON CITY  Senators voted not to override Gov. Jay Nixons veto of a so-called paycheck protection measure Thursday night.

After a roughly four-hour filibuster by Democrats Thursday night, the vote fell one vote shy of a two-thirds majority, 22-10. Two Republicans  Sens. Ryan Silvey of Kansas City and Gary Romine of Farmington  joined with the chamber's eight Democrats to oppose the override.

Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, was a "no" vote earlier in the session, but switched his vote. Silvey and Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, voted "yes" the first time, but they also switched sides.

Chappelle-Nadal has said that her original "yes" vote was an accident, but she later embraced the surprise move, using the vote to call attention to racial disparities in unions.

She has four main issues: The St. Louis Building and Construction Trades' support of a plan to cap radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill; what she says is low minority participation on work sites; a mix-up about a January invitation to an AFL-CIO meeting in St. Louis; and an incident last year in which union members on a Facebook page hurled racially-charged taunts.

If I stayed silent, these issues of racial equality would not be before this chamber, or in the media, she said. We have a racial problem."

After the vote, Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors and a member of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 1, told a group of supporters huddled outside her office that unions will have to work to be more inclusive.

"I'm telling you right now brothers and sisters, we have to be more inclusive, we're going to have to work at it, we're going to have to ask the questions, the hard questions of each other to get it done," she said.

This year's "paycheck" proposal would have required public employees other than first responders to opt in each year for union dues to be taken out of their paychecks. They also would have had access to union financial information.

Supporters say its a way to hold union leadership accountable to their membership, especially when they engage in political activities. Opponents say its a way to degrade union power, adding a layer of bureaucracy when unions already have checks and balances.

The GOP-controlled House overrode the governor's veto last week.

At 10:45 p.m., Democratic state Sen. Joe Keaveny of St. Louis, the minority leader, said it was a toss-up as to whether the override would be successful if it came to a vote.

He couldn't predict how some pro-labor Republicans would vote. And he couldn't predict how Chappelle-Nadal would vote, either.

"She's a very independent person and she is a Democrat but, you know, she's a very independent Democrat so she's not going to blindly toe the line," he said. "She's going to vote the way she wants to vote. She hasn't indicated to me which way that was."

The legislation is House Bill 1891.
JEFFERSON CITY  The top Democrat in the Missouri Senate is poised to be appointed to a judicial post, setting off a potential scramble to fill his seat in the Legislatures upper chamber.

Senate Minority Floor Leader Joe Keaveny, a Democrat representing St. Louis and part of St. Louis County, is expected to be named to a vacant administrative law judge post at the Department of Labor by Gov. Jay Nixon.

His final day in the Senate was Friday, but his term doesnt end until 2018.

Nixon will have to schedule a special election to fill the 4th District seat. The governor has typically scheduled those at the same time as regularly scheduled elections.

Keaveny, 59, an attorney, said the hours and pay as a judge will be better than serving as a senator in his public capacity and a lawyer in a private capacity.

The new post, which pays $112,600, focuses on worker compensation cases. His pay as a lawmaker in 2015 totaled $37,352.

Ive got a learning curve, Keaveny said Friday, which also was the last scheduled day of the legislative session.

Im going to have to leave in a couple of years. I didnt want to get passed over, Keaveny said.

Meanwhile, the news of Keavenys departure is sure to set off a competitive contest among Democrats vying for the seat. The district takes in the western half of St. Louis and parts of Richmond Heights, Brentwood, Shrewsbury and MacKenzie.

In the House, term-limited Reps. Jacob Hummel and Michele Kratky, both Democrats from south St. Louis, told the Post-Dispatch that they intend to run for the seat.

Rep. Karla May, D-St. Louis, who was elected to the House in 2010, also said she plans to compete for the seat.

Rep. Stacey Newman, D-Richmond Heights, said that she is considering a run.

Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, will serve as minority leader in the Senate until after the 2016 election when the Democratic caucus will pick a new leadership team. Democrats currently hold just eight of 34 seats in the chamber.

Keaveny practices trust and probate law for Weiss Attorneys at Law, managing portfolios and compliance issues with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for U.S. Bank.

He was elected to the Senate in a special election in 2009 and reelected in 2010 and 2014.

Keaveny, who is married with four grown children, also serves as Democratic committeeman for the 28th Ward.

Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri House Republicans voted Thursday to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot later this year requiring photo ID at the polls, but not before Democrats bashed the proposal one last time.

The plan has drawn some of the most heated debate of the legislative session.

Opponents say the proposed requirement is a ploy to decrease turnout among Democratic-leaning voters. Supporters say its needed to ensure in-person voter impersonation fraud doesnt take place.

The sad part of this is that people in this body think its a joke, said state Rep. Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City. They think that when we push these buttons in front of us  the red and green buttons  it has no implications.

Then we hear people say, Well, you know, everybody has an ID, everybody has a bank account, he said. Well, thats ignorance, because that shows the fact that you dont understand the difference between a privilege and a right. Its a privilege to have an ID.

Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kanders office estimates that there are 220,000 registered voters in the state who lack a photo ID. Kander is a Democrat.

Critics cite studies indicating that voter impersonation fraud  lying about who you are at the ballot box  is rare and not a problem worth solving. They argue that in states with strict voter ID laws, turnout among Democratic-leaning voters has decreased.

Justin Levitt, a researcher at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, counted only 31 credible cases nationwide of in-person voter fraud out of more than 1 billion ballots cast between 2000 and 2014.

A study out of the University of California, San Diego suggests that the strictest voter ID laws can reduce participation of strong liberals by up to 10.7 points compared with states without the laws. Participation among strong conservatives also drops, but only by 2.8 points, the researchers found.

Confusion over new rules has also led to problems. A study from the University of Houston and Rice University suggests that confusion over Texas law reduced turnout among Hispanics in the 2014 midterm elections.

A lot of them havent taken the time to really research this, Ellington said of supporters.

But supporters countered that compromise language from the Senate ensures that no one will actually be prevented from voting.

Under the language that would go into effect upon voter approval, voters without an ID will be able to sign a form saying that they dont have an ID, are who they claim to be, and recognize that voter ID is the law of the land.

If they decline to sign the form, they could cast a provisional ballot; the vote would count if the person could later prove their identity.

The state would also pay for IDs and source documents needed to obtain them. If the state did not appropriate money in any given year, the requirements would not be in effect.

The language laying out how the requirement would be enforced still needs either Gov. Jay Nixons signature or a successful override in the Legislature if he vetoes the bill.

The folks on the other side, I certainly understand and sympathize where theyre coming from, because they are coming at this issue from a civil rights perspective, said state Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin.

Theres no way I would be supporting this if it disenfranchised people who look like me  people who are my ancestors, people who are my relatives, people who are my best friends, Dogan, who is black, said.

After Dogan spoke, the GOP majority voted to cut off debate and force a vote.

The sponsor of the resolution, state Rep. Tony Dugger, R-Hartville, said he had worked on voter ID ever since he joined the House eight years ago. He is leaving the body due to term limits.

I cant think of a better piece of legislation to end on, he said, and with that, I close.

He received a standing ovation from GOP members. Democrats sat silent.

The legislation is House Bill 1631 and House Joint Resolution 53.
ST. CHARLES  When Christians around the world on Sunday celebrate the Holy Spirits descent on the first disciples, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church parishioners will also commemorate the founding of their church  225 years ago.

We have a lot to be thankful for, said the Rev. John Reiker, St. Charles Borromeos pastor for the past decade. Its still a pretty strong parish. That may be the miraculous thing.

In 1791, a log cabin church was built at Jackson and South Main streets on the bank of the Missouri River. It served as a place of worship for French fur traders and Native American converts.

The church was named after Charles Borromeo, the Cardinal of Milan and patron saint of Spanish King Charles, who controlled the territory at the time.

Soon after the Louisiana purchase in 1803, the churchs demographics changed, as American settlers and German immigrants began to worship there.

More than a dozen years ago, the church started to experience another shift. The churchs previous pastor, the Rev. Richard Tillman, established a Latino ministry and a bilingual Mass.

Today from 500 to 600 of the churchs 2,000 households are Hispanic, Reiker said.

There has been a blessed integration, a uniting of the communities in the 10 years I have been here, mainly through retreats and prayer, Reiker said.

At a 10:30 a.m. bilingual Mass on Pentecost Sunday, petitions centered on the seven gifts of the holy spirit  wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety and wonder  will be recited in French, German, English and Spanish to honor past parishioners.

After the Mass, parishioners will embark on a tour of the churchs history, first proceeding to the Academy of the Sacred Heart and its 1835 building that includes rooms where St. Rose Philippine Duchesne lived and died. She moved to the parish in 1818 from New Orleans to establish an educational system for children suffering under the hardships of frontier life.

They will also visit the site of the first school in St. Charles, the Shrine of St. Philippine, and the Grotto of Our Lady of Guadalupe in recognition of the churchs Hispanic parishioners.

Paul Leubbers, a parishioner since 1980, noted that the 1791 log cabin church wasnt built until November of that year. But the church will hold occasional events to observe its history throughout the year.

What we are doing (on Sunday) is just an event within this celebration, Leubbers said.

That celebration, Leubbers said, will culminate on a Sunday in November when St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson says Mass at St. Charles Borromeo.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:

Residents of the Gadili village of Azerbaijan's Samukh district celebrated the completion of a project to improve water access in the village on May 12. The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of Azerbaijan's Economy Ministry, the local Executive Committee, municipal government, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The project was funded by USAID and the Azerbaijani government and implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI) under the Socio-Economic Development Activity (SEDA).

The Gadili village is located 18 kilometers away from the district center and has long struggled with a shortage of irrigation water, forcing women and children to carry water from distant wells for daily use. With support from EWMI, the village installed a 12-ton water tank on an artesian well and linked it to 93 faucets throughout the village, including one in the local schoolyard. The project will improve living and sanitary conditions for more than 400 residents in the village.

To date, EWMI has implemented 73 projects in 65 villages benefiting more than 96,500 people around Azerbaijan. Through SEDA, EWMI promotes cooperation between citizens, civil society organizations, and government to advance socio-economic development.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
I can assure you the only thing Spire cares about is profits over people. Their executives sat in silence and stared at us as we told them if they raised their rates again, people would suffer.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Anakhanum Idayatova - Trend:

A UN expert group will visit Azerbaijan May 16-25 to assess the situation in the country's detention facilities, the UN Baku office said May 13.

During the visit, the UN experts Setondji Roland Adjovi and Jose Guevara will visit the Azerbaijani cities of Baku, Ganja and Nakhchivan, where they will meet with the authorities and civil society members.

The expert group will visit detention facilities, police stations, and mental health institutions. They will also meet with inmates.

Edited by EA

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

Training on establishing public relations for students of high education institutions was held in Excelsior Hotel Baku on May 12.

The purpose of the training was to familiarize the students interested in this sphere, with the main goals and principles of this industry.

Head of Public Relations Ilham Mammadov made presentation on "Principles and Goals of PR", head of Corporate Communications Bakcell Suhaila Jafarova made presentation on "Corporate social responsibility", head of sector for information, e-media, and working with resources Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the editor of the "Medeniyyt.az" magazine Zohra Aliyeva made presentation on "Ethics of journalists" and head of Communications JSC of AtaHolding Dilara Zamanova made presentation on "Internal Communication in companies".

PR managers of banks and other companies also took part in the event.
Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE: BABA) and SoftBank Corp., the Japan-based telecom subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., jointly announced the establishment of SB Cloud Corporation (SB Cloud) to launch cloud computing services in Japan that utilize technologies and solutions from Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group.

SB Cloud will open a new data center in Japan and provide competitive and enhanced public cloud computing services from Alibaba Cloud to meet the various needs of Japanese customers, ranging from startups to multinational companies. The joint venture will enable Alibaba Cloud to further expand its cloud computing service platform with SoftBanks extensive business customer base in Japan, which comprises numerous global organizations.

SB Cloud will play a key role in supporting Alibaba Clouds business presence in the Japan market where the demand for public cloud computing services is growing rapidly. It will provide Japanese enterprises with Alibaba Clouds diverse offerings, including data storage and processing services, enterprise-level middleware as well as cloud security services.

Sicheng Yu, Vice President of Alibaba Cloud, says: We are proud that Alibaba Cloud can leverage its cloud computing expertise in the joint venture with SoftBank. We look forward to helping more Japanese companies grow their business with our secure, scalable and innovative cloud computing services.

Eric Gan, Representative Director, CEO of SB Cloud and Executive Vice President of SoftBank, says: Ive really enjoyed working with the Alibaba Cloud team on the joint venture over the past few months. During the business planning discussions, I quickly felt that we were all working very much as one team with one goal. I believe the JV team can develop the most advanced cloud platform for Japanese customers, as well as for multinational customers who want to use the resources we have available in Japan.

SoftBank Group Corp., SoftBanks parent company, is a major shareholder of Alibaba Group Holding Limited.

About SB Cloud

Corporate name SB Cloud Corporation Established Jan 26, 2016* Corporate headquarters Minato-ku, Tokyo Representatives Eric Gan, Representative Director, CEOKen Miyauchi, DirectorJun Shimba, DirectorXiaoming Hu (Simon), DirectorJingren Zhou, Director Capital structure SoftBank Corp.: 60%Alibaba Group Holding Limited: 40% Business description Planning, development, import and export, and sales of public cloud services

* Following the acceptance of additional capital on May 10th, 2016, the corporate name was changed to SB Cloud Corporation.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

French companies in total invested $2.4 billion in Azerbaijan's economy, said Shahin Mustafayev, Azerbaijani economy minister.

He made the remarks during the meeting with Marie-Ange Debon, co-chairperson of Azerbaijan-France Business Council and senior executive vice-president of the SUEZ Group, Azerbaijani Economy Ministry said.

Mustafayev said that the economic relations between the two countries develop in various directions and currently, more than 40 companies with French capital operate in Azerbaijan. French companies also participate in projects implemented with government investments.

The minister invited French companies to invest in the spheres of agriculture, transport, construction, aviation, tourism, high technologies, ecology and others, in particular, in the projects implemented in private sector.

Marie-Ange Debon pointed out the potential to expand cooperation between the two countries' businessmen. She added that current visit will allow French businessmen to become better acquainted with the business and investment opportunities in Azerbaijan.

During the meeting, France's Ambassador to Azerbaijan Aurelia Bouchez said that Azerbaijan is France's important partner in the South Caucasus, adding that France is interested in expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Bouchez noted that the economic reforms implemented in Azerbaijan create good opportunities for foreign companies, including French companies.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and France totaled $233.13 million in the first quarter of 2016, some $200.89 million of which accounted for the export to France, according to Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee.

Edited by SI
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is said to have declared force majeure on Nigerian Qua Iboe crude exports, according to reports out Friday.

Traders said that ExxonMobil is having trouble with a pipeline, which lead to a disruption of supplies.

Qua Iboe has the largest output of Nigeria's crude oil grades and was expected to account for 317,000 barrels per day of exports for June.

Shares of ExxonMobil are down
A gender-neutral bathroom is seen at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, California September 30, 2014. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

By Megan Cassella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration told U.S. public schools on Friday that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, upsetting Republicans and raising the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority.

Conservatives pushed back against the administration's non-binding guidance to schools, the latest battleground in the issue of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the guidance "must be challenged."

"If President Obama thinks he can bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms, he better prepare for yet another legal fight," Paxton, a Tea Party champion, said in a statement.

Other Republican-led states joined calls to disregard the White House's directive and accused the administration of overstepping its role. In North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory labeled the move a "massive executive branch overreach" and called on federal courts and the U.S. Congress to intercede, while Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said it was "offensive, intrusive and totally lacking in common sense."

The U.S. Education and Justice Departments, in a letter, told school districts nationwide that while the guidance carries no legal weight, they must not discriminate against students, including based on their gender identity.

The guidance contained an implicit threat that school districts defying the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or be deprived of federal aid.

The White House defended its actions, saying the guidance should not be viewed as a threat but instead as a set of "specific, tangible, real-world advice and suggestions" that many schools had sought and will welcome.

"That's what we're looking for: solutions that protect the safety and dignity of every single student in school," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing, adding that the idea was to prevent discrimination against a range of groups extending beyond the transgender community.

The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina are battling in federal court over a North Carolina state law approved in March that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to their gender assigned at birth, while other states weigh similar measures.

North Carolina's law was the first to ban people from restrooms in public buildings and schools not matching the sex on their birth certificate. Mississippi has enacted legislation similarly viewed as discriminatory by civil and gay rights groups, and Tennessee and Missouri considered similar measures.

The letter to the schools from Washington said that, to get federal funding under existing rules, a school has to agree not to treat students or activities differently on the basis of sex. That includes not treating a transgender student differently from other students of the same gender identity, officials said.

The American Civil Liberties Union said the guidance would help make students "free to bring their whole selves to school."

In a sign of what defiant states may face, the Justice Department this week asked a U.S. District Court in North Carolina to declare the state in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and order it to stop enforcing the ban.

Americans are divided over which public restrooms should be used by transgender people, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, 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.

A group representing U.S. school boards called the guidance "unsettled law."

"A dispute about the intent of the federal law must ultimately be resolved by the courts and the Congress, the National School Boards Association said in a statement.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was less critical than many of his party in several television interviews, saying the issue should be left up to individual states.

"Everybody has to be protected ... but it's a tiny, tiny portion of the population," Trump told Fox News.

(Reporting by Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem and Jon Herskovitz in Austin; Editing by Frances Kerry, Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) disclosed that on May 10, 2016, Ralph Nicoletti, Executive Vice President  Chief Financial Officer of Tiffany & Co., notified the Company that he intends to resign from his position, effective May 20, 2016, to accept a similar position at another company. The Company will conduct a search to identify a successor.
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT), an affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, has recognized CSL CEO and Managing Director Paul Perreault with its 2016 Healthcare CEO Award. The award is based on criteria such as management accomplishments and philosophy, leadership and industry and market impact.

Award criteria also include an ability to attract and retain talented resources, company milestones including financial accomplishments and a strategy for continued company success, and community/industry involvement. PACT, which was established to drive entrepreneurship and innovation in the Philadelphia area, also takes into consideration contributions to strengthening and promoting the life sciences industry.

Paul Perreault, CSL's CEO and Managing Director, said he is honoured to accept the award on behalf of CSL and its 16,000 employees worldwide. "After 100 years of making lifesaving therapies, we have the shared feeling that we are just getting started," Perreault said. "Our promise has never been stronger, and we will continue to unlock the potential of therapeutic proteins to save lives and protect the health of people living with rare and serious conditions."

About CSL Behring CSL Behring is a global biotherapeutics leader, which is driven by its promise to save lives. Focused on serving patients' needs by using the latest technologies, we develop and deliver innovative therapies that are used to treat coagulation disorders, primary immune deficiencies, hereditary angioedema, inherited respiratory disease, and neurological disorders. The company's products are also used in cardiac surgery, organ transplantation, burn treatment and to prevent hemolytic disease of the newborn.

CSL Behring operates one of the world's largest plasma collection networks, CSL Plasma. The parent company, CSL Limited (ASX: CSL), headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, employs more than 16,000 people with operations in more than 30 countries. For more information visit www.cslbehring.com and follow us on www.Twitter.com/CSLBehring.

Media ContactName: Chris FlorentzOffice: 610-878-4316; Mobile: 484-238-8509 Email: [email protected]

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367301 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100914/PH63692LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/csls-paul-perreault-receives-healthcare-ceo-enterprise-award-from-philadelphia-alliance-for-capital-and-technologies-300268346.html

SOURCE CSL Behring
DENVER, May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ - Intermap (TSX: IMP), (ITMSF:BB), a leading provider of location-based solutions, today announced that the Company was awarded a US $2.6 million contract for an airborne radar mapping services solution.

Intermap is using its proprietary Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR) technology to collect orthorectified radar imagery and high resolution elevation data to enhance the customer's existing geospatial map database. This new dataset will be used for improved disaster planning, resource management, security interests, and infrastructure planning. The project will commence in the June/July 2016 timeframe and the final deliveries of the dataset are expected to be substantially complete by the end of the year 2016.

"Because of its unique capabilities, Intermap's IFSAR radar mapping technology is considered to be the best and most reliable approach for the customer's requirements," said Todd Oseth, president and CEO of Intermap. "Intermap's unique solutions approach was a key component for this contract win."

About Intermap

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, Intermap is a leading provider of geospatial solutions on demand with its secure, cloud-based Orion Platform. Through its powerful suite of software applications and proprietary development of contiguous databases that fuse volumes of geospatial data into a single source, the Orion Platform is able to provide location-based solutions for customers in diverse markets around the world. For additional information, please visit www.intermap.com.

Intermap Reader Advisory

Certain information provided in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements. The words "anticipate", "expect", "project", "estimate", "forecast" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Although Intermap believes that these statements are based on information and assumptions which are current, reasonable and complete, these statements are necessarily subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. You can find a discussion of such risks and uncertainties in our Annual Information Form and other securities filings. While the Company makes these forward-looking statements in good faith, should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary significantly from those expected. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that the Company will derive therefrom. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to Intermap or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the forward-looking statements made herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities law.

SOURCE Intermap Technologies Corporation
MOSCOW, May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mechel PAO (MICEX:MTLR) (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces 2015 operational results.

Production and sales for 2015

Production:

Product Name 2015,thousandtonnes 2014,thousandtonnes % 4Q2015,thousandtonnes 3Q2015,thousandtonnes % Run-of-Mine Coal 23,181 22,624 +2 5,776 5,957 -3 Pig Iron 4,065 3,946 +3 1,006 1,014 -1 Steel 4,321 4,269 +1 1,081 1,093 -1

Sales:

Product Name 2015,thousandtonnes 2014, thousand tonnes % 4Q2015,thousandtonnes 3Q2015,thousandtonnes % Coking coal concentrate 8,215 10,140 -19 2,014 2,133 -6 PCI 2,251 3,063 -27 457 472 -3 Anthracites 2,076 2,107 -1 506 462 +10 Steam coal 6,564 5,958 +10 1,657 1,867 -11 Iron ore concentrate 2,806 3,120 -10 737 752 -2 Coke 2,911 3,234 -10 670 757 -11 Ferrosilicon 81 87 -7 22 23 -4 Flat products 478 451 +6 121 121 0 Long products 2,743 2,960 -7 641 734 -13 Billets 232 117 +98 64 56 +14 Hardware 692 766 -10 162 189 -14 Forgings 54 53 +2 12 15 -19 Stampings 67 84 -20 17 18 -5 Electric power generation (thousand kWh) 4,137,441 3,682,128 +12 1,033,832 819,502 +26 Heat power generation (Gcal) 5,666,382 6,106,092 -7 1,775,478 751,828 +136

Key investment projects progress

Universal rolling mill:

2015,thousandtonnes 2014,thousandtonnes % 4Q2015,thousandtonnes 3Q2015,thousandtonnes % Rails, beams and shapes 175 124 +41 56 42 +33

Elga Coal Complex:

2015,thousandtonnes 2014,thousandtonnes % 4Q2015,thousandtonnes 3Q2015,thousandtonnes % Run-of-mine coal 3,952 1 224 +223 962 1,126 -15

Mechel PAOs Chief Executive Officer Oleg Korzhov commented on the 2015 operational results:

In 2015, Mechels coal assets worked in a new reality. On one hand, ruble devaluation had a positive impact on mining costs and helped the companys enterprises consolidate their position as compared to their competitors. Our production results improved, while mining at the Elga deposit more than tripled. On the other hand, in 2015 international commodity prices demonstrated historical lows as the market failed to reach the bottom many experts hoped for last year and the year before last. At the same time, 2015 saw further decrease of Chinese imports as China, the worlds most important coal consumer, plummeted its imports by over 40% since 2013. The latter factor became key for our sales policy. For example, last year Yakutugol decreased exports by 30%, while domestic sales went up by 44%.

Coking coal concentrate sales went down by 19% in the accounting period. The decrease in sales to China was partly compensated by reorienting our sales to the domestic market where the price dynamics has been more attractive this year. We have also increased sales of coking coal concentrate to other Asian countries  Japan and Indonesia. To reduce buying from third-party producers in 2015 we supplied additional volumes of coking coal concentrate from Elga Coal Complex to the Groups steelmaking facilities.

The slump in PCI sales was primarily due to the global decrease in demand both from Asian and European countries. China and South Korea were our key markets for PCI in 2015.

We managed to maintain anthracite sales at the same level as last year by redirecting exports from China to Vietnam as well as Southern Europe.

Steam coal sales went up by 10% due to an increase in production at Elga. We are fully compliant with our commitments as per active contracts with Russian generating companies and our Asian customers.

Sales of iron ore concentrate went down by 10% as production volumes decreased due to negative market conditions. Uninterrupted supply of iron ore concentrate to Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plants furnace facilities is a priority for us.

Mechels coke and chemical enterprises decreased coke production in 2015 due to unstable demand. Two thirds of coke production was supplied to the Groups facilities.

The steel division has increased production of steel and pig iron by 1% and 3% respectively, year-on-year. The universal rolling mill continues to master new types of rolls. In this accounting period we achieved a major increase (+41%) in production of high value-added products. Despite a significant decrease in apparent consumption of construction-purpose long rolls in Russia, we maintained our domestic market supply on last years level, increasing our share of this market we consider strategic. We also optimized our portfolio regarding other types of long rolls, thus minimizing production of low value-added products.

Flat rolls production went up by 10% due to several new contracts with major Russian companies and sale of excessive stockpiles by Mechel Service Global sales network in Western Europe.

The 10-percent decrease in hardware sales is due to the shrinking of our domestic market and the overall negative dynamics of Russias hardware market which persists into 2016.

Bratsk Ferroalloy Plant increased ferrosilicon production by 2% year-on-year. The seven-percent decrease in ferrosilicon sales was due to a shifting in shipment schedule for the plants contracted products from this accounting period into early 2016.

Steady demand for forgings in Eurozone countries enabled us to increase sales of these products by 2%.

Oversupply of rolling stock on the railway market in 2015 and the resulting slump in demand for new wagons had their impact on our stampings sales which fell by 20%. As Russian government is taking measures to support the wagon-making industry, we expect more orders to come this year.

The power division last year managed to increase electricity production by 12% due to the stable work of Southern Kuzbass Power Plant which had successfully undergone equipment modernization. The seven-percent decrease in heat production was due to the halt in heat supply of several third-party consumers.

Mechel is an international mining and steel company which employs over 67,000 people. Its products are marketed in Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, heat and electric power. All of its enterprises work in a single production chain, from raw materials to high value-added products.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned Risk Factors and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.

Mechel PAO Ekaterina Videman Tel: + 7 495 221 88 88 [email protected]

Source: Mechel PAO
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/12/16 -- Mining for Miracles, the BC mining community's longstanding fundraising campaign for BC Children's Hospital, raised $1,206,704 on May 12 at its signature event - the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw. Participants raised funds by volunteering to take a pie in the face and asking friends, family and colleagues to pledge their support.

This year, representatives from Amec Foster Wheeler, Ausenco, AMEBC, BC Children's Hospital, CIM, CP Rail, Fluor, Finning, Goldcorp, Golder Associates, Hatch, Kaminak, MABC, McMillan, New Gold, OceanaGold, Oxygen Capital, PDAC, Sandstorm Gold, Teck and Westshore Terminals participated in the Pie Throw.

"The BC mining sector has a proud tradition of giving back to communities and I'd like to congratulate all the participants, volunteers and donors from across the industry for raising these funds in support of child health in BC," said Bill Bennett, Minister of Energy and Mines.

"Every year, leaders from the mining industry bring a spirit of generosity and a great sense of fun to the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw," said Teri Nicholas, president and CEO of BC Children's Hospital Foundation. "We can always rely on them to draw a crowd, and inspire the philanthropy that transforms the lives of children and families who rely on BC Children's Hospital. This year was no exception."

"Thirty representatives from across the industry participated in the Pie Throw and soundly beat the $600,000 fundraising goal. This is a testament to their commitment and the generosity of the entire mining industry," said Jeff Hanman, chair of Mining for Miracles.

100% of proceeds from the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw will go to helping Mining for Miracles complete its $3-million pledge to finish the development of BC Children's Hospital's CAUSES Research Clinic. Hundreds of mining, exploration, development companies, service providers and suppliers across BC, Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, and their employees, family and friends, provided support leading up to the event.

Since the CAUSES Research Clinic opened in June 2015, more than 125 families have been seen by the CAUSES team, which offer families genetic counselling, clinical interpretation of complex testing results, and personalized recommendations for treatment.

The partnership of BC Children's Hospital Foundation and Mining for Miracles is a leading example of how industry, institutions and social-profit organizations can work together to provide world-class health care to children and families across BC. Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information.

About Mining for Miracles

Every year volunteers from the mining community work together through Mining for Miracles to help improve the quality of health care for children in our province. Through its support of the construction of facilities and acquisition of specialized medical equipment at the hospital, Mining for Miracles is helping to keep BC Children's Hospital at the forefront of pediatric care excellence. Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information and to donate.

About the CAUSES Research Clinic

The CAUSES Research Clinic provides genome-wide sequencing to support the efficient diagnosis of rare genetic diseases in children who would otherwise require numerous tests or might not be diagnosed at all. There are 7,000 known rare disorders and CAUSES uses a single genomic test to look for all of these.

If advanced DNA testing identifies a child with a treatable condition, then treatment can be started earlier. For some children, this will be life-changing. Obtaining the right treatment earlier will help prevent medical complications and save lives. The CAUSES Research Clinic is made possible by a $3-million commitment from Mining for Miracles through BC Children's Hospital Foundation and is supported by the Provincial Health Services Authority and the University of British Columbia. Genome British Columbia has also agreed to support the CAUSES Research Clinic for up to an additional $1 million. The CAUSES Research Clinic will ensure that BC Children's Hospital remains a centre of excellence providing outstanding care to the children and families of British Columbia.

The CAUSES Research Clinic:

-- Tests at least 500 children and family members within the next three years to identify illnesses that would previously have gone undiagnosed; -- Provides genetic counselling, interpretation of complex testing results, and personalized treatment recommendations for children who receive a diagnosis from the clinic's genome-wide sequencing; -- Helps reduce the number of invasive tests - such as biopsies, biochemical tests, expensive single gene tests, or MRI scans often requiring sedation - needed to obtain a diagnosis for children. This reduces the average number of tests per child required for a diagnosis from 10 or more to one, resulting in significant savings for both families and the health-care system; -- Helps to prevent medical complications. In cases where advanced DNA testing identifies a treatable condition in a child, treatment can be started immediately. Obtaining the right treatment earlier helps prevent medical complications and save lives; -- Partners with the BC Children's Hospital BioBank to store biological samples donated by patients, which will contribute to significant research discoveries.

To view the photo accompanying this press release, click on the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/MFM512.jpg

Contacts: Jeff Hanman Mining for Miracles Chair 604-354-5230 [email protected] Gloria Cameron BC Children's Hospital Foundation 604-875-2519 [email protected]

Source: BC Children's Hospital Foundation and Mining for Miracles
BOCA RATON, FL -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Saxena White P.A. has filed a securities fraud class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against DeVry Education Group, Inc. ("DeVry" or the "Company") (NYSE: DV) on behalf of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of the Company during the period between February 4, 2011 and January 27, 2016, inclusive (the "Class Period").

DeVry provides educational services worldwide through a number of subsidiaries, including DeVry University, one of the largest degree-granting higher education systems in the United States. Through its five colleges, DeVry University offers programs in healthcare, business, technology, accounting, finance and law. The Company is incorporated in Delaware and maintains its principal executive offices in Downers Grove, Illinois.

The Complaint brings forth claims for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose, among other things, that: (i) DeVry University engaged in a multi-year deceptive marketing and advertising campaign; (ii) DeVry University overstated its students' ability to find employment after graduation (iii) DeVry University overstated the potential income its students could earn after graduation; (iv) and as a result, DeVry overstated its growth, revenue, and earnings potential by concealing the true employment prospects of DeVry University graduates to investors and potential students.

You may obtain a copy of the Complaint and join the class action at www.saxenawhite.com.

If you purchased DeVry stock between February 4, 2011 and January 27, 2016, inclusive, you may contact Lester Hooker ([email protected]) at Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights and interests.

If you purchased DeVry common stock during the Class Period of February 4, 2011 and January 27, 2016, and wish to apply to be the lead plaintiff in this action, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the Court by no later than July 12, 2016. You may contact Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff and your interest in the class action. Please note that you may also retain counsel of your choice and need not take any action at this time to be a class member.

Saxena White P.A., located in Boca Raton, Florida, concentrates its practice on prosecuting securities fraud and complex class actions on behalf of institutions and individuals. Currently serving as lead counsel in numerous securities fraud class actions nationwide, the firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of injured investors and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States.

Lester R. Hooker, [email protected] White P.A.5200 Town Center Circle, Suite 601Boca Raton, FL 33486Tel: (561) 206-6708Fax: (866) 290-1291www.saxenawhite.com

Source: Saxena White P.A.
A combination picture of Mustafa Amine Badreddine, one of four men wanted for the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, is shown in this undated handout picture released at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon website July 29, 2011

By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah's top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in a blast at a base near Damascus airport, the Lebanese Shi'ite group said on Friday, one of the biggest blows to its leadership the Iranian-backed organization has ever sustained.

Hezbollah did not immediately say on Friday who it blamed for the attack, but its deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said there were clear indications of who was behind it, and the group would announce the outcome of its investigation within hours. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

At least one Hezbollah figure blamed the group's age-old enemy Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets in Syria several times in the past since civil war started there in 2011. Israel declined to comment, but a former Israeli official said his country would be glad Badreddine was dead.

Hezbollah also has many other foes in Syria, where it fights in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad against a range of Sunni Muslim groups including Islamic State.

Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders gathered at a mosque in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut and gave Badreddine a military funeral, waving Hezbollah flags. They chanted Shi'ite religious slogans, as well as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine.

In a letter, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended condolences "for the martyrdom of this great jihadist ... who embodied devotion and vigor and was legendary in his defense of high Islamic goals and his defense of the Lebanese people who resist oppression and terrorism."

The U.S. government believed Badreddine, 55, was in charge of Hezbollah's military operations in Syria.

He is the most senior Hezbollah official killed since 2008 when his brother-in-law, long-serving military commander Imad Moughniyah, was blown up by a bomb planted in his car in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

The latest killing follows other recent losses for Hezbollah and Iran in Syria, despite Russian military intervention in support of Assad and his allies in a five year multi-sided civil war that has drawn in neighboring states and world powers.

At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the explosion at the base was caused by an air strike, a missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed.

"This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," said Nawar al-Saheli, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon's parliament, hinting at the prospect of retaliation: "The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time."

Israel never confirms or denies allegations of targeted killings of individuals abroad. When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.

Hezbollah is Lebanon's most powerful political and military group, having grown stronger since forcing Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict.

Israel deems Hezbollah its most potent enemy and worries that it is becoming entrenched on its Syrian front and acquiring more advanced weaponry.

"We don't know if Israel is responsible for this," Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told Israel's Army Radio. "Remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters without Israel."

"But from Israel's view, the more people with experience, like Badreddine, who disappear from the wanted list, the better," he said.

A U.S. Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.

U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, said it was too soon to assess what impact Badreddines death might have on Hezbollah but noted that it had suffered heavy casualties in Syria.

But with regards to this specific strike, who took it and what the downstream impact is going to be of losing this leader  its simply too soon to tell, he said.

HIJACKERS SOUGHT HIS RELEASE

Announcing his death, Hezbollah quoted Badreddine as saying he would return from Syria victorious or as a martyr. A photo released by the group showed him before his death, smiling and wearing a camouflage baseball cap.

Badreddine's death sparked wide condemnation from Lebanese political allies. "His martyrdom is a big loss for the Lebanese in their fight against Israeli-Zionist aggression and Takfiri terrorism," Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, in reference to Israel and Sunni militant groups.

"His loss will leave a vacuum but the lesson is to continue on the path that he chose -- resistance and Jihad until victory is achieved."

Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

His release from jail in Kuwait was one of the demands made by the hijackers of a TWA flight in 1985, and of the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988.

For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments.

Badreddine was also one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni Muslim figures. Hezbollah denied any involvement and said the charges were politically motivated.

Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict. These include prominent figures Samir Qantar and Jihad Moughniyah, the son of Imad Moughniyah, who were killed in separate Israeli attacks last year.

Hezbollah responded in both cases, though the incidents were contained, with the sides seeking to avoid any repeat of the 2006 war which exacted a heavy price in Israel and Lebanon.

(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Timothy Heritage and Peter Graff)
VIENNA (Reuters) - The head of Austria's rail operator, Christian Kern, is set to become the country's next chancellor after the other main contender for the post of Social Democratic Party (SPO) leader pulled out of the race and said the whole party backed him.

Werner Faymann stepped down as chancellor this week, bowing to a revolt inside the SPO after it suffered a heavy defeat in the first round of a presidential election last month, in which the anti-immigration Freedom Party's (FPO) candidate came first.

Kern, who oversaw the mass transit of asylum seekers to Germany from Hungary's border at the height of the migration crisis last autumn, was up against Gerhard Zeiler, a former head of national broadcaster ORF and now the president of Turner Broadcasting's international arm.

But Zeiler said on Thursday he would not run for the post of party leader and head of the coalition government, later adding that he and Kern had long agreed not to oppose each other.

"He will be a very good chancellor, a very good party leader, and he has the support of the whole party," Zeiler said of Kern in an interview with ORF after announcing his decision.

The SPO's leadership is due to formally choose its proposed successor to Faymann on Tuesday, but with its powerful governors of Austrian provinces due to meet on Friday morning, party heavyweights could make an informal announcement sooner.

Once the party makes its choice, Austrian President Heinz Fischer must approve the candidate for them to take office, and Fischer appeared to have already made up his mind.

"The man who is in the foreground is certainly the right one and has fulfilled his current duties well," Fischer, a former Social Democrat, told ORF during a visit to Berlin.

SPO branches in eight of Austria's nine provinces have already expressed support for Kern.

Kern, 50, took over the Alpine republic's state-run railway operator OBB in 2010. He previously served as spokesman for the SPO's parliamentary group and as a manager at Austrian hydropower utility Verbund.

Few details have emerged on his political leanings or likely policies, but speculation has begun about a reshuffle of SPO ministers, with several media reporting those closest to Faymann would be purged.

The Finance, Foreign and Interior Ministries, however, are all headed by members of the SPO's junior coalition partner, the People's Party (OVP).

The OVP has made the continuation of their alliance conditional on Faymann's successor backing a tough, recently enacted asylum law, agreeing to cap a key benefit payment and negotiating an economic package with an element of deregulation.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, Shadia Nasralla and Kirsti Knolle)
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 12

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Wavetronix offers Azerbaijan a new radar system to monitor traffic, Jake Fillmore, the company's regional sales manager for Eastern Europe, told Trend.

The US-based Wavetronix is engaged in creation of the intelligent transport system (ITS) tools.

Fillmore earlier took part in the 6th Caspian International Road Infrastructure and Public Transport Exhibition in Baku.

"We came to the exhibition to offer our products in Azerbaijan, and it should be noted that we saw a lot of interest here," said Fillmore. "We had a successful day and a very fruitful discussion with Azerbaijan's Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov and his assistants. Now we will prepare a special presentation for the ministry and we have hopes for successful cooperation in the future."

He added that the company proposes to use different radars, road sensors in Azerbaijan, which make it possible to monitor the traffic on highways and motorways, as well as city roads.

"The company offers SmartSensor HD road detectors, which allow receiving data on every car and lane usage," he said.

"These are special double-beam radars," said Fillmore, adding that they are designed for roads and highways.

As Fillmore said, the other detector - SmartSensor Matrix - is used in control signalling systems, including traffic lights, barriers, and other methods of traffic control.

This detector allows determining the exact number of the vehicles at crossroads, as well as provides forecasts and reports.

"This system is widely used in many countries of the world," noted Fillmore, adding that among the CIS cities it is used in Moscow and Astana.

"Thousands of sensors and radars of Wavetronix have already been installed in Moscow," he noted.

Edited by EA
Former gold miners listen to speakers at a registration meeting for miners with silicosis in Bizana in South Africa's impoverished Eastern Cape province, March 7, 2012. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo

By TJ Strydom and Zimasa Mpemnyama

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa gave the green light on Friday for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis.

The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings covering cases dating back decades in the largest class action suits yet in Africa's most industrialized country.

In their 1980s heyday, South Africa's gold mines employed half a million men and High Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo judge said anywhere from 17,000 to 500,000 miners had been affected.

"We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in a unanimous ruling by three judges.

"Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," he said.

A paper by researchers at University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg and University College London estimated there were 288,000 cases of compensable silicosis in South Africa.

The 2009 paper put the industry's unpaid compensation liability at 10 billion rand ($660 million) on 1998 values.

Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis.

SOME CLOSURE

Activists sang and danced outside the courthouse after the ruling while miners walked out triumphantly with fists raised.

"This will make a difference in our lives, because we have been struggling for so long," said Vuyani Dwadube, 74, a former rock driller at Harmony Gold who has tuberculosis (TB).

Judge Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages.

While most of the miners are South Africans thousands also came from neighbors such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland.

Mantso Mokwena, 53, a former worker at Sibanye Gold's Beatrix mine, owned by Gold Fields until 2013, said the outcome gave miners some closure.

"I contracted TB in 2007 but I was terminated from my job in 2009. Since then, I still don't have a job," he said.

The defendants include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have already been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labor unrest among miners.

Anglo American, Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold and African Rainbow Minerals have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) group to deal with such issues.

Shares in the companies were mixed, with some tracking a stronger gold price. Anglo and ARM no longer operate gold mines but have been named in claims dating back to when they did.

"Certainly it will have an effect on their reserves. Most of them probably made provisions," Gryphon Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis said.

"It's still too early to say what it will be (the damages) but it does create a lot of uncertainty and that is never good for share prices," he said.

DIGNITY LOST

Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD working group said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgment and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court decision.

"Either way, it should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," Fine said.

There have been some class action suits in South Africa but none compare with that mining cases that stem from a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed miners with lung disease to sue employers for the first time.

Friday's ruling is separate from a $30 million silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold.

Peter Bailey, the head of the health and safety division at the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest union in the gold sector, welcomed the court's decision.

"As you know black South African mineworkers who suffered from silicosis have lost their dignity because they cannot even put food on the table," he said.

(Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; writing by James Macharia; editing by David Clarke)
By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - A Texas businessman convicted of plotting to violate the U.S. Neutrality Act in a failed 2014 bid to overthrow the government of Gambia and install himself as president of the tiny African nation was sentenced on Thursday to a year in prison.

Two other U.S. citizens of Gambian descent who pleaded guilty with the coup plot leader, Cherno Njie, 58, received six-month prison terms, and a third was sentenced to time already served, federal prosecutors said.

The below-guideline sentences, more lenient than those recommended by federal prosecutors, were handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle in Minnesota, where the case originated.

Ben Petok, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota, declined to comment on the rationale for the relatively light punishment leveled against the four men.

But prosecutors' sentencing memoranda stated the defendants "were motivated by a fervent desire to overthrow a regime (they) believed to be inhumane and oppressive," noting the U.S. government "has long been critical" of Gambia's human rights record.

The previous U.S. military service of Njie's co-conspirators - Papa Faal, 47, of Minnesota, Alagie Barrow, 43, of Tennessee, and Banke Manneh, 43, of Georgia - also were factors in their sentencing, Petok said. Faal, who saw combat in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, received the lightest sentence.

Nevertheless, the four men "violated U.S. laws that exist to protect the foreign policy of our country and all Americans both at home and abroad," U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said.

The current leader of Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh, seized power in a coup 20 years ago and wields tight control over the impoverished West African country of 1.8 million people.

Njie, a Texas housing developer, was the mastermind and chief financial backer of plotters who attacked the presidential palace on Dec. 30, 2014, hoping to topple Jammeh's government while he was out of the country. They had planned to install Njie as interim president, court documents say.

According to court records, the coup bid failed when palace guards opened fire on the attackers, killing three of them, and the remaining raiders fled. Njie and Faal escaped to neighboring Senegal before returning to the United States.

Each of the four men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Neutrality Act and a firearms conspiracy offense stemming from attempts to smuggle weapons to Gambia.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events and developments of the management of AB InBev and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. The forward-looking statements contained in this release include statements relating to AB InBevs proposed acquisition of SABMiller and AB InBevs possible exchange of SABMillers Panamanian business for AmBevs businesses in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador (including with respect to the expected timing and scope of these transactions), and other statements other than historical facts. Forward-looking statements include statements typically containing words such as will, may, should, believe, intends, expects, anticipates, targets, estimates, likely, foresees and words of similar import. All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the current views of the management of AB InBev, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties about AB InBev, AmBev and SABMiller and are dependent on many factors, some of which are outside of AB InBevs control. There are important factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different, including the satisfaction of the pre-conditions and the conditions to the transactions described herein, the ability to obtain the regulatory approvals related to the transactions and the ability to satisfy any conditions required to obtain such approvals, and the risks relating to AB InBev described under Item 3.D of its Annual Report on Form 20-F (Form 20-F) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 14 March 2016. Other unknown or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. There can be no certainty that the proposed transactions will be completed on the terms described herein or at all. The forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included elsewhere, including AB InBevs most recent Form 20-F, AmBevs most recent Form 20-F filed with the SEC on 14 March 2016, reports furnished on Form 6-K by AB InBev and AmBev, and any other documents that AB InBev, AmBev or SABMiller have made public. Any forward-looking statements made in this communication are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments anticipated by AB InBev will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, AB InBev or its business or operations. Except as required by law, AB InBev undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Future SEC Filings and This Filing: Important Information In the event that AB InBev and SABMiller implement a transaction relating to the acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev, AB InBev or Newbelco SA/NV (a Belgian limited liability company formed for the purposes of such transaction) may be required to file relevant materials with the SEC. Such documents, however, are not currently available. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ ANY DOCUMENTS REGARDING SUCH POTENTIAL TRANSACTION IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE, BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors will be able to obtain a free copy of such filings without charge, at the SECs website (http://www.sec.gov) once such documents are filed with the SEC. Copies of such documents may also be obtained from AB InBev, without charge, once they are filed with the SEC. Notice to US investors US holders of SABMiller shares should note that the steps of any transaction requiring approval by SABMiller shareholders may be implemented under a UK scheme of arrangement provided for under English company law. If so, it is expected that any shares to be issued under the transaction to SABMiller shareholders would be issued in reliance upon the exemption from the registration requirements of the US Securities Act of 1933, provided by Section 3(a)(10) thereof and would be subject to UK disclosure requirements (which are different from those of the United States). The transaction may instead be implemented by way of a takeover offer under English law. If so, any securities to be issued under the transaction to SABMiller shareholders will be registered under the US Securities Act, absent an applicable exemption from registration. If the transaction is implemented by way of UK takeover offer, it will be done in compliance with the applicable rules under the US Exchange Act of 1934, including any applicable exemptions provided under Rule 14d-1(d) thereunder. This filing shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, 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.




UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): May 10, 2016

Axovant Sciences Ltd.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Bermuda 001-37418 Not Applicable (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File No.) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) Clarendon House - 2 Church Street Hamilton HM 11 Bermuda Not Applicable (Address of principal executive office) (Zip Code)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: +1 (441) 824-8100 (Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)  Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

























Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.





Appointment of Gary Pisano as Director of the Company





On May 13, 2016, the Board of Directors (the  Board ) of Axovant Sciences Ltd. (the  Company ) appointed Gary Pisano as a director of the Company. Dr. Pisano will serve as a Class III director whose term will expire at the 2018 General Meeting of Shareholders. There is no arrangement or understanding between Dr. Pisano and any other person pursuant to which he was selected as a director, and there is no family relationship between Dr. Pisano and any of the Companys other directors or executive officers. Dr. Pisano has been appointed as a member of the Audit Committee of the Board, replacing Dr. Lawrence Olanoff.





Additional information regarding Dr. Pisano is set forth below:





Gary Pisano , age 54, is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1988. Dr. Pisanos research and teaching focuses on technology and operations strategy, the management of innovation and intellectual property, and competitive strategy. For more than two decades, he has consulted extensively on these issues with companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, specialty chemical and health care industries. He is a co-founder and director of XiMo AG, a Swiss-based company commercializing novel catalytic technologies. Dr. Pisano holds a B.A. degree in economics from Yale University and a Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.





Dr. Pisano will receive an annual cash retainer of $40,000 for his service as a director and an additional annual cash retainer of $7,500 for his service as a member of the Audit Committee. In addition, Dr. Pisano will receive a stock option grant under the Companys 2015 Equity Incentive Plan (the  2015 Plan ) to purchase 94,000 shares of common stock. In accordance with the Companys option grant policy, the grant will be made on June 15, 2016 and will have an exercise price equal to the closing price of the Companys common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on that date. The option will vest over a period of three years, with one-third of the shares underlying the option vesting on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of the grant date.





Resignation of Christine Mikail Cvijic as Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel





On May 10, 2016, Christine Mikail Cvijic ( Ms. Mikail ) resigned as the Companys Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel, effective as of May 30, 2016 (the  Separation Date ). Ms. Mikails resignation was for good reason for relocation of her primary work location under the terms of her Employment Agreement, the form of which is filed as Exhibit 10.7 to the Companys Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 2015 (the  Employment Agreement ), and, subject to the receipt of a written release of claims, she will be paid the amounts set forth in the Employment Agreement on or before June 15, 2016. Following the Separation Date, Ms. Mikail intends to provide consulting services to the Company through March 19, 2017. Ms. Mikails consulting services will constitute Continuous Service under the 2015 Plan, as a result of which a portion of her outstanding stock option grant will continue to vest as those services are provided during the term of her arrangement.





























Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.

On May 13, 2016, the Company issued a press release announcing Dr. Pisanos appointment. A copy of this press release is furnished herewith as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report.





Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits.





(d) Exhibits.





Exhibit No. Description





99.1 Press Release, dated May 13, 2016, Axovant Sciences Appoints Dr. Gary P. Pisano to Board of Directors.





EXHIBIT INDEX





Exhibit

Number Description





99.1 Press Release, dated May 13, 2016, Axovant Sciences Appoints Dr. Gary P. Pisano to Board of Directors.





















SIGNATURES





Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.









Axovant Sciences Ltd.

Date: May 13, 2016 By: /s/ Vivek Ramaswamy Name:Vivek Ramaswamy Title: Principal Executive Officer























Exhibit 99.1







Axovant Sciences Appoints Dr. Gary P. Pisano to Board of Directors





HAMILTON, Bermuda, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/  Axovant Sciences Ltd. (NYSE: AXON ), a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of dementia, today announced Gary P. Pisano has joined its Board of Directors and will also serve as a member of the Boards Audit Committee. Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and has been on the Harvard faculty since 1988. His work has focused on a wide range of topics including pharmaceutical research and development processes.





Dr. Pisano has been one of the leading authorities on scientific innovation in the biopharmaceutical industry and has served as a trusted advisor to some of the most successful biotech and pharmaceutical companies, said Vivek Ramaswamy, CEO of Axovant Sciences. His insights into the pharmaceutical development process, management of intellectual property, and manufacturing will enhance the capabilities of our Board as we advance our leading pipeline of late-stage drugs towards global commercialization.





Dr. Pisano is the author of over 80 articles and case studies. His work has won or been a finalist for multiple, prestigious awards and is widely cited in economics and business publications. He is an author of six books including The Development Factory and Science Business: The Promise, The Reality and The Future of Biotech .





Professor Pisano holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and B.A. in economics from Yale University.





About Axovant

Axovant Sciences Ltd. is a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing novel therapeutics for the treatment of dementia. Axovant intends to develop a pipeline of product candidates to comprehensively address the cognitive, functional and behavioral components of dementia and related neurological disorders. Our vision is to become the leading company focused on the treatment of dementia by addressing all forms and aspects of the condition.

















Source: Axovant Sciences Ltd.





Contact:

Jonathan Neely

Head, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

Axovant Sciences, Inc.

(212) 634-9744





###




The amount of empty industrial space in Wellington is at its lowest level in six years.

Vacancy has fallen in Wellington's primary industrial precincts for a third year in a row, a new survey shows.

The overall vacancy rate in Seaview and Gracefield, Petone, Grenada, Miramar and Rongotai, as well as Ngauranga now sits at 6.25 per cent - down from 6.4 per cent a year earlier.

Bayleys Research national manager Ian Little said the amount of empty industrial space was at its lowest level since 2010.

The lowest vacancy rate was recorded in Grenada at just 2.3 per cent, reflecting high levels of occupier demand, as well as a lift in refurbishment activity, Little said.

READ MORE:

* Zero vacancies in Wellington's retail hot spot

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The Ngauranga precinct also suffered a decline in vacancy from 5.8 per cent to just over 4.8 per cent.

While the vacancy rate in Ngauranga could be volatile - given its relatively small size - the latest figure was the second lowest recorded since 2008, Little said.

Meanwhile, in Wellington's largest precinct, Seaview and Gracefield, vacancy rose from 5.6 per cent to 6.2 per cent.

However, that figure masked the fact that the precinct had an increase in occupied space over the year from 554,118 square metres to 560,505sqm, he said.

This came down to additional space being added through new construction and the reintroduction of properties after refurbishment, Little said.

In Petone, the rapid expansion of a bulk retail hub - following the implementation of Plan Change 29 which allows for a greater mix of activities - resulted in a 26,890sqm reduction in its industrial inventory, to 358,695sqm.

The announcement of the preferred route for the new Petone to Grenada link road would result in a further reduction of approximately 20,000sqm, as properties in the vicinity of Cornish Street are demolished once works begin in 2019, Little said.

Petone's core industrial area, which mostly featured smaller workshops occupied by engineering and service companies, remained generally unaffected, he said.

Within that area, tenant demand remained strong with a vacancy reduction of about 1,750sqm.

This, in combination with a significant shift in land use from industrial to bulk retail in western Petone, has resulted in a drop in vacancy from 7 per cent to 6.1 per cent.

However, the amount of empty space was expected to rise again in the short term, with multinational consumer goods company Unilever vacating approximately 31,000sqm on about 5.5 hectares in Jackson St, he said.

As yet, no tenants were secured to take over the space, Little said.
Tourist spots like Stewart Island have a very small rating base and struggle to fund infrastructure.

A $12 million infrastructure fund for local communities struggling with record tourist numbers is a good start but more money is needed, tourism industry and local government representatives say.

Prime Minister John Key has confirmed he is open to the idea of providing more funding in future, also saying the Government will consider any proposals from the tourism sector that could deliver a big financial boost.

The announcement comes after tourism operators called for a central fund to help them build facilities and infrastructure to deal with an influx of travellers.

CHRIS SKELTON / FAIRFAX NZ Prime Minister John Key says the Government will provide millions of dollars to promote New Zealand to burgeoning tourism markets like India.

Speaking at the TRENZ tourism conference in Rotorua, Key said the Government would invest $20 million over four years to further support tourism across New Zealand.

READ MORE:

* Budget boost for tourism's $140m rates burden

* Govt needs to help fund tourism infrastructure - mayor

Of that, $12 million would go towards a regional tourism facilities fund to help small communities to cope with growing tourist numbers by building more facilities.

"For some of these communities, you think the likes of Franz Josef or Fox or Stewart Island or wherever it might be, they have a very small rating base, so the capacity for them to deliver the kind of infrastructure that we need off their rating base is often a challenge."

Key said the Government would prefer its funding to be matched dollar for dollar by the communities, although it was possible that communities unable to do so could still receive cash.

He acknowledged the funding was "definitely not" enough to cover long-term infrastructure requirements, but it was a starting point and would be reviewed later on.

'DIFFICULT' TO CHARGE EXTRA FOR NATIONAL PARKS

It was also possible that the tourism sector could raise more money itself through bed taxes or differential pricing for foreigners, although the administration of any charges could be an obstacle.

"All of those things are quite a long way down the track, but we're simply saying we're not going to close the sector off from coming to the government and saying, here's some ideas."

It would be "quite difficult" to charge more for foreigners to use national parks, as some had suggested.

"It becomes one of those things where we want people to go into the DOC estate and enjoy themselves - spending a lot of time identifying whether they're a Kiwi or not strikes me as quite challenging."

Key said Tourism New Zealand would receive another $8 million to target "key growth markets", such as India and the eastern United States, which had "huge potential".

'A GOOD START'

Tourism Industry Aotearoa had called on the Government to set up a central infrastructure fund of up to $100 million to support local communities dealing with an influx of tourists.

Chris Roberts, the association's chief executive, said Key's announcement was "a good start", but more money would likely be needed.

"If presented with enough sensible investments that provide a long term return for New Zealand, there will be good reasons for government to look at adding to the initial funding."

Roberts said the tourism industry was dealing with "unprecedented growth levels", and smaller regions did not have enough money to pay for the tourism infrastructure they needed.

Local Government New Zealand president Lawrence Yule said the funding needed to be seen as the "first tranche" of support.

"$12 million over four years is better than what we had yesterday - I'm pleased because these things can often take time, but actually in a pretty short time the Government responded and we're grateful for that."

Yule said the initial funding would likely go towards "basic amenities" like toilet blocks.

Local authorities were working with the tourism industry to develop a sustainable funding model for infrastructure.

They would present their work to the Government at the end of the year for consideration "in a more significant way" in next year's Budget.
Tracy Johnson says proposed food audit registration fees would affect her business and wants other businesses to speak up.





Proposed food inspection fees could be "like a sledgehammer" for small businesses, a South Canterbury cake maker says.

Tracy Johnson makes and decorates about five cakes a week from her portacom kitchen in Makikihi, 30 kilometres south of Timaru.

Johnson said on Thursday her annual food inspection costs would initially rise from $350 to $555 a year if the Timaru District Council's proposed fees were approved.

The Government's Food Act, which came into force on March 1, requires councils to fees for the inspections it requires.

Johnson said she could understand a $300 food audit fee, a $75 compliance and monitoring fee and a $30 mileage fee for inspectors to get to Makikihi. However, she did not believe a $150 annual registration fee could be justified.

"It's like a sledgehammer," she said.

Timaru District Council environmental services manager Paul Cooper said the registration fee would pay for activities including processing applications, managing two systems during the transition to the new law, reviewing food processes and products, transferring information and issuing invoices.

Cooper said some of those functions could only be accurately completed by an Environmental Health Officer or Environmental Health Support Officer, with a university degree or graduate diploma in environmental health.

The proposed model was designed to be "predominantly self funding but not so as to generate profit for the council", he said.

Johnson maintained the proposed registration fee was too high and could encourage cake buyers to choose unregistered cake makers instead.

Based on Johnson's estimates, the new fees would effectively raise the cost of producing her cakes by 77 cents each, which she said was another unwanted expense for her business.

Timaru woman Felicity Gabites said she was also concerned about the fees' effects on her growing part-time cake-making business.

Johnson questioned whether the Government had considered small businesses' circumstances when creating the new inspection law, which the act says is designed to create "risk-based" rules to minimise public health risks.

In a statement, Minister for Food Safety and MP for Rangitata, National's Jo Goodhew, said the Government had consulted small businesses when drafting the act.

Goodhew said the act was designed to minimise compliance costs wherever possible and allowed businesses greater flexibility.

Under the council's fee proposal, Johnson's fees would reach a long-term yearly rate of $455 if she passed two annual food audits, allowing her to be audited every 18 months.

The fees cover all of South Canterbury.

Public submissions on the fees close on Monday. Johnson and Gabites said they hoped local businesses made their views known.

A council decision on the fees is due in June after a joint committee hears public submissions on the proposal.
An Auckland grandfather laid out two lengths of rope and three knives in his hallway then lay in wait for his wife to return home from church so he could kill her, a court has heard.

Mataafa Taoipu Ae appeared for sentence in front of Justice Simon Moore at the High Court at Auckland on Friday after pleading guilty to a charge of attempted murder and breaching a protection order.

Further charges of aggravated burglary and threatening to kill were withdrawn.

According to a summary of facts the 66 year-old was a loving father and grandfather who was in a "rocky" relationship with the victim - his second wife of 10 years.

Although Ae was said to be a non-drinker, on August 1, 2015 he downed two litres of red wine at his Manurewa home and begun to "obsess" over the problems with his spouse, Justice Moore said.

"Plainly, you were drunk. That of course is no excuse for what later happened. Your wife was at church (and) you began to ruminate on how she had treated your children from a previous relationship.

"These thoughts developed into an obsession because you began to think about how you might commit violence against her."

Ae prepared two lengths of rope and three knives and lay them out in the hallway after repeatedly calling his wife and telling her to come home.

When she arrived, the pair argued and spotting the knives, the victim ran outside and down the street, pursued by Ae.

She ran for safety to a neighbour's home but Ae followed her inside and in front of a group of eye-witnesses, Ae forced her to her knees before stabbing her repeatedly in the head.

The woman had held up her hands in an attempt to protect herself but "you continued to rain blows on her", Justice Moore said.

She survived, but suffered "horrific" lacerations to her face, scalp, arms and hands as a result, including nearly losing a finger.

When Ae was arrested he admitted to police he was "100 per cent committed" to killing his wife.

Ae's lawyer Kahungunu Barron-Afeaki SC said his client was deeply remorseful and would accept any sentence handed to him.

"To the victim, he's deeply, deeply sorry but understands the relationship is finished. He only asks that in her heart, that she can forgive him for what happened and they can move on," Barron-Afeaki said.

"He was leading a normal life. It appears he was a loving father, very attentive to his children and his grandchildren, and that hasn't stopped and he is here today to accept his sentence."

Although Ae had no previous convictions and was assessed as having a low risk of reoffending, report writers said he was at a high risk of harming others, particularly the victim.

Justice Moore said the offending was aggravated by his premeditation and determination.

"This was not a spur of the moment attack. It's not a case where you suddenly lost control. The very opposite is the case. You thought, you smouldered, on what it was you intended to do to your wife," Justice Moore said.

The vulnerable area of the body that Ae had targeted was telling, Justice Moore said, and his description of the weapon as "just a butter knife" was "benign".

"It was a sharp knife you used to considerable effect."

For the attempted murder charge Justice Moore sentenced Ae to six and a half years imprisonment. He would also serve another month in jail for breaching the protection order, to be served concurrently.

No minimum period was imposed.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijan has signed a protocol on the Azerbaijan Railways' joining the international railway project 'Viking', the Azerbaijan Railways spokesman Nadir Azmammadov told Trend May 13.

He said the companies participating in the 'Viking' project met in Baku on May 12-13.

Azmammadov said the meeting discussed the final works on the train's operation, the prospects for developing and expanding the piggyback train project, the tariff terms for 2017, the tariffs for export and import operations and the additional services.

Representatives of the Azerbaijan Railways, ADY Express Ltd., railway agencies of Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, as well as the rail freight transporters of Bulgaria and Romania, and other operators of the project took part in the meeting.

"An agreement was reached during the meeting to prepare an action plan to increase the cargo transportation," said Azmammadov. "The meeting participants considered an appeal by the Azerbaijan Railways and gave their consent to the company's joining the project, and after that the parties signed a corresponding protocol."

The piggyback 'Viking' train project was launched in 2003. The project's participants are Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov
The teenager's actions were meant to be provocative, but Constable Marcus Dominey's reaction was found to be excessively gratuitous.

A policeman repeatedly punched a youth who spat at him, even as the teenager cowered with his head between his legs.

Constable Marcus John Dominey has escaped a conviction for his actions, which a judge called a display of "testosterone".

However, he has lost his name suppression and the assault is part of a police employment investigation.

Oisin Duke Constable Paul Mackay was a "hero" for reporting his colleague's behaviour, the judge said.

The 38-year-old Timaru officer was found to have assaulted the youth, leaving him with black eyes and a lump on his head. The youth had taunted Dominey by speaking of various diseases as he spat.

Dominey's name suppression lifted on Friday, after a hearing in the Christchurch District Court.

Judge Raoul Neave, who heard the assault case, hailed the colleague who reported Dominey to his seniors, Constable Paul Mackay, as the "hero of the situation".

The judge had found the charge against Dominey proved at a defended hearing in the Ashburton District Court.

The youth had spat at him while they were in the car together in June 2014.

Constable Dominey said he punched the youth because he feared he could get an infectious disease if spittle struck his eyeball.

However, Mackay  who was driving the patrol car  gave evidence that the punching continued while the youth's head was between his knees.

There was ample ability to control the complainant without any further force and the subsequent punches were unreasonable. It was likely that at his point the officer had simply become angry, the judge said.

At Friday's hearing, defence counsel Pip Hall QC argued Dominey should be discharged without conviction because of the likelihood Dominey would lose his job as a police officer.

There was also concern about the effects on his ability to travel to the United States and Canada.

Judge Neave said the police disciplinary inquiry would go ahead whether or not there was a conviction, which would increase the risk of Dominey losing his job.

In a statement released after Dominey's sentencing, district commander for the Canterbury District, superintendent John Price, said police took their conduct very seriously.

Price said Dominey was stood down from his role early this year.

The judge noted Dominey had served his country and his community as a soldier and a policeman.

As a police officer he was in a privileged position, but he was expected to behave with sensitivity and restraint.

The youth's actions had been unpleasant, aggressive and risky and were intended to be provocative, but the officer's response was gratuitously violent.

"This very quickly became an exercise in displays of testosterone," said the judge.

He noted that if a spit-resistant mask had been available at the time, Dominey would have been able to adopt different procedures.

Judge Neave granted a discharge without conviction, but ordered Dominey to pay court costs of $130 and make a $500 donation to the local women's refuge.

The police had wanted Mackay's name suppressed, in case of any reaction by other police staff and the local community, but Judge Neave refused.

The constable had behaved "with the utmost probity" within the standards expected by the police.

"He should be praised," Neave said.

"His conduct could not be more commendable ... he's the hero of this situation.

"If there are elements in the police force and the local community who think otherwise, they should have a long hard look at themselves, because they are a disgrace."

Mackay declined to comment.

The mother of Dominey's victim said her son was "not an angel" but did not deserve a beating.

The Timaru woman, whose name is suppressed, says she now takes "a very dim view" of the police and has lodged two complaints with the Independent Police Conduct Authority since her son's beating.

Her son, who is remanded in custody on charges unrelated to the incident, received black eyes and a squash ball-sized lump on his head.

Dominey's discharge without conviction left her "speechless" with disappointment.

"What a waste of time," she said.

A New Zealand Police Association spokeswoman said the association was unable to comment on individual cases.

An article in the April edition of the association's newsletter, Police News, stated "Cops get used to verbal abuse, and they expect to get into the occasional scrap that can lead to cuts and bruises."

"Most of them would probably prefer that to being spat at  especially if a nasty gob of saliva or blood gets anywhere near their face."

The article stated the association regularly received reports of assaults on officers involving spitting, "often from the confines of the back of the patrol car".

It described spitting as "a very provocative act".

Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff  the news, but different.
Paul James Bennett (right) is driven from Christchurch International Airport by police after being deported from Australia.





Notorious Kiwi fugitive Paul James Bennett has been deported to New Zealand and is in custody.

The 53-year-old was met by police when he arrived at Christchurch International Airport on a flight from Sydney about 2.35pm on Friday.

SUPPLIED Paul James Bennett and his partner, Simone Wright, have eluded authorities on both sides of the Tasman for many years.

There were warrants for his arrest in relation to allegations of fraud and sexual assault.

Bennett was given special treatment by police who picked him up airside in a black unmarked car to avoid waiting media. His small blue duffle bag was stowed in the boot.

They then took him to Christchurch Central Police Station where he was expected to be questioned by investigators, including some from Auckland.

LOUISE KENNERLEY/FAIRFAX The yacht Paul Bennett and his partner Simone Wright sailed from New Zealand to Australia last year.

Police said Bennett faced a number of charges and would appear in Christchurch District Court on Saturday.

They declined to comment further.

Bennett and his long term partner Simone Wright, 39, eluded authorities on both sides of the Tasman for more than a decade until they were arrested aboard a 14-metre yacht in Sydney in February last year.

The couple had sailed from New Zealand on the cruising cutter, which was allegedly stolen from the Bay of Islands.

Bennett, who was born in the Waikato, was taken into custody on several historic charges and subsequently to a detention centre to await deportation.

Wright, an Australian citizen, was freed by police because there were no outstanding warrants for her arrest in Australia.

Police in Christchurch investigating complaints about Bennett and Wright previously said they had identified nearly $1 million of suspected fraud dating back to 1998.

The couple are also wanted over an alleged indecent assault on a teenage girl.

Last week, Detective Senior Sergeant Scott Anderson said police were working to have Wright extradited. She would not be on the same flight as Bennett unless she came back voluntarily, he said.

Michael Jacomb alleges Bennett defrauded his Christchurch helicopter company Helipower of $250,000 in 2014 and last year put up $50,000 for information that led to an arrest.

"I'm excited. This is the culmination of two years hard work," he said.

Erin Leighton, 23, who waived her automatic name suppression last year, alleges Bennett and Wright indecently assaulted her at an apartment on Auckland's North Shore in 2008.

"It's been a long time coming and I'm pleased that he's finally back," she said.

"I didn't think it would get this far. I'm looking forward to putting this behind me, but there's a long road ahead."

Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff  the news, but different.
OPINION: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement has been before Parliament since February of this year.

As the Green MP on the relevant committee, I attended the hearings the committee held, reading the 3000 written submissions and listening to the 255 oral submissions presented in person.

In eight years in Parliament, I have not witnessed such passion from New Zealanders as in these hearings. Whatever the substantive issues of the treaty, and we all have our views, the fact is that people harbour deep concern over the general nature of this particular agreement.

But the concern I wish to convey here is not about policy. It is about the manner in which the House dealt with the treaty examination process. Because I believe it highlights both procedural hubris on the part of the government, and also a constitutional weakness in relation to the role of Parliament over treaty examination and ratification.

This week, I sought to ask the committee chair a number of questions conveying those concerns. This was denied on the grounds that the committee had already reported back to the full House. Had I raised my questions before then, I would have been severely constrained by conlidentiality rules on what I could ask.

Now I am free to ask the same questions in public. Here are some of them.

"Is the committee chair satisfied that the procedure observed by the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee served the Committee well in its treaty examination of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement; if so, why?"

"Why did the committee decide, by majority, not to extend the deadline for written submissions, beyond the minimum number of sitting days, given the overwhelming importance of this treaty?"

"When he decided to have the committee deliberate on the report on May 2 instead of the intended May 31, was this in response to any communication from any cabinet Minister concerning implementing legislation: if so, what was conveyed to him by the Minister?"

"Does he think it is sufficiently respectful of public opinion to instruct officials to complete a draft of the report several days before the final 20 submitters had presented their views?"

"Why did the committee decide to send the first draft to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for a check on its 'legal and factual accuracy', when the legislature and the executive branches of government are entirely separated at the level of select committee?"

"Does he think that the National Interest Analysis on a treaty signed by the Government, following negotiations led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, is best undertaken for Parliament by the same government officials that have negotiated it?"

"Does he think that the Government should have given equal weight to the analysis prepared by the Experts commissioned by the NZ Law Foundation, and sought a third party opinion, rather than inviting the MFAT officials to respond on the basis of their original views?"

"Does he think that the people of New Zealand, who oppose the treaty by 39 per cent to 26 per cent, should have been given the courtesy of a parliamentary debate on the treaty examination, before the House moves to implanting legislation; if not, why not?"

As will be evident from my line of questioning, there was an orchestrated policy within the Government to get the treaty examination process through the committee and back to the House as soon as possible. The Government refused to allow a parliamentary debate on the committee's report once it was back in the House.

This allowed the Government to rush in the implementing legislation which has to be debated under standing orders, but which presumes a positive treaty examination whose report does not. And that enables the Government, resting on a marginal parliamentary majority, to ignore the public concern over the treaty, as it proceeds, unencumbered by the Legislature, to ratification by the Executive Council.

That symbolises the centrality of the Executive in our system, somewhat ironic given the theory of parliamentary sovereignty in this country. Essentially, the NZ Parliament has no significant role in the negotiation, signature and ratification of international treaties  in other words, the entire cycle. Whereas six of the twelve TPP countries require a parliamentary majority for ratification, in New Zealand the Government can proceed with supreme indifference to Parliament.

The experience illustrates, not for the first time, the need for an informed public discourse on the constitutional powers of our Parliament in dealing with treaties.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic welcomed the recent developments on the IGB (Greece-Bulgaria gas interconnector) project, which is being realized within the Southern Gas Corridor.

"We believe, that according to the latest information, this project will be commercially viable and we can start the construction very soon," Sefcovic told in EBRD-filmed interview.

He also stressed that the Southern Gas Corridor is very important project and it is on schedule.

"We believe that by 2019 we will have Caspian gas in Turkey, by 2020 - in Europe," Sefcovic said.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to the Trans Adriatic pipeline via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

In early December, 2015, Bulgaria and Greece signed a final investment decision on the IGB project.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

The US Energy Information Agency's (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016) Reference case assumes that OPEC maintains or increases its market share of global oil production, and that no geopolitical circumstances will cause prolonged supply shocks in the OPEC countries that could further limit production growth.

Crude oil and lease condensate supplies from OPEC and non-OPEC sources increase by 23 million barrels per day in the IEO2016 Reference case, from 76 million barrels per day in 2012 to 100 million barrels per day in 2040.

Production of other liquid fuels increases from 14 million barrels per day in 2012 to 21 million barrels per day in 2040.

The IEO2016 Reference case assumes that OPEC producers invest in incremental production capacity, which enables them to increase crude oil and lease condensate production by 13 million barrels per day from 2012 to 2040 and also enables them to account for 42 to 47 percent of total crude and lease condensate production worldwide over the course of the projection period.

Middle East OPEC member countries, which accounted for nearly 70 percent of total OPEC crude and lease condensate production in 2012, increase their crude and lease condensate production by 12 million barrels per day in the IEO2016 Reference case, accounting for 94 percent of the total growth in OPEC crude and lease condensate production from 2012 to 2040.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

International Ratings Agency Fitch Ratings has downgraded Development Bank of Kazakhstan's (DBK) long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' and 'BBB+', respectively, and House Construction and Savings Bank of Kazakhstan's (HSCBK) long-term local currency IDR to 'BBB-' from 'BBB+'. The agency has also downgraded the long-term IDRs of KazAgroFinance (KAF) to 'BB+' from 'BBB-'. The Outlooks are stable.

The downgrades of these institutions are driven by Fitch's recent actions on Kazakhstan's sovereign ratings.

Fitch has assigned KAF's planned Series 1 senior unsecured debt issue worth 77 billion Kazakh tenges under its second bond programme an expected long-term rating of 'BB+(EXP)' and National rating of 'AA(kaz)(EXP)'.

The long-term IDRs of DBK and HCSBK are based on their 'BBB-' Support Rating Floors (SRF), which reflect Fitch's view of the high probability of state support, if needed, for both institutions. This view is primarily based on (i) the banks' 100-percent ultimate sovereign ownership and (ii) their important policy roles in the development of, respectively, non-extracting economic sectors and the house savings and mortgage system in Kazakhstan.

The probability of DBK requiring support, according to Fitch, is significant in light of its material, albeit recently stable, wholesale third-party debt ($4.3 billion or 85 percent of liabilities at the end of 2015), moderate capital buffer (15 percent Fitch Core Capital (FCC)/risk-weighted assets (RWAs) ratio at the end of 2015, moderately down from 19 percent at the end of 2014) and significant foreign-currency loans (70 percent of gross loans at the end of 2015) predominantly to high-risk development projects. Nevertheless, the Kazakh government still has the ability, in Fitch's view, to support DBK given that the bank's third-party wholesale obligations at the end of 2015 were equal to a moderate 3.8 percent of Kazakhstan's GDP or 5 percent of sovereign reserves.

HCSBK is less likely, in Fitch's view, to need support in the medium term in light of its solid loan quality (0.5 percent non-performing loan ratio at the end of 1Q2016) and strong capital buffer (55 percent FCC ratio at the end of 2015). The bank's small size ($1.4 billion equal to 0.3 percent of GDP or 0.4 percent of sovereign reserves at the end of 2015), limited third-party non-deposit liabilities and low balance-sheet dollarization should also help to reduce support requirements. However, Fitch expects the bank's reliance on state funding (17 percent of total liabilities at the end of 2015) and subsidies to grow over the longer term as early-stage mortgage savings programs mature.

Fitch believes the authorities' plans to partially privatize HCSBK will not significantly affect the state's support propensity, given the intention to retain a controlling stake in the bank and maintain its policy role. Fitch has not assigned a long-term foreign currency IDR to HCSBK due to its immaterial foreign currency operations.

KAF's 'BB+' long-term IDRs are based on Fitch's view of the moderate probability of state support to the company given its policy role in provision of state-subsidized financial leasing and project financing to the agricultural sector.

The probability of the company requiring state support in the future is significant considering its operations in the vulnerable agricultural sector. Non-performing and restructured loans/leases comprised a high 11 percent and 15 percent of gross exposures at the end of 2015, respectively, although asset quality is supported to a degree by low foreign-currency lending, solid collateral coverage and state subsidies to borrowers/lessees. Impairment reserves covered 9 percent of gross exposures, while the depreciation-driven revaluation of imported and subsequently leased equipment has further boosted collateral coverage of KAF's portfolio.

The long-term IDRs for DBK and HCSBK are likely to remain one notch below the sovereign and for KAF two notches below. The long-term IDRs of all three institutions are likely to move in tandem with the sovereign ratings.

The ratings of DBK or HCSBK could be upgraded and equalised with the sovereign if (i) the banks become directly owned by the government and the state officials become more directly involved in the oversight of the institutions; or (ii) the government replaces or guarantees most of the banks' funding. A marked weakening of policy roles or association with the sovereign could result in negative rating actions. However, neither scenario is currently expected by Fitch.

DBK's ratings could also come under downward pressure if leverage increases markedly and asset quality deteriorates sharply without adequate capital support from the authorities.

KAF's long-term IDRs could be downgraded if the authorities' plan to privatize the company, the implementation of which is highly uncertain at present, leads to a weakening of KAF's connection with the Kazakh government.

Edited by SI

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Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

Kazakhstan's oil output decline in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the same period of 2015, OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report for May 2016 said.

The country's oil production in March has been revised down by 10,000 barrels per day - mainly due to a decline in crude oil output - to average 1.34 million barrels per day. This is lower than the 1.61 million barrels per day recorded in both February and January.

OPEC forecasts that Kazakhstan's oil production will decrease by 40,000 tons per day - to 1.56 million barrels per day in 2016.

The report also says that according to China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which is one of the shareholders of development project of Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field, the resumption of oil production in the volume of 0.18 million barrels per day within the first phase of output at this field is expected to start in June of 2017.

Kazakhstan hopes to increase oil output thanks to Kashagan field's development.

The country's oil production in 2015 declined by 30,000 barrels per day - to average 1.6 million barrels per day, according to OPEC.

Kazakhstan's largest oil fields are Tengiz, Karachaganak and Kashagan.

Edited by SI

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Organisers say the acts have been selected not only for their talent but for their ability to reflect the essence of the Coromandel  a spirit of community, family-friendly, relaxed and inclusive.

Starting on the evening of Friday, June 3, the first concert will feature local musicians in the Whitianga Town Hall, Monk St.

On both Saturday and Sunday mornings, the music will begin around 11am with performances in both the Town Hall and the Blue Lagoon on The Esplanade behind the Mercury Bay Game Fishing Club.

Featured artists for the festival include Don McGlashan, Mel Parsons, Hamilton County Bluegrass Band, Mihos Jazz Orchestra and Wellington band Hobnail. They will perform concerts on both Saturday and Sunday at both venues.

On Sunday morning, there will also be a gospel music concert organised by another featured performer Anita Prime at the Crossroads Encounter Fellowship Church in Whitianga.

Workshops will be run over the weekend by participating artists including Don McGlashan, (song writing) Richard Gilewitz (guitar), Caitlin Smith (vocal styles) and the Big Muffin Serious Band taking one of their famous ukulele workshops.

Another attraction at the festival will be the Young Guitarist Award with participants coming from all over New Zealand to compete for a place at the Tommy Emmanuel Guitar Camp in New York later that month.

There will also be buskers and open mic sessions  where the next big talent might be spotted.

The idea of the Mercury Bay Music Festival took off 18 months ago when Peninsula locals, Jan Wright and Len Salt met up with Richard Gilewitz, a fingerstyle guitarist from USA. They discussed a festival over breakfast. The rest is history.

Jan and Len and the team from Creative Mercury Bay have gathered support from a host of sponsors including funding from the Thames and Coromandel District Council to make the Mercury Bay Music Festival a reality.

Jan and Len say the vision for the festival is that it be an expression of the essence of the Coromandel; easeful and relaxed, flowing, beautiful, inspiring and inclusive and an invitation to everyone to come and have some fun with us.

They say it will also provide an intimate venue where people can experience talent like Don McGlashan or Mel Parsons in a much more accessible setting than in a major city venue like Auckland.

A lot more information on the festival can be found on our website http://www.mercurybaymusicfestival.co.nz

You can also follow festival developments on Facebook on https://www.facebook.com/MercuryBayMusicFestival/ or Twitter on https://twitter.com/MBMusicFest

The tickets for the Mercury Bay Music Festival are on sale on http://www.eventfinda.co.nz/2016/mercury-bay-music-festival/the-coromandel.
Police are advising people ignore the fake stories on Facebook about an apparent massacre in New Zealand.



The story outlines an incident which left; "11 dead and many injured" is fake.
Bay of Plenty police are investigating an incident where a man was shot in the face last night.

The incident happen in the Waiotahe Valley region of Opotiki about 11.45pm.

Police say the man was hit in the face and leg by shotgun pellets while camping. The man is receiving medical treatment for his injuries and is not in a serious condition.

Hunters were in the area at the time the incident occurred police say and police are currently at the scene investigating the circumstances of the shooting.

More information as it comes to hand.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 13

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

The three-day forum titled "Central Asia and multilateral trading system" will wrap up in Turkmenistan on May 13, said the message from Turkmenistan's government.

The event has been organized by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the World Trade Organization with support of Turkmenistan's Ministry of Economy and Development.

The key issues discussed during the forum included the trade facilitation in Central Asia and regional integration.

Delegates from the countries of the UN Special Program for the Economies of Central Asia - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Iran and the German program on Support for Regional Trade in Central Asia are among the participants.

Moreover, representatives of the World Bank, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the United Nations Development Program were also invited to the forum.

A meeting of the SPECA Thematic Working Group on Trade, chaired by Mr. Saidrahmon Nazrizoda, First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade will be held back to back with the Trade Policy Forum on May 13.
Charity representatives hand over their cheque to the Estepona Emaus social kitchen. :: SUR

Members of the Saint George Charity committee and volunteers were joined by representatives from Manilva Town Hall for a special lunch last week. Hosted by Emaus Obra de Amor, which runs the social kitchen in Estepona, along with five others along the coast, the event served to raise awareness about the work of the social kitchen and for volunteers to see first-hand, the benefits of their hard work. The meal was identical to the food distributed to the kitchens customers every day. The ethos of Emaus Obra de Amor is that just because its a soup kitchen doesnt mean that the food has to be bland and uninteresting.

The occasion gave the Saint George charity an opportunity to hand over a cheque for 9,600 euros for the Feed a Child project. The initiative to feed children in and around Estepona who go hungry during the day was set up by personal trainer, Jojo France, supported by Kiddibank Nursery owner, Janice Haycock. Together they have held, and are holding, a number of different events during the year.

Last weekend, the Octogano Paddel Club raised 1,100 euros when it held a fundraising tournament. Thanks to the hard work of Janice and Jojo, and the big-hearted residents around Estepona, just over 11,000 euros has been raised to date and some 40 children are now able to go to school energised with breakfast and lunch.
Few believe that Brexit would affect tourism or property purchases in Spain because it is a favourite destination

The UK is the biggest source market for tourism. :: SUR

The figures leave no room for doubt. The Costa del Sol is a magnet for British visitors, with around one million overnight stays. The British market is also the biggest in terms of property purchase in the province, accounting for almost 20 per cent, according to the ACP Constructors and Developers Association of Malaga.

That being the case, nobody even wants to imagine the traumatic effects that the UKs exit from the EU might have. Jose Carlos Escribano, president of the Aehcos hotel association on the Costa del Sol, made it clear at the last World Travel Market: We have something to suit all tastes and we meet the needs of the British, because they value our climate, our security and our facilities. There is no reason why that should end.

Neither the hotel industry nor developers believe Brexit will happen, but if it does they are sure agreements will be made to ensure that this supply of tourists is not shut off, either for holidays or residential purposes.

Russians have never been part of the EU but they have also been one of the principal investors in second homes on the Costa, say sources at ACP.

Last summer over three million passengers arrived in Malaga from the UK. Hotels on the Costa del Sol ended the year with 12 per cent more British clients than in 2014. Not only that: last year, the British represented 25 per cent of all those who came to Spain for a holiday. There were more than 15 million visitors from the UK and they spent around 14 billion euros, which was more than in previous years.

According to the Costa del Sol tourism authorities, last summer British tourists to this region spent an average of 1,183 euros, which was 11 per cent higher than in 2014. The economic impact is such that the region would find it very difficult to recover from their loss.

British politicians of all parties who want the UK to remain in the EU have had some worrying messages for expats who live here. The Minister for Europe, David Lidington, even said that Brits could lose the right to come and live in Spain, although it would depend on what agreements were made.

Another aspect to be taken into account is cost. The Easyjet airline has already indicated that fares would go up if Britain leaves the EU.
The novel, which will be released in the United States this month, has been hailed as a great literary debut but is yet to be published in Spain

Writer Guillermo Erades, from Malaga, with a copy of his first novel. :: R.T.

Diplomat Guillermo Errades (Malaga , 1975), has used his experience of working in Spanish embassies around the world to channel his literary talent and write a debut novel.

The book is not a spy novel as his profession might lead you to believe. Instead it focuses on the story of the lives of his different characters and, with them, the world around us.

Russia is the first scenario he has chosen to work with in Back to Moscow and the story has already landed in bookshops around Britain and Europe. It is also to be released in the US this month.

As the book was taking shape I began to see the possibility that a publisher might be interested in it. I had in mind a small indie publishing house, but when two prestigious publishers in London and New York, acquired the rights, it was a huge surprise, said the author, whose case is unique in the literary scene: I dont know if there are many precedents of Spanish writers who have written and published novels in English. I dont know any.

Post-Soviet Russia was one of Erades first destinations as a diplomat and the book focuses on the momentous historical period in Russia through the eyes of the protagonist, Martin, a PhD student studying the great heroines of Russian literature. He finds himself trapped by women and a more passionate era than he had been searching for.

Martin arrives at a time of profound and rapid change, at the beginning of the 21st century, with the rise of Putin and the uncertainty is reflected in the wild nightlife that distracts the student, says Erades, who pushes his character to question not only his way of life, but also his pursuit of happiness.

Scribner scooped up the rights to the novel in Britain, Europe and Australia in March, while publishing house Farrar , Straus and Giroux, based in New York , is responsible for its release in the US with the support of the magazine Publishers Weekly, which has described theMalaga-born writer as one of the authors to follow among the debutantes of the year.

Elades has found it hard to put a genre to his novel. When people ask me what type of book it is, I dont know what to say. The novel includes humour, love, sex, politics, philosophy, drama. It also talks of literature and Russia, he explains.

A year off

I wrote the book a decade after living in Russia, it was actually while I was in Baghdad, the semi-confinement of diplomatic life there helped me focus on writing, says the author who, after receiving such a good response to his first novel, has taken a sabbatical year to write a second.

I started it six months ago and to be honest, the manuscript wasnt progressing much, so I decided to devote myself entirely to writing. Ive just arrived in Goa (India), where I will spend a few weeks living and writing in a house on the beach, the writer told SUR.

Since he moved to Britain two decades ago as an Erasmus student, Eraes has only returned to Malaga on holidays. I wanted to work in international relations and I knew I had to live abroad, admits this globetrotter who stays up-to-date with what is happening in his home town.

Wherever I may be, Malaga is a part of me, confessed Erades, who stated that he would love his book to be read in Spain. At the moment we havent received any type of offer from publishers.

Erades hasnt ruled out the idea of writing a story set in Malaga. On a recent visit to the city he visited the Russian Collection in the Tabacalera building, and loved it.

Malagas commitment to culture is impressive, it is on par with other European capitals he said.
The developers of the new commercial and leisure centre to be built in the town have agreed on road improvements with local businesses

The new complex will be built north of the congress centre. :: A. G.

Torremolinos. Intu Costa del Sol, the firm behind the construction of the regions biggest commercial and leisure centre, is to spend three million euros on improving road access into Torremolinos from Malaga. The commitment was made in an agreement signed with the local business owners association ACET, and involves widening the road north of the congress centre, where the centre is to be located.

In a recent interview with SUR, Intu executive Salvador Arenere said that Torremolinos would have the most attractive access road on the Costa del Sol.

He also explained that the area of the centre devoted to leisure and outdoor activities would include a boating lake, an ice rink, a climbing tower and a large Ferris wheel, as well as the artificial ski slope, wave pool for surfing and go-kart circuit previously announced.

After meetings with two local traders associations Intu has said that it will help with the landscaping of the surrounding area to reduce the environmental impact of the centre and the construction of a footpath linking the commercial complex with Torremolinos town centre.

Arenere said that the entire project would involve an investment of more than 550 million euros and is expected to create 4,000 direct jobs.

Torremolinos town hall will receive around 20 million euros from Intu, 15 of which correspond to licences. The centres IBI fee will amount to three million euros a year.

The British firm Intus previous project in Spain is the Puerto Venecia shopping resort in Zaragoza, developed 13 years ago.

While no names have been revealed yet for the firms planning to open branches at the Torremolinos centre, the Zaragoza resort is home to Ikea, El Corte Ingles and Zara.
The exhibition consists of figures inspired by Cervantes' work and will remain on the Costa del Sol until 31 August

The exhibition boasts nine large-scale pieces. :: A. G.

Last weekend Torremolinos joined in the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes with an exhibition of nine sculptures by Aurelio Teno inspired by the 17th-century novel Don Quijote de la Mancha.

The figures stand in the central Plaza Costa del Sol, a square that has already embraced an exhibition by Ceuta artist Elena Laveron. The new works dimensions have impressed, some reaching five metres tall by four metres wide.

Teno, who passed away in 2013, created the structures out of Corten steel, iron, fibreglass and polyester.

His enigmatic sculptures recreate Baroque movements through occasionally hollowed out spaces to discover scratches of the soul inside, according to Cristobal Cordero, the curator of Ano Teno.

The works have names derived from phrases in the famous book. Some which stand out are Bien podrian los encantadores quitarme la ventura, pero el esfuerzo y el animo sera imposible (With ease may the enchanters deprive me of good fortune, but of courage and resolution they never can), one of the largest sculptures in the exhibition, made in 2004, or Y el mundo sera mejor por eso (and the world will be better for it), made in 2005 on painted steel.

This exhibition is the next stage in the Torremolinos es Cultura season. The Ayuntamiento hope to establish Plaza Costa del Sol as an open cultural space, a strategy that started to take shape after the success of the exhibition by Laveron. The square, one of the biggest and right in the centre of Torremolinos, was closed to traffic in December and will be pedestrianised over the upcoming months.

Jose Ortiz, mayor of Torremolinos, who opened the exhibition on Saturday alongside the daughter of the artist, Monica, said, Thanks to the success of the exhibition of Elena Laveron, Torremolinos has demonstrated it can become a centre of cultural modernity.

With the Don Quixote of Aurelio Teno, Torremolinos will be a ficture on the cultural map of Spain and we are sure it will encourage tourism in the new season, he continued.

Aurelio Tenos work has been on display throughout the world, and his sculptures are to be found in the art galleries of Paris, Copenhagen, Munich, Washington, New York, Barcelona and Madrid.

The exhibition will remain in place until 31 August and has contributed to the towns inclusion in the Ciudades Libro project in which the words of Don Quixote will be imprinted onto the towns roads and squares in large-format 17th-century calligraphic style.

As well as this, the town hall intends to put on a number of mobile exhibitions, readings, plays and even concerts in a bid to bring new life to the historic centre.
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU would have more economic than political consequences because it is a key market for tourism and local exporters

Trops, which produces sub-tropical fruits, sends about 20 per cent of its avocado exports to the UK. :: SUR

On 23 June, the citizens of the UK will be voting in the referendum to decide whether or not their country should leave the European Union. The possibility of a Brexit and its consequences have stirred up British and European politics and raised major concerns in the economic sector. If the UK left the EU, would Malaga be affected?

Institutions and businesses here are not afraid but there is some uncertainty, because Britain is an important market for tourism as well as from a commercial point of view.

Apart from being the biggest source market for tourists, the UK has traditionally been an important export market for Malaga province. The volume of trade in both directions amounts to nearly 250 million euros, explains the president of the Camara de Comercio (Chamber of Commerce) of Malaga, Jeronimo Perez Casero.

According to figures for 2015, the UK is the sixth biggest market for exports from Malaga, after France, Italy, Portugal, Germany and the USA. In terms of imports, it holds second place after China. In Spain, the surplus with Britain is 1.1 per cent of GDP. The UK is the fifth most important destination for the export of Spanish goods and services.

So would commercial relationships change if Brexit were to happen? The Camara de Comercio in Malaga isnt sure, although Jeronimo Perez Casero does say that any measure which goes against free trade would place a restriction on the value of exchange and would have a negative effect on transactions between countries.

Nobody can predict which products would be most affected. It depends on many different variables, although drinks and agriculture and food products are the top three goods which we export to the UK; it would be logical for there to be some effect on this type of product, in a sector which is very important for the economy of the province, he warns.

The highest demand for exports from Malaga to the UK is for fruit (over 18 million euros in 2015), followed by drinks (10.2 million). For Trops, the producer and retailer which is based in La Axarquia, the UK is one of its principal markets. Approximately 20 per cent of its avocado exports go to the UK and it is always among the top three countries in terms of sales abroad.

The director of Trops, Enrique Colilles, admits that there is some uncertainty but he is confident that his business could withstand a Brexit.

We dont believe we would be affected because we hold a dominant position in the market. But from a financial point of view, at the moment we work in euros with the UK and, obviously, if it were to leave the EU we would have to go back to using Sterling. So the exchange rate would be a negative factor because of the complications it would cause, he says.

For Enrique, Brexit would oblige him to take out exchange rate insurance, which would be an additional process and would make operations more difficult, but it would not endanger the commercial viability of his products.

It would be something like the way we trade with other European countries which are not part of the EU, like Switzerland. There, we operate with one method and we are fully adapted to it, he says.

The managers of Dcoop, which exports olive oil, olives and a small quantity of wine, agree. However, the companys head of Corporate Relations, Esteban Carneros, points out that Britain is not in the companys top ten for exports.

We understand that, a priori, it wouldnt affect us, because we are not in competition with their own products. Our commercial relations shouldnt be affected. Other food items, such as dairy produce and meat, could be affected more because those are also produced in the UK. In our case, if people there want to continue consuming olive oil or olives, theyll have to buy them, says Esteban, who also points out that preferential agreements could be signed, such as those with other countries outside the EU, such as Norway and Iceland.

There is greater concern among companies which have investments in the UK. The ICEX (Spanish Institute of Foreign Commerce) says Spain is consolidated as one of the UKs principal foreign investors. Among the Malaga-based companies with a strong commitment to the British market is Aertec Solutions; it has an office in Bristol and 10 people based in the UK, working with different aeronautical manufacturers and in alliance with British engineers at several airports.

Part of our work is linked to the Airbus programmes and that is a huge European company. There is a great deal of uncertainty in the UK about how Airbus would react to a Brexit, whether it would maintain its investment and jobs or not. The fact that there is uncertainty is already a negative factor. An uncertain future drives off investments which need several years to recoup, and in the aeronautical industry everything is done with a view to the long term, warns the CEO of Aertec, Antonio Gomez-Guillamon, although he does say that he hasnt really considered whether to withdraw from the UK if Brexit does happen.

Curiously, within Europe, the UK is the country which is most open to other companies, the easiest with which to do business, with a more open mind and less administrative and cultural protectionism. Lets hope they stay and the rest of Europe learns from them and their way of understanding economies, markets and companies, adds Gomez-Guillamon.
The 103rd session of the WTO Executive Council, part of the UN, was held in the city this week; leaders hailed the event as one of the best yet

Ministers and representatives from 50 countries meet to discuss tourism issues. :: SALVADOR SALAS

The Costa del Sol was the focus of attention for the global travel industry this week as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) met at Malagas Palacio de Congresos.

Around 250 representatives from 50 countries, including 18 tourism ministers, took part in a carefully coordinated round of meetings and visits to some of the areas main attractions. The Madrid-based UNWTO is part of the United Nations and has 157 member countries. This was the first time that this twice-yearly Executive Council meeting had been held in Spain since 1975.

The main points on the agenda for this summit were security, sustainabilty and use of new technologies. Delegates agreed measures to help countries do more to make tourists trips safer and more pleasant, against a background of increased security concerns in some classic travel destinations, especially the eastern Mediterranean. As the Spanish tourism minister, Isabel Borrego pointed out, 80% of travellers consider security as important or very important.

Representatives also prepared action plans for 2017, which has been designated by the UN as International Year of Sustainable Tourism. This year-long event will be launched at FITUR, Madrids annual travel trade fair, next January.

Overall, delegates said that the Malaga meeting was one of the most successful so far. UNWTO Secretary General, Taleb Rifai, thanked local people and highlighted the excellent organisation by a city that enriches the soul and offers a unique experience, not seen elsewhere in the world.

Luxor (Egypt) is the next host.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, May 13

By Demir Azizov - Trend:

The European Union (EU) will continue to expand cooperation with Uzbekistan in various spheres, head of the EU delegation in Tashkent, Ambassador Yuri Stark said.

He noted that the EU will increase its support to modernization of Uzbekistan's agricultural sector.

The EU intends to intensify and expand the dialogue on politics, economy, security, human rights, the rule of law, management and internal affairs, according to the ambassador.

Uzbekistan and the EU signed an agreement on partnership and cooperation in 1996.

The EU opened its diplomatic mission in Uzbekistan in May 2011. In July 2015, the organization approved the allocation of 168 million euros worth financial aid to Uzbekistan for 2014-2020.

The funds are allocated for improving the irrigation infrastructure, using renewable energy sources in agribusiness and promoting the program for creating new jobs in Uzbekistan's regions.
After a tense ten months, the three freelance writers claim they were treated well by their Al-Qaeda-affiliated captors

The three kidnapped journalists arrive back in Madrid. :: EFE

Visibly thinner and looking pale, Angel Sastre, Antonio Pampliega and Jose Manuel Lopez made an emotional return to Spanish soil this week at an air force base outside Madrid.

The trio, all experienced war reporters, went missing in Syria on 12 July last year, possibly after their local guide posted a photo on Facebook that alerted terrorists from the Al-Nusra Front, which has links to Al-Qaeda. Over the following months, they were held in the Aleppo area in up to six sealed houses, sometimes together and sometimes separately. All claim they were treated well.

Operatives from Spains CNIintelligence service had been able to keep a trace on their whereabouts for some time before carrying out the rescue.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, May 13

By Demir Azizov- Trend:

The meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will be held on May 23-24 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Russian media reported.

Foreign ministers will discuss issues of preparation for the SCO summit, which is to be held on June 23-24 in Tashkent.

The ministers will also discuss the draft documents and decisions, which are to be submitted to the SCO Council of Heads of Government. In particular, discussions will cover the Tashkent Declaration dedicated to the SCO's 15th anniversary, the action plan for 2016-2020 to implement the SCO development strategy until 2025, as well as a number of projects aimed at further promotion of cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism, organized crime, drug trafficking.

In accordance with the decision on the SCO's expansion, foreign ministers of the SCO member states will also consider the progress in admission procedure of India and Pakistan to the organization.

The SCO members are China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus are the SCO observer-countries, while Turkey, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners.

A procedure was launched at the SCO summit in Ufa in July 2015 for admission of India and Pakistan to the organization.

Uzbekistan overtook from Russia the SCO chairmanship at the organization's summit in Ufa.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:



China Petroleum & Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) is determined to invest in Iran's oil sector, an Iranian oil official said. "Chinese will come to Iran to invest in oil industry's downstream sector," IRNA news agency quoted Masoud Hashemian, an acting deputy oil minister, as saying.

Masoud Hashemian made the remarks following a meeting between the Vice Chairmen of the CPCIF Li Shousheng and Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for International Affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia in Tehran May 9 where the Chinese federation expressed interest in Iran's downstream projects.

Iranian Oil Ministry has earlier announced that the country needs $400-$500 billion worth investments to develop its oil industry.

According to its website, the CPCIF is a non-government, not-for-profit organization consisting of companies, institutes, sectional associations and local associations in the petroleum and chemical industry on the voluntary basis.
Joan Rivers

This Oct. 5, 2009 file photo shows Joan Rivers posing as she presents "Comedy Roast with Joan Rivers " in Cannes, southeastern France.

(The Associated Press)

NEW YORK (AP) -- The family of comedian Joan Rivers, who died days after undergoing a routine endoscopy at a New York City clinic, has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit against the facility, the family's attorneys said Thursday.

The 81-year-old comedian and star of the show "Fashion Police" on E! died Sept. 4, 2014, days after she went in for a routine procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy on Manhattan's Upper West Side and stopped breathing. Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in 2015 in state Supreme Court in Manhattan that alleged doctors performed unauthorized medical procedures, snapped a selfie with the comedian and failed to act as her vital signs deteriorated.

In announcing the settlement Thursday, Rivers' attorneys said they were pleased that the case had been resolved, but declined to specify the amount of the settlement.

They wanted to "make certain that the focus of this horrific incident remains on improved patient care and the legacy of Joan Rivers," attorneys Ben Rubinowitz and Jeff Bloom said in a statement. The doctors accepted responsibility for Rivers' death in the settlement, according to The New York Times.

Melissa Rivers said the settlement allows her to "put the legal aspects of my mother's death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation."

She said in the statement issued by her lawyers that she will continue working to ensure higher safety standards at out-patient surgical clinics.

The lawsuit had alleged that doctors at the clinic, including throat specialist Dr. Gwen Korovin, who got her medical degree in 1984 at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, mishandled Rivers' endoscopy and performed another procedure, known as a laryngoscopy, on Rivers' vocal cords without consent. The suit claimed that an anesthesiologist expressed concern over what the procedure would do to Rivers' ability to breathe, but was told she was being "paranoid" by the gastroenterologist performing the endoscopy.

The city's medical examiner found that Joan Rivers died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen after she stopped breathing during the endoscopy. Her death was classified as a therapeutic complication. The classification is not commonly used; more deaths are certified as accidents, homicides, suicides or natural causes. Negligence was not suspected. Had it been, it would have been listed as a contributing cause.

A spokesman for the clinic, Yorkville Endoscopy, said both sides agreed to settle the case to avoid protracted litigation.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family," the clinic said in a statement. "We remain committed to providing quality, compassionate healthcare services that meet the needs of our patients, their families and the community."

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found after an investigation that the clinic made several errors, including failing to keep proper medication records and snapping cellphone photos. The investigation also found that the clinic had failed to receive informed consent for every procedure performed and failed to record Rivers' weight before administering sedation medication.
Port Byron Burglary.JPG

Brett T. Roeder and Travis J. Burdick, were each charged in two burglaries after a K-9 led deputies from the scene of a burglary to the pair's home, police said.

(Cayuga County Sheriff's Office)

PORT BYRON, N.Y. -- A K-9 tracked a pair of burglars from the scene of the crime back to their home where they were arrested, the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office said.

Travis J. Burdick, 19, and Brett T. Roeder, 19, both residing at 101 Rochester St., Port Byron, were each charged with second-degree burglary, third-degree burglary, third-degree grand larceny, and petit larceny.

Around 4 a.m. Thursday Cayuga County 911 got a report of a burglary that had occurred at a home on Canal Street in the village of Port Byron. Deputies responded to the scene of the burglary.

The sheriff's office said an "elderly male's locked home had been forcibly entered" while he was sleeping. The burglars stole cash and collectible coins.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office helped by providing its K-9, which led deputies and detectives from the victim's home. The K-9 then tracked the burglars to 101 Rochester St. in Port Byron. Deputies talked to Burdick and Roeder, who live at the home, and eventually arrested them, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies recovered the stolen property and tied the two men to another burglary in the area, the sheriff's office said.

Burdick and Roeder were arraigned in Brutus Town Court and ordered held at the Cayuga County jail in lieu of $10,000 bail or $20,000 bail bond.

The sheriff's office asked anyone with information related to the investigation to contact 315-253-1610 or visit www.cayugacrime.com.
2013-11-13-db-Rothschild3.JPG

Martin J. Rothschild is led away in handcuffs after sentencing in 2013 in County Court.

(Dick Blume | dblume@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, NY -- Disbarred lawyer Martin J. Rothschild will be a Level 1 sex offender when he's released from prison in a few weeks after serving three years for child porn, a judge ruled today.

That means Rothschild's name, photo and address will not appear in the public sex registry when he's released from prison. Only Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders are listed on the website.

A judge made the decision today during a hearing that Rothschild -- who is still in prison -- declined to attend.

Rothschild, 63, once a well-known East Syracuse personal injury lawyer, went to prison in 2013 for collecting child pornography and posting it on the social media sharing site, Tumblr. He was charged in connection with 30 images.

Today, prosecutor Jeremy Cali said that Rothschild had a total of 1,600 illegal images.

But the state board that proposes sex offender ratings and two doctors recommended that Rothschild be rated a Level 1 offender, meaning he has a low assessed risk of re-offending.

The doctors used terms like "very low" and "extremely low" when describing Rothschild's risk level, County Court Judge Anthony Aloi noted.

Rothschild's lawyer for today's hearing, George Hildebrandt, noted that his client had undergone treatment in prison for his addiction to child porn.

The state uses a point system to come up with a suggested rating level. The judge ruled that Rothschild's offenses added up to 80 points, which typically results in a Level 2 designation -- and listing on the public database.

But Aloi noted that he has ultimate discretion to make the decision. That's when he pointed to the recommendations from the state Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders and the two doctors as evidence that Rothschild's rating should be a Level 1.

Under law, Rothschild's information will remain in a private file for 20 years. He will be 83 years old by the time he's removed from the state's list, Aloi noted.

While the state cannot list Rothschild's information in the public database, it can confirm he's on the registry if requested by name.
HANNIBAL, N.Y. -- An Oswego County school bus driver is accused of exchanging text messages and going on dates with a 13-year-old student, the New York State Police said.

William "Billy" E. Combes III

William "Billy" E. Combes III, 26, of Martville, was charged Thursday with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

State police said Combes had an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old student who rode the bus he drove for the Hannibal Central School District. The girl rode the bus Combes drove at some point last year.

He is accused of exchanging text messages with the girl outside school hours beginning last year.

Combes is accused of going to the girl's home without her parents knowledge, picking her up and then taking her on several dates. State police declined to describe the specifics of the dates, but said they were not sexual in nature. The girl's parents eventually found out and contacted authorities, state police said.

In a letter to parents Superintendent Christopher Staats said that the charge against Combes related to incidents supposed to have occurred in the last month and that the district was not aware of any other victims.

"The District has been cooperating with the investigation and will continue to cooperate fully with the State Police, the District Attorney's office and any other agencies that may become involved in the case," he said.

Combes was a probationary bus driver with the Hannibal schools. He has since resigned from his job, Staats said.

Combes was issued an appearance ticket. He is scheduled to appear in Hannibal Town Court on May 23.
A founding member for the Syracuse Writer's Roundtable brings his world travels to the page, the Adirondack's View strives to make an author event open to the public, and a Chicago author comes to New York State to help those caring for Alzheimer's patients.

Real adventures inspire fiction

Retired architect Ronald Bagliere has been writing for more than 30 years, but he says that it wasn't until started traveling that his writing really began to flourish. "Trips to New Zealand, Nepal, Alaska, Hawaii and much of the Pacific west coast have given me plenty of fodder for my tales of adventure and love. My next trip will be to Patagonia, South America in 2017 where I will surely generate another story based in the lower Andes," says Bagliere.

Bagliere published his first novel in 2014, "Loving Neil", a story that centers on the romance between Janet and Neil and the difficulties that arise due to the difference in their ages and all that comes with where they are in the progress of their lives.

Next Balgiere published "The Lion of Khum Jung". Inspired by a trip to Everest, this book takes place in the foothills of the Himalayas and follows a mother who follows her son as he endeavors to climb Everest, unable to allow him to start this journey on his own after she lost her husband during an Everest Climb. Everest guide Frank Kincaid faces conflicts of interest as he endeavors to stay true to his convictions while also possibly falling in love.

Both books were nominated for the Book of the Year Awards presented by the YMCA Downtown Writer's Center, where Bagliere has recently been serving as a visiting adjunct teacher.

Bagliere has published a third book, "Beyond the Veil", returning to a remote local to set his story. Anthropologist Claire El-Badawy has the opportunity to prove her theory of a former trans-atlantic connection between Africa and South America when a "Lost Bushman" is found in the depth of an Amazon forest. In being paired with guide Owen Macleod, Claire finds both danger and the potential for romance in her journey into the jungle.

You can learn more about Bagliere, his travels, and his photography by visiting his website. Bagliere's books are available through most major bookstores and on Amazon.com.



Adirondack celebration

View,

a multi-arts facility

in Old Forge that provides a variety of opportunities and platforms for local artists and writers to showcase their work is hosting an "Adirondack Authors Evening" on June 25 from 7-9 PM at their Gould Hall.

The evening includes reading from well-known and up-and-coming local authors, as well as an open mic for unscheduled authors to share their work in a welcoming environment. The evening is meant to include many genres of work including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. There will be book signings, wine, and hors d' oeuvres to celebrate local talent and encourage community conversation.

Author David Hazard will be emceeing the evening, and the lineup of scheduled author readings include Mary Sanders Shartle, Lorraine Duvall, David Crews, Jeanne Selander-Miller, Marilyn McCabe, Becky Harblin, and Deborah Havas.

In order to ensure that the event can be offered free to the public, View is currently hosting a crowdfunding campaign through Adirondack Gives. Donations will be accepted until June 9.

Alzheimer's care

Author Patricia M McClure will be holding a

book signing

event Sunday, May 15, at the East Northport, NY Barnes and Noble to promote her book "Losing A Hero to Alzheimer's".

McClure will be signing copies of her starting a 2:00 PM. McClure's book details her real life experience of caring for her mother as she progressed through the stages of Alzheimer's disease. McClure says that her book is an important tool for identifying early signs of Alzheimer's and providing helpful insights in how to work with the change in the life and family dynamics.

Have a book to share?

Are you a local author or have you come across a book set in Central New York? Tell us about it. Send a brief description of the book and the author and we'll add it as a candidate for coverage. Write us at features@syracuse.com.
Musician Zac Brown, of American band the Zac Brown Band, performs on stage during the Country to Country music concert, otherwise known as C2C, at the o2 in east London, Saturday, March 15, 2014.

A special "Kickoff to Summer" sale starts today for more than half of the Lakeview Amphitheater's inaugural lineup.

Live Nation is offering $20 lawn tickets for 16 concerts at the new Syracuse venue, with no additional fees. The discount is available through Ticketmaster and Live Nation for one week only starting today (Friday, May 13) at 10 a.m. while supplies last.

Shows participating in the "$20 Kickoff to Summer Sale" are Rascal Flatts with Kelsea Ballerini & Chris Lane (June 24), Hall & Oates (June 25), Def Leppard with REO Speedwagon (June 27), 5 Seconds of Summer (July 5), Disturbed with Breaking Benjamin (July 9), Journey with The Doobie Brothers (July 13), Jason Aldean with Thomas Rhett (July 15), Zac Brown Band (July 21), Slipknot with Marilyn Manson (July 23), Dierks Bentley with Randy Houser (Aug. 6), Counting Crows with Rob Thomas (Aug. 12), Snoop Dogg with Wiz Khalifa (Aug. 13), Blink-182 with A Day to Remember and All Time Low (Aug. 23), Keith Urban with Brett Eldredge (Aug. 25), KoRn with Rob Zombie (Aug. 27) and ZZ Top with Gregg Allman (Sept. 3).

Update: As of 11:30 a.m., the discounted lawn tickets were sold out for the Zac Brown Band, Journey/Doobie Brothers, and Jason Aldean concerts.

Similar $20 lawn discounts are being offered for select shows at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center and SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center).

Some syracuse.com readers complained about the sale after purchasing tickets earlier in the year at full price:

"This is super annoying for those of us who have already paid almost $35 for lawn tickets," Liz commented.

"Yeah this is ridiculous...I bought tickets to the country megaticket, ZBB counting crows def leppard all at retail and now theyre releasing this 20$ GA ticket? that's crazy, I did everything presale thinking I was getting a discount and this comes out? I want my money back and I want the 20$ ticket with no fees," Thebergejp wrote.

"I'd like my money back too. I am definitely never buying pre-sale again. The whole premise of pre-sale is to get a bargain for being tickets early," joejoeyjack added.

Another user defended the sale, saying it's not "unfair":

"If you buy tickets close to when they first go on sale, you're paying a higher price, but are guaranteed access to the concert by buying early, and receive better reserved seats. If you wait for the discounts, they a.) may be sold out; b.) may not offer them at all at a discount; or c.) put you further away from the stage... It's a basic trade off, and thus, it's perfectly fair," syracuser wrote.

To date, 22 events are booked for the Lakeview Amphitheater this summer after officials promised 15-20 shows for its inaugural season. The venue, located on Onondaga Lake and across from the New York State Fairgrounds, has a capacity of roughly 17,000 (5,000 pavilion seats; 12,000 lawn).

Of the six shows that are not participating in the Live Nation sale, one is sold out (Dave Matthews Band), one is general admission only ($41.50 plus fees for all Warped Tour tickets), one has not been confirmed ("surprise" country act on Sept. 2) and one is not selling lawn seats, only pavilion (Ringo Starr). Lawn seats for Phish are still $45 each and ticket information has not yet been announced for the 4th of July concert, featuring local acts like the Symphoria and the Syracuse Pops Chorus.

Lakeview Amphitheater 2016 concert schedule

June 3: Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band

June 22: Dave Matthews Band

June 24: Rascal Flatts*

June 25: Daryl Hall & John Oates*

June 27: Def Leppard, REO Speedwagon, Tesla*

July 4: Symphoria, Syracuse Pops Chorus, fireworks

July 5: 5 Seconds of Summer*

July 7: Vans Warped Tour

July 9: Disturbed with Breaking Benjamin*

July 10: Phish

July 13: Journey/Doobie Brothers*

July 15: Jason Aldean*

July 21: Zac Brown Band*

July 23: Slipknot with Marilyn Manson*

Aug. 6: Dierks Bentley*

Aug. 12: Counting Crows with Rob Thomas*

Aug. 13: Snoop Dogg with Wiz Khalifa*

Aug. 23: Blink-182 with A Day to Remember, All Time Low*

Aug. 25: Keith Urban*

Aug. 27: KoRn and Rob Zombie*

Sept: 2: "Surprise superstar" country act

Sept. 3: ZZ Top, Gregg Allman*

* = $20 lawn tickets available
Baku, Azerbaijan, May. 12

By Emil Ilgar - Trend:

About 1.75 million Iranian tourists visit Turkey annually, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi, who serves as the Iranian co-chairman of Joint Iran-Turkey Economic, Commercial and Cultural Commission announced on May 12.

"Iran wants to receive Turkish tourists as well," Vaezi said during a meeting with Mahir Unal the minister of culture and tourism of Turkey, IRNA reported.

Vaezi also said that Iran is keen to have a $30 billion-worth trade turnover with Turkey.

According to official statistics, Turkey's tourism income in 1Q16 reached $4 billion, about 16 percent less than in the same period last year. The country's total tourism income reached about $31.5 billion in 2015.

Turkey exported $3.67 billion to Iran and imported $6.1 billion from this country in 2015. in total the trade turnover decreased by $2.43 billion last year, compared to 2014.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 12



By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Islamic Republic of Iran Railway will inaugurate the 4th International Rail Exhibition of Transportation, Related Industries and Equipment (RAILEXPO) on May 15 in Tehran.

About 180 domestic and 120 international companies are expected to attend the four-day exhibition to be held on 15 - 18 May, Fars news agency reported. In the meantime a conference on the 1st International Oil, Rail and Ports Conference will take place on 15 - 16 May at Tehran International Exhibition.

The report added that several Iranian officials including First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri ans well as Transport Minister Abbas Akhoundi will attend the exhibition. The Association of the Guild of Rail Transport Companies and related Industries of Iran and also Iran Trade Development Organization are supporters of the RAILEXPO.
Brazil's seafarers take on Transpetro

Brazilian seafarers are to begin industrial action tomorrow (14th May) in a dispute over discriminatory practices, which could hit Transpetros large tanker fleet.

Seafarers unions affiliated to CONTTMAF (Confederacao Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Transportes Aquaviarios e Aereos, na Pesca e nos Portos) union federation have voted to take industrial action that will impact all vessels  both tankers and offshore  owned and operated by Transpetro, the oil and gas shipping subsidiary of Petrobras. The vote for escalating industrial action took place on 4th May and was held on all vessels. Support for the action was claimed to be overwhelming, and the company was notified on 6th May, according to a report from the ITF. The problems behind the decision were included in collective bargaining agreement negotiations that began last year. They include the ending of discriminatory practices in Petrobras, and increasing health and safety mechanisms in order to set up a level playing field with other companies hired by the oil major and its subsidiary companies. Severino Almeida, president of CONTTMAF and the SINDMAR maritime officers union, explained: Employment stability is already included in collective agreements signed between Petrobras and other unions. The system of working one period on board and the same period of shore leave (the 1 x 1 system) is already current practice in all other private shipping companies operating in the Brazilian offshore industry hired by Petrobras and its subsidiary companies. This system is there to prevent accidents caused by fatigue. The fact that all other private companies operating in the Brazilian offshore and cabotage sectors, apart from Petrobras subsidiaries, offer it not only creates unfair competition but increases risk. Everybody knows, in Brazil and abroad, that Brazilian Seafarers unions were greatly responsible for keeping the Brazilian flag hoisted at sea. We can proudly say that we actively promoted the foundation of Transpetro and that Brazilian Seafarers are safe and efficient. We have demonstrated that Brazil has the technical knowledge and expertise to provide all the logistics needed by the offshore industry and we shall act to ensure Brazilian seafarers continue to be the backbone of the industry we have helped to create,he stressed. ITF general secretary, Steve Cotton, stated: We want to express our total support for our Brazilian colleagues. These kind of potentially discriminatory practices, which may undermine the national flag identity, are not consistent with how any fair and honest transnational corporation should perform  especially when the Brazilian government is the main stockholder. We are ready to support those making this stand. ITF president, Paddy Crumlin, commented: Theres no shortage of corporations in many countries that try to use discriminatory practices, which are potentially in breach of the basic principles of trade union rights laid down by the ILO and the UN Global Compact. ITF unions share the same principles and values as Brazilian seafarers, and we are ready to support them. They have been part of the construction of a safe and profitable oil and offshore industry, a landmark industry that is internationally recognised, and they deserve not only the proper recognition but also a level playing field in which to operate. We hope that this uncooperative attitude by Transpetro is not an indicator of any attempt to privatise the company in order to hand it over to foreign flag vessels. That would be a matter of national shame for Brazil, and a massive loss to its economy, he said.




Concordia settles after P-MAX grounding

Concordia Maritime has agreed to pay $9.25 mill in a settlement in a dispute caused by Stena Primorsks grounding in the Hudson River in December, 2012.

In July 2013, the company owning the vessel received a claim regarding the damage the counterparty believed it had caused in connection with its decision to stop operating Stena Primorskin the Hudson River after the vessels grounding in the shipping channel. The counterparty initial claim amounted to around $21 mill, which was subsequently adjusted to $23 mill, and the counterparty requested the matter be settled by arbitration in the US, in accordance with the terms of the agreement. In connection with the arbitration proceedings, Concordia Maritime put in counter claims totalling $6 mill. A discovery phase, in which both parties standpoints and demands were examined carefully, was completed in the third quarter of 2015. After further discussions, the parties have now entered into a settlement agreement by which Concordia Maritime will pay $9.25 mill to the counterparty. Payment will be made today (13th May) and will constitute a final settlement between the parties with respect to the dispute, Concordia said.




Danish shipping company J Lauritzen has sold its stake in Hafnia Tankers.

The company said it had decided to quit the product tanker and offshore service segments during the first quarter of 2016 and sell its shareholdings in both sectors.

The shares owned in Hafnia were sold to LF Investment, a company fully-owned by Lauritzen Fonden.

The sale of its shares in tankers and the offshore sector provided an additional $125 mill cash this year, as the assets had a combined book value of $105.9 mill.

Previously advised transfers of certain non-strategic assets and obligations to LF Investment were largely completed during Q1. These transactions have together with a capital injection strengthened our balance sheet and improved our cash position, Jan Kastrup-Nielsen, President and CEO, said.

Dry cargo markets remained under severe pressure and on average Q1 reached an unprecedented low level, whereas the gas carriers performed largely as expected, he added.

J Lauritzen held a 5.3% stake in Hafnia Tankers, which operates a fleet of about 35 tankers, 10 of which were bought from Lauritzen in October, 2013.
Markets - VLCC rates firm again

The firm trend continued in the VLCC market and owners managed to push rate levels further up this week.

Rates improved rapidly during the last few days when charterers approached themarket with very end May stems, Fearnleys reported. These seemed a bit tricky in terms of load/discharge ports, approvals, intake, laytime, age, etc, hence the requirement for modern tonnage, which was limited in the time frame. It looks like charterers May programme ex MEG is finished. The BOT June programme was released on Tuesday, much earlier than expected and showed more demand than seen in the last two months, boosting owners market view. Charterers may have a different opinion, as they were not showing firm rates at present possibly in an attempt to cool off the owners optimism. For Suezmaxes, the past week saw plenty of activity for WAfrica/UK-Cont-Med voyages, although rates remained at relatively flat levels throughout the period. WS72.5 was seen for several fixtures, although the last reports suggested that the rates had climbed 2.5 points to reach WS75. Looking ahead, we might see less activity as the reported force majeure has now affected Bonny, due to a pipeline leakage. In Med/Black Sea the rates also firmed, as a prompt cargo got replaced at rates well above last done. The North Sea and Baltic saw a couple of busy days, but only moved up 2.5 points at the time of writing (Wednesday). The Baltic market would normally have moved further based on the amount of cargoes worked, but as much of it has been off market, owners had difficulty in getting an overview. Expect both markets to stay firm moving into June and could easily climb about 10 points for end month fixing. During the middle of last week, the Med and Black Sea gave owners a long awaited upswing. Due to several ballasters from the Med last week, the position list suddenly looked rather tight, and charterers all wanted to secure a ship before it was too late. This caused upward pressure and pushed rates up to WS120 levels. Next week the list will again increase in length and charterers were trying to hold back cargoes, which will push rates down towards WS100 again, Fearnleys said. Crowley Maritime Corp has christened the third of four new, Jones Act product tankers in New Orleans. The MR Louisiana joins two sisterships, Texas and Ohio, to be the first tankers ever to receive ABS LNG-Ready Level 1 approval, giving Crowley the option to convert the tanker to liquefied natural gas for propulsion in the future. Elsewhere, The second vessel in a series of six 38,000 dwt Arc 7 class tankers - Shturman Malygin - has been launched. The six tankers are intended for year-round shipments of export crude oil from Novoportovskoye field, operator Gazprom Neft said. Anatoly Cherner, Gazprom Neft deputy CEO for logistics, processing and sales, commented: The Arc7-class tankers now under construction are second to none in Russia: their loading capacity is twice that of tankers currently in use, they are specifically designed for the conditions of the Gulf of Ob, and can independently navigate pre-cut ice channels. This cuts return-trip lead times and improves the overall logistical efficiency of Gazprom Nefts operations in the Arctic. Once all six tankers have been brought into operation, they will be able to transport about 450,000 tonnes of oil per month, allowing us to despatch up to 5.5 mill tonnes of oil from the Novoportovskoye field every year,he said. Again newbuilding orders were few and far between. The John Fredriksen order at Jinhae for two, option two VLCCs mentioned last week was thought to be at the Letter of Intent stage and the price around $75 mill each. A UK fund was believed to be behind a possible order for between six and eight LR1s at DSIC Dalian for delivery in 2017-2018. The price per vessel was put at $40 mill. Fredriksens Frontline was also said to have sold to the 1998-built VLCC Front Vanguard to unknown interests for $24.3 mill. A slightly newer sistership was said to be on the market. Another VLCC, the 1999-built DS Chief was reported sold to Winson Shipping of Taiwan for $25.2 mill. The NAT purchases mentioned last week have been confirmed as the CM Lemos controlled Suezmaxes Majestic,Authentic, Romantic and Poetic, valued at $19.6 mill,$29.2 mill, $30.4 mill and $27 mill each. The 1989-built Aframax Arabiyah was thought sold to unknown interests for $8.9 mill and the OBO SKS Tyne, built 1996, was said to have been sold to Turkish interests for conversion to a power plant. The 2015-built MR Marlin Amethystwas said to have been sold to US-based M Sea Capital for $35.5 mill. She was thought to have been chartered back for five years plus options at $16,750 per day, plus a 50:50 profit sharing scheme should the rate go above $18,000 per day. Maersk Tankers reportedly shed the 2001-built Handymax Freja Maersk for $11.5 mill to unknown interests. In the period charter market, Litasco was thought to have agreed $38,500 per day for the 2000-built Maritime Jewelfor 12 months, while CSSA reportedly fixed the LR2 Minerva Elpida for two years at $23,000 per day. Another LR2 - the 2007-built Almi Spirit was said to have been fixed to Glovis for 12 months at $24,500 per day. BP was said to have chartered the 2006-built MR Axios for 12 months at $16,500, which was around $1,000 per day lower than recent MR fixtures for the same period.




OSG sees a rise in revenues

Overseas Shipholding Groups (OSG) TCE revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were $236.9 mill, a rise of 7% compared with the same period in 2015.

Net income for 1Q16 was $50.7 mill, compared with $42.9 mill in 1Q15. Adjusted EBITDA was $129.5 mill, up 14% from $113.7 mill recorded in 1Q15. OSGs total cash) was $416.6 mill as of 31st March, 2016. During the quarter, the company repurchased and retired $95.9 mill in principal amount of subsidiary term loans at a discounted price of $88.8 mill and made a mandatory pre-payment of $51.3 mill in principal amount of domestic subsidiary term loan. We are pleased to report strong first quarter performance, said Capt Ian Blackley, OSGs president and CEO. In our international business, rates in the crude sector remained attractive as tonne/mile demand growth outpaced newbuilding supply and our domestic business turned in another good quarter, as US crude production held above 9 mill barrels per day and gasoline demand continued to grow. We are making good progress on our separation plans for the businesses, which we believe will unlock greater value and enable us to distribute that value to shareholders more efficiently. At the same time, strong cash generation from our 79 vessel fleet allowed us to further enhance our capital structure through debt repurchases and pre-payments and return value to shareholders through equity buybacks, concluded Blackley. The TCE revenue growth was driven by the continued strength in VLCC spot market rates, increased Delaware Bay lightering volumes and an increase in revenue days. Net income growth reflected the impact of strengthened TCE revenues, lower general and administrative expenses and lower interest expense, partially offset by increases in depreciation and amortisation expenses. TCE revenues for OSGs international crude tankers segment were $87.4 mill for the quarter, an increase of $20.5 mill, compared with 1Q15. This significant increase resulted from a strengthening in daily rates across most vessel types in the segment, with the VLCC spot rate increasing to $63,400 per day in 1Q16, up 29% from the comparable 2015 period and the Panamax blended rate increasing 23% to $25,600 per day. In addition, revenue days for the segment increased 9.5% over 1Q15 primarily driven by OSGs ULCC leaving lay-up and commencing a timecharter for storage in April, 2015 and 66 fewer VLCC drydocking days in the current quarter. TCE revenues for the international product carriers division were $37.3 mill for the quarter, down 14% compared with 1Q15. This decrease was primarily due to lower average daily blended rates earned by the MRs. Also contributing was a 178-day decrease in revenue days resulting from the sale of the Luxmar in July, 2015 and the redelivery of one timechartered-in vessel at the expiry of its charter. These decreases were partially offset by the LR1 blended rate increasing to around $23,000 in the first quarter, up 20% from the comparable 2015 period. TCE revenues for the US flag division were $112.2 mill for the quarter, an increase of $1 mill, compared with 1Q15. This rise was primarily driven by increased Delaware Bay lightering volumes, as 145,000 barrels per day were shipped during the quarter, double the 2015 period. Lower oil prices and the resulting drop in US crude oil production has narrowed the price spread between Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate crude making it more attractive for US Northeast refineries to import crude oil.




A Harbor Freight Tools will soon open in Ryanwood Square, where the Books-A-Million closed in April.

By Kelly Tyko of TCPalm

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY  The former Books-A-Million in Ryanwood Square will start its next chapter as a haven for die-hard tool junkies.

Harbor Freight Tools is expected to open its third Treasure Coast location at 2006 58th Ave. in late June, with a grand opening scheduled for July 13, company spokesman Collin Ozar said in an email Friday, noting dates could change based on construction.

"We're thrilled to be opening our 57th Harbor Freight Tools store in Florida and very pleased by the warm welcome we've received in Vero Beach," Harbor Freight Tools President Eric Smidt said in a prepared statement. "At Harbor Freight, we're all about delivering high-quality tools at ridiculously low prices."

The new 16,850-square-foot store is expected to hire 35 to 40 employees.

Harbor Freight stocks more than 7,000 items in categories including automotive, shop equipment, air and power tools, outdoor equipment, compressors and welding and woodworking tools. The California-based chain has more than 650 stores, including locations in Stuart, Jensen Beach and Palm Bay.

The Books-A-Million closed April 21 after 16 years in Ryanwood Square. The chain still has a store in the Indian River Mall at 6200 20th St., one block west on State Road 60.

Days after the bookstore closed in the plaza anchored by Publix and Bealls Outlet, the Indian River County Building Department issued a permit to Harbor Freight representatives for interior construction work valued at $275,000.

Kelly Tyko is a columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers. This column reflects her opinion. Read her Bargainista tips at TCPalm.com/Bargainista and follow her on Twitter @TCPalmKelly.
Tehran, Iran, May 13

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iranian officials are saying that they will not send Iranians to hajj pilgrimage this year because of what they call Saudi Arabia's non-cooperation.

The National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament has decided that under current circumstances Iran will not participate in the hajj, said the committee member Mansour Haqiqatpour, the Mizan news agency reported May 13.

The Iranian-Saudi row follows the burning down of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which ended in Riyadh deciding to close the embassy.

Now Iran has put four conditions for Saudi Arabia in order to send Iranians to the hajj, namely that Saudi Arabia should guarantee the security of Iranian pilgrims, Iranian aviation fleet should be used to take the pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, visas should be issued for the pilgrims inside Iran, and finally, consular services be available to Iranians in Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh has refused to issue visas for Iranians inside Iran, stressing that Iranians can only acquire visas to Saudi Arabia in a third country.

In the meantime, the chairman of the same parliamentary commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said on Friday that Iran will not have Riyadh put conditions for it.

"Saudi Arabia is in no position to put conditions for us. This is us who have to put conditions for them, because experience has shown that Saudi Arabia does not have the ability to keep our pilgrims safe," he said.

Also recently, prominent Iranian cleric Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi called on Iranians not to participate in the hajj under the current conditions, saying it will be against their dignity if Iranian pilgrims visit a third country to receive their visas.
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By Paul Ivice, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE  A part-time Fort Pierce resident was found guilty Tuesday by a Circuit Court jury of charges related to sex with a minor.

Cedric Heard, 45, was tried on 14 charges  nine counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of sexual activity with a minor and one count each of promoting sexual performance by a child and delivery of cannabis to a minor  for acts that records say occurred from August to October 2014.

After a one-day trial, the jury found Heard guilty of one count of sexual activity with a minor and the charge of promoting a sexual performance.

Heard faces up to 15 years in prison for each charge.

Circuit Judge James McCann set sentencing for 1:30 p.m. July 6.

Fort Pierce Police first began investigating the case after the man with whom Heard had been living  Willie Lee Jackson, 35, of the 3000 block of Dunbar Street in Fort Pierce  reported to police that he found child porn photos on his computer.

Investigators found information on Heard's Facebook page that led them to the 16-year-old victim, who told police he met Heard through an Internet site intended for people 18 and older.

The photographs Heard took of the victim while they were at a Fort Pierce beach, where Heard had taken the boy using Jackson's car, were "the proverbial smoking gun" needed to convince the jury to convict, said Assistant State Attorney Brandon White.

Heard, who is from Houston, is wanted in Texas for violating parole after serving time in prison for a 2005 felony charge of enticing a child with intent to commit a sexual act.

Jackson, who testified against Heard, was charged with sexual battery on a minor, possession of child pornography and tampering with a witness after the victim told police he had sex with Jackson, but in testimony at Heard's trial, he recanted the accusation against Jackson. Jackson's case still is unresolved.
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Brooke Mace, 30, 8200 block of Hibiscus Road, Fort Pierce; warrant for driving while license suspended, habitual offender.

Larry Brown, 63, 200 block of North 39th Street, Fort Pierce; warrant for petty theft.

Dante Bradshaw, 28, Miami; warrant for failure to appear, felony charge, grand theft, retail theft in concert with others.

Michael Johnson, 28, 3200 block of Louisiana Avenue, Fort Pierce; possession of cocaine with intent to sell, manufacture or deliver; warrants for possession of a firearm or ammunition by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine, escape, resisting an officer without violence.

Antonio Watson, 21, no street address, Fort Pierce; warrant for burglary of an occupied dwelling with battery, while armed. Arrested in Indian River County.

Justin Daniels, 33, 200 block of Southwest Aldoro Place, Port St. Lucie; battery, second or subsequent offense.

William Hills, 43, 400 block of North 21st Street, Fort Pierce; sale of cocaine.

Kathleen Laroche, 27, 300 block of Northwest Byron Street, Port St. Lucie; possession of cocaine; purchase of cocaine.

Ockeve Sinclair, 21, North Lauderdale; out-of-county warrant, Broward County, first-degree murder.

Dennis Booth, 45, 200 block of Southwest Airview Avenue, Port St. Lucie; possession of cocaine.

Chance Kenyon, 20, 100 block of South Indian River Drive, Port St. Lucie; warrants for dealing in stolen property, giving false information to a pawnbroker.

Barbara Camps, 42, Miami; warrant for grand theft.

Stephen Gatzke, 59, 5000 block of North State Road A1A, Fort Pierce; aggravated child abuse. Arrested in Indian River County.

Robin Willox, 48, 2200 block of Southeast Mandrake Circle, Port St. Lucie; possession of a controlled substance (morphine). Arrested in Martin County.
SHARE This new Florida Heritage Marker commemorates the architectural style of Vero Beach City Hall. (PROVIDED BY CITY OF VERO BEACH)

By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

VERO BEACH  A new Florida Heritage Marker will be dedicated Tuesday in front of Vero Beach City Hall.

The marker commemorates the architectural style of the current building, which houses the city's government offices, according to Indian River County historian Ruth Stanbridge.

"In the early 1960s, the architects and builders designed and built a very modern building that is today called mid-century modern and City Hall is a wonderful example," explained Stanbridge. She said in 1962, the City Council contracted with architect W.G. Taylor and builder Hensick and Son to build the new City Hall.

Vero Beach Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Anna Brady said the placement of the marker is important because it celebrates the history of the city.

"We are raising awareness for our city's historical architecture," she said. "During the marker dedication, we'll be talking about all of the construction within the city that was going on the 1960s and how important historic preservation is to the community."

According to the Florida Division of Historical Resources, the Florida Heritage Marker Program recognizes historic resources, people and events that are significant in the areas of architecture, archaeology, Florida history and traditional culture. Historic markers and plaques are placed at sites of historical and visual interest to visitors after an application is made and approved by the Department of State. There are 13 markers throughout Indian River County, with six in Vero Beach, five in Fellsmere, one on Orchid Island and one in Sebastian.

In honor of National Preservation Month, Tuesday's marker dedication will serve as a kickoff to an advertising campaign sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Residents will be encouraged to take photographs of their favorite places around Vero Beach and Indian River County and post them to Instagram with the hashtag #ThisPlaceMatters. More information will be available at the dedication ceremony.

FLORIDA HERITAGE MARKER DEDICATION

Who: Sponsored by the Indian River Historical Society, the city of Vero Beach Historical Commission and the Florida Department of State.

When: 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 17

Where: City Hall, 1053 10th Place, Vero Beach

Information: Indian River County Historical Society at 772-778-3235
Kait Parker (left), of Weather.com and former meteorologist with WPTV, and Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, of Stuart, flew over the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon to film footage for a documentary being produced to run soon on Parker's website. (PROVIDED PHOTO BY JACQUI THURLOW-LIPPISCH)

"Indescribable! Indestructible! Nothing can stop it!"

And it's coming to an estuary near you.

Soon.

The blue-green algae bloom has begun again. The above slogan was emblazoned across the posters of the 1958 drive-in horror flick, "The Blob." It could easily have been used to describe the waters of the St. Lucie River during the "lost summer "of 2013, the algae bloom of 2005 and several other times in the past 80 years.

Out in Lake Okeechobee's eastern quadrant, the blob we're all afraid of looks more like fibrous fluorescent green streaks strewed across the black water surface offshore of the lakeside hamlet of Pahokee.

The image was startling to Stuart resident Xavier Quinones. He was flying in a small plane at about 1,000 feet to Naples on Tuesday. He snapped a photo and emailed it to me Wednesday morning.

Sure enough, it clearly showed The Blob.

We knew it was coming. We knew that once the water heated up enough (Lake Okeechobee bass fishing guide Mike Shellen told me the water has climbed to more than 80 degrees in recent weeks), the ecological disease was ready to flare up.

The good thing is, this time there is more help already here.

We can't look for help from the Army Corps of Engineers. They want to lower the lake from its Thursday level of 13.82 feet above sea level down to 12.5 feet above sea level by June 1. That's still almost 201 BILLION gallons that has to be removed from the lake to prepare it for the Corps' preferred level heading into the start of hurricane season.

We can't look for help from South Florida Water Management District. For weeks now, the agency has been waging a testy war of words with columnists and members of the media about what is being written and broadcast over media channels and social media.

We can't expect help from the Department of Environmental Protection, which for years has been jokingly called the department of "Don't Expect Protection."

But if there was ever a case of perfect timing, that could be said of Weather.com meteorologist Kait Parker. You remember Parker, the former WPTV meteorologist who advanced to the big leagues a couple of years ago when The Weather Channel brought her under contract. This week, she and her crew of two are on the Treasure Coast working on what she called a documentary that will run on Weather.com soon.

While here, Parker is using her field skills to examine the complicated and controversial water management policies and practices in play in Florida. While her producer requested I do not go into too much detail about what they are planning, I can say Parker has been on the muck-laden South Fork of the St. Lucie River with Jim Harter and Mike Conner, two dedicated anglers who have been fighting for clean water since they moved here.

She visited the St. Lucie Lock and Dam to gather footage of excessive runoff from the Kissimmee River still pouring out of the C-44 Canal as it has since Jan. 30. She flew over the southern Indian River Lagoon with Ed and Jacqui Lippisch. She responded to the word the algae blob has returned. She also will be spending time with a family whose children contracted a waterborne illness at the sand bar inside the St. Lucie Inlet near Sailfish Point.

Will Parker's documentary motivate tourism-sensitive Gov. Rick Scott to send a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers demanding to close the gates at Port Mayaca? Will it be enough to help move the needle on Florida's archaic drainage and flood control policies? Can Parker's project generate real political will?

We'll have to wait and see. But for now, we have to embrace the assistance of a journalist and scientist and a media organization based outside of this area. Parker and Weather.com will only help illustrate the desperate and long-overdue need for serious change.

Ed Killer is the outdoors columnist for Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com, and this column reflects his opinion. Friend him on Facebook at Ed Killer, follow him on Twitter at @tcpalmekiller or email him at ed.killer@tcpalm.com or call him at 772-221-4201.
Florida Oceanographic Society Executive Director Mark Perry collected samples of water containing blue green algae Friday near the St. Lucie Lock and Dam near Stuart. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm

TROPICAL FARMS  A blue-green algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee was found to be toxic Friday, and more algae bloomed at the St. Lucie Lock and Dam in Martin County, where discharged lake water meets the St. Lucie River.

Swirls of algae were clearly visible just west of the dam Friday afternoon, bunched up against it and gathered in the shallows of a boat ramp a few yards away. That algae probably came from the lake's southern shore bloom and is toxic, too, Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart, said after taking water samples Friday afternoon.

Westerly winds this weekend could blow the lake bloom toward Port Mayaca, between the lake and dam. The president of environmental activist group BullSugar.org reported seeing an algae bloom Wednesday at Port Mayaca.

'NOW IT'S HERE'

"First it was reported in the lake, then at Port Mayaca and now it's here," Perry said. "It's obviously flowing west to east. There haven't been any reports of algae downstream from the dam, but I expect there will be, anywhere there's calm water, like marinas and backwaters."

The lake bloom was spread over 33 square miles near Pahokee, the South Florida Water Management District said Thursday. The Florida Department of Health reported Friday the bloom contains the toxin microcystin, but at a level less than half what the World Health Organization says can cause "adverse health impacts" from recreational exposure.

The dam bloom caused green streaks in the brown, sediment-laden water. The larger bloom at the boat ramp covered a few square yards.

"There may not be a lot visible now, but there's a lot more algae under the surface in the water column," Perry said.

As the algae gets more concentrated, the toxin levels will go up, Perry said.

"That's going to make it more dangerous to people. So if you see algae in the water, don't touch it," he said.

Perry wore plastic gloves as he scooped algae off the water's surface into a plastic bucket and transferred it to glass jars.

LOW LEVELS

State health department tests found a microcystin level of 3.9 micrograms per liter in the lake bloom. The international health agency says health problems from exposure to levels under 10 micrograms per liter are unlikely.

At higher levels, the toxin can cause nausea and vomiting if ingested and rash or hay fever symptoms if touched or inhaled. Drinking water with the toxins can cause long-term liver disease.

Recent research suggests a toxin in blue-green algae can trigger neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.

Lake discharges into the St. Lucie River will continue through next week, the Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday. About 236.5 million gallons of lake water entered the estuary Thursday. More than 110 billion gallons of lake water has been dumped into the estuary since discharges began Jan. 30.

The influx of fresh water containing nitrogen and phosphorus increases the likelihood of algae blooms in the St. Lucie, especially as long, sunny days warm the water.

At 2:30 p.m. Friday, the Kilroy remote-control sensor in the South Fork of the St. Lucie River at the Palm City Bridge reported water temperature at 84.5 degrees and a salinity level of 1.63 parts per thousand, favorable conditions for algae blooms.
By Nicole Wiesenthal of TCPalm

HOBE SOUND  The Miami Beach Police Department and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office volunteered search dogs Friday to help track missing 30-year-old Tricia Todd.

Four dogs were roaming the woods south of Bridge Road on U.S. 1. for about five hours helping deputies search for any clues that could lead to information about Todd, who went missing more than two weeks ago.

Todd has been missing since April 27, when she failed to pick up her 2-year-old daughter. Her car was found near her residence with the keys in the ignition and her purse still in the vehicle.

Deputies and volunteers have searched for her since then. On Tuesday, police scaled back the ground search.

Deputy Matt Fritchie said the office worked with a Labrador retriever, a Golden retriever and two German shepherds with the hope of finding a lead. There were 15 deputies and six dog handlers searching, according to sheriffs officials.

The team started about 10 a.m., Fritchie said, and eliminated Bridge Road in their search. Because they have no leads on where Todd might be, he said, theyve been focusing on covering as much ground as possible with their assets.

I wish we had a lead to say, Were doing this area, but we dont, Fritchie said.

Sheriff William Snyder said they finished searching at about 3:30 p.m. and were able to cover areas they hadnt searched before with dogs.

Its very hot out there, he said. Its very taxing on the dogs and handlers.

Temperatures were in the 80s Friday.

They dont have any immediate plans for further searching, Snyder said, but if they do search again, theyll probably start Monday.

The search and its results havent changed the status of the case, Fritchie said.

Theres still a 50/50 chance of it being foul play or that she walked away, Fritchie said.

Todd has been missing since April 27, when she failed to pick up her 2-year-old daughter. Her car was found near her residence with the keys in the ignition and her purse still in the vehicle.

Deputies and volunteers have searched for her since then. On Tuesday, police scaled back the ground search.

Deputy Matt Fritchie said the office worked with a Labrador retriever, a Golden retriever and two German shepherds with the hope of finding a lead. There were 15 deputies and six dog handlers searching, according to sheriffs officials.

The team started about 10 a.m., Fritchie said, and eliminated Bridge Road in their search. Because they have no leads on where Todd might be, he said, theyve been focusing on covering as much ground as possible with their assets.

I wish we had a lead to say, Were doing this area, but we dont, Fritchie said.

Sheriff William Snyder said they finished searching at about 3:30 p.m. and were able to cover areas they hadnt searched before with dogs.

Its very hot out there, he said. Its very taxing on the dogs and handlers.

Temperatures were in the 80s Friday.

They dont have any immediate plans for further searching, Snyder said, but if they do search again, theyll probably start Monday.

The search and its results havent changed the status of the case, Fritchie said.

Theres still a 50/50 chance of it being foul play or that she walked away, Fritchie said.

MCSO searching woods w/ cadaver dogs from Miami for signs of Tricia Todd, US1, S of Bridge Rd. Continued efforts pic.twitter.com/v15IduXsZa  MartinCountySheriff (@MartinFLSheriff) May 13, 2016
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MARTIN COUNTY

Free vaccination clinic on May 14

The Martin County Health Department, 3441 S.E. Willoughby Blvd., Stuart, will host free vaccination clinic from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday. The Tdap vaccine, which provides protection against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis and is required for seventh-grade entry, will be provided.

Vaccines to protect against meningitis and HPV (human papillomavirus) also will be available. The HPV vaccine, recommended for adolescents, is provided in a series of three shots over six months and protects against cervical and throat cancers.

No appointment is needed. Vaccine supply is limited and will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. A parent or legal guardian must be present for the child to receive a vaccination.

Florida statute requires students entering the seventh grade to show proof of the Tdap booster vaccination on the #680 form. If the student already received the Tdap booster, parents should deliver the form to their child's school before Aug. 15.

For more information, go to www.MartinCountyHealth.com
Images from a special Fort Pierce City Commission meeting called by Commissioner Reggie Sessions on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at Fort Pierce City Hall. The meeting was held in light of the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Demarcus Semer by Fort Pierce police over the weekend. (XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

We know almost nothing about what happened during the April 23 traffic stop that led to the death of 21-year-old Demarcus Semer. We're still in the dark about why he was pulled over, what was said between him and law enforcement officers.

What happens when a young black driver is stopped by police haunts many black parents. How will officers respond? How should black teens  especially males  react?

"The Talk" about how to handle such situations has become a sad but necessary rite of passage in black families.

Wydee'a Wilson is a black mother of five. She lives in Indiantown and works in Fort Pierce for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice as chief probation officer for the 19th Judicial Circuit Court. Wilson approaches the issue both personally and professionally.

She has had The Talk with her oldest son, 23.

If he does get pulled over, "put your hands on the steering wheel and be respectful to law enforcement," she advised. "If they ask you (to produce a vehicle registration, for example), explain you're looking for the papers."

Don't make sudden moves, she said.

"Above all, be respectful, even if you don't feel officers are respecting you," Wilson told her son.

In her professional capacity, Wilson helped set up an exercise at a teen retreat in Fort Pierce this past spring break where law enforcement officers and teenagers spoke openly about their fears during such tense interactions.

"From the Department of Juvenile Justice's point of view," Wilson explained, "it's about building trust on both sides and engaging the community to be part of the solution. It's up to all of us to work together to combat these issues."

So, 20 teens and 16 officers from Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie and the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office shared perceptions and solutions during a workshop at the teen retreat, called Bridging the GAAP (Gaining Appreciation by Adjusting Perspectives).

Port St. Lucie Police Chief John Bolduc asked how many of the teens had been in a bad situation with law enforcement officers. Most stood up.

One youth admitted "when I see a cop, I feel nervous." Another boy told of an incident where he ended up in handcuffs.

The group talked about creating a better sense of mutual trust and respect.

From the law enforcement side, officers admitted they should try to see the good going on in the community, not just the bad. They also promised to try to get out of their patrol cars more often and engage teenagers in conversation.

Kevin Howard of the St. Lucie County Department of Health did not take part in the workshop but teaches similar classes to teenagers at Big Brothers Big Sisters and other nonprofit groups. Howard is a member of the Village Coalition of Youth Activities for the Restoring the Village initiative, an offshoot of the larger Restoring the Village movement in Lincoln Park that was started in 2014 by state Rep. Larry Lee Jr.

Howard will be taking 50 students from the Boys & Girls Clubs, Kids at Hope, PACE Center for Girls and various faith-based organizations to the annual Preventing Crime in the Black Community conference in Miami later this month.

"I try to get the kids to be proactive," Howard said. If they are stopped by police, "I tell them to pull over to a well-lit area. Ask for the officer's ID. Don't be aggressive  ask nicely why you are being stopped.

"Unfortunately," Howard admitted, "for many kids negativity is their first reaction. We all get riled up through social media. I do know kids are frustrated because they haven't seen improvements in (law enforcement) attitudes."

Howard said his law enforcement friends say they want to be safe, too.

"Too often we don't see it from law enforcement's perspective," he said. "They have wives and kids, too. Everyone is affected, and there are no winners in this. We need to come together to make sure this doesn't happen again. The kids are fearful, you can't sugarcoat that."

The video of the GAAP workshop shows a lot of laughter and a relaxed atmosphere between students and law enforcement officers. At the end, a girl thanks the officers for coming. She doesn't say so, but I believe she'd recognized their human side.

That's something we have to encourage out of the classroom and on the street.
In January, discharges from Lake Okeechobee began polluting the St. Lucie River, where it is seen mixing in with water from the Indian River Lagoon on Feb. 11 near the St. Lucie Inlet. The lake water dumps nitrogen into the river which eventually creates toxic algae blooms. (LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

We kicked a hornet's nest last week when our Editorial Board proposed the creation of a Lagoon Czar to spearhead restoration of the Indian River Lagoon.

The concept itself wasn't what some readers objected to. It was the person we proposed to appoint the czar: Gov. Rick Scott.

"He would just put in one of his cronies and make things worse!" responded Port St. Lucie resident Trena Merendino via Facebook.

We understand why residents would be gun-shy about a Scott appointee.

This is the same governor who appointed a shipyard executive to run the Department of Environmental Protection  despite the fact Hershel Vinyard Jr. had no experience running a public agency or as a government regulator.

Vinyard's successor at DEP is another Scott appointee, Jon Steverson, who floated the idea of hunting and logging in state parks.

So, yes, we get your skepticism.

We also believe the lagoon needs a single point person  with state-bestowed authority  to coordinate fragmented restoration efforts along the 156-mile-long waterway. After decades of pollution, it's clear we need to unify the efforts of two water management districts, multiple nonprofits and state, local and federal agencies.

Just as important, we need to track the results of restoration and protection efforts to make sure they're actually working.

So we're not backing off the idea.

We insist on for four qualifications for Lagoon Czar: scientific background; proven leadership abilities; capacity to foster collaboration between disparate organizations; and a history of advocacy for the lagoon.

We asked you for nominees, and we got some that meet our criteria. Among them:

Duane DeFreese, executive director of the Indian River Lagoon Council, which is based in Sebastian but is devoted to restoration of the entire lagoon.

Mark Perry, executive director of Stuart-based Florida Oceanographic Society.

Edie Widder, chief executive officer and senior scientist at Fort Pierce-based Ocean Research and Conservation Association.

Brian Lapointe, research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute.

Marty Baum, leader of the Indian Riverkeeper grass roots advocacy group, which is affiliated with the national Waterkeeper Alliance.

Clay Henderson, executive director of the Institute for Water and Environmental Resilience at Stetson University.

We will continue to accept your nominations via the link TCPalm.com/LagoonCzar.

And we will continue to push Gov. Scott to appoint a Lagoon Czar with expertise and integrity.
First lady Michelle Obama talks with with Oneida Gonzalez, front row second from left, 5, and Jefferson Lopez-Martinez, front row second from right, 5, of CentroNia Daycare Center, as they help prepare food harvested from the White House Kitchen Garden along with fellow children from all over the country who participated in events with the "Let's Move!" campaign, Wednesday, June 3, 2015, in the East Room at the White House in Washington. The "Let's Move!" campaign, started by Michelle Obama seeks to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

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By Ocala Star-Banner

Technology and paranoia are a bad combination for the health of children.

Childhood obesity rates have tripled in the U.S. in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than one in three children is now considered to be overweight or obese.

The amount of calories consumed by children has risen as their time for exercise has fallen. The problem will only worsen if parents are afraid to let their kids walk to school or hike in the woods or play at the playground.

On a national level, efforts such as first lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative aim to encourage activity and better eating habits among children. More can be done to avoid raising a generation of unhealthy kids constantly connected to mobile devices.

Keeping kids healthy also requires parks where they can play and participate in other activities.

If we want our children to care about protecting the natural beauty around them, we need to get them out into nature. But technology and overprotective parents keep kids from exploring the outdoors.

The problem extends to walking to school. Fewer than 15 percent of U.S. schoolchildren walk or bike to school today, down from about half of kids in 1969, according to the CDC.

A nonstop media barrage fuels a perception that the world is too scary a place to let kids walk and play in neighborhoods anymore. When parents are getting arrested for letting their children walk to a park, as happened in a high-profile case in the Washington D.C. area, the paranoia has gone too far.

Students are also getting less activity due to recess being cut from the school day. The "recess moms" movement in Florida has responded to this trend by lobbying the Legislature to require 20 minutes of daily recess for elementary school students. We are not sure 20 minutes is enough, but it would be a start.

Unfortunately the state's requirements for standardized testing and other existing mandates keep some schools from having recess. Schools need more flexibility to give children time to play.

The more we get our children out doing things, the healthier they will be, and just maybe they will have a greater appreciation for our great outdoors, too.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

Trend:

The "Islamic State" (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group slaughtered at least 14 Real Madrid fans at a supporters club in northern Iraq, Daily Mail reported May 13.



Three gunmen opened fire with machine guns around midnight at the cafe in the predominately Shiite Muslim town of Balad, according to the newspaper.

At least 14 people are dead and a further 20 injured.

The assailants fled to a nearby vegetable market after police and residents chased them down.

They were cornered into a disused building and exchanged gunfire, security sources said.

Four were killed and two were critically wounded in the shoot-out, medical sources said.


The Newcastle University Students Union (NUSU) has voted to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students by a margin of 2 to 1, with 1,469 votes cast.

The result is the latest development in the controversy that has shaken the NUS since the election of its new president Malia Bouattia, who has been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks, an allegation she denies. The referendum was one of many currently being held in universities, and it follows a vote to disaffiliate at Lincoln University on 9 May. Cambridge will hold its referendum between 24 and 27 May, and CUSU has scheduled a debate on the issue for 19 May.

The pro-disaffiliation movement in Newcastle, No to NUS: Newcastle, made the key points of its campaign the expense of affiliation with the NUS, the organisations lack of accountability, and infamous policies such as the suppression of the social media app Yik Yak and a campaign to raise the price of alcohol on campuses. The anti-disaffiliation campaign, Yes to NUS, emphasised the national unions collective strength and its successes protecting vulnerable groups.

The president of NUSU, Dominic Fearon, said the result shows that Newcastle students feel that the NUS no longer represents their views, does not prioritise correctly, and is not effective at achieving change. Outgoing president of the NUS Megan Dunn insisted that affiliation is value for money, saying that This year NUSU generated about 19,000 through NUS Extra card sales, and made a profit of about 68,000  thanks to NUS affiliation  all of which is invested into student services.

However, she also hinted that the union will look to address students criticisms, stating that the NUS is currently developing a new democratic structure to be raised at the unions next national conference.
Its the spectacle that counts. says Buzz, a crazy Christian redneck and superhero serial killer bent on delivering justice, as she vividly describes her past to an eager audience. Certainly, Judge Judys Buzz World was a spectacle of sorts, a laugh-a-minute, creative, one-woman show. A lot of fun, and delivered by the excellent Eve Delaney with a (sometimes faltering) southern twang and a great deal of heart.

Both the set and the costume were well-created, with an eye for not spoon-feeding the audience all the facts too quickly, but rather letting them reveal themselves at the most opportunely comedic moments. This allows Buzz to take us on riotous ride through a litany of stereotypical American characters, jumping about the stage like an excitable toddler. A jukebox covered by a sheet, and a table with cigarettes and beer bottle leads us to believe that the play is set in a run-down American diner, but the significance of the location not revealed until the very end. This succeeds in aiding the dark comedy in treading the fine line between being reminiscent of tales of the American Wild West while also exploring some very pertinent existential angst. If the final scene was executed somewhat poorly on stage, it did not prevent it from being hard-hitting.

There were a few issues throughout. Musical interludes started to grate after a while, though their presence was understandable and probably necessary to the one-woman show, and sound was used a little heavy-handedly (the radio DJ noticeably failing in his attempts to pull off an accent)  but nothing that could dampen the high spirit of a well put together performance.

The writing was to the point and mercifully void of the self-indulgence that plagues so many student writers. Interesting social commentary, capitalising on stereotypes of the good old United States of America, was dashed with running jokes and physical comedy. However, great praise must go to Eve Delaney and her ability to portray, via Buzz, multiple characters, with great physicality and vocalisation. Buzz is more than just a commentary on middle America. She is a multifaceted character, the descriptions of her life feeling both very real and highly fantastical, so much so that one is not entirely sure whether one is observing a crazed vigilante or someone who has actually managed to create a fantasy world so real that they have convinced themselves that it exists, and that they are its hero.

Judge Judys Buzz World is fun, but far from mindless, and well-worth seeing.

8/10
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Re: Wat Chao Doi-n'? AH1 Mae Swift-ly take us to Thailand (again) via Kolkata 18 April 2016, 7:00 PM



We have gone past immigration and security check at the sparkling and modern Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, and wait for boarding to be announced. In the process of filling up our immigration forms, I loan my pen to a fellow passenger, who now insists that I also fill up the form for him. I help him, pocket the pen, and am about to walk away, when a boorish lady wants my pen - I politely tell her we are done, and cannot wait for her. Perhaps she can ask another fellow passenger. Her anger surprises me: Aap aise kaise kar sakte ho? (how can you do this?) she shoots back at me. Don't know how, but I certainly did what I did - walked away with my pen in my pocket!



Logged into the airport Wi-Fi, which allows 30 minutes of free internet access. The mobile screen is far more interesting than observing our fellow travellers.







There are these two Buddhist monks, wrapped up in woolen caps and mufflers, and I wonder what kind of punishment this is. When they pull out tablets from their bags and start scrolling, I am amazed at the modernity of religion. An aged couple are about to ride the walkalator. The lady is terrified, yet the gentleman loudly insists that she get on. In the end, he managed to step on to the belt and get carried away, hollering all the while: Uthe poro! Otho bolchhi! (Get on! I say, get on!). Separation anxiety is higher among aged couples, I suppose. The lady bypassed the walkalator and walked the distance on her own steam.



Overpriced shopping outlets are common at airports, but this one called Biswa Bangla is unique.











The Indigo flight is smooth, and touches down at Suvarnabhumi International Airport a few minutes before the scheduled time. Applying for the Visa on Arrival is fairly painless, except for the queue, which takes close to half an hour. The receipt for 1000 THB that I receive is in the name of one Harvinder Singh, so I approach the VOA counter again to get my own. The counter staff are flustered - how could such a mistake happen? Mercifully, Mr. Harvinder Singh turns up in a few minutes to exchange his receipt too, and we are on our way out of immigration, to pick up our bags and walk past customs. Time to pick up a SIM card and the car.











The SIM costing 299 THB is activated within 5 minutes, and calls to India cost 3 THB per minute.





19 April 2016, 2:50 AM



We cannot access the Avis counter at the airport, where we are supposed to pick up our Group O car for the next 6 days. There's floor cleaning in progress, and the ladies at work do not understand English.











We wait for 15 minutes, and then I revert to pantomime. I pull out my Avis booking printout, point to the Avis logo, then towards the Avis counter. After doing this a few times, the cleaning lady gets the message. She plods across to the Avis counter in her gumboots, and the lady behind the counter promptly takes a back exit and comes around to meet me. She already has my name on a printout, and calls up someone on the mobile.



In five minutes, there's a big red Toyota Hiace wearing Avis livery at the exit gate. The driver hops out, helps us load our luggage into the back, and we are promptly whisked away to the Avis office-cum-parking-lot about two kilometers away. I have been here the last time, and things are familiar.



- You have an International Driver's Permit, Sir?



I am taken aback by the question, because Avis has never asked before.



- No, I don't. Would it be a problem?



- Sir, we'll give you the car - we don't have a problem. But Bangkok Police are insisting that foreign drivers must have an IDP if you are caught for any violation. Otherwise they make trouble for you as well as for us.



- And what about on the highways and the rest of Thailand?



- We don't know about that, Sir.



Well, it's too late to procure an IDP, and Avis will give me the car without it, so we'll just be a little extra careful and not break any traffic rules, shall we?



The paperwork is quick and painless, and our car, a red Swift, has been brought around to the front while I sign the documents and credit card charge slip. I am a little dejected, since the expectation was to get a Toyota Yaris with some more boot space - but they said 'Toyota Yaris or similar', so there's not much to argue about. All the suitcases don't fit in the back, obviously, so with the three of us on board, the fourth passenger's space at the back is occupied by another suitcase and sundry bags. All set to roll - butt he driver insists that I verify the existing dents, including broken clips on the rear bumper. I am carrying SCDW (super collision damage waiver) in Avis-speak, so any dents or body damage is not of concern to me, and I would not be charged a penny.



Time to roll...

The rush to queue up as soon as the flight is announced, is usual behaviour - in retrospect, when boarding the return flight, we realized that people can be well-behaved and board in an organized manner in a foreign land.The Indigo flight is smooth, and touches down at Suvarnabhumi International Airport a few minutes before the scheduled time. Applying for the Visa on Arrival is fairly painless, except for the queue, which takes close to half an hour. The receipt for 1000 THB that I receive is in the name of one Harvinder Singh, so I approach the VOA counter again to get my own. The counter staff are flustered - how could such a mistake happen? Mercifully, Mr. Harvinder Singh turns up in a few minutes to exchange his receipt too, and we are on our way out of immigration, to pick up our bags and walk past customs. Time to pick up a SIM card and the car.We cannot access the Avis counter at the airport, where we are supposed to pick up our Group O car for the next 6 days. There's floor cleaning in progress, and the ladies at work do not understand English. We have gone past immigration and security check at the sparkling and modern Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, and wait for boarding to be announced. In the process of filling up our immigration forms, I loan my pen to a fellow passenger, who now insists that I also fill up the form for him. I help him, pocket the pen, and am about to walk away, when a boorish lady wants my pen - I politely tell her we are done, and cannot wait for her. Perhaps she can ask another fellow passenger. Her anger surprises me:(how can you do this?) she shoots back at me. Don't know how, but I certainly did what I did - walked away with my pen in my pocket!Logged into the airport Wi-Fi, which allows 30 minutes of free internet access. The mobile screen is far more interesting than observing our fellow travellers.There are these two Buddhist monks, wrapped up in woolen caps and mufflers, and I wonder what kind of punishment this is. When they pull out tablets from their bags and start scrolling, I am amazed at the modernity of religion. An aged couple are about to ride the walkalator. The lady is terrified, yet the gentleman loudly insists that she get on. In the end, he managed to step on to the belt and get carried away, hollering all the while:(Get on! I say, get on!). Separation anxiety is higher among aged couples, I suppose. The lady bypassed the walkalator and walked the distance on her own steam.Overpriced shopping outlets are common at airports, but this one calledis unique. Last edited by SS-Traveller : 8th May 2016 at 12:19 .
Google is rumored to be developing a direct competitor to Amazons Echo, code-named Chirp. The device, which might resemble the OnHub router (pictured above), would incorporate its Google Now voice assistant technology.

Google likely will launch the product later this year, according to a Wednesday Recode article that debunked earlier reports suggesting Google would launch the new system at its annual I/O developer conference next week.

Google likely will preview the system at I/O, as well as reveal some of its emerging technology in the virtual reality market, Recode said.

Echos Success

The Echo has been one of Amazons biggest product launches in years. It combines a speaker with the Alexa personal digital assistant  voice recognition software that answers questions, sounds alerts, maintains lists, reorders Amazon Prime products, plays music, and controls compatible door locks, lights and other home automation systems, among other things.

Amazon has sold more than 3 million Echo units since the products launch in late 2014, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners reported last month.

Consumers are using the Echo for many different purposes, according to CIRPs research, with more using it to stream music and answer questions than to control home utilities and security.

Google has substantial experience in integrating its hardware and software, noted Michael Levin, cofounder of CIRP.

However, even if it does bring the rumored product to fruition, Amazon will not roll over and cede any ground, he added.

Amazon is a smart, determined competitor in many spaces and defends its products energetically, Levin told TechNewsWorld.

Although the rumor seems credible, its not likely that Google is going to raise the bar with the introduction of an Echo competitor, maintained Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

They really havent been all that successful with new products, so I doubt [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos is staying up late worrying about their offering, he told TechNewsWorld.

That said, I agree much of the future of in-home IoT will likely be tied to something like Echo, Enderle continued, and Im kind of surprised that we havent heard of an Apple offering yet.

Integrating Hardware With Search

Googles product likely will function as a complementary hardware device to Googles search engine and other service-oriented apps, such as maps and business solutions, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

If customers queried a Chirp device about pizza delivery, they might be steered towards Google clients or restaurants highly rated by Google users, he told TechNewsWorld.

It makes sense that Google would develop a competitor to the Echo as a complement to its line of home automation products at Nest, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

The home portal is a natural extension of Googles speech recognition technology, he told TechNewsWorld, although the challenge will be how do people react to Google having so much access inside their houses. Consider that Google kept the Nest separate for that very reason.
Intel this week announced that it would slash 12,000 jobs as part of a restructuring plan to focus more on cloud-based computing and the Internet of Things and less on PCs.

The cuts, which will involve about 11 percent of Intels global workforce by mid-2017, will be achieved through a combination of voluntary retirements and layoffs, the consolidation of numerous job sites, and a re-evaluation of existing and planned programs.

The move will result in US$750 million in savings by the end of 2016 and an annual run rate of $1.4 billion in savings by the middle of next year, Intel said.

It will take a $1.2 billion charge related to the cuts during the second quarter of 2016.

New Segments

The company plans to boost investments in several new areas of growth, including its data center, IoT, memory and connectivity businesses. It also will invest in growing segments such as 2-in-1, gaming and home gateways.

The data center and Internet of Things businesses are now Intels primary growth engines, and combined with memory and FPGAs, form and fuel a virtuous cycle of growth, CEO Brian Krzanich said. Together these businesses delivered $2.2 billion in revenue growth last year, made up 40 percent of our revenue and the majority of our operating profit.

Details of the cuts will be announced in the weeks, he said, adding that the restructuring was not something he took lightly. Krzanich has been focused on making this transitional move since he became CEO three years ago.

The restructuring announcement was made alongside Intels first-quarter earnings report. Net income was $2 billion, or 42 cents a share, compared with $2 billion, or 41 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 7 percent to $13.7 billion, compared with $12.8 billion a year ago.

Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith, a 28-year veteran of Intel, will transition to a new role in the company, leading sales, manufacturing and operations, once his successor is in place.

A Long Time Coming

This is not something that just happened overnight, said Mark Hung, vice president of research at Gartner.

Theyve talked about this shift. Its the fact that the PC market has performed worse than even their lowered expectations, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Krzanich has been talking about Intels role in the post-PC world since he took office in 2013. In his first meeting with investors, heindicated that the company would make new investments in mobile and tablets and noted that it had fallen behind competitors like Qualcomm.

Major Changes Ahead

The 12,000 figure stunned a few people in the industry as whispers initially had suggested 1,000 to 2,000 and kept growing in the weeks leading up to the official announcement, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

I think people were shocked not just at the number but shocked at all the changes, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Analysts have warned the company for more than five years that it needed to shift away from the PC chip business, McGregor said, adding that there are still very large questions it needs to answer, including whether it should continue to own manufacturing facilities or spin them off the way AMD did.

AMD spun off its manufacturing business in 2009 and completed the exit from the GlobalFoundries business in 2012.
A federal magistrate in Los Angeles ordered the girlfriend of an alleged gang member to open her phone using her fingerprint so prosecutors could look at the data on it for a case they were working on, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.

Paytsar Bkhchadzhyan, 29, of Los Angeles pleaded no contest to identity theft earlier this year. Within 45 minutes after she was taken into custody, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Rosenberg issued a warrant to force Bkhchadzhyan to press her finger to her iPhone to open it, according to the paper.

What authorities were looking for on the phone was unclear. It reportedly was seized at a residence connected to Sevak Mesrobian, who was identified as Bkhchadzhyans boyfriend and a member of the Armenian Power gang.

No Fifth Amendment Protection

Although the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects citizens from self-incrimination, that protection doesnt extend to opening mobile phones with a fingerprint, according to Paul Rosenzweig, aGeorge Washington University professorial lecturer in law.

None of your physical characteristics are subject to Fifth Amendment protection, he told TechNewsWorld.

You dont have a right to refuse to stand in a lineup, Rosenzweig said. You dont have a right to refuse an order to give your fingerprint to be compared to fingerprints at a crime scene.

The Fifth Amendment protects only things that are testimonial in nature.

There are requirements before the Fifth Amendment can apply, and one of those requirements is that whatever the government is trying to get you to do needs to be testimonial, it needs to convey something about whats going on in your mind, said Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney with theElectronic Frontier Foundation.

Because the fingerprint in this case could be interpreted to be a physical act, the judge thought it was all right to issue the order, she told TechNewsWorld.

Passcodes Protected

However, many courts have found that the Fifth Amendment does protect a passcode or PIN  considered a less secure way to protect access to a phone.

About 85 to 90 percent of the court cases are going in favor of you not being required to give up your PIN, Rosenzweig said. Its an oddity that the law protects the less secure access methodology.

Many people negate that protection by writing down their passwords and PINs. They can force you to give them all pieces of paper on which your PIN is written down, he noted.

Its one of the reasons why I tell people, Dont write down your passwords,' Rosenzweig added.

Evolving Law

One potential outcome of decisions like the one in the Bkhchadzhyan case is that criminals, as well as others who want to protect their privacy, will avoid biometrics.

If Im a criminal and Im storing data my phone, Id stop using biometrics and go back to using a PIN because they can force me to put my fingerprint on my phone, but nobody can force me to tell them the password, said Vishal Gupta, CEO ofSeclore.

So the real effect of this incident is that people will stop using fingerprints and go back to using passwords, he told TechNewsWorld.

Consumers are being forced to choose between security and privacy, the EFFs Lynch said.

Its difficult to remember long passcodes, and a biometric stored on the phone can be a safe way to encrypt information on your phone, she noted.

However, the law in the area of the search and seizure of electronic devices is fluid, pointed out Darren Oved, a partner withOved & Oved.

The law is evolving, and because its becoming so prevalent, in the next 18 to 36 months well have a body of case law thatll be more refined, he told TechNewsWorld.

Of course, there are legislative options.

Nothing in the world prevents a legislature from protecting fingerprints in these cases, Rosenzweig said. Its perfectly appropriate for the Congress of the United States to say fingerprints are protected as if they were PINs on phones.
SpaceX last week announced plans to launch a mission for Mars in 2018, with help from the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The Red Dragon, a variant of the SpaceX Dragon 2 spacecraft, will make the unmanned journey. The Falcon Heavy 9 space launch vehicle will send it on its way.

The mission will gain data for NASA as part of its agreement with SpaceX.

Dragon 2 is designed to be able to land anywhere in the solar system. Red Dragon Mars mission is the first test flight.

 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 27, 2016

Lacking Creature Comforts

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is expected to disclose detailed plans for the Mars Colonial Transporter and associated architecture at the International Astronautical Conference, to be held this summer in Guadalupe, Mexico.

However, he disclosed some preliminary information last week.

Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, Musk tweeted. But wouldnt recommend transporting astronauts beyond Earth-moon region. Wouldnt be fun for longer journeys. Internal volume ~ size of SUV.

The Red Dragons will use eight SuperDraco thrusters on each Dragon 2.

SpaceX recently tested Dragon the SuperDraco propulsive landing system at its McGregor, Texas, facility, Musk noted.

Falcon 9 Heavy

Tests for the Falcon 9 Heavy are next. The first launch of the Falcon Heavy is scheduled for later this year, SpaceX said.

The vehicles launch has been delayed repeatedly. It was initially slated for 2013. SpaceX rescheduled it for the end of 2015, but work on the rocket was deprioritized following the June explosion of a Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon cargo spacecraft, which occurred two minutes after blastoff.

The launch was moved to the April-May 2016 timeframe but then pushed back again. It now is scheduled for no earlier than November. The plan is to launch it from the Kennedy Space Centers Launch Complex 39A, where Apollo 11 was launched in July 1969.

It is possible for SpaceX to be ready to launch by 2018, because the Falcon 9 Heavy simply uses three Falcon first stages strapped together, and the Falcon 9 first stage is very reliable, said Mike Jude, program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.

Ideally, they ought to do at least one launch to test the dynamics and total system, but they could literally use the Mars shot as the shakeout of the system, he told TechNewsWorld.

Where NASA Comes In

SpaceX will fund the mission, but NASA will offer some technical support, such as use of the Deep Space Network for communications.

Theres an existing no-funds-exchanged collaboration between the two.

This collaboration could provide valuable entry, descent and landing data to NASA for our journey to Mars, while providing support to American industry, NASA spokesperson Tabatha Thompson told TechNewsWorld.

NASA plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

NASA is probably acing itself out of the manned space business, observed Frosts Jude.

As the private companies develop really impressive manned space capabilities, its still trying to design an Apollo capsule knockoff, he pointed out. By the time they get it flying, Musks private astronauts will be collecting rocks on the surface of Mars.

SpaceX Challenges

The Red Dragon can land on Mars, but it cant lift off again because the delta v requirements are substantial, Jude explained. There needs to be a Mars ascent vehicle.

Manned missions to Mars will require living space and supplies, so the implication is that there will need to be some sort of transfer spaceship that stays in orbit when it gets to Mars, he observed.

Radiation is likely to be a problem, and lightweight radiation shielding will need to be developed, Jude said. There are also other, less critical problems to solve, but in most cases the basic science is known, so solutions can be developed.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Friday one of its top commanders, Mustafa Badreddine, had been killed in an Israeli air strike at the Lebanese-Syrian border this week, Reuters reported.

"He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said in a statement announcing his death. He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said.

Badreddine, who is sanctioned by the United States, was a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Moughniyah. He was indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.
The bleaching and death of corals is causing far-reaching changes in the world's marine ecosystems, including how small fish are able to detect and avoid potential predators, a new study says.

Researchers from James Cook University (JCU) in Australia and Uppsala University in Sweden examined how certain changes in coral reef systems impact the lives of the thousands of aquatic animals that depend on them.

In a study featured in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the team described how the death and continued degradation of many of these coral reef systems is altering the common damselfish's ability to detect the presence of prospective predators.

Mark McCormick, an expert on coral reef fish at JCU and one of the authors of the study, explained that juvenile fish typically use chemicals released from the skin of attacked animals as a form of early warning system to let them know if there are predators nearby. They then combine these chemical cues with the sight or smell of other creatures to determine whether they should avoid them in the future.

However, the death of corals is severely affecting the ability of fish to detect danger through chemicals in the water. As corals die, their bodies become covered in algae that release chemicals themselves, causing fish to get confused by the signals.

During one observation, the researchers discovered that the smell of an attacked ambon damselfish helped others become aware of predators in their surroundings and they developed ways on how to avoid these dangers.

Fish that were placed near dead corals, however, failed to detect predators in their midst and were not able to create strategies to avoid them.

The team also found one species that was able to detect potential predators using the same chemical alarm system regardless of whether it was living near live or dead corals.

Marine Biologist Oona Lonnstedt said that if the process of how these animals detect and avoid predators is hindered by coral loss and degradation, it could produce widespread repercussions on the diversity of reef fish as well.

The researchers pointed to the massive coral bleaching that the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing right now as a particular concern. They said that the majority of the coral cover on the system is declining significantly.

"If dead coral masks key chemical signals used to learn new predators, the replenishment of reefs could be seriously threatened", Lonnstedt said.

Photo: Jorge Lascar | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are expected to lead the U.S. market this quarter, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel.

Samsung's latest flagship smartphones proved to be a great hit from the get go, drawing huge interest worldwide to the notable upgrades they sport over their predecessors. Even in the first quarter of this year, the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge grabbed a 5.8 percent of U.S. smartphone sales, although they only hit the market on March 11.

Kantar further highlights that the Galaxy S7 ranked as the fifth best-selling smartphone during the first quarter, despite being available only for the past few weeks.

This marks an impressive improvement compared to the Galaxy S6's performance. According to Kantar, the Galaxy S6 was the 10th best-selling smartphone last year, seizing 3.2 percent of the market within the three months, which ended in April 2015.

The previous-generation Galaxy S6 had a number of drawbacks that limited its success, but Samsung addressed most of them with its new Galaxy S7 series. Battery and camera upgrades, along with expandable storage, were among the main drivers.

Kantar data shows that 53.5 percent of those who bought the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in March cited battery life as the main incentive. Not only is the Galaxy S7's battery unit larger than the Galaxy S6's, but the smartphone also supports wireless charging, which can provide 50 percent of battery life in just 30 minutes. While wireless charging has been available for previous models, it required a separate accessory.

Further analyzing consumers' reasons for buying Samsung's latest flagships, Kantar found out that 50.9 percent of buyers cited camera quality, while 36.5 percent cited storage capacity and 39.8 percent cited processing speed.

In addition to these attractive specifications, aggressive marketing also played an important part in the Galaxy S7's success. Nearly 40 percent of Galaxy S7 and S7 edge buyers said they were lured by an exclusive offer or promotion, 12.2 percent were attracted by a discounted or a free product, 11 percent went for trade-in offers, and 10.3 percent were influenced by discounted or free accessories.

Lauren Guenveur, mobile analyst at Kantar, goes as far as to note that Samsung's latest flagship seems to be among the "most heavily promoted phones, ever."

As a reminder, one of the most enticing Galaxy S7 offers applied to preorders. Customers who ordered the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge by March 18 received a free Gear VR headset and six VR games. Verizon offered a free Gear S2 smartwatch with Galaxy S7 and S7 edge purchases, Best Buy bundled the Gear VR, $50 worth of VR content and a 64 GB memory card, and the list goes on.

With such a strong start and great hype, Guenveur says the Galaxy S7 will likely be the top-selling smartphone in the United States during this quarter.

"The Galaxy S6 was never able to capture the top spot, remaining the second best-selling phone behind the iPhone 6, and then the iPhone 6s," Kantar concludes.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Mozilla wants to know how the FBI exploited a vulnerability in its Firefox Web browser to investigate users of a child pornography website.

On Wednesday, the company filed papers in federal court in Tacoma, Wash. to find more information on a security flaw in the Tor Browser, a Firefox-based browser that lets users surf the Web anonymously and protect their privacy.

In February 2015, the FBI seized computer servers for Playpen, a child porn site on the Tor network, from a Web host in Lenoir, N.C., according to the Hacker News.

From Feb. 20 to March 4, the agency continued to run the website from its own servers in Newington, Va., and used its Network Investigative Technique (NIT) to identify the IP addresses of users who log on to the illegal site.

The technique would cause a user's computer to send the FBI data every time that person visits the site.

"The Tor Browser is partially based on our Firefox browser code. Some have speculated, including members of the defense team, that the vulnerability might exist in the portion of the Firefox browser code relied on by the Tor Browser," Mozilla's chief legal and business officer Denelle Dixon-Thayer said in a blog post. "At this point, no one (including us) outside the government knows what vulnerability was exploited and whether it resides in any of our code base."

She added that a judge had ordered the vulnerability to be disclosed to lawyers for a defendant, Jay Michaud, but not to any of the entities that could actually fix it.

"We don't believe that this makes sense because it doesn't allow the vulnerability to be fixed before it is more widely disclosed," Dixon-Thayer wrote.

Michaud is one of 137 people charged in the FBI investigation of the computer servers, which has recently run into a bit of legal trouble after two defendants won rulings declaring the search warrants used in their cases invalid.

In February, Judge Robert Bryan ordered that prosecutors disclose to Michaud's lawyers the code used to deploy the NIT. Bryan was asked to reconsider.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
It seems like Samsung is bound to release new devices from its midrange C-series as details of the upcoming duo were leaked online.

The leaked info refers to the handsets as the Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 - both have a sleek metal unibody finish that are between 6 and 7 millimeters (0.24 and 0.28 inch) thick.

The report says that Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 will mainly differ in screen and battery sizes. The C5 will purportedly come with a 5.2-inch display while C7 will be slightly bigger with its 5.7-inch panel. Even though they differ in sizes, both handsets will have a pixel resolution of 1,080 x 1,920.

As for the battery, the Galaxy C5 will be powered by a 2,600 mAh battery pack while the C7 will feature a 3,300 mAh version.

Other notable specs found in the Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 are expected to be identical. These include a RAM of 4 GB, a Snapdragon 617 64-bit octa-core processor, 32 GB internal storage, 16 MP rear camera with f/1.9 aperture, 8 MP selfie camera in the front, dual SIM support and Samsung Ultra High Sound Quality (UHQA) sound feature.

This is not the first time leaked images of Samsung's Galaxy C5 was spotted online. A couple of days ago, Tech Times reported on images revealed by Nowhereelse, and how the handset bears a similar design aesthetic from the iPhone 6s and HTC 10.

According to the previous leak, the C5 seemed to be wrapped in a curved, all-metal case, while its antenna bands can be seen on the rear, which is reminiscent of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. It also revealed that the C5 to run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

The Galaxy C5 will reportedly retail at 1,599 Yuan in China (about $245) while the Galaxy C7 will be slightly higher at 1,799 Yuan ($276). However, the pricing will only be applicable through online sales, which means that the devices may have varying price points depending on the physical store where they are available.

Lastly, consumers can choose from a number of color options for their devices, which include Gold, Silver, Pink and Gray.

Both the Galaxy C5 and Galaxy C7 are expected to be released in May, although there is also a possibility that the C7 will be launched at a later date.

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In an effort to boost App Store revenues, Apple has cut down its app review process from nine days to only two.

Bloomberg reports that the shortened review procedure will motivate developers to release more regular upgrades, as well as bug fixes to their iOS apps.

The news was positively received by developers who said that a shorter approval cycle would only speed up the building and planning phase for their next app release.

Button founder and developer Chris Maddern has complimented Apple for "becoming a lot more developer-friendly." In an interview, he said Apple is gearing towards a more open approach to building the iOS ecosystem.

"A lot of the way that we build software for iOS is controlled around the fact that you have a one-week release cycle," Maddern explained. "It can now happen within hours of submitting them, which is really awesome because it speeds up the development cycle."

In January, AppReviewTimes.com, a website that tracks Apple's approval speed, reported that it takes 14 days for App Store submissions to get approved. Since Apple announced the shortened review process, the average approval time has improved from 8.8 to 1.95 days. The latest data is based on 332 user reviews in the past 14 days.

Mobile apps have largely contributed to Apple's success. As of the second quarter of 2016, mobile apps have generated over $6 billion in revenue for the company. This figure represents 12 percent of Apple's $50.6 billion in total quarterly sales.

In contrast, Apple's biggest competition  Google's Android platform  allows developers to rapidly deploy their apps and updates publicly before being fully vetted. This approach results in much faster updates and allows developers to easily make changes to their apps, though some critics say this approach might increase the risk of security problems or malware.

This announcement comes only a few weeks before Apple's annual developer conference in San Francisco, where the company is expected to release details about the next iOS version. WWDC 2016 is scheduled to start June 13 and run through June 17 at the Moscone West convention center.

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A U.S. judge has ruled that the administration is wrongly repaying medical funds for millions of people. And in the course, they are ignoring the congress' power over government spending.

On May 12, the ruling of Washington-based District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled in favor of the House Republicans who challenged the signature health care law of the Obama administration.

This means that the administration should not spend billions of federal funds to subsidize payments to private insurers under the Obama health care law without Congress' approval.

"Judge Collyer's opinion is a resounding victory not just for Congress but for our constitutional system as a whole. We remain a system based on the principle of the separation of powers and the guarantee that no branch or person can govern alone," said House lawyer Jonathan Turley.

John Boehner, the former House Speaker who led the efforts on the Republican's suit, called the ruling "a victory."

Today's Obamacare decision is a victory for the American people, and for House Republicans, who have stood firm for the rule of law.  John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) May 12, 2016

Expecting an appeal from the administration, the judge put off making a final decision. This means that the ruling will not immediately affect the existing law.

However, the ruling will increase future uncertainties, which could include the number of health insurers who will continue its participation in the Obamacare program.

Many insurance companies have raised concerns and suffered losses. They expressed having a hard time looking for healthy customers that can cover the expenses spent on those with more severe health conditions.

In fact, Humana Inc. and UnitedHealth Group, which are two of the biggest program players, said they will no longer offer plans in 2017.

"This suit represents the first time in our nation's history that Congress has been permitted to sue the executive branch over a disagreement about how to interpret a statute," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Earnest added that it is unfortunate that the Republicans went for a lawsuit that is funded by American taxpayers to "re-fight a political fight that they keep losing."

The Republicans have lost the same fight for six years. Earnest added that they will lose again.

Photo: Brian Turner | Flickr

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A small piece of flying space debris has hit the International Space Station (ISS), but its deemed just a diminutive piece of the space junk problem.

In April, the tiny space junk flew at the space stations Cupola, which is a European-built element installed in 2010. It provides the best views of Earth, and it is where astronauts have taken stunning images and videos of the planet.

I am often asked if the International Space Station is hit by space debris. Yes  this is the chip in one of our Cupola windows, glad it is quadruple glazed! said British astronaut Tim Peake, who took the photo of the damaged window.

The photo shows a 7-millimeter circular chip with potentially a paint flake or tiny metal fragment. The eerie blackness of space serves as the cracks background.

The Cupola also serves as an observation and work desk when the space crew operates the robotic arms of the ISS. The window to fascinating Earth and celestial views, while made of fused silica and borosilicate glass, can sometimes suffer impacts from space debris or tiny artificial matter.

Minor strikes like this are considered a non-threat, given that the ISS has an extensive shielding around important crew and technical locations. Strikes from larger debris, however, are an entirely different story.

While an object measuring 1 centimeter in size could disarm an instrument or flight system on a satellite, anything bigger could get through the shields of the crew modules. An object bigger than 10 centimeters, though, could shatter a whole spacecraft or satellite into pieces.

The European Space Agency (ESA), a partner in the ISS mission, said it has established guidelines for debris mitigation so as to stop orbital-debris problems before they occur. The said guidelines, including discharging batteries and dumping fuel tanks at the end of every mission to prevent explosions, are deemed applicable to all new ESA missions.

NASA tracks more than 500,000 space junk the size of a marble or bigger, sometimes commanding the ISS to alter its orbit to stay out of the way of a harmful space element. Millions other debris, however, may be too small to be monitored  including the one that struck the space station window.

In 2007, Chinese authorities fired a missile at a defunct weather satellite, something that created over 3,000 new junk pieces. While in 2009, a worn-out Russian satellite hit an operational satellite, damaging it and producing 2,000 pieces.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) announced the first confirmed measles case in the state this year.

Current reports suggest that a European tourist may be responsible for the measles outbreak in the eastern part of the state. Officials warned that a European visitor, who traveled from May 1 to 8 in the Greater Boston area, was contagious.

During the tour, the European traveler rode buses and subways as well as visited several restaurants and shops in Wrentham, Rockport Village, Boston and Cambridge.

The early signs of measles infection can happen between 10 days to two weeks following the exposure. Symptoms include a runny nose, red eyes, cough, cold with fever and a skin rash that develops between two to four days following the initial symptoms.

The skin rash often starts on the head and spreads downward to the rest of the body.

The MDPH advised individuals who may have become exposed to the virus to call their health care company straightaway, especially those who developed the initial symptoms.

"Fortunately, in Massachusetts we have very high rates of MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination, especially among school-age youth," said MDPH Commissioner Dr. Monica Bharel.

Officials advised people to call ahead so they can come in for an evaluation without risking exposure to others.

If you suspect that you may have been exposed to the virus, Bharel suggested being on alert for 21 days following the alleged exposure.

Watch out for any manifestation of initial symptoms, especially respiratory illnesses that are accompanied with fever and followed by a rash.

The health department advised calling the BPHC at 617-534-5611 for Boston residents or those who attend school or work in the city who might have been exposed to the virus.

For those living outside of Boston, people are advised to call their local health agency or the MDPH at 617-983-6800.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a sick individual can infect as many as nine out of 10 unprotected persons surrounding him or her. In some cases, a child can contract the virus in a room visited by an infected individual up to 2 hours prior.

Photo: Ivan Mlinaric | Flickr

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Arizona residents who are passionate about driving, autonomous cars and making money are looking at a job opportunity from Google.

The company is recruiting "vehicle safety specialists" who have to sit behind the wheel of the self-driving autos, ready to intervene should anything go south. The move comes as Google adds more cars to its fleet roaming the streets of Arizona.

The search engine company offers $20 per hour to the brave souls who will venture in the monitoring of autonomous vehicles. Additional details are as follows: drivers will work under 12- to 24-month contracts that come with a non-disclosure agreement, meaning that all information they come across during work hours must stay hidden.

The job description reads that drivers must submit "concise written and oral feedback to the engineering team."

To qualify for an interview, applicants should have as follows: a spotless driving record, no criminal activities on board and a bachelor's degree.

"Excellent written communication skills. Must be able to type at least 40 wpm (words per minute)," Google asks of its job applicants. This could be the only instance when texting and driving is not only permitted but also encouraged. The new employees will work in small groups made of two to 10 people or individually. Prior to getting behind the wheel, selected drivers will get tested in a few of in- and out-of-car training courses.

"There isn't a particular type of person that we look for," says the leader of operations for Google's Self-Driving Car testing program, Brian Torcellini.

He goes on to say that Google hires people from various professional backgrounds, ranging from welders to teachers.

At the beginning of April 2016, Google proudly announced that its autonomous vehicle program expanded to Arizona. The company is eager to discover how the fleet will function in desert conditions.

Google already tested its driverless cars in Kirkland, Washington, where it saw how they fared in rainy weather. Previous testing grounds were the Google's backyard at Mountain View, California, and Austin, Texas.

"Arizona is known as a place where research and development is welcome," notes Jennifer Haroon, the leader of business operations for the Google Self-Driving Car Project.

An important detail is that Arizona drivers will get to sit in the Lexus model and not in Google's proprietary compact vehicle.

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In an effort to bolster its startup community, South Korea has launched a program for startups looking to operate their businesses in the country. Applications for the K-Startup Grand Challenge, as it's been named, are being accepted through June 14.

As the program's website states, the ultimate goal of the K-Startup Grand Challenge is to "promote the expansion of an open entrepreneurship ecosystem in Asia and to assist in South Korea's evolution into a permanent startup business hub in the region." The country's Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, is sponsoring the program. Accelerators including SparkLabs and DEV Korea are also backing the initiative.

In an interview with TechCrunch, MSIP Director and Spokesman Dr. Chang-yong Ahn emphasizes that, ideally, the K-Startup Grand Challenge will become an annual program.

Applicants of the K-Startup Grand Challenge will have an opportunity to vie for a number of packages and prizes, including a chance to come to South Korea and court investors. To start, companies will display their solutions this summer to vie for a spot at Demoday at Pangyo Tech Valley in Seoul. A total of 80 applicants will be invited to pitch their products and services in August 2016. The list will eventually be narrowed down to 40 startups that will advance to Demoday in December 2016. At this event, Korean and foreign investors will be invited to mingle and gauge the competition.

The largest prize package will be given to 20 startups that make a splash at Demoday. Each one will receive $33,000, with cash prizes up to $100,000 awarded to the top four startups. Accelerators participating in the event, like SparkLabs, may also invest in some of the finalists.

Finally, the most dedicated startups will be eligible to receive a free extended stay in South Korea to further establish their businesses abroad. The Settlement Program, as its been titled, will provide six months of support in South Korea.

The South Korean government has spent $2 billion on its startup ecosystem each year since 2013. The country also intends to invest nearly $3.7 billion in the startup industry over the course of the next three years.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

The European Union (EU) will seek to delay the creation of a visa-free regime with Turkey, Timofey Bordachev, director of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS), told Trend.

Bordachev noted that the EU will unlikely open its doors for Turkish citizens in the near future, since it is the only lever of pressure of Europe on Turkey.

The cancellation of the visa regime would simplify the access of Turkish citizens to the EU labor market and would become the first step for the country's accession to the EU, according to the expert.

Earlier, Turkey's Ministry for EU Affairs said that the country has fulfilled 67 out of 72 commitments to the European Union (EU) for cancelling the visa regime,

The remaining five commitments are expected to be fulfilled by late May, said the ministry.

President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker previously said that the EU may introduce a visa-free regime with Turkey in the autumn of 2016, if Ankara implements all the necessary requirements.

The Association Agreement between the EU and Turkey was signed in 1963. Ankara filed an application for the EU membership in 1987, but the negotiations on Ankara's accession to the EU started only in 2005.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
Although summer is typically regarded as a peak travel season, new research from YouAppi shows that it isn't necessarily the biggest time of the year for travel app downloads in the U.S. and Asia.

The mobile platform provider recently examined campaigns for 45 leading international travel apps operating in 62 countries, including Lyft, Expedia and Hotels.com. Researchers determined that travel app downloads actually peak in November and continue on through January in the U.S.

In Asia, the most downloads occurred between September and November. Europe was the only place where travel app downloads increased during the summer months of June, July and August.

"With travel apps seeking to emulate the most successful and used apps  like Facebook, YouTube, Google Search and Pandora  which are used on a regular and continuous basis, we're seeing travel apps broadening their range of content and offers and marketing their apps for year-round usage," said Eyal Hilzenrat, YouAppi's vice president of Products and Partnerships.

YouAppi attributes its data to a few known trends. In the U.S., for example, travel tends to increase during the holidays. In Asia, the Chinese New Year encourages travel during a similar time of the year. Although summer vacations are common, most people plan these trips well in advance. This means that there is less of a spike of travel app downloads during the actual season.

It's also worth noting that many travel companies are now delivering their services via existing mobile apps and social media platforms, such as Facebook. KLM, the Dutch airline, is one example of a business turning to a third-party app. Travelers can now receive everything from flight confirmations to status updates through the Facebook Messenger app.

"We believe we should be where our customers are, and therefore Messenger and KLM are a good fit," said Pieter Elbers, president and CEO of KLM. "Our customers feel comfortable sharing info with us via a more personal platform like Messenger."

For an airline like KLM, which has 15 million fans on its Facebook page, it makes sense to move to a third-party application for integration. That being said, the opportunity for travel companies to expand on these platforms will undoubtedly continue to increase. About 28 percent of respondents between the ages of 35 and 49 are likely to seek opinions via social media while travel planning.

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The privacy police have spoken. If you live in Belgium and are a Facebook user, you might want to hold off on using Reactions.

The Belgian police force is warning its citizens not to use Facebook Reactions because doing so can threaten their privacy.

The country's federal police released a "Safe Browsing" advisory to the public on Wednesday afternoon that informs citizens that using the feature helps Facebook build a better profile about its users, with the information then being used for advertising.

"The icons help not only express your feelings, they also help Facebook assess the effectiveness of the ads on your profile," the police's website says.

The social network launched its new buttons back in February as a way to allow its users to better react to post as an alternative to clicking "like." Reactions include: love, haha, wow, sadness and anger.

While many people like the new way to interact with posts on Facebook, the Belgian police force does not want its citizens taking any part of it. By refraining from using the feature, the company will not be able to collect information about them.

Facebook Reactions allows the company to know how its users feel, which can be useful for advertisers. For example, if a Facebook user appears to react positively to many posts at a particular time, the company would then be able to determine the user might be in a good mood and that this specific time is perfect for showing them particular ads. If they are feeling sad, they probably won't want to be bothered.

The Belgian police are aware of this and want the public to also be careful about how they engage  if they care about their privacy. It writes that the feature encourages users "to express your thoughts more easily so that the algorithms that run in the background are more effective."

This is true since Facebook has revealed when a user reacts to a post  even if they are "angry" about it  the algorithm detects that, since they are engaged with this content, it will continue to show more related content.

All users concerned about their privacy should think twice before they click their next Reaction.





Source: Forbes

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Vodafone Rolls Out SuperNet; Launches 'U' For Youth | TechTree.com

Vodafone announced on May 12 at a special event about the roll out of their SuperNet 4G across Karnataka benefiting over 72 lac customers.

During the event, Amit Kumar, Business Head of Vodafone Karnataka also mentioned that the company is installing nearly 17 sites every day in order to improve the clarity of the calls. Also, the company was boasting about lowering the number of call drops in the last few months.

On this occasion, Amit Kapur also emphasized that quality of network plays an important role in enhacnign customers experience. Along with this, Kapur also said that the company is fairly ready for the future and they are just waiting for the 5G devices to come in to the market.

Vodafone also launched a new lifestyle proposition, namely the 'U' which is mainly meant for young Indians.

Vodafone U will provide its customers data loan of 60 MB for 2 days, and interestingly, this feature is only available for prepaid customers. For this service, the amount of Rs 20 will be deducting only when you recharged the number, the next time.

Vodafone U will bring free music downloads for 60 days, after which it will be chargeable again, and customers will be able to call any 3 local Vodafone numbers at just 20p/min. You will also be getting an additional night data between 12 AM and 6 AM.

TAGS: Vodafone, Vodafone SuperNet, Vodafone 4G, Vodafone U
Charter Communications has cleared a final regulatory hurdle in its nearly year-long quest to clinch its $71 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.California Public Utilities Commission members on Thursday voted unanimously to approve the transfer of phone licenses, a blessing needed by Charter to complete the merger of three cable companies.Charter is expected to finalize the Time Warner Cable and Bright House transactions next week, and then work to consolidate its cable systems nationwide. The Federal Communications Commission approved the deal last week after attaching several conditions aimed at expanding the availability of broadband Internet to begin to close the so-called digital divide.The FCC also won a pledge from Charter that it would not try to thwart the development of video streaming services.Charter will become the largest Internet service and pay-TV provider in Southern California with more than 2 million customer homes. It also will become a major provider in New York, Dallas and parts of Florida.We are pleased to have now obtained all approvals, Charter Chief Executive Tom Rutledge said in a statement. We look forward to closing these transactions next week and to begin delivering the many benefits of these transactions to consumers.California PUC members applauded Charter for agreeing to lay cable lines in some geographic regions without lines and for establishing a program to offering affordable Internet service for low-income families with children and low-income seniors.Charter also committed to rolling out higher Internet speeds to its customer base, a pledge embraced by several PUC members.This is going to be critical for economic development in this state, Commissioner Carla J. Peterman said during the meeting, which was held in Sacramento.Peterman noted that Charter was more cooperative than was the Philadelphia cable company, Comcast Corp., which failed last year in its push to purchase of Time Warner Cable after it ran into a regulatory buzzsaw.I expect Charter to live up to the agreements and be a good corporate citizen in California for years to come, Commissioner Mike Florio said Thursday.State and federal reviews sought to address the so-called digital divide, recognizing the Connecticut company was poised to become the nations second-largest high-speed Internet provider, behind Comcast.Federal regulators tailored several conditions to address Charters rising Internet clout  requiring Charter to expand broadband service in areas with spotty service and to sign up poor families who cannot afford Internet service. Charter pledged to provide low-cost Internet service to at least 525,000 low-income homes nationwide.In addition, Charter agreed not to impose data caps on its customers nor institute usage-based fee structures for at least three years.Another provision would require Charter to comply with the FCCs Open Internet rules that require Internet service providers to all treat traffic equally.In the state of California, Charter will be obligated to build at least 150,000 new line extensions and bring broadband service to regions such as in San Bernardino County that currently have areas that lack coverage.There is an absolute imperative in closing the digital divide, community activist Larry Ortega from Pomona told PUC members in Sacramento. Right now, there are 2 million children in California without Internet access.Ortega said that Charters proposal to provide affordable Internet service did not go far enough to meet pressing needs in Southern California.As part of the federal requirements, Charter also was tasked with providing 1 million new Internet connections in areas where other high-speed operators deliver service in an effort to encourage more competition.
Hacktivist group Anonymous to warns Denver Mayor for his ill treatment of homeless

This is not the first time, the global hacktivist group is taking aim at perceived social inequalities and neither will it be the last. Now the hacktivist group Anonymous in a hallmark operation (#OpBlackBook), has warned the Denver Mayor Michael Hancock to stop massive sweeps of homeless camps in the city.

In a video posted to YouTube yesterday, the hackers are seen requesting the mayor to stop the homeless sweeps that have put the lives of many of Denvers displaced citizens in danger.

Greetings Mayor Michael Hancock, we have been waiting for you to respond for our most recent request, but we find ourselves growing impatient with your foot dragging, said the person in the Anonymous video.

Recently, Mayor Hancock had approved a ban on illegal camping sites across Denver and city workers have been taking down any shacks or places where Denvers destitute were finding shelter.

In the video, the group demands that the mayor restore the rights of the homeless and resign as an elected official even as it promises to uncover proof that Hancock was a customer of a prostitution ring associated with Denver Players, a scandal that crested right around the time of his 2011 election.

The video says, We plan to expose what has been hidden for years. With the powers of Anonymous bearing down on you and your corrupt cronies, its only a matter of time until we uncover the dirt you been trying to hide from the community you lied your way into leading, from the depths of your closet. No skeleton will be left unturned.

While the allegations were never proven to be true, Anonymous says it was because city officials had interfered and asked the local media to ignore stories on this matter.

Anonymous has already leaked scanned pages from the alleged Denver Players Club black book, along with a series of links from various US media sources, prior to being muzzled.

In the video, the group asks for the city to cancel the camping ban and homeless sweeps and finally asks the mayor to step down.

We are now asking for you to restore the rights of the homeless, nay, demanding, and resign as an elected official, the group says. You have failed to protect those in vulnerable living conditions, you have failed your civic and moral duties as a public official, and you have failed those you purport to govern in your continual lapse of honesty.
Earn $20 an hour just by sitting in the Googles self-driving car

Google has a very good job opening for you. All you need to do is to sit in its self-driving cars to test it. Thats pretty much the job description given by Google because in its self-driving car there is nothing much to do anyway.

Google has placed an ad looking for vehicle safety specialists to be contracted for one to two years of autonomous driving field work. The job will pay chosen ones a pretty decent $20 an hour and you will be expected to work six- to eight-hour work days with potential for road trips as long as a month at a time. The job opening is in Arizona, not California where Google is reportedly testing its self-driving cars.

You will have to sign a confidentiality agreement to keep Googles top secret stuff top secret and youll need a clean driving history for all that non-driving youll be doing. Youll have to be able to type at a blistering 40 words per minute and not have a history of sleeping at the wheel. Youll be expected to provide concise feedback on the nothing that happens all day to Google engineers and youll be asked to take a bunch of car training courses, to help with the whole no driving part of the job.

Criminal history sheets should not apply as the last thing Google would want is their self-driving car technology to fall in wrong hands. If the autonomous vehicle hits anything, youll be expected to drag it off the road, kick sand over it and scrub the blood off the bumper.

If you think you are Googles next vehicle safety specialist, take a look at the job ad here.
Check out the creepy, romantic poetry written by Googles AI after being force fed nearly 3500 books

While Googles Artificial Intelligence (AI) spoke with grammatical accuracy and factual exactness, its language remained abrupt and floppy. To make it more chatty, researchers from the companys deep learning arm, Google Brain force-fed 2,865 romance books, about 1,500 fantasy books, and more into the AI system.

The unpublished paper Generating Sentences from a Continuous Space was presented at the International Conference on Learning Representations on May 3, which shows the work done by researchers with Google Brain. It shows how the team of linguists and computer scientists fed a total of 11,000 unpublished books to the neural network, and then tested whether it could take a couple sentences from the book and create its own corresponding phrases.

For instance, the researchers say to the system: Create 13 sentences that morph from Im fine to But you need to talk to me now. Each sentence in the series should be similar in meaning to the one before and after it to create a smooth transition. Also, they need to grammatically and syntactically make sense. The point is to imitate the differences in human speech and create a system that can create new and diverse sentences.

However, the results sound like cryptic, dark poems. Heres one of the resulting poems:

No.

he said.

no, he said.

no, i said.

i know, she said.

thank you, she said.

come with me, she said.

talk to me, she said.

dont worry about it, she said.

it made me want to cry.

no one had seen him since.

it made me feel uneasy.

no one had seen him.

the thought made me smile.

the pain was unbearable.

the crowd was silent.

the man called out.

the old man said.

the man asked.

he was silent for a long moment.

he was silent for a moment.

it was quiet for a moment.

it was dark and cold.

there was a pause.

it was my turn.

there is no one else in the world.

there is no one else in sight.

they were the only ones who mattered.

they were the only ones left.

he had to be with me.

she had to be with him.

i had to do this.

i wanted to kill him.

i started to cry.

i turned to him.

This is just a small part of Googles work with AI and the goal of presenting it with human language capabilities. While the team stated that their software is in early stages of work, it is expected to be a long and on-going process to make it able to interact with users in a way that has all the complexity and flexibility of natural speech.
Philadelphia police spying on its citizens using a spy truck disguised as a Google Street View car

Seems like authorities in United States believe in using any means to achieve their target. According to a report on Vice, Philadelphia police department was using a spy-truck disguised as a Google Street View care to spy on citizens of Philadelphia.

The innocuous looking but seemingly out of place Google Street view car aroused suspicions of Matt Blaze.

Blaze, a University of Pennsylvania computer and information science professor, discovered a SUV tucked away in the shadows of the Philadelphia Convention Centers tunnel that was labeled as a Google Maps Street View car.

Blaze noticed that it had two high-powered license plate reader cameras mounted on top, meaning it had to belong to a government agency. He immediately tweeted the information to make others aware of the dubious ways the authorities use to spy on its citizens.

WTF? Pennsylvania State Police license plate reader SUV camouflaged as Google Street View vehicle. pic.twitter.com/0z4yo2rVoR  matt blaze (@mattblaze) May 11, 2016

The tweet raised a lot of storm on Twitter forcing Philadelphia Police Department to come out with a statement.

The Philadelphia Police Department since responded to the report: We have been informed that this unmarked vehicle belongs to the police department; however, the placement of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command. With that being said, once this was brought to our attention, it was ordered that the decals be removed immediately.

The department admitted it owned the truck. Unless the Philadelphia Fire Department of Streets Department are using automated license plate recognition (ALPR), this strongly suggests the citys police department is trawling city streets under the auspices of Google while snapping thousands of license plate images per minute, a report on Motherboard.

ALPR can photograph thousands of license plate images per minute and track and store a persons travel habits without a warrant.

The report also accused Google of collaborating with the authorities in their endeavor to secretly spy on citizens. However, Google trashed the reports of collaboration and said that the car did not belong to them.

Google spokesperson Susan Cadrecha commented on the report, We can confirm this is not a Google Maps car, and that we are currently looking into the matter.
A 40 anos de Malvinas

"Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Europe for demanding changes to Ankara's legislation on terrorism, Anadolu reported.

In his address at an event titled "National Will in Turkish Political History" in Ankara on Thursday, Erdogan said: "Asking Turkey to revise its terror law means to give up on the cause" in ongoing talks with EU on visa-free travel.

"If the European Union wants to address a terrorist group [the PKK] instead of the Republic of Turkey, we are OK with it. Because we look at the ones who defend causes of terrorist groups the same way we look at terrorist groups."

Last week, the European Commission proposed visa-free travel to Turks as part of a deal that would see Turkey stem the flow of refugees to Europe in exchange for speeding up the candidate country's EU membership.

However, among five remaining benchmarks for Turkey to address in order to receive visa-free travel, the EU called for a change in Ankara's legislation on terrorism -- a demand that Erdogan harshly criticized and rejected.

"You see the attitude from the European Union. They say we should loosen our grip on terror. Since when are you controlling Turkey, who gave you the order?" Erdogan asked.

He also criticized Bangladesh's execution of senior Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, and noted that Turkey had asked its ambassador to Dhaka to come to Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Ministry on Thursday announced that Turkey's ambassador to Bangladesh had been asked to report to Ankara "for consultations" in the aftermath of hanging of Nizami in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka on Wednesday.

"It is attention grabbing that executing an Islamic leader in a country where it is mainly Muslim populated and Muslims are victimized," Erdogan said. "We want to be the voice of the oppressed."

He also said Turkish nation will not give the government its blessings if the state does not stand with oppressed communities around the world.
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) has a seven-point lead over President Jair Bolsonaro ahead of the October 30 runoff, according to a poll released Monday by... | Read More
Kiev and Ankara discussed the possibility of Ukraine joining the Southern Gas Corridor project, project, aimed to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Hennadii Zubko said.

"We discussed possible participation of Ukraine in the vital Southern Gas Corridor project if it proves to be economically rational and ensures non-discriminative access to the facilities," he said.

The blueprint signed by Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Hennadii Zubko and Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz follows guidelines set in the bilateral declaration on strategic partnership signed in March in Ankara.

"The minutes of the meeting signed by the intergovernmental commission virtually follows strategic roadmap signed by president of the two countries and outlines points of interest in our cooperation to boost trade relations between our countries in all areas," Zubko said, as quoted in one of the statements.

The blueprint envisions free trade, tax facilitation, business support and joint industrial projects, for example design and construction of new passenger aircraft using facilities of the Ukrainian Antonov Aeronautical Complex.

Turkey is the second largest importer of Ukrainian goods and its fifth largest trading partner, according to 2015 statistics. However, last year Ukraine recorded 22.2-percent decline in its exports to Turkey.
Members of Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) were in disarray Friday, divided over whether a new court ruling would allow an extraordinary congress to be held on Sunday.

Late Friday, Ankara's 15th Enforcement Directorate decided to overrule a decision by Ankara's 2nd Enforcement Court apparently greenlighting the congress, which could see a push to replace the party leadership. The directorate also said that injunctions by civil courts in Tosya and Gemerek against holding the congress remain in force.

The director of the 15th Enforcement Directorate issued a statement saying that the appeal by dissident MHP deputies had been rejected and that his decision is line with the Gemerek Civil Court injunction.

Amid the conflicting court rulings, party leader Devlet Bahceli said, "The MHP is expected to be drowned along with Turkey while it is struggling in a siege which has regional and global branches. I want to cut it short tonight and say it clearly: we will not have a general congress on May 15."

He added: "None of my brothers and sisters shall become the pawn of a trans-oceanic-centered-game [implying US-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, leader of the Gulenist terror organization or PDY/FETO] and fall for the trap of a so-called congress. Attempting to paint the MHP as being in chaos, blocking the MHP is a sin which is heavy to carry."

Bahceli also accused the dissident members of committing a crime by violating court rulings.

Gulen's "parallel state" is designated by the government as a group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police, who allegedly seek to undermine the current Turkish government.

Speaking to reporters, MHP lawyer Yucel Bulut said that even without a final ruling by the Court of Cassation, where the MHP Central Committee appealed a decision by Ankara's 12th Civil Court to allow the congress, some members of the party are urging people to attend a congress on Sunday.

Bulut also cited the injunctions by civil courts in Tosya and Gemerek against holding a congress.

But former MHP Deputy Meral Aksener said via Twitter that the extraordinary congress will go ahead Sunday.
Two identical photos of Ly Hoang Long (L) and Nguyen Trong Nghia that won prizes in two different competitions abroad Vietnamese photographers are taking teamwork to new levels, Thanh Nien has discovered. A photograph by Nguyen Trong Nghia that won the top prize from the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP) in Turkey this month is almost identical to one shot by Tran Van Tuy.

Spot the difference. One (L) was taken by Pham Ty, the other taken by Tran Nhat Quang.

The latter had also won a top FIAP prize at another prestigious contest, the 2014 International Trophy Gipuzkoa.

Earlier, a photo by Tran Nhat Quang titled Net Weaving was a replica of one by Pham Ty.

Both won top honours at two different contests in Dubai and the US last year.

But Nghia told Thanh Nien that neither he nor Tuy is a plagiarist, claiming instead that the two had gone together on a trip to find their muse.

Similarity in creativity is a normal thing.

But photographer Tran Viet Van, who has also won several international prizes, was scathing, saying it revealed the plight of Vietnamese art.

I even know a boatman in Tuyen Lam Lake who has tripled his posing fee after many photographers hired him to pose in the same way he had in an award-winning photo.

Long Thanh, who has been in the jury of several national photo contests, told Thanh Nien he felt bored seeing so many similar works. All of them are weeded out, of course,

Vi Kien Thanh, the head of the photography division at the culture ministry, said a self-respecting artist would never join a large group for shooting pictures.

Their behavior has not violated the law, but its a stupid thing to do, he concluded with a sigh.
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Da Nang City's Center for Public Administration (tallest building) has been praised for bringing all major agencies under one roof. Photo: Hoang Son

Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi disappoint, unable to crack the top 5 of the annual competitiveness index

The central city of Da Nang continued its reign as Vietnams best place for doing its business for the third year in a row, according to an annual survey released Thursday.

The 2015 Vietnam Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) , conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the US Agency for International Development, rated all 63 provinces and centrally-governed cities in terms of ease of doing business, economic governance, and administrative reform efforts. Scoring was based on the polling of 11,700 local private and foreign companies operating in the country.

Da Nang topped the list with 68.34 points on a 100-point scale.

The new Center for Public Administration, established in September 2014, is a key contributor to this score.

The center, which coordinates local policy and serves as an information clearing house, has proven to be effective in saving time, effort and money for the people, businesses and public officials, according to the survey.

The survey found 70 percent respondents in Da Nang agreed that our firm does not have to take many trips to obtain stamps and signatures and 76 percent said government officials are effective in processing procedures. Those numbers compared to 67 and 71 percent last year.

In addition, with its ambitious plan to build a smart city, Da Nang has successfully developed a model that enables quick development of high-speed online services at low-cost, particularly enabling modernization of public administration and the monitoring of the activities of the state management agencies, according to the survey.

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap sustained its second place with 66.39 points. It has focused its efforts on capacity building and improving the performance of the government at all levels, boosting administrative reforms toward a more friendly government.

The provincial government has devised plans to reduce meetings by 30 percent so that the leaders would have more time to travel and interact directly with the people and businesses to help solve their difficulties.

The northern province of Quang Ninh surpassed Lao Cai to rank third with 65.75 points. It has been known as a pioneer in strongly promoting public-private partnerships that encourage private providers of services to act in the place of the provinces government.

Ho Chi Minh City, the countrys economic center, fell two places to 6th while Hanoi inched up to 24th from 26th in 2014.

The northern provinces of Lai Chau and Ha Giang and the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong were named at the bottom of the list.

The survey did not take the provinces and cities economic advantages and disadvantages such as infrastructure or market size into account. That is why many top-tier cities and provinces known as foreign-investment magnets can be outperformed by lesser-known peers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Western countries of being insensitive to the suffering and needs of millions of people in war-torn Syria.

Speaking at a ceremony in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, Erdogan said it was unrealistic to expect those who did not see nearly 600,000 innocents killed by the Syrian regime to act for executions in Bangladesh, referring to the execution of the leader of Bangladesh's Jamaat-e-Islami party, Motiur Rahman Nizami.

"Shame on those who in the West divert their sensitivity to the so-called freedoms, rights, and law shown in the debate over gay marriage away from Syrian women, children, and innocents in need of aid," Erdogan said.

"Shame on those who divert their sensitivities to the living space of the whales in the seas, seals, [and] turtles away from the right to life of 23 million Syrians. Shame on those who put their security, welfare [and] comforts ahead of other people's struggle to survive," he said.

"Shame on the slavery-and-colonial-era mindsets that set their eyes firstly on incoming refugees' money in their wallets, and jewelry on their arms and necklaces," Erdogan said, apparently referring to Denmark's plan earlier this year to confiscate valuables from incoming refugees to defray the costs of caring for them.

In his remarks, the president said that these ordeals would one day end. "The important thing is that we must honorably pass this test, [and] at ease."

Turkey hosts 3 million sufferers and will continue to keep its door open to the oppressed despite dangers and threats, the president added

Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million others have been displaced, according to UN figures.

Around 2.7 million Syrians who have fled the civil war in their country are being sheltered at camps inside Turkey, with many others living in cities and elsewhere.

The conflict in Syria has now driven more than four million people -- a sixth of the country's population -- to seek sanctuary in neighboring countries, making it the largest refugee crisis in a quarter-century, according to the UN.
The group is seeking government support for the factory, which has somehow woven itself into a perplexing financial mess

A file photo of PetroVietnam's Dinh Vu polyester fiber and yarn factory in the northern city of Hai Phong. Photo credit: Vietnam Pictorial Higher-than-expected costs and uncompetitive products are driving a polyester fiber and yarn factory of Vietnam's state energy giant PetroVietnam to the verge of bankruptcy, local media reported.

Dinh Vu factory in the northern city of Hai Phong, also known as PVTex, has been shut down since September last year, more than a year after coming into operation. The venture cost US$325 million, of which 74 percent was from PetroVietnam.

PVTex posted a loss of over VND1.25 trillion ($55.25 million) at the end of last year and negative equity of VND504 billion ($22.27 million), news website VnExpress reported, citing figures from PetroVietnam.

In a financial statement released early this week, PetroVietnam's fertilizer and chemical subsidiary PVFCCo, which owns a stake of 26 percent in the factory, said it has already taken the investment off its books.

The subsidiary's investment was evaluated at VND198 billion ($8.75 million) at the beginning of last year, a drop of 64.7 percent from the end of 2014, according to VnExpress.

PetroVietnam has sent a letter to the government, asking for help in selling the factory's products to local garment makers, news website Saigon Times Online reported on Thursday.

The letter came after the oil giant's many vain efforts to receive tax breaks and other incentives for PVTex, it said.

Aiming to meet 40 percent of local demand for staple fibers and 12 percent for yarns, PVTex has never been able to live up to expectations. I ts products were more expensive than those of other producers and imports, a problem that was worsened by quality inconsistencies, according to the website.

In a report on the factory's shutdown last year, the Ministry of Planning and Investment's website Dau Tu said it has built up a stockpile of more than 9,400 tons of staple fibers and yarns. That is a relatively large number considering that the factory was operating at less than half of its designed capacity of 500 tons a day.
A Boeing Co. B787-9 Dreamliner aiplane, operated by Vietnam Airlines Corp., performs a flying display on the opening day of the 51st International Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Monday, June 15, 2015. Photo: Bloomberg/Jasper Juinen

Vietnam Airlines Corp. will sell an 8.8 percent stake to ANA Holdings Inc., owner of Japans biggest airline, the Vietnamese carriers chief executive officer said.

The operator of All Nippon Airways will pay $109 million for its stake, with the deal set to close sometime between March and June, Pham Ngoc Minh said in a telephone interview Tuesday. The two airlines will discuss more stake sales later, he said.

ANA has been scouting for acquisitions in Southeast Asia since 2013 after raising $1.8 billion in a share sale. A plan to buy a stake in Myanmars Asian Wings Airways Ltd. was canceled in 2014.

"We chose ANA since theyre a big, prestigious airline with a large market that does not compete with ours," Minh said. "ANAs experience and strengths will help Vietnam Airlines expand.

Strategic partner

ANA spokesman Ryosei Nomura confirmed the company had been negotiating with Vietnam Air but declined to provide more details. The Nikkei reported the deal earlier Tuesday.

ANA shares hit their lowest point since June on Tuesday and were down 1.5 percent at 324.3 yen as of 10:12 a.m. in Tokyo.

Last year, Vietnam Airlines said it was aiming to select a strategic partner willing to purchase a 20 percent stake by the time shares sold in an initial public offering in 2014 start trading next year when a lock-up period expires. The carrier, set to transform its fleet with deliveries of the newest Airbus Group SE and Boeing Co. wide-body models, would prefer to link up with another carrier, Minh said in an interview in June.

Vietnam Airlines is a member of the SkyTeam airline alliance, which also includes Air France and Korean Air Lines Co. ANA is a member of the Star alliance, which includes Singapore Airlines Ltd. and United.
The World Bank on Thursday approved a US$150 million loan to the Vietnamese government to fund policy reforms in an attempt to strengthen the countrys competitiveness.

Achim Fock, the banks acting country director in Vietnam, said while there has been steady progress in boosting reforms in critical areas including the banking sector, SOE management and the business climate, these reforms need to be sustained.

The loan will be used for a program that aims to maintain macroeconomic stability by strengthening financial sector governance, create a more transparent, efficient and accountable public sector, and improve the business environment by reducing administrative burdens .

According to a report released in September 2015 by the World Economic Forum, Vietnam advanced 12 places to 56th in an important global competitiveness index.

According to the report, access to financing was the most problematic factor for doing business in Vietnam. It was followed by policy instability, inadequacy educated workforce, poor work ethic in labor force, and corruption.

Although Vietnam saw the most impressive improvement among all Southeast Asian countries in 2015, it's still far behind its neighbors. Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines were all in the top 50, with Singapore ranked second out of 140 economies.
Authorities in the southern province of Tay Ninh have arrested a Vietnamese woman and her Malaysian boyfriend for allegedly trafficking nine women to Malaysia to do sex work.

Police said Nguyen Kim Ngan, 26 and Kim Eng Hoe, 39 found and sold Vietnamese women to a prostitution ring in Kuala Lumpur run by a Malay man known as Banh. They were paid VND3-4 million per woman, police said.

Ngan, who had done sex work at a Kuala Lumpur bar since 2013, returned to Vietnam with her boyfriend in 2014, seeking young women for Banh.

She promised the victims high-paid jobs as waitresses in beer clubs and massage parlors.

But investigators said when the women arrived in Kuala Lumpur, they had their passports taken away by Kim and forced into the prostitution ring.

Those who tried to resist would be tortured, the victims said. They have all been rescued.

Banh is still at large.

Sex work is illegal in both Malaysia and Vietnam.
State-run broadcaster Vietnam Television has admitted that it used copyrighted content without permission in some of its programs, confirming that the violation has caused its YouTube channel to be blocked.

On Sunday evening, the network, better known as VTV, was notified by YouTube that the video sharing website had received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding videos on VTV's official YouTube page.

The page was blocked the following morning.

VTV then told local press that some of its editors used some footage they found online in their news and current affairs programs without asking permission of the copyright holders. The programs were then uploaded on the YouTube page.

The national broadcaster said it is working actively with relevant parties to resolve the issues in order to reactivate its YouTube channel, which has around 95,000 subscribers.

Bui Minh Tuan, who exposed VTV's copyright infringement. Photo credit: ICTnews

The case was exposed after Bui Minh Tuan, 35, reported to Google that VTV had repeatedly used his flycam videos, posted on his YouTube page named Yamaha Trung Ta, without seeking his permission.
The rate of child abuse in Vietnam has reached an alarmingly high level with thousands of cases reported in the past five years.

Officials from the Ministry of Public Security said at a Friday meeting in Ho Chi Minh City that 9,920 Vietnamese children suffered from various forms of abuse over the period.

Ho Sy Tien, director of the ministrys criminal police department, said the trafficking of children has been especially serious in Ho Chi Minh City, the central province of Nghe An, and Quang Ninh and Lai Chau Province near the border.

He said many teenagers are sexually trafficked.

Ho Chi Minh City also has one of the highest rates of crime against children, including murder and sexual abuse, together with southern provinces such as Vinh Long, Dong Thap, Dong Nai and Tien Giang.

Police from Ha Giang said many children in the province were trafficked to China by their own parents or other family members.

Officers at the meeting also said many women from the country have been victims of trafficking and sexual abuse as well, although specific figures were not released.

Police have busted several cases in which Vietnamese people colluded with restaurant owners in Malaysia and Singapore to traffic children and women under fake tourism or labor contracts.

Tien said the traffickers usually target poor rural areas where people are desperate for money.

The victims were then forced to do sex work and they would be beaten or starved if they refused to, officers said, adding that some women trafficked to Malaysia had to serve dozens of customers each day.
A primary school in Bac Lieu Province where the principal has been accused of molesting two fifth graders. Photo: Tran Thanh Phong

Police in Bac Lieu Province have arrested a primary school principal for allegedly molesting two girls studying in his school.

An officer said Nguyen Van Toan, 46, would be held for three months.

Police said there is evidence of Toan molesting seven students multiple times.



They looked into the case after the parents of two victims, both 11, lodged complaints.

One of the mothers said her daughter, identified only as T., was molested on April 25.

A video shot by her classmate, also a victim, shows Toan pull T. into the schools toilet and hold her tightly. She tries to run but he pulls her back and touches her inappropriately, it shows.

T.s mother said the girl has become affected. She seems worried all the time and stays away from everyone.

The mother said many people from Toans family have come to her house to apologize and offer compensation, but her family turned it down.

We cannot tolerate his act. We cannot let it go.

In Vietnam, more than 8,200 cases of child abuse came to light between 2011 and 2015, including 5,300 cases of sexual abuse, according to official figures released last March.

In most cases the perpetrators were people having authority over the children, like teachers, school security guards and even fathers.
Rescuers in Nha Trang rush an Italian man from a cruise ship to hospital on April 15. Photo: Duy Thanh/Tuoi Tre

An Italian man on a foreign cruise ship was rushed to a hospital in Nha Trang in central Vietnam Friday to receive emergency treatment for heavy stomach bleeding.

The 70-year-old, only identified as Paccosi, suffered from stomachache and bloody diarrhea at around 1:30 a.m. when the Italian cruise ship Costa Fortuna was on its journey from the southern beach town of Vung Tau to Nha Trang, Tuoi Tre reported.

A maritime rescue center in Nha Trang sent a speedboat to bring him to the shore and he was then rushed to Khanh Hoa Province General Hospital.

Updates on his condition are not available.

The same rescue center on Tuesday night also helped save a crew member on a Panama ship. The sailor had his hands crushed by a machine and was rushed to hospital.
National broadcaster Vietnam Television on Monday admitted that a recent news story about dishonest farming practices was staged by one of its reporters.

The report about a vegetable farming village in the central province of Thanh Hoa was aired on May 3 and has since upset many farmers.

In the report, a local farmer was shown using a large broom to sweep over green plants. The absurd practice was meant to create marks and holes on the leaves, to trick consumers into thinking that the farmer did not use any chemicals to kill pests and worms, the report claimed.

After the story was aired, farmers at the village criticized the broadcaster, often known as VTV, for being unethical.

They said the reporter, Pham Thi Phuong, staged the whole thing and created a fake news story that has damaged the reputation and business of the whole village.

"She came to us and said she would help us introduce our good farming practices to viewers across the country," said a representative. "She then gave us a broom, asking us to clean our vegetables with it so that she could film us."

The farmers said following the story, they could no longer sell their vegetables. They then sent a complaint to VTV.

A few days later, Phuong, the reporter, returned to the village to apologize to the farmers. But they refused to accept her apology, demanding an answer from VTV.

The broadcaster issued its official statement on Wednesday, confirming that the story was completely made up and that the reporter has been suspended. It also apologized to the farmers affected by the report.

No legal action has been announced.
Fishermen from central Vietnam have rescued four people who were adrift in a small boat from Malaysia that had broken down several days earlier.

Two fishing boats from Quang Ngai Province found the boat near Truong Sa islands off Vietnams south central coast Wednesday, 10 days after it broke down.

On board were two Spanish tourists, David Hernandez Gasulla, 29, and Martha Miguel, 30, their resort owner Tommy Lam Wai Fin, 44, from China, and his Malaysian employee Armilla Ali Hassan, 23.

They had run out of food, water and fuel.

All of them received care and were in stable condition before being put on a boat back to Malaysia.

Malaysian authorities said their boat had broken down in waters to the north of Sabah on May 2. They had sent out boats and a helicopter since last week to look for them, they added.
Queen Elizabeth on Chinese Officials' 2015 Visit to UK: They Were Very Rude

The Queen of England was filmed calling Chinese officials "very rude" during their landmark visit to the U.K. (Photo : Getty Images)

A leaked footage that showed Englands Queen Elizabeth II calling Chinese officials very rude during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit last year brings to question the supposed golden era of the Sino-United Kingdom relations.



According to CNN, the Queen was caught on camera telling commander Lucy D'Orsi, the head of security who oversaw President Xi's visit, how Chinese officials were "very rude," particularly to U.K.'s first female ambassador to China.



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The Conversation



CNN narrated how the Queen and D'Orsi's conversation went, showing a "rare moment of candor" from the usually diplomatic monarch.



"I'm not sure whether you knew, but it was quite a testing time for me," D'Orsi says to the Queen who confirms that she knows what the head of security was talking about.



"Yes, I did. They were very rude to the ambassador," the Queen says, referring to U.K.'s ambassador to China Barbara Woodward.



According to the report, the Queen had initially called it "bad luck" for D'Orsi to be assigned as the one in charge of security during the Chinese delegates' visit.



CNN further revealed that they tried to get comments from the Metropolitan Police but got none due to their policy of not getting involved in their officers' private conversations.



A spokesperson from the Buckingham Palace reportedly said the same thing about the Queen, stating: "We do not comment on the Queen's private conversations. However, the Chinese State Visit was extremely successful and all parties worked closely to ensure it proceeded smoothly."



Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang stated that the visit marked a "golden era in China-U.K. bilateral ties," adding that they had "no knowledge" of any threats that could have possibly triggered D'Orsi's remarks to the Queen.



According to Telegraph UK, China has already censored the footage which could launch a political storm between the countries.



The Visit



The event in question was the Chinese's visit to Buckingham Palace in Oct. 2015, an event which Xi believes had brought the ties between the two countries to a "new height."



Covering the event, BBC News reported how Xi and the Queen deemed the event to be very beneficial for both countries.



At a banquet in the Buckingham Palace, the Queen described 2015 as a "very special year for our bilateral relationship," referring to the U.K. and China.



Upon their arrival, Xi and the other delegates from China had been warmly welcomed British-style, complete with a royal gun salute.






To celebrate the opening of Cat Bi International Airports new terminal, Vietjet has announced to launch three new routes from Hai Phong to Phu Quoc, Da Lat and Buon Ma Thuot, looking to meet increasing travel demand from tourists, businesspeople and individuals among localities.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended the important opening ceremony on May 12.

With the three new routes from Hai Phong to Phu Quoc, Da Lat, Buon Ma Thuot and other destinations from Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Pleiku, Vietjet has become the biggest carrier to the port city of Hai Phong with around 30 flights a day, accounting for 70 percent of the total capacity of Cat Bi International Airport.

With the inaugural flight from Hai Phong, passengers will have chances to receive interesting gifts. Vietjet also presents 200 health insurance cards to the underprivileged in Hai Phong on this occasion.

The Hai Phong  Phu Quoc route started operating on May 12 , 2016 with four round flights per week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Its flight time per leg is around two hours five minutes. The flight takes off in Hai Phong at 9:45 a.m. and arrives in Phu Quoc at 11:50 a.m. The return flight departs at 12:25 p.m. and lands at 2:30 p.m.

The Hai Phong  Da Lat route will start operating on May 20, 2016 with three round flights per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Its flight time per leg is around one hour 45 minutes. The flight takes off in Hai Phong at 10:25 a.m. and arrives in Da Lat at 12:10 p.m. The return flight departs at 12:45 p.m. and lands at 2:30 p.m.

The Hai Phong  Buon Me Thuot route will start operating on June 2, 2016 with four round flights per week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Its flight time per leg is around one hour 40 minutes. The flight takes off in Hai Phong at 3:45 p.m. and arrives in Buon Me Thuot at 5:25 p.m. The return flight departs at 6 p.m. and lands at 7:40 p.m.

Vietjet will increase flight frequency for these routes in the coming time. The carrier also currently operates many other routes from Hai Phong to Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Pleiku.
Senior government officials at the inauguration ceremony of Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong City on May 12. Photo credit: Giao Thong Online

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed at Cat Bi International Airport on Thursday morning, marking the first flight to the airport after it was upgraded for international services. The expanded airport in the northern city of Hai Phong was also hosting an inauguration ceremony, with many new flights being scheduled on both domestic and international routes.

The new airport will have direct flights to China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and other countries. It is expected to help boost tourism to Hai Phong, known for Do Son Beach and Cat Ba Islands and located 75 kilometers from Ha Long Bay.

It is also expected to reduce some of the pressure for Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, which is 105 kilometers away.

Cat Bi is also launching new domestic routes to more local tourist destinations, including Hai Phong, Phu Quoc and Da Lat. There will be flights connecting the city with Nghe An and Can Tho.

The upgrade project started in 2013 with a total investment of more than VND3.6 trillion (US$161.4 million).

The airport now can serve 4 million passengers annually and is capable of receiving large aircraft like Boeing 747 and 777.
Chinese officials inspect the mangled wreckage of a Lamborghini that was damaged in a high-speed illegal road race in Beijing, on April 12, 2015

Two unemployed men who crashed a Lamborghini and Ferrari as they reportedly staged a "real-life Fast and Furious" race through Beijing were sentenced to jail Thursday for dangerous driving, the court said.

According to reports a woman passenger in Tang Weitian's green Lamborghini was left with a broken spine in the accident. The other driver Yu Muchun, 20, drove a red Ferrari.

Tang, 21, was sentenced to five months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,600), Beijing's Chaoyang District People's Court said in an online post.

Yu was jailed for four months and given an 8,000 yuan fine, it added, saying both men indicated they would not appeal.

The official news agency Xinhua described the accident last month as the result of a "real-life 'Fast and Furious' drag race in downtown Beijing".

Pictures of the high-performance cars' mangled wreckage in a tunnel in the Chinese capital provoked intense public interest, especially when police announced the men were unemployed.

Later reports said that Tang was a former pool champion.

A high-speed Ferrari crash in Beijing in March 2012 killed the son of Ling Jihua, a close ally of then-president Hu Jintao. Two women passengers, one of them naked, were both injured.

The incident added to public perceptions in China of corrupt and high-living officials, and Ling has since been investigated for graft and dismissed from his post.
The South Korean Air Forces Black Eagles perform maneuvers in T-50 jets during an aerobatic display at the Singapore Airshow on February 11, 2014. Photo: Bloomberg

Aerospace leaders gathering for this week's Singapore Airshow face conflicting pressures as they juggle growing concerns over jetliner demand while keeping record production plans on track.

Worries about the effects of a faltering global economy and tensions in the South China Sea overshadow the two-yearly event in Singapore, which is both a major commercial travel hub and home to Southeast Asia's most potent and best-trained air force.

For now, airline traffic continues to grow rapidly, spurred by continued growth in Asian household incomes, while airline profits also benefit from low oil prices.

But as aerospace industry shares fall in step with tumbling global markets, analysts increasingly question the durability of an aerospace expansion cycle now in an unprecedented eighth year.

After a lacklustre show in Dubai in November, the industry's expo bandwagon rolls into the crucial Southeast Asian region without the carnival atmosphere of previous years.

"All the thoughts that this is no longer a cyclical industry have disappeared. We are due for a down-cycle," said aerospace consultant Jerrold Lundquist, managing director of The Lundquist Group. "(But) I don't think there will be any impact in the next 18-24 months. It is when you get beyond 24 months that you might see some softening."

Southeast Asia is one of the industry's major drivers and has placed record orders in recent years, leading to speculation of overcapacity. Some carriers, including Philippine Airlines, are expected to acquire new aircraft this week.

But rather than counting up new orders, analysts say investors' main concern this week will be to check for signs of waning travel or jetliner demand and whether an overloaded supply chain is in danger of breaking as manufacturers work to turn a record backlog of orders into a smooth flow of deliveries.

"We will be keeping a close eye on traffic this year to see if we can detect emerging signs of weakness," said Rob Morris, head of consultancy at UK-based Flight global Ascend.

Doubts over economic conditions have not stopped Airbus and Boeing pursuing a battle of wits over new designs.

Airbus, anxious to close the gap between its new 369-seat A350-1000 and the 406-seat Boeing 777X, is seeking an influential champion such as Singapore Airlines for a potential bigger version of its A350 series, industry sources said.

Boeing has said it will decide soon on a potential new "mid-market" jet with about 240 seats to retrieve lost market share for relatively small jets - a project that could lead to a small twin-aisle jet with an unusual, oval-shaped cross-section.

Industry experts will scour comments out of Singapore from both manufacturers for clues to what products they intend to launch ahead of July's premier aviation event at Farnborough, southwest of London, coinciding with Boeing's centenary.

Defence remains at the forefront of the Singapore show, amid growing tensions over Chinese maritime and territorial claims that compete with those of several Southeast Asian nations.

A number of regional states are looking into ways to beef up their fighter fleets and to boost their intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance capability.

Intense competition to provide maritime surveillance equipment may also characterize the event, along with a significant presence of Western and Asian unmanned aircraft.

At a pre-show gathering on Monday, airline executives will debate the economy, threats to airliner safety from drones, and efforts to cut jet emissions after the Paris climate summit.
Riverine command boats assigned to Coastal Riverine Squadron (RIVRON) 4, transit open water in the 5th fleet area of responsibilities in this June 27, 2013 handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, January 12, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Lewis/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters

Iran detained 10 U.S. sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats in the Gulf on Tuesday in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran.

Late on Tuesday, a U.S. defense official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday.

Both U.S. and Iranian officials described the sailors, whose boats may have inadvertently drifted into Iranian waters, as safe and well-treated. U.S. defense officials said nine men and one woman were aboard the two vessels seized.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest told CNN that "We have received assurances from the Iranians that our sailors are safe and that they will be allowed to continue their journey promptly."

Official Iranian news outlets confirmed the detention of the 10 Americans, hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was due to make his final State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress before he leaves office in January 2017.

"The Revolutionary Guards naval forces seized the American boats two kilometers inside Iranian territorial waters while they were snooping around," Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said.

Officials from Iran and the United States were negotiating to free the crew, Fars reported.

Washington and Tehran, which have pursued a partial detente in recent years, both appeared eager not to let the incident escalate further.

Obama, a Democrat, has made the Iran nuclear accord a centerpiece of his foreign policy, and Republicans vying to succeed him have assailed him over the deal.

Iran, meanwhile, is eager for relief from punishing economic sanctions under the landmark nuclear accord it forged with six world powers last July. Formal implementation of the accord could begin in days, following steps Iran agreed to take to curb its nuclear activities.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif assured U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that the U.S. sailors would be allowed to continue their journey promptly, another U.S. official said.

The seizure of the 10 sailors nonetheless underscored the potential for clashes that could derail diplomacy, especially in the Gulf's tense and crowded shipping lanes.

Precisely what happened to the two U.S. boats remained unclear.

A senior U.S. defense official said the United States had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain.

Another U.S. official said mechanical issues may have disabled one of the boats, leading to a situation in which both ships drifted inadvertently into Iranian waters.

Sailors said to be safe

In a statement, Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed it seized the boats and said the sailors were safe and well. It said France's Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was near the seized U.S. boats.

They were on board two riverine patrol boats, one of the U.S. officials said. Riverine boats are 38-foot long, high-speed patrol boats used by the U.S. Navy and Marines to patrol rivers and littoral waters.

Republican officials and presidential candidates, who opposed the Iran nuclear accord, used the incident to criticize Obama.

"It's just an indication of where the hell we're going. I mean hopefully they get released and fast," businessman Donald Trump, who leads the Republican field in the race for U.S. president, said at a rally in Iowa. The election is Nov. 8.

The seizure of the sailors and their craft was the latest reported incident between U.S. and Iranian forces in the Gulf in recent weeks.

The U.S. Navy said late last month that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel fired unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran denied the vessel had done so.

Previous Iranian seizures involved British sailors and marines.

In June 2004, Iran arrested six Royal Marines and two naval personnel - part of a U.S.-led force in Iraq - for straying into its waters, stirring diplomatic tensions between the two. Following negotiations the eight were freed three days later.

In March 2007, Iranian forces seized 15 British servicemen - eight Royal Navy sailors and seven marines - in the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway that separates Iran and Iraq, triggering a diplomatic crisis at a time of heightened tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. They were held for 13 days.

In November 2009, Iranian naval vessels detained five Britons on a racing yacht en route from Bahrain to Dubai. They were released a week later.
A day after the year's deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital, supporters of a Shi'ite cleric protest on the streets of Baghdad and say the government has failed to protect them.
A controversial Italian priest awaiting a criminal trial for sex abuse of minors has agreed to pay 125,000 euros in compensation to the families of five of his alleged victims, Italian media reported Thursday.

Mauro Inzoli, 66, was defrocked in 2012 after he was first accused of paedophilia but that decision was reversed in 2014, when Pope Francis ordered him to stay away from minors and retire to "a life of prayer and humble discretion."

An outcry over Inzoli's treatment led to criminal proceedings being initiated against him in the northern Italian town of Cremona but the Church has reportedly refused to hand over details of its own investigation.

The priest's trial has been set for June and at a preliminary hearing this week he agreed to pay 25,000 euros ($28,500) each to five families who had been considering becoming civil parties in it, according to reports.

Inzoli, dubbed "Don Mercedes" by the press for his penchant for luxury cars, will be tried for abusing minors aged between 10 and 16 years between 2004 and 2008. He faces up to 12 years in prison.

Inzoli is an ex-confessor of senators also known for his passion for cigars and high-end restaurants.

The perceived leniency of his treatment has angered critics who say the Church is still too reticent about handing paedophile priests over to the criminal authorities.

The Vatican insists that, under Francis's leadership, it has acted to root out behaviour the pontiff has compared to a "Satanic Mass."

Church tribunals have resulted in the defrocking of nearly 850 priest for sex abuse in the last decade, during which time hundreds of millions have been paid to settle compensation claims by victims of abuse.

In March, the Vatican admitted there was "still much to be done" to combat clerical paedophilia in many countries.
The Syrian city of Daraya had a pre-war population of around 80,000 people but that has dropped by almost 90 percent

The truce in Syria's battleground city Aleppo expired Thursday with no new last-minute extension, as a besieged town near the capital prepared to receive its first humanitarian aid in four years.

World powers are to meet in Vienna next week to try to push faltering peace talks towards ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.

Regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on Aleppo's rebel-held eastern districts with no reports of casualties, following air strikes overnight that killed two fighters.

In the Damascus region, aid agencies were to deliver relief supplies to the rebel-held town of Daraya on Thursday, the first since 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

"This is the first ever humanitarian convoy to this town in the suburbs of Damascus since the beginning of the siege in November 2012," ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said.

Five trucks organised by the ICRC, the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were to deliver baby milk and medical and school supplies.

The United Nations says more than 486,000 people are living under siege in Syria, more than half of them in areas besieged by the regime.

Jihadists seize village

A temporary truce in Syria's second city Aleppo expired on Wednesday night after it had been extended twice through 11th-hour diplomatic intervention by Moscow and Washington.

The former economic hub has been divided between the regime-held west and rebel-controlled east since 2012 and has been the scene of some of the worst fighting since 2011.

The truce -- brokered by Russia and the United States -- came into force after a spike in violence in the northern city last month that killed more than 300 civilians.

Neighbouring Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's forces are preparing to "clean" the Syrian side of the border of Islamic State (IS) group jihadists after the Turkish town of Kilis came under repeated deadly rocket attacks.

"We are doing all the necessary preparations to clean the other side of the border because of the problems in Kilis," Erdogan said amid persistent speculation of a possible Turkish cross-border ground operation, without giving details.

The meeting between world powers in Austria next Tuesday comes as jihadists have dealt a series of setbacks to President Bashar al-Assad's troops in the country's centre.

In Hama province, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate and its rebel allies Thursday captured Zara village, where most residents hail from the same offshoot of Shiite Islam as the president, a monitor said.

"Alawite families were kidnapped and pro-regime fighters taken hostage," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In nearby Homs, also central Syria, fighting has raged near the Shaer gas field -- one of the biggest in the province -- after IS seized it from the regime last week.

Crisis in Syria: the battle for Aleppo

Stalling peace talks

IS also cut a main regime supply road between Palmyra and Homs on Tuesday, just weeks after the regime recaptured the historic city.

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.

Al-Nusra and the IS are not included in a fragile nationwide ceasefire between the regime and non-jihadist rebels implemented in late February to set the ground for peace talks.

The last round of peace talks in Geneva reached a deadlock in April when the main opposition group suspended its participation over mounting violence and lack of humanitarian access.

Talks have also faltered over the fate of Assad, with the opposition insisting any peace deal must include his departure.

But Damascus says his future is non-negotiable.
A deal to grant Turks visa-free travel to most of the European Union was hanging by a thread after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Ankara would not fulfil a key condition set by Brussels.

With alarm growing over the deal's future, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker bluntly told Erdogan that Turks would only enjoy travel to the passport-free Schengen area if all conditions were met and it would be "his problem" if this failed to materialise.

The promise of visa-free travel is a key pillar of the landmark March accord for Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to the EU and this could now also be in peril.

Erdogan accused the European Union of "hypocrisy" for telling Ankara to adapt its counter-terror laws in return for visa-free travel while it was in the throes of fighting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.

"The EU stands up and says 'soften your approach over the terrorist organisation'," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, referring to the PKK.

"Since when are you running this country? Who has given you the authority?" he asked, in one of his most stinging attacks in recent weeks on the EU.

"They believe they have a right for themselves (to fight terror) but find it a luxury and unacceptable for us. Let me say it clearly -- this is called hypocrisy."

Explosion shakes southeast

Turkey concluded a deal with the EU in March to curb the migrant flow to Europe in return for political incentives including the visa-free travel as well as billions of euros in aid from Brussels for refugees.

Ankara however is obliged to meet the remaining five out of 72 conditions for its citizens to enjoy visa-free travel to Europe.

But with the Turkish military battling the PKK in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Turkey says it cannot change its counter-terror laws.

On Thursday, a blast hit the southeastern majority Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, killing four "bombmakers" and wounding at least 10 other people, according to the country's interior ministry.

The explosion came hours after at least eight people including soldiers were injured by a remotely detonated car bomb aimed at a military vehicle in Istanbul, according to the local governor's office.

- 'Not my problem, his problem' -

Speaking in Berlin, Juncker indicated the EU saw no room for negotiation if Turkey did not fulfil all the conditions.

"We consider that it is important for these conditions to be fulfilled, otherwise this deal between the EU and Turkey will not happen," Juncker said.

"If Mr Erdogan wants to pursue his strategy, then he has to answer to the Turkish people why Europe is denying free travel to Turks. That's not my problem, that will be his problem."

The EU wants Ankara to sharply narrow its definition of "terror" to prevent recent cases like the prosecution of academics and journalists for publishing "terror propaganda".

A European diplomat told AFP: "We don't have a plan B" if the deal -- which so far helped migrant flows to Europe fall sharply -- collapses.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who spearheaded efforts to conclude the deal, said, "We must recognise that we need such an agreement with Turkey in any case and that it is worth the effort to negotiate it even if difficulties arise".

The Turkish minister of European affairs, Volkan Bozkir was set to meet Johannes Hahn, the commissioner for European enlargement negotiations, in Brussels on Friday morning.

Turkey has for decades sought to become a member of the EU but its bid has hit repeated stumbling blocks, sparking increasing bitterness in Ankara.

Erdogan, who has sought to build closer relations with key Arab and Asian states during his presidency, said Turkey had alternatives to the EU.

"In the period ahead of us, either we will develop our relations with the EU and finally get on this road or we will find a new road for ourselves," he said.

"We prefer to build a new Turkey together with our European friends. We will now await our European friends' decision."
U.S. lawmakers are wary of China's business "shopping spree." (Photo : Getty Images)

China continues its shopping spree as more Chinese companies buy out firms overseas, leaving the United States wary.



According to the Business Insider, U.S. legislators are troubled at the rate of how Chinese companies are going on a record-breaking series of acquisitions, particularly American companies that are involved in developing technologies.



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What is more interesting is that this trend is expected to continue, according to Henry McVey of the private-equity company KKR.



"Without question, this trip's dominant view centered on the desire by many Chinese business leaders to acquire companies, properties, and experiences outside of China," he said in a statement cited by the Business Insider.



China's Shopping Spree



According to Bloomberg, the Asian giant appears to be "playing the white knight" for U.S. firms that are intent on cashing out their businesses.



"Already this year, Chinese buyers have proved they're willing to pay high prices for U.S. targets--often outbidding domestic suitors--even as equity markets in both countries swing wildly," the outlet noted.



The outlet emphasized that Chinese companies have already spent billions in acquiring over 63 percent of 2015's entire annual acquisition volume.



Among the most notable acquisitions include China's Haier Group Corp. procuring General Electric Co.'s appliance unit in January for $5.4 billion, a hefty amount compared to other bids.



Dan Clivner of the Sidley Austin LLP said that China pursues this course of action because business owners know it can make their money grow bigger domestically.



"Chinese companies are willing to overpay for something in the U.S., because they can grow that business domestically and have access to a market that's able to support the valuation. They're building blocks," he said.



U.S. Worries



According to McVey, a number of the acquisitions are targeted at bringing in more firms "with customer knowledge, global supply chains, distribution networks, and superior intellectual property."



"If we are right, then we should expect more outbound global M&A by China in the near-term as well as more global pricing cuts in the long-term," he added.



This has made American lawmakers worried as Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa deem it a possible threat to national security.



"Because the food and agriculture sectors are part of the nation's critical infrastructure, this merger raises questions about the potential national security implications," Grassley was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.



Grassley's concerns were centered at ChemChina's bid to acquire the Swiss seed-making firm Syngenta, whose biotech division is based in the U.S.






It's yes to glass and crafts, but no to dance and contemporary arts, as a bittersweet week in the arts world draws to a close.

Canberra Glassworks and Craft ACT were the big Canberra winners in Friday's announcement of the latest round of Australia Council funding, with both receiving funding for the next four years.

From left, Louise Baker of Newtown, Sabrina Baker of Dickson and David Broker of Reid. Credit:Melissa Adams

But the local arts community is reeling at the news that Canberra Contemporary Art Space was not successful, and will now have to look elsewhere for crucial funding in the coming years.

Director David Broker said CCAS was shocked to lose almost $70,000 a year in funding, even though arts organisations should never be too reliant on government money.
The team behind Homemade Canberra has announced plans for their new venture, called The Local Larder, overlooking Glebe Park in the heart of the city.

Julie Nichols and Rachel Evagelou hope to have their new food, wine, retail and tourism hub open by September or October.

The Local Larder will have a "Can-dustrial'' feel, mixing Canberra heritage with warm, natural textures and materials.

The Local Larder will be located in the old "Rivers" building outside the Canberra Centre, opposite Glebe Park. The building was also once home to The Holy Grail nightclub.

"The spiral staircase from The Holy Grail will be the only thing you'll be able to recognise," Rachel said, with a laugh.
China's crackdown on human rights lawyers is a violation of basic rights, says Human Rights Watch. (Photo : Getty Images)

Amid Chinas crackdown on those who challenge its system, Chinese human rights lawyers face life in jail as their families move on with their lives.



Wang Quanzhang, one of the human rights lawyers who were detained last year, is still in jail since July last year while his 3-year-old son is asking his mother where his father went.



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In a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Li Wenzu, Wang's wife, described how hard it was to explain to their toddler what really happened to his father.



"My son always asks me, 'Where's Dad? Where did he go? How come he hasn't come back yet?' He's just a three-year-old boy, I can't tell him that Dad's been detained because of some cases he was working on," she told the outlet.



"So I just tell a white lie--I say he's away for work and he thinks about you all the time," she added.



Detention



Ten months ago, over 200 human rights lawyers and advocates were taken into custody and detained or "incitement to subversion" and "subversion of state power."



China Digital Times reported that while most of them have been released, they remain under constant surveillance and harassment.



Those who were kept in detention were not allowed to speak to their families.



"No one's been able to see him, there's been no information on his condition. If he's been tortured, we don't have the faintest clue," Li told ABC.



Wang was among several human rights attorneys who were detained in July 2015 and was finally charged in January this year.



According to BBC News, seven lawyers who were employees at the Fengrui law firm in Beijing might face at least 15 years imprisonment should they be proven guilty of "subversion."



Violation of Human Rights



While they were seen by their clients as champions for defending their rights, China appears to have neglected the human rights lawyers' own basic rights.



The Human Rights Watch has already urged Chinese authorities to "release and drop the charges" for the remaining rights advocates who are held under detention.



According to the organization, Chinese law dictates that the prosecutor's office should have already decided whether or not to extend the lawyers' pretrial detentions.



"China's trumped-up cases against 18 rights advocates make President Xi Jinping's claims of embracing the rule of law ring hollow," said HRW's China director Sophie Richardson. "The detainees have been denied key legal protections by being accused of bogus offenses, not having access to family and counsel, and being held in secret."



HRW also noted how some of the detainees were humiliated in public by broadcasting interrogations and have been denied access to their lawyers that left them "vulnerable to ill-treatment in detention."






Police have arrested a man who tried to block the demolition of a neighbouring Mr Fluffy property.

Leo Carvalho was taken into custody on Friday afternoon, after the 71-year-old tried to prevent a truck carrying a skip bin full of asbestos material from leaving a Lyons street, his son Ben Carvalho said.

Leo Carvalho is taken into police custody on Friday, May 13.

Police were initially called to 4 Barrow Place on Thursday after Leo Carvalho tried to stop contractors accessing his neighbour's house about 7am.

The grandfather had vowed to stand in the way of the trucks until the ACT Asbestos Taskforce addressed concerns around how the demolition was being carried out, but Ben Carvalho said the situation was defused after residents were promised contractors would start work on the site later in the day, at 10am.
We probably all get the point that, in terms of cranking up the AFL media rights money, market presence in NSW and Queensland was an issue.

Stirred to action, or more precisely, reaction, Gold Coast CEO Tony Cochrane said Matthews' contention lacked for common sense, and that, sans Suns, the current AFL coverage deal value could have been harpooned by as much as $500 million, which quickly escalated to $750 million, and then, achieving the apex of his orbit, Cochrane arrived at the nice round figure of a billion dollars. It was a heck of a journey, but you'd hate him giving catering estimates for a family function.

It started when Leigh Matthews took to the Channel Seven airwaves and expressed the opinion that there wasn't the market support for two AFL teams in Queensland.

But, basically, anyone on the cheque-book end of a media deal with the AFL who thought there was $1 billion worth of value in the Suns alone should probably have the cheque-book taken away, and probably any pens in the office. And then the office.

Also, you don't hear much talk about Matthews lacking common sense. Well, sure, when he's providing expert comments in the electronic media, has his rules committee hat on, and an umpire does something more than usually avant-garde, Matthews always does that affable, verbal tap-dance where he tries to explain that the ump's call was technically valid, as opposed to a disturbing gateway into another dimension.

But that's just accepted as one of footy's treasured running gags. Beyond that, Matthews' common sense is considered a shade more solid than granite.

Cochrane also suggested if the idea was Gold Coast and Brisbane were "cannibalising" the same area, the same must be true of Geelong and the clubs based in Melbourne. Well, this is obviously an outstandingly goofy comparison. We know that, Matthews knows that, and roughly 30 seconds after he said it, presumably so did the Suns CEO.
ANZ and Westpac, including its subsidiaries St George, Bank of Melbourne and Bank of South Australia, will join Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, ING Direct, Macquarie Bank and credit union payments provider Cuscal as the first to offer Visa, MasterCard and eftpos on Android Pay.

Fred Ohlsson, ANZ's head of retail and commercial banking in Australia, said the Android equivalent would be turned on "mid this calendar year  that is still the plan with Google".

ANZ stole a march on its competitors by launching Apple Pay earlier this month . On Thursday, Fred Ohlsson, ANZ's head of retail and commercial banking in Australia, said the Android equivalent would be turned on "mid this calendar year  that is still the plan with Google".

ANZ and Westpac are completing plans with global technology giant Google to launch Android Pay in Australia in the next couple of months, while ANZ is preparing to unveil a new mobile point-of-sale device to compete with Commonwealth Bank's Albert terminal in the second half of the year.

MasterCard's global chief innovation officer, Garry Lyons, said earlier this month that the launch of Android Pay could be more significant for the future payments infrastructure than Apple Pay given the myriad devices they would work on in comparison to Apple's.

In an interview at the opening of ANZ's new Martin Place branch  which resembles one of Apple's retail stores with its three-storey glass frontage, light timber interior, feature staircase and elevated tables for customers to explore products  Mr Ohlsson said ANZ was close to revealing a new contactless, merchant terminal. It will be launched in the second half of this calendar year.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia was the first of the major banks to create its own modern, eftpos terminal with its Albert device, built with Wincor Nixdorf. So far, there are 25,000 Alberts in circulation, compared to around 800,000 point of sale terminals in Australia. The Albert is a wireless, seven-inch Android tablet with touch screen.

But Mr Ohlsson suggested that the new ANZ device would be smaller than an iPad and could be worn in a holster. "We think it will be more relevant and usable [than Albert] but time will tell," Mr Ohlsson said. "In a restaurant or on a shop floor, you might not want to carry a tablet around with you, but if you have something in a holster then it is with you the whole time.

"We are talking to lots of large retailers about that now. Everything we do now has to be mobile, and it has to be contactless," he said.
When the opening line of 7-Eleven's press release turned out to be a blatant lie it didn't bode well for what came next.

On Wednesday the scandal-ridden convenience store giant issued a misleading statement that head office and the Allan Fels Wages Panel had agreed to "transition" to an internal unit within 7-Eleven. In other words it wants to do it itself and it wants us to trust it to do it better than an independent panel led by Fels, the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

This is coming from a company that is battling a crisis in confidence, and a track record of years of underpayment of wages by its franchisees and a board that never acted on it.

Its current chairman, Michael Smith, who says he was put into the chairman's role to "fix it and clean it up" has been on the board since 1999. He was there when Fair Work conducted three separate raids on dozens of stores between 2008 and 2014, each time finding serious payroll issues.
Wall Street bankers celebrated last year as mergers and acquisitions reached the highest level ever, topping even pre-crash 2007. This year, M&A is hitting a more dubious record: deals gone bust.

Of the $US5 trillion ($6.8 billion) in transactions that were announced in 2015, almost 10 per cent - $US504 billion - have since been terminated. Wednesday was especially bad for bankers as two mergers valued at a combined $US21 billion collapsed.

As big deals have been terminated, bankers working on the transactions have watched billions of dollars in potential fees evaporate. Credit:AP

The latest cancelled deals mean 2015 has been stripped of its title as the biggest year for dealmaking, dropping to $US4.06 trillion compared with 2007's $US4.09 trillion.

The companies and their bankers can blame themselves for some of the failures, said Ira Gorsky, an analyst with Jersey City, New Jersey-based Elevation. Deals have grown so large, and in already consolidated industries, as to provoke the wrath of aggressive antitrust enforcers.
While Zuckerberg said the company found no evidence that the report the company suppressed conservative viewpoints was true, it will take steps to address problems if the probe uncovers anything against its principles. Danger is real The question isn't whether Facebook has outsize power to shape the world - of course it does, and of course you should worry about that power. If it wanted to, Facebook could try to sway elections, favour certain policies, or just make you feel a certain way about the world, as it once proved it could do in an experiment devised to measure how emotions spread online. There is no evidence Facebook is doing anything so alarming now. The danger is nevertheless real. The biggest worry is that Facebook doesn't seem to recognise its own power, and doesn't think of itself as a news organisation with a well-developed sense of institutional ethics and responsibility, or even a potential for bias. Neither does its audience, which might believe that Facebook is immune to bias because it is run by computers.

That myth should die. It's true that beyond the Trending box, most of the stories Facebook presents to you are selected by its algorithms, but those algorithms are as infused with bias as any other human editorial decision. "Algorithms equal editors," said Robyn Caplan, a research analyst at Data & Society, a research group that studies digital communications systems. "With Facebook, humans are never not involved. Humans are in every step of the process - in terms of what we're clicking on, who's shifting the algorithms behind the scenes, what kind of user testing is being done, and the initial training data provided by humans." Everything you see on Facebook is therefore the product of these people's expertise and considered judgment, as well as their conscious and unconscious biases apart from possible malfeasance or potential corruption. It's often hard to know which, because Facebook's editorial sensibilities are secret. So are its personalities: Most of the engineers, designers and others who decide what people see on Facebook will remain forever unknown to its audience. Facebook also has an unmistakable corporate ethos and point of view. The company is staffed mostly by wealthy coastal Americans who tend to support Democrats, and it is wholly controlled by a young billionaire who has expressed policy preferences that many people find objectionable. Zuckerberg is for free trade, more open immigration and for a certain controversial brand of education reform. Instead of "building walls," he supports a "connected world and a global community." You could argue that none of this is unusual. Many large media outlets are powerful, somewhat opaque, operated for profit, and controlled by wealthy people who aren't shy about their policy agendas - Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, Fox News and The New York Times, to name a few.

Which editorial guidelines? But there are some reasons to be even more wary of Facebook's bias. One is institutional. Many mainstream outlets have a rigorous set of rules and norms about what's acceptable and what's not in the news business. "The New York Times contains within it a long history of ethics and the role that media is supposed to be playing in democracies and the public," Caplan said. "These technology companies have not been engaged in that conversation." According to a statement from Tom Stocky, who is in charge of the trending topics list, Facebook has policies "for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality" of the items that appear in the trending list. But Facebook declined to discuss whether any editorial guidelines governed its algorithms, including the system that determines what people see in News Feed. Those algorithms could have profound implications for society. For instance, one persistent worry about algorithmic-selected news is that it might reinforce people's previously held points of view. If News Feed shows news that we're each likely to Like, it could trap us into echo chambers and contribute to rising political polarisation. In a study last year, Facebook's scientists asserted the echo chamber effect was muted.

But when Facebook changes its algorithm - which it does routinely - does it have guidelines to make sure the changes aren't furthering an echo chamber? Or that the changes aren't inadvertently favouring one candidate or ideology over another? In other words, are Facebook's engineering decisions subject to ethical review? Nobody knows. Powerful black box The other reason to be wary of Facebook's bias has to do with sheer size. Caplan notes that when studying bias in traditional media, scholars try to make comparisons across different news outlets. To determine if The New York Times is ignoring a certain story unfairly, look at competitors like The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. If those outlets are covering a story and The Times isn't, there could be something amiss about the Times' news judgment. Such comparative studies are nearly impossible for Facebook. Facebook is personalised, in that what you see on your News Feed is different from what I see on mine, so the only entity in a position to look for systemic bias across all of Facebook is Facebook itself. Even if you could determine the spread of stories across all of Facebook's readers, what would you compare it to? "Facebook has achieved saturation," Caplan said. No other social network is as large, popular, or used in the same way, so there's really no good rival for comparing Facebook's algorithmic output in order to look for bias.
Nestle Australia directors said the 2015 results were "in line with management's expectations" and reflected the benefits of cost-cutting programs flowing through. Net profit after tax for 2015 was $179.1 million, compared with $104.5 million in 2014.

The sharp 71 per cent jump in annual profits in calendar 2015 became a more modest 15 per cent rise once one-off impairments of $51 million, which dragged down the 2014 financial results, were factored in.

Nestle Australia, which sells Nespresso, Kit Kat, Maggi, Milo and Purina pet food, made a big jump in annual profits and sent an even higher sum in dividends to its Swiss parent. Actor George Clooney has been a figurehead.

The company, which also makes Allen's confectionery, Milo, Nescafe and Purina pet food, is one of the biggest suppliers to supermarket giants Coles and Woolworths, which are engaged in a fierce battle for market share as Woolworths slashes everyday shelf prices as part of an attempted revival strategy.

Nestle Australia, maker of Uncle Tobys, Kit Kat, Maggi and Nespresso, produced a big jump in annual profits to $179 million and sent an even higher amount of $187 million in dividends offshore to its parent in 2015.

The rising profits at Nestle Australia and the fat $187 million in dividends paid to the Swiss parent come against the backdrop of claims by Coles that multi-national food and grocery suppliers were treating Australia like 'Treasure Island', charging consumers premium prices to boost profits and fund their offshore operations. Although just this week bread and smallgoods maker George Weston Foods hit back, saying its margins were being squeezed by ongoing pricing pressure from the majors.

The 2015 financial statements lodged with the corporate regulator by Nestle Australia show that for the 12 months ended December 31, 2015, sales revenue increased by 3.7 per cent to $2.11 billion. Profit before tax was $261 million against $180 million in 2014.

Nestle Australia paid $81.5 million in tax in 2015, up from $75.2 million. The amount of tax being paid in Australia by multi-national firms has became a major political issue with companies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft in the spotlight in Australia. The Federal Government led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised to do more to ensure multi-nationals are paying their fair share of tax. Nestle operates nine factories in Australia and employs close to 4000.

The financial statements also detail that during calendar 2015 a total of $187 million was paid in three tranches of dividends to the parent company. They comprised a $48 million final dividend paid on April 22, 2015, a $93 million interim dividend paid on August 24, 2015 and a $46 million interim dividend paid on December 17, 2015. The company also said that a final dividend from 2015 had been declared after the December 31, 2015 balance date of $32 million.

Nestle Australia is run by chief executive Trevor Clayton and its non-executive chairman is Elizabeth Proust, a former executive with ANZ Bank who is chairman of the Bank of Melbourne, owned by Westpac.
The company was set up by Mossack Fonseca to explore development of an estimated $20 billion Siberian gold mine called Sukhoi Log, but Turnbull has said that he didn't know it was incorporated by the law firm, and since the company didn't make a profit, it didn't pay tax. Still, the use of a British Virgin Islands company, while completely legal and common at the time, poses questions about why have limited visibility? He and Mr Wran resigned from Star Mining and Star Technology in September 1995. The Prime Minister also responded to allegations Star Technologies had made donations to Russian politicians. Turnbull's spokesman told Fairfax Media the Prime Minister was not aware of any such donations in the time "during or prior to" being a director. On Friday Turnbull told ABC Radio's Jon Faine  "I have always paid tax in Australia. I have paid tax on all of my investment income, I always have done. I've always paid a lot of tax."

He continued spruiking government's diverted profits tax to hit multinationals  which the the federal budget papers estimated would raise an $3.9 billion over four years, as well as $678 million for the ATO to establish a tax avoidance taskforce with almost 400 new staff. Turnbull is not the only politician facing heat as a result of the Panama Papers. The more than 11 million files over a period from 1977 through to December 2015, which were leaked to a German newspaper and then shared with the ICIJ, has shown links with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the king of Saudi Arabia and Iceland's former prime minister. Cameron, who immediately moved to publish his own tax affairs to fend off media, has also promised a cross-agency task force to investigate the revelations concerning Britain in the Panama Papers.

At Cameron's global anti-corruption summit in London this week  where he came under heat for not inviting representatives from jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands  he pledged an agency to return stolen assets to countries including Nigeria, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Tunisia. Following the Panama Papers there have been calls for governments to make it illegal for people to conceal their relationships with offshore "shell companies"  those with no apparent operations, employees or physical assets. The papers, based on leaked Mossack Fonseca files, highlight the problem of authorities being unable to find the true beneficial owners of companies registered in no-tax or low-tax jurisdictions. Even Mossack Fonseca itself was unaware of the true beneficial owners of companies at times. In April, Assistant Treasurer, Kelly O'Dwyer told the Guardian that Australia would establish a public registry of beneficial ownership. "It does improve transparency. It means that the public and law enforcement agencies know who ultimately controls the company," she said.

But the final wording that came out from the Australian government following Mr Cameron's summit was more vague: "Australia is committed to exploring, via public consultation, options for a beneficial ownership register for companies," its statement on Australia's commitments said. Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh warns against a backdown: "The government will be behind the G20 if it does this," he says. He likened the potential backdown to what the Liberals did on Labor's tax transparency laws that required the tax details of private companies with over $100 million turnover to be publicly published. In the end, following intense lobbying from business, Treasurer Scott Morrison did a deal with the Greens, and the measure was watered down to only impact companies with over $200 million turnover. "It's like we are watching the same movie all over again," Leigh says. Leigh on Friday called on the Prime Minister to "come forward and give an open and transparent answer to a range of questions to do with his dealings with the British Virgin Islands".

"Simply put, the Prime Minister ought to tell Australians whether he considers the British Virgin Islands to be a tax haven. He should answer the question as to why an ASX-listed firm, with an interest in a Siberian gold mine, needed to set up in the British Virgin Islands. He needs to account to Australians as to the briefings that he was provided during his time as director, as to the tax and revenue implications of setting up in the British Virgin Islands. "If it's good enough for David Cameron to front the British press and give a full account of his late father's dealings with Mossack Fonseca, it's good enough for Malcolm Turnbull." Mark Zirnsak, from the Tax Justice Network, agrees that while Mr Turnbull has not been involved in anything illegal, "it's not a good look". Zirnsak says there needs to be strong definition of beneficial ownership and that the register needs to be backed by strong offences.
Uyghur Life Persists in Kashgar Amid Growing Tension in Restive Xinjiang Province (Photo : Getty Images)

Eli Yasin, a resident of Chaghraq township, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, was sentenced by a court to a seven-year prison term for watching a movie. The film that the Uighur man viewed was about Muslim migration.



Sending Yasin to jail would also prevent him from going overseas and joining a jihad or holy war, reported Radio Free Asia. He was arrested in 2015, but a village official denied the governments accusation that Yasin planned to become a jihadist.



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Hesen Eysa, Karasu Village security chief, pointed out that Yasin and the rest of his family members are all aged 40 and above. They are a clan of farmers, and typical of those engaged in agriculture, were hard up financially and could barely survive or send their children to school.



Besides Yasin, his two sisters and their husbands, who live in Toxula Town, were also arrested. The name of the film that Yasin watched is unknown. No details have been provided about the movie, according to RFA.



They showed no sign of opposing the government. At least I ever saw any signs of this, said Eysa, who added that as security chief of the village, he would have a difficult time explaining Yasins arrest and the government accusation of the mans alleged plot to join a jihad.



A number of Uighurs are suspected as sympathizers of the Islamic State. This has led to several crackdowns against them. In December 2015, a raid was conducted leading to the death of 28 suspected militants in the hands of Chinese paramilitary forces. Because the Uighurs are a predominantly Muslim Turkic minority, which is the majority of the population in Xinjiang, many residents complain of discrimination and marginalization by China.






Most Australians assume if they get embroiled in a serious problem and can't afford a lawyer the state will provide one for them. They're mostly wrong. Legal aid funding is now so scarce that even most of those living below the poverty line are not eligible.

That's why, at the start of Law Week, the legal profession is today launching the Legal Aid Matters campaign, which will be marked by rallies of lawyers across the country. Every year our courts are filling with more people who have been forced to represent themselves. It puts huge stress on the individual, clogs up the court system and impedes justice. More worrying still are the cases in which people simply opt to ignore their legal issue until, generally, it gets much worse.

Many Australians are left to fend for themselves in court due to the restrictions on who is eligible for legal aid. Credit:Fairfax

Money has been hemorrhaging from the system since 1997 when the federal government decided it would only directly fund legal aid services for Commonwealth law matters.

The states have not been able to pick up the slack, meaning the problem has been deepening for two decades. Today, Australia's legal aid funding per capita is half that of comparable countries like the UK which, it should be remembered, has recently been through harsh austerity measures.
Such voters know that a significant minority in the party hate the Coalition policy. But while they believe that a majority is chastened by Labor's past failures and is determined to atone, they might think Labor simply less better. The obvious determination of Shorten to hold firm may be reassurance enough, particularly given that the issue is hardly in their face every day. That's the beauty of having the asylum-seekers rotting on islands thousands of kilometres away, only occasionally nagging our consciences when there is some act of self-harm, or cruelty or mismanagement by the authorities. Single mother of two Melinda confronts Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:Andrew Meares Labor does not expect that anyone will convert to Labor because of its boat-people policies. At best, it hopes that the fact there is not a cigarette paper's difference between Labor and Liberal on the subject means it will not actuate anti-Labor votes. The chances are that there are at least as many Australians who would vote for Labor if it had a more compassionate policy, as there are who would vote against Labor unless its policy mirrored the Coalition. More than anything, that is the source of the voting strength of the Greens. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and wife Chloe during a visit to Frenchville State School in Rockhampton, Queensland. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But, Labor realists think, those who vote Greens must end up preferencing Labor before the Coalition. Why? In part because Labor stands ideologically between them and the Coalition. But they recognise too that at least some Labor people would like to be more compassionate, even if they lack the guts to say so, or to rebel against their party's policy. While Shorten is leader, this sentimentality is misplaced. Voting for, or preferencing Labor, is no less likely to cause a continuation of refugee policy than voting for the Coalition. If the lily-livered types that Malcolm Turnbull or the Coalition claim will seek to undermine the policy were in the least bit effectual, they would have succeeded by now. Actually one thing which could further assist Shorten on the issue is by capitalising on a strong feeling, on both sides of politics, that Turnbull, given his druthers, would be rather less gung-ho on refugee policy than he pretends to be. While Turnbull did nothing disloyal on refugee policy while Abbott was prime minister, an impression was created that on this, as well as national security policy, one could expect to see a more tolerant, liberal and humane approach under a Turnbull government. But any such hope was dashed almost immediately after the party turned to Turnbull when it despaired of Abbott. Turnbull agreed that the policy was drastic, and perhaps distasteful. But he argued that it was absolutely necessary, if only to save people from drowning. He has tended to portray himself as the humanitarian, saving foolish boat people from themselves, rather than as the person responding to those who simply hate uninvited guests, or Muslims, or people not like us.

This is a later-found justification for the Coalition's policy  it began with simple opposition to uncontrolled entry of strangers. But it has become a handy refuge for those (not including Abbott) on both sides of politics for whom the moral considerations about ill-treatment of refugees weigh heavily. Turnbull's hard line on refugees is all of a one with other unexpected hard lines, including the continuation of policies on same-sex marriage, appeasement of moral conservatives on school bullying programs, climate change and the republic. As even the man he vanquished has commented, Turnbull has changed few Abbott-era policies and has, so far at least, done little to impose policies rather more consistent with his moral and economic liberalism. Always an object of suspicion to his own party's right wing, he has squandered much of the goodwill from the centre and left that he had enjoyed up to the time he took power, by his efforts to appease people he can never hope to please. Turnbull and Shorten will be working hard to maintain voter interest over a long, drawn-out campaign. But it is with issues such as refugee policy  and perhaps same-sex marriage and action on climate change  that there are already clear signs of why this is as much an election about character as about policy or philosophies. Turnbull is a quite different character and personality from Abbott. He is less divisive, more serene, and, if by personality transplant, more consultative, steady and more open to argument, more likely to listen. He promised to treat the electorate with respect, and with argument rather than slogans. But he has clearly disappointed many of those who were initially delirious when he replaced Abbott.

First there was the failure to change unpopular policies and styles. Just as big a problem was a style of appearing to dither on economic policy, particularly over taxation options and, it seemed, a tendency to run away from hard decisions. His Treasurer, Scott Morrison, has struggled in any event, but, on a number of occasions, has worked hard to put hard policy options on to the public agenda, only to see Turnbull frightened off by immediate reaction from the public or the lobbies. Turnbull, like Donald Trump, has commanded a certain respect for having become richer during his business career, but this has not seemed to make him more self-confident in economic management. Moreover, he has at times seemed merely the crude politician, using arguments he knows to be specious (for example over the impact of reverse gearing proposals). His very taking of power seemed to act as an economic stimulus. But actual economic management has seemed more patchy, particularly when a good deal of economic commentary, particularly from the Reserve Bank, has put the focus on a more activist fiscal policy. Talk of adapting the economy towards innovation and the new economy has seemed to come up short against CSIRO cuts, continuing problems with education funding, and a failure to deliver on infrastructure funding. NBN, his own responsibility as communications minister, is a negative for the government. Turnbull had a big reputation even before he went into politics. He was a successful lawyer and businessman, and the leading proponent for the republic. There, and later as a Howard minister, he exuded calm self-confidence, but also passionate belief in matters such as water policy, the environment and climate change. People came to believe in him. Few do now, because he does not seem to stand for anything. At most they respect him. People then thought that they knew him. Even when he messed up, as he did spectacularly over Godwin Grech, he retained respect. He has fostered the legend that his demise, to Abbott, as opposition leader, involved high principle, particularly over climate change.

At this early stage of the election campaign Turnbull's problems are not about particular policies or programs, of style, the state of the economy or whether the Coalition is thought to have delivered. More important is his very authenticity. Is this the real Turnbull on display? Or is it merely a wax cut-out, parroting Abbott policies if in a slightly more competent way? If the latter, was the changeover worth the effort, and the grief? Does the failure to impose his own personality and philosophy on his government reflect some sort of Faustian bargain, whereby he achieved status by promising to change nothing? Or is it a courage matter? Does it reflect an actual want of ideas  an unexpected and disappointing incapacity to be the sort of leader he seemed to be? It's not merely a matter of who the "real" Malcolm is. It's also a question of whether he has abiding ideas, ideals and philosophy. Whether, indeed, he still has passion for the things that once seemed to matter. If voters come to see him as a fake, perhaps as someone who sold his soul to get into the Lodge, he can neither hope to maintain the support of his party nor of the electorate.

There are role models for such failure. There's Harold Holt who wanted everyone to like him. There's Billy McMahon, duplicitous, conspiratorial and incapable of inspiring. There's Andrew Peacock and Brendan Nelson, politicians who tried to be all things to all people, chameleons who ultimately departed the scene without leaving any lasting impression at all. Turnbull is already campaigning rather more for conservative than middle ground, in effect against a suspicious and unfriendly right in his own party. His supporters will argue, no doubt, that he can be "himself" only after he has won an election in his own right, and that he must "respect" the achievements and programs of Abbott. But a Turnbull who wins election on that basis has no licence to change, and won't be allowed to. Shorten himself has substance and authenticity problems. He too had a career before politics, and has wielded great power. But unlike Turnbull, his rise occurred without the public's gaining much feel for him, for his character, philosophy, ideas, ideals or instincts. What they know, particularly about how he used his union leadership to advance his own interests, hardly inspires confidence. Shorten can mouth zingers, slogans, thoughts for the day, and off-the-stump declarations of how he is a champion of the working class, but is not much for faking sincerity or for inspiring. Doggedness is his highest virtue. There's no doubt that Shorten is, like Turnbull, competent enough for the routine administration of government, for rationing resources, at helping draw up budgets, and in chairing meetings. He was an able enough minister, and, as Leader of the Opposition has done a fairly good job in drafting policies for the campaign, and, significantly, in out-flanking the Coalition on economic management. The real question is whether either Turnbull or Shorten can chart a course for 10 years hence, for a time when, perhaps, they are still prime minister.

Like Turnbull, Shorten is fine on his feet, even if he too is a poor speech reader and is better off the cuff. Like Turnbull, Shorten is actively disliked by most of his colleagues, not least for a long history of ruthless and remorseless self-interest, betrayals and abuse of friendships. When he falls, which may be long off, it will be far and he will not be much mourned by colleagues. He is not so actively disliked by the public  although Coalition campaigning on his union record will not help. But he has yet to develop the confidence or the rapport that Bob Hawke did, and Paul Keating, and Kim Beazley heavens, even Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard did. He's been Leader of the Opposition for three years. But no one yet could associate him with any abiding idea or explain what he's really about. All we sense is that he is not really passionate about anything he says he is passionate about. If Shorten or Turnbull are destined to be great, it is not yet apparent. It should have been by now. The poem for the election, so far, is about two apparently hollowed-out men. We are the hollow men We are the stuffed men

Leaning together Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! Our dried voices, when We whisper together Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass Or rats' feet over broken glass In our dry cellar Shape without form, shade without colour, Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom Remember us if at all not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollow men
Sarah Tomasetti's 'Tian Shan II' in her exhibition 'Influxus' at Beaver Galleries.

In other words, she was inducted into the traditions of fresco painting  that is, painting murals on walls, generally on wet gesso  a tradition that goes back to ancient Pompeii and one that attracted the greatest talents in Italian Renaissance painting, including Giotto, Michelangelo and Leonardo. Although fresco painting later declined in the West, it continued in the Byzantine East and survives through to the present, remaining a living tradition in the Orthodox diaspora in Australia.

Tomasetti has adapted this technique to make small, easel-size paintings, like neat fragments of wall on which she has painted spectacular mountain scenery. The layer of gesso, technically termed the "intonaco layer", is worked when it is dry in the "secco" manner, staining the surface with oil pigments, outlining forms with pencil and sometimes treating the surface with wax encaustic. It is a very beautiful technique with a subdued palette and a rich glowing inner luminosity.

For her subject matter, Tomasetti has travelled Mount Gongga (the highest peak in Sichuan province, known locally as Minya Konka) in China, with its glorious snow-capped summit at about 7000 metres. Located between the Dadu and Yalong rivers, it is a dangerous and beautiful mountain that has a rich tradition in mythology.

Tomasetti is a romantic in temperament and she notes: "My relationship to landscape is an emotional one. I seek out locations and subjects that have traditionally been the vector of romantic longings and re-examine them through a lens inevitably loaded with dread of the rapid melt". Central to her practice is the concept of global warming, and as the great snow caps melt and disintegrate, she draws a parallel with the natural cracking found in the fresco surface. She continues: "Each work is an exploration of the complex interplay between the painted landscape and the fractal patterning that emerges randomly within the fresco skin."
VISUAL ARTS

LAND OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE  ARTHUR STREETON in the Western District

Until June 13

JAM FACTORY ICON  GILES BETTISON: PATTERN AND PERCEPTION

Until May 29

Geelong Art Gallery, Little Malop Street, Geelong

For city dwellers, the chromatic richness of even the most unprepossessing bit of Australian bush can be a profound experience: the visual pleasure in subtle details of rocks, leaf and bark, and the heady feeling of light and space, can result in non-specific feelings of loss and longing.

Cliff and Ocean Blue, 1932, oil on canvas by Arthur Streeton, from the Geelong Art Gallery collection. Credit:George Stawicki

Just such awareness of an almost national estrangement from remote Australia figures in separate shows of work, on concurrent display for just a short time.

Tonal colourist Arthur Streeton (1867-1943) achieved early success as one of the Heidelberg School of Australian Impressionists, was an official war artist in Europe during World War I, won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 1928 (for Afternoon Light, Goulburn Valley) and was knighted for his services to art in 1937.
Stuck in a rut? Guilty of procrastination? Susan Elderkin has a novel to fix that. Wasting time in a dud relationship? She has a book for that sorry predicament too. Daddy's girl? Jane Austen's Emma might be the tonic. Toothache? Apply Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

For Elderkin, a self-described bibliotherapist, there is not a modern day malaise or personal drama, big or small, that cannot be bandaged by a well-selected novel.

Self-described bibliotherapist Susan Elderkin.

British-born Elderkin this week joins the Sydney Writers' Festival as its resident "book doctor", conducting 10-minute literary healing sessions for reader/patients in emotional knots.

Readers have long snapped up non-fiction self-help guides to aid motivation, healing and recovery.
Friday's appearance in a local mall in the Adelaide seat of Hindmarsh had added interest after Tony Abbott's former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, criticised Mr Turnbull for aborting a similar event in Penrith after a train wreck press conference earlier this week.

After five days on the campaign trail, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ticked off a traditional task of all political leaders: the shopping centre walkabout.

Ms Credlin claimed the PM had appeared "flat-footed" in Penrith.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks to shoppers in Glenelg, Adelaide. Credit:Andrew Meares

"The last thing you want to do, 'Mr Harbourside Mansion', is look like you don't know and you're not welcome in western Sydney," she said.

In Glenelg, Mr Turnbull arrived to a round of applause from locals who had gathered around the waiting media pack.

Mr Turnbull sat down for coffee with Britt Hywood, her four year-old daughter Scarlett and a table of Ms Hywood's friends.
Somebody tell Turnbull and Shorten to tap dance a little faster  they're not capturing our attention. This week's iSentia analysis, which gauges voter engagement with the election campaign, shows neither leader is inspiring voters to either hatred or devotion as much as leaders past.

The volume of mentions of both leaders across social media, which skews left wing, and talkback radio, which skews right wing, is about half what it was at the start of the last election campaign in 2013. Most of the comment on the leaders comes from partisan supporters.

The iSentia survey takes a sample of comments on both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten lifted from Twitter, open Facebook accounts and callers to talkback radio.
Long before he was trade minister, the wily Andrew Robb served as Liberal Party director and led debate negotiations for John Howard's 1996 election campaign.

After 13 years in opposition, the Coalition believed they could beat Paul Keating, and saw the campaign's two election debates as potential turning points.

Both camps fought over the minutiae of the first contest. At the last minute Keating's staff announced he wanted to debate sitting down. Robb refused.
Family First Senator Bob Day has lost his High Court challenge against senate voting reforms, removing the last stumbling block to the federal election.

Senator Day had asked the High Court to declare that the changes were invalid and to prevent the South Australian electoral officer and the federal government from issuing the new ballot papers for the July 2 poll.

The High Court unanimously dismissed the applications made by Senator Bob Day.

The High Court unanimously dismissed his applications on Friday and upheld the reforms, which aim to prevent minor parties from using minor preference deals to turn a small primary vote into a seat.

The changes, which could threaten Senator Day and other crossbench senators' seats, allow voters to number six preferences of parties above the line, or vote below the line by candidate through indicating only their first 12 preferences. Previously all candidates - in some cases more than 100 - had to be ranked.
Dollars and yuan notes are seen at a bank on May 15, 2006, in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

China is considering plans to strengthen tax reporting requirements on foreigners working in the country to help close a massive global loophole.



Under the proposed plan, foreign nationals will need to file extensive reports on internal pricing and costs between overseas and headquarters, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday citing insider sources.



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The proposed requirements are part of China's contribution to a global effort to stamp out the rampant practice of altering the price put on labor, services, or intangible asset transfers within global operations that allow multinational firms to divert profits to low-tax countries, the report said.



"The focus has been shifting from tangible assets to intangible assets," said Paul Tang, a tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, adding that the proposal also targeted overseas payments and royalties.



According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), such profit-shifting practices have led to $100 billion to $240 billion in lost tax revenue annually, which is equivalent to up to 10 percent of corporate income tax revenue worldwide.



China's State Administration of Taxation issued a consultation draft on the proposal at the end of 2015, which stated that multinationals would have to disclose affiliated businesses and how intangible assets, labor, and internal cost transfers were made, an anonymous source told the Post.



"[Internal transfer pricing] is a gray area to utilize loopholes in tax rules between different countries, but now the governments [of those countries] are acting to close the hole," the source said.



The OECD has been urging countries to set universal reporting standards to close the loophole since 2012.



The source said the proposed plan is an attempt to bring China's laws in line with OECD standards.



According to Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the new rules are expected to come into effect retrospectively from Jan. 1, 2016.



The draft has also caused concern among industry observers due to the scope and detail of the documents multinational companies, including those from China, would have to submit to China's tax authorities.



"It would lower the incentive for multinationals to invest in China," the source told the Post.



Jeff Yuan, a transfer pricing services expert with PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that foreign workers face similar regulations elsewhere.



"The extra documentation work is not only happening on the mainland but in major economies as well," he said. "It is the first time that major economies have taken joint action to address the tax avoidance issue amid growing globalization."



Travis Qiu, a tax partner with Ernst & Young, said that Chinese companies eyeing business offshore could find the requirements troublesome due to their lack of experience in the area.



On Wednesday, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said in a taxation report that China is pushing for increased global cooperation to clamp down on tax avoidance and evasion practices.


On Thursday, Ms Credlin - who lost her job when Mr Abbott was replaced - criticised Mr Turnbull's campaign team for appearing elitist after it cancelled a planned street walk in Western Sydney.

As Mr Abbott's chief of staff, Ms Credlin was a commanding and controversial figure at the heart of the Liberal government and, just a few weeks into her new career, her ability to attract controversy shows no sign of diminishing.

Liberal MP Warren Enstch has delivered a stinging rebuke to Tony Abbott's former chief of staff, Peta Credlin, accusing her of sour grapes and possessing a "nasty streak" after the political operative turned media commentator labelled Malcolm Turnbull "Mr Harbourside Mansion".

"If it's known that you were going to do a street walk in Penrith, the last thing you want to do, 'Mr Harbourside Mansion', is look like you don't know and you're not welcome in Western Sydney," she told Sky News.

Warren Entsch says Peta Credlin has a nasty streak and her attack on Malcolm Turnbull smacked of sour grapes. Credit:Andrew Meares

Her comments, coming at the end of the first full week of the federal election, have infuriated Liberal MPs contacted by Fairfax Media, who believe the government can ill-afford such distractions as it highlights divisions within the government over the leadership change last September.

Mr Entsch spoke for many when he expressed his frustration with the comments, which were, he said, "disappointing but not unexpected".

"It just confirms her nasty streak. The party has been good to her for a long time, but under the circumstances, her judgement doesn't hold that much water. She has a credibility issue, whether it's sour grapes or an honest assessment - and most people would say former," he said.
Australian Federal Police are investigating the shooting death of a 34-year-old security contractor at the Australian embassy in Baghdad.

In an incident that will raise significant questions about the security measures for diplomats and the Australian-founded private firm that guards the embassy workers, the former Australian soldier was shot dead early on Thursday morning.

A fellow Australian guard, believed to be a former special forces soldier, was taken to a military base at Baghdad Airport for questioning, sources in Iraq said.

Both worked for the Australian-founded Unity Resources Group, one of the leading security firms in the Middle East, which has faced accusations in recent months of corner-cutting, though the Australian government has vigorously denied those reports.
When he was Liberal leader the first time around, Malcolm Turnbull's temper was a variable as widely discussed as the weather. Credit:Louie Douvis John Howard himself had a not-very-successful initial leadership stint as leader of the opposition. He lost the job to Andrew Peacock in 1989, and did not regain it until 1995; six years of humiliation and reflection, during which time his reign as Australia's most successful contemporary Liberal prime minister was all but unimaginable. Most people around Turnbull  the closest enthusiastically, the farthest far more grudgingly  will tell you that Malcolm Mark II is an improvement on Malcolm Mark I. "There's a significant contrast," says Deputy Liberal Leader and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. "The current Malcolm is very self-assured, very Zen, very good-humoured. Nothing fazes him. He's immune to the media criticisms; he knows what he wants and in his mind he knows where he's going." "Since he became leader, he's been as relaxed and comfortable as he's ever been," says a long-time friend. "He doesn't care about the accoutrements of state  the fancy cars, the people bowing in front of him. It's that he's got the job and he's able to do things." "He's a deal guy," says one close witness to Turnbull's decision-making method in office. "He gets every element of information before he makes a decision. Most politicians look for the information that confirms what they want to do. But what he's doing is making sure he hasn't missed anything."

It's not a typical approach for a political leader. It's more reminiscent of a barrister, building a case, who wants to establish where the weak points lie. Or a merchant banker, doing due diligence on a big deal. Or a CEO, sweeping the area looking for good ideas and clever people. Turnbull has been all of those things. And it remains true that, for him, the dream political manoeuvre is one that incorporates efficiency, elegance, originality and surprise. For these reasons, he likes to have every available option open. He likes to hear all arguments, and will be as engaged by the arguments against a proposition as he is by the arguments for. I ring George Brandis. He is also a barrister, and one of the cabinet members who might occasionally challenge Turnbull's automatic claim to "smartest person in the room" status. I ask him whether Turnbull's "Socratic dialogue approach" to decision-making is unusual for politics. There is a pause. "I'm not sure 'Socratic dialogue' is really quite right," he muses. "It's more of an Aristotelian symposium approach than a Socratic approach." Unsure of my next move, I opt for silence. "He's a very democratic leader," says Brandis, eventually. "Malcolm consciously sees himself as relying on cabinet colleagues to be his counsellors. There's less of a sense of the PMO [Prime Minister's Office] being a hermit kingdom." The term "hermit kingdom" (as I self-loathingly ascertain from Wikipedia five seconds after hanging up the phone) is one applied to "any country, organisation or society which wilfully walls itself off, either metaphorically or physically, from the rest of the world." Usually, it's a term identified with North Korea.

Not everyone's a fan of the Aristotelian symposium. One critic, a Liberal insider, says the real explanation is that Turnbull is just disinclined to make decisions. "In business, the more people you talk to the better. But in politics, talking to more people doesn't necessarily get you a better decision. It might get you a few alternatives that all look plausible and doable and you can afford them, but the final decision is a judgment call. That's politics. And I'm not sure Malcolm is actually a politician." While he was communications minister in the Abbott government, Turnbull was genuinely upset by the degree to which, he believed, the role of cabinet as the government's premier decision-making body was being subsumed by the two-person sub-committee of Tony Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin. Credlin attended cabinet meetings for the first year of the Abbott government; after the "near death experience" of his party's uprising in February 2015, Abbott conducted them without her, in deference to his colleagues' protests. "Meetings actually got shorter after that," says one source. "Ministers thought, instinctively, 'Well what's the point of having long arguments in the cabinet because Abbott will never make a decision without Credlin there.' You'd just leave it 'til after the meeting, and go and see Credlin directly. The good thing about cabinet now is that the people who make the decisions are in the room." The strongest lessons politicians learn are from the mistakes they have personally made in the past. The second strongest are from mistakes they watch others making. And Turnbull learnt from the misadventure of his first period in the Liberal leadership that he needed to be more consultative. "Last time around he was a complete and utter car crash," says another minister. "This time the essence of Malcolm is still there  the deal-maker. But he's very consciously listening to others." This sounds eminently sensible. Who could possibly be against evidence? And reasoned discussion? And learning from mistakes? But the "let's start at the beginning" approach to decision-making  especially on the big stuff  can create some procedural banana skins.

The Prime Minister, anxious to change the tone of political debate in this country, announced early in his term that the government would be taking a from-first-principles look at taxation. Treasury's existing review, which specifically excluded con-sideration of the GST, was sidelined in favour of a broader approach that would consider all options. It would be a proper review, the PM said, with no foolish and premature rulings-out owing to political panic about potentially unpopular measures. Everyone had a view. Treasurer Scott Morrison favoured a "tax-mix switch"  essentially an increase to the GST, offset by income-tax cuts. Treasury, headed by Abbott-era appointment John Fraser, favoured a company-tax cut to increase productivity. But the process was overseen by Martin Parkinson, the former treasury secretary. Parkinson had been hustled out of the job by Abbott, who fancied him as too left-wing. Parkinson, reinstated resplendently by Turnbull last year to head the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, is on record extensively as supporting a shift towards indirect taxes like the GST. The Business Council of Australia, in its submission, advocated an increase in the GST to fund a company-tax cut (a suggestion Turnbull described privately, according to The Australian Financial Review's Laura Tingle, as the "go into the study, get out the service revolver and blow your brains out" option). So many opinions. So much discussion. And with Turnbull engaging warmly with all protagonists, people walked away with different ideas about what his inclinations were. Morrison is accustomed to swift decision-making. His special skill is taking a tough proposition and defending it stoutly. In the first few months of the Turnbull government, he was keen to get cracking. His impression from discussions with Turnbull was that Turnbull shared his preference for increasing the GST and using the proceeds to cut income taxes. As Christmas gave way to January and Turnbull kept talking to people, Morrison became worried that there would be insufficient time to prepare Australians for such a big change. In interviews, he sharpened his defence of a GST increase. But the decision wasn't done and dusted. Backbench fury at the prospect of selling a tax increase, combined with modelling that showed only a moderate boost to economic growth, put Turnbull off the idea and he scotched it publicly. It was an embarrassment for Morrison, who had booked a February appearance at the National Press Club to campaign on the idea, and in the end was obliged to instead deliver a low-key sermon on living within our means.

There are two streams of thought on all this. One defends Turnbull. "Malcolm's view on tax reform was that everything was on the table," says a cabinet minister. "What he didn't factor in was the propensity of people to leak those discussions to the press. There will always be a public servant, no matter how junior, or a colleague, no matter how senior, who can't keep their flapping traps shut. In a naive way, he thought we should really have this discussion  have it internally, then emerge with a clear policy. I think he has been quite shocked to find that you really can't do that." Another cabinet colleague is more brutal, sheeting home the blame to Morrison for jumping the gun. "Scott is yet to learn that he can't be a tabloid player in this job like he was in border protection," says the colleague. "He wants to till the soil, to prepare people, but you can't till the soil before the decision is made." "I just think Scott didn't read Malcolm properly," says one senior bureaucrat. In the intriguing case of Who Killed Tax Reform?, however, Morrison is not without defenders, and they argue Turnbull changes his mind. That he can commit to a course of direction, then revise his view after talking to a new person, sometimes without telling the witnesses to the first decision. There's something called the "Five Metre Rule". As in, are there more than five metres between the point at which an agreement is reached and the microphone at which Turnbull is scheduled to announce it? If there are, and somebody gets in his ear on the walk, you're in trouble. Tensions between treasurers and prime ministers are a common and sometimes even productive feature of government. They usually spring from professional rivalry (the treasurer wants the PM's job), from conflicting objectives (the PM wants to buy the love of the electorate with expensive baubles, the treasurer would rather have a surplus) or from ideological differences. There is no evidence  yet  of a poisonous personal relationship between Turnbull and Morrison. They are like two people in a conversation who stop and start and accidentally talk over each other. The rhythm isn't there. But neither has stopped hoping that it will happen. The mismatch between Turnbull, whose roots are in business, and Morrison, who has the mind of a campaign director, also hints at a broader possibility, lent weight by Turnbull's fondness for ignoring political orthodoxy. Is there a chance that he just isn't that into politics? I mean: obviously he is interested in politics. But he never seems very attracted to the elements of the political process that are grim, grinding and almost always, in the long term, associated with political success: constant repetition of a simple message; the petty administrative brutality of shutting down dissent on one's own side and cauterising outlets for disunity. His office  full of clever people whom Turnbull has collected from different walks of life  is not a command and control centre.
Penshurst Public School, in Banks (Liberal, margin 2.6%), with four in five students from non-English-speaking backgrounds, got about $110,000 over 2014 and 2015 in additional funding, which was used to provide individual support for those students and teacher training in literacy. Penrith mother of nine, Anna Cook. Credit:Peter Rae So it's no surprise that Labor's campaign centrepiece, education policy, plays well in the key seats in Western Sydney where federal elections are won and lost. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has put a relentless focus on education  especially schools  during the first week of the campaign, fronting at schools with new education announceables every day. Labor is betting this pitch plays well with a broad constituency: when you add up teachers, school kids and their extended families  "probably half the population has a deep personal interest in school education", says Peter Goss, from the Grattan Institute. And in the absence of focus on the interests of small business or real estate investors, an emphasis on education is a positive, emotional appeal Labor can make to aspirational voters, who may not have enjoyed a good education but want better for their children.

But does Labor's education push play well enough in those key seats to win it the election? A 'vote-changer' The education union has been laying the groundwork for this election for a long time. A year ago the AEU installed local co-ordinators in marginal Western Sydney seats to run grassroots campaigns  street stalls, school visits, P&C meetings  rallying support for Gonski funding, building networks of principals, parents and teachers whose political antennae could be trained on education policy. ReachTEL polling commissioned by the NSW Teachers Federation last month showed a majority of voters (between 52 and 58 per cent) in Macquarie, Lindsay and four other marginal seats support Gonski-style funding for schools. "Parents have told us this issue is a vote-changer," says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe. "They see the difference Gonski funding is making and they understand the choice between the major parties. Under Labor a school can build on what it has done so far and do more for their child such as cut class sizes or improve literacy and numeracy teaching. Under the Coalition their child will not get the benefits of additional resourcing."

If the Coalition loses 13 seats, it will lose its governing majority. Labor needs 19 to win government. Of the government's 20 most vulnerable seats on margins of less than 5 per cent, more than half are in NSW. And schools are under population growth pressure in those seats. A Fairfax analysis reveals six marginal seats in NSW that have borne the brunt of the state's student boom, recording more than 5 per cent growth in the four years since 2012: Parramatta (Labor), Reid (Coalition), Lindsay (Coalition), Greenway (Labor), Kingsford-Smith (Labor) and Banks (Coalition). In the marginal Labor seat of Parramatta, held by just 1 per cent, student numbers have ballooned more than 12 per cent  3.5 times the state average. In the marginal Coalition seats of Reid and Lindsay, enrolments have swelled by nearly 9 per cent since 2012. Many public schools are overcrowded and perpetually under-resourced. And many have large student populations from non-English-speaking or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, meaning they would attract higher funding injections under the Gonski model.

"For Labor it's a piece of public policy presented as election-winning policy, possibly the key policy differentiating itself from the government. But I'm not sure whether as pure politicking that works," says political historian Dr David Burchell from Western Sydney University. "Education could be a winner but I don't see it unless you've got the economic credibility to persuade the electorate you are actually going to do what you say." Opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis says "Labor will complete the Gonski reforms  which originated from the biggest ever review of Australia's education system and identified a co-ordinated strategy to closing the gaps in achievement between states and territories ... Properly funding our schools is part of it, but it's equally about ensuring resources are targeted to programs and initiatives that we know make a difference." Asked how Labor would ensure accountability and better outcomes from its enormous funding commitment, Ellis said "Labor's investment will be tied to evidence-based programs that are proven to lift student results. This includes improving teaching quality through programs like Targeted Teaching, making sure all STEM teachers are qualified in their subjects and lifting year 12 completion rates."

The education electorate At the centre of all the contestable electorates lies Lindsay on Sydney's western edge, a bellwether seat, won by government of the day since its formation in 1984. It was here that just over three years ago on the pitch of Penrith Panthers stadium that former prime minister Tony Abbott promised "no more cuts to education". A year later he backflipped, withdrawing from the final two years of Gonski funding, sparking the Gonski battle that has played out among teachers, parents and state and federal governments ever since. With voters already dubious about the Coalition's commitment to education, Turnbull's ill-conceived thought bubble in March about the federal government withdrawing altogether from state schools funding didn't help. In Lindsay, the median female is a 34-year-old mother of two. At 3:30pm on Thursday it seems most of them are swarming around Penrith's shopping centre. Among them is 66-year-old Anna Cook, mother of nine, whose youngest has just finished his honours degree. She hopes many of the area's unemployed youth can follow in his footsteps.

"We need funding," she says. "The schools that we have got are adequate but they are not the best, they all need fixing up, classrooms are overcrowded, I hear of 30 kids to a class and that's just too much for one teacher to handle." Lindsay's sitting member, Liberal Fiona Scott, said the government was focused not just on more money but on ensuring money is invested where it can make the most difference to student results. Her opponent is Labor's Emma Husar, a former teacher and mother of three who came to public life when she found her autistic son was not getting the support he needed. "Parent, teacher, and special needs mum  there is the trifecta for Gonski funding really," she says, sandwiched between tables full of the area's ever-growing teenage population.

"One of the reasons I didn't continue with teaching was because there was no money, no resources in the system, it never felt like you were going to achieve anything. You were just marking time for some of these kids, and unless you have the money and resources to do something with them, it makes teaching very very difficult. "We've got a young population that wants to access education. We've door-knocked right across the electorate and overwhelmingly that is the issue that comes to mind when we talk to them." But Western Sydney University's Burchell is not convinced Labor's education campaign will do any more than rally the base. "There's two potential ways for a voter to look at it ... They might think their kid's school is underfunded, they might think this is something we should be spending more on. But they also don't want to pay more taxes, and worry about deficit and public debt. And Labor will have to deal with questions about whether it's fully funded. 'Can we rely on you to do this?' "Anecdotally, the people most excited about this issue are core Labor voters. The state school teachers are probably Labor's single most dedicated base [now]  So my instinct would be that Labor's campaign will be great at solidifying the base and maybe ... to win back some of their losses from last time round, if not at actually winning government."

Could lower funding win the election? The government seems to back Burchell's argument  that Labor might look good on education but that won't be enough to win the election  having apparently conceded education-focused voters to Labor. "For voters who think that more money is the answer, then the Labor party will perhaps be their preferred choice," Education Minister Simon Birmingham says, "but for voters who think that focusing on the basics in schools, elevating ambition around STEM subjects and rewarding our best teachers are the answers, then they naturally will find the Coalition has better policies." If you think that doesn't sound all that different from Ellis and Labor's rhetoric, you're probably right. It's clear that Labor's sustained pressure has shifted the Coalition's rhetoric towards needs-based funding and evidence-based programs, even if it won't commit to the "full Gonski".

The minister moved before the budget to dump the planned deregulation of university fees and promise $1.2 billion in additional schools funding over three years (compared with Labor's $4.5 billion over two) in a move seen as an attempt to neutralise Labor's attack on that ground. The Coalition has been scathing over Shorten's claims that Labor's education policy will boost economic growth in a comparable way to the benefits they claim for their company tax cut. But Birmingham is happy to fight Labor on education policy detail. "I think we're being incredibly transparent about school funding," he says. "In this election people should take comfort from the very open and direct approach that Malcolm Turnbull and I have taken to school funding, which is to honestly say that we don't believe the nation can afford the promises Labor is making, and to have outlined what we think is a generous but affordable trajectory of growth in school funding over the budget forward estimates." "The data is very clear  Australia has been spending increasing sums of money on school education for many years and yet our results have been going backwards. So ... we think that it's essential that we now leverage that investment to get real reform and improved outcomes in schools, because it's quite clear that how we use the record levels of funding is more important than how much more gets tipped in." Education analyst Goss from the Grattan Institute says the best approach would be to improve student performance by redirecting existing funds to where they're most needed. But that's a fight with the wealthier independent schools that no political party wants to pick. "Given the state of the budget, the economically responsible approach is to make some hard trade-offs to ensure the existing school education budget is spent as well as possible," Goss says. "This means shifting money from places or programs where it is wasted to places to where it would make a big difference.
A Sydney University college that drew outrage this week for a journal that "slut shamed" female students is refusing to co-operate with an investigation by the university's administration.

The journal, published by residents of Wesley College, drew widespread condemnation after it labelled female students as "bitches" and "hoes" and named students who had allegedly slept with the most men.

On Friday, the master of Wesley College, Lisa Sutherland, said in a statement that she would not divulge the names of those involved to vice-chancellor Michael Spence.

"Wesley College has informed the vice-chancellor at the University of Sydney that the college is not in a position to provide the names because of its adherence to its policy on privacy," she said.
A property developer and Liberal politician on Sydney's most controversial council has been fined just $3600 for building an apartment block with too many bedrooms.

Auburn City Council has issued the penalty to a company owned by suspended councillor Ronney Oueik, who made millions building and selling units in a complex that breached its development approval.

Former premier Mike Baird on the 2015 campaign trail in Auburn with the party's candidate Ronney Oueik, a former Auburn councillor. Credit:Brendan Esposito

As revealed by Fairfax Media in March, council staff had known for years that there were "irregularities" with Cr Oueik's Station Road complex, where most of the approved two-bedroom units were found to actually contain three bedrooms.

But the council only fined BBC Developments for the "illegal internal non-structural building works" following repeated enquiries by Fairfax Media  and eight years after the council was advised to take legal action against Cr Oueik's company, but did nothing.
The inquest into the deadly Lindt cafe siege has taken an extraordinary turn with army experts urged to come forward to help resolve the "simmering public debate" about their involvement on the night and the adequacy of the police response.

The long-running inquest into the December 2014 siege is examining the police response to the attack, which claimed the lives of cafe manager Tori Johnson and barrister Katrina Dawson as well as gunman Man Haron Monis.

Hostages flee from the Lindt cafe in Martin Place during the early hours of December 16, 2014. Credit:Andrew Meares

But the role that could have been played by the army was a matter of "ongoing and simmering public debate", counsel assisting the inquiry, Jeremy Gormly, SC, said on Friday.

The inquest has heard NSW Police rejected an offer from the army to use a mock-up of the Lindt cafe it had built at Holsworthy Barracks to trial tactics for ending the siege.
A decision by the NSW government to overturn a decades-old ban on uranium exploration to potentially cash in on exports to India has proved a dud after the only company to apply for a licence withdrew.

It comes after Fairfax Media revealed directors of the company, EJ Resources, were former directors of the firm Fifth Element Resources whose shares were suspended by the Australian Securities Exchange after inexplicably rocketing to 40 times their value in 2014.

The NSW government's push to promote uranium exploration has proven a failure. Credit:Glenn Campbell

This valued the company at more than $300 million, despite it not announcing any significant news in relation to four gold and copper exploration licences it holds in western NSW.

The withdrawal of EJ Resources' application means no company is applying for a uranium exploration licence in NSW, four years after the law was changed in 2012.
An animal welfare group has slammed the puppy protection bill passed on Thursday, saying it will do "very little" to stop brutal puppy farming in Queensland.

Dog breeder registration laws were passed in Parliament on Thursday as part of the Palaszczuk government's election commitment to close the door on puppy farms in Queensland.

Animal Liberation Queensland says some illegal puppy farms in Victoria are moving to Queensland because of our "loose" laws.

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Leanne Donaldson said under the legislation all dog breeders, apart from genuine working dog breeders, must register and include their breeder ID on each dog's microchip details as well as display the ID at point of sale.

"This scheme will help identify unregistered breeders and will shut illegal puppy farmers out of the market," she said.
Jute is based in Cairns and one of the very few professional theatre companies operating in regional Queensland. Ms Townsend said all levels of Government needed to recognise the value the arts has to society. "I think the government needs to think really carefully about the fact art is essential for a vibrant society," she said. "Art, and theatre from our point of view, is what makes a civilised society "It doesn't matter where you live or what side of the political fence you sit, the arts holds great value.

"That is the message I would give for the government." Topology's Christa Powell is less confident about the future. Despite having been funded by the Australia Council since 2009, they did not receive funding this round. "It's too early to say (what will happen in the future)," she said. "Of course it is disappointing but I have done my grieving.

"We were on the ground and were told that music was going to cop most of the cuts so I didn't peg a huge amount of hope on it." While also disappointed for her own organisation, Ms Powell said she was disappointed for other music organisations in Queensland who were not successful in their efforts to secure funding. "No music organisation from Queensland and no performance organisation from Queensland has been funded and I am really sad about that," she said. "The representation from Queensland is yet again very disappointing." Queensland received less than half the funding of New South Wales, which received $28 million, while 25 Victorian organisations will share in more than $25 million.

Organisations are able to apply for funding through the Ministry of Arts Catalyst program, but the funding through that system is project based and does not provide organisational funding like the four-year-funding model of the Australia Council. In an unusual move the Confederation of Australian State Theatre companies, whose members include Queensland Theatre Company, Bell Shakespeare, Belvoir, Black Swan, Malthouse, Melbourne Theatre Company, State Theatre Company South Australia and Sydney Theatre Company, and are not part of the four-year-funding process, called on the government to reinstate the Australia Council funding. QTC executive director Sue Donnelly said her company would not be able to survive on the funding model Catalyst provides. "That (organisational funding) for any company whether you are big or small signifies to potential partner that you have that government approval and that makes others want to come to you and support you," she said. "If you don't have that it is so much harder."

Ms Donnelly acknowledged most of the companies would fight for their survival. "Companies do survive," she said. "Artists will keep making work, even if they can't eat they will keep making work." A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Arts said there were mechanisms in place to support organisations who were unsuccessful in achieving funding in this round. "The Ministry for the Arts and the Australia Council will continue to work together to support the arts sector through this period of change," she said.

"We understand the Australia Council will continue to provide support in various forms, responding to the different needs of both individual organisations and practice areas. The details of this transitional support are a matter for the Australia Council. "Catalyst is always open and applications for funding for 2016-17 are currently being assessed. Funding of more than $37 million remains available for eligible projects over the next four years." In a debate between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten, a member of the audience asked a question about arts funding to which Mr Turnbull reiterated his government's commitment to the arts, particularly in regional Queensland. "There has been some money taken from the arts council so that it can be allocated to a wider range of organisations," he said. "The government believes (regional organisations) have been left out because they haven't been connected (to companies in major cities).
Bank of China Takes a Big Bite Out of Big Apple with New Branch

Buildings under construction are reflected on glass at the People's Bank of China office building on Sept. 29, 2007 in Chongqing, China. (Photo : Getty Images)

Bank of China (BoC) is set to move to a larger branch in New York this fall as the Chinese 2015 FDI in the U.S. rose by 30 percent to $15.7 billion.



The new branch, which is located in 7 Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan, will stand next to the Bank of America Tower and other major American financial institutions around the neighborhood.



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Xu Chen, director of Bank of China's U.S. branch, told China Daily that the move was prompted by a lot of new business caused by stronger economic and trade partnerships between Beijing and Washington.



"Our number of employees is increasing quickly, and the old building (on Madison Avenue and 48th Street) wasn't big enough," he said.



Xu noted that the new branch's location in Bryant Park, which sits on the Avenue of the Americas, is symbolic of the close economic and trade cooperation between the two countries and highlights China's increasing role in the global economy.



The move comes as BoC's assets abroad have skyrocketed by 54 percent in 2014. The bank's foreign profit rose by more than 5 percent, comprising almost a quarter of its total profit.



Analysts expect the BoC to continue to provide traditional banking services, including bond investments and trade services, to its customers while at the same time develop its retail services to accommodate the growing number of Chinese students in the U.S. and those immigrating to America for work.



The bank previously opened a branch in Flushing, Queens, the previous year to serve New York's fastest-growing Chinese community.



In addition, Bank of China has been active in cross-border yuan transactions as China's currency continues to internationalize, Xu said, adding that its U.S. counterpart is expected to increase its yuan liquidation and settlement.



Chinese investment in the American market is at an all-time high, with China's foreign direct investments in the U.S. in 2015 growing by 30 percent to reach $15.7 billion.



Activity this year has already surpassed 2015 number, and the bank expects the trend to grow stronger in the foreseeable future, Xu said.



"The U.S. is the most desired destination for Chinese investors," he added, noting that the U.S. market offers a wide variety of products and expertise that many Chinese companies might be lacking.



Xu said the food and beverage, energy, and healthcare sectors in particular can help China support its aging and growing population.



"Being a populous country, China is already experiencing what we call an 'aging society.' For the pharmaceutical, healthcare sectors, there is a greater and greater need for their services," he said. "The U.S. is also a leader in fields like biotechnology, so I feel the two countries will find ways to cooperate more and more."



Xu also cited the environment as another point of collaboration, given China's partnership with the U.S. on reduction of carbon emissions.



"There is huge cooperation potential for the two countries in the clean energy sector, since the two countries jointly promoted the agreement on global reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in Paris last year," he said.


A fiery blaze that destroyed a maxi taxi in a few minutes will be fully investigated to determine whether any safety steps were missed, the cab company promises.

Domestic passengers leaving Brisbane Airport were delayed as flames ripped through the cab on Friday morning, sending flames and smoke high into the air.

A Sydney account executive visiting Brisbane for the first time described hearing a series of minor explosions as fire ripped apart the cab, leaving nothing but a blackened chassis.

"Initially it was just a small fire but then once the fire caught the taxi it really started to heat up and was quite violent actually," Twitter worker Isaac Irvin said.
A Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman said the fire, at the taxi rank, was not believed to be suspicious.

Passengers trying to hail cabs at the domestic terminal were experiencing delays after fire crews were called to the flaming maxi taxi on Moreton Drive about 9.25am.

A cab has caught fire at Brisbane Airport, sending flames and black smoke into the air.

She said there were no flight delays but airport staff were working to move buses and taxis to a different roadway to avoid an exclusion zone for passengers leaving the airport.

A maxi taxi on fire at Brisbane Airport. Credit:Kylie Collins

Footage from the scene showed firefighters blasting the flaming taxi with high pressure hoses to put the fire out. A blackened shell was all that was left.

Isaac Irvin had stepped off a flight from Sydney and was walking towards the cab rank when he noticed smoke coming from the car's engine.

"In about a minute after that it had caught alight," he said.
Queensland's Aboriginal Affairs Minister will fly to the remote gulf community Aurukun on Friday in the wake of ongoing civil unrest that prompted the evacuation of teachers earlier in the week.

Two female teachers were allegedly threatened and the principal allegedly assaulted last weekend, according to local MP Billy Cook, after alcohol was smuggled into the dry community, causing widespread unrest.

It prompted Education Queensland to temporarily evacuate 25 staff to Cairns, amid fears for their safety.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Minister Curtis Pitt, also the state's treasurer, will fly to the community on Friday, saying discussions about a change in governance in the community were at the top of the agenda in a bid to restore calm.
A young refugee and her newborn baby have been flown to an Australian hospital after what's believed to have been birth complications on Nauru.

It's understood the baby was born premature and the mother is seriously ill.

Mother and baby were admitted to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital on Friday. Credit:Michelle Smith

Mother and baby were admitted to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital on Friday morning.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said they had been airlifted in separate planes and were both in critical conditions when they left Nauru.
As they say, the collective noun for a group of mayors is a "magnificence" of mayors.

And as almost all south-east Queensland mayors gathered in one place at one time on Friday, they were told by New York urban planning expert Mitch Silver "You either rise as a region, or you fall as a region."

South-east Queensland's 'magnificence' of mayors look ahead of 25 years. Credit:Tony Moore

The magnificence of mayors were grouped at Reddacliff Place to say they would plan as a unit  not as individual councils  or time, population and blunt politics would pass them by.

"In the States, we are seeing the rise of single-person households," said Mr Silver, the former president of the American Planners Association.
Victoria Police was warned that the unilateral suspension of former police union boss Paul Mullett by former chief commissioner Christine Nixon could lead to legal action, the Supreme Court has heard.

A trial involving the long-time adversaries continued on Friday, with Mr Mullett suing Ms Nixon for damages

The Supreme Court heard Christine Nixon bucked the usual processes when she ordered that Paul Mullett be suspended. Credit:Craig Abraham

Mr Mullett alleges he was the victim of "malicious" behaviour on the part of the former police chief, because he was opposed to her bid to shake up Victoria Police.

The court was told that Ms Nixon had bucked the usual processes designed to protect police officers when she ordered that Mr Mullett be suspended while allegations of criminal behaviour against him were investigated in 2007.
The owner of a strip club in Shepparton has been awarded $250,000 in damages after suing the Herald Sun for defamation over claims she was a brothel madam.

Raelene Hardie, the owner of Club Rawhide sued the Herald and Weekly Times (publisher of the Herald Sun) and associate editor Andrew Rule, over a May 2013 report headed, "Secret Tip-offs. Country cops suspected of sabotaging bikie raids".

The Herald and Weekly Times (publisher of the 'Herald Sun') is facing a big damages bill. Credit:Craig Abraham CMA

Ms Hardie, who drives a car with the licence plate "Rawhide", claimed she had been defamed because the newspaper and online report suggested her club was regularly visited by outlaw motorcycle gang members, and that police used the venue to give secret tip-offs to bikies which hindered police investigations and frustrated search warrants.

Ms Hardie said it had also been suggested Club Rawhide was a brothel and she was a brothel madam nicknamed "Madam Black Mercedes".
Jodi Cooper usually raises enough money for her and her dog, Brownie, to stay in a cheap motel for the night.

But this week - since a Melbourne newspaper launched a campaign about aggressive beggars in the city - she's sleeping on the streets again.

The 39-year-old grandmother says more people than ever have ignored her over the past two days. Donations are down to a quarter of what they normally are and the colourful loom bands she makes have barely sold at all.

"Since those stories in the Herald Sun everyone just assumes that I'm either a junkie or aggressive," she said on Friday afternoon.
A Cannington restaurant has been named and shamed on WA's filthy food offenders list for harbouring cockroaches and failing to protect food from contamination.

Urban Turban at Westfield Carousel has been handed a hefty $54,000 fine on the ever-growing convictions list, after the City of Canning took action.

Cockroaches and flies allagedly found in food from Urban Turban restaurant in Cannington. Credit:Tripadvisor

The Indian curry chain was found to have breached the Food Act by not only allowing cockroaches into the restaurant, but also as a result of unclean fittings and equipment and failure to maintain easily accessible hand washing facilities.

City of Canning CEO Lyn Russell said there were serious breaches of the Food Act 2008 at the curry house.
Will Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 4 (Book of the Stranger) Stream Free via The Pirate Bay (TPB) Despite Threat of Domain Seizure?

The Pirate Bay (TPB), ExtraTorrent and YTS.ag Now Listed as Top Free Download Alternatives; Torrenting Still Hurting from KickassTorrents, Torrentz Shut Down (Photo : Facebook)

Unauthorized download or streaming of "Game of Thrones" Season 6, Episode 4, titled "Book of the Stranger", via The Pirate Bay could prove difficult as the popular file-sharing site is likely in danger of losing its key domains, thepiratebay.se and piratebay.se, to Swedish authorities. Will rival KickassTorrents step in and act as the alternative go-to site for GoT fans?



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In a report, TorrentFreak said that the Swedish Court of Appeal has ruled that .SE domains used by TPB must be confiscated by the government. "The Pirate Bay is an illegal site (and) the domains are tools used to infringe copyright and should be suspended," the report said.



The latest ruling upholds a lower court decision issued in May 2015 that ordered the seizure of TPB domains. "ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se are now set to be forfeited to the Swedish state and The Pirate Bay will have to find alternatives," the report said.



However, TorrentFreak noted on its report that "all of the parties involved are allowed to appeal so this case seems far from over." And Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij has the exact plan in mind as he informed TF that he will go up the Swedish Supreme Court to the contest the decision.



"I will appeal on the grounds that I do not own the domain and that I did not commit copyright infringement as I am not involved with the site anymore," Neij said.



In reality, the court order will take time to implement considering the legal remedies still available to all parties concerned and TPB's use of the .SE domains will be hardly disrupted, if at all, as the courts continue to hear the case.



And even in the event of the .SE domain seizure, Pirate Bay operators can simply switch to different domains and it will be business as usual. For the worst-case scenario, that is the remote possibility that TPB will disappear due to domain issues, torrent fans can always turn to readily available alternatives like KickassTorrents, which actually is the more popular website.



So for GoT fans without access to HBO and dependent on unofficial channels to watch the latest Game of Thrones episodes, both TPB and KAT are the standard picks to download or stream the hit televisions series. Lately though, GoT streaming on KickassTorrents is proving harder than usual as the site has been deleting Game of Thrones download and streaming links in compliance with HBO's aggressive takedown requests.



But not the case with The Pirate Bay as site operators have maintained that all torrents hosted on the site will not be removed so long as they prove safe, spam- and malware-free, for users. Essentially, that is saying that Episode 4 (Book of the Stranger) of Game of Thrones Season 6 will be found on TPB, ready to stream or download, following its official HBO airing. And the same applies for the succeeding episodes.


Wheatbelt Detectives have charged a 44-year-old Stratton man they say sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl in York on Tuesday.

He has been charged with aggravated sexual penetration without consent and is due to appear at Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.

Police charged the man after investigating the assault earlier this week.

If you are or have been a victim of sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, call police on 131 444.
When Martina Mirco arrived at an empty block on 17 School Road in Yarloop on Wednesday, tears rolled down her cheek.

The block used to contain the home of her brother Stuart King who died unexpectedly in November 2004, leaving behind a $53,000 Keystart mortgage he started just a year before his death.

But now there's nothing left after the Shire of Harvey demolished the home, despite a written request from Ms Mirco to council to be present while it was knocked down.

"It was here. They've knocked it down," Ms Mirco said.
This week, Staton, who is now 15, pleaded guilty to a handful of charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, according to court documents.

But in 2015, the Cogdells were fatally shot, their bodies found near their Arkansas home, and Staton, at the age of 14, was among those charged in their killings. The Associated Press reported that the plot was a "robbery-and-murder scheme," concocted with other teens during a stint in juvenile jail.

They were the teen's legal guardians, a role they took on even after learning that Staton wasn't their biological grandson, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"I hope every day for the rest of your life, you think about them," Faulkner County Circuit Court Judge Troy Braswell told Staton in court, according to the AP. "Because they loved you and took care of you . . . and the thanks you gave them was murder."

Staton, who was charged and tried as an adult, was sentenced to a 35-year prison term.

"This is tragic for everybody," his lawyer, Gina Reynolds, told The Post. "My client has provided information to the prosecutor and in exchange for that, he was offered this plea deal. We hope that this eventually manages to give the family some peace."

According to the Democrat-Gazette, Staton agreed to testify against the others charged in the shootings - a group that includes Hunter Drexler, who was 17 at the time of the crime. The newspaper reported that Staton also turned over the passcode for an Apple device that contains text messages exchanged with Drexler.

"The state believes it has determined what the appropriate pyramid of culpability is related to the 4 defendants in the case and the Staton plea is the first step pursuing that theory of the case," 20th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Cody Hiland said in an email to The Post. "As the result of information obtained from the plea, the state hopes to bolster its position relative to the other defendant(s) in this matter and hopefully bring some measure of justice in the death of two people whose only crime was loving their grandson."
Washington: In the middle of a legal fight with North Carolina over transgender rights, the Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping decree telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The letter to school districts that will go out on Friday describing what they should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against, signed by officials of the departments of Justice and Education, does not have the force of law. But it contains an implicit threat: schools that do not abide by the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

A California lawmaker said he'll propose a bill requiring single-stall public restrooms to be gender-neutral. Credit:AP

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.
Authorities in Southern California are investigating after a newborn was found dead in the bed of his 17-year-old mother, who said she did not know she was pregnant until she gave birth.

Police said the teenager's parents called 911 on Monday evening from their home in Chula Vista, near San Diego, after they found the infant's body while making the bed.

The girl's parents reported a "non-breathing" baby to emergency dispatchers, police said.

"The child appeared to have been born hours or days prior," police said in a statement.
How Donald Trump lives, from his long-time butler

New York: The Secret Service said it would investigate Donald Trump's longtime butler over Facebook posts laced with vulgarities and epithets calling for President Barack Obama to be killed.

Anthony Senecal, Donald Trump's former butler, at Mar-a-Lago, a club owned by Trump in Florida in March. Credit:New York TImes

The racially tinged posts by the butler, Anthony Senecal, were unearthed by the independent news organisation Mother Jones on Thursday, and referred to Obama as a "Kenyan fraud" who should be hanged for treason.

"[W]ith the last breath I draw I will help rid this America of the scum infested in its government," Senecal wrote last May, saying that the president should be dragged from the "white mosque" and hanged "from the portico - count me in !!!!!"
Auto Lab Live 8-10AM(EDT) May 14, 2016; Car Question or Concern? Free Call 888-692-7234







May 14, 2016;

Car Question or Concern? Call Toll Free 888-692-7234

Auto Lab is a 27 year old interactive automotive-focused New York area radio call-in show hosted by Professor Harold Wolchok. Each week a cadre of experienced hands-on automotive experts are in-studio with advice for the New York area's 12 million people, providing listeners with honest, practical and street-smart car repair and buying advice.

Auto Lab is also about the automotive industry, its history, and its culture, presenting the ideas and advice of leading college faculty, authors, and automotive practitioners in a relaxed, conversational interactive format.

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After listening to the first hour on WMCA, you will need to close that window and click the link to listen to the second hour on WNYM.

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Listeners can hear the past 18 years of archived Auto Lab shows as simulcast on www.theautochannel.com.

Listen - Auto Lab Page (Includes Audio-on-Demand Archives, Auto Programs at Community College Database, Guests Pictures

May 14, 2016 - Car Question? Straight Answers From These In-Studio Auto Lab Experts

Harold Bendell- Major Auto

Fred Bordoff-Bronx Community College, CUNY

Tim Cacace-Master Mechanix

Jose Ramirez - Ramirez and Sons AAA Auto Repair

Jerry Pastore-D & J Diagnostic

Johanna Pastore-D & J Diagnostic

Nicholas Prague- MTA and Rockland Community College, SUNY

May 14, 2016 - Correspondent Reports - Car Reviews, Opinion and Other Automotive News and Information

Robert Erskine, Senior European Correspondent, Suffolk England and Andy Williams Head Designer Land Rover Evoque Convertible

BE SEEN TAKE THE LID OFF

Russ Rader, Vice President Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

TRUCK UNDERIDE ROUNDTABLE ADDRESSES PROBLEMS OF DEADLY CRASHES

Robert Sinclair-AAA Northeast

FATAL ROAD CRASHES INVOLVING MARIJUANA DOUBLE AFTER STATE LEGALIZES DRUG

Holly Reich, Automotive Journalist

2016 MAZDA3 REVIEW

Sharon Sudol & John Russell Senior Correspondents

2016 CADILLAC ATS REVIEW

Mike Quincy, Automotive Specialist Consumer Reports

TOYOTA RAV4 HYBRID PROVES TO BE THE MOST GASOLINE EFFICIENT SUV EVER TESTED
Google Self-Driving Car (Photo : Twitter)

Detroit automakers are teaming up with Silicon Valley to design and build self-driving cars. Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler known as the Big 3 are forming partnerships with companies such as Lyft and Google to bring autonomous vehicles (AVs) to the consumer market. The move combines the technology know-how of tech companies with the automakers' experience in the mass production of vehicles.



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Ford Motors announced on May 5 it was making a major investment in the California software company Pivotal. The two companies will develop cloud-based software used for alternative mobility services.



GM and Lyft are also teaming up to design robot taxis, according to The Detroit News. They could be tested in California within the next few years.



Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler and Google announced on May 10, Tuesday that the American automaker and search giant will build autonomous Pacifica minivans and start testing them this year.



The lightning-fast developments of self-driving technology are pushing tech and auto companies to partner and prepare for a future of driverless cars. The Motor City has physical factories and experience for mass-producing cars and trucks. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley is able to quickly develop solid technology.



Taggart Matthiesen is Lyft's director of product. He said that without a carmaker partner the ride-sharing company probably would not be focusing on AVs. He explained that Lyft and GM are working on two different parts of self-driving technology that help to develop driverless cars.



The news of Ford and Lyft teaming up was two days after Google's self-driving car division and Fiat Chrysler also announced they were joining forces. They will build 100 Pacific minivans. The smart cars will contain the Alphabet company's self-driving technology including sensors and software.



This is the first time Google has partnered with an automaker to add its self-driving system to a passenger vehicle. It will also boost Chrysler's of auto tech.



In related news, Google has announced it will pay Arizona drivers $20 per hour to test self-driving cars, according to The Verge.







The test drivers will get 12 to 24 month contracts. They will work up to eight hours per day and be required to provide oral and written feedback to Google's engineering team.



Here's a hacker who built a self-driving car:




Samsung is rumored to release its Galaxy Note 6 device this year. (Photo : YouTube/Mrwhosetheboss)

The Samsung Galaxy Note 6 release date has been confirmed August 15, at least in the United States, with reports indicating too that the sixth phablet flagship from South Korea is likely to be introduced in July or the month that the device was supposed to come out. No specs and pricing details have been provided.



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According to Evan Blass, also known as gadget news leaker @evleaks, the Galaxy Note 5 will get its sequel on the same month that it came out last 2015, which is August and possibly no later than the 15th of the month. Blass tweeted:



Samsung Galaxy Note 6 US release scheduled for week of August 15th.

 Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 11, 2016







The @evleaks tweet, however, was unclear if the Note 6 August rollout is of global scale or merely involves the U.S. and key markets like North America, Western Europe, Australia and parts of Asia. There was no indication too if Samsung plans first to release the Galaxy Note 6 to its home and adjacent markets - South Korea, China and Japan.



Also, the new Blass scoop is wanting on details such as the device specifications. Thankfully, the rumors on this respect are quite aplenty. As reported by 9to5Google, the Note 6 is tipped to sport a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display with a likely 4K screen resolution. The power within is the enhanced Galaxy S7 main engines - Snapdragon 823 and an overclocked Exynos 8890 - with up to 6GB of RAM support.



To juice up the massive Note 6 component upgrades, Samsung is said to deploy the new phablet with a whopping 4000mAh battery that promises at least two days uninterrupted operation.



The Galaxy Note 6 is expected too to mirror a number of the GS7 feature upgrades that actually are mobile functionalities seen in previous Samsung flagships. Waterproofing and dust protection should be part of the deal as well as a microSD slot. The latter will potentially make the Note 6 the first device to have local disk space of up to 400GB+.



The Note 6 camera combo will be pretty much of the same S7 shooting specifications - 12-megapixel on the rear and 5-megapixel on front with the expected hardware and software specs such as enhanced aperture, bigger pixels and stupid fast autofocus. The package will likewise include USB Type-C port and iris scanner to complement the fingerprint reader.



Out of the box, the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 will reportedly rock Android N or the latest version of Google's mobile operating system, which was rumored as the chief reason the device was set for an earlier 2016 release date.


Authorities warn about rainbow fentanyl Victims often arent aware theyre taking it

The Ventura County Office of Education and state health officials have issued a warning to schools and families about rainbow fentanyl, a form of the potentially fatal synthetic opioid that comes in bright colors. Rainbow fentanyl can be found in...

Cancer support community to host remembrance event Cancer Support Community Valley/Ventura/Santa Barbara invites family members and friends of those who have died from cancer to attend the second annual Evening of Remembrance from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thurs., Nov. 3 at Cancer Support Communitys Garden of Hope,...

Grant advances CSUCI research Cal State Channel Islands assistant professor of computer science Scott Feister and assistant professor of mathematics Alona Kryshchenko recently received $112,480 from the National Science Foundation to continue a grant to support their research project, Enhancing Laser Based Ion Sources...

Healthcare agency recommends flu shots The Ventura County Health Care Agency offers options for the community to receive flu shots through its Ambulatory Care Clinic system, public health clinics and pop-up clinics. Although seasonal influenza viruses are detected year-round in the United States, they are...
The Alfa Romeo Giulia marks the rebirth of the Quadrifoglio, the symbol of the most legendary winning race cars in the history of Alfa Romeo. (Photo : YouTube/ Quattroruote)

Alfa Romeo Guilia, which entered production a few weeks ago is going to join Italy's fleet of police cars. As reports have it, Italy's famous Carabinieri is one of the first lucky clients to get their hands on the svelte sedan.



Two high-performance Guilia models were handed over to the italian force in a ceremony in Rome, which was attended by CEO Sergio Marchionne and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Chairman John Elkann recently, Business Insider reported. The models featured the livery of the Carabinieri as well as other special police items.



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According to Auto Express, the Alfa Romeo Guilia is a stylish new entry into the highly competitive executive saloon sector. Its vital statistics cup tie with main German rivals' in many of the key areas.



The car produces 503 horsepower from its 2.9-liter, twin-turbocharged and six-cylinder engine, which pushes it to 60mph in just 3.9 seconds. This is one feature that will serve Carabinieri with a rapid-response vehicle, capable of zipping its way into a scene ahead of the pokier and larger vehicles.



There are three driving modes in the car, which will give the driver a choice of selecting using Alfa's DNA selector. There are also features as lane departure warning, blind spot warning, adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian protection, and a rear parking camera.



Overall, Alfa Romeo Guilia is considered a pleasant surprise, with a quick steering wheel rack, calmness, and stableness when tackling corners. The car also has a discernible rear-wheel-drive balance even when pushed to the limits.



Some of the police-specific equipment are the LED light bars, interior markers that serve as warnings when doors are left open, strobe lights, and a proper Carabionieri vinyl rap. The Guilia will, however, not be available to every member of the force. Rather, driving the car will require a driving course from Alfa Romeo itself.



Carabinieri, the country's military and civilian police force, is no stranger to impressive cars. In the past, the force has had other impressive rides in their fleet, with some of them including the likes of Lamborghini and a Lotus.



FCA is expected to deliver 800 more vehicles to the Carabinieri in this calendar year, altogether with other Alpha Romeo models, Fiat Pandas, and Jeep Renegades.



Watch a video of Alpha Romeo Guilia's test drive here:


Amy Schumer has made no secret of her love for Hillary Clinton, expressing her support close to a year ago and dancing with the candidate on The Ellen DeGeneres Show a few months later. On Thursday night, she did her best to put to rest any cliched worries about a woman in the Oval Office.

After a Veep-inspired opening in which we learn that Amy Schinton has been elected the first female president of the United States, Inside Amy Schumer launched into a sketch that summed up every mans biggest fear about what might happen if someone of the opposite sex is in charge.

I got my period on my first day? Schumers president character says after discovering she also has 200 million new Twitter followers. OK, OK, OK, you can handle this. Its not ideal for the first day. Its not amazing. But you can do anything. Youre the president.

In the middle of an emergency meeting about the situation in Iran, President Schinton is forced to pause to ask her Cabinet, Im sorry, but does anyone have any Advil? She adds, I have epic cramps and my mind is like, mush, right now, if Im being real.

Later, while meeting with an Israeli official, she snaps at him for taking the last piece of chocolate. Youve been eating all of them, you could have just at least asked me!

And finally, during a Navy SEAL operation to take out Adele Dazeem, a pajama-clad President Schinton asks if they can take five so she can change her tampon. Todays been a bear, does anyone else feel like that? she asks as the Osama bin Laden stand-in gets away.

Stop yelling at me! she whines when the men in the room start attacking her. Why are you being so mean? You guys, I cant be president because I got my period! Does anyone have anything they want to say to me? Like, maybe an Im sorry, and Youre my president?

The sketch ends with another newspaper headline that references a recent controversial Glamour cover: IS PRESIDENT SCHINTON PLUS SIZE?
SAO PAULO  Following a long night in the Brazilian Senate, where the House voted 55 to 22 to subject President Dilma Rousseff to an impeachment process, Brazil awoke today to a new interim president, former Vice President Michel Temerand to what critics are heralding as a new phase in the long-running saga of Brazils political troubles: a deepening crisis of political representivity.

As President Dilma Rousseff stepped aside to face the impeachment process, a list of members of Temers new cabinet was released, with critics immediately noting its entirely male, white, avowedly heterosexual make-up.

It represents an immense step backwards for Brazil, said Isabela Goes, national Womens Sector representative for Brazils Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL). In a society that is majority female, majority black, yet again we see a government composed entirely of white, heterosexual men.

Indeed, the lineup of Temers newly announced cabinet, the result of weeks of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing on the part of the canny interim president, looks more than ever like that of a southern European country, rather than the large, racially and socially diverse Latin American republic that Brazil is.

Congress has always failed to reflect Brazilian societys make-up and diversity, said Goes, but the lack of representivity we see in Temers government truly compounds that failure.

Critics were also quick to point out that of the 22 members of Temers new administration, a number of the ministers are under investigation or accused of serious wrongdoing, including alleged wrongdoing, including seven under investigation by federal police as part of Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato), for alleged corruption. As members of the government, they will now benefit from ministerial privilege restricting how and where they can be investigated.

Temer himself, as listed by a report on the website Agencia Publica, has been cited four times in plea-bargain testimonies made to the Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigation, though he has not as yet been targeted for investigation himself.

Addressing the nation in a video released at midday via her Facebook account, Rousseff repeated her long-standing allegation that the process against her amounts to a coup, and warned that the democratic sovereignty of the 54 million votes cast for her in 2014 was in danger. She reiterated her status as one of the few current occupants of high office in Brazil not to have been accused of corruption of any kind, and called her ouster a fraudulent impeachment, a coup against democracy.

Speaking at a press conference before exiting Planalto, the presidential palace, Rousseff said, Those who could not reach this palace through the support of the people are taking power by force.

At the same press conference, Rousseff expressed her pride at having been the first woman to have been elected president of Brazil.

Yet her own administration, with just four female cabinet ministers, and, as of 2015, just one black minister in a 39-strong cabinet, was scarcely more reflective of Brazils population. Of the countrys 204 million people, 51 percent are female, and 52.3 percent describe themselves as ethnically other than white.

Representivity is something we need to discuss urgently, seriously, as a country, said Goes. Its a problem that runs deep. How we effectively include women, black people and the scope of our society in politics is one of the most pressing of all of our problems.

Following a long, drawn-out process, President Rousseff is now suspended from office for a maximum of 180 days while she is tried by the Senate on charges that she committed a crime of responsibilityakin to the category of high crimes and misdemeanors.

That charge stems from accounting sleight-of-hand she carried out in the run-up to her re-election in 2014, when she manipulated the budget in order to cover up a shortfall in state funds, in a widely used, albeit irregular, fiscal practice.

Should Rousseff be found guilty of the charges, she will be definitively deposed as president, with Temer, leader of the center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) serving out the remainder of the term for which they had run together.

In power for the time being, interim President Temer, a seasoned political player, 75 years of age, is making little pretense of continuity with the Rousseff government of which he was, until this morning, a member. But in his inaugural speech as president this evening, he promised to maintain the Bolsa Familia and Minha Casa, Minha Vida social benefits and housing programs that are hallmarks of the PT era.

Audio of the former VP rehearsing a speech for this momentwhich Temer himself leaked, claiming it was an accident, at the very moment the initial impeachment vote was taking place in Congress in Aprilincludes a range of measures that depart dramatically from the social and labor-rights aspects of the PTs agenda. He focused instead on creating a considerably more market-friendly administration.

Brazil faces a raft of urgent problems, including widespread corruption, economic recession, and a Zika-driven health emergency. Rousseff, an unpopular politician, has been blamed for many of the countrys woes and, indeed, her impeachment is considered by many to be taking place, effectively, on a technicality, with her detractors bent on impeaching her one way or another ever since she took office for the second time at the start of 2015.

Rousseff first came to power in January 2011, following in the footsteps of her predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. A video of Lula and Rousseff sharing an emotional, exhausted embrace today, following the presidents departure from office, is being shared widely on social media.

Lulawho has been targeted in recent months by police officers working on the major corruption investigation, Operation Car Wash (Lava Jato)is expected to run for the presidency again in 2018.
Donald Trump came to Washington on Thursday with a mission: to charm the pants off the people he spent his entire primary campaign maligning.

And you know what? It seemed to work.

Never mind all the evidence that Trump has changed his mind dozens of times on myriad policy issues the party holds as gospel. Republicans on the Hill were willing to be wooed and wanted more than anything to believe the Trump Train is the vehicle that will take them to the White House.

That was not the case as recently as last week. Since he became the presumptive nominee, some Republicans have awkwardly endeavored to associate with him without really associating with him; New Hampshire Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, for instance, said she supports the mogul but isnt actually endorsing him.

And plenty of members say they will support the ticketa way to stoically back Trump without actually having to say his name out loud.

But on Thursday, it looked like that began to change. Republican lawmakers who spoke with Trump during his D.C. swing seemed to be warming up to his status as their new standard-bearerand fast. This means the #NeverTrump movement may face marginalization in the party, as dissenters get quieter and establishment Republicans make peace with being in the party of Trump.

The greatest tonal shift came from Speaker Paul Ryan, who huddled with Trump and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus for just over an hour at the Republican National Committees headquarters two blocks from the Capitol Building. After their meeting, the speaker headed to the basement of the Capitol, where he told reporters the three had a very good and encouraging, productive conversation on how to unify the GOP.

I was very encouraged with what I heard from Donald Trump today, he said, appearing to be half-talking himself into the statement. I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified, to bridge the gaps and differences.

Hes a very warm and genuine person, he added. Like I said, I met him for like 30 seconds in 2012, so we really dont know each other, and we started to get to know each other.

And with good reviews! Ryan said Trump has a very good personality.

Less than a week ago, the speaker told CNNs Jake Tapper that he wasnt ready to endorse Trump because he hadnt yet unified the GOP.

The bulk of the burden on unifying the party will have to come from our presumptive nominee, he said at the time. I dont want to underplay what he accomplishedBut he also inherits something very special, thats very special to a lot of us. This is the party of Lincoln and Reagan and Jack Kemp. And we dont always nominate a Lincoln or a Reagan every four years, but we hope that our nominee aspires to be Lincoln- or Reagan-esquethat that person advances the principles of our party and appeals to a wide, vast majority of Americans.

But it wasnt totally clear what changed on Thursday.

Ryan has repudiated Trump multiple times, including for his proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigration, and during his press conference the speaker didnt indicate that the two men had resolved their many, major differences. But he said the pair talked about their shared opposition to abortion, as well as very basic questions of principle.

Ben Carson, a Trump endorser and former presidential rival, told The Daily Beast over the phone that he's optimistic about the pairs budding relationship.

I am very pleased that they were able to get together and spend a little time getting together to get to know each other, he said. How can you endorse someone if you dont know them?

The optimistic, non-critical comments suggest the speaker may be more open to joining the Trump Train than some may have assumed.

He wasnt alone.

Sen. Lindsey Grahamone of Trumps noisiest Republican detractorstold reporters that he called Trump on Wednesday and had a good conversation with him about national security.

Hes a funny guy, Graham added. And hes from New York. He can take a punch.

Graham added that hes happy about Trumps Hill outreach.

I think it shows leadership, I think thats a good thing, he said.

Graham finds himself in an odd presidential no-mans land; he reiterated to reporters Thursday that he wont support Trump, wont support Hillary Clinton, and wont support any independent or third-party candidates.

At least one Republican senator is gunning for a non-Trump, non-Clinton candidate: Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican who is easily the most anti-Trump Republican in the upper chamber.

David Perdue, a Georgia Republican, said Sasse is pretty much on his own there and that there is absolutely not any momentum in the Senate for a conservative Trump alternative. Instead, he said he expects Senate Republicans to grow increasingly public and vocal in their support for Trump.

Im getting the feeling here in the Capitol just this week that theres a growing sentiment about that, he said. I think youre going to see a lot of people coming out in the next few weeks talking about the failure of this administration and also about how she, Secretary Clinton, is talking about doubling down on [Obamas] failed policies.

So, for the most part, its official: Its Trumps party, and D.C. Republicans have made peace with living in it.

 Gideon Resnick contributed reporting.
For Republicans, the primary may be over but this is still a time for choosing.

On Thursday, Donald Trump trotted up to Capital Hill to meet with Speaker Paul Ryan and the GOP leadership to try to assure them that he is not an electoral neutron bomb. Mutual hatred toward Hillary seems to be the closest the party can get to unity right now.

But despite a joint statement from Ryan and Trump after their meeting claiming few differences, the real divisions in the GOP right are deeper than ideology.

Fundamentally, this is a matter of individual principle versus party loyalty.

The Republican establishment is dividing into the Trump Resistance and the Trump Rationalizers.

Members of the Trump resistance look at his demagoguery and see disaster. For them, as Stuart Stevens has argued in The Daily Beast, refusing to support Trump is a moral decision more than a political one. Most of the leading figures on the center-right have chosen this path: both Presidents Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney along with blue state Republican governors like Charlie Baker, Bruce Rauner, and Larry Hogan. They dont want to be tainted with support for Trump and his policies and vicious rhetoric when the reckoning and rebuilding comes.

The Trump Rationalizers are making a calculation that the famously authentic candidate has been lying to the base during most of the campaign to date. The Donald they know was just trying to seal the deal with the conservative populists by saying things that no New York billionaire could really believe. So they believe that hell break out a yuge Etch-a-Sketch and pivot to the center for the general election and, if it comes to that, governing.

Some of these rationalizers are simply motivated by self-interest. They see the Trump train as a way to get ahead. The elected officials will raise their profile, get prime speaking roles at the convention, and one will secure the vice presidential slot. Consultants see a chance to get rich on the ultimate gravy train while on-air apologists see Trump as a shortcut to a few months of fame, such as it is. Others rationalize their support by shrugging that they are simply following their constituents. Its not surprising to see someone like Bobby Jindal flip-flop on Trump. But its sad to see former leaders of the center-right like Chris Christie and Jon Huntsman back what they must know is a kamikaze mission in the name of party loyalty or political self-interest.

This shouldnt be a jump ball. The Republican Party has nominated someone who appeals to authoritarian impulses, not conservative ideas. If you cant take a strong stand against someone with a demonstrated record of ignorance, division, and demagoguery, then whats your deeper purpose for being in politics? Choosing between surrogates Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan really shouldnt be that tough a call in 2016.

For Hillary Clinton the larger question is how she will respond to the historic opportunity that is Donald Trump.

Some Democratic activists are arguing that Hillary should reach to her left for a VP nominee, offering up an Elizabeth Warren-shaped object to placate the Sandernistas. This is the liberal version of the choice, not an echo crowd. The argument makes sense only if youre thinking about uniting the Democratic Party more than uniting the nation.

Clinton has an opportunity to win a realigning election if she concentrates on building the broadest possible coalition beyond her base, contra Trump.

The phrase Republicans for Hillary sounds surreal but expect it to be a rallying cryhowever reluctantin the coming months. Already weve seen a surprising number of conservative columnists announce #ImWithHer as a logical extension to #NeverTrump. Conservative humorist PJ ORourke became the latest to endorse Hillary in a Daily Beast column.

Noticeably absent from the Hillary camp has been any Republican elected official to date. On the surface this makes sense. Hating Hillary Clinton has been a conservative cottage industry for a quarter-century. But Trump represents a new kind of existential threat for their party and a basic departure from fundamental Republican policies and commitments at home and abroad.

The larger state of play is the two parties have been suffering from market failure over the past two decades as the number of independents has nearly doubled while the party registration has flatlined. Its not an accident this has happened precisely at a time when the parties have grown more polarized. But crucially, the Democratic Party is still equally balanced between moderates and liberals while the Republican Party is less than one-quarter centrist today and seems hell bent on becoming ever farther right-leaning.

Clinton can lay claim to the center through a VP nominee and conscious cultivation of the political homeless voters in the middle of America. To do that, she needs to consciously court Republicans to support her as an alternative to Trump.

Thanks to Trumps toxic quality with swing voters as well as key demographics in an increasingly diverse America, Clinton has a unique opportunity to win the reasonable edge of the opposition, and, with their support, a truly realigning election. She can best do this by picking a VP nominee from the center of her party like Tim Kaine or even an experienced independent like Robert Gates.

In the process, shell be extending and updating the Clintons core political philosophy, which helped her husband become the first Democrat to win re-election since FDR after the partys nominees had lost more than 40 states in each of the three previous elections.

For the Republican resistance, standing up to Trump is a bet on being able to play a larger role in rebuilding the party in a more responsible and effective direction after November. For some Republicans, it might mean focusing on Senate races, or voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson as a protest, absent the emergence of another credible third-party candidate that Republican Sen. Ben Sasse has been calling for. For other Republicans, it might mean supporting Clinton on the substance of an internationalist foreign policy that has previously united the center right and the center left.

Now is a good time for those invested in Americas future to remember a basic bit of wisdom that most Americans never forget: Vote for the person, not the party.
Senior White House official Ben Rhodes told Syrian-American activists at a gathering on Wednesday that he was not proud of the Obama administrations Syria policy, according to three people who participated in the interchange.

But Rhodes waved off any suggestion that the United States should be responsible for a conflict that has left millions displaced and hundreds of thousands dead, those attendees said.

We arent proud of our Syria policybut we dont have any good options... nothing we could have done would have made things better, Rhodes said, according to three individuals present: Ibrahim Al-Assil, a fellow at the Middle East Institute; Kenan Rahmani, a policy adviser with the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, and a third individual, who requested to stay anonymous.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council disputed the activists' characterization of the conversation. Rhodes in no way indicted or distanced himself from our Syria policy, Price said.

The three activists, as well as a fourth activist, the Syrian American Councils Omar Hossino, were present for various parts of the conversation with Rhodes. Hossino told The Daily Beast that he began to weep as he told Rhodes about the cost in human life that had taken place as a result of the war, and excused himself from the conversation.

Were not the ones killing Syrians. [President Bashar al-]Assad is the one killing people, Rhodes said, according to three of the individuals present.

It was, as one advocate said, a poor explanation. It would be as if the Bush administration argued that a hurricane destroyed New Orleans, so its not our responsibility, Al-Assil told The Daily Beast.

Rhodes has been the talk of media and political circles this week after he bragged in the New York Times Magazine that he created an echo chamber in Washington, D.C. to sell the Obama administrations foreign policy objectives.

Wednesday nights message from Rhodes, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, may add to the controversy. If nothing else, the message from the celebrated crafter of narratives was contradictory. While he seemed sheepish about the administrations policyalmost apologetichis statements indicate that if that if he had to do the entire process over he would change little about the administrations response to the crisis.

Rhodes did not respond to a request for comment. But National Security Council spokesman Ned Price defended his colleague Friday in a statement to The Daily Beast: "We will not rebut point by point a secondhand account of an impromptu conversation that took place two days ago following an award ceremony honoring Ben. Ben has repeatedly made the point that the United States will continue to do everything we can, in concert with our international partners, to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, who have been brutalized at the hands of the Assad regime and, in other regions, ISIL.

Price added that Rhodes "also explained, as he has done publicly many times before, why we have not pursued additional military action against Assad, including a no-fly zone; we see no military solution to the civil war. We all acknowledge the tremendous suffering of the Syrian people, and no one should be satisfied with the status quo."

Following the publication of this article, Price sent The Daily Beast another statement, saying that Rhodes in no way indicted or distanced himself from our Syria policy. He has consistently explained U.S. policy toward the conflict, which is what he did in this case (as evidenced by the other quotes). What is true is that he lamented the level of suffering the Syrian people have endured. 

The Obama administration has previously hit back hard against criticism that it should have done more to end the conflict. Lawmakers who suggested that the administration should have moved more aggressively to arm Syrian rebels were told by President Obama himself that such criticism was horseshit, for example.

Ironically, Rhodes was angrily accosted by Syrian-American activists during an event held to praise him: the Muslim Public Affairs Council held a gala Wednesday evening, and he was among the honorees. In introducing the honoree, MPAC D.C. Director Hoda Hawa praised him for speaking up on behalf of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, confronting anti-Muslim rhetoricbut made no mention of Syria.

During a lull in the program for dinner, a handful of Syrian-American activists approached Rhodes, criticizing him for the administrations decision against both setting up a no-fly zone in Syria and taking military action against the Assad regime.

I told him Im disgusted with his policy and that he doesnt care about Syrian lives, Rahmani told The Daily Beast.

I said that we have no hope hell change his mind but we are glad he only has a few months left in office and that I pray he gets a conscience to act, Hossino added. I asked him how many more Syrians have to die.

Rhodes dismissed their criticism on the no-fly zone concept, which Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has diverged from the Obama administration in calling for. Rhodes told the activists, I wish it was that easy we continue to examine all options, arguing that the same number of Syrians would have died in any case because even if barrel bombs were halted, conventional weapons would have been used. Ultimately, Rhodes said the administration didn't find any military scenario where the U.S. could reduce the number of casualties.

At least 18,866 civilians have been killed in Assad regime air attacks, according to a New York Times report in September. The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimated in February that close to 20,000 barrel bombs have been dropped by government helicopters, killing more than 8,100 civilians, including more than 2,300 children.

Rhodes told the Syrian-American activists that he was pushing hard internally for more action on Syria. Simultaneously, he argued that any intervention would be costly because it would require the United States to destroy Assads air defenses, which could complicate the conflict further.

We know the U.S. cant end the conflict and we understand that its complicated, but the U.S. could at least reduce the violence inside Syria by stopping the barrel bombs, that would help the Syrian civil society to focus on peace-building and free the moderate opposition to fight ISIS, Al-Assil told The Daily Beast.

The cost of the war have been enormous: Millions of refugees have fled the violence, causing an unprecedented European immigration crisis. The death toll in Syria reached nearly half a million people in February, The New York Times reported: at least 470,000 people had perished in the conflict.

Updated: 3:45pm to add statement from National Security Council spokesman Ned Price.
Editors Note: This story has been updated with Morley Safers death.

Morley Saferwho, at 84, announced his retirement last week after more than five decades at CBS News, all but six years of that peerless stretch as a star correspondent for 60 Minuteshas died.

Safer was in declining health when he announced his retirement last week, CBS News revealed in a statement released on Thursday. Safer watched the hour-long retirement special that aired last Sunday in his Manhattan home, the network said.

Safer was known in his later years to millions of Americans as 60 Minutes resident raconteur reporter, but when he took over for Harry Reasoner on the show in 1970 he was already a seasoned foreign correspondent well-known to Americans thanks to his reporting from Vietnam.

In 1965, Safer showed U.S. Marines torching a Vietnamese village with flame-throwers and Zippo lighters, while the villagersmen, women, and childrenbitterly sobbed while their homes were set ablaze.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson demanded Safers sacking for the report that exposed the truth about the war in Vietnam.

Your boys shat on the American flag, LBJ fumed to CBS President Frank Stanton, adding that this obviously unpatriotic scoundrel was probably a Communist.

Drawing on CBS News lore, 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager recalled in an interview with The Daily Beast that when LBJ was informed that Safer was not a Commie, but simply a Canadian, the Leader of the Free World replied, I knew there was something about him.

Embedded with Americans on patrol, ducking bullets and mortars, Safer was as cool as a hog on ice, retired Brig. Gen. Joe Stringham, a former Green Beret commander, recalled for Morley Safer: A Reporters Life.

When he joined 60 Minutes in 1970at a moment when network televisions very first news magazine show had anemic ratings and was a continual candidate for cancellationSafer wasnt even intimidated by Mike Wallace, the programs sharp-elbowed original correspondent, who fought him tooth and nail for desirable assignments, and frequently stole Safers story ideas without a crumb of conscience.

Mike set out to steal his stories every chance he could, Fager said, and Morley had to get used to the idea that Mike Wallace didnt give a damn if he was upset.

Although the two managed to patch things up before Wallaces death four years ago at age 93in the special, they are shown reminiscing, and Wallace tells Safer he loves himthey went for long stretches without ever talking, Fager recalled about their cutthroat competition.

When hotel, multiplex and tobacco magnate Laurence Tisch assumed control of CBS in 1986 and ordered a brutal round of layoffs and cost-cutting, Safer threw caution to the winds by sending his new boss, a hard-boiled businessman with a hair-trigger temper, a stinging letter claiming Tisch was ruining the news division of the celebrated Tiffany Network.

That took couragehe wasnt afraid, Fager said about the man he calls one of my dearest friends of nearly 30 years standing. Morley never got a reply. But he didnt get fired either.

Needless to say, Safer was kept on, though it is no small irony that he insists in the special that I really dont like being on television It makes me uneasy. It is not natural to be talking to a piece of machinery.

Saferwho grew up in Toronto, the son of an upholsterer, and dropped out of college to take a job at a small-town Canadian newspaper before becoming a news writer for the Canadian Broadcasting Co.was possibly the last of his breed.

Hes a real-life, genuinely swashbuckling version of The Most Interesting Man in the World, whose 60 Minutes piecesmore than 900 in allcombined adventure, erudition, joie de vivre, and (as with the report that so enraged LBJ) a keen sense of justice, decency, andas Fager pointed outzero bullshit.

I really dont think theres anybody else in broadcast journalism with the high quality of work and his extraordinary range and collection of stories, said Fager, who had just come from a visit with Safer, who has been ailing lately and planning on stepping down for the past year. (His final piece, in March, was a profile of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.)

He really knows how to tell a story, and he has loved what he does, hes made good money, and hes never taken it for granted, said Fager. Its incredibly interesting to watch his stories. Im sure he did a couple of clunkers. I just said that to him when I was with him. But I can say that almost all of them were gems. Hes such a brilliant writer.

The 61-year-old Fager, who joined 60 Minutes in 1989 as a junior producer and ultimately became chairman of CBS News, added: None of us wants to see him go. We want him to be here forever. But its just not realistic. Hes the dearest friend I ever had. This is very emotional for us.

Among the so-called Morley stories excerpted in the speciala team effort by 60 Minutes producers Katy Textor, David Browning, Warren Lustig, and Michelle St. Johnare Safers classic profiles of Jackie Gleason, Katherine Hepburn, Dolly Parton, and Helen Mirren; the story he considers his most important, which exonerated and freed an African-American man wrongly convicted of robbing a fast-food joint in Dallas, Lenell Geter, who credits Safer with saving his life; a gimlet-eyed report on how the once-luxurious Orient Express has gone to seed, as a slovenly, behind-schedule transport for Turkish guest workers; and how certain psychologically depressed citizens of Finland have fallen into a grim obsession with dancing the tango.

Saferwho was unavailable for an interviewexplained in an on-camera chat that much of his work has been animated by a really, really serious affection for eccentricitieseccentric people and eccentric places.

Safer indicated he would miss the job.

Its so much fun to do, he said. What would I do if I wasnt doing this? I have not a clue. Maybe running a whorehouse or something like that. Im not equipped to do much else.
ROME  If an alien spaceship dropped you into the area around Piazza Vittorio in central Rome, youd be forgiven for thinking you were anywhere but the Italian capital. Street signs are written in Chinese and there are few Italians anywhere to be seen. Even the vegetable markets carry produce no Italian would dare put in a pasta sauce.

The scene repeats itself in pockets of Milan and suburban Florence. Of course there is nothing wrong with multiculturalism, but Italian police have always been wary of the way the Chinese community operates, essentially completely outside the Italian system.

All of that may soon change.

In early May, Chinese police officers in their national uniforms started patrolling streets in Milan and Rome alongside Italian cops. The plan was described as a way to help the increasing number of Chinese tourists flocking to Italy, and to calm fears after the terror attacks in Paris and Brussels.

In fact, the street cop program is the first phase in a multi-tiered effort to combat a surge in gang violence among rival Chinese communities in Rome, Milan, and Prato, which is near Florence.

The agreement is a unique approach to a growing concern for travelers safety, Romes deputy police chief, Giovanni Battista Scali, told The Daily Beast. But it also allows Italian law enforcement to learn more about the dark side of the Chinese community.

The project was proposed last year amid revelations that Rome was under the influence of the so-called Mafia Capitale, made up of 45 criminal gangs, several of which were tied to Chinese gangs.

The presence of Chinese cops on the street wont stop the criminal gang activities, but Italys Corriere Della Sera newspaper says the street cops are just a cover for an underground operation being conducted by Chinese and Italian authorities across the country. There are around 260,000 Chinese residents living legally in Italy, and police estimate that many thousands more are living clandestinely and working in the black market.

According to investigative documents, the Chinese gangs have been working alongside Italys traditional organized crime syndicates in everything from extortion and money laundering to prostitution. A nationwide sting operation given the unfortunate name Yellow Dragon, carried out last month, netted a dozen pimps who reportedly were running sex shops in massage parlors across the country. Many of the young women were underage or being held against their will.

Police also have closed a number of sweatshops in the Prato area near Florence where slave labor was used to produce counterfeit goods after it was discovered that Chinese workers were being trafficked into Italy to work in ghastly conditions. A fire at a factory in Prato in 2014 exposed a network of tunnels and underground housing that hid hundreds of workers from plain view. Many were repatriated back to China, but a large number escaped and continue to feed the black market.

Chinese communities are very closed and difficult to penetrate, Franco Roberti, Italys chief anti-mafia prosecutor told The Daily Beast. Finding a way into those communities is crucial to break up the rings.

Whether Chinese cops patrolling the Duomo in Milan and the Coliseum in Rome will have any trickle-down effect on the criminal gangs is hard to measure, but authorities believe that the plan might work.

If even one Chinese resident alerts a police officer they trust about criminal activity, it could make a huge difference in public safety, Scali says. The right tip could really open a Pandoras box.
An Navy officer of accused of espionage will stand trial, but the military has dropped some of the charges against him, The Daily Beast has learned.

Lt. Cmdr. Edward Lin is no longer charged with adultery and soliciting prostitutes, which are crimes under military law, said Lt. Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. Lins civilian lawyer, Larry Youngner, said in a statement that he was pleased that the charges had been dropped and that Lin had always maintained his innocence.

However, Lin will still face a general court-martial for the far more serious charges of espionage and attempted espionage, as well as failing to follow orders and making false statements. U.S. Fleet Forces commander Adm. Philip S. Davidson recommended on Tuesday that the case proceed.

As previously stated, we maintain that Lt. Cmdr. Lin is innocent of espionage and the other charges, Youngner said in a statement to The Daily Beast. Now that the remainder of Lt. Cmdr. Lins case has been referred to a court-martial, we request a speedy trial on the merits and look forward to defending him.

Military officials suspect Lin of providing classified military information to Taiwan and possibly China. He worked in and around military reconnaissance planes that employ surveillance technology used to spy on U.S. adversaries. The equipment is considered some of the most sensitive and highly classified used for military intelligence.

As The Daily Beast previously reported, there had been indications that not all of the charges against Lin would stick and that the case faced significant challenges, particularly getting clearance to introduce classified information at trial. The decision to drop some of the charges only further fueled a perception that the government case could be trouble or end in a plea.

Lin was arrested in September at the Honolulu airport following a sting operation using an FBI informant. He was interrogated over the course of two days, and military officials say Lin confessed. But he was then held in pretrial confinement without being formally charged for eight months, an unusually long time that suggested the military and Lin might be trying to reach a plea agreement, experts said.

Now its clear that Lin will defend himself at trial and that the military believes it can prove an espionage charge. Among Lins likely lines of defense is that he didnt reveal classified information to the FBI informant, but was only disclosing information that he was told to when dealing with foreign government officials.

At a pretrial hearing known as an Article 32, held in April, Lins attorney said that his client had spoken to the person who turned out to be an FBI informant. But Youngner insisted that Lin was merely repeating talking points that the Navy had given to him.

The exact nature of those talking points is unclear. But Youngners argument suggests that Lin might claim he was meeting with the foreign official for reasons known to the military.

Its also not clear when military and law enforcement officials began to suspect Lin of espionage. But the adultery accusations surfaced after Lin was arrested in Honolulu and investigators combed through his email. At that point, officials discovered communications between Lin and someone other than his wife.

Lins family has maintained his innocence and said he is a patriotic American who only wished to serve his country. Lin, who was born in Taiwan, became a U.S. citizen in 1998 and had been held up by the Navy as a model officer.

Lins family said he is no spy for Taiwan or any other foreign country in a statement posted to a website that challenges the militarys case against him.

Lin will be arraigned on Tuesday at noon in Norfolk, Va., where hes being held, Hawkins said.
A Chinese steel worker helps load steel rods onto a large truck for transport at a plant on April 6, 2016 in Tangshan, Hebei province, China. (Photo : Getty Images/Kevin Frayer)

A recent report published by the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) claimed that China currently ranks fourth in the world vis-a-vis manufacturing ability. The other three top manufacturing giants include the United States, Germany and Japan.



Since 200, China has been working hard to bridge the gap between it and the other three manufacturing powerhouses, the Chinese state media Xinhua said quoting the 2015 China Manufacturing Development Index. The report further quoted the CAE president Zhou Ji saying that manufacturing provides a solid ground for any strong nation, and it is also vital for uplifting China's economy.



Advertisement

A year ago, China's State Council introduced a decade-long plan titled "Made in China 2025" last year with a view to update China's manufacturing set up. The plan aimed to help China attain the manufacturing standards of Japan and Germany in the next 10 years.



Although China's manufacturing ability has improved greatly over the years, the country still faces several major obstacles for China in becoming a global leader in manufacturing. Hence, it is essential for China to prevail over the obstacles like excess capacity and substandard production quality to achieve its goals.



According to the CAE report, it is important for China to modify a status quo wherein the West continues to control as well as monopolize several crucial industrial techniques. Currently, China accounts for roughly 20 percent of the total global manufacturing ability.



Even as the country's performance in the manufacturing sector is showing huge improvement, business in China's non-manufacturing sector expanded at sluggish pace during April, another report pointed out.



A report released collectively by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated that the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the country's non-manufacturing sector witnessed a decline from 53.8 in March to 53.5 in April. Even the service sector sub-index was 52.5 in April, 0.6 points down from March.



Businesses associated with tourism, accommodation, telecommunications and storage posted sound growth in April. However, wholesale, catering, insurance and repairing industries showed a decline in business volumes.



Watch how China is transforming into the "factory of the world" below:






Hollywoods least favorite scandal is at it again, in a big way.

This week, beloved director and accused pedophile Woody Allen was just trying to have a lovely Cannes, premiering his new period piece Caf e Society. But before audience members could bask in the glory of another two-hour examination of the way that pretty, neurotic, white people talk to each other (in the 1930s!!) the acclaimed festival was wracked by an encore of Allen allegations. The old wounds, regarding Allens alleged sexual abuse of his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, were reopened by her brother Ronan Farrow in a recent Hollywood Reporter column.

In a convincing clapback, Allens own son takes on both his fathers inappropriate behavior and the medias culpability in protecting one of Hollywoods most powerful players. Farrow is uncompromising in his assessment of his fathers supposed crimes toward Dylan, insisting that even at 5 years old, I was troubled by our fathers strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumbbehavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations.

Farrow addresses systemic issues, such as the fact that survivors who choose not to pursue legal action against their assailants are often later dismissed or doubted. The assumption is that a decision not to prosecute is akin to admitting that the assault was fictitious or lacked sound evidence. In fact, Farrow argues, in cases like his sisters, a childs safety and well-being is often valued over a costly and traumatic legal process. Unfortunately, the fact that Allen was never convicted has been used as a crucial caveat in the court of public opinion: If Allen was never found guilty, then why should we continue to rehash this supposed crime?

This slippery slope of forgiveness and abuse amnesia is particularly ripe for re-examination in light of the Bill Cosby case.

In his column, Farrow reserves the largest portion of his criticism not for Woody Allen, but for a system that breeds and protects Allens and Cosbys. Despite a slew of sexual assault allegations, Cosbys Teflon reputation and diligent PR team managed to keep the beloved comedian above the fray, dismissing these womens stories as little more than attention-grabbing stunts. Sixty alleged victims and countless un-thorough interviews and deliberate erasures later, weve finally come to terms with Cosbys crimes. Now, its time to address our complicity.

Farrow outlines a system wherein reporters are fed sound bites and spin, reticent to criticize a celebrity for fear of losing access to their publicists other A-list clients. While its easy to imagine one under-pressure reporter sweeping something under the rug, it all adds up to a whole lot of people who just arent doing their jobs. If journalistic ethics arent what theyre cracked up to be, then who can we trust to hold the rich and famous accountableand how can we address a system that supports criminals and silences the impotent and abused?

These questions came to a head at Cannes, where Allens handling of renewed controversy actually served to accentuate his sons criticisms. Farrows insistence that journalists are actually punished for reporting was swiftly corroborated by his fathers PR teamthanks, dad!when The Hollywood Reporter was barred from attending Caf e Society events, in clear retaliation for its decision to run the critical column. When THR asked for an explanation from Leslee Dart, Allens longtime publicist, she responded: Its only natural that I would show displeasure when the pressin this case, The Hollywood Reportergoes out of its way to be harmful to my client. In a clear attempt to look less petty than he had just proven himself to be, Allen claimed ignorance when it came to his sons essay, insisting that I never read anything about me.

Luckily, Allens camp wasnt able to cover up all the criticism.

At the Wednesday night opening of Caf e Society, Cannes master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte debuted a Woody Allen joke that even Ricky Gervais wouldve probably shied away from, cracking, Youve shot so many of your films here in Europe and yet in the U.S. you havent even been convicted of rape. The Roman Polanski-inspired barb drew gasps from the rarified audienceparticularly in light of the fact that, as predicted by Ronan Farrow, no reporter had dared raise the rape issue at a friendly press conference with Allen earlier that day.

For American audiences, Reckless Cannes Personality is definitely Lafittes biggest role yet. The French actor and comedian has little name recognition stateside, and boasts a shorter Wikipedia page than William Hung. In France, the veteran actor is known for his steady work, with more than 50 credits on his resume. In a Hollywood Reporter interview, the newly infamous 42-year-old, who wrote all of his own material, insisted that What Ive learned only just this morning is that Woody Allens son made a statement yesterday with accusations [involving rape]. I didnt know that. When I wrote this joke, it was more a joke about Europe and why one of the greatest American directors spent years in Europe, [while Allen] didnt have to because he wasnt accused of rape in his own country, compared to Roman Polanski. It was [meant] as a joke about American puritanism and the fact that it is surprising that an American director wants to do so many movies in Europe. The rest of Lafittes opening gala shtick included making out with 72-year-old film icon Catherine Deneuve.

While it seems that Lafittes monologue was little more than an inadvertent trip into some deep political dogshit, this isnt the first time that comedy has played a crucial role in a serious story. In fact, many credit comedian Hannibal Buresss 2014 stand-up routine, in which he unapologetically called Cosby a rapist, for reviving public interest in the decades-old allegations. If, as Ronan Farrow is alleging, magazine and television reporters are discouraged from doing their full due diligence (i.e., considerately reminding the public that many of their favorite celebrities are actually alleged assaulters and abusers), then maybe comedians could act as an alternative source of transparency.

Its not too radical of a notion. After all, more Americans than ever are getting their news and political acumen from career comedians. As the beloved Jon Stewart abdicated his reign at The Daily Show, Pew Research Center reported that 12 percent of online Americans cited The Daily Show as their news source. Even more interestingly, these viewers were far younger on average than the consumers who took in network or cable news. Daily Show spawn like The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver have taken on the work of further blurring the line between news and comedy. As any millennial with a newsfeed will tell you, Olivers illuminating segments on topics as diverse and deadly serious as transgender rights and Americas crumbling infrastructure are more than just comedy clickbait. Theyre amusing takes on vital issues; mandatory viewing for educated citizens disguised as something funny I can watch on my phone.

In addition to making the news a little bit more fun, humor can offer a bit of cover for a comedian with bite. Just ask Larry Wilmore, who came under fire for using the n-word as the host of the White House Correspondents Dinner. Wilmores edgy speech, which used deadpan humor to take on the tense subject of race relations in America, certainly stirred up discomfort at the annual Nerd Prom. However, Wilmores position as edgy entertainer gave him the leeway to hit on topics and punchlines that politicians or reporters would likely steer away from. Defending his performance, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest insisted that Im confident that Mr. Wilmore used the word by design. He was seeking to be provocative.

Of course, provocative comedians like Larry Wilmore and Hannibal Buress are far from apolitical. Like John Oliver and Jon Stewart, theyve discovered that comedy can be an effective vehicle for some pretty heavy material. Humor is a great way to flavor an unpalatable truth, so that no one knows what theyre eating until its too late. The educated, political comedian, with their willingness to offend and their renegade positionality to the toothless press machine, might very well be the only insider equipped to take on Hollywoods scumbags and sycophants.
Hillary Clinton is a murderer and a lesbian and she buys her muumuus on Amazon.com.

Well, she has lesbian associations as well as affairs with men. Thank goodness the appeal of the muumuu crosses the gender divide, because shes really more of a bisexual.

For proof of this look no further than Chelsea Clintons face, a close inspection of which is all you need to know that shes not Bill Clintons daughter, but the product of Hillarys sexual relationship with Webb Hubbell, her old partner at the Rose Law Firm, whose indelicate features, from certain angles, are nearly identical to hers.

Speaking of old flames, Vincent Foster was Hillarys soulmate and while she probably didnt kill him, she definitely moved his body to Fort Marcy Park after he shot himself in the head with a .38 caliber pistol in the White House. Though the Clintons did hire detectives to kill Kathleen Willeys cat and leave its skull on her porch to intimidate her into silence after Bill, a cocaine fiend who trafficked the stuff into the Mena Airport in Arkansas by the ton, sexually assaulted her. His rehab stints never worked. He relied on cocaine too much for energy to globe-trot with pedophiles and impregnate prostitutes in alleyways during his morning jogs.

If it seems like Im an alternate-universe Clinton expert, youre right, but I cant take credit for the things I knowOK, heard.

Its all from the exhaustive works of longtime acquaintances of Donald Trump who, intentionally or not, have written the foundational texts for the Republican nominees case against Hillary Clinton.

Roger Stone and his co-author Robert Morrow, along with Edward Klein, have produced books that amount to a treasure trove of opposition research for Trump. In hundreds and hundreds of pages they have revealed dark, personal secrets and transcripts of private conversations Clinton has had in the intimacy of her own homewith family and friends and even with Steven Spielberg.

Is anything theyve written factual?

Doesnt matter, really, when youve already accused Ted Cruzs dad of playing hacky sack with Lee Harvey Oswald and imagined a parade of Muslims celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

Hes going to use it. Its just a matter of when, Morrow told me of the book he wrote with Stone. I hope its sooner rather than later.

Political observers have generally fared poorly over the last year when making predictions about the election, but Id bet my muumuu that Trump takes the insights he gleans from the curriculum produced by Stone, Morrow, and Klein to a cable chyron near youand sometime before the July conventions. Hes already started. Last week, Trump criticized Clinton for being a nasty, mean enabler of her husbands affairsa page, literally, out of the doctrine.

Im not flattered, Morrow said of the likelihood that Trump would cite his work. Im delighted he is, because it is going to napalm Hillary Clinton. She is going to be burned at the stake in 2016 and everybody should get out their marshmallows and put them on a stick.

There are dozens of books about the Clintons, including but not limited to: sprawling biographies, shitty self-published e-books, books that cast them favorably, books that tear them down, childrens books, and even a cookbook called The I Greatly Dislike Hillary Clinton Cookbook, which includes a recipe for jerk chicken along with dishes named, Liar, Liar; Mouth on Fire Spicy Chili; Meatless Meatballs; and Garbage Bread.

But the most colorful subgenre of Clinton literature is the conspiracy scrapbook. These books tend to differ from books that merely tear them down (think Christopher Hitchenss No One Left To Lie To, 1999). The reporting is questionable, the writing is bad, and the contempt the author(s) has for the subject overshadows the story theyre trying to tell.

Since 2005, four prominent texts that fall into this category have been published by Stone, Morrow, and Klein: The Truth About Hillary (Klein, 2005); Blood Feud: The Clintons v The Obamas (Klein, 2014); Unlikeable: The Problem With Hillary (Klein, 2015); and The Clintons War On Women (Stone and Morrow, 2015).

And what an eclectic crew the three authors are.

Stone, 64, is the white-haired, body-building, fashion-obsessed, sex-club-visiting former aide to Richard Nixon with a portrait of Nixons face tattooed between his shoulderblades.

Stone was introduced to Trump in the 1970s by Roy Cohn, Sen. Joe McCarthys legal counsel, who mentored Trump politically. Stone remained in Trumps orbit over the decades, advising him informally, before joining his presidential campaign in 2015. He left in August amid staff infighting (he butted heads, in particular, with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski), but he returned to the inner circle when Trump hired Paul Manafort, whod been his partner at Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, a lobbying firm in D.C. that they started in the early 1980s.

For his first (and so far only) book about the Clintons, Stone enlisted Morrowwhose resume has far fewer traditional bulletpoints than his ownfor help.

Morrow, 51, is a towering and disheveled presence who dresses like a math teacher whos fallen on hard times.

He lives in Austin, Texas, and serves, much to the ire of the Travis County GOP, as the chairman of the Travis County GOP. He survives on an inheritance, and when hes not rating anime porn on a scale of 1 to 10 on Twitter, he devotes his every waking moment to uncovering and perpetuating informationmost of it highly questionable, to put it politelyabout public officials.

He spent much of 2011 campaigning against Rick Perry, who he called a rampaging bisexual adulterer. He even ran an ad against him that asked, HAVE YOU HAD SEX WITH RICK PERRY? ARE YOU A STRIPPER, AN ESCORT, OR JUST A YOUNG HOTTIE IMPRESSED BY AN ARROGANT, ENTITLED GOVERNOR OF TEXAS? He provided a phone number and email address where such people could reach him to get their stories out.

Morrow, interestingly, hates Trump. Hes a Ron Paul devotee who campaignedand volunteered in Iowafor Rand Paul before switching over to support Ted Cruz. Now he likes Gary Johnson, the libertarian. But hes happy to see his work being put to use to destroy Clinton, regardless of how he feels about Trump.

Heres the key point, he said, Donald Trump didnt murder 76 innocents at Waco in 1993, and Hillary did.

He thinks Trump is awfula narcissistic, pathological, lying psychopath who says that he wants to torture the enemy and commit war crimes against their familiesbut, he reasons, the future we do not know but the past we know for certain. And the past, as Morrow understands it, is full of Clintons sins.

The parts of The Clintons War On Women that are written coherently are hard to put down. Imagine a special edition of the National Enquirer that ran several hundred pages long and focused solely on the Clintonsthats sort of what its like.

Stone and Morrow harp on what they say is Bills relentless coke habit, dazzling with tales of him snorting lines as the Arkansas attorney general and then in the governors mansion. They wink-wink for a never-ending chapter on his association with Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire pedophile, but they never outright allege Bill engaged in pedophilia himself on any of his eighteen trips on Epsteins private plane, which is known as the Lolita Express. (Trump, too, knows Epsteinhe even dined at his house).

Unlike Stone and Morrow, Kleins eccentricities arent apparent on the surface. He doesnt have a Twitter account where he ranks anime boobies like Morrow and hes never posed for a photoshoot dressed up as the Joker from Batman like Stone. Without reading any of his work, you might think Klein is your average veteran reporter. Just a nice 79-year-old guy with a friendly demeanor on the phone, probably somebodys grandpa.

In conversation, hes quick to note his long history in the news business writing for and editing reputable publicationsnot to boast, he says, but just for context. He started out at the New York Daily News, moved onto Newsweek, then The New York Times, and finally The New York Times Magazine, which he edited and, his biography brags, received a Pulitzer during his reign. Hes maintained what he says is not a friendship, but a reporter-source relationship, with Trump for decades. Earlier this month, they had lunch together.

Klein started writing books in the mid-90s and, he told me, began researching Clinton around 2003. Over the last 13 years (and three Clinton books), he said, hes developed countless sourcessome of whom hes interviewed more than 70 times.

This all sounds great and credible until you read what they allegedly told him.

The beginning of Unlikeable, his most recent book, for instance, is an elaborate scene that Klein says happened one evening while she and Bill were having drinks with friends and Bill suggested she contact Steven Spielberg for advice about how to be more likable.

Klein reproduces an entire conversations worth of dialogue between the Clintons, in which Hillary is quoted as saying, I get $250,000 for a speech, and these Hollywood jackasses are going to tell me how to do it!

Later in the book, Klein writes that in the presence of several friends Hillary told Bill, I dont want to be a pantsuit-wearing globetrotter.

In Blood Feud, Klein wrote that Hillary said, verbatim, in a private conversation, Now we are going to be together on the campaign trail, and its going to be complicated. Plus, there is the dynamic that when I run for president Im going to be the boss, and Im not sure Bill will be able to handle that. He says hell be my adviser and loving husband, but Im afraid that if Im elected, hell think hes president again and Im first lady. If he starts that shit, Ill have his ass thrown out of the White House.

Unless Klein wired his sources and his sources were Bill and Hillary Clinton, none of this is likely to be even kind of true. Its possible Klein is a fabulist, or its possible he has terrible sources. Its also possible that hes a looney toon and the multiple sources hes interviewed upwards of 70 times each are all in his head.

Whos to say? If I were Ed Klein I might say I know that last thing for a fact.

I asked Klein about his reporting process.

People ask me, why do they talk to you? he said, People like to talk about their connection to people in power. Theyits something that gives them a sense of their own importance and a lot of them talk to me because they feel that theyre basically letting the world know, or through me, letting me know, that they are connected to people at the highest levels of power.

He added that, though its not always apparent, sometimes people leak information because theyre jealous of the person in power, even if they admire and serve them professionally.

Ive protected them all these years, he said of his sources. He views critical appraisals of his workhis reviews are almost universally condemnatoryas nothing more than the Clinton Slime Room, as Maureen Dowd coined it, hard at work. He does not believe critics are reviewing his books with their own critical thoughts, but with talking points distributed by Clinton and her associates.

Clinton conspiracies are, of course, as old as the Clintons political careers themselves.

In 1995, the White House counsels office produced a 332-page internal memo (PDF) called The Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce. Revealed by The Wall Street Journal in 1997 and made public by the Clinton Library in 2014 (though now inexplicably removed from the website), it detailed how Clinton conspiracies made their way from well funded right wing think tanks and conservative newsletters and newspapers to the Internet, then to the British tabloids, wholl print just about anything, then to the New York tabloids, and ultimately to the the mainstream media.

After the mainstream right-of-center American media covers the story, the memo read, Congressional committees will look into the story. After Congress looks into the story, the story now has the legitimacy to be covered by the remainder of the American mainstream press as a real story.

Nowadays, the process is simpler: Trump says something and its immediately a legitimate story, because the de facto Republican nominee and leader of one of the countrys two major political parties saying something crazy is news.

Ive written extensively about the possibility that Trump is a conspiracy theorist, and I maintain thats likely. But likely, too, is the possibility that Trump is merely savvy.

It was just as voters were taking to the polls in Indianawhich had been perceived, a few days before the primary, as a competitive state for Ted Cruzthat Trump went on Fox News to ask why nobody was paying attention to a National Enquirer story alleging Cruzs dad had been with Lee Harvey Oswald just before the JFK assassination.

And just like that, the narrative in the media changed from, Can Cruz Win Indiana? to Donald Trump Connects Cruzs Dad to JFK Assassination.

Who knows if Trump believed any of it, and who cares? It worked. Cruz dropped out of the race a few hours later, making Trump, effectively, the Republican nominee.

For the general, Trump has more than just one tabloid story to knock out his opponent. Hes got an entire librarys worth of poorly written ammo.

And his three horsemen are more than willing to assist.

Donald does not ask me for my opinions on politics, Klein told me. He thinks hes doing me a big favor by letting me hang out with him, and he is, in a way Its all about Donald. Its not about me.

UPDATE, SUNDAY MAY 15, 2015, 10:43 P.M.: In an interview with Donald Trump, The New York Times' Maureen Dowd asked for a response to this story. Trump replied, according to Dowd's Tweet, "I have nothing to do with Roger Stone, he doesn't work for me. What did he do? He did a book?"
Hollywoods perceived gender bias has become a cause celebre in recent years thanks to Patricia Arquette, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, and other powerful women in the industry who have spoken out about the issue.

Now, in a move that brings a new level of seriousness to their cause, the feds are investigating gender discrimination in the industry.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced the news on Wednesday, a year after they first urged the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate discrimination against women film and TV directors.

Seven months after the EEOC began interviewing female directors, theyre now conducting the same process with studio executives, showrunners, male directors, agents, and other industry players.

We are encouraged by the scope of the governments process and are hopeful that the government will be moving to a more targeted phase, said Melissa Goodman, director of the LGBT, Gender and Reproductive Justice Project at the ACLU of Southern California, in a statement released Wednesday.

The ACLUs letter to the government cited a report from the Directors Guild of America that found women represented 14 percent of television directors in 2013 and 2014, as well as a USC study which found only 1.9 percent of directors of the 100 highest-grossing films during those same years were women.

While the EEOC has not confirmed or denied the investigation, since they are required by law to keep such matters confidential, EEOC spokeswoman Justine Lisser wrote in an email to The Daily Beast that they received the ACLUs letter containing information documenting the under-representation of women directors in film and TV, and had further discussions with the ACLU about their data and conclusions.

Lenora Lapidus, director of the Womens Rights Project at ACLU, confirmed in an interview with The Daily Beast that the EEOC met with more than 100 people in the industry, including over 50 female directors, during the first round of interviews.

As much as prominent female voices in Hollywood like Patricia Arquette have helped bring national awareness to the industrys alleged gender bias, Maria Giese, one of the female directors interviewed by the EOCC, deserves credit for helping to spearhead the investigation.

Giese began working on the issue at the end of 2011, when she met with the Directors Guild of America.

The DGA fought me so ferociously and were so hostile to the activist efforts I was making inside the guild to increase hiring of women directors, she told The Daily Beast. I realized there was a huge conflict of interesthere was a union run by a vast majority of male members pretending to have an interest in hiring mandates of women when they own the lions share of the pie.

She first met with the ACLU in February 2013, and again in April and May, and explained why the issue was so significant and how they could possibly mitigate it, either by coming up with solutions to take legal actions themselves or by getting the EEOC involved.

She had previously confronted EEOC and said that they were more interested in one woman filing a lawsuit with smoking gun evidence against a studio than in getting involved themselves. She now believes that government involvement is the only way to effect real change.

Very few women directors have been as vociferously critical of the industry as Giese, who admits she has essentially sacrificed her career in doing so.

I knew I would risk getting blacklisted in an industry that is run on personal relationships, she said. But I hadnt been able to get any work for a very long time and I felt I had nothing left to lose.

There are only a handful of women directors who have achieved enormous success in Hollywood, most notably Kathryn Bigelow. Giese said that roughly 4 percent of studio features are directed by women, and nearly 100 percent of those women are movie stars, pop stars, or relatives of movie moguls (Angelina Jolie, Drew Barrymore, Sofia Coppola, and Jodie Foster, to name a few).

Theres no guarantees that this investigation will amount to any change, and that puts women directors and allies of women directors in a precarious position if they choose to speak out right now, said another female director who asked to remain anonymous.

If the EEOC found evidence of widespread discrimination in Hollywood, they could potentially sue studios or seek to negotiate a solution that would increase their hiring of women in various roles.

The toughest hurdle for the EEOC, if they decided to sue, is that the Supreme Court has made it harder to bring class action than it used to be, said Andrew Friedman, a Los Angeles-based attorney specializing in employment discrimination.

Still, the EEOC would have a better chance in court than private plaintiffs, he said. Courts seem more reluctant to give injunctive relief to individuals as opposed to a government agency.
This week was easily the most significant in the history of transgender rights.

In five short days, the federal government came down hard on North Carolina for its prohibitive bathroom law, declared that all transgender students in the country should be allowed to use the facilities they wish, and barred health-care providers from excluding transition-related care. For LGBT advocates who have been pushing for these changes for decades, it was an exhilarating and heady series of victories.

But they didnt happen overnight. In fact, the Obama administration has been quietly moving transgender rights forward for years. Before the struggle for same-sex marriage was even over, federal agencies and departments were bolstering protections for transgender people, piece by piece. Each of this weeks wins can be traced back to an earlier policy.

First, Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday delivered a moving address as she announced a federal lawsuit against North Carolina over HB 2, the controversial state law that requires transgender people to use bathrooms matching their birth certificatesand wipes out all local non-discrimination ordinances for LGBT people. Her speech was unprecedented in its full-throated support of transgender equality.

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, she said to the transgender community.

Then, early Friday, the Department of Justice and the Department of Education sent a directive to all U.S. school districts, advising them that transgender students should be allowed to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, rather than the gender they were assigned at birth. That announcement comes amidst nationwide debates at the district-level about accommodations for trans students.

And later Friday morning, while anti-transgender forces were already down for the count, the Department of Health and Human Services announced in a new rule that health-care providers who receive federal funding cannot deny transition-related care. Many private health insurance plans exclude hormone therapy and surgery; now, that practice is considered illegal.

But all three of these major victories have precedents that stretch back years.

The Obama administrations stance on transgender students in bathrooms is nothing new. All the way back in April 2014, the Department of Education announced that transgender students were protected under Title IXs prohibition of sex discrimination. Fast forward to the present day and Title IX is part of the DoJs justification for suing the state of North Carolina over HB 2.

The groundwork for Fridays transgender health-care rule was laid almost four years ago. In August 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would interpret discrimination on the basis of transgender status as a form of sex discrimination. In 2015, the HHS issued a proposed rule along those lines. Fridays final rule is the logical conclusion of these more gradual reforms.

In fact, the Obama administration was advancing transgender rights two years into his first term, long before they exploded into the mainstream by way of the bathroom debate, with all of its many myths about privacy and public safety.

In June 2010, years before either President Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed public support for same-sex marriage, the State Department began allowing transgender people to change gender markers on passports with a physicians certification that they had received appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition rather than proof of sex reassignment surgery. This paved the way for other government agencies to change their policies around identification for transgender people. The Social Security Administration, for example, followed suit three years later.

And in July 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development opened the door for transgender people to file federal housing discrimination complaints by announcing that they would now be covered under the Fair Housing Acts ban on gender discrimination.

The reforms have continued straight through the presidents final term. One of the most notable came in June 2014, when the president signed an executive order prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination among federal contractors. Most states still do not prohibit employers from firing someone because they are gay or transgender.

There have been cascading court victories over the years, too, along with little touches from the Obama administration: the hiring of the first openly transgender White House staffer; a gender-neutral bathroom in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building; Vice President Biden calling the current fight the civil rights issue of our time in 2012; Obama saying the word transgender for the first time in a State of the Union address.

Obama himself hasnt always been front and center on the issue but LGBT advocates are keenly aware of his influence.

He has been the best president for transgender rights and nobody else is in second place, Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), once told CBS News.

In short, this weeks three transgender victories in Washington were the culmination of years worth of work, not the opening shots of a war to come.

Of course, those just tuning into the debate now because of North Carolina or Target or your uncles Facebook page might be expecting a struggle similar in length to the protracted same-sex marriage debate. And, as Jay Michaelson observed in The Daily Beast, the Christian Right is certainly digging in, however hopelessly, for an extended battle over religious freedom and transgender people.

But even if a Republican takes the Oval Office in November and reverses many of Obamas executive orders, public opinion has already fallen in line with his administrations policies.

A new CNN/ORC poll found that 57 percent of Americans oppose restrictions on transgender bathroom use while only 38 percent support them. An even more impressive 75 percent support protections for transgender people in employment, housing, and public accommodations. As The Daily Beasts Michael Tomasky wrote, Americas mind is made up on the question.

For comparison, Gallup polling shows that, shortly before the Supreme Court handed down the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in June 2015, public opinion on the legalization same-sex marriage was 60 percent in favor, 37 percent opposed. Those numbers are almost identical to the current polling on transgender bathroom laws like North Carolinas HB 2. And with no proof that transgender bathroom protections will lead to an increase in sexual assault, its unlikely that public opinion will swing back toward 50-50.

On Monday, after telling the transgender community, We see you, Loretta Lynch made another statement that was all the more powerful for its subtlety: 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.

The Obama administration has been doing exactly that for yearsmoving little by little on transgender equality. The far right may be gearing up for another culture war, this time on transgender people, but they lost the war before it even started.
Recently, one of my students asked me: Why doesnt the U.S. stop Vladimir Putin? He was no ordinary student, and this was no regular college. He was a senior military officer from an allied country, and we were at Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service, where Im a professor who teaches courses on national security strategy.

He is not alone. Many wonder how Putin gets away with it again and again and again. In the past few years, Russia blitzed the country of Georgia, cyber-crushed Estonia, claimed much of the Artic as theirs, invaded eastern Ukraine, stole Crimea, mucked around in Syria, increased submarine patrols to Cold War levels, and is worrying Eastern Europe. The Bear is back.

Five years ago, Washington, D.C., foreign policy elites mocked Russia. Now, no one is laughing. Last month, a Russian fighter jet did practice attack runs on an American destroyer in the Black Sea, flying so low it left a wake in the water, while in a separate incident another fighter did barrel rolls around a U.S. RC-135 spy plane.

Its as if Putin was saying to NATO, Hey, the Americans wont even defend themselves. You really think theyll defend you?

Putin has a czars vision for Greater Russia, and the strategic mind to achieve it. His objective is simple: Get the U.S. out of NATO, then extend Russias sphere of influence to the Atlantic. If Trump is elected, I think it could happen.

Make no mistake, Putin is waging a shadow war with the West, and winning.

Meanwhile, American strategists are chasing their tails, debating the strategic buzzwords du jour, such as: Is this hybrid warfare or the gray zone? Who cares. Lets win.

To win against Putin, we must first Know thy enemy, according to the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu. Sometimes it takes an outsider to do this. Im a former private military contractormercenary to someand Im not steeped in the Pentagon mindset. I know Putin and the type of war hes waging, and its not found in the textbooks of the war colleges. Its found in fiction, which can reveal truths sometimes obscured by reality.

In the novel Shadow War, Bret Witter and I show how Putins way of war really works. Spoiler alert: Its not your grandfathers war.

Shadow War centers around Tom Locke, a likable albeit damaged guy. Hes a high-end mercenary, working for a multibillion-dollar private military company that does things the U.S. government wont do, or the corporate world cant do.

Locke is sent covertly to eastern Ukraine to ensure Americas chosen oligarch becomes the president. But nothing is as it seems. Its unclear who his real client is. He has an American contract. Sort of. The book exposes some of the realities of the modern mercenary world.

Meanwhile, Lockes scheming boss, Brad Winters, is working his way through Washington, D.C., Houston, New York City, London, and other places. Hes in business for himself, despite what he tells his clientele. What does a man like Winters want? Everything. Hes the global .01 percent, with a private army.

Shadow War is based on actual events. It pulls back the curtain on messy conflicts like Ukraines, and explains why Putin continues to outmaneuver the West. Its important because it wont end with Ukraine. Putin has bigger plans.

Putin wins because hes waging a shadow war, while we are not. If we want to stop him, we need to understand how shadow wars work. Heres what you need to know:

10 Characteristics of Shadow Wars

1. States matter less. Todays great powers arent just countries, theyre multinational corporations as well as the super-rich. The Fortune 500 are more powerful than most countries, most of which are fragile or failed states. Although Shadow War is an international thriller, few of the great powers are states. Corporations are involved in conflicts like Ukraine.

2. Mercenaries are back. This industry was dormant for centuries, and then resurrected by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan, where half of Americas military personnel were contractors. Now Russia, Nigeria, the Emirates, and corporations use mercenaries. Locke discovers that mercenaries are fighting on all sides of the Ukraine war, drawing out the war for profit.

3. Deep States exist. Deep States are networks of elites who can sometimes rule behind governments, across sectors, and beyond borders for their own benefit. Shadow War reveals some of the connections between Wall Street and K Street, and how national interests can be manipulated for shareholder profit. Some deny this, but its not new.

4. Warriors are masked, and may not fight for states. Shadow War takes you to the frontlines of the Ukraine war. Soldiers are rare. Militias, mercenaries, criminals, spooks, and refugees litter the landscape. Sometimes its unclear who the enemy is.

5. Economics can be weaponized. Shadow wars utilize all instruments of national power, not just military ones. Economics is a favorite cudgel of Putin. Forget World War II bombers. Putin turns off the gas to Europe when he doesnt get his way, plunging the Europe into an energy crisis. Whats being fought for in a shadow war it isnt terrain, its energy and industry.

6. Clandestine operations are key. In the information age, plausible deniability is more powerful than tank divisions. The Russian military could invade Ukraine outright yet Putin chooses to use mercenaries, proxy militia, and Little Green Men (Russian soldiers without Russian insignia on their fatigues). How can you rally the world to fight a war that may not exist? You cant. Its a brilliant strategic defense by Putin.

7. Hearts and minds dont matter. Forget the failed counterinsurgency strategies of Iraq and Afghanistan. Sadly, shadow wars arent about the people. The fight in Ukraine isnt a continuation of the Orange Revolution. Its about dueling oligarchs and other things.

8. Lie, a lot. Some of the best weapons do not fire bullets. Putin understands the power of propaganda and the fickleness of the news cycle. Even when his proxies blew up a civilian airliner, the world quickly moved on, thanks to an army of cyber trolls who misdirected, reframed, and denied the obvious.

9. Winning has changed. You do not have to conquer in the traditional sense. Super technologies and battlefield triumphs guarantee nothing in a shadow war. Cunning and boldness are decisive. Tom Lockes greatest asset is not the firepower at his fingertips (and he has a lot), but his brain.

10. People still matter most. While in the field, I learned quickly that trust between people is the difference between success and failure. But betrayal is a touchstone of shadow wars, too. What happens to Tom Locke in Shadow War is a very good introduction to the ways modern warriors must navigate in this frightening new world.

War is morphing. Its no longer a military-on-military clash for king and country. Todays wars are fought in the shadows, yet American strategists remain mired in the WWII paradigm of regular war. Were punching in the dark. Meanwhile, Putin is waging a shadow war, and thats why hes winning.

The solution? Its time for America to fight backbut do it in the shadows. The U.S. did this during the Cold War. Now that a new Cold War may be resurgent, its time to fight back, Tom Locke-style.

Sean McFate is co-author of Shadow War: A Tom Locke Novel.
It seemed like a simple David and Goliath story.

Three military whistleblowers took on a powerful and vindictive admiral, accusing him of retaliating against them after he thought they were daring to speak up. And with the help of a few brave senators, the whistleblowers ended the career of the Navys top SEAL before he could launch another witch hunt.

Admiral [Brian] Losey appeared to be a serial retaliator. The evidence was overwhelming. He allegedly broke the law, said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in April.

But an investigation by The Daily Beast into the case of Rear Admiral Loseyincluding dozens of interviews and a review of hundreds of pages of previously undisclosed documentsreveals a far more complicated narrative.

One of the whistleblowers, it turns out, had been previously reprimanded for criminal conduct that impeded a military investigation. Another was implicated in a payroll scandal that cost the military tens of thousands of dollars.

And while the documents and interviews show the ultra-direct, constantly demanding Losey to be no ones idea of an ideal boss, top defense officials call the seemingly damning Pentagon inspector generals report that has ended his 33-year tenure deeply flawed and filled with cherry-picked evidence.

Today, theres an after-the-fact counteroffensive under way to repair Loseys reputation. His former boss, retired Navy SEAL Admiral William McRaven, recently took the rare step of speaking up in public. He called Loseys ouster a miscarriage of justice that is part of a disturbing trend in how politicians abuse and denigrate military leadership, particularly the officer corps, to advance their political agendas.

That push has come too late to save the embattled admirals career. Loseywho once led the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, aka SEAL Team 6, and now leads its parent organization, the Naval Special Warfare Commandhas filed his retirement papers, even though Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said there was insufficient evidence to conclude the one-star admiral retaliated against the three employees, according to an Oct. 16, 2015, letter seen by The Daily Beast.

***

The story starts five years ago, in Stuttgart, Germany, home to the U.S. militarys Special Operations Command Africa. Once a sleepy outpost, Stuttgart became a frantic military operations center after 2011s Arab Spring set Africa on fire.

The command had been responsible for little more than running training exercises and building a Rolodex of African military contacts. But as conflict spread across the region, it quickly began assisting missions combating Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, al Qaeda-linked Shabab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the Lords Resistance Army in Central Africa, to name a few. The commands staff doubled, and its pace of operations did all that and more. The admiral and his staff complained that three men who would later become whistleblowers werent keeping up.

When Losey got to the command in July 2011, he asked the two questions that he believed were key to running a military headquarters: Where are my people? Are we recognizing their service correctly? At previous commands, hed relied on tools called trackersspreadsheets to show daily who was where in the region, when his staff at headquarters was due to arrive or depart post, and who was due for the awards that were key to employee advancement.

For months, he asked two members of his staffan Air Force officer who handled personnel matters, and his civilian chief of staff, Fredrick D. Jonesto build those tools so he could track personnel at his headquarters and the deployments of some 500 people across Africa.

Time and again, the spreadsheet-like tools werent delivered, according to letters of counseling to the two employees.

I asked for a personnel tracker (in early summer) and still dont have one, Losey wrote in a performance review of chief of staff Jones that was part of the admirals defense of his case, sent to then-Special Operations Commands Chief McRaven.

My contact time with you amounts to 10 minutes a day on average, Losey complained to Jones.

Emails I send to you are seldom acknowledged, and the status of any action I request is not provided unless I ask for it, he continued. I have sent you 490 emails You have sent me 76.

Losey eventually moved Jones into another job in late fall 2011. The civilian chief of staff was demoted to director of staff. Jones had the same grade and pay but now answered to a military officer who Losey felt was more up to date with current combat operations, and more willing to put in the 24/7 pace.

Jones griped that Losey only gave him two weeks to improve after that letter of counseling before shifting him to the lesser post.

I understood that I needed to make changes in order to better meet his expectations, Jones wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. However, only 15 days after this discussion took place, [Rear Admiral] Losey removed me as his Chief of Staff, which from my perspective was hardly enough time to implement all the changes he expected.

The Air Force officer, who The Daily Beast is not naming because he was not linked to any misconduct, was first stripped of his duties, then moved to an equal job at European Command in the same city. He was told nothing would go in his record. He later told investigators he feared that future command boards considering his promotion would look askance at the mid-job move, and he blamed the action on Loseys suspicion hed made anonymous complaints rather than because of poor performance.

Just a month or so before those reassignments, someone had contacted the Defense Departments inspector general to report that Losey tried to buy a plane ticket for his daughter on the governments dime.

The allegation was quickly investigated and dismissed as spurious, and the case closed in just four days. But the Air Force officer later told investigators that Losey wasnt satisfied with the clean bill of professional health. The officer said the anonymous tip left the admiral angry, and he shared his frustration and suspicions with his immediate staff.

The new chief of staff who replaced Jones in November 2011 was Army Col. Michael Franck. Hed been working at the command under the previous commander, so hed seen how the mission had doubled in the two years since he arrived in 2009, going from 250 troops deployed across the region to 500. He saw change so rapid, some couldnt keep up.

There was just a lot more work to do, Franck said in an interview with The Daily Beast.

The three men who would eventually bring Losey down had a very different point of view. They saw every complaint about their performance through the lens of their commanders outrage over the original travel complaint. And, eventually, the Defense Department inspector general seemed to take the same point of view.

Clearly, there was tension in the air. On Nov. 17, the inspector general of U.S. Africa Command received an anonymous tip, this time about the toxic environment in Loseys shop.

Loseys response, according to a later inspector generals report: If you continue to undermine my authority as a commander, Im going to bury each one of them. Im going to come after them, and Im going to [make] it very unpleasant.

Loseys lawyer denies the outburst ever happened, and the inspector general report concedes it was a one-on-one conversation with no other witnesses.

But documents including performance reports, email exchanges, and legal records of investigations show a frustrated commander accustomed to working at high speed with a willing staff dealing instead with constant questioning of his requests and commands.

It chafed them, Franck said of a small group that included Jones. They were being asked to work harder than before and they didnt like it. They started rebelling.

***

What Franck hadnt expected when he took the chief of staff post was the budgetary time bomb that landed on his desk shortly after he took over. The staff had racked up hundreds of hours of outstanding comp time or overtime that would have to be paid for, and the command didnt have a budget for it.

Former chief of staff Jones had never told anyone this was looming, and upon systematically investigating the payroll of the entire command going back to the pre-Losey era, Franck found that Jones and a small group of his closest work associates had racked up the most time.

Losey issued new orders regarding overtime, and Franck eventually asked for a formal investigation the following summer, centering on those with the most to gain from the scheme.

The AR 15-6, as its known, showed that Jones had been using subordinates to approve his extra hours plus other irregularities long before Losey arrived and in contravention of a 2009 personnel policy in force. It amounted to a cabal of employees who worked together for years at the headquarters and were signing off on each others overtime, worth thousands of dollars in extra pay every month.

The investigation found Jones had subordinates certify his time and attendance, premium pay, and leave records on at least 55 occasionssome of those occasions, after Losey had issued the new orders.

Jones insists later investigations by the parent Africa Command cleared him of any wrongdoing, referring to documents The Daily Beast was not able to access.

One of the people who signed off on Joness overtime was the commands executive officer, Robert Gwinner, another senior civilian staffer. Neither Jones nor Gwinner were punished for the pay infractions, but they were warned not to do it again. (Daily Beast attempts to contact Gwinner through Africa Command and his LinkedIn profile were unsuccessful.)

It wasnt Gwinners first tangle with the military brass.

In a March 20, 2004, letter shared with The Daily Beast, then-Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno formally reprimanded Gwinner, who was in charge of troops in the 3rd Brigade combat team of the 4th Infantry Division, for wrongfully impeding a criminal investigation division investigation into the drowning death of an Iraqi citizen. Odierno, who later became Army chief of staff, said Gwinner instructed soldiers to deny that two civilians were pushed into the Tigris River which was totally false. Your conduct was wrongful, criminal and will not be tolerated.

Gwinner claims he got a poor mark on his 2011 employee review, however, because he was suspected of making one of the whistleblower complaints. Inspector general investigators agreed, as Gwinner was downgraded by Losey from the highest mark to the Success All or Excellence, the second-highest mark an employee can be given. The inspector general berated Losey for failing to give Gwinner an improvement plan, but defense officials countered that the rating was too high to trigger that, and Navy officials said the decline in review was merited because of documented lackluster performance.

One email exchange in Loseys letter to McRaven provides a snapshot of a clash of cultures between retired Army officer Gwinner and the SEAL admiral. The surreal seven-email volley starts with Losey reminding Gwinner to remove the liquor on display in his office, as the admiral didnt want troops coming in from African conflict zones to see a double standard, with alcohol forbidden overseas but permitted at the headquarters.

Instead of saluting smartly, saying, Yes, sir, and removing the alcohol, Gwinner writes back in the Sept. 24, 2012, email exchange complaining that if he has to remove alcohol from his office, others should be forced to do the same.

One of the responses read: Sir, Just to clarify, your original request 15 month[s] ago was to remove the alcohol from open display; you further stated it was okay if I placed it in the cabinet under the printers, which I immediately complied At this very moment, there is alcohol in your own command group in the refrigerator. V/R,Mr. Gwinner

The anonymous report of a toxic climate triggered then-Africa Command chief Gen. Carter Ham to ask for an independent investigation of the headquarters. According to a report by now-retired Lt. Gen. Ray Palumbo, Loseys leadership wasnt toxic, but it was directadmired by most, but uncomfortable for some that he anonymously interviewed.

Rear Adm. Loseys forceful and no-nonsense leadership style pushes the limits of tolerance for some employees who remain comfortable with the old culture, Palumbo wrote in a report obtained by The Daily Beast. Several of these employees are either unwilling or unable to adapt to the new direction and tempo being set for the command.

That strain plus the constant drumbeat of investigations into Losey created an undercurrent of drama that Palumbo said was distracting to all, but he said the command was performing well during a high-tempo, demanding period, and he concluded that Losey is the right man for the job at this time.

Africa Command Chief Ham, whod commissioned the Palumbo report, counseled the younger officer on its findings.

Brian was not a perfect leader, Ham said in an interview. Hes a hard driving, high standards person, and he is also very direct, and that can sometimes be off-putting.

Ham told him to ease up.

Youve got to make some adjustments to your leadership style, Ham remembered telling Losey.

My sense is Brian took that to heart, he said.

The Defense Departments inspector general, however, had a very different point of view, finding him guilty of reprisal in three out of five cases.

***

When the inspector generals report landed on the desk of Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus last fall, it concluded Losey had, in fact, retaliated against employees. The IG said Losey lowered two employees annual performance evaluations and removed a third from his staff and reassigned him to a staff position at a higher headquarters, all because he suspected them of making those anonymous complaints in the fall of 2011. (Ironically, none of men were the original whistleblowers.)

Loseys aide Franck was later investigated too, to see if his investigation of the pay issues was reprisal for whistleblowing, but he was cleared of wrongdoing by the Army. Another member of Loseys staff, now-retired Air Force Col. Richard Samuels, denied retaliating against anyone but offered no further comment in a brief phone interview. The Air Force declined to take action against Samuels.

Whistleblower caucus founder Sen. Grassley mentioned a fourth outstanding investigation against another unnamed member of Loseys staff in a statement regarding the case, but the Air Force spokesmans officer could neither confirm nor deny the investigation, citing the privacy laws.

All of this left the secretary of the Navy, Mabus, will some heavy decisions to make about Loseys future.

Before acting, Mabus assigned the Navys first woman four-star, Vice Chief of the Navy Admiral Michelle Howard, the task of judging the case and, if necessary, punishing Losey, who had been put in charge of all the Navy SEALs despite the investigation hanging over his head.

After reviewing both the inspectors reports and evidence submitted by Losey, Howard found fault in all parties, senior officials said. In an Oct. 1, 2015, letter seen by The Daily Beast, she wrote that Losey had taken appropriate action regarding the three alleged whistleblowers, whom the records showed were poor performers.

But she also lectured Losey for expressing his frustration to his immediate staff over a whistleblower complaint filed within his first year of command that falsely accused him of billing the Navy for his daughters travel.

You conveyed your frustration that a member of your command would take issue with your activities and contact the inspector general without addressing you first, she wrote in the missive, which officials say was followed up by a lecture via video teleconference. You created a perception in those who heard your comments that they were constrained in their reporting options.

As a leader, you must be more mindful of the effect of your communications and how they can be perceived by others, she concluded.

Howard considered verbal and written counseling enough to steer the experienced officer on the right path, especially as anonymous surveys of his troops both in Stuttgart and Coronado gave him high marks for command climate, proving to her that hed learned from his time in Germany, senior officials said.

In his first public comment on the case, Losey said he took the lecture to heart.

I appreciate the diligence and thoroughness the Navy exercised in reviewing and adjudicating this matter, Losey wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. And, I absorbed the counseling points provided by my superiors.

Mabus endorsed his vice chiefs decision and told the Pentagon inspector general that there was insufficient evidence to conclude Losey retaliated against the three employees, according to an Oct. 16, 2015, letter seen by The Daily Beast.

The Pentagon Office of the Inspector General declined to comment.

But senators who have long championed the rights of whistleblowers saw a case of the top brass steamrolling their own investigatorsall to benefit a powerful admiral. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) placed a hold on the Navys nomination of Dr. Janine Davidson for a senior Navy post. The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Jack Reed (D-RI), also sent Mabus a letter saying theyd never have agreed to give Losey a second star by Senate vote back in 2011 if theyd known about the allegations.

That letter sends a message to whistleblowers: Reprisal will not be tolerated. Thats a real morale booster for all whistleblowers suffering under the weight of reprisal, said Sen. Grassley in a speech on the Senate floor in April. Holding such a distinguished naval officer accountable was no easy task. To the contrary, it was as difficult as they get.

Mabus eventually bowed to the lawmakers demands.

The secretary of the Navy had to make a call, according to a defense official briefed on Mabuss decision-making process. He put the organization ahead of the individual.

Two defense officials said Losey has filed his retirement papers and has been handing over duties to his named replacement, Navy SEAL Rear Adm. Tim Szymanski.

Loseys case has left a lasting bitterness at the Pentagon, where multiple senior officials were eager to share their take on what they see as justice gone wrong.

But Grassley said Losey can only blame himself for what happened Thats accountabilitys harsh reality. He allegedly broke the law and must now pay the price.

On the House floor Friday, retired SEAL officer-turned-Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke, rejected that. He saw a problem and took action, Zinke said of Losey. An entrusted, entrenched bureaucracy was allowed to hide behind threats, hide behind whistleblowerrules that were intended to protect command and not to erode it.

Losey does not believe he broke the law, but in his email to The Daily Beast, he indicated hed accepted the Navys decision.

I have accepted full accountability and responsibility for my actions, he wrote.
A grown man is trying to auction off a gun he used to kill a teenage boy as a piece of history.

George Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 and was subsequently acquitted of murder, is trying to make a profit off his weapon. The auction listing for the gun, on the website United Gun Group Auction currently says the asking price is more than $65 million.

Many of the 1,019 bids come from insincere sources; names like Racist McShootFace, Donald Trump, and Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by Cleveland police who mistook his toy gun for the real thing in 2014.

But toward the bottom of the listing, away from the troll-y names and snarky remarks, is a sincere plea from a man named Jeff Posey.

I would like to make a legitimate offer on this gun, the comment reads. Please contact me Mr. Zimmerman. Thank you.

Posey left his email in the space below more than a dozen other comments, but he doesnt want the gun for himselfhe wants it so it cannot cause any more harm.

Nothing would be more tragic or insulting to the Martin family than allowing some adolescent redneck to buy this gun and spend the next 30 years waving it around on YouTube, Posey told The Daily Beast via email. If putting $5K in Zimmermans pocket today is how we prevent that, then its worth it.

Posey, a mechanic in Summerville, Georgia, and a self-described life long gun collector, is willing to pay the starting price for the gun$5,000not the ludicrous figure bid up by trolls.

If I had $10,000 to offer, I gladly would, Posey explained. Unfortunately, the reality of my savings account is slightly less than half that.

Posey said Zimmerman hasnt reached out to him yet about his offer.

In his posting, the killer of Martin flaunts the gun as a valuable item tied to history.

The firearm is fully functional as the attempts by the Department of Justice on behalf of B. Hussein Obama to render the firearm inoperable were thwarted by my phenomenal Defense Attorney, Zimmerman writes in his post advertising the weapon for sale.

I recognize the purchasers ownership and right to do with the firearm as they wish. The purchaser is guaranteed validity and authenticity of the firearm, Zimmerman went on, adding that he will give a portion of the proceeds to fight Black Lives Matter violence against Law Enforcement officers, and fight the states attorney who prosecuted him, as well as Hillary Clinton.

Now is your opportunity to own a piece of American History. Good Luck.

The gun was originally listed on GunBroker.com, which eventually took it down after saying it wanted no part in the listing on our website or in any of the publicity it is receiving.

Posey doesnt view this as an opportunistic chance to hold on to history, as Zimmerman would garishly like to present it. Its about making sure that the gun cant be used as a source of racial intimidation or harm.

Luckily most violent racists dont have two dollars to rub together, Posey said. Typically theyre losers in every aspect of life, not just socially. So there isnt much threat of them being able to buy it for that, I believe. But Im sure that there are many non-violent racists who would love to use this gun for propaganda, and who do have the money to buy it. And that's the real threat that we have to prevent.
Following the coverage from North Carolina, you might think that Americans are about evenly split on which restroom transgender people ought to use. You might even think, given the rage on the anti side, that most people support the restrictive bill. After all, lets face it, for a lot of people out there, the whole idea of transgender people probably comes with a certain ick factor, as was the case for gay people 20 years ago.

You might think all these things, but it turns out that you would be selling your fellow Americans rather short. A heartening poll out from CNN this week shows that a substantial majority of Americans opposes HB2. Its 57 percent against and just 38 percent in favor. Indeed, strongly oppose outpointed the combined strongly and somewhat favor by 39-38.

More: Fully 75 percent of Americans support laws guaranteeing equal protection for transgender people in jobs, housing and public accommodations. And 80 percent support such laws for people based on sexual preference, laws that we dont yet have on the federal level.

So Americas mind is made up on the question. Even Republicans in the survey were evenly split on the bathroom question, 48-48.

And yet the Republicans who matter, the official ones, the legislators and the governor, are 100 percent for the bill and 0 percent against. I mean literally zeroone ex-Democrat-turned-independent who caucuses with the Republicans voted against HB2, but other than that, every Republican who was present and voting backed the bill.

You might wave this away by saying Oh, theyre from the South, what do you expect? But there is very little reason to think that if a similar bill came up for a vote in Madison or Harrisburg or practically anywhere outside of New England, the results would be much different. They sure wouldnt be much different in Washington, D.C., where maybe two GOP senators and three or four GOP House members would vote against such a bill. Its more extreme down South, but across the country, the elected Republican Party is basically representing only half of the Republican rank and file. Those 48 percent of Republicans in that survey who oppose HB2 have no representation and might as well not exist.

This is a huge problem in our political discourse, and its made worse by certain media assumptions, one in particular. Ever since Reagans time, political journalism has collectively kind of assumed that Republicans represent normal Americans. The Democrats were granted that assumption, once upon a time. But then the Democratic Party became the party of African Americans and feminists and same-sexers and so on, and the white working classes went Republican.

And ever since, our political-journalistic discourse has operated from the default assumption that Republicans represent the real Americans. Republicans eat steak, drink beer, go to church, while Democrats eat tofu, sip sauvignon blanc, sneer at Godyou know the sort of thing.

Its time to re-examine this, no? I say the 57 percent who declare themselves to be on the side of our transgender friends are the real, normal Americans. They are, after all, the majority. The clear majority. That 57 percent includes 62 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of independents, and the aformentioned half of Republicans. Theyre majorities in the Northeast (57 percent), the Midwest (56 percent), and the West (60 percent). Theyre majorities of every age group, including 65 and over, who say they oppose HB2 by 51-41 percent! Theyre majorities of every income group. Theyre majorities of college graduates and non-college graduates. All these cross-tabs, by the way, are here (PDF).

These are todays real Americans. Im not saying theyre flaming liberals. Indeed, this is the very point: Its not liberal anymore, one-eighth of the way into the 21st century, to be in favor of decency, a little understanding of difference, and the conviction that intolerance does all of us, even those not affected by it, a little harm. Thats not being liberal. Its just being American.

And what are the other people? Well, Jon Chait just called people like them idiots. I dont want to say that. And I dont want to say theyre bad people. People are complicated; lots of people with enlightened politics are crappy human beings, and vice versa.

But I will say this. The idea of what it means to be American has changed quite a lot in the last 20 or so years. The typically American place, so long presented to us as nearly-all white town where everyone went to church on Sunday, is now a much more polyglot congeries of white, black, brown, yellow, straight, gay, in-between, religious, irreligious, religious but in their own idiosyncratic way; and of people who might fill this or that demographic slot but who are in other ways entirely unpredictablethe urban hipster with a soft spot for Carrie Underwood, the white working-class man who took Princes death really hard. Thats America today.

And one of our two major political parties will not acknowledge it. In fact Republican leaders fight the new reality tooth and nail, to the point that they have effectively chosen to represent just 12 percent of the populationthat is to say, half of the 25 percent who identify as Republican. There isnt anything thats normal or real about that.

The media need to wake up. The Reagan-era dividing lines are long gone. And America isnt bitterly divided about transgender peoples bathroom rights, or same-sex marriage rights, or climate change, or the need to do something about guns, or a dozen other things. Real Americans agree on all these things. The Republican Party will of course never reflect this new America. Can journalism ever find a way to?
A blaze was put out early on Thursday at the historic Darb Al-Ahmar area and the Cairo governorate headquarters amid an ongoing series of fires that Egypt's capital has witnessed this week

A fire broke out in the early hours of Thursday at an apartment block in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area in the historic Islamic quarter of Old Cairo, a day after another blaze burnt a number of shops at a historic market in the same neighborhood.

The blaze, the latest in a series of fires reported in the capital over the past three days, left two people injured, according to Ahmad Ansary, the head of the Egyptian ambulance authority.

Early on Wednesday, flames swept through at least four textiles shops and 10 small stalls at the historic market at Ghouriya area, in the same neighborhood, injuring two.

Antiquities officials said the fire did not harm historical buildings in the area, a major hub of Egypt's Islamic history.

The Cairo governorate headquarters also witnessed significant fire on Thursday that was soon contained.

The fire took place in the housing directorate office with no casualties reported except for five employees who suffered from suffocation and are currently receiving medical treatment.

Late on Wednesday, Egypt's interior ministry said firefighters put out flames that burnt a vehicle outside the court complex of the High Judicial Court in central Cairo.

The fire left no casualties, the ministry said in a statement reported by state news agency MENA.

Repeated fire incidents since Monday, including a major blaze that engulfed downtown Cairo's busy commercial area of Attaba, have raised doubts among residents and vendors of foul play.

The Attaba fire, which firefighters struggled to extinguish for two days, killed three and injured over 90.

Initial losses are estimated at EGP 400 million (approx. $45 million) after the fire engulfed around 240 shops and dozens of stalls.

The government said it would give the families of those killed a compensation of EGP 10,000 (approx. $1,100) and EGP 2,000 (approx. $225) to the injured.

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Mexico said Thursday that it was not satisfied with the Egyptian government's response to an aerial bombing in Egypt last year in which eight Mexican tourists were killed.



The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that it had sent a letter to the Egyptian embassy to express its "surprise and dissatisfaction" with the government's failure to thoroughly investigate the case, penalize the perpetrators and compensate victims.



Last September, an Egyptian army aircraft fired on a group parked for a barbecue near a tourist site, thinking they were militants. In addition to the eight Mexicans, four Egyptians were killed. Six Mexicans were wounded.



The ministry said that although media outlets had reported on negotiations with one of the victim's families, Mexico did not have any knowledge of the case.



The federation of Egyptian tourism agencies said on Monday it had paid $140,000 each in compensation to the families of three of the eight Mexican tourists killed by mistake last year.

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Press Promotion

First community owned distillery in Scotland

Ninety years after the last distillery in Ross-shire in the Highlands of Scotland closed its doors, a highly unique community project, led by 'Flying Farmer' John F McKenzie and Community Shares Scotland, aims to reinstate the art of craft whisky distilling in Dingwall, Ross-shire.

On April16, 2016, 270 years to the day after the Battle of Culloden, the GlenWyvis distillery community share offer was launched. Founder John F McKenzie says: We have seen a remarkable surge of interest in the first community-owned Scottish distillery which has triggered over half a million pounds of investment in the first few weeks  and we encourage interested parties to help us hit our overall target of 1.5 million. On April16, 2016, 270 years to the day after the Battle of Culloden, the GlenWyvis distillery community share offer was launched. Founder John F McKenzie says: We have seen a remarkable surge of interest in the first community-owned Scottish distillery which has triggered over half a million pounds of investment in the first few weeks  and we encourage interested parties to help us hit our overall target of 1.5 million.

The GlenWyvis distillery has been named for its historical connection to two earlier distilleries: Ben Wyvis, the previous distillery on the proposed site of a proposed visitor centre; and Glenskiach which operated in Evanton, six miles to the east. Ross-shire was once home to several whisky distilleries and so our community share offer is an opportunity to invest in the rebirth of a once proud local industry.

Many elements have converged to make this an outstanding distillery proposition, says John, "it is not just the history and location  it is all about the community and natural resources too. We have taken great time and effort to consider every aspect of creating the distillery here - bringing together a strong board of whisky experts with a track record in start-up distilleries; the siting of the distillery on the farm harnessing renewable energy; locating water sources and setting out our longer term financial engagement with the community and investors.

Strong local engagement is important; hence we have made a special investment level of 250 for the local community with investment tranches rising from between 750 to 50,000* with a range of defined rewards for each level including a short helicopter trip for investments over 2,500. We are seeing great interest from the rest of the UK and overseas and we welcome anyone who wishes to invest and be a part owner in the distillery."

Powered by nature...

John adds: Whisky enthusiasts and aficionados like to know where the water sources come from and we are very privileged to have our own water sources on the farm. Water from Ben Wyvis flows into the Skiach, and the Skiach then flows into our hydro dam via Glen Wyvis and the Docharty Burn.

These waters and those of nearby Tulloch Spring will be used for cooling purposes at the distillery, while the water from a new underground borehole on the GlenWyvis site will be used to make the whisky - making us self-sufficient. These waters and those of nearby Tulloch Spring will be used for cooling purposes at the distillery, while the water from a new underground borehole on the GlenWyvis site will be used to make the whisky - making us self-sufficient. In addition, a modern heating system will be powered by the energy produced by the existing farm renewable technologies with heat coming from Biomass and Solar thermal." "Construction will commence on schedule in summer 2016 with distilling production scheduled for Burns Night 2017. Full investment information can be found at can be found at http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/glenwyvis-distillery

13 May 2016 - Rebecca Sterritt Paragraph Publishing, content manager
Related Germany summons Egypt ambassador over closing of German foundation in Cairo

Egypt had "nothing to do" with the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation's decision to shut its office in Cairo earlier this year, as the decision was made by the foundation itself, the Egyptian embassy in Germany said late on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, the German foreign office summoned the Egyptian ambassador to Germany to discuss the closure of the German foundation's office in Cairo.

The foundation announced in January that it was closing its Cairo office because of strict government restrictions.

The German foreign office said in a statement that State Secretary Markus Ederer discussed with Ambassador Badr Abdel-Ati the possible reopening of the Friedrich-Naumann Foundations office, which is linked to the liberal Free Democrats Party.

The statement also said the foundations "need to be able to do [their work] in an environment of increasing political pressure on civil society."

In its Thursday statement, the Egyptian embassy said the decision earlier this year to shut the foundation's office was "an internal one made by the German foundation".



"The Egyptian government didn't ask it to leave the country as Egypt welcomes all German institutions and foundations to work on its soil, providing they adhere to the domestic laws which regulate NGO operations in Egypt," the embassy added.



"The Egyptian ambassador had made it clear to the German authorities that any foreign NGO in Egypt can operate either through the 2002 law which regulates its work or through a mutual agreement signed between Egypt and the foreign country where the NGO was founded."



The German foundation, which is linked to the liberal Free Democrats Party, said on its website that it had moved its main office to Jordan in 2014, but had kept a small office in Egypt.

The German foreign office also said on Thursday that German government will continue its support of the important work of German political foundations in Egypt with appropriate measures.

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In addition, while at the same time delaying the start of decommissioning, the utilities have requested and received exemptions from the NRC that allow them to eliminate radiological emergency planning and drastically reduce on-site security around hundreds of tons high-level nuclear waste, all in the name of saving money.

"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appears to be complicit in this process and is in fact providing a significant hidden subsidy to the nuclear industry when it looks the other way by allowing public trust funds to be raided in violation of the Code of Federal Regulations", writes Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Associates in a document submitted to the NRC.

Gundersen, along with other groups including my own - Beyond Nuclear - have filed comments to the NRC as part of an arcane and convoluted process known as an 'Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Decommissioning.' The public comment period closed on March 18, 2016.

A years long Rulemaking is underway because reactor owners are asking to streamline what were site-specific exemptions and have them issued generically instead, and across the board, without any opportunity for public review or comment. This essentially eliminates public transparency in the decommissioning process.

It further seeks to save the corporation from spending any of its electricity production profits on the costs of safety and security oversight the companies claim are no longer needed once the reactor stops power production and is defueled.

The options for decommissioning a nuclear plant

There are currently three decommissioning options when a reactor closes. They are known by apparent acronyms that are really just capitalized slogans, masking the flaws behind all three.

DECON refers to prompt dismantlement. This sounds promising for all sides, dispensing with the whole decommissioning process and its attendant costs, headaches and liabilities in about 10 years.

In principle DECON is supported by environmental and anti-nuclear groups, but with one giant caveat: the radioactive waste that remains on site after decommissioning of the reactor, must be adequately safeguarded.

Under the current regulatory scheme, the NRC allows the licensee to offload the irradiated nuclear fuel from the spent fuel storage pools into dry storage casks. These are not adequately protected from security threats. Nor is there any contingency to re-contain nuclear waste should it begin leaking from one of these casks.

Current casks designs are qualified for on-site nuclear waste storage for only 20 years and re-certified for four additional cycles. Some of these cask designs have already experienced degradation of protective seals and concrete shielding after less than a decade of use.

Of greatest concern, the casks are situated outside, closely congregated, on open tarmacs raising security concerns for their vulnerability to attack.

Consequently, the anti-nuclear and environmental groups that support DECON insist on the implementation of enhanced security called 'Hardened On-Site Storage', or HOSS to minimize these risks.

Rather than storing dozens of vulnerable dry-casks right next to each other in the open air, HOSS better secures the nuclear waste in above-ground individualized casks. These casks are fortified within modules of concentric capped silos of concrete and steel surrounded by earthen mounds.

The HOSS canisters would be dispersed over a wider area than traditional cask storage and would be better positioned to withstand a range and combination of weapons, explosives, and attacks, including anti-tank missiles, aircraft impacts, and car bombs.

Currently, reactor owners are not permitted to spend decommissioning funds on nuclear waste management as part of the DECON process. Nor do utilities want to go to the added expense of HOSS, which is not currently being considered by federal agencies, despite hundreds of petitioning groups and thousands of signatories to make HOSS a nuclear security priority at operating reactors as well as decommissioned sites.

A small number of reactors across the world have already used DECON (but without HOSS.) According to the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, of the nearly 150 nuclear power reactors that have ceased operation worldwide to date, only 16 units have completed the 'DECON' decommissioning process with 10 of those units in the United States taking on average 10 years to complete.

What 'SAFSTOR' really means: 'mothball' and walk away

The second option, euphemistically-named SAFSTOR, or 'safe store', allows owners to take up to 60 years from the day the reactor closes to complete decommissioning. This would effectively enable owners to delay the start of decommissioning for 50 years, leaving the reactor and fuel pools mothballed until then and the local communities at risk.

Unsurprisingly, this is the option that is increasingly favored by reactor owners, who are petitioning the NRC for across-the-board cost cutting under SAFSTOR, regardless of the specific conditions of the individual reactor sites.

Entergy Vice President, Michael Twomey, even told Vermont state legislators in reference to the decommissioning of its Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, that if the process is not complete in 60 years the company is fully within its rights to simply walk away, and if challenged, would litigate. Vermont Yankee closed on December 29, 2014.

The third option is ENTOMB. Without any regulatory guidance or legal framework, it allows utilities to essentially avoid decommissioning altogether. It is the option when no other options exist, as is the case at Chernobyl.

The exploded Chernobyl containment was eventually shrouded in a giant concrete sarcophagus at great expense and resulting in radiological exposure to hundreds of thousands of laborers. That structure is now being encased with a new, high-tech "Arch", again at vast expense. However, for regular decommissioning activities, ENTOMB should be viewed as a last resort and not as a strategy for escaping liability.

Waste management is nuclear power's most painful Achilles' heel

The waste management aspect of the decommissioning process remains the industry's most painful Achilles' heel. Despite successfully suing the Department of Energy for failure to remove the waste, as promised, to a final repository site, utilities are seeking to avoid using those funds for waste management.

Instead, utilities are seeking to siphon off decommissioning trust funds to build and manage the necessary on-site Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) to house irradiated fuel from a closed reactor. An ISFSI is not currently considered part of a legitimate decommissioning process covered by the trust fund.

The delays wrought by such wrangling means that irradiated fuel sits in densely packed storage pools inside the reactor - and in the case of the 30 remaining GE Mark I and II reactors in the US, on the roof. (The GE designs are the same as those that melted down and exploded at Fukushima.)

The fuel pools are over-packed because of inadequate existing on-site storage facilities. But delays in offloading them, even while the reactor is still running, never mind when it closes, represent one of the greatest risks to public health, safety and security. A catastrophic fire, aircraft impact or other disaster that released vast amounts of radioactive fallout from the high-density storage pools could contaminate entire regions potentially indefinitely.

"The four ongoing disasters at Fukushima Daiichi have clearly shown the vulnerability of nuclear power plants that have spent nuclear fuel stored in these overcrowded and unprotected spent fuel pools", Gundersen wrote in his comments to the NRC.

Fuel pools at closed US nuclear plants are a Fukushima waiting to happen

This is the principle reason to oppose SAFSTOR, safety experts say. Not only will the fuel remain in the pools, and in poorly protected waste casks, but protections and safety measures will be reduced. This is already exemplified in Vermont where the NRC has allowed Entergy to dismantle its emergency plan around Vermont Yankee and reduce inspections on the ventilation system near the spent fuel pool.

As Gundersen points out, the Vermont Yankee fuel pool still "contains more highly radioactive waste than was held in any of the fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi."

With a Fukushima-scale disaster is a real possibility even at closed reactors, critics are urging the NRC not to rubber stamp exemption requests. In the event of a nuclear catastrophe, evacuations downwind and downstream cannot be assumed to go well if emergency preparedness was discontinued months, years, or even decades earlier.

Even plans for site cleanup and decontamination are inadequate and have been watered down by the NRC itself. Site release criteria currently mandate clearing away surface soil down to three feet. But strontium-90 has been found far deeper on the Vermont Yankee site already. The NRC limit would open the way for strontium and potentially other isotopes resting deeper than three feet to migrate down into groundwater and potentially later to drinking water.

Instead, there should be more thorough post-decommissioning environmental analyses of where and how much residual radioactivity has been left behind in soil and water before power companies are allowed to walk away from accountability and liability.

To do decommissioning right, Gundersen argues that the state ratepayers should control decommissioning funds not the utility, because it is their money.

And, he says, decommissioning should be undertaken in such a way that operators "assure that those plants are promptly and safely decommissioned without unwarranted radiological contamination of the environment and extended cleanup and mitigation costs passed on to ratepayers or taxpayers."

Linda Pentz Gunter is the international specialist at Beyond Nuclear, a Takoma Park, MD environmental advocacy group.
In a move that has surprised many observers, the UK government has refused an emergency application by the National Farmers Union (NFU) to use bee-harming 'neonic' seed treatments on a third of England's autumn-sown oilseed rape (OSR) crop, an area of 195,000 hectares.

A similar application last year was accepted by Defra, the UK's agriculture and environment department, allowing 5% of the autumn-sown winter OSR crop, some 30,000 hectares, to be planted with neonicotinoid-treated OSR seed, in the face of widespread protest.

The aim of the neonic seed treatment is to protect the OSR crops from damage by the Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle (CSFB), which is developing resistance to alternative synthetic pyrethroid insecticides.

But in May 2013 the EU passed its Regulation 485/2013 restricting the neonicotinoids clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, and prohibiting the use and sale of seeds treated with them, following evidence of severe harm to bees.

The NFU's 2016 application for a 'derogation' from the regulation was to use thiamethoxam (Cruiser OSR) and clothianidin (Modesto). NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: "CSFB numbers have seen a dramatic increase since restrictions were imposed on the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments by the European Commission according to research published by Fera.

"The CSFB threat cannot be effectively addressed by any other means of pest control. Without access to these insecticides, farm businesses are unsustainable; farmers must be able to produce healthy and profitable crops."

Advisory group strongly recommended refusal

But the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP), which advises Defra on these issues, was unconvinced by these arguments and firmly advised refusal of the NFU's 'emergency derogation' request.

Had authorisation gone ahead in the face of this expert advice, a legal challenge would certainly have followed - especially given the severely critical analysis of the NFU's application offered by the ECP. Key points raised by their advice note include:

The "likely economic impact of preventable losses from CSFB was unclear from the evidence provided."

Information both within this application and more widely on the relationship between pest pressure and economic loss "was also lacking, an uncertainty currently unaddressed."

Survey data presented by the applicants showed "only a weak relationship between regional crop infestation by CSFB and regional patterns of crop damage and loss."

The data also showed that "relatively few fields assessed for damage from CSFB in any region reached guidance thresholds fortreatment, with no important differences between crops sown with treated and untreated seed."

There exist "no reliable methods available to predict which crops will be at greatest risk from CSFB attack prior to sowing the seed."

The NFU had provided "insufficient evidence to enable the ECP to determine an appropriate scale of use and where or how this should be targeted."

While it might possible to justify use of these products on the basis of CSFB resistance to alternative pesticides, "it would be difficult to define an area based on the information provided."

The proposed stewardship arrangements for the neonic-treated seed "offered insufficient assurance that use of any emergency authorisation would be appropriately 'controlled'."

The proposed stewardship arrangements "were not as robust as those used in 2015 for tracking treated seed through the supply chain".

Nor did they "appear to include a mechanism for prioritising agronomists' recommendations which would likely result in product being allocated on a 'first-come / first-served' basis rather than to areas of greatest need".

The criteria that agronomists would apply in deciding need for the neonic seeds "were not well defined and could vary widely in practice."

They would also "be challenging to define given scientific uncertainties that were unresolved by the data supplied."

The NFU "had not made sufficient opportunity of the emergency authorisations granted in 2015 to generate more robust information to enable better targeting of use."

The assessments accompanying the application "did not appear to have been subjected to any statistical analysis to enable estimates of the likely magnitudes of effects beyond chance."

That failure "made it difficult to assess the robustness of these data, particularly in terms of the different categories of damage, and be assured that use of any emergency authorisation would be appropriately limited'."

Accordingly the ECP concluded that "the applications do not meet the criteria for an emergency authorisation". The formal refusal was announced late yesterday by faming minister George Eustice.
As the eastern gateway to The Crooked Road, Franklin County is excited to participate in the second annual Mountains of Music Homecoming regional celebration this June.

Franklin County has an exciting lineup of activities to showcase for the regional event, said David Rotenizer, tourism development manager for Franklin County. As a gateway to the Crooked Road, we are literally opening the front door for visitors to savor the flavor that is truly Franklin County. Two featured concerts and six cultural experiences have been scheduled, and the results are going to be impressive.

Featured concerts in Franklin County will include Five Mile Mountain Road and Yates Family Band in the Schoolfield Hall auditorium at Ferrum College on Friday, June 10 at 7 p.m.

Then on June 14, the John Doyle Trio and Rose Conway Flanagan, Laura Byrne and Pat Egan will perform at the Harvester Center in Rocky Mount at 7 p.m.

Cultural experiences will include Oxen in the Blue Ridge weekend at the Blue Ridge Farm Museum at Ferrum College Friday, June 10 through Sunday, June 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

On Saturday, June 11, Franklin County Court Days: Culture & Music Festival will be held at the Farmers Market and Downtown Rocky Mount from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The annual Boones Mill Car Show will be held in Downtown Boones Mill on Saturday, June 12 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Southwest Virginia Antique Farm Days will take place Friday, June 17 through Sunday, June 19 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Franklin County Recreation Park in Sontag.

Booker T. Washington National Monument will host its annual Juneteenth Gospel Sing on Saturday, June 18 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

And Virginias Forgotten Canneries: A History in Labels exhibit will be on display at the Blue Ridge Institute & Museum at Ferrum College May 29  June 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For details and information, go to VisitFranklinCountyVA.org/MoMH or contact the Franklin County Division of Tourism & Film at (540) 483-3040.

And speaking of community events, tonight is the 13th annual Strawberry Festival at the Farmers Market in Rocky Mount.

The festival is a gift from Franklin Heights Baptist Church to the community with free ice cream and fresh strawberries, along with snow cones and popcorn.

This years event will feature music by the Harwell Grice Band and Franklin Heights gospel groups.

Everything at the festival is free, including activities for the kids, and residents are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

The fun starts at 6:30 p.m. In case of inclement weather, the festival will be held at the Franklin Heights Baptist Church Family Life Center, located at 110 Hilltop Drive in Franklin Heights.
Thirty-three contestants competed in the 13th annual Tiny Miss Greater Franklin County pageants on April 30 in the Franklin County High School auditorium.

The girls competed for eight division crowns and the opportunity to represent Franklin County at the Tiny Miss Virginia State Pageant in Charlottesville July 15-17.

Winners are as follows:

*Wee Baby Miss division, ages 6 to 24 months, Tatum Boyd.

*Baby Miss division, ages 2-3, Chloee Riddle.

*Mini Miss division, ages 4-5, Addyson Meadors.

*Tiny Miss division, ages 6-7, Makaela Newton.

*Petite Miss division, ages 8-9, Lauren Hicks.

*Pre-Teen division, ages 10-12, Alexus Carroll.

*Junior Miss division, ages 13-15, Jillena Guilliams.

*Senior Miss division, ages 16-18, Reagan Hunley.

Contestants competed in the areas of casual wear, evening gown, introduction and an onstage interview.

With an American theme, the pageant began with the singing of the National Anthem by Courtney Garrett, Miss Virginia 2014 and first runner-up to Miss America.

The contestants performed an opening number as they introduced themselves.

The winners of this year's pageant will be featured in parades, festivals and at local events throughout the year. As titleholders, they will also be involved in many community projects, such as ringing bells for the Salvation Army, delivering holiday cards to local nursing homes, helping at the Rescue Mission and participating in the Relay for Life event.

The Miss Greater Franklin County Scholarship Pageant is a nonprofit organization run by local volunteers. Funds raised from these pageants will go toward the scholarship fund for the Miss Greater Franklin County Scholarship Pageant, a preliminary to the Miss Virginia and Miss America pageants.

This year, scholarships were awarded to Catherine Turner, Jessalyn Hayes and Lauren Naff.

Other monies raised will go toward Tiny Miss Virginia State entry fees paid to the top five placements in each age division, prizes, awards, gifts and other Tiny Miss Franklin County activities.

For more information, contact Haigler at thaigler@hotmail.com.

Follow events on the Tiny Miss Franklin County Pageant Facebook page.
Local church administrators in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya said that "extremists" set on fire a temporary church in the village of Ismailia on Thursday.

"Some extremists set fire to the church, which is considered a temporary site for prayers," read a statement released by Minya's church managing board on Friday.

The statement said that the building had been in operation as a place for prayers for a year, with the permission of the authorities. The original church has been closed since 2009 for security reasons.

"We're currently contacting security authorities to avoid any tensions that could take place between Muslim and Christian residents, especially as they have good relations between each other," the board said.

Since the 2011 revolution, many churches have been attacked or vandalised, with dozens of attacks in August 2013. Minya, which is home to a large number of Christian Egyptians, was a hotspot for church attacks.

Since August 2014, the Egyptian armed forces have sponsored the restoration of the damaged churches.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population of 90 million and constitute the Middle East's largest Christian community.

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The United States Postal Service has teamed up with Feeding America Southwest Virginia and Food Lion to conduct their 24th annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive, set for Saturday, May 14.

The food drive will benefit Stepping Stone Mission soup kitchen, Ferrum Community Mission Center, Gods Provision Food Pantry and other local church pantries.

Residents are asked to hang bags of non-perishable food items on their mailboxes to be collected by carriers for delivery to local food pantries.

Examples of non-perishable food items include peanut butter, canned soups, canned vegetables, boxed cereal, pasta and rice.

The postal service asks that items be ready for pick-up early on Saturday morning and hung on mailboxes. Bags should not be left on the ground beside mailboxes, as carriers will not be able to get out of their vehicles to collect the bags.

Postal customers with larger donations should contact their local post offices for instructions on drop-offs.

Last year, post offices in Franklin County collected over 14,000 pounds of non-perishable food for local families in need.

All food from this event is collected in Franklin County and will remain in Franklin County.

All county post offices will be participating this year.

Stepping Stone Mission serves a noon meal every day, including all holidays, to those in need. The mission relies solely on donations, and that includes donations of food.

The Ferrum Community Mission Center, an outreach project of St. James United Methodist Church, is a clothes closet and food pantry for those in need. It operates solely on donations and volunteers.

God's Provision Food Pantry, located in Rocky Mount, is a mission of Rocky Mount Church of God. It serves disabled and low-income individuals and families.

Stamp Out Hunger is the nation's largest single-day food drive, held in 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, letter carriers in Southwest Virginia collected 322,229 pounds of food along their postal routes.

"With more than 154,500 of our Southwest Virginia neighbors facing hunger, and several localities recently seeing an increase in food insecurity, the importance of this annual event cannot be overstated," said Pamela Irvine, president and CEO of Feeding America Southwest Virginia. "Nor can we overstate the importance of our region's hard-working letter carriers and the generous support of corporate sponsors like Food Lion in making this event a success and helping fight hunger right here at home."

One in eight people in Southwest Virginia struggle to put food on their table. The recently released Map the Meal Gap 2016 numbers show that more than 154,500 individuals in the FASWVA service area are food insecure. Of those food insecure people, near 50,000 are children.

To learn more about Stamp Out Hunger, visit www.helpstampouthunger.com, www.facebook.com/StampOutHunger, or www.twitter.com/StampOutHunger.
Evan Vucci / Associated Press Attorney General Loretta Lynch, accompanied by Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, left, speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington on Monday. 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.

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By Eric Tucker, Associated Press

WASHINGTON  Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive, which is being sent to school districts Friday.

Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin released a statement critical of the directive, saying he found it "difficult to imagine a more absurd federal overreach into a local issue" and suggested the state might not comply.

Bevin cited the 10th Amendment in saying the federal government has "no authority to interfere in local school districts' bathroom policies."

"The President is not promoting unity. In fact, he is doing quite the opposite," Bevin said in a statement. "He is intentionally dividing America by threatening to sue or withhold funding from our cash-strapped public schools if they do not agree with his personal opinion on policies that remain squarely in their jurisdiction. They should not feel compelled to bow to such intimidation. My administration is researching the options available for ensuring that this local issue is decided by Kentuckians, not by bureaucrats in Washington."

Henderson County Schools Superintendent Marganna Stanley released a statement late Friday indicating the would take a wait-and-see approach.

"We are aware of the message from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education and will wait for guidance from Kentucky Department of Education and KSBA (Kentucky School Board Association) before any administrative conversations or changes would be made."

Stanley said parents with concerns should contact her or Julie Wischer at 270-831-5000.

Wischer, public information officer for the district said Henderson County could lose funding if it chose to not comply.

"They're attaching it to Title IX, and to receive those (federal) funds we have to comply with federal guidelines."

She said the school district will be looking to the Kentucky School Board Association and the Kentucky Department of Education on "how to walk this path."

"Any law we're required to comply with, we'll comply with," she said. "This isn't a law its 'strong guidance' ... we don't know what the requirement is, so that's why we'll look to the KSA and KDE. We know we'll get good direction from them."

Title IX is a federal law prohibiting discrimination in educational opportunities or activities.

Wischer said that to her knowledge, the issue of accommodating a transgender student hasn't presented itself in the school district in several years.

Malinda Beauchamp, spokeswoman for Union County Public Schools, released a statement on behalf of the district.

"We will continue to strive to provide a safe and supportive learning environment and to meet the educational, social, emotional, and privacy needs of all individuals learning and working in our facilities," she said in the statement. "We work closely with our students and their parents to address any individual needs as they arise. For any of our students or staff looking for a private restroom, we have one-stall unisex bathrooms available. We will continue to review what the Department of Education releases in order to remain compliant."

In issuing the guidance, the Obama administration is wading anew into a socially divisive debate it has bluntly cast in terms of civil rights. The Justice Department on Monday sued North Carolina over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

The guidance does not impose any new legal requirements. But officials say it's meant to clarify expectations of school districts that receive funding from the federal government. Educators have been seeking guidance on how to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding, Education Secretary John B. King said in a statement.

"We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence," King said.

Under the guidance, schools are told that they must treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the district that that identity "differs from previous representations or records." There is no obligation for a student to present a specific medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect his or her gender identity, and equal access must be given to transgender students even in instances when it makes others uncomfortable, according to the directive.

"As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students," the guidance says.

The administration is also releasing a separate 25-page document of questions and answers about best practices , including ways schools can make transgender students comfortable in the classroom and protect the privacy rights of all students in restrooms or locker rooms.

The move was cheered by Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian and transgender civil rights organization, which called the guidelines "groundbreaking."

"This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools," HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement.

The guidance comes days after the Justice Department and North Carolina filed dueling lawsuits over a new state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate. The administration has said the law violates the Civil Rights Act.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has argued that the state law is a "commonsense privacy policy" and that the Justice Department's position is "baseless and blatant overreach." His administration sued the federal government hours before the state itself was sued.
SHARE Alan Warren, Messenger-Inquirer/awarren@messenger-inquirer.com Former President Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife, Hillary Clinton, during a stop on Thursday at the Winchester Center at Kentucky Wesleyan College in Owensboro.

By James Mayse, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer jmaye@messenger-inquirer.com, / @JamesMayse

OWENSBORO  Harini Cardwell and Keasha Forbes were waiting in the long line outside Kentucky Wesleyan College's Winchester Center to see former President Bill Clinton on Thursday morning.

"She's the one who told me about the event, and I said, 'I cannot miss it,' " Cardwell said.

Clinton came to town to campaign for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who faces Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in next week's Democratic primary.

While some people in the crowd said they hadn't decided which candidate they were going to vote for on Tuesday, Cardwell and Forbes had already made up their minds.

"I think she's the most experienced, but I love the fact that she's a woman," Forbes said when asked if the possibility of Hillary Clinton becoming the first female president had any influence on her decision.

Cardwell said Clinton's gender didn't play a role in her support of Clinton's campaign.

"It's about who is going to be the best," Cardwell said.

Bill Clinton, who made a stop at The Creme coffee shop on Second Street before going to KWC, spoke for 30 minutes to about 400 people, telling them that voters face "an interesting choice" in November.

He said that while there has been job growth, wages have been stagnant for much of the workforce.

"America is the best-positioned country in the world for the next 30 years" in terms of job growth, Clinton said. But "80 percent of people are still living on what they were making the day before the crash" in 2008.

Meanwhile, there is anger in "coal country" Clinton said, because of the declines in coal's fortunes  which he blamed on the increased use of natural gas by power plants and on increased gas production.

"We have areas that feel totally left out and left behind. That explains the anger in coal country," Clinton said.

Historically, every country that has undergone a crash has taken 10 years to recover, Clinton said, but there are other factors affecting the public's mood this year.

"We have too much inequality, we have the middle class in trouble ... And in company after company after company, the shareholders are taking more and the workers are getting less, and that's not right."

The choice before the electorate this fall is a choice between different philosophies, he said.

"You got two choices here," Clinton said. "We can build a future we can all share where we all rise together, or we can pretend we can make it just the way it used to be, even though we'll have to build a few walls to do it."

Clinton never mentioned Sanders by name, or the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. But said "We need to restore the American dream" and Hillary Clinton has "the best idea about how to do it."

"She's got the best record of getting things done in divided government, (and) she's the only person qualified to go into office, with so many troubles in the world, who will keep us safe and give us the space we need to get this economy going."

The former president outlined Hillary Clinton's proposals for economically depressed areas, education, and for investing in small businesses. In addition to providing infrastructure to depressed areas, he said Hillary Clinton would increase incentive programs to expand and create small businesses, and she favors increasing manufacturing jobs.

"Hillary's plan is simple. Let's save the transportation cost (of shipping goods from overseas), and create more things in America," he said.

Hillary Clinton's plan also includes tax increases for the wealthy, he said.

"The average billionaire paid between 17 and 20 percent in taxes," over the last two years, he said. "There are people in this audience who paid more than that."

Clinton suggested Sanders' education plan for free college tuition was unrealistic, because the plan called for states to provide one-third of the money. States with Republican governors would oppose the plan, while other states "can't afford to come up with the one-third match," he said.

Hillary Clinton's education plan includes free community college tuition, a system where students would work 10 hours a week as a way to pay off college assistance, controls on tuition costs and an income-based loan repayment program. People would have the option to get from under their debt by serving in the AmeriCorps program for two years, and for taking community-oriented jobs, like teaching or law enforcement, Clinton said.

A Hillary Clinton administration would provide help to areas that have lost jobs due to the decline of coal, he said.

"She's the first candidate to say, 'I want to spend $30 billion to restore coal country,' " he said.

"She believes we can't go back to the past," he said. "She believes, no matter how many walls you build, you're still living in the future."

Polls that show Hillary Clinton as being viewed negatively are the result of a coordinated campaign by Republicans, Clinton said.

"The day she walked out of the Secretary of State's office, she was the most popular (political) figure in America," Clinton said. "What happened? Politics happened. Republicans set out to demonize her."

In the Senate, Hillary Clinton worked on balanced budget bills, foster care issues that increased adoptions from foster care, and "worked to get the necessary body armor to our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq," Clinton said.

"She's the best single change-maker I've ever known," Clinton said. " ... Kentucky voted for her eight years ago. She needs you again."

Jon Evan brought his two children to hear Bill Clinton. "I thought it would be pretty cool to bring the little ones," Evan said. "I thought it would be something (for them) to remember for the rest of their lives, and I liked President Clinton when he was in office."

As to how he would vote, Evan said he was an independent so he couldn't vote in Tuesday's primary.

"I'm slanted toward Hillary or Bernie, I can tell you that," Evan said.

Jessica Chase, who came with her Job Corps class from Morganfield to attend the event, won't be old enough to vote on Tuesday, but will be eligible by election day.

The rally "is more of an educational experience, but I am voting Democratic this year," Chase said. " ... I think both Democratic candidates have very good policies, compared to Trump.

"I feel my generation doesn't vote enough," Chase continued. " ... Millennials don't go out and vote. We just don't, but that's something that needs to change."

While introducing Clinton, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said only 20 percent voter turnout is projected for Tuesday's primary. Grimes urged the audience to go to the polls and support Clinton and "shatter that glass ceiling."

"(The Clintons) have been here time and time again, and they will be here for us when Hillary Clinton is in the White House," Grimes said.
SHARE Photo provided Republican congressional candidate Jason Batts is one of four Republicans vying for the Kentucky 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield. Adam Beam / Associated Press Republican congressional candidate Miles Caughey speaks during a forum May 3 in Henderson. Caughey is one of four Republicans vying for the Kentucky 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield. Adam Beam / Associated Press Republican congressional candidate James Comer speaks during a forum May 3 in Henderson. Comer is one of four Republicans vying for the Kentucky 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield. Adam Beam / Associated Press Republican congressional candidate Mike Pape speaks during a forum May 3 in Henderson. Pape is one of four Republicans vying for the Kentucky 1st Congressional District seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield.

By Adam Beam, Associated Press

HENDERSON, Ky.  Three men with accents and flashlights cut a hole in a chain-link fence to sneak into the country while Mike Pape, a Republican candidate for Congress, watches from the shadows.

The men vow to stop Pape because of his promise to help Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump build a wall on the U.S-Mexico border. That's when Pape turns to the camera, telling viewers he approves of one of the strangest campaign ads so far this year.

While many Republican candidates are either ignoring or distancing themselves from the party's presumptive nominee for president, Pape is the exception in the contentious Republican primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield in Kentucky's 1st Congressional District. It is the only open seat of Kentucky's six congressional districts.

Pape's embrace of Trump is part strategy  the New Yorker won 19 of the 35 counties in the district in the March Republican caucus  and part necessity. While Pape was Whitfield's district director for the past two decades, his name has never appeared on the ballot. Fellow candidate James Comer is a former state legislator and agriculture commissioner. Comer lost the Republican nomination for governor last year by 83 votes but won 22 of the 35 counties that make up the congressional district.

But Pape views that as a liability for Comer in today's Trump-dominated political climate. He says he voted for Trump in Kentucky's Republican caucus, although his ads attempt to appeal to supporters of both Trump and former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz. Pape calls Comer the establishment candidate of Mitch McConnell, Kentucky's senior U.S. senator and Senate majority leader.

"I've been working in this district longer than Jamie Comer ever has," Pape said. "The people of the first district are going to decide who the next congressman is and I don't think Mitch McConnell is in line right now with the conservative base of this district. In fact, I know that."

McConnell, who won every county in the 1st District in the 2014 primary and general election, has not endorsed a candidate in the race. But his allies in Kentucky have been working hard behind the scenes to elect Comer.

"Sen. McConnell has not officially endorsed anyone in this race but he believes that a conservative like James Comer would make a great member of Congress," said Terry Carmack, McConnell's top aide in Kentucky.

Comer won't say for whom he voted in Kentucky's presidential caucus, but says he will support the Republican nominee. He is running a more traditional campaign, receiving endorsements from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association and even the Tea Party Express. His top issue is to build new bridges on I-69 to connect Henderson with Evansville, Indiana.

Comer still carries some scars from last year's Republican primary for governor, during which a former college girlfriend accused him of abusing her physically and emotionally. Comer denies the allegations. Asked if they have resurfaced in the congressional race, he shook his head before knocking three times on a table.

"I'm at home here in the first district," he said. "I never was real comfortable in northern Kentucky or Louisville, and that showed up on Election Day."

He touts his experience running a state agency and writing laws in the state legislature while trying to avoid the dreaded label of "establishment candidate." One way he does this is by criticizing Whitfield, the retiring congressman who has endorsed Pape.

"He hasn't been present a lot," Comer said. "I'm going to be at the community meetings. I'm going to be a fixture in the first district."

A spokesman for Whitfield did not respond to Comer's comments.

Other candidates include Jason Batts, a county attorney who was the only Republican to get elected in Hickman County in 2014. A judge advocate in the Army Reserve, Batts also focuses mostly on national security issues in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe.

"If you want political experience, if you want more of the same, I'm probably not your candidate," he said.

Candidate Miles A. Caughey Jr., who often appears in public with overalls and a long beard, says he is a military veteran who now raises cattle in Peedee. He has promised to fight the "international financiers" he says have turned the U.S. into the world's largest debtor nation. He likes to end his campaign speeches by saying he is "totally self-financed with my VA disability check."

The winner of Tuesday's primary will face Democrat Samuel Gaskins in November.
Tom Lovett / The Gleaner Racks of memorial crosses sit near the gazebo Thursday in Henderson's Central Park. The crosses, adorned with United States flags, each bear the the name of a Henderson County resident who served in the military. Students from North Middle School will erect the crosses on Monday.

SHARE Tom Lovett / The Gleaner Rows of bases that will support memorial crosses line the lawn of Henderson's Central Park. Residents of the WARM Center spent Thursday helping members of American Legion Post No. 40 place the bases. On Monday, students from North Middle School will place a cross in each of the more than 5,000 bases. Each cross is adorned with a United States flag and the name of a Henderson County resident who served in the military. Tom Lovett / The Gleaner Jim Hanley of Spottsville moves a rack filled with memorial crosses into position Thursday in preparation for the crosses to be erected in Henderson's Central Park for Memorial Day. Hanley, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Vietnam, said the display will contain more than 5,000 crosses. Tom Lovett / The Gleaner Residents of the WARM Center take a break for lunch Thursday from placing bases in the lawn of Henderson's Central Park. The women are spending Thursday and Friday helping members of American Legion Post No. 40 in Henderson place more than 5,000 bases in preparation for students erecting crosses bearing the names of Henderosn residents who served in the military. The display is an annual event to mark Memorial Day.

By Tom Lovett of The Gleaner

Members of American Legion Post No. 40 spent Thursday taking part in an annual tradition  erecting a display of crosses honoring Henderson County residents who have served in the armed forces.

"Anything for the veterans, I like to do," said Marine Corps veteran Jim Hanley of Spottsville, who served in Vietnam. "We have the honor guard, we go to funerals. This is what we do."

On Thursday, Legion members, assisted by residents of the WARM Center began setting out the bases for the crosses in Central Park. They'll finish up on Friday. Students from North Middle School will be downtown Monday, actually erecting the crosses.

The women from the WARM Center are just great," Hanley said." "If we didn't have them I don't know how we'd get this done, I can't say enough for all the do. Them and the kids from North, they help we got is just great."

Hanley said that while he's been involved in the cross display for about 10 years, the project dates back to shortly after World War II.

Snoz Davis started the display with 34 crosses, Hanley said. This year, there will be more than 5,000.

"This town really likes their veterans," Hanley said. "They really support the veterans. I can't find any other place that does this on this magnitude," he said gesturing to the crosses.
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By The Associated Press

OWENSBORO, Ky.  Authorities in western Kentucky say one of the three bodies found since Wednesday in the Ohio River was shot in the back of the head.

Daviess County Sheriff's Department officials told media outlets the body also had ligature marks around the neck.

The body was one of two found Wednesday in the river. The other was that of a woman found near Troy, Indiana.

The Owensboro Messenger Inquirer reported that Daviess County firefighters on Thursday recovered the body of a woman between the ages of 30 and 50.

None of the three has been identified.

The bodies found Wednesday were badly decomposed, but Kentucky State Police said the body found Thursday appeared to have been in the water no more than a day or two.

Autopsies were planned.
Progress stalls on Case, United Auto Workers negotiations. Here's why.

After weeks of progress, contract negotiations between Case New Holland Industrial and United Auto Workers have come to a standstill. Here's why.
Lieutenant-General Tom Beckett, the defence senior advisor for the Middle East at the Ministry of Defence, met with local defence staff

A senior Middle East official at the UK's defence ministry visited Cairo on Thursday and met with local officials including the Egyptian deputy defence minister, according to an embassy press release.

Lieutenant-General Tom Beckett, the defence senior advisor for the Middle East at the Ministry of Defence, told Assistant Minister of Defence General Mohamed El-Keshky that "the UK considers Egypt an important military partner in the region and in the fight against Daesh," the statement read, referring to the Islamic State militant group.

Beckett was accompanied on the visit by retired Air Vice Marshal Nigel Maddox who is currently senior military advisor at UK Trade and Investment, a government department.

The officials also discussed ways to increase bilateral military cooperation, including through further joint work to counter the threat of IEDs and through exploring further UK defence exports that will assist in the fight against the IS group.

Britain exports millions of pounds of arms to Egypt annually, with a dramatic increase in export licences for weapons recorded in 2015.

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A federal directive to let students nationwide use the restroom of the gender they identify with is something already being followed in a number of local school districts.

The guidelines, issued jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice on Friday, say any school receiving federal money cant discriminate on a students sex, including one with a transgender status.

While the issue might not sit well in North Carolina  which recently stirred nationwide controversy by prohibiting transgender individuals from using the restroom they identify with  it was applauded at both the state and local level in Connecticut.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the guidance provides educators with tools they need when setting a school policy that provides a safe learning environment for all.

Every child, no matter their gender identity, should be treated equally and fairly in a safe, supportive environment, Malloy said.

Since 2011, transgender equality has been part of the state law that prohibits discrimination in public schools, said Thomas Mooney, an education lawyer whose firm represents Bridgeport and a number of other school districts in the state.

As a result, Connecticut educators are sensitive to and sophisticated about this issue, Mooney said.

Locally, many districts are actively putting such policies to work.

We have had a couple transgender high school students and we have found a great deal of understanding on the part of the other students, Stratford Schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said.

Robinson said she saw only respectful behavior on all sides when the accommodation was made.

She doesnt think it will be an issue in Stratford.

Our young people have been sensitive and understanding of the issues of the transgender student, she said.

In Shelton, Schools Superintendent Christopher Clouet called it really more an issue for adults than young people.

There are students who identify as in transition and we have treated each as an individual with unique needs, Clouet said.

Separate bathrooms are provided for a variety of students who do not feel at ease in a standard lavatory, he added.

At the college level, Mark E. Ojakian, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities said he has been consistently vocal about the systems commitment to provide a safe learning environment that encourages and celebrates diversity and fosters a culture of inclusion.

"We are fortunate to live in Connecticut - a state that has led the fight against all forms of discrimination and implements inclusive policies that welcome all members of society, Ojakian said.

The federal guidance says that when students or their parents notify a school that a student is transgender, the school must treat the student consistent with the students gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to have a medical diagnosis, undergo any medical treatment, or produce a birth certificate or other identification document before treating them consistent with their gender identity.

At the same time, the guidance makes clear that schools can provide additional privacy options to any student for any reason. So students uncomfortable do not have to use shared bathroom facilities.

No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr., said in a prepared statement.
NORWALK -- The Norwalk and New Milford police departments were flagged for racial profiling in a state report issued Thursday that examined nearly 600,000 traffic stops across the state.

The report by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project found that 42 percent of Norwalk's traffic stops -- and 15 percent of New Milford's -- involved minorities, a "statistically significant racial or ethnic disparity that may indicate the presence of racial and ethnic bias."

Trumbull was also singled out, although less harshly than Norwalk and New Milford. The report noted Trumbull police stopped minority drivers 38 percent of the time.

"There should be a sense of urgency about the amount of racial profiling going on in the state," said Cato Laurencin, a member of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Advisory Board.

"We know racial discrimination can cause health disparity, such as hypertension," Laurencin said. "One area we can fight this is in area of racial profiling."

With a population of about 87,200, Norwalk is 22 percent Hispanic and 15 percent black.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said a variety of factors can "skew" the results of the study.

"We need to be sure that all has been properly taken into account and the data interpreted properly," Kulhawik said. "Obviously, we will not tolerate any officers profiling drivers, and would take appropriate actions if that were determined to be the case."

Still, Kulhawik said "based upon these preliminary benchmarks, no conclusions can be made. We will continue to cooperate in assisting in the review of our data and also reviewing our data on a local level as well."

The Norwalk chief added he has questions regarding a benchmark used to test profiling called the "Veil of Darkness," which involves comparing night stops to day stops.

"They have also asked for additional information to assist them in further analyzing the data and we have provided them with the location of all our traffic stops so they can overlay that data on top of the raw stop numbers," Kulhawik said.

"We will be working with them in providing other local data they have requested to include in the analysis to determine whether the data should be concerning," the chief said.

The Connecticut State Police stopped motorists at the highest rate, at a ratio of 208 stops for every 1,000 residents. The report highlighted other trends as well, including which departments issue the most tickets; state cops made 586,849 stops.

Shelton police had the lowest stop rate in the state, pulling over 18 motorists for every 1,000 residents, according to the report.

Michael Lawlor, the state's undersecretary for criminal justice, said the report is a useful tool, but stressed it's not intended to punish departments.

"The purpose is not to decide if anyone is being unfair," Lawlor said. "It's to present real data so policy decisions are made on the basis of real data."

Flagged

The report found that Norwalk police stopped minorities 42 percent of the time, with 21 percent of those Hispanic and 22 percent black. Trumbull stopped minorities 38 percent of the time and 15 percent were Hispanic and 17 percent black.

New Milford police stopped minorities 15 percent of the time, with 4 percent of those stops involving Hispanic drivers and 8 percent black.

Traffic stop data from Norwalk, New Milford and Trumbull, along with seven other departments in the state, will be reviewed during an "in-depth follow-up analysis" by the profiling project, according to the report.

Stratford was flagged last year but the report noted a follow-up analysis is not warranted, although the report's authors said a limited review will be conducted to verify previous results.

The report is based on a year's worth of traffic stop data submitted by police departments between 2014 and 2015. The report marks the second full analysis of state data. The authors applied nine measures or tests by to analyze the data, including day and night stops and the reason police stopped the motorists.

Statewide, 14 percent of the motorists stopped during the analysis period were black and 12.5 percent Hispanic.

Data problems

New Milford Police Chief Shawn Boyne said he has scheduled a meeting with the committee which created the report and said he will also investigate the findings.

"If a problem is found, we will address it," Boyne said. "We operate under common sense, policy and law."

New Milford Mayor David Gronbach said the report doesn't take into consideration that many people travel on Route 7, where most of the department's traffic stops happen. Those out-of- town motorists impact the town's statistics, he said.

"In the time that I've been there I haven't heard of complaints of any profiling or targeting based on race," Gronbach said, adding he will look at the report.

Lt Frank Eannotti, a spokesman for the Stratford Police Department, said his department has problems with some of the demographics used by the authors.

"We continue to have concerns about the accuracy of the town's demographics," Eannotti said. "This is not the fault of the [authors] as the only official documentation they have to work from is the 2010 census, which is now more than six years old."

Eannotti said Stratford's minority population and driving population is now higher than that reflected by the census.

"Although it is not the only factor that is considered in the report we strongly believe it is very significant because many of the percentages in the report are based off of the census and driving population," he said.

Disparity

The report's authors cautioned the raw data does not prove racial profiling. But the statistics offer insights into trends and point to departments that may need to review policies and practices, they said.

"This report makes it clear that racial and ethnic disparities do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling," said Ken Barone, a research specialist with the Central Connecticut State University's Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, which produced the report.

"Statistical disparities do, however, provide significant evidence of the presence of data trends that warrant further analysis," Barone said. "There was a slight uptick of overall minority stopped this year compared to last year."

The report also concluded "minority stops were more likely to have occurred during daylight hours than at night."

Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs, speaking for the Connecticut State Police Chief's Association, said officers do no target minorities.

"Stopping someone based on what they look like is unacceptable and illegal," Fuchs said during a press conference Thursday. "No chief has bene informed they have an officer engaged in bias-based policing."

Barone said last year's report helped Hamden realize it's department was too focused on equipment violations, such as tinted windows.

"Ultimately they drastically decreased their reliance on equipment-related stops," Barone said. "They focused on moving violations and the disparity all but disappeared. The rate at which finding illegal contraband went up."

Staff writers Frank Juliano and Katrina Koerting contributed to this report.
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NORWALK  The property at 2 Shorehaven Road is a playground for adults, said listing agent Katie OGrady of William Raveis Real Estate.

But OGrady said finding a buyer for the $6.45 million property, which hit the market late last month, wont be easy.

There just arent a lot of buyers who can spend $6 million on a home, OGrady said.

The property is one of only five Norwalk homes currently on the market for more than $5 million, all of which are waterfront properties. Thats compared to neighboring towns with big ticket markets like Westport, which has 19 listings in the same price range, and Greenwich, which has almost 200 homes listed upwards of $5 million.

Its going to take a really specific person who wants a waterfront home and can afford it, OGrady said.

For those shopping in that price range, and even those who arent, the house is enticing for its numerous amenities ranging from the natural  75 feet of private beach, stunning panoramic views of Long Island Sound and a historic location  to the manmade.

The 9,300 square foot home, which was custom designed when the current owners gutted and renovated the property in 2010, is built around the original 19th century farmhouse that once graced the property.

The only remnants of that historic home are the noticeably lower ceilings in the dining room, but stories of the propertys significance date back to the Revolutionary War. The beach, which connects to the public Calf Pasture Beach named after the cattle farmers who settled there, was the landing ground for the British troops before they set off on the Burning of Norwalk.

A far cry from the styles of revolution-era homes, the house comes complete with a Japanese steam room, featuring an authentic Japanese soaking tub with water views, a third floor observatory with 360-degree views and a pool room complete with heated granite floors and an authentic brick pizza oven. A climatized wine cabinet, built in humidor, wet bar, elaborate kitchen and cavernous entryway are elements of the home built for entertaining.

Of the 15 total rooms in the seven-bedroom, eight bathroom main house, only three lack views of the Long Island Sound, something owner Sally Holzinger said they were cognizant of when designing the home.

We wanted to make the most of the water views, Holzinger said. It also turned out to be a great home for entertaining.

Holzinger said although its time to leave the home  her three children have grown up and her husbands job requires them to be away from the home more than in it  there are some aspects she will miss more than others.

The primary thing well miss is the Fourth of July party, Holzinger said. Because of where they set off the fireworks off Calf Pasture Beach no one can get between our house and the fireworks, so its like a celebration just for us.

And despite its location directly bordering a public beach, Holzinger said the property is surprisingly peaceful.

On big weekends sometimes we get a lot of noise from the beach, but for the most part its very serene, Holzinger said. I watch the sunrise and its beautiful  especially in the winter when its snowing, it is just so peaceful here.
WILTON  Out with the old and in with the new is not a philosophy that you would typically associate with Wilton.

After all, Wilton is a town whose identity is deeply rooted in its rural past. Its people are of the type who recoil at the thought of a large brands like Wal-Mart opening within their towns borders, and its terrain, unlike neighboring areas, is largely dominated by open space.

Yet, local experts are saying that this approach may need an overhaul if Wilton is going to successfully navigate its way out of the precarious position many Connecticut municipalities are finding themselves in.

Were at a point where we have to seriously look at the future of our town, said Robert Sanders, a homegrown Wiltonian and owner of his own architectural firm.

We need to, as citizens, partner with our landowners and allow them to succeed in making a place that we can love, and that takes a partnership of enlightened development. We as citizens can make sure that happens, but we, as citizens, also have to let that happen, and right now we dont let that happen, he added.

Between the perennially increasing property taxes, a grand list growth short of 1 percent over the past year and a new report from the Connecticut Data Collaborative projecting a decline in the towns population over the next nine years, it is growing increasingly evident that some of the towns ideals are in dire need of a change.

To spearhead a movement towards change, Sanders hosted a community discussion on Wednesday night entitled, Wilton 2025: Architecture and Planning  Past, Present and Future along with other experts with ties to the town.

Underutilized railroad stations, draconian zoning regulations, a lack of cultural and community venues in town  these were but a few of the topics touched upon throughout the discussion.

Wilton is in an interesting position, because we have contiguous neighbors that offer trains and other amenities. Sure, we have a great school system, but so do they. I think that the tiebreaker between Wilton and other towns often comes down to the train, said Chris Pagliaro, a partner at an architectural firm in Norwalk and a Wilton resident.

How could Wilton remedy this?

Pagliaro pointed to real estate trends around the nation, stating that residential neighborhoods surrounding train stations are booming. To harness this trend, he suggested that Wilton make more of an effort to build residential outposts around the towns two train nodules.

Wiltons Planning and Land Use Management Director Bob Nerney echoed this point, arguing that if the town is going to attract more millenials, train accessibility is key.

The railroad convenience factor is very important for people. Being able to get quick and timely access to the city and points south of Wilton, thats been a problem for Wilton in the past, said Nerney. Demographics are changing, and the wants and the needs of the younger generations that we see today are vastly different than my generation or the generation of most people here.

Aside from the more specific point that Nerney was making about Wilton railroads, this comment also hinted a deeper problem for the town: Wilton needs to be made more appealing to millenials.

We have a new generation of buyer. They want big access to things, they want to be able to walk to dinner, they want to be able to quickly get to a store, they dont believe in lawnstheyd rather have a balcony than a lawn, said Pagliaro.

To target this new generation of buyer, Pagliaro says that building a more interactive and inclusive downtownone that not only offers window-shopping and more consumer-friendly experiences, but also permits a large amount of foot traffic and community gatherings is step one.

Along those lines, Wilton resident Bill Brautigan went as far to suggest that the town take advantage of its extensive land along the Norwalk River in a unique way.

His idea? Brautigan suggests that Wilton constructs a shopping, downtown area that expands the length of the riverfront.

We shouldnt try be New Canaan, we shouldnt try to be Ridgefield, because well never be that. Instead, lets make a river walk with restaurants along the river, said Brautigan. No other community that is our competition has that.

Another idea, which might be a bit easier to put into action than Brautigans plan, was to modernize Wilton by opening its borders to more recognizable businesses, like a Shake Shack.

What do we have near the high school? We have a deli, a car wash, and a coffee place. Thats about it I think thats really an area that we can work on as a town, said Ian Sanders, a junior at Wilton High School. We need places in this town where we can walk around to, places where we can just hang out and have a cheap burger.

Next up on the list of residents concern was the lack of community experiences in Wilton.

What I feel is lacking nowadays is that real sense of community, said panelist Suzanne Knutson. We have all of these parks, but they all appeal to people who enjoy solitude, nature, quiet reflection, but I would like to see a balance of that type of park land with parks that foster community interaction.

Most concerning for the panelists was Wiltons dearth of cultural venues like Ridgefields Playhouse and Bailey Park or New Canaans Waveny Park.

As Sanders was quick to point out, while the Wilton Green was a nice location, it simply wouldnt suffice for live music events or large community gatherings.

Similarly, panelist Kathleen Poirier was quick to point out that the Norwalk River Valley Trail has gone a long way towards filling that void of community, but she also acknowledged that there still was work to be done.

There is still a lot of work to be done seemed to be the overarching theme of the night.

Throughout the night, panelists went to extreme lengths to provide ideas and techniques for revitalizing the town, but the power to actually affect change in the town, panelists confessed, was in the hands of Wiltons residents, and Wiltons residents alone.

If we as a community cant support our downtown services or our restaurants, if we cant support those things because not enough Wiltonians are using them or if there arent enough Wiltonians to use them, then we have to attract more people, said Pagliaro. Maybe developing the river will attract some people from neighboring towns, because they like this. Maybe theyll just come for dinner. But right now, were just a drive-by neighborhood and we need to become an attraction.
WILTON  How do you get constituents involved in their communities?

Its a question that has long plagued not only Wilton, but also cities and towns all over the country. Unlike apples, civic engagement in fact does not grow on trees.

That is why Connecticut Secretary of State Denise Merrill has been making rounds across the state to talk to community organizations about how they could help foster a civil relationship between citizens and their civic duties. On Wednesday, Merrill stopped by Wilton to talk to the local Kiwanis Club about the role they should play in reigniting the towns political passions.

Merrill, who has been involved with civic education for years both as a school principal and a legislator, traces the scarcity of active citizenship back to a fundamental flaw in our school systems.

There really is not a specific education in schools that those who are older would be familiar with, said Merrill. Particularly at the elementary school level, small children really should learn first about their community, their government and the stories that youre supposed to learn about your history. Thats when you are supposed to learn these things, but, unfortunately, this is not the case anymore.

Without this education, Merrill purports that kids remain ignorant on government functions, and thus have little interest in getting involved with their communities and even less interest in voting in local elections.

To combat this political apathy, Merrill will be introducing a new program called Red, White and Blue Schools. Under this initiative, the state would work with schools to increase the efficacy of civics education in school.

I think theres no question that we need to find a way to mobilize our youth, said Board of Education Chairman Bruce Likly, who attended the lecture. In fact, during the presentation I texted a question off to our Teaching and Learning Sub-Committee to understand a little bit more about what we do for civics in our schools.

Though Merrill believes her program will be launched shortly, she also realizes that there are many other problems that need to be addressed separately in the meantime.

For one, spurring civic engagement doesnt need to be at the behest of state mandate. Instead, she suggests the implementation of homegrown programs, like a middle school rewarding students who work polling stations on their days off during voting days.

The problem stretches beyond the confines of the classroom as well, Merrill said.

Theres a deeper problem, and we all know it, and we dont know what we can do to fix it. But, in my capacity as secretary of state, one thing that I can do to is try to make it appealing to vote, said Merrill.

Merrill said that the modernization of voting methods is paramount to attracting new voters.

I think people are very confused about all the rules about voting. You know, whats the deadline to this or that? What happens? Wheres my polling place? And, still we keep doing it the same way that weve been doing it for a hundred years, said Merrill. That needs to change, and thats been my main focus.

To that end, Merrill took Connecticut one step closer to the future by making it possible to register for voting online. Since initiating this program, Merrill said that 60 percent of new registrations in the state have occurred online.

Online registration is only one of numerous efforts to streamline the voting process.

To ensure a maximum number of voters, Merrill has also instituted Election Day registration, which allows voters to register at the last minute, and has advocated for each municipality to arrange emergency preparation plans, so as to prepare for scenarios like running out of ballots.

Merrill hopes that measures like these might re-instill old fashioned voting values into the youth.

I think theres a really different attitude out there about things like voting. In my day, it was considered a duty to go and vote. You were a citizen and you would go vote, you would never have said in the 1950s, I dont think Ill get around to voting today. That would have been socially unacceptable, said Merrill. Somehow we need to do something better.
Cypriot authorities have rejected an application for political asylum by the Egyptian man who admitted hijacking a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverting it to Cyprus last March, his lawyer said Friday.

Robertos Brahimis said Cyprus' Asylum Service deemed 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mostafa's asylum claim inadmissible because he had "perpetrated a serious crime" by hijacking the Airbus A320 with 72 passengers and crew aboard with a fake suicide belt.

Mostafa  described by Cypriot authorities as "psychologically unstable"  forced the passenger jet to land in Cyprus' main Larnaca airport on March 29. He was arrested when he stepped off the plane after all aboard were released unharmed.

Brahimis said he's appealing the decision he called mistaken because a claimant has to be granted refugee status before any crime can be weighed against him or her.

He said Mostafa is fighting his extradition because he fears that he won't get a fair trial in Egypt.

Mostafa appeared in court Friday wearing a white, long-sleeved turtle-neck shirt with what appeared to be a hand-written note in purple ink written across the front saying: "release the 63 Egyption (sic) girls you liars."

Authorities said that Mostafa had insisted during the six-hour hijacking that a letter be delivered to his Cypriot ex-wife in which he demanded the release of 63 dissident women imprisoned in Egypt.

"This is one part of his grievances," Brahimis said.

The court granted a prosecution request to adjourn proceedings until 20 May. Cypriot Justice Ministry official Yioulika Hadjiprodromou told the court the extra time was necessary for Cypriot authorities to receive an additional batch of Egyptian legal documents that would help expedite proceedings.

Brahimis accused Egyptian authorities of "vindictively" delaying procedures to punish his client.

Cypriot prosecutors have yet to formally submit an extradition order to the court. Under a 1996 Cyprus-Egypt treaty, Cypriot authorities have 60 days to file the order from 7 April when Egypt requested Mostafa's extradition.

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The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Chancellor Search Advisory Committee has narrowed down the list to four final candidates.

The search began earlier in the year when Interim Chancellor Stephen Hansen announced his retirement at the end of the academic year.

Hansen said SIU President Randy Dunn is meeting with the search committee to discuss the finalists.

President Dunn is meeting with the search committee to discuss the strengths of the four finalists, Hansen said. They will make a decision on who to bring back for interviews with the trustees.

Of the four finalists, two have ties to SIUE.

Gloria Gibson received her bachelors and masters degrees in music education from SIUE. She received her Ph.D. in folklore at Indiana University.

She has served senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., since 2015.

Randall G. Pembrook holds an associate degree from Lewis and Clark Community College, bachelors and masters degrees in piano performance/music education from SIUE and a Ph.D. in music education from Florida State University.

He has served as the vice president for academic affairs at Washburn University in Topeka Kan., since January, 2011.

The other two finalists have no ties to the area.

Cheryl Lovell holds bachelors and masters degrees in education from the University of West Georgia and a Ph.D. from Florida State University.

She has served as special advisory to the chancellor and to the chief academic officer for the Colorado State University system and is currently the president and chief executive officer of Rocky Vista University in Colorado.

Andrew Rogerson holds a bachelors degree from Paisley College of Technology in Scotland and a Ph.D. from the University of Stirling, also in Scotland.

He served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Sonoma State University in California for the last five years.

Hansen said whomever is hired as chancellor is going to be part of a vibrant university community.

Of course, the biggest challenge they will face will certainly be the issue with state funding, Hansen said. The new chancellor is going to come to a real gem - a jewel. SIUE is a special place with quality faculty and staff, a great campus and excellent support of Edwardsville and Glen Carbon. All together, this community offers excellent opportunities for faculty, staff and students.

Hansen said despite the money woes, SIUE is strong and has the potential to grow and thrive and has the potential to grow.

The new chancellor is going to have the opportunity to lead SIUE in a new direction, he said.

As for Hansen, he says he looks forward to his retirement, but plans to stay busy.

In addition to traveling with his wife, he and other members of the SIUE History Department are planning to research and write a comprehensive history of Madison County.
A 67-year-old woman who resided in the independent-living portion of Hitz Memorial Home in Alhambra now faces charges for allegedly starting a fire that caused extensive damage to the facility.

According to a statement from the Madison County Sheriff's Office, Linda J. Braun, 67, has been charged with alleged aggravated arson.

At approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Alhambra Fire Department responded to a call at Hitz Memorial Home, 201 Belle St. in Alhambra.

The fire was extinguished by the building's sprinkler system but two rooms suffered extensive damage and 13 others suffered smoke and water damage, according to the sheriff's department.

Ten nursing home patients were displaced by the fire.

Hitz Memorial home has since made arrangements for those who have been forced to move.

One employee of the nursing home suffered minor smoke inhalation while moving patients, according to the sheriff's office. She is expected to make a full recovery.

The sheriff's department reports that shortly after 10 p.m. on Wednesday, the Illinois State Police received a call from a Hitz resident who said she had started the fire.

A statement from the sheriff's office says that individual, Braun, met with sheriff's department personnel and Hitz and confessed to deliberately starting the fire.

According to the statement, Braun said she started the fire "because she was angry over staff members trying to boss her around."

Braun went on to tell the investigating deputy she started the fire in an empty room and didn't intend to hurt anyone, according to the statement.

Braun was transported to the Madison County Sheriffs Office where she was further interviewed and transferred to the Madison County Jail; where she was held pending a formal review of facts by the Madison County States Attorneys Office.

Although Braun is an occupant of the independent living section of the facility, the fire was actually set in the nursing home. The independent living section of the facility was not affected by the fire, and no occupants of either portion of the facility were injured as a result of this incident, according to the statement from the sheriff's office. It is too early to provide an estimated cost of repairs, but it is expected to be substantial.

The warrant and criminal information was issued by Judge Richard Tognarelli who set Brauns bond at $250,000.00.
Jurors heard evidence of a long-running feud between Caleb Bailey and Travis Mayes, the man he shot and killed in Granite City two years ago. Then, late Thursday evening, they found the 25-year-old Pontoon Beach man guilty of first-degree murder. He faces between 20 and 60 years in prison but is eligible for an additional 25 years for using a gun in the crime.

While evidence indicated the two had once been friends, that friendship frayed after Baileys girlfriend began dating Mayes.

Mayes died of a single gunshot to the head in the early hours of May 18, 2014. Bailey admitted shooting him but said he was afraid and claimed it was done in self defense.

Jurors could have found him guilty of second-degree murder but decided against it.

Bailey and the girl had begun dating in high school, and at the time of the shooting they had a 14-month-old baby named Avery. The girl, he has said, was his first girlfriend. Shortly after she began dating Mayes, Bailey started pouring his heart out to her in a long string of anguished text messages whose emotions alternated between yearning, anger and contempt.

Illinois State Police Special Agent Jim Peterson spent more than an hour walking jurors through the messages he had extracted from Baileys cell phone. At one point Bailey sent Mayes a photo of him and the girl having sex.

Jurors were also subjected to graphic evidence of Mayes wounds. Forensic pathologist Raj Nanduri, in a videotaped deposition, said the bullet entered just behind the right ear. Mayes, Nanduri said, had a blood alcohol level almost twice the legal limit in Illinois.

Mayes s niece, Amberley Duke, testified that Mayes was a good friend and a doting father who loved his construction job. He posted photos of him at his job every day, she said. Prosecutors showed a picture of Mayes working on a project to build the Interstate 270 bridge. My kids now call it The Travis Bridge, she told jurors.

Duke said Mayes was always full of smiles. He lit up a room when he walked into it.

Sarah Niesporek characterized Mayes as the life of the party. She had hired him as a manager and bouncer at the Rust Bucket Saloon, in Granite City. He was always the peacemaker, she said. Thats why I hired him to do what he did.

Baileys father, Willie Bailey, told jurors that he and his wife had been watching the baby on the morning of the shooting. When his son returned to his home in Pontoon Beach, Bailey said he overheard his son telling the babys mother that he had shot Mayes after Mayes had told her In a year your kid will start calling me daddy.

Jurors also watched Caleb Baileys videotaped interrogation at the Madison County Jail. On the morning of the shooting, Bailey got into his Chevy Tahoe and followed Mayes motorcycle for a mile before Bailey pulled up next to it and made an obscene gesture. Mayes, he said, motioned for him to pull over, and the two exchanged words. Bailey told investigators he was scared of Travis because he had a big rap sheet. Mayes told him I got something for you, stood up and reached toward his waistband, Bailey told them.

Bailey had a .357 magnum in the center console but transferred it to his lap as the two were talking. Bailey told police that he freaked out and fired at Mayes but was unsure where the bullet struck and didnt realize it was fatal until he was being booked into the County Jail and saw homicide on his booking papers.

Bailey characterized his actions that night as a series of poor decisions on me.

Jurors listened to closing arguments Thursday afternoon.

Madison County Assistant States Attorney Josh Jones summed the case up as a jealous man, a spurned lover who couldnt be without the one he loved. Hours before the shooting, Bailey drank a fifth of tequila, placed a loaded gun in his car, then drove to Nicks Bar and waited for Mayes to leave, he said.

One of Baileys friends had testified that Bailey offered him $500 to go inside the bar where Mayes was that night and beat his ass. The friend, who had known Bailey for 10 years, turned him down, testifying that Bailey had not seemed like himself lately.

When Mayes left the bar, Bailey followed his motorcycle for a mile. As Bailey drew closer, he flipped him off, then pulled over and shot him in the head,, and drove off. Travis Mayes was a dead man the moment he decided to pull off the side of the road, said Jones.

While Bailey claimed to fear Mayes, his words were betrayed by his actions, Jones said. Had Bailey truly been fearful, he would have avoided Mayes. Baileys actions after the shooting were equally puzzling, he said. Rather than call police and explain that he had shot someone because he had feared for his life, he drove back home, changed clothes, drank sweet tea, and checked the girlfriends phone messages.

The first time he even mentioned being afraid of Mayes was 20 minutes into a second interview with police.

Defense attorney David Fahrenkamp began his closing arguments by showing jurors the switch blade - prosecutors implied it was a pocket knife - found that morning in Mayess back pocket.

When Mayes - who had been sitting on the motorcycle - stood up, reached for his waistband and allegedly made threatening remarks, Bailey was forced into making a split-second decision about whether to put the car in drive and speed away or shoot a man he perceived as threatening him, Fahrenkamp said.

Pointing directly at Bailey, Fahrenkamp said, That man made a choice that night that I would wish on no man.

Fahrenkamp said the case was primarily about Baileys character. It was about a man who was 23 years old at the time, who had served his country during the Egyptian uprising against Hosni Mubarak, and who was a good man and a good father.

Mayes, he told them, had been a bouncer at a biker bar, had served time in federal prison for retaliating against a witness, and had a prison number tattooed behind his ear to project that hes a bad ass, Fahrenkamp said.

Jurors began deliberating Thursday at 3:30 p.m.and returned about five hours later with a guilty verdict on the first-degree murder charge. Bailey will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Kyle Napp in six-to-eight weeks. He has been held at the Madison County Jail on $2 million bond. He will have to serve 100 percent of his sentence.

In a written statement issued after the verdict, Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons thanked jurors for their service. The case was a difficult one as there were no witnesses to the actual murder of Travis Mayes. However, my prosecutors, along with the investigating and crime scene officers, our medical personnel, including the coroner, did an excellent job of piecing together to show that without a doubt, Caleb Bailey murdered Travis Mayes.
Hundreds of people from the immediate area will be participating in the American Cancer Societys Relay For Life of Edwardsville/Glen Carbon on June 3. The annual event, that takes place at Edwardsville High School, is a fundraising event that unites cancer survivors, caregivers, volunteers and community members to help save lives from cancer.

Dollars raised help the American Cancer Society save lives by funding groundbreaking cancer research, providing free information and critical services for people with cancer, and supporting education through prevention programs.

This years Relay kicks off at 5:30 p.m. on June 3 with the annual Survivor dinner. All local cancer survivors are invited to attend this free dinner. Participants receive a survivor t-shirt.

Then the event officially begins at 7 p.m. with the Opening Ceremony and a celebratory cancer Survivors Lap. During the Survivors Lap, all cancer survivors at the event take the first lap around the track celebrating their victory over cancer while being cheered on by the other Relay participants who line the track.

At 9 p.m. the very emotional and touching Luminaria Ceremony begins where candles in bags are lit in honor and memory of those who have battled cancer.

The Relay winds down with the Closing Ceremony that takes place right before midnight. During the Closing Ceremony, teams and participants celebrate all they have done in the fight against cancer, and make a promise to continue to fight back against this disease that has taken too much.

Food, games, and activities will be going all night. This years theme is Cancer Doesnt Take a Holiday so bring those Halloween costumes, red, white, and blue attire and Easter eggs.

The Relay For Life of Edwardsville Glen Carbon raised over $115,000 in 2015 that allowed the American Cancer Society to fund lifesaving cancer research, provide free rides to and from treatment for cancer patients, host Look Good, Feel Better sessions, make free wigs available to individuals in the area, and so much more. We cant wait to see what impact this community has in 2016, Amanda Kernan, American Cancer Society Community Manager noted.

Relay For Life is a chance to make the greatest impact in the fight to end cancer, Becki Blankenship, Edwardsville Glen Carbon volunteer Relay For Life event lead, said. Many participants are our loved ones who have faced cancer themselves - including me. Each person at Relay brings us one step closer to saving more lives.

The Relay For Life movement is the worlds largest fundraising event to fight every cancer in every community, with 4 million participants in 6,000 events worldwide in 2015. The Relay For Life of Edwardsville/Glen Carbon takes place atEdwardsville High School located at 6161 Center Grove Road in Edwardsville.

Visit www.relayforlife.org for more information or to sign up for the June 3 event.
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Linkedin Sam Yam Kai Chi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Earth Day helps create awareness on how environmental issues affect us all. And one of the biggest challenges we face today is the health effects brought by airborne pollution.



Every year, the regions air is choked by the haze. The haze last year was one of the worst on record. Cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan saw more than 500,000 cases of acute respiratory tract infections have been reported between July and October. The regions Pollutant Standard Index ( PSI ) reached close to 2,000. Anything above 300 is considered hazardous.



Although the health effects of air pollution are apparent, less known is the psychological effect it has on our behavior and consequently our performance in the workplace.



In our study we focused on a behavioral theory known as ego depletion  the idea that an individuals self-control draws upon a limited pool of mental resources; one that can be used up and needs opportunities to restore.



Air pollution can drain our self-control resources psychologically, causing a range of conditions including insomnia, feelings of anxiety or even depression.



Through a diary-based study of 161 full-time employees in various industries, our research examined how pollution affects two kinds of behavior  organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive workplace behavior.



Organizational citizenship behavior relates to employee actions that contribute towards the functioning of the firm, but are optional and not specifically part of their job. These include an individuals willingness to help others or to engage with their team beyond their job scope.



Counterproductive behavior is the opposite. These include working on personal matters during work hours, as well as rudeness, hostility or even outright bullying towards colleagues.



We asked participants for their perception of pollution levels, their level of mental resource depletion as well as organizational citizenship and counterproductive workplace behaviors.



There was a clear link between high air pollution and decreased levels of organizational citizenship behavior. We also observed that increased pollution saw a corresponding and marked increase in counterproductive workplace behavior.



We found that air pollution leads to a decrease in self-control resource, which in turn leads to increased counterproductive and decreased organizational citizenship behaviors. Specifically the data gathered showed that the severity of air pollution accounted for an average of around 10 percent of an individuals daily self-control resource depletion.



The impact of air pollution makes us less giving or engaged at work and more deviant.



In line with ego depletion theory it is apparent that both the direct physiological impact of air pollution and the individuals own perception of its severity act to deplete resources affecting self-control.



A worker may experience little or no health effects from pollution while another in the same office may suffer badly. Likewise one individuals perception of what constitutes severe pollution may be very different from another.



An essential factor in determining an individuals ability to manage the effects of drained self-control resources is the support they receive  or feel they receive  from those around them. For example, demonstrations of active support from the firm can go some way to replenish an employees mental resource pool.



Indeed our study also found that the negative effects of air pollution on employees behavior were mitigated when organizational support was high  i.e. when the employee perceived that their supervisor or firm was concerned for their well-being.



There were firms that were supportive by providing additional work breaks or the option to work from home on high pollution days, or they may provide easier and better access to healthcare.



While this favors the argument that firms should do all that they can to support employees exposed to severe air pollution, all of this comes with a cost to the firm.



The worse the pollution gets, the higher the costs multiply for business  so at a broader level the best option would obviously be if there were no pollution at all.



Unfortunately the cost of pollution to Indonesias economy is huge. In October last year, the Indonesian government estimated that the financial damage to its country could cost as high as US$35 billion. According to a World Bank study, for just the two months of February and March in 2014, the forest fires that caused the haze cost the Riau province S$935 million of lost productivity and trade.



By conducting studies like ours, we can better understand the true social and economic implications of pollution, and in turn add weight to the financial argument for stronger and more effective policies to tackle pollution at source.

***

The writer is assistant professor of management and organization at the National University of Singapore ( NUS ) Business School.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Julia Suryakusuma (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

How did you celebrate your sweet 16 coming-of-age birthday party? Was it a small, intimate family gathering, or a large event with catered food, fancy decorations, music, balloons, streamers and virtually all your friends and relatives present?

On May 2, I attended a 16th birthday party that was, in a way, a combination of both. Intimate because some of the people present had known each other for decades, but large enough that it required catered food. No balloons or streamers though: instead, a seminar and a book launch.

A seminar and a book launch at a birthday party? Yes, because it was the 16th anniversary of KAPAL Perempuan Institute, a womens NGO. The word kapal literally means ship but in this case its an abbreviation standing for Lingkaran Pendidikan Alternatif untuk Perempuan ( Alternative Education Circle for Women ).

The activists who set it up on March 8, 2000, were concerned about the rise of ethnic and religious conflict and violence in various parts of Indonesia, as well as human rights abuses against women and discrimination against marginalized and minority groups.

Kapal decided to celebrate its anniversary in May to commemorate other events and incidents that occur this month: May 1 is International Labor Day; May 2 is National Education Day; May 3 is World Press Freedom Day; May 8 is the day Marsinah ( 1969-1993 ), a laborer activist was raped, tortured and murdered for negotiating a food and transport pay supplement for 500 workers of PT Catur Putra Surya, a watch manufacturing company in Sidoarjo. Marsinah has since symbolized resistance against the repressive practices of the Soeharto era against workers.

And May also was the month in 1998 when a succession of events eventually ended in Soeharto stepping down on May 21. On May 12, four Trisakti University students were killed by snipers firing into a student demonstration.

The killings triggered mass riots, looting and burning in several cities, which caused massive damage and an estimated 1,200 lives lost. And who can forget the May mass rapes, mainly of Chinese ethnic women, that occurred also around that time ( May 12-15 )? That and many other human rights violations which occurred then remain unresolved  and unacknowledged  up to now.

So obviously, the Kapal event was more than just a birthday bash. The title of the seminar said it all: Reflections to strengthen the womens movement platform using a feminist and pluralistic perspective, which also addresses the achievements and setbacks of 18 years of the so-called Reform Era.

According to Lies Marcoes, one of the panelists, in the Reform Era, the womens movement shifted from apolitical to political, as did Indonesian society. Its a double-edged sword: The politicization of religion is getting stronger and stronger, to the detriment of women, the LGBT community and democratization efforts itself.

Damaria Pakpahan, another speaker, pointed out that in the New Order, the source of repression was the government. During the Reform Era, activists, both men and women, have joined the government and the legislature. The jargon of the womens movement of equality has been adopted by the government  often remaining as jargon. In terms of the source of repression, now it has spread everywhere, often taking on an adat ( local tradition ) and Muslim flavors, and with more challenges at the local level.

That is why, according to Misiyah, executive director of KAPAL, its important to raise our critical awareness because on many major issues, women remain stuck in the same rut as in the New Order: poverty; violence against women; workplace discrimination, the exploitation of female migrant workers, and child marriage, among others.

Kasmiati, from West Nusa Tenggara ( NTB ), presented a paper on the situation in her region. She commented on the fact that the womens movement is fractured, and in urgent need of consolidation; also that the government doesnt pay serious attention to womens issues.

A recent case in point was the shocking rape and murder of 14-year-old Yuyun in April, in Bengkulu, Sumatra, which drew parallels to the horrific gang rape of Jyoti Singh on a bus in New Delhi in 2012.

In May, two similar gang rapes occurred in Manado and Gorontalo, both in North Sulawesi. The Bengkulu case was met with nationwide condemnation and outrage due to the brutality of the crime, but also because of the slow response of the police. The May rapes of the Chinese women in 1998 gave rise to the founding of the National Commission on Violence against Women ( Komnas Perempuan ). Similarly, the rape of Yuyun has given rise to demands to pass the sexual violence bill, not just from activists, but also from the government. Hmm, that would be a first.

The book launch at the event was that of Yanti Muchtars, one of the founders and directors of KAPAL, until her illness from cancer made it impossible for her to work anymore. She passed away last Nov. 17 at the young age of 53. In her book, The Genesis of the Womens Movement under the New Order State, Yanti maps out, describes and analyses the Indonesian womens movement from 1982 to 1998.

Very few scholars acknowledge that the womens movement is part of the opposition that existed in the New Order, and the literature tends to take a masculine perspective, rendering the womens movement invisible. Yantis book is therefore a necessary correction to this tendency.

The KAPAL birthday bash couldnt be said to be fun, but it certainly was exciting, stimulating and important: making connections between women from different regions and organizational affiliations, and three generations of women activists.

KAPAL Perempuan is made up of women coming from different ships, but ending up in the same boat. This is also true of the people of Indonesia. We sail on different ships, but we all end up in one boat: Indonesia. Lets keep it afloat, okay?

***

The writer is the author of State Ibuism.

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We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
President Vladimir Putin on Friday warned Washington that Russia will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems in Europe but said Moscow would not be engaged in a new arms race.

"Now that these anti-missile elements have been installed we will be forced to consider putting an end to the threats emerging in relation to Russia's security," Putin said at a meeting, Russian news agencies reported. He insisted though that Russia would not be involved in a new arms race.

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Linkedin Ni Nyoman Wira (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Ever wish to have a romantic getaway just one step away from your workplace? Amid its endless traffic and busy streets, Jakarta is home to many options of romantic restaurants where you can have a date night and enjoy a memorable evening with your significant other.

Below are some of the places you can consider for that perfect date.

SKYE

Conveniently situated on the 56th floor rooftop of the BCA Tower in Central Jakarta, SKYE features a unique combination of Southern-American interior and a panoramic view of the city's skyscrapers for those opting to dine in the outdoor area. Black Angus Tenderloin and Boneless Beef Ribs are among the restaurant's signature dishes, but it also provides vegetarian options as well as selections of wines and cocktails.

Starting price: Rp 300,000 (US$22.51)

Emilie Restaurant

Set in one of the capital city's chic neighborhoods of Kebayoran Baru in South Jakarta, Emilie boasts elegant interiors and an intimate ambiance thanks to celebrated interior designer Jaya Ibrahim. In terms of food, it offers modern-traditional French cuisine that is updated seasonally. Set menus are available for lunch and dinner, but guests can choose to dine a la carte, with highlights including Foie Gras Poele and Le Porc de Iberique.

Starting price: Rp 300,000

Amuz Gourmet Restaurant

Regularly crowded by couples on Saturday night, this fine dining restaurant, situated in the Energy Building in Central Jakarta, features a chic Parisian interior designed by Idris Samad and an open kitchen where the chefs skills are exhibited. With a focus on French cuisine, a la carte menus are available as well as seven-course menus degustations paired with a selection of wine if you are looking to have a complete French dining experience.

Starting price: Rp 300,000

(Read also: 5 Indonesian restaurants to impress your foreign friends)

Enmaru

First opened in 2006 in Japan, Enmaru offers a combination of modern and traditional Japanese interior design -- get ready to feel as if you're in an izakaya somewhere in Tokyo -- but with the convenient addition of an endless panoramic view from The Plaza's 46th floor. Understandably, its sushi and sashimi are recommended to try, but also allocate your time -- and money -- to taste other signature dishes, such as the Japanese Iwate Wagyu.

Starting price: Rp 350,000

The seating area at Enmaru restaurant affords a beautiful view on Jakarta from the 46th floor.(Enmaru /-)

Gaia by Oso Restorante

Serving Italian cuisine and a view of Jakarta's skyline from the The Plaza's 46th floor in Central Jakarta, Gaia oozes romantic yet homey ambiance thanks to its wooden elements. It is particularly recommended to try the restaurant's foie gras pizza, but also leave room for its renowned tiramisu, served according to the original 1956 recipe.

Starting price: Rp 300,000

Ruths Chris Steak House

Slightly hidden in the corner of Somerset Grand Citra in South Jakarta, this restaurant boasts a warm and cozy ambiance thanks to high windows and elegant lighting. As the name suggests, the must-try dishes here are the steaks, which will be served sizzling hot. Besides its Petite Filet, make room to try the juicy Ribeye or Porterhouse for Two. It also has an extensive choice of salads, soups and seafood.

Starting price: Rp 400,000

(Read also: New Orleans-style steakhouse opens for business in Jakarta)

Akira Back

Situated at the 12th floor of MD Place in South Jakarta, Akira Back serves contemporary Japanese cuisine with recommended menus including Tuna Pizza, the Pop Rockin and Crispy Kalsi Roll. While dining, guests can sit back and enjoy each other's company while sipping extensive options of wine, cocktails and sake and marveling at Jakarta's evening sky from the indoor seating area.

Starting price: Rp 300,000

The seating area of Akira Back restaurant, where you can taste contemporary Japanese cuisine.(Akira Back/-)

Le Quartier

The elegant interior of this restaurant in Kebayoran Baru, adorned with gorgeous chandeliers under the glass ceiling that show the evening sky of Jakarta, oozes romantic vibe for those having dinner with their significant other. With French cuisine with a twist on the menu, its must-tries include Escargots Le Quartier, White Ham and Truffle Oil Stone Baked Pizza.

Starting price: Rp 250,000

Namaaz Dining

Also located in Kebayoran Baru, Namaaz Dining boasts a more private venue with only 28 seats available at the restaurant from Tuesday to Saturday. Said to be the first in the country that offers molecular gastronomy, the place specializes in progressive Indonesian menus that consist of 17 courses; no wonder the dining experience can last up to three hours. It is particularly a must-visit for adventurous diners, as Namaaz serves its food by season and renews its menus every 6-8 months.

Starting price: Rp 1 million

(Read also: 5 classic restaurants of the capital city)

Sriwijaya

Part of The Dharmawangsa Jakarta, Sriwijaya features majestic and classic interior design influenced by the 18th-century Sriwijaya Kingdom that will make you feel as if you were having a feast in a kingdom. Interestingly, it provides Indonesian cuisine served in French technique, and guests can expect to be served a colorful yet elegant set of cuisine. (kes)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Mountain View, California, United States  Fri, May 13, 2016

Google wants professional women to be better represented in emoji form.

(Read also: Fiat Chrysler, Google in partnership talks)

In a proposal to the Unicode Consortium, which controls specifications for emojis, Google says it wants to create a new set "with a goal of highlighting the diversity of women's careers and empowering girls everywhere." The proposal says women  and those under 30 in particular  are the most frequent users of emojis.

This image provided by Google shows proposed female emojis. Google said it wants to create a new set "with a goal of highlighting the diversity of women's careers and empowering girls everywhere."(Google via AP/-)

Sample emojis provided by Google in the proposal show several female characters in professional clothing, including business suits, lab coats, medical scrubs and construction hats. One sample emoji even has a pitchfork and a farmer's hat. Google has also included sample male versions of the same emojis.

(Read also: What are your goals in life? Google wants to help)

Mountain View, California-based Google wants Unicode to standardize the emojis by the end of the year.
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Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang and Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta/Surabaya  Thu, May 12 2016

With the extraordinary congress less than 24 hours away, candidates vying for the top position in the Golkar Party are taking their ace cards out, revealing more dirty plots to secure support from eligible voters.



Rivalries are heating up, particularly between Ade Komarudin and Setya Novanto, who are seen as the strongest contenders, as they uncover each others involvement in vote-buying after previously condemning each other for claiming support from President Joko Jokowi Widodo.



Supporters of Ade, who is speaker of the House of Representatives, claimed that the partys central management in Jakarta had replaced hundreds of leaders of the partys regional branches arbitrarily only days before the leadership election, raising suspicion of a plot to elect Setya, a party lawmaker, by acclamation.



The list includes leaders from Golkars branches in Central Sulawesi and East Java, who will be among the 558 eligible voters casting their votes to select the successor of Aburizal Bakrie in the election to take place during the partys national congress on May 13 to 17.



We learned that the sudden replacement is meant to secure Setyas ticket, said Firman Subagyo, a member of Ades campaign team. Of course that is unfortunate because the election is supposed to take place naturally.



Setyas campaign team quickly denied such suspicion.



Setya has no power to meddle with the decision made by the board management, said Setya supporter Roem Kono.



Such bickering is only part of a series of attacks launched by Ade and Setya against each other. They have both reported each other to the congress ethics council over alleged efforts to bribe eligible voters.



The head of the congress committee, Nurdin Halid, explained that Ade Komarudin was reported for allegedly arranging a confidential meeting with several regional leaders from West Kalimantan and for Setya an alleged meeting with eligible voters across East Java in Surabaya.



We will set up an ethics hearing to hear the cases, Nurdin said.



Ade and Setyas campaign teams quickly denied such accusations.



Besides Ade and Setya, the upcoming leadership race involves six other contenders, including Aziz Syamsuddin, Airlangga Hartarto, Indra Bambang Utoyo, Mahyudin, Priyo Budi Santoso and Syahrul Yasin Limpo.



Unlike in the rivalry between Ade and Setya, nothing has been lodged against the six hopefuls until today.



After vowing loyalty to President Jokowi during the kick-off of a series of debates organized to scrutinize the candidates last Monday, each of the eight classified their priority programs before eligible voters from across Java during a debate in Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday.



Airlangga, for example, focused on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to highlight Golkars role in helping the country face global politics to benefit from international cooperation, such as the AEC.



Ade also included the issue in his presentation, but highlighted that all of his programs, if elected chairman, would be aimed at helping people prosper.



Setya emphasized the importance for Golkar to work with the government in its mission to help people succeed. He gestured Jokowis popular two-finger greeting, which the President used during his 2014 presidential campaign, to highlight his teamwork with the President.

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Linkedin Lailatul Fitriyah (The Jakarta Post) Rome  Thu, May 12 2016

The horrific tragedy that happened to 14-year-old Yuyun early in April has shocked us all. Predictably, not long after this incident, some politicians and talking heads jumped on the bandwagon to deliver an unwanted diagnosis about what has gone wrong with our society.

Fahira Idris, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), blames the unregulated consumption of alcoholic drinks as the root cause of the rape and murder. This is, of course, a deeply misleading conclusion, considering that firstly, the occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), especially in Indonesia, is not reducible to one root cause, and secondly, that crimes cannot be whitewashed by attributing them to random external factors.

The occurrence of SGBV and the experiences of the survivors needs to be addressed in a way that accounts for its multi-faceted and multi-layered dimensions. While I wholeheartedly support the wave of SGBV advocacy following this tragedy, I must say that simply looking at the issue from a secular-feminist standpoint is not enough.

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Linkedin Words and photos Luh De Suriyani (The Jakarta Post)  Thu, May 12 2016

Dozens of young mothers showed their courage by breastfeeding their infants in public at Bajra Sandhi Monument park in Renon, Denpasar, one of the busiest public parks in the city, especially during weekends and holidays.



Clad in black and white dresses, these young mothers happily nursed their babies with breast milk as part of an exclusive breastfeeding campaign named Sembilan, marking the ninth year of the campaign.



Organized by the Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers Association (AIMI), simultaneous events were held in 25 cities in 15 provinces across Indonesia.



Previously banned from conducting such campaigns in city parks, the participants laughed and shared their experience with other mothers in the middle of the park, where people gathered to jog and do other sports.



Dewa, one of the husbands, was busy preparing nutritious food and drink for his breastfeeding wife, Lestari.



Both my parents and parents-in-law always ask whether we cant afford to buy baby formula for our newborn, said Dewa.



Dewa said his parents, like many other people, were fooled by the continuing advertisements promoting formula as the best nutrition for infants.



They watch the advertisements, which claim that formula supports physical and intellectual development and is as good as breast milk. People like my parents strongly believe that message, he said.



All the infant formula advertising shows smart, healthy babies, encouraging nursing mothers to swap from breast milk to formula for their young children.



Prior to pregnancy, Lestari and Dewa participated in a lactation class, which provided young mothers and their spouses with comprehensive knowledge on the multiple benefits of exclusive breast milk for their newborns.



We often nurse our baby in public, said Lestari.



The breastfeeding campaign is aimed at educating the public that breastfeeding is important and can take place in public spaces, provided that mothers do so sensitively.



IA Oka Yogi Utami, an advocate of AIMI Bali, said she was confused when the campaign could not be held at Puputan park. The authorities said the park was part of the citys sacred area. In my opinion, breastfeeding a baby is a sacred thing for a mother, noted Utami.



Along with AIMIs members, she immediately found an alternative venue for the campaign.



Adisti, vice chairperson of AIMI Bali, encouraged the participating mothers to continue nursing their babies exclusively with breast milk.



Breast milk is the best nutrition for infants during their early years, she commented.



While the participating mothers were nursing their babies, their husbands shared their experiences in supporting their wives on stage.



AIMI Balis data reveals that around 70 percent of successful exclusive breastfeeding is done with full support from the husbands.



AIMI Bali is now actively conducting lactation classes and accompanying breastfeeding mothers.



We have also signed memorandums of understanding with several hospitals, encouraging them to terminate their contracts with baby formula producers, said Utami.



MoUs have been signed with two hospitals  Wangaya public hospital and Kasih Ibu Kedonganan Hospital.



Unfortunately, Kasih Ibu Kedonganan hospital terminated the MoU without notice, said Utami.



Promoting exclusive breastfeeding is clearly not an easy task.

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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Activists are decrying the increasing involvement of the military in Indonesian public affairs, which they say is accompanied by rampant human rights violations and attempts to prevent a feared revival of communism.

"The military doesn't have the right to arrest civilians," Alghiffari Aqsa, the director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), said during a discussion in Jakarta on Thursday.

His comments follow an incident on May 3, when members of the 0505 East Jakarta Military District Command reportedly seized several copies of a book entitled Palu Arit di Ladang Tebu (Hammer and Sickle in the Sugar Cane Field) by Hermawan Sulistiyo from a store on Jl. Dewi Sartika in Cawang, East Jakarta. Several T-shirts featuring a hammer and sickle logo were also confiscated at the time.

Separately, in Ternate, North Maluku, the 1501 Ternate Military Command arrested four activists of the Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN), apparently because they were in possession of books and T-shirts related to leftist movements. The activists books were confiscated.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) was known for its dwi fungsi (dual role) concept during the New Order regime, which ended in 1998 with Soeharto stepping down from power. In that era, the TNI was commonly involved in politics and business.

In 2010, the Constitutional Court annulled the 1963 law on monitoring printed materials with content that could jeopardize public order. Hence, Alghiffari said, the military had no legal basis to seize those books.

"Under the pretext of the threat of communism they have been banning books and arresting people. Those facts show the social reality about the increasing role of the military in public and security affairs," said Gufron Mabruri from human rights watchdog Imparsial.

Gufron added that the military had signed a memorandum of understanding with several non-military institutions to extend its authority, including agreements that allowed military deployment to guard events like demonstrations and evictions and to guard public infrastructure, such as railway stations, harbors and airports. (vps/dmr)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Activists have condemned President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's instructions for security officials to take legal action against anyone suspected of distributing communist symbols amid.

The order comes amid crackdowns by the police and military over the alleged rise of support for communism in the country.

The instruction was counterproductive given the government's commitment to shed light on the 1965 anticommunist massacres, advocacy director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) Bahrain said on Thursday.

"As the president, Jokowi must do something. Now, while he wants to achieve reconciliation [for the victims of 1965], he makes weird statements like that," Bahrain told journalists at a press conference.

Haris Azhar from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) also questioned the order. It could be [misused as] a tool for anyone to conduct violence in the name of anticommunism, he told newsportal kompas.com on Thursday.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti revealed on Tuesday that Jokowi had ordered the police and Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to take legal action against the spread of communist symbols.

Police and TNI personnel have cracked down on recent discussions and film screenings on the 1965 tragedy, which is believed to have claimed at least 500,000 lives, as well as vendors selling communism-related merchandise.

However, Presidential Spokesman Johan Budi SP said Jokowi had also asked authorities to pay attention to human rights and the freedom of expression in the enforcement of the orders. The President had received reports that security personnel had overreacted to the issue, Johan said on Thursday, as reported by kompas.com.

Moreover, activists questioned the increasing involvement of the military in civilian affairs amid attempts to prevent a so-called revival of communism.

"The military doesn't have the right to arrest civilians," Alghiffari Aqsa, the director of LBH Jakarta said.

He was referring to members of the East Jakarta Military District Command, who seized several copies of a book by Hermawan Sulistiyo entitled Palu Arit di Ladang Tebu (Hammer and Sickle in the Sugar Cane Field) from a store in Cawang, East Jakarta, on May 3. The TNI personnel also confiscated T-shirts featuring a hammer and sickle logo.

Furthermore, the Ternate Military District Command in North Maluku arrested four activists of the Alliance of Indigenous People (AMAN) on Tuesday on the back of the possession of books and T-shirts related with leftist movements, Tempo.co reported.

In 2010, the Constitutional Court annulled a 1963 law on monitoring printed materials with content that could endanger the public order. Therefore, the military had no legal basis to conduct the confiscations, Alghiffari said. (vps/rin)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

The Jakarta administration is on its way to revive the old town of Jakarta in the Pasar Ikan area, North Jakarta  whose residents have been recently evicted, by involving several archaeological experts and related agencies in the planned revitalization.

The administration has discovered a wall that was part of structre built during the Dutch colonial era in Pasar Ikan. The historic wall, covered in mud, was found during excavation by the City Water Management Agency, while installing sheet piles in the river and shore areas for flood prevention.

The remnants of the historic building was submerged two meters under the rivers surface, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama said on Thursday.

"If it is possible, we want to restore the building to its original form, even if means construction has to occur underwater, Ahok told journalists at City hall on Thursday.

A bridge also discovered by the administration under the river near Pasar Ikan would be restored as well.

The city has involved several archaeologists from the University of Indonesia to help revive the concept of Jakartas Old Town, as well as the recently discovered structures.

Separately, Water Management Agency head Teguh Hendrawan believes the wall was part of a fortress in North Jakarta built by the Dutch in the 16th century. In order to protect the believed-to-be historic building, the city had asked police to tape off the surrounding area of the wall, Teguh said.

Excavators will, therefore, be aware of the site and should be able to work around it.

To prevent any further damages, Ahok had warned field officers to be careful when working in the area following several historic objects were damaged during the eviction.

Previously, head of the Marine Museum Husnizon Nizar said the administration had planned to revive the original function of Pasar Ikan as a fish market with its original hexagonal shape, free from residential areas.

City-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya is currently collecting data of the fish vendors selling in nearby markets. After the expected construction is completed, Pasar Jaya would invite vendors to sell in the revitalized market.

The revitalization, which will be conducted under the supervision of Jakarta's Tourism and Cultural Office, aims to showcase the area as a future marine-based tourism spot.

Moreover, the administration also plans to relocate the hundreds of Pasar Ikan evictees, who are currently still occupying the area despite having their homes torn down by the city last month, Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat said.

The residents have been staying in tents on the ruins of their homes donated by Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto.

The city had provided apartment units for the evictees in Rawa Bebek, East Jakarta, which they refused to move to because of the distance from their livelihoods in North Jakarta.

The relocation would help the city administration speed up the sheet pile installation and dam construction in the area, Djarot said. (rin)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Sydney, Australia  Fri, May 13, 2016

An Australian couple whose three children were killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine two years ago has welcomed a new baby, saying the birth has given them faith that love trumps hate.

Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris, of the western Australian city of Perth, said the arrival of their daughter Violet May Maslin on Tuesday had brought them "love and light, hope and joy" after enduring two years of grief over the loss of their three children.

Mo, 12, Evie, 10, and Otis, 8, died along with their grandfather, Nick Norris, when Flight 17 was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. At the time, the couple said they were living in an "ongoing hell," with the pain they felt unfathomable.

In a statement released Thursday by the Australian foreign affairs department, the couple said they believe Violet is a gift sent by Evie, Mo, Otis and Nick.

"Violet's birth is a testament to our belief that love is stronger than hate," the couple wrote. "We still live with pain, but Violet, and the knowledge that all four kids are with us always, brings light to our darkness. As Martin Luther King said, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'"

A Dutch civil investigation concluded that the plane was downed by a Soviet-designed Buk surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board perished.

Maslin and Norris said they would continue to love all four of their children equally.

"Violet brings some hope and joy for us," the couple wrote. "We hope she brings hope and joy for you too."
The United States placed the speaker of Libya's internationally-recognized parliament Aguila Saleh on its sanctions blacklist Friday, saying he has blocked attempts to strengthen the new UN-backed unity government.

Formed under a power-sharing deal agreed by some Libyan lawmakers, the UN-sponsored Government of National Accord (GNA) has been working to assert its authority but has yet to receive the official endorsement of the recognized parliament.

"Today's action emphasizes the US government's commitment to the Libyan Political Agreement, which created the GNA on December 17, 2015, and demonstrates that the US government will not tolerate actions by individuals who undermine the political transition in Libya," the US Treasury said in a statement.

The move comes after the European Union designated Saleh for sanctions on April 1.

The US action means that any of the politician's property and interests in the United States are blocked, and prohibits Americans from doing business with him.

The Treasury said Saleh repeatedly stymied votes in the Libyan House of Representatives that are necessary to solidify the political agreement that established the GNA.

The agreement finally went through after months of delay in January, but since then, the Treasury said, Saleh has blocked votes on the unity cabinet.

Saleh "is responsible for stalling political progress in Libya," said John Smith, acting director of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.

"Today's action sends a clear message that the US government will continue to target those who undermine the peace, security, and stability of Libya," he said.

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Linkedin Arya Dipa (The Jakarta Post) Bandung, West Java  Fri, May 13, 2016

Gerry brought a small telescope closer to his right eye and looked at the objects in front of him. Later, he put the telescope to his left eye. He tried several black telescopes with lengths of less than 20 centimeters before he chose a telescope with a 10-fold-enlargement capacity.

Can you see clearly? Are you sure this telescope is most comfortable for you? Gerrys father, Yuyus Bekoming, 47, asked. He wanted to make sure that his son made the right choice on an eyesight tool during their visit to the Low Vision Center in Bandung, West Java, recently.

Gerry started having vision problems after finishing elementary school. Yuyus said he became suspicious that Gerry had poor vision when his second child started sitting very close to the TV to watch programs. He always sits about a meter from the TV. It has a 42-inch screen, said Yuyus.

After taking his son to ophthalmologists in Indonesia and abroad for an eye check, Yuyus eventually learned there were problems with Gerrys optic nerve, which connects the eyes to the brain. According to the ophthalmologists, Gerrys eyes were in a healthy condition.

His vision continued to deteriorate from 30 percent to around 5 percent, said Yuyus. Relentlessly, he kept striving to seek technology and ophthalmologists who could help improve his sons sight.

Yuyus said eyesight tools such as telescopes were important for Gerry, who wanted to steep himself in information and technology.

Thats why we have also prepared a magnifier to help him read. Fortunately, he goes to an inclusive state school. This is another aspect that us really helpful for our son, said Yuyus, referring to Gerrys school, SMA 54 state senior high school in Jakarta.

Syamsi Dhuha Foundation founder Dian Syarief said not all people with poor vision could afford to buy eyesight tools as they were costly. For magnifying glasses, it is still affordable because it costs no more than Rp 100,000 [US$7.52]. But a telescope costs up to Rp 400,000 while an electric magnifier costs millions of rupiah. They are quite expensive because most of them are imported, said Dian.

The Syamsi Dhuha Foundation, a non-profit organization focusing on low vision, has launched the Low Vision Center, which is an expansion of its Care for Low Vision program. The program has been running since the Syamsi Dhuha Foundation was established in 2004.

From the very beginning, we have carried out low vision-related education and research activities and introduced them to the public. As we have been given certainty as to the availability of eyesight tools for people with low vision, we launched the Low Vision Center, said Dian.

She aimed to develop the Low Vision Center to become an institution that supports research for the development and modification of low vision tools. It is hoped that the research and development activities will be conducted mainly by Indonesians and help reduce the need to import eyesight tools for low vision patients.

Syamsi Dhuha Foundation manager Laila Pancasari said every person who wanted to access an eyesight tool could donate to the Low Vision Center. We purchase all eyesight tools available in the center using donations so it is expected that everyone who takes a tool donates so we can make sure there is an available supply of eyesight tools, said Laila.

To support the procurement of the low vision tools, the Syamsi Dhuha Foundation is working with several partners, such as Cicendo National Eye Center, eye center Mitra Netra, Yayasan Penyantun Wyata Guna for the disabled, Universe Awareness for Children Indonesia, education institution Biomedika at the Bandung Institute of Technology and the West Java Education Agency.

Dian said poor vision could hamper anyone regardless of age. The causes of poor vision include birth defects, accidents, macula degenerative illness in old age and other problems such as cataract, glaucoma, infection and much more.

People who have difficulty seeing things at close range have problems reading and writing, maintaining personal hygiene, choosing clothes to wear and donning them and eating and drinking. They also face difficulty working on detailed activities related to certain professions, such as sewing, sculpturing and much more.

Meanwhile, people with limited vision will face difficulty looking for objects. Their mobility will be disrupted each time the light exposure level changes or each time they are in a strange place or in a crowded location, such as at a party or in a market.

Low vision is not the end of everything. There is always hope if we have a willingness to maximize the remaining vision capacity by making some adaptations, said Dian. (ebf)
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

A Sumatran rhinoceros has given birth at an Indonesian sanctuary in a success for efforts to save the critically endangered species.

The International Rhino Foundation said the female calf was born on Thursday, weighs about 45 pounds (20 kilograms) and looks healthy and active.

"We haven't stopped smiling since the moment we were sure she was alive and healthy," said IRF's executive director Susie Ellis in a statement. "While one birth does not save the species, it's one more Sumatran rhino on Earth."

Only an estimated 100 Sumatran rhinos remain, mostly on the island of Sumatra, and nine are in captivity.

The species was rediscovered in the Indonesian part of Borneo through their trails and footprints in 2013.

But one member of that small population on Borneo died in April after a wound from a poacher's trap became infected.

The calf is the second to its mother Ratu, who gave birth to a male named Andatu in 2012.
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Linkedin Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Cilacap, Central Java  Fri, May 13, 2016

The execution of death row inmates looks to be near as officials from the Law and Human Rights Ministry visited the Nusakambangan prison Island in Central Javas Cilacap regency on Tuesday.

The visit was aimed at checking the location to ensure everything was set for the executions to go ahead, said Molyanto, the ministrys head for the penitentiary division in Central Java.

However, no details have been released on the impending executions.

"We also have not yet obtained the list of the names of the convicts who will be executed. We do not know their number either," Molyanto told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.

Previously, Central Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. A. Liliek Darmanto said at least 15 convicts, including 10 foreigners, would face the firing squad in the third round of executions of drug convicts.

The police had received the data, however they could not disclose the names of the convicts, as the authority to do so rested with the Attorney General's Office, Liliek said.

Central Java Police have prepared 180 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel to carry out the executions.

Attorney General M. Prasetyo said the third round of executions was only a matter of choosing the day, as all the preparations had been completed.

Prior to the execution, authorities have tightened security on Indonesia's notorious Nusakambangan prison island. Prison authorities have installed CCTV around the prison complex, including at Wijayapura harbor, the only access port from Cilacap.

Moreover, authorities had assigned additional police personnel to guard more intensely each prison located in the Nusakambangan complex, Molyanto said on Monday.

"So we can carry out the planned execution smoothly," he told thejakartapost.com.

The installation of CCTV was to support the monitoring of inmates amid a lack of security personnel.

Around eight security personnel were guarding each of the seven prions on the island, Molyanto said, adding that the ideal number would be at least 15 guards to maintain security at each of the prisons that held up to 200 inmates each.

Nusakambangan has seven prisons standing 3 kilometers apart from each other. Around 1,250 inmates are detained in the complex, including 70 convicts of terrorism offenses and 62 death row convicts. (afr/rin)
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Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Publicly listed tire producer PT Gajah Tunggal has released strong figures for the first quarter and expressed optimism on future sales amid the governments infrastructure push and economic policies to support the automotive industry.

The companys quarterly report shows that its revenue rose to Rp 3.4 trillion (US$255.6 million) in the January to March period of this year, up 13 percent from Rp 3 trillion recorded in the same period last year.

Gajah Tunggal president director Christopher Chan said the increase marked a good start for the company after it had seen a 1.3 percent drop in annual sales last year, attributed to the economic slowdown.

We hope to see this kind of growth sustained for the next quarters throughout this year, he said, adding however, that the firm remained cautious on the possible slow recovery of commodity prices that would affect the overall economy.

While also hoping on the local economy, Gajah Tunggal has set its sights on the US market, where recently imposed high tariffs on Chinese tires opened up opportunities for Indonesian producers.

Gajah Tunggal exports 43 percent of its products to six continents. This year, it targets to increase the export share with the aim of earning more than 50 percent of its revenue abroad. (dmr)
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Linkedin Syamsul Huda M.Suhari (The Jakarta Post) Gorontalo  Fri, May 13, 2016

Gorontalo Police have received documents from North Sulawesi Police on the alleged rape of a 19-year-old girl from Manado in a case suspected to implicate two Gorontalo Police officers.

The girl, identified only as STC, is believed to have been raped by numerous men in different places, including Gorontalo.

Gorontalo Police spokesperson Adj. Sr. Comr. Bagus Santoso said his unit had received the names of two police members allegedly involved in the rape case. The two bintara (non-commissioned) officers, who were identified only by their initials A and E, served at a police precinct in Gorontalo.

At the moment, I cannot reveal the name of the police precinct where they are on duty, he told thejakartapost.com on Thursday.

Bagus said in a first step the police would focus their investigation on alleged drug consumption [related to the alleged rape incident], which involved not only the two police personnel but also other people, including witnesses and the rape victim.

He said the alleged rape reported by the victim had not yet been proven, adding that the National Police in Jakarta also asserted that the rape allegations were unproven, based on results of a thorough examination conducted by North Sulawesi Police.

Bagus said it was quite difficult for police to gather evidence to prove drug use allegedly committed by the two police members, as the alleged case occurred back in January.

However, the police would continue investigating the case and if valid evidence was found of their involvement in the drug violation, they would receive tough sanctions.

Bagus further said Gorontalo Police would also investigate the alleged mistreatment of the Manado girl committed by her two friends, identified only by their initials Y and M.

Rape is suspected to have taken place in three locations, namely in Gorontalo and in Bolangitan and Manado, North Sulawesi, in the period of January to May.

Not detailed information on the alleged rape cases has been revealed. According to initial reports, 14 to 19 men were involved. (ebf)
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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

The government, spurred by a recent sexual abuse case, will submit a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on sexual violence against children that contains harsher punishments for perpetrators to the House of Representatives next week, an official said on Friday.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had urged the Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Puan Maharani, Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly and Social Minister Khofifah Indar Parawansa to complete the Perppu before Jokowi's visit to Bali on Saturday, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said.

"Because of the urgency of the issue for the public we will give extraordinary attention to creating a deterrent effect against perpetrators. The government is very serious about handling the matter," Pramono told journalists in the State Palace on Friday.

The Perppu will impose a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment and additional punishments of chemical castration and chip implants on people convicted of sexual abuse of children.

The government expected the Perppu would be ready to be submitted to the House on May 18 to 20, Pramono said. The President also hoped for the lawmakers would pass the Perppu in addition to a bill on violence against women proposed by the government that was a priority in the House's National Legislation Program (Prolegnas).

The House had declared itself reluctant to deliberate over a bill to prevent such crimes, arguing the lawmakers were still busy with other urgent bills.

Jokowi ordered on Tuesday that sexual abuse of children must be categorized as an extraordinary crime and extraordinary efforts must be undertaken to prevent it. The concerns were raised because of the rape and murder of a 14-year-old student in Bengkulu in early April. (rin)
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Linkedin Erika Anindita Dewi (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

The House of Representatives has denied allegations made in a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) 2015 report on the House's secretariat general, that some lawmakers' work visits to constituents were fictitious.

"What is being referred to as state losses in the media isn't really state losses, but rather alleged potential [losses] which are yet to be verified," said Suratna, the House's secretariat general media bureau chief, in a statement on Friday.

Prior to the BPK's examination, many lawmakers had already reported their work visits to their factions, Suratna claimed.

The House's secretariat will collect lawmakers' work-visit reports and hand them over to the BPK.

A letter, dated last Tuesday May 10, 2016, signed by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction secretary Bambang Wuryanto and addressed to all faction members, was circulated via media on Thursday. The letter requested that all members report their working visits and visits made outside the recess period, in response to a letter from the Houses secretariat general that doubted whether the work visits happened.

The one-page document highlighted potential state losses of Rp 945.465 billion (US$71 million) resulting from the ruling party's lawmakers' work-visit expenses.

PDI-P lawmakers are expected to complete their reports from the third and fourth sitting sessions of 2014-2015 and the first and second sessions of 2015-2016.

Former House speaker Setya Novanto, who is currently running in the Golkar Party's chairmanship race, served as a House speaker for 2014-2015 and the first session of 2015-2016.

Later on, Hendrawan Supratikno, a senior PDI-P politician, confirmed the letter's validity, saying it only constituted a notification from faction leaders to the lawmakers. Lawmakers have been warned to improve the quality of their activity reporting during recess sessions and visits to constituent regions.

"Judging from the amount of state losses, something doesn't make sense, because the House's budget in 2015 was only Rp 3.9 trillion," he said on Thursday.

The BPK is currently auditing the House's finance, including lawmakers' work-visit expenses, BPK chairman Harry Azhar Azis said on Thursday. The audit report will be delivered to the House in June.

As of Friday, two of ten factions in the House had admitted receiving the letter regarding work-visit reports from the House secretariat. Hidayat Nur Wahid, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said his faction had received the letter and that the BPK's work was a routine thing.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) and NasDem Party factions said on Thursday they hadn't received any such letter from the House's secretariat. (dmr)
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (thejakartapost.com) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Four Indonesian sailors who were kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf terror group in the Philippines have been reunited with their families after being held hostage for almost a month.

"The four men have undergone medical examinations at the Gatot Subroto Army Central Hospital [RSPAD] and results have confirmed that they are in good health," Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said during a ceremony on Friday to mark the sailors safe return.

The ceremony officially marked the end of the hostage case, as the crew members were returned to their families, who were present at the event to welcome them home.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had given great attention to the safe release of the hostages, Retno added.

She also spoke with the sailors employer, PT Global Trans Energy International, to ensure that the crewmen's rights as employees would be fulfilled following their return.

In her remarks, the minister thanked all those who were involved in the release, giving special mention to the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the Philippine government for their efforts.

The four sailors were freed by the terror group on May 11 and connected with local authorities in Sulu. After a quick health check, the Philippine government officially handed over the men to an Indonesian warship in waters bordering the two countries.

Accompanied by a team of Indonesian officials, the sailors continued by boat to Tarakan, North Kalimantan, before flying to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. The crew arrived at approximately 10:20 a.m. on Friday on an Air Force Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

TNI officials, including TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, joined the foreign minister in welcoming the sailors back to Indonesian soil after they were held hostage for 25 days in the southern Philippines.

Ten crewmen were aboard the tugboat Henry and the barge Christie, traveling through Malaysian and Philippine waters, when they were hijacked by a militant group on April 15.

At the time of attack, five of the men escaped, while one suffered a gunshot wound and the remaining four were taken hostage by the militants.

Retno confirmed that the wounded man had returned to Indonesia on May 11 after undergoing treatment in Tawau, the Philippines.

Shipping company director Riswandi also spoke during the ceremony to express his gratitude to the President, the foreign minister, the TNI commander and all others involved in negotiations to free the four kidnapped crewmen.

"We hope that in the future no more similar incidents will befall any other Indonesian sailors," Riswandi said.

The director refused to disclose details behind the release, saying only that the company had coordinated closely with the government and had not had any direct contact with the terror group.

"We only found out about the incident from the government," he told journalists.

Riswandi said the tugboat and barge had been returned undamaged to Tarakan. The shipping company would temporarily suspend voyages to the Philippines, he continued, without detailing the duration of the planned break.

He reiterated that neither the government nor the company paid a ransom to secure the release of the crewmen. (dan)
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Linkedin Amir Vahdat (Associated Press) Tehran, Iran  Fri, May 13, 2016

Iran will not send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year for the annual hajj, an Iranian official said Thursday, the latest sign of tensions between the two Mideast powers after a disaster during the pilgrimage last year killed at least 2,426 people.

Saudi Arabia blamed Iranian officials for the decision and suggested it was politically motivated to publicly pressure the kingdom.

Iran says Saudi "incompetence" caused the crush and stampede in the area of Mina on Sept. 24 during the hajj, which all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform once in their life. Iran has said the disaster killed 464 of its pilgrims.

Ali Jannati, Iran's minister of culture and Islamic guidance, said negotiations that took place over several months between Iran and Saudi Arabia were aimed at trying to "resolve the issue" of security during the hajj, but failed to make any headway.

"We did whatever we could but it was the Saudis who sabotaged" it, Jannati said in comments carried by the state-run IRNA news agency. "Now the time is lost."

A later IRNA report in English on Jannati's comments, which came during a visit to the Iranian holy city of Qom, called the decision "tentatively confirmed," suggesting it may not be final.

In a statement in the official Saudi Press Agency on Thursday evening, Saudi Arabia blamed Iran for the row and said the kingdom is honored to serve Muslims of all nationalities as guests at holy sites in Mecca and Medina, where pilgrims carry out religious rites and prayers during the hajj season, as well as year-round.

The statement by Saudi Arabia's Hajj Ministry said the kingdom ensured Iranian officials obtained visas to meet with Saudi officials in April to discuss arrangements for this year's hajj, despite the fact the two countries severed diplomatic ties earlier this year. The ministry said that Iranian officials made demands that all visas for Iranian pilgrims be issued from inside Iran; that the transport of pilgrims be divided between Iranian and Saudi air carriers; and that a clause be included in the record to allow Iranian pilgrims to hold a Shiite ritual during the hajj.

Sunni-led Saudi Arabia said it made clear to the Iranian delegation that Iranians can obtain hajj visas by applying online in the absence of a Saudi Embassy in Tehran; that allowing Iran's national carrier to transport pilgrims runs contrary to "internationally recognized practice;" and that allowing this ritual would "hinder movements" of other pilgrims from around the world.

The ministry added that any decision to bar Iranian pilgrims from the hajj is being "imposed by the Iranian government ... as a means to pressure Saudi Arabia."

Tensions between the longtime rivals soared after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric on Jan. 2. Nimr al-Nimr was convicted on a string of charges, including sowing dissent and stirring violent anti-government protests in the predominantly Shiite east, something denied by his family, who say al-Nimr never advocated violence nor picked up a weapon.

Al-Nimr's execution sparked widespread protests in Shiite-led Iran, which views itself as the protector of Shiites around the world. Demonstrations outside of Saudi diplomatic posts in Tehran and Mashhad turned violent and protesters stormed the buildings. Riyadh responded by cutting diplomatic relations with Tehran.

The two countries also support opposing sides in Syria's civil war and the ongoing conflict in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country.

Since Saudi diplomatic posts remain closed in Iran, Jannati said Saudi officials had said Iranians would need to travel to embassies in other countries to apply for hajj visas. He described that as another sticking point in the failed negotiations.

"Iran's proposals regarding visa application, air transport and security of pilgrims were not accepted by the Saudi officials," Jannati said.

Since February, Switzerland has been representing the interests of Saudi Arabia in Iran and those of Iran in Saudi Arabia, delivering basic consular services, such as issuing visas in cases where the two countries agree to it.

Jannati said Saudi officials had not accepted Iran's request to facilitate visas to the kingdom through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, though he did not specify which types of visas the request was referring to.

The Swiss department of foreign affairs said that as a general rule it "does not comment on activities linked to the protecting power mandate exercised by Switzerland," in reference to its role.

The disaster in Mina was the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage, according to an Associated Press tally of the dead based on state media reports and officials' comments from 36 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the hajj. The official Saudi toll of 769 people killed and 934 injured has not changed since Sept. 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy.

Last year's hajj, which drew 2 million pilgrims, also saw a crane collapse in Mecca kill 111 worshippers.

Iran called for an independent body to take over planning and administering the five-day hajj, but the kingdom's ruling Al Saud family has refused any suggestion it would share its role in overseeing the holy sites. That, along with Saudi Arabia's oil wealth, provides it major influence in the Muslim world.

Iran has boycotted the hajj before. In 1987, demonstrating Iranian pilgrims battled Saudi riot police in clashes that killed at least 402 people. Iran claimed 600 of its pilgrims were killed and said police fired machine guns at the crowd. Iran did not send pilgrims to the hajj in 1988 and 1989, while Saudi officials severed diplomatic ties over the violence and Iranian attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf.

Associated Press writers Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Aya Batrawy and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Jamey Keaton in Geneva contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Carolyn Thompson (Associated Press) Niagara Falls, New York  Fri, May 13, 2016

After being violently thrown to the ground and robbed of her purse and shoes during her first ever visit to Niagara Falls, Japanese tourist Koyuki Nakahara thought she would never return.

Yet she was back in New York last week, this time at the request of prosecutors who said her testimony was crucial in making sure her alleged attacker would be punished.

"If I did not come back he would be released. It wasn't fair," Nakahara said by phone Thursday, the same day prosecutors in Niagara County announced an indictment in the case.

Robert Macleod, 44, of Niagara Falls, was indicted on charges of robbery, robbery as a sexually motivated felony, sexual abuse and assault. He had been arrested Dec. 31 after police released pictures from surveillance cameras and he later pleaded not guilty to robbery and assault and was released on $25,000 bail.

A phone listing for Macleod wasn't available, and the attorney who represented him when he was arrested didn't respond to telephone messages seeking comment. Arraignment on the new charges is expected later this month.

Deputy Niagara County District Attorney Doreen Hoffman said that without Nakahara's return to testify last week, "the case likely would have been dismissed with no conviction."

"Under the constitution, you have the right to confront your accuser, and we can't indict a case based on hearsay," Hoffman said. "We can't just put in written statements given by victims."

It's a right that can embolden criminals who target tourists, Hoffman said. "Criminals don't anticipate them to be here to prosecute."

Nakahara returned to the place where the man she'd asked for directions on Christmas night responded by pounding her face into the concrete and dragging her into the dark where she feared she would be raped.

"I don't have to go. Just forget it," Nakahara had told herself at home in Tokyo, convinced she had put the attack that left her bruised and frightened behind her. Then a Skype call with prosecutors who asked her to recount details brought home how deeply she'd been affected. Testifying would make Niagara Falls safer for other women and would prove empowering for her, she decided.

"I decided it's OK to show my feelings and let the criminal know you cannot do that. You cannot hurt me because I am a woman, I'm not as strong as you or I'm not living here or whatever," she said.

During a news conference Thursday, authorities praised Nakahara's bravery and said they were happy to pay the travel costs to bring her back to the United States.

"To step on a plane and travel for days to come back to an area that certainly, unfortunately, does not have pleasant memories and meet some people that she barely knew and relive the events that she'd rather forget  Wow," Assistant District Attorney Robert Zucco said.

Robberies and assaults are relatively rare in Niagara Falls State Park, state statistics show. From 2011 to 2014, state parks police received an average of two reports of robberies  involving the use or threat of violence  and no more than one assault report each year. Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster called the chances of being victimized "exceedingly low," especially considering the influx of 8 million to 9 million tourists each year.

Nakahara had been traveling with a tour group when she ventured out of her hotel on her own and became lost. The stranger she asked to point her in the right direction at first seemed helpful. Then he pulled her hair and pushed her down to the ground. When he dragged her to a dark and secluded area, she was sure she would be raped and wondered if she would survive. But her attacker eventually fled and she was taken to a hospital.

The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of alleged sexual abuse, but Nakahara has said she wanted to discuss her case publicly.

Nakahara later continued on with her trip, which included stops in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, not wanting to be deprived by the attack of her chance to enjoy her travels.
At least 820 Islamists have left Germany to join Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq, the German domestic security agency said Friday, voicing concerns about the rapid radicalisation of minors after two recent attacks.

Around 40 of those who have travelled to the conflict-torn countries are aged under 18, and half of these are girls, according to latest data released by the BfV spy agency.

"Young people are being radicalised quickly and permanently," said its chief Hans-Georg Maassen.

"It is particularly problematic that they cultivate a readiness and ability to heed the call of the IS (Islamic State) to murder non-believers in their own country, using whatever means at their disposal," he said, referring to two recent attacks in Germany.

Police in April arrested two 16-year-olds over an explosion that wounded three people at a Sikh temple, in what was believed to be an Islamist motivated attack against an Indian wedding party at a temple in the western city of Essen.

In the other attack, a 15-year-old girl stabbed a policeman in the neck in Hanover in February. German prosecutors said she was carrying out an operation for the Islamic State militant group.

The BfV has sought authorisation to collect and store personal data about under-16s who are suspected of extremism.

Among the 820 who have left Germany, about a third have returned while about 140 have been killed in Syria or Iraq.

The intelligence agency last September said 740 Islamists had travelled to the conflict zones.

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Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

President Joko Jokowi Widodo has admitted that military (TNI) and police officers have overreacted to his order to uphold the law against any efforts to spread communist teachings.

The President greatly respected freedom of the press and academic freedom as essential parts of a democratic society, and therefore considered the seizing of goods with left-wing symbols as excessive, said Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung.

"Democracy is the substance of the state. So the police, as well as the military, went too far with their sweeping operations," Pramono said at the State Palace on Friday.

The President had explicitly ordered the TNI commander and National Police chief to immediately prevent their personnel from carrying out similar actions in the future, said Pramono, adding that in the democratic era, such seizures should no longer occur.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti said earlier that the President had instructed law enforcement bodies to enforce the laws against the use of communist imagery. "That has already clearly been instructed. Law enforcement agencies will be assisted by the Indonesian Army as well," Badrodin added.

Parmono admitted that the President had indeed previously instructed both institutions to enforce the laws against the use of communist imagery. However, he said the implementation of those laws must consider human rights and freedom of expression.

"The point is that we respect the substance of the laws, but implementation in the community does not have to be excessive," he explained

Police and TNI personnel have cracked down on recent discussions and film screenings related to the 1965 tragedy, as well as vendors selling communism-related merchandise. Most recently, they raided several publishing companies in Yogyakarta to seize left-wing books. (bbn)
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Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during an upcoming visit to Russia when several agreements will be signed to strengthen ties.

The meeting comes ahead of the May 19-20 ASEAN-Russia summit in the city of Sochi, Russia.

"This visit is important, remembering that Russia is an important, friendly country to Indonesia whether within a bilateral, regional or global framework," the Foreign Ministry's Central and Eastern Europe relations director, Witjaksono Adji, said Thursday during a media briefing.

The bilateral meeting aims to strengthen relations between the two countries during which a number of memorandums of understandings (MoU) on illegal fishing, archives and defense will be signed.

Areas of discussion will also include the exchange of information to maintain stability and peace, cooperation in the improvement of human resources and defense, as well as increasing business relations with Russia through a meeting with businesspeople during a forum, Witjaksono said.

Previously, Indonesia was reportedly planning to buy Sukhoi jets from Russia. However, Witjaksono refused to give details on the planned purchase.

"That discussion is ongoing and we cannot confirm if it will be brought up during the bilateral meeting," he added.

On May 18, the President will leave for Sochi from South Korea following a working visit to the East Asian country.

A number of ministers will accompany Jokowi to Russia, namely Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Darmin Nasution, Trade Minister Thomas Lembong, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi, State Secretary Pratikno, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti and Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani.

The meeting will take place one day before the ASEAN-Russia summit. The gathering with leaders of Southeast Asian countries is expected to produce three documents, ASEAN dialogue partners and inter-regional cooperation director Derry Aman said.

First will be the Sochi Declaration containing details of cooperation between Russia and ASEAN, as well as its vision for the future. The second document is the Comprehensive Plan of Action 2016-2020, which will mention in detail the cooperation between Russia and the region.

Finally, the ASEAN-Russia Eminent Persons Group Report will contain a set of concrete recommendations by experts on cooperation between Russia and ASEAN.

"The main topics to be discussed include areas of the economy, politics, security, social and cultural, as well as Russia's role in supporting the ASEAN Economic Community," Derry said. (rin)
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Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

The successful release of four Indonesian sailors in the Philippines was due to intensive efforts by the Indonesian Military (TNI), Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi has asserted.

The government conveyed its special appreciation to TNI officials who had given their best in monitoring and guarding the hostages until they arrived safely on Indonesian soil, Retno said in Jakarta on Friday.

"Without the role of the TNI, freeing the hostages would have been a difficult task," Retno said.

Besides the role of TNI, the release had also been made possible by intensive cooperation between the government and Philippine authorities, Retno said, without providing details on the operation.

She made the statements after the arrival of four crewmen at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta at 10:20 a.m. on Friday, following their release from the Abu Sayyaf militant group in the southern Philippines.

Military officials, including TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, joined the Foreign Minister in welcoming the sailors back to Indonesia.

Army Strategic Reserves commander (Pangkostrad) Let. Gen. Edy Rahmayadi, who apparently lead the rescue operation, explained that TNI had been on standby with five warships for over a month at its Tarakan base in North Kalimantan, from where they kept monitoring the situation of the sailors.

Upon receiving information that Abu Sayyaf had handed over the hostages to Philippine authorities on Wednesday, 25 days after they had been kidnapped, he immediately briefed military personnel to enter Philippine waters, Edy said.

The TNI had closely coordinated with the Philippines Navy when they entered the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEC), 12 miles from Zulu Islands in the country's south, where the four sailors had finally been handed over to Indonesian authorities, Edy went on to say.

"I don't know whether a ransom was paid or not. My duty is only to save and secure the Indonesian sailors, it is the command from TNI commander," Edy said.

He asserted that no private entity had been involved in the rescue, but only TNI personnel, who had picked up the sailors.

The sailors would be brought to the Gatot Subroto Army Central Hospital in Central Jakarta for a medical checkup before they would be handed over to their families, Retno added.

The handover ceremony would take place at the Foreign Ministrys offices on Friday afternoon. (bbn)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

A Philippine defense official has praised the technical capabilities of Indonesian-made warships, while overseeing the delivery of an SSV Tarlac to Manila.

Representing the Philippine National Defense Department, Captain Francis Alexander R Jose was present among a group of delegates during the dispatching of an Indonesian-made warship from Surabaya to Manila. He praised the sophistication of the warship.

"During the speed acceleration of the SSV Tarlac, the vessel proved to be stable and without any shock," Jose said after testing the maximum speed when the ship entered the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, as quoted by Antara news agency.

When met aboard the BRP Tarlac in Philippine waters on Friday, Jose said he was proud of the newly-acquired Indonesian-made ship and expressed gratitude with regard to cooperation during the ordering process.

The ship showcased several sophisticated maneuvers during the voyage, including the "landing craft utility" (LCU) in which two support ships enter through the rear of the vessel.

The LCU is an advanced capability of the "Strategic Sealift Vessel" (SSV) BRP TARLAC (LD-601 ship), where smaller LCU's function as supporting units during coastal wars and can also transport weaponry.

During the showcase, the rear of the SSV TARLAC was sunk to a depth of two meters so that the two support ships could enter. The back entrance of the vessel opened and the two support ships entered. The SSV TARLAC then returned to its original position, disposing of the water that the vessel had taken aboard during the process.

Another maneuver carried out by the ship was a 16.2 knots speed acceleration.

Meanwhile, Kapal Niaga general manager Satriyo Bintoro, who oversaw the inaugural export to Manila, said that all the vessel had performed at an optimal standard during the trip.

Succeeding in an aim to display vessel functions and illustrate the sophistication of advanced features to the Philippine navy who were present during the voyage. (liz/bbn)
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Linkedin Arif Gunawan Sulistiyono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Renowned senior banker Robby Rodjo Djohan, whom worked in the banking industry for more than 30 years, passed away on Friday afternoon, at the age of 78.

"Let us pray that God grants him the best place in the afterlife," an Infobank spokesperson said in a message to thejakartapost.com, adding that Robby died on Friday afternoon at the Puri Cinere Hospital in Jakarta.

Born in Semarang, on August 1, 1938, the former 1950's era actor was among the bankers that helped to establish the largest bank in Indonesia, in terms of assets, Bank Mandiri Tbk.

Having graduated in economics at Padjadjaran Universitas (Unpad), Bandung, West Java, Robby first joined the banking industry with Citibank, before leading Bank Niaga (now Bank CIMB-Niaga) to become one of leading private banks in the country.

Robby was also known for his role in restructuring Indonesias biggest airlines Garuda Indonesia Tbk, a move that prevented the state-owned airline from falling into bankruptcy.

Robby and his wife Nanan Hadiretna had three daughters. (ags)
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Linkedin Agus Maryono (The Jakarta Post) Cilacap, Central Java  Fri, May 13, 2016

Cilacap Police and Nusakambangan prison authorities have prepared spiritual leaders to be assigned to accompany death row inmates before and during their executions.

Cilacap Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Ulung Sampurna Jaya said some 15 death row inmates would be executed on the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, in the near future and that police had appointed religious leaders to accompany the inmates.

In principle, we have prepared everything needed for the execution of their death sentences at Nusakambangan, including the spiritual leaders, Ulung told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday. He refused to mention the number of spiritual leaders readied, saying only that it corresponded to the number of inmates to be executed.

Up untill now, the Cilacap Police have not yet received any official order on the implementation of the execution, including information on how many people will be executed. We are all still waiting for [the official order], said Ulung.

Central Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Liliek Darmanto said 10 foreigners were on the list of convicts for the forthcoming round of executions at Nusakambangan, all convicted of drug crimes. Four of the inmates were from China, while the other six were from Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

Five death row inmates are from Indonesia, said Liliek.

Meanwhile, an Islamic teacher from the Cilacap chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Hasan Makarim, said the MUI had not received any government notification on the executions.

Usually, an official religious assistance request comes after the death row inmates are put in isolation cells. That is the time we will start to prepare their mental readiness to embrace their execution, along with their faith and religion, Hasan told thejakartapost.com.

Usually, he added, one spiritual leader would be prepared to accompany one inmate. We are intensely coordinating with the police and prison authorities, so that once it is needed, we are ready, Hasan said.

Grief  Family members of death row inmates cry and hug each other seconds before their loved ones are executed around midnight in late April 2015.(thejakartapost.com/Agus Maryono)

The Attorney Generals Office (AGO) has announced that the third round of executions under President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration would be held in the near future.

The AGO conducted two rounds of executions in 2015. Six people were executed in January 2015 and another eight in late April 2015. (ebf)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Indonesia needs to reform taxation and vocational training to boost the competitiveness of local businesses in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), an expert has said.

Those issues were crucial to wooing investors to Indonesia, HSBCs ASEAN economist Su Sian Lim said, adding that Indonesian tax rules were not yet competitive.

Indonesias corporate tax was as high as 25 percent, compared to Singapores 16 percent and Hong Kongs 17 percent, Lim said on Thursday.

She added that tax collection was not an issue in Singapore and Hong Kong, as most corporate taxpayers had registered their assets and found paying taxes easy.

Lim lauded the Indonesian governments plan to introduce a tax amnesty to bring home funds kept by wealthy Indonesian abroad.

According to her, the tax amnesty was good for Indonesia, but should be followed by other reforms to improve collection.

Regarding skilled workers, Lim said educational reform in Indonesia should be carried out quickly to educate workers equipped with adequate skills to cater to demand from technology-based investments.

"Imagine when the big IT companies want to invest in Indonesia and we have a supportive pool of workers," she said. (dmr)
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Linkedin Lita Aruperes (The Jakarta Post) Manado, North Sulawesi  Fri, May 13, 2016

A member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) from North Sulawesi, Stefanus BAN Liow, has called on the North Sulawesi Police to thoroughly investigate the alleged rape of a 19-year-old woman from Manado, North Sulawesi.

I call on relevant parties, including the North Sulawesi Police, to thoroughly investigate the case without prejudice. This must be thoroughly investigated, said Liow.

Liow, who is on the councils commission dealing with violence against women, said regardless of the backgrounds of those involved in the rape case, be they police officers or not, supremacy of the law must be upheld.

The rape, allegedly perpetrated by more than a dozen men, has brought shame to our province. North Sulawesi has become well-known on the national level because of this case, said Stefanus.

As earlier reported, allegations of rape by the 19-year-old have been brought into question after a woman, identified only as Yuyun, was questioned as a witness and claimed that no rape occurred.

I spent four days with [the woman]. There was no rape. If there was, I also must have been a victim because I was constantly with her, said Yuyun on Wednesday.

Yuyun explained that the January incident began when a woman, identified only as Memey, invited her and the 19-year-old to go to Gorontalo by car. On Jan.24, the latter was picked up from her workplace in Manado, North Sulawesi. In a hotel in Bolangitang, North Bolaang Mongondouw regency, three men joined her and Yuyun. In the hotel, we consumed shabu-shabu [crystal methamphetamine], said Yuyun.

She claimed that several men were with them, but there was no rape attempt. She claimed that the 19-year-old consumed a lot of crystal meth, which may have made her hallucinate the alleged gang rape.

Womens rights group LSM Swara Parangpuan condemned the slow and nontransparent investigation into the rape case. We are really disappointed. The case occurred in January and it was reported to the police the same month. After a few months, there has been no progress in the investigation, said Nurhasanah from LSM Swara Parangpuans database division.

Nurhasanah said her group always campaigned against violence against women in North Sulawesi. However, neither the government nor security officers care about the situation. The state should show its presence to give citizens a sense of security, she said, adding that LSM Swara Parangpuan condemned the recent alleged rape.

The alleged rape of the 19-year Manado girl has drawn the attention of various elements of society, particularly women lawmakers in the North Sulawesi Legislative Council. They have voiced support for the governments plan to impose tough measures against sex offenders, including chemical castration, one of punishments proposed in a government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on sexual violence currently under deliberation.

We are observing the brutal rape of a girl from Manado, allegedly perpetrated by 19 men. We, as female legislators, fully support the notion that sex crime perpetrators must be punished as severely as possible. They should be handed the death sentence if necessary because they slowly kill a victim by their actions, said female legislators Netty Pantouw and Lucia Taroreh.

North Sulawesi Governor Olly Dondokambey said he condoned the Perppu. Yes, they must be chemically castrated if necessary. We must make sure that sex crime perpetrators face tough punishment, he told journalists in a recent plenary meeting at the North Sulawesi Legislative Council.

Olly further said that sexual violence, including rape, was not part of the North Sulawesi culture. They commit such crimes because they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he said. (ebf)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Students from Trisakti University in Jakarta have held a peaceful rally in commemoration of the 1998 shootings, urging the government to settle the unresolved case soon.

Aside from demanding that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo issue a decree to set up a special tribunal on the incident, the students wanted the government to impart the title of "Reformation Heroes" on the four victims, who were shot dead on campus on May 12, 1998.



The rallying students also demanded the government show concern for the wellbeing of the victims' families and refused any form of reconciliation until officials reveal the identities of the perpetrators.



"We need to find the parties that carry responsibility for the tragedy," Trisakti University student body chairman Abdul Kader said.



The government might apologize, Abdul said, but he added that the law should be enforced against the human rights offenders through the tribunal. Only then can the rights of the victims and their families be met.



About 3,500 students of Trisakti University gathered in front of the State Palace on Thursday to remind President Jokowi about his pledge to resolve the tragedy, made during his presidential election campaign in 2014.



More than 80 minibuses and hundreds of motorcycles carried the college students from the campus to the palace, where about 200 police officers were deployed to ensure security.



Meanwhile, Trisakti University student body deputy chairman Reza Rahman said government officials seemed to keep referring the case to each other. The President once said the case had been handed over to the Attorney General's Office, but then it was referred again and its fate remains uncertain.



The government also had yet to provide compensation to the victims' families, Reza asserted, adding that there was one widow among them, who lived alone since his husband had died and her son had been killed in the shootings.



"We hope the 18th year of commemoration of the tragedy will not amount to a mere ceremony, but instead we demand government action in resolving the Trisakti tragedy," Reza said.

On May 12, 1998, four Trisakti University students, Elang Mulya Lesmana, Hery Hartanto, Hendriawan Sie and Hafidhin Royan, were reportedly shot dead by the military during protests to demand political and economic reforms of the New Order regime and that Suharto step down. The incident took place at the height of an economic crisis that had struck the entire Southeast Asian region.

Low-ranking police personnel were convicted over the shootings, but no one has been brought to trial yet. (afr/dmr)
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Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Fri, May 13, 2016

Logos bearing the hammer and sickle, recognized as a communist symbol worldwide, have suddenly become popular in Indonesia. Most of the logos have been used in jokes spread through various memes on social media.

Almost a century ago, leftist duo Vladimir Lenin and Anatoly Lunacharsky held a competition to create the first state emblem of the Soviet Union. Evgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin won with his design of a hammer and a sickle, which represented the worker-peasant alliance of the socialist movement.

The now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) used a similar but simpler logo, until the party was decimated by the military in 1965, marked by the purge of party members, their relatives and sympathizers nationwide.

However, recently the fear of communism has suddenly arisen, especially in the wake of the governments promise to resolve past human rights cases, including the 1965 mass killings.

Discussions on the 1965 tragedy have been disbanded, while books and T-shirts bearing the hammer and sickle logo or any related to any leftist movement have been seized.

Dewan Kesepian Jakarta Perjuangan, or the Jakarta Lonely Council of Struggle, a Facebook fan page that often parodies the famous quotes of well-known figures, has posted various memes related to the hammer and sickle, which have recently gone viral.

On May 9, it posted a picture of an actual hammer and sickle with a message that read: Anyone who possesses a hammer and a sickle at home should destroy them lest they be accused of being a PKI member.

On the same day, the Facebook fan page posted a picture of a message that read There are lots of hammer-and-sickle pictures on Google. The police should also seize Google!

A parodied picture of communist symbol in the form of a picture of a razor and a comb crossed with a red background (Indonesian Smooth Party).(Courtesy of Dewan Kesepian Jakarta Perjuangan/-)

It seems it just could not stop and went on to post several parodied pictures the day after, from a red T-shirt with a picture of a bird perched on a sickle (Circumcision Doctor, with "bird" being slang for penis in Indonesian), a picture of a razor and a comb crossed with a red background (Indonesian Smooth Party) and a picture of a computer mouse and a pen crossed with a red background (Online PKI).

On May 11, it posted a comic strip with two panels, showing a little girl who was shocked at seeing a sign on a traffic light reading: Keep going when you are turning left. She later said, Latent danger of communism in sight!!!

Although the tangible impact of the memes in Indonesia remains vague, scholars from RMIT University Vietnam found that memes served as a tool to empower a new form of civil engagement against the government.

Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, proposed the Cute Cat theory in 2008, which partly explains the meme phenomenon. Since memes are mostly simple and humorous, they do not look harmful (just like a cute cat). Hence, the government might find it hard to censor the hazard without censoring the cuteness, which could escalate public protests. (vps/bbn)
Products from two of Egypts leading bottled water brands have been declared unfit for human consumption by the authorities, after laboratory tests on samples revealed they did not comply with standards.

In what appears to be a leaked internal directive dated May 2016, officials said that coliform bacteria (which usually indicate the presence of fecal matter) were found in samples of Nestle Pure Life and Baraka Water bottled water (both brands produced by Nestle Water Egypt), and live protozoa in samples of Aquafina bottled water, produced by PepsiCo, making them unfit for human consumption.

Egypts Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed admitted that the statement was legitimate in statements widely quoted by local media on Thursday, though he did not answer repeated requests for comment on the matter by Ahram Online.

Nestle, which produces Nestle Pure Life and Baraka Water from the same factory in Banha, in Egypts Qalyubiya governorate, said it was working with the authorities to address the allegations.

Nestle Waters has become aware of a document in circulation from the Ministry of Health concerning some of the companys products, Nestle Waters would like to inform all its customers and consumers that the case is immediately under serious investigation in collaboration with the MOH, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.



Together, Aquafina and Nestles Pure Life controlled 71 percent of the bottled water market, according to an April 2013 report by the Egyptian Competition Authority.

The leaked document calls for halting the circulation in the market of the following; 1.5L Nestle Pure Life bottles produced on 17/03/2016 and 330 ml bottles produced on 13/03/2016, Baraka 1.5L bottles produced on 01/03/2016 and 600 ml bottles dated 10/03/2016, as well as Aquafina 1.5 bottles produced on 17/03/2016 and on 07/03/2016.

The directive also calls for conducting tests on samples from the bottles listed and sending the results to Egypts Prosecutor General, to determine a course of action.

According to the document, the samples were tested following a complaint from the governments Health Directorate in the Nile Delta governorate of Beheira.

Regular tests are conducted on unprocessed well-water and the bottled product, to make sure the source is free of certain bacteria according to international standards, Zeinab Bakry, Chairperson of the National Nutrition Institute, told Ahram Online in a 2013 interview.

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Linkedin Jonathan Drew and Paul J. Weber (Associated Press) Raleigh N.C.  Sat, May 14, 2016

Politicians in Texas, Arkansas and elsewhere vowed defiance  and other conservative states could follow suit  after the Obama administration told public schools across the US on Friday to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

The federal government's guidance was met with tearful praise from parents of transgender students.

"It's heartbreaking that these kids are losing their lives because they can't be accepted," Hope Tyler, who has a transgender son at a Raleigh high school, said in reference to suicides among transgender people. "Somebody has to speak for the kids."

The directive from the US Justice and Education Departments represents an escalation in the fast-moving dispute over what is becoming the civil rights issue of the day.

One by one, conservative political leaders thundered against it and President Barack Obama.

"This is the most outrageous example yet of the Obama administration forcing its liberal agenda on states that roundly reject it," said Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.

The guidance was issued just days after the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other a state law requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate. The law applies to schools and many other places.

While supporters say the measure is needed to protect women and children from sexual predators, the Justice Department and others argue the threat is practically nonexistent and the law discriminatory.

The guidance issued on Friday is not legally binding, since the question of whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people has not been definitively answered by the courts and may ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

But schools that refuse to comply could be hit with civil rights lawsuits from the government and could face a cutoff of federal aid to education.

Texas' lieutenant governor said the state is prepared to forfeit billions rather than let the Obama administration dictate restroom policy for its 5.2 million students.

"We will not be blackmailed by the president's 30 pieces of silver," Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.

Rodney Cavness, superintendent of the Port Neches-Groves school district in Texas, told KFDM-TV: "When I get that letter, I'll throw it away."

Similarly, GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said schools should disregard the directive, which he derided as "social engineering."

Governors and top leaders in other conservative states railed against the guidance but stopped short of telling schools to ignore it.

"The last time I checked, the United States is not ruled by a king who can bypass Congress and the courts and force school-age boys and girls to share the same bathrooms and locker rooms," North Carolina's Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said.

And Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said: "It is difficult to imagine a more absurd federal overreach into a local issue."

However, Democratic Govs. Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Jay Inslee of Washington praised the Obama directive, saying it was consistent with their own policies.

"I applaud the Obama administration for establishing policies that will better provide all our children an opportunity to thrive," Inslee said.

The federal guidance may portend more court fights over transgender bathroom access.

Already, officials from eight states  West Virginia, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Maine and North Carolina  signed on to a brief in recent days asking a federal appeals court to re-hear a case in which it sided with a Virginia transgender student seeking to use the boys' bathroom.

The new guidance says public schools must treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records indicate a different sex.

Some school systems around the country already accommodate transgender students when it comes to bathroom use.

Nearly half the schools in the 53,000-student Seattle district have gender-neutral restrooms, and students can also use the bathrooms in the nurses' office, spokeswoman Stacy Howard said.

The National School Boards Association has published guidelines for its members in dealing with transgender students. It stops short of telling them exactly what to do, instead advising them to work with their attorneys to determine the best course amid a "shifting legal landscape."

Francisco Negron, chief attorney for the organization, said there is a "disconnect" between what is happening in various states and what the federal government is demanding, "and school districts are caught in the middle."

Tyler, whose 15-year-old transgender son attends the Raleigh high school, said she cried when she heard about the Obama administration directive.

"It means a lot to our kid. People don't realize that these kids in schools weren't having any bathroom issues before," she said.

Since the passage of North Carolina's bathroom law, Tyler's son has been doing his schoolwork under a special arrangement that allows him to take classes mostly from home.

Before the new law, Hunter Schafer, 17, had no problems being accepted by her peers at the North Carolina School of the Arts, a residential high school in Winston-Salem where she has lived in the girls' dormitory.

With the passage of the law, Schafer said she found herself "just having to decide do I break the law, or do I put myself in this highly uncomfortable or highly dangerous situation in the men's restroom?"

Eventually, the school gave her her own private restroom.

Her father, Mac Schafer of Raleigh, was elated to hear the new guidance from the Obama administration.

"As a parent, some of your core instincts are protection for your child," he said. "To know that the federal government is pushing for respect and safe space and rights for Hunter is thrilling." (bbn)

Contributing to this report were Emery P. Dalesio in Raleigh; Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh; Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky.; Dan Sewell in Cincinnati; Phuong Le in Seattle; Eric Tucker in Washington; Bradley Klapper in Washington and Larry O'Dell in Richmond, Va.
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Linkedin Alan Clendenning (Associated Press) Madrid  Fri, May 13, 2016

Two Spaniards and two Malaysians who spent 10 days adrift at sea had no food during the ordeal and drank small amounts of sea water to survive, using a bag to filter out salt, the father of one of the Spaniards said Friday.

Marta Miguel and her boyfriend David Hernandez are weakened but in relatively good health, her father Luis Miguel told Spanish National Radio.

"Physically, they're not badly off despite everything they have suffered," Luis Miguel told the radio station.

TV images showed them smiling Friday as they got off a plane in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu.

They were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat in waters off Borneo island.

The Spaniards were traveling in a small boat with the owner of a Malaysian resort and a resort employee.

A big wave swamped the boat and the waters carried away what food and water they had aboard.

They were unable to restart the motor, Luis Miguel said.

Spanish media have reported that the two were working as volunteers at the resort to get experience so they could start their own business, possibly in Malaysia.

Miguel said his daughter and her boyfriend will fly home to see relatives and that it's possible they will then go back to Malaysia.

They may want "to fulfill their dreams, but I wouldn't like that. It's been very traumatic for everyone, and for them as well," Miguel said.
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Linkedin Kor Kian Beng (The Straits Times/ANN) Beijing  Fri, May 13, 2016

An international arbitration tribunal abused its powers and acted unjustly by taking up Manila's case against Beijing over their South China Sea dispute, China has said in its latest attempt to justify why it refused to take part in the proceedings or accept the impending ruling.

Senior diplomat Xu Hong said at a media briefing Thursday that the tribunal's five judges had "rushed" to hear the case without examining the link between Manila's claims and territorial sovereignty.

The Philippines has submitted claims in three areas: clarifying the legality of China's nine-dash line that covers a large swathe of the South China Sea; the status of Chinese-occupied features such as reefs and their maritime entitlements; and China's activities in what the Philippines considers its exclusive economic zone.

Xu pointed out how the Philippine Foreign Ministry, a day after taking the case to the United Nations in January 2013, had explicitly said the purpose was "to protect [its] national territory and maritime domain" and talked about not surrendering its national sovereignty.

"Even the Philippines itself has laid bare its actual objective, so why did the Arbitral Tribunal turn a deaf ear?" said Xu, director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Treaties and Law department.

He alleged that at least two of the five judges had reversed their academic stances to justify the tribunal's decision last October that it had jurisdiction over the case.

He pointed out that the tribunal's opinion - that entitlement and legal status of maritime features can be separated from maritime delimitation - is not only contradictory to the practice of international law but also inconsistent with the propositions held by at least two arbitrators in their previous writings.

"They had held that the legal status and maritime entitlements of maritime features are closely linked with maritime delimitation, but now they have reversed their position. I guess they owe the world a credible explanation," said Xu.

Territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation are among the areas that Beijing has chosen to exclude from arbitration proceedings under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea since 2006.

Xu said the tribunal's "abuse of power" justifies China's decision to ignore the ruling expected early next month. In doing so, he said, China is also protecting the sanctity of international law and fulfilling earlier pacts with Manila on resolving South China Sea spats through bilateral negotiations, even though Manila "has not kept its word".

China has been holding media briefings on the case and canvassing support from other countries to influence public opinion ahead of the ruling.

Professor Zhang Mingliang, a Sino-Asean relations expert at Jinan University, noted that it is likely the first time that the Chinese government has turned from attacking Manila to criticizing the tribunal.

He told The Straits Times that Beijing's move might backfire, adding: "Casting aspersions on the judges' credibility... may not be well accepted by many, especially coming from a big country.

"And even if it is true that some judges did change their position, focusing on them now may give the impression that China is launching personal attacks out of desperation to minimize the impact of the case."
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Linkedin Nestor Corrales (Inquirer.net/ANN)  Fri, May 13, 2016

The Cabinet members of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte would be similar to the Cabinet of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his transition team said on Friday.

We wanted to ideally follow Prime Minister Trudeaus Cabinet in Canada, Peter Lavina, Dutertes spokesman, said in a televised press briefing in Davao City.

Lavina said they wanted the administration of Duterte to be well represented and gender-sensitive.

We have plenty of lumad. We have plenty of ethnic women and those from the social sectors. Ideally, of course, we would also be looking forward to a balanced Cabinet because the constituency of the country is divided into so many sectors, he said.

He wanted young people. We are also sensitive on gender issues so hopefully maraming babae [there would be many Cabinet members who are women], he added.

He said the composition of Dutertes Cabinet would be announced once the presumptive president approves the potential members of his administration.

We will announce the names of the members of the cabinet as soon as they are ready, even piecemeal, he said.

Lavina, however, said that the Dutertes Cabinet members dont necessarily have to come from Mindanao, adding that they should be the best and the brightest.

On Friday, Lavina their transition team has created six clusters to start the selection of potential Cabinet members.

Members of the transition team who will head each cluster are:

Social development: Leoncio Jun Evasco Jr., national campaign head and Maribojoc, Bohol mayor

Peace and security: Christopher Bong Go, executive assistant and campaign sortie manager

Economic development: Carlos Dominguez III, businessman and campaign finance manager

Judiciary: Atty. Salvador Medialdea

Government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs): Atty. Loreto Ata

Infrastructure development: Peter Lavina

Lavina said the criteria for selecting Cabinet members are shared vision, integrity, competence and ability and willingness to sacrifice.

He also cited the exigency of appointing an economic team and a foreign affairs secretary.

It is important to immediately appoint an economic team and a foreign affairs secretary to immediately convey to the business community and the world that we are ready to immediately go down to business, he said.
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Linkedin (Associated Press) Kuala Lumpur  Fri, May 13, 2016

Malaysia said Friday the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will not be shifted after the discoveries of five pieces of debris in the western Indian Ocean.

The government this week had confirmed the last two pieces, found in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off Mauritius, are "almost certainly" from the Boeing 777 that disappeared mysteriously more than two years ago.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the discoveries aligned with the modeling pattern established by experts of where debris would drift from a crash in the southern Indian Ocean. He said the 120,000 square kilometers search area, west of Australia, will be completed before authorities decide whether to further extend the hunt.

"We won't shift the search area. From the debris found, it actually confirms that our search area is the right area looking at the drift pattern," Liow said.

The area is the "most probable" crash site and authorities have so far covered more than 105,000 square kilometers, he said.

"It is important that we find more debris, more wreckage, so that we can actually analyze and find the cause of the incident," Liow said. "We are still confident of finding the main wreckage....we are looking for an answer and we need to find wreckage."

Officials from Malaysia, Australia and China will meet by June or July to "chart the future of the search," Liow said without elaborating. Australia has been leading the search, which so far has turned up empty. Most of the passengers on the flight, which carried 239 people, were from China.

The three pieces of debris confirmed from the plane earlier were found on France's Reunion Island and along Mozambique's coast.

Though the discoveries have bolstered authorities' assertion that the plane crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts thus far has yielded any clues into exactly where and why the aircraft crashed. Those elusive answers lie with the flight data recorders, or black boxes, which experts say may never be found.
Italian oil major Eni, which has historically invested little in renewable energy given its success in discovering oil and gas, plans renewable energy projects in Italy, Pakistan and Egypt.

As part of a push into green energy, Eni aims to bring 420 megawatts of mostly solar power generation online by 2022 by reusing derelict land linked to existing fossil fuel operations.

Chief Executive Claudio Descalzi expects Eni to invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) over the next three years in renewable energy projects and research.

The world is currently adding more clean energy capacity than coal, oil and gas combined and Eni joins other oil majors in turning to green energy investments to curb carbon emissions and get a foothold in the fast growing sector.

Last year, Europe's top oil firms urged governments around the world to introduce a pricing system for carbon emissions as part of a wider push to move to a low-carbon economy.

French oil company Total said this week it was buying high-tech battery maker Saft as its seeks to expand its renewable energy business.

"In the next three years investments in renewable projects will be around 500 million euros with a similar amount for scientific research," Descalzi said at the Eni annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.

The state-controlled oil major has already spent 500 million euros on solar energy projects over the last three years.

In Italy alone, Eni said it expects to build more than 220 megawatts of solar power capacity in regions including Liguria, Sardinia, Sicily, Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata for an estimated 200 to 250 million euros.

Eni's existing gas-fired plants will be used in tandem with solar to cover any shortfalls when the sun doesn't shine.

But Descalzi ruled out any idea of competition with Italy's leading renewable energy company Enel.

"Our model is not greenfield... (The projects) will be based on our land, with contracts signed by us on existing contracts," the CEO said.

Oil and gas remain at the heart of Eni's investment plans. Last month Descalzi outlined plans to invest 20 billion euros in Africa over the next four years, mostly in oil and gas, while also boosting the continent's energy mix by spending on renewables.

Eni previously said it was ready to spend "hundreds of millions" of euros on solar power projects in Africa, where it is the largest foreign oil and gas producer.

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Egypt will import 80,000 tonnes of rice ahead of the start of Ramadan in June, official news agency MENA quoted the cabinet as saying on Friday.

Egypt traditionally sees demand for foodstuffs surge ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan -- when post-fast meals are often large, celebratory gatherings -- raising prices at the markets.

Egypt often produces more rice than it consumes, but a decision by the supply ministry this year not to stockpile the staple lead traders to hoard their stocks for higher prices, Moustafa El-Naggari, head of the rice committee at the Agricultural Export Council, told Ahram Online last month.

Mahmoud Diad, the spokesperson for the ministry, told Ahram Online in April that the decision was driven by an abudancy in rice supplies, adding that an agreement with traders on prices was soon to be reached.

Rice production in Egypt reached 3.75 million tonnes in 2015 with around 700,000 tonnes carried over from 2014. Annual consumption hovers around 3.3 million tonnes.

The General Authority For Supply Commodities (GASC) will buy the 80,000 tonnes through direct contracts rather than tenders, GASC Vice Chairman Mamdouh Abdel Fattah told Reuters on Friday, with the shipment due to arrive within a week to 10 days.

GASC has tried three times to hold rice import tenders, but has had to cancel each one either because of low responses or due to prices being deemed too high.

The government has threatened to seek direct contracts to buy rice from abroad if prices offered by traders at its tenders are not reduced but traders say Egypt is insisting on unrealistic prices.

Egypt banned rice exports on April 4 to preserve stocks for the local market and to combat the rising prices.

The government lifted a previous export ban on the crop in October due to an expected surplus and imposed an export tariff of 2,000 Egyptian pounds ($225.2) a tonne, but that decision expired on April 3.

The government statement said Egypt had enough sugar stockpiled to last until the end of the year and enough vegetable oil for the next three months. More vegetable oil would be imported as needed, it said.

Ramadan is slated to begin on 6 June.

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The return of regular, direct flights to Egypt from countries that have halted such flights would help boost the country's ailing tourism sector, Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed said on Friday.



Commenting on Germany's decision this week to lift a ban on checked luggage on flights from Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, Rashed said that it is necessary to separate politics from tourism.



"Tourists should have the freedom to travel to any country that is not in a state of war," he was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram's Arabic website during an event at the Rotary Club in Cairo.



Germany decided earlier this week to ease restrictions it had imposed on flights to Sharm El-Sheikh after a Russian plane crashed in Sinai in October, killing all 224 aboard.

The restrictions led carriers to halt flights between German airports and Sharm.

A number of other countries, including the UK, also halted direct flights with Egypt after the incident.

Egypt's tourism sector, a main source of foreign currency, took a blow in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocratic president Hosni Mubarak..

Rashed also said that Egypt hopes to attract "some 60 to 70 million tourists a year" at some point.

Egypt accrued $6.1 billion in tourism revenue in 2015, down 15 percent from the year before, as the total number of tourists dropped in 2015 by 6 percent to 9.3 million and the total number of nights spent in the country declined by 14 percent.



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The Standard and Poor's ratings agency said Friday it has downgraded the outlook on Egypt's long-term sovereign credit to negative from stable because of "external and fiscal difficulties".



"The negative outlook reflects our view that Egypt's external and fiscal vulnerabilities might increase further over the next 12 months. We consider that this could dampen the country's economic recovery and exacerbate sociopolitical tensions," it said in a statement.



The global ratings agency, at the same time, kept Egypt's long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating unchanged at B-/B.



The agency forecast that Egypt's current account deficits will widen to an average of 4.8 percent of GDP in 2016-2019, along with weak exports and tourism revenues, while "consolidation is proceeding more slowly than we had anticipated".

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Forward from catastrophe

Barnhem has become a community cornerstone.

charityculture

By Shayan Amin

Friday 13 May 2016, 03:53PM

Children at Barnhem now have a structured playground.

Barnhem Muang Mai has come a long way from its initial purpose of an orphanage and shelter for children and families affected by the 2004 tsunami. Theyve become a cornerstone, regularly contacted by local teachers and family members of children who either do not have a parent, or otherwise need a place to be cared for. Susanne and Hans Janson and Khun Wow currently care for 31 children between the ages of five and 17. A lot of thought is gone into the care of these children, even before taking them in.

If we believe we can help the child, and that the child will be better off, then we take them, explained Hans. They conduct home visits and do as much research as they can to find relatives

who could possibly take the child in, making sure that Barnhem is only a last resort for children.

Built six weeks after the 2004 tsunami, the basic facilities were sufficient for the needs at the time, but the hasty construction was not built to last.

The last time The Phuket News followed up with Barnhem, they were looking to build new dormitories. They have completed those, as well as a large roof and a concrete floor for the childrens playground, and have now moved on to refurbishing the older buildings to ensure their safety and structural soundness. This can be attributed to the fundraising done by the Barnhem refurbishment Project, launched in 2014. Barrie Buck, one of the co-founders of the project, explained: There was a lot of stagnant water. That allowed a lot of mosquito larvae to grow; the waste water wouldnt go, which attracted vermin, then snakes. A friend in construction

looked at it and said it was a danger, especially to the children.

It was with this friend, John, after talking about it overnight, that they formed their plan to rebuild the compound with the childrens safety in mind, and they broke ground last November. Their initial plan was to ask for material donations: cement, bricks, labour hours and so on, but these were not sufficient to cut into the total costs of over B14 million.

Luckily, The Alba Care Foundation reached out to Barnhem and made a massive donation, and this, together with major donations from Paresa, Happy Child Foundation, The Sam and Ruby Charity, Odd Fellow and Lars and Helena Tenerz, raised enough funding to build the new dormitories, and to continue the improvements on the compound. The refurbishment of the older dormitories, where they are improving the structural soundness of the buildings as well as sanitation and electrical wiring and similar repairs in the dining room and kitchen, are expected to be completed by September this year. They will have a total of 16 rooms for the children, and each room is built to acommodate up to three children. For the Jansons, it is important for the children to have a sense of family, and especially maintain their identities as Thai children. The facilities are planned with that in mind, focused on providing cleanliness, sanitation and basic safety, making it possible for the children to develop a sense of belonging and familial ties with one another.

There is no formula for getting this right, but with one of their former students studying multimedia at Mae Fah Luang University and their eldest also on his way to getting to university, its safe to say that Barnhem has more than exceeded their own expectations from when they first started. With 10 full-time staff and a rotation of volunteers, Barnhem also allows for corporate social responsibility activities from companies such as Siam Guardian Services, Paresa Resort, Dewa Resort, Twinpalms and Gecko Community School. A Swedish man, Calle Wollgard who has biked from Sweden to Phuket with four companions to raise money for Barnhem, will be conducting a second bike trip around the world for the same reason; work done at Barnhem continues to inspire.
Phuket Paradise Beach hotel given 30-day demolition notice

PHUKET: Phuket officials have given the owner of a hotel at Paradise Beach, south of Patong, 30 days to remove the offending structure for encroaching on public land.

constructionenvironmentnatural-resourcescrimetourismproperty

By Suthicha Sirirat

Friday 13 May 2016, 04:01PM

Patong Mayor Chalermluk Kebsup (2nd from left) and Phuket Vice Governor Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee (3rd from left) discuss details of the 30-day demolition notice. Photo: Suthicha Sirirat

The eviction order of what Phuket Vice Governor Khajornkiet Rakpanichmanee described as a discotheque hotel was handed down yesterday (May 12) at a meeting at Provincial Hall.

The meeting was the last in a series of reviews of a slew of complaints filed at the Darongdhama Centre (Ombudsmans Office) at Provincial Hall. The complaints alleged encroachment of buildings and hotels onto public land, illegal land excavation, deforestation and coral poaching  all Paradise Beach.

Every government office, including Patong Municipality, in charge of overseeing all structures built in the area reported that they had ordered the developer to cease construction of the building and banned the building being put into use, V/Gov Khajornkiet said at the meeting.

The operator was told to bring land documents as evidence in order to be issued a building permit, but the land document they presented raised too many questions, so officials declined to issue a permit approving the construction, he added.

Now, because the operator did not have a building permit, Patong Municipality will issue a demolition notice at the site. Please note that the business operator has the right to appeal this, V/Gov Khajornkiet said.

However, Patong Mayor Chalermluk Kebsup, noted, My office is responsible for all buildings in our area, so when we received complaints from residents about the the hotel built on Paradise Beach we investigated right away.

We ordered construction to cease until a permit had been issued, but they ignored our order and continued their construction until the building was completed and operational.

We then filed a complaint with the police noting that the company that owns the building had disobeyed an official order.

Today, this committee has voted to have the building removed within 30 days. If they do not do it themselves within the time given, Patong Municipality will demolish it for them, she said.

V/Gov Khajornkiet explained that investigation into the illegal hotel had revealed a dubious claim to the land dating back more than two decades.

The land the hotel was built on had been handed over for use as farmland in 1994 under the SorPorKor national land-reallocation project initiated by Agricultural Land Reform Office (ALRO), V/Gov Khajornkiet said.

ALRO granted a claimant the right to occupy the area so it could be developed for farming back in 1994, V/Gov Khajornkiet said, without naming the claimant.

Soon officials found out that the claimant did not use the area for farming and further investigation revealed that the claimant never had an occupation in agriculture.

ALRO revoked the claimants right to work on the land and ordered the site to be vacated on October 13, 1995, but the claimant ignored that order. ALRO even filed a law suit, and the court ruled in favour of ALRO, he added.

Then, on October 20 last year, officials posted a notice at the site re-affirming that the claimant had no rights to the land, said V/Gov Khajornkiet.

The claimant had eight days to file an appeal with the court, but no one did, he added.
The Edfu Temple Groundwater Lowering Project has been completed after three years of work

In a gala ceremony at Edfu Temple on Friday, the antiquities ministry celebrated the completion of a three-year project to remove groundwater from the site.

Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany told Ahram Online that the project was very important because it has constructed a drainage system to lower the groundwater level that threatened the walls of the temple in Aswan.

The Edfu Temple Groundwater Lowering Project was carried out in collaboration with the American Research Centre in Egypt and the housing ministry, with a fund of EGP25.5 million provided by USAID and the National Authority for Water and Wastewater.

Mahmoud Afifi, head of the ministry's Ancient Egyptian Department, said that the project started in August 2013 and was in two phases; the first one was completed in June 2014 while the second was finished last September.

The head of the projects department at the ministry, Waadalla Abu El-Ela, said that eight wells were constructed at depths of eight metres, to pump groudwater out of the temple.

Nasr Salama, the head of antiquities for Aswan governorate, told Ahram Online that during the work, archaeologists unearthed a collection of pots and pans that are dated to the Old Kingdom era and the Late Period, as well as a collection of coffins and human remains.

The gala ceremony was attended by the US's ambassador to Egypt, R. Stephen Beecroft; the director of USAID, Sherry Carlin; the governor of Aswan, Magdy Hegazy, and top officials from the antiquities ministry.

The temple, built in the Ptolemaic period to worship Horus, is one of the best preserved in Egypt.

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Noem campaign accuses Smith campaign of campaign finance violation

Gov. Kristi Noem's campaign has accused Rep. Jamie Smith's campaign of violating campaign finance laws after the recent report released Monday.
A collection of 13 stone engravings arrived to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation from Aswan

A collection of 13 stone engravings arrived at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation in Fustat, Giza on Wednesday evening from Al Shisha hill in Aswan.

Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany announced that the engravings have been very well preserved and would be subject to restoration and archeological documentation leading up to the museums official opening.

The museums Supervisor-General Mahrous Saeed said that the engravings have been dated to pre-dynastic times except for one that is dated to the Middle Kingdom era. The latter engraving, Saeed explained, depicts King Senusert III standing and beating his arming who are bending before him.

A permanent exhibition hall is set to be inaugurated soon in the museum and will display an exhibition entitled Handicrafts and Productions in ancient Egypt.

The exhibition will display 429 artefacts relating to industrial development in ancient Egypt from pre-historic times through to the New Kingdom era.

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For the latest news, features, arts and culture from Al-Ahram's English language website, click here.


Mira Braneck, Copy Editor

braneckm@grinnell.edu

Four Grinnellians have been awarded residencies for this summer at the Grin City Collective. The four residents, Nadiri Saunders 17, Hazel Batrezchavez 17, Hannah Kelley 16 and Ella Williams 19 will each spend three weeks making art at the collective.

Molly Rideout 10, the co-director of Grin City, sees the residency as especially beneficial to college students.

One experience that we feel is important if you are just straight out of college or still in college is the experience of developing a studio practice independent of classroom obligations, Rideout wrote in an email to the S&B. In the real world, there are no teachers grading you and oftentimes no deadlines. Its up to you to self-direct your work but also learn how your work fits into the larger world. We have found that our emerging artists benefit greatly from conversations with mid-career artists who are also in residence.

Each resident had to fill out an application, which included a project proposal and a sample of their work.

They tell us why they are applying to the residency, and were interested in hearing specifics about Grin City not just the usual response of wanting time and space to work on the project, Rideout wrote. Sometimes Grinnell students have an advantage because we look for genuine interest in connecting with the local community. That being said, we have also had past Grinnell College student applicants who have clearly not been interested in connecting with Grinnell as a town, and those applicants have been less successful.

Each resident will spend the time working on a specific project. The four Grinnellians are working on a wide range of projects in various media. For her time during the residency, Saunders wants to pursue film and audio.

The project that I proposed doing for the residency is something where I record people talking about their dreams. I want to pair that audio with footage of the prairie, Saunders said. I want to show the dreamlike qualities of the prairie.

Saunders wants to go to graduate school to study documentary media and sees her time at Grin City as a good opportunity to gain more hands-on experience.

Being at Grinnell, there arent many opportunities to do anything in production, Saunders said. The residency is a good opportunity to be in a space where people will support me in that.

Batrezchavez is hoping to tie the work she produces during the residency in with the MAP she will work on with Professor Jeremy Chen, Art, ths summer. Her MAP revolves around public presentational strategies.

Lately Ive been interested in the intersection between sculpture and printmaking and how these two mediums can work together, Batrezchavez wrote in an email to the S&B. Hopefully this summer I will be making some prints and some metal sculptures that speak to issues that I feel are very important, such as police brutality.

Kelley plans to experiment more with sculpture, a form she has only been working with since last semester. She makes small wooden people that move, which she calls twistables.

Im going to make this big wooden sheet of people that move so its interactive. You go up and move their limbs, Kelley said. Its either going to be a whole crowd of people, like you would see in a city  or its going to be an orgy. I havent decided.

Williams is both a visual artist and a musician, and plans to use the residency to work in both media.

In her visual art, Williams uses methods such as assemblage and three-dimensional collage. Ive been mostly making art lately about how physical objects, like cultural products, are inherently gendered, Williams said.

She hopes to continue this theme at the residency, as well as work on abstract oil painting.

I think Im going to use [the time] less to work on specific skills and more to just play conceptually, Williams said.

Williams is also a musician, stage name Squirrel Flower, and will be recording her second album this summer before the residency starts.

Im going to work on refining a lot of songs I have, writing new songs, writing arrangements, Williams said.

She is currently working with producers in New York City to record and finish the album and then plans to send it to different labels.

While she ultimately hopes to go into touring and recording full-time someday, Williams sees her musical work, her visual artwork and her feminist education as intertwined, inter-influencing and equally important. The S&Bs Editor-in-Chief Kelly Pyzik got the chance to sit down with Williams last week and talk more about her artistry. This interview is available in podcast form online at thesandb.com.
Steve Yang

Welcome to the Wasps Nest, home of Editor-in-Chief Kelly Pyzik 16. Located at 1205 Broad Street, the Wasps Nest is beautifully decorated, relatively elevated and carefully protected by the multitude of aggressive wasps that swarm around the covered staircase attached to the house. Yet, within its cozy interior, Pyzik has made this space truly her own  a fortress that she defends fearlessly from sting-happy intruders lurking outside.

Its a constant battle of wits.  At night, I have to open the door, stick an arm out and spray the shit out of the whole staircase with wasp spray, Pyzik described. A bunch of them will come out buzzing, fall to the ground  sort of seizing. Then I shut the door, I lock it and in the morning I sweep away the corpses.

Pyzik is the sole resident of the Wasps Nest, which makes it a play on words, as it is also arguably the elevated home of a white, anglo-saxon protestant. Pyzik explained that she always has company, even when she isnt holding potlucks with friends, making use of her luxurious countertop square footage.

I never truly feel alone because there are so many bugs. Most of them hang out in the covered staircase, but sometimes they come inside for dinner, she said.

Bugs that wander in have the chance to enjoy the lovingly arranged artwork all over the walls, which imbues a sense of hominess and comfort.

The space that I live in is very important to me, so theres been a lot of curation that has gone on, Pyzik said.

One piece sitting opposite the door, for example, is a surrealist drawing that depicts a tree and a raft adrift in the middle of the ocean  the middle of the tree is filled with blood vessels. Behind the tree is a sideways hourglass, and a screaming moon, behind the horizon of the ocean that looks to be shouting Kill me, I want to die or drinking in the ocean, as Pyzik described.

My best friend and I made it, and  I just really love how perfectly weird it turned out. Everybody sort of sees the same thing, but it creates a different story in everyones brain, and theyre all sort of equally frightening, Pyzik recalled. Its tilted intentionally: the first thing was the tree in the corner, and we just decided that it was the way that made the most sense to orient it.

Opposite the drawing resides a somewhat torn poster of Halloween Hugo Sanchez, an advertisement for an event at a gay bar in Madrid, Spain. There is more to the bright green and purple poster with the oiled and muscular man than first meets the eye, however  Pyzik explained that it is the prize from an unforgettable night with Susanne Bushman 16.

We were walking through downtown Madrid and we saw this poster on the outside of the building, and it was just incredible. We were absolutely amazed at its imagery, and I was like, I have to have that poster, Pyzik said. We had spent several hours at a tapas bar, and the promoter who had just put up the poster was on the other side of the street. We just ripped it down and just booked it. I carried it around for the rest of the night and brought it home to the States.

Life at 1205 Broad was not always meant to be. Pyzik explained that a previous arrangement to live in apartment with friends did not work out, but this apartment fit both of her basic qualifications: big and clean. Although there is enough room for a king-sized mattress, sacrifices were made with the size of the stove, a source of puzzlement that forced Pyzik to buy smaller baking sheets to accommodate this oddity.

My stove isnt a normal size. Its absurdly six inches less wide than a normal stove, [but] theres definitely room for another six inches, she said. Its a really slender stove, a Stove Mini.

Behind the stove is a classic piece of Americana: yellowing wallpaper with apple branches creeping down its length, which led Meghan McDermott 15 to nickname the apartment Scary 1970s Murder House. Despite its weirdness, Pyzik says that she has slowly grown to appreciate it and accept it for what it is.

But perhaps it is the apples that keep the doctor away. Pyzik credits the fact she hasnt gotten sick for almost the entire year to living outside the dorms and limiting her germ exposure. In addition to her improved health, however, she adds that the Wasps Nest hosted one of the best nights of her last semester at Grinnell  pre-gaming for Disco.

I have all these crazy lights I slowly acquired, my stepdad lent me his really awesome speaker system for the year, and it finally all came to its peak the night of disco, Pyzik said. We just turned on all the cool lights, bumped the bass, and danced on my purple carpet. It was beautiful and everything Id hoped and dreamed for.
(Beijing)  China plans to invest US$ 6 billion to build the world's largest particle collider to get a foot in the door of experimental physics dominated by European and American research labs, but some scientists warn it could be a wasteful undertaking.

The blueprint for what scientists call a super collider, an underground facility to smash subatomic particles at high speeds, was drafted in 2014 by scientists at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) in Beijing. The project, dubbed the "Higgs Factory," aims to build a facility capable of generating millions of Higgs boson particles, which physicists say form the building blocks of the universe.

Scientists at IHEP have completed the design for an underground ring with a circumference of 50 to 100 kilometers that can smash together electrons and positrons, state media reported in October. If built, it would be at least twice the size of the world's largest particle accelerator, a 27-kilometer circular tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

The plan is yet to be approved by the central government, but scientists are optimistic that research needed to build the facility can start in late 2016. Construction of the first phase of this Circular Electron Positron Collider is expected to begin in 2021 near Qinhuangdao, a port city in the northern province of Hebei, scientists said.

The second phase of the project, which will upgrade the facility to a protonproton collider, is set to start by 2040.

The lab could help the country "leap to a leadership position in an important frontier in basic science," wrote David Gross, an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, in a commentary in the Wall Street Journal in September.

The project "would transport physics into a previously inaccessible high-energy realm," wrote Harvard professor Shing-Tung Yau and science journalist Steve Nadis in their book, From the Great Wall to the Great Collider, published in April.

But the plan has hit a snag, with several scientists warning the project might be an unrealistic and wasteful endeavor. The government has also been cautious. It has not given any feedback on IHEP's proposal so far, sources close to the project said.

Doubtful Leap

The discovery of the Higgs boson particle in 2012 was seen by experts as one of the biggest scientific breakthroughs in human history, changing the way we understand our universe, how it originated and its future.

It was found by a team of scientists experimenting at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by crashing high-energy proton beams at velocities near the speed of light. This research facility, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is known as CERN.

However, the accelerator may not be able to generate large quantities of Higgs boson particles to support further studies, said IHEP director Wang Yifang in a 2015 interview with state-run newspaper China Daily.

The "LHC is hitting its limits in terms of energy levels (needed to smash particles)," said Wang. "It seems that it is not possible to escalate the energy (level) dramatically at the existing facility."

CERN said in October that it was working on improving its facilities by 2025.

China's particle accelerator promises to go a step further in unlocking the mysteries of the universe. It will operate at about seven times the energy level of the LHC, said Wang, and will be able to generate large quantities of Higgs boson particles to try to recreate the conditions that followed the Big Bang, one theory that explains the origins of the universe and matter.

Critics, however, doubt this plan. Some theories have proved that the study of particles using high energy collision experiments has almost reached its limits, said Cao Zexian, a physicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Nobody can be sure that high energy colliders can make new discoveries," and that is why no other country has proposed the construction of a new collider, he said.

Wang says there are several areas in the field of high energy physics that still need to be explored. Countries like the United States are hesitating to build new facilities due to cost concerns amid an economic slowdown, he said.

In the 1980s, the United States started to build what was called a Superconducting Super Collider with a ring circumference of 87.1 kilometers, but the project in the state of Texas was called off in 1993 due to rising costs.

Although many physicists say they want a bigger facility for further research, sluggish economic growth in the United States and debt woes in Europe are preventing governments from investing large sums to develop the field of high energy physics, Michael Riordan, professor of physics at University of California, Santa Cruz, said.

IHFP operates a 220 meter electron-positron collider in Beijing, the largest one in the country, built in 1990.

Chinese authorities may be waiting for more research to show that high energy physics is a promising field of research to invest in. In December 2015, scientists at CERN said the LHC might have discovered a new particle, which cannot be defined using existing laws of physics.

Researchers are expected to publish detailed findings about the new particle by the end of the year, said Xu Cenke, professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and their findings will serve as an important reference when Chinese authorities decide whether to go ahead with plans to build a domestic lab.

Weighing the Benefits

The research needed to build the collider will improve technology used in several industries, Wang aid. Some areas that can benefit are cryocooler technology, a cooling technique that can be used to preserve human cells and organs, designing precision machines used on assembly lines and discovering new material to build semiconductors for computer chips, he said.

"Every dollar we spend on the collider will help improve the country's technology capacity," said Wang. Most of the components needed to build the facility will be made domestically by local scientists, he said.

But Cao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said key components and technologies needed for the project will have to be imported because the country's high-tech research and precision machine development capabilities still lag behind those of developed countries. Most of the money will be spent on buying imported equipment and parts, he said.

Some experts worry that the costs could rise way above the estimated budget. When the LHC was completed, the final bill stood at US$ 9 billion, more than three times the initial budget of US$ 2.6 billion. It also costs more than US$ 1 billion every year to operate and maintain the facility.

Opponents of the projects argued that instead of building a larger collider, the money should be spent on developing other fields of research with a more immediate social impact.

"It is hard to say whether it is right or wrong to invest so much to build a collider," said Cao. "But before that, we can try to improve our computer chips and the tips of ballpoint pens."

(Rewritten by Han Wei)
Michael Cummings, News Editor

cummings@grinnell.edu

Grinnell students got well-accustomed to seeing presidential candidates in town and on campus last semester, but such events have been on the decline since the Iowa Caucus in February. That all changed Thursday night as three Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate stopped by Drake Library for a candidate forum.

The candidates included Rob Hogg, a current State Senator from Cedar Rapids, Bob Krause, a former State Representative and Tom Fiegen, a former State Senator. Absent from the forum was former Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge, a fourth candidate who has been endorsed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The forum was kicked off by Austin Wadle 18, the President of the College and Young Democrats of Iowa. After Wadles introduction, the forum was moderated by Maura Strassberg, a law professor at Drake University. Strassberg would ask a policy question and then allow each of the candidates two minutes to give their input. Topics ranged from the environment to abortion to foreign policy.

While all three of the candidates landed in similar positions on most issues, each had a couple of moments of difference.

One of the fundamental reasons why Im running for the United States Senate  is the need for our country to act on climate change and clean water and other issues of environmental sustainability, Hogg said. On climate change, the science is unequivocal that this problem will get significantly worse unless we take significant action.

An issue close to Krauses heart is the disproportionate number of people of color imprisoned in Iowa.

My wife is a Maori, from New Zealand  my stepson, Luke, came to the United States, all the way to Fairfield, Iowa, and did what little kids do  he was about 17, I think, Krause explained. He found the liquor cabinet and he invited two little girls over, and one of their mothers complained, and the cops came.

Krause went on to explain how his son was arrested, implying that he was treated in a way that a white teen would not have been.

There are a lot of breaks in the system, and the breaks are taken away from people of color incrementally, he said.

Fiegen spoke strongly about the issue of support for veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

My son-in-law did two tours in Iraq. My brother did a tour in Iraq. They know some people who have actually done three tours. You cant do three tours in a combat zone without it messing you up, Fiegen said. The VA does not have enough capacity  I would like to give veterans the option of private care.

Hogg, Krause, Fiegen and Judge are running against each other in the Democratic Primary on June 7. The winner of that primary will go on to face longtime incumbent Republican Senator Chuck Grassley in the general election.

Although the primary is after the end of semester, Grinnell students registered to vote in Iowa can participate in early voting today, May 13, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in JRC 101.
Column by Matt Kartanata

kartanat@grinnell.edu

Scarlett Johansson is not of Asian descent. But that didnt stop her or Tilda Swinton from taking on roles of characters originally written as Asian in the upcoming films Ghost in the Shell and Doctor Strange. They came under fire earlier this month when the Twitter hashtag #whitewashedOUT brought to bear the film industrys racist tendency to cast white actors in roles of Asian characters. Hollywoods use of yellowface is nothing new  Emma Stone in Aloha, Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffanys or most notably Polly Morans disgraceful imitation of Chinese-American trailblazer Anna May Wong  have all shown that the Asian face continues to be a replaceable commodity, if not a punchline. And yet, in a year where all this has been placed under the spotlight, there is reason for celebration.

This year marks the 14th anniversary that Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month has existed since it was permanently designated in May of 1992. Since the 90s, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have made strides in representation on both the big and small screens, though #whitewashedOUT has emphasized that what progress has been made is still not enough. But regardless of your politics that may envision a world where varied histories are embraced year-round, rather than in the space of a few weeks, and despite the awful castings of Johansson and Swinton, there is still much to celebrate in the world of AAPIs: Aziz Ansari debuted his Netflix exclusive Master of None last November to great praise for its largely non-white cast, and just two months ago, ABC renewed author and foodie Eddie Huangs comedy series Fresh Off the Boat for a third season.

To be honest, though, I am glad that both shows have received accolades, I havent been a huge fan of either, in addition to shows like Ken Jeongs Dr. Ken or YouTube stars Andrew and David Fungs What the Fung? On one hand, knowing the dearth of exposure that exists for AAPIs, I am quick to welcome these shows when the other option is yellowface. But simultaneously, I have wrestled with the question of whether or not ALL exposure is GOOD exposure. Ansaris Master of None has faced criticism for anti-blackness despite its embrace of a non-white cast, while Huang once compared the plight of the emasculated Asian male to that of black women  and dont get me started on the some-thousand word document resting on my computer dedicated to critiquing the Fung brothers near-entire body of work for its unabashed prejudice and misogyny.

But my feelings are tempered when I think of the high standard of excellence we hold exclusively for people of color when they do make it onto the big stage  when there are just a few shows about AAPIs, we want all of them to be perfect and without fault. We fear that without success in every aspect of its being, the same figureheads that greenlighted these very shows will see little reason for them to stay on air. We want our favorite creative minds to say all the right things, be the best people and remain our idealized, perfect role models  an expectation that is both unrealistic and unfair.

There are dozens  even hundreds  of movies and television shows with primarily white casts, directors, etc. that are not just mediocre, but downright awful. (Why is Fuller House a thing? How has The Big Bang Theory survived as long as it did?) This content is not only given a pass, but hardly faces the same scrutiny in the expectation to represent all creative work made by people of color. Ansari, Huang and the Fung Brothers should not go without critique, but the issue with their shows is not simply about their shows  its that their shows are the only option. When there are a hundred mediocre shows that feature diverse casting, problematic content can sink to the bottom of the ocean. But in the meantime, its important to situate the pedestal upon which we have placed our communitys work.
It's our annual Labour Weekend tradition ...The Sound 'Hall Of Fame' Countdown... Where we honor the greatest 500 songs of all time as voted by you.
(Beijing)  Institutional investors consulted by international index compiler MSCI Inc. on whether to include mainland Chinese stocks in its widely followed Emerging Market Index have said their biggest concern was the arbitrary suspensions to trading that Chinese firms can exercise, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

MSCI decided last June not to add companies listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges to this index, which serves as a benchmark for the pricing of assets worth US$1.5 trillion worldwide, citing problems such as low investment quotas and restraints on capital mobility. It said it was working with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to resolve these issues.

In April, the firm started consulting investors using its services for their opinions on whether to include China's A-share market this year, and the complaints they received indicate that most investors were worried about regulations that permit companies to halt trading almost arbitrarily, the sources said.

"Arbitrary suspension of trading hurts investors' trading right," one of them said, adding that Chinese bourses typically have a higher percentage of firms whose stocks are not traded compared to their foreign counterparts.

Under current regulations, companies can suspend trading quickly after issuing a brief notice, claiming pending issues such as the sale of additional stocks or an asset restructuring. They can also resume trading saying negotiations have failed without giving investors further details.

Also, while the bourses normally limit trading halts to three months, in practice, many firms have been on a longer hiatus by requesting for the suspension to be extended.

Chinese stock exchanges have been working to improve their rules to prevent companies from abusing trading suspensions, sources familiar with the situation said. Companies would be required to provide more details regarding their reasons for halting the trading of shares, and if negotiations fail, they would have to tell investors what happened and why, they said.

Many companies are believed to have taken advantage of current lax trading rules to stop investors from dumping their shares amid last year's stock market rout. Nearly half of all stocks listed on the A-share market were not tradeable as of July 8. Many firms rushed to halt trading after sharp falls in their share prices.

More recently, China Vanke Co., the country's largest residential property developer by sales, suspended the trading of its stocks in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen on December 18, saying it needed to restructure its assets. The suspension was triggered by what the firm's management said was a hostile takeover by Shenzhen-based property developer Baoneng Group. While trading resumed in Hong Kong on January 16, the stock is still suspended on the Shenzhen exchange.

The investors MSCI talked to were mainly concerned that suspensions like this may affect their liquidity, the sources said.

Other issues investors have raised include demand for the government to further relax rules limiting foreign investors' ability to transfer funds out of China, they said.

China relaxed the rules in February by permitting Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) to invest under a more flexible scheme, replacing fixed quotas with one linked to the size of funds managed by a company. The government also reduced the time QFII funds must wait to transfer money out of China from one year to three months, but it requires them to do so in batches with a monthly limit linked to the amount of their investment in the mainland market.

The Chinese government has sought to have the A-share market represented in MSCI's index because it would help attract capital from the world's top institutional investors to the mainland.

Participation of global investors will help improve the investor structure of the A-share market and facilitate reforms needed to match international best practices, a person close to the CSRC said. "Many problems with the market raised by foreign investors are precisely those that Chinese investors want solved as well," he said. "Arbitrary trading suspensions are one example."

(Rewritten by Wang Yuqian)
Former patients protest outside the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps on May 4 to demand refunds for what they say were ineffective treatments they received

(Beijing) - The death of a university student who had complained about an expensive cancer treatment he received at a military hospital in Beijing has raised concerns about medical facilities exploiting legal loopholes to offer experimental treatments that have not been adequately tested in a bid to fatten their bottom lines.

When a doctor at the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps told them about a new immunotherapy that can control their son's cancer in September 2014, the parents of Wei Zexi said they felt they had a new ray of hope.

"A senior physician told my parents that they offer the treatment together with Stanford University, which developed the technology," Wei wrote in an article posted online on zhihu.com on February 26.

The doctor claimed the treatment had an 80 to 90 percent chance of being effective, the 21-year-old student suffering from a rare cancer, wrote. "He even promised my parents that I could live for at least another 20 years."

Wei, a college student from Xianyang in northwestern province of Shaanxi, was diagnosed with sarcoma, a cancer in the connective tissues that support internal organs, in April 2014. His parents were looking for alternative therapies after four rounds of radiation treatment and 25 sessions of chemotherapy, which he received from May to August 2014, failed to improve his condition.

After the promising discussion with doctors, Wei underwent four rounds of a treatment called "DC-CIK biological immune therapy" at the military hospital from September 2014 to February 2015. The treatment cost 200,000 yuan, and Wei's parents said they had used up all their savings to pay for it.

However, his condition deteriorated, forcing him to switch to radiation treatment and chemotherapy, he wrote. Wei said he learned about the therapy from search engine Baidu and complained that he felt the Internet giant had misled him.

Wei died on April 12, according to a public statement released by the family on May 1. It is not clear whether the immunotherapy worsened his illness.

The government launched two separate inquiries into the hospital and the search company Baidu Inc. after the death.

False Claims

The hospital had made several false claims, a Caixin investigation found. Stanford University in California said it was not working with the military hospital. "Stanford has no relationship to this case or with the hospital," said Becky Bach from the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at Stanford's School of Medicine in a response to a Caixin inquiry.

The therapy involves extracting dendritic and lymph cells either from a patient or a donor, culturing them, and implanting them in the patient to boost the immune system to enable it to fight cancer cells.

Only a few therapies using this technique have been approved for clinic treatment in the United States because most trials have failed to prove its effectiveness, said Dr. He Ting who specializes in tumor biology research at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The pharmaceutical company that developed the technique to treat late-stage prostate cancer was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States in 2008, said He, but the company filed for bankruptcy in November 2014 because the treatment was too expensive and did not show results as expected.

The hospital had advertised the therapy online as "the world's most advanced cancer treatment" and it topped the search results for immunotherapy on Baidu, Wei's parents said.

Baidu came under fire earlier this year for selling bulletin boards used by sufferers of specific diseases to companies that allegedly promoted shoddy services. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the government body that supervises the country's Internet, said in a statement on its website on May 9 that Baidu "cannot rank search results merely based on the amount of money" that the company's customers pay, after its investigation.

It is not clear how much the search company charged hospitals to let them appear on top of their search result ranking system. Baidu said in a statement issued on May 1 that the company regrets Wei's death and that it will cooperate with the investigation.

Wei did not intend to target any institution or individual when he posted his experience online, his parents said. "He only wanted the public to know that the immunotherapy did not work on him," they said, and Wei had received nearly 4,000 emails from patients asking about the treatment.

Cash Cow

Nearly 150 hospitals around the country offer therapies using this technique or variants of it, a 2013 survey by China Medicinal Biotech Association, a non-governmental industry body, show. Over 5,400 patients opted for these cures in 2013 alone, it found.

The association warned in a report that hospitals were offering this expensive treatment, even though there were no authoritative clinical trials in China to prove its effectiveness, to fatten their bottom lines.

A doctor working at a major hospital in the northern province of Hebei told Caixin that the medical facility started offering similar immunotherapies in 2009 as an experimental treatment for cancer patients when chemotherapy or radiation had failed. The hospital did not conduct any clinic trials before introducing the cure, the doctor said, but the therapy was widely promoted as an advanced treatment for patients suffering from different types of late-stage cancers because it bought additional revenue to the hospital.

"It does not necessarily save or ruin lives but it's really a cash cow," said the doctor who asked not to be named.

The lack of laws to govern medical research, clinic trials and the development of new treatments has led to the spread of irregularities in the health sector, experts said.

Universities, research institutions and hospitals in China only need the approval from their in-house ethical committees to start medical research projects or clinical trials, a biologist who asked not to be named told Caixin, and this leave room for possible abuses.

The military hospital had outsourced its immunotherapy unit to a private company, Shanghai Claison Bio-tech Co. Ltd., said Chen Yuanfa, a medical industry whistle-blower close to Putian (China) Health Industry Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is the largest grouping for private hospitals in the country with over 8,600 medical establishments in the country as members. This includes several clinics run by Shanghai Claison Bio-Tech.

The military hospital had no oversight on the doctors and staff who worked at this outsourced immunotherapy unit, even to ensure that they had the required qualification or accreditations, Chen told Caixin.

Another private company managed the military hospital's website and was responsible for marketing its services including the DC-CIK treatment, he said.

The National Health Commission, which oversees the medical sector, does not have the legal teeth to impose heavy punishments on hospitals to deter similar irregularities. Existing regulations do not allow the authority to impose fines on culprits or file criminal charges in courts, said Liu Ye, a lawyer from the Haishang Law Firm in Shanghai.

"To prevent abuse of immunotherapy technology, legislators need to come up with a set of legal guidelines to regulate research, clinic trials and their applications," Liu said.

(Rewritten by Li Rongde)


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Ali Badreddine, center, son of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, mourns as he receives condolences in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
But the tribe has a long way to go
The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed all disciplinary action, including rustication orders, against JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others, on the condition that they withdraw all current agitation.

Justice Manmohan gave a conditional stay on disciplinary action against all JNU students if they end all agitation. "If you have confidence in us, you will withdraw everything (agitation)," he said.

The court made it clear that the "protection granted by it was conditional", saying "they shall immediately withdraw the current agitation and not indulge in any strike or dharna".

"At the outset, the petitioners assured that JNU Student Union would not indulge in any strike or agitation or dharna. The petitioners also assured discipline in campus would be maintained," said the judge after students assured the court.

The court's order came on the batch of petitions moved by Kanhaiya Kumar and others challenging the varsity's disciplinary action against them and the fines imposed on them for their alleged role in a controversial event on Kashmir organised on the university campus on February 9.

Kanhaiya was fined Rs.10,000, while Khalid and Bhattacharya were rusticated and Rs.20,000 fine imposed on the former. The university took the action on April 25 after a high level inquiry committee set up by the varsity administration found them guilty of "misconduct" and "indiscipline".

Staying the disciplinary action order, the court said: "Until the appeal (students' appeal against disciplinary action order) is heard and decided by the appellant authority (headed by vice chancellor), the impugned order (disciplinary order) shall not be given effect to."

"In the event the appeal filed by the students before the appellant authority is dismissed," the high court said, "the order of the high level inquiry committee will not be given effect for two weeks".

This will give a window to the students to challenge the appellant authority decision before the high court.

Lawyer Akhil Sibal, appearing for one of the students, raised the contention that the appeal lie with the VC who had passed the disciplinary action order.

Earlier in the day, the court asked the agitating students of JNU to end their strike, and only then it would hear their plea.

The court on May 10 had refused to stay the rustication order of the JNU passed by the university against Khalid and Bhattacharya and sought the response from JNU on their pleas.A

The February 9 event led to the arrests of AKanhaiya Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya on sedition charges after it was alleged that participants at the event shouted anti-national slogans. Delhi Police repeatedly claimed they had evidence against Kanhaiya Kumar and the other students but failed to produce it in court, leading to their release from jail on bail.
The Supreme Court on Friday slammed the Centre for not giving compensation to workers for delayed payment of work under MNREGA scheme in drought-like situation and said it "does not behove a welfare state" as "social justice has been thrown out of the window".

The apex court said it was extremely unfortunate that government had no provision for providing compensation to the workers and it was also regrettable that it cleared the pending wage bill for 2015-16, only during the pendency of the case and "the government of India must shape up in this regard".

"...a worker is entitled to compensation at the rate of 0.05 per cent per day for delayed payment of the wages due. We are quite pained to note that the government of India has made no provision for this compensation while releasing the wages for 2015-16 of Rs 7,983 crores.

"This is extremely unfortunate and certainly does not behove a welfare State in any situation, more so in a drought situation. Social justice has been thrown out of the window by the government of India," a bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and N V Ramana said.

The Centre has admitted before the apex court that the pending wage bill under MNREGA scheme till March 31, 2016 was around Rs 7,983 crores.

However, later the Centre in its affidavit has said in April that an amount Rs 11,030 crore will be released to the states within one week which will take care of the pending wage bill including Rs 2,723 crore of ten drought-affected states where additional 50 days of employment is given to households.

"The government of India is directed to ensure that compensation for delayed payment is made to the workers whose wages have been delayed beyond 15 days as postulated by paragraph 29 of Schedule II of NREG Act and the Guidelines for Compensation formulated pursuant thereto.

"Both the state governments and the government of India are directed to make all efforts to encourage needy persons to come forward and take advantage of the scheme. A success rate below 50 per cent is nothing to be proud of," the bench said in its three-part judgement given today concerning different drought-related issues. The first one was pronounced on May 11.
Israel Prize Laureate Professor David Shulman announced this week that the NIS 75,000 award money he receives with the Israel Prize would be donated to the Taayush organization which assists Palestinians in the S. Hebron Hills area. Shulman has been an active member of the organization and he therefore made the decision to donate the prize money to assist its efforts. Shulman was awarded the prestigious prize this Independence Day for his work in the area of Indian languages and culture.

According to the Taayush website, it is an organization of Israelis and Palestinians striving together to end the Israeli occupation and to achieve full civil equality through daily non-violent direct-action.

The experts report that Prof. Shulman is viewed as a leading world expert on Sanskrit and S. India. In Israel, he is also known for his dedication as a leading left-wing activist.

Shulman admitted that he deliberated if he would accept the award and then decided to give the money to Taayush, describing what he calls the general deterioration of the situation along with the witch hunt against Taayush, peace & human rights activists by a right-wing establishment which is determined to perpetuate the occupation.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Democrats say Donald Trumps presence atop the Republican ticket will help stem a tide of electoral defeats that put Republicans in charge of statehouses across the United States and in control of taxes, social issues and district lines that preserve their majorities.

Trump will affect not only Senate and House races, but help Democrats reach majorities in as many as 10 legislative chambers and also sway gubernatorial contests in states including North Carolina and New Hampshire, many in the party say. Democratic candidates and state parties are pressing Republicans about Trump and plan to tie them to his agenda during their campaigns.

This opens up a lot of opportunities for Democrats throughout the country, said Kurt Fritts, a Washington consultant and former national political director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Donald Trumps bad comb-over is now the defining image for the Republican Party, and theres no way that Republicans running at the state legislative level can get away from that.

Republicans, who now control 31 governors offices and a record two-thirds of state legislative chambers, downplay Trumps impact at the state level and say that voters who dont back the billionaire will still vote for other Republicans. State-level races are determined mostly by effective campaigning on taxes, jobs and other local issues, and Democrats have their own liabilities with Hillary Clinton expected to be at the top of their ticket, said Matt Walter, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee.

Id rather be playing the hand that weve got, Walter said.

Trump could even help Republican candidates in some areas where he is popular and attracting new voters. In West Virginia, Bill Cole, the Republican candidate for governor, has embraced the billionaire because he strikes a particular nerve. Trump won the states primary on Tuesday with 77 percent of the vote.

Republicans have used sweeping gains in races for state legislative seats and governors offices in 2010 and 2014 to enact measures cutting taxes, restricting abortion and collective-bargaining rights and implementing new voting rules. They also have redrawn legislative districts to their advantage, hampering efforts by Democrats to groom candidates for higher office.

Twelve governorships are on the November ballot, with three Democrats and three Republicans seeking re-election, and six offices that will be open. About 80 percent of the 7,383 legislative seats in the U.S. are on the ballot, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Republicans control all but 30 of the 99 state House and Senate chambers, the most ever.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said it has targeted at least 13 chambers in 11 states now controlled by Republicans. In Colorado, Democrats are one seat short of a Senate majority. They are targeting three races in which they will tie Republican candidates to Trumps rhetoric through flyers, phone calls and door-to-door campaigning, said Rick Palacio, chairman of the states Democratic Party.

Palacio said he expects the Trump effect to come into play especially in moderate suburban districts that historically have been bellwethers of voter sentiment nationwide.

Ryan Call, a former Colorado Republican Party chairman, said Trump jeopardizes the narrow Senate majority and could cost the party seats in the House as well. Democrats will try to saddle candidates with all the policy positions, temperament, character and record of Trump, he said.

Many candidates have built constituencies and have a record quite in strong contrast to the kinds of positions Trump is taking, Call said. Most are adopting the rhetoric of, I will support the Republican nominee for president. They wont even mention his name.

In Nevada, Democrats are trying to reverse narrow Republicans majorities in the Senate and Assembly. Devon Reese, a Reno lawyer and Democrat running in the 15th Senate District, issued a press release May 5 criticizing potential opponents for supporting Trump. He said that publicity has helped him raise money.

What I think voters do is they say, How could Senator X at the state level support this person whos such a fear monger, racist, hate-baiting kind of guy? That causes me to question their judgment, Reese said.

Reese will face the winner of the June 14 Republican primary between Heidi Gansert, a former chief of staff to Republican Governor Brian Sandoval, and Eugene Hoover, owner of a courier company.

Although he backs Trump, Hoover said his victory in November if hes the nominee depends on Clinton being similarly unpalatable to Democrats.

Youve got to hope that those equal themselves out, he said. Obviously, if they dont, youre going to be on the losing end.

Gansert didnt return telephone messages seeking comment on Trump and her race, and told the Reno Journal-Gazette she isnt focused on the presidential race.

The Michigan Democratic Party also will help candidates link Trump to Republicans running for the statehouse, Chairman Brandon Dillon said.

Were going to make sure that voters understand in those districts, those down-ballot districts, that when youre voting for Republican A in District B, that youre essentially also casting a vote for the agenda of Donald Trump, he said.

The Democratic Governors Association has a Trump Tracker website that lists where Republican candidates stand on Trump. The group thinks his presence could be a factor in states including North Carolina, New Hampshire and Vermont, said spokesman Jared Leopold. The Republican candidate in Vermont, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott, has said he cant vote for Trump or Clinton.

Governors races tend to be more distinct and less partisan than federal races, but its a tough uphill climb for Republicans who are running into the wind of a news cycle thats going to be dominated by Donald Trump, Leopold said.

Democrats are desperate to talk about anything other than their candidates and the extreme negatives of President Obama and Clinton in the states they are defending, said Jon Thompson, a spokesman for the Republican Governors Association.

Any drop-off in Republicans voting for president will affect other candidates, said Jennifer Duffy, an analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington.

Its going to be a constant answering to questions about Trump, and I think that goes all the way down the ballot, Duffy said.

(c) 2016, Bloomberg  Mark Niquette, Jennifer Oldham
This weekend, Iran will stage its third cartoon exhibition about the Holocaust. The images on display, pooled from submissions that came in from various parts of the world, mock a history of genocide and Jewish suffering. The event has garnered global notoriety and is a persistent mark against an Iranian regime that has tried over the past year to show that its ready to emerge from international isolation.

Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attempted to distance the administration of President Hassan Rouhani from the contest. In an interview with the New Yorker, Zarif said the event was sponsored by private nongovernmental organizations and not his government. He then pointed to a history of supposed Western double standards.

Why does the United States have the Ku Klux Klan? Is the government of the United States responsible for the fact that there are racially hateful organizations in the United States? Zarif asked. Dont consider Iran a monolith. The Iranian government does not support, nor does it organize, any cartoon festival of the nature that youre talking about.

But the organizations involved, the Owj Media & Cultural Institute and the Sarsheshmeh Cultural Center, are institutions with direct ties to organs of the Iranian government, including the countrys powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The event last year was billed as a riposte to the satirical cartoons about Islam and the prophet Muhammad published by the French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The contest and exhibition intends to display the Wests double standard behavior towards freedom of expression as it allows sacrilege of Islamic sanctities, the semiofficial Fars News Agency reported.

An article in Iran Wire pours cold water on Zarifs claim that the contest has no government affiliation:

The Islamic Propaganda Organization runs Sarcheshmeh Cultural Institute, one of the organizers of the second Holocaust Cartoons competition. Another backer of the competition is Owj Media and Arts Organization, which is affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards. After the nuclear agreement was signed last July, Owj launched a campaign called American Honesty, and covered billboards around Tehran with anti-American posters. With the support of this organization, the award money for the winner of the Holocaust Cartoons competition has been increased from $25,000 to $50,000.

Owj claims it is an NGO but its affiliation with the Revolutionary Guards is an open secret. And the senior commanders of the Revolutionary Guards are directly appointed by the supreme leader, who started voicing his own doubts about Holocaust in the 1990s, and finally stopped mincing his words in around 2000, when he said, in many Western countries, nobody dares to question the myth of the Holocaust.

Zarif himself is no Holocaust denier and has repeatedly insisted that toxic legacy was the fault of the countrys previous president, the firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But, as myriad observers have noted, Holocaust denial within the Iranian regime did not begin and end with Ahmadinejad. Rather, it starts at the top with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who just this year questioned the reality of the genocide on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Senior Iranian officials have for many years systematically promoted Holocaust denial and distortion, said Tad Stahnke, who heads the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museums Initiative on Holocaust Denial and Antisemitism. He added that the contest discredits Iran and its people and is an affront to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, which include some Iranians themselves.

The larger point of the cartoon contest is less to attack Jews than Israel, a country fundamentally at odds with the Islamic republic. Majid Mohammadi, an Iranian scholar who spoke in the same phone conference as Stahnke, said that divisions do exist in Iran between moderate and hard-line camps. But when it comes to Israel, he says, they are on the same page.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Ishaan Tharoor
Travelling to Meron for Lag BOmer is an incredible experience not replicated anywhere else in the world. Every year thousands of people join to celebrate at Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochais kever with enormous bonfires, davening, singing and live music.

But, what to do about Shabbos? Following an ongoing tradition, Plan-it Israel, a boutique travel agency specializing in services to the religious American Jewish traveler, announces the Lag BOmer Shabbos in Jerusalem.

A perfect way to relax, waiters serve American style gourmet Shabbos food as guests enjoy the warm hemishe atmosphere and beautifully set tables. This popular event has grown each year, with additional food, wine and space added to ensure guests receive VIP treatment.

Plan-it Israel CEO, Yossi Landau explains, We are the only agency providing a Lag BOmer Shabbos in Jerusalem for the Charedi market. Delicious food under a Badatz hescher, waiters, beautiful centerpieces and attention to detail makes this event a success year after year.

Centrally located right outside Geula and across the street from the Mir, Plan-it Israel treats guests to an exceptional dining experience. I encourage everyone to book early to avoid disappointment. Seats are limited.

For Reservations call or email 1718-360-9445 [email protected] http://www.planitisrael.com/
Hizbullah is reporting that high-ranking commander Mustafa Amine Badreddine, 55, was killed near Damascus in what Hizbullah sources are calling an Israel Air Force Strike. The announcement came early Friday morning 5 Iyar.

Reports state that Badreddine assumed the command slot held by his brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in 2008, which Hizbullah also attributed to Israel.

There is no comment from official sources in Jerusalem but reports from Syria and Lebanon are confirming the death of the senior Hizbullah commander.

UPDATE: Israel Radio Reshet Bet reports that despite earlier reports to the contrary, in official statements Hizbullah is not pointing a finger of blame at Israel for the assassination.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita spoke out harshly against a growing trend in some communities to shave during Sefiras HaOmer for Independence Day. Rav Lau stated that doing so is contrary to halacha as there is no heter for doing so.

Rav Lau made his remarks during a shiur in a Beit Shemesh shul for working chareidim who spend the national holiday dedicated to limud torah under the    program.

Rav Lau stated When I was a child no one shaved for Independence Day. This is a new chumra of recent of recent generations. He called on the tzibur not to adopt this practice and to adhere to the law of Sefiras HaOmer as one should.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson has assailed Donald Trumps vow to build a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico frontier as overheated, oversimplistic rhetoric and a bad idea.

Hes called Trumps controversial remarks toward Muslims  and similar words from Ted Cruz before the Texas senators exit from the presidential race  beyond the pale and said anti-Muslim rhetoric burns bridges instead of building them.

But now, on the subject of the presumptive GOP nominee for president and how the agency tasked with border security would actually build a wall to keep out illegal Mexican migrants, Johnson is more or less .. mum.

Ive talked in public settings about the wall that exists, now, on the border, he said in an interview in his office this week. Ive said that weve got fences in places where it makes sense to build fences.

Johnson pulled from his desk drawer a print-out of a PowerPoint presentation on the existing fence that now stretches about 650 miles along the Southwest border (the entire border is almost 2,000 miles). And he described how the fence is only one feature of a broader border strategy that includes expanded sensors, drones and other technology.

But the homeland chief did not want to talk about Trump or his controversial immigration plan.

With the presidential election six months away, Johnson and other top Obama administration officials must be careful what they say about the presidential race because of a law called the Hatch Act that prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activity on the job.

Lawyers from the Office of Special Counsel, the small federal agency that prosecutes violations of the Hatch Act, are starting to meet with employees in federal agencies across government to reinforce the rules for everyone  from administrative assistants to Cabinet secretaries.

While in recent months Johnson has avoided referring to Trump (or Cruz) by name, sticking instead to their policies, the Obama administration has strictly enforcing the Hatch Act.

This week, the special counsel staff took its expertise to Homeland Security headquarters, where the lawyers held a training session with dozens of employees, officials with the special counsels office said.

Were trying to reach out across the federal government at all levels to remind people what they can and cannot do, agency spokesman Nick Schwellenbach said.

The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees at all levels, whether civil servants or political appointees, from political activity while theyre on duty or using their official authority.

They can make partisan remarks when speaking in whats called their personal capacity off duty, but not when theyre speaking about agency business in an official role.

The rules dont apply to President Obama and Vice President Biden, who are free to say what they want about the race to succeed them.

A small subset of political appointees, including Cabinet secretaries, at the Justice, Defense, Homeland Security and State departments have further restrictions, and cannot, for example, work on a candidates behalf in their free time.

The special counsels office found that former health and human services secretary Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act in 2012 when she publicly endorsed President Obamas reelection at a taxpayer-funded, public event.

Johnson said he looks forward to briefing the transition staffs for Trump and Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, when they assemble after the nominating conventions this summer to get briefings from federal agencies on a smooth handover of power, whoever wins in November.

Ill have plenty of advice for them about Homeland Security, Johnson said. I would just rather not forecast it publicly.

(c) 2016, The Washington Post  Lisa Rein
Nothing, it seems, can stop the inexorable rise in the share price of Strategic Minerals, though it did have a pause for breath this week.

Since announcing on April 21 that it had lodged its application to start drilling at the Hanns Camp nickel/copper prospect in Australia, the shares have risen from 0.13p to 0.46p.

A permit of work was granted last week by the Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum, paving the way for the commencement of drilling, which remains on track for mid-late May.

Copper bottom: A permit of work was granted to Strategic Minerals last week by the Western Australia Department of Mines and Petroleum, paving the way for the start of drilling, which is on track for mid-late May

Ferrum Crescent sounds like a moderately desirable address in Port Talbot but is in fact the name of a South Africa-focused metals project developer.

At the end of April its chairman, Justin Tooth, told investors the company would 'start generating news flow and results from the strong assets we have.'

Since then, the shares have risen from 0.14p on April 29 to 0.38p on May 12, and the only news flow the company has generated has been a stock market statement revealing that the board is as bewildered by the rapid rise in the share price as the rest of us.

One resource company that has generated some hard news is Herencia Resources, which saw its shares shoot up by some 50 per cent this week on the back of an offer for its 70 per cent stake in the Paguanta zinc, silver and lead project in northern Chile.

The company's market capitalisation rose to around 1.75million as it said Aussie miner Golden Rim Resources is to pay $2.3million in cash and shares for the stake, and has also agreed to pay up to $2.1million towards various contingent liabilities.

In other South American news, Patagonia Gold had a strong response to its recent fund-raising.

Just over 137 million open offer shares were available under the excess application facility  essentially a chance for keen shareholders to buy the shares less keen shareholders spurned  and applications were received in respect of just shy of 291 million.

Lest you think it was all beer and skittles for mining companies this week, there was a nasty turn of events at Aureus Mining, the operator of the recently commissioned New Liberty mine in Liberia.

Teething problems are to be expected at any new mine, but Aureus said production has had to be suspended after concentrations of cyanide found in waste from the process plant were too high.

The company said it is carrying out scheduled maintenance and building up an ore stockpile while it remedies the detoxification circuit, but the shares have been battered and could remain out of favour until the problem is fixed.

Nice lamas: In South American news, Patagonia Gold had a strong response to its recent fund-raising

There was happier news for African Potash, the fertiliser specialist.

Shares have been under the cosh over the last couple of months after it revealed a lack of rain in southern Africa had affected certain deals it had, but they pulled out of their tailspin this week on news that the exploration licence on the company's Lac Dinga potash project in the Republic of Congo had been extended by two years.

Away from the mining sector, Stephen Streater, founder of Cloud-based video editing software developer Forbidden Technologies, has given up the role of chairman and taken charge of the company's research and development activities.

It is not that long since Streater moved from the chief executive position to become executive chairman, but the suspicion is that he has always been more interested in the technology side than the business management side.

He remains on the board as an executive director. Non-executive director David Main moves into the chair Streater vacated, in a non-executive capacity.

The market was not fazed by the news, and the shares even managed to advance in a week in which the company raised 1.3million by placing 18.6 million shares at 7p each.

Elsewhere in the wild and wacky world of broadcasting, Ten Alps climbed higher on news it had won a BAFTA TV award for its series, 'The Murder Detectives', which ran over three nights in November on Channel 4.
Tracking down shares which pay a meaty dividend is the Holy Grail for savers in need of a regular income.

Typically, the way you do it is to look at the price of a stock and then see how much its dividend is paying  from this you can work out the yield. This is a percentage of dividends you get back compared to the share price each year.

But some experts are saying that savers are searching in the wrong place. For example, Arm Holdings is one of the biggest companies in the FTSE 100. Valued at 13billion, it designs computer chips and software.

The shares yield around 0.8 per cent  not exactly a prime candidate for an income seeker. But heres the key point: the actual yield you are getting depends on the price you paid for the shares  not what the price is today or what it was a year ago.

If you invested in Arm this week when shares were 938p then, with a total dividend last year of 8.78p, thats how you get the yield of 0.8 per cent.

But if you had invested ten years ago when shares were just 119p, then your actual yield today is around 7.4 per cent.

This is because you are earning 8.78p for every 119p you invested in the firm.

And unless youre selling your shares, todays price is irrelevant. In that decade not only would your capital have grown more than seven-fold as the share price rocketed, but your dividend would have grown at an average rate of 24.3 per cent a year.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, says: All that matters when youre investing in companies is a rising dividend.

Savers shouldnt be worrying about which company will be the next to cut their dividend, they should be focusing on the ones that will increase theirs.

Just 26 companies in the FTSE 100 have managed to increase their dividend every year for the past decade.

On January 1, 2006, those 26 companies  which include Next, Vodafone and Diageo  had an average yield of 2.8 per cent.

Good bet? Paddy Power paid a healthy 18.3 per cent dividend. The average yield for the whole FTSE is around 4.5 per cent

Investors who had stuck with those shares for the following ten years are now earning considerably more.

Based on the share prices back then, Next yields 26 per cent, Paddy Power 18.3 per cent and Compass 13.3 per cent.

The average yield among those 26 companies now, based on their share price a decade ago, is a chunky 9 per cent.

Thats double the average yield for the whole FTSE, which is around 4.5 per cent.

On top of that, the share price of these 26 businesses has grown an average of 265 per cent in that time.

If you had invested 1,000 in Next shares on January 1, 2006, over the next ten years you would have received 792 in dividends after tax and the shares would be worth 4,749.

Trying to fathom which are the next generation of shares that will achieve these stellar returns is difficult.

H owever, there are a number of funds which focus on these companies and have a good track record of increasing their own income payouts.

This year the City of London Investment Trust became the first to raise its dividend for 50 years in a row.

The trust, which invests in big FTSE firms such as Vodafone, National Grid and BP, yields around 4.1 per cent.

According to trade body the Association of Investment Companies, some 19 investment trusts have increased their dividend for 20 consecutive years or more.

Bankers Investment Trust and Alliance Trust have both grown theirs for 49 years in a row. They have also returned 56 per cent and 51 per cent respectively over the past five years.

Mould likes the Chelverton UK Equity Income Fund, which invests in medium-sized firms including Dairy Crest and construction company Galliford Try. It yields around 3.9 per cent and has returned 87 per cent over the past five years.

Another favourite is Evenlode Income, which yields 3.7 per cent and has returned 73 per cent over the past five years.
Apple is close to being ousted as the most valuable company on the planet by Google's owner Alphabet

Almost 140billion has been wiped off the value of Apple as investors fear the world's biggest company many have run out of big ideas.

Sales of the iPhone have slumped by 10million this year, and yesterday the jitters of shareholders were increased as Apple's sole supplier of microchips for the iPhone 7 announced that it was cutting production.

This was a signal that Apple was being forced to lower its estimates on the number of gadgets it was expected to sell.

It was then announced that Apple had invested 700million in Chinese firm Didi Chuxing, an Uber-style ride-hailing service.

But this did little to ease the nerves of investors, who saw it as another sign that Apple was choosing to invest in rival firms rather than build on its own reputation for developing new technology. It has no plans for a major launch this year.

The firm's stock has tumbled 19.6 per cent in the past six months and major investors such as hedge fund boss Carl Icahn have dumped billions of pounds worth of shares.

To cap it all, Apple is close to being ousted as the most valuable company on the planet by Google's owner Alphabet.

Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves said: 'The market is saturated and they have no massive growth drivers outside of the iPhone.'

Yesterday it was revealed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was expected to ship 80 per cent fewer microchips between June and December compared to the same period last year, according to a report by the Nikkei Asia Review.

It prompted speculation that Apple had cut orders of its forthcoming iPhone 7, expected to be released in September.

Last week Dialog Semiconductor, which sells chips used in iPhones and other smartphones, slashed its revenue outlook amid weakening demand in the market.

It follows a move by British chip designer ARM Holdings towards creating technology for the construction industry in a bid to diversify away from the slowing smartphone markets.

Apple last month revealed its revenues fell for the first time since 2003, to 34.4billion from 39.7billion in 2015.

Sales of iPhones dropped for the first time, falling 10million in the three months to March compared to the same period last year.

Slowdown: Sales of the iPhone have slumped by 10million this year, and yesterday Apple's sole supplier of microchips for the iPhone 7 announced that it was cutting production

The company expects sales to have dropped again by the end of this quarter. Demand has been dampened by high costs  up to 789 for the 6S Plus model  because users tend to sign up to contract deals rather than buying the phones outright.

This ties consumers into keeping their phones for longer, leaving them less likely to upgrade when new models are released.

In a move to try to boost the iPhone among business users, Apple last week signed a deal with German software maker SAP. Only 20 per cent of workers use iPhones for business, Apple's boss Tim Cook said.

Under the partnership the companies will create more business apps compatible with Apple.

The firm has thus far struggled to find a foothold in China amid competition from rival smartphone makers such as Xiaomi and Huawei. In the quarter to March its revenues in China fell 26 per cent.

In January, Cook had predicted the fall in iPhone sales, warning that the environment had become 'dramatically different'.

It is thought the investment in Didi Chuxing could be a way for Apple to strengthen its Apple Pay service, which is up against fierce competition from contactless payment rivals in China.

But the company still faces big hurdles in the country. Last month, authorities shut down Apple's movie and book services and it recently lost a court case over the use of its iPhone trademark.
Officials are racing to close a legal loophole that lets families take children on holiday during term after a father prosecuted for taking his daughter to Florida won a landmark High Court case today.

In a landmark case, the High Court said parents would not break the law if their childs attendance over the rest of the academic year was sufficiently regular.

The ruling could lead to a rush of families trying to find cheaper flights and hotels outside the school holidays.

It is also a big blow to the Governments crackdown on unapproved absences. Amid warnings of chaos in schools:

Councils were braced for claims from parents who have paid fines for unauthorised absences;

School leaders begged parents not to take advantage of the ruling;

Holiday companies were expected to respond by hiking prices in term time.

Ruling: High Court judges today ruled that Jon Platt, pictured after his victory, should not pay a 120 fine for taking his daughter on holiday in term time in a landmark case

Support: Mr Platt, pictured with his fiancee Sally who he will marry in 18 days, says that he and other parents who have children in school regularly should not be criminalised for taking a holiday

The test case centred on Jon Platt, who was fined 120 for taking his seven-year-old daughter to Disney World in Florida. The trip, in April 2015, made her miss seven days of lessons.

The 45-year-old businessman claimed he should not have been punished because his daughters attendance record was otherwise exemplary  92 per cent

Isle of Wight Council spent 13,000 of taxpayers' money taking him to the High Court but three senior judges today refused to accept his family breaks were illegal.

His victory will help parents take term time holidays without fear of being prosecuted - and potentially allow some of the 200,000 fines handed out over the years to be reclaimed.

Bill Waddington, chairman of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association, said: 'Quite possibly thousands of parents could contact the council to say "I'd like my case revisited".

Mr Waddington told the Telegraph 'This would apply for people who have already been dealt with weeks, months or even years ago. Each council area might be forced to set up a dedicated phone line to deal with demand.'

Mr Platt, who runs a PPI claims company, dedicated his victory to the parents who have 'no choice' but to take term time holidays because of work or money.

He said: 'I'm absolutely delighted as will hundreds of thousands of other parents who have had to live with this draconian system where taking your kids on holiday amounted to a criminal offence.

'It's parents who should decide what's best for their children.'

A Government source has now said 'we will look to change the law' and one council boss admitted the ruling implies parents can take three weeks of term time holidays a year without punishment.

Poll Should parents be allowed to take their children on holiday in term time? Yes No Should parents be allowed to take their children on holiday in term time? Yes 13966 votes

No 2991 votes Now share your opinion





Today's decision will make other councils less likely to prosecute people - and could open the floodgates for others to beat fines as long as their child is rarely absent from class.

From 2013 until the end of the last academic year, more than 180,000 fines have been handed out to families.

Supporters took to Twitter and branded him a hero, with one father saying he had stood up 'to a system swindling parents'.

Mr Platt is no longer with Lindsay Platt, the mother of the child at the centre of the case, and will marry fiancee Sally Barclay, 35, in Santorini later this month.

His children will be coming to Greece, but will not miss school this time.

He said: 'There are hundreds of local authorities issuing truancy penalty notices and they want to believe a criminal offence has been committed.

'The court had made it absolutely clear today that an unauthorised holiday cannot in itself be in breach of the legislation.

'They must look at the fact magistrates are entitled to look at the periods other than just the absence.

'It is a victory. It's parents who should decide what's best for their children. Unfortunately there's far too many people in positions of power who think they know better.

"It has been hideous. Nobody wants to find themselves in this position. I had no choice of being here'.

This afternoon Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not 'erred in law' when reaching their decision.

Lord Justice Jones said: 'I do not consider it is open to an authority to criminalise every unauthorised holiday by the simple device of alleging that there has been no regular attendance in a period limited to the absence on holiday.'

Legal action: This is a letter Isle of Wight Council sent to Mr Platt after his last trip to Lapland - but he will now not have to pay despite the threats

The school's attendance register showed that Mr Platt's daughter, who can only be named as M, had an attendance rate of 92.35 per cent.

The judge said: 'I consider the magistrates correctly had regard to the wider picture.

'In all the circumstances of this case I am unable to say their conclusion was not one reasonably open to them.'

The law currently says states head teachers can only agree holidays in term time in 'exceptional circumstances'.

The ruling could set a precedent about how cases like this are dealt with in the future, and could even lead to a change in the law.

A Department for Education source said: 'We will look at the judgment in detail, but we are clear that children's attendance at school is non-negotiable and we shall now look to change the law.'

TERM TIME HOLIDAY RULING - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR PARENTS? Jon Platt's High Court win marks a watershed moment and will force the Government to consider its position on fines. The Department for Education believes that parents should be fined for unauthorised time off in all but exceptional circumstances. Michael Gove, who brought in changes in the law in 2013, said that any holiday in term times was unacceptable. Isle of Wight Council said in court today cannot simply take their children out of school to take them on holiday, or for any other unauthorised reason'. But judges accepted that Mr Platt's daughter's attendance record of around 93 per cent was good enough to justify it. Lord Justice Jones said: 'I do not consider it is open to an authority to criminalise every unauthorised holiday by the simple device of alleging that there has been no regular attendance in a period limited to the absence on holiday.' The judgment means that attendance will have to be considered in every future case. Advertisement

An official spokesman said: The evidence is clear that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupils chance of gaining good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances.

We are confident our policy to reduce school absence is clear and correct.

We will examine todays judgement in detail but are clear that childrens attendance at school is non-negotiable so we will now look to change the legislation.

We also plan to strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities.

Leader of Isle of Wight Council Jonathan Bacon said the decision effectively left parents free to take their children out of school for 'up to three weeks a year'.

Mr Bacon said: 'I'm disappointed that the law now seems to be more unclear now than it was this morning.'

He added: 'We simply have no clarity here, maybe children can be taken out of school for up to three weeks without any recourse.'

Asked if he would take his own children out of school during term time, he said: 'I have a 12-year-old daughter, I would not take her out of school during term time, I don't think she would want to come out of school during term time.'

The ruling was welcomed by the Local Government Association, which said: There has to be a sensible solution whereby every family has the option to spend time together when they choose to, rather than tying families to set holiday periods.

This makes no allowances for what a family would class as a special occasion or takes into account a parents work life.

Blanket bans do not work and as todays High Court ruling shows, its a system that is not always enforceable.

But Malcolm Trobe, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: Pupils are expected to attend school as close to 100 per cent of the time as possible and they should not miss school to go on holiday.

This is because even short periods ... can have a detrimental impact on their education, so consistent attendance is absolutely vital. We are a nation which values education and school attendance is part of that commitment.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: We seem to have an educational death wish in this country.

Most parents around the world are desperate for their children to get an education.

Here, the taxpayer funds schooling at considerable cost but it is not always valued.

The court has correctly interpreted the letter of the law but not its spirit. In the long-term interests of children, Parliament should be asked by Government to revise the current legislation.

Destination: The holiday villa in Florida that Mr Platt rented last April - but the local council didn't like it

Break: Mr Platt argued that taking his daughter on a family holiday to this villa was better for her development than staying at school

Daniel Jackson, of Slater and Gordon, said that the ruling made in the High Court could encourage parents to challenge the fines which are handed out by local authorities.

He said that clarification was needed on what constitutes 'regular' school attendance to aid both local authorities and the magistrates' courts.

Mr Jackson, who has represented a number of similar cases, said that as well as more parents contesting their fines, it could also lead to people appealing the cases against them.

He said: 'I think it will lead to more parents contesting the fines. Mr Platt has gained a lot of support in what he is doing, his case has been highly publicised and a lot of people who do end up being prosecuted will have a stronger argument now.'

Mr Jackson said the full impact remained unclear until either the High Court gave guidance on what the term 'regularly' meant or the Government re-legislated to clarify the situation.

Mark Jackson, appearing for the local authority, had argued that parents 'cannot simply take their children out of school to take them on holiday, or for any other unauthorised reason'.

He argued section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 stated that if a child failed to attend school regularly the parent was guilty of an offence, subject to certain statutory exceptions which did not include holidays.

The policy of M's school made it clear that holidays in term time 'would not be authorised', said Mr Jackson.

He argued the magistrates should not simply have asked themselves 'had the child attended school regularly' but whether she had attended regularly 'during the period identified in the summons - 13-21 April 2015'.

That was the period when she had been on holiday with her family and her attendance rate was '0 per cent'.

Opinions: Mr Platt's case was trending on Twitter and some called him a hero and others believe he is a villain

Mr Platt, a father-of-three, believes parents whose children don't miss school should have the right to take them away in term time without being 'criminalised'.

He said: 'It's not against the law. It's the right thing to do and it's good for my kids.

'This idea that I have to justify to Isle of Wight Council what I do with my kids is a nonsense. It's not ideal, but sometimes it's necessary and the law does not prevent me from doing so.'

He added: 'If the law required 100 per cent attendance for a great education it would. But it doesn't.

'It does not harm them at all. How do I know? Because my own kids are doing really, really well in school.

'I'm not such an incompetent parent or so indifferent to their wellbeing that I should be criminalised for it.'

Mr Platt has spent 13,000 on the legal battle and believes Isle of Wight Council has spent the same. He would have faced costs of 25,000 had he lost.

He said: 'It's worth it. Paying that fine would have been an admission I had committed a criminal offence. I haven't'.

Mr Platt argued the law is unclear and does not allow for automatic fines.

He also pointed out that children at private schools, who spend fewer days in the classroom because they have much shorter terms, are exempt from the fines regime.

He said: 'Her attendance for the whole of the school year was nearly 94 per cent. I don't know where the threshold is but quite frankly parents need to decide for themselves.

'I'm getting messages from teachers and headteachers saying they back me 100 per cent'.

Craig Langman, chairman of the Parents Want a Say, called the court case 'a pivotal moment'.

She said: 'We are backing Jon Platt all the way. It's time we bring discretion and common sense back into the education system. This nonsense has been going on for two years too long.'

Currently, courts can issue a fine of 2,500 or a jail sentence of up to three months to the parents of children who skip school.

Case: Mr Platt's battle has led to a large amount of support from other parents with schoolchildren

Q&A: THE LAW ON SCHOOL FINES AND HOW UP TO 80,000 ARE HANDED OUT How have the rules changed over term time holidays? It's no secret that trips overseas soar in price during school holidays, tempting some parents to take their children away during the cheaper, term time price bracket. However, in recent years ministers argued that missing any amount of school is detrimental to a child's education. In 2013 the Department of Education overturned guidelines dating back to 2006 that meant head teachers could grant leave of absence of up to 10 days for the purposes of a family holiday in term time in 'special circumstances'. Parents who take their children out of school without permission during term time can incur fines of 60 per pupil, per period of absence - which rises to 120 if not paid within 21 days. What was the impact in the change of rules? Perhaps not surprisingly, large numbers of parents have ignored the new guidelines. But the Government and local councils have clamped down - hitting those parents who take their children away in term time on unauthorised absences with fines. 86,010 fines were issued in 2014/15 for pupil absence, either through holiday or truancy, by councils, up from 62,204 the year before and 32,512 in 2012/13. How have parents reacted? The school absence reforms introduced in 2013 proved controversial, with critics arguing that they have the biggest impact on those who cannot afford high travel costs during school breaks and families with parents that work shifts. Nearly 230,000 people have signed a petition calling for the fines to be scrapped and one group of parents founded the organisation Parents Want A Say to campaign against fines, arguing that many mothers and fathers believe they are being made to feel like criminals. What do teachers say? The National Union of Teachers warned that going on holiday shouldn't be exclusive to the middle classes, and have said there are important cultural and social benefits to visiting new places. Meanwhile the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents 370 councils across the country, has called for rules to be changed to give head teachers greater flexibility to allow parents to take their children on holiday during term time. However, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), have argued that term time is for learning and that families already had 175 days off school, including weekends and school holidays, to spend time together. What is deemed an authorised absence? Head teachers still have discretion over granting absence during term time. The NAHT guidance says an absence for the bereavement of a relative, or important religious observances could be deemed as exceptional circumstances. Advertisement

Revealed: The cost of family holidays rocket when schools break up with a trip to Majorca 115% more expensive from July

Parents are being 'held to ransom' by holiday companies with research showing that some breaks double in price after the schools break up.

A study of 79 holidays offered this summer by the likes of Thomas Cook, Thomson and First Choice found huge price hikes.

The average increase was 35 per cent, potentially adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of a family holiday for four.

A study of 79 holidays offered this summer by the likes of Thomas Cook, Thomson and First Choice found huge price hikes

However, some holidays more than double in price once the schools break up at the end of July  adding 2,400 to the bill.

The holiday price investigation compared 79 package holidays based on a one week break for a family of four at a four star hotel in Tenerife, Majorca, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve.

It found the biggest price jump was for people flying out of Birmingham, with a mark-up of 43 per cent, ahead of Bristol at 40 per cent and Leeds at 34 per cent.

Researchers revealed an increase of 115 per cent in the cost of a Thomas Cook package holiday to Majorca

However, researchers found an increase of 115 per cent in the cost of a Thomas Cook package holiday to Majorca.

The figure for a family of four taking a half-board one week break, flying from any London airport, came in at 4,028 when flying out on July 23.

That is some 2,152 more expensive than the same holiday taken in term time on July 9, which would cost 1,876.

An all-inclusive holiday with First Choice to the Costa del Sol, flying from Birmingham, was 104 per cent more expensive.

The price after the schools break up comes in at 4,702. That is an increase of 2,392 compared to the same break in term time.

The study was carried out by the currency exchange firm FairFX's which said: 'The research shows how travel companies exploit parents by hiking up prices as soon as schools in England and Wales break up for the holidays.'

Its chief executive, Ian Strafford-Taylor, said: 'With a father potentially facing a fine for taking his daughter on holiday during term time, it seems parents are being held to ransom by travel operators when it comes to summer holidays.

'A week in the sun allows families to spend precious time together but when parents face paying double the original price, this experience comes under threat.

'The regional differences exposed by our investigation are shocking. In some cases, the price increases are so high that holidaymakers may need to avoid their local airport in order to get a better deal.

Regional differences: The study found the biggest price jump for holidays was for people flying out of Birmingham, with a mark-up of 43 per cent

'Holidaymakers need to do what they can to maximise their money such as buying currency when rates are good to off-set the rip-off being imposed by holiday firms.'

Pressure to put an end to automatic fines has been fuelled by a petition that has won more than 120,000 signatories in just two days.

The online petition was set up Nottinghamshire father-of-three Dave Hedley, whose wife, Jules, has breast cancer.

The family were fined for taking their children, including Dominic, aged 10, and Laila, nine, out of school for a trip to the Lincolnshire coast in the week after the Easter break.

Mrs Hedley said: 'The children attend regularly and under the circumstances, I was going through a really hard time. To me it felt like the children were being denied the days to forget about everything.'

Holiday companies said the price variation is simply a result of market forces.

Thomas Cook said: 'Customer demand is always really high during the school holidays, which can unfortunately lead to an increase in costs for families. This is particularly true for a destination like Majorca which is more popular than ever this year.
The government wants to build a terminal at Gimpo Airport exclusively for the private aircraft of jetsetters like Middle Eastern oil tycoons, according to the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on Sunday.

At present, foreign dignitaries can use Seoul Airport in Seongnam just south of Seoul, but other VIPs must share the facilities at Gimpo and Incheon International airports with ordinary people.

The government says this is inconvenient for some figures from oil-rich Arab countries as well as some top CEOs, who are used to preferential treatment, and could have a negative impact on attracting foreign investment.
Korea wants to include in a free trade agreement with China a clause that bans the import of fish from China if Chinese fishermen continue to fish illegally in Korean waters.

The ban will apply to fish caught in the joint fishing zone in the West Sea managed by the two countries according to a bilateral fisheries agreement.

Only about a dozen kinds of fish are caught in the zone, but domestic demand for them is high, and thus a lot is imported from China as well. This is likely to be a source of tensions between the two sides.

But Seoul believes it can include the punitive measure in the FTA because it is a bilateral agreement and the catch does not make up a vast chunk of China's overall fisheries catch.

A senior government official here on Friday said, "There is consensus in the government that the illegal fishing issue in the West Sea must be addressed during the FTA negotiations with China." The relevant ministries hope to link illegal fishing to an import ban.

Another senior official said, "Although the two governments have agreed to work together to crack down on illegal fishing in the West Sea from next year, it is still not binding. Resistance to the FTA from Korean fishermen is greater than ever, so we are reviewing the possibility of stipulating the ban."
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By Mark Hallum

WOODSIDE  The NYPD was asking for the publics assistance identifying an individual with ties to an assault that happened within the confines of the 108th Precinct.

On Sunday, May 1, at about 5:15 p.m., a 74-year-old woman was walking down the stairs of the 65th Street subway station when an unknown male walking the opposite direction punched her in head, according to police.

The victim was treated at Elmhurst General Hospital and released.

The man was described as black, about 5-foot-10 and last seen wearing a red jacket with blue jeans, police said.

Surveillance footage captured the incident, which took place at the intersection of 69th Street and 38th Avenue, police said.

Anyone with information regarding the man depicted in the police photograph is urged to contact NYPD.
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By Patrick Donachie

Elected officials expressed their reservations about a potential co-location at a Queens Village middle school in a letter sent to city Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina and Vanessa Leung, the chairwoman of the Panel for Educational Policy.

The lawmakers who signed the letter included Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, state Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-Hollis) and Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Jackson Heights), the head of the city Councils Education Committee. In the letter, they wrote that they were concerned that the proposed co-location of Intermediate School 109 at 213-10 92 Ave. with New Visions Charter High School for the Humanities IV would have poor consequences for IS 109.

The objections of 1,200-plus parents and community members who have signed the IS l09 Parent Teacher Associations petition must be taken into account when evaluating this proposal, the signees wrote. Their concerns about safety, security and adverse effects on the students learning experience are absolutely valid and must not be ignored.

The legislators said that they felt that co-location decisions were often considered to be a form of surrender on the part of the Department of Education toward the school that will be co-located, asserting that such actions were often disruptive to school communities, creating unnecessary tensions and challenges to learning environments for the respective students and educators.

Additionally, the officials also have concerns about the schools construction, noting that it was not built to accommodate a high school such as the proposed charter school. They asserted that the schools construction would make it impossible to separate the two schools during dismissals, making a co-location an unattractive possibility.

The DOE sometimes places two or more schools together in one building or campus, which they term co-location. The DOE claims that it tries to use under-utilized spaces to create more space in school facilities.

The DOE claims that IS 109 only utilizes 73 percent of its full space capacity, and with the new charter school, the enrollment would be pushed to 105-110 percent by the 2019-2020 school year. The Panel for Educational Policy is scheduled to vote on the proposed co-location during its next meeting on May 18. The move was originally scheduled for a vote April 16, but it was postponed for a month. Janice Berry, the PTA president for IS 109 and an opponent of the co-location, said she was hopeful that the PEPs decision might be a favorable one.

Were pretty optimistic about it because they did give us more time, and weve gotten a lot more of the local politicians involved now, she said. 109 is not equipped to become a high school.
Acting star Ko Hyun-jung has branched out into the fashion business, launching her own brand atti.k in Seoul on Tuesday afternoon.

"You look the best when you wear the right clothes in the right place. Something that's not too modest but not too over the top," she says. "We're working very hard to make classy products that will boost the confidence of our customers."

Besides clothes, shoes, and bags the label also sells furniture, food, and household goods.

Ko says she is involved in all aspects of production, from planning to designing and choosing fabric and sizing.

"I hope my brand boasts both comfort and style, so that it can be chosen for any occasion," she adds.
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A Rosedale man was convicted this week of murdering a 14-year-old girl who was riding home on a bus in South Jamaica after a Sweet Sixteen party in 2013. The senseless shooting sent a shudder through the city, shocked by the random nature of the attack.

Crime rates were steadily declining and New Yorkers no longer had the knee-jerk reaction that murder was business as usual and could not be reversed. The image of an innocent teenager dying from gunfire on a city bus appalled many residents of Queens.

Adding to the public outrage, she was the fourth member of an extended family in southeast Queens to die from gun violence.

A Queens jury found Kevin McClinton, 24, guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Daja Robinson, who was on the Q6 in Jamaica when multiple rounds were fired at the bus on May 18, 2013. One bullet struck her in the head in a barrage prosecutors believed was aimed at another passenger.

An only child, Daja was a student at Cambria Heights Magnet School and one of seven homicide victims in the 113th Precinct that year.

Less than three weeks later, McClinton was arrested in South Carolina and held without bail until conviction. A second suspect, 15 at the time, still awaits trial.

How does a community cope when children kill children? Days after Daja was killed the 113th Precinct Community Council put a $22,000 bounty on the suspects. Then Borough President Helen Marshall earmarked $50,000 from her office to hold a gun buyback in honor of the teen.

In 2014 on what would have been Dajas 16th birthday, her family, friends and neighbors held a walk on a rainy Tuesday. Dajas grandmother led the somber marchers to the site where the shooting cut short a young life. The 113th Precinct joined the vigil.

It took nearly three years for Dajas family to get some sense of relief from the criminal justice system. But murder claims more than just the victimsit leaves other wounds that never heal.

Less than a year after Daja died, her 17-year-old cousin Khalil Bowlin was killed in a drive-by shooting in South Jamaica in 2014. His mother said he never recovered from Dajas murder. Bowlins uncle, a former NYPD officer, died in a shooting in South Jamaica in 2011, while his father was gunned down in a Richmond Hill barber shop in 2010.

McClinton is facing 25 years to life when he is sentenced in June. Dajas family is facing a lifetime without the loved ones who shaped their lives, but at least a guilty verdict has brought some solace to the survivors haunted by bloodshed.
By Bob Friedrich

The disciples of social engineering and behavior modification were at it again last week in the City Council with passage of the 5-cent plastic bag fee. With the mayors blessing, the New York City Council decided to add a few hundred dollars to every familys annual shopping bill. All done in the name of the environment, a pretext to justify imposing new taxes and fees on already tapped-out New Yorkers.

This bill will surely shake out whatever loose change remains in your pocket after the speed cameras and (possibility of) bridge tolls on the free East River crossings have gotten you. Its just the latest assault on the wallets of everyday New Yorkers and, truth be told, the plastic bag fee also applies to non-polluting, bio-degradable paper bags, making it obvious that the bill is more about social engineering than reducing pollution. Using the environment as an excuse to pluck every last dollar out of our pockets and squeeze the family budget is deceptive and unfair. Want to change our habits, try education or a 5-cent credit for using a reusable bag.

The arrogance of Council member Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), the bills chief sponsor, is stunning, when he says, It works by irritating people into bringing reusable bags, so we understand its irritating. Personally, I find it insulting for a Council member to knowingly pass a bill with the intention to irritate me into modifying my behavior, as if I am a child unable to make thoughtful decisions on my own. The City Council must stop using us as guinea pigs in their social engineering experiments.

This bill also engenders a new class warfare. SNAP (food stamp) card users are exempt and may use as many bags as they wish cost-free, while taxpayers who pay for those SNAP cards are taxed for each plastic or paper bag they use. Two individuals on the same grocery line: one receives the bags free while the other must pay. Is this the Tale of Two Cities De Blasio had in mind? It is surely an acknowledgment that there is a financial burden associated with this bill. Supporters may believe the bill is eco-friendly, but it is eco-nomically unfriendly.

Eastern Queens Councilmen Donovan Richards, I. Daneek Miller, Peter Koo and Paul Vallone could have made a huge difference had they voted to oppose the bag-tax bill. Instead, they chose to impose this cost burden on the seniors and working-class families of their district. Their constituents, many on fixed incomes, can thank them for adding 10 cents to the cost of water and other heavy items requiring a double bag and hundreds of dollars to their annual food bill. These families struggle daily to pay rent and make ends meet, the last thing they need is to pay for something that used to be free at the local grocery counter.

Bucking the trend was newly elected Queens Councilman Barry Grodenchik, who called it one of the most regressive pieces of legislation to ever come before this council. He knows that many folks in transit-starved eastern Queens drive to the supermarket and load up grocery bags, some double-bagged, into their cars. Its simply impractical for them to carry enough reusable bags.

Most of us resourcefully reuse grocery store bags and keep them stashed in plastic bag receptacles until theyre needed again  as wastebasket liners, trash bags or for dog pickup. They are not single-use bags, as proponents of the bill claim. Pushing individuals to use reusable bags creates another type of environmental hazard. These reusable bags are often petroleum or lead based and require regular cleaning to eliminate food-borne toxins. Are we simply trading one set of problems for another?

The ideological crusade to micromanage the minutia of plastic- and paper-bag consumption is another example of the citys misplaced priorities. Our city is the most heavily taxed in the nation, nickel-and-diming its residents for everything. The City Council works overtime to create regulations and petty annoyances in our daily lives while the serious work of ethics reform, cost containment and infrastructure repair is ignored. As I wrote in a similar column back in 2014, the fix is in the bag.

Bob Friedrich is President of Glen Oaks Village, a Civic Leader and former candidate for the New York City Council.
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By Patrick Donachie

A priest was caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting during an incident in the early Sunday morning in Jamaica, according to the NYPD. The pastor was hit in the arm but was otherwise unhurt.

The 49-year-old priest has been identified as Father Damien Ekete by the New York Post, and is a parochial vicar for the Church of the Holy Spirit in Morris Heights in the Bronx. According to police, at about 12:08 a.m., Ekete was standing near the intersection of 134th Street and Rockaway Boulevard. Police said that an unknown individual inside a passing vehicle fired in the direction of Ekete, hitting him in his right arm.

He was treated at Jamaica Hospital and in stable condition while there, according to the police,

According to the NYPD, another individual was the intended target, and Ekete was shot in the melee.

There was no answer at the Church of the Holy Cross when called for comment, and the Archdiocese did not return requests for comment by press time.

The NYPD also released a photo of the vehicle from which the suspect fired, and they asked anyone with information about the incident to call 1 (800)-577-TIPS.
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By Kevin Zimmerman

For many graduates, the thought of going back for one of those reunions on campus is enough to send them into a downward spiral of couldves, shouldves and wouldves.

Playwright and LaGuardia Community College professor David Rimmer is not one of those people.

For Rimmer, those gatherings should not be about comparing job titles, summer-home locations or trophy-wife statistics, but instead are best used for rekindling relationships.

Reunions are very important, Rimmer said. The connections you make at college can be very strong.

Not long ago, Rimmer, who graduated from Amherst College, tagged along with his wife to her class reunion at nearby Smith.

While in Western Massachusetts, he noticed Amherst was buzzing with its own alumni weekend.

Although the party was not for his class of 1971, he knew some of the younger guys who had been on campus when he was there, so Rimmer decided to drop in and check things out.

It got the writer of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist play Album thinkingcan a reunion mean something to a person who did not even attend that school?

He attempts to answer that with his newest play, The Reunion Guy, which will be staged May 17 at LaGuardia Community College.

Rimmer calls the piece very scripted and improvisational, which on the surface may not make sense, but dig a little bit and it is clear what he means.

Similar to the smash Off-Broadway show, Tony and Tinas Wedding, Rimmers play puts the audience at the center of a college reunion. It begins in the distant future with a 40th reunion for the Class of 2016 at the fictional Windsor Collegewhich is not unlike LaGuardia, the author admits.

Instead of unfolding on a stage, the story is played out everywhere in the room all at once. When audience members enter the space, each one will be given a name tag. Actors dressed as cater waiters will pass around trays of food and drinks.

As the proceedings get underway, the college bestows the title of Best Alum on the main character.

Then, through a series of flashbacks, it becomes clear that this man never attended the school.

The audience learns that years ago this Reunion Guy was taking a walk on the Windsor campus and came upon a reunion celebration. He noticed a beautiful woman, immediately fell in love with her, and decided to stick around.

He is living a simple life, Rimmer said. Everyone else is obsessed with making money, but he has peace and serenity. And he helps bring out the best in people.

Rimmer categorizes the script as a comedy which touches on issues of life and death, crisscrossing through 75 years.

Actors will stick to the basics of the script, but depending upon interactions with the reunion attendees, anything could transpire, Rimmer said.

Thats the great thing about theater, Rimmer said. It is the only [art form] left that you dont know what is going to happen.

The main cast includes 12 speaking roles, comprised of professional actors along with LaGuardia professors and staff members. Students will take on supporting, chorus-type roles and help move the audience to where the action is.

Theyre from all disciplines of LaGuardia, including theater majors, Rimmer said, and people from my English and liberal arts classes, whose major, or at least biggest extracurricular, is adventure.

If you Go

The Reunion Guy

When: Tuesday, May 17, at 4 pm

Where: LaGuardia Community College Poolside Cafe, Building E, enter on Van Dam Street near 47th Avenue, Long Island City

Cost: Free

Contact: (718) 482-5151

Website: lpac.nyc
Dr. Swaleha Sindhi





Introduction

In the present era of globalization, organizations are expected to work with a creative rather than a reactive perspective and grow to be flexible, responsive and capable organizations in order to survive. In the existing scenario people are exposed to diverse knowledge through internet, there is much to learn and more to assimilate. Senges (1990) model of the five disciplines of a learning organization emphasizes on the concept of systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision and team learning. This points on continuous learning for individuals and organizations, with a great stress on the idea of bringing change with innovation and creativity. If the future organizations are driven by individual and collaborative learning, it is advisable to transform schools also into learning organizations, instead of school education being restricted merely to the process of acquiring facts and loads of numerical information to reproduce in examination using rote learning methodologies (current scenario in Indian schools).

In line with the needs of education system in India, schools should become more effective learning organizations that ultimately increase the leadership capacity and support the personal development of every individual at the institution. In chalking out the aims of education in India, Kothari commission report (1964-66) stressed that education has to be used as powerful instrument of social economic and political change. The blending of conservative trend and progress is the basic characteristics of a healthy society. In a modern society individuals learn about intricate changes that are occurring around them. School of course is an important agency to usher in the changes. However, years after these recommendations, the Indian schools are still perceived as institutions; transferring knowledge, fulfilling educational tasks and realizing educational objectives. They reflect upon syllabus, and follow a set of educational objectives framed to show them direction of activity at particular stages of education. There is hardly any effort to bring change in the system of education. Our education system is not governed with new educational tasks and essential new ideas for the educational organizations. Instead schools in their effort to become learning organizations are already feeling the tidal wave of change in many ways and this has resulted in confused, exhausted and disappointed school leaders who are unable develop the capacity of the school and every individual therein to manage change.

Indian Schools and Challenges

As educator Roland Barth has said, "Relationships among educators within a school range from vigorously healthy to dangerously competitive. Strengthen those relationships, and you improve professional practice. Indian schools fail to develop themselves into true learning organizations due to; the existing school culture, amount of competition and working in isolation. In our schools there is little or no resistance against isolation and unproductive school competitions. Teachers teach in isolation, rarely does a teacher have the opportunity to go beyond her classroom to visit the pedagogic worlds of her peers, to learn from their classrooms. Improving school and community cooperation is another important area for learning organization. There is hardly any interaction between our schools and community. Little efforts are seen from schools to encourage children to get an access to learning resources in the community, to meet outstanding members of the community or involving parents in actively organizing extracurricular activities. One way of building connect with community is involving community elders in developing curriculum, but hardly our schools take suggestions from community elders on the topics to be included in the curriculum. There are negligible efforts to remove traditional education boundaries. It is becoming clear that schools can be re-created, made vital, and sustainably renewed not by fiat or command, and not by regulation, but by taking a learning orientation. This means involving everyone in the system in expressing their aspirations, building their awareness, and developing their capabilities together. Senge calls this the rudder that can keep the organization on course during times of stress. Not to mention, stress among teachers and leaders is a common scenario in majority of Indian schools today.

The way forward

The learning organization approach is capable of making an organization more competitive and adaptive in response to change in a school context. Thus, existence of teacher practices conducive to environment of strong learning environment supported by transformational leaders will enable schools to achieve continuous improvement and excellence in terms of student and teacher learning. The powerful pathway to becoming a better practitioner is to observe an expert peer in action, to reflect and improve upon ones own practice as a result. When professionals like doctors, engineers or architects can do it then why not our teachers? Why cant we bring teachers rich knowledge-in-practice from the confines of their classrooms into the public domain? The reason that we are unable bring this change is because our teachers do not have the opportunity to go beyond classrooms to visit the pedagogic worlds of their peers or learn from their classrooms. Neither do the schools organize regular on the job staff development programs for teachers to promote shared vision. On the positive side, today, majority of school teachers and Principals are finding themselves involved in professional learning activities. School and curriculum reforms have necessitated regular review of practices and attitudes. This is for the reason that schools are finding it difficult to resist the pressures of change and improvement especially in response to the demands of professionalism and accountability. It is high time our schools realize that the goal of learning organizations is not the occasional burst of professional activity each time new demands are made of the school, curriculum or practices. Schools and their staff need to be ahead of the change game. Thus, the philosophy of a learning organization must be that learning is a way of working just as it is a way of living.

Last word

The learning organization management approach is capable of making an organization more competitive and adaptive in response to change. The unit of innovation in Indian schools has usually been the individual teacher, the individual classroom, or a new curriculum to be implemented individually by teachers. But the larger environment in which innovation is supposed to occur is neglected. So few innovations occur and in the meantime either the innovative teacher is siphoned for few more bucks by other schools or a teacher who successfully innovates becomes threatening to those around him or her. Thus our fundamental challenges in education involve cultural changes that will require collective learning. By involving people at multiple levels and thinking together about significant and enduring solutions we can bring a positive change in the system. However, the role of our schools as learning organization can only be furthered when the school leadership is committed to transform schools by getting engaged with the learning process themselves. At the same time our teachers also must make effort to develop themselves and be updated before they show high expectations from students. All these constraints have apparently become a hindrance to the transformation of schools into strong learning organizations.

Dr. Swaleha Sindhi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration, the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Decorated educational practitioner Dr. Sindhi is a frequent columnist on related topics, too. She is the Vice President of Indian Ocean Comparative Education Society (IOCES).




The number of migrants arriving in Greece dropped 90 percent in April, EU border agency Frontex said on Friday, in a sign that a deal with Turkey to send back those who make the sea journey between the two countries is working.

Frontex said 2,700 people arrived in Greece from Turkey in April, most of them from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, a 90 percent fall from March.

Under the deal with Turkey, all migrants and refugees, including Syrians, who cross to Greece illegally across the sea are sent back.

In return, the EU takes in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and rewards it with more money, early visa-free travel and faster progress in EU membership talks.

In Italy, 8,370 migrants arrived through the longer and more dangerous route from northern Africa, Frontex added, with nationals of Eritrea, Egypt and Nigeria accounting for the largest share on this route.

Frontex said there was no sign of migrants shifting from the route via Greece to the central Mediterranean route.

The number of people arriving in Italy in April was 13 percent lower than in March and half of that of April 2015, Frontex added.

SOURCE: REUTERS
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.
The 68-year-old leftist waved at least a temporary goodbye to her supporters and retreated back into the palace, where she will be allowed to live while the trial is underway.

"What is at stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the Brazilian people and the constitution... this is a tragic hour for our country. I never imagined that it would be necessary to fight once more against a coup," she said.

Flanked by weeping cabinet ministers, Rousseff used what may be her last presidential palace speech to again insist she did nothing wrong and assert her belief that the impeachment is a coup attempt.

Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff is vowing to fight back after the senate voted, 55-22, for an impeachment trial for alleged corruption and to temporarily remove her from power.

Rousseff's former ally-turned-political-enemy, Michel Temer, will take over as interim president. The conservative Temer has started putting together what political observers say will be a business-friendly cabinet. Its main task will be tackling the country's deep recession and reforming the pension system.

Temer has already named former central bank chief Henrique Meirelles as his finance minister. He also has to deal with the mosquito-borne Zika virus -- a major problem for Brazil as Rio de Janeiro tries to clean up polluted waterways and spruce up the city in time for hosting the Olympic Games in August.

Rousseff is a former Marxist guerilla who fought against the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s.

She is accused of manipulating the size of the budget deficit to make the Brazilian economy look healthier than it was in order to boost her chances of re-election in 2014. "As she approached the election in 2014, it was pretty clear that the economy was not doing as well as she hoped, and so she engaged in some creative accounting to try to make the situation look better," Latin American specialist Sean Burgess of the Australian National University told VOA.

It is still questionable, Burgess said, whether or not her actions were illegal, and the push for impeachment may be fueled by other lawmakers' desires to deflect attention from themselves.

Rousseff likes to point out that a number of other lawmakers and Brazilian politicians, including Temer, are also facing charges of corruption.

Two-thirds of the Brazilian senate is needed to convict Rousseff and permanently remove her from office.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Thursday that the U.S. believes Brazilian institutions are "sufficiently mature and durable to withstand the political turmoil."

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Ban trusts that Brazilian authorities will adhere to the rule of law and the constitution.
SHARE Woodson

By Times Record News

A Burkburnett man was arrested Wednesday after being accused of inappropriately touching a five-year-old girl.

William Christian Goodson, 29, is charged with sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony, and remained in Wichita County Jail Thursday afternoon in lieu of $250,000 bail.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit:

On April 19, Burkburnett police were notified by Child Protective Services of an incident that occurred in a home, where the child said she was touched inappropriately by Goodson.

During a forensic interview at Patsy's House, the girl said a grown up named "Will" touched one of her "private spots" on several occasions and would spank her on the bottom.

The girl said Goodson would stop when she told him she was going to tell her mother what he'd done to her.

She also said he would touch himself in front of her while they were sitting on the couch but never made her touch him.
SHARE Brasher O&B

Kay Lynn Brasher, 77, of Wichita Falls, passed away Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

The family will receive friends from 6 until 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12, 2016 at Owens & Brumley Funeral Home of Wichita Falls. Private family services will be held at Crestview Memorial Park under the direction of Owens & Brumley Funeral Home of Wichita Falls.

Kay was born on October 5, 1938 in Wichita Falls, Texas to the late George and Loise Duncan. On May 3, 1958, she married Chester Brasher. The wonderful years they spent together they both enjoyed hosting parties and spending time together.

Kay spent 33 years at Sheppard Air Force Base as a secretary to the base commander. During her time off and after retiring, she loved to play bingo and most of all spend time with her granddaughters. Retirement wasn't enough for Kay and she went to work at Walmart and Comanche Red River Casino. Kay was a strong and funny woman who loved to cook and read.

Along with her parents, she was also preceded in death by her son, Scotty Brasher and son-in-law, Curt Langham.

She is survived by her loving husband of 58 years, Chester Brasher; her children, Vikki Langham, and Todd Brasher; three grandchildren, Melinda Ahrens and husband Justin, Brittany Luepke and husband Tyler, Meagan Hamilton and husband Brian; four great-grandchildren, Jonah and Emery Ahrens, Talon Luepke, and Cailin Hamilton; her sister-in-law, Carolyn Gibson; nephew, Michael Wayne Gibson; and numerous other family and friends. Condolences may be sent to the family at www. owensandbrumley.com
Tokyo

Nissan Motor Co. is investing 237 billion yen ($2.2 billion) to take a 34 percent stake in scandal-ridden Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in what Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn said is "a win-win" deal intended to repeat the success of his Nissan-Renault alliance.

Ghosn appeared with Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Osamu Masuko at a hastily called joint news conference Thursday in Yokohama, where Nissan is headquartered. Under the deal, Nissan becomes the top investor in Mitsubishi Motors. Mitsubishi group companies  Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, trading company Mitsubishi Corp. and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ  will continue to hold stakes in the automaker, but they have agreed to support the alliance with Nissan, both sides said.

Mitsubishi Motors has been rocked recently by a scandal over cheating to inflate mileage for minicar models. Reporters peppered Ghosn with questions about whether he was worried the scandal may grow.

"This is a breakthrough transaction and a win-win for both Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors. It creates a dynamic new force in the automotive industry that will cooperate intensively and generate sizeable synergies," said Ghosn, the Brazilian-born Frenchman who engineered Nissan's alliance with Renault, which began in 1999.

Adding Mitsubishi will be a plus in sharing platforms, purchasing and technology, and Nissan will benefit from its strengths in Southeast Asia, Ghosn said. The automakers will maintain separate identities, brands and dealerships, Ghosn and Masuko said.

Under the deal, Nissan will purchase 506.6 million newly issued Mitsubishi Motors shares for 468.52 yen a share. The deal is still subject to a formal signing of an agreement and regulators' and shareholders' approvals, but is expected to close by the end of the year. Nissan nominees will join the board at Mitsubishi Motors, including the chairman of the board.

When asked whether partnering with a company prone to fraud might be risky, Ghosn said he trusted Masuko.

"Obviously the problem is very serious, we don't take it lightly. At the same time there are solutions, not only to respond to this problem but also to avoid these kinds of problems," Ghosn told The Associated Press after the news conference.

"And we think Masuko-san from the beginning has been very transparent with us, looking very authentically into why this is happening, how it could happen, how can we limit this into the future," he said, using the Japanese honorific "san" to refer to Masuko.

Masuko apologized for the scandal and welcomed the alliance with Nissan.

"This agreement will create long-term value needed for our two companies to progress toward the future," he said.

Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Motors, which makes the Outlander sport-utility vehicle and the i-MiEV electric car, acknowledged last month that it had systematically falsified mileage data for its eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, which were produced for Nissan as the Nissan Dayz and Dayz Roox.
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Green Island

Union leaders representing 41 workers locked out last week at the Honeywell Aerospace steel brake pad factory in Green Island will meet with company officials next week along with a federal mediator to try to resolve their ongoing contract dispute.

Tim Vogt, president of United Auto Workers Local 1508, said he would travel to South Bend, Ind., on Tuesday night and is scheduled to meet with Honeywell and the mediator on Wednesday.

"Them calling us back is better than not calling us at all," Vogt told the Times Union on Friday from the UAW's tent set up on village land across Cohoes Street from the Honeywell factory.

Honeywell told unionized workers at the factory Monday morning that they were being locked out after they rejected the company's most recent contract offer, which includes a 6 percent pay increase over five years. Union members said the offer was rejected because it also included a massive increase in the cost of health care, a freeze of the pension plan and no cost of living increases.

Since then, dozens of workers have been showing up to picket the company outside its locked gates. Honeywell has hired temporary workers that arrive before each shift in vans from an area hotel, picketing workers said.

Honeywell, which dominates the aerospace market for airplane brake pads, also makes carbon brake pads at its South Bend facility. It has also locked out workers there as well. The two factories are covered by the same master contract agreement, and workers soundly rejected the company's last offer during a May 7 vote.

A Honeywell spokesman said the local workers, who are not being paid, will remain locked out until a new contract agreement is in place, despite the one-day talks Wednesday.

The locked-out workers have been doing their best to keep on the picket line, even in bad weather. They are having a family day at the site Saturday.

"They (Honeywell) did one good thing for us," one picketing worker said Friday. "They banded us together."

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
The U.S. has switched on an $800 million (700 million euro) missile defense site in southern Romania Thursday, a move that has infuriated Moscow.

"Both the U.S. and NATO have made it clear the system is not designed for or capable of undermining Russia's strategic deterrence capability," U.S. assistant secretary of state Frank Rose told a news conference in Bucharest Wednesday.

"Russia has repeatedly raised concerns that the U.S. and NATO defense are directed against Russia and represent a threat to its strategic nuclear deterrent. Nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

Rose instead cited Iran as the targeted threat.

"Iran continues to develop, test and deploy a full range of ballistic missile capabilities and those capabilities are increasing in range and accuracy," he said.
Rome

Pope Francis said Thursday that he will set up a commission to study whether women can serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, revealing an openness to re-examining the church's long-held insistence on an all-male clergy.

His move was hailed as a breakthrough by Catholic women who have clamored for years to be given a more prominent role in the church, and who cite research showing that women in the church's early history served as deacons.

But the idea will face stiff resistance from those who warn that ordaining women as deacons is the first step toward ordaining female priests  which recent popes have ruled out, citing church doctrine.

The pope's comments were made during an assembly of leaders of women's religious orders, and were consistent with his style: a seemingly off-the-cuff remark that opened a broad horizon of possibilities.

During a discussion at the Vatican on Thursday, which at one point touched on the role female deacons played during the early years of the church, Francis was asked about the possibility of an official commission to study the issue. His response was, in essence, "Why not?"

"Constituting an official commission that might study the question?" Francis mused out loud, according to the National Catholic Reporter. "I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement."

"I accept," the pope said later. "It seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well."

Deacons are ordained ministers in the Roman Catholic Church, and in many parishes they perform many of the roles entrusted to priests.

They are permitted to preach at Mass, perform baptisms, witness marriages and conduct funeral services. Deacons must be men over age 35, and they may be married (though if a deacon's wife dies, he is expected to remain celibate).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops says more than 13,000 men are serving in what is called the "permanent diaconate."

This is not the first time the issue of female deacons has come up. In 1995, an American group of canon law experts said that ordaining women as deacons in the church would be in keeping with Catholic theology and past practice, though the Vatican never acted on that recommendation. The topic has continued to be discussed, however.

Groups that have pushed for women to play a greater role in the church welcomed the pope's declarations, as an important  if embryonic  step.

The Rev. James Bretzke, a professor of theology at Boston College, said in a statement, "I can't underscore enough how groundbreaking this is for the church."

Bretzke, who, like Francis, is a member of the Jesuit religious order, added, "If women can be ordained as deacons, then this is going to weaken  not destroy, but weaken significantly  the argument that women absolutely are incapable of being ordained as priests. So this is opening more than a crack in the door."
Mineola

A veteran Long Island prosecutor who was a longtime supporter of a now-convicted former police chief is refusing calls by a top elected official to resign.

In an extraordinary news conference held outside District Attorney Thomas Spota's office, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said Spota's office was the center of a "culture of corruption" and urged his fellow Democrat to resign.

Bellone alleged Spota's office has failed to prosecute possible criminal activity uncovered in wiretaps and had blocked federal law enforcement from assisting with the investigation into the unsolved murders of 10 people, whose remains have been dumped over the years near a highway leading to Jones Beach.

Bellone said if Spota refuses to step down, he will ask Gov. Andrew Cuomo to remove the district attorney from office. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi declined to comment.

The governor has the authority under the state Constitution to remove a public official such as a district attorney, but such actions can only be taken after a hearing.

Spota, who has been district attorney since 2002, vehemently denied any wrongdoing at a press conference following Bellone's allegations. He said Bellone's actions were fueled by a "vendetta" because Spota has prosecuted allies of the county executive.

"I have absolutely no reason why I should resign or be removed from office," Spota told reporters.

The prosecutor also has been under fire for recommending that Bellone appoint James Burke as the county police chief. Burke had worked 10 years as an investigator in Spota's office before being appointed police chief in 2012. Burke pleaded guilty this year to assaulting a man who had stolen items from the police chief's vehicle.

Burke admitted in federal court to threatening to kill the man after he stole a bag of embarrassing personal items, including sex toys. He is awaiting sentencing.

Burke had been disciplined in 1995 after being found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer for twice failing to safeguard his weapon, engaging in sexual acts in police vehicles and having a sexual relationship with "a convicted felon known to be actively engaged in criminal conduct including the possession and sale of illegal drugs, prostitution and larceny."

Spota, who has known Burke since he testified as a teenager in a 1980s case involving the murder of a young boy by a group of neighborhood kids, said he had no inkling the chief would later assault a suspect.
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Russian officials took clean urine from athletes months before the Sochi Olympics, and used soda containers and baby bottles passed through a hole in the wall of a testing lab to evade doping tests, the former head of Russian's anti-doping laboratory told The New York Times.

Grigory Rodchenkov now in California and working with a filmmaker on a documentary gave the newspaper details of the elaborate scheme, which he said involved dozens of Russian athletes and officials and replaced tainted samples for at least three gold medalists.

The International Olympic Committee called Thursday's report "very worrying," saying Olympic officials would work with the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate.

Russia's track team is currently banned from international competition over doping allegations, and the sport's governing body will decide next month whether the team should be allowed to compete in Rio.

Rodchenkov's details add more evidence that the Russian government was deeply involved in attempts to cheat and cover up the doping.

He told the newspaper he was ordered to replace athletes' tainted samples with clean urine so that they would not fail drug tests. At night, when the laboratory in Sochi was not under observation, he said he passed tainted samples through a concealed hole in the wall to a man he believed to be an employee of the Russian security services.

The supposedly tamper-proof bottles were allegedly opened, filled with clean urine supplied by the athletes months before, and replaced. Samples are supposed to be anonymous during testing, but Rodchenkov said that athletes took pictures of doping forms so that the containers could be identified later.

The newspaper named three Russian athletes who won four gold medals in Sochi, saying their names were listed on a sheet of cheaters Rodchenkov provided. The spreadsheet was not published and The Associated Press could not verify it.

Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko defended the Russian athletes.

"They are outstanding athletes and the accusations are absurd," Mutko told the state Tass news agency. "The accusations against them are absolutely groundless. We will study this article and will decide how to react."

Rodchenkov also claimed he provided some athletes with a cocktail of steroids mixed with liquor, using Scotch whisky for men and vermouth for women.

"These allegations are very detailed and very worrying and we ask the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate immediately," the IOC said in a statement. "Based on the findings of a WADA inquiry the IOC will not hesitate to act with is usual policy of zero tolerance for doping and defending the clean athletes."

The IOC's medical director Dr. Richard Budgett said earlier Thursday, prior to the publication of the story, that the IOC was considering retesting samples from the Sochi Olympics. But according to Rodchenkov, the tainted urine was flushed down the toilet after it was replaced.

After a World Anti-Doping Agency commission accused Rodchenkov of a role in a separate doping cover-up in track and field in a report published in November, he resigned and moved to the U.S. Documentary filmmaker Bryan Fogel arranged his interviews with the newspaper.

Calls to two numbers for Rodchenkov were not answered Thursday.
CNN on Thursday released a group photo of the staff of a North Korean restaurant in Ningbo, China who made headlines by defecting en masse to South Korea last month.

Family members of three of the workers who defected made the photo public on Wednesday, apparently under pressure from North Korean propaganda authorities.
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Albany

For local officials and businesses, the third annual Port Industry Day on Thursday at the Port of Albany was an opportunity to see the more than $100 million in improvements completed or planned and to hear about the port's strategy for the next two decades.

The port is in the early stages of developing a strategic growth and assessment plan as it determines what role it can play in future freight and commodity shipments.

Raed El-Farhan, senior vice president for engineering and planning group Louis Berger, outlined its work at the port. Its report is expected to be completed in August.

One of the port's assets, he said, was the supporting infrastructure. "We were struck by how well-organized, and well kept, this port was," El-Farhan said. "This is a development ready to happen."

He said the four R's were all present: rivers, rail, roads and runways, also citing the nearby interstates, the canal system and an airport just 15 minutes away. "There's no congestion," he said. "There's space to grow."

At least some of that growth is expected to come from the opening of the widened Panama Canal, which will bring larger cargo ships to major East Coast ports.

Albany would fill a role as a "helper" port handling overflow from New York City and other ports, and might also fill a role as a distribution hub, given its network of roads and railways.

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The port has spent the past several years replacing wharves and is building a warehouse where "heavy lift" cargo such as massive steam turbines and generators produced by General Electric Co. in Schenectady can be temporarily stored.

Other cargoes handled at the port include grain, scrap metal, crude oil and other petroleum products and wood pulp.

The port's tenants employ 1,400 people with an annual payroll of $80 million, or an average of just over $57,000 per person.

eanderson@timesunion.com  518-454-5323
Mother's Day is over and we have a week before graduations start. This is a good weekend to treat yourself. Here is a list of wine recommendations from local wine stores to try. Maybe you'll find a new summer favorite.
For the longest time, when we ate Indian food in my house, it came from takeout containers. I was downright afraid to tackle the long, complicated recipes I found and instead picked up the phone, letting the pros do it for us. When the brown bags were carried in the front door and the spicy, rich aroma filled the kitchen, there would be cheers and rejoicing from all.

With the containers spread around our table and kids digging in, I would carefully inspect each dish. Then I would slowly bite into a steamy bowl of lentils or creamy, spicy lamb, savoring every flavor. I loved to eat it all, but could no longer just gulp it down without knowing exactly what went into those distinctive dishes.

Looking at Indian food, you see thick, fragrant sauces coating bites of meat and vegetables. Dreamy, soft lentils are flecked with bits of herbs and spices and give the most incredible aroma. How could there be such complexity, I wondered, in one bite? It went on like that until I couldn't stand it any longer. It's just flavors, I reasoned. Flavors layered together.

Determined to figure it all out, I turned into a crazed food detective, cooking Indian food night after night, trying to sort it all out. I read blogs and cookbooks and watched many Indian cooking videos. After a week of this, my family  which doesn't agree on much, but unanimously loves Indian food, begged for mercy.

More Information http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/Ethnic-101-Easy-Moroccan-recipes-6247116.php http://www.timesunion.com/living/article/Ethnic-101-Easy-Ethiopian-recipes-6333257.php http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-features/article/Ethnic-101-Easy-Lebanese-recipes-6611194.php http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-features/article/Ethnic-101-Simple-flavorful-dishes-of-Spain-6440867.php http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-features/article/Ethnic-101-Peruvian-peppers-open-door-to-6556983.php See More Collapse

My detective work went something like this: I started by looking at the most basic ingredients of a dish like lamb curry, and thinking of it as layers. First layer: lamb. Check. I can do lamb. The next layer would be onions and garlic, adding bite and serving as a base for the sauce. Next is fresh ginger, the citrusy, spicy undertone in many Indian dishes. Then tomatoes, which give the dish an earthy sweetness.

The most complicated of all layers is the spices. When making an Indian curry, I find it easiest to pull out all the spices and measure each into one bowl. Then I pour the bowl of spices into my recipe. That way, I am not frantically trying to measure while the first spice burns in the pan. There is often a creamy layer, using coconut milk, buttermilk or yogurt. Finally, cilantro is stirred in, adding a bright, fresh flavor to the rich spices and protein.

In a nutshell: the more layers you add, the more complex (and delicious) your Indian dish will be. I'll add a note here about spice. There are Indian dishes out there that are so spicy one bite brings tears and the sensation that your mouth and throat are on fire. It doesn't have to be this way. Adding a small amount of heat (I like cayenne for its mellow edge) will balance the other spices and creamy layers.

Diverse spices are what make any Indian dish distinctive. There are so many, but by stocking just a few in your cabinet, a decent layer of complex spice can be achieved. The most important is cumin. Cumin has a strong, earthy scent and a warm flavor. Turmeric is a beautiful golden orange color and adds a slightly bitter taste. Paprika is a brilliant red and has a sweet, rich flavor. These three spices work together to create a basic spice layer that has warmth and depth.

Bring out even more depth and flavor by adding them to a dry pan and gently toasting them over a low flame.

The recipes here are a few of our favorites. Raita is a condiment and an essential accompaniment. With the many flavors and spices in any Indian dish, raita is cool and cleanses the palate. I like it thick, so this recipe calls for Greek yogurt. Use plain regular yogurt if you like a thinner condiment.

The lamb curry can serve as your most basic Indian recipe. Substitute beef or chicken thighs. Add more cayenne if you like. It's a lovely dish to have in your repertoire. Serve this curry to guests, and they will swoon.

Cooked lentils with ginger and a few simple spices are called dal, and are one the finest things to eat, anywhere. Served piping hot, dal is at once soft and creamy with hints of ginger and mustard seed. Each bite melts in your mouth and serves as a perfect sidekick to the more spiced curry. My kids like to ask questions like, "If you could only have one more meal, what would it be?" Answers vary, from ice cream to cheeseburgers. Thai noodles are always mentioned. For me, it's the same answer each time: rich, creamy dal. Dal is the ultimate comfort food.

With these simple dishes, you can lay a foundation for learning how to cook a decent Indian meal. Start with these spices and uncomplicated recipes, then move on to more complex dishes. With a small amount of time and effort, you can create delicious Indian food at home  no takeout boxes required.

Caroline Barrett is a freelance food writer for the Times Union.

Raita

Makes 4 to 6 servings

 teaspoon cumin powder

 cucumber, peeled and shredded ( cup)

1 (5.3-ounce) container plain Greek yogurt

Toast cumin powder in a small skillet over low heat until fragrant. Let cool while peeling and shredding the cucumber.

In a small bowl, combine cumin, cucumber and yogurt; stir well to combine. Keep cold until ready to serve.

From Caroline Barrett

Lamb Curry

Makes 6 servings

2 teaspoons turmeric

 teaspoon cayenne

1 tablespoon paprika

2 tablespoons cumin

1 tablespoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons canola oil

1 large white onion, chopped

7 to 8 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 (2-inch) piece of ginger, peeled and grated

3 pounds stew lamb meat

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups crushed tomatoes

2 to 3 cups water

1  cups buttermilk (or whole milk stirred with 1 tablespoon white vinegar)

Chopped cilantro, to taste

Place a large pot over a medium-low flame. Add all the spices and stir, until very fragrant, 1 minute. Carefully pour in the oil, then add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook until soft but not browned. Season the lamb with salt and add to the pot with the tomatoes and water. Turn up the heat, bringing to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour, or until lamb is very tender. Turn off the heat and allow to cool a bit.

To add the buttermilk, pour into a large bowl and stir in a cupful of the warm curry liquid (doing it this way prevents the buttermilk from curdling in the hot liquid.) Slowly add the buttermilk-curry mixture into the lamb. Stir the cilantro in and serve hot with rice.

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From Caroline Barrett

Coconut-Ginger Dal

Makes 6 servings

 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

 teaspoon cayenne

2 tablespoons canola oil

 white onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated

3 cups red lentils, rinsed

1 can coconut milk

3 cups water, plus more

1 medium tomato, cored and chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Chopped cilantro, to taste

In a medium stockpot, heat the mustard seeds over a medium-low flame until they pop. Add the spices and stir. When the spices are very fragrant, add the oil and quickly add the onion, garlic and ginger. Stir well and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft but not browned.

Add the lentils, coconut milk and water. Bring to a low simmer, cover and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water, 1 cup at a time, to keep the lentils from drying out. Stir in the tomato and salt. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the cilantro and serve hot with rice.

From Caroline Barrett
Chinese fishing boats are pushing deep into South Korean waters and have been spotted trying to fish illegally as far as the mouth of the Han River.

The South Korean Navy and Coast Guard are hamstrung because the waters are so close to North Korea and mostly a neutral area under the jurisdiction of the UN Command.

Chinese fishing boats are getting more brazen every year as fish stock deplete, and have been crossing the Northern Limit Line, the de-facto maritime border with North Korea, to fish in waters near Ganghwa Island, the Navy said Thursday.

A military spokesman here said, "Only a few Chinese fishing boats came into these waters once in a while last year. But this yea there are dozens of them.

Since the blue crab season began in late April, Chinese fishing boats have been encroaching on South Korean waters almost daily. They seem to be going further and further south because stocks are dwindling and competition is growing.

"We presume that the North Korean military is letting Chinese trawlers come near the estuary of the Han River in return for bribes, the spokesman added.
Canadian author Lorna Spargo, whose mother, Anne Kelly, hailed from Borrisokane, has written about the kindness of strangers as the residents of Fort McMurray cope with the blazing inferno that has destroyed many parts of their city, leaving thousands homeless as buildings were razed to the ground. Here is her article, which appears in this week's Tipperary Star.

I was already in Edmonton so missed the craziness of packing a quick bag of essentials.

Our family made it to safety without incident, but with the support of the oil company officials who housed those directed north to the work camps and then brought in fuel to send vehicles on their way south, or have covered the flight costs for others on company jets.

Many families have lost every possession they had and I cannot begin to grasp their anguish. Our community was already experiencing tense times. For a large percentage, the devastation of this past week was the final drop in the bucket. I pray for them to find some peace and solace along the way.

Our deputy fire chief lost his 15 year old daughter and her 19 year old cousin in a fiery crash as they exited the city. As he was battling the fire on our behalf, his own heart was wrenched from him. This does not seem to be making the news, hopefully out of respect to the family and not because it was lost in the rest of the events. My heart is crushed to hear of the passing of these two young people. Their family's heartbreak is devastating. To share my non-"story" would be grandstanding

On a more general note, this tragedy has shown Fort McMurrayites and Canadians, the true meaning of being Canadian. You only need to follow a Fort McMurray resident on Facebook to realize the amazing outpouring of kindness and generosity that exists in our world.

People from across north eastern Alberta got into vehicles loaded with food, water, jerrycans of fuel, and headed north to meet the oncoming traffic. They stationed themselves by the side of the road and distributed their supplies, to the best of my knowledge, for free. These gestures were an unorganized and spontaneous outpouring of "neighbour helping neighbour".

People from across the province are announcing on social media that they have space for strangers, their families, and their pets.

I have a friend who couldn't get her vehicle running and her husband was out of town. When she got desperate, she collected her teenager, toddler, cat, and a bag. They walked out to the nearest main road where strangers opened their vehicle and let them in. It took hours to get just past the worst of the fire and they camped overnight on the side of the road. These new-found friends shared their food, gave one of their tents to my friend's family to use, and squeezed themselves into the other one.

Eventually, my friend and her husband were reunited.

When families arrived in Edmonton, 430 km south, restaurants and stores were offering meals and merchandise at reduced or no cost. Strangers handed money to evacuees and wished them well, offering any help they could.

Even people who have lost everything, turned around and provided what supplies and support they could to others.

We were lucky and blessed. The men and women who stayed behind to fight "The Beast", as the fire has been called, in intense heat and dangerous conditions, and search for any remaining people or animals are the ones who have stories. We do not.

Our story is a non-story. But if it sparks an interest in looking deeper into the "kindness of strangers" kinds of events popping up all over the province then it's a good thing. The world needs to be reminded that it is important to be kind and gentle with each other.
The Regional Women in Business Network Event took place at Bunratty Castle Hotel and was organized by the Local Enterprise Offices of Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary, Cork North and West.

The event provided a backdrop for women in business to gather and network, sharing their own experiences, peer to peer, learning new skill sets and receiving advice about key aspects of business from experienced guest speakers and network facilitators.

Head of Local Enterprise Clare Padraic McElwee opened the event: This is a good place to do business. Just go for it - start up a business, work hard and get results. Events like this are organized to support businesswomen in the region in their endeavours and create an opportunity to learn new skills, bring them to practice and explore collaborative business opportunities. Topics covered during the event ranged from how to sell, to developing a PR Strategy and creating awareness and perfect pitching.

Leading advisor on reputation management and crisis handling to corporations, Governments and individuals - Terry Prone spoke about the development of a PR Strategy that will create awareness of a business in the public area. She explained the key elements of a developing and implementing a successful PR strategy.

The second speaker of the day Catherine Moonan, Managing Director of Communication Matters introduced everyone to the art of the Perfect Pitching.

During the breakout session facilitated by Catherine attendees put their skills into practice and made their 60 second business pitches. Guest speaker Julie Currid, a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Initiafy, currently employing 25 people across three offices in Dublin, New York and Toronto, discussed international business opportunities and focused on selling techniques and building a sales process. She spoke about different sales approaches and different selling methods. She underlined the importance of market research with particular attention on lead generation.

A panel Discussion took place in the afternoon and featured five inspirational entrepreneurs from the region, including Maura Hunter of MH Designs LTD, Karen Pleass from Swinky Doo, Maura Kearney from Kearney's Homebaking, Tipperary based Irish Fashion Designer Marion Murphy Cooney and Maeve Sheridan from Western Herd Brewing Company.

The brainstorming forum highlighted key areas for the future in helping women to start, build, develop and grow their businesses. Plenty of valuable advice was given during the discussion.

Key note speaker Isolde Johnson, Co-Founder of The Cool Bean Company presented The Story of Cool Beans, an exciting, agile and innovative new Food Start Up which has been awarded Silver at the Blas na hEireann Awards and Best Ready Meal at the Quality Food.

Most of our ideas are from our customers, said Isolde during the presentation, highlighting the importance of the research in developing the product and developing the business.

Today's event has been really useful and informative. It is great hearing of what's happening out there within different industries. And peer to peer networking is really worthwhile, said Edwina Gore from Gore Communications who attended the event.

Women in business who attended the event, enjoyed the motivational and educational talks, workshops and networking opportunities during the event. There are amazing business opportunities available in the region.

Further information about the future events available online at www.localenterprise.ie.
Over the decades there has been a strong tradition of staging musicals in Presentation Secondary School, Thurles.

In fact, when students reminisce on their school days, their main memories often focus on the excitement of the shows, the fun of the rehearsals, the nervousness of the first performance and the sadness when the curtains close on the final night. Mrs. Pauline Dwan, ( Director/ Producer,) and Margaret Butler Doyle, (Musical Director), worked together for many years with numerous casts of talented students to earn the school a wonderful reputation for shows of the highest standards.

The current production team is comprised of terrific talent from within the teaching staff, namely Trisha McElgunn, Brid Wallace, Edel Harding, Eimear Harrold, Marie Kennedy, Deborah Harty, Mairead Hackett, the Home Economics teachers and a host of hard-working teachers, who work voluntarily to help bring school musicals to a whole new level. Well, those levels have been well and truly smashed now with a new summit having been reached. The Lion King was a truly magnificent production and has been acknowledged as such by all.

May 5th will be forever etched in the minds of the Presentation School Community. On this day the school travelled to Dublin to perform the opening scene of The Lion King in the Bord Gais theatre. When the school received the news that they were shortlisted for The Best School Musical Award the entire school community was ecstatic! The cast and production team travelled to Bord Gais on April 6th to practice for the upcoming event. It was then the school realised what they had achieved. Win or lose-this was a moment to be cherished! Bord Gais funded a workshop for the four schools shortlisted and a member of their staff visited the school on April 25th to facilitate a workshop on music, song and dance.

There were 13 cateogories with 64 schools shortlisted. The judges spent six days looking at the DVDs of all the shows (250 in all). Bord Gais have organised the Bord Gais Energy Student Theatre Awards for the last two years. The Presentation figured each year. In year one Enya O'Connell Husseys account of the school show Cats was shortlisted for Best Dramatic Critique and the schools drama group You, me and Mrs. Jones was shortlisted for Best Overall School Play in year two.

This time round the cast of The Lion King had to perform a number on stage as selected by the judges. The Presentation performed the opening scene  The Circle of Life. The standard was amazing as stated by Dave Kirwan Managing Director of Bord Gais.

When the Pres students came on stage in their colourful costumes, faces painted and singing the Circle of Life, the reaction was instant -cheers and applause were immediate! The audience loved it.

The judges selected the Presentation Show because of the incredible talent displayed, the high standard of performance throughout the entire show, the colours displayed in costumes and set, the high musical quality and evidence of excellent teamwork. When the presenters announced the Presentation as the Winners of the The Best School Musical in Ireland, the theatre erupted. Parents, teachers and students jumped to their feet to acknowledge the wonderful achievement. The Presidents wife, Sabina Higgins, congratulated the production team and the cast and there have been already 20,000 hits on Facebook !

Beidh cuimhne go deo acu ar an ocaid iontach seo go deo na ndeor!!
[May 12, 2016] City of Los Angeles to Tap into CENIC's CalREN, California's High-Speed Research Internet Backbone

As the first large city government to join CENIC, California's ultra-fast 100Gbps research and education network, Los Angeles will build stronger digital connections to California's innovators, researchers, educators, and students. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced that the City of Los Angeles has signed an agreement to connect the City's databases and computers to an Internet network 1000 times faster than available previously, sponsored by the CENIC community, at no additional cost to Los Angeles taxpayers. The agreement with CENIC (Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) will allow the City to plug into the California Research and Education Network (CalREN). This connection will enable high-speed delivery of the City's data and services to California's K-20 students, educators, academic researchers, and 10,000 member institutions including LA-area institutions like Caltech, UCLA, USC, Cal State LA, and the Los Angeles Community Colleges. Following the connection to the City of Los Angeles, CENIC plans to enable other cities' open data initiatives, connecting them to CENIC's research community and to one another, creating a platform for sharing and analyzing data, and enabling the exchange of best practices and new applications. "The City of Los Angeles is already unmatched in digital transparency, but speed and accessibility are just as important in the 21st century," said Mayor Garcetti. "This agreement means that young people, students of all ages, some of the world's leading thinkers and educators can now access the City's digital resources up to 1,000 times faster. When we open our data to the public, and commit ourselves to making it more easily available, we create limitless potential for innovation, discovery, and new understanding." Los Angeles today publishes more than 1,000 datasets on its two open data portals (http://data.lacity.org and http://geohub.lacity.org), comprising one of the largest collections of urban data ever created. Other governments, companies, and individuals use the information every day. Examples include the Clan Streets Index http://www.cleanstreetsla.org/cleanstat/ (a quarterly measure of the cleanliness of every city street), public safety and transportation data, sustainability measures, economic assets and many other types of information that make the City more accessible and transparent.



Researchers use the data for academic analyses, while companies incorporate public information in their apps and services. Angelenos increasingly connect to the City's data and services through the Internet, whether through Google's (News - Alert) Waze to avoid construction delays or through MyLA311 to report urban issues. "This peering partnership between CENIC and the City of Los Angeles represents a unique opportunity to pair the sophisticated research and analysis being done at California's great universities with the massive data being generated in one of our country's most progressive Smart Cities, Los Angeles. This will lead to advances in urban living that have not been possible before," emphasized William Clebsch, Associate Vice President for IT Services, Stanford University, and Chair of the CENIC Board of Directors.

CENIC's Charter Associates are part of the world's largest education system; they include the California K-12 system, California Community Colleges, the California State University system, California's Public Libraries, the University of California system, Stanford, Caltech, and USC. CENIC also provides connectivity to leading-edge institutions and industry research organizations around the world, serving the public as a catalyst for a vibrant California. CENIC is advancing the Smart Cities movement through high capacity collection, use, and sharing of city-scale data and information technology. "We are excited to connect the City of Los Angeles to the CENIC networks, the first of a new "Big Cities, Big Data" collaborations within California. Los Angeles is among the world's most innovative 'Smart Cities' and a leader in the use of technology to address critical concerns of governance, economic development, environmental sustainability and social justice," said Louis Fox, CENIC President & CEO. Enabled by CENIC's 100 gigabit network and the world class research capacity provided by California's universities and colleges, advanced strategic policies and programs for city-scale interventions have the capacity to vastly improve the lives of the people in cities, create sustainable urban environments, and support the expected dramatic growth in urban environments. "Such a progressive move, the City of LA and CENIC joining networks to unleash the power of open data and the innovation of the entire educational community! You name it - smart energy, smart water, smart manufacturing, transportation, health, parking, safety, etc. all make up the Smart City," said Jim Davis, Vice Provost, Information Technology and Chief Academic Technology Officer at UCLA. "Imagine the new insights, ideas and opportunities drawing on the creativity of the city and our students, teachers, scholars and researchers throughout the State." The City of Los Angles and CENIC's new model for a Big Cities, Big Data partnerships brings new opportunities for collaboration between all of California's cities, schools, colleges, and universities. Ultimately, this collaboration will extend to all California cities - large and small, urban and rural - a platform for a new California Communities Data-Sharing project. "CENIC has been connecting California to the world for over 20 years. This announcement amplifies CENIC's role as a catalyst enabling research and education throughout the state. As we enter the era of "smart cities" we can expect to see more collaborations between municipalities and regional research and education networks. CENIC is once again leading the way by providing a robust platform for innovation," said Rich Fagen, Chief Information Officer at Caltech. About CENIC  www.cenic.org CENIC connects California to the world-advancing education and research statewide by providing the world-class network essential for innovation, collaboration, and economic growth. This nonprofit organization operates the California Research & Education Network (CalREN), a high-capacity network designed to meet the unique requirements of over 20 million users, including the vast majority of K-20 students together with educators, researchers, and other vital public-serving institutions. CENIC's Charter Associates are part of the world's largest education system; they include the California K-12 system, California Community Colleges, the California State University system, California's Public Libraries, the University of California system, Stanford, Caltech, and USC. CENIC also provides connectivity to leading-edge institutions and industry research organizations around the world, serving the public as a catalyst for a vibrant California. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512006653/en/

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[May 13, 2016] 'Ground Breaking' Mobile Payments Ecosystem To Boost Financial Inclusion In South Africa

KIGALI, Rwanda, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM -- In keeping with the concept of 'Connecting Africa's Resources through Digital Transformation' at today's World Economic Forum on Africa event in Kigali, Rwanda, Patrick Ngabonziza the Chairman and Founder of MobiCash announced a game-changing approach to financial inclusion in Africa. MobiCash and Boloro are launching their 'ground breaking' mobile payments ecosystem in the townships of South Africa with Big Save Group, one of the largest wholesalers operating within South African townships and servicing tens of thousands of small scale spaza shops. The MobiCash cashless platform brings ease of access for banking services and electronic payments to the South African population at large. MobiCash's partnership with Boloro, a fast-growing mobile payments network brand, allows small scale retail businesses to offer secure, consumer friendly, handset agnostic, merchant initiated payments using MobiCash multi-factor biometric authentication together with Boloro's secure pin authentication that uses Network Initiated USSD messaging. This ground-breaking project is a first of its kind in South Africa. "We are proud to collaborate with our partners to bring a holistic ecosystem that not only has the potential to boost small business but also has the potential to impact entire communities as we have seen in our home country Rwanda," said Patrick Ngabonziza. Big Save is rolling out MobiCash & Boloro across its thousands of spaza community members, accelerating financial inclusion and financial interoperability to formerly disenfranchised businesses and communities. "Our challenge has always been cash replacement in a cost-effective way, and I am happy to see that Boloro South Africa with MobiCash have been able to devise a financial model and present an ecosystem network that we will be rolling out across our entire spaza member community," said Johnny Jardim, Financial Director of the Big Save Group, "which I believe will positively impact not only the small business owner and their family but also the community that they serve." Boloro's retail acceptance application of MobiCash's digital money is the first step in the strategy to boost financial inclusion. Other acceptance applications such as conveniently paying for taxi fares and secure online payments will boost the payments ecosystem even faster. "Delivering financial dignity to every human being is a personal goal," said Ann Camarillo, co-founder, President & CEO of Boloro Global, "and I believe, with our partners, we can democratize financial access for disenfranchised communities, offer secure payments and resolve the pain-points associated with carrying cash." First roll-outs are expected this quarter with aggressive plans to ramp-up reach and impact over the next several months as more stakeholders join the ecosystem to offer financial services for the population at large. About MobiCash MobiCash, headquartered in Hong Kong, is a cashless financial platform committed to bringing innovation, convenience and easy access to banking and payment services to everyone. This includes those not served by financial institutions regardless of their financial situation; thus, deepening the financial sector. MobiCash has made tremendous effort in the financial digital space through offering its robust and dynamic mobile banking platform in 13 African countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, DRC, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. The MobiCash mobile banking platform is engineered and developed to harness and sustain the various economic elements that play a role in the supply chain delivery within key sectors such as education, agriculture, retail and commerce, travel and tourism, construction as well as fiscus focused solutions for tax collections. MobiCash solution uses multi-factor authentication mechanisms such as; fingerprint, Near Field Communication (NFC) Cards and Voice biometric technology prior to authorizing any funds transfer. For more information, visit www.mobicashonline.com About Boloro: Boloro is a next-generation mobile payments network offering consumers the ability to securely pay for goods and services using any kind of mobile phone and any source of funds. Boloro replaces cash and offers financial services to the many unbanked in emerging markets thus accelerating financial inclusion and access. Boloro delivers financial dignity to the population at large. Boloro South Africa is headquartered in Centurion, Gauteng and is extending the reach of consumer friendly mobile payments services in larger cities, townships and rural communities and onto the continent of Africa. Boloro Global Limited is headquartered in New York City, Boloro operates in South Asia, Middle East and Africa and soon launching in Latin America, Caribbean and East Asia. For more information, visit www.boloro.com.







Media Contacts:

Donald Mudenge Brian Mather [email protected] [email protected]



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[May 13, 2016] Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol 2016

Michigan's premier biosciences industry trade organization, MichBio, presents the Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol in Lansing, Michigan on Thursday, May 19th, 2016. Industry leaders will gather to advance a policy agenda for growing Michigan's bio-industry through legislative outreach efforts. Testimony will be presented before two key committees - House Workforce and Talent Development Committee (10:30 - 11 a.m.), and Senate Economic Development and International Investment Committee - on the strength and diversity of Michigan's bioscience industry, its competitive status, and how it contributes to Michigan's economy, creating jobs for today and for the future. Legislators and policy staff are invited to attend a lunch presentation on the make-up of Michigan's bio-industry, its role in the statewide economy and policies needed to improve competitiveness. The presentation will be held at the offices of Government Consulting Services, Inc. (GCSI) at 2nd Floor, 120 N Washington Square, Lansing MI from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. In addition, bio-industry representatives will meet with key legislative leadership and relevant legislative offices throughout the day. "Michigan has a rich pedigree in the bio-industry and is home to over 1700 bioscience companies, institutions and organizations, including many global brands," commented Stephen Rapundalo, PhD, president and CEO of MichBio. "Almost 200,00 individuals are employed directly or secondarily in the bio-industry. So, it's imperative that legislators and policymakers understand how the bio-industry impacts Michigan's economy and health of its citizens. We're a major economic driver already, and have all the ingredients to be a national and global bioscience leader if we harness growth strategically in public-private partnership."



The Michigan Bio-Industry Roadmap for Success, a statewide strategic plan that lays out a vision for economic growth, sustainability and competitiveness will be distributed to legislators during event. Key priorities outlined in the plan include: 1. Developing a favorable business climate with value-based policies and resources;

2. Enhancing Michigan's risk-capital market for company growth; 3. Implementing consistent economic development and branding initiatives specific to the bio-industry; 4. Seeking greater support to develop skilled talent and workforce; 5. A long-term legislative commitment to move a growth agenda. MichBio appreciates the support of the Michigan Biosciences Legislative Caucus, a bipartisan, bicameral body formed in 2007 whose membership is open to any legislator interested in Michigan's bio-industry. Current co-chairs consist of Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker (R-26), Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-18), Rep. Sam Singh (D-69) and Rep. Jim Tedder (R-43). The Biosciences Caucus uses education, communication, and outreach as tools to discuss, promote, and formulate potential policies to help grow the state's bio-industry. Caucus co-chairs will welcome legislative colleagues at the Bioscience Day lunch presentation. The Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol is free for MichBio members. The event begins with a staging and networking breakfast at GCSI beginning at 8:30am. MichBio will schedule 1:1 meetings with district offices for bio-industry attendees. In addition, attendees will participate in the committee hearings and lunch presentation. The Biosciences Day is a unique and not-be-missed opportunity for industry representatives to engage with decision-makers on behalf of their institutions and the statewide bio-industry. MichBio is an organization dedicated to driving the growth of Michigan's bio-industry through education, business support and advocacy. The 2016 Michigan Biosciences Day at the Capitol is generously sponsored by MedImmune and Pfizer. For more information, please visit: michbio.org View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005817/en/

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[May 12, 2016] SES Enables Danish Defence Wideband Global Satcom System Connectivity

SES (News - Alert) S.A. (NYSE Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) today announced it will provide two anchor stations for the Danish Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO). This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512006263/en/ From L-R Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director, SES Techcom Services; Norbert Willems, VP Commercial, SES Techcom Services; Kim B. Meier, Captain (Navy) Director Air Force Systems; Ming Yun Shan, Chief Communications Branch, Air Force Systems Division (Photo: Business Wire) Under the agreement, SES Techcom Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, will provision and maintain two Wideband Global Satcom system (WGS) anchor stations - one in X-band and one in Ka-band. This will enable the Danish armed forces to communicate through the system, which provides flexible, high-capacity communications for defence operations through the associated satellite constellation and control systems. SES was awarded the contracts on the basis of its experience in providing satellite communication anchor stations, the associated WGS certification process and overall life-cycle cost criteria. The Danish forces will join other nations partnering with the US in the WGS program and thus offer the US State Department satellite-based communication services to users, including marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and the White House Communications Agency. "Our satellite communication solutions have a proud history of providing high-quality, accurate, real-time information for military applications," said Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director at SES Techcom Services. "It is this proven expertise and competence which led to us being awarded the two contracts, which will enable the Danish military to achieve high data rates and long-haul communications across the globe." Captain (Navy) Kim B. Meier, Director Air Force Systems at DALO added, "We are pleased to partner with SES Techcom Sevices. The new WGS anchor stations will greatly enhance our military's global satellite communications."



Follow us on: Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/SES_Satellites

Facebook (News - Alert): https://www.facebook.com/SES.YourSatelliteCompany YouTube (News - Alert): http://www.youtube.com/SESVideoChannel Blog: http://www.ses.com/blog SES Pictures are available under http://www.ses.com/21472913/Our_Pictures SES White papers are available under http://www.ses.com/18681915/white-papers About SES SES (NYSE Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) is a world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of more than 50 geostationary satellites. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide. SES stands for long-lasting business relationships, high-quality service and excellence in the satellite industry. The culturally diverse regional teams of SES are located around the globe and work closely with customers to meet their specific satellite bandwidth and service requirements. SES holds a participation in O3b Networks, a next generation satellite network combining the reach of satellite with the speed of fibre. Further information available at: www.ses.com About SES Techcom Services SES Techcom Services is a 100% owned affiliate of SES, the world-leading satellite operator with a fleet of over 50 geostationary satellites, providing integrated end-to-end satellite solutions and operational services tailored to customers' needs worldwide. Services offered by SES Techcom Services, which is ISO 9001 certified, include the design and delivery of ground infrastructure and operational services, VSAT networks, broadband connectivity and turnkey teleport solutions. It also develops innovative solutions for e-government, e-health and e-education, as well as applications for worldwide emergency satellite communications. Further information available at: www.ses.com/techcom View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512006263/en/

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Trade with North Korea is expected to be practically zero this year now the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex has been shut down.

According to a 2016 White Paper published by the Unification Ministry on Thursday, last year's cross-border trade volume was a record US$2.7 billion, up 15.9 percent from 2014, thanks to an increase in trade through the industrial park.

But that accounted for 99.6 percent of all cross-border trade since other trade had already been suspended under earlier sanctions in the wake of the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010.

Now the industrial park has been closed there is no trade left, the ministry said.

Since the North's latest nuclear test in January, Seoul has also halted humanitarian aid to the North. Last year, Seoul gave Pyongyang humanitarian aid worth W25.4 billion, up 30 percent from 2014 (US$1=W1,167).


[May 12, 2016] Roadblocks to Making Omnichannel a Reality in Brazil

NEW YORK, May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Roadblocks to Making Omnichannel a Reality in Brazil : The Journey Towards Building and Executing a Successful Omnichannel Strategy Has Just Begun This market insight presents an analysis of the current status of omnichannel strategy adoptions in Brazil, as well as selected successful business cases. It also provides a general view of how companies in Brazil are facing the omnichannel reality; an overview of Brazilian consumer behavior and its impact on interactions with companies; market drivers and restraints, trends, and analysis; growth opportunities; and key takeaways. Detailed insights and analysis of initiatives taken by telecommunications and financial industries is also presented, as is a comparison of Brazilian banks' smartphone app adoption. Key Findings

As a result of the complex political and economic scenario, Brazilian companies are searching for ways to reduce costs, increase productivity, and retain customers. This has led them to gradually adopt digital channels and integrate them with trditional channels.







- Brazilian contact centers historically have been built by acquiring different contact channels from different vendors over time and in isolation. This is one of the main reasons why omnichannel is still incipient in the country.

- Even though banks and telecommunications companies have begun to work on their omnichannel journey by adopting digital and mobile channels, they still need to effectively integrate all channels with the omnichannel concept.

- Important growth opportunities remain to be seized. The high fluctuation of exchange rates offers great potential for companies with local technology, while social media as a customer service channel can leverage the increasing penetration of the Internet on mobile devices. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03829220-summary/view-report.html





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Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/roadblocks-to-making-omnichannel-a-reality-in-brazil-300268153.html SOURCE Reportlinker

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[May 12, 2016] Jiuxian.com Strengthens Direct Import Business to Establish a Presence in France

BORDEAUX, France, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A delegation led by Hao Hongfeng, chairman of China's largest online alcohol retailer Jiuxian.com, paid a visit to Chateau Margaux, one of the five most prestigious Premier Grand Cru Classe in Bordeaux, on May 10, 2016, and was warmly welcomed by the staff of the estate during the visit. Jiuxian.com plans to move forward with its wine development strategy through 2016. By seeking and establishing direct importing partnerships with wineries and major wine companies around the world, including in Australia and in France, while building on the success of its existing business, Jiuxian.com has further strengthened its direct import activities, in a move to provide high quality, sought-after wines across the globe to a wide range of Chinese consumers. Jiuxian.com chairman Hao Hongfeng stated, "Jiuxian.com's wine business is growing steadily. The company has recently launched a seris of online wine promoting events, including 'Jiuxian Wine Festival' and 'Grand Cru Selection' featuring wines from highly reputed brands and Chateaux, offering genuine quality wines to Chinese consumers'."







Every Tuesday, Jiuxian.com launches " Grand Cru Selection " featuring a wine from highly recognized and reputable wine estates such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Palmer, all of which are selected from the top Bordeaux Cru list. Wines of Chateau Margaux were available earlier this year and have proven to be highly popular among Chinese online consumers.

The estate of Chateau Margaux, built during the Napoleonic period, is home to one of the most magnificent buildings in the Medoc region. All the traditional and famous Bordeaux chateaux are located on the left bank in Bordeaux, among which, three are based in Pauillac village, one is based in Pessac village, while Chateau Margaux is located in Margaux village. Chateau Margaux, built by Pierre de Lestonnac in 1590 and owned by the Lestonnac family, is the brightest pearl among Margaux village's famous chateaux.

On the same day, Jiuxian.com's delegation visited one of the major Bordeaux wine companies - CVBG and was warmly received by their General Manager Mathieu Chadronnier.

CVBG trades up to 150 million euros in wines annually. 70 per cent of its wines are exported, a large portion of which are shipped to China.

According to a spokesperson of Jiuxian.com, the company has imported several high-quality yet affordable wines produced in famous chateaux on both the left and right banks of Bordeaux as well as from boutique chateaux through CVBG. These wines will be available on Jiuxian.com very soon.

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[May 12, 2016] Now Available from RS Components, Phoenix SKEDD Direct Wire-to-board Connectors Allow Easy Hand Assembly

HONG KONG, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, is delivering a new concept in PCB connection technology with the introduction of the SKEDD SDC 2,5 series of solderless direct wire-to-board connectors from Phoenix Contact. SKEDD technology from Wurth Elektronik, and further developed by Phoenix, uses push-in spring contacts manufactured to fit PCB hole geometries perfectly. No soldering or press fitting is needed. Wires and cables can be plugged directly into a PCB without the need for a board-mounted header, eliminating an entire connection level and reducing component count. Wire-to-board connections can be made lighter and lower profile, supporting device miniaturisation. Compared to conventional header-and-socket configurations, SKEDD allows greater flexibility in positioning connectors and can reduce process time, cost, nd the risk of manufacturing errors. SKEDD technology was named for its simple tool-free hand assembly: SKEDD translates as it's done in Swedish.



The Phoenix Contact SDC 2,5 range incorporates SKEDD technology in a series of wire-to-board connectors with from 1 to 16 tin plated contacts at 5 mm pitch. Nominal cross-section is 2.5 mm2, nominal current is 12 A, and rated voltage (III/2) is 320 V. Assembly is intuitive thanks to a colour differentiated actuation lever, and connection quality is unaffected by multiple insertions and extractions. A secure locking mechanism between the connector housing and the PCB ensures a robust, reliable, vibration-resistant mechanical connection, even under harsh environmental conditions. An integrated test option provides for quick and easy connector testing.

Sharon Milne, Global Account Manager at RS, commented: "The strong business relationship between RS and Phoenix Contact ensures that customers have the advantage of fast, efficient delivery, direct from stock, on Phoenix products based on the new SKEDD connection technology." "As a key strategic distribution partner, we rely on RS Components to help us bring our latest innovations to the marketplace, offering our customers fast, worldwide access to our newest products," said Benedikt Hagemann, Corporate Channel Partner Management at Phoenix Contact. About RS Components RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, we offer more than 500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping around 44,000 parcels a day. Our products, sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers, include electronic components, electrical, automation and control, and test and measurement equipment, and engineering tools and consumables. Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2015 had revenues of GBP1.27bn. For more information, please visit the website at www.hken.rs-online.com. Editorial Contacts: Vivian Zee

Public Relations & Advertising Manager

RS Components

[email protected]

+852-2610-6472

Matthew Keefe

Customer Marketing Manager

RS Components

[email protected]

+852-2610-6476 Further information is available via these links: Twitter: @RSComponents; @alliedelec; @designsparkRS RS Components on Linkedin

http://www.linkedin.com/company/rs-components Relevant Links: Electrocomponents plc

www.electrocomponents.com RS Components

www.rs-online.com DesignSpark

http://www.designspark.com Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160512/8521603082-a

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160512/8521603082-b

Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150818/8521505364LOGO



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[May 12, 2016] Coolpad Set to Launch Flagship Coolpad Max Smartphone with Unique "Dual Space" Feature

Coolpad's latest smartphones, Coolpad Max and Coolpad Max Lite, have a unique feature that allows users to separate their personal and professional lives but still only using one device JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global smartphone brand Coolpad (HKEx: 2369) today confirmed that it is to launch its flagship Coolpad Max and Coolpad Max Lite smartphones, both equipped with unique Dual Space feature, on May 16, 2016. Many people struggle to find the right balance between their personal and professional lives, sometimes using two phones as a solution. Dual Space helps users to separate their personal and professional lives by allowing them to have two accounts on WhatsApp, Facebook, Line, BBM, and other social media applications on a single device. To protect both personal and professional information, Coolpad has installed encryption technology that ensures any data, contacts, photos, videos, and applications stored on the smartphone can be well protected without worrying about data leakage. "We present this Dual Space feature to bring future technologies to users' fingertips," said Natalie Chen, Branding Director, PT. Coolpad Electronics Indonesia. "With the Dual Space feature, users can feel more secure without worrying about potentialissues such as personal information being leaked."



Coolpad Max is specifically aimed at those who want to keep their personal and professional lives separate, without the need to use two smartphones at once, while the Coolpad Max Lite also offers the same Dual Space feature and comfortable, durable and symmetrical design. Coolpad Max has a 99% pure metal unibody chassis design, and utilizes 54 precise processes and 10 CNC milling to increase durability, while the pinned edge curved glass 2.5 screen is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint coating films.

The Coolpad Max's symmetrical design sees the camera lens placed in the middle of the phone to prevent possible finger coverage when taking a picture. It also houses a symmetrical earpiece speaker plus BOX Integrated Sound Chamber delivering clear sound during phone conversations and clear playback when enjoying music and videos. Coolpad holds 13 patents in developing this Tridimensional Coupling Antenna technology. Ultra-thin 1.4mm dual-antenna lines on the phone chassis offer up to 60% stronger signal transmission and up to 30% better signal reception. About Coolpad Founded in April 1993, Coolpad is one of the top smartphone brands in China, and was established by Yulong Computer Telecommunication Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. ("Yulong Telecommunications"). Yulong Telecommunications released its IPO on the Hong Kong stock market (HKEx) in 2004 under the name China Wireless Technologies group (stock trade code: 2369), which was later changed to Coolpad Group. With six R&D facilities worldwide, the company continues to invest heavily in developing innovative cellular, wireless, and mobile technology products. Coolpad has become one of the top cellular device manufacturers in the world and was recently ranked 7th largest smartphone OEM by IDC. Coolpad has been recognized with many industry accolades, including a recent ranking of #342 on the annual China Fortune 500 companies list by FORTUNE 500 CHINA Magazine in 2013. Coolpad also ranked 47th on the China top 100 Electronics & Info Enterprises list. The company is committed to consistent future success, which we believe will come in the form of building a powerful global brand with the vision of 'Empowering everyone everywhere'.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coolpad-set-to-launch-flagship-coolpad-max-smartphone-with-unique-dual-space-feature-300267672.html

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[May 12, 2016] Extend the Scope, Coverage and Control of HR Shared Services With Neeyamo at 19th HR Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit, 2016

CHENNAI and LOS GATOS, California, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Neeyamo Inc., a leading global provider of HR outsourcing and HR technology services, is thrilled to announce its partnership with Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) as a sponsor at its 19th Annual HR Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit, 2016. The event is set to take place from May 16-18, 2016 at Chicago, IL. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150205/621854 )

Commenting on Neeyamo's participation at the event, Vivek Khanna, Chief Client Partner at Neeyamo, said, "The changing order of global economy is putting immense pressure on businesses and this in turn has profound HR implications. HR Shared Services as such are increasingly focussing on transforming HR service delivery and extracting efficiency." He added, "Neeyamo specializes in supporting Shared Services organization by leveraging multi-process HR global delivery model to further extend the scope, geo coverage and governance control of their HR SSC." Inviting attendees to its Booth No.8 at the exhibition hall, Samuel Isaac, Neeyamo's Head of Marketing, said, "Neeyamo is a leading provider of Long Tail HRO - a first-of-its-kind offering that is exclusively engineered for global organizations with sparse workforce scattered across a long tail of countries. The 'Tail Country Syndrome' is characterized by a catastrophic combination of low headcount, broken processes and Victorian technology." He added, "At the booth, we will have our leadership team talk about our unique value proposition in this space that includes innovative HR solutions like Global Payroll, Global HR Compliance, Global Helpdesk, Employer of Records, and Long Tail HRO."



"We're thrilled to head back to Chicago once again for the HR Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit," said Heather King, Divisional Director - Shared Services Portfolio, IQPC. "The Summit continues to be the leading event for HR transformation, and we're pleased to have Neeyamo partner with us to help make the event a success year after year." About Neeyamo:

Neeyamo Inc. is a global provider of end-to-end Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) services specialized in providing HR IT, HR consulting, and HR operational services. It offers HR services on proven best-of-breed technology platforms and delivers them using a global delivery model ensuring customer proximity and local law compliances. Neeyamo has a unique delivery model for its HR service offerings to meet specific market requirements. Its service lines cover entire pre-hire to post-retire employee life cycle. To learn more, visit: http://www.neeyamo.com. About SSON: The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) is the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals in the world, with over 100,000 members. Established in 1999, SSON recognized the revolution in support services as it was happening, and realized that a forum was needed through which practitioners could connect with each other on a regional and global basis. Visit SSON online at: http://www.ssonetwork.com.

Media Contact:

Irene Jones

[email protected]

+91-44-6608 5064, +1 888 9 522815

HRO Evangelist

Neeyamo Inc.





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[May 13, 2016] Cruise Launches Three Innovative Lines of Air Conditioners to Keep India Cool This Summer

MUMBAI, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- India's finest home appliances manufacturer, Cruise, has designed 15 new variants of air conditioners to suit varied home & office environments, and altering weather conditions. A renowned company since 1992, Cruise has launched three exclusive products lines namely the VarioQool, EazyQool and ComfortQool Series having 15 new models, each with their own distinct features. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/10146102 )

These air conditioners feature immaculate aerodynamic engineering and classy product design to provide a hygienic and extremely rejuvenating atmosphere for people to relax or work. These variants are smart, highly-efficient, auto-featured and designed to handle extreme weather conditions. VarioQool Series In the recently launched VarioQool Series, which is the premium line of Inverter AC's with BEE star rating, Cruise has launched two models namely VQ3 and VQ5. These feature the new generation inverter cooling technology and are BEE star rated. The top-of-the-line star rated VQ5 AC features VarioQool energy saving & flexi-cooling, iFeel sensing technology, and best-in-class efficiency DC compressor. A 3D textured steel strip defines the look for this heavy-duty machine. The star rated VQ3 AC features VarioQool energy saving & flexi-cooling, digital hide-away display and high-efficiency DC compressor. The design exudes class with a white exterior and black & silver body highlight options. The VarioQool Series models are three-star rated by BEE star rating. All models use only 100% copper heat exchanger technology for consistent & efficient cooling performance every day and every year. These ACs adjust their cooling capacity in response to common yet important conditions of difference between the outside and inside air temperatures and the number of people present in the room, thus allowing air conditioners to run more efficiently while reducing the energy costs by up to 35%. EazyQool Series The all new EazyQool Series introduces India's first limited edition designer air conditioners, designed exclusively for luxury homes & design-conscious custmers. Inspired by modern British architecture, the new EazyQool Series features elegant 3D gloss panels with Ionizer and Advanced Nano Vitamin C Filters, which dispense minute particles of Vitamin C into the air, keeping it soft on the skin.



The EQ Series is available in gloss silver and charcoal grey. ComfortQool Series

ComfortQool Series include everyday, heavy-duty ACs meant for extreme cooling. These appliances come with 5 years warranty and are motorized with the USPs of power cool, auto clean and multi-airflow functions. Cruise air conditioners feature XL-sized outdoor units, for better efficiency and ultimate reliability. For these models, the cooling capacity ranges from 3300W to 6600W, with power consumption between 986W to 2100W. Mr. Paras Sirohia, Chairman & Managing Director - Cruise Appliances, commented, "At Cruise, we incorporate the policy of starting with the customer and user experience, rather than starting with an idea for a product and trying to bolt customers onto it. All our products are designed with thoughtful consideration towards the customer needs and preferences for compact and technologically innovative solutions, ease of use and the upcoming Internet-of-Things (IoT). New lifestyles, design preferences and fashion trends also influence our environment-friendly home appliances." Cruise also has the SlimQool Series, which includes India's most stylish and preferred portable AC for varied customer requirements in Bollywood and advertising industry. The company offers the full range of products ranging from residential to light commercial AC's and HVAC accessories. The new products are available with our dealers across India and in modern trade, available at Kohinoor stores. For more information, please visit us at: http://www.cruiseac.com About Cruise Appliances Pvt. Ltd. Cruise is an Indian home appliances brand specializing in HVAC since 1992 providing advanced, high-quality air conditioning solutions for residential and commercial and industrial applications. Innovation and introduction of new AC technologies to the market have been the focus of Cruise since its humble beginnings. With headquarters in Mumbai, core manufacturing operations in Dadra, U.T. 5 Branch offices & 5 partner companies nationwide - the Cruise family has over 500 sales and service channel partners across the Indian subcontinent. For over 20 years now, Cruise products are known to be elegant and high-quality solutions at affordable prices - proven and tested to beat the extreme weather and dusty conditions. This is due to the company's values and focus on engineering quality and product reliability that bear the testimony of time. With over 30 years of industrial experience the company also consults and executes turnkey HVAC contracts and supplies products for residential and commercial projects across India and Nepal. Being a certi?ed ISO 9001:2008 & 14001:2004 company, Cruise follows a stringent policy towards management quality and is an OEM brand to the likes of Voltas, Blue Star, Carrier Totaline, Haier, ETA General, Emerson and Godrej. The brand values of advanced quality, energy-efficient technology, correct installation procedures and easy availability of service and parts for utmost customer satisfaction continue to guide and ensure organic growth of the brand in the future. Connect with us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cruiseac/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/cruise_ac LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cruise-appliances Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cruise_ac/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2f8TyvYqVj63VnCsvBm4gQ Media Contact:

Bhushan Chanchlani

[email protected]

+91-7045959293

Marketing and Communications Manager

Cruise Appliances Pvt. Ltd.





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[May 13, 2016] 37Games Attended China (Guangdong) - Canada (British Columbia) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference

SHANGHAI, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- China (Guangdong) - Canada (British Columbia) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference was held on May 9th, 2016 (local time) at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The conference was hosted by the People's Government of Guangdong Province, China and the Government of British Columbia Province, Canada. 37Games, together with 150 other Chinese enterprise representatives formed the Chinese delegation led by Hu Chunhua, a member of the Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee and the Secretary of Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the CPC. More than 480 representatives from 250 Canadian enterprises and 150 Chinese enterprises attended the conference. During the conference, there was a contract signing ceremony for 37Games, China and Archiact, Canada. Earlier in March, 2016, 37Games announced its investment plan with Archiact, a Canadian virtual reality technology company. 37Games has already invested $3,166,700 in Archiact and acquire 6,846,539 shaes (10%) of the company's stock. The investment and acquisition has drawn wide attention and is supported by both the Consulate-General of Canada in Guangzhou and the Department of Commerce of Guangdong Province, China.



Frank Shen from Archiact with Hu Yuhang from 37Games Archiact, founded in 2013, is a leading force in the development of virtual reality products. Its star product, Lamper VR, is currently the only VR game that is supported on all mobile VR platforms. Meanwhile, Archiact has signed contracts with developers of the most popular VR games in the Oculus store, like DarkNet, to be the only publisher of those games in the Chinese and greater Asian-Pacific market. 37Games' founder and President Li Yi Fei told the press that Archiact's competence as a VR developer and extensive network within the industry were some of the factors 37Games valued the most upon their acquisition.

37Games, a top 30 internet company in China, started its overseas expansion early in 2012 and was one of the first Chinese companies that exported their browser games to the international market. It has been a market leader in Asian markets like Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Its market share in Europe, America and some other English speaking countries is also growing rapidly. In terms of mobile games, 37Games is developing steadily in the SEA market and outperforms its peers. Last year, 37Games initiated its "Rising Dragon" Plan, investing 100 million dollars (USD) in game studios all over the world within the next 5 years to expand its worldwide market share. Investing in Archiact is part of the plan, as VR games development has been included in 37Games future business scope. With Archiact's help, 37Games will enjoy extensive advantages in the emerging VR games market. Contact Person: Shadow Hong

Cell Number: 136 3245 9767

Email: [email protected] Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/366862 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/37games-attended-china-guangdong---canada-british-columbia-economic-and-trade-cooperation-conference-300267586.html SOURCE 37Games

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Korea Airports Corp. will open the nation's first private jet terminal at Gimpo International Airport next year, it said Thursday.

The terminal will be big enough to accommodate seven private jets and have hangars for four.

An industry insider said, "Even though we are a latecomer to this area, we hope to get ahead of Chinese and Japanese airports in terms of competition."

So far celebrities like Tom Cruise and Paul McCartney who came to Korea last year landed their private jets at Gimpo, but the lack of facilities exposed them to risks from huge crowds of fans as well as long waiting times. One Middle Eastern oil tycoon landed at the airport but took off again in a huff when he discovered that Gimpo lacked the facilities, and the fear is that such things could cost Korea valuable investments.
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Police in the state of Victoria have continued their big crackdown on clubland. According to a report from Fairfax, a local DJ and another nightclub promoter have been arrested, accused of attempting to smuggle a kilo of ketamine into Australia.

As The Age reports, DJ Kasey Roy Taylor and promoter Robert Charles Oung allegedly attempted to bring in a kilo of the popular party drug to Melbourne Airport from Asia last month, each ingesting about 500 grams of the drug.

Taylor and Oung were examined under the Customs Act and charged with importing a marketable quantity of an illegal substance, before being taken to the Alfred Hospital where police waited for the drugs to pass through their systems.

Both Taylor and Oung were granted bail and are due to face the Magistrates Court in August. Apparently unfazed by the arrest, after Taylor was released on bail, he shared images of himself partying at the Railway Hotel last weekend.

Fairfax claims that Taylor, who regularly plays gigs around Australia and Asia, was one of several members of Melbournes club scene whod been under surveillance by police for the past few months, including some connected to the Railway.

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As Tone Deaf reported earlier this month, police recently told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that Brunswicks Railway Hotel was selling so many drugs, punters were forced to line up to purchase ice and cocaine.

Police claim Chris Lytras, 47, and Paul Polito, 37, both charged with trafficking offences, sold large quantities of drugs out of the upstairs office of the popular venue, with Polito acting as a concierge for punters looking to purchase drugs.

Meanwhile, Melbourne DJ Jason Kolbeck, co-owner of the Two Floors Up nightclub, which was raided as part of an unconnected operation last month, was recently denied bail. Police reportedly found several thousand ecstasy pills as well methamphetamine during their raid.
Earlier this week, triple j announced they would be launching a new remix competition following the success of their Hermitude competition last year. This time around, the national youth broadcaster wanted bedroom producers to take on one of the most sacred of Australian tunes.

Were referring, of course, to the theme from Aussie childrens television staple Play School, which is celebrating an incredible 50 years on air this year. triple j have shared the stems to the shows classic There A Bear In There theme and are encouraging listeners to make it a banger.

Always raining on any parade they sense might be marching through town, The Daily Telegraph have expressed their outrage that such a competition is going down and published an op-ed courtesy of columnist Kathy McCabe, who calls the whole thing abominable.

No one of sound mind or musical taste could possibly want to hear the Play School theme as a club banger, she writes. It was mildly entertaining when the ABC News theme was given the doof doof treatment from Pendulum in 2010.

But Theres A Bear In There is a sacred slice of the Australian cultural soundtrack and should be protected as it turns 50 rather than carved up and spat out for the dance floor. Whilst McCabe admits its all just a bit of fun, she sees it as the latest in a string of hideous musical ideas.

American heavy metal heads Disturbed, I am pointing at you, McCabe writes. What on earth possessed the hard-rocking band to go soft with their version of the Simon and Garfunkle classic The Sound Of Silence.

It is way past time that musicians  and their record company masters  ceased retreading, reinventing or remixing what exists and created their own musical magic, she continues, also hitting out at remixes of Tracy Chapmans Fast Car and Trains upcoming Led Zeppelin II remake.

You wouldnt do it to a film classic like Gone With The Wind, a revered novel like To Kill A Mockingbird or a beloved television series like Seinfeld. So what does any of that have to do with triple j? Anybodys guess. After all, it is the Daily Tele.
California heavy music veterans Deftones have announced they are set to return to Australia for a run of national headline shows this November, to be joined by none other than homegrown progressive favourites Karnivool.

Deftones recently celebrated their first ever Australia No. 1 album when they unveiled the critically hailed Gore last month. The album has been acclaimed as a unique triumph of the alternative metal genre.

Meanwhile, the bands live chops have never been better. They are currently in the midst of a massive world tour and their upcoming Australian shows will no doubt be packed with all the songs fans know and love them for.

Joining the band for all dates will be Karnivool, who are currently hard at work completing their fourth album, and Voyager. Check below for all the dates and ticketing details and make sure you get your tickets fast.

Deftones Australian Tour Dates

Tuesday, 8th November 2016

Metro City, Perth (18+)

Tickets: Megatix | Oztix | 1300 762 545

Thursday, 10th November 2016

Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide (All Ages)

Tickets: Ticketmaster | 136 100

Friday, 11th November 2016

Festival Hall, Melbourne (All Ages)

Tickets: Ticketmaster | 136 100

Saturday, 12th November 2016

Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (All Ages)

Tickets: Ticketek | 132 849

Sunday, 13th November 2016

Riverstage, Brisbane (All Ages)

Tickets: Ticketmaster | 136 100
Volotea, the airline of mid and small-sized European cities, hosted today a press conference in Athens to announce its new connection to Mykonos and Mytilene, starting next May 27th. Volotea increases its operation from Athens in terms of seats and flights by 66% compared to last year.

Volotea will launch the routes Athens  Mykonos and Athens  Mytilene next May 27th , offering in each route:

- Three flights per week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

- 110 flights

- 13.750 seats

Operating in Greece since 2012, Volotea has transported more than 366.000 passengers till now, operating in 12 Greek airports: Athens, Corfu, Heraklion/Crete, Kos, Mykonos, Mytilene, Preveza/Lefkada, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos and Zakynthos.

New routes

Volotea started its operations from Athens on April 3rd 2015, offering five routes (Bari, Santorini, Palermo, Pisa and Venice) with 460 flights and 57.380 seats. With the addition of these two new routes (Mykonos and Mytilene), the company is increasing by 66% the number of flights (764) and seats (95.500) offered from Athens. This year Volotea will be operating six routes from Athens: Bari, Mykonos, Santorini, Mytilene, Palermo and Venice.

Carlos Munoz, CEO and founder of Volotea, has expressed his satisfaction for the inauguration of these new routes from Athens: Having operated in Greece successfully since 2012, now we will be able to offer two new routes from Athens, offering an increase of seats over 60% this year. We are very satisfied to keep growing in the Greek market, and we hope to see Athenians on board this summer to enjoy the two new destinations that we will be offering to them.

On behalf of the Athens International Airport, Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director, Communications & Marketing, added: "We are indeed delighted with the start of Volotea's flights to these exciting domestic routes out of Athens; Mykonos and Mytilene. Athens market has been developing rapidly within the last two years demonstrating double-digit traffic increases and Voloteas contribution to this success with its trust and investment, is trully substantial. On our part, we remain firmly committed to continue supporting Volotea in order to further enhance their very successful presence in our market!

Strong growth

Volotea continues to grow and fulfil its objectives: the Company, which in 2012 had two bases (Venice and Nantes) had seven in 2015 (Venice, Nantes, Bordeaux, Palermo, Strasbourg, Asturias and Verona) and has just opened its 8th base in Toulouse, in March 2016.

In 2016, the low-cost airline will operate flights to three new countries (Portugal, Malta and UK), in addition to the 10 countries it flew to last year (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Israel, Albania and Moldova), offering a total of more than 38,000 flights, with 196 routes to 72 cities, in 13 countries.

Volotea transported 2.5 million passengers in 2015 and forecasts between 3.3 and 3.5 million in 2016, which represents an increase of 35%-40%. In addition, the company expects to reach 10 million passengers accumulated by the end of this year. The Company will incorporate four Airbus A319 to its fleet of 19 Boeing 717 in the first months of 2016. This strategic decision will allow the company to increase its passenger capacity by 20%, from its current 125 seats to 150 seats on its plane. The capacity of the A319 in terms of length of flight, will also allow the company to operate routes with a longer distance and therefore, to penetrate new markets.

Volotea was awarded on 21st October 2015 with the Prize of the Best Client Service for 2015 in the airline category. In Quality of Service, Volotea scored the highest of all the companies evaluated, with 8.58 / 10, which makes it the leader in the Airline category.

About Volotea

Volotea, the airline of mid and small-sized European cities, offers direct flights at very competitive prices. Its fleet is currently composed of 19 Boeing 717, with a configuration of 125 seats and will incorporate 4 Airbus A319 by end May 2016. Both models are recognized for their comfort and reliability, with Volotea offering reclining seats which are 5% wider than the average with approximately 30 inches of separation between each row. In 2016, the company will operate more than 38,000 flights across its 196 routes which connect 72 medium and small-sized cities in 13 countries: France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, The Czech Republic, Croatia, Israel, Albania, Moldova, Portugal, Malta and UK. Since its creation in April 2012, Volotea has transported more than 7 million passengers across Europe and in 2015, transported more than 2.5 million.

More info : www.volotea.com

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
The number of migrants arriving in Greece plunged nearly 90 percent in April following the EU-Turkey deal to stem their influx to Europe

The number of migrants arriving in Greece plunged nearly 90 percent in April following the EU-Turkey deal to stem their influx to Europe, the International Organization for Migration said.

"The drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic," Frontex executive director Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement, with less than 2,700 migrants arriving on Greek islands in April - down 90 per cent from the previous month.

On the Central Mediterranean route leading to Italy, 8,370 migrants were detected in April. This is, however, 13 per cent less than in March and a nearly 50 per cent drop when compared to April 2015.

The remarkable shift in migration follows a deal reached in March under which Turkey has agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political incentives, including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.

Dramatic development

The EU border agency Frontex also reported on the slowdown Friday saying it had registered 2,700 arrivals in Greece last month and describing the development as "dramatic".

"The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last year's peak months," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement.

Greece has since last June seen far more arrivals than Italy, driven mainly by refugees fleeing conflicts in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, but the balance has shifted since April 1, the UN refugee agency said.

"For the first time last month there were more arrivals in Italy than in Greece," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters Friday.

The UN refugee agency said that so far this year 187,920 refugees and migrants had arrived in Europe by sea, including 155,765 to Greece and 31,252 to Italy.

But in April, Italy saw 9,149 arrivals -- nearly three times more than Greece, according to IOM.

Virtual closure of the route

There has been speculation that the EU-Turkey deal and the virtual closure of the route to Greece would push refugees from Syria to begin travelling through North Africa and onto Italy instead.

This seemed to be confirmed by Thursday, when the Italian coastguard and UNHCR said some 150 Syrians were among hundreds of migrants rescued off the coast of Sicily, but IOM spokesman Joel Millman said Friday that number appeared to have been greatly exaggerated.

When the boat that had left Egypt and was believed to be carrying the Syrians "came in just a few hours ago there were only two individuals who claimed to be Syrian," Millman told reporters.

Spindler meanwhile stressed that people were still being disembarked from a number of boats that rescued up to 1,000 people who had set off from Egypt and Libya.

"We still don't have all the details about the composition of the people who were rescued," he said, adding though that "we cannot yet say that there is a shift in the routes from Turkey to Greece, into North Africa to Italy. It's too early to say."

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
LG Group plans to work on an electric car specifically for the Iranian market.

LG and the Iranian government recently signed a preliminary agreement for the development, LG Corp. said. The agreement only lays out the issues in broad strokes and is to be followed a proper contract later.

According to the deal, LG will develop 20 EVs for Iran's No. 1 automaker Khodro by 2018 and set up charging stations in Tehran.

LG Electronics, LG Chem and LG Innotek will develop key parts, including engines and batteries. LG CNS will handle the construction of charging stations. Khodro will manufacture the vehicles.

An LG Corp. staffer said, "We stayed in Iran despite international sanctions, which appears to have helped us win the trust that led to the agreement."
Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten,  , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei,  , holidays in Turkey,   , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas,

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No, it is not America or Japan but it is a tiny Baltic state called Estonia with only 1.3 million citizens. The nation stands out from its neighboring Eastern European countries in terms of technology, economy and high standard way of living.

Although it has an unfortunate background, Estonia managed to stand up and create a country where people are tech-savvy. Even kids as young as 7-years-old are taught the basics of coding. With advanced technologies, everything is made easier in their nation.

Because it is a high tech country, signing documents, filling out tax returns and even voting are done online through a tool called X-Road. This allows all Estonians an equal access to any data that they need for business transactions, permits, licenses and others. In other countries, it would take weeks or months to access these documents.

The advancements have a great impact to Estonians which made them forward-thinking, driven and entrepreneurial. Since it takes only five minutes to register a company, the country is known as the world's number one in terms of startups per person in 2013, Economist reported.

One of its most successful startups is Skype which is used all over the world. Other startups include Transferwise, GrabCAD, Cloutex, Click & Grow, Lingvist, Fortumo, Pipedrive, Erply, and others.

If you are living in a different country and you are planning to open a business in Estonia, it is also very easy to do that. Estonia has an e-residency service which means you don't even need to travel to the place in order to transact business, according to Market Watch.

Once you are an e-resident, you can access online services that locals could use which includes, remote money transfer, e-banking, digital signing, contracts and documents verification, declaring taxes online and others.

An e-resident will receive a smart ID card which has a legal value and is equivalent to a handwritten signature and face-to-face identification. It features a 2048-bit encryption with a microchip that stores two security certificates.

But that's not all. A blockchain, which is also used for Bitcoin, secures the health records of the Estonian which also secures e-residency data.

Amazing, right? Does your country have technological advancements too like Estonia?

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been officially separated for nearly a year now. While the once Hollywood power couple continue to co-parent their three children, neither of the two have officially been served divorce papers.

This could be due to the fact that Ben wants Jennifer back. Reports are saying that the two have been spotted in Paris recently with their children while Ben was taking a break from filming the upcoming "Justice League" film, CBS News reports.

But while sources within the Affleck camp want reconciliation between Ben and Jennifer, sources in the Garner camp are saying the opposite, The Cut reports. According to the Garner Camp, Jen actually does not want Ben back just quite yet.

While these sources are saying that Ben has improved dramatically, they also say that Ben has not always been good alone, according to Pop Sugar. Affleck had been taking the breakup pretty hard at first, being seen vaping as well as a stint with famous nanny Christine Ouzounian.

The couple had been together for 10 years, which in Hollywood terms is quite a long time. However a day after their 10th anniversary, the couple broke the news that they would be getting a divorce.

While the two would state that there were many reasons behind the decision to get divorced, Garner ultimately stated that the two had been drifting apart and that there were no extra-marital affairs on both sides.

Both Garner and Affleck have been busy with projects since the divorce. Affleck has been casted as Batman for the DC Comics Cinematic Universe with movies including the recently aired "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" and the upcoming "Sucide Squad," while Ganer recently finished filming "Wakefield" which looks to be the actress' best role since "Juno."

While the two may or may not get back together, both Garner and Affleck have said on numerous occasions that they love each other very much, with Garner even going as far as saying that Affleck is the love her of life.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
The good weather has finally arrived and we look forward to it carrying through the summer, said Jayne OConnor, president of White Mountains Attractions Association in North Woodstock. It will be tough to beat last years record numbers at some of the attractions, she said, since we had near-perfect weather all summer. But with the early interest we have had so far this spring, it feels like well have another outstanding season.



(TRAVPR.COM) USA - May 12th, 2016 - NORTH WOODSTOCK, NH - From the top of Mount Washington to the underground worlds of Polar Caves Park and Lost River Gorge, many of New Hampshires White Mountains Attractions are set to open their doors for the summer.

This popular New England region has been a vacation destination for generations of visitors, where trips to Story Land, Clarks Trading Post and Santas Village are family traditions.

Others look for adventures by heading up Mount Washington via the Cog Railway or the Auto Road, while Attitash, Wildcat, Cranmore, Loon and Cannon Mountains offer panoramic views from their summits via aerial lifts, ziplines and ropes courses. The Conway Scenic Railroad and the Hobo Railroad take excursions through beautiful mountain scenery.

The good weather has finally arrived and we look forward to it carrying through the summer, said Jayne OConnor, president of White Mountains Attractions Association in North Woodstock. It will be tough to beat last years record numbers at some of the attractions, she said, since we had near-perfect weather all summer. But with the early interest we have had so far this spring, it feels like well have another outstanding season.

Visitors can look forward to a couple of exciting new adventures this summer, with the Polar Ascent and Rappel at Polar Caves Park in Rumney and many property improvements at the other attractions including new platforms and/or boardwalks at Alpine Adventures, the Flume Gorge and Lost River Gorge, a new Wolfman at Clarks Trading Post, and expanded hiking trails at the summit of Cranmore Mountain.

OConnor noted that for visitors looking to plan an earlier getaway, several of our popular attractions are running now and theyll find the remaining attractions will open Memorial Day Weekend and forthcoming weekends until the summer season gets into full swing Fathers Day weekend.

Alpine Adventures, the Conway Scenic Railroad, the Flume Gorge, Lost River Gorge & Boulder Caves, and Polar Caves Park are currently operating daily. The Mt. Washington Auto Road and Mt. Washington Cog Railway are open for drive yourself and train tours to tree-line and the summit (weather permitting) of Mt. Washington weekends until Memorial Day weekend when excursions begin daily. The scenic Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram will whisk visitors 4000 feet above Franconia Notch beginning May 20.

The Hobo Railroad in Lincoln is open weekends beginning May 28 to June 12 and opens daily on June 24. Santas Village in Jefferson, along with Story Land in Glen and Clarks Trading Post in Lincoln are open weekends beginning May 28 and begin daily operations in mid-June.

Also open weekends only until mid-June are Loon Mountain in Lincoln and Cranmore Mountain in North Conway.

The opening schedule of other attractions in the White Mountains include Attitash Mountain (daily starting June 18); Wildcat Mountain (daily July 2) and Whales Tale Water Park (daily beginning June 8).

Visitors to New Hampshires White Mountains can save over 70% on admissions to these 17 legendary attractions by purchasing a 2016 White Mountains Value Pass (valued over $1100). The Value Pass admits two people to visit each of these attractions, and is valid through the summer and fall seasons with no black out dates. The value pass may be purchased for $359 on online at http://whitemts.us/valuepass or by calling 800-346-3687.

For more information about the attractions, stop by the White Mountains Visitors Center in North Woodstock, where the latest edition of the White Mountain Travel Guide is available, or call 800-346-3687 or on the web at VisitWhiteMountains.com

The White Mountains Attractions Association, founded in 1958, is the official Regional Information Organization for the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

The Association counts among its membership the areas attractions, including Alpine Adventures, Attitash Mountain Resort, Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway, Clarks Trading Post, Conway Scenic Railroad, Cranmore Mountain Resort, The Flume Gorge, Hobo Railroad, Loon Mountain, Lost River Gorge & Boulder Caves, Mt. Washington Auto Road, The Mount Washington Cog Railway, Polar Caves Park, Santas Village, Story Land, Whales Tale Water Park and Wildcat Mountain.

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PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 13

The instances of the seizure of mobile phones continue unabated in the city as the jail authorities confiscated yet another mobile phone from an inmate, identified as Buta Singh, a resident of Kala Sanghe village in Kapurthala.

The recovery was made during a surprise check by the jail staff on Wednesday at around 11.30 am. The mobile was activated, said the complaint lodged by the jail superintendent with the cantonment police here. The police have registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 42 of the Prisoners Act against him.

With yet another incident coming to light, it appears that the authorities at the high security jail have miserably failed to curb the use of mobile phones inside the jail premises which also houses notorious gangsters, drug smugglers and foreign nationals. Various agencies had already told the government about these criminal elements operating their network from jail on mobile phones. They had urged the government for installing signal jammers in order to curtail their nefarious activities. However, the project has been hanging fire for years.

In the absence of any mechanism to jam mobile signals, prisoners adopt innovative and absurd ways to sneak in mobile phones and use them to get in touch with their counterparts outside.

In the recent raid by Police Commissioner Amar Singh Chahal and officials from the district administration, around 21 mobile phones with several SIM cards were confiscated. There have been repeated seizures of mobile handsets and SIM cards from the jail complex. Amritsar Central Jail recorded the maximum seizure of mobiles in the statewide raids in the central jails. Among the shortage of staff on the jail premises, corruption was also the reason for sneaking in of contraband and mobiles. This was pointed out by the raiding police officials.

Discontented with this, the Punjab Police immediately suspended Deputy Superintendent of Jail of Amritsar and Patti jail.

However, it needed more urgent steps to tackle the problem. Besides increasing the strength of staff inside the jail premises, installation of mobile signal jammers was another step required at the moment, said a former jail superintendent of jail while preferring not to be named.
Fanny Gupta

No thanks to you Mr Trump for your comment on the English of Indians. As a nation we are proud of our ability in languages. Were your remarks meant only for those who do outsourcing? As a businessman, perhaps you'd be worried on that score. Otherwise how many Indians have you spoken to? We have as many varieties of English as Americans have varieties of American. Some of us speak BBC-type English and some, regional types of English for Indians are by necessity multilinguals. In Bangalore itself, a city which American technocrats surely have heard about, five languages are spoken  Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Urdu and Konkani. Housewives know how to use at least two of them to get the servants to work.

Office-goers need to know English, because it has a global link and businessmen cannot be choosy about the Englishness of their English. The applicants for jobs may be from any of the regional language zones, they need English as a link language. For a variety of reasons, Hindi has not yet become the lingua franca which some of us have dreamt of, especially those from the Hindi-speaking belt. We are millions in every cosmopolitan city, and our educational levels differ. Surely, you have spoken to some of our best speakers of English like Prannoy Roy, Karan Thapar, Amitabh Bacchan, Dr Manmohan Singh and a good number of others: ambassadors, professors, journalists and some Indian teachers too. A citizen of New York's poorest neighbourhood wouldn't speak like a graduate of Harvard, would he?

Indians are multilinguals and the educated ones to whom you spoke would be able to switch from language to language  a minimum would be three: Hindi, his national language, Punjabi or any other regional language and finally English which for him is more of a library language  not a mother-tongue. His knowledge of phonetics in minimal. He wouldn't know that English has an accent that is da de da de da de da  stressed syllables followed by unstressed ones or vice versa, whereas his Indian languages have a syllable-timed rhythm: da da da da da da like gun shots rattling away in the blinking of an eye as is common in American movies. He switches from the regional language to English so very often that stresses get lost while communicating. In native spoken English only words important for the message are stressed and native speakers look out for those cues.

Everyone who is actively pursuing a career wants to speak well. What is it in Indian English that makes it so hard to be understood by foreigners? Once an Englishman was travelling by ship to India in the old days. Finding a group of Pakistanis and Indians on the deck he moved towards them hoping to pick up some Hindi or Urdu, both of which he was interested in. From a distance the rhythm of speech sounded Indian  syllable-timed: da da da da da da da da  a gunshot rhythm. When he reached near he was astonished to hear them using English.

Indians prefer to be taught by the native speakers. Native speakers of English find much of the English that is spoken by educated Indians is the English of the compound bilingual. A compound bilingual is one who transfers as much of his mother tongue into a second language when he has no model speaker to imitate. Its rhythm, its syntactic structures and tunes as well as translations of phrases are transferred from mother tongue to English. Association with teachers of English and working knowledge of schools and colleges in our country has shown that most teachers of English and other subjects have not been trained in phonetics. Science and sociology teachers do not feel it necessary to correct their pronunciation. It is necessary to show by speech, correction of students reading and emphasis on the daily use of the dictionary, plus dramatisation, how English should be spoken. This should be done from the kindergarten to high school, when new lessons are read out or when poetry recitals take place or drama classes are conducted.

Just as a calculator is compulsory for mathematics a dictionary of standard English is necessary for every student of English who must be taught phonetic transcription. Principals and headmistresses of schools assume that a fluent speaker in English necessarily speaks English with the correct accent and pronunciation. This perception must be rectified. English-medium schools have to take note.

Nihal Singh talks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's English as well as that of the TV presenters. It's a pity that all politicians are not interested in a foreign language, especially English that has been in our country from the 17th century onwards. Jawaharlal Nehru became friends with the heads of many countries and won hearts of the South Indians with the mastery of this foreign language and so did Manmohan Singh. Conversation classes in English are necessary for learners to start with. But mastery of good speech is difficult. The teachers must be qualified in grammar and in phonetics, both of which require trained skills. This has been my experience with adult learners of English: Indian, Asian, African and European. Some of them persist in practising the new skills in correct English for years. When they come back to me I feel surprised at their achievement and their added confidence.

Correct English has to be heard in order to be imitated. The closest to standard Indian English is BBC English. Despite differences between British, American and Australian Englishes, a common factor is the rhythm and tunes in all three.

The writer, a Ph.D. in English Language, trained at the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 12

Asserting that funds will not be a constraint, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia today stressed the need for expanding higher and technical education facilities in the national Capital at a time when the city fails to absorb 1.5 lakh students who finish their 12th Class every year.

The Education Minister asked institutions to go for out of the box measures to arrange for facilities to meet the shortfall in higher and technical education needs and even may run units in rented buildings, including schools and malls.

Each year 2.5 lakh students pass plus two exams out of whom only around 90,000 are admitted to higher and technical education institutions in Delhi. How to accommodate the rest 1.5 lakh students is a big question, Sisodia said at the third foundation day function of Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW).

Noting that opening of more higher and technical education centres is a big need of the national Capital, the Minister urged stakeholders to work towards paradigm shift while underlining the challenges of starting new courses, new buildings and recruitment.

Sisodia assured the institutions that the Delhi Government will not allow the issues of funds and procedures come in the way, exhorting them to think big and work towards expanding educational facilities.

The government targets to make educational facilities available to the 1.5 lakh students who are left out, he said while asserting that for this he is ready to offer government schools in the second shift for opening new disciplines of higher and technical courses.

It is our endeavour to involve industry and partner with them in skill development programmes. Emphasis is also being laid on creating atmosphere conducive to promote a start-up culture where individuals are not only trained to become job seekers but also job creators, he said.

A techno-business incubation centre at the university was inaugurated by the Deputy Chief Minister. He also unveiled the fuel efficient car designed by students for Super Milage Competition to be held in June in Michigan, USA. He also saw the test drive of the all-terrain vehicle and hybrid e-rickshaw made by the students and appreciated them.

On the occasion, Vice-Chancellor Nupur Prakash and Education Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava, teachers and a large number of students were present. Prof Nupur Prakash , Vice-Chancellor of the university said The techno-business incubation centre at IGDTUW will encourage young women entrepreneurs to convert their innovative ideas into successful business ventures.

The first technical university for women in the city, IGDTUW has turned three years old and prepared to admit a batch of 600 students in 2016-17 to its various UG, PG and PhD programmes.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 13

A committee instituted to investigate police lapses during Februarys violent protests in Haryana for reservation for Jat has found 90 police officers guilty of negligence.

The committee submitted its report to the Manohar Lal Khattar government, official sources said, adding, it pointed to "negligence" on part of certain officials and "concerted efforts" to control the situation by others in the report.

In a report submitted to Haryana Chief Minister Manahora Lal Khattar, the committee said the officers found guilty of negligence had belonged to various ranks  from sub-inspector, tehsildar, to police superintendents and deputy commissioners.

The report indicts policemen who deliberately allowed protesters and arsonists to run riot.

The report examined the role of officers in the affected districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat, a state government spokesman said here.

"Officers who were derelict in the performance of their duties or who showed soft corner for the agitators and thereby allowed them a long rope have been identified," the spokesman said.

The committee was set up to probe into omissions and commission on the part of all officers and officials of civil and police administration during the reservation agitation.

Former Director General of Police (DGP) UP and Assam Parkash Singh, the committees chairman, had been told to inquire into acts of omissions and commission by police officers during the protest.

The report has examined the role of the police in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat  the areas affected most by violence.

The committee has also made some recommendation to improve the functioning of the civil and police administration..

We will review the report and act on the recommendations, Khattar said.

Singh, now retired, was Member, National Security Advisory Board during 2013-14 and is one of the foremost experts of the country on Internal Security.

He is currently an Associate Fellow of the Joint Special Operations University (US) and President, Indian Police Foundation and Member, Advisory Board of Vivekananda International Foundation.

The Jat stir held in February this year resulted in blockades of roads, including national highways, violence and extensive damage to public and private properties in many districts.

By the state government's own estimates, some 30 people had been killed in the violence.  (With inputs from agencies)
Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, May 13

The non-availability of suitable firing ranges has compelled the Army to train its men outside the state, adversely impacting the working of the force in Kashmir.

This has been disclosed by the Army in an affidavit to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), New Delhi, in response to the notices issued by the tribunal over the proposal for allowing the Army to set up an artillery firing range in a forest area of Bajpathri in central Kashmirs Budgam district. The NGT had also issued a notice to the J&K Government.

The Government of Jammu and Kashmir offered the area of Bajpathri for notifying as an alternative field range. The detailed study and reconnaissance was carried out by the Army along with the Air Force followed by a joint study with the state government authorities to study the requirement of

land, impact on the environment and the

effect on tourism.

The final decision to notify the ranges will be that of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, read the affidavit filed by the Ministry of

Defence through its respondent Col Vinod S, officiating Brigadier, General Staff (Training) Headquarters, Northern Command, last week.

The petition against the proposal for the firing range in Bajpathri was moved in the tribunal by social activist Raja Muzaffar Bhat in February. The petitioner stated that if field firing and artillery practice is allowed in Bajpathri, it will endanger the lives of people living in scores of villages adjoining the area with a disastrous impact on the environment and the wildlife habitat. The proposal for setting up the firing range in Bajpathri in the meadows of the picturesque Yousmarg tourist destination had evoked strong resentment.

In 2014, the Army had vacated the Tosa Maidan firing range spread over 11,200.477 hectares in Budgam district and since then it has been asking the J&K Government to allot an alternative place for the field firing range.

The Army said there was a requirement of a field firing range in the Kashmir region. As on date, a large number of restrictions have been imposed on the Indian Army with respect to the availability of ranges in J&K. Whereas our adversary on the western border is not constrained by any such restrictions and has a number of ranges available to it. Similarly, our adversary on the eastern front has unfettered access to firing ranges. This is likely to have an adverse impact on the preparedness of our armed forces vis-a-vis our adversaries, its affidavit read.

The Army said the non-availability of a range in the Kashmir region has now compelled it to move the heavy equipment to far-off ranges at Babina in Madhya Pradesh and Mahajan in Rajasthan.

The non-availability of suitable ranges in the Kashmir theatre of operations had an adverse impact and serious implications on the internal and external security, the Army stated, adding that it was facing major problems in the absence of the firing ranges.

Apart from the expenditure on fuel, oil and lubricants, the movement to alternative ranges results in depletion in manning levels of the counter-infiltration, counter-terrorism grid deployment affecting the internal security.

The Army said the levels of retaliation to ceasefire violations had reduced due to the non-availability of essential weapons and war-like stores for a prolonged duration. It would also affect the military response to the threat posed by our adversaries due to the time required for transporting the equipment.

The affidavit stated that Rs 43 crore had to be expended on the movement of the troops for training outside J&K.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 8

The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) organised an awareness programme on employees provident fund issues at the CICU Commercial Complex, Focal Point.

CICU president Avtar Singh, while inaugurating the programme, said the industry and trade sector of Punjab was passing through a very difficult phase due to lower demand, high competition and financial constraints.

He said employers share of provident fund should be reduced to 5 to 6 per cent in place of 12 per cent, the deduction of 34 per cent as TDS from employees claim also needs reconsideration, grace period for depositing the provident fund should be provided again and claims should also be settled speedily.

CICU general secretary Upkar Singh Ahuja said a large amount of unpaid claims were lying unutilised which could be used for the benefit of contributors by providing housing and other facilities. The department should launch industry and trade-friendly policies to give maximum benefits of various scheme under the EPF. He assured participants that their problems and suggestions would be forwarded to the authorities concerned for taking early and effective steps.

The EPF authorities who conducted the programme were AK Singh, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner  I, and his team including PPS Maingi, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner  II and Shobhit Singal, Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO Ludhiana.

AK Singh said employers should cover all eligible employees under the scheme for getting social security benefits under the scheme such as pension on retirement and insurance claim among other things after the death of the employee. He also explained various improvements made by him in the EPFO Ludhiana, which would help employees and employers in getting benefits.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 13

Nurses week was celebrated at Fortis Hospital here from May 6 to May 13. A function was also organised to celebrate Nurses Day yesterday. This day is observed to commemorate the birthday of the founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale.

The theme was Nurses: A Force for Change: improving health systems resilience.

Vivan Singh Gill, Facility Director, Fortis Hospital, Ludhiana, and Dimpy Joseph, Chief of Nursing, gave their views on the theme. The scientific session was conducted by Dr Balbir Kaur on Management of Medication in the presence of Dr JS Sekhon, Dr Vinay Singhal and Dr Amit Gupta.

During the week, BLS (Basic life support) training sessions were also conducted in various nursing colleges by the nursing and quality team. Role play was enacted by the nursing in charge and supervisors.

A cultural programme was presented by the nursing and other staff members. Awards were also given away to recognise the hard work and dedicated team efforts of nurses.
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 13

Eye bank services were re-launched by the Department of Ophthalmology, Christian Medical College and Hospital. The eye bank is fully functional now after completion of all required procedures.

The service was set up at the Department of Ophthalmology with the support of Dr GS Bhullar, CMC alumnus of 1968 MBBS batch.

Dr Nitin Batra, HOD, Department of Ophthalmology, under whose leadership this service has been started, said in India, there were approximately 12 lakh people who have corneal blindness and every year there was an addition of 25,000 to 30,000 corneal blindness cases. It is estimated that about 1 lakh transplants per year is the requirement in India for tackling bilateral corneal blindness. The two main causes of corneal blindness are corneal ulcers and ocular trauma. The maximum number of individuals with corneal blindness falls in the age group 20-40 years. Hence an urgent need was felt to start these services in this area.

Corneal transplant (keratoplasty) services have been restarted in the Department. Dr Ashish Chander, associate professor, has undergone training in keratoplasty and has joined back after finishing his fellowships in cornea from New Delhi and Seoul, South Korea.

Through these services we aim to help patients with corneal blindness who are suffering due to lack of affordable services in this area. Anyone willing for eye donation can contact us on 9888338849, said Dr Ashish.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 13

Even as India and China talk about maintaining peace along the disputed 3,488 km Line of Actual Control (LAC), the defecto border, Beijing has elevated the rank of its Military Commander who looks after Tibet, sending signals of increased military activity.

The Military commander of Tibet will be now under the under the leadership of the People Liberation Army (PLA) and is likely to be a four-star general, one rank up from existing Lieut General-rank person heading it.

Currently, the Tibet Military Command is under the leadership of Chinas Western Theatre Command headquartered in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Chinas state-run newspaper the Global Times in a front page report today quoted the China Youth Daily as having said: The Tibet Military Commands political rank will be elevated one level higher than its counterpart provincial-level military commands, and will come under the leadership of the PLA Army... adding that the promotion marks a new journey for the Tibet military commands construction.

The Tibet Military Command is under the leadership of the PLA (Chinas ground forces) which suggest that the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future, Global Times said.

The promotion shows China is paying great attention to the Tibet Military Command, which will significantly improve the commands ability to manage and control the regions military resources, as well as provide better preparation for combat, said a Beijing-based military expert.

After the military reform, the Tibet Military Commands priority is the management of military resources, as well as the regions national defence mobilisation, he said, hinting at a threat to India.
R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, May 12

The Supreme Court today directed the Kerala Police chief to constitute a special investigation team (SIT) headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General to probe wife-swapping and sexual abuse allegations levelled by a woman against her husband and five other naval officers.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, however, rejected the alleged victims plea for a CBI probe, observing that this could be done only if there was any real apprehension that the state police would not do its job.

Married in March 2012 to a naval officer posted in Kochi, Sujatha Ravi Kiran lodged a complaint against her husband, parents-in-law and sister-in-law alleging physical and mental cruelty, besides levelling sexual abuse charge against the five naval officers and the wife of one of them.

Sujatha also pleaded with the SC to transfer the accused naval officers petitions for quashing the complaint against them from the Kerala High Court to the Delhi HC. The apex court Bench, which included Justices R Banumathi and UU Lalit, also rejected this plea, but asked the Kerala State Legal Services Authority to nominate a senior counsel to represent her in the HC.

The SC noted that the Kerala Police had filed an affidavit that there was no laxity in the investigation being conducted by a Deputy Commissioner of Police. As many as 71 witnesses, including her friends and doctors, had already been examined. Also, the probe was being monitored by the HC.

The facts and circumstances in which the offence is alleged to have been committed can be better investigated by the state police, the Bench held.

The apex court directed the SIT to complete the probe within three months.
New Delhi, May 13

Baba Hardev Singh, spiritual head of Sant Nirankari Mission, died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada, an official of the organisation said here on Friday.

Three persons travelling along with the spiritual head in the ill-fated car also received injuries and are reported to be out of danger. The injured included his Chandigarh-based sons-in-law Avneet Setya and Sandip, and New York-based Vivek Sharma.

Baba was travelling from New York to Montreal. The accident took place about 40 km before Montreal.

Kripasagar, the person in-charge of the missions press and publicity, said they were deeply saddened by the news of Baba Hardev Singh's death. He was 62.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"It was sudden and sad news for us," Kripasagar said.

"It was around 5 in the morning when his car met with an accident and he died," the official said.

He said arrangements were being made to bring the mortal remains of the spiritual head to Delhi and details about it would be known soon.

"With profound pain and sorrow, this is to inform you that His Holiness Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj has merged into this Almighty God," said an official statement issued by the mission.

The sect, with millions of followers across the world, has also requested them not to rush to the mission headquarters in New Delhi to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders expressed their condolences over the death of Baba Hardev.

Baba Hardev Singh's demise is a loss to the nation. He was doing a lot of service for the people. I have personally seen his 'Samagams'.

Baba Hardev Singhs demise is tragic & a great loss to the spiritual world. My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 13, 2016

Sonia Gandhi expressed shock and grief over Baba's death and offered condolences to all his followers.

"Spiritual values of equality and simplicity perpetuated by him and the Nirankari Samaj will forever remain relevant," she said.

Baba Hardev Singh's demise is a loss to the nation. He was doing a lot of service for the people. I have personally seen his 'Samagams'.  Shahnawaz Hussain (@ShahnawazBJP) May 13, 2016

The missions committee will decide the leaders successor later.

The mortal remains of the spiritual leader will be brought to India for which formalities there are being completed, SC Talwar, a functionary of Nirankari Mission said.  Agencies/ TNS
Tribune News Service

Anandpur Sahib, May 13

Heavy police force, along with the task force of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), was deployed in and around Takht Kesgarh Sahib to thwart the visit of three Sarbat Khalsa-designated Jathedars here today.

Though reports of postponement of the visit till May 18 had already appeared in a section of the media today, the police and SGPC, taking no chances, deployed more than 300 security personnel to cope with any untoward incident.

Acting Jathedar of Akal Takht Dhian Singh Mand, Takht Kesgarh Sahib Jathedar Amrik Singh Ajnala and Takht Damdama Sahib Jathedar Baljit Singh Daduwal  appointed by Sarbat Khalsa last year  had announced that they would visit Akal Takht on May 10, Takht Kesgarh Sahib on May 13 and Takht Damdama Sahib on May 15. But the police arrested Mand on May 9 to foil the plan.

Early in the morning today, police personnel barricaded all the roads leading to the gurdwara. Groups of SGPC security personnel were spread out in different parts of the gurdwara to keep an eye on radical elements.

Jathedar Daduwal said that the deployment of heavy police force at Takht Kesgarh Sahib was due to the frustration of the state government and SGPC. It was unfortunate that hurdles were being put in the path of devotees. Though we had announced the new programme after the arrest of acting Jathedar of Akal Takht, the state government wasted resources by deploying heavy police force around the gurdwara, he said.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, May 13

The Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has given refuge to eight stranded youths from Gurdaspur district.

The youths were allegedly made to work under inhuman conditions in a food packaging factory in Johor, 335 km from the Malaysian capital, after being duped by travel agents operating from the district.

For the past three weeks, Davinder Singh, Rohit Kumar, Sahil Sharma, Vinod Kumar, Kulbir Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Surinder Pal Singh and Anil Kumar had been putting up in a Kuala Lumpur gurdwara after escaping from the factory where they were employed. The gurdwara head, Paramjit Singh, who migrated to Malaysia from Batala about 10 years ago, was reportedly known to one of the youths.

In the past two days, PPCC chief Capt Amarinder Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa had sought the Centres intervention to rescue the youths.

Davinder Singhs family members said the youths would return to Punjab next week, adding that officials were preparing their documents.

Meanwhile, Gurdaspur SSP Jagdeep Singh Hundal and his Batala counterpart Daljinder Singh Dhillon have launched an operation to identify and nab unscrupulous travel agents in the region.
DIYARBAKIR/ISTANBUL (Turkey), May 13

Eight Turkish soldiers and 22 Kurdish militants have been killed in clashes over the last two days, authorities said on Friday, as violence widened in the largely Kurdish southeast following two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst fighting since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said the violence, and a concurrent threat from Islamic State militants, justifies Turkey's broad anti-terror laws, which have become a sticking point with the EU in talks about a landmark deal to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe.

"The fight by our security forces in coordination and in harmony with soldiers, police, village guards and all units against terror will continue with determination," Erdogan said in a statement.

Erdogan, who had spearheaded the peace process between the state and the PKK, has ruled out any return to negotiations and has vowed to crush the militant group. Thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians, have been killed in the renewed violence.

More than 40,000 people, most of them militants, have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984. The group wants autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Iraq border

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province near the border with Iraq on Friday, the military said.

Two more were killed in a separate incident when a helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region.

In the nearby Siirt province, one militant was killed when security forces pursued vehicles attempting to flee a security check, the local governor's office said. They found 200 kilogrammes of explosives in one of the vehicles.

On Thursday, 15 militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, the military said.

The military has also carried out regular air strikes against PKK camps in mountainous northern Iraq. A total of 140 militants have been killed in such attacks between April 29 and May 10, broadcaster NTV said, citing the military.

The widening violence follows two bombings on Thursday.

Four suspected bomb makers were killed and 23 people were wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, the government said.  Reuters
BEIRUT, May 13

Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed, the Lebanese group said on Friday  the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed organisation since its military chief was killed in 2008.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest-ranking officials in the group, and assessed by the US Government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A Hezbollah statement did not say when, where or how he was killed, though it cited him saying he would return from Syria either victorious or as "a martyr".

The Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen earlier reported Badreddine had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria.

There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets inside Syria several times during the country's five-year conflict.

A US Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.

Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander, Imad Moughniyah, was indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

He was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments by operating clandestinely.

The US Treasury statement also said he had led Hezbollah ground offensives in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr in February 2013, a critical battle in the war when Hezbollah fighters defeated Syrian rebels in an area near the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict.

Hezbollah accuses Israel of carrying out the 2008 killing of Moughniyah, who was killed by a bomb in Damascus.  Reuters
Islamabad, May 13

Pakistan Prime Ministers Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz has conceded that relations with the US have been under stress for the past three months because of conditions Washington had attached to the funding of F-16 fighter jets sale.

The confession was made by the adviser on Thursday while concluding a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Dawn online has reported.

The adviser said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents, including WikiLeaks and the Abbottabad operation where former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed.

Since 2013, he said Pakistans relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory".

"In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," he said.

Aziz said that the US action might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been categorically rejected by Pakistan.

The adviser, however, assured the Senate that in view of the importance of the issue, Pakistan is making all-out efforts to finalise the F-16 deal with the US Administration.

However, senators have termed the US a friend which could not be trusted anymore.

They also criticised the US for expanding its relations with India.

IANS
Beirut, May 13

Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in an attack in Syria, the Lebanese Shia group said on Friday, the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed organisation since its military chief was killed in 2008.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and was believed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The killing of Badreddine, a brother-in-law of late Hezbollah military commander Imad Moughniyah, is the latest big loss sustained by Hezbollah and Iran in Syria despite Russian military intervention in support of Assad and his allies.

At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah said Badreddine had been killed in a big explosion targeting one of its bases near Damascus airport, and an investigation was underway into whether it was caused by an air strike, a missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed.

Hezbollah, a political and military movement which is Lebanon's most powerful group, has grown stronger since forcing Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict.

When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, said Badreddine's killing was good news for Israel but stopped short of saying Israel was responsible.

A US Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said he would be buried in the southern suburbs of Beirut.  Reuters
Massive data hacks at large retailers such as Home Depot or Target may get most of the headlines, but smaller companies find themselves victims of hacking or data breaches on an almost daily basis. As a panel at last falls American Trucking Associations management conference illustrated, that includes trucking companies.

There, OutWest Express, a 150-truck long-haul fleet based in El Paso, Texas, shared how what looked like a resume attached to a routine truck driver application actually hosted a malicious bit of software, or malware, that rampaged through its systems. The company had to pay a lot of money for an outside firm to do a forensic recovery of its data. And then it discovered that whoever stole the data was calling OutWests brokers, booking loads under its name and insisting on cash advances. But of course, the loads never got picked up.

Businesses need solid procedures and policies in place to protect themselves and their data from these kinds of threats.

In the IT industry, hacks are a daily occurrence, says Mike Krut, senior vice president information technology, Penske Truck Leasing. Weve built our organization around keeping our customers and our data secure. These efforts are a large focus of the companys senior leadership, he says, because the integrity of our brand is measured by how well we can protect data.

Woody Lovelace, senior vice president of corporate planning and development at Southeastern Freight Lines, Lexington, S.C., says data security is something we look at on an ongoing basis so we do things that fall into best practices. Its almost a perpetual activity, plugging holes and educating employees.

Protecting your data goes beyond guarding against fraud.

Data is the looking glass into the health and profitability of a company, says Kevin Linardic, vice president technology for software provider Carrier Logistics. Two things we are most concerned about is [first], keeping that information out of the hands of those who have no business knowing the information, and second, making sure no one can do something that would affect the companys ability to do business  a hack, in other words.

A system hack or data security breach doesnt have to involve theft to have a huge impact on your business.

A company becomes so dependent on data and technology, if they were to lose access to the data or system for a day or longer, how would that affect their business? asks Marc C. Tucker, an attorney specializing in data security with the firm Smith Moore Leatherwood, Raleigh, N.C. If a companys system is down for an extended period, there is a clear financial ramification if you cant dispatch trucks for several hours or several days.

What types of threats are out there?

There are a variety of ways a companys system can be compromised, from phishing emails to an internal bad actor to an outside hack. Some companies have had their systems taken hostage by hackers who then demand a ransom to bring the system back up. Thats part of what happened to OutWest, but when they called the numbers provided by the supposed ransomers, they didnt reach anyone.

Scott Bortzel, vice president IT delivery services at Penske, says his company is seeing a lot of email-delivered malware, or phishing attacks. Only now, these email attacks have become more sophisticated, what Bortzel calls spear phishing  a targeted attack that involves some research by the attacker to find out the name of a senior company executive and then gearing the message toward that person or make it look like it is coming from someone the target knows.

Any company is a potential target, he adds, especially companies that processes credit card transactions.

Lovelace says the threats SEFL worries most about come from the need to grant people access to the system. There is a fine line to giving people in the company access to data they need without opening yourself up to piracy or malware. I think the ability of people outside the network to corrupt the files is probably what keeps IT guys up at nights.

Employees are an important part in a companys cyber strategy, for better or for worse. One of the things I say over and over on employees: They can be your strongest link in the chain and they can be the weakest link  it goes both ways, Tucker says. Its the biggest open door for data problems nine times out of 10.

Policies and procedures

Making sure an employee doesnt click on the wrong email means establishing and enforcing strict policies regarding network access and data use. That includes significant training, Lovelace says. When someone comes on they have to be trained on accessing our network. After that is ongoing education.

While his companys IT department takes the lead in this area, there are ways end users contribute to maintaining a secure system  the way they use their email, for example. We put out bulletins to remind people of things they should be doing.

Another part of a strong policy is limiting access to your system. At Southeastern, not everyone has access to all the parts of the system, Lovelace says. Associates and drivers have access that is specific to their job duties. There is also a formal process of approval for associates to get additional access.

Other steps companies can take include log-in standards, network standards, auditing requirements to check who has accessed what, authorization standards, forced password changes (including mobile devices and in-vehicle computers) and following best practices in terms of firewall, spam filters, etc.

At Penske Leasing, Krut says, in addition to these procedures, everyone signs a code of conduct regarding IT use.

Keep the doors locked and dont show people who dont need access where the key is, Linardic says. You give the key only to people who need to get through that door. Plus, make sure you do regular audits so you know who uses that key.

Its important that everyone buys into these procedures, from the top down, Tucker says. Data management and cyber security is not just an IT issue, its a company issue. If there is a data breach, it affects the whole company, not just the IT department.

Use outside consultants

Many companies recommend using security consultants. Outside consultants help us consider vulnerabilities we may not have considered, Lovelace says. And even though his company has such expertise in-house, they feel it important to bring in outside help to stay on top of the ever-changing nature of the threats.

Krut agrees that working with third-party security experts is something carriers need to consider. It gives you a look at new threats and trends you may not be aware of.

In addition to working with outside experts, it is also important to have a clear plan of action for when a data breach occurs.

If you think about motor carriers, most carriers have an accident response plan in place, Tucker says. If a vehicle is in an accident, they dont have to think about what to do  they know what to do. They have things set up with their insurance companies, attorneys, adjusters, accident reconstructionists, etc. When preparing for a potential data breach or attach, the same principles apply. When an attack is happening is not the best time to think about what do to. You want to be prepared.

That means having already invested in cyber insurance (most general insurance policies wont cover a data breach), for instance, or having outside experts such as attorneys and security experts ready to step in when needed. You may want a third party consultant ready to come in and analyze the attack, shut it down and then put things back together and do a forensic analysis.

Legal Ramifications

Along with financial loss and business disruptions, there are also legal ramifications of a data breach that revolve around the notion of data ownership, Tucker says. Companies collect tons of data, and not just about their vehicles. There is also a lot of data on their employees, customers, payments, credit cards  and thats just the tip of the iceberg. A key issue is who owns all that data.

Ownership is dictated by who is responsible for the management of that data, who can control access to the data, Tucker explains. That translates into responsibility for that data and making sure it is secure. Along with that ownership also comes responsibility if there is a data breach.

For instance, if a motor carrier has health-related information on employees via a company-supplied health plan, a breach of that data requires (by law) a specific response in terms of what entities are alerted about the breach. If employee social security numbers are hacked, that requires another set of specific responses.

And that extends to third parties that a carrier might share data with. The way I think about it, is that if you share your data with a third party, you want to hold that third party to the same standards as you hold your company, Tucker says.

Companies can ensure third parties and others with whom they share data follow the best practices in terms of data security using a contractual warranty that creates a duty or obligation under the contract. Tucker says such a warranty may require a third party to carry cyber insurance to a certain limit.

If using third-party services, Tucker says, make sure you understand the terms of use and the services privacy policies, which outline what information is being collected and how it will or will not be used. If you dont take the time to read the fine print, you may not realize youve agreed to let a third party use your data in some aggregated way.

Even with solid procedures in place, the cyber threat requires continued vigilance. And that takes more than just the IT department, says Southeasterns Lovelace. Its the responsibility of all of your associates. Its a shared responsibility.

The people doing this are very creative and its something you have to stay on top of.

Correction 5/16/16: The original version of this article referred to attorney Marc C. Tucker as Turner and to Penske Truck Leasing's Mike Krut as Kurt. Both have since been corrected.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has been authorized by the Federal Highway Administration to delete KY 151 (Graefenburg Road) in Anderson and Franklin counties from the National Truck Network on an emergency basis due to safety considerations.

Based on FHWAs emergency action, KYTC Secretary Greg Thomas issued an official order on April 29 that bans certain types of commercial vehicles from traveling on KY 151.

KYTC said that a recent series of commercial vehicle crashes has raised concerns about continue to use KY 151 as a truck route.

The road is regarded as a shortcut for large trucks that take it from I-64 at Exit 48 to connect with U.S. 127 in Lawrenceburg. Over 800 commercial vehicles travel KY 151 daily.

After a deliberate review of all safety factors and recommendations, it is incumbent upon the Cabinet to take immediate action limiting the amount of truck traffic on Graefenburg Road, said Secretary Thomas. We have also met with local industry leaders and determined this action will have a minimal impact on their businesses. I commend our partners at FHWA for expediting the order.

KYTC stressed that since the action taken is not a final approval, the Cabinet will continue to work with FHWA to secure the permanent removal of KY 151 from the National Truck Network. A formal notice must be posted in the Federal Register and offer a public comment period before submitting a final petition.

The action allows the Cabinet to temporarily ban Surface Transportation Act of 1982 (STAA) vehicles with a trailer length of 53 feet or 8  feet wide from traveling on KY 151. Commercial vehicles that fall under the size limits, such as box trucks, farm and construction vehicles, garbage trucks and local delivery vehicles, are exempt from the order.

STAA trucks are now required to take Exit 53A off Interstate 64 to U.S. 127 south. Access to local industry along KY 151 will not be affected due to a mile allowance from U.S. 127 and I-64.

KYTC said it is notifying regional trucking associations, local governments, local industry and law enforcement of the change in the roads status. In addition, variable message boards and permanent signage will be established along U.S.127 and I-64 to alert motorists.

KY 151 has been listed on the National Truck Network since 1982. Nationwide, the Network covers more than 200,000 miles of approved interstates and state highways for large truck use.
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The opposition is calling for public disclosure of the legal advice given to former Attorney General Faris Al Rawi relating to the indemnity agreement with Vincent Nelson.

Speaking at the UNCs weekly Sunday media conference this morning, MP Saddam Hosein also criticized what he sees as the law associations delayed and weak response to the entire matter.
A Good Wife spinoff is in the works, as a legal drama to star Christine Baranski (Diane Lockhart) and Cush Jumbo (Lucca Quinn).

Good Wife creators Robert King and Michelle King are expected to write the pilot, but will then turn over the reins to other writers so they can focus on their own upcoming CBS thriller BrainDead.

The spinoff would air exclusively on subscription service CBS All Access, which will also launch the upcoming Star Trek spinoff.

Discussions for Baranskis Good Wife spinoff are believed to have been in the works for some time, with Baranski recently turning down other offers, including one project described as being extremely high-profile.

An official announcement could come at next weeks CBS upfronts presentation.

Source: Variety
The buzz is swirling around Dami Im after her powerhouse performance yesterday at the Eurovision Semi Final 2.

According to reports she received the largest applause and a standing ovation at the Globe Arena yesterday.

Dami Im has now moved from fifth to second favourite according to the bookies, and performs at #13 tomorrow -at the mid-point of the competition.

The South China Morning Post reports on Damis qualification with the headline Not So Stupid Now! Australia Through to Eurovision Grand Final. It is a direct reference to Graham Nortons criticism that Australias inclusion was kind of stupid.

European voters and national jurors disagreed with the Irish presenter as they put Dami Im through to Saturdays 26-song Grand Final in Stockholm after judging her ballad Sound of Silence among the top 10 of Thursdays 18-song semi-final, it reported.

Dami Im also features in New York Times article on the contest, noting, The country is widely considered one of the front-runners in the Eurovision Song Contest.

But Australia still has to beat Russian entry, Sergey Lazarev with You Are the Only One.

Russia is not without its own controversy. Ukraine says it will boycott a 2017 event if Russia wins, while the country also has a very poor history in its gay rights and equality. There were protests when it last hosted in 2009.

Meanwhile the shows vocal gay fans will be watching UK act Joe and Jake who have teased that they may just snog at the end of their performance, given many fans have been asking for it, despite only just being mates.

Finally, a win by Dami Im would come 20 years after Brissy girl Gina G competed at Eurovision for the UK with Ooh Aah Just a Little Bit.

She was robbed then, lets hope its not a repeat.

Saturday 14 May, 7.30pm, Semi Final 2 (replay)

Sunday 15 May, 5am, (AEST) Final Live*

Sunday 15 May, 7.30pm Final (replay

Photo: Andres Putting
The Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware has maintained its business and accounting accreditations by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).

Founded in 1916, AACSB International is the longest serving global accrediting body for business schools that offer undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees in business and accounting.

AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education, and has been earned by less than five percent of the world's business programs. Today, there are 761 business schools in 52 countries and territories that maintain AACSB accreditation. Similarly, 183 institutions maintain an additional specialized AACSB accreditation for their accounting programs.

It takes a great deal of commitment and determination to earn and maintain AACSB accreditation, said Robert D. Reid, executive vice president and chief accreditation officer of AACSB International. Business schools must not only meet specific standards of excellence, but their deans, faculty and professional staff must make a commitment to ongoing continuous improvement to ensure that the institution will continue to deliver the highest quality of education to students.

This year marks the Lerner Colleges 50th anniversary of AACSB business accreditation, with the college receiving its initial business accreditation in 1966.

Lerner also received its initial accounting accreditation in 1984, with this year marking 32 years of accounting accreditation.

AACSB accreditation ensures that the Lerner College maintains the academic and professional qualifications of our faculty and that student learning outcomes are being achieved, said Rick Andrews, Lerner professor of business administration, who spearheaded this years reaccreditation effort.

This highest-possible accreditation for a business school demonstrates that the Lerner College is moving forward with great enthusiasm to meet the challenges of the ever-changing and increasingly global economy and to engage closely with the critical business and economic issues of the day, Andrews said.

Strong, innovative business programs, utilizing cutting-edge technology and delivered by outstanding professors to a high-quality student body, will continue to distinguish the Lerner College as a prominent business school on an upward trajectory.

Lerner professor and chairperson of accounting Scott Jones said, Separate accreditation for the accounting degree programs put us in an elite group of less than 200 schools that maintain separate accreditation. This means that we meet higher standards for faculty accomplishment and quality opportunities for students.

Jones described the thorough process of earning reaccreditation, which happens every five years.

Faculty, student and program resources undergo rigorous qualification assessments, and a detailed report describing how the program deploys resources towards achieving objectives is submitted to AACSB International, he said. An on-site follow-up visit by the Peer Review Team verifies the report, offers suggestions for improvement, and ultimately makes a recommendation to the accrediting board.

In the end, Jones added, The student benefits because they have assurances of graduating from the highest-quality program, which translates into better career opportunities.

To learn more about AACSB International accreditation, visit the accreditation section of the AACSB International website.

About AACSB International

AACSB's mission is to advance quality management education worldwide through accreditation, thought leadership, and value-added services. As the premier accreditation body for institutions offering undergraduate, master's and doctorate degrees in business and accounting, the association also conducts a wide array of conferences and seminar programs at locations throughout the world. AACSB's global headquarters is located in Tampa, Florida, and its Asia Pacific headquarters is located in Singapore.

For more information, visit the AACSB International website.
The University of Delaware Library has announced a new exhibition, Saving White Clay Creek: The Charge of the Dorothy Miller Brigade, on view in Morris Library through June 30.

The exhibit pays tribute to Dorothy Miller, a citizen of Newark who died at age 84 on Feb. 22, 2016. Miller was a birder and nature lover turned activist who is widely regarded as the coalition builder who successfully fought a proposed damming of White Clay Creek in the 1960s.

Saving White Clay Creek was the first step in allying citizens, conservation-minded organizations, the DuPont Company and the state governments of Delaware and Pennsylvania to acquire and preserve open space to protect the entire White Clay Creek Watershed.

By an act of Congress, the White Clay Creek was declared a National Wild and Scenic River in 2000. One of only 208 Wild and Scenic Rivers in the United States, White Clay Creek is unique for its designation of the entire watershed, not just a river section, in the National Wild and Scenic River System. This watershed spans 107 square miles across two states and the combined recreational and scenic creek and tributaries span 199 miles.

Documents, reports, photographs, maps and news clippings from the Dorothy P. Miller papers, as well as the William J. Cohen papers also located in Special Collections, are on display in Saving the White Clay Creek: The Charge of the Dorothy Miller Brigade.

The exhibit is on display in the Information Room and on the second floor of Morris Library. The exhibit was curated and installed by L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin, librarian, of the Manuscripts and Archives Department. Dustin Frohlich, library assistant, also of the Manuscripts and Archives Department, designed the exhibition poster and prepared the Omeka site for online access to the exhibit.
A Ukrainian man, 29, who was refused entry into Poland, attacked the Polish Border Guard serviceman.

The attacker put his throat folding knife to to the throat of the serviceman, Polish Radio reports.

The incident took place at the Polish-Ukrainian checkpoint "Krakovets-Korczowa." When the Ukrainian was denied entry into Poland, initially the man insulted the border guard and then he threw himself on him, putting the folding knife to his throat.

"During the incident none of the people was injured. Examination showed that the alcohol content in the body of the Ukrainian national amounted to two per thousand,"the Polish authorities in Bieszczady Border Guard Department said.

The suspect confessed to the committed crime and repented. Polish district prosecutor office in Jaroslaw town is looking into the incident.

TL
Militants launched ten attacks on ATO troops in eastern Ukraine in last day.

This is reported by the ATO Headquarters press center.

"The situation in ATO area remains tense. Militants used weapons against the Ukrainian troops ten times over the past day," the report reads.

It is noted that the enemy used grenade launchers of different systems, small arms, heavy machine guns, 82mm and 120 mm mortars, prohibited under the Minsk agreements, to fire at the Ukrainian positions near Avdiyivka (18km north of Donetsk).

In Mariupol direction, terrorists shelled Ukrainian servicemen near Novotroitske (32km south of Donetsk) using automatic grenade launchers.

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Ukraine and Turkey have huge potential for developing cooperation in various sectors, particularly in the economy, energy and defense.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said this at a meeting with Turkish National Defense Minister Ismet Ylmaz on Thursday, May 12, the governmental portal reports.

The sides discussed the prospect of enhanced bilateral cooperation, particularly in the military-technical and trade spheres.

"I am glad because we have recently had a very qualitative improvement in our bilateral cooperation, and I believe that we are now laying the basis for the deepening of our cooperation - in the political, economic and defense spheres," Groysman said.

According to the Ukrainian premier, Turkey is one of the main partners of Ukraine. The two countries both have great potential for developing cooperation in different sectors, especially in the economy and energy. Also, one the promising directions is defense cooperation, which will promote Ukraines defense capability, Groysman said.

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Its important to implement the principles of "open skies" in Ukraine not in two airports located far away from the center of the country, but directly in Kyiv since its important not only to follow the principles but also a real passenger turnover, commercial director of the largest European low cost airline Ryanair David O'Brien told the Forbes-Ukraine magazine.

"It is important that the open skies exist in fact not only in Lviv and Odesa, but also in Kyiv. And not only in the two opposite sides of the country," he said.

"The purpose for the Open Skies should be a surge in the number of passengers served at the airports," said the representative of the airline.

tl
Prompt introduction of the visa-free regime is common goal of Ukraine and the European Union.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this during a meeting with EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos, the website of the Head of State reports.

"We should unite efforts to accelerate the introduction of visa-free regime for Ukrainians," the President noted.

The Head of State congratulated the Commissioner on his first visit to Ukraine and expressed gratitude for his active personal support in the issue of visa regime liberalization between Ukraine and the EU.

The Commissioner informed the President about the course of consideration of the European Commission's legislative proposal on abolition of visas in the European institutions. The parties agreed to coordinate joint actions in order to ensure prompt approval of a positive decision.

Dimitris Avramopoulos praised the appointment of new Prosecutor General of Ukraine and expressed hope for a high-quality reformation of prosecution and struggle against corruption.

"The EU commends reformist efforts of Ukrainian authorities and stands side-by-side with Ukraine in its struggle against corruption and organized crime," he said.

The parties agreed on the importance of ensuring the entry into force of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement as soon as possible.

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EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos has confirmed that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry has fulfilled all the requirements to Ukraine to have the visa-free regime.

"We are not far from the day when Ukrainians will be able to travel freely throughout Europe," the Commissioner said during his meeting with Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, the Ministrys press office reports.

He also said that Ukraine "is not just another country aspiring to Europe, but also a guarantor of stability in the region."

The EU commissioner highlighted that it was also important to unite efforts of the law-enforcement bodies of the EU and Ukraine to achieve common results.

"I will ask the Interpol director to visit Ukraine so that we can unite efforts," Avramopoulos said.

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The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Pedro Agramunt, says the Assembly fully supports the necessary process of reforms in Ukraine.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe fully supports independence, sovereignty and territorial unity of Ukraine, as well as the continued process of needed reforms. I welcome the formation of the new government and congratulate Andriy Parubiy on his appointment as Verkhovna Rada Chairman, Pedro Agramunt said, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Speaking at a press briefing in Kyiv following his meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy, Agramunt also noted that the Government and Parliament should use the dynamics of the recently formed new Cabinet to continue the process of reforms.

"In order to achieve peace and prosperity on its territory, Ukraine should be rich and powerful, with the appropriate government institutions and structures. All political forces should now be united more than ever, and to show the people of Ukraine a concrete result, he said.

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The Obama administration decided not to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine because the Ukrainian military infrastructure couldnt absorb sophisticated weapons.

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said this at the meeting in the Atlantic Council.

"If you started providing sophisticated weaponry to the Ukrainians, first of all, most of them wouldnt have the capability to use it, and second, that would accelerate the killingAnd then you get into this question: Do you want to go to war with Russia over Ukraine?" Hagel said.

The Atlantic Councils Executive Vice President for Programs and Strategy, Damon Wilson, however, cautioned against falling into the trap of everything that we do is provocative.

We are in this situation because of what Mr. Putin is doing in the east and our goal is to have the right posture, both psychologically and militarily, to ensure deterrenceand that we dont find ourselves in the position of having to go to war in Russia, he said.

According to Wilson, rather than focusing on just providing weapons to Ukraine, the focus should be on the larger question of how to build an arc of stability in Europe's east.

What the Russians have done, essentially, is almost ended the arms control regime, he stressed.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman discussed the progress of reforms in Ukraine and human rights abuses in Donbas and Crimea during the meeting with Pedro Agramunt, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Groysman noted that the newly formed government was determined to carry out large-scale reforms and fight against corruption, the government portal reports.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister also informed the PACE President about on the situation in Donbas and in Crimea and about the systematic human rights abuses committed by the aggressor, in particular, in respect of the Crimean Tatars.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need to continue sanctions against the Russian Federation. "Easing sanctions should only occur when the aggressor leaves the Ukrainian territory, fulfils all obligations under the Minsk agreements and returns the territory of Crimea, captured by military means," he said.

Pedro Agramunt assured that the PACE was ready to provide all necessary support to Ukraine on the way of achieving peace and prosperity.

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Approximately 1,000 people of various nationalities, including refugee families and unaccompanied children, were rescued yesterday in operations coordinated by Frontex. In one operation, some 500 people travelling in two fishing boats that had departed several days earlier from Egypt were rescued off Sicily, south east of Cape Passero.

According to the Italian Coastguard, among this group there are some Syrians and Iraqis, as well as people from other nationalities.

Apart from the two fishing boats that sailed from Egypt, it is believed that there were other smaller boats that came from Libya. Disembarkation of the 1,000 people rescued yesterday is taking place today at four different locations in southern Italy: Catania, Palermo, Augusta and Crotone, and will probably last the whole day. UNHCR staff will be present and will be giving information and assistance to the persons rescued.

So far this year, 187,920 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea, including 155,765 to Greece and 31,252 to Italy.

U NHCR continues to advocate for legal pathways for refugees to reach Europe through resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes, family reunification, private sponsorship, humanitarian and refugee student or work visas, etc, as a way to help put an end to the smuggling of human beings.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
Refugee children repair a bicycle at Minawao camp in Cameroon, 2015 file photo.  UNHCR/D. Mbaiorem

YAOUNDE, Cameroon, May 13 (UNHCR) - More than three quarters (76 per cent) of the tens of thousands of Nigerian refugees in northern Cameroon want to return home amid an improving security situation in areas of north-east Nigeria, according to a survey by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

But the survey, conducted earlier this month in Cameroon's Minawao camp, showed that those who want to return are still concerned about conditions in their towns and villages of origin. And while 45 per cent of them wish to return home immediately, 38 per cent want to wait and see how the security situation evolves.

UNHCR shares these concerns and stresses that all returns should be voluntary and that people should not be sent back to areas of insecurity and widespread destruction where their lives would be more difficult and fraught with dangers. At the same time UNHCR urges governments to keep their doors open to people fleeing conflict.

UNHCR staff interviewed 7,939 of the 56,783 refugees in Minawao camp, or 14 per cent. (There are almost 65,000 Nigerian refugees in Cameroon). More than half were women (54 per cent), reflecting the camp demographic, and about half are 35 years or older. Some 44 per cent said they had access to information about their home areas through their phone, new arrivals, family and friends, media and the internet.

Those wishing to return cited concerns about living conditions, provision of basic services and damage to homes and infrastructure, including schools and health centres. Lucas, who arrived in Minawao in August 2014 after fleeing Gwoza in Nigeria's Borno state, said he dreams of reuniting with relatives in Nigeria.

He said most refugees shared this desire, but added: "Our villages have been totally destroyed and the security situation remains uncertain. We lost all our properties and if we have to return we will need support from our government to rebuild our lives."

He and others called for reconstruction programmes, aid packages, livelihood projects and deployment of the armed forces to ensure security. Of those not wanting to return, 59 per cent said they had no financial resources, while 8 percent said they had nothing to return to.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari and Cameroon's President Paul Biya met last week in Abuja and discussed the return of Nigerian refugees under a planned tripartite agreement with UNHCR. They agreed that this should be convened by July and aim to forge a framework for the safe return of refugees.

Returns from Cameroon have been a sensitive issue in the past, with UNHCR unable to gain access to more than 20,000 people sent back to Nigeria since 2015 from the militarized Lake Chad area to ensure they were returning willingly.

UNHCR says returns must be voluntary and both governments should take the concerns of refugees and internally displaced people seriously. UNHCR remains ready to work closely with the two countries to guarantee the rights of refugees to voluntary return in safety and dignity and to speed up reintegration projects.

Over the past year, the governments of Nigeria and Cameroon have pushed back Boko Haram insurgents in north-east Nigeria and northern Cameroon, bringing greater security in some areas. But the insurgency remains a major threat to peace in the region.

The conflict has forced more than 200,000 people to flee to Cameroon, Chad and Niger following attacks on their villages in Nigeria's Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. The conflict has since 2014 spilled over into Cameroon, where some 170,000 Cameroonians are internally displaced in the north.
Displaced Embera indigenous people in Baudo, Choco region, April 2009 file photo.  UNHCR/M.H. Verney

GENEVA, May 13 (UNHCR) - Armed clashes between illegal groups fighting for territory in western Colombia are driving a growing number of mostly Afro-Caribbean and indigenous peoples from their homes in Choco department, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has warned.

In the past two months alone, more than 6,000 people have fled the fighting, as well as ongoing hostilities in the context of the country's civil war. The clashes, around the Baudo, Atrato and San Juan rivers, have also severely restricted the movements of a further 7,000 people.

"To date, the displacement has mostly affected Afro-Colombians and indigenous people," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday (May 13). "For these people access to livelihoods, including fishing, hunting and agriculture, has been completely cut off and their children are no longer able to go to school," he added.

The magnitude of the situation has overwhelmed the local authorities' ability to respond to basic needs, including food, healthcare, shelter and psychological support. UNHCR is working in close coordination with the Colombian authorities and other humanitarian agencies to provide emergency assistance and logistical support to the displaced communities.

The clashes come as the Government of Colombia is in the final stages of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the principal guerrilla force in the country, and recently announced the launch of formal negotiations with another group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The peace dialogue, launched in 2012, aims to put an end to more than 50 years of armed conflict with the FARC, which has generated close to seven million internally displaced people and 350,000 Colombian refugees, living mainly in Ecuador and Venezuela.

"UNHCR today urgently calls on all parties to the conflict to guarantee the safety of the civilian population," Spindler said. "This includes refraining from establishing military bases in or near civilian settlements and carrying out bombing raids in these areas. It is also essential to address the structural causes of displacement, including control over territory and resources."

Ending the forced displacement of Colombian internally displaced people and refugees is critical to the establishment of sustainable peace in Colombia and to the country's socioeconomic recovery.

Failing to reintegrate internally displaced people and returnees will jeopardize the success of the fragile transition period and increases the risk of new displacements.
UNHCR staff wait at the port of Augusta in Sicily to disembark refugees found adrift in the Mediterranean Sea in May 2016.  UNHCR/Carlotta Sami

GENEVA, May 13 (UNHCR) - Approximately 1,000 people of various nationalities, including refugee families and unaccompanied children, have been rescued from the Mediterranean Sea in operations coordinated by Frontex, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, said today.

In one operation carried out on Thursday (May 12), some 500 people travelling in two fishing boats that had departed several days earlier from Egypt were rescued off Sicily, south east of Cape Passero.

"According to the Italian Coastguard, among this group there are some Syrians and Iraqis, as well as people from other nationalities," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday (May 13).

So far this year, 187,920 refugees and migrants have made a perilous trip to Europe by sea, during which 1,361 have either lost their lives or been reported missing. Of those making the journey, 155,765 reached Greece and 31,252, Italy.

Apart from the two fishing boats that sailed from Egypt, it is believed that there were other smaller boats that came from Libya, Spindler said.

Disembarkation of the 1,000 people rescued yesterday is taking place today at four different locations in southern Italy: Catania, Palermo, Augusta and Crotone, and will probably last the whole day.

UNHCR staff will be present and will be giving information and assistance to the persons rescued.

UNHCR continues to advocate for legal pathways for refugees to reach Europe through resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes, family reunification, private sponsorship, humanitarian and refugee student or work visas, etc, as a way to help put an end to the smuggling of human beings.
Colombian refugee baker Carlos makes bread rolls to feed people made homeless by a recent earthquake in Ecuador.  UNHCR/S. Aguilar

PEDERNALES, Ecuador, May 13 (UNHCR) - Colombian refugee Carlos bakes for a living. So when an earthquake struck Ecuador last month leaving thousands without homes, he stepped up to help the best way he knew how: making bread.

Reaching for a sack of flour and water, he baked a first batch of 1,000 rolls to help feed families in the Pacific Coast region of Ecuador who were dislodged by the 7.8 magnitude tremor that struck last month. Another batch of 2,000 loaves followed.

"This country has given us a second chance after having lived under so much danger. So we want to thank the Ecuadorians," says Carlos as he mixed up another batch of dough. "We know what it feels like to lose our home all of a sudden."

The April 16 quake was the worst disaster to strike the Andean nation in seven decades. It killed at least 660 people and left around 30,000 people in immediate need of shelter.

Carlos is among more than 200,000 refugees who have sought asylum in Ecuador since the millennium, most, like him, from Colombia. Like many who lost their homes in the worst affected areas including Pedernales, Manta and Portoviejo, he just wanted to help.

"What I possess is my ability to work," the 32-year-old explains. "We have little, we are also in need. But at least we are alive, we are together."

In the immediate aftermath of the quake, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, dispatched two cargo aircraft to Ecuador packed with 200 tons of humanitarian aid, including 900 tents, 6,100 solar powered lamps and more than 7,000 plastic sheets.

Working closely with Ecuadorian authorities, staff distributed other items including 18,000 mosquito nets - in view of the Zika virus risk and other mosquito-borne diseases - as well as 7,000 jerry cans to collect water, and kitchen utensils.

UNHCR and its partner HIAS, the global Jewish non-profit that works to protect refugees, also supported Carlos in his effort to feed some of the 200 residents of a temporary shelter - called "Nueva Esperanza," or "New Hope." For displaced Ecuadorian mother Rosa, who lost her home in the quake, the warm loaves are a reminder of a shattered routine.

"Before the earthquake, we would have coffee and eggs for breakfast while thinking of the day of work in front of us," she told UNHCR. "Now, we wake up with fear as the uncertainty stays with us."

To help Ecuador get back on its feet, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners have launched an appeal for international assistance of US $72.7 million, with the aim of providing aid to around 350,000 people over a period of three months.

"Ecuador has shown solidarity with the refugee population during the last decades. UNHCR has been wanting to give some of that solidarity back in one way or the other," says Maria Clara Martin, UNHCR's representative in Ecuador.

To help provide life-saving aid to families in Ecuador, please donate now.

By Sonia Aguilar in Ecuador
A U.S. senate committee launched an inquiry on Tuesday to find out ways Facebook select its news stories. The investigation comes in lieu of after a report has surfaced that employees of Facebook stopped the news of conservative issues to appear in its trending list.

As reported in Reuters, The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation requested Facebook chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter that he entertains questions in relation to Facebook's curation practices and its accompanying trending topics section.

The investigation on Facebook comes after a Gizmodo made a report on Monday that a former Facebook employee reported workers did not report news accurately on the site, and instead, reported news that is falsely curated.

John Thune, a U.S. senator, claimed that Facebook employees may be in deception of the public if it is reporting false trending news online. Thune said:

"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. It's a matter of transparency and honesty and there shouldn't be any attempt to mislead the American public."

The letter sent to Mark Zuckerberg contain requests for information on the organizational structure that feature "Trending Topics" feature. Deputy chief of staff for democratic senator, Harry Reid, Adam Jentleson revealed what was going on behind the investigation surrounding this situation in Facebook. Jentleson said:

Politicians refuse to hold other more important meetings, but instead focuses on Facebook's viral news controversies. These politicians sought to hold meetings over these controversies sourrounding viral news stories that should not be around in Facebook.

Engadget reported that Facebook has until May 24th to make his staff available for any questions in relation to the investigation.
The corpse of missing Arizona State University, Deb Schwartz, was seen by Oak Creek Canyon earlier on Sunday morning. This incident was reported by Coconino County Sheriff's office announced. According to reports, ASU professor, Debra Schwartz went lost in a camp ground Coconino National Forest last May 4.

As stated by observers, Schwartz was last seen in the Pine Flat Campground Oak Creek Canyon. Oak Creek Canyon is located in Cococino National Forest located south of Flagstaff, Arizona. Mark Searle, ASU executive vice president and provost, released a statement in relation to Schwartz's passing, as reported in University Herald. He said:

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague, Debra Schwartz, who devoted her career to helping others find the joy of new-found knowledge and creative ability."

Schwartz's body will be transferred to Coconino County Medical Examiner's Office. At this office, medical authorities would attempt to discover the cause of Schwartz's death, as well as the way she died.

In another report by Azcentral.com, it was reported that Schwartz had an intense passion for adventure. Word has it that Schwartz never let the fact she had no companion to stop her from going on adventures alone, regardless, whether or not there is danger looming ahead in the adventures she goes into.

In fact, Schwartz's friend, Franklin Evans, said he would never forget a few summers prior, Schwartz went on an adventure in Colorado alone. Evans said Schwartz went camping and hiking all by herself at the time in Colorado. Evans and Schwartz met in 2010 while they were volunteers at Career Connectors. Career Connectors is a non-profit organization that helps people create resumes and cover letter not long after the recession occurred in 2008.

As reported also in Azcentral.com, Schwartz's friends and ASU community members are grieving over the loss of their beloved friend. Her friends said they would always remember Schwartz as having a caring spirit and someone who has a great love and interest in writing.
Samsung Galaxy Note 6 is said to be released on August 15, according to a tweet from mobile reporter Evan Blass.

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 US release scheduled for week of August 15th.  Evan Blass (@evleaks) May 11, 2016

Samsung has just released Galaxy S7 Edge earlier this year and for those waiting for the next generation of Galaxy Note series, the wait might be over soon, but not the curiosity.

Many rumors have mentioned about various features and software including Iris scanner that sounds like something from 'Mission Impossible' movie.

Samsung Focus

Samsung Galaxy Note 6 will have 'Focus' software, an application similar to Blackberry Hub that integrates email, calendar and contacts. It is said that Focus will provide options to viewers on how they respond to emails, Android Central has learned.

Iris Scanner

According to SamMobile, there is a strong hint that Galaxy Note 6 will feature iris scanner for extra security. It is reported that there's been iris cam item shipped to India for the company's research purpose. An image shows brief information about the shipment of 200 iris cams as 'parts of Samsung Mobile'.

Stylus

This image shows a different stylus placement. In order to put bigger battery, Samsung is likely to place its stylus on the outer corner. If this is true, then it would be a major change.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge battery is more powerful than its previous generation. Thus, it is obvious that the new Galaxy Note 6 will also have battery boost, probably up to 4,000 mAh. With the capacity that big, it should come with fast charging feature. On the processor, it might also be quicker than S7's.

Last but not least, the design might be similar to the previous Note 5. Expect thinner design but same material on its chassis plus water resistance feature. As for extra storage space, Galaxy Note 6 might support micro-SD

Samsung Galaxy Note series are able to carve a high-end niche and fans are eager to find out the latest version of this phablet. How about you?
Undocumented students enrolled in University of California may continue to receive financial support from the administration. University of California President Janet Napolitano has allotted $8M additional funding for undocumented college students to continue with their studies for three more years until 2019.

University of California President Janet Napolitano is committed to keep undocumented students in school until they graduate. She prioritizes the continuing education of undocumented students ever since she took the University of California presidential post in 2013. The $25M budget fund will be divided for three years. It follows the previous budget of $5M for an iniative that started in 2013, Steve Montiel, Napolitano's spokesperson, told MSNBC. The previous budget is scheduled to end in the next month.



There are approximately 3,000 University of Caliofrnia students who are undocumented that could benefit from Napolitano's continued initiative. The $8M support will be allocated to three priorities across the 10 campuses of University of California. Napolitano plans to allocate $5 million to University of California's DREAM Loan Program per year for three years at least.

The DREAM Loan Program is dedicated for undocumented students or illegal immigrants who have come to the country to study. This will greatly help undocumented students in the University of California to pay for their schooling as they cannot apply for loans or receive any sort of aid from the federal government. The rate of interest from the loan is similar to the rate from federal direct student loans.

Another $2.5 million will go to fellowship programs in the schools as well as textbooks per year, according to a press release. The University of California's Undocumented Legal Services Center will also get $900,000 budget every year.
Earlier this month, the University of California hosted an event called "The Global Food Summit: Sustainable Solutions." The keynote address was delivered by University of California President Janet Napolitano, the founder of the initiative which was started in 2014. It is aimed to address one of the most compelling concerns of our society in a sustainable manner: world hunger.

The University of California led by President Janet Napolitano launched the UC Global Food Initiative in 2015 to contribute to the pressing issues of world hunger and sustainable food supply, according to a press release. Their initiative is focused on sustainable food supply and translating it in such a way that can be easily adapted and applied by the university's students, staff and faculty across 10 University of California campuses in the US.

President Napolitano: "One of the underlying principles of UC is to tackle society's most urgent problems." #GFS2016 pic.twitter.com/ciWBn1mAgm  UC Food Observer (@ucfoodobserver) May 6, 2016



In the Global Food Summit that happened on May 5 and 6, University of California staff, leaders and authority figures gathered together at the UC Irvine Student Center's Crystal Cove Auditorium and at the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences & Engineering. The two-day event was dedicated to a discourse about ways to end hunger, effects of climate change and various other challenges, according to another release.

Some of the most memorable things that were highlighted during the event include:

1.) Food can nourish but modernization has made the process of acquiring and marketing it complex. It touches up on factors including technology, equity, economics, water and climate change.

2.) Food insecurity is becoming an increasing trend in the world.

3.) The food system can be changed to be more sustainable and environment-friendly if we all work together towards practices that all of us can benefit from the most.
The University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine introduced an academic clinical funding plan. This plan has been used by many medical schools in Canada and it aims to provide doctors with compensation and protected time to research or teach. This means, more faculty doctors are encouraged to conduct studies and work in balance.

Confirmed by university's dean, Preston Smith, the school has provided voluntary options for those willing to change to that plan. He also expected that the other doctors will follow the lead as up to this day, 20 experts in Saskatoon have already opted for it.

Academic work has been undervalued and also underfunded compared to the clinical work, University and College Union has learned. With this new clinical funding plan, there will be a 'protected amount of time for research and teaching'; and at the same time, they are being paid just like the ones treating patients in clinics.

The college expects more engagement up to 1,300 doctors throughout the area. These experts have affiliation with the school but they do not have the opportunity to get a full-time position in college. This also means that the med students will also have the chance to open up discussion with many more doctors.

The study done by the university also finds a gap that persists, in employment and educational attainment. It highlights the income inequality, as reported by the University of Saskatchewan News.

Mark Brown as former Saskatchewan Medical Association president agreed to the concept because the structures allow the doctors to have balance in researching, innovating and working at the same time. However, it is said that the 1,300 doctors who will teach, are lacking of information on how it would be applied. Currently, SMA just appointed new president, Dr. Intheran Pillay, who promises to improve the health care services in the province, as reported by 620 Ckrm.
Longtime UW Honors Program Director Receives Trustees Award of Merit

Duncan Harris

A longtime University of Wyoming English professor, who for years directed UWs Honors Program, has been recognized with the UW Board of Trustees Award of Merit.

Duncan Harris, who retired in 2014 after 44 years on UWs faculty, received the honor during this weeks regular Board of Trustees meeting.

Dr. Harris ranks as one of UWs most stellar professors, most conscientious advisers, most caring and inspiring mentors, and most visionary faculty members, UW President Dick McGinity says. His positive impact on the university is incalculable.

The UW Trustees' Award of Merit was established by the Board of Trustees in 1984 to recognize members of the faculty, staff and student body who have rendered meritorious service or made exemplary contributions to the university.

A Shakespearean scholar, Harris is an acclaimed author, editor and reviewer of many manuscripts in his field. For his teaching excellence, he was awarded the Ellbogen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007, the Golden Apple Award, the Outstanding First Year Advocate Award and several others.

For 21 years, he directed the UW Honors Program, tripling its size and providing extra opportunities for thousands of students.

Through his gentle and kind manner that challenges students to meet and exceed their expectations, he has mentored some of UWs best students to prepare for, compete for and earn some of this countrys most superior scholarships, a colleague wrote in his letter of nomination.

Harris also directed the Summer High School Institute, which introduces outstanding Wyoming high school students to the university every summer.

Harris received an A.B. in English, with a minor in history, from Stanford University (1965); an M.A. in English at Boston University (1966); and a Ph.D. at Brandeis University (1972).
University of Wyoming Calendar for May 16-22

Visitors to the UW Department of Botanys Williams Conservatory can see a variety of plant species. (UW Photo)

These are among the activities scheduled May 16-22 at the University of Wyoming:

Tuesday, May 17-Wednesday, May 18 -- UWs Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center will host a two-day event on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The Wyoming UAV Symposium will take place at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center. To register, go to www.uwyo.edu/ser/conferences/upcoming-events/uav-symposium.html.

Tuesday, May 17, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. -- More than 500 junior high and senior high school female students from throughout the state are expected to attend the Women in STEM Conference at various campus locations.

Tuesday, May 17, 10 a.m. -- Its Never Too Late -- Exploring Peace Corps Service After 50 will be presented in the Wyoming Union, Room 202. Register online at www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/learn/meet/events/26061/.

Thursday, May 19, 5:30 p.m. -- Charmaine Delmatier, Rocky Mountain Herbarium Volunteer Program director, will present A Walk Across Wyoming: Our Rare and Common Wildflowers in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center, Room 138. A reception will follow. Free.

Friday, May 20, 8 p.m. -- Planetarium show, Orders of Magnitude. A STAR Observatory tour follows at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $3 for students and $4 for non-students, Physical Sciences Building basement. Advance tickets are available in Room 204 of the Physical Sciences Building.

Saturday, May 21, 11 a.m. -- Planetarium show, Where Have We Been in Space? Tickets cost $3 for students and $4 for non-students, Physical Sciences Building basement. Advance tickets are available in Room 204 of the Physical Sciences Building.

A variety of exhibitions can be seen at the UW Art Museum in the Centennial Complex, 2111 Willett Drive in Laramie. The museum is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

Dinosaur skeletons, ancient mammal fossils and other exhibits are on display in the UW Geological Museum, open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

The UW Department of Botanys Williams Conservatory is open to the public Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
UW Graduate Student Named Volunteer of the Year

Mandi Mosher, of Casper, is the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year Award from the University of Wyomings Service, Leadership and Community Engagement (SLCE) office. The award recognizes a student who has exemplified the spirit of volunteerism and service within the UW campus and the Laramie community.

Mosher, a UW social work program graduate student, was nominated for the award by Division of Social Work Assistant Professor Valerie Thompson-Ebanks. Mosher was cited for her work with:

-- Youth Empowerment Council: helping to teach adolescents about suicide, drugs, sexual assault and healthy coping strategies.

-- Acupuncture clinic: providing free acupuncture detoxification for the community.

-- Book drive: soliciting donated books for community book drives and also for Peace Corps libraries in South Africa.

-- Casper Community Prevention Strategies Group: helping to create a campaign to prevent prescription drug abuse.

-- Sexual assault community event -- One Billion Rising: partnering with Casper College and UW to coordinate a community event -- the screening of the documentary Hunting Ground, and facilitating a discussion after the film with agencies and resources within the Casper College community.

Other UW students nominated for the award were Taylor Albert, Elhashemi Ali, Christine Bessert, Monita Crossley, Patrick Cunningham, Garrett Cruzan, Alanna Elder, Sean Feehan, Ali Ghasemzadeh, Logan Jensen, Annie Layden, John Marquiss, Sean OLeary, Mandie Reish, Lucas Slade Robertson, Kimberly Sanchez and Betsy Trana.

For more information about the Volunteer of the Year Award, call (307) 766-3117 or visit the SLCE website at www.uwyo.edu/union/slce.
1 killed, 2 hurt in blast at factory

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-05-13 02:10

ONE person was killed and two others were injured yesterday when a boiler exploded at a factory in suburban Fengxian District.

The incident happened about 10:15am at a plant on Nanfeng Highway owned by Shanghai Yingtai Plastics Co, according to the district government.

Two workers, both men in their 40s, are being treated for life-threatening injuries at Fengxian District Central Hospital, it said in a statement.

One suffered a serious brain injury, while the other is being treated for a ruptured spleen, damage to his spine and multiple bone fractures, the hospital told Shanghai Daily.

An investigation is under way.
Foreigners given useful lesson in how to avoid getting traffic fines

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-05-13 02:10

A GROUP of about 40 foreigners who work in Jingan District attended a seminar yesterday to help them master the finer points of Shanghais traffic laws.

It was good to get some information, because sometimes it might be a bit unclear for foreigners in terms of what is legal and what is illegal, Briton Izzy Ukooko told Shanghai Daily after the event.

The hour-long presentation, organized by the Jingan Exit and Entry Administration for employees of companies based at the Shibei Hi-tech Park on Jiangchang Road W., comprised a digital slide show and question and answer session.

Another of the participants was Vika Korpusova, a Russian who moved to Shanghai in 2013.

I dont think many foreigners living in Shanghai know the (traffic) rules, she said.

Because many local people dont seem to know them, and those that do dont follow them.

During the slide show, the assorted expats  whose number also included Thais and Spaniards  were given a breakdown of the most common traffic offenses committed by foreigners.

Top of the list, said police officer Wei Wei, is e-bike riders carrying a pillion.

Other frequently spotted violations include people riding motorized bikes without a helmet, failing to register e-bikes, and traveling in the wrong direction along the road, he said.

Ukooko said he has an electric bike and has often carried a friend on the back seat, as he didnt realize it was an offense.

After the presentation, Korpusova and a handful of other foreigners took to the streets to watch Wei and his colleagues tackle traffic crime on Nanjing Road and Shaanxi Road.

Ive stopped three or four violations already, she told Shanghai Daily, as she waved a flag in the direction of an oncoming e-bike.

Wei said that Jingan police plan to host several more events for foreigners to help them to become safer road users, and avoid being fined.

Wherever youre from, if you live in Shanghai, you should be aware of these five traffic offenses:

1. Riding pillion is illegal on all motorized bikes

Which probably comes as news to the thousands of grandparents who give their grandchildren rides home from school every day.

2. The wearing of safety helmets is compulsory for motorized bike riders

Though, strangely, such headgear is a rare sight on the citys streets.

3. All motorized bikes must be registered with the police

Secondhand e-bike buyers take note.

4. All bikes, motorized or not, are banned from being ridden on sidewalks or zebra crossings

This ubiquitous practice really is against the law, as a Shanghai Daily journalist found to his cost just yesterday.

5. International driving permits are invalid in Shanghai, but can be used to obtain a local license

To get the latter you will be required to sit a theory test.
After a brutal round of cuts by the WWE, another round of talent cuts are expected within the next few weeks. The WWE have already let go of talented performers like Damien Sandow and Wade Barrett but the other cuts were expected.

Adam Rose and Ryback could be in line for a cut, alongside Rosa Mendes who was widely expected to be included in the last number of cuts.

The WWE has already let backstage personnel like the Brooklyn Brawler go so it seems like nobody is safe from the next round of cuts.

Who is likely to go?

Adam Rose may not survive for much longer after he was arrested while suspended by the WWE. He had spoken out about his suspension from the WWE and it seems inevitable that he will be included.

Ryback took to Tumblr to express his displeasure with how the WWE pays its superstars and how the creative writers stifle performers growth because they dont understand wrestling. The Big Guy could ultimately end up re-signing with the WWE but with his merchandise moved to the sale section of the WWEShop, its unlikely at this point.

Rosa Mendes was expected to be let go last time around. Shes a limited in-ring performer and has not been seen on WWE television, barring Total Divas, for a while.

Outside of those, Lillian Garcia could be let go. Shes not been the in-ring announcer for a few weeks as the WWE moves on to Eden Stiles.

Its likely the Big Guy is moved on. Photo: Bleacher Report

Budget cuts equal talent cuts

The WWE has been downsizing in a number of aspects recent, in a bid to maximise profits. Gone are the special stages of pay-per-view and the absurd amount of pyro before every episode of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown!

Talent cuts are the best way for WWE to save money. Downsizing the roster, one which Vince McMahon commented on, noting it is potentially the WWEs biggest in a long while, makes sense financially but may cause confusion among fans.

Its great to see matches between talented wrestlers but the WWE is a variety show and while the comedy acts may be ignored and ridiculed by some fans, they add to the show for a number of others.
The WWE has a very deep roster at the moment, to the credit of Vince McMahon and Triple H. A good mix of Hunters NXT brand with top superstars has led to the Chairman of the board, Vince giving props and commenting on the state of the roster.

Speaking on a WWE conference call, Vince commented that the WWE had introduced 13 new stars within the last few weeks and that within the next month, they could have their biggest roster for a while.

Vince also noted that a number of top superstars like John Cena, Seth Rollins, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton will be returning soon - some even within the next month - adding to a continually growing roster.

Most talented roster ever?

The WWE has benefitted significantly from signing a number of independent wrestlers in recent years. AJ Styles, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn are three standouts but they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Add them to a mixed roster that combines up and comers like Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, icons like the ever improving John Cena and a talented group like the New Day and the WWE has a bright future ahead of it.

A number of talented superstars down in NXT are likely to be called up soon. Samoa Joe, Finn Balor and Bayley are all seemingly on the cusp of being called up. Theyre all very talented superstars and would add to different parts of WWE roster.

Even more to come from NXT

NXT may very well be WWEs developmental system but it has a number of talents, signees and development talent that could very add to the WWE main roster. Shinsuke Nakamura is the most obvious name. His charisma and different style of wrestling is much need at the top level of WWE.

After him, Austin Aries, Hideo Itami and Alexa Bliss could all add to the main roster. Aries is talented but needs direction in the WWE. Itami has been unlucky with injuries but is a very talented performer who could fit in at any level on the main roster. Alexa Bliss is a very good heel womens wrestler who can fit in as manager for a superstar who needs to draw heat.

They all may make the main roster at some point.
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By Julie Jason, Special to The Star

Small-business owners, would you like to raise money from the public, just like large corporations do? Your time has come. On Monday, final rules take effect to implement the 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act).

Under the act, you'll be able to raise money online through a low-cost, crowdfunded securities offering without hiring a major investment bank. That is big news.

But because investors will have less information than they would in a typical public offering, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wants you to follow a specific set of rules (685 pages) when making the offering, all with the view of protecting investors.

For those who are not avid readers of SEC regulations, here's a tip: The CliffsNotes version (''Analysis of Final Rules'') is only 100 pages, beginning on Page 381 of the final rule, which you can find here: http://tinyurl.com/gwdmcu6.

The SEC calls these rules ''Regulation Crowdfunding.''

This type of crowdfunding is different from the ''reward-based'' crowdfunding that you may be familiar with. Through portals such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, individuals raise small amounts of money from a large number of people in exchange for a gift or a product. The most successful campaigns have raised millions  for example, Pebble E-Paper Watch and Pono Music.

Another type of crowdfunding takes place on portals such as AngelList and CircleUp, according to attorney Anthony J. Zeoli of Freeborn and Peters LLP. Those portals are limited to ''accredited'' (high net worth) investors.

Under the new regulations, nonaccredited investors can invest, but the amount is limited based on the investor's finances.

If the investor's annual income (or net worth) is less than $100,000, he or she will be limited to the greater of $2,000 or 5 percent of annual income (or net worth). If income (or net worth) is $100,000 or more, the limit is the greater of 10 percent of annual income (or net worth), with a cap of $100,000.

There also is a restriction on the amount the company can raise through an offering: up to $1 million in a 12-month period. However, Zeoli points out that more can be raised in an intrastate offering. For example, if you limit the offering to Illinois residents, the cap is $4 million.

The other element is how the issue is brought to the public.

There is no requirement that funding portals be registered as broker-dealers or have any investment expertise, explained Daniel Mulcahy, managing director of ZacksInvest (zacksinvest.com), which is a funding portal.

''By design, most portals will be advertorial in nature, and will simply showcase companies willing to pay to be listed on the portal,'' explained Mulcahy. ''The level of due diligence conducted by the portals will range widely and at the discretion of each portal operator.''

However, you can have a regulated company act as a portal. ZacksInvest, for example, is licensed as a broker-dealer. It operates a funding portal promoting private investment opportunities, according to Mulcahy.

By the way, if you are just starting out in your research about how an offering could benefit your company, you'll find the zacksinvest.com website quite useful.

Companies thinking about raising money can submit their potential offerings for review. After a company submits an application (there is no charge), it is carefully evaluated based on its risk profile. Once approved, ZacksInvest ''will help you build a compelling offering page on this site'' and ''show you how to link it to social media accounts, how to use our tools and processes to raise capital more efficiently and effectively.''

The main focus of the site, however, is for the ''self-directed investors looking for promising growth-stage companies to make a killing in,'' said Mulcahy.

As a potential investor, you need to think of crowdfunded securities as long-term holdings for one very good reason. As Mulcahy explains: ''Until secondary markets develop, investors are in for the long haul, most likely waiting for a buyout or possibly an IPO. Crowdfunded securities will have limited transferability, which means getting fair market value will be challenging.''

I'll post a few follow-up stories on the subject on my blog at www.juliejason.com/blog. If you would like me to send you copies of my previous columns on the subject, email me at readers@juliejason.com.

Julie Jason, a personal money manager (Jackson, Grant of Stamford, Conn.) and award-winning author, welcomes your questions/ comments (readers@juliejason.com). To hear Julie speak, visit www.juliejason.com/events.
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CAMARILLO

Minister presents 'conscious action'

The Rev. Betty Ann Brennan, assistant minister at the Center for Spiritual Living Pleasant Valley, will present a lesson on "Conscious Action" at the May 22 service, which starts at 10 a.m.

Fellowship follows at 11 a.m. Meditation is at 9:30 a.m. in Room 4. Musical inspiration will be by Bill Rotella.

Services are held at 221 E. Daily Drive, Suite 1. For more information, call 482-4300.

MOORPARK

Chabad centers host festive family event

The Chabad Jewish Centers of Moorpark and Camarillo invite the community to their Lag Ba'omer outing. The event will be May 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Baron Brothers Estate, 8860 Stockton Road. This event is geared for all ages.

Participants will enjoy an all-you-can-eat barbecue, kayaking on the lake, bonfire with s'mores, moon bounce for children, a drum circle, nature walks on the scenic property, live music and more. The cost is $10 per person and $50 per family.

Lag Ba'omer is a festive day on the Jewish calendar, which celebrates the anniversary of the passing of the sage and mystic Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, a central Kabbalistic text.

To RSVP and for more information, email DLH@JewishMoorpark.com or call 242-2232. For more information about Lag Ba'omer, visit http://www.JewishMoorpark.com/42944.

THOUSAND OAKS

Free parenting class offered at temple

Temple Etz Chaim's Early Childhood Center's free parenting seminars will culminate with the third presentation in the series May 22 at 9:30 a.m. in the chapel, Temple Etz Chaim, 1080 E. Janss Road. Reservations are not required and the free parenting seminar is open to the community.

Local parenting expert Bette Levy Alkazian, a licensed marriage and family therapist, will present "Sibling Rivalry: How love and hate can exist in the same space and why it's great!" This presentation will discuss how children try to figure out who they are through the eyes of their family members and how to deal with it in your home.

For more information, visit http://www.templeetzchaim.org or contact the Early Childhood Center office at 497-6852 or thepreschool@templeetzchaim.org.

VENTURA

Catholic high school welcomes bishop

St. Bonaventure High School held its final Mass of the school year on April 26 with Bishop Robert Barron celebrating.

The schools's Campus Ministry Core Team led the planning and welcomed him to Our Lady of the Assumption for his first visit to the parish. Barron, recently appointed regional bishop, spread messages of patience, trust and faith to the student body.

At the conclusion of the school Mass, the bishop stayed to interact with students. Assistant Principal Deacon Don Huntley extended an invitation to Barron to celebrate Mass at the Catholic high school next year.

For more information about the school, call 648-6836 or visit http://www.saintbonaventure.com.
STAR FILE PHOTO A dispute involving the Fillmore Senior Center is headed for court, both sides say.

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By Tony Biasotti, Special to The Star

The lawsuit brought by the Fillmore Senior Center against the city of Fillmore looks likely to go before a jury at the end of the month, attorneys for both sides say.

Fillmore Senior Center Inc. is an independent nonprofit that, until last year, ran the city's senior center under a rent-free agreement with the city. The city evicted the nonprofit in July and opened its own Active Adult and Community Center in the space a month later. The nonprofit found another property to rent, and Fillmore now has two senior centers.

When the nonprofit was told its lease would not be renewed, it sued the city, claiming the city did not follow the proper legal procedure to end the lease. That lawsuit, filed more than a year ago, is now scheduled for a jury trial starting May 31.

Attorneys for the city and the senior center nonprofit both said they think the case will probably go to trial. Negotiations to try to settle the case have stalled, and the senior center canceled the last scheduled round of mediation. Superior Court Judge Kent Kellegrew has yet to rule on a motion by the city to have the case dismissed.

"I think it's going to go to trial," said Richard Francis, the senior center's attorney.

"We really hope that it can be settled, but at this point we're not that hopeful," Fillmore City Attorney Tiffany Israel said.

Kellegrew did dismiss one part of the lawsuit, one that alleged the City Council violated the Brown Act, the state law that governs public meetings. But the crux of the suit, and the part that would result in monetary damages, remains active.

The City Council decided in November 2014, during a closed session, not to renew the senior center lease. The senior center lawsuit argued that decision should have been made in open session, or should have been disclosed immediately after the closed-session decision. To protect itself from any potential Brown Act violation, the City Council voted two months later in a public session to reaffirm its decision not to renew the lease.

But Francis said the city still not follow the proper procedure for ending the lease. The original notification in 2014 that the lease would end came not from the City Council, but from City Manager David Rowlands, Francis said. When the council reaffirmed its decision two months later, Francis said it came with no legal, written notice of termination. The senior center's suit contends Rowlands acted without the proper legal authorization of a formal City Council vote.

"They have to give a formal written document six months in advance to terminate the lease," Francis said.

The city's view is that its original decision in 2014, and the notice it gave to the nonprofit then, are sufficient. But to make certain, on Tuesday the City Council again approved the lease termination, voting 5-0 to ratify the letter Rowlands wrote to the nonprofit on Nov. 20, 2014.

"One of the arguments the judge seems to be struggling with is this issue of whether the notice of termination was authorized by the council," Israel said. "We're doing this to make it very clear that it was."

Israel said the City Council wasn't "trying to be sneaky" by discussing the matter in closed session and telling Rowlands to terminate the lease without issuing a formal vote on the matter.

"They'd been negotiating for six months already, and Dave (Rowlands) had a meeting scheduled with them already," Israel said. "We wanted to tell them then, versus having it on TV at the council meeting before they'd heard about it."

The senior center has yet to specify the total damages it is seeking, but Francis said it will look to make up the $1,500 per month in rent it has paid since it moved, plus other moving expenses. It is also seeking reimbursement of its legal fees.

"We were kicked out prematurely so we had to rent another place for a year," Francis said. "That cost us a lot of money we wouldn't have had to spend."
STOCK PHOTO Water.

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By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Special to The Star

The Casitas Municipal Water District has made its next move in the voter-driven battle to wrest control of Ojai's water system from a private firm, filing a request to seize the system by eminent domain.

Casitas filed an eminent domain request against Golden State Water Co. on Thursday in Ventura County Superior Court. The petition follows Golden State's rejection of Casitas' offer in March to purchase the company's Ojai franchise for $23.7 million. Casitas' board of directors agreed unanimously last month to move forward with the strategy of using eminent domain.

"If they're rejecting the offer, our next option available is eminent domain," said Ron Merckling, the district's public affairs manager. "We've made an assessment of what we think the fair value is, and they've rejected that, and I don't know if our constituents would be willing to pay for more than the value of the property, since they're the ones that are going to have to pay for it."

Ojai voters approved a plan in 2013 to have Casitas take over the water system from Golden State by issuing up to $60 million in bonds and creating a special tax district to pay back the money. Almost 90 percent of voters favored the plan, but Casitas' efforts to execute it have been tied up in court battles with Golden State.

Casitas and a citizen group called Ojai Friends of Locally Owned Water (FLOW) spent more than two years fighting Golden State over a lawsuit the firm filed against the financing strategy for the takeover. The lawsuit moved through Ventura County Superior Court, an appeals court and then to the California Supreme Court before being put to rest.

As part of the eminent domain lawsuit filed Thursday, Casitas is also seeking damages and attorney fees incurred from its first legal fight with Golden State. The litigation fees alone amount to $151,000, according to the filing.

Merckling estimated the eminent domain case could take six months to a year to reach a resolution, and even longer if Golden State decides to challenge it. He said he's optimistic Casitas will prevail.

"So far, we've been very successful in going through the different challenges that Golden State has brought to us," he said. "We're acting on behalf of the public. I think that, usually, when you're acting on behalf of the public, that's taken very well by the courts."

A Golden State spokesman did not return a request for comment Thursday. The company repeatedly has said its Ojai franchise is "not for sale."

Pat McPherson, chairman of Ojai FLOW, said he was glad to hear about the eminent domain filing. He said his organization is also planning a class-action suit on behalf of Ojai voters against Golden State to request damages from delays in the takeover process.

"I'm happy because (Casitas) filed eminent domain, but I'm even more happy that they filed for damages," McPherson said. "Golden State has not been nice to any of the ratepayers through this whole process and they have, in my opinion, purposely delayed or tried to delay all of the takeover.

He said Casitas' suit for damages against Golden State would "put them in their place."
Annual international education exhibition tour kicks off in town

From:Shanghai Daily | 2016-05-13 17:24

The annual China International Education Exhibition Tour will be held at the East Asia Exhibition Hall in Shanghai on Sunday with about 90 schools and organizations.

Besides some well-known schools from US, UK, Canada and other countries popular among Chinese overseas students, visitors will also see a large number of schools and organizations from the "One Belt, One Road" region.

Students and parents can talk to school recruitment staff, consulate officials and agency workers on the scene.

The exhibition will start at 10am and end at 4:30pm.

More information is available the organizer' website (www.cieet.com).
SHARE JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Liliana Sanchez de Saldivar, of Oxnard, talks about the three years she spent sheltered in a church parsonage. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Betty Stapleford (left) and Frank Johnson (right), both ministers, were part of a team that helped Liliana Sanchez de Saldivar during three years in sanctuary at a Simi Valley church. STAR FILE PHOTO In this file photo from 2009, Liliana Sanchez de Saldivar prepares dinner for her family at a home owned by the United Church of Christ in Simi Valley. STAR FILE PHOTO In this file photo from August 2009, Liliana Sanchez de Saldivar wipes a tear from her eye as she talks about not being able to go to Oxnard to visit her family.

By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star

The green card arrived eight years after immigration police came to deport Liliana Sanchez de Saldivar at 6:15 a.m. on a May Wednesday as her 2-month-old son, Pablito, cried.

Given a brief reprieve to find care for her three children, the 29-year-old Oxnard woman sought refuge through leaders of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice-Ventura County.

With their help, she ended up living behind locked doors in the three-bedroom parsonage of a Simi Valley church. She worried immigration agents could arrive any moment. She worried more about immigration protesters who bellowed into bullhorns on Sunday mornings, demanding her deportation.

She was at the United Church of Christ with Pablito for three years. Congregants in the 80-member church voted every three months whether to keep sheltering her as critics questioned the church's tax-exempt status. They said yes.

Identified then only as Liliana Santuario  Spanish for sanctuary  she left in 2010. Her immigration action status was changed to "deferred," lessening the threat of sudden deportation.

The green card letters, three of them, from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services came the day after Thanksgiving. Their message will bring de Saldivar, congregants, current and former members of CLUE and others back to the church on Saturday for a celebration.

They'll gather because of the words that made de Saldivar call her lawyer, her husband and, in tears, her mother. She presented one of the letters to Frank Johnson, an emeritus pastor at the Simi church and one of her protectors. When the 87-year-old man saw the words, he jumped up and down.

"Welcome to the United States," the letter said, confirming her status as a permanent resident.

EyEing Citizenship

De Saldivar is in her late 30s. In an interview held after a CLUE board meeting that brought together several of the people who sheltered her, she declined to reveal her exact age.

She has four children. The eldest, Jerry, is a black belt in taekwondo. The youngest, Jesus, is 5 and was born after she left the Simi church.

Her husband, Gerardo, is a naturalized citizen, as are several of her siblings. All of her children were born in the United States. They live in Oxnard, in the same home where immigration officials came to take her away.

She works as a cashier at a fast-food restaurant. She takes an English proficiency class at Oxnard College, continuing studies she started at the Simi Valley church.

Her goal is to take more classes and become a union leader representing farm workers. She talked too of fighting for change in immigration laws that create permanent bans on legal residency.

The green card means she can apply to become a citizen in three years.

"Absolutely," she said of whether she'll do it. "To vote. You have to vote for those who have a voice but not a vote."

'Pretty miraculous'

Before landing at the church in Simi, de Saldivar was sheltered at a Catholic deacon's home in Sierra Madre, then an Episcopal church in Long Beach. Her story fed a raging immigration debate. That hasn't changed.

"It's a complete and total manipulation of immigration law," said Joe Guzzardi of the Santa Barbara-based Californians for Population Stabilization. He cited churches and other entities that shelter people who violated immigration laws and said they are aiding and abetting.

And in de Saldivar's case, she ended up with legal residence.

"In nearly 30 years of studying immigration law, this could be the most egregious case I ever heard," he said.

De Saldivar was permanently blocked from legal residence and placed on an expedited removal list because she was accused of making a false claim to citizenship. It came during a failed attempt to cross the border at San Ysidro when she was 19.

Peter Schey, her lawyer and president of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said she was prepared to present fake documentation given to her by an immigration smuggler known as a coyote. But during border inspection, she recanted.

"Basically, she broke down," he said. "She told them her name and how she had been given a card by a coyote. They sent her back to Tijuana."

She later tried again, this time avoiding border inspection. She made it.

In a legal battle that continued for much of a decade, Schey argued her recanting meant she had withdrawn her false claim to citizenship.

At first, the government refused to reopen the case though de Saldivar's deferred action status was extended annually, offering some protection against deportation. Last year, Schey received a surprise call from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The case was reopened. After immigration officials conducted an in-person interview with de Saldivar and her husband, the permanent block was lifted. The action reopened the possibility of green card.

As far as why permanent residency was issued, the government can't comment because of de Saldivar's privacy rights, said Claire Nicholson, spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Virginia Kice represents a sister agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She said the decision to hold off on deportation reflects policies to focus enforcement on people who pose a threat to national security, public safety or border security.

Schey said the deferred status gave the legal team time. He credited Catholic bishops and other religious leaders for petitioning immigration leaders on de Saldivar's behalf.

"It's pretty miraculous," he said of the ruling for permanent residence.

Becoming family

De Saldivar used the same word as she sat with people who, in rotating shifts, stayed with her in the Simi Valley parsonage. Fear that immigration officers or vigilantes could emerge at any time meant she was never left alone.

She attended the United Church of Christ on Sundays. Catholics delivered Communion once a week.

She and her protectors became family. They still gather at her Oxnard home once a month.

"This happened because we worked together," she said, aiming her words at congregants, CLUE members and others. "It's not my green card. It's a green card for us."

She talks like an activist, citing the millions of other immigrants who live in fear of being torn away from their families. She visits women being held at an immigration center in Adelanto.

"We need to change the law," she said.

The scariest part of her journey wasn't fear that immigration police would show up at the parsonage. It was the protesters who gathered on Sunday mornings and used bullhorns to call her a criminal.

But as the words made her children cry, they drove her.

"Thank you," she said of what would tell the protesters. "You gave me more power to continue."

Event information

What: Commemoration of the journey leading to Liliana Sanchez de Saldivars green card

Where: United Church of Christ in Simi Valley, 370 Royal Ave.

When: 1-3 p.m. Saturday

Cost: Free but donations will be accepted

Details: http://www.cluevc.org
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By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star

It took firefighters more than 20 hours to fully contain a brush fire that burned some 20 acres in the hills north of Ventura.

The fire was reported about 11:20 a.m. Thursday along Long Canyon Road north of Foothill Road. The Ventura County Fire Department said the fire was fully contained by 7:44 a.m. Friday.

The fire was in a hilly and hard-to-reach area of Long Canyon, making it hard for ground crews to reach it initially, said Matt Brock, a battalion chief with the city of Ventura Fire Department. Brock was among the first group of firefighters to respond to the blaze.

Ventura County Fire took the lead in fighting the fire as it was located on county land.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation on Friday. Among other things, investigators were looking at whether a malfunctioning electrical transformer in the area may have started the fire.

Authorities at first feared the fire would grow to 50 acres or more because some of it was in a hard-to-reach area. But authorities soon learned that the area is laced with dirt roads, said Capt. Mike Lindbery, a spokesman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

The fire was initially fought by helicopters, which dropped water over the area. Fire crews later drove in bulldozers and managed to keep the fire from growing, even as early Thursday afternoon winds pushed through the area. The fire was also in a hilly area, posing another challenge to firefighters.

The fire was declared 60 percent contained by Thursday night.

About 250 firefighters were initially called to help fight the blaze. After they were able to stop the fire from spreading about 3 p.m., many were released.

Fire crews remained on scene throughout the night late Thursday and into Friday.

No injuries were reported and no structures were threatened. The area that burned also is crisscrossed by Southern California Edison power and transmission lines. Edison crews were inspecting the lines for any fire-related damage.

Edison reported an electrical outage in the area that began about the time the fire was reported. The outage left more than 100 people in the dark.

Power was later fully restored.

The fire comes as authorities fear what will be a busy fire season. Much of it is because Southern California has again received less than a normal amount of rainfall this past winter. Fires could easily spread through the grasses, brush and other plant material across the region, all of which are very dry now.
KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Natalie Milota holds the bathing suit she wore as Miss Ventura County in 1947. Milota, who now lives in Ventura, went on to compete in the state pageant and was in a promotional film for Sunkist.

SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Natalie Harthorn, now Natalie Milota, (center) poses as the newly crowned Miss Ventura County at the Ojai Valley Inn in 1947. Posing with her are Peggy Lagomarsino (from bottom left), Beverly Rosser, Margaret Monahan and Frances Tracey. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Congressman Ernest K. Bramblett poses with Natalie Harthorn at the Oxnard Airport in 1947. Harthorn, who is now Natalie Milota, had just competed for the Miss California title at the state fair. KAREN QUINCY LOBERG/THE STAR Natalie Milota, a former Miss Ventura County, poses for her portrait at home in Ventura. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Natalie Harthorn, Miss Ventura County, rides atop a car in the Fillmore Parade in 1947.

By Jean Moore of the Ventura County Star

It was 1947. World War II had ended two years earlier, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars were looking for the next Miss Ventura County.

They found her in Natalie Harthorn, a 20-year-old Fillmore beauty who was named Miss Ventura County that year and went on to compete in the state pageant.

Today, almost 69 years later, she's Natalie Milota. She has worked as a cosmetologist for most of her life and has outlived three husbands. She remembers that time in her life clearly.

"I was a lifeguard every summer for six years, and the VFW was looking for someone who could wear a bathing suit," she said. "Fillmore was such a dinky town. And no one was walking around in a bathing suit."

At the time, Milota modeled at the Ventura County Fair and was in a promotion film for Sunkist, where she was one of three women swimming through a pool filled with oranges. More recently, that clip showed up at the start of "L.A. Confidential," a movie about corruption in Los Angeles in the 1950s.

After the state pageant, Milota went on with her life. She married and had four children. But she rarely talked about her time as a beauty queen. She'd been brought up not to talk about herself, she said.

"I never bragged about it," she said. "This was my 15 minutes of fame."

Milota's son John Yewell realized at some point that his mom had been Miss Ventura County. But, like his mom, he said it wasn't something they talked about much. What mattered to his mom was being a good mother and traveling, he said.

Milota was adventurous herself and encouraged that in her kids, Yewell said.

She let Yewell go backpacking in Yosemite when he was 13 and take flying lessons at Santa Paula Airport, which he paid for with his paper route, when he was 16, he said.

"She let us experience the world," Yewell said. "And as a result, we're all confident adults."

Milota got interested in traveling when she married her second husband, Ed Milota. Together, they traveled to Puerto Rico, Greece and France. She also traveled on her own, sailing around Cape Horn and exploring China.

When she became a grandmother, she started taking each of her six grandchildren on a special one-week trip when they turned 12.

"I took them at 12 because I knew after that their lives would change, and I would not have the control I needed," she said.

With one, she went to France. She cruised the Mediterranean with another. She's also taken them to Italy, San Francisco and New York City.

"It was usually my choice because it's my money," she said. "Otherwise, we could take a world cruise, right?"

Through it all  her reign as Miss Ventura County and all the years of life that have followed  Milota has remained true to her deep roots in Ventura County, which go back more than 100 years, her son said. Her dad helped build Fillmore, and one uncle once owned major sections of Camarillo, Yewell said. Milota graduated from Fillmore High and went to Ventura College.

"My mom is a county girl through and through," Yewell said. "She grew up in a small town when growing up in Ventura County was still living in a rural area. ... I think being a good mom was her aspiration in life  that and traveling."


TREVI inside The Forum Shops at Caesars will celebrate New Years Eve by offering an Italian five-course prix fixe meal available exclusively on Wednesday, Dec. 31 (Pictured: Champagne sorbetti  Photo credit: Executive Chef Peter Scaturro).

A festive Champagne sorbetti will also be available for a limited time during the last week of December.

Executive Chef Peter Scaturros holiday special will be priced at $95 per person and begin with a choice of a Caesar salad or crab and corn bisque served in a warm bread bowl. The second course will offer a choice of seafood fritto misto with red pepper coulis or steamed mussels in white wine butter and lemon.

The third course will feature a choice of either lobster ravioli with Champagne Dijon cream sauce, garnished with caviar; or gnocchi with vodka cream sauce and tomato. Diners may select from fourth course options of grilled swordfish served with sun-dried tomato pesto polenta, grilled asparagus and lobster sherry cream sauce; or grilled lamb chops served over pistachio mint risotto with a lamb demi-glace. Dessert selections will include a tartelette trio loaded with chocolate mousse, lemon and assorted fruit; or warm chocolate gooey cake with fresh raspberries.


April Leopardi Anneberg, Magical Assistant to MURRAY Celebrity Magician, just won $2000 for Friends For Life Humane Society at the PBR Last Media Standing event at Helldorado Days in Downtown Las Vegas tonight.

Murray SawChuck is Friends For Lifes main supporter doing a fundraising charity every year donating all the money from one evening of his show at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Murray and April entered the event this evening with April winning!

You can also see April appear on CWs Masters of Illusion series this month as Murray SawChucks assistant who magically appears in his personal 1973 Stingray Corvette. April is also featured in other SawChuck illusions throughout the 13 week series.
By: Dezan Shira & Associates

Editor: Maxfield Brown

In the midst of attracting record investment from all corners of the globe, Vietnam has a nasty secret  intellectual property (IP). Not only does the nation rank 88th out of 140 economies in terms of IP protection, but policy instability is increasingly cited by investors as a concerning aspect of doing business within the country.

For manufacturing companies flocking to Vietnam for its low costs and close proximity to China, IP may seem an issue of little concern. Traditionally manufacturing operations have been devoid of high value add trade secrets and thus faced little exposure to theft. While the nature of production is likely to change as Vietnam solidifies it position in electronics manufacturing, a more salient IP risk in the near to medium term regards the safeguarding of brand reputation.

MNCs and well regarded SME brands choosing to invest in Vietnam are often faced with competitors branding themselves under the same or similar names. Not only can this cut into profits, but it also hurts the reputation of emerging brands in the event that competitors manufacture similar goods at a lower quality.

For all companies involved in manufacturing in Vietnam, understanding intellectual property laws is a significant asset in preventing infringement within the country. Key legislation in this regard includes:

Decree No. 99/2013/ND-CP on the sanctioning of infringements in the field of industrial property

Decree No. 78/2015/ND-CP on enterprise registration

As mentioned, a key component of Vietnams problems with IP protection center on its emergent regulatory environment. With new laws and guidance being crafted by the authorities on an annual basis, companies can often be unaware of changes to procedures and thus are unable to counter challenges in an effective manner. Issued by the Ministries of Science and Technology, and Investment and Planning on April 5th, 2016, Joint Circular 05/2016/TTLT-BKHCN-BKHDT provides the most up to date guidance on the process that investors should expect with regard to name infringement claims.

Procedures for Resolving Name Infringement Disputes

Following the submission of infringement allegations pursuant to guidelines issues under Decree No.78/2015, Vietnamese authorities will issue a decision on the validity of these claims. Should the decision indicate that infringement has occurred, the process outlined below will be implemented to resolve the infringement:

Step 1  Following a decision from authorities indicating that a violation of name infringement has occurred, a period of 30 days is provided for the parties in question to come to a private settlement. This settlement must be reached in compliance with guidelines established under article 27 of Decree No.99/2013/ND-CP. If a settlement is reached, the case is dropped by governmental authorities.

Step 2  If 30 days pass and a private settlement is not reached, companies may request the business registration office take action against the party the infringing party. After 10 days, the business registration office is required to have sent a notice to the infringing company requiring it to change its name.

Step 3  From the date that the infringing company receives the notice to change its name, it has 2 months to complete the relevant legal procedures for a name change. When this process has been completed, holders of industrial property rights will be notified in 5 working days.

Dealing with Non-Compliance

At times, despite actions taken by governmental authorities, those found to be infringing will fail to comply. Should this occur, more severe penalties can be sought. These penalties will begin with fines and end in business license revocation. The following steps are utilized when rolling out penalties associated with non-compliance:

Step 1  Administrative penalties are issued and the infringing company will have 60 days to comply with these penalties and complete required procedures pursuant to changing its name.

Step 2  Following the end of the 60 day compliance period, if the infringing party still has yet to comply, the authorities will within 15 days send a request to the company for an explanation regarding their non-compliance.

Step 3  The infringing party will then have 10 days reply to the request for an explanation with reasoning, documents and other materials outlining their rationale for non-compliance. If no response is sent after 6 months, the business registration office will revoke the infringing partys business registration certificate.

Optimizing Protection

In total, the process for successfully mitigating name infringement risks can take up to a year to complete. To ensure that action is taken at the earliest possible point, companies should familiarize themselves with procedures outlined above as well as related legislation. If questions arise during this process, it is highly recommended that companies seek the council of governmental officials or a professional investment services firm.



About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

Annual Audit and Compliance in Vietnam 2016

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we address pressing changes to audit procedures in 2016, and provide guidance on how to ensure that compliance tasks are completed in an efficient and effective manner. We highlight the continued convergence of VAS with IFRS, discuss the emergence of e-filing, and provide step-by-step instructions on audit and compliance procedures for Foreign Owned Enterprises (FOEs) as well as Representative Offices (ROs).

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Tax, Accounting and Audit in Vietnam 2016 (2nd Edition)

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate Vietnams complex tax and accounting landscape in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their Vietnam operations.
Remitting Profits from Vietnam, the latest publication from Vietnam Briefing and Dezan Shira & Associates, is out now and available for purchase through the Asia Briefing Bookstore.

Remitting profits from Vietnam can prove a complex and time consuming process for even the most seasoned investors. Shifting regulations and scarce information on remittance procedures results in a constantly changing compliance landscape that mandates continued attention. For those with current operations within the country or considering Vietnam as a destination for future investment, monitoring of regulatory bodies and review of pertinent legislation is a critical component of entry and operational due diligence.



In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we outline existing regulations on remittance and provide guidance on how to ensure compliance in order to repatriate profits in a timely fashion. We highlight relevant government bodies, outline steps required to successfully repatriate returns, and provide expert guidance on carrying losses.

As Vietnam continues to attract record levels of investment, the importance of repatriation will only continue to increase in importance. With a growing team of Tax and Corporate Advisory Specialists in Vietnam with years of combined experience in set up and repatriation, Dezan Shira and Associates is perfectly positioned to assist companies throughout the duration of their investments. For questions or information on carrying losses, setting up foreign currency bank accounts, or other concerns related to the remittance process, please contact our offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi.



About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

Annual Audit and Compliance in Vietnam 2016

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we address pressing changes to audit procedures in 2016, and provide guidance on how to ensure that compliance tasks are completed in an efficient and effective manner. We highlight the continued convergence of VAS with IFRS, discuss the emergence of e-filing, and provide step-by-step instructions on audit and compliance procedures for Foreign Owned Enterprises (FOEs) as well as Representative Offices (ROs).

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Tax, Accounting and Audit in Vietnam 2016 (2nd Edition)

This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate Vietnams complex tax and accounting landscape in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their Vietnam operations.
Photo: VGP/Quang Hieu

The PM highlighted the importance of the project not only for Hai Phong city but also other localities in the North and in the Red River Delta in helping local people travel by air internationally and domestically.

He appraised the contribution of the citys authorities, investors and project managers as well as local people to realizing the project.

He suggested the city and relevant localities develop services, tourism and investment, especially infrastructure connecting with the airport.

With a total investment of VND3,660 billion in upgrades, the Cat Bi International Airport is now capable of welcoming two million passengers per year and 36 flights per day.

In 2015, the airport received 1.3 million passengers, up 35.6%.
Chicago agricultural commodities close mixed on export sales

2016-05-13 08:05

CHICAGO, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn, wheat rebounded and settled higher on Thursday, while soybeans extended losses after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its week export sale data.

The most active corn contract for July delivery added 11.50 cents, or 3.05 percent, to close at 3.89 dollars per bushel. July wheat delivery gained 9 cents, or 1.96 percent, to close at 4.68 dollars per bushel. July soybeans lost 6.25 cents, or 0.58 percent, to close at 10.72 dollars per bushel.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its weekly export sales report on Thursday. According to the highlights of the report, corn net sales till the week of May 5 reached 1,105,300 tons, up 44 percent from the previous week; wheat net sales were 294,900 tons, up 65 percent from the previous week.

Analysts noted that these data were better-than-expected and prompted the expectations that ampler demand for U.S. corn and wheat in the near future, supporting corn and wheat higher on Thursday.

The USDA said in another report Thursday that private exporters reported export sales of 210,000 tons of corn for delivery to Saudi Arabia during the 2015/2016 marketing year, putting additional support on corn.

Some analysts also said that rain in the U.S. Midwest this week has raised concerns that less corn will be planted by the farmers, helping corn extend gains Thursday.

Corn futures closed higher on Thursday as rain in the Midwest this week and forecasts for more next week has raised talk acres may be switched to soybeans, which have a larger planting window, the farm futures daily reported.

As for the soybeans, the USDA's weekly export sales report rated soybean net sales at 212,400 tons for the week of May 5, down 74 percent from the previous week and 54 percent from the prior 4-week average. These disappointing data caused funds technical selling on soybeans on Thursday. CBOT floor brokers reported that funds have sold 4,700 contracts of soybeans, AgResource, the Chicago-based agriculture consultancy, reported in its midday commentary.
Taxi drivers demonstrate in Alameda Avenue against US cab giant Uber in Santiago, Chile. Uber smartphone app has faced stiff resistance from traditional taxi drivers the world over, as well as bans in some places over safety concerns and questions over legal issues. (MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP)

SANTIAGO: Thousands of Chilean taxi drivers honked their horns and blocked traffic on Thursday (May 12) in a protest against ridesharing service Uber.

Uber's service is not regulated in Chile, but the government considers it illegal. The government responded to the protest saying it is up to Congress to pass a law addressing Uber and another ridesharing app used in Chile, called Cabify.

Long lines of black and yellow taxis filled several blocks along Santiago's main avenue, the Alameda, causing traffic jams in the city of six million. The cars were decorated with the red, white and blue Chilean flag, and their windshields were painted with the words "Uber, get out."

Taxi drivers complain that Uber amounts to unfair competition, as they have to pay taxes and follow strict regulations. "We never thought we would attract so many people and co-workers. This shows that we are not wrong," said the head of the national taxi drivers union, Luis Reyes.

The government said it is up to Congress to act. "We cannot block the apps," said the deputy minister for urban transport, Matias Salazar. "Today, the role of Congress is key."

A month ago, a Chilean court threw out a lawsuit filed by a taxi driver against the government for not suspending Uber.
photo AFP

The 46-year-old artist, born as Tijs Michiel Verwest, will perform at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7, they said.

Tiestos popularity rose in the early 2000s and he was crowned the Worlds No.1 DJ three times by DJ Magazine from 2002 through 2004.

The producer, known for playing EDM, trance and house, has performed with many world stars like Kanye West, Coldplay, Katy Perry and Nelly Furtado.

Tiesto won a Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical for his remixed version of John Legend's hit "All Of Me" in February. Tiesto has 19 million followers on his personal fanpage and over 200 million views for his most successful video on YouTube.
Ms. Nguyen Tue Khanh - Deputy Director and HR Manager of GE Vietnam introduced leadership development program, working environment as well as career opportunities at GE for fresh university graduates.

Ranked as one of the 2015 best companies for leaders by Chief Executive Magazine with a budget of approximately $1 billion per year spent on the human resource training across the globe, GE has been showing a strong investment in human resource development.

The most interesting part of the seminar was the information sharing and exchanging with GEs senior leaders, especially those who graduated from Ho Chi Minh University of Technology. GEs representatives not only talked about working experience for MNCs such as GE but also shared their idea on career orientation as well as working opportunities at GE with students.

In Vietnam, GE always appreciates the importance of identifying and fostering talents, especially future engineers studying at prestigious universities.

Through the seminar, senior leaders at GE Vietnam want to showcase a comprehensive picture of GE's businesses as well as training programmes and workforce development of the company to students. GE hopes that those potential engineers will get the right mindset for the future and a good grasp of career opportunities.

Especially, at this seminar, GE also announced the contest Unimpossible Missions: University Edition challenge which is hosted by GE in collaboration with Nine Sigma, a leading provider of open innovation solutions, and more than 125 of the best engineering universities in the world.

The aim is to encourage breakthrough thinking of students, especially engineering students. Participating in the contest, contestants will have the chance to win the first prize which is a $100,000 scholarship and become a paid-intern at any GE Global Research Center in 2017.
Nestle Vietnam managing director Ganesan Ampalavanar presents Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung with a publication on the firms operations in Vietnam

At a meeting with Ganesan Ampalavanar, managing director of Nestle Vietnam,

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Trung said that the ministry (MPI) would always give maximum support to Nestle Vietnam.

Nestle Vietnam employs more than 2,000 Vietnamese workers and helps improve their lives, Trung said. The companys development in Vietnam goes hand-in-hand with that of the country.

He also stressed that the Vietnamese government has committed to strongly boosting Vietnams business and investment climate, in a bid to create a more business-friendly atmosphere.

Such a climate will also greatly benefit Nestle, Trung stressed.

Nestle currently has a range of over 10,000 products. Since its establishment in Vietnam 21 years ago, the companys total disbursed investment on the Vietnamese market has increased from $24 million in 1995 to $450 million now, with the establishment of five factories in total.

In March 2016, the company began the construction of its sixth factory in the country, worth $70 million, at Thang Long 2 industrial park located in the northern province of Hung Yen, some 30 kilometres from Hanoi.

Expected to become operational in June 2017, the 10 hectare factory will facilitate the companys product innovations for local consumption, especially for customers in Vietnams northern region.

Employing 300 local workers, the factory is part of Nestle Vietnams strategy to further reinforce its leading position as a nutrition, health, and wellness company.

Trung said that Nestles products in Vietnam, such as MILO and mineral water Lavie, were quite familiar to Vietnamese consumers.

Expressing his sincere gratitude to the MPI and Trung, Ampalavanar said that currently his company faced almost no big difficulties.

However, we expect that when the necessity arises, we will be supported by the MPI, he said. We commit to doing long-term business in Vietnam. Nestle also has an unbending commitment to enhancing the quality of its Vietnamese consumers lives.

Nestle Vietnam currently contributes nearly one-fifth of Vietnams total export volume of coffee.

In addition to the direct investment in its six factories, the company has also poured millions of dollars into its community-oriented activities in Vietnam, such as providing training courses and seedlings for coffee farmers.
Co Tu ethnic minority people perform a traditional dance in their village in Tay Giang District.

A wide variety of tourism, cultural and sport activities have been and will be held, including announcing Fokienia as a national heritage tree, and recognizing brocade weaving, folk singing and dancing of Co Tu ethnic minority people as national intangible cultural heritage.

The Vietnam Federation of UNESCO Associations will grant a certificate patronizing

Co Tu traditional villages in Tay Giang. Visitors to Tay Giang can tour a forest with 727 Fokienia trees and take part in traditional festivals and rituals of Co Tu people.

This is the first time a year-long tourism promotion program has been organized in the district to promote its tourism products and call for investments.

The event will create an opportunity for the district to introduce its beautiful natural landscapes, and raise public awareness of protecting the environment, preserving and promoting the values of the primitive Fokienia forest and Co Tu peoples culture.

Co Tu women weave brocade fabric - PHOTO: TRUONG CHI

Co Tu villagers, who make up 90% of Tay Giang Districts population, still preserve their distinctive cultural traits. Community values can be seen in each and every aspect of life in Co Tu villages and patriarchs are highly respected by villagers.

Co Tu villages were built by the skillful hands of local artisans, so they can be easily recognized with stilt houses made from wood, bamboo and rattan leaves.

The art of brocade weaving plays a vital role in the unique culture of Co Tu communities and Co Tu brocade products are favored by tourists.

Many travel firms offer tours in which guests can experience the culture of Co Tu people.

Local authorities have been making effort to preserve traditional craft villages and restoring traditional houses of Co Tu people as unique cultural features.
The new brand underlines Siemens Healthcares pioneering spirit and its engineering expertise in the healthcare industry. It best describes the Healthcare organisation and its people, the people behind outstanding products and solutions.

Going forward as Siemens Healthineers, we will leverage our expertise to provide a wider range of customised clinical solutions that support our customers business holistically. We are confident in our capability to become their inspiring partner on our customers journey to success, explained Bernd Montag, CEO of the company.

Our new brand is a bold signal for our ambition and expresses our identity as a people company  45,000 employees worldwide who are passionate about empowering healthcare providers to optimally serve their patients, Montag added.

As part of its Vision 2020 strategy Siemens AG announced nearly two years ago that its healthcare business would be separately managed as a company within the company with a new organisational setup.

Siemens Healthineers will continue to strengthen its leading portfolio across the medical imaging and laboratory diagnostics business while adding new offerings such as managed services, consulting and digital services as well as further technologies in the growing market for therapeutic and molecular diagnostics.

The name of the legal entities will remain unchanged.
A once proud pillar of corporate Japan, Toshiba has been besieged by problems, most notably a profit-padding scandal in which bosses for years systematically pushed subordinates to cover-up weak financial results. (Photo: AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)

TOKYO: Toshiba said Thursday that it suffered a US$4.4 billion full-year net loss as the troubled conglomerate booked a massive write-down of its US nuclear unit, but said the worst was over as it forecast profits for the current business year.

A once proud pillar of corporate Japan, Toshiba has been besieged by problems, most notably a profit-padding scandal in which bosses for years systematically pushed subordinates to cover-up weak financial results.

In an intensive makeover effort, the company has been shedding businesses and announced in March it sold its medical devices unit to camera and office equipment maker Canon.

Toshiba said its net loss for the year to March soared to 483.2 billion (US$4.4 billion) from 37.8 billion a year earlier.

Sales decreased 7.3 per cent to 5.7 trillion for the fiscal year, while it incurred a 719.1 billion operating loss, reversing from an operating profit of 188.4 billion a year earlier.

Toshiba said the net loss was mainly due to a slump in its electric and social infrastructure sector, including nuclear power businesses, as well as extra costs related to its restructuring.

The company had already announced a write-down of 260 billion at its US nuclear unit Westinghouse after a rise in financing costs, but has said that 665.5 billion in revenue from the sale of the medical devices unit to Canon outweighed the negative impact.

Toshiba said it would return to the black for the year to March 2017, projecting a net profit of 100 billion and operating profit of 120 billion, while sales are expected to edge down to 5.1 trillion.

It said the expected recovery was based on efforts to concentrate on its profitable businesses, while it forecast its nuclear power and other energy units would improve.

Last week, Toshiba appointed a new president to steer it past the accounting scandal that has hammered its reputation.

Company veteran Satoshi Tsunakawa, 60, a senior vice president who joined Toshiba in 1979, will replace incumbent chief Masashi Muromachi in June, it said.
Yuki Magosaburo, director of Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza (left) and Vietnamese Peoples Artist Le Khanh perform main roles in Poisoned Wild Duck in Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre in March.

The work, entitled Poisoned Wild Duck, is based on Norwegian Henrik Ibsens The Wild Duck from 1884, and will be performed by marionette artists from Japan and Peoples Artist Le Khanh and actor Thanh Binh.

It is a result of a project between the two theatres which received financial support from The Japan Foundation Asia Centre and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.

The work will be directed by Sakate Yoji from Japan who will be working with the Marionette Theatre Youkiza for the first time.

I chose Ibsens The Wild Duck by chance not for any special reason. I met Vietnamese actress Le Khanh at the first phase of the project and thought she would be fit for one of main roles in the work, said director Sakate.

In the play, the hunter uses lead bullets which cause serious environmental pollution. Accidentally, I know that the central coastal areas of Vietnam are polluted. The old story will convey a message of the natural environment to todays spectators.

In Poisoned Wild Duck, a funeral procession carries a coffin of a little girl who killed herself.

It is shown wandering in a forest in search of a burial site. The story is traced by the members of the procession, all looking back on the events which lead to the death of the injured creature and other wild creatures dying by human tyranny, such as lead poisoning and hunting. The play attempts to contrast natural scenes with the damages caused by humans.

Plays involving marionettes and actors are popular in Japan but it is rare in Vietnam to see a performance combining these two theatrical techniques.

Le Khanh and Thanh Binh will act with marionettes controlled by Japanese artists.

The actresses and some members of Vietnam Youth Theatre had a chance to observe rehearsals and performances by the Youkiza Theatre in 2014 under the Japan Foundation Training Programme.

She was deeply impressed by the fusion of the 380-year-old tradition and contemporary theatre and had a strong desire for the Youth Theatre to collaborate with the Youkiza.

We wanted not only to learn and get experiences from a Japanese theatre but also desired to put on a stage work, said actress Le Khanh.

Poisoned Wild Duck was performed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre from March 16 to 21, gaining high acclaim from Japanese art critics and artists.

Twenty-five members including puppeteers and stage technicians led by Youkiza Theatre director artist Yuki Magsaburo came to Hanois performances.

The director is 12th generation Magsaburo, whose ancestor founded Youkiza Theatre in 1635.

Todays Youkiza continues to be active, preserving traditional marionette repertory and skills, as well as performing new plays and magic lantern shows, touring aboard and holding international projects.

It will be an interesting stage work for spectators. I hope the joint play will be performed many times not only a few, said director Magsaburo.

The play will take place at Vietnam Youth Theatre, 11 Ngo Thi Nham on May 13, 14 and 15 and in the Opera House in the northern city of Hai Phong on May 17.

Free tickets can be picked up at Japan Foundation, 27 Quang Trung Street.
Chinese official calls for deepening int'l cooperation at anti-corruption summit

2016-05-13 16:42

LONDON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian on Thursday urged countries around the world to deepen international anti-corruption cooperation at the ongoing Anti-Corruption Summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron opened the summit at Lancaster House Thursday morning. Presidents from Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and other countries, senior ministers from G20 countries, as well as leaders from international organizations are attending the summit.

Huang said in a written statement that the fight against corruption was a common task facing all countries, which required shared commitment and global action.

He noted that the Chinese government had taken continued efforts to tackle corruption in the past few years, which had greatly boosted integrity of the society.

The Chinese government also established tough measures to punish corruption, strengthened the supervision of officials, as well as built stronger institutions to tackle corruption from its root.

According to Huang, China greatly values and takes an active part in global cooperation on anti-corruption, adding that China would build more platforms for international cooperation, continue to go after fugitives and their illegal assets, and crack down on transnational commercial bribery.

"Strengthening international anti-corruption cooperation is vital to global governance and sustainable development," he emphasized and made three proposals for anti-corruption cooperation.

He said, first, countries needed to build political consensus on the basis of equality and trust; second, take incremental steps to expand cooperation; and third, pursue win-win and result-oriented cooperation.

"It is in the common interests of governments and people around the world to deepen international anti-corruption cooperation...China would like to strengthen practical cooperation, mutual support and mutual assistance with other countries, and knit a close cooperation network," Huang added.

As the co-chair of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group, China will join efforts with Britain to make chasing fugitives and recovering illegal assets a priority high on the G20 agenda, so that people around the world will share in the dividends of anti-corruption cooperation, he said.

China is currently a member of 15 global and regional anti-corruption cooperation mechanisms. China participates in anti-corruption cooperation with 89 countries and regions, has concluded 44 extradition treaties and 57 treaties on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, and signed financial information exchange agreements with 35 countries and regions.
China, Morocco vow industrial cooperation

2016-05-13 16:42

BEIJING, May 12, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang(R) shakes hands with King Mohammed VI of Morocco in Beijing, capital of China, May 12, 2016. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to beef up industrial capacity cooperation with Morocco when meeting with King Mohammed VI in Beijing on Thursday.

The Chinese government supports Chinese companies taking part in the infrastructure construction and industrialization in Morocco, he said, suggesting cooperation in the areas of industrial parks, high-speed railways and renewable energy.

China will step up efforts to transfer applicable technology and train technical and managerial personnel for Morocco, in a bid to enhance the self-development capacity of the country, said Li.

He expressed hope that the two sides would concentrate on several demonstrative cooperative projects, so as to boost common development and prosperity.

Li said he appreciated King Mohammed VI's decision granting Chinese citizens visa-free access from June 1 this year, stressing that China is willing to work with Morocco to facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two sides.

King Mohammed VI said Morocco appreciates China's achievements in development and the strong measures it has taken to address climate change.

He spoke highly of China's policy towards Africa and China's proposition of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries as well as peaceful settlement of disputes.

Morocco hopes to cooperate more with China in infrastructure building, high-speed railways and green industries and expand people-to-people exchanges, said the King.

Top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang also met with the King on Thursday.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), called on the two sides to boost cooperation by implementing the ten China-Africa cooperation plans and jointly advancing the Belt and Road initiative.

The NPC is ready to expand friendly exchanges and enhance legislative cooperation with Morocco's parliament, so as to provide legal guarantees for bilateral political, economic and cultural exchanges, said Zhang.

King Mohammed VI started his state visit to China on Wednesday.

Related:

China, Morocco establish strategic partnership

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and King Mohammed VI of Morocco signed a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries.

They signed the statement after talks at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing. Full story

Chinese, Moroccan FMs vow all-round cooperation to advance strategic partnership

DOHA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The foreign ministers of China and Morocco vowed here Thursday to conduct all-round cooperation to advance a strategic partnership between the two countries.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) in the Qatari capital, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Moroccan counterpart, Mbarka Bouaida, hailed the historic the establishment on Wednesday of the bilateral strategic partnership during Moroccan King Mohammed VI's visit in Beijing. Full story

China, Morocco sign currency swap deal

BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- 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. Full story

Morocco hails China's notion of community of common destiny, wants more robust cooperation: China envoy

RABAT, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Morocco identifies with China's notion of community of common destiny, and is ready to boost cooperation with China in all areas, said Chinese envoy to the North African nation.

In a recent interview, Sun Shuzhong, China's ambassador to Morocco, told Xinhua that the Kingdom is a long-time friend and partner of China, and welcomes the idea of building up a community of common destiny.Full Story

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Prime Minister Hun Sen has denied a rumor that his son, Hun Manet, was the illegitimate offspring of his wife, Bun Rany, and a Vietnamese revolutionary leader.

The rumor has been circulating on social media, with some supporters of Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples party blaming supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party for spreading the rumor.

But I dont think that the opposition would do cheap acts like this, Hun Sen said in a recent speech. I dont expect it. So I must maintain an attitude as I said previously, that if you do not allow me to live in peace, I will not let you have peace.

Hun Sen said Manet had sent him a text message suggesting he have an DNA test performed to establish the truth and that if he was found to be Hun Sens biological son the opposition should withdraw from politics and if I am not your son we can withdraw from politics.

Hun Sen reportedly told Manet to ignore the rumor, which he did not attribute to a specific individual or opposition group.

Yim Sovann, a CNRP spokesman, denied any suggestion the party was behind the rumor.

The CNRP strongly maintains the culture of respecting human dignity, he said. We uphold the One Khmer policy, meaning we dont view any Cambodians as the enemy, and we especially dont use personal issues as political issues.

However, Sok Sam Oeun, a prominent human rights lawyer, said the allegation amounted to defamation under Cambodian law.

The people who post or share [the rumor] should be cautious because this issue could be filed as a [defamation] case, he said.

Social media users alleged that Manet was the son of Le Duc Tho, a Vietnamese revolutionary and military general, who was involved in the administration of Cambodia after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Since a detente following the 2013 election broke down last year, numerous opposition members and supporters have faced court proceedings, including CNRP president Sam Rainsy and deputy president Kem Sokha.

An alleged sex scandal is currently being pursued by the courts against Sokha, which has seen several rights workers and an election official charged with bribery. Sokha this week missed a scheduled court appearance in relation to a $1 million defamation claim lodged by social media maven Thy Sovantha.

The opposition has claimed such cases are the latest attempt to silence the party and its supporters in preparation for local elections in 2017 and the next general election in 2018.

However, the ruling party maintains the courts are independent and implementing the rule of law.
The U.S. military now has its first woman combatant commander.

Air Force General Lori Robinson assumed her role as the new head of U.S. Northern Command Friday during a change of command ceremony attended by the military leaders from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Gen. Robinson thanked her father, an Air Force veteran who served for 30 years, for inspiring her to join the military.

You are the man, she said, and Ive looked up to you my entire life.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter praised Robinsons complete set of proven experience and her ability to lead and command in high-tempo operational environments while putting her people first in every assignment."

He underscored the backing of President Barack Obama, the commander-in-chief. "General Robinson will lead this team with certainty, clarity and with the full trust and confidence of me and the president, said Carter.

NORTHCOM

Northern Command protects the geographic area that includes the continental United States, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas and the surrounding waters up to approximately 900 kilometers from the coast.

Robinson said the partnerships of countries defended by Northern Command are paramount to tackling the ever-changing security landscape, and she vowed to visit Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas in the coming months.

The world is more dangerous," Robinson said. North America is increasingly vulnerable to a vast array of evolving threats.

Northern Command is one of the Pentagons nine unified combatant commands, which combine elements of all the military branches. Each has a responsibility for either a geographic area or specialized focus, such as special forces or transportation.

Northern Command was established to support U.S. homeland defense in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed about 3,000 people.

As combatant commander of Northern Command, Gen. Robinson also leads the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which conducts aerospace and maritime warning, as well as aerospace control in defense of North America. Its widely known for the popular NORAD Tracks Santa operation every Christmas Eve, where children call in to ask for Santa's location.

Leadership history

Robinson previously served as commander of Pacific Air Forces, where her geographic area of responsibility spanned more than half the world. She is a senior air battle manager with more than 900 flight hours in surveillance and early warning aircraft, and previously held leadership roles in U.S. Air Forces Central Command, which operates in the Middle East.

Robinsons confirmation was approved in the Senate late last month without opposition.

She replaces Admiral William Gortney, who took command of NORTHCOM and NORAD in December 2014.
German lawmakers on Friday approved a plan to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia safe countries of origin, a move aimed at making it easier to quickly return failed asylum-seekers from the three North African nations and to deter others from coming.

The government drew up the plan in January following a spike in new arrivals from the three countries and the New Year's Eve robberies and sexual assaults in Cologne, in which many suspects were of North African origin.

Parliament's lower house voted 424-143 Friday to back the measure, with three lawmakers abstaining. It still requires approval from the upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states.

The country last year declared several Balkan nations, whose citizens are barely ever granted asylum, safe countries. That effectively reverses the burden of proof, with a country assumed to be safe unless an asylum applicant can prove persecution in his or her case.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015 and is keen to see far lower numbers this year. Nearly 26,000 people from the three North African countries were registered.

Applicants from these countries are, as a rule, not politically persecuted, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told lawmakers, even as he acknowledged concerns over the human rights situation.

In 2015, only 2.1 percent of applicants from the three countries were granted asylum. In this year's first quarter, that figure dropped to 0.7 percent, de Maiziere said - adding that many people don't even apply for asylum.

Declaring the countries safe will allow German authorities to reduce the time spent processing applications, he said. We are also doing this in order to reduce the incentives to make an unsuccessful asylum application here, he added.

Opposition lawmakers argued that the government's move is unnecessary and irresponsible. This has the disadvantage that the governments in North Africa will be given the feeling that human rights violations ... are OK, the Green party's Luise Amtsberg said.

The government will need at least some support from Amtsberg's party to get the measure through the upper house. Germany's only Green state governor looks set to back it.

Germany already considers Albania, Bosnia, Ghana, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montegro, Senegal and Serbia safe countries.
Malaysia said Friday the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will not be shifted after the discoveries of five pieces of debris in the western Indian Ocean.

The government this week had confirmed the last two pieces, found in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off Mauritius, are almost certainly from the Boeing 777 that disappeared mysteriously more than two years ago.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the discoveries aligned with the modeling pattern established by experts of where debris would drift from a crash in the southern Indian Ocean. He said the 120,000 square kilometers search area, west of Australia, will be completed before authorities decide whether to further extend the hunt.

We won't shift the search area. From the debris found, it actually confirms that our search area is the right area looking at the drift pattern, Liow said.

The area is the most probable crash site and authorities have so far covered more than 105,000 square kilometers, he said.

It is important that we find more debris, more wreckage, so that we can actually analyze and find the cause of the incident, Liow said. We are still confident of finding the main wreckage....we are looking for an answer and we need to find wreckage.

Officials from Malaysia, Australia and China will meet by June or July to chart the future of the search, Liow said without elaborating. Australia has been leading the search, which so far has turned up empty. Most of the passengers on the flight, which carried 239 people, were from China.

The three pieces of debris confirmed from the plane earlier were found on France's Reunion Island and along Mozambique's coast.

Though the discoveries have bolstered authorities' assertion that the plane crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts thus far has yielded any clues into exactly where and why the aircraft crashed. Those elusive answers lie with the flight data recorders, or black boxes, which experts say may never be found.
A service last year in the newly restored Armenian church of Surp Giragos brought members of the small ethnic Armenian minority together with members of the international Armenian diaspora.

The restoration of the church  one of the largest Armenian churches in the southern Turkish city of Diyarbakir  was a powerful symbol of hope for the renewal of the countrys ethnic Armenian community.

But that hope faded earlier this year as reports surfaced that the Turkish government expropriated Surp Giragos and six other churches.

Gaffur Turkay, of the Surp Giragos Foundation, said the expropriation raises dark memories.

The law says our churches have been expropriated, he said. But when we ask, the authorities say, No, they haven't.' We have experienced this before. In 1936, all of our properties were taken and we are still fighting to get them back. We are not unfamiliar with this; we have anxiety, fear, because we don't know.

Churchs importance

The controversy over expropriations is one of the latest chapters in the effort to restore the historical quarter of Diyarbakir, which has been badly damaged in months of fighting between the Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces.

The city's local authority, run by the pro-Kurdish HDP party, has financially supported the restoration of Surp Giragos as part of its efforts to make Diyarbakir a multiethnic religious center.

"Diyarbakir was an Armenian town before the genocide that began in 1915, said political scientist Cengiz Aktar. Hardly anyone is left, and the restoration of this church was very significant. Both the Armenian community and local authorities were asserting themselves through the restoration of this church. The restoration of it had [a] widespread echo in the Armenian community worldwide."

The church of Surp Giragos had become a place where ethnic Armenians whose families had converted to Islam were rediscovering their identity and faith. But the renewed fighting between the PKK and the government has resurrected historical prejudices and suspicions regarding ethnic Armenians.

Fear in all of us

Government ministers have linked Armenians to the Kurdish rebels, and anti-Armenian graffiti allegedly painted by Turkish security forces can be seen across the city.

There is fear, said one member of Diyarbakir's ethnic Armenian community, who did not want to be identified. There is fear in all of us. What was done to the Armenians in 1915 is now being done to Kurds. It is the same mentality, same logic. This happened to us before  this genocide, the deaths. We don't want to live it again.

A year ago in Diyarbakir, a cease-fire with the PKK rebels was entering its third year.

That peace enabled the city and its people to rediscover their rich multiethnic and religious past, powerfully symbolized by the restoration of Surp Giragos. Observers warn that the return of war has replaced hope with fear, especially for the region's tiny Armenian minority.
Auction bids soared into the millions of dollars Friday for the handgun that a Florida man used in 2012 to kill an unarmed teenager, resulting in one of the highest-profile U.S. criminal cases in years.

With listed bids above $65 million Friday, it was becoming increasingly uncertain whether any were from serious buyers. Reporters watching the bidding said the gun auction apparently was "hijacked by trolls and pranksters," who posted their supposed offers under obviously fictitious names.

George Zimmerman, a "neighborhood watch" volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense, killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin with the pistol four years ago. The controversial case had racial overtones, since Zimmerman is Hispanic and Martin was black, and it received wide attention in the U.S. and worldwide.

Zimmerman was arrested six weeks after the shooting, eventually brought to trial on a charge of second-degree murder and was found not guilty, based on his testimony that he feared for his life when he fired his gun during a struggle with the teenager. Federal officials considered bringing additional charges against him, but eventually decided that the evidence available did not meet the "high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution."

The 9-millimeter pistol, known as a Kel-Tec PF-9, was returned to Zimmerman recently. He said he decided to sell it to raise money for political causes he favors, including some that defend U.S. police against charges that they too often use violent tactics against members of other races.

Zimmerman said he wanted to fight back against the Black Lives Matter movement, in particular.

Martin's death inspired formation of the activist group known as Black Lives Matter, which has gained national attention by spotlighting a series of cases where African-Americans died at the hands of police. Many of the incidents  including a policeman's fatal shooting of a teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014  involved white law-enforcement officers and black victims.

Suspicious bidders

"I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American firearm icon," Zimmerman said as he announced his gun was up for auction.

The pistol is being auctioned by UnitedGunGroup.com, which has been swamped by web viewers and supposed bidders, including those who listed their names as "Racist McShootface," "Tamir Rice" (the name of a 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police in Cleveland, Ohio, when they saw him carrying a toy gun), and "Donald Trump."

The $65 million bid was listed in the name of Craig Bryant, but no further details about the bidder have been disclosed.

The auction is to last for five days.

Zimmerman claimed that the museums of the government-backed Smithsonian Institution in Washington planned to purchase his gun, but that was quickly denied in a tweet from the Smithsonian:

Clinton weighs in

In an exchange that illustrated the emotional nature of the complex U.S. debate over firearms, race-inspired violence and police tactics, Zimmerman said a portion of any money he receives for the gun would go "to stop anti-firearm rhetoric" by supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Zimmerman also said he would contribute to efforts to "end the career" of Angela Corey, leader of the team that prosecuted him for murder.

Clinton responded indirectly to Zimmerman's comments, in a tweet addressed to Trayvon Martin's mother:

Clinton enclosed a link to the Trayvon Martin Foundation, established by the shooting victim's family in an attempt to end "senseless gun violence."
Austria's ruling Social Democratic Party has settled on the head of the nation's railway network as the country's next chancellor.

Michael Haepul, the party's acting leader, said Friday that Christian Kern will be formally chosen during a party leadership meeting next Tuesday. Kern is widely admired for turning around the national rail company's fortunes.

Kern will replace Werner Faymann, who resigned on Monday after the SPO's presidential candidate was drubbed in first-round elections by a candidate from the far-right, anti-immigration Freedom Party.

The loss was the latest electoral defeat for the SPO and its coalition partner, the conservative People's Party, which has dominated Austrian politics for decades.

The Freedom Party's candidate, Norbert Hofer, finished first in the April 24 polls with more than 35 percent of the vote. Green Party nominee Alexander Van der Bellen finished a distant second with 21 percent, setting the stage for a runoff election May 22.

Hofer's first place finish, the far right's best showing since 1945, is widely seen as reflecting rising voter alarm over Europe's ongoing migrant influx and dissatisfaction with the European Union's role in the crisis.
Bank of America's 2016 survey of small-business owners indicates there is widespread uncertainty and anxiety about the country's economic future, with some business owners citing concern over economic policy statements made by the leading presidential candidates.

Small businesses account for a significant part of America's economic activity.

Confidence by the owners of these stores and factories is down as election year anxiety rises, according to the survey.

The election is really important because small-business owners walk a very fine line around profitability and if you think about what some of the biggest expenses can be for a small-business owner, it can be taxes, it can be the minimum wage that can have a huge impact, and health care costs, said Sue Lonergan, a Bank of America executive.

'Make or break'

"When you think about those three items, it could actually make or break a business," Lonergan said.

The call by both the leading Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to increase the minimum wage is especially worrisome for small businesses, which are defined as companies having 100 employees or less.

Steve Hong, who owns a garment factory in Manhattan, opposes the city's mandate to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of 2018.

I tried to give my workers a little bit of a raise every single year and most of my workers average between $11 and $13 [per hour] and thats probably, in this industry, one of the higher ones," Hong said.

"But now with the new law of $15 an hour minimum, youre raising the minimum from $8.75 to $15 in three years, which is 80 percent. I dont know how to sustain that," he said.

Health care costs

Nearly three-quarters of small-business owners also worry about rising health care costs. In fact, the survey shows 22 percent said they are postponing hiring new employees, citing uncertainty regarding the election and health care policy.

Chief Economist Tara Sinclair of the employment search engine indeed.com said radically different policies from the left and right create challenges for business.

I do think that employers are really struggling to get a sense of how to make their hiring plans for the long term in the current political environment because they are hearing very different economic policies and that makes it more challenging than any specific policy. Its not knowing what the policy will be, Sinclair said.
Some private media in Cameroon are refusing to cover the prime minister after he seized a reporters equipment earlier this week. Journalists say they are fed up with government intimidation, mistreatment and difficulties accessing information.

CRTV reporter Teke Julius was covering a visit by Prime Minister Philomen Yang to a stadium construction site when reporters say Yang personally grabbed Julius equipment and ordered it destroyed. Julius was then detained by the police for several hours.

Newspaper publisher Ndi Eugene Ndi is the public relations officer of the Cameroon Association of English Newspaper Journalists.

"Besides the boycott and blackout on any activity that the PM is present, the PM has to publicly apologize to all the journalists in Cameroon. What the prime minister did is total disrespect of journalists in Cameroon. In fact, total disrespect of the media as a whole," said Ndi.

Journalists reached out to Cameroons National Communications Council to secure Julius release. No charges have been filed.

The president of the NCC told VOA the prime ministers aides say Julius had disrespected their boss, apparently positioning himself behind the prime minister during a press availability and touching him with the microphone.

Julius says he was doing his job. The prime minister's office declined to comment.

Private media say the government, including the prime minister's office, routinely deny reporters access to information.

On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, May 3rd, Cameroon's Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma issued a statement pledging zero tolerance for what he called unethical reporting.

He said the social responsibility of the journalist in Cameroon is undermined by journalists who take advantage of the Internet to report only negative stories about Cameroon. He said all such reporters should know that disrespect for state institutions and individuals, defamation and attacks on peoples dignity will not be tolerated.

Cameroon has been consistently rated not free by the watchdog group Freedom House in its annual global press freedom rankings.

Three reporters and a journalism professor are facing charges before a military tribunal in Cameroon for refusing to reveal their sources for unpublished stories about an alleged plot against the government.

Cameroon's National Assembly passed a law last year that sets a 15-year jail sentence for journalists who announce anti-government protests ahead of time or cover them without authorization, as well as for journalists found to be reporting with sympathy toward suspected terrorists.

The National Communications Council has banned two newspapers and six radio and TV programs in the past seven months, though the outlets have changed their names and continue to report.
Eight Turkish soldiers and six members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed Friday in clashes in the largely Kurdish region of southeast Turkey, a Turkish military statement said.

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded when clashes broke out with rebels in Hakkari province on Friday. Two additional soldiers died when a military helicopter sent to the area later crashed due to a technical fault.

Meanwhile, four suspected bombmakers were killed near Diyarbakir late Thursday, Turkish interior ministry officials said.

Security officials said the blast occurred when PKK militants were loading the explosives onto a truck.

The late-night explosion occurred hours after at least seven people were injured in a car-bomb attack near a military facility in a suburb of the capital, Istanbul.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the car-bomb attack.

The PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and its allies, has waged a decades-long insurgency for greater autonomy for Turkey's Kurds.

Clashes have increased between Turkish troops and militants in the southeast since July 2015, when a two-year cease-fire between Ankara and Kurdish separatists broke down. The area has seen some of the worst fighting since the height of the insurgency in the 1990s.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1984.
China committed to "clean governance": anti-graft official

2016-05-13 16:42

LONDON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- China is committed to clean governance and is "building stronger institutions to tackle corruption from its roots," a senior Chinese anti-graft official said here Thursday.

China has made tremendous efforts to promote clean governance and curb corruption, winning trust and support from the people, China's Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian said in a written statement presented to the Anti-Corruption Summit held in London.

The first focus in China's anti-corruption drive "is to improve the (Chinese Communist) Party's style by going after formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance," the minister said.

"The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued an eight-point decision in this respect, demanding investigations into and tougher punishment for corrupt behavior," he noted.

The targeted "corrupt behaviors" range from dining and gifting with public funds, accepting gift money at weddings, funerals or other special occasions and visiting private clubs.

Between 2013 and 2015, 114,000 violations against the "eight-point decision" were investigated nationwide, exposing 150,000 Party officials, among whom 65,000 were disciplined, according to Huang.

China has also toughened the punishment on corruption with "zero tolerance," and "made it clear that anyone breaking those rules will be dealt with regardless of their positions," he added.

Between 2013 and 2015, 750,000 people were disciplined nationwide, including 36,000 facing criminal charges.

His statement continued: "The central authorities dispatched inspection teams to local authorities, government agencies, state-owned companies and government-affiliated institutions.

"Their task is to see whether the policies of the central authorities are faithfully implemented, particularly whether there are violations of political discipline and rules, including the eight-point decision."

China is also "building stronger institutions to tackle corruption from its roots," Huang said.

"China has been deepening all-round reform to eliminate the breeding ground for corruption," he stressed.

Huang also urged countries around the world to deepen international anti-corruption cooperation at the Anti-Corruption Summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired the summit at Lancaster House in London on Thursday. Presidents from Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and other countries, senior ministers from G20 countries, as well as leaders from international organizations are attending the summit.

Related:

Chinese official calls for deepening int'l cooperation at anti-corruption summit

LONDON, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian on Thursday urged countries around the world to deepen international anti-corruption cooperation at the ongoing Anti-Corruption Summit.

British Prime Minister David Cameron opened the summit at Lancaster House Thursday morning. Presidents from Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and other countries, senior ministers from G20 countries, as well as leaders from international organizations are attending the summit. Full story
The world "would be far less stable" if proposals floated by billionaire businessman Donald Trump are implemented as U.S. foreign policy, former Secretary of State James Baker told a Senate panel Thursday at the same time the presumptive Republican presidential nominee was meeting party leaders on Capitol Hill.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump rival in the presidential race, asked Baker what the world would be like if the U.S. left the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or let South Korea and Japan obtain nuclear weapons, proposals floated by Trump during the campaign.

"We've a got a lot of problems today, but we'd have a hell of a lot more if that were the case," Baker said. "NATO has been the foundation of peace and stability in Europe. The more countries that obtain nuclear weapons, the more instability there will be in the world."

Trump has been critical of NATO, arguing that the alliance no longer serves its founding purpose and that it is too costly to the United States. The presidential hopeful also has suggested that Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons if that means they could defend themselves independently from their adversaries.

The hearing, on "America's Role in the World," was called by the committee's Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker, who praised a foreign policy speech Trump gave in Washington last month.

Baker was joined in the discussion by former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who served under President Barack Obama from 2010 to 2013. Donilon said he agreed with Baker's comments on NATO and South Korea, and he thanked Rubio for offering the "thought experiment."

"It's not just a thought experiment," Rubio of Florida responded. "It's actually been proposed."
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer begins his new administration Friday as hundreds of supporters of his beleaguered predecessor continue street demonstrations and regional leaders denounce the senate's vote for an impeachment trial as a literal coup.

The former vice president installed a business-friendly Cabinet Thursday, just hours after senators voted to temporarily remove his former ally-turned-political enemy, Dilma Rousseff, from power for alleged corruption.

Temer's government has the daunting challenge of pulling the country out of a deep recession and reforming the pension system.

"We must significantly improve the business environment for the private sector ... and rebalance the government's budget," the 75-year-old Temer said in his first statement as Brazilian leader.

However, critics observed Temer's Cabinet in ethnically diverse Brazil does not include any Afro-Brazilians and women, the first time that has happened in years.

"It's embarrassing that most of Temer's Cabinet choices are old, white men," Sergio Pracia, a political scientist, told The New York Times.

Corruption stain

And Temer is also tainted by the stain of corruption. Though not under investigation himself, he remains exposed to the swirling scandal at state oil company Petrobras, which has snared top members of his party, as well as Rousseff's.

Amid such criticism, the new Temer government must also weather regional criticism of the political process that brought it to power.

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's leftist leader, called the vote to remove the country's first woman president a coup.

"I have no doubt that behind this coup d'etat is the bill, 'Made in the USA. ... This forms part of the legacy that President Barack Obama aims to leave in Latin America, leaving aside the progressive, democratic and people's movements," Maduro said.

Cuba also described the senate vote as a coup.

"Cuba has denounced the judicial-parliamentary coup d'etat, disguised with legality that has been underway for months in Brazil," a government statement said. "A fundamental step was taken for the objectives of a coup."

It said the majority of the Brazilian senators had "decided to continue with the process of the political trial against the legitimately elected president of Brazil."

Other leaders stopped short of denouncing the vote in South America's largest economy.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said, "We vote for the preservation of democratic institutionality, for due process to be respected, and what we want is for stability in Brazil to be maintained."

Street protests

Meanwhile, hundreds of Rousseff's supporters continued street protests in Sao Paulo following her suspension. Many of them gathered around a bonfire on one of the city's streets.

Rousseff has vowed to fight back against the senate vote, insisting she has done nothing wrong.

"What is at stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the Brazilian people and the constitution ... this is a tragic hour for our country. ... I never imagined that it would be necessary to fight once more against a coup," Rousseff said.

She is a former Marxist guerilla who fought against the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s. She is accused of manipulating the size of the budget deficit to make the Brazilian economy look healthier than it was to boost her chances of re-election in 2014.

As she approached the election in 2014, it was pretty clear that the economy was not doing as well as she hoped, and so she engaged in some creative accounting to try to make the situation look better, Latin American specialist Sean Burgess of the Australian National University told VOA.

It is still questionable, Burgess said, whether or not her actions were illegal, and the push for impeachment may be fueled by other lawmakers desires to deflect attention from themselves.

Two-thirds of the Brazilian senate is needed to convict Rousseff and permanently remove her from office.
At least 12 people were killed and 15 others wounded after gunmen attacked a popular cafe in a town north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said Friday.

Officials said three gunmen attacked the coffee shop in the mainly Shi'ite town of Balad, shooting into the crowd shortly after midnight Thursday. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated suicide vests.

Balad, about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad, is under heavy security. The attackers would have had to pass through three police checkpoints before reaching their target, police sources told Reuters.

The officers spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

This attack follows a two-day wave of bombings in the capital that have left at least 80 people dead. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Earlier this week, Major General Gary Volesky, the top U.S. ground forces commander in Iraq, said Islamic State insurgents are "getting weaker and weaker" in Iraq, despite the jihadists carrying out the deadly attacks in Baghdad.

Volesky, speaking from Iraq to reporters at the Defense Department outside Washington, discussed the Iraqi campaign to reclaim territory held by Islamic State and the impending Iraqi effort to retake the northern city of Mosul.

He 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.

Volesky 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.

It is the farthest north [Iraqi forces have advanced] since [the Islamic State group] came over, he said during a news briefing to Pentagon reporters.
When an influential anti-counterfeiting group allowed Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to join its ranks in April, the group said it was a collaborative move that would help stem the sale of fake goods for top companies such as Apple, Nike and Procter & Gamble.

Instead, the decision has sparked an angry revolt among some members of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, who consider Alibaba the world's largest marketplace for fakes. The ensuing drama has led to outraged letters, anonymous memos, and high-profile defections.

Now, an investigation by The Associated Press has found that the IACC's president owns Alibaba stock, has close ties to a key Alibaba vice president and uses family members to run his coalition.

"It's crossed the line ethically," said Deborah Greaves, a partner at Brutzkus Gubner law firm who served on the coalition's board from 2011 to 2013. She said she didn't know that IACC chief Robert Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba until informed by the AP, calling it "really problematic."

"Everything the IACC does that makes Alibaba look better potentially drives up the price of the stock," said Greaves, whose firm is still a member of the group. "As a board member, I would never have bought stock in Alibaba."

The storm has bared the deep loathing some harbor for a company heralded as one of communist China's greatest capitalist success stories.

At issue is the independence of a small but influential coalition that lobbies U.S. officials and testifies before Congress. Alibaba's membership could help shape the global fight against counterfeits, which damage companies' bottom lines, result in harmful products consumers purchase unknowingly, and feed a vast underground money-laundering industry that supports criminal syndicates.

Since Alibaba joined, Gucci America, Michael Kors and Tiffany have quit the Washington D.C.-based coalition, which has more than 250 members.

The AP found several ties between the group's president and Alibaba:

-The president of the coalition, Barchiesi, has owned Alibaba stock since its 2014 listing in New York. The IACC said in a statement that the holdings represent "a small percentage of his investment portfolio."

-Matthew Bassiur, who took over as vice president of global intellectual property enforcement at Alibaba in January, hired Barchiesi's son, Robert Barchiesi II, to work at Apple back in 2011. Alibaba said that hire was made on merit. Apple declined to comment.

-Bassiur is a founding board member of the ICE Foundation, which has been run by Barchiesi's other son, James Barchiesi, since 2013. That same year, the ICE Foundation board voted to award a contract for "fiscal and operational management" to a private company also run by James Barchiesi. The ICE Foundation, which supports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees, has received grants of $10,000 from the anti-counterfeiting coalition every year since 2012, tax filings show.

Some members have welcomed Alibaba. "I thought that was a good step forward," said Brad Buckles, an anti-piracy executive at the Recording Industry Association of America. "Bring them in so that you can complain to them. At the end of the day, if none of it works, you can kick them out."

Jennifer Kuperman, head of international corporate affairs at Alibaba, said Bassiur's expertise would help the company "further instill trust in our marketplaces."

"We are highly confident in his abilities and proud to have him at Alibaba in this critical global role," she said.

Critics, however, fear Alibaba will use IACC membership to gain legitimacy while papering over fundamental flaws in the way it does business. Gucci and other brands owned by France's Kering Group allege in U.S. court filings that Alibaba knowingly profits from the sale of fakes. Alibaba has dismissed the case as "wasteful litigation."

Brands "are concerned that Alibaba will tout its membership as part of a propaganda campaign to falsely persuade regulators, prosecutors, consumers and investors that it is fighting counterfeiting when in fact it is perhaps the world's largest counterfeiting bazaar," said Geoffrey Potter, lead anti-counterfeiting lawyer at New York's Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.

Michael Kors' general counsel has called Alibaba "our most dangerous and damaging adversary." For some, the admission of Alibaba, coupled with the personal ties that link it to the coalition, threaten the common sense of purpose that once bound the group.

"Many brands are concerned that Alibaba's IACC membership and the personal ties between the parties will affect the IACC's ability to provide objective criticism of Alibaba in a public setting," said Kristina Montanaro Schrader, an anti-counterfeiting lawyer at Adams and Reese in Nashville and former coalition employee.

The coalition's tax filings show that, in addition to the ties to Alibaba, Barcheisi runs his organization like a family business. The coalition paid companies founded and run by one of Barchiesi's sons nearly $150,000 from 2012 to 2014 for rental costs, accounting, IT support and advertising. It employs the son's wife, Kathryn Barchiesi, as a program manager. And though the coalition attests that its financial statements were reviewed by an independent accountant, tax filings show the accounting firm was owned by Barchiesi's son.

In a statement, the coalition said the family connections had been disclosed and the contracts were fairly valued. "The board of directors of the IACC believes that Mr. Barchiesi's performance as President has been exemplary, and he has the board's full confidence and support," the statement said.

Chuck McLean, a senior research fellow at GuideStar, an information service specializing in nonprofits, said such related-party transactions "are just not best practices."

"This is a very common occurrence where individuals start to think of organizations as if they own them," he said.

Anonymous emails have been flying, including a screed sent to board members Wednesday that detailed a list of concerns about governance and threatened a mass walkout unless Alibaba is pushed out. The writer claimed to represent a group of concerned members, but that could not be verified.

"What you have allowed this organization to become is utterly disgusting and changes must be made immediately," the email says.

The gathering storm threatens to turn the IACC's spring conference in Orlando next week, where Alibaba founder Jack Ma is scheduled to speak, into a showdown.

"Start popping the popcorn," one coalition member wrote in a private email.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah buried a top military commander Friday after he was killed in an attack in Syria, where the group has deployed thousands of fighters.

Hezbollah fighters carried the coffin of Mustafa Badreddine through the streets of southern Beirut in a funeral procession.

Badreddine, 55, led the Shi'ite groups involvement in the Syrian civil war and was the highest official from the group to die since Hezbollah entered the conflict several years ago.

Without giving any specific time, Hezbollah said Badreddine was killed in a big explosion targeting one of its bases near Damascus' airport.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killing.

Investigation

Hezbollah said it was investigating the cause of the explosion, saying the probe would determine whether an airstrike, missile attack or artillery bombardment had caused the blast.

Badreddine was a top adviser of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. The group has been fighting alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Hezbollah says the war is necessary to protect Shi'ites from Sunni extremists who have been at the forefront of the Syrian opposition.

Hezbollah's deployment of fighters to Syria has increased the group's enemies beyond its traditional rival, Israel, to include Sunni extremists.

The U.S. does not have information on who was behind the attack that killed Badreddine, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

No coalition aircraft nearby

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there were no U.S. or coalition aircraft in the area where Badreddine was reported to have been killed.

Kirby noted that Badreddine was convicted in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks on the U.S. and French embassies in 1983. Badreddine escaped from prison in Kuwait after the country was invaded by Iraq under the leadership of Saddam Hussein in 1990.

Badreddine was also one of four men accused in absentia of plotting the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others. The trial began in 2014 at The Hague, Netherlands, and is ongoing. Hezbollah denied any involvement in the attack.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Badreddine in 2011 and 2015 for his involvement in the Syrian war.

According to U.S. officials, Assad and Nasrallah coordinated Hezbollah's actions in Syria on a weekly basis, with Badreddine present at top Damascus meetings.

Announcing his death, Hezbollah said Badreddine had told his friends and family several months ago that he would return from Syria victorious or "a martyr." The group released a picture, showing a smiling Badreddine wearing a camouflage baseball cap.

Nadim Shehadi, who heads the Fares Center at Tufts Universitys Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, tells VOA that Badreddine and other suspects in the Hariri case have been dying off quickly.

Everyone we know connected to the Hariri assassination is dying, so very soon you will have a [special] tribunal in the Hague that is not able to have a trial or that would have to innovate to have a trial, because Badreddine was the highest profile [in the case] and now hes gone, he said.

Other deaths

Other suspects who have been killed or died under mysterious circumstances in recent years include top Syrian intelligence officials Rustom Ghazaleh and Jamaa Jamaa, and Badreddines brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyah, who was Hezbollahs former top military commander until he was assassinated in 2008.

People like Badreddine and Mughniyah, argued Shehadi, belong to the darker side of institutions and are not supposed to be well-known."

"Once they are known and become too exposed, he added, they become a liability to their own people.

There was no official reaction from Israel, which customarily declines to comment on such matters.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli Army Radio that Badreddines passing was good for Israel, but added that those [fighting] in Syria ... have a lot of [enemies other than] Israel.

VOA's Edward Yeranian contributed to this report from Cairo.

Who was Badreddine?
Britain's exit from the European Union would pose a "significant downside risk" and potentially send the nation into a recession, International Monetary fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Friday.

"The majority of economic analysis that has been conducted agree that a vote to depart the EU would be costly in the long run," Lagarde told a news conference in London. "There is also a risk of an adverse market reaction to a leave vote, the implications of which could be particularly severe."



She explained that the hit to the British economy could range from "pretty bad to very, very bad."

The IMF released a statement earlier this year warning that Britain risks falling into a self-reinforcing cycle of weaker economic growth and lower house and share prices should voters opt to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum.

The IMF joins a long list of states and international organizations concerned about the economic consequences of Britain's exit from the European economic bloc.



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 shoulder-to-shoulder across the Euro-Atlantic community against common threats."

President Obama also urged Britain to stay in the EU, saying in a joint news conference with Prime Minister David Cameron in London last month that the country's membership "makes you guys bigger players." David Cameron himself has warned against the exit, for security reasons as well as economic ones.

Isolationism has never served this country well," he said. "The evidence is clear  we'll be better off in, and poorer if we leave."

Britons are decidedly split on the issue of whether to leave the EU. An average of the last six public opinion polls done by What UK Thinks indicates that voters are split firmly down the middle, with 50 percent saying they would opt to leave and 50 percent saying they want to stay.
Closing the sole remaining area along the Syrian border where foreign fighters can enter and leave Islamic State-controlled territories is one of the top priorities of U.S.-led coalition forces, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

Speaking Friday in Colorado, Carter said "sharing and fusing" information across the battlefield is helping to prevent attacks and restrict foreign fighters' movements.

"Specifically, DoD [Department of Defense] is sharing what it collects from the battlefield with other domestic departments that are the leads for screening and watchlisting," the Pentagon chief said.

Fingerprints retrieved from IEDs (improvised explosive devices, or roadside bombs) and personal information gleaned from captured terrorists are added to a database known as the Biometrics Enabled Watchlist, available to all government departments and to U.S. allies, Carter said.

During meetings earlier this month in Germany with members of the anti-IS coalition, Carter said they discussed efforts to drive Islamic State fighters out of the Manbij area of Syria. This region near Aleppo "is a critical transit point for terrorists planning to execute attacks outside Iraq and Syria," Carter said. "Together we must close this last entry-exit area for foreign fighters into Europe and beyond, once and for all."

Diminishing returns

The Islamic State group has seen its oil revenues decline by 50 percent, and the number of foreign fighters joining the Islamist extremist group is down by as much as 75 percent, a U.S. military official said Friday.

Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the anti-Islamic State operation in Iraq and Syria, told reporters at the Pentagon via teleconference from Baghdad that U.S.-led airstrikes targeting Islamic State oil tankers and wells have been a factor in shrinking Islamic State's income, along with falling oil prices.

"We attribute the reduction in foreign-fighter flow to a range of factors, including our military gains on the ground, as well as active steps by governments to strengthen and enforce border security and also counter-recruitment efforts," Warren added.

Shoving match' in Syria

Despite the Islamic State fighters' continuing loss of territory in Iraq, Warren said, the extremists have taken control of two small towns in northwestern Syria near the Turkish border.

The U.S. officer said a "shoving match" is in progress between IS fighters and other Syrian rebel groups in the area known as the Marea Line.
The Islamic State (IS) group has announced it executed a native of the North Caucasus, whom it accused of spying for the Russian intelligence services.

What makes the case unusual is that the alleged spy was a woman.

The execution was covered in the latest issue of Istok (The Source), the terrorist organizations Russian-language propaganda magazine. It reported that Elvira Karayeva, also known Sumaya among extermist Islamists, was convicted of spying for Russias special services and was executed in Syria.

According to Russian media reports, Karayeva, 28, was born in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a republic in Russias North Caucasus, and was an ethnic Karachay, a Turkic-speaking group.

In 2013, Karayeva, along with her teenage daughter, went to Syria to join the militants. Before leaving Russia, she was reportedly married four times to members of the Islamist armed underground in the Caucasus. All of her husbands were either killed by Russian security services or died under unclear circumstances.

All accusations denied

The Istok article claims Karayeva was under surveillance by the security services of the Caliphate from the moment she arrived in Syria because she was already suspected of having links with Russias special services.

The IS magazine says she was repeatedly questioned but categorically denied all accusations. However, after IS in Syria received an audio recording from their counterparts Ingushetia, another North Caucasus republic, proving she was working for the Russias Federal Security Services (FSB), Karayeva admitted all crimes, Istok writes. She was shot in the head by one of the IS mujahideen, after which her body was thrown in a garbage dump, the article states.

IS claims Karayeva betrayed a large number of Islamist militants in the North Caucasus to the FSB, and the group says it was able to obtain evidence of seven such cases. The Istok article includes several photos of jihadists it says were victims of Karayevas treachery. The magazine claims she personally poisoned her last husband, an Islamist who had sworn allegiance to IS.

The Russian special services have not responded to the reports that Karayeva was executed.

While the case of Elvira Karayeva marks the only time the Islamic States Russian-speaking wing has announced it executed a woman, IS routinely puts women to death.

Another execution

Nor does Karayevas case represent the first time that IS has executed an alleged Russian spy: Four months ago, the group posted a video online of the execution of a young man from Chechnya, also in Russia's North Caucasus, whom it accused of being an FSB spy.

The video was uploaded to the Internet on December 3, 2015  two days after Chechnyas pro-Kremlin ruler, Ramzan Kadyrov, said in an interview with Russian state media that he had placed agents inside IS in both Syria and Iraq.

In the IS execution video, Magomed Khasiyev, 23, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, admits spying for the Russian intelligence services, after which a Russian-speaking IS militant cuts his throat on camera.

IS did not publish a photo or video of Karayevas execution, either in Istok magazine or other Internet resources.

Islamic State distributes Istok through its channels on various social networks. The Russian-language propaganda magazine is aimed at audiences in the countries of the former Soviet Union.
Family and friends are mourning the death of the world's oldest person, who passed away Thursday night in Brooklyn, New York.

Susannah Mushatt Jones died at the senior citizens home where she lived at age 116, said Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group, which maintains a database of the world's longest-living people.

Affectionately known as "Miss Susie," "Ms. Jones was the very last American from the 1800's," Young said.

She had been sick for the past 10 days, according to Young.

In 1899, Jones was born in a small farm town near Montgomery, Alabama. She and her 11 siblings were the children of sharecroppers and the grandchildren of slaves.

She walked seven miles to a special school in Alabama for African-American girls and graduated in 1922. Her family paid the tuition with wood they cut for fire and corn they had grown.

After graduating, Jones helped family members pick crops for a year. She then moved to New Jersey, where she worked as a nanny and eventually ended up in New York.

Once in New York, she and her fellow high school graduates established a scholarship fund for African-American women to attend college.

Jones' niece told the Associated Press last year that she "adored kids" but never had any of her own. She was married for a few years.

With Jones' passing, the world's oldest person is 116-year-old Emma Morano of Italy. She was also born in 1899, a few months after Jones.

Morano is believed to be the last person alive born in the 1800s.
A shopping mall under construction in southwestern Nigeria collapsed Friday, killing at least one person and injuring several others.

Ibrahim Farinloye, southwest coordinator for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, tells VOA there were 15 construction workers in the building at the time of its collapse.

He says all were rescued alive but one died on the way to the hospital. Eight others were injured.

Rescue workers searched the debris for other survivors after the four-story building in Abeokuta, the capital of Nigeria's Ogun state, caved in Friday morning.

Farinloye says the cause is unknown and will be investigated.

Building collapses are a common problem across Africa, mostly caused by cost-cutting and poor construction.

Last month, more than 50 people were killed in the collapse of an six-story apartment building in Nairobi, Kenya. The building had been condemned by local authorities but the order to evacuate was ignored.

Since then, the Kenyan government has begun to demolish other condemned buildings.

Chris Stein contributed to this story from Lagos
The rescue of over 800 migrants off the coast of Sicily over the past two days is emblematic of a new strategy by those desperate and determined to escape their war-torn native countries and enter Europe.

An Italian coast guard ship arrived in the Sicilian port of Augusta Friday carrying 340 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea, many of them from Syria and Iraq.

They were passengers aboard one of two ships that were spotted sailing off the coast of western Sicily. The coast guard said 515 people were rescued from the other boat.

International refugee groups say this is the largest group of Syrian refugees who have arrived in Italy this year, and signals a change in tactics among refugees who are now unable to enter the continent via Turkey.

Ankara reached a deal with the European Union in March under which it would take back all migrants who land in Greece in an effort to stem the flow of migrants into Europe, which last year totaled more than 1 million people, making it Europe's biggest immigrant crisis since World War II.

Efforts backfire

The International Organization for Migration said more than 187,000 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea between January 1 and May 8, with 1,357 fatalities.

Along with the deal with Turkey, the EU has launched a naval mission to disrupt people smuggling on the Mediterranean seas. But a British parliamentary committee has determined the mission a failure.

The mission, known as Operation Sophia, authorizes EU naval vessels to seize and destroy vessels used in people smuggling. But the House of Lords EU Committee said the effort has simply forced smugglers to switch from wooden boats to "even more unsafe" rubber dinghies.

And the EU's deal with Turkey also appears to be at risk in a standoff over Ankara's legal definition of terrorism.

In exchange for curbing the flow of immigrants, Turkey would narrow its anti-terrorism laws, and its citizens would be allowed to travel to Europe without the need for a passport.

The EU said Turkey's broad definition of terrorism can be used to target free speech and political dissent.

But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly said Thursday that his country could not change its anti-terrorism laws while it is fighting Kurdish militants.
Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn warned Friday the deal to buy part of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation depends on the outcome of the Japanese Transport Ministry's investigation into allegations Mitsubishi inflated the fuel-economy of its cars.

Ministry officials raided Mitsubishi's Tokyo headquarters Friday, a day after Nissan announced the $2.2 billion purchase of 34 percent of Mitsubishi.

Ghosn said Friday the deal would not be final until it is clear whether the inflated fuel data was limited to cars sold only in Japan and what the penalties would be.

Last month, Mitsubishi admitted that several of its employees exaggerated the numbers on its fuel economy data, making several models appear to get better gas mileage than they actually do.

Some of the cars that had their data manipulated showed fuel economy that was about 15 percent better than it really was.

'Win-win deal'

Leaders of the two automakers appeared at a news conference Thursday in Yokohama  home of Nissan headquarters  to announce what Ghosn called a win-win deal.

Mitsubishi already manufactures mini-car models for Nissan that are an important part of its Japanese sales. Acquiring a major stake in Mitsubishi would also give Nissan more exposure to Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.

Scandals



Mitsubishi, the world's sixth-largest automaker, lost about half of its market value after news of the fuel-rigging scandal broke.

The company is no stranger to scandal, nearly going out of business after admitting back in 2000 that it covered up major safety defects for several decades.

Mitsubishi is the second carmaker accused of falsifying environmental data in 12 months.

Germany's Volkswagen admitted late last year that it installed software on millions of its vehicles that activated bogus emissions controls to deceive testing officials.
With six months to go before the U.S. presidential election, several immigrant advocacy groups are coalescing in a campaign to help as many eligible permanent residents as possible become naturalized citizens and register to vote in time for Election Day.

The organizers  who include the Service Employees International Union, Mi Familia Vota, the National Partnership for New Americans, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the Latino Victory Foundation  say the goal is to see at least 1 million green card holders become citizens this year.

The push is part of a national campaign called "Stand Up to Hate," which organizers say started as a result of rhetoric on the U.S. presidential campaign trail, particularly comments by presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

A record 27.3 million Latinos are projected to be eligible to vote in the 2016 election, and of that number, 44 percent are Hispanic millennials, the Washington-based Pew Research Center said in an analysis published in January.

Leaning Democratic

Pew also said that from 2012 to 2016, an estimated 3.2 million young U.S.-citizen Latinos will have reached adulthood and become eligible to vote. Pew said Latino voters have leaned toward the Democratic Party in presidential elections for decades, and that the Latino electorate is among the nation's most demographically dynamic groups.

Advocates said Wednesday that the number of people filing naturalization applications climbed almost 14.5 percent in the first three months of the year, and they estimated it would go higher. They said the surge has been driven in part by immigrants feeling threatened by negative comments from Trump about Latinos and other groups. Trump has a 77 percent unfavorability image among U.S. Hispanics, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Trump angered Latinos after he accused Mexico of allowing "criminals and rapists" to illegally enter the United States. Trump has vowed to build an impenetrable wall along the border if elected and has called for Mexico to pay for it.

'Scaring' people into citizenship

Trump also said on national television that if he became president, illegal immigrants would have to leave the U.S. An estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the country. In December, following terrorist attacks in Paris, Trump also called for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.

There is something going on here, and the way Donald Trump and other Republicans have been talking about immigrants, refugees, Latinos, Asians and Muslims is frankly scaring people into becoming citizens, said U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who is involved in the effort to see legal permanent residents naturalized.

We could literally hold a citizenship workshop every weekend and still not satisfy the demand about the naturalization process, he said.

Stand Up to Hate said that in the past two months, it had reached out to 500,000 people about the naturalization process by conducting more than 300 workshops across the country. Currently, 8.8 million permanent residents in the U.S. are eligible to become naturalized citizens, according to campaign organizers.

To apply, an eligible green card holder currently must pay $680 upfront to cover the cost of naturalization forms and biometrics, said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Officials, however, have proposed raising the fee to $725 to cover costs.

Fee is 'in the way'

People are still sending in their applications, but the fee sometimes stands in the way, said Astrid Silva, director of Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, an immigrant rights group. Silva, however, noted that a fee waiver program is available for permanent residents living at or below the poverty line. "Many of the people coming in [to the workshops] had never heard of the fee waiver."

A family of four earning between $36,450 and $48,600 would qualify for a partial fee waiver, organizers said. Each green card holder must apply separately. In a family where two people meet the requirements, the cost doubles, they said. Individuals whose income is below the federal poverty guideline can be eligible for a full fee waiver.

The lengthy application process would be followed by an interview with immigration officials, a citizenship test and a swearing-in ceremony at a determined date.

The advocates also said that even if this were not an election year, they would still encourage new Americans to become civic-minded. "Not becoming citizens is not good for our democracy," they said.
Women would begin signing up with Selective Service in January 2018 under a measure approved by the Senate Armed Services Committee, another step toward the day that young Americans of both genders would be subject to a military draft.

A return to forcing people to join the military seems unlikely. Military leaders maintain that the all-volunteer force is working and do not want to return to conscription. The U.S. has not had a military draft since 1973, in the waning years of the Vietnam War era, but all men are required by law to register with Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18.



Women have never been required to register and have never been part of a wide-scale draft. Any justification for barring women from draft registration was erased last year when the Pentagon announced that all military jobs would be open to women, the Senate committee said late Thursday in a summary of its annual defense policy bill.



The committee noted that the top officers in each of the military branches expressed their support for including women in a potential draft during testimony before Congress.



Despite agreement by both the Senate and the House Armed Services committees on this issue, a provocative debate is expected when legislation requiring women to register is considered in the full Senate and House.



Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he believes most Americans don't want women to be drafted. Despite his objections, Hunter proposed, and then voted against, an amendment requiring women to register. It was narrowly adopted by the House Armed Services Committee in late April.



Hunter said he offered the measure to force a discussion about how the Pentagon's decision to void gender restrictions on military service failed to consider whether the exclusion on drafting women also should be lifted. He argued that the call should be made by Congress.



The White House has declined to say whether President Barack Obama would sign into law legislation that expands the draft to include women.



Overall, the Senate committee measure approved Thursday provides $602 billion in fiscal year 2017 for the Defense Department and for nuclear weapons programs managed by Energy Department.



The Senate committee did not follow the House panel's lead and shift $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for additional weapons and troops to reverse what Republicans and a number of Democrats have called a crisis in the U.S. military's combat readiness. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Armed Services Committee chairman, is planning to propose a strategy for securing additional money for the military when the full Senate takes up the bill. That could happen as early as next week.



The committee did identify $3 billion in savings from the defense budget proposed by the Obama administration "and redirected those funds toward critical needs of our warfighters,'' according to the summary. The committee also added $2 billion for additional training, depot maintenance and weapons sustainment.
The solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 completed the latest leg of its around-the-world trip, landing Thursday night in the south-central U.S. state of Oklahoma.

Solar Impulse 2 arrived safely Thursday night after taking off earlier in the day from the western U.S. state of Arizona -- the flight's 11th leg.

The plane's flight speed is about 45 kph (28 mph). Its speed can double during the day when the sun's rays are strongest.

Earlier this week, a string of tornadoes and storms hit Oklahoma. Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 15 counties after tornadoes killed two people and left severe damage in parts of the state.

Solar Impulse 2 dodged the bad weather Thursday but will likely stay put for a few days until the weather clears.

Rest of journey

After Oklahoma, the plane is expected to make at least one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa, according to the website documenting the journey.

Their ultimate goal is to make it back to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates where the trip began in March 2015. The plane has also made stops along the way in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.

The crew was forced to stay nine months in Oahu, Hawaii, after the plane's battery system sustained heat damage on its five-day flight from Japan.

Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, who are sharing navigating duties during the historic trip, finally were able to take off again April 21 for a three-day trip from Hawaii to California's Silicon Valley.

The 17,000 solar cells built into the wings of Solar Impulse 2 harness the sun's energy and charge onboard batteries.

Organizers say the flight is to show the possibilities of clean energy technology.
South Africas High Court gave the go-ahead Friday for as many as half a million miners and ex-miners to file a class action suit against 32 gold mining companies. The miners say they contracted the lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis working in the mines.

Historic is how Charles Abrahams, a lawyer representing the miners, describes the courts decision to allow South Africas largest-ever class action suit to proceed.



He spoke to VOA from the steps of the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg shortly after the ruling.



I think that what this means is that law, in the context of the social struggle of people and particularly, in this context, mining communities, can play a very important role in advancing the struggles through the right litigation. And today weve seen, that this is exactly what happened today, said Abrahams.



A three-judge panel ruled Friday that hundreds of thousands of miners and their families can seek redress from some of the worlds largest gold mining corporations after they contracted painful, often-deadly lung diseases in the mines.



The panel split the case into two classes: those who contracted silicosis and those who contracted tuberculosis.



A group representing the mining firms said in a statement that the companies are studying the ruling and will decide individually whether to lodge an appeal.



Abrahams says hes confident of victory in the class action suit.



But, he notes, todays victory is bittersweet. The cases original plaintiff, Thembekile Mankayi, died of silicosis a week before the Constitutional Court ruled in 2011 to allow his precedent-setting case to proceed. That case developed into todays class action.



Hopefully through todays judgment, Mrs. Mankayi and Mr. Mankayis children and his dependents could look forward to some form of compensation from the mining company for which Mr. Mankayi worked , said Abrahams.



Abrahams says that this is not just a legal victory, but a social victory for South Africas workers who have long fought for justice and equality during and after the racist apartheid system. Taking the struggle from the streets to the courts, he says, is a sign of progress.



The lawsuit, however it proceeds, is likely to have an economic impact. South Africa's statistical agency says that mining accounts for more than 8 percent of the nations economy.
Two weeks after the former warring parties in South Sudan's conflict formed the Transitional Government of National Unity, cease-fire monitors say President Salva Kiir's forces are still not cooperating with security monitors in implementing security arrangements, as set forth in the peace agreement.

Major General Molla Hailemariam, who chairs the Ceasefire Transitional and Security Arrangements Monitoring Mechanism (CTSAMM), said Thursday that monitors still face resistance from government forces.

"CTSAMM is not in the position to declare completion of transitional security arrangements in Juba, since the government has not declared its forces completely, Hailemariam said. It is my hope that with the formation of the Transitional Government of National Unity, the outstanding issue can be addressed properly and expeditiously."

Hailemariam's group is charged with ensuring full implementation of the security arrangements per the August peace agreement signed by the government and rebels.

Kiir's military commanders are required by the agreement to redeploy some forces outside Juba and inform Hailemariam's group about the number of forces withdrawn from the capital.

Hailemariam told reporters in Juba that there has been a marked decline in violations of the permanent cease-fire in recent weeks.

"We have observed that the last few weeks is a very calm quiet, Hailemariam said. We are very hopeful that we are shifting from investigating alleged violations to peaceful formation of unified forces in this country."

Earlier this month, the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission called on both government and opposition officials to instruct their military commanders to fully cooperate and abide by the permanent cease-fire.
Italy's coast guard has rescued about 1,000 refugees and migrants off the country's southern tip, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

Thursday's rescue operation, one of the largest on the Mediterranean Sea, was coordinated by the European border management agency, Frontex. In one operation, the U.N. refugee agency said, some 500 people were rescued off Sicily, southeast of Cape Passero. It said the people crammed into two fishing boats had departed several days ago from Egypt.

UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said the nationalities of all the people were still not known, but that the Italian coast guard reported that Syrians and Iraqis were among the group.

Apart from the two fishing boats that sailed from Egypt, it is believed that there were other smaller boats that came from Libya," Spindler said. Those rescued were disembarking at Catania, Palermo, Crotone, and Augusta in Sicily.

Spindler said UNHCR staff would be present at the different locations and provide information and assistance to those who had been rescued.

It is clear just by our people on the ground [that] there are many families among those who have been rescued and there are many unaccompanied children," he said. "They need to go through medical screening. They need to get assistance. Many are dehydrated and in bad shape."

UNHCR says nearly 190,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea so far this year. While most have gone to Greece, more than 31,250 have headed for Italy, and that group is growing.
President Barack Obama directed U.S. public schools Friday to allow transgender students access to bathrooms that match their chosen gender identity. Transgender issues have become the latest battleground over lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights. The following is the first in a three-part series exploring transgender issues in America.

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINAWilliam Tegard has had a lot of identities in his 61 years: Marine, addict, pastor, husband, father. But for as long as he can remember, he was also something else, something he says existed only as a feeling deep in my inner being. Secretly, William felt he was a woman.

William kept his secret for decades, refusing to listen to what he called the feminine voice in his head. He kept it throughout his six years in the Marines, where he was a tough-talking drill instructor who bullied young recruits. He kept it throughout his 16 years as an ordained minister in the conservative Assemblies of God denomination. He kept it throughout almost all of his 29 years of marriage to his wife, Andrea.

Only when William became confident he would have Andreas support, and their marriage would stay intact, did he begin to listen to his feminine voice.

Three years into the transition, William is now Marsha.

This is who I feel like I am, she says, her wife by her side after a church service near their home in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Marsha, who publicly began identifying as a woman about six months ago, is wearing a black V-neck blouse and a leopard print skirt. Her silver-blonde hair, her most feminine feature, is cut into an attractive, chin-length bob.

Without Andrea, I wouldnt be doing this, Marsha says, fighting back tears.

Andrea, who speaks with a soft, Southern drawl, repeatedly insists it wasnt difficult to deal with her husband becoming her wife.

It was confusing, but you dont just stop loving the person youve been married to for almost 30 years. You just work through it. And (its) not even just work, Andrea interrupts herself, leaning in to give Marsha a reassuring kiss. I love this person, whether its a husband or a new wife.

Their story illustrates the complexities facing not only the estimated 700,000 transgender people in the United States, but also the unique challenges facing their straight spouses and families.

Transgender issues have come to the forefront in recent years, in part thanks to high-profile celebrities such as Olympic gold medalist Bruce Jenner, now Caitlin, who in 2015 came out as transgender.

President Barack Obamas recent directive that transgender students must be allowed access to the bathrooms matching their gender identity is the latest in a series of legal steps on the issue.

The issue is particularly close to the Tegards, who live in North Carolina, which requires trans people to use the restroom corresponding to the sex listed on their birth certificates.

Supporters of the legislation, currently the focus of rival state and federal lawsuits, argue it will protect women and children from sex offenders. Marsha believes that rationale is rooted in ignorance and prejudice.

You may as well call the police now, because Im going to the womens room, says Marsha with a still-masculine laugh.

Andrea sometimes accompanies her spouse to the womens room, as an act of solidarity and to make sure its above reproach.

But she says she doesnt care about public perception. If they judge you, whats it matter? All that matters is us, she says.

Choosing to stay married

While some may find it unusual the Tegards decided to stay married, such relationships are maintained at a much higher rate than some might expect, according to a 2011 survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Fifty-five percent of transgender or gender-nonconforming people either stayed in their relationships or split up for reasons unrelated to their coming out, according to the survey.

The spouse often goes through a kind of a grieving of who they married, and getting used to the new person, says Janet McMonagle of the Chicago-based Straight Spouse Network, which provides support for those with gay, lesbian, or transgender partners.

McMonagle says her organization has seen an uptick over the past year in the number of people who are looking for support after their spouses come out as transgender. A lot of people, I think, have delayed that experience (of coming out), she says, And now they feel like theyre able to do it, particularly since Jenners vanguard public transformation.

Gradually becoming female

Marshas transformation has been much less glamorous than Jenners  but its not because of a lack of desire.

I have a champagne taste with a beer pocketbook, explains Marsha, laughing as she sips a glass of cheap white wine on the living room couch beneath pictures of her children, Rachel and Josh.

The Tegards are on a tight budget. Marsha is a nursing assistant at a local hospital. Andrea works in the drive-thru window at a Chick-fil-A fast food restaurant.

They, along with their children and Andreas elderly mother, live outside Charlotte in a simple, three-bedroom house that is well-kept, but crowded; Rachel sleeps in what was the dining room.

We dont have a lot of money to put towards my transition, says Marsha, whose tiny bedroom closet is filled with womens clothes purchased mostly from secondhand stores, as well as suits, cowboy boots and other mens clothes shes hung on to.

Like Marshas wardrobe, her transition from male to female evolved gradually. There was no tearful confession or earth-shattering revelation. In fact, Andrea cant even remember the first time the subject came up.

It happened over time, so it wasnt that shocking, Andrea says. It was just something that evolved.

More than womens clothes

Much of it evolved in the bedroom, where about three years ago, Marsha says she occasionally began dressing in womens clothes. Andrea is straight, but says she didnt mind the cross-dressing and was happy to please her spouse.

In time, Marsha realized her feminine identity was about more than just occasionally putting on womens clothes. It got to the point where she could no longer live as a woman in the bedroom with Andrea and a male everywhere else. (I realized) I really cant turn this off and on anymore. I either have to go one way or the other, Marsha says.

Together, they agreed that William would begin privately transitioning to become female.

The transition process looks different for each transgender person. Some choose to go through gender reassignment surgery. Marsha did not, in part because she is still attracted only to females.

Oh Lord, no, was Marshas response to the doctor who asked if she wanted her male genitalia removed, she says.

Marsha has now undergone three years of hormone replacement therapy. Shes now a lot nicer of a person, in her own words, although she occasionally becomes emotional and says she cries more often than before.

The hormone treatment has also slightly softened some of her masculine facial features. Other signs of her former life remain, including her broad shoulders and lean, muscular arms. On her left bicep are the names of Andrea and the children; on the right is a tattoo inspired by her time in the Marines.

Marshas childhood

Marsha recalls early struggles with her gender around the age of 7 or 8, when her mother scolded the young boy for playing dress-up with her clothes and painting his fingernails.

As William got older, he continued to repress his feminine identity.

I felt like a sissy. And I couldnt be a sissy, Marsha says. So instead, William began to take on a persona that, looking back, was almost comically masculine.

After high school, he joined the Marines, working first as a gunsmith and later as a drill instructor at Parris Island in South Carolina. Marsha laughs when she remembers how William would rough up the young recruits. I was sort of the guy who was the dick, she says with a shy grin.

After the Marines, while working as a banquet server at a North Carolina hotel, William met a coworker. Both were dating other people at the time, but Andrea quickly felt chemistry between them.

They moved to Miami for work when the city was a gateway for cocaine from Latin America. William soon fell victim to its temptations, in part, Marsha says, because he was unhappy and wanted to escape reality.

I could spend every dime I had on cocaine, but I couldnt afford a pair of shoes, she remembers.

Help soon came in the form of religion  specifically, conservative evangelical Christians, who invited William to church.

We went to this little Cuban church, and I didnt understand a word the pastor said. And even when I did understand, I was so spaced out, Marsha says.

Regardless, William went forward after the service and prayed the sinners prayer, and asked Jesus to come into my heart.

Parishioners watched over William constantly for weeks to ensure he wouldnt relapse. He didnt.

Andrea stayed by William throughout the addiction and the two married.

Gender and faith

While the cocaine went away, the religion stuck. The newlywed couple moved back to Charlotte, where William became an ordained minister for the Assemblies of God, a denomination known for its strict, fundamentalist doctrines.

The feminine voice inside continued to talk to him, but he told no one about it. As a pastor, I repressed all those feelings, Marsha says.

Eventually, he began questioning the doctrines of his church, which does not marry or ordain openly LGBTQ individuals, or even allow them to be church members.

After 16 years as a pastor, when it came time for William to send the Assemblies of God the annual $380 fee to renew his ordination, he realized he couldnt do it. So he left the church.

But he didnt leave the faith. Marsha is still an observant Christian; she and Andrea attend a church in Charlotte that embraces LGBTQ people.

Coming out to the kids

Josh, 26, and Rachel, 22, admit Marsha's transition was hard to get used to at first.

Josh says he sometimes uses the wrong pronouns for Marsha. I still like to say dad, so thats what makes it hard, he says.

But after he found out that the transition did not mean his parents would get divorced, he was very supportive.

I was just more concerned with the family sticking together and everyone being happy, says Josh, who teaches at a local elementary school. Thats all that matters, whether she wants to be a man or a woman or identify with no gender.

Other people in Marshas life were also more supportive than she initially imagined. Except for the occasional disapproving glance from a stranger, and the judgments of some of her siblings who are still conservative religious Christians, there have been relatively few problems.

For now, Marsha is just focused on finishing the legal process necessary to change her name. Once that happens, she says she feels her transformation will be complete, and that shell no longer look in the mirror and see William in a skirt.

Once Marshas here legally, theres no more William in my mind, Marsha says.

As for Andrea, she acknowledges that others in her situation would have left. Its 29 years, she says. You dont just throw that away.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the military could intervene in Syria to stop ongoing rocket attacks by so-called Islamic State group. But critics claim Erdogans real priority for intervening would be to target Syrian Kurdish forces it accuses of being linked to the PKK. And experts warn any intervention would need cooperation from other countries or run the risk of military confrontation.

In the past few weeks, the Turkish military has been amassing armor and soldiers along its Syrian border, where Islamic State has been firing missiles into the Turkish town of Kilis  a town that straddles the southern border with a volatile zone in Syria currently controlled by Islamic State.

In response, President Erdogan has said that his armed forces are readying to clear the frontier on the Syrian side of the border, following back and forth fire with Islamic State terrorists.

But Kadri Gursel, political columnist for the Turkeys Cumhuriyet and Al Monitor website, said any intervention would not be aimed at Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

"The priority of Erdogans Turkey has never been ISIS," he said. "The Syrian Kurds are the priority target, and its still Syrian Kurds. So to prevent PYD  which is an ideological offshoot of PKK, and there are strong organic ties between the two organizations  they want to prevent Syrian Kurds and the [Syrian] regime forces from gaining ground. "

The PKK is fighting the Turkish state for greater minority rights. Its fighters also have been supporting the Syrian Kurdish group the PYD, which has been making substantial gains against Islamic State in recent months backed by U.S. forces. Only a small strip of Syrian border territory remains out of their control.

Turkish political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners said those gains mean Erdogans warnings of an intervention should be taken seriously.

"I think Erdogan and the Turkish chiefs of military staff are weighing the risks of a Kurdish state in Syria versus a Russian attack on Turkish forces," he said. "To me its a suicide mission because Russians would bomb Turkish military if we entered Syria."

Following Novembers downing by Turkish jets of a Russian bomber operating from a Syrian base, Moscow has deployed a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system.

Those missiles have, until now, prevented Turkish fighters from entering Syrias airspace. But according to media reports earlier this month, Turkish special forces carried out Syrian cross-border operations against Islamic State with Moscows permission.

Retired Turkish Brigadier Haldun Solmazturk warns that any type of intervention in Syria would have to be substantial and well secured.

"Air, army, boots on ground, special forces, etc., it would be quite complicated and would require full strength and full capability," he said. "In any military operation, you have to control your rear area. Its vital. And, the so-called rear area for an intervention in Syria, which is in Turkey, is in turmoil now. The conflicts in the region with the PKK are far from being under control."

On Friday, at least eight Turkish soldiers were killed in fighting with PKK rebels, including two others who were killed when a helicopter crashed during a military operation. Fighting between the army and rebels continues to escalate, with hundreds killed on both sides in the last few months.

Observers warn any military intervention into Syria that would also target Syrian Kurdish forces would likely see a further escalation in PKK operations, resulting in a two-front war for the Turkish army.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir returned home from Uganda late Thursday after attending President Yoweri Musevenis inauguration. Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court, and Ugandas failure to arrest him has sparked outrage.

Uganda greeted Bashir with flowers, according to local media, after his plane arrived in Kampala Thursday for the inauguration of longtime President Yoweri Museveni.

The Sudanese community in Uganda was shocked.

Wanted for war crimes



Bashir has been wanted since 2009 by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.

A Darfuri man who fled to Kampala from Darfur that same year said it was sad actually. You see him, he's moving free!"

"But again," he added, "at the end of the day even if the scenario with Bashir in The Hague, what about the people in the IDP camps? You talk to them and you know it's good to see him behind bars, but what about the people who lost their lives? What about the people who lost their houses?

The conflict in Darfur, which began in 2003, is still considered ongoing with humanitarian organizations often barred from the region.

Bashir has continued to travel freely around parts of Africa, riding a swell of defiance vis-a-vis the ICC among some leaders.

Diplomats walk out



Western diplomats walked out of Musevenis inauguration Thursday as the Ugandan leader railed against the court, calling it useless in his speech.

The U.S. State Department said the walkout, which included the American delegation, was an appropriate reaction.

Uganda is a signatory of the Rome Statute, meaning it is obligated to arrest those wanted by the ICC.

Mossaad Mohamed Ali, executive director with the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies in Kampala, said during the different African Union summits, they talked a lot about withdrawal from the ICC.

"Uganda is one of the big supporters of the ICC, even, you know, he [Museveni] asked for the cooperation of the ICC in order to investigate the crimes that had been committed here in Uganda by the LRA, among others," he said. "However, now we witness this change in different positions of the different leaders. And now it's Museveni by his statement yesterday morning.

South Africa came under fire last June for allowing Bashir to leave the country during an AU summit there despite a South African court order to arrest him.
President Barack Obama said Friday that an agreement between the U.S. and five Nordic nations to increase cooperation in the face of rising Russian aggression is an effort to ensure that "smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations.

The president hosted the leaders of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland at the White House for a summit covering issues that included Islamic State terrorism, climate change and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) deal.

Were united in our concern about Russias growing aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic/Nordic region, Obama told reporters after multilateral talks.

While the countries will keep pushing for dialogue and cooperation with Moscow, Obama added, we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong, and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations.

The nations vowed to increase cooperation between NATO and the European Union. Denmark and Norway will also contribute to what Obama called an enhanced allied forward presence to bolster our collective defense in Europe.

The NATO alliance is expected to announce the deployment of a multinational force to Baltic states and Poland during a July NATO summit in Warsaw.

Growing tensions

Tensions have been rising since Russias 2014 annexation of Crimea, support for pro-separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, and ongoing violations of the Minsk agreements, which aim to de-escalate the conflict.

Since then, the NATO alliance and Russia have bolstered their military presence and activities in the region, and the rhetoric between Russia and the West has also escalated.

In March, Russias ambassador to Denmark said the NATO country could be targeted by nuclear missiles if it joined the alliances anti-missile shield.

In April, U.S. and European Union officials accused Russia of conducting aggressive and unsafe military maneuvers over international waters in the region. Moscow denied the claim.

Also last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned Sweden not to join NATO, saying that if it did side with the alliance, Moscow would take necessary measures. Sweden has had a long-standing policy of remaining neutral in armed conflicts.

The U.S.-Nordic summit came one day after the U.S. anti-missile defense system in Romania, aimed at protecting NATO members, became operational. The move infuriated Moscow, despite assurances from Washington that Russia is not a target.

'We stand side by side'

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Friday that the transatlantic link is key to preserving European and global security.

At times when basic rules and norms of international standards are contested, we stand side by side to defend them, Lofven said. We will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea or accept Russian aggression in Ukraine."

Obama hailed the Nordic countries for their global cooperation and contributions, saying they consistently punch above their weight. But they are reluctantly being pulled into the standoff between Russia and the West, said one analyst.

They are very uncomfortable because they all desire a more healthy and positive partnership with Russia, but over the last two years [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has changed his relationship with the West, said Jorge Benitez, director of NATOSource and senior fellow of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council.

He [Putin] has chosen to use military force against his neighbors. He has chosen to do a lot of more aggressive intelligence, information warfare and political coercion against them. So they have had to reassess how they are going to react to Russia, Benitez said.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto called for strengthening security and stability in the Baltic Sea and northern Europe, including appropriate dialogue with Russia to enhance transparency and reduce risks, adding that Nordic countries are security providers for the region, Europe and the world.

In a joint statement following the summit, the leaders committed to strengthening investments in defense and military capabilities, as well as in diplomacy and regional cooperation to enhance European security.

They also agreed to contribute and cooperate more on issues like migration and refugees, climate change, energy, safeguarding the Arctic, the economy, trade, development and humanitarian assistance.
U.S. officials say they are watching closely to ensure that China abides by its cybersecurity commitments, following the first meeting between the two sides since they struck an anti-hacking agreement in September.

On Wednesday, a group of Chinese and U.S. officials met to discuss "international norms of state behavior" and other issues. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the meeting  the so-called Senior Experts Group on International Norms and Related Issues  as "positive, in-depth and constructive."

U.S. officials provided few details about the talks, and they declined to engage in "grading" China's follow-through on cyber commitments. However, the State Department called the meeting a "good indication that we stay engaged."

"They spoke about international security in cyberspace, the international law on state behavior in cyberspace, voluntary international norms of state behavior, [and] cyber confidence-building measures," said State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau during Thursday's briefing.

The talks came a month before Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew are scheduled to attend the high-level annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue to be held in Beijing.

Signs of progress

The United States has clashed with China for years over cyber-enabled theft for commercial gain by state actors.

Washington and Beijing agreed during President Barack Obama's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last fall that neither government would conduct or knowingly support cyber-enabled economic espionage to advance business interests.

A senior U.S. official said Washington got a promise from Beijing to end state support for cybertheft after a "significant sanctions package" was threatened.

Computer hackers inside China are believed to be one of the major groups responsible for stealing U.S. intellectual property that is estimated to be worth about $300 billion each year.

"Part of the challenge is China has never historically acknowledged that it engaged in that kind of activity," Scott Harold of Rand Corporation's Center for Asia-Pacific Policy told VOA.

But there may be signs that the U.S.-China cyber agreement may be having an impact. Harold said that private-sector companies that provide cybersecurity have indicated that the Chinese cyber-espionage groups they were tracking have changed their behavior and their targeting.

"Not entirely, not in every case, but in large enough numbers, it appears to be ... that the agreement of last September actually carries consequences in the real world for Chinese behavior," he said.

China canceled a separate bilateral cyber-working group in 2014 as a move to protest the U.S. indictment of five Chinese military officials on charges of hacking. The new initiative appears to be a fresh start to cope with cyber issues.

Wang Qun, deputy-general for arms control and disarmament affairs of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who also led Wednesday's meeting, said Washington and Beijing share interests in promoting a rules-based cyberspace.
When the Philippines officially declares Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte president, the international community will be watching closely as his administration navigates a geopolitical landscape where tensions between China and the United States are escalating.

In the days following the May 9 election, which according to unofficial tallies resulted in a decisive win for the mayor, China expressed hope that a new administration would meet Beijing halfway to resolve its disputes with Manila in the South China Sea. So as to put the ties of the two countries back on the track of sound development, said China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Throughout the administration of President Benigno Aquino, Manila and Beijing had been at odds over sovereignty in the resource-rich sea.

Manila took a strong whats ours is ours position, while Beijing reiterated its indisputable sovereignty over the sea. The two sides could not come to terms in bilateral talks, and the Aquino Foreign Ministry angered China when it took a multilateral track and filed an international arbitration case in 2013, the outcome of which is expected in the next month or so.

In recent years, China has turned disputed outcroppings -- most of which are listed in the Philippines case -- into artificial islands. The Philippines meanwhile, has strengthened military ties with the United States, which has stepped up its presence in the disputed sea.

Direct deal with Beijing



Throughout his campaign, Duterte, 71, expressed a willingness to deal with China directly, mentioning joint development.

At one point, Duterte said he agreed with China for not participating in the case because even if any decision is binding, it has no enforcement mechanism. He also said if bilateral talks got nowhere, he would ride a jet ski to a disputed outcropping, plant a Philippine flag there and expect to die a hero at the hands of the Chinese.

Multiple attempts to contact Duterte transition officials for this story went unanswered.



Richard Heydarian, a geopolitical analyst at Manilas De La Salle University, said behind the tough talk, Duterte could succeed in making inroads; but, he also cautioned that the newly-elected president would have to demonstrate some distancing from the United States, the Philippines only mutual defense treaty ally, while engaging China.

I think that it will be difficult because you have very strong anti-China sentiment in the Philippines. You have a very pro-American security establishment. And if China foolishly moves forward and builds facilities on the Scarborough shoal, I think all bets are off. It will be very difficult for Duterte to sell any agreement with China.

Relationship with US



Carl Baker, director of the Pacific Forum of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said even if Duterte had at times shown tepid reception to the U.S. with tough talk during the campaign, the two countries' new security agreement for more U.S. troop rotations would remain intact, thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that happened before elections.

I think from a United States perspective, theyre happy thats how it turned out. I think from Dutertes side it relieves a big pressure point in the relationship between the United States and the Philippines because he doesnt have to make a commitment. He can almost let it happen as the military bureaucracy begins to implement it.

Beyond the immediate security ties, Baker anticipates Washington will be vigilant about any possible human rights violations under the Duterte administration. He said the U.S. would take a wait and see stance on whether the campaign rhetoric would come to bear and if it did, he said the U.S. would likely make known its grave concern over human rights violations and extrajudicial killings.

Promise to 'kill criminals'



Duterte campaigned on a promise that like in his southern Philippine city, he would kill criminals.



Human Rights Watch and the Philippine Commission on Human Rights tracked more than 1,400 extrajudicial killings in Davao over a 17-year period through 2015. In profanity-laced speeches Duterte at times taunted human rights adherents to come after him and at other times said ridding the country of criminals would all be done within legal bounds.

While the Duterte transition team is focused on ways to boost the domestic economy and broaden its reach beyond urban centers, international watchers will be checking on how the new administration handles foreign investment.



Foreign investment



Last year, the Philippines saw the highest level of foreign direct investment at $6 billion. That figure, however, still places it well behind its Southeast Asian neighbors of similar sized economies.

Philippine Veterans Bank chairman and former finance secretary Roberto de Ocampo said he thought Dutertes signal to make amendments to the constitution to help open the country to foreign investment is a very good one.

That should have been - thats what the business community had been pushing for even under this current administration. And probably with a new president, it may have the honeymoon effect and so forth.



Constitutional limits on foreign ownership are among the factors that have kept the Philippines from having initial consideration into the U.S.s new multilateral trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The constitution places multiple limits on foreign ownership, including the biggest hurdle for hesitant foreign investors: 60 percent mandatory local ownership in foreign interests. Two years ago, however, the Aquino administration relaxed this rule for foreign banks.
The United States gave jeeps, small aircraft and communications equipment to Tunisia on Thursday to help protect its southeastern border from Islamic extremists crossing over from Libya.

U.S. Assistant Defense Secretary Amanda Dory told officials in Tunis that she is "very pleased that the United States is able to provide Tunisia with surveillance aircraft that will improve Tunisia's ability to locate terrorists who attempt to infiltrate your borders."

Dory said the planes are designed to give Tunisian ground forces advance warning of any dangerous activity near the border.

Tunisia was the first North African country to overthrow a dictator in the so-called Arab Spring of 2011.

But extremism and terrorism still shake its fragile democracy, despite backing from the West.

Police raided a suspected terrorist hideout north of Tunis on Wednesday, breaking up what they called plans for "synchronized attacks." Two extremists were killed and 16 arrested.

Islamic State militants have struck across Tunisia's border with Libya and are responsible for terror strikes on a beach resort and an art museum in Tunis last year, killing about 60 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Militants also battled Tunisian security forces in March, leaving seven civilians dead along with a number of officers and militants.
A U.S. Navy commander has been fired and further disciplinary action may follow as American authorities investigate the detention of 10 U.S. sailors who entered Iranian waters by accident in January.

Commander Eric Rasch was dismissed "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement. An official who declined to be identified said Rasch's failure to provide effective leadership led to a lack of oversight, complacency and failure to maintain high standards in the unit.

Captain Gary Leigh relieved Rasch of his duties Thursday after reviewing a preliminary investigation of the incident near Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.

Several other sailors already have received administrative reprimands, and disciplinary action is expected against others when the investigation is completed later this month.

The American sailors were intercepted on January 12 after an engine in one of their boats developed mechanical problems. Iranian media broadcast videos showing the sailors on their knees with Iran's Revolutionary Guards pointing weapons at them.

The Americans were freed after being detained for 15 hours. U.S. officials said Secretary of State John Kerry intervened to resolve the case and avert a diplomatic crisis days before the Iran nuclear deal was implemented and global sanctions on Iran were lifted.


U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials plan to execute raids in May and June to deport Central American mothers and children who immigrated to the U.S. illegally and have exhausted all legal recourse.

The month-long series of raids are focused on hundreds of mothers and children who have already been notified they must leave the United States.

The operation would also cover undocumented minors who entered the country without a guardian and have since turned 18 years old.

In a statement, ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said the Department of Homeland Security must enforce the law consistent with our enforcement priorities.



Current operations are a continuation of operations (Homeland Security) Secretary (Jeh) Johnson announced in January and March, she added.



The official said immigrants who arrived illegally after Jan. 1, 2014 are priorities for removal.



This includes single adults, as well as adults who bring their children with them, the statement said.



Surge of raids



The Obama administration began a surge of raids to deport illegal immigrants in January focused on Central American immigrants who stayed beyond their deportation orders.



Immigration authorities arrested 121 people. They were the first raids since May 2014.



Johnson said the detainees were taken into custody in the states of Texas, Georgia and North Carolina.



Those arrested had "exhausted all appropriate legal remedies, Johnson said back in January.



Analysts linked the surge to sharp rises in gang-related violence in Central America, as well as to efforts by people seeking to reunite with family members already in the United States.

Discouragement tactic



But in March, Johnson told a U.S. senate panel that January raids helped decrease the number of Central Americans trying to migrating illegally.

The U.S. Border Patrol reported fewer illegal entries between January and March.

In the first six months of the new fiscal year that started on Oct. 1, Border Patrol apprehended 27,754 unaccompanied minors from Central America.



The Wall Street Journal, however, reported this number is almost double of last years total of 15,616 and it is just below the record in 2014 of 28,579 during that same period.



Condemning the actions are presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.



In April, Sanders issued a statement urging the president to halt raids against those who have fled violence in Central America.



America has always been a beacon of liberty for those fleeing violence and persecution. Raids separating families are not who we are. Deportation can be a death sentence to detained minors, parents and asylum seekers, Sanders said in a statement.

Clinton, Trump on immigration



At a forum last month aimed at young and minority voters in Iowa, Clinton said she was against the raids.



"I do not think the raids are an appropriate tool to enforce the immigration laws. In fact, I think they are divisive, they are sowing discord and fear," Clinton said.



But over the presence of more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, Republicans have regularly criticized the Obama administration.



Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump approved the January raids and took partial credit for them, claiming he put pressure on the administration.



Trump accused Mexico of allowing "criminals and rapists" to illegally enter the United States. He has vowed to build an impenetrable wall along the border if elected and has called for Mexico to pay for it.

Advocates: raids are not the answer

Meanwhile, immigrant advocates said raids are not the answer.



Organizations like The American Civil Liberties Union also condemned the January deportations, which were first publicized in late December. An ACLU statement accused federal officials of targeting families, and using the detentions as a "scare tactic to deter other families fleeing violence in Central America from coming to the United States."



These actions are not the way to respond to a bona fide refugee situation like the one we are experiencing with children and families fleeing violence and poverty in Central America, Philip Wolgin, managing director for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, told the Wall Street Journal.
Transgender students must be allowed to use the bathrooms that match their chosen gender identity, the federal government told all U.S. public school districts Friday.

The letter, signed by top officials of the Departments of Justice and Education, set guidelines for school leaders to ensure that no student is a victim of discrimination.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. Her statement was enclosed with the directives sent out to school officials nationwide Friday.

Under the U.S. political system, many educational issues are decided at the state level of government, and by local school districts that range widely in size.

"This guidance gives administrators, teachers and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies," Lynch said.

Public schools in the U.S. now are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their chosen gender identity, even if education records or identity documents such as birth certificates indicate a different sex.

'Guidance' stressed

The directive does not have the force of law, but contains an implicit threat that schools' failure to abide by the federal government's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

Questioned about the new guidelines at a news briefing Friday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said schools should see the new directives as "guidance," rather than a threat to their funding. "The foundation of this guidance," Earnest said, "is that people should not be discriminated against just because of who they are."

He called the guidance "specific, tangible, real world advice to administrators" and added, "It's to ensure that our schools are as inclusive and respectful and safe as can be."

No tests to verify

The government directed that schools may not require transgender students to obtain a medical diagnosis, undergo any medical treatment or present identity documents before treating them according to their chosen gender identity.

Friday's directive follows the federal administration's legal action against North Carolina, charging that the state's so-called bathroom law violates U.S. laws against discrimination.

The North Carolina law, enacted in March, requires transgender people using public bathroom facilities to choose those corresponding to their sex at birth, even if that differs from the gender with which they identify.
The U.S. Senate is set to vote on a bill to provide $1.1 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus. The deal fell short of the $1.9 billion requested by the Obama administration.

The administration requested emergency funding to battle Zika in February, but Republicans controlling Congress have been slow to react, and that prompted the administration last month to tap more than $500 million worth of unspent Ebola funding to battle Zika.

Senators are scheduled to vote Tuesday.

The White House said it welcomes any progress made on the issue.

"I think at this point, given the delays and given the heightened stakes, we welcome any sort of forward momentum in Congress," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a briefing Thursday.

But top Senate Democrat Harry Reid gave the proposal a frosty reception, saying it is "not enough, especially when the amount will likely be reduced further by House Republicans.''

The first death related to a Zika virus infection on U.S. soil was reported late last month in Puerto Rico. U.S. officials believe the Zika-carrying mosquito could spread to at least 30 U.S. states.

The disease has been linked to the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities. It also is suspected of causing a rare neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can result in paralysis.
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Opposition MDC-T threatens to sue RBZ over proposed bond notes, but Governor John Mangudya appeals for calm as he engages stakeholders. U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe has pledged to help fight trafficking of Zimbabwean women to Kuwait. ZNCC/CZI survey reveals high corruption.
Some illegal foreign currency dealers in Masvingo city say the proposed introduction of bond notes within the next two months is likely to boost their black market activities that were almost crippled by the adoption of multiple currencies following the dumping of the worthless Zimbabwe dollar in 2009.

Some of the dealers told Studio 7 that they are likely to take advantage of local people's discontent over the bond notes to make maximum profits from selling and buying the United States dollar which may almost vanish from banks after the introduction of the coupons.

Andrew Gumisai, who operates along Robert Mugabe Street in the city, said he was happy because the bond notes could be similar to the defunct Zimbabwe dollar as they are likely to stimulate the black market exchange rate.

The forex dealers have been struggling to make ends meet as Zimbabweans were accessing multiple currencies at local banks until recently when some of them almost ran out of the United States dollar. Some of foreign currency dealers made a fortune before the adoption of multiple currencies.

Black market dealer, Albert Hashu, said the bond notes will mean that people, who want to travel to other countries to import goods, will have no choice but to get foreign currency from them.

You know people always say the wonderful old days but now we are awaiting to see the wonderful new days. We welcome the new bond notes to us its a good move, everyone was now using forex so it was difficult for us to make money through the foreign currency exchange deals so the coming of the bond notes is good for us because everyone will come to us, those for instance at flea markets when they want to buy their goods out of the country they will come to us with bond notes for forex and we will make money.

Tofaneyi Tsobho, another forex dealer operating at Chicken Inn Food Court in the city, concurred, adding that they are eagerly waiting for the bond notes.

For us I think its an opportunity to make money like we used to do during the 2008 era. Its a blessing in disguise, even if the bond notes are not going to be used like the Zim dollars people will still come to us for an exchange rates to get forex when they want to go to buy things outside the country.

Central bank governor John Mangudya says the bond notes are designed to promote exports in a nation facing serious economic problems.
Central bank governor John Mangudya says he is still engaging stakeholders before introducing bond notes in light of criticism that the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwes plans are unconstitutional.

The dialogue that is taking place is going through social media, newspapers, and the press  Its a healthy debate. We have noticed some of the comments, the advice (being) given. I think the legal opinions that were given initially were based on the wrong premises. They thought that we are introducing the bond notes for catering for shortages of cash. Thats not the case, thats not the case. The bond notes are supporting or funding the export incentive or export incentive scheme that we need to introduce.

We are still talking and the legal opinions I think they should keep on flowing. We are learning also from them  This is a democratic society and that is why its called an opinion and bond notes by the way, they are not currency. Bond notes are coupons, they are tokens. Its a token of appreciation that are given to exporters.

Asked if members of the public would be using bond notes, the governor of the central bank, accused over the years of printing worthless Zimbabwe dollars in an attempt to save the local economy, said they will be utilized in the same way as bond coins.

They work like bond coins Blessing (Zulu). When you go to a shop today, you are given change in bond coins. The shop owner banks the bond coins together with the U.S dollar because they are at par. The same will be done with the bond notes because they are at par with the U.S (dollar) because they are on the same account which is the U.S dollar account where the money will be put into and you just withdraw it just the way you do with the U.S dollars.

So, the funding mechanism is not through the company its the bank that now comes to us where they will just say Mangudya yesterday exported can we have the five percent to fund the position, the bank position  otherwise the bank will be short by that five percent. So, thats how the banks will have the bond notes. We dont just give them  So, its only after they export that the money is released into the economy. And you might want to know Blessing that after the tobacco producers requested that they wanted to use one account the U.S dollars, the gold producers have since unified everything.

In terms of the loan derived from the African Export and Import Bank, he said, its all about the trust between Zimbabwe and the bank.

Reacting to legal queries on the expiry date of the bond notes, Mangudya said that was standard practice.

We have heard what they (legal commentators) have said and we agree (with them) 100 percent.

The central bank is expected to introduce the notes within the next two or so months.

The RBZ governor will be focusing on leaked Panama Papers on Friday showing that some business executives, including Zimbabweans, are stashing millions of dollars in offshore accounts in various countries.

There are many Zimbabwean names in the 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, Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

ICIJ organized the global collaboration being participated by VOA Zimbabwe Service and other news organizations.

Some of the Zimbabweans named include top executives at Innscor Africa, Zinona Koudounaris and Michael Fowler; Zimplats chief executive officer, Alex Mhembere; Sable Chemicals boss, Jackson Murehwa; Harare businessman Victor Robinson Gapare and others.

By publishing this list, Studio 7 does not imply that the people named broke the law, or to suggest any wrongdoing on their part. Studio 7 published the names since the Panama Papers have become an issue of public interest.
Twenty-one women and girls, who were allegedly abused in Kuwait after they were trafficked to that country by employment agents and later forced to perform menial jobs, arrived in Harare Friday after getting air tickets from the Young Womens Christian Association International led by Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda.

The chairman of the portfolio committee on parliamentary affairs and ZANU PF lawmaker, Kindness Paradza, said the women and girls are part of a group of more than 200 women that are believed to have been trafficked to Kuwait on the guise of getting greener pastures. Some of them were forced to become commercial sex workers.

Paradza, who presented a report in the House of Assembly this week on the situation in Kuwait, said the parliamentary committee that traveled to Kuwait has recommended that government should set up an ad-hoc fund that will assist in the repatriation of victims of human trafficking.

He said House Speaker Jacob Mudenda on Monday met with President Robert Mugabe and informed him on the situation in Kuwait.

Paradza said some government officials, medical experts and non-profit organisations were at the airport to welcome the women and girls.

"We arranged a similar welcome party for the women and girls and ensured that their privacy was protected when they arrived and we hope that they will receive the social support they need before being reunited with their families," said Paradza.

Meanwhile, the head of the Young Womens Christian Association International, Nyaradzayi Gumbodzvanda, told Studio 7 that she was inspired to help source the tickets for the women and girls in Kuwait after hearing the story from the Voice of America's Zimbabwe Service.

She said the work being done by the Zimbabwean Embassy in Kuwait and other women's rights groups in the country also inspired her.




Some illegal foreign currency dealers in Masvingo city say the proposed introduction of bond notes within the next two months is likely to boost their black market activities.

Zimbabwes central bank governor, John Mangudya, speaks out on Zimbabwean business executives with offshore accounts revealed in leaked Panama Papers.

A Zimbabwean activist, Nyaradzo Mashayamombe, says the economic crisis in Zimbabwe complicates the fight against domestic violence and abuse of children.

Chitungwiza residents and former council employees clash with riot police as Local Government Minister Saviour Kasukuwere fails to turn up for scheduled meeting on an audit report revealing massive corruption in the town.

In the youth forum, Time to Engage, we will be talking with Kipson Gundani, chief economist of Buy Zimbabwe, an organization advocating for the marketing and selling of local products.

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 corruption as non-governmental organizations release a report on Zimbabwe blasting shady deals in state and private entities.

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. Please note that we are livestreaming on our Studio 7 Facebook page.
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A larger explosive-effusive eruption was reported to have occurred about two hours ago (10:15 UTC). At 11:45 UTC, Darwin VAAC issued alerts to aviation about an ash plume that had risen to estimated 23,000 ft (7 km) altitude and has been drifting NW. Aviation color code was immediately raised to RED. ...

Explosions on 6 Feb occurred at 13:00, 14:37, and 20:08 local time. Observers 10 km away saw dense reddish gray ash plumes rising 3 km above the crater. At 01:06, 02:04, 0311, and 03:20 on 7 February Strombolian activity ejected tephra as high as 1 km above the crater. ...

PVMBG reported that during 9-15 February diffuse white plumes from Soputan rose as high as 200 m above the crater. Seismicity was dominated by signals indicating avalanches and emissions, though volcanic and low-frequency earthquakes were also detected. The Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4); residents and tourists were advised not to approach the craters within a radius of 6.5 km. ...

PVMBG reported that during 22-29 February diffuse white plumes from Soputan rose as high as 75 m above the crater. Seismicity was dominated by signals indicating avalanches and emissions, though shallow volcanic and low-frequency earthquakes were also detected. The Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4); residents and tourists were advised not to approach the craters within a radius of 6.5 km. ...

The volcano has remained calm since its last eruption on 6-7 February, but continues to show significant signs of unrest. Its alert level is being maintained at 3 on the Indonesian scale of 1-4. ...

A small group of VolcanoDiscovery just returned from a visit to Soputan. While clouds prevented detailed observations most of the time, glow was visible from the summit at night and moderate steaming during the day. ...

PVMBG reported that during 21-28 March diffuse white plumes from Soputan rose as high as 100 m above the crater and drifted E. Seismicity was dominated by signals indicating avalanches and emissions; shallow volcanic earthquakes were detected on 21 March. The Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4); residents and tourists were advised not to approach the craters within a radius of 6.5 km. ...

PVMBG reported that during 4-11 April diffuse white plumes from Soputan rose as high as 100 m above the crater and drifted E. Seismicity was dominated by signals indicating avalanches and emissions; avalanche signals became less intense as compared to the previous week. A few volcanic and shallow volcanic earthquakes were detected during 6 and 9-10 April. ...

PVMBG reported that during 1-20 April diffuse white plumes from Soputan rose as high as 100 m above the crater and drifted E. The number of volcanic earthquakes and signals indicating avalanches declined. The Alert Level was lowered to 2 (on a scale of 1-4) on 21 April; residents and tourists were advised not to approach the craters within a radius of 4 km. ...

Background:

The small Soputan stratovolcano on the southern rim of the Quaternary Tondano caldera on the northern arm of Sulawesi Island is one of Sulawesi's most active volcanoes. The youthful, largely unvegetated volcano rises to 1784 m and is located SW of Sempu volcano. It was constructed at the southern end of a SSW-NNE trending line of vents. During historical time the locus of eruptions has included both the summit crater and Aeseput, a prominent NE-flank vent that formed in 1906 and was the source of intermittent major lava flows until 1924.

---

Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution
The International Monetary Conference claimed, above all, to establish an International American Monetary Union and to include silver as a reserve. This should guarantee the financial superiority of the United States which had huge reserves of this metal.

That meeting was followed up by the Pan-American Conference. This took place in Washington from 2 October 1889 to 19 April 1890 and most Latin American states took part.

James Gillespie Blaine, the Secretary of State and an advocate of the Monroe Doctrine sponsored the meeting. He considered the annexation of trade, as a valid alternative to controlling the countries in the region. This was a covert principle of his policy and contributed to the wide-ranging imperial strategy at the wake of the new 20th century that unfolded under the doctrine of Pan-Americanism.

At the end of 1890, Jose Marti, as the Uruguayan Consul in New York, received instructions from the Uruguayan government to represent it at the International Monetary Conference. Marti was instructed that the necessary documents would be sent by mail. However, these did not arrive. Even though Marti undertook much paperwork to resolve the problem, he was not allowed to participate in the first meeting of the Conference.

There are grounds to think that this delay was a ruse Blaine himself concocted to block or make impossible Martis appointment, because of Martis well-known anti-imperialist positions voiced in the contemporary press.

Despite this, our Master actively participated in the 8 discussion sessions, developed an intense reflection in the different committees and continued reporting the continental public opinion of the dangers of such a close alliance with the United States, an activity that he carried out from 1889, when he wrote for the press about the aforementioned Pan-American Conference.

In this context, he writes on 2 November 1880 in the La Nacion, an Argentine daily newspaper and one of the most important ones in America:

"there has never been in America, from Independence to now, a matter that requires clearer thinking, greater vigilance and a clearer and more meticulous examination, than the invitation that the powerful United States, saturated with products that cannot be sold and determined to extend its stronghold in America, is extending to the less powerful nations in America. The latter are connected to the European people by free trade and profit. [The US wants] to negotiate a league against Europe and to put an end to treaties with the rest of the world".

And he added:

Latin America knew how to save itself from the tyranny of Spain. Now, after casting an impartial eye over the precedents, the causes and factors of the invitation, it urges by saying, because it is the truth, that the hour has arrived for Latin America to declares its second independence.

The Latin American delegates at the International Monetary Conference chose Marti to draft and present the Final Report of 30 March 1891. He read it in English and Spanish, representing the Commission appointed to study the propositions of the Union.

Martis document rejected the US proposal to use a currency under US control. With a high level of analysis, he defers his final study to an international monetary conference to take place in London or Paris to study, the relationship of silver and gold and the universal assimilation and international legal circulation of different currencies. In this way, the US intentions to establish financial control in the region as an important step to recognize the neo-colonial model in Our America, were thwarted in the diplomatic field.

The battle Marti waged within the International Monetary Conference itself and through his journalistic works and policies, laid bare the imperialist aspirations hidden under a cloak of alleged economic integration of the Americas confronted by a powerful Europe. Thus the revelation that it was only possible through the diplomatic and political geniality of the Apostle and his own unblemished life in defense of the Spanish people that he set the beginnings of the birth of an anti imperialist conscience in the region. Today these are postulates of enormous validity.
In the past few years, the United States has persistently engaged in a dangerous practice of defying international law and order by allowing, in fact instigating, private litigants to bring civil action before United States domestic courts against sovereign States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trials have been organized in absentia; self-serving judgments have been obtained in default; and claims have been laid on the assets of the Iranian people. Knowing full well that no self-respecting nation, certainly not Iran, would ever subject itself to the jurisdiction of another States domestic courts, they have amassed billions of dollars in unlawful and factually flawed default judgments against the Islamic Republic of Iran and its organs.

The United States executive branch illegally freezes Iranian national assets; the United States legislative branch legislates to pave the ground for the illicit seizures; and the United States judicial branch issues rulings to confiscate Iranian assets without any base in law or fact. The veracity and credibility of the United States justice system  when it comes to its treatment of Iran  can be measured by the recent ruling of a New York District Court that ordered Iran to pay more than $10.5 billion in damages to the families of the victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, claiming against all evidence and common sense that Iran provided active support to the attackers. Such an absurd allegation  not by a politician but regrettably by a so-called court of law  contradicts seven public statements, as well as findings  open or sealed  of investigations by the United States Government and United States Congress. Ironically, the same court absolved the real culprits of any responsibility and ruled against Iran, which was the victim of the same terrorist group and has consistently been in the forefront of international efforts against it and its takfiri extremist siblings.

In sum, in blatant contravention of the most fundamental principles of international law, not to mention facts, the United States has devised a pseudo-legal scheme that subjects Iranian assets held in United States and foreign banks, and even Iranian cultural property held on loan by American museums, to spurious rulings and unlawful collection proceedings.

The principle of State immunity is one of the cornerstones of the international legal order and a rule of customary international law, most recently codified in the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property. Its primacy has also been recognized by the community of nations, all legal systems and the International Court of Justice. With the sole possible permissible exception of commercial activity, claims against a sovereign State must be pursued either in accordance with mechanisms provided for in bilateral or multilateral agreements or through international courts or tribunals, as appropriate.

It is a matter of grave concern that the United States Congress, along with other branches of the United States Government, seem to believe that they can easily defy and breach the fundamental principle of State immunity by unilaterally waiving the immunity of States and even central banks in total contravention of the international obligations of the United States and under a groundless legal doctrine that the international community does not recognize.

In view of the detrimental effect of such practices on the integrity of the international public order, I wish to alert you, and through you the United Nations general membership, about the catastrophic implications of the blatant disrespect of the United States for State immunity, which will cause the systematic erosion of this fundamental principle.

The Islamic Republic of Iran rejects the unlawful decisions by United States courts in this respect, including the ruling that authorized the confiscation of nearly $1.8 billion of assets belonging to the Central Bank of Iran to the benefit of private litigants. The entire court proceedings that led to the recent ruling have been fake and phony and a travesty of justice in every sense of law, jurisdiction, merit, fact and process. This clearly constitutes an internationally wrongful act and entails international responsibility for the Government of the United States, for which it will be held accountable. The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the United States Government responsible for this outrageous robbery, disguised under a court order, and is determined to take every lawful measure to restore the stolen property and the interest accrued to it from the date on which it was blocked by the United States.

It is in fact the United States that must pay long-overdue reparations to the Iranian people for its persistent hostile policies. Such wrongful United States policies and actions against the Iranian people, entailing international responsibility, are self-admitted and based on solid historical evidence and not absurd fabrications. They include overthrowing the democratically elected Government of Iran in 1953, actively supporting and sponsoring the ensuing brutal dictatorship and aiding and abetting in its crimes  including torture by the United States-created and United States-trained SAVAK  against the Iranian people from 1953 to 1979, actively providing intelligence, support and comfort to Saddam Hussein in his war of aggression against Iran from 1980 to 1988, including provision of airborne warning and control system reconnaissance to aid Saddams use of chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and civilians  which amounts to a war crime, deliberately shooting down an Iranian civil airliner in 1988, killing all 290 passengers, and plundering Iranian assets held abroad. The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves the right to take appropriate lawful action, including necessary and proportionate countermeasures, to restore and protect the rights of the Iranian people against such persistent unlawful conduct by the United States.

There has seldom been so much at stake for the rule of law, the proper functioning and integrity of the international legal and financial systems and the prevalence of dialogue and accommodation over coercion and confrontation. In view of the detrimental effects of the continued unlawful conduct by the United States, I wish to call upon you to lend your good offices in order to induce the United States Government to adhere to its international obligations, put an end to the violation of the fundamental principle of State immunity, release all frozen Iranian assets in United States banks and cease and desist forthwith from any interference with Iranian commercial and financial transactions outside the United States, in compliance with its general international obligations and its obligations under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

* * *

Communique of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement

The Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement rejects the illegal practice of the United States in defying international law by allowing and facilitating private plaintiffs to bring civil action before United States courts against sovereign States, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, leading to the award of default judgments against them and their national institutions. Legislation by the United States Congress to pave the way for illegally confiscating foreign assets in the United States and the actions by the United States Government to unlawfully hold them enable United States courts to issue groundless rulings.

The Bureau objects to United States defiance of international law through the unilateral waiving of the sovereign immunity of States and their institutions in total contravention of the international and treaty obligations of the United States and on a spurious legal ground that the international community does not recognize. This practice runs counter to the most fundamental principles of international law, in particular the principle of sovereign immunity as one of the cornerstones of the international legal order and a rule of customary international law  a principle whose primacy is recognized by the community of nations, all legal systems and the International Court of Justice and which was most recently codified in the United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of States and Their Property.

The Bureau calls upon the United States of America to respect the principle of State immunity, and reiterates that failing to do so would have adverse implications, including uncertainty and chaos in international relations and the undermining of the rule of law at the international level, and would constitute an internationally wrongful act, which entails international responsibility.

The Bureau seizes this opportunity to reiterate the call of the Non-Aligned Movement to uphold dialogue and accommodation over coercion and confrontation as well as to promote peaceful settlement of disputes.
Drakes in town to host Saturday Night Live this weekend and, oh look, so are a thousand mini-Drakes. The 6 God stopped by The Tonight Show last night for a round of faceketball, which is exactly what it sounds like: Drake and Jimmy Fallon shooting their, er, balls at each others faces. What could go wrong? Well, when youre playing with the Toronto Raptors wannabe sixth man, nothing, really. But you do get to see Drake and mini-Drake pretend like theyre in the dunk contest, bragging over their win just as obnoxiously as you think they would. Before their little game, Drake also shared an adorable story about his father, the legendary Dennis Graham, who FaceTimed him from Shanghai to ask his not-at-all-busy son to help him sell an RV. Ah, to see the views from the OG 6 Dad.
Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

John Boyega likely doesnt get many days off from playing Finn in the Star Wars series, since Episode VIII is currently filming, but when he found out he was being awarded the prestigious Trophee Chopard at Cannes, he knew he wanted to go to the south of France to accept it himself. Boyega gave a brief speech Thursday night in a gorgeous ballroom on the roof of Canness Hotel Martinez, and made sure to tell the room to shake his agents hand, because hes the reason for this, Boyega said, gesturing up and down his body to indicate himself. He also provided some comic relief, reluctantly giving his award back to Chopard personnel  I get to have it, right? Just checking  and supporting his co-honoree, Diary of a Teenage Girls Bel Powley, by mouthing Youre doing great! every time she glanced his way during her speech. I caught up with Boyega afterward to ask him about Episode VIII director Rian Johnson (Looper, Brick) and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran, whos rumored to have a substantial part opposite Boyega in the new installment.

How has your life changed since Episode VII? Can you walk around London?

Yeah! I was in Duty Free a few hours ago.

Really? What did you get?

I got some socks because I forgot my socks, and some moisturizer. [Laughs.] So its been fine. I get stopped sometimes; sometimes I dont. But, you know, with that being said, there are still two more Star Wars movies!

But you must be having the time of your life.

Its a collaboration of all those things. Its fun, its hard work, it makes you happy, it challenges you, its all of those things mixed into one, but fundamentally because of the great group that we have that Im working with, its a great experience.

Theres a woman in Episode VIII, Kelly Marie Tran, whos going to be breaking barriers like you did in The Force Awakens.

[Boyega beams and nods vigorously.]

Shell be the first Asian person to play a major Star Wars character, but no one knows anything about her. What can you tell us? Whats she like?

I love her. I love her. I think shes fantastic. But shell tell her own story. I feel its always weird or wrong for someone the world hasnt met, for me to come and start talking about her.

Not even to say what its like working with her?

Shes great. Shes freaking great, and I love her. I freaking love her. Shes fantastic. Seriously. Shes changed a lot in terms of perspective on just chemistry and industry. Shes a real cool girl.

Shes changed you?

Yeah, yeah! Her outlook. Its a friendship thing in the sense of you meet someone and youre just like, I vibe with you. I feel like Ive known you for years. And thats a very, very good thing.

And youll be working opposite each other most of the movie, right?

Girl, you know I cant tell you that! [Laughs.] I dont know what I can and cant say. [It depends on] what beeps in my head whenever I  [He indicates that he has an explosive device implanted in his temple]. But shes fully in the movie, shes a great character, and I cant wait for you guys to be introduced to her.

And just to be the first Asian in a major role. You were kind of in a similar position in the last episode.

Oh yeah! And thats why Im just here to enjoy the show. [He leans back in his chair.] Oh yes, diversity!

It also reminds me of when you worked with Daisy Ridley. She was totally unknown, whereas you had some credits under your belt.

Only slightly. Id done Attack the Block. People knew of me.

Ive heard a rumor, which you can refute, that Tom Hardy may have come on set to do a day as a Stormtrooper who slaps your ass.

Who slaps my ass? Wow! Did Tom say that?

You know, just like how Daniel Craig came on as a Stormtrooper last time 

Okay. Okay. Next time I go on set Im going to release a helmet and see if Tom Hardys in there!

How is working with Rian Johnson different than J.J. Abrams?

Rian is his own man. You cant compare the two. Theyre of the same ilk, creatively, both talented. But two different guys, man. I really, really dig Rian, to step in like that. I hope we get to work together on something in the future, because hes got a great artistic eye. Hes not Hollywood at all. This is a big Hollywood blockbuster film, but you know what Im saying, with him behind the energy, you dont feel like youre on a Hollywood set. You feel like youre in the midst of friends and people who want to work on something creatively great.

Were obsessed with Adam Driver, because its so funny that little kids who love Kylo Ren are going to watch him on Girls someday.

Its just a convergence of the same story. Hes fantastic. Hes great.

Will you see movies in Cannes before you leave?

I wish I could. Im leaving tomorrow.

What about at home  do you have any time to do anything other than play Finn?

Oh, I go home and go to sleep. I. Go. To. Sleep!
The nonprofit agency that poured about 4.3 million pounds of food into McLennan County for people in need last year is rebranding with a new name when it opens a facility that will allow for an even larger distribution throughout its 21-county region.

The Capital Area Food Bank of Texas, headquartered in Austin, will be known as The Central Texas Food Bank starting June 1, but its not the name change that has McLennan County food shelters excited.

The two largest food distributors in McLennan County receiving supplies from the Austin food bank are Caritas of Waco and Shepherds Heart Pantry. The food bank partners with about 30 agencies in its 19,000-square-mile service area.

Caritas of Waco Executive Director Buddy Edwards said the capital campaign Capital Area Food Bank of Texas undertook to expand its operations and rebrand as The Central Texas Food Bank will allow a significant shift in operations and have a direct impact on the local food supply, expanding the amount and type of food available, including more fresh produce.

That is really huge for us and for our community, Edwards said. Were very excited about what theyll be able to do and grow the amount of food thats coming into our community.

The poverty rate in McLennan County is twice that of the national average, The Shepherds Heart Executive Director Robert Gager said. Gager said 45 percent of the adults who use their services are the working poor and 42 percent of all clients are children.

The amount of McLennan County children in need of food services is only growing, he said.

Developing properly

If we dont give them the nutritional food they need when they are young, they arent going to develop properly, Gager said. Many of the people that come to our pantry who are in their 30s and 40s are people who are in that boat. They have all kinds of medical problems. If you dont deal with this at an early age its going to mess up that population.

Hank Perret, Capital Area Food Bank President and CEO, said there are 200 food banks affiliated under the organization Feeding America, and one of those food banks in Washington, D.C., has the same name. Last year, more than $30,000 in donations were routed to the D.C. organization before eventually being directed back to Central Texas, Perret said.

In addition to ditching the old name, The Central Texas Food Bank will also lose the organizations old logo of a fish, apple, bread and cheese in favor of a carrot.

Perret said the food bank, which has served McLennan County since the early 1990s, has been focusing on the amount of fresh produce it distributes.

Last year, of the 34 million pounds of food that was distributed in our service territory, about 10 million pounds of that was fresh produce, he said. We want to get that number up to 50 percent.

There are about 2.6 million people in the food banks service area, of which, 470,000 are considered food insecure, meaning they dont have consistent access to nutritious food, Perret said. About 17 percent of Central Texans, more than one in six, are food insecure, and almost one in four children, or more than 24 percent, in the same area are at risk of hunger, he said.

Theres a common misperception of who the hungry people are, Perret said. You can spot a homeless person but you cant spot a hungry person.

Perret said despite the 34 million pounds of food distributed last year, the food bank fell short of meeting the need by about 30 percent.

The problem was the lack of space to store food, he said.

My food bank is of the size today that I have to turn away stuff, Perret said. Theres nothing more painful than to say, No to somebody who calls and says, Ive got a truck load of this, do you want it? And we cant take it. Were not going to have that going forward.

The building for the current food bank is 20 years old, 60,000 square feet and designed to handle about 26 million pounds of food a year, he said. The agency has been able to grow distribution to 34 million pounds by working with partner agencies and local retailers, he said.

New facility

But, about five years ago, he said, they realized there was a need for more space. A capital campaign brought in about $25 million for a new facility and an expanded fleet. The new building, which officially opens for business June 20, will be 135,000 square feet and have 15 loading docks, compared the old facilitys two docks.

The new building will also have room to host more volunteers, and food pallets can be stacked six high, compared to three at the old facility, he said.

Its a beautiful facility, but forget the fact its a beautiful facility, Perret said. Were going to be able to do so much more for the community with this asset we have.

Every $1 donated to the food bank provides four meals, as donors, volunteers and advocates help the food bank succeed, he said.

Perret said the food bank also started a grant program for its partner agencies. The food bank allocates $100,000 a year for partner agencies, including Shepherds Heart Pantry and Caritas of Waco, to apply to receive a walk-in cooler or freezer to store more fresh food. The food bank covers 75 percent of the cost of the cooler while the partner agency picks up the remaining 25 percent.

Its one thing for us to be able to take in more food, but if he doesnt have a cooler or freezer capacity to take it, it doesnt do me any good, Perret said.
Donald Trump does not expect to release his tax returns before the November election, the Associated Press informs us today. He told the AP that he doesnt believe voters are interested, adding: Theres nothing to learn from them.

Define nothing.

In an interview with me, Joseph Thorndike, the director of the Tax History Project, identified the problem here. Its the juxtaposition of Trumps blithe insistence that there is nothing to be learned from his tax returns  and his refusal to release them  with the revelations about just how complicated those returns are.

Trump himself helpfully demonstrated the complexity of his returns for the world to see, tweeting a photo of himself signing his tax return.

This was apparently meant to show (in keeping with Trumps well documented modesty and restraint) how rich he is, but it also illustrates why not releasing his returns could prove politically untenable over time. Its disconcerting that someone who acknowledges how complicated his tax returns are refuses to release them, Thorndike tells me.

Thorndike and a second expert I spoke with today  Robert Willens, an independent tax consultant and professor at Columbia Business School  offered several reasons why Trump might be refraining from releasing them.

First, its possible that Trump wants to obscure his charitable giving patterns. If he isnt doing much charitable giving, thats relevant and potentially could have an impact, Thorndike notes. He has claimed he is a very generous philanthropist. The tax returns would demonstrate whether or not thats actually true.

The second possible reason is that Trump may have lots of money parked overseas and, if so, this would come out in the returns. If you have foreign accounts, you have to disclose them and check boxes confirming you have them, Willens tells me. It could be embarrassing.

Trump, of course, has cheerfully admitted he has long been one of those elites who milks the system to their advantage. Indeed, he has pointed to this as an argument for electing him president. He has openly boasted that he has bought and paid for politicians himself, so no one knows how to end the problem of bought-and-paid-for politicians better than he does, dammit! Trump is going to use his financial wizardry, and his inside knowledge of how elites scam the system, to put an end to that elite scamming and make America as rich as he is. As Trump has put it: Ive always been greedy. I love money, right? But you know what? I want to be greedy for our country.

So Trump might respond to revelations about parking money abroad by saying: Damn right I milked the system to my advantage, and got filthy rich doing it. Now Ill make sure people like me cant get away with it anymore.

But at a certain point, this might no longer work. Trump has said that in his first 100 days as president, hed get on the phone and browbeat CEOs into bringing jobs back to America. But if it comes out that Trump has money placed abroad, would he then pledge to bring it back? If not, Willens says, that certainly dilutes your message.

Third, these experts note, its possible that Trumps returns might reveal that he isnt quite as rich as he likes to claim he is.

Im leaning towards the idea that hes income poor but asset rich, Willens says. The tax returns wouldnt convey that. They would only convey the shortage of income without conveying the other side of the coin, his real estate holdings.

If there is one thing we know about Trump at this point, it is that he values being seen as a winner above all else. Trump may believe that if he is perceived as a loser (relative to his self-inflating boasts, that is), it could dramatically undercut what he believes is a winning argument for the presidency  i.e., that he is the greatest winner ever, and therefore can make America a bigger winner than its ever been before.

Whatever the motive here, what Trump is doing may be unprecedented in one important respect. The tradition of presidential candidates releasing their tax returns dates back to Richard Nixon. As Philip Bump documents today, Nixon released his tax returns while president, even though he was under audit. Thus, Trump  who had previously said he would not release his returns until an ongoing audit is complete, and is now suggesting he may not release them at all  is not even willing to do what Nixon did.

Worse, as Thorndike points out, Trump may well decline to release them, even though he is likely to have far more complex returns than Nixon did. Its disturbing, Thorndike says. Complexity can hide a multitude of sins. Theres going to be a lot going on in those returns, even if it is all legitimate. But we have no way of knowing whether its legitimate unless we can actually see them.

Of course, Trump has broken a whole string of political rules during this campaign, so maybe hell get away with this one, too. But its more likely that, as more and more details come out about his business past, this position will prove increasingly unsustainable.

Greg Sargent writes for the Washington Post.
WAHOO  Bids were opened for four roads and bridges projects at the May 3 Saunders County Board of Supervisors meeting.

The projects include three box culverts that averaged close to $150,000 each, and four asphalt paving projects, bid at a minimum sum of $819,000.

The paving projects are near Ashland, Memphis, Ceresco and Touhy.

All projects, if bids are approved, should begin and end in the fall.

A final decision was not made on the bids last week, as Steve Mika, public works director for Saunders County, left the meeting early to attend another meeting with Nebraska Department of Roads. Mika is on a committee discussing $40 million from the state and how to divide it up amongst the counties.

Mika said this was the first meeting of several with the state regarding the allocation of those funds.

In other business, County Attorney Steven Twohig reported no agreement with the City of Wahoo yet on the 170 acres owned by the city that they have requested not be taxed.
ASHLAND  The Auxiliary to VFW Post 9776 again sponsored the Americanism contest, which this year was in honor of Armed Forces Day May 21.

First through sixth grades participated in the contest, submitted many wonderful essays and pictures. The first place winners picture or essay in each grade will be forwarded to the Department of Nebraska VFW Auxiliary to be judged against entries from the rest of the state.

The pictures are displayed by the many businesses around town through Armed Forces Day. The winning pictures and essays will also be posted in the window of The Ashland Gazette office at 1432 Silver Street in downtown Ashland.

The auxiliary and the veterans encourage the public to take a walk around town to see and enjoy them. The essays will also be placed on the tables at the May 21 steak and hamburger fry at the VFW Hall so people can enjoy reading them.

The veterans and the auxiliary members all enjoyed the pictures and essays very much, according to contest chairperson Jean Stewart.

We have some very talented students at the Ashland-Greenwood school, she said.

Patriotic coloring contest winners (first-third grades)

First Grade  1. Jack Johnson, 2. Aiden Hanger, 3. Avery Grauerholz.

Second Grade  1. Matthew Pinkman, 2. Megan Gerdes, 3. Mya Tripp.

Third Grade  1. Michael Pinkman, 2. Reaghan Craven, 3. Kolbi Davis.

Essay contest winners

(fourth-sixth grades)

Fourth Grade  1. Isaac Carson (first place overall), 2. Clohee Stucky, (third place overall).

Fifth Grade  1. Ellie Whitehead (second place overall).

Sixth Grade  1. Imogen Prellwitz-Aude

Our Veterans

By Isaac Carson

The veterans are American citizens who have served our country and we honor them every day in school when I say the Pledge of Allegiance. Our nation thanks them for protecting our country. Many have loved this country so much that they have given their lives to protect freedom for all of us. The men and women who have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, SEALs, National Guard and many other areas are forever remembered by many.

Some of my family members were in World War II. My Great-Grandpa will forever love our home country of the United States. At school each year, we have a Veterans Day program and many military people have come to give speeches and tell the school kidsa bout the history of our flag and the wars. During one of these programs, I saw my friends Dad, and he is still fighting for our freedom. The Veterans Day programs are a way to remember and honor all military people.

I will always stand when I see a patriotic flag. When I grow up, I will fight for our nation. My family has a red, white and blue flag with 50 starsone for each great state that flies on special days. You see flags on many special holidays, parades and at sporting events.

So, the next time I say the Pledge of Allegiance, Ill think about all the Veterans who have given so much for Americans to have freedom. I would probably not be alive without their skills. Id like to give a big thanks to the men and women who have served our nation, because the Veterans of our country have shaped America into one big free family.

Americas Amazing Veterans

By Ellie Whitehead

Our country wouldnt be the same without our amazing veterans. They are the reason my family, friends and I are safe and sound. They protect the valuable colors of the red, white and blue. They also treat the American Flag as if it were their child. I dont know anybody who respects their job more than that. I think our nations veterans are incredibly awesome.

The super patriotic veterans in our country should win a big award for all the amazing things they have done. Oh wait, they already have. Our veterans have won the freedom of our country. And to them, that is a big deal. They have also won the right to go home to the people they love. They think that is one of the greatest gifts ever.

When our veterans look up at the 50 stars on the American Flag and say the pledge, they say it with pride. Thats how they do all their work. With pride. So we should honor them, and thats why we have Veterans Day. America is a country full of freedom, and that is all thanks to our veterans.

Veterans are people that should be remembered forever. They are special, and special is good. We, the USA, should also take Veterans Day very seriously and honor them. Their hard work has REALLY paid off, and by that I mean they have protected the nation. They dont do it for fame or popularity, they do it because they want to. So thanks veterans for all your amazing work.

My Country, America

By Imogen Prellwitz-Aude

Every morning we pledge our allegiance to the red, white and blue flag, but what does that mean? I think it means we are making the promise to be kind and loyal to the United States of America. After all, this amazing nation gave us our freedom and liberty, so we should give thanks to it.

And the stars and stripes, what are they for? They represent not only the 50 states, and the original 13 colonies, they also represent the nations beauty and the structure of the constitution. The constitution brings the whole nation together. It is what puts the united in the United States of America.

There are still soldiers defending our freedom, and sacrificing their lives, they are people we call heroes. Not the type that flies around, the type that we love and we care about, the role models. Theyre the ones who are fighting for our lives and protecting us and our families from harm. What would we do without them?

Teachers, the lawyers, the doctors and the parents help shape our country, too. The teachers give us a good education. The doctors take care of our health. The lawyers help us prove a point, and the parents help us survive.

Libertythe pursuit of happiness. Being able to be happy for whatever reason. As long as you dont intrude on someone elses happiness you can do whatever makes you happy. That is another special quality that America and only a few other countries let you do.

We have many rights in this patriotic country and thats why more than 318.9 million people live here and around 38,517,234 people are immigrants. When you think about it, the rights and liberty we have, make America like a home. So Stars and Stripes forever.
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So, Sadiq Khan has been elected the new mayor of London: a man who, if Donald Trump is elected president of the United States, would be barred from entering the country because he's a Muslim.

Re-read that sentence. A Trump presidency. A Muslim mayor of London. A ban on Muslims entering the US (which Trump has only recently reiterated as a pledge to be delivered in his first 100 days). There is not a single element of that I could even have imagined writing as recently as a year ago.

And yet I can think of no story that better distils the times; that so efficiently captures something so much greater than itself.

This isn't simply the story of a Muslim, a populist and a policy. It's not even simply a story of multiculturalism and nationalism. It's the story of two completely irreconcilable, contradictory worlds that after decades of circling, are now colliding. To this end, Trump and Khan are but two more or less inevitable  even if until recently unthinkable  symbols.
In 1977, Senbergs' first marriage ended and he found himself living alone in Port Melbourne, then a rundown industrial suburb. It was a time of new beginnings, as he scaled down the screenprinting and took up drawing with a passion. Although his paintings always had a strong graphic aspect, Senbergs had never felt he was a good draughtsman, perhaps because of his lack of an art school education. This anxiety would be definitively laid to rest in the 1990s, when drawing became an all-consuming preoccupation. During the 1980s, Senbergs would become more hands-on, no longer feeling comfortable with the idea of simply transferring an image from a photograph.

The silkscreen works were the subject of a survey at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2008, so I will not dwell upon them here, but they established Senbergs as an artist with an original vision. The culmination of this period came with the High Court Mural in Canberra (1977-80), a massive public art work. He collaborated with a factory to burn his images into sheets of aluminium.

When the National Gallery of Victoria opened its new building on St Kilda Road in 1968 with a landmark survey of Australian abstract art called The Field, Senbergs was among those excluded. The silkscreen paintings he was making at the time had abstract elements but were mainly images of buildings and fractured monuments. These pieces were interpreted as political allegories of an Orwellian persuasion.

The first paintings of note were the Mt Lyell landscapes, which captured the scarred, battered likeness of a famous Tasmanian mining town. This subject, which Senbergs drew and researched, allowed him to exercise his taste for monumental themes, ruin and decay. There is nothing quite like these industrial landscapes that capture the destruction wrought by mining, but still manage to convey a heroic aspect to the enterprise. A painting such as Copperopolis  Mt Lyell (1983) is a glimpse of Hell, but also a fascinating labyrinth, as we chart the way the hills and gullies have been carved up by the miners and transformed into a sci-fi dystopia.

The 1980s was a brilliant decade for Senbergs. He followed the Mt Lyell work with a series of paintings made after a trip to Antarctica and a further series based on the remote regions of Western Australia. No picture is more memorable than Bea Maddock being lifted onto the Icebird  Heard Island (1987). It records the eerie sight of fellow artist, Bea Maddock, wrapped up like a mummy, being hauled off the ice after breaking her leg. It seems no less fanciful than the historical work, Borchgrevink's Foot (1987-88), which shows a moment in 1895, when an ambitious seaman leapt out of the landing boat before anyone else, thereby becoming the first man to set foot on the Antarctic continent. In Senbergs' painting the offending foot has become as large as the boat itself.

The level of research Senbergs undertook for his paintings of the 1980s demonstrates an unfashionable ambition to be a contemporary history painter. The Blue Angel of Wittenoom (1988), commemorates a visit to the notorious asbestos mining town in Western Australia. The "angel" hovering over the landscape is both the angel of death and a Wandjina, an original spirit of the land.

In the 1990s this tendency was continued in allegorical paintings such as News (1991) based on the new media environment of the Gulf War. Alongside a great, sinister-looking machine stands a figure whose head and torso have taken on the form of a camera. It is as though mind and heart have been transmuted into a news-channelling apparatus, with no capacity to judge right and wrong.

In typical fashion, at this time Senbergs seems to have stood back from the increasingly portentous nature of these works and decided a change was in order. This was the moment when he returned to drawing with new gusto, producing an incredible large-scale depiction of his new studio, a former night-club in North Melbourne. Instead of dealing with literary or philosophical themes, Senbergs was now intent on capturing a spontaneous impression of an interior or a tribal sculpture. The meaning or message was created by the subject itself and by the expressive vigour of the mark-making.
Buenos Aires: Brazil's interim President Michel Temer, who took over on Thursday after Dilma Rousseff was suspended as the country's leader, mistook a journalist from a Buenos Aires radio station for Argentinian President Mauricio Macri.

"How are you, president? ... I want to visit you in Argentina," Temer told the journalist at El Mundo shortly before taking up the presidency. During the brief conversation announcer Jorce Garcia did not introduce himself and never clarified that he was not, in fact, Macri.

Temer presumed it was a congratulatory call from the neighbouring leader.
Hong Kong: For a few brief hours this week, China had its own answer to WikiLeaks: a mysterious Twitter account that posted the personal information of dozens of the country's most prominent people, including billionaires and even the architect of the country's Internet controls.

The account @shenfenzheng - which means "personal identification" in Chinese - was suspended by Twitter on Thursday afternoon, its posts no longer available. Before it was suspended, the account was used to post photographs and screenshots containing personal information, like addresses, national identification numbers, educational attainment and the marital statuses of well-known Chinese, including the two richest people in mainland China, Jack Ma, chairman of the Internet giant Alibaba Group, and Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, a real estate company.

Twitter suspended an account on Thursday shortly after it was used to post private information about some of the most influential and wealthy Chinese citizens to the social media network. Credit:New York Times

It was not clear who controlled the account, or whether that person was inside or outside China. If inside, the person had the technical means to overcome the country's so-called Great Firewall, which blocks Twitter. The person, or people, appear to view China's Internet controls with some disdain: One of the identification cards posted by @shenfenzheng was purported to be that of Fang Binxing, known as the architect of the Great Firewall.
by Richard Coulson

First published in The Tribune and posted here with the kind permission of the author.

Its not yet recognized what a bombshell senior Queens Counsel and former Attorney General Alfred Sears has thrown. His recent messageManifesto is a better wordcarried in the Tribune on May 9th has profound implications for our immediate future, both politically and constitutionally.

Although not specifically saying so, he has clearly injected himself into the race to be our countrys next leader, and not simply as a struggling no-hope candidate but, in my opinion, as the head of the pack.

In his preamble, he embraces the PLP as the party best suited. . .to place the Bahamas on a more sustainable economic path and foster a more socially cohesive society. Clear, but what PLP? It will not, thank goodness, be the one we have now. His detailed (a) through (j) agenda of nearly 50 points will revolutionize the way political business is done, with term restrictions for prime minister, removing many of his exclusive powers, shrinking the number of cabinet ministers hungry for power and salary, requiring reports to the public after every cabinet meeting, and creating an Integrity (yes!) Commission. By actually mentioning nine young Bahamians, and many others of both sexes with whom he has met and shared ideas over the last five years, he clearly hints that he is seeking new faces to replace the old guard and seek a new way forward. He can only do this if he becomes party leader able to influence who will run for constituency seats.

Is Mr. Sears the man to accomplish this ambitious objective? All the omens seem to be in his favor. His reputation is unblemished by any whiff of shady behavior. As Chairman of the College of The Bahamas Council, he enjoys the personal gravitas, intelligence and fluency necessary for any political chieftain. And who exists to thwart him? If Mr. Christie were a younger man, he has the experience and following to do so, but even his friends are now urging him to stand down facing age and uncertain health after a long and distinguished career. One has the impression that he may have actually encouraged Mr. Sears to make his move, to assure that the party will fall into good hands.

The other wannabe candidates for leadership are comparative pygmies who would implode as party leader: Brave Davis, the classic No. 2 man, tainted with suspicion of cronyism; Fred Mitchell, the never-smiling Darth Vader consumed with xenophobia against any resident foreigners; Jerome Fitzgerald, the muscular enemy of sedition hob-goblins, whose students, with all their God-given abilities, still graduate often unemployable; Obie Wilchcombe, well-meaning but unable to improve the tourism product. No wonder Mr. Christie has been reluctant to retire.

The contents of the Manifesto, when read closely, reveal such strong features as recommending a study of proportional representation and fighting against foreign organizations like OECD and US authorities blacklisting the Bahamas for alleged weak anti money-laundering regulations. I would have preferred an endorsement of a freedom of information act, but over-all the Manifesto provides an admirable structure on which to build future change. The legal community may debate the recommended abandonment of appeals to Englands Privy Council, but this move seems timely and well-warranted.

On human rights issues like the death penalty, prevailing sentiment in the UK is plainly out-of-step with Bahamian thinking. On commercial litigation, the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice is now well designed to resolve disputes competently.

Mr. Sears one questionable point is his blunt recommendation to Remove the British Monarch as Head of State to be replaced with a Bahamian-born President, presumably a ceremonial figure similar to our present Governor General, the monarchs representative who would vanish since no longer needed. This sounds straight-forward, but Bahamians would have to approve a basic constitutional amendment to Art. 32 removing the reference to Her Majesty. Are the people that ready to get rid of Queen Elizabeth II and her heirs? Of course her powers are purely ceremonial, presumably meaningless, but ceremony continues to have a grip on practical matters. What would happen to the royal titles that have been granted? Would Dame Marguerite revert to just Mrs. Pindling? And the recently knighted Sir Franklyn Wilson have to change his new letterhead? And the Royal Bahamas Police and Royal Defence Force have to change the labeling of all their many royal artifacts? Whats the logic of being called Queens Counsel when the Queen no longer has any authority here? Would the Governor Generals Youth Awards become simply the Presidents Awards, and would members of the English royal family remain prominently involved?

Canada, a country renowned for its status as a modern, freedom-loving democracy, has remained loyally subject to Queen as head of stateceremonial of course, but still technically reigning. If Canada sees no need for change, why should The Bahamas?

With that exception, the Sears Manifesto seems well designed to attract the loyalty of the PLP rank-and-file, eager to embrace a new deal. He will enter the next Party Convention already anointed as the candidate to oust the brilliant but mercurial Andre Rollins from Fort Charlotte. From that position, with even the slightest nod from Perry Christie, he will be able to control proceedings armed with his carefully prepared plans and cohorts of young supporters. The hundreds of party captains and stalwarts will fall in line and accept his preferences for constituency choices and even for shadow cabinet appointments. The other aspirants for the top job will have to fold their tents and resign themselves to cabinet posts approved by Mr. Sears, or simply accept positions as back-benchersor even no-benchers.

With political domination of the PLP achieved, I venture to predict that Alfred Sears will lead the party to victory in the general selection. Whatever good qualities are held by Dr. Minnis and Mrs. Butler- Turner of the FNM or Mr. McCartney of the DNA, none of them had the statesmanlike imagination to create a comprehensive Manifesto matching Mr. Sears production. They may attempt to respond with competing party platforms but any such efforts will be seen simply as a game of catch-up, a leaky bucket that wont carry water.

Mr. Sears political rise will be as rapid and unexpected a change as that of Donald Trump in the United States. Fortunately, in The Bahamas the change will beneficial, while in the US it will be catastrophic, even it leads only to destruction of the hoary old GOP rather than a reversal of national leadership.

Read Mr. Sears manifesto, "The PLP and opportunities in nation building for the 21st century" here...

______________________________________________

Mr. Coulson has had a long career in law, investment banking and private banking in New York, London, and Nassau, and now serves as director of several financial concerns and as a corporate financial consultant. He has recently released his autobiography, A Corkscrew Life: Adventures of a Travelling Financier.






The 42-year-old is all set to assume the position left vacant by Liz Truss.
By WestKyStar Staff May. 12, 2016 | 08:35 PM | BENTON, KY

Hannah Elizabeth McDuffie has been selected to attend the United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar held at the academy in Annapolis, MD. There were 2,250 slots globally available.



McDuffie will be a senior at Marshall County High School where she is an honor student, member of the track team, FFA, HOSA, Marshall Militia, Leadership Dynamics and a representative to CAT as one of three representatives from the high school. In high school she has planned special activities for the middle schools and other high school events.



McDuffie is the daughter of Heather McDuffie and granddaughter of Terry and Trisha Chester. Hannah comes from a US Navy family and hopes to continue in the US Navy tradition.

In 2015 she was chosen as an ambassador for West Kentucky to participate in the People to People European Heritage High School Summer Program and visited seven European countries and participated in community service projects and spent time as an exchange student with a German family.


By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 12, 2016 | 06:11 PM | PADUCAH, KY





For the first of a series of events celebrating Barkley Regional Airports 75th anniversary, the airport is hosting General Aviation Days this weekend.The event on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm features a World War I era biplane on display, a Curtiss Jenny replica built to original specifications. This is the same type of plane in which Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart learned to fly, and one of the first private aircraft available to the public.Midwest Aviation will have several other types of aircraft on display, many owned by people or businesses in our region.Perhaps the most unique part of the event is that 50 people each day will be given a chance to see Paducah from the air for free.Local pilots will be flying people from the airport to downtown Paducah and back in their personal aircraft, providing views of Paducah that many people have never seen before.In a Facebook post on Thursday, the airport said Saturday's flights are booked, and only a few remain for Sunday. Due to the limited number of seats available, anyone interested in taking a flight needs to call the airport between 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Friday at 270-744-0521 to pre-register.Those who will fly will need to arrive at Midwest Aviation thirty minutes before their scheduled time, and bring a valid form of ID. Two people will be flying in an aircraft at a time. Anyone arriving late may lose their chance to fly.Aviation Days are sponsored by Paducah Bank and Fluor Services. Other sponsors for the event include Triangle Enterprises, Midwest Aviation, Fairfield Inn and Suites, Candlewood Suites, and DQ Grill & Chill.
One arrested, two to the hospital after hit-and-run crash on I-24 in Christian County
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 12, 2016 | 10:14 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY, KY

A two-vehicle collision Thursday afternoon in McCracken County left two people injured.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Office, the crash happened around 1:55 pm at the intersection of Cairo Road and Maxon Road. Deputies said a car driven by 60-year-old Estelita Wilson of Dongola, IL was driving north on Maxon Road and failed to stop at the Cairo Road intersection.

Wilson's car collided with the driver's side of another car traveling west on Cairo Road driven by 67-year-old Lavanda Elrod of Paducah. Wilson and Elrod were transported by Mercy Ambulance to local hospitals for treatment of their injuries.

Cairo Road was reduced to one lane for approximately 45 minutes for treatment and transport of the injured then completely closed briefly to facilitate removal of the damaged vehicles.
By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 10, 2016 | 12:19 PM | PADUCAH, KY

As Tuesday's Paducah primary mayoral election approaches, folks may still be deciding who they will vote for. All four candidates recently appeared on the Greg Dunker Show on News/Talk 94.3/95.5 FM, and spoke about how they would lead if elected.Arthur Baskin has lived in Paducah for 40 years and is a youth worker at Community Youth Services. Baskin said he's noticed a disconnect between residents and city government and a disconnect between city government and the business community. He says he would bridge those gaps as mayor.A lot of the businesses feel like they've been left out; like the government is not working for them or helping them to be stronger to bring in more people and more money, Baskin said. And the people feel like they haven't had a voice for years. Nobody's listening to them.Baskin said he also wants to see more dialogue between city government and county government. He said, if elected, he would do his best to build relationships and make Paducah grow.Brandi Harless is the hometown Paducah kid that moved away to pursue her dreams, but then moved back to Paducah seven years ago. She says she initially left Paducah to pursue her Masters degree in the Health Industry. Harless lived in Nashville, Washington, DC, and Boston while she was away from Paducah. She attended college and worked at Harvard University.Harless says the city is at a tipping point where "we can either capture our momentum and accelerate into a city of growth and opportunity or we can remain stagnant for the next decade.""Any job I take, I learn... My first role is to follow employees around and learn what they see on a daily basis. Because without true perspective and without perspective from all the sides of an issue, you don't truly know what's going on. Second on the list is how we're going to prioritize our spending that we're doing. Let's put together a real plan and figure out how our (city) resources line up... because the reality is that where we invest our dollars demonstrates our values. And our city (the population) has got to be able to get behind where we are investing our dollars, and that's not happening right now."Harless says Paducah is sitting on such potential. She comes from a multi-generational family of business owners in the area, and has her own business in Paducah now, as well. Harless says her life and career experiences have prepared her to serve Paducah with bold and visionary leadership, and her campaign slogan describes that message: "Honoring who we are...Creating vision for who we will become."Incumbent Mayor Gayle Kaler said that she's excited to see so many people interested in participating in local government, but she wants to remain Paducah's Mayor so she can see some projects get completed.After being in public service for 10 years as a commissioner and mayor, she says she still has great ideas and energy for the city. Kaler mentioned a few projects that she's like to see finished: the Riverfront Park, the City Hall project, and the downtown hotel. She also said she'd like to see the funding found to develop the area between the Riverfront Park and the Convention Center, and a TIF district to create a revenue stream for the park.She's proud that the city will host a second Quilt Week, and she wants a second downtown hotel built. Kaler said the vibrant energy around town needs to continue. Kaler said, "I've got a lot of things done. There's still more things I want to do. I want Paducah to move forward, I want us to have a great quality of life. The quality of life that a government creates in a community enhances the ability to bring in more jobs and more companies to our community."Kaler said she's heard people say that city projects take too long, and she feels that the city could possibly communicate better about the process, which can be rather involved at times. She encourages people to call her anytime or visit the recently re-designed city website, paducahky.gov . As for the City Hall project, she is in favor of renovating the existing building, saying, "we can't move off and leave that building."Local business owner Buzz Vontesmar threw his hat into the ring early last year. He operates a non-profit trade school that does property maintenance training for the Paducah Housing Authority. He also owns American Home Heating and Air-Conditioning. He says that if elected, he will work to help bring jobs to the city."At our recent debate, everybody's talking about parks and green space, and this and that. They're all trying to put the wheel in front of the hub. You need something to draw people in to make the rest of the projects viable. You can't start at the outside and work in. If we don't have some industry downtown, none of the rest of this matters, and we'll never be successful." Vontesmar said.Vontesmar says he thinks the city government should be run more like a business, and that he would draw on his business experience to guide him if elected.The two candidates who get the most votes in Tuesday's primary will go on the ballot for the general election in November.Click the links below to listen to the full candidate interviews on the Greg Dunker Show.

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By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 12, 2016 | 04:44 PM | FREDONIA, KY





An employee of the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in Fredonia has been charged with sexual assault of an inmate.Kentucky State Police were contacted Wednesday by the facility about a formal complaint. Their investigation determined that 41-year-old Robbie E. Markham of Eddyville was an employee of Correct Care Solutions, and working as a vendor at the prison as Medical Director. Markham has allegedly had an ongoing sexual relationship with an inmate since March.As part of the investigation, Markhams vehicle was also searched, where a gun and ammo were found.Markham has been charged with 10 counts of 3rd degree rape, 7 counts of 3rd degree sodomy, 10 counts of 2nd degree sexual abuse, and 1st degree promoting contraband. She was taken to the Caldwell County Jail.According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections website, the WKCC facility had an all-male population from 1977 to 2010, when it transitioned to women inmates. It converted back to male population last October.The investigation is continuing. State Police were assisted in this investigation by the Internal Affairs Branch of the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex.
By Joe Jackson May. 12, 2016 | 10:00 PM | SEDALIA, KY

A Graves County man faces numerous charges after nearly colliding with a police cruiser Tuesday night.

According to the Graves County Sheriff's Office, two deputies were traveling south on Scott Road in the Sedalia area when they met a northbound vehicle driven by 21-year-old John Daniel, of High Road. According to police, Daniel nearly struck the deputies' vehicle head on.

The deputies were able to avoid the collision and conducted a traffic stop. During the traffic stop, Daniel opened his glove box to retrieve his proof of insurance. Deputies observed in plain view glass pipes that Daniel said were used for smoking marijuana.

Deputies then conducted a search of the vehicle and located marijuana pipes, a container containing marijuana, another glass pipe containing methamphetamine and a hidden machete. Daniel was arrested and transported to the Graves County Jail on charges of reckless driving, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of methamphetamine, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and wanton endangerment.
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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.










By The Associated Press

By The Associated Press May. 12, 2016 | 09:28 PM | LEXINGTON, KY

State universities in Kentucky will soon receive a big boost in Internet speed thanks to a new initiative aimed to advance research at the schools.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the Council on Postsecondary Education and the University of Kentucky have teamed up to upgrade all eight schools to the Kentucky Regional Optical Network.

The upgrade will give the schools a tenfold increase in access to Internet2, a nonprofit organization which operates an expansive research and education infrastructure.

Council president Bob King says the project will provide a much needed boost to advance research at the universities.

The upgrade allows universities that are part of KyRON to transmit very large databases, conduct complex scientific research and access remote computing systems.

___

Information from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com
By The Associated Press May. 12, 2016 | 09:15 PM | FRANKFORT, KY

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear has appointed a special prosecutor to handle the case against his former deputy.

Former Deputy Attorney General Tim Longmeyer pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge last month. Last week, Beshear announced he would file state charges against Longmeyer. At first, Beshear said he would prosecute the case himself. But Thursday he said he would hand the case to Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Larry Cleveland.

Cleveland said the attorney general's office asked him to take the case on Wednesday, citing a conflict of interest.

Longmeyer pleaded guilty to using his influence as the state Personnel Cabinet secretary to steer contracts to a public relations firm in exchange for kickbacks. He also directed some of that money to Beshear's 2015 campaign for attorney general.
LOCAL GOP LEADER AND FORMER SHERIFF ERWIN HAS ISSUES WITH THE PARTY

"Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all." Dwight D. Eisenhower

After former Henderson County Sheriff George H. Erwin announced in the Hendersonville Lightnng revently that he was "divorcing" himself from the Republican Party, the popular local political leader explained for WHKP News, and for our listeners, what some of his issues wih the "grand old party" are...and you'll hear that in detail on WHKP's news Monday at 7:55am, 11:55am, and 5:05pm on both WHKP AM 1450 and FM 107.7.

A former Carly Fiorina supporter for the Republican presidential nomination, Erwin said he joined his wife and became a Ted Cruz supporter once it became clear that Fiorina would not have a chance. And through the debate pocess, Erwin says he was embarrassed for the party. Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson, Govenor John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Senator Lindsay Graham and others were largely ignored. And he said the "name calling:" that came from Donald Trump and others was "like children on the playground". Still, it's obvious now that Trump will be the party's nominee...and Erwin vowed to "hold his nose" and support the nominee. And he's encouraging all Republicans to stick together and support the party's nominee, citing a famous line from President Dwight D. Eisenhower about pushing and pulling a string, "Pull the string, and it will follow wherever you wishi. Push it, and it will go nowhere at all" Erwin believes the next president could appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices, which is why, he says, Hillary Clinton should NOT be the one to make those appointments.

The state Republican Party, says Erwin, has always had problems and the only time you hear from them, he says, is when they swamp you with "robo" calls wanting your money.

As for the local GOP, Erwin says they do the best they can...but again, it's all a matter of standing for something and pulling together, he says.

Even though he gave up the job as sheriff after twelve successful years that started with his upset victory over another popular sheriff, the late Albert "Ab" Jackson in 1994, Erwin has remained active in local and state GOP politics. He was a state-wide leader in State Senator Fred Smith's unsuccessful bit for the Republican gubernatorial nomimnation a few years ago. And he continues in leadership positions with various law enforcement organizations in North Carolina.

Erwin also remains active in his church and various out-reach and ministry causes, such as the "Summer Backpack Program" that provides food for children during the summer break from school.

His comments on the current state of the Republican Party were made in an interview with WHKP News Director Larry Freeman and can be heard on Monday's local news on WHKP/

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Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

By this time next year, weed will be well on its way to becoming a legal in Canada.

Next spring, the Trudeau government intends to introduce legislation that will effectively legalize the production, distribution and sale of marijuana and other cannabis products and eliminate penalties for possession. Precisely what that involves will depend on regulations that may take longer to put in place  whatever Ottawa decides will require Canadian provinces and municipalities to make changes of their own.

Right now, the status of weed sits in a sort of limbo as law enforcement agencies, governments and potential entrepreneurs watch and wait to see what precisely winds up being proposed by federal Health Minister Jane Philpott and parliamentary justice secretary Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief.

In the meantime, many Canadians have burning questions about legalization. Heres what we know and dont know a year away from Canadas cannabis-friendly makeover:

When will weed really be legal?

Thats anybodys guess. While the legislation is supposed to arrive next spring, it has to be debated by the Liberal-majority Parliament and pass through a Conservative senate. Making the changes envisioned by that legislation will be far more complex, as those changes affect everything from municipal law enforcement agencies such as the Winnipeg Police Service, provincial regulators such as the Manitoba Liquor & Gaming Authority and federal organizations such as the Canada Border Services Agency.

Canada may also have to consult with the United States and other countries, as Ottawa has a signed a trio of international treaties governing the non-medical use of drugs. That wont be easy, regardless of whether theres a Republican or a Democrat in the White House next year.

Can I just go out and start smoking right now?

No, not with impunity. Unless you have medical dispensation, cannabis possession remains illegal. Police still have the discretion of laying possession charges, though law enforcement agencies dont devote a tremendous amount of resources toward possession crackdowns.

Marijuana smokers in Canada actually face more of an ethical issue than they do a legal problem. Much of the weed sold in Canada is grown and distributed by organized criminal groups who use cannabis production to support other activities and barter marijuana for cocaine, guns and sex-trade workers, said Sgt. Carrol MacDonald, the head of the Winnipeg Police Services marijuana grow-op unit.

In other words, if you dont know the source of your weed, your purchasing habits may benefit very bad people. As well, biker weed isnt known for its quality control.

MacDonald said every time a sample of marijuana seized from a large Winnipeg grow-op is sent to a lab for testing, it comes back unfit for human consumption due to the presence of contaminants ranging from fertilizers and insecticides to E. coli and salmonella. Consumers dont consider this, she said.

If they dont have a medical licence, theyre ingesting garbage, she said. What do you expect? This stuff is grown in pungent, mouldy basements.

So may I just grow my own?

No, not unless you have one of those special medical licences. And if you do start growing, your little home grow-op likely will remain illegal next year.

Ottawa intends to control the way cannabis is produced and sold. Even when pot is legal, growing a few plants at home probably will become the modern-day equivalent of operating a backyard moonshine still.

What about all those marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver and Toronto?

In those cities, the cannabis cat is out of the bag, and police are tolerating the situation. In Winnipeg, the police shut down the only entrepreneur who attempted to start a retail marijuana counter. Any other efforts will meet a similar fate, MacDonald said.

We will enforce the law until the legislation is changed, she said.

City hall is also refusing to entertain the idea of allowing grey-market dispensaries to set up shop in Winnipeg before Ottawa rolls out its legalization legislation. An effort by Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie to ask city planners to consider the land-use implications of marijuana dispensaries was shelved this month by other city councillors.

So where will I be able to buy weed when its legal?

That depends on what Ottawa decides. It could be government outlets such as provincial liquor stores, an idea favoured by former Manitoba premier Greg Selinger, but not all Canadian provinces sell their own booze at the retail level.

Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press Even when it is legalized, Ottawa intends to control the way cannabis is produced and sold. It could be private dispensaries, such as the ones in Colorado and Washington, where budtenders advise customers about the relative merits of indicus vs. sativa strains of cannabis and the ratios of psychoactive compounds such as the stone-inducing THC and the calming agent cannabidiol.

Or it may very well be that the public and private sector will both play a role in cannabis retailing. Agencies such as Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries are already studying the situation in Colorado in an effort to prepare for whatever the Trudeau government proposes.

Liquor & Lotteries CEO John Stinson, who flew to Denver earlier this year on a research trip, believes weed should be sold at stand-alone stores of some sort, as opposed to Liquor Marts. But he advocates a slow rollout, potentially lasting four or five years, in order to create a retail environment that is not just responsible but effective in the way it meets the needs of the cannabis-consuming market.

For example, inexperienced users will need to be steered away from potent cannabis products  and THC-laced edibles must be governed carefully.

I worry that the stakeholders, both government and private sector, go Wow, rubbing their hands in glee around, We can make a lot of money with marijuana, and, We can make tons of money to help roads and heath care and all kinds of things, Stinson told the Free Press in March.

Manitobas new government, meanwhile, isnt ready to even contemplate legalization.

Everybody hold tight. Lets first see what kind of legal framework the federal government is going to put into place. I dont want to pre-empt that process, said Ron Schuler, Crown Services Minister in Brian Pallisters Progressive Conservative government. We will have to live by that federal legislation.

How old will you have to be to buy cannabis?

No less than 18, for starters. Health Minister Philpott has said the Trudeau government wants to keep weed out of the hands of minors.

The minimum age could wind up being higher, or differ from province to province, much the same way the minimum age for buying alcohol is now.

Stinson said he favours a minimum age of 25, given the potential mental-health consequences of cannabis consumption by younger adults, but added he would also support a cutoff age of 21.

Preventing 18- to 21-year-olds from buying legal weed, however, could defeat one of the stated intentions of legalization: getting rid of the underground market for cannabis and depriving organized crime of a revenue source.

OK, so who will produce legal cannabis?

Thats a potentially billion-dollar question. Prospective growers are already jockeying for position to ensure theyll be on the ground floor when marijuana becomes legal to ship by the bale. How Ottawa licenses growers will determine who makes a fortune and who winds up with nothing for their efforts.

Potential distributors also want in. The Shoppers Drug Mart retail chain, for example, wants to distribute medical marijuana.

Law enforcement agencies, however, warn the underground market will remain no matter what Ottawa does.

Theres just too much money to be made, so it wont take money away from the criminal element, MacDonald said. The government wont be selling it in large quantities.

How much will legal cannabis cost?

Nobody knows. But one thing is obvious: if regulated weed costs too much, the underground market will continue to flourish.

Will cannabis sales eliminate the federal and provincial deficits?

Probably not. New tax revenue flowing from marijuana sales will be mitigated by the cost of regulation and enforcement.

Canadian cities, provinces and Ottawa should, however, be able to reap some financial rewards from the new cannabis industry. The Colorado experience suggests there is some form of windfall to be had, as consumers of illegal weed begin buying from legitimate sources that do pay taxes.

Colorado, for example, collects US$12 million to US$14 million worth of marijuana taxes, licensing revenues and fees every month, according the states revenue department.

Its less reasonable to expect people who dont smoke marijuana now to suddenly take up the habit.

Why? Wont there be curiosity factor?

Sure, at first. But jurisdictions where cannabis is legal have not reported a huge uptick in cannabis use. Some academics expect the end of cannabis prohibition to result in less cannabis use.

What about our roads? How will police deal with stoned drivers?

The same way they deal with them now. If police suspect a driver is under the influence of THC, they may issue a physical co-ordination test. If the driver fails, he or she may be subject to a more extensive drug-recognition evaluation, which involves checking blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries CEO John Stinson at the Buffalo Place Distribution Centre.151203 - Thursday, December 3, 2015 - The Winnipeg Police Service already implements both measures and will continue to do so when cannabis becomes legal.

Nothing changes in my world, said Const. Stephane Fontaine, the impaired-driving countermeasures co-ordinator for the Winnipeg Police Service. Were still looking for the impaired driver. It does not matter what the impaired substance is.

While there is no simple test for the presence of THC, some U.S. law enforcement agencies conduct blood tests to determine the presence of the psychoactive agent. Fontaine does not favour such a test in Canada, noting police are probably not the best people to administer needles to intoxicated motorists.

I dont want to open that can of worms, he said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 12/05/2016 (2356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Despite any grumblings of dissatisfaction or concern that might be heard on the street about the proposed $3.9-billion acquisition of MTS by BCE, there wasnt a peep of that at MTSs annual meeting in Winnipeg on Thursday.

One shareholder expressed concern about capital gains exposure as a result of the $40 price BCE has offered on MTS shares, which went public at $13 in 1997.

The proposed deal is one of the richest in the North American telecommunications sector  some say the richest  at 10.1 times the annual operating profit. So its no surprise shareholders would like that. But many of them are also proud of the companys local roots, and apparently that is not an issue either.

SUPPLIED MTS board chairman David Leith (from left), CEO Jay Forbes and corporate secretary Paul Beauregard at the MTS annual general meeting Thursday.

As part of the deal, BCE said it will establish its western Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg, and the company has also committed to maintaining sponsorships and community engagement as well as spending $1 billion over the next five years to upgrade the Manitoba high-speed Internet infrastructure.

MTS board chairman David Leith said in addition to the boards fiduciary responsibility to optimize value for shareholders  When an unsolicited offer like this comes in, it is not discretionary as to whether you deal with it seriously  he said the board spent a lot of time thinking about what would ensure the companys continuing role as a fundamental part of the community even if the ownership is different.

Relative to other transactions I have been involved in, this was a much greater component of the decision-making process than its been any other time I have seen, said Leith, who is a member of several corporate boards and is the former deputy chairman of CIBC World Markets.

There will be intensive scrutiny of the deal by the Competition Bureau, the CRTC and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada that will mean it is not likely to close before the end of the year and maybe not until early 2017.

MTS chief executive officer Jay Forbes and others have been going out and talking about the deal, and he said he has not heard of any backlash from people worried about the loss of a community corporate asset or about potential fee increases.

For one thing, he said, the deal has been well-received by the investment community from the perspective of both organizations.

That is certainly not always the case in these kinds of deals, Forbes said.

Hes convinced of the sincerity of the BCE offer when it comes to the way the province will be treated, and MTSs monitoring of feedback on social media leads them to believe it is being well-received on the street as well.

Among other, Forbes recently spoke with members of the Business Council of Manitoba.

If I thought I would encounter any degree of friction or unease, it might have arisen in that forum, Forbes said. And it did not, quite the contrary.

Business Council of Manitoba CEO Don Leitch said, We are quite comfortable with what is happening.

Its not like theyre going to close the building and move to a 20-person entity in an industrial park somewhere  Don Leitch

He noted MTS is widely held, Bell used to be a large shareholder and there is a recognition significant investment is required to continue providing leading-edge service to Manitobans.

Its not like theyre going to close the building and move to a 20-person entity in an industrial park somewhere, said Leitch. And we recognize the marketplace at work. Youre not going to find the Business Council of Manitoba arguing against the marketplace.

It is exactly the marketplace Gloria Desorcy is worried about, however.

The executive director of the Consumers Association of Canada (Manitoba) is concerned the reduction in the number of competitors in Manitoba will not be good for consumers.

Any time you lose some competitors, you become concerned for rates, Desorcy said. Although we have enjoyed slightly lower rates historically in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, we believe our additional competition has been at least partly responsible for that.

She said while economies of scale can enhance profits for the corporation, consumers may only benefit from that in the form of lower rates if there are competitors who coerce the company to pass those cost efficiencies on to consumers.

Shes also concerned about service quality in rural and northern communities, and she is not convinced a new owner of MTS will have a positive impact on that.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In almost every respect, Jeff Kendel is still running the typical corner service station.

There are three service bays, six gas pumps and a diesel pump, an air compressor and windshield washer fluid, coolant and oil products for sale. Customers know its a place where even small repair jobs  a burned-out headlight bulb, a blown fuse  are still welcome.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jeff Kendel in front of the signless canopy at his corner gas and service station. Come back first thing in the morning. If you can make Pete smile at 7 a.m., Ill buy you breakfast, Kendel joked to a customer who was moments too late for a quick battery-cable repair, referring to his mechanic, who had just left for the day.

Make the repair free, the customer fired right back. Im a Mennonite, remember.

Down the hall, you can still get a Howie dog, named after Jeffs late father and former business partner, and a Verna burger, named after his late mother, who ran the restaurant.

Hit him at the right time, and you can get the citys best-tasting oil change, thanks to a restaurant gift certificate frequently included with that service.

What you cant get, however, is fuel.

Jeffs father, Howard, got into the gasoline business in 1959, taking over a service station on Kimberly Avenue in East Kildonan.

A few years later, not far away, an Esso station at the corner of McLeod Avenue and Highway 59 would begin a slow decline. The owners, who built in 1964, failed to anticipate the arrival of a new Highway 59 in the late 1960s, just a half-kilometre to the east. The beach-bound traffic it needed was no longer passing by.

The gas station with one service bay and a restaurant closed in 1972, according to Kendel. He and his dad came along two years later. What killed the old station didnt worry them, he said.

My dad was the worlds best mechanic, Jeff said. If it was broken, he could fix it. If he didnt have the part, hed fix it anyway. He could fix anything.

He knew he had a loyal following, and they would follow him anywhere.

And they did. Two years later, Kendels Service Station at 1157 McLeod Ave. added two service bays. Life, and business, was good. Things were humming, he said, adding one year, they sold four million litres of fuel. That was a lot.

As the years went on, there was money to be made selling gas. Prices were stable, and you could count on about a 10-cent profit on each litre of fuel. If you ordered it Monday at one wholesale cost, it was about the same wholesale cost, plus taxes, when it arrived, and the street price never moved much from 10 cents above that.

Gas was flowing, breakfasts were sizzling and the service bays were hopping. It was everything Jeff and Howard had hoped it would be.

Jobs were plenty, for family, for mechanics, for gas jockeys.

Money from oil companies was flowing as quickly as the gas. Needed new pumps? Done. New canopy? Easy. Signs, promotions and personal service from local oil-company representatives were as reliable as sunrise.

Then it started to change.

In the last year of my contract with Shell, I asked them for two gallons of white paint to touch up the canopy. Two gallons of paint! Not in the budget, was the reply, Kendel said.

That personal service? Gone. Kendel was forced to phone some call centre, God only knows where, only to have the same local guy  whose number Kendel knew  call back.

These kinds of practices would land people in court in the U.S

Dan McTeague knows Kendels plight. He said he saw this coming in 1998, when as a Liberal MP, he was chairman of a committee that wrote a report warning anti-competitive practices were beginning to appear by the oil companies. Consolidation of refineries was putting the squeeze on competition, and it became something the oil companies could use to put the screws on independents.

These kinds of practices would land people in court in the U.S., McTeague, now the senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy.com, said.

Frank Gunn / The Canadian Press files Gas-price watcher Dan McTeague. He is not the least bit impressed by the governments Competition Bureau. The office of monopoly preservation, he said snidely. Unlike in the U.S., where the burden of proof is at a civil level, in Canada, prosecution is at the criminal level. It is this high test in Canada that makes anti-competitive behaviour tough to prove, much less stop or deter.

McTeague said a systematic reduction in the number of independent gasoline retailers has led to higher prices, reduced competition and greater volatility in prices. One of the biggest culprits, according to his 1998 report, was the federal government.

The creation by the federal government of Crown-owned Petro-Canada was partly devised to enable Canada to move toward oil self-sufficiency said the Report of the Liberal Committee on Gasoline Pricing in Canada. However, establishing Petro-Canada, as a so-called window to the industry and an instrument of public policy, contributed to a sharp reduction in the number of refiners and marketers in Canada.

Petro-Canadas birth brought about the removal of Petrofina, British Petroleum, Gulf, Pacific Petroleum and Cities Service from the Canadian oil industry.

The inevitable result was foreseen in his report: today, there are only three national suppliers of petroleum products, Shell Canada, Suncor, which now owns Petro-Canada, and Imperial Oil. In Western Canada, you can add Husky to the mix. If youre wondering how competitive they are with each other, consider that all the trucks for Winnipeg stations, regardless of brand, drink from the same pipeline.

On any given day, a truck will pull into a terminal, load up with gas and then pull away to another point to put in the branded additives, McTeague said. Its all the same gas.

During a phone interview, McTeague is accessing Winnipegs terminal rack rate, the industry term for that days spot wholesale price for clear gas, on his laptop.

In Winnipeg today, Shell is 52.4 cents per litre. Suncor is  imagine that!  52.4 cents per litre and Imperial is  oh, wow!, a whole tenth of a cent!  52.3 cents, he said, feigning surprise.

Contrast that with Grand Forks, N.D., where the wholesale price on the same day ranged from 122.42 cents per gallon to 128.50 cents, from six different suppliers, some of whom have no vested interest in who they sell gas to.

What it means, he said, is that in Canada, after taxes, the only illusion of competition is for the last eight or nine cents per litre. His report suggested retailers hands are tied.

In the past, price competition at the pump came mainly from unbranded independent retailers. With the decline in the number of refiners and what some see as a concentration of power and lack of active competition at the wholesale level, independents no longer have the ability to deviate from what many of them view as a mandated price structure, the report said.

Pointing to Ontario, where the committee identified 17 companies that left the business from 1990 to 1998, the report painted a grim picture of the Toronto market.

Retail margins in Toronto and surrounding areas frequently reach zero, and at times, can go into negative figures, the report found. Since this is the only margin available to independents, the choice is simple: either lose money or lose market share. In either case, their ability to remain financially solvent is challenging.

McTeague said today, In Toronto, the independents have been wiped off the map, and those that remain are free to charge 10-cents-per-litre margin.

Those so-called price inversions, where you charge unfavourable clients more at wholesale than your favoured clients can sell retail, are clearly outlawed in the United States, he said.

Independent economist Robyn Allan, who has studied gasoline prices, attributed much of the high wholesale margins to the high cost of extracting oilsands bitumen.

My work in this area has stemmed from a concern that the excessive pricing is robbing our economy of much-needed stimulus and forcing individual consumers to subsidize  prop up  overly aggressive investment decisions by large multinationals in the oilsands, she said in an email.

What all the refiners are doing is relying on past high oil prices, and the pump prices these generated, to enable excessive profits. Pump prices should be much lower than they are if the industry were responsive to production costs.

The future of the oilsands industry is, of course, shrouded in smoke: the impact from the fire burning out of control near Fort McMurray, Alta., the oilsands capital, wont be known until long after the flames are out.

High margins have caught the attention of no less an august source than the Bank of Canada, which raised the alarm in January about Canadian gasoline prices bearing little resemblance to the tumbling price of oil.

Although gasoline prices have declined, they have not fallen as much as the reduction in crude oil prices would suggest, based on historical experience, the banks Monetary Policy Report said.

Domo gas bar on Ellice Ave. in the 1960s.

The birth of Domo

Douglas Everett was a young lad washing cars for his familys Dominion Motors  at the time, Canadas largest Ford dealer  when Winnipegs largest independent gas retailer was born.

The year was 1958, and Dominion Motors had two sets of pumps, both primarily to fill cars for the dealership but also with some retail business: one was at the Fort Street and Graham Avenue dealership, one was at the truck outfit where the Dominion Centre stands today. In 1970, Everetts father, a future senator also named Douglas, got the idea to approach Canada Safeway about setting up small gas kiosks at the streetside ends of the stores parking lots.

The idea was these spots werent being used, or if they were, it was the pirate parkers, who would park there and go somewhere else, the younger Douglas Everett said. So the rent was very inexpensive.

Of course, at the time, Safeways largest competitor in the grocery business was Dominion Stores, so they didnt want a Dominion Gas in their parking lot, Everett said with a chuckle. Take the Do from Dominion and the Mo from Motors, and Domo was born.

The kiosks were originally designed to look like miniature versions of the Safeway store behind. The kiosks were very simple, just a small building and two pumps, and Safeway agreed to three locations in Winnipeg and thats where it all started out.

Today, Domo operates 80 retail outlets from Winnipeg to Vancouver and wholesales gas to 45 independent dealers who fly the Domo flag. The younger Everett is the president.

He agrees its a tough business, even with 125 outlets. He said around 1990, consolidation in the industry slashed the number of gasoline retailers in Canada to 12,000 from about 25,000.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Douglas Everett, Chairman of Domo. At that point, margins started to get squeezed to the point volume was key. And then the big-boxes came in, and they were using them primarily to get customers into the stores, so they werent so concerned with profit.

Everett agreed there is little competition at the wholesale level.

There are only two places to get gas in Winnipeg. It all comes down one pipeline and it splits off at Gretna, and some goes to the Esso rack on Henderson and some goes to the old Shell refinery on Panet Road, he said. Definitely, its all the same gas, and when you go to the rack, its not like Oh, theres Shells gas over there, theres Essos, theres Domos you go in and fill up at the same rack.

Everett said what makes Domo tick are tight cost controls and lots of volume. The margins are very, very thin, so you need a lot of volume to be profitable. The company also benefits from high-traffic, convenient locations and brand familiarity driven by the slogan Jump to the pump, and the bouncy kangaroo that drives home the point.

Domos volume allows it to negotiate a discount from the wholesale price for gas, which helps the retail margin some  and that discount is the companys profit when selling to independent Domo dealers, who keep the retail margin. And while the agreement with Safeway meant those early stores sold fuel and oil and nothing else, todays Domo locations sell chips, pop and other sundry items.

Those, Everett said, are the only items where you can get 30 per cent margin, which you cant get anywhere close to on gas.

Squeezed out by fees

The pumps are still there. The canopy still shields them from the sun and the rain. The odd customer still pulls up, expecting a fill. But the power is off, the tanks are dry. Plastic bags are taped over the nozzles.

Kendel said for smaller outlets such as his used to be, profits on gas are so small, theyre wiped out by credit-card charges.

If a guy buys $100 in gas  and who has $100 cash?  he pays by a credit card, Kendel said. He thinks hes my best customer, but I havent made a cent.

Add in the fees for Air Miles, when his was a Shell outlet, or Aeroplan, when his was an Esso station, and he was losing money on most of his sales. Without a high-volume convenience store or car wash, it stopped making sense to sell gas.

That increased volatility McTeagues report noted? A killer to a small outfit such as Kendels. Kendel said he would often order gas at one price, only to see the street price fall, sometimes to below his wholesale price. As well, his price was fixed at the time of ordering, not at delivery.

Today, by and large, the only companies making money selling fuel are the oil companies. At the retail level, fuel is primarily a loss-leader. Or at corporate stores, the retail margin is added to the wholesale margin for as much as 28 cents profit on each litre sold.

For some stores, thats OK. The gas is the draw, without which there are no car washes or corn chips to sell. If the guy can sell you a car wash, thats when hes really making money, Kendel said.

At the most successful retail chain in these parts  Co-Op  retailers do not participate in the revenues from selling fuel at all. They merely hire the attendants and are reimbursed for the attendants wages. Virtually all the money they make is in the pop, lottery tickets, chocolate bars and car washes people happen to buy while fuelling up.

Co-Op has managed to earn a large share of the market, thanks in part to what Allan calls returning the excessive margin to customers in the form of a rebate.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jeff Kendel talks batteries with a client Monday. Kendel was a Shell dealer, then an Esso dealer before he ended gas sales altogether.

Kendel went from the red, white and yellow of Shell to the blue and white of Esso before finally hanging up the nozzle in 2015 for the last time.

Today, its good again at Kendels. Hes not selling gas, but the restaurant and service bays churn out a good bit of revenue. Many of those early customers, who remember Howard and Verna, still pop in for the Early Morning Breakfast, which is served all day long, or the homemade split-pea, minestrone or cabbage soups du jour. A cul-du-sac in Harbourview South  Howard Kendel Place  is named after the late mechanic.

Things are really good. I mean, it was only the service and the restaurant making money anyway.

But he says the changes that have been brought to the retail gas industry have robbed Canadians of a small part of their cultural fabric. The corner service stations provided a valuable service: they were often full-service, with attendants who would fill tanks, clean windshields, check oil and even park the car, if the customer was heading into the restaurant.

With a stable staff, a service station became a part of the neighbourhood, and the interactions became a part of everybodys social life. Today, you can pull up to a 20-pump self-serve, fill the car, pay for it and clean the windows yourself and never even have to say Hi to another human being.

How did we get here?

Timing has a lot to do with it. McTeague said he was raising these issues as a Liberal MP while the governing Liberals were still smarting from Pierre Trudeaus National Energy Policy, which instituted double taxation on petroleum products, inflamed tensions in the West, sparked threats of an Alberta secession and led to the infamous quote in protest: Let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark!

McTeagues proposed changes to the act werent limited to the gas sector, so the Canadian business lobby also railed at the amendments, and with the two issues combined, the Liberals didnt have the stomach for a fight at the time.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kendel's Service station offers oil changes and breakfast, but no gas. I wish people had listened to me when we still had time to fix this, McTeague said.

Kendel attributes part of the national indifference to typical Canadian values.

Were too polite. We figure we can still buy it, so we wont make any waves.

But also, McTeague said, the fear was Canada needed its institutions to muscle up to compete internationally, so competitiveness within Canada was ignored. He is no fan of Canadas Competition Act.

We have some people beating their chests, proclaiming it a great piece of legislation, he said. Frankly, it does not work.

In the U.S., competition is valued so much, courts award triple damages in antitrust cases, which can also result in US$100-million fines and, rarely, jail time. So an independent operator in Grand Forks, assuming hes not bound by a contract, can fill his stations tanks with fuel from any of the areas six suppliers, who not only have varying wholesale prices but can also offer volume discounts and favourable payment terms to lure new business.

In fact, McTeague said some wholesalers, fearful of antitrust violations, will often deliberately offer slightly better terms to independents. Many also do not operate their own retail chains.

Domos Everett said because the retail margins are so thin, competition even by independents is tough. He could cut his price, but then the majors would just match it, and Ill run out of money a lot sooner than they will. Plus, he still has to buy the gas from the major operators.

Instead, Domo offers discounts, particularly on what it calls rollback Tuesdays and Thursdays, where the pump price stays the same, but a five-cent-per-litre discount is calculated on each sale.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Domo gas bar on McPhillips St. near Mapleglen Dr.

What does the oil industry have to say? Who knows?

Trying to reach an oil-industry contact for comment was like a dog chasing its tail. Suncor and Shell both referred questions to the Canadian Fuels Association. The Canadian Fuels Association referred questions to research firm Kent Group Ltd. Kent Group said it couldnt speak on behalf of the industry and referred questions back to the Canadian Fuels Association, whose chief spokesman, Bill Simpkins, was away. A week later, when Simpkins returned, he appeared ready to give an interview, asking for the authors phone number, but when supplied with a number, referred questions to the CFAs Western Canada spokesman Brian Ahearn. He was also away.

A final request to the president of the CFA was not returned.

kelly.taylor@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KINGSTON, Ont.  Canadas most notorious prison will once again open its doors to the public this summer, almost three years after it formally closed.

Visitors will be able to tour the historic Kingston Penitentiary  which has held serial killers, rapists and bank robbers  from June 14 to Oct. 29 as part of a new arrangement between the eastern Ontario city and the provincial and federal governments.

Proceeds from the tours will be split between the United Way charity and local tourism marketing efforts.

A pedestrian walks their dog in front of Kingston penitentiary in Kingston Ont., on Friday May 13, 2016. All three levels of government announced that the Kingston penitentiary will open up for tourists this summer. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg

The Pen, as it is often called, ceased to operate as a federal prison in the fall of 2013.

It opened for public tours for a few weeks the following year, also as a fundraiser for United Way. Tickets were snapped up quickly.

Kingston municipal staff say there has been a push for more tours while officials and consultants work out more permanent plans for the facility.

This is an amazing opportunity for our city, the region and the country, Kingstons mayor, Bryan Paterson, said in a statement.

We know there is tremendous interest in this site and our hope is to get even more people from across the country and internationally to come to Kingston to see this historic site.

The tours will be run by the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, which has hired a public safety engineering firm to review the site.

Tours will be conducted in English, though the city says as many tour guides as possible will be bilingual.

The facility is partially accessible and reasonable steps will be taken to ensure full accessibility along the route.

Since its opening in June 1835, the prison some have dubbed Canadas Alcatraz has been home to an ongoing roster of the countrys worst criminals.

In recent times, the list includes serial child killer Clifford Olson; Paul Bernardo, who raped and killed two schoolgirls; and Mohammad Shafia, who helped drown his three teenaged daughters.

The facility was shuttered because the federal government said it was outdated and too expensive to run.

Last year, the city announced it would partner with Correctional Service Canada and other departments to overhaul the former prison as well as the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour. The process is set to begin before the summer.

-by Paola Loriggio in Toronto
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This article was published 12/05/2016 (2356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL  A proposed high school history course that critics said ignored minorities in Quebec and promoted a rigid, nationalist ideology will not be implemented provincewide as planned, the Education Department confirmed Thursday.

Instead, the department will make changes to the program to better reflect the provinces cultural and linguistic minorities, according to a government official as well as other well-placed sources.

The contentious plan was introduced by the Parti Quebecois government before it lost the 2014 election and was being piloted in a few Quebec schools.

Quebec Education and Family Minister Sebastien Proulx responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City in this April 28, 2016, file photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Department spokeswoman Marie-Eve Dion said schools that want to try piloting the new program in August 2016 will be allowed to do so while all others will stick to the old curriculum until further notice.

Many consultations have been done and improvements are constantly being implemented, she said in an email. The goal is to make the course as representative and inclusive as possible.

The program was to be introduced provincewide in the 2016-17 school year, which begins in late August.

This is absolutely good news, said Sylvia Martin-Laforge, head of the Quebec Community Groups Network, a federally funded organization that advocates for the provinces anglophone community.

We understand that the minister was not happy with the material. It would seem that people were eager (in the Education Department) to roll out this program and the minister had the courage to say No. We will not roll this out.'

The proposed two-year program, called History of Quebec and Canada, was widely panned by First Nations groups, as well as by cultural and linguistic minority communities across the province.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press revealed that non-European francophone immigrants are scantily mentioned.

In the guidelines teachers use to craft their lesson plans, Confederation in 1867 is not a theme, but tucked into the larger section called 1840-1896: The formation of the Canadian federal system.

Moreover, the only discussion of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, considered the father of multiculturalism in Canada, is in the context of him inviting the provincial governments to reopen the Canadian Constitution, after which Quebec left empty-handed.

Martin-Laforge said we can only hope that the depictions of minority communities will not be stereotypical and that the new program doesnt characterize us as bad guys.

Jacques Beauchemin, who helped write the proposed curriculum, told The Canadian Press earlier this year the purpose of the program was to remove mentions about Quebec being a diverse society that promotes multiculturalism.
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This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ST. JOHNS, N.L.  The Muskrat Falls hydro project will likely go ahead despite soaring costs and delays but changes are coming, says the new head of Newfoundland and Labrador Crown corporation Nalcor Energy.

Substantial progress has been made, other commitments have been put in place  its very unlikely it will be cancelled, Stan Marshall said Friday during a conference call to update Nalcor finances.

Its very likely that there will be delays beyond our control.

Workers move rebar at the construction site of the hydroelectric facility at Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador on Tuesday, July 14, 2015.The new head of Newfoundland and Labrador's Crown corporation Nalcor Energy says the troubled Muskrat Falls hydro project will likely go ahead. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

Still, Marshall said hes keeping all options open as he assesses cost and schedule overruns for a full status update he hopes to deliver in late June.

He said that report will include what I see as necessary changes at the very senior management level to better control the sprawling work site near Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador.

The province has already spent almost $4.8 billion building the dam and power house on the lower Churchill River  the largest publicly funded project in its history.

Other adjustments could include replacing the major construction contractor, Astaldi Canada, Marshall said.

We have an issue with them. We will hold discussions with them, and hopefully those can be resolved.

Cost projections for the province have soared to about $7.7 billion from $6.2 billion, with first power delayed several months until 2018 or later.

The joint venture between Nalcor and Nova Scotia utility company Emera (TSX:EMA) will bring power to the island of Newfoundland and on to Nova Scotia using subsea cables and overland transmission lines.

Emera is building the underwater Maritime Link for an estimated $1.6 billion.

A recent interim report by EY  formerly Ernst and Young  found problems with oversight and said Nalcors cost and timeline forecasts last September were not reasonable.

Former Nalcor president and CEO Ed Martin said April 20 he was voluntarily resigning to spend more time with his family. The entire board that had served with him also quit, saying it had lost the governments confidence.

The governing Liberals, who won power last fall after 12 years of Progressive Conservative rule, named Marshall as Martins replacement on April 21. Marshall, the former president and CEO of Fortis Inc., came out of retirement to accept the job.

Premier Dwight Ball has repeatedly promised a full public airing of Muskrat Falls costs and risks.

Former premier Danny Williams announced the project just before quitting politics in 2010. He said it would unleash the provinces potential as a renewable energy powerhouse while bypassing transmission hurdles through Quebec.

Quebec will no longer determine the fate of Newfoundland and Labrador and one of the most attractive, clean energy projects in North America, he said at the time.

His drive to skirt Quebec and bring power through Nova Scotia using subsea cables was fuelled by the famously lopsided Churchill Falls deal.

The 1969 agreement to ship power from Labrador to Quebec for sale has reaped more than $22 billion in profits for Quebec, versus about $1 billion for Newfoundland and Labrador. Quebec has steadfastly refused to renegotiate original terms, which did not reflect rising energy values and do not expire until 2041.

Williams and three successive Tory premiers sold the Muskrat Falls project as the cheapest option to fill Newfoundland and Labradors growing energy needs.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper signed off in November 2012 on a federal loan guarantee to save the province and Nova Scotia more than $1 billion in borrowing costs.

Harper at the time shrugged off Quebec critics who called it an unfair subsidy. He also called it a low-risk investment even though the project had not been endorsed by an independent regulator.

Energy consultant Tom Adams said Muskrat Falls from the get-go made little sense to many sector observers. There was the high cost of resulting power, the risk of cost bloat for a province of just 527,000 people, and the deluded notions of surplus power profits, he said Friday from Toronto.

It floored people. This project has had a credibility problem from the beginning.

That view was not shared by the movers and shakers that held the reins of power in Newfoundland and Labrador at the time, Adams said. But I think thats a reflection of the insular character of the governance that allowed this thing to happen in the first place.

Follow @suebailey on Twitter.
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Accused bomber denied bail again

Accused letter bomber Guido Amsel has lost another bid for bail.

On Thursday, Manitoba Court of Queens Bench Justice Chris Martin denied Amsels appeal of a provincial court judges earlier decision not to grant him bail.

I cannot see that (the judge) was wrong in exercising her judgment that it was necessary to detain Mr. Amsel in custody despite many factors in his favour, Martin said.

She was justified in doing so.

But in an unusual decision, Martin agreed to make public his bail-review decision including any references in the decision to comments, law or evidence submitted or touched upon in the review hearing may be published.

Martin rejected defence counsel Martin Glazers request to have details from the entire bail-review hearing made public.

The decision, though, means it can now be made public that when RCMP re-investigated the explosion that took place at the home of Ansels ex-wife about three years ago, they found new evidence.

The judge said the investigation recently resulted in a DNA discovery supposedly linking Mr. Amsel to the bomb in that event.

Amsel was arrested and charged last summer with several offences, including three counts of attempted murder.

The accusations against Ansel are in regards to his ex-wifes lawyer, Maria Mitousis  who had her right hand blown off while she was opening a package  his ex-wife, Iris Amsel and another Winnipeg lawyer.

Last month, RCMP charged Amsel with the December 2013 explosion at the home where his ex-wife lived.

Guilty of double killing

It took a jury little more than an hour to find Seymour Sharpe guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend and her longtime male friend.

The 10-man, two-woman Manitoba Court of Queens Bench jury took 75 minutes Thursday to find Sharpe guilty of two counts of second-degree murder.

When asked by Justice Brenda Keyser whether they had any recommendation on whether to raise Sharpes parole eligibility to longer than the mandatory 10-year minimum, three jurors had no recommendation while nine said Sharpe should serve 25 years before being able to apply to get out.

Sharpe, 47, will be sentenced later this year.

Natasha Jeffrey, 37, and Ronald Dabreo, 39, were slain by Sharpe in her Roblin Avenue home in Charleswood May 17, 2013.

Court was told police found a pipe from a weightlifting set with blood on it.

Crown attorney Ari Millo told the court at the beginning of the trial Sharpe had turned himself in to police and admitted to the slayings.

During the trial, Jeffreys co-worker testified she overheard a phone conversation during which Sharpe told the woman Ill take a machete, and I will slice you up.

But defence counsel Greg Brodsky argued Sharpe didnt have the necessary intent to commit murder because he was provoked by Jeffrey.

Ex-council candidate sentenced

A former city council candidate received a 12-month conditional sentence Thursday after pleading guilty to an illegal arms transfer.

Ray Paul Ulasy, 51, who lost to Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt in the 2014 election, was sentenced after pleading guilty to attempting to transfer firearms without authority.

The scheme, which was meant to exact revenge on someone Ulasy blamed for getting his son addicted to drugs, failed when an undercover police officer foiled the effort.

Im sorry for what I did, Ulasy told Court of Queens Bench Justice Chris Martin Thursday.

I do understand what I did was against the law. I was consumed with the belief this guy had got my son into drugs.

Martin, who accepted a joint recommendation from Crown and defence counsel, called Ulasys actions a crazy scheme that nearly defies imagination.

Martin said Ulasy not only endangered himself, but also his family, had the undercover agent turned out to be a criminal.

Ulasy was arrested as part of the RCMPs Project Distress. More than a dozen people were arrested and charged with drug offences in December 2014.

But court was told while Ulasy wasnt one of the targets of the investigation, he became part of it when he was introduced to the undercover officer by one of the people being investigated.

Defence counsel Sheldon Pinx said because Ulasy was told the undercover officer had helped his son become addicted to drugs, he wanted to get back at him.

His plan was eventually to turn a firearm over to the agent and then call the police.

I recognize this was bizarre.

Note detailed threat, trial told

Hours before a Winnipeg man used his fists and a marble rolling pin to kill his mother, she put a note in her purse saying he had threatened to kill her.

In the note written by Rosina Campbell April 11, 2013, and read aloud by Crown attorney Renee Lagimodiere Thursday, the woman said, Now I am afraid.

The 61-year-old Campbell wrote she had told her 42-year-old son, Christopher, he had to move out of her house.

He said he would come back with an axe and chop me into pieces.

I asked why he was doing this, and he said he was God, and I am just a pedophile.

He is nuts he needs psychiatric help in hospital.

Lagimodiere said there is no evidence the woman was a pedophile.

Christopher Campbell was convicted of second-degree murder after pleading guilty in March.

Rosina Campbell was killed April 11, 2013, in the home she shared with her son.

Christopher Campbell fled in the womans car and was picked up by police three days later in Regina.

The mandatory sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison, but Justice Sadie Bond has the option of extending the date to which Campbell would be eligible for parole to beyond 10 years.

Lagimodiere is asking the judge to raise the eligibility to between 12 to 15 years while defence counsel Stacey Soldier is asking for the minimum.

Campbell told the judge I miss my mom every day I accept responsibility. I am sorry.

Nine years for attempted murder

A Winnipeg gang member who shot a rival in the head, leaving the victim needing care 24 hours a day, has been sentenced to nine years in prison.

Matthew McKay, 17, was convicted last year of attempted murder.

But recently, Manitoba Court of Queens Bench Justice Doug Abra ordered McKay to receive an adult sentence because of the seriousness of the crime.

Abra said Thursday while the Crown argued for 10 years of prison and the defence asked for a 71/2-year sentence, he decided nine years was fit.

But Abra said because McKay had been in custody since his arrest, he would be given credit for the 915 days he has already served, meaning he has about 6.5 years left in prison.

Abra will decide next month in which facility McKay will serve his sentence.

Court was told McKay, a member of the B-side gang, spotted a member of the Mad Cowz in their territory sitting in a car behind the Nook restaurant at Sherbrook Street and Wolseley Avenue in June 2013.

McKay left to get a handgun and when he returned, he shot the now 20-year-old victim, who can only be identified as J.M., because of his age at the time.

 Kevin Rollason
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A flimsy, inflatable childs vest and a plastic compass plucked from an overcrowded dinghy on the Mediterranean Sea are part of a jarring new exhibit at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

A Perilous Crossing focuses on last years story of search-and-rescue operations on the sea by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders and Maltas Migrant Offshore Aid Station. Ships such as the Phoenix, a retrofitted Canadian fishing boat, patrolled the Mediterranean trying to prevent the deaths of some of the million migrants and refugees fleeing conflict, persecution and disasters.

In eight months they saved the lives of more than 20,000 people, said curator Isabelle Masson. One in five was a child.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Curator Isabelle Masson adapted the exhibit A Perilous Crossing for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

The sea voyagers from countries including Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan were some of the 27.8 million people forced to migrate in 2015, the Norwegian Refugee Council reported this week.

This 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, council secretary general Jan Egeland said in a news release.

Put another way, around 66,000 people abandoned their homes every day of 2015.

In Winnipeg, Masson modified the exhibit A Perilous Crossing that was developed last summer for the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 in Halifax by highlighting human rights with new images and a longer video.

Its providing a tangible connection to a key crisis thats ongoing and talking about our own connection to it and what actions can we take, said Masson.

Are we paying attention to what the issues are? What are people fleeing? Can we become involved in one way or another?

If Canada allowed more privately sponsored refugees into the country, fewer desperate people would risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean to Europe, said Winnipeg human rights advocate Ghezae Hagos. Canada has reduced the visa allocation for refugees from African countries who have loved ones here waiting to support them and to help them resettle, he said.

Hagos knows of other perilous journeys closer to home. Last weekend, a Somali man was taken to hospital after spending more than half an hour swimming down the Red River into Canada from the U.S. so he could make a refugee claim. An exhausted Ahmed Moalin, 30, made it to the border crossing at Emerson, where Canada Border Services Agency officers gave him dry clothes. They called settlement director Karin Gordon at the Hospitality House Refugee Ministry in Winnipeg, who picked him up and took him to emergency at Health Sciences Centre. He was treated and released, and members of the Somali community helped him board a bus for Toronto where he has friends.

Its providing a tangible connection to a key crisis thats ongoing and talking about our own connection to it and what actions can we take curator Isabelle Masson

The safest way is for Canada to open its doors to refugees, said Hagos.

A Canadian doctor who treated some of the migrants and refugees shivering as they arrived in Greece said European countries need to do more. Dr. Tim Jagatic volunteered with MSF in Greece from January to March  the coldest months on the Mediterranean. The weather was pretty miserable, and it was pretty rough, he said from Toronto. Hypothermia and psychological shock were the two most common ailments, he said. One man from Afghanistan suffered frostbite crossing mountains long before reaching the Mediterranean.

Jagatic said hes frustrated by the lack of medical attention refugees and migrants are receiving from much of Europe. All they need is primary care to prevent complications, and theyre not getting it.

The exhibit is on display at the CMHR until Sept. 25.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Former Conservative MP Steven Fletcher spent more than twice as much as Liberal challenger Doug Eyolfson last fall as he tried to hang on to his seat in the House of Commons.

All but two of the candidates who ran in Manitoba ridings in last years federal election now have their campaign expenses posted on the Elections Canada website. Candidates had until Feb. 19 to file but it takes Elections Canada staff awhile to wade through the nearly 1,800 returns and post the summaries online.

Fletcher says at the beginning of October it was clear the campaign was taking a sharp turn in favour of the Liberals and even his seat  one many thought was the safest Conservative seat in Winnipeg  was in jeopardy. On Oct. 5, his campaign took out a $50,000 loan to finance a massive media buy, Fletcher told the Free Press.

DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Steven Fletcher, who lost his re-election bid in the 2015 federal election, spent more than twice as much as his Liberal opponent.

It was something like 30 ads a day on local radio stations, he said.

Fletcher was elected to represent the provincial Tories last month.

The ad used Fletchers name but also urged people to vote for their local Conservative candidate so the ad could potentially help more than just him. It didnt. He lost by more than 6,000 votes and the Conservatives were shut out in Winnipeg entirely. The loan was repaid in full, with interest, on Dec. 9. He said he has no regrets about the campaign in any way.

Theres nothing I would have changed that was in my control, he said.

Not including the loan repayment, Fletcher spent the second most of any of the candidates in Manitoba, at $179,105.39. Eyolfson, an emergency room doctor who was trying his hand in politics for the first time, spent less than half that, at $78,018.21. Fletcher spent more than 90 per cent of what he was allowed by Elections Canada, Eyolfson spent 35 per cent of the allowable limit.

Eyolfson said he gives credit to his campaign team for knowing how to spend money efficiently, as well as the benefit of a mood for change and a strong national campaign, for being able to win with so much less money put out.

Its very gratifying to know we managed to succeed with such a good use of funds, he told the Free Press in an interview. Its not always about money. You need money but the trick is to spend it wisely.

Only Brandon-Souris Conservative Larry Maguire spent more than Fletcher, both in his total amount ($211, 321) and the percentage of his limit, at 95 per cent. Maguire had come within 400 votes of losing the 2013 byelection so he wasnt taking any chances even in what is typically a safe Conservative seat.

His efforts paid off and he beat Liberal Jody Wyman by 5,328 votes. He outspent her by a margin of 3.5 to one to do it. Maguire also spent the most for every vote he received: $10. Liberal Dan Vandal in Saint Boniface-Saint Vital spent $2.75 per vote, the least of any of the winners.

Fletcher is one of five candidates who ended up spending more than the eventual winner in their riding. Incumbent Conservative Lawrence Toet outspent eventual winner NDP Daniel Blaikie by $14,500 in Elmwood-Transcona. Longtime NDP MP Pat Martin outspent Liberal winner Robert-Falcon Ouellette by more than $20,000 in Winnipeg Centre. As well, Conservative Jim Bell outspent Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk by about $8,000 in Kildonan-St. Paul, but finished second.

Former Manitoba Health Minister turned federal NDP candidate Erin Selby didnt even join the race until the Labour Day weekend, once an entire month of campaigning had already passed. Yet she spent slightly more than Vandal ($80,121 to $78,556).

Saint Boniface-Saint Vital Conservative candidate Francois Catellier is one of two Manitoba candidates who has not yet filed his campaign expenses. Catellier and Green Party candidate Steven Stairs who ran in Kildonan-St. Paul, received extensions but have since failed to file even by the extended deadline they were given.

Four candidates didnt run any kind of campaign, with no money coming in or going out. That includes three of the five candidates who ran in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski (Kyle Mirecki for the Conservatives, August Hastmann for the Greens and Zachary Linnick for the Libertarians), as well as Green candidate Kim Parke in Elmwood-Transcona.

With the longer election period, spending limits were roughly 2.5 times more than in 2011, but most candidates did not take advantage of the extra room. Only nine spent more than half their limit. More than half spent less than a third, including Mihychuk who won the seat. Five of the 14 winners spent more than half the limit.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
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This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Tory leader, a former Conservative MLA, and a defeated candidate are among the people Crown Services Minister Ron Schuler has appointed to the Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries board.

The business-heavy board includes five men and four women, one of the most gender-balanced government appointments so far in the young administration.

The new chair of the board announced Friday morning is Polly Craik and the vice-chair is Nick Logan.

JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Stuart Murray

Newly appointed directors are Gary Coleman, Tracy Maconachie, James Morden, Stuart Murray, Rene Pereux, Jennifer Plett and Mavis Taillieu.

Murray is a former provincial Tory leader, and Taillieuis a former MLA for Morris. Maconachie ran unsuccessfully for the Progressive Conservatives in River Heights in the April 19 election.

Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries generates revenue that is essential to many public services provided by the province, said Schuler in a news release. This new board is made up of individuals whose experience and knowledge make them eminently prepared for the important role of responsibly and effectively governing the operations of this Crown corporation.

The board of directors for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries is responsible for carrying out the duties, powers and functions of the corporation. Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries looks after the distribution and sale of liquor and gambling products in the province under the Liquor and Lotteries Corporation Act, and revenue returned to the province helps to support health care, education, economic development, public safety initiatives and social and community services, provincial officials said in their news release.

Government-provided biographies noted that:

 Craik owned Fine Line Communications for more than 25 years until it was acquired in 2015. An active board member, she is a past chair of CentreVenture Development Corporation and the Business Council of Manitoba.

 Logan was the president, CEO and director of National Leasing from its inception in 1987 until 2014. During that time, National Leasing was recognized as one of Canadas 50 Best privately managed companies for 16 consecutive years. He is now principle of Logan Point Investments Inc., specializing in small-business equity and property development.

 Coleman is the president, chairman and CEO of Big Freight Systems Inc. He began working with the company in 1981 when it was South East Transport Systems. He is also a past president and CEO of Industrial Growth Income Corp.

 Maconachie is the president of the Life Science Association of Manitoba, a position held since May of 2010. Previous to that, she held various positions at Merck Frosst Canada from 1997 to 2010. She has served in board appointments focusing on areas of bioscience research and pharmaceuticals.

 Morden has been involved in the financial services industry for more than 30 years. He was a founding partner of Assante Corporation until its sale in 2003 and has since been a vice-president and private wealth counsellor at Pavilion Investment House.

 Murray held the position of president and CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights from 2009 until 2014, leading the construction and completion of the project. He is also a past president and CEO of the St. Boniface Hospital and Research Foundation and Domo Gasoline Corporation.

 Pereux is a financial services executive with more than 40 years of experience in the industry. Currently operating his own services firm, Pereux Financial Services, he also founded and held the role of co-CEO of Daystar Financial Group until it was acquired in 2013.

 Plett leads the office operations of Plett Trucking Ltd., where she has worked since 1999. She also has experience working in both provincial and federal levels of government. Plett worked in various departments of the Manitoba government from 1995 to 1999. She also worked in the office of former federal minister of health and welfare Jake Epp from 1987 to 1989.

 Taillieu is a former member of the legislative assembly, serving in the constituency of Morris from 2003 until 2013. Taillieu was the founder, and until 2000 the publisher, of the Headingley Headliner newspaper. Taillieu holds a degree in administrative studies from the University of Winnipeg, with majors in economics, political science and public administration. She was a registered laboratory technologist with an advanced certification in hematology. She is also currently the vice-president of Parc Industries.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
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It took a jury little more than an hour to find Seymour Sharpe guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend and her longtime male friend.

The 10-man, two-woman Manitoba Court of Queens Bench jury took 75 minutes Thursday to find Sharpe guilty of two counts of second-degree murder.

When asked by Justice Brenda Keyser whether they had any recommendation on whether to raise Sharpes parole eligibility to longer than the mandatory 10-year minimum, three jurors had no recommendation while nine said Sharpe should serve 25 years before being able to apply to get out.

FACEBOOK PHOTO Natasha Jeffrey and Seymour Lloyd Sharpe in a December 2009 photo. Jeffrey, along with Ronald Dabreo, were found dead in her Roblin Boulevard home in May 2013.

Sharpe, 47, will be sentenced later this year.

Natasha Jeffrey, 37, and Ronald Dabreo, 39, were slain by Sharpe in her Roblin Avenue home in Charleswood on May 17, 2013.

Court was told police found a pipe from a weightlifting set with blood on it.

Crown attorney Ari Millo told the court at the beginning of the trial that Sharpe had turned himself into police and admitted the slayings.

During the trial, Jeffreys co-worker testified she overheard a phone conversation during which Sharpe told the woman Ill take a machete and I will slice you up.

But defence counsel Greg Brodsky argued Sharpe didnt have the necessary intent to commit murder because he was provoked by Jeffrey.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
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Two men have been charged with first-degree murder after a 29-year-old man was shot in Winnipeg with a military-style assault rifle.

George Prieston of Winnipeg was shot in a West End house neighbours said was a known drug den. His dog was also shot and, as a result of its injuries, had to be put down by authorities.

Prieston, suffering from several gunshot wounds to the upper body, was found in a residence in the 600 block of Wellington Avenue about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. He was transported to hospital in critical condition and later pronounced dead.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg police and cadets secure a crime scene on a section on Wellington Avenue between Agnes Street and Victor Street Friday morning.

At a news conference Friday morning, police warned the public the weapon used in the shootings has not been found and issued a bulletin to the entire police force regarding officers safety.

This is a military-style assault rifle with a high-capacity magazine. There is a risk as long as that weapon is out there, police spokesman Const. Rob Carver said.

Witnesses had also reported seeing a military-style assault rifle.

Carver said police walked into the crime scene blind, unaware they were chasing suspects who were so heavily armed.

Guns arent uncommon on city streets but an assault rifle isnt typical, said Carver, who made the case police have previously made, that they need similar weapons to respond in kind.

This type of weapon poses a huge risk to public safety as well as our members, it raises the highest levels of concern Theres no question officers who responded faced a high level of danger. This is a military-style weapon. Its designed to kill people and our officers responded and there were no indications this was the type of weapon out there. Our officers went in, effectively blind to that information, Carver said.

It tells us the nature of the threats our officers face is changing substantially and that we have to respond in kind. Carbines are the kind of arms we would need to respond to this situation, he said.

Carbines are powerful, compact rifles issued to high-mobility military troops, including special-operations troops and paratroopers.

The shots rang out Thursday evening on the inner-city street flanked with subsidized housing and a beer store to the east near Maryland Street.

Three guys went to the door and it was boom, boom, boom, said one housing tenant, a young father pulling a baby stroller up the steps of his unit. The black dog got shot and its owner, He said the house, clad in new beige vinyl siding, was a known drug haunt. Its a pretty bad area, the dad said.

It was unclear late Friday if police were searching for a third suspect.

CRIMESTOPPERS Crimestoppers photo of George Prieston for domestic-related charges in 2012.

At the other end of the block, about three doors down from the house where the shooting took place, a couple chatted Thursday in their front yard. They also heard gunshots between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Three pops, said the man. The first instinct was to hide, added the woman. We grabbed our kids and ran to the basement, she said. They stayed in the basement for maybe five minutes. When they came upstairs and looked out, they saw people running on the street and figured pedestrians were running for cover.

A third resident, walking down the street Friday with a case of beer, said anyone carrying liquor in that area is a target for muggers.

He figured a police cadet van and a cruiser parked outside the yellow tape around the crime scene would protect his beer this time.

Ive been mugged five times in the seven years Ive lived here once by a man with a machete, he said pointing to a faint but visible scar on his forehead left by one of the attacks. I could tell you horror stories.

The two adult males who were arrested face charges of first-degree murder, failing to comply with a recognizance and cruelty to animals.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca
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Manitobas new Progressive Conservative government is promising to take a hands-off approach to provincial Crown corporations, even if that means allowing Manitoba Hydro to proceed with its plans to complete the $4-billion Bipole III transmission line.

Crown Services Minister Ron Schuler pledged Thursday to depoliticize the decision-making at Manitoba Hydro, Manitoba Public Insurance and Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries, alleging the provinces three largest Crown corporations were effectively controlled by the former Selinger government.

There were political operatives and political decisions being made out of this building and they were transmitted to the Crowns, Schuler said in an interview in his new office at the Manitoba Legislature. Were going to break that whole model. The political interference in the Crowns has to stop.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Ron Schuler, Minister of Crown Services (MLA for St. Paul), said in an interview Thursday the Tories will not interfere with Crown corporations.

Schuler, who was sworn in last week along with rest of Premier Brian Pallisters 12-member cabinet, said the Bipole III review promised by his party is already underway.

During the provincial election campaign, Pallister said he would ask the Public Utilities Board to conduct the review. Schuler said the review is in the hands of the newly appointed Manitoba Hydro board, now chaired by Sandy Riley, president and CEO of Richardson Financial Group.

Although the PCs have levelled intense criticism at Bipole III over the years, Schuler said hed like to hear recommendations from the Hydro board before considering any decision to halt or cancel construction on the transmission line. The same goes for the $6.5-billion Keeyask hydro-electric project on the Nelson River, Schuler said.

If you ask somebody to come to you with advice, you cant preempt them and say, Oh by the way, this is what I think and this is what Id like to do, now give me your advice. That gets us back into the trouble that got us there in the first place, the minister said.

Depending on how much money has been spent, depending how much concrete has been poured (and) how much steel has been put up, at some point in time, theres no point of return.

The combined cost of Bipole III and Keeyask led the Public Utilities Board to approve a Manitoba Hydro rate hike that kicks in in August.

Moving beyond Hydro, Schuler said he plans to ask Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries to review its decision to proceed with the construction of a new downtown headquarters. The minister said hed like to learn more about the construction contracts and see how far the project has proceeded.

Schuler also said he has no plans to consider any further liberalization, never mind privatization at Manitoba Public Insurance or Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries.

I think we have massive challenges in front of us on a lot of fronts and my suggestion would be that we should probably deal with the challenges we have, he said. Ive got my plate full without taking on more issues.

Ted Marcelino, the NDP Crown corporations critic, was not immediately available for comment.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

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This article was published 12/05/2016 (2356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are many things that have made American video game developer Brianna Wu a name in the gaming industry. Like the fact shes the head of Giant Spacekat, a successful female-led game development team. Or that shes a coveted public speaker, who doesnt shy away from tough conversations.

But its also possible you know Wus name not as a trailblazing woman in her field, but as one of the high-profile targets of a horrific harassment campaign called Gamergate.

For calling out the sexism in their field, Wu  along with many other women  were subject to constant death threats, rape threats and doxing, which is the dissemination of personal information on the Internet. Shes had to leave her home. Shes feared for her life. And shes had the joy and passion she had for her career steadily eroded by constant abuse.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Brianna Wu, a video game developer targeted in the Gamergate online harassment campaign, is speaking in Winnipeg tonight and Friday.

She refuses to be silenced. Wu, 38, is in Winnipeg this week for Spur Winnipeg 2016, the annual festival devoted to idea exchange. Shes speaking at two panels: Tonights Hivemind or Internet Mob? looked at how women are using the Internet to connect and change the gaming industry, while Fridays panel, Feminist Futures, will examine the movement in 2016. Tonights event was at the Rachel Brown Theatre at 7 p.m., while Fridays panel is at Knox United Church at 7 p.m.

I sat down with Wu on Thursday afternoon to discuss some of those issues  and how we might make the Internet a safer place for women.

 Free Press: I like that (Thursdays) panel is less about the Internet should be feared and avoided and more about how we can use it for good.

Brianna Wu: I kind of get frustrated with people putting a camera in my face and saying, Please relive the horrors. (laughs) Its been bad, but its like, can one move beyond it? I have a piece coming out at the Verge soon, looking at the 3,000 harassment, rape, death threat, doxing reports Ive filed in the past year and a half. Imagine filing 3,000 of those. Thats not getting 3,000 comments. Thats 3,000 that rose to the level of Oh my God, I have to do something about that.

 FP: And yet, youre here, youre still speaking publicly, youre still working. Where does your resilience come from?

BW: I think people need to understand about me, like, I grew up in a state that, Martin Luther King said it was sweltering with the heat of oppression. Do you know my homecoming king and queen, in the 1990s when I was a teenager growing up in Mississippi, were segregated? We had a black homecoming queen and a white homecoming queen, and a black prom and a white prom. I grew up there, and the homophobia and sexism and racism was so apparent  and people just didnt want to see it. I got to be an adult, and I used to think it was just the South that was broken, but then you realize theres no difference between a male engineer that has unconscious bias against a female engineer in the field and a white southerner that has prejudice against black people. So where does resilience come from? It comes from this place where its about living with yourself. I could not stay silent while women were being run out of the gaming industry in 2014  which is still happening, by the way. Were still hemorrhaging women.

 FP: I wanted to ask you about that, the heartbreak of hearing young girls and women who were interested in going into tech saying, No, I cant do that.

BW: This is whats going to make me tear up. I could open my email right now, and I could show you emails from girls who still write that to me. I got an email from a father yesterday who send me a message about his daughter who loves computer science, but shes scared to follow her dream. And it really makes me tear up. If I ever end up leaving the industry, its not going to be because Brianna Wu couldnt take the heat. Its going to be because my heart is broken from seeing this field break so many people. I can tell you that women in our field are terrified. Women in our field are demoralized. Women in our field are exhausted from fighting a cultural war. Were leaving in droves. Theres a higher awareness about bringing women into the field  but were still leaving at a rate thats three times higher than men because the culture sucks.

 FP: Online culture sucks, too. Women who are experiencing harassment are repeatedly told to just go offline, but thats not a solution.

BW: Thats asking women to sacrifice their careers. The video game industry, we are an industry of cult of personality. You can keep your head down and keep your mouth shut and be somewhat OK. But if you want to own your own company, if you want to have a reputation, if you want to be invited to conferences the way men are invited to conferences, you have to be yourself. Thats just the way the world functions in 2016. Youre asking women to be silent and have mediocre careers because these dudes cant behave. Why are we asking women to give up?

 FP: What do you think would make the Internet a safer place for women?

BW: Let me tell you a story. In 2014, before Gamergate, before any of this, I went to WWDC  which is the big Apple event in San Francisco  and I got an invite to watch this at Twitter headquarters, which is very interesting considering what Twitter and I would become in the next few years. I met a bunch of engineers on Twitters team, and what do they have in common? They are white, straight men. All of them. So the problem is, a company like Twitter, a company like Facebook, a company like Reddit  they are founded by men, for men, with men working on the engineering team. As youre setting the paradigm for these products, womens views are not included, LGBT views are not included, black views are not included  all these different views are simply not there. The social-media systems that think about this from the word go, like Instagram, have lower rates of harassment. Engineers build societies. Engineers built this building. Engineers built the Internet. When were talking about women in tech, were really asking ourselves if women in other marginalized groups are going to be able to build these systems and have a vote in the systems that all of our careers are made of.

 FP: A criticism I run into often is that girls are being pushed towards tech, as though the fundamental lack of interest is the problem.

BW: I make damn good money being an engineer. I have a lot of job prospects. Dont tell me that women are not interested in tech. Its just a lie. Being an engineer is just curiosity. Its about wanting to build things, about wanting to repair things. It has nothing to do with gender. Its the culture that pushes women away.

 FP: Thursdays talk is about the possibilities.

BW: As far as a positive action step, I take deadly seriously my responsibility to help out other women. It makes me so frustrated how women are pitted against each other from the word go. We have to ruthlessly have each others backs.

This interview was condensed and edited for clarity and length.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @JenZoratti

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Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised Canadians he would bring hope back to Ottawa.

Better, he said so often he made himself hoarse, is always possible.

Is it better when, little more than six months in office, the government has already moved to use its majority of votes to cut off debate at least four times?

Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons earlier this week.

Is it better when the PM intends to change how Canadians elect future governments by a decision of cabinet based on the recommendations of an all-party committee stacked with Liberals?

One can forgive the government perhaps for closing down debate on the assisted-dying bill as it desperately tries to get the legislation passed before a Supreme Court ruling takes effect. Maybe the budget-implementation bill has some time-sensitive financial matters in it. But what, pray tell, was the reason to cut off debate on Bill C-10 last month after less than nine hours?

Bill C-10 waters down the requirements for Air Canada to keep highly skilled maintenance jobs in Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario.

During the time-allocation debate April 20, Transport Minister Marc Garneau insisted the governments of Quebec and Manitoba are satisfied with the position Air Canada has taken on job creation in Quebec and Manitoba.

Interesting he could know that, given Manitobans had elected a new government less than 12 hours earlier. So not only is the federal government pushing through legislation that will likely mean the end of the kind of high-skilled maintenance work Air Canada had in Winnipeg for more than two decades, it was doing so in the middle of a provincial election when it couldnt possibly believe it had a mandate from the Manitoba government to do anything.

This week, the new Tory government in Manitoba made clear it does not support the bill.

Sometimes, there is a reason to use time allocation. If every bill was debated until every single MP had uttered every single word they could on the subject, nothing would ever get done. Typically, the House leaders of every party have a discussion about how much debate each bill should have. Time allocation comes into play when the government cant get an agreement about that.

Opposition parties have to be reasonable in their requests for debate time, but the government has the bigger obligation to ensure it doesnt appear to be stifling debate. Why would the government cut off debate on C-10 when there is no obvious time constriction?

NDP MP Daniel Blaikie points out when you fast-track legislation in Parliament, you stifle discussion among the public, as well. The government wont even agree to bring public hearings on the bill to Manitoba and Quebec to hear what individuals there may have to say about it.

Next, the government is planning to legislate how Canadians elect our governments in the first place. An all-party committee announced this week was slammed because the Liberals have a majority of votes on it. But the committee isnt going to make the final decision: the committee will report to cabinet, cabinet will decide which option to legislate and the Liberal majority in the House of Commons will usher it through.

Even though Liberal MP Maryam Monsef told the House of Commons Canadians will have the first say and the final say, thats not true. The final say clearly rests with Liberals.

Trudeau has said several times hes not doing this to make it easier for Liberals to get elected, but does anyone actually see a sitting government creating, debating and voting for a bill that might make it harder for its party to get elected?

The Conservatives say nothing short of a referendum will be good enough to ensure the new system isnt shaped through partisan goggles. There may be another way, if the Liberals are willing to give up some of their control, but its hard to imagine a time when a referendum may be more warranted than to decide how Canadians choose their government in the first place.

At this rate, however, one can only imagine not only will the Liberals introduce the reform legislation, as promised, by April, but theyre likely to call for time allocation and shut down debate on that same legislation, as well.

Mia Rabson is the Free Press parliamentary bureau chief.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Needless to say, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is a polarizing figure. Having just returned from the U.S., the contorted body language of everyday citizens spoke volumes as I carefully asked them about their thoughts on The Donald.

Many of the expletive-filled replies are not suitable for print in a reputable newspaper. Interestingly enough, there was a noticeable glaze over peoples faces when I pressed them on Trumps interest-based foreign policy approach.

In Trumps late April appearance at a Washington hotel ballroom, he outlined, with the use of two teleprompters, what his foreign policy universe would look like. Simply put, it was a rough variation on a familiar theme in U.S. foreign policy: namely, the idea of the United States as the singular dominant power in the world. The operative words were America first and American exceptionalism.

MARY ALTAFFER / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump

My foreign policy will always put the interests of the American people and American security above all else. It has to be first. Has to be. That will be the foundation of every single decision that I will make, Trump said.

Accordingly, he called for a major buildup of U.S. military power, a disavowing of multi-country trade agreements and a rapid destruction of Islamic State militants. While he would seek to repair relations with both Russia and China, he would be blunt with some of Americas traditional allies.

Indeed, if Europe and the Pacific Rim nations dont pay their fair share of defence costs, a Trump administration would simply walk away from its allies and alliances. In his words: The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defence, and if not, the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. We have no choice.

He also pledged to get out of the nation-building business, to never commit U.S. troops unless victory overseas was guaranteed and to only use military force as a last resort. We will develop, build and purchase the best equipment known to mankind. Our military dominance must be unquestioned, and I mean unquestioned by anybody and everybody.

Trump was especially critical of U.S. President Barack Obamas nuclear deal with Iran, hinting he would have walked away from the negotiating table. Yet, there was no mention of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, his support for U.S. allies such as South Korea and Saudi Arabia acquiring nuclear weapons, or his endorsement of the present U.S.-Cuba normalization process.

Several American newspapers took serious aim at what was dubbed a major foreign policy address by Trump. A USA Today editorial stated: A non-interventionist approach might have its merits in certain situations. But the America First movement got its name espousing an isolationist approach at exactly the wrong moment, urging the United States to stay out of the Second World War as Adolf Hitler was rampaging through Europe.

In the New York Times, the editorial writer had this to say: When one has a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And when ones experience is limited to real estate deals, everything looks like a lease negotiation. More pointedly, the newspaper observed Trump knows how to negotiate, and to him that seems to mean putting forward maximal positions that he can walk back. That wont work in foreign policy.

Likewise, many foreign policy experts and diplomats had some difficulty following the logic of Trumps remarks. He was all over the map, lacking consistency and coherence, and announcing what was surely pretty thin gruel. It amounted to an odd mixture of previous Republican and Democratic foreign policy nostrums.

Still, it would not be a stretch to suggest the Trump doctrine could have important repercussions for Canada and the Trudeau government. Reading between the lines, you could expect a Trump White House to push Canada hard on its lack of defence spending and its non-commitment to ballistic missile defence for North America. His administration would no doubt be difficult to deal with on the trade front (get ready for a rough ride on softwood lumber and the NAFTA trade pact), on securing U.S. engagement in the world generally and the United Nations specifically (particularly given Trumps isolationist proclivities), and, most significant, on matters involving the thinning out of the Canada-U.S. border (no wall perhaps, but a further thickening of the border space).

He obviously has some work to do on the foreign policy file before the real presidential campaign begins in earnest in September. But if the early signs are any indication, the Trump doctrine is likely to have a short shelf life. And that is probably very good news for both Canada and the world.

Peter McKenna is professor and chair of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 05/05/2016 (2363 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People who lose everything in a wildfire experience an emotional roller-coaster that in some cases lasts for months and even years, says a social scientist who has studied the aftermath of four major fires in Western Canada.

University of Lethbridge professor Judith Kulig says those affected by a devastating wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alta., will likely experience a gamut of emotions.

What we find is that right after the fire there is that shock, disbelief and then a denial to what is happening, Kulig said.

Evacuees camp by a lake as smoke fills the sky near Fort McMurray, Alta., on Wednesday May 4, 2016. The wildfire has already torched 1,600 structures in the evacuated oil hub of Fort McMurray and is poised to renew its attack in another day of scorching heat and strong winds.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Then people do tend to create a sense of cohesiveness and feel closer together because of what theyve gone through.

About 1,600 homes and other buildings have been burned to the ground in Fort McMurray, forcing tens of thousands to flee to nearby communities in what officials have called the biggest fire evacuation in the provinces history.

Right now, Kulig said, residents remain in the shock and denial phase, which will slowly give way to elation that stems from survival and from the acts of kindness from strangers.

Then, after residents return to the community, she said, the difficulty begins.

During her research of the wildfire that ripped through Slave Lake, Alta., in 2011  which included interviews with residents, firefighters, community officials and teachers  Kulig learned that children struggled in the classroom because of anxiety that went unnoticed at home.

Its interesting with children because children really want to protect their parents, particularly with parents that have lost homes and lost things, she said. So they dont articulate how anxious they are or how upset they are.

The problem in Slave Lake, she said, was further compounded by the loss of activities  the local community centre was destroyed in the fire  especially for children.

There was little fun to be had for months, Kulig said.

But Slave Lake, she said, had strong multi-ministerial organizations that were able to harness the inflow of government money to help the children.

They created this free evening at the pool so kids and families could get together there and they had pizza and swimming and that was a nice activity for people to get away and forget about what was going on, Kulig said.

Another smart decision, she said, was to provide counselling by calling it something else. Social workers invited community members to drop in, have a coffee and talk about issues that she said had a positive impact on the communitys mental health.

Yet there will likely be problems in Fort McMurray, said Kulig.

Studies of the aftermath of fires in Australia show the traumatic events will exacerbate pre-existing problems such as substance abuse and domestic violence, she said.

Those studies have also suggested that adults can be diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) up to three years after a wildfire, she said.

Its really important that counselling be provided to all age groups and to a variety of people within the community and dont assume that because people say theyre doing well that they are.

If her research holds true, around this time next year, residents of Fort McMurray will go through a very difficult time.

They remember things and feel things and replay things in their mind around the first anniversary and that will be the first time many will have to confront their emotions, she said.

However, Kulig said, her research shows the human spirit is resilient.

They really do pull up their socks and keep going forward, she said.
They had advanced from the SE Regional Competition, held March 17 at Winona State University. Every year History Day has a theme; this years theme was Exploration, Encounter and Exchange. Nathan and Samuel created a website entitled Nelson Mandela and His Encounters with Apartheid in which they highlighted the history of apartheid in South Africa, the ways in which Nelson Mandela opposed apartheid, and Mandelas exchange with South African leaders over it.
The new Minnesota Veterans Cemetery in Preston will get a lot of local interested visitors soon.

The cemetery, which opened last fall as only the second in the state dedicated to veterans outside Fort Snelling, will host a tour June 1 sponsored by Hoff Funeral Homes, where area veterans will be bused to the cemetery from across the area and given a chance to see the new grounds.

Owner Tim Hoff said the tour was organized as a way to make veterans from the area aware of the new cemetery, and how much closer it is than the other state cemetery  in Little Falls in northern Minnesota.

Its a way to let them know of the new cemetery and see it and network with fellow veterans from around the area, Hoff said. Hopefully it can get more (veterans) to join the VFW, too.

The cemetery provides veterans with another option for burial in Minnesota aside from the Little Falls site and well-known Fort Snelling site.

The tour will be about 45 minutes long. Afterward there will be a barbecue at the Lanesboro city park.

There will be buses leaving from Winona, St. Charles and Rushford Hoff Funeral Homes at 8:15 a.m. The tour is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

Those interested in going on the tour need to RSVP with one of the funeral homes, where you can also get more information if needed.
For the first time in nearly 40 years, Steamboat Days will sport its own premium craft beer.

Steamboat Days Blonde, a temporary re-brand of Bent Brewstillerys popular Nordic Blonde brew, was unveiled at the Hy-Vee Liquor Store on Thursday evening. Samples were given to those who attended, and Steamboat Days committee president Mike Mohan toasted to a successful Steamboat Days with Mayor Mark Peterson.

The last time Steamboat Days featured its own beer was in 1979, when the festivities featured Catfish Jack.

Mohan said he wanted to do something different and special during his one-year tenure as president of the Steamboat Days committee.

Ive been with the committee for four years, Mohan said. This is something weve been discussing for a couple years now and now that Im president I wanted to make sure it happened.

He said itll be a good addition to this years festivities, because its a Winona brand (temporarily) and its an excellent-tasting beer.

Nik Kronebusch, a member of the committee, said theyre excited to feature this bear for Steamboat Days because Nordic Blonde is a proven product  he said its the beer that put Bent Brewstillery on the map.

Its a really approachable beer, Kronebusch said. Anywhere between 12 and 26 cases of the product are sold at (Hy-Vee Liquor) each week.

When it came to choosing what beer would be used for this years Steamboat Days, both Kronebusch and Mohan said they wanted it to come from a local brewer or Minnesota brewery. Mohan was put in contact with Bartley Blume, founder and brew-master of Bent Brewstillery in Roseville.

Hes been great to work with, Mohan said. He said hed be able to make something work for us.

A lot of time and effort was spent between the two parties in order to make the relationship mutually beneficial. Mohan said there will be 125 cases of the beer with the re-branded logo and name.

Theres a portion of the cases set aside for Steamboat Days and the rest will primarily be sold at Hy-Vee. Mohan said he hopes that all the cases are gone by the end of Steamboat Days.

Its an excellent beer ... hopefully it becomes a part of Winonas history, Mohan said.
The Winona County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) is partnering with parents, educators, businesses, and law enforcement during prom and graduation on the campaign Parents Who Host, Lose The Most: Dont Be a Party to Teenage Drinking.

Through this campaign, parents and caregivers are encouraged to learn more about the health, safety, and legal ramifications of allowing underage drinking to occur.

Youth who begin drinking before age 15 are five times more likely to develop alcohol dependence or abuse alcohol later in life. More than half of Winona County students who participated in the Minnesota Student Survey reported they thought most students in their school drank alcohol monthly or more often.

Winona County ASAP is calling on our community to help address the various factors that contribute to underage drinking, including community norms, access and availability, policy and enforcement, and media messages. We are asking parents to support one another by signing the Parent Pledge, providing anonymous tips to law enforcement, and being mindful of what their teens are doing during prom and graduation.

Community members can learn more about the campaign, gain facts and tips, and sign the Parent Pledge online at winonacountyasap.org. To request free campaign materials or ask questions, call 507-474-ASAP (2727).
Local governments in Sauk County will receive more than $1.8 million in 2016 from a company that is installing a transmission line from Holmen to the north side of Madison.

In a May 9 letter to Sauk County Board Chair Marty Krueger, representatives of American Transmission Company and Xcel Energy wrote that counties and municipalities in which the new 345,000-volt Badger-Coulee transmission line is being constructed will receive a one-time environmental impact fee.

Sauk County, as well as the towns of Delton and Fairfield, the village of Lake Delton, and the city of Wisconsin Dells are slated to receive a combined $1.8 million this year.

Municipalities also will receive annual environmental impact payments. Although Sauk County will not receive funding beyond this year, the towns, village and city will receive a combined $111,321 annually, in addition to their one-time payments.

We estimate that the payments should be processed and sent to your municipality or county within approximately 6 months, wrote ATC Senior Local Relations Representative Charlie Gonzales and Xcel Energy Siting and Land Rights Senior Agent Matt Langan.

Fairfield Town Board Chair Tim Stone said he anticipates the $351,226 payment that his town is slated to receive will help with road upkeep.

Not to say that this wont be helpful, but people dont understand the problems that towns have and the limits that are imposed, he said. If expenses go up and you cant raise your revenue, it just comes out of the roads budget. So if you get additional income, it just goes to the roads.

Stone said he has suggested that Sauk County allocate its $908,662 payment toward its highway department budget for use in the municipalities affected by the transmission line.

Sauk County Highway Commissioner Steve Muchow was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.

The Badger Coulee Project was approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin in April 2015. It is intended to ensure electric reliability in Western Wisconsin and improve lower-cost power and renewable energy, according to the two companies.

The 180-mile transmission line is anticipated to be up and running in late 2018.
JUNEAU  The Dodge County Fair Association is seeking ambitious, enthusiastic, and outgoing individuals age 18 as of January 2017 to enter the 2016 Dodge County Fairest of the Fair contest.

Scholarship money, gifts, and interview experience are some of the benefits of being named Fairest of the Fair.

The 2016 Fairest of the Fair represents the Dodge County Fair Association as the hostess of the 129th Dodge County Fair and participates in media and promotion events for the fair.

Opportunities include: radio interviews, main stage and 4-H emcee events and assistance in the planning of the next Fairest of the Fair contest. The 2016 Dodge County Fairest of the Fair has the opportunity to participate in the 2017 Wisconsin Fairest of Fairs contest at the Wisconsin Association of Fairs Annual Convention.

The 2015 Dodge County Fairest of the Fair, Karoline Twardokus, is enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville pursuing a degree in animal science with an emphasis in dairy.

Being the 2015 Dodge County Fairest of the Fair has impacted me greatly, Twardokus said. Being able to speak to a wide variety of different audiences, on the radio, on stage or at an event, serving as a positive role model for my community, as well as, having the opportunity to give back to the county are just a few of the ways that being fairest has impacted my life. I am really looking forward to meeting the 2016 Dodge County Fairest of the Fair contestants and being able share this experience.

Applicants must be available for the press banquet on July 5 and for the Dodge County Fair Aug. 17-21.

For more information about the contest or an application, contact Whitney Rathke, Dodge County Fairest of the Fair Program Coordinator at fair@dodgecountyfairgrounds.com. The application also, can be found at http://dodge.uwex.edu/ (Click Youth Development, Dodge County Junior Fair and Fairest of the Fair Application under County Fair Contest Applications) or www.dodgecountyfairgrounds.com.

All applications must be received at the Dodge County Fair Office or emailed to fair@dodgecountyfairgrounds.com by June 10 for consideration.
Gov. Scott Walker made a few stops in Dodge County Thursday.

He was in Juneau for a 90-minute listening session at the Juneau Public Library and later stopped at Walkers Restaurant & Bakery, Beaver Dam, for a slice of pie.

In Juneau, he said that the listening session included around 35 people and the focus was on workforce issues, K-12 education, technical education and job retention. He said most people in Juneau were concerned about maintaining a high quality of life, wanting young people to stay or come back, safe community, good wages and good infrastructure.

The invite-only listening session was comprised of a diverse group of Juneau citizens, local government, veterans, farmers, small business owners and students.

Where do you want to be in 20 years? was Walkers topic, according to Alexander Fhlug, the governors external relations coordinator, who said the Juneau stop was one of similar sessions on Walkers agenda.

Juneau Mayor Dan Wegener was among those who were invited.

He let the group talk. He wanted to hear from the group about the future of Wisconsin, Wegener said. It truly was a listening session.

That group included Dodge County Board Chairman Russ Kottke, Dodgeland District Administrator Annette Thompson, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, businessman Jerry Mountin, Dodge County Highway Commissioner Brian Field, Beaver Dam attorney Mike Devitt, Dodgeland School Board President Jeff Caine, Dodge County Administrator Jim Mielke, Dodgeland High School art teacher Lori Henthorne and Dodge County Clerk Karen Gibson, among others. Mark Born, Juneaus representative to the Wisconsin Assembly was present, but State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, who also represents Juneau, was not.

Caine said the discussion was open and orderly and Walker seemed genuinely interested in each opinion.

He listened closely to the students, four of whom were from Dodgeland High School and the others from Beaver Dam, Caine said. He should, theyre the ones who will live in the future.

In an interview afterwards in Beaver Dam, Walker addressed a few issues including recent changes at the Department of Corrections.

Walker said one of the challenges for the DOC is finding workers to fill new job openings. He touched on the Department of Corrections staff raises and retaining those positions stating that corrections have always been a challenge.

It takes a special breed of public servant to be able to serve in corrections, Walker said. Its a tough job.

He said hiring Department of Corrections Secretary, Jon Litscher was one way to bring some stability to corrections.

Walker appointed Litscher as the DOC secretary in February to replace Ed Wall, who resigned Feb. 5 amid an investigation into claims of abuse at the states youth prison in Irma.

Recently, Litscher stated via news release correctional officers, sergeants and youth counselors will see an 80 cents or more an hour raise. The release also states that the raises are expected to cost about $10 million annually and would be covered by existing funds.

According to the release, about 20 percent of correctional officers and sergeants are eligible for retirement and 35 percent of them will eligible within the next five years. In addition, 54 percent will be eligible for retirement within 10 years.

Correctional officers and sergeants at in Waupun, Green Bay and Portage will get an additional 50 cents per hour from May 29 to Jan. 7. The release states that those employees not receiving a wage increase could eligible for bonuses.

The hope is that by putting more emphasis on wage that corrections should be able to retain and attract new employees, according to Walker. With more employees in the system, it could help reduce overtime as well.

Looking ahead to the Wisconsin GOP convention, Walker said he is putting his and the partys main focus on re-electing Sen. Ron Johnson. He said the convention will not spend much time on the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Pushing a grassroots appeal in the party is another area of importance for Walker.

We contacted twice as many voters in 2014 as Romney did in 2012, he said.

One more focus will be on what Walker referred to as the Wisconsin comeback but leveraging low unemployment and rising high employment going forward.

The convention is a three-day event in Green Bay and is will include training sessions, panels and leadership seminars as well as speeches from Johnson, Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Attorney General Brad Schimel, State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and the Wisconsins five GOP members of Congress.

Daily Citizen Correspondent Paul Marose contributed to this story.

It takes a special breed of public servant to be able to serve in corrections.Gov. Scott Walker
Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt recorded a phone call Thursday in which the person on the other end of the line admitted to being a scammer.

Schmidt reported in a press release that he received a call from a number that started with 605. The call stated. Hello. This call is officially a final notice from the Internal Revenue Service. The reason of this call is to inform you the IRS is filing lawsuit against you. To get more information about this case file please call immediately on our department number . . . 

Armed with the phone number, Schmidt called back. He said a woman answered the phone by saying Internal Revenue Service. Schmidt asked if there was a way to verify that she was with the IRS. Her response was, it is not our job to verify who we are and shehung up.

Schmidt decided to call back. This time a man answered and said, Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service, how may I help you?

Schmidt identified himself and asked if there was a way to confirm that he had reached the IRS.

The scammer responded, No sir, this is not the IRS. This is a scam.

When asked, the man said a second time it was a scam and said he was in Afghanistan.

Schmidt asked, Why are you scamming our citizens? To which the man replied, This is our job sir.

The man eventually hung up.

A phone number of a personal cell phone was given to the sheriff by the scammer which turned out to be a private number to a citizen in Illinois. That portion of the phone call was edited out to protect that persons identity and phone number.

Schmidt said such scams are difficult to investigate as it is difficult to locate the people responsible. The phone numbers used are usually spoofed and untraceable by law enforcement.

It also seems to be that many of these calls are placed from outside of the United States and out of the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The Dodge County Sheriffs Office urges people to question phone calls like this. The IRS will not call demanding money and most reputable businesses and organizations will notify people delinquent payments or problems with an account via correspondence by mail.

Schmidt said those who receive such calls should hang up. Anyone who has been a victim of such a scam should report it.
A funeral service will be held on Monday, May 16, at 2 p.m. at Koepsell-Murray Funeral Home, N7199 N. Crystal Lake Road, Beaver Dam, with the Rev. Wayne Morrison officiating. A visitation will also be held on Monday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the funeral home with the Beaver Dam American Legion paying their respects at 1:30 p.m. Interment will follow at Oakwood Cemetery in Beaver Dam. Graveside military honors will be conducted by the Beaver Dam American Legion Post 146.
Noah Samuelsen, Columbia County Rio Go-Getters 4-H Club, was one of two youth attending the 2016 Public Issues Leadership Development Conference (PILD) in Washington D.C. as part of the Wisconsin delegation.

The Public Issues Leadership Development Conference was held April 10-13 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. More than 200 representatives from across the nation attended the conference, which featured presentations on extension programs in Wisconsin and from around the country addressing issues important to agriculture, businesses, communities, families and youth.

Samuelsen met with U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

We shared with our elected officials how important Extension programs are in developing our communities and how they develop 21st century skills among youth and prepare individuals for the future, Samuelsen said. We need continued funding not only from the county and state level, but from the federal level as well to keep these vital programs going.
Lone Rock Baptist Church will be celebrating a special anniversary on Sunday, May 22.

The church, established in 1876, is holding a 140th birthday bash at its small church in the rural Town of Orange. Several events are planned throughout the day and Pastor Ray Anderson is looking forward to celebrating the milestone with church parishioners.

Anderson said the theme for the 140th anniversary is little is much when God is in it.

I have been pastor here for more than 16 years and through that time we have seen God provide for our needs many times, Anderson said.

The event will begin with Sunday school at 9:30 a.m. Former pastor John Howe will return from his parish in Nebraska to speak to teens and adults while children attend Sunday school. At 10:30 a.m., Dr. Wayne Vawter from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches will preach. Music will be provided by the Savchenko family from Barron, Wisconsin. The family, which features nine children, will sing and play chimes. Father Alex Savchenko will talk about his youth, growing up in Communist Russia.

Following the morning service, the church community will be invited to a catered lunch at the Lone Rock park shelter, weather permitting. After lunch, the celebration will feature a singspiration and testimony service. All who attend will receive a special gift.

While the original church no longer stands, the current facility was built in 1948 and has faced maintenance issues every year Anderson has served the parish.

You have to keep up old buildings otherwise they get dilapidated and costs to repair them keep rising, Anderson said. Weve put a new roof on, new carpet, replaced the old oil furnace to get propane in here; put new insulated windows in, put in handicapped access and installed a new wall in the back. We also put in a new gravel driveway and parking lot. Its just been one thing after another.

Anderson and his family moved from Ames, Iowa to Lone Rock in October of 1999. He planned to stay for about five years, but he found a home serving parishioners at the country church near Camp Douglas. Anderson said hes one of the longest-serving pastors in Lone Rocks storied history.

Lone Rock has always been a friendly church and we would always like to be known as that, Anderson said. When people walk into the doors of our church, they ought to feel welcomed and loved.

Anderson believes faith and the steadfast support of Lone Rocks community have guided the church through 140 years. He said many small, rural churches eventually fold due to lack of support. Lone Rock, however, has a strong mix of both younger and older parishioners who are committed to keeping the church vibrant for several decades to come.

We have about 25 to 30 people who attend regularly on a Sunday morning. Its amazing how our people give, sacrificially; I would put our church up against many larger churches in terms of giving, Anderson said. Its really just amazing. All the projects weve worked on have been paid for with no debts.

Lone Rock Baptist Church was founded by Danish immigrants who moved to Juneau County from Racine, Wisconsin.

Churches like ours, which are small; the challenge is keeping it alive. There are churches around Wisconsin that at one time were open, but have closed now because older parishioners died and there was no one to take it over, Anderson said. My responsibility as a pastor is to train the next generation to serve God. When Im gone from here, I still want to see Lone Rock continue and it will if there are faithful people serving the Lord. Thats the unique thing about this place; people have come and gone, but there are always others that come around to keep it going.

Anderson believes a smaller church promotes engagement among parishioners.

Its a teamwork concept and when you have work days and dinners, events like that, it builds camaraderie, Anderson said. With the way things are in the world these days, I believe you need spirituality in your life and people in our parish really enjoy each other.

For more information on the anniversary celebration, contact Anderson at 608-853-1171.
Natty Kranz doesnt like being in the spotlight, but after nearly five decades serving the Mauston community, she received a recognition thats well deserved.

On Wednesday, Kranz was awarded the 2016 Rural Health Ambassador Award by the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC).

Im very humbled and flattered to have gotten nominated. You get nominated by your peers and co-workers. Its a process thats gone on for a few years so Ive joined some elite company, Kranz said, laughing. Ive been involved in many things at the hospital through the years and thats what the recognition was about.

Kranz, 65, began her nursing career at Mile Bluff Medical Center in 1967 and still works at the facility as a part-time registered nurse. Kranz also teaches nursing courses full-time at Western Technical College (Mauston campus), a position she has held since 1974.

The Rural Health Ambassador Award honors healthcare employees at RWHC hospitals who have gone beyond their normal routines in promoting their organizations, while also making significant contributions to rural health. Each recipient demonstrates a history of fostering positive communication and relations within the hospitals respective service area in many ways such as serving on community boards and service organizations, taking advantage of volunteer or public speaking engagements, and supporting community health activities beyond the scope of the hospital.

Since her humble beginnings as a nurses aid in the late 1960s, Kranz has committed much of her life to providing care and educating future healthcare professionals. Kranz plans to retire from teaching on June 30, but is determined to keep working as a nurse for at least two more years, surpassing the 50-year mark.

I actually wanted to be a teacher when I was in high school, but got a job at a nursing home and decided to become a nurse so it was an easy transition to get into teaching because so much of nursing is teaching, Kranz said. To me, the two professions are very closely linked.

Kranz knew she found her calling working as a nurses aid. Kranz, a lifelong Juneau County resident, never had a desire to pursue a hectic role as an ER nurse in a large, metro hospital.

When people work in big hospitals they might not know the people they take care of because a lot of our patients are local, Kranz said. Small hospitals offer you a little bit of everything so you have to keep your skills sharp in a lot of areas. For people who decide they want to specialize in one area, thats great, but it just wasnt for me.

Working at a small town facility, Kranz has lent a hand across several different departments. In nursing, there is never a dull moment.

I can help with a baby being born one day and save someone having a heart attack the next day, Kranz said. Its the whole spectrum of life.

Kranz said the most enjoyable aspects of her job are the relationships she has built with colleagues and the patients she has served. Kranz has been there for joyful events, such as the birth of friends children, along with painful events, helping people deal with losing loved ones.

In nearly 50 years, Kranz has seen Mile Bluff go through many changes. She recalled the days when the hospital had three full-time doctors who were on-call from home. In 1980, Mile Bluff moved to its current location across from the Juneau County Fairgrounds in Mauston.

As a nurse you would be lonely sometimes waiting for that doctor to arrive, Kranz said. Now we have many practitioners and weve grown in so many ways through so many departments. In 1979, I had a child at the old hospital, and in 82 I had one at the new facility.

Through teaching, Kranz has seen former students graduate and eventually become her peers.

That is very rewarding, Kranz said.

Looking forward, Kranz isnt sure when she will retire from nursing, but leaving her teaching career will free up more time to spend with grandchildren.

Theres no doubt Kranz has touched many lives in the Mauston community through the decades.

Ive been here a long time, but its gone so quickly, she said. Its just amazing how the time has flown by.
A Mauston man is accused of domestic abuse after an early May incident.

Timothy K. McCracken II, 24, faces charges of strangulation and suffocation domestic abuse, misdemeanor battery domestic abuse repeater and disorderly conduct domestic abuse repeater.

According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to a home in the Town of Lisbon for a domestic incident May 2. McCracken had left the residence 20 minutes earlier.

The victim said McCracken shoved her against and end table and grabbed her throat. He threatened her about putting him back on probation.

The victim had red marks on her neck.

A warrant has been filed for McCracken, but no court date has been set.
The City of Mauston is moving forward with several important street maintenance and repair projects.

On Tuesday, Maustons common council approved a $50,000 project for work along Kennedy Street at Gateway Avenue to Jefferson Street. The project, performed by DL Gasser Construction from Baraboo, will feature milling and paving work.

The council also approved a $10,000 project to fill cracks along various city streets and just over $10,000 to replace pavement markings at the intersection of Kennedy Street and Gateway Avenue.

Moving forward with the Attewell and Division streets sidewalk project, the city designated $26,591 in a first installment pay request to New Age Construction.

2015 audit report

Mauston received a comprehensive look at its finances during Tuesdays council meeting.

Melanie Lendosky from Johnson Block and Company, a Madison-based certified public accounting firm, presented an audit on the citys 2015 finances.

Overall, you have a good opinion on your financial report, Lendosky said.

In the audit, Johnson Block and Company targeted a few main areas of interest: account reconciliation, special assessments, Maustons capital projects fund, credit card disbursements, confirmed cash accounts and the Wisconsin retirement system.

Lendosky looked at expenditures and budgeted items and a breakdown of the citys fund balance. Lendosky said the city has a healthy fund balance of $1.7 million. In reserves, the city has $1 million that would cover about three months of expenses.

The TIF district has a negative balance, but what happens is you spend the money up front (for the project) and then you have the life of the TIF district to spend that amount, Lendosky said.

For long-term trends, the city has a balanced outlook and expenditures remain consistent through the next few years. Lendosky said the city will want to monitor its sewer fund going forward.

You will definitely want to keep an eye on that, she said. You still have quite a bit of wiggle room, but if you continue to take losses (in revenue) you will want to take a look at your sewer rates.

Overall, the city has a debt limit of about $9.6 million. The city has about 66 percent of its debt capacity remaining.

The capital fund projects have primarily been paying for Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) projects, said City Administrator Nathan Thiel. One of the things weve discussed in the past is how to fund those projects. The problem is you dont know what year its going to fall because the state doesnt send a very structured payment plan, so weve talked about taking those funds from the fund balance. The deficit we saw this year is just finishing up some of those expenses from the State Street project, but we should be seeing some surpluses moving forward.

Thiel said the DOT usually doesnt send bills for street projects until two or three years after the work is completed, making it difficult to budget.

Municipal court issues

The council went into closed session for about an hour on Tuesday to discuss increasing hours and wages for Loretta Roberts, the municipal court clerk.

The first item considered an increase of hours from 20 to 40, but was denied.

When municipal court was started in 2012, there were 532 cases that went through the court and about 10 hours of clerk time needed per week, said Mayor Brian McGuire. That increased to 20 hours and there were about 2,900 cases last year and again this year were on pace to match or exceed that. Were bringing this forward because we feel that 20 hours is not enough to process all the claims and go after people who arent paying traffic tickets.

According to McGuire, the court netted a profit of $39,000 last year. However, the motion to increase the clerk position to 40 hours a week failed to pass by a 4-3 roll call vote. The council did approve, by a 5-2 vote, to increase Roberts pay from $13 per hour to $16 an hour.
The state paid $1.7 billion in salaries to 37,578 state employees in 2015. The total paid to all state employees remained almost unchanged from 2014, despite a reduction of 555 employees.

About 4 percent of those payments, or $65.7 million, were for overtime or comp time. The median salary paid to those employees was $45,495.

The data comes from the Department of Administration payroll system and covers roughly half of all state-paid jobs. It does not include salaries for employees of the University of Wisconsin System, the Legislature or the judiciary.

About the data: This database covers employees who worked for the state and were paid by the Department of Administration in 2015. The state redacted the names of 159 employees who met any of the following criteria:

They work as law enforcement investigators and their safety would be endangered by disclosure, Their health, safety or financial security would be jeopardized by inclusion in the database, They are disabled minors who are employed by the Department of Public Instruction.

Listed salaries are gross payments, but do not include state contributions to employee pensions, health insurance and other optional insurance policies. In some cases, employees may receive additional pay from local, county and/or federal funding sources. Any such payments are not included in this database.

Click here for descriptions of the various employment types
The Portage Police Department has one more concern added onto responding to calls and managing the information that comes with each case  going back and refiling the past two years of crime data.

In February the Wisconsin Department of Justice reviewed the 2015 Unified Crime Report from the Portage Police Department. Several issues were identified with the report and brought to the attention of Police Chief Ken Manthey.

One of the problems was that data from Portage showed an exceptional clearance rate  the number of solved cases. In 2014 the clearance rate for burglaries was 143 percent and in 2015, 133 percent. This would suggest that officers were solving crimes before they were actually being committed.

Shifting upward were reports of aggravated assault, which while reported as 12 in 2015, was revised to 20. The higher figure was still equal to the average between 2011 and 2014. Reported thefts took the biggest bump, going from 38 to 214, with an average of 50 over the preceding four years.

Keep in mind, that there has been the same amount of crime, said Manthey, pointing out that the change is only how it is counted, with an example being a single case of multiple break-ins being broken into individual reports for each.

The department filed paper copies through 2013, switching to electronic filing in 2014, in which department secretaries would check certain boxes in an online database to mark types of offenses.

Secretary Jen Mecum spent a day last week in a training session for the program with 160 Madison-area law enforcement secretaries. Having sorted through 2015 records since February, Mecum anticipates the 2014 revisions occupying a portion of her workload through much of the summer.

There were a lot of departments confused about the system, said Manthey.

Three factors weighed heavily in the situation, one being that the federal database under development has different priorities from officers on the ground. Priorities for the database include gender, race of subjects, and in the case of thefts, what specifically was taken  points that, depending on the case, may not be the most pertinent details for an officer.

Another problem is that the federal database surveys all 50 states, each of which has its own legal structure, including counties with their own policies and cities with their own municipal codes. In different places, the same offense might be labeled as fourth-degree sexual assault, or it could be simple assault, but for the database to be of use, those categories all need to agree.

Another complicating factor is cross-jurisdictional incidents. If we stop a car and the driver is wanted on a warrant in Green Bay, we cant list that as an arrest, explained Portage Police Lt. Keith Klafke. Instead, that would be an agency assist.

A third problem is that the most recent training was the first on the subject in 12 years. There was a little less confusion at the federal level with their training last coming up only five years ago, Mecum explained.

If all 50 states would get together it would be a lot simpler, said Manthey.

That is a long-term goal though, with a target date set for all departments to be on board by 2021.

The problems are not unique to Portage, as Baraboo Police Chief Mark Schauf said their department has had its own issues as new fields are added to the report, each marking a change in the standards for how officers should be reporting incidents throughout the day.

Despite the complications in implementation, the goal of the project is to create an incident-based well of law enforcement data, as opposed to arrest-based information.

Often, a report of an arrest only reflects the tail end of a string of incidents in which an officer is involved with a situation through welfare checks, disturbance complaints, or other calls that do not cross the threshold of criminal activity.

One consequence of the DOJs revision request was that the city of Portage had its award for Safe City designation rescinded by the Safe Wise company, maker of ADT security systems.

The likely more relevant concern for residents when it comes to police records, would be the impact on local insurance rates. Fortunately, according to several local insurers, underwriters typically calculate local rates based on more reliable, comprehensive information.
Fridays unusually brief quarterly meeting of the Columbia County Highway Safety Commission included a roundabout conversation.

Ready or not, theyre coming to Columbia County  those circular traffic islands that are designed to prevent T-bone crashes, but which can be confounding to drivers who arent familiar with them.

Ryan Mayer, traffic safety engineer for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said the countys first roundabout is scheduled to be built sometime in 2018 at Highway 16s intersection with Highway 127 and the Interstate 39 southbound on-ramp.

And in 2022 at the soonest, theres a roundabout planned for a treacherous intersection in the town of Leeds, where highways 51, 60 and 22 come together.

Columbia County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Todd Horn, chairman of the Highway Safety Commission, said Columbia County drivers who encounter roundabouts in other parts of Wisconsin may feel uneasy driving through them because theyre not particularly familiar with the area.

But when its in your back yard every day, he said, youll get used to it.

Commission Member Robert Andler of the town of Hampden wasnt so sure.

At a roundabout in northern Dane County, on County Highway V just off Highway 51 near DeForest, Andler said it looks to him like the roundabout is too small or too tight to accommodate semi-tractor-trailers.

Its true, said Portage Police Lt. Richard Hoege, that semis often take up two lanes of a roundabout because of their turning radius  which is why cars need to yield to semis as they enter a roundabout.

Or perhaps, said County Supervisor Jo Ann Wingers of the town of Courtland, the DOT needs to design more spacious roundabouts, to make room for many types of oversize vehicles that are common on Wisconsins roadways.

You ought to try going through a roundabout with a tractor and a baler, said Wingers, who is a farmer.

County Supervisor Tim Zander of the town of Columbus said Columbia County drivers need to learn how to navigate a roundabout.

Many drivers of cars, he said, dont know, when they get into a roundabout, that a semi is likely to have its wheels in both lanes.

Hoege said hes working with others at the Portage Police Department to compile and distribute educational material to help Columbia County drivers learn how to drive in a roundabout.

One of the ways that the information might be disseminated, Hoege said, is via the TRIAD/SALT (Seniors and Law Enforcement) organization.

But the ultimate key to driving in roundabouts, Hoege said, is the same as the key to traffic safety in general  simple respect for other drivers.
The Portage Common Council denied the local Wal-Mart a liquor license on a 5-3 vote Thursday.

The majority of the Council cited proximity to other retail sellers of alcohol, a lack of support in the community, concern over the safety of selling liquor in a large store, and because the store is not a new business coming into town.

The rationale follows the citys guidelines for deciding when to grant liquor licenses in the community. The council has considerable discretion in liquor license matters.

Common Council members Rita Maass, Bill Kutzke and Mike Charles were on the losing side of the vote. Doug Klapper, Jeff Monfort, Dennis Nachreiner, Mark Hahn and Mary Hamburg voted to deny.

The Council debated Wal-Marts liquor license application for more than an hour Thursday. Those against granting the license to Wal-Mart were largely silent until it was time to vote.

Much of the discussion revolved around granting the store a license but imposing stipulations restricting the number of registers that could be used to sell alcohol and also encouraging the company to install a liquor box or store within a store that would separate liquor sales from the rest of the store.

Some members sought to send the issue back to committee for more review to develop more specific policies regarding the liquor box concept.

We have talked about whether they should get a license until the cows come home, but we really havent discussed what are the rules that we want them to abide by. And I think we need to do that before we give them a license, said Nachreiner.

Maass disagreed with sending the issue back to committee for a second time this year. Maass said Wal-Mart deserved a decision sooner rather than later.

How long have we been dealing with this for Wal-Mart, said Maass, who chairs the committee which oversees liquor license reviews and rules. I dont think we are being very business-friendly here.

More than a dozen people wearing Wal-Mart employee blue vests attended the meeting to advocate for the license.

Steve Palecek, Wal-Marts market manager, said the company is trying to bring growth, attract more business off the interstate and give customers better service locally.

Our customers here in Portage are asking us for (alcohol products). They come in daily and want to know where our liquor section is, Palecek said.

Palecek reiterated that the company was willing to work with the city to comply with any special stipulations on their operation.

We will comply with whatever youre asking, he said.

Several Common Council members felt the size of Wal-Marts store was a factor that needed special consideration and restrictions.

Palecek said the company has very effective policies and procedures in place to make sure that alcohol sales are done safely. Most Wal-Marts in the state sell alcohol, he said.

We really know what we are doing with liquor at Walmart, he said.

Market Basket denial

The Council also rejected an application from the downtown grocery and convenience store Market Basket to sell hard liquor.

The store already has a license to sell beer, but wanted the extra capability.

The Council voted 7-1 to deny the application, citing potential negative impacts to the surrounding neighborhood. Monfort was in the minority.

Common Council member Marty Havlovic was excused from Thursdays meeting, leading to only eight votes being cast on each decision.
Voucher schools put our public schools at risk, and our taxes are increasing as a result. Heres why:

Wisconsin taxpayers are now paying for a second, separate system of private voucher schools, in addition to our public schools. Public school districts are then forced to pass referenda, which increase our taxes, just to keep our public schools working.

Locally, St. Peters Lutheran School in Reedsburg accepts voucher funding. Students who are new to the school, or just starting out, can apply for a voucher and have their entire education there (preschool-grade 8) paid for by our taxpayer dollars.

Voucher schools dont have to educate everyone, as our public schools do, and many are for-profit. Theyre unaccountable to taxpayers, and if they close (many do), the tax dollars that followed students to the voucher school arent returned to our public schools.

Gov. Scott Walker appointed a voucher school czar, who is paid $93,000 annually to oversee voucher school operations. We already pay taxes for an elected State Superintendent of Schools.

This is part of a nationwide effort to privatize our schools. Remember this at the polls in November and contact your state representatives with your concerns.

Trish Henderson, Reedsburg
A fortnights journey through the region by horse-drawn, covered wagon wound down this week for the man known as "Lee the Horselogger."

After setting forth Thursday afternoon from Wisconsin Dells -- where he was encamped for a few nights this past week -- the Montana-born man and his three Suffolk Punch draft horses were scheduled today to head west from Mauston, proceeding at a 3 mph pace.

He declined to provide his name to Capital Newspapers last week as he passed through Pardeeville and Portage -- Lee the Horselogger is what I use, he said -- but over the years hes been identified by several publications as Lee Crafton.

Hes been ocean to ocean a few times, so far totaling about 14,000 miles, and he spends most of his time without any notion of where hell stop from one day to the next, he said.

But dont call it a trip.

The trip ended years ago. This is a way of life, Lee explained. This is not a lifestyle: a lifestyle is, you do it for the weekend and go home to the real world. This is the real world.

Lee usually performs logging jobs via various business contacts across the country, though right now, with about 300 miles to go from this region, hes on his way to Little Falls, Minnesota, to see friends. Eventually, he said, hed like to settle in Alaska -- but theres really no retiring from a way of life.

How would I retire from it? Go to Florida? he said.

Cattle farmer Tom Heaps of Pardeeville was one in a long line of generous property owners to welcome Lee and his horses. Heaps learned, from his driveway, that Lee sought a place to spend the night, some water and some hay.

Hes more than welcome to stay. He seemed to be a nice guy, Heaps said. I didnt know anything about him until I went on the Internet and found out all about him. But I liked him before I knew any of that.

Interesting guy. It takes a lot to go this far for this long.

A man and his horses

Lee, on average, travels about 15 to 16 miles a day, he said. He estimated hes been through 23 or 24 states since 2006, usually staying in commercial spaces with fields upon receiving permission. Hes stayed in fields owned by Wal-Mart and fire departments and in ditches and lawns, never staying in campgrounds.

Campgrounds have to be pretty-pretty and horses dont leave them pretty-pretty, he said.

He accepts donations from those interested in hearing his story or from people who just want to help. To find out where he stayed in Lyndon Station and Mauston on his way out of the region, you can search "Lee the Horselogger" on Facebook.

His three horses -- Dink, Fey and Alice -- are a breed of horse of which there are less than 1,000 in the world, he said. In all, hes run six horses in the past 10 years, treating them as family.

Theyre fat and sassy.

Lee and his horses have seen about every weather extreme Mother Nature can offer, from 117-degree heat to 42 below zero -- without wind chill. Tornadoes touching down 5 miles away. Blizzards. Hail. Massive thunderstorms. Weve done it all, he said.

Lees wagon is home and contains supplies, a bunk and a chair next to his wood stove. Most of the supplies are for the horses.

What they need come first, he said.

Logging jobs mostly involve taking low-grade stuff" and involve lots of work.

I do all my own falling, and I do the skidding on the deck. Sometimes a landlord wants the logs, sometimes we sell the logs, sometimes its just firewood.

It just depends on the job.

Learn your lesson

Lee explained he lives the way he does because he loves horses and wouldnt be happy doing what others are doing.

The world of today, he added, is unrecognizable to him.

I dont understand our society and how its changing. I look at it and all I can say is, OK, they can do that and Ill do this. And here we are: Its been almost 10 years.

Whats important is being with horses, working them and having a life you can be content with. ... Maybe Im wrong, but I watch most people and they have no idea what content is or how to do it.

The biggest deal is mass communication. Its wonderful, but its (messing) us up.

When Lee started his trip, humans connecting with one another was still alive across the country. Now, thats pretty much died out.

You get (information) on the Internet: Oh, thats what it is! And youre done. People are lazy and this has instilled laziness in them.

This country worships ease, convenience, comfort and debt. And all of them are designed to destroy the human spirit -- and do. Look whats going on with our politics and society."

As individuals, Lee said, we come into the world with nothing. Going out of it, we have everything weve learned and shared.

You have to realize all that stuff you have in a storage locker isnt doing you any good. It isnt going to matter in the long run. Its what you do. And thats stopping our society.

Were too concerned about the immediacy. Sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to get somewhere. ... Learn your lesson and move on.

-- Dells Events reporter Ed Legge contributed to this report.
Wits pays tribute to Wits7

We must all remember that we are one family and lend each other a shoulder to cry on - Professor Adam Habib

[MEDIA RESOURCE: Download the multimedia pack]

A full Congregation of the University of the Witwatersrand commemorated the lives of our seven students during a memorial service held today in the Great Hall.

More than a thousand mourners, including representatives from the families, close friends, fellow students, university management, academics and staff, as well as government officials and members of the public attended the service.

Gone too soon

Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, constituted the Congregation and read out the names of the seven students, asking the family members to rise so that each family could be acknowledge.

The students who passed away are:

Mechanical engineering students, Letlhogonolo Mosime (21) and Nakedi Boloka (21)

Education students, Faranani Masiagwala (18) and Matildah Lekhema (20)

Medical student, Livhuwani Matibe (19)

Law student, Sipho Makhabane (24)

Actuarial Science alumnus, Dakalo Mulima (23)

The seven students passed away and six more were injured in a road accident that took place on Sunday night, 1 May 2016, in Limpopo. The students were travelling back to Johannesburg from a prayer meeting in Limpopo.

A fitting farewell

Habib earlier said the University mourns the loss of the seven individuals who were an integral part of the Wits community, and who also played a fundamental role beyond the classroom. They were not only our future actuaries, teachers, engineers, lawyers and doctors  they were those who made this world a better place, they were agents of change in our quest to reduce poverty and inequality and they represented our hope for the future.

He told the memorial service that the University has received hundreds of messages of condolences from government departments, civil society organisations, churches and many other religious organisations as well as Wits alumni and almost all South African universities and from universities in Africa.

Keep our Wits7 in your prayers. Keep the families of our Wits7 in your prayers. Keep the ZZC Fellowship Church in your prayers. Keep the Wits University community in your prayers. This is a trying moment for each one of us. A moment where we should all remember that we are one family. We should remember this in the days ahead and lend each other a shoulder to cry on, Habib said.

Dr Randall Carolissen, Chairperson of the Council of Wits University, spoke on behalf the University: We honour and commemorate our students. Students, who had traversed the Wits University grounds in search of knowledge, noble ideas, advancing their personal development as well as the social development of their society.

Paying tribute to her fellow students, Wits Student Representative Council (SRC), Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, said these were young lives that wanted to make their parents proud. Young lives that wanted to conquer the edge that Wits University gives you and walk on this stage having been conferred with a degree from this University. As difficult as it may be as we gather here, let us find the strength in our hearts to celebrate the lives of the seven great minds that we knew, she said.

Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande extended the governments deepest condolences to the families: The loss of these students is truly a loss for the whole nation. I once again add my voice to decry the high rate of fatal accidents that occur on a regular basis on our roads.

Grief support

The University will continue to support the families, friends and colleagues during this very difficult time.

The untimely loss of our students is an absolute tragedy and the University has also called on any students and staff who may be traumatised and in need of grief support to contact the Counselling and Careers Development Unit (CCDU) for assistance. Visit the CCDU offices or call (011) 7179140/32 and they will call you back.
A rocky past shapes a promising future for W&M graduate

Global grad: Alpha Mansaray '16 grew up in Sierra Leone and moved to the U.S. when he was 12. He'll graduate May 14 from W&M with a double major - kinesiology and a self-designed major in public health with a community focus. Photo by Stephen Salpukas

Fresh face: Mansaray arrived on W&M's campus in 2012 not knowing a soul. He quickly made friends through involvement in programs like Sharpe Community Scholars and WMSURE. Photo by Stephen Salpukas

Dorm life: Mansaray lived his freshman year in Spotswood Hall, and served as a resident assistant in the same building for the next two years. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption

Unlike many of his fellow graduates who will fill Kaplan Arena for Commencement this weekend, Alpha Mansaray 16 didnt grow up with dreams of one day donning a doctors coat, driving a racecar or gripping a fire hose. In fact, he didnt spend any time contemplating the ubiquitous childhood question, What do you want to be when you grow up? Instead, his thoughts were occupied by more immediate concerns: Where would he sleep next? Would there be another attack? When would he see his family again?

Mansaray was born and spent the better part of his childhood in Sierra Leone, fleeing from unrest caused by the countrys 11-year civil war.

I remember being a little kid and having rebels come to our village and attack, he said. My uncle just grabbed me, put me on his shoulders and started running. I really credit him with saving my life.

In the following years, Mansaray fled from Sierra Leone to neighboring Guinea to Gambia. His mother, meanwhile, had won a visa to come to the U.S. and was living in Richmond, Virginia, working hard to become a citizen so she could bring her children to America with her. When that happened, Mansaray was 12 years old with only limited English speaking skills.

I remember when I got here, my mother told me, You were brought here for a reason, and its to get an education, he said. So thats what I did. If a teacher gave me an assignment I would do extra. If someone said something in class that I didnt understand, I would immediately go home and look it up. I was focused on nothing but learning.

Those years of dedication paid off. Alpha went on to graduate at the top of his high school class, and, on Saturday, hell graduate from William & Mary with a double major in kinesiology and a self-designed major in public health with a community focus. He plans to pursue a medical career and one day return to Sierra Leone to work as a doctor.

What really drives me is when I go back to Sierra Leone and see my cousins and am reminded of how far Ive come, he said. The difference between me and them is just luck. When I think about that, I know that I have to go back to Sierra Leone someday and help others.

Global perspective

While Mansarays devotion to a future in service was apparent, his pathway to college was not so clear-cut. It took a meeting with a guidance counselor, he said, to convince him to even try for a university like W&M.

I assumed I would just go to community college because thats what my mother did, and she was my definition of success, said Mansaray.

But when the acceptance letter from W&M came in, everything changed.

My mother told me this was the dream, and this is why she worked so hard, he said. So at that point I realized I had the chance to become something more, and I owed it to myself to do that.

Mansaray entered W&M in 2012 with the intent to study pre-med, in part because of service work he had done with his aunts Richmond-based non-profit organization, which provides medical supplies and funding for healthcare to women and children in Sierra Leone.

Wed go to garage sales and sell cheap things to make money or write letters to hospitals asking for drugs or supplies they didnt need anymore, he said.

His interest in medicine soon blossomed into a broader exploration of healthcare systems in Sierra Leone and beyond. At the encouragement of Monica Griffin, director of the Sharpe Community Scholars Program, Mansaray applied for a freshman research project to study abroad in Sierra Leone and ended up landing a summer internship there the summer after his freshman year with the World Health Organization.

Id read negative things about the way healthcare is operated Sierra Leone, but when I got there I met so many people who want to make actual change, he said. They have ideas for projects, but since the system is mostly donor-run, theyd plan for them and money would never come.

That experience opened his eyes to the troubles facing doctors and marginalized communities in Sierra Leone and solidified his interest in finding ways to ameliorate those issues through medicine and policy. Post-graduation, Mansaray intends to go back to Richmond and eventually apply for medical school and, possibly, also obtain a masters in public health.

His advisor, Professor of Sociology and Community Studies David Aday, who encouraged Mansaray to broaden his research focus to nations beyond Sierra Leone, believes Mansaray has a bright future regardless of his graduate and professional education path.

Alpha is an enthusiastic, energetic person with a passion for issues of public health, women's rights and opportunities and his home country of Sierra Leone, said Aday. He believes that knowledge and education can and must provide the power for social change and to overcome systemic injustices. I suspect that Alpha will be a caring and skilled medical professional, but I expect also that he will find ways to take on systemic problems of health and healthcare.

Impact on campus

Beyond Mansarays professional ambitions, his passion for connecting with people extends into his extracurricular activities. But becoming a social fixture on the W&M campus didnt always come easy for him, especially as a shy freshman.

The first few nights here were hard  I was alone in a strange place where I didnt feel I could relate to anyone, he said.

Through his involvement with the Sharpe Community Scholars Program, he soon connected with like-minded students, one of whom was also from Sierra Leone, and built a solid network that eventually gave him the confidence to spread his wings. In his four years at W&M, hes worked as a resident assistant, teaching assistant and peer advisor, and served as the programming director for Sharpe Community Scholars, where he had the chance to meet and advise each student who came through the program.

Im so thankful I stayed open, branched out and got to know people, he said. After my freshman year, I knew I had to be an RA so I could make sure anyone who comes here feels like they belong immediately.

Mansarays sentiment extends beyond the student body: During his junior year, he hosted the first of an annual banquet to show student appreciation for custodial staff and their families. Forty people showed up at the inaugural event; the following year that number had increased to more than 100. With plans in place for a new organizer following his departure, he hopes attendance continues to increase for decades to come.

I look back at everything Ive done here and am just in awe, he said. I think I owe a lot of it to just being around this caliber of students who make me realize my potential and discover so many things about myself. The people here are absolutely what has made this place feel like home.
W&Ms Healthy Beginnings Project hosts Day of Discussion

For expectant mothers incarcerated within Virginias correctional facilities, the process of having a healthy baby can be full of challenges. William & Marys Healthy Beginnings Project, a collaboration with Virginia Commonwealth University, recently held a Day of Discussion to address these challenges and help point to a way forward for these vulnerable members of society.

Healthy Beginnings is the only program of its kind nationally, and the event was made possible in part by a nearly $50,000 grant from the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, which William & Mary announced in December. The grant helps incarcerated mothers in identifying pregnancy early and carrying healthy babies to term with nutritional counseling, prenatal vitamins and information about care.

On a rainy day in downtown Richmond last week, the Library of Virginia hosted the event, with more than 80 registrants from a wide spectrum of fields. University researchers, corrections officers and former inmates alike joined womens rights lawyers, healthcare workers and representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union and American Psychological Association for a series of panel discussions and audience questions.

Most expectant mothers with longer sentences serve their pregnancy in jail and are transferred to prison six to eight weeks after delivery. Virginia law requires that jails follow standards developed by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), but implementation is inconsistent.

The biggest goal was to tackle some of these tough topics and raise awareness about them, said Danielle Dallaire, associate professor of psychology at William & Mary and one of the co-directors of Healthy Beginnings. Different jails across the state have different policies and procedures in place. Theyre maybe not aware of practices that are happening at other jails. We were really hoping to get them to share different perspectives.

Dallaire said that Healthy Beginnings, as a research program, is in a unique position to bridge some of the gaps in knowledge that occur when facilities or advocacy groups dont have the fullest range of interactions with other stakeholders.

To do what we do, we have to interact successfully with all the different groups, she said. What weve learned is that these different groups dont necessarily interact with each other. We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish by bringing these people together.

For the first forum, Experiences From the Field, project co-director and Associate Professor of Psychology Catherine Forestell moderated a discussion between a jail administrator, health care professional and one of her Healthy Beginnings colleagues. Some incarcerated pregnant women have the option to request furlough to return home to deliver their babies and serve their time later, said one panelist, drawing surprise from some attendees.

Just by providing this information, it can be empowering to women, said Angela Boland, Healthy Beginnings program services coordinator.

The discussion raised questions about consistency of services between different city and county jails, which are not governed by any statewide group. Implementation varies based on a number of factors, including availability of resources and proximity to care.

Vickie White, a health services administrator with the Richmond City Justice Center, explained that all inmates entering her facility receive a mental health test, and all women receive a pregnancy test furnished by Healthy Beginnings.

Theyre a great resource for us, she said, before encouraging other facilities to take advantage.

In the second forum, Providing Referrals and the Best Resources for Mom and Baby, panelists explored the complex process of helping new mothers after their babies are born, whether they need to return to jail afterward or not. Much of the discussion centered on whether the rights of the mother or the rights of the infant were better protected.

If the mother is returning to prison, granting temporary custody to a family member is a strong option, said Karli Fees, a clinical social worker at VCU Health. If not, discharge can become more difficult, especially if the mother is homeless, has mental health issues, or both.

We cant just discharge a mom and her baby to the street, said Fees. We try to make a plan the best we can, but it has to be a safe plan.

Debra Wilson, the infant program manager at the Childrens Home Society of Virginia, came down clearly on the side of the mother in these cases.

Thats what were about: stabilizing and finding a home for this baby, she said. For her, the baby is the most important client.

After lunch, the third forum addressed the use of restraints with pregnant incarcerated women, which can increase the risk of a fall or otherwise threaten the health of the fetus.

Pregnancy is a very emotional time, said Dawn Flippin, a major at the Riverside Regional Jail. Its hard enough on everyone as it is.

NCCHC standards require that pregnant inmates wear a special-colored jumpsuit and are only restrained with handcuffs on the front of the body, which decrease the severity of punitive measures and reduce fall risk, respectively. The standards state that no restraints be used during delivery.

One panelist, a retired criminal named Amber, told an emotional story in which ankle irons caused her to fall and suffer critical injuries to herself and her baby. Only after emergency medical care did they come back from the brink of death.

I dont really like to describe myself as a victim, said Amber. Im a survivor, first and foremost. Me and my son died together  only later did we come back.

The final panel discussed the difficulties facing new mothers as they prepare for the end of their incarceration. Carolyn LeCroy, founder and CEO of the Messages Project, explained how her efforts using video to help inmates communicate with loved ones on the outside help reduce recividism.

Dallaire said that, while Healthy Beginnings has succeeded in helping mothers have babies that are on average 6 ounces heavier than incarcerated mothers who do not participate in the program, they have not begun to examine how to reduce the rate of mothers who return to the corrections system after release. This is one of the next steps for Healthy Beginnings research, she said.

Forestell reiterated the importance of gathering expertises and experiences together to discuss critical issues in her closing remarks.

We need to keep these conversations going, she said. Weve got to keep on reminding people how complex these problems are, and urging them to continue to search for solutions to make things better for these women and their children.

Natalie Libster 16 attended the Day of Discussion after spending three years associated with Healthy Beginnings. Since her sophomore year, Libster has gained ever-increasing research responsibilities, and eventually began visiting expectant mothers in jail herself.

Its been probably one of the most rewarding experiences Ive had in my college career, she said. Just being able to talk to the women and hearing firsthand what they have to say has been really humbling and really meaningful. They just appreciate everything that we do  when you have them say youre the highlight of their day, its really rewarding.
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EDF ratings downgraded, UK arm clarifies Hinkley cost

13 May 2016

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Moody's Investors Service has downgraded to A2 from A1 the issuer and senior unsecured ratings of Electricite de France (EDF), outlook negative. The rationale for the negative outlook includes "the incremental risks associated with the Hinkley Point C (HPC) nuclear power station project in the UK, should it go ahead," Moody's said yesterday.

Meanwhile EDF's UK subsidiary EDF Energy responded to media reports about the cost of HPC.

The rating action concludes the review Moody's initiated on 13 February and reflects its view that the EDF Group's action plan announced on 22 April "will not be sufficient to fully offset the pressures resulting from a low power price environment combined with a significant investment program".

Given its 84.9% ownership by the French government, EDF's A2 rating "continues to incorporate a two-notch uplift from its standalone credit quality or baseline credit assessment of baa1 based on the agency's estimate of a high degree of government support", Moodys added.

The negative outlook also reflects the execution risk associated with certain elements of EDF's action plan, "notably the disposal of commodity-exposed activities", Moodys said, and that the action plan "does not address the fundamental challenge faced by EDF, that is power prices at a level which currently does not allow the group to cover the required investments and earn a return on those".

Cost remains 18 billion

"The cost of the project is 18 billion in nominal terms. We have stated this in public many times and this has not changed," EDF Energy said. This 18 billion includes and has always included a provision for risks and contingencies, it said. If the project is delivered for less, the gain will be shared with customers as part of the contract-for-difference gain share mechanism the utility agreed with the UK government. Customers would not bear the cost of any overruns.

It added: "The total equity the two shareholders are committed to provide if necessary includes 15% of additional capacity amounting to 2.7 billion. This does not mean that we anticipate any additional costs beyond 18 billion. It simply reflects normal, prudent good practice for any construction project to know that the money would be available in the case of more extreme scenarios. We don't expect to use the additional 15% because we expect that Hinkley Point C will be on time and on budget at 18 billion."

Under a deal agreed last October, China General Nuclear will take a 33.5% stake in EDF Energy's 18 billion ($28 billion) project to construct HPC. In addition, the two companies will develop projects to build new plants at Sizewell in Suffolk and Bradwell in Essex, the latter using Chinese reactor technology. EDF's share in the project stands at 66.5%, but the company said it intends to offer other investors stakes in the project whilst retaining at least a 50% share itself.

Consisting of two European Pressurised Reactors, HPC will be the first new nuclear power station to be built in the UK in almost 20 years.

Final Investment Decision

EDF Energy also clarified media reports that suggest a final investment decision (FID) on the Hinkley project will be taken in September. A FID on the project had been expected at the end of last year and then this month.

An EDF Energy spokesman told World Nuclear News today: "We have not provided a date for FID, but have obviously also seen the speculation around 'September'". He added: "Our statement issued at the time of the announcement of the ongoing consultation with the French unions remains our position."

That 22 April statement announced confirmation of the significant recapitalisation of EDF agreed by the group's board that "makes it possible for EDF to proceed with its strategic investment program - including Hinkley Point C".

EDF said yesterday that the first unit of HPC will be operational 115 months after the FID. It has started a consultation on the project with the Central Works Committee - consisting of three French trade unions - and a FID will be made after that process has been completed, it added.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Closer cooperation for CGN and Cameco

13 May 2016

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China General Nuclear (CGN) announced it has signed an agreement with Canadian uranium mining company Cameco to further expand and deepen their cooperation in the joint development of uranium resources.

The signing of the agreement (Image: CGN)

The agreement was signed on 9 May by CGN chairman He Yu and Cameco president and CEO Tim Gitzel, the Chinese company said yesterday. Under the agreement, the two companies will cooperate in green field uranium exploration projects, CGN said.

A Cameco spokesman told World Nuclear News, "This agreement builds on previous strategic co-operation agreements and further strengthens our relationship with one of Chinas largest energy companies. We will look at possible co-operation and partnering options in uranium exploration, development and mining, and other potential ventures in the nuclear fuel cycle." He added, "There is a strong foundation of mutual interest between our companies and we welcome a deeper partnership with CGN."

It was one of 11 agreements signed between British Columbia and Guangdong companies during the China (Guangdong) - Canada (British Columbia) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference in Vancouver, organised by government of Guangdong Province and the government of British Columbia. It was attended by a delegation of high-ranking government officials from Guangdong province, led by party secretary of the Guangdong provincial committee Hu Chunhua. Also in attendance was British Columbia premier Christy Clark.

They signed a long-term supply agreement in November 2010, under which Cameco will supply CGNPC with 29 million pounds of uranium oxide (13,150 tonnes U3O8) by 2025. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

They signed a framework agreement in June 2010 that committed them to negotiate long-term uranium purchase agreements and potential joint development of uranium resourc

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People waiting in line (illustration)

By: Mahesh Sarin

A man was arrested on a charge of sexual assault after spraying his bodily fluid on a woman who was waiting on a line at the bank, according to police in Zimbabwe.

In court, 33-year-old Melusi Nyathi of Makokoba, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault after exposing his private parts and covering the woman in fluid while waiting behind her in line at the bank.

He was released without bail, until his sentencing hearing.

According to the police investigation, around 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, 30-year-old Melody Mavhura was standing in line at the bank in order to withdraw money from Western Union.

Nyathi was standing behind her in line. At some point, Nyathi exposed his private parts and pleasured himself on the woman.

Mavhura felt some movement, and when she turned around, she saw bodily fluid running down her leg. Nyathi apologized and fled from the scene.
Plaid Cymru Amazed At Labour Smears But Hope Talks Today Result In Stable Government

This article is old - Published: Friday, May 13th, 2016

Plaid Cymrus North Wales AM Llyr Gruffydd has welcomed talks today between Plaid Cymru and Labour in Cardiff Bay that should result in stable government.

He said: Our door has always been open for discussions and its regrettable that Labour didnt engage with us before the vote for the First Minister, in which Leanne Wood and Carwyn Jones were tied 29-29. Labour has to realise that it does not have a majority and therefore must engage with the other parties to be able to form a government and get legislation passed.

Yesterday Wrexhams two recently elected local Assembly Members went on the attack saying the First Minister contest was due to ego and hammered the party with various comments.

AM Llyr Gruffydd went on to comment: Im frankly amazed that Labours reaction to the vote was to try to smear Plaid Cymru when their own senior members had been talking to UKIP about a possible deal to form a government. There has been a certain arrogance about their attitude that demonstrates why they lost so many votes in the recent election.

They must remember that they are a party supported by only a third of voters, although they managed to scrape almost half the seats. Even with the support of the lone Liberal Democrat, they do not have a majority and the sooner they realise that they have to sit down and discuss areas where we can agree on policy commitments, the better.

Just to clarify, there have been no deals between Plaid, UKIP and the Tories and we would not go into coalition with them. Labour has admitted that it has had negotiations with UKIPs Nathan Gill.

In the meantime weve seen AMs rushing to the press desperately trying to blame Plaid for everything from the steel crisis to betraying vulnerable people. Plaid Cymru has been consistent in urging Welsh Government intervention in the steel crisis from January onwards  when Carwyn Jones was sitting on his hands saying we cant do anything.

Carwyn Jones is currently still the First Minister and this delay is not preventing him from intervening in the steel industry. Its time some of our local Labour representatives grew up rather than assuming they have a divine right to rule, no matter what the electorate decide.

Talks are due to be ongoing this afternoon between Plaid Cymru and Labour, for the first time described as formal. The BBC are reporting Carwyn Jones has discussed appointing Lib Dem AM Kirsty Williams as a cabinet minister as the horse trading goes on to find a solution to the deadlock.

If the problem persists Wales could see ballot boxes reappearing once again for the Assembly.
Missing 7 Year Old Found Safe And Well

This article is old - Published: Friday, May 13th, 2016

UPDATE: Appeal cancelled as the missing child has been found safe and well.

Great news from @NWPCHodges that the missing 7yo girl in Wrexham has been found safe and well !  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 13, 2016

Original information below.

An appeal has been issued this evening for a missing seven year old from Wrexham.

North Wales Police have issued the appeal for seven year old Lily Roberts, who is described as tall for her age and has brown hair in a plait.

She is wearing a white and purple top and black leggings.

Lily also wearing black sunglasses and may have pink and purple pushbike.

Any sightings please ring North Wales Police Control room on 101.

*No picture has been issued at this time but we will update if and when one is released
The top 25 hedge fund managers raked in $13 billion in 2015. Yet there is no money to pay teachers, or to develop social infrastructure, such as in the lead-poisoned city of Flint, Michigan. A criminal oligarchy controls all levels of government in America.

In this video, SEP vice presidential candidate Niles Niemuth speaks on social inequality in America, and the way forward for the working class.
Michel Temer, the vice president and former political ally of ousted Workers Party (Partido dos TrabalhadoresPT) President Dilma Rousseff, formally took control of Planalto, the presidential offices in Brasilia, Thursday, declaring that his would be a government of national salvation, and assembling a cabinet of right-wing politicians and capitalist economists from the banking and financial sector.

With the Brazilian Senate having voted that morning after an all-night session to initiate impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, she was suspended from office for the length of a trial that will likely run into September or October. While only a simple majority vote was required to begin this process, the lopsided result was 55 to 22, more than the two-thirds majority that is ultimately required to permanently remove the PT president from office.

Given that the basis of the impeachment chargesRousseffs alleged manipulation of budgetary accounts to cover for temporary shortfallswas clearly contrived as a pretext, a final conviction appears inevitable.

Brazil is the largest country in Latin America and the seventh largest economy in the world. Rousseff received 54 million votes in 2014 when she was reelected to a second term as president. This election has now been overturned through an anti-democratic political conspiracy at the highest level of the Brazilian ruling elite.

In his first speech to the nation, Temer, surrounded by a coterie of smirking politicians from nearly every party outside of the PT, stressed that his government would work to improve the environment for investment by the private sector and carry out fundamental reforms designed to shift the burden of the countrys profound economic crisis even more directly onto the backs of the masses of Brazilian workers.

There was more than a whiff of fascism in the new interim presidents remarks. He declared that his goal was to pacify and unify Brazil and declared that the watchword of his government would be Ordeme Progresso, order and progress, the words that appear on Brazils flag.

Taken from the French philosopher Auguste Comte, the slogan was first introduced into Brazils political lexicon in the late 19th century by leading figures in the military who were influenced by Comtes positivism. They became a watchword for national unity and suppression of the class struggle, imposed most effectively under the US-backed military dictatorship that ruled the country between 1964 and 1985.

Temers remarks suggested that Brazil needed to return to these old values. The slogan on the flag, he declared, couldnt be more current than if it were written today.

Temer told the assembled audience that he had recently driven past a gas station and seen that its owner had put up a sign reading Dont talk about the crisis, work. He added that he wanted to see this slogan spread to 10, 20 million billboards throughout Brazil. The slogan, he said served to promote harmony and optimism.

He spoke these words under conditions in which 11 million workers are now unemployed and layoffs have been continuing at the rate of 100,000 a month. The collapse of the commodities boom and the emerging market boom has plunged the country into its deepest economic crisis in a century.

The answer given by Temer to this crisis is clearly one of sharp austerity measures. He bragged that his first actions had been to slash the number of government ministries and indicated that a large-scale elimination of public sector jobs would follow. He also said that his government was committed to fundamental reforms, in the first instance in the countrys social security system and its labor laws.

The cabinet assembled by Temer is a collection of reactionaries and pro-business figures. Among the most important figures is Jose Serra, who has been named foreign minister. Serra is a leading figure in the right-wing PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) who served as a senator, mayor of Sao Paulo and twice as the unsuccessful candidate of the PSDB, losing to the PT in both 2002 and 2010. Serra was named in US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks as favoring the privatization of the state-owned energy giant Petrobras and the opening up of the so-called pre-salt underwater oil fields to exploitation by major oil firms based in the US.

The ministry of education was awarded to Mendonca Filho of the extreme right-wing Democrats (DEM) party, the successor to ARENA, the official ruling party of the former military dictatorship. He is the son of a career ARENA official and major landowner in the northern state of Pernambuco.

The ministry of Institutional Security, which includes Brazils intelligence agency, has been placed under the control of the former top general in the Brazilian army, Sergio Westphalen Etchegoyen. When the generals father was identified by the countrys truth commission as one of the officials responsible for the murders, disappearances and torture under the dictatorship, he protested angrily, declaring the accusations frivolous.

For agriculture minister, Temer named Blairo Maggi, a billionaire agribusiness figure known as the soy king, who is credited with doing more to destroy the Amazon rain forest than anyone else on the planet.

And the ministry of justice was handed to Alexandre de Moraes, the Sao Paulo state public safety secretary, who is an advocate of police-state repression. A separate human rights ministry was folded into justice and also placed under his leadership. Earlier, the name of a right-wing female deputy known for her opposition to abortion, including in cases of rape, had been put forward for human rights.

A number of those appointed to the new cabinet are facing corruption charges, including in connection with the massive bribery and kickback scandal involving contracts with Petrobras. Even the daily O Estado de S. Paulo, which backed impeachment, was compelled to observe that the new governments leaders with the participation of those notably involved in corruption scandals past and present, pretend that they are going to change everything to, in reality, leave everything as it is.

Perhaps the most significant figure in the new cabinet is Henrique Meirelles, who will take the post of finance minister, directing the austerity drive. Social welfare will reportedly be placed under his remit, indicating the governments intention to make radical changes. The role of Meirelles underscores the fundamental continuity between the new right-wing government and the PT administration that preceded it.

A former CEO of Bank of Boston, Meirelles was appointed head of Brazils central bank when the PT first came into office under the presidency of former metalworkers union leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. His appointment was a signal to both Brazilian and foreign capitalists that they had nothing to fear from the socialist rhetoric of the PT. Lula had proposed that Rousseff bring Meirelles into her administration, even as vice president.

In her own speech delivered Thursday morning, Rousseff denounced the impeachment as a coup and insisted that she was guilty of no crime. Its the most brutal thing that can happen to a human being, she said, being condemned for a crime you didnt commit. No injustice is more devastating.

She compared the experience to the torture she suffered as a prisoner of the military dictatorship in the late 1960s and her bout with cancer.

While denouncing the attack on herself personally and the threat to democracy posed by the fraudulent impeachment, she made no attempt to warn the Brazilian working class of the sharp attacks that are to come, much less call for any concrete action by workers against the coup.

This is because, in the end, the PT was prepared to carry out similar attacks, and had sought to win the support of Brazilian and foreign capital with the argument that only it could be seen as a legitimate government, and could utilize the collaboration of the CUT union federation to suppress working class resistance.

Moreover, all of those who have carried out the supposed coup were, until recently, the PTs closest political allies, awarded posts in government, running on common slates and, as emerged in the so-called mensalao scandal, even paid handsome stipends to vote with the government in congress.
In an effort to accelerate the passage of a Detroit school restructuring deal that will close more schools and attack teachers, Wall Street credit rating agency Moodys Investor Service wrote Monday that the school district was perilously close to a possible default or Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

Bondholders faced increased risk because of the legislative impasse in Lansing, the agency warned. The purpose of the statements was to instruct Michigan politicians to get the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) reorganization deal done in short order and adequately safeguard hedge funds and other large investors.

Moodys also explained why teachers and students were threatened with payless paydays and the cancellation of summer programs. Because the banks and bondholders have a senior lien on state aid, the statement said, emergency manager Steven Rhodes had concluded, the district may not be able to make payroll after 30 June.

Indicating the extraordinary level of financial duress faced by the Detroit Public Schools, Moodys noted that 2017 debt service will amount to $105.3 million, whereas the entire state aid in 2016 was only $380 million.

All of the official organizationsDemocrats, Republicans, unions and political formations like the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildreninvolved in the ongoing conflict over the DPS reorganization likewise insist that the debt to Wall Street is inviolable. Their role is to push through a deal, essentially a debt collection operation, while enforcing draconian costs on teachers and what remains of public education in the city.

DPS transitional manger Judge Steven Rhodes was appointed by Republican Governor Rick Snyder under the states notorious emergency manager law precisely for this purpose. The mandate is to close the nearly 175-year old educational institution, transform it into an agency to levy taxes and repay existing bonds, and in the process create a new school district, largely made up of for-profit charter schools, whose funding is directly tied to state legislature appropriations.

Rhodes was selected for this unprecedented assault on public education as a result of his success in the Detroit municipal bankruptcy. His Grand Bargain was primarily attributable to his close collaboration with the unions in forcing through massive cuts on jobs, pensions and city services. The former federal bankruptcy judge is deft in utilizing both the carrot and the stick.

On Thursday, Rhodes announced he had reversed his decision to begin negotiations for new labor agreements with the Detroit Federation of Teachers and six school workers unions. Current contracts expire June 30. The EM told the media he will not begin talks until the legislative package is passed in Lansing.

DFT interim president Ivy Bailey called the news disappointing. Bailey, along with American Federation of Teachers (AFT) national president Randi Weingarten, has been mobilizing a virtually nonstop series of activities to back the Snyder-Rhodes Senate bill. Replying to the news of the latest provocation from Rhodes, she predictably said, We believe now is the time for greater collaboration between the district, educators, parents, the community and all the stakeholders in the city of Detroit, reported the Detroit Free Press .

On the previous Tuesday, the emergency manager held a public informational meeting as mandated by lawregarding his Financial and Operating Plan for the Detroit Public Schools, with only several hours notice. Both the 30-page plan and the public meeting demonstrate, once again, that the state is managing a rescue, not of the schools, but of the bondholders.

The plan specifies Rhodes Transition Teamarea businessmen representing the ubiquitous Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures [owned by billionaire developer Dan Gilbert], Ford Motor Co., and auto parts producer Masco. It also includes three public relations firms and, significantly Jimmy Settles, UAW-Ford vice president, widely believed responsible for the ballot fraud used to force last years sellout contract past the opposition of Ford workers.

Rhodes goes out of his way to laud the Detroit Federation of Teachers for its support to the reform legislation and its willingness to design and implement valuable budget and cost cutting advice and assistance. Among them, he specifically mentions the notorious Termination Incentive Program under which teachers were forced to provide $10,000 each from their salaries in interest-free loans to the district. This rotten deal, pushed through by former DFT President Keith Johnson and AFT national president Randi Weingarten still owes teachers $31 million, according to Rhodes. With cold comfort for teachers, Rhodes claimed the DPS remained committed to repayment.

Giving a taste of what is to come should the Snyder-Rhodes plan be enacted, the document refers favorably to the fact that 10,000 Detroit school workers jobs have been cut since 2005 and 150 schools closed. These cuts resulted, Rhodes said, in DPS making impressive progress in its financial performance.

About 200 teachers, students and residents appeared at the late afternoon venue at Martin Luther King Jr. High School. Not unsurprisingly, Rhodes was met with widespread skepticism and general hostility.

The World Socialist Web Site spoke to parents attending the meeting. It was a set-up, said Yolanda Peoples. It was not something to address our concerns or issues as parents or as city residents. It was just something for Rhodes to come in here and provide us with a piece of paper that doesnt answer any of our questions.

Its illegal, Rhodes should know that, hes a judge, but he also did the bankruptcy which was also illegal. I believe he wanted to provide the appearance of democracy not actually democracy.

I have two children in DPS. They took all the programs away. My son goes to a performing arts school but they have no performing arts, except for vocal. They have no band, no orchestra. They are supposed to have drama, debate, but they lost all of those things because they said they are too costly to run.

A school district cannot be run like a business. A debt is not supposed to exist, but thats how they run the school. So they make us think that thats something that is supposed to be done, but its not. If you privatize, the charter schools are utilizing public funds but act as a private school.

I fully back the teachers and what they did. The money they are fighting for is money they have already earned. The conditions they work under with no support and having to reapply for their jobs each year are horrible. Nobody should have to work like that. We must support our teachers.

Brenda Watson, another parent, said, The oldco-newco program they are trying to implement is simply transferring the state debt back to the DPS. We are now not only going to be an underfunded system, but a system operating in the hole. With that, it means were going to be losing teachers. Rhodes claimed that they are not closing schools, but he knows that isnt true.

In fact, some of these schools are not healthy to be in. Do you understand lead poisoning? The teachers think there are behavior problems nowwhat are they going to be dealing with in the next three or four years when these children are in junior and high school? There are going to be behavior issues, but there is no additional funding for these children. Not even an apology to the parents. These children will be damaged for the rest of their lives.

Of course, Judge Rhodes supports the emergency management law. At $18,000 a month in salary, who wouldnt support it? Hes going to keep his job as long as hes being paid. He is an emergency manager.

The teachers elected to have their pay spread over the summer, then they were told they might not get paid even though they have performed the work. If the plan goes through, if they protest, they take away their certification. Thats ludicrous! Is it even legal? We have a judge saying this is OK? A man who took an oath to uphold the law?

Our children in the DPS system are going to continually fall further and further behind. Pay a math teacher $36,000 a year and then ask her to take a $10,000 cut in pay? And we wonder why the children are falling further behind?

The purpose of the charter schools is to dismantle the public school system. They are privately owned. They keep infiltrating the charters, simply to bankrupt the school district. Parents are left being forced to send their children to charters.

It is a have and have-not system. The haves are getting an education, but the have-nots are expected to compete with them in the global system. You are fighting a losing battle.

Follow the money. How much money is being made in war, how much in missile contracts? Our children are not in the money but you sure can make money educating them.
Earl Forrest, 66, was executed by lethal injection in Missouri on Wednesday evening. His execution, the first in the state this year, proceeded after the US Supreme Court denied his application for a stay of execution earlier Wednesday afternoon.

Missouris Democratic governor, Jay Nixon, rejected Forrests petition to have his sentence commuted to life in prison an hour or two before the Supreme Court decision.

Forrest was pronounced dead at 7:18 p.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre, according to a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections.

Forrest was convicted and sentenced to death for the December 9, 2002 murders of three people. In a dispute over drugs, Forrest killed two acquaintances, Harriet Smith and a visitor at her house, Michael Wells, shooting them both in the face at close range, according to court records.

Forrest then fled with his then-girlfriend, Angela Gamblin, with a lockbox of methamphetamines estimated at a value of $25,000. Later, he got into a shootout with police and shot and killed a sheriffs deputy, Sharon Joann Barnes. During the police standoff, Forrest also shot Gamblin and Dent County Sheriff Bob Wofford, who both survived.

At trial, Forrests defense said that he had problems with drugs and alcohol, and that long-term substance abuse impaired his judgment. The jury recommended a death sentence for each of the murder convictions, due to aggravating factors, including his motivation to obtain drugs and his killing of an on-duty officer.

In Forrests filing with the US Supreme Court, his attorneys challenged his death sentence as a violation of the Eighth Amendments ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty has outlived any conceivable purpose, his filing stated. It is imperfect in application, arbitrary in result, and serves no legitimate penological purpose.

Urging the court to reconsider the death penaltys constitutionality, the filing referred to the high courts 5-4 ruling in Glossip v. Gross and to Justice Stephen Breyers dissent in that case. The case, representing three Oklahoma death row inmates, challenged the use of midazolam in execution protocols, despite substantial evidence in numerous executions that the sedative can cause excruciating and prolonged pain.

In his dissenting opinion, Breyer wrote: I believe it highly likely that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment. At the very least, the Court should call for full briefing on the basic question.

Forrest was the 14th person to be executed in the United States this year, and the 1,436th put to death since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. In this time period, Missouri has executed 87 people, trailing behind only Texas (537), Oklahoma (112), Virginia (111), Florida (92) and Arizona (90).

There are currently 25 men on death row in Missouri. Sixteen of these prisoners have not exhausted their appeals and execution is on hold for nine others. According to the Associated Press, these nine include two who have been declared mentally unfit for execution, two who were granted stays due to medical conditions that might make their executions painful, and two who had their sentences set aside due to trial attorney errors.

Last-minute stay of Alabama execution

A federal appeals court delayed the execution of Alabama death row inmate Vernon Madison just hours before his execution scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution in Madisons case, saying there should be more time to review his claim of incompetency for execution due to strokes and dementia. The Alabama Supreme Court had refused to halt the execution earlier this week.

Madison was convicted in the 1985 killing of Mobile police officer Julius Schulte. Prosecutors said that he approached Schulte, who had responded to a domestic dispute involving Madison, and shot him in the back of the head as he sat in his police car.

Madisons attorneys recently wrote: Over the course of the past year, Mr. Madison has suffered from multiple strokes that have resulted in significant cognitive decline, suffers from a major vascular neurocognitive disorder, or vascular dementia, and does not rationally understand why the state of Alabama is attempting to execute him. Madison is also legally blind.

The US Supreme Court has ruled that executing prisoners who lack a rational understanding that they are going to be executed, and why, violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. An expert for the defense found that Madison has an IQ of 72, a finding of mental incompetency. Madisons attorneys also say he is confused about his case and has spoken of going to live in Florida after he is released from prison.

Madisons case has been ongoing for three decades. His first conviction was reversed after it was determined that blacks had been illegally kept off the jury. His second conviction was reversed after an appeals court found that the prosecution obtained testimony from experts based partly on facts not in evidence.

After Madisons third trial, in 1994, the jury sentenced him to life without parole, but the judge imposed a death sentence. Madisons attorneys argued that the US Supreme Courts January ruling in Hurst v. Florida shows that his death sentence was unconstitutional.

In that case, the court ruled that Floridas system of allowing judges, rather than juries, to make the final ruling on a death sentence was unconstitutional. Florida recently revamped its death penalty statutes, but the state has not executed anyone since the high courts ruling. The Florida Supreme Court is also considering action that could potentially overturn the death sentences of the nearly 400 inmates on the states death row.

Alabama inmate Christopher E. Brooks argued earlier that Alabamas sentencing in capital cases is virtually identical to Floridas previous system. The Supreme Court rejected Brooks appeal and he was executed by lethal injection on January 21.

Alabama has executed 57 people since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, as of January 1 there were 196 prisoners on death row in Alabama.
Tens of thousands of people throughout France demonstrated yesterday against the decision by the Socialist Party (PS) to impose the El Khomri labor law without a vote in the National Assembly. The contemptuous and provocative decision to use Article 49-3 to impose the law without parliamentary vote has stirred the anger of the protestors.

The police have responded by violently attacking protesters in a number of cities throughout the country.

Several thousand people demonstrated in Toulouse and Nantes, along with several hundred in Lyon and Caen. According to reports, protesters in Le Havre ransacked the headquarters of the PS. There have been a number of arrests, including nine in Toulouse, eight in Lyon, five in Nantes and three in Bordeaux.

In many cities, there were reports of clashes between youth and members of the trade unions, including the Stalinist General Confederation of Labour (CGT). The unions had indicated before the protests that they would work with the police to control the protests and prevent conflicts.

In Marseille, where several thousand demonstrators marched, violent clashes took place near the Place Castellane.

In Paris, there were violent clashes between protestors and the police. After an initial confrontation between demonstrators holding glass bottles and police firing tear gas, the demonstration moved towards the Invalides; the protesters found themselves trapped by police in the street and soldiers armed with assault rifles guarding the Invalides.

After a confrontation between the police and a small number of unidentified rioters, the police fired several tear gas grenades and charged the crowd. At least two demonstrators were injured in the head and four people were arrested.

WSWS reporters interviewed some demonstrators at the Invalides. One student, Emilien, insisted that the rioters who clashed with police were not present at the start of the event, but they had slipped in during the demonstration among a group of anarchists that were peacefully protesting.

He denounced Hollandes decision to resort to invoking Article 49-3 in order to impose the law. It is an act of authoritarianism; it is a proof of political and ideological impotence. The government has no legitimacy and depends on brute force to pass laws that will attack all workers and destabilize the youth. He saw that the role of the PS was to defend the capital system.

Emilien again stressed his suspicions about the rioters who intervened in the protests and seemed to work closely with the police to launch provocations. He said, I mostly saw people who were part of the processions at specific locations, it was not random. It was after the security forces that were prepared to crack down, but not just on the violent groups but the whole procession.

The WSWS also spoke to Didier, who said he was disappointed in the environmentalist Green Party and feared the long-term political consequences of the El Khomri law. Mocking the pretensions of Hollande to be a great tactician, Didier said, "The right will come back ... they [the PS ministers] will be swept away in a few months, which makes it even more sad that this law is issued from the left. The left does not mean anything anymore; we are in a pre-revolutionary period.

Evoking the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, he added, The 1793 Constitution recognizes the right to insurrection when a law does not respect the rights of the people. ... When a law is unjust, we will not respect it.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) released figures on April 12 showing the median Auckland house price rising above $NZ800,000 for the first time, to $820,000. Auckland home prices have more than doubled in the past decade and climbed 13.6 percent in the past year alone.

While this housing bubble is focused in Auckland, houses are overpriced throughout New Zealand. The national median price increased by 64 percent in the past decade to $495,000. With 70 percent of household net wealth held in housing, there are growing warnings from the Reserve Bank and economists that any sudden, significant drop in prices could endanger the economy.

Yet, while it lasts, the bubble is a bonanza for the small minority who own large amounts of property. This includes members of parliament, two-thirds of whom own two or more houses. None of the political parties are proposing substantial measures to address the lack of affordable housing.

The political establishment has instead scapegoated foreign buyers. Last month Prime Minister John Key, in response to pressure from the opposition parties, raised the possibility of imposing a land tax on overseas buyers if data, to be released in coming weeks, shows a significant level of sales to foreigners.

The opposition Labour Party has used the housing crisis to promote anti-Chinese xenophobia. In July 2015, Labours housing spokesman Phil Twyford told TV3 that a tsunami of Chinese investment was looming and called for a total ban on foreign buyers purchasing New Zealand homes. The Maori nationalist Mana Party and the anti-immigrant New Zealand First joined Labour in scapegoating Chinese immigrants and investors.

The claims by Labour and its allies are false. Official data released this week shows that in the first three months of 2016 only 3 percent of house sales were to overseas tax residents. Less than 1 percent were to Chinese residents. Some of these overseas-based buyers are likely to be New Zealand citizens who live abroad.

A ban on overseas-based buyers would simply reduce competition in favour of local capitalists. Bank lending restrictions on overseas buyers in Australia have done nothing to stop soaring house prices.

The attacks on foreigners are intended to divert legitimate anger over widening social inequality in a reactionary, nationalist direction. The singling out of Chinese investors is also an expression of Labours strategic alignment with Washingtons drive to war with China. The National Party government, while no less supportive of the alliance with US imperialism, has been wary of making direct attacks on China, which is New Zealands second largest trading partner.

There are more than enough resources to build high quality, affordable housing for all, but this cannot be done under the profit system. In response to the global economic breakdown that began in 2008, the ruling elites in every country have increasingly turned to parasitic means of wealth accumulation, including speculation on property markets.

According to housing researcher Philippa Howden-Chapman, 25 years ago around 30 percent of new homes coming onto the market were priced in the lowest quartile. Today, that figure is 5 percent. The proportion of households renting a home increased from 26.2 percent in 1991 to 35.2 percent in 2013.

A growing section of society is struggling to afford basic needs. Rents have increased amid a wave of job cuts and austerity measures, including cuts to healthcare and welfare. In the first quarter of 2016, the Salvation Army reported a 9 percent growth in demand for food parcels, compared with a year ago, which the charity blamed partly on rising housing costs. The charity estimates 300,000 children live in poverty.

The Accommodation Supplement, a welfare benefit paid by the government to around 300,000 people (60 percent of renters) to help meet housing costs, has not been adjusted since 2007, when its level was based on 2005 rents.

The Salvation Army states that in 2015, rents were 15 percent higher in real terms than in 2005. According to property management company Crockers, in the three years from 2012 to 2015 alone, the national median rent for one- and two-bedroom homes rose by 16 percent. In some urban areas the rise was over 20 percent. In Christchurch, both house prices and rents have risen approximately 50 percent since the 2011 earthquakes.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in overcrowded conditions, including 99,030 people in working class South Auckland, and one quarter of all Aucklanders aged 20 to 24, according to the 2013 census.

The quality of many rental homes is extremely poor. An estimated 12 percent of children live in houses with serious cold, damp and mould problems, leading to 40,000 child hospitalisations each year. Tenants are increasingly insecure and vulnerable to landlords discrimination. The average stay in rental property is reportedly between 11 months and two years, making it impossible for many households to put down roots in a community.

As part of its assault on the working class, the government plans to sell over 1400 state houses in Invercargill and Tauranga this year. In March, 2,800 Auckland state houses were transferred to the Tamaki Regeneration Company. This corporation is jointly owned by Auckland Council and the government, but works in partnership with private development, investment and housing services partners. Several tenants protested against the transfer, calling it a step toward privatisation.

Housing NZ properties are usually provided to tenants at income-related rents. Their occupants include some of the poorest and most vulnerable families. The latest attack on state housing began in 2014 with the ending of the long-standing house for life policy. The government has so far removed 600 state house tenants who were deemed to be earning enough to pay market rents, and 3,000 more tenancies are being reviewed. In 2014, several Glenn Innes state-house residents, many of whom lived there for decades, were evicted in line with moves to gentrify the harbourside Auckland suburb.

The governments Social Housing Reform Programme aims to transfer up to one-third of Housing NZ houses to government-designated community housing providers, which can include charities, Maori tribal businesses and other for-profit businesses. While the government claims privatisation will benefit tenants, in reality it will provide a windfall for investors. They will buy state houses at below-market rates, and receive government payouts in the form of the Income Related Rent Subsidy.

The Labour Party claims to oppose the privatisation plan. Successive Labour and National-led governments, however, are responsible for downsizing and under-funding public housing. The 19911999 National government sold about 11,000 state houses and introduced higher market-based rents for remaining tenants. The 19992008 Labour government re-instated income-related rents, but retained the corporatised structure of Housing NZ, requiring it to operate along business lines and deliver annual dividends to the government.

Labour increased the state housing supply by just 9,000 properties. Today there are only 68,000 houses owned or managed by Housing NZ, compared with 69,928 in 1992, prior to Nationals sell-off, despite the population increasing from 3.5 to 4.5 million over that period.

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[13 June 2015]
At a ceremony on Thursday, presided over by officials representing the United States and European imperialist powers, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced the activation of a new missile system, based in Romania.

"The United States' Aegis ashore system is declared certified for operations," NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg declared during the inauguration.

The new missile network is stationed around military infrastructure based at Romanias Deveselu air base, as well as a new US base located in Poland. It will operate under the direct command of US Department of Defense (DOD) personnel.

At least 130 US soldiers will man the installation, which comes with an initial price tag of $800 million, and is positioned less than 400 miles from Russias main Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol, Crimea.

The Aegis Ashore is modeled on the Aegis missile systems embedded onboard the US Navys most advanced destroyers, and is designed to fire an array of short and medium-range missiles.

In its report Thursday, the New York Times frankly acknowledged, [T]he launchpad violates a 1987 treaty intended to take the superpowers off their hair-trigger nuclear alter, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, by banning land-based cruise and medium-range missiles with a range from 300 to 3,400 miles.

Russian officials have responded by denouncing the new system as a major escalation and accusing NATO of ratcheting up the threat of nuclear war in Eastern Europe.

Our experts are convinced that the deployment of the ABM system poses a certain threat to the Russian Federation, Russian government spokesman Dmitri Peskov told the media. Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level of security for Russia.

Russian foreign affairs representative Maria Zakharova condemned the destructive actions of the United States and its allies in the area of missile defense, calling the new system a direct threat to global and regional security and a violation of this [IRNF] treaty.

US and NATO officials have defended the system by claiming that it is directed against Iran and other small states viewed by Washington as rogue states, and poses no threat to Russias nuclear deterrent.

In his remarks Thursday, Romanian President Klaus Ioannis made clear that the new installation is part of broader plans to use his country as a staging area for NATO activities throughout Eastern Europe and the Black Sea.

Clearly implying that the real target of these measures is the Russian Federation, Klaus called on NATO leaders to maintain a permanent naval presence in the Black Sea, as part of a systematic buildup aimed at upholding a credible and predictable presence of Allied forces on the eastern flank.

Western generals and strategists are posing NATO-Russian war scenarios as if the war has already begun.

During his inauguration last week, US Army General and Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Curtis Scaparrotti warned that Russia is striving to project itself as a world power and demanded that US forces in Europe must enhance our levels of readiness and our agility in the spirit of being able to fight tonight if deterrence fails.

In an assessment of the NATO buildup against Russia, How NATO Can Defend the Baltics from Conventional and Hybrid Attacks, the Atlantic Council outlined a detailed program aimed at insuring the defeat of Moscows forces in an armed struggle over the Baltics and Eastern Europe.

The elite US think tank recommends the formation of a new NATO intelligence apparatus modeled on South Koreas 501st Military Intelligence Brigade, the formation by Germany, the United Kingdom and Poland of heavy brigades capable of deploying to the Russian border on two weeks notice, the bulking up of NATOs air capabilities, including expanded air bases in Sweden in Finland, and the creation a unified drill schedule to coordinate continuous NATO war exercises in the Baltics.

Warning of the threat posed by Russian anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems, the Council notes that such systems pose a wartime issue.

Such efforts will necessarily take place in the context of high-intensity conventional warfare, the Council wrote, calling for the NATO alliance to counter Russian A2/AD capabilities through additional bases, weapons and reinforcements in and around the Baltics, along with new interoperability frameworks to integrate the alliances naval, air and space-based forces.

Russias actions, geopolitical rhetoric, and geographic proximity to the Baltics have generated the requirement for a significant defense capability, the Council wrote.

In another report, Reinforcing Deterrence on NATOs Eastern Flank, the RAND Corporation warned that a Russian offensive in Eastern Europe could rapidly overwhelm NATO defense and seize hold of major population centers in the Baltics, including Tallinn, Estonia and Riga, Latvia.

Since organizing the February 2014 overthrow of the Russian-backed government in Kiev, Ukraine, the Obama administration and US military-intelligence apparatus have spearheaded an armed buildup all along Russias frontiers.

Far from responding defensively, Washington and its allies have carried out relentless preparations for offensive warfare against Russia over the past two-and-a-half years, including the formation from January 2015 of command-and-control centers throughout the former Soviet sphere, including forward basing arrangements throughout Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Poland and Bulgaria.

While adopting the posture of defense of democracy and of the rules-based world order, US imperialism is preparing to unleash a third world war.
Opening statements and testimony were heard on Thursday in Baltimore Circuit Court in the trial of police officer Edward M. Nero for the April 2015 death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.

Neros trial is the second of six for the police officers charged in the death of Gray, who died from severe spinal injuries after being given a rough ride in the back of a police vehicle. The trial is scheduled to last up to a week.

Grays death set off weeks of protests and limited rioting throughout Baltimore in opposition to police brutality. State and local officials responded by declaring martial law and deploying the National Guard.

As a criminal defendant in the state of Maryland, Nero has opted to have his trial decided by a presiding judge rather than by jury. The police officer has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault and misconduct relating to the arrest, reckless endangerment and another second-degree assault charge relating to how Gray was treated while being loaded into the police van.

Nero was one of two police officers who physically apprehended Gray as the latter fled from the police in the west Baltimore neighborhood of Winchester-Sandtown after having made eye contact with an officer. A bystander video taken of the arrest shows Gray screaming in pain as police officers carry him to the back of a police wagon.

Despite Neros role in assaulting Gray, the prosecution has confined its case to questioning the legality of the officers decision to arrest him.

While prosecutors have dropped charges asserting Gray was the victim of false imprisonment due to police claims of having found a switchblade in the young mans possession, state attorneys are contending that Grays detention was nonetheless illegal. According to Chief Deputy States Attorney Michael Schatzow, Nero deprived Mr. Gray of his liberty while planning to arrest him, and [then] decide whether to unarrest him.

Testifying for the prosecution, Baltimore Police Captain Martin Bartness said that Nero had violated department policy on seat-belting passengers while transporting Gray, although later asserted that such decisions are ultimately left up to the officers discretion and do not amount to a law.

In response to the charges of Nero having violating Grays Fourth Amendment rights, defense attorney Marc Zayon said Grays unprovoked flight in the presence of police constituted a probable cause for arrest.

It is clear in this case that everything that was done, not only by Officer Nero but all of the involved officers, was done correctly, Zayon said, adding that Gray had been passively and actively resisting arrest, banging in the wagon, kicking the wagon, prompting Nero to forego buckling him inside of the van.

Of the states decision to question the legality of the arrest, Zayon warned that such a strategy would cause officers to simply not make arrests. A number of commentators have expressed similar concerns, with the Guardian noting that the strategy would effectively turn Nero's case into a referendum on police stops in high crime areas and have wide-ranging implications on how officers can be punished for illegal stops, searches, and detentions.

The unlikelihood of such an argument being upheld in court has prompted a number of pro-police commentators to voice confidence that Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams will rule in favor of Nero.

It was clearly a legal chase, stop, frisk, then search. And a reasonable arrest, even if it wasnt legal (and it might have been legal) I cant imagine a weaker case [for the prosecution], Peter Moskos, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a former BPD officer told the Guardian.

In December, the trial for Officer William G. Porter, the first of the six officers charged in the death of Gray, ended in a hung jury. The mistrial was followed by months of delays as state prosecutors sought to compel Porter to testify against his fellow officers despite his own upcoming retrial. Porter as well as another officer set to be tried, Garrett E. Miller, will testify against Nero.

South Carolina grand jury indicts cop who shot unarmed man in the back

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury indicted former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager on violation of civil rights charges for the April 2015 murder of 50-year-old Walter L. Scott, who was African American.

Slager has been charged with depriving Scott of his rights to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer as well as using a weapon while committing a felony crime of violence. Additionally, Slager is being charged with obstruction of justice for misleading authorities by claiming that Scott had attacked him with a taser stun gun and provoked the shooting.

If found guilty Slager could face life imprisonment or the death penalty, as well as a fine up to $250,000.

Slager was indicted on state charges for Scotts murder last June, with the date for that trial set for October 31, although complications may place the start of the trial some time in 2017.

Slager killed Scott after pulling him over for a broken tail light. After being questioned by the police officer about the ownership of the vehicle he was in, Scott fled and was chased by Slager.

A video filmed by a witness shows Slager struggling with Scott before the latter turns and runs away, with the police officer opening fire eight times at the unarmed man, striking him four times in the back and once in the ear. Slager then retrieves an object from the ground, likely his taser, and places it at the fallen mans side.

Speaking to NBC reporters at the time, Walter Scott, Sr., the victims father, commented, The way he was shooting that gun, it looked like he was trying to kill a deer. Slager had a history of violence prior to the 2015 killing, including a 2013 event involving the unprovoked tasering of a North Charleston man who witnesses report was neither resisting arrest nor dangerous.

According to Scarlett A. Wilson, the prosecutor for Charleston County who is overseeing the charges, the joint federal and state prosecutions against Slager vindicate separate interestsWhile certainly the state charges address the killing of Mr. Scott, they do not directly address the alleged violation of Mr. Scotts civil rights by a government employee acting under color of law.

Speaking after the hearing on Tuesday, Judy, the mother of Walter Scott, said to news reporters, I thank God that my son was used to pull the cover off all the violence and the cover-ups that have been going on, adding, Im happy for that. But Im sad because my son is gone.

Slager was one of only a handful of law enforcement officials indicted for the more than 1,000 police homicides which occurred in the US last year. In a report last year, the Washington Post stated that in the years from 2005 until 2015 only 54 police officers have been charged for a killing, with even fewer being convicted. A Pittsburgh Tribune-Review study released earlier this year shows that the Department of Justice has ruled in the favor of law enforcement in 96 percent of the more than 13,000 cases involving complaints of civil rights violations by the police since 1995.

San Francisco sheriffs deputies receive felony charges for assault on unarmed motorist

San Francisco prosecutors obtained felony warrants for two California sheriffs deputies stemming from a vicious assault on a motorist last fall.

A surveillance video of the assault from last November shows the two deputies, Luis R. Santamaria and Paul D. Wieber, repeatedly raining blows from police batons upon a suspect, Stanislav Petrov, in an alleyway after Petrov reportedly led the two deputies on a high-speed chase before crashing his Mercedes-Benz into a parked car and fled on foot.

According to Michael Haddad, one of Petrovs attorneys, the motorist suffered multiple lacerations to his head as well as broken bones in his hands after attempting to shield himself from the assault. According to San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who released the video days after the attack occurred, the beating resembled the 1991 police assault of unarmed Los Angeles motorist Rodney King.

CNN quotes Michael Rains, Santamarias attorney, who declares that his client, who teaches classes regarding use of force, is very much aware that any use of force captured visually and audibly is graphic and ugly, even though it may be lawful in every aspect. Both Wieber and Santamaria maintain that the vicious assault on Petrov was an attempt to end the resistance and take him into custody.

New England troopers relieved of duty after assaulting man who was attempting to surrender

Two state police troopers, one from New Hampshire and another from Massachusetts, have been relieved from duty after a video from an aerial surveillance camera captured a number of state police troopers assaulting a man while he was in a prone position attempting to surrender.

Richard Simone, 50, of Holden, Massachusetts led police on a high speed chase across two states on Wednesday. After running into a dead end in Nashua, New Hampshire, Simone exited his vehicle and got on all fours in an attempt to surrender before being rushed by several state police officers and repeatedly attacked.

An investigation is planned into the assault, with Massachusetts State Police releasing a statement noting the video appears to show a use of force against the suspect If it is determined that a department member has not lived up to those expectations, we will take appropriate action.

Simone was wanted on multiple warrants for felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon as well as larceny. Appearing at an arraignment on Thursday, Simone showed visible bruising around his eye and ear. He is scheduled to face additional charges for attempting to evade arrest in multiple jurisdictions.
Later this month, Barack Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima by the American military on August 6, 1945, and the destruction three days later of the Japanese city of Nagasaki, rank among the greatest war crimes of the 20th century.

One would think that after 71 years, the United States would finally be prepared to acknowledge that the incineration of two defenseless Japanese cities, causing some 200,000 deaths, was a militarily unnecessary act.

Nothing of the sort will happen. Obama will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II, declared the White House. No apology will be forthcoming.

For decades, the US government has insisted that it was right to carry out the nuclear attacks on Japan, declaring that the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the only alternative to an invasion of Japan and the ensuing loss of American lives. Every attempt to question the legitimacy of the bombings has been met with frenzied and dishonest propaganda, such as that which forced the Smithsonian Institution to shutter its exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the bombing in 1995.

Typical of these apologetics is a comment published in the Wall Street Journal by the Reverend Miscamble of Notre Dame University. Miscamble declares, Theres zero reason to apologize for the atomic bombing, because [President Harry S.] Truman authorized the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, both major military-industrial targets, to help win the gruesome Pacific War as quickly as possible and with the loss of the fewest American livesand, as it turned out, the loss of the fewest Japanese lives.

Echoing these sentiments, the New York Times this week cited those who insist that the decision to drop the bomb saved tens of thousands of American lives that would have been lost in an invasion of Honshu, Japans main island.

These claims are without all credibility. They bear no relationship to the actual content of discussions taking place in Washington and the US military high command prior to the attacks.

By early 1945, the United States had gained total air supremacy over Japan and taken numerous islands within flying range of the Japanese mainland. Around the same time, the US switched from carrying out precision bombings of specific military targets to mass incendiary raids that ultimately leveled 67 Japanese cities, including the March 910 firebombing of Tokyo that killed some 100,000 people.

When General Curtis Lemay, the head of the US Strategic Air Command, was asked in 1945 how long he thought the war would last, he said, We sat down and did some thinking about it, and it indicated that we would be pretty much out of targets around September 1, and with the targets gone, we couldnt see much of any war going on at the time.

The rationalizations for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were challenged within the US high command itself, which insisted that the incineration of another pair of Japanese cities had little military significance.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower said that, upon learning of President Trumans intention to use the bomb against a civilian population, he felt a feeling of depression and voiced my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives.

Other high-ranking military officials subsequently made similar statements. Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, said after the war, The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military point of view, in the defeat of Japan. President Trumans Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, acknowledged, Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan.

President Franklin D. Roosevelts death on April 12, 1945, brought Harry S. Truman to the presidency. This limited and rather ignorant man was dubbed The Senator from Pendergast because of his connections with the convicted felon and gambling addict who ran the Missouri Democratic Party political machine.

Truman was completely indifferent to the moral implications of the use of nuclear weapons. One of his advisers later recalled that, when Truman learned of the bombing of Hiroshima, he was tremendously pepped up by it and spoke to me of it again and again when I saw him.

By the time Truman decided to use the bomb, the Japanese government had for months been sending strong indications that they were seeking to surrender, insisting only that they be allowed to retain their Emperor. The White House had by this time come to favor retaining the Emperor, but was divided over whether this fact should be communicated to the Japanese. President Truman ultimately decided to drop the bomb first, then let the Japanese government know the terms.

Why, then, did the United States government embark upon a course of action that, while having no military justification, would forever brand it with infamy in the eyes of the world?

As the war was reaching its end, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was intensifying. In accordance with the terms of the Yalta agreement, the Soviet Union was about to invade Japan, laying claim to territories granted to it in that accord, and was seeking to play a role in post-war Europe commensurate with the losses it had endured during the war.

The use of the atomic bomb was, as two historians recently put it, Americas first act of the Cold War. It was intended to send a clear signal to the Soviet Union that, despite Soviet victory over Germany, the Americans were the masters of the world.

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki announced the entry of the United States as the worlds unchallenged imperialist hegemon, bullying and dictating terms to all humanity. Behind the thin veneer of democracy, the United States was signaling that it would do whatever was necessary for the preservation and expansion of its own interests, no matter the scale of the crime or how many people had to die.

In the more than seven decades since the bombing of Hiroshima, the determination of the American ruling class to use military force to defend its interests has only grown. Obama will make his appearance in Hiroshima as part of his participation in a Group of 7 meeting where he will seek to strengthen Americas alliance with Japan against China and facilitate Prime Minister Shinzo Abes re-militarization of the country.

Even as it demands nuclear non-proliferation from every other country, the White House is spending a trillion dollars to modernize the US nuclear stockpile and engaging in a continuous series of provocations against China and Russia that threaten war between nuclear-armed states.

In other words, Obama will go to Hiroshima not to apologize for past crimes, but to prepare new ones.

How can one expect the United States government, which since Hiroshima has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people in Korea and Vietnamand, over the past quarter century, throughout the Middle Eastto apologize for mass murder when it continues to practice it to this day?

But there will come a day in a socialist America, when the atrocities committed by the ruling class will be disavowed, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be acknowledged for what they were: crimes against humanity.
After less than a year at the helm of the Parti Quebecois, media and telecommunications mogul Pierre-Karl Peladeau announced last week that he was resigning all his political functions effective immediately. This precipitate departure underlines the longstanding crisis of the Parti Quebecois (PQ), a pro-Quebec independence party that for the past four decades has served as one of the Quebec capitalist elites two parties of government.

Peladeaus resignation took the PQ leadership and the entire political establishment by surprise. Just the week before, Peladeau had reorganized his team and replaced his chief of staff.

Peladeau attributed his abrupt departure from politics to family problems. Press reports spoke of his fear of losing custody of his children following his recent, highly-publicized separation from his wife, the television producer Julie Snyder. In addition to their personal relationship, the two have an apparently stormy business relationship, with Snyder publicly charging that since her estrangement from Peladeau her production house has been spurned by Peladeaus Quebecor media empire.

But these personal difficulties can only have been the trigger. A notoriously intemperate man used to bossing his subordinates, Peladeau was visibly frustrated by his failure to gain political traction and power. As noted by several commentators, his brief reign as PQ leader was marked by many failures, above all, his inability to shore up the PQs base of support, despite the massive popular opposition to the savage austerity measures being implemented by the Liberal government of Philippe Couillard.

Peladeaus reputation was further tarnished this year when a Radio-Canada report revealed that while he headed Quebecor from 1999 to 2012, the conglomerate had several subsidiaries in tax havens and likely engaged in tax evasion.

It has also been revealed that during his tenure as PQ leader, Peladeau failed to place his controlling interest in Quebecor in a blind-trust. While temporarily handing his affairs to a company representative, he retained his 75 percent voting rights in Quebecor, an act that put the leader of the official opposition in a situation of blatant conflict of interest, especially given Quebecors role as far and away the provinces largest private sector media company. Many commentators speculate that Peladeau will now resume day-to-day operational control of Quebecor.

The leaders of Quebecs main political parties all expressed sympathy for the businessman after his resignation announcement and praised him for his public service. What they were in fact saluting was the major role Peladeau has played, both as a businessman and politician, in pushing official Quebec politics sharply to the right. Peladeau, who will no doubt continue to exercise great influence in the PQ through his pocketbook and media interests, has promised to remain a committed activist for Quebec independence.

Former Bloc Quebecois (BQ) leader Gilles Duceppe and former PQ Premiers Bernard Landry and Pauline Marois said they were shocked and saddened by Peladeaus resignation. They had all played a major role in the press barons entry into the PQ in 2014 and his meteoric rise to head the party a year later.

The warm welcome accorded the ultra-rich, notoriously anti-worker businessman within the PQ exemplifies the bourgeois and right-wing character of the PQ and the whole independantiste movement, including the supposedly leftist forces that promote it.

Peladeaus elevation to PQ leader was seen by the party establishment as a way of reviving the partys fortunes, including countering the arguments of their federalist big-business opponents that independence would hurt the Quebec economy. Over the past fifteen years, the PQ and the BQ, its sister party in the federal parliament, have suffered a series of electoral debacles, due to a hemorrhaging of their electoral support among working class people. The huge social cuts imposed in the late 1990s by the Bouchard-Landry government in the name of achieving a zero deficit and then by Pauline Marois, when the PQ formed a minority government between 2012 and 2014, gave the lie to the PQs demagogic claims to be a party of the left with a favourable attitude toward the workers movement.

Peladeau was unable to increase popular support for the PQ because workers and youth rightly recognized him to be an anti-working class, multi-millionaire. As Quebecors CEO, Peladeau imposed 14 lockouts in 15 years at various Quebecor subsidiaries, while presiding over the reduction of its workforce from 60,000 employees to 15,000.

Peladeaus entry into the big business PQ was quite logical. The son of Pierre Peladeau, the founder of Quebecor and a fervent nationalist who at times voiced admiration for both Adolph Hitler and Karl Marx, Pierre Karl Peladeau inherited a vast fortune and media empire.

He is part of a significant section of the Quebec ruling class that sees the creation of a new capitalist state in North America as an opportunity to get richer at the expense of the working class and to play a bigger role on the world stage, including through participation in imperialist wars waged by the United States.

His various television channels and newspapers, such as TVA and Le Journal de Montreal have served as mouthpieces for the most reactionary elements in the ruling elite. Quebecor tabloids provided a platform for les lucides (the clear-sighted)a group of right-wing politicians, journalists and academics headed by former PQ premier Lucien Bouchard, who demanded further tax cuts for the rich and an all-out assault on workers through the dismantling of public services.

Le Journal de Montreal has also fueled anti-immigrant chauvinism, denouncing tolerance of the cultural practices of ethnic minorities (reasonable accommodation) as a threat to Quebecs French culture. Peladeau himself played a key role in the Marois PQ governments unsuccessful attempt to impose an anti-democratic and Islamophobic Charter of Quebec Values. This was aimed at dividing the working class and diverting attention from the social spending cuts the PQ imposed after it came to power in the fall of 2012 on a wave of discontent with the Charest Liberals and their austerity measures.

The arrival of Peladeau at the head of the PQ threw the union bureaucracy and the so-called left in Quebec into a brief quandary. For decades, one of the main functions of these forces has been to provide political support and cover for the PQ, by falsely promoting it as a lesser evil and even progressive alternative to the Liberals.

Despite the notorious anti-worker record of Peladeau and his role as spokesperson for the most rapacious sections of the ruling elite, the union bureaucracy quickly rallied round the lockout king.

Quebec Solidaire (QS), and the various pseudo-Marxist groups that are integrated within QS soon followed suit.

To maintain its role as the left wing of the Quebec sovereignty or pro-independence movement and prevent being swallowed whole by the PQ, QS finds it politic to keep a certain distance from the big business PQ, even as it collaborates with it, overtly and covertly, in the name of their common project of an independent Quebec.

Peladeaus entry into the PQ leadership somewhat complicated this. But it didnt take long for the leaders of QS to relaunch their efforts at rapprochement with the PQ. Over the past 18 months they have strengthened their de facto alliance with the PQ through their participation in the United Organizations for Independence (YES-Quebec) and welcomed Peladeaus calls for a convergence of sovereignist forces in the run-up to the 2018 provincial election.

Showing the close links between QS and the PQ, QS parliamentary spokesperson Francoise David reacted to the resignation of Peladeau by stating, My thoughts are with my colleagues of the Parti Quebecois, and lamenting the loss to Quebecs political life of a genuine sovereigntist.

On balance, the leaders of QS see the departure of the notoriously right-wing Peladeau as favourable to their reconciliation efforts with the PQ, including a possible electoral alliance in 2018. Amir Khadir, one of the three QS Members of the National Assembly, has already proposed holding a primary to choose a common sovereigntist candidate if a by-election is needed for an electoral seat currently held by the Liberals.

The author also recommends:

Quebec Solidaire ready to govern with pro-austerity Parti Quebecois

[19 April 2016]

Quebec Solidaires disingenuous role in Canadas reactionary niqab debate

[15 October 2015]
This is the second of several articles on the recent San Francisco International Film Festival, April 21May 5. Part 1 was posted May 11.

The increasingly dire conditions of life for masses of people are inevitably impressing themselves upon filmmakers. However, it remains a difficult task for the artist to discover the essential truth about those conditions and communicate them. In some cases, there is a lack of intellectual and historical preparednessthe artist is simply over his or her head. In others, complacency and social indifference play a role, allowing the filmmakers to avoid the crisis raging before their eyes. For the most part, unhappily, todays artist fumbles around in the dark and hopes for the best.

In a number of the films screened at the festival, their creators were evidently overwhelmed by the disintegrating social structures in some of the most impoverished parts of the world. They tended either to prove themselves prostrate before the relentless misery (Thirst from Bulgaria), make a virtue out of necessity (Ayiti Mon Amour from Haiti) or, in the worst cases, offer quirky and cynical dark comedies (Very Big Shot from Lebanon).

This inability to tackle complex issues directly and honestly, while socially comprehensible, does not produce compelling work. What is evasive and secondary cannot genuinely satisfy contemporary audiences. Whether they are fully conscious of it or not, people are looking for films that help make sense ofand register a protest againstpresent realities.

One exception is The Return, a compassionate documentary from Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway, which deals with the victims of Californias Three Strikes law enacted in 1994, one of the harshest criminal policies in the country. The law mandated a sentence of at least 25 years to life for third-time offenders, including those who committed minor, non-violent felonies. In 2012, the passage of Proposition 36 in California marked the first time citizens voted to shorten the sentences of the incarcerated. Overnight, thousands of lifers became eligible for release.

The US incarcerates more people than any country in the world. According to a 2013 report by The Sentencing Project, the number of prisoners serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in the US has increased by some 22 percent since 2008. Since 1984, the number of prisoners jailed for life has quadrupled despite a steady decline in crime rates. Some 10,000 of those serving life sentences have been convicted of nonviolent offenses.

The Three Strikes Project (now the Stanford Justice Advocacy Project), founded and directed by attorney Michael Romano, assists in the release of prisoners and their reintegration into their communities. Romano is featured prominently in The Return, as are two of his clients, Kenneth Anderson and Kevin Bilal Chatman.

The Duane de la Vega-Galloway film opens with the reading of a heart-breaking letter written to California authorities by the 24-year-old daughter of Kenneth Anderson, who was sentenced to life in prison for a non-violent drug offence.

Anderson, who was released in March 2013 after serving 14 years, later tells the camera that there were times that I thought I wasnt going to make it. A sympathetic, sensitive man, he has extraordinary support from his ex-wife Monica Grier, his four adult children and their families. Monica, who worked two jobs to make ends meet, describes phone conversations with Kenneth while he was in prison during which she would hear terrible screams in the background.

Upon returning home and after months of searching for work, Kenneth finally obtains a minimum-wage job that requires him to travel two hours each way to his work. Not surprisingly, he is fired after five months.

Romano says that almost all his clients have histories of severe trauma in prison and need professional help. He caustically comments that the solution to poverty and addiction was to put them in prison for the rest of their lives. They are reacclimatized to prison and prisons are torture  We are creating a class of people who cant get out of prison. Kenneths wife Monica asks, How many people go to jail and come back different?

Kenneth currently lives in a re-entry home in Southern California.

Kevin Bilal Chatman, whose ill mother is a retired nurse, attended high school and junior college in San Jose, California, subsequently working in the logistics field. He lost his job in the recession of the 1980s. Bilal received a 150 years-to-life sentence for selling $200 worth of drugs to an undercover police officer. Incarcerated in San Quentin State Prison for nearly 11 years, he returned to San Jose and is doing well.

The Return also briefly refers to the case of Lester Wallace, who was arrested within hours of Three Strikes being signed into law and was sentenced to 25 years to life for attempting to steal a car radio. He was one of the first victims of the draconian legislation.

The documentary points out that since Prop 36 passed, 2,100 so-called Three Strikers have been released. Their recidivism rate is under 9 percentfar below the national average. Bilal points to a factor: The worst day out here is better than the best day in jail.

The movies postscript notes that: It is estimated that the reform will save California nearly $1.3 billion over the next 10 years. Clearly, sections of the establishment are behind the change in the Three Strikes policy on cost-saving grounds.

Thirst from Bulgaria is Svetla Tsotsorkovas first feature film. Set in countryside gripped by a drought, the films landscape is not the only thing parched.

A family, consisting of husband, wife and son, washes laundry for nearby hotels. With no water, their meager income is threatened. Desperate, they hire a man and his mischievous daughter, who claim to be able to locate water underground with a divining rod.

Every living thing runs away [from the dry, miserable conditions], says one of the characters. The imagery and drama are clear enough. Every living thing is thirsty here: for rain, for money, for love. And, unhappily, the viewer grows thirsty toofor perspective and context.

The filmmaker provides a too narrow, up-close view of a harsh situation that demands more explanation.

Bulgaria is the poorest nation in the European Union. Some 40 percent of its children do not have enough to eat. Bulgaria ranks 144th out of 156 countries on the United Nations World Happiness Index. The gap between rich and poor is one of the widest in the world.

But Bulgarias population is not the walking dead. In 2009 and 2013, large demonstrations against poverty and a sharp increase in energy prices forced governments to resign. Unfortunately, the organizers of the protests were opportunist, petty bourgeois elements seeking a share of the spoils and the movement was thwarted.

A sustained wave of suicide by public immolation that began in 2013 was indicative of the depth of the social tragedy. Since the collapse of the Stalinist regime in 1990, Bulgaria has lost over 12 percent of its population. Its brutal, unlivable conditions did not mysteriously fall from the sky.

At the center of Iranian filmmaker Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghamis documentary, Sonita, is teenager and aspiring rapper Sonita Alizadeh, who is an undocumented Afghan refugee living in Tehran, Iran. Her poor family is pressuring her to return to Afghanistan and be sold as a bride so her brother can afford to buy his own wife. (Even an 80-year-old man can marry a 16 year-old girl.)

Sonita grew up in Herat, Afghanistan. She and certain members of her family fled to Iran to escape the Taliban. In Tehran, Sonita worked cleaning bathrooms, taught herself to read and write and discovered the rap music of Irans Yas and American Eminem. Her song Brides for Sale catapulted her onto the music scene. Against considerable odds and with the help of the documentarians, Sonita made her way to the Unites States where she had won a scholarship to a school in Utah.

Sonita is talented, endearing and her story plucks at the heart strings. Unfortunately, Maghami deals with the medieval practice of bride-purchasing in Afghanistan as though it were simply a problem of tyrannical males. At the same time, she paints the US as a mecca of opportunity. Left unsaid is that the decades-long American military-CIA intervention and war against the population are largely responsible for the prominence of Islamic fundamentalism and the destruction of Afghan society. It is an omission that fatally mars the film.

Haitian-born filmmaker Guetty Felins Ayiti Mon Amour is a romantic, surreal homage to Haiti in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

Beautiful under-sea images and a few stories about people on land have some charm, but do not add up to much: a writer with writers block, a fisherman who complains there are no fish, and a woman and her son who try to keep their heads above water. The seashore is strewn with clothing that has washed ashore, bringing to mind victims of sunken refugee boats. But is that the case? We never find out.

Says the filmmaker: Ayiti Mon Amour is a love poem to my native land, a place that I ache for, that haunts me, that frightens and yet angers me, a place that I am fiercely and madly in love with.

Haitis natural beauty is not the issue. Felin easily proves her case on that score. But what about the monstrous social crisis? Months after the 2010 earthquake, which killed 250,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless, a deadly cholera epidemic broke out.

In the course of the past 100 years, the United States military has invaded Haiti five times, occupying the country directly for a combined total of nearly 25 years. How beautiful is life in Haiti under the jackboot of American imperialism, causing one disaster after another?

The filmmakers idealized musings seem designed to soothe a middle-class audience and assure it that the universe is unfolding as it should, and no matter what the catastrophe, theres always the sea and the sun.

Chilean film star Alfredo Castro, whose stone face is described by a critic as economically expressive, plays the lead in Venezuelan filmmaker Lorenzo Vigass debut movie From Afar, a work that has garnered much attention on the film festival circuit.

Set in Caracas, the movie focuses on the relationship between a middle-aged dental technician, Armando (Castro), and a delinquent, Elder (Luis Silva). Armando cruises the streets for young male toughs and voyeur sex. His encounters with Elder end in beatings or thefts. Nonetheless, Armando continues his pursuit of the ruffian. The film explains this unhappy behavior by the fact that he was the victim of some form of abuse by his father. Eventually, Elder falls in love with the father-figure Armando, leading to a tragic denouement.

Former documentarian Vigas scripted From Afar from a story he wrote with Mexican novelist, director and Amores Perros screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga. From Afar is concerned with little else but the directors obsession, as he discloses, with the theme of paternity [and] a need to discuss the father archetype. Not very interesting, in my view.

A trifle from Lebanon, Very Big Shot, directed by Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, is a gangster flick-turned-comedy that follows the adventures of Ziad (co-writer Alain Saadeh) as he transforms himself from a brutal drug dealer into a celebrated film producer (his plan is to smuggle drugs in a film canister).

I think the only revolution in our country is cinema  witness how cinema will defeat terrorism, says Ziad, who then transitions once again, this time to the political arena. With the exception of a few minor comic twists, the films various episodes are half-heartedly and amateurishly strung together.

To be continued
Since the beginning of the year, southeast Michigan has been a center of working class opposition to government and corporate attacks on living standards and basic rights, with sickouts by Detroit teachers and demonstrations by Flint residents against the lead poisoning of their water supply. Despite the efforts to silence and intimidate workersincluding Obamas cynical everything will be fine visit to Flintthe resistance continues. Last week, thousands of Detroit teachers shut down the school district in a two-day sickout against threats to withhold pay owed to them.

The struggles of Detroit teachers and Flint workers are part of a rising tide of working class militancy and political radicalization nationwide. They follow the rebellion last fall by autoworkers against the sellout contracts signed by the United Auto Workers, and they coincide with the strike by 39,000 Verizon workers in New York and other eastern states.

The resurgence of the class struggle in the US is part of an international process. Recent months have seen mass strikes and protests in France and Greece against austerity and attacks on democratic rights and a wave of strikes in China and India in response to deepening global economic crisis.

Jerry White speaks at teachers' meeting in Detroit

As the Socialist Equality Partys candidate for president of the United States, I applaud the stand taken by Detroit teachers and workers and youth in Flint. The first step in halting the assault on the working class is the decision to take matters in our own hands and fight back. At the same time, I urge workers in Detroit and Flint to broaden their struggles by turning out to ever wider sections of the working class. A united movement must be forged against the attempt of big business and its political servants in both parties to make working people pay for the failure of the capitalist profit system.

To be successful, these struggles cannot be conducted as disparate and sectional battles. Even as Detroit teachers are being made the scapegoats for the ruling class policy of starving and dismantling the public schools and Flint residents are being poisoned as part of the corporate drive to privatize the water system, tens of thousands of impoverished households are having their water and utilities shut off for failure to pay exorbitant rates.

This is a class struggle, and we must wage it as a class struggle. It is also a political struggle against not just one company or one politician or party, but against the capitalist system as a whole.

It is important to review the recent experiences and draw the necessary lessons. After decades in which the Detroit Federation of Teachers (DFT) colluded with the Democrats and Republicans to close schools, lay off teachers and destroy school workers wages and benefits, rank-and-file teachers took the initiative and began organizing a series of sickout protests in defiance of the DFT. When militant teachers were threatened with injunctions and arrest, high school students walked out in their defense.

The sickouts were a step forward, but they immediately posed more sharply the fundamental political questions confronting teachers and the working class as a whole. The experience of the past several months has exposed the various political forces aligned against the teachers.

A fight against the government

While Detroit Mayor Duggan, the Detroit Caucus in the state legislature and other local authorities have feigned support for teachers, in fact the political establishment in Detroit, long run by the Democratic Party, has spent decades cutting budgets, laying off teachers and closing schools. In the name of restoring local control, they are seeking to regain oversight of the school budget and profit from the lucrative business opportunities available through the further privatization of the schools and the gutting of teachers wages and pensions.

The Democrats are collaborating with Republican Governor Rick Snyder and the Republican-controlled state government to restructure the Detroit Public Schools (DPS). They are crafting a deal to close more schools, attack teachers and funnel additional money to charter schools and other for-profit operations. The deal will likely include severe punishments, including the decertification of teachers, for further sickouts and struggles.

Governor Rick Snyder picked former federal judge Steven Rhodes as the DPS emergency manager because of his role during the 2013-14 Detroit bankruptcy, when he slashed public employee pensions in violation of the state constitution and sold off the public water system and placed the Detroit Institute of Arts under the control of a corporate-run body. While insisting that Wall Street and the big bondholders were paid, Rhodes ruled that citizens had no right to free or affordable water, much less food, shelter and medical care.

The fight by teachers also thrusts them into a political conflict with the Obama administration, which declared in 2009 that Detroit was ground zero for its policies of test-based accountability schemes, destroying tenure and expanding for-profit education. While bailing out Wall Street, Obama did not bail out Detroit and other cities and school districts, which were forced into ever-greater indebtedness to the same financial criminals responsible for the 2008 crash. Instead, he backed the Detroit bankruptcy and has supported the efforts of both Democrats and Republicans alike to exploit the financial crisis to destroy teacher jobs and open up the education market to billionaires and other hucksters.

A fight against the teachers unions

Far from defending teachers, the DFT, the American Federation of Teachers, the United Auto Workers and other unions are backing the Snyder-Rhodes plan to destroy public education. They support the plan because it would preserve the DFT as the bargaining agent in a new school district. The DFT will give up every right of teacherstheir wages, pensions, tenure and job security, along with the educational conditions of studentsas long the union maintains a seat at the table.

The DFT and the other unions are politically-aligned with the Democratic Party and are now promoting the Republican Snyder as a friend of working people. Their role is to try to subordinate teachers and all workers to the state and the corporate interests that it represents.

After decades in which the DFT told teachers that they have no choice but to accept layoffs, school closings and wage and benefit cuts, teachers said enough is enough and took action independently of the unions. Instead of wasting time making fruitless appeals to their class enemies, teachers should formulate their own demands and fight to mobilize the widest support in the working class to win them.

The Socialist Equality Party calls for:

 The repudiation of all debts. Teachers and other workers should not be forced to pay for the crisis caused by the financial and political elite.

 A massive infusion of funds into the public school system, the citys infrastructure and housing. Billions of dollars must be spent on a public works program to upgrade the school system and infrastructure throughout Detroit and Flint.

 Utilities, including heat, gas, electricity and clean water are social rights that must be guaranteed to all. We call for an immediate end to all water and utility shutoffs.

 The expropriation of the vast financial resources of General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and the other large corporations, which must be placed under public control for democratic allocation decided by the people.

These demands and others should be the subject of a unified and broad-based discussion by workers throughout the city and state in order to formulate a plan of action for a general strike and mass demonstrations.

Workers must revive the great traditions of the class struggle in southeast Michiganwhere the sit-down strikes and mass industrial battles of the 1930s paralyzed the worlds largest corporations. This means rejecting the efforts of the Democrats, the unions and various pseudo-left outfits who seek to inject racial politics by claiming that the attack on Detroit schools and the poisoning of Flint is racist. The aim of this ploy is to divide the working class and conceal the class character of these attacks.

Teachers face powerful enemies, but they have even more powerful allies: autoworkers, public sector and service workers, students, youth and the unemployed, of every race and nationality. The Socialist Equality Party is leading the fight for the building of a mass socialist movement of the working class, to unite every struggle into a single political struggle whose aim is the establishment of a workers government and the reorganization of economic life to meet human needs, not profit.

We call on teachers and all workers to support the SEP election campaign and build a political leadership to fight back.
Billionaire Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, shifted his position on cuts in Social Security and Medicare on the eve of his visit to Capitol Hill for meetings with Republican congressional leaders.

After claiming to reject such cuts throughout the Republican primary campaigndistancing himself from rivals who all backed one or another version of entitlement reformTrump signaled Wednesday that he was reversing his position.

His top policy adviser Sam Clovis addressed a Washington DC conference hosted by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a group established by the billionaire former Nixon cabinet member to push for the dismantling of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in the name of cutting the federal budget deficit.

Even attending the conference was something of a signal, given the Peterson groups identification with entitlement spending cuts. Clovis underscored the message, telling the conference, I think after the administrations been in place, then we will start to take a look at all of the programs, including entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.

He added that Trump would not propose any changes in these programs during the election campaign, but wait until a new administration and Congress were elected. At that point, he said, Well take a hard look at those to start seeing what we can do in a bipartisan way.

As late as a Republican debate in March, Trump claimed that his economic policies, based on protectionism and trade warfare, would make the United States so rich that no changes would be needed in Social Security or Medicare. He also claimed, in keeping with the nostrums of supply-side economics, that his proposed trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy would cause economic growth to skyrocket, leading to a huge increase in federal tax revenue that would eliminate the federal budget deficit.

Clovis gave a more cautious undertaking to the Peterson group, which has forecast that Trump-sized tax cuts for the wealthy would produce $10 trillion in deficits, not a surplus. The Trump promise not to cut entitlements was conditional on tax cuts producing record economic growth, he said.

Right now, were not going to touch anything because we cant predict the growth, Clovis said. We have to start taking a look not just at Medicare and Social Security but every program we have out there, because the budgetary discipline that weve shown over the last 84 years has been horrible.

Clovis also told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Trump would support privatization of the Veterans Administration or its transformation into an insurance plan rather than a direct provider of health care services to veterans. The VAs a broken system now, he said. We cant continue down that road.

Trumps well-publicized opposition to entitlement cuts, not his racist attacks on Muslims and other immigrants, were a major reason for the coolness towards his candidacy among congressional Republicans. House Speaker Paul Ryan, in particular, has long been identified with sweeping cuts in Medicare which he first proposed in 2011, after the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives installed him as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan has repeatedly pushed through budget resolutions in which privatization of Medicare, through converting it into a voucher program, was the centerpiece of massive cuts in federal spending on the entitlement program.

Trump not only criticized the Ryan budgets, he blamed them for the defeat of the Republican presidential campaign in 2012, when Ryan was on the ticket as Mitt Romneys vice-presidential running mate.

Ryans declaration last week that he was not there yet in terms of an endorsement of Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee was aimed at securing assurances from Trump that his opposition to entitlement cuts was purely an electoral ploy, to be scrapped as soon as the votes are counted. Cloviss appearance at the Peterson conference constituted such an assurance.

These maneuvers ensured that Thursdays round of meetings on Capitol Hill between Trump and Republican congressional leaders would go smoothly. Trump and Ryan issued a joint statement that is remarkable for its cynical and reactionary character.

While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground, Trump and Ryan said. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident theres a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal.

Ryans remarks to reporters after the meeting were just as effusive as the joint statement. Hes a very warm and genuine person, he said. We really dont know each other and we started to get to know each other.

Trump responded in kind, indicating that he was satisfied with Ryan as the chairman of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland where he will be nominated. I am happy to serve in this capacity at the Republican convention, Ryan told reporters. I would honor the decision of our presumptive nominee and he did express that preference.

Every other top Republican congressional leader, in both the House and Senate, had already officially endorsed Trump before the Ryan-Trump meeting.

Whatever concerns there may be over the impact of Trumps candidacy on the Republican Partys electoral fortunes, there are no principled objections to his blatant anti-immigrant racism, encouragement of violence against protesters, or embrace of authoritarian methods of rule.

There remain significant differences between Trump and the congressional Republicans over foreign policy, where Trump has claimed opposition to the 2003 war in Iraq and to the current US saber-rattling against Russia. This is combined with advocacy of a huge increase in US military spending and escalation of the current war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Nearly all the opposition to Trump within the Republican Party has been from the rightmotivated by his supposed isolationism in foreign policy and his now-dropped opposition to entitlement cuts. Sections of the Republican Party have moved to explicitly or implicitly support Clinton, seeing her as a more reliable defender of American imperialism.

The Clinton campaign continues to send out regular updates on each Republican declaration of non-support for Trump, including an email Thursday portraying the Trump-Ryan meeting as a debacle for the Republican candidate, under the headline, Ryan Again Refuses To Endorse Trump as Conservative Opposition To The GOP Nominee Grows.
Europe

Teaching staff in northwest England strike

Teachers in two schools around Manchester began a strike on Tuesday over threats of redundancy. Staff at Swinton High School in Salford, members of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT), began a two-day strike while National Union of Teachers (NUT) members at Prestwich Arts College began a three-day strike. Two teachers at the art college have been served with compulsory redundancy notices to take effect in August.

School janitors in Glasgow to strike

Over 130 school janitors, members of the Unison union, are to strike for five days from Monday. They are employed by Cordia, an arms-length company operated by Glasgow City Council. They are responsible for cleaning and maintenance tasks in schools and want to be treated on a par with staff employed directly by the council. Council employees are paid between 500 and 1,000 a year for undertaking heavy or dirty duties. To date there have been nine days of strikes in support of their claim. The janitors plan to protest outside the council headquarters on Monday and will hold a protest on Wednesday outside the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, Edinburgh.

Blacklisted UK workers win compensation

Around 250 UK building workers are set to receive around 10 million in compensation as a result of their names appearing on a blacklist. The award breaks down to about 40,000 for each worker. The blacklist was used by major construction firms to not take on building workers who had a record of raising health and safety concerns and other legitimate concerns. In many cases, this led to dismissal and failure to secure employment in the building industry. Further payouts are in the pipeline. The blacklist was created by the Consulting Association, which after revelations in the press was raided by the Information Commissioners Office and was found to be operating illegally. Settlements were reached after several unions took legal action against building companies such as Balfour Beaty, Costain and McAlpine, which used the blacklist.

Walkout by UK university academic staff

University staff in the UK including lecturers, researchers and library staff are to walk out May 25 and 26 in a pay dispute. They are members of the University and College Union and have rejected a 1.1 percent pay offer. They are threatening to take action later in the summer, which could disrupt the allocation of university places to A level students.

Possible ballot of ferry staff at UK port of Dover

The Rail Maritime and Transport union has announced it may ballot its members at the port of Dover after two of its members were dismissed by the ferry operator P&O Ferries. The two were sacked following an alleged near miss incident.

Continuing Norwegian hotel strike escalates

The strike by Norwegian hotel and restaurant staff is now in its third week. Members of the United Federation (Fellesforbundet) are seeking a pay increase and for the right of the union to be able to conduct local negotiations with hotels and restaurants. The strike continues to spread, with over 900 members of the union in six counties joining last weekend. On Monday, over 100 staff at the Hotel Norge in Bergen joined the strike, with another nearly 300 joining it today. Currently there are around 7,000 employees from nearly 800 hotels and restaurants on strike.

Strike threat by Greek teachers

Teachers organised by the regional secondary school teachers union, ELME, are threatening to strike during the upcoming exam season. It would be to protest shrinking budgets and growing staff vacancies. A decision as to whether to go ahead will be announced on May 21.

Pay increase follows strike threat by Hungarian Tesco staff

Around 14,000 non-management staff working for the multinational supermarket firm Tesco in Hungary are to receive a pay rise averaging around 15 percent from the beginning of July. Previous negotiations in March over a pay increase floundered and staff formed a strike committee and threatened action. According to the KASZ union, Tesco management then came up with the pay offer which has been agreed by both sides.

Middle East

Support for Egyptian journalists protest

Delegations of doctors, lawyers and engineers joined a protest on Thursday in support of journalists outside the headquarters of the journalist union building in Cairo. The journalists held a sit-in protest against the arrest of two of their colleagues on May Day, when police entered the union building and took them into custody. The two, who work for the January Gatenews web site, are accused of organising anti-government protests.

Israeli lifeguards protest working conditions

Histadrut, the Israeli trade union federation, has instructed its members in the National Lifeguards Association not to work beyond 2 p.m. each day. The beach season began this week and lifeguards will be deployed at over 140 regulated beaches to give safety cover. The partial strike comes after two years of negotiations between the union federation and Israeli municipal authorities. In dispute is the gap between pay and working conditions for newly appointed lifeguards compared to those with seniority. A separate dispute, a strike by driving test examiners, is now in its seventh week.

Protest by migrant domestics in Lebanon

Last weekend, several hundred migrant domestic workers staged a march through the Lebanese capital, Beirut. The overwhelmingly female domestic staff, mainly from the Philippines, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, were protesting against their working conditions. Under the kafala system, domestic staff are sponsored by their Lebanese employer, the family they work for, and are not allowed to change jobs and are not covered by Lebanese legislation relating to working conditions. This leaves them open to mistreatment and abuse. There are instances of suicide among domestic staff resulting from their mistreatment. Although domestic staff set up a union last year, it is not recognised by the Lebanese Labour Ministry.

Africa

Ugandan hospital staff demand payment of wages

Trainee doctors, pharmacist and nurses are on strike at the Mulago Teaching Hospital, Uganda. They are joining hospital workers across the country demanding payment of months of outstanding wages. Wages for interns dropped last year from Sh800, 000 ($240) to Sh600, 000 ($180) per month. The trainee doctors already live in slum dwellings as a result of inadequate wages and are now being thrown onto the streets unable to pay any rent. If the interns complain about their conditions, management threatens to revert them back to the start of their internship.

Judicial workers in Nigeria resume strike

Employees in the judiciary department in Ondo state Nigeria came out on strike again Tuesday. A long-running dispute over the separation of judicial payment from the control of state government has been contested since 1999. A law was introduced that year to separate the state from judiciary funds, but it was not agreed on until a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2014. The state government has since reneged on the MoU. Members of the Judicial Staff of Nigeria (JUSUN) have also been deprived of wages over a four-month period and say they will not return to work until the state adheres to the constitution. Courts have been locked up in the state and JUSUN members have stopped workers from entering judicial premises.

Nigerian resident doctors strike

Resident doctors in federal hospitals throughout Nigeria began a five-day strike Wednesday. Originally planned as an indefinite strike, the five-day warning strike follows a 30-day ultimatum by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD). They are demanding arrears of wages that have gone unpaid over many years, Including last Decembers salaries. A court ruling in favour of the doctors has been ignored by hospital authorities. NARD also wants doctors unfairly sacked to be recalled. Poor patients dependent on state hospitals will be at the mercy of extortionate private hospitals.

Zimbabwe rail workers have gone unpaid for over a year

Workers employed by National Railway of Zimbabwe are continuing their strike. The Zimbabwe Minister of Transport was reported to have said he has accrued $3 million in resources to pay towards their wages. In some cases, wages have not been paid for over a year. The strike began in March. The funding for wages has been raised from some of the largest operations in Zimbabwe such as Tongaat Hullet, the sugar cane grower and refiner. The Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railways Union said it was not aware of any money being disbursed by the government for wages.
6 years, 5 months ago QPD

Nicole M Gilker (22) Monroe City, MO for Retail Theft at 5211 Broadway on 4/22/16. Released on cash bond.

Steven C Williams (47) 400 Koch's Lane for Speeding at 38/Maine on 5/11/16. Released on PTC.

Nicole M Luthin (26) 918 Jersey for Improper Lighting at 5/Chestnut on 5/12/16. Released on PTC.

Kecia C Watt (47) 834 Lind St for FTA-Child Restraint Violation. She was located at 7/Spring on 5/12/16 and released on cash bond.

James D. Phillips, 19, for consumption of alcohol by minor at Riverview Park on 5-12-16 at 2319 hours. NTA.

Jacob Sparks (19) 924 Hampshire for Shoplifting at 5211 Broadway on 4/22/16. Released on NTA.

Zachary T Stephens (26) 2100 Jackson for Speeding and Operating Uninsured Vehicle at 30/Harrison on 5/12/16. Released on NTA.

Tanner R Wakefield (20) 1034 N 2nd for FTA-Possession of Alcohol by Minor on 5/13/16. He was located at 1001 N 2 and lodged.

Jeffrey L Venice (30) 1470 1/2 Vermont for Domestic Battery and Battery that occurred at 1470 Vermont on 5/11/16. He was located at 3601 Broadway on 5/12/16. Lodged.

John W. Reed, 32, for operating uninsured vehicle at 9/Jersey on 5-12-16 at 2035 hours. NTA. 1

Demario K. Scott, 31, for operating uninsured vehicle at 8/Kentucky on 5-12-16 at 1916 hours. NTA.

Renne N. Ceja, 22, for expired registration at RJ Peters/Expressway on 5-12-16 at 2114 hours. PTC.

Calena R Jones reports on 5/8/16, someone slashed all four of her tires while parked at 415 N 32nd.

Kenneth NG reports on 5/11/16, someone hit and run his vehicle while it was parked at 1501 N 12th.

Michael D Adkins 2407 Cedar reports between 4/30/16-5/2/16, thelicense plate from his trailer was stolen while it was parked at 24/Cedar.

Scott E Brewer 133 S 4th reports on 5/2/16, someone stole the mirrors off of his Yamaha scooter while it was parked at 133 S 4th.

Ebony D. Lee, 33, 829 N. 6th for Aggravated Assault at her residence on 05-12-16. Lodged

Brandon S. Missel, 32, 1724 N. 17th for Disorderly Conduct at his residence. Cash bond

Breanne E. Scott, 32, 2700 S. 30th for Speeding in the 1500 block of Melview Rd. on 05-12-16. PTC

Albert P. Angerer, 86, 2019 S. 40th for Improper Driving at 3507 S. Glendale Dr. on 05-11-16. PTC

Gary S Schmidt 52, 5633 Lee Dr. for retail theft at Hyvee on 5/11 and 5/8.

Lonnie D. Clary, owner of Aquatech Marine, 622 S. 5th, reported that an unknown suspect had forcibly entered the business

between 04-29-16 and 05-01-16 and had attempted to steal copper wiring and tools from the business. Investigation to continue

Shantae Frese 1524 No. 7th reports her purse stolen from her 2008 Mazda while it as parked at her residence on 5/7/16.

Jeana Price, 1721 Lind, reports her vehicle damaged while it was parked behind her residence on 5/7/16.

Lori A. DeMoss, an employee of the 6th Street Mini Mart, 537 Broadway, reported a drive off of $5.00 worth of gasoline on 05-07-16. The suspect vehicle was a red Chevrolet Silverado. Investigation to continue

Two bicycles were recovered from 901 No. 10th on 4/23/16. One was a purple Pacific Evolution Women's bike and the other was a Black Upland Storm bike.

Cheryl Hagmeier 3019 Cabot Rd reports on 4/11/16 she sent money to a Craigslist posting and not getting the item advertised.

Kay S. Weiss 2302 Jersey reported she had been the victim of a computer scam back in April 2016. Weiss stated she had been

contacted by a male with a middle eastern accent about fixing her computer. Weiss stated that she allowed the subject to remotely access her computer and the subject then "fixed" the problems on her computer after she purchased a software update for $169.00 on her credit card. On 05-06-16, the same subject called her and advised her that he had locked her out of her computer, and told her to send him $1,331.00 via Paypal, and then he would unlock her computer for her.

Brianne G. Walker of Camp Point, IL reported that her 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis was struck while parked at the Farm & Home parking lot, 4625 Broadway between 1230 to 1330 hours on 04-29-16. Walker stated that the rear bumper of her vehicle was knocked off by the unknown suspect vehicle.

A wallet was found on the sidewalk/driveway of 619 Chestnut on 5/8/16.

A black backpack was recovered from 717 N. 6th on 4/19/16.

Nancy C. Leonard 1329 N. 6th reported her unlocked residence was entered sometime between 1400 hrs on 05-02-16 & 1130 hrs on 05-03-16. Leonard said two laptop computers, a chainsaw, and multiple jewelry items were stolen from her residence.

Kendrick Eston, employee of Cenex, 923 No. 12th, reports a drive off that occurred on 5/6/16.

Brittany Schneider 929 Kentucky reports the theft of her purse from her porch overnight on 5/6/16.

William Mullet 823 No. 12th reports the theft of a Hitachi hammer drill from 823 No. 12th on 4/15/16.

Lea Fielding 728 So. 8th reports the theft of a gold BMX bicycle from her residence on 5/6/16.
OCALA, Fla. (AP) - The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a civil rights complaint against a north Florida school district over a new transgender bathroom policy.

The ACLU filed the Title IX complaint Thursday with the U.S. Department of Education against Marion County Public Schools.

The school board passed a resolution 4-1 last month that requires students to use restroom facilities consistent with the sex they were born with. The complaint says a transgender student was suspended several days later for using the men's restroom at school, despite having done so for years.

The complaint calls for requiring the district to permit the student to use male restroom facilities, remove the suspension from his disciplinary record and revise relevant policies.

Marion County Public Schools spokesman Kevin Christian said he couldn't confirm the suspension and said the district's attorney would handle any legal action.
TALLAHASSEE, FL. (WTXL) - A Georgia man is sentenced to federal prison after he's found guilty for enticing a Tallahassee teenager to have sex with him.

James Korfhage will spend the next 20 years in prison. According to court documents, the 37 year old traveled from Atlanta to Tallahassee after meeting the 17 year old girl online. Korfhage posed as a 19 year old and set up a meeting in person.

Documents show the teenage girl snuck out of her house to meet him at a hotel, where they had sex.

On April 24, 2015, Korfhage was arrested in Georgia on the indictment charging him with using the internet to entice the minor victim to engage in sexual activity. Within minutes of being contacted by police, Korfhage deleted the photographs he had taken of the victim from his cellular telephone. However, a forensic examiner was able to recover them later. The examiner found that Korfhage's phone also contained other child pornography images.

Once Korfhage is out of prison he will serve 10 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)--The iconic helicopter at Lake Ella will be rededicated on Saturday in honor of veterans.

The chopper has also been refurbished.

The helicopter carries the names of Vietnam Veterans of America silver star pilots.

Florida veterans who took their own lives are also listed on the memorial.

This ceremony is at 10 a.m. and happening during a giant yard sale that members of VVA Chapter 96 are having on Saturday May 14th from 7 a.m.  2 p.m. to support their student scholarship fund.

Veterans are selling furniture, an antique organ, a potbellied stove, a new pool liner, sporting goods, and tools.

Watch the interview with veteran Joe West to learn more preventing suicide among veterans.
Triplet girls were born last month in Haderas Hillel Yaffe Medical Center as a result of natural conception. Identical triplets are an extremely rare medical occurence without the help IVF test-tube insemination.

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Hadiyah Badran, 33, from the Arab local council of Zemer in central Israel, always wanted a large family and is well on her way to achieving her dream with five boys. But five appears to have not been enough for Hadiyah.

During my last pregnancy, the sixth one and completely spontaneous, I prayed for a girl, she said, adding that she was surprised during her ultrasound to discover that she was carrying three girls all in the same placenta - meaning they were all identical.

Mother and father rejoice with newly born triplets (Photo: Hillel Yaffe)

The birth is an extremely rare occurrence which happens once in about 100,000 pregnancy cases, explained Dr. Haim David, the manager of the labor ward at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center, who delivered the three babies.

Today, most of the time triplets are not born spontaneously and in the majority of cases it is recommended in multiple pregnancies to perform a selective reduction due to the risk posed to the mother and the babies. In this instance, selective reduction was not an option at all because all of them were in one placenta and the only thing left to do was to closely monitor the pregnancy and try to carry the babies as near as possible to term."

Hadiyah was monitored by the pregnancy risk clinic and was even hospitalized a number of times with early contractions.

One 100,000 chance, triplets born (Photo: Hillel Yaffe)

In her 32nd week of pregnancy, doctors performed a Cesarean Section (C-Section) procedure to deliver the three identical girls weighing in at 1.735kg, 1.920kg and 1.560kg respectively. Their parents decided to call them Lugene, Alin and Talin.

All three remained in hospital and were monitored in incubators.

The mother arrived during a week in which there was a good chance that the babies would be delivered with minimal health complications, explained Dr, Michael Feldman from the newborn and infants department who treated new babies.

While in the mothers womb, the girls divided sugar, protein and fat equally between themselves thereby protecting each other. This is why their development in the womb was normal and why their weight was the best it could possibly be in the context of triplet births.

No, four weeks on, the girls have shown a healthy weight increase and normal development that has enabled them to leave the hospital with their parents and enter their home for the first time. The excitement is amazing, Hadiyah commented. My mother is so happy with the all her grandchildren and so are we.

Her husband, Osama, added that Obviously this is not simple. We will need a bigger car and we will need to have regular help, but we will get by. Their room is ready and after five boys suddenly everything is pink. This is true happiness.
DEVESELU- A US missile defense site in Romania aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats became operational Thursday, drawing an angry reaction from Russia, which opposes having the advanced military system in its former area of influence.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tried to reassure Russia as he spoke at a ceremony attended by US, NATO and Romanian officials at the Soviet-built base, located in remote village 180 kilometers (110 miles) southwest of Bucharest. Romania became a NATO member in 2004.

The NATO missile defense site "in no way undermines or weakens Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent. This site in Romania, as well as the one in Poland, are not directed against Russia," Stoltenberg said at the opening ceremony. "The interceptors are too few, and located too far south or too close to Russia, to be able to intercept Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles."
DAMASCUS- Al-Qaida fighters and other ultraconservative Sunni insurgents seized a predominantly Alawite village in central Syria on Thursday, sparking fears of sectarian violence as families from the village were reported missing by activists.

Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi said "terrorists" were killing residents of the village of Zaara, previously controlled by the government. Syrian state media said insurgents had looted and destroyed homes.

Clashes continued into the afternoon as government or allied Russian aircraft pounded rebel positions, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that seven militants were killed. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist-run network, said the insurgents killed over 30 pro-government fighters in the clashes.
DIYABAKIR- Four people were killed and 15 wounded, including four critically, when an explosion ripped through a village in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, security sources said.

The blast occurred at about 10:30pm in the Sarikamis district, about 15 miles from the region's biggest city Diyarbakir, as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a truck, according to the Interior Ministry.
Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, Imad Mughniyeh's successor, has been killed in an attack in Syria, the Lebanese group said on Friday, the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed organization since its military chief was killed in 2008.

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Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and assessed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian President Bashar Assad.

After the death of predecessor and brother-in-law Imad Mughniyeh, Badreddine, known among the group's ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollah's top military commander and adviser to the group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Mustafa Badreddine

One of the group's most shadowy figures, Badreddine was known by several names, including Elias Saab and Sami Issa. He was only known to the public by a decades-old black-and-white photograph of a smiling young man wearing a suit until Hezbollah released a new image of him in military uniform.

Badreddine was also known for his expertise in explosives, apparently developing what would become his trademark explosive technique by adding gas to increase the power of sophisticated explosives.

Hezbollah said Badreddine had been killed in a big explosion targeting one of its bases near Damascus airport, and an investigation was underway into whether it was caused by an air strike, a missile attack, or artillery bombardment. Several other Hezbollah men have reportedly been wounded in the explosion. Hezbollah did not say when the explosion occurred.

Israeli involvement?

Initially, Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen reported he had been killed in an Israeli attack, but a later Hezbollah statement of his death made no mention of Israel.

Meanwhile, a Hezbollah member of parliament said on Friday Israel was behind the killing, indicating that the Lebanese group would respond "at the appropriate time".

"This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," Nawar al-Saheli told the Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar TV station.

There was no immediate response from Israel which has reportedly struck Hezbollah targets inside Syria several times during the country's five-year conflict. "We decline to comment," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Hezbollah, a political and military movement and Lebanon's most powerful group, has grown ever stronger since Israel left southern Lebanon in 2000, ending its 22-year occupation. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict.

When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, Immigration Absorption Minister Ze'ev Elkin, a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.

Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, said Badreddine's killing was good news for Israel but stopped short of saying Israel was responsible.

"This is good for Israel. Israel isn't always responsible for this. We don't know if Israel is responsible for this," he told Army Radio."Remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters without Israel."

"But from Israel's view, the more people with experience, like Badreddine, who disappear from the wanted list, the better," he added

Badreddine with former Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi

Announcing his death, Hezbollah cited Badreddine saying he would return from Syria victorious or "a martyr". A photo released by the group showed him smiling and wearing a camouflage baseball cap.

"This martyrdom will be an incentive, same as of those of late commanders, for more jihad, sacrifices and continuity," Hezbollah Cabinet Minister Hussein Haj Hassan told the group's Al-Manar TV. "As he led the war against takfiris (Sunni extremists), the battles against takfiris will continue until victory is achieved."

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV said he would be buried at 5:30pm (2:30pm GMT) at a Shiite cemetery south of Beirut where Badreddine was to be laid to rest next to Mughniyeh.

Escaped a death sentence

A US Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.



Badreddine was one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.

The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle East's most dramatic political assassinations. The trial is ongoing near The Hague, Netherlands. A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Hezbollah denies involvement in Hariri's assassination and says the charges are politically motivated.

Badreddine in his younger years

He was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks on the US and French embassies there in 1983, which killed five people. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

His release from jail in Kuwait was one of the demands made by the hijackers of a TWA flight in 1985, and of the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988.

For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments by operating clandestinely.

The US Treasury statement also said he had led Hezbollah ground offensives in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr in February 2013, a critical battle in the war when Hezbollah fighters defeated Syrian rebels in an area near the Syrian-Lebanese border.

Badreddine in his younger years

Hezbollah has paid a very steep price for its public and bloody foray into Syria's civil war. Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict.

In addition, the organization has lost at least four prominent figures since January 2015, and a number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed either fighting Syrian insurgents or in alleged Israeli attacks. These include prominent fighters Samir Kuntar and Jihad Mughniyeh, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, who were killed in separate Israeli attacks last year.

Hezbollah responded in both cases, though the incidents were contained with the sides seeking to avoid any repeat of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, which exacted a heavy price in Israel and Lebanon.

Hezbollah also accuses Israel of carrying out the 2008 killing of Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed by a bomb in Damascus.

Once lauded in Lebanon and the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, its staunch support for Assad has been criticized at home, even among his Lebanese support base.

The Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in March. A month earlier, Saudi Arabia cut $4 billion in aid to Lebanese security forces after Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil declined to join Arab and Islamic league resolutions critical of Iran and Hezbollah.

The predominantly Sunni Gulf Arab states, led by the kingdom, have taken other punitive measures. They have warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon as well as cut Lebanese satellite broadcasts, and closed a Saudi-backed broadcaster in Lebanon. The Gulf countries are also expelling Lebanese expatriates they say have ties to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which maintains a dominant militia force in Lebanon, has also aligned itself with the Saudi-opposed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen's civil war.
Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) confirmed for the first time on Thursday evening that there have been talks about his party joining a unity government.

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"Over the past year, I've received daily requests to join the government," Herzog wrote on his Facebook page. "I answered all of them by saying that I was not interested in sitting in the government without 'taking the wheel.'"

He dismissed recent reports that the talks have reached a breakthrough, saying "at present, we have not received an appropriate proposal. If one such proposal is presented, we'll seriously consider it."

Labor leader Isaac Herzog (Photo: Yisrael Yosef)

The Labor leader said that if he received the mandate to "stop the next round of funerals, block the threat of international boycott, bring the US and Europe closer again as allies, launch a negotiation with countries in the region, and separate from the Palestinians to stop the continuous terror attacks - then I'll know my hands were on the wheel."

He further detailed his list of demands, saying "If I receive a mandate to lower the cost of living, protect public interest with regards to the natural gas plan, safeguard the Supreme Court, and get rid of this heinous racist legislation - then I'll know my hands were on the wheel."

In his post, Herzog also explained why he was considering joining the Netanyahu government. "I'm worried and bothered by the level of hatred on the streets, the violence, the racism, and the incitement against public figures, military officers and judges. We all carry the responsibility to lower the flames of hatred on the streets and strengthen internal reconciliation," he said.

Officials in the Likud, meanwhile, said there is a slim chance Herzog's demands will be met. They said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to change the basic principles of the government and remove Bayit Yehudi from the coalition.

"Contrary to reports, so far Herzog hasn't agreed to (Netanyahu's) basic conditions," one Likud official said.

The Likud officials said that as far as Netanyahu is concerned, the negotiations have ended. "The ball is now in Bougie's court," Netanyahu reportedly told them, using Herzog's nickname. The prime minister, they said, has set a deadline for Herzog, who will have to make a decision on whether or not to join the government by the middle of next week.

Opposition from across the political spectrum

Herzog encountered harsh opposition from within his Labor party to the possibility of joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government.

"This is a proposal that should've been rejected with scorn a long time ago," former Labor leader and senior MK Shelly Yachimovich wrote to her supporters. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen."

Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich (Photo: Ido Erez)

She said she has presented strong opposition to joining the government in internal conversations. "In reality, I'm simply preventing this mistake (from happening)."

"This wouldn't be a unity government," Yachimovich stated. "This will remain a right-wing government for all intents and purposes, with the Labor party crawling in with no conditions so it could receive ministries and benefits. It is one giant nothing, all of it crafted so as to not antagonize the most right-wing party in the Knesset - Bayit Yehudi."

Yachimovich was not the only one in Labor opposing to joining the government. MK Amir Peretz, who left Labor to join Livni's Hatnua and then returned to Labor, also expressed his objection.

Labor MK Stav Shaffir joined the chorus of opposition, saying "it's embarrassing to me to think we're joining this government."

She went on to say that "joining the radical right-ring Netanyahu government is a betrayal of each and every one of our voters. For a whole year we promised it was 'either us or him.' At no point did we say 'it's us, and also him.' The very fact the debate continues over crawling into the government is embarrassing to me."

MK Yoel Hasson, who is a member of Tzipi Livni's Hatnua party, which is in partnership with Herzog's Labor party to form the Zionist Union, said that the "proposal in question was not to join a true unity government, but to ensure Netanyahu's fifth term (as prime minister). I and the members of Hatnua have no intention of taking a part in such a move. I'm glad Herzog buried the proposal and rejected it out of hand, and I trust him not to consider any similar proposals in the future."

Herzog and Livni (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The talks about joining a unity government have reportedly led to a dispute between Herzog and his Zionist Union co-leader Livni. According to officials in Livni's Hatnua, Livni feels that Herzog has "misled" Hatnua when he publicly and bluntly slammed Netanyahu, while at the same time negotiating a unity government with him.

Livni clarified to Herzog that if he decides to join Netanyahu's government, it would mean the end of their partnership, since none of the members of her faction are willing to join the coalition.

Herzog, however, denied any dispute exists between him and Livni.

Members of the Labor party were not the only ones to vehemently object to the possibility of a unity government. Members of the ruling Likud party have also expressed opposition to the move.

Likud MK Yoav Kish said on Thursday evening, "As the chairman of the Lobby for the Land of Israel, I object to adding the Labor party to the government if the move affects, even a little bit, the fundamental principles of the government and its support of our right to settle all parts of our land. If the Labor party chooses to ignore its own values in order to join the government, that would be their decision to make. As far as the Likud is concerned, we will not compromise at the expense of the settlement enterprise."

Likud MK Oren Hazan said such a move "is like spitting in our voters' faces: not just members of Likud, but a million people who voted for the Likud party.

"I object to the expansion of the coalition, there's no need for it. The public voted for the Likud party because it didn't trust Bougie," Hazan added, using Herzog's nickname.

Meanwhile, Bayit Yehudi MK Bezalel Smotrich said he had no "personal problem" with the Zionist Union's MKs, but he will "immediately quit the coalition if a left-wing government is formed."

"I don't care about specific people, I care about their policies on diplomacy, security and settlements," he said.
Pro-Palestinian websites were angry to discover that Reebok had released a sneaker commemorating Israel's 68th Independence Day and delighted to report that the company had cancelled its decision. However, it turns out that Reebok never even designed such a sneaker; the whole story ended up being about a single pair of sneakers privately designed to raise money for charity.

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The shoe's design, shared far and wide across the internet, was blue and white with "Israel 68" written on the heel. It was described as "a collector's item" scheduled for a "one-time release." However, Reebok was not behind the release and stated that the coverage asserting that such a shoe was to be released was incorrect.

The controversial sneakers

Reebok, which is owned by the German company Adidas, was quick to release a statement that read, "Reebok would like to distance itself from the shoe. The shoe was a one-off initiative from one of our partners. We do not support this initiative. Our partner has withdrawn its plans to auction off this shoe. Reebok believes in the unifying power of sport. Our main focus and priority is to inspire people everywhere to be their absolute bestphysically, mentally and socially."

Pro-Palestinian websites and social media rushed to cover the story and Reebok's announcement that it would not be producing the controversial sneaker.

The site Electronic Intifada , for example, wrote, "Reebok has canceled and repudiated plans to market a special edition sneaker celebrating what Israel calls its 'Independence Day.'" The site went on to allege that the reason for Reebok's distancing itself from the initiative was a result of fear of a BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign against it for supporting Israel and its "serious violations of international law."

The site Russia Today reported that Reebok "explained that it doesnt allow the politicization of its sportswear and refrains from tying their products to national emblems or countries." RT then went on, however, to point out past Reebok sneakers with American and British flags incorporated.

Previous Reebok flag designs (from RT.com)

Sources close to the company told Ynet that the affair was the result of a mistake by the Israeli subsidiary of the company and that the shoes were designed by a private designer and not by Reebok.

Previous Reebok flag designs (from RT.com)

The CEO of Reebok Israel, Moshe Sinai, said to Ynet, "On Reebok's website, there's the option to design a Reebok shoe, color it in the way you want, and add writing. An Israeli guy designed the shoe for Independence Day intending to sell the shoe in an auction and donate the proceeds to charity. Our public relations thought that it would be a good idea to promote this. They made a mistake.

"Now the whole world is angry with us on both sides of the arguement. On one hand, why are we getting into politics; on the other hand, I'm getting requests from all over the world to buy the shoe. We're apolitical. We treat everybody equally, and from our standpoint, we encourage athletes from all over the world."

Doron Pryluk, who designed the shoe, could not believe the storm surrounding his creation. "We went to the international Reebok website," he explained. "There's an option to design a shoe yourself. We designed it pretty simply, blue and white, with the words 'Israel 68' in English. We created just one pair of shoes. We intended to sell them in an auction and donate the proceeds to ('CrossFit without borders,' a program bringing CrossFit to special-needs populations ed.).

Doron Pryluk

"Reebok's PR people got excited about the story, and it gained momentum in Israel; there were offers, and very quickly, it got to the international press, and it sort of got out of control. It wasn't the original intention. The fundraising (idea) was originally for trainers and for families."

Did you think that designed shoes for Israel's Independence Day could end up somewhere political?

"There's no room for politics here; this wasn't some political statement, but unfortunately it ended up where it ended up. Reebok supports sport in lots of countries. There are entire editions of shoes, with flags of Russia and the USA (etc.). This isn't even an editionjust one pair of shoes that I designed. As soon as there are two (shoes) in the colors of Israel's flag with 'Israel' written on it, it becomes a hullaballoo. Okay, we're used to it. For better and for worse."
ISTANBUL - Eight Turkish soldiers and 21 militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were killed on Friday, according to the military and media reports, as violence in the largely Kurdish southeast widened a day after two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst violence since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province, the military said in a statement.

Two more soldiers were killed in a separate incident when a military helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region, it said.

Fifteen militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, broadcaster NTV reported, citing the Turkish military.
The Dan District Police is searching for an approximately 50-year-old man, who was recorded urinating in the Sheba Medical Center's synagogue.

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When synagogue attendees arrived for prayers on Wednesday, they smelled a strong stench of urine and noticed that a number of holy books had been desecrated. They subsequently contact the hospital's security services, who reviewed surveillance footage and discovered the shocking images.

Man urinating in hospital synagogue

X

The surveillance footage was published on social media, leading to many critical responses. "We must arrest and punish him severely," wrote one person. "I am shocked. I know that synagogue. There is bathroom located just meters away. Why did he have to urinate on prayer books," added another person.

Man urinating in synagogue

Some responses called for shaming the perpetrator on Facebook. "We must publish his name and his picture so that everyone will know who the terrible man is," wrote another person. "Maybe if someone sees his picture, he or she can identify him and (help) the police can arrest him."

The Sheba Medical Center confirmed the details of the story and said that it is handling the issue.
A U.N. panel against torture on Friday expressed concerns about allegations of "excessive use of force," including deadly force, by Israeli security forces in the Palestinian Territories, and warned about authorities barring access to detained suspects, including minors.

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The Committee Against Torture, which works under the office of the UN human rights chief, released its "concluding observations" about Israel and five other countries  France, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Philippines  as part of regular reviews by the panel.

The panel, which generally conducts reviews of assenting countries every four or five years, does not have investigative or fact-finding powers of its own and relies mostly on information from the media, advocacy groups, the UN, and other sources in drawing up its findings.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Photo: AFP

In a 12-page segment on Israel, the committee pointed to "allegations of excessive use of force, including lethal force, by security forces" at demonstrations, in response to attacks or alleged attacks against Israelis and took aim at Israel's controversial policy of administrative detention, under which it can arrest suspects and hold them without charge for months at a time.

Israel said it "categorically rejects" the report, with foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon insisting "Israel does not make use of unnecessary force."

"We face an unprecedented wave of terrorism and we act within the boundaries of Israeli and international law," Nahshon said.

The committee said 700 people  including 12 minors  were reportedly in administrative detention even as its members were discussing the issue with Israeli officials. Panel co-chair Jens Modvig of Denmark said administrative detentions can last "for months or even years," with almost no access to those detained.

Israel has defended the system of administrative detention as a necessary tool in preventing Palestinian attacks. Over the past eight months, Israel has faced stepped-up Palestinian assaults  mostly stabbings, shootings or attacks using vehicles to ram into people  on Israeli civilians and security forces.

The committee also raised concerns about reports of extrajudicial killings along Turkey's border with Syria, which is home to many Kurds, and called for an end to flogging and lashing by Saudi Arabian authorities.
Bringing the Zionist Union into the government could have been a bold demonstration of leadership.

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Isaac Herzog could have said: I achieved an important accomplishment that serves Israel's national interest. Even though that did not happen, Herzog can still demonstrate leadership by making a clear statement: I tried and wanted to achieve a unity government, but I will not concede my principles for jobs or the Foreign Ministry. I did not demand much and I did not demand the imposition of the Zionist Union's platform on the government. All of my demands were accepted by the majority of the public. However, during the talks, it quickly became clear that Netanyahu wants the Zionist Union to serve as a fig leaf. We will not sell ourselves out.

Such a statement would have been received as a moral and bold leadership statement. And Herzog still has time to make it.

Zionist Union Chairman Isaac Herzog, Photo: Moti Kimchi

In the past year, Herzog has turned into a punching because of all the media leaks about his effort to establish a unity government. He has consistently denied it and says it is not on the agenda. He always seems to bend his words. But if he is doing something that he believes in--he needs to clarify what he is doing and why he is doing it.

Even now that is clear that talks are taking place, Herzog has not changed. While he is no longer denying the existence of talks, he still has not provided any serious explanation for them.

A unity government is not a bad idea. Political polarization in Israel requires efforts to reach a lowest common denominator. And therefore, Herzog's effort is not unacceptable.

It is not that no differences exist between the various political groups. Of course, there are differences. Isolated swathes of society are moving further to the left and the right. But, in total, 70 percent, if not more, of the public has a shared ethos, one that necessitates a unity government.

But a unity government should only be formed on the condition that it makes a difference. A right-wing, ultra-orthodox government cannot turn into a left-wing government, but it can and needs to turn into slightly more moderate government. The gaps are small on economic issues and most Zionist Union members of Knesset (MK) accept Moshe Kahlon as Finance minister.

The widest gaps are on diplomatic issues, but they are not wholly insurmountable. Settlement building is ongoing and of the various controversial issues between Israel and Europe and America, settlement building provokes the most tension. Israel's allies cannot understand how it is possible to talk about an agreement and at the same time to continue to expand the settlement enterprise.

Herzog knows that an agreement is not on the agenda, but that does not mean that nothing can be done. In fact, something can be done--freezing settlement building outside the blocs. At least once, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said himself that he backs such a policy, but has done nothing to implement it. As long as it continues, settlement building can turn Israel into a bi-national state. It is a slowly forming disaster. Thus, a unity government is needed to stop it. Herzog should say: This move serves Israel's national interest.

But instead Herzog has not accomplished anything and just yesterday he half-heartedly acknowledged that. He is supposed to receive the desirable post of Foreign Minister, but it is not clear which policies he will represent. Will he defend settlement building outside of the blocs? There are a number of other jobs that his party could receive. But jobs and no change constitute a mockery. Selling out will be the end of the Zionist Union.

While Herzog still has not found leadership, he still has time to do so.
Speaking to Your Investment Property's sister publication, Australian Broker, Ren Wong, the CEO of N1 Loans, said the bank restrictions on lending to foreign borrowers or excluding foreign-sourced income from mortgage applications will only materially affect one small segment of the Australian property market.

As per the banks comments, foreign borrowing only made up a minority portion of the loan book. The restriction to lend to foreign borrowers will definitely impact the real estate market, but will likely be limited only to off the plan properties, which in itself is a minority market of the overall real estate industry, Wong said.

Foreign investment has often been seen as an important pillar propping up the Australian housing market. According to the Foreign Investment Review Boards latest annual report, approved investment in real estate  comprising commercial and residential proposals  increased by 30% in 2014-15, reaching $96.9 billion. Foreign investment in residential real estate specifically increased by 75% in 2014-15.

As a result, the bank crackdown has prompted concerns that it could deflate the Australian property market.

However, Wong says while N1 has had to turn away a surge in enquiries about foreign investment, he said the ASX-listed firm has not noticed a material impact to demand.

We did receive a surge of phone enquiries about overseas lending but we have told them of the policy change, he told Australian Broker.

The Australian housing market is driven by supply and demand Given the strong pipeline in pre-approvals, I believe the overall real estate market is still sustainably healthy.

If you notice [N1s] ASX announcement on 4th April, N1 Loans pre-approval pipeline doubled over the past quarter, increased from approximately $16.3mil per quarter to $31.7mil per quarter as of Q3 FY16.

Wong added that foreign lending is also rarely the sole priority or specialisation of mortgage brokers.

In 2014, I did mention in an article that foreign borrowers have lower return because we are unable to cross-sell; and brokers don't want to be perceived as just selling home loans.

N1, who listed on the ASX in March, runs Australias only Chinese language mortgage comparison site. Wong says the site  which was created to service the local Chinese-speaking population  receives 97% of its visitors from within Australia.
Barry Patrick, 73, of Sunbury, Victoria has pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria this week to three charges of obtaining property by deception, two charges of obtaining a financial advantage by deception and one charge of carrying on a financial services business without a licence.

Five additional charges were withdrawn by the prosecution as a result of the guilty plea.

The ASIC investigation, carried out by the regulators SMSF Taskforce found that between 2007 and 2010, Patrick illegally obtained more than $600,000 from 14 investors.

To obtain the funds Patrick persuaded investors to refinance their homes and/or establish self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) and then invest their SMSF in proposed property developments.

Patrick nominated investors to be directors of Wrestway Property Development Pty Ltd, Exclusive Property Consultants Pty Ltd, Compendium Holdings Pty Ltd and Integrated Consolidated Holdings Pty Ltd, which were formed to purchase properties at Pakenham, Lilydale, Epping and Garfield for development.

Rather than direct the funds for those purchases, Patrick used the money to pay interest payments to past and existing investors and to meet repayments on loans, as well as for personal use.

Mr Patrick was conditionally bailed to appear before the County Court of Victoria for a plea hearing on 7 July 2016.

The matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
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Defense Secretary Carter visits Academy

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter paid a visit to the United States Air Force Academy on Thursday, May 12.

Carter toured the Academy's cyber lab and innovation center, met with cadets and delivered remarks to the Cadet Wing at Arnold Hall.

"I want to thank all of you here today for embracing the awesome responsibility of leadership you will assume upon commissioning," he said. "Leadership to accomplish the noblest thing that I believe a young person could do, which is protect America and also much of the rest of the world which still depends so much on us for their security."

Carter compared security to oxygen during his 30-minute presentation and question-and-answer session in front of the cadets and Academy staff members.

"When you have it, you don't think about it," he said. "When you don't have it, it's all you think about."

Carter said military members offer the gift of security to all Americans, and he indicated each cadet plays a role in providing that security.

"It allows them (Americans) to get up in the morning, take their kids to school, go to work, live their lives, dream their dreams and live lives that are full," he told the crowd. "A lot of people around the world don't get that. That's what we owe to our own people. There's no better feeling than being a part of that mission."

Carter went on to encourage the cadets to embrace their individual roles in dealing with threats around the globe. He outlined five current challenges  including Russia, Asia, North Korea, Iran/Afghanistan and ISIL  that Air Force members will face in the days ahead.

"Our country is counting on you ... on your professionalism, on your pursuit of innovation, and most of all your principled leadership."

Carter is the 25th secretary of defense for the nation. He was nominated to the post by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in early 2015.




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Patna: He's super rich, he's got the right political connections in Bihar and he's dangerous. Meet Bindeshwari Prasad Yadav alias Bindi, the father of Rocky Yadav who allegedly killed teenager Aditya Sachdeva in Gaya in a case of road rage.

There was a time in the 1980s when Bindi was a "petty criminal" in Gaya, "caught for stealing a bicycle", as locals recount. He was a small fry, though, in the criminal ecosystem of the Bihar town.

But Bindi seemingly had ambition to make it big. So, in the early 1990s, he teamed up with another goon, Bachchu, to indulge in various crimes in Gaya over a period of three years. The duo, known locally as Bindia-Bachua, spared no one who crossed their path.

They gained notoriety by grabbing prime properties and land in Gaya town. Their guns did the talking and the region reeled under the shadow of fear.

That was the time when Lalu Prasad was at the helm of the Bihar government. Crime flourished in Bihar, powered by dreaded criminals like Surendra Yadav, Rajendra Yadav and Maheshwar Yadav. Bindi and Bachchu joined the bandwagon.

Their brutal ways, however, forced the government to take action: officers known to be 'strict' were deputed as the district magistrate and SP in Gaya. They invoked the stringent Control of Crimes Act to tame Bindi and Bachchu.

That was the catalyst for Bindi to realise that he would require political backing to survive. In the late 1990s, he joined Lalu Prasad's outfit, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). With that, he began a journey to transform himself from a criminal to a politician.

With the RJD's support, Bindi was elected unopposed as the chairman of Gaya District Board in 2001. He held that position till 2006.

In the meantime, he tried his luck at the hustings in 2005 as an Independent candidate from Gaya (rural), as he was denied an RJD ticket for the assembly election. But he failed to garner enough votes to make it to the assembly.

He unsuccessfully contested the assembly election again in 2010 from Gurua, this time on the RJD ticket. In his affidavit, he had declared 18 criminal cases against him. Apparently, Lalu Prasad had ignored Bindi's track record as a criminal to promote his political career. It didn't work though.

So, after Nitish Kumar came to power in 2010, Bindi switched his loyalties to the Janata Dal-United. But the image-conscious chief minister was averse to backing a criminal.

In 2011, when Bindi was arrested, he was found to be in possession of an AK-47 rifle, a self-loading rifle and over 4,000 cartridges.

The bicycle thief changed his ways after this incident. He used his proximity to the JD-U and the RJD to secure several government contracts that helped him boost his fortunes.

It is also believed that Bindi has close contacts with the Maoists. So most of the government contracts of developmental projects in the rebel-affected areas go to Bindi. And there lies the secret behind Bindi's journey from being a petty criminal to a businessman rolling in money.

It seems successive Bihar governments overlooked his antecedents. His arms licences were not reviewed even though the number of cases against him went up to 19. According to the latest figures, there are at least 11 cases against Bindi, including that of kidnapping and murder.

Today, Bindi Yadav owns malls, hotels, 15 petrol pumps in Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Delhi and adjoining areas. He has business interests in sectors as diverse as road, construction and liquor.

No wonder then that his son Rocky drove an SUV worth Rs 1.5 crore and brandished an Italian-made .32 bore pistol with which Aditya was killed.

It's also not surprising then that Bindi managed to ensure his wife Manorama Devi became a JD-U member of the Bihar Legislative Council in 2015. His own political career was rough, but he has been the powerhouse behind his politician wife.

However, Bindi's luck may be running out. He was arrested for allegedly facilitating his son's escape. His MLC wife has been suspended after liquor bottles were found in her house despite prohibition in the state. His son's alleged crime had led to massive public outrage and a political furore.

So it now remains to be seen what course of action the government takes. Will Bindi and his ilk face the long arm of the law or will the "jungle raj" in Bihar return?
Gaya: The Bihar Police on Friday issued an ultimatum to suspended Janata Dal (United) legislator Manorama Devi, saying it will soon seize all of her property if she does not surrender.

Earlier today, police had sent the seized alcohol found from Devi`s residence to a laboratory in the state capital for investigation.

Meanwhile, Devi has filed an anticipatory bail in the Gaya Court after an arrest warrant was issued against her over liquor prohibition. The District Judge will hear her plea on Monday.

The Gaya Police had on Wednesday sealed the house of the suspended JD(U) legislator, who is said to be on the run after an arrest warrant was issued against her under the new state excise law.

Devi`s son Rakesh Ranjan Yadav, also known as Rocky, and her husband Bindi Yadav are already in jail over the killing of Aditya Sachdeva, a businessman`s son, in a case of road rage on Saturday evening.

(With ANI inputs)
Gaya: Suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, whose son had allegedly shot dead a youth for overtaking his vehicle, Friday filed an anticipatory bail petition in the district court in connection with recovery of liquor bottles from her house during a search.

On behalf of Manorama Devi, advocate Qaiser Sarfuddin filed the bail petition in the court of (in-charge) District Judge S N Singh who posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

While talking to reporters here after filing the petition, Sarfuddin said that Manorama Devi, who has been absconding ever since the liquor bottles were found from her Gaya residence, will not surrender before the court.

Manorama Devi's counsel further claimed that she has been "implicated" in the case as the allegations levelled against her are false.

The counsel said that she was not named accused in the FIR in connection with liquor bottle recovery case.

A day after her suspension from JD(U), the Excise department on May 11 sealed residence of the MLC in connection with recovery of liquor bottles as police stepped up search for the legislator who could not be traced.

Officials of Excise department with the help of police sealed the residence of Manorama Devi in posh Anugrah Puri colony, Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik had said.

The Gaya police acquired a warrant of arrest against her on Wednesday in the liquor case.

The house was sealed in the wake of a case registered against the MLC with Rampur Police Station in connection with recovery of 6 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from her house during Monday's search for her son Rocky Yadav who allegedly shot dead a youth in Gaya on Saturday night.

Wife of RJD strongman Bindi Yadav, Manorama Devi became MLC from JD(U) in 2015. Earlier, she was member of Legislative Council from RJD from 2003 to 2009.

Earlier, a case was registered against her husband Bindi Yadav and son Rocky Yadav in connection with seizure of liquor bottles. But, her name was included in the FIR on May 10 in this connection.

With PTI inputs
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday asked Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar to call off the hunger strike which he and other students have begun since April 27.

As per ANI, the high court said that it is ready to hear his and other students' plea over fine imposed by the JNU, only if they end the hunger strike.

The high court passed the order while responding to petitions filed by Kanhaiya Kumar and seven other students challenging the JNU's disciplinary action against them based on the inquiry committees report.

Students have been protesting against the report and the punishment meted out for a controversial event on campus on February 9.

The JNU administration had on Wednesday appealed to students to end the hunger strike, saying that the matter was still sub-judice.

The Delhi High Court had on Tuesday refused to grant immediate relief to student leaders Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattaracharya from their rustication notices, saying it needed time to consider the case further.

Khalid and Bhattacharya had moved the high court, challenging the probe panels decision to suspend them. The same day, JNU formed a a four-member panel to "discuss issues related to students and teachers who have been on hunger strike.

An inquiry commission was set up by the university to look into incidents that led to a major unrest and arrest of a few students in February. The panel found several students, including JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya guilty and imposed fines on them, besides barring students from the university for varying periods of time.
Panaji: Goa government has banned the use of LED lights by trawlers for fishing even as 25 fishermen were detained after they tried to block a road in Panaji in protest against the use of such lights.

The fishermen have been demanding a ban on fishing with the help of LED lights which attract large numbers of fish due to their powerful glow underwater. They say their use would lead to a fish famine in Goa waters.

"We agreed to their demand and issued a notification banning LED lights. We also issued directions asking to impound the trawlers fitted with such lights. We are taking all the measures to ensure that LED lights are removed. We are fully supporting the fishermen," State Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado told reporters last night outside Panaji police station.

He said the state government had agreed to all their demands but some fishermen continued to block the road.

State Rural Development Agency Minister Alina Saldanha was also present along with Furtado at the police station.

Speaking to reporters, Inspector Siddhanth Shirodkar said today, "The crowd had blocked the road and jetties used by offshore casinos. We had to forcefully evict them and took 25 fishermen into custody last evening."

He said police had to resort to mild lathi-charge after some fishermen attacked the police on duty.

The fishermen had blocked the channels of Mandovi river in Panaji and Sal river at Betul village in South Goa from Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Marine police cleared the blockade on both the rivers which affected inland waterways navigation.

The operations of offshore casinos had come to a halt since the last two days after the fishermen blocked the channel of Mandovi river.

They resumed operations late last night after feeder boats were allowed to ply customers from the jetties to the offshore vessels.
Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday gave a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and five others who have been languishing in prison in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case and held the view that the probe conducted by the then ATS chief Hemant Karkare into the incident was flawed.

In its chargesheet filed before a special court in the 2008 blasts case on Friday, NIA noted that ample evidence was not found against Sadhvi and five others.

The investigative agency also dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) slapped against them.

The NIA said, "that the prosecution against them is not maintainable".

Karkare was the joint commissioner of ATS and had led the probe initially in 2008. Unfortunately, he was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

ATS had booked 16 people after its investigation and later on filed chargesheets against 14 accused in a Mumbai court in 2009 and 2011.

Both Lt Col Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya had moved several applications before the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court challenging the chargesheet and the applicability of the stringent MCOCA in the case.

In 2011, NIA took over the case.

Besides Sadhvi, five others against whom charges have been dropped by NIA include Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury.

The agency observed that no offence is attracted under MCOCA in the case.

"In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOCA by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present final report," the agency said in its chargesheet.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges, including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC, Arms Act and Explosives Substance Act.

The NIA said that Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit organised several meetings with other accused and collected money for procuring weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

"He is one of the key members of criminal conspiracy. Accused Purohit had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned officer of armed forces of India which is against the service rules," the NIA said in its supplementary charge sheet.

The NIA alleged that on January 25-26 "in a secret meeting held at Faridabad, Purohoit proposed for a separate Constitution for Hindu rashtra with separate saffron flag.

"He read over the Constitution of Abhinav Bharat which he had prepared, discussed about the formation of central Hindu government (Aryawrat) against the Indian government and put forth the idea of forming this government in exile in Israel and Thailand," the NIA said.

Purohit also discussed about taking revenge for the "atrocities" committed by the Muslims on Hindus.

About the RDX recovered from Purhoit's residence, the NIA quoted a Court of Inquiry report of the Army which had claimed that the explosives were planted at his residence by ATS officials who had entered his residence forcibly.

They said the Army has also given a "breakup" of about 70 kg of RDX, suspected to have been proposed to be used for the blasts.

The army has accounted for it by way of controlled destruction or handing over to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the NIA said.

The NIA also alleged that he along with other accused had collected huge funds for the Abhinav Bharat organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

On Sadhvi's role, the NIA said in its charge sheet that it does not have sufficient evidence against her and five others.

Analysing the evidence against six accused persons, the NIA said that motorcycle used in the blast was used by accused Sadhvi.

However, the agency said that evidence recorded by ATS and reassessed by NIA shows those four witnesses have all stated that absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra was in possession of the motorcycle and using it.

"The register of garage also shows that Kalsangra was in possession of the bike," the NIA said.

Purohit had also participated in the meeting of Abhinav Bharat which was held on September 15/16 2008 at Bhosla Military School, Nashik in which accused Ramesh Upadhayay was elected as working president of Abhinav Bharat.

"In this meeting it was decided that the power to take back the weapons acquired for Abhinav Bharat from accused Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi would vest with Upadhayay," the NIA said.

It alleged that Purohit collected huge amount of funds for himself and for this Abhinav Bharat organisation out of which Rs 2.5 lakhs were paid to one builder in Nashik through accused Ajay Rahirkar for house booked for himself.

During investigation, the FSL report was received with regard to the data retrieved from the laptop of accused Dwivedi.

The voice samples of accused Purohit, Dwivedi, Upadhayay are also available, which are positive as per FSL.

"The authorised intercepted conversation between Purohit and Upadhayay and others reveal that they were also in the process of creating their defence in case," the NIA said, adding Purohit had even suggested to Upadhyay to procure another SIM for himself.

He even alerted him by saying that they should be very meticulous thereafter. "The post conduct of the accused persons shows the guilt in their minds and their active participation in the crime", NIA said in its document.

On October 24, 2008, after the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit had messaged accused Sameer Kulkarni saying that ATS has entered his house in Pune and also directed him (Kulkarni) to delete numbers from telephone and to leave for Bhopal immediately.

"This act of the accused confirms his complicity in the present crime," NIA said.

The agency said that, "notwithstanding the shortcoming in the evidence, at this stage there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Purohit under various statutes and sections of law and the value of the evidence placed on record shall be assessed at the trial stage."

In the September 29, 2008 Malegaon blasts, seven were killed and some 80 others were injured. This was the first major case involving right-wing Hindu extremists.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: In the wake of a sting operation by an Indian news channel that claimed to have proved India's most wanted Dawood Ibrahim lives in the posh Clifton area of Karachi, former home minister P Chidambaram has said that Pakistan will never hand over the underworld don to India.

As per the sting conducted by CNN-News18, Dawood lives at D-13, Block 4, Clifton, Karachi.

"The Pakistan government is never going to yield Dawood Ibrahim to you. They are never going to admit that Dawood has sought refuge there and even if they do, they are never going to make them available to you," the channel Friday quoted Chidambaram as saying.

Chidambaram said it was not the first time that whereabouts of Dawood had been established.

But, Pakistan has always been in denial, the senior Congress leader added.

"The whole world knows that Dawood Ibrahim has an address in Pakistan. In fact, we have shared it with the Pakistan government. They have of course denied it. Many people have confirmed that this is the house in which he stays. He stays between Pakistan and Dubai," Chidambaram said, as per CNN-News18.

"You think they are going to put him on a platter and hand him over to you? This is not a failure of any Indian government. The problem is with Pakistan. No Pakistan government is going to admit that Dawood has sought refuge in their country," he added.

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 in a statement.

"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.

Dawood had masterminded the 1993 serial blasts in Mumbai (erstwhile Bombay) in which 257 people were killed and hundreds injured.
New Delhi: BJP on Friday welcomed the NIA decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and suggested a probe against those involved in building the case against her in the UPA government, saying she was "framed".

In an apparent attack on the UPA dispensation, BJP said there was conspiracy over Malegaon and Samjhauta express blasts cases, in which Hindutva groups were prosecuted by investigation agencies, and some politicians worked against the country's interests.

"I was of the opinion from day one that Pragya Thakur and others have just been framed in these cases. All the atrocity a person like Pragya Thakur has undergone, I think had there been any other liberal, law-abiding country there would have been a counter investigation against people involved in it.

"There was nothing against her. There was conspiracy over Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blasts and anti-national forces were fighting. People associated with politics worked against the country's interest. I look with respect at the NIA's decision in favour of Pragya Thakur," party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told the media.

Asked about dilution of charges against other accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, she said she would not give any clean chit to him or speak for or against him as she does no details of the case against him.

Lekhi said she knew Thakur and is limiting her argument to the Hindutva activist.

She brushed aside Congress leader Digvijay Singh's criticism of the government over the NIA decision, saying he had earlier alleged RSS involvement in the Mumbai attack.

RSS functionary Indresh Kumar alleged that the UPA government had a conspiracy to target Hindutva groups over the blasts.

"The UPA government had linked saffron and Hindutva with terrorism. There cannot be a bigger crime, sin and injustice. That is why the UPA government hatched a political conspiracy. First it had put Muslims behind bars," he told reporters.
New Delhi: A media report has claimed to have unearthed yet another bigger and meaner scam involving the previous Congress-led UPA government  this time it is accused of supplying inferior steel for building naval ship.

According to an India Today report, the naval scam could be even bigger than the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scandal.

It said that the government has ordered an inquiry into the alleged favours given by the previous UPA government to an Italian shipbuilding firm which provided two naval tankers to India.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has reportedly ordered a "discreet inquiry" into the alleged naval tanker scam, the report added.

It is being alleged that the UPA government had favoured the Italian firm Fincantieri for building two naval tankers in 2009. It is also accused of approving inferior quality steel to build the tankers.

According to the report, the government is presently scrutinising the details of the contract awarded to the Italian firm.

A former naval officer has reportedly blown the lid off and has now demanded a probe into the 2009 purchase of two fleet tankers, crucial for the Navy's deep water capabilities.

These tankers had to be bought as Indian Navy's biggest aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was on its way from Russia.

Defence Minister AK Antony had hailed this as one of the fastest procurements of a fleet tanker manufactured with Indian specifications, the report said.

It is being alleged that instead of using weapons grade steel for the manufacture of the tankers, the firm used commercial grade steel.
New Delhi: Middleman Christian Michel, who is wanted in India for his role in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper bribery scandal, has said that the Italian government may make public a private conversation between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Matteo Renzi.

The conversation could be released if India fails to release an Italian marine being held in the country on charges of killing Indian fishermen, Michel suggested in an interview to NDTV news channel.

It has been claimed that PM Modi held a private conversation with his Italian counterpart Renzi on the sidelines of a UN meeting wherein he allegedly sought information against Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

Michel told NDTV that if Delhi fails to free Marine Salvatore Girone, the Italian government "may do something unpleasant" and that "unpleasant" move would be to "admit to a meeting" between Modi and Renzi.

Both India and Italy have so far rejected claims of a private meeting between their prime ministers.

As per the claims, Modi had offered to free the two Italian marines (Massimiliano Latorre has already been allowed to go home due to health issues) facing murder charge in India in return for information on Sonia Gandhi with regard to the Agusta chopper deal.

Sonia's name has been mentioned in an Italian court judgement, along with her political secretary Ahmed Patel and former PM Manmohan Singh, convicting top officials of AgustaWestland and its parent firm Finmeccanica.

Michel said during the interview that the meeting happened but it was not a formal, bilateral one.

"Under the auspices of the UN bilateral discussions there was no meeting. I am talking about a casual brush-by meeting which has plausible deniability attached to it," he was quoted as saying by the news channel.
New Delhi: A war of words has begun between the ruling BJP and the Congress with the former blaming the latter of falsely implicating saints like Sadhvi Pragya in the Malegaon blast case, while the latter hitting back, saying the Centre was trying to save the accused.

Asserting that there should be no interference at any level in the handling of the Malegaon blast case, the Centre on Friday accused the former UPA regime of coining slogans like 'Hindu-terror and saffron terror' which tarnished the entire community.

"We found earlier that the UPA government has pressurised and influenced certain government on the basis of political motivated campaign by coining wrongful slogans like Hindu-terror or saffron terror which tarnished the whole community," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju was quoted as saying by the ANI.

Rijiju added that the Congress had by giving a communal tinge to the entire issue managed to take the case into one direction which was a strong religion connotation and has 'done a lot of damage to the country'.

"What our government is doing is that the investigative agencies have been given absolutely freedom to take action on the basis of available circumstances and evidences and as per the direction of the court," Rijiju said.

Reacting to the development, RSS leader Indresh Kumar said, ''It was all a planned conspiracy to defame patriots.''

Meanwhile, noted lawyer M Jethmalani said, ''Evidence against Sadhvi Pragya were far short of implicating her, we were certain there was no case against her.''

Earlier today, the NIA gave a clean chit and removed Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur and five others from the list of the accused in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case, paving the way for their early release from prison.

The Sadhvi's lawyer Sanjiv Punalekar said that the NIA decided to drop charges against her under the dreaded Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) due to lack of sufficient evidence.

The NIA has also decided to drop MCOCA charges against all the accused, he added.

The anti-terror agency later filed a chargesheet in the case in a special court.

On September 29, 2008, two bombs planted on motorcycles exploded in Malegaon town, Nashik district, killing seven and injuring 80 others. It was later touted as the first terror case involving the hitherto unknown "Hindu extremists".
Mumbai: While giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and dropping all charges against her in the Malegaon bomb blast case, the NIA says Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit had organised several meetings with the other accused and had collected money for procuring weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

"He is one of the key members of criminal conspiracy. Accused Purohit had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned officer of armed forces of India which is against the service rules," the NIA said in its supplementary charge sheet filed before a Special Court here.

The NIA alleged that on January 25-26 "in a secret meeting held at Faridabad, Purohoit proposed for a separate Constitution for Hindu rashtra with separate saffron flag.

"He read over the Constitution of Abhinav Bharat which he had prepared, discussed about the formation of central Hindu government (Aryawrat) against the Indian government and put forth the idea of forming this government in exile in Israel and Thailand," the NIA said.

Purohit also discussed about taking revenge for the "atrocities" committed by the Muslims on Hindus.

About the RDX recovered from Purhoit's residence, the NIA quoted a Court of Inquiry report of the Army which had claimed that the explosives were planted at his residence by ATS officials who had entered his residence forcibly.

They said the Army has also given a "breakup" of about 70 kg of RDX, suspected to have been proposed to be used for the blasts.

The army has accounted for it by way of controlled destruction or handing over to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the NIA said.

The NIA also alleged that he along with other accused had collected huge funds for the Abhinav Bharat organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

On Sadhvi's role, the NIA said in its charge sheet that it does not have sufficient evidence against her and five others.

Analysing the evidence against six accused persons, the NIA said that motorcycle used in the blast was used by accused Sadhvi.

However, the agency said that evidence recorded by ATS and reassessed by NIA shows those four witnesses have all stated that absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra was in possession of the motorcycle and using it.

"The register of garage also shows that Kalsangra was in possession of the bike," the NIA said. Purohit had also participated in the meeting of Abhinav

Bharat which was held on September 15/16 2008 at Bhosla Military School, Nashik in which accused Ramesh Upadhayay was elected as working president of Abhinav Bharat.

"In this meeting it was decided that the power to take back the weapons acquired for Abhinav Bharat from accused Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi would vest with Upadhayay," the NIA said.

It alleged that Purohit collected huge amount of funds for himself and for this Abhinav Bharat organisation out of which Rs 2.5 lakhs were paid to one builder in Nashik through accused Ajay Rahirkar for house booked for himself.

During investigation, the FSL report was received with regard to the data retrieved from the laptop of accused Dwivedi.

The voice samples of accused Purohit, Dwivedi, Upadhayay are also available, which are positive as per FSL.

"The authorised intercepted conversation between Purohit and Upadhayay and others reveal that they were also in the process of creating their defence in case," the NIA said, adding Purohit had even suggested to Upadhyay to procure another SIM for himself.

He even alerted him by saying that they should be very meticulous thereafter. "The post conduct of the accused persons shows the guilt in their minds and their active participation in the crime", NIA said in its document.

On October 24, 2008, after the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit had messaged accused Sameer Kulkarni saying that ATS has entered his house in Pune and also directed him (Kulkarni) to delete numbers from telephone and to leave for Bhopal immediately.

"This act of the accused confirms his complicity in the present crime," NIA said.

The agency said that, "notwithstanding the shortcoming in the evidence, at this stage there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Purohit under various statutes and sections of law and the value of the evidence placed on record shall be assessed at the trial stage."
New Delhi: After having replaced the Planning Commission with the NITI Aayog, the Narendra Modi government has now firmed up plans to replace the five-year plans with 15-year vision documents.

As per a report in the Business Standard, the new vision document will be prepared to meet the countrys social goals without wavering from the sustainable growth agenda.

The government has entrusted the NITI Aayog with the task to prepare it.

Cleared at the highest level, it will be implemented after the last of the five-year plans, the 12th (2012-17) ends next year.

The new 15-year plan will begin with the 'National Development Agenda' from 2017-18 that will include internal security and defence as well.

The first 15-year vision document will start which will lay down the schemes, programmes and strategies to achieve the long-term vision.

Reports added the National Development Agenda will be reviewed after a gap of every three years.

The Five-Year Plans were started by Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1951. Since then India had 12 such programs ensured an integrated approach to national economic programs. However, the Modi government felt that the Planning Commission and the five-year-plans have outlived their utility.
New Delhi: Amid the charges and counter-charges over the AgustaWestland issue, Congress on Friday accused the Modi government of "working overtime" tapping the phones of opposition, civil servants and judges.

Party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma told reporters: "there is a dirty tricks dept in the BJP Government, which is working overtime tapping phone of Opposition, civil servants and judges".

He alleged that the government is putting senior leaders and bureaucrats under surveillance, manufacturing documents, using state agencies and "pliable" sections of media.

Cautioning the government to stop this game of political blackmail, he said it was "spreading canards" and making attempts to "defame".

Wondering as to how classified documents of Ministry of Defence, of CBI, of ED, have been selectively leaked to few channels and agencies, he said this created an "incomplete picture".

"The selective leaking and distribution of classified documents creates an incomplete picture. The whole picture is brought out by Opposition in Parliament", he said.

He said the government instead of targeting the opposition, should focus on delivering on its promises. "They have failed miserably when you look at the state of economy, job growth, falling exports and falling investment rate".

Turning to the just concluded session, he said budget Session has passed 24 laws. It is a record in itself.

Noting that since 2014 when the Modi government assumed office, more than 80 Bills have been passed, he said adding that this is "testimony of a mature Opposition".

"This is also a rejection of the canard spread by PM Modi that Opposition was hindering passage of Bills", he said.

Seeking to turn tables on the BJP, he said that many of the bills passed were held hostage by BJP while in the opposition.

At the outset, Sharma targeted the government over the Uttarakhand issue.

"The second half of Budget Session became a fresh session because of the wrong decision of this Government to justify the unconstitutional destabilisation of the Uttarakhand Government, by encouraging defection and promoting an environment where money power and the Union?s power were abused," he said.

Giving a word of advice and caution to the government in the backdrop of AgustaWestland issue, he said it should seriously reflect and stop what they are doing and they would "end up seriously compromising defence acquisition and defence preparedness" of the country.

Citing an instance, he said that since the Bofors case, India has not acquired any major artillery system since 1988.

Sharma was sharply critical of the way the Prime Minister Narendra Modi went about on the issue of Rafale fighter deal without the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on the need for a permanent solution to the vexed fishermen issue during talks with visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in Delhi.

Modi, and Sirisena held talks over a working dinner hosted by the Indian prime minister at Hyderabad House on Friday evening.

Modi stressed on the need "to develop a mechanism and find a permanent solution to the issue of fishermen straying into each other waters".

He also appreciated President Sirisena`s efforts to promote reconciliation in Sri Lanka so that all sections of Sri Lankan society can live with equality and dignity, said an official statement.

The two leaders discussed all issues of bilateral interest, in particular the problems being faced by Indian fishermen, the status of various economic projects being implemented by India and efforts to further increase trade and investment.

Modi said that President Sirisena`s visit for the Simhastha Kumbha in Ujjain was very significant as it showed the deep civilisational ties between India and Sri Lanka.

President Sirisena thanked Prime Minister Modi for receiving him and expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by government of India to Sri Lanka, in particular the various developmental projects being implemented by India.

In this context, both the leaders appreciated the meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission led by two foreign ministers, which had met after the gap of three years, said the external affairs ministry statement.

Modi will be accompanying Sirisena to Ujjain on Saturday.

According to a statement put up by the Sri Lankan president`s website. Modi has "assured to give every support to Sri Lanka to make the reconciliation programme successful".

Both leaders also discussed setting up of an allopathic medicine investment zone in Sri Lanka.

They also paid attention to enhancing of the economic, commercial and cultural relations between the two countries.

The idea of setting up a common economic zone was also taken up.

This was the sixth meeting between President Sirisena and Modi, during a short span of 15 months.

President Sirisena had chosen India for his first state visit after coming to office.

He had discussions with Modi during his bilateral visit to New Delhi earlier as well as during Modi`s visit to Sri Lanka; both met on the sidelines of international forums such as the UN General Assembly and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Malta as well as at the Paris climate summit.

"Thus, the leaders of Sri Lanka and India have become the two heads of states who met the most number of times during a period of 15 months. Consequently, the two heads of states have set an example of who held periodical bilateral discussions for most number of times," said the Sri Lankan president`s website.

Sirisena later tweeted, posting a picture of him and Modi shaking hands, "The amity between India and Sri Lanka is special. With @narendramodi it continues to improve."

Earlier, the Sri Lanka president arrived here on a two-day official visit.

In the evening, Sirisena also attended an event at the India Foundation where he was felicitated by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Pradhan later tweeted: "Energy relationship with Sri Lanka is very strong; IOC is present in marketing sector of Sri Lanka."

In Ujjain, the Sri Lankan president will address the valedictory session at the Vaicharick Mahakumbh which is being held as part of the Simhastha Mahakumbh on Saturday.

He will also visit Sanchi where he will tour the famed Sanchi Stupa and attend a function by the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka during which he will unveil a statute of Angarika Dharmapala.

Sirisena is also to tour Sanchi as part of his visit in which he will also unveil a monument of Anagarika Dharmapala.
Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a chargesheet before a Special Court here in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

Also, charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act or MCOCA law have been given up against all the other 10 accused including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

In a complete U-turn, the NIA said that during investigation, "sufficient evidences have not been found against" Pragya Singh Thakur and five others.

The NIA added that it has submitted in the chargesheet "that the prosecution against them is not maintainable".

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the probe into the Malegaon blast.

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai's ATS Hemant Karkare who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people but filed chargesheets on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court.

Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court challenging the chargesheet and applicability of stringent MCOCA in the case.

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The agency also said during investigation that it has been established that no offence is attracted in this case under the MCOCA, in which any statement given before a SP-level officer is admissible as an evidence.

"In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOC Act by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present Final report," the agency said in its chargesheet.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, IPC, Arms Act and Explosives Substance Act.

The September 29, 2008 Malegaon blasts, in which seven were killed and another 80 were injured, was the first major case in which the involvement of right-wing Hindu extremists came to the fore.

(With Agency inputs)
Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will on Friday file a chargesheet in a Mumbai court as regards the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case.

In the chargesheet, the NIA has decided to drop Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's name as an accused.

The NIA is also likely to mention before the UAPA court that evidence against the key accused, Colonel Prasad Purohit, was fabricated and the probe led by former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was flawed, and statements of witnesses were taken under duress, reported The Indian Express.

However, Purohit will continue to be a key accused in the NIA chargesheet, which will also say that the ATS planted explosives in Purohits living quarters at the Deolali Army camp at the time of his arrest in 2008.

The NIA has decided to drop charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Purohit and all other accused. They will now be charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, said the daily.

The September 29, 2008 Malegaon blasts in which seven were killed and another 80 were injured, was the first major case in which the involvement of right-wing Hindu extremists came to the fore after investigations by then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks by Pakistani terrorists.

Initially, the needle of suspicion was cast on minority community members, but after Karkare's probe, 12 people including Sadhvi Pragya, Colonel PS Purohit (retd) and Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Shyam Sahu, SN Kalsangra, Sameer Kulkarni, and Dayanand Pandey were arrested.

The case was investigated by the local police followed by the ATS and CBI; the NIA took it over in 2011 after which three more accused were nabbed.
New Delhi: The Ministry of Railways on Friday released a press release regarding the ongoing water transportation exercise in drought-hit Maharashtra's Latur district and announced that the board will immediately withdraw a bill of Rs 4 crore sent to the state government for the effort.

The release has been posted on the micro-blogging website Twitter from the official handle of MIB (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting) today. As per the release, the Railways have also disclosed that the water bill was sent to the district collector towards transport cost on the state government's request.

Read the full text of the press release here:

Clarification By The Ministry Of Railways Regarding The Ongoing Water Transportation Exercise In Latur, Maharashtra

Under the direction of the Honble Prime Minister to help the State of Maharashtra in facing the challenge of its worst ever drought conditions, Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu took initiative and ordered the Railway Administration to immediately make necessary arrangements for transportation of water in the drought affected areas of Maharashtra. Towards this end, Railway Board immediately arranged 100 tank wagons through its Kota Workshop and dispatched them to Maharashtra. Mumbai based Central Railway Zone geared up its machinery and directed its two Divisions namely Solapur and Pune to make arrangements for water transportation.

For the first ten days when the local state administration at Miraj and Latur were to lay pipelines and to create suitable infrastructure etc., Pune Division of Central Railways on its own, started transporting water through a 10 tank wagon goods train using its limited resources and man power. Later, after the laying down of pipelines etc. by the local administration, efforts were strengthened and goods train consisting of 50 wagons was pressed into service. Till now more than 6 crore litre water has been transported by the Railways from Miraj to Latur. Railway named these trains as Jaldoot to emphasize importance of this crucial endeavour. Railway Administration in Solapur and Pune Divisions is working day and night to accomplish this mega task of transporting water from Miraj to Latur.

In the hour of crisis, Railway Administration rose to the occasion to meet the water needs in the drought affected areas of Maharashtra and together with the local State Administration carried out this ongoing exercise in the most effective manner. The entire exercise has been done involving huge logistic arrangements and mobilization of resources.

Recently the Latur District Administration requested Central Railway Administration to indicate the cost of water transportation by railways. In response to this request, Central Railway shared the information on cost of operation in transporting the water. The settlement of expenditure is not relevant at this point of time as the most important matter is to continue uninterruptedly with the transportation of water to the people in their hour of need.

Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu who is personally monitoring the entire operation has directed that the Indian Railways will continue to run the trains till the time there is a need of water and the settlement of the operational expenses will never be a constraint in this regard. The Minister has further ordered that the estimate of expenditure which was sent to the Latur Administration, on their request, will be withdrawn immediately. The issue of settlement of dues is being considered separately by the Railway Ministry.

Indian Railways has always been committed to meet the social obligations and will continue to be in the forefront in offering assistance to the people of the country as and when needed.

Earlier, Central Railway's general manager SK Sood had said, "We have sent the bill to the Latur district collector as per the administration's request."

The first water train, christened 'Jaldoot', left Miraj in western Maharashtra on April 11 and reached Latur on April 12, covering the distance of around 342 kilometres.

After nine trips by a 10-wagon water train, a 50-wagon water train carrying 25 lakh litre water was later pressed into service. It was specially commissioned from Kota in Rajasthan to transport water to Latur. It was in January 2013 that Maharashtra first considered water trains for parched regions of drought-hit Marathwada. Discussions were then held with the Railways to arrange wagons to transport 5 lakh litres of water daily.

While Latur city has a population of over four lakh, the district rural areas, with 943 villages, have a population of 18 lakh. The water levels in the 131 smaller dams in the district have depleted fast.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis yesterday thanked everyone for sending the 'water' help to the state. On Twitter he wrote: "6 crore litre water sent for Laturkars.I thank every person toiling hard day in day out in such tough times!"
New Delhi: The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce on Friday its verdict on a batch of petitions including by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy challenging the constitutional validity of sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code providing for criminal defamation.

The petitioners had argued that the criminal defamation under these sections of the IPC travelled beyond constitution's article 19(2) that imposes reasonable restriction on the freedom of speech and expression.

On the other hand while describing the penal provisions as "deterrent", the central government had defended their retention on the grounds that while in other countries, defamation cases are decided very fast, in India it takes years even decades before they reach conclusion.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had told the bench in the course of the hearing on July 8, 2015, that unlike in Britain where such cases are decided very fast, in India, it takes 10 to 20 years to decide them.

The verdict was reserved on August 13 last year after bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant heard the matter spread over a month.

The judgment will be pronounced by Justice Misra and may address the government's plea that the challenge to the constitutional validity of the IPC sections should be referred to the constitution bench as the same was in the context of the reasonable restriction under article 19(2).

Rohatgi had said that there were sufficient safeguards in article 19(2) which imposed reasonable restrictions of the right to free expression and speech guaranteed under article 19.

The position was supported by amicus curiae TR Andhyarujina.
Bengaluru: Eminent space scientist Prof U R Rao will be honoured by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) with the 2016 'IAF Hall of Fame Award" for his outstanding contribution to the progress of astronautics.

The IAF award is intended to reward personalities for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the Federation.

In a letter to Rao, a former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, IAF stated "It is a true honour for IAF to attribute this award to Prof Rao, who has been for many years an active participant to the success of space in general and of the Federation in particular".

The IAF Hall of Fame consists of a permanent gallery of these personalities, including a citation, biographical information and a picture, in a special part of the IAF web presence.

This year's 67th International Astronautical Congress will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico during September 26?30, 2016.

Prof Rao will receive the 'IAF Hall of Fame' Award and a certificate, during the closing ceremony on September 30, according to an ISRO release.
New Delhi: Unfazed by Congress' warning to bring a privilege motion against BJP MP Subramanian Swamy for lying in Parliament during the AgustaWestland debate, the latter on Friday dared the Grand Old Party saying he will teach them law.

The veteran BJP leader had even attacked Congress in a series of tweets yesterday.

What Congi idiots do now? Christian Michel says to Barkha on NDTV his 2008 Note I produced in RS stating TDK was "driving force" is genuine!  Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 12, 2016

The reaction noted lawyer and firebrand BJP MP came hours after the Congress said that it would bring a privilege motion against him and his colleague and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in conncetion with the AugustaWestland case.

The announcement was made by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh who said, "These two leaders have been lying blatantly and brazenly."

"Subramanian Swamy spoke against Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders in Parliament and kept referring a document which according to him was an Italian court's judgement. In reality, this is a 13-page document consisting of two page of emails from Swamy to himself. Nine pages of the report were downloaded from www.pgurus.com and the remaining two pages are part of a news story run by an Indian news channel," Ramesh added.

The motion against Swamy is likely to be filed with Rajya Sabha chairman Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Friday, the last day of the ongoing session, Ramesh said.

"The document which Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar referred as the Italian court's judgment in the Lok Sabha are actually minutes of a meeting attended by the NSA," Ramesh said.

Meanwhile, AICC also announced that the party will file defamation case against a US-based website, www.pguru.com, whose material was used by Swamy in the Rajya Sabha debate. It alleged that the website is linked to the Sangh Parivar.
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, i.e. Sunday.

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.
Vatakara (Kerala): A BSF inspector, who had come for poll duty during the May 16 Assembly election, was shot dead allegedly by a jawan here following an argument over leave late Thursday night, police said.

Inspector Ram Gopal Meena (45) from Rajasthan was shot allegedly by Umesh Prasad Singh using his service rifle, police said.

Meena was rushed to a hospital, but he succumbed to injuries on the way.

The incident occurred around 11.30 PM. The BSF personnel, who had come to Kerala as part of central forces for deployment during election, were staying at the Islamic Academy, a higher secondary school at Kottakal near Vatakara in Kozhikode district.
Kozhikode: People were 'twisting facts' on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Somalia remark while in Kerala and he had only highlighted the plight of the tribal community and his desire to improve their living conditions, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said here on Friday.

"Before becoming PM, Modi as a politician and social activist used to visit tribal areas. He only highlighted the plight of tribal community in his speech and expressed his desire to improve the living conditions of tribal people.

"Modi has great regard and respect for Malayalis. People are twisting the facts," he said.

The comparison made by Modi at a poll rally in the state early this week when he said the "infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia" has set off a political storm and triggered criticism in the social media.
California: Facebook on Thursday emphasized that it does not permit its employees to block news stories from its Trending Topics list based on political bias, amid a controversy over how the social media superpower selects what news it displays.

Technology news website Gizmodo on Monday reported that a former Facebook employee said workers routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers while artificially adding other stories to the trending list.

The Gizmodo story triggered a reaction on social media, with several journalists and commentators raising concerns about alleged bias, and prompted a U.S. senate inquiry.

The social media company, whose reach is global, had over a billion daily active users on average in March, according to statistics the company posted to its newsroom.

In a post published to Facebooks media relations section on Thursday, a senior company official outlined its Trending Topics guidelines at length.

Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin, period, wrote Justin Osofsky, vice president for global operations. We have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum.

The post went on to explain how certain topics emerge in Facebook users trending feeds. Potential trending topics are identified by an algorithm, or formula, Facebook said, then reviewed by a Trending Topics team.

Gizmodo Editor-in-Chief Katie Drummond responded to the post with an email saying, I dont see anything that contradicts our reporting--do you?

Gizmodos story sparked a Senate committee inquiry.

Republican U.S. Senator John Thune, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said in a statement on Tuesday that Facebook needed to respond to these serious allegations.

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 Thune.
Lahore: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz stated that relations with the United States have been under stress for the past three months because of conditions attached by Washington to the funding of F-16s sale.

According to Dawn, the adviser admitted this while winding up a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

Aziz said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of incidents of WikiLeaks, Raymond Davis, Abbottabad operation, Datta Khel and Salala.

Since 2013, he said Pakistan`s relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory".

"In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," he said.

Aziz said that the action by the US might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been firmly rejected by Pakistan.

"We have also rejected frequent demands, especially by the US Congress, for the release of Dr Shakil Afridi. The US officials, Congress, think-tanks and media, in tandem with our adversaries, have also been blaming Pakistan for supporting the Haqqani network without giving any concrete evidence to enable us to take additional action against it or other terrorist organisations," he added.

Asserting that the Haqqani Network issue remained the top US concern at the moment, Aziz said that Indian lobby in the US had not been cooperative especially after the Pathankot incident.

However, he assured the Senate that in view of the importance of the issue, Pakistan had been making all-out efforts to finalise the F-16 deal with the US administration.
New Delhi: Even as the dust seemed to have settled down over political acrimony with regard to dismissal of Harish Rawat-led Congress ministry in Uttarakhand, state Governor KK Paul has apparently defended his decision not to have dismissed the chief minister after March 18.

"The governor's latest report defends his decision to give time to the chief minister and fix March 28 as the date for floor test for Rawat," an informed source told IANS here on condition of anonymity.

Quoting the ruling of the Uttarakhand High Court, the governor reportedly said: "The decision of the Speaker about the proceedings cannot be questioned."

By implication, this suggests that the Appropriation Bill (brought by the Uttarakhand government) had been passed by "voice vote" in the assembly on March 18 as ruled by the Speaker.

Political parties, mainly the BJP and the Congress, remained divided over the fate of Uttarakhand vote on account -- budget for four months of the 2016-17 fiscal -- as passed by the Lok Sabha.

In the Rajya Sabha, the Congress also resisted its passage once during the session that ended on Friday.

Even till Thursday (May 12), the government had listed agenda on The Uttarakhand Appropriation (Vote on Account) Bill, 2016, for the Rajya Sabha proceedings with the mention that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would move the bill as passed by the Lok Sabha, which can "be taken into consideration".

The upper house did not transact any business on Thursday following the death of sitting Congress member Praveen Rashtrapal.

However, on Friday's list of business no other agenda other than farewell to 53 retiring members was kept.

At the beginning of the day's business on Friday, Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari said, "As per the understanding arrived at the party leaders' meeting held May 12, the house will today bid farewell to its 53 members who will be retiring in the coming months of June and July. No other business will be transacted."

As per the Rajya Sabha website on the legislative functions, "In case a Money Bill is not returned by the Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha within a period of 14 days from the date of its receipt, it is deemed to have been passed by both houses in the form in which it was passed by the Lok Sabha after the expiry of said period."

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand had petitioned the governor and also the union home ministry on March 18 and 19 that the state assembly, according to them, "could not pass the state budget" and hence the Rawat ministry ought to have been dismissed.

The governor had declined to entertain the requests of the nine Congress rebels and BJP legislators, and had instead given about 10 days' time to the chief minister, asking him to prove his majority on March 28.

In his confidential report to the President and a copy made available to the union home ministry, the governor has now reportedly endorsed the decision of the state assembly Speaker.

This report directly contests the version of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who repeatedly has referred to March 18 development in the state assembly and had called it a "failed budget".

During heated debate in the Lok Sabha on May 9, a day ahead of trial of strength in the Uttarakhand assembly as directed by the Supreme Court, the finance minister claimed that the central government had "three materials (basic reasons)" to act in Uttarakhand and recommend President's Rule.

These included failure to pass budget on March 18, allegations of horse-trading, and possible constitutional crisis as the fiscal year was to end.

He said without imposing President's Rule, the "state would have been pushed into a constitutional crisis that not a rupee to be spent by the state of Uttarakhand would have been authorised".

Jaitley also had lashed out at the assembly Speaker, saying the constitution's founding fathers envisaged a "rule by majority and not by manipulated majority".
Dehradun: The Uttarakhand government has decided to add an economic offences wing (EOW) to its police force primarily to investigate cases of land grab and benami property, an official said on Friday.

A decision to this effect was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Thursday, the official said.

It was the first cabinet meeting after President`s Rule in the state was revoked and the Congress government reinstated.

The move to add an EOW to the police assumes significance since Harish Rawat, soon after nine Congress MLAs rebelled triggering a political crisis in the state, had accused rebel leader Harak Singh Rawat of being involved in large-scale land grabbing.

Rawat had also accused Harak Singh of trying to scuttle some legislative bills that would have "hurt his business interests".

The move is the chief minister`s attempt to get even with his opponents and rivals both inside and outside the party, said political observers here.

"While it is a populist move that would be termed an anti-graft initiative, I am sure many will find it a clear case of political vendetta," a BJP leader said.
Diamond Harbour (WB): Local Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallick, one of the 10 persons named in the lynching of an ITI student in Diamond Harbour of South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said today.

Tapas, the TMC Upa-Panchayat Pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the FIR lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.

He was arrested from near Duttapukur in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district late last night, a senior police officer said.

He was accompanied by a youth named Biltu from the car in which they were travelling, the officer said. The youth has been detained.

Four others had earlier been arrested in connection with the murder of the youth, who was mercilessly beaten up on suspicion of being involved in theft of cattle from the area, the officer said.

Koushik, who came to visit his aunt in the area, was roaming around when he was confronted by members of a local club and forcibly taken to a room on Monday night.

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 on Tuesday.

The incident triggered a public outrage in the area with a mob vandalising houses of the accused when the youth's body was taken to the house of his aunt in a procession on Wednesday.

Opposition CPI(M), Congress and BJP visited the family of the deceased and demanded punishment for those involved and immediate arrest of Tapas, alleging that he was deliberately not being arrested by the police despite playing a key role in the confinement and lynching of the youth.

While the four other arrested have already been remanded to 13-days' police custody by SDJM court, Diamond Harbour on Wednesday, Tapas would be produced in the same court later in the day.

Nine others were also been named in the FIR by the youth's family.
Brussels: Belgium will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq into Syria, the government said Friday, as it grapples with the fallout from deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels in March.

"In accordance with UN Resolution 2249, the engagement will be limited to those areas of Syria under the control of IS and other terrorist groups," a spokesman for Prime Minister Charles Michel told AFP after a cabinet meeting.
Lebanon`s Hezbollah announced Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria where the Shiite militant group has deployed thousands of fighters backing the Damascus regime.

Hezbollah said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander`s predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollah`s intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad`s regime since the start of the five-year war, came as a fragile truce in Syria teetered on the brink of collapse.

A six-day-old ceasefire in battleground second city Aleppo expired early Thursday without being renewed and rebel sniper fire on the city`s government-held sector killed two civilians, one a woman, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaeda`s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in its Idlib province stronghold in the northwest, killing 16 fighters including a senior commander.

Badreddine, who was in his mid-50s, was a key player in Hezbollah`s military wing.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, was a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and was one of Israel`s most wanted men.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say which of Badreddine`s many enemies it held responsible for his death.

"According to preliminary reports, a large explosion targeted one of our positions near Damascus international airport killing brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding other people," it said in a statement."We are going to pursue an inquiry to determine the nature and causes of the explosion and ascertain whether it was the result of an air strike, a missile or artillery fire."

His funeral was to be held in Hezbollah`s stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut at 5:30 pm (1430 GMT), the movement announced.

Badreddine`s predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, his cousin and brother-in-law, was killed in Damascus in 2008 in an attack that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddine`s death.

Israel made no comment, as was also the case in 2008, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollah`s failure to apportion blame.

But Hezbollah`s Al-Manar TV listed Israel among the enemies of the group.

"The enemies of our great martyrs are known, the Zionists (Israel), the Americans or the takfiris (Sunni Muslim extremists who considers Shiites heretics)," it said.

Hezbollah lawmaker Nawwar al-Sahili told the network it was too soon to prejudge the results of the investigation into Badreddine`s death, but noted that the group faces "an open war" and "will retaliate at an opportune moment".

In its 2012 terror blacklisting of Badreddine, Washington charged that he was the key pointman for Hezbollah`s operations in Syria alongside major foreign backer Iran in support of Assad`s regime.

"Badreddine is assessed to be responsible for Hezbollah`s military operations in Syria since 2011," the US Treasury Department said, adding that he liaised personally with Assad.The pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper said Badreddine was killed on Thursday night.

Damascus airport is east of the capital in an area where various rebel groups have a strong presence, although pro-government forces have secured the highway to it for the past two years or more.

Hezbollah`s intervention was vital in shoring up Assad`s regime at its lowest point in the war against rebels backed by Gulf Arab and Western countries.

Its fighters secured most of the Lebanese border region, cutting vital rebel supply lines, and reasserted government control in most of the southern suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayyida Zeinab Shiite shrine district, revered by Hezbollah`s followers and by its Iranian backers.

In Beirut, Hezbollah expert Waddah Charara noted that Badreddine had been also responsible for training Shiite militiamen in Iraq and had a direct link with Iran.

His death comes months after another Hezbollah figure, Samir Kantar, was killed in an December 2015 air strike near Damascus which the group blamed on Israel.

Moscow`s intervention last September in support of its Damascus ally greatly expanded the military coalition backing it.

Russian officials have vowed to work closely with their US counterparts to salvage a February ceasefire between pro-government forces and non-jihadist rebels that was teetering on the brink on Friday after the Aleppo truce collapsed.

That deal had sharply reduced a surge in fighting in Syria`s pre-war commercial capital that had killed more than 300 civilians.


Istanbul: Six Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country while two more lost their lives when a military helicopter sent to the scene crashed, the army said.

The six troops were killed and eight others wounded in fighting with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) near a military base in the Cukurca district of Hakkari province. A Kobra helicopter despatched to the scene then crashed due to a technical problem, resulting in the deaths of the two pilots, the army added.
Istanbul: Doctors Without Borders on Friday slammed the EU-Turkey deal to stem the influx of migrants to the bloc as a "historic abdication" of Europe`s moral and legal responsibilities.

The medical charity, which goes by its French acronym MSF, voiced "profound concern" at the deal, under which Turkey has agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for political incentives including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.

The agreement reached in March "effectively outsources caring for these people to Turkey," MSF chief Joanne Liu said in an open letter to EU member states and institutions.

"In an era of the greatest displacement of humanity in decades, this is a historic abdication of your moral and legal responsibilities," she said.

The Turkish agreement is the cornerstone of the EU`s plan to curb a crisis that has seen 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants enter since 2015.

But the deal was on Friday hanging by a thread after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Ankara would not adapt its counter-terror laws -- a key condition set by Brussels before granting Turks visa-free travel in the bloc.

The Turkish minister of European affairs, Volkan Bozkir, was set to meet Johannes Hahn, the commissioner for European enlargement negotiations, in Brussels on Friday morning.

Liu warned that the deal was "sending a troubling signal to the rest of the world: countries can buy their way out of providing asylum."

"If replicated by many nations, the concept of refugee will cease to exist," she cautioned, depicting a dystopian world in which "people will be trapped in warzones unable to flee for their lives, with no choice but to stay and die."

She also described Europe`s accommodation of migrants and refugees stranded in Greece as "shameful".

"In camps on the Greek islands, there are virtually no safeguards in place," she said, pointing out that "women fear to go to the toilet once darkness falls... and men of all ages lose their dignity fighting over scraps of food."

Liu warned that the EU-Turkey deal risked putting aid agencies in the difficult position of deciding whether to "provide desperately needed aid in service of an anti-humanitarian policy that has the ultimate goal of border control."

"European countries, people are in need of your help and protection -- not just your money," she said, voicing outrage that Europe, the epicentre of World War II`s massive displacement crisis, was "betraying the humanitarian principle of providing aid based on need alone."

"Is World War II so long ago that you no longer recall the basic human need to flee from violence and persecution when left with no other choice?" she asked, urging European leaders to "rise to the challenge" and help those in need.
Caracas: Josefina can still hear the shrieks two men made when a crowd set them on fire.

She was heading home from work at dusk when she saw a mob beating them. As she got closer, the flames broke out.

"I shudder when I remember those lads` screams of pain," the 43-year-old hairdresser told AFP. Terrified by the violence in her neighborhood, she would not give her second name.

The crowd accused the two of thieving. They were among a growing number of people targeted by mob justice as Venezuela`s economic crisis boils over into desperation and violence.

In a worsening economic and political situation, citizens are suffering shortages of food -- and also police.

When someone is caught stealing in Josefina`s neighborhood of Los Ruices in eastern Caracas, the cry of "Catch him!" rings out.

Quickly a call goes out on the WhatsApp mobile phone messaging service to 350 neighbors in the group, she says.

They rush to their doorsteps to catch the suspected thief as he runs away.

"We have to defend ourselves because there are not enough police patrolling," says William Collins, a local neighborhood leader.

He insists the groups organized themselves aiming to scare off thieves, not kill them.

"The lynchings broke out spontaneously."The chief of police for the surrounding municipality of Polisucre, Manuel Furelos, admitted he does not have enough boots on the ground.

"The United Nations recommends deploying four police officers per thousand inhabitants," he told AFP.

"In Polisucre, like in most police forces in this country, we have half that."

Robberies accounted for 37 percent of all crimes investigated by Venezuela`s state prosecutors last year, according to official data.

The state prosecution service recorded 4,696 murders in the first quarter of this year -- higher than the average for 2015.

Last year there were 17,778 murders, or 58 for every 100,000 inhabitants. The state Venezuelan Violence Observatory (OVV) however estimates the rate is much higher -- about 90 murders per 100,000 people, or more than ten times the world average.

In mid-April, attorney general Luisa Ortega said her office was investigating 26 cases of vigilante violence that left 20 people dead. Two were from 2015; the rest dated from the first quarter of this year.

Two weeks later, Ortega said the number of such cases being investigated had risen to 74, involving 37 deaths.

"No one should carry out lynchings, even if the person has committed a crime, because sometimes injustices are committed," she said.

The family of 43-year-old cook Roberto Bernal said a crowd mistook him for a robber in Los Ruices. He was beaten, doused in petrol and burned to death.

One person has been charged for that killing, but prosecutors say he was ambushed by a whole group.

Psychologist Magally Huggins says lynchings show that citizens "do not believe they are guaranteed justice" by the authorities.

Furelos said that in Polisucre, "eight out of 10 people who are arrested red-handed get back on the street without being charged, because the courts are overwhelmed." But he condemned vigilante justice.

"It is dangerous when violence becomes an acceptable private way to settle disputes," said criminologist Andres Antillano.

"You lose sight of the difference between someone who kills to rob and someone who kills to stop it." One local man in Los Ruices showed AFP photographs on his mobile telephone: two men stripped naked and covered in blood, lying on the ground with their hands and feet tied.

He said they were seized by a lynch mob and kept that way while locals waited for the police to arrive.

That kind of photo is circulating frequently on online social networks.

Surveys carried out by the OVV between 2002 and 2012 indicated that just a third of Venezuelans disapprove of lynchings.

Adriana Torres, a 45-year-old shopkeeper, had no time to call her neighbors when a robber took her phone at gunpoint last year.

"I agree that local people should grab the thieves. We are fed up with them getting away with it," she said.

Josefina herself was robbed in the street, but she sees it differently.

"We are not God," she said. "We cannot decide whether a person lives or dies."

vo/rlp/bfm


Beirut: A group monitoring the Syrian civil war said insurgents killed at least 19 civilians after capturing an Alawite village from government control in western Syria on Thursday, but insurgents denied targeting civilians.

Residents from the village of al-Zara interviewed by state media said rebels had killed women, children and livestock.

Dozens of people are still missing, believed to have been abducted from the village, which lies close to a main highway linking the western cities of Homs and Hama, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.

The Observatory said the attackers included Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham and the al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.

An Ahrar al-Sham spokesman said: "Civilians were not targeted. On the contrary factions made great effort to spare civilians and deal with prisoners humanely."

The Observatory cited sources saying the 19 dead, who included six women, were from families of fighters loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and were killed as rebels stormed houses during their attack on al-Zara.

An image shared on social media purported to show rebel fighters next to the bodies of two women in al-Zara.

Responding to the image, an alliance of rebel groups behind the attack said the women had been killed because they were armed and opened fire during the fighting.

It said in a statement that the way some fighters had dealt with enemy corpses as shown in the photo was against their religious values and the perpetrators would be held to account.

Hiding in the Attic

The army and its allies trying to retake the Alawite village have used air strikes and barrel bombs, and were still fighting insurgents nearby, the monitoring group said.

The Alawites are a minority sect, an offshoot of Shi`ite Islam. Assad, an Alawite, is supported by Shi`ite fighters from Iran and Lebanon`s Hezbollah in the war against mainly Sunni Muslim rebels, backed by regional Sunni Muslim powers.

At least eight of the rebels had been killed, the Observatory said. The insurgents had also captured government fighters.

Syrian state television broadcast interviews with men and children who had fled the attack. They said rebels killed women, children and elderly people, slaughtered livestock and destroyed houses as they attacked.

"I saw armed men coming into houses, they started fighting and destroying things. So I hid in the attic and waited there...," said Isa Rai, a young boy interviewed by Syrian television. "Then at night I came out when the army reached us."

A Feb. 27 cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by the United States and Russia reduced violence in western Syria for a short time. It has been reduced to tatters, however, by increased fighting in the city of Aleppo and other areas.

The village of al-Zara is about 35 km (22 miles) north of Homs and a similar distance south of Hama, an area which was among the first to be hit when Russia`s air force intervened to support Assad last September.
Washington: US Secretary of State John Kerry was to leave for Saudi Arabia on Friday to launch a week of efforts to try to end the crises in Libya and Syria.

From Jeddah, where he will meet senior Saudi leaders, Kerry will fly on Monday to Vienna where he will co-host international meetings on the two conflicts.

Then on Wednesday, he will fly on to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and talks on the full range of challenges facing the Western allies.

Kerry's spokesman John Kirby said the secretary of state and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni would jointly host the Libya crisis meeting.

Attendees will "discuss international support for the new Government of National Accord, with a focus on security," Kirby said.

Libya's new UN-backed government has been set up to unite the fractured country and fight the Islamic State group, but it is still a work in progress.

Officials say the fledgling regime is drawing up a list of requests for Western partners to assist its forces with arms, training and intelligence.

After the Libya meeting, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead a meeting of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group.

Kirby said the goal was to "ensure humanitarian access throughout the country, and to expedite a negotiated political transition in Syria."

The ISSG, under the odd couple of Kerry and Lavrov, is pushing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and a coalition of opposition groups to respect a shaky truce.

Officials hope next week's meeting will inject new life into the peace process and -- if the ceasefire holds -- secure talks on forming a unity government.

And, with Russia and France, Kerry will also co-host a meeting on the Nagorny-Karabakh conflict with the rival Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.
Geneva: A controversial EU-Turkey deal dramatically cut the number of migrant arrivals in Greece last month, data showed Friday, even as a row between Brussels and Ankara threatened to sink the agreement.

Last month 3,360 migrants and refugees landed on the Greek islands, compared with 26,971 in March -- an 88 percent drop, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The EU border agency Frontex also reported what it described as a "dramatic" slowdown, saying it had registered 2,700 arrivals in Greece last month.

The figures are the first for a full month-long period since the EU-Turkey deal came into force in March and will be seen as a key measure of its effectiveness.

"The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last year's peak months," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement.

Under the March deal, Turkey agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for incentives, including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.

The agreement is the cornerstone of the EU`s plan to curb a crisis that has seen 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants enter Europe since January 2015.But the deal was at risk of unravelling after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Thursday that Ankara would not amend its counter-terror laws -- a key condition set by Brussels for Turkey to secure visa-free travel.

With Turkey`s military battling rebels from the Kurdistan Workers` Party (PKK) in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Ankara has said that it cannot change its anti-terror legislation.

Ankara must also fulfil four other outstanding conditions including anti-corruption and data protection issues. Turkey has so far complied with 67 requirements of the deal.

Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir voiced pessimism at the prospect of smoothing the rift with Brussels.

"At this stage I would not say we are very hopeful," he told Turkish reporters in televised comments in Brussels following talks with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.The agreement had run into widespread criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and several EU member states even before it came into force.

Medical charity MSF on Friday described it as "a historic abdication" of Europe`s moral and legal responsibilities.

More than 850,000 people -- most of them fleeing conflicts in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- arrived on the Greek islands last year alone, and so far this year another 155,765 people have landed, UN refugee agency figures show.

Italy however saw nearly 154,000 arrivals last year, and more than 31,000 so far in 2016.

But the balance shifted last month, with Italy recording 9,149 arrivals -- nearly three times more than Greece, according to the IOM.

"For the first time last month there were more arrivals in Italy than in Greece," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters.

There has been speculation that the virtual closure of the route to Greece would push refugees from Syria to begin travelling through North Africa and onto Italy instead.

On Thursday, the Italian coastguard initially said some 150 Syrians were among hundreds of migrants rescued off the coast of Sicily.

But IOM spokesman Joel Millman said Friday that number appeared to have been greatly exaggerated.

When the boat that had sailed from Egypt, thought to be carrying the large group of Syrians, arrived in port "there were only two individuals who claimed to be Syrian," Millman told reporters.

Spindler said people were still being taken from a number of boats that rescued up to 1,000 people who had set off from Egypt and Libya, and that it was unclear how many Syrians were onboard.

"We cannot yet say that there is a shift in the routes from Turkey to Greece, into North Africa to Italy. It`s too early to say," he said.
Washington: Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource-rich sea.

However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday.

The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows," Earnest said, adding that this operation was undertaken in consistent with that principal.

A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres 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, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

The concerns and the tensions that exist around the South China Sea do not actually directly involve the US. The United States is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea, Earnest said.
Yangon: Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is facing criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain restrictions on free speech once wielded against it by the country`s former junta.

Since taking power in April, former political prisoner Suu Kyi`s National League for Democracy (NLD) has released scores of detainees and is making a big push to revise some of the most repressive measures from the long years of military rule.

But its new version of the law governing public demonstrations has prompted alarm since the proposals were submitted to parliament last week.

The draft bill would punish protesters for spreading "wrong" information and make straying away from pre-registered chants an offence. It bars non-citizens - a category that includes the largely stateless Muslim Rohingya minority - from protesting and lists criminal penalties for "disturbing" or "annoying" people.

The NLD says the new bill would introduce substantial changes to the military era legislation and was aimed at protecting peaceful protesters rather than penalizing them.

But worries over the proposed Peaceful Assembly Law are compounded by concerns over the government`s recent request to the U.S. ambassador to refrain from using the term "Rohingya" and Suu Kyi`s refusal to speak out in support of a community that faces continuing persecution in Myanmar.

The issue is being closely watched by Suu Kyi`s supporters in the West. The NLD faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad, but the Nobel peace prize winner`s autocratic decision-making style makes the government`s intentions hard to read.

"We are concerned that the NLD is rushing this," said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Watch based in Yangon.

"The bill should guarantee the right to protest, and there`s no reason why it should include penalties against protesters," said Mathieson.

He said there were other laws, like the penal code, that regulated potential violations by the protesters and that in its current form the bill gave the authorities latitude to crack down on peaceful demonstrators.

These concerns emerge just as the U.S. prepares its annual decision on whether to extend its sanctions on Myanmar. The newly-appointed U.S. ambassador to the country, Scot Marciel, said this week respect for human rights was an important factor.

WATERED DOWN

The draft bill does remove or water down some restrictions from existing legislation, such as the article that meant activists could be hit with multiple counts of the same charge - increasing the length of the sentences that could be meted out.

It was used last year against students taking part in an unsanctioned march on Yangon, some of whom faced more than 50 charges because offences were counted in each township - Myanmar`s smallest administrative unit - they passed through.

The draft also cuts the notice required for a demonstration to 48 hours and removes the need to get police consent.

Still, students say the changes don`t go far enough.

"I think the laws which restrict people`s right to demonstrate for what they want should not exist," said Zayar Lwin, a leader of one of Myanmar`s largest students` unions.

He said that as long as there were restrictions in the laws "it would be difficult for us to accept that."

The NLD`s upper house bill committee member Aung Thein, formerly an activist lawyer, rejected that notion.

"In the past, they had to seek prior permission at least five days in advance. Now, they have to notify the authorities only two days ahead," said Aung Thein.

There was also a time limit on taking action against the protesters, he said. "Action must be taken within 15 days after the protest. No action can be taken against them after 15 days."

But Laura Haigh, of Amnesty International, warned that, if enacted in its current form, the bill could create more prisoners of conscience.

"Swift amendment should not come at the price of ensuring full respect and protection of peaceful assembly," said Haigh.

The bill has been tabled in the upper house and lawmakers have until May 16 to submit questions. After the debate in the upper house, the bill will be passed to the lower house. The NLD has a majority in both chambers.

The NLD has put some 142 existing laws - more than a quarter of the total - under the microscope, said the chairman of the lower house bill committee Tun Tun Hein.

This revision includes the most draconian laws of the junta era, such as the Law Protecting the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements and the Emergency Provisions Act.

The two laws were the main legal instruments to crack down on dissent and put pro-democracy activists behind bars.

"I`m sure they will be revoked completely after discussion in the parliament," said the NLD`s Tun Tun Hein.
District of Columbia: US President Barack Obama warned Russia about its military build-up in northern Europe Friday as he hosted leaders from five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said at the end of the meeting.

As tensions with Moscow spike over a plethora of issues from aerial military interceptions to Ukraine, Obama looked to make common cause with Russia`s near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Earlier, Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."

Obama put Vladmir Putin`s government on notice that, while willing to deescalate tensions, the White House would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia`s actions in the Baltic Sea region -- "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."

But as Obama hosted the meeting, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.Tensions with Russia are currently at levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow`s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

In the joint statement, the group said they would only lift all sanctions on Russia once Crimea is returned to Ukrainian control.

"Russia`s illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, which we do not accept, its aggression in Donbas, and its attempts to destabilize Ukraine are inconsistent with international law and violate the established European security order," the statement read.

Russia and the West have also clashed over Moscow`s military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

And Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.

Russia has darkly warned against Sweden and Finland joining NATO, an issue that is being debated in both countries.

But the joint statement showed Russia`s strong-arm tactics may backfire by propelling them closer to the alliance.

"NATO remains key to transatlantic and European security, and the contributions of Sweden and Finland, including those they make as NATO enhanced opportunity partners, are highly valuable," it said.

Putin did not specify which actions he will take in response to the activation of the missile defense program but according to Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, likely moves to upgrade weapons in Kaliningrad would have come anyway.

"The Russians will make their displeasure known. The West should anticipate irate declarations of military countermeasures," he said.

"Categorizing its military programs as countermeasures to Western military deployments has a long tradition with the Kremlin."

NATO leaders -- including Obama -- will meet in Warsaw next month.
Sao Paulo: Several hundred Brazilians protested on Thursday against Interim President Michel Temer in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city and home turf for the former vice president to Dilma Rousseff, who was suspended from office after the Senate decided to impeach her.

Downtown Paulista Ave., the traditional bastion for what until now was the opposition to the Rousseff administration, was the scene of the protests, which began late in the afternoon after being called by unions and social movements.

Demonstrators burned the huge inflatable duck that for months has stood before the entrance to the Sao Paulo State Federation of Industries, the country's most influential trade association, which had campaigned in favour of Rousseff's impeachment and the symbol of which had become an icon for its battle to reduce taxes.

The protesters said that they will not recognise the "legitimacy" of Temer's government, adding that they will take to the streets again in the coming days, not to defend Rousseff but to protect "democracy and social rights".

The leader of the Homeless Workers Movement and coordinator of the Fearless People's Front, which encompass some 30 social entities, Guilherme Boulos, said that the Senate's decision "is very serious" because "starting today, we have an illegitimate president".

Boulos also said that "those who believe that the Senate's move will pacify the country, will have the answer on the streets" because the mobilisations will be intensified throughout the country.

In Brasilia, the capital and epicentre of the political crisis, several dozen women also protested against Temer and managed to invade the access ramp to the Planalto presidential palace during his investiture ceremony.

The demonstrators were repelled with pepper spray by police, who prevented them from approaching the entrance.

During the ceremony, Temer announced most of the members of his cabinet, which will lean to the centre-right.
Mogadishu: Somali forces on Friday killed seven Al Shabaab fighters during an operation near Wajid town that is located in southwestern region of the horn of African state.

Local officials told Xinhua the military`s onslaught against Al Shabaab was carried out by an elite unit from the police and national army.

"During the latest operation, our forces killed seven Al Shabaab militants and recovered lethal weapons. We also lost two soldiers during the combat," said Mohamed Isak, a local administrator.

The official added that the special operation was successful, and will extend to other Al Shabaab hideouts.
Washington: The officer in charge of 10 US sailors who were briefly captured by Iran in the Persian Gulf was relieved of his command, the Navy announced.

Commander Eric Rasch "was relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement yesterday, adding he has been temporarily reassigned to a new role.

The dismissal is the first time a sailor has been held publicly accountable after two US riverine patrol boats veered off course into Iranian territorial waters off Farsi Island in the Gulf.

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Tim Hawkins said other sailors have also been held accountable, but he would not say who these were because the incident remains under investigation.

"The commander of US Fifth Fleet took administrative action involving personnel assigned under his authority," Hawkins told AFP.

"Administrative action can range from verbal counselling to a formal letter of reprimand."

The Navy probe is expected to be wrapped up by the end of the month and will be released publicly soon after.

Though the sailors were held for less than 24 hours, the incident was a major embarrassment for the US Navy and President Barack Obama.

The United States carefully avoided escalating the situation, maintaining a conciliatory tone with Tehran days ahead of the implementation of a historic international deal over Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian media broadcast humiliating images of the American sailors during their detention, showing them kneeling on their boats at gunpoint with their hands on their heads.

The US military says the incident was caused by navigational and mechanical problems.
New York: The oldest person in the world, a 116-year-old woman in New York whose life spanned three centuries, has died, a research group said on Friday.

Susannah Mushatt Jones, the last surviving American born in the 19th century, died on Thursday night in a nursing home in Brooklyn, said Robert D. Young, director of the GRG Supercentenarian Research and Database Division, which tracks the world`s oldest people.

The title now goes to an Italian woman who is younger by four months. Susannah Mushatt Jones was born on July 6, 1899 in the southern US state of Alabama. She was one of 10 children in a poor family, the daughter of a cotton picker.

In 1922, Jones went to New York and worked as a nanny before moving to California in the 1940s, Young said. She returned to Alabama before finally settling back in New York. The secret to her long life?

"She liked bacon and eggs, she liked to sleep a lot, she didn`t drink and smoke, she did marry but she didn`t have any kids," Young said. Jones was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the world`s oldest person in July 2015.

In 2005, when she celebrated her 106th birthday, she told New York`s housing authority: "I surround myself with love and positive energy. That`s the key to long life and happiness."

The world`s oldest person is now Emma Morano of Verbania in northwest Italy, who was born November 29, 1899, Young said. She is the last known person in the world born in the 19th century. As of last year, she was still living alone in her two-room apartment.

Morano credited her long life to being independent, having left an abusive husband in 1938 and remaining single ever since, the New York Times reported last year. She also cited a habit of eating two raw eggs and a cooked egg every day.

The world`s longest-living person on record was Jeanne Calment of France, who died at 122 years and 164 days in 1997.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh reports Azerbaijani forces violating the ceasefire agreement by firing various caliber weapons overnight.

The ministrys announcement reads: Overnight May 12-13 the Azerbaijani side continued violating the ceasefire agreement in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact by firing various caliber weapons, 60mm, 82mm, 120mm mortars and shoulder-launched anti-tank grenade launchers.

The Armed Forces of Nagorno Karabakh exercised restraint and took countermeasures only in case of strict necessity. 
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. At least four people were killed when an explosive-laden vehicle went off in Turkeys southeastern province of Diyarbakir, according to local security sources on night of May 12, Armenpress reports citing Anadolu news agency.

The blast happened in the central Sur district's Sarikamis neighborhood, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Twenty-two others were injured and hospitalized, they said, adding two were in critical condition.

The blast also caused a huge crater, and damaged a number of vehicles and buildings nearby.

The Chief Public Prosecutor's Office said it launched an investigation into the explosion.

Earlier on May 12, eight people were injured when an explosion hit a military vehicle in Istanbul.

Governor Vasip Sahin told Anadolu Agency that five army personnel and three civilians were injured in the blast, which happened in a military zone in the Sancaktepe area of the citys Asian side. Sahin said one woman was in critical condition.

According to initial reports, a parked car was detonated by remote control as the military vehicle was passing by.

In a statement, the Turkish General Staff strongly condemned the attack.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Overnight May 12-13 Azerbaijan fired irregular shots from various caliber weapons and sniper rifles at Armenian positions, Press Service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia informed Armenpress.

The Armenian Defense Ministrys statement reads: On the night of May 12 and throughout the morning of May 13 the Azerbaijani side continued to fire irregular shots from various caliber weapons and sniper rifles at Armenian positions in the northeastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.

The Armenian Armed forces control the situation in borders and confidently carry out their tasks.

According to the information provided by the NKR Defense Army, the situation remained the same in the Karabakh-Azerbaijani line of contact overnight May 12-13. The Azerbaijani side continued violating the ceasefire agreement in the Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact by firing various caliber weapons, 60mm, 82mm, 120mm mortars and shoulder-launched anti-tank grenade launchers.

The Armed Forces of Nagorno Karabakh exercised restraint and took countermeasures only in case of strict necessity.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sarsgyan signed a decree to conduct the 2016 summer draft and demobilization.

As reported by the Presidential Administration, the decree reads:

Based on article 6 of the Military Service and Alternative Service Laws I hereby decide:
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan met the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland in Strasburg on May 12, Press Service of the Human Rights Defenders Office of Armenia informed Armenpress.

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia presented to the Secretary General the gross human rights violations committed against the civilian population of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijani aggression initiated in the beginning of April.

During the meeting the Defender has presented to Jagland specific examples of atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces. He has also transmitted to the Secretary General the published Report of NKR Human Rights Defender which analyzes those cases of atrocities.

Arman Tatoyan has underlined the devastating consequences of Azerbaijani aggressive policy of disseminating hatred and violence towards people of Armenian ethnicity which endangers the Council of Europe human rights protection system. Moreover, the Defender has noted that such policy is being encouraged at state level and is of an absolutely intolerant nature.

The sides stressed that human rights violations are unacceptable under any circumstances, human rights protection cannot be limited by politics or to the borders.

The parties to the meeting have emphasized the role of the Human Rights Defender in implementing the European standards in the country. More specifically, the importance of the Ombudsman institute in executing the European Court of Human Rights judgments has been emphasized. The parties have also discussed the issues related to prevention of domestic violence, protection of the rights of people with disabilities, as well as other issues in the field of human rights protection.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the "German Union of Armenian Academicians-1860" Azat Ordukhanyan says the Armenian community of Germany will provide financial assistance to the Nagorno Karabakh.

The Union of Academicians in cooperation with a number of Armenians living in neighboring cities of Bochum, organize a fundraising in order to assist the families of killed, wounded and disabled soldiers in Nagorno Karabakh. The department will coordinate the process of fundraising and will provide targeted assistance. Azat Ordukhanyan says they will personally give the allocated money to the families in need.

He stated that the fundraising will be transparent and regular reports will be given about the allocated money and whether it served its goal or not.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian met Chair of the Committee on European Affairs Jean Bizet in France, Press Service of the MFA of Armenia informed Armenpress.

The sides discussed the efforts aimed at overcoming the consequences of the Azerbaijani large-scale military operations and the possibilities of restarting the negotiation process.

In this regard, Edward Nalbandian emphasized the importance of Jean Bizets targeted statement on April 7, the assessment to the situation and the steps towards the settlement of the conflict. The sides highlighted the need of installation of incident investigation mechanisms.

Issues related to the Armenia-EU relations, the negotiation process over the new legal framework and the launch of the visa liberalization regime were discussed during the meeting.

The same day the Armenian Minister met the members of the Armenian Parliament's friendship group in the French Senate and the National Assembly during which several issues of the development of Armenian-French relations, the mutual cooperation between legislative bodies of the two states and the cooperation in the Parliamentary Assemblies were discussed.

The major topic of discussion was the overcoming of the consequences of the Azerbaijani aggression against the Nagorno Karabakh. Edward Nalbandian presented in detail to the French Parliamentarians the efforts of Armenia and the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs towards that direction.

Issues related to the Middle Eastern developments, fight against terrorism and migration crisis were also discussed during the meeting.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Following Azerbaijani authorities May 12 arrest of two members of the N!DA youth movement, Freedom House issued a statement, Armenpress reports, citing Freedom House official website. The statement reads:

After releasing 24 political and religious prisoners, Azerbaijani authorities seem eager to fill the empty cells with more freedom defenders, said Robert Herman, vice-president for emergency assistance programs and multilateral advocacy. None of Azerbaijans repressive laws have been repealed. Democratic countries should demand that Azerbaijan respect fundamental freedoms and permit civil society to operate freely.

Bayram Mamedov and Giyaseddin Ibragim, two members of the Azerbaijani youth movement N!DA, were detained on May 10 and charged with possession of illegal drugs. A court in Baku ordered them detained for four months. If convicted, the activists face up to 12 years in prison. Civil society activists believe the real cause for arrest was graffiti painted by unknown persons on the monument for Heydar Aliyev, the former president and father of the current president. The graffiti, saying Happy Slaves Day, appeared on the monument on May 10, Heydar Aliyevs birthday, marked by the government as a holiday.

Over the past two months, the government released from custody two dozen human rights activists and other political and religious prisoners, and let human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus leave the country. At the same time the Azerbaijani authorities began a smear campaign against the opposition Popular Front Party, opened a criminal case against 15 journalists of the independent media Meydan TV, and threatened other activists.

Azerbaijan is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2016, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2016, Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2015, and receives a democracy score of 6.86 on a scale of 1 to 7, with 7 as the worst possible score, in Nations in Transit 2016.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenia will host one of the key economic conferences in the autumn of this year. In the sidelines of this conference prominent figures in economics will visit Dilijan. Armenpress reports the conference headlines Modern issues of macroeconomics will be held on September 15-16 at Dilijan Training and Research center of the Central Bank of Armenia. Head of the center Martin Galstyan announced that this is the first time Armenia plans to receive such a large group of world famous economists.

Both representatives of academic circles and central banks of different countries are invited, he said, clarifying that among the guests there will be representatives from the IMF, Northwestern University, Central Bank of France and others.

Martin Galstyan informed that before that, on May 16, a meeting of directors of central banks and research centers will take place, which has already taken a periodic nature.
As the first-quarter earnings season draws to a close, we take note of the impressive bottom-line performances posted by many of the airline stocks. On taking a closer look at the releases, it is clear that cheap oil has notably benefitted the airlines bottom lines.

It is a well-documented fact that cheap oil has helped airline stocks cut operating expenses to a great extent. The substantial savings has thus helped the carriers boost their shareholder-friendly (dividends, buybacks) and employee friendly (profit sharing) activities.

Is Cheap Oil to Be Thanked?

The first quarter of 2016 has seen major airline companies like Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL, Southwest Airlines Co. LUV, American Airlines Group Inc. AAL, United Continental Holdings, Inc. UAL and Alaska Air Group ALK report better-than-expected earnings. Meanwhile, we can take a look at the factors that might have brought about the earnings beats in this quarter.

Oil prices have been weak for over 18 months. Given the extended period of the slump, it is quite natural analysts had already taken this major tailwind for airlines into consideration while arriving at their earnings per share estimates. With cheap oil already factored in, we believe that the reason behind the earnings beats lies elsewhere.

Despite the obvious benefit from the plummeting oil prices, the airline industry is not free from headwinds ranging from passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) woes, strengthening of the U.S. dollar and terror attacks. In view of these headwinds, the earnings per share estimates have been trimmed over the past few months. With the bar (pertaining to earnings estimates) being lowered significantly, courtesy the drastic downward revisions, it is of little surprise that most carriers have managed to beat the (highly conservative) Zacks Consensus Estimate in the first quarter.

It is also to be noted that oil prices have recovered to a great extent over the past few months. Currently, oil is hovering around the $45 a barrel mark, reflecting a significant increase from the 12-year low of $26.21 recorded in February. Thus, it is clear that low oil prices have not been the factor behind the outperformance by the airlines this quarter.

Story continues

In spite of the impressive earnings performances in the first quarter, there are a number of headwinds prevalent in the airline space. Lets take a look.

Roadblocks

The main headwind threatening stocks in the space is with respect to a key revenue metric PRASM (a measure of sales relative to capacity for a carrier). As in the past few quarters, this key metric impacted the top line of the carriers in the first quarter too. For instance, sector heavyweights such as Delta, United Continental and JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU reported lower-than-expected revenues in the quarter hurt by unit revenue woes. Lower fuel surcharges on international flights due to weak oil prices have been one of the main reasons behind the persistent decline in PRASM. Consequently, plunging oil prices have become a double-edged sword for carriers.

That PRASM will continue to hurt the stocks going forward too can be made out from the second-quarter projections for the metric. For example, United Continental expects consolidated PRASM to decline in the band of 6.5% to 8.5% for the second quarter while American Airlines forecasts a 6% to 8% drop in the metric. Capacity-related issues have also been an adverse factor.

Moreover, airline stocks have been hurt by the frequent terror attacks which have affected demand to a great extent. The Brussels attacks (in Mar 2016) impacted Deltas top line in the first quarter while the Paris assault had impacted Air France-KLM SAs AFLYY revenues last year. Furthermore, outbreaks of diseases like the Zika virus and disputes similar to the ongoing one between legacy U.S. carriers and their Gulf counterparts pose challenges to the stocks in the airline space.

To Wrap Up

The above write-up clearly suggests that despite the series of earnings beats in the first quarter, the airline space is not free from challenges. We note that despite posting an earnings beat in the first quarter on Apr 26, shares of JetBlue Airways were hurt by the 8% decline in PRASM to 11.35 cents and 7% fall in operating revenue per available seat mile to 12.41 cents. Moreover, the fact that the NYSE ARCA Airline index has declined above 6% over the past month further substantiates the fact that the series of earnings beats in the airline space have failed to cheer investors.

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As Australian banks tighten lending conditions for foreign property investors, talk turns to what this really means for the Aussie property market and its local buyers. And it's not as clear cut as you would expect.



The changes made by the big four banks  ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac  are part of a broader scrutiny of foreign buying of Australian homes, which contributed to the 55 per cent jump in home prices across the nations capital cities in the past seven years.

Also read: Australian banks are clamping down on foreign buying of homes

At the same time, Chinese banks have made it more difficult to move money out of the country to purchase property.

There is little doubt that foreign investment has buoyed certain segments of the Aussie property market, particularly the new and off the plan properties in the CBDs of Melbourne, Brisbane and to a lesser extent Sydney.

Some offshore buyers have put down 20 per cent deposit on these types of investments, others a little more hoping to obtain funding for the balance of their purchase on completion of the project.

Unfortunately many of these investors will be disappointed as most local banks will now no longer lend them funds to complete their purchase, while other investors will find the value of their properties on completion will be significantly less than the contract price, Michael Yardney, director of Metropole Property Strategists explained.

This means they will have to come up with more funds as banks will only lend on valuations, not on contract prices.

This will be exacerbated by the fact that some investors will have to offload their properties at any price they can get achieve and this will devalue the other properties in their complex, Yardney told Yahoo7 Finance.

Some will hope to walk away from their contracts and lose their deposit, but developers will have the right to on sell the units and sue the defaulting purchaser at for their loss.

Story continues

Also read: Why the rich Chinese are flocking to Australias Gold Coast

Oversupply ahead

Coupled with the fact there is a current looming oversupply of inner-city apartments, times look tough for off-the-plan housing projects.

Yardney expects that the decline in foreign buyer activity is likely true cause a significant downturn in the off the plan sub segment of our capital city property markets.

Cameron Kusher senior research analyst at Corelogic RP Data agreed, pointing out that most large apartment projects that are locally funded need at least half  often closer to 70 per cent  of units sold before construction can begin.

Fewer foreign buyers may see some projects unable to go ahead however, that wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing given we already have a record-high pipeline of apartment projects and are increasingly seeing a disparity between the growth in house and unit values (particularly in Melbourne and Brisbane), he told Yahoo7 Finance.

Opportunity boon

As for what all this means for local Aussies looking to buy a new home, the verdict is unclear.

Kusher said that if these changes lead to a slowing of overseas demand, it could be a boon for first-time homebuyers.

First home buyers have struggled to compete with domestic investors and overseas buyers over recent year, he said.

Also read: Top 10 countries for Chinese investors

Lenders have already tightened lending criteria for local investors and if there was to be a slowing of foreign investment it could pave the way for some additional first home buyers to enter the market.

But Yardney isnt as convinced.

Falling prices of the new and off-the-plan properties are unlikely to be of great benefit to Australian first home buyers who are currently having difficulty with affordability, as in general most of these dwellings are not the size or style that would suit first home buyers, he said.

Many are poorly finished, in large monolith high-rise blocks with little scarcity and poor amenitys.
German carmaker Opel denies it used the same emissions-cheating software that is at the centre of the VW scandal

German carmaker Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, found itself in the spotlight Friday, with the transport ministry demanding explanations over media reports alleging irregularities in the emissions values of some of its cars.

According to both the weekly magazine Der Spiegel and the investigative news programme Monitor on ARD public television, tests on a number of Opel's diesel models had uncovered "hitherto unknown devices" that deactivate filtration systems in the engines of two of the best-selling models, Astra and Zafira.

That meant that the models' emissions systematically exceeded norms.

In response to the revelations, a special committee set up after the massive engine-rigging scandal that has engulfed Volkswagen, "has invited" Opel to offer an an explanation, a spokesman for the transport ministry said.

Opel issued a statement denying it used the same emissions-cheating software that is at the centre of the VW scandal.

"Our software was never programmed to deceive or defraud," insisted the carmaker, which is just emerging out of long years of crisis.

"Emission control systems are highly complex integrated systems," Opel said.

"The various parameters such as engine speed, load, temperature and altitude play an essential role and are interrelated. Such a complex system can not be broken down into individual parameters. Interactions must be understood holistically, in combination with the prevailing conditions and the various areas of the control system," it said.

The government committee, which has in recent months analysed all diesel models similar to those involved in the VW scandal, has concluded that no similar fraud has taken place.

Nevertheless, in a certain number of vehicles, the emission control systems were systematically de-activated when the outside temperature dropped below a certain level.

This is only allowed under European rules to prevent possible accidents or damage to the engine.

In April, German makers, Audi, Mercedes, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen, decided to voluntarily recall around 630,000 cars in Europe to remedy this problem.

According to Der Spiegel and Monitor, the Astra's emission control systems were only programmed to function at outside temperatures above 17 degrees Celsius, effectively meaning they did not function for a large part of the year.

VW was plunged into its deepest-ever crisis last September when it emerged that it had installed emissions-cheating software, known as defeat devices, into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.
Britain will hold an in-out referendum on EU membership on June 23

IMF boss Christine Lagarde waded into Britain's EU referendum battle on Friday, warning that quitting the European Union would be "pretty bad to very, very bad" for the UK economy.

The International Monetary Fund's managing director issued a bleak outlook for Britain if it votes to leave the EU on June 23.

Lagarde, unveiling the global lender's latest health check on the British economy, said a so-called Brexit could push the country into recession, echoing comments from Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney.

The latest warning comes as Prime Minister David Cameron campaigns fervently to keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc.

With six weeks to go to the referendum, the Remain and Leave camps are neck-and-neck at 50 percent each, according to the What UK Thinks website's average of the last six opinion polls.

Quitting the EU would result in a "protracted period of heightened uncertainty" for Britain, with a likely hit to output and "sizeable" long-term losses in income, according to the IMF's report out Friday.

Global market reaction to a Leave vote is likely to be "negative and could be severe", it added.

- 'Forecasts all negative' -

Presenting the report at the Treasury in central London, Lagarde said IMF experts had looked at a wide range of forecasts and scenario plans and done their own calculations.

"Frankly, in the very vast majority of what we have seen, we haven't seen anything that is positive -- it's always been on the negative side," she said.

"Depending on what hypotheticals you take, it's going to be pretty bad to very, very bad," she said on the impact of Brexit on the British economy.

She said GDP could be between 1.5 percent and 9.5 percent down on what it might otherwise be if Britain were to stay in the EU.

Leave supporters, which hit out against Carney for his and the BoE's stance on Thursday, also criticised the IMF's intervention.

"IMF has talked down the UK's economy before and has been wrong in past forecasts about the UK and other countries," read a tweet from the official Leave campaign.

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Lagarde told reporters that the IMF's findings were not politically-motivated.

"We're not doing it out of politics -- this is not the job of the IMF.

"We are doing it because it's a significant downside risk, number one. Second, it's not just a domestic issue... it's an international issue."

- Economy may rebound -

The IMF meanwhile forecast the British economy would rebound in the second half of this year if the country stays in the EU.

"Assuming that... the UK voters choose to remain... we will expect growth to rebound," Lagarde said.

The report was published one day after Carney warned that Brexit could prompt a technical recession, or two straight quarters of economic contraction.

Questioned about Carney's comments, Lagarde told reporters: "A technical recession is one of the probabilities in the downside scenario in case of a Leave vote."

British finance minister George Osborne, who spoke briefly alongside Lagarde, welcomed the IMF report.

"The IMF are very clear today -- the hit to growth we could expect from a vote to leave would cost our public finances more than the amount we would gain from no longer contributing to the EU budget," he said.

"Put simply, the IMF says a vote to leave costs us money. If we vote to leave, British families will be poorer and Britain will be poorer."

The Washington-based IMF will publish its final pre-referendum report on the British economy around one week before the vote.

On a visit to London last month, US President Barack Obama said Britain being in the EU magnified its global influence, and outside the bloc it would go to the "back of the queue" when it came to signing trade deals.

And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned earlier this month that Britain would become "less attractive" for Japanese investment outside the EU.
The White House would like the visit to Vietnam by President Barack Obama to turn a page on the murderous 19-year war that defined both nations and killed untold thousands

The White House is considering lifting a decades-old arms embargo against Vietnam in time for President Barack Obama's visit to the booming Southeast Asian nation this month.

As both countries warily eye China's military build-up in the disputed South China Sea, officials said Obama is weighing an end to the Cold War-era ban on lethal weapons exports.

Obama begins his first visit to Vietnam on May 21, some 41 years after the North Vietnamese army and its Viet Cong allies marched into Saigon, humiliating the world's preeminent superpower.

Now the former foes -- who fought a murderous 19-year war that defined both nations and killed untold thousands -- are putting ideology aside and gradually building deeper trade, military and political ties.

Washington and Hanoi have been pushed together by Vietnam's increasingly vibrant 80-million-people-strong economy, Obama's "pivot to Asia" and a mutual desire to limit China's regional clout.

Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has taken a more assertive stance on territorial claims in the South China Sea -- deploying materiel to the disputed Spratly Islands.

Recent military reforms announced by Xi dramatically increased navy spending.

With that, some inside the Obama administration argue that the time has come for the United States to help bolster Vietnam with the sale of advanced military equipment.

"It is a relatively easy argument for those who favor lifting the ban," said Christian Lewis of the Eurasia Group, a consultancy.

"The benefits of deepening strategic ties to Vietnam and simultaneously containing China exceed the perceived downside of supplying Vietnam military hardware," he added.

If the ban is lifted, most observers expect sales to start small -- in part to assuage concerns about human rights, and in part not to spook China too much.

Recent preparatory visits by US-based arms contractors to Vietnam focused on the sale of less controversial maritime surveillance and patrol hardware.

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But in the medium term, the embargo would open the way for sales across the board.

"This is going to be a long term thing, but it has strategic importance because of the psychological shift," said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security.

Vietnamese military spending has increased dramatically in the last decade, by 130 percent since 2005, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

China and Vietnam share a checkered history of border disputes, invasions and conflict and anti-Chinese sentiment has helped frame Vietnamese national identity.

During the Cold War, Vietnam was closer to the Soviet Union than it was to its behemoth neighbor to the north.

Much of Vietnam's arsenal today is made up of aging Russia-built equipment.

But some in the US Congress still oppose lifting the arms embargo, voicing concern that weapons could be used to trample human rights.

Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains a white knuckle grip political power and its cadres' economic interests.

Obama is expected to meet the country's de facto leader, party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong when he visits Hanoi, as well as Tran Dai Quang -- the former head of Vietnam's controversial domestic security force who became president after an April party Congress.

But the end of the ban seems likely. Senator John McCain, one of an estimated seven million American Vietnam War veterans, has publicly stated his support for sending arms.

- New era -

The White House would like the visit to turn a page on the war, focusing on a pending trans-Pacific trade deal and on changing American attitudes about Vietnam and Vietnamese attitudes about America.

"Vietnam has a dynamic economy and they have a rapidly growing middle class," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

But there are still doubts about how that TPP trade deal would be implemented, in a country where whole sectors are run like fiefdoms of senior party officials and competition is intra-party.

Vietnam is "a country that is trying to decide exactly how it's going to orient its economy in the decades ahead," Earnest acknowledged.

Still, Western diplomats spot an opportunity in Vietnam's eagerness to diversify trade partners outside China.

"We are looking at potentially transformative growth over the next decade, simply because footwear and garment manufacturers are going to be able to export to the United States," said Lewis.
Security researcher Matt Blaze noticed this vehicle in Philadelphia. It had a large Google Streetview sticker on the window, but Matt noticed a Philadelphia Office of Fleet Management placard on the windshield. He took a photo of the vehicle and tweeted it, along with the comment, "WTF? Pennsylvania State Police license plate reader SUV camouflaged as Google Street View vehicle."

The PA State Police read Matt's tweet and replied via Twitter, "Matt, this is not a PSP vehicle. If this is LPR [license plate reader] technology, other agencies and companies might make use of it."

So, who is driving around in a vehicle disguised as both a Google Streetview car and is equipped with a license plate reader? Motherboard asked the office of Fleet Management, and got some more information:

A placard on the dashboard indicates that the SUV is registered with the Philadelphia Office of Fleet Management, which maintains city government's 6,316 vehicles, indicating that the vehicle is being used by a local agency. Christopher Cocci, who serves as the city's fleet manager, and whose signature is on the document, says that the vehicle does not belong to the Pennsylvania State Police, which is known to use automated license plate recognition (ALPR), or the Philadelphia Parking Authority, a local agency that also utilizes ALPR. So whose surveillance truck is it? "All city vehicles such as police, fire, streets etc.are registered to the city. Quasi [public] agencies like PPA, Housing Authority, PGW and School District are registered to their respective agencies," fleet manager Christopher Cocci wrote in an email to Motherboard after reviewing photos of the vehicle. He also believes it to be connected to law enforcement activity.

Motherboard concludes that it is probably the city's police department, not the state's. They've reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department but have not heard back from them.
Faster, cheaper internet services may soon be here thanks to CRTC rule enforcement (Thinkstock)

Faster, cheaper internet services may soon be here thanks to CRTC rule enforcement (Thinkstock)

Digital rights advocacy group OpenMedia says a CRTC ruling forcing major internet service providers to sell access to their high-speed infrastructure will help Canadians get online faster and cheaper.

On Wednesday, the Liberal government rejected an appeal from Bell Canada to overrule the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissions decision from last July that required it and other telecom giants to make their advanced facilities available to independent internet service providers at wholesale prices.

Josh Tabish, campaigns director for the Vancouver-based OpenMedia, said the decision spells good news for Canadian consumers.

It definitely means that faster, cheaper internet services will coming to Canadians very soon, Tabish told Yahoo Finance Canada.

ALSO READ: Bell to abide by federal ruling on high-speed Internet infrastructure

Tabish said that prices for fibre-optic internet in Canada are currently extremely high. He also pointed to 2015 data from the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development, which indicates that only 5.32 per cent of Canadian internet subscriptions are fibre-to-the-home or fibre-to-the-building. Meanwhile, the U.S. is at 9.4 per cent and Japan leads the way with 72.6 per cent.

Upgrading to fibre-optic networks has become vital for telephone companies, as traditional DSL, which relies on ordinary copper lines, can deliver internet speeds in the range of 25 megabits per second to 50 Mbps in areas where fibre-optic cable reaches the neighbourhood.

It has also become increasingly important as internet traffic increases across the board.

Bell has spent $2.5 billion building fibre-to-the-home networks since 2010, according to its petition to the government and plans to spend an additional $1 billion this year.

Its cheapest fibre-to-the-home offering currently costs about $90 a month and delivers speeds of 150 Mbps.

The telecoms top-of-line fibre-to-the-home service, which offers download speeds of 940 Mbps, runs for about $150.

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Independent internet services providers currently rely on major telecoms to sell them wholesale access to their networks, which they in turn offer to consumers.

But none of these small competitors  such as TekSaavy, VMedia and Start.ca  have been able to get access to high-speed networks because they dont want to play ball Tabish said.

They know that a $1 made off wholesale is a lot easier than a $1 made off retail, but theyre not interested in that  theyre interested in control, he said.

They want complete control of that platform.

ALSO READ: Cheap internet, television help VMedia challenge Canadas big three telecom giants

Tabish added that Bell, which he said has historically operated a regulated monopoly of Canadas telephone services, has control in their DNA.

But Tabish said the CRTCs new rules will release Canadas high-speed networks from the clutches its Big Five telcos  who accounted for 62 per cent of the industrys revenues in 2013, according to the CRTC  and will set off a race for customers.

He said competition for internet services in Canada is widely recognized as a joke and that the major ISPs dont compete in any meaningful sense.

This results in what he said are uniform prices and offers.

But this is going along in helping address and really light a fire under the providers to get us there and get Canadians internet access that's on par with our international counterparts, because right now were falling badly behind, he said.

Once the wholesale rates are set and the small providers can start selling, were going to see prices shoot down and see all providers more motivated to get customers.

When asked to comment the rejection of its appeal and how the CRTC ruling will affect consumers, a spokeswoman for Bell said the company will "abide by the rules and move forward.

Tabish said Canadians need internet access on par with what is offered in Sandy, Ore., and Chattanooga, Tenn., which both have fibre-optic networks throughout the city.

Sandy offers a plan with download and upload speeds of 1 Gigabit per second, no contract or data caps, for US$59.95 a month.

Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa professor who specializes in internet and E-commerce law, echoed Tabishs statements, saying consumers should see long-term benefits of more competition and better choice for high-speed internet services.

Im very supportive of the governments decision. I think the CRTC ruling will create a more competitive marketplace for internet access, he said in an email.

It is good to see that the government recognized the importance of adopting a pro-consumer, pro-competitive approach to telecom policy. It wont happen overnight, but affirming the policy is an important step forward.

The CRTC told The Canadian Press on Wednesday that it will base the wholesale prices for access to high-speed infrastructure partly on costs studies provided by the major telecoms.

Tabish said it is expected that they will be revealed within the next 10 to 12 months.
In the midst of the Fort McMurray wildfires, hotels and lodgings in neighbouring communities stepped up, slashing prices and providing refuge for the displaced.

But as the fires work their way eastward, leaving behind charred homes and business with damages in the realm of $9 billion  making it one of the costliest natural disasters in Canadas history  the hospitality sector faces a long battle.

Natural catastrophes like the tragic forest fire in and around Fort McMurray [have] an interesting effect on the lodging needs: in the short term there is a sudden increased demand for lodging in neighbouring cities as a result of the massive involuntary relocation and the closure of a town, Dr. Gabor Forgacs, an associate professor at Ryerson Universitys Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management told Yahoo Canada Finance. Lodging room nights that were booked into the town must be relocated elsewhere as well.

But in the long term, effects could be costly, says Forgacs.

Certain lodging capacity might have been taken out of inventory for getting damaged and needs to be either repaired or rebuilt, which will take time as well, says Forgacs. That will result in the loss of thousand of room nights in the given market.

One of the first businesses to be consumed by the blaze, a Fort McMurray Super 8 in the Beacon Hill neighbourhood, was destroyed on live television with its owner helplessly watching from Calgary.

ALSO WATCH: Raw: Fort McMurray hotel burns, aftermath of fire



The first real evidence we had of it  was when the reporter was literally standing in front of the Super 8 reporting live  as the Super 8 was burning, owner Eric Watson told The Calgary Herald.

The 140-room hotel was built in 1999 and recently underwent $3 million in renovations. It employed close to 30 people and according to Watson was the busiest Super 8 in the world during the height of Albertas economic boom a few years ago.

But as horrific as the fire has been for the citys residents, to the hospitality sector, it is yet another gut-punch in an already struggling industry.

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The commercial lodging industry has been negatively impacted in Alberta as a result of the troubles of the oil and gas industry, explains Forgacs. Any time a key economic sector of a given province is scaling back and is slowing down or shelving projects it translates into less business travel and less needs for accommodation.

In a conversation with the Edmonton Journal, Terry Hartz, vice president of operations at Edmonton-based Sawridge Group, which operates a hotel in the city, estimated the hotel industry there has seen business contract by 50 per cent compared to two years ago.

Richard Wong, executive vice-president at Nova Hotels, which has the closest hotel to Fort McMurray International Airport, corroborates Hartz estimations telling Fort McMurray Today that occupancy rates have dropped between 40 and 50 per cent.

But its not just the industrial areas where hoteliers were hard hit by the economic retreat. In October, revenue for available room across Alberta fell 23 per cent, owing to a drop-off in corporate travel.

But is it the end for the hospitality industry in Fort McMurray? Likely not. As Watson pointed out the Calgary Herald, as long as theres an oilpatch, workers are going to need a place to stay. Their only option, it seems, is to rebuild.

Its just a question of how long that takes, says Forgacs.

In the long term in might take months until normalcy returns and Fort McMurray will be open for business again, he adds.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Apple dropped below $90 on Thursday for the first time since 2014 as Wall Street worried about slow demand ahead of the anticipated launch of a new iPhone later this year. A mainstay of many Wall Street portfolios, Apple fell to as low as $89.47 before recovering slightly to $90.13, a 2.55 percent loss. Component suppliers in Taiwan will receive fewer orders from Apple in the second half of 2016 than in the same period last year, the Nikkei Asia Review reported on Thursday, citing sources. Apple typically launches its high-end phones in September. "People are getting negative data points about component orders and production forecasts, and the features on the new iPhone do not seem to be a big change from the 6S," said Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang. At its session low, Apple briefly relinquished its position as the world's largest company by market capitalization to Alphabet Inc. At current prices, Apple's market value is about $494 billion, while Alphabet's is also about $494 billion. In the past year, Apple's market capitalization has fallen by more than $200 billion - roughly the size of Verizon Communications or Wal-Mart Stores. Suppliers of iPhone components also fell, with Skyworks Solutions off 4.8 percent, Broadcom down 2.46 percent and Qorvo declining 1.9 percent. Confidence in Cupertino, California-based Apple was shaken after it posted its first-ever quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years in April. Wall Street is worried about demand for Apple's next iPhone. Faced with lackluster sales of smartphones in the United States, Apple has bet on China as a major new growth engine. But progress there has been disappointing. Revenue from China slumped 26 percent during the March quarter. Apple faces increasing competition from Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi and Huawei selling phones priced below $200, Rosenblatt's Zhang said. Last week, Dialog Semiconductor, which sells chips used in iPhones and other smartphones, cut its revenue outlook due to ongoing softness in the smartphone market. The recent sell-off has left Apple trading at about 10 times its expected 12-month earnings, cheap compared with its average of 17.5 over the past 10 years. It also has a dividend yield of about 2.46 percent. "The market is saturated and they have no massive growth drivers outside of the iPhone," said Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves, who still recommends buying the stock. "Generally speaking, I just think it's a little too cheap." (This story corrects paragraph 6 to show market cap of Alphabet was about $494 bln, not $457 bln) (Reporting by Noel Randewich, additional reporting by Savio D'Souza and Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Linda Stern and Dan Grebler)
By Tatiana Bautzer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA has entered exclusive talks with Brookfield Asset Management Inc over the sale of natural gas pipeline unit Nova Transportadora do Sudeste SA, as part of a plan to dispose of $15 billion of non-essential assets by year-end. In a Thursday securities filing, Petrobras , as Brazil's state oil producer is known, set an exclusivity period for negotiations initially at 60 days that could be extended for another 30 days. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing sources, that Brookfield had offered 18 billion reais ($5.2 billion) to buy NTS, as the unit is known, trumping rival bids. According to the sources, who requested anonymity to speak freely about the deal, other bidders included Spain's Gas Natural Fenosa SA, France's Engie SA and Japan's Mitsui & Co Ltd <8031.T>. A sale of NTS could give a boost to Petrobras, which is relying on asset sales and cost cuts to reduce a debt burden of $130 billion - the largest of any global oil firm. So far this year, Petrobras has sold $1.4 billion in assets, with ratings company Moody's Investors Service saying the slow pace of divestitures could hamper debt-reduction efforts. According to the filing, a sale of NTS requires approval by Petrobras management and board, as well as from regulators. Brookfield's purchase of NTS, with nearly 1,560 miles (2,500 km) of pipelines, could be the country's biggest corporate takeover so far this year, according to Thomson Reuters data. Non-voting shares of Petrobras closed 4.5 percent down on Thursday at 9.79 reais. The stock is down 25 percent this year. The company posted a net loss of 1.25 billion reais in the first quarter, the third consecutive quarterly loss, after oil prices and production slipped and a weaker currency fanned debt costs. (Additional reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Sao Paulo; Editing by Sandra Maler and Tom Brown)
If their $25 basic TV packages fail to meet CRTC expectations, cable companies could face trouble as they try to renew their broadcast licences.

Canada's broadcast regulator recently demanded detailed reports on providers' new basic TV packages as part of their licence renewal process, CBC News has learned.

Within weeks, the commission will make those reports public. And Canadians will then be invited to wade in and tell the CRTC what they think.

"We'll take all those comments into consideration as we come up with a decision to renew [TV providers'] licences," said CRTC spokesman Eric Rancourt.

He added the CRTC could impose conditions on companies not offering the type of TV deals mandated by the commission.

CRTC investigates

The CRTC has received hundreds of complaints about the $25 basic TV packages being offered.

One big customer beef is that when extra fees are added, the deals can become pricey.

Although it has now demanded details from the cable companies, the CRTC says it's not yet passing judgment.

"It's premature to say at this point whether or not we're concerned," Rancourt said.

"Once we have the facts in front of us and once we've given the public an opportunity to comment, then we'll be in a better position to assess that."

The CRTC asked cable companies about extra costs such as mandatory equipment fees, pricing for added pick-and-pay channels, plus how the basic package compares to other TV deals they offer.

The commission also requested a precise tally of how many customers signed up for the packages and the number of complaints companies have received about them.

Why the CRTC wants answers

The commission introduced regulations last year that required service providers offer a "skinny" basic TV package for $25 or less by March 1. They also had to let customers top up the plan with individual pick-and-pay or small channel bundles.

The CRTC had billed the new deals as a way to "maximize choice and affordability for Canadian TV viewers."

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But many Canadians who were hoping to sign up for the packages have since reported they feel let down.

Some have found that once extra fees or channels are tacked on, an "affordable" basic package can become more costly than their current, larger TV package.

That's because the new basic plans rarely come with any of the deals typically offered, such as discounts for added equipment.

So customers get stuck paying full price for extra necessities like a digital TV box and installation costs.

Bell's pricey basic package

For example, customers purchasing Bell Canada's basic Fibe Starter pack also have to shell out for the telecom's internet service plus PVR rental.

A Bell customer service representative pricing the option said a Fibe Starter pack plus unlimited internet and PVR would total $119.90 a month.

It's a far cry from the original $24.95 price tag for Bell's basic TV plan.

"All Bell's TV packages meet all CRTC requirements," spokesman Jason Laszlo told CBC News.

Customers have also complained that added pick-and-pay channels and theme-pack prices are too high.

For example, Rogers only offers added small-channel packages at this point, which can run as high as $18 each.

"It is still a ripoff," commented one reader to CBC News shortly after providers started offering the new deals.

"Thanks for nothing CRTC," wrote another.

Industry analysts have speculated that some TV providers purposely made the basic deals unattractive so customers wouldn't pare down their more lucrative TV plans.

"They're putting every obstacle they can into people's way," said Bruce Cran with the Consumers' Association of Canada.

He claims his association, like the CRTC, has been flooded with hundreds of complaints about the $25 TV packages.

He adds that they're still pouring in and complaints now include people who got the basic package and are unhappy with it.

"Some people who got the skinny package want to go back," Cran said.

He added that his association has tried repeatedly to meet with the CRTC to address the complaints but has been shut out.

The commission told CBC News it can't discuss an ongoing matter with any group.

"Because of the way our process is structured, it would be inappropriate," the CRTC's Rancour said.

But that position has now been reversed, according to Cran.

Will it all matter?

Late yesterday he said the CRTC finally agreed to meet with his association this coming Monday.

There are no guarantees the CRTC's demand for cable companies to hand over information and the invitation for public input will lead to change.

But what is clear is that the $25 basic TV offerings have struck a nerve and the CRTC feels pressure to do something about it.
(Reuters) - SWIFT has told its bank customers that they are responsible for securing computers used to send messages over its global network, which was used to steal some $81 million from a Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Fed in February. The theft marked one of the biggest-ever cyber heists. SWIFT is not, and cannot, be responsible for your decision to select, implement (and maintain) firewalls, nor the proper segregation of your internal networks," the bank-owned cooperative said in a letter to users dated May 3 that advised them to review security protocols. "As a SWIFT user you are responsible for the security of your own systems interfacing with the SWIFT network and your related environments," the letter said. "We urge you to take all precautions." Reuters reviewed the contents of the letter on Wednesday. A person familiar with its contents said it was the first time SWIFT had sent such a letter since the Brussels-based group was founded in 1973. The letter's details first were reported this week by financial news sites The Banker and Payments Cards and Mobile. Former SWIFT staffers say the group has always told clients they are responsible for securing their points of access to the SWIFT system. They added that SWIFT does not guarantee that criminals will not gain access to clients SWIFT keys, encryption devices that are used to identify legitimate users. A SWIFT spokeswoman told Reuters on Wednesday that SWIFT registers and authenticates its customers, issuing them encryption tools including digital signatures, and provides them with public key infrastructure (PKI) certificates that identify authorized users of the network. Customers are responsible for all messages signed with their certificates and, of course, for protecting their certificates and ensuring only duly authorized operators can use them to sign messages," she said. "SWIFT is not, and cannot be, responsible for messages that are created fraudulently within customer firms. The funds stolen in the February attack had been held for Bangladesh Bank at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before fraudulent orders arrived requesting a transfer to Bangladesh. A New York Fed official said each central bank that holds an account at the U.S. central bank has agreed that the New York Fed can rely on the SWIFT messaging protocols to verify the account owner has sent requests for payments. This agreement, the official said, is binding under U.S. payments law for authorized and verified payment orders. The rapid fulfillment of payment instructions received via SWIFT messages with valid credentials, is the central purpose of the system, former SWIFT employees and payments industry experts said. This appears to be Feds legal basis for its claim that it did nothing wrong, and it could figure into any lawsuit brought by Bangladesh Bank to reclaim funds. The New York Fed official told Reuters there were legal incentives for banks to use authentication protocols like SWIFT, and for customers "to safeguard confidential information pertaining to authentication procedures and access to transmitting facilities. SWIFT representatives met on Tuesday in Basel, Switzerland, with Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley and Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir to discuss the heist. The three groups issued a joint statement promising to cooperate to cooperate to recover the stolen funds, following weeks of accusations over who is to blame. It was their first face-to-face encounter since the cyber attack left the three blaming each other over the incident. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in New York. Additional reporting by Jonathan Spicer in New York, Tom Bergin in London; Editing by Tom Brown)
Almost 3,500 new Subaru cars in Canada are being recalled over a potential steering issue that has prompted the company to tell U.S. owners not to drive the vehicles until they are inspected.

The recall affects 2016 Subaru Legacy and Outback models.

"On certain vehicles, steering column components may not have been manufactured to specification and therefore may not engage correctly, which could result in a loss of steering control and increasing the risk of a crash causing injury and/or damage to property," Transport Canada said in a recall notice on its website.

Transport Canada said dealers will inspect, and if necessary, replace the steering column.

In the U.S., the company is recalling about 48,500 of the vehicles from the 2016 and 2017 model years, and it has told dealers to stop selling them until they are fixed. About 22,000 of the recalled U.S. vehicles have already been sold, and the rest are still on dealer lots.

Documents posted online Friday by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told owners not to drive their vehicles if they are part of the recall. Owners are being told to have their cars towed to a Subaru dealership.

The U.S. documents say the problem was discovered May 3 when the owner of a 2016 Outback reported trouble. Subaru says there have been no crashes or injuries.
Vernon Madison, one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates, pictured in this handout photo, to is set to be executed at William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama, United States on May 12, 2016 even as the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a review into whether the state's current sentencing scheme is constitutional. Courtesy Alabama Department of Corrections/Handout via REUTERS (Reuters)

By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court put on hold Thursday's scheduled execution of a 65-year-old man convicted of murdering a police officer in 1985, ordering a review into his mental competency after his lawyers said he suffers from dementia due to a series of strokes.

Vernon Madison, one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The stay of execution issued by Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put off what would have been the 15th execution in the United States this year and the second in Alabama.

His lawyers said that as a result of multiple strokes over the past year and other serious medical conditions, Madison suffers from a condition called vascular dementia that has left him unable to understand why Alabama is seeking to execute him.

"Mr. Madison now speaks in (a) slurred manner, is legally blind, and can no longer walk independently as a consequence of damage to his brain," they said in a statement.

"It is unconstitutional to execute an individual who is mentally incompetent," they added.

A federal court had earlier rejected the argument that Madison was not mentally competent to be executed. The appellate court said it will hear arguments in the case on June 23.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the stay.

Madison was convicted in the fatal shooting of police officer Julius Schulte in Mobile, Alabama. He shot the officer, who was responding to a domestic call, in the head with a .32 caliber pistol, court records showed.

He faced three trials. Madison's convictions in the first two were overturned on appeal. In the third trial, he was convicted and the jury, in an 8-4 vote, recommended life in prison. The judge overrode the jurors and sentenced Madison to death.

Story continues

State officials had wanted to proceed with the execution despite a May 2 U.S. Supreme Court order directing the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider the state's death sentencing law in light of a Jan. 12 high court ruling striking down a similar statute in Florida.

The Supreme Court found that Florida's law had given judges powers that juries should wield in determining a defendant's eligibility for execution, violating the right to an impartial jury guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment.

On Thursday, his lawyers also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay of execution.

(Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Writing by Letitia Stein; Editing by Will Dunham)
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)
By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Oil companies operating in Nigeria should evacuate staff from the southern Niger Delta following several attacks on oil facilities, a senior oil workers' union official said on Tuesday. The attacks have pushed Nigeria's crude output near to a 22-year low, sparking worries that militants might resume a full-scale insurgency in the Delta, a region where many complain of poverty despite sitting on much of the country's energy wealth. 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 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal. "Best thing for any reasonable company to do is evacuate its workforce," Cogent Ojobor, chairman of the Warri branch of the Nupeng oil labour union, told Reuters. Chika Onuegbu, chairman of the Trade Union in Rivers state in the Delta, said Chevron had evacuated some staff from the Delta following a similar move by Shell. "There is high alert around various installation around the Niger Delta due to recent attacks," Onuegbu said. "Those evacuated are where their platforms have been attacked but others are working." Ikeja Electricity, Nigeria's biggest power firm, said it expected outages after the attack on Chevron hit gas supplies needed to generate electricity. "Consequently, with this recent attack, the supply line is likely to drop further, leading to extended periods of outages across our network and other parts of the country," the company said in a full-page newspaper statement. Residents in the impoverished Delta have long demanded a greater share of oil revenues. Crude oil sales account for about 70 percent of national income in Nigeria but there has been little development in the region. President Muhammadu Buhari has extended a multimillion-dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 to end their campaign to blow up pipelines, but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. The militancy is a further challenge for a government faced with an insurgency by the Islamist militant Boko Haram group in the northeast and violent clashes between armed nomadic herdsmen and locals over land use in various parts of the country. (Writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by David Clarke)
By Maria Tsvetkova NOVOSASITLI, Russia (Reuters) - Four years ago, Saadu Sharapudinov was a wanted man in Russia. A member of an outlawed Islamist group, he was hiding in the forests of the North Caucasus, dodging patrols by paramilitary police and plotting a holy war against Moscow. Then his fortunes took a dramatic turn. Sharapudinov, 38, told Reuters that in December 2012 Russian intelligence officers presented him with an unexpected offer. If he agreed to leave Russia, the authorities would not arrest him. In fact, they would facilitate his departure. "I was in hiding, I was part of an illegal armed group, I was armed," said Sharapudinov during an interview in a country outside Russia. Yet he says the authorities cut him a deal. "They said: 'We want you to leave.'" Sharapudinov agreed to go. A few months later, he was given a new passport in a new name, and a one-way plane ticket to Istanbul. Shortly after arriving in Turkey, he crossed into Syria and joined an Islamist group that would later pledge allegiance to radical Sunni group Islamic State. Reuters has identified five other Russian radicals who, relatives and local officials say, also left Russia with direct or indirect help from the authorities and ended up in Syria. The departures followed a pattern, said Sharapudinov, relatives of the Islamists and former and acting officials: Moscow wanted to eradicate the risk of domestic terror attacks, so intelligence and police officials turned a blind eye to Islamic militants leaving the country. Some sources say officials even encouraged militants to leave. The scheme continued until at least 2014, according to acting and former officials as well as relatives of those who left. The cases indicate the scheme ramped up ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics because the Russian authorities feared home-grown militants would try to attack the event. The six Russian militants and radicals identified by Reuters all ended up in Syria, most of them fighting with jihadist groups that Russia now says are its mortal enemies. They were just a fraction of the radicals who left Russia during that period. By December 2015, some 2,900 Russians had left to fight in the Middle East, Alexander Bortnikov, director of the FSB, the Russian security service, said at a sitting of the National Anti-terrorist Committee late last year. According to official data, more than 90 percent of them left Russia after mid-2013. "Russian is the third language in the Islamic State after Arabic and English. Russia is one of its important suppliers of foreign fighters," said Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya, a senior analyst for International Crisis Group, an independent body aimed at resolving conflicts. "Before the Olympics, Russian authorities didn't prevent departures and a big number of fighters left Russia. There was a very specific short-term task to ensure security of the Olympics ... They turned a blind eye on the flow of radical youth" to the Middle East. Moscow is now fighting Islamic State and other militant groups in Syria that the Kremlin says pose a threat to the security of Russia and the world. The Kremlin has justified its campaign of air strikes in Syria by saying its main objective was to crush Islamic State. Russian authorities deny they ever ran a program to help militants leave the country. They say militants left of their own volition and without state help. Officials, including FSB director Bortnikov and authorities in the North Caucasus, have blamed the departures on Islamic State recruiters and foreign countries who give radicals safe passage to Syria and elsewhere. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Reuters: "Russian authorities have never cooperated or interacted with terrorists. No interaction with terrorists was possible. Terrorists get annihilated in Russia. It has always been like that, it is like that and it will be in the future." The Foreign Ministry said claims that Russian law enforcement agencies had helped militants were "without grounds." It said the agencies take various measures to prevent militants from leaving and to bring to account those who come back. It added that Russia has opened hundreds of criminal cases relating to Russian citizens fighting in Syria, and that therefore it was "absurd" to believe officials had facilitated the departure of militants from Russia. The Interior Ministry declined to comment, saying the FSB was in charge of the issue. The FSB in Dagestan declined immediate comment. MUTUAL BENEFIT Allowing militants to leave Russia was convenient for both radicals and the authorities. In the mainly Muslim North Caucasus region, the two sides had fought themselves to a stalemate. The Islamist groups, fighting to establish a Muslim state in the region, were exhausted after years on the run and had failed to score any significant victories against security forces. The authorities were frustrated because the militants  holed up in remote mountain hideouts or protected by sympathizers  still eluded arrest. Then from 2013 Islamists began threatening to attack the Sochi Olympics, posting videos of their threats online. An attack would embarrass Putin at an event meant to showcase Russia; Moscow ordered a crackdown. A retired Russian special forces officer with years of battlefield experience in the North Caucasus told Reuters that the federal authorities put pressure on local officials to curb insurgency ahead of the Sochi games. "They told them before the Olympics that no failures would be forgiven and those who failed would be fired. They tightened the screws on them," he said. The initial approach to Sharapudinov came from a political official in the militant's home village of Novosasitli in Dagestan, a region in the North Caucasus. The official, who has since retired, became the liaison between Sharapudinov and Russian security services. He confirmed Sharapudinov's account to Reuters. It took Sharapudinov several months to decide whether to take up the offer of a deal. He eventually chose to trust the local official, whom he had known since childhood. According to Sharapudinov, the intermediary took him to the town of Khasavyurt, where a high-ranking local FSB official was waiting. Though Sharapudinov had been given guarantees about his safety, he remained suspicious, he said. So he took along a pistol and a grenade in his pocket, despite a condition that he should come unarmed. Sharapudinov had never previously tried to leave Russia, even clandestinely, because he thought he might be caught or shot. And leaving Russia openly would have been impossible because he was on a wanted list on suspicion of being involved in a bombing. If caught and convicted, he faced eight years to life in prison. But now, according to Sharapudinov, the FSB officer said he was free to leave Russia and that the state would help him go. "They said: 'Go wherever you want, you can even go fight in Syria,'" Sharapudinov told Reuters in December. He recalled that the Olympics came up in the negotiations. "They said something like, 'to let the Olympics pass without incidents.' They didn't conceal they were sending out others as well," he said. NEW NAME Sharapudinov had his own reasons for leaving Russia. There were tensions between him and the local emir, who was also the commander of the militant group to which he belonged. When Sharapudinov told his mother of the FSB's offer, she tearfully asked him to take it, he said, because she did not want him to be a fugitive any longer. The plan required the involvement of more state machinery: Sharapudinov needed a new passport to leave Russia, according to the former local official who acted as a go-between. "Since he was on the wanted list, they couldn't send him out otherwise," the former official told Reuters. Sharapudinov said he was handed a new passport when he arrived at the Mineralnye Vody airport in southern Russia in September 2013, where he was escorted by an FSB employee in a silver Lada car with darkened windows. Along with the passport he got a one-way ticket to Turkey. Sharapudinov showed Reuters the passport that he said had been supplied by the Russian state. It had a slightly different name and date of birth to those recorded for Sharapudinov on an official list of wanted militants. The photograph showed Sharapudinov, who had a beard when he was interviewed for this article, as shaved. He said he had got rid of his beard for the new passport. While Reuters was unable to confirm the provenance of the passport, neighbors of Sharapudinov and the former official who acted as a go-between confirmed his identity and his story of how he got the document. Sharapudinov asked that the name in the passport, which he uses as his new identity, not be published. North Caucasus security officials deny that Islamist radicals were intentionally helped out of the country, but agree their absence helped to solve security problems in the region. "Of course, the departure of Dagestani radicals in large numbers made the situation in the republic healthier," said Magomed Abdurashidov from the Anti-terrorist Commission of Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. A security services officer who took part in negotiations with militants from Novosasitli confirmed that a few fighters "laid down arms and came out" from hiding before later traveling to Syria. "Since they disarmed we stopped prosecuting them," he said. He said there were cases over a few years but that it had nothing to do with the Sochi Games. He said the security services did not help anyone leave. "If no measures are being taken against them, according to law, they have same rights as every Russian citizen," he said. "They could get an international passport and leave." The security services officer said he did not know Sharapudinov's case. SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED When Sharapudinov got to Syria, he said, Islamic State was on the rise but did not control much territory. He joined a rebel group called Sabri Jamaat with other fighters from Russia and post-Soviet states. They were based in Al Dana near Aleppo, and Islamic State controlled neighboring territory. According to Sharapudinov, the two groups were friendly toward each other. Later, Sabri Jamaat pledged allegiance to Islamic State, though Sharapudinov said that by that time he had quit fighting and left Syria. He declined to say whether he had seen other Dagestani radicals in Syria. Reuters independently found details of five other militants who left Russia in similar circumstances to Sharapudinov. The five are either dead, in jail or still in Syria and unreachable. Relatives, neighbors and local officials gave accounts of what happened to the men. The five shared some common threads: They were all from Dagestan, and Russian authorities had reason to deny them travel documents and prevent them from leaving the country. But according to relatives and local officials, in each case the authorities made their passage possible. One of the five other militants who left Russia was Magomed Rabadanov from the village of Berikey. A local police officer in the village said that in 2014 his orders were to keep a close eye on Rabadanov and other suspected radicals as part of a new security policy established before the Sochi Olympics. He said he was told to put potential radicals on a watch list and to telephone them once a month. "If they didn't pick up, we had to find them," the officer said in his office, showing a Reuters reporter Rabadanov's profile on his computer monitor. The police officer said that during preparations for the Olympics, Rabadanov was listed as a person "with non-traditional Islamic beliefs, Wahhabism" - the school of Sunni Islam known for its strict interpretation of the faith. At one point, Rabadanov had been detained for keeping explosives at his home, according to his father, Suleiban Rabadanov, but had been released shortly afterwards and placed under house arrest instead. Despite being under such restriction, Rabadanov was able to leave Russia: He passed through passport control at a Moscow international airport along with his wife and his son in May 2014, his father and the local police officer said. He later turned up in Syria, his father said. Government officials had no comment on Rabadanov. Suleiban Rabadanov said he received a message on Jan. 2, 2015, from someone who said his son had been killed fighting with Islamic State militants against Kurdish forces near the Syrian town of Kobani, on the border with Turkey. The father of another militant also said his son was allowed to leave Russia as part of a deal with the authorities. The former official who acted as the go-between in Sharapudinov's case said two other militants were helped to get passports. Residents and officials in Dagestan said that once Russian militants arrived in Syria they encouraged others from their home communities to join them. From the village of Berikey, which has a population of 3,000, some 28 people left for areas of the Middle East controlled by Islamic State, according to the local police officer. He said 19 of the 28 were listed in Russia as radicals. In a police station near Berikey, a Reuters reporter saw a computer file on dozens of suspected militants. The file was entitled "Wahs," an abbreviation the police use for "Wahhabis." Some pictures showed groups of bearded young men from Berikey and nearby villages, posing with guns. The officer said the photographs, found or received online, showed the men in Syria and Iraq. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (Web version) How Russia allowed homegrown radicals to go and fight in Syria - http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/russia-militants/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Edited by Richard Woods, Simon Robinson and Christian Lowe)
KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's veteran president said on Thursday he would fight corruption and impose discipline on inefficient bureaucrats who frustrated investors, in a swearing-in speech after a disputed election and protests against his rule. Authorities blocked Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and other social media citing security concerns ahead of the ceremony in Kampala in which Yoweri Museveni, 71, was sworn in for another five-year term that will extend his rule to 35 years. The president officially won 60 percent of the votes in the February election, which the opposition said was rigged. Protests have erupted since, leading to clashes with police and dozens of arrests. Officials say the vote was free and fair. Since coming to power in 1986, Museveni is credited with restoring order after years of chaos. But experts say the growing economy has not kept up with a rising population, while critics complain about corruption and a clampdown on dissent. "These two mistakes, corruption and delays in decision making, irritate the public and frustrate the investors," Museveni told visiting African presidents and other dignitaries. "This time I will act directly so as to discipline the public service as we discipline the army," the rebel-turned-statesman said, adding that he would work to boost agricultural output in the coffee and tea exporting nation. Police arrested opposition leader Kizza Besigye after a street protest on Wednesday. Besigye, who heads the Forum for Democratic Change party, won 35 percent of the vote. He has been under house arrest on and off since then. [nL5N1886BL] The head of Uganda's telecommunications regulator Godfrey Mutabazi said security agencies had asked that access to social media websites be blocked "to limit the possibility of terrorists taking advantage" of visits by dignitaries. Among the visitors was Sudan's President Omar Hassan al Bashir. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity. In welcoming comments, Museveni said the ICC was "a bunch of useless people."[nL5N18958A] In the days leading up to Museveni's swearing-in, authorities also placed more security patrols on the streets of Kampala and residents said there was a strong presence of military and police on Thursday. The government also banned live television or radio coverage of protests in the wake of the election, which EU monitors said was held in an intimidating atmosphere. The EU also said the electoral body lacked independence and transparency. Opposition to the president is strongest among youths in urban areas, such as Kampala, where frustration has been fuelled by unemployment, corruption and crumbling public services. (Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema and George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Editing by Edmund Blair and Dominic Evans)
The general partner of European Directories BondCo S.C.A., European Directories GP S.a r.l. has on 13 May 2016 resolved on changes to the board members of European Directories GP S.a r.l. Dr. Thomas Sonnenberg has resigned from the board as of 13 May 2016 and Mr. John Sutherland has been appointed as board member as of 13 May 2016. As of 13 May 2016 the European Directories GP S.a r.l. board members are: John D. Sutherland, Manager A; Fabrice S. Rota, Manager B; and Sebastien Rimlinger, Manager B. The changes will be registered to the Luxembourg RCS as soon as possible. ________________________________________________________________________________ _ _______ For further information, please contact: Neil Robson Group CFO Tel. +31 20 487 36 88 E-mail: ir@europeandirectories.com European Directories Group is an online partner for SMEs offering local search and lead generation with a scalable business model. The European Directories Group operates through three main brands: Fonecta in Finland, HEROLD in Austria and DTG in the Netherlands. More information about the European Directories Group can be found at www.europeandirectories.com . The information in this announcement is required to be disclosed by European Directories BondCo S.C.A. under the Swedish Securities Markets Act (Sw. lagen om vardepappersmarknaden) and article 1 point 9(b) of the Luxembourg law of 11 January 2008 relating to transparency requirements for issuers of securities and article 2 of the Grand-Ducal regulation of 11 January 2008 relating to transparency requirements for issuers of securities. This information was released for publication at 10:00 CET on 13 May 2016.
ALEXANDRIA, La., May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This morning, Smithfield and Super 1 Foods donated 23,000 pounds of protein to the Food Bank of Central Louisiana in an effort to provide support and help alleviate food insecurity in Central Louisiana and to replenish supplies that were distributed during the recent flooding. The Food Bank of Central Louisiana serves individuals and 104 member agencies in 11 parishes of Louisiana all working throughout the year to fight hunger.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f7e3889f-48df-4338-8a7d-a131ceef414a

Each month we work to feed more than 22,400 needy individuals and the recent flood has only increased the need for protein, which is a valuable resource not often donated to the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, said Jayne Wright-Velez, executive director of the Food Bank of Central Louisiana. We are grateful to Smithfield and other donors for their continued support as we continue to rebuild our community.

Smithfield salutes the food banks, first responders, and other organizations who have tirelessly provided time and resources to help the Central Louisiana community and neighbors, says Dennis Pittman, Smithfield Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs. We are pleased to continue their aid efforts, and provide more than 92,000 servings of protein to local families and individuals and help alleviate food insecurity during this time of need. Smithfield encourages others who are able to help to get involved by reaching out to the Food Bank of Central Louisiana to see how they too can contribute.

Super 1 Foods is honored to join Smithfield in bringing this generous food donation to the Alexandria community, said Mike Terry, Brookshire Grocery Companys executive vice president  retail and category management. We are committed to helping prevent hunger and are so pleased to provide food to those in need as we partner with Smithfield and their Helping Hungry Homes initiative.

Representatives from Smithfield and Super 1 Foods presented the donation to the Food Bank of Central Louisiana this morning at the food bank located at 3223 Baldwin Ave, Alexandria, La.

The donation is part of Smithfields Helping Hungry Homes initiative, a coast-to-coast program to help Americans become more food secure. This year, the program will help fight hunger through more than 30 large-scale protein donations to food banks across the United States totaling more than 3.4 million servings.

To learn how you can contribute to the Food Bank of Central Louisiana, please visit www.fbcenla.org.

More Information

Smithfield has a long history of stocking food banks, supporting after-school nutrition programs, and providing food relief in the wake of natural disasters. In 2008, Smithfield established its Helping Hungry Homes initiative to support the fight against hunger across the country, and has since donated more than 38 million servings of protein to food banks across America.

About the Food Bank of Central Louisiana

The Food Bank of Central Louisiana is a non-profit organization whose mission is to alleviate hunger in Central Louisiana. The Food Bank distributes more than 6.9 million pounds of food and grocery products annually to needy families through a network of approved charitable agencies in the following eleven parishes: Allen, Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Sabine, Vernon and Winn. The Food Bank of Central Louisiana is a member of Feeding America and the Louisiana Food Bank Association.

About Smithfield

A leading provider of high-quality pork products, Smithfield was founded in 1936 in Smithfield, Virginia, establishing the town as the Ham Capital of the World. From hand-trimmed bacon and slow-smoked holiday hams to marinated tenderloins, Smithfield brings artistry, authenticity and a commitment to heritage, flavor, and handcrafted excellence to everything it produces. With a vast product portfolio including smoked meats, hams, bacon, sausage, ribs, and a wide variety of fresh pork cuts, the company services retail, foodservice, and deli channels across the United States and 30 countries abroad. All of Smithfield's products meet the highest quality and safety standards in the industry. To learn more about how Flavor Hails from Smithfield, please visit www.Smithfield.com, www.Twitter.com/SmithfieldBrand, and www.Facebook.com/CookingWithSmithfield. Smithfield is a brand of Smithfield Foods.

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $14 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Nathan's Famous, Farmland, Armour, Cook's, John Morrell, Gwaltney, Kretschmar, Margherita, Curly's, Carando and Healthy Ones. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com.

About Brookshire Grocery Co.

Brookshire Grocery Co. operates 152 stores in three states -- Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas -- with three distribution centers and five manufacturing facilities. Known for friendly service, clean stores and strong community support, BGC has been in operation since 1928.
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Following the unbridled success that was March Of The Penguins in 2005, it's been a little odd that a sequel wasn't put into production much sooner.

Maybe it's because, well, March Of The Penguins was a complete fluke? Let's be honest about it - nobody could have expected a documentary about penguins, narrated by Morgan Freeman, would get all the way to the Academy Awards and become a cultural phenomenon? You'd be daft for thinking of it, but here we are.

March Of The Penguins grossed $127,400,000 in its entire run and won the Best Documentary gong at the 2006 Oscars, so it's not all that surprising that a sequel is in the works. According to reports, the sequel - entitled March Of The Penguins 2: The Call - has been filming in Antarctica in the winter of 2015 using 4K cameras.

What's more, director Luc Jacquet has returned to direct, however there's been no word yet if Morgan Freeman is narrating the feature. Currently, the film is being shopped at the Cannes Film Festival and a major US studio is interested. There's been no official word on a release date and it's unlikely that the documentary will see the light of day in 2016, but one thing's for sure - it's likely going to do huge business upon its eventual release.

In the meantime, here's a little snifter of the original to remind you of just how good the original was.

Via Variety
My guess is that all will be forgiven.

I think Sanders and his people are genuinely pissed off. And I think Clinton is increasingly annoyed at what she views as Sanders's sanctimony on all of this.

But, as lots of people have been pointing out on Twitter this morning, the percentage of Sanders voters who say they won't vote for Clinton in the fall is far less than the percentage of Clinton voters who said the same about Obama in 2008.

And we know how that one turned out.

Time does heal most wounds.
Lack of Emergency Training Cited After Shift Supervisor Asphyxiates on Deadly Gas

Atlantic Coffee Industrial Solutions was issued nine serious citations as a result,

After a shift supervisor at a coffee facility in Houston, Texas, asphyxiated after the release of carbon dioxide, an OSHA investigation resulted in nine serious safety violations for Atlantic Coffee Industrial Solutions LLC. The violations are a result of the employer not providing proper training to its workers for stopping the release of a hazardous chemical, according to the agency, which has issued $63,000 in penalties in the case.

"The uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide is dangerous. If the employer expects its workers to stop the release, it must develop and implement a detailed emergency response plan with specific procedures for stopping the release," said Mark Briggs, OSHA's area director in the Houston South office. "Untrained employees can quickly find themselves in a chaotic situation not knowing what to do and suffering serious or sometimes deadly injury."
Singapore-listed property group Oxley Holdings will be launching its maiden freehold strata-titled retail units at The Bridge in Cambodia for sale at the end of this month. Singapore will be the first stop in a series of road shows that will include Hong Kong and Brunei ahead of its official launch in Cambodia later this year. This is the first time a developer has launched strata-titled retail units for sale in Cambodia, says Eric Low, deputy CEO of Oxley.

The Bridge is Oxleys maiden joint venture project with Cambodian developer Worldbridge Land, and is located in the city centre of Phnom Penh. The mixed-use development comprises a 762-unit residential tower, which is almost fully sold, and 963 SOHO units, 70% of which have been taken up. The two towers sit on top of a five-storey retail podium with a total of 630 strata retail and F&B units and total net saleable area of 234,703 sq ft. The mall will have a supermarket and a food court.

The strata retail units are sized from 107 sq ft to 1,436 sq ft, while the strata F&B units are larger, ranging from 410 sq ft to 1,617 sq ft. All the strata-titled commercial units will be sold with a freehold tenure. The average price of the retail units is US$750 psf, with absolute prices starting from US$91,000, while the strata F&B units will start from US$239,000.

Oxley will be releasing 183 retail and F&B units for sale in Singapore. According to Oxley, buyers will have to pay a reservation fee of US$1,400 at the launch. A 20% down payment is payable upon signing the sale & purchase agreement, with another 10% payable six months later. The rest is payable upon completion of the project in 2018.

As Cambodian foreign ownership laws do not permit foreigners to buy land and even residential or commercial units on the ground floor, the strata commercial units on the ground floor of The Bridge will be available only to Cambodians, while the upper floors will be open to foreigners.

The Bridge is Oxleys maiden joint venture project with Worldbridge Land and is located in Phnom Penh

Source: Oxley Holdings

Sell, lease and manage scheme

Another novelty is that instead of an outright sale of the commercial units at The Bridge, the developer will lease out the units and manage them on behalf of the investors. No one has done such a sell, lease and manage approach in Phnom Penh before, says Low. We believe that, by managing the units on behalf of the investors, they will be able to enjoy a higher rental yield, as we will control the tenant mix.

Story continues

Oxley is providing a guaranteed rental yield of 6% for the first five years. At the end of the fifth year, it has the option of extending the guaranteed rental yield of at least 6% for five years.

Ching Chiat Kwong, executive chairman and CEO of Oxley, hopes that the extended period of the rental yield guarantee will assure investors that the developer is committed to the project for the long term. With this strategy, we hope to erase peoples fears that strata retail malls are not well managed and have a poor trade mix, which will result in the deterioration of the malls image and value of the units, he explains. We cant afford to let this happen because it will also affect the value of the residential and SOHO units above.

Management of The Bridge will be handled by Metro Global Solutions, a joint venture company setup in April between Oxley and Metro Global, a Singapore-based international hotel, asset, facilities and property management company. Besides The Bridge, Metro Global Solutions will also manage properties owned and/or developed by Oxley in Singapore and worldwide. Oxley has also appointed CBRE Cambodia as the retail consultant for The Bridge.

Investors who choose to exit the strata commercial units after a number of years can engage either their own property broker to sell it on their behalf or Oxley to assist them. Those who buy the strata commercial units in the secondary market will also have to sign a management agreement with the developer.

According to CBRE Cambodias 1Q2016 report, retail rents in Phnom Penh remained broadly stable from January to March. The exception was rents across purpose-built retail malls, which fell 1.6% q-o-q. This trend is expected to continue as retailers review their requirements in the context of upcoming developments coming on stream over the next 12 months. Rental rates for 1Q2016 was US$30.80 psm per month for prime shopping malls and US$48.30 psm per month for the prime retail podium.

Currently, the first and only modern mall in the city centre is Aeon Mall, which is a five-minute drive from The Bridge. The 732,000 sq ft Aeon Mall opened in July 2014 and is fully leased.

Ching (right, with Low): We hope to erase peoples fears that strata retail malls are

not well managed and have a poor trade mix

Potential oversupply?

While there was no new supply in 1Q2016, Sorya Shopping Center, one of Phnom Penhs first purpose-built shopping malls, announced renovation works, with the mall due to be relaunched as Sorya Center Point. The supply of new retail space in Phnom Penh is projected to increase by 5.4 million sq ft by end-2017, and another 7.5 million sq ft by end 2018, says CBRE. Upcoming mixed-use developments with shopping centres include Parksons Phnom Penh City Centre, with a net lettable area of 613,548 sq ft, and Lion City, with 656,604 sq ft of retail space. Both malls are being developed by Malaysias Lion Group and will be anchored by Parkson Grand department store. Hongkong Land is also developing Exchange Square in the financial district, which is expected to add 86,000 sq ft of retail space on the market by 1Q2017.

While there are concerns about an oversupply in retail space over the next two years, CEO of Cambodian- based property consultancy Ratanaka Realty, Nguon Chhayleang, believes that there is enough demand from both local and international retailers to absorb it. Besides Aeon Mall, there are no other full-fledged shopping malls in Phnom Penh. Most of the retail space is occupied by high-street shops, he says, and the trades likely to thrive in these new shopping malls are international food chains, department stores, supermarkets, cineplexes and gaming arcades.

With a population of two million, Phnom Penh is considered a small city by Southeast Asian standards, adds Ratanakas Nguon. Its limited retail infrastructure has room for growth, he says. Phnom Penhs long-term economic indicators favour retail since disposable incomes are growing yearly.

Although traditional markets remain a popular shopping destination in Phnom Penh, increasing disposable income among the capitals top 20% wealthiest could shift local preference towards more premium retail malls, says Sofia Perez, Knight Frank Cambodias research and consultancy manager.

It is no surprise that Cambodia is one of Oxleys strategic markets after London and Singapore, according to Oxleys Ching. The companys second joint venture project with Worldbridge Land is The Peak, which comprises twin 55-storey residential towers containing 1,014 units and a third 55-storey commercial tower with 15 levels of office space and a 300-room Shangri-La hotel. The three towers will sit on a five-storey retail podium. The freehold mixed-use project, which overlooks the Mekong River, is located within the heart of Phnom Penh and a five-minute walk from The Bridge.

On May 3, Oxley and Worldbridge launched the remaining 507 residential units at The Peak Tower 2 for sale. Tower 1 is already half sold. The joint venture partners have not decided whether to sell the strata commercial units in the retail podium. A lot will depend on the response to the launch of the strata retail units at The Bridge, says Oxleys Low. The group is also open to a bulk purchase of all the strata units in the retail podium and office space at The Peak.

Oxley plans to launch its third site in Phnom Penh by year-end. Developed in a joint venture with Worldbridge Land, the third site is also a mixed-use development with a residential tower and a hotel tower sitting on top of a retail podium. Meanwhile, the fourth site in Phnom Penh will be purely residential, says Ching. The project, which has yet to be launched, will contain one block of condominium units and strata landed houses.

This article appeared in the City & Country, Issue 728 (May 16. 2016) of The Edge Singapore

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Condominium developments in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Rodrigo Duterte has officially won the Philippines presidential election and will take office as the 16th President of the Republic of the Philippines. This news could have ramifications for the countrys real estate market, which has performed well under current President Benigno Noynoy Aquino III. In particular, markets outside of the metropolitan Manila area have flourished.

This is something that could continue under Duterte, as he seeks to decentralise Manila and focus on improving provincial locations. As the Mayor of Davao, he helped lower crime and made the city more appealing to investors. Before a city or province can really prosper, you have to establish order. So that the investors would be coming in, comfortable in their thoughts that there would be no corruption, that they are safe and that their businesses will prosper, he told Rappler.com earlier this year.

His promise to eliminate crime and improve transparency throughout the country could also benefit the real estate market. Jones Lang LaSalle Philippines has called the countrys property sector semi-transparent, and his desire to end crime and corruption could improve this. Lindsay J Orr, Country Head of JLL Philippines, explained to the Business Mirror that perceived corruption in the Philippines has affected the countrys transparency rating.

However, his most ambitious plan involves creating an area in the Philippines similar to Hong Kong or Singapore. In an interview with radio station DZRJ in January, he spoke about establishing a place that would entice multinational corporations to set up shop in the country.

If we can lease our land for military bases, why not lease an island to create our own version of Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore? The jobs will come here. Going abroad must be a choice, not a necessity, he told the radio station. We have over 7,000 islands. Lets lease one island or islands to them and let them create their own police force, rules, ports, roads, power plants, steel mills, petrochemical plants, their own offices and telecoms and wireless Internet connections, subject to their own rules. This story was originally published on property-report.com and is reproduced as part of an editorial partnership between DDproperty.com and Property Report.

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Stellan Skarsgard's career has been defined by wildly different roles.

Whether it's as an ice-cold assassin in Ronin, the two-faced serial killer in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or in the television series River, Skarsgard's tried to bring something new to each and every role.

We spoke to Skarsgard about his role in Our Kind Of Traitor, how he approaches such violent characters and whether or not his role in the film is one of a stereotype.

When you signed on for the role, what was your initial take of the film and the script?

I read the book as well and I'm a big lover of Carre and have been since I was 13. The first adult book I read was The Spy Who Came In From The Cold; I got it from my father. I loved his depiction of society and what's going in the mechanics of power and what it does to people that interests me. I always wanted to do a Carre film and especially after seeing Alec Guinness' dramas. I got to work with Ewan McGregor on a Ron Howard film a couple of years ago, so I'd be looking for something to do with him for a while. I also asked my son, Alexander, who worked with Susanna White (the director) on Generation Kill.

You're playing a role that's, y'know, quite morally reprehensible. How do you approach it without making a judgement?

It has to do with how you view people. You can't separate the world into good and bad people. We're all capable of almost everything. He comes from the Soviet Union, he grew up in the Vor Y Zakone. That's his life, so killing someone means something to him and means something completely different to me. But that doesn't mean you approve of his actions, which you shouldn't - but that doesn't mean he isn't a human being. He and Perry (Ewan McGregor's character) are from two different universes. I've done people that have done immoral things, but that doesn't turn into bad guys. It means that they've done something bad.

This might be the second or third Russian you've played, I think. The Hunt For Red October being one that sticks out in my mind, but with Russians are played so forcefully. How do you approach that culture and not fall into the pitfalls of stereotyping?

In Hunt For Red October, I completely underplayed him. I usually underplay my characters. This guy, I wanted to make him loud, vulgar and as noveau riche as you could. I wanted him to be attractive and charming in his loud way because I wanted the audience to like him and enjoy being with him as the same time they should criticise him when he kills someone! You could say that I go for the cliche in the beginning because I use his Russian accent to be more bear-like, but it has more to do with his personality. We have real Russians in the film that don't act like that. It's more to do with his personality than him being Russian. It is a balance, but what was important to me was finding contradictions. I didn't want the audience to feel safe with him.

Another role that I loved you in Ronin, with John Frankenheimer.

Yeah, he was a really cold fish.

How do you access that kind of violence in characters?

Violence isn't that hard to find. We all have it in us, even I'm not a fighting person. I can be violent, it's a primitive reaction. But yeah, I'm Swedish and extremey civilised! (laughs) But when it comes to a man like Dima, he follows his impulse. He lives it out. In, say, Ronin, he's a calculating man. He's an ice-cold psychopath. He's absolutely able to control his violence. He uses his violence, he never wastes it. Dima would waste his violence.

With Dima, there's a lot of religious iconography attached to his tattoos with the Vor Y and so on, but you're an Atheist. Did that play into it at all?

He's probably religious in the way a lot of those people are. The culture he comes from defines him so much. As religion goes hand-in-hand with diminishing democracy with Russia and Israel and Turkey, it's a very sad thing. But, no, I didn't use Dima to comment on that.

Was there much room for improvisation with Hossein Amini's script?

The script is very good and we didn't have to change many lines and there was no urge to do it. But a lot of the acting is between the lines. The relationship between myself and McGregor's character, it grows throughout the film. Nothing of that is in dialogue. We create that journey of getting closer together without talking about it. My wife in the film doesn't even have any lines, but she has an enormous presence. The acting, she becomes important in how she looks at me and I look at her. That creates that an atmosphere that she, to a certain extent, is in control and that's there's harsh truth and solid love between them.

For such a male-driven film, it's directed by a woman. How did that work on set?

She was trying to make a character-driven film that was suspenseful and political. I don't know if she has a penis (laughs), but that's not important. She's used to tackling male material; one of the first things I saw that she did was with my son, Alexander, on Generation Kill. That was ultra, y'know? They were six months with Marines and young testosterone-loaded boys. So, she's pretty good at that. It's interesting with male and female directors, I've worked with material where I wanted a female director because I wanted to avoid something. I did the TV series, River, which Abi Morgan wrote. It was such great writing. I said to the producer that I would have loved to have female directors for it, not because they were women, but because they might be less interested in the masculine side of policework which didn't interest me. But, fortunately, we got really good directors that didn't stuck in that anyway. I don't know if there any big differences between male and female directors, I can't tell.

Off-set, did you and Ewan try and develop the relationship?

Oh sure, we're on location so we hung out. But when you shoot, you don't socialise. It's a very tight schedule and we were moving all the time, you're shooting twelve to fifteen hours a day.

What are you working on next?

The next film is an independent film, it's called Return To Montauk with a script by Colm Toibin. It's very much literature, I love it.

The career you've had, do you see yourself remaining in acting? Have you any interest in directing?





I have ideas about things, but I think the director should direct the film and not me. When it comes to directing, I don't have the urge and I don't have the patience for it. I wrote a script with a good writer many years ago and I got most of the financing together. A producer took over and nothing happened for two years, so I got bored with it. I'd rather make a couple of films a year as an actor rather than directing once every five years.
After 13 years in power, the Workers' Party has been forced out by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's suspension and impeachment trial, its emblematic red star tarnished by corruption and economic collapse. Can it battle back? The leftist party won four presidential terms starting with founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's landmark election win in 2002, making it the longest-ruling party since democracy was restored at the end of Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985). Lula, a former steelworker, presided over a watershed economic boom, becoming one of the most popular presidents in Brazilian history. That glow was still shining when Rousseff, his hand-picked successor, won the presidency in 2010. And it was just bright enough to get her re-elected in 2014, despite an economic downturn, a mounting corruption scandal and spreading middle-class discontent that erupted into huge protests the previous year. But the Senate's decision Thursday to suspend Rousseff from office for up to six months -- she is likely never to return -- brought the once unstoppable Workers' Party (PT) crashing to the ground. Rousseff ingloriously ceded power to her vice president-turned-nemesis, Michel Temer, a center-right politician who broke his awkward alliance with her in March and joined the push to impeach her on charges of fudging the government's accounts. If two-thirds of senators vote to remove her at the end of her impeachment trial, Rousseff will be gone for good and Temer will hold power until the next elections in 2018. But don't count the PT out just yet, political analysts say. "The PT has the best network of any party, with representatives in 98 percent of Brazil's cities," Adriano Codato of the University of Parana said. "This huge organizational force won't just disappear overnight." It won't be easy going, however. The PT faces a "slaughter" in local elections in October, Codato predicted, saying the corruption scandal engulfing Brazilian politics has tainted its "brand." Although Rousseff does not face charges in the scandal, her opponents say at best she is guilty of letting it happen. And a host of top PT figures, including Lula, have been implicated in the multi-billion-dollar bribery and embezzlement scheme centered on state oil company Petrobras. "The PT has been the victim of its mistakes -- such as its corruption problems, which it never resolved -- and of its successes, like university quotas for black students, which unleashed 'classist racism'" among disgruntled whites, Codato said. The PT had governed for the poorest and wealthiest Brazilians, forgetting the middle class, which once strongly supported it precisely because of its platform as the "party of ethics," he added. - Time to reinvent - Party veteran Tarso Genro, who served in Lula's cabinet but is vocally critical of the PT, said it is time for the organization to reinvent itself. He criticized the decision to team up with Temer's PMDB, a powerful party known for its lack of ideology and knack for holding the keys to the government pork barrel. "The PT needs to examine its successes, of which there were many, and also its mistakes and limitations, to deal with this new era," he told AFP in an email interview. Despite its flaws, the PT retains a strong support base thanks to social programs that helped lift tens of millions of people from poverty. If elections were held now, Lula would be the leading candidate with some 20 percent of the vote, according to opinion polls. Lula's corruption case is really about "taking him out of the race" for 2018, when he will be eligible to run for president again -- if the graft probe doesn't fell him first, Genro said. But the party would have to fully "reorganize the left," he added. The PT disappointed many original supporters by foregoing issues such as land, health and electoral reforms to pursue opportunistic alliances with power-brokers such as the PSDB, often necessary to get anything done in Brazil's highly fragmented political system. "The PT has a good foundation, but it has to renew itself," said Fabio Malini of the Federal University of Parana. "The PT's main legacy is better income distribution, but it will have to return to its program, which it abandoned a long time ago."
BEIJING  China has widespread support in the international community for its decision not to have anything to do with a legal case lodged by the Philippines against Chinese claims in the South China Sea, a senior diplomat said yesterday.

China has been stepping up its rhetoric ahead of a ruling expected in a few weeks by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the Philippine case.

China says it is fully within its rights not to participate in what it views as forced arbitration, and says the Philippines is using the case to directly undermine Chinese sovereignty.

In February, the US and the European Union said China should respect the ruling. The court has no powers of enforcement and its rulings have been ignored before.

Xu Hong, head of the Chinese foreign ministrys Department of Treaties and Law, said the issue was being hyped up by people who lack a proper understanding of international law.

We can see so many countries coming to the fore hyping this issue up, but it doesnt matter how loud their voices are, they still represent a minority of countries in the world, he told a news briefing.

If you look at who is talking about international law all the time, it is politicians and non-professionals with ulterior motives. It is them who really need to learn something about international law.

The foreign ministry has in recent weeks been claiming support for its South China Sea position from countries as diverse as Cambodia and Yemen.

Xu said no country would accept compulsory arbitration when core interests were at stake.

Actually there are a number of voices of reason on this issue from genuine international law experts who have had some serious and objective comments, but all those comments have been neglected or ignored by some people, he said.

Some people are trying to change the concept stealthily to confound right and wrong and black and white. They may be able to mislead public opinion for some time but eventually lies are lies and even repeated a thousand times will not become truth, Xu said.

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China had always been a firm defender and practitioner of international law, he said.

We dont feel isolated at all.

China claims almost all of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of maritime trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.  Reuters
A group of international election observers yesterday gave its full support to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)s decision to proceed with its unofficial and partial quick count.

Swede Leif Pettersson said the PPCRV should continue and not give in to calls to suspend the ongoing unofficial quick count of ballots for the presidential race.

While quick counts are unofficial, they are part and parcel of any genuine electoral democracy. It adds to greater transparency and serves as an important check and balance to the governments official election count, Pettersson said.

The PPCRV earlier junked the call of vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop its partial, unofficial tally.

Marcos is trailing Liberal Party candidate Leni Robredo by a slim margin.

According to Marcos, the PPCRV and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should stop the unofficial count to avoid confusion.

Pettersson rebuffed the senator, saying the unofficial quick count advances the interest of an active and vigilant citizenry.

Pettersson and 14 other delegates from the US, Japan and Sweden composed the international mission organized by election watchdog Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections International Observers Mission (Compact-IOM) to monitor the conduct and outcome of the elections.

The group went to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Bohol, Dinagat Island and Isabela.

German youth leader Anushka Ruge observed that on May 9, there were numerous complaints about the malfunctioning vote counting machines (VCMs), which delayed the voting process as well as reports of vote-buying and election-related violence.

Ruge said the conduct of national and local elections was credible and generally peaceful despite the glitches.

The foreign observers lauded the Comelec and the people for the successful elections despite reports of glitches and irregularities.

They said the 81 percent voter turnout was astonishing and indicated the Filipinos commitment to electoral democracy.

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The group proposed the use of more voter-friendly precincts, additional compensation for teachers serving as Board of Election Inspectors and passage of Anti-Dynasty bill.

They stressed the need for the acquisition of new VCMs that can withstand hot weather and the improvement in the voting experience for disabled, senior citizens and pregnant women.

Compact-IOM said it would submit the observation and recommendation of the foreign observers to the Comelec.

Spain congratulates Pinoys

Meanwhile, the government of Spain congratulated the Filipino people for the peaceful and orderly conduct of the elections.

It also congratulated Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for winning the presidential race.

The Spanish government offered to support the incoming president and committed to continue the cooperation and friendship between the Philippines and Spain.
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
Bagumbayan senatorial candidate Richard Gordon scored the slow count of the Commission on Elections, saying this is unfair both for Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and especially to the Filipino people.

Gordon was the author and sponsor in the Senate of the Automated Election Law, whose main purpose is to make sure that there would be speed and security features so there would be no dagdag-bawas (vote-shaving and vote-padding) during elections.

In a visit to The STAR office at Port Area, Manila yesterday, the former senator now poised to reclaim his old Senate seat said that the election machines are designed at the push of a button to transmit results right away to the canvassing centers all the way from the city to the provinces to the quick counts.

I know there is a resolution that they made sometime in March this year allowing SD cards for those precincts that cannot transmit. This was because in 2013, allegedly 20 percent of the precincts were not able to transmit. But Comelec should tell the parties concerned so they could escort the SD cards, like in the old way when ballot boxes were escorted.

Gordon said that the SD card is only as big as the nail of our finger and you can put 50 SD cards in one envelope. That means 50 precincts. So like in a spy movie, they can be easily switched. If the SD cards have been switched, were will you look for the electronic signatures?

He also said that Comelec is not implementing the electronic signatures as required by law of the three BEI inspectors so that voters will know who to hold accountable for in case there is a miscount or there is cheating.

They insist that the machine itself is the electronic signature, but this has been debunked. It is not acceptable in any court of law. Any lawyer will tell you that. It is exceedingly hard but so the law is written, you should follow the law.

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What is disturbing for him is that they were very fast in the first hours. But when it came to the dead heat of the vice-presidential candidates, the count began to slow down. It is the duty of the Comelec to say where the votes are coming from, and to explain what is causing the delay.

Gordon said this is dangerous especially in the light of the fact there are talks that (winning presidential candidate Rodrigo) Duterte may declare something and therefore he can be impeached so they want a friendly VP who will take over. Perhaps they do not like Bongbong Marcos to take over?

He said he is not siding with either Robredo or Marcos but only worried that this might set us on the wrong path again, and its going to be a slippery path. There will be an unending, ceaseless recrimination that one was cheated and we are back in the system where nobody loses. Someone either won or was cheated.

He also called the Comelec a recidivist, a repeat offender. There seems to be a bad intention, I hope I am wrong. I want to be wrong. But Im afraid that if this slow count persists, people will start thinking, depending on your political color, what is happening here? Mahirap magkamayan kung may dayaan. (Its difficult to shake hands if theres been cheating.)  Danton Remoto
Chvrches have made their new song 'Warning Call' available online.

The Scottish electropop trio wrote 'Warning Call' for the soundtrack of video game 'Mirror's Edge: Catalyst', which is released in Europe next month.

The band have a summer of touring ahead of them, having released their second album 'Every Open Eye' last September, and will play Longitude in July.

Until then, familiarise yourself with their newest tune below:
Former Syrian prime minister turned key opposition leader Riad Hijab has told AFP in an interview the forces fighting the regime need "actions, not words" from countries that support them. He said the opposition urgently required surface-to-air missiles to counter the air strikes carried out by the regime and their Russian allies. And he called for tougher action against President Bashar al-Assad, who he claimed had effectively received a "green light" from Moscow and Washington to continue bombing civilian areas. "What we want are practical and effective measures on the ground. We don't need statements or pretty words in the media because that doesn't produce any results," Hijab told AFP. Hijab, who was speaking in Paris on Wednesday after attending a meeting of Arab and European allies of the Syrian opposition as well as US Secretary of State John Kerry, said he was frustrated at the lack of tough action against the Damascus regime. He accused the regime of responsibility for "more than 2,300 violations of the ceasefire" since it came into effect on February 27. Hijab accused the Syrian regime and their Russian allies of committing war crimes. "In April alone, there were 27 massacres, with bombings of markets, schools and hospitals carried out by the regime. We saw what happened in Aleppo recently," he said. The ceasefire between regime forces and non-jihadist rebels in Syria, overseen by Moscow and Washington, was shattered at the end of April, most strikingly in Aleppo, the strategic city in northern Syria whose control is split between government and rebel forces. Around 300 people were killed in a surge in fighting in the city. - 'Green light to Assad' - A fragile new ceasefire was introduced last week and Russia and the United States agreed to "redouble" efforts to find a political solution to a war that has lasted five years and cost the lives of 270,000 people. "It's completely insufficient," Hijab said. "The joint statement by the Russians and the Americans says they want to 'minimise' the bombing of civilians and civilian areas as much as possible. "That is like giving the regime a green light to continue its abuses and saying: 'You are killing 100 Syrians a day. Well today you mustn't kill more than 10." The regime defends its air strikes by saying it is targeting "terrorist groups", meaning the Al-Nusra Front (the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State group, neither of which are included in the ceasefire. "The Syrian people have been dying for five years. We want actions, not words, from our friends," Hijab said. "We hope that the United States, the French, the British, the Germans and others are going to act on the ground," Hijab said. The opposition forces' main plea, as it has been since the start of the war in 2011, is for weapons. "The United States has prevented us obtaining anti-aircraft weapons for five years. And until recently they were blocking us from getting anti-tank weapons," he said. "We are fighting on several fronts: against Daesh (the Arab acronym for Islamic State), there have been fierce battles in recent days around Aleppo, Homs and Damascus and in the south. "We are fighting against regime forces, against the (Kurdish) PYD, against religious militia from Iraq and Lebanon, and against Afghan mercenaries and others... We need weapons that can make a difference on the ground." Hijab also called for the 17-nation International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which is due to meet in Vienna next Tuesday, to take measures to force the regime to respect the international community's humanitarian demands. The ceasefire, he said, "is not an end in itself". "The solution for Syria is a genuine political transition," said the man who oversees the opposition's negotiations in Geneva. Three rounds of UN-backed peace talks since the start of the year have failed to make significant progress. The most recent round, in April, was suspended when fighting resumed in Aleppo. "We want to return to Geneva," Hijab said. "We're at an impasse at the moment because the regime does not want to talk about a (political) transition." He stressed though that the opposition's approach remained unchanged -- there can be no solution that includes Assad. "It is completely unrealistic to imagine that he can stay in power," said Hijab, who was serving as prime minister under Assad when he fled Syria with his family in August 2012 to join the opposition.
This season of 'Love Is Blind' is shaping up to be absolute madness  here's what people are saying about it
The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out
london

Jeremy Reddington/Shutterstock

A former Deutsche Bank managing director found guilty in the UK's biggest-ever insider trading case has been sentenced to four and a half years in jail.

Martyn Dodgson was convicted by a jury at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday after a 12-week long trial.

In his sentencing remarks, His Honour Judge Pedgen said: This was persistent, prolonged and deliberate dishonest behaviour, which you both knew, in my judgment, was criminal, going on to call Dodgson's actions "a gross breach of trust."

Dodgson's sentence is the longest ever handed out for insider trading in the UK, topping the four years given to the former head of brokerage firm Blue Index in 2012, the Financial Times reports. The maximum sentence he could have faced was seven years in prison.

Alongside Dodgson, Andrew Hind  the other individual found guilty in the case  was sentenced to three and a half years. Hind, an accountant by profession, was once a finance director at high street retailer, Topshop.

They were accused of generating more than 7 million in profit, trading on inside information on stocks such as Legal & General, Scottish & Newcastle, and Sky.

Hind and Dodgson were first found guilty on Monday, while three other men being tried, Grant Harrison, a former managing director at Altium Capital, day trader Benjamin Anderson and former Aria Capital director Iraj Parvizi  were found not guilty.

The case  code named Tabernula, which is Latin for "little tavern"  had five defendants accused of conspiring to trade securities with inside information between 2006 and 2010.

The case had a dramatic start. In March 2010, more than 100 police and regulators were deployed across 16 locations to arrest seven people. The raids, co-coordinated by the now-defunct Financial Services Authority, stunned the City, which was used to a regulator with a "light touch."

Story continues

NOW WATCH: Don't walk into an interview at Goldman Sachs without doing this first

See Also:
(Adds more detail, background)

ATHENS, May 13 (Reuters) - Greece will push back by three weeks a deadline for binding bids to sell its railways operator TRAINOSE after investors asked for more time to prepare, a privatisation agency official said on Friday.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) is the second time this year that TRAINOSE's privatisation has been delayed. On Monday, Greece also extended by around six weeks to June 27 the deadline for bids to build and operate a new airport on the island of Crete.

The cash-strapped country has been embroiled in lengthy negotiations with its international lenders on a reform review to unlock fresh loans and uncertainty over a deal has weighed on investors' appetite for Greek assets.

Athens is aiming to secure a positive assessment of its reform programme by euro zone finance ministers on May 24.

Athens last month received expressions of interest in TRAINOSE from Italy's state railways, Russian Railways (RZD) and Greek construction group GEK-Terna (Amsterdam: TX6.AS - news) .

It had set a May 31 deadline. That will be extended to late June, after the Italian and Russian companies said they needed more time, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"We will give them another 20 days," the official told Reuters, adding that TRAINOSE's financial statements will be ready by May 25 and potential suitors will then have a full picture of the asset.

A spokesman for the Italian railways confirmed the company had requested a one-month extension. (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou in Athens, additional reporting by Stephen Jewkes in Milan; editing by Susan Thomas)
* Workers contracted fatal silicosis and TB underground

* Judge rules families of deceased can be part of suit

* Defendants include South Africa's top gold firms (Adds union, details)

By TJ Strydom and Zimasa Mpemnyama

JOHANNESBURG, May 13 (Reuters) - South Africa gave the green light on Friday for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis.

The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings covering cases dating back decades in the largest class action suits yet in Africa's most industrialised country.

In their 1980s heyday, South Africa's gold mines employed half a million men and High Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo judge said anywhere from 17,000 to 500,000 miners had been affected.

"We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in a unanimous ruling by three judges.

"Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," he said.

A paper by researchers at University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg and University College London estimated there were 288,000 cases of compensable silicosis in South Africa.

The 2009 paper put the industry's unpaid compensation liability at 10 billion rand ($660 million) on 1998 values.

Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis.

SOME CLOSURE

Activists sang and danced outside the courthouse after the ruling while miners walked out triumphantly with fists raised.

"This will make a difference in our lives, because we have been struggling for so long," said Vuyani Dwadube, 74, a former rock driller at Harmony Gold who has tuberculosis (TB).

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Judge Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages.

While most of the miners are South Africans thousands also came from neighbours such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland.

Mantso Mokwena, 53, a former worker at Sibanye Gold's Beatrix mine, owned by Gold Fields (LSE: 0QQ8.L - news) until 2013, said the outcome gave miners some closure.

"I contracted TB in 2007 but I was terminated from my job in 2009. Since then, I still don't have a job," he said.

The defendants include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have already been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labour unrest among miners.

Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti (Xetra: AOD.DE - news) , Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold (Other OTC: GDCWF - news) and African Rainbow Minerals have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) group to deal with such issues.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in the companies were mixed, with some tracking a stronger gold price. Anglo and ARM no longer operate gold mines but have been named in claims dating back to when they did.

"Certainly it will have an effect on their reserves. Most of them probably made provisions," Gryphon Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis said.

"It's still too early to say what it will be (the damages) but it does create a lot of uncertainty and that is never good for share prices," he said.

DIGNITY LOST

Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD working group said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgment and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court decision.

"Either way, it should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," Fine said.

There have been some class action suits in South Africa but none compare with that mining cases that stem from a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed miners with lung disease to sue employers for the first time.

Friday's ruling is separate from a $30 million silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold.

Peter Bailey, the head of the health and safety division at the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest union in the gold sector, welcomed the court's decision.

"As you know black South African mineworkers who suffered from silicosis have lost their dignity because they cannot even put food on the table," he said.

($1 = 15.1614 rand) (Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; writing by James Macharia; editing by David Clarke)
DAR ES SALAAM, May 12 (Reuters) - Tanzania has agreed with Uganda to accelerate implementation of a crude oil pipeline project between the two east African nations and award the construction contract to multiple contractors.

The decision was reached during talks between Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, in Kampala on Thursday, Magufuli's office said in a statement on Thursday.

Uganda said in April it would build a pipeline for its oil through Tanzania rather than Kenya, which had wanted to secure the export route.

Picking a route is vital for oil firms to make final investment decisions on developing reserves found in Uganda and Kenya, which are among a string of hydrocarbon finds on Africa's eastern seaboard. Tanzania has found gas offshore.

"I suggest we use the design and construct model to speed up implementation of the 1,410-km pipeline project ... and award contracts to five or six different contractors to build different sections of the pipeline at the same time," Magufuli's office quoted him as saying.

"By doing that we will significantly reduce the time needed to build the oil pipeline and the entire project can be completed within just one year."

Uganda discovered crude near its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo 10 years ago, but has yet to start production after repeated delays. Choosing a route to export the crude from the land-locked nation is a vital step.

France's Total (LSE: 524773.L - news) , London-listed Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) and China's CNOOC (HKSE: 0883.HK - news) have been pushing for a decision on a pipeline. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and Susan Thomas)
LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - European banks should not fear punishment from the United States for resuming legitimate trade ties with Iran, U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . Secretary of State John Kerry told a meeting of senior bank executives at a meeting in London on Thursday.

The United States and Europe lifted sanctions in January under a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear programme, but other U.S. sanctions remain, including a ban on Iran-linked transactions in dollars being processed through the U.S. financial system.

Kerry told the meeting of European bank executives that lenders will not be held to task for doing legitimate business with Iran, in a bid to allay fears following past fines for the lenders for breaking sanctions. (Reporting By David Brunnstrom, writing by Lawrence White)
Yep. In case you weren't near a telly or twitter last night, Ireland have failed to qualify for tomorrow night's final, which is becoming a regular occurrence - despite us STILL holding the record for most wins in Eurovision history. Still, the last time we won was twenty years ago, and the warm fuzzy feeling of being the best at something in Europe is fast becoming a distant memory - especially when we can't even get through the to main event itself for the last three years running.



Byrne undoubtedly did his best, working the stage and what appeared to be a particularly cumbersome jacket, and yet it still wasn't enough. He was fast tracked by RTE through to represent the country, given his past with Westlife and his ability to charm a screen, it was assumed he'd fly through to the finals. And yet it wasn't to be. Even with Australia now becoming a normal fixture among the contesting countries - Ireland still did't get enough votes to go through to the final. What's the bleedin' point in having half the country scattered across Aus if nobody votes (we're overlooking the time difference, obvs).

Westlife star out of Eurovision final https://t.co/WSfQAgPuEg  BBC Newsline (@bbcnewsline) May 12, 2016

As for what the man himself had to say for failing to qualify, he released the below statement.

Obviously I'm disappointed - I really would have loved to represent Ireland at the final on Saturday, but sometimes things just don't work out the way you want them to. I went out there and gave it my absolute best shot. I've had such an amazing time in Stockholm and I'm so glad I had the honour of representing Ireland at Eurovision. I've had some brilliant experiences and met fantastic people so I'll take those special memories with me. I have no regrets - life is short and it was an incredible opportunity to represent my country in front of a global audience. I would recommend it to any music act to take on the challenge next year - there is no bigger platform. Over 200 million people watch the Eurovision and with America broadcasting the for the first time this year and Justin Timberlake performing during the interval act it just goes to show how popular and loved it is. I want to thank Team Ireland - Ian, Jay, Janet, Jennifer and Johann for all their hard work. It was brilliant to have such a great team with me. Thanks and love to Georgina, the kids and my family, thanks to friends, colleagues,my management team Tim and Joanne, RTE and Universal for all the support in recent months. There are too many people to thank - you know who you are and I'm very grateful for all the support you've shown me. Thanks to all the fans and everyone around the world who voted. When I get home I'm looking forward to promoting the new album Sunlight. I'm so proud that I had the opportunity to fly the flag for Ireland at Eurovision 2016.

Brass tacks of it is, we're a lone little Island with only one neighbour. The Bloc countries will always win out.




OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso plans to withdraw its troops deployed in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur and to bring them home against a backdrop of growing security threats in the Sahel-Saharan region, the Burkinabe army's chief of staff said on Thursday. The West African country was rocked in January by an attack on a hotel and restaurant in its capital, Ouagadougou, claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, that killed 30 people. The group has been targeting since November civilians at locations frequented by Westerners. It carried out attacks in Malis capital Bamako and in a beach resort town in Ivory Coast, leaving dozens of people dead. "When Burkina Faso decided eight years ago to deploy its first battalion in Darfur, we were in an environment without threats at our borders," General Pingrenoma Zagre told reporters in Ouagadougou. "We had a security situation in the Sahel-Saharan region that was overall satisfactory." But the current circumstances and the logistical costs "led us to a reassessment of the means deployed to support peace keeping theatres and consider the prospect of a withdrawal of one of our three battalions," he added. Burkina Faso, which is the eleventh-largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, has one battalion of 850 soldiers in Darfur and two battalions in Mali. A military source said the battalion to be withdrawn would be the one in Darfur. The withdrawal from Darfur has yet to be approved by the political authorities, Zagre said. (Reporting by Mathieu Bonkoungou; Writing by Marine Pennetier; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Thailand will hold joint exercises beginning this month, China's Ministry of Defence said on Friday, in another sign of improving relations since the Thai military seized power in 2014. Thailand's military has sought to counterbalance traditionally close ties with the United States by engaging more with China since the May 2014 coup that the United States and other Western countries objected to. The May 19-June 10 exercises will involve land and sea operations, the ministry said, as well as training in humanitarian relief and maritime transport. China has rattled nerves in Southeast Asia with its increasingly assertive action in the South China Sea, where it rejects rival claims over parts of the sea by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. Thailand does not have claims in those disputed waters. Thailand's relations with the United States have cooled since the military overthrew an elected government two years ago. The United States has downgraded its military exercises and training with Thailand saying the programmes would be restored after a general election. The military government says an election will be held next year. China is a major investor in Thailand and among the projects the two countries are involved in is a plan to build a rail link from southern China through Laos to Thailand. (Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Robert Birsel)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said. Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday. Fang and Dunford discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said. The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States, which have traded accusations of militarising the South China Sea as China implements large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises. On Tuesday, China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. navy guided missile destroyer sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea and denounced the patrol as an illegal threat to peace. The U.S. defence department said the latest "freedom of navigation" operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam that were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea. 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. Fang said China was not to blame for tensions with the United States in the South China Sea and urged the two sides "to bear the overall situation in mind and manage their differences in a constructive way", Xinhua reported early on Friday. Xinhua quoted Dunford as calling for restraint in the South China Sea, and saying the United States was willing to work with China to establish "an effective mechanism on risk control so as to maintain stability in the South China Sea by peaceful means". The South China Sea was also discussed at a separate meeting between Sun Jianguo, an admiral and deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed the United States on Thursday in its latest South China Sea patrol. Australia has consistently supported U.S.-led freedom of navigation activities there. China's Defence Ministry said Sun told Griggs the South China Sea was not and should not become an issue between China and Australia, and that Australia should not do anything that "harms regional peace and stability or Sino-Australia ties". (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing)
By Lesley Wroughton, Patricia Zengerle and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to renew the bulk of its sanctions against Myanmar when they expire next week, but will make some changes aimed at boosting investment and trade, according to several senior U.S. officials and congressional aides. An announcement on extending much of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, could come as soon as Tuesday ahead of a visit to the Southeast Asian nation by Secretary of State John Kerry on May 22, officials said. The U.S. Treasury Department has significantly eased sanctions against Myanmar by issuing general licenses that give companies and investors exemptions to sanctions targeting more than 100 individuals and businesses, including some of Myanmars biggest business players. U.S. officials began lifting trade and financial sanctions against the country after military leaders launched reforms that led to a civilian government being formed in 2011, beginning its transformation from a half-century as an international pariah. In December, Treasury temporarily relaxed trade restrictions on the country also known as Burma by allowing all shipments to go through its ports and airports for six months. This time, Washington will likely offer more general licenses to specific companies, and take some people off Treasury's list of "Specially Designated Individuals" targeted for sanctions, congressional aides and U.S. officials said. Kerry's visit to Myanmar is his first since the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's Nobel laureate, swept to power following a landslide election win in November. A constitution drafted by the country's former military rulers bars her from becoming president. President Barack Obama's opening to Myanmar followed by its peaceful transition to an elected government is seen as one of his foreign policy achievements. He has visited there twice. But the administration also wants to maintain leverage on the country to guard against backsliding on reforms and to press for improvement on human rights. By renewing the legal framework for sanctions even as it eases some measures, Obama will offer the private sector more breathing room while maintaining pressure on its military, which still holds significant political power. The sanctions had been due to expire on May 20. Washington has deep concerns about human rights conditions in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, especially violence against ethnic and religious minorities including Rohingya Muslims. 'ROAD TO DEMOCRACY' Members of the U.S. Congress, from both parties, are watching closely and could move to clamp down on Myanmar themselves if they think Obama is moving too quickly. Last month, Senators Cory Gardner and Ben Cardin, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Foreign Relations Asia subcommittee, wrote to Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew expressing concern about rights, and asking the administration to work with Congress to ensure those concerns were addressed. "Like you, we want to ensure that the U.S. is Burma's strongest supporter on its road to democracy," the senators said in the letter, seen by Reuters. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Aung San Suu Kyi supported the extension of U.S. sanctions with some changes. Discussions with her have focused on how to properly target trade restrictions so they do not hurt Myanmar's overall economy, but keep pressure on military-owned institutions, they said. "We are looking to take steps to demonstrate our support for the new democratically elected government of Burma ...and that we're taking the necessary steps to ensure that they succeed, that they can carry on economic developments and reforms," a senior administration official told Reuters. "At the same time we want to do that in a smart, measured way that gives us a range of options and flexibility to respond appropriately going forward," the official added. The United States is eager to expand relations with Myanmar to help counteract China's rise in Asia and take advantage of the opening of one of the world's last "frontier markets," growing but less developed emerging economies. Peter Kucik, a former senior sanctions adviser at the U.S. Treasury, said despite an easing of some banking sanctions by the United States since 2012, transactions with Myanmar were still difficult. "I suspect the changes that get announced all drive at the same end goal: which is to promote and make easier the trade and business relationships between the two countries and encourage continued reform while minding concerns," said Kucik. "The details will really indicate where the principal areas of remaining concern are but broadly speaking they are going to be aligned with what we've seen so far," he said. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton)
By Duncan Miriri KIGALI (Reuters) - Gabon expects its economy, which has been hit hard by the slide in world oil prices, to grow by 3 percent in 2016 and then pick up pace next year, its president told Reuters on Thursday. Ali Bongo, who is seeking another seven years in office in August, told Reuters he would speed up measures to diversify the economy away from oil if he secured a second term. Bongo, who won power in an election held after his father died in 2009, is expected to win the single-round electoral system that critics say favour the incumbent. But he has been grappling with a breakaway faction of the ruling party. "This year is going to be difficult, I see more (like) 3 percent (growth) and next year we then go up again," he said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa, which is being held in the Rwandan capital Kigali. The president said growth had been running at an average of about 6 percent a year since he took office in 2009. "In the second term, I will be able to accelerate reforms," he said, adding that oil now accounted for about 60 percent of gross domestic product compared with 80 percent in 2009. The IMF said in March that it expected Gabon's economy to grow 3.2 percent this year and then possibly as fast as 5 percent in 2017 and 2018 if it invests in agricultural, particularly in cash crops such as palm oil and rubber. Gabon cut spending by 14 percent last year due to falling oil prices and lower output. Ratings agency Moodys downgraded its debt, while Fitch and Moodys gave it a negative outlook. "It is difficult for every oil-producing country, but we started ... the programme of diversification of our economy," he said. "We are still a long way from what we want to achieve, that is why we are asking the Gabonese people to support me." Gabon was building a manufacturing industry for wood products instead of only exporting the raw commodity from its forests and was developing the mining industry by producing manganese, he said. Bongo said the government was also distributing swathes of land - 200,000 hectares at first with a further 500,000 hectares in a second phase - in a bid to boost agricultural produce and cut reliance on food imports, which now account for 80 percent of its needs. A hub to produce petrochemicals was being developed at Port Gentil, he added. "We are studying right now about the potential for a refinery," he said. Dissidents complain of dysfunction in Bongo's Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) and accuse him of mismanaging the nation of 1.7 million people that lies on Africa's west coast. He dismissed accusations that he had risen to power on the back of his father's position, saying: "I did not inherit that seat. I had to fight for it." (Additional reporting by Clement Uwiringiyimana; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
The European Union is sending a medical team  the European Medical Corps or EMC  to Angola to help the country tackle the recent outbreak of yellow fever. Since December last year, 260 people have succumbed to yellow fever in Angola and a total of 2000 cases have been reported. Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, commented regarding the outbreak of yellow fever in the West African country that the EU had taken lessons from the Ebola crisis.

Mr. Stylianides said that Today, we are deploying a first team of public health experts as part of the European Medical Corps. They will complement the efforts of the Angolan government and work closely with the World Health Organization and other international partners on the ground to deal with the yellow fever outbreak. Together we can understand it better and stop it faster. The EMC was established in February this year with the aim to create capacity in the EU to deal with health emergencies. The founding of the EMC was mostly triggered by the Ebola crisis in Western Africa.

The mission in Angola will be the teams first ever deployment and it will consist of experts from Germany, Portugal and Belgium. The two-week mission will investigate the reasons behind the outbreak of the disease and assess the risk of spreading to other countries. The team will also look into the implications for European travellers in Angola and those returning to the EU. Some of the Angolan cases are believed to have spread to Kenya, DR Congo, Mauretania and China. Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. There is a vaccination but no cure. The World Health Organization reported that about one fourth of Angolas 24 million population has been vaccinated.
By Eric Auchard BERLIN (Reuters) - A group of hackers that cyber-security experts say targets critics of the Russian government has been trying since April to attack the computer systems of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, a security research firm said on Wednesday. Researchers at Trend Micro said the hackers, called Pawn Storm, appear to be trying to steal personal and corporate data from the CDU and high-profile individuals using two free email services. A year ago, the research group linked Pawn Storm to hacking attacks on the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament. In the latest attempts, the hackers apparently tried to coordinate credential-phishing attacks, using computer services based in Latvia and the Netherlands, to gain access to the systems of the CDU and other high-profile users, Trend Micro said in a blog post. "Up until now no attacks have taken place," a source at the CDU headquarters in Berlin said on Thursday. "We have nonetheless made appropriate changes to our IT infrastructure. We can't say anything on the reasons for this." Pawn Storm has been active for more than a decade and is considered one of the longest-lasting cyber espionage groups. Several major computer research groups say it has targeted opposition groups in Russia as well as NATO and governments in adjacent Eastern European countries, Turkey and the United States. The military, defense companies and media in those countries have also been attacked, Trend Micro said. "Pawn Storm clearly targets groups that could be perceived as a risk to Russian politics and interests," Trend Micro said. The cyber attack on the German parliament was first reported in May 2015. German media have said replacing the computer system could cost the government millions of euros. The news magazine Der Spiegel also quoted an internal investigation as saying there were indications that a Russian intelligence agency had staged the attack. In January 2015, German government websites, including Merkel's website, were hacked in an attack claimed by a group demanding that Berlin end support for the Ukrainian government. (Additional reporting by Michael Nienaber and Thorsten Severin; Editing by Larry King)
By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's actions to keep out migrants, including fast-track trials to punish those who breach its border fence, may conflict with international refugee and human rights conventions, the United Nations said on Thursday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has taken an increasingly anti-foreigner stance since migrants began pouring into Europe last year, building a heavily guarded border fence and rejecting an EU quota system to share out migrants among member states. Despite strong criticism from EU headquarters in Brussels and some major EU members including Germany, the right-wing Orban's approach has gone down well in Hungary, a country with few immigrants and little experience of multiculturalism. A new report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that legislation recently passed in Budapest has limited and deterred access to Hungary for those seeking refuge from war and persecution. "UNHCR considers these significant aspects of Hungarian law and practice raise serious concerns regarding compatibility with international and European law, and may be at variance with the country's international and European obligations," it said. By "obligations", the UNHCR was referring to protection for people fleeing the threat of war or persecution in their home countries, and prompt processing of asylum applications. The U.N. refugee agency criticised Hungary's fence and a procedure whereby migrants arriving at the frontier must submit their asylum requests in so-called "transit zones". "The asylum procedure and reception conditions are not in accordance with European Union and international standards, in particular concerning procedural safeguards, judicial review and freedom of movement," the report said. A Hungarian government spokesman was not immediately reachable for comment on the UNHCR's remarks. Hungary also introduced legislation in September 2015 that allows courts to order the expulsion of migrants for illegally breaching the border fence. The UNHCR said prison sentences had been "imposed following fast-tracked trials of questionable fairness, and (the sentences) are not suspended in the event that the concerned individual submits an asylum application". The report said the UNHCR was also concerned about a number of migrants kept in detention without clear time limits pending expulsion to neighbouring, non-EU Serbia, which had accepted only two people per week on average since January. Orban's government rejects a plan, agreed by a majority of EU governments last year, to redistribute 160,000 migrants around the 28-nation bloc to ease the burden on Greece and Italy, where most migrants first set foot on EU soil. Hungary erected a steel fence along its border with Serbia and Croatia to bar migrants, many of whom have fled war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. After domino-like closures of borders across the Balkans between Greece and Hungary, the heavy northwards flow of migrants - most of them bound ultimately for wealthy western EU countries like Germany and Sweden rather than smaller central EU states like Hungary - seen in 2015 has since subsided. But Hungarian officials say migrant numbers have risen again somewhat with warmer summer weather arriving, with some trying to cut through the fence despite a heavy police presence. (Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian Muslims will miss the annual haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in September, media reported on Thursday, as Tehran and Riyadh traded blame over a failure to agree organizational details. The regional rivals cut diplomatic ties in January. Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Tehran's Islamic Guidance and Culture Minister Ali Jannati as blaming Riyadh for the impasse. Last year's haj was marred by the death of over 2,000 pilgrims, 464 of them Iranian, in a crush during the crowded pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam's holiest city. "The arrangements have not been put together and it's now too late," said Jannati, whose ministry oversees arrangements for Iranian pilgrims. "The sabotage is coming from the Saudi side." The Saudi haj ministry said Tehran's delegation had refused to sign an agreement laying out arrangements for this year's haj, according to a statement carried by state-linked news site Sabq. The statement said Iran's demands included the granting of visas inside Iran and transport arrangements that would evenly split the pilgrims between Saudi and Iranian airlines. "Iran is the only country that refused to sign the agreement on the haj. It insisted on a number of unacceptable demands," Minister of Haj and Umra Mohammed Bintin told state television station Ekhbariya. The two countries severed ties after protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions there following the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric in the Sunni-led kingdom. Saudi Arabia's conservative Sunni monarchy sees Shi'ite- dominated Iran as the paramount threat to Middle East stability because of its support for Shi'ite militias that Riyadh says have inflamed sectarian violence. Iranian and Saudi officials have held talks to resolve the rift but so far failed to make progress, Iranian officials said. Jannati said the Saudis "did not accept our proposals on security, transportation and visa issuing for Iranian pilgrims". A culture ministry official said Iran was "very concerned over the security of Iranians during the holy ceremony" and that talks with Saudi authorities were continuing. Tehran expressed outrage last year after the deaths of Iranians at the haj, which drew about two million pilgrims from around the world, and politicians in Tehran suggested Riyadh was incapable of managing the event. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Katie Paul; Editing by Tom Heneghan and John Stonestreet)
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has deported three foreign suspected militants, two of them Russians allegedly involved with Islamic State and a Sri Lankan, the country's police chief said on Friday. Muslim-majority Malaysia has been on high alert since an armed attack by militants linked to Islamic State in Jakarta, the capital of neighbouring Indonesia, in January, in which four militants and four others died. The two Russian men, of Chechen origin, and the Sri Lankan were arrested in two operations in March and April, Malaysia's inspector-general of police, Khalid Abu Bakar, said in a statement. The Russians, aged 23 and 25, had previously been deported from Turkey before entering Malaysia in March. "They had been arrested by Turkish authorities for alleged involvement in IS militant activities in Syria," Khalid said, adding that the duo were deported on Friday. A 42-year-old Sri Lankan technician who allegedly posted online death threats against the president and prime minister of the Indian Ocean island was detained on April 22. The suspect was deported five days later, Khalid said, adding that he figured on the "most-wanted" list of the Sri Lankan authorities. Since January 2015, Malaysian police have arrested more than 160 people suspected of being involved in militant activities, including seven believed to have been part of an IS cell. In March, authorities said police foiled an attack to kidnap Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and other senior ministers last year. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is set to toast the five leaders of Nordic nations at a lavish state dinner at the White House on Friday, an unusual summit aimed in part at sending a message to a nation not on the guest list: Russia. Obama will laud the humanitarian and environmental accomplishments of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland, but also wants to talk about how to deal with their increasingly aggressive neighbour Russia ahead of a NATO summit in July. "We share the concern of countries in the region, particularly those who have a border with Russia, about the increasing presence of Russian military assets in the area," said Charles Kupchan, Obama's senior director for European affairs. "We will be discussing ways to enhance the security of the region, writ large, and also what we can do through dialogue and diplomacy to urge Russia to be more transparent and to be more restrained and careful in its military exercises," Kupchan told reporters. Obama last met Nordic leaders in Stockholm in 2013 on his way to a G20 summit in St. Petersburg after cancelling a planned bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin because of tensions over Syria and surveillance issues. Since then, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region, prompting Nordic nations to step up their military cooperation and the United States to boost military spending to help NATO do more to try to deter Russia. During a recent visit to Europe, Obama sought to reassure allies about the U.S. commitment to the continent, but pushed nations to increase their defence spending and stay united amid the strain of dealing with an influx of migrants fleeing Middle East conflicts. The leaders will discuss a long-term approach for dealing with refugees, Kupchan said, as well as new contributions to the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. He declined comment on specific commitments from the meeting. 'SHADOWY SPACES' Typically, the White House rolls out the red carpet for one leader at a time. Friday will be a bit trickier, juggling five guests of honour and their entourages. The state dinner itself will be in a large tent with a transparent ceiling evoking the northern lights and "shadowy spaces in the arctic night," the White House told reporters. Guests will sit at long, rustic wooden tables bedecked with columns of ice, fiddlehead ferns, and fragrant hand-rolled beeswax candles, and dine on braised Nebraska beef short ribs and salt-cured Atlantic ahi tuna served in a large ice cube. The summit is expected to be heavy on "feel-good" messages about the outsized role Nordic nations play in international diplomacy, said Julie Smith, a former Obama administration official now with the Center for a New American Security. "In many ways, the actual visit is the deliverable," Smith said, noting it was unlikely major new initiatives would emerge. "We're at the end of the president's tenure so there are limits on what new things he can drive forward," Smith said. In Washington, preparations for the leaders' arrival have been overshadowed by a visit by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to meet with congressional leaders as the race intensifies to replace Obama in the White House in the Nov. 8 election. Trump has said NATO is obsolete and European nations should look after their own defence, which has sparked concern among Nordic nations, said Heather Conley, a former State Department official in the George W. Bush administration. "They hear with great clarity the statements of Donald Trump and they don't know exactly how this is going to work in November," said Conley, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Norways Prime Minister Erna Solberg plans to stress the importance of American participation in NATO for Nordic nations, she said in an interview this week with the Norwegian daily Aftenposten. "With an unpredictable Russian presence in the northern areas, it's important that the Americans have a focus on the Arctic regions," Solberg said. (Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by David Gregorio)
LONDON (Reuters) - Retail tycoon Philip Green has said the head of Britain's Pension Regulator was "incorrect" when she told MPs this week that the media reported he was selling department store BHS before he informed her. Lesley Titcomb, the regulator's chief executive, told a joint parliamentary committee on Monday that she had found out from British newspapers that Green had sold BHS to Retail Acquisitions, a collection of little known investors, for a nominal sum of one pound in March last year. But the company secretary of Green's Arcadia Group wrote to MPs on Wednesday saying the regulator had been given advance notice of the sale, which concluded on March 11, 2015. Last month Retail Acquisitions placed BHS into administration, a form of creditor protection, putting the 88-year-old retailer at risk of disappearing from British shopping streets and jeopardising 11,000 jobs. 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 its 571 million pounds pension deficit. "The evidence of Ms Titcomb has been widely reported in the press, but it is incorrect," Arcadia company secretary Adam Goldman said in a letter to parliament's Work and Pensions and Business, Innovation and Skills select committees. Goldman said that on Feb. 6 last year the regulator was notified by email that Green had decided to seek buyers for BHS. He said communication with the regulator also included a March 4 meeting last year attended by Green and Chris Martin, chairman of the trustees of the BHS pension schemes. "The Pensions Regulator was informed of key terms of the proposed sale of BHS business ... The sale consideration of 1 pound was expressly referred to," Goldman said. Titcomb wrote back to the Work and Pensions Committee on Wednesday saying a March 4 2015 meeting with the trustees and Arcadia did discuss the terms of a potential imminent sale. But it was to a company called Swiss Rock. "We learned of the confirmation of the sale to Retail Acquisitions Ltd on March 11 when it was made public. The Pensions Regulator was not informed about this in advance," said Titcomb. "The Pensions Regulator subsequently learned that Swiss Rock had changed its name to Retail Acquisitions." The Work and Pensions Committee said it would now seek documentation charting all the regulator's interaction with Arcadia and the trustees. Goldman's letter also sought to clarify dividends paid by BHS during Green's ownership from 2000 to 2015. He said dividends of 423 million pounds were declared for the years ending March 2002, 2003 and 2004, "which reflected the significant profits of the business at that time." No dividends were paid after that. Green has agreed in principle to give evidence to the parliamentary committees on June 15. (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
Vladimir Putin has said Russia is considering "putting an end" to the "emerging threat" to its security from NATO's missile defence shield.

The Russian president dismissed US claims that the shield is not aimed against Russia and is instead designed to stop a missile threat from Iran.

Some of the missiles are already carried on ships in the Mediterranean, and others are based in Romania.

Mr Putin said he viewed the development as a threat to global security. Without offering details, he said Russia must take steps to strategically keep up with the West.

"Now that these anti-missile elements have been installed we will be forced to consider putting an end to the threats emerging in relation to Russia's security," AFP reported Mr Putin as saying.

Russia "will do everything needed to ensure and preserve the strategic balance, which is the most reliable guarantee from large-scale military conflicts", he added.

NATO's missile defence system was first proposed in 2002 but it has taken several years to get off the ground.

In 2009, the Obama administration said it would be deploying the sea-based Aegis weapon system on ships patrolling waters to stop any Iranian missiles.

The system became fully operational in 2012 when a radar system in Turkey was brought under NATO command.

The second stage went live on Thursday when an $800m US missile defence site in Deveselu, Romania, became operational.

CBS reported that Romania's President Klaus Iohannis said his country wanted NATO to have a "permanent naval presence" in the Black Sea and called for increased security for NATO members in the south and east, which border Russia and the Middle East.

Construction of another missile site in Redzikowo, Poland, was due to get under way on Friday and NATO is also planning to set up command and control centres in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria by the end of 2016.

Russia's consistent opposition to NATO's missile programme on its borders has come amid increased tensions in the region following the annexation of Crimea, accusations of Russian involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's part in the Syrian conflict.

Both the US and the UK have sent military jets to several eastern European countries in what both countries say is a deterrence.
By Mohammad Stanekzai LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A shadowy new unit run by Afghanistan's main intelligence agency has begun operations in southern Helmand province with a mission to exploit divisions within the Taliban insurgency, government officials and a militant spokesman said. The aim is to weaken an increasingly dangerous enemy by turning the tables on the Taliban, who boast of placing agents among government security forces to carry out "insider attacks". The initiative comes as fledgling Afghan forces are struggling to prevent the Taliban overrunning large parts of Helmand and other parts of the country. Abdul Jabbar Qahraman, President Ashraf Ghani's special envoy for security affairs in the southern province, confirmed the existence of the unit, whose members do not wear uniform, but declined to provide further details. "The idea for the creation of the new contingent, which dresses like local Helmandis, was mine," said the official, who was a commander fighting for the Soviet-backed government in southern Afghanistan in the 1980s. Helmand police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang said the 300-strong unit, created and equipped by the National Directorate of Security (NDS), had conducted several operations and was proving a success. The NDS headquarters in Kabul did not respond to several requests for comment, although an official from the agency in Helmand confirmed the unit's existence and the broad outlines of how it operates. He declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The Taliban, who have in the past incited Afghan police and soldiers to desert their posts and attack comrades, confirmed the unit existed, but they dismissed suggestions that it was able to exploit their internal divisions as "propaganda". "It is true that this contingent exists and operates mysteriously in some parts of Helmand," said Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the Taliban's main spokesman in southern Afghanistan. "We have very strong intelligence and find those who want to infiltrate our ranks," he added. INSURGENCY, RIVALRY AND OPIUM The NDS unit adds another complication to the conflict in Helmand, a traditional Taliban stronghold and centre of the opium trade criss-crossed by a web of tribal and factional rivalries in addition to the insurgency. In a conflict where deceit and double-cross are commonplace, government forces have often been the victim. In January, four rogue policemen killed nine comrades and stole their weapons, before deserting to join the insurgents. Both Afghan and NATO officials have frequently spoken of the difficulties faced by the Afghan National Army, a largely Dari-speaking force that relies heavily on recruits from northern Afghanistan, in operating in Pashto-speaking Helmand. One provincial official said the unit was operating in Musa Qala and Nawzad, two central districts abandoned by government forces in February, as well as Marjah and Nad Ali, where government control is tenuous. "Now the Taliban do not believe each other. They believe that their colleagues may be infiltrated by the Afghan intelligence agency," he said. Despite a lull in recent weeks, which officials say was due to Taliban fighters being busy with the annual opium harvest, Helmand has seen months of heavy fighting during which government forces have been forced to abandon several districts and regroup around the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. INFILTRATION The unit's reported successes have come at a price, local officials said. "It is a very good achievement by the Afghan government and has created splits within the Taliban," said Attaullah Afghan, a member of the Helmand provincial council. But he said officials had received dozens of complaints from residents in districts like Nawzad and Khanishin where the unit operated. "Taliban are abusing ordinary people and even arresting some of them as spies of the Afghan government," he said. According to local sources in Helmand, a battle between rival groups of Taliban in Nad Ali and Marjah districts to the west of Lashkar Gah that ended with as many as 30 fighters dead on Sunday, was set off by the special NDS unit. They said members of the unit attacked a checkpoint manned by fighters loyal to Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, creating the impression that they were on the side of Mansour's main rival, Mullah Mohammad Rasoul. The Taliban denied that the fighting was between rival factions of the movement but did point to the role of "bandits newly armed by Jabbar Qahraman". "There is currently no fighting in the area and the entire region has been cleansed from these newly formed bandits," Ahmadi said in a statement. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
OSLO (Reuters) - Support for Norway's ruling Conservative Party is at its highest since September 2014, giving a comfortable majority for the government and its backers in parliament, a poll for newspaper Aftenposten showed on Friday. The Conservatives polled 25.5 percent in the survey by Respons Analyse, a rise of 2.7 points from April, while the Progress Party, the junior partner in the minority coalition, fell 1.4 points to 15.3 percent. The government headed by Prime Minister Erna Solberg relies on the backing in parliament of the centrist Liberal Party and Christian Democrats, which saw only minor changes in their support. The next general election is due in September 2017. Since 2014, oil-producing Norway has sharply increased spending from its sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, to combat a rise in unemployment triggered by the fall in crude prices. "The results of the government's policies are becoming more visible, and the voters seem to like what they see," Solberg told Aftenposten. The poll of 1,001 respondents indicated the four parties would win 94 seats in parliament, a loss of two from the current level but well ahead of the 85 required to retain a majority. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by Andrew Roche)
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 criticizing 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 criticized 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 offense. 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 Ece Toksabay and Paul Carrel ANKARA/BERLIN (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan ratcheted up the pressure on Europe over a landmark migrants deal on Thursday, accusing the bloc of setting new hurdles for visa-free travel and threatening Ankara may go its own way if they failed to agree. In Berlin, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker also dug in his heels, saying the agreement would collapse unless Ankara fulfilled its commitments, including making agreed changes to its anti-terror law. The stand-off has cast doubts on the future of the agreement, designed to give Turks visa-free travel to Europe in return for stemming the flow of illegal migrants. Brussels is desperate for it to succeed, but insists Turkey meets 72 criteria, including narrowing its legal definition of terrorism. The EU and rights groups have accused Turkey of using its broad anti-terrorism laws to stifle dissent while Ankara says it needs the laws to battle Kurdish militants at home and Islamic State in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. "We had finished the issue of visa free travel with EU, we had inked the deal, then they came up with these 72 criteria and included the counter-terror laws in it," Erdogan said. Telling Turkey to soften its counter-terrorism laws was tantamount to asking it to give up its struggle against terrorism, he said in a speech. "Either we will improve our relations with the EU, or we will set a new path for ourselves. We prefer to build the new Turkey with our EU friends, but now we will wait for the decision of our EU friends." But a combative Juncker showed no signs of giving ground. "We put great value in the conditions being met. Otherwise this deal, the agreement between the EU and Turkey, won't happen. If Mr Erdogan decides to deny Turks the right to free travel to Europe, then he must explain this to the Turkish people. It will not be my problem, it will be his problem." 'IN TURKEY'S COURT' Other European politicians also piled pressure on Ankara, with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier saying it was up to Turkey to fulfil the criteria if it wants visa-free travel. "The ball is in Turkey's court," Steinmeier said, adding Turkey must change anti-terrorism statutes that could lead to a crackdown on journalists. "If Turkey fulfils its commitments, then I would be in favour of us fulfilling our commitments and pressing ahead with visa liberalisation." Turkey's record on press freedom is a growing concern in Europe. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, including journalists, cartoonists and teenagers. A German satirist is facing prosecution after mocking him on German TV. Still, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the deal was not "dead", and that Brussels was working towards granting Turkey visa-free travel. Brussels said on Thursday it would assign 1 billion euros in aid for refugees living in Turkey by the end of July, speeding up the disbursement of funds promised along with visa liberalisation. Turkey has complained the EU is too slow spending the money. Ankara's minister for EU affairs said Turkey believed it had fulfilled all the criteria, adding that it was unacceptable if the deal was postponed unfairly. "We want the process to continue but it would be unacceptable for Turkey if it is postponed in an unfair fashion," Volkan Bozkir told a news conference in Strasbourg broadcast live on Turkish television. Ankara has repeatedly said that without visa liberalisation, there will be no migrant deal. (Addditional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Daren Butler and Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by David Dolan and Dominic Evans)
By Robin Emmott DEVESELU, Romania (Reuters) - The United States switched on an $800 million missile shield in Romania on Thursday that it sees as vital to defend itself and Europe from so-called rogue states but the Kremlin says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear arsenal. To the music of military bands at the remote Deveselu air base, senior U.S. and NATO officials declared operational the ballistic missile defense site, which is capable of shooting down rockets from countries such as Iran that Washington says could one day reach major European cities. "As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend NATO," said U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, standing in front of the shield's massive gray concrete housing that was adorned with a U.S. flag. Despite Washington's plans to continue to develop the capabilities of its system, Work said the shield would not be used against any future Russian missile threat. "There are no plans at all to do that," he told a news conference. Before the ceremony, Frank Rose, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control, warned that Iran's ballistic missiles can hit parts of Europe, including Romania. When complete, the defensive umbrella will stretch from Greenland to the Azores. On Friday, the United States will break ground on a final site in Poland due to be ready by late 2018, completing the defense line first proposed almost a decade ago. The full shield also includes ships and radars across Europe. It will be handed over to NATO in July, with command and control run from a U.S. air base in Germany. Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its Cold War rival in formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe. 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. "It is part of the military and political containment of Russia," Andrey Kelin, a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official, said on Thursday, the Interfax news agency reported. "These decisions by NATO can only exacerbate an already difficult situation," he added, saying the move would hinder efforts to repair ties between Russia and the alliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin's office said Moscow also doubted NATO's stated aim of protecting the alliance against Iranian rockets following the historic nuclear deal with Tehran and world powers last year that Russia helped to negotiate. "The situation with Iran has changed dramatically," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Joe Cirincione, an American nuclear expert who is president of Ploughshares Fund, a global security organization, told reporters in Geneva that the shield should be scrapped. "It was designed to protect Europe from a missile from, well, the only country we were afraid of was Iran. The system was designed to protect against an Iranian nuclear missile. There is not going to be an Iranian nuclear missile for at least 20 years. There is no reason to continue with that program." RETALIATION 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. Poland is concerned Russia may retaliate further by announcing the deployment of nuclear weapons to its enclave of Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania. Russia has stationed anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles there, able to cover huge areas and complicate NATO's ability to move around. The Kremlin says the shield's aim is to neutralize Moscow's nuclear arsenal long enough for the United States to strike Russia in the event of war. Washington and NATO deny that. "Missile defense ... does not undermine or weaken Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the Deveselu base. However, Douglas Lute, the United States' envoy to NATO, said NATO would press ahead with NATO's biggest modernization since the Cold War. "We are deploying at sea, on the ground and in the air across the eastern flanks of the alliance ... to deter any aggressor," Lute said. At a cost of billions of dollars, the missile defense umbrella relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Sensors then measure the rocket's trajectory and destroy it in space before it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites. The Romanian shield, which is modeled on the United States' so-called Aegis ships, was first assembled in New Jersey and then transferred to the Deveselu base in containers. While U.S. and NATO officials are adamant that the shield is designed to counter threats from the Middle East and not Russia, they remained vague on whether the radars and interceptors could be reconfigured to defend against Russia in a conflict. The United States says Russia has ballistic missiles, in breach of a treaty that agreed the two powers must not develop and deploy missiles with a range of 500 km (310.69 miles) to 5,500 km. The United States declared Russia in non-compliance of the treaty in July 2014. The issue remains sensitive because the United States does not want to give the impression it would be able to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles that were carrying nuclear warheads, which is what Russia fears. (Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs, Andrew Osborn and Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow and Tom Miles in Geneva; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Andrew Heavens)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S., European and Canadian officials walked out of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's inauguration in protest on Thursday after Sudan's leader showed up despite facing arrest warrants and Museveni mocked the International Criminal Court, the State Department said. Uganda is a party to the agreement that established the Hague, Netherlands-based court, which issued international arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010 against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir seeking his detention on charges of genocide. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a news briefing in Washington that Museveni made disparaging remarks about the court to the audience. "We believe that walking out in protest is an appropriate reaction to a head of state mocking efforts to ensure accountability for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity," Trudeau said. "In response to President Bashir's presence and President Museveni's remarks, the United States delegation, along with representatives of the European Union countries and Canada, departed the inauguration ceremonies to demonstrate our objection." Museveni, 71, who has governed Uganda for 30 years, was re-elected to a fifth term as president in February, prompting opposition protests, clashes and dozens of arrests. Uganda blocked social media sites and increased security ahead of the inauguration. Bashir, who has ruled Sudan since a 1989 Islamist and army-backed coup, rejects the authority of the International Criminal Court and has flouted the warrant before, travelling in the Middle East and Africa as well as to China and Indonesia, which are not members of the court. The court accuses Bashir of masterminding genocide and other atrocities in his campaign to crush a revolt in Sudan's western Darfur region. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by James Dalgleish and Richard Chang)
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's socialist government on Thursday condemned the suspension of Brazil's leftist president, Dilma Rousseff, to face trial as a mockery of justice and popular will. Venezuela's ruling Socialist Party has long been a strong ally of Rouseff's Workers Party, especially during the rule of her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. "Venezuela categorically rejects the parliamentary coup d'etat under way in Brazil, which, via judicial farces from the oligarchy and imperial forces, seeks to topple the president and overturn popular sovereignty," a government statement said. Even though bilateral relations have been cooler during President Nicolas Maduro's three-year rule than those of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, Rouseff's departure is still a big disappointment to Venezuela's leaders. They had already lost one major ally in South America with the election of conservative Mauricio Macri as Argentina's president in 2015. "The legitimate president, Dilma Rousseff, first female head of state in Brazil, faces an assault motivated by vengeance from those factors who lost elections and are incapable of taking power by any way other than force," Venezuela added in the statement, released by the foreign ministry. Centrist Vice President Michel Temer has taken over as interim Brazilian president for the duration of a Senate trial that could take up to six months. The Senate voted early on Thursday to put Rousseff on trial on charges that she disguised the size of the budget deficit to make the economy look healthier in the run-up to her 2014 re-election. Maduro was due to lead a rally in Caracas supporting Rousseff later on Thursday. Pro-opposition blog Caracas Chronicles welcomed Rousseff's fall as another blow to the "pink tide" of leftist governments in the region. "In the last few years, Venezuela could count on the governments of Argentina and Brazil to lend their considerable diplomatic weight to defending it from its accusers," it said. "Now, both countries have turned, and together with Colombia  never a friend of 'Chavismo'  the three largest countries in the continent view Venezuela with disdain, if not outright shock." (Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam would welcome the United States "accelerating" the lifting of a lethal arms embargo, which would reflect trust between the two countries and recognition of its needs to defend itself, its foreign ministry said on Thursday. Vietnam's comments on a topic that has long been a source of friction with the United States comes just over a week ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama, and amid debate in Washington over whether to remove the ban, which was eased in late 2014. The arms embargo is one of the last major vestiges of the Vietnam War era. The United States has not indicated publicly it would remove the embargo and has long said such a move would depend on Vietnam showing progress on human rights. "We welcome the United States' acceleration to fully lift the lethal arms sales ban on Vietnam," the ministry said in response to Reuters questions. "This is consistent with the development trend of the comprehensive partnership ... demonstrating trust between the two countries." Lifting the embargo would mark a major step forward in ties 21 years after normalization began. The ministry said it welcomed the "many supporting voices" in the United States that had called for the removal of the embargo. U.S. engagement with Vietnam was stepped up rapidly during 2014, in what experts say was a calibrated move by the United States to seize on deteriorating ties between Vietnam and communist neighbour China over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea. Vietnam is hosting a defence symposium this week attended by top American arms manufacturers including Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Secrecy has surrounded the event, which is part of efforts by Vietnam to build a military deterrent as China intensifies its fortification of South China Sea islands it controls or has built from scratch. Vietnam has been in talks with Western and U.S. arms manufacturers to boost its fleets of fighter jets, helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft, although Russia, its traditional supplier, has a dominant position. The foreign ministry said Vietnam had no intention of forming military alliances "against other countries" and its policy was about self-defence. "The procurement of defence equipment by Vietnam from partner countries is completely normal, in accordance with the a defence policy of peace," it said. "We are not allied or linking militarily with any country against other countries." (Reporting by Hanoi bureau; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)
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.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress news agency presents the upcoming news for 13.05.2016.

Freedom of Information Center in cooperation with the Armenian Bar Association organizes Government-civil society anti-corruption conference. The opening speech will be delivered by Minister of Justice Arpine Hovhannisyan, head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan Argo Avakov and others.

Justice Minister Arpine Hovhannisyan and head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan, Ambassador Argo Avakov will attend another discussion entitled Electoral Dispute Settlement.

With regard to the amendments to the Law on Peoples Medical care and services, Fund for Armenian Relief (FAR) organized a meeting-discussion. The discussion will be chaired by the head of FAR Health programs Hambardzum Simonyan. The head of the Health care, Maternity, and Childhood of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan, head of the department of staff of the Ministry of Health Samvel Soghomonyan will participate in the discussion.

Personal Data Protection Agency of the Ministry of Justice organizes a working discussion on Personal data protection and direct marketing. The protection mechanisms of consumers from unwanted messages and calls and the direct marketing legislation of Armenia and the European Union will be presented during the meeting.

Members of the Renaming and naming street and other objects initiative Karine Panosyan, Tigran Martirosyan and other will speak about this issue and will introduce the goal of their initiative.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Yerevan State Chamber Choir. Artistic director and composer of Yerevan State Chamber Choir Harutyun Topikyan, head of Yerevan Chamber Choir Laura Basentsyan and director of National Center of Chamber Music, violinist Vache Hoveyan will speak about the achievements and successes of the Choir. They will also introduce the upcoming concerts of the Choir devoted to the 20th anniversary. It will be held by the participation of prominent pianist Tigran Hamasyan.

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YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. Ombudsman of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Ruben Melikyan addressed an open letter to the organizers of the Eurovision 2016 Song Contest, disapproving the European Broadcasting Unions (EBU) announcement regarding the waving of the Nagorno Karabakhi flag during the contest. ARMENPRESS presents the entire open letter:

OPEN LETTER TO EUROVISION-2016 ORGANIZERS

Dear ladies and gentlemen of the EBU and the Reference Group,

My name is Ruben Melikyan. I am the elected Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (NKR), a democracy located between the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani Republic. I should proudly and humbly protect the freedom and human rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh, approximately 150 000 peaceful civilians -- men, women, children and elderly -- all living between two European countries. I am a European, whose country is denied access to the European community and whose flag has found itself amidst anger, fear, embarrassment, shame, and most importantly, apathy. This resulted in your official statement of May 11 of 2016.

First of all, on behalf of the people of Karabakh, I would like to express my strong disagreement with your statement's language that described the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as a mere territorial dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We, the people of the NKR, have been exercising our fundamental and undeniable right to self-determination since 1991 by declaring and defending our independence from the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan. It was done in full conformity with International Law and then-applicable Soviet Constitutional Law. Thus, your description of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is inaccurate and offensive to my people, and adds injury to an insult.

Secondly, I would like to kindly draw your attention to the events of April 2-5, 2016, which probably determined the song contestants very understandable personal motivation to exhibit the NKR National flag.

I'd also like to kindly draw your attention to the facts, well-documented in the Interim Public Report of the NKR Human Rights Defender, recording all the atrocities and violations committed by Azerbaijani military forces from April 2 to April 5 of 2016.

We documented beheadings that happened in Europe, murders and dismemberments of elderly that happened in Europe, intensive shelling of schools and dwellings that happened in Europe just 40 days ago. And as a responsible European, who cares about European values and seeks democracy and peace, the song contestant merely called for peace and unity amidst these barbaric atrocities by exhibiting the flag of the NKR, for the people who have lost their lives, just 40 days ago, on a land that is our home. Nevertheless, you threatened to sanction the participant, silencing an adequate and humble expression of her freedom of speech.

Europe is united over the values of fundamental human rights, and at the core of these values is freedom of speech. As the subject of the speech is of extraordinary importance, there should not be any restriction whatsoever for freedom of expression. ISIS-style beheadings and other terrible war crimes of Azerbaijani armed forces were committed just 40 days ago, and Azerbaijan is threatening openly to repeat them if my people do not obey the rule of Azerbaijani Republic, a country with state-fueled policy of Armenophobia.

Ladies and gentlemen,

These circumstances can be named no other way but extraordinary. Accordingly your statement on enforcement of your Rule 1.2.2h can be named no other way but an overreaction to a mere reminder of the situation by a mere exhibition of a National Flag.

I kindly call for your conscious as Europeans to remember the fundamental values of Europe, incorporated in the teachings of John Locke, Voltaire, Kant, and not of the likes of Hitler and Mussolini. I kindly call upon you to take the side of peace and unity. And finally I kindly ask you to remain in the framework of the Song Contest format and to not enter the field of international politics.

http://ombudsnkr.am/en/news.html

Sincerely,

Ruben Melikyan

Human Rights Defender of

the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh Republic)
YEREVAN, MAY 12, ARMENPRESS. The Foreign Ministers of Minsk Group Co-chair countries plan to attend the possible meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Vienna. A meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents is scheduled in Vienna next week. It is planned that the foreign ministers of the OSCE Mink Group Co-chair countries, RF, USA and France, will also participate in the meeting. The main goal of the meeting will be trying to reinforce the ceasefire regime, decrease military risks and agree upon concrete steps of confidence building, Armenpress reports, citing Ria-Novosti, ussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

In her opinion, such meetings can foster stabilization of the region, create necessary conditions for the resumption of talks aimed at finding a comprehensive solution to the problem.

Russian diplomatic circles think that the meeting may take place on May 16.

The Armenian side has announced that information on visits and meetings of the President will be properly and timely delivered.
Baidu to shift to AI, says CEO Updated: 2016-05-13 08:30 By Meng Jing(China Daily Europe)

Internet company responds to probe over ad listings after student's death

Baidu Inc's CEO has pledged to shift the company's business model from a search engine model to one based on artificial intelligence, after a recent government probe put a chill on its core search business.

Li Yanhong said in an internal letter on May 10 that the move will allow Baidu to develop such areas as voice search, automatic translation and driverless vehicles.

Analysts say the move is expected to dampen Baidu's near-term profitability. Provided to China Daily

Li, a founder of the company, which runs China's largest online search engine, also vowed to emphasize user experience over income and to set up a department to root out any behavior that might damage user experience.

"The department will have the final say to veto any behavior that is not in line with a good user experience," Li said in the letter. "Some of the measures we take may have a negative impact on the company's income. But I believe it's the right thing to do."

Analysts say the move is expected to dampen Baidu's near-term profitability, which in turn could make it more challenging for its new business initiative to gain momentum.

The pledge to put users ahead of business performance came after a government investigation led to a demand that the search giant overhaul its paid listing system. The probe came after the death of Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student, who underwent an experimental medical treatment that had been advertised among Baidu's search results.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the state regulator, said on May 9 that the company had "influenced the impartiality and objectivity of its search results, making it easy to mislead users, and this must be immediately rectified".

In response, Baidu said it will restrict the proportion of sponsored search results to 30 percent per web page and adopt a new listing system that does not fully depend on the advertising price, but also considers an advertiser's reputation.

Other actions include placing clear disclaimers on ads, so online users can tell them apart from natural search results, and establishing a 1 billion yuan ($153 million; 134 million euros) fund to compensate netizens cheated by false promotions.

Industry observers say medical-related ads are estimated to account for 25 percent of Baidu's revenue.

Lyu Ronghui, an analyst with the iResearch consultancy, says Baidu's revenue is likely to decline in the near future because it will have to turn down some advertisers and may also spend more money to verify the qualifications of medical organizations or enterprises.

mengjing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/13/2016 page25)
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had a telephone conversation with the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Armenpress reports, Turkish Anadolu agency informs.

Issues related to the World Humanitarian Summit which will be held for the first time in Istanbul on May 22-24 were discussed during the talk.

They also discussed issues related to Syria and Cyprus during the talk.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in an attack in Syria, the Lebanese group said on Friday, the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed organization since its military chief was killed in 2008, reports Reuters.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and assessed by the U.S. government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Hezbollah said Badreddine had been killed in a big explosion targeting one of its bases near Damascus airport, and an investigation was underway into whether it was caused by an air strike, a missile attack, or artillery bombardment.

The Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen earlier reported he had been killed in an Israeli attack.

There was no immediate response from Israel which has struck Hezbollah targets inside Syria several times during the countrys five-year conflict. "We decline to comment," an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. On May 12 Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian met French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault in France, Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia informed Armenpress.

Minister Nalbandian presented his French counterpart the situation created in Nagorno Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijani aggression and emphasized the consistent efforts of Armenia together with the OSCE Minsk Group aimed at excluding the April events and solving the conflict exclusively with peaceful means.

The interlocutors agreed that the use of force is unacceptable, and the conflict settlement through negotiations has no alternative. They stressed the importance of trilateral term-less agreements on establishing and maintaining 1994-1995 ceasefire regime and the necessity of their complete implementation. In this regard, Ministers highlighted the need to install investigation mechanisms on ceasefire violations and incidents and the urgent expansion of capabilities of the group of the OSCE Chairmans Personal Representative.

Minister Nalbandian reaffirmed that in case of the creation of appropriate conditions, Armenia will continue to work with the OSCE Minsk Group Chairing countries towards the settlement of conflict through negotiations.

The interlocutors also discussed issues of bilateral cooperation in political, economic, trade, inter-parliamentary, decentralized, humanitarian and other fields.

Armenian Minister Nalbandian and his French counterpart emphasized with satisfaction that the Armenian-French bilateral relations are at the high level. They spoke about the possibilities of developing and expanding the bilateral economic cooperation. In this regard, Armenian Minister stated that nearly 160 companies with French capital exist in Armenia, and Armenia welcomes the growth of French investments and the initiatives towards that direction.

The sides also discussed the cooperation within the framework of La Francophonie international organization.

Edward Nalbandian invited his French counterpart to Armenia.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. An estimated 188,075 migrants and refugees have entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 11 May, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain, Armenpress reports, citing IOM.

Latest fatalities stand at 1,357. By comparison, deaths in 2015 through 11 May on all Mediterranean routes totalled 1,792, which is approximately 32 percent higher than 2016s total this far.

Over the past two days around 800 migrants have been rescued on the Central Mediterranean route between North Africa and Italy, including Egyptians, Sudanese, Somalis and a number of migrants from the Comoro Islands.

Migrant arrivals in Italy for all of 2016, including those still at sea scheduled to arrive in Italian ports today, are close to 32,000, according to IOM Rome spokesperson Flavio di Giacomo. That compares to around 47,500 through the first five months of 2015.

We are seeing that migrant flows have remained more or less stable during the first five months of 2016, compared to the same period last year, said Di Giacomo. The top nationalities arriving in Italy are also similar  mainly Sub-Saharan Africans.

Initial reports suggested that the 800 migrants rescued over the past two days on the Central Mediterranean route included some 200 Syrians and Iraqis. Both nationalities used this route to reach Europe in 2015, but have been largely absent during 2016, preferring to travel through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans.

But this morning (13/5), IOM staff monitoring their arrival in Italy reported that there were in fact just two passengers who claimed to be Syrians. These individuals may have been long-term residents of Egypt.

Despite a sharp drop in departures of Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans from Turkey to Greece, IOM has yet to see any evidence that these nationalities are responding to the closure of the Balkan route by returning to the Central Mediterranean route and trying to reach Italy via Egypt or Libya.

Over the past two days around 800 migrants have been rescued on the Central Mediterranean route, including Egyptians, Sudanese, Somalis and a number from the Comoro Islands. Migrant arrivals to Italy for all of 2016, including those still at sea scheduled to arrive in Italian ports today, are close to 32,000 estimates IOM Rome spokesman Flavio di Giacomo. That compares to around 47,500 through the first five months of 2015.

We are seeing that migrant flows have remained stable between the first five months of 2016 and the same period last year, said Mr. Di Giacomo. The top nationalities arriving are also similarmainly Sub-Saharan Africans.
STEPANAKERT, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakyan visited the town of Mataghis in Martakert region and met with the residents of the community to discuss issues the settlement is facing and ways to solve them.

As Armenpress was informed from the press service of Artsakh Presidents Office, elimination of damages caused to Mataghis by the large-scale combat operations unleashed by Azerbaijan from 2 to 5 April was at the spotlight of the meeting.

President Sahakyan underlined that the state will do everything possible to support the town and its residents, highlighting their unbending spirit to live and create in their native land.

The Head of the State gave concrete instructions towards proper solution of the discussed issues.
YEREVAN, MAY 13, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov received Secretary of the CIS Defense Ministers Council Major-General Yuri Dashkin on May 13, press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia informed Armenpress.

Issues of international and regional security were discussed at the meeting. A special attention was paid to the preparatory works of the regular session of the CIS Defense Ministers Council, to be held in June 2016 in the Russian Federation, as well as to the issues of future development of multilateral military cooperation.

At the end of the meeting Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Colonel-General Yuri Khachaturov wished Major-General Yuri Dashkin success in his responsible service.
Generation of new imams preach peace Updated: 2016-05-13 08:27 By Cui Jia(China Daily Europe)

China will support the education of religious professionals to ensure they are fully prepared to carry out their duties and build the trust of believers, President Xi Jinping said at a religious affairs conference in Beijing last month.

As a result, the next generation of religious professionals and leaders, such as those studying at the China Islamic Institute in Beijing, will play an important role in guiding their congregations and ensuring that they follow the path of peace.

The young graduates' informal approach and their modern take on religious faith have seen them became increasingly popular among believers in mosques around China. To meet the rising demand for young imams, the school has decided to raise student numbers in September, the start of the academic year.

Students read the Quran during a class at the China Islamic Institute, the country's top academy for Quranic studies, in Beijing. Photos by Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily

After four years at China's leading center for Islamic studies, the graduates can recite the Quran in flawless, unaccented Arabic. Meanwhile, their youth means they understand how to use social media platforms to spread religious knowledge and answer questions about issues - both domestic and international - that concern Muslims. Younger people find it easier to communicate with religious leaders of similar age who share many of the same interests.

People often find it hard to reconcile Ma Jiacheng's youth with his status as the imam, or religious leader, of the biggest mosque in North China. They expect to meet a grave, elderly man, not a smiling 26-year-old who left college only last year.

Ma is among a number of recently appointed young imams taking a new approach to religious teaching by combining their understanding of Islam with new ideas, in the hope of generating and reinforcing positive images of China's Muslims.

He first visited the Doudian Mosque in Beijing's Fangshan district in 2013, when he was a student at the China Islamic Institute. Now, he is entering his ninth month as the imam of the center, which features a prayer hall big enough to hold 2,000 worshippers.

He was appointed to the post after he graduated last year, replacing the previous incumbent, who retired. Five of his classmates are now imams at mosques around China.
Learning from a good neighbor Updated: 2016-05-13 08:30 By Chen Yingqun(China Daily Europe)

China's sophisticated technological, financial and trade systems present Kazakhstan with many opportunities

Kazakhstan is eager to learn from China's experience in building soft infrastructure, such as new technology and financial services, says a leading financial official.

"China is very developed in new technology, in terms of payment systems, different banking services, and big data. We are also very keen to be part of this kind of investment in soft infrastructure, to be this kind of business hub for this infrastructure as well," Kairat Kelimbetov, governor of Astana International Finance Centre, said during the 13th Eurasian Media Forum in late April in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan.

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan. Chen Yingqun / China Daily

"We are keen to invite presidents from companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and the financial side of CITIC Ltd also to work and to bring this kind of new technology," he says.

Since December, Kelimbetov has been head of the Astana center, an ambitious project to cement Kazakhstan's position as a leading center for finance. He formerly was deputy prime minister of Kazakhstan and oversaw macroeconomics, budget policy, governance of state companies and the financial sector, and tax and customs regulations. He also served as the chairman of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

The aim of the Astana International Finance Centre is to attract foreign investment, open up the Kazakh banking sector and make it easier for insurance companies and Islamic finance institutions to do business. It is expected to boost Kazakhstan's economic stability and help the country along the path to becoming a top-30 global economy by 2050.

Kelimbetov says Kazakhstan's new Bright Road economic policy emphasizes infrastructure development in the country and ties into China's Belt and Road Initiative, a development strategy and framework that focuses on infrastructure, trade and connectivity among countries.

In ancient times, people traded along the Silk Road, and in the past 25 years since Kazakhstan achieved independence, his country and China have become close strategic partners, he says. They have a relationship built on history and trust, as shown by the creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an organization of Eurasian nations, he says.

Important infrastructure plans are being put in motion, such as connecting Kazakhstan railways at the border with China, Turkmenistan and other countries. Also, China is investing a lot in the Kazakh energy sector. About 25 percent of Kazakhstan's oil production is owned by Chinese companies, such as CITIC and Sinopec Group, and they are building east-west pipelines in the country.

Chinese companies also would be invited to participate in infrastructure projects like the electricity grid, he says.

Since Kazakhstan is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, Astana is a natural regional business hub for these initiatives, including the financial sector.

"One of the ideas of the regional financial center is to attract capital and investment from China, Chinese liquidity, and the liquidity of the Chinese banking community," he says.

"This is very much in line with connectivity, because connectivity is not only about having infrastructure projects, connectivity is about people-to-people relationships, new technologies, etc."

Kelimbetov says the financial center will include a new stock exchange, and that collaboration with the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges is ongoing to obtain advice and support.

The internationalization of China's renminbi, which the International Monetary Fund will include in its basket of reserve currencies this year, provides additional opportunities. Astana is considering building an offshore yuan center, and officials are talking to different organizations about how to promote it, Kelimbetov says. The country also wants to participate in such groups as the Silk Road Fund, an investment fund of the Chinese government, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, an international financial organization led by Beijing.

"The position of the renminbi is very strong. I think the future of China's economy is very prosperous, despite the slowdown. I strongly believe this kind of change from the manufacturing-driven to the more consumer-led economy is difficult to do in one or two years - it will take decades maybe - but a very competent government knows what to do," he says.

He says that Kazakhstan also would like to work with China in third markets.

"We want to co-finance in whatever the project is. We are very pragmatic, very realistic, but we are very much ambitious to be an important part of the Belt and Road," he says.

Kazakhstan also offers the advantage of being in the Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Russia. Kelimbetov says having access to one country means having access to the whole community. Moreover, there will be discussions about free trade zones between Kazakhstan and European Union, the Eurasian Economic Union and China, all of which present important opportunities, he says.

"If you look at the sector of trade, 50 percent of our trade is the European Union, 20 percent is China and 20 percent is Russia," he says, adding that diversifying the economy is very important for maintaining good relationships with neighbors and developing good economic and business structures.

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 05/13/2016 page28)
Oxfam Ireland has claimed that the package of measures to tackle tax dodging announced by Governments at the anti-corruption summit in London yesterday are welcome but must go further.



Politicians from over 40 countries including Ireland, along with World Bank and IMF representatives, attended the conference.

Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald re-affirmed Irelands intention to establish a central register for beneficial ownership information on companies and trusts as part of EU legislation. She said that consideration is still being given to the level of public access to this information.



The anti-corruption summit announced a series of measures by different countries including commitments to set up central registries of the owners of shell companies and commitments to exchange this information.



Oxfam yesterday welcomed these measures but warned that unless all countries introduce the same standards on transparency tax dodgers will always find somewhere to hide their money.



Oxfam Irelands Chief Executive, Jim Clarken said, "Ireland has shown it is committed towards global efforts, however it can go further with its intention to establish a central register for beneficial ownership information by making this information publicly available. This would allow citizens here and in developing countries know who is really behind companies and trusts  vital for the joined up, international solution that the problem of global tax abuse demands."



He added, "Tax abuse is an international business. Unless all governments commit to a centralised public register showing who really profits from shell companies  wherever they are based  the corruption and tax dodging revealed by the Panama Papers can continue undisturbed."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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Published On May 13, 2016 05:52 PM By Alshaar

BMW partnered with fellow German carmakers  Audi and Mercedes-Benz  to take over Nokias mapping and location division, HERE last year, in a bid to take its self-driving car technologies forward.

However, the plans dont seem to take shape anytime soon as it was recently revealed that BMW's electric and autonomous 7-Series replacement won't be coming until 2021.

The iNEXT, as the replacement is being called by BMW, is supposed to be the German auto group's New innovative driver, BMW CEO Harald Kruger said in a statement at the annual shareholders meeting Thursday.

READ: BMW confirms more I models

Apart from the cars electric and autonomous capabilities, Kruger also claimed that the car will have digital connectivity, intelligent lightweight design and a totally new interior that when combined will bring "the next generation of electro-mobility to the road."

According to this schedule now, the iNEXT will face a three-year lag against the Tesla Model 3 entry level electric car that is set to be introduced even in markets like India. As reports suggest, competitors will have extended their range of electric vehicles in the market by then.

READ: BMW i8 in India

The company also identified vehicle safety and the security of customers personal data as priorities. It will be a while before these cars reach series maturity  also because the proper legal framework for customers and manufacturers has not yet been decided, he said.

When speaking about BMW's continued move toward less driving-focused cars, Kruger said, The discussion about e-mobility is an emotional one, but the decisive factor is that we move things forward. Apart from the development of autonomous driving, other discussions during the meeting revolved around enhanced connectivity and the use of artificial intelligence.
Modified On Jun 08, 2016 04:46 PM By Sumit for Honda Civic

After surfacing at the recently concluded 2016 Beijing Motor Show, the Honda Civic, in all likelihood, is re-entering the Indian market. If this happens, it will fill up the void that had been created in Hondas premium sedan space after the discontinuation of the Accord and the Civic.

The City is the most luxurious sedan offering from Hondas India line-up for now. A large gap will be left to fill between the upcoming Honda Accord and the City. At such a time, Mr. Yoichiro Ueno, president and CEO of Honda Cars India Ltd., has alluded that for those who are looking for an upgrade from the City, the petrol Civic is one model that the carmaker is deliberating on re-introducing in India.

In India, the car will most likely be brought as a knocked down unit from Hondas plant in Thailand, which will then be assembled at its Tapukara (Rajasthan) or Greater Noida (NCR/Uttar Pradesh) plant. The Indian version of the car is likely to be powered by a 1.5-litre VTEC Turbo and/or a 1.8-litre i-VTEC petrol engine, unlike the 2.0-litre variant offered internationally.

Recommended Read: India-Bound 2016 Accord at Bangkok Motor Show

Honda has been working on establishing a foothold in the Indian market for some time now. It is concentrating more on cars like the BR-V, the Brio and the Amaze, which have a mass reach. We feel it will be a great decision for the carmaker to bring back the Civic -- a car that had ruled the hearts of petrolheads for many years, and news of whose re-launch is likely to bring much joy to car buyers.

Source: Autocar
Published On May 13, 2016 08:17 PM By Raunak for Hyundai Xcent

The limited-run edition commemorates the Korean automaker's twenty years of existence in India!

Hyundai India recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary in the country. To celebrate this, the automaker will launch a special edition of its compact sedan  the Xcent  and perhaps the Grand i10 as well. The changes in it are basically aesthetic enhancements, with a few additional features. One of the pictures indicates that the special edition gets full wheel cover, signifying that it will be based on the second trim  S  because the SX and SX (O) feature alloy wheels.

Changes at a glance

At the front, the hexagonal grille features chrome inserts, much like the Ford Figo Aspire

The rear fenders feature red-coloured decals around its tail lights

At the rear, it gets a new chrome applique, which runs between the tail lamps; a lip spoiler with integrated stop lamp; and a twentieth-anniversary edition branding

On the inside, the biggest change you will see is the addition of a Blaupunkt touchscreen infotainment system, which looks like an aftermarket addition

More details will come in once Hyundai officially launches the car in the country. Mechanically, as happens with all limited-run models, there will be no alterations to the Xcents engine line-up (Grand i10 too). The vehicle will continue with its 1.2-litre Kappa Dual VTVT naturally aspirated petrol and 1.1-litre U2 CRDi turbo diesel. Five-speed manual will be standard while the petrol version will also offer a four-speed automatic.

The vehicle seems to have been spied at some dealer stockyard, indicating that the launch is imminent.

Also Read: Hyundai Tucson Spied In India For The First Time!

Image Source: Team-Bhp

Read More on : Xcent india
Published On May 13, 2016 03:42 PM By Arun for Toyota Innova Crysta 2016-2020

The Toyota Innova Crysta looks all set to repeat its predecessor's success. Bookings were unofficially open since February when we first laid eyes on it at the Delhi Auto Expo. However, Toyota launched the vehicle last week, with prices ranging between Rs 13.84 lakh and Rs 20.78 lakh. In conversation with CarDekho, Mr Balaji Narayan, general manager, sales, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, confirmed that the Innova Crysta has received around fifteen thousand bookings till date.

The MPV has been flying off the shelf and waiting period has now extended up to two months in Mumbai. We expect the waiting period to be slightly lower in other parts of the country. The Crysta is available in four different variants - G, GX, VX, and ZX. Confused as to which variant to buy? We've got you covered. Read this, to know which one suits you best!

Toyota India hasn't ruled out the possibility of a petrol variant in the future. While they remained tight-lipped about the specifics, we believe it will be a 2.0-litre motor that is available in the Indonesian market. Power figures stand at 139PS while peak torque output is rated as 184Nm. Notably, earlier iterations of the Innova had a petrol variant that was discontinued due to lack of demand.

The Japanese automaker has not minced words in criticising the Delhi diesel ban. Mr Shekar Viswanathan, Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice-chairman termed the ban 'the worst advertisement for India'. However, introducing a petrol engine will help them resume sales in Delhi/NCR. As of now, the Innova Crysta cannot be registered in the capital since both diesel engines on offer are above 2,000cc.

The Innova Crysta will replace the old Innova in Toyota's line-up. The automaker will be catering to private as well as commercial buyers with the new offering. We have already driven the MPV; be sure to read the Innova Crysta review to know what we think of it.

Recommended Read: Toyota Innova Crysta vs Mahindra XUV500 : Which one to pick?

Read More on : Innova Crysta
The Hyundai Tucson is appealing from every angle  outside and inside. It's so good on paper that it can almost sound too good to be true. Time to get our magni...

N Nabeel Aug 12, 2022
Obama's Hiroshima visit at risk of being hijacked Updated: 2016-05-13 07:37 (China Daily)

Bells tolled and thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Hiroshima on Thursday at ceremonies that marked the 70th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. [Photo/CFP]

The White House has officially announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima on May 27, the first-ever such visit to the city by a sitting US president. Its implication goes far beyond the impact it will have on Japan and the United States.

The White House stated explicitly that Obama will not apologize for his country's atomic bombing of the city during World War II in 1945, and there is no reason for him to do so.

Yet, it is quite likely the Japanese media and right-wingers will interpret a visit by the US president itself as an apologetic gesture, as they did when US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the city's Memorial Park in April.

World sympathy has often been with the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet, they are also victims of Japanese militarism, something the right-wing groups in Japan constantly try to shun.

To be exact, it is the war of aggression the Japanese militarists launched at the beginning of the last century that is to blame for the bombings.

To the world's dismay, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to whitewash the violence and suffering the Japanese Imperial Army inflicted on the people of the countries it invaded.

The museum in Hiroshima provides hundreds of chilling exhibits and poignant artifacts about the bombing of the city without providing the context in which the US made the decision to drop the bombs. Such an omission reveals, to a large extent, how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are viewed by quite a large percentage of Japanese.

The Abe administration's lifting of the ban on its military fighting overseas by making changes to its pacifist Constitution has drawn strong reactions from its Asian neighbors.

And the neighbors are right to feel uneasy, given Japan's attitude, its government's attitude in particular, toward its imperialist past. But the Obama administration that voices peace on other occasions has remained largely silent about such moves by its enemy turned ally.

In such a context, it is not hard to imagine how Obama's visit to Hiroshima will be exploited by Japan's right-wing and revisionist groups in favor of their efforts to whitewash the atrocious crimes it committed in neighboring countries.

This will abrogate what the White House claims is Obama's mission of "pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".
Spending a pretty penny can be confusing Updated: 2016-05-13 08:28 By Fu Jing(China Daily Europe)

A credit-card-only toilet in central train station in Copenhagen may cause problem to enter for those who don't hold card. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn]

Chinese may balk at paying for public restrooms in Europe, but first they need to find one

Many people see the state of a nation's public toilets as a gauge of its prosperity. I know I do.

During a recent business trip to Copenhagen, I rolled my suitcase into the hall of the central railway station and followed the signs to find a restroom. It wasn't hard, and when I eventually arrived I was required to pay 5 krone (75 cents US; 65 cents euro). This resulted in me searching my pockets for coins.

With coin in hand, I looked around for a slot at the entrance, only to find tucked inside was a piece of paper that read, in English and Danish, "Credit card only". Fortunately, I had a card with me, and I was quickly allowed in without the need to enter a pin number.

The toilet was clean, as are many in Europe. However, the credit card notice astonished me.

I shared my experience at the train station on WeChat, the Chinese social media app. In response, many people asked what might happen if someone doesn't have a credit card? Some expressed their understanding that using credit cards is popular in Denmark. Some were shocked that you had to pay at all to enter a public toilet in Europe.

Five krone is about the average in Europe, but my most expensive experience was in Lucerne, Switzerland. I was doing an interview in a tourist spot there two years ago and had to pay 2 francs ($2; 1.8 euros) to use a train station restroom.

That means the cost of using a public toilet in some places is higher than the average daily per capita income in some less-developed countries.

Interestingly, despite higher living standards and a sophisticated financial services sector, Denmark and Switzerland have fully recognized the market economy status of China, which generally lags behind in terms of the hygiene of its public restrooms, either on the street, at stations or at tourist attractions.

Generally, the sanitation level of public toilets in Europe is satisfactory. Yet they are few and far between, and sometimes it can be a challenge to find one.

On most occasions, users will be charged to use such facilities, even in places like McDonald's. In some outlets, if you eat there, a password to gain access to the restroom will be printed on the receipt.

Today, growing numbers of Chinese are traveling in Europe. For many, especially elderly Chinese, who don't use credit cards, there is a potential cultural shock in Copenhagen. And those who are thrifty will likely try to reduce the frequency of using public toilets in Switzerland.

What's more, many cannot speak European languages, although they can usually find a public restroom by following the universally recognized male and female figures used on most signboards.

In some places, they use words instead. Again, the Chinese are full of wisdom. I remember a friend who told me that, although he can't speak English, he'd learned while in the UK to follow the sign that begins with "M" - as in men's - to ensure he went into the correct side of the toilets.

I wonder what he would do if he spotted a sign that just had "gentlemen".

Europeans would be more welcoming if they make public restrooms cheaper to use, convenient to access, and use signage that included Chinese characters when necessary. At the very least, they should simply stick to the universally accepted figures for men and women.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily European Weekly.



Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Cars ready for shipment are seen at Port of Yokohama in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.

Soaring costs could diminish the number of major Japanese car makers to just three or four players by 2021, according to automotive research firm Kelley Blue Book.

The world's third-largest economy is also the world's third-largest vehicle producer, boasting at least eight leading brands, including the world's biggest-selling automaker Toyota Motor . Other major car producing countries, such as Germany and the U.S., only have a handful in comparison.

But the industry, once a shining example of the country's economic heft, has had a dismal run of late. Profits at Toyota have slumped while Mitsubishi Motors has been ensnared in a fuel-economy scandal. Even suppliers haven't been spared: Airbag maker Takata reported its third net loss in the past four years on Thursday following a massive recall.

"I think we could see consolidation over the next five years down to three to four major players as opposed to so many smaller players that we have right now....You can lose a third to even half of them within the next 5-10 years," Karl Brauer, senior director of automotive industry insights at Kelley Blue Book told CNBC's Asia Squawk Box.

Brauer's bold call follows news out early on Thursday that Nissan Motor and Mitsubishi, two of Japan's heavyweight carmakers, confirmed they were in tie-up talks.

Nissan could pay as much as $1.85 billion for a one-third stake in Mitsubishi, making it the latter's biggest single shareholder, Reuters reported. Last month, Mitsubishi confessed that it manipulated test data to overstate the fuel efficiency of 625,000 cars, including 468,000 Nissan vehicles.
There are multiple ways to go on the offensive against cybercriminals. Creating firewalls and installing antivirus software arent the only solutions to protecting your credit union data. There are also system failures and outages that can pose significant threats. Without a solid disaster recovery plan in place, it becomes survival of the fittest. Those that can withstand the blow and recover fastest have the greatest odds of long-term survival.

Hoping for the best, planning for the worst, is how cybersecurity consultants live day-to-day, said Hold Security in an article by the Credit Union Times. Another day, another story of hacking to serve as a reminder to take cybersecurity and disaster recovery seriously. Security firms are always on constant alert and hoping that businesses of all sizes in all industries are taking security measures seriously. And businesses today arent as surprised by news such as the latest theft of 272 million email accounts and passwords.

In short, this most recent incident revealed a Russian hacker obtained login credentials from Russias most popular email service (Mail.ru), but the list also included tens of millions of accounts from three U.S. email providers (Yahoo, Microsoft and Gmail).

This latest episode was first spotted by cybersecurity firm Hold Security. The young Russian hacker was advertising 272 million user records for email accounts on a dark web forum, offering the stolen credentials for sale for less than $1, according to media reports.
Within the next two months, the NCUA intends to remove the requirement that all federally insured, state chartered credit unions with more than $250 million in assets be examined each calendar year, new NCUA Chairman Rick Metsger said Thursday.

In a speech prepared for the Idaho Credit Union League, Metsger also said he is forming a working group to review the overall examination process  including the frequency of exams.

We need to see how we meet our statutory responsibility to examine credit unions for safety and soundness with as small a footprint as possible, Metsger said.
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation announced Thursday it will conduct a hearing on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, fulfilling a request made by CUNA. The hearing will take place May 18.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued an omnibus declaratory ruling last year on the TCPA, which has detrimentally impacted the ability of credit unions to communicate with their members.

CUNA led the efforts surrounding a letter also co-signed by other organization to committee leadership in September asking for a hearing to review the TCPA ruling, in light of the considerable impact it will have on the operations of dozens of industries.

CUNA has been active on both the legislative and regulatory front in its efforts to combat the ruling.

CUNA and other organizations filed an amici brief in support of litigation challenging the TCPA ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in December, calling it arbitrary and capricious.
TORRANCE, Calif.  Kubota Corporation, Osaka, Japan, parent company to Kubota U.S.A., Inc., announced May 13 it has entered into an agreement to purchase Great Plains Manufacturing Inc., based in Salina, Kansas.

Once final, the purchase will expand the companys partnership with Land Pride and will include all five Great Plains divisions with multiple facilities in Kansas and a manufacturing plant in Sleaford, England. Since 2007, Kubota has worked closely with Land Pride to provide implements to Kubota dealers and customers across the U.S. and Canada.

According to Kubota Tractor Corporation, for the foreseeable future, all five Great Plains divisions will continue to operate as they have been, with their infrastructure intact.

Once final, this acquisition is going to lead to great advancements for both businesses without being a significant change for our people, said Todd Stucke, senior vice president of sales, marketing and product support for Kubota. We intend to respect the distinctiveness of the brands, trademarks and operational strengths.

Transition

Roy Applequist, Great Plains founder and chairman will remain on the leadership team to help guide the operations and facilitate a seamless transition.

My plan is to play a significant role in helping Great Plains become a vital part of the Kubota family, said Applequist.

Partnering with Applequist in overseeing and managing the transition is Linda Salem, president of Great Plains Manufacturing.

The partnership builds on Kubotas presence in Kansas where the company recently announced the establishment of its North American Distribution Center in Edgerton, Kansas, which serves as the primary distribution hub for Kubota parts and whole goods distribution across the U.S. and Canada.
The NFU has not given up its bid to challenge the lifting of a ban on neonicotinoid seed treatments for growers facing pressure from cabbage stem flea beetle this autumn.

Defra announced on Thursday (12 May) it had turned down the unions application for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments.

Following a review by independent advisers to the government, sitting on the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP), farm minister George Eustice rejected the NFUs application.

See also: Defra rejects NFU application to use neonicotinoids on OSR

NFU vice-president Guy Smith said: This is a blow for arable farmers across the country whose oilseed rape crops are under heavy threat from cabbage stem flea beetle.

We are disappointed with the ministers decision; we strongly argued the case on behalf of our members.

But he added: We remain committed to obtaining approval for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments for this planting season.

These plant protection products are absolutely vital in protecting Englands oilseed rape crop from pests.

We are currently looking into making further applications.

A further application could involve a request to use Bayers clothianidin, one of the three banned neonicotinoids. This follows recent research which discovered that clothianidin, did not have an adverse effect on bee health.

Earlier, Mr Smith hit out over the ban on neonicotinoids at a Crop Protection Association (CPA) conference on Thursday (12 May).

After being told by Friends of the Earth (FoE) international campaigner Nick Rau that since the neonicotinoid ban average OSR yields had increased, Mr Smith invited him on to his farm to see how difficult it was to establish the crop without neonics.

Mr Smith, who runs a mixed farm in St Osyth, Essex, told Mr Rau: Go to the Hertfordshire area and speak to the farmers.

I welcome you to my farm to see why I need neonicotinoid seed dressings to grow oilseed rape reliably and successfully.

And remember, one of the biggest victims of the farmers failure to grow oilseed rape is the bee.

I can take you into my flowering oilseed rape fields now. They are full of bees. If I cant grow oilseed rape, then I will not have fields full of bees.

The people with hives on my farm will not have their honey supplies. Think through the practicalities, please.
SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS WATCH SAN FRANCISCOFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 12, 2016Contact:Michael Bass | SOA Watch San Francisco, CA | 510.654.5355 or 510.432.2555 mbass [at] soaw.org Hendrik Voss | SOA Watch Washington, DC | 202.425.5128 | hvoss [at] soaw.org Friday, May 13, 20169:00 am Court SessionBefore: Kleinfeld, Ikuta and Watford, Circuit JudgesCourtroom 4, 2nd Floor, Rm 260James R. Browning U.S. Courthouse95 7th Street, San Francisco, CaliforniaThe attorneys and plaintiffs will be available for interviews following the hearingSOA Watch Activists vs. U.S. Department of DefenseAppeal Hearing on Infamous U.S. Military Training SchoolSan Francisco - On May 13, 2016, three judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by School of the Americas Watch members, Theresa Cameranesi and Judith Liteky. As plaintiffs, they seek to compel the U.S. Department of Defense to disclose the names and military units of foreign students and instructors attending the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), a U.S. military training school located at Fort Benning, Georgia and funded by U.S. taxpayers.In 2014, Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton, of the United States Northern District Court of California, ordered the Department of Defense to release the names of the students and instructors at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas, or SOA), a U.S. military training school for Latin American soldiers that for decades has been connected to torturers, death squads and military dictators throughout the Americas. SOA Watch activists had taken the U.S. government to court over its refusal to release the information, and won. Read the court ruling here: SOAW.org/judgmentThe U.S. Department of Defense subsequently filed a notice to appeal the court ruling.SOA Watch is an independent, grassroots movement that provides citizen oversight of U.S. military training given to Latin American military and police personnel at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of Americas. Through vigils and fasts, demonstrations and nonviolent protest, as well as media, legal and legislative work, the movement works in solidarity with the people of Latin America and the Caribbean for human rights, economic justice, and democracy.The U.S. Department of Defense has denied Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests by School of the Americas Watch for the names of WHINSEC students and instructors for the years 2004-2010. For the years 1946-2003 the names had always been released when requested. The names are the basis of the SOA Watch database and the means of citizen oversight of the record of SOA/WHINSEC graduates.Plaintiff Theresa Cameranesi is a member of the School of the Americas Watch Council. She is also a member of the SOA Watch Legislative Working Group and is active in advocating for Congressional investigation of the human rights records of graduates of SOA and WHINSEC. As part of the SOA Watch San Francisco Research Group, she and plaintiff Judith Liteky identified students and instructors at WHINSEC who were admitted for training even though they had been charged with human rights violations.Plaintiff Judith Liteky has been active with School of the Americas Watch since its founding in 1990 in response to the massacre in San Salvador at the University of Central America. On the night of November 16, 1989, a Salvadoran Army patrol entered the University campus and massacred six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter. Nineteen of the military officers cited for this atrocity had received training at the US Army School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia. Judith was a co-founder of School of the Americas Watch San Francisco.Plaintiffs Cameranesi and Liteky received the 2014 James Madison Freedom of Information Citizen Award for pressing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Defense to win a precedent-setting ruling that the government may not withhold on national security grounds the names and military unit information of graduates and instructors at the former School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.The SOA Watch plaintiffs are being represented by attorneys Duffy Carolan and Kent Spriggs.Duffy Carolan is a partner with the San Francisco firm Jassy Vick Carolan. Attorney Carolan has been honored by her peers as San Francisco's Lawyer of the Year in Litigation - First Amendment cases. She has also received the James Madison Freedom of Information Award, a Bay Area honor given to individuals and organizations who have made significant contributions to the advancement of freedom of expression, particularly freedom of information and open government.Kent Spriggs is the principal in Spriggs Law Firm, Tallahassee, Florida. Attorney Spriggs has represented individuals in civil rights actions, the majority in class actions. He also works in the field of international human rights, including representing those illegally detained at Guantanamo Bay, and assisted in the analysis of U.S. money used to destabilize sovereign Latin American democracies. He has been a human rights observer in El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, and Chile as well as Palestine and Afghanistan.# # #
SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 12, 2016  California oil regulators today proposed exempting another underground water source from protection under state and federal laws. If approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the proposed aquifer exemption would allow the oil industry to inject waste fluid into the Round Mountain aquifer in Kern County.

This reckless plan from state oil officials puts yet another California underground water source at risk of pollution, said Maya Golden-Krasner, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. There have been active water supply wells within the proposed exempted area where dangerous injection wells have been operating illegally for years. The groundwater would be put in further jeopardy if the state allows oil and gas activity to expand.Dozens of water supply wells are located in the area of the aquifer exemption, which is about nine miles northeast of Bakersfield. The Kern County proposal comes as a newly released EPA letter raises questions about state officials February aquifer exemption application for an underground water supply in San Luis Obispo Countys Price Canyon area.Citing inconsistencies and inadequacies in the San Luis Obispo aquifer application, EPA officials want state officials to provide more information to demonstrate that the Price Canyon aquifer does not currently serve as a source of drinking water and that injected fluids will not flow beyond these proposed boundaries.The Kern County proposal is the second attempt by Gov. Jerry Browns administration seeking an aquifer exemption following revelations last year that state oil regulators have been allowing oil companies to dump toxic waste into scores of protected underground water supplies across California (interactive map: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/maps/highlighted_maps/enhanced_oil_recovery_wells.html ), in violation of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.Just a few dozen of those illegal injection wells have been shut down, and state officials hope to allow most of the remaining wells to continue operating by exempting aquifers from legal protection.Oil officials say they plan in the coming months to ask the EPA to exempt dozens of other aquifers across the state from the Safe Drinking Water Act. But that planned wave of applications would violate the states agreement with the EPA, which contains a schedule calling for 90 percent of such applications aquifer applications to have been submitted by Feb. 15 of this year.State oil officials testified to California lawmakers last year that they would meet every deadline for dealing with these illegal wells, but they are shrugging off those promises just like they shrugged off their duty to protect our groundwater, Golden-Krasner said.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.Center for Biological Diversity
AT&T Shareholders meet Communications Workers of America comworkeradvocate [at] gmail.com) by Stan Santos

This article discusses AT&T connections to BIG MONEY. Learn about efforts to silence the voice of labor and progressive shareholders' motions for transparency in AT&T political donations and lobbying.

AT&T 2016 SHAREHOLDERS MEETING: CWA ACTIVISTS VS BUSINESS AS USUAL

Communications Workers of America District 9 is in a struggle with AT&T for the jobs and livelihoods of almost 16,000 members in California and Nevada. Over a dozen members from Districts 9 and 7 travelled to Billings, Montana on April 28-29 for the 2016 AT&T Shareholders Meeting at the Northern Hotel. They met at 7 a.m. in the chilly morning air with signs, leaflets and a banner which declared, SHAME ON AT&T! Gathered around the banner were Stan Santos of CWA 9408, John Adams of 9421, 9400 President Bill Demers, Monica Alvarado of 9423 and Jason Justice of 9510.

Security was tight around the Northern Hotel and included at least a dozen uniformed guards along with several non-uniformed AT&T security personnel. Billings Police Department patrolled the street in front of the entrance, challenging a few pedestrians who attempted to jaywalk. Inside the building there were several armed officers complete with black paramilitary garb.

Around 8:30 a.m. the CWA activists entered the reception area of the hotel where they were greeted by AT&T employees and vendors demonstrating an assortment of products including cell phones, smart watches and drones with surveillance camera capabilities. A curtained breezeway separated the reception area from the room where the shareholders meeting would take place.

Behind the curtains some of the most powerful men (and a few women) of corporate America would make decisions affecting the lives of thousands of workers and millions of people throughout the United States. The individuals who comprise the AT&T Board of Directors include a former Ambassador to the European Union and Chair of the Federal Communications Commission. There are also former and current CEOs of institutions such as the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the PricewaterhouseCoopers investment firm, the NASDAQ Stock Market and health insurance giant Humana. They control the largest telecommunications, data and information network in the world.

Voices of labor and shareholders silenced

The CWA activists were disappointed though not entirely surprised when they learned that AT&T recently changed the format for the meetings, silencing the voices of labor and the public who are also shareholders. The meeting followed a very tightly scripted agenda, with opening remarks by Chairman Randall Stephenson and a brief introduction of the Board members followed by votes on key strategic matters in rapid succession.

In a matter of minutes and with calculated efficiency, Stephenson conducted an election for the new Board and ratified the continued contractual oversight of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent auditors. Although his recommendations for the Directors were immediately approved, there was an attempt from the audience to address the issue of the continued reliance on the same accounting firm since 1982. CWA District 9 leader Louie Rocha rose to speak against the motion, asking, Is it standard practice to have the same auditors for so many years?

Ernst & Young LLP provides accounting services and representation to 30% of the Fortune 1000 Oil and Gas companies. Their client list boasts such firms as BP of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Coast disaster, ConocoPhillips and Koch Industries. Ernst & Young LLP services include fraud investigations, business integrity and insurance claims. In 2013 Ernst & Young agreed to pay $123 million to settle a criminal case in the US. They admitted that some of its most senior tax partners had been involved in developing, marketing and defending tax avoidance schemes totaling $2 billion on behalf of about 200 wealthy individuals. In 2014 they were implicated in a similar scheme with the Disney Corporation and Koch Industries.

The objections to the motion were intended to preserve the integrity of the accounting process. Representatives of Ernst & Young responded that it was not unusual to have the same firm; the auditors assigned to the AT&T account rotated every five years. The motion to approve their continued services was quickly passed, along with approval of compensation for AT&T executives and the 2016 incentive plan.

Calls for transparency

Another set of resolutions was proffered by representatives of investment firms that control several hundred thousand shares of AT&T. The resolutions sought transparency in political spending through full disclosure of direct donations to candidates for office. According to publicly available data, AT&T has spent over $28 million in corporate funds on political activities since 2004. During that same period there have been ten similar shareholder resolutions asking for disclosure and oversight of its corporate-funded political spending.

The statement cited lobbying in various states for deregulation and the abandonment of landline customers, including collaborative efforts with the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC created model legislative pieces attacking regulatory agencies in a state-by-state process which has spread throughout the United States. California was partially deregulated in 2012 by one such bill, SB 1161, and is now the target of Assembly Bill 2395, which would complete the withdrawal of AT&T from providing landline service by the year 2020.

With 3.3 billion total votes cast, the resolution regarding transparency in political contributions was defeated with 71% of votes cast against; transparency in lobbying was defeated with 66% of votes cast against. An additional resolution which sought to separate the roles of Chairman and CEO into two positions also was defeated by 76% of votes cast against.

CWA emerges more determined

Throughout the day, leading up to and following the Shareholders Meeting, CWA activists engaged with the leadership of AT&T with discipline and professional courtesy. We debated the issues with Mark Royse and Melba Muscarolas, EVP and VP respectively of Labor Relations who are driving the 2016 bargaining for AT&T. We put a human face on our bargaining concerns, including job security, healthcare and a retirement with dignity for our members.

One moment was revealing when Royse declared that they gave CWA 6000 new DIRECTV members He had to be reminded that it was contractual and that we worked for them. At another point Louie Rocha in his typically direct style asked him politely to not blow smoke and that we would not be misled.

A Local 9408 representative took the opportunity to press ATT Chair and CEO Randall Stephenson regarding the widespread dissatisfaction of DIRECTV techs since the AT&T acquisition. He cited the severe pay cuts and the fact that AT&T is adding insult to injury by continuing to hire new techs and maintain a force of over 34 sub-contractors in the Fresno area. Meanwhile over 140 DIRECTV techs see overtime capped and in some cases hours cut to below full time.

To his credit Stephenson said, "We need our people doing that work..." and promised to look into this matter. The 9408 representative was surprised when contacted at his office by Labor Relations at the request of the Chairman.

CWA activists who attended the 2016 Shareholders Meeting came away with a clear understanding that we face the most powerful forces in the political and economic structures of the United States and beyond. We emerged determined to continue the fight for a collective bargaining agreement that is equal to the needs and dignity of our members and their families. Despite the efforts to stifle a true debate in the shareholders meeting, CWA will continue reaching out to the public and members from coast to coast. We are taking the fight for the 2016 Contract to the workplace and the streets.




Physics Experiments Take Images Back in Time

Joseph Richards 16 says being a co-author of this research has catapulted him into the next level of graduate study.

May 12, 2016

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. An international team of physicists including Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of Physics Gabe Spalding has shown waves of light can seem to travel back in time.

It may seem like science fiction, but the experiment did not violate the laws of physics. Spalding, his physics student Joseph Richards 16 and a team of scientists tackled a century-old intuition from Lord Rayleigh regarding the speed of sound. Rayleigh theorized that music being played on an object traveling faster than the speed of sound, a supersonic jet for example, would result in a listener hearing the music playing in reverse. The Spalding team simulated what an observer standing still would see when looking at a superluminal (faster than the speed of light) occurrence. The results of the scientists experiment, conducted last summer at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, have been published in Science Advances.

The existence of an absolute limit, the speed of light, is the natural source of the question: what would happen if we cross this limit? lead author Mattero Clerici told a writer for a post on IFLScience. Light sources, however, may move faster than the speed of light when their speed is not associated with the physical motion of matter. Following this line of thought, we devised a way to experimentally investigate the [effects] of superluminal motion.

The B. Charles and Joyce Eichhorn Ames Professor of Physics at Illinois Wesleyan, Spalding has long worked with advanced imaging, and came up with the idea for studying superluminal spot motion and mathematically determined the conditions for observing time reveals and spot pair creation and annihilation. Using a new sort of camera based upon an array of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs), researchers captured scattered laser light by shining ultra-short laser pulses at different points on the screen. Researchers were able to create a live video of the light traversing the surface in picoseconds (a picosecond is a unit of time equal to one trillionth of a second). This is incredible in its own right, said Richards, who was tasked with verifying that the light sources had indeed moved at superluminal speed.

The experiment showed pairs of images forming and annihilating each other. In a video of the experimental results, virtual spot pair annihilation corresponds to a spot source changing its speed and crossing the boundary between sub- and superluminal speed. A local observer would report that the wavefront is moving from left to right at every point, but once the spot becomes superluminal, there is time reversal, said Spalding.

He described a further phenomenon in the experiment where a local observer would report a wavefront that is always moving from left to right, but the time reversal associated with the transition to superluminal velocities gives rise to detection of a pair of spots  one moving forward in time and one moving backward in time.

The new findings might have applications far beyond the ultra-high-speed cameras. Spalding said faster-than-light imaging will open many areas of scientific inquiry. For example, it may play an important role in new, advanced forms of microscopy based upon very rapid signals from fluorescently tagged biomolecules, said Spalding.

For Richards, however, the impact has been immediate.

Spalding, center, works to bring hands-on science to the very young at a Young Scholars Science Camp at IWU.

To have a publication of this magnitude to my name before the end of my undergraduate career is quite rare, said Richards. My experience with Dr. Spalding both here at Illinois Wesleyan and in Scotland has most certainly catapulted me into the next level of graduate study and I am forever grateful to both him and the University.

For more than a decade Spalding has traveled to Scotland in the summer to work with cross-functional teams of scientists and engineers, often accompanied by Illinois Wesleyan students such as Richards. A native of Glenview, Ill., Richards said he was both absolutely terrified but also excited to work in a lab with Spaldings longtime collaborators in Scotland. However, Dr. Spalding was very helpful in settling me into my new position, and we quickly hit the ground running.

In Scotland Richards said he learned a great deal pertaining to the process of academic research. I feel I have a strong grasp on the process from start to finish and feel confident that I can be a benefit to research groups in the future, said Richards, who will enter the masters program in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign this fall.

Spalding is currently on sabbatical in Scotland, where he has been working on yet another version of array-based versions of SPADs. He has been promoting educational versions of such detectors as a cornerstone to a new generation of instructional labs in modern physics. To date, he has shipped 420 such SPADS to colleges and universities across the country. Spaldings leadership in making this equipment available across the country, and his research in the field of optical micromanipulation was detailed in an IWU Magazine article.
Newspapers must learn new tricks Updated: 2016-05-13 08:28 By Tian Zhihui and Zhao Fan(China Daily Europe)

Mobile devices allow readers to access information without the limits of time and space, reducing the appeal of print media

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently reiterated the importance of the media. Speaking about how to promote the convergence of traditional and new media, Xi says the media should pay attention to both convergence and management, and ensure media convergence advances in the right direction.

Xi visited the offices of three mainstream media outlets, stressing the urgency and significance of embracing new media.

New media have expanded across China, with Jiemian and The Paper in Shanghai, Jiupai in Central China's Hubei province, and the Cover in Southwest China's Sichuan province.

They have increased their share in the market, too. The first impact of new media on the traditional media is the loss of readers, resulting in falling circulation. Consequently, advertisers have turned to new media and it is becoming increasingly difficult for publishers to survive, let alone make profits.

Moreover, readers' habits have changed in this age of new media. The old way of storytelling no longer appeals to readers and viewers. The younger generation favors mobile devices and entertaining ways of storytelling, forcing the traditional media to focus on visualization and participative reporting. Information technology devices allow readers to access information without the limits of time and space, further reducing the attractiveness of the print media.

The relationship between journalists and readers, too, has changed. User-generated content has become a vital part of news production, and citizen journalism is today an accepted fact. Editors are not the only gatekeepers for media outlets. In the age of information explosion, it's the users who decide what and when to read.

The traditional media have no choice but to change to survive. And traditional publishers have to gradually shift to new media to avoid becoming history.

According to a China Internet Network Information Center report issued in July, the number of smartphone users in the country is 620 million, which reflects the huge market for mobile reading. Therefore, the traditional media should adopt creative mobile strategies to meet people's fast-changing appetites. One way of doing so is to customize content for mobile devices.

As more and more traditional media outlets direct their attention to mobile apps, uploading content from print editions to the internet alone will not be enough to draw readers and to shift to new media. Publishers should pay more attention to reader experience. For example, they have to find out what kind of content is suitable for mobile devices and what sort of presentation provides the best visual experience. Publishers' mobile-device strategy will, to a large extent, determine the success of their shift to new media.

Publishers should also use a combination of new methods to present news, because readers and viewers today demand more and varied information. They need to adopt methods like visualization and virtual reality to effectively present an event. And to shift to new media, publishers have to build a team of journalists who can make full use of new technologies and know how to combine them with objective journalism.

Therefore, journalists need to radically change the way they approach news, which essentially means the traditional media have to change the way they tell a story and train their journalists in new media skills.

More importantly, the traditional media ought to make more effort to engage and interact with readers and viewers, who in turn can make greater contributions to the presentation of a story. User-generated content is a source that editors should pay more attention to, because citizen journalists have been responsible for breaking quite a bit of news. Interaction with readers and viewers is equally important as it can help editors focus more on what their target audience wants.

Tian Zhihui is professor of new media studies at the Communication University of China, Beijing. Zhao Fan is a master's student at the university. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
Los Angeles, CA Under the new Lyft settlement, drivers are still classified as independent contractors, which means they will not be entitled to Under the new Lyft settlement, drivers are still classified as independent contractors, which means they will not be entitled to California overtime pay.

Last month, attorney Todd Scherwin predicted that Lyft would likely have to increase its settlement proposal (after a judge rejected its offer of $12.25 million) and that Lyft drivers would be classified as independent contractors rather than employees. He was right.Lyft drivers will get about 17 percent of the money they would have received if the judge recognized them as employees. If the judge approves this settlement, it will likely result in disgruntled drivers who might follow Ubers latest litigation: its drivers are suing Uber for all gratuities that were earned but stolen by Uber or were lost due to Defendents communications and policies.Uber said it has started an appeals process with drivers in California and Massachusetts, whereby the company will stop informing passengers that tips are included in the ride fare. Lyft passengers have an option to tip their drivers.It is likely that attorneys will also continue to argue the misclassification issues with Uber, Lyft and other shared economy companies. Brian Mahany, attorney for Uber drivers in the class-action suit , toldthat Uber micromanages drivers activities minute by minute which tells us theyre employees and the company cant avoid employee rights and protections simply by calling drivers, independent contractors.
Top Class Action Lawsuits

Show us your Pearly Whites, Darling. Oh, is your tube of Colgate Optic White Toothpaste just not cutting it? Teeth arent gleaming white as advertised? Well, youre not alone. This week, Lori Canale, filed a consumer fraud class action lawsuit against the company allegingyou guessed itconsumer fraud.

Specifically, Canale claims in the Colgate toothpaste lawsuit, for herself and for all others similarly situated, that Colgate-Palmolive misrepresents that its Colgate Optic White Toothpaste Goes beyond surface stain removal to deeply whiten teeth and that its Colgate optic white platinum toothpaste Deeply whitens more than three shades. Which three shades, precisely?

According to the complaint, the toothpastes do not actually go beyond surface stain removal and do not deeply whiten teeth because their whitening ingredient, which is 1 percent hydrogen peroxide, is not a large enough amount of hydrogen peroxide. Further, the product is not in contact with teeth for a long enough time to do what the company claims it does.

The case is US District Court for the Southern District of New York Case number 7:16-CV-03308-CS.

Lights out for Subaru? Well, likely not. But they are facing a defective automotive class action lawsuit filed in California this week, alleging certain of its vehicles contain a design defect making those vehicles unsafe for drivers and passengers.

Filed by Kathleen ONeill of Pismo Beach, California, individually and for all others similarly situated, against Subaru of America Inc., the Subaru lawsuit asserts that the car makers 2010 and 2011 Subaru Outback vehicles contain a design and/or manufacturing defect that causes the exterior lighting bulbs to fail prematurely and frequently.

Further, this alleged defect, in addition to the associated safety issues, results in vehicle owners paying more to replace the exterior bulbs. Yes, that could get seriously annoying in addition to expensive.

The complaint alleges breach of implied warranty, violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, unjust enrichment, and violations of Californias Consumer Legal Remedies Act and its Unfair Competition Law.

The case is US District Court for the Central District of California Western Division Case number 2:16-CV-02774-R-KS.

Top Settlements

Anti-trust at 30,000 Feet Air New Zealand down under has agreed to come up with $35 million as settlement of their share of a class action lawsuit brought in 2006 by several freight forwarders who allege the airline fixed prices in their cargo operations. FYIAir New Zealand is just one defendant in the antitrust class action lawsuit.

Although the airline has not admitted liability, it has agreed to settle to mitigate further legal action and related court costs.

The class action named a list of global airlines, alleging that they conspired on cargo fuel and security surcharges between 2000 and 2006. The US class action is just one of several similar cases brought in other countries. The US Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation, from which Air New Zealand was released in 2011.

The settlement remains subject to court approval. The $35 million represents 2.8% of the $1.2 billion so far paid in settlements by 28 airlines accused of price-fixing. Heymoney in money outright?

Ok Thats a wrap folksHave a good one. See you at the Bar!
Tracking the country's new economy Updated: 2016-05-13 08:28 By Alan Barrell(China Daily Europe)

The BBD index is using advanced big data to build global knowledge and economic management

The world is watching China with great interest, and no little concern, as this great industrial nation embraces the next phase in economic and social development.

The Chinese economy is the second largest in the world and will become the largest in due course. China is already the world's largest trading nation. The great strength of its industrial position has been built on leadership in manufacturing, mining and energy sectors.

Now, as we all experience the influence of modern communications technology, the internet in particular, and as social media and big data become so important in our lives, the Chinese economy is in transition toward a new balance, where service industries will become more important and the domestic economy will become more important compared with the historic reliance on exports.

Innovation and new technology will play significant parts as the transition accelerates. Already, the manufacturing share of China's measured economy has reduced from more than 50 percent to less than 40 percent, while the service sector has developed consistently from less than 40 percent to stand now at more than 50 percent.

But the new economy - made up of companies of diverse nature - is not easily measured in terms of its progress or the performance of the companies occupying the service sector. The speed and effectiveness of the transition of the Chinese economy to a new and stable status is not easily tracked, either.

The world has moved rapidly to a world of big data - the powerful computers and mobile devices that populate the world today can generate masses of data. But data is not information in its raw form, and a big data and financial technology industry has emerged rapidly to seek to make proper sense of the data and provide useful and usable information for governments, companies and other organizations to use in effectively understanding and managing economies, companies and, indeed, people's lives.

Big data has become big business. Many companies - more every day - populate the fintech sector in great centers of financial management and investment, such as London. A new industry has indeed arrived and is here to stay.

Among all the progress going on around us, it is heartening indeed to see a highly innovative Chinese company taking a clear lead with technology development and application. Business Big Data, a company based in Chengdu, is fast developing a global network that provides governments and businesses with cutting-edge commercial data services enabling improved decision making using big data across worldwide business functions.

BBD is playing a particularly important part in enabling deep and transparent analytics to qualify company data, which will be especially important in tracking new economy companies.

The new economy index recently introduced by BBD as part of the launch of its activities in the United Kingdom has been widely acclaimed as an important breakthrough, and it has special relevance to the tracking and measurement of the Chinese economy from old to new. But it has far wider implications for those seeking to measure the performance and effectiveness of new-economy companies and for those considering investments.

As a businessman working around the world, I am very excited to see BBD extend its activities globally - and particularly happy to see a its operation in the heart of London's fintech sector.

For those with sufficient knowledge of information technology, software and the latest technological developments in data handling, the discussion has shifted from big data to metadata. More sophisticated ways of turning raw data into useful and useable information are becoming available. It was fascinating to spend time recently with the BBD team, including Senior Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer George Yuan and Chief Scientist Tao Zhou. Both are PhDs and both are at the leading edge of the accelerating metadata revolution.

Tao's work on developing and testing extremely sophisticated science-based algorithms has been highlighted in many publications, such as Nature News, MIT Technology Review and Harvard Business Review. His translation of the book Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live and Work has been widely read in China. Meanwhile, Yuan's research, developments and experience in the use of data in international financial management and understanding is acknowledged within the global financial sector.

And there is much more exceptional PhD talent on the BBD team. While its focus today is rightly and primarily on the financial sector and enabling enhanced economic and business management in the developing new economy, I have the impression that the company may also have the capability to make significant contributions to big data/metadata developments, serving other key areas of modern life where technology now enables information to be generated at speeds and in volumes not even anticipated a few years ago; for example, in genetics and genomics, where next-generation DNA sequencing can produce data at rates exceeding our ability to handle it effectively and meaningfully.

In a world where artificial intelligence and machine learning are racing ahead alongside developments in robotics and genetics, and where technologies converge and collide more than ever before, my sense as an observer is that BBD is an organization capable of helping to change that world to good effect.

Opportunities, dilemmas

For the time being, global economics, finance, financial and risk management represent sufficient challenges for this young company. I recall the comments at a recent London seminar of Shen Minggao, an eminent economist with a track record at Peking University, Stanford, with Chinese government organizations and as chief economist for Citibank China. "As China continues the transformation from old to new economy, the BBD new economy index will offer significant support to governments, companies and investors," he said.

Companies such as BBD are already working with government agencies and academic centers to grapple with the dilemmas and difficulties of data ownership, data sharing, open data, and aspects of privacy and confidentiality.

Metadata and big data are working in new territory. Organizations such as the Open Data Society are seeking to guide practitioners toward definitions of best practice and adherence to common standards. As with all new technology areas, this is difficult on a global scale.

It was very interesting for me to meet Gao Jinkang, dean of the Law School at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu and hear of the dedicated work he and his team are doing in the field of big data standards and regulation. Since the BBD head office is in Chengdu, we can be encouraged to believe that constructive and innovative approaches will emerge and that international collaboration will be encouraged.

In conclusion, working beside the young executive team at BBD, it is clear to see why they speak enthusiastically about their acronym standing not only for Business Big Data, but also building big dreams. In today's world, dreams can become reality very quickly indeed.

The author is a professor and entrepreneur in residence at the Judge Business School in Cambridge University. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
- General Ukparasia claimed Tompolo is carrying out his threat to make Nigeria ungovernable

- He said Tompolo promised to make Nigeria hell

- He said he was ready to work with the federal government to eradicate Niger Delta Avengers

General Africa Ukparasia who is a former Niger Delta militant has claimed that General Government Ekpemupolo popularly known as Tompolo is planning to make Nigeria ungovernable for President Muhammadu Buhari.

Tompolo who has been arraigned in absentia by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on corruption related charges has been in hiding since he was declared wanted.

READ ALSO: Tompolo denies involvement in pipeline vandalism

Tompolo has been fingered in the recent bombing of pipelines although a group, Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tompolo wrote an open letter to President Buhari denying his involvement in the bombing of petrol and gas facilities in the region but according to Leadership, Ukparasia insisted that Tompolo was the architect of the violent attacks.

Ukparasia warned Tompolo to desist from his plans to make Nigeria a terrible place to live as he had vowed during the run up to the presidential election that he would make Nigeria hell if Goodluck Jonathan did not win the election.

Ukparasia said he was ready to work with the government to stop the activities of Niger Delta Avengers.

I want to state categorically that the Niger Delta Avenger is not a new group. It is Tompolo that is behind the group and what they are out to do is to carry out their threat to make the government ungovernable for the APC. We will not allow that to happen.

Tompolo is the person behind the attacks in the Niger Delta and so, Nigerians and people of the Niger Delta should not think that there is a new militant group. I am confirming that it is Tompolo that is behind the group. It is not a new militant group.

READ ALSO: Niger Delta Liberation Force challenges President Buhari

It is Tompolo that is disturbing the peace of the people of the Niger Delta. So, I am warning him to stop the unnecessary action and stop disturbing this our government because the government is very sincere.

During the last government, nobody heard of the name Avenger causing problem and causing damages to our oil installations. But today, before the last election, Tompolo vowed and it was all over the media that if Jonathan does not win the election, he will make the incoming government ungovernable. That is what he is doing now. So, nobody should be surprised about what is happening now because it is Tompolo that is doing it.

Meanwhile, Commander Bibi Oduku, the commandant general, Riverine Security revealed the identity of militants bombing oil installations in Delta state under the cover of Niger Delta Avengers (NDA).

According to him, the NDA hails from Gbaramatu Kingdom in Warri Southwest local government area of the state.

Oduku also fingered an ex-militant leader, who he accused of aiding and abetting criminals in their community in the recent attack on oil and gas installations within and outside the kingdom."

Source: Legit.ng
Chinese entrants in intl public speaking contest fight hard Updated: 2016-05-13 00:03 By Cecily Liu(chinadaily.com.cn)

Chen Mengzhu delivers her speech at the first round of the International Public Speaking Competition in London , May 12, 2016. [Photo by Cecily Liu/chinadaily.com.cn]

Winners of the China Daily-organized 21st Century Coca-Cola Cup National English Speaking Competition put up a strong fight at the first round of the International Public Speaking Competition in London on Thursday.

Wang Xiwen, 17, a high school student at Shanghai Foreign Language School, and Chen Mengzhu, 19, a second year student of New York University Shanghai, impressed audience and judges with their speeches, delivered with fluency, confidence and impact.

Chen's speech addressed the importance of focusing on solutions for pollution, and Wang spoke about the benefits of thinking positively. Contestants give 5 minute speeches, followed by questions from the audience.

This international competition is hosted by the non-profit organization English Speaking Union, with about 50 outstanding participants from 48 countries coming to London to compete. The list of participants for Friday's semi-finals will be announced on Friday morning.

The outstanding performance of the Chinese students at the international competition coincides with the growing trend of Chinese students' increasingly dedicating their time to English learning.

The China leg of the competition, the "21st Century Cup," was started in 1996 by China Daily. Liu Xing, and Xia Peng, China's national champions in 1996 and 2005 respectively, have also won the international competition.

Jane Easton, director general of ESU, said that Chinese contestants' speech standards are very high. She added that the international public competition is very important for the work of ESU, which supports the improvement of English speech globally, which is particularly useful in sectors involving international cooperation, like business, the internet, the arts and education. "English can become the language that brings together countries who may not share each other's languages," she said.

Michael Yip, one of the judges, said the quality of the Chinese contestants' speeches were "as good as anywhere else in the world". "A long time ago you'd see a large disparity for the quality of English in China, but now people are so good at public speaking that they'll perform just as well (as other countries' speakers) in competitions like this," said Yip.

Xia, the competition's 2005 champion, who now acts as the leader for the Chinese contestants' delegation, said the international public competition greatly helps Chinese students to learn English in a way that emphasizes communication, so they can put what they learn in the classroom into practice.

Xia met with the two Chinese contestants in London a week before the competition, and led five training sessions with them during the week. The sessions worked towards creating a good theme for the competition, question answering skills and techniques, and delivery skills.

"Doing well in a competition like this is not just about speech content. Delivery, in knowing when to slow down and when to push forward one's message strongly are key to making an impact, which is the purpose of making a speech," Xia says.

In addition, the technique of incorporating China specific context into one's speech is highly recommended, according to Xia. "If the purpose of the speech is to make an impact, it's then recommended that students share with an international audience what is already familiar to them."

Chen said she felt it is a great honor to participate in the competition. "I really enjoyed meeting my fellow contestants, who are young people from all over the world, and hearing more about their perspectives on life." During the same week of the competition, the contestants went on an excursion to see more of London, including visits to the House of Parliament, British Broadcasting Corporation's TV studios and Hampton Court Palace.

"I used to think that coming to a competition like this would mean I need to choose between either working hard towards winning or being able to enjoy the process, but this trip allowed me to realize I can do both," said Chen.

Wang is in London accompanied by her mother Wang Yue and father Qian Zhongqi, who are proud to see their daughter's performance. Wang said her daughter has always been a high achiever at school and handles her own academic and extracurricular activities well, therefore she rarely needed to worry.

"We are in London to support our daughter, to help her feel she is not alone in this competition. She said she is glad to have us in the audience, as it boosts her confidence," Wang said.

To contact the reporter: cecily.liu@mail.chinadailyuk.com




Fuel scarcity is one problem that the Nigerian government has not been able to solve and it keeps recurring.

Nigeria has always experienced fuel scarcity and when you think its over, thats when the queues at the petrol stations start again.

For months now, fuel has been biting hard and Nigerians have been groaning. People spend the whole day queuing for fuel and some buy at it at exorbitant prices.

Motorists queue for fuel at NNPC petrol station

The fuel scarcity has resulted in suffering, transport fares have increased and businesses are running at a loss.

Here are seven reasons we suffer fuel scarcity in Nigeria.

1. Not enough refineries: We dont have enough refineries in Nigeria to satisfy the nations needs and the few we have are not performing optimally. There are four refineries  two in Port Harcourt, one in Kaduna and the other one in Warri. Nigeria's gasoline consumption is roughly 35-50 million litres per day and the refineries in Nigeria dont produce up to half of this so the country has to depend on fuel importation despite being one of Africas biggest oil exporters.

READ ALSO: Market value should determine fuel price - Senator

2. Pipeline vandalism: Pipelines have been repeatedly attacked by vandals and this most of the time affects the supply to consumers. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company said pipeline vandalism was one of its biggest headache in finding a lasting solution to the fuel crisis over the years.

3. Diversion of supplies: A significant volume is being diverted by corrupt officials to neighbouring countries such as Chad and Cameroon. Some marketers have been accused of diverting petrol supplies to areas where it is sold at very high prices. In some instances, they sell off the fuel allocated to them at the depot to independent marketers, who are willing to pay more because they sell above the regulated price.

4. The wide gap between the official USD exchange rate and the parallel market rate in Nigeria: The CBN dollar rate is N197/USD while the black market rate hovers around N325/USD. Fuel is bought at the international market with US dollars and importers have to source for dollars themselves to buy petrol.

money exchanging hands

5. Inadequate quantity imported: The NNPC lacks the capacity in terms of resources and facilities to handle the entire importation process. Independent marketers have the bulk of the fuel storage and distribution facilities. Most of the time, the scarcity is caused by NNPCs inability to import enough to meet growing demand of the populace.

READ ALSO: Buhari's petrol price hike affects Naira

6. Some people benefit from fuel crisis: Some people are actually making money for scarcity of fuel and they would do whatever it takes to make it continue.

7. Sabotage: Marketers have been accused of sabotaging governments effort to end the fuel crisis in the country. In previous government, the marketers always find a way of getting back at the government for refusing to pay arrears of their subsidy claims. The marketers in a bid to satisfy their selfish desires are willing to sabotage the fuel supply effort being made by the government, not minding if the masses suffer.

Source: Legit.ng
Description

Retro Picture Show

FRIDAY THE 13th Parts 1 & 2 DOUBLE FEATURE!

Friday, May 13 at 10:00 pm

$18 Members | $22 Public

Retro Picture Show and Cinema Arts Centre celebrate the 35th anniversary of Friday the 13th Part 2 with a special Friday the 13th late night double feature.

Friday the 13th: Terror and suspense abound in this 24-hour nightmare of blood. Camp Crystal Lake has been shuttered for over 20 years due to several vicious and unsolved murders. The camp's new owner and seven young counselors are readying the property for reopening despite warnings of a "death curse" by local residents. The curse proves true on Friday the 13th as one by one each of the counselors is stalked by a violent killer.(US, 1980, 95 min, R, 35mm | Dir. Sean S. Cunningham)

Friday the 13th Part 2: Just when you thought it was safe to go back to camp... here's even more heart pounding terror. Five years after the horrible bloodbath at Camp Crystal Lake, all that remains is the legend of Jason Voorhees and his demented mother, who had murdered seven camp counselors. At a nearby summer camp, the new counselors are unconcerned about the warnings to stay away from the infamous site. Carefree, the young people roam the area, not sensing the ominous lurking presence. One by one, they are attacked and brutally slaughtered. (US, 1981, 86 min, R, 35mm | Dir. Steve Miner)
Description

Dates of Exhibition: May 13, 2016-June 19, 2016

Generously Sponsored by Nancy Goroff

Opening Reception: Friday, May 13, 5pm-7pm

Gallery North is pleased to present: Still Life, an exhibition of work which encompasses the aesthetic of everyday life. The elements of a Still Life work are often filled with symbolic connections to our living world or specialized images of inanimate objects. Since the time of the Egyptians, people have considered skilled depictions of everyday objects, animals and especially, food and flowers as preferred decoration to enhance the homes in which they lived. That idea has continued throughout the centuries. Even in modern family portraits, artists include combinations of flowers or food arranged near silverware, plates and linens on a decorative table. While paintings are composed of shells and bugs and bones and all kinds of other incidental items, still life work is not static. The set tables could be near a window. That window could overlook a field or show a city view from several floors above. Perhaps it is time to eat. Should the table be cleared? The objects might not be alive, but there is always an implied action. There are always possibilities.

Included in this exhibition are local and regional artists.

Amy Weiskopf, Angela Stratton, Bruce Lieberman, Christian White, Don Perlis, Eleanor Meier, Fred Badalamenti, Jacqueline Lima, Joseph Podlesnik, Laura Westlake, Liz Kolligs, Lois Dodd, Mel Pekarsky, Nancy Bueti Randall, Oscar Santiago, Paul Resika, Randall Rosenthal, Robert De Niro, Sr., Robert Franca, Robert Jessel, Robert Kogge, Stephen Brown, Susan Jane Walp
- Direct telephone numbers of ministers of the federal republic of Nigeria has been made public

- In April the direct lines of members of Nigeria's National Assembly and of all the State governors were made public also

Direct telephone numbers of ministers of the federal republic of Nigeria has b een made public by citizen journalism website, Sahara Reporters.

Recall that in April the website published the direct lines of members of Nigeria's National Assembly and of all the State governors.

Sahara reporters say it is releasing the telephone numbers of public officials to foster greater interaction and communication between voters and their government.

READ ALSO: EXPOSED: Read Buharis lasting solution to fuel crisis

The website promise to release the second batch of minister's phone numbers in the coming days.

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has reportedly turned down requests by some ministers who were seeking audience with him to engage him on pressing matters of governance.

Abubakar Bawa

Abubakar Malami

Adebayo shittu

Aisha Alhassan

Babatunde Fashola

Kayode Fayemi

Hadi Sirika

Kemi Adeosun

Lai Mohammed

Chris Ngige

Osagie Ehanira

Rotimi Amaechi

Dan Ali

Ibe Kachickwu

Solomon Dalong

Suleiman Adamu

Source: Legit.ng
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Theyve been called the post-hope Democrats by Jacobin Magazine, but a more accurate term for many of Hillary Clintons supporters would be New Republicans. After the primary, and several more election cycles, these voters will likely end up representing Americas conservative party.

Hillarys Democrats tend to be older and more affluent. Many have decidedly negative views of Bernie Sanders, and the kind of economic populism he is promoting. Not only are they turned off by his class-driven rhetoric  viewing it as too radical, divisive, and disruptive  they are also wary of too much government action. Clintons Democrats, consciously or otherwise, hold to some of the main tenets of the Reagan Revolution.

That said, these are not the New Democrats of the 1990s, though that is where their roots are planted. Socially, they identify as progressives  hypersensitive to privilege and prejudice  but outside those issues, their ideology rests on the belief that nuance dictates moral ambiguity, and is beyond the understanding of common folk. Such sentiment gives deference to authority, and assumes that every side must have a valid argument in the face of impenetrable complexity.

On foreign policy, the New Republicans are no different from the neoliberals. In spite of a history of negative consequences, unprovoked military intervention and nation-building are deemed acceptable for the reasons previously stated.

The New Republicans are creatures of comfort  partly due to the fact, previously stated, that theyre generally older and more established. And so, triangulation against the grassroots progressive left works well on them. They tend to view an incremental approach to change as desirably pragmatic because they only really want to push so far. Many do not like the idea of handouts, and the kinds of changes Sanders is proposing frighten them.

This fear and distaste is why, as the years progress, the Democratic Party is going to lose these voters. Though this prediction may seem far-fetched at first glance because Hillary Clinton will likely be the nominee, Bernie Sanders is the future of the party.

The Vermont Senator has started a movement which has seen a massive influx of new voters into the party. Additionally, Bernies progressives are following the Tea Party model for insurgency, and running for Congress to unseat incumbent, centrist Democrats in safe districts.

On top of all that, theres the Elizabeth Warren factor to consider. The Massachusetts Senator has become the darling of the Democratic Party, and her agenda mirrors that of Bernie Sanders more so than it does that of Hillary Clinton.

Warren and Sanders favor an overhaul of financial regulationspecifically, breaking up the big banks while Clinton has been spreading a narrative that such action is not only unnecessary, but also misguided. Both Warren and Sanders have prioritized reforming campaign finance, but Clinton has not.

Still, both Sanders and Clinton supporters have sought endorsement from the Massachusetts Senator, as well as made cases that their candidate is the true heir to her ideas. Warrens popularity proves the rising dominance of economic progressivism, and suggests that the Democratic party will hold together at least long enough for the establishment to be forced out over a few election cycles.

As the party transforms, it is likely the rhetoric used will grow sharper, and the candidates more, for lack of a better word, ideological  more class-oriented. That will drive Clintons Democrats away  just like how Civil Rights drove away the southern Dixiecrats.

We tend to understand the words liberal and conservative in terms of the major issues of the times. For the past 50 years social issues have largely defined those classifications, as well as driven political shifts. However, with the Culture War essentially won by the left (though there are still plenty of battles to fight) issues of economic and political inequality are coming to define our modern era. In fact, we are seeing a realignment. These issues will serve as the new lens through which we understand our political spectrum.

As time goes on, Hillary Clintons position on campaign finance reform and economic regulation will come to be associated with conservative and Bernie Sanders agenda with liberal. Assuming that the two major political parties maintain their current names and respective sides of the aisle, it is a safe bet to say that Clintons Democrats are tomorrows Republicans.
The revelation that Joe Biden wanted Elizabeth Warren as his running mate in the event of a presidential runa possibility that was nixed in late Octoberis a nice juicy story, but not a huge surprise. Per Politico:

Biden, a stalwart Democrat who has veered leftward in recent years  but, as a centrist senator, voted to scuttle the Glass-Steagall prohibitions on banks engaging in speculative investments  favored Warren because he needed a partner to capture the wave of anti-bank, anti-establishment anger raging to his left.

Of course he did! You know why? Because theres a burgeoning progressive movement in this country, with a lot of support behind it, and Biden knew he had absolutely no claim on them. Even in his earliest strategy sessions, he knew Warren was his perfect tokensomeone he could add to the ticket that would resonate with progressives, but who would have essentially no power and would allow him to maintain his centrist position.

The two met, Warren was noncommittal but not displeased, but then told him that he was screwed because he was even more of a moderate than Hillary Clinton. Just like Clinton, Biden voted to crush Glass-Steagall, and supported the same bankruptcy bill that Warren nailed Clinton on in her 2003 book. Those are the big highlights, but theyre also representative of a lifetime of moderate stances from the current Vice President. So when he asked her whether Clinton would face a tougher-than-imagined battle because of those progressives, she told him yes, but that he wasnt well positioned to benefit.

Now, months later, everybody is talking about Warren as Hillary Clintons VP pick. Again, the idea is that it would heal the schism between the two sides of the Democratic party, and bring all those ornery Sanders supporters on board the Democratic express. Even Biden has encouraged this move, and hes clearly no fan of Hillary Clinton. For her part, Warren has kept the door open by not outright endorsing Bernie Sandersa move that is probably politically wise but which infuriated some Sanders voters, especially around the Massachusetts primaryand when anyone asks her directly whether shed accept the job, she gives evasive non-answers.

You could make the case that there is influence to be had as VPPolitico suggests she might have the power to influence Treasury Department and financial oversight staffand of course shed only be a heartbeat away from the oval office. But really, does anyone trust Clintons overtures to the left? Do we believe she opposes the TPP after she supported it on record dozens of times? Do we believe shes going to do a full 180 on her war hawk act of the past decade? Do we believe shes actually going to crack down on the banks that have treated her so well over the years, when shes too afraid to release the text of speeches she made to them?

I wont go onyouve heard it all before, and you either agree or you dont. Some people trust Clinton to accomplish incremental change and move our country to the left. Others (read: me) see more compromise that actually just pre-emptively concedes any goal worth achieving. For that second group, watching a real fighter like Warren getting subsumed into the Clinton bubble would be a living nightmare.

So: As a progressive, my hope would be that Warren rejects a VP offer and holds her seat in the Senate. Its already tough enough for this movement to make real change in America, and its only going to get tougher if one of our brightest leaders gets co-opted, and then ignored, by the center. So please, Senator Warrenstay strong. Dont be anybodys token.
A jetset lifestyle doesnt have to be all private planes and decadent digs. In Paste Travels Jet-Set Bohemian series, we blend the best of high and low for just the right balance  enticing everyone from backpackers to luxury boutique hotel lovers to come along for the ride.

the hour-and-a-half-long drive from the Bilbao airport to the medieval village of Laguardia, I shouldve been thinking about the Rioja wine I was about to taste in Spains oldest wine denomination. Instead, my thoughts were drifting to the plates theyd be pairing with these gorgeous reds at lunch. After a week of wine tastings throughout the country, sampling robust reds in Ribera del Duero with blood sausage and crisp Albarino whites with copious amounts of creamy cow-milk cheese and jamon, I was ready to see what these wines could do with a pairing thats not so obvious. Thats when I found out about Freixenets Solar Viejo winery in Rioja, sitting under the Sierra de Cantabria mountains.

Just a 10-minute drive away from Laguardia, a 13th century walled village surrounded by vineyards, this winery is one of 600 in Rioja. The blend of modern and traditional techniques using some of the finest grapes in the region is one of Solar Viejos draws, but the lamb for lunch is reason enough for a visit. Chuletillas de cordero asadas al sarmiento is a Rioja specialty, and the winery roasts these lamb cutlets with vine shoots in an open grill just off the tasting room. In an area thats been producing wine for over 2,500 years, they dont play favorites with the grapes; every part of the plant is weaved into a meal thats matched perfectly with a glass of ruby red Vaza Crianza Tempranillo to bring out the shoot-roasted lambs smoky flavor, making it hard to decide which is better: the vino or the vine?

I love a good glass (or bottle) of wine, but trips to wine country can revolve around much more than the tasting room. Case in point: this vine-infused cuisine. Wineries arent the only ones using grapes in ways that go beyond wine; you can also sleep or soak amongst the vines in spots that incorporate the fruit into everything from massages to meals.



Photo by Lane Nieset

summer, the 12th century Monastery of Santa Maria de Valbuena was spruced up and transformed into the first five-star spa and hotel in Spains Castilla y Leon region. The 79-room Castilla Termal Monastery of Valbuena sits on private vineyards, but the tempranillo-producing ones in Ribera del Dueros Golden Mile are just minutes away. When the monastery was built, the Cistercian monks irrigated these vineyards with mineral-medicinal water drawn from a 1,266-foot-deep aquifer that feeds the spas seven thermal pools today. After soaking up the stress-relieving benefits from these waters, move on to one of the exfoliating and polishing treatments with sea salt and grapes for the ultimate antioxidant thats sure to balance out all the wine you tasted throughout the day.

In Bordeaux, Caudalies Vinotherapie Spa at Les Sources de Caudalie also weaves warm mineral-rich water into its treatments, drawn from 1,771 feet below the surface. Nestled on the vineyards of Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, 20 minutes from the center of town, the 11-room hotel is housed inside an 18th century country home, and the spa is every bit as much French country chic with its blend of light wood and natural stone. This is the spot where the French skincare brand (which happens to be one of my go-tos) launched its line of grape- and vine-based products that have been scientifically proven to help hydrate and protect skin against free radicals. Treatments not only work with these products, they play on the grape theme as well with more in-depth Caudalie Cures like crushed Cabernet scrubs, red vine barrel baths and Merlot wraps.

The Vinotherapie Spa also has an outpost in Porto, Portugal at the hillside Yeatman, a hotel that takes its wine theme seriously. The 82-room Yeatman is home to one of the largest collection of Portuguese wines in its cellars, and partners with some of these producers for the decor in its suites, which look out to the vineyards and River Douro. One of the most impressive is the 008 Master Suite done up by the 300-year-old port producer Taylors, with the piece de resistance being the four poster oak barrel bed sitting in the center.

At The Yeatman, you can sleep or bathe in a barrel, but its also worth experiencing the wine thats inside with a guided tasting journey through Portugals wine regions at the Michelin-starred gastronomic restaurant. The menu pairs six different wines from around the country with Portuguese fish and produce for a meal that starts with toro tuna belly and mini cuttlefish and wraps up with tangerine cream, meringue and mascarpone ice cream.



Photo courtesy of Calistoga Ranch hotel

the 157-acre Calistoga Ranch in Napa Valley, meanwhile, detox takes on a two-part form at the secluded canyon resort. Soak in the spas healing waters that fill the heated mineral pool, zenning out with a water massage surrounded by woodlands, before sitting back with a glass of vino at The Lakehouse restaurant overlooking Lake Lommel. If youre making it a romantic retreat, sip on a glass of Napa Valley Cabernet during your soak and then move on to a candlelit massage performed with wine oil. The spa also works with warm grapeseed compresses in a combination deep tissue and stone treatment, relieving tension and tightness so youll be as good as new to set out and explore the valleys vineyards hiking or biking to nearby wine tastings.

Lane Nieset is Pastes Jet-Set Bohemian columnist and a freelance writer covering all things travel from her home base in Nice, France.
The first thing to note about Kill Zone 2 is that Kill Zone 2 isnt its actual title. Its actual title is SPL II: A Time for Consequences, in which SPL spells out to Sha Po Lang, a collective Chinese phrase that refers to a trio of stars used in methods of fortune telling. Sha signifies power, Po destruction, Lang lustbut youd think that at least one of them would translate roughly to something along the lines of Tony Jaa and Wu Jing kick your ass. Kill Zone 2 isnt about astrology, its about two in-shape, highly skilled martial artists teaming up to crack skulls, snap limbs and pummel leukemia.

The second thing to note about Kill Zone 2 is that its a sequel in name only to 2005s Kill Zone, so if you missed that onewell, no problem. Cheang Pou-sois follow up to Wilson Yips original is its own picture, a sprawling action thriller split into three separate but interconnected plotlines. In plot A, Chatchai (Jaa), a guard working at a Thai prison, struggles to care for his young and endlessly precious daughter, who is in dire need of a bone marrow transplant. Shes the only thing that keeps him from piping up about the naked corruption and shocking brutality he is witness to every day at the office. In plot B, undercover Hong Kong cop-cum-junkie Kit (Jing) is in way too deep with a black market organ ring run by Hung (Louis Koo), who by chance happens to be the star of the films C plot.

Like Chatchais daughter, Hung is struggling through terminal illness. He has a bum ticker, and he has to have heart replacement surgery to stay alive. (Hes kinda like the Tin Man, except he kidnaps people and butchers them for their organs.) Kill Zone 2 sets these men on an intercontinental collision course staged through exaggerated emotion. Call it melodramatic. Call it operatic. You could also just call it a Hong Kong action flick and save yourself the time. Grandeur is a hallmark of great Hong Kong action cinema, and Kill Zone 2 paints in broad brushstrokes of sentiment and sensation through use of sight and sound alike. One moment youre in awe at the sounds of Lacrimosa, the next youre overwhelmed by cinematographer Kenny Tses agile camerawork, though he puts his lens to best use in Kill Zone 2s jaw dropping fight scenes.

A betting man might peg Cheang as the one-upping type: You can see him actively finding ways to outdo each of the films fights in order, though its hard to do one better than the prison riot that breaks out around the halfway point. Here, though, he isnt trying to best his own movie as much as hes trying to best Gareth Evans, who orchestrated a similar sequence for The Raid 2: Berandal back in 2014. Kill Zone 2 takes jailhouse mayhem indoors, letting Tses camera swoop and glide between floors to document the cavalcade of slugfests taking place across the entirety of its space in long, uninterrupted shots of chaos.

And when its all over, theres still another hour or so left of Kill Zone 2 to enjoy. Cheang spaces out these set pieces judiciously, filling in the gaps with theme salad: The film is about the high cost of a career in law enforcement, the ties that bind families together (for better or for worse), the lengths parents go to to care for their kids, the thin line dividing right from wrong, and the unifying miracle of technology. Before meeting Chatchaibecause action movie logic dictates that Kill Zone 2s heroes must meetKit agrees to donate bone marrow to his daughter, a happy irony that is sorted out through language barriers thanks to Chatchais global translator app. Coincidences like that drive the film. Its very foundation is built on coincidences, which add excess density to an already dense narrative. But Cheang keeps the threads straight, which is as impressive a feat as any of his films stunts.

In fact, Kill Zone 2 impresses all around. This is not an action movie made only in service of its action. If it sounds mawkish on paper, its arresting in practice thanks to affecting turns by Jing and by Jaa, a man not well known for his acting chops. That Kill Zone 2 demands he emote is a dangerous proposition, but hes up to the task of getting us invested in Chatchais moral dilemma. Along with Jing and the myriad supporting characters littering the film (including Simon Yam, returning to the series after playing a totally different character in the first Kill Zone), Jaa is integral to making Kill Zone 2 work as a whole movie and not just as an action extravaganza. Youll appreciate his thespian efforts even when the story hits pause so he can bowl over bad guys with flying knee knockouts.

Director: Cheang Pou-soi

Writer: Wong Ying, Jill Leung

Starring: Tony Jaa, Wu Jing, Simon Yam, Louis Koo, Zhang Jin, Ken Lo

Release Date: May 13, 2016

Boston-based critic Andy Crump has been writing about film online since 2009, and has been contributing to Paste Magazine since 2013. He also writes for Movie Mezzanine and Birth. Movies. Death., and is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. You can follow him on Twitter and find his collected writing at his personal blog. He is composed of roughly 65% craft beer.
The Curse of Sleeping Beauty is about a haunted house. We know this because Tom (Ethan Peck) inherits a haunted house from his uncle, a haunted house that is obviously haunted, and proceeds to ask everybody he meets whether or not they also think the house is haunted. But when realtor and secret occult investigator Jane (Natalie Hall) responds that she thinks Toms house might be supernatural, the soundtrack suddenly stutters, all Dun dun duuun! Tomwho is having odd dreams about Sleeping Beauty and a xenomorphish chest demon; who has found a ritual altar in the houses basement; who has just explained that the lights only work during the day; who is literally, while Jane makes this assertion, recovering from the revelation that his body cannot leave the property without his organs failing; and who has, as mentioned, already asked 327 people if they think the house is hauntedjoins the soundtrack in reacting to Janes incredible assertion. A moment later, hes totally on board, but when he mentions that he thinks he might be cursed, its suddenly Jane who is incredulous, all, You think its a curse?

That this movie seems to think that semantically supernatural and curse are just several degrees more haunted than haunted is bad enough. That this movie also seems to think that it makes perfect sense for characters to constantly contradict themselves just to create drama in dialogue is the real problem.

Consider an early scene between Tom and the executor of his Uncle Clives will. Tom notes that Clives house is like three hours from here and the executor snottily responds, You know what? I really know just about as much as you do. She proceeds to give Tom more information that he didnt know. Tom then says, This doesnt make any sense. I didnt know my uncleshe interrupts, Okay, youre breaking my heart. But then shes like, Also, heres this giant envelope with your name on it, giving Tom even more information. And then, when a photo inside the envelope makes Tom have a brief flash of Briar Rose (India Eisley), the titular Sleeping Beauty, the executor is suddenly all, You okay?, concern washing over her face. Then he leaves and shes back to snotty: That was stimulating.

Putting aside the fact that I doubt theres many executors who believe that its the responsibility of their clients to be stimulating and charismatic when their loved ones have just died, its just so muchmuch for a scene where the point is literally, Heres a giant haunted house. No, I dont know anything about your creepy fucking uncle.

So, the primary reason to watch this film is to marvel at its cognitive dissonance. That ritual altar I mentioned earlier? Its embedded in a wall that an assessor is convinced blocks hidden rooms in the basement. Later, upstairs, Jane says the word bloodline, and Tom rushes her downstairs to show her the altar because shes triggered the idea that he should use the old rusty knife on the altar to cut his hand to open the secret door. Excepthe shows her the altar. Shes like, Is that blood? Hes like, Thats what I thought, nodding uncertainly. Then he slowly picks up the knife and slowly moves it towards his hand and suddenly shes like, Bloodline. And then he and she look at one another, and then he cuts his finger, and then the camera holds on his bloody finger for what seems like a whole minute, andwhy do each of them need to have the same revelation 26 times in this scene? Why do they both react so incredulously when Tom finally opens the secret passage they were both just talking about? Especially when the set design makes the room they find look like a garage that needs Spring cleaning? Why do we have to have the same astonishment 40 minutes later when Richard (Bruce Davidson) accompanies them into the sub-basement?

Tom is a rube who wants to find out what has happened to him; Jane believes her brother died in the house; Richard is an old drunk who also studies demonology. Beyond these basic sketches, what these characters want is not the point, because the point is just that theres a sub-basement in this house filled with living mannequins and a demon and maybe Briar Rose. Beyond Toms basic suggestionone that interrupts an out of nowhere come-on from Janethat he feels a connection to Briar Rose, theres no clear sense of why anybody feels compelled to go find her. In fact, on the face of it, it seems fairly apparent that the easiest way to solve whatever this conundrum actually iswhich is never really clear, but has something to do with a generational pact that one of Toms ancestors made with the devil during the Crusadeswould just be to kill Tom before he has any heirs and then burn the house down. Nobody brings that up. Nobody reflects on how the twist at the end renders all of this completely nonsensical. Instead, Richard brings a gun to a demon fight.

He does this because all of the characters are dumb. After Tom shows Richard a picture of the veiled demon, so-called because of the veil that conceals its face, Bruce Davidson has to say, Ive seen this face before. He then says the Aramaic name of the demon before intoning that the translation of said Aramaic name is veiled demon. When Tom asks Daniel (James Adam Lim), who occasionally works for the government, doing stuff he cant talk about, how long his logarithm will take to crack the coded Aramaic script found in a journal from the basement of the haunted house, Daniel erupts on Luddite Tom like somebody who knows that a logarithm isnt the same thing as an algorithm and therefore would have a leg to stand on while bullying a non-nerd for asking stupid questions. Exceptwhy is that a stupid question? Its like every actor in this film independently decided that his or her actors secret was sociopath. On a different note, I know exactly how long the algorithm I designed to analyze the work put into this script will take.

Of course, the film is so slight that Im not sure it matters. Aside from Briar Rose and the demon, it looks like most of the actors were told to do their own make-up and hair. The set design isadequate? There are several bits of reused footage, and several long shots that presumably could have been cut more quickly if there was other material to put in. The scenes which are supposed to be dramatic feature strobe lights.

This movie is just over 80 minutes, and it feels like (a) theyre stretching to fill that much, since so much of what happens is redundant; and (b) that they didnt actually do a lot of takes, since so many of these conversations are stilted. I do think careful editing could remove a lot of the problems I have with the films dialogue, but Im also sure that doing that would mean there would be very little dialogue left.

This all culminates in a stupid, boring endingthat relies at least in part on Daniels logarithm finally decoding the page that actually explains everythingthat suggests the filmmakers ran out of time and money. It just happens, it renders most of the mythology irrelevant and confusing, and it makes the characters look even stupider. The explanation for what happened is given in voiceover. Given what this movie tries to be and what it actually is, the logarithm required to get this movie from the latter to the former is pretty fucking high.

Director: Pearry Reginald Teo

Writer: Josh Nadler, Pearry Reginal Teo, Everette Hartsoe

Starring: Ethan Peck, Natalie Hall, India Eisley, Bruce Davidson, James Adam Lim

Release Date: May 13, 2016

Mark Abraham sometimes teaches history in Toronto, is sometimes an Editor at Cokemachineglow, was at one time the co-founder of The Damper, and is always a Bedazzler aficionado. You can follow him on Twitter.
There are actually people who believe that a woman cant be president because of hormones. Not only that but in the current election cycle, orange-faced sexist Donald Trump has called Hillary Clintons use of the bathroom was disgusting and seemingly implied that Fox News host Megyn Kelly was on the rag when moderating a GOP debate. The political discourse around womens bodily functions has never been more disturbingly robust. So maybe now wouldnt be the best time for a sketch about the first female president being incapacitated by her period the day after her inauguration. I guess no one told Amy Schumer.

In Madame President, Schumer plays President Amily Schintonsound familiar?as she navigates a tense international crisis with Iran, hosts a foreign diplomat, and tries to manage an aerial strike in the situation room. Theres just one problem: shes menstruating the entire time! For anyone who wants this sketch to have a point, it apparently has none other than to cram all of the played-out jokes about periods into five minutes. Does President Schinton freak out when the diplomat takes her last piece of chocolate? Yup. Does she fail to perform basic functions of her job because shes too focused on her leaking tampon? You bet. Does she eventually crack under the pressure and ask the men around for validation? Congratulations, youve won 90s period joke bingo! This isnt just a throwaway sketch, either, its the centerpiece of an entire episode of Inside Amy Schumer.

Its not easy for Amy Schumer to offend me on feminist grounds. I have always defended Schumer from the expectation that she be perfectly supportive of women at all times. Some of her best sketches revolve around her making fun of women, herself included. In fact, my favorite Inside Amy Schumer bit of all time might be Im So Bad, in which she mocks the way women reassure each other when they confess moments of selfishness and indulgence, like that time Greta Lees character knelt on [her] gerbil to hear what sound it would make.

Schumer has proved that women can make fun of women without reeking of internalized misogyny. The woman-on-woman comedy always feels winking, like a nudge in the ribs that leaves you a little sore but not doubled over in pain.

Im also totally OK with period jokes and, like Chelsea Peretti pointed out in her Netflix special, I believe we would be inundated with them if all men bled from their genitals once a month. Schumer should be good at menstrual humor. Throughout her tenure at Inside Amy, she has excelled at joking about womens bodies, whether its the generous poop references in Milk, Milk, Lemonade or the many florid descriptions of vaginal odor (e.g. hot summer Chinatown garbage) in this seasons Yo-Puss commercial. A period sketch is right up Amy Schumers alley.

But Schumer making fun of the idea of a Hillary Clinton-esque figure bleeding through her presidential pajamas isnt clever. Theres nothing winky or insidery about it. Theres no clever turn of the screw at the end to point out how men in politics are impaired by bodily demands, too; instead the male advisors in the sketch are calm, uniformly reasonable figures who are frustrated by her temperamentality. And sure, Schumers performance has some terrific moments as it always does, but the so-called jokes about periods are basically age-old anti-woman myths brought to life. As a Rutgers political science professor once told CNN in response to a dubious study about hormones and womens voting patterns, It was long thought that a woman shouldnt be president of the U.S. because, God forbid, an international crisis might happen during her period! That is the entire premise of Madame Presidentnothing more, nothing less. At one point, President Schinton literally screams, You guys, I cant be president because I got my period!

Schumer could have subverted the notion that menstruators cant be heads of state. The past four seasons of Inside Amy Schumer are proof that she and her writers have that skill. The show has already pointed out the ridiculousness of believing that women cant make decisions about contraception, that women over 45 cant be sexy, or that male lawmakers should be allowed to legislate womens bodies. I dont know exactly how Schumer could have pulled this one offmy first thought would be a fake ad for a tampon specifically designed for female presidentsbut Im confident in her creative ability. It may just be a missmost Inside Amy episodes have onebut this is one of those moments where my confidence wavers.

As it stands, Madame President tries and mostly fails to find the humor in a woman president having her period. It feels slightly mean, mostly stale, and worst of all, its not even funny.

May Saunders is a professional dog walker living in Minneapolis and an occasional freelance writer. In her spare time, she enjoys hanging out with her cat, who does not need to be walked. Follow her on Twitter.
Bilfinger Real Estate has signed a rental agreement with the Furstenberg Institut within the framework of its letting mandate for Gorch-Fock-Wall 3-7 in Hamburg-Neustadt. The institute, which is a systemic consulting company, had previously been sub-letting the property. With the signing of the rental agreement, the Furstenburg Institut will continue

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Cording Real Estate Group and BNP Paribas REIM Germany have let almost 3,000 sq m of office space in the Dusseldorf Media Tower. This letting has increased the occupancy level of the office tower, situated in the Dusseldorf Medienhafen, to around 80%. Cording acquired the property in autumn 2015,

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Europa Capital and Ediston Real Estate acquired Buildings 1000, 2000 and 3000 at Cathedral Hill in Guildford for a combined purchase price of 68.4 million (54 million), reflecting a net initial yield of 7.63%. Buildings 1000 and 2000 were acquired from M&G in December 2015 for 50.7 million (40 million).

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Every office building can benefit from a gentle facelift from time to time. The Roosevelt building  originally completed in 1980 and entirely refurbished in 2006  is now getting ready for another big change. The Budapest office buildings landlord, GLL Real Estate Partners, unveiled their design plans for Roosevelt

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Pradera has appointed Andrew Payne to the position of Finance Director for the funds business. Payne, an experienced real estate finance executive, will have significant involvement in new business and will be responsible for the oversight of all financial aspects of the Pradera Funds. They include the Pradera European

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According to a Prague City Report by JLL, the Czech Republic real estate market in Q1 2016 recorded ca. 460 million of transactions which is 42% lower than the comparable 2015 figure. Despite the slower start to year, there is a sizable pipeline across all sectors complimented by a supportive

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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.

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.

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.

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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).

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. When mortality risk was plotted against senior doctor staffing levels, there was no evidence of an association between the two.

"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."

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).

The researchers found there was wide variation in the quality of care delivered -- both by days of the week and time of day (stroke). Patients who arrived in the morning were more likely to receive a brain scan within one hour (as per national stroke care guidelines) 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."

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."
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."
Children who start to walk and jump earlier are more likely to have stronger bones later on in life, research shows.

A study, published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, has demonstrated an association between children's abilities in common movements like jumping, running and walking at 18 months and stronger bones as an adolescent.

It is thought that these movements in toddlers place a stress on the bones, causing them to react by becoming wider and thicker, thereby making them stronger than those in children who may not be moving as much.

Findings from the study may help to identify who is at a greater risk of osteoporosis and bone fractures in later life.

Healthcare scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Bristol believe the results could also be partly attributed to children with good early life movement being more physically active as they get older.

These children had bigger muscles which previous work by the Bristol group, led by Professor Jon Tobias, has shown to be associated with greater physical activity. In the current study, the researchers demonstrated that around half of the differences in bone strength at 17 years old associated with movement could be explained by muscle size differences.

Lead researcher Dr Alex Ireland, from Manchester Met's School of Healthcare Science, said: "The findings are intriguing as they provide a link which wasn't previously understood, primarily that how we move as a young child can have ramifications for our bone strength even 16 years later.

"We believe that stronger muscles could act as a 'marker' for this. Being more active gives you stronger muscles which can then apply bigger forces to the bones as we walk, run or jump, helping to strengthen bones as we grow older."

He added: "Importantly, the results could have implications for later life by helping medical practitioners to anticipate and detect those who are at a greater risk of osteoporosis or fractures, thus helping them to devise prevention and coping strategies. For example, attainment of these movement skills at an early age can be easily improved even by simple parent-led walking practice at home."

Researchers analysed data from 2,327 participants from Children of the 90s, a lifelong study of health and wellbeing that has been charting the lives of 14,500 people since they were born in the early 1990s. Movement was assessed at 18 months, and hip and shin bone size, shape and mineral density was measured at 17 years of age, for both males and females, by scanning with X-ray absorptiometry and peripheral computed tomography.

The study found the effect was more pronounced in males than in females, suggesting early movement plays less of a role in female bone strength. This fits with previous studies by the Manchester and Bristol groups showing that effects of physical activity and exercise on bone are greater in males than females.

Previous studies from Dr Ireland, published in Bone in 2014, showed that babies who started to walk earlier could have up to 40 per cent higher bone mass in their shinbone compared to toddlers who were still crawling at the age of 15 months.
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.

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.

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.
Research published in the journals Materials Today Communications and Scientific Reports has described how silver nanowires are proving to be the ideal material for flexible, touch-screen technologies while also exploring how the material can be manipulated to tune its performance for other applications. Currently, touch screen devices mainly rely on electrodes made from indium tin oxide (ITO), a material that is expensive to source, expensive to process and very brittle.

A team from the University of Surrey, led by Professor Alan Dalton and in collaboration with M-SOLV Ltd, a touch-sensor manufacturer based in Oxford, looked to alternative materials to overcome the challenges of ITO, which is suffering from supply uncertainty. Alternative materials investigated as ITO replacements have included graphene, carbon nanotubes and random metal nanowire films. This study showed how silver nanowire films have emerged as the strongest competitor, due to transmittances and conductivities which can match and readily exceed those of ITO. This is a material that consists of wires which are over a thousand times thinner than a human hair, that form an interconnected conductive network.

Matthew Large, the first author on the research published in Scientific Reports described the importance of these latest results. "Our research hasn't just identified silver nanowires as a viable replacement touchscreen material, but has gone one step further in showing how a process called 'ultrasonication' can allow us to tailor performance capabilities. By applying high frequency sound energy to the material we can manipulate how long the nanosized 'rods' of silver are. This allows us to tune how transparent or how conductive our films are, which is vital for optimising these materials for future technologies like flexible solar cells and roll-able electronic displays."

In a paper published last month in Materials Today Communications, the same team, showed how silver nanowires can be processed using the same laser ablation technique commonly used to manufacture ITO devices. Using this technique, the team produced a fully operating five inch multi-touch sensor, identical to those typically used in smartphone technology. They found it performed comparably to one based on ITO but used significantly less energy to produce.

"Not only does this flexible material perform very well, we have shown that it is a viable alternative to ITO in practical devices," concluded Professor Dalton. "The fact we are able to produce devices using similar methods as currently in use, but in a less energy-intensive way is an exciting step towards flexible gadgets that do not just open the door for new applications, but do so in a much greener way."

Maria Cann, a technologist from M-SOLV and first author on the Materials Today Communications paper added ""We are seeing a lot of interest from our customers in silver nanowire films as an ITO replacement in devices. This work is a really important step in establishing exactly which sensor designs can make good nanowire products. The fact that the nanowire films are processed by the same laser techniques as ITO makes the transition from ITO to nanowires really straightforward. It won't be long before we are all using nanowires in our electronic devices. "

The team, now based at the University of Sussex is now looking to develop the scalability of the process to make it more industrially viable. One limiting factor is the current cost of silver nanowires. Funded by Innovate UK and EPSRC, the team are collaborating with M-SOLV and a graphene supplier Thomas Swan to use a nanowire and graphene combination in the electrodes to markedly reduce the cost.
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."
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't -- exchange 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 operations -- where chickens regularly receive antibiotics -- would 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.

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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 rule -- that are not similar to the surrounding DNA -- are 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.

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"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."
There's now more than just anecdotal evidence that England's hedgehog population is feeling the squeeze. In the past 55 years, there has been a moderate decline of up to 7.4 percent in the areas they frequent, says Anouschka Hof of the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US and Paul Bright, previously of the University of London in the UK. This is after they resampled two sets of data collected by members of the public as part of citizen-science projects. Their findings are published in Springer's European Journal of Wildlife Research.

The West European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) is a common species found widely in the western part of Europe. Conservationists are not yet officially worried about this relatively mobile animal that mainly feeds on slugs, earthworms, beetles and other larger insects. It is classified as "of least concern" on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species. However, anecdotal evidence suggests a decline in numbers in, among, others Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium. Previous studies by Hof and Bright showed that major roads, a lack of connected green spaces and the presence of the Eurasian badger and the red fox can impact hedgehog populations in the UK.

To detect if there is indeed a long-term decline in the abundance and presence of this species, the researchers resampled two sets of data collected as part of citizen-science projects. The one is from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and was collected between 1960 and 1975. The other is from the nationwide public participation survey 'HogWatch" conducted between 2000 and 2015 throughout England.

According to Hof and Bright, the West European hedgehog is still found widespread in England, and was noted in 91 percent of the area surveyed through HogWatch. However, a more detailed comparison with the older data set suggests a possible 5 to 7.4 percent decline since the 1960s in the areas where it occurs.

"This suggests that the decline of the relative abundance of West European hedgehogs is moderate in England," says Hof. "It was once a common and more widespread species throughout its range."

Although it does not yet warrant specific conservation concern (this is normally only provided to a species once its numbers decline with 25 percent), Hof and Bright say this decline and the clustering of sightings in specific areas do warrant further investigation. The researchers believe that the West European hedgehog should be regarded as an indicator species of how the environment is deteriorating and should be managed.

"Possible constraints faced by West European hedgehogs might be more severe for less mobile taxa that have to cope with an increasingly fragmented landscape in both rural and urban areas," adds Bright.

Hof and Bright believe that the subsampling of citizen-science datasets is a useful, although not fool proof, tool that can inform conservationists about possible long-term changes in the abundance of particular species.
Doctors from the University of Pittsburgh showed that providing an online computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (CCBT) program both alone and in combination with Internet Support Groups (ISG) is a more effective treatment for anxiety and depression than doctors' usual primary care. The preliminary findings were highlighted at the annual meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine (SGIM) in Hollywood, Florida.

The National Institutes of Mental Health-funded randomized trial, led by Bruce L. Rollman, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Smart Technology at the University of Pittsburgh, enrolled 704 depressed and anxious patients from 26 UPMC-affiliated primary care offices across western Pennsylvania.

Patients 18 to 75 years old were referred into the trial by their UPMC primary care physician between August 2012 and September 2014. Eligible and consenting patients were then randomized to one of three groups: care manager-guided access to the eight-session Beating the Blues CCBT program; care manager-guided access to both the CCBT program and a password-protected ISG patients could access 24/7 via smartphone or desktop computer; or usual behavioral health care from their primary care physician.

Over the six-month intervention, 83 percent of patients randomized to CCBT started the program, and they completed an average of 5.3 sessions. Seventy-seven percent of patients assigned to the ISG logged into the site at least once, and 46 percent provided one or more posts or comments.

Six months later, those patients randomized to CCBT reported significant improvements in their mood and anxiety symptoms and the more CCBT sessions patients completed, the greater the improvement in mood and anxiety symptoms.

Although patients randomized to both CCBT and ISG had similar overall improvements in mood and anxiety symptoms compared to patients randomized to only CCBT, secondary analysis revealed those who engaged more with the ISG tended to experience greater improvements in symptoms.

Several CCBT programs have proven as effective as face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy at treating mood and anxiety disorders and are used by many patients outside the U.S., but CCBT remains largely unknown and underutilized within the U.S., Dr. Rollman said. ISG that enable individuals with similar conditions to access and exchange self-help information and emotional support have proliferated in recent years, but benefits have yet to be established in randomized trials.

"Our study findings have important implications for transforming the way mental health care is delivered," Dr. Rollman said. "Providing depressed and anxious patients with access to these emerging technologies may be an ideal method to deliver effective mental health treatment, especially to those who live in areas with limited access to care resources or who have transportation difficulties or work/home obligations that make in-person counseling difficult to obtain. We hope that these findings will focus further attention on the emerging field of e-mental health by other U.S. investigators."
Free food: It's a growing workplace trend, especially in tech companies, to incentivize productivity and morale around the office. But how can companies promote healthy choices and still provide indulgent goodies?

Google executives asked consumer behavior expert and Saint Joseph's University professor Ernest Baskin, Ph.D. and his colleagues, to help them resolve that question.

Baskin, an assistant professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph's Haub School of Business, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, worked with a team of researchers from his alma mater, Yale University, in a study of snacking behavior conducted at Google's New York Office, recently published in the journal, Appetite (April 2016). Baskin looked at the extent to which the proximity of snacks to free beverages increased snack consumption.

The study adds to the growing body of research that proves how even small environmental changes ("nudges" in the parlance of behavioral economics) can exert a powerful influence on behavior and consumption. Yet, it was the first study to measure relative proximity -- that is, the extent to which an environmental factor, like the placement of snacks, plays a role in behavior.

"It was a bit surprising that an extra few feet of distance between snacks and beverages yielded such a significant change in snacking frequency," says Baskin, who found that the probability of snacking increased by more than half when an employee visited a beverage station that was near the snack supply.

"Environmental factors can have a fairly large influence on consumer behavior and often these factors sway us unconsciously," says the project's lead researcher, who has worked extensively on major marketing and behavioral initiatives with a variety of firms, including Google, Pepsico, Activision and TIAA-CREF.

"Factors that influence consumer behavior without our full realization, like convenience or relative proximity, are especially important to study to help educate individuals about healthy decision-making," says Baskin

Another interesting finding? Most of difference in snacking behavior came from men as opposed to women. "In general, studies show that women have more chronic self-control than men," says Baskin.

Based on this research, Baskin and his colleagues offered potential interventions for reducing snacking in the workplace, such as moving healthier snack options closer to beverage stations, or making unhealthy snacks more difficult to access (placing them in a pantry or in a free vending machine). They also made recommendations for home and commercial strategies, noting in the article's conclusion: "We hope our findings spark insights and new questions beyond workplace kitchens, helping to inform the optimal design of many eating spaces, such as cafeterias, dining halls, home kitchens, and any other settings in which tempting food challenges our self-control."
When you touch your phone's screen, you might not realize that you've set off a molecular chain reaction.

Your fingertip sends a jolt of electricity (albeit tiny) that disturbs rows of molecules meticulously assembled at the screen's surface and dictates the action, whether it's opening a new window or typing the next word on your text message.

But what if those molecules could be jostled more easily and rapidly snap back in formation, enabling quicker touches and swipes -- and on smaller screens to boot?

University of Iowa chemistry researchers are taking such an approach by examining how molecules in an electrically charged fluid (called an ionic liquid) are disrupted at the liquid's surface and how quickly they reassemble themselves. In a paper published online this month in the American Chemical Society journal Langmuir, the UI team reports that the molecules reassemble without having to be prodded into position. But their complete reorientation takes time, and the layer of molecules affected by surface disturbances is thicker than previously known -- in some instances at least 100 times thicker. The results help better define the potential uses of ionic liquids, from touch screens to energy use and storage.

"One aspect that makes our finding intriguing is the molecules show the ability to self-assemble," says Scott Shaw, assistant professor in the UI Department of Chemistry and corresponding author on the paper. "That would make the process of making a capacitive touch screen simpler. Right now, the molecules (in touch screens) are forcibly arranged in hundreds of layers. Rather than doing that layer upon layer, we could put (an ionic liquid) drop on the surface, and the molecules would self-organize. And that could make the process faster and cheaper."

What makes ionic liquids attractive for potential commercial use is they carry charges and have a natural urge to be orderly. Think of them like soldiers who yearn to be in a precise formation at all times. Because of their negative and positive charges, molecules in ionic liquids could respond to external forces more quickly than other materials -- whether it's the tap of a finger or an electrical impulse from a battery pack -- and order themselves over longer distances from the surface point.

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But how these molecules arrange themselves at the interfacial region -- the area where molecules are affected by contact with the surface -- and how deeply the ripple from that contact penetrates the molecular assembly has been something of a mystery.

Shaw's team found highly ordered layers of ionic liquids extending to 1,000 nanometers, or 1 micron, from solid or vapor surfaces. Previous studies had shown molecules in ionic liquids order to an upper limit of 50 nanometers.

"The chemical models that guide the community's understanding and definition of the interfacial region of (ionic liquids) are evolving even as the reported thicknesses and magnitude of the interfacial region is diverging," the authors write. "Our most recent results add a new and intriguing layer of intricacy to this field."

The researchers discovered the expanded interfacial layer through "dumb luck," Shaw says. Radhika Anaredy, a graduate student in Shaw's lab, had been using a slowly rotating disc to examine how gravity and shearing could be employed to produce thinner interfacial regions. Frustrated one evening, Anaredy turned off the disc and left the lab. When she returned the next morning and measured the ionic liquid film, she was surprised to see the interfacial layer was 700 nanometers, far thicker than she, or anyone else, expected.

That's when the researchers figured out the molecules simply needed more time to complete their assembly. In fact, when testing other ionic liquids, Shaw's group observed that the self-ordering begins nearly instantaneously, but the molecules in the entire interfacial region aren't completely organized for 25 minutes to two hours, depending on the liquid.

"Typically, these measurements are done over 30 seconds or two minutes," Shaw explains. "No one's ever sat around and waited for these things to hang out and arrange themselves."

Of course, a touch screen that takes any appreciable time to react wouldn't be very useful.

"The trick is to make the reordering much faster," Shaw says. "Right now, it takes at least 20 minutes. We'll need to make it much, much faster."
When applying for a job or to college, women seek positions with fewer applicants than men, according to a new University of Michigan study.

The researchers found that the size of a competition--such as the number of applicants to a particular job or the number of people vying for a monetary reward--shapes who enters the competition.

Women prefer smaller competitions, whereas men seek larger competitions, which are typically associated with higher monetary rewards.

"These patterns of findings can contribute to a better understanding of gender inequality in the workforce," said Kathrin Hanek, the study's lead author. "The gender difference in preferences may in part explain pay gaps and the underrepresentation of women in particular fields or at the helm of large organizations."

The difference between the genders can be partially attributed to women feeling more comfortable in smaller competitions. Hanek points out that some environments offer greater opportunities for women to behave communally rather than competitively.

"Smaller social groups, even when individuals are in competition, tend to allow people to form more intimate social bonds and be more attuned to others' needs," said Hanek, who recently received her doctorate from the U-M Department of Psychology. "And these communal behaviors, in turn, tend to be more normative for women."

Hanek and colleagues found consistent gender differences in the preference for smaller versus larger competitions across a variety of different competition contexts.

For instance, one study examined women's and men's real decisions to enter a small (10 competitors) or large (100 competitors) word-formation task competition. The results indicated that 53 percent of women but only 41 percent of men preferred the small competition.

"This research by no means blames women for gender inequality but rather uncovers a novel environmental factor that might contribute to inequality, beyond the well-documented effects of gender biases and discrimination," said Stephen Garcia, U-M associate professor of organizational studies and psychology.

Avishalom Tor, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame, also contributed to the study, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology.
A team led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reported a research trifecta. They discovered a new vulnerable site on HIV for a vaccine to target, a broadly neutralizing antibody that binds to that target site, and how the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell. The study was led by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH.

The new target is a part of HIV called the fusion peptide, a string of eight amino acids that helps the virus fuse with a cell to infect it. The fusion peptide has a much simpler structure than other sites on the virus that HIV vaccine scientists have studied.

The scientists first examined the blood of an HIV-infected person to explore its ability to stop the virus from infecting cells. The blood was good at neutralizing HIV but did not target any of the vulnerable spots on the virus where broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies (bnAbs) were known to bind.

The researchers isolated a powerful bnAb in the blood that they named VRC34.01, and found that it binds to the fusion peptide and a sugar molecule. The scientists then crystallized the antibody while it was bound to the virus. This allowed them to characterize in atomic-level detail how VRC34.01 attaches to HIV and revealed that the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell by binding to a key cell-surface molecule.

The scientists also report that it is not unusual for the immune system to try to stop HIV from infecting a cell by attacking the fusion peptide. When they screened the blood of 24 HIV-infected volunteers, they found that blood samples from 10 people targeted a similar binding site as VRC34.01.

The researchers are now working to create a vaccine designed to elicit antibodies similar to the VRC34.01 antibody.
Obesity is on the rise in Indonesia, one of the largest studies of the double burden of malnutrition in children has revealed.

Affecting many low and middle-income countries, the double burden of malnutrition describes the prevalence of both under nutrition and over nutrition in the same place at the same time. It can have a devastating impact on individuals and economies.

The existence of this growing health problem in Indonesia is confirmed by researchers led by a PhD candidate from the University of Sydney in a paper published in PLOS ONE yesterday. Their study is the first of its kind in Asia and has global implications.

Researchers drew on a sample of children from the Indonesian Family Life Survey to examine risk factors for stunting (a sign of chronic under nutrition, which affects height and brain development), being underweight and obesity.

While the prevalence of under nutrition in young children decreased over the past 14 years in Indonesia, more children are becoming overweight.

Stunted or underweight children tended to have a lower birth weight, an underweight or short parent, and a mother who never received formal education. The likelihood of being stunted was also higher among children in rural areas.

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Meanwhile, children were more likely to be overweight or obese if they were in the youngest age group studied (two to 2.9 years), were male, had overweight or obese parents, and had fathers with high formal education.

In a paper published in Public Health Nutrition last month, the authors looked at the children who were both stunted and overweight. Stunted children were significantly more likely to be overweight than children of a healthy height.

The research revealed inconsistent trends in the prevalence of being stunted and overweight, but associated risk factors were being young, being weaned after the age of six months, having short mothers or living in rural areas.

Lead author Cut Novianti Rachmi, an Indonesian physician and a PhD candidate in the Discipline of Child and Adolescent Health at The Children's Hospital at Westmead Clinical School, said: "The double burden of malnutrition is complex and wide reaching.

"It can occur in the same country, city or household -- and also within the same individual, either at the same time, or during different stages of a person's life," she explained.

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"It's concerning that stunted children are also most at risk of being overweight or obese. There are serious potential consequences for their future health -- as well as the broader financial and societal costs of managing the predicted associated rise in non-communicable diseases."

"While a variety of factors could account for the rising levels of obesity in Indonesia -- including increased national wealth and availability of processed foods -- more research is required to understand the causes," Dr Rachmi said.

Other co-authors, Professor Louise Baur, Professor Mu Li and Dr Kingsley Agho, called for an overhaul of policy related to these areas.

"There are major, global policy implications for our findings -- and an urgent need to modify current interventions and strategies to fit this condition," they said.

"We won't adequately tackle the double burden of malnutrition unless under and over nutrition are dealt with as part of the same problem."
An illegal trade in marine turtles is continuing despite legislation and conservation awareness campaigns, a pioneering study has shown.

The study, conducted by researchers from the University of Exeter in the Cape Verde islands, 500 km off the West Coast of Africa, and one of the world's leading nesting sites for the protected loggerhead species, found that the biological impact of the trade has been previously underestimated and that turtles are still being harvested and consumed.

The authors suggest that conservation interventions need to be refined and reassessed and believe the study's findings will provide valuable knowledge about human behaviour and socio-economic influences for informing national policy-makers.

They recommend focusing both on suppliers and consumers for more robust solutions given that enforcement alone is not likely to protect turtle populations in the region.

Joana Hancock, lead author of the study which is published in the journal Oryx, conducted the research as part of her as part of her MSc in Conservation Biology with colleagues based at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at Penryn Campus and the Turtle Foundation.

She conducted anonymous interviews in two islands in Cape Verde with those involved in the harvesting, sale and consumption of turtles. She found although there has been an apparent decrease in harvesting and consumption over the last decade, there has been a shift from subsistence to commercial harvesting in certain islands.

The study reports that whilst the existence of laws to protect marine turtles was perceived by survey respondents as a key deterrent to harvesting, environmental awareness campaigns and lack of availability were perceived as main reasons for decrease in turtle consumption.

Joana, who is now a PhD student at the University of Lisbon, said: "Reducing illegal harvesting in Cape Verde has been a major conservation challenge in the region, as the third largest loggerhead sea turtle aggregation in the world nests in Cape Verde, facing huge pressure from hunting. Several strategies have been used to eradicate this problem, with limited impact. We hope that this study sheds some light in aspects that may have been previously overlooked when designing conservation actions and may have positive outcomes in the future."

Co-author Dr Ana Nuno, a Research Fellow from the University of Exeter, said: "This study demonstrates the need to better understand social aspects of natural resource use and provides particularly relevant insights to inform ongoing decisions about regulations in Cape Verde. It's a fantastic opportunity to use our research to address issues of conservation concern being discussed by decision-makers."

Professor Brendan Godley, who supervised the project, said: "The global importance of the turtles of Cape Verde has been clearly demonstrated. Key among the threats they face is this potentially unsustainable take at the nesting beaches. This study highlights a range of areas for conservation action.

The publication of this study coincides with an international workshop organized by MAVA Foundation in Cape Verde, between the 16th and 18th of May, which aims at developing the action plan to eradicate disturbance and illegal harvesting on the four most important nesting sites for green and loggerhead sea turtles in West Africa. The event will gather the main actors involved in sea turtle conservation in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, together with other key stakeholders from the region and beyond.

Exploring drivers and deterrents of the illegal consumption and trade of marine turtle products in Cape Verde and implications for conservation planning by Joana M. Hancock, Safiro Furtado, Sonia Merino, Brendan J. Godley and Ana Nuno is published in Oryx.
A new report assesses how the nation fared against the ambitious challenge goal set by the American Cancer Society to reduce the cancer death rates by 50% over 25 years ending in 2015. The report finds areas where progress was substantial, and others where it was not.

The report, appearing in the American Cancer Society journal, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, says the best improvements were seen in cancers for which prevention, early detection, and treatment tools are available, including cancers of the lung, colon, breast, and prostate. How much more progress will be made going forward will depend on how well policy makers and the American public work together to continue progress in those areas, and in making the best available care accessible to all.

In 1996, the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society challenged the United States to reduce what looked to be peak cancer mortality in 1990 by 50% by the year 2015. The goals made clear that achieving that challenge goal would require a broad, multi-sectoral effort, not the effort of any single organization.

The current analysis, led by Tim Byers, MD, of the University of Colorado, examined trends in cancer mortality across the 25-year challenge period from 1990 to 2015*. The report found:

In 2015, the overall cancer death rate was 26% lower than in 1990 (32% lower among men and 22% lower among women).

Among men, mortality rates dropped for lung cancer by 45%, for colorectal cancer by 47%, and for prostate cancer by 53%.

Among women, mortality rates dropped for lung cancer by 8%, for colorectal cancer by 44%, and for breast cancer by 39%.

Declines in the death rates of all other cancer sites were substantially smaller (13% among men and 17% among women).

The major factors that accounted for the drops were progress in tobacco control and improvements in early detection and treatment.

"As we embark on new national cancer goals, this recent past experience should teach us that curing the cancer problem will require 2 sets of actions: making new discoveries in cancer therapeutics and more completely applying those discoveries in cancer prevention we have already made," write the authors.

The report says not fully reaching the goal should be seen as an opportunity. "That the ACS challenge goal to reduce US cancer mortality by 50% over the 25-year period from 1990 to 2015 was only one-half achieved should be seen as a glass half full. This progress should eliminate any historical remnants of cancer fatalism, and it should now stimulate our national imagination about what might be possible to achieve into the future."

The report says the effort also has a valuable lesson in goal-setting: "The best goals are those that stretch the limits of what might actually be achieved by renewed efforts. There is a sweet spot in goal setting between projecting what will likely happen regardless of renewed efforts (setting the bar too low) and creating unrealistic challenges that tend to paralyze us (setting the bar too high)."

The report concludes: "All sectors of civil society will need to join in efforts to further reduce cancer mortality in the United States, including those focused on the many social determinants of cancer, including income, availability of care, and many other social and environmental factors impacting cancer-reducing policies and programs. How much more progress we will make will depend on the extent to which policy makers and the American public can join together to create systems and incentives to understand cancer better, to reduce several of the known risk factors for cancer, to better diagnose cancer earlier, and to assure that state-of-the-art treatment is available for all."

* 2015 rates were estimated as a linear extrapolation of the trends from 2010 to 2014
The discovery of stone tools alongside mastodon bones in a Florida river shows that humans settled the southeastern United States as much as 1,500 years earlier than scientists previously believed, according to a research team led by a Florida State University professor.

This site on the Aucilla River -- about 45 minutes from Tallahassee -- is now the oldest known site of human life in the southeastern United States. It dates back 14,550 years.

"This is a big deal," said Florida State University Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessi Halligan. "There were people here. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas."

There is a cluster of sites all over North America that date to around 13,200 years old, but there are only about five in all of North and South America that are older.

Halligan's research was published today (May 13) in the academic journal Science Advances.

Halligan and her colleagues, including Michael Waters from Texas A&M University and Daniel Fisher from University of Michigan, excavated what's called the Page-Ladson site, which is located about 30 feet underwater in a sinkhole in the Aucilla River. The site was named after Buddy Page, a diver who first brought the site to the attention of archaeologists in the 1980s, and the Ladson family, which owns the property.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers James Dunbar and David Webb investigated the site and retrieved several stone tools and a mastodon tusk with cut marks from a tool in a layer more than 14,000 years old. However, the findings received little attention because they were considered too old to be real and questionable because they were found underwater.

Waters and Halligan, who is a diver, had maintained an interest in the site and believed that it was worth another look. Between 2012 and 2014, divers, including Dunbar, excavated stone tools and bones of extinct animals.

They found a biface -- a knife with sharp edges on both sides that is used for cutting and butchering animals -- as well as other tools. Fisher, a vertebrate paleontologist, also took another look at the mastodon tusk that Dunbar had retrieved during the earlier excavations and found it displayed obvious signs of cutting created to remove the tusk from the skull.

The tusk may have been removed to gain access to edible tissue at its base, Fisher said.

"Each tusk this size would have had more than 15 pounds of tender, nutritious tissue in its pulp cavity, and that would certainly have been of value," he said.

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Another possible reason to extract a tusk is that ancient humans who lived in this same area are known to have used ivory to make weapons, he added.

Using the latest radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers found all artifacts dated about 14,550 years ago. Prior to this discovery, scientists believed a group of people called Clovis -- considered among the first inhabitants of the Americas -- settled the area about 13,200 years ago.

"The new discoveries at Page-Ladson show that people were living in the Gulf Coast area much earlier than believed," said Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Added Halligan: "It's pretty exciting. We thought we knew the answers to how and when we got here, but now the story is changing."

Other researchers on the study are Angelina Perrotti and David Carlson from Texas A&M, Ivy Owens from the University of Cambridge, Joshua Feinberg and Mark Bourne from the University of Minnesota, Brendan Fenerty from the University of Arizona, Barbara Winsborough with the Texas State Museum, and Thomas Stafford Jr. from Stafford Research Laboratories in Colorado.

The research was funded by the Elfrieda Frank Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the North Star Archaeological Research Program and Chair in First American Studies of Texas A&M. It was also supported by the Ladson family, which allowed researchers to perform multiple excavations on their property over the past several years.
Stung by competition from discount carriers, American Airlines and United Continental are striking back with cheap, no-frills tickets of their own.

By year-end, the pair plans to lure budget travellers with basic economy fares, inexpensive tickets that dont include typical benefits such as an assigned seat before you get to the airport.

Taking a cue from Delta Air Lines, the carriers also hope that once the new fares draw attention, the bare-bones features will prompt some customers to buy up to a pricier choice, aviation consultants said.

Basic economy is one prong of a broader effort by the largest U.S. carriers to bolster revenue from each seat flown by distance (a mile), a standard industry measure. The airlines have come under pressure for about a year, partly because of fare wars with discounters such as Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines Holdings. The declines have helped push down the Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index 17 per cent this year through Thursday.

Spirit and Frontier, by the choices theyve made with recent expansion, have managed to give a poke at the dragon, said Samuel Engel, head of the aviation practice at consultant ICF International.

When you start flying into the major carriers hubs instead of skimming a bit at their sides, you tend to evoke a competitive response.

Passenger revenue for each seat flown a mile tumbled 8.9 per cent at American in the first quarter from a year earlier, and fell 7.4 per cent at United.

Spirit plans to boost capacity 65 per cent this year in Los Angeles, an American hub, while Frontier will grow 12 per cent in Denver, a core market for United, according to Credit Suisse Group.

American and United are still working out the details, but the rock-bottom fares could come with restrictions against upgrading the tickets or be such that the passenger cannot make changes or get refunds, and only get seat assignments at the airport. American and United declined to comment on their plans.

Its too early to know what effect the new fares will have on the discounters, according to a spokesperson for Spirit. A Frontier representative said the airline will watch to see how markets develop.

The strategy carries risks for the legacy airlines. American, United and Delta dominate the U.S. and have alliances with global carriers, advantages that would seem to they do not need to compete for the most price-conscious customer, said Jay Sorensen, a former Midwest Airlines executive, now president of airline consultant IdeaWorksCompany.

Something just seems very wrong here, he said.

The analogy is like Kohls (a retail chain) saying, Were going to have a section in our store dedicated to dollar deals because we think Dollar Store is a threat.

Youd look at that and say, Why are you doing that? Thats not your market. 

The big airlines see basic-economy fares as a means of putting passengers into seats that otherwise would fly empty.

A crucial part of the strategy is the wine-list effect, a phrase that describes a tendency for people to avoid the least-expensive item offered in favour of a slightly higher-priced option, believing theyre getting better value, Engel said.

The restrictions that come with the low fares may push buyers to higher-priced options, said Peter Belobaba, principal research scientist in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

As a strategy, its not a bad one for the large carriers, he said.

Delta, which also is battling drops in unit revenue and already offers basic-economy fares, has acknowledged the way passengers make decisions.

When presented with the options, when they were informed of what this product was, those customers chose something else, Delta President Glen Hauenstein said on a conference call in April.

Basic economy is available on about 2,000 domestic Delta routes, and the carrier plans to keep rolling it out this year.

Delta has been experimenting by increasing some fares and putting restrictions on certain low-price options in an effort to keep revenue. It has also started requiring passengers book a round trip for some of its lowest fares, which previously were available for one-way flights.

United expects many customers will buy the next higher fare to preserve all of their frills, all of the things theyre accustomed to, such as priority boarding, Douglas Leo, senior vice-president for revenue management, said at a March conference.

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OTTAWA  The satellite office controversy finally landed Friday in Federal Court as the New Democrats wrestle with an issue that has been sapping the partys political batteries since long before Tom Mulcairs bid to become prime minister.

The party  already some $5 million in debt following the longest election campaign in modern Canadian history  is using its own funds to fight a decision made in 2014 by the secretive all-party Commons committee that polices parliamentary spending.

The board of internal economy ordered 68 NDP MPs  many of whom went down to defeat last October  to repay $2.7 million in parliamentary funds that went towards office operations in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City.

The NDP has long denied that it used parliamentary funds for non-parliamentary purposes.

The concern is, were taxpayers money (meant) for parliamentary funds used for non-parliamentary purposes, and I have asked people, Where was the evidence? NDP House leader Peter Julian said in an interview.

Everyone has admitted to me there was never a shred of evidence produced. That is an important point. What that means is the resources were being used for parliamentary purposes.

Julian said the party would still like to see the attorney general refer the matter to the Supreme Court, to allow it to determine whether the board of internal economy can be subject to a court decision.

This is a decision that can only be taken at the Supreme Court level, he said. The former government and the current government have refused to refer it to the Supreme Court, which I think is bad news.

Julian said the governments failure to refer the jurisdictional issue to the top court means the process will be dragged out in Federal Court, costing more taxpayer dollars.

In March, The Canadian Press reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already vetoed an out-of-court settlement in the long-running dispute.

At the time, Liberal House leader Dominic LeBlanc insisted Trudeau had nothing to do with it, despite multiple sources who said it was the prime minister himself who put an end to negotiations.

The board of internal economy is the only body responsible for addressing the NDPs satellite offices and this misuse of public funds, LeBlanc said, adding the Liberals never contemplated settling the matter out of court.

It is the NDP who decided to begin frivolous judicial proceedings and subsequently asked for settlement negotiations, he said. We have always been of the view that the NDP misused public funds and should therefore reimburse taxpayers.

Former Toronto MP Dan Harris was originally on the hook for more than $140,000, but late last year was effectively exonerated by the Commons chief financial officer.

Ex-Montreal MP Isabelle Morin had been ordered to repay $169,117 in salary paid to an employee, but her bill was slashed to below $30,000 because the employee worked most of the time in her riding office, not the Montreal party office.

Mulcair, who will be leaving as party leader once a successor is named, remains personally on the hook for a bill of more than $400,000.

The NDPs federal council  the partys governing body, made up of about 100 people  is set to meet on Sunday as it looks to carve out the rules surrounding the partys upcoming leadership race.

A letter from the partys president, vice-presidents and treasurer  obtained by The Canadian Press  said the council should consider the likely financial impact of the race, given factors that include the partys current debtload.

Recent figures released by Elections Canada also paint a bleak picture of the partys fundraising efforts in its first quarter, when it collected just $1.3 million.

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An actor-writer-producer and an actor-writer-director start dating in Hollywood. No big deal. Except one of them is Captain America.

Us Weeklys breathless announcement Shes Team Cap! revealed that Jenny Slate and Chris Evans are officially an item, their fledgling relationship immediately put under the microscope of gossip sites, celebrity journalists and social media.

Theyre prefect, gushed Elle magazine in a tweet.

While Slate doesnt have Evans profile (or pecs for that matter), theres much to generate hope that this could be the perfect match for both of them. Theyre both 34, both hail from Boston and they share strong chemistry as well as rapier wits.

As Evans put it, according to Us Weekly: Oddly enough, Ive only known Jenny for a few months, which is insane to say because were like the same animal.

Evans, who has previously dated Jessica Biel, Christina Ricci and Minka Kelly, met Slate while they were shooting the family drama Gifted in Savannah, Ga. Slate has recently split from husband and collaborator Dean Fleischer-Camp.

Jenny Slate is a former SNL cast member who made her feature starring debut in The Obvious Child. More recently she voiced Bellwether in Zootopia and had a guest-starring role on Girls.







Salon.coms Mary Elizabeth Williams wondered what all the fuss was about. Should it really come as any surprise that a successful, smart, objectively good-looking woman could find romance with a successful, smart, objectively good-looking man?

Jenny Slate should be trending because shes Jenny Slate, observed @closer2fine on Twitter.

Shades of when George Clooney made it official with human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin.

Truth is, Evans is a huge star and acknowledged among his fans to be a total smokeshow. And while Slate is bright, talented and funny, her career trajectory doesnt match his. Which is not to say that is a permanent status; she appears clearly destined for bigger things.

Slate voiced sheepish assistant mayor Bellwether in Zootopia and charmed anyone who saw her delightful web seriesMarcel the Shell with Shoes On. The debut stop-motion short, released in 2010, went viral with more than 27 million views. She co-wrote three episodes with Fleischer-Camp (he also directs) and voices the introverted wee shell  with shoes on.

The former Saturday Night Live cast member broke through with writer-director Gillian Robespierres Obvious Child in 2014, which she both starred in and produced. Slate played a stand-up comic dealing with an unplanned pregnancy in the dramatic comedy, which was seen as controversial in some circles and earned solid reviews.

She told the Stars Bruce DeMara in 2014: Its a bummer that a movie that is so thoughtful and kind of everyday about a womans right to choose  and that this one woman chooses an abortion  that that is groundbreaking, it makes me sad.

As for Evans, his resume extends beyond The Avengers and Steve Rogers. He wrote, directed and starred in romance Before We Go, which premiered at TIFF in 2014, and was impressive in Joon-ho Bongs futurist sci-fi social commentary Snowpiercer. In Ariel Vromens The Iceman, a long, greasy wig and oversized glasses rendered Evans unrecognizable as an ice cream truck-driving murderer who teams up for mob hits with real-life killer Richard Kuklinski (Michael Shannon).

But mostly hes widely known as the squeaky-clean superhero Captain America.

As BuzzFeed feature writer Anne Helen Petersen noted on Twitter: Dating Jenny Slate makes Chris Evans infinitely more interesting.

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Dheepan

Starring Antonythasan Jesuthasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Claudine Vinasithamby. Directed by Jacques Audiard. Opens May 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 115 minutes. STC

The unexpected but not undeserved winner of the Palme dOr at Cannes 2015, Jacques Audiards immigrant drama sears with righteous fury.

French master Audiards bent for outsider narratives  A Prophet and Rust and Bone are among his testaments  finds full expression with a timely story of tinderbox urban tensions.

Antonythasan Jesuthasans protagonist was once a Tamil Tiger soldier, killing in the name of liberation during Sri Lankas Civil War. Now he is as weary as the scarred old elephant seen in symbolic flashbacks, seeking only to live in peace  but to do so he must flee his homeland.

He adopts the name Dheepan, taken from a dead mans passport, and teams with two random females  26-year-old Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and 9-year-old orphan Illayaal (Claudine Vinasithamby), also using assumed names  to feign the family status needed to migrate to Europe.

The ruse works, but this family of necessity ends up in a suburban Paris slum called Le Pre, which means meadow but is rife with wild human animals of the gangster kind.

Dheepan secures employment as handyman for the sprawling compound, while he, Yalini and Illayaal struggle to adapt to new lives. But the terror Dheepan escaped wont leave him alone; hell have to confront his past if he has any hope of saving the future.

Audiards multi-scribe narrative takes a questionable turn, but its rooted in reality. The three main players are all new to acting or nearly so, yet they exude authenticity  Jesuthasan actually was a Tamil Tiger in his youth. The gangsters are also credible. One of them, played by Vincent Rottiers, elicits sympathy. Complicated lives get tough yet compassionate treatment in Dheepan.

Peter Howell

Neon Bull

Starring Juliano Cazarre, Maeve Jinkings and Alyne Santana. Directed by Gabriel Mascaro. Opens May 13 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. 103 minutes. STC

Visually ravishing and sexually provocative, Neon Bull offers an unforgettable portrait of a changing Brazil, at once earthy and arty.

A family of oddballs cares for rodeo bulls in this film by Gabriel Mascaro (August Winds), which lyrically subverts its macho domain.

Iremar (Juliano Cazarre) is a vaquero, tasked with handling bulls before they bounce their riders. What Iremar really longs to do is push cloth through a sewing machine, to further his fashion dreams.

He makes lustful duds for dancer/truck driver Galega (Maeve Jinkings), who has a young daughter named Caca (Alyne Santana). Were kept guessing about these and other relationships, but Mascaro leaves no doubt about his central thesis: people are more like animals than theyd choose to think, especially in matters of sex.

Peter Howell

Sunset Song

Starring Agyness Deyn, Kevin Guthrie and Peter Mullan. Directed by Terence Davies. Opens May 13 at the Varsity. 135 minutes. 14A

Pretty as a John Constable painting and almost as static, the latest highbrow melodrama from Terence Davies (The House of Mirth) invites close scrutiny while resisting complete empathy.

This screen adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbons classic Scottish novel, set in rural Scotland at the start of World War I, inflicts hardship and tragedy upon its protagonists with the grim fatefulness of a Thomas Hardy story.

Its the kind of movie where an entire gospel song is sung as the camera moves slowly through a church. Someone speaks of better times head, just as war erupts.

A commanding lead performance by Agyness Deyn as Chris, a farm woman tested by extraordinary circumstances, overrides most concerns. The land endures, the narrator says, and so does Chris, vividly.

Peter Howell

How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town

Starring Jewel Staite, Ennis Esmer, Lauren Lee Smith, Katharine Isabelle, Mark OBrien, Jonas Chernick. Written and directed by Jeremy Lalonde. Opens May 13 at Cineplex Yonge-Dundas. 101 minutes. STC

Canuck backwater Beavers Ridge has a welcoming committee, but theres no casserole and cake for unloved home girl Cassie Cranston (Jewel Staite). Unfairly damned as the town slut in her regretful youth, and with good reason to have bad memories, shes feared and loathed as a Toronto sex columnist who mocks her hick heritage.

A family funeral forces Cassie to confront past antagonists and current fears, as town folk unwisely enlist her to liberate them from prudery.

The setup screams slapstick, and there are raunchy laughs to be had in Jeremy Lalondes Slamdance premiere, but the film heads in a more serious direction. Its about social anxiety, with Lalonde and his strong ensemble cast smartly illustrating the tyranny of expectations, in and out of the bedroom. The film doesnt swing, it rocks.

Peter Howell

Fire Song

Starring Andrew Martin, Harley LeGarde-Beacham, Jennifer Podemski and Mary Galloway. Directed by Adam Garnet Jones. 85 minutes. Opens May 13 at the Carlton. 14A

Shane (Andrew Martin), a closeted gay Anishinaabe teen living in Northern Ontario, inhabits a world of secrets. Anxious to begin a new life in Toronto at university, hes pulled in other directions. He is a support for his mom (Jennifer Podemski), who remains emotionally shattered since his sisters suicide and goes to desperate places to find money to support his family. Its not easy to keep up a straight pretence with girlfriend Tara (Mary Galloway) while dealing with deepening feelings for David (Harley Legarde-Beacham), who is conflicted about their relationship. They could make a fresh start in the city, but the emotional cost seems enormous. Cree/Metis writer-director Adam Garnet Jones has crafted a personal story with a strong aboriginal cast. Lovely cinematography from James Kinistin.

Linda Barnard

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OTTAWAConservatives and New Democrats say the Liberals and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau are out of touch with ordinary Canadians struggles after the PMO said it was looking into hiring another aide for the prime ministers wife.

In an interview with a Quebec City newspaper, Gregoire Trudeau said she needed more than one staffer to manage the deluge of requests for her participation at events.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus wife has one employee on the PMO payroll to help her with scheduling, correspondence and co-ordinating her movements with the RCMP.

I would like to be everywhere but I cannot, she told Le Soleil. I have three children at home, and I have a husband who is prime minister. I need help. I need a team to help me to serve the public.

Conservative MP Candice Bergen had little sympathy. She said being the family of a prime minister is a difficult job that involves a lot of sacrifices but she tied the appeal for more staff to the hiring of two nannies on the public dime.

Bergen accused the prime minister of hypocrisy . . . always wanting more . . . to do self-promotion, to do vanity trips, to do the things that he likes to do, and I think thats where the challenge is and where a lot of Canadians would question more.

She said it is the prime minister himself who brought his family into everything he does, and during the campaign repeatedly said rich families like his didnt need benefits like the enriched family benefit cheques. Yet the first thing he did, she said, was to take away benefits from families that he deemed too rich to need them then gave himself very, very generous benefits for exactly the same purpose, child-care . . . . It is all connected.

If they feel thats necessary, its incumbent on the prime minister himself to make the case to the Canadian public to justify that expenditure, said Conservative colleague Michelle Rempel.

The NDPs Niki Ashton said it shows a troubling pattern with Trudeau and his wife, whether its the reliance on caregivers charged to the public purse when in fact so many Canadians dont have access to that same kind of child-care arrangement, or whether his wife is expressing being overwhelmed.

Were seeing again a disconnect; this feeling of being overwhelmed, when in fact what you should be talking about is . . . the feeling that Canadian women face on a daily basis of being overwhelmed.

Its up to the prime minister and his family to figure out their own details, said Ashton, The focus should be on what Canadian women face on a daily basis and how the federal government can support Canadian women.

Gregoire Trudeau made the comments on a trip to Quebec where she appeared as a spokesperson for Fillactive, an organization that promotes healthy activity for teenaged girls. She once struggled with an eating disorder as a younger woman, and volunteered to help the organization, she told the newspaper, after reading its touching story.

Like Stephen Harpers wife, Laureen, Gregoire Trudeau took on her husbands name and a number of charitable causes after her spouse became head of government. Trudeau is not head of state - the Queen is, and her representative in Canada is Governor General David Johnston, who along with his wife Sharon, have the title Excellency and a ceremonial role.

And yet, some Liberals like MP Hedy Fry said times have changed and in Canada more and more people expect the prime ministers spouse to act like a First Lady, to do things, to become more active, to be a person they can go to for a lot of social assistance on a lot of issues they are talking about.

The role played by a prime ministers spouse has shifted depending on the personality of the individual. Mila Mulroney had three staff and an office in Langevin Block; Aline Chretien was by her husbands side on many trips but kept a very low public profile, as did Sheila Martin; Laureen Harpers public profile increased as Harpers time in office lengthened, and their children grew older. But the Liberals say all spouses had at least one staffer.

Bergen made a point of saying Canada doesnt have a First Lady, but praised Laureen Harper as somebody that did more with less consistently.

On Thursday, the PMO was on the defensive.

Deputy communications director Olivier Duchesneau said as has been the tradition in Canada  and has been the case for spouses of former prime ministers  Madame Gregoire Trudeau receives help from PMO staff to fulfil the duties and responsibilities that come with the role. She receives an extraordinarily high volume of correspondence and invitations.

Therefore, we are continuing to look at new ways to make sure she is supported at the official events she attends, as well as making sure that correspondence from Canadians across the country is triaged and answered in a timely manner.

He listed a range of activities she participates in from local events like the CHEO Healthy Kids Awards or the Wabano Fundraising-Gala event, as well as national or major non-profit organization events like the Anorexia and Bulimia awareness events, We Day events, Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards Gala, Womens Festival etc.

Gregoire Trudeau participates in official events and international visits with the prime minister, and he added she is Honorary Chair of the National Art Centre Gala, and promotes many other causes through public appearances, keynote speeches, and media opportunities.

Laureen Harper volunteered or spoke up on behalf of the Humane Society, organ donations, cyberbullying, was honorary chair of the David Foster Gala 2013, volunteer for the Red Cross, and an advocate for the Trans Canada Trail. She also frequently acted as honorary chair of the National Arts Centre Gala.

Correction- May 13, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Governor General David Johnson as Canadas head of state. In fact, the Queen is Canadas head of state and the governor general is the Queens representative in Canada.

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LAC LA BICHE, ALTA.At the entrance to the Bold Center in Lac La Biche, there was a happy commotion Wednesday night. A group of guys from Ontario had driven across the country to take supplies to the Fort McMurray, Alta., evacuees.

Outside the front entrance, where you could now smell the smoke from the wildfire on account of the wind changing direction, seven guys from Brampton and one from Hamilton unloaded a large U-Haul truck, their arms filled with boxes of mandarin orange cups, snacks and baby food.

In Fort McMurray, everybody is hurt, said Gurmeet Singh. So we want to help.

The men, all members of the Singh Khalsa Sewa Club, left Brampton in a convoy on Sunday and drove non-stop, only pausing to switch drivers. They arrived Wednesday night at the evacuation centre in Lac La Biche.

Gurpreet Singh says that every one of his friends here immigrated to Canada and they have been shown a lot of respect and enjoyed freedom of religion. Even if you go to Ottawa, they put the Sikh flag over there for one week, he said, referencing the city of Ottawa honouring Sikh Heritage Month this past April. We just want to give back.

The day after the wildfire forced the citys evacuation, the group had a meeting and decided to help. Gurpreet says it is a part of the Sikh faith to give 10 per cent of your income to the needy. So each of them kicked in around $2,600 and, with additional donations from the community, they had between $40,000 and $50,000 to buy supplies. After dropping off the medicine, food and clothing on Wednesday, they planned to sleep at a friends home in Edmonton  and then it was straight home.

All of us, we are working. Some of us are truckers, some of us are from the construction industry, so we have to go back quickly, said Gurpreet. All of us, only one person is working in the family.

As the men talked about their trek, Lac La Biche Mayor Omer Moghrabi came outside. Someone had told him about this latest act of kindness and he wanted to take a photograph with the group. Moghrabi moved to Lac La Biche from Lebanon when he was just a baby and has been a Toronto Maple Leafs fan his whole life. He excitedly pulled out his cell to show the men his Leafs screensaver. Connections are everywhere.

They came all the way from Toronto. I cant believe that, said Betty-Anne Eldridge, watching from the sidewalk.

Thank you so much, she said to one of the group. You guys must be exhausted. Thank you for coming.

When she left her home in Fort McMurray on Tuesday, it was still standing, but it was such a frightening escape that she called her sister in Peterborough, Ont., just to tell her she loved her.

I have to show you a pic of what it looked like when I left, she said, digging through her purse for the phone that was in her coat pocket all along. The slightly blurry photo is one that almost every evacuee has from the I-cant-believe-this-happened file  a photo of a home with a flaming orange sky in the background.

Looking away from the photo and back to the truck, she smiled. This is so neat, she said.

You came all the way from Toronto? she asked again, in disbelief, as one of the men told her he was actually from Hamilton. Small world  she used to live in Ancaster. Hello, neighbour! she said.

Everyday there is a little angel that appears, she said, listing the good deeds she has witnessed. On Wednesday, the little angel took a different form: eight guys from the Toronto area, all but two wearing colourful turbans, happy to give back.

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Friday marks nine months since Alison Azer heard the voices of her four young children.

The British Columbia mom has spent every day since then trying to track down her kids, who were taken out of the country by their father for a European vacation and never returned home.

Canadian authorities consider the children abducted and Interpol has listed Saren Azer, also known as Salahaddin Mahmudi-Azer, as a wanted man.

Last week he posted photos to a Facebook page of himself and the children, laughing and smiling as they play on a bouncy castle and dance at a cousins wedding.

In the lengthy post to the Azer children account, a note purporting to be from Saren says the children are well, safe and happy at last, detailing their condition in the three years since the couple split.

Now, away from that nightmare, I am recovering and doing my best to make sure that my children are happy, loved and have all that they need, it reads.

For Alison Azer, the posts read of deception and desperation.

He is wanted by Interpol. Interpol is not counting smiles, Alison Azer said.

If he wants to break his silence, dont do it in such a cowardly way, she said. Break your silence here, tell your story here and let the system and the processes of democracy decide how you should be dealt with.

Until now her only updates came from locals who recently spotted the children near Mahabad, Iran, where her ex-husbands family lives. Azer believes they moved there after months in the remote mountainous border region of northern Iraq.

In one of those photos, her youngest, three-year-old Meitan, has dark circles under his eyes, his skin is ashen and his hair looks unhealthy, she said.

The Facebook photos of the children in seemingly happy times dont convince her that is the case.

I see a haunted look in their eyes. I see a deep sadness. Thats what I see as a mom. Thats not empirical, she said. I know who I am as a mom, and I know who my kids are.

I am not going to let a man... convince me that Im anything other than the best parent theyve got.

A spokesperson for the RCMP in Surrey, B.C. said in an email there has been no update to the case in light of the Facebook post. The file remains active and ongoing, said Cpl. Janelle Shoihet. I can assure the file remains a priority and all efforts are being made to reunite the family.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Global Affairs said the government is in regular contact with Alison Azer and is working closely with officials in Canada and abroad, and called the childrens safety a priority. The Government of Canada remains deeply concerned for the wellbeing of the children, it read.

Messages to the Azer children Facebook account were not immediately returned.

On Monday Alison launched a petition campaign called #MakeTheCall aimed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an attempt to open the lines of communication with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

He can explain to President Rouhani that, as the prime minister of Canada, it is his duty to reunite my family, reads the campaign statement.

She says since the launch, 5,000 have people have supported the campaign.

That matters so much more to me than the desperate attempts of a fugitive to try and make it look theyre having a great time being kidnapped.

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The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is facing a staff exodus after dozens of staff resigned, quit or were fired from their jobs in the past year  including three city managers and three human resources managers.

According to the town, 32 staff members have left since January 2015. A report from the newest human resources manager cited reasons for the departures ranging from a lack of trust, to feeling disrespected, to concerns about conflict between council and staff.

The high turnover has forced the fast-growing York Region municipality to develop an ambitious recruitment plan to bring new people into the organization.

Longtime resident Ian Hilton says the plan may succeed, but does not deal with the root causes of the problem. (Mayor Justin) Altmann must take responsibility for the loss of staff, he said.

In the meantime, we have a very distressed and rather large group of people in the town, and thats not right.

A town spokesman said the mayor and human resources manager did not have time for an interview about the loss of staff. A statement from the town said that staff have left for a variety of reasons from terminations to resignations to sick leaves and maternity leaves.

The Mayor is committed to addressing the staffing issues and has been an advocate in terms of finding solutions, said the statement, adding that it has implemented a five-year plan to deal with the problem.

Before 2014, the municipality was led by Wayne Emmerson, who was mayor for 17 years and is currently the chair of York Region. In October 2014, the town elected the 33-year-old Altmann, previously a poultry farmer. A few months later, chief administrative officer Andrew McNeely, the top bureaucrat sometimes called the city manager, was put on administrative leave and eventually resigned from the job.

The job was filled from within by Marc Pourvahidi, who has worked at the town for 17 years. But earlier this year, he had to take an indefinite medical leave, he told the Star.

Since then, the post of city manager has been difficult to fill.

Last month, Altmann asked the towns fire chief to step into the role. But just one day after accepting, Chief Rob McKenzie sent a resignation letter to Altmann.

I had made it clear to the manager of Human Resources that I would require support to fulfil this role, wrote McKenzie in the letter, obtained by the Star. I am disappointed that this was seemingly dismissed, and as such it is with regret that I tender my two weeks notice that I am resigning from this assignment.

The fire chief stepped down May 9, and the current direct of leisure services took over as the acting CAO.

The exodus, called embarrassing by local councillors, was discussed at a council meeting in April, when the newest human resources manager, Pavlina Thompson, brought forward a hard-hitting report documenting the extent of the turnover, and strategies to turn things around.

The turnover has been huge, said Thompson.

At the time of the writing of the report . . . we noticed there were 42 staffing changes, she said, out of staff of 470.

Thompson said she reached out to 12 people who resigned and found their reasons for leaving included: dissatisfaction with their immediate supervisor or leadership, a lack of trust and feelings of being disrespected and undervalued, vulnerability due to the high number of staff exits, conflict between council and staff, and compensation dissatisfaction.

The level of trust in this organization is so low, that there is no way that I would even attempt to do something like this internally, she said referring to a proposed employee engagement survey to determine additional concerns.

Former MP Paul Calandra, a resident of Stouffville, took to Facebook on Thursday to question happenings in the town. How does this story rate a thumbs up from our Mayor? he said, commenting on an article noting the appointment of the director of leisure services to the role of interim CAO, which had received a like from Altmann.

This is the mayors third CAO in less than 18 months on the job . . . At what point does the mayor explain to the people of this community just what the heck is going on? he said.

Pourvahidi, who was awaiting medical clearance, offered little information on the problems plaguing the town, calling them political. He said, however, he hopes to return to his job soon.

I feel like I need to go back and take care of the situation, said Pourvahidi. And fulfil my commitment to the town.

Stouffville stats

37,628  population in the municipality in 2011, according to Statistics Canada

54.3%  how much the towns population grew between 2006 and 2011.

42  staffing changes in the last 18 months

30  people who resigned or were fired from the town since Jan 1, 2015.

472  the total number of employees at the town as of April 2016.

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Justin Trudeau got a few laughs from a Liberal crowd this week when he refused to call Paul Martin his favourite former prime minister  for personal reasons.

As the son of a former prime minister, dealing with past Liberal leaders and their legacies is just another day at the office for Trudeau. Almost daily, this new Liberal prime minister faces expectations to either live up to his fathers record, or disavow it.

On Wednesday, Trudeau appeared beside a past leader whose legacy is a little less bothersome  Martin, who was on Parliament Hill to see his portrait being officially installed in the gallery of former prime ministers lining a long corridor in Centre Block.

Martin and Trudeau, born 33 years apart, share more in common than one might assume.

First of all, as Martin himself observed at the ceremony, they are both sons of politicians. For years, Martin was known as Paul Martin Jr., to distinguish himself from his father, Paul Martin Sr., a legendary cabinet minister who ran for the Liberal leadership three times, losing to Pierre Trudeau on his final try in 1968.

There were some jokes at the portrait ceremony this week about the family-business connection. Commons Speaker Geoff Regan, son of former Nova Scotia premier Gerald Regan, said of growing up in a political household: Some of us on this stage have an inkling of what effect that can have on a boys career choices sooner or later.

Several years ago, I asked Trudeau about his parallels with Martin, including high expectations and lofty promises to change how politics is conducted in Canada. Martin, some might remember, vowed that he would bring big culture change to Ottawa and that power wouldnt be doled out by who you know in the PMO. (It did matter who you knew in the PMO during the Martin years, by the way.)

Trudeau said he didnt want to wade into pop psychology, but nonetheless suggested that he and Martin had different motives for following in their fathers footsteps.

I think that he was very, very much focused on becoming prime minister for personal reasons, or for family reasons, Trudeau said.

Trudeau has gone to some lengths, before and after getting the top job, to say hes not in politics because of his dad. When he sat down this year with the CBS program 60 Minutes, one of the segments that didnt get on the air revolved around a breakdown Trudeau experienced when he was in high school  a breakdown prompted by the weight of his fathers legacy.

I was on a track that was going to be all about high achieving, Trudeau says. I hadnt really realized that it was very much about following in my fathers footsteps and I had a bit of a breakdown, where I just realized this wasnt my track  I was lined up to try and emulate my fathers success in a way that wasnt suited to the kind of person I am.

Leaving aside the question of their respective fathers influence, Martin and Trudeau also share a fixation on indigenous issues, which theyve pursued contrary to advice about the political perils. Martin has continued to work on improving the lives of aboriginal people since leaving office, too, which Trudeau praised at the ceremony. The new prime minister said his government was busily trying to rebuild the progress that Martin made on indigenous issues in his time in office  notably, the Kelowna Accord that was dismantled during Stephen Harpers decade in power.

Heres where another voice from Liberal leaders past has recently intruded into the present. Former prime minister Jean Chretien, asked about troubling conditions on the Attawapiskat reserve, suggested last month that residents might have to move away from the remote northern Ontario community. People have to move sometimes, Chretien said. This is not a policy of the new Trudeau government, needless to say.

For at least a moment, Trudeau might have shared Martins famed tension with his predecessor. Martin spent a lot of his time in power trying to atone for the Liberal sponsorship scandal, which took place during Chretiens time in office. That, and his efforts to get Chretiens job during those years, created a permanent feud in the Liberal party.

Martin ended his speech at the ceremony this week urging political people to take a walk down the portrait gallery if they ever get dispirited and need encouragement. Stop and listen closely because youll be hearing every single one of us cheer you on, he said.

Trudeau, for his part, doesnt need to walk down that hallway on Parliament Hill to be reminded of past Liberal leaders. Even if he doesnt see the job as the family business, his party often resembles a family  an often fractious one, with long memories.

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Googles knowledge panels materialize at random, as unsourced and absolute as if handed down by God:

Betty White is 94 years old.

The Honda Civic is 2016s best car.

Taipei is the capital of  ahem  the small island nation of Taiwan.

If youve ever Googled a person, place or thing  which, survey suggests, you almost definitely have  then youve encountered these aggressive, bold-faced modules, one of Googles many bids for your fleeting attention.

Since their quiet, casual introduction in 2012, knowledge panels and other sorts of rich answers have mushroomed across Google, appearing atop the results on roughly one-third of its 100 billion monthly searches, not only in response to simple, numerical queries like Betty White age, but also to more complex, nuanced questions like capital of Israel or D.C.s best restaurant.

To Google, thats proof of its semantic search technology; to Googlers, its a convenience that saves them a few clicks. But to skeptics, of whom there are a growing number, its a looming public literacy threat  one that arguably dwarfs the recent revelations that Facebooks trending topics are curated by humans.

It undermines peoples ability to verify information and, ultimately, to develop well-informed opinions, said Dario Taraborelli, head of research at the Wikimedia Foundation and a social computing researcher who studies knowledge production online. And that is something I think we really need to study and process as a society.

For Taraborelli, the primary issue with Googles knowledge panels is that they arent terribly knowledgeable: they provide information but often leave out any context on where that information came from. That makes it difficult for readers to evaluate the accuracy of the statement or whether its the best and most complete of the available options.

They could just scroll down the page and click through some links, of course  but that becomes increasingly difficult as searchers migrate to voice and mobile, and as Google expands its rich-answer offerings without differentiating which programs those results source from.

There are snippets, for instance, that pull a portion of text from a cited web page in response to a question such as how to lose weight. There are maps, sourced from Googles local search program, that will direct you to local businesses if you search something such as best pizza D.C.

These are all concerning, as they algorithmically confer a lot of unearned authority. (Theres no indication as to what makes a restaurant the best, for instance.)

But most pertinent to our interests are the modules and carousels linked to Googles Knowledge Graph, an advanced database sourced largely from Wikipedia and constructed in part from user search patterns. According to an October 2015 analysis by the digital marketing firm Stone Temple Consulting, these knowledge panels, which are frequently unattributed, are one of the fastest-growing types in Googles arsenal.

In a 2012 blog post announcing the introduction of these modules, Googles Amit Singhal rejoiced in the critical first step toward the future of search, an engine that understands the world a bit more like people do. Which is all well and good, until you get into subjects more complex than the current time in Timbuktu.

Mark Graham, a geographer at the Oxford Internet Institute, recently did just that: he and his colleague Heather Ford analyzed, in a paper published last month in the academic volume Code and the City, how the city of Jerusalem was represented both on Wikipedia and in Google knowledge panels.

They found that while Wikipedia may explain the citys contested geopolitical status in enormous depth  that portion runs to almost 1,500 words  the nuance was jettisoned completely when the article was deboned and ingested by Google.

Google, through its data and algorithms, now controls how we interact with many facets of the cities we live in, Graham warned. So we should be asking whether we are happy ceding decisions about how we live our everyday lives to them.

In fact, as Graham dug into other contested cities, he discovered that Googles knowledge panels regularly, if inadvertently, make rather important decisions for us: Taiwan, youll remember, is described as if it were an independent nation, when only 22 countries actually recognize it as such. Meanwhile, Google corrects searches for Londonderry, Irelands fourth-largest city, to Derry, the (unofficial) term favoured by Irish nationalists.

Since Google frequently does not cite its sources  a ploy, Taraborelli says, to make it seem more authoritative  theres no way for users to double-check answers for bias or error, which doubtlessly exist.

In September, for example, my colleagues in the Washington Posts Style section published a story on the peculiar fact that no one seems to know Hillary Clintons height  not even Google, which until recently listed it as five-foot-seven in a prominent knowledge panel. That error appears to date back to an unsourced Wikipedia edit from 2007, which has since been debated and deleted by Wikipedians.

Now, Googling Clintons height produces a mere rich-answer snippet, which incorrectly measures Clinton at 5 feet tall, maybe 52. But at least you can click through to CelebHeights.com and see exactly what youre dealing with.

In its defence, Google has made some changes to certain types of knowledge panels, which suggests it is aware of the whole sourcing thing. Medical queries now pull up proprietary editorial panels fact-checked by doctors at Google and the Mayo Clinic. And if you search for a food or recipe ingredient, the accompanying knowledge panel will also link you to the Agriculture Departments database on food nutrition.

Our goal is to be useful; we realize well never be perfect, just as a persons or librarys knowledge is never complete, a Google spokesperson said in a statement. Were constantly working to improve search and to make searching with Google easier and results more accurate for people.

Unfortunately, as long as Google has a commercial interest in appearing omniscient, it probably wont work to improve knowledge panel transparency.

That burden will fall instead to people like Taraborelli and non-profits like the Wikimedia Foundation, which is working on an open-licence, machine-readable knowledge base that will both source all of its statements and accommodate conflicting sources.

The hope is that Google will begin pulling from that database and citing its sources, instead of dumbing down Wikipedia.

Where history was once written by its victors, and later by its nerds, its now being shaped by its algorithms.

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Premier Kathleen Wynne is headed to Israel and the West Bank to boost Ontario trade.

Wynne, who leaves Saturday, will be the first premier to visit the region since Dalton McGuintys successful 2010 trip that led to the creation of the Ontario Brain Institute, a neuroscience research leader.

This mission is . . . an opportunity to leverage our relationship with Israel to build more substantive commercial partnerships, particularly in the life sciences sector, she said last week.

Jurisdictions from around the world are aggressively promoting their economies on the world business stage, and in order to remain competitive, Ontario needs to do the same, said Wynne, who was also inIndiaearlier this year and has twice visited China since 2014.

Israel is a priority market for Ontario for trade and research  in 2015, two-way trade between Ontario and Israel was valued at over $900 million, making Israel one of Ontarios largest trading partners in the Middle East, she said.

Joining Wynne on a trip that kicks off Sunday and continues through Friday are representatives from nine Ontario universities, numerous medical science and technology companies, law firms, unions, and businesses like Roots, BlackBerry, and Scotiabank.

Growing the economy and creating jobs in Ontario is my number-one priority, the premier said in a statement Friday.

My mission to the Middle East will support collaboration in innovation, attract new investments, create partnerships and generate jobs in our province.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins and Research, Innovation, and Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Reza Moridi, MPP Monte Kwinter (York Centre), and Brampton Mayor Linda Jeffrey will also be with Wynne.

The Israel part of mission will take them to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa before Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank.

Like McGuinty, Wynne will be granted an audience with the most senior Israeli and Palestinian political officials.

In 2010, the former premier met with then president Shimon Peres at Beit Hanassi, the presidential palace in Jerusalem, and privately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

McGuinty also spent time with the Palestinian Authoritys then prime minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.

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In a new round of the struggle for sanctions against Russian officials believed to have had a hand in the killing of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, Tory MP James Bezan tabled a private members bill to target those responsible for gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

The bill follows a unanimous motioned in the House of Commons that was passed last March, aimed at tightening sanctions on Russia. The Harper government said it would follow up with new legislation, but was defeated a few months later. The Liberals and NDP said they would do the same.

However, the Trudeau government has yet to put Magnitsky sanctions on the agenda.

Canada has expressed deep concern about the tragic Magnitsky case, said a statement from Foreign Affairs spokesperson Chantal Gagnon. We have reviewed the U.S. Magnitsky Act, and are carefully considering options.

At a news conference in Ottawa Thursday, Bezan said his bill would make sure that all violators of human rights are held accountable for their actions, adding that it would be broad enough to quickly sanction individuals that are responsible for events like the ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Bill C-267, Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act, (Sergei Magnitsky Law) would amend the earlier Special Economic Measures Act. It would be similar to a law passed by the U.S. Congress, which led to escalating acrimony from Russia, which denies any involvement in Magnitskys death.

The 37-year-old Russian tax lawyer died in prison in 2009 after uncovering and denouncing a massive tax fraud scheme involving Hermitage Capital Management, the company of his employer, Bill Browder, who has spearheaded a worldwide campaign for sanctions against the alleged perpetrators.

Canada has made clear the unacceptable behaviour by Russia on many fronts and will continue to defend and promote human rights issues, said Gagnon, pointing out that the Special Economic Measures Act is now under review.

A Russian investigation turned up evidence that Magnitsky had been tortured during detention, and his death followed a severe beating by prison guards while he was seriously ill with ailments for which he was denied treatment. The authorities later subjected the dead man to a bizarre posthumous trial and convicted him of the fraud he sought to expose. Browder was also charged in absentia and sentenced to nine years.

The Magnitsky Act is something that the current government promised, the past government approved and is a totally non-partisan moral issue supported by the Canadian public, Browder said from Ottawa on Friday. We havent got any assurance that the government will do this on their own, so this will force the issue in parliament.

A similar bill was tabled in the Senate by Conservative Raynell Andreychuk.

In Toronto, former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said the bills would send a clear message to people responsible for egregious human rights violations.

Explanations and stories concocted by (President Vladimir) Putin and his government are implausible, to +say the least. They should not be given any credit. We have to call people on these things.

However, it is doubtful that a private members bill would pass without solid government backing. In the European Parliament, four motions have urged member countries to adopt a similar law, but without success. In Britain, an amendment meant as a stepping stone to the law was defeated on grounds that it could undermine international relations and foreign policy objectives.

The Trudeau government is debating re-engagement with Russia, after relations hit a low point over the annexation of Crimea and war in eastern Ukraine.

But, Rae said, it would be a terrible mistake to confuse engagement with some kind of appeasement. The key thing to remember is that engagement  whether with Russia, Iran, China or Saudi Arabia  should never prevent Canada from taking legitimate steps on human rights abuses in those countries.

Correction- May 13, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Raynell Andreychuk is a Liberal senator. In fact, he is a Conservative.

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NASHVILLEA Tennessee police officer tried to prevent the arrests that would embroil his department in a national furor over policing in schools, but his colleagues and supervisors refused to change course.

They insisted on arresting children as young as 9 years old at their elementary school and took them away  two in handcuffs  in view of waiting parents to a juvenile detention centre as the school day came to an end.

What followed in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles (48 kilometres) southeast of Nashville, was an unusually public examination of how police handle children suspected of wrongdoing. Amid protests from parents and community leaders, the incident put the new police chief, Karl Durr  who had come from Oregon less than two weeks earlier  in a tough spot.

The chief formed a committee with a mandate to examine the situation. It found a series of internal conflicts and miscommunications between police and school authorities leading up to the arrests on April 15. The committees report, though partially redacted, lays bare a reality that frustrates many parents in communities across the nation: Officers assigned to schools often have wide leeway when handling juveniles, and the interests of children dont always come first.

Ten children, all African-Americans 9 to 12 years old, were taken to the juvenile detention centre that day. Their alleged crime: taking part in some off-campus neighbourhood bullying weeks earlier. Some kids had recorded the bullying on their smartphones. An excerpt posted online shows a group of kids following and taunting a boy who shakes off some punches from smaller children.

The report says Officer Chris Williams wasnt aware of the planned arrests at Hopgood Elementary when he arrived. He later was told the students would be pulled out of class just before the afternoon bell. Bad idea, he thought.

The schools principal, Tammy Garrett, also tried to intervene, texting another officer to ask why the children couldnt be arrested at their homes, to avoid a spectacle during the schools afternoon dismissal.

But the text went unanswered, and two other officers who had concerns remained silent. And as Williams went up the chain of command, he was told to follow orders.

The bullying episode took place off school grounds, and was posted on YouTube on March 20. Its not clear exactly when it happened, and why officers waited for weeks to make the arrests at school. Murfreesboro Police spokesman Kyle Evans said in an email that state law prohibits him from answering these questions. Juvenile court petitions show 10 children  mostly boys  were charged with criminal responsibility for the actions of another.

The report recommends 16 areas for improvement, including establish protocol for juvenile operations in schools, and seeing that police supervisors are proactively and fully addressing concerns of other officers. A group of local ministers joined the effort to put the plan in motion, recommending firmer standards and lines that shouldnt be crossed.

The officer who obtained the petition against the children has since been transferred, and a supervisor is on paid leave while under investigation.

The report placed no blame on Williams, who did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment. But he apologized to members of his own church congregation and others during a public meeting at the First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro, with Chief Durr in the audience.

Williams told the crowd his wife had only seen him cry twice: when his grandfather died and after the children were arrested, according to a report from WKRN.

The principal shed tears, the vice principal shed tears, and the office staff shed tears, Williams added.

The Rev. James McCarroll, the churchs pastor, said he thinks the new chief and other local officials want juvenile justice reforms that could create a model for the rest of the country.

But he said this goes way beyond Rutherford County.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a problem around the country, McCarroll said.

Lawyers and juvenile justice experts say it shows just how far the system can go off the rails when no one considers whats best for the children.

Nationwide, the treatment of children in criminal justice situations is generally up to each jurisdiction. Some states allow even young children to be arrested; others dont. Some have policies against shackling and handcuffing of kids; others make no exceptions. Some cities allow police to issue citations to juveniles rather than arrest them. Some states require parents to be present when children are interrogated.

Unlike some other states, Tennessee doesnt have a minimum age for when a child can be arrested.

Murfreesboro follows Rutherford Countys policy of not citing juveniles, which means children must be brought to the juvenile detention centre for even the most minor infractions, unless an officer decides to issue a verbal warning.

I cant understand why we would treat a juvenile more harshly than we are treating adults who are accused of a crime, said Tom Castelli, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

There is no clear national data showing how often children are handcuffed like adult criminals for relatively minor offences, said Terry Maroney, a law professor at Vanderbilt University.

Its safe to think this happens less frequently than you fear, but more than what you would like, Maroney said.

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NEW ORLEANSCrews were preparing to clean up an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico after about 333,873 litres of oil were released from a Shell flow line about 145 kilometres off the coast of Louisiana, the company said Friday.

Shell said five boats were dispatched to clean up oil they can skim off the surface of the Gulf.

Meanwhile, environmental groups said this latest spill was another example of why offshore drilling should be banned. Activists plan to hold a march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday to demand an end to drilling and used this new spill as further evidence.

Its unacceptable that oil spills have been permitted to become the status quo in the Gulf, said Michael Brune, the Sierra Clubs executive director, in a statement. We have allowed the region to be perpetually treated as a sacrifice zone.

Shell did not directly respond to the complaints of environmental groups. In a statement, Kimberly Windon, a Shell spokeswoman, said, No release is acceptable, and safety remains our priority as we respond to this incident.

Spills happen every year in the Gulf. This new spill is classified as medium in size under U.S. Coast Guard guidelines.

Since 2012, there have been 147 spills and about 1,956,679 litres of oil spilled in the Gulf, according to figures from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the agency that oversees drilling.

But scrutiny of the offshore industrys spills has increased since BPs catastrophic oil spill in 2010 when an out-of-control well leaked for 87 days, releasing millions of litres of oil. Eleven workers were killed and many more injured when the blowout of the well caused the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to explode and sink.

On Friday, Shell said it sent a remotely operated vehicle down to the sea floor to inspect where the leak came from and found a flow line as the source.

The flow line was connected to four wells and Shells Brutus platform, which floats in seas that are about a half mile deep in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf.

Shell said the leak was contained and that the wells on the site were shut in. It also said drilling at the site was stopped.

BSEE, the regulatory agency, said there have been no reports of injuries. In a statement, the agency said its investigators were at the Brutus platform to find out what caused the leak. The agency said it would review Shells repair plans.

BSEE Director Brian Salerno said the agency would assess if improvements to subsea infrastructure technology should be made as a result of the incident.

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BEIRUT  Lebanons militant Hezbollah group mourned on Friday the killing in Syria of its top military commander, Mustafa Badreddine, who died in an explosion in Damascus  a death that is a major blow to the Shiite group, which has played a significant role in the conflict next door.

Badreddine, 55, had been the mastermind of the groups involvement in Syrias civil war since Hezbollah fighters joined the battle on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assads forces against those trying to remove him from power, according to pro-Hezbollah media. Hezbollah, along with Iran, has been one of Assads strongest backers.

But there was little information as to how he was killed. Hezbollah said the attack occurred near the Damascus airport without giving details. The airport is close to the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab where the group has wide presence and several military positions.

Hezbollah said several others were wounded in the blast and that it was investigating the nature of the explosion  whether it was the result of an air raid, missile attack or artillery shelling.

It didnt say when the explosion happened, and Hezbollahs media office said they also had no information about the timing of the attack. On Tuesday night, Hezbollah denied reports that Israels air force targeted a Hezbollah convoy on the Lebanon-Syria border.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to the Lebanese Shiite group, earlier said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later removed the report.

Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle Easts most dramatic political assassinations. The trial is ongoing near The Hague, Netherlands. A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanons most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Hezbollah denies involvement in Hariris assassination and says the charges are politically motivated.

Badreddines death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus. After that, Badreddine, known among the groups ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollahs top military commander and adviser to the groups leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Badreddines nom de guerre, Zulfiqar, was the name of double-headed sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammads cousin and son-in-law and the Shiite sects most sacred martyr.

The message is that a martyred commander has joined the convoy of martyred leaders, Hezbollah Cabinet Minister Hussein Haj Hassan told The Associated Press. He boosts us with his martyrdom with strength, glory, will and intention to continue the fight against the Zionist enemy and the takfiris (Sunni extremists) until victory is achieved, God willing.

One of the groups most shadowy figures, Badreddine was also known by aliases Elias Saab and Sami Issa. He was only known to the public by a decades-old black-and-white photograph of a smiling young man wearing a suit until Hezbollah released a new image of him in military uniform.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions twice on Badreddine for his involvement in the Syrian war, in 2011 and in 2015. According to U.S. officials, Assad and Nassrallah co-ordinated Hezbollahs actions in Syria on a weekly basis, with Badreddine present at top Damascus meetings.

Badreddine was also known for his expertise in explosives, apparently developing what would become his trademark explosive technique by adding gas to increase the power of sophisticated explosives.

In its statement announcing his death, Hezbollah said a strong explosion targeted one of our centres near the Damascus International Airport, leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding several others. It said Badreddine was a great jihadi leader and that he had joined the convoy of martyrs, on top of them his comrade and close friend Mughniyeh.

Top Hezbollah officials, including the groups deputy leader Sheikh Naim Kassem, attended a mourning ceremony at a hall in southern Beirut on Friday, where Badreddines family members were receiving condolences.

A funeral was to be held Friday afternoon at a Shiite cemetery south of Beirut where Badreddine was to be laid to rest next to Mughniyeh, who was also his brother-in-law.

Badreddine was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people. He was detained in Kuwait where he was sentenced to death and imprisoned for years until he fled jail in 1990 after Iraqs Saddam Husseins forces invaded Kuwait.

Since Hezbollah was founded in 1982, Israel has killed some of the groups top leaders. In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Nasrallahs predecessor, Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife, 5-year-old son and four bodyguards. Eight years earlier, Hezbollah leader Sheik Ragheb Harb was gunned down in south Lebanon.

In December, high profile militant Samir Kantar, who spent 30 years in an Israeli prison, was killed along with eight others in an airstrike on a residential building in Jaramana, a Damascus suburb.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Hezbollah has paid a very steep price for its public and bloody foray into Syrias civil war, where more than 1,000 fighters have been killed. Once lauded in Lebanon and the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, his staunch support for Assad has been criticized at home, even among his Lebanese support base.

The Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in March. A month earlier, Saudi Arabia cut $4 billion in aid to Lebanese security forces after Lebanons Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil declined to join Arab and Islamic league resolutions critical of Iran and Hezbollah.

The predominantly Sunni Gulf Arab states, led by the kingdom, have taken other punitive measures. They have warned their citizens against travelling to Lebanon as well as cut Lebanese satellite broadcasts, and closed a Saudi-backed broadcaster in Lebanon. The Gulf countries are also expelling Lebanese expatriates they say have ties to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which maintains a dominant militia force in Lebanon, has also aligned itself with the Saudi-opposed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemens civil war.

Hezbollahs statement quoted Badreddine as saying in Syria a few months ago: I will only return from Syria as a martyr or carrying the banner of victory.

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First there was a massive mastodon tusk, etched with deep grooves. Then there was a knife fragment and a scattering of stone artifacts.

Now researchers excavating an underwater sinkhole in Florida report that they have evidence of one of the oldest archaeological sites in the Americas, a discovery that is helping to shatter long-held assumptions about our continents first people.

For decades, archaeologists believed humans first colonized the Americas 13,000 years ago. They called this group the Clovis culture for the distinctive stone tools first discovered in Clovis, New Mexico. Researchers who claimed to have discovered more ancient human artifacts were vigorously rejected.

The Florida sinkhole, known as the Page-Ladson site, was one casualty of this unshakeable Clovis first paradigm. Between 1983 and 1997, investigators diving at this nine-metre-deep spot in the Aucilla River discovered a mastodon tusk that appeared to have been butchered. They also found eight stone artifacts and the remains of what might have been a domestic dog. Radiocarbon dating indicated the objects were 14,400 years old, more than a millennia older than Clovis.

The findings were challenged, and the site was dismissed. It was an impossible age for the scientific community to accept at the time, said Jessi Halligan, a professor of anthropology at Florida State University.

Yet evidence that people inhabited the Americas before the Clovis culture kept mounting. Recent analysis of ancient and modern indigenous peoples genomes predicted that people came to the New World earlier than 13,000 years ago. A handful of archaeological sites stringing from Chile to Oregon support this, but they are very rare and the evidence from them heavily scrutinized.

We can come up with genetic dates and models, but its important to actually find these sites on the ground, said Ripan Malhi, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign involved in the genetic research.

So in 2012, researchers returned to Page-Ladson, located where Florida turns west into its panhandle. Our main research question was very simple: is there an older-than-Clovis cultural layer at this site? said Halligan, co-principal investigator and lead diver for the project. These excavations were successful beyond our dreams.

Over three seasons, the archaeologists carefully excavated the site anew, using laser levels, vacuum suction tools and other techniques to leave little room for error at the difficult site. Most underwater archaeology is focused on shipwrecks. The excavation of a river sinkhole posed unusual challenges.

Its unique in the sense that it is essentially a terrestrial or dry land dig, but underwater, said Brendan Fenerty, a Canadian researcher who was part of the dive team and is now a geosciences doctoral student at the University of Arizona. They set up a typical excavation grid at the bottom of the river, where almost no sunlight penetrated because of the organic material in the water. You can imagine how long it can take, excavating an area centimeter by centimeter underwater.

As the team sampled successive layers of sediments, they found new stone tools, including a knife, and mastodon dung. But the real work came in the lab. Because the stakes for a pre-Clovis archaeological site are so high, they needed a rock-solid geological context: radiocarbon dates for the sediment levels that sat in a neat chronology, not mixed by turbulent waters or any other natural event over thousands of years.

In a paper in the journal Science Advances published online Friday, the researchers reported their findings: human artifacts from the Page-Ladson site sit in a sediment layer that dates to 14,550 years old. That makes it the oldest unambiguous archaeological site in the southeastern U.S., and the oldest underwater site anywhere in the New World. The date of the site is also nearly the same as that of another pre-Clovis site in Chile known as Monte Verde, suggesting both the northern and southern hemispheres of the continent were populated by this very early date.

The record of human habitation in the Americas between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago is sparse, but it is real, said Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University and co-principal investigator of the project.

Beyond the simple fact of its very ancient date, the Page-Ladson site holds interesting clues about the life of these first nations. The cut mastodon tusk suggests that people and megafauna co-existed for perhaps 2,000 years, adding kindling to a raging debate about whether human hunting drove to extinction the giant animals of this period, including mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths, beavers and camels.

The presence of what may be a domestic dog is also unusual, and more research will be conducted on the bones: the team hopes to extract ancient DNA from the remains and analyze it.

Its an extremely exciting period of time right now, with more information coming available every year. And this is just really solid work, said Dennis Jenkins, a University of Oregon archaeologist involved in the research on the Paisley Caves, another pre-Clovis site.

The researchers believe more archaeological sites with evidence of pre-Clovis people may be lying underwater: sea levels were much lower in this period. The Page-Ladson sinkhole, for example, would have been a pond surrounded by dry grasslands at the time.

I think this is hopefully going be the impetus to get further research done on these underwater archaeological sites, said Fenerty. These are unparalleled opportunities to really explore change through time, not just in peoples behaviours and adaptations, but we can actually tackle the fundamental issues: when did people get here?

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After 1-year-old Emmett Rauch ate a lithium battery, he began vomiting blood, prompting a visit to critical care and emergency surgery. A doctor would later compare the toddlers throat to the scene of a detonated firecracker. It took years and dozens of procedures to reconstruct Emmetts windpipe before he could breathe on his own.

Across the United States, a child swallows a battery once every three hours, according to one pediatric estimate, equal to about 3,000 cases annually. Based on emergency reports, the vast majority of swallowed batteries turn out to be button cellsthe squat silver disks of electrochemical energy, used in hearing aids and TV clickers. Although deaths from swallowing button cells are very rare, serious complications, like what happened in Emmetts case, can arise when a battery is caught in a childs throat.

Thanks to recent research spearheaded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists, small robotic devices could one day be used to retrieve swallowed objects, including batteries. Though the new robot wouldnt be able to perform major esophageal surgeries, it could, possibly, patch smaller wounds in the stomach. The only thing a patient would have to do, in theory, is swallow  a bit like gulping down a spider to catch a wayward fly.

In a proof-of-concept experiment demonstrated at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, the small device folds into an ice capsule about the size of a gummy bear. When the ice thaws inside the body, the robot unfurls as though it were a piece of origami filmed in reverse. Once flattened, the origami robot wriggles around the stomach, controlled by human operators using an external magnetic field. This is not the first device to borrow properties from origami, now a popular source of inspiration for engineers.

For applications inside the body, we need a small, controllable, untethered robot system, said Daniela Rus, an electrical engineer at MIT who helped create the origami robot, in a press release. Its really difficult to control and place a robot inside the body if the robot is attached to a tether.

The scientists also needed to create the robot out of safe-to-ingest parts. Sharp chips of metal and plastic were verboten, so they set their sights on food. We spent a lot of time at Asian markets and the Chinatown market looking for materials, MITs Shuguang Li said in the release. The final iteration of the origami bot is made of stiff pork casing  the same stuff you might find surrounding a hot dog or kielbasa.

Swallowing non-pharmaceutical devices has a brief but remarkable medical history. Some of the first to pounce on the idea were veterinarians, who fed magnets to cows  one such therapeutic magnet was patented in 1961 -- when an animal accidentally ate a nail or other metallic item. By the early 2000s, the Food and Drug Administration had approved gut cams, small cameras that would allow doctors to observe patients from the inside. But the early gut cams had no way to steer, and it was possible to miss points of intestinal interest if a pill-sized camera happened to be oriented in the wrong direction as the device wormed its way through the colon.

Some scientists are experimenting with robot pills that sport legs or similar means of locomotion. Other researchers have turned to magnets, tugging a magnetized bot through the gut. But such methods arent a panacea, as a pair of Italian biomedical engineers argued in Scientific American in 2010. Magnetic fields can lose power with distance, and with the irregular geometry of the intestine, sudden changes in field strength can cause the capsule to jump or can entirely sever magnetic control over the pill.

To move, this origami bot relies on an external magnetic field in combination with what the engineers describe as stick-slip motion, a jerky push-pull against the stomach lining. Once unfolded, the robot could also use its on-board magnet to pluck a battery out of the stomachs lining. It would then manoeuvre its cargo through the rest of the digestive system.

So far, the MIT researchers have tested the origami robot in a synthetic rubber stomach filled with lemon juice and water. It is unclear when such a device might be ready for humans  the next steps, according to Rus, are to add sensors to the robot and test it in living animals.

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WASHINGTONDonald Trumps former butler has drawn the attention of Secret Service for threats online hes made against President Barack Obama.

Anthony Senecal, who served the presumptive Republican nominee at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, has a Facebook page filled with incendiary comments.

Many of the posts are directed at the president and his family. Liberal magazine Mother Jones first reported on Anthony Senecals Facebook posts, including one from Wednesday in which he wrote Obama should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term.

In one message from September 2015, Senecal said the military should hang Obama for treason and other high crimes. In another that month, he described Obama, a Christian, by using a slur for a member of the Muslim faith. In that post, he wrote that he does not speak for Trump: This is my opinion, only!!!!

The post was only visible to his Facebook friends, but Senecal confirmed its authenticity to Mother Jones, saying, I wrote that. I believe that.

Senecal declined to accept a reporters call placed to the antiques dealer in West Palm Beach, Florida, where he works, but told Mother Jones he wrote the posts.

The U.S. Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation, agency spokesman Robert Hoback said in an email Thursday.

The Trump campaign denounced Senecals messages and distanced itself from the former butler at Trumps estate, the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Tony Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the President, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said via email.

Wednesdays Facebook post isnt the first time Senecal has called for Obama to be killed, Mother Jones reported. He also has made threatening remarks about First Lady Michelle Obama. From Mother Jones:

Senecal regularly posts screeds on his Facebook page from a far-right perspective in which he decries Obama and his wife-along with Hillary Clinton, other Democrats, and Republican leaders. He often refers to Obama as zero, and several times he has called for the presidents execution. He confirms that he has written all the posts on the page that have appeared under his name. Its all me, he says.

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Someone I know out West says theres a strong sense of not being allowed to explicitly connect the Fort Mac wildfires with its oil drilling activity, you have to tiptoe around the meaning or coincidence.

The prime minster warned that its risky to draw links but they spring to mind anyway. Ironically, said one report, Fort McMurray has been one of the biggest boom towns of Canadas Athabasca oil sands. The irony isnt exactly subtle. And theres a long lineage to this kind of linking, especially in literature.

Milton wrote Paradise Lost, about the suffering in human existence, to justify the ways of God to men. Symbolic linkage is compelling, maybe unavoidable. The challenge is always: whats being symbolized, in a case like Fort Mac?

Since we live in a secular age, it isnt divine retribution and even if it was, it wouldnt be visited on individual workers, their families, pets and houses. That would imply gods who are shortsighted and literal, identifying a town with the forces behind it.

Instead, youd expect brimstone in the form of wildfires to rain down on Calgary, Ottawa, Washington, OPEC or maybe my neighbourhood in Toronto where, as Gillian Steward noted, people would surely not agree to never produce another gas-guzzling car in Ontario. Besides, if youre assuming the premise of an omnipotent Biblical God, its his fault for putting the bitumen up there and making it so hard to mine.

If you prefer to go nontheistic and Eastern, this clearly isnt karma. If karma existed it wouldnt operate selectively on Fort Mac and the very people who didnt make the decisions that put it there. Thatd be like saying soldiers in World War One deserved what they got for volunteering or being drafted, while those who sent them never got gassed or gangrene themselves.

Plus, once you go metaphorical, since 85 to 90 per cent of Fort Mac was left standing, you have to say what it was doing was only 10 to 15 per cent damnable. Or you get into the Jonah position, where Nineveh, the sinful city, was spared because its people repented, irritating the prophet who said theyd be obliterated. Were Rachel Notleys policy reversals on climate change what saved the majority?  symbolically of course. Symbolism can be fun but its overrated, and hard work.

Its true, the burning town looked like Hades yet no one died (except two teenagers indirectly, in traffic). Even the pets mostly got out, giving it a Noah quality. People fled with their animals, some even towed their boats behind them. Theres a kind of ironic absence of irony since they survived, often with quiet dignity  and theyll return. The point isnt to deny the irony or even the element of reap what you sow. Its to get the images right.

Its tempting because literature is always easier than life, its why culture does so much better than politics at coping with the worlds dilemmas. Think of the Leap Manifesto, for instance, as literature. It proclaims were in an urgent situation, demanding immediate action. Then its writers attend the NDP Edmonton convention and suddenly its not so clear. Theyre okay with a two-year discussion period, followed maybe by adoption, then an election and perhaps finally action. Instead of what? Direct nonviolent action, like chaining yourself to the drilling apparatus or sitting on tracks in front of tanker cars.

Literature often does better at reconciling you to reality than shaping it. Ive been rereading Robert Frost. Hes considered bucolic but he can be pretty dark, both on destruction (Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice./From what Ive tasted of desire,/I hold with those who favour fire) and reconciliation (The most unquestioning pair that ever accepted fate/And the least disposed to ascribe/Any more than they had to to hate). But when it comes to brilliantly combining symbols and reality, consider this:

I knew a family who lost their (summer) home to fire, took months to absorb it, then told their small child. The day she heard, she pood her pants, though she was well out of diapers; the next day she peed them. Then she happily moved on. She coped with the small catastrophe far more efficiently and concretely than her parents. It was a perfect combination of symbols with reality, but you may have to be four or five to pull it off.

Rick Salutins column appears every Friday.

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Two questions emerge from the federal Liberal governments decision to dramatically change the way Canadians vote.

The first, which dominated discussion in Ottawa following Wednesdays announcement of a special Commons committee to study voting alternatives, is whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sincere in his pledge to replace the existing first-past-the-post system.

Are the Liberals conning us again? one newspaper columnist asked.

But the second question raised by Wednesdays announcement is considerably more important.

Assuming for a minute that Trudeau is not fibbing, would a new voting system be better than the one we have?

Here the international evidence is mixed.

Proportional representation is seen as the main alternative to Canadas status quo. There are various forms of PR, but all result in elected legislatures that more or less reflect the popular vote.

If the winning party receives only 39 per cent of the popular vote  as the Liberals did in 2015  it would be allocated just 39 per cent of the seats.

Opponents of PR say it produces unstable political coalitions. Proponents say it encourages more people to vote and also gives smaller parties  like Canadas Greens or New Democrats  more clout.

In fact, reality is more complicated. Some countries that use PR have a higher voter turn-out than Canada. In Germany, for instance, 72 per cent of registered voters cast ballots in the last election compared to 68 per cent in Canada.

But in Japan, which also uses a form of PR, voter turn-out in the last election was just 53 per cent.

New Zealand provides a laboratory example of what can happen when a country moves from first-past-the-post to PR. In the five national elections before New Zealands 1996 switchover to PR, the average voter turn-out was 89 per cent.

In the five after the switchover, New Zealands average voter turn-out slipped to 82 per cent.

New Zealands experience also holds a cautionary lesson for leftish parties like the NDP that hope to do better out of PR.

In that country, the move from first-past-the post led the countrys Labour Party to split into three parts. Two of the three later combined in a tactical alliance. That held for a few years until they split again over New Zealands role in the Afghan War.

Still New Zealand Labour has done well enough in the PR era that it has been able to form coalition governments after three of the past seven elections.

Are countries with PR inherently more unstable than first-past-the post nations? Here too, there is no clear answer. Certainly, PR makes it difficult for a single party to obtain a majority of seats.

As a result, governments are usually coalitions.

In some countries, such as Israel and Italy, these coalitions can be fragile

But in other countries that use PR, such as Germany, governments are relatively stable and coalitions tend to hold.

Often thats because these countries require political parties to meet a significant vote threshold  say 5 per cent of the total  before being allowed to take seats

In some countries using PR, the need to craft post-election deals gives inordinate power to extreme parties.

Denmarks decision to seize the assets of refugees entering that country, for instance, is a result of the Liberal governments reliance on the anti-immigrant Danish Peoples Party to stay in power.

Of course, all of this talk of proportional representation may be moot. Trudeau has said he prefers the so-called ranked ballot over classic PR. Used in Australia, the ranked ballot tends to favour big, middle-of-the-road parties.

Poll analyst Eric Grenier calculates that if the ranked ballot had been used in Canadas last election, the Liberals would have won an even bigger majority of seats.

In the end, Im not sure if Australia or New Zealand or Germany or Denmark or Japan is any more democratic than Canada. Im not sure that life will be any better here if Trudeaus government presses through with what it calls democratic reform.

But Im not sure that it would be any worse either.

Similar reform attempts have been defeated by voters in British Columbia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. A nation-wide referendum would probably defeat any scheme the Liberals came up with too, which is why Trudeau says he wont hold one.

But if the politicians insist we abandon the first-past-the-post voting system, we can probably live with the result. Other countries do.

Thomas Walkoms column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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So often when a government seeks to solve an imaginary problem, it creates a real one in the process. The Harper governments crackdown on crime, even as crime continued its steady, decades-long decline, is a good example.

During the Harper years, Ottawa drove up the cost of the criminal justice system by billions and increased the federal prison population by 25 per cent. The initial challenge may have been largely invented, but the steep financial and human costs of the so-called solutions remain all too real.

Take the Conservatives overhaul of pardon policy, which the Liberal government is now rightly reviewing. During the Harper years, the cost of applying for a criminal pardon went from $150 to $631. This may seem like a minor adjustment, but it carries cruel consequences.

Many employers wont hire a convict who has not been pardoned. But for the most vulnerable offenders  those without savings or support  $631 is a lot of money to scrounge together without a job. Sure, the fee increase may seem to put a few extra bucks in government coffers, but as with so many Harper crime policies it creates an unjust cycle of disadvantage in the process.

The government consulted more than 1,000 Canadians before implementing its new policy in 2011. Upwards of 98 per cent opposed it, but the Tories went ahead anyway. The rationale? Ordinary Canadians shouldnt have to be footing the bill for a criminal asking for a pardon, explained then-public safety minister Vic Toews. Never mind that the cost of providing social assistance for someone who is all but precluded from rejoining the workforce would easily eclipse the sum saved.

The Conservative reforms went further, imposing an absolute ban on pardons for some offenders. This needlessly tied the hands of the parole board, just as the Tories mandatory minimum sentence laws dangerously handcuffed the courts. The Conservatives even replaced the word pardon  with its connotations of forgiveness  with record suspension.

The purpose of pardons is to liberate people from the yoke of past mistakes for which they have already paid. These rehabilitated offenders earn their right to re-enter society, and we all benefit when they do. If given the chance, almost all will succeed. Ninety-seven per cent of pardoned Canadians never reoffend, according to the parole board. They are less likely to commit a crime than the average citizen.

That is the absurdity of the Harper governments pardon policy. It is a solution in search of a problem  one that creates its own set of injustices and policy challenges. That is typical of the previous governments punitive approach to crime. The Liberals are right to review this misguided policy. Then they should look beyond. A decade of inventing problems has left a daunting array of real ones for this government to solve.

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There is likely no one as qualified to speak to the matter of the dignity of Torontos homeless people as street nurse Cathy Crowe.

Crowe has worked with the homeless of Toronto for almost three decades. She is co-founder of the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee that declared homelessness a national disaster in 1998. This longtime activist is the author of Dying for a Home and the subject of the documentary, Street Nurse, which explores the plight of the homeless. She is also a former recipient of the Atkinson Charitable Foundations Economic Justice Award.

Certainly, Crowe knows whereof she speaks. So when she emailed me this week to protest a photo published in the Star to accompany an Opinion article Proper housing is a crucial health and wellness issue, written by physicians Danyaal Raza and Ritika Goel, I took her concerns seriously.

The photo showed two men sprawled on the ground, seemingly asleep, outside a building at Bay and Front streets. Beside one of the young men, whose face is half visible, is an empty cup and a cardboard sign on which are scrawled the words Anything helps, Thank you, Good Karma, alongside a smiley face.

This photo was taken in 2014 as a weather shot during an early spring warm wave, but, as far as I can tell, was never published in the Star. It was selected for publication this week as a generic image of homelessness to illustrate the physicians op-ed arguing that secure and affordable housing is crucial to maintaining and improving health and well-being.

Crowe, who has made presentations to Star staff in the past about the use of language and images that stereotype or encourage discrimination toward people who are homeless, expressed much dismay about this photo, telling me this is not what she would have expected from the Toronto Star given its longtime commitment to social justice for all and the dignity of the disadvantaged.

It shows two people on the ground, in horrible shape, clearly not having been able to give consent for photography, Crowe said. The photo suggests they are wasted or, as I see it, perhaps at the end of a shortened lifespan. In fact, given the high death rate that the Star is writing about, you dont actually know if these individuals are still alive.

Where are the journalistic ethics in this?

Editorial page Editor Andrew Phillips, who is responsible for the Stars Opinion pages, takes issue with Crowes suggestion that these homeless men may not even be alive now: Obviously we wouldnt use the photo if we had reason to think those in it were dead. Theres nothing to suggest thats the case.

To be clear, it is perfectly legal in Ontario to take pictures of people lying in the streets. Anyone, not just the media, can photograph people in public places without seeking consent. But, to my mind, this is less a question of the law than of ethical considerations appropriate to a progressive news organization that has always advocated for the humanity and dignity of the less fortunate among us.

While I believe the Star must show you the reality of poverty and homelessness on our streets, the human dignity of those involved matters. I see much merit in Crowes plea for the Star to consider the development of a protocol for use of images showing vulnerability that require consent.

While obtaining consent to take such photos may not be feasible, past versions of the Stars standards guide stipulated that the Star should give careful consideration before publishing any images that would serve to label individuals, especially children, as poor. Such portrayals can have a stigmatizing effect.

I dont know when that fell away but it would seem to be a principle worth considering in selecting images of the homeless and other vulnerable people for publication when the subject might be identifiable and has not consented to be photographed.

While this picture emerged in a Star photo archive search for images of homelessness and housing, opinion page editor Scott Colby told me he gave thought to its use.

The article talks about the health of people living in shelters or on the street, he said. The reason I chose the photo is because it was a couple years old, so I suspect the people depicted have probably moved on. I can honestly say I didnt think they would be dead or necessarily wasted. Half a face is seen and I doubt that person would be recognizable to our readers.

Finally, I see these scenes all the time in Toronto. I feel the photo illustrates that in a powerful and real way that can be seen everyday.

These are sensible arguments. However, I am aligned here with Crowe and one of the authors of the article who found the photo jarring and requested it be changed online. Thats now been done.

These things are of course not done by ill intention and I know we all greatly appreciate the work the Star has done in this domain, Ritika Goel said. Just worth thinking about how we can avoid such images that may further marginalize folks who are already quite marginalized.

Indeed, these are matters well worth thinking about at the Star.

publiced@thestar.ca

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After the story was published, Commerzbank promptly promised to stop doing dividend arbitrage in Germany and elsewhere. (Ralph Orlowski/REUTERS)

Ive written about tax loopholes for decades. But recently, I wrote about Schlupflocher for the first time, in a venture that shows how journalists can be as multinational as investment banks. We just make a lot less money.

What does Schlupflocher mean? Im glad you asked. Its German for loopholes. Which is the topic that Cezary Podkul of ProPublica and I wrote about in the May 3 edition of The Washington Post. We showed how German tax law allowed American mutual fund investors, American fund companies and (naturally) American investment banks to all profit at the expense of German taxpayers.

Podkul and I conservatively estimated the revenue loss to the German treasury (and the gain to everyone else) at about $1 billion a year, but tax mavens in Germany whom I talked with after our article appeared think that the real number is $3 billion, if not more.

This particular tax game, dividend arbitrage, is played in more than 20 countries, with Germany by far the biggest market.

Podkul and I decoded dividend arbitrage by using confidential documents that ProPublica obtained, and by going multinational and coordinating research with German broadcaster ARD and the Handelsblatt newspaper in Dusseldorf.

Our German partners  including Pia Dangelmayer of ARD, who was a Burns fellow at ProPublicas New York headquarters  handled much of the German reporting. Podkul and I worked the American end.

Serving our differing markets, Podkul and I wrote a U.S.-centric version for The Post and ProPublica, while ARD and Handelsblatt stressed how Commerzbank, rescued by German taxpayers during the financial crisis, was helping drain revenue from the German treasury. Podkul and I found the irony of the Commerzbank connection irresistible, but we didnt dwell on it. Or on the fact that the German government still owns 15 percent of Commerzbank and has two seats on its board.

As a result of the uproar stirred by our partners coverage in Germany, Commerzbank promptly promised to stop doing dividend arbitrage in Germany and elsewhere. Div-arb, as its known, is now being denounced publicly in Germany. Legislation that would make the div-arb game too risky and expensive for German institutions to play now seems likely to be enacted reasonably soon.

If youre not a German taxpayer  which Im not, and most of the people who read this arent  should you care about any of this? Absolutely.

First, the tale of how dividend arbitrage works and how we unraveled it in a multinational way shows how strange and wonderfully convoluted the world can be. Second, you can bet that the strategists who devised dividend arbitrage are exploiting the U.S. tax system in ways that we just havent found yet.

Ill give you the short version of how dividend arbitrage works in Germany, because even thinking about the long version makes my teeth hurt.

Dividend arbitrage  which was knocked out in the United States by tax law changes in 2010  works in Germany because taxes are withheld on the dividends German companies pay, and because German tax law treats different shareholders in different ways.

Some shareholders who pay German income tax can get credits for withheld dividend taxes, or even get refunds. Other shareholders, like sovereign wealth funds or U.S. mutual funds that dont pay German income tax, have to kiss that withheld tax goodbye. The taxes range from 15 percent for U.S. funds to 25 percent and more for certain other investors.

So middlemen enabled shares of German companies to migrate briefly from holders who cant use credits generated by the withholding tax to those who can. The long-term holder, the short-term holder and the deal makers combine to carve up the withheld tax, leaving nothing for the German treasury.

In the transactions that Podkul and I dissected, the long-term holder got about half the pot, the other players got the rest.

Because of public outrage and corporate embarrassment provoked by journalists obtaining access to confidential documents, one Schlupfloch in Germany seems on the way to being closed. With luck, the same will happen in some of the other countries where dividend arbitrage is still under way.

I would like to think that someday U.S. taxpayers will become as outraged as German taxpayers have become and that corporate players and their enablers will be as embarrassed as their German counterparts.

If enough anger and embarrassment ensue, maybe we can close notorious U.S. loopholes such as carried interest (which lets some money managers pay lower, capital gains taxes on their share of investors profits) and corporate inversion (which lets corporations desert the United States for tax purposes while remaining here to benefit from what our country has to offer).

Im not counting on that happening. But a year or two ago, no one was counting on the dividend arbitrage loophole in Germany being closed. German taxpayers lucked out. Maybe U.S. taxpayers can, too. And on that note, I bid you, Auf Wiedersehen.
LABOR

Lowes settles claims over dismissals

Lowes has reached an $8.6 million settlement of a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit accusing the home improvement retailer of illegally firing workers who went on medical leave for a long time.

The accord resolves the EEOCs claims that Lowes violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by terminating employees whose medical leaves exceeded the companys 180- or 240-day maximum leave policy.

The settlement was approved Thursday by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte in Los Angeles.

It requires Lowes to retain consultants to oversee its leave policies and track requests for accommodations. Lowes also agreed to improve employee training.

Lowes denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.

Shake Shack expanded to 88 restaurants at the end of the quarter, up from 66 a year earlier. (Mark Lennihan/AP)

The accord sends a clear message that automatically firing disabled workers who reach limits on leaves of absence may be illegal, said David Lopez, general counsel for the EEOC.

Lowes spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company updated its leave policies in 2010 and has taken steps to help employees manage their leaves of absence and accommodations.

 Reuters

BEVERAGE INDUSTRY

PepsiCo drops after investor sells shares

PepsiCo stock suffered its biggest intraday decline in more than two months after Nelson Peltzs investment firm sold off its shares in the beverage giant.

Peltzs company, Trian Fund Management, indicated in a filing Friday that it no longer holds a stake in PepsiCo. Trian had held 18.3 million shares, or 1.3 percent of the beverage company at the end of last year.

Peltz had pushed for PepsiCo to break up the company, arguing that its snack and beverage businesses would be more valuable to shareholders as separate entities. He also blasted the companys board for its dismissive tone and threatened a proxy fight. Although PepsiCo rejected his breakup proposal, it reached an agreement with the investor in January and added a Trian adviser to its board.

Investors reacted negatively to PepsiCo losing potential activist pressure. The stock fell as much as 2.4 percent, to $103.54 a share.

PepsiCos chief executive, Indra Nooyi, has long said that the divisions are more valuable to shareholders together.

 Bloomberg News

Also in Business

 From news services
Jean Battey Lewis, an arts journalist who oversaw The Washington Posts dance coverage for nearly 15 years during a modern-dance boom in the city and later worked for the Washington Times as its dance critic, died May 12 at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 91.

The cause was complications from Alzheimers disease, said her son Robert Battey, a cellist who contributes music reviews to The Post.

As a young woman, Mrs. Lewis studied with Alicia Markova, Charles Weidman and other leading figures in the dance world. She accompanied her first husband to Japan in the 1950s for his U.S. Information Agency assignment, and she wrote dance criticism for the Japan Times and taught dance technique and choreography at the American Cultural Center in Tokyo.

They settled in Washington in 1958, and Mrs. Lewis  then Jean Battey  started writing for The Post at a time when modern dance was gaining a foothold in the city. She wrote features on local and visiting dancers and choreographers; profiled local and international dance organizations; reported on dance behind the iron curtain on an extended visit to Moscow and Leningrad in 1961; and contributed reviews.

Sali Ann Kriegsman, a former dance director at the National Endowment for the Arts and executive director at the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival in Massachusetts, said Mrs. Lewis was supportive in her criticism and in her writing of what was going on locally and of the most important choreographic voices in the field nationally.

She was very invested and had a significant role in providing really well-informed and substantive writing about dance, Kriegsman added, much more so than had been in this city before.

Mrs. Lewiss work for The Post was part time, and the paper sought a full-time reviewer in the early 1970s after the openings of the Kennedy Center and the Wolf Trap arts center in Vienna, Va. The paper gave the job to music critic Alan M. Kriegsman, husband of Sali Ann. In 1976, he won the first Pulitzer Prize for dance coverage.

As her time at The Post waned, Mrs. Lewis began hosting a music and commentary program, Invitation to the Dance, on a local radio station, WGMS-FM. She was editor in chief and associate publisher of the Washington Guide to the Arts magazine in the late 1970s and later produced feature stories on dance for National Public Radio, including one in 1997 about whirling dervishes in Turkey.

She was a dance critic at the Washington Times from 1989 to 2008, in addition to contributing freelance articles for other publications and serving in advisory roles with arts panels.

In 2005, she received the Washington Performing Arts Societys award for lifetime achievement.

Jean Frances Anderson was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., on July 3, 1924, and grew up in Larchmont, N.Y. She graduated in 1942 from the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington and in 1949 from American University.

Her first marriage, to Bryan M. Battey, ended in divorce. In 1969, she married Paul M. Lewis, who died in 2015. Survivors include four children from her first marriage, David Battey of Washington, Laura Battey of Sonoma, Calif., Robert Battey of Alexandria, Va., and Megan Battey of New Haven, Vt., and a stepdaughter, Anne Lewis, of Austin.
EDWARD ELGAR: SYMPHONY NO. 1 Daniel Barenboim Decca

Conductor Daniel Barenboim already had a feel for Edward Elgars music in the 1970s when he recorded many of the English composers orchestral works, including the Cello Concerto with his wife, Jacqueline du Pre.

Some 40 years later, the Argentine Israeli maestro reconsiders Elgar. Recent recordings of the Second Symphony, the Cello Concerto and now the First Symphony, each with the Staatskapelle Berlin, prove hes still a keen interpreter.

Few non-British orchestras have recorded Elgars First Symphony. Tapping into its Englishness  a delicate balance of emotion and reserve  is tricky, but Barenboim and the Berliners are persuasive, upholding Elgars own description of the 50-minute work as a wide experience of human life with a great charity (love) and a massive hope in the future.

The spirit of hope and charity is built into the symphonys beautiful opening theme, a wistful processional marked noble and simple that reappears several times, becoming a talisman. Barenboim restricts the motto to perfectly muted lighting at the outset. Then, bathed in the Staatskapelles lustrous strings and girded by swells of brass, he coaxes the melody to proudly bloom in all its English glory.

After a full retreat, the movement proper takes flight into turbulent skies that open occasionally to rays of warm, Wagnerian sunlight.

The second movement scherzo sprints at breakneck speed. Strings scurry with fluid precision while translucent winds channel Mendelssohn in the breezy trio sections. Barenboim delivers music light on its feet with an orchestra steeped in the heft of the Germanic tradition. The movement ends in magic when a marching beat dwindles then slides seamlessly into Elgars touching Adagio.

The notes, now tranquilized in grace and compassion, are the very same ones that opened the previous movement. Although the symphonys great theme isnt heard outright, its spirit informs music of great solemnity, solace and strength.

The heavens darken again in the final movement, where the symphonys noble theme battles its way back amid the Staatskapelles growling brass and scenes of vigorous activity. Struggling, the theme ultimately blazes, but only in appropriately restrained triumph.

In terms of Elgar conductors, the Brits may look back to Boult and Barbirolli, but Barenboim and his Berlin players serve up a surprisingly English cup of tea.
There might not be a happier supporting actor in Washington right now than Randy Snight.

The 28-year-old performer and drama teacher doesnt utter a line in his current role, yet he gets to take a solo bow on the Kennedy Center stage. Im a Washingtonian, born and bred, Snight said. Performing at the Kennedy Center? Thats bucket list, right there.

Hes living the dream, but in his dreams, he wasnt taking his bow in a bear suit.

Snight plays the bear in Siegfried, the third of the four operas in Richard Wagners epic Ring cycle, which continues through next Sunday. In the opening scene of Siegfried, Snights bear follows a young warrior home from the forest and noses around his campsite like an overly friendly intruder at Yellowstone. Whereas some Ring productions use projections to depict the bear, and Seattle Opera famously had live cubs scampering across the stage, the Washington National Operas artistic director, Francesca Zambello, wanted an actor with extensive movement and dance training to wear the nearly 40-pound bear suit.

Randy is a special case, said Elizabeth Ventura, the coordinator who hires supernumeraries for the opera  the people who play non-speaking, non-dancing roles. So many times, I have heard people say, Hes the best bear weve ever had. 

Playwright Michael Milligan, author of Phaeton. (Martin Bacigalupo)

In some WNO productions, supers might simply stand in a back yard or sit at cafe tables, but for the Ring, Ventura sent out a specific casting call, emphasizing that she needed male actors with movement and stage combat training. That search led her to Snight and Pasquale Guiducci, two veterans of Synetic Theater. Both Snight and Pasquale have appeared in Synetics Silent Shakespeare productions, which convey Shakespeares plays using only movement and music. Snight just played Paris in Romeo and Juliet and has also appeared in Hamlet, A Midsummer Nights Dream and Twelfth Night.

Snight, who grew up in Montgomery County and trained at the former Musical Theater Center (now Adventure Theatre MTC), has become an advocate for physical theater and splits his time between performing and teaching dance and drama at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School in Olney, Md.

In addition to being the bear in Siegfried, he has roles in two other Ring operas  Valkyrie and Twilight of the Gods  that require walking like a dead soldier, marching in like a hunter and strapping on a harness to fly onstage, dressed as a female paratrooper.

As Synetic actors, none of these stunts fazed Snight or Guiducci.

Physical theater training really frees up your body to find new ways to move, Snight said.

Snight is 6-foot-2; roaring and rearing on his hind legs, his bear is an imposing 7 feet tall.

Actually, he is Super Bear, because stage managers always call the performers to stage by their titles, with super preceding any supernumerary role.

James Flanagan as Phaeton, Julia Brandeberry as Clymene. (Christopher Grady)

Any time they call me to the stage, its Super Bear, Snight said. I feel like I should have a cape and roller skates, and maybe even a mask. I think thats how this role is going to go on my resume: Super Bear.

What he did for love

For about the past decade, Michael Milligans career has been split among acting in classic plays at theaters such as Chicago Shakespeare Theater, touring his one-man show about Americas broken health-care system and writing a play in rhyming couplets. Those might seem like disparate activities, but Milligan sees a through line.

Im very interested in tragedy, the actor said recently from his home in Chicago. His play Phaeton riffs on the Greek myth about the son of Apollo who drove his flaming chariot too close to Earth and was killed by Zeus before he could destroy the planet. Milligan began working on the script in 2003, but the play is just now receiving its first professional production at Taffety Punk Theatre Company. (Performances continue through May 28.)

Compared with some venues where Phaeton has appeared in its developmental stages, the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop is conspicuously inauspicious. Both the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the New York University graduate acting program have given the play a shot. And in 2010, when Milligan appeared in both the Broadway and West End productions of La Bete, his fellow cast members Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley agreed to do a reading. An endorsement from Rylance appears on Page 2 of the script.

I found Michaels play beautiful in its thought, expression and dramaturgy. If I was still the artistic director of The Globe, I would have scheduled it for performance, Rylance writes.

Despite praise from Rylance, an actor who has won an Oscar and Tony and Olivier awards, Milligan struggled to find a theater willing to give Phaeton a professional staging. Thats probably because he has promoted the play in fits and spurts, between gigs, and also because theres a limited market for plays written in verse that arent by Shakespeare or faithful translations of works by other canonical writers.

So for many years, Phaeton has been laying dormant in the digital equivalent of Milligans bottom dresser drawer. It took sharing a dressing room with a man who runs his own small theater company to finally get Phaeton on a real stage. In 2012, Milligan and Marcus Kyd, Taffety Punks artistic director, both appeared in the Folger production of Susanna Centlivres 18th-century satire The Gaming Table. They played rogues named Lord Worthy and Sir Courtly and had lots of time to chat while powdering their faces and putting on towering wigs every night.

Weve stayed in touch, Milligan said.

Kyd put Phaeton on his short list, although given that Taffety Punk puts on as few as two plays per season, it took a few years before the small company of already-busy local actors could give Phaeton their full attention.

I really admire the theater company and have come to admire groups of actors who create their own work, Milligan said. I think it is so important. The work that actors generate themselves has an extra layer of enthusiasm. So often you start to feel like a mercenary. It is so important to also have labors of love in there. Phaeton was one of those for me.
An interview with Whit Stillman begins with a caveat: Hes a talker, a publicist warns. This conversation may run long.

That comes as no surprise, given the 64-year-old filmmakers penchant for making hyperverbal comedies of manners. And when the writer-director best known for his witty, Oscar-nominated 1990 debut, Metropolitan, shows up at a Washington hotel to talk, he has way more on his mind than Love & Friendship  his new period comedy based on an obscure, posthumously published novella by Jane Austen.

For instance, his Donald Trump theory.

In a one-up to the wags who have suggested that Ted Cruz may be the still-at-large Zodiac Killer, Stillman jokes that hes convinced the developer-turned-presidential-candidate is the real Preppy Killer, not Robert Chambers, the prep-school graduate who in 1988 confessed to strangling a woman in New Yorks Central Park after what Chambers had called a bout of rough sex.

Next, Stillman, who is nursing a Dunkin Donuts coffee, launches into a passionate disquisition on the unassailable superiority of that companys beans. Stillman lives in France, but he confesses that the counter at the doughnut shop is his favorite place to write.

Filmmaker Whit Stillman on the set of LOVE & FRIENDSHIP. (Bernard Walsh/Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions)

Finally, the filmmaker  who appears to have a memory like a safe-deposit box when it comes to reviews of his work  has a bone to pick with what he calls The Washington Posts pan of his 1998 film The Last Days of Disco. (Along with Metropolitan and its 1994 follow-up, Barcelona, its the final chapter in Stillmans yuppie trilogy, centering on sharp-tongued preppies searching for love.) Citing this reporters description of his characters as living in a fictional vitrine, as if they were specimens under glass, Stillman bristles imperceptibly.

And whats wrong with that? he asks.

This preamble sounds like dialogue from one of Stillmans films: funny, opinionated and slightly wounded. Its also a useful tool to help unpack his several contradictions. The Washington-bred, Harvard-educated directors godfather coined the term WASP in the 1960s, and his father was the assistant secretary of commerce under President John F. Kennedy  Stillman is, like his well-off and cultured characters, not above making dumb jokes. Theres something really sexy about Scrooge McDuck, Chloe Sevignys character, a Manhattan publishing-house flunky, observed in Disco.

Perhaps most significantly, Stillman still seems to sting from being misunderstood by some critics who, over the years, have taken him to task for talk-heavy films stuffed with overly self-aware toffs. He refers to the long hiatus between the release of Disco and his 2011 comeback comedy, Damsels in Distress  during which he struggled in vain to woo English producers into financing more serious films, including an adaptation of Anchee Mins memoir of the Chinese cultural revolution  as my 12 years of failure in London.

But with Austen, Stillman may have found his true muse.

[Whit Stillman adapts Jane Austen with vivacious results.]

There has always been a strand of the English novelists DNA in Stillmans oeuvre. The director of the Dublin Film Festival called Damsels, which is set in a fictional elite college, Jane Austen meets Animal House.  And Stillmans longtime fascination with the doomed bourgeois in love  to borrow a phrase from a collection of essays on the directors work  resonates with Austens themes of class, romantic longing and propriety.

What sets Love & Friendship  and the source material, Lady Susan  apart from the Austen canon is that its protagonist is a sharp-tongued, conniving widow who is shopping for both a husband for her daughter and one for herself. In other words, she feels more like a Whit Stillman character than a Jane Austen heroine; shes a realist, not a romantic (not to mention a bit sleazy in her manipulation of people).

According to Stillman, Kate Beckinsales sarcastic, Machiavellian turn has more in common with the characters played by Chris Eigeman  a Stillman regular in the directors yuppie trilogy  than with Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice. (Eigeman has called his stock character the demon offspring of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Noel Coward. The New York Times identified it as something of an alter ego for Mr. Stillman.)

All of which makes Lady Susan a fairly contemporary antiheroine, according to Stillman, who prefers the word timeless to modern. But dont bother reading the original, he says. Stillman, who has also written a novel based on his movie, calls Lady Susan an unfinished book. (Written in the form of 41 letters, it is included as an appendix to his version.)

Modernity is overrated anyway, says Stillman, who identifies strongly with the values of Regency-era England, while still professing to love disco music.

Hes no fuddy-duddy, however, romanticizing a bygone time. Love & Friendship includes several shockingly snarky  and hilarious  lines, lifted virtually wholesale from Austens book: May Mr. Johnsons next gouty attack end more favorably, says Lady Susan to her friend and co-conspirator, Alicia Johnson (Sevigny), in a naked wish for her friends elderly, infirm husband to die.

The formality (and yes, even the hypocrisy) of Austens world appeals to Stillman, whose films have always held the world he knows best  populated by the smart, the well-traveled, the monied and the mean  up to simultaneous affection and scathing satire.

Remember: It isnt that he takes issue with the description of his cinematic universe as a fictional vitrine, but that he sees nothing wrong with that. Stillmans movies have always looked at the foibles of the rich and rotten through a kind of magnifying glass, simultaneously exaggerating his characters flaws while putting air quotes around them. He says his forthcoming series The Cosmopolitans, about American expatriates in Paris looking for love, should be no less artificial. (It is available as a pilot on Amazon, with six episodes planned.)

Stillman drives home his point by telling a story: His director of photography on Barcelona was preparing to shoot a car scene, and asked Stillman whether he wanted the windshield to reflect the passing buildings. Why on Earth would I want to watch reflections in a car window? he told him. I know thats realistic, but thats not what Im after.

Im not interested in realism, Stillman says. Im interested in fiction.

Love & Friendship (PG, 93 minutes). Opening Friday at area theaters.
Our readers share tales of their rambles around the world.

Who: Barbara Barry of Fairfax, Va.

Where, when, why: I left home on Jan. 9, 2015, and returned on Dec. 11. In between, I saw some portion of 25-ish countries in Asia, Oceania and Europe, plus Hawaii.

The author hikes the Milford Track in New Zealands Fiordland National Park. (Courtesy of Barbara Barry)

Im lucky to have traveled a good deal within the United States, but prior to this year I had spent only a few weeks outside the country. It happened that a number of circumstances  a need to move from the place I was living, location-independent work that could provide some income on the road and a suspension of several regular commitments  aligned to create a unique opportunity for extended international travel. There were some things Id always wanted to see: the legendary beauty of New Zealand, cherry blossom season in Japan and the art and historic sites of Italy. I also had friends or family in Asia and Europe whom I wanted to visit, so I planned a loose itinerary and filled in the rest as I went.

[Interested in sharing your own What a Trip story? Apply here.]

Highlights and high points: Sunset and stargazing at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hilo, Hawaii; the torii gates at Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto, Japan; the endlessness of the city of Tokyo, as seen from above; light art at the annual Vivid festival in Sydney; hiking New Zealands Milford Track; the travertine terraces of Pamukkale, Turkey; countless migrating birds flying over Rome at dusk; the fascinating temples of Angkor in northern Cambodia; and standing on the Acropolis in Athens. I went skydiving for the first time in New Zealand and took a sunrise hot-air balloon ride over the strangely beautiful rock formations of Cappadocia, Turkey. I encountered so many different building designs across climates, available resources, purposes and population densities that I developed an interest in architecture  especially of the unusual, eco-friendly, urban and underground varieties.

Cultural connection or disconnect: During those 11 months, I stayed in over 50 hostels around the world. I had conversations with roommates from countries Id visited and from other countries that I hope to visit someday . Topics included differences in health-care access, educational philosophy and how to access Facebook and Google when the Internet is censored.

The author visited the iconic torii gate at the entrance to Miyajima Island in Japan. (Barbara Barry)

There were chance conversations and encounters that led to fun things I never would have known about otherwise. For example, a roommate in Invercargill, New Zealand, urged me to go see the South Islands southernmost town, Bluff, which turned out, among other things, to have a beach full of beautiful seashells. While in Bluff, another conversation with a local led me to visit the town of Oamaru, farther north, which I otherwise never would have known is the steampunk capital of New Zealand and home to beautiful Victorian architecture. After staying the night at an artsy hostel in Oamaru, I gave two hitchhiking roommates a ride to their next town in return for my first didgeridoo music lesson. You never know what youll learn or whom youll meet from just saying hello  and hostels are full of other budget travelers who want to see and learn about the world. It was another lesson in prioritizing flexibility of travel plans, and I never found myself short on options.

Biggest laugh or cry: Besides all the fun stuff, I visited several museums and memorials to the victims of wars and atrocities, experiences that left me unable to speak. One was the preserved torture and execution sites from Cambodias Khmer Rouge regime, including the S-21 secret prison in Phnom Penh and mass graves at Choeung Ek, where hundreds of thousands were tortured and executed and human bones today occasionally surface in the dirt pathways traversed by daily visitors. Another was Auschwitz-Birkenau, where artifacts of prisoners lives and signs of the efficiency of the murderous systems are preserved in poignant detail and on a horrifying scale. It was further sobering to remember that these and other exhibits  including the graphic museum in Hiroshima, Japan, and the World War II sites in and near Bastogne, Belgium  commemorated events that happened within living human memory.

How unexpected: There were two paradoxes that were illustrated over and over. First, it is a huge world but also a small town. The more I traveled, the more I became aware of how comparatively tiny a fraction of the planet I, or anyone, could ever hope to see. At the same time, I was amazed at how pervasive English has become as an international language and how closely tied  for better or worse  the business relationships and therefore economies of more countries have become.

Expectations can be good, but they are often proved wrong. Although there were some destinations that lived up to the hype, I repeatedly found that places or experiences for which I had more modest or no expectations turned out to be jewels. (Incidentally, I think this observation about expectations applies to more in life than just travel.) Among others, the revitalized cities of Krakow, Poland, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, blew away some outdated impressions I had had of them.

Also, I probably wont take American public smoking bans for granted ever again.

Fondest memento or memory: I must say that Im grateful never to have lived in a war zone. I found myself drawn over and over to stories, however divergent in nature or scope or cultural backdrop, of communities or nations that were recovering from something  whether it be natural disasters, ethnopolitical conflict or failed economic or governmental systems. There is something powerful about seeing the resilience, imagination and courage that the human spirit can muster in the face of ruin and despair.

Long-term travel also taught me how much I need roots in a community. I made a lot of 24-hour friends and have kept in touch with some. But there is nothing like old friends  and nothing like home.

To tell us about your own trip, go to washingtonpost.com/travel and fill out the What a Trip form with your fondest memories, finest moments and favorite photos.


The City View parking garage in Miami has a different design on each of its four facades. (Robin Hill/Miami Design District Associates)

After dark, along the Lincoln Road Mall in Miami Beach, theres plenty to occupy your gaze at ground level. Vibrant storefronts, fountains and alfresco dining attract a pageant of short skirts, tight tees and leashed lap dogs.

But a glowing structure rising skyward in a concrete exclamation point at one end of the promenade lures your eyes up, away from the ground-level spectacle. At the top, people circulate above it all. Actually, theyre above a parking garage, albeit one with an impressive architectural pedigree and a rock-star name  1111  to match.

Its 1111 Lincoln Road, and if sexy cars are worshiped in South Beach, this is their cathedral.

Miami and Miami Beach have become known for their eye-candy parking decks, which is a statement that seems patently oxymoronic. But a handful of stylish structures seem to be northern garages gone wild  shedding their anemic concrete blah while on spring break.

That makes them part of the South Florida sightseeing experience  something to add to the itinerary of beaches, Cuban coffee, pastelitos, art deco and Wynwood Walls.

One of the things about Miami Beach, even in the deco era, is, because its a resort town, architects were able to experiment, says Steve Pynes, a partner with Bermello Ajamil & Partners in Miami. Maybe they feel freer to do something different.

[Discover your inner movie star at this glamorous, 50s-inspired Miami Beach hotel]

The standout garages are to typical structures as Maseratis are to minivans.

The cities penchant for parkitecture emerged in 1996 with the Ballet Valet Parking Garage in Miami Beach. Its nicknamed the Chia Garage for the lush greenery it sports, Chia Pet-style. Those familiar with the late Tony Goldman  the visionary behind Miamis Wynwood Arts District  will find it no surprise that the Chia was his pet project.

Goldman collaborated with Miami-based Arquitectonica on the design when South Beach was in the early stages of its comeback. At the base of the Ballet Valet, vintage art deco storefronts that had fallen into disrepair were restored.

The plants, described as a vertical green zone, flourished and required recent taming, leaving the garage looking bald at the moment, says Saul Frances, Miami Beach parking director. When the plants are filled out, they create a wave of flora, emulating the Atlantic surf one block away.



1111 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach has been described as quite possibly the worlds most beautiful parking garage. (MBeach1, LLLP/Neox Image Photography)

Sounding more museum curator than parking director, Frances says Ballet Valet was way ahead of its time.

Historically, parking garages have been viewed as these concrete monsters making areas not as aesthetically pleasing, he says. But our city takes a lot of pride in its architecture.

Frances adds a tour-guide tip about Ballet Valet: Its in the flight path to Miami International, and you can see the garage.

Although the city reaps frequent compliments on Ballet Valet, it was the arrival of 1111 Lincoln Road that brought renewed appreciation. Miami Beachs two other stylish garages are ancillary to the 1111, Frances says. Folks gravitate to that one and become aware of the other two. When they see them, its Wow, theyre kind of jewels themselves. 

In 2010, 1111 Lincoln Road debuted to international acclaim. Parking-structure lists  yes, thats a thing  consistently rank it among the top 10 globally. Thecoolist.com describes 1111 as quite possibly the worlds most beautiful parking garage.

Herzog & de Meuron, a Switzerland-based architectural firm, designed 1111 for developer Robert Wennett. In addition to accommodating a mere 300 cars, the landmark houses an event space, a residential penthouse for Wennett, retail and a restaurant.

[Planning a trip to Miami Beach? Go north for a different vibe.]

Lincoln Road has altered what people think a garage should be, says Miami architect Lourdes Solera, a principal with MC Harry Associates. Its a fantastic-looking building.

Solera points out what she calls the humongous vertical space between floors, which sacrifices capacity for aesthetics.

The whole building is a conversation piece, she says.

Part of that conversation happens on Level 5, where the Alchemist boutique occupies a glass box perched at the edge. People come looking for the garage and find us, says Amy Bear, Alchemist operations director. They wonder how we got here. And they love that you can see Fisher Island from here and the bay and the ocean.

Theyve never seen a shop in a parking garage, let alone one that sells exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces.

Were a little bit mysterious, Bear says. People stumble upon us.



The Ballet Valet garage in Miami Beach is nicknamed the Chia Garage. (Dan Forer/Arquitectonica)

Among those who discover Alchemist are visitors on architectural tours. Theres a lot of architectural interest because of who the architect was, Bear says.

Of course, a citys full deck of preening parking should have a Frank Gehry design in the mix. And it does. Miami Beach and the New World Symphony (NWS) commissioned Los Angeles-based Gehry Partners to design the Pennsylvania Avenue Garage for the NWS Orchestral Academy. It was built in 2011.

Dont expect a version of Gehrys famed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, however. The NWS garage, as its commonly called, is restrained. Its wrapped in a metal mesh thats illuminated at night by an LED light show thats certainly more attractive than hundreds of outward-facing car grilles.

The light display is best viewed from 17th Street, Frances says, which makes it visible to convention center visitors.

Among the areas four standout garages, one, City View, is on the Miami side of Biscayne Bay. City View is notable for having an individual look on each of its four sides, Pynes says. Different designers were selected to do different facades.

The southwest corner is gold with metal panels, where portions are bent back, he says. The gold catches the light at sunset.

The structure, built in 2015, was part of the redevelopment of Miamis Design District. Its effective, Pynes says, because its visible from the elevated [Interstate 95] highway. Its almost a billboard saying, Theres something here. 

A glimpse of City View makes you want to instruct your Uber driver to take the nearest offramp.

City Views multiple-personality look was created by design firms Leong Leong and IwamotoScott. The result meets a high bar set by such swanky neighbors as Fendi, Cartier, Harry Winston and Hermes, among others. As the Design District website boasts: The chicest place to shop in Miami now includes the coolest place to park.

[The case for going to Miami in the summer]

Another avant-garage garage is coming to the Design District late next year. This one, the Museum Garage, will offer six diverse facades; renderings indicate it will be colorful and playful  another postcard-worthy house of cars.

Terence Riley, whose firm, K/R Architects, is curating and helping design the Museum Garage, says Miami is becoming more like a European destination.

Yes, you have the beaches and the ocean, he says. But now, theres somewhere to go, performances to see  and parking structures fit into the design story.



The Pennsylvania Avenue Garage in Miami is illuminated at night by an LED light show . (Craig Hall/New World Symphony)

Stylish garages embody an if you build it, they will come, aspect, which is the story of Miami Beach. As Riley told me, in a city where everyone drives, the parking garage is the foyer.

Carl Fisher, the entrepreneurial car man behind the first transcontinental highway, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Dixie Highway, helped woo motorists to Miami Beach. He worked to develop the land for Lincoln Road, where businesses included Cadillac and Packard auto dealerships.

The continuing car orientation was clear to me when I took the Miami Design Preservation Leagues art deco tour. The pastel beauties, many built when autos were becoming commonplace, overlook a perpetual parade of cars.

Miami Beach, a barrier island just seven miles long and one mile wide, has a population of 85,000 that swells to 300,000 on any given day. And where to put visitors cars poses a creative challenge, which is why the citys selection of yet another garage architect is about to get underway.

Good architects design within local context. And in Miami and Miami Beach, that context includes beautiful people and plentiful cars  often, exotic ones. For the humans, there are hip hotels. And for those automotive gems: some very nice jewel boxes.

Powers is a Detroit-based freelance writer and editor. Her website is rebeccapowers.com.

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Filled with independent shops, restaurants and bars, the Heights neighborhood is one of Houstons more walkable areas. (Kate Silver/For the Washington Post)

The shimmery bungalow, set back a bit from sunny Malone Street in Houstons Rice Military neighborhood, looks as though its covered in dangly metallic fur, like an aluminum Snuffleupagus. Aptly named the Beer Can House, it took an estimated 50,000 beer cans and a dedicated  if thirsty  upcycler to cover the home with this unique interpretation of aluminum siding.

A tall docent with a booming voice welcomes me as I approach the front gate (made of beer cans, of course) and invites me in. Now that Im a cans throw from the house, with its mosaic of beer can parts  flattened aluminum strips from the cans here, circular bottoms there, garlands of lids everywhere  Im less awed than incredulous. Behind my Yep, it really is all covered in beer cans! smile is a nagging question: Why?

[The search for Americas best food cities: Houston]

The docent fills in some blanks, explaining that the can collector, John Milkovisch, was an upholsterer for the railroad. In 1968, he began this project, and he wouldnt stop until he died two decades later. His original plan was to cover the domicile in leather, the docent tells me, but he couldnt get enough of the material. So he opted for an abundant Texas resource: beer cans. He used every part of the can  tab to tail, if you will.

As an aside, she explains that he also got tired of mowing the lawn, so he covered it in concrete and stone, embellished with his marble collection, which numbered well into the thousands. She motions to a rusty old wheelbarrow in the yard  nicknamed the Culprit  and says John used it to haul rocks here from the nearby rail yard. His wife, Mary, was supportive  to a point. She reportedly told him that he could do what he wanted with the outside of the house, but the inside was hers. Over the years, he and Mary drank a lot of beer and created this aluminum beast, which served as an insulated, energy-efficient home. One that John would never have to paint again.



The Beer Can House is lined with an estimated 50,000 beer cans and open to visitors on weekends. (Kate Silver/For The Washington Post)

I tour the grounds, peeking inside the house at a documentary about its creation and admiring the museumlike displays hanging from the interior walls  Budweiser curtain from south wall of house c. 1980. But the question remains.

And then I see this quote from John stenciled on the wall: I dont consider this art. Its just a pastime. But sometimes I lie awake at night, trying to figure out why I do it.

A penchant for the peculiar

I saw no T-shirts or bumper stickers requesting that people Keep Houston Weird like the ones in Austin. But theres no shortage of beautiful weirdness in the countrys fourth-largest city. This is, after all, where I developed my own affinity for the quirky, growing up in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake.

Its been about 20 years since I left for college in the Midwest. Ive watched from my home in Chicago as Houston tops best-of lists for affordability, culture, business and other categories. Every time I go home, I make it a priority to view the city with a visitors eyes, rather than those of a hard-to-impress suburban youth. And every visit, Im drawn to something that fits snugly in the offbeat category. Like the time Linda Lay, wife of former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, briefly opened Jus Stuff, a secondhand store that sold many of the belongings theyd acquired at their estates. (This happened in 2002 after Enron filed for bankruptcy.) I bought the cheapest thing I could find: a tacky wooden Santa Claus wearing a cowboy hat that sold for $15.

[Namaste, yall: Kicking back at a Texas-style New Age resort in Austin]



Saras Inn, formerly a Victorian home, invites guests to pick a Texas-themed room, such as Fort Worth, Austin or Galveston. (Kate Silver/For The Washington Post)

On this visit, after touring the Beer Can House, I head to the Art Car Museum, another ode to idiosyncrasy conveniently located just two miles away. Houston, it turns out, claims the worlds largest collection of art cars, that is, vehicles that double as functioning art. A couple of classic cars are on display at the small museum, but what really catches my fancy is a documentary thats showing on nine stacked televisions. In the film, several car artists are discussing their creations. The roof of one vehicle is covered in a miniature version of the New York City skyline. Another looks like a hippopotamus lurking in the street. My favorite is the car an artist covered in soil and seed so it sprouted like a giant Chia-mobile. Its like a living thing, he says earnestly. I make a mental note to plan my next Houston trip around the annual Art Car Parade, held each spring. Its the largest gathering of its kind in the world.

Exploring on foot

To get the full Houston visitors experience  and to continue on my offbeat journey  Id reserved a room for a night at Saras Inn in the Heights, an artsy, walkable neighborhood northwest of downtown, filled with Arts and Crafts bungalows and enormous Victorian homes. When I booked the room, I got to choose from a list of regional themes: Dallas, Austin, Galveston and even a tiny Paris, Texas, room that sleeps one. I opted for Fort Worth  one of my favorite Texas towns  and, true to the Wild West character of Cowtown, the bathroom wallpaper is speckled with floating guns, cowboy boots, cowboy hats and ropes, with different types of barbed wire displayed on the wall art by the bed.



Houston lays claim to the worlds largest collection of art cars, such as this mirrored vehicle on display at the Art Car Museum. (Kate Silver/For the Washington Post)

After dropping off my bags, Im determined to spend the afternoon walking around the neighborhood. Much of Houston was built without giving much thought to pedestrians, but a few neighborhoods, including the Heights, are an exception, and Im eager to explore by foot. So I stride past the Victorian-style inns lazy, wraparound porch and cross over busy Heights Boulevard, admiring the well-trafficked Paul Carr Jogging Trail that cuts through the median. I wind my way about a mile through the neighborhood to Hello-Lucky, a little shop inside what appears to be an old home thats filled with darling jewelry, bags and T-shirts (like the armadillo silk-screen T-shirt I buy that says Texas-ness) made by local artists. I chat with the owner, Teresa OConnor, who suggests I also visit another patch of local shops on 19th Street, so I walk about two miles to get there. (She suggested using Uber to get there before the shops close, but Im obsessing on the whole walking theme.) Awaiting me is a chain-store-free zone, with blocks and blocks of shops, including vintage stores (Replay and Retropolis), a manly hipster mart (Manready Mercantile) and even a sassy, frilly cowgirl shop (Jubilee). I browse a bit and then head back to my hotel to rest, pleased to have sore feet in a city where driving, not walking, dominated my youth.

[Avoid the megaresorts of Mexico in Tulum, a hipster mecca on the Yucatan Peninsula]

I meet a friend for dinner a couple of blocks away at Eight Row Flint, a gas-station-turned-bar specializing in the holy Texas trinity of whiskey, beer and tacos. We grab seats on the patio (in February!) and order cocktails, Brussels sprout tacos and beef cheek tacos. The beef cheek tacos are delicious, but the Brussels sprout ones, with their smoky char and tender-crisp bite, immediately raise the question: Why are all tacos not Brussels sprout tacos?

The next day, my parents drive up from their home in the burbs and meet me in the city at one of their favorite lunch spots: Brennans of Houston. The Texas Creole restaurant has Louisiana-meets-Lone Star flair, with items such as Louisiana crawfish enchiladas and Texas Creole seafood gumbo. I opt for one of the more eyebrow-raising dishes: chicken-fried country rabbit. Its hearty and does, indeed, taste like chicken, if that chicken was pounded, fried and topped with an egg and duck giblet gravy. I have no problem inhaling the entire dish, along with a couple of 25-cent martinis (they were small, dont judge), before helping my dad eat his Mississippi mud pie.



Enormous murals depicting the Battle of San Jacinto line oil and chemical storage tanks as part of the EpicArt project. (Kate Silver /For The Washington Post)

As my designated driver (my mom) gets us home, ending the tourist portion of my adventure, we pass a series of chemical plants and refineries  many of which employed my dad when I was growing up  and I admire a series of murals that color the gargantuan oil and chemical storage tanks. Its known as the EpicArt project, and the handful of photographic reenacted scenes, spaced miles apart, depict the Battle of San Jacinto. (Thats the battle in which Texas won independence from Mexico.)

For any native Houstonian, the oil thats built this city (not to mention the smells of the chemical plants that swaddle the greater Houston area) is as much a part of its history as any military battle. That the murals rise before us, Texas-size, amid a farm of giant oil storage tanks, feels about as lovably, artistically and weirdly Houston as it gets.

Silver is a freelance writer in Chicago.

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Katie Wolchko and her boyfriend, Joshua Siegel, started a petition at Seton Hall University to end the internship requirement at the school. They contend that they are paying the university for the unpaid work they do during internships. (Courtesy of Katie Wolchko)

Internships have become an integral part of the college experience, with some schools requiring students to complete at least one internship before they graduate into the working world, where employers increasingly are giving preference to candidates with experience.

Although students often appreciate the advantage that internships provide  and can reap the benefits later as they seek employment  some are pushing back against the long-standing college practice of charging tuition for the credits students earn through unpaid internships. Students at several schools are beginning to allege publicly that colleges are profiting from their free labor, collecting money from families already stretched by the high cost of higher education while being spared the expense of providing instruction.

The conflict is emerging from a fundamental debate about the future of higher education: Colleges increasingly are seeking to provide career-oriented opportunities for students, saying that internships are an invaluable part of their programs and require direct faculty supervision. Students say that paying to work is an outdated and unfair model, especially when they are poised to graduate with the heavy burden of student-loan debt.

This is a huge ethical issue for universities that they are sneaking under the rug, said David Yamada, director of the New Workplace Institute at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. In this era of skyrocketing student debt, the fact that students are probably having to borrow money to do an internship for free is appalling.

[Read about one college that has figured out how to manage internships without credit or tuition]

Colleges generally make no distinction between internship programs and any other courses that come with a tuition bill, saying that academic internships require costly faculty work.

It would be great if we could provide academic supervision in a way that didnt cost the institution anything, but there isnt, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. If faculty are involved, somebody has to pay for the cost of having them there. It is a financial issue.

Joshua Siegel does not buy that argument. The Seton Hall University senior is among a group of students petitioning the school in South Orange, N.J., to stop charging for internship credits.

Its unfortunate that the school, which is not providing the service, not facilitating the process, not suffering any strain on its resources, feels it is owed compensation for me performing a function on my own, Siegel said.

Despite having a summer internship at a charity, Siegel, 21, must complete others sanctioned by the university to get his bachelors degree in diplomacy. Seton Hall officials say Siegel can opt out of the requirement by picking up another class, but he says that option does nothing to resolve the underlying problem: a lack of money.

To keep a handle on costs, Siegel has been taking 18 credits a semester since switching his major from history to diplomacy. He figured that a full load of classes would help him avoid spending an extra year in school. But Siegel still has a three-credit internship hanging over his head, at a tuition cost of about $3,000.

Its an undue financial burden, Siegel said. Even if I opt out, Im still paying money either way. Ive taken all the classes in my major, so Id have to just take any class that fits in my schedule.

Seton Hall officials say they understand that students are concerned about costs but that the school must cover the expense of running internship courses.

These courses are an extension of the classroom, said Joan Guetti, senior associate provost at Seton Hall. Faculty have to set up the internships, the hours, the assignments  papers, journal entries or presentations. Theres a lot more to this than students see.

Four majors at Seton Hall have internship requirements, and the requirement is under consideration for several other majors, according to Reesa Greenwald, director of the schools career center. Seton Hall students can avoid additional charges by taking the internship courses during the school year, when flat-rate tuition is charged. But that rate does not apply in the summer, an optimal time for undertaking internships.

Seton Hall is proud of integrating work experience into the curriculum, which gives students an edge in the job market, Greenwald said. Eighty-eight percent of the students in the Class of 2015 were employed in fields related to their majors within six months of graduating, she said.

Our goal is to help students find a satisfying career, a lucrative career, when they leave us, Greenwald said.

Anthony Carnevale, director and research professor at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, said colleges are responding to employers demands that graduates have real-world experience.

Employers place a premium on graduates with internships on their resumes, according to the Georgetown center. Starting salaries for graduates with paid internships average about $52,000, compared with $37,000 for those without internship. Nearly two-thirds of college graduates who complete paid internships receive job offers upon graduating, compared with just 35 percent of recent graduates who do not have internship experience.

These things are like gold, Carnevale said, adding that about 10 percent of the nations 20 million college students are able to secure internships during their college careers.

College internships vary widely. Positions that pay are difficult to find, and some of the most prestigious posts, at nonprofit organizations and in government agencies, offer no compensation, presenting an extreme challenge for those students who already have trouble paying for college.

Carnevale and other higher-education advocates say one economical way to help students who are in financial need to get work experience would be to turn federal work-study jobs into subsidized internships. The Obama administration considered the idea, but it failed to advance because colleges, which typically employ federal work-study students on campus, declined to give up the low-wage labor the federal program provides, Carnevale said.

Academic credit has become a stand-in for pay and is a popular way for colleges to regulate internships.

Having academic credit increases the value of the internship, said Hartle, of the American Council on Education. It means that somebody is trying to make sure the internship is a good, productive experience and that students are not just [spending their time] filing papers.

Offering credit for student work is mutually beneficial for companies and universities. Employers get free labor and can avoid liability insurance for students, and schools can promote their programs connections to the working world.

Touting internships for credit is one of the ways schools can at least claim to be providing practical training as part of degree programs, said Suffolk Universitys Yamada. Its not quite free money for the university . . . but its not credit hours that have to be covered by classroom teaching.

Cleveland State University graduate student Tim Russo said his school has provided no support for his internship, which he landed himself at a friends law firm.

I feel like Im getting exploited by the system, said Russo, 48, who must complete a three-credit internship to get his masters degree in global interactions. Theres no guidance, no guidelines, nothing.

Russo questioned the internship requirement at a roundtable in December, and shortly afterward the schools president said students could have their internships appear on official transcripts without receiving or paying for credits.

The offer means little to Russo, who, like others with internship course requirements, must find a replacement class to graduate.

I want to finish, but Im not paying tuition for this, said Russo, who sat out the spring semester in protest. Were not human beings, just cash for the university.

Cleveland State Provost Jianping Zhu said the school is reviewing its course offerings and examining whether there is adequate faculty involvement in internship courses.

Students need to feel that faculty mentors are interacting with them so they can learn to integrate their internship experience with their studies in the classroom, Zhu said.

More universities are similarly recognizing internships without offering, or charging for, credit. Other schools are raising money to fund unpaid internships for students in need, and some colleges are exploring programs that let students split their time between classes and short-term work.

At Seton Hall, Katherine Wolchko, a rising senior in the diplomacy program, has resolved to keep fighting the schools internship policy, even though she can opt out.

The practice is financially exploitative, deeply biased against socioeconomically disadvantaged students, she said. Students shouldnt pay for a service that the school doesnt provide, and we shouldnt have to pay for the privilege to work.
The Nashville public school system tapped a top Prince Georges County school official as its new leader.

Shawn Joseph, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning in Prince Georges, will lead the 86,000-student Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools starting July 1.

The citys school board unanimously voted Friday morning to offer him the job. Joseph agreed to the terms of the proposed four-year contract by phone, according to a news release from the school system.

The board interviewed six candidates during the past few weeks. The interview sessions were live-streamed for public viewing.

Over the last two weeks, the Board has had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing a high-quality group of candidates, Sharon Gentry, the boards chair, said in statement. Each candidate was impressive for different reasons, leaving the Board with an extremely difficult decision to make.

Shawn Joseph, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning in Prince Georges County Public Schools, will lead the Nashville public school system starting July 1. (Prince Georges County Public Schools)

[High-level Prince Georges school official up for job in Nashville]

Joseph has been a deputy superintendent for two years in the 129,000-student Prince Georges district. He served from 2012 to 2014 as superintendent of the far-smaller Seaford, Del., school system and had a long career as a teacher, principal and administrator for Montgomery County Public Schools.

Kevin Maxwell, chief executive of the Prince Georges school system, recently described Joseph as instrumental to district efforts to raise expectations and improve achievement.

Over the past two years, we have seen improvement in graduation rates, kindergarten readiness, and literacy performance, he said in a statement. Dr. Joseph is a proven leader, and we support his decision to explore new opportunities to serve children. Any district would be lucky to have him leading their schools.

Joseph said in a statement Friday that Maxwell encouraged him to apply for the job in Nashville and that he is looking forward to this exciting endeavor.

Over the course of the selection process, it became apparent to me that Nashville is united in its desire to be the fastest improving school district in America in the short-term, and one of the best school systems in the nation in the long-term, Joseph said.

Maxwell and Joseph will work together to ensure there is a smooth transition after Joseph departs, according to a statement from the school system.

Josephs career started in Montgomery shortly after he earned a degree from Lincoln University in 1996, according to a resume posted online for the Nashville job.

He was director of school performance from 2009 to 2012 and, before that, a principal at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown.

Earlier, he was an assistant principal at Redland Middle School in Derwood and worked as an English teacher, reading specialist and team leader at Clemente. He wrote a book guiding principals in their first 100 days of the school year, which Prince Georges officials said is widely used across the country.

The Nashville search process marks that school systems second round in its search for a new chief. Last year, the candidate selected by the board pulled out unexpectedly just before he signed a contract, officials said.

Donna St. George contributed to this report.
Fred B. Ugast, who served almost 40 years as a judge on the D.C. Superior Court, including seven years as chief judge, and most notably released a man who had served 28 years in prison after being framed by detectives for murder and rape, died April 6 at his home in Washington. He was 92.

The cause was complications from kidney disease, said a daughter, Susan U. Coneys.

Judge Ugast was appointed to the court by President Richard M. Nixon in 1973 and was chief judge from 1986 until he retired in 1993. In retirement, he took what is known as senior status and continued serving as a trial judge on an as needed basis until 2011.

In 2009, Judge Ugast vacated the sentence of Donald E. Gates, then 58, who had served 28 years in prison in the 1981 rape and murder of Georgetown University student Catherine Schilling. He was cleared at the request of the U.S. attorneys office and on the basis of DNA evidence.

In addition, prosecutors sent a letter to the judge saying they had recently uncovered old correspondence alerting them to credibility problems with the FBI crime analyst involved in the Gates trial. The Washington Post reported, Prosecutors previously indicated in court that they had not been told about the analysts, a mistake that Ugast had called outrageous. 

Furthermore, The Post reported, prosecutors had relied on the word of an unreliable, paid informant who testified that Gates confessed the killing and rape to him.

Judge Ugast wrote in his order that he found by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Gates is actually innocent.

Last year, the D.C. government agreed to pay more than $16 million  the most ever given to an individual in city history  to settle a federal lawsuit after a jury found that two D.C. homicide detectives framed Gates.

In 2012, federal prosecutors used DNA evidence to tie the killing to a janitor who worked in Schillings building. That man, whose name was never revealed because of what the U.S. attorneys office called privacy concerns, died in 2011.

Frederick Boyd Ugast was born in Washington on Sept. 18, 1923. He graduated in 1945 from Catholic University, where he also received a masters degree in philosophy in 1946. In 1950, he graduated from Harvard Law School.

Before his appointment to D.C. Superior Court, he held positions in the Justice Department, the last of which was deputy assistant attorney general in the tax division.

On stepping down as chief judge, he said he was especially pleased with a one-day, one-trial policy he implemented for jury service. Previously, prospective jurors were summoned for a month of jury duty. Under the new procedure, jurors not selected for trials would be excused after one day. Those who were chosen for a trial were excused when it ended.

His wife of 65 years, the former Mary Agnes Larkin, died in 2015. Survivors include six children, Susan U. Coneys of Washington, Ann Greenwood of Williamstown, Mass., Fred Ugast of Frederick, Md., Thomas Ugast of Silver Spring, Md., Eileen Hudson of Beltsville, Md., and Joseph Ugast of Oakton, Va.; 14 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Marine Maj. Mark Thompson has long sought to prove he was falsely convicted of having sex with two female students at the U.S. Naval Academy. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post)

Marine Maj. Mark Thompsons friends warned him to leave his case alone. But he couldnt, a fellow Marine later told investigators.

The former U.S. Naval Academy teacher was fixated on proving that he had been unfairly convicted in 2013 of having sex with two female midshipmen. So he brought his allegations of injustice to The Washington Post  a decision that led to revelations in the case and serious new charges against Thompson.

I knew it was stupid. There were people who tried to talk him out of the Post article, but he wouldnt hear it, Maj. Michael Pretus told investigators in a recording played Friday at Thompsons preliminary hearing in Quantico, Va. He was on an obsession course. You couldnt get him to talk about anything else.

Thompson, who has spent 19 years in the Marine Corps, including service in Afghanistan, and taught history at the Naval Academy, now faces charges of making a false official statement and of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

A Marine Corps prosecutor, Maj. Babu Kaza, argued Friday that Thompson, 46, should be locked up for nearly three years, fined $200,000 and kicked out of the service for his pattern of deceptions  lying to military authorities after his conviction, encouraging a friend to lie on his behalf at his court-martial and lying to a Post reporter about his accusers.

His time in the Marine Corps has been a fraud. Hes compromised every core value we hold dear, Kaza told the preliminary hearing officer, Lt. Col. Adam N. Subervi. Theres no place for that to be tolerated, no place for that to be accepted.

[A Marine fights to prove hes innocent of sexual misconduct. Then a lost cellphone is found. ]

The three-hour Article 32 hearing centered on the governments April interview with Pretus, Thompsons longtime friend, who has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors as part of an immunity deal. Last month, Pretus, a decorated Iraq combat veteran, was removed from his position as an instructor at the Naval Academy after being implicated in the sexual misconduct scandal.

Pretus  who was a key witness for the defense at Thompsons 2013 court-martial  acknowledged in his interview with investigators that he had lied on his comrades behalf and also admitted to having a sexual threesome with Thompson and one of his accusers during a visit to Annapolis in 2011.

I made just a terrible error in judgment. . . . I went along with it, Pretus told investigators, after they asked him to describe the sexual encounter in graphic detail.

On the recording, Pretus said that Thompson had completely convinced himself he was innocent, and he was going to get vindicated.

Pretus also told investigators that he was on the phone with Thompson the night that Midshipman Sarah Stadler, then 23, and a 21-year-old classmate had sex with Thompson after a drunken game of strip poker. Stadler described the threesome as consensual and part of an ongoing relationship. But her friend later accused Thompson of raping her  a charge of which he was acquitted. Thompson mentioned to Pretus during their call that Stadlers friend was drunk and had just thrown up, and that the two women were in the shower.

Youre playing with fire, Pretus said he told Thompson.

The statement Pretus made to investigators contradicted what he told the court-martial jury in 2013 and what Thompson said under oath in 2014 to an administrative board considering whether to expel him from the Marines.

Before the court-martial, Pretus said he and Thompson reviewed phone records of their calls to each other to establish a timeline. Thompson made clear to Pretus what his defense would be.

He didnt ask me directly to say that the girls werent there or had left, but he implied it, Pretus said.

Pretuss lengthy interview with investigators in a conference room at the Naval Academy last month sounded at times like a confessional, as if Pretus were almost relieved to answer their questions.

He had not wanted to testify during Thompsons court-martial but did so out of loyalty, he said. When Thompson insisted on approaching The Post to write about his case, Pretus began to realize that their allegiance was one-sided.

Its hard to keep the loyalty  to continue this charade, Pretus said. I knew it was only a matter of time before the truth would burn both of them.

Thompson was not present in the courtroom to hear any of the testimony in the Article 32 hearing. Earlier, he and his defense team walked out after the preliminary hearing officer read him his rights.

Defense attorney Kevin B. McDermott said he objected to the governments playing Pretuss interview recording publicly because it had already been reviewed by Subervi.

We dont want to participate in something that is going to be nothing more than a show trial, McDermott said before leaving the courtroom in the basement of Lejeune Hall at the Marine Corps Base Quantico.

McDermott had earlier sought to waive Thompsons preliminary hearing, but Marine Brig. Gen. Thomas D. Weidley ordered that it proceed.

Once Thompsons request for a waiver was denied, the hearing officer barred Post reporter John Woodrow Cox from the courtroom, ruling that he could be a potential witness at a court-martial.

Coxs article about Thompson was entered into evidence during the proceeding, including the evidence that the major had been dishonest when he testified under oath in 2014 to what is known as a Marine board of inquiry. Asked in January of this year why he had lied to authorities, Thompson described the immense pressure he faced after one of the women asserted that he had raped her.

I simply had to, when they were coming after me for 41 years, Thompson said, I cant begin to say, you know, how terrifying that is.

The preliminary-hearing officer has 10 days to determine whether there is probable cause to conclude that a crime has been committed and to make recommendations to Weidley, the general, about whether to proceed to a court-martial and on what specific charges.
D.C. police on Thursday arrested a third suspect in the January shooting death of a 37-year-old man who authorities said may have been targeted for marijuana he had in his downtown Washington apartment.

Joseph Lee Jennings, 35, of Southeast, has been charged with murder while armed. He could make his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court on Friday afternoon.

The victim, Matthew Shevlin, lived in an apartment in the 400 block of M Street NW, in Mount Vernon Triangle. He was shot twice at his residence around 10 a.m. on Jan. 22.

Police said that when officers arrived they found Shevlin in a small courtyard and one of the suspects stumbling out of the building with a .45 caliber handgun with an extended magazine in his pants leg and a Mason jar with a green weed substance labeled White Fade Out in his jacket.

[D.C. police say assailants may have been after marijuana]

Inside the victims apartment, police found several jars of pot-like substances similar to the one found on Harvey, according to the charging papers. One was labeled Girl Scout Cookies. Police tested one jar and confirmed it was marijuana, the court documents state. Police said they also found large and small plants and a bin containing suspected marijuana.

The other two suspects arrested in this case are David Davalier Harvey, 18, of Northwest, and Eugene Ledex Sherman, 53, of Southeast. Both are charged with first-degree murder. Harvey, who was arrested at the scene, has a court hearing June 16. Sherman has a hearing May 19.
A committee of judges from the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver will review a D.C. federal appeals courts dismissal of a misconduct complaint against retired chief Judge Richard W. Roberts of the federal district court in Washington.

The order Tuesday was disclosed in a letter from Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court, who is no relation to the retired judge.

Richard Roberts stepped down in the District unexpectedly March 16, citing health reasons.

On that same day, a lawsuit also was filed by a Utah woman who accuses Richard Roberts of sexually assaulting her decades ago when she was a 16-year-old witness in a murder trial he was prosecuting.

Attorneys for the retired judge have called the womans assertions categorically false and said the judge had an intimate relationship with the woman that was entirely consensual and occurred after the trial.

[Chief judge of Districts federal court retires after accusation of sexual assault]

On March 7, acting chief judge Karen L. Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed a complaint against Richard Roberts brought by Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R), whose office had commissioned an investigation of the womans allegations. In dismissing the complaint, Henderson said it had been rendered moot by Richard Robertss retirement.

[Federal judges retirement renders misconduct complaint moot, appeals court says ]

Reyess office asked for Hendersons decision to be reviewed by the D.C. Circuit, which referred it to the chief justice. The review by a council of federal appeals and trial court judges in Denver could determine whether Roberts, a 1998 Clinton appointee, remains eligible to receive his full salary for life as a retired judge.
A man who was shot in Manassas on Thursday has died, police said.

On Thursday at 2:45 a.m., Prince William County police responded to a residence in the 9500 block of Hensley Road to investigate a report of a shooting, the police department said in a statement. There, officers found John Thomas Mannion, 43, with a gunshot wound to the upper body, according to the statement. Mannion was taken to a hospital, where he died Friday, police said.

After an investigation, police said two people might have entered the home before the shooting. A K-9 unit searched the scene, but no suspects were located, police said. The incident does not appear to have been random, police said.

Anyone with information about the case may call Crime Solvers at 703-670-3700 or 866-411-8477.
The old Hecht warehouse is a landmark in the Ivy City neighborhood. It has been turned into apartments. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

District police are investigating a shooting of a man that occurred Friday morning in the Ivy City neighborhood of Northeast Washington, just off the New York Avenue thoroughfare.

Police were called about 9 a.m. to the 2000 block of 16th Street NE, where a department spokeswoman said the victim was found wounded. Police said he was conscious and breathing and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Police would only describe the victim as an adult.

Police closed 16th Street between New York Avenue and Okie Street NE. New York Avenue, a typically busy street and packed during rush hour, was not closed.

[Ivy City next up on Districts gentrification list]

Ivy City is a small neighborhood known for an assortment of motels, industrial businesses and nightclubs. Lately, it has become a target for gentrification, with new restaurants, apartments and stores being planned.
One person was killed in a two-vehicle crash Thursday night in the Brandywine area in Prince Georges County, and authorities shut down two lanes of a state highway to investigate, Maryland State police reported.

The accident happened on Route 301 near the intersection of Brandywine Road, state police said. Authorities shut down northbound and southbound lanes of traffic to investigate.

One other person was injured in the crash.

The accident was not expected to affect the Friday morning commute, police said.
Ania, 9, from El Salvador walks with her father through the Texas countryside after crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States to seek asylum in April, 2016. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Immigrant advocacy groups on Friday condemned reported plans by the Obama administration to launch a new series of raids against illegal immigrant families from Central America.

Such an effort, the groups said, would send panic through Latino communities, unfairly target victims of violence and poverty, and turn Latino voters against likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while not confirming specific plans for new raids, said Friday that they must enforce the law and that their current operations and enforcement priorities will focus on deporting three kinds of illegal immigrants: convicted criminals, those who threaten public safety and recent border crossers, including families.

In a statement, senior ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea said that to promote border security, our priorities include those apprehended crossing the border illegally after Jan. 1, 2014, including single adults and those with children. She said any operations would be limited to those who have been ordered deported and have no pending appeals or asylum claims, and that officials would avoid detaining people at schools, hospitals and churches.

The statement followed news reports this week that ICE was preparing to repeat a controversial program in which a series of raids last December and early January led to 121 women and children from Central America being detained in North Carolina, Georgia and other states. Some were immediately deported. The actions produced an outcry from immigrant groups and a number of Democrats, including Clinton.

The new ICE plans appear to be in response to the continued flow of illegal families from Central America across the border. Between October and March, border patrol agents detained more than 32,000 families at the border, more than double the number for the same period the previous fiscal year. A surge of minors and families crossing the border began in 2013.

Advocates said the Obama administration was sending a callous and confusing signal to immigrant communities, approving policies that can send vulnerable women and children back to countries plagued by gangs and violent crime even as he proposes executive actions to shield those who have been here longer from deportation.

The president is sending a message that he doesnt care about our community, and it is going to have a political price, Gustavo Torres, executive director of CASA of Maryland and Virginia, said Friday.

With Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowing to build a wall across the Mexican border and deport all estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, Torres said, Latinos are not going to vote for Trump, so what option do they have? Theyre going to stay home.

CASA and other groups in the Washington area, home to tens of thousands of immigrants and refugees from Central America, said they were preparing to help families who might be targeted in coming raids. CASA officials said they are setting up 24-hour hotlines, legal referrals and workshops about immigrants rights.

Simon Sandoval Moschenberg, an immigration lawyer from the Center for Legal Justice in Falls Church, Va., predicted that the reports of possible raids would send fear and panic through Latino communities. After the raids early this year, he said, some undocumented parents kept their children home from school, and others lost their jobs.

Our advice is to keep calm and dont panic, Sandoval Moschenberg said. He said the reported raids were aimed only at a narrow slice of the immigrant community and that the great majority of long-term illegal immigrants are at no greater risk than before.

Although ICE officials said no families would be targeted for raids if they had already filed appeals for relief or asylum, Torres and Sandoval Moschenberg pointed out that many Central American families could potentially qualify for deportation relief or political asylum because of the high levels of violence in their homelands.

Most of those who were able to obtain legal help after being arrested in the December-January raids received temporary deportation relief and are still in federal custody.
The last time workers came to remake the bridge that carries Takoma Parks main street across Sligo Creek, safety was not exactly Job One. On a winters day in 1932, the crew dynamited a few vital supports, and the bridge promptly collapsed with six workers standing on the span.

Three ran fast enough to make it to safety; three fell 75 feet to their deaths. One, according to a local newspaper account, was crushed so badly that his widow could identify him only by the keys in his pocket.

Now, the workers are back to redo the bridge. They are being more careful, and not just because of eight decades of workplace safety progress. The graceful arched structure that rose after the accident has achieved local landmark status, a picturesque traffic artery above and a keystone feature of the scenic parkland below.

[Share your photos of the scenic Carroll Avenue Bridge]

The Maryland State Highway Administration has launched $12 million worth of infrastructure artisanship to preserve the Carroll Avenue bridge. The agency is spending extra money and time rebuilding the span as it is rather than knocking it down (presumably more carefully this time) and swapping it for the kind of faster and cheaper prefabricated replacement currently in vogue with budget-minded civil engineers.

The bridge was rebuilt in 1932 and is getting a $12 million makeover. (Carol M. Highsmith/Library of Congress)

This one is a little different, said Maurice Agostino, the state engineer in charge of designing the restoration. Its really a character-defining element for the surrounding area. We think its important to maintain that character.

The structure is in for a year of bridge beautification. Its three soaring sets of concrete arches are being restored in place. The upper deck and vertical columns that hold it aloft will be demolished, but crews will custom build molds of laser-carved Styrofoam to re-create its copings, lips and cornices. The ornate side balustrades will be upgraded to a crash-tested design close in appearance to the 1932 version. The new sidewalks will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

On a recent rainy afternoon  as if there has been any other kind this spring  workers crawled about the bridges understructure like flies struggling in a web.

They had already constructed a massive staging platform halfway up the arches, a 17,000-square-foot floor built on steel beams weighing up to 115 pounds per foot. One crew is stringing a modular steel temporary span across the valley to accommodate pedestrian traffic during the project. Vehicles will be detoured to side streets for up to a year.

Its going to be a nightmare, but were delighted they are doing it this way, said Diane Kohn, who lives near the bridge but also runs Historic Takoma, an advocacy group that was among those asking for the structure to be made safe without losing its distinct personality.

On the old arches, workers test the soundness of the 84-year-old concrete by hitting it with a hammer: If it pings, its solid. If it thuds, its rotten. There have been a lot of thuds; nearly every beam and column is pitted with open concrete wounds oozing rusty stains from exposed iron bones.

Blemish by blemish, crews chip away the old material and polish the metal with high-speed buffers before sealing it off with smooth new concrete.

The bridge is being replaced with the same graceful arches and side rails. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post)

Slowly, they are easing the bridge off the highway administrations List of Structurally Deficient Bridges. The agency has 69 bridges on its list. There are separate inventories maintained by cities, counties and the federal government.

Nationally, there were nearly 59,000 bridges officially classified as structurally deficient, according to a recent U.S. Transportation Department analysis, including 1,063 in Virginia. None of them are considered at risk of imminent collapse (those bridges are closed). But many, like the bridge over Sligo Creek, have begun to unnerve its users.

Ive walked over it in places where you can see the creek through gaps in the sidewalk, said Kohn.

As complaints mounted, the Maryland Historic Trust and Montgomery County Historic Preservation Commission also weighed in with the highway administration, arguing that the bridge  which is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places  was worth saving.

The state agreed. Its only the second bridge they have given this kind of preservation makeover. The other was the Route 40 bridge over the Patapsco River west of Baltimore. Preservationists and historians in Takoma Park are delighted to have made the cut.

Architecturally, it is a magnificent example of how we built bridges back in the time when beauty was part of the equation, said Lorraine Pearsall, Historic Takomas preservation expert.

The bridge was built at a pivotal time for both the town and the region.

Locally, the Seventh-day Adventists  who had relocated their world headquarters from Michigan to Takoma Park  had built a major sanitarium and college on the north bank of Sligo Creek (now Washington Adventist Hospital and University respectively). As the facilities grew, leading families, including the sister of President Warren Harding, constructed some of the first houses on that side of the water. A new bridge was built in 1917 and then replaced with the current span in 1932. Maryland Gov. Albert Ritchie came to open the $60,000 project.

At the same time, local notables, including the family of former U.S. senator Blair Lee, were pushing for the Sligo Creek valley to be preserved as parkland much as Washingtons Rock Creek had been. The state designed the bridge as a scenic feature, its three swooping arches neatly loping over the winding Sligo Creek Parkway on one side, the walking trail on the other and the rocky watercourse in between.

The [state government] would design arch bridges when they were in a location that was considered scenic, Charlie Gischlar, a spokesman for the State Highway Administration, said in an email. The rehabilitation of the bridge is ensuring that it will retain its historic character for another 75-100 years.
Officer Edward M. Nero, a Baltimore police officer who was involved in Freddie Gray's arrest, leaves the courthouse with his attorney Marc Zayon after the first day of his trial on May 12. (Mark Makela/Getty Images)

Freddie Gray was flailing and screaming during his arrest the morning of April 12, 2015, Officer Edward M. Nero told police investigators in a recorded video interview made later that day. But Nero, now on trial in connection with Grays arrest, said the 25-year-old showed no sign of physical injury or difficulty breathing.

In the video, which was played during his trial Friday, Nero said Gray was not huffing and puffing or anything like that. . . . Hes just screaming. He said Gray resisted arrest and then banged around in a police van after he was loaded in without being secured by a seat belt.

Gray was later found unconscious and bleeding in the back of the van; he died a week later, having never regained consciousness. Nero is among six officers facing charges related to Grays arrest and death. The videotaped account marks the first time that Neros version of the events of that morning have been made public.

The two looming issues in Neros case are whether Grays arrest was legal and whether the officer was responsible for seat-belting Gray inside the police van. The officer is charged with assault, reckless endangerment and misconduct.

In the interview, Nero recalled chasing Gray with two other bike officers and arriving as Gray was being handcuffed. Nero said that after retrieving another officers bike, he helped restrain Gray.

He was not being very cooperative. . . . He flailed around a lot, Nero said. We tried to restrain him as much as possible.

Nero, who is also trained as an emergency medical technician, said that he never heard Gray say he couldnt breathe but that Gray did ask for his inhaler. Nero said officers asked Gray where his inhaler was, and he said he didnt have it. He said he watched for signs that Gray was in distress.

Did it look like he was having an asthma attack? Detective Michael Boyd, one of the investigators, asked Nero in the interview.

No, not at all, Nero replied.

Instead, he said, Gray simply didnt want to go with police and was trying to make a scene.

So, was he being passive-aggressive? Boyd asked.

In a way, yeah, Nero replied.

People pass a mural depicting Freddie Gray a year after the protests in Baltimore that were sparked by Gray's death. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Gray continued to resist, Nero said, as the officers put him in a police wagon. He was initially placed on a bench. Another investigator asked Nero whether Gray was then seat-belted.

No, Nero replied.

After the wagons door was closed, the vehicle moved a couple of blocks to get away from onlookers who had gathered at the scene. Nero followed on his bike. After the van stopped, Gray again became disruptive, Nero said.

Hes continuously just slamming himself into the wagon, Nero said. Moving, banging. So, the officer told investigators, Gray was removed from the vehicle and re-handcuffed. His legs were shackled, and he was loaded onto the van floor on his stomach, face first.

It took all of us to push him back in, Nero said, because Gray refused to move. Again, he said, Gray didnt appear to be in physical distress.

Neros defense attorney, Marc Zayon, argued that in the taped interview, his client often used we rather than I. Zayon said Nero was referring to the actions of all of the police officers on the scene and not things that he specifically did.

But Nero did say at one point, Miller and I, we got him in custody.

The interview was the key moment in the second day of testimony, as prosecutors continued to seek to show that Nero had no reason to arrest Gray and thus the arrest itself constitutes assault. The reckless endangerment charge against Nero is for his failure to secure Gray with a seat belt in the police wagon.

Stanford ONeil Franklin, a former head of training for the Baltimore City police, testified that a reasonable officer would have quickly patted Gray down and ascertained the reason for the stop rather than immediately arresting him.

Were talking about constitutional rights; were talking about the Fourth Amendment, Franklin said.

A reasonable officer also would have seat-belted Gray inside the van, Franklin said.

The defense contends that there was justifiable cause for police to chase Gray that day and sought to make its point during cross-examination.

At one point, Zayon questioned prosecution witness Brandon Ross, a friend of Grays who witnessed his arrest. Zayon suggested that Gray ran from the police; Ross insisted that his friend began running before the officers were spotted.

However, Ross acknowledged that he saw the police seconds after his friend began to run.

Zayon also tried to establish that the neighborhood where the chase took place was an area known for crime and drug sales. Its fair to say drugs are sold in the Gilmor Homes? Zayon asked

Where drugs not being sold in Baltimore City? Ross retorted, to laughter in the courtroom. Drugs is being sold everywhere. I cant say if drugs are being sold in the Gilmor Homes.

Zayon noted that Ross lied by using a false name to call 911 after Gray was loaded into the police van and that Ross inaccurately told investigators that an electronic shock weapon was used on his friend. Ross said that he changed his name to avoid retaliation from officers and that he thought he had heard something that sounded like a Taser.

Ross, who was with Gray that morning, testified that he saw Nero help throw his friend into the back of a police van, grabbing his feet. But he agreed that when Gray was initially dragged down the street in handcuffs, Nero was retrieving another officers bicycle.

The prosecution is set to continue its case Monday. Nero opted for a bench trial rather than a jury trial, so his fate will be decided by Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams, who is hearing the cases of all six officers.
ARIZONA

Judge finds sheriff, aides to be in contempt

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and three of his top officials were found to be in civil contempt on Friday after a federal judge ruled that they violated court orders stemming from a 2007 racial profiling case.

The case centers on allegations that under Arpaio, who has courted controversy in the past with anti-illegal-immigration tactics, the sheriffs office failed to comply with a judges orders meant to curb racial profiling of Latino drivers.

Arpaio, 83, and his three top aides were found in civil contempt by U.S. District Judge Murray Snow after a series of hearings into their conduct.

The sheriff was cited for three counts of contempt in the courts order. Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan was found to have committed two counts of contempt, and retired executive chief Brian Sands and Lt. Joseph Sousa were cited for one count each.

Arpaio and Sheridan have admitted to violating court orders but maintained that it was unintentional.

The handgun used in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin is seen this handout photo provided by the State Attorney's Office on May 17, 2012. (Handout/Reuters)

The lawman, who styles himself Americas toughest sheriff, and his office face a variety of potential sanctions including fines, restitution for those harmed by the actions and tighter oversight of daily operations.

 Reuters

ALABAMA

Assault charges dropped against officer

A judge has dismissed state charges against a North Alabama police officer accused of assaulting an Indian man during a suspicious person investigation.

Limestone County District Judge Douglas Patterson dismissed the case against 27-year-old Eric Parker on Thursday afternoon.

Parker was recorded slamming Sureshbhai Patel, 58, to the ground in February 2015. Patel was out for a walk in his sons suburban Huntsville neighborhood and was approached by police after a neighbor who called 911 reported a thin black man walking through the area looking at houses. Parker has said Patel resisted him.

Two federal civil rights trials against Parker ended in hung juries before he was acquitted. Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey was found guilty of contempt in April for talking to Parkers colleagues about their testimonies in his first trial.

 Associated Press

In this Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013, file photo, George Zimmerman, acquitted in the high-profile killing of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, listens in court, in Sanford, Fla., during his hearing. (Joe Burbank/AP)

FLORIDA

Possible Web trolls bid on Zimmermans gun

Bidding in an online auction for the pistol former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin appeared to have been hijacked by fake accounts posting astronomically high bids.

At one point early Friday, the bidding surpassed $65 million with the leading bidder using the screen name Racist McShootFace. The site later showed that account had been deleted.

Other screen names of bidders on the site included Donald Trump, shaniqua bonifa and Tamir Rice, the name of a black 12-year-old who was shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014 while playing with a pellet gun.

The website for United Gun Group began hosting the auction Thursday after another website, GunBroker.com, took down the auction.

 Associated Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, center, prepares to fly over devastation from a wildfire during a visit to Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, May 13, 2016. (Pool/Reuters)

SYRIA

Airstrikes kill at least 12 in northern Syria

Suspected Syrian government airstrikes in the northern city of Idlib killed at least 12 people Friday, activists said.

The strikes came as part of an intensified air campaign launched after Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda fighters, seized a central Alawite village.

Raed Saleh, head of a first-responders group that operates in opposition-held areas, said that at least 15 bodies, including those of three children, were pulled from the rubble following two airstrikes in a residential area of Idlib. He said another 38 people were wounded.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists inside Syria, put the death toll at 12 and said it was likely to rise as rescue efforts were still underway.

A coalition of insurgent groups, including the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, captured Idlib and the surrounding province of the same name last year.

1 of 37 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Here is what the raging wildfire in Canada looks like View Photos About 80,000 residents have been forced to evacuate in Alberta. Caption About 80,000 residents have been forced to evacuate in Alberta. May 7, 2016 Smoke billows from the Highway 63 area outside Fort McMurray, Alberta, where raging forest fires have forced more than 88,000 people from their homes. Cole Burston/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue.

 Associated Press

RUSSIA

NATO missile shield draws Putin warning

President Vladimir Putin on Friday described the development of NATOs U.S.-led missile defense program as a threat to global security and vowed that Russia will take the necessary steps to maintain strategic parity.

Putin, speaking at a meeting with military officials, scoffed at U.S. claims that the shield isnt directed at Russia but instead intended to fend off a missile threat from Iran. The system includes a site in Romania that became operational Thursday and another in northern Poland, where U.S. and Polish officials broke ground Friday for a facility due to be ready in 2018.

Putin said that a threat from Iran has ceased to exist after last years nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

Putin said Russia will do everything needed to ensure and preserve the strategic balance but will not get drawn into an arms race.

 Associated Press

CANADA

Prime minister tours fire-ravaged areas

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, getting a firsthand look at the damage from a devastating wildfire, praised firefighters Friday for defending the energy hub of Fort McMurray, Alberta.

Drivers moving through a road in the western Canadian town of Fort McMurray got dangerously close to a huge wildfire that has forced residents to evacuate. Embers fly over the road as drivers attempt to flee to safety. (The Washington Post)

The inferno, which closed the extensive oil-sands operations near the town, is the first natural disaster to confront Trudeau, whose Liberals took power in November. He has promised the federal government will do everything it can to help in the rebuilding effort.

Trudeau toured the town in a military helicopter and saw a patchwork of devastated neighborhoods. Some homes still stood, while others had burned to their foundations.

After his aerial tour, Trudeau was briefed on the progress in fighting the fire, which has moved east of Fort McMurray into less-inhabited areas. He praised emergency officials for their valor and courage in preserving much of the town.

 Reuters

Unexploded WWII bomb prompts evacuations in Britain: Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and businesses in the British city of Bath after a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb was found under a school playground. Police advised residents to leave more than 1,000 properties within a 300-yard zone around the device, found during construction work on a disused playground at the Royal High School in Bath on Thursday. Chief Inspector Kevin Thatcher of the Avon and Somerset police said Friday that army explosives experts were working to make the device safe.

Ex-aide charged in China with bribery, theft of secrets: Chinese prosecutors formally charged a former top aide to retired President Hu Jintao, setting the stage for a trial of the last member of a Communist Party faction dubbed the New Gang of Four. Ling Jihua, 59, who had served as Hus chief of staff, was accused of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abusing power, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing a statement by state prosecutors.

Woman, 116, considered last living person born in 1800s: Surrounded by relatives and friends, Italys Emma Morano greeted with a smile the news that she, at 116, is now the oldest person in the world. Not only that, but Morano is believed to be the last surviving person born in the 1800s, with a birth date of Nov. 29, 1899. Thats just 4 months after Susannah Mushatt Jones, who died Thursday in New York.

 From news services
Lawrence Scanlan is the author of The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the Worlds Greatest Racehorse.

Almost 24,000 thoroughbred colts and fillies were born in North America in 2012, one of them a bay called American Pharoah that would three years later win the American Triple Crown of thoroughbred racing  a feat that only 12 horses have managed since the first one did it in 1919. Even the casual racing fan recognizes some of them: Sir Barton, Gallant Fox, Omaha, War Admiral, Whirlaway, Count Fleet, Assault, Citation, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed.

American Pharoah spent most of his first year at the Vinery, a classy farm in Kentucky with black fences and stone walls, where he caught the eye of farm manager Frances Relihan, who did something unusual when the horse left. She called his owner, Ahmed Zayat, to say this: Theres something special about him.

Indeed there was. In American Pharoah, Joe Drape describes what struck Relihan: Even as a foal and weanling, Frances saw how easily he moved, his head high, folding and unfolding himself with exquisite balance. His stride had range and scope and he had a lovely sloping shoulder and great body angles. There was nothing out of place on him, especially when he was in flight. The colt shared a field with nine mares and their foals, and when playtime broke out, he looked like a bullet train among steam engines.

What distinguished this colt was the joy he took from running and his singular aplomb. Weaning can be traumatic both for foal and mare, and separation anxiety is common, but American Pharoah was only briefly flustered before rejoining his pals in the paddock. This handsome, muscled horse had a faint white star on his forehead and a short tail  chewed on, apparently, by another horse. At the Florida farm where he learned to race, he again stood out  a seeming old soul in a sea of skittishness. American Pharoah accepted bridle, saddle, girth, rider, cues and starting gate, all with ease.

"American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Winner's Legendary Rise" by Joe Drape (Hachette )

Zayat was there the day the colt was timed in his first breeze, or moderate gallop. His times for the first, second and third eighths of a mile were 11.6, 22.1 and 36.6 seconds, respectively. As the clocker relayed each fraction, Zayat said the same thing: Holy s---! The rider had asked for none of that quickness. And there was this: American Pharoah had no desire to stop running, nor was he winded by workouts.

Zayat imagined that his horse would fetch $1 million at the yearling sale in Saratoga, N.Y. But just before the auction, American Pharoah bumped an ankle, it swelled, bidders balked, and the owner bought him back for the posted minimum of $300,000  but the ankle never flared again. Later, reeling with debt and afraid that another injury  this one to a knee  had dashed the horses future, the owner sold breeding rights before American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, the Belmont and the Breeders Cup Classic.

A book like this one tilts on the owner/trainer/rider/horse axis, and the author, an award-winning turf writer with the New York Times, gives each their due while conceding their flaws. The owner  who made his fortune selling beer in mostly Muslim Egypt  was notoriously slow to pay his bills and twice fired trainer Bob Baffert before hiring him back to work with American Pharoah. The trainer, ever recognizable by his white hair and dark sunglasses (to shield his watery eyes  for he is allergic to horses), had the dubious distinction of having seven horses under his care drop dead in a 16-month period. Investigators challenged his use of a thyroid hormone but turned up no wrongdoing. That only proves, Drape writes, how loosely regulated the sport is and how a wide array of questionable tactics would be considered permissible. As for the jockey, Victor Espinoza, some fans  though not racing stewards  bristled at seeing the rider hit American Pharoah at least thirty-one times with his whip coming down the stretch in the Derby. As for the horse, his only sins were to react badly to crowd noise (cotton in his ears cured that) and occasional fractiousness (earning him the barn nickname of pendejo, or idiot).

Drape, a habitue of some 90 tracks, does a nice job of taking the reader inside the racing game, and he (mostly) resists the urge to cheerlead  although crisper editing might have trimmed all those references to horse for the ages and one for the ages. He observes that Triple Crown winners are rare because horse breeders breed for speed, not endurance, which the mile-and-a-half Belmont distance requires.

American Pharoah won his crown in the summer; his memoir follows in spring. There is much to admire in this comprehensive and often candid book, but I do wonder if more time might have produced a better one. The turf writers I most admire (John Jeremiah Sullivan, William Nack, Jane Smiley, Bill Barich) have written good books, and good books take time. The rush to produce the next bestseller  or the next Secretariat  often ends badly. Too many books are published in haste, too many land in remainder bins. Too many racehorses are bred, too many board slaughterhouse trucks.
THE DEATH of a Prince Georges County woman, allegedly by her estranged husband last week, did not become big news until the rampage extended beyond her family, with two more people killed. There tends to be a complacency about domestic violence as posing a risk not to the general public but rather only to other people. That is wrong on many levels  including because partner murders often presage crime sprees that affect other people. Lets hope last weeks terrible events serve as impetus for bettering ways to combat domestic violence; of paramount importance is more effective means of disarming abusers.

Gladys Tordil, 44, was shot to death on the afternoon of May 5 in the parking lot of the Prince Georges high school where she was picking up her children; a bystander who tried to help was wounded. Police said the shooter was Eulalio Leo Tordil, 62, who fled the scene and, while being sought by authorities, killed two more people and wounded two others in carjacking attempts in Montgomery County.

The shootings are far from an anomaly, as mass shootings often begin with a domestic homicide. Everytown for Gun Safety studied mass shootings in the United States from 2009 to July 2015 and found that in 57 percent of the cases, the shooter killed an intimate partner or other family member, in addition to other victims.

What is particularly scary about the Maryland shootings is that, in many respects, Ms. Tordil took the available steps to protect herself and authorities responded  but that still wasnt enough. She went to court in March to tell a judge that her estranged husband had repeatedly threatened to kill her and had abused her and her daughters. The court issued civil protective orders, which generally have proved to be effective safeguards and which required Mr. Tordil to surrender all his firearms. The Federal Protective Service, which employed Mr. Tordil, stripped him of his service weapon, and the Prince Georges County Sheriffs Office took possession of seven guns, more than had been listed by Ms. Tordil.

But Mr. Tordil had access to other guns, including a .40-caliber Glock that was legally purchased in Las Vegas in 2014 and that prosecutors said was used in the Montgomery shootings. Sheriffs deputies cant be faulted for not knowing about that gun because, thanks to the national gun lobby and the cowardice of Congress, there is no federal database of who owns what guns. Only a handful of states, including Maryland, have registries of varying thoroughness. This case underscores why law enforcement should be able to know whether a person prohibited from possessing guns has surrendered all their firearms.

Another question is whether Ms. Tordils claim of abuse of her daughters, including a minor, was vigorously investigated by police or child protective services. Authorities in Montgomery County told us they have a process in place to ensure such charges are carefully examined; Prince Georges officials would do well to follow that lead.
Wesley Lowery is a national reporter for The Washington Post, and was the papers lead reporter on the ground during the unrest in Ferguson, Mo. He was a member of the team that won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its coverage of police shootings in America.

They typically gather around Mothers Day each year to catch up, hold each other and cry for the children theyve lost.

Its a somber sorority: half a dozen grieving mothers whose children, lost to violent death, became polarizing figures in a divided nations grappling with race. There is Wanda Johnson, whose son, Oscar Grant, was killed by a transit police officer on New Years Eve, 2009, at Oaklands Fruitvale Station. And Sybrina Fulton, whose son Trayvon Martin was shot in 2012 by a self-proclaimed neighborhood watchman and whose fight for justice was broadcast live on cable. And Gwen Carr, whose son Eric Garner gasped, I cant breathe as a swarm of New York City police officers tackled him in 2014.

Also among the group is Lezley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, who was shot by police in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014. When you lose a child it isnt something that just sits in your heart, McSpadden writes in her book, Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil. Its in your mind. It darkens your spirit.

Since her sons death, McSpadden has served as the prevailing image of pain at the center of the Black Lives Matter protest movement. The nation listened as she wailed on the night of her sons death and again three months later when a grand jury declined to indict his killer. We watched as she sat through interview after interview, too distraught to speak much about her son. Until now, weve known little about Brown, his mother and his father, Michael Brown Sr.

"Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil: The Life, Legacy, and Love of My Son Michael Brown" by Lezley McSpadden and Lyah Beth LeFlore (Regan Arts)

While the books subtitle suggests that McSpadden will tell her sons story, she in fact takes us on an honest, revealing walk through her own life  a personal family history crucial to understanding the full context of Michaels death and the chaos that followed.

Like many black children in St. Louis, McSpadden was born on the wrong side of town  surrounded by gangs, drugs and violence. In high school she fell hard for her first boyfriend, Michael Brown, and dropped out after giving birth to Mike Mike, the first of her four children by two men who, she writes, could never stop hurting her  both emotionally and physically.

Her book, co-written with Lyah Beth LeFlore, provides the first full account of the life of young Michael Brown, chronicling his early diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, his struggles with his weight and health, his role in helping raise his younger siblings, and his battle to complete high school. He earned his diploma with the help of a counselor and his mother in early August 2014, shortly before he was killed.

McSpadden missed the graduation ceremony because she was working, but she raced toward home and found him walking along the street. She pulled over, and mother and son embraced over his diploma. A week later, McSpadden dashed out of work again, this time desperate to find her son  but she was too late.

In her book, McSpadden invites readers into private moments undocumented by the media that flooded Ferguson. We witness her life both mundane and extraordinary: She makes a sandwich for one of her regulars at the grocery store deli where she works just before learning of her sons death; she watches in horror as rioters clash with heavily armored police officers; she speaks with Prince and Beyonce before a benefit concert in Baltimore following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray.

And we are there with her when she hears that officer Darren Wilson would not face federal civil rights charges. McSpadden had put her hope in Attorney General Eric Holder, who had visited Ferguson and vowed to secure justice. If local officials wouldnt indict Wilson, she reasoned, certainly he would.

What happened, Mr. Holder? McSpadden thought, as she watched the attorney general deliver the news to the nation that evening. You promised me. I thought you had my back. I thought you understood.

The next morning, McSpadden was startled by a knock at the door: It was a FedEx delivery man with a letter from Holder. As a parent of three children, I cannot imagine the pain you have endured, or the bravery you must summon each and every day in order to move forward, Holder wrote in the letter, printed in full in the book. You have experienced pain that no parent should ever have to bear.

The books closing chapters focus on McSpaddens efforts to move forward: She begins therapy and forms a foundation whose mission is supporting mothers who have lost children to gun violence.

After nearly two years, protests and discussions on race and policing continue nationally, while much about the confrontation between Wilson and Brown that Saturday afternoon on Fergusons Canfield Drive still feels unresolved: Countless questions linger.

Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil doesnt provide answers, but it gives a glimpse into the depths of a grieving mothers heart. Her story is forever tied to what happened between her son and the officer.

There were three people out there on Canfield that day, McSpadden writes in a letter to Michael at the end of the book. So there are three sides to the story.
CHINAS ECONOMY, long a source of global dynamism, is changing into a source of instability. Growth, still rapid by international standards, is gradually decelerating, as a nearly three-decade-old investment- and export-led strategy delivers diminishing returns. Yet the Communist Party, beholden to  or composed of  interest groups that benefit from the status quo, has not shifted decisively toward more reliance on consumer demand and investment by private firms. Instead, Beijing continues to goose short-term growth with loans to bloated state-owned banks and industries.

One especially politically risky effect has been a flood of cheap Chinese steel exports  prompting retaliatory noises from Washington and worker protests in Europe and lending credibility to the campaign of Donald Trump. Financier George Soros has warned that Chinas buildup of public and private debt may prove as unsustainable as the U.S. housing bubble whose burst helped cast the world into recession eight years ago.

For months, Chinese officials have played down the issues, while fumbling to assert their legendary but obviously exaggerated control over the economy. Now comes a lengthy interview on the front page of the official Peoples Daily, in which an authoritative unnamed source validates pessimism about Chinas situation. The debt buildup is like growing a tree in the air, the source said, and is creating systemic financial risks that could be deadly. The implication: Time is running out to speed structural reforms, and someone high up in official circles is being granted unusual space in the media to ring the alarm.

To be sure, such intriguing utterances have appeared before, inspiring hopes of a true policy shift, that then failed to pan out. Beijing remains deeply wedded to its state industries and infrastructure projects, including $770 billion worth (over three years) announced this week. At a minimum, though, the Peoples Daily article hinted at some sort of internal discussion, which not only China but also the world desperately needs.

The United States can and should try to push China in the right direction, through both diplomacy and pressure, such as the use of legal powers it has within the World Trade Organization and under U.S. trade law. Example: China badly wants official designation as a market economy by the WTO, which, among other benefits for Beijing, would make it harder to pursue cases against China for steel dumping and other unfair practices. Washington and its European partners are slow-walking that decision now, and they should be.

The Clinton administration deepened economic engagement with China two decades ago on the premise that it would gradually mold China into a responsible participant in the rules-based global trading system. In hindsight, the United States underestimated Chinas rulers nationalism and their overriding concern for political power. The irony is that the Chinese people would benefit more than anyone else from an economic overhaul  one geared more toward their consumer needs, which U.S. and other producers would be freer to meet in efficiency-boosting competition with Chinese firms. Reform could help prevent a hard landing for China, thus sparing the global economy turmoil, as well.

Indeed, if China wants to stave off a protectionist turn in the United States and Europe, getting its own house in order would be a good way to do it. The Peoples Dailys authoritative source seems to realize that. Does President Xi Jinping?
Syrians gather at the scene where two explosions struck the village of Mukharam al-Fawkani, east of the central city of Homs. (Uncredited/AP)

The Obama administration has another chance to enforce its botched red line against the use of chemical weapons in Syria, given new reports that President Bashar al-Assads regime has used nerve gas against extremist fighters and may be planning more such attacks.

President Obamas decision not to retaliate against Assads use of chemical weapons in 2013 has become an emblem of his larger foreign policy, which critics say hasnt been forceful enough in Syria and other places. Obama justified his restraint by citing the diplomatic agreement that was brokered by the United States and Russia to destroy Syrias chemical arsenal. But new Israeli reports question whether Assad has complied.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, apparently relying on a government source, reported May 2 that Assads forces used sarin gas last month against Islamic State fighters after they attacked two Syrian air force bases east of Damascus. Stockpiles of this deadly gas were supposed to have been removed from Syria in 2014.

Given the international silence, Israeli officials are said to fear that Assad will keep striking with the banned weapons. With the continuation of fighting in Syria, it is reasonable to assume that the regime wont hesitate to use these weapons again, especially after already having done so . . . without any reaction, an Israeli source told me.

The alleged use of sarin is another sign that Assad appears ready to breach any diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the war. In recent weeks, his forces, backed by Russia, have struck a pediatric hospital in Aleppo run by Doctors Without Borders and a U.S.-backed humanitarian group in Idlib called Syria Civil Defense.

Chemical weapons have become part of the new normal in Syria, according to a report in February by the Syrian American Medical Society. The group said that in 2015, there were 69 chemical weapons attacks in Syria, mostly chlorine bombs dropped by Assads air force.

The Assad regime often justifies such attacks by saying that it is bombing the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. But these jihadists are intermingled with civilians and moderate opposition groups in ways that make the non-extremists targets, too. As Assad has pressed his campaign in Aleppo and elsewhere, the cessation of hostilities negotiated by the United States and Russia in February has frayed badly.

The possibility that Syria retains chemical weapons was noted recently by Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. There are still questions. I am not able to say whether Syria has declared everything or whether Syria continues to possess some chemical weapons or some munitions, he cautioned. Uzumcu also noted extremely worrying signs that the Islamic State has used mustard gas in Syria and Iraq.

Obama administration officials are concerned about Syrias continued use of chemical weapons, but they see significant differences between the recent reported incidents and the size and scope of the 2013 attacks using sarin and VX, which are believed to have killed more than 1,400 Syrian civilians.

Diplomacy remains the administrations focus in Syria  and the partnership with Russia seems to be expanding, rather than shrinking, despite its setbacks. To bolster the cease-fire, U.S. and Russian officials have been discussing the location of protected Syrian opposition groups. Officials from the two countries are said to talk daily in Geneva and by telephone to Syria, arguing over which areas are legitimate extremist targets and which should be avoided. This shared domain awareness, as one official describes it, illustrates the extent of quiet Russian-American cooperation.

But Syria shows the limits of this great-power diplomacy. Russia cant seem to control Assad, even when it attempts to do so. And the United States has been unable to force opposition fighters to disentangle themselves from Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State. Assad, once seen as a mild-mannered ophthalmologist, has proved a headstrong, brutal leader who has spawned the equivalently vicious Islamic State.

Finally, there remains a gaping hole in the U.S. strategy for capturing the Islamic States strongholds in Raqqa and Manbij in eastern Syria. Washington wants this fight to be led by Sunni Arabs, but the only reliable fighters that the United States has found are Syrian Kurds from the YPG militia  which, to complicate matters further, is viewed by Turkey (a NATO ally) as a terrorist group.

Who will bell this cat? Are Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin really ready to tolerate a situation in which the use of chemical weapons is seen as normal, despite a Russian-American agreement that they should be banned?

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David Petraeus is a retired U.S. Army general who commanded coalition forces in Iraq from 2007 to 2008 and Afghanistan from 2010 to 2011 and served as CIA director from 2011 to 2012.

Almost 15 years after the 9/11 attacks, and five years since the killing of the chief architect of those attacks, the United States and the world face a resurgent threat from terrorism. This stark reality should inform the national debate as we prepare to elect our next commander in chief.

As states across the Middle East have collapsed into civil war, Islamist extremist groups such as the Islamic State have exploited the upheaval to seize vast swaths of territory, which they have used to rally recruits, impose totalitarian rule over the people trapped in these areas and plot attacks against the rest of the world.

Few responsibilities that our next president inherits will be more urgent, important or complex than thwarting these terrorist plans, reversing the conditions that have enabled their rise and combating the broader Islamist extremist ideology that animates them.

It would be a mistake to minimize the continuing risk posed by these groups. Although al-Qaedas senior leadership ranks have been dramatically reduced, and while encouraging progress is being made against the Islamic State in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, Syria, these remain resilient and adaptive organizations. While Islamist extremist networks do not pose an existential threat to the United States in the way that Soviet nuclear weapons once did, their bloodlust and their ambition to inflict genocidal violence make them uniquely malevolent actors on the world stage.

Nor can they be contained. On the contrary, from Afghanistan before 9/11 to Syria and Libya today, history shows that, once these groups are allowed to establish a haven, they will inevitably use it to project instability and violence.

Moreover, the fact is that free and open societies such as ours depend on a sense of basic security to function. If terrorism succeeds in puncturing that, it can threaten the very fabric of our democracy  which is, indeed, a central element of the terrorist strategy.

For that reason, I have grown increasingly concerned about inflammatory political discourse that has become far too common both at home and abroad against Muslims and Islam, including proposals from various quarters for blanket discrimination against people on the basis of their religion.

Some justify these measures as necessary to keep us safe  dismissing any criticism as political correctness. Others play down such divisive rhetoric as the excesses of political campaigns here and in Europe, which will fade away after the elections are over.

I fear that neither is true; in fact, the ramifications of such rhetoric could be very harmful  and lasting.

As policy, these concepts are totally counterproductive: Rather than making our country safer, they will compound the already grave terrorist danger to our citizens. As ideas, they are toxic and, indeed, non-biodegradable  a kind of poison that, once released into our body politic, is not easily expunged.

Setting aside moral considerations, those who flirt with hate speech against Muslims should realize they are playing directly into the hands of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The terrorists explicit hope has been to try to provoke a clash of civilizations  telling Muslims that the United States is at war with them and their religion. When Western politicians propose blanket discrimination against Islam, they bolster the terrorists propaganda.

At the same time, such statements directly undermine our ability to defeat Islamist extremists by alienating and undermining the allies whose help we most need to win this fight: namely, Muslims.

During the surge in Iraq, we were able to roll back the tide of al-Qaeda and associated insurgents because we succeeded in mobilizing Iraqis  especially Sunni Arabs  to join us in fighting against the largely Sunni extremist networks in their midst. Later, we took on the Iranian-backed Shiite militia, with the important support of the Shiite-majority Iraqi security forces.

Likewise, the rapid ouster of the Taliban regime after 9/11 was made possible by our partnership with Muslim fighters of the Afghan Northern Alliance. And in Southeast Asia, it was by working with the government of Indonesia  the most populous Muslim-majority country in the world  that Jemaah Islamiah, once one of al-Qaedas most capable affiliates, was routed.

The good news is that today, hundreds of thousands of Muslims are fighting to defeat the terrorists who wish to kill us all. This includes brave Afghan soldiers fighting the Islamic State and the Taliban, as well as Persian Gulf forces in Yemen battling both Iranian-backed Houthis and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. And it includes Arab and Kurdish forces who are battling the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In fact, we should do more to support these partners of ours.

Inescapably, clearing territory of entrenched terrorist networks and then holding it takes boots on the ground. The question is  whether in Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria or Mali  do the bulk of those boots need to be our own or those of local Muslim partners?

I fear that those who demonize and denigrate Islam make it more likely that it will be our own men and women who ultimately have to shoulder more of this fight  at greater cost in dollars and lives.

We should also acknowledge that patriotic Muslim Americans in our intelligence agencies and armed forces  many of them immigrants or children of immigrants  have been vital assets in this fight with radical Islam.

It has also been through building ties of trust and cooperation between law enforcement and Muslim communities in the United States that we form our most effective defense against homegrown radicalization and lone-wolf attacks.

Again, none of this is to deny or diminish the reality that we are at war with Islamist extremism  a fanatical ideology based on a twisted interpretation of Islam. Nor is it to minimize the need for smart, intelligence-driven measures to prevent terrorists from infiltrating our borders and exploiting our immigration policies.

But it is precisely because the danger of Islamist extremism is so great that politicians here and abroad who toy with anti-Muslim bigotry must consider the effects of their rhetoric. Demonizing a religious faith and its adherents not only runs contrary to our most cherished and fundamental values as a country; it is also corrosive to our vital national security interests and, ultimately, to the United States success in this war.
This image released by The Public Theater shows Lin-Manuel Miranda, foreground, with the cast during a performance of "Hamilton," in New York. (Joan Marcus/The Public Theater via Associated Press)

Regarding the May 11 Style article  Hamilton is coming, but settle in for a wait:

What a missed opportunity for Washington theatergoers that Hamilton is coming to the Kennedy Center Opera House rather than to the National Theatre.

An open-ended run at the National would give many more people the chance to see this phenomenal musical without having to purchase a season subscription  two years worth of subscriptions as a matter of fact  and without the distraction of the Opera House sound system [Muddled Matilda, Arts & Style, Jan. 10].

Chicagos open-ended run of the show beginning this fall should have been the model for the Washington production. Washington audiences would be willing to give up a two-week run of Jersey Boys at the National for the opportunity to see Hamilton. Who knows  if Hamilton came to the National, perhaps a future Lin-Manuel Miranda might have found a seat in the second balcony and gone on to produce a new theatrical masterpiece.

Thomas R. Corbin, Arlington
Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, was U.S. deputy national security adviser for global democracy strategy from 2005 to 2009.

Hope springs eternal when it comes to human rights in Iran. The election in 2013 of President Hassan Rouhani, who replaced Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was supposed to bring improvement. The purported victory of moderates in the recent legislative and Islamic clerics Assembly of Experts elections was believed to be a positive development. The Iran nuclear deal was described as a setback for hard-liners that might lead to an opening to the world and some relaxation of conditions in Iran.

But there has been no improvement in human rights, especially for the Bahais  whom the U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, called the most persecuted group in Iran. Speaking in Geneva in March, Bielefeldt said, You will find in all areas of life, there is a systematic discrimination against the Bahais. It starts with kindergarten. Kindergarten staff are supposed to spot Bahais so they can be under special surveillance. Persecution continues in elementary and secondary education, he added, and it would continue in higher education but Bahais are banned from university, and those Bahais who are discovered are removed.

This Saturday marks the eighth anniversary of the arrests of the Iranian Bahai leadership, called the Yaran. These were seven men and women who tended to spiritual and practical community needs (plus the groups secretary, who was arrested March 5, 2008)  and for that crime received 20-year prison sentences. The actual charges against them included espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities, propaganda against the system and corruption on earth.

Sadly, the situation of Irans roughly 300,000 Bahais is no better today. In March, a report of the U.N.s special rapporteur for human rights in Iran noted not only the general decline in respect for human rights but also the continued targeting of Bahais. The report is worth quoting at length:

The Special Rapporteur expresses serious concern at the continuing systematic discrimination, harassment, and targeting that adherents of the Bahai faith continue to face in the country.

In January 2016, a revolutionary court in Golestan province reportedly sentenced 24 Bahais to a total of 193 years in prison in connection with the peaceful exercise of their faith. . . . At least 80 Bahais were reportedly detained as of 31 December 2015 in connection with the peaceful exercise of their faith. . . .

In addition to arbitrary arrests, detentions and prosecutions of Bahais, the Special Rapporteur continues to receive troubling reports that Iranian authorities continue to pursue activities that economically deprive Bahais of their right to work. . . . These policies include restrictions on types of businesses and jobs Bahai citizens can have, closing down Bahai-owned businesses, pressure on business owners to dismiss Bahai employees, and seizures of businesses and property. . . . Actions to close Bahai-owned businesses appeared to follow their voluntary closure by owners in observance of their religious holiday the day before. . . .

Discrimination against the Bahai community in Iran is legally sanctioned by a lack of constitutional recognition of the faith and the absence of legal protections for its adherents. This situation is further perpetuated by open attacks on the community by state officials or individuals close to the state.

The continuing and, in many ways, worsening persecution of this small and powerless group  less than one-half of 1 percent of Irans population  is significant not only as a human rights matter. It is also a sharp reminder of the nature of the Iranian regime. There are of course many other reminders: for example, the two men who ran as reformers in 2009, Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Mousavi, marked their fifth year under house arrest in February. In 2016, Iran remains a repressive theocracy, quick to jail both political opponents and citizens whose religious beliefs the clerics find objectionable.

Last fall the Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahanbegloo  himself a former political prisoner who now lives in Canada  spoke for many optimists in Iran when he wrote that the nuclear deal will help the country to become more open, transparent and susceptible to international pressure on issues like the death penalty and the imprisonment of civic actors in Iran. Perhaps Irans Bahais shared his hope, but if so, it has been dashed. For the Yaran, now behind bars for eight years for the crime of being Bahai, this is another sad anniversary.
The May 5 Metro article Raskin an atheist? He begs to disagree reported that the American Humanist Association touted Maryland state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), who just won his primary as a candidate for Congress, as a humanist, while Raskin said he considers himself Jewish. He said that there is no conflict between the two identifications, since humanism is his philosophy and Judaism is his religion.

I fully agree, as I am a member of the AHA and consider myself Jewish. Readers who are puzzled by this seeming contradiction need to peruse The Interpretation of Cultures by anthropologist Clifford Geertz. A chapter in this book is titled Religion As a Cultural System. The word culture is widely used in anthropological literature, and there are many definitions of it. One common definition is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior.

Note that the definition includes belief.

Roy G. Saltman, Columbia

Maryland state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin said he is of Jewish heritage  an immutable fact of his birth  but declined to comment either way on his privately held faith (or lack thereof) in God. He never said he was an atheist; he never said he was not. He said his fealty to the concept of separation between church and state matters only if politicians are free to hold public office irrespective of their religious or other faith-based beliefs. So we do not know, nor do his constituents have any right to know, whether he believes in God. But the title of the article implied that he isnt an atheist  hes Jewish. As though being of Jewish descent is synonymous with believing in God.

The article concluded by saying that it seems humanists will have to wait for that role model. . . . Hes not a fellow traveler. Thats assuming facts that are not in evidence. Raskin declined to say whether he adheres to an atheist philosophy, meaning he wisely chose not to expose privately held beliefs in a charged political arena where they do not belong.

Raskin made clear that if his constituents and opponents wanted to know what he stood for, they could refer to his public record. We are governed by a Constitution that requires separation of religion (and, by extension, religiously held beliefs) from public service, and demanding that a politician reveal his faith runs contrary to accepted doctrine and is itself discriminatory. Voters do not have the right to get into someones head and heart on matters of faith; to the contrary, matters of faith and religion have no place in political discourse.

Raskin said, Ive never pronounced upon the existence of a divinity before, and nobody has ever asked me. The article stated, If asked in the political sphere, he says he wouldnt answer. In a system that does not have a religious test for office, Raskins answer is sufficient. Thats all you get, folks.

Whitney Ellenby, Bethesda
Michael Saltsman is research director at the Employment Policies Institute, which receives support from restaurants, foundations and individuals.

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) proposed raising the minimum wage for tipped employees by 171 percent. That sounds extreme  because it is.

Bowsers announcement came less than a month after her State of the District speech calling for a 30 percent increase in the regular minimum wage, to $15 from $11.50. Servers in the District also would be subject to a new wage requirement, but the minimum wage for tipped employees would increase to $7.50 from $2.77. D.C. law permits employers to pay a lower base wage and count tip income toward the minimum-wage requirement.

In reality, those take-home wages for tipped employees are many times larger than the required hourly minimum. In testimony before the D.C. Council, restaurateurs in the District reported that their employees earned anywhere from $20 to $35 an hour when tips were included. (If a server sells $100 in food, he typically gets an 18 percent to 20 percent tip; the restaurant may make 5 percent profit on a $100 meal.)

Nearly 28,000 people are employed at full-service restaurants in the District  more than 5 percent of the D.C. private-sector workforce. A walk along 14th Street NW any night of the week will tell you that the District is undergoing a restaurant boom.

Bowsers proposal to dramatically increase the tipped minimum wage isnt just unnecessary; it also threatens this vibrant foodie culture. Its easy to forget during a bustling Friday night, but the average profit margin at a full-service restaurant is in the low single digits. Labor costs make up about one-third of restaurant expenses. Nearly tripling the hourly wage for tipped employees would force dramatic changes in service, food prices and employment levels.

Need proof? Look no further than New York, which Bowsers spokesman cited as the model for her proposal. The mayor may want to look a little closer at how that model is working out for Empire State restaurants. Restaurants have cut shifts, laid off employees or closed altogether because of a tipped wage set at the same level proposed for the District.

Bettys Diner in Buffalo, Longways Diner in Watertown and Peppermill Restaurant in Rochester all reduced their hours to cut down on unsustainable labor costs associated with the new tipped wage. McGirks Irish Pub in Binghamton and P.J. Clarkes in New York City eliminated some positions to try to compensate for these costs. Piggy Pats BBQ in New Hartford laid off six employees, eliminated employee health-care insurance, cut hours of operation, reduced menu options, doubled up duties and sent people home early because of the new tipped wage.

These anecdotes are backed up by hard evidence. A study published in 2014 in the Southern Economic Journal analyzing two decades of government data found that a higher tipped minimum wage reduced employment in full-service restaurants  for tipped employees in particular. That doesnt necessarily mean that restaurants closed; instead, they may have scheduled fewer employees per shift or opted for table-side ordering systems that reduce the need for servers.

In a new twist, some restaurants in high-cost markets have experimented with a no-tipping approach as a means to fund higher pay requirements for their staff. Predictably, waiters who find themselves earning far less per hour when tips are eliminated arent happy: Some San Francisco-area restaurants have seen 60 to 70 percent of their staff leave after implementing a tip-free approach. In a recent Washington City Paper article, a server predicted a mass exodus of skilled waitstaff if D.C. restaurants did the same.

Rather than listening to activist groups, Bowser should take a tip from employees, employers and, as the D.C. restaurant boom shows, customers themselves: Leave the tipped wage alone.
Sixteen black, female cadets pose for a photograph at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in May. (Twitter via Associated Press)

Regarding the May 10 editorial A picture of pride, not politics:

In 1944, when my godfather, Bashon Crawford, was an Army private, the law forbade him from fighting for his country in a unified Army. He was subject to segregation, discrimination and Jim Crow laws that said he could wear the uniform of a nation but hed have to use a separate water fountain and separate bathroom and sit in a different section of a movie theater, lunch counter and bus.

In 2016, the Justice Department debates whether it is an act of terrorism to kill, simply because of the color of their skin, black people praying in a South Carolina church. In 2016, the mere mention of Black Lives Matter draws the ire of irrational individuals who exclaim that all lives matter without considering the facts that make the latter contradictory when juxtaposed with the former.

If, in 2016, a black woman undertakes the rigors of our nations military academy and adheres to its educational demands and physical and mental stress while facing the fatigue of a nation at war and keeping in mind the sexual assault present across our military, then the biggest political statement she can make is wearing the uniform itself.

A fist in the air is a triumph over adversity, not a wrongdoing.

Bashon Mann, Washington

The writer is a lieutenant commander

in the Navy.

I am a 1943 West Point graduate. I was a cadet when black people were not tolerated as members of the student body there and every effort was made to get them to resign. I am very proud of our nation and the U.S. Military Academy for eliminating this terrible blight on the history of this venerable institution.

West Point, though, is a military institution, not a liberal arts college. Its purpose is to graduate officers trained to lead soldiers in combat and dedicated to duty, honor and country. As part of our oath, direct or implied, we give up our right to demonstrate against our civilian authority.

The young women photographed standing on the stoop of a barracks are about to be commissioned officers in the Army. They are well-educated young people. By standing together and using a clenched fist, they used a well-defined symbol of defiance that is used by the Black Lives Matter movement.

The excuse that they are celebrating their great accomplishment is inadequate. I see their actions as disgracing themselves and the U.S. Military Academy.

Edward Burr II, Fort Belvoir

The writer, a colonel, is retired from the Army.
Stanley B. Greenberg, a Democratic pollster and chief executive of the firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner , is the author of America Ascendant.

Moderate Republicans will have the last word in this dramatic presidential election year. The GOP establishment and its favored candidates view these voters as illegitimate, which is why they lost the primaries to Donald Trump. Now moderates are poised to play similarly decisive roles in the general election  by helping to elect Democrat Hillary Clinton  and in the battle for the partys future that will follow it.

Moderates stand out starkly among the groups that make up the Republican base, for two reasons: They are disproportionately college graduates in a white, working-class party, and they are socially liberal. They have been alienated from a party that wont accept the revolution that has occurred in American social and sexual mores and move on.

Because no candidate this cycle spoke to their issues and grievances, these voters can seem invisible. But according to polling we conducted at Democracy Corps in February, moderates make up a stunning 31 percent of the GOP base. Commentators on the ongoing GOP train wreck pay a lot of attention to the tea party, white working-class voters and rural evangelical Christians, but how much have you heard about the alienation of the moderate third of the party?

Everyone should be much more curious about why these voters did not rally to former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) or Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Well, two-thirds of GOP moderates believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, whereas Bush, Rubio and Kasich  labeled moderate in the media  are firmly pro-life, differing only on the kinds of exceptions they would allow. Thats a defining issue for many moderate Republicans and helps to explain why many voted for Trump, who stood out from the pack when he allowed that Planned Parenthood does a lot of good.

This is not to say that moderates have nothing in common with the rest of the Republican base. They are fiscally conservative, distrust regulation, and want lower taxes and a strong military. They would repeal Obamacare, and they want the government to get control of immigration.

But unlike much of their GOP peers, they have accepted the sexual revolution. According to our poll, nearly 90 percent say that their party should stop fighting the fact that women and men feel free to have sex without any interest in getting married, and half believe this strongly. Three-quarters say the party should accept legal same-sex marriage, even as an identical bloc of evangelicals and observant Catholics wants the party to fight it. And in another key area of separation, almost two-thirds accept that scientists say 2015 was the hottest year in historical record and that human activity is a significant factor in climate change. Moderates want to see the country, and their own party, make progress on equal pay for women, climate change, financial reform and long-term investment in infrastructure.

That is why GOP moderates are about to abandon their partys nominee in large numbers, helping to elect Clinton. Our polling found that just 60 percent of GOP moderates said they would vote for Trump in a matchup with Clinton. Only 10 percent were ready to vote for Clinton, but fully 30 percent said they would vote for some other person, wouldnt vote or werent sure what to do. Only 6 percent of Republicans voted for Barack Obama in 2012.

Ultimately, Clintons muscular views on national security, which position her to the right of Trump, may persuade some of these voters to listen to her on other issues. According to my survey, GOP moderates are moved by Clintons message that social changes accepted in much of the country should be set aside so we can begin addressing our countrys problems. Although Trump sent mixed signals about Planned Parenthood, he insists that he is pro-life and that those performing abortions should face consequences; he is frequently forced to defend comments that seem disrespectful to women who are key players and interpreters of our liberalizing United States. That allows nearly half of GOP moderates to respond positively to Clintons plans to invest in infrastructure to strengthen the country, to reform corporations so they no longer chase short-term profits and to help the modern working family with issues such as equal pay for women.

The Republican Party is approaching a crossroads. After the Democratic Party lost a shattering election in 1984, the civil war it went through raised new issues, brought in new voters and elected the New Democrat Bill Clinton two presidential elections later. Will the Republican Party likewise come to terms with the sexual revolution, marriage equality and climate change in the aftermath of the 2016 election? Republican leaders will be making a mistake  again  if they fail to ask: Why did so many of our voters help elect Hillary Clinton?
Save us all the faux drama. We already know how this star-crossed courtship is going to end: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) will decide that Donald Trump isnt such an ogre after all, and theyll live unhappily ever after.

Ryan will be unhappy, at least. Trump has stolen his party, and theres nothing Ryan can do in the short term to get it back.

I heard a lot of good things from our presumptive nominee, Ryan told reporters after his much-ballyhooed Thursday meeting with Trump. I do believe we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified to bridge the gaps and differences.

Translation: Ryan may still not be there yet, in terms of a formal endorsement, but we should have no doubt about where hes headed.

Trump came to Washington for meetings with Ryan and other GOP establishment figures as a conqueror, not a supplicant. His populism, xenophobia, isolationism, bigotry and evident love of big government may be anathema to the Republican elite, but the partys base clearly feels otherwise. Anyone choosing self-interest over principle  a habit I have observed among politicians  would think twice about opposing a man who has received more primary votes than any previous GOP nominee.

Donald Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan met on May 12. The result? A lot of cameras, and not much else. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Thus we witness a shameful parade of quislings. The most galling surrender may have been that of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who says he will support the nominee even though Trump cruelly ridiculed him for being shot down and captured during the Vietnam War.

McCains military service was a profile in courage; what hes doing now is not. Leaving aside the personal insult, McCain has spent his career advocating a muscular foreign policy. His has been one of the loudest and most persistent voices arguing that more U.S. troops should be sent to Syria and Iraq. Trump, by contrast, has proclaimed an America first doctrine that focuses resources on solving problems at home. Trump has even expressed deep skepticism about NATO, which has been the cornerstone of the Wests security architecture for more than half a century.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), McCains closest soul mate on national security issues, is one of the few leading Republicans who remain in the never Trump camp. He vowed this week that no re-education camp would change his mind.

Whats the difference between the two amigos? Graham doesnt have to face South Carolina voters again until 2020. McCain is running for reelection this year  and watched as Trump scored a blowout victory in Arizonas presidential primary in March.

Ryan is, or perhaps was, the last great hope of those Republicans who oppose Trump on ideological and historical grounds. The party of Lincoln has a storied past  the landmark civil rights laws of the 1960s, for example, never could have made it through Congress without GOP support. This heritage has been dishonored in recent years; among other transgressions, Republican governors and state legislatures across the country are trying to discourage minority voters with restrictive voter-identification laws. But there are those, such as Ryan, who profess to believe that the party can still be compassionate and inclusive.

Not with Trump in charge, however. Trumps appeal has been built on anger, grievance and nostalgia for a golden age that never was (at least for women and people of color). To the extent he has any coherent political philosophy, it is one of exclusion. His one unwavering promise involves the building of a wall.

Everything else, it seems, is negotiable. Having sewn up the nomination, Trump has entered the three-card monte phase of his campaign, in which he shuffles his positions so quickly that the gullible patsy loses track. His proposed ban on Muslim immigration? That was a mere suggestion, he said the other day. His view that wages are too high? He now wants to see the minimum wage raised, but by the states, not the federal government. His view on whether the rich should pay more in taxes? Yes, no and maybe.

1 of 19 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What the scene looked like as Trump met with Republican leaders View Photos As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held closed-door meetings with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and other Republicans, the scene outside captured an election season in which Americans have become divided. Caption As Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump held closed-door meetings with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and other Republicans, the scene outside captured an election season in which Americans have become divided. Protesters and the media gather at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, where Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) met. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Ryan acknowledged after his meeting with Trump that differences remain. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has endorsed Trump, as has most of Ryans leadership team in the House. If Ryan were to announce at this point that he deemed Trump unfit for the presidency and therefore could not support him, he would become the leader of a movement with few followers.

The Republican Party will not be united this fall. In what promises to be a display of cravenness on an epic scale, it will pretend to be.

Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.
Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami.

Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland.

Sheldon G. Adelson is chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas Sands Corp.

At the outset of the 2016 election, the GOP primary field was nearly as large as that of last weekends Kentucky Derby. In total, 17 Republican hopefuls campaigned to win the partys nomination for president.

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.

Like the Derby, the race for the Republican nomination started from a wide gate  some entries with better post positions, others with more backing. We had candidates with such perceived advantages as wide name identification, large campaign war chests, supposed geographic benefits and other assets they hoped would tip the race in their direction.

Ultimately, each candidate had to convince the partys primary voters across the country that he or she deserved to be the nominee.

One candidate has won that race, and now Republicans must join together to make sure he wins the next one.

While the primary cycle still has some important elections ahead, it is clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.

I am endorsing Trumps bid for president and strongly encourage my fellow Republicans  especially our Republican elected officials, party loyalists and operatives, and those who provide important financial backing  to do the same.

The alternative to Trump being sworn in as the nations 45th president is frightening.

For nearly eight years, Republicans have fought tooth and nail against President Obama and his policies. We waged battles over debt, government spending, Obamacare and the Iran nuclear deal  an issue of paramount importance to me personally and to many others around the world.

We gained some victories, but on too many issues Obama achieved his goals, if not necessarily Americas goals. As Republicans, we know that getting a person in the White House with an R behind his name is the only way things will get better.

That opportunity still exists. We must not cut off our noses to spite our faces.

If Republicans do not come together in support of Trump, Obama will essentially be granted something the Constitution does not allow  a third term in the name of Hillary Clinton.

Ive spent time talking to Donald Trump. Do I agree with him on every issue? No. But its unlikely that any American agrees with his or her preferred candidate on every issue.

After the 2012 election cycle, I was asked frequently what I would look for in a future presidential contender. While I had some personal preferences because of friendships with some of the 2016 candidates, I kept coming back to the issue of executive experience.

In my view, a governor of a state is ideally qualified to be president. A governor is a states final decision maker  its chief executive and steward of the publics money. I felt strongly that someone with that level of CEO experience would be well-trained for the job of president.

It turns out that is exactly what we are getting in Trump. He is a candidate with actual CEO experience, shaped and molded by the commitment and risk of his own money rather than the publics. He is a CEO success story that exemplifies the American spirit of determination, commitment to cause and business stewardship.

Despite being the grandson of a Welsh coal miner and the son of a Boston cab driver, Ive had the remarkable experience of being part of almost 50 different businesses in my more than 70-year business career. So, tell me Im not a conservative enough Republican or Im too hawkish on Israel or whatever else you may think, but I think Ive earned the right to talk about success and leadership.

You may not like Trumps style or what he says on Twitter, but this country needs strong executive leadership more today than at almost any point in its history. The world is less secure than ever, and our allies have lost confidence in our ability to lead. The economy is not growing the way it should. The middle class is finding it harder and harder to get by.

Trump has created a movement in this country that cannot be denied. He will end this primary election cycle having garnered more Republican primary votes for president than anyone before.

But some Republicans are sitting on the sidelines, threatening to stay home on Election Day or, worse, suggesting they will vote for Clinton. They must realize the stakes are too high for an outcome that will have a damaging impact on our country.

Republicans have the candidate who the people decided is our winner from a field of 17 viable contenders. Its time for all Republicans to mount up and back our nominee.
Members of Jamycheal Mitchell's family wear shirts with his photograph at the home of his aunt in Chesapeake, Va. (Timothy C. Wright/For the Washington Post)

The body of Jamycheal Mitchell, a 24-year-old African American with schizophrenia, was found in a jail cell smeared with feces at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail last August. What has happened since?

Eight days later, jail officials said an internal investigation found that Mitchell had died of natural causes and there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by jail employees. Jail officials refused to make that probe public.

Four months later, officials released an autopsy that concluded Mitchell had died from a heart attack caused by wasting syndrome, which meant he starved himself to the point that his heart failed. Mitchell weighed 190 pounds when arrested for allegedly stealing $5 worth of snacks from a convenience store. The autopsy listed his weight at 144 pounds. Guards were supposed to eyeball Mitchell each half-hour, and once a day he was supposed to be checked by a nurse employed by a for-profit company called Naph Care. There were no notations in his medical records that showed anyone had noticed his 46-pound weight loss.

Mitchell was in jail waiting to be transferred to a state mental hospital for evaluation. The court order requesting that transfer wasnt immediately forwarded by the court to the hospital. When it was finally delivered, it was tossed into a desk drawer and wasnt found until five days after his death. Mitchell had been in jail 101 days.

The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services sat on its internal investigation into Mitchells death for four months, until after Virginias General Assembly adjourned and released it after complaints by advocates. Its investigators did not question jail employees about what happened inside the jail leading up to Mitchells death, saying DBHDS had no jurisdiction over them.

The Virginia Office of the State Inspector General also demurred from investigating what took place in the jail, claiming it didnt have authority to question the actions of jail officials. Instead, it quoted a government study that concluded tragedies such as Mitchells are not the fault of bad employees but of systemic failures.

An investigation by the Richmond Times-Dispatch revealed the Virginia Attorney Generals Office told court officials responsible for transferring Mitchell to a state hospital to not participate in an investigation by the state inspector general or DBHDS officials without consultation. DBHDS officials said they got all the information they requested from the attorney generals office.

Two weeks ago, jail officials acknowledged that they had taped over videos taken by a camera positioned outside Mitchells cell. Earlier, a jail spokesman said those tapes showed Mitchell was being fed each day. But after an attorney representing the Mitchell family asked for copies of the tapes, the jail declared that they didnt contain any pertinent information and taped over them. The family attorney said the videos would have shown how often Mitchell was fed, if his food trays were returned unopened and if deputies and nurses entered his cell to check on him.

To date, no one has explained why Mitchell was allowed to starve to death while in custody. No jail or state employees have been publicly reprimanded.

The Justice Department should immediately investigate Mitchells death to determine whether criminal charges should be filed against jail or NaphCare employees who were responsible for safeguarding Mitchells health.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) should publicly censure DBHDS officials who delayed the release of their investigative report and the attorney generals staff if they did tell court officials not to cooperate with investigators.

Virginia legislators should strip the inspector generals office of its responsibility for investigating mental-health care based on its pusillanimous reporting and prior incidents of alleged kowtowing to appease state officials. Investigator G. Douglas Bevelacqua resigned two years ago after being told to modify an investigative report at the request of the DBHDS. Bevelacqua should be brought back as an independent inspector general.

Until those steps are taken, Virginians will never know why a mentally ill man was allowed to starve himself to death in jail and will have no confidence in public officials who clearly care more about protecting themselves than being transparent.

The writer is a former Washington Post reporter and a mental-health advocate.
Having raised two service dog puppies and having had two therapy dogs, I was dismayed when The Post confused the two.

On the front page of the May 3 Style section, Carrie Fisher was described as having a service dog. But in the Reliable Source item Carrie Fishers dog laps up attention at D.C. gala, we were advised that she has a therapy dog.

Service dogs are highly trained dogs that perform tasks for people with disabilities. They are working dogs, not pets. The Americans With Disabilities Act defines and protects the rights of people with disabilities to access public places, including stores, restaurants, hotels and hospitals, with their service dogs.

Therapy dogs, on the other hand, are pets, albeit they may be trained and may have passed tests and been certified by reputable organizations. They and their owners have no legal rights under the ADA to access public places. Access is granted by invitation only.

While The Post noted that Fishers dog had been vetted and approved for access to a D.C. function, other owners of pets pose their dogs as service animals in order to gain access to public places with them. It is against federal law to pose as a person with a disability and present a pet as a service dog to gain access to public places.

Further, such actions do a disservice to those people with a legitimate need for a service dog. Pet dogs rarely have the disciplined demeanor of service dogs and may create false perceptions of legitimate service dogs because they act in public like what they are in our private lives  pets.

Beverly Christiana, Catlett, Va.
Regarding the May 5 news article Life of SEAL, a college runner, transcended familys past:

I lost a husband in Vietnam. He is missing in action, presumed killed in action. (His body has never been repatriated, and the Navy tells us it still searches for his remains in Laos.) That was tough enough for me, his parents, our children and his friends. Im sure there were some scandals in his familys background. What family doesnt have them? But they werent caused by him; they had nothing to do with his character, his service and his death, nor did they have to do with the sacrifice he made in the name of doing what he believed was his duty.

It might have been newsworthy to mention in the body of the article that Charles H. Keating IV was the grandson of Charles H. Keating Jr., who was part of the savings and loan scandal in the 1980s, but it was not appropriate to reference the travails of his grandfather in the headline describing the young Navy SEALs death.

Did his family tie have anything to do with his death, his heroism in facing grave danger, the horror of the last moments of his life or anything remotely connected to the choice he made to serve in the military? Or what kind of young man he was? If not, that detail should have been saved for the article. Most people who are imbued with the military ethic cringe every time those in the media (or who are simply among the clueless) fail to understand that the life lost in service is honored first. Footnotes and familial ties that might put that person in the context of old headlines about his relatives do not belong in the headline about the person who died.

Susan Creed Percy, Clifton
Greg Kings books include The Fate of the Romanovs, The Court of the Last Tsar, and the forthcoming Mayerling.

In the months before the Russian revolution, the notorious Grigori Rasputin haunted Petrograds exclusive Hotel Astoria, clapping along with gypsy bands and dancing wildly. Like a beast, he demolished the cook Spiridons carefully prepared dishes, grabbing food with talon-like fingers as all watched in horror. Rasputin exemplified the imperial regime at its worst: the mad monk, a favorite of Czar Nicholas II and his unbalanced wife, Alexandra, corrupted by power and acting his malevolent role in a fatal menage a trois.

"The Romanovs: 1613-1918" by Simon Sebag Montefiore. (Knopf )

It was hard to be a tsar, writes British historian Simon Sebag Montefiore in his erudite and entertaining The Romanovs: 1613-1918. Drawing on a wide array of Russian sources, Sebag Montefiore paints an unforgettable portrait of characters fascinating and charismatic, odd and odious. Magnificent palaces, elaborate balls, and a culture that produced Pushkin, Tchaikovsky and Tolstoy existed alongside pogroms, torture and murder (of the last dozen Romanov sovereigns, half were assassinated). Romanovs both capable and insane struggled with what the author calls the distorting effect of absolute power. Monarchs over one-sixth of the globe, they played at Western niceties while clinging to Byzantine notions of absolute rule.

An undercurrent of violence and sexual depravity runs through the vibrant narrative, but the poignant stories of two teenage boys open this chronicle. One, Michael, reluctantly takes the chaotic Russian throne in 1613 and founds the dynasty amid dangerous power struggles; the other, Alexei, frail with hemophilia, enters a Siberian cellar in 1918, where Bolshevik bullets will bring the dynasty to its bloody end. Tackling the 20 reigns between these bookends, Sebag Montefiore arranges chapters as connected scenes in a larger drama. Beyond the three sovereigns who have become household names  Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Nicholas II  are vivid portraits of other Romanovs. The cruel Empress Anna, who dressed courtiers as chickens, clapped as dwarves fought the maimed and presided over hair-pulling contests between her ladies-in-waiting, stands in contrast to Abraham Lincolns contemporary Alexander II, who not only ended serfdom and instituted judicial reforms but also carried on a blush-worthy correspondence with mistress Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. He wanted her four times a day, on every piece of furniture and in every room. He married her a month after his wifes death, only to perish himself nine months later, victim of a nihilists bomb.

The dynasty, Sebag Montefiore concedes, produced only two political geniuses, Peter the Great and the famous Catherine. Rebelling against the intrigues and backward ideas characterizing Muscovite rule, Peter turned Russia to the West, visiting Europe and building his new capital, St. Petersburg. Western clothing and manners were forced on a reluctant court as Peter dragged Russia into the 18th century. Modernization marked his tumultuous reign, yet Peter couldnt escape the grotesque: Dwarves and giants paraded through his court; he drunkenly  and lewdly  mocked the Orthodox Church; and he had his own son tortured to death for opposing his reforms. Anatomy fascinated him: He once had a former mistress decapitated, then held up her severed head, kissing the lips before lecturing stunned onlookers about the function of her windpipe.

Catherine the Great had little taste for violence. The former German princess came to Russia and wed Empress Elizabeths demented nephew Peter. Her husband played with tin soldiers; Catherine cultivated the real thing, taking lovers from elite regiments. Peter despised Russia; Catherine became conspicuously Russian in all things. Ascending the throne as Peter III, he had so alienated the court and military that most readily supported the coup detat that left him strangled and crowned his wife. My glory is spoilt! Catherine lamented. Posterity will never forgive me. But it did, and she went on to enlarge her empire while wrapping it in a veneer of enlightened autocracy. Catherine read Diderot, corresponded with Voltaire and engaged in myriad romances, including a long, volatile relationship with Prince Grigori Potemkin. Through it all, she understood the essential dichotomy of her rule: One must do things, Catherine explained, in such a way that people think they themselves want it to be done.

Russia's Czar Nicholas II, seated second from left, Czarina Alexandra, center rear, and their family are shown in this undated file photo. (AP)

The Romanovs who followed successfully repelled Napoleon and exulted in the splendor of their court  until 1894, when Nicholas II came to the throne with his wife, Alexandra. Its hard to imagine two people more unsuited to their roles. Sentimental nostalgia surrounds them with an uncritical legend focused entirely on their love affair and domestic lives. Yet Sebag Montefiore treats them as both intimate and political figures . . . without the burden of pungent romance, Soviet disgust or liberal contempt.

Nicholas II emerges as the least capable and most narrow-minded of Romanov sovereigns. Having inherited his fathers virulent anti-Semitism, he witnessed horrific pogroms during his reign, and violence was common: With careless arrogance, the czar foolishly propelled Russia into wars and revolutions. Not that Alexandra escapes unscathed. Obsessive piety [and] sanctimonious prudery, combined with a belief in her own superiority, drove her to isolate her husband and tie him to a world of petty domestic concerns. Her only sons hemophilia, inherited through her grandmother Queen Victoria, left the empress ripe for the ministrations of a stunning succession of holy fools, ending with Rasputin.

It is unlikely, Sebag Montefiore concludes, that even Peter or Catherine could have solved the predicaments of revolution and world war faced by Nicholas II. Perhaps  but they possessed will and vision, two qualities Nicholas II lacked. The storm that swept Russia in 1917 carried away millions in its wake: Only the cagey managed to survive, among them Spiridon, the poor cook who had watched Rasputin dip into his exquisite dishes with dirty fingers. Abandoning the old regime, Spiridon went on to work for Lenin and then Stalin. Its tempting to ponder the warnings against weakness and the lessons of ruthless power he passed to his grandson Vladimir Putin, who seems intent on restoring Russias prestige, resurrecting the lost empire and enshrining himself as a modern czar, every bit as autocratic and ruthless as the fallen Romanovs.
Iraq is collapsing as a country. This weeks bombings in Baghdad, which killed more than 90 people, are just further reminders that the place remains deeply unstable and violent. There is a lesson to be drawn from this, one that many powerful people in Washington are still resisting.

As Iraq has spiraled downward, policymakers have been quick to provide advice. Perennial hawks such as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have argued that if only the Obama administration would send more troops to the region, it would be more stable. Others say we need more diplomats and political advisers who can buttress military efforts. Still others tell us to focus on Iraqi leaders and get them to be more inclusive.

Perhaps it is worth stepping back from Iraq and looking at another country where the United States has been involved. The United States has been engaged in Afghanistan militarily, politically and economically for 15 years. It has had many surges of troops. It has spent more than $1 trillion on the war, by some estimates, and still pays a large portion of Afghanistans defense budget. Afghanistan has an elected government of national unity.

And yet, in October, the United Nations concluded that the insurgency had spread to more places in the country than at any point since 2001. Danielle Moylan reported in the New York Times that the Taliban now controls or contests all but three districts in Helmand province. She said that 36,000 police officers  almost a quarter of the force  are believed to have deserted the ranks last year. And last month, the Taliban penetrated Kabul itself, attacking a building run by the National Directorate of Security, which is responsible for much of the security in the capital, as the New Yorkers Dexter Filkins has reported.

Some argue that 15 years is not enough. They point to South Korea and Germany and say that the United States should simply stay unendingly. I am not opposed to a longer-term U.S. presence in Afghanistan, especially because the countrys elected government seems to want it. But the analogy is misplaced. In Germany and South Korea, U.S. forces remained to deter a foreign threat. They were not engaged in a never-ending battle within the country to help the government gain control over its own people. The more appropriate analogue is Vietnam.

Much has been made recently of a pair of interviews on U.S. foreign policy, one with President Obama, the other with one of his closest aides, Ben Rhodes. Both men have been described as arrogant, self-serving and brimming with contempt for the foreign policy establishment. Certainly, as most administrations would, Obama and Rhodes sought to present their actions in a positive light. So Obama congratulates himself for stepping back from the edge of military intervention in Syria. He never grapples with the fact that his own careless rhetoric  about Bashar al-Assads fate and red lines  pushed Washington to the edge in the first place.

But on the most important issue of substance, Obama is right and his critics are wrong. The chief lesson for U.S. foreign policy from the past 15 years is that it is much easier to defeat a military opponent in the greater Middle East than to establish political order in these troubled lands.

The mantra persists in Washington that Obama has overlearned the lessons of Iraq. But the lessons come not just from Iraq. In Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, it took weeks to defeat the old regime. Years later, despite different approaches, all of these countries remain in chaos. Can anyone seriously argue that a few more troops, or a slightly different strategy, would have created stability and peace?

The Obama administrations policy is trying to battle the Islamic State and yet steer clear of anything that would lead it to occupy and control lands in the region. I worry that the United States is veering toward too much involvement, which will leave Washington holding the bag, but I understand the balance the administration is trying to strike.

In Syria, Washingtons real dilemma would be if the effort worked and the Islamic State were defeated. This would result in a collapse of authority in large swaths of Iraq and Syria that are teeming with radicalized Sunnis who refuse to accept the authority of Baghdad or Damascus. Having led the fight, Washington would be forced to assert control over the territory, set up prisons to house thousands of Islamic State fighters, and provide security and economic assistance for the population while fighting the inevitable insurgency.

You know youre in trouble when success produces more problems than failure.

Read more from Fareed Zakarias archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Why was the May 7 article Obama official: Journalists took bait on Iran deal narrative  in the Style section rather than on the front page? Why is it not front-page news that the administration says it misled reporters so the public would support a controversial agreement?

Marie Miller, Centreville
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton meets with medical professionals at Cooper University Hospitals MD Anderson Cancer Center in Camden, N.J., on May 11. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)

Facing the unpredictable candidacy of Republican Donald Trump, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton is preparing to dispatch resources to vote-rich industrial states that have been safely Democratic for a generation.

Clintons plans include an early, aggressive attempt to defend Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan  reflecting a growing recognition inside her campaign of the threat that Trumps unconventional bid for president may pose in unexpected places, particularly in economically struggling states that have been hit hard by global free-trade agreements.

Joel Benenson, Clintons chief pollster and senior strategist, acknowledged that Trumps popularity, particularly among white, working-class voters, could make states in the countrys industrial midsection more competitive than they have been in recent elections.

There is no state where they can put us on defense that we dont already treat as a battleground, Benenson said. He added: The key here is to really protect the territory we have to protect, then play offense.

Clinton performed poorly against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in Democratic primaries in this part of the country  partly because of her past support for free-trade agreements and partly because Sanderss promises to focus on economic issues and income inequality resonated with voters. Those factors could work against her with Trump, who has criticized her positions on trade and has also found deep appeal among the working class.

1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president. Caption The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president. July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Clintons team expects the fiercest battlegrounds of the past several elections  including Virginia, Florida and Ohio  to play an outsized role in 2016. But her campaign is preparing to invest heavily in states that President Obama won in 2012, if not always by large margins.

[Clinton and Democratic leaders turn their attention to November swing states]

Take Michigan, a state that Obama won twice despite investing little in 2008 and 2012. Michigan Democrats say that Trump poses some challenges and opportunities that make this year different.

Were looking at it as kind of unique, said Brandon Dillon, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party. Hes unconventional and will say anything to any audience to get the support hes looking for.

We believe Michigan could be a battleground state, given what Trump has said and this kind of appeal that hes trying to make to white, working-class voters about the economy, Dillon added.

Clintons campaign is hiring staff and opening field offices in Michigan, although Dillon said that, until recently, the protracted Democratic primary has delayed any serious organizing efforts by national Democrats.

Campaign staffs also are being dispatched to Ohio and Wisconsin. And in Pennsylvania, much of Clintons primary staff and infrastructure are staying put and transitioning to the general election  including her state director in the primary, Corey Dukes, a former aide to Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.

Although many Democrats question whether Trumps well-documented strength with white, working-class voters will hold true in the general election, there may be no better place for him to test the possibility in November than in the industrial upper Midwest.

If we believe that hell have an unusually high level of appeal to the white working class, then these states are dominated by white, working-class voters. And therefore, if he can move enough of those folks, he might have a chance, said Ruy Teixeira, an expert on political demography at the liberal Center for American Progress. Its not crazy, its just not easy.

[Virginias rapidly changing Loudoun County is testing ground for Clinton as she courts swing vote]

Republicans also see the opportunity for strong performances in unexpected places this year. Stephan Thompson, a senior aide to Wisconsins Republican Gov. Scott Walker, said that his state still leans blue in general elections, even this year  but he also thinks Trump has the potential to continue defying conventional wisdom.

When you look at where he did well in the primary in Wisconsin, which was in rural areas, northern and western in Wisconsin  those are places that George W. Bush and Mitt Romney struggled in, Thompson said. If Donald Trump can put those voters in play . . . theres an opening. But he has to shore up traditionally Republican base voters in the suburban areas.

He added: Nobody unifies Republicans more than Hillary Clinton.

A struggle over trade

For Clinton, the threat Trump poses in industrial states such as Wisconsin and Michigan may be compounded by her own weaknesses there; she lost both states Democratic primaries to Sanders.

Democrats say that Clinton will need to work assiduously to court Sanderss supporters in these parts of the country  including younger millennials and working-class voters concerned about economic fairness but also frustrated with government.

In Wisconsin, younger voters at or around the University of Wisconsin in Madison  who supported Sanders heavily in the primary  are a critical part of the coalition, according to Dan Kanninen, who was Obamas Wisconsin state director in 2008.

Shes got to reach out to them and really focus on connecting with people who didnt grow up knowing who the Clintons were, he said.

Democrats including Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Vice President Biden are expected to help with that effort in a general election.

Low enthusiasm on the Democratic side, high enthusiasm on his side, winning over lots of men and winning over rural voters  thats the case for Trump, Kanninen said. But given the antipathy toward Trump among establishment Republicans in the state, he added that Trump will have trouble unifying his own party.

At the heart of Clintons struggle with Sanders has been her support for free-trade agreements  a weakness that could hurt her against Trump, too.

Whatever the numbers say, people dont feel as economically secure as they did, say, in the 1990s, said Joe Zepecki, a former communications director for Obamas 2012 Wisconsin campaign. What people are looking for is someone who they can trust and who will work hard on the issues they care about. And I believe Secretary Clinton can make that case.

But he added: Put me down as nervous and wanting to make sure that the Clinton campaign gets it right.

After Clintons loss in Michigan, the campaign refocused her economic message in Ohio on trade and manufacturing jobs. She defeated Sanders by a large margin in the Ohio primary.

Clinton is planning a similar strategy with Trump  focusing on the governments role in boosting job creation, with a heavy emphasis on Trumps statements opposing a higher minimum wage and unions generally.

Were going to do better with white, working-class voters than people anticipate, said Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), a Clinton ally. Donald Trump is pushing very hard for right-to-work legislation, hes said wages are too high . . . he should be very, very concerned about that.

Ryan continued: The female independents and moderates both male and female  Trump is just not going to resonate with them at the end of the day. They dont want somebody yelling and screaming at them. Theyre going to want someone who can put things together.

Trumps potential to resonate among voters in communities hit hard by a lagging economy extends to parts of southwestern Pennsylvania surrounding Pittsburgh, where Democrats see a special need to focus on steering voters away from Trump.

From a straight-up policy perspective, Donald Trump is on exactly the wrong side of issues for a lot of people who are turning up and supporting him, said T.J. Rooney, a former state representative in Pennsylvania and former chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Voters are not focusing in on exactly what it means for Pennsylvania and how Donald Trumps views on the economy might not meld with theirs.

Its going to take time to convince folks who are overlooking obvious deficiencies, he added.

Elsewhere, the Clinton campaign will be focused intently on maximizing her potential advantages among more reliably Democratic voters, including those who are nonwhite, college educated and women across the socioeconomic spectrum.

The extended Democratic primary has frustrated party leaders in battleground states who are eager to get to work. Campaign aides say that Clinton is contesting Sanders in the primary while also delivering a broader message to suburban voters, particularly women, by focusing on issues including pay equity and child care.

For every person that Donald Trump appeals to with his economic message, which is entirely unrealistic but sounds good when you hear it, he turns off a lot of suburban, Republican-leaning women and men, said Dillon, the Democratic chairman in Michigan. Its about making sure that people understand the product that Donald Trump is selling is really fools gold.
Don Stanley, right, and other laid-off miners from the Prestonsburg, Ky., area came out to show their support for Donald Trump before a rally led by former president Bill Clinton on May 12. (Alton Strupp/Louisville Courier-Journal)

The booing was nearly as loud as the cheering when Bill Clinton stepped to the microphone in this remote mountain hamlet deep in the depressed heart of coal country.

In the audience at the local elementary school Thursday night was a sizable contingent of coal miners and their families, many wearing helmets and T-shirts declaring their support for Donald Trump.

Im not like a lot of people. It doesnt bother me to have protesters at rallies, the former president began. Im glad they come, because I think one of the biggest problems in America today is we seem to be less prejudiced about a lot of things, except we dont want to be around anybody who disagrees with us. You notice that?

That he should encounter hostility here was not a surprise. Floyd Countys unemployment rate last year was close to 10 percent  nearly twice as high as the state average. Many locals blame the federal governments policies on coal.

Hillary Clinton seemed to confirm that perception in March, at a town hall in Ohio, when she said that a transition to clean energy would put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business. She later said she had made a misstatement, but the comment contributed to her loss Tuesday in West Virginia, a state whose Democratic primary she had won by a landslide in 2008.

1 of 46 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Clinton on the campaign trail View Photos The former secretary of state visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president. Caption The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president. July 31, 2016 Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

[Emotional unemployed W.Va. coal worker confronts Hillary Clinton over comment about putting coal out of business]

The event here was Bill Clintons fourth in a long day of campaigning across Kentucky, where his wife faces a similar backlash in next weeks primary. At earlier appearances, he gave his standard speech.

On the stump for his wife, Clinton at times seems rusty and rambling. And he can be thin-skinned in the face of protests, as he was when Black Lives Matter activists confronted him in Philadelphia last month.

But there was something about this crowd and this place that lit him up. It was as if the calendar had flipped back a quarter of a century. He was  once again  the Man from Hope, the empathizer in chief.

The former president wasnt going to change many minds. He knew that. But he was determined to show that he had seen and felt what was going on in their lives and in their town.

He recalled a miner he had represented in Arkansas when he was fresh out of law school  five-foot-six and weighed 96 pounds dripping wet because he was dying from black lung disease and they never would give him his benefits. Clinton won the case, he said, and all of a sudden, I had 100 clients.

And he remembered another  a burly man who had been asked not to enlist during World War II because he was needed in the mines.

At a rally in Salem, Ore. May 10, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders touted his win in the West Virginia primary, reminding supporters that his rival, Hillary Clinton, won there in 2008. Clinton, meanwhile, looked to woo voters in Louisville ahead of Kentucky's May 17 election. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

He was the only guy that everybody knew that could go 100 percent for 16 hours every day to try to give this country the ability to power itself and defend itself, Clinton said. And by the time I met [him], he couldnt push a little lawn mower across a postage-stamp-sized front yard.

I get this. I get it all, he added.

Clinton did not mention Trump by name but invoked the celebrity billionaires campaign slogan as he confronted the hecklers. I think Make America Great Again means that well make it like it was in the 1960s, even if [we] have to put another wall up, he said. Well, if you think you can do it, have at it, but no place else in the world that mines coal has been able to do it.

Economists trace the decline of the coal industry to a number of factors, including competition from cheaper sources of energy, such as natural gas. Coal from the Eastern United States is also more expensive to produce than coal from Western sources.

I think youre better off imagining this: We got some more years where well be able to mine coal. There ought to be a transition period, and at the same time, we should aggressively move as quickly as we can to do what weve been doing and to learn to do something else and diversify this economy, Clinton said.

Dont tell me we cant bring different kinds of jobs, he admonished. Dont tell me youre not smart enough to do it, and dont tell me nobody over a certain age can learn this stuff.

Clinton also vowed that if he finds himself back in the White House as the spouse of the nations chief executive, he will make the concerns of coal country part of his portfolio.

Most of this stuff that happens in campaigns, you might as well be watching a television show, he added. But what really matters is whether people are better off when you quit than when you started, whether your children have a brighter future, or whether were coming together or being torn apart. The rest of this stuff is all background music.

And then he was finished. There were a few more jeers. But this time, the applause nearly drowned them out.
An undated handout photo released on May 13, 2016, by Hezbollah's media office shows Mustafa Badreddine at an undisclosed location. (Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

A Hezbollah commander described as the leader of its militia forces in Syria was killed in a mysterious blast in Damascus, the group said Friday. The explosion targeted a figure known for both a playboy lifestyle and links to major terror attacks dating back to the bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine represents a significant blow to the Iran-backed group as it reaches beyond its strongholds in Lebanon to aid President Bashar al-Assad against rebel factions, including some groups backed by the United States and its allies.

It also highlighted the depth of Hezbollah involvement in Syria, with some of its most senior leaders apparently working closely with Assad and his generals. And it is unlikely that the loss of Badreddine will cause Hezbollah to alter its commitment to Assad, whose country provides critical support and supply routes.

There were no clear clues on the cause of the explosion, but a television station allied with Hezbollah pointed the finger at the groups longtime foe, Israel.

Badreddine, 55, is the highest-ranking Hezbollah official killed in the Syria campaign, and the most senior since the 2008 killing in Damascus of his mentor, Imad Mughniyah. That attack was believed to have been carried out by U.S. and Israeli agents, but neither side has publicly acknowledged any role.

Hezbollah supporters carry the coffin of slain commander Mustafa Badreddine in Beirut on May 13. (Hassan Ammar/Associated Press)

[Arab states opposing Assad also denounce Hezbollah]

Over more than three decades, Badreddines movements and activities were shrouded in secrecy and speculation. But what leaked out helped build a reputation for both bon vivant-like excess and headline-grabbing bloodshed.

He was linked to deadly attacks in 1983 on U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait and was suspected of playing a role in the Beirut barracks bombings that killed 241 U.S. servicemen and 58 French ones.

He also was among four people indicted by a U.N. tribunal for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

In U.N. transcripts, the prosecution described Badreddine as using at least two aliases and cover stories, including as a Beirut jeweler named Sammi Issa. At points in his life, according to the transcripts, he owned an apartment in an upscale area near the Lebanese capital and had several concurrent girlfriends, as well as a boat and an expensive Mercedes registered in other names.

A Hezbollah statement said a huge explosion killed Badreddine but did not say where it happened or speculate on responsibility. It promised to release details of an internal investigation later.

But Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, blamed the killing on Israel, which has carried out a number of air raids against the group in Syria in recent years. In 2006, Israel fought a brief war with Hezbollah but failed to dislodge the group from strongholds in southern Lebanon.

In Hezbollah-dominated south Beirut, thousands of mourners turned out for Badreddines funeral late Friday, waving the groups yellow flags and chanting slogans.

Apparent Israeli attacks in Syria have killed top Hezbollah militants and destroyed what analysts say were high-powered weapons  including missiles provided by Iran  that the group could have used against Israel.

Israel generally neither confirms nor denies involvement in such attacks.

According to the U.S. government, Badreddine commanded Hezbollahs substantial military operations in Syria  an intervention involving thousands of the Shiite groups militants who have been waging intense ground battles against the Sunni-led rebellion.

The groups well-trained fighters have played a crucial role in defending the Syrian government, whose forces are also aided by thousands of Shiite fighters from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

But the fighting has taken a heavy toll on Hezbollah, resulting in well over 1,000 of its militants being killed.

Relatively little is known, however, about Badreddine, a Shiite Muslim born in 1961. For decades, analysts say, he operated under a cloud of extreme secrecy as he plotted attacks against Israeli, U.S. and Lebanese targets.

The clandestine fog is rooted in general in fear of Israel, which runs spies and moles to foil Hezbollah operations and assassinate its leaders.

In 1992, Israeli helicopters killed Hezbollahs leader, Abbas Musawi, his wife and young son. Late last year, an Israeli airstrike in Damascus killed Samir Kuntar, a prominent Hezbollah militant who had spent three decades in an Israeli prison.

They are secretive and shady because if they arent, they get killed more quickly, said Nicholas Blanford, a Beirut-based journalist and author of Warriors of God: Inside Hezbollahs Thirty-Year Struggle Against Israel.

According to some accounts, Badreddine also had a reputation for extravagance with his assumed identities.

He had several concurrent girlfriends and was seen regularly in restaurants and cafes socializing with his friends, the U.N. prosecution wrote in the documents from January 2014. He was also accompanied by armed body-guards.

The prosecution accuses Badreddine of playing a key role in Hariris assassination, an event that has continued to be a major source of instability in Lebanon.

Matthew Levitt, a Hezbollah expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described Badreddine as having the ear of Hezbollahs leader, Hasan Nasrallah, and joining him in meetings in Damascus with Assad on a regular basis to discuss the Syrian conflict.

Levitt partly attributed Badreddines influence in the group to his relationship with Mughniyah, who headed Hezbollahs militant operations.

The two were cousins and brothers-in-law, and they were suspected of helping plot the barracks bombings after U.S. forces aiding a peacekeeping mission during Lebanons civil war.

They planned the bombing of the Marine barracks and reportedly sat on top of a building together with binoculars to watch the attacks, Levitt said.

One of the last public appearances that Badreddine made was in Beirut for the funeral of Mughniyahs son, Jihad, who was killed by a suspected Israeli drone strike in southern Syria last year.

After the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait, authorities there arrested him and sentenced him to death. He managed to escape imprisonment when Iraq under Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

Suzan Haidamous in Beirut, Brian Murphy in Washington and Ruth Eglash in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Indias national investigation agency on Friday dropped all terror-related charges against a female Hindu activist jailed in connection with a bomb explosion in a Muslim neighborhood in 2008.

The National Investigation Agency recommended that all charges be dropped against Pragya Singh  a self-styled Hindu holy woman  and three others because of lack of evidence.

The move overturns earlier police findings and closes a chapter in one of the most contentious terrorism cases in the past decade in India.

[Hindu arrest in anti-Muslim bomb sparks controversy]

Singh and three others were arrested for being behind a September 2008 motorcycle bomb explosion in the town of Malegaon in the western state of Maharashtra.

The blast, which occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, killed six people and injured more than 100.

Singhs arrest was controversial because it was the first time that Hindus had been named in a terror case in India. It fueled a sharp political debate and angered many Hindus who accused the previous Congress Party-led coalition government of tarnishing the image of their community.

The National Investigation Agency has said that there is no evidence to prosecute the four accused, including Pragya Singh, her lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar told reporters in Mumbai. There had been grave injustice done to them all these years.

[Hindu terrorism charges force India to reflect on prejudices against Muslims]

The agency also dropped the organized crime charge against one of the other prominent figures in the case, a Hindu army colonel, Srikant Purohit, who remains behind bars on charges he provided the explosives and training to the bombers.

Indian media at that time had called Singh and Purohit the face of Hindu terror, a phrase that many Hindus objected to.

Those who called it Hindu terror committed a great sin, said Indresh Kumar, a member of Indias largest and most strident Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The group is closely affiliated with the political party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Randeep Singh Surjewala, the spokesman for the Congress Party, which was in power at the time of Singhs arrest, said the overturning of the charges has shocked the collective conscience of the nation and accused the Modi government of blatant disregard and misuse of the investigation agency.

Investigators, however, denied charges of political interference.

We have completed the investigation. Whatever evidence and questions came up in that process, we have presented today, said Sharad Kumar, the director general of the National Investigation Agency.

In response to reporters questions, he denied he was undermining the earlier police investigation.

Police in 2008 had focused on Singh after forensic analysis revealed that the motorcycle used in the bombing had belonged to her. But her lawyer had argued that she had given it away many years ago.

In June last year, the cases special public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, said that she was under pressure from the investigation agency to go easy in the case.

On Friday, senior Congress Party leader Digvijaya Singh said it was a matter of shame that Modis government was trying to protect those who were clearly involved in terror related activities.


An undertaker stands near the unmarked graves of Islamic State militants killed during an attack in March. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

The families arrived at the cemetery in the night carrying the bullet-riddled corpses of their sons and brothers, residents recalled. One by one, the bodies were placed in unmarked graves, outcasts even in death.

The dead men had been fighters for the Islamic State. All Tunisians, they had crossed into Libya to join the terrorist groups affiliate there. In March, they returned with other radicalized Tunisians in an attempt to seize Ben Guerdane, a smuggling hub 20 miles from the border. Dozens of the militants were killed in fierce clashes with security forces, including at least 10 who were raised here in the southeastern corner of the country.

Only eight were buried in the cemetery.

Some families refused to take the bodies, said Samir Naqi, a senior police official.

That Ben Guerdane, long known as an incubator for jihadists, was not captured was a victory for Tunisia. But the attack and its aftermath revealed the North African nations fragility as it struggles to contain the toxic fallout from the Arab Spring uprisings five years ago, and represented an escalation in the Islamic States ambitions.

Tunisians form the largest contingent of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. But with U.S. and Russian airstrikes hammering them there, and travel bans and stricter border controls in place, more Tunisians are joining the Islamic State in Libya. Increasingly, Libyas conflict is spilling into Tunisia, the only country to emerge as a functioning democracy after the revolutions.

The Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL, asserted responsibility for two attacks in Tunisia last year: in the resort town of Sousse and at the Bardo Museum in the capital, Tunis. Scores of people died, mostly foreign tourists, at the hands of Tunisian gunmen believed to have been trained in Libya.

The sophisticated raid on Ben Guerdane  a multi-pronged assault on Tunisian security forces  triggered fears that the militants are seeking a safe haven in Tunisia, whose secular history and Western leanings have made it a target of religious extremists.

Its now clear that Libya is a threat for us, said Mohamed Maali, the head of Tunisias anti-terrorism department. With ISIS fighters under pressure in Syria, the new destination is Libya, where, unfortunately, theres no authority and no order. For them, its paradise.



Ben Guerdane is the nearest city to the Libyan border along the Tunisian coast. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

Come and join our fight

The streets that run past the low-slung houses of Ben Guerdane are unpaved. Entire fields are repositories for trash. There are no factories, no universities, none of the economic development seen in the northern tourist regions of Tunisia. On any given day, scores of unemployed young people sit in cafes or laze on street corners. Countless livelihoods are linked to illicit trafficking of weapons, fuel and consumer goods to and from Libya.

Or to conflict.

Because of the poverty and the marginalization, the youth of Ben Guerdane find themselves with no options to remain here, said Salem Chouat, 80, a former mayor. At the same time, they meet with ISIS recruiters who promise lots of money, cars and a great life. So what do you expect the youth to do? Their choice is either smuggling or ISIS.

Hundreds of young men have left Ben Guerdane over the past three decades to wage jihad in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia, radicalized in part by a repressive regime that persecuted Islamists.

Their fighting skills were so valued that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to the Islamic State, was known to have said, If Ben Guerdane had been located next to Fallujah, we would have liberated Iraq.



A man waits to cross the border with Libya. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

After the 2011 revolution that ousted Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, religious extremists took advantage of the new freedoms and a security vacuum to help radicalize another generation of youths. More than 4,000 Tunisians joined the Islamic State and other armed factions in Syria and Iraq, often traveling there after receiving training and indoctrination in Libya, U.N. investigators said. An additional 1,000 to 1,500 went to fight in Libya. Many of the militants were from Ben Guerdane.





Now, there are signs that the Islamic State is telling foreign fighters to go to Libya and stay there, underscoring the shifting geography of the terrorist network. The group established a stronghold in the city of Sirte after the death of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. According to U.S. intelligence officials, the militants view the coastal city as a possible fallback option if Raqqa, the Syrian seat of their self-declared caliphate, falls to the U.S.-led coalition.

In October, Tunisian Defense Minister Farhat Horchani announced that at least 250 Tunisian Islamic State fighters had left Syria, after the Russian airstrikes began, to fight in Libya.

In one recruiting video posted online last year, an Islamic State commander standing on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, presumably in Libya, urges Muslims to join the fight against Gen. Khalifa Hifter, an anti-Islamist commander whose militias control parts of eastern Libya.

To all the brothers in the Arab Gulf islands, Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan, the Islamic State commander says, to all those who are protective of Gods religion, come and join our fight.

If proof was needed that the Tunisians listened, there was evidence in the aftermath of a U.S. airstrike on an Islamic State training camp in the Libyan city of Sabratha on Feb. 19.

Most of the 41 killed were Tunisians. They probably included Noureddine Chouchane, a top commander who was recruiting and training Tunisians to attack inside their homeland, according to Tunisian and Libyan officials.

Two weeks later, Tunisian militants stormed Ben Guerdane.



Hussein Abdul Kabir at the location in Ben Guerdane where his brother Abdul Athi was executed by Islamic State militants. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

Highly coordinated attack

Hussein Abdul Kabir remembers the four masked gunmen who entered his familys compound in a Toyota pickup truck. It was shortly after 6 a.m. His brother Abdul Athi, head of Ben Guerdanes counterterrorism brigade, was walking out of his house.

As everyone scattered, the gunmen chased Abdul Athi. One speaking Arabic with a Tunisian accent yelled, The non-believer, Abdul Athi, Hussein recalled. Then two gunmen, unmasked, emerged from the house next door and ran in from the opposite direction. Abdul Athi was cornered.

The assassins knew the neighborhood well, said Hussein, a bull-necked man with sad, dark eyes. Dried blood still stains the ground where his brother died.

I recognized one of them, Hussein said. He is from Ben Guerdane.

In a different part of town, militants attacked the police station, triggering heavy clashes. Some opened fire at a military barracks from the minaret of a mosque, attracting return fire that left it pocked with large holes. Street battles unfolded against security forces in other enclaves.

During one battle, Salim Dhawi huddled in his cellphone shop as a fighter crouched in a firing position nearby. He said: Dont worry. We are the Islamic State,  Dhawi recalled.  We are here to protect you from this non-believer government. 

Witnesses said five militants erected a checkpoint in front of the Midway Cafe, as if they were already the lords of the town. They clutched Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Some wore military fatigues. They began stopping cars and checking IDs.

At one point, they dragged a customs official from his car and shot him dead, said Mohamed Ali, a co-owner of the cafe. After the killing, he said, one fighter with a Tunisian accent declared, Tomorrow, we will be ruling you.



A shop that was destroyed by fighting in March. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

By the time the clashes ended, 52 militants, 12 security force members and eight civilians were dead, said Naqi, the senior police official. All of the militants killed, he added, have been identified as Tunisians, including three commanders who were from Ben Guerdane.

Was the assault designed to test the security forces capabilities? Was it revenge for the U.S. airstrike? Was it an attempt to create a foothold in Tunisia as the United States and its allies plan a possible military intervention in Libya?

It may have been all of the above, Tunisian security officials said.

Despite the repelling of the militants, a sense of collective unease lingers.

A security barrier made of sand berms and water trenches, covering nearly half of Tunisias 285-mile border with Libya, was mostly complete in February. Yet many, if not all, of the militants crossed over from Libya. Five days before the attack, Tunisian security forces killed several militants in a house near Ben Guerdane. Yet the outfit managed to regroup and stage the bold, highly coordinated strike.

Tunisian security forces said they later found safe houses in Ben Guerdane where weapons from Libya were stored, evidence of the relationship between the Islamic State and smuggling cartels that help fund and drive the conflict.

Some of Abdul Athis own relatives are suspected of being Islamic State loyalists, recruited to get close to the man who knew the most about the militants network in the town. The house the two gunmen emerged from belonged to a cousin whose wifes two brothers had fought in Syria, Tunisian security officials said.

He was targeted because he knew all the people of Ben Guerdane who sympathized with ISIS, said his father, Mohammad Abdul Kabir, as he clutched his fatherless grandson, Mahab. He knew all the people who went to Libya for training.



Mahab Abdul Kabir, 3 years old, sits with his grandfather Mohammad and his uncle Hussein. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post)

Still learning democracy

Since the attack, dozens of suspects have been arrested amid concerns about more cells in Ben Guerdane. Three mosques suspected of extremist teachings have been shut down. The border crossing into Libya is closed for Tunisians younger than 35  unless they have a letter from their parents stating their purpose.

Security forces are closely monitoring the relatives of alleged fighters.

One of Hamza Jaries close relatives is among those being watched. Last year, Tunisian authorities branded Jarie, who is from Ben Guerdane, as one of the countrys most dangerous terrorists. He was captured in Sabratha by a Libyan militia after the U.S. airstrike in February. In a video posted online last month, Jarie confesses to working at an Islamic State propaganda radio station.

The relative in Ben Guerdane said he was held and interrogated in prison. Security forces routinely raid his home in the predawn hours. He is not allowed to travel overseas, and he is stopped at security checkpoints whenever he leaves town. The taint has prevented him from finding a job.

I am paying for something I didnt do, said the relative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears retribution from security forces. This aggression by the state is what makes people disappointed in the state, he said. This is what makes terrorists.

Senior Tunisian security officials say such tactics are necessary. They also say concerns about human rights are hampering their ability to stop terrorists.

We are still learning democracy. But, personally, I cant understand human rights for terrorists. They want to kill us, said Maali, the anti-terrorism chief.

Sipping coffee at a crowded sidewalk cafe, former mayor Chouat warned that the security measures are unlikely to stop Ben Guerdanes youths from flowing next door or fighting from inside Tunisia  as long as the south remains without good schools, roads and jobs.

If the situation continues like this, we may lose full control of our youth, he said. We fear it will make them angrier at the government. We fear it will push them to do all kinds of bad things.

The war against the Islamic State hits hurdles just as the U.S. military gears up

Israel, Hamas and Egypt form unlikely alliance against Islamic State affiliate

How the Syrian revolt went so horribly, tragically wrong

A Syrian rebels slaying in Turkey points to the long, lethal reach of ISIS
For a man with an international arrest warrant hanging over his head on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir gets around.

In March, he flew to Indonesia to attend a summit of Muslim countries and to Egypt for an investment forum. He visited Ethiopia in January and plans another trip there this weekend.

But his Thursday stop in Uganda prompted a minor diplomatic flap when he attended the inauguration of President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for 30 years. Museveni introduced Bashir onstage, giving a backhand to the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese president in 2009 for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

[Ugandan president inaugurated amid opposition arrests]

Uganda had invited Bashir, said Museveni. The Ugandan leader then called the court in The Hague a useless body run by a bunch of useless people.

Bashirs presence and Musevenis dismissive remarks prompted a highly unusual walkout by diplomats from Canada, Europe and the United States, among them the U.S. ambassador and a deputy assistant secretary of state. Uganda is a longtime U.S. ally.

We believe that walking out in protest is an appropriate reaction to a head of state mocking efforts to ensure accountability for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Elizabeth Trudeau, a spokeswoman for the State Department.

This was not the first controversy over Bashirs peregrinations, which are tracked by human rights organizations on the website BashirWatch. Several demanded China and India arrest him when he visited those countries last year, although neither has signed the agreement that established the court in 2002 and requires members to act on its arrest warrants. Uganda is a member.

But Bashir had to flee South Africa, which is also a member of the ICC, when a court there ruled he should not be allowed to leave and could be arrested during a visit last year. South Africas Supreme Court later criticized the government for shielding him.

Many African leaders have denounced the ICC as a neocolonial tool because almost all of its investigations have involved war crimes in Africa; a court list of preliminary investigations is more geographically diverse.

The events in Uganda underscored both the lofty ideals of the court and its limitations.

A core claim held by champions of international justice is that by the mere fact it exists, perpetrators and potential perpetrators will be marginalized, said Mark Kersten, a research fellow with the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto, who studies the court. The fact diplomats from Europe, Canada and the United States walked out shows they dont want to rub shoulders with him. But it also shows its not working, because he was there in the first place.

Elizabeth M. Ramey, a scholar with the Africa Program at the Wilson Center, said the ICC cases in Africa are all justified and that the South African Supreme Court decision shows some Africans support the courts work.

But resentment is growing, and the walkouts impact may be fleeting.

Its purpose was to say, For all the talk about the flaws of the criminal court, you cant forget the many victims of genocide and crimes against humanity for whom the court was created,  said Jennifer G. Cooke, director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. But it feeds the narrative of Western imperial arrogance that some leaders like to play on.

Although Bashir returned home unimpeded, the Ugandan government did make some arrests on Thursday  of opposition members. That also prompted a rebuke from the State Department.

We remain deeply concerned that government security forces continue to detain members of the political opposition and restrict their freedom of movement, said Trudeau, the State Department spokeswoman. We urge the government to take prompt action to reverse this troubling trend.

Read more:

The worlds abandonment of Darfuf

United States labels killings in Sudan genocide

Sudans leader says he was maligned over Darfur allegations
Frances Socialist Party (PS) government imposed its labor law without a parliamentary vote on Thursday, using anti-democratic powers granted by article 49-3 of the constitution. The imposition of a law that is opposed by three-quarters of the French population, in the face of two months of mass protests by workers and youth, marks a political turning point. It opens a new stage in the struggle against austerity in France and across Europe.

The mobilization against the law began in March, as PS-linked student and trade unions began to call protests. These groups supported the election of PS presidential candidate Francois Hollande in 2012, and they organized no opposition to his austerity measures after he took office. However, they sensed deep opposition in France to introducing the type of exploitative conditions created in Germany by the Hartz IV laws. The El Khomri law (named after French Minister of Labor) increases working time, eliminates job security and allows the unions to negotiate contracts violating the Labor Code.

The response revealed a broad radicalization of the population, particularly among high school and student youth. An entire generation of working class youth across Europe, which has grown up in the period of capitalist collapse since the 2008 Wall Street crash, is coming into increasingly direct conflict with the social and economic system. When the trade unions gingerly called out sections of workers in support of the youth protesters, over a million people took to the streets.

Increasingly weak and isolated, the PS reacted by launching desperate crackdowns on protesters by hordes of riot police, mobilized under the terms of the French state of emergency. These still failed to halt the demonstrations, however, and under increasing pressure from the banks and the EU to pass the measure, the PS brought it to a vote.

Though all the parties in the French National Assembly support austerity, Prime Minister Manuel Valls could not assemble a majority of deputies that dared vote for the law. In the end, Valls resorted to article 49-3which he used last year to impose Economy Minister Emmanuel Macrons deregulation lawto ram the law through, forcing the deputies to vote a censure motion to bring down the government if they wanted to block it.

The so-called rebel faction of the PS, which is close to pseudo-left groups like the Left Front and the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA), and has made some impotent criticisms of PS austerity, would have had to support the censure motion for it to pass. Arguing that passing the censure motion would bring to power the right-wing The Republicans (LR) on an even more draconian austerity program, the rebel faction voted against it, triggering passage of the El Khomri law.

The passage of the reactionary law must be the occasion for workers and youth to draw fundamental political conclusions about how the onslaught of the banks across Europe can be stopped.

The working class internationally is passing through critical political experiences. Protests in France this week came as masses of workers in Greece struck for two days against pension cuts and EU-backed austerity measures imposed by Greeces Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) government, which has completely betrayed its previous promises to end EU austerity.

Like Greece and countries across Europe, France is in the grip of a deep crisis of bourgeois rule. The ruling class, facing an escalating economic crisis and pushing for increased military spending as the major European powers fall into an arms race, intends to make no concessions. Even as the PS follows the path to electoral oblivion traced by Greeces social-democratic PASOK party, it rams through laws with contempt for rising popular outrage.

There is no way out from this crisis through the existing state institutions. The alternatives to the PS within the political establishment are LR, whose current front-running candidate, Alain Juppe, is now advancing a free-market agenda of lengthening working times and slashing corporate taxes, and the neo-fascist National Front (FN). Both of these parties, if elected, will intensify the attacks on workers and youth.

As for the institutions through which the class struggle has been channeled since the formation of the PS in the years after the 1968 general strike, they have proven totally bankrupt. The occupations of public squares by the #UpAllNight movementstaffed largely by forces close to the NPA and the Left Front, allies of Syriza who also called for a Hollande vote in 2012are a dead end. By promoting economic nationalism, they cut across the unification of workers throughout Europe in a struggle against austerity.

The unions, led by the Stalinist General Confederation of Labour (CGT), oppose mobilizing the working class in a political struggle against the PS government. After the passage of the law yesterday, CGT President Philippe Martinez mocked calls among protesters for a general strike, declaring, General strike, that doesnt mean anything as such. Even in 1968, the CGT did not call for the general strike.

In fact, if the working class has not intervened earlier to bring down the Hollande regime, it is above all due to the role of these organizations, which for nearly a half century since 1968 have been supporting the PS, a reactionary bourgeois party.

The mounting crisis facing France and Europe cannot be solved through an attempt to pressure the PS and its political satellites to the left. Nor will it even be solved through the explosive experience, as in 1936 or 1968 in France, of a general strike. The objective crisis of capitalism and the rising anger in the European and international working class are indeed preparing the eruption of general strikes and mass workers struggles.

As the French ruling classs authoritarian response to the anti-El Khomri law protests has made clear, such struggles would themselves only set the stage for a revolutionary confrontation with governments in France and across Europe. The most politically conscious and advanced layers of workers and youth must prepare themselves not only for the mass struggles that will erupt, but for socialist revolution.

This raises the most burning question facing the working class in France and internationally: the crisis of revolutionary leadership and the necessity of building Trotskyist parties. The struggle against the El Khomri law has starkly exposed the fact that not one establishment party can or wants to speak for the explosive anger that is developing in the working class against the entire political set-up.

The fraud that socialism is represented by the PS and its Stalinist and pseudo-left political satellites like the NPA is ever more exposed by the day. The radicalization of the workers and the discrediting of what has for decades passed as the French left are creating the conditions for a true struggle for socialismthat is, a revolutionary struggle for social equality by the international working class. Under these conditions, the International Committee of the Fourth International is building sections across the continent to fight for the United Socialist States of Europe.
The ruling House of Saud recently [or has] issued a series of royal decrees unceremoniously dumping its longstanding oil minister Ali al-Naimi, central bank governor Fahad al-Mubarak, and other senior officials.

The wide-ranging shakeup of government bodies is part of an attempt to resolve the Kingdoms growing economic crisis at the expense of the Saudi masses.

The sackings follow the removal last month of Abdullah al-Hasin, the water and electricity minister, in a bid to deflect popular anger over high water rates and new rules over the digging of wells and cuts in energy subsidies aimed at saving the ruling family collectively in excess of one and a half trillion dollars.

The shake-up is intended to concentrate power in the clique around Crown Prince Mohammed, the 30-year-old son of the aging King Salman. It will further exacerbate the enormous political, economic and social tensions wracking this semi-feudal regime that has, since 1945, constituted an essential prop for US imperialist policy in the region and a bulwark of reaction and repression in the Arab world.

The Saudi monarchy, threatened by the revolutionary overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the subsequent political turmoil that threatened almost every regime in the region, moved rapidly to topple the elected Muslim Brotherhood-led government of President Mohammed Mursi, even at the risk of conflicting with Washington, and helped install and bankroll the brutal military dictator Abdul Fatah el-Sisi to suppress the Egyptian masses.

It soughtat the cost of tens of billions of dollarsto move against the Syrian regime of President Bashir al-Assad in Syria by funding an Islamist insurgency, and to shore up the rule of its regional allies in Yemen, Bahrain and Jordan. Accompanying its moves in Syria, it sought to undermine pro-Iranian governments in Iraq and Lebanon, through direct or covert military interventions, the use of Islamist fighters as proxies, or economic aid.

Its relations with its chief backer, US imperialism, are now at an all-time low. Riyadh was furious over Washingtons failure to sustain its support for Mubarak against the Egyptian masses in 2011.

The US-led interventions in Iraq and Syria to assert Washingtons hegemony over the Middle Easts vast energy resources have destabilised Saudi Arabias neighbours. Washingtons various pragmatic manoeuvres, its failure to intervene decisively in the war to overthrow Assad in Syria allowing Russia to intervene to shore up the regime, its deal with Iran and support for the Shiite government in Iraq, helped strengthened the influence of Saudi Arabias main regional rival, Tehran.

At home, Riyadh attempted to assuage popular opposition and protests in the Shia-dominated Eastern Province with a combination of violent suppression and a $350 billion package of benefits and social spending, a lifeline for the estimated 28 percent of the population who live in poverty. Between 2 million and 4 million Saudi citizens are believed to be living on less than $530 a month. With its thousands of princes, the parasitic Saudi monarchy deprives its citizens of basic democratic rights It has sought to ruthlessly suppress public discussion of social inequality, imprisoning bloggers who dare to raise such issues or criticise the regime.

This attempt at repression is being undermined by the precipitous fall in oil prices, the result of the Saudis political decision to maintain output in an attempt to undermine Russia and Iran. This has led to a $100 billion government deficit in 2015 (15 per cent of GDP). The new oil minister Khalid al-Falih is not expected to rein in oil production and thus boost oil prices because this would also boost the revenues of Saudi Arabias rivals.

With 70 percent of its revenue dependent on oil, the government has cut public spending for 2016 by 25 percent, slashing subsidies on fuel, power and water, with gas prices set to increase by 80 percent. It took the unprecedented step of introducing a tax on Saudi nationalsa 5 percent value added taxin a bid to prevent the budget deficit soaring to $140 billion and to conserve its $600 billion in reserves.

Riyadhs sponsorship of Islamist forces has led to the advance of ISIS, al-Qaeda and similar outfits with their own agendas in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula. ISIS cells have launched dozens of attacks over the last two years and were alleged to have been behind a spate of bombings targeting the Kingdoms Shia minority.

Last week, Saudi forces carried out an operation against ISIS in Mecca, killing four wanted men in a shootout, and another in the southwestern province of Bisha, killing two ISIS suspects and injuring another. It followed the arrest of Ukab Atibi, allegedly a member of the ISIS cell that carried out a suicide attack on a mosque used by members of a local security force in southwest Saudi Arabia in August 2015. Security forces carried out another raid on a house in Jeddah, arresting two suspects.

The ruling clique is torn with dissent over the succession to the ailing King Salman, who promoted his 30-year-old son Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the positions of deputy crown prince and minister of defence in charge of the murderous, but largely unsuccessful war in Yemen, sidelining other older claimants to the throne. Mohammed has overturned the Kingdoms decades-long policy of buying political quiescence with a social contract that has provided some securityvia low utility prices, social subventions and public sector jobsfor the Saudi population, and promoted a wave of Sunni-based Saudi nationalism.

Last month, in an announcement that the Economist described as manic optimism, Mohammed unveiled his Vision 2030, drawn up by the McKinsey & Company global consultants McKinsey and aimed at ending the Kingdoms dependence on oil by 2030. He later declared on Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel an end to any dependence on oil by 2020. The measures include the public listing of 5 percent of Aramco, the worlds largest oil company valued at $2.5 trillion, the creation of a sovereign wealth fund with a potential value of $2 trillion to invest in assets, the development of non-oil industries, including a domestic arms industry; more private sector jobs and a new visa system to allow expatriate Muslims and Arabs to work long-term in Saudi Arabia.

Symptomatic of the insoluble contradictions of the Saudi economy was the announcement last week that one of the largest companies, the construction giant the Saudi Bin Laden Group (SBG) that has built most of the countrys public buildings, was unable to pay its workforce.

SBG fired 77,000 of its 200,000 workforce and issued them with exit visas. Immigrant workers, angry that they had not been paid for months, have held daily protests outside SBGs offices, burnt company buses in Mecca and refused to leave the country until they are paid. The company also dismissed 12,000 of its 17,000 Saudi managerial and professional staff, calling on them to resign or wait for their wages and a two-month bonus worth $220 million.

With $30 billion in debts, SBGs financial problems stem from the cutbacks in government spending and the crane collapse on a major expansion of the Grand Mosque in Mecca last year that killed 107 workers and pilgrims. It prompted an investigation of its government projects, many of which were reportedly being carried out without any signed contracts. The company was hit with a withholding of government payments and a ban on SBG tendering for further public building projects.

The impending collapse of SBG provoked such a crisis that the government agreed to allow it to bid for state contracts, said it would ensure that government payments would continue and urged other companies to honour their commitments and pay up on their contracts with SBG.
In the wake of a violent attack on a Verizon picket earlier this week in Queens, New York there has been another incident involving a strikebreaker and a picketing worker.

Forty-seven-year-old Joseph Rooney of Roslindale, Massachusetts was hit by a scab Thursday, who plowed into a Verizon picket line in Westborough. According to press reports, as police were escorting strikebreakers vehicles through the picket line, one accelerated, catching Rooney on the hood of his pick-up truck. The driver then stopped short, sending Rooney flying off the hood. He was taken to a local hospital with what are described as non-life-threatening injuries.

Police arrested the driver of the truck on two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, one count of driving under the influence of alcohol and operating a motor vehicle without a license. He was identified as George Pulling, age 55, of Naples, Florida. Police said it was his fourth DUI offense. He had been staying with other strikebreakers at a hotel being picketed by striking Verizon workers, members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2325. Pulling also struck a cop with the mirror of his truck.

The assault on Rooney follows an incident Monday where a van driven by a New York Police Department (NYPD) lieutenant struck a striking Verizon worker in Queens who had been picketing a hotel housing scab replacements.

Roger Young, executive vice president of Communications Workers of America Local 1101, told the World Socialist Web Site that the injured worker, James Smith, a 18-year Verizon veteran, has been released from Mt. Sinai hospital but is having a lot of trouble walking and is in a great deal of pain.

Police have refused to charge the officer who struck the picket, but the incident has been used by the Obama administration as the basis for an injunction barring picketing New York City hotels housing strikebreakers. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a court petition claiming the picketing violated the ban on secondary boycotts contained in the National Labor Relation Act. The petition reportedly names officials of CWA Local 1101.

The CWA remained silent on the attack in Queens for three days. After WSWS reports of the attack on the picket line in Queens were widely circulated by strikers, on Thursday the CWA finally broke its silence on the attack in Queens, posting a brief account on its blog in the form of an article reposted from International Socialist Organizations socialistworker.org. The article makes no criticism of the unions isolation of the strike and its relationship with the Democratic Party, which is backing Verizons strikebreaking operation.

The long delay angered strikers, who correctly understood that the silence of the CWA only encouraged further violence against pickets.

Verizons strikebreaking in New York City is being carried out with the backing of the citys Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio. Hundreds of police have been mobilized against strikers with workers penned behind barricades while scabs are escorted across their picket lines.

A striking worker, a veteran of the 1989 NYNEX strike and the 2000 and 2011 strikes against Verizon, and a supporter of the World Socialist Web Site, spoke to the WSWS Verizon Strike Newsletter about the broader significance of the recent attacks on Verizon pickets.

Through its silence the CWA is inviting more repressive measures from the state against its members. Immediately on the heels of the attack by the NYPD a federal judge issued a restraining order barring CWA from picketing hotels where out-of-town scabs stay.

In Massachusetts police were assisting strikebreakers to violate picket lines when one scab suddenly accelerated his vehicle running over a picketer. A policeman was also struck. The scab was arrested and charged with DUI and assault. In view of recent developments I wonder if the scab would have been arrested had he not also hit a cop.

Ann Donnelly, the federal judge issuing the injunction in New York, was appointed by Obama. She was recommended for her position by Senator Charles Schumer, a supposed progressive Democrat who has been a strong advocate of expanding the militarized police state and spy apparatus under the guise of waging the so-called global war on terror. It is becoming clear the militarized police force will be used to suppress labor struggles in the US.

Similar forces are at work in France, where following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris the government has given the police new powers, which are being used directly against striking or protesting workers.

Bill de Blasio, who was a regular figure at the 2011 strike before he was elected mayor, has avoided mentioning the strike or appearing at rallies. At a recent rally in Manhattan I saw cops, who are overseen by the de Blasio administration, carrying military grade weapons standing in a park a few yards away. Their presence was clearly meant to intimidate and send a message.

At nearly every picket line and rally I have attended police barricades are in place to keep strikers penned up and impotent with respect to preventing the movement of scabs in and out of the locations being picketed. My own view is that these pens are humiliating. They are an affront to us as supposedly free citizens.

Referring to the CWA and IBEWs collaboration in the suppression of strikers, he continued, In addition to the physical confines of the police barricades, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by a current head of the CWA national union as part of the back to work agreement between CWA and Verizon is in effect a gag order on strikers. Under the terms of this MOU, the company is allowed to fire, and the union has agreed not to protect, strikers who use words deemed hate speech by the company. The agreement also limits the activities of the so-called flying squads.

To enforce this Verizon has issued all of its strikebreakers with cellphones to video infractions. An app on the phone sends the video directly to Verizon security.

Many of us theorize that because Verizon spends a lot on advertising media are reluctant to report on anything which reflects negatively on Verizon. There may be a small bit of truth to this, but I submit it is because news of the Verizon strike would encourage workers across the country to make demands too. That is the last thing the corporations who control media want. It is in their interest to suppress news of our struggle to keep it from spreading. That is why the World Socialist Web Site is so important.

The CWA and the Democrats fear spreading labor unrest. For the CWA leadership it would conflict with their business model of managing us. For the Democrats, widespread labor unrest would not only create a nightmare for them in this years elections. It would expose their role as the handmaidens of the Wall Street aristocracy, the same aristocracy that drives Verizon's unending demand for greater profits via increased productivity on our backs.
From Cosmopolitan

When I was only 15 years old, I was sent to the Bronx from my home country of Gambia for an arranged marriage with a much older man. I did not know at the time that I was a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM), which I'd undergone when I was just a week old. It was only when I had to be reopened in order to have sex that I fully understood what I had been done to me.

With that realization, I decided to take control of my life. I went to the local public schools and begged to be admitted. Because of what had happened to me, they allowed me to enroll without a parent, and ultimately, I left the arranged marriage.

Since then, I have committed myself to ending FGM. In the United States, an estimated 500,000 women and girls have been affected by or are at risk of FGM. At least 200 million women and girls worldwide have undergone a form of FGM. For those at risk in this country, we know that vacation cutting - when families take girls abroad to undergo FGM during school vacations - is most prevalent during the summer months, as girls are able to travel long distances to undergo the traumatic mutilation.

FGM is banned by law in 41 countries, and the United Nations Population Fund and the United Nations Children's Fund have committed jointly to eliminate FGM. Because of the breadth of the problem in New York, the state legislature passed a law last year to increase awareness and public education about the physical, sexual, and psychological consequences of FGM, including vacation cutting. But still the practice persists.

Though Safe Hands for Girls, the organization I founded to raise awareness of FGM, fight to eliminate it, and support survivors, I met a girl in New York City who shared her story with me. After she realized her family was planning to send her back to their home country during a school break, she sought help at her school. She went to her guidance counselor and explained that she was afraid to go home because she was going to be sent off on a vacation cutting, but rather than seek assistance or provide help, the counselor dismissed the girl and sent her home. Ultimately, the child underwent FGM, which can include clitoridectomy (the reduction of the clitoris), infibulation (the removal of the external female genitalia and the sealing or narrowing of the vaginal opening using stitches or glue), or other medically unnecessary and deforming procedures.

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That's why it's so important to spread the word. At Safe Hands for Girls, we conduct workshops informing communities about this horrific practice, and one of the things that always strikes me is that the parents don't know vacation cutting is illegal. While many are aware that FGM is against the law here in the U.S., few realize they will also been subject to persecution if they send their daughters back to their home countries to undergo FGM. This information alone is often enough to dissuade parents from going through with their plans. Many girls are spared as a result, so it's essential that we get the information out to immigrant and practicing communities as well as medical providers and school faculty and staff.

While we work to end FGM, we also must support those who have survived it. At Safe Hands for Girls, we advocate for free reconstructive and restorative surgeries for survivors, and train medical professionals so they can provide culturally sensitive and specialized care. FGM results in short- and long-term health complications and chronic pain, as well as sexual and psychological damage. What's more, survivors often avoid routine sexual and reproductive health care because health-care providers do not know how to treat us, so we need to provide trauma-aware and shame-free care to survivors.

I know, as a survivor and through my work as an advocate and activist, that women and girls who have undergone FGM are subject to extreme stigma. When I first spoke out about my experience, my community condemned me. I've been told I'm an embarrassment to my family and community, and even today, people call my husband and other family members to ask me to stop doing this work. Stigmatizing, of course, leads to silencing. It is extremely difficult to educate our communities and our lawmakers about an issue when nobody is speaking out.

So let's work together to amplify the voices of survivors and others working to end FGM and vacation cutting. It's going to take a collective effort. This is not a one-person issue. It's not a one-country issue. It's an issue for humanity, and it affects us all in one way or another. Let's make the commitment to keep our girls safe this summer and beyond.

Jaha Dukureh is the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, an organization that works to eliminate FGM and all violence against women.

Follow Jaha on Twitter.
Calvin Klein on Monday debuted its "Erotica"-themed campaign, and like the subject suggests, the images are provocative, with one photo showing Kendall Jenner squeezing a grapefruit (a symbolism for the female anatomy) and another of a model wearing jeans backwards to reveal her bum. But the image that has the interwebs enraged is one featuring Danish actress and model Klara Kristin, 23, in which she's photographed from under her skirt. (Interestingly enough, she was the same model that starred in the controversial billboard in New York that CK later removed.)

The ad has now prompted the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) to create a petition, asking the fashion label to remove the image and "to stop normalizing and glamorizing sexual harassment."

"Once again, Calvin Klein has used a depiction of sexual harassment or assault in its advertisements," said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, in a statement, adding that up-skirting is "a growing trend of sexual harassment where pictures are taken up a woman's skirt without her knowledge, or without her consent. Not only is this activity a crime in many states like New York, Washington, Florida and more, but it is also a disturbing breach of privacy and public trust." The petition can be found here.

Take a peek: @karate_katia, photographed by @harleyweir for the Spring 2016 advertising campaign. #mycalvins

A photo posted by Calvin Klein (@calvinklein) on May 9, 2016 at 3:45pm PDT

Since posting that particular shot on Instagram on Tuesday, the fashion brand has been faced with backlash among followers and angry comments. "Yeah ... this is gross. You could have gotten the flirty "flashing" concept across without doing an upskirt shot. Was no one on your creative teams aware that men take upskirt shots of women and girls and post them online without consent? Do you really not know what an upskirt shot implies?" wrote one follower.

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However, not everyone is upset by the ads. As one commenter put it, "This is genius. Love it or hate it - it's trending on Facebook and people are taking about Calvin Klein. Big marketing win."

Calvin Klein did not immediately respond to Pret-a-Reporter's request for comment on the petition.
Jordan, Nyongo, and Boseman will star in Black Panther (Getty Images)

By Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter

Michael B Jordan will reteam with his Creed director Ryan Coogler for Marvel Studios Black Panther, inking a deal to join movies buzzy cast, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

This would be the third time that Jordan will work with Coogler, who is helming the comic-book movie as well as writing the script. The first time the duo came together was for the indie drama Fruitvale Station.

Chadwick Boseman is toplining Black Panther while Lupita Nyongo is in negotiations to star alongside him.

More: Black Panther: Which Character Will Lupita Nyong'o Portray?



It is unclear who Jordan would play but one source told THR that it could be a villain. Marvel had no comment.

Boseman and Black Panther were introduced in Captain America: Civil War, which crossed the $700 million worldwide mark in under a week and a half.

The character, whose name is TChalla, is the warrior king of Wakanda, Marvels fictional African nation that is rich in an unbreakable alloy called vibranium.

Black Panther has a Feb. 2, 2018, release date, with production set to start in early 2017.

Panther wont be Jordans superhero movie debut. The actor last year starred as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in Foxs Marvel franchise The Fantastic Four.

Jordan is currently developing a remake of The Thomas Crowne Affair as an acting vehicle. He will also produce the remake along with the Joe and Anthony Russo.

Jordan is repped by WME, MGMT Management, and Bloom Hergott.
President Barack Obama had plenty of nice things to say about the Nordic region today (May 13) at a White House welcoming ceremony for leaders of Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland.

Avicii Cancels All 2016 Las Vegas Tour Dates

Included in the President's laundry list of praise were Swedish DJ/producer Avicii, Swedish pop act ABBA, Swedish streaming service Spotify, communication software Skype, Danish toy Legos, Swedish computer game Minecraft and mobile games Angry Birds and Candy Crush.

Obama also showed some love for Finland's heavy metal scene, joking that the country "had the most heavy metal bands in the world per capita."

Watch the President's remarks below.
The U.S. News Best Places Data Drill Down, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that sheds light on multiple data points in order to help readers make the most informed decision when choosing where to live in the United States. Visit our 2016 Best Places to Live ranking to see which of the 100 most populous metro areas made it to the top of the list based on good value, desirability, a strong job market and a high quality of life.

We all have to factor certain basic needs into our budgets -- such as food, taxes, healthcare and housing. However, for many residents living in some of the United States' largest metro areas, these needs can weigh a bit heavier on their wallets.

[See: The 20 Best Affordable Places to Live in the U.S.]

Being able to afford to live in a particular city or neighborhood doesn't stop at the rent or home price, it also affects the quality of life for a person's day-to-day routine -- from accessibility to nutritious food and reliable transportion, to the ability to go out to eat, attend a concert or see a movie.

In order to define the methodology to determine U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the 100 Best Places to Live for 2016, we asked Americans across the country which factors would most heavily influence their decision to move to a new city: the quality of life there, the state of the job market, the state of the housing market or the cost of living. Nearly 30 percent of the 2,000 respondents said that affordability would be the most important factor they would consider in their decision to move to that particular place.

Calculating the cost of living for the 100 metro areas evaluated for the Best Places to Live ranking looked at monthly housing costs data from the U.S. Census. This data included mortgage payments, utilities and taxes. The monthly housing cost for renters was then determined by extracting the cost of utilities and adding it to the average rent, which was then translated into annual costs. The blended annual cost of living was determined by combining the two amounts using a weighting determined by the percentage of the population that owns versus rents.

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[See: The 20 Best Places to Live in the U.S.]

Among the 100 metros that were ranked, the average blended annual cost of living in 2015-2016 was about $18,627. In the 10 metro areas with the highest blended annual cost of living, the average was significantly higher at about $28,893.

At the top of the list is New York City, which was ranked No. 96 in the 2016 Best Places to Live ranking. Although many people dream of living in New York City, the fact of the matter is that the average person cannot afford to sustain a comfortable life there. Those who make the equivalent of the metro area's average household income must spend more than 50 percent of their earnings on housing expenses.

Below are the 10 metro areas with the highest annual cost of living.

Place (Metro Area) Blended Annual Cost of Living for 2015 - 2016 Spot in 2016 U.S. News Best Places to Live ranking Cost of Living as Percent of Average Income New York, New York $36,101 #96 50.29% San Jose, California $33,075 #10 34.56% San Francisco, California $30,495 #9 36.65% Washington, District of Columbia $28,426 #8 29.96% Honolulu, Hawaii $28,004 #26 36.75% Boston, Massachusetts $27,832 #30 35.83% Los Angeles, California $27,073 #83 42.58% San Diego, California $26,337 #16 38.97% Santa Rosa, California $25,865 #62 38.60% New Haven, Connecticut $25,719 #88 39.13%

San Jose, San Francisco and the District of Columbia are also included in the top 10 list of the overall Best Places to Live ranking. It may be expensive to live in these three places, but the household incomes there are higher, allowing residents to more easily afford the cost of living. With higher household incomes, residents in San Jose and San Francisco pay less than 40 percent in housing costs and residents in Washington, D.C. pay less than 30 percent.

[See: The 20 Most Desirable Places to Live in the U.S.]

Be sure to check out our 2016 Best Places to Live methodology for insight on how we analyzed and determined our calculations.





More From US News & World Report


Would you really want that practically tattooed on your stomach?! (Twitter / @megancarnahan16) Would you really want that practically tattooed on your stomach?! (Twitter / @megancarnahan16)

When the sun starts shining, we cant wait to get outdoors. However, the wrong protection can of course result in sunburn  a sign that the skin has been severely damaged by the suns powerful rays.

We rounded up some of the worst sunburn pictures on the Internet to remind you to slap on your sunscreen.

FYI: The British Association of Dermatologists recommends wearing at least SPF 30 with a high UVA star rating if youre spending a long time outdoors.

To find out how to tan safely, visit the British Association of Dermatologists website.
What It Is: The fourth generation of Audis flagship A8 sedan, set to make its debut sometime next year as a 2018 model. After years of playing catch-up to the Mercedes-Benz S-class and the BMW 7-series, the next A8 will arrive armed for battle with an impressive arsenal of technology features. Likely to attract most attention is a semi-autonomous driving mode derived from Audis Piloted Driving technology, which supposedly will let the A8 park itself and autonomously drive itself from a stop up to speeds as high as 37 mph. The A8 will also be equipped with special control units meant to prepare the car to accommodate further development of the companys autonomous-driving software down the road. A new infotainment system called MMI Touch Response also will be part of the package; it replaces most traditional buttons and knobs with several dash-mounted LED screens. We had a few qualms about this screen-tastic system when we tried it out at this years Consumer Electronics Show, but we assume that Audi will continue to refine its operation before the A8s official debut.

Why It Matters: As the first Audi model designed from scratch under head of design Marc Lichte, the new A8 will usher in a new aesthetic for the brand. This design philosophy was introduced with the 2014 Prologue concept, first shown in 2014, and its easy to see that sleek coupes influence on this A8 prototype. The most obvious change is the significantly wider take on the brands Singleframe grille, along with more angular headlights that resemble those seen on the new Audi A4. The thin, sleek LED taillights also look a lot like the A4s units, and the new A8s overall greenhouse shape continues the tradition of making the A8 sedan look like an inflated version of its smaller siblingsnot necessarily a bad thing.

Platform: The A8 will sit on the Volkswagen Groups MLB Evo architecture, which also underpins the Audi Q7 SUV and the new A4 sedan. Expect the new A8 to lose weight compared with the current car, which uses an aluminum-intensive platform but isnt exactly a featherweight, at 4672 pounds for a V-8 model we tested. Lest you worry that the MLB architecture wont be worthy for a $100,000-plus luxury sedan, rest easy: The lofty Bentley Bentayga SUV also rides on this platform.

Powertrain: So far we only have details on a new diesel V-8 with about 400 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. But that engine is likely to remain for Europe only, given the current state of the Volkswagen Groups diesel crisis. Were more likely to get the A8 with Audis new 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6 from the S4 as a base engine and an updated version of Audis 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 available as an option. The range-topping A8 W12 seems likely to continue, since theres a new-generation 600-hp, direct-injected W-12 thats just waiting to be installed in the VW Groups high-dollar products. All A8s surely will come standard with Quattro all-wheel drive, and an eight-speed automatic transmission is likely.

Competition: BMW 7-series, Jaguar XJ, Lexus LS, Mercedes-Benz S-class, Tesla Model S.

Estimated Arrival and Price: The A8 is expected to make its debut in Europe sometime in early 2017, with a U.S. arrival later that year. Look for its price to rise a bit beyond the current A8s $82,425 starting price, although the retention of a six-cylinder model should still keep it under $90,000 to start.
Netflix is one of the most universally adored services out there. Where as most companies have as many outspoken critics as they do fans, heaps of praise are constantly shoveled Netflix's way by customers. Since it's so rare to see users upset with the company, it's definitely a change of pace when nearly 45,000 people band together and demand that Netflix change one of its policies  but that's exactly what happened earlier this week.

DON'T MISS: This is exactly what the iPhone 7 will look like

In an open letter dated May 11th and signed by nearly 45,000 people as part of a petition, a group of people addressing Netflix CEO Reed Hastings laid out all the reasons they believe Netflix should stop blocking VPN users.

For those who might be unaware, Netflix users in many regions use VPN services to appear as though they're streaming Netflix from inside the United States. The US has a much larger catalog than most other regions; Netflix has to license content in each individual market, and it licenses far more content in the US than it does elsewhere.

You can see how other regional catalogs compare to the US right here.

Netflix used to turn a blind eye to subscribers who used VPN services to spoof their locations, but pressure from content owners recently forced the company to change its policy. So, beginning in late January, Netflix began actively blocking VPN users in some regions.

"Watching quality content, and knowing that creators are being compensated in the process is great," the letter to Hastings reads. "But we also love our privacy. And lately, as your subscribers, you just havent been treating us well. Over the past few months, Netflix has begun blocking VPN users from accessing any content in the Netflix library, as a way to enforce national licensing restrictions. This is a huge problem for our privacy-conscious supporters, who use VPNs as an essential, user-friendly tool to protect their privacy in a post-Snowden world."

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The letter goes on to suggest that Netflix change the structure of its deals so that content is licensed globally and the company isn't forced to use geoblocking solutions. That... isn't going to happen.

Privacy issues are a valid argument. Of that, there is no question. But there is a word that describes the act of using a VPN service to access content licensed in a region other than the one you're in: stealing. Netflix pays to stream content to certain regions, and those agreements are not global. If you live in Australia and you stream a movie licensed only for viewers in the US, your monthly subscription fee doesn't cover royalties paid to the owner of that movie.

45,000 people is an impressive number and we're not trying to belittle their concerns. But the bottom line is that nothing is going to change anytime soon.

The full letter, which was posted by TorrentFreak, is embedded below.

Related stories

Watch the first trailer for 'Orange is the New Black' season 4

Netflix saves you 160 hours of TV commercials each year

New unlimited VPN app for iPhone is designed to bypass censorship

More from BGR: These 3D models likely show us exactly what the iPhone 7 will look like

This article was originally published on BGR.com
The Philippines just elected a president who vows to be a dictator in the battle against evil. Here are the five facts you need to know about Rodrigo Duterte, and what his victory means for his country and for others.

Hes a genuine punisher

People throw around the term strongman a lot these days, but Duterte lives up to the billing. Known as Duterte Harry and The Punisher, Duterte served as mayor of Davao City for more than 22 years. Trained as a lawyer, he vowed to clean up a city so notorious for its crime it was once tagged the Nicaragua of Asia. Today, Davaos per capita crime rate is the lowest in the country. But the methods Duterte allegedly used to pull this off have drawn condemnation from international human rights groups. Its widely believed that Duterte sanctioned extrajudicial killings by roving packs of vigilantes. These death squads targeted petty criminals, street children and drug dealers, according to Human Rights Watch, claiming the lives of more than 1,000 people, 132 of them children. Duterte appointed himself judge, jury and executionerand the people of Davao loved him for it. In a March survey conducted in the city by Ateneo de Davao University, 88 percent of people polled said they would vote for Duterte as president.

(BBC, The Diplomat, The Guardian)

Hes unapologetically brash

Duterte made security the focal point of his campaign, and he didnt go much further than that. But whatever Duterte lacked in serious policy proposals, he more than made up for in Donald Trump-like rhetoric. In 1989, an Australian missionary was raped and murdered in Davao, where Duterte was mayor at the time. A month ago, an old video surfaced of Duterte telling a crowd that she was so beautiful, I think the mayor should have been first. What a waste. Hes refused to apologize for the comment. Hes called Pope Francis a son of a whore for causing a traffic jam on the pontiffs visit to the country; hes promised to execute 100,000 criminals and throw them into Manila Bay if elected president. While such crass language would sink the campaigns of typical presidential hopefuls, Duterte has used it to burnish his anti-establishment credentialseven though hes actually the son of a former provincial governor.

(CNN)

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Hes not a member of the elite

Dutertes candidacy also got a boost from growing awareness that Philippine citizens remain under the thumb of political and economic elites. 83 percent consider corruption a problem; 64 percent of those say its a serious problem. That up to 70 percent of Philippine legislators come from political families doesnt help that perception. And while the Philippine economy has taken off in recent years thanks to serious pro-market reforms, very little of that wealth has made its way to the impoverished majority. More than 45 percent of the population still lives on less than $2 a day.

Duterte has demonstrated no understanding of economics, but as mayor he appointed competent economic advisors, which has reassured many international observers.

(Transparency International, CNN, LA Times)

Hes willing to take a stand against China

All of southeast Asia lives in the shadow of China, and there is no more hotly contested issue right now than the historic conflict over boundaries in the South China Sea (SCS). One third of global maritime trade travels through the SCS, including more than 60 percent of South Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese energy supplies and 80 percent of Chinas crude oil imports. And thats before we get to the vast oil and gas reserves believed to lie beneath the seabed. China has been aggressively building artificial islands in the SCS to strengthen its legal claims over the waters, which has provoked a backlash from neighboring countries. First among them was the Philippines; outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino took a strong line against China, even taking it to arbitration court in the Hague in a case Beijing refuses to recognize. Duterte meanwhile has offered to jet ski to the contested islands and hoist the Philippine flag there himself. Beijing and the Philippine people were amused by the braggadocio; the Philippines fellow claimants were anything but.

(Business Insider)

But its not the stand that his allies want

The real concern are Dutertes comments about what follows once the Hague issues its ruling on the SCS sometime in the next few weeks. China wants to engage its neighbors one-on-one to strike individual deals that strengthen its broader negotiating position. The neighbors should know they are stronger when they band together and speak to China with a single voice, one backed by support from the United States. But Duterte has said that if multilateral talks fail to produce an agreement within two years, the Philippines should go it alone and strike a separate deal with Beijingprovided that China pay for some infrastructure improvements like trains around Davao City and between Manila and Bicol. That gives Beijing an obvious incentive to make sure that multilateral talks fail.

This isnt just a problem for southeast Asia. The US has more than 75,000 troops already stationed in the region and formal alliances with Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines. Washington is bound by treaty to defend them if push comes to shove. And Dutertes Philippines First approach to foreign policy makes it much more likely that southeast Asia will end up in a shoving match over the South China Sea. Thats why Roderigo Duterte is the regions new wildcard.

(TIME)
Can a company from the once-bankrupt city of Detroit, best known as the Motor City, successfully re-train its sights from cars onto the world of financial technology, a.k.a. "fintech"? Detroit-based financial news and data company Benzinga is banking on it (pun intended).

Related: Fintech, The Wake Up Call For Banks

The Benzinga Fintech Awards are where we celebrate innovation in financial technology. A whole new generation is starting to manage their money and wants to do that in ways finance has never thought of, explains Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick. Our goal with the awards is to impact peoples lives and change investing for the better.

Finalists for the Benzinga Fintech Awards have been recognized by their peers as innovators. To achieve that status, candidate companies needed 200 social mentions by their peers and colleagues during the awards entry process.

I spoke with five of the companies being honored May 24 in New York, to gain a front-row seat to whos who in fintech. Here are profiles of these five companies Benzinga believes will better America's investing future:

1. DriveWealth

Headquarters: Chatham, NJ

Leadership: Robert Cortright, CEO, and Michael Dugan, CFO

DriveWealth has created an investing ecosystem which allows people worldwide to invest in powerful U.S. financial products. As emerging market investors look for a safe place to invest, and as our society continues to rely more on technology, the company is giving people the means to fit investing into their lifestyles.

DriveWealth gives around-the-world access to U.S. stock markets through our B2B partnerships, as well as through our proprietary Passport investing app," explains CEO Robert Cortright. "We recently released real-time fractional-share portfolio-building, which allows individuals to invest in terms of dollars, not shares. Building long-term wealth by investing in terms of dollar amounts they can afford, investors can own the brands that matter to them.

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DriveWealths goal this year is to reach three-quarters of a billion people through its global partnerships, providing these people access to the U.S. stock markets. Partnering with Benzinga aids customers in making informed investing decisions, Cortright says.

2. AlphaSense

Headquarters: San Francisco, Calif.

Leadership: Jack Kokko, co-founder and chief executive officer, and Raj Neervannan, co-founder and chief technical officer

AlphaSense is a financial search engine, known as the Google for financial services." It indexes millions of documents on global companies and helps clients find hidden information on any company in seconds.

AlphaSense provides intelligent search and alerting capabilities across a vast library of research documents, including company filings and transcripts, presentations, real-time news, press releases, Wall Street investment research, as well as clients internal content," says CEO Jack Kokko.

The result, he says, is an "information edge," which enables customers to "find what others miss." AlphaSense just raised $33 million in capital which, Kokko says, will be used to "further entrench AlphaSense as the de facto search engine for knowledge professionals within financial services."

Related: Five Fintech Startups To Watch

3. Credibly

Headquarters: New York City

Leadership: Glenn Goldman, chief executive officer

Credibly, founded in 2010, is an online lending platform that delivers a broad range of short- and long-term capital to satisfy the small and medium-sized business (SMB) credit spectrum.

Credibly is a best-in-class online small business lending platform leveraging data science and analytics to improve the speed, cost and choice of capital available to SMBs across the United States, says Credibly CEO Glenn Goldman. This year, he says, Credibly is seeing big milestones, including the announcement of a $70 million credit facility with SunTrust Bank and the launch of its first-term loan, with rates starting in the single digits for prime borrowers.

On the horizon are such offerings as an enhanced digital-user experience, additional funding products to address the entire small business credit-risk spectrum and exclusive bank and tech partnerships to reduce the cost of SMB capital and educate borrowers on their business credit health.

4. TD Ameritrade

Headquarters: Omaha, Neb.

Leadership: Fred Tomczyk, chief executive officer

TD Ameritrade is an online broker for stock, option, futures, forex trading, long-term investing and retirement planning.

TD Ameritrade is the U.S. leader in online trading and offers innovative mobile, desktop and web-based trading solutions to over six million retail investors," says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of trading at TD Ameritrade. Additionally, TD Ameritrade Institutional is helping independent registered investment advisors serve the best interests of its clients, Sherrod says. She adds: Our primary mandate is to level the playing field for the individual investor," via high-level technology and content.

5. PureFunds

Headquarters: New York City

Leadership: Andrew Chanin, chief executive officer

PureFunds recognizes the changes afoot in the financial industry, and as such was motivated to create the world's first Mobile Payments Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) (IPAY), focusing on mobile, electronic and digital payment and transaction companies, says Andrew Chanin, CEO.

PureFunds has a current suite of six ETFs, Chanin explains, adding: "We strive to grow our current suite of thematic technology focused ETFs while we continue to provide the market with exposure to in-demand industries."

Related: Going to the Bank Again? Say Goodbye to That.

Says Chanin: PureFunds is thrilled to participate at the Benzinga Fintech Awards, as we both share a passion for, and recognition of, the increasingly important and disruptive potential of the fintech industry.
From Cosmopolitan

People (we don't like) stereotype cooking as women's work. So why do they think rock-star chefs have to be dudes? Consider: About half of culinary school grads are women. But the stats on advancement (about 20 percent of chefs and head cooks are female) and prestige (female chefs have won only 23 percent of James Beard Awards, and they run 11 percent of Michelin-starred kitchens) reveal a serious demi-glace ceiling. Women are revolutionizing the food world, and they deserve equal acclaim. So we're celebrating seven culinary goddesses - and in turn, they're sharing four no-fail recipes that will fire up your inner top chef.

GIVE 'EM HEAT

Amanda Cohen, Dirt Candy, NYC

Crowds buzz nonstop about Cohen's vegetarian restaurant, but in 2013, the buzz was about her New York Times op-ed in response to another all-male "food gods" feature (this one in Time). "Look at cooking schools and kitchens. This is not a white male field," she says. "But once there's prestige involved, men get more accolades and press. All I know how to do is speak up about it."

FIND WHAT YOU LOVE

Niki Nakayama, n/naka, Los Angeles

To see a boys' club within a boys' club, look no further than Japanese fine dining and especially kaiseki: a traditional multicourse style that showcases seasonal ingredients. (In fact, the Wall Street Journal suggested that Nakayama is the world's only female kaiseki chef.) "I love it because it's about being grateful for all that nature provides," she says. Celebrating all the ingredients you have is a major theme in her food and resonates in her personal life as well. "At one point in the past, I felt that my being gay was a negative thing," she says. She was determined to prove that she was more than the things that defined her. "I felt, well, I can't choose what I am, but I can choose what I become. I found what I was looking for in cooking."

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BREAK THE RULES

Marjorie Meek-Bradley, Ripple and Roofers Union, Washington, D.C.

Meek-Bradley holds it down for the ladies. She was the only female finalist on this year's Top Chef, and at Ripple, her kitchen team is almost all female. Like so many powerful women, she's had to deal with people calling her bitchy, but being tough has paid off. Case in point: After showing up at Napa Valley's prestigious The French Laundry earlier in her career, asking to see the chef, and politely refusing to take no for an answer, she got a tryout and won a job on the spot. Her advice for aspiring chefs: "If you want something, go ask for it. Go to that kitchen door with resume in hand."

PUSH THE LIMITS

Mindy Segal, HotChocolate, Chicago

Segal, who won 2012's James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef, not only looks like a badass with plenty of tattoos, she also cooks like one. She's the first high-profile American chef to roll out marijuana-laced edibles to be available for patients in Illinois. But even as she's trailblazing in an industry full of egomaniacs, Segal calls humility the key ingredient to success. "The more you think you know, the less you know. Dedication to your craft isn't a six-month achievement, it's a lifetime achievement."

RISE ABOVE THE NAYSAYERS

Christine Flynn, iQ Food Co., Toronto

"It's an amazing time to be a woman in food and it's an amazing time to be a woman in comedy, because those are the places where people are talking about gender imbalance the most," says Flynn, who was revealed to be the genius behind Instagram account Chef Jacques La Merde, who transforms junk food into certified #FoodPorn. "I like to think I'm in the middle of that Venn diagram." Flynn's day job is running the kitchen at the healthy locavore chain iQ Food Co., but as evidenced by her feed, she doesn't take herself too seriously. "A lot of people are nervous about cooking at home," she says, "but I encourage everyone to make mistakes. Fall down, burn your socks, whatever. Worst-case scenario is you order pizza. Just keep food in your fridge, and keep cooking."

FIND THE UNEXPECTED FUNNY

Mashama Bailey, The Grey , Savannah

Less than a year after The Grey opened, it was a Food & Wine top restaurant and everyone was talking about first-time executive chef Mashama Bailey's modern Southern fare - and the restaurant's innovative design (it's housed in a restored, formerly segregated Greyhound bus station). Bailey's mentors, like uberchef Gabrielle Hamilton, her boss at NYC's Prune, helped give her the confidence to cook. "Everyone was treated with respect [at Prune]," she remembers. "I felt, this is the exact environment I want to work in. That was where I started to pay attention to my voice." One thing she won't be paying attention to? Her haters. "One day you pop up with a restaurant and people who were assholes to you and never saw you as competition are like, 'What?!?'"

TRUST YOUR GUT

Carla Hall, Carla Hall's Southern Kitchen, NYC

Carla, a co-host on The Chew and Top Chef alum, seems born to cook, but - surprise! - she didn't go to culinary school until she was 30. "I was a CPA and hated it," she says. "I was afraid to still hate my job at 40, so I quit. But try out cooking before you quit," she warns. "Moonlight. Shows like Top Chef glorify this business, but it's physically taxing, and you work when everyone's off." It's a tough gig, but it's definitely Carla's calling. "I make food that's unapologetically me," she says. "You can be awesome and authentic at the same time."

This article was originally published as "Sister Knives" in the June 2016 issue of Cosmopolitan.
Who doesnt love a great pair of high heels? They make your legs look amazing and they can bring your outfit to the next level. But sometimes, our footwear doesnt like us back. Just ask any of these celebrities who have run into trouble when it comes to their high heels. Whether their shoes are putting them in pain, causing them to stumble, or just straight-up dont fit right, the rich and famous arent immune to having a bit of shoe trouble.

Below, eight celebs who lost the battle with their fancy footwear.

J.Lo

J.Los a pro on the dance floor, but these Rihanna x Manolo Blahnik boots proved to be a challenge for her. Lopez explained in a Facebook Q&A that the shoes werent the best choice for the big dance scene at the end of her music video for Aint Your Mama. Rihanna had sent me these amazing boots and I was like, These have to be in the video. How are we going to get these into the video? And I always saw all the women marching at the end in a group, kind of starting this revolution, and I thought, Okay, maybe Ill just wear them to dance. Theyre just amazing, so thats what we did, she said. They were hard to dance in. Everyone else was dancing, as you see, in kind of like combat boots, sneakers, and I walked out in those and I was like, Nobody wearing heels but me? Okay! And it was on concrete, outside, so it wasnt the easiest boot to ever dance in, but we pulled it off. (Photo: YouTube)

Jourdan Dunn

Kanye West is known for creating dope footwear, but the offerings for his fall 2012 fashion show were reportedly not kind to the models feet. During what we believe to be a fitting for the show, Jourdan Dunn tweeted, Dont get me wrong the shoes are sexy as f*** but you cant walk in them! Fellow model Leomie Anderson also piped up about the shoes: omg the model who fit for his clothes said the shoes were so bad and he was cussin her. (Photo: Getty Images)

Lena Dunham

At the 2012 Glamour Women of the Year Awards, Lena Dunham just had to get comfy in the middle of accepting her Voice of a Generation award. I have to take my shoes off, you guys  Im so sorry, she said onstage. (Photo: Getty)

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Emma Thompson

Christian Louboutins shoes are notoriously painful; Emma Thompson reminded us all just how uncomfortable his footwear is at the 2014 Golden Globe awards. The actress took the stage, martini in hand  and barefoot. I just want you to know  this red? she said, pointing to the bottoms of the shoes. Thats my blood. She later threw the pumps over her shoulders, which is what we all pretty much want to do after a long night of walking around in Loubis. (Photo: Getty)

Julianne Moore

Poor Julianne! The actress was photographed on the red carpet at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival with her pinky toes prominently hanging out of the sides of her narrow sandals. (Photo: Getty)

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian refused to give up wearing high heels while she was pregnant with North West, but her painful-looking, swollen feet proved that high heels had long given up on her.

Kim Kardashian

The reality stars Givenchy pumps made quite an impression on her pregnant feet. (Photo: @kimkardashian)

Meghan Trainor

During a performance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, Trainor ended her set with a splat, as she fell flat on her back after trying to execute a spin and a mic grab in high heels. (via Vine)

Beyonce

We all know Queen Bey can stomp, twirl, and bust a move in some seriously high heels, but things didnt work out for her during this performance, and she took a tumble down the stairs. (via YouTube)

Read More: The High-Heel Hiatus: Podiatrists Explain Why Stilettos Really Are That Bad for You

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Friday the 13th Friday the 13th is considered by many as the unluckiest day of the year. The origin stems from ancient Christianity. Its believed Judas, one of Jesus 12 apostles, was the 13th guest to arrive at the Last Supper. He betrayed Jesus the following day. Many Christians also think Jesus was crucified on a Friday and that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden on a Friday.

Do you cross your fingers when you tell a white lie or cringe when a black cat crosses your path? Although we may not like to admit it, most of us are superstitious.

Superstitions arent based on reason or knowledge, so why do we believe in them?

Rebecca Borah, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, told National Geographic that, superstitions are attempts to understand and even control fate in an uncertain world. Theyve been passed down through so many generations that it would be difficult not to believe in them.



Click through the slideshow to see how some of the most common superstitions came about.

Do you have any superstitions? Let us know what makes you jump by tweeting to @YahooStyleCA.
The war on drugs is changing.

Skyrocketing heroin and prescription painkiller abuse across the United States has prompted policymakers o to reconsider the criminal justice system's approach to drug offenses. Drug addiction is increasingly being seen as a public health crisis instead of a moral one, and as a result, rehabilitation is beginning to gain traction over punishment as the appropriate way to respond to it.

There are early stirrings of reform. Some law enforcement officials are pursuing inventive methods for redirecting people with an addiction to illegal drugs away from the legal system and toward immediate treatment. A bipartisan group of senators have cobbled together a major bill that would reduce sentences for drug offenders. Presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle have called for a softening in the way the criminal justice system treats new nonviolent drug offenders.

For drug policy reform advocates, these developments bode well for a wind down of the war on drugs. But there remain plenty of dimensions to drug policy that continue to go unaddressed  one of the most urgent ones of which is the quiet crisis of drug addiction within the prison system itself.

Read more: One Dark Side of the Criminal Justice System That Everyone Should Know

What it's like: Incarceration typically severs prisoners' ties to the main sources of their drug habits, but it doesn't necessarily liberate them from the plague of addiction.

According to a landmark study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse in 2010, about two-thirds of individuals in American jails and prisons suffer from drug addiction, but only 11% of them receive any treatment for it, a mismatch that has changed little since then. The inadequacy of addiction treatment services in prison plays a major factor in high recidivism rates in the U.S., as many released prisoners quickly slide back into the destructive lifestyles that helped land them in prison in the first place.

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Raymond Hawkins, 38, suffered from an alcohol and crack cocaine addiction before and between a series of stints in jail and prison that spanned most of his adult life. He found that being thrown behind bars while in the throes of addiction was an an alienating and painful experience.

Source: Mic/Getty Images

"First two days in jail you're sleeping, basically, then when you start to get energy, that's when the thoughts are really racing in your head, like, 'Damn, I wish I was out getting high right now,'" Hawkins said in an interview. "When you go in first, you don't want guys to know you're a crackhead. You keep it to yourself. You'll go through the thoughts on your bunk just by yourself, and you won't let nobody know."

Hawkins kept his deep urges to himself, since revealing his past could result in being perceived as "weak."

"You have guys who are in prison who sold a lot of drugs and never used drugs," Hawkins said. "They tend to look down on people who have used drugs. They'll just make trouble. They'll want to take your commissary bag, they'll try to make you have sex with them, because they feel like you're weak because you've done drugs all your life."

Hawkins grew up in Camden, New Jersey, surrounded by addiction. His mother was addicted to crack cocaine, and on occasion would take him along when she visited crack houses. A number of his aunts and uncles were alcoholics. His brother, who was paralyzed from the waist down from a gunshot to his side, introduced him to crack when he was 21.

Hawkins found that while in prison the incentives to not use crack or drink would keep his addictions at bay, every time he was released his demons were waiting for him on the outside. Despite the respite from drugs while behind bars, old habits returned fast. The last time he was sent to prison it was for theft, an act motivated by a desire to fund his urge for crack that returned, like clockwork, upon his last release.

Hawkins said that in lieu of drug treatment programs in prison, he usually sought refuge in spirituality.

"I found my peace going to church, because they don't have too many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or Narcotics Anonymous meetings in prison," Hawkins said.

Source: Mic/Getty Images

Hawkins' trouble getting the services he needed is not unique. Across the nation, a majority of inmates with a drug addiction don't receive any drug treatment services that help them gain control of their addiction. Instead, they're left to fend for themselves.

For some inmates who suffer from addiction, prison ends up imposing a kind of temporary sobriety on them, after which relapses are the norm.

Other inmates end up feeding their addiction while in prison. Drugs have a way of seeping into incredibly secure correctional facilities, slipping into the hands of inmates through family visits, mail and civilian employees at correctional facilities. Payments can be made via money transfers through connections with people on the outside, or through bartering with the limited kinds of rations that prisons often provide inmates with. But when prisoners can't pay up, they often get injured or robbed.

What's the solution? Serious drug addiction is a disease whose sources are not eradicated simply through the absence of drug use, even for long periods of time. It's an issue that typically needs be addressed through various kinds of specialized treatment designed to target the root causes underlying the addiction.

"Enforced abstinence is not a cure  even after years incarcerated, when the addicted individual nears his or her release date, the cravings, the drug dreams, all come back," Andrew Klein, senior criminal justice research analyst at Advocates for Human Potential, said in an interview. "Then once the addicted individual hits the street, he or she returns to the same environment, associates, and dysfunctional families he or she came from, plus all of the additional stress and anxiety and barriers a released prisoner faces trying to survive with a prison record."

If one of his housemates finds a bottle of liquor and gets drunk  he can sometimes feel his own old desires beckon.

Substance abuse treatment programs, run by health care professionals and designed to rehabilitate prisoners, dramatically decrease recidivism rates. They're also cost effective  treatment is far cheaper than incarceration. And yet federal, state and local governments spend a mere 1% of the cost of processing and incarcerating substance-involved adult and juvenile offenders on prevention and treatment services.

Boosting the availability of treatment in prisons is crucial, but so are services designed to help people to transition and adjust to life on the outside. Therapeutic communities like halfway houses have proven very effective in helping people target the kinds of issues that often lie beneath the surface in heavily controlled environments like prison, but always have the potential to re-emerge.

Adam Narducci, 35, has found his program at Integrity House, a drug recovery center in New Jersey that works closely with former prisoners suffering from substance abuse problems, to be a crucial step toward preparing for being on his own again. Before coming to Integrity House, he was in prison for over 13 years.

"There's things you think you have under control while you're in an atmosphere like prison  until you're outside of that environment, and you find that the problems have just been lying dormant, you really haven't had any opportunity to address them, because it hasn't presented itself," Narducci said in an interview. "I'm finding that I do have more problems than I thought I did, so I'm fortunate I'm in a safe place where I can identify those things and focus on them."

Before being sent to prison, Narducci compulsively drank and snorted cocaine. While being locked up helped him sober up temporarily, he doesn't think that those temptations have vanished.

At Integrity House he's learning about his traps and triggers, and the various ways in which he can be influenced by his peers  both for the better and worse. When he sees his housemates slide back toward addiction  say, finding a bottle of liquor and getting drunk  he can sometimes feel his own old desires beckon. But since he's still immersed in a therapeutic community rather than grappling with things alone, he's able to rehearse the kind of self-discipline he'll need in the near future.

Drug and alcohol addiction "will always be a concern, and once you think you've got this sort of thing licked, that's when it can become a problem," Narducci said. "It'll always be a concern, because I know how much I used to enjoy it. ... Right now one of my main concerns is just being able to re-adjust."

Narducci has stayed sober since he's been out of prison so far. He hopes that when he finishes his rehabilitation he can move back to Florida, where his children live, and get back into the food industry.

"I want to learn how to live again," he said.
Basbibi, 25, begs on the streets of Makrorayan, a neighborhood some 200 yards from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Wearing a burqa to hide her youth and avoid sexual harassment, she likely makes $0.80 a day, hardly enough to buy a small loaf of bread. An Afghan womans monthly income rarely exceeds $50  less than half of what men make on average. Its hard to be a woman in Afghanistan, she says. I cant even get a Tazkira [national identification card].

Because she is a woman, Basbibi is especially vulnerable to poor conditions borne of social instability, insecurity, and widespread poverty. She lost her job at a dried fruit processing company after the 2014 economic depression prompted layoffs, and she does not have access to government aid because of gendered ID laws.

Basbibis experience is common for women in Afghanistan. However, Afghan women have come a long way since the fall of the Taliban regime. Billions of dollars have been spent on reconstructing the ravaged country, with a large portion allocated to support women. Millions of girls go to school. Over 25 percent of Afghan parliamentarians are women, at least four are ministers, and many more serve in both the public and private sectors, including numerous nonprofit organizations. However, this is largely limited to Kabul and a few other major cities.

The U.S.-led international intervention in 2001 was the key instigator for this focus on women. Following the intervention, huge sums of money went to nonprofit organizations and the central government. This distribution was primarily motivated by security and politics rather than social change. As a result, the long-term viability of the progress made so far is in doubt.

As international forces in the country shrink, and foreign aid along with them, Afghan women are increasingly suffering. According to Soraya Sobhrang, deputy chair of Afghanistans Independent Human Rights Commission, the first half of 2015 saw a 31 percent rise in the cases of violence against women. The savage beating and murder of Farkhunda Malikzadah in Kabul, the public stoning of Rohkshana in Ghor, and the mutilation of Reza Gul by her husband in Faryab, are some of the most recent and egregious examples. In many cases of violence against women, the legal system has either reduced or suspended punishment for the perpetrator, despite assurances from the central government that victims of violence will get justice.

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With Taliban and Islamic State elements gaining ground in parts of the country, Afghan women increasingly fear a reversal of their last decade of progress. A 2011 Thomson Reuters Foundation survey ranked Afghanistan as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. When the Taliban took control of Kunduz in October 2015, they looted the offices of womens rights activists, womens shelters, and female-run radio stations. They also issued threats that compelled dozens of activists to flee the city.

The declining security environment is not the only problem for Afghan women. Powerful institutions are equally threatening. The hostility towards women is fueled by conservative powerholders  mainly parliamentarians or public preachers.The unsatisfactory and adverse situation of women in Afghanistan is the product of democracy, said Nazir Mohammad Motmaen, a prominent conservative political commentator. Women themselves are to blame for their bad situation because they tried to see themselves from a Western [perspective]. The laws and programs were Westernized and often designed in ignorance of Afghan norms, which not only provoked resentment from people, but also failed to help women.

Article 22 of the Afghan Constitution declares that men and women have equal rights and duties before the law and prohibits any discrimination. However, little has been done to provide protection for women in terms of substantive laws and policies. The lack of diversity among the political parties within parliament remains an obstacle to collective action for better legislation. Even the 66 female parliamentarians have not been able to persuade their own caucus to reach a consensus on womens rights legislation.

An example of that failure is the Elimination of Violence Against Women law, which has been waiting for parliamentary approval for seven years. Its about male dominance and the patriarchal structure, said Nilofar Ibrahimi, a lawmaker and womens rights activist.

Ibrahimi highlighted another critical problem that hinders womens progress: political capital. The presence of women in institutions does not alone cause social change; social values have the determining role here. Government focuses only on symbolic acts and paper promises, she said, adding that the appointment of women should not be used for propaganda on the international stage. The government needs to ensure that it hires capable women and provides them with opportunities and a suitable environment in which they can succeed.

While the rule of law remains poor, and women are denied access to a fully functioning justice system, deeply-ingrained social norms also deprive them of their rights. The traditional society of Afghanistan defines rigidly womens roles, duties, privileges, and obligations. The first-ever female nominee for Afghanistans Supreme Court was rejected by Parliament last year. Conservatives campaigned against her, saying that a woman could not serve on the Supreme Court. Similarly, a survey by the Asia Foundation found a year-over-year decline in the percentage of Afghans who supported allowing women to make autonomous voting decisions without any input from men.

This kind of rhetoric sanctions discriminatory views of women that have become a part of Afghanistans social fabric. Not only does it limit womens access to justice or free participation in public life, but it entrenches a culture of violence against women as an accepted status quo. More than 87 percent of women in Afghanistan have suffered from psychological, physical, sexual, or domestic abuse, or forced marriage, according to a 2008 report by Global Rights, an international human rights capacity-building NGO.

As foreign nations exit the conflict in Afghanistan, we should place emphasis on strengthening the institutions already in place to protect women. The fear of violence is an unfortunate experience shared by all women in Afghanistan  and it is only getting worse.

Haroon Sabawoon/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
agent carter peggy

ABC

Well, the thing we all thought would happen has happened: ABC has decided to cancel Agent Carter after just two seasons. No more scenes of Peggy looking flawless while kicking ass. No more Sousa wearing increasingly ridiculous Hawaiian shirts. No more Jarvis being Jarvis. While it makes sense from a business perspective (the second season ended with a 1.4 rating among adults under 50 and 4.3 million total viewers with DVR), there were still plenty of stories that could be told about Agent Carter and the rest of the SSR. Still, it lagged behind ABCs other Marvel show, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., despite being more critically lauded.

While fans are holding out hope for a Netflix series or film to continue Peggys daring exploits, that seems increasingly unlikely. Luckily, star Hayley Atwell has a new show, Conviction, on ABC, so she wont be leaving our television screens just yet.

Still, its hard not to blame ABC for the shows untimely demise. Older episodes werent available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, making it difficult for new fans to catch up with the series (legally, anyway). Additionally, the promos for the show were just a disaster. Sure, Agent Carter had a winking charm, but the trailers released looked downright slapstick.

Just as Captain America said goodby to Peggy in Civil War, so must we all. At least she went out on a high note.

(Via THR)
By Letitia Stein

(Reuters) - Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed new abortion restrictions into law on Thursday, limiting the proximity of clinics to public schools and banning a procedure used to terminate pregnancies in the second trimester, local media reported.

The Republican governor signed two anti-abortion laws, according to the Montgomery Advertiser and other local outlets.

One prevents state health officials from issuing or renewing the licenses of abortion clinics within 2,000 feet of public schools serving students in grades kindergarten through eight. Advocates said the measure would protect students from exposure to anti-abortion demonstrations.

The measure could force the closure of two clinics in Huntsville and Tuscaloosa, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama.

Their licenses would not be renewed in the coming months under the new law, said Susan Watson, executive director of the state ACLU, which intends to challenge the measure in court.

"It would really reduce the access in the northern part of Alabama," she said, noting that some women would be closer to Tennessee than the state's other clinics.

Under the law, Alabama could be reduced to three abortion clinics, she said.

The restriction comes amid a wave of laws being adopted by states as conservatives seek to chip away at the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion.

Restricting abortion clinics based on proximity to a school represents an approach not yet seen in other states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks reproductive health policy.

Alabama also on Thursday became the fifth state to restrict an abortion method commonly performed in the second trimester of a pregnancy, known as dilation and evacuation or D&E. Opponents call it dismemberment abortion.

The two Alabama clinics affected by the school restriction are also the only ones performing the procedure in the state, according to the ACLU, which plans another legal challenge.

Kansas and Oklahoma enacted such bans last year, which are being challenged in court and not in effect. This year, similar restrictions were signed into law in Mississippi and West Virginia, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
With former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the likely Democratic presidential nominee, Amy Schumer wanted to prepare the American public for what could happen with our first female president on Inside Amy Schumer. That included playing up to our biggest irrational fear: a period on the first day in office.

The sketch starts with a Veep-esque opening, showing the headlines in which "Amy Schinton" has been elected as president. As Schinton wakes up in the White House, she's excited to have gained 200 Twitter followers overnight, but that excitement quickly turns into despair.

"I got my period on my first day?" to herself. "OK, OK, OK, you can handle this. It's not ideal for the first day. It's not amazing. But you can do anything. You're the president." Unfortunately, it all goes awry for the new POTUS during an emergency meeting about a situation in Iran.

"I'm sorry, but does anyone have any Advil?" the room. "I just, I have epic cramps and my mind is like, mush, right now, if I'm being real."

Source: Comedy Central

The segment then cuts to various situations in which an equally embattled Schinton squabbles with her Cabinet, world leaders and a terrorist threat in the Situation Room, all while continuing to deal with cramps. However, the bit ends with Schinton being criticized in the media not for her leadership skills, but rather, whether POTUS is plus size  a nod to her controversial cover of Glamour.

Source: Comedy Central

You can check out the sketch, along with the rest of Thursday's episode, here.
Thousands of developers from all over the world will be heading to the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, May 18 to 20, to discover the latest version of the Android operating system -- expected to land this autumn -- as well as other innovations in the pipeline at Google.

Android N

Although the final version of Google's updated mobile operating system is due to be unveiled at the 2016 conference, its main new features have already been showcased in a beta version that's been available to download for several weeks. The biggest new feature is the multi-window mode for using two applications simultaneously side by side (tablet) or one above the other (smartphone). Google also promises more intuitive notifications, as well as a new system for creating custom shortcuts. The battery saving function has also been improved. All that remains now is to find a suitable name. Three years after KitKat, maybe it's time for an Android Nutella ...

Virtual reality

Google, like Microsoft and Facebook, is investing heavily in virtual reality. A new generation of the firm's Cardboard VR viewer -- or several versions -- could possibly be unveiled at the event. Specialist sites also suggest that the firm could present a new and much more sophisticated headset, although still based on slotting in a smartphone, like Samsung's model. And, even if there's no new headset, Google could make a splash with an operating system designed specifically for virtual reality environments (Android VR).

A modular smartphone

After being pushed back into 2016, the Project Ara modular smartphone could resurface at the Google I/O conference. Google is developing an environmentally friendly and cost-effective smartphone with a customizable design, made up of various small blocks containing the different components (processor, memory, camera, speaker, 3G chip, etc.). Each of the phone's individual elements -- including the screen -- can be removed and replaced at any moment in the event of a fault, a breakage or simply to improve performances. This project also seeks to combat the planned obsolescence built into current smartphones.

Projet Tango

Tango is another project in the works at the Google ATAP group which could make an appearance at the Mountain View conference, showing off advanced 3D mapping technology that adapts to the user's surrounding environment. Lenovo is expected to be the first smartphone maker to launch a handset equipped with this augmented reality technology, with a device expected in June.

Driverless car

With full-scale testing underway on the USA's open roads since summer 2015, the Google Car could be a surprise guest at the conference, coming just a few days after a partnership was announced with the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) group.

The ninth Google I/O conference runs May 18-20, 2016 in Mountain View: events.google.com/io2016
Anne Hathaway has never looked better.

The 33-year-old actress made an appearance at a Disney Alice Through the Looking Glass event on Thursday in Los Angeles, her first public outing since giving birth to her son, Jonathan, in April. Wearing a white floral print Disaya dress and chunky black ankle strap heels, Hathaway stunned at the event, looking amazing just one month after becoming a new mom.

Getty Images

WATCH: Anne Hathaway Gives Birth to Baby Boy

... And how flawless is her sideswept 'do, and striking red lipstick?!

Getty Images

Hathaway was accompanied by her husband, Adam Shulman, who also looked dapper in a blue blazer. The event was held for designers to showcase their whimsical fashions, accessories and beauty collections inspired by the upcoming Disney film, which stars Johnny Depp and Hathaway.

Getty Images

WATCH: EXCLUSIVE -- Alice Meets the Mad Hatter in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' Sneak Peek

ET recently got an exclusive behind-the-scenes look with the cast of Alice Through the Looking Glass, which hits theaters on May 27.

"Alice has become a boss," Hathaway, who plays the White Queen, explains about the sequel to 2010's Alice in Wonderland. "She's following her dreams, she's doing impossible things. She's pretty fearless, and she's what we would call a modern woman."

"I got to work with the most fun people I've ever worked with, and all of it in Wonderland," she also marveled. "What more could you want?"

Watch below:

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By Alexandria Sage and Julia Love

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's $1 billion investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing intensifies a race to acquire technology, talent and market access in a rapidly evolving global personal transportation market.

Apple's investment comes as auto and technology industry executives and investors are placing bets that self-driving car systems, electric vehicles and ride sharing will eventually converge to allow companies to sell rides in self-driving vehicles, generating revenue day and night.

For Apple, Chief Executive Tim Cook said to Reuters that investing in the leading Chinese ride sharing service could expand its presence in that "very, very important" market, and serve other ends as well.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market, and we also see lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies. Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well," Cook said in an interview Thursday.

Analysts said Apple's investment also could bolster relations with the Chinese government, and put a roadblock in the way of rivals Alphabet Inc and Uber Technologies, among others looking to profit from re-making the personal transportation market.

"(Apple is) going to learn a ton about what driving a car is like in China," said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

Apple's ride-sharing investment highlights a surge in automotive technology deals, which have increased by 58 percent in 2015, with a 154 percent jump in funding, according to CBInsights, a venture capital database. In 51 deals, investors put $409M into auto tech companies in 2015.

"It's a reflection of fact there are very few industries in the world ... that are going to go through as much disruptive transformation as transportation," said Michael Linse of Linse Capital - which last week invested another $50 million in electric vehicle charging company Chargepoint.

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DIPPING INTO THE MONEY CHEST

The ride-sharing investment barely dents Apple's war chest, which stood at $232.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of its most recent earnings. The investment is something of a departure for the iPhone maker, which has made few large deals in its history, with the exception of its roughly $3 billion acquisition of headphone maker Beats in 2014.

Pressure is mounting for Apple to untap new sources of growth as sales of the iPhone, which accounts for about two-thirds of its revenue, declined for the first time last quarter. Investments and acquisitions could be a short cut for Apple to return to the kind of growth that Wall Street has come to expect, said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research.

"It's clearly time for Apple to dip into their money chest," he said. "Just moving forward with what they've got is not going to really cut it."

Estimates of the size of the market for transportation services vary, but industry executives agree it is big.

Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Mark Fields tells investors the market for transportation services could grow to $5.4 trillion a year - which is why Ford earlier this year set up a new business unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, to develop ventures and alliances in the sector.

Yoav Leitersdorf, managing partner of California and Israel-based YL Ventures, said self-driving car technology is "the Holy Grail" of investors right now.

"Anything leading to that is very hot right now," said Leitersdorf, who invests in Israeli technology firms, most recently cybersecurity company Karamba Security.

General Motors Co on Friday said it had closed its acquisition of San Francisco autonomous driving startup Cruise Automation. That deal is one of a series of moves by global automakers to expand beyond traditional manufacturing. Automakers are under pressure from investors to demonstrate they can fend off disruption of their traditional profit engines.

GM earlier this year invested $500 million to buy a stake in Lyft, which also has an alliance with Didi. GM executives have outlined plans to use Cruise technology to deliver autonomous, electric vehicles that Lyft could use in its fleets. A GM spokesman on Friday said the automaker has ridesharing pilot projects in China, but not in connection with Didi.

Apple's alignment with Didi may deliver a blow to Uber, which is fiercely competing for market share in China, one of its most critical and intense markets. The company is losing more than $1 billion a year there, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Reuters earlier this year.

German automakers BMW AG and Daimler AG have invested in car-sharing services, and also with Volkswagen AG have acquired stakes in HERE, a European digital mapping company. The German automakers have said HERE will be integral to their efforts to develop self-driving cars.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV earlier this month struck a deal with Alphabet Inc's Google autonomous car operation to supply 100 Pacifica minivans that Google will outfit with its self-driving vehicle technology. Both companies have portrayed this as a limited agreement - Google will not share its technology with Fiat Chrysler. The deal is the first direct collaboration on autonomous vehicle production between an automaker and Google.

(Additional writing by Joseph White; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Apple has invested $1 billion into a Chinese ride-hailing service in an effort to fortify ties with Chinas booming consumer market.

The service, Didi Chuxing, is Ubers biggest rival in the worlds most populous country, completing 11 million rides a day  87% of Chinas ride-hailing market, Reuters reported. The Apple investment is the largest single infusion of capital the company has received since it was founded four years ago.

In an interview with Reuters, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that the companys decision to invest in Didi Chuxing reflects [Apples] excitement about their growing business  and also our continued confidence in the long term in Chinas economy.

The move comes at a time when Apples sales in China  like the Chinese economy at large  are slowing, though Cook is bullish on the future of the market. Of course, the companys relationship with the country has not always been sunny. Its principal manufacturing partner is Foxconn, whose factory in Shenzhen was the site of a rash of worker suicides six years ago, leading to an investigation into allegedly abusive employment practices. At the end of last month, Chinese state censors blocked access to iTunes Movies and the iBooks Store, six months after they had entered the countrys market.

[Reuters]
* Apple CEO says deal will help company better understand China

* Didi Chuxing says this is largest investment ever received

* Didi Chuxing says has 87% of China's private car-hailing market

* Apple's China sales have slumped amid slowing economic growth (Adds details on Didi, comment from Didi president)

By Julia Love

May 12 (Reuters) - Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market.

The tech giant's rare investment gives it a stake in two burgeoning waves of technology - the sharing economy and car technology - as the iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing.

Apple is trying to reinvigorate sales in China, where it has come under greater pressure from regulators, and Cook is traveling to the country this month.

The move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies Inc's chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. General Motors, for example, recently bought autonomous driving technology company Cruise Automation and has also taken a stake in U.S. ride-sharing company Lyft.

Cook said in an interview that he saw opportunities for Apple and Didi Chuxing to collaborate in the future.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," he said. "Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well."

Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement that this was the single largest investment it has ever received. The company, which previously raised several billion dollars, dominates the ride-sharing market in China. The company said it completes more than 11 million rides a day, with more than 87 percent of the market for private car-hailing in China.

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Though Didi Chuxing is valued at upwards of $20 billion, according to a person familiar with its ongoing funding round, the company has been losing billions in a costly battle with Uber for market share in China.

"CONFIDENCE IN CHINA"

Analysts say the deal offers a glimpse of how Apple may diversify its business as sales of the iPhone level off. Apple has emphasized its burgeoning revenue from services such as Apple Music and mobile payment Apple Pay, a strategy that the ride-sharing investment appears to reinforce, said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy.

"After all the hints about the service business and what they would like to do in the future, it's all starting to fit together," he said.

Investors are eagerly watching to see whether Apple will enter the automotive business. Apple has hired a wide range of automotive experts, and the company is exploring building a self-driving car, sources have told Reuters.

Cook said Apple remained focused on the in-car experience with its CarPlay system, which links smartphones to vehicle infotainment systems.

"That is what we do today in the car business, so we will have to see what the future holds," he said.

Although Apple's sales in China have slumped amid slowing economic growth there, Cook stressed he remained confident in the market.

"(The deal) reflects our excitement about their growing business ... and also our continued confidence in the long term in China's economy," Cook said.

Apple has enjoyed warmer relations with the Chinese government than some American tech companies, but regulators recently shut down its online book and film services, triggering concerns among investors. The true value of Apple's investment in Didi might be in shoring up that relationship, said analyst Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

"This is as much about sending signals about their seriousness in that country as it is about helping Didi build a ride-sharing platform," he said.

Didi Chuxing is a poster child for Chinese technology, a criitical sector in Beijing's goal to shift the economy towards higher-value services.

Didi Chuxing executives have met with some of China's top leaders, including President Xi Jinping last December.

Jean Liu, Didi's president, is the daughter of Liu Chuanzhi, the politically connected founder of Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd.

"There's a lot of things we can work on together," she said

when asked whether Didi Chuxing would help Apple's government relations in China.

(Reporting by Julia Love; Additional reporting by Paul Carsten in Beijing and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Leslie Adler and Will Waterman)
tim cook

Apple's $1 billion investment in Chinese ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing means the two will be working closely together, said Didi's president Jean Liu on a conference call with reporters.

Just what exactly it will be helping Didi with is still very unclear.

"We are very confident that we will benefit each other on product, on technology, and on many other levels," Liu said.

The deal came together after the Didi Chuxing executive team visited Tim Cook at Apple headquarters in Cupertino on April 20. The $1 billion investment closed "like lightning" only a few short weeks later.

When asked if Didi Chuxing will be helping with Apple's soured relationship with the Chinese government, Liu only responded that they can help each other.

"The policy makers in China now have been more and more open now," Liu said. "Theres a good foundation that we can help each other in many ways."

In an interview with Reuters, Apple CEO Tim Cook positioned this investment as a way to grow its presence in China.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," Cook told Reuters.

The strategic part of the investment could be to get a leg up on other competitors like Uber on self-driving car technology. Apple has long been rumored to be working on an Apple car, and Didi Chuxing hasn't said whether or not it's actively working on self-driving technology now. Instead, Liu said, the company is building a technology platform that is designed to work with any partners.

"Were big believers in autonomous driving and we believe technology is the solution," Liu said. "We can work with different partners on autonomous driving, and it is technology neutral."

The investment gives Apple a strong foothold into the Chinese market. Didi is currently operating in more than 400 cities in China, and breaking even in 200 of them. There are more than 14 million registered drivers on the platform, and the company completes 11 million rides a day, Liu said. But, there's still room to grow, and that's where she is hoping Apple may help.

Story continues

"When you look at the penetration, its only 1% in China, even though its 11 million rides," Liu said. "How do we get to much higher penetration?"

Didi is rumored to be raising funds at $25 billion valuation, according to a Wall Street Journal article from April. Apple's investment is part of an ongoing round for the company.

"Its oversubscribed. Much more demand than we originally planned for," Liu said, without commenting on exactly how much had been committed.

The other thing Liu liked? That her company's name translates to "Little Orange."

"The first time when we met with Mr. Cook we shared with him a joke," Liu said. "We said our companys legal name is little orange. We figured a company named after a fruit can achieve something big."

NOW WATCH: Apple says this commonly used hack wont actually make your iPhone battery last longer





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An astronaut from the International Space Station tweeted an eerie photo that illustrates how vulnerable it can be to the debris that floats around it in space.



Tim Peake tweeted a photo of a dent in the glass of one of the windows of the ISS.



Often asked if @Space_Station is hit by space debris, he wrote. Yes  this chip is in a Cupola window



The photo of the chip, which is about a quarter of an inch, resembles a close up of a bullet hole in a dark abyss. Its located in the cupola, a spot in the ISS that was built by the European Space Agency, which provides the best room with a view anywhere, including Earth, celestial objects and visiting vehicles.

Often asked if @Space_Station is hit by space debris. Yes  this chip is in a Cupola window https://t.co/iH87Dt80yV pic.twitter.com/7ZvVs4myM0  Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) May 12, 2016



The circular chip was likely left by a paint flake or tiny metal fragment - but its not considered a serious threat due to the thickness of the glass.



The ESA says that while the dent in the photo is minor, larger debris could pose a dangerous threat. Anything over 10 cm could shatter a satellite or spacecraft into pieces



ESA is at the forefront of developing and implementing debris-mitigation guidelines, because the best way to avoid problems from orbital debris is not to cause them in the first place, says Holger Krag, Head of ESAs Space Debris Office.


Dhaka (AFP) - A group of armed attackers stormed a security post at a camp for Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh near the Myanmar border on Friday, killing the post commander and looting weapons, police said.

The attackers shot dead the commander and tied up other security personnel with ropes, before stealing 11 rifles and 570 rounds, local police chief Mujibur Rahman said.

"The attack occurred at 2:20 am (2020 GMT) Friday. There were 10-15 attackers who were armed. They beat and then shot the Ansar (government security guard) commander of the camp from behind. He died on the spot," Rahman told AFP.

The Nayapara refugee camp near Teknaf town, two kilometres (1.2 miles) from the Myanmar border, is home to about 25,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled persecution in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, according to UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency.

Police are investigating the attack and said Rohingya refugees themselves were also suspected.

"The miscreants could be hiding inside the camp," said a police inspector, who requested anonymity.

However, he said the camp was not secure and was easy to enter.

"People can enter from any sides of the 0.75-square kilometre camp which is surrounded by jungle and can easily hide among its crowds," he said.

Rohingya people living in Bangladesh are officially restricted to living in camps and cannot participate in normal society such as going to regular schools or having contact with locals.

However, the government says more than 300,000 unregistered refugees are living in the Bangladeshi districts bordering Myanmar.

In recent years police have alleged Rohingya refugees are involved in criminal activities including human trafficking.
Santosh Nair

At the annual general meeting in Ingolstadt, Audis CEO Rupert Stadler announced that they are formulating their vision of electrifying the entire range of cars.

Stadler said, Starting in 2018, we will launch an electrified car each year. These measures could have stemmed out of a desperate plan to recuperate from the ongoing diesel emissions scandal. Reports have already confirmed that an electric crossover utility vehicle (CUV) has been in the making for some time now. This vehicle is based on the E-Tron Quattro concept which first saw public reaction during the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. Audi went to the extent of even revealing that the Brussels, Belgium production unit will put together this new electric vehicle. It is claimed that the range for this vehicle could break the 310mile barrier (499km).

Its obvious that most car makers are in a newfound eagerness to compete with the new successful kid on the block, Tesla. So should we get to see an ampere A4 or A7 locking horns with the Tesla Model 3 or S, in the not so far future? Only time can tell.

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
- IndyCar will return to Watkins Glen in September with a race on the famed road course in upstate New York replacing a canceled event that had been set for Boston. The event will be 60 laps over the 3.4-mile permanent road course at Watkins Glen on September 4, the same day a race had been set for the streets of Boston on the original series schedule before organizers called it off last month. The race, the penultimate event on the 16-event IndyCar schedule, will be the first for the series at Watkins Glen since 2010, when Australian Will Power took the victory. "Watkins Glen has great racing history and it's a track that will showcase the on-track competition and overall excitement level of our series," said IndyCar competition and operations president Jay Frye.

AFP
Beirut (AFP) - The killing of the enigmatic military chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah remained shrouded in mystery Friday, with his powerful Shiite militant movement giving out no information.

- What we know so far -

Mustafa Badreddine was in a warehouse near Damascus airport when it was rocked by a blast on Thursday night, a Syrian security source said.

No aircraft was heard before the explosion and no one knew he was there, the source said.

The airport and its surroundings adjoin an area of fighting around the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, which is revered by Shiites around the world.

The Syrian army controls the area, and Iranian and Hezbollah fighters are also present in force.

The closest rebel positions are seven kilometres (four miles) away in the Eastern Ghouta area.

- Who is Mustafa Badreddine? -

The military commander was aged around 50 and hailed from the south of Lebanon, bordering Israel.

His military career started in the ranks of the PLO's Fatah movement. Following Israel's invasion in 1982, he joined the Hezbollah movement newly created by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

He was jailed in Kuwait for attacks on the French and US embassies in 1983.

Shiite activists highjacked a plane in Kuwait in 1984 and a TWA aircraft to Beirut the following year to demand his release, before he finally escaped from jail during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

He has been on trial in absentia before a special tribunal in The Hague accused of masterminding the 2005 bombing that killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Badreddine replaced his mentor and brother-in-law Imad Mughniyeh as Hezbollah's security chief after the latter was killed in a February 2008 attack in Damascus.

And when the Shiite movement intervened in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, he became head of military operations.

- Will Hezbollah be affected? -

Most experts agree that his death will have only a limited impact on Hezbollah.

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"Despite the importance of Badreddine, Hezbollah's highest ranking secret operative and the man considered responsible for battlefield strategy, I doubt this will impact their operations in Syria," said Maha Yahya, acting director of the Carnegie Center for the Middle East.

"Hezbollah is not a one-man operation, and it is part of a larger entity that is also connected to the Iranian command," she said.

Nicolas Pouillard, a researcher at the French Near East Institute, said the impact of his death would have "symbolic and psychological" consequences.

"He was a Hezbollah veteran -- one of its main military leaders," he said.

- Who did it? -

Hezbollah has not immediately accused its sworn enemy Israel of carrying out the attack, unlike in previous instances.

Pouillard said: "For the moment, Hezbollah is not accusing any party."

But "Israel and factions of the (Syrian) opposition could ... be involved in this assassination," he said.

It "occurred on the outskirts of Damascus, near the airport area, which is held by the regime", he said.

"There was therefore some intelligence gathering beforehand, which could implicate several Syrian and regional parties."

Lebanese academic Waddah Charara, who has written a book on Hezbollah, said the Shiite group finds itself in a difficult position.

"To accuse Israel of having carried out an aerial campaign is throwing into doubt Russia's efficiency in protecting Syria's air space," he said.

Assad's longterm ally Russia has since September carried out air strikes in Syria in support of regime troops.

"One should not rule out that this assassination could be the result of tensions between the regime, Russia and Iran -- or even rebel shelling," he said.

Hezbollah's number two Naim Qassem has said the results of an investigation into the killing would be announced at the latest on Saturday morning.

- Syria conflict -

Badreddine's death is unlikely to affect Hezbollah's involvement on the side of the regime in Syria's brutal five-year conflict.

Hezbollah has sent thousands of combattants -- between 5,000 and 6,000, according to Charara -- since 2013 to help fight both rebels and jihadists.

They send 2,000 fighters at a time in rotation, he said.

Experts say Hezbollah has lost 1,000 to 2,000 fighters.

"It remains to be seen if and when Hezbollah will reach a tipping point where the losses in Syria begin to outweigh the benefits of direct military involvement," said the Carnegie Center's Yahya.
By Jim Finkle and Sanjeev Miglani

NEW YORK/DHAKA (Reuters) - Investigators probing the cyber heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank connected it on Friday to the hack at Sony Corp's film studio in 2014, while global financial network SWIFT disclosed a previously unreported attack on a commercial bank.

SWIFT did not say which commercial bank it was or whether it had lost money, but cyber-security firm BAE Systems said a Vietnamese bank, which it did not name, had been a target. It was not clear if they were referring to the same attack and there was no immediate comment from authorities in Hanoi.

SWIFT, the linchpin of the global financial system, said forensic experts believed the second case showed that the Bangladesh heist was not a single occurrence, but part of a wider campaign targeting banks.

In both cases, SWIFT said, insiders or cyber attackers had succeeded in penetrating the targeted banks' systems, obtaining user credentials and submitting fraudulent SWIFT messages that correspond with transfers of money.

The cooperative has maintained that its core messaging service has not been compromised. But confirmation of a second attack on a bank will likely increase scrutiny on the security of a network used by 11,000 financial institutions globally.

In Bangladesh, cyber-security experts hired by the central bank said in a report that hackers were still inside the bank's network, monitoring the investigation into one of the biggest cyber heists in the world. Reuters reviewed parts of the report, but the source who shared the document declined to provide access to its full contents, saying the release of some details could hamper a multinational effort to catch the criminals.

Asked about the report, a Bangladesh Bank spokesman said: "We have engaged forensic experts to investigate the whole thing, including this." He did not elaborate.

Investigators have determined that one team of hackers, dubbed Group Zero in the report, was responsible for the heist and remained inside the network. Group Zero may be seeking to monitor the ongoing cyber investigations or cause other damage, but is unlikely to be able to order fraudulent fund transfers, the investigators wrote.

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"NATION-STATE ACTOR"

Two other groups are also inside the bank's network, which is linked to the SWIFT international transaction system, the report found. One of the two is a "nation-state actor" engaged in stealing information in attacks that are stealthy but "not known to be destructive", it said.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT said she was unable to comment.

The report said investigators knew little about a third group of hackers found inside the network, referred to as Group Two, except that they were using mostly commodity, or off-the-shelf, hacking tools.

The report, which was submitted earlier this month, did not further identify any of the groups.

BAE Systems, Europe's largest weapons maker, which also has a large cyber-security business, said it had uncovered evidence linking malicious software used in the Bangladesh heist to the high-profile attack on Sony's Hollywood studio in 2014 and other cases.

"What initially looked to be an isolated incident at one Asian bank turned out to be part of a wider campaign," BAE's cyber-security team said in a report it released on Friday.

BAE also said it uncovered malware that was recently used to target a Vietnamese commercial bank using fraudulent messages on the SWIFT money-transfer network. The malware operated "in a similar fashion" to the Bangladesh Bank hack, BAE said.

SWIFT also did not name the victim, and neither firm said whether any funds had been stolen.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the findings of BAE's determination about similarities between the Bangladesh and Sony attacks. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony's film studio, a charge Pyongyang has rejected.

BAE's head of threat intelligence, Adrian Nish, told Reuters that the company was only focused on the technical evidence that links the attacks, not determining who was behind them.

The report said the malware used against Bangladesh Bank exhibits "the same unique characteristics" as software used in "Operation Blockbuster", a campaign documented by a coalition of security firms that dates back to at least 2009 and includes the Sony hack.

BAE asserted the Operation Blockbuster connection after analyzing tens of millions of malicious file samples, but the report acknowledged there could be alternate explanations for the similarities.

It is possible that multiple programmers shared the same code, or even that it was painstakingly recreated to confuse investigators, according to BAE.

(Additional reporting by Serajul Quadir in Dhaka, Nathan Layne in Chicago and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; editing by David Greising and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - The Bank of England may need to call on other central banks for foreign currencies if fears over Britain's referendum on European Union membership hit the world's biggest currency trading centre, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF, which published an annual report on Britain's economy on Friday, welcomed a promise by the BoE to provide more sterling funds if needed, and said the June 23 referendum could also trigger currency market tension.

"The Bank of England has appropriately announced plans to hold additional liquidity auctions in the weeks around the referendum," the IMF said. "There may also be a need to activate swap facilities with other major central banks in the event of a shortfall of foreign exchange liquidity."

The BoE said on Thursday that possible "heightened uncertainty" due to June's vote may make it harder for banks to tap their usual sources of foreign currency, and that it would keep its operations, including swap lines, under review.

The BoE holds weekly auctions of U.S. dollars and has agreements with the central banks of the United States, the euro zone, China, Japan, Canada and Switzerland to provide each other foreign currency in case of market tensions.

The foreign currency can then be lent temporarily to private financial institutions in exchange for collateral.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7, seven of the leading advanced economies, are due to meet in Japan next week.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Friday that global economic risks from a possible British vote to leave the EU had been high on the list of concerns among finance ministers she had met in recent months (Reporting by David Milliken)
By David Milliken and Patrick Graham

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England may need to call on other central banks for foreign currency if Britain's referendum on European Union membership hits the world's biggest currency trading centre, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF's call for the BoE to be ready to activate swap facilities suggested preparations for intervening, if necessary, to prevent excessive volatility in sterling after the vote on June 23, senior banking industry figures told Reuters.

They said banks in London were discussing with the BoE how to deal with the consequences of the referendum. Some analysts have warned the vote could lead to gyrations by the pound similar to moves by the Swiss franc in January 2015.

The IMF, which published an annual report on Britain's economy on Friday, welcomed a promise by the BoE to provide more sterling funds if needed, and warned that the referendum could lead to currency market tension.

"The Bank of England has appropriately announced plans to hold additional liquidity auctions in the weeks around the referendum," the IMF said. "There may also be a need to activate swap facilities with other major central banks in the event of a shortfall of foreign exchange liquidity."

The BoE said on Thursday that possible "heightened uncertainty" due to June's vote may make it harder for banks to tap their usual sources of foreign currency, and that it would keep its operations, including swap lines, under review.

The BoE holds weekly auctions of U.S. dollars and has agreements with the central banks of the United States, the euro zone, China, Japan, Canada and Switzerland to provide each other foreign currency in case of market tensions.

The foreign currency can then be lent temporarily to private financial institutions in exchange for collateral, to reduce volatile swings in sterling caused by shortages of the currency.

That differs from intervention to support sterling against other currencies over the medium term. That last occurred sterling was part of the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism in the early 1990s. Authorisation from Britain's finance ministry would be required for that.

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"Clearly, they need to get their market intelligence and supervision prepared for any extreme volatility," said one senior currency industry figure with close ties to the BoE.

Results of the referendum are likely to come in stages during the early hours of June 24, with the final result not necessarily being clear until later in the morning.

"Do (the BoE) therefore provide pricing overnight for a Brexit event in the middle of the night? I think they would be very reluctant," the source said.

"The reason why they have opened those swap lines is in order to intervene, in order to supply the sterling that's being bought by those central banks across the world," he added.

Major currency trading banks, learning from the turmoil caused when the Swiss central bank removed its cap on the franc's value in January 2015, would also send letters to clients warning of sharp moves in the currency, he said.

None of the top three trading banks by volume - Citi (C.N), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and Barclays (BARC.L) - had any immediate comment.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven, the leading advanced economies, are due to meet in Japan next week.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said on Friday that global economic risks from a possible British vote to leave the EU had been high on the list of concerns among finance ministers she had met in recent months
Ben Affleck may still be smarting from the critical drubbing suffered by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceat least according to the internets favorite 2016 memebut hell be donning the cowl once again this August when he makes a not-so-surprise appearance alongside Jared Letos The Joker in Warner Bros Suicide Squad. Shortly after that, however, hell be taking a brief break from branding bad guys with bat symbols to play a deadly, finger-tapping, badass desk jockey in fall thriller The Accountant (Oct. 14), which has just released its excellent first trailer (watch it above).

Related: Ben Affleck to Have More Control Over DC Cinematic Universe



In Warrior director Gavin OConnors upcoming film, Affleck plays a man who, by the looks of things, isnt so different from his Dark Knightat least insofar as hes a brilliant, methodical loner with a killer secret identity. Resembling a cross between A Beautiful Mind and any number of special-ops movies, it poses the question Who is the Accountant? but then proceeds to make clear that hes a gifted genius with a lifelong knack for math and puzzles who apparently uses his incredible mental faculties to crunch numbers by day, and gets involved in some high-powered action (with a formidable personal arsenal) by night.

Related: Ben Affleck Has Written His Own Batman Script



How Anna Kendrick and J.K. Simmonssoon to be Commissioner Gordon to Afflecks Caped Crusader in the Justice League moviesfactor into this action remains murky at best, as The Accountants initial trailer deftly teases its premise without giving away much concrete info. Which, in the end, simply makes it that much more of an effective first look.



Ben Affleck flashback: Watch him talk about the research he did at the CIA for Argo:
(Adds NetJets comment paragraph 4)

By Jonathan Stempel

May 13 (Reuters) - NetJets, the luxury plane unit of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, agreed to settle U.S. charges that it discriminated against immigrant workers by requiring them to provide extra documents to prove their employment eligibility.

The settlement calls for NetJets to be monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice for two years, improve training of its human resources staff, and pay a $41,480 civil penalty, the department said in a Friday statement.

NetJets denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle, and cooperated in the probe.

A NetJets spokesman said the government found "inadvertent errors" in the company's processes for verifying workers' residency. "There was no intent to discriminate," he added.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, NetJets specializes in "fractional" aircraft ownership, which lets individuals and companies buy shares of private jets, and travel on short notice with greater privacy than on commercial aircraft.

The government accused NetJets of improperly requiring newly-hired non-U.S. citizens to provide specific documents demonstrating their eligibility to work that it did not require U.S. citizens to provide.

It also said NetJets discriminated against existing workers, by unnecessarily forcing legal permanent residents to reconfirm their employment eligibility, and requiring newly naturalized citizens to submit more documents to prove their citizenship.

NetJets recently had about 6,540 employees.

Berkshire has been run since 1965 by Buffett, the world's third-richest person, according to Forbes magazine.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company owns close to 90 businesses, and needs a little over one minute to generate operating profit equal to the NetJets penalty, based on 2015 financial results.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Andrew Hay)
By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Drugs targeting DNA repair mechanisms inside cells are showing real promise for a range of tumors and AstraZeneca believes it is well ahead of rivals in the emerging cancer field. Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said on Friday that while DNA damage response (DDR) was under-recognized by investors, oncologists were already "very excited" by its potential. Work on how cells repair damaged DNA landed Swedish, U.S. and Turkish scientists the Nobel Prize for Chemistry last year and AstraZeneca's recently approved Lynparza is an early example of a drug that builds on this new understanding. Lynparza fights tumors by disrupting cancer cells' natural ability to repair themselves as they replicate, causing them eventually to die. The British drugmaker is now combining different DDR medicines and will present early results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting next month, including data on using Lynparza with an experimental WEE1 inhibitor. "It's early days but if this works we believe we could end up treating up to 40 percent of patients with ovarian or breast cancer and, importantly, we also have very strong pre clinical results in lung cancer," Soriot told Reuters. "We are not only first but we are going to be first and alone for a time in DDR because there is nobody else that has this portfolio ... we will have something quite unique." Most attention in cancer research is currently focused on so-called immuno-oncology drugs, which harness the body's immune system to fight tumors, where AstraZeneca is behind rivals such as Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck and Roche. AstraZeneca still hopes to gain an important foothold in the immuno-oncology market with a combination treatment that mixes two of its pipeline medicines, durvalumab and tremelimumab. Soriot said he expected clinical results on the drug cocktail's ability to slow lung cancer progression early in 2017, with results on overall survival of patients following soon afterwards. "We'll have our overall survival data by Q2 or Q3 next year," he said. Results from this clinical trial, dubbed MYSTIC, are keenly anticipated, since durvalumab is arguably AstraZeneca's most important pipeline drug. "If our study in lung cancer is positive, the view people have of the company will change completely," Soriot said. He added that patient enrolment was proceeding very rapidly and nearly all the 1,100 subjects had now been signed up. AstraZeneca recently increased the size of the MYSTIC trial to add more patients and measure overall survival as well as progression-free survival. Oncology is the area with the greatest potential to drive future sales at AstraZeneca, as the company grapples with a wave of patient expiries on older mass-market medicines, such as its cholesterol fighter Crestor and stomach acid pill Nexium. (Editing by Mark Potter)
By Colleen Jenkins (Reuters) - Bidding in an online auction for the pistol George Zimmerman used to shoot and kill unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012 topped a total of $65 million on Friday, though the amount appeared to be inflated by fake buyers with names such as "Racist McShootFace." Zimmerman drew wide criticism on Thursday after offering to sell the Kel-Tec PF9 9mm handgun, which the former neighborhood watch volunteer described in the auction listing as "an American Firearm Icon." Zimmerman said the weapon was used to defend his life and "end the brutal attack" from Martin. Martin's family has said the 17-year-old was simply walking home after buying a drink and candy from a local store when he had his fatal encounter with Zimmerman. Martin's killing near Orlando, Florida, sparked nationwide civil rights protests and debate over "stand your ground" laws, which let people use deadly force without a duty to retreat if they are in fear of being harmed. Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the case. By lunchtime on Friday, bidders in the auction on the United Gun Group's website included "shaniqua bonifa" and "Tamir Rice," the same name as the 12-year-old black boy shot dead by a white police officer in Cleveland in 2014. The auction is scheduled to end on Wednesday. USA Today reported that the bid by "Racist McShootFace" was later deleted. The auction began on Thursday after the first site where Zimmerman attempted to sell the gun rejected the listing. That site, GunBroker.com, said in a statement that it wanted no part in the auction or the attendant publicity. 'LETTER OF THE LAW' A listing for the gun then appeared on UnitedGunGroup.com, with a starting price of $5,000. By midday on Friday it had received more than 1,000 bids. United Gun Group said in a statement that as long as Zimmerman was obeying "the letter of the law," the sale of his personal firearm would be allowed on the site. "While not always popular, this is where we stand. There are principles this nation was founded on, and our goal is to do our part to defend liberty," United Gun Group said. "We know that many lives have been forever impacted by the incident February 26, 2012, and we're truly sorry to the Martin family for their loss. We will have no further comment on the matter." The website calls itself a "free social network and marketplace that embraces the 2nd amendment and lawful discussion." The Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It is contained in the Bill of Rights. In the auction listing, Zimmerman said he would use money from the sale to counter violence against law enforcement officers by Black Lives Matter, a movement that grew out of Martin's shooting. Proceeds would also go toward fighting Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's "anti-firearm rhetoric," Zimmerman said. According to the listing, the pistol is marked with the number from the Martin case in silver ink and the listing included multiple photographs of the weapon being displayed in court during Zimmerman's trial. The listing closed with a Latin phrase, "Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum," meaning "if you wish peace, prepare for war." A lawyer for Martin's family called the sale offensive but said it would not distract the family from their work advocating against gun violence. Zimmerman has previously sold on eBay a painting depicting the American flag, and a painting he did of a Confederate flag to raise money for a Florida gunshop owner who declared his store a Muslim-free zone. (Additional reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; Editing by Toni Reinhold and Tom Brown)
On Monday, the Supreme Court in a 6-2 decision said that a lower court needs to reconsider a potentially major case about the right to sue, or standing, under the Constitution.

The Spokeo v. Robins case has lurked under the media radar as one of the biggest decisions of the Supreme Courts current term. But now, the Ninth Circuit court will need to reconsider the ability of an Internet people search engine to be sued about incorrect data it published about a Virginia man.

Link: Read The Opinion

The man in question, Thomas Robins, sued Spokeo because Spokeo published information about him, gathered from public sources, that overstated Robins education, employment experience, and financial situation, and said he was married (when he wasnt).

Robins claims that Spokeo functions online as a consumer reporting agency, and the mistakes on his profile ran afoul of a law passed by Congress called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (or FCRA). The law requires agencies to follow reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy of information they publish. In a class-action suit, Robins is seeking damages for himself and others entitled under the law, claiming the false data hurt his chances of getting a job, insurance and credit.

The debate in the lower courts was over Robins need to prove he was tangibly harmed by Spokeos actions. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of Robins before the case was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court said that Robins didnt need to prove he was harmed because Spokeo violated the FCRA law, which allowed him to pursue compensation under the statute.

Spokeo and its supporters believe that the effect of a law passed by Congress allowing an alleged lawsuit victim to pursue damages with proof of harm violates an important constitutional precedent. The precedent is called Article III standing.

However, on Monday, six Supreme Court Justices said the Ninth Circuit needs to look at the case again. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said the lower courts didnt fully consider an analysis to find an injury suffered was concrete in full legal terms. Because the Ninth Circuit failed to consider both aspects of the injury-in-fact requirement, its Article III standing analysis was incomplete, Alito said.

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Article III standing requires that concrete harm needs to be proven before a federal court will consider a case in full. Spokeos attorneys argue that a law passed by Congress, such as the FCRA, cant require a company to pay penalties without proof that its acts actually harmed someone. In other words, a violation of the statute isnt enough to get a case into a federal court. Spokeo also warns that a series of massive class action lawsuits could follow a decision in favor of Robins, since the barrier to filing such suits would be substantially lowered.

This Court takes no position on the correctness of the Ninth Circuits ultimate conclusion, but these general principles demonstrate two things: that Congress plainly sought to curb the dissemination of false information by adopting procedures designed to decrease that risk and that Robins cannot satisfy the demands of Article III by alleging a bare procedural violation, Alito concluded.

Robins attorneys argued that the law and its punishments provide an important safeguard against a rash of false information appearing on the Internet, and the fear of such punishments will force the data providers to ensure their information is accurate.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined in dissent by Justice Sonia Sotoamayor, didnt agree with the majoritys analysis and said she believe the misinformation caused concrete harm to Robins.

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A futuristic transportation concept known as the "Hyperloop" is undergoing the first public test today of one of its key components  an important milestone for the pioneering system first envisioned by SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk.

A startup known as Hyperloop One (formerly known as Hyperloop Technologies) is conducting a test of the Hyperloop system's electric motor in the Nevada desert, running it at speeds of up to 300 mph (483 km/h), the company said.

The test is meant to signal the start of work on an actual Hyperloop transportation system, which was proposed by Musk in 2013. The concept would see people zoom between Los Angeles and San Francisco in only 30 minutes, sitting inside pods that speed through low-pressure tubes at roughly 760 mph (1,220 km/h). [Photos: Elon Musk's Superfast 'Hyperloop' Transit System of the Future]

Hyperloop One is performing the propulsion open-air test on a 0.62-mile (1 km) track at the Apex Industrial Park in north Las Vegas. The test comes days after a competing company, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, announced that it will license a technology dubbed passive magnetic levitation for use in transportation systems. (There are several companies working on Hyperloop concepts, but none of them are affiliated with Musk or his companies.)

In 2013, the co-inventor of the Superconducting Maglev transportation system (which propels trains at high speeds using magnets to create lift and propulsion) told Live Science that there are limitations to the Hyperloop concept.

"It's doable, but you have to build a track or tunnel that's very straight," American physicist James Powell told Live Science at the time. "At that speed, the track has to be straight and flat, to avoid bumpiness. When you're going 600 miles per hour, you can't really go around curves, and you'd have to be very flat, because without causing excessive g-forces, you probably wouldn't be able to adjust to changing elevations rapidly."

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Yesterday, Hyperloop One also announced that it had received $80 million in financing, from current and new investors, to develop the transportation system.

"The brightest minds are coming together at the right time to eliminate the distances and borders that separate economies and cultures," Shervin Pishevar, Hyperloop One co-founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.

Hyperloop One further announced several privately funded feasibility studies. One will be for container shipments between the California ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles; another is within Switzerland; and the third will investigate possible routing between Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland, the company said. Hyperloop One will accept competitive proposals up to Sept. 15, and the winning proposals will be selected in March 2017, company officials said.

In 2015, Musk signed a deal with central California landowners to build a 5-mile (8 km) test track along California Interstate 5. This summer, SpaceX plans to test some of the most promising Hyperloop prototypes at its own track in Hawthorne, California.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

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By Tife Owolabi YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - An explosion rocked a Chevron oil pipeline in Nigeria's restive Delta region on Friday, a security source said, the second blast at a facility of the U.S. oil major within a week, feeding concern over a revived militant campaign in the area. The swamps of the southern Delta have been hit by a series of militant attacks on pipelines and other oil and gas facilities that have reduced Nigeria's output by 300,000 barrels a day and closed a major export port and two refineries. Last week, militants calling themselves the Niger Delta Avengers claimed an attack on a Chevron Platform in the Delta. The group has warned oil firms to leave the region within two weeks and says it is fighting for independence for Delta. It had earlier said it wanted a greater share of oil revenues and an end to oil pollution. The attacks have driven Nigerian oil output to near a 22-year low and, if the violence escalates into another insurgency, it could cripple output in a country facing a growing economic crisis. On Friday, a new blast occurred at a Chevron oil well at the Marakaba pipeline in Warri, a security source told Reuters. No more details were immediately known. Chevron had no immediate comment, while Nigeria's army, which has stepped up its presence in the region, could not immediately be reached for comment. A day before, the "Avengers" had warned Chevron on their website against repairing the last week's damage. "We made it clear that no repair works should be done until our demands are fully met," the group said in a statement. "We are ready to destroy more pipelines, we won't only destroy pipelines, but will bring the fight to your tank farm and your (local) headquarters in Lekki, Lagos." The group has staged sophisticated attacks that have closed Shell's 250,000 bpd Forcados terminal and two local refineries. Shell and Chevron have both evacuated staff, according to labor unions. Little is known about the radical group, and efforts by Reuters to reach it have been unsuccessful. Crude sales from the Delta account for around 70 percent of national income in Africa's biggest economy but residents, some of whom sympathize with the militants, have long complained of poverty and neglect. President Muhammadu Buhari has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with militants in 2009 but upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. (Reporting by Tife Owolabi; additional reporting by Terri Wade; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Hugh Lawson)
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Police in Bosnia have arrested five people suspected of trafficking arms to Islamists in Sweden and seized large amounts of weapons and military equipment, officials said on Friday, after a sixth person was held earlier in Sweden. The arrests were made on Thursday during raids on seven locations in northwestern Bosnia by a police counter-terrorism unit in Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, said Mirna Miljanovic, head spokeswoman at the region's interior ministry. Miljanovic said the action was in cooperation with Swedish police as part of an international operation codenamed "Wolf RS". All five arrested on Thursday were Bosnian Serbs, and the person detained last week in Sweden was of Bosnian origin, she said. Two others were on the run. Miljanovic declined to give more details of those arrested, but a police source told Reuters the weapons were attended for the Swedish branch of Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. Swedish police and security officials declined to comment. The Balkan region has been notorious as a route for smuggling arms into Western Europe. (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; additional reporting by Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Kleber Mendoca Filhos Aquarius, (pictured) which plays in Canness 2016 competition, is a sign of Brazils buildup as a player whose films are forging more links abroad and being released in overseas theaters. Aquarius, produced by Recifes CineScopio and Said Ben Saids Paris-based SBS Prods., is set for an Oct. 17 release in France.

When I left Brazil in the 90s to study in London, I thought: Im going to study something that doesnt exist in Brazil: Cinema! At the time, we produced one to three films per year, recalls Bossa Nova Films Paula Cosenza. Now production numbers have risen to over 100 a year.

State aid has, in part, driven this revolution. Brazils film and TV agency Ancine earmarked 500 million reals ($145.5 million) for production and distribution aid in 2015. That figure dwarfs many Western European nations incentive systems. Spains main film subsidy budget this year, for instance, is just 30 million ($33.7 million).

In 2009, Brazilian film promo org Cinema do Brasil, backed by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency Apex Brasil, launched a Distribution Support Award offering up to $15,000 for foreign distributors P&A campaigns on Brazilian titles. From just nine in 2011, the number of applications skyrocketed to 74 in 2015. That can, of course, be attributed to the plan being far better known now  plus the fact that international distributors are in more dire straits as more audiences watch foreign-language films on VOD. But the number of releases supported by Cinema do Brasil has also shot up  from six in 2011 to 24 last year. And from one in 2004, Brazilian international co-productions hit 26 in 2013 and 23 in 2104, per Ancine stats.

The numbers are not huge, but theyre very interesting, showing a continuous increase, says Andre Sturm, Cinema do Brasil chair. And theyre from 2009. We had almost zero (releases) in 2000.

At work is a virtuous circle. We have the Distribution Support Award. Weve increased the presence of Brazilian producers and distributors at markets, who have begun to become better known (abroad), says Sturm, whose Cinema do Brasil also leads delegations to Berlin, Cannes, Locarno and San Sebastian. Festival curators and directors start to look for their films because they know the producers. Weve had a big increase of films in official selections, and when that happens, distributors get interested too.

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Many EU countries have created significant film-TV export aid systems, says Fabiano Gullane, producer of 2015 Sundance lead actress winner The Second Mother, which grossed $5.3 million worldwide, with three-quarters of that coming from outside Brazil, per Rentrak. Before Cinema do Brasils support, we were at a distinct disadvantage. Now weve closed the gap.

In the weight of its production aid, which mostly survived recession, and the number of support mechanisms, Brazil is beginning to resemble France.

Gullane notes that Brazil has co-production treaties and bilateral co-production funds with Argentina, Uruguay and Portugal. Launched in early 2013, a CDB Sales Agent Support Program awards up to $25,000 in promotion expenses to one sales agent launching a Brazilian film at a major festival. Ancine has created an auteur fund and a minority co-production fund for other Latin America countries.

Brazil used to be isolated, because of its [Portuguese] language and size. Now its changed, says Tatiana Leite at Rio de Janeiros Bubbles Project, which is putting minority equity into Chilean Camila Jose Donosos Nona and Argentinas La Familia Sumergida, both co-produced out of France.

Co-production allows partners to feed their expertise and guarantees distribution in their countries, Leite adds.

Bossa Nova Films released Tropicalia, a docu-feature, and Berlin Panorama player Absence worldwide. Without the help of Cinema do Brasils Distribution Support Award, we wouldnt have had the same opportunity, Cosenza says.

But despite the growth, Brazil wants more: Gullane is moving into English-language filmmaking with Neon River, from Karim Ainouz.

For the moment, Brazil is celebrating a home-grown film  Neon Bull  having a movie in selected for in succession for Venice (the cult Neon Bull), Berlin and Cannesand Toronto. Its our first full slam, Sturm says grinning.

Related stories

Cannes: John Moore Tapped to Direct 'N.O.C.'

Cannes Film Review: 'In Bed With Victoria'

Cannes: Jeremy Irons and Jack Huston Board 'An Actor Prepares'
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's new acting president Michel Temer gave political briefings to US diplomats ahead of elections in 2006, whistleblowing site WikiLeaks said Friday.

Two cables published by the site, marked "sensitive but unclassified," contain summaries of conversations Temer had with the US officials, and their critical view of him and his PMDB party.

WikiLeaks in a Twitter message claimed Temer, a federal lawmaker at the time, acted as an "embassy informant for US intelligence."

The cables, dated January 11 and June 21, 2006, said Temer briefed the then US consul general in Sao Paulo, Christopher McMullen, along with another unidentified political official.

In the briefings, Temer spoke of possible plans for his centrist PMDB party to mount an electoral challenge to Brazil's leftist president at the time, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.

The PMDB ended up making a coalition with the Workers' Party of Lula and his successor Dilma Rousseff.

Rousseff was suspended as president on Thursday pending an impeachment trial against her. Temer stepped up from the post of vice-president to fill her role while the trial takes place.

Rousseff called the move a "coup" and branded Temer a traitor for abandoning her governing coalition and supporting the impeachment drive against her.

Temer's government held its first cabinet meeting on Friday as it got to work to tackle Brazil's deep economic crisis.

The June 2006 cable signed by McMullen described the PMDB as a group of "opportunistic" regional leaders.

"The PMDB has no ideology or policy framework that it could bring to the task of formulating and implementing a coherent national political agenda," it said.

Brazil hosts the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro from August 5 to 21.
Kinshasa (AFP) - Britain may seek EU sanctions against those to blame for "acts of repression" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a British envoy said on Friday.

She was speaking after DR Congo's Constitutional Court ruled that President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, can stay in office beyond 2016 without being re-elected. The ruling Wednesday sparked fierce protests from the country's main opposition party.

"We are talking to our European colleagues about targeted sanctions against those responsible for actions or decisions involving violence against citizens and intimidation of the opposition," said Danae Dholakia, Britain's special envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region.

"The position of the United Kingdom is that the people responsible for acts of repression or violence will take responsibility for their actions or decisions," said Dholakia.

The British envoy referred to the legal woes of Moise Katumbi, an opposition candidate for elections in theory due before the end of the year, who was investigated for some 10 days about the alleged recruitment of mercenaries.

"I sincerely hope that recent accusations made against Moise Katumbi ... are not an extension of political restrictions" in DRC, which western countries and the UN have condemned for several months, she added.

Tension has been growing for months in the DRC because of what the opposition alleges are Kabila's efforts to cling on to power.

In office 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.

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court, responding to a request for clarification by the ruling party, said Kabila could stay in office if presidential elections this year fail to be held on schedule, as is widely expected.

The opposition has called on Kabila to ensure that the ballot is are held on time, although no date has yet been announced for the polls, which look increasingly likely to be delayed.

"There are lots of red flashing lights," said Dholakia. "The risks of events diverting from constitutional order are real," he added.
PureWow

It looks like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle thought their Archewell website needed a little bit of a facelift. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keeping quite busy these days, what with a Netflix docuseries, podcasts, oh, and two young kids to take care of. However, we just noticed that the couple changed the photo on the homepage of their website, trading out the old pic for a brand-new portrait courtesy of Misan Harriman. Archewell Foundation/Misan Harriman The pic was snapped during t
The troubled Busan festival is 100% certain to go ahead this year, according to Kim Dong-ho, the industry veteran who last week rejoined the event that he co-founded 21 years ago.

After 15 months of conflict the two sides reached a compromise and appointed me to this post, Kim told Variety in Cannes. The festival has been guaranteed freedom of expression and freedom of programming.

The mayor of Busan, Seo Byung-soo, last week agreed to step down from the ex officio position of chairman, with Kim, the most respected figure in Korean cinema, drafted in as chairman of the organizing committee.

Conflict had flared during the October 2014 edition of the festival when selectors went ahead with the programming of controversial documentary Diving Bell (aka The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol) against the wishes of Seo.

The stand-off led to financial cuts at the 20th anniversary edition in 2015. Since then, festival director Lee Yong-kwan has been eased aside and large parts of the Korean film industry have threatened to boycott the 2016 edition.

This is only a first step. And there are many things that remain to be done, but we can now be certain that the festival will go ahead, Kim said. It will go ahead with all the normal (competition, market and project market) activities that we have become used to.

Kim acknowledged that with only four months before the festival kicks off in October, the time for preparation is significantly shorter than in a normal year. But he insisted that there was still enough time to make film selections.

From a financial and commercial point of view things may be harder. We have not got many sponsors on board at this stage, but we have been maintaining contact with them and hope to secure some, Kim said.

Related stories

Kim Dong-ho Appointed in Busan Festival Rescue Role

City Goes Ahead With Fraud Charges Against Busan Festival Boss Lee Yong-kwan

Lotte, Busan City Launch $17.3 Million Film Fund
C64af39856c845c3a8bd4a62eafa56e4

Can't afford a house or apartment? Why not buy a town?

As Australia's younger generation wonder how on earth they're supposed to "get a good job that pays good money" to purchase their first home in the country's capital cities, perhaps the easiest solution is well, to buy an entire town.

SEE ALSO: Python takes bathroom break in national park ladies' room

Yes, the whole town of Allie's Creek in Monogorilby is up for sale. It is located in the south-east corner Queensland, around five hours drive from Brisbane.

The town consists of 16 Queenslander-style homes  which have wrap around balconies, stumps for ventilation and weatherboard cladding  but there are also roads, street lights, a water purification plant, power depot, a dam with a pontoon, plus a phone line to each home.

home

Image: Ian Sutton

The cost? You can buy the lot for the relatively affordable sum of A$750,000 (US$547,612). That amount would barely get you a two-bedroom apartment in the inner suburbs of Sydney, or a newer home in Melbourne's inner suburbs.

"It's a mini-town, it's unbelievable," Julie Sutton, Principal at Sutton Nationwide Realty told Mashable Australia.

The town is actually a decommissioned saw mill, complete with sheds and all the machinery to make it happen. A perfect spot to reenact your own version of Twin Peaks, or to start becoming a lumberjack.

sheds

Image: Ian Sutton

hall

Image: Ian sutton

Formerly owned by a husband and wife who bought the town in 2008, it was put on the market for $2.1 million in September but has just been slashed to the bargain price due to the death of the husband.

Around half of the homes are currently occupied by tenants, but Sutton said the town is a perfect spot for a music festival, a caravan site or a retreat. "It's only been used as a place for rental income so far, but it's a complete small town with all the roads made, including a hall for functions ... there's just so much that's possible," she said.

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So far, Sutton has received around a dozen serious expressions of interest from individual buyers and consortiums, which isn't a surprise given the bargain basement cost of an entire town.

So if you want to run in the streets of a town you actually own, you'd better hurry.

UPDATE: Friday May 13, 2:07 p.m. AEST The original story stated Monogorilby was for sale, when it is in fact Allie's Creek, a part of Monogorilby that is for sale.
Author Ian Halperin has come out swinging at Caitlyn Jenners camp after a representative for the former Olympian denied Halperins claim that Jenner might reverse her gender transition.

Halperin, author of the recently published autobiography Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of Americas Royal Family, told TheWrap on Thursday that he believes Jenner expedited the transition process in order to deflect attention from a fatal February 2015 car crash in Malibu that left one woman dead.

It didnt surprise me in the least that Jenners representative would deny the story, Halperin said. Theres millions of dollars at stake now.

Also Read: Caitlyn Jenners Rep Denies Biographers Sex Change Regret Claim

I firmly stand behind the story, said Halperin, who estimated that Jenner will de-transition in approximately three years.

A Jenner representative had no comment for TheWrap on Halperins new claims. On Thursday, a Jenner rep denied the authors earlier assertions to New York Daily News, saying, Not worth commenting on such an idiotic report  Of course its not true.

Halperin said that, in researching his book, he went undercover, seeking a consultation from Jenners doctor for the same procedure that Jenner underwent, and infiltrating transgender groups.

My sources are really deep in this; I really examined his transition, Halperin told TheWrap. I conclude that he never officially transitioned.

Halperin also asserted that hes almost positive that Jenner still possesses male genitalia.

Also Read: About That Caitlyn Jenner Report Is 'Detransition a Typical Thing?

She has breasts but hasnt had gender reassignment surgery so de-transition is a snap, he said.

Halperin asserted that Jenner, fearful of criminal charges stemming from the Malibu crash, rushed the transition in order to shift focus from the accident.

He was petrified, Bruce Jenner, that homicide charges would be filed, Halperin said. He misdirected everybodys attention in the world.

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It was a brilliant misdirection, Halperin added. We all forgot about poor Kim Howe, who was killed.

Halperin stressed that he feels sympathy for Jenner, and said hes sorry for the struggles that shes gone through.

Also Read: Caitlyn Jenner Experienced 'Sex Change Regret, Might De-Transition, Biographer Says

He added, Shes done a great job for transgender rights, but something smells.

On Wednesday, Halperin told TheWrap that, while researching his book, multiple sources told him that Jenner had been miserable for months and has considered transitioning back to a man.

One source confirmed to me Caitlyn has made whispers of sex change regret, hinting she might go back to being Bruce Jenner, Halperin said.

Related stories from TheWrap:

About That Caitlyn Jenner Report Is 'Detransition a Typical Thing?

Caitlyn Jenners Rep Denies Biographers 'Sex Change Regret Claim

Caitlyn Jenner Experienced 'Sex Change Regret, Might De-Transition, Biographer Says

Related Video:
Thousands of people lined the streets of Coronado, California, on Friday, May 13, to honor fallen Navy SEAL Charles Keating IV. Keating was killed in Iraq on May 3 while working to advise and support Iraqi troops as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. Keating was awarded the silver star and purple heart during a ceremony on Thursday, according to local reports.

Students were encouraged to wear red, white, and blue and were among those lining the streets and carrying flags and signs, according to media reports. This video shows the crowd outside of Coronado High School.

Keating was based in Coronado, home to the SEAL program, where he lived with his wife Brooke, whom he married before his deployment. Credit: Instagram/Brooke Scott
By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO, May 13 (Reuters) - Business got even tougher for Canada's newspaper industry last year, data showed on Friday, with nationally distributed advertising cut by almost a quarter and online ad sales barely taking up any of the slack.

Total daily-newspaper revenue in 2015 fell to C$1.4 billion ($1.1 billion), down 12.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Newspapers Canada, an industry group representing publishers.

The national portion fell 24.2 percent, to C$401 million, with sales there now half where they stood in 2012.

Canadian newsrooms are shrinking in increasing numbers as advertisers shift to digital alternatives including Facebook and Google search ads to reach younger and more tech-savvy audiences.

Even if these advertisers pitch their products and services next to Canadian newspaper articles online, the publishers themselves are not collecting unless their news stories are being read on their own sites.

The country's biggest newspaper publisher, Postmedia Network Canada Corp last month said it was looking to sell assets or restructure its finances as its losses widened in "an unrelentingly challenging environment".

Online ad revenue for the overall industry was C$228 million, barely higher than the C$226 million reported in 2014 and C$221 million in 2013.

Local advertising declines were much smaller than the national shrinkage, and spending there has now overtaken national spending as the biggest slice of the revenue pie for the first time since 2009, the data showed.

Canada's federal Liberal government is prepared to overhaul the country's laws governing broadcasting, media and cultural industries to support local content, a minister told the Globe and Mail newspaper last month.

($1 = 1.2934 Canadian dollars)
(Adds analyst comment, updates prices to close)

* TSX ends down 39.22 points, or 0.28 percent, at 13,748.58

* Seven of 10 main sectors fall

* Index gained 0.3 percent on the week

By Alastair Sharp

TORONTO, May 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slipped on Friday, weighed down by financials, industrials and resource stocks as they pulled back in line with softer prices for oil and other commodities.

"Today's price action is somewhat suggestive that some of these commodity sectors are perhaps extended from the perspective of the run that they've had," said Sid Mokhtari, market technician and director of institutional equity research at CIBC World Markets.

Gold miners cushioned the fall, however, as bullion shrugged off a stronger U.S. dollar and data suggesting a brighter outlook for the U.S. economy.

Barrick Gold Corp gained 2.5 percent to C$23.86, Kinross Gold Corp added 2.5 percent to end at C$6.69, and Eldorado Gold Corp rose 4.1 percent to C$6.33.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index settled down 39.22 points, or 0.28 percent, at 13,748.58, with seven of its 10 main sectors notching losses. It gained 0.3 percent on the week.

The energy group lost 0.7 percent as oil prices ended a three-day bull run, falling as a stronger dollar weighed and investors cashed in recent gains.

The heavyweight financials group slipped 0.4 percent, while industrials fell 0.9 percent.

Brookfield Asset Management lost 1.1 percent to C$42.92. It entered exclusive talks to buy a natural gas pipeline unit from Brazil's Petrobras, the state oil producer said after the close on Thursday.

The country's two main rail companies also fell, with Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd down 2 percent at C$172.87 and Canadian National railway Co off 0.8 percent at C$76.03.

CIBC's Mokhtari said the index, which has recovered steadily since falling below 11,600 in January, was exhibiting positive technical characteristics including holding above a rising 50-day moving average, with more than 80 percent of companies trading above both their 100- and 200-day moving averages.

Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc jumped 8 percent to C$4.57 after SiriusXM Holdings Inc, its biggest shareholder, said it and two top Canadian shareholders will take the satellite radio service private.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and James Dalgleish)
Canada's Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize is expanding its scope this year. The honor, which recognizes albums that might have won the Polaris Music Prize if it had existed at the time of their release, will double its shortlist for each decade, the organization announced.

"Nominees will be announced once again at the gala in September," said Polaris founder and executive director Steve Jordan said at the Slaight Music CMW Social last Saturday. "Voting will open shortly after that. We'll also be expanding our shortlist to 10 titles from the five titles we had last year because we can all agree that there is no shortage of classic, groundbreaking influential Canadian albums to recognize."

Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'Power In the Blood' Wins Album of the Year at 2015 Polaris Music Awards

The Polaris Music Prize, created in 2006, is "a not-for-profit organization that annually honors and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction," otherwise termed "the best Canadian album," with no parameters such as genre or sales. The long and shortlists are determined by more than a hundred music journalists, critics, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada. The winner is determined the evening of the gala behind closed doors by an 11-member grand jury.

The Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, however, is chosen differently.

"Last year a panel of critics and broadcasters, including people like Tom Harrison, David Marsden, Laurie Brown, Mary Dickie and more, came up with a shortlist of Canadian albums for four distinct periods in Canadian music history -- the '60s and '70s; '80s; '90s; and the aughts ('00s)," said Jordan. "We then put the list, at Gary [Slaight's] request, to a public vote. The winners were announced last fall."

The inaugural winners were Joni Mitchell's Blue (for the joint '60s/'70s category); Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Session ('80s); Sloan's Twice Removed ('90s) and Peaches' The Teaches of Peaches ('00s).

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Polaris Music Prize Turns 10: Inside Each Winning Album With the Jurors Who Championed Them

"What was great is Peaches totally embraced this award," said Jordan. "I heard stories -- because she's never been nominated or won any award in Canada -- so when she found out she was nominated, she actually stopped her shows, put up the URL for our voting mechanism on the screen and would not play another song until everybody showed their phones that they had voted for her. It's awesome to see that engagement."

A long planned tribute concert to the Heritage Prize winning albums will be held Aug. 4 at Toronto's Great Hall, co-presented by Massey Hall/Roy Thomson Hall, "hopefully with most of the artists," said Jordan.

There is no monetary prize for this award but four graphic artists were commissioned to interpret one album each for a poster that will be presented to the artists at the gig, said Jordan. Limited edition prints are for sale on the Polaris site.

The winner of the Polaris Music Prize gets $50,000 (CAD). Voting for that will begin at the end of the month and the resulting 40 album long list revealed June 15 at a location TBD. The 10 album shortlist will be announced July 14 at The Carlu in Toronto, where the gala will be held Sept. 19.

The eligibility period for the 2016 Polaris Music Prize is June 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016.
Ottawa (AFP) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid tribute Friday to crews who fought to save fire-ravaged Fort McMurray, amid criticism for not showing up in the city sooner.

"The work that you did to save so much of this community, to save so much of this city and the downtown core and so many homes was unbelievable," Trudeau said from Fort McMurray, after flying over areas that had been devastated by the fires.

The entire city of 100,000 people was evacuated last week. Its suburbs suffered major damage, but the city center was largely spared.

As of Friday, only one fire remained out of control, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the city.

Canadians were only "beginning to hear the wonderful news that so much of the town was saved," Trudeau told a group of rescuers in Fort McMurray.

He also toured part of the Beacon Hill neighborhood, which fared far less well, and is in ruins.

Accompanied by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Trudeau was to appear later in the day in the province's capital, Edmonton, where a number of evacuees have taken refuge.

Trudeau was welcomed to Fort McMurray by firefighter chief Darby Allen before surveying the damage from an army helicopter.

The prime minister expressed interest in preventing a disaster of the same magnitude from happening again.

"I'm very, very interested in not just what we manage to do to get through this one but what we can do around minimizing the impacts of the next one because it will come," Trudeau said.

Fires are not uncommon in the region at winter's end, but are generally not as destructive as the McMurray blaze, which burned 2,415 square kilometers (1,500 square miles), according to fire services in the province.

Trudeau also responded to criticism that he had not come sooner to the city.

"I was not able to get here until now, so I was following all of the updates and watching the images on TV and seeing the scale of this" Trudeau said.
You don't have to be a screaming bigot to support a racist system.

I

Martin claimed Thursday that aren't racist against indigenous people  they just tend not to notice what's happening to them.

"I do not believe Canadians are racist," Martin told The Canadian Press in an interview. "I do believe, unfortunately, that the whole issue that we are talking so many Canadians ... But it is my belief if we speak about ... more and more Canadians are becoming aware of it."

Source: Mic/Getty Images

This notion of invisibility is especially strange because indigenous Canadians face a host of struggles anyone paying attention can plainly see.

In particular, First Nations people have been subject to similar patterns of colonial violence as their Native American counterparts.

A legacy of c  characterized by government-engineered land theft, forced relocation and placement of indigenous children in to facilitate assimilation  have made indigenous people one of Canada's most socioeconomically opulations.

The irony here is that Canadians' lack of awareness is the perfect example of racism at work.

I the system of racial inequality that's marginalized them makes it so. Part of the privilege attached to being white in a majority-white nation means not having to notice people of color's problems  even problems your own government is responsible for.

Members of the Attawapiskat First Nation protest living conditions on their reservation in front of parliament.

This legacy of violence is still alive in Canada today.

According to CBC, half of all First Nations children live in poverty  the highest rate of any demographic in the country. In some First Nations communities, suicide rates are also staggering: In March alone,

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What's more, an estimated 4,000 indigenous women been murdered or gone missing in Canada since 1980  constituting one of North America's most striking epidemics of violence against woman.

First Nations women are just 4% of the country's female population but 16% of women who've gone missing, been kidnapped or been murdered over that period.

The Canadian government has largely ignored indigenous issues.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Until the current administration under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Canadian government had resisted launching an inquiry into the missing women  despite persistent calls from advocates and indigenous people to do so.

Things are getting (slightly) better now.

The Canadian government is pouring resources into addressing First Nations issues  perhaps more than ever before. For instance, the province of Ontario recently decided to commit $100 million to investigating violence against indigenous women.

But make no mistake  there's one reason why any of this is an issue to begin with.

It's called racism.

Whether individual Canadians themselves are racist or not is besides the point. That indigenous issues could remain invisible to them for so long is a direct by-product of systemic racism.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Friday it was investigating the death of an Australian security contractor at its embassy in the Iraqi capital, following reports of a shootout. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said security was being maintained at a high level at the embassy after the killing of the 34-year-old man. Media reports said there was a shooting outside the embassy on Wednesday. A Foreign Office spokeswoman declined to comment. "I am advised the high level of security is being maintained at the embassy," Bishop said in an emailed statement. "In light of the ongoing investigation, and out of respect for the mans family, the Australian government will not provide further comment at this time." Three suicide bombings claimed by Islamic State across Baghdad killed at least 80 people on Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital sources said, in the deadliest attacks in the Iraqi capital this year. (Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Cannes opening-night master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte may be best known now outside France as the man who made a rape joke at Woody Allen's expense, but he doesn't want anyone to forget how he shared a kiss with living legend Catherine Deneuve.

The lip-lock came during the irreverent ceremony, and Lafitte admits to The Hollywood Reporter that it was his idea. "I would have preferred it was hers," he laughs, before adding that she came in from Paris specifically for the kiss.

The two rehearsed it two times before taking the stage with no lines to memorize. (Deneuve walked in from center stage, kissed Lafitte for 10 seconds and immediately exited.)

"She's a very good kisser," gushes Lafitte, who declines to comment on his relationship status. "She's very funny and very elegant and very classy."

The show of affection may have come as a surprise to gala attendees, but not Deneuve. When asked about the kiss by THR during the L'Oreal-sponsored afterparty, Deneuve offered matter-of-factly, "I gave the kiss so I was not surprised. I felt fine."

Read More: Cannes Emcee on His Woody Allen Rape Joke: "I Didn't Want to Hurt Anybody" (Q&A)
Jerry Ye, film head at Huayi Brothers, was treated like a rock star Friday at the Cannes seminar on film co-production with China. The seminar addressed the complications and massive potential for international collaboration as the Chinese film market matures and evolves.

The Chinese market is very large, you need to approach it the right way, said Ye. That means making early decisions about focus and the language of production. My advice is to focus on Chinas young movie goers.

Vincent Grimond, CFO at Wild Bunch, described the Franco-German companys Europe-China fund as supporting a long-term involvement in China. He said that many co-productions are cynical and limited to financial interests. In fact we are not looking for any particular type of co-production, we are looking for specific movies, Grimond said.

Trust Nordisks Rikke Ennis described how a company from tiny Denmark could have an impact in the worlds most populous nation. We have learned that Chinese companies are interested in story, partnerships and intellectual property. IP is a buzz word, she said. The stories of Hans Christian Andersen including The Little Mermaid, are well-known in China and gave us a position of equality with our partner.

As usual at such events, the need to find the right business partner emerged as a key theme. Christophe Granier-Deferre, a U.K.-based producer at Poisson Rouge Pictures working on a five movie slate with Chinas Thunder Pictures, said he bonded with partner on a five-hour hill walk.

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Cannes (France) (AFP) - A French comedian who made a rape joke in the presence of Woody Allen on the opening night of the Cannes film festival apologised on Friday for the barbed gag.

The comment by popular French actor Laurent Lafitte came as allegations that Allen had sexually abused his daughter returned to haunt the 80-year-old veteran US director.

Allen, whose film "Cafe Society" had its premiere Wednesday, was seated in the front row at the opening ceremony when Lafitte referred to rape charges in a gag that drew gasps from the audience.

"It is a pleasure to see you in France, because you have shot many films in Europe in recent years, and yet in the United States you haven't even been convicted for rape," Lafitte said.

It was not clear if the comment was directed at Allen or fellow director Roman Polanski who has been living in Europe to escape charges he raped a 13-year-old girl in the United States.

Lafitte took to Twitter Friday to express his regrets after his gag made global headlines.

"I wanted to be funny, impertinent and quirky, I acknowledge that what I said was inappropriate or could be misinterpreted," he said, in remarks confirmed to AFP by Lafitte's spokeswoman Apolline Thomasset.

I'm deeply sorry for all those that I offended."

- Joke about 'American puritanism' -

Allegations had resurfaced Wednesday that Allen sexually abused his daughter Dylan Farrow, now 30, in the early 1990s.

His estranged son Ronan Farrow published a column in trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter lashing out at the media for failing to ask hard questions about the allegations.

Ronan said his mother Mia Farrow decided not to press charges at the time due to Dylan's "fragility".

Lafitte had earlier told The Hollywood Reporter that the punchline had been misconstrued.

"When I wrote this joke, it was more a joke about Europe and why one of the greatest American directors spent years in Europe, (while Allen) didn't have to because he wasn't accused of rape in his own country, compared to Roman Polanski," he said.

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"It was (meant) as a joke about American puritanism and the fact that it is surprising that an American director wants to do so many movies in Europe. I didn't know about the other stuff."

Lafitte said festival director Thierry Fremaux had approached Allen at the afterparty to ask if he was offended by the joke "but he said he was not".

"He said, 'I thought that guy was funny.' It's a storm in a tea cup, and it's a shame, because I tried as much as I could to write something funny every 20 seconds," Lafitte said.

"In a show lasting 45 minutes, this is the only thing that will remain."

Allen told Variety magazine Thursday: "It would take a lot to offend me."

"I'm a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want."
Europes top three regional film funds are joining forces in a move intended to strengthen the collective financial muscle of European co-productions.

Italys Roma Lazio Film Commission, Frances Ile de France and Germanys Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg film funding organization are set to forge a formal pact to co-operate on ways to harmonize their soft money schemes to jointly attract more international mid-range pics.

Its an alliance to stop operating as single entities on the market, says Nicola Zingaretti, governor of Italys Lazio Region, which comprises the city of Rome. Each one of us of course acts autonomously. But we want to create synergies among the most important European regional funds, a group to which we now belong, he added.

Zingaretti has been instrumental in tapping into European Union economic development funds to provide the Roma Lazio Film Commission with coin for its new Lazio Cinema Intl. co-production fund, which will be presented to industryites on May 15 in Cannes at 11 a.m. at the Italian pavilion in the Majestic Hotel.

Ile de France Film Commissioner Olivier-Rene Veillon and Berlin-Brandenburg managing director of film funding Kirsten Niehuus will also be on hand.

While relatively modest, at $10 million euros ($11.4 million), the Lazio Cinema Intl. Fund marks the biggest single injection of regional soft money in Italy. The fund provides grants and is designed to work nicely for international producers in tandem with the countrys competitive tax breaks. It is also expected to more than quadruple its pot going forward.

Half of the $11.4 million tranche is for feature films, while the other half is for TV productions. Documentaries can qualify, and also animated projects. Roma Lazio also has a $10.8 million fund for Italian and international productions shot in the region, and some smaller schemes for a total of 23 million euros ($26 million) per year. Two Italian pics at Cannes, Paolo Virzis Like Crazy and Marco Bellocchios Sweet Dreams, both screening in Directors Fortnight, tapped into the Lazio coin.

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Surprises always come at the end of Pablo Larrains films, when everything suddenly comes together and the audience sits in the cinema feeling both illuminated and floored. Neruda is no different, representing the director at his stunning best with a work of such cleverness and beauty, alongside such power, that its hard to know how to parcel out praise: script, cinematography, art direction and performances all vie for kudos and awards, though the films placement in Directors Fortnight rather than competition at Cannes is a major head-scratcher. Neruda is not a biopic but an invention informed by biography, conjuring a richly detailed investigator with notions of self-grandeur whos hunting the famed leftist writer-politician in 1948 Chile. Sales will be vigorous, and international success practically a certainty.

Titling the film Neruda might be seen as a marketing drawback, since some will imagine a more straightforward look at the poets life, although those familiar with Larrains work know thats never been his style. Instead, he deftly mixes fiction with a form of truth, presenting Neruda (Luis Gnecco) not as the passionate romantic of his verse but a champagne communist very much tied to passing pleasures. Yet what Larrain makes clear by the finale is that who the artist is (any artist) is less important than what they inspire: to give voice to the powerless, and arouse the senses, is the ultimate gift to the masses.

Not only do Larrain and Guillermo Calderon, his screenwriter from The Club, create a mirror Neruda (the director accurately describes his film as Nerudian), but they invent police prefect Oscar Peluchonneau (Gael Garcia Bernal), a doggedly determined inspector on the poets trail whos something of a less-bumbling Clouseau, with perhaps a little Herge and a lot of Neruda. Every bit the films protagonist as much as the poet, Peluchonneau  the name does exist, but its fanciful evocation is ideal for the character (peluche in both Spanish and French refers to stuffed animal toys)  serves as both Nerudas nemesis and his creation, an ineffective plainclothesman assisting in the legend of the great mans persecution.

Neruda was a politician (and diplomat) in 1948, when President Gabriel Gonzalez Vidala (Alfredo Castro) betrayed his leftist roots and allied himself with the war on communism. As Chiles most famous Stalinist, Neruda lost his high-powered protectors and went into hiding with his aristocratic Argentinian wife Delia del Carril (Mercedes Moran), assisted by members of the Communist Party far more attuned to the hardships of the working class than the poet himself.

Thats when Peluchonneau comes in, though he was already heard in voice-over before viewers know whos speaking. Of course voice-over is one of the most overused elements in contemporary cinema, rarely asking the audience to question the narrators reliability, but Larrain demands our skepticism from the moment the voices identity is revealed. The son of a prostitute and possibly the late chief of police, Peluchonneau is determined to be no ones secondary character, making him a brilliant Nerudian creation (a detective who loves detective fiction) whose function is to burnish the poets reputation in exile  a status widely publicized in France by Pablo Picasso (Emilio Gutierrez Caba), Nerudas fellow champagne communist.

As conceived by Larrain and Calderon, Neruda is more a casual hedonist than a genuine sensualist, in loving sympathy with his quietly solid wife, yet theirs isnt a demonstrative relationship, even in private. Instead, the effect of Nerudas writing on others is what constitutes his greatness: a beautifully emotional scene has a drag queen from a brothel explain to Peluchonneau how Neruda arouses passion and a strong sense of self-worth, though the poet as man rather than writer is distinctly less inspirational.

The film constantly plays with artificiality and moments of abrupt realism, serving as a reminder that the Communist Partys struggles in Chile had very real meaning for the mistreated working class (theres also a brief Pinochet cameo, as the commandant of a concentration camp). So while an air of play-acting surrounds Neruda and Peluchonneau, as well as several of the politicians seen in their privileged eyries, it receives a dose of reality from, for example, the character of Alvaro Jara (Michael Silva), Nerudas Party-assigned minder trying to keep his charge one step away from Peluchonneaus grasp.

All the performances are outstanding: Gnecco plays Neruda with a sense of entitled vanity, which occasionally slips to reveal the characters idealism and solidarity. As Delia, Moran does an enormous amount with just her presence, using her warmth-giving smile as protection for both herself and her husband. But perhaps its Garcia Bernal who makes the greatest impression, since his is by far the most carefully constructed role. Humorous, straight-faced and channeling any number of noir detectives with a post-modern twist that finally gives that misused concept a good name, the actor quite simply shines, once again proving himself one of the smartest performers around.

Equally worthy of celebration is the lensing of Larrains regular d.p. Sergio Armstrong, sumptuously gliding through rooms and landscapes in long sweeps of meticulously choreographed movement. Rear projection in car scenes reinforce the artificiality of the Peluchonneau element, yet rarely has that oft-clunky device been used with such mannered elegance. Production design and art direction is likewise rich, and music, with excerpts from Penderecki, Grieg and Ives offer suitably lush accompaniment. Neruda doesnt have the anger of The Club or Post-Mortem, but its emotional grace makes it every bit as powerful.

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Cannes Film Review: 'The Student'
There was a time when scores of defiant adolescents asserted intellectual independence from their parents by turning their backs on religion. In this more agnostic age, picking up the Bible can be just as startling an act of rebellion in many households. So it proves in Kirill Serebrennikovs splendid The Student, a stormy, swoon-inducingly shot bout of Russian moral wrestling that hits as hard and heavily as a nastoyka hangover. Though Serebrennikov clearly takes a side in this rhetorical battle between an aggressively Christianized high-schooler and his liberal, Jewish-born biology teacher, this is a welcome study of religious fanaticism that doesnt discredit either partys intelligence, and knows its oats either way: Viewers who are either unfamiliar with or estranged from the Good Book should prepare themselves for a veritable tsunami of scripture, rigorously extracted and reassembled as riveting spiritual debate.

If that sounds a tough sell, it probably is: The fevered verbal tone and vertiginous formal activity of Serebrennikovs films gives them narrower international appeal than, say, those of his compatriot Andrey Zvyagintsev, though theyre comparable in heft and gravity. Still, theres an of-the-moment urgency to The Students unexpected generational face-off that should draw broader arthouse interest than Serebrennikovs 2012 Venice competition entry Betrayal  a heated, dazzlingly mounted romantic tragedy that sadly never caught fire beyond the festival circuit. At a time when arguments over educational safe spaces and belief-based micro-aggressions are prominent in the media, this wildly escalating classroom drama  based on a stage work by German playwright Marius von Mayenburg  serves as a frightening cautionary tale. Whether it ultimately comes down for or against unqualified free speech, however, is one of many potential topics of post-screening conversation.

Three years ago, Russian president Vladimir Putin passed a bill enforcing mandatory religious education in all state schools  permitting students and their parents a choice between six religious disciplines, the dominant ideology of Orthodox Christianity chief among them. It was a motion that stood somewhat in conflict with the official separation of church and state, placing clear emphasis on how far modern Russia has drifted from the enforced atheism of Communist rule. As portrayed in The Student, schools still appear to be in a transitional phase on this front  perhaps significantly, the action takes place in Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave that itself seems caught between different geographical and political identities.

So it is that bright, sulkily handsome teenager Venya (Pyotr Skvortsov, an impressive brooder) attends side-by-side classes with patient Orthodox priest (Nikolai Roschin) and more spikily atheistic biology teacher Elena (Victoria Isakova), each of whom is free to represent their own spiritual views, or lack thereof, in their lessons. When Venya angrily protests  in a gorilla costume, no less  against Elenas unquestioning teaching of evolutionary theory, the schools conservative-leaning principal (Svetlana Bragarnik) wearily suggests that Elena incorporate creationism into her syllabus. Such unsustainable compromise, also recalling controversies that have flared up in U.S. institutions, calls into question the scientific educators responsibility in the present day: Is it to impart conventional wisdom, or to provide the intellectual resources that enable impressionable students to decide for themselves?

Venya, it appears, wouldnt be happy either way. His rabid, and evidently recent, embrace of Christian doctrine (self-taught, it appears, from a well-thumbed pocket Bible) brooks little argument, as he obsessively quotes selected passages as inarguable ethical and existential truths  extending to adamantly right-wing stands on feminism, Judaism and homosexuality. Elena is far from his only foe in this regard, though thanks to Isakovas testy, fiery performance, shes by far his most formidable.

Elsewhere on campus, he outrages his history teacher by quoting the Gospel of St. John to dubiously prove why theres no need for industrialization, and makes a collective enemy of his already dismissive female classmates when he successfully advocates to ban two-piece bathing suits from swimming classes. That the female-dominated school administration largely accommodates the demands of this male Christian crusader could be viewed as a rueful representation of Russias political hierarchy; though its brutally, persuasively sad as character study, The Student maintains a grotesque satirical streak throughout.

Serebrennikovs acrobatic writing (with its barrage of scriptural quotes methodically annotated on-screen) and Skvortsovs perfectly deadpan performance manage to keep aloft the question of whether Venyas militant expressions of faith are entirely earnest, or whether theres more than a hint of perverse, boundary-testing provocation to them. His cruel interactions with his bewildered, overbearing non-believer of a mother (Julia Aug, superb) are certainly colored by spite, as he insists God is punishing her for divorcing his absent father. The nauseatingly overdecorated apartment they share, vividly furnished by production designer Ekaterina Scheglova in heaving, clashing florals, resembles a non-denominational hell equivalent to Mrs. Whites house in Carrie, though the role of oppressive puritan is shifted from parent to child. I wish he collected stamps or jerked off all the time, she wails  a sentiment that may be recognized by a few parents of more stably righteous millennial teens.

As Venyas spiritual awakening spirals violently out of control, Serebrennikovs filmmaking soars and swells with grandly tragic volume, teetering uncertainly only in the final throes. (Your aesthetic brio has to be pretty muscular to sustain soundtrack choices like Slovenian industrial metal band Laibachs grinding God is God.) The long, roving, breathtaking sequence shots favored by the director and his ace cinematographer Vladislav Opelyants become almost exhausting in their looping cursive continuity; the sense of all these characters being on an ineluctable collision course  physical and ideological  is brilliantly entrenched by the films restless visual language. The Student is a film that never stops to think; it thinks (and speaks, and shouts) while prodigiously on the move.

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Fresh from his superhero franchise debut as Everett K. Ross in Captain America: Civil War, Martin Freeman is now set to enter a slightly less spandex-heavy universe.

The British actor has been cast in upcoming apocalyptic zombie thriller Cargo, playing Andy, a father who must try save his infant child at all costs. When he becomes infected following a violent attack and with only 48 hours before he transforms into one of the very creatures he's fought to evade, Andy sets out on a precarious journey to find a new guardian.

The film will be the feature-length debut from Australian directors Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke and based on their own seven-minute short of the same name, which became a YouTube hit in 2013 after was a finalist at the Tropfest film festival and went on to be featured on numerous web sites, including IGN, Bloody Disgusting and CNET.

In the producer's chair is Kristina Ceyton, who was behind 2014's breakout hit The Babadook, with Screen Australia backing the project.

Cargo will be making its market debut in Cannes, with British sales banner Bankside introducing the project to international buyers in the Marche du Film. CAA co-reps domestic rights to Cargo with Bankside.

Since consigning his Hobbitses feet to the back of the wardrobe, Freeman has lined up an eclectic slate of projects.

Alongside Captain America: Civil War, he also headed to the Middle East as a journalist in wartime satire Whiskey Tango Foxtrot alongside Tina Fey and Margot Robbie, and has returned to his BBC roots with the upcoming fourth season of Sherlock, which has recently been shooting. Titles in development include whistleblower drama Official Secrets next to Harrison Ford and Natalie Dormer and British supernatural horror Ghost Stories, based on the stage production.

He is repped by UTA and U.K.'s Creative Artists Management.

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Money-Monster-Collage-Feature

Cannes Film Festival

The first French phrase I taught myself was I am sorry for being an American. Je suis desole detre un Americain.

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For someone traveling out of North America for the first time in his life, theres no better place to be torturously self-conscious about American identity than the Cannes Film Festival. Logistically, its not that bad at all; almost everyone speaks passable English, all the programs and screenings offer subtitles for English-speakers, and the festival grounds arent difficult to navigate, centralized in the ritzy Grand Palais. But walking the screensaver-perfect Croisette, a U.S. citizen cant stave off the inkling that every aspect of this experience has been calibrated to make them feel vulgar. There are the expected foreign eccentricities, sure  nobody in this country puts ice in their drinks, which is insane, obviously  but in a larger sense, its impossible not to feel poorly-dressed and just, well, poor.

Everyone is fabulously good-looking, to the point where a member of the visiting press might begin to entertain suspicions of some kind of Stepford Wives situation going on behind the scenes. A playground for yacht-owners, the Croisette area is almost entirely devoid of homeless people, and the only one that I did happen upon was slugging Prosecco and had a more stylish haircut than me. And the festival itself takes up glamour as its defining aesthetic principle, outfitting even the beefier security guys with tuxes stretching under the strain of bulging muscles.

As this international inferiority complex took hold, it even colored my perception of the screenings I caught. My first day at the festival (technically the second overall  my first rookie mistake was booking a flight that landed the evening of opening night, which meant I missed Woody Allens Cafe Society premiere, a goof I am now trying to rebrand as an act of silent moral protest) consisted of a French picture, an American picture, and a British picture. The vast disparity in quality between those first two took on a national significance as I wandered around various winding rues while reflecting on them. Like an Olympics of cinema, these films are called upon to represent their country of origin when they converge on Cannes, and the days screenings neatly encapsulated the defining qualities of France and the good ol U.S. of A.



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Cannes Film Festival

Alain Guiraudie was a smash when he debuted at Cannes Un Certain Regard section in 2013 with the erotic thriller Stranger By The Lake, a queer Hitchcockian riff with style to spare. He returned in grand fashion this year In Competition, unveiling his newest feature Staying Vertical for an audience with high expectations. He played it close to the vest in his last Cannes appearance, and his newest feature doubles down on its predecessors inscrutability.

The plot itself is threadbare and easily followed, tracking a screenwriter named Leo (Damien Bonnard) stricken with a fit of creative block. While wandering the French countryside in search of inspiration, he knocks up a shepherds daughter, agrees to raise their child when she comes down with post-partum depression, fends off awkward advances from his new father-in-law, hits on a twinky 18-year-old, and f*cks a guy to death in a display of hushed gerontophilic majesty.

What this all adds up to is anyones guess, and the brilliance of the film lays in just how many good guesses it invites. Checking the early reactions on Twitter after the screening, I saw a colleague or two approach the film as a depiction of artistic struggle, my favored reading. But others took Guiraudies quiet drama as a meditation on the complexities of queer sexuality, an inspection of the intersection between masculinity and single parenthood, and a magical-realist parable for the ills of French society.

Guiraudies film isnt just bizarre, beautiful, and mysterious. Its great in a distinctly French way, and not just in the committed stoicism of its actors. (The rarity with which French people smile or laugh politely makes me supremely uncomfortable. I am hoping this feeling goes away soon.) Theres a quiet composure even in the most strange or shocking moments  a full-frontal childbirth, for instance, or a visit to a healer who hooks Leo up to restorative vines like synaptic electrodes. Maybe theyre stereotypes dreamt up by Americans, but Staying Vertical does seem to embody the French virtues of stoicism, dispassion, and intellectualism. All the film was missing was a long-take of our man smoking a cigarette and drinking a glass of wine while staring out a window, beset with existential ennui. And Guiraudie, of course, knows better than to go that broad.

The impressive showing from the festivals host nation only made the already-middling Money Monster look even weaker by comparison. Jodie Fosters combo thriller/social critique wasnt just a meh movie, it was an embodiment of the worst gaffes recurrently plaguing Hollywood. Foster clearly has lots on her mind, offering an indictment of greedy corporate slimeballs and the citizens too busy getting stoned on 24-hour news stations to notice theyre being swindled. But Money Monster is as boorish, loud, and simplistic as a sunblock-smeared tourist, echoing the same dim-wittedness of which it accuses its various satirical targets.

When Hollywood decides its time to make an Important Film, you can bet your 64-ounce Big Gulp itll have guns, yelling, flashy cross-cutting, boner jokes, and a rap song written specifically for the soundtrack. (I cannot emphasize strongly enough how silly the song concluding this film is. Its up there with Are You Ready For Freddy? and Vanilla Ices Ninja Rap. It is a travesty, and I love it.) The spirit of artifice permeates the entire film, from the predictable twists to the phony tidiness of the conclusion, which sees the good guys winning and the bad guys getting theirs. This, in the history of American economics, has never happened.

The last film of the day, Ken Loachs character study I, Daniel Blake, was a welcome palate-cleanser. The story of a solitary, kindly older man (Dave Johns, an early frontrunner for the festivals Best Actor prize) and a single mother of two (Hayley Squires) helping each other through poverty made me want to use all sorts of words I usually only deploy sarcastically: heartwarming, touching, moving, the whole goopy lot.



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Cannes Film Festival

But the sincerity of Loachs sympathy for his characters is simply too much to deny. Not for one second does this film feel exploitative, patronizing, sappy, or the myriad other tonal pitfalls into which films about struggling poor can tumble. He takes a clear-eyed view toward the experience of poverty, showing how it creeps up on a person through a series of increasingly larger indignities. Daniel only wants to collect his benefit check after a heart attack leaves him unable to work for a while, but the clusterf*ck of Catch-22s that the Kafkaesque British bureaucracy drops on him makes this simple task into a Sisyphean endeavor that nearly made me tear my hair out in frustrated empathy.



The three most infuriating experiences in life are, in order: 1. dealing with an automated call line 2. slogging through a labyrinth of meaningless state-sponsored paperwork and 3. using a computer that just wont work. Daniel has to slog through all this and more, and as his true battle shifts from getting his damn money to retaining some shred of self-respect in the face of the governments typhoon of unfair nonsense, the viewer responds with sadness and fury in equal measure.

Though its steeped in the maddening specifics of life in derelict British hamlets, Loachs film ended the day with a nice sort of universality. Every country has impoverished people ignored or outright antagonized by a welfare department that could clearly not give less of a sh*t, and so I, Daniel Blake transcended the international anxieties (that will almost inevitably be revealed to be a figment of my nervous imagination) in a nice, satisfying way. If the rest of this festival matches the highs and lows of todays presentations, then Cannes will make a lifetime attendee of this writer, white-hot jingo shame or no.

Tomorrow: I take in another rollicking comedy from French rapscallion Bruno Dumont, go into Cambodian Out-of-Competition selection Exil cold, and mercifully catch my first female-directed film of the festival, Maren Ades two-and-a-half-hour whatsit Maren Ade. Also, presumably, sleep?
Hayley Squires and Dave Johns (Courtesy of the Cannes Film Festival)

I, Daniel Blake  which premiered Thursday at Cannes  opens not with a scene, but with the sound. Its a conversation that will be familiar to anyone whos ever grappled with an insurance company. The title character  a 59-year-old carpenter from Newcastle  is locked in a surreal interview with a health-care professional whos asking him a series of questions that hes already answered once before in order to determine if hes fit to get an Employment and Support Allowance while hes recovering from a heart attack. That his doctors have all agreed he cant work  and that he has no other income  is beside the point to the state employee. Its merely the first time well see the pugnacious, proud, good-hearted Daniel (an excellent Dave Johns whos also a stand-up comic) metaphorically beat his head against a welfare system that stymies and punishes the people its supposed to help.

British director Ken Loach is known for his social realist style and has triumphed at Cannes before  his 2006 war drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley won the Palme dOr. But the moving I, Daniel Blake brings a particular kind of rage against the economic machine that feels acutely relevant now. Daniels encounters with the welfare office are a string of indignities  hes kept on hold for hours at a time, forced to file forms online even though he doesnt know anything about computers, and is sent on demeaning job hunts for work he cant accept just to keep up the state-enforced charade. When a pitiless case worker makes him attend a resume class, he wisecracks at the instructor, pointing out that the only lesson hes learning is that there are too many people and not enough jobs. Scene after scene is simply maddening, but its all leavened with Johns performance, a graceful balance of despair, anxiety, and incredulous humor.

Partway through his journey, Daniel  a recent widower whod nursed his ill wife  meets a young single mother Katie (Hayley Squires) whos newly marooned in Newcastle public housing after being shoved out of pricey London. Like Daniel, shes barely keeping afloat  shes going hungry to feed her two kids  and for a while, they all form a sweet, quasi-family unit as he does what he can to help her. Squires brings a touching poignancy to the role, but Katies story feels less fully-drawn, particularly in the last third of the movie when she makes a melodramatic choice, the consequences of which are never really dealt with.

Despite those flaws, I, Daniel Blake is a rare, heartbreaking depiction of the grinding exhaustion of poverty. Theres plenty of kindness to be had in the movies world  the young neighbor who keeps an eye on Daniel, the food bank volunteers who tend to Katie, even one of the case workers who tries to help on the sly. The problem is theyre all working in a system thats designed to fail, and thats destined to take unique souls like Daniel with it.

UPDATE: Variety reports Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to I, Daniel Blake
Shanghai-based Linmon Pictures has acquired Steven Soderbergh's top-secret directorial project Logan Lucky for distribution in China.

Channing Tatum, Michael Shannon and Adam Driver are set to star in the film, which will mark Soderbergh's return to feature filmmaking. Soderbergh hasn't helmed a movie since 2013's medical thriller Side Effects. The film features Tatum and Shannon as brothers who plan a heist during a high-profile NASCAR race.

The deal was part of a trio of sales made by FilmNation to Linmon. The Chinese company also has acquired Michael Grandage's Genius, starring Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman, and forthcoming sci-fi Redivider, starring Dan Stevens and directed by Tim Smit.

China release dates for the three films will be determined by the country's state regulators.

"The Chinese audience is maturing very quickly," Linmon CEO Zhou Yuan told THR. "This is the time to bring more sophisticated and diverse projects to the market. We want to be a pioneer in this area."

Zhou cited The Revenant, which grossed $68.7 million in China, as proof that star-driven dramas can find an audience in the country.

Linmon Pictures was launched in 2014 by Zhou, former head of Shanghai Media Group, and fellow SMG albums Su Xiao, Chen Fei and Xu Xiao'ou. The boutique studio was set up with an initial $15 million (RMB100 million) round of financing from Chinese tech giant Tencent. In March, Linmon closed a successful B round, receiving a total of $76 million (RMB500) from Hony Capital, Tencent and leading Chinese television network Hunan TV.

In its first two years of operation, Linmon produced several high-profile Chinese TV dramas, including Chronicle of Life and To Be a Better Man. The company is now making an ambitious push into film production and distribution and also plans to add a talent management operation and a digital production house.

"We'd like to establish more partnerships with other established Western producers," Zhou said. "China is the only big market that is still growing and it is our responsibility to help our partners leverage this market."

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Maren Ade arrives in Cannes as a double anomaly - one of just three female directors in this year's 20-film competition lineup and the first German to have a chance at the Palme d'Or since Wim Wenders screened Palermo Shooting in Cannes in 2008.

Her first two features - the 2003 Sundance Jury winner The Forest for the Trees and crossover success Everyone Else (winner, in 2009, of two Silver Bears at Berlin: the grand jury prize and best actress for star Birgit Minichmayr) - established Ade as a rising star of Europe's art house scene. Her deeply intimate portraits of relationships gone wrong have drawn comparisons to the work of Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes (Ade is a big fan of the latter).

In Toni Erdmann, the relationship in question is between a hippie father and his estranged daughter. Worried her life as a corporate executive isn't making her happy, the father takes extreme measures, dressing up as a rude practical joker and disrupting her life to provoke a confrontation.

Read more: Film Industry Women's Groups Team Up for Cannes Event

Ade, 39, spoke to THR ahead of Toni Erdmann's Cannes debut about family dynamics, having a second baby while finishing the film and why she's in favor of a subsidy quota for female directors.

Where did the idea for Toni Erdmann first come from?

In the beginning, there is always the constellation of the characters. In all of my three films, it started with the characters. I had this father in mind, Winfried, a music teacher with a hippie lifestyle who is a passionate practical joker, and on the other side his daughter, Ines, who chose a life very far away from his ideals as a corporate consultant. I was interested in telling something about family - about the assigned roles everybody plays, about the ritualistic patterns of a family and about the secret wish to escape all that and start from zero.

It's rare to have a film focus on the relationship between a father and daughter.

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Yes, the daughter is usually a sidekick for the main male character. I like to start with a clear setting and have a father and daughter duel it out. But during the writing, I realized that it's a complicated topic. Parents and children have a lifelong connection; it's a heavy thing. The twist of having the father transform into Toni brought me to a story full of different emotions. The work was to make it a unique story, but to leave enough freedom for the viewer to identify.

Winfried accuses Ines of being too serious. That sounds like a typical accusation men make against successful or ambitious women.

No, it's not about that. It's more that he is confronting her with his humor. A humor that they once shared. He wants to test if she is still there. He wants to provoke her and try and get his daughter back. It's not that he doesn't want her to be successful, but he really doubts that she's happy.

Read more: Cannes: Why Jodie Foster Doesn't Feel Box-Office Pressure for 'Money Monster' (Q&A)

How close is the story of Toni Erdmann to your own life?

My father is a very passionate joker. When I was 20, I was invited to a premiere of Austin Powers, and as a giveaway, they gave these fake teeth. I gave them to him, because I had the feeling he would really use them, and he did get a lot out of them - sticking them in before going to his dentist or complaining about food in a restaurant. And then I also have this weakness for Andy Kaufman who worked with different characters, one of them called Tony Clifton.

How difficult was it to balance the recent birth of your second child with the making of this movie?

What would help this gender discussion a lot would be to start asking my male colleagues the same question. I think we would get very interesting answers from my male colleagues, too - how they combine their family life with their jobs. But yes, my second son is only half-a-year-old, and I did the final editing plus the rest of the postproduction over the last five months. The thing is, you can organize everything, but this doesn't solve the emotional side. Making a film - especially during shooting and postproduction - is like a management job. There is very little time for private life, but as I am my own producer, I had the possibility to organize the whole thing as perfect as possible for my two sons and my needs. Most of the women in films who did something similar have been their own producers.

You are the first German director in competition in Cannes for nearly a decade. What does that mean for you, and how would you judge the current state of the German film industry?

There are more filmmakers who could be in Cannes, but in the last few years, a lot of them chose the Berlinale instead. So it's not that Cannes rejected all the German films in the last eight years. We don't have enough radical films, because there isn't enough money for the type of films Cannes likes to show. I was lucky to get a bigger budget for this film, because my last movie not only won two Silver Bears, but it was also a box-office success in Germany. This way I could make a bigger step.

Read more: Cannes Artistic Director on Festival's Lack of Female Directors: "Do Not Blame Cannes"

The gender discussion about women in film comes up every year in Cannes. Do we need a quota, like Swedish Film Institute's Fifty/Fifty by 2020, in which half of all films subsidized in Europe should be directed by women?

There are not enough women directing films. In Germany, we have this discussion now about a quota system as well, and I think we should try it, because concerning the public money, it should be equal. If someone told me in film school that it might be necessary to have a quota system, I would have thought he is crazy as there were almost half women, half men in the production as well as in the directing class. But I think it should be tried out and checked again after 10 years. And still I think the system has to be oriented on the actual amount of women handing in projects.
Ross Stripling got back on track in his latest start, and so much so that he was nearly as unhittable as he was in his hitless debut. He just still doesn't have a win to show for it.

The rookie will give it another shot Friday night at home as the Los Angeles Dodgers open a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Stripling (0-2, 3.82 ERA), who famously made his MLB debut by carrying a no-hitter through 7 1/3 innings before being pulled with it still going, began May by giving up a run and a hit in six innings of Sunday's 4-2 win in Toronto.

It was a fourth no-decision in six starts, though it came after consecutive losses in which the right-hander gave up eight runs in 10 innings.

He had a longer layoff than normal between starts and didn't issue a walk after posting 4.00 walks per nine innings in his first five.

"With eight days off, just wanted to attack," Stripling told MLB's official website. "Last few outings, I feel I've been average and just been begging for strikes instead of attacking. Had some walks, and that's uncharacteristic for me. Yeah, these guys are great hitters, but I don't want to give them anything. Just pump strikes."

He's up against Michael Wacha, who's finding wins tougher to come by after racking up 17 in 30 starts last season. Wacha (2-3, 3.12) has lost his last three starts despite a 3.43 ERA, though the worst of them was a 10-5 home loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday. The right-hander gave up four runs and six hits in six innings yet remained positive.

"Today, I had good stuff early on," Wacha said. "I just need to make good pitches down in the zone not only with my fastball but with the offspeed pitches as well."

His only career game at Dodger Stadium was a 7-1 win in June in which he limited Los Angeles to a run and seven hits in seven innings to earn the decision.

The Dodgers (18-17) salvaged a split of their four-game home series against the New York Mets with Thursday's 5-0 win behind a dominant performance from Clayton Kershaw and three hits from Chase Utley. Yasiel Puig, however, was 0 for 3 and is 3 for 24 in his last seven games.

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The bullpen got plenty of rest with Kershaw throwing a complete game, though the Los Angeles relievers have been in fine form with an unearned run allowed in 15 innings of the last five games in which the Dodgers have needed the bullpen.

St. Louis (19-16) concluded a three-game sweep at the Angels with Thursday's 12-10 win. The bats broke out with 18 hits as every player in the lineup had at least one, and the Cardinals are averaging 7.2 runs and batting .323 over a 4-1 span.

Yadier Molina was 7 for 12 in the series, Matt Holliday was 7 for 14 with three home runs, and Matt Carpenter is 8 for 19 with four home runs in his last five.

The Cardinals have won the last four series with the Dodgers, including the postseason with victories in 10 of the last 14 games. The Dodgers have averaged 1.7 runs per game over the last nine.
Abidjan (AFP) - Ivory Coast's cashew harvest is already running in record territory, but exports have slumped as high taxes and low prices have pushed farmers to sell their output in neighbouring countries, a trade body said Friday.

At 725,000 tonnes at the start of the harvest season, Ivory Coast's cashew output is already up three percent from the record it set last year, and once again the top player of the nut for which global production totals nearly three million tonnes.

However, "at this stage, 200,000 tonnes of nuts have been exported, against 330,000 tonnes... at the same point in 2015, or a drop of 40 percent," said Malamine Sanogo, director of the Cotton-Cashew Council, which manages the sector.

The drop in exports to India, which is a major processor of cashews as well as a consumer, is running around 60 percent.

"Export taxes are too high in Ivory Coast, producers close to the border don't hesitate to sell their harvests in Ghana, Mali or in Burkina Faso" said Fousseni Adama, an exporter.

Ivory Coast has helped push its cashew production higher in recent years by offering farmers a fixed price.

But a farmer said the current price of 350 CFA francs per kilo (0.53 euros, $0.60) was now "low" compared to that in neighbouring countries.

Officials minimised the impact of unofficial exports, and judged the purchase price fair.

Ivory Coast has also been been encouraging more processing of cashews at home to gain more of the added value, with plans to increase subsidies to processors from five percent to 30 percent or even 40 percent in the coming years.

The cashew industry employs 1.5 million people directly and indirectly in the Ivory Coast.
U.S. states Nevada, Wyoming and Delaware are facing growing pressure to address their lack of corporate transparency, as the United States and the international community continue to respond to fallout from the Panama Papers.

At a London anti-corruption summit on Thursday, representatives from the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the Isle of Man warned that the hypocrisy of the U.S. was hurting the global push for greater financial transparency.

The summit, hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron and attended by leaders and high-ranking officials from around the world, has drawn increased public attention after the Panama Papers investigation by ICIJ, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 media partners revealed new details about how the worlds rich and powerful use and sometimes abuse secrecy jurisdictions and tax havens.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry compared the threat posed by corruption to the threat posed by terrorism, and urged attendees to work together in the fight for transparency.

Corruption, writ large, is as much of an enemy, because it destroys nation states, as some of the extremists we are fighting or the other challenges we face, he said.

But the U.S. came under fire from some of the smaller jurisdictions at the conference for not doing enough to combat financial opacity at home.

Cayman Islands premier Alden McLaughlin warned that if the U.S. and other larger jurisdictions didnt comply with stricter rules being imposed on the rest of the world, then all the shady business is going to migrate to Delaware, Wyoming, Panama, you name it.

It is time to put behind us the shades of hypocrisy that have been part and parcel of global discussion of this issue for years and years. So long as countries with real commitments on the world stage continue to focus on jurisdictions that are smaller in size while ignoring the larger jurisdictions, the results will be continued failure, he said.

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The U.S. states of Wyoming and Nevada both came under closer scrutiny from within the United States earlier in the week, when Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon and ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, sent a letter to the secretaries of state for the two states, demanding more information about how the companies revealed in the Panama Papers are regulated.

"I have become increasingly concerned about the use of anonymous shell companies as vehicles for terrorists financing, tax evasion, and fraud targeting major government programs," Wyden wrote.

The senators letters were one of a number of responses from global authorities and governments following the publication of Panama Papers data and continued investigation from ICIJs partners:

This story is part of The Panama Papers. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Don't miss another Accountability investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email.

- The UK, Nigeria, Kenya, France, the Netherlands and Afghanistan have agreed to set up central registers of beneficial ownership of companies that would be open to the public to search.

- UK Prime Minister David Cameron introduced a new corporate money-laundering offence aimed at forcing companies to take more responsibility for employees actions.

- The government of Japan will propose an action plan for combating graft at the next Group of Seven economic summit later in May.

- Wealthy international investors may start to sell off their luxury London homes after new anti-corruption rules are introduced, a leading real estate agent warned.

- Panama gave in to international pressure and joined about 100 countries in an agreement to share financial information automatically to tackle tax evasion, according to the OECD.

- Pakistans government has been asked by the countrys Supreme Court to legislate a special law to empower a commission of inquiry to look into the Panama Papers revelations.

- Mexico has widened a tax evasion probe by requiring banks to hand over names of local clients with transactions in tax havens.

- Indonesias tax office announced that it would launch an investigation into 272 Indonesians whose names are mentioned in the Panama Papers.

- A group of leading economists and influential advisors to policymakers signed an open letter to world leaders asserting that tax havens serve no useful purpose and calling for new global cooperation to increase financial transparency.

- Canadian investigators are analyzing the files and have committed to lay criminal charges should any wrongdoing be found.

- Sri Lanka has set up a panel to probe its nationals mentioned in the Panama Papers, as part of a broader bid to clean up corruption in the country.

- Vietnams tax authority has formed an inspection team to look into the Vietnamese names and companies revealed in the Panama Papers data, and is also renewing focus on policing transfer pricing and tax avoidance by corporations.

- Iceland president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson announced he would withdraw from his re-election campaign(), after it was revealed that his wifes family had significant offshore holdings.

- More prominent public figures have been linked to companies mentioned in the Panama Papers, including Australias current prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, Guatemalan politician Harold Caballeros, and British film star Emma Watson.

This story is part of The Panama Papers. Click here to read more stories in this series.

Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
The mother of missing Tennessee 9-year old Carlie Trent says she "always had a bad feeling" about Gary Simpson, the 57-year-old man who allegedly kidnapped her daughter last week.



On May 4, Simpson, Carlie's uncle by marriage who, along with his wife, had once had custody of Carlie, picked her up from her Rogersville elementary school. Simpson and Carlie did not return home later that afternoon and the following day an Amber Alert was issued in Tennessee.



Shannon Trent tells PEOPLE she has not had custody of Carlie or her 7-year-old sister for about two years, saying, "I just recently got my life straight and I just wish I could at least see my girls again."



When she heard that her daughter had been allegedly kidnapped by Simpson, she was shocked by the news  but not as much by the suspect.



"I've always had a gut feeling," Trent tells PEOPLE. "I've always had a bad feeling about Gary [and] I should have stuck with my gut."



Trent tells PEOPLE that Simpson has been part of the family for 34 years and was given custody of his nieces when Carlie's father, James, was having what she describes as "problems." At the time of Carlie's disappearance, James had custody of her.



"He was a very trusted family member. If we had known anything like this, we would have never let our kids around him," Trent says.





Mother of Allegedly Abducted 9-Year-Old Carlie Trent 'Always Had a Bad Feeling' About Suspect| Crime & Courts, Kidnapping, True Crime

 Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.



Josh DeVine of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tells PEOPLE that in order to pick up Carlie, Simpson allegedly told teachers that James had been in a car accident and he was sent to get her. But Devine says this was a lie and that Simpson had no authority to pick Carlie up.



On Tuesday, authorities said that before Simpson allegedly kidnapped his niece, he bought girls underwear, a bikini, clothing, lipstick, nail polish, blankets and a child's camping chair at a local WalMart.



"It made me sick to my stomach. I mean, I almost got sick," Trent says of the items Simpson allegedly purchased. "I don't know what he's done to her. I don't think he would hurt her, but if he's capable of kidnapping a child he's capable of anything."



Authorities say the items purchased by Simpson confirm their suspicion that he allegedly brought Carlie to a remote area or campground. Trent says she believes the alleged kidnapping was premeditated.



"And just to think he's had this planned for a long time," Trent says. "I think he's got a lair or something or some sort of shelter."



After the alleged kidnapping, Simpson brought Carlie to a local grocery store and bought non-perishable food items and toiletries, officials said. In a surveillance video from a Save-A-Lot, Carlie doesn't appear to be distressed, officials said. However there is still concern for her safety.





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"We believe this girl to be in imminent danger. As the days go, our concern for [Carlie's] well-being only grows," DeVine said at a press conference on Tuesday.





Mother: 'We Will Find Her'

Trent says she and her family will not stop looking for their daughter. She urges Simpson to come forward, telling PEOPLE, "Gary, think about what you are doing right now  it's just crazy, it's just insane. You're not going to away with this. We will find her  we have to find her."



She adds, "And Carlie, Mommy and Daddy are searching high and low and doing everything we can do to save you."



James Trent told Inside Edition he believes Simpson has an obsession with his daughter.



"I personally think that for some reason, he's developed this obsession with Carlie," he said. "I wonder what he's trying to put in her head, what kind of story he's told her [about] why he's doing what he's doing."



Simpson was last seen driving a white 2002 Dodge Conversion Van with Tennessee registration number 173GPS.



On Tuesday, Missouri authorities issued an Amber Alert after it was believed Simpson was spotted near Otterville. However, hours later, authorities announced the alert was a false alarm.



Carlie is described as 4'8" tall, weighing about 75 lbs., with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black and gray tank top with blue jeans. Simpson was last seen wearing a brown cap with a dark colored shirt and blue jeans.



Anyone with information regarding Carlie's or Simpson's whereabouts is urged to contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation at 1-800-TBI-FIND or the Rogersville Police Department at (423) 272-7555.
BOGOTA, May 13 (Reuters) - Top Colombian cement maker Cementos Argos reported a 31 percent jump in its net profit in the first quarter compared to the same period last year due to expansions in local and foreign operations.

Net profit was 122 billion Colombian pesos ($41.7 million) in the January-March period, compared with 93.3 billion pesos in the same quarter last year, the company, a subsidiary of Grupo Argos, said in a statement late on Thursday.

"These results foretell good development this year and back up our geographical diversification, the expansion and consolidation of our businesses, flexibility in our operations and the constant search for operational excellence," Cementos Argos President Juan Esteban Calle said in a statement.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 38 percent to 425 billion pesos in the first quarter of 2016.

($1 = 2,934.88 Colombian pesos) (Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Paul Simao)
By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia's High Court rejected a challenge to reforms to Senate voting on Friday in a boost for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ahead of elections on July 2. Legislators passed the reforms in March, making it harder for smaller parties to enter parliament through vote-sharing deals. Should Turnbull be returned as prime minister, the verdict clears the path after several years of key policies being rejected by the upper house. Independent and minor party senators elected at the last election in 2013 have stalled key aspects of the government's agenda, including changes that would make higher education and health care more expensive and limit access to welfare. The government is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the center-left Labor opposition, a sharp turnaround from Turnbull's honeymoon period, during which he was one of the most popular leaders in Australian history. Turnbull still faces a gloomy economic outlook and Australia's hard-line immigration policy has drawn criticism at home and abroad. The voting reforms were challenged by independent Senator Bob Day. "The hurdle of getting elected to the Senate will be so high, they will never succeed," Senator David Leyonhjelm, a supporter of Day, told reporters in Canberra. "That is anti-democratic." (This story corrects eighth paragraph to show quote from David Leyonhjelm, not Bob Day) (Editing by Nick Macfie)
Chicago's own Chance the Rapper dropped his latest mixtape, Coloring Book, late Thursday night, following up 2013's Acid Rap. Much of the 14-track mixtape is a sepia-toned nostalgic visit to Chance's youth  even the title evokes childhood.

Here are all the '90s kid references in Coloring Book that will have you putting down your Nickelodeon Magazine (please) and pausing your Free Willy VHS so you can pay full attention:

"Boy I'm at your head like Craig did Deebo."

Source: New Line Cinema

On the mixtape's second song, "No Problem," Chance drops a reference to the 1995 movie Friday, starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Specifically, he's talking about the scene where Ice Cube's Craig beats up Deebo. Google it if you want.

"Aye aye, Captain."

Source: LEON NEAL/Getty Images

In his verse on "No Problem," 2 Chainz slips in a reference to Spongebob Squarepants, specifically the show's earworm of a theme song. Yes, technically Spongebob is still on, but it premiered back in 1999  and we all know the early seasons were the best.

"Blockbuster movies"

Source: Mario Tama/Getty Images

In one of the most wistfully nostalgic tracks on the mixtape, "Summer Friends," Chance reminisces about passing time in the summers as a kid growing up in Chicago, spending time at the "ice cream truck and the beauty supply," and of course, renting movies from Blockbuster. Which, if Chance was anything like us, involved hours of walking up and down the aisles because the movie you actually wanted to see had already been checked out.

"Dying laughing with Krillin saying something bout blonde hair."

Source: Dragon Ball Z

In "Blessings," a song rife with Christ imagery and religious references, Chance casually slips in a reference to Dragon Ball Z characters Krillin and Goku  which may seem out of place until you realize that people are constantly getting resurrected in the cartoon.

"Wendy you've aged/ I thought you'd never grow up."

Source: Disney

This line, a reference to Peter Pan, appears on "Same Drugs" (while Peter Pan didn't come out in the '90s, its VHS version did). The bittersweet reference to the end of the story, when Peter and Wendy pull apart because one grows up and the other stays a child, speaks to a nostalgia most strongly felt by people who have only recently become adults  like '90s kids.

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"Electrify the enemy like Hedwig til he petrified."

Source: CARL COURT/Getty Images

This literary reference comes on "How Great." All '90s kids read Harry Potter (unless you're a total muggle), so everyone should know that (spoiler alert) Hedwig the owl dies.

"Any petty Peter Pettigrew could get the pesticide."

Source: YouTube

Another Harry Potter reference on "How Great"  this time a shoutout to sucky people like Peter Pettigrew, who gave up Harry's parents to Voldemort. Also the pesticide thing, because Peter was both a literal and figurative rat.

"I was lost in the jungle like Simba after the death of Mufasa/ No hog, no meerkat, hakuna matata by day"

Source: YouTube

We shouldn't even have to explain this line from Jay Electronica's verse on "How Great" to you  not only do '90s kids love The Lion King, they also loved those color-changing collectible Lion King spoons. You know the spoons we mean.

"Scars on my head, I'm the boy who lived"

Source: YouTube

Wow, Chance the Rapper truly loves Harry Potter. This line from "Finish Line/Drown" is Chance equating himself with Harry (minus the British accent and magic powers).

"Gimme the water/ I need the kind from Space Jam"

Source: YouTube

Is there anything more '90s than Space Jam? This line off "Finish Line/Drown" refers to Michael Jordan's "secret stuff" (which we all know was just a normal water bottle).



"Call me Mister Mufasa, I had to master stampedes"

Source: YouTube

OK, this one might make you cry just thinking about it: In this line from "Blessings (Reprise)" Chance is referring to the death scene from The Lion King... you know, THE DEATH SCENE?! The saddest moment of your '90s childhood?

All lyrics from Genius.
Chicago's Chance the Rapper just released 2016's richest hip-hop album. Though Kanye said The Life of Pablo was a gospel album, Coloring Book delivers on that promise in much more than fits and spurts. Gospel choirs are the backbone of the LP, rocketing heavenward in the background the same way soul samples did on Kanye records, James Brown breaks did on Public Enemy records or disco interpolations did in the Sugar Hill catalog. Reaching back to the very beginning of black music in America, Chance recontextualizes one of the most enduring African-American art forms for 2016's most urgent one.

Chance The Rapper Releases New Mixtape 'Coloring Book'

Coloring Book comes at a time when the biggest rap and R&B stars are looking deep into African-American heritage, a trend that's perhaps unsurprising in a country where policemen regularly get away with murder, a presidential candidate refuses to disown the KKK and the water is poisoned. On their recent albums, Dr. Dre and Vince Staples revived Nineties gangsta rap, Kendrick Lamar searched for the spiritual core of To Pimp a Butterfly in Seventies jazz, Beyonce sampled Forties prison songs on Lemonade and now Chance the Rapper finds freedom in gospel music that goes back centuries.

There is no shortage of direct praise to God in Chance's lyrics  think West's "Jesus Walks," but without the core of Yeezian frustration. But most everything here seems to take on a spiritual hue: Even though "No Problem" is full of industry-bucking threats ("If one more label try to stop me/It's gon' be some dreadhead niggas in your lobby"), Chance is too busy milly-rocking over his blessings. He can paint a vivid picture of growing up in his beleaguered Chicago ("Bunch of tank-top, nappy-headed, bike-stealing Chatham boys/None of my niggas ain't had no dad/None of my niggas ain't have no choice"), but New York alt-soul songwriter Francis and the Lights testifies through a vocoder and a prayer is given during the bridge, lending a bluesy dirge an aura of warmth and hopefulness. D.R.A.M., the man behind the giddy viral hit "Cha Cha," comes by for a beautiful interlude somewhere between Sly Stone and Animal Collective with the chorus "Everyone is special."

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While gospel icon Kirk Franklin plays hypeman, a choir sings one of the most important lines on the album: "Take me to your mountain/So someday Chicago will be free." Chance reports live from Chicago, a city with nearly 500 homicides last year and the real and terrifying possibility that local government tried to cover up the police shooting of black teenager Laquan MacDonald. Chance's hope for salvation is obviously not limited to himself, and he opens the doors to his city in many ways. "Angels" speaks for a desire to "Clean up the streets, so my daughter can have somewhere to play," "Blessings" states "I don't make songs for free, I make 'em for freedom." Even though "Juke Jam" speaks to more earthly pleasures (a slow song about fast dancing), he still shouts out regional music styles and interpolates Chi's own R. Kelly. Similarly, an ode to drinking, "All Night," reaches back to Chicago house  a Saturday night celebration before the Sunday morning church service of "How Great."

And, as a rapper, Chance is everything we love about hip-hop in 2016. The convoluted and conscious-minded bars of Kendrick Lamar, the melodic gymnastics of Young Thug, the Oculus Rift ambitions of Kanye West. He's indebted to no record label on Earth, using the mixtape grind of Future and Lil Wayne to turn the ambitious rhymer into the most famous unsigned artist in America this side of Keyboard Cat.

Mixing American music at its most vintage, today's most cutting-edge rhyming and the emotional vocoder music that symbolizes our future, this lush, powerful album attempts to move hip-hop past Planet Rock and into the Heavens.

Related
Nissan CEO and president Carlos Ghosn (left) and Mitsubishi Motors chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko. (Photo: Associated Press)



The announcement by Nissan on Thursday (12 May) that it will be buying a 34 per cent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp may not initially have much of an impact on the car market or affect consumers here in Singapore.



However, the purchase should lead to a faster roll-out of new models and technologies as the companies exchange research and best practices.

In a phone briefing for the press on Friday (13 May), Nissan chief executive and president Carlos Ghosn made it clear that the two brands will continue to exist separately.



The sales and marketing efforts for the brands will continue to be distinct and customers will still visit dealerships that stock either Nissan or Mitsubishi cars.



The initial benefits of the deal will be felt mostly on the back-end, Ghosn said. He added that he expects both companies to benefit from the economies of scale derived from new arrangement, which should improve the speed and lower the cost of developing and manufacturing cars.



He said: When you develop synergies between two companies, it benefits them both. Nissan will have its own benefits with returns through the reduced costs of new technologies.



Buyers gain



For car buyers in Singapore, it is the development and roll-out of new technologies that will have the greatest impact. The brands are not going to change but the technologies behind them will.



Ghosn said: Without a doubt we will be working together on the development of new electric cars.



These will include the new plug-in hybrids that Mitsubishi has been developing, which are currently not offered by Nissan. Nissans access to this technology will mean that its new models will arrive here more quickly.

The two brands will share platforms between them, but as Ghosn said: We can have, on the same platform, two completely different products.



Dealing with issues, separately



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This clear separation between the companies extends to addressing Mitsubishis recent fuel economy scandal, in which the company admitted to manipulating tests to make their cars look better.



Nissans money may help, but Ghosn did not think that Mitsubishis problems would have any impact on Nissan.



This is up to the management of Mitsubishi. I have no doubt about their sincerity, and they will be working on rebuilding the trust of their customers. I think that the consumer sees each brand by itself, he said.



In a nutshell, the changes are mostly in the areas of research, development and manufacturing of the cars. Meanwhile, we can also expect new models from Nissan and Mitsubishi that will continue to look distinct - even if they feel more similar to drive.



Justyn Olby is a writer, photographer, and educator based in Singapore. Hes always happiest behind the wheel or the lens.


Charter Communications, Inc. CHTR recently received California Public Utilities Commissions approval with regards to its planned buyouts of Time Warner Cable Inc. TWC and Bright House Networks.



Notably, subject to the remaining customary closing conditions, Charter Communications expects both the transactions to close around May 18.



In May 2015, Charter Communications had reached an agreement to buy Time Warner Cable for $78.7 billion, including debt. The value of the stock portion of the deal has been pegged at $55.76 billion after taking Time Warner Cable's outstanding diluted share count, as of Mar 31, 2015, into account.



Additionally, Charter Communications entered into an acquisition deal with Bright House Networks  the sixth largest U.S. cable operator  valued at $10.4 billion.



The FCC Obliged



Recently, on May 6, Charter Communications got the much anticipated green signal from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concerning the deals.



Notably, the FCC had earlier thwarted Comcast Corp.s CMCSA attempt to take over Time Warner Cable as the combined entity would have controlled 35% of the U.S. pay-TV market (exceeding the FCC limit of 30% share) and almost 60% of the high-speed broadband (Internet) market.



Though the Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable deal was closely scrutinized by the FCC, the regulatory body gave its approval. We note that, the merged entity of Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, once formed, will jointly serve 23.9 million customers across 41 states. The figure is duly below the market share limit set by the FCC.



Meanwhile, in Jul 2015, U.S. telecom behemoth AT&T, Inc. T scaled up to the highest position in the U.S. pay-TV market with the acquisition of DIRECTV.



Bottom Line



The approval of Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable deal is a win-win situation for both the companies. Time Warner Cable, together with most of the cable TV operators in the U.S., is getting gradually marginalized by the fiber-based video offerings of telecom giants and the online video streaming services of low-cost operators.



On the other hand, the alliance will benefit Charter Communications in terms of geographic expansion and operating cost synergies, which in turn, will boost its bottom line and free cash flow.



Interestingly, after the completion of the deal, Charter Communications would be elevated to the position of second-largest cable MSO in the U.S. after Comcast.

Both Charter Communications and Time Warner Cable currently have a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



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By Suzannah Gonzales

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Chicago man suspected of shooting three people to death, including the mother of one of his children, took his own life after an 11-hour standoff with police, authorities said on Thursday.

Kevin Robinson, 29, was found dead in a second-floor bedroom on Chicago's South Side shortly after 3 p.m. local time, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head and a gun in his hand, Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a phone interview.

Police took up positions around the house and threw gas canisters into the home to force Robinson out, Guglielmi said. His mother and sister, who were outside, also pleaded with him to surrender, Guglielmi added.

At about 9:30 a.m., Robinson leaned out of a second-floor window and fired about 12 shots at police, who returned fire, Guglielmi said.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said at a news conference it was unclear if police had also shot Robinson.

Guglielmi said police believe Robinson had killed three people who were found with gunshot wounds late on Wednesday night in a house about five miles away.

The victims were Makeesha Starks, 26; Jerome Wright, 50; and Kiara Kinard, 26, Cook County Medical Examiner's office spokeswoman Becky Schlikerman said in an email.

Starks was the mother of at least one of Robinson's children, Guglielmi said. Police did not know the motive for the shootings, he added.

Starks and Wright were shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, the Chicago Tribune reported. Kinard was shot in the back and was taken to a local hospital where she died, the newspaper said.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales and Justin Madden; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Richard Chang)
* Sharp loan slowdown adds to view Beijing more worried about debt

* Comes after warning in official media about high leverage levels

* April new loans 555.6 bln yuan, vs f'cast 900 bln yuan

* April M2 money supply +12.8 pct y/y, vs f'cast 13.5 pct

* April total social financing 751 bln yuan (Adds analyst's comments, details on types of loan growth)

By Elias Glenn and Sue-Lin Wong

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - Chinese banks sharply cut back new lending in April after a record first-quarter credit spree, reinforcing views that the country's leaders have turned more cautious about the risks of over-stimulating the cooling economy.

The government is trying to arrest a prolonged slowdown in the economy, which expanded 6.9 percent in 2015, the slowest pace in a quarter of a century. It has unleashed a flurry of fiscal, monetary and administrative measures since 2014.

March data showed improvement, but a report in the official People's Daily this week, quoting an "authoritative person", warned too much reliance on debt to kick-start activity could lead to a financial crisis or an economic recession.

Banks made 555.6 billion yuan ($85.21 billion) in net new yuan loans in April, much lower than expected and less than half the 1.37 trillion yuan seen in March, data showed on Friday.

"Banks may have sought to slow down the pace of lending after rapid rises in Q1 and March," said Li Huiyong, an economist at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities in Shanghai.

"Also, it could be related to (recent) government controls on the property sector and tighter lending rules," Li said, referring to recent attempts to curb sharp home price rises in big cities and limit credit to unprofitable business sectors.

Broad M2 money supply grew 12.8 percent from a year earlier, the lowest since last June and slowing from March's 13.4 percent. Outstanding yuan loans grew 14.4 percent on-year.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected new loans of 900 billion yuan and predicted outstanding loans would rise by 14.8 percent. Money supply was forecast to rise by 13.5 percent.

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In an encouraging sign, long-term loans accounted for 69 percent of April new loans, the same as in the first quarter.

China's outstanding total social financing - the central bank's measure of broad credit - was up 13.1 percent year-on-year at the end of April, amounting to 145.59 trillion yuan. In March it was 144.75 trillion yuan.

Corporate bond financing also slowed sharply, reflecting heightened credit risks, economists at ANZ noted.

Data earlier this week showed troubled loans at China's commercial banks reached 4.6 trillion yuan ($706 billion) at end-March, a jump of 428 billion yuan from December.

Bad debts in China have now risen for 18 consecutive quarters, reflecting the prolonged economic slowdown but also a legacy of the last big government stimulus binge during the global financial crisis.

Still, Premier Li Keqiang said the economy is operating steadily and he is confident that main economic growth targets will be reached this year, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

HANG ON, NOT SO FAST

However, some analysts warned the credit numbers are not as soft as they look because they only include household and corporate loans, and do not reflect all government borrowing.

"They don't include all the new government debt issuance - a significant portion of which is being used to refinance existing local government financing vehicle debt," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics in Singapore.

"That isn't captured in the total social financing figures and if you add it back in you see that broad financing was actually at a 26-month high in April."

Debt owed by China's state-owned enterprises (SOE) is higher than in any other rated nation and failure to reduce risks from these liabilities would curb growth, lower credit availability and ultimately lead to state support, Moody's said on Tuesday.

The credit rating agency said SOE liabilities stood at 115 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), far exceeding levels seen in countries such as Japan and South Korea where the state sector also plays a significant role.

($1 = 6.5207 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Elias Glenn and Sue-Lin Wong; Additional reporting by Kevin Yao and Nathaniel Taplin; Editing by Kim Coghill)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's environment ministry has been given powers to send inspection teams to provinces and regions across the country as part of its efforts to root out local polluters, the official China Daily newspaper reported on Friday. The paper said the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) would become only the second national authority, after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's corruption watchdog, to have the power to send inspection teams and hold discussions with provincial leaders. Citing Liu Changgen, the head of the National Environmental Protection Inspection Office, China Daily said another 14 provinces would be subject to a central government-led probe following the completion of inspections in heavy industrial Hebei in northern China earlier this year. China has been trying to strengthen its environmental powers as part of a "war on pollution" launched in 2014 to try to reverse the damage done by decades of untrammeled growth. A new environmental protection law in force from the beginning of last year gave authorities more powers to punish firms and individuals that persistently break the rules, including the ability to impose unlimited fines and imprison violators. China has also set up dozens of special environmental tribunals at local courts as well as dedicated regional inspection forces to help implement its laws. But the MEP has acknowledged that enforcement remains a major challenge, with minister Chen Jining saying in February that Beijing still needed more clout to crack down on polluting firms and the local governments that protect them. The ministry said last week that Hebei, which has been on the frontline of the war on pollution, had failed to put enough pressure on city-level governments to meet standards. The ministry said the inspections had revealed that a number of firms in Hebei, home to seven of China's 10 smoggiest cities, had illegally expanded production capacity and engaged in "fraudulent practices". According to figures published on Thursday, the MEP imposed total fines of 115.97 million yuan ($17.78 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 153 percent on the year, and had closed or suspended production at 301 polluting projects. "Some regions still have not achieved effective improvements to their environmental quality, and the power of environmental enforcement still needs to be strengthened," the ministry added in a statement on its website (http://www.mep.gov.cn). It named cities like Pucheng in Shanxi province, Fuyang in Anhui and Urumqi in the far northwestern Xinjiang region as examples, and said it would carry out inspections of the regions at an appropriate time. (Reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Kim Coghill)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry on Friday accused unidentified people in the United States of trying to "disturb" social order in Hong Kong, after the U.S. State Department expressed further concern the territory's autonomy was being eroded. The State Department made the comments in its latest report on the former British colony, released on Wednesday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that as Hong Kong was a part of China, no other country had a right to interfere in its internal affairs. "We also remind the United States that certain people on the U.S. side have always wanted to disturb Hong Kong, disturb its socio-economic development, disturb the normal order of its residents' lives, and even use the Hong Kong issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," he told a daily news briefing. "This can only be futile. The only effect it will have is to cause Chinese people to go on alert and have a bad reaction." Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under agreements that its broad freedoms, way of life and legal system would remain unchanged for 50 years. Beijing's refusal to grant the former British colony full democracy has embittered a younger generation of activists who launched big protests in 2014. Political tension has simmered amid occasional incidents of unrest. A riot erupted in the city in February after a dispute between authorities and street vendors. The United States has repeatedly expressed concern about developments in Hong Kong, including freedom of the press and human rights issues. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel)
BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Thailand will hold joint exercises beginning this month, China's Ministry of Defence said on Friday, in another sign of improving relations since the Thai military seized power in 2014. Thailand's military has sought to counterbalance traditionally close ties with the United States by engaging more with China since the May 2014 coup that the United States and other Western countries objected to. The May 19-June 10 exercises will involve land and sea operations, the ministry said, as well as training in humanitarian relief and maritime transport. China has rattled nerves in Southeast Asia with its increasingly assertive action in the South China Sea, where it rejects rival claims over parts of the sea by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei. Thailand does not have claims in those disputed waters. Thailand's relations with the United States have cooled since the military overthrew an elected government two years ago. The United States has downgraded its military exercises and training with Thailand saying the programs would be restored after a general election. The military government says an election will be held next year. China is a major investor in Thailand and among the projects the two countries are involved in is a plan to build a rail link from southern China through Laos to Thailand. (Reporting By Megha Rajagopalan; Editing by Robert Birsel)
China is using "coercive tactics" and fostering regional tensions as it expands its maritime presence in the South China Sea and elsewhere, but is avoiding triggering an armed conflict, the Pentagon said Friday.

In an annual report to Congress, the Defense Department outlined China's rapid military growth and described how it is assertively defending sovereignty claims across the contested East China Sea and South China Sea.

Last year for instance, China deployed coast guard and PLA Navy ships in the South China Sea to maintain a "near-continuous" presence there.

And in the East China Sea, Beijing deployed planes and maritime law-enforcement ships to patrol near a chain of islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

"China is using coercive tactics... to advance their interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict," the report states.

When asked to describe China's coercive tactics, Abraham Denmark, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told reporters that Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels sometimes act in an "unprofessional" manner.

They do so "in the vicinity of the military forces or fishing vessels of other countries in a way that's designed to attempt to establish a degree of control around disputed features," Denmark told reporters.

"These activities are designed to stay below the threshold of conflict, but gradually demonstrate and assert claims that other countries dispute," he added.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital South China Sea, even waters close to Southeast Asian neighbors including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, which have competing claims.

- 3,200 acres of new land -

Central to China's claims are its land-reclamation efforts that have seen tiny islets, reefs and other maritime features built into military facilities.

The Pentagon report included dramatic photos of these contentious islands, including the Fiery Cross Reef Outpost, located between the Philippines and Vietnam.

Story continues

Since 2014, China has turned a sandy blip in the ocean into an island stretching more than two miles (three kilometers,) complete with a lengthy runway.

China's land reclamation efforts in an area known as the Spratly Islands have added 3,200 acres (1,295 hectares) of land to the seven features it occupies, the report states.

Beijing last year paused land-reclamation efforts and began focusing on "infrastructure development" of the islets.

The United States insists China's claims have no basis under international law, and the US military has conducted several "freedom of navigation" operations, where ships and planes pass close to the sites claimed by China.

Such missions have drawn howls of anger from Beijing, which accuses the United States of provocation and of increasing the risk of a military mishap.

The US Navy maintains a strong presence in the South China Sea, and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has twice in recent months pointedly visited US aircraft carriers deployed in the waterway.

"Recent land reclamation activity has little legal effect, but will support China's ability to sustain longer patrols in the South China Sea," the report notes.

- Rapidly evolving military -

China's ambitions extend far beyond its immediate region. In November, Beijing announced it was establishing a military facility in Djibouti.

This "likely reflects (a) more global outlook, as it will be utilized to sustain the PLA Navy's operations at greater distances from China," the report notes.

Additionally, China is "expanding its access to foreign ports to pre-position the necessary logistics support to regularize and sustain deployments in the 'far seas.'"

China has the second-largest military budget after the United States, and over the past two decades has increased spending annually.

In 2015, its official military budget was $144 billion, though the true number is thought to be even higher. The Pentagon's 2016 budget is about $585 billion.

Much of China's military money is going towards the development of its conventionally armed missile capability, "as well as ground- and air-launched land-attack cruise missiles, special operations forces, and cyber warfare capabilities to hold targets at risk throughout the region," the report states.

While critical of some of China's military tactics, the Pentagon said it hopes to continue building a "sustained and substantive" military-to-military relationship with China.

The United States "will continue to focus on enhancing risk-reduction measures that diminish the potential for incidents or miscalculation, and encourage China to contribute constructively to efforts to maintain peace and stability."
A Chinese man freed after spending more than 20 years in prison for murder will get more than $400,000 in compensation, a court said on Friday according to official media.

Chen Man, now in his early 50s, was given a suspended death sentence -- which in China is normally commuted to life imprisonment -- in November 1994 for killing in the southern island province of Hainan.

After a series of appeals going as far as the country's highest court, he was finally acquitted and released in February due to a "lack of evidence".

It was one of a series of cases to highlight miscarriages of justice in China, where the courts are tightly controlled by the ruling Communist Party, forced confessions are widespread and more than 99 percent of criminal defendants are found guilty.

Hainan's provincial court, which upheld Chen's suspended death sentence in 1999, agreed Friday to pay him around 2.75 million yuan ($422,000) for loss of personal freedom and mental suffering, said state broadcaster China Central Television.

Chen initially demanded more than 9.66 million yuan in compensation and for the court to make formal apologies in national and local media outlets.

"I have to accept it," Chen told the Legal Evening News on Friday.

"We have regrets. But we acknowledge it according to the State Compensation Law," he said, according to the report.

China has occasionally exonerated wrongfully executed or jailed convicts after others came forward to confess their crimes, or in some cases because the supposed murder victim was later found alive.

Of those exonerated in recent years, Chen spent the longest in prison, state media said previously.

For others, the new verdicts came far too late. A man named Hugjiltu was cleared of rape and murder in 2014, nearly two decades after he was convicted and executed at the age of 18 in the northern region of Inner Mongolia.

The declaration of his innocence came nine years after another man confessed to the crime.
Vienna (AFP) - Austria's ailing Social Democrats sought Friday to halt the rise of the far-right and inject new life into a moribund governing coalition by naming railways boss Christian Kern as chancellor.

Four days after predecessor Werner Faymann threw in the towel after a string of poor election results, interim SPOe party boss Michael Haeupl said that Kern, 50, would be formally appointed on Tuesday.

A decision was taken "unanimously" in a "harmonious" party meeting, Haeupl said. Kern will be sworn in by the president on Tuesday or Wednesday, when he will make his maiden speech in parliament.

Snappy dresser Kern faces a major challenge uniting a fractious SPOe and convincing Austrians unhappy about the arrival of migrants and rising unemployment to vote for them at the next scheduled elections in 2018.

"The task before him in Herculean," political analyst Thomas Hofer told AFP.

Mirroring similar trends elsewhere in Europe, the SPOe and its coalition partner, the centre-right People's Party (OeVP), have been in decline for years, losing voters to the fringe groups.

In particular, the populist Freedom Party (FPOe) is enjoying soaring support, leading opinion polls with more than 30 percent of the vote compared with the low 20s for the long-powerful SPOe and OeVP.

If accurate, this means the two parties will fall short of being able in 2018 to re-form their "grand coalition". In the last election three years ago, they only just scratched together a majority.

Faymann, 56, had taken a harder line on migrants in recent months, but this failed to boost his ratings and alienated many Social Democrats, particularly those in the left wing of the party.

The final nail in his political coffin was the first round of the presidential election on April 24 when the FPOe's Norbert Hofer scored 35 percent and the main parties' candidates won a dismal 11 percent each.

This debacle, sending shock waves through the long-cosy political establishment, meant that for the first time since 1945, Austria will not have a head of state from either of these two parties.

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Hofer, 45, portrayed as a friendly face of the FPOe, is the bookmakers' favourite to win the runoff on May 22 against Alexander van der Bellen, 72, the professorial former head of the Greens.

The job of president is largely ceremonial, but not entirely. In theory the head of state can fire the government and dissolve parliament. Hofer has said he would be a "more active" president.

- 'Pinstripes socialist' -

Kern, dubbed a "pinstripes socialist" by German broadcaster ARD, grew up in a working class district of Vienna as the son of an electrician and a secretary.

He joined the SPOe when he was young, climbing up the ranks before moving to an energy firm in 1997 and to national railways company OeBB in 2010.

There, the father-of-four is widely credited with a turnaround and successfully managing the transport of immense numbers of migrants transiting through Austria in 2015.

But whether Kern can heal the SPOe remains to be seen. His positions on key policy areas are vague, although he is thought to lean more to the right on economic issues.

His biggest headache will be to decide whether to ditch the SPOe's 30-year-old taboo on cooperating with the FPOe, dating back to when the late, controversial Joerg Haider became leader of the right-wing party.

Kern also needs to revitalise the SPOe's deadlocked coalition with the OeVP and agree structural reforms to get Austria's economy, faltering of late, moving again.

OeVP head Reinhold Mitterlehner praised Kern's "management qualities" in an interview published Friday, but said this was "the much-quoted last chance" for the coalition.

FPOe leader Heinz-Christian Strache said that Kern's performance at the railways company during the migrant crisis "showed that he actively supported Faymann's people-smuggling policy".

"If Kern really wants to end the paralysis and the glaring deficits that this country is suffering from, then he should clear the way for new elections," Strache said.
They may be opponents in the Democratic presidential primary, but when it comes to deporting undocumented immigrants, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders agree: President Barack Obama is wrong.

Reuters reported Thursday that U.S. immigration officials are planning a series of raids over the next month targeting mothers and children who have entered the country illegally from Central America.

The raids are slated to run from May into June, and would constitute the largest deportation sweep for the Obama administration this year.

Clinton and Sanders both issued strongly-worded statements after the news broke, condemning the administration's decision:

Source: Mic/Getty Images

"I am concerned about recent news reports, and believe we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night," Clinton said, according to CNN. "Large-scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country."

Her opponent, Sen. Sanders, expressed a similar sentiment in a press release on his campaign website:

Source: Mic/Getty Images

"I oppose the painful and inhumane business of locking up and deporting families who have fled horrendous violence in Central America and other countries," Sanders said. "Sending these people back into harm's way is wrong."

Over the past two years, tens of thousands of refugees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have been apprehended trying to enter the U.S. illegally through Mexico. Most are fleeing gang violence in their home countries, where constantly warring drug traffickers have made those nations perilous and often deadly places for young people to grow up.

By deporting these very same refugees to Central America, Obama is sending them right back into harm's way. The pushback against his raids highlights one of the more disturbing and overlooked aspects of Obama's presidency: During his tenure, Obama has had more people deported than any other U.S. president.

Source: Pool/Getty Images

In fiscal year 2014 alone, the Obama administration deported a staggering 414,481 people  a slight dip from the year before, when they deported an all-time high of 438,421. For comparison, the most George W. Bush ever deported in a single year was 358,886, in 2008. That was the highest number in U.S. history before Obama took office.

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Immigration advocates and fellow Democrats alike have condemned Obama's aggressive deportation policies.

Clinton and Sanders Oppose Obama: Stop the Deportations

"Invading homes is inhumane and adds to the trauma of these families fleeing violence and oppression," Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement in January. "Many recent immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are escaping one of the most dangerous regions in the world."

Obama's 2014 executive immigration order  which would let people under 30 who immigrated to the U.S. illegally as kids apply for a deportation deferral, and give legal reprieve to undocumented parents of some U.S. citizens and permanent residents  is likely a small consolation to the millions who've already been deported.

The action's legality is also currently being litigated before the U.S. Supreme Court, after Texas and 25 other states sued the administration over the move.

Migrants from Honduras at an immigrant detention center in Texas.

But the human toll of this migration drama is by far its most gripping element. In 2014, a staggering 69,000 people from Central America  mostly unaccompanied minors  were apprehended trying to enter the U.S. from along its southern border with Mexico.

Those numbers subsided in 2015, but between July and December of last year alone, 17,000 migrants from the same three countries have tried to make the harrowing journey. There seems to be no end to the crisis in sight.

It is encouraging that Clinton and Sanders oppose Obama on this issue  especially considering one of them could be America's next president  but unspeakable danger for many undocumented people is still lurking right around the corner.
Is Sen. Elizabeth Warren rehearsing for a tryout as Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clintons vice presidential running mate?

While Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to hammer away at Clinton in a vain effort to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from her this summer, Warren  the true darling of the progressive movement  has been fearlessly dueling with presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.

Related: Why a Clinton-Warren Ticket Just Might Work

In an escalating battle of tweets, Warren has repeatedly denounced Trump as a bully who has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia.

Trump has fired back, calling the long-time consumer advocate and Wall Street scold goofy and weak, and insisting that she had fabricated claims about having Native American heritage in order to advance her career.

But unlike others who have withered under Trumps fire, Warren seems to relish the exchanges. And she insists that Trump can be defeated this fall, not by tucking tail and running, but by holding your ground."

Elizabeth Warren on the Issues | InsideGov

Warren has not taken sides in the Democratic presidential primary contest, no doubt to avoid offending Sanders liberal and independent supporters before the convention. Many of those Democrats had begged Warren to run for president in 2016, but she refused to challenge Clinton for the nomination.

Now, however, with Clinton all but certain to wrap up the nomination by early June, Warren is being coy about her future plans.

Related: How Obamacare Could Backfire on Hillary Clinton

Earlier this week, she declined to rule out the possibility of becoming Clintons running mate and forging an unprecedented all-woman ticket during an interview with the website Mic. Warren said that until the Democratic primary campaign is finally resolved, she intends to continue to focus her energies on her Senate responsibilities.

When asked specifically whether she would foreclose the possibility of teaming up with Clinton, Warren was evasive: You know, this is something weve got to get all of our nominations settled on the Democratic side. For me, Im going to keep doing my job every single day and Im not thinking about another job.

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An all-female presidential ticket would be both historic and risky. Teaming up these two high-powered women would greatly energize the party and help patch over differences between moderates and liberals. However, there is no way of knowing in advance whether the electorate would accept such an arrangement, even after the country elected and then reelected its first black president.

Assuming she prevails over Sanders, Clinton would become the first woman in U.S. history to garner the presidential nomination of one of the two major parties. Two other women have been nominated vice president: The late Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York, who was tapped to be Democratic presidential nominee Walter F. Mondales running mate in 1984, and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who was plucked from obscurity by Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2012. Both tickets subsequently went down to defeat.

Related: Clinton Moves Towards Sanders on Medicare for All

Clinton intentionally downplayed her gender in her unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign against Barack Obama in 2008, preferring instead to emphasize her experience as a former first lady and U.S. senator from New York and her toughness on foreign policy. But this time around, with gender politics very much in play and Trump anathema to large percentages of women in both parties, the idea of two women taking on the bombastic real estate mogul makes sense.

Last month, Clintons campaign chair, John Podesta, told the Boston Globe that the former secretary of state hasnt ruled out choosing a female running mate. Well start with a broad list and then begin to narrow it, Podesta said. But there is no question that there will be women on the list.

For many, Podesta was signaling that Warren, the 66-year-old former Harvard Law School professor and Obama administration consumer protection adviser, would certainly be in the running, although other women, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, have been mentioned as well.

Yet there will be many calculations that go into the choice. For instance, Warren without question would help bridge serious policy differences between Clinton and liberal Democratic activists in the party that Sanders may not help patch up. Yet it might be more important for Clinton to choose someone like Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) to help her attract more independents in key battleground states, or to pick an Hispanic or black candidate to broaden her appeal to minorities.

Related: 18 Possible Picks for Hillarys Vice

Politico reported this week that Vice President Joe Biden was sold on Elizabeth Warren as his running mate from the start when he pondered whether to jump into the presidential contest late last year.

As a senator from Delaware, Biden supported the scuttling of the Glass-Steagall ban on big banks engaging in highly speculative investment, a position that put him at odds with many liberal Democrats, including Sanders and Warren. According to Politico, Biden needed someone like Warren to temper the wave of anti-bank, anti-establishment sentiment in the party that would work against him.

Biden ultimately decided to stay out of the race this year. However, he recently confided to associates that he thought Warren would be an equally smart pick for Clinton, who has been repeatedly attacked by Sanders for accepting huge speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and other elite banks.

University of Virginia political scientist Larry J. Sabato said on Friday that a Clinton-Warren ticket would greatly underscore the partisan polarization that has taken place in recent months and provide Clinton with both substantial benefits and risks.

Related: 25 Picks For Bernie Sanders' Vice President

Just like Sanders, Warren would pull Clinton to the left and make Wall Street the foremost target, besides Trump himself, he said. Two women is no problem at all. It would actually increase the enthusiasm level for Clinton, which is quite low. Warren would bring the Sanders voters too.

I'm just not sure Warren would be seen as especially presidential, or ready to be a heartbeat away, he added in an email. She has the image of an ideologue. I also question whether there is any real chemistry between Clinton and Warren. That matters in government.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Week Ended April 30: North American Rail Traffic Falls, Mexico Up

(Continued from Prior Part)

Canadian Nationals intermodal traffic

In the week ended April 30, 2016, Canadian National Railways (CNI) overall intermodal traffic declined by 5.4%. Container traffic fell by nearly 4%, but there was no movement of trailers in the reported week in 2016. The company moved 43,000-plus containers in the same week of 2016 compared with 45,000 units on a year-over-year basis.

The fall in CNIs intermodal volumes was less than the fall reported by US railroads. Compared with Calgary-headquartered Canadian Pacifics (CP) intermodal volume decline, CNIs fall was almost equal.

Why is intermodal important for CNI?

The Intermodal business contributed ~24% to CNIs 2015 and its previous years revenues. Out of total 2015 carloads, intermodals share was 40.7%, up from 37.1% in 2014. Canadian National also operates one of the largest trucking services in Canada under the banner CNTL.

Canadian Nationals competitive advantage comes from its sole access to the Port of Prince Rupert, BC. In addition, CNI connects with Vancouver, BC, and Prince Rupert, BC in a long arc.

CNIs Domestic segment is driven by consumer markets and the general US and Canadian economic growth. Its International segment is influenced by North American economic and trade conditions. In the Intermodal segment, the company also faces competition from truckload companies such as J.B. Hunt Transport (JBHT), Heartland Express (HTLD), Swift Transportation (SWFT), and Landstar System (LSTR).

Investors opting for exposure in the transportation sector can invest in the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP). All of the US-originated Class I railroads make up the portfolio holdings of RSP.

For more information on the last weeks rail traffic, please read Market Realists Week Ending April 23: North American Rail Traffic Fell. In the next part, we will look at CNIs rival Canadian Pacifics weekly rail traffic data.

Story continues

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The University of Michigan's preliminary reading of consumer confidence in May came in at 95.8.

Economists had forecast that the sentiment index rose to 89.5 from a final reading of 89 in April, according to Bloomberg.

The report attributed the jump in confidence to frequent income gains, better expectations for the jobs market, and the expectation for lower interest rates and inflation.

Lower inflation implies higher real incomes.

"Nearly all of the gains were in the Expectations Index, which rose to its highest level in nearly a year," the Surveys of Consumers chief economist Richard Curtin said.

"To be sure, the data still indicated the negative impact of uncertainty about future economic policies associated with the Presidential election, but its overall impact was overwhelmed by favorable economic developments."

NOW WATCH: FORMER GREEK FINANCE MINISTER: The single largest threat to the global economy





More From Business Insider


LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Congo police fired teargas on Friday at thousands of supporters rallying outside the prosecutor's office where a leading opposition presidential candidate was facing a hearing over accusations he was plotting a coup, a Reuters witness said. It was the third time in five days that police have fired teargas at supporters of Moise Katumbi, the former governor of Congo's copper-mining region, who the government accuses of hiring mercenaries as part of the plot against the republic. Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have given scant details about the allegations made last week and which Katumbi denies. Katumbi says the accusations are aimed at derailing his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled since 2001 but is barred from standing for a third term in an election set for November. Police also threw rocks at the demonstrators, who flocked toward Katumbi when he arrived outside the prosecutor general's office. One rock hit Katumbi's older brother, Abraham, in the face. "It's sad that there is not a state of law - police officers who throw stones and wound my older brother," Katumbi said before entering the building. The hearing was just suspended after Katumbi said he felt unwell due to the teargas. Dozens were killed in January 2015 in protests over a proposed revision of the electoral law that critics said was a ploy to keep Kabila in power beyond the end of his mandate. Kabila has not said whether he will leave power this year. (Reporting by Kenny Katombe; Writing by Makini Brice and Aaron Ross; Editing by Alison Williams)
What a wonderful surprise to see this perfect white rabbit being cared for by Romaine. Romaine and his family came over from the Wangkatjungka Community about 700 kms from Broome. 'We came to do some shopping. One Mile Community, Broome, Western Australia. (Photograph by Ingetje Tadros/Diimex) What a wonderful surprise to see this perfect white rabbit being cared for by Romaine. Romaine and his family came over from the Wangkatjungka Community about 700 kms from Broome. 'We came to do some shopping. One Mile Community, Broome, Western Australia. (Photograph by Ingetje Tadros/Diimex)

Kennedy Hill is an aboriginal community that sits on pristine land overlooking the sea in Broome, a resort town on the north coast of Western Australia. Though aboriginal people have lived in Kennedy Hill for generations, the residents are now threatened with displacement as the result of a recent government declaration.

Photojournalist Ingetje Tadros settled in Broome, not far from the Mallingbar community, and, because of a lifelong interest in the fate of indigenous people, became friends with many of those living there. Tadros found people in distress, mistreated by their government, misunderstood by the aid community and largely invisible to Australian society  a voiceless and unseen community. She photographed her neighbors and friends, and her images brought their story, This Is My Country, to the world.

Tadros tells the story:

This Is My Country is a compelling look at people balanced on the precipice of life who are largely disenfranchised, neglected and often forgotten.

To document Australias indigenous people, I traveled to remote regions of Australias vast and unforgiving outback and spent time in aboriginal communities. I witnessed a high incidence of alcoholism, domestic violence and general health issues and an alarming frequency of suicide  communities fractured and in distress. I documented sections of communities mismanaged by their governments, not fully understood by the wider aid community and largely left unseen by most of Australian society. A voiceless and unseen minority consigned to lives of quiet desolation.

One day I heard about a young boy who was lost and who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome. The whole community went out to look for him. They found him two days later in croc-infested country, where he had been attacked by a croc. This story and many others, especially the suicides in these communities, compelled me to start documenting aboriginal people to give them a voice. I feel strongly that the Aboriginal people are not treated with the respect they deserve as the original peoples of this country. When you sit with the people and hear their stories, the depth and beauty of these people becomes obvious. Their connection with the land, their country and with their families are things we all can learn from.

Story continues

I took photographs that make visible and make heard the plight of the most exposed and vulnerable people in Australian society. I tried to reveal many of the moments that are often underrepresented in the documentation of Australias original inhabitants: their approach to community, family, nurturing, spirituality, nature, storytelling and, importantly, healing.

Powerful and pervading, the images, once seen, cant be ignored and remind us of the power of documentary photography to question, communicate and debate the most pressing social issues facing society today. Most importantly, they remind us not to turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow man.

_____

This Is My Country will be published by FotoEvidence as a hardcover book with 112 pages, 70 black-and-white photographs and an introduction by aboriginal writer and filmmaker Mitch Torres.

Watch the video on Indiegogo and contribute to the crowdfunding effort to create an enduring document about Australias First Peoples struggle for justice and to support aboriginal communities as they fight displacement.

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr!
From Cosmopolitan

Almost two years after they lost all three of their children in the MH17 attack, Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris gave birth to baby Violet May on Tuesday, ABC.net.au reports. The baby has brought them "love and light, hope and joy."

"Our family was torn apart when MH17 was blown out of the sky by the violent anger of a nationalist missile," the couple said in a statement, the rest of which follows below:

Our three innocent, beautiful and inspiring children were killed, alongside their grandfather, Nick Norris. We believe that Mo, whose 14th birthday was Saturday, Evie, 12 next week, Otis, 10 next month, and Grandad Nick have sent us an amazing gift. Violet's birth is a testament to our belief that love is stronger than hate.We still live with pain, but Violet, and the knowledge that all four kids are with us always, brings light to our darkness. As Martin Luther King said, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.' We will continue to love all four of our children equally. Violet brings some hope and joy for us. We hope she brings hope and joy for you too. Finally, we would like to thank the media for respecting our privacy.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a missile in a rebel-controlled part of Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The attack killed all 298 people aboard the flight.

Follow Tess on Twitter.
Looks like Google isnt the only company thats been inspired by the success of Amazons Echo loudspeaker. Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com also took some cues from the Echo in developing DingDong, its very own smart loudspeaker.

DingDong, which was first announced in China a year ago and has been available for sale there for a few months now, looks a bit bigger than the Echo, but works very much the same way: Consumers activate the devices microphones with a hot word, which in this case happens to be ding dong.

After that, the speaker can be instructed to read the news, play music and even connect to ones calendar. The device can also be used to control smart home appliances through JDs cloud platform. DingDong is meant to eventually tie into JDs e-commerce website as well, but a spokesperson said at CES Asia this week that the device cant be used to order products just yet. DingDong sells for 900 RMB, which equals about $140.

This week, news broke that Google has been developing a similar smart loudspeaker of its own. The device is internally known as Chirp, according to a Recode report, and the company plans to launch it later this year.

All of this happens as Amazon is seeing some unexpected success for its Echo loudspeaker, and the Alexa platform that powers it. At the end of 2014, Amazon only released Echo with a limited supply to test the response from customers. But since then, it has become a hit with consumers, leading Amazon to introduce two follow-up products this year.

Amazon has also since expanded Alexa to control and interact with numerous third-party devices and services, and even struck partnerships with media companies to use the Echo for movie promotions.

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The Feel of Bespoke Suits

Alejandro Chacoff | n+1

From a distance, the causes of the Brazilian crisis seem obvious. A corrupt government, after fourteen years in power, begins to suffer the consequences of erratic policies: a deep recession follows, and protesters then take to the streets to overthrow the government. This explanation isnt so much unfounded as insufficient. The government is corrupt, but so are all the other parties. The economy is in recession, but there have been other periods of turbulence in the past, and not all of them led to a coup. Protesters are on the streets, yet they make up a small demographic, and are unrepresentative of the larger population. To state that a couple of organs in a body have failed says little of the disease that overtook it.

* * *

The Day We Discovered Our Parents Were Russian Spies

Shaun Walker | The Guardian

For Alex and Tim, the geopolitics behind the spy swap was the least of their worries. The pair had grown up as ordinary Canadians, and now discovered they were the children of Russian spies. Ahead of them was a long flight to Moscow, and an even longer emotional and psychological journey.

Recommended: Venezuela Is Falling Apart

* * *

Kenyas Push to Close Worlds Largest Refugee Camp Fuels a Sense of Displacement

Heidi Vogt | The Wall Street Journal

Brownkey Abdullahi was born here in the worlds largest refugee camp 23 years ago and has never lived anywhere else. Now the Kenyan government has distressed its Western allies by renewing a push to close it, throwing residents lives into confusion and uncertainty.

* * *

Playing by Pyongyangs Rules

Aaron Fox-Lerner | The Awl

The ethics of traveling to North Korea have long been debated, with those in favor saying that even small, outside contact can help change the country, and a visit can help you learn about it. Barbara Demick, the author of Nothing to Envy, expressed caution about traveling to North Korea in an email to me, but also noted that you can still get glimpses of peoples lifestyles if you look carefully. On trips to the outskirts of Pyongyang, I saw barefoot children and people collecting weeds at the side of the road out of bus windows. The North Koreans you meet are all official guides, but it is still interesting to talk to them. Most debates over ethics and tourism center on how visitors can end up changing a place for the worse: local traditions rendered inauthentic, cities gentrified, environments despoiled. The debate over North Korean tourism, however, centers on how to more effectively change the country for the better.

Story continues

* * *

Indias Dying Mother

Justin Rowlatt | BBC News

The Ganges is revered in India but it is also the sewer that carries away the waste from the 450 million people who live in its catchment area.

Recommended: Is There a Hillary Doctrine?

* * *

When Hospitals Are Targeted

Betcy Jose | Foreign Affairs

The situation in Syria is, in some ways, unprecedented. According to Physicians for Human Rights, a U.S.-based advocacy group, the scale and brutality of the attacks on Syrian medical facilities and health professionals is unparalleled in its 30-year history of documenting attacks on medical care. Michael Van Rooyen, director of Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, has concurred that Syrias been the most notable and notorious example of a growing trend of intentional attacks on healthcare institutions. The situation has gotten so dire that medical professionals and NGOs there have been forced to provide care in the most unlikely of places, including factories, caves, and chicken coops.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The "50 Shades of Grey" star Dakota Johnson has signed on to star alongside Andrew Garfield in a "Under the Silver Lake."

Johnson, who is currently filming "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed" will star in the modern noir crime thriller set in Los Angeles, reports Deadline.

The script is written and will be directed by David Robert Mitchell, known for his breakout indie horror flick "It Follows."
(Changes number of Alphabet shares to 700,000 from 534,030 in second paragraph)

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - Dan Loeb's hedge fund Third Point LLC bought more than a half a million Class A share position of Google parent Alphabet Inc, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Friday.

Third Point took a new stake of 700,000 Alphabet shares, worth roughly $534 million, while eliminating positions in Ace Ltd, eBay Inc and Morgan Stanley.

Third Point also cut its positions in Allergan PLC, and Amgen Inc by more than half. Third Point also took new positions in VMWare Inc, 21st Century Fox Inc and Lowe's Cos, according to the filing.

Hedge-fund SEC disclosures are backward-looking and come out 45 days after the end of each quarter. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into what hedge fund managers saw as investment opportunities.

The filings do not disclose short positions, or bets that a stock will fall. As a result, they do not always present a complete picture of a management firm's stock holdings.

A spokeswoman at Third Point did not respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan)
Beijing (AFP) - When the critical eye of Mao Zedong's wife fell upon a non-conforming artist during China's Cultural Revolution the assessment could be devastating.

The consequences may be less brutal now, but China's Communist authorities still impose strict controls and censorship.

Jiang Zuhui, now 81, choreographed one of the most emblematic works of the Cultural Revolution era -- the "Red Detachment of Women" ballet.

When she fell out with Mao's powerful wife Jiang Qing and was labelled "counter-revolutionary", she was detained in a rehearsal room at her theatre for nearly three years, before being "sent down" to the countryside for more than half a decade.

Many other artists faced a similar fate, while others were persecuted, tortured, even killed.

"Artists lost 10 years," Jiang said of the Cultural Revolution, which was proclaimed 50 years ago on Monday.

"Everything stopped. It was a waste."

Mao's wife, a former actress declared a patron of culture, launched a campaign to cleanse the arts: all plays, films, operas, ballets and music considered "feudalistic and bourgeois" were banned.

Her ex-colleagues in the Shanghai film industry -- along with previous lovers -- were said to be among her first victims.

The "Red Detachment of Women" -- which tells the story of a 1930s Chinese woman who escapes a cruel master and joins a female battalion of the then underground Communist Red Army -- was one of eight "model performances".

Chosen by Mao's wife, they were the only artistic works allowed to be mounted during the period and she took close control over the few troops authorised to produce them.

"Once she came to attend one of our rehearsals," recalled Jiang Zuhui.

"At the end, I invited her to go on stage to join the artists. She refused. I insisted politely, and she took it for insolence."

Now retired and living in Beijing, she told AFP: "To oppose Jiang Qing was to oppose the revolution."

Story continues

It was the beginning of her nightmare, which ended only with her tormentor's fall following Mao's death in 1976.

- Cultural disaster -

The Cultural Revolution was "a disaster for the arts and literature", said art critic Zhu Dake.

Art became a "political tool", he said. "In total, maybe 1 in 10,000 (artists) were allowed to continue to work, but only on model plays."

Today the risk of artistic banishment has receded -- although dissident artist Ai Weiwei was denied a passport for years -- but current President Xi Jinping has declared that culture must serve the ruling Communist Party.

The "Red Detachment of Women" remains part of the repertoire of China's National Ballet, along with once-banned foreign works such as Carmen and Don Quixote.

But in general "red shows" glorifying the Communist Party aren't very popular.

State-owned enterprises regularly offer their employees free tickets to such performances, but employee Xiao Deng said that "only a few older people are nostalgic" for them.

"Young people do not feel concerned by these stories, which are so different from their aspirations and their lives today."

Even so, Xi -- in a speech that drew comparisons to a 1942 address by Mao -- recently urged China's artists not to chase popularity with "vulgar" works but promote socialism instead.

Xi's speech has been published as a book -- with chapter titles including "Strengthening and improving the Party's leadership over artistic practice" -- and local authorities have been encouraged to organise seminars to disseminate its contents, state media reported.

"Art and culture will emit the greatest positive energy when the Marxist view of art and culture is firmly established and the people are their focus," Xi said, according to a transcript released by the official news agency Xinhua.

In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution there was a "rebirth" of novels, painting, theatre and fine arts, critic Zhu told AFP, but it "ended in 1989" -- the year of the Tiananmen square crackdown.

Artists were freer now than in the extremes of the late 1960s, he said, but added: "Today there is no space for creation. Under the twin pressures of commerce and politics, artists have no real room to grow.
david bowie twin peaks

New Line Cinema

There are 217 names in the cast list for Showtimes Twin Peaks reboot, miniseries, whatever you want to call it, including Jim Belushi, Michael Cera, and Amanda Seyfried. Theres one notable exception, though: David Bowie, who tragically passed away before he could recreate his Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me magic. In a movie filled with weird scenes, his is one of the weirdest. As Phillip Jeffries, Bowie casually strolls into an FBI office, where, with a thick Southern accent, he explains where hes been for the past two years.

Its bizarre, its hilarious, its Twin Peaks.

Actor Harry Goaz, who played Deputy Andy Brennan, recently spoke to Dallas News about the revival, and confirmed that Bowie was set to return to make a cameo, but it didnt happen before the musicians death this year. Its unknown whether Bowie would have put on Jeffries comically ill-fitting pants again, or portrayed an entirely different character. Trying to predict anything involving David Lynch, especially Lynch and David Bowie, is a fools game.

As for Deputy Andy, Goaz said hes now able to keep the faucet closed, but there is plenty of chin quivering. And yet: Im very angry to say that Im still a deputy. I have not been promoted. But I do have my own office because I saw my nameplate on a desk. No David Bowie cameo, but at least everythings coming up Andy.

(via Dallas News)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - David Tepper's hedge-fund firm Appaloosa bought nearly 1 million shares in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc in the first three months of 2016, according to regulatory filings, but sold them during the first quarter. Shares of Valeant jumped 2 percent after filings revealed Appaloosa's 945,000-share stake, but CNBC reported that the firm has already sold out of the position, citing a person familiar with the situation. A spokesman for Appaloosa declined to comment. Despite a 10 percent reduction in its exposure, Appaloosa's largest stake continued to be placed in SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust call options. Its 2.7 million SPY calls were valued at more than $555 million by the end of the quarter, and accounted for roughly 9.8 percent of its portfolio. Hedge-fund SEC disclosures are backward-looking and come out 45 days after the end of each quarter. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into what hedge fund managers saw as investment opportunities. The filings do not disclose short positions, or bets that a stock will fall. As a result, they do not always present a complete picture of a management firm's stock holdings. (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Bernard Orr)
In the short time since Roy Price and Ted Hope turned up at talent agencies, looking to grow past television series and get into the movie business as a way to entice Amazon Prime customers that paid money for free shipping of products, Amazon Studios has quickly emerged as a major player in that in-between space that was once the exclusive domain of distributors like Sony Pictures Classics, Fox Searchlight, Focus Features and The Weinstein Co. It took a while to explain how Amazon would be different from streaming services like Netflix, but the company has been as aggressive a buyer as anyone in Hollywood, with an experienced team that includes Hope, Bob Berney and Scott Foundas. They came to Cannes with five films playing here. The initiative is led by Price, the son of Frank Price, the venerable executive who once ran studios including Universal and Columbia Pictures. Here, Price explains the method behind the aggressive buying spree.

DEADLINE: The initiative to acquire content to stream on Amazon Prime has been dialed up quickly to the point where you dominated the acquisitions space at the Sundance Film Festival and come into Cannes controlling five films showing on the Croisette. Unlike Netflix, whose goal is to buy world rights for its global subscription audience, the Amazon plan is to facilitate a theatrical release before placing it on its streaming service. What makes the Amazon model worth spending big money on these films?

PRICE: Well be at Cannes with five films, and two parties. The thing is, there are a lot of movies out there that get made. So were not really solving a problem if we just make 12 random movies. But we think that if we can bring movies to the market that are really worth rememberingthat are remarkable and trying to do something new, and that have a special visionthen thats something that will add value to the movie marketplace. It will be great for independent filmmakers and our customers because it will add something meaningful and memorable to the selection of movies that they have.

Story continues

As we look at the movie opportunity, thats the area where we decided to focus. And when youre focusing on that area, to a large extent youre obviously looking for new ideas, vision and passion. At the end of the day it is largely about filmmakers and creating a great economic platform for filmmakers and a great home for them. So we realized that, and that helped us shape the whole program. It guides our decisions to this day; treating filmmakers almost like a separate group of customers is great for filmmakers and for traditional customers, if we can put together an interesting and distinctive lineup of movies that are special and that people value.

manchester by the sea

DEADLINE: When Amazon acquired

Manchester By The Sea for $10 million, it sent a signal you were willing to step up and make a real financial commitment to a prestige film. The Kenneth Lonergan-directed picture has an awards-bait cast with Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Kyle Chandler, and it could easily have gone to the usual suspects that have dominated past festivals. Why does this film serve the Amazon model?

PRICE:

It is the kind of movie that will be there when, at the end of the year, you think of the movies you saw and will remember and value. Thats what I predict. When Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams are together in that movie, it is very moving and honest. Kenny Lonergan is great and everybody is at the top of their game. I think its going to be one of those movies people care about and youll tell others to see, and then question your friendship if they dont also like it. That was exactly the kind of movie we had in mind and as soon as we saw it, it was a pretty easy decision for us. It was exactly what we wanted to do.

manchester-by-the-sea

DEADLINE: Had Netflix bought it, theatrical release would not have been the priority. Your model is different. Can you explain how? Does Amazon insinuate itself into the run of the film right after that, offering your customers something they wouldnt otherwise have access to?

PRICE: Amazon will get the movie and then we find a distributor, and together with Bob Berneys team, we put together the marketing and distribution plan. For Manchester or Cafe Society, theyre pretty traditional theatrical distribution plans, except instead of maybe HBO or Showtime for what they call the Pay One window, that will be Amazon.

cafe society

But otherwise it should be the same; a robust release that supports as much theatrical as the movie will carry. Having the film be a theatrical success is good for the filmmakers, and its desired by them. I think its good for the customers because they get an opportunity to see it in theaters today, and the film is treated like a real film. It feels like a real movie. At the end of the day, it kind of works for everybody that we support a theatrical release. So really, as you observe these films going in the market and going between windows, it wont be unfamiliar to you. Its just that instead of the normal Pay One carrier, it will be on Amazon.

DEADLINE: You are investing serious money in these films. That Pay One slot justifies these spends for you? Amazon just announced it will offer a pay subscription service, so youve got to feed that.

PRICE: Yes, exactly. Prime Video is available on a freestanding basis and is also included in your Prime subscription if you have that. It will carry the movies exclusively in subscription, which is the kind of deal you might have with HBO. The idea is that if we can have a selection of films in that program that achieve the goal of being memorable and visionary, and lasting and exciting, then I think customers will feel theres a dimension of the service that they perceive and really appreciate. Thats where we are going. Well stay in our lane; almost all the movies were doing are staying in one particular zone. We dont have French food, and Italian and a little sushi; we just do our particular thing.

DEADLINE: Does your model support something like Bright, the Will Smith film that Netflix committed to $90 million for negative costs and estimating and buying out the backend?

PRICE: Well look at everything and try to be creative. We would not have to buy out the backend; we have a pretty normal looking waterfall, the advantage of which gives the filmmaker the chance for more of an upside in success.

DEADLINE: You were welcomed to CinemaCon by exhibitors, unlike Netflix. As you progress, are you OK keeping the 90-day window the chains require to release films, or would Amazon look to shrink those windows eventually?

PRICE: The answer is, yes, were OK with that. We want to work with exhibition and have it be a win-win for everybody. We think thats a fair trade-off that works with our model. The principle of the whole thing is lets do whats great for our customers, and if we get the film widely distributed so that a lot of customers have the opportunity to see it in the movie theater then thats great. There may be changes from time to time where were not really doing that, on a smaller picture that may come out on 30 screens. In that case, probably the best thing from a customer point of view and even for the filmmaker, in terms of the economic model, might be to have a shorter window. But that would be the exception and not the rule.

DEADLINE: Might your future plans involve buying into the theater space?

PRICE: Were focused on making great movies and bringing those to theaters at this point.

DEADLINE: Your program so far has emphasized buying completed films. How important will be building projects from the ground up?

PRICE: Well, were definitely developing IP and scripts. So were definitely developing from zero as we also acquire finished films, and everything in between. Our only priority is to get the best, most interesting, most creative films. We can be open-minded about everything else.

DEADLINE: How big an annual commitment to product do you foresee?

PRICE: Well see, because I do want to do all the fantastic movies were excited about, and none of the other movies. Well let that drive the volume, but I expect that to be north of 10, for sure.

DEADLINE: What does it mean for this upstart initiative that youve got five showing at Cannes?

PRICE: Its a very exciting validation of the terrific start weve gotten off to. Yes, technically were new to movies as a company, but the team is very experienced and that winds up being the most important thing. Ted Hope, Bob Berney, Scott Foundas; thats a lot of experience and success and people who knew what they were doing from day one. They were able to hit the ground running. Most of the fast start is a credit to the team.

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By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. restaurant owners will have an extra five months to post the calorie counts of the food they sell under a new federal deadline of May 5, 2017.

The national calorie disclosure rule is part of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare and aims to help consumers battle the bulge since Americans eat and drink about one-third of their calories away from home.

The regulation requires calories to be listed on menus and menu boards at restaurants and other food retail establishments with 20 or more locations. In most cases, they also apply to vending machine operators with 20 or more units.

The postponement from the previous Dec. 1 deadline was contained in final guidance from the Food and Drug Administration released on May 5.

The rule's start date has been so delayed that early critics, such as McDonald's Corp, have been displaying such information for years in compliance with rules set by California, New York City and other jurisdictions.

"I'm hopeful that the date will stick," said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a long-time proponent.

Lobbyists for Domino's Pizza Inc, convenience stores and supermarkets helped push back the previous federal deadline, and the U.S. House of Representatives in February passed legislation aimed at the weakening rule.

Tackling the American obesity epidemic has been a signature issue for the White House and first lady Michelle Obama.

The White House publicly opposed the House bill saying it "would undercut the objective of providing clear, consistent calorie information to consumers." But, it stopped short of issuing a formal veto threat.

Wootan and other experts said that the Senate version of the opposition bill is expected to stall.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
By Arno Schuetze, Edward Taylor and John O'Donnell FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Almost one year into his tenure as Deutsche Bank's chief executive, John Cryan says he has ushered in a new culture of openness, rooted out bad behavior and set about untangling the bank's technology. Profit, says the 55-year-old Briton, can wait. "If we had wanted to be profitable this year, then it's a done deal. We can stop investing in IT. We can put off litigation," he said, in reference to lawsuits against the bank. Cryan, earlier at Switzerland's UBS, has been tasked with cleaning up a business which in three years declined from a potent force on Wall Street to posting a record loss in 2015. It share price has fallen 35 percent so far this year. While its neighbor on New York's Park Avenue, JP Morgan, made a record profit of more than $24 billion last year, Deutsche lodged a loss of $7.7 billion. One of the main reasons for Deutsche's woes is a litigation bill since 2012 that has already hit 12.6 billion euros. Claims filed by individuals, companies and regulators against Deutsche, outlined in the bank's 2015 annual report, relate to misselling of subprime loans and manipulation of foreign exchange rates or gold and silver prices. Other law suits are for the rigging of borrowing benchmarks Libor and Euribor, used to set the price of mortgages and derivatives. Deutsche paid more than $3 billion in fines after regulators' probes into manipulation of such interbank rates. Cryan has said he hopes to put many of the bank's legal issues behind it this year. But his clean-up has exposed weaknesses that he believes need to be dealt with before the bank rebuilds its bottom line. Deutsche, for example, had a messy and outdated computer system that used 4,400 different software applications - since pared back to 3,900 by getting rid of duplicates. "We could kick the can down the road but won't do it," Cryan said in conversation at Deutsche's offices in Frankfurt. He faces a difficult challenge. Interviews with one dozen present and former Deutsche staff and managers describe an organization still dominated by fiefdoms and bureaucracy. The European Central Bank, which supervises Deutsche, is concerned about such fiefdoms as well as the group's financial prospects and is urging an acceleration of Cryan's clean-up, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. The ECB declined to comment, while Deutsche rejects any doubts over its financial health, which Cryan described as "rock solid" in an email to staff in February. Some investors are alarmed by the bank's falling returns. Lenders now believe Deutsche's subordinated debt is riskier than almost all European rivals. "The big question is ... how deep is the collapse in income," said Helmut Hipper of Union Investment, a shareholder. 'BUMPY RIDE' Cryan guided UBS through the debt crisis as finance chief. Unlike UBS, however, which shifted its focus from investment banking to private banking, Deutsche has no such alternative to fall back on. Some of the bank's employees criticized Deutsche for being bureaucratic and disjointed. They traced some problems back to Deutsche's drive to take on Wall Street in the 2000s. Managers had created their own fiefdoms, one senior trader said, adding that Cryan was limited in what he could do because the inefficiencies were profound. Ross Taylor, a managing director at the bank between 1999 and 2004, said Deutsche was characterized by rivalries during his time there. "If you came up with ideas that made money, it was passed on ... and you ended up competing with people five meters from you for the same trades," he said. Cryan, through his changes, wants to address such complaints. He is engaging with customers and staff. When he spoke with Reuters he was just returned from a trip to Singapore, China and California. He meets at least one client every day and on some, more than a dozen. He is scaling back risk-taking, reducing Deutsche's outstanding derivative positions from 52 trillion euros to less than 42 trillion. But the bank's global markets division, its biggest revenue generator, is still trying to find its feet in a world where traders have shifted to dealing in low margin products. Cryan wants to trim risky long-life securities. Equally unpopular with Cryan are the 'plain vanilla' products that bet on the value of a currency in, say, five years, because they earn little profit. He prefers securities of medium complexity. Corporate finance in the United States and Germany, in his eyes, hold promise, as does equity trading. Trading in London, on the other hand, faces cuts. "Deutsche is trying to pull many levers at once," said Peter Nerby of rating agency Moody's. "Their capital and liquidity position remains quite solid but Deutsche has a profitability problem. They are going in the right direction but it's going to be a bumpy ride." Deutsche has an important ally in the German government. Earlier this year, when Deutsche's stock price dived, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble took the unusual step of giving public support. A German official close to chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would stand by the bank although there is no indication that any financial support for Deutsche would be necessary. BITTEN SANDWICHES A United States Senate investigation found Deutsche had placed a $128 billion bet on subprime-linked securities in 2007 despite one of its traders warning they were "crap". Some investors question whether real change at Deutsche is possible. "It was one of the more toxic environments I have ever worked in," said Taylor, the former head of U.S. illiquid credit trading, recalling one manager who "used to walk down the trading aisles and eat people's lunch while they weren't looking". "You would hide trades, say the profit was from something else, manipulate pricing to disguise where it came from, all so you didn't have to give up the idea to the boss," Taylor said. Deutsche declined to comment. Cryan has taken a tough approach to bad behavior. His influence has already been noticed by staff. Arrogance and disrespectful behavior had become barriers to promotion, said one employee. "We changed the people," said Cryan. "We changed the incentives. We summarily dismissed people who did something wrong and told people about it. There was a glasnost at the bank." Perhaps more than cleaning up old problems, Cryan's biggest task may be in ending uncertainty over the bank's future course, such as in the paring back of branches in Germany. "Uncertainty is destabilizing, it's not morale-boosting," Cryan said, in remarks on Germany that could hold true across the group. "I have promised that we will have clarity as soon as possible." (Additional reporting by Andreas Kroener in Frankfurt, Anjuli Davies and Helene Durand in London, Olivia Oran in New York, Paul Taylor in Brussels, Noah Barkin in Berlin and Katya Golubkova in Moscow; Writing and additional reporting by John O'Donnell; editing by Rachel Armstrong and Janet McBride)
How Have IBM's Segments Performed after Its Restructuring?

(Continued from Prior Part)

IBMs Systems segment revenue fell by 21% in the last quarter

So far in this series, we have discussed IBMs (IBM) various segments performance in fiscal 1Q16. Lets see how its Systems segment performed in fiscal 1Q16. As the below chart shows, IBMs Systems segment includes Systems Hardware and OS Software. Among all the operating segments, this segments revenue declined the most in fiscal 1Q16.

Systems revenue fell by 21% to $1.7 billion in 1Q16. Under this segment, Systems Hardware fell by 25% while OS Software fell by 7%. Moreover, Strategic Imperatives fell by 5% while Cloud reported growth of 2% in this segment.



Declining revenues for z System and POWER8 servers

After the sale of its x86 servers, IBM planned to streamline its Hardware business with its POWER8 servers, as well as its z System mainframe business. In fiscal 1Q16, IBMs z Systems and POWER8 server revenue fell by 42% and 14%, respectively. Their massive revenue decline explains why the Systems segment was the worst-hit segment in 1Q16.

In early 2015, IBM launched Z13 for the mobile and cloud space. As is the case with mainframe systems, wherein a major upgrade propels customer demand for replacing old machines, the launch of z13 saw z Systems record 130% growth in fiscal 1Q15. IBM management blamed the later phase of z Systems product cycle for its performance, which impacted its hardware revenues in 1Q16.

IBMs Power Systems LC servers are designed and based on OpenPOWER Foundation technology. IBM aims to threaten x86 server dominance through OpenPOWER. When IBMs OpenPOWER chips were compared to Intels (INTC) Xeon offering, the comparison showed that OpenPOWER chips provided better performance per dollar spent.

In its OpenPOWER Summit held in April 2016, IBM shared important updates to its POWER roadmap that provide an insight into the companys decisions regarding its power servers. IBMs POWER architecture, a part of its OpenPOWER Foundation, was built and launched specifically for big data analytics, cloud, and HPC (high-performance computing) workloads.

Story continues

The OpenPOWER Foundation is an open hardware technology initiative that was started in 2013 by Google (GOOG), IBM, NVIDIA (NVDA), Mellanox Technologies (MLNX), and Tyan.

Investors who want exposure to IBM can consider investing in the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). IVV has 8.5% exposure to application software and 0.68% exposure to IBM.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
The 4 Oilfield Service Giants: Which Ones Stand the Tallest?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Comparing revenue growth

In this part of the series, well see how our four oilfield services (or OFS) companies fared in terms of revenue growth last quarter.

Schlumberger was the holdout

Schlumberger (SLB) registered the lowest revenue decline in the group. It recorded a 36% revenue fall in fiscal 1Q16 compared to the year-ago quarter. Its fiscal 1Q16 revenue was $6.5 billion compared to $10.2 billion a year earlier. SLBs Production segment witnessed the highest revenue decline, falling 36.6%. Its Reservoir Characterization segment was more resilient with a fall of 34% from fiscal 1Q15 to fiscal 1Q16.

SLBs revenues in fiscal 1Q16 declined for the following reasons:

persistent pricing pressure for SLBs products and services in North America

lower drilling activity

project completion slowdown in a number of operating regions

SLB is 6.5% of the ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas ETF (DIG). Read Market Realists series After Schlumbergers Lower Earnings, Whats on the Horizon? to know more about Schlumberger.

The laggards

Halliburtons (HAL) fiscal 1Q16 revenue fell ~41% to $4.2 billion from $7.1 billion a year ago. Revenues decreased primarily due to the US rig count fall, the slowdown in North American drilling operations, and pricing pressure on HALs products and services. HALs Completion and Production segment suffered the most in fiscal 1Q16, declining 45% from a year ago.

Baker Hughes (BHI) recorded a 42% revenue decline in fiscal 1Q16 compared to the year-ago quarter. Its fiscal 1Q16 revenue was $2.7 billion compared to $4.6 billion a year earlier. Baker Hughess North America operations suffered the highest revenue decline of 59%. Its Industrial Services segment was the most resilient with a fall of 14% in fiscal 1Q16 compared to fiscal 1Q15.

National Oilwell Varco was the most affected

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) recorded a revenue decline of ~55% in fiscal 1Q16 compared to the year-ago quarter. Its fiscal 1Q16 revenue was $2.2 billion compared to $4.8 billion a year earlier. NOVs Rig Systems segment suffered the highest revenue decline of 63%. Its Completion & Production Solutions segment was more resilient with a fall of 41%. NOVs revenues declined primarily due to lower spare parts sales and work suspension with NOVs key customer in Brazil.

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Well look at the earnings growth figures for these companies in the next part of this series.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from Thursday's season five finale of ABC's Scandal.]

Scandal's Republican president may have just revealed his stance on abortion.

During Thursday's season finale, President Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) found out that his former flame Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) had a Christmas-time abortion. What's more, it may have revealed Fitz's stance on abortion for the first time in five years.

Here's how the subtle reveal plays out: Fitz accidentally sees Olivia's medical file sitting on the desk of chief of staff Abby (Darby Stanchfield). Abby notes she's not even sure if the file is real since it came from Olivia's estranged father Rowan (Joe Morton) - whom nobody on the Shondaland drama trusts. Contained in the file is the fact that Olivia had an abortion around Christmas - with Fitz putting together that her pregnancy was part of the reason the couple broke up after years of hiding their romantic relationship.

Read More: How Shonda Rhimes Is Changing the Dialogue About Abortion on TV

Olivia later goes to Fitz to bless Jake (Scott Foley) as Mellie's pick for vice president on her Republican ticket. Fitz is then incredibly nice to Olivia - whom he hasn't seen in months following their split - and agrees. Fitz tells Olivia that she never needed his approval. Olivia believes Fitz is talking about Jake, but in fact the president is talking about a woman's right to choose.

It's the first time on Scandal that Fitz has revealed which side of the abortion debate he's on.

"Fitz's about face is completely a function of his love for Olivia," star Goldwyn told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, calling the decision for Scandal to feature a Republican president be pro-choice impressive. "He cannot reject her no matter what. Part of deeply loving someone is a predisposition to see the world through their eyes and this is a huge moment for Fitz. He was pro-life and, more relevant, he wanted a child with Olivia more than anything in the world. But he somehow understands that Olivia made a very personal choice and he instinctively respects that. It is a giant 180 for the man. But he is willing to sacrifice anything for her happiness. Fitz may be in a lot of denial here - especially given all the grief he has suffered -- but he means it."

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According to a December 2015 AP-GfK poll, support for legal abortion rose from 35 to 40 percent among Republicans last year with seven of 10 conservative Republicans opposing abortion rights in most or all cases. Additionally, the poll found that six of 10 moderate and liberal Republicans supported the right to choose.

For his part, Goldwyn noted that it's pretty impressive for Scandal to feature a pro-choice Republican president

Goldwyn previously told THRthat Fitz would have a progressive view on the matter.

Read More: How Shonda Rhimes Is Changing the Dialogue About Abortion on TV

"At the end of the day, it's her body and her right, but it's his child," Goldwyn said told THR in November after the midseason finale that featured the abortion reveal. "And we don't in fact know where Fitz lives on this issue. He's a Republican but we've never asked that question [on the show]. I think everything would lead us to believe that Fitz would be ethically pro-life, even if he has a progressive bend like George Bush Sr.  But the bigger thing is not a political question; the bigger thing here is the emotional [impact]."

Abortion has been a regular subject on many of executive producer Shonda Rhimes' programming. In season four of Scandal, a case-of-the-week story featured a female Navy officer who was raped and begged Olivia for help getting an abortion. Grey's Anatomy explored the subject when Sandra Oh's Cristina Yang had an abortion in season eight because she and then-husband Owen (Kevin McKidd) did not agree on having children.

Rhimes previously said she wanted to take on the abortion arc in season one of Grey's but instead opted to feature Cristina suffering from an ectopic pregnancy and losing the baby because the showrunner feared it was too early in the medical drama's run to take on such a weighty subject. The veteran series also featured Addision (Kate Walsh) revealing that she had an abortion after getting pregnant during her affair with Mark (Eric Dane).

See More: The Couples of Shondaland: 'Grey's Anatomy,' 'Private Practice,' 'Scandal'
By Nate Raymond and Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A co-founder of Liberty Reserve, which operated a widely-used digital currency, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday after agreeing to help authorities prosecute his ex-partner for helping cyber criminals launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

Vladamir Kats, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, a week after she imposed a 20-year prison term on Arthur Budovsky, Liberty Reserve's other co-founder, for conspiring to commit money laundering.

Kats, who has been in custody since his arrest in May 2013, was also ordered to forfeit $6.5 million. He pleaded guilty later in 2013 to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Before being sentenced, Kats said he was remorseful. His lawyer, Christopher Flood, asked for a sentence of time served.

Cote, however, said Kats' "enormous criminal activity" called for a longer sentence.

Liberty Reserve operated a widely used digital currency, processing more than $8 billion in transactions while helping launder proceeds from Ponzi schemes, credit card trafficking, identity thefts and computer hacking, prosecutors said.

The company was shuttered in May 2013 as Kats and Budovsky were arrested amid U.S. efforts to crack down on the use of digital currencies including bitcoin to evade law enforcement.

Beyond Kats and Budovsky, three other people pleaded guilty, including Azzedine El Amine, a Costa Rican citizen and former Liberty Reserver manager who was sentenced later on Friday to time served.

Kats and Budovsky, who met as teenagers working as camp counselors in Brooklyn, previously were convicted in 2006 on New York state charges for operating an earlier digital currency exchange as an unlicensed money transmitting business.

In 2005, they launched Liberty Reserve, which later relocated to Costa Rica. In 2008, Budovsky pushed Kats out of Liberty Reserve, complaining he had not done enough, prosecutors said.

Story continues

With Liberty Reserve, users would buy and redeem its digital currency, LR, through third-party exchangers who in turn bought and sold LR in bulk from Liberty Reserve.

Users did not have to validate their identities, prosecutors said, allowing an undercover Secret Service agent to create an account for a "Joe Bogus."

After his arrest, Kats turned government cooperator, assisting the investigation, agreeing to testify against Budovsky had he gone to trial, and admitting to other conduct, including possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.

The case is U.S. v. Kats et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-00368.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr and Alistair Bell)
A 13-year-old girl swallowed her Misfit Shine activity tracker while swimming, but the gadget still worked after doctors retrieved it from her stomach, according to a new report of the case.

The girl said she took the disc-shaped tracker out of its band, and placed it in her mouth while she was swimming, but accidently swallowed it. (It is not clear why the girl put the device in her mouth. The Misfit Shine is waterproof and can be worn while swimming to track laps.)

At the hospital, an X-ray showed the device was in her stomach.

Doctors waited 30 hours to see if the device would pass through the rest of the girl's digestive system, but the tracker didn't budge. The physicians became concerned the device might come apart, exposing the internal lithium battery, which could damage the girl's stomach or intestines.

As a result, the doctors decided to try to remove the tracker using a procedure called an endoscopy, which involves using a flexible tube with a camera to see inside the stomach. The doctors were able to use a snare-like medical tool to lasso the tracker and remove it through the girl's esophagus. [7 Weird Things People Have Swallowed]

"The watch retained normal function despite the low pH [or, acidity] of the stomach and manipulation upon retrieval," the doctors, from the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital in Yongsan, South Korea (a U.S. military hospital), wrote in the Jan. 19 issue of the journal Case Reports in Gastrointestinal Medicine.

"When synchronized to her mobile device, the [Misfit Shine] watch accurately recorded all advertised data points, to include steps taken, calories burned [and] sleep cycles, and [it] maintained accurate time," the doctors said.

The girl recovered well, and went home the next day.

Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

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Donald Trump on Friday denied a report that he has masqueraded himself as his own spokesperson in the past, using fake names.

In one particular 1991 phone conversation, the Washington Post obtained audio of Sue Carswell, a reporter at People, speaking to a Trump publicist named John Miller. Miller, the Post reports, is actually Trump.

In the call, Miller sings Trumps praises, speaking about Donalds business endeavors and love life. The Post also details additional instances of the billionaire allegedly using pseudonyms to represent himself in the press.

The Republican presidential candidate was quick to deny the allegations when confronted about the report on NBCs Today show.

No, I dont think it  I dont know anything about it. Youre telling me about it for the first time and it doesnt sound like my voice at all, he told Todays Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. I have many, many people that are trying to imitate my voice and then you can imagine that, and this sounds like one of the scams, one of the many scams  doesnt sound like me.

When pressed further, Trump stopped the conversation in full. When was this, 25 years ago? Wow, youre going so low as to talk about something that took place 25 years ago about whether or not I made a phone callThe answer is no, and lets get on to more current subjectsI know its wonderful for your listeners, but I think we have more important things to discuss.

According to the Post, Trump testified during a 1990 court case that he had used John Barron as a pseudonym in the past. I believe on occasion I used that name, Trump testified at the time, the paper reports.
TV network honchos hoping theyve bought the buzziest new drama concepts for next season may have suffered a shock this morning when reality once again outran new-series development. The airwaves and internet were flooded with a Washington Post report about GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that just screamed a 12 L+7 rating: Orange Is The New Publicist: The Man Who Called Too Much.



In a 1991 recording obtained by the newspaper, the voice of a man who claimed to be a Trump spokesman, talked to a People magazine reporter about Trumps first divorce, fling with Frances future first lady, and breakup with Marla Maples. The spokesman identified himself as John Miller. Miller sounds shockingly like Trump.



In 1990, Trump testified in a court case, in re John Miller, that I believe on occasion I used that name. Trump did not respond to WaPos request for comment. The newspaper spoke to New York reporters and editors who covered Trumps early career, who said they sometimes wound up speaking to a John Miller or John Barron, both of whom sounded just like Trump, said the journalists. Some of them thought Trump was being playful, WaPo reported. Some said what stood out most was the PR exec describing women he portrayed as drawn to Trump sexually. In the call to People, Miller said actresses called to see if they could go out with him, Madonna wanted to go out with him and, while living with Maples, Trump had three other girlfriends, Miller said.

lisademoraescolumn__140603223319

Meanwhile, John Barron, described as a vice-president of the Trump organization, appeared in a front-page New York Times article as early as 1980, and also appeared in print in New York magazine, The Washington Post and other publications, and also sounded stunningly like Trump himself, the report added.

Frankly quite silly, RNC communications director Sean Spicer this morning called the kerfuffle, while Trump supporter Jeffrey Lord asked CNN, rhetorically, Do you really think somebody cares about this? Given the number of TV and online news outlets feasting on this story this morning, the answer would be an emphatic Yes.

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Lord insisted the ruse would be no different, from voters point of view, than when reporters lie by identifying politicians with whom theyve spoken only as a knowledgeable source because they have agreed not to reveal the identity.

In a phone interview this morning with NBCs Today (which played portions of the recording) Trump said, No, I dont think it  I dont know anything about it. Youre telling me about it for the first time and it doesnt sound like my voice at all, he said.

I have many, many people that are trying to imitate my voice and then you can imagine that, and this sounds like one of the scams, one of the many scams.

It was not me on the phone it doesnt sound like me on the phone, I will tell you that, and it was not me on the phone. And when was this? Twenty-five years ago, said Trump  or someone who sounded a lot like him on the phone.

Related stories

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George Clooney Says There Will Never Be A President Trump, Bashes Ratings-Obsessed Cable News Networks - Cannes
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump says his tax rate is none of your business, but promises he doesnt have Swiss bank accounts or offshore accounts.

ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos pressed Trump via phone over the ongoing issue of his unreleased tax returns on Good Morning America Friday.

Trump has repeatedly refused to release his tax returns while they are under audit.

Also Read: Donald Trump Says Rudy Giuliani Could Be His Anti-Terrorism Guru

Stephanopoulos asked Trump, Yes or no: Do you believe voters have a right to see your tax returns before they make a final decision?

I dont think they do. But I do say this, I will really gladly give them, Trump answered, adding, I have no problem, and it should be and I hope its before the election.

Stephanopoulos explained that America voters can learn a lot about a candidate by examining the tax returns and that his tax rate is an important fact for any candidate to reveal.

Youll see it when I release but I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible, Trump said.

Trump then compared his situation to Hillary Clintons email and Goldman Sachs situations, both of which have caused controversy for the Clinton campaign.

Also Read: Paul Ryan, Donald Trump Bash Hillary Clinton in Joint Statement

I sort of have to laugh when Clinton says it, Mrs. Clinton said I should give my tax returns. What about all the e-mails or missing Goldman Sachs speeches? Trump said.

The conversation between Stephanopoulos and Trump got a tad heated, with the GOP presumptive nominee accusing the GMA host of being good friends with Clinton.

Stephanopoulos fact checked Trump several times throughout the conversation.

Check out the video below.

ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos

Related stories from TheWrap:

Paul Ryan Fires 3 Warning Shots at Donald Trump After Their Meeting

Paul Ryan, Donald Trump Bash Hillary Clinton in Joint Statement

Megyn Kelly: Meeting To Arrange Donald Trump Interview Was 'Amiable Exchange'
Paris (AFP) - France's young player of the year Ousmane Dembele was called up on Friday for the French under-21 squad to face Italy in a friendly on June 2.

The 18-year-old winger signed a five-year deal to join Borussia Dortmund from Rennes on Thursday, with the German Bundesliga club describing him as "one of Europe's most sought after talents".

Dembele has been a revelation for Rennes this season, scoring 12 goals and adding five assists since making his debut in November.

The Bundesliga side did not give a figure for the deal, but German media said the fee was in the region of 15 million euros ($17.1m).

British media had earlier reported that Liverpool were ready to make a blockbuster offer, but the player had his heart set on Dortmund.

France under-21's take on Italy in Venise on June 2 in a memorial match for an Italian, Valeria Solesin, who died in the Paris terror attacks in November.

Her death moved a lot of people in Italy, with one magazine, l'Espresso, going so far as to name her their 'person of the year' for 2015.
Geneva (AFP) - A controversial EU-Turkey deal dramatically cut the number of migrant arrivals in Greece last month, data showed Friday, even as a row between Brussels and Ankara threatened to sink the agreement.

Last month 3,360 migrants and refugees landed on the Greek islands, compared with 26,971 in March -- an 88 percent drop, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The EU border agency Frontex also reported what it described as a "dramatic" slowdown, saying it had registered 2,700 arrivals in Greece last month.

The figures are the first for a full month-long period since the EU-Turkey deal came into force in March and will be seen as a key measure of its effectiveness.

"The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last year's peak months," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement.

Under the March deal, Turkey agreed to take back migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for incentives, including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.

The agreement is the cornerstone of the EU's plan to curb a crisis that has seen 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants enter Europe since January 2015.

The new figures underline the powerful deterrent effect of the deal, and the closure of the borders in eastern Europe, which have discouraged many from making the crossing to Greece.

The most controversial provisions, including the mass return of migrants from Greece to Turkey and the exchange of Syrians, have not been implemented on a large-scale.

- 'Not hopeful' -

But the deal was at risk of unravelling after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Thursday that Ankara would not amend its counter-terror laws -- a key condition set by Brussels for Turkey to secure visa-free travel.

With Turkey's military battling rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Ankara has said that it cannot change its anti-terror legislation.

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Ankara must also fulfil four other outstanding conditions including anti-corruption and data protection issues. Turkey has so far complied with 67 requirements of the deal.

Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir voiced pessimism at the prospect of smoothing the rift with Brussels.

"At this stage I would not say we are very hopeful," he told Turkish reporters in televised comments in Brussels following talks with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

- 'Historic abdication' -

The agreement had run into widespread criticism from the United Nations, rights groups and several EU member states even before it came into force.

Medical charity MSF on Friday described it as "a historic abdication" of Europe's moral and legal responsibilities.

"This deal is sending a troubling signal to the rest of the world: countries can buy their way out of providing asylum," MSF president Joanne Liu said in an open letter to EU leaders.

More than 850,000 people -- most of them fleeing conflict in war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- arrived on the Greek islands last year alone, and so far this year another 155,765 people have landed, UN refugee agency figures show.

Italy however saw nearly 154,000 arrivals last year, and more than 31,000 so far in 2016.

But the balance shifted last month, with Italy recording 9,149 arrivals -- nearly three times more than Greece, according to the IOM.

"For the first time last month there were more arrivals in Italy than in Greece," UNHCR spokesman William Spindler told reporters.

There has been speculation that the virtual closure of the route to Greece would push refugees from Syria to begin travelling through North Africa and onto Italy instead.

On Thursday, the Italian coastguard initially said some 150 Syrians were among hundreds of migrants rescued off Sicily.

But IOM spokesman Joel Millman said Friday that number appeared to have been greatly exaggerated.

When the boat that had sailed from Egypt, thought to be carrying the large group of Syrians, arrived in port "there were only two individuals who claimed to be Syrian," Millman told reporters.

Spindler said people were still being taken from a number of boats that rescued up to 1,000 people who had set off from Egypt and Libya, and that it was unclear how many Syrians were onboard.

"We cannot yet say that there is a shift in the routes from Turkey to Greece, into North Africa to Italy. It's too early to say," he said.
By Andrew M. Seaman (Reuters Health) - Doctors who receive payments or gifts from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to prescribe brand name medications, a new study suggests. The rate at which doctors prescribed brand name drugs increased with the amount of money or gifts like dinners they received from drug companies, researchers found. Lead author Dr. James Yeh, of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, said doctors are taught how and what to prescribe during medical school. "After you leave, sometimes that kind of knowledge is derived from pharmaceutical salespeople," he told Reuters Health. Along with communications with pharmaceutical salespeople, doctors may also receive meals, subsidies or grants for continuing education and speaking fees from pharmaceutical companies. Yeh and his colleagues write in JAMA Internal Medicine that some states require doctors to report what they receive from drug companies. In 2013, under the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. created the Open Payments database to collect those reports from across the country. For the new study, the researchers analyzed 2011 data from Massachusetts payment reports and the prescription drug program of Medicare, the U.S. public health insurance program for the elderly and disabled. Of the 2,444 Massachusetts doctors in Medicare's prescribing database, about 37 percent received payments from the drug industry. About 71 percent of doctors reported receiving meals paid for by drug companies, about 51 percent reported receiving grants, about 27 percent received other services and about 11 percent reported receiving educational training. Average payments to doctors ranged from $100 to $1,188, the researchers report. Then the researchers looked at whether those payments were tied to doctors' prescribing patterns. Specifically, they wanted to know whether doctors who received more gifts prescribed more brand-name cholesterol lowering drugs - known as statins - rather than less expensive generic medications. Overall, an average of 17.8 percent of statin prescriptions were for brand name drugs. Every $1,000 of additional funds doctors received was tied to a 0.1 percent increase in the rate of brand name prescribing. While a 0.1 percent increase may not seem like a lot, the researchers note that the financial effects for patients and the healthcare system can be substantial since brand name statins cost between two and four times more than generic medications. There was no connection between brand name prescribing and industry payments when doctors received less than $2,000. "Not surprisingly, the payments that were categorized as educational trainings seemed to most impact brand name prescribing," said Yeh. The researchers say their findings are limited by the fact that doctors who prescribe a high number of brand name medications may be sought out by drug companies to promote those products. Also, the findings are based on self reporting by doctors. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1ZOn6qu JAMA Internal Medicine, online May 9, 2016.
(Updates with details, background)

AMSTERDAM, May 13 (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Friday it would pursue a stock market listing of insurer ASR (IPO-ASRN.AS), with an initial public offering of shares likely before the end of this quarter.

ASR, the country's fourth-largest insurer, had a book value at the end of 2015 of 3.57 billion euros ($4.1 billion).

The size of the offer and the pricing have not been determined and will depend on market conditions, ASR and NL Financial Investments, the agency that oversees it, said in a joint statement.

However in November, when the state first said it would likely seek to re-privatise ASR, the NLFI recommended selling a 30-50 percent stake.

The agency said in Friday's statement that the state will initially retain a "significant" portion of ASR's shares, but intends to sell the rest over time.

CEO Jos Baeten said the insurer is "looking forward to its new phase as a privatised business."

ASR, the insurance operations of the former Belgian financial group Fortis, was nationalised by the Dutch state together with ABN Amro during the 2008 financial crisis.

However, ASR's own financial stability was never in question. It is the Netherlands' largest disability insurer, and a major seller of property and casualty, funeral and health insurance.

In February, ASR reported a 25 percent rise in 2015 operating profit to 521 million euros ($580 million), and a solvency rating of 185 percent under Europe's new Solvency II regime.

It said on Friday it expects to be able to pay dividends as long as its solvency remains above 140 percent, with a payout ratio of around 50 percent of net operating result. ($1=0.8791 euros) (Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Alexander Smith)
Cannes (France) (AFP) - Oscar winner Juliette Binoche premiered a jaw-dropping incest-and-cannibalism farce Friday at Cannes, taking an "eat the rich" theme at this year's festival to new extremes.

The period comedy "Slack Bay" (Ma Loute) by Bruno Dumont is set on the Channel coast of northern France at the start of the 20th century, in a fishing village in which the have-not locals eye the invasion of wealthy holidaymakers each summer with mounting resentment.

But when the well-heeled interlopers begin vanishing during their afternoon strolls, two bumbling local constables fail to notice a ferryman's family growing suspiciously stout.

After a fresh batch of "rich toffs" disappears, the ferryman's wife is seen fishing through a bloody pot, offering up "a foot, or at least a big toe" to her four sons at the dinner table.

Binoche, who previously starred in Dumont's harrowing biopic "Camille Claudel 1915", plays the flamboyant mother of cross-dressing teenager Billie, who transgresses class lines by falling in love with the ferryman's son.

Binoche's character Aude belongs to the old Van Petegehem clan of the leisure class who have secured their standing with so much inbreeding that many of its members are deformed or degenerate.

"It's capitalism," Andre explains when the chief constable asks how the family came to be made up of blood relations who married each other to cement business ties.

In fact, Aude's own hunchbacked brother Andre turns out to be the father of her child.

- 'Getting ridiculous' -

Binoche, who picked up an Academy Award for "The English Patient", said she had fun with the slapstick and over-the-top theatrics of the movie.

"I love getting ridiculous," Binoche told AFP about her rare comic role.

"I think it's because I love taking a risk, jumping into the unknown without a net. And I like throwing out old conventions and everything that's old hat."

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Dumont told reporters after a well-received press preview that it often took surreal stories "to show people who they really are".

"We're horrible people, but sometimes we're good. We're idiots and we're geniuses," he said. "Why not show all that in a film?"

Dumont, who scored a hit with the oddball 2014 television series "Li'l Quinquin" also set in northern France, said it was a regional tradition to send up the powerful.

"I spent all my youth at carnivals and we dressed up and wore masks, boys dressed as girls. We know that this is something important, looking beneath the mask, beyond these things that are larger than life to see the subtle things."

Despite its setting on the French Riviera, a playground for air-kissing stars and billionaires, the Cannes festival prides itself on shining a spotlight on current social tensions.

This year's edition is no exception and the yawning gulf between rich and poor dominated the first few days of global cinema's premier showcase.

Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster unveiled her mainstream genre directorial debut "Money Monster" starring George Clooney as a Wall Street television pundit taken hostage live on air by an "ordinary Joe" who has lost everything on the stock market.

And on Friday, left-wing activist filmmaker Ken Loach served up a searing indictment of British social welfare cuts with the tear-jerking drama "I, Daniel Blake".

"Slack Bay" and "I, Daniel Blake" are among 21 films vying for the Cannes top prize, the Palme d'Or, to be presented on May 22.
Proschim (Allemagne) (AFP) - Two thousand environmental protesters blockaded a coal mine in Germany on Friday as part of an international campaign against the use of fossil fuels.

The activists, dressed in white overalls and equipped with breathing masks, blocked access to the open cast Proschim mine close to the Polish border, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.

The group unfurled banners on excavation machinery, with slogans including "Keep it in the ground" and "Climate crime scene" as organisers said that the action would last all weekend.

"Each new tonne of coal is a tonne too many," said the organisers of the protest, part of the "Break Free" campaign which was launched in several countries including the US, Canada and Brazil earlier this month to oppose fossil fuel use.

The "Break Free" campaign was the brainchild of several environmental lobby groups including Greenpeace and 350.org.

The targeted mine is operated by Swedish state-owned energy giant Vattenfall and produces 20 million tonnes of brown coal every year.

Vattenfall said in April that it had reached a deal to sell its German coal operations, which employ 8,000 people, as it moves away from activities blamed for climate change.

Vattenfall said it would sell its German brown coal, or lignite, business -- open cast coal mines and two power plants close to the German-Polish border -- to Czech operator EPH.

Coal operations represent about a tenth of Vattenfall's power production in Germany, where it is the third-largest energy supplier.
Diyarbakir (Turkey) (AFP) - Six Turkish soldiers were killed on Friday in a clash with Kurdish militants in the southeast of the country while two more lost their lives when a military helicopter sent to the scene crashed, the army said.

The six troops were killed and eight others wounded in fighting with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) near a military base in the Cukurca district of Hakkari province.

A Cobra helicopter despatched to the scene then crashed due to a technical problem, resulting in the deaths of the two pilots, the army added.

Turkish F-16 jets, helicopters and drones were scrambled to fight the "terrorists" behind the attack and reinforcements were sent to the area.

So far, six PKK militants have been "neutralised" in the follow-up operations which are continuing, the army said.

Pro-PKK news site Firat news claimed that the helicopter had been downed by PKK fighters.

In a separate operation in the neighbouring Sirnak province, 15 PKK members have been killed, the army said.

Turkey has been waging an offensive against the PKK after the collapse in 2015 of a two-year ceasefire declared by the group.

Hundreds of members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in attacks since then, with funerals of army personnel being laid to rest in front of grieving relatives a daily event on national television.

But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that despite the latest attack the fight against the PKK "will continue with determination".

"No clash, no ambush, will prevent us from defending Turkey's unity," he said in a statement.

"As long as the nation stands behind our brave security forces, Turkey will rid itself of these bloody organisations and dirty alliances," he added.

- 'Nothing of our house left' -

On Thursday night, four PKK militants said to have been loading explosives onto a stolen truck were killed in a huge explosion in an area near Diyarbakir in the southeast that was felt throughout city.

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The explosives detonated prematurely, the interior ministry said.

Dozens of local residents gathered on Friday to inspect the huge crater left by the immense blast, whose power also blew out walls and windows of nearby homes, an AFP correspondent said.

"I was lying in my bed. Suddenly an explosion went off, the glass in the windows exploded and I was covered in glass," said local resident Mehmet Emin Akyuz.

"There were body parts everywhere. There's nothing left of our house," he told AFP.

That incident came hours after at least eight people including soldiers were injured by a remotely-detonated car bomb aimed at a military vehicle in Istanbul.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the car bomb. But the official Anatolia news agency said eight people had been detained, including PKK members.

On Tuesday, three people were killed and 42 others wounded when a car bomb attack claimed by the PKK struck a police vehicle in Diyarbakir.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and its Western allies but Erdogan has repeatedly accused the European Union and United States of not doing enough to halt its activities.

Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey's biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy.
Almost three months to the day that a southern California utility work crew finally capped a massive, runaway natural gas leak that allowed more than two million tons of methane gas to escape into the atmosphere above the San Fernando Valley, the Obama administration on Thursday issued final rules designed to prevent future environmental calamities of that sort from happening.

The United States and Canada agreed in March to take joint action to reduce methane emissions after nearly a year of planning, and yesterday the administration finalized the new rules.

Related: The California Gas Leak Ends, but Its a Rough Week for Environmentalists

We are really getting at a strong contributor to climate changeat a source of toxic emissions that affect public health Gina McCarthy, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told reporters in releasing the regulations.

The nightmare blowout of a major Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in late October 2015 paralyzed a suburban Los Angeles community for months, displaced thousands of families, and closed two schools. It was deemed one of the worst environmental disasters since the 2010 BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast. The accident also taught many Americans an important environmental lesson: Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 25 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide and is a major contributor to the mounting global warming crisis. Methane leakage accounts for about 10 percent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, which in recent years has become the largest natural gas producer in the world.

Methane gas comes from a number of sources, including animal waste, particularly cattle and dairy cows, landfills, wastewater treatment and certain other industrial activities. However, a Greenhouse Gas Inventory Report issued last month by the EPA identified the oil and gas industry as the leading emitter of methane gas pollution in this country. The study estimated that industrial methane gas emissions through faulty equipment or accidents was 34 percent higher than previously assumed, and that more than 9.8 million metric tons escaped into the atmosphere every year.

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Related: Did a Bad Decision 40 Years Ago Lead to the California Gas Leak Disaster

The rules announced yesterday by the EPA are tougher than regulations previously discussed and are designed to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry by 40 percent to 45 percent of 2012 levels by 2025.

The regulations will require companies to achieve this goal by capturing gas from oil wells and finding and plugging leaks. Gas leaks are a common phenomenon within the oil and gas industry. Moreover, virtually every community in the country has struggled to repair or contain leaks from aging pipelines and underground storage tanks.

A report in the Guardian says the new rules will require companies to put more efforts in detecting and repairing leaks in oil and gas wells, pipeline and other infrastructure  with quarterly inspection reports. Companies will also have to conduct such inspections at low-producing sites  a requirement that apparently was added at the last minute.

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, hailed the new rules as an important first step in combating the dangerous heat-trapping effects of methane gas leaks. In taking this important first step, the EPA and the Obama Administration are rejecting the status quo that has allowed the oil and gas industry to recklessly pollute communities around the country for so long.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md), the co-chair of the Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change, said that These simple and cost-effective actions will curb emissions of methane and other toxic pollutants from new and modified oil and gas wells.

Related: Why the Gas Leak in California No One Is Talking About Is Such a Disaster

But an obvious shortcoming in the regulations is that they dont apply to existing oil and gas wells unless they undergo an updating or modification. Whats more, McCarthy indicated it was now unlikely the administration would have time to try to impose the new rules on the one million existing oil and gas wells and other facilities before Obama leaves office in January.

The Obama administrations companion effort to sharply reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing coal-fired power plants has been challenged by state officials and appears to be indefinitely caught up in federal court proceedings.

The American Petroleum Institute, the main advocacy group for the oil and gas industry, argued that companies were already plugging leaks in pipelines and that the new methane gas rules were unnecessary. Imposing a one-size-fits-all scheme on the industry could actually stifle innovation and discourage investment, the organization said in a statement.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Brasilia (AFP) - Brazil's interim president Michel Temer kicks off his new administration Friday, seeking to resuscitate the economy and steer clear of the corruption scandal that helped bring down his predecessor.

The former vice president installed a business-friendly cabinet Thursday, just hours after senators voted to suspend his boss-turned-nemesis, Dilma Rousseff, and open an impeachment trial against her.

The tumultuous transfer of power ended 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party, which helped lift tens of millions of people from poverty with progressive social programs but became mired in corruption scandals, recession and political paralysis.

Temer was due to meet with his cabinet Friday morning, followed by a news conference by new Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, the man in charge of rebooting Latin America's largest economy.

"We don't have much time," Temer, a veteran of the center-right PMDB party, said on taking office.

"We must rebuild the foundations of the Brazilian economy and significantly improve the business environment for the private sector so it can get back to its natural role of investing, producing and creating jobs."

- Vulnerable to scandal -

But Temer faces many of the same stumbling blocks as his predecessor, plus a few of his own.

Political analysts warned his honeymoon may not even last until he opens the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 5 -- South America's first.

Temer is just about as disliked as the deeply unpopular Rousseff. A recent poll found he would receive just two percent of the vote in a presidential election.

He will also face a deeply hostile left resentful of being sidelined in what it calls a "coup."

And he will have to coexist with Rousseff, who will still be holed up in the presidential residence mounting her defense during an impeachment trial that could drag on for up to six months.

Temer appealed Thursday for "dialogue" to heal the wounds of the impeachment battle, but stoked opponents' outrage with his cabinet appointments: all 24 of his ministers are white men.

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That was a bitter pill to swallow for supporters of Brazil's first woman president.

And Temer remains exposed to the swirling scandal at state oil company Petrobras, which has snared top members of his party, the PMDB, as well as Rousseff's PT.

Temer, 75, is not under investigation himself. But some of his ministers are.

- Long goodbye -

A onetime Marxist guerrilla tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, Rousseff was suspended over allegations she illegally used loans from state banks to boost public spending and hide the depth of the budget deficit during her 2014 re-election campaign.

She claims the accounting maneuver, known as "fiscal backpedaling," was commonly accepted practice in Brazil and is not an impeachable offense.

But in the all-night Senate session leading up to the impeachment vote, it was clear lawmakers were holding her responsible for far more than that, as one speaker after another attacked her for presiding over an economic collapse, a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal and political gridlock.

She lost the vote 55 to 22 -- far more than the simple majority the pro-impeachment camp needed in the 81-member Senate.

The final tally was especially troubling for Rousseff since it is already one vote clear of the two-thirds majority needed to remove her from office permanently at the end of her trial.

Defiant to the end, she used what may have been her last speech from the presidential palace to condemn the "coup" against her yet again and urge her supporters to mobilize.

"What is at stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the Brazilian people and the constitution," she said, dressed in white and flanked by her soon-to-be-sacked ministers.

"I may have made mistakes, but I committed no crimes."

She then exited the building to shake hands, hug and wave to some 500 supporters in a cheering, red-clad crowd gathered outside the modernist capital's seat of power.

After giving another fiery speech outside, she slowly made her way to an awaiting convoy of black vehicles, which whisked her away after a long goodbye.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission said on Friday it had launched an investigation into possible illegal subsidies to Chinese exporters of hot-rolled flat steel, adding to an existing study into alleged dumping of the product.

The Commission said both the dumping and subsidy cases were part of a new procedure allowing investigations to begin when there was the threat of injury to EU producers, rather than waiting for harm to be done.

The alleged subsidies consist of direct state transfers of funds, tax breaks or other waiving of income due to the government and state provision of goods or services at sub-par prices.

The twin investigations, resulting from complaints by EU steelmaker association Eurofer, are part of an international focus on China's overcapacity in steel, although Beijing says the issue of excess capacity is a global one for all countries.

Cheap Chinese steel exports are cited as one reason for Tata Steel's (TISC.NS) decision to sell its entire British steel operations, threatening 10,000 jobs.

The EU now has 10 ongoing trade defence investigations into steel products, in addition to 37 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures already in place. Seven of the investigations and 15 of the measures concern steel products from China.

The Commission has nine months to determine whether to impose provisional duties on Chinese imports.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek and Tom Heneghan)
By Robert-Jan Bartunek BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday talks with the European Union on a deal providing visa-free travel in return for stopping a flow of illegal migrants into Europe had reached an impasse and the bloc must find a "new formula" to salvage the agreement. EU Minister Volkan Bozkir told Reuters that a dispute over Turkey's anti-terrorism laws had become the "Achilles heel" of the migrant deal, in comments likely to further heighten concerns in Brussels about its future. While the EU is desperate for the deal to succeed, it also insists that Turkey meet 72 criteria, including reining in its broad anti-terror laws. The EU and rights groups say Turkey uses the laws to stifle dissent, while Ankara says it needs sweeping legislation to fight Kurdish insurgents and Islamic State. "This is the Achilles heel," Bozkir said in an interview with Reuters in Brussels, where he has been trying to persuade European leaders to change their position. "Only today we lost eight soldiers in a terrorist attack, yesterday there was another suicide attack ... Under these circumstances it is not possible politically to make changes to the anti-terror law," he said, describing Turkey's legislation as "no worse than many other countries". Eight soldiers and 22 Kurdish militants have been killed in clashes in the largely Kurdish southeast over the last two days, while on Thursday a car laden with explosives blew up near a military base in Istanbul. BOMBINGS President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to crush the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union as well as Ankara, militarily and has ruled out changing anti-terrorism laws. Turkey has suffered a series of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a PKK offshoot. Erdogan has ratcheted up pressure on Europe over the migrant deal, accusing the bloc of setting new hurdles for visa-free travel and threatening that Turkey may go its own way if Europe failed to agree. "I am not very optimistic about the outcome of the talks we held in Brussels today. It's essential that the European Commission find a new formula," Bozkir told reporters. European leaders seeking to keep relations with Turkey on track face push-back from both the political right, skeptical about closer integration with a Muslim nation, and the left, who accuse the EU of compromising its principles by negotiating with Erdogan, whose authoritarian tendencies they abhor. Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014, including journalists, cartoonists and teenagers. A German satirist is also facing prosecution after mocking him on German TV. (Additional reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara; Writing by David Dolan and Nick Tattersall; Editing by Daren Butler and Ralph Boulton)
(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report)

* FTSEurofirst down 0.3 percent

* Eutelsat drops around 30 percent after outlook cut

* Ubisoft rises after posting higher sales

By Danilo Masoni

MILAN, May 13 (Reuters) - European shares lost ground on Friday, with satellite company Eutelsat plunging 30 percent after slashing its outlook, while weak oil prices also weighed on the region's stock markets.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.3 percent, while the euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index fell 0.2 percent.

European markets have sagged in recent weeks, with some investors blaming strength in the euro and uncertainty before Britain's vote on June 23 on European Union membership - dubbed "Brexit" - and a political stalemate in Spain.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reiterated on Friday that a vote by Britain to leave the EU next month could hit the global economy and world stock markets.

"We're quite cautious about the European market even though valuations are not expensive. Before taking big bets, investors need to know what will happen on the political front and where the euro will go," said Matteo Ramenghi, Chief Investment Officer at UBS WM Italy.

Oil prices also retreated, weighing on the shares of BP and Total.

Eutelsat's 30 percent fall made it the worst stock in the region. The satellite company cut its outlook for the full year late on Thursday and was met with a spate of ratings downgrades on Friday.

"Such a heavy hit to forecasts, coming from across the applications, will knock confidence in the story," Barclays said in a note, downgrading the stock to "equal-weight" from "overweight" and slashing its target to 22 euros from 31 euros.

However, French video games maker Ubisoft rose 7.6 percent after it reported higher sales and issued a bullish outlook.

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The FTSEurofirst is down around 10 percent so far in 2016.

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.

Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA.

(Reporting by Danilo Masoni; Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta in London; editing by Richard Balmforth)
Berlin (AFP) - Germany's domestic secret service accused Russia on Friday of a series of international cyber attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in "hybrid warfare" that also targeted the German parliament last year.

The operations cited by the BfV intelligence agency ranged from an aggressive attack called Sofacy or APT 28 that hit NATO members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off air, to a hacking campaign called Sandstorm that brought down part of Ukraine's power grid last year.

"Cyberspace is a place for hybrid warfare. It opens a new space of operations for espionage and sabotage," said Hans-Georg Maassen, who heads the BfV agency.

"The campaigns being monitored by the BfV are generally about obtaining information, that is spying," he said. "However, Russian secret services have also shown a readiness to carry out sabotage."

Germany itself fell victim to one of these rogue operations, with the Sofacy attack last year hitting the German lower house of parliament.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party confirmed it had been targeted in April, adding that "we have adapted our IT infrastructure as a result".

The BfV said the "cyber attacks carried out by Russian secret services are part of multi-year international operations that are aimed at obtaining strategic information".

"Some of these operations can be traced back as far as seven to 11 years."

- Government, military, media -

IT experts believe that Sofacy or APT 28 is a so-called phishing tool of the broader Operation Pawn Storm, that has been blamed for targeting NATO and the US government and military as well as Ukrainian activists and Russian dissidents.

The operation included the attempted hacking of the Dutch Safety Board's computer systems by Russian spies seeking to access a sensitive final report into the July 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine, according to security experts Trend Micro.

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It also hit France's TV5Monde television channel last April, shutting down transmissions and placing jihadist propaganda messages on the station's website, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The station had initially focused investigations on the IS group, after the perpetrators claimed to be members of the jihadist organisation.

But in June, a French judicial source put the blame on Russian hackers.

"Sandworm" meanwhile refers to a group of hackers who deploy the malware known as Black Energy and KillDisk through phishing emails.

BfV said Sandworm targeted not just government posts, but "was also aimed at telecommunications companies, energy providers as well as higher education facilities".

The West has been boosting resources and tightening cooperation to fight the mounting threat of international cyber attacks, with cyber defence designated as a core NATO task.
By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez was indicted on Friday over accusations that she oversaw irregularities in the central bank's sale of U.S. dollars in the futures market while she was in office. Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio charged Fernandez, her former economy minister Axel Kicillof and former central bank chief Alejandro Vanoli with "unfaithful administration to the detriment of public administration," according to court papers. The ruling, which gives a green light for prosecutors to put Fernandez on trial, may be appealed. There was no arrest warrant. The accusation is that the central bank took billions of dollars worth of money-losing positions in the futures market ahead of a widely expected devaluation of the Argentine peso. Fernandez, who heads a large faction of the Peronist party, stepped down in December at the end of her second term. Her successor, Mauricio Macri, won the presidency on a platform of ditching currency controls that he said were strangling the economy. Since lifting the controls in mid-December the peso has weakened by about 30 percent to 14.1575 per U.S. dollar. Fernandez last month accused the Macri government of political persecution after testifying in court about the central bank's dollar-buying operations. The transactions referred to in the case involved $5 billion to $17 billion, according to court papers published by Argentina's Judicial Information Center (CIJ). "It's impossible to believe that a financial operation of this size ... could have been carried out without the approval of the highest executive level of the national government," the ruling said. Fernandez is revered by millions for the generous welfare programs she offered while in office and reviled by others for economic policies such as nationalizing businesses and placing heavy-handed controls on the economy. "The indictment was not unexpected, but politically, it creates noise," said Ignacio Labaqui, who analyses Argentina for emerging markets consultancy Medley Global Advisors. "Peronism is going through a leadership crisis and this could make the divisions within the party more acute." The indictment of Fernandez came a day after the president of neighboring Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, was suspended from office by the Senate while she is tried on charges of breaking budget rules. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)
By Anjuli Davies

LONDON (Reuters) - One of five former Barclays (BARC.L) bankers on trial for the alleged rigging of a key Libor benchmark told a court on Friday he had lied about submitting rates for traders because he felt under pressure from his manager and the bank to "toe the line".

Jonathan Mathew told the court that he had felt pressured by his manager at the time, Peter Johnson, who jurors heard this week had pleaded guilty in October 2014 to conspiring to manipulate Libor.

Johnson is the first man in Britain to plead guilty to charges related to Libor.

On Friday, Mathew told a London court that he had lied to investigators about taking requests from traders in making submissions to the benchmark, because he was worried he would lose his job and was scared about going up against his boss.

"He wanted me to lie about us accepting these requests", said Mathew of a conversation with his manager. "I felt under pressure."

Barclays declined to comment on Mathew's remarks.

Mathew said he also felt pressure from his employer, who had given him a written warning about his conduct.

"The bank wanted me to toe the line, I got the impression," he said. "Otherwise they might have to pay a bigger fine ... I was married to the lie."

Mathew said he changed his stance after inconsistencies emerged in interviews with the bank's lawyers.

"More emails from swaps traders were being found ... you were arguing that black is white," he told jurors.

He said that the United States Department of Justice approached with a non-prosecution agreement in 2011.

"They were saying they believe I was lying," he said. "They were right. I was lying."

Britain's Serious Fraud Office alleges that Mathew and four of his former colleagues - Jay Merchant, Ryan Reich, Alex Pabon and Stylianos Contogoulas - were dishonest when they submitted or asked colleagues to submit Libor rates, designed to be an independent assessment of a bank's borrowing costs, to benefit trading positions.

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The five have pleaded not guilty to one charge of conspiracy to defraud by manipulating US dollar Libor rates between 2005 and 2007. Each count carries a maximum jail sentence of 10 years.

The London Interbank Offered Rate is a benchmark used as a basis for pricing financial products from home loans to credit cards worth hundreds of trillions of dollars globally. Libor rates are based on the submissions by banks.

Mathew, who is partially deaf, had said in his opening defence that he did not do anything improper or dishonest and was only doing what his boss told him and taught him to do.

Mathew, now aged 35, was not in charge of submissions and only made dollar Libor requests when his boss was away, his lawyer William Clegg had said in opening his defence.

Clegg earlier on Friday read out to jurors emails between Contogoulas and Mathew in which Contogoulas said he will bring him coffees and takeaway boxes from the Itsu sushi chain, after requesting certain Libor submissions.

"Did you set a dishonest rate here for some sushi?," Clegg asked Mathew, who responded "No".

(Reporting by Anjuli Davies; Writing by John O'Donnell; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
By Sanjeev Miglani and Serajul Quadir

DHAKA (Reuters) - Three hacking groups "are still lurking" in the network of Bangladesh's central bank, putting the bank at risk of further attacks about three months after it lost $81 million (56 million pounds) in a cyber heist, according to a report by U.S. computer security firms investigating the theft.

"There are some residual risks that the governor and board should understand, namely that Bangladesh Bank network is still not secure, and there exists a possibility of malicious acts by hackers," said the report from the experts hired by Bangladesh Bank, parts of which were seen by Reuters.

The source who shared the document declined to provide access to its full contents, saying that the release of some details could hamper a multinational effort to catch the criminals and recover funds stolen in the February cyber attack.

Bangladesh Bank has declined comment on pending investigations into the heist. Asked about the report, a spokesman said: "We have engaged forensic experts to investigate the whole thing, including this." He did not elaborate.

Investigators have determined that one team of hackers, dubbed Group Zero in the report, was responsible for the heist and remained inside the network, the report stated. Group Zero may be seeking to monitor the ongoing cyber investigations or cause other damage, but is unlikely to be able to order fraudulent fund transfers, the investigators wrote.

Two other groups are also inside the bank's network, which is linked to the SWIFT international transaction system, the report found. One of the two is a "nation-state actor" engaged in stealing information in attacks that are stealthy but "not known to be destructive", the report said.

The report, which was submitted earlier this month, did not further identify any of the groups.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT said she was unable to comment on the report.

SWIFT warned on Thursday of a malware attack on a commercial bank it did not name, similar to the hack at Bangladesh Bank.

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In February, hackers ordered fraudulent fund transfers from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve via the SWIFT system, but the cooperative, owned by member banks and used by 11,000 financial institutions globally, has maintained that the messaging system it controls has not been compromised.

"Group Zero is the identified hacker group that has conducted the cyber attack" against Bangladesh Bank, the investigators said in the report, which they said was based on primary findings.

U.S.-based cyber-security firms World Informatix and FireEye Inc. (FEYE.O) have been hired by Bangladesh's central bank to investigate the theft.

A spokesman for FireEye said the firm will not comment on the ongoing investigation. World Informatix could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the attack, the hackers sought to transfer $951 million from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Fed.

Most of the transfers were blocked, but $81 million was sent to bank accounts in the Philippines in one of the largest cyber-heists in history. The money was quickly transferred through a remittance firm to casinos and casino agents and most remains missing.

In the report, the investigators said Group Zero mounted attacks on other banks, but did not elaborate.

The report said investigators knew little about a third group of hackers found inside the network, referred to as Group Two, except that they were using mostly commodity, or off-the-shelf hacking tools.

"Their motivations and activities are unknown, but could be unpredictable with media spotlight," the report said, without elaborating further.

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that investigators had found evidence that two of the three hacker groups in the Bangladesh attack were from Pakistan and North Korea, citing people briefed on the bank's investigation.

(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle in New York; editing by David Greising and Raju Gopalakrishnan.)
Bindi Irwin can't stop smiling -- but can you blame her?

The Dancing With the Stars champion, and daughter of the late Steve Irwin, is now 17 years old and has been growing up right in front of our eyes. A lot has obviously happened since she took home the mirror ball trophy during season 21 of the competition show, and she couldn't be happier.

WATCH: Bindi Irwin Gets Her Driver's License!

Bindi recently stopped by the ET set in Los Angeles with her mother, Terri, and brother, Robert. During her interview, Bindi was ecstatic to fill us in on some of her recent milestones.

"I officially have my driver's license," she excitedly told ET's Cameron Mathison. "Although, it was a little intimidating for the driving instructor because I was in my dad's old ute -- it's this giant beast of a truck and it's a manual and it's really old, so he was a bit nervous as he got into this [utility vehicle]."

Her mother chimed in, adding, "It was so exciting. She's like the little baby bird on the edge of the nest. She's just about to fledge."

About to be free, indeed! Bindi also told us that she's already prepared herself for college.

WATCH: Relive Bindi Irwin's 6 Most Amazing 'DWTS' Performances

"I'm really lucky because I'm already taking college courses," she revealed. "I'm really excited."

"It's something that I've been really thrilled about," she continued. "I've been kind of doing [it] behind the scenes, and I'm thrilled to have a certificate in business now. I'm just finishing my certificate in tourism. So I'm really happy about that!"

One person who's been cheering her on, thousands of miles away in Florida, is her boyfriend, Chandler Powell. The cute couple has been together for nearly three years now.

"I think what's really wonderful about Chandler is that no matter what is happening, he's always there for me and he always makes me smile and laugh and it's brilliant to have someone so kind who really understands your world," the wildlife conservationist gushed. "He loves wildlife, he loves conservation and he's just really passionate about making a difference and he's always such a kind person, which is great."

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WATCH: Bindi Irwin Calls Boyfriend Chandler Powell a 'Huge Part of My Journey'

"I'm not sure who loves him more. Me or my family," Bindi added. "It's really funny. Every time I get to the airport to see him, Robert always says, 'I'm going to hug him before you do.' It's really sweet and I think that for me, it's nice to have that kind of sunshine in my life all the time."

Bindi said that she learned a lot about love from her own parents, who were married for 14 years before her father died in 2006.

"I think that my mum and dad taught me the value of unconditional love and just always being there for each other," the Australian native explained. "It's like our roles have been reversed. Mom met [my dad] in Australia. I met someone in America, and it's a really beautiful story, and I think my parents have really taught me the value of being kind, being loyal and just always loving someone unconditionally. So I'm very lucky."

Bindi's mom said she was happy to have had her "happily ever after" with "The Crocodile Hunter."

"It was very good," Terri shared. "I was very lucky."

WATCH: Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell Are the Cutest Couple Ever at Disney World

Although Bindi and Chandler haven't made their love official with an engagement ring (yet!), they've already had some fairy tale moments.

"In Australia, we really don't have prom, so for me, I was thrilled when Chandler asked me to his prom," Bindi explained. "Robert was really excited too, so he decided to get in on the action."

The verdict? An epic photobomb!

"I felt like I was living in a movie and was a real life Disney princess," she captioned a collage of pics from prom via Instagram. "Gosh I'm blessed. Thank you @chandlerpowell it meant the world to me."

WATCH: Bindi Irwin Opens Up About Anxiety After Dad's Death

Bindi is excited that she'll get to spend a little more time with Chandler when she's in the United States for an upcoming gala honoring her dad.

"We decided to have our very first Steve Irwin Gala dinner right here in Los Angeles," she told ET, adding that she thinks it's the "perfect time" for it and expects it to be "a beautiful evening."

"We're going to have all of the Dancing With the Stars [cast] coming because they're our family now," she continued. "I'm excited for this event -- it's on May 21, and [we're] just getting together with as many people who want to join us as possible. We're excited to celebrate everything that dad stood for, truly."

WATCH: Bindi Irwin Shares Prom Photos With Boyfriend Chandler Powell

Related Articles
Brooke Burke-Charvet knows just how Kelly Ripa feels.

The model and TV host told ET on Thursday that she would love to throw her hat into the ring for the gig as Ripa's new Live! co-host, and also said that she sympathizes with the drama surrounded Michael Strahan's surprising departure from the daytime talk show.

"I love Kelly and you know what, also, I feel her," Burke-Charvet told ET at the Operation Smile Gala in New York City. "I had a similar experience at ABC, sort of blindsided, and, you know, I think she's handling it really well. I fully understand what she's going through and woman to woman, [I've] been there."

WATCH: Kelly Ripa on Michael Strahan's 'Live!' Exit: 'I Need Assurances That We're All Going to Be Fine'

The model and upcoming Celebrity Apprentice contestant co-hosted Dancing With the Stars for eight seasons between 2010-13 before being replaced by Erin Andrews in a decision that shocked fans and Burke-Charvet herself.

"Weird day.Shocking pre-season elimination #DWTSME," she tweeted in February 2014. "@Tom_Bergeron didn't even read my name. I won't be returning to the show this season."

weird day.Shocking pre-season elimination #DWTSME. @Tom_Bergeron didn't even read my name. I won't be returning to the show this season.  Brooke Burke-Charvet (@brookeburke) February 22, 2014

WATCH: 'Live!' Removes Michael Strahan's Name From Signage Ahead of His Final Show

Since news broke of Strahan's departure, rumors have run rampant about who might step in as Ripa's co-host. Andy Cohen, Neil Patrick Harris, and Anderson Cooper have been floated as possible replacements, but Burke-Charvet is ready to make the show a female-powered force to be reckoned with!

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"I'd love to get next to Kelly," she told ET.

Check out the video below for more on the ongoing daytime drama.

WATCH: Kelly Ripa Steps Out Wearing 'Freedom' Jacket Ahead of Michael Strahan's Last Day, Jokes With Co-Host About 'Live!' Drama

Related Articles
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of providing training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for Burundian rebels seeking to oust Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza. A panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims. In the experts latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said "similar outside support continued through early 2016." "This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC," the group of experts wrote in the report. "The group met with Rwandan nationals, as well, who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DRC to help support the Burundian opposition," they said. The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi. Political violence has simmered in Burundi for a year after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. The crisis has sparked concerns it could spiral into an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of neighboring Rwanda's 1994 genocide are fresh. Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in neighboring Rwanda. The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government "which denied any involvement, noting it was 'unaware of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'" Rwanda's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda. The U.N. experts also reported that several Congolese officers told them North Korea has supplied Congolese troops and police with pistols and sent 30 instructors to provide training for the presidential guard and special forces. There is a U.N. arms embargo on North Korea that prevents Pyongyang from importing or exporting weapons and training. An arms embargo on Congo requires states to notify the Security Council sanctions committee of any arms sales or training. The experts said they found that several Congolese army officers, as well as several police deployed abroad in a U.N. mission, appeared to have North Korean pistols. The Congolese officers said the pistols were delivered by North Korea to the Congolese port of Matadi in early 2014. "The group also found that the same type of pistols was available for sale on the black market in Kinshasa," the report said. The experts said they had asked Pyongyang and Congo for information but had not yet received a response. Congolese and North Korean officials had no immediate comment. Political tension is high in Congo, where opponents of President Joseph Kabila say he is trying to cling to power beyond the end of his mandate in 2016. Kabila has not commented on his future. (Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Kinshasa; Editing by Bernard Orr)
What Factors Will Drive Kinrosss Stock in 2016?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Production growth

Kinross Gold (KGC) produced 687,463 gold equivalent ounces (or GEOs) in 1Q16, which is up 9% year-over-year (or YoY). The YoY increase in production was mainly due to its recent acquisitions of Bald Mountain and an additional 50% of Round Mountain from Barrick Gold (ABX).

Americas

Fort Knox and Kettle River-Buckhorn performed very well with Fort Knox benefitting from milder weather conditions while Kettle River-Buckhorn, which is nearing its end of mine life, processed more tons mainly due to higher grades. As compared to these operations, the production at Paracatu mine decreased YoY mainly due to lower mill throughput and recoveries. The company is trying to reduce water usage, given the low level of rainfall in the region. Instead of hydraulic mining and pumping, the company is now using physical mining.

Russia

The Kupol and Dvoinoye mines continue to outperform the companys expectations with mined ore tons up 6% YoY. Its mill grades reached 14 grams per ton, which is the highest level since 2Q11. This also impacted the costs favorably.

West Africa

At Tasiast, the production was lower YoY and sequentially due to mine sequencing and lower grades. At Chirano, however, the production was lower YoY, as the site continued to transform from mining the Akwaaba deposit to the Paboase deposit, which resulted in fewer tons mined and lower grades.

Factors driving future growth

The company expects to convert a substantial part of Bald Mountains 4 million ounces of resources to reserves as it continues with infill drilling. This should support higher production and also enhance the life of the operation. The company is awaiting exploration and mining permits, which are expected to increase the number of rigs and expand drilling activities by the middle of the year.

Kinrosss acquisition of Nevada assets should help it reduce its geographical risk. Kinrosss peers Goldcorp (GG), Yamana Gold (AUY), and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM) have lower geopolitical risk than Kinross.

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Yamana and Agnico Eagle form 8.4% of the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETFs (GDX) holdings. Investors who prefer a low-risk environment might want to invest in physical gold or ETFs that track gold prices such as the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) and the iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU).

The company maintained its guidance for 2016 at between 2.7 million and 2.9 million GEOs, which would be a record for the companys production.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
As we slow down to process the 28 (!) pieces of Fall TV news reported on Thursday, including 12 cancellations, two spinoffs and some happy renewals  and in advance of our weekly TV Questions column  TVLine asks:

1 | Supergirls literally sunny, daytime sequences are one of the things that distinguish it from, say, moody, broody Arrow. With production moving from sun-baked Los Angeles to oft-overcast Vancouver, can Kara & Co. keep things bright in their new CW home? (Also, did Cat Grant foresee CBS freshmans move with her meta commentary about The CW during the #SuperFlash crossover?)

RELATEDSupergirl Moves to The CW for Season 2

2 | As posited by Kryptonsites Craig Byrne on Twitter: Now that The CW has greenlit No Tomorrow, and given that TNTs Legends is no more, will DCs Legends of Tomorrow streamline its name to DCs Legends?

3 | How will The CW program 15 hour-long scripted series in a 10-hour week? Who gets shortened seasons, or held for summer?

4 |

As much as ABC may need to fill a gap if Scandal doesnt return until midseason, does Shondalands Romeo & Juliet sequel Still Star-Crossed fit the #TGIT brand?

STILL STAR-CROSSED

(How would period-dressed characters look in an otherwise-contemporary Thursday promo?) Or is the bigger question: Does the #TGIT lineup need to be all Shonda shows?

5 | Is ABCs Kiefer Sutherland-led Designated Survivor a lock to claim cancelled Castles time slot, or is it missing the romantic dramedy slant that partnered well with Dancing With the Stars?

6 | With the renewal of seven comedies plus pickups for Downward Dog, Imaginary Mary and Katy Mixons show, will ABC expand its Tuesday comedy block to two hours? If so, does S.H.I.E.L.D. get pushed to ABCs problematic 10 oclock slot?

7 |

Now that Marvels Most Wanted isnt will Adrienne Palicki and Nick Blood return to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for Season 4?

Agents of SHIELD Bobbi Lance Leave

8 | Will the remaining European dates on cancelled Nashvilles real-life concert tour turn into giant fan sob-fests?

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9 | Has The Muppets  which was originally developed for midseason but got fast-tracked for a fall launch  taught TV a lesson about rushing a product to shelves?

10 | While we are loathe to offer false hope in the form of Save This Show With Streaming! ideas, of the two, which is more likely to get rescued: The Grinder, which sure would fit nicely on Hulu alongside fellow Fox castoff The Mindy Project, or Agent Carter, who has several Marvel-ous pals over on Netflix?

11 |

Will Chicago Justice be used to plug NBCs Thursdays-at-10 hole, which (as much as we loved Parenthood) has not been successfully filled since ER?

Chicago Justice

12 | Will NBC/Dick Wolf give some thought to Chicago CSI, now that CBS 16-year CSI dynasty has come to an end?

13 | Did The Good Wifes Lucca get off easier than slap victim Alicia did, seeing as she and Diane are working together in the possible spinoff for CBS All Access?

14 | Will Castles original cliffhanger ending to Season 8 ever see the light of day (maybe as a DVD extra?), now that the alternate, series-ending sequence is being swapped in for Monday? (Do we want to see it?)

What burning questions would you like answered in the wake of this weeks Fall TV news?

Related stories

Fox Fall Schedule: Empire Gets Lethal Companion, 24 Scores Super Slot, Prison Break Held to Midseason

Quantico EP Talks Choosing a Bomber, [Spoiler]'s Fatal Sacrifice, Alex/Ryan Drama and the CIA in Season 2

Penny Dreadful Recap: Mirror, Fearer
Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f87970%2fdog-snake-bite-

A Tampa, Florida family dog is battling life-threatening snake bites after protecting one of his family members.

The 2-year-old German shepard, named Haus, was playing in the back yard with 7-year-old Molly Deluca and her grandmother on Wednesday afternoon when the incident occurred, Fox 13 reports.

SEE ALSO: WTF, nature: Cat interrupts huge toad just trying to eat a snake alive

"She saw him jump back, and go forward, and jump back and go forward," said Donya DeLuca, Molly's mother. "He was just, kind of, holding his ground."

The 68-pound dog was fighting a rattlesnake, and suffered three bites from the encounter.

"Just based on temperament, he was standing up for my daughter, he was standing between, he didn't budge," Donya said. "He kept taking hits, she was on the other side of him, and so was my mom."

Image: GoFundMe

"Next thing we know is, there's blood and he was limping and crying," Donya told Fox 13.

Haus is currently being treated in the Intensive Care Unit at BluePearl Vet Hospital. As of Thursday night his health was still "touch and go." Because of the amount of times Haus was struck, the dog is on a slow drip on anti-venom.

Due to the extent of his injuries and treatment, Donya has set up a GoFundMe campaign in order to help with medical expenses. At the time of writing, the family has raised $8,905 with the goal of $12,000.

Image: GoFundMe

"I couldn't even sleep last night. I barely slept because it is bittersweet. I am doing everything I can. I feel like I owe it to him to keep trying to save him," Donya told Fox 13.
CHICAGO, IL / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / FlexFridge Inc. (FLXR), The world's first foldable mini-fridge company is in discussions to acquire a refrigeration software company in order to develop a Mobile App for our mini-fridge. The target company provides refrigeration software for the commercial refrigeration market. The goal is to use the target software to control the cooling of our mini-fridge via a mobile app.

The mobile app would provide information about how cold the mini-fridge is and would allow the user to see the items in the mini-fridge. Also the mobile app would allow for a person to know when the mini-fridge needs more drinks for their party guests or if the battery is getting low at the beach.

If we are able to come to an agreement with the refrigeration software company, it would provide immediate revenue to FlexFridge.

FlexFridge will offer a series of flexible, mini-fridges that utilize wheels and a handle for transportation and mobility. Businesses, hotels, and individual consumers can make use of this portable mini-fridge for a variety of purposes, including: hotel guest rental, outdoor parties, and dorm rooms.

The FlexFridge is the first device of its kind. Its built-in rechargeable battery allows for up to eight hours of mobile refrigeration, and its gyroscopic compressor means it can be stored in any position and still function perfectly.

Those interested can see the FlexFridge for themselves at www.flexfridge.com and opt into the newsletter to stay up to date with the progress of the world's first foldable compact fridge.

About FlexFridge, Inc.

FlexFridge is a four-cubic-foot, foldable portable mini-fridge. It was designed to allow students, campers, hotels, and businesses easy access to spacious fridge-space. Customers can utilize the compact fridge in their dorm rooms, RVs, hotel rooms, or offices. FlexFridge has all the convenience of a cooler with all the power of a fridge.

SAFE HARBOR

A "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of terms such as "may," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," "continue" (or the negative thereof), or similar terminology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risk, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. FlexFridge assumes no obligation, does not intend to update these forward-looking statements and takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties not paid for by FlexFridge. Investors are encouraged to review FlexFridge's public filings on SEC.gov, including its unaudited and audited financial statements and its Registration Statement, Form 10-Ks, and Form 10-Qs that contain general business information about the company's operations, results of operations, and risks associated with the company and its operations. Please review all of our filings.

Story continues

For more information, please contact:

Sales:

investors@flexfridge.com

(312) 614-1222

www.flexfridge.com

SOURCE: FlexFridge, Inc.
That midnight snack could be to blame for your trippy dreams [Photo: Rex Features]

Try to remember your dream last night? If you do and it was a little on the funky side, that cheese binge you had right before bed could be the culprit. Pre-bedtime snackers take note, the types of food you eat before hitting the sack can have a massive affect on your dreams.

According to science eating anything close to bedtime increases the activity of your metabolism, which causes your brain to stay active, making it more likely for vivid dreams to occur.



When we consider that the nutrients in food affect many things in the body, such as energy levels, mood and sleep quality, it is entirely plausible that different foods can also affect dreams in different ways, explains nutritionist and yoga teacher Julie Montagu.



With that in mind weve put together our avoid-list of foods to skip if you dont fancy dreams that are slightly on the bonkers side

It may be the ultimate midnight snack but cheese can play havoc on your dreams [Photo: pixabay.com via Pexels]

Cheese

Ok so you might have heard the old wives tale that eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares, but turns out theres something in it. There is much speculation, and actually some solid research, to suggest that eating dairy products in the hours leading up to bedtime can cause bad or unusual dreams. Cheese and milk are thought to be the biggest culprits within this group, explains Julie Montagu. Cheese contains tryptophan - an amino acid that the body uses to produce serotonin. Serotonin is the chemical in the brain that helps to keep the mood stabilised. So enjoying a dose of cheese right before bed could contribute to heightened levels of serotonin in the body, which could influence how prominently you dream.



Cured and processed meats



Yeah, you might want to stop yourself raiding the fridge for cold cuts pre-bedtime. Sausages, salami, bacon, hot dogs, corned beef are very high in Tyramine, an amino acid that regulates blood pressure, explains clinical nutritionist, Kamilla Schaffner, from My London Nutritionist. Foods high in Tyramine are nutritionally known to disrupt normal sleeping patterns as well as the central nervous system in general, which may lead to increased episodes of nightmares, disturbing dreams or persistent migraines.

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If only I hadnt eaten that curry then Id be dreaming of Jamie Dornan right now [Photo: Rex Features]

Curry

Theres a reason your dreams ramp up a notch after a Friday night takeaway. Spicy foods right before bedtime have also been associated with bizarre dreams, explains Julie Montagu. The body has to work a bit harder than usual to digest seriously spicy foods. This disruption to the digestive system could impact the quality of sleep that you enjoy, leading to undesirable dreams. And undesirable is not the dream goals.

Pickles



Terrible for your breath, even worse for your dreams. Foods that are fermented or pickled in any way  sauerkraut, kimchee, tofu or pickles, soy sauce, miso and miso-containing products  can induce bad dreams when eaten at night, explains Kamilla Schaffner.

Booze

Ever wondered why a night on the tiles = crap nights sleep? Alcoholic beverages such as beer, red wine, sherry and liqueurs are known to induce nightmares due to their fermentation process, especially when consumed in excess, says Kamilla Schaffner.

Heavy night? You could be in for even heavier dreams! [Photo:

Salo Al via Pexels]

Chocolate

Noooooo! Eating any food late at night that has a high fat content is going to cause some degree of indigestion. Indigestion can cause you to have a poor quality of sleep as you are likely to wake often, and when you do so you are more likely to remember the strange dreams that you were having, explains Julie Montagu. Youre breaking our hearts here.

So how do we ensure our dreams are more Ryan Gosling than Return of the Living Dead? The best way that I can suggest to avoid disturbed dreams is to not eat anything in the two to three hours before you go to bed, advises Julie Montagu. This gives your digestive system a chance to catch up and you are more likely to experience an undisturbed sleep until morning.

Do you have a health tip to share? Get in touch @YahooStyleUK

10 Foods And Drinks That Are Secretly Making Your Teeth Yellow

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An ex-aide of former Chinese president Hu Jintao has been charged with accepting bribes and illegally obtaining state secrets, prosecutors said on Friday, suggesting he will face jail after a trial.

The ruling Communist Party last year accused Ling Jihua -- once Hu's chief of staff -- of bribery and "trading power for sex", after expelling him the previous year.

Ling's son died in a notorious Ferrari crash in Beijing which disrupted a once-in-a-decade party leadership change in 2012.

The accusations against Ling are "extremely serious", the country's senior prosecutor said on its website, suggesting a lengthy sentence is likely.

He "abused his power" as director of the General Office of the Communist Party's Central Committee, where he worked under Hu, it cited prosecutors in the northern port city of Tianjin as saying.

While in several party leadership posts he "illegally received large amounts of property and obtained state secrets," it added.

His prosecution is likely to be followed by a tightly choreographed trial, with a guilty verdict and jail term almost guaranteed.

It comes as part of a high-profile crackdown on graft by current President Xi Jinping that has deposed several senior officials, notably former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who was jailed for life last year.

Critics say that a lack of transparency around the crackdown means it has been an opportunity for Xi to eliminate political enemies.

The 2012 car crash involving Ling's son scandalised China despite a mainland media blackout -- partly because two young women, one nude and one partially clothed, were also injured in the crash, with one reportedly dying months later.

Internet users questioned how the son of a party official could afford a car worth a reported five million yuan (around $800,000).

- Graft-buster -

The Communist Party said in July that an internal probe found Ling "violated political discipline and rules".

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Graft is endemic in China's authoritarian system, and Xi has acknowledged it as a threat to the ruling party's survival.

Ling, 59, is among the highest ranking officials charged in recent years, after Zhou and former Politburo member Bo Xilai who was jailed for life in 2013.

Ling was "clearly" affiliated with the Communist Party's Youth League, an alternative power-base which has been under attack by Xi and allies in recent months, Steve Tsang, the head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, said.

A delay of more than a year between the party's probe and prosecution reflects caution on Xi's part, he said, adding the president "can't fight all sides at the same time".

The announcement comes after months of negative indicators have increased doubt about the party's economic management.

This is a good opportunity for Xi Jinping to re-establish his authority as the incorruptible graft-buster," China expert Willy Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong told AFP.

"This will promote his stature within the party".

The charges against Ling suggest he will receive "a very severe sentence  a suspended death sentence, perhaps," Lam added.

Such sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.

Ling's brother, Ling Wancheng has fled to the United States, a Chinese anti-graft official confirmed in January, adding Beijing was "in touch" with Washington about his case.

"It will be interesting to see whether his younger brother Ling Wancheng, under US government protection, would do anything to affect the case," Lam added.
Former EuropaCorp CEO Christophe Lambert has died, a representative confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 51.

The executive, who stepped down from his CEO role at Luc Besson's studio earlier this year, had been diagnosed with cancer in mid-March, the rep said.

Lambert's surprise departure in February drew much debate about the reasons. He was replaced by veteran Hollywood studio executive Marc Shmuger.

Lambert joined EuropaCorp in 2010 and oversaw its expansion, signing up new output deals and heading a push into more English-language productions. In addition to his CEO duties at EuropaCorp, he also had a role overseeing Red, the joint distribution venture that EuropaCorp formed with Relativity Media in 2014.

A memo circulated within the company at the time said Lambert left to pursue a personal project after assuring that EuropaCorp's big-budget sci-fi epic Valerian was in good hands. In the same memo, Besson thanked Lambert for helping built EuropaCorp into a company that could stand next to the big studios.

"We have just learned of the death of Christophe Lambert," a EuropaCorp representative said Friday in a statement. "The entire EuropaCorp family mourns his sudden departure. The EuropaCorp group and all of his collaborators wish to express their condolences to Marie Sara, their children, their family and all of their close ones."

Tucker Tooley, CEO of Tooley Productions, said Friday: "I am deeply saddened by the death of my dear friend Christophe Lambert. He was, first and foremost, an incredibly devoted father and husband, and his family was most important to him; that will be his legacy. Christophe was also a uniquely talented filmmaker and charismatic leader. He will be deeply missed, and my thoughts are with his family."

Last month, EuropaCorp appointed Edouard de Vesinne as deputy CEO. The Paris-based executive reports to Shmuger, who is based in Los Angeles. De Vesinne was previously co-chair of EuropaCorp Television, bringing Taxi Brooklyn, which aired on NBC in the U.S., TF1's No Limit and CanalPlus' Section Zero to the small screen.

Read More: EuropaCorp Shake-Up: Marc Shmuger Replacing CEO Christophe Lambert
- Sebastian Vettel went out of his way on Friday to slam speculation that Ferrari are set to dismiss team boss Maurizio Arrivabene after failing to win a race this season. The four-time champion German driver, who was first and fourth in Friday's two practice sessions, said he supported Arrivabene, adding that he is doing "a very good job". The team's technical director, James Allison, has been touted, by the Italian media, as a replacement. "He's the boss," Vettel told reporters. "He's doing a very good job. He's leading the team. "I know there have been some rumours and some 'bullshit' lately, but we are very happy that he is with us, and not with somebody else. "He is reachable, accessible to all the people. He spends a lot of time with the team, not just here, but also in Maranello."

AFP
By Maria Tsvetkova NOVOSASITLI, Russia (Reuters) - Temur Djamalutdinov From the village of Dzhemikent in Dagestan, Temur Djamalutdinov applied for an international passport in September 2014 but was rejected because he owed unpaid alimony to his ex-wife, said his brother, Arsen. The following month, Djamalutdinov was put on a police list of Wahhabis. He was subject to regular police checks, his family said. Yet two weeks later, he managed to leave the country with a freshly issued passport, his brother said. A local police officer said Djamalutdinov had crossed the border legally. Arsen Djamalutdinov said he still does not understand how his brother managed to leave. In late December 2015, Arsen said, fellow radicals messaged him from Syria and told him that Djamalutdinov had been killed near Kobani, close to the Turkish border, around the same time another Russian militant, Magomed Rabadanov, died there. Government officials had no comment on the case. Uvais Sharapudinov and Akhmed Dengayev Both men came from the village of Novosasitli in Dagestan and were part of the same militant group as Saadu Sharapudinov (see main story), according to a former local official who said he acted as a mediator in the case of Saadu Sharapudinov. The former official said Dengayev and Uvais Sharapudinov (no relation to Saadu) agreed a deal with the local FSB to stop fighting in exchange for avoiding arrest and shortly afterwards decided to leave Russia. The former official said he helped them to get passports. Every Russian passport has to be approved by the FSB. In the summer of 2013, the two men left Russia and traveled via Turkey to Syria, where they fought for armed Islamist groups, according to multiple sources in their home village and a person who was in Syria with them. Uvais Sharapudinov was injured during fighting over the border town of Kobani and died in a hospital on the Turkish side of the border, according to several acquaintances. Dengayev left Syria before his rebel group joined Islamic State and returned to Russia, according to friends and relatives. He was sentenced to jail under a law that bans Russians from engaging in fighting abroad that is against Russia's interests. The security officer involved in the talks with militants from Novosasitli said: "I assumed they could leave for Syria. It was their legal right ... Even realizing someone could go to Syria, what could we do?" Government officials had no comment on the case. Akhmed Aligadjiev A mugshot of Akhmed Aligadjiev can still be seen on old Dagestani billboards depicting wanted militants. His home village of Gimry is a hotspot for Islamist activity. In January this year, a heavily armed police unit was stopping all non-residents from entering the village. Aligadjiev's father, Magomed, said his son was put on a terrorist wanted list but in 2008 was offered a deal by the authorities. He said Aligadjiev and three other militants were allowed to get international passports and to fly out of Russia to wherever they wanted. They chose Syria. Aligadjiev senior explained his son's choice by saying he had previously studied in Syria. Aligadjiev senior said the authorities had been faced with a choice "to kill them, to jail them or to send them wherever they want." He said he does not know whether his son later joined the fighting in Syria because he broke off contact with him due to his radical views. The village head in Gimry, Aliashab Magomedov, confirmed Aligadjiev was sent abroad by authorities in exchange for surrendering. Government officials had no comment on the case. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (Web version) How Russia allowed homegrown radicals to go and fight in Syria http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/russia-militants/ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Edited by Richard Woods)
Paris (AFP) - French nuclear giant Areva's former boss Anne Lauvergeon was charged Friday as part of a probe linked to its disastrous 2007 purchase of a Canadian uranium mining firm, Uramin.

"Atomic Anne" as she is known, who ran the group from 2001 to 2011, faces questioning specifically for presenting and publishing false accounts and spreading false information, a judicial source said after a day-long hearing.

Investigators have been following two lines of inquiry since 2014, one into the purchase of Uramin, and the other into the presentation of Areva's group accounts in 2010 and 2011.

Her husband, energy sector adviser Olivier Fric, was charged in March with insider trading as part of the former probe.

Lauvergeon faces questioning over the the accounting allegations -- specifically examining magistrates want to know if she applied pressure for the group's accounts to downplay the collapse in Uramin's value in order to save her own job.

The charges are part of a wider probe into the $2.5 billion (1.8 billion euros at the time) purchase by Areva of Uramin at a height of demand for enriched uranium.

Areva was later forced to revalue its Uramin uranium mines to only 410 million euros.

Lauvergeon was a key economics advisor to late French president Francois Mitterrand before being named to head nuclear energy agency Cogema which she merged with Framatome to form Areva. She left Areva in 2011.

She has been included in Forbes's list of the world's most influential women.
By Brian Love PARIS (Reuters) - Riot police evicted dozens of people on Friday from a building they took over in protest against labor law reforms that are provoking street demonstrations and strike calls across France. Police moved in at dawn, using a fire-engine ladder to get through the roof of a public hall in the western city of Rennes and flush out the protesters, some of whom had taken refuge on the roof itself. After sometimes violent marches and 82 arrests on Thursday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned rampagers who ransacked party offices and daubed them with anti-government graffiti and smashed the entire glass front of a train station in Nantes. "These vandals are unbearable," Valls told reporters, adding that he was counting on the courts to deal firmly with them. About 1,000 people have been arrested since protests began several weeks ago over the labor law reform, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. The protesters' anger is at government plans to make hiring and firing easier, in a flagship reform of President Francois Hollande, plagued by rock-bottom popularity ratings ahead of a May 2017 election. There are calls for broader street protests next week and strikes by railway workers, dockers, truckers and airport and refinery workers. "The government has public opinion against it, a majority of the labor unions against it and the youth movement against it," CGT union leader Philippe Martinez said. Other CGT representatives called for rolling strikes from next Monday night, arguing that the labor law change could prompt employers to cut overtime pay. Police themselves plan to protest next week over what they say is a rise in hostility toward them, despite having to work overtime as part of a tightening of security after Islamist militants killed 130 people in Paris in November. Polls show as many as three in four people oppose the reform, which would allow employers to bypass national or sectoral obligations on pay and conditions by opting for in-house deals. The last time France faced large-scale street protests was in 2011, when unions sought, but ultimately failed, to force then President Nicolas Sarkozy to withdraw a law obliging people to work longer for a pension. Thursday's street marches mobilized tens of thousands of people, compared with hundreds of thousands in 2011. (Reporting by Brian Love; editing by Michel Rose and Andrew Roche)
Its one and done for NBCs Game of Silence.

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The Peacock network on Friday confirmed that the thriller  which counted David Lyons, Michael Raymond-James and Larenz Tate among its cast  will not return for a second season.

RELATEDTVs Bloody Thursday: 12 Shows Cancelled  Which One Hurt the Most?

Adapted by executive producer David Hudgins from the Turkish series Suskunlar, Game of Silence starred Lyons as Jackson Brooks, a Houston attorney who, on the heels of adding a beautiful and successful fiancee to his life, is visited upon by two childhood friends, from their old, small hometown of Brennan. Chaos ensued.

Are you disappointed that the Game is over? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.

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General Dynamics Corp. GD received a contract from the General Services Administration to provide Information Technology (IT) services to the U.S. Army Europe. The contract, known as the U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) Theater Mission Command Contract II (TMCC II), has a potential value of $184 million and will span for five years, if all options are exercised.



Specifically, this contract was given to General Dynamics One Source, a joint venture of two General Dynamics business units  General Dynamics Information Technology and General Dynamics Mission Systems.



The company will provide IT services for sustainment support in garrison and deployed locations of Mission Command Networks and Systems. This will support USAREUR, Joint, Coalition, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operations.



General Dynamics work under the contract will cover enterprise IT support services to include IT service management, systems engineering, data protection, cross domain solutions and information exchange, and technical advisory services management to USAREUR.



General Dynamics diverse product portfolio along with its spread out customer base provides it with an opportunity to generate revenues from different sources. The latest contract, TMCC II, is responsible for delivering mission-critical IT services to the USAREUR Warfighter and NATO coalition partners.



Zacks Rank



General Dynamics currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the defense space are Engility Holdings, Inc. EGL, CAE Inc. CAE and Esterline Technologies Corp. ESL, all with a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).



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George Clooney Pascal Le Segretain Getty final

It didnt take long for the politically astute George Clooney to fire away at Donald Trump as he seems to lock up the Republican presidential nomination.

While doing press for his latest movie Money Monster (opening Friday) at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, where the film screened out of competition, Clooney didnt hold back on his thoughts about the presumptive nominee, according to Deadline.

"There is not gonna be a President Donald Trump, Clooney said. Its not gonna happen. Fear is not going to be something that drives our country. Were not going to be scared of Muslims or immigrants or women. Were not actually afraid of anything so we are not going to use fear. Its not going to be an issue.

Clooney and his wife, international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, have not been shy about who they're supporting in the election. They hosted a fundraiser for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in Hollywood earlier this year.

The Oscar-winning actor believes its the media that has caused Trump to become the frontrunner.

"Trump is actually a result in many ways of the fact that much of the news programs didnt follow up and ask tough questions. Thats the truth. Its really easy because your numbers go up, Clooney said. All these cable news numbers. Twenty-four-hour news doesnt mean you get more news, it just means you get the same news more. The ratings go up because these guys can show an empty podium and just say that Donald Trump is about to speak as opposed to taking those 30 seconds to talk about refugees.

Earlier this week, Johnny Depp also voiced his protest of a president Trump. While on the carpet for the premiere of his next movie, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Depp told a reporter that if Trump were elected president he would be the last president of the United States.

It just wont work after that, Depp said.

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COLOGNE, May 13 (Reuters) - Germany's IG Metall engineering union agreed with employers on a wage deal for the some 700,000 metal and electric sector workers in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, a spokesman for the employers' group said on Friday.

The spokesman did not give details on the wage deal, but both sides are expected to make statements shortly.

The agreement is expected to be adopted also in other states, meaning up to 3.8 million workers at companies like Siemens, ThyssenKrupp and Daimler can count on a pay hike.

IG Metall, Germany's biggest trade union, had demanded an increase of 5 percent for one year while the employers' group had offered an overall pay hike of 2.1 percent over two years.

(Reporting by Matthias Inverardi; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Maria Sheahan)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's transport minister has summoned carmaker Opel <GM.N> to appear in front of an investigative committee following media reports about suspected emissions rigging, a spokesman said on Friday, adding that the appointment was due to take place next week.

German magazine Der Spiegel said the Opel Astra, one of the best selling cars for General Motors <GM.N> in Europe, has engine software which switches off exhaust treatment systems when the outside temperature is below 17 degrees centigrade, or under acceleration.

Opel was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Writing by Michelle Martin)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Russian intelligence agencies were probably responsible for a massive cyber attack on Germany's lower house of parliament last year which forced its computer systems to be shut down for days, Germany's domestic intelligence agency said on Friday.

The agency, known as the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), said a hacker group known as "Sofacy" was behind the attack.

"The BfV has indications that it is being steered by the Russian state and has been monitoring it for years," the agency said in a statement.

The unusually strong comments come at a time when relations between Berlin and Moscow have sunk to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea and its intervention in Syria.

Hans-Georg Maassen, president of the BfV, said that government, corporate and educational facilities in Germany were under "permanent threat", with critical infrastructure in areas like energy and telecommunications in particular focus.

"The campaigns that the BfV has observed in the past have generally been focused on obtaining information, in other words spying," Maassen said. "But lately Russian intelligence agencies have also shown a willingness to conduct sabotage."

Earlier this week, security research firm Trend Micro said a group of hackers that target critics of the Russian government had been trying since April to attack the computer systems of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative party.

The attack on the Bundestag lower house, first reported in May of last year, caused severe damage, forcing authorities to shut down the computer system for days in order to repair the network.

(Reporting by Noah Barkin and Sabine Siebold; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Chase Field has been problematic for more than one Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher this season, but Shelby Miller's struggles probably top the list.

The Arizona newcomer will try to get it together at his new home park Friday night against the San Francisco Giants, whose own offseason addition attempts to make it through six innings at the park for the first time.

After Thursday's 4-2 series-opening loss, the Diamondbacks' starting ERA at home stands at 7.03 and has led to a 5-13 record. Robbie Ray's 8.31 ERA is highest among the staff, but that's come with one loss in three starts. Miller (1-3, 7.36 ERA) is 0-3 with an 8.24 in four and has walked eight over 8 2/3 innings of the last two.

He's already given up six home runs in his first four starts at his new park after giving up five in 17 at Turner Field with Atlanta last season. He made one start at Chase in 2015 - a no-decision - so he's still looking for his first career win there.

The right-hander is coming off his first win with his new team after giving up two runs and four hits in six innings of Saturday's 4-2 win in Atlanta. Walks, however, remain an issue. He handed out two and a hit batter against the Braves and is averaging 6.44 per nine innings. He feels strides have been made.

"It was definitely nice to get here and get back on track," Miller told MLB's official website. "But even my last bullpen session I felt like I figured something out a little bit, just kind of slowing down through my mechanics and stopped rushing a little bit. I think that helped a ton."

He may feel confident a home win against the Giants is the next step. Miller is 2-1 with a 2.22 ERA in five starts against them, though he did last just two innings and give up two runs, a hit and five walks in a no-decision of a 6-2 win in San Francisco on April 21.

Hunter Pence (1 for 12), Brandon Belt (1 for 12), Buster Posey (1 for 10), Gregor Blanco (1 for 7) and Denard Span (3 for 16) have all struggled against him.

Story continues

Jeff Samardzija (4-2, 3.17) is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA and seven walks in 10 2/3 innings in two starts at Chase Field, but the right-hander has been far more effective with his new club than Miller. However, limiting Colorado to two runs and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings of Sunday's 2-0 home loss wasn't enough. He struck out a season-high nine for a second straight game and threw 123 pitches.

"Samardzija is a competitor - he came back out for that eighth inning with 115 pitches. He's a horse," Colorado's Nolan Arenado said.

That also applies against Arizona slugger Paul Goldschmidt, who's 2 for 10 with six strikeouts against Samardzija.

He'll be out to continue San Francisco's improving starting pitching. The Giants (19-18) have a 2.16 ERA from the rotation over a 4-3 span, which comes after posting a 5.04 mark over their first 30 games.

It ended Arizona's season-opening four-game winning streak over the Giants, but the Diamondbacks have still won eight of the last 11 the series.

Arizona (17-20) has lost consecutive games after a five-game winning streak, and it's batting .299 with 5.7 runs per game over those seven games. Jean Segura extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a .395 average.

Giants outfielder Angel Pagan missed his 11th consecutive game with a hamstring strain, but he could be in the starting lineup Friday.
(Adds EPA reaction, other auto industry issues)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - General Motors Co said on Friday it was temporarily halting sales of about 60,000 new 2016 U.S. SUVs because the vehicles' window labels overstated their fuel efficiency.

A spokesman for the largest U.S. automaker said GM discovered an "inadvertent error" on U.S. 2016 GMC Acadia, Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse SUVs that caused the estimated fuel economy to be listed on the window label as 1-2 miles per gallon higher than it should have been. GM is stopping sales of the SUVs in dealer showrooms until a corrected label is placed on the vehicles.

Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Laura Allen said Friday the agency has been notified by GM that it is correcting fuel economy labels on the three 2016 SUVs. "We have asked the company to provide all relevant information to the agency," Allen said.

GM said Friday the rating for the vehicles on the EPA's fueleconomy.gov website was incorrect but has since been corrected. New labels are expected to begin showing up at dealerships soon.

The incident is the lastest in a multitude of issues in recent years involving the auto industry overstating vehicle fuel efficiency.

Some automakers have previously compensated vehicle owners for overblown fuel economy ratings. Asked if GM will follow suit, GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the automaker "will contact owners of the affected models to address this situation." Automotive News reported GM engineers discovered the error as they worked on the 2017 model label.

In April, Mitsubishi Motors Corp admitted to overstating the fuel economy of four small car models sold in Japan, including two under Nissan Motor Co's nameplate.

This week, Nissan agreed to buy a 34 percent controlling stake in Mitsubishi. Mitsubishi has said the overstatement didn't impact U.S. vehicles.

In 2014, Korean carmakers Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp agreed to pay $350 million in penalties to the U.S. government for overstating fuel economy ratings in about 1.2 million vehicles. That was on top of $395 million they agreed to pay to resolve claims from vehicle owners.

Story continues

In June 2014, Ford Motor Co lowered the fuel economy ratings on six models and agreed to reimburse owners for the difference.

Ford cut ratings on its 2013 and 2014 model year hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles as well as most 2014 Fiesta cars. It was the second time Ford cut fuel ratings for the C-Max hybrid in under a year.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Andrew Hay)
(Adds details, recasts lead, headline)

By Olivia Oran

May 13 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc's Stephen Scherr will take on a new role as the firm's banking head, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday.

Scherr, who will maintain his current responsibilities as chief strategy officer, will replace Esta Stecher. Stecher will become non-executive chairman of the board of GS Bank USA.

Scherr will pass along his role as Goldman's head of Latin America to Marc Nachmann, head of the firm's global financing group.

A Goldman spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo.

Goldman has been building its banking operations since the financial crisis. Earlier this year, it completed a $17 billion acquisition of GE Capital Bank's U.S. online deposits to give it a more stable source of funding.

The firm is also building an online lending business led by Harit Talwar, the head of Discover Financial Services' U.S. cards division.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Good news for Good Wife fans! CBS is reportedly in final negotiations for a Good Wife spinoff starring Christine Baranskis character Diane Lockhart, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

PHOTOS: TV's Most Shocking Deaths: Major On-Screen Moments From Television Shows

Actress Cush Jumbo, who joined the popular show in its seventh and final season as Lucca Quinn, is reportedly expected to star in the new series as well. Plus, Good Wife co-creators Robert and Michelle King will likely write the first episode, but not produce the whole series, the site reports.



According to THR, the spinoff would not air on CBS but stream on CBS All Access on-demand subscription service, which costs $5.99 per month. If the deal goes through, CBS will likely announce it at their upfronts on May 18 when they present their fall schedule.

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The writers left room for Lockharts story line to continue during The Good Wife finale on Sunday, May 8. The show even set her up for a leading lady role when she boldly slapped Alicia Florrick (played by Julianna Margulies) across the face, most likely crushing their plans for an all-female firm. The ending also showed Diane and Lucca working for the same firm, which would set a perfect stage for the next installment.



PHOTOS: TV Shows Gone Too Soon!

Last month, Baranski hinted she was open to the possibility of a spinoff, especially if the Kings are on board. I always thought they understood me as an actress and they wrote beautifully for actors and they wrote women very well, she told The Hollywood Reporter. So, of course I would hope to cross paths with them again.

Tell Us: Which Good Wife characters do you want to see in the spinoff?












Larry Page

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is racing to develop airborne drones that can ferry packages straight to consumers' doorsteps and beam internet connectivity to people below.

It's a race against rival Amazon, which is also working on drone delivery, and the Google X subsidiary that oversees Alphabet's drone effort is looking to hire various aerospace experts, from guidance and navigation-control managers to computer-vision engineers.

While Google is known as an intense and high-pressure place to work, a recent job listing for its drone effort reveals a humorous side. The listing for an engineer focused on "airspace management" describes an ideal candidate with all the usual top-notch coding and data skills, as well as one curious trait:

You also have an interest in airspace management practices and think that flying airplanes is cooler than crashing airplanes.

Here's hoping that Alphabet can find a qualified candidate for the job before its fleet of drones takes to the skies.

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The promos for this weeks Greys Anatomy sounded so dramatic that it seemed like a good idea to tune in with defibrillator paddles at the ready. But, when all was said and done, were you really shocked by the one shocking hook-up in Season 12s penultimate episode? Did your jaw really hit the floor when you heard the two jaw-dropping proposals? Or were you more taken aback by what wasnt in the previews? Lets rewind, then well discuss.

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PLAYING HOUSE | First up in At Last, Mer was stunned to learn that Owen had bought a house and sold the trailer. These were very positive developments for him, of course, yet it still bummed her out to see him getting rid of something that was once Dereks. (Her face as the trailer rolled away sigh.) Later, in surgery with Maggie and Amelia, Owen gave a description of his new place  big, nice yard, in a good school district  that led his girlfriend to ask if he was willing to remarry, which he was. Wait, said Maggie, incredulous. Are you engaged now?!? And, in their eyes, they were at least fake-married.

As the hour drew to a close, Owen was showing Amelia the house and discussing the future with her when, all of a sudden, she blurted out, I want a real life, and I want it with you. She wanted to be married to him, and not fake-married, either, real-married! To which Owen responded nothing. Not just at that moment. But, judging from the scenes from next weeks finale, we are definitely heading for a wedding. (So that was one jaw-dropping proposal  from reunited to engaged in two weeks flat!)

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YES OR JO? | Meanwhile, Mer was so busy sulking over Amelia and Owen, and her own misery, that she hurried away when Alex called her on her BS and told her that he was going to get hitched, and she was going to be his best man. Deal with it! he added. First, there was just the little matter of getting Jo to finally accept his proposal. Unfortunately, that night, when he asked again if shed marry him, she seemed more concerned about the dinner that shed messed up than about deciding the course of their future. When at last he demanded a simple yes or no, she replied, I cant and shot him down. (Hmm. Not sure this qualified as a jaw-dropping proposal since hed already popped the question in Things We Lost in the Fire.)

Story continues

MAKING CHANGE | Alex wasnt the only Grey Sloan doc having a craptacular week. Callie, who had decided to stay in Seattle, not only blamed Penny for costing her the custody case, she dumped her lover. To Mers credit, she consoled Dereks killer  even submitting to an incredibly awkward hug  and assured her that she was gonna knock em dead in New York. (Er, maybe I couldve worded that better.) Since it appeared that that would be the last wed see of Penny, your celebrations should commence right Oh, I see. Theyve already commenced. Carry on, then.

Unfortunately for Callie, things werent going much better between her and her ex-wife than between her and her now-ex-girlfriend. While Torres and Arizona had worked out a custody arrangement that would accommodate the orthos schedule, Robbins balked when Callie immediately wanted to alter it over and over again. Nope, said Arizona. You have used up all of my grace! (Which only makes me more curious about the beautiful payoff to this story that Kevin McKidd said the finale would deliver.)

SWAN SONG | As Kyles condition worsened, he continued to freeze Stephanie out, and she continued to butt in on his case, stomping on Amelias toes in the process. When the guitarist finally had a real conversation with the doctor who broke his heart, they not only agreed that they wanted to be together, he invited her to go on tour with him (and was particularly keen on the idea of her going wild and throwing her bra on stage). First, however, he had to make it through a procedure that even Amelia admitted was risky. At least Shepherd was confident enough that she assured Stephanie that she could pull it off. Alas, right before Amelia scrubbed in, Mer accused her of living Dereks life, and the procedure wound up going south. Just as Amelia sent Jo to get Stephanie out of the gallery, where she was watching, Kyles time of death was called.

SUSPENDED ANIMATION | While Ben and Baileys cold war seemed to be getting more playful by the day, Richard encouraged the chief to reinstate her husband sooner than later. To her delight, she got to reply exactly what Webber would have when their roles were reversed: This is not my problem.

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RUMBLE SEAT | After an uncharacteristically smiley Nathan shared his bacon with Maggie, she seemed downright twitterpated. Before she could act on her crush, though, Nathan called Mer out on her jealousy of Amelia, which only pissed Grey off. (Is anything more infuriating than when someone pegs you correctly?) Instead of smacking him upside the head, she wound up making out with him, and the next thing we knew, they were off to do the back-seat boogie in Mers SUV  just like youd been predicting all season. (Well, maybe not the SUV part.)

Has Nathan won you over enough to make a pairing with Mer palatable? Could you believe Jo turned Alex down? Are you relieved Callie/Penny is over? Hit the comments!

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* April fiscal spending +4.5 pct, vs +20.1 pct in March

* April fiscal income +14.4 pct, vs +7.1 pct in March (Adds details)

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China's fiscal expenditures rose 4.5 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing sharply from a 20.1 percent jump in March, data from the Finance Ministry showed on Friday,

The government has pledged to ramp up fiscal support this year, boosting the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), after economic growth last year cooled to a 25-year low.

Fiscal revenues climbed 14.4 percent in April from a year earlier, quickening from March's 7.1 percent rise.

April business tax receipts jumped 74.8 percent from a year earlier, as local governments rushed to clear up business tax arrears.

China has rolled out reforms to replace a business tax with a value-added tax (VAT) across all industries, effective from May 1, and the government hopes to cut taxes by more than 500 billion yuan in 2016.

"Currently, the downward pressure on the economy still existed and structural adjustments faced many difficulties," the ministry said in a statement.

Local governments will be banned from collecting excessive taxes and using illegal means to boost revenues, the ministry said.

For the first four months of the year, fiscal spending rose 12.4 percent compared with the same period in 2015, while revenue increased 8.6 percent, the data showed.

(Reporting by Beijing Monitoring Desk and Kevin Yao; Editing by Sam Holmes and Kim Coghill)
Guatemala City (AFP) - Former Guatemalan military dictator Efrain Rios Montt's genocide trial will restart from zero after being separated from a similar case against his spy chief, a lawyer said Friday.

A linked trial of the two men on the genocide charges had been under way since March 16.

But evidence and hearings in Rios Montt's case were presented behind closed doors while those for his intelligence chief, Jose Rodriguez, were conducted in open court.

Early this month, an appeals court ruled that the two cases should be tried separately. The plaintiffs had fought for that outcome, fearing the linked trial raised the risk of a verdict being thrown out on appeal.

"The ruling canceled all that has already taken place and annuls the hearings held up to May 2," said Hector Reyes, lawyer for the Center for Legal Action in Human Rights, which is participating in Rios Montt's trial.

If no appeal is lodged before Saturday, moves will be made for new judges to be designated to take on the fresh and separate trials of Rios Montt and Rodriguez at dates yet to be set.

Rios Montt's trial will again be held behind closed doors, and without the 89-year-old ex-leader present because of health problems.

His attorneys say he suffers from dementia and is too ill to attend his trial.

Rodriguez's hearings will again be open to the public.

Rios Montt is accused of being ultimately responsible for the murders of 1,771 indigenous Ixil-Maya people in 1982-1983, at the height of Guatemala's 36-year civil war which ended in 1996.

A May 2013 trial delivered a conviction and an 80-year sentence against Rios Montt, but that was overturned days later by Guatemala's constitutional court, which ordered the new trial.
Brussels (AFP) - SWIFT, the global financial system used to move hundreds of billions of dollars a day, on Friday said highly sophisticated hackers had gained access to a bank aiming to hijack fund transfers made via the network.

SWIFT -- the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication -- insisted its own system had not been compromised, but warned that this latest attack was clearly part of a wide-ranging campaign.

It comes months after a multi-milion dollar heist at the Bangladesh central bank.

"Forensic experts believe this new discovery evidences that the malware used in the earlier reported customer incident was not a single occurrence but part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks," the Brussels-based group said in a letter to clients.

In both cases, the hackers "exploited vulnerabilities" at the two unnamed banks to gain access to their fund transfer systems, which then give instructions to the SWIFT network, it said.

"The attackers clearly exhibit a deep and sophisticated knowledge of specific operational controls within the targeted banks -- knowledge that may have been gained from malicious insiders or cyber attacks, or a combination of both," SWIFT said.

In light of the latest attack, SWIFT called on its customers "as a matter of urgency" to review all their internal controls.

"This includes everything from employee checks to password protection to cyber defences," it said, stressing again that the SWIFT network had not been compromised.

In February, hackers got hold of $81 million from Bangladeshs account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by making it move the funds to accounts in the Philippines.

Investigators are still trying to work out how the hackers got into the system in that instance amid growing concerns about bank security and what the diverted funds might be used for.

Many attacks are put down to individuals or companies but state or state-sponsored intruders are believed to be increasingly active, seeking key political and economic information or going further, to disrupt and harm rivals.

Story continues

Analysts Sergei Schenvchenko and Adrian Nish writing in a blog for BAE Systems said they believed the same hacker was behind both cases, citing an incident at a bank in Vietnam.

"As for who that person might be, who the coder is, who they work for, and what their motivation is for conducting these attacks cannot be determined from the digital evidence alone," they said.

SWIFT is an integral part of the global financial system, and according to its website servies some 11,000 institutional clients in more than 200 countries.
Make sure your seatbelts are fastened and your tray tables are stowed away, because a whole lotta turbulence is ahead in the Hawaii Five-0 Season 6 finale, as seen in this extended, exclusive sneak peek.

RELATEDCBS Renews Hawaii Five-0 for Season 7

In the first half of tonights two-hour season ender (starting at 9/8c on CBS), Five-0 must protect a wounded Gabriel and plan their escape from a dilapidated building in Oahus Chinatown when enemy gunmen storm the building looking to kill their nemesis.

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Then at 10 pm, as seen in the above clip, Steve and Danny go undercover as drug smuggler pilots, an op that appears to unfold just fine until McGarrett gets shot, leaving Danny to pilot the small plane. At gunpoint.

Friday the 13th, indeed.

Press play above to watch the intense, four-minute preview. and wish Danny well!

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Why Have Active Japan-Focused Funds Done Better Than ETFs?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Performance evaluation of CNJFX

The Commonwealth Japan Fund (CNJFX) fell 2.1% in the first four months of 2016, placing it in the middle of the pack of the nine funds in this review. In the past one year, the fund has again fallen 2.1%, ranking it fifth again among its peers. From the end of December 2015 until May 10, 2016, the fund has fallen 0.6%. Below, weve graphed its performance against two ETFs: the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) and the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ).

Lets look at what has contributed to this average performance by the fund in the first trimester of 2016.

Portfolio composition and contribution to returns

Financials were the biggest negative contributors to CNJFXs total returns in the first four months of 2016. Dai-ichi Life Insurance contributed the lions share of negative contributions from the sector. Mizuho Financial Group (MFG) was also a sizable negative contributor. Investing in the Fukuoka REIT was helpful to the fund, as it helped reduce some of the drag from the sector.

Stock picks from the healthcare sector almost exactly matched the quantum of contribution from financials. The difference was that their contribution was positive. Terumo and Asahi Intecc were winners in the sector, but Hoya dragged healthcares contribution a bit.

Stocks chosen from the consumer staples sector also did very well in the first trimester of 2016. Coca-Cola West led positive contributors from the sector.

Investor takeaways

Although CNJFXs point-to-point returns for 2016 until April were negative, its total returns were positive. This helped it outperform the passively managed EWJ. Healthcare stocks came to the actively managed funds rescue by wiping out negative contributions from financials. CNJFXs stock picks from both the healthcare and financial sectors did far better than those comprising EWJ. Takeda Pharmaceutical (TKPYY) and Astellas Pharma (ALPMY) dragged on EWJ, while CNJFX wasnt invested in them. Meanwhile, stocks for Nomura Holdings (NMR), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU) from the financials sector hurt EWJ.

Story continues

The standout feature of the fund is its stock choices and low level of portfolio turnover. However, its performance is still average. It may not be the first choice for investors when choosing to invest in Japanese equities.

In the next article, lets look at the Fidelity Japan Fund (FJPNX).

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Who says Kathryn Bigelow is the only female director who can direct action? Kellie Madison, a writer and producer who moved up to directing with the Open Road thriller The Tank a fact based story where six people entered an Isolated Confined Environment tank to simulate a trip to Mars that turned into a catastrophic failureis out with a proof of concept video called The Gate, and hopes it will allow her to crack the ranks of hardcore action feature directors. The short stars Captain America: The Winter Soldiers Amy Johnston and The Raid 2s Cecep Arif in a violent struggle by a young woman to save her suicidal sister, whose soul is about to be captured by an unsavory Indonesian crime boss. It leads to a larger adventure to find a pathway to ultimate power, called The Gate. She is looking for the right producer and possibly make the film as an Indonesian co-production; that matches the style of the martial arts in the film, which feels a lot like what we saw in the high octane The Raid. There is ambition here.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_JxzW3l1Y&w=970&h=546]

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Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat. (Photo: Reuters)



Singapores Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who was hospitalised after having a stroke on Thursday (12 May), is in stable condition, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.



In a Facebook post on Friday (13 May), Lee said that he had visited Heng at Tan Tock Seng Hospitals (TTSH) intensive care unit, although the latter was sedated at the time.

Lee added that he had spoken with Hengs family, who said they were touched by the sympathy and support from so many Singaporeans, and asked me to thank everyone for their prayers and good wishes.

Following Lees post, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, a doctor before he joined politics, noted in a Facebook post that it was early days and that Heng would need close monitoring in the ICU for quite some time more.

Heng, 54, had collapsed on Thursday evening during a Cabinet meeting and was taken to hospital immediately, where a CT scan showed he had suffered a stroke due to an aneurysm - which is a weakening of a blood vessel.

He underwent initial neurosurgery to relieve pressure in his brain due to the bleeding. The aneurysm was successfully closed, the Prime Ministers Office said in a statement that same night.
Tim Cook in shades

Apple announced on Thursday that it had invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, the leading ride-hailing service in China.

It was a surprise for a number of reasons. A billion dollars is a lot of money, even for Apple, and the company has been reluctant to make big investments in the past.

It's also an investment in a Chinese consumer-facing company. Apple has made investments in Chinese suppliers before but nothing at this scale for a consumer service that primarily serves Chinese consumers.

Ultimately, the investment is particularly revealing for Apple, one of the two most valuable companies in the world, and signals many new directions the iPhone company could go.

1. Apple is serious about transportation.

It's an "open secret" that Apple is building a car, according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk. But the biggest confirmation from the company or CEO Tim Cook was a tease: he once joked that it was going to be Christmas Eve "for a while" earlier this year.

But money talks, and now Apple has a $1 billion investment in transportation and transportation technology. Bottom line: Apple won't be able to stay coy on its car project for much longer.

Eventually, the thinking goes, self-driving technology will merge with ride-hailing services like Uber to create new ways to travel and new market opportunities for personal transit and cities.

Apple's car is probably electric, and probably self-driving as well. Is there a chance that Didi Chuxing could be the first major customer for the Apple Car or iCar when it potentially ships in a few years?

2. 'Services' doesn't just mean iCloud.

Apple Car Render

Apple has been emphasizing its "services" business this year as iPhone sales have slowed. Investors have primarily focused on internet products like iCloud, App Store, and Apple Music as Apple's "services."

But what if Apple's services business will actually go far beyond internet apps? Didi Chuxing is more of a services company than a technology company; its primary product for consumers is its network of drivers.

Story continues

Plus, Apple's been leading the way in turning hardware into services with new programs that lease iPhones for a monthly fee. Could Apple's car work the same way? Apple could decide to not sell its car directly to consumers, but to transportation services instead.

3. Apple's checkbook is out, especially for foreign companies.

Apple's deal with Didi took only 22 days from the initial pitch to completion. It's clear that Apple wanted to make a deal and the investment closed "like lightning."

Cook has teased that he's been looking for billion-dollar purchases and investments several times in the past year, most recently during Apple's most recent earnings call.

To Apple, with over $250 billion in cash and marketable securities, $1 billion isn't as much as it is to rival companies. Lots of that money is essentially "stuck" overseas in China and other countries  if Apple brings the money back to the US, it faces the full 35% corporate tax rate.

So when Apple invests in or purchases foreign companies, there are huge potential tax benefits. Didi is likely to hit Apple up for more money soon  Didi says it has to "burn cash" to build enough scale to turn the business into a "virtuous circle."

4. Uber might be Apple's newest frenemy.

Cook and Kalanick

CEO Tim Cook was spotted chatting with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick earlier this month at the Met Gala. It might be one of the last times the two are seen being friendly in public as Apple is now funding Uber's main rival.

Apple has a long history of being "frenemies" with other major companies, the most notable being Google  former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was on Apple's board before he had to leave because Google was working on its Android operating system, a direct rival to the iPhone.

Nobody from Apple is on Uber's board or vice versa, but the two companies have been close over the past few years. Uber was a key launch partner for the Apple Watch  and the invite for Apple's annual developers conference even had a sneaky shoutout to the ride-hailing giant.

The Information reported that Kalanick had a meeting scheduled at Apple headquarters for later this week  wonder what the two companies will discuss, if the meeting is even still on.

5. China is still the most critical market for Apple.

apple china

One of the most notable Apple investors, Carl Ichan, recently sold his stake in Apple because of China concerns.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Cook had a trip planned to China to talk to "high-level government officials" after the state shut down two of Apple's digital-media stores. Apparently, talks between Didi and Apple happened nearly simultaneously as the iTunes Books ban.

Apple is the most successful American tech company in China, and the country has been Apple's main engine of growth in the past few years. Last year, Apple pulled in $59 billion in revenue from China.

Clearly, there are still high-level discussions going on at Apple about its China strategy, and investing a billion dollars into one of its most valuable tech startups is only a piece of the puzzle.

Beijing is protective of its tech companies, often tilting the playing field to greatly favor homegrown companies over American giants  just ask Google or Facebook.

It looks like Apple's strategy is now to invest in local companies and partnerships and portray itself not as an American company but an international company with huge stakes in the Chinese technology ecosystem. The New York Times reports that experts believe $1 billion will buy a lot of goodwill in China, especially with giants Tencent and Alibaba, both major shareholders in Didi.

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From Country Living

Superstitions surrounding the number 13 and Friday the 13th are unique to Western cultures, says the Independent, so how did the irrational fear come to pass?

Although there's nothing in writing about the fear of 13 prior to the 19th century, historians believe it may have begun with one of the most significant events in Christianity, according to TIME. The Last Supper, the final meal before Jesus Christ was crucified on a Friday, had 13 guests in attendance. (Mental Floss points out that Judas, who ultimately betrayed Christ, was the 13th guest to arrive).

From a Christian perspective, when Friday and the number 13 coincide, "you are reenacting at least a portion of that terrible event," Phil Stevens, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo, told TIME.

Some Catholics even believe Christ was crucified on a Friday the 13th.

From there, belief of the day as a bad omen took on a life of its own, spawning numerous cultural references. In the late 1300s, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in The Canterbury Tales that it was bad luck to start a project on a Friday. There's the famous series of scary movies centered around the day. And, more recently, Dan Brown and dozens of other conspiracy fans, according to the Independent, have theorized that the superstition comes from Friday October 13, 1307, when hundreds of Knights Templar were slaughtered in France. At some point the apprehension over the date became a fear of 13 itself, leading Americans to avoid sitting on the 13th row of a plane, or stay in a hotel room on the 13th floor, TIME points out. There's even a name for the fear of Friday the 13th: paraskevidekatriaphobia.

While experts like Simon Bronner, Ph.D., a professor of American studies and folklore at Pennsylvania State University, say the omen arose as a bit of religious folklore to explain a preexisting belief, he cautions that that doesn't change the fact that it's deeply ingrained in some people. "You can insult somebody by making fun of it or you can be ignorant yourself. Some people have deep cultural taboos that you cannot change by denying them," Bronner told TIME.

Now might be a great time for a jaunt to Italy, where the number 13 is considered lucky. Plus, we hear you can get a vacation home in Sicily for free.

Follow Country Living on Pinterest.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese group Hezbollah said on Friday it would announce within hours the outcome of its investigation into a blast that killed one of its top commanders in Syria. Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the result of the investigation into Mustafa Badreddine's killing would be announced no later than Saturday morning. "We will announce in detail the cause of the explosion and the party responsible for it," he said, adding that there were clear indications of who was behind the attack and the method used. Speaking at Badreddine's funeral, he also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine, the most senior Hezbollah commander killed since 2008. (Reporting by Samia Nakhoul/Tom Perry; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon's Hezbollah announced Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria where the Shiite militant group has deployed thousands of fighters backing the Damascus regime.

Hezbollah said it was investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollah's intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, came with a fragile truce in Syria's five-year war on the brink of collapse.

A six-day-old ceasefire in second city Aleppo expired early Thursday, and rebel snipers killed two civilians in the city's government-held sector, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in Idlib province in the northwest, killing 16 fighters including a commander.

Badreddine, in his mid-50s, was a key player in Hezbollah's military wing.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and was "most wanted" by Israel.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say which of Badreddine's many enemies it held responsible for his death.

But second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem told mourners at the funeral he was killed in a "huge blast" at a Hezbollah position near Damascus airport.

He said a probe was under way, but "because there are many possibilities, we don't want to anticipate the investigation."

"I assure you however that within hours, no later than Saturday morning, we will give a detailed account about what caused the blast and who was behind it," Qassem said.

Hezbollah has a "clear indication" on who was responsible and how it happened, "but we need some more time to be one hundred percent sure", he added.

Story continues

Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said it was unclear who carried out the strike, but the United States was not involved.

- 'Enemies are known' -

Qassem spoke at Badreddine's funeral in Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent condolences to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying Badreddine's death "will further strengthen the determination of the forces of resistance against the Zionist regime and terrorism".

Huge crowds thronged the streets as Badreddine's coffin, draped in Hezbollah's yellow flag, was carried by uniformed young men.

Badreddine's predecessor Imad Mughniyeh -- his cousin and brother-in-law -- was killed in Damascus in a 2008 bombing that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddine's death.

Israel made no comment, as was also the case in 2008, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollah's failure to apportion blame.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said: "The enemies of our great martyrs are known, the Zionists (Israel), the Americans or the takfiris (Sunni Muslim extremists who consider Shiites heretics)."

Badreddine's death comes months after another Hezbollah figure, Samir Kantar, was killed in an December 2015 air strike near Damascus which the group blamed on Israel.

- Key Assad prop -

In its 2012 terror blacklisting of Badreddine, Washington charged that he was the key pointman for Hezbollah's operations in Syria alongside Assad's major foreign backer Iran.

"Badreddine is assessed to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria since 2011," the US Treasury Department said, adding that he liaised personally with Assad.

The pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper said Badreddine was killed on Thursday night.

Damascus airport is east of the capital in an area where various rebel groups have a strong presence, although pro-government forces control the highway to it.

Hezbollah's intervention was vital in 2013 in shoring up Assad's regime at its lowest point in the war against rebels backed by Gulf Arab and Western countries.

Its fighters secured most of the Lebanese border region, cutting vital rebel supply lines, and reasserted government control in most of the southern suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayyida Zeinab Shiite shrine district.

In Beirut, Hezbollah expert Waddah Charara said Badreddine had also been responsible for training Shiite militiamen in Iraq and had a direct link with Iran.

Moscow's intervention last September in support of its ally greatly expanded the military coalition backing Assad.

Russian officials have vowed to work closely with their US counterparts to salvage a February ceasefire between pro-government forces and non-jihadist rebels that was teetering on the brink Friday after the Aleppo truce collapsed.

That deal sharply reduced a surge in fighting in Syria's pre-war commercial capital that had killed more than 300 civilians.
Northville, Michigan.

Each year, The New York Times puts out a call for college-admissions essays to the newest class of applicants.

This year, it chose four of the most poignant essays, which cut across issues of money, work, and social class. The Times published them on its site to showcase their raw and honest power.

One of the essays comes from Erica Meister, a senior at Northville High School in Northville, Michigan. In it, she unsparingly critiques her hometown, recently awarded the title of "the snobbiest city in Michigan."

"We're from Northville," she wrote of herself and fellow classmates. "Most of us know nothing of consequences or responsibility for our actions, because our fathers can cover for us with cash and connections."

These actions often include selling weed and Adderall, Meister mentions.

The piece reads like a searing referendum on how extreme wealth begets thoughtlessness. She describes a situation in which cultural appropriation and emulation of hip-hop artists is common, but programs that assist the economically disadvantaged are belittled.

For example, Meister writes:

Several years back, when the rap aesthetic was particularly prominent, most of the males came to school in ill-fitting jeans that sagged below their designer boxers, sporting T-shirts and necklaces that likely cost more than the weekly income for the average person, in imitation of their favorite rapper. They carried themselves like Eminem and spewed out Jay Z verses about being raised in extreme urban poverty and racism, before parroting their parents' views on the "communist" welfare programs.

Even The Times, which receives hundreds of admissions-essay submissions every year, said that Meister's piece was the most candid it has ever received.

"Every year, we receive at least one essay that picks apart an affluent suburb, but we've never seen one quite as blunt as her take on Northville, Mich.," The Times wrote.

Story continues

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 20: Students walk through an open corridor on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008. Stanford University raised the most money among academic institution for the third year in a row, aided by a $51 million donation from the estate of a 1927 graduate. (Photo by Erin Lubin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But the essay also exposes Meister's own instances of falling victim to thoughtlessness.

She describes asking a friend whose family she knew was struggling financially what AP exams she was planning to take. The exams, which students can voluntarily take and strengthen college applications, cost $92 apiece. Meister's friend responded that she couldn't afford any.

"I found myself victim to the disease that infiltrates Northville, the same carelessness I despise," she wrote.

Northville, Michigan, is a suburb of Detroit. The website RoadSnacks.net, which rated it the snobbiest city in Michigan, gave Northville the top rank because it "combines unparalleled wealth (the highest median household income in Michigan) with expensive homes (second highest in Michigan) to create an enclave of snobbery."

Indeed, the gulf between the income levels in Northville versus Detroit is stark. The median household income in Northville is $91,270, according to 2014 data from the US government. For Detroit, the figure is $26,095.

Meister, who will attend Stanford University in the fall, concluded her essay by noting that she's eager to leave behind Northville and become more conscious and curious about life beyond her suburban bubble.

To be sure, the essay wasn't the only arrow in her quiver. Meister broke a national record when she scaled a 15-meter rock wall in 9.56 seconds. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and maintained a 3.9 GPA at Northville.

You can read Meister's essay, along with the other top three New York Times picks, here.

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High-tech conjures up images of the smart San Francisco set, youthful CEOs in jeans and suit jackets. There they are: kicking up their feet at a funky coffeehouse, sipping some exotic Ethiopian espresso, plotting out one more e-commerce conquest before heading home to million-dollar lofts...

Sorry to interrupt your daydream. But the fact -- and it is a verifiable statistic -- is that 90 percent of startups fail. Those that succeed might only enjoy a limited run of success. Maybe a few, like Instagram, are lucky enough to get bought for $1 billion by Facebook (FB). But otherwise, in going public, high-technology's high riders still experience nauseating ups and downs.

Consider Fitbit (FIT), a pioneer in wearable tech that's bested many of its competitors, including Apple (AAPL). After going public in June 2015, Fitbit saw its share prices jump more than 40 percent to $47.60 a share. Then the sprint turned into a winded stagger; since that runner's high, Fitbit has dropped 70 percent to just $14.32 a share. And that performance comes from a company that controls roughly a quarter of the wearable tech market.

[See: 8 Stocks to Buy For a Starter Portfolio.]

"Square (SQ) is another good example of the hype attached to tech IPO's," says Gary Tsarsis, clinical assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business. "In particular, they had a very good product about three to four years ago. It was cutting edge, new, simple to use and gained a good word-of-mouth following." In fact, try walking into many a San Francisco coffeehouse without seeing a Square, attached to an iPad, anchoring the cash register.

But once again: Does ubiquity equal profitability for investors? Not by a longshot. "During the past several years, other companies have come out with similar technologies, thus reducing Square's competitive advantage," Tsarsis says.

Square is down 35 percent from just a month ago, and off roughly 25 percent since going public in November, trading at $10 a share.

Story continues

Elsewhere, evidence of high-tech turbulence has rattled many shareholders. Corbin Perception's Tech Sentiment Survey, released in April, reports that investors largely exhibit a neutral stance toward tech as bears slowly creep in -- with bulls more than cut in half since June 2015.

Meanwhile, the sidelines are starting to look quite appealing, even for starry-eyed investors in the cheerleading section.

The Corbin report shows that three out of four respondents expect in-line or worse-than-consensus results for first quarter of 2016 earnings reports. The one bright spot -- speculative but still bright -- is the software sector, where three out of four investors land on the bullish side.

Yes, but, those software winners likely won't come from IPOs. "According to Renaissance Capital, tech IPO activity in 2015 was at its slowest level since 2009," Tsarsis says.

And much like a landfill stuffed with outmoded smartphones and floppy disk drives, the investment landscape is littered with one-time tech darlings that fell out of fashion faster than you can say "Groupon (GRPN)."

That Chicago-based daily deals site hit the ground running at $20 per share in 2011. It closed 30 percent higher its first day of trading -- and that was as high as it ever got. Today, Groupon trades at a lowly $3.50 a share. That's almost 87 percent off, shoppers. A Groupon for Groupon stock, anyone?

Cross over to the search engine space, and the story is much the same. You might have to look up "search engine failures" on Google (GOOG, GOOGL), because it would be impossible to do so at many a site that's come and gone.

"There have been several failures: Excite, WebCrawler, Netscape and Ask Jeeves, for example," says Bob Johnson, president and CEO of the American College of Financial Services in the greater Philadelphia area. "In other words, even if you realized web search was going to be huge, you would have either had to choose the right horse to ride or bet on many horses."

[See: 8 of the Most Incredible Investments of the 21st Century.]

Meanwhile, a onetime "right horse" is close to being put out to pasture. In February, Yahoo (YHOO) put itself up for sale. It's a sad chapter, and perhaps the closing one, for an Internet pioneer that lost its way and never quite recovered. Nor did the publicity gaffes help. Workaholic CEO Marissa Mayer made headlines when she banished telecommuting -- a move that hurt Yahoo's working moms -- but built a nursery next to her office so she could take care of her own child while on the job.

"Yahoo is a deeply uncelebrated company with a low valuation at odds with its hugely profitable business model," says Barry Randall, a technology portfolio manager at Covestor and a registered investment advisor based in Boston. "Even the phrase 'at odds' doesn't do the situation justice. Yahoo is the third-largest digital media property in the U.S. in terms of daily users. Yet its public image is that of an Internet has-been."

Even 2015's giants are staring nervously in the rear view. In December, Netflix was trading at all-time highs and finished 2015 up a giddy 125 percent for the year. But so far in 2016 it's off 18 percent, trading at $90, and facing stiffer-than-stiff online competition from the likes of Amazon.com (AMZN) and Hulu.

"Giant rising costs to produce very expensive content and heavy costs for first run movies -- more than $10 billion dollars over the next five years -- are finally going to hit them hard," says Eric Schiffer, CEO of Patriarch Group, a private equity firm with offices in Santa Ana, California.

"What makes (CEO Reed Hastings) think they are better content creators?" he asks. "There is a graveyard I can point to full of people who thought they could master Hollywood. We will watch a documentary one day on how Netflix was overtaken by competitors in the long term."

And Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), might want to do some heavy networking on his website to find a savior. "LinkedIn stock has had an awful quarter, given the sharp drop in its stock price in early February and the company's inability to recover since then," says Jeffrey Zucker, an angel investor and co-founder of Green Lion Partners in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Since the start of the year, LNKD is down 43 percent, to $129 a share. The result? "Almost every major research firm has downgraded the company's stock," Zucker says. "Users are concerned that LinkedIn's job postings are no longer growing and investors are decreasingly confident in the business's ability to generate revenue."

So let's review: Groupon, Fitbit, LinkedIn, Square, Netflix, Yahoo and yes, Twitter (TWTR) -- all of them big names in high tech circles -- have either stumbled, stumbled badly, or slipped down a rabbit hole blacker than Steve Jobs' turtle neck.

Schiffer says, "Valley CEOs of monster billion dollar startups, who could never imagine valuations dropping, now face the precipice of nervous breakdowns that test their sanity and strength."

[Read: The Incredible Shrinking World of Investments.]

So check back at your favorite San Fran java haunt in a few months. The blockbuster entrepreneur you see today could be your brand new barista tomorrow.





More From US News & World Report


High-tech conjures up images of the smart San Francisco set, youthful CEOs in jeans and suit jackets. There they are: kicking up their feet at a funky coffeehouse, sipping some exotic Ethiopian espresso, plotting out one more e-commerce conquest before heading home to million-dollar lofts...

Sorry to interrupt your daydream. But the fact -- and it is a verifiable statistic -- is that 90 percent of startups fail. Those that succeed might only enjoy a limited run of success. Maybe a few, like Instagram, are lucky enough to get bought for $1 billion by Facebook (ticker: FB). But otherwise, in going public, high-technology's high riders still experience nauseating ups and downs.

Consider Fitbit (FIT), a pioneer in wearable tech that's bested many of its competitors, including Apple (AAPL). After going public in June 2015, Fitbit saw its share prices jump more than 40 percent to $47.60 a share. Then the sprint turned into a winded stagger; since that runner's high, Fitbit has dropped 70 percent to just $14.32 a share. And that performance comes from a company that controls roughly a quarter of the wearable tech market.

[See: 8 Stocks to Buy For a Starter Portfolio.]

"Square (SQ) is another good example of the hype attached to tech IPO's," says Gary Tsarsis, clinical assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business. "In particular, they had a very good product about three to four years ago. It was cutting edge, new, simple to use and gained a good word-of-mouth following." In fact, try walking into many a San Francisco coffeehouse without seeing a Square, attached to an iPad, anchoring the cash register.

But once again: Does ubiquity equal profitability for investors? Not by a longshot. "During the past several years, other companies have come out with similar technologies, thus reducing Square's competitive advantage," Tsarsis says.

Square is down 35 percent from just a month ago, and off roughly 25 percent since going public in November, trading at $10 a share.

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Elsewhere, evidence of high-tech turbulence has rattled many shareholders. Corbin Perception's Tech Sentiment Survey, released in April, reports that investors largely exhibit a neutral stance toward tech as bears slowly creep in -- with bulls more than cut in half since June 2015.

Meanwhile, the sidelines are starting to look quite appealing, even for starry-eyed investors in the cheerleading section.

The Corbin report shows that three out of four respondents expect in-line or worse-than-consensus results for first quarter of 2016 earnings reports. The one bright spot -- speculative but still bright -- is the software sector, where three out of four investors land on the bullish side.

Yes, but, those software winners likely won't come from IPOs. "According to Renaissance Capital, tech IPO activity in 2015 was at its slowest level since 2009," Tsarsis says.

And much like a landfill stuffed with outmoded smartphones and floppy disk drives, the investment landscape is littered with one-time tech darlings that fell out of fashion faster than you can say "Groupon (GRPN)."

That Chicago-based daily deals site hit the ground running at $20 per share in 2011. It closed 30 percent higher its first day of trading -- and that was as high as it ever got. Today, Groupon trades at a lowly $3.50 a share. That's almost 87 percent off, shoppers. A Groupon for Groupon stock, anyone?

Cross over to the search engine space, and the story is much the same. You might have to look up "search engine failures" on Google (GOOG, GOOGL), because it would be impossible to do so at many a site that's come and gone.

"There have been several failures: Excite, WebCrawler, Netscape and Ask Jeeves, for example," says Bob Johnson, president and CEO of the American College of Financial Services in the greater Philadelphia area. "In other words, even if you realized web search was going to be huge, you would have either had to choose the right horse to ride or bet on many horses."

[See: 8 of the Most Incredible Investments of the 21st Century.]

Meanwhile, a onetime "right horse" is close to being put out to pasture. In February, Yahoo (YHOO) put itself up for sale. It's a sad chapter, and perhaps the closing one, for an Internet pioneer that lost its way and never quite recovered. Nor did the publicity gaffes help. Workaholic CEO Marissa Mayer made headlines when she banished telecommuting -- a move that hurt Yahoo's working moms -- but built a nursery next to her office so she could take care of her own child while on the job.

"Yahoo is a deeply uncelebrated company with a low valuation at odds with its hugely profitable business model," says Barry Randall, a technology portfolio manager at Covestor and a registered investment advisor based in Boston. "Even the phrase 'at odds' doesn't do the situation justice. Yahoo is the third-largest digital media property in the U.S. in terms of daily users. Yet its public image is that of an Internet has-been."

Even 2015's giants are staring nervously in the rear view. In December, Netflix was trading at all-time highs and finished 2015 up a giddy 125 percent for the year. But so far in 2016 it's off 18 percent, trading at $90, and facing stiffer-than-stiff online competition from the likes of Amazon.com (AMZN) and Hulu.

"Giant rising costs to produce very expensive content and heavy costs for first run movies -- more than $10 billion dollars over the next five years -- are finally going to hit them hard," says Eric Schiffer, CEO of Patriarch Group, a private equity firm with offices in Santa Ana, California.

"What makes (CEO Reed Hastings) think they are better content creators?" he asks. "There is a graveyard I can point to full of people who thought they could master Hollywood. We will watch a documentary one day on how Netflix was overtaken by competitors in the long term."

And Jeff Weiner, the CEO of LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD), might want to do some heavy networking on his website to find a savior. "LinkedIn stock has had an awful quarter, given the sharp drop in its stock price in early February and the company's inability to recover since then," says Jeffrey Zucker, an angel investor and co-founder of Green Lion Partners in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Since the start of the year, LNKD is down 43 percent, to $129 a share. The result? "Almost every major research firm has downgraded the company's stock," Zucker says. "Users are concerned that LinkedIn's job postings are no longer growing and investors are decreasingly confident in the business's ability to generate revenue."

So let's review: Groupon, Fitbit, LinkedIn, Square, Netflix, Yahoo and yes, Twitter (TWTR) -- all of them big names in high tech circles -- have either stumbled, stumbled badly, or slipped down a rabbit hole blacker than Steve Jobs' turtle neck.

Schiffer says, "Valley CEOs of monster billion dollar startups, who could never imagine valuations dropping, now face the precipice of nervous breakdowns that test their sanity and strength."

[Read: The Incredible Shrinking World of Investments.]

So check back at your favorite San Fran java haunt in a few months. The blockbuster entrepreneur you see today could be your brand new barista tomorrow.

A former longtime staff writer, editor and columnist at the Chicago Tribune, Lou Carlozo writes about investment for U.S. News & World Report, and personal finance for Money Under 30 and GOBankingRates. He is based in Chicago. Connect with him at linkedin.com/in/loucarlozo.
It's that time of the election season when speculation takes over. With the shock of Donald Trump's impending nomination and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's anticipated Democratic nomination for president of the United States still being absorbed, attention is now shifting to another  more traditional  phase of the process: vice presidential running mates.

Indeed for both Trump and Clinton it's the most important first decision of their potentially nascent presidencies. Whoever they choose will both reflect their judgments as well as cold calculations of geography, demography and identity.

"I don't know if there is a crazy idea this year," , president of Eagle Consulting Group, which advises Republican candidates, said by phone. "The rules have been so rewritten."

Nevertheless, as the approaches, there's no harm in a little parlor speculation. On both sides, a number of names have been floated. Some are safe choices, others more risque.

So without further ado  here are some people you may be seeing a lot of over the next four to eight years!

The Democrats

Plan A: Sherrod Brown

Source: Sait Serkan Gurbuz/AP

With Clinton's strong embrace of Barack Obama's legacy, she would continue his model of anointing a vice president who shares her policy goals but balances the ticket in a way that shores up her own weaknesses. To that end, enter Sherrod Brown. The Ohio senator is the image of a liberal Washington insider and while his experience isn't quite at Joe Biden level, he would give Clinton a leg up with the white men who form the core of Trump's support. His status as a son of the Buckeye State also gives him extra cache in what has become the country's most critical swing contest.

Plan B: Tim Kaine

Source: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

For a candidate so stage-managed as to approach algorithmic proportions, it should come as no surprise that Clinton's Plan B looks quite a lot like her Plan A. In Tim Kaine, a senator and former governor of Virginia, Clinton gets the same combination of safe white man, w . Like Brown, Kaine also comes from a swing state (Virginia) that Clinton doesn't need quite as much as Ohio  but is still important as a hedge against losses elsewhere. Kaine is also widely considered more centrist than Brown.

Story continues

Dark Horse: Elizabeth Warren

Source: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Though recent history would suggest Clinton balance her ticket with someone like Brown or Kaine, she could go with a running mate quite a bit more like herself  someone like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

The move would be in step with her husband, who picked fellow white southerner Al Gore on his ride to the presidency in 1992. A double-woman ticket would be historic, but also a gamble. Warren is a polarizing figure among moderates and, representing Massachusetts, does nothing for geographic diversity. She would offer other benefits over her male counterparts, however, most critically mobilizing .

"[Trump's] strategy is to drive up [Clinton's] unfavorability ratings until they're closer to his," Mary Ann Marsh, a political analyst and principal at Dewey Square Group, said by phone. "The more negative the campaign is, historically, the less women vote."

The Republicans

Plan A: Chris Christie

Source: Mel Evans/AP

Though often now seen in the billionaire's shadow and as the butt of jokes, Christie is a serious contender for the No. 2 spot on Trump's ticket. The brash Republican governor took a big risk endorsing Trump long before he became the presumptive nominee, and was one of the earliest and biggest establishment Republicans to do so. The two men have a friendship going back years, and both are known for an attack-dog style of leadership. The billionaire places a high premium on the loyalty of his surrogates and, together, the two political pugilists would be a formidable pair.

Plan B: John Kasich

Source: John Minchillo/AP

An arguably bigger get for Trump would be perennial thorn-in-side candidate John Kasich. Though functionally vanquished from contention months before he dropped out, the Ohio governor did win his own state primary convincingly and could prove critical This would be especially true if Clinton opts for the state's senior senator Sherrod Brown as her pick (see Democrats, Plan A).

As a happy warrior who eschewed much of the campaign's uglier moments, the jovial Ohio governor would go a long way toward "professionalizing" the Trump brand and putting establishment nerves at ease. Unfortunately, the governor has signaled he is not interested  for now.

Dark Horse: Jim Webb

Source: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Now, if you're thinking, "Hey wait a minute, didn't that guy run for president as a Democrat?" the answer is yes, but the campaign was so ephemeral that you'd be forgiven for not noticing. Though he's nominally a Democrat, Webb's hawkish foreign policy and tough domestic stances put him painfully out of sync with the modern Democratic party. After flirting with a vengeful third-party run, Webb went on record to say he would not vote for Clinton and was open to voting Trump. Like Trump, Webb is passionate on veterans' issues and, as a former Virginia senator, could help the billionaire compete in that state. Nominating the crotchety ex-Democrat would position Trump well to not only shore up his white male voting blocs, but potentially also draw in moderates looking for bipartisan bonhomie.
Through a nearly year-long primary battle, in which tens of millions were spent against him, Donald Trump was under-gunned, unpredictable, and surprisingly resilient. Looking ahead to the general election, Hillary Clintons campaign is struggling to determine how to deal with this asymmetric threat posed by the bombastic presumptive GOP nominee. Lessons from the national security and business worlds are informing her campaign.

Trump met with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan Thursday in Washington, taking a key step toward party unity. Ryan continued to withhold his endorsement of the GOPs new standard-bearer, as he spent much of the meeting presenting to Trump on his agenda and his conservative vision for the party. Trump was in a listening mode, according to sources, though the two did express their differences on key issue areas, and Ryan encouraged Trump to soften his tone to appeal to a broader swath of voters.

A GOP ad-maker released on YouTube four controversial planned spots that were set to run before the California GOP primary seeking to undermine Trump. The release highlights how many in the professional GOP class are still fighting Trump, even as Clinton is the only alternative. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a former Republican-turned-Independent, said this week that the GOP is no longer the party of businessan emerging shift that could have huge ramifications for the two-party system should traditional GOP business interests flip to the Democratic side.

Trump is rejecting calls to release his tax returns, telling ABC that his effective tax rate, its none of your business.

The Obama administration is taking a historic step to push schools to allow transgender access to public school restrooms. Sheldon Adelson backs Trump. And Trump is not backing off the Muslim ban.

Here are your must-reads:

Must Reads

How Hillary Clinton Will Fight Donald Trumps Unpredictability

An asymmetric threat [TIME]

Story continues

Paul Ryan Says Unifying GOP Will Take Time After Donald Trump Meeting

Speaker calls it first step toward reconciliation [TIME]

Obamacare Spending Ruled Unconstitutional by Federal Judge

The decision is seen as a victory for House Republicans [Associated Press]

U.S. Directs Public Schools to Allow Transgender Access to Restrooms

Obama administration directive seeks to ensure students are not discriminated against [New York Times]

Clinton Cash: A Scathing Broadside Aimed at Persuading Liberals

TIME Philip Elliott reports on the latest anti-Clinton film

No, Donald Trump Has Not Softened his Stance on Banning Muslims

Hes talking around it, but the substance is still the same [Washington Post]

Sound Off

The Republican Party is no longer the party of business.  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a hedge fund conference

No, Im not softening my stance at all but Im always flexible on issues.  Donald Trump to the Today Show on his proposed Muslim ban

Bits and Bites

Guys with Big Hands: Top GOP Ad Man Launches Campaign to Unsell Trump [Politico]

Donald Trump Campaign Disavows Longtime Butlers Call for President Obama to Be Killed [TIME]

The Spokesman Who Knows Trump best: Himself [Washington Post]

Donald Trumps Chief Fund-Raiser Heads Straight for Las Vegas [New York Times]

Donald Trump Wont Alter Tax Plan, Spokeswoman Says as Confusion Reigns [New York Times]

Can Ted Cruz Make Friends, Influence People, And Run For President Again? [BuzzFeed]

Sheldon Adelson: I Endorse Donald Trump for President [Washington Post]

John Boehner Backs Donald Trump, Thanks God Cruz Didnt Win [CNN]
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande paid a lightning visit to restive Central African Republic on Friday for talks with its leaders while drawing down France's military presence.

Hollande's visit to the former French colony is sensitive because of accusations that French peacekeepers sexually abused children in the country.

There are currently three investigations under way into the accusations against the French troops.

"Today, Operation Sangaris comes to an end," Hollande said after meeting President Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in a peaceful vote in February seen as a step toward reconciliation after years of sectarian violence.

"I decided (to launch Sangaris) in December 2013 because chaos had unfortunately engulfed the Central African Republic and because massacres were being committed," he said.

The Sangaris military operation, launched to help quell inter-communal violence, is due to end in December this year, after a progressive draw-down.

From a peak of 2,000 troops at the height of the crisis, their number is down to 650, a French aide said. In due course the remaining French forces will join the UN's Minusca peacekeeping operation.

"Our troops are being called to other fronts," he said. "France still faces the threat of terrorism."

However, the leader vowed continued support for Bangui.

"France will always be there," said Hollande, who last visited the country -- one of the poorest on the planet -- in December 2013 and February 2014.

"I have returned now that the transition has succeeded, and stability restored," he said, pledging to ensure international support for the country's development.

Touadera meanwhile said his government would "rise to today's challenges, which are peace, security, national reconciliation and cleaning up the state's finances" in a country rife with corruption.

Story continues

Hollande visited the flashpoint majority Muslim neighbourhood of PK-5, which was at the epicentre of the deadly fighting that pitted the mainly Christian anti-balaka militia against the Muslim Seleka rebels.

- 'No impunity' -

Hollande said that any French or UN soldiers in Central Africa found guilty of sexual abuse of minors would be held accountable.

"If anyone is found responsible, there will be no impunity," he said.

Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the mother of French photographer Camille Lepage -- who was killed in the Central African Republic in 2014 -- meanwhile urged Hollande to help uncover the circumstances of her death.

"We have agreed that justice must be had, we need to know," he responded.

Hollande is due to travel late Friday to Nigeria for a regional summit focused on fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram.

The summit will also be attended by the United States, Britain and the three neighbouring countries which have also been the target of attacks from the jihadists -- Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people since 2009, according to World Bank figures.
Honda Motor (7267.T-JP) shares fell almost 5 percent Friday after the automaker posted a surprise fourth-quarter loss of $860 million driven by costs related to recalls of Takata Corp. (7312.T-JP)-made air bags.

Honda said it would recall 21 million more vehicles, on top of the 30 million already recalled, to replace defective air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp.

Takata's air bag inflators can explode with too much force, spewing shrapnel inside the vehicle. These malfunctioning air bags are responsible for at least 11 deaths worldwide. Honda is Takata's biggest customer.

Takaki Nakanishi, head of Japanese automobiles research at Jefferies sees the light at the end of the tunnel for Honda's Takata recall woes. "We think the final conclusion by the NHTSA and Japan's MLIT, in light of investigative results....is approaching." Nakanishi said in a note.



Despite Honda's quarterly miss, global vehicle sales rose almost 9 percent, thanks mostly to a 10 percent rise in the company's biggest market, North America.

Nakanishi sees opportunity in Honda stock. The veteran auto analyst says Honda is a top pick, just after Toyota (7203.T-JP) and Nissan (7201.T-JP). "We think at the current share price, Honda, which is trading at a discounted level, is very attractive." he said in a note.

Honda shares are off by about 18 percent year-to-date, and 24 percent over the past 12 months.
Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama welcomed leaders from five Nordic countries to the White House Friday, using the occasion to take a thinly veiled swipe at Vladimir Putin's Russia.

As tensions with Moscow spike over military deployments in Eastern Europe, Obama hailed the US partnership with Russia's near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."

"Around the world, America's closest partners are democracies and we only need to look at the Nordic countries to see why -- we share the same interests and we share the same values."

As Obama was speaking, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.

Tensions with Russia have reached levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine to annex Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

Meanwhile, Russia and the West have clashed over Moscow's military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.

Russia has darkly warned against Sweden and Finland joining NATO, an issue that is being debated in both countries.

Putin did not specify which actions he will take, but according to Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, they are likely moves that would have come anyway.

"The Russians will make their displeasure known. The West should anticipate irate declarations of military countermeasures," he said.

"Categorizing its military programs as countermeasures to Western military deployments has a long tradition with the Kremlin."

NATO leaders -- including Obama -- will meet in Warsaw next month.
Per a Bloomberg report, HSBC Holdings plc HSBC is said to employ 175 people for the financial-crime compliance team at its U.K. consumer bank, which is soon going to be split per the U.K. governments plans for the ring-fencing" of retail and wholesale banking activities by 2019.



The compliance team will be joined by 25 employees transferred from other HSBC offices. With the team based in Edinburgh, where the bank recently opened a third office, their main aim will be to focus on anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance at the ring-fenced unit.



HSBC has been under the regulatory radar for its failure to prevent hundreds of millions of dollars in drug money flowing through the bank from Mexico. The investigation had revealed substantial lapses in the bank's anti-money laundering compliance, which resulted in the worldwide displacement of funds from riskier nations through the bank.



Along with the $1.9 billion settlement of the U.S. Department of Justice charges, HSBC agreed to a five-year deferred prosecution agreement and monitoring by court-appointed monitor, Michael Cherkasky. Under the terms of the agreement, any repeat wrongdoing or a failure to sufficiently upgrade internal controls will likely lead to the firm losing its U.S. banking license.



According to HSBCs Chief Executive Officer Stuart Gulliver, the bank incurred $2.9 billion in its efforts to identify financial crimes last year. Further, around 10% of the banks 255,000 full-time staff currently works in risk and compliance.



Though the bank has made significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering and sanctions violations controls, the compliance controls were termed inadequate in an annual review compiled by Michael Cherkasky.



According to Cherkaskys summary, the banks compliance technology remains an area of material weakness, which leads to deficiencies in data needed to help detect high-risk transactions.



Ring-fencing will give rise to various complications and troubles for the European banks, particularly those with globally diversified operations like HSBC and Barclays PLC BCS.



HSBCs ring-fenced bank will be known as HSBC U.K. and will be shifted to Birmingham, England, transferring 1,000 people from London. Nigel Hinshelwood, who joined HSBC in 2005, will oversee the creation of HSBC's ring-fenced bank.



Similar to the ringfencing law, various other regulations have propped up in the U.K. since the financial crisis, which require banks to maintain higher capital buffers. This pressure has forced banks to curtail their risky investment banking operations, and focus on private banking and wealth management businesses that need relatively less financial resources and also have stable earnings.



Banks like Deutsche Bank AG DB and Credit Suisse Group AG CS have also been reviewing their investment banking operations, with plans to scale down the business.



Currently, HSBC holds a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).



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Madrid (AFP) - At least 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes Friday after a huge tyre dump near Madrid went up in flames in a suspected arson attack, sending a massive black cloud of toxic fumes into the sky.

Firefighters and water-dropping helicopters battled throughout the day to extinguish the blaze which broke out before dawn at the tyre dump near the town of Sesena, 45 kilometres (28 miles) south of Madrid.

"Everything points to the fact that this disaster was deliberate," Sesena Mayor Carlos Velazquez told Spanish radio, adding that there had been days of rain in the area, making accidental ignition unlikely.

The government of the Castilla-La Mancha region where the dump is located said it had activated an emergency action plan as it fears the fire could last for days.

Authorities in Castilla-La Mancha warned the blaze had produced a "toxic cloud" which could affect part of Sesena, ordering the evacuation of a large apartment complex in Sesena on Friday afternoon because of the risk from the smoke.

When the evacuation order was given there were only about 1,000 people still in the complex -- the other 8,000 residents had already left voluntarily.

Local officials provided eight buses to help transports residents who did not have cars and provided 600 beds in local sports centres for those who did not have a place to stay.

"We have decided to evacuate part of the population as a precaution in case there is a change in weather conditions. If the weather improves we hope people can return to their homes tomorrow," Juan Ruiz Molina, the regional government's public administration minister, told a news conference.

- Health warning -

Doctors interviewed on Spanish television said inhaling large amounts of the smoke could cause chemical pneumonia, asthma and eye, nose and throat irritation, especially in children, old people and those with weak respiratory systems

Some area schools stayed closed for the day. There are no reports of any injuries.

Story continues

The tyre dump stretches over 10 hectares (25 acres), the equivalent of about 10 football pitches, and straddles the Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions.

About 70 percent of the tyres had burned by Friday night but officials did not know when the blaze would be completely extinguished, said Francisco Martinez, the regional government's environmental minister.

Luis Villarroel, a Madrid firefighting official at the scene, said firebreaks that were created helped restrict the blaze to one active front and it was gradually being brought under control.

The billowing black smoke emanating from the blaze was visible from the Spanish capital but Madrid city hall said on Friday evening that the city's air quality had not registered any change from the fire.

The massive stack of tyres started to form in the 1990s when a company began using the site as a temporary depot for old tyres due to be recycled.

But over the years these started to accumulate, resulting in three-metre (10-feet) high piles.

At the end of 2015, Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha invited bids to empty the dump and destroy the tyres, but the process has yet to start.
Rome (AFP) - The UN food agency said Friday that conflicts in the Near East and North Africa were having a devastating effect on food security in the region, with children particularly vulnerable to chronic hunger.

"The food security situation is deteriorating in a dramatic way in the region," said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization's assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for North Africa and the Near East.

"The number of people suffering hunger has increased from 16 million in 1990 to 33 million today, and it is the only region in the world where poverty and hunger are on the increase," he told AFP.

His warning came as 25 countries from the Near East and North Africa signed a declaration which acknowledged "the need for stability and peace for any development effort to bear fruits in the short, medium and long term".

They expressed deep concern over the lack of food and the nutrition situation "particularly among children in the Near East and North Africa Region, as a consequence of conflict and protracted crisis".

Ould Ahmed said one of FAO's main roles in the region was providing assistance to farmers so they can remain on their land when it is safe to do so -- a move critical to preventing mass displacement and which also lays the foundations for rebuilding.

The food agency released a statement saying rural areas and their populations continue to be the most affected in conflict situations.

"The destruction of crops, livestock and markets undermines rural livelihoods and displaces people from their homes," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva was quoted as saying.

"Food insecurity can undermine the peace process and restart the cycle of violence," he added.
By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - A man convicted of kidnapping and aggravated assault walked out of a Washington state jail after switching identities with a fellow inmate, triggering a manhunt by federal and local authorities, officials said on Friday.

Michael Diontae Johnson, 30, switched identities with another inmate who was scheduled to be released from a Clark County jail on Thursday, according to a statement from the local Sheriff's Office.

His Thursday morning escape was not discovered until hours later when authorities conducted a headcount as inmates were being served meals, the Clark County Sheriff's Office statement said.

Johnson, from Portland, Oregon, was convicted last year in Maricopa County, Arizona, of kidnapping and aggravated assault and sentenced to 24 years in prison, according to prison records.

Authorities sent him to Clark County to face charges including harassment, assault and intimidation of a witness stemming from alleged crimes in the Pacific Northwest state committed before his sentencing in Arizona, officials said.

A representative for Clark County prosecutors could not be reached for comment.

The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for Johnson, who was seen walking out of the jail in blue sneakers and a light jacket while holding some papers.

Authorities did not immediately release the name of the inmate whose identity Johnson is accused of assuming. But Clark County Undersheriff Mike Cooke said in a statement Johnson's escape "required prior planning and the active cooperation of the second inmate."

Clark County officials in their statement suggested the escape might have become easier to prevent in six weeks when they are scheduled to implement biometric screening of inmates being released.

Representatives from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Clark County Sheriff's Office could not immediately be reached for additional comment.

Last month two accused criminals were recaptured within days of breaking out of a Seattle-area psychiatric hospital.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by James Dalgleish)
The International Monetary Fund is warning of dire consequences if Britain votes to leave the European Union.

Heres an excerpt from the IMFs report released Friday:

A vote for exit would precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial market volatility and a hit to output. Following a decision to exit, the UK would need to negotiate the terms of its withdrawal and a new relationship with the EUunless it abandoned single market access and relied on WTO rules, which would significantly raise trade barriers. It seems likely that ratification of a new deal would require unanimous consent of all EU member governments, making agreements subject to considerable political risks. As EU-level agreements also cover the UKs trading relationship with 60 non-EU economies (and prospective arrangements with another 67 countries are in the works), the UK would also need to simultaneously renegotiate these arrangements, or else see them revert to WTO rules. These processes and their eventual outcomes could well remain unresolved for years, weighing heavily on investment and economic sentiment during the interim and depressing output. In addition, volatility in key financial markets would likely rise as markets adjust to new circumstances.

Speaking in London, Christine Lagarde, the IMFs managing director, said the impact on an exit to Britains economy could range from pretty bad to very, very bad. Her comments echoed those by Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, who warned on Thursday that the consequences of Britains exit from the EU could possibly include a technical recession.

Those campaigning for Britains exit from the EU have criticized Lagarde:

The IMF is not independent. It's funded by the EU. Lagarde also needs Osborne's vote to keep her job. #VoteLeave pic.twitter.com/3NSIYdgeVR  Vote Leave (@vote_leave) May 13, 2016

Britons vote on June 23 on whether to stay in the EU or leave. Polls show a close race.

Story continues

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
London (AFP) - IMF boss Christine Lagarde waded into Britain's EU referendum battle on Friday, warning that quitting the European Union would be "pretty bad to very, very bad" for the UK economy.

The International Monetary Fund's managing director issued a bleak outlook for Britain if it votes to leave the EU on June 23.

Lagarde, unveiling the global lender's latest health check on the British economy, said a so-called Brexit could push the country into recession, echoing comments from Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney.

The latest warning comes as Prime Minister David Cameron campaigns fervently to keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc.

With six weeks to go to the referendum, the Remain and Leave camps are neck-and-neck at 50 percent each, according to the What UK Thinks website's average of the last six opinion polls.

Quitting the EU would result in a "protracted period of heightened uncertainty" for Britain, with a likely hit to output and "sizeable" long-term losses in income, according to the IMF's report out Friday.

Global market reaction to a Leave vote is likely to be "negative and could be severe", it added.

- 'Forecasts all negative' -

Presenting the report at the Treasury in central London, Lagarde said IMF experts had looked at a wide range of forecasts and scenario plans and done their own calculations.

"Frankly, in the very vast majority of what we have seen, we haven't seen anything that is positive -- it's always been on the negative side," she said.

"Depending on what hypotheticals you take, it's going to be pretty bad to very, very bad," she said on the impact of Brexit on the British economy.

She said GDP could be between 1.5 percent and 9.5 percent down on what it might otherwise be if Britain were to stay in the EU.

Leave supporters, which hit out against Carney for his and the BoE's stance on Thursday, also criticised the IMF's intervention.

Story continues

"IMF has talked down the UK's economy before and has been wrong in past forecasts about the UK and other countries," read a tweet from the official Leave campaign.

Lagarde told reporters that the IMF's findings were not politically-motivated.

"We're not doing it out of politics -- this is not the job of the IMF.

"We are doing it because it's a significant downside risk, number one. Second, it's not just a domestic issue... it's an international issue."

- Economy may rebound -

The IMF meanwhile forecast the British economy would rebound in the second half of this year if the country stays in the EU.

"Assuming that... the UK voters choose to remain... we will expect growth to rebound," Lagarde said.

The report was published one day after Carney warned that Brexit could prompt a technical recession, or two straight quarters of economic contraction.

Questioned about Carney's comments, Lagarde told reporters: "A technical recession is one of the probabilities in the downside scenario in case of a Leave vote."

British finance minister George Osborne, who spoke briefly alongside Lagarde, welcomed the IMF report.

"The IMF are very clear today -- the hit to growth we could expect from a vote to leave would cost our public finances more than the amount we would gain from no longer contributing to the EU budget," he said.

"Put simply, the IMF says a vote to leave costs us money. If we vote to leave, British families will be poorer and Britain will be poorer."

The Washington-based IMF will publish its final pre-referendum report on the British economy around one week before the vote.

On a visit to London last month, US President Barack Obama said Britain being in the EU magnified its global influence, and outside the bloc it would go to the "back of the queue" when it came to signing trade deals.

And Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned earlier this month that Britain would become "less attractive" for Japanese investment outside the EU.
Business Cycle Investing: Where Are We Now?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Heightened market volatility

The US stock market (SPY) (IWM) (QQQ) is currently subject to increased volatility. The past two years have seen market uncertainty heightening to levels last seen during the flash crash of 2010 and the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011.

The CBOE Volatility Index (or ^VIX), a popular measure of the implied volatility of S&P 500 Index options, breached the 40 level on August 24, 2015, when Chinas (FXI) stock market crash led all major world indexes (ACWI) (VEU) (VTI) to fall. ^VIX was at 13.8 as of April 27, 2016.

Volatility impacts all investments

Volatility impacts all investments. Equity becomes risky, and bond yield spreads widen. Investors rush to commodities or safe-haven Treasuries. However, in the current environment, commodities are in a slump, and safe-haven Treasuries arent yielding anything either. Sovereigns in developed markets such as Europe (VGK) (FEZ) (HEDJ) and Japan (EWJ) (HEWJ) are in negative yields.

Theres also the fear of corporate credit tightening for businesses, as more and more bad loans surface in the wake of the economic slowdown. Citigroup (C) recorded a 32% rise in non-performing corporate loans in 4Q15 compared to 4Q14.

The loan books of Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) have also felt the stresses of increasing non-performing loans. These were mainly attributable to the energy sector. Fears of a contagion are also bound to impact lending in other portfolios.

The merger and acquisition spree and buyback trend that has kept companies occupied for some time now is also waning in the wake of tightening corporate credit conditions.

The light at the end of the tunnel

The only possible recourse for businesses under these conditions seems to be deploying cash into capital investment. When everything else becomes risky, investing in oneself seems like the safest bet. Volatility would then lead to increased long-term capital investment in the United States.

Story continues

Though banks may have become wary of lending, corporate credit may serve as fuel to the US economys growth engine. Well discuss this next.

Continue to Next Part

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Fifteen inmates will face the firing squad in Indonesias next round of executions. Five are Indonesians. The rest, according to local media, are foreign  four Chinese, one Pakistani, two Nigerians, two Senegalese and one Zimbabwean.

The composition of execution lineup suggests an attempt to avoid the intense international attention and outcry that happened when Jakarta executed a total of 14 drug convicts last year all but two of them foreign citizens. Then, there were rallies and social-media campaigns for the Australian Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Filipina migrant worker Mary Jane Veloso and Frenchman Serge Atlaoui, urging President Joko Jokowi Widodo to pardon the condemned.

There is unlikely to be the same kind of uproar when the prison authorities in the penal island of Nusakambangan conduct the next round of executions, however.

Seven of the 10 foreigners set to be executed came from countries that implement the death penalty (China, Pakistan and Nigeria). The remaining three foreign citizens came from poor African countries: Zimbabwe, which is moving toward eliminating capital punishment, and Senegal, which abolished death penalty more than a decade ago.

The five Indonesian inmates have been transferred to the Nusakambangan in the past month  three of them last Sunday  raising speculation that executions are imminent. The government hasnt announced the execution date and convicts identities, however.

The executions can take place any time, but there will not be a soap opera about it this time, Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told journalists recently.

Read: Bali Nine Arrive at Indonesian Execution Island as Jokowi Spurns Clemency Pleas

Todung Mulya Lubis, human-rights lawyer and anti-death-penalty advocate, believes there will be some public outcry over the executions. But it wont be as much as last year, Todung, who represented Australian drug convicts Chan and Sukumaran, tells TIME.

Story continues

Chan and Sukumaran were executed in April 2015, along with the mentally ill Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte and five other men. But, the government suspended Velosos and Atlaouis executions, pending their separate legal cases. The Filipina and the Frenchman are not among the inmates slated to be executed soon.

Read: How Indonesias Migrant Workers Helped Save the Life of Mary Jane Veloso

Several countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Brazil, recalled their ambassadors in protest of the 2015 executions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Jokowi, who visited Berlin last month, of her opposition to capital punishment, but the Indonesian leader defended its use. There are between 30 and 50 people in Indonesia dying per day because of drugs, Jokowi said, once again quoting figures that are questioned by public-health experts.

Following public condemnation of a rape-murder of a schoolgirl last month, the government is also weighing the death penalty for rape offenders.

Indonesian Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo said that the present inmates to be put of death are all drug offenders so they know we are really at war with drugs. But many rights activists say capital punishment does little to deter drug crime, with the number of drug convicts rising despite the executions last year.
Chicago (AFP) - IndyCar will return to Watkins Glen in September with a race on the famed road course in upstate New York replacing a canceled event that had been set for Boston.

The event will be 60 laps over the 3.4-mile permanent road course at Watkins Glen on September 4, the same day a race had been set for the streets of Boston on the original series schedule before organizers called it off last month.

The race, the penultimate event on the 16-event IndyCar schedule, will be the first for the series at Watkins Glen since 2010, when Australian Will Power took the victory.

"Watkins Glen has great racing history and it's a track that will showcase the on-track competition and overall excitement level of our series," said IndyCar competition and operations president Jay Frye.

Watkins Glen, long a Formula One stop, hosted nine prior IndyCar races starting in 1979 when three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Unser captured the first of two consecutive titles on the 2.4-mile short course. Four-time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears won in 1981 over the longer layout.

IndyCars returned to the track in 2005 when New Zealand's Scott Dixon won the first of his three titles in a row at Watkins Glen. American Ryan Hunter-Reay, Britain's Justin Wilson and Power took the checkered flag in the other three series starts on the layout.
Why Have Active Japan-Focused Funds Done Better Than ETFs?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Performance evaluation of BIAJX

The Brown Advisory  WMC Japan Alpha Opportunities Fund (BIAJX) has fallen 17.8% in the first four months of 2016. That places it firmly at the bottom of the pack of the nine funds in this review. In the past one year, the fund has fallen 20.8%, again the biggest decliner among its peers. From the end of December 2015 until May 10, 2016, the fund has fallen 13.9%. Below, weve graphed its performance against two ETFs: the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) and the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ).

Lets look at what has contributed to this forgettable performance by the fund in the first trimester of 2016.

Portfolio composition and contribution to returns

The financials sector was the biggest negative contributor to BIAJXs total returns in the first four months of 2016. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU) and T&D Holdings were the main negative contributors from the sector. Mizuho Financial Group (MFG) also contributed to a sizable degree.

The consumer discretionary sector followed financials in terms of negative contribution to returns. Mitsubishi Motors and Honda Motor (HMC) led the sector down.

A positive contribution from the healthcare sector helped reduce some losses for the fund in the first trimester of 2016. Another major positive contributor was telecom services, which was helped by Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT).

Investor takeaways

Compared to passively managed EWJ and currency hedged HEWJ, BIAJX did quite poorly in the first four months of 2016. Except for stock picks from the consumer discretionary sector, the actively managed fund fared worse than stocks comprising EWJ. Its picks did considerably worse than the passively managed fund in the materials, information technology, and energy sectors.

For now, some investors arent seeing many reasons to look at the fund for investing in Japanese equities. Due to the funds sharp decline, existing investors have little choice but to stay the course and wait for better days.

Story continues

Lets now move on to the Commonwealth Japan Fund (CNJFX).

Continue to Next Part

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ZHEJIANG, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / SORL Auto Parts, Inc. (SORL) will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss the results of the first quarter 2016, to be held Monday, May 16, 2016 at 8:00 AM Eastern Time.

To participate in this event, dial 877-407-0778 domestically, or 201-689-8565 internationally, approximately 5 to 10 minutes before the beginning of the call. Additionally, you can listen to the event online at www.investorcalendar.com/IC/CEPage.asp?ID=174999 as well as via the SORL Auto Parts website (http://www.sorl.cn).

If you are unable to participate during the live webcast, the event archive will be available at www.investorcalendar.com or http://www.sorl.cn.

You may access the teleconference replay by dialing 877-660-6853 domestically or 201-612-7415 internationally, referencing conference ID # 13636680. The replay will be available beginning approximately 2 hours after the completion of the live event, ending at midnight Eastern on June 16, 2016.

About SORL Auto Parts, Inc.

As a global tier one supplier of brake and control systems to the commercial vehicle industry, SORL Auto Parts, Inc. is the market leader for commercial vehicles brake systems, such as trucks and buses in China. The Company distributes products both within China and internationally under the SORL trademark. SORL is listed among the top 100 auto component suppliers in China, with a product range that includes 65 categories with over 2000 specifications in brake systems and others. The Company has four authorized international sales centers in UAE, the United States and Europe. SORL is working to establish a broader global sales network. For more information, please visit http://www.sorl.cn.

SOURCE: Investor Calendar
By Jamie McGeever

LONDON (Reuters) - Investors continued to pull cash out of global equity funds in the latest week, bringing outflows over the last five weeks to the highest level in almost five years, a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch said on Friday.

The exodus from European equity funds was even more dramatic as investors chalked up the 14th week of redemptions in a row, the longest run of outflows since February 2008.

Financial markets have been volatile this year as growth in both developed and emerging economies has remained uneven, and doubts have grown about the ability of policymakers to underpin activity.

The 'risk off' sentiment hitting stocks was mirrored by strong demand for bonds, cash and precious metals, all of which saw chunky inflows in the week ending May 11, the BAML data showed.

Global equity funds posted a net outflow of $7.4 billion, bringing the total outflow over the past five weeks to $44 billion. That's the largest outflow since August 2011, BAML said.

A net $3.9 billion left European equity funds, while emerging market equity funds posted an outflow of $2.3 billion, the largest in four months.

Fixed income funds drew in a net $3.5 billion, marking the 10th inflow out of the past 11 weeks.

Notably, however, investors opted for higher-yielding safe havens, pouring $3.2 billion into investment grade bonds but pulling $1.5 billion out of high yield 'junk' bond funds and $900 million out of low-yielding government bonds.

Money market funds attracted a net $10.9 billion, the largest inflow in 13 weeks, while precious metals drew in $1 billion, the 17th inflow out of the past 18 weeks, BAML said.

So far this year stocks have returned a mere 1 percent, well short of bonds (7 percent) and commodities (11 percent). The U.S. dollar has lost 5 percent year-to-date, BAML said.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by xxxxxxxxx)
By Tom Perry and Babak Dehghanpisheh BEIRUT (Reuters) - A rebel onslaught on the town of Khan Touman near Aleppo last week delivered one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to the coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters waging war on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Reports put the death toll among the Iranian, Afghani and Lebanese militiamen as high as 80 in the attack spearheaded by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. At least 17 of the dead were Iranians, seemingly the highest toll in a battle outside the Islamic Republics borders since the Iran-Iraq war. "Pray for us, we cant move. There are 83 of us in one room. Were waiting for artillery backup so we can pull back," an Iranian fighter wrote in a WhatsApp message, quoted by state-run Iranian website Jaam-e-Jam. God willing, we are martyred rather than taken prisoner. Events in Khan Touman were followed by an even bigger blow to Iran and its allies: news emerged early Friday of the killing of Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who had been overseeing the Lebanese group's military operations in Syria. It is unclear how such reversals will affect the course of a war that grew out of Arab spring-inspired protests in 2011 calling for democratic change. Before Iran, Hezbollah and Russia came to Assads aid, his grip on power appeared to be failing. The commitment of these allies to support him is seen by diplomats and Middle East experts as key to Assad's survival. Such blows are evidence of the price being paid by Iran and Hezbollah in Syria, and the wide range of adversaries they face in a multi-sided war that has escalated again in recent weeks as U.N.-led diplomacy has foundered. Israel has not missed the chance to pick off top Iranian and Hezbollah commanders in Syria over the past year or more. Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group established by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said Badreddine had been killed in an explosion near Damascus airport. One Hezbollah official blamed Israel. The Israeli government has not commented. Other enemies in the predominantly Sunni insurgency are meanwhile celebrating what they see as Iran's defeat in Khan Touman, which followed the loss of the nearby town of al-Eis. One security expert close to Damascus described low morale on the government side because hard-won territory had been lost. One explanation of the reversal could be that there is less Russian air support. Russia has been mounting air strikes in support of Assad for seven months, but it has also been involved in U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts and supported ceasefires. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a rebel fighting in the area said the intensity of recent Russian air strikes had diminished. That could be a source of friction between the alliance supporting Assad, analysts of the conflict say. SHOCK IN IRAN The attack by Nusra and its allies on Khan Touman created shockwaves in Iran. Sites linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps published the names and photos of 13 Iranians killed in Khan Touman. Most of them were from a unit of the Guard in Mazandaran province in northern Iran. But there were concerns among some Iranian officials and military leaders that the report of heavy casualties could sway public opinion against Irans involvement in Syria. A press release from the Revolutionary Guard office in Mazandaran, the province where most of the Iranians killed were based, reflected these concerns. In order to preserve calm in society only information released by their office should be trusted, it said. Among the Iranians killed was Shafie Shafiee, a commander of the elite Quds force, according to the Tasnim news site, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards. His body was seized by Syrian rebels, according to the another site, ABNA. Pictures posted by rebels and reprinted by Iranian news sites show closeups of individual fighters killed in the battle. One photo shows what appears to be at least a dozen bloodied corpses lined up in the hallway of a building. Another set of photos posted by the Syrian opposition show two prisoners of indeterminate nationality, bound and bloodied, being led behind a vehicle. Mohammad Saleh Jokar, a member of the Iranian parliaments National Security and Foreign Policy committee, said there were not any precise numbers on how many Iranians had been killed or taken prisoner in the Khan Touman "disaster". Parliament speaker Ali Larijani called it a crime carried out by "cowardly terrorists" during a ceasefire - an apparent reference to a cessation of hostilities agreement to which the Nusra Front and other jihadist groups are not a party. "This incident will not go unanswered," Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council said in an interview with the Young Journalists Club news site this week. Footage shot from a drone by rebels shows a complex assault on Khan Touman that began with a barrage of rockets or mortars and involved armored vehicles and a tank. A mushroom cloud, apparently caused by a car bomb, is seen erupting near a building. HEZBOLLAH VOWS TO FIGHT ON Iran has announced the death of half a dozen generals in Syria, and a much larger number of less senior officers since 2012. Hezbollah has meanwhile lost four prominent fighters, including Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the group's late military commander Imad Moughniyah. Badreddine was the most senior Hezbollah figure to be killed since Moughniyah was assassinated in 2008, also in Damascus. Hezbollah is estimated to have lost a total of around 1,200 fighters in Syria, where its highly trained guerrillas have provided crucial support to the Syrian military. The group depicts its war in Syria as an existential struggle against ultra-radical jihadists such as the Nusra Front and Islamic State, groups it refers to as "takfiris". Speaking at Badreddine's funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs on Friday, deputy Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said: "Oh martyr we are continuing in the path you chose, in confronting Israel and in confronting the takfiris". (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam; Editing by Samia Nakhoul and Janet McBride)
By Dhara Ranasinghe

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Irish 10-year bond yields hit their lowest level in almost a month on Friday, outpacing euro zone peers before a Moody's ratings review that may end with an upgrade for Europe's fastest growing economy.

Most euro zone bond yields were lower, with benchmark German Bund yields heading back towards Thursday's one-month low even as data showed stronger-than-expected German economic growth in the first quarter.

Ratings were in focus with Moody's expected to report on Ireland and Standard & Poor's scheduled to give an update on Italy later in the day.

Commerzbank and Rabobank said there was a likelihood that Moody's could upgrade Ireland's Baa1 rating, which has a positive outlook.

A fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio, a commitment to improving Ireland's fiscal position and progress in strengthening the banking sector all bode well for a ratings upgrade, analysts said.

Ireland has rebounded quickly from a 2010 international bailout and its economy benefited in 2015 from further falls in unemployment, a bumper year for retail sales and a weak euro that boosted the large export sector.

The Irish economy grew by 7.8 percent last year, making it the fastest growing economy in the European Union for a second straight year.

Political uncertainty has also eased a little after Enda Kenny was re-elected Ireland's prime minister a week ago, ending 10 weeks of political deadlock.

"A stronger economy is helping bring down Ireland's debt-to-GDP ratio at a fast pace and the new government, while in a minority, remains committed to fiscal consolidation," said Lyn Graham-Taylor, a fixed income strategist at Rabobank.

"We're confident about a one-notch upgrade."

Ireland's 10-year bond yield fell three basis points to 0.83 percent, the lowest level in almost a month, outperforming German and French yields that shed 1.6 and 1.9 bps respectively .

The outperformance helped to narrow the yield gap between Irish and German bonds to about 70 bps - down from 79 bps a week ago when the spread was at its widest since late February.

Story continues

The Irish/French 10-year yield spread has narrowed about 6 bps over the past week, with Commerzbank analysts expecting Irish bonds to keep a bullish momentum against French bonds even with Britain's referendum on EU membership looming in June.

Britain is one of Ireland's biggest trading partners and a vote to leave the European Union -- or Brexit -- is a risk for the Irish economy.

Cantor Fitzgerald analysts estimate that the average daily volume in Irish government bonds has fallen 40 percent since 2016 began as investors withdraw ahead of the British vote.

In contrast to Ireland, Commerzbank expressed some caution over Italian bonds ahead of an S&P ratings review but expected the agency to affirm Italy's rating at BBB- with a stable outlook.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Gavin Jones ROME (Reuters) - Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement on Friday suspended the mayor of Parma, its most prominent local leader, after he was placed under investigation for abuse of office. Federico Pizzarotti, who has run the largest city under 5-Star's control since a shock election victory in 2012, said this week he was being investigated in connection with his appointment of the head of the city's opera house. Pizzarotti was the second 5-Star mayor in a week to reveal he had been caught up in a legal probe, an embarrassment for a party that has based its appeal on a squeaky-clean image that it said marked it out from the "corrupt" mainstream parties. 5-Star, Italy's second largest party, said it was not suspending Pizzarotti because of the investigation in itself, but because he had kept it secret "for months" and failed to provide information when the movement asked him for it. "Transparency is the first duty," 5-Star founder Beppe Grillo wrote on his blog. Pizzarotti has 10 days to provide the movement with a satisfactory justification for his conduct or be expelled altogether. On Saturday Filippo Nogarin, mayor of the Tuscan city of Livorno, said he was under investigation for fraudulent bankruptcy in connection with the city rubbish collection company. Both Pizzarotti and Nogarin deny any wrongdoing. The investigations come at a delicate time for 5-Star ahead of mayoral elections next month in Italy's largest cities, where it hopes to make major gains. According to opinion polls its candidate leads the field in the capital Rome. A national survey released by Index Research pollsters this week suggested 5-Star had overtaken Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) as the most popular force in Italy.. However, most polls still give the PD a slim lead, which has narrowed steadily over the last year. Pizzarotti, 42, has often been seen as a maverick, having clashed with 5-Star's national leaders on several occasions. Soon after taking office he was widely criticised within the movement for backtracking on an election campaign promise to close down Parma's trash incinerator. Nogarin, considered a more orthodox figure who is closer to 5-Star's 5-member national directorate, has not been suspended, but has said he is ready to resign as mayor if the investigation shows wrongdoing. (Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Andrew Roche)
Hollywood actress-director Fagun Thakrar and Bollywoods Jacqueline Fernandez are all set to team up on an international film pretty soon.

During the weekend, Jacqueline visited the critically-acclaimed international star and bonded with her , in Los Angeles. Moreover, the two beauties were seen having dinner together at a cool hotspot in Beverly Hills.

Jacqueline has just returned from Dubai where shes been promoting her new film, Dishoom, while Fagun is currently directing her debut international film with Warner Brothers in LA.

So, Will Fagun be casting the Aladin star in the next international film she directs. We will just have to wait and watch.

Recommended Read: Athiya and Jacqueline Look Lovely in Blue at the Baaghi Success Bash!

On a related note, Fagun recently took to the red carpet at Cannes 2016 with style, wearing an incredible long pink dress with a laced front and a stunning train from Galia Lahav. Moreover, she also wore magnificent diamond earrings and a bracelet by Avakian.

Interestingly, as far as Jacqueline is concerned, she has a busy year ahead. The 30-year-old will soon be seen inDishoom, Housefull 3 and Flying Jatt.
X-Men actor James McAvoy and his wife, Anne-Marie Duff, are calling it quits on their marriage. The couple announced their plans to divorce via a statement to Us Weekly on Friday, May 13.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Splits of 2016

It is with tremendous sadness that we have come to the decision to divorce, their joint statement read. We enter this next phase with continued friendship, love and respect for one another and the shared focus of caring for our son. We ask that you respect our and, most importantly, our childs privacy during this time."



The Atonement actor, 37, and actress, 45, married in October 2006 after meeting on set of Shameless. McAvoy played Duffs characters love interest on the British comedy series.

PHOTOS: Costar Couples

During an interview with Ryan Seacrest following their nuptials, McAvoy gushed that after marrying Duff, "The world seemed less scary.  And I started to like myself a little bit more."

PHOTOS: Hollywood's Most Expensive Divorces

The pair are parents to 5-year-old son Brendan.

Sign up now for the Us Weekly newsletter to get breaking celebrity news, hot pics, and more delivered straight to your inbox!
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States are preparing to hold a summit meeting around May 25, government sources told Reuters on Friday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama will likely meet ahead of a Group of Seven summit to be held in western Japan on May 26 and 27, the sources said, declining to be identified because the schedule is not yet official. They are expected to discuss issues such as the global economy, North Korea and the South China Sea, according to the sources. (Reporting by Takaya Yamaguchi, writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
When Jodie Foster directed her first movie, Little Man Tate, in 1991, TIME ran a cover story about her titled A Director Is Born. Written by TIMEs late film critic Richard Corliss, the profile predicted that the 28-year-old would handle the transition from actor to director with the same grace with which she navigated her way beyond the perils of childhood stardom. As the child performer was to the adult actress, so the tyro director may be to the mature auteur, Corliss concluded. If this is the larva, imagine the butterflies to come.

In the 25 years since then, those butterflies have been few and far between. Foster directed just one more film in the 90s, 1995s Home for the Holidays, and another, The Beaver, more than 15 years after that. She tells TIME she felt there was so much more she had to say, but the demands of her acting career and motherhood kept directing mostly out of reach. But now, with the release of Money Monster, her fourth and most ambitious film yet, Foster is determined to remain behind the cameraat least, until she decides its time to get back in front of it.

On its surface, Money Monster is a political thriller: After a bad stock tip, a disgruntled investor named Kyle Budwell (Jack OConnell) takes slick financial TV host Lee Gates (George Clooney) hostage on-air, as his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) does her best to keep everyone alive (and make some good TV while shes at it). Its a global yarn that weaves together programmers in Seoul and hackers in Iceland, miners in South Africa and CEOs on corporate jets. To Foster, though, its an emotional journey about two men facing different flavors of failure, reckoning with their shame and all of the people, including themselves, theyve let down.

With the film premiering at Cannes this week and opening in theaters May 13, Foster talked to TIME about the movies expression of righteous rage, why now feels like the time to focus on directing and why shes excited to return to acting in her golden years.

TIME: Do you see Kyle as something of an everyman, standing in for Americans who feel screwed by the Great Recession?

Foster: Definitely. He starts off pretty threatening. Hes clearly unstable. Hes filled with righteous rage, so hes not someone you want to emulate. And yet you see the simple things you completely relate to: that he has a terrible opinion of himself, he thinks hes dumb, hes thought hes dumb his whole life. This glitch just keeps pointing a finger at him and saying, Youre too dumb to understand, and that sets him off.

Its not a clean heroes-vs.-villains narrative.

It isnt. And yet, when you finally get to what really happened, [its] pretty simple. Somebody abused the system out of greed. He was just looking for somebody to say they did the wrong thing and that he was right. He wanted moral vindication, he wanted ethical vindication. Its not like he was saying, Give me money. He was saying, Give me dignity.

His rhetoric about the system being rigged sounds a lot like that of Bernie Sanders.

We wrote it first! [Laughs] But listen, its a dialogue thats out there. Its not new because its true.

How much do you see this movie as reflecting political conversations in the ether right now?

I think it just reflects our time, in terms of our relationship with technology and the democratization that technology has brought us and the bad side effects of technology. 2008 was a wake-up call, people remember it, they got interested. Our film is talking about stuff thats happening now. I do feel that the film is equal parts cynicism and absolute hope. Leaving the theater you could have some interesting political conversations. But I dont see it as a political film. The best way to get people engaged is to make sure that you create characters that are emotional and full, where the drama comes first.

I understand Patty (Roberts character) went through some changes from the original script.

She probably changed the most. She was really just the producer of the show and said, Go to two, go to three, go to two, and we brought in the idea of her speaking into an earpiece, so they were able to have this intimacy during this whole crisis that nobody else was privy to.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts have such a believable rapport. How much of that was there from the get-go and how much developed during filming?

Their chemistry and the sparkle between them is just undeniable. Its almost better now that theyre older, because it is really a brother-sister thing, and its not confused with sexuality. They were not in the same room for the whole movie. They were only in the same room for the first and last scene.

Was she actually in his ear?

No, never. We thought about that but we couldnt figure it out with the schedules. They werent even in the same country.

Did you see yourself in any one of the characters more than the others?

Part of the job of being a director is seeing yourself in every one of the characters, and if theres one salient feature in my films, its that everyone has a point of view. So I absolutely see myself in Lee, somebody whose entire self-worth is wrapped up in his image of himself as someone in the public eye and doesnt know who he is unless hes the center of attention. I see myself in Patty, the person whos the methodical, calm producer, whos producing everyones survival because she knows how to be head-first. And I see myself in Kyle, this rage of having done the right thing. I showed up on time, I worked hard, I did what I was supposed to do and I got screwed over, and its not fair.

Did this feel more ambitious than films you directed in the past?

Oh yeah. Obviously the budget is bigger, and two bigger stars, so theres a lot more on the line. Its a thriller and it operates as a general public film, and I think it should because thats the best way to tell this story. But its also really intimate and complex and layered. I love the idea of being challenged to figure out how to do both of those things.

How do you think having such a long acting career influences your approach to directing?

Oh my gosh, everything. All those years of watching different filmmakers and how they come up with decisions and tell a story, all of that has just been a great film school. Its not like Im going to stop acting, but this is definitely my time to focus on directing.

Why does now feel like the right time?

Probably because my kids are older, they dont need me to be 100% as present as they did before. In fact they need more space and they need to know that mom does something else that fulfills her. I only directed three movies in almost 20 years, and I sort of regret that because theres so much I want to say, but I had a hard time juggling my acting life, my family life and the directing. I think unless you can commit to the directing 100%, its nearly impossible to get movies off the ground.

Does directing coincide at all with a desire to be less in the spotlight?

I think so, although Ive done so much press in the last few months it really doesnt feel like it! I think I just want to do the work, and I know that my job as an actor is obviously doing the work but its also promoting the movie and being abrand is the wrong word, being a somethingthats not true of directing. My job as a director is the hard, dirty work of prepping and production and post and telling stories. A tiny portion of that is selling the movies, and right now that feels like a better balance.

A lot of women say that meaty roles dwindle after a certain age. Whats your stance on that?

Well, thats just true. Its true of characters in novels as well. I think people are inherently more interested in a younger persons story, so theres less stories about older people. But Im still excited about making movies, and Im excited about having a different kind of career as an actor now. Im excited about being 60 or 70 and playing interesting parts where Im not fighting the expectation of carrying the movie or looking glamorous. I think itll be nice to really do the work.

How tired are you of having to answer questions about the state of women behind the camera these days? You must be asked about it six times a day.

[Laughs] Im not that tired. Its good that people are talking about it now. I dont know why they werent 30 years ago, because its not like its a new issue. Theres always been lots of women directors in Europe and on TV, thats changed a lot in the last 20 years. Its just mainstream features that havent. Diversity takes a hit when the studios are so averse to risk, and somehow women and minorities are considered risks. People want to change, they just dont know how. You change the culture from within, and you have to challenge people to be interested in different stories. Thats where I think the dialogue has been kind of simplistic. Itll be fun to start seeing people have a more complex dialogue about diversity in Hollywood.
Disneys The Jungle Book, as expected, surpassed $500M internationally yesterday and today will join Zootopia as the second Disney release of 2016 to cross the $800M worldwide mark. And the studio and Marvels Captain America: Civil War will become the third in the $800M realm soon enough. Its global cume right now sits at $788.2M.

Meanwhile, Jungle Book is swinging higher in the U.K. than Deadpool. By the end of this weekend, the Jon Favreau-directed live-action, CGI take on the beloved Rudyard Kipling book will overtake Deadpool to become the highest-grossing title in the region (UK/Ireland). It currently has $54.4M. Add that to Mowglis other successes: Jungle Book is the highest grossing Hollywood release ever in India($36.8M) as well as the third-highest grossing Disney release ever in China with $148.2M.

Domestically, The Jungle Book will push past the $300M mark this weekend. As it currently stands, it has cumed $294M stateside after pulling in another $1.39M last night. Internationally, its cume is $501M and globally $795M.

The film opens in Korea on June 2 and in Japan on August 11.

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By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan security forces have killed 10 suspected al Shabaab Islamist militants and arrested 36 others in nine months since launching an operation against the insurgents on the coast, the head of the operation said on Friday. Somalia's al Shabaab have claimed a series of attacks in the past three years or so in Kenya that have killed hundreds of people. Several raids targeted coastal sites, and Kenyan officers say they have been launched from Boni forest hideouts. James Ole Serian, head of the joint army and police operation, said troops had swept the forest and destroyed hideouts used by the militants, who say they target Kenya for sending troops into Somalia with an African force fighting al Shabaab there. "We are having a permanent base set up within the forest that will be used by both our military and police to ensure continuous security," he told Reuters, adding that "around 10" suspected militants who refused to surrender had been killed. In addition, he said at least 36 had been detained. Kenya also said on Monday it was drawing up a timetable to close Dadaab camp, home to about 350,000 Somali refugees, citing concerns it was being used by militants. The United Nations, the United States and rights groups have urged Kenya to reconsider. In 2014, about 100 people were killed by al Shabaab militants in the Mpeketoni area of Lamu County, next to Boni forest. Last year, Ole Serian said they had destroyed five al Shabaab hideouts in the forest and recovered a cache of arms. Kenya has beefed up security in Lamu County and Lamu town, a popular tourist destination where visitor numbers in the wake of the militant attacks. Lamu lies near the Somali border. (Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry was to leave for Saudi Arabia on Friday to launch a week of efforts to try to end the crises in Libya and Syria.

From Jeddah, where he will meet senior Saudi leaders, Kerry will fly on Monday to Vienna where he will co-host international meetings on the two conflicts.

Then on Wednesday, he will fly on to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and talks on the full range of challenges facing the Western allies.

Kerry's spokesman John Kirby said the secretary of state and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni would jointly host the Libya crisis meeting.

Attendees will "discuss international support for the new Government of National Accord, with a focus on security," Kirby said.

Libya's new UN-backed government has been set up to unite the fractured country and fight the Islamic State group, but it is still a work in progress.

Officials say the fledgling regime is drawing up a list of requests for Western partners to assist its forces with arms, training and intelligence.

After the Libya meeting, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead a meeting of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group.

Kirby said the goal was to "ensure humanitarian access throughout the country, and to expedite a negotiated political transition in Syria."

The ISSG, under the odd couple of Kerry and Lavrov, is pushing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and a coalition of opposition groups to respect a shaky truce.

Officials hope next week's meeting will inject new life into the peace process and -- if the ceasefire holds -- secure talks on forming a unity government.

And, with Russia and France, Kerry will also co-host a meeting on the Nagorny-Karabakh conflict with the rival Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.
London (AFP) - Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has insisted he is determined to fulfil his contract after being linked with the vacancy at Premier League rivals Everton.

Roberto Martinez was sacked by the Merseysiders on Thursday and Dutch boss Koeman was immediately suggested as a candidate to replace the Spaniard.

But Koeman has a year left on his Southampton contract, having taken charge in August 2014, and on Friday he told reporters he was in no hurry to leave St Mary's.

Asked if his future was at Southampton, Koeman replied: "Yes. I did not expect this question. After this morning, I was surprised.

"(I can tell you) nothing, because I am the manager of Southampton.

"Everybody knows I have one year left on my contract and we will sit together and analyse this season and we will talk about the future and that is what the news is today," the former Netherlands international added.

While Everton are in mid-table, seventh-placed Southampton could yet qualify for the Europa League if they beat FA Cup finalists Crystal Palace on Sunday's final day of the Premier League season and other results go their way.

"What is good is that the club are happy with the work, together with the technical staff and the players, that we have done," said Koeman.

"There is a very good understanding between the manager and the players and that is good because it is important to continue.

"So let's do our job this weekend and there is time enough before I go on holiday to have a talk about the future of the club.

"Everything can happen very fast and that is no problem."
Theres often been the notion in the media that Woody Allen has stacked up a number of scripts over the years in a drawer which he churns out on a regular basis, but as his sister Letty Aronson, who also produced Cafe Society told us some time ago, her brother might have a couple of scripts in his drawer, but he has a drawer full of ideas.

And in the case of Cafe Society, a love triangle comedy about a young wannabe agent in Hollywood (Jesse Eisenberg) who falls for his studio boss/uncles (Steve Carell) secretary-mistress (Kristen Stewart) during 1930s Hollywood, the Oscar-winning filmmaker explains that the movie was written fairly recently.

It was a romance that inspired me, the love story between the characters, that was the whole inspiration, says Allen.

In regards to returning to Los Angeles as a film setting, 39 years after Annie Hall, Allen adds, I could have made it contemporary,could have made it in New York or anywhere else, then the idea hit me to make him (Eisenbergs character) an agent and the whole thing blossomed into a more picturesque atmosphere.

For Stewart, it marks her third film opposite Eisenberg after 2009s Adventureland and last years American Ultra. On reteaming the stars, Allen explains, I needed two very strong people to play this. I needed a female who was that age, and beautiful and who could be believable as a naive Nebraskan secretary in Hollywood who can later transform herself in to a very sophisticated diamond-wearing, ya know, nightlife, cafe society type.

For the actors, working with a master cinematic craftsman such as Allen proved to be less daunting and more of a collaboration than they ever imagined. Says Eisenberg, I think its the strangest thing that someone, who in my opinion, is the best writer of movie scripts, who has a specific voice and cadence, is so open to collaboration. Hell ask us to feel free to change his words, which we dont want to, or fill in a blank if there is a blank because well do long scenes in one shot.

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Amazon reportedly shelled out eight figures for Cafe Society, which kicked off this years Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday. It was the third time that an Allen title opened the festival after 2002s Hollywood Ending, and 2011s Midnight In Paris. Lionsgate will platform Cafe Society this summer starting on July 15 before going wide on July 29.

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If North Carolina's transphobic HB2 isn't enough to shake your faith in humanity, conservatives' support of the legislation might do the trick. Former presidential candidate Ted Cruz used an analogy of Donald Trump dressing up as Hillary Clinton endorse the bill, while people like Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson made predictable statements about the opposition to HB2, saying it represents the peak of the "mob mentality of political correctness."

But while it would be easy to be discouraged by all of the hate, actress and transgender rights activist Laverne Cox is choosing to focus on the messages of those who have spoken out against the law.

Read more: A North Carolina School Thinks Students Need Mace for Self-Defense in Bathrooms

According to CNN, Cox said at the Forbes Women's Summit, "I'm really excited that the Justice Department is suing the state of North Carolina," applauding Attorney General's Loretta Lynch's declaration that the bill is a violation of civil rights.

Source: Gerry Broome/AP

Cox added that she's also inspired by businesses like Target who have shown their support for transgender people.

To Cox's point, it's possible the backlash against North Carolina's HB2 has brought more visibility to transgender people and the discrimination they face on a daily basis. On Friday, Merriam Webster's Dictionary reported that since Obama's directive to schools to allow trans students to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, there's been a 630% spike in people searching "transgender."

"Those bills are about making us not exist," Cox said at the summit. "For decades [we've] been told that we don't exist ... But I'm a testament that trans people do exist. There are trans people all over this country that exist."
By Ercan Gurses and Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The main challenger for the leadership of Turkey's nationalist opposition vowed on Friday a party congress would go ahead this weekend despite the threat of police action, amid an internal party power struggle that could be crucial for President Tayyip Erdogan. Several hundred members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) have launched a bid to challenge Devlet Bahceli, its leader for much of the last two decades, hoping to change party rules at a special congress on Sunday in order to oust him. Bahceli's removal could lead to a surge in support for the MHP, weakening the chances of Erdogan's ruling AK Party securing the stronger majority in parliament he wants for it to change the constitution and hand him greater powers. Rallying around their veteran leader, MHP members loyal to Bahceli have challenged the legal basis for the special congress in several courts. A top appeals court decision is still pending, leaving the power struggle in legal limbo. "The Ankara governor's office and the security forces have taken the necessary security measures, in line with written instructions from the relevant court, and will continue to do so," Yucel Bulut, an MHP lawyer, told a news conference, vowing any efforts to hold the congress would be blocked. Bahceli's main challenger, Meral Aksener, a female 59-year-old former interior minister who polls suggest could double support for the MHP, vowed on Twitter to press ahead with the meeting, calling on party members to converge on an Ankara hotel congress hall on Sunday morning. "I call on all our delegates. Our party congress this Sunday will go ahead," Sinan Ogan, another leadership challenger, told Haberturk TV, after a ruling by one of the courts involved paved the way for the meeting to go ahead. But minutes later, state broadcaster TRT reported fresh verdicts from two other local courts ordering the meeting halted. The AKP has increased its influence over the judiciary in recent years, and its opponents say the legal chaos surrounding the nationalists' congress is the result of clandestine efforts to keep Bahceli in power. The AKP, founded by Erdogan, is seeking support from the MHP to hand him greater powers, something party members loyal to Bahceli are seen as potentially willing to do. Aksener has vowed to defend Turkey's current parliamentary system and has expressed her opposition to Erdogan taking more power. AKP officials reject any suggestions that the government or ruling party is influencing the courts, or that the MHP's leadership battle and AKP efforts to win its support on constitutional change are in any way linked. (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun in Ankara; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Andrew Roche)
By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah's top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in a blast at a base near Damascus airport, the Lebanese Shi'ite group said on Friday, one of the biggest blows to its leadership the Iranian-backed organization has ever sustained. Hezbollah did not immediately say on Friday who it blamed for the attack, but its deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said there were clear indications of who was behind it, and the group would announce the outcome of its investigation within hours. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. At least one Hezbollah figure blamed the group's age-old enemy Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets in Syria several times in the past since civil war started there in 2011. Israel declined to comment, but a former Israeli official said his country would be glad Badreddine was dead. Hezbollah also has many other foes in Syria, where it fights in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad against a range of Sunni Muslim groups including Islamic State. Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders gathered at a mosque in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut and gave Badreddine a military funeral, waving Hezbollah flags. They chanted Shi'ite religious slogans, as well as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine. In a letter, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended condolences "for the martyrdom of this great jihadist ... who embodied devotion and vigor and was legendary in his defense of high Islamic goals and his defense of the Lebanese people who resist oppression and terrorism." The U.S. government believed Badreddine, 55, was in charge of Hezbollah's military operations in Syria. He is the most senior Hezbollah official killed since 2008 when his brother-in-law, long-serving military commander Imad Moughniyah, was blown up by a bomb planted in his car in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel. The latest killing follows other recent losses for Hezbollah and Iran in Syria, despite Russian military intervention in support of Assad and his allies in a five year multi-sided civil war that has drawn in neighboring states and world powers. At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks. Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the explosion at the base was caused by an air strike, a missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed. "This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," said Nawar al-Saheli, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon's parliament, hinting at the prospect of retaliation: "The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time." Israel never confirms or denies allegations of targeted killings of individuals abroad. When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment. Hezbollah is Lebanon's most powerful political and military group, having grown stronger since forcing Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict. Israel deems Hezbollah its most potent enemy and worries that it is becoming entrenched on its Syrian front and acquiring more advanced weaponry. "We don't know if Israel is responsible for this," Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told Israel's Army Radio. "Remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters without Israel." "But from Israel's view, the more people with experience, like Badreddine, who disappear from the wanted list, the better," he said. A U.S. Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, said it was too soon to assess what impact Badreddines death might have on Hezbollah but noted that it had suffered heavy casualties in Syria. But with regards to this specific strike, who took it and what the downstream impact is going to be of losing this leader  its simply too soon to tell, he said. HIJACKERS SOUGHT HIS RELEASE Announcing his death, Hezbollah quoted Badreddine as saying he would return from Syria victorious or as a martyr. A photo released by the group showed him before his death, smiling and wearing a camouflage baseball cap. Badreddine's death sparked wide condemnation from Lebanese political allies. "His martyrdom is a big loss for the Lebanese in their fight against Israeli-Zionist aggression and Takfiri terrorism," Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, in reference to Israel and Sunni militant groups. "His loss will leave a vacuum but the lesson is to continue on the path that he chose -- resistance and Jihad until victory is achieved." Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990. His release from jail in Kuwait was one of the demands made by the hijackers of a TWA flight in 1985, and of the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988. For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments. Badreddine was also one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni Muslim figures. Hezbollah denied any involvement and said the charges were politically motivated. Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict. These include prominent figures Samir Qantar and Jihad Moughniyah, the son of Imad Moughniyah, who were killed in separate Israeli attacks last year. Hezbollah responded in both cases, though the incidents were contained, with the sides seeking to avoid any repeat of the 2006 war which exacted a heavy price in Israel and Lebanon. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Timothy Heritage and Peter Graff)
By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hezbollah's top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in a blast at a base near Damascus airport, the Lebanese Shi'ite group said on Friday, one of the biggest blows to its leadership the Iranian-backed organisation has ever sustained. Hezbollah did not immediately say on Friday who it blamed for the attack, but its deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said there were clear indications of who was behind it, and the group would announce the outcome of its investigation within hours. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. At least one Hezbollah figure blamed the group's age-old enemy Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets in Syria several times in the past since civil war started there in 2011. Israel declined to comment, but a former Israeli official said his country would be glad Badreddine was dead. Hezbollah also has many other foes in Syria, where it fights in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad against a range of Sunni Muslim groups including Islamic State. Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders gathered at a mosque in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut and gave Badreddine a military funeral, waving Hezbollah flags. They chanted Shi'ite religious slogans, as well as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine. In a letter, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended condolences "for the martyrdom of this great jihadist ... who embodied devotion and vigour and was legendary in his defense of high Islamic goals and his defence of the Lebanese people who resist oppression and terrorism." The U.S. government believed Badreddine, 55, was in charge of Hezbollah's military operations in Syria. He is the most senior Hezbollah official killed since 2008 when his brother-in-law, long-serving military commander Imad Moughniyah, was blown up by a bomb planted in his car in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel. The latest killing follows other recent losses for Hezbollah and Iran in Syria, despite Russian military intervention in support of Assad and his allies in a five year multi-sided civil war that has drawn in neighbouring states and world powers. At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks. Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the explosion at the base was caused by an air strike, a missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed. "This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," said Nawar al-Saheli, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon's parliament, hinting at the prospect of retaliation: "The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time." Israel never confirms or denies allegations of targetted killings of individuals abroad. When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment. Hezbollah is Lebanon's most powerful political and military group, having grown stronger since forcing Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict. Israel deems Hezbollah its most potent enemy and worries that it is becoming entrenched on its Syrian front and acquiring more advanced weaponry. "We don't know if Israel is responsible for this," Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told Israel's Army Radio. "Remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters without Israel." "But from Israel's view, the more people with experience, like Badreddine, who disappear from the wanted list, the better," he said. A U.S. Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus. U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, said it was too soon to assess what impact Badreddines death might have on Hezbollah but noted that it had suffered heavy casualties in Syria. But with regards to this specific strike, who took it and what the downstream impact is going to be of losing this leader  its simply too soon to tell, he said. HIJACKERS SOUGHT HIS RELEASE Announcing his death, Hezbollah quoted Badreddine as saying he would return from Syria victorious or as a martyr. A photo released by the group showed him before his death, smiling and wearing a camouflage baseball cap. Badreddine's death sparked wide condemnation from Lebanese political allies. "His martyrdom is a big loss for the Lebanese in their fight against Israeli-Zionist aggression and Takfiri terrorism," Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, in reference to Israel and Sunni miliant groups. "His loss will leave a vacuum but the lesson is to continue on the path that he chose -- resistance and Jihad until victory is achieved." Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990. His release from jail in Kuwait was one of the demands made by the hijackers of a TWA flight in 1985, and of the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988. For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments. Badreddine was also one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni Muslim figures. Hezbollah denied any involvement and said the charges were politically motivated. Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict. These include prominent figures Samir Qantar and Jihad Moughniyah, the son of Imad Moughniyah, who were killed in separate Israeli attacks last year. Hezbollah responded in both cases, though the incidents were contained, with the sides seeking to avoid any repeat of the 2006 war which exacted a heavy price in Israel and Lebanon. (Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Timothy Heritage and Peter Graff)
The long-simmering war between Republicans in Congress and the Internal Revenue Service is escalating, with the news that the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings that could lead to the impeachment of IRS Director John Koskinen.

Koskinen, an experienced businessman who later moved into public service, was brought in to run the beleaguered IRS in 2013 after the revelation that conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status were targeted for special examination by IRS officials.

Related: IRS Now Pegs Tax Cheating by Americans at $458 Billion Annually

He stepped into a firestorm in taking the job. Congressional committees were already investigating the agency and Koskinen was frequently brought up to Capitol Hill to face intensely hostile questioning from lawmakers, frequently regarding things that happened before he arrived at the agency. The agencys admission that it had failed to retain all the work emails sent and received by Lois Lerner, a key figure in the scandal, followed by a series of other failures to produce additional emails and the destruction of computer equipment that GOP lawmakers described as evidence, further soured Koskinens relationship with lawmakers.

In October of last year, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, introduced a motion to impeach Koskinen. Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust, Chaffetz said. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled.

On Friday, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Virginia Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, announced two hearings, the first of which will take place on May 24 and will review the results of the oversight committees investigation into Koskinen. Koskinen himself will be invited to testify. In the second hearing, lawmakers will hear advice from outside experts as to whether or not impeachment proceedings are justified.

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Related: The IRS Just Found Enough Money to Hire 700 Additional Workers

The fact that officials at the IRS wielded their power to target certain Americans for their political views is both outrageous and contrary to our nations values, Goodlatte said in a statement. Our government is supposed to work for all Americans, not for a particular partisan agenda. As a result of the IRS targeting, conservative groups were singled out across the nation, resulting in lengthy paperwork requirements, overly burdensome information requests, and lengthy, unwarranted delays in their applications.

Despite repeated congressional efforts to get to the bottom of this matter, Obama Administration officials, including the IRS Commissioner, have consistently undermined the investigation. Over the coming weeks, the House Judiciary Committee will closely examine Commissioner Koskinens misconduct and the implications of his actions.

The IRS had not commented on the announcement as of Friday afternoon.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
(Adds order details for Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority deal)

By Hilary Russ

May 12 (Reuters) - Long-term U.S. municipal bond prices rose again on Thursday, driving the 30-year yield down 1 basis point to a record low of 2.44 percent, with even some lower-quality deals selling at tighter spreads.

"There appears to be copious amounts of cash around" and "spreads are compressing as investors reach for yield," said Greg Saulnier, a Municipal Market Data (MMD) analyst. Bond prices move inversely to yields.

Previous record lows, set in November 2012, were 2.47 percent for the 30-year and 1.47 percent for the 10-year. Top-rated long-term munis broke that record on Wednesday and again on Thursday, according to MMD, a Thomson Reuters company.

Though the 10-year yield for triple-A munis rose 1 basis point on Thursday, it still closed just 7 basis points off the record at 1.54 percent.

Investors have poured money into muni bond funds for 32 weeks straight, with $22.1 billion of inflows this year, according to data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters unit.

The week ended May 11 was the biggest in inflows so far this year, with $1.2 billion.

"This streak is quite amazing given the low levels of municipal rates and ratios, but the risk-adjusted yields on munis are still reasonable given the alternatives," said Chris Mauro, head of U.S. municipals strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

He will be watching whether bondholders put their money back into the market after their June 1 coupon payments.

"If recent weekly flows are any indicator, the reinvestment could be quite strong," he said.

Flows into long-term funds have also been near record levels as investors extend duration in an effort to pick up yield, Mauro said.

The last week in April, long-term muni funds had $1.1 billion of inflows, their strongest showing since February 1997.

Investor demand for any yield at all in a global low-yield environment even squeezed spreads on lower credit deals.

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On Thursday, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority received $2 billion of orders for its $368.7 million offering, making it more than five times oversubscribed, according to MMD.

But a spokesman for Central Texas told Reuters on Friday that the deal got $4.2 billion of orders, meaning it was more than 11 times oversubscribed.

The authority's senior lien revenue refunding bonds were rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service, a low investment grade rating.

The demand allowed Central Texas to bump prices on its entire deal. The yield of bonds maturing in 2046 with a 5 percent coupon fell 13 basis points to 3 percent.

(Reporting by Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby and Matthew Lewis)
(Adds EEOC comments, paragraphs 6, 8)

By Jonathan Stempel

May 13 (Reuters) - Lowe's Cos has reached an $8.6 million settlement of a U.S. agency lawsuit accusing the nation's second-largest home improvement retailer of illegally firing workers who went on medical leave for a long time.

The accord resolves Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that Lowe's violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by terminating employees whose medical leaves of absence exceeded the company's 180- or 240-day maximum leave policy.

A consent decree detailing the settlement was approved on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte in Los Angeles.

It requires Lowe's to retain consultants to oversee its leave of absence policies, and track workers' requests for accommodations. The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company also agreed to improve employee training.

Lowe's denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The decree lasts for four years.

The accord sends a "clear message" that automatically firing disabled workers who reach rigid limits on leaves of absence may be illegal, EEOC General Counsel David Lopez said.

Karen Cobb, a Lowe's spokeswoman, said the company updated its leave of absence policies in 2010, and has since taken steps "to ensure consistency in applying our policies and help employees manage their leaves of absence and accommodations."

The EEOC said anyone Lowe's fired between Jan. 1, 2004 and May 13, 2010 after taking maximum leave may pursue a claim.

The case stemmed from EEOC charges filed between 2007 and 2010 that Lowe's fired three workers after unreasonably refusing to grant them extended medical leave.

The case is U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v Lowe's Cos et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 16-03041.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell and Meredith Mazzilli)
Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong'o is in talks to join the "Black Panther" cast as the lead character's love interest, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The Black Panther, played by Chadwick Boseman, was introduced into the Marvel movie franchise in the recently released "Captain America: Civil War." The "Black Panther" movie will continue a storyline from that movie of an African prince whose father is murdered at the United Nations.

Nyong'o, who an Academy Award for her work in "12 Years a Slave," plays the mother of a young woman chess master from Uganda in Disney's "Queen Of Katwe," to be released in September.
Skopje (AFP) - The opposition leader in crisis-hit Macedonia said Friday he was confident that a general election scheduled for early June would not go ahead, and the Balkan countrys dissolved parliament was likely to reconvene soon.

In an interview with AFP, Zoran Zaev said the snap poll scheduled for June 5 should be postponed until conditions for a free and fair vote have been met, possibly in the autumn.

Parliament was dissolved last month to make way for the election as part of an EU-brokered deal to end a national political crisis, but Zaev's Social Democrats (SDSM) and two other key parties have refused to register candidates.

"I know that election will not be on 5th June," based on discussions between the international community and political parties, Zaev said. "We know together elections will be postponed."

The 41-year-old spoke to AFP after meeting a special envoy from Germany, Johannes Haindl, who is helping to resolve the crisis.

Zaev said he expected that all political parties would from early next week invite the president of the parliament to announce a session of the parliament according to Macedonian law.

He said the electoral commission would also likely announce "that conditions for elections are not fulfilled".

The crisis in the landlocked nation of two million people erupted in February last year when Zaev began releasing tapes that appeared to reveal official wire-tapping of 20,000 Macedonians, including politicians and journalists, and high-level corruption.

The government, led by then premier Nikola Gruevski of the VMRO-DPMNE party, denied the explosive allegations and accused Zaev of "spying" and attempting to "destabilise" Macedonia.

The scandal sparked major protests both for and against the government in the deeply divided country, leading the European Union to step in and mediate.

According the deal reached last summer, Macedonia was to prepare for a free and fair vote in late April, but this was postponed until June after the opposition threatened to boycott over concerns about fraud.

Story continues

In another shock twist a month ago, President Gjorge Ivanov -- an ally of Gruevski -- pardoned more than 50 public figures involved in the wiretapping scandal, sparking further ongoing protests and international condemnation.

Zaev and his supporters want the pardon revoked, accusing the ruling party of abusing its power and clamping down on media freedoms, rights and democracy.

They control everything, said Zaev, whose concerns include the cleaning up of voter lists.

Local opinion polls nevertheless show Gruevski easily retains more support among Macedonians, and Zaevs critics say he is reluctant to stand because he would lose.

Zaev insisted that if the conditions are fulfilled: "Autumn is good for us because its good for the country to have quicker elections".
Beauty fans world over will agree that when it comes to our favourite products seeing is believing. Were wowed by before and afters on Instagram, are clued up on clinical studies and will take recommendations from our most trusted girlfriends before parting with our hard-earned cash. The latest beauty trend, however, is turning all that on its head. Magic has become beautys new buzzword and has little to do with statistics or even science. Instead, its something that chooses faith over facts by repackaging the cues of mysticism. Is it a much needed extension of the wellness trend that makes us feel special by transporting us away from an overbearing digital existence or, is all just a bunch of hocus pocus?

Magic is fun and makes you smile, explains Julie Bell, Executive Vice President of Global Marketing at Benefit Cosmetics. Their latest and largest brow collection launches this week and includes packaging thats peppered with images of a magicians assistant and playful taglines such as the wave of a micro-wand and fuller looking brows magically appear. "For us brows transform your face more than any other feature continues Bell. When we were working on the positioning of our new brow collection we thought long and hard about what is the most transformative thing and the answer magically appeared. Magic! Its the most transformative and powerful way to transform yourself and at Benefit we believe that laughter is the best cosmetic and whats more fun than magic?"

Benefit arent alone in conjuring up links between their cosmetics and magic. Amanda Bell, Makeup Artist for Pixi Beauty, reveals its part of the brands DNA. "The founder of Pixi is from Sweden where there is much joy derived from passing down from generation to generation stories about fairies, trolls, pixies and of course magic." Elsewhere and makeup sorceress Charlotte Tilbury launched her beauty line with leading products such as the Magic Cream and Magic Foundation, recently followed up by her Magic Eye Cream and Magic Night Rescue. Honest Beauty's Magic Balm owned by Jessica Alba is a US best-seller while Korean Spa's Magic Peeling Mitt and Starskins Magic Hour Foot Masks have been hailed as the new cult classics in the UK.

Big brands are in the act on too. L'Oreal Paris loves the word magic or magique and has attached it to everything from Revitalift Magic Blur to the entire Nude Magique range explains BeautyMart founder Anna-Marie Solowij. She also believes the presence and use of magic within beauty isn't a new thing, instead it was a comeback of an old favourite jumpstarted the trend. The first was Egyptian Magic, a heavy duty moisturiser made of beeswax, olive oil, honey and propolis. This 20 year-old sleeper, mainly popular with makeup artists, came back on the radar a couple of years ago, having been rediscovered by a new generation of bloggers and the smart buying team at Liberty who put it back on the map.

The popularity of magical products may also be linked to our age. This generation's interest and excitement about magic grew up with Harry Potter and Manga. They love unicorns, believe in crystals, the supernatural, meditation and other esoteric stuff such as Tarot and astrology continues Solowij. On a deeper level, it also appears to be form of escapism. Were living during a time that is unnerving  the recent economic crisis, global warming, terrorism, the refugee crisis. To many, the world seems spinning out of their control. Millenials see the world moving in a direction that is frightening and the idea of magic provides an escape, explains Beauty Psychologist Dr Vivian Diller. The sense of childlike wonder that the idea of magic conveys also takes beauty fans to a world that is less knowing and cynical. In an overwhelming digital world where we constantly reinforce everything with imagery, that is a very appealing idea.

However, there is caution to be had with beautys new fairytale. Promises of magic can lead a consumer to desire a product, but only real results will make consumers feel good and special in the long run. Broken promises actually make women feel duped, so brands have to be careful about making ones they cant keep, warns Diller. You have to wonder, why brands aren't allowed to claim a cream will reduce their wrinkles without evidence yet there are no rules when it comes to magic. Soweji feels a more light-hearted approached is best. Magic is a belief, rather than a claim and adds an element of imagination for the consumer. Only time will tell whether well get bored of beautys new tricks. As for right now, with all its promises of magic and mysticism, the beauty world has us completely spellbound.

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A California man saved a motorist trapped in a burning vehicle after a car wreck from suspected street racing in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

When Santiago Portillo heard the accident and rushed outside, he hit record on his camera before aiding the man trapped inside, a choice that has since received backlash online.

SEE ALSO: Dash cam footage shows terrifying near-miss with tractor-trailer

The clip starts with Portillo propping his phone perfectly to record the incident. He then runs over to the burning car wreck, where he sees an injured man still inside the burning car wreck.

"Oh shit, bro," Portillo says as he pulls the bloodied man to safety.

According to local media, Portillo hit record before knowing that a person was inside the vehicle.

Portillo asks bystanders to call 911 as someone else walks up with a fire extinguisher in an attempt to squash the flames. Portillo and another bystander then carry the injured motorist away from the scene, and he returns to grab his phone to continue recording.

He then gets an up close shot at the bloody and confused man, and urges him to stay put as he checks the car for more victims.

CBS Los Angeles reports that the crash occurred in front of a mattress store on Indiana Avenue where Portillo is the manager.

I had to save him. I saw the big explosion and fire. I was not going to see human get burned, Portillo told CBS.

However, some people are criticizing the man for recording the incident and placing the camera for the perfect view of the rescue.

Regardless of social media criticism, the victim's family thanked Portillo for saving his life. The man is expected to recover.

Hes alive. Hes alive. Were happy hes alive. I know he that he may not be alive if I wasnt there, Portillo told CBS Los Angeles.

Bonus: Can you find the potato in this sea of hamsters?
London (AFP) - Manuel Pellegrini has warned his Manchester City stars to keep their eyes on the prize as they aim to secure a Champions League place at the expense of Manchester United, while champions Leicester will bring down the curtain on their astonishing season at Chelsea on Sunday.

With a memorable Premier League campaign coming to a conclusion with the final round of fixtures this weekend, the focus is split between the Manchester rivals' battle for the last spot in Europe's elite club competition and a fitting finale for Leicester as the fairytale champions bow out at the home of last year's winners.

For City manager Pellegrini, his side's trip to Swansea offers an opportunity to leave on a high note as the Chilean prepares to clear his desk ahead of the arrival of Pep Guardiola, who moves to Eastlands from Bayern Munich in the close-season.

Fourth placed City are two points clear of United and, with their goal difference at +30 compared to their fifth placed rivals' +12, Pellegrini's side need only to draw in south Wales to qualify for the Champions League and consign their neighbours to the drudgery of the Europa League.

But Pellegrini knows a complacent attitude from his team could lead to a calamity at the Liberty Stadium.

"This Premier League is not easy. Swansea are a difficult team when you play away," he said.

"They have done well in the last two games. We must play a very good game to qualify.

"If we play the way we did against Arsenal (last weekend) and we win, it will be a good finish."

United's 3-2 defeat at West Ham in midweek took their European fate out of their hands and they host Bournemouth knowing only a victory, combined with a City defeat at Swansea, will be enough to snatch a top four finish.

Despite the unpromising situation, United midfielder Michael Carrick, whose side face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final on May 21, urged his team-mates not to coast through the Bournemouth game.

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- Last hurrah -

"We have to stay focused, that's the situation that has presented itself now," Carrick said.

"We were in control of it going into the West Ham game but we've let it slip. We have to win our last league game now and then see what happens."

Just 10 months after being installed as 5,000-1 outsiders for the title, Leicester bid farewell to the most remarkable season in the club's 132-year history with a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea.

It is an appropriate last hurrah for Claudio Ranieri's side because the team-spirit and desire that played such a significant role in their title triumph stands in marked contrast to the lethargic efforts of Chelsea's sullen superstars.

While Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and company showed little commitment to the cause in a desultory title defence, the likes of N'Golo Kante and Jamie Vardy rose from obscurity to reach the pinnacle of the English game.

Leicester midfielder Kante, a A5.6 million ($8 million, 7.1 million euros) signing from Caen, summed up that never-say-die spirit with more tackles and interceptions than other Premier League player this season.

"I am not a star player," Kante said. "I think it was the spirit of the team.

"When I came here I could not imagine this, winning the title. But we fight all the time and this is why we have done it."

Despite missing out on a first top-flight title for 55 years, Tottenham would have the consolation of finishing above north London rivals Arsenal for the first time since 1994-95 if they take a first runners-up berth since 1963.

Mauricio Pochettino's second placed side are two points ahead of Arsenal with a far superior goal difference, meaning a draw or win at Newcastle would make it irrelevant how the third placed Gunners fare in their home fixture against bottom club Aston Villa.

"Finishing third would be hard to stomach," Tottenham striker Harry Kane said.

"It would be good for the fans to have the bragging rights for the first time in a long time. It's in our hands."

West Ham, Southampton and Liverpool are all in contention for Europa League spots, although qualification may not be decided until after the FA Cup final.

Fixtures

Sunday (all 1400 GMT)

Arsenal v Aston Villa, Chelsea v Leicester, Everton v Norwich, Manchester United v Bournemouth, Newcastle v Tottenham, Southampton v Crystal Palace, Stoke v West Ham, Swansea v Manchester City, Watford v Sunderland, West Brom v Liverpool
By Ted Siefer

MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - Police in New Hampshire have arrested the man suspected of wounding two officers in separate shootings early Friday that prompted a tense manhunt in a residential neighborhood of Manchester, the state's largest city, authorities said.

Ian MacPherson, 32, was apprehended around 5:00 a.m., three hours after he allegedly shot a policeman in the face and torso. The officer had tried to apprehend him on suspicion of robbing a gas station the previous night.

The suspect then shot a second officer as police converged on a neighborhood on the west side of the city in an effort capture him.

One of the officers was treated and released and the other was hospitalized in Boston in stable condition.

These men behaved courageously, Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard said at briefing Friday afternoon. Even after a second officer was down they continued at their own peril to pursue the subject.

Willard said the suspect yelled Im your man, as he exchanged gunfire with the police.

Willard said area schools were closed and residents ordered to shelter in place through mid-morning out of an abundance of caution.

MacPherson has been charged with two counts of attempted capital murder, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. He is slated to be arraigned on the charges on Monday.

The search involved city and state police from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which lent a helicopter to the effort.

Michael Ayers, 20, who lives in an apartment building at intersection where the second shooting occurred, said he was awoken around 2:30 a.m. by the sound of gunshots and commotion.

There were cops with flashlights firing rounds back and forth, said Ayers. It was very unsettling because three more rounds went off while I was looking out my window.

(Reporting by Ted Siefer; Editing by Dan Grebler and Cynthia Osterman)
The Founder of Focus Investment Advisors Said His Partners and Associates Obtained the Proper Licenses to Offer International and Domestic Life Insurance

MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / Marcelo Castro Alves, founder of Focus Investment Advisors, is pleased to announce that his company is now allowed to sell international and domestic life insurance products. As he noted, his business partners and associates obtained the proper licenses and registration that allow them to sell these products privately to their clients.

As Marcelo Castro Alves noted, he was inspired to add the life insurance products as a way to better serve his company's clients.

"In the past we referred clients to an agent because Focus wasn't licensed to offer insurance products. But we always felt our clients were being overcharged and we weren't sure they were getting the right coverage," Marcelo Castro Alves said, adding that operating as an RIA with a separate insurance relationship or affiliate is definitely a legitimate option.

"We at Focus Investment Advisors have the depth of knowledge and experience and really want to help our clients with the insurance implementation. Life insurance enjoys a favorable tax treatment unlike any other financial instrument, and many life insurance policies are exceptionally flexible in terms of adjusting to the policyholder's needs."

Marcelo Castro Alves believes this blend of RIA-plus-insurance can be a particularly effective business model when working with younger clientele, who tend to need a unique combination of ongoing planning advice, plus insurance needsfor example, term life insurance as clients start a family, disability insurance, and even assistance getting health insurance.

As Marcelo Castro Alves noted, Focus Investment Advisors will offer advice with life and disability insurance but will not specifically recommend variable life policies.

"The answer to whether you need life insurance depends on your personal and financial circumstances," he said.

Story continues

"At some point in your life, you'll probably be faced with the question of whether you need life insurance. Life insurance is a way to protect your loved ones financially after you die. We can now help our clients now to protect their family."

About Marcelo Castro Alves:

Marcelo Castro Alves founded Focus Investment Advisors in 2011. Prior to that, Marcelo was an independent advisor for three years with another group in Miami. Before that Marcelo Castro Alves was at Private Bank sector of major banks in Miami and since 1995 in Switzerland in the Global Private Client Division, primarily managing investment portfolios for high net worth individuals. For more information, please visit http://www.focusinvest.net/

Contact:

Marcelo Castro Alves

mcastro@focusinvest.net

305-961-1108

SOURCE: Marcelo Castro Alves
CANNES  A sequel of Luc Jacquets March of the Penguins, the Oscar-winning documentary feature narrated by Morgan Freeman, is in the works, Variety has learned.

Titled March Of The Penguins 2: The Call, was shot mostly in 4K in the Antarctica last winter.

Wild Bunch has acquired international sales to the project and is shopping it at Cannes. Jacquet is back to direct it with Bonne Pioche and Paprika producing.

A U.S. studio is circling the project. CAA reps U.S. rights. Disney will release in France.

One of the highest-grossing documentaries of all time, March of the Penguins grossed $127.4 worldwide.

The sprawling and fascinating documentary follows the journey of emperor penguins of the South Pole as they travel to their traditional breeding grounds.

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March Of The Penguins helmer Luc Jacquet returned to Antarctica this past winter to accompany a scientific expedition and film the follow-up, March Of The Penguins 2: The Call. Shot under the radar and largely in 4K, incorporating unique submarine and drone footage, the new story sees a young penguin about to embark for his first journey as he hears the mysterious call that compels the species to leave home for an unknown destination.

The original film, about the courtship and breeding rituals of Emperor penguins, was released in 2005 and won the Oscar for Best Documentary; grossing $127.5M globally. It was voiced in third-person narrative by Morgan Freeman (contrary to the French version which used the first-person narrative of two actors). The narrator for the new pic has yet to be set. Along with the young penguin in The Call, an older one  age 45  will observe the journey, recalling the memories of his decisive moment and the doubts and fears which accompanied him.

The Call is a Bonne Pioche production in co-production with Paprika Films and in association with Disney France. Wild Bunch is repping worldwide rights except for France and the U.S. where CAA is handling. Disney will release in France in early 2017.

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Manila (AFP) - The son and namesake of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was fighting for his political future Friday after a cliffhanger vice presidential election contest against a novice politician.

A win for Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, 58, would have been the family's biggest political victory since its humiliating downfall in 1986 after a "People Power" uprising ended 20 years of human rights abuses, election fraud and the plunder of state coffers.

It was also widely seen as part of a long-term strategy to become president.

But the count for Monday's vote has dragged and on Friday Marcos was 217,000 votes behind Leni Robredo, a widow thrust into politics after her well-regarded interior-minister husband died in a 2012 plane crash.

With a million votes left to count Marcos Jnr has refused to concede defeat, while accusing President Benigno Aquino's government of manipulating the results for Robredo.

"If you add up all the votes that had not been transmitted, it would show that I won by a large margin," Marcos, an incumbent senator, said this week as his near-one-million lead early in the count evaporated.

Late Thursday he urged the state election body Commission on Elections to investigate the alleged "tampering" of a computer software that received data for the count in Manila.

However the poll body rejected allegations of cheating, saying the fix did not in any way change the result and was meant to add a Spanish letter for some candidates' names.

Alan Cayetano, who was running third in the race, also dismissed the allegations on Thursday as he conceded victory to Robredo.

Nearly 96 percent of the votes have been counted.

The remaining one more million have not been counted yet because of a delay in tallying those votes or because some polling booths did not operate on Monday because of violence or technical glitches. Those 2,000 precincts will re-stage their elections on Saturday.

Story continues

Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential vote by a landslide.

The Marcos family fled to US exile after the "People Power" revolution ended the dictator's one-man rule, in which thousands of critics were thrown in prison.

But his family has made a surprising political comeback, rebuilding its base in his northern bailiwick of Ilocos Norte province.

In Monday's vote the dictator's widow, Imelda Marcos, swept to a third term at the House of Representatives representing Ilocos Norte.

Her daughter, Imee Marcos, was also elected as provincial governor there for the third time.

Marcos Jnr was elected to the Senate in 2010 and his term runs out on June 30.
mark cuban

Billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban isn't holding back his opinion about his frenemy, Donald Trump.

"There's that guy who'll walk into the bar and say anything to get laid. That's Donald Trump right now to a T. But it's all of us who are going to get f-----," Cuban said during an interview at the SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT) Conference in Las Vegas on Thursday night.

"We go way back, and it's a love-hate relationship," he said when conference organizer Anthony Scaramucci asked Cuban about the Republican presidential candidate.

He continued: "Everybody's got that friend that you just shake your head at. He's that guy who'd get drunk and fall over all the time, or just says dumb s--- all the time, but he's your friend."

To be clear, this is not a literal description: Trump can be embarrassing, but he famously doesn't drink alcohol, so he's not likely to fall over drunk.

Cuban also offered Hillary Clinton some advice on how to run against Trump: Get a running mate like Mark Cuban.

"I would get a vice-presidential candidate who's someone like me who would just throw bombs at Donald," he said. "And I would be like, 'Donald, I like you. We're friends, but you're a goddamn airhead.'"

Cuban praised Trump for tapping into the concerns of many ordinary Americans, but said that he did not have solutions for the problems he's identified.

"Being empathetic is one thing, and that's good," he said. "But given the office he's running for, trying to come up with a solution is even more important. And I don't think he's there yet."

Moving beyond politics, Scaramucci asked Cuban why he bought the Mavericks.

"Because I could," he said.

He continued:

I was a season-ticket holder, and I was at the opening game for the '99-2000 season. And I'm like, "We're undefeated. I'm excited." We had Shawn Bradley  we were set. I was like, "Wait a second, I can do a better job, and I can put my money where my mouth is now ..." Within a couple months, I owned the Mavericks.

Story continues

It's hard to argue with Cuban's timing: He could afford to put his money where his mouth was because he had sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo in April 1999 for $5.7 billion.

NOW WATCH: A hair surgeon explains what's going on with Trump's hair





More From Business Insider


Where are you taking Facebook at this point?

Its 2005, and Mark Zuckerberg is mulling the interview question at his startups office as he sits beneath a Pulp Fiction poster, the same one plastered in dorm rooms across America for the last two decades. He clutches a beer in a red Solo cup and, at age 21, is just barely old enough to legally drink it. His voice still has an adolescent cadence.

I mean, there doesnt necessarily have to be more, he says after a pause.  You know, I mean, like a lot of people are focused on taking over the world or doing like the biggest thing, getting the most users I mean, I really just want to stay focused on college and create a really cool college directory product that just, like, is very relevant for students and has a lot of information that people care about when theyre in college.

Eleven years later, Zuckerbergs ambitions for Facebook have evolved, and so has the way he delivers his message. Facebook has been growing at breakneck speed since its inception and now has more than 1.6 billion users. But only in recent months has Zuckerberg, now 31, begun to shed the persona reflected (and distorted) in an Oscar-winning film and a hit HBO series. Zuck is now a father and, like a typical Facebook user, hes happy to share his baby photos. He says he wants to use his massive wealth for the greater good. And when you hear him speak now, you could be forgiven for think he sounds more like a man running for political office than a kid with a keg-stand in his near future.

In Silicon Valley, any founder whos career lasts is bound to go through some evolution. The industry puts a premium on youthful leadership, and the brass that comes with. Experience tends to temper this. Steve Jobs famously mellowed by the time Apples historic turnaround was underway, at least comparatively to his early years. Bill Gates too shed his image as a barb-wielding engineer for one of global statesman. But Zuckerberg is younger transition appears to be coming earlier than. And his invention overlaps more explicitly with what used to be called the public square.

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This Zuckerberg was on full display in April at F8, Facebooks annual developers conference. Instead of talking to the coders who make Facebook apps, Zuckerbergs words were squarely aimed at the political and media elite, says Marty Kaplan, a University of Southern California professor who served as a speechwriter for former Vice President Walter Mondale. He compared elements of the speech to the elegant part of a State of the Union address.

First, Zuckerberg extolled the wondrous ways technology (and especially Facebook) has helped to connect the globe, arguing, Weve gone from a world of isolated communities to one globally community, and we are all better off for it, he said.

But then, his words grew more pointed: As I look around and I travel around the world, Im starting to see people and nations turning inward, against this idea of a connected world and a global community. I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others, he said. For blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, reducing trade and in some cases around the world even cutting access to the Internet.

Some read this as a dig at Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee who has called for building a wall at the Mexican border, banning Muslims from entering the United States and closing parts of the Internet to prevent ISIS attacks. Even if Zuckerberg has no plans to run for office, making implicit arguments against a potential future president place makes his speech inherently political, says Jeff Nussbaum a former writer for Al Gore and partner at the speechwriting firm West Wing Writers. [Its] political in that hes advancing a vision not just for what his company should look like, but what the world can look like, Nussbaum says.

Zuckerberg used classical rhetorical devices such as antithesis (Instead of building walls, we can help people build bridges) to give his ideas greater valiance. He applied Skutnick stories, a political technique popularized by Ronald Reagan in which leaders use small anecdotes about real people to humanize lofty ideas (We are one global community. The mother in India, who wants to work so her family can have a better life. The father in the U.S. who wants a cleaner planet for his children. The daughter in Sierra Leone who just needs basic and health care and education so she can stay safe and reach her full potential.). Though Facebook is a company largely guided by data, the speech was heavy in pathos, or appeals to emotion.

What youre seeing is a transition, says Nussbaum. Hes making an evolution from speaking as a business leader to speaking as a thought leader.

In some ways, the high-minded rhetoric feels at odds with the low-brow discourse thats often part of the day-to-day Facebook experience. We now use Facebook and its sister apps Instagram and Messenger 50 minutes per day, on average, and much of that time isnt spent trying to revolutionize the world. When Zuckerberg says in a speech, It takes courage to choose hope over fear, its easy to imagine the phrase splashed in bold font over a black-and-white photo of a noble President (who cares who actually said it?), as easily shareable and digestible as a cat GIF.

But that doesnt change the fact that the 31-year-old is now the sixth-richest person in the world, according to Forbes, wielding more influence over the information we see and how we communicate than any of the billionaires ahead of him. He swings a big bat, says Kaplan. Theres a handful of globally powerful individuals, and no matter how they got their wealth and what you may think of the industries that theyre in, people listen when they speak.

This cuts both ways. Especially following a Gizmodo report that Facebook workers in charge of placing news topics on the websites Trending module purposefully suppressed articles from conservative outlets. The social network has said its policies prohibit such tampering but is investigating the allegations. The controversy has raised calls for greater transparency in how Facebook chooses what to show users in their News Feeds, Trending boxes and other parts of the site.

And it may breed suspicion about how Zuckerbergs politics will influence what his billion-plus users are allowed read and watch every day. Mark Zuckerberg is a publisher, Kaplan says. If Trending turns out to mean Curated instead of Algorithmed, it should come as no surprise that the editorial judgment of the curators on his payroll is consistent with the publishers politics. Zuckerberg has said he plans to meet with leading conservatives soon to address their concerns about how the site operates.

As Facebooks user base grows, so does the clout of its CEO. That brings him greater opportunities to effect change but also more responsibility in how he wields his influence, both internally and externally. Even as a college kid, its clear Zuckerberg understood that the things that happened on thefacebook.com could have and impact outside the sites blue border. The goal that we we into it with wasnt to make an online community, he said in 2005, but sort of like a mirror for the real community that existed in real life.
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump is surrounded by family members as he speaks during a campaign victory party after rival candidate Senator Ted Cruz dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination following the results of the Indiana state primary, at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York, U.S., May 3, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

"Today" show host Matt Lauer questioned Donald Trump on his controversial proposal to bar Muslim immigrants and tourists from entering hte US.

Lauer asked Trump on the "Today" show Friday morning whether he had softened his stance on the suggested ban now that he's the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

He noted Trump's recent meeting with Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who has yet to endorse him.

Lauer said:

Speaker Ryan said at the meeting that there are clearly issues on which you two disagree. We know that one of those is on that ban on Muslims. He is not for it, you have said you are. But in recent days, you've called it more of a suggestion than a proposal. I'd like you to clarify that for me because I think millions of people who voted for you across the country during the primary process felt as if you were actually proposing that. Are you softening your stance?

Trump denied softening his stance.

"Well, I'm not the president right now, so anything I suggest is really a suggestion," Trump told Lauer. "And if I were president, I'd put in legislation into what I'd have to do."

Lauer tried to clarify, asking if Trump would push legislation to bar Muslims from coming into the country.

"I can tell you  no, I'm looking at it very strongly. We have an Islamic  we have really a problem with radical Islamic terrorism, and we have a president that doesn't want to use the term, he refuses to use the term, even though there are so many problems," Trump said.

Lauer asked: "I'm just getting to the point now, are you softening your stance and using subtle differences in words simply to be more moderate to try to attract people like Speaker Ryan and to get an endorsement?"

Trump denied Lauer's suggestion, but said he was always "flexible" on issues.

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"No, I'm not softening my stance at all, but I'm always flexible on issues," Trump said. "I am totally flexible on very, very many issues and I think you have to be that way. But I'm not softening my stance. We have a major problem, and we have to look at the problem. We have to solve the problem."

In December, Trump called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" with the terrorism "problem."

NOW WATCH: The real story behind Trump's taco bowl tweet





More From Business Insider


Are Maryland schools complying with the new federal transgender bathroom mandate? The Maryland State Department of Education, which put out guidelines earlier this year, says it's reviewing the guidance from federal officials to determine whether there is additional information that it can give to Maryland school systems. Most local school districts said they will comply with the new mandates from the U.S. Department of Education, and said they have already made a commitment to ensure that transgender students are respected and feel safe in school.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico said that it was not satisfied with the Egyptian government's response to an aerial bombing in Egypt last year in which eight Mexican tourists wee killed. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website on Thursday that it had sent a letter to the Egyptian embassy to express its "surprise and dissatisfaction" with the government's failure to thoroughly investigate the case, penalize the perpetrators and compensate victims. Last September, an Egyptian army aircraft fired on a group parked for a barbecue near a tourist site, thinking they were militants. In addition to the eight Mexicans, four Egyptians were killed. Six Mexicans were wounded. The ministry said that although media outlets had reported on negotiations with one of the victim's families, Mexico did not have any knowledge of that. The Egyptian foreign ministry could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts over Egypt's Friday weekend. The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Egyptian Tourism Federation would compensate families of three Mexican victims and it was also negotiating with families of the other Mexican victims. The federation is a union of local tourism chambers of commerce. It represents the tourism sector and is not officially part of the Egyptian government. (Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein; Additional reporting by Mohamed Abdellah in Cairo; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dominic Evans)
By David Alire Garcia and Ana Isabel Martinez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's state-owned oil company Pemex is seeking partners to operate its money-losing refineries and plans to "dilute" its ownership in the plants, even selling majority stakes, the firm's financial chief said on Friday.

Chief Financial Officer Juan Pablo Newman said in an interview that Pemex is seeking private sector expertise to make its six domestic refineries more efficient, as an extended crude price slump and years of underinvestment in its downstream assets has battered the company's bottom line.

"We may not have a majority stake in the refineries, but we are going to dilute our participation," said Newman at his office on the 38th floor of Pemex's headquarters in Mexico City.

He said Pemex aims to spend about 30 billion pesos ($1.65 billion) on its refineries this year, while it seeks additional investment from private partners.

Newman added that private operators could bring much-needed efficiencies to the company's refining unit, its worst-performing division over many years.

In the first quarter of this year, Pemex ran up its 14th consecutive quarterly loss at about 62 billion pesos ($3.6 billion), as both crude prices and output fell.

In late February, the company's new chief executive announced 100 billion pesos ($5.8 billion) in spending cuts this year to stem the losses.

Last month, Mexico's finance ministry announced a capital injection of about $4.2 billion to pay down outstanding bills to Pemex contractors as well as some of its pension liabilities.

Newman said Pemex's average crude oil output this year will "probably" beat the company's forecast of 2.13 million barrels per day (bpd), though he did not say by how much.

"We do think it could be higher, but our challenge is to stabilize production," he said.

The company's crude production currently stands at about 2.23 million bpd.

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Newman added that the company will likely not launch an energy infrastructure investment trust, known as Fibra E, this year due to ongoing accounting work on company assets.

"The Fibra E still needs a lot more work internally," said Newman.

"It looks very difficult to me (to be able to launch this year)... and right now, it's not part of our financing plans."

Pemex saw its 75-year-old production monopoly undone by a constitutional energy reform in 2013, and following two years of falling crude prices, the company is seeking partners to boost output and improve margins.

(Reporting by David Alire Garcia; Editing by Alistair Bell)
Michael Strahan co-hosted his last episode of Live With Kelly and Michael on Friday, leaving the daytime show ahead of joining Good Morning America full time in the fall.

While reports ahead of Strahan's episode indicated that the entire show wouldn't be dedicated to saying goodbye to Kelly Ripa's co-host, the duo didn't waste any time addressing Strahan's departure.

During the show intro, the announcer said, "Join us to raise a glass to remember laughs and fun times we shared on Michael Strahan's flashback farewell Friday."

Ripa, wearing a black dress, and Strahan, sporting a dark suit and purple shirt that was open at the neck, walked out to P!nk's "Raise a Glass" and then in a reversal of their normal habit, Ripa pulled out Strahan's chair for him.

Once Ripa took a seat, she grabbed Strahan around the neck lovingly.

See More: Highs and Lows of 'Live with Kelly and Michael'

Her first words, though, addressed the ominous date, as the show traditionally begins with the co-hosts stating the date.

"Don't take this as a bad sign: it's Friday the 13th. But you said 13 is a lucky number," Ripa said.

"It is your final day on the show," she continued, as the audience said, "Awww." "We all came to celebrate you. We want to remind you that there's a run on discounted merchandise at the kiosk," she joked.

Strahan then addressed his farewell.

"It's bittersweet. Of course you get nervous," he said. "This is a moment I didn't anticipate being here, at least not at this point. I'm not dying. I'm still in the family and still available to come back as co-host."

Read More: Who Should Replace Michael Strahan as Kelly Ripa's 'Live' Co-Host? (Poll)

Strahan added that he didn't want the show to make a big fuss over him. "I don't like a big to do about it. We come out here every morning, we make people laugh, that's what we need to do now. Get on with the show," he said.

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With that they talked about what they did the night before but just a few minutes later they took their first look back, remembering some of Strahan's memorable host-chat moments, from the opening segment of the show when they traditionally talk about the news and what they did the night before and present the day's trivia contest.

The look back featured a montage of Ripa and Strahan walking out and dancing; playing jelly bean roulette, with Strahan appearing to get some unfortunate-tasting flavors; Kelly measuring his tongue; and the time Strahan accidentally gave away the answer to the trivia contest when he misheard the caller's guess.

"Gelman wants me to remind you you owe him $8,000," Ripa joked when the montage ended.

Strahan, "I really thought I heard 'bowling,' [which was the correct answer]."

Read More: Michael Strahan Leaves Bigger Shoes to Fill After 4-Year 'Live!' Stint

After they returned from the break, they took a quick look back at more of their memorable moments together, including the two of them pretending to try out shake weights, something Ripa said she still wonders why they did.

The first Live guest, Matt Bomer, who appeared with Strahan in Magic Mike XXL, took a minute to "get a little sappy," as he called it and praise Strahan. "You always conduct yourself with great intelligence and grace, and I wish you the best," he said.

After Bomer's interview, when Live returned from its commercial break, the show played another montage of Ripa and Strahan, this time dancing.

Ripa joked there was nothing more they enjoyed than watching flashback footage of themselves.

Carmelo Anthony was the next guest.

After the interview with Anthony, Live aired a more comprehensive look back at Strahan's time on the show, starting from him being named Ripa's official co-host, replacing Regis Philbin, on Sept. 4, 2012, when as she said, he "bolted into the studio"

"We had a lot of fun, made a lot of memories and learned thing or two about Michael Strahan," Ripa continued introducing the look-back. "Michael, this is your life." The clips shown featured Strahan sporting various costumes, including him dressing up as Serena Williams and spoofing "Call Me Maybe."

The show also aired clips of the duo taking part in physical challenges, like something called a "wife-carrying competition," wrestling and Strahan lifting Ripa and Kristin Chenoweth. Strahan's take on British and French accents was also highlighted as was his NFL Hall of Fame induction and the duo broadcasting from the White House and interviewing President Obama.

The comprehensive look back ended with footage of Ripa introducing Strahan as her co-host in 2012 and then the following words appeared on a black screen, "Farewell. Good Luck. Keep Smiling." There were no clips of Strahan or Ripa addressing his departure on Live.

As they went to break, RIpa gave Strahan a kiss on the cheek and an extended hug.

At the end of the show, Ripa presented Strahan with some gifts and toasted him with Champagne as they both said some kind words about working together and Strahan's next chapter.

The gifts consisted of a pair of bronzed heels he wore during one of Live's memorable Halloween episodes, a framed photo of him wearing short-shorts, a picture that has been the subject of gentle teasing at Live, and a photobook of memories for Strahan to take home.

"No matter where you go, you're always here with us," Ripa said.

"We couldn't be prouder of you," she said. "You have given us so much joy in the mornings. We really are so so proud of you. I look forward to watching every morning and seeing what you achieve over at Good Morning America."

Strahan added, "I just want to say thank you to everyone. You let me into your home every day for four years. You opened up your hearts to me and homes to me. It's been so overwhelming the response you've had to this show."

He went on to explain that he considers the live audience the third co-host and that the show's not about him or Ripa, "it's about everybody here," paying tribute to the staff.

"They make sure we're always prepared. We love you, we appreciate you," he said as music swept in. Strahan and Ripa gave each other a kiss on the cheek as the show came to an end.

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Monster Beverages Stock Soars 13% on Energetic 1Q16 Results

(Continued from Prior Part)

Impact of 1Q16

In part one of this series, we mentioned the ~13% appreciation in Monster Beverages stock on April 29 to $144.22 in response to the companys strong earnings and sales in 1Q16 ended March 31, 2016. Also, on April 29, the companys 12-month forward PE (price-to-earnings) ratio increased by ~12% to 35.4x.

Valuation compared to peers

Monster Beverages valuation multiple is higher than its nonalcoholic beverage peers Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), and Dr Pepper Snapple (DPS). As of April 29, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dr Pepper Snapple were trading at forward PE multiples of 22.8x, 21.4x, and 20.6x, respectively.

Monster Beverages premium valuation compared to its peers is justified by the strong demand for energy drinks and higher expectations from the companys sales and earnings in 2016. Analysts expect Monster Beverages full-year 2016 sales and adjusted EPS to grow by 11% and 30%, respectively. Analysts expect the adjusted EPS of Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dr Pepper Snapple to grow by -3%, 3%, and 8%, respectively, in 2016.

Growth strategy

Monster Beverage continues to expand the reach of its products internationally. In 1Q16, the company started the distribution of its Ultra brand in an additional eight markets in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (or EMEA). The company plans to launch Ultra in ten additional markets in EMEA in 2Q16.

The new products launched in 1Q16 include Monster Beverages new Gronk energy drink and Salted Caramel Java Monster. The company is planning to launch its new beverage Mutant in 3Q16.

The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) has 1.2% exposure to Monster Beverage.

Monster Beverage is also planning to launch its Monster Energy drink in China later this year. The company has received product approval and manufacturing license in Shanghai. In Beijing, the company has received the required product approval and is awaiting the manufacturing license. Monster Beverage has commenced the required approval process in Xiamen in Southeast China.

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The company is also planning to relaunch Monster energy drinks in India in late 2016 and is moving ahead with its plans for local production in India.

For more updates, visit our Nonalcoholic Beverages page.

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Cannes (France) (AFP) - A film satire on the last days of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin starring Monty Python's Michael Palin is soon to start shooting, its producers told AFP on Friday.

"The Death of Stalin" recounts the chaotic power struggles in the Kremlin to replace the dictator who died in 1953.

US star Steve Buscemi will play Nikita Khrushchev who finally won out over Stalin loyalists in the days before the dictator's state funeral.

Former Bond star Timothy Dalton is also to appear as the great World War II general Georgy Zhukov, a spokeswoman for Quad Films confirmed.

She said Palin plays a more minor role.

The film will be directed by Armando Iannucci, showrunner of the hit US television political series the "Veep", who wrote the script with fellow British comedian David Schneider.

Iannucci made his name with the British political comedy series "The Thick of It" which spawned the hit film "In the Loop".

Stalin, who some historians blame for the deaths of millions of people, is still revered by many Russians.

The script -- adapted from a French graphic novel by Fabien Nury -- was described as "scathing", with shooting to start later this year, said the producers.
A film satire on the last days of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin starring Monty Python's Michael Palin is soon to start shooting, its producers told AFP Friday.

"The Death of Stalin" recounts the chaotic power struggles in the Kremlin to replace the dictator who died in 1953.

US star Steve Buscemi will play Nikita Khrushchev who finally won out over Stalin loyalists in the days before the dictator's state funeral.

Former Bond star Timothy Dalton is also to appear as the great World War II general Georgy Zhukov, a spokeswoman for Quad Films confirmed.

She said Palin plays a more minor role.

The film will be directed by Armando Iannucci, showrunner of the hit US television political series the "Veep", who wrote the script with fellow British comedian David Schneider.

Iannucci made his name with the British political comedy series "The Thick of It" which spawned the hit film "In the Loop".

Stalin, who some historians blame for the deaths of millions of people, is still revered by many Russians.

The script -- adapted from a French graphic novel by Fabien Nury -- was described as "scathing", with shooting to start later this year, said the producers.
The U.S. Navy announced Thursday it had fired the commander of 10 U.S. sailors briefly detained by Iran in January after their ship entered Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The Navy Times has more:

Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who at the time of the Jan. 12 incident was the executive officer of the Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, was removed from his job by Capt. Gary Leigh, head of Coastal Riverine Group 1, for what a Navy Expeditionary Combat Command release said was a loss of confidence in his ability to remain in command. "Capt. Gary Leigh, commander, CRG-1, made this determination following his review of a preliminary investigation into the incident near Farsi Island in the Arabian Gulf, Jan. 12-13, involving 10 CRS-3 Sailors," the release said. "Rasch was assigned as the executive officer of CRS-3 during this time-frame." Cmdr. Gregory Meyer, who was commanding officer at the time of the incident, is currently with Coastal Riverine Group 1, and has been put on administrative hold, meaning the Navy will not transfer him out of the unit, while a high-level review of the Navys investigation into the incident continues, said two officials familiar with internal deliberations.

Rasch is the first officer formally disciplined for the incident. Navy investigators completed their investigation into what went wrong in April and forwarded their report to top Navy officials. Its findings have not yet been made public.

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The incident occurred on January 12, when the sailors were traveling in two small riverine craft from Bahrain to Kuwait through the Gulf. Along the way, they reportedly drifted into Iranian territorial waters, where two Iranian vessels intercepted them and detained the crew. No gunfire was exchanged.

A frantic diplomatic effort between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammed Javad Zarif, led to the release of the sailors and their boats the following morning.

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The timing proved awkward for both countries, with President Obama scheduled to give his State of the Union address on the night of the incident and Iran only days away from receiving long-awaited sanctions relief as part of the nuclear accord it struck with six world powers.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
May 13 (Reuters) - Hollywood actor Brad Pitt will be the honorary starter for the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race in June, organisers of the endurance classic said on Friday.

The June 18-19 race will also be marking the 50th anniversary of Ford's first victory at the Sarthe circuit in western France.

Pitt and fellow A-lister Tom Cruise have been linked for several years to a movie project, "Go Like Hell", about the 1960s sportscar rivalry between Ford and Ferrari.

Ford, who swept the top three places at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours and won the next three editions of the race, are returning with their new GT car.

Their executive chairman Bill Ford lowered the French flag to start the race last year while NASCAR president Jim France did the honours in 2013.

The late Steve McQueen waved the flag in 1971, the year he starred in the movie "Le Mans". (Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Rome (AFP) - Britain's Andy Murray remained on course for a second successive Masters final with Serbia's number one Novak Djokovic after both came through the quarter-finals in Rome on Friday.

Murray, who lost to Djokovic in the final at Madrid last week, had little trouble overcoming Belgian David Goffin 6-1, 7-5 while Djokovic battled past a determined Rafael Nadal to end the Spanish fifth seed's hopes of an eighth title in the Italian capital.

Murray, reaching the last four for only the second time after 2011, will go into Sunday's final if, as expected, he accounts for French lucky loser Lucas Pouille in Saturday's semi-final. Djokovic will meet Kei Nishikori after the Japanese sixth seed swept Austrian Dominic Thiem, who had knocked out Roger Federer, 6-3, 7-5.

Murray lost to Nadal in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters last month and although defeated by Djokovic last week, he is feeling encouraged with his steady improvement on the surface.

"I'm being rewarded now for the work I've put in on the surface," said Murray.

"I didn't necessarily expect to do well on these surfaces over the past couple of years... but I deserve it, because I've worked hard for it."

Between them, Nadal and Djokovic have won the last 11 titles in the Italian capital, the Spaniard claiming his maiden win in 2005 only two years after Andre Agassi's last win in the 'Eternal City'.

But on Sunday it could be Djokovic, the defending champion and tennis's man of the moment, who will be looking to continue his winning run at the Foro Italico after a gutsy 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) win over Nadal.

Finding an "extra gear" proved key as Djokovic took his winning streak over Nadal to seven matches. The last time the Spaniard beat Djokovic was in the final of Roland Garros in 2014.

Admitting he had a slow start to both sets, Djokovic said: "Towards the end of both sets I managed to find an extra gear, to play with a little bit more purpose, and come up with some aggressive play.

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"I didn't take the initiative first, I wanted to be more aggressive. But that's easier said than done."

- Pulsating -

Djokovic rallied from a break down in both sets to thwart Nadal in a pulsating two hours and 25 minutes. He has now won 15 straight sets against Nadal since the Spaniard prevailed in Paris two years ago, but Djokovic said it was far from straightforward.

"Winning against Nadal is the ultimate challenge on clay courts and one of the toughest challenges we have in sport," he added.

"I have to be very pleased with the way I handled myself in the big moments today. I won against one of my biggest rivals on his preferred surface."

Nadal, meanwhile, was keen to put some gloss on his setback just over a week ahead of his bid for a 10th title at Roland Garros, but he will be keen to remedy the mistakes that led him to lose key points at crucial moments.

Notably, with Nadal leading 5-4 in the second set, Djokovic saved no less than five set points before breaking back on his first break point to level the set 5-5 and then going on to win the tie break.

"Today I was there mentally, hitting good shots. I was very close this afternoon, and that's positive," he said.

"Obviously, when you feel you're so close to taking both sets and you exit the tournament you can't be 100 percent happy.

"But overall I've competed at the highest level against the best player in the world. That gives me confidence that I'm ready for other things."

Murray will now be expected to book his first final in Rome but having watched the 22-year-old Frenchman "kill" David Ferrer in a third-round shock, Murray is taking nothing for granted.

"He beat Goffin last week in Madrid and (Richard) Gasquet in Monte Carlo," said Murray. "This week, he's been a bit fortunate, but he's very good. I don't expect it to be easy."
By Antoni Slodkowski YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is facing criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain restrictions on free speech once wielded against it by the country's former junta. Since taking power in April, former political prisoner Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has released scores of detainees and is making a big push to revise some of the most repressive measures from the long years of military rule. But its new version of the law governing public demonstrations has prompted alarm since the proposals were submitted to parliament last week. The draft bill would punish protesters for spreading "wrong" information and make straying away from pre-registered chants an offense. It bars non-citizens - a category that includes the largely stateless Muslim Rohingya minority - from protesting and lists criminal penalties for "disturbing" or "annoying" people. The NLD says the new bill would introduce substantial changes to the military era legislation and was aimed at protecting peaceful protesters rather than penalizing them. But worries over the proposed Peaceful Assembly Law are compounded by concerns over the government's recent request to the U.S. ambassador to refrain from using the term "Rohingya" and Suu Kyi's refusal to speak out in support of a community that faces continuing persecution in Myanmar. The issue is being closely watched by Suu Kyi's supporters in the West. The NLD faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad, but the Nobel peace prize winner's autocratic decision-making style makes the government's intentions hard to read. "We are concerned that the NLD is rushing this," said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Watch based in Yangon. "The bill should guarantee the right to protest, and there's no reason why it should include penalties against protesters," said Mathieson. He said there were other laws, like the penal code, that regulated potential violations by the protesters and that in its current form the bill gave the authorities latitude to crack down on peaceful demonstrators. These concerns emerge just as the U.S. prepares its annual decision on whether to extend its sanctions on Myanmar. The newly-appointed U.S. ambassador to the country, Scot Marciel, said this week respect for human rights was an important factor. WATERED DOWN The draft bill does remove or water down some restrictions from existing legislation, such as the article that meant activists could be hit with multiple counts of the same charge - increasing the length of the sentences that could be meted out. It was used last year against students taking part in an unsanctioned march on Yangon, some of whom faced more than 50 charges because offences were counted in each township - Myanmar's smallest administrative unit - they passed through. The draft also cuts the notice required for a demonstration to 48 hours and removes the need to get police consent. Still, students say the changes don't go far enough. "I think the laws which restrict people's right to demonstrate for what they want should not exist," said Zayar Lwin, a leader of one of Myanmar's largest students' unions. He said that as long as there were restrictions in the laws "it would be difficult for us to accept that." The NLD's upper house bill committee member Aung Thein, formerly an activist lawyer, rejected that notion. "In the past, they had to seek prior permission at least five days in advance. Now, they have to notify the authorities only two days ahead," said Aung Thein. There was also a time limit on taking action against the protesters, he said. "Action must be taken within 15 days after the protest. No action can be taken against them after 15 days." But Laura Haigh, of Amnesty International, warned that, if enacted in its current form, the bill could create more prisoners of conscience. "Swift amendment should not come at the price of ensuring full respect and protection of peaceful assembly," said Haigh. The bill has been tabled in the upper house and lawmakers have until May 16 to submit questions. After the debate in the upper house, the bill will be passed to the lower house. The NLD has a majority in both chambers. The NLD has put some 142 existing laws - more than a quarter of the total - under the microscope, said the chairman of the lower house bill committee Tun Tun Hein. This revision includes the most draconian laws of the junta era, such as the Law Protecting the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements and the Emergency Provisions Act. The two laws were the main legal instruments to crack down on dissent and put pro-democracy activists behind bars. "I'm sure they will be revoked completely after discussion in the parliament," said the NLD's Tun Tun Hein. (Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Hnin Yadana Zaw; Editing by Alex Richardson)
By Aung Hla Tun NAYPYITAW (Reuters) - The commander-in-chief of Myanmar's military said on Friday the army was carrying out its duty under the leadership of the newly elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, aiming to assuage worry over tension between them. Relations between the armed forces and Suu Kyi will define the success of Myanmar's emergence from decades of isolation and military rule that began when the army seized power in 1962. "We don't have any reason to reject the leadership of the elected civilian government," Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at a rare news conference at the military headquarters on the outskirts of the capital, Naypyitaw. The army is the single most powerful institution in the Southeast Asian country. It ruled directly for nearly 50 years then, in 2011, handed over to a government led by retired officers which organized an election in November last year. Suu Kyi's party won by a landslide after years of opposition to military rule. A government controlled by Suu Kyi took over in April after a transition dominated by discussion over the army-drafted constitution, which bars Suu Kyi from the presidency. The military maintains a significant political role with control of three security ministries. It also holds a quarter of seats in parliament which gives it a veto on changes to the constitution. In the first week of her administration, military lawmakers made clear their opposition to a bill creating a position of state counselor - a powerful advisory role for Suu Kyi - by refusing to participate in a vote on it. But on Friday, Min Aung Hlaing struck a conciliatory tone. "We're carrying out our duties under the leadership of the government. This is in accord with constitutional provisions," he said when asked about the relationship between the military and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). He said the army reported important matters to President Htin Kyaw, who is a Suu Kyi loyalist hand-picked by her, and, when necessary, to Suu Kyi as well. He said the military had to seek the approval of the president when it came to certain budget matters. The 2008 military-drafted charter bars Suu Kyi from becoming president because her children are not Myanmar citizens. Her late husband was a British academic. She is state counselor and foreign minister. (Editing by Robert Birsel)
More than 50 years after weird radio echoes were detected coming from Earth's upper atmosphere, two scientists say they've pinpointed the culprit. And it's complicated.

In 1962, after the Jicamarca Radio Observatory was built near Lima, Peru, some unexplainable phenomenon was reflecting the radio waves broadcast by the observatory back to the ground to be picked up by its detectors. The mysterious cause of these echoes was sitting at an altitude of between 80 and 100 miles (130 and 160 kilometers) above sea level.

"As soon as they turned this radar on, they saw this thing," study researcher Meers Oppenheim, of the Center for Space Physics at Boston University, said, referring to the anomalous echo. "They saw all sorts of interesting phenomena that had never been seen before. Almost all of it was explained within a few years." [In Photos: Mysterious Radar Blob Puzzles Meteorologists]

Peculiar radar echoes

Though the other phenomena detected by the observatory got explanations, these radar echoes continued to baffle scientists.

To see what was happening at that altitude, researchers at the time sent rockets, equipped with antennas and particle detectors, through the region. The instruments, which were designed to detect radar waves, "saw almost nothing," Oppenheim said.

Adding more peculiarity to the puzzle, the phenomenon showed up only during daylight hours, vanishing at night. The echo would appear at dawn every day at about 100 miles (160 km) above the ground, before descending to about 80 miles (130 km) and getting stronger. Then at Noon, the echo would start to rise back again toward its starting point at 100 miles above the ground. When plotted on a graph, the echoes appeared as a necklace shape.

And in 2011, during a partial solar eclipse seen over the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory in India, the echo went silent.

"And then there was a solar flare, and it sort of went a little nuts," Oppenheim said. "There was a solar flare, and the echo got really strong."

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The sun takes charge

Now, with a lot of supercomputing effort, Oppenheim and Yakov Dimant, also at the Center for Space Physics, have simulated the bizarre radar echoes to find the culprit  the sun. [Infographic: Explore Earth's Atmosphere, Top to Bottom]

Ultraviolet radiation from the sun, it seems, slams into the ionosphere (the part of Earth's upper atmosphere located between 50 and 370 miles, or 80 and 600 km, above sea level), where the radio echoes were detected, they said. Then, the radiation, in the form of photons (particles of light), strips molecules in that part of the atmosphere of their electrons, resulting in charged particles called ions  primarily, positively charged of their electrons, resulting in charged particles called ions, primarily positively charged oxygen  and a free electron (a negatively charged particle that is not attached to an atom or molecule).

That ultra-energized electron, or photoelectron, zips through the atmosphere, which, at this altitude, is much cooler than the photoelectron, Oppenheim said.

Making waves

Using a computer simulation, the scientists allowed these high-energy electrons to interact with other, less energized particles.

Because these high-energy electrons are racing through a cool, slow environment in the ionosphere, so-called kinetic plasma instabilities (turbulence, in a sense) occur. The result: The electrons start vibrating with different wavelengths.

"One population of very energetic particles moving through a population of much less energetic particles  it's like running a violin bow across the strings. The cold population will start developing resonant waves," Oppenheim explained.

"The next step is that those electron waves have to cause the ions to start forming waves too, and they do," Oppenheim said.

Though this last step isn't clearly understood, he explained that periodic waves of ions bunch up with no dominant wavelength winning out. "It's a whole set of wavelengths; it's a whole froth of wavelengths," he said.

That "froth" of wavelengths was strong enough to reflect radio waves back to the ground and to form the mysterious radar echoes.

"The reason it wasn't figured out for a long time is that it's a complicated mechanism," Oppenheim said.

As for why the rockets missed the bizarre echoes, Oppenheim pointed to the messy nature of the waves.

"Turns out, it looks like what the rockets saw is what we see with our simulation," he said. "You don't see strong coherent waves. What you see is sort of a froth of low-level waves, above the noise of thermal material," and those waves are sort of like "foam on the top of sea waves," he added.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A NASA spacecraft just got a front-row seat to witness one of nature's most mysterious processes.

For the first time ever, NASA flew a spacecraft directly through a "maelstrom" that scientists refer to as a magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection happens when two magnetic fields bump into each other and then realign:

Magnetic fields are spread out all over space. They're responsible for much of the dangerous radiation that our satellites and astronauts have to fly through.

Understanding how magnetic reconnection works is critical to figuring out how to protect future spacecraft and astronauts from radiation.

When magnetic fields bump into each other, they sometimes trigger a huge explosion that flings particles away at nearly the speed of light, before the fields realign. But scientists aren't sure why this explosive behavior only happens some of the time.

"One of the mysteries of magnetic reconnection is why it's explosive in some cases, steady in others, and in some cases, magnetic reconnection doesn't occur at all," Tom Moore, a NASA researcher, said in a statement.

NASA flew a constellation of four satellites, called the Magnetic Multiscale Mission (MMS), straight through one of these magnetic reconnections that happened when Earth's magnetic fields bumped into the sun's magnetic fields.

MMS passed right through the center of the collision:

The satellites were able to track how the magnetic fields shifted and what path the ejected particles took. This is what the collision looked like on the satellites' sensors:

The particles shot out in a straight line at hundreds of miles per second, but once they encountered a new magnetic field, they made a sharp U-turn and returned the collision site. The data actually lines up nicely with computer models that predicted similar behavior.

"The data showed the entire process of magnetic reconnection to be fairly orderly and elegant," NASA scientist Michael Hesse said in a statement. "There doesn't seem to be much turbulence present, or at least not enough to disrupt or complicate the process."

Scientists have data from five more magnetic reconnection events, so we should know more about this explosive process soon.
By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy flight officer with knowledge of sensitive American intelligence collection methods will face a general court-martial on espionage charges, the Navy said on Friday.

Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with communicating secret information "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."

The Navy has not disclosed what countries might have been the intended recipients of Lin's alleged activities. But U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, have in the past singled out Taiwan and possibly China.

Lin's attorney, Larry Youngner, said Lin was innocent of the charges.

The Navy decided not to prosecute Lin on charges of adultery and prostitution, which had been included on a redacted charge sheet previously seen by Reuters.

Youngner said he was pleased the Navy had dismissed those charges.

"Now that the remainder of Lt. Cmdr. Lin's case has been referred to a court-martial, we request a speedy trial on the merits," Youngner said.

Lin 's family has also created a website claiming his innocence.

"He is no spy for Taiwan, China or any other foreign country," according to the family's website.

Lin, who has been in held in pretrial confinement since September, is now at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at noon in Norfolk, Virginia.

He was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft.

Information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.

Lin enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and held a variety of positions over his 17-year carrier, including working on the staff of an assistant secretary of the Navy from 2012 to 2013. He served on the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Eisenhower from 2009 to 2010.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Though Grandfathered and Galavant were both cancelled on Wednesday, executive producer Dan Fogelman is getting another shot at success with the dramedy This Is Us, ordered to series at NBC.

RELATEDEmerald City Photos: Meet NBCs Wicked Witch, Dorothy and More

Starring Mandy Moore (Red Band Society), Milo Ventimiglia (Gilmore Girls) and Sterling K. Brown (The People v. O.J. Simpson), the project follows a unique ensemble whose paths cross and their life stories intertwine in curious ways. We find several of them share the same birthday, and so much more than anyone would expect.

Justin Hartley (Revenge), Chrissy Metz (American Horror Story), Susan Kelechi Watson (Louie), Chris Sullivan (The Knick) and Ron Cephas Jones (Mr. Robot) round out the cast.

RELATEDPhotos: Kristen Bell, Ted Danson Are On a Heavenly Mission in The Good Place

Also ordered to series at NBC for the 2016-17 season: Chicago P.D. spinoff Chicago Justice, DC Comics-based comedy Powerless and fish-out-of-water sitcom Trial & Error.

Launch Gallery: Fall TV Preview: Your Guide to What's New

Related stories

Drake Hosts SNL: Watch Video of the Best and Worst Sketches

Mysteries of Laura Cancelled at NBC

The Blacklist Spinoff Gets Series Order, Official Title at NBC
Why Have Active Japan-Focused Funds Done Better Than ETFs?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Performance evaluation of HJPNX

The Hennessy Japan Fund  Investor Class (HJPNX) rose 2.9% in the first four months of 2016. It was the best performance among the nine funds in this review. In the past one year, the fund has risen 3.6%, which made it the best performer. From the end of December 2015 until May 10, 2016, the fund has risen 6.6%. Below, weve graphed its performance against two ETFs: the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) and the iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ).

Lets look at what has contributed to the funds stellar performance in the first trimester of 2016.

Portfolio composition and contribution to returns

The industrials sector was the star performer, which helped HJPNX post a stellar performance in the first four months of 2016. Daikin Industries powered the sector ahead, with Mitsubishi (MSBHY) and Nidec (NJ) playing important supporting roles.

Healthcare and consumer staples were second and third, respectively, in terms of positive contribution to returns. Healthcare barely edged out staples for the second spot. Terumo singlehandedly provided all the positive contribution. The only other holding from the sector, Rohto Pharmaceutical, contributed negatively for the period. Meanwhile, all holdings from the staples sector emerged as positive contributors.

Financials dragged on the fund as both holdingsSumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Mizuho Financial Group (MFG)contributed negatively.

Investor takeaways

Passively managed EWJ was no match for HJPNX in the first trimester of 2016. Except for the telecom services sector, there was no other sector in which EWJ could match HJPNX. In the telecom sector, actively managed HJPNX marginally underperformed the stock comprising EWJ (DCM). For instance, stocks from the consumer discretionary sector comprising EWJ (FUJHY) (MZDAF) contributed negatively to the fund. Those forming HJPNX contributed positively. Stocks such as Japan Tobacco (JAPAF) helped the consumer staples sector forming EWJ to contribute positively. They couldnt match the quantum contributed by stocks comprising HJPNX.

Story continues

The funds turnover is on the lower side. The funds managers seem to have the ability to pick superior stocks, given its performance. The only aspect that moderate investors may find discomforting is its concentration. Meanwhile, aggressive investors are putting this fund on their shortlist of funds for Japanese equity exposure.

In the next article, lets take a look at the Voya Japan TOPIX Index Portfolio  Class A (IJIAX).

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
George Stephanopoulos

ABC's George Stephanopoulos pressed Donald Trump on Friday in one of the most combative exchanges yet over the Manhattan billionaire's tax returns.

Trump, who has suggested that he might not release his returns before the November election, largely refused to budge.

"It's none of your business," Trump said when the ABC host asked about his tax rate. "You'll see when I release, but I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible."

The presumptive GOP nominee has faced increased scrutiny over releasing his tax returns since he told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wasn't planning on releasing them ahead of the election, citing an ongoing audit. He said that he would release them after the audit is completed.

"There's nothing to learn from them," Trump said, adding that he doesn't believe voters are interested.

During Friday's interview, Stephanopoulos told Trump that voters "have a right" to see his returns before they make a decision on who they will cast a ballot for.

"I don't think they do, but I do say this: I will really gladly give them," Trump said.

He suggested that he would unveil the returns once the audit is complete and that he hoped it would come before the election.

But "you're not going to learn anything," he said.

The ABC host then pressed Trump on why he previously released his tax returns while under an audit in hopes of getting a casino license, as reported by CNN.

"Well, because at the time it didn't make any difference to me. Now it does," Trump said.

"I built a massive business and want to make sure everything's perfect. And it's a routine audit, and I want to get through the audit first," he continued. "And there have been many presidents who have not released their tax returns."

Stephanopoulos interrupted Trump, saying that each major party nominee since 1976 has released their returns.

"Right, but before 1976 people didn't do it," Trump responded. "It used to be a secret thing. I don't want it to be secret, but I do want the audit to get finished."

Story continues

donald trump

Trump has been criticized by both sides of the aisle over his hesitance to release the returns.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, wrote a lengthy Facebook post on Wednesday ripping the real-estate magnate, saying that his current refusal could signal a "bombshell of unusual size" existing in the tax returns.

"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," Romney wrote on Wednesday.

He continued:

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.

Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton was also quick to call out Trump for his refusal to release the returns. She told a crowd at a New Jersey rally that releasing the returns "is kind of expected" when you're a major party nominee.

"My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns, we've got eight years on our website right now," she said. "So you have got to ask yourself, why does he not release them?"

Trump fired back at Clinton in the Friday interview for the criticism.

"I sort of have to laugh when Clinton says it," he said. "Mrs. Clinton said that I should give my tax returns. What about all the missing emails that she's got? When is she going to give the missing emails? Or her Goldman Sachs speeches, when is she going to give that? Very great hypocrite."

Watch clips from the exchange below:

WATCH: "I don't think they do." - @realDonaldTrump does not believe voters have a right to see his tax returns https://t.co/vsxpL6EfXS  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 13, 2016

WATCH: "As soon as the audit ends, I'll release my returns." - @realDonaldTrump on tax returns https://t.co/vYt70kbUr8  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 13, 2016

"Many Presidents that have not shown their returns... before 1976, most people didn't do it." - @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/YnIpCYAUpI  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 13, 2016

WATCH: "It's none of your business, you'll see it when I release." - @realDonaldTrump on what his tax rate is... https://t.co/cdVHOF1hFV  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 13, 2016

NOW WATCH: How Donald Trump used bankruptcy to stay rich





More From Business Insider


NVIDIA: GPU-Accelerated Computing Could Be a Game-Changer

(Continued from Prior Part)

Growth opportunities in the accelerated data center market

In the previous part of this series, we saw how NVIDIA (NVDA) replicated its business model in the accelerated data center market. The company is tapping three niche markets of HPC (high-performance computing), hyperscale cloud, and enterprise artificial intelligence. These niche markets are expected to have a combined addressable market of more than $30 billion by 2020.

We will now look at the growth opportunities presented by the accelerated data center market and NVIDIAs strategies to tap these opportunities.

Exascale strategy for HPC

Exascale refers to supercomputers. More than 100 of the top 500 supercomputers in the world use accelerators to boost speed, and 96% of these 100 supercomputers use NVIDIAs Tesla GPU. The company aims to equip its GPUs in all the top 500 supercomputers. This alone represents a $1 billion opportunity.

The top 500 only account for 20% of the global HPC market. So if 20%the top 500represents a $1 billion opportunity, the entire HPC market represents a $5 billion opportunity.

On the software side, the NVIDIA SDK (software development kit) has accelerated around 400 applications. This figure is likely to grow further as more applications are accelerated.

Deep learning for hyperscale

Several hyperscale data centers such as those utilized by Google (GOOG), Baidu (BIDU), and Facebook (FB) use NVIDIAs Tesla platform. NVIDIA is looking to accelerate the influence of deep learning technology beyond object recognition and image detection. It intends to add new value propositions such as voice recognition, video processing, transcoding, and encoding while supporting several other general applications.

Googles TensorFlow has increased the use of deep learning from 300 applications a year ago to 1,200 applications, including translation, photos, and language understanding. As the influence of deep learning increases, the need for high processing power and for Tesla products should also increase.

Story continues

Artificial intelligence for enterprise

NVIDIA is looking to venture into the niche market of AI (artificial intelligence) with its newly developed supercomputer DGX-1. It is currently working with more than 3,500 enterprises from various sectors, ranging from medical to aerospace to advertising and introducing AI in the enterprise. The company did not comment on the opportunity presented by this market, as it is still in the testing phase.

AI and deep learning have opportunities beyond data centers. We will explore the other opportunities for these technologies in the coming part of this series.

The PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ) invests in technology stocks, with ~8.1% holding in the semiconductor industry. It has ~4.9% exposure in GOOG, ~5.4% in FB, 0.97% in BIDU, and 0.37% in NVDA.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
NVIDIA: GPU-Accelerated Computing Could Be a Game-Changer

(Continued from Prior Part)

NVIDIA has high hopes with accelerated data center

So far, we have seen how NVIDIA (NVDA) implemented its business model in the gaming and professional visualization market and the growth opportunities it is eyeing in these two sectors.

Now, lets look at the third and the biggest market that NVIDIA is eyeingthe accelerated data center market. Here, the company leverages its Tesla platform.

At the 2016 Investor Conference, NVIDIAs vice president for enterprise business, Shankar Trivedi, explained the potential market for the company in the data center space with the help of statistics.

Trivedi stated that the entire data center market is around $50 billion and that NVIDIA focuses on the accelerated data center segment. This segment is further divided into three niche markets: HPC (high-performance computing), hyperscale cloud, and enterprise artificial intelligence.

Trivedi estimates that the first two markets represent a $30 billion opportunity. However, he did not give any estimates for the third market, as it is still emerging.

Role of NVIDIA GPUs in accelerated data center

The data center market is governed by Intel (INTC), and new players such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and IBM (IBM) are looking to penetrate this market. However, NVIDIA is targeting deep learning in this space, and it isnt competing with server processors or CPUs (central processing units).

NVIDIA builds Tesla GPUs (graphics processing units) that perform the task of multiple CPUs. Trivedi explained the power of Tesla in hyperscale computing with the Google Brain experiment. The experiment noted that it took 1,000 normal CPUs for the computer to identify all cats in YouTube videos.

This shows that deep learning requires an immense amount of computing power. A similar experiment was later conducted using 16 Tesla GPUsits performance improved six-fold.

Cost benefits

Not only was its performance enhanced, the data center cost also fell from $5 million for 1,000 normal CPUs to $200,000 for 16 Tesla GPUs. Moreover, the operating cost also decreased as the power consumption fell significantly.

Story continues

Such a strong outcome explains the increasing adoption of Tesla in national laboratories and higher education institutes. The adoption of HPC is now growing into industries such as oil and gas, finance, and insurance, which is creating new opportunities for NVIDIA. Next, we will learn about NVIDIAs strategy to tap into these opportunities.

The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH) has exposure to 26 semiconductor stocks, including ~3.9% exposure in NVDA, 13.6% in INTC, and ~7.6% in QCOM.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Shares of NVIDIA Corp. NVDA went up 7.4% in after-hours trading yesterday, after the company reported better-than-expected first-quarter fiscal 2017 results. Also, an encouraging second quarter guidance positively impacted the share price.

The company posted earnings (including stock-based compensation but excluding other one-time items) of 39 cents per share for the quarter, up on a year-over-year basis. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was pegged at 31 cents.

Revenues

Revenues not only increased 13.4% year over year to $1.305 billion but also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.267 billion. The year-over-year increase was primarily due to better-than-expected growth in GPUs gaming platform, high-performance computing, datacenter and Tegra automotive platforms.

Revenues from GPU business increased 15% year over year to $1.08 billion, driven by strength in GeForce GPUs and Gaming revenue. Revenues from Gaming GPU increased 17% on a year-over-year basis. Revenues from datacenter (including Tesla and Grid) came in at $143 million, up 63% on a year-over-year basis.

Tegra processor revenues on the other hand increased 10% from the year-ago quarter and came in at $160 million, primarily due to better-than-expected growth in Tegra development services and automotive. Automotive revenues for the quarter came in at $113 million, up 47% year over year.

Margins

NVIDIAs adjusted gross margin (including stock-based compensation but excluding other one-time items) expanded 158 basis points (bps) from the year-ago quarter to 58.3%. In dollar terms, gross profit came in at $761 million, up 16.5% from the year-ago quarter, primarily due to strength in Maxwell GPU gaming platform and a higher revenue base.

Adjusted operating expenses increased 5.1% from the year-ago quarter to $492 million, as the company continued to invest in sales, general and administrative activities and higher research and development expenses. As a percentage of revenues, operating expenses however decreased 296 bps from the year-ago quarter to 37.7%.

Story continues

NVIDIAs adjusted operating margin was up 454 bps from the year-ago quarter to 20.6%, reflecting growth in its GeForce GTX GPU business and lower operating expenses as a percentage of revenues. In dollar terms, adjusted operating income increased from $185 million to $269 million.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow

NVIDIA exited the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $4.75 billion compared with $5.04 billion in the previous quarter. Free cash flow in the quarter came in at $254 million, while cash flow from operations was $309 million. NVIDIAs total debt (including current portion) was $1.43 billion.

During the quarter, the company paid quarterly dividend totaling $62 million. NVIDIA also announced a quarterly dividend of 11.5 cents per share (payable on Jun 20, 2016). During the quarter, the company entered into a $500 million accelerated share repurchase program.

Moreover, the company stated that it expects to return around $1 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchase for fiscal 2017.

Guidance

For the second quarter of fiscal 2017, NVIDIA expects revenues of approximately $1.35 billion (+/-2%). The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $1.276 billion.

Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be 58% (+/-50 bps). Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $445 million. Non-GAAP tax rate is expected to be 20% (+/-1%).

Recommendation

NVIDIA posted better-than-expected first quarter fiscal 2017 results and provided encouraging second-quarter revenue guidance. Also, revenues increased year over year, primarily due to growth in GPUs gaming platform, high-performance computing, datacenter and Tegra automotive platforms.

Furthermore, we believe that NVIDIAs innovative product pipeline and strength in gaming and high-end notebook GPUs keep it well positioned. We also believe that the higher adoption of NVIDIAs Tegra processors could act as a catalyst, going forward.

Nonetheless, competition from the likes of Intel INTC and QUALCOMM Inc. QCOM remains a near-term headwind.

NVIDIA has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Investors may consider TiVo Inc. TIVO from the tech space, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

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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



QUALCOMM INC (QCOM): Free Stock Analysis Report



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DailyFX.com -

Bias: NZD/USD Lacking Upside Push into 1-Yr Resistance Point, Downside Favored

Point to Establish Short Exposure: Breakdown Below May 10 Closing Low of 0.6750

Spot: 0.6815

Target 1: 0.6652 61.8% Extension of Double Top Range (0.6805-0.7052)

Target 2: 0.6558 Double-Top Target Expansion of the August 24-December 4 Range

Invalidation Level: Close Above the 34-DMA 0.6871

Highlights:

Reserve Bank of New Zealand May Exercise Right to Cut Rates

NZD & AUD Have Dropped To the Bottom of G10 Relative Strength Readings

USDOLLAR Has Recently Gone Bid; A Breakout Could See Commodity FX Lose Ground Quick

Fundamental & Technical Focus:

The New Zealand Dollar ended last week lower by ~2% against the US Dollar, and further losses could be in store as economic data around the world continues to sour. Local data has been solid with employment and recent GDT auction showing whole milk power is bidding up higher prices than expected. However, concerns are still focused abroad. Unstable data in China threatens the commodity recovery, which New Zealand has benefitted. The upside in NZ Data has been wealthy migrants testing the labor supply as well as the supply of credit and real estate in New Zealand.

While these forces seem positive on the surface, the susceptibility of another commodity downturn alongside weakening Chinese Data sits front and center on traders minds. We can see this as relative strength has shifted to the commodity FX front since the RBA cut rates earlier this week, and the market is pricing in another RBA cut later this year.

Relative Strength Shows G10 FX Shunning AUD & NZD on Recent CB Rhetoric

NZD/USD Lacking Upside Push into 1-Yr Resistance Point, Downside Favored

Should the scenarios come onto the scene, we would likely see new lows in the AUDUSD. If we do not, we likely will not, and that is why this in an entry order based trade and not an at market trade.

Chart:

NZD/USD Lacking Upside Push into 1-Yr Resistance Point, Downside Favored

Technically, a few points stand out to me, least of which is potential double-top pattern against long-term channel resistance. The channel is one reason why I think selling a breakdown makes more sense than selling a pull back. Additionally, the price has also come into the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement at 0.6846 level and stalled, which may show were running out of steam on the upside. If the recent move lower from 0.7055 was a sign of things to come, the trend lower could resume and resume aggressively.

Story continues

Shorter-Term Chart (H1) Red Channel Looks To Be Guiding Price Lower

NZD/USD Lacking Upside Push into 1-Yr Resistance Point, Downside Favored

NZD/USD  Double-Top Neckline at 0.6809 Recently Broken, Anticipating Move To Bear Targets

2nd resistance: 0.6918 May 5 Corrective Lower-High

1st resistance: 0.6847 38.2% of May Range

Spot: 0.6824

1st support: 0.6750 May 5 Closing Low

2nd support: 0.66574 61.8% Fibonacci Extension (Minor Dbl Top Target)

Sentiment (per our Speculative Sentiment Index):

NZD/USD Lacking Upside Push into 1-Yr Resistance Point, Downside Favored

The ratio of long to short positions in the NZDUSD stands at 1.12 as 53% of traders are long. Yesterday the ratio was 1.08; 52% of open positions were long. Long positions are 5.1% higher than yesterday and 15.2% above levels seen last week. Short positions are 1.3% higher than yesterday and 13.0% above levels seen last week. Open interest is 3.3% higher than yesterday and 8.0% above its monthly average. We use our SSI as a contrarian indicator to price action, and the fact that the majority of traders are long gives a signal that the NZDUSD may continue lower. The trading crowd has grown further net-long from yesterday and last week. The combination of current sentiment and recent changes gives a further bearish trading bias.

The Trade:

I am looking to sell NZD/USD if we break below the May 10 close of 0.6750. I would like to sell on a break of support as opposed to a retracement because the sentiment doesnt provide its usual cues and if the USDOLLAR doesnt strengthen (needed for trade to work) the price could move back up to the top for the longer-term range in the 0.6950/7050 zone.

Should we get a sellable break, a stop would be placed above the recent high that currently sits at 0.6849 or about 100 pips above entry. The full target is at 0.656350, which is a 200% expansion of the Double-Top Pattern From April & May. This target aligns with a favorable risk: reward ratio that our Traits of Successful Traders report found to be one of the best things a trader can do to ensure long-term sustainability in your trading.



original source

DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.

Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM.
The Obama Administration wrote every public school district in the country Friday warning local administrators they have to let transgender students use bathrooms matching their gender identity.

The guidance signed by Justice and Education officials, while not a legal decree, implicitly threatens noncompliant schools with lawsuits or the withdrawal of federal funding.

As a condition of receiving Federal funds, a school agrees that it will not exclude, separate, deny benefits to, or otherwise treat differently on the basis of sex any person in its educational programs or activities unless expressly authorized to do so under Title IX or its implementing regulations, the letter, posted Friday on the Department of Justice website, says. The Departments treat a students gender identity as the students sex for purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. This means that a school must not treat a transgender student differently from the way it treats other students of the same gender identity.

When a school provides sex-segregated activities and facilities, transgender students must be allowed to participate in such activities and access such facilities consistent with their gender identity, the letter continues.

The directive will draw the ire of conservatives who accuse the administration of overreaching on LGBT rights by trying to overrule local decisions. It has already angered Texas; Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told NBC 5 after the advice was first reported, This will be the beginning of the end of the public school system as we know it.

President Obama, in the dark of the night  without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents  decides to issue an executive order, like this superintendent, forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly dont want it, Patrick said.

The Obama Administrations letter comes on the heels of the Justice Departments opposition to North Carolinas attempt to require transgender people to use bathrooms matching their biological sex.
Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama warned Russia about its military build-up in northern Europe Friday as he hosted leaders from five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said at the end of the meeting.

As tensions with Moscow spike over a plethora of issues from aerial military interceptions to Ukraine, Obama looked to make common cause with Russia's near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Earlier, Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."

Obama put Vladmir Putin's government on notice that, while willing to deescalate tensions, the White House would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea region -- "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."

But as Obama hosted the meeting, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.

- 'Illegal occupation' -

Tensions with Russia are currently at levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

Story continues

In the joint statement, the group said they would only lift all sanctions on Russia once Crimea is returned to Ukrainian control.

"Russia's illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, which we do not accept, its aggression in Donbas, and its attempts to destabilize Ukraine are inconsistent with international law and violate the established European security order," the statement read.

Russia and the West have also clashed over Moscow's military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

And Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.

Russia has darkly warned against Sweden and Finland joining NATO, an issue that is being debated in both countries.

But the joint statement showed Russia's strong-arm tactics may backfire by propelling them closer to the alliance.

"NATO remains key to transatlantic and European security, and the contributions of Sweden and Finland, including those they make as NATO enhanced opportunity partners, are highly valuable," it said.

Putin did not specify which actions he will take in response to the activation of the missile defense program but according to Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, likely moves to upgrade weapons in Kaliningrad would have come anyway.

"The Russians will make their displeasure known. The West should anticipate irate declarations of military countermeasures," he said.

"Categorizing its military programs as countermeasures to Western military deployments has a long tradition with the Kremlin."

NATO leaders -- including Obama -- will meet in Warsaw next month.
Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama's administration told schools across America on Friday they must let transgender students use the bathroom of their choice, taking an intensifying battle over civil rights to the national stage.

Hailed by activists as a breakthrough, the move triggered an instant backlash from conservatives who perceive it as a threat to children's well-being, with a top Texas official refusing to comply with Obama's "blackmail."

In a letter to public school districts and universities, the Justice and Education Departments laid out guidelines on creating a safe environment for transgender students, in accordance with existing laws on discrimination.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the top US lawyer who delivered a powerful speech in support of transgender Americans earlier this week.

"No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus," added Education Secretary John King.

In particular, the letter asks schools to allow transgender students access to bathrooms matching their gender identity -- rather than the sex on their birth certificate.

Although non-binding, schools that fail to comply with the directive could potentially face lawsuits or reduced federal aid.

The school guidelines come as the federal government is embroiled in a pitched legal battle with the state of North Carolina over a law requiring transgender people to use public restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. Both the state and the Obama administration have filed dueling lawsuits.

Rights groups hailed the administration's latest move.

Human rights campaign president Chad Griffin said the "groundbreaking" guidelines marked "a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people."

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- 'Blackmail' -

But conservative politicians and groups were swift in condemning the move.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory called for federal courts and the US Congress to "intercede to stop this massive executive branch overreach, which clearly oversteps constitutional authority."

In Texas, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said his state was ready to forfeit billions of dollars in federal aid -- most of it for free breakfast and lunch programs for students from financially disadvantaged families -- rather than comply with the administration.

"So Barack Obama, if schools don't knuckle down to force girls showering with boys and force eight-year-old girls to have to endure boys coming into their bathroom, he's taking money from the poorest of the poor," Patrick told reporters.

"Well, in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States... We will not sell out our children to the federal government."

Texas public schools receive about $10 billion in federal funds over a two-year budget.

The Family Research Council, a conservative Christian group, said "the president's decree should be resisted with every legal and moral instrument we have available to us in this country."

- Wider debate -

The battle is part of a wider debate on equal rights in the United States, where a flurry of initiatives have targeted the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) communities since a historic Supreme Court decision last year legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

In a CNN poll this week, 14 percent of respondents said they had a family member or close friend who was transgender, but the true number of transgender people in the United States is unknown -- in part because many are not public about their identity.

The National Center for Transgender Equality estimated in 2009 that between 0.25 and one percent of the population is transsexual.

The group found that transgender students or those expressing gender non-conformity face "alarming" levels of violence and discrimination, with 78 percent reporting they were harassed, and 15 percent saying the bullying led them to leave a school.

The administration argues that gender identity is protected under Title IX, a provision under the Education Amendments of 1972 that bars schools receiving federal funding from discriminating based on a student's sex.

Under the latest guidance, schools must "take prompt and effective steps" to end, prevent and remedy sex-based harassment based on a student's actual or perceived gender identity, transgender status or gender transition.

Schools are asked to treat students "consistent with their gender identity," allow them to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities in line with their gender identity, as well as protect their privacy as concerns their transgender status.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the directive came in response to requests for guidance from schools across the country.

"It's actually to ensure that our schools are as inclusive, and respectful and safe as they can possibly be," he said
president barack obama lip bite

Over the past few years the public sector has not contributed much, if anything, to GDP and the US economy's growth.

There is one implemented policy, however, that appears to be helping.

Aneta Markowska, an economist at Societe Generale, broke down just how consumers are spending their money that they have saved since the drop in oil prices.

The largest increase in consumer spending since gas prices have dropped, according to Markowska, has been on healthcare.

"In nominal terms, household spending on healthcare averaged 3.9% between 2010 and 2013," wrote Markowska in a note to clients Thursday.

"It began to accelerate in the first half of 2014 and has averaged at 5.2% since then. Importantly, this pickup in healthcare spending was not driven by higher costs; real spending in this category accelerated from 1.9% in 2010-2013 to 3.9% thereafter."

This would indicate that Americans have been not only been spending more because of increased costs, but also intentionally allocating more of their wallet to the sector.

To match the increased spending, the healthcare sector's labor market has also been booming.

"Employment data also corroborates this: as shown in chart 3, the healthcare sector produced about 240,000 jobs per year between 2010 and mid-2014," said the note. "Since then, it has averaged at 354,000/year and the sector is currently producing about 500,000 jobs annualized."

Screen Shot 2016 05 12 at 5.09.02 PM

Now there are a few reasons for the increase, the most notable of which is the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Markowska notes that the growth in real spending closely matches the 4% increase in the number of Americans with health insurance since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2012.

Part of the increased spending no doubt has to do with the number of people spending more on insurance who did not have it before, but also higher spending on drug prescriptions.

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This increased consumer spending and labor availability is a net positive for the economy, according to Markowska.

"So, although increased demand for healthcare may have squeezed other forms of spending, it did produce positive economic effects," said the note from Societe Generale.

This is just one piece of Obamacare's impact. There are many other factors going into it and nominal spending on healthcare premiums is certainly worth considering, but, according to Markowska, there is reason to believe the bill has been helpful to the US economy.

NOW WATCH: Watch Obama roast Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner





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The world's oldest person has passed away at age 116.

Susannah Mushatt Jones died Thursday night at a senior home in Brooklyn, New York, where she had lived for more than 30 years, The Associated Press reported. She had been sick for about 10 days.

Read: 100-Year-Old Grandmother Steals The Show As Granddaughter's Bridesmaid

Jones was crowned the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records on her 116th birthday last July.

Relatives credited her longevity to her love of family, generosity to others and getting plenty of sleep.

"I never drink or smoke. I surround myself with love and positive energy. Thats the key to long life and happiness," she said when she was 106.

The last American from the 1800s, Jones was born on July 16, 1899 on a small farm in Montgomery, Alabama. Her father was a sharecropper who picked cotton to support his wife and their 11 children.

Read: Identical Twins Remain Inseparable As They Celebrate Turning 100

In 1922, she left Alabama for New Jersey and moved to New York City the following year. She worked as a live-in housekeeper and childcare provider.

She never had children and was only married briefly. But she had 100 nieces and nephews, Guinness reported last year, and was known as "T," which was short for "auntie."

As Jones got older, she lost her eyesight and was hard of hearing. But she only took about 2 medications a day.

The oldest ever person on record was Jeanne Calment from France. She passed away in 1997 at age 122 years, 164 days.

Watch: At Age 100, Ida Keeling Sets Racing Record For the 100-Meter Dash

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Shanghai (AFP) - Olympic hurdles champion Aries Merritt revealed on Friday that he needed a second operation for kidney trouble and said he was "months" behind in his preparations for the Rio Games.

The 30-year-old American underwent a kidney transplant in September but he said he then needed a second procedure after complications developed.

The latest details about Merritt's condition raise questions about his ability to mount a successful Olympic title defence. He said he still suffers discomfort when he trains and competes.

"About seven weeks later, I actually had a second surgery that many people don't know about," Merritt told journalists ahead of the Shanghai Diamond League.

"I had one complication which caused me to have to go back in and have another operation... I was having difficulty with haematoma that had developed that was actually crushing the kidney."

Merritt was back in training by January but he said his preparations were way behind those of his rivals. He finished sixth in the 110 metres hurdles at this month's Doha Diamond League.

"It is a struggle, but it's not because over time it will get better and better. But I don't want to make any excuses because I'm lining up with everyone else," Merritt said.

"It's like I'm months and months behind my competitors (in terms of training), but I'm still running decent," he said.

"I'm really strong right now but I'm just not fast," Merritt added with a laugh.

Merritt said his blood chemistry is now normal following the transplant -- using his sister's kidney -- which was necessary because of a genetic disorder.

"All my labs are great. My basic body chemistry is normal. My blood levels are normal," he said. "Now, I'm full of energy and I'm ready to try to get back to where I was before."

In Shanghai, he will face fellow American David Oliver, who won the world title in 2013, and Jamaican Omar McLeod, who won the world indoor gold in Portland earlier this year.
From Cosmopolitan

The Social Security Administration's list of most popular baby names in 2015 came out last week and was filled with interesting findings, like the fact that there are actually 18,993 unique names for girls versus 13,959 for boys. (The administration releases all names that appear at least five times in a given year.) Why are there so many more names for girls? Because most people are more comfortable coming up with new, unusual names for their baby as long as they're having a girl, according to Time.

"The culture is much more accepting of out-there girls' names," Matthew Hahn, a professor of biology and informatics at the University of Indiana who co-authored a 2003 study comparing baby name trends to evolutionary models, told the site. "The same goes for inventing new names."

So, for example, offbeat but not exactly gender-specific names like Navy, Echo, and Victory - all of which made the Social Security list - were given to at least three baby girls for every boy.

Another reason there are just fewer male names in "circulation" is that parents are more likely to go with what Hahn calls "ancestral naming," or giving a boy their father or grandpa's name.

But parents being more likely to embrace more current names over traditional ones for their girls isn't exactly a new thing. Baby name expert Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard and creator of BabyNameWizard.com, tells Cosmopolitan.com, "There's no question that traditionally, girls' names are more subject to trends than boys."

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LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC pointed to a larger oil supply surplus on the market this year as lifting of sanctions on Iran helps boost its output, making up for outages within the group and losses in outside producers hurt by the collapse in prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.44 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the exporter group said in a monthly report on Friday citing secondary sources, up 188,000 bpd from March.

OPEC and non-member producers including Russia failed at an April 17 meeting to agree to freeze output in a bid to tackle a supply glut that has weighed on prices.

The April output figure is OPEC's highest since at least 2008, according to a Reuters review of past OPEC reports on its website.

OPEC's report points to a 950,000-bpd excess supply on average in 2016 if the group keeps pumping at April's rate, up from 790,000 bpd implied in last month's report.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler; editing by Susan Thomas)
Santiago (AFP) - The poems that won Pablo Neruda the Nobel prize for literature may never have been seen if the writer had not been such a good horseman.

A new film, "Neruda" -- which will be shown Friday at the Cannes film festival -- tells of the period in the Chilean icon's drama-packed life when he nearly drowned in a river while fleeing on horseback from anti-communist police.

Neruda's life has already been the subject of one hit movie, "The Postman," in 1994.

Set on an Italian island, it told the story of a young fisherman who becomes Neruda's personal mailman and through him learns about poetry, love and politics.

The new movie, by Chilean director Pablo Larrain stars Gael Garcia Bernal as a dogged police inspector who led the hunt for Neruda.

The pro-democracy campaigner went on the run in 1948 after the Chilean government outlawed the communist party, of which the poet was a member.

Neruda first went unerground and became a fugitive as he tried to lead leftist opposition to the government, but eventually he had to flee the country.

Neruda crossed the Andes mountains on horseback en route to Argentina with local people who knew the land and almost drowned in the Currigue river in southern Chile.

He recalled this brush with death when he gave a speech accepting the Nobel prize for literature in 1971.

He said he rode a horse that was struggling to keep its head above water plunging them both in the torrent.

- Rising star -

"Then we made it across. And as soon as we got to the other side, the peasants who were accompanying me asked with a smile, 'Were you very afraid?'" Neruda recalled.

"It thought that my last hour had come, I said. 'We were behind with the lassos at the ready,' they replied."

The episode turned Neruda into a global symbol of the fight for freedom. Shortly thereafter, Neruda would publish "Canto General", an epic collection of more than 300 poems in which he depicts Latin America's history as a continuous fight against oppression.

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Director Larrain is one of the rising stars of Latin American cinema, who is now shooting Hollywood star Natalie Portman in a biopic of former US first lady Jackie Kennedy, "Jackie".

His brother Juan de Dios Larrain, who produced "Neruda", described that film as part police procedural, part dark comedy, part adventure flick. The action "never stops," he told AFP.

He added: "We owe the poet several movies. This is another one of them."

He said it would be impossible to capture in just one movie all the facets of Neruda's life -- political activist, diplomat, world renowned writer and more.

Other chapters deserve a movie, too, argued Fernando Saez, president of the Neruda Foundation, including his busy love life, his life as a collector of ship figureheads and sea shells, and his last days after the 1973 military coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power.

Neruda was preparing to flee to Mexico to lead the opposition to Pinochet but he died in a hospital just days after the coup. The official cause was prostate cancer. But to this day it is argued that he was poisoned by the Pinochet regime.

Just days ago his remains were re-buried -- for the third time -- after undergoing three years of tests to determine the cause of death. Results are pending.

Despite his worldwide fame as a writer, many aspects of Neruda's life are unknown to many people, said Saez.

"Neruda's stature created a myth, and these movies help bring him closer as a human being," he added.
Cannes kicked off May 11 with an expected parade of custom gowns, glittering diamonds and incessant flashbulbs. But long before the first frame of Woody Allen's Cafe Society lit up the screen, it was clear that 2016 is a brand-new year.

The red-carpet-draped steps of the Palais provided a backdrop for such stars as Victoria Beckham and Susan Sarandon to buck tradition as both stepped out wearing ... pants! The designer wore her own creation, a tuxedo-inspired black-and-white bustier with high-waisted trousers, which she complemented with Chopard diamond bracelets. It was Sarandon, however, who brought the laid-back cool in a black pantsuit, white button-down and dark sunglasses. The piece de resistance? A pair of black flats, which were a not-so-subtle nod to last year's Flatgate controversy when attendees were turned away for not wearing high heels.

Stars always play by their own rules in Cannes, but festival head Thierry Fremaux admits to THR that last year's brouhaha won't see a sequel. "It was unacceptable from the security people, but there are 2,000 people and one guy decided to do that, and we didn't know until the day after," says Fremaux. "We changed it, for sure."

Read More: Yellow Is the Unofficial Color of Cannes

Indeed, a member of the Societe de Protection et de Securite Palais (SPSP) - the official guards of the Palais - tells THR that guards are now instructed to look at overall "presentation." (For the record, security personnel also seems more relaxed about last year's selfie ban, too, allowing opening-night attendees plenty of time for personal pics before suggesting they move along.)

Nailing the presentation mandate were Blake Lively in a sparkly Atelier Versace with cutouts and Lorraine Schwartz earrings, Naomi Watts in lavender Armani Prive and Chopard jewels, Julianne Moore in Givenchy Couture and Chopard jewelry, and Jessica Chastain in curve-hugging yellow Armani Prive with Piaget jewelry. Kristen Stewart, with two films here including Cafe Society, stepped out in Chanel (a sheer top and full patterned skirt) but changed for the afterparty into a belly-baring white T-shirt, mini skirt and checkered sneakers, topped off with a black biker jacket.

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The quick change surely would please French fashion icon Ines de la Fressange, who believes fashion shouldn't be about rules. "Style is an attitude," says the face of Roger Vivier, who has worn flats on the Cannes carpet several times. "Some of the greatest stars of Hollywood, all-time stars like Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman and Katharine Hepburn, were addicted to flat shoes. People should understand being sexy, glamorous, beautiful is not linked to the size of your heels."

See More: Cannes: The Red-Carpet Arrivals
On Friday, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory slammed the Obama administration's letter to public schools regarding transgender students' use of bathrooms. McCrory called it a "massive executive branch overreach."

On his website, McCrory claimed that the administration's edict "changes generations of gender etiquette and privacy norms, which parents, children and employees have expected in the most personal and private settings of their everyday lives."

Sent by the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice, the administration's letter reminded school officials that the 1972 Title IX law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of a student's sex in public schools, applies to transgender students looking to use the restroom in peace.

Source: Carolyn Kaster/AP

In his complaint, McCrory said that the directive "clearly oversteps constitutional authority" and that the "federal government does not have the authority to be the final arbiter."

However, McCrory may be forgetting a grade school social studies lesson.

The U.S. government has three branches: the legislative branch, which makes laws, the executive branch, which carries them out and the judicial branch, which evaluates them.

Congress passed Title IX into law in 1972. By enforcing it, President Obama is ensuring that U.S. citizens abide by the law.

Source: Kids.gov

In his statement, McCrory also shows that he has neglected to read any polls in a long time.

"Most Americans, including this governor, believe that government is searching for a solution to a problem that has yet to be defined," McCrory writes.

However, according to a recent CNN poll, 57% of Americans don't agree with legislation like North Carolina's controversial HB2, which requires people to use public restrooms that align with their gender as assigned at birth. Given that North Carolina's Congress convened a special session to pass HB2 to supersede a Charlotte ordinance protecting transgender people, McCrory shouldn't be surprised that the federal government stepped in to overrule him.
MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. (PKK.V) (OTC Pink: PKKFF) ("Peak" or the "Company") today announced that it has been advised by Zhonghai Wanyue Group Chairman, Mr. Jiang Wang, that it may take until May 31 to free up the necessary funds to complete the transfer of the balance of $3.44M due to Peak on the original $3.98M strategic investment partnership agreement between Peak and Mr. Wang.

"The cheque cashing industry in China has unfortunately been turned upside down since new regulations were passed earlier this year," explained Mr. Wang. "Everyone, including some of the country's larger banks, is still adjusting to the new rules, making it very difficult for the time being to cash larger cheques, which has put a premium on cash in the country. This has forced some of the industry's smaller players out of business, which is good for us in the long run, but unfortunately has made getting this transaction closed with Peak more complicated. I've now turned to alternative sources of liquidity and expect to be able to resolve this issue shortly once and for all," Mr. Wang went on to say.

"We continue to be very supportive of Mr. Wang and his efforts to get the transaction closed as soon as possible," commented Johnson Joseph, President and CEO of Peak. "We want our shareholders to know that despite the fund transfer delays, we have started communicating directly with some of the Zhonghai Wanyue Group's subsidiaries to minimize the impact of the fund transfer delays on Peak's revenues once the transaction closes. We understand that these delays are frustrating for everyone. Nevertheless, we think that it's important for shareholders to know that we've worked very closely with Mr. Wang to ensure that these delays don't have a significant impact on our projected 2016 revenues," concluded Mr. Joseph.

Peak will make an announcement about the completion of the transfer as soon as it happens. However in the event the process runs until May 31, the Company will provide progress report updates on the process until it's completed.

About Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.:

Peak Positioning Technologies Inc. is an IT portfolio management company whose mission is to assemble, finance and manage a portfolio of high-growth-potential companies and assets in some of the fastest growing tech sectors in China, including Fintech, e-commerce and cloud-computing. Peak provides its shareholders with exceptional growth potential by giving them access to the fastest growing sectors of the world's fastest growing economy. For more information: http://www.peakpositioning.com

Contact information:

Cathy Hume

CEO

CHF Investor Relations

Phone: 416-868-1079 ext.: 231

Email: cathy@chfir.com

Or

Carl Desjardins

Managing Partner

Paradox Public Relations Inc.

Phone: 514-341-0408

Email: carldesjardins@paradox-pr.ca

Or

Johnson Joseph

President and CEO

Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.

Phone: 514-340-7775 ext.: 501

Email: investors@peakpositioning.com

SOURCE: Peak Positioning Technologies Inc.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Pennsylvania man who killed a female acquaintance after escaping from jail has been found guilty of murder and will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

A jury in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, found Robert Crissman, 39, guilty of murder and other charges in connection with the killing of Tammy Long, 55. The conviction carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

In July 2015, Crissman escaped from Armstrong County Jail, about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, while on cafeteria duty, authorities said. At the time, he was in custody on a drug offense and probation violation and was not considered dangerous.

Crissman walked to Long's home after his escape, was allowed in by the woman, and then strangled her before stealing her boyfriend's truck, according to authorities.

He was captured within a day of his escape.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Paul Simao)
Chinas decades-long military modernization entered a new phase last year under the aggressive leadership of President Xi Jinping, a new Pentagon report on Beijings military capabilities said today. The sweeping transformation includes making the formerly mass army a nimbler, more balanced force that is acquiring the kind of expeditionary capabilities the U.S. military already enjoys.

Chinas military modernization is producing capabilities that have the potential to reduce core U.S. military technological advantages on the sea and in the air, the report found.

The most visible outward sign of Chinas military muscle-flexing can be seen in the 3,200 acres it has reclaimed on reefs and rocks in the South China Sea. Three of those sites in the Spratly Islands now have port facilities and 10,000-foot runways that can handle any plane in the Chinese arsenal, the report found. Those territorial claims, which clash with rival claims from other states in the region, are backed up with coast guard and civilian ships.

It seems to us that these activities are designed to stay below the threshold of conflict, but demonstrate that China is willing to defend its territorial claims, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark said while unveiling the report at the Pentagon.

The report, an annual update mandated by Congress, notes that the Chinese moves have caused countries in the region to enhance their ties to the United States. Given the still-growing Chinese defense budget, the report found, these concerns are likely to intensify as the PLA continues to modernize, especially in the absence of greater transparency.

But the potentially more significant, long-term developments are found closer to home. Xi is pushing through a series of deep reforms in the Peoples Liberation Army, including a massive reorganization of the historically unwieldy institution, moving it from a collection of distinct regional units to a more rigidly top-down organization. The Chinese leader is also purging the militarys officer corps, arresting dozens on charges of corruption over the past year while cutting some 300,000 troops from the armys bloated ranks.

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The reforms are rebalancing Chinas military, making the army smaller while the navy and the air force grow; the report noted that Chinese aviation technology is rapidly closing the gap with western air forces. At the same time, Chinas nuclear and missile forces have been reorganized as an independent service and have been bolstered with a new array of weapons that push Chinas potential reach farther out into the Pacific.

The moves come at a time when Xi is widely seen as attempting to consolidate his control over Chinas institutions. The military has always been seen as a political institution in China, and it exists to protect, and carry out the orders of the Communist party.

Given Chinas emphasis on being able to operate farther from home  as outlined in last years defense white paper  the Chinese navy continues to get preferential treatment. The Pentagon report noted that the 300-ship PLAN now possesses the largest number of vessels in Asia, boasting a growing number of advanced surface ships, new submarines, amphibious ships, and its first aircraft carrier.

The report also stressed Beijings use of the so-called Chinese Maritime Militia, a paramilitary organization of hundreds of civilian fishing boats which acts as a virtual picket line, sailing hundreds of miles outside of Chinese territorial waters to keep an eye on other vessels and harass any that stray too close to Chinese claims.

In many ways, this years report echoes previous studies. The lack of transparency in Chinese military developments has long been a concern for the Pentagon, and Chinese behavior in the South China Sea has been a source of tension for several years. In addition to tensions in the South China Sea, Chinese defense planners have remained very focused on being able to project power against Taiwan, if needed.

But this years report highlighted ways in which the Chinese military is slowing shedding much of its doctrinal baggage. Traditionally, the Chinese eschewed overseas bases and deployments, and focused on close defense. This years report stresses Chinese deployments overseas for peacekeeping and anti-piracy missions, a growing network of logistical support bases in the Indian Ocean  including Chinas first-ever overseas base in Djibouti  and technological developments that make it easier for Chinese ships to operate farther from home, including better air defenses on new frigates and destroyers and the countrys first operational aircraft carrier.

On Thursday, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford and his Chinese counterpart, Gen. Fang Fenghui, spoke for the first time since Dunford took office in October, according to a statement released by the Pentagon.

Dunford acknowledged the areas of cooperation between the two militaries, while delivering messages regarding U.S. commitment to uphold the rules-based international order, defend U.S. allies and interests in the South China Sea, while affirming a desire to avoid confrontation, the statement said.

Photo Credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images
A new photo of Princess Diana with the princes has been released and its giving us feels

Prince William got a special surprise today on a stop to The Passage, a London outreach charity for the homeless. William was at The Passage to officially open its newly renovated St. Vincents Centre, which offers support including food, showers, clothing, employment training, and even dormitory space.

This wasnt Prince Williams first visit to The Passage, though. Way back in 1993 and 1994, he was there with his mother, Princess Diana, and his brother, Prince Harry. The three royals made a big impression, obviously. So big that the staff at The Passage still has photos of the young princes with their mom, and today, they presented Prince William with one of those photos.

The Duke first went to The Passage in 1993 when his mother, The Princess of Wales, took him for a private visit to see the work of the homeless charity. This photograph, which was presented to The Duke today, was taken during a second visit in 1994 with The Princess of Wales and Prince Harry. A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on May 13, 2016 at 8:32am PDT

The sweetness! Look how happy they areour hearts!

We can only imagine how touched Prince William was by this amazing gesture. Its been nearly 20 years since his mom passed away, and its nice to think that there are still photos of her out there that hes never even seen. Diana was so beloved for her commitment to her charity work and her deep sense of empathy, and Prince William and Prince Harry do such a wonderful job of carrying on her legacy. So. Many. Feels.

HRH is presented with a framed photograph taken during a private visit to The Passage with his mother and brother in 1994. The Duke of Cambridge visited today to see how the charity, which is the UKs largest resource centre for homeless people, continues to encourage, inspire and challenge people to make lasting and long-term changes to their lives. A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on May 13, 2016 at 8:38am PDT

According to People, Prince William said he indeed remembered the day the photograph was taken. He even remembered the shirts he and Harry were wearing (rocking Lacoste 90s style!) and playing cards with shelter residents. He says the childhood visits left a deep and lasting impression upon me.

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*sniffle*

Your mom would be so proud, William.

Related video:

The post A new photo of Princess Diana with the princes has been released and its giving us feels appeared first on HelloGiggles.
Smoke in the subway A Muslim man carries holy incense through a pedestrian subway in Mumbai, India, May 13, 2016. (Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

A Muslim man carries holy incense through a pedestrian subway in Mumbai, Iberian lynx Mistral jumps in a field after being released in Mertola, Portugal, and flames rage through a pile of tires at the tire dump of Sesena in Toledo, Spain, are some of the photos of the day. (AP/EPA/Getty/Reuters)



Find more news-related photo galleries on the Yahoo News Photo Tumblr!


An image emerged online earlier this week showing a parked SUV that looked nothing like a Google Streetview car, even though it had a Google Maps sticker on it. Discovered hiding in the shadows of the Philadelphia Convention Center, the car had two license plate readers on the front. Unsuspecting people who have never seen a Google Streetview car might confuse the spy SUV for an actual Google Maps car. But savvy internet users who can tell the difference knew better than that, realizing this was likely a law enforcement car disguised in a most unexpected way.

Soon enough, police confirmed the SUV belonged to its fleet. But authorities also denied any involvement in adorning the car with a Google Maps decal. Thats hilarious, stupid and scary, all at the same time.

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We have been informed that this unmarked vehicle belongs to the police department; however, the placing of any particular decal on the vehicle was not approved through any chain of command, told Motherboard, which first published the image above. With that being said, once this was brought to our attention, it was ordered that the decals be removed immediately.

Philly police are investigating the matter and so is Google, which is probably not happy to hear police spy cars are masquerading as Google Maps cars.

The equipment on that police car is scary efficient according to Brandon Worf, who worked for three years at a sales group specializing in public safety technology.

The ALPR gear installed on the now-confirmed police car is based on the use of infrared cameras to find plate numbers and letters via temperature differentials between those characters and the surrounding background through optical character recognition, according to Worf.

The cameras can read and process several plates" at once in a fraction of a second. In addition to plate data, the machine collects plenty of other metadata including times and dates, GPS locations and a photos of plates and vehicles.

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Its not clear what the police SUV was doing there, but it was likely collecting data for some sort of investigation. Why police felt like they had to hide behind Google Maps banners is an entirely different question.

Related stories

Google's Android VR headset seems all but confirmed

Google just released a keyboard for the iPhone with built-in search

Google Translate for Android just got way more useful

More from BGR: These 3D models likely show us exactly what the iPhone 7 will look like

This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Igor Ilic ZAGREB (Reuters) - Croatia's ruling coalition failed to gather enough of its lawmakers in parliament to pass any legislation for the third week running on Friday, raising fears of political paralysis. At least 76 of the country's 151 parliamentarians need to be present for any votes on bringing in new legislation or altering old laws to be valid. But the center-right coalition, which has promised to push through a host of economic reforms, only managed to get 75 of its MPs and other supporting independents to turn up, leading to speculation of rifts. The opposition walked out. "I apologize to the citizens for this. Three people from our ruling coalition did not explain their absence. Such behavior is irresponsible," said Ivan Suker, the senior deputy leader of the conservative HDZ party, the dominant player in the coalition. Political analyst Berto Salaj said it appeared that HDZ was still struggling to coordinate their efforts with Most, the junior coalition member, four months after coming into power. "The result is that we have the government and parliament which are hardly functional," he added. HDZ and Most have already argued about political appointments and some reform plans. The government, led by technocrat Tihomir Oreskovic, has promised to tackle Croatia's low growth, poor investment climate, high public debt and unemployment. With one of the weakest economies in the European Union, Croatia is closely monitored by Brussels for imbalances and any foot-dragging over reforms could trigger corrective measures. (Reporting by Igor Ilic; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis's signal that he is open to the possibility of allowing women to enter the Catholic clergy as deacons will trigger fierce debate and deep division in the Church, one of his closest allies was quoted as saying Friday.

"There is going to be a fierce debate, I think. On this issue, the Church is split down the middle," German Cardinal Walter Kasper said in an interview with Italy's La Repubblica.

Kasper's comments came a day after Francis said he would set up a commission to study the possibility of having women serving as deacons, ordained members of the clergy who can carry out many of the duties of priests.

Kasper, one of the most influential liberal voices in Catholicism, said Francis wanted the issues aired after years of demands for women to have a greater role in the Church hierarchy.

"I personally don't have a clear position but I am always open to and ready for innovation," Kasper said, adding it was impossible to predict the outcome of the review.

"If you look at what has happened in the past, it would lead you to say no (to female deacons). But anything is possible."

Kasper said opponents of allowing women to become deacons would inevitably argue that it would be opening the door to having female priests, which Francis has indicated is not up for discussion.

"The diaconate is a rank of holy orders... it is obvious that granting it to women may be seen as a major risk by those who do not want women priests," the cardinal said.
May 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- A group of hedge funds, including Paulson & Co. and Perry Capital LLC, is helping to finance a lobbying campaign to lift government controls on what happens with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's profits. (http://on.wsj.com/24UpJxH)

- The Clinton Global Initiative, which arranges donations to help solve the world's problems, set up a financial commitment that benefited a for-profit company part-owned by people with ties to the Clintons, including a current and a former Democratic official and a close friend of former President Bill Clinton. (http://on.wsj.com/24UpSBt)

- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a stronger warning that a common sweetener, xylitol, which is used in chewing gum, mints and other products could kill or severely poison dogs. (http://on.wsj.com/1Te2l5G)

- Congressional Republicans and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump began the process of narrowing their differences as the fractured party works to coalesce around its unorthodox candidate. (http://on.wsj.com/1Te2m9G) (Compiled by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru)
May 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- New details about a second attack involving Swift - the messaging system used by thousands of banks and companies to move money around the world - are emerging as investigators are still trying to solve the $81-million heist from the central bank of Bangladesh in February. (http://nyti.ms/1TaoQvA)

- Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing service, moving for the first time into on-demand transportation in one of the largest-ever strategic investments by the iPhone maker. (http://nyti.ms/1XoatDE)

- Facebook, the largest social media network, published internal editorial guidelines on Thursday, the company's latest attempt to rebut accusations that it is politically biased in the news content it shows on the pages of its 1.6 billion users. (http://nyti.ms/1Nszlbm)

- Subaru, unit of Fuji Heavy Industries Inc, is recalling about 48,500 2015-17 Outback and 2016-17 Legacy models because the steering may fail, the automaker told federal regulators on Thursday. (http://nyti.ms/1sj6FYQ) (Compiled by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru)
Miami (AFP) - Puerto Rican health authorities on Friday announced the first case of Zika-related microcephaly in a fetus, as the US territory grapples with the spread of the mosquito-borne virus.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had "confirmed the first case of Zika virus disease in a fetus in Puerto Rico" after conducting laboratory tests and sharing the results with the Puerto Rican health department.

"This case of Zika virus disease in a pregnancy saddens and concerns us as it highlights the potential for additional cases and associated adverse pregnancy outcomes," said a CDC statement.

Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly, and 1,271 babies in Brazil have been born with unusually small heads and deformed brains since the outbreak of Zika began there last year.

Zika-related deformities have killed 57 of those infants since October, and another 178 are suspected to have died from the virus and the defects it causes, Brazilian officials said earlier this month.

Puerto Rican Health Secretary Ana Rius gave few details about the island's first case of microcephaly, saying she wanted to honor the family's right to privacy.

The fetus "showed severe microcephaly and calcifications in the brain accompanied by the presence of the Zika virus," she said.

"We have been expecting this news for some time. Having robust surveillance systems allowed us to detect this case early."

Puerto Rico said it has counted 925 cases of Zika so far, 18 of which involve pregnant women.
On Thursday, the U.S. switched on an $800 million missile defense system in Romania, the latest addition to an umbrella that is supposed to guard the U.S. and Europe from missiles launched outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

The system, dubbed Aegis Ashore, is derived from the Aegis missile defense system deployed by the U.S. Navy. The installation at the Deveselu air base in southern Romania is the first use of the weapon on land.

Related: The 10 Most Expensive Weapons in the Pentagons Arsenal

The Aegis system fires SM-3 missiles that can shoot down short to intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The defensive weapon became the backbone of President Obamas so-called Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense after he rejected the George W. Bush administration's planned bilateral deployment of a different system to Poland and the Czech Republic.

The Romanian installation, which will host 24 SM-3 missiles and be operated by NATO, is the first land-based defensive missile launcher in Europe. It will link up with other cogs of the alliances defensive shield, including a command-and-control center in Germany, a radar site in Turkey and four ships based out of Spain that can fire their own SM-3s.

Even though the missile shield has been in the works for several years  work at the Romania site began in 2013, according to a U.S. Navy press release  and the U.S. and NATO insist that it is a check against potential Iranian aggression, Russia has gone ballistic, rhetorically, about the installation coming online.

"This is not a defense system. This is part of U.S. nuclear strategic potential brought onto a periphery. In this case, Eastern Europe is such periphery," Russia President Vladimir Putin said Friday.

"Until now, those taking such decisions have lived in calm, fairly well-off and in safety. Now, as these elements of ballistic missile defense are deployed, we are forced to think how to neutralize emerging threats to the Russian Federation," he added.

Story continues

Related: Russia: So We Buzzed a US Destroyer, Whats the Big Deal?

With another Aegis site in Poland slated to become operational in 2018, the missile shield promises to remain a nettlesome issue for Washington and Moscow well into the next presidential administration. There is the possibility that, like Obama, a new commander-in-chief could direct the Defense Department to go back to the drawing board to come up with a new scheme for the umbrella or scrap it altogether, but that seems unlikely given Russias aggressive behavior toward Europe that last two years.

Tensions have been high ever since Moscows annexation of Crimea, with many countries in the region worried that their territory could be gobbled up next. In response, the Pentagons fiscal year 2017 budget request asks for $3.4 billion for the European Reassurance Initiative. That would quadruple the amount of money for the effort which is meant to cover the costs of sending hundreds of U.S. troops in and out of Europe for brief deployments, military exercises with allies and other training missions.

The Kremlin, meanwhile, continues to flash its military might in unexpected ways. Last month two unarmed Russia warplanes flew several simulated attack passes on a U.S. destroyer, coming within a few feet of the ship.

On Thursday, British Typhoon fighters intercepted three Russian military transport aircraft approaching the Baltic States.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
How Have Apple's Semiconductor Suppliers Been Faring?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Qorvo eyes adjacent markets

In the previous part of this series, we saw that Qorvo (QRVO) reported revenue declines in fiscal 4Q16. However, it exceeded its own guidance and analysts estimates as it witnessed strong demand from Chinese (FXI) handset makers.

Realizing the slowdown in smartphone sales, Qorvo is looking to expand its reach in markets other than mobile, and it has launched several new integrated products. Lets see how these events impacted the companys profits and balance sheet.

Profitability

On a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) basis, Qorvos gross margin fell from 50.4% in fiscal 4Q15 to 50% in fiscal 4Q16. Its operating margin was almost unchanged at 26% in fiscal 4Q16 as the company managed to cut its operating expenses in line with a decline in its revenues.

The companys non-GAAP EPS (earnings per share) fell by 6% YoY to $1.04, beating the analysts estimate of $0.92 and its own guidance of $0.90$0.95.

The company managed its expenses amid a decline in revenue. It is now looking to expand in high-growth adjacent markets such as IoT (Internet of Things) and automotive, where its RF (radio frequency) technology can prove beneficial. However, this requires a large capital expenditure.

Cash flow

In fiscal 4Q16, Qorvo earned $160.5 million in cash from operating activities and spent $84.4 million in capital expenditure. The company spent the capital to expand the production capacity of premium filters and to purchase a Maxim (MXIM) plant near its facility in Richardson, Texas. It is converting the plant into a low-cost clean room for its BAW filters.

The company repurchased ~10 million shares as part of its accelerated share repurchase program announced on February 17, 2016. It plans to repurchase another 500,000 shares in fiscal 1Q17 and has $250 million authorized for the share buybacks.

Balance sheet

As of April 2, 2016, the companys cash reserves stood at $425.9 million and its long-term debt stood at $988.1 million. During the quarter, the company completed the acquisition of ultra-low-power, short-range RF technology manufacturer GreenPeak Technologies to expand in the IoT space.

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Even Intel (INTC) acquired Altera to expand in the IoT space. Qualcomm (QCOM) is looking to expand in the adjacent market through merger and acquisition activity.

In the next part of this series, well look at Qorvos guidance for fiscal 1Q17. The company has not incorporated the GreenPeak earnings in its fiscal 1Q17 guidance.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
If you were appalled by George Zimmermans attempt to sell the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin, you can thank someone named Racist McShootface for sabotaging the auction by driving up the price to $65 million and forcing a halt to the sale.

The McShootface account was soon deleted, but the price remained at $65 million, which has delayed the sale of the gun because no one, so far, has offered more. Zimmerman was seeking $5,000.

Zimmerman originally listed the gun on GunBroker.com, but that site took down the listing after public outcry, so he moved the auction to the website for the United Gun Group.

Also Read: George Zimmerman's Attempt to Sell Gun Used to Kill Trayvon Martin Canceled

I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon. The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012, Zimmerman wrote in the listing for the weapon.

He said he was planning to donate a portion of his profits to an anti-Black Lives Matter group and to ensure the demise of Angela Coreys persecution career and Hillary Clintons anti-firearm rhetoric. Corey was the state attorney who led Zimmermans prosecution for Martins death.

Zimmerman also claimed that many have made offers to purchase the gun already, including the Smithsonian Museum. However, the museum has denied any such interest.

The Smithsonian has never expressed an interest in collecting this firearm and has no intention of collecting or displaying this firearm, a spokesman for the Smithsonian said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune.

Also Read: George Zimmerman Injured in Shooting, Social Media Reacts With Cynicism

The killing of the unarmed 17-year-old Martin sparked intense rallies across America and heightened the debate around FloridasStand Your Ground Law. Zimmerman was acquitted of both the murder and manslaughter charges in 2013.

Related stories from TheWrap:

George Zimmerman Loses NBC Defamation Suit

Roseanne Barr Sued by George Zimmerman's Parents: She Sent 'Lynch Mob' After Us

George Zimmerman Tells CNN's Chris Cuomo He Was A Victim During Intense Interview (Video)
MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Gold demand in Asia was muted this week as physical buyers stayed off the market due to the bullion's recent rally, with a key festival in India failing to lift demand in the world's second biggest consumer.

Gold has gained about 20 percent this year, touching a 15-month high earlier in May. Though prices slipped from those highs this week, consumers shied away from making big purchases, and premiums in key markets remained low.

Indians bought a third less gold than last year during the annual Hindu and Jain holy festival of Akshaya Tritiya this week, when it is considered auspicious to buy gold.

"This week's demand was better than last week as consumers were making purchases for Akshaya Tritiya. Year-on-year basis demand was much lower during the festival due to higher prices," said Aditya Pethe, a director at Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers.

Demand in India was also hurt by droughts that have hit the earnings of millions of farmers. Rural demand accounts for about two-thirds of India's total gold consumption.

Dealers were offering discounts of up to $15 an ounce to the global spot benchmark this week, up from a discount of up to $12 in the previous week.

"Jewellers have slowed down purchases. Retail demand is not picking momentum despite various promotional schemes launched by them," said a Mumbai-based bullion dealer with a private bank.

India's gold demand in the first quarter slumped 39 percent from a year ago due to a rally in gold prices, jewellers' strike and as consumers had delayed purchases hoping a cut in India's 10 percent import duty on gold in the national budget, the World Gold Council said earlier this week.

Physical demand in other major trading centres also remained tepid.

Premiums in Singapore were quoted at 60-80 cents an ounce, lower than the usual of $1-$1.20, while those in Hong Kong ranged from 10 to 60 cents. Prices in Tokyo were at a discount of $1 to $2 an ounce.

"Physical demand is not exceptional at the moment," said Brian Lan, managing director at Singapore-based gold dealer GoldSilver Central.

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"The refineries in the region are having a lot of gold scrap. They are buying more than they are selling. That is the reason why there are lower premiums over here," Lan said.

In top consumer China, premiums ranged between $1 and $1.50, largely unchanged from last week.

Traders said a sub-$1,250 price level will be required to bring buyers back into the market. Prices are currently trading near $1,270 an ounce.

(Reporting by Koustav Samanta and Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru, Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by A. Ananthalakshmi and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
Genesis Be has had activism pumping through her veins for as long as she can remember. Growing up in Biloxi, Mississippi in a religiously diverse and mixed racial family of human rights activists, she started writing poems as a child and was inspired to convert them into raps after hearing Tupac Shakur's 1991 debut album 2Pacalypse Now. "He was speaking about things in a way that was so raw," she told Billboard. "It was like 'Whoa, I wish I can be that clear and articulate about the things that troubled me in my community.'"

Be began to write raps to the instrumental cassette of OutKast's 2013 offering "Player's Ball" and started rapping in talent shows at 14. After her father witnessed one of her performances, he took her to a professional recording studio and she went on to release her first album at 17.

Rapper Genesis Be Uses Flag & Noose to Protest Confederate Month

Now a Brooklyn resident and alumni of New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded music, Be continues to use rap as a platform to voice political opinions and promote social consciousness. She recently gained attention for her April 26 concert at New York's S.O.B.'s, where she draped herself in a Confederate flag and hung a noose around her neck to protest Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant's proclamation of April as Confederate Heritage Month.

For her new EP Gulf Coast Queen, Be decided to go a lighter direction with love songs and motivational themes, even dropping off her track "My GCK" on Billboard. "GCK" refers to an endearing term of Gulf Coast Kings, which Be uses as a dedication to all the young men she grew up with in the Gulf Coast region. The EP embraces her roots, serving as an ode to her fellow Coast residents, which include survivors of hurricane Katrina, poverty and emotional devastation.

Bryan Adams Scraps Mississippi Concert Over 'Extremely Discriminatory' Anti-LGBT Law

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Be dropped by the Billboard offices where she spoke about the EP's inspirations, growing up in Mississippi and her intentions behind the Confederate flag protest. Check out "My GCK" and the interview below.

Billboard: Has your music always been embedded in social activism?

Genesis Be: Absolutely. My grandfather was murdered at 42 because he was mobilizing and protecting black citizens who wanted to vote, so that they weren't killed by the KKK. My grandmother's house still bears the bullet holes of the Ku Klux Klan shooting my father's childhood home in Mississippi. I come from a long legacy of people fighting for human rights, not just black rights, but human rights. That's how I grew up so it reflects in my music. It's not all I'm about. I'm a goofy ass person if you hang out with me. I don't go around preaching about human rights all the time. As long as I have a platform to speak and create music, and have an audience, I'm going to slip some consciousness in there wherever I can.

Growing up in Mississippi, did your views clash with others around you?

I just assumed everyone was from a free background. I came from such an atmosphere of tolerance that any time I saw any group of people being degraded it struck a chord in me. Mississippi is a very complicated place demographically and racially there's a lot of tension -- always has been. But there are a lot of Mississippians who are free thinkers and progressive, despite what the world thinks. Past and present polices would lead the world to think that all Mississippians are backwards or racists or homophobic but not all of them are. I would like to give the world an alternative view.

Is there a memory from your childhood involving the Confederate flag that has stuck with you?

I think I was in the sixth grade when they took our class to Beauvoir [the home of Confederate leader Jefferson Davis]. They took us to this museum on a field trip and in front, there was this huge Confederate flag blowing. I remember being like they really don't either understand or care that they're disrespecting a huge part of the population by flying this. If you want to honor your heritage and home in private, I have nothing to say against that but when you fly something that triggers something inside of your population because of the brutal past, you're saying that you don't care how we feel. There were relics there that were directly tied and influenced from slavery. We're looking at these relics and looking at quotes from the founding Confederate fathers and it's just like why would you bring us here? Not even just the black students, some of the white students, too.

What moved you to perform with a Confederate flag at your recent show in New York?

It was just a passionate reaction to governor Phil Bryant announcing April as Confederate Heritage Month. There was also a motion to remove the symbol from the state flag that was declined. The symbol still stayed, so this is an ongoing struggle and I felt very disrespected. The argument of Confederate supporters wanting to be angry at what I did, saying it disrespected the pride and dignity of their ancestors, I understand. I got that before I did it. You're not going to budge on that, and I can not budge on the dignity and pride of my ancestors, either. Not all white Mississippians are descendants of people who owned slaves but that does not mean you didn't benefit from the systematic oppression. I would love to see a time when both sides can come together for dialog and acknowledge the pain, the guilt, and see how to make this a more united Mississippi. Right now, it's dividing us. I'm not flying a symbol over my state that you feel wrongly about, like you are in that privilege of power, not me. You can't negate my views. How I feel is valid. I am an artist and I am passionate. I am going to express myself how I see fit.

How did the crowd react?

From what I saw, people loved the performance. They loved the music. I think the overall vibe was they supported it but I don't think New Yorkers were aware that these issues or the political climate in Mississippi. It did bring some attention to that and they were like 'Wow I didn't even know they still have that flag in their state capital.' I got those types of messages.

You also received threats and hate messages. How did you deal with the negativity?

The hostility was there right away. In some of the racist, sexist, homophobic comments, they're supporting the Confederacy and saying that's not what it's about. So then what point are you trying to prove? I know that not all Confederate supporters are racist. A lot of them just don't want to come to terms with what that symbol means or are uneducated about what the Confederacy was about. The supporters that hit me up were racist. Trolls are everywhere, whether you're political or making a statement. I'd rather have trolls for doing something I believe in than just being an artist who doesn't say or do anything progressive. I have to keep my spirit positive so that I can continue to do what I do. As a Mississippian, I had to speak on it, but moving forward now.

Your new EP seems very prideful of your home state. What was your inspiration behind it?

I love my state. I learned much of what I know from growing up there, especially the women that were around me. My mother and mentors have molded me to be strong and resilient. It's a beautiful state. We just have to move forward and we have to stop giving the world the negative stigma. My new EP is an ode to women on the Gulf Coast and I wanted to make happier music. Music that people can make love to, dance to, make money to and something that's just easier to listen to. It's fun and kind of shows all women, all humans are multifaceted, including myself. Then I have the ode to my Gulf Coast kings, that I'm probably most excited about because we have to get in the habit more of celebrating our men. We come from hurricane culture and one of the poorest states in the country that effects everyone that's part of the state. We have a lot of things we've had to survive and so I wanted to do a celebratory album.

Was there a particular song that was challenging?

I would say "White Lies" is the most complex song on there. It has a lot of metaphors, imagery and double entendres in that song. I'm speaking about the Religious Freedom Act in some of those lines and you would never know unless you really took the time to sit back and listen. It's about small lies that people tell to our youth and our society that turn into bigger issues. I'm also talking about the child in me when I was growing up. If I could go back to that and redefine that time and space, I would have the strength I have now as a woman. I would be speaking on it instead of being affected by small lies, small acts of oppression and small transgressions. They snowball and have a bigger effect on people than you know, especially in adulthood.
A rare, transition-era Porsche 924 Carrera GTR is headed to auction in the United Kingdom that combines elements of what was then the upcoming 944 with the existing 924.

This rare GTR is one of less than two dozen built, but what makes it especially unique is that it was never raced. Instead, it shows 109 kilometers on its odometer.

In 1979, Porsche unveiled a concept that would preview the 944, meaning the 924's days were numbered. Instead of fielding a mere 924 racer, the automaker looked to the future and created the 924 Carrera GT lineup.

CHECK OUT: Serious Mopar madness is heading to Mecum auction

The standard GT was the bread-and-butter model, a homologation special of which a little over 400 were made. With 210 horsepower, it was quick but by no means ferocious.

Porsche 924 Carrera GTR

From there, the lineup climbed to the GTS and GTS Club Sport, which were lighter and more powerful with 245 and 270 hp, respectively.

But the big kahuna was the GTR, the full racing version. Just 19 were built and they were rated at more than 320 hp and they were stripped to just 2,050 pounds, a 550-lb reduction over the Carrera GT.

DON'T MISS: Rare Aston Martin DBS barn find comes up for auction

This particular GTR was delivered new to a buyer in Japan. Its only exercise over its first seven years was on the Suzuka and Fuji race tracks, and mileage was dutifully recorded in each place. In 1988, it was stored in a two-story garage the owner had custom built for his collection and the only time it was removed was for an annual check up by one of two noted Porsche specialists in Japan.

Auctioneer Coys isn't saying just how much the GTR will likely sell for when it heads to auction in Monaco this weekend, but it's sure to set a 924 Carrera GTR record given the current climate of the collector car market.

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Cairo (AFP) - The Standard and Poor's ratings agency said Friday it has downgraded the outlook on Egypt's long-term sovereign credit to negative from stable because of "external and fiscal difficulties".

"The negative outlook reflects our view that Egypt's external and fiscal vulnerabilities might increase further over the next 12 months. We consider that this could dampen the country's economic recovery and exacerbate sociopolitical tensions," it said in a statement.

The global ratings agency, at the same time, kept Egypt's long- and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating unchanged at B-/B.

The agency forecast that Egypt's current account deficits will widen to an average of 4.8 percent of GDP in 2016-2019, along with weak exports and tourism revenues, while "consolidation is proceeding more slowly than we had anticipated".
Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - After 13 years in power, the Workers' Party has been forced out by Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff's suspension and impeachment trial, its emblematic red star tarnished by corruption and economic collapse.

Can it battle back?

The leftist party won four presidential terms starting with founder Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's landmark election win in 2002, making it the longest-ruling party since democracy was restored at the end of Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985).

Lula, a former steelworker, presided over a watershed economic boom, becoming one of the most popular presidents in Brazilian history.

That glow was still shining when Rousseff, his hand-picked successor, won the presidency in 2010. And it was just bright enough to get her re-elected in 2014, despite an economic downturn, a mounting corruption scandal and spreading middle-class discontent that erupted into huge protests the previous year.

But the Senate's decision Thursday to suspend Rousseff from office for up to six months -- she is likely never to return -- brought the once unstoppable Workers' Party (PT) crashing to the ground.

Rousseff ingloriously ceded power to her vice president-turned-nemesis, Michel Temer, a center-right politician who broke his awkward alliance with her in March and joined the push to impeach her on charges of fudging the government's accounts.

If two-thirds of senators vote to remove her at the end of her impeachment trial, Rousseff will be gone for good and Temer will hold power until the next elections in 2018.

But don't count the PT out just yet, political analysts say.

"The PT has the best network of any party, with representatives in 98 percent of Brazil's cities," Adriano Codato of the University of Parana said. "This huge organizational force won't just disappear overnight."

It won't be easy going, however.

The PT faces a "slaughter" in local elections in October, Codato predicted, saying the corruption scandal engulfing Brazilian politics has tainted its "brand."

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Although Rousseff does not face charges in the scandal, her opponents say at best she is guilty of letting it happen.

And a host of top PT figures, including Lula, have been implicated in the multi-billion-dollar bribery and embezzlement scheme centered on state oil company Petrobras.

"The PT has been the victim of its mistakes -- such as its corruption problems, which it never resolved -- and of its successes, like university quotas for black students, which unleashed 'classist racism'" among disgruntled whites, Codato said.

The PT had governed for the poorest and wealthiest Brazilians, forgetting the middle class, which once strongly supported it precisely because of its platform as the "party of ethics," he added.

- Time to reinvent -

Party veteran Tarso Genro, who served in Lula's cabinet but is vocally critical of the PT, said it is time for the organization to reinvent itself.

He criticized the decision to team up with Temer's PMDB, a powerful party known for its lack of ideology and knack for holding the keys to the government pork barrel.

"The PT needs to examine its successes, of which there were many, and also its mistakes and limitations, to deal with this new era," he told AFP in an email interview.

Despite its flaws, the PT retains a strong support base thanks to social programs that helped lift tens of millions of people from poverty.

If elections were held now, Lula would be the leading candidate with some 20 percent of the vote, according to opinion polls.

Lula's corruption case is really about "taking him out of the race" for 2018, when he will be eligible to run for president again -- if the graft probe doesn't fell him first, Genro said.

But the party would have to fully "reorganize the left," he added.

The PT disappointed many original supporters by foregoing issues such as land, health and electoral reforms to pursue opportunistic alliances with power-brokers such as the PSDB, often necessary to get anything done in Brazil's highly fragmented political system.

"The PT has a good foundation, but it has to renew itself," said Fabio Malini of the Federal University of Parana.

"The PT's main legacy is better income distribution, but it will have to return to its program, which it abandoned a long time ago."
By Minami Funakoshi

YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co CEO Carlos Ghosn said restoring Mitsubishi Motors' credibility with consumers will be his top challenge but that Japan's second-biggest automaker will not impose its management on the smaller, scandal-hit car maker.

Ghosn's comments come a day after Nissan announced a planned $2.2 billion investment for a 34 percent controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors, which is mired in a mileage-cheating scandal. The deal allows Nissan to nominate a third of Mitsubishi's board and also its leader, prompting speculation of a significant management reshuffle.

The Nissan CEO sought to downplay talk on Friday of wholesale change at Mitsubishi Motors, telling a news conference at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, that his company will propose the board members but won't "impose anybody" on Mitsubishi.

Ghosn also said Mitsubishi Motors Chief Executive Osamu Masuko will remain the "pilot" after the deal is completed.

"The biggest challenge is to support Mitsubishi changing itself and growing and being profitable and restoring its reputation," he said, adding that winning back consumers' trust was Mitsubishi Motors' job, though Nissan would support its efforts.

Nissan shares jumped 4.1 percent on Friday, a day after the news of the deal. Mitsubishi Motors shares, which had surged 16 percent on Thursday, eased 1.7 percent.

The completion of the deal is subject to due diligence. "We dont want to anticipate on the (results of the) due diligence," Ghosn said, adding that he is still waiting on the results of the Japanese regulators' investigation into Mitsubishi Motors.

The transport ministry said on Friday it raided Mitsubishi Motors' headquarters in Tokyo after allegations that a manager at the company ordered the cheating at a subsidiary that handles fuel economy testing. Mitsubishi Motors confirmed the raid.

(Reporting by Minami Funakoshi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Human rights groups on Friday slammed a deal between Nepal's ruling parties to withdraw civil war cases from courts and offer amnesty to people accused of abuses during the country's decade-long Maoist insurgency.

Former Maoist rebels and security forces have been accused of carrying out torture, killings, rapes and "forced disappearances" during the conflict, which ended in 2006 leaving more than 16,000 dead.

The ruling Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) of Nepal and its coalition partner, the Maoists, last week signed an agreement paving the way for war crimes cases to be withdrawn or pardoned.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) accused the two parties of attempting to "wash away the crimes of the conflict" with the new agreement.

"It flies in the face of Nepal's international human rights obligations and the rulings of its own Supreme Court by trying to wash away the crimes of the conflict... and provide blanket amnesty to alleged perpetrators," said Sam Zarifi, ICJ's Asia-Pacific director.

Nepal's Supreme Court has repeatedly opposed attempts to grant amnesty for serious rights abuses.

The Himalayan nation set up two post-war commissions for transitional justice in 2015, which began to accept complaints from victims last month.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission for Enforced Disappearances were agreed as part of the peace pact signed between the Maoists and the government in 2006.

Although the Supreme Court has issued arrest warrants in several cases of alleged war crimes, only one verdict has been given, with five former Maoist rebels convicted in 2014 of the murder of a journalist.

An army colonel, who was arrested in January 2013 in Britain over allegations of torture committed during the war, is also facing trial in a British court.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The health of the world economy is expected to be a major focus at the upcoming meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers, given the increasing number of risks to growth, a senior Canadian official said on Friday.

The topic of international tax evasion and avoidance is also likely to be prominent in the wake of the so-called "Panama Papers", the Finance Department official told reporters.

Policymakers will begin the G7 meeting in Sendai, Japan next week with a discussion of the key risks to the global economic outlook and what policy mix is the right one to bolster growth.

While some, including the International Monetary Fund, have called for countries to take more fiscal action rather than relying on central bank policy to stimulate growth, some countries have argued they do not have the room to take such measures.

Canada's new Liberal government unveiled a stimulus budget earlier this year that included infrastructure spending to boost growth and Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to tout a growth agenda and encourage his G7 peers to focus on investment, the official said.

Canada could find an ally on this in the United States, though other countries at the table will also likely be sympathetic, the official said.

The possibility that Britain could vote in a referendum next month to leave the European Union will also likely be discussed. A vote to leave would have significant implications for Britain, the EU and the world economy but it is difficult to know exactly what the impact would be ahead of time, the official said.

As for movements in the foreign exchange markets, the official said he did not expect that to dominate the discussion as G7 members have been clear about the importance of not manipulating currencies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said earlier on Friday it was important for G7 economies to reinforce pledges to refrain from competitive currency devaluations at their meeting next week.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Kasturi

Rival political parties in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu ended up using the same actress for their election campaign TV ads.

SEE ALSO: Indian police gets first fleet of drones, uses them to monitor illegal mining

The 67-year-old GT Kasturi appeared in the ads of arch-rivals DMK and AIADMK. As the videos went viral, both the parties and Kasturi have put the blame for the mix-up on the casting agent.

Kasturi, a well-known film actress said she wasn't told that she was starring in both parties' election videos.

In the ad for the state's ruling party AIADMK, Kasturi praises the chief minister J Jayalalithaa for providing free meals to the poor in local temples. However, in the second ad, she criticises the government for failing to understand people's troubles.
By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the Republican National Committee sought on Friday to tamp down talk among some Republicans about the possibility of running a third-party candidate who would give party supporters a choice beyond Donald Trump. In an interview, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said a third-party candidate would have no hope of actually winning the Nov. 8 presidential election but would instead ensure victory for the Democratic nominee. "They may as well jump off the top floor of a building because thats what wed be doing by having a third party," Priebus said. Priebus has been a vocal advocate for party loyalists to get over their concerns about Trump and support him since he is on track to become the presidential nominee and stands as the only real option for Republicans to win the White House. He brought Trump together with House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan for a meeting in Washington on Thursday to try to ease Ryan's concerns about backing the billionaire. Ryan stopped short of endorsing Trump but said the session was productive. Priebus said the two men have opened a dialogue. "My guess is they may even be talking today and through the weekend (on the phone)," he said. Priebus said a Democratic victory would allow Democrats to reshape the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. If Republican donors sit on the sidelines, Democrats could also take over control of the U.S. Senate, he said. "If you don't participate in the presidential election you might as well kiss away the Senate as well," Priebus said in a message directed at Republican donors unenthusiastic about Trump. "The Senate goes as the presidential race goes. Theyre inextricably intertwined." Some Republicans continue to hold out hope that a leading figure in the party could be persuaded to run for president as a third-party candidate to give party voters uncomfortable with Trump a candidate to rally around. Some speculation has centered around 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who has been a frequent critic of Trump. Just this week Romney said Trump should release his tax records, a public disclosure move that Romney made in 2012 but which Trump has been resisting. Some Republicans have been urging Romney to launch an independent bid for the presidency. He discussed the issue last week with William Kristol, editor of the conservative-leaning Weekly Standard magazine, a source close to Romney said. (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Alistair Bell)
These days Kate Beckinsale is probably better known for werewolf-whooping in the Underworld series than tea-sipping in costume dramas. But her roots are firmly planted in the latter. The 42-year-old London native made her movie debut in the 1993 Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing while on summer break from Oxford before headlining fanciful fare like Cold Comfort Farm (1995) and Emma (1996).

Shes back in costume in her latest project, Love & Friendship, a comedic twist on Jane Austens novel Lady Susan that reunites her with her Last Days of Disco director Whit Stillman and costar Chloe Sevigny. Beckinsale plays the widowed Lady Susan Vernon, whose gregarious nature and hunt for a new husband gives the buttoned-up Brits of 1790s rural England something to talk about.

Of course, it wont be long until shes back in butt-kicking mode. Beckinsale will reprise her role of the vampire warrior Selene in Octobers Underworld: Blood Wars. In our latest episode of Role Recall (watch above), Beckinsale talked about making the jump from proper dramas to bloody actioners, how bad she was at running and punching, and the incredible fact that she was considered unattractive by Michael Bay and company during the making of Pearl Harbor. Some highlights:

Much Ado About Nothing (1993)

Beckinsale made her big-screen debut alongside Kenneth Branagh, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton, and Keanu Reeves in this crowdpleaser, but it was Emma Thompson who made the biggest impression on the young actress. Thompson invited Beckinsale into the pool for some skinny-dipping, and advised Beckinsale not to shave her armpits because of the films Shakespearean setting. I was like, This is the coolest person I have ever met, I want to be her, Beckinsale laughed. And still do.

Pearl Harbor (2001)

Michael Bay was reportedly hesitant to cast Beckinsale in this much-hyped romantic war epic. As Beckinsale put it with a dig at the Transformers director, Because I wasnt blond and my boobs werent bigger than my head, I didnt make sense to him as an attractive woman. So there was a lot of panic and concern about, 'How on Earth are we going to make her attractive? You think youd take that really personally but I sort of managed not to. It was so extreme I kind of didnt.

Story continues

The Underworld Series (2003-2016)

Beckinsale said she was being turned down for action roles in Hollywood because of her reputation as being Jane Austen-y, very period, and a bit fragile. Then Selene came along, forcing the actress to toughen up. It was really frightening, cause I had never fired a gun before, I ran like a girl, she said. Her punch (see above) was even worse.

Love & Friendship is now playing in select theaters. Watch the trailer:
By Marc Frank and Anthony Boadle HAVANA/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseffs suspension from office is bad news for newly trendy Cuba, which despite a detente with Washington is feeling the pinch from a downturn ravaging allies' economies and political fortunes in South America and Africa. Friends such as Venezuela, Brazil and Angola for years used revenue from a commodities boom to pay for Cuban medical and educational services, turning it into the communist-run islands main source of hard currency. President Raul Castro's detente with the United States has helped drive up tourism to record highs but income from the influx of foreign visitors were only about one-third of the $7 billion from health and education exports in 2014. Over the last 13 years, Brazil's leftist governments also provided at least $1.75 billion in credit on favorable terms, drawing fire from opponents who are also angered by a program that put 11,400 Cuban doctors to work in Brazil. Those projects will now be re-examined after Brazils Senate voted on Thursday to put Rousseff on trial for breaking budget laws. She is now suspended from office while the trial takes place in coming months, and a likely conviction would end her presidency. "There will be a short-term review of our Cuba policy, because the money has run out and because there are some serious governance questions regarding the loans. Everything will be put on hold, said a Brazilian diplomat who served in Havana. Some of Brazil's loans bankrolled a major expansion project at Cuba's Mariel port with 25-year repayment periods and rates of between 4.4 percent to 6.9 percent, Brazilian data shows. Critics say the terms are too generous given Cuba's poor credit history. Support from a bloc of leftist governments in Latin America since the turn of the century helped Cuba get back on its feet after the collapse of the Soviet Union caused a massive economic crisis in the 1990s. Improving relations with the United States and Europe hold the promise of new revenue, but for now Cuba's economy will suffer as the tide turns against allies. Centrist politician Michel Temer took over as interim president in Brazil on Thursday. His government is not expected to send home the Cuban doctors working in Brazil since 2013-14 but it will not hire any more. "Obviously there will be no more Cuban doctors coming here in the future, because this model of assistance is questionable and there wont be support for it, but I doubt any Cubans doctors will be booted out," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. Senator Ronaldo Caiado, a leader of the Democrats party inside Temer's coalition government, said the doctors should stay, but money paid to Cuba, approximately $500 million in 2015, should stay in Brazil and be paid directly to the medics. Last month, Rousseff extended the medical services contract for another 3 years, but it has to be approved by Congress and might run into trouble with lawmakers critical of the terms first signed in 2013. The doctors work in some of Brazil's remotest regions, winning support of local mayors. That support, and municipal elections in October, might make Congress think twice about abruptly ending the program. Cuba's biggest doctors abroad program is with oil exporter Venezuela in exchange for crude and money, where collapsing crude prices have triggered economic chaos. Those shipments are stable at around 90,000 barrels a day. CASH FLOW Cuba has already tightened its belt. The government began cutting imports and asking for longer payment terms from foreign suppliers last year and has been late meeting its obligations this year, according to Western diplomats and businessmen. "They clearly have a cash flow problem. Some of our companies are being paid and others are not," a European ambassador said on Monday. The government has said it expects economic growth to slow in 2016 from 4 percent last year. Brazil's government says it paid Cuba more than $500 million for the doctors' services in 2015, and another $100 million went to the doctors themselves. Rousseff is not the first leftist ally Cuba has lost in the past year. Argentina's leftist Peronists lost power at the last election in November. And there are deep concerns in Cuba over political stability in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is struggling with a deep recession and a stronger opposition. "Latin America and the Caribbean are feeling the effects of a strong and well planned counter offensive by the imperialists and oligarchy," Cuban President Raul Castro charged last month at a gathering of Communist Party leaders. Nevertheless, he has worked in recent years to broaden Cuba's circle of friends by putting behind decades of hostility with Washington and improving its reputation with creditors. "The crises in these Latin American countries just underscores Raul's decision to normalize relations with the United States, to come to terms with Western creditors and sign a cooperation agreement with the European Union," said Bert Hoffman, a Latin American expert at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies. (Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston; Editing by Sarah Marsh and Kieran Murray)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Russia has told the United Nations that it will not endorse the decisions of the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, in the latest setback for the international gathering.

The May 23-24 summit, which has been three years in the making, aims to rethink the global aid strategy and draw a closer link between humanitarian assistance and development.

In a letter to the UN secretariat obtained by AFP on Friday, Russia criticized preparations and expressed "great disappointment" that its input on the so-called core commitments of the summit was ignored.

Moscow complained that the package of decisions was hastily put together and contains "a series of far-reaching obligations, which are now being imposed as 'take it or leave it,' with no room for member-states to reflect their individual positions and observations."

"Given all these alarming circumstances, our delegation is not eager to sign up to any of the commitments," said the letter.

Moscow is sending a low-level delegation to the event.

Russia's refusal to endorse the summit outcome comes amid tensions between Russia and Turkey over the war in Syria, which worsened after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border in November.

Moscow is backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is a key supporter of the rebel opposition.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric rejected Russia's criticism, saying that "the summit is the result of three years of consultations, including with member-states, which have repeatedly stressed inclusiveness."

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "trusts that Russia will fully play its part" in the summit, he added.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said it will not take part in the summit and dismissed its objectives altogether, calling it a "fig leaf of good intentions."

Some 50 world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to attend what is being billed as the first-ever global aid summit.

In all, 110 countries have confirmed that they will send delegations.
By Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and leaders of five Nordic nations presented a united front against Russia on Friday, expressing concern about Moscow's military buildup in the Baltics and calling for sanctions against Russia to continue. The leaders of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland gathered at the White House for talks that focussed on Russia and the crisis in Syria and Iraq that has sparked a flood of migrants to Europe. Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014 alarmed its Nordic and Baltic neighbors. With the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) considering ways to try to deter further Russian aggression, the White House wants to show support for its northern European allies. Obama said the six countries were united in their concern about Russia's "aggressive military presence" in the Baltic and Nordic regions. The Baltic countries are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Last month, a Russian jet fighter intercepted a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane flying a routine route over the Baltic Sea, and two Russian jets buzzed a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the sea. NATO is planning its biggest build-up in eastern Europe since the Cold War to counter what the alliance considers to be a more aggressive Russia. Sweden and Finland are not NATO members. "We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia, but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong, and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," Obama said after meeting with the leaders. The president is limited by the political calendar in what he can promise, given that his second and final term ends next year on Jan. 20. Americans are set to hold presidential elections on Nov. 8. The visit will culminate in a star-studded state dinner in a tent with a transparent ceiling, with lighting, flowers and ice sculptures evoking the northern lights. Pop star Demi Lovato, known for her support of liberal causes, will perform after guests enjoy a main course of ahi tuna, tomato tartare, and red wine braised beef short ribs. Obama lauded the humanitarian and environmental accomplishments of his guest nations, which have been key supporters of an international deal to curb climate change that the White House sees as a key part of Obama's legacy. "There have been times where I've said, why don't we just put all these small countries in charge for a while? And they could clean things up," Obama said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mason in Washington; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Richard Chang)
By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of providing training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for Burundian rebels seeking to oust Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza. A panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims. In the experts latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said "similar outside support continued through early 2016." "This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC," the group of experts wrote in the report. "The group met with Rwandan nationals, as well, who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DRC to help support the Burundian opposition," they said. The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi. Political violence has simmered in Burundi for a year after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. The crisis has sparked concerns it could spiral into an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of neighboring Rwanda's 1994 genocide are fresh. Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in neighbouring Rwanda. The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government "which denied any involvement, noting it was 'unaware of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'" Rwanda's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda. The U.N. experts also reported that several Congolese officers told them North Korea has supplied Congolese troops and police with pistols and sent 30 instructors to provide training for the presidential guard and special forces. There is a U.N. arms embargo on North Korea that prevents Pyongyang from importing or exporting weapons and training. An arms embargo on Congo requires states to notify the Security Council sanctions committee of any arms sales or training. The experts said they found that several Congolese army officers, as well as several police deployed abroad in a U.N. mission, appeared to have North Korean pistols. The Congolese officers said the pistols were delivered by North Korea to the Congolese port of Matadi in early 2014. "The group also found that the same type of pistols was available for sale on the black market in Kinshasa," the report said. The experts said they had asked Pyongyang and Congo for information but had not yet received a response. Congolese and North Korean officials had no immediate comment. Political tension is high in Congo, where opponents of President Joseph Kabila say he is trying to cling to power beyond the end of his mandate in 2016. Kabila has not commented on his future. (Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Kinshasa; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Clement Uwiringiyimana KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda dismissed charges leveled in a U.N. experts' report that it had supported rebels in neighboring Burundi, accusing the authors on Friday of trying to stir up trouble in the region. The confidential report, seen by Reuters and due to be presented to the U.N. Security Council later on Friday, said Rwanda provided training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for insurgents seeking to oust Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza. "Those people who write such stories could also be mobilized to be useful in addressing stories of countrys problems instead of exacerbating them or creating problems that shouldnt be there, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told a news conference in Kigali. Kagame said Burundi should "look at whatever problems they are having as their own rather than making it sound like its a problem originates from elsewhere." A year of political violence in Burundi has triggered fears of a full-blown conflict in the fragile central African region. Burundi only emerged from an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005 and memories are still fresh of the genocide across the border in Rwanda nine years earlier. Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in Rwanda. SECURITY COUNCIL The panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims. In the experts' latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said "similar outside support continued through early 2016". "This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC," the group of experts wrote in the report. The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi. The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government "which denied any involvement". Rwanda's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda. Political violence erupted in Burundi after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term as president. His opponents accused him of breaking the constitution by running again, though he pointed to a court ruling allowing his campaign. (Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
While Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes just welcomed their second child two weeks ago  daughter Amada  the Nice Guys star has already started training his 20-month-old daughter Esmeralda the importance of standing up for herself (and also getting revenge).

Gosling sat down with Ellen DeGeneres recently where he opened up about his favorite pastime with his eldest daughter, which is going to the park and writing their names on the ground in chalk.

WATCH: Ryan Gosling Beams While Talking About Birth of Baby Girl No. 2

Gosling told DeGeneres that his love of street art began years ago, explaining, When I was a younger man I had a fantasy of getting into the graffiti world. I was living downtown, and I heard that if you tag over someone elses that thats how you start a battle. So I did this for a few months and no one ever bothered to battle with me because I was so bad at it.

However, it seems some troublemaker is trying to start a battle with his daughter, and Gosling couldnt be more excited to get into the fray.

Some kid has been erasing her name and writing their name over it. So now Im in a proper tagging battle, Gosling said, trying to temper his excitement. And this kid has access to an unfair amount of chalk.

RELATED: Ryan Gosling Opens Up About Raising His Daughter: Feminism Is Important to Me

Im trying to explain to my little girl that this is [unacceptable.], he recounted. She doesnt care. Shes like, Well lets just chalk anywhere else, and Im like, 'No, no. Theyre disrespecting your mother. Because, she gave you this name and theyre erasing it. So the only way to really get back at them is to erase their name. And not disrespect their mother, but definitely put her on notice. Because I think shes the chalk supplier.

The 35-year-old leading man admitted that its easy to go overboard when getting involved in your kids feuds. Youve got to be careful when youre trying to teach your kid what a reasonable amount of vengeance is, Gosling explained.

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WATCH: Did Ryan Gosling Get His Daughters Name Tattooed on His Knuckles?!

Gosling sought DeGeneres advice, asking if he was going down the right road, but the talk show host couldnt really approve.

I think she might not want to battle little kids, DeGeneres offered.

I think its important that we do, Gosling replied, undeterred. I feel strongly about it.

WATCH: Ryan Gosling Says Living With Eva Mendes and Their Two Daughters Is 'Heaven

The actor, who has been famously reserved when it comes to talking about his children or sharing photos of them, also teased the audience with a picture of his newborn baby girl.

I brought a picture [of Amada] if you want. I dont know if youre interested, Gosling told DeGeneres as the audience erupted in cheers.

The photo came up on the screens behind them, revealing a Photoshopped picture of a baby with DeGeneres head.

Warner Bros.

PHOTOS: Stars Share Pics of Their Cute Kids

Shes adorable, DeGeneres jokingly gushed. Shes so precious. She looks just like you.

ET recently caught up with Gosling at the red carpet premiere of his action comedy where the handsome star couldnt help but beam while talking about his new bundle of joy. Check out the video below to see more.

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A rare baby rhino from a critically endangered species has been born in Indonesia, thanks to the continuous efforts of rescuers to repopulate the species.

Early Thursday morning, the International Rhino Foundation welcomed a 45-pound Sumatran rhino calf into its Way Kambas National Park sanctuary.

We are overjoyed that Ratu delivered a healthy calf," IRF Executive Director Dr. Susie Ellis said in a statement. Shes absolutely adorable, and we havent stopped smiling since the moment we were sure she was alive and healthy."

Read: Did Drunken Vandals Kill One of the World's Rarest Fish?

The female calf, who was delivered without complications, is the second young of 14-year-old Ratu at the Indonesian sanctuary, where Ratu was also born.

Like the newborn's brother Andatu, who made history in 2012 by being the first rhino born in Indonesian captivity in more than 100 years, the baby calf was born to Ratu and a male Sumatran rhino born in the Cincinnati Zoo.

To ensure Ratu was brought to full term, the IRF said she was given a hormone therapy commonly prescribed to pregnant rhinos.

The IRF said they were "cautiously optimistic" about the birth, and said the second birth at their sanctuary proves the level of veterinary expertise in Indonesia.

"While one birth does not save the species, its one more Sumatran rhino on Earth, Ellis said.

Read: Abandoned Baby Rhino Who Was So Sick He Couldn't Walk Makes a Full Recovery

According to the IRF, Sumatran rhinos are considered to be critically endangered, as there are less than 100 left.

The species has long been victimized to habitat loss and poachers, who hunt the rhinos for their horns, coveted in some countries as traditional medicine or ornaments, according to ABC.

Watch: Adorable Baby Rhino Orphans are Loving Life After Being Saved

Related Articles:
By Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch

May 13 (Reuters) - France's Sanofi SA was moving ahead on Friday with preparations to replace Medivation Inc's board of directors after the U.S. cancer drug maker refused to engage with it in sale talks based on a $9.3 billion acquisition offer.

Sanofi could unveil a slate of nominees to replace Medivation's board as early as this month, people familiar with the matter said, in line with a threat it made in a May 4 letter to the company that reiterated its acquisition proposal.

Medivation has signed non-disclosure agreements to share confidential information with other pharmaceutical companies interested in an acquisition, including Pfizer Inc and Amgen Inc, sources told Reuters on Monday.

However, Medivation will not engage in sale talks with Sanofi unless the latter raises its $52.50 per share cash offer, the people said. Sanofi has said it is willing to raise its offer only after Medivation engages in talks. Medivation shares were trading at $61.43 in New York on Friday.

Sanofi this week added Goldman Sachs Group Inc as a financial advisor, while continuing to receive advice from Morgan Stanley, the people said. Goldman also has a close relationship with Pfizer, having advised it on many deals, including its abandoned $160 billion acquisition of Allergan Plc .

Pfizer on Friday continued to work with advice from investment banks on a possible bid for Medivation, though there is no certainty such an offer would be submitted, some of the sources said.

The sources asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. Sanofi, Medivation, Goldman Sachs and Pfizer declined to comment.

Sanofi is vying for Medivation in an attempt to expand in the lucrative oncology sector, as it struggles to compensate for declining revenues from a key diabetes drug that recently lost patent protection.

Should Medivation agree to a sale, it would mark a bittersweet moment for Chief Executive David Hung, who founded the company in 2003. In 13 years, he built Medivation from a penny stock peddling a 20-year-old Russian treatment for hay fever into a $10 billion market capitalization oncology company.

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In the process, he overcame numerous obstacles, including the failure of Alzheimer's treatment Dimebon, which used to be sold as an antihistamine in Russia. In 2009, Hung took a bet on a chemical compound called MDV3100, which was developed at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In partnership with Japan's Astellas Pharma Inc, Medivation turned MDV3100 into a nearly $2 billion prostate cancer drug called Xtandi.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis and Lauren Hirsch in New York; Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia and Ben Hirschler in London)
All eyes are on Woody Allen once again.

His newest film, Cafe Society, starring Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Steve Carell and Blake Lively, opened at Cannes this week. The cast has so far largely avoided addressing sexual-abuse allegations made against the director by his daughter, Dylan Farrow.

Prompting the renewed spotlight on the claims was Allen's son, Ronan Farrow, who wrote a Hollywood Reporter guest column addressing media and industry reluctance to talk about the topic.

"Being in the media as my sister's story made headlines, and Woody Allen's PR engine revved into action, gave me a window into just how potent the pressure can be to take the easy way out," wrote Farrow.

Stars of Allen's films have been asked about the allegations throughout the years, and many have defended their choice to work with him, often stating that the abuse claims are unproven or a family issue. But some actors have made it clear that they choose not to work with Allen because of the damning allegations against him.

A look at industry comments on the controversy:

Read More: My Father, Woody Allen, and the Danger of Questions Unasked (Guest Column)

Kristen Stewart: The Cafe Society actress briefly touched on the decision to work with Allen at a Cannes press event this week with co-star Eisenberg, saying that the abuse allegations are only allegations, and that she doesn't want to judge an artist for what other people say about him. "We don't know any of these people involved," she told Variety. "I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong."

Diane Keaton: After Dylan Farrow called out Allen's stars in 2014, including Annie Hall's Keaton, in The New York Times ("You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?"), Keaton responded in an interview with The Guardian, saying simply, "I believe my friend."

Wallace Shawn: The Manhattan actor wrote a piece for the Los Angeles Times in February 2014 defending Allen: "I personally would have to say that it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that he had sexually abused a child, just as it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that Desmond Tutu, Franklin D. Roosevelt or Doris Lessing had sexually abused a child." He concluded: "Obviously if he did not in fact commit the crime, this is an appalling situation."

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Scarlett Johansson: The Match Point star, who was also included in the list of actresses mentioned by Farrow in The New York Times article, distanced herself from Allen's past, telling The Guardian in March 2014 that "It's not like this is somebody that's been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, 'I don't support this lifestyle or whatever.' I mean, it's all guesswork." She added, "It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other."

Cate Blanchett: Promoting Blue Jasmine at the Santa Barbara Film Festival in 2014, Blanchett didn't want to address the accusations against Allen, saying that it's a family ordeal. "It's obviously been a long and painful situation for the family," said Blanchett, "and I hope they find some sort of resolution and peace."

Alec Baldwin: In the midst of promoting Blue Jasmine with co-star Blanchett, Baldwin tweeted a series of comments that distanced himself as an actor from what he saw as a family conflict. "What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family's personal struggle?" he wrote. "So you know who's guilty? Who's lying? You, personally, know that?" he continued, adding: "You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family's issue."

Mariel Hemingway: In 2015, the actress revealed in her memoir, Out Came the Sun, that after filming Manhattan, her first role in a Woody Allen film, Allen flew out to her parents' house in Idaho and began pressing her to travel to Paris with him (when she was only 18 years old). "Our relationship was platonic, but I started to see that he had a kind of crush on me, though I dismissed it as the kind of thing that seemed to happen any time middle-aged men got around young women," she wrote. Hemingway ended up refusing to go on the trip with the director, and Allen left town the next morning.

Lena Dunham: The Girls actress told Marc Maron in a 2015 episode of his WTF podcast that she is "decidedly pro-Dylan Farrow and decidedly disgusted with Woody Allen's behavior," though she also didn't want to judge his films based on her opinion of him ("I'm not going to indict the work"). "But for me, when people go through his work and comb through it for references to child molestation, that's not the f - ing point."

Sarah Silverman: The actress-comedian tweeted out a link to Ronan Farrow's piece on Wednesday, commenting that she believed Dylan and Ronan's account: "My comedy hero Woody Allen, and his untouchable PR machine and our not wanting it to be true. But it is."

My comedy hero Woody Allen, and his untouchable PR machine and our not wanting it to be true. But it is. https://t.co/L7cdnkOuJs

- Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) May 11, 2016

Read More: The Woody Allen Interview (Which He Won't Read)
Last-minute series pickup negotiations between broadcast networks and studios are always contentious as the two sides engage in some old-school gamesmanship and horse trading over co-productions, time slots and leveraging a hot show to save a bubble one. But this year, there is a new element that has made negotiations with outside studios even more complicated  in-season stacking rights, which allow nets to stream all episodes from a series current season on its platforms.

I hear ABC and NBC have been particularly aggressive in pursuing in-season stacking rights on all new shows, standing firm on the issue and refusing to pick up a series without those rights secured.

ABC set the tone in March, announcing what the network called an unprecedented deal with Warner Bros. TV Group, creating a template that grants the network full in-season stacking rights to all episodes of new WBTV series for the coming two seasons. (The networks traditionally only have had access to rolling five most recent episodes of shows they dont own.)

PIPER PERABO, DANIEL SUNJATA

ABC did the bulk of its pickups this afternoon, Thursday. Notably, all orders and renewals were to ABC Studios and WBTV shows until the very last batch of series pickups of pilots Notorious and Imaginary Mary and second-second renewal of Dr. Ken. All three are from Sony TV, which, as a leading studio with co-producing partner ABC Studios, owns the streaming rights. What is still missing? A pickup of hot comedy pilot Speechless and renewal decision on veteran Last Man Standing. Both hail from 20th Century Fox TV.

I hear both studios had been asked to grant the network in-season stacking rights. After lengthy negotiations, ABC today came to an agreement with Sony TV, paving the way to the three-series pickup. Conversations with 20th TV are still ongoing.

NBC is the first broadcast network to present its 2016-17 lineup on Monday morning. Yet, the network has been slow in picking up pilots to series this week, ordering four shows so far, comedies Powerless and Trial & Error from Warner Bros. TV on Wednesday night and dramedy This Is Us from 20t

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This Is Us - Season Pilot

h TV and the Chicago Justice spinoff, from Universal TV, on Thursday night. I hear the pickups came after WBTV and then 20th TV agreed to give the network in-season stacking rights. At NBC, it is Sony TV, which is still in discussions with the network, with a number of shows in play, hot drama prospects Timeless and The Blacklist spinoff, which look good for a pickup, Cruel Intentions, which also is in contention, as well as freshman drama Game of Silence, which is heavily on the bubble

Fox is the only network that has wrapped its new series orders. Of all 8 newly picked up series, only one, WBTVs Lethal Weapon, does not come from the networks own studio. I hear Fox got in-season stacking rights on the series.

I hear CBS also has started to introduce in-season stacking rights language in its pickup and renewal deals for newer shows like Life In Pieces. The network has not been as aggressive but it is yet to get into the nitty-gritty of ordering new series.

Big 4 network logos

The in-season stacking rights issue has become increasingly contentious between networks and studios as both sides try to better monetize on-demand viewing.

The March ABC/WBTV agreement is said to be limited to Disney/ABC-branded ad-based platforms only (no subscription-based services) and will require authentication, with Warner Bros. retaining end-of-season SVOD rights. ABC is said to be pursuing similar terms with other outside studios, though some indicate that SVOD rights may also be on the table.

This is a real win for network television viewers, ABC EVP Jana Winograde said at the time the WBTV deal was announced. Giving our audience even more opportunities to catch up on their favorite shows in their entirety, on demand, only enhances their loyalty to and engagement with ABC and our series.

There is a downside for studios  Netflix, the top streaming buyer of off-network content, for example, has been firm on exclusivity, only willing to shell out top dollar for shows that had not had online exposure beyond the standard rolling five. So giving a broadcast network full in-season rights to new shows would likely lower the shows financial prospects at a place like Netflix.

blacklistfeb5

Indie studios Sony TV and WBTV set records by selling exclusive SVOD rights to their dramas The Blacklist and Gotham, respectively, to Netflix for $2 million an episode.

Under the in-season stacking rights deal, broadcast networks compensate studios for the expanded streaming rights but that is unlikely to match what a show could get from SVOD providers on the open market. On the other hand, a stacking rights deal helps a studio get and keep their broadcast shows on the air, which is no easy task in this day and age.

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TAIPEI, May 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Friday called on an international tribunal not to make a ruling on a disputed South China Sea island if the judges don't visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life.

Taiwan wants to prove Itu Aba is not just a rock, but a real island that can qualify for a maritime economic zone.

China refuses to recognise a case lodged by the Philippines with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over the South China Sea and says such disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks.

The panel does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands.

"The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan's formal name) once again solemnly invites the five arbitrators (in the Philippine case) to conduct a field study on Taiping Island," Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"If the tribunal decides not to respond to our kind invitation, then it should not rule on the legal status of Taiping Island."

Last month, the panel allowed written evidence from a government-linked Taiwanese group pressing Taipei's position that Itu Aba is not a rock and is entitled to part of the disputed waterway as an economic zone.

China, which claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, also claims almost the entire South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.

Taiwan has just finished a $100 million port upgrade on Itu Aba, known as Taiping in Taiwan, in the disputed Spratly islands. The island has an airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.

Itu Aba is the biggest natural island in the Spratlys and is the only one claimed by Taiwan.

Manila is challenging the legality of China's claim, in part by arguing that no land mass in the Spratly archipelago can legally be considered a life-sustaining island, and therefore, cannot hold rights to a 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.

China has appeared unruffled by Taiwan's upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because Itu Aba could fall into China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. (Reporting by J.R. Wu; Additional reporting by Mai Nguyen in HANOI; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The Russian media landscape has not been easy for independent outlets. A government crackdown over the last 10 years has eliminated many media companies editorial autonomy, leaving most outlets to toe the Kremlins official line. RBC, a financial news outlet and one of Russias largest media holding companies, was an exception, and set itself apart by tracking down and publishing tough stories that irked the Kremlin.

But that era of editorial independence appears to have ended on Friday, with the Russian media company announcing that its three top editors, who oversaw many investigations into money and politics in Russia, left their jobs.

In a statement Friday, RBC said Elizaveta Osetinskaya, the editor-in-chief of the entire media group, Maxim Solyus, the editor of the RBC newspaper, and Roman Badanin, the editor of the RBC news agency, had resigned effective immediately, adding that management and the editors failed to agree on a number of crucial issues.

Despite managements insistence that the editors departure is due to creative differences, reports have already circulated that the decision was due to RBCs investigative reporting, which put the media company in the Kremlins crosshairs.

Badanin, the head of RBC news agency, told The Associated Press that pressure from the authorities on RBC management sparked the resignations. Similarly, an anonymous source at RBC told Reuters that the outlets reporting had provoked the Kremlins ire on the companys shareholders, which in turn decided to rein in the top editors. According to Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, the companys shareholders called for Solyus resignation, which led Osetinskaya and Badanin to quit in protest.

RBC launched Russias only business television network in 2003, reaching over 90 million viewers all around the world. The company also runs a daily, a magazine, and a website, which have featured many prominent reports that are believed to have irritated the Kremlin. RBCs website was the most-visited news site in Russia in 2015, a success partly credited to the companys billionaire owner, Mikhail Prokhorov  who also owns the NBAs Brooklyn Nets  for recruiting top reporters and editors.

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RBCs newspaper was one of the few Russian outlets to report on the Panama Papers in April, which leaked information about offshore banks accounts belonging to billionaire cellist Sergei Roldugin  a longtime friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shortly after RBC published a profile of Rodulgin and his connections to Putin, FSB officers raided Prokhorovs offices. In late April, the Russian Interior Ministry opened a fraud probe into the media company.

In January 2015, RBC broke the story about Katerina Tikhonova  a woman believed to be Putins daughter  and the business dealings of a man reported to be her husband. RBC had several follow-up reports about financial connections that led back to Putins inner-circle and their original scoop spawned a series of investigations by other outlets.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied exerting any influence over the RBC holding company or its owner, Prokhorov.

As a matter of fact, no pressures are being exerted, Dmitry Peskov, Putins press secretary, told reporters on Thursday. Whenever some investigative action is taken in relation to some companies, the question should be addressed to the ministries and agencies concerned.

After the exodus of top editorial staff, RBC will look to restructure and rebuild. But much of the companys talent has already begun to jump ship. Slon.ru, a popular Russian news website, reported that 13 other RBC employees have also resigned.

Photo credit: EPA
Shake Shack (SHAK) rose 5% on Friday on the heels of a strong first quarter earnings report. Comparable store sales rose 9.9%, driven by 7.3% increase in traffic, and a 2.6% increase in price and order mix.

Importantly, the red-hot burger chain proved its naysayers wrong on two big challenges. Those skeptics claimed Shake Shack wouldnt have appeal beyond the Northeast and that it couldnt expand its menu beyond just burgers.

Yes, the appetite for Shake Shack goes beyond the Northeast

When Shake Shake announced plans to expand to California, questions arose about the companys ability to compete with the popular In-N-Out chain concept. But based on early reads of the companys location in West Hollywood, investors dont have anything to worry about.

While we generally don't comment on unit-specific data, we are really excited to share that this first California Shack has been one of the strongest openings in our 12-year history, CEO Randall Garutti said. We're beyond thrilled and humbled by the passionate response from our guests in this new market. We remain excited about the opportunity we have ahead of us in California as we continue to grow our brand.

The company has plans to open at least four additional Shacks in the Southern California market.

Garutti also announced plans to accelerate growth plans to 16 new domestic Shacks in 2016 and 2017, which makes 36% year-over-year unit growth and helps fuel upside from the base case of 450 potential domestic units the management team has outlined. The company had previously forecasted annual unit growth of 13, which had already been boosted from 10 in 2015.

Our recent new market successes in LA, Arizona and Japan, far away from our home market in New York City remind us the lengths to which our fans will go to be part of what we do, Garutti said. We continue to see record engagement with our fans, both in line and online. And we believe our message is resonating more deeply than ever.

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Shake Shack also upped its long-term guidance for first-year average unit volumes (AUV) outside of New York, seeing $3.6 million. This is an increase from the original estimate for $3.3 million.

Yes, Shake Shack can sell more than just hamburgers

The Chickn Shack, which debuted nationally in January, is a long-term game changer, according to Garutti. He added that the new offering contributed directly to traffic, the key component of the increased comparable store sales. Analysts pointed to the new offering as critical to the growth story.

The Chick'n Shack is driving excitement with our current fans as well as giving guests a new reason to try Shake Shack for the first time. By expanding our menu, we are able to give our guests yet another opportunity to come back to the Shack, Garutti said. We've also better diversified our long-term exposure to commodities with the addition of this key protein.

Source: Shake Shack website

This traffic drive has been key to propelling Shack Shack growth even further. Garutti added that regional specialities and limited-time offers are also expected to bring more customers into its restaurants.

For now, it doesn't seem like Shake Shake is fizzling the same way other red-hot IPOs like Fitbit (FIT) and GoPro (GPRO) have in the last two years.



While the stock remains well-off its post-IPO highs, the management team has shown investors there is room for upside ahead.
















(GIF courtesy of World of Wonder)

No tea, no shade, no pink lemonade: Spike TVs Lip Sync Battle is good clean fun, but no one, and I mean no one, lip-syncs like the good queens of RuPauls Drag Race. Seriously, these gurls have to lip-sync for their lives. FOR THEIR LIVES! And sometimes they even have to perform in front of the musical artists that originated the songs.

Thats some serious pressure, so its not surprising that Drag Race contestants do sometimes fail to heed Rus advice, and do in fact f it up. But when they werk it out, they prove that they really have charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.

To commemorate this weeks announcement of the RuPauls Drag Race All-Stars 2 cast, lets take a look at the most memorable Drag Race lip-syncs of all time. In the words of All-Stars 2 cast member Adore Delano, party! And in the words of Shangela, halleloo! You. Betta. Watch. (WARNING: Some of the videos below contain profanity.)

13. India Ferrah vs. Mimi Imfurst, Dont Leave Me This Way (Season 3)

This definitely was NOT one of the better Drag Race battles, but it deserves a mention because it will forever live in infamy for that scary moment when the loud, brash, and confrontational Mimi violently flipped a freaked-out, shrieking India over her shoulder. Not cool. Drag is not a contact sport, RuPaul scolded, before ordering Mimi to sashay away.

12. Chi Chi DeVayne, And I Am Telling You (Season 8)

Thorgy Thor was one of my favorites last season, and I was rooting for her to jazzercize her way all the way to the finale. But then she went up against Chi Chi, and even I could not deny the power of Miss DeVaynes passionate, divalicious performance. There was no way Season 8 was living without Chi Chi, after this tour de force.

11. Detox, Take Me Home (Season 5)

Detox, who will be on All-Stars 2, debuted her patented jaw-wiggle during this fun number and delivered a Cher impression that could impress even Chad Michaels, the professional. Maybe the chin thing was a gimmick, but it was a brilliant gimmick.

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10. Jinkx Monsoon, Malambo No. 1 (Season 6)

Yma Sumac and burlesque queen/future champ Jinkx go together like water and ducks back. Its no wonder that this song has become a regular part of Jinkxs live revues.

9. Carmen Carrera vs. Raja, Straight Up (Season 3)

Carmen ignored judge Michelle Visages advice and kept relying on that body  and what a fantastic body it was, so who could blame her? Future Season 3 winner Raja, queen of the runway, didnt miss a beat or blink a false eyelash when her fellow Heather stripped almost completely naked during this Paula Abdul song. Straight up, this was kind of sexy.

8. Jujubee, Black Velvet (Season 2)

I detest this tired old Alannah Myles one-hit wonder, and I hate whenever any contestant covers it on any singing competition. But Jujus version was so incredibly fierce, she made me a fan. Jujubee did Black Velvet with that slow Southern style  and a whole lot of scenery-chewing flair. (Side note: R.I.P. Sahara Davenport, who lost to this very worthy opponent, and died in 2012.) WATCH IT HERE.

7. Adore Delano, Vibeology (Season 6)

Before Adore Delano was Adore Delano, she was Danny Noriega, the sassy emo teen of American Idol Season 7. And when original Idol judge Paula Abdul guest-judged Drag Race, she recognized Danny/Adore right away, despite the fact that Adore was wearing a Hannibal Lechter-style mask and enough jewelry to fill an entire new Paula Abdul QVC collection. This was the perfect setup by those genius World of Wonder producers to get Adore to lip-sync a song by old pal Paula (the most lip-synched artist in Drag Race herstory) and create some amazing TV. Thankfully, Adore made it much farther on Drag Race than Danny had on Idol. She may even win All-Stars 2.

6. Roxxxy Andrews, Whip My Hair (Season 5)

Usually I hate it when a queen breaks character and tears off her wig onstage. But in the case of Roxxxy, who had a backup lace-front ready to go, it was a genius move. This Willow Smith lip-sync had everyones hair standing on end! Incidentally, in a recent Yahoo Music interview, RuPaul Ru-vealed that this was his favorite Drag Race lip-sync of all time. Lets see if Roxxxy reprises this signature move on All-Stars 2.

5. Ginger Minj & Sasha Belle, I Think Were Alone Now (Season 7)

The Conjoined Queens challenge this season gave comedy queen Ginger (paired with fellow contestant Sasha) the ultimate opportunity to do one of the funniest lip-syncs ever  to a Tiffany song, yet. Ginger, who will be on All-Stars 2, definitely doubled viewers pleasure, and she proved she is an amazing physical comedienne. WATCH IT HERE.

4. Dida Ritz, This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) (Season 4)

Dida didnt go very far in her season, but she made a major impression on guest judge Natalie Cole (R.I.P.) when she performed Natalies own classic song, right in front of the R&B legend. Dida was serving up some Whitney-in-The Bodyguard realness here. I barely even remember who else was onstage. (It was the Princess, FYI.)

3. Manila Luzon, MacArthur Park (Season 3)

Manila was always the perfect blend of fishy beauty and crazy comedy. Only she could ugly-cry in a Big Bird dress, go all cross-eyed to MacArthur Park, and still look gorgeous. A Drag Race moment like this only comes once in a lifetime. Well never have that recipe again. WATCH IT HERE.

2. Raven vs. Jujubee, Dancing on My Own (All-Stars Season)

Drag Race has had many touching and tragic moments, from Alyssa Edwardss reunion with her estranged father to Roxxxys confession about her childhood bus stop abandonment to Yara Sofias onstage meltdown. This battle was another tearjerker. Season 2 runners-up Raven and Jujubee were so distraught over having to go up against each other in the All-Stars season, they could barely make it through this bittersweet Robyn song. It showed what a bond these queens really share. RuPaul couldnt even bear to send anyone home; neither contestant sashayed away that week.

1. Latrice Royale, (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman (Season 4)

Many of the most memorable Drag Race lip-syncs have been flashy, silly, or sexy, but Season 4s Miss Congeniality stole the show just by standing completely still. As Kenya Michaels desperately flailed around her, Latrice stayed strong, cradled her prosthetic pregnant belly, and delivered a moving performance that made her the Aretha Franklin of Drag Race. Latrice will always be an all-star in my book.

RuPauls Drag Race All-Stars 2 premieres on Logo Aug. 25.

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NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of First NBC Bank Holding Company ("First NBC" or the "Company") (FNBC). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at rswilloughby@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether First NBC and certain of its officers and/or directors have violated Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

On February 1, 2016, First NBC issued a press release disclosing its Q4 and full-year 2015 financial results, reporting earnings significantly below market expectations and more fully disclosing the true extent of the Company's exposure to the oil and gas industry. On this news, First NBC's stock price fell $3.20 per share, or 10.53%, to close at $27.20 on February 1, 2016. Then, on March 16, 2016, First NBC disclosed that it had: "identified errors in its accounting for its Federal and State Historic Rehabilitation tax credit entities and is evaluating the accounting for certain other matters" and that its net income as stated in its preliminary earnings release for 2015 would likely be reduced. On this news, First NBC's stock price fell $5.33 per share, or 21.83%, to close at $19.09 on March 16, 2016. Finally, on April 8, 2016, First NBC announced that its financial statements for the years 2011 through 2014 and for each of the interim periods within the years 2013 through 2015 needed to be restated and should no longer be relied upon, and that management's report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2013 and 2014 should no longer be relied upon.

On this news, First NBC's stock price fell $0.47 per share, or 2.46%, to close at $18.65 on April 11, 2016.

The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Florida, and Los Angeles, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
For American consumers, its all about the box, not the bag.

In the first quarter of 2016, big retail names were crushed by decreasing foot traffic, inventory that didnt fly off the shelves and the continuation of the trend for shoppers to look online for goods rather than stop by bricks-and-mortar stores.

You dont have to look far to see evidence of the trend: Macys (NYSE:M) which reported earnings on Thursday has seen a more than 50% drop in its share price over the last year, alongside other traditional retailers like Nordstrom (NYSE:JWS)  off 39% year over year, Kohl's (NYSE:KSS)  down 45% from a year ago, and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT)  down 15% from 52 weeks ago.

But economic data showed consumers were bucking the downward trend.

According to data released Friday morning by the Commerce Department, retail sales rose 1.3% in April from March, a higher rise than the 0.8% increase Wall Street had expected, and the biggest gain in a year. Excluding the volatile autos segment, sales were still up more than views as they rose 0.8% compared to the 0.5% expectation.

Further, consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan was also trending higher. The gauge rose to 95.8 in May from an April reading of 89.7. That was much higher than the forecast for a rise to 90, and showed increasing strength in sales of furniture and home goods, electronics and restaurants.

Clearly consumers are continuing to recover confidence and are beginning to spend their dollars. But where? Online.

I think consumers are spending, but now theyre changing where theyre spending, Christian Magoon, CEO of Amplify Investments, which recently launched a retail ETF focused exclusively on online companies, said. Were seeing a huge thing: Consumers are spending but not at traditional department stores.

To that point, leaders in the e-commerce space have thrived, like Amazon (NYSE:AMZN)  up 66% from a year ago, Priceline (NYSE:PCLN)  up 7% over the last year, and Grubhub (NYSE:GRUB)  up 38% over the last 52 weeks.

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The divergence between traditional and online retail has been steady for many quarters, but Magoon said the problem for bricks and mortar has been in place all along, and its now starting to become a bigger issue. Stores like Macys and Nordstrom offer so-called omnichannel experiences for their customers, the ability to shop online, try and buy in store, or order online and pickup in store, but its not enough.

You can expand that presence but you still have this weight on your shoulders from the store and the people, he explained. One issue the market is dealing with is labor coststhe big way retailers try to compete with online is through increased customer service, but if people costs go up, it puts their best competitive advantage at a higher price point.

Higher minimum wage efforts could force those traditionally bricks-and-mortar retailers to move more quickly online to avoid higher labor costs. Magoon said it could also push those brands to begin consolidating their retail assets, to allow more focus on better online offerings.

Kevin Kelly, CIO at Recon Capital Partners, added that its not just having an online channel for consumers who want to shop out of their pocket rather than in-store, its also about having the flexibility to deal with ever-evolving consumer preferences.

Macys has a great management team and its a really well-run companyit has great omnichannel presence, he said. So, it doesnt necessarily have to do with [offering online shopping], it has to be a competitive environment. It has to do with peoples tastes, and theyre changing and fleeting. Its hard for large companies to react.

The bottom line, Magoon said, is giving consumers what they want, when they want, how they want. Its a fine balance to strike, but he eventually sees the major retail brands bouncing back in terms of their stock prices, as management suites set the brands up to better compete with their online counterparts.

He pointed to Amazon, which has recently expanded from exclusively online to bricks-and-mortar book stores. Those retail outlets have a small footprint and operate in two ways: They allow customers to flip through the books in person, but also offer a way for local shoppers to place orders online and pick up in store  perhaps a more convenient way to shop for individuals who dont want a package delivery sitting at their doorstep while they work.

Traditional retail isnt dead, the model just has to change a bit, Magoon said. Well see more store closings, and itll be painful, but then well start to see more spending from brands on this online model.

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Photo: Time



A 48-year-old man who recently travelled to Sao Paolo, Brazil has become Singapores first imported case of Zika virus infection.



The Singapore Permanent Resident had visited the city from 27 March to 7 May and developed a rash and fever from Tuesday (10 May), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA) in a joint statement.



He was admitted to Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital on Thursday (12 May) and tested positive for the virus on Friday (13 May), whereupon he was transferred to the Communicable Diseases Centre at Tan Tock Seng Hospital for treatment and isolation to minimise the chances of being bitten by mosquitoes and spreading the infection in the community, the statement said.

The patient is said to be well and recovering. The MOH is screening the patients household members and has advised them to monitor their own health.

While the patients residence at Warren Estate is not considered an active dengue cluster, the NEA has intensified efforts to control the Aedes mosquito population in the area. The agency is also in the process of distributing informational leaflets and insect repellent to residents in the area.

The statement also advised residents of Watten Estate, Hillcrest Arcadia, The Arcadia and Watten Hill Condominium to monitor their health.

Noting that the majority of people infected with the virus do not show symptoms, the statement said it is possible that some transmission may already have taken place and residents have been asked to fully cooperate with the NEA and to allow its officers to inspect their premises for mosquito breeding and to conduct fumigation if necessary.

The virus is transmitted via the Aedes mosquito and about only one in five infections produce symptoms. Although generally considered a mild and self-limiting illness, the Zika virus has been reported to cause serious neurological complications in rare cases.



Members of the public can visit the MOH website for more information on the Zika virus, along with updates on the situation in Singapore.


Growing up in a staunch Catholic family, Nic Das attended church services regularly and believed in leading a virtuous life guided by God. But when he was in his early twenties, he found himself at a crossroads and began to question his faith.

The epiphany came to Nic because he decided to come out of the closet.

I was trying to reconcile the fact that Im gay with what I knew about my (Catholic) theology and I couldnt because a lot of it was very pro-one man, one woman. It was always this whole thing about Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, the part-time waiter told Yahoo Singapore in a recent interview.

Still, Nic believed that another branch of Christianity would embrace him despite his sexual orientation. He attended sermons conducted by the City Harvest Church (CHC) and enjoyed the camaraderie among the church members during cell group meetings.

Nic Das (Photo by Yahoo Singapore)

The positive experience did not last long for Nic as he felt alienated after his cell group members questioned him repeatedly about his sexuality.

I had a few guy friends in the group who would tell me they hoped I would be normal even after telling them that I am normal. I am gay, and thats who I am. But they werent listening to what I was saying, said Nic, now 27.

When news broke in 2010 about a probe by the authorities into the misappropriation of funds at CHC, Nic lost his faith in the church and officially left in 2012. A research into a gay-affirming church followed but after being disillusioned with its teachings, he began to look to non-religious organisations.

Last year, Nic joined the Humanist Society (Singapore), an organisation that aims to further the interests of non-religious people in Singapore and create public awareness about seeking knowledge through science, humanism and ethical living. In addition, he also volunteered at a local LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) organisation.

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In the two organisations, Nic has finally found a sanctuary accepting of his sexual orientation and he now considers himself an atheist.

Deprivation prompts questions about faith

Nic is among a growing number of Singaporeans who are non-believers. Among Singapore residents aged 15 and above, the proportion of those without religious affiliation had risen from 14 per cent in 2000 to 18.5 per cent in 2015, according to data from Statistics Singapore.

Like Nic, 31-year-old Careyma Giena Sam, a freelance graphic designer, is no longer religious. But her experience of leaving her faith was uncommon compared to that of other Singaporean non-believers - she grew up in a religious cult whose members were living in a gated community at a number of villages across Indonesia. The members of the cult adhere to tenets that are derived from two mainstream religions.

Carey was often punished severely for minor transgressions by the cult leaders. Once, she was forced to march across an open field with wooden planks attached to her arms and locked in a room for long hours for merely trying to sneak out of the compound to buy snacks.

I came back to the compound, they took my stuff out from my house and called me an infidel. I felt guilty but confused at the same time because all I wanted was to buy snacks, Carey told Yahoo Singapore in an interview.

Determined to leave the cult, Carey attempted suicide a few times and eventually managed to escape to Singapore when she was 17. Her parents, both of whom are still members of the cult, did not send her back to the community. Due to the sensitive nature of her past and family background, Carey did not wish to disclose the name of the cult.

Carey was later afflicted with typhus, which she believed was due to an overnight stay in a ramshackle shed during an attempt to leave the cult. Her traumatic experience with the cult and later, her fathers illness, made her question about her faith and the meaning of life.

Theres so much suffering in this world that its impossible that theres a God, said Carey, who became an atheist after leaving the cult.

Dont need God to set moral compass

One common view among many believers of mainstream religions is that atheists lack a moral compass. But atheists that Yahoo Singapore spoke to at a recent Humanist Society meeting dispelled the notion, saying that the concepts of morality outlined by mainstream religions are restrictive.

Kelvin Wee, 31, a former social worker who has been an atheist for about 10 years, acknowledged that religions play a role in society by teaching individuals about morals. But Wee said that when he began to learn more about ethics, he realised that there is no need for God in his life and that he can still be a righteous person. Religions should not monopolise ideas about what is right and wrong, added Wee, who is currently unemployed.

Kelvin Wee (Photo by Yahoo Singapore)

There are certain rules that come close as universal but there are lots of things that are in the middle ground, said Wee, who grew up in a Taoist family. He added that he became disillusioned with religion after reading several philosophical books that argued against the existence of God.

Davin Chee, a 26-year-old logistics executive, agreed, saying that people should look beyond religion to understand more about the world around them.

Just because you cant find the answer does not mean we can just ascribe it to God. Using God as the answer prevents people from thinking and finding answers (themselves), Chee said.

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Drip by drip. Were learning more about some of the places President Barack Obama has sent U.S. special operations forces to quietly wage war. Heres the latest:

Somalia. A team of U.S. special operations forces patrolling with Ugandan peacekeepers outside of the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Thursday called in an airstrike on an al-Shabab position when they came under fire. Its not the first time American troops have been in a fight this year in Somalia. In March, commandos, acting with Somali forces, killed up to 15 Islamists in a raid that came just days after a U.S. airstrike wiped out about 150 al-Shabab militants at a training base in the north of the country.

Libya. We learned Thursday that about 50 American special operations forces have been in the country since last fall, where theyve been searching for reliable partners to take the fight to the Islamic State, which has set down roots there. The U.S. has launched several airstrikes in Libya since late last year, but has been holding off on deeper engagement until a government is fully in place, U.S. officials have said.

Yemen. Defense officials recently admitted they sent a team of about a dozen operators to help local forces track down al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula  known as AQAP  near the port city of Mulkala. Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said the deployment, which happened in April, provides airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, advice and assistance with operational planning, maritime interdiction and security operations, medical support and aerial refueling. The USS Boxer, a Navy amphibious assault ship with about 1,200 sailors and Marines aboard, has been positioned nearby in the Gulf of Aden to provide support, if necessary.

New China report. The Pentagon is set to release its latest annual report to Congress on the state of Chinas military today. The report promises to be stacked with new details about Beijings rapidly modernizing air, sea, and missile capabilities, particularly when it comes to the South China Sea. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia Abraham Denmark is set to brief the report at the Pentagon at 2:30 p.m. Livestream here.

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Sacked. The U.S. Navy said Thursday that an officer overseeing two boats that mistakenly veered into Iranian waters in January has been relieved of command following an investigation in the incident, which nearly triggered a dangerous confrontation between Washington and Tehran. FPs Dan De Luce writes that Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer for Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, which included the boats that sailed into Irans territorial waters on Jan. 12, will be reassigned to another post. De Luce has been out in front of the story since the beginning, and previously laid down the best tick-tock of what happened that day in the Persian Gulf.

Budget lines. If Republican Sen. John McCain and his Senate Armed Services Committee get their way, the Pentagons top weapons buyer, Frank Kendall, will be out of a job. Kendalls hugely influential gig as the Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, would be split in two, an Under Secretary for Management and and an Under Secretary for Research and Engineering who would push high-tech innovation initiatives.

The committee also calls for the White Houses National Security Council staff to be capped at 150 (its grown to about 400 in recent years). McCain labeled the $602 billion document a reform bill, and it also outlines plans to expand the role of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Pentagons global combatant commanders to take more of a role in planning and carrying out plans for war.

More fun in the Baltics. The U.K. scrambled Typhoon fighter jets Thursday to intercept three Russian military transport aircraft that were approaching the Baltic states and were not transmitting an identification code and refused to answer attempts to radio them, the British defense ministry said. We were able to instantly respond to this act of Russian aggression  demonstration of our commitment to NATOs collective defense, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said in a statement.

Milestone. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford are in Colorado Springs, Co. Friday for a handover ceremony at the U.S. Northern Command, where Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson takes over from Adm. Bill Gortney. Robinson is the first woman to run a combatant command. Therell be a press briefing 2:00 p.m., livestreamed here.

Thanks for clicking on through as we wrap up another week of SitRep. As always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley

China

A Chinese official appeared to offer an olive branch to the U.S. on Friday over the repeated disputes in the South China Sea. Reuters reports that Chinese Central Military Commission member Fang Fenghui told U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford that the two sides should manage their differences in a constructive way. Dunford offered that the rivals should create an effective mechanism on risk control in order to avoid confrontations. The U.S. is increasingly worried over Chinas assertion of vast territorial claims in the South China Sea. China is annoyed at the Pentagons increasingly close military relationships with Chinas neighbors and continued freedom of navigation operations through territories over which it claims sovereignty.

Russia

Russias embassy in the U.K. tweeted on Thursday that extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo. One small problem: they used a screenshot from an old-school video game, Command and Conquer: Generals, in order to illustrate that claim. In fairness, the image was labeled with image used for illustration purposes only. Nonetheless, the bizarre contrast between serious, bold claims about chemical weapons in a conflict and cartoonish choice of illustration left many scratching their heads about Russian diplomats use of social media.

We had some more fun at Moscows expense Thursday after a video emerged of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was attending a photo op highlighting a new Russian military truck, and was somewhat surprised when the handle breaks off the passenger-side door.

European Union

A new report by the U.K.s House of Lords blasts the European Unions (EU) Operation Sophia, aimed at tackling human smuggling in the Mediterranean, for being an impossible challenge, the Daily Telegraph reports. The authors write that Sophia does not, and we argue, cannot, deliver its mandate of stopping the tidal wave of human smuggling that has sprung up in the Mediterranean because it doesnt address root causes. Thousands of migrants have sought the services of people smugglers in the Med as they flee conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. The report did, however, commend the EU for its search and rescue operations aimed at saving migrants, describing them as vital.

Syria

Syrian officials have blocked an international aid convoy from reaching the besieged city of Darya. The Assad regime had agreed to let the aid convoy, organized by the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, to travel to Darya but officials refused to allow the convoy in on arrival. Aid officials say the Assad regime objected to the presence of food and medicine on board the convoy and asked aid workers to remove the items.

Hezbollah

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hezbollahs top commander for the war in Syria, was killed in a blast near Damascus airport on Thursday, reportedly at the hands of an Israeli airstrike. U.S. sanctions against Badreddine listed him as in charge of Hezbollahs involvement in Syria since 2011. Prior to that, he was reportedly involved in a string of terrorist attacks, with indictments in Kuwait and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for a string of bombings and the assassination of Lebanese politician Rafik al-Hariri, respectively. If reports about Israels responsibility for Badreddines killing are true, he would be one of a number of senior Hezbollah officials reportedly killed by Israeli forces since the war in Syria began, including Imad and Jihad Mughniyeh and Samir Qantar.

Drive-by truckers

In the mid-2000s, the U.S. government spent about $50 billion to quickly buy thousands of hulking MRAP armored vehicles to shield troops in Iraq and Afghanistan from roadside bombs. But the Army and Marine Corps dont need all of those trucks anymore, and have taken to giving them away to willing allies. And that brings us to the 762 MRAPs that Washington has started shipping to Egypt, free of charge. The half-million dollar vehicles will be used to combat terrorism and promote stability in the region, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo said in a statement Thursday.

The Islamic State

Buzzfeed takes a deep look at how the Islamic State has navigated information security issues on the web. The jihadist group has quietly been learning to conduct spear-phishing attacks in which they send targeted, forged emails to opponents and journalists laced with malware, tricking them into clicking on links or attachments bearing malware. On the defensive side, the group has developed an affinity for an encrypted social media messaging app which critics say isnt as secure as its marketing would have users believe. The group has also tried to help its online army of fanboys stay secure with a handful of cybersecurity guides, offering homespun  and fairly dubious  advice on which apps and software to use in order to encrypt data and remain anonymous from the worlds intelligence services.
Lets face it: Missiles are penises. You dont have to be Diana Russell to admit it. You can pretend they are rockets all you want, but all I can think about is Robin Williams in Death To Smoochy. Sure, you cant make a missile shaped like a vagina. But thats the point. No one gets this excited about tanks. When the Committee on the Present Danger campaigned against the SALT II nuclear reduction treaty, they printed posters that showed the Soviet Unions big, dark missiles set against our tiny little white ones. Hows that for Fear of a Black Planet?

The Soviet Union may be gone, but dont tell that to Vladimir Putin. The Russian supremo is comically virile, the sort of guy who is willing to interrupt a meeting with George W. Bush to let him know that Barney, as presidential pets go, is sort of emasculating. It should go without saying that Putins Russia is also really into big missiles.

Exhibit A: Last week, a Russian news outlet ran a profile on Russias newest ICBM under development, known as RS-28. While Russian officials have been discussing the missile for several years, the coverage was still rather eye-popping. Although the news story did not involve explicit images or details, it was clear that the Russian state would like you to know that the RS-28 is larger. Very, very large. Like, much larger than the missile it replaces. And much larger than anything in the American arsenal.

According to the Russian press, the missile is far more powerful than the missile it will replace. In the United States, we call this older missile the SS-18 Satan (its the demon rod smack dab in the middle  of the Committee on the Present Dangers penis poster.) The new RS-28 is supposed to be bigger still. According to Russian officials, the RS-28 will have 10 tons of so-called throw-weight  the missiles payload  much of which will be in the form of nuclear weapons. And the RS-28, again say the Russians, will be powerful enough to send these warheads to the United States over the South Pole, avoiding any pesky U.S. missile defenses  not a trivial factor given Moscows howling about new U.S. missile defenses in Poland and Romania.

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And, in case you still cant appreciate the humungousness of this missile, the Russian press has helpfully explained that the large number of high-yield warheads it carries could destroy an area the size of Texas. Say it in your best Yakov Smirnov voice: Texas is famous big state. Russian missile can destroy Texas. Russian missile is big.

Is any of this true?

Well, Russia can plainly build a giant missile. And the South Pole business isnt out of the question. The Soviets were really interested in what are called fractional orbital bombardment systems, or FOBs, during the Cold War. There was a treaty that would have banned FOBs  the very same treaty that prompted the Committee on the Present Danger to publish the penis poster. As it happened, the U.S. Senate ultimately refused to ratify the treaty. And so, this idea is still around. A recent RAND study, for example, contains a description of the advantages and disadvantages of a FOBs-like approach for a new U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

And what of the Texas-killer Russian warheads? The SS-18 can carry 10 warheads, each with a yield of 750 kilotons. Thats plenty to reduce most of the Lone Star state to a post-apocalyptic wasteland, although I am not sure I would be able to see the difference. (Kidding, Texans, kidding! Please dont shoot me!)

Of course, it isnt clear that the new RS-28 will be big or potent as advertised. The other day, Putin toured a facility that makes military vehicles. When he tried to open the door to one of the trucks, it jammed. When an aide tried with a bit more force, the handle fell off. Things in Russia arent always what they seem.

So, while the RS-28 probably does represent an improvement to an existing Russian missile, it still replaces a comparable system. And that means the RS-28 isnt a change in Russian nuclear posture, its a continuation. Russia has long placed a substantial fraction of its warheads on so-called heavy ICBMs. The RS-28 indicates that we shouldnt expect that to change.

The love of heavy ICBMs is a Russian thing. Heavy ICBMs, particularly liquid-fueled ones like the RS-28, have advantages and disadvantages. Such a missile might be able to carry a large number of nuclear warheads, but it must be based in an underground silo. That makes all those warheads sitting in one spot an attractive target. Liquid fuel, too, is not easy to handle. And keeping the missiles on constant alert can be tricky, something that Bill Clinton learned when he was governor of Arkansas. There is no support in the United States Air Force for revisiting liquid-fueled missiles.

The Russian Strategic Rocket Forces, however, feel differently. To them, heavy ICBMs are Viagra mixed with vodka. The Russians want to keep a lot of nuclear warheads, and its gets very expensive building a missile for each and every warhead. Even when Russia was flush with oil revenue, there wasnt enough money to fully replace Soviet systems. As a result, the Russians have built a smaller number of modern missiles and packed them with as many warheads as possible. The United States has taken the opposite approach  spreading warheads across a much larger number of missiles on land and at sea.

Most American analysts, including myself, think the Russians are crazy for putting so many eggs, so to speak, in so few baskets. Its highly destabilizing, too. Consider the problem at hand: If one missile can destroy 10 targets, the Russians have an incentive to use nuclear weapons first. And if the U.S. president can protect those 10 targets by blowing up just one missile, then it gives Washington a further incentive to use nuclear weapons first. Multiple warheads favor the side that shoots first, which is the very definition of instability. Thats the view in the United States at least. In Moscow, I would probably be laughed out of the room as the kind of guy who has a tiny  dog.

So while the RS-28 is not, in itself, a dramatic change in the threat to the United States, it does represent a very dangerous Russian habit. It would be better if we could persuade the Russians not to do this.

Actually, we did, once. Back in the good old days, the Clinton administration persuaded Boris Yeltsin to agree to a nuclear arms control treaty called START II, which prohibited Russia and the United States from placing multiple warheads on land-based ballistic missiles. But START II was doomed. The Clinton people wanted Russia to hurry up and ratify START II so we could start to negotiate a third round of reductions, which would be called START III. The Russians, on the other hand, complained that they didnt want to build a bunch of single-warhead missiles under one agreement just to eliminate them under another. Amazingly, the two sides couldnt figure this out.

Ultimately the Duma ratified START II under the encouragement of Russias young, energetic president-elect: Vladimir Putin. But it did so with a series of poison pills that, in fact, killed the treaty. None of the arms control treaties we have negotiated since, either under Bush or President Barack Obama, prohibit Russia from putting multiple warheads on its missiles.

But they should. If the two sides are serious about arms control, eliminating multiple warheads on land-based ballistic missiles is a must. Unfortunately, as Russian statements make clear, their affection for large numbers of warheads is driven in part by a desire to overwhelm U.S. missile defenses  not only the ones we have now (which, truth be told, dont threaten Russia), but the ones they are afraid we might build. Unfortunately, this puts us at an impasse: The conventional wisdom is that the United States Senate would never ratify a treaty that contained limitations on missile defense.

The Russians may have a weird Freudian thing going on with their giant missiles, but we do too. It is easy enough to notice, if you just look. Andrew Exum, now the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy, saw it when he watched a video touting the need for U.S. missile defenses a few years ago, before he entered government. The long-dormant literary critic in me has been watching this unintentionally hilarious Heritage video on missile defense and counting the number of phallic symbols, he wrote. Lets see  missile, missile, missile launch, Maggie Thatcher, missile launch, missile, missile 

The simple fact is, unpopular though it may be, there is a relationship in the ongoing Washington-Moscow arms race between offense and defense  between the sort of missiles being developed by both sides and the defenses being deployed to counter them. If we care about reducing the danger of nuclear war, we have to find a way to limit the most destabilizing nuclear weapons. And that means being able to talk honestly about all our strategic systems, including missile defense. If the RS-28 is just a giant phallus to Vladimir Putin, its the rest of us who are going to get screwed.

Photo credit: ANDREY SMIRNOV/AFP/Getty Images; Nick Blackbourn
On the lowest level of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, set to open this September, there is a series of inscriptions on a sprawling far wall. Its known as the Founding Wall, meant to introduce visitors to the major themes that inform the space: freedom, democracy, and Americas uphill journey to ensure both for all of its citizens.

The quotes will usher visitors along in a very deliberate way; starting with the Declaration of Independence and ending with a quote by journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells. The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.

In a way the museum itself, a building a decade in the making that has been a hope for many for nearly 100 years, is hoping to be that light. For proof, look no further than the architecture. About 60% of the building is below ground level, but every level has access to natural light. An skylight allows visitors on the underground floor to get a glimpse of whats above. floor to ceiling windows wrap the buildings ground floor, offering a panoramic view of the National Mall.

The top floor rests at the center of the buildings corona, the three-tiered metal outer layer that puts a modern twist on southern ironwork. There, massive windows partially covered by the metalwork offer a full view of some of Washingtons most noteworthy buildings and monuments. Visitors have to look through the buildings frame in order to see the rest of Washington.

This museum will reveal American history through the lens of the African-American experience. Thats literally and figuratively said Philip Freelon, a lead architect on the project.

On Thursday, the Smithsonian Institution opened its doors to a smattering of journalists, including TIME, for a sneak peek at the space. The museum is steps away from the Washington Monument, the towering obelisk built in commemoration of the nations first president, who also owned slaves. That dichotomy is not lost in the museum, especially not on the subterranean floor where the tour began.

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The building is half-empty now, with hanging wires, dust, empty display cases and wooden crates where artifacts will soon rest. There are 11 historical galleries in the building, an auditorium named after Oprah Winfrey, a cafeteria, and a series of cultural galleries on the top floor.

Nearly every major the building is set to house has a story. Take, for instance, the slave cabin nestled beneath a quote by Harriet Tubman on the ground floor. The wooden structure was donated by the descendants of slaves living on Edisto Island, South Carolina. It is said to have been built circa the 1850s; it was occupied until the 1980s. Up a ramp and to the left sits a segregated train car around which the entire structure was built. A rare plane that was used to train Tuskegee Airmen was unearthed by an Air Force pilot who merely wanted to own an open-cockpit biplane. When he submitted the serial number of a wreck he purchaed to the Air Force archives, they told him hed discovered the first plane Tuskegee Airmen had learned to fly on.

Chuck Berrys Cadillac and George Clintons P-Funk Mothership are on the top floor of the building, which focuses on the cultural contributions of African-Americans. As Dwan Reece, a music and performing arts curator, told reporters on Thursday, the historical galleries are the foundation, but culture is always embedded in that history.

The museum is designed to offer visitors an opportunity to engage with the history in a fluid way, explained Zena Howard, the senior project manager on the project. A segregated rail car is positioned directly above a slave cabin; visitors can lean over a balcony and see through the wooden window frame. A cabin built by former slaves in Maryland is a stones-throw away from the Tuskegee Airmen plane. And a gallery of picket signs that grapple with the period between the civil rights movement and the election of the U.S.s first black president is nestled near the top of the entire space. On every floor there are rooms designed specifically for reflection and contemplationthe designers want the heaviness of the historical galleries to sit with visitors and therefore they wanted to offer an opportunity for guests to discuss what theyve seen with family and friends.

Some of these stories are difficult. You think about Trayvon Martin and all of these things that are going on, we could be back in the 50s again, Freelon said. We want folks to be able to sit for a while and just think.

Though the museum focuses on African-Americans contributions to the United States, curators hope all visitors can see themselves in the exhibits, especially the first exhibit visitors will encounter.

This is an American story told through an African American experience, Mary N. Elliott, a museum specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, said on the tour. Regardless of your race, you will see yourself in this story.
Washington (AFP) - Islamic State snipers are targeting humanitarian corridors established by Iraqi security forces to relieve suffering in the IS-held city of Fallujah, a Pentagon official said Friday.

Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the shooters were preventing residents from escaping Fallujah, which is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Baghdad and is facing major shortages of basic supplies including medicine.

"We know that the Iraqis have attempted on several occasions to open up humanitarian corridors to allow some of those civilians to come out," Warren told Pentagon reporters in a video call.

"Those have met with generally not much success. ISIL has done things like set up snipers to cover down on those corridors, to kill people as they're trying to get out. So that has really discouraged their use," he added, using an acronym for the IS group.

Warren later said Iraqi forces had tried to set up three corridors, but these have been all but abandoned because of the snipers.

"Word must have spread because no civilians have tried to use the corridors in the last few weeks," he said.

Anti-government fighters took control of Fallujah in early 2014 during unrest that broke out after security forces demolished a protest camp farther west, and it later became an IS stronghold.

Warren said Iraqi security forces now "generally" surround Fallujah and have begun to slowly "chip away" at it.

"This is the very first city that ISIL gained control of," he said.

"ISIL's been there for more than two years, so they are dug in and dug in deep. This is a tough nut for us to crack here. This is a tough nut for the Iraqis to crack."

US forces are training and advising Iraqi partners as they try to repel IS jihadists from the country.

The Pentagon says the IS group is losing ground, and the jihadists have suffered major defeats in Iraq, including the loss of the cities of Heet and Ramadi.

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But they remain in control of Iraq's second-largest city Mosul and it is not clear when Iraqi troops will mount an assault to retake it.

Warren said there was no "no military reason" for Iraqi forces to liberate Fallujah before they could tackle Mosul.

About half of Iraq's security forces are focused on protecting Baghdad, where IS fighters claimed responsibility for a string of suicide attacks this week.

At least 94 people were killed in three blasts in Baghdad on Wednesday, the deadliest day in the Iraqi capital this year.
Johannesburg (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of South African gold miners can pursue a multi-million-dollar class action against mining companies over an often-fatal respiratory disease contracted at work, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision opens the way for up to 500,000 current and former miners to sue about 30 companies for damages after suffering silicosis from dangerous underground working conditions dating back decades.

Many miners caught silicosis, which has no known cure, from inhaling silica dust while drilling rock. The dust lodges in the lungs and causes permanent scars.

Symptoms include persistent coughing and shortness of breath, and the disease regularly leads to tuberculosis and death.

"We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option," Judge Phineas Mojapelo told the High Court in Johannesburg.

"It is the only avenue to realise the right of access to the courts provided by the constitution."

A group of about 60 former miners brought the case, which is set to expand to involve thousands of elderly men from the poorest rural areas of South Africa as well as Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi and Mozambique.

They accuse 32 mining companies -- including Harmony Gold, Anglo American, Anglogold Ashanti and Gold Fields -- of knowingly and systematically failing to protect workers against silicosis.

The judge said the number of people involved in the class action could range from 17,000 to 500,000.

Speaking on the steps of the High Court, former miner Vuyani Bwadube, who contracted silicosis after 16 years working for Harmony Gold, said there was "no turning back".

"Today's judgement is most welcome... The companies do not have time for us. Even today they don't care," he said.

"Today I am thankful to our leaders and our supporters in this case. We are moving forward now. We are going to win this case."

"It's a historic day for goldmine workers on whose back this country's wealth was built," said miners' lawyer Charles Abrahams.

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"It sends out a very important signal... that our courts are very serious about our constitutional democracy and also protecting the rights of the most vulnerable."

- The price of gold -

The mining companies issued a statement saying they were studying the court's decision.

"It should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," it said.

"There are issues related to compensation and medical care for occupational lung disease that need to be addressed through engagement between stakeholders."

Gold Fields earlier called the miners' case a "generic attack" against the industry and Harmony Gold said any class action would be "unimaginably cumbersome, costly, time-consuming and thus inconvenient".

The class action will be the biggest ever in South Africa, though many miners have already died from respiratory diseases allegedly caused by their jobs.

The judge on Friday said mining work dating back to 1965 was covered by his ruling, and that the families of dead workers could join the suit.

Some studies have found silicosis prevalence in South African gold mines at between 22 and 36 percent of all workers -- among the highest rates in the world.

In 2011, the Constitutional Court paved the way for the class action by ruling that mineworkers who had often accepted paltry compensation for their ill-health could still sue.

The mining companies may seek an out-of-court settlement to avoid protracted litigation and have said they are interested in setting up a "legacy fund" to distribute money.

In a separate case in South Africa earlier this year, about 4,400 silicosis victims and their families won a $32 million settlement from Anglo American and AngloGold Ashanti.

South Africa is one of the world's leading gold-producing countries, and lax labour health and labour practices during the apartheid-era contributed to the spread of work-related diseases.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's appeals court dismissed an application by relatives of Nelson Mandela and President Jacob Zuma to overturn a ruling that they must pay damages for stripping the assets of mines they ran, news agency EWN reported on Thursday. In June 2015 a court ruled that the directors and associates involved in Aurora Empowerment Systems should pay shareholders and liquidators 1.7 billion rand ($113 million) compensation for their role in the demise of the operations, which left thousands of workers jobless and destitute. Zondwa Mandela -- a grandson of the late anti-apartheid hero -- and Zuma's nephew Khulubuse, were directors of Aurora, appointed in 2009 to manage two gold mines near Johannesburg after the Pamodzi Gold company which they ran went into liquidation. "This has restored our faith in the legal system," Gideon du Plessis, who heads the Solidarity trade union, told Talk Radio 702. The appeals court ruled that if the associates of Aurora do not pay they will be sequestrated, which means their personal assets could be set aside to pay off creditors, EWN reported. Khulubuse Zuma's lawyer, Vuyo Mkhize, said he could take the matter to the Constitutional Court, EWN reported. Aurora's acquisition of the mines was held up in the media as an example of how well-connected members of the political elite often get preferential treatment in Africa's most advanced economy. ($1 = 15.0435 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Alexandra Hudson)
By TJ Strydom and Zimasa Mpemnyama JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa gave the green light on Friday for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis. The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings covering cases dating back decades in the largest class action suits yet in Africa's most industrialized country. In their 1980s heyday, South Africa's gold mines employed half a million men and High Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo judge said anywhere from 17,000 to 500,000 miners had been affected. "We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in a unanimous ruling by three judges. "Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," he said. A paper by researchers at University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg and University College London estimated there were 288,000 cases of compensable silicosis in South Africa. The 2009 paper put the industry's unpaid compensation liability at 10 billion rand ($660 million) on 1998 values. Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis. SOME CLOSURE Activists sang and danced outside the courthouse after the ruling while miners walked out triumphantly with fists raised. "This will make a difference in our lives, because we have been struggling for so long," said Vuyani Dwadube, 74, a former rock driller at Harmony Gold who has tuberculosis (TB). Judge Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages. While most of the miners are South Africans thousands also came from neighbours such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland. Mantso Mokwena, 53, a former worker at Sibanye Gold's Beatrix mine, owned by Gold Fields until 2013, said the outcome gave miners some closure. "I contracted TB in 2007 but I was terminated from my job in 2009. Since then, I still don't have a job," he said. The defendants include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have already been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labour unrest among miners. Anglo American, Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold and African Rainbow Minerals have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) group to deal with such issues. Shares in the companies were mixed, with some tracking a stronger gold price. Anglo and ARM no longer operate gold mines but have been named in claims dating back to when they did. "Certainly it will have an effect on their reserves. Most of them probably made provisions," Gryphon Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis said. "It's still too early to say what it will be (the damages) but it does create a lot of uncertainty and that is never good for share prices," he said. DIGNITY LOST Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD working group said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgment and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court decision. "Either way, it should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," Fine said. There have been some class action suits in South Africa but none compare with that mining cases that stem from a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed miners with lung disease to sue employers for the first time. Friday's ruling is separate from a $30 million silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold. Peter Bailey, the head of the health and safety division at the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest union in the gold sector, welcomed the court's decision. "As you know black South African mineworkers who suffered from silicosis have lost their dignity because they cannot even put food on the table," he said.
By TJ Strydom and Zimasa Mpemnyama JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa gave the green light on Friday for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis. The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings covering cases dating back decades in the largest class action suits yet in Africa's most industrialized country. In their 1980s heyday, South Africa's gold mines employed half a million men and High Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo judge said anywhere from 17,000 to 500,000 miners had been affected. "We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in a unanimous ruling by three judges. "Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," he said. A paper by researchers at University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg and University College London estimated there were 288,000 cases of compensable silicosis in South Africa. The 2009 paper put the industry's unpaid compensation liability at 10 billion rand ($660 million) on 1998 values. Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis. SOME CLOSURE Activists sang and danced outside the courthouse after the ruling while miners walked out triumphantly with fists raised. "This will make a difference in our lives, because we have been struggling for so long," said Vuyani Dwadube, 74, a former rock driller at Harmony Gold who has tuberculosis (TB). Judge Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages. While most of the miners are South Africans thousands also came from neighbors such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland. Mantso Mokwena, 53, a former worker at Sibanye Gold's Beatrix mine, owned by Gold Fields until 2013, said the outcome gave miners some closure. "I contracted TB in 2007 but I was terminated from my job in 2009. Since then, I still don't have a job," he said. The defendants include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have already been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labor unrest among miners. Anglo American, Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold and African Rainbow Minerals have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) group to deal with such issues. Shares in the companies were mixed, with some tracking a stronger gold price. Anglo and ARM no longer operate gold mines but have been named in claims dating back to when they did. "Certainly it will have an effect on their reserves. Most of them probably made provisions," Gryphon Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis said. "It's still too early to say what it will be (the damages) but it does create a lot of uncertainty and that is never good for share prices," he said. DIGNITY LOST Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD working group said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgment and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court decision. "Either way, it should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," Fine said. There have been some class action suits in South Africa but none compare with that mining cases that stem from a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed miners with lung disease to sue employers for the first time. Friday's ruling is separate from a $30 million silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold. Peter Bailey, the head of the health and safety division at the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest union in the gold sector, welcomed the court's decision. "As you know black South African mineworkers who suffered from silicosis have lost their dignity because they cannot even put food on the table," he said. (Additional reporting by Nqobile Dludla; writing by James Macharia; editing by David Clarke)
MADRID (AP) -- As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs down cobblestoned streets, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders, who have launched Spain's first pro-bullfight lobbying group.

At least 17 Spanish cities and towns have slashed municipal funding for bullfights and bull runs or passed measures condemning or banning them since the new leftist Podemos party won its first seats in local and regional elections a year ago.

The Podemos party finished third in an inconclusive December national election that splintered the country's traditional two-party system into four. It will be repeated June 26, when Podemos could overtake the No. 2 center-left Socialists.

Bull spectacles are expected to be banned this summer on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca by the regional Balearic Islands parliament ruled by a coalition including Podemos - six years after northeastern Catalonia prohibited bullfights but enshrined as cultural heritage bull runs and events featuring bulls running around with flaming balls of wax or fireworks affixed to their horns.

Animal rights activists say the gory fights are among the planet's most blatant forms of animal cruelty, with bulls lanced and finally stabbed through the heart. Matadors are praised for killing with a single stab, though some don't succeed in finishing off the animal with repeated thrusts. Foreign tourists attending fights for the first time often leave stunned.

''Now that the political scenery has changed, there is a window of opportunity at the local level to promote the anti-bullfighting agenda,'' said Antonio Barroso, an analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting firm. ''The far left has gained political power and this tends to be an issue leftist voters care about.''

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But the new Fighting Bull Foundation of breeders, matadors, ring workers, groups of aficionados with thousands of members and event organizers is pushing back with a prominent Madrid law firm that has filed five challenges so far this year to decisions against bullfighting by four Spanish municipal governments and one provincial administration.

It's also pressing for criminal charges in five municipalities against animal rights protesters who disrupted bullfights, mostly by jumping into the rings.

An appeal is planned for the Mallorca ban after its anticipated approval in June or July. The foundation also has requested that Spain's Constitutional Court act quickly on an appeal against the Catalonia ban filed in 2010.

Fighting Bull Foundation co-founder Juan Pedro Domecq, a famed breeder from a family renowned for producing wine, sherry and top-grade Spanish ham, said the bullfighting community had felt under attack with no one to defend it. Besides the legal effort, the foundation is promoting bullfighting as an essential part of Mediterranean culture plus the economic benefits it generates in a country with 20 percent unemployment.

''Now you are not going to be able to attack bullfighting for free,'' Domecq said. ''It will have consequences. Before the foundation existed, there were no consequences.''

Shouting matches often erupt between bullfight supporters and protesters at bull events. A May 2 confrontation captured on video at a small Catalonian town turned ugly when two animal rights activists taking video were beaten up by three men and a woman. The crowd cheered and applauded after one attacker grabbed an activist's camera and hurled it into the bullring, shattering it.

The assailants were arrested, and the AnimaNaturalis animal rights group called this week for Catalan regional police to boost security to protect activists planning to video a weeklong bull event starting Saturday.

''We think a minority of the pro-bull sector uses violence to defend their ideas,'' said AnimaNaturalis director Aida Gascon. ''But it's very common for the hardcore fans to try to prevent us from recording.''

Jose Miguel Soriano, a partner with the Cremado & Calvo-Sotelo law firm representing the foundation, condemned the assault as ''a repulsive act'' by people ''who don't represent the bullfighting sector.''

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Podemos, has said he would cut off government funding for bull spectacles, but wouldn't ban bullfights. None of the leaders of Spain's other three main political parties are against bullfights.

Madrid's leftist mayor Manuela Carmena has said she won't ban bull events but did eliminate a 61,000 euro ($70,000) annual subsidy for the city's only bullfighter school and ordered all bull promotional material taken off the city's tourism website. She's not letting anyone use a 30-seat VIP section reserved for city officials and guests at the famed Las Ventas bullring, currently celebrating the weekslong San Isidro round of bullfights.

Opponents of bull events say they are elated at the political momentum.

''Society has clearly said 'No to bullfights.' It's an unstoppable movement and it's only a matter of time until we see bullfights disappear in our country,'' said Silvia Barquero, president of Spain's Pacma animal rights political party. It didn't win parliamentary seats in the most recent election but boosted its vote to 220,369 from 102,114 in 2011 in the country of 46 million.

While the activists hone in on bull events, the beasts roam free and virtually undisturbed at the 3,000-hectare (7,400-acre) western Spain farm of Victorino Martin, grazing in groups of four or five on verdant hills and napping in the shade of cork trees.

Those selected to fight leave for the ring when they are between 4 and 5 years old after a life of ease, said Martin, a legendary bull breeder who blames globalization ''increasingly imposed by Anglo-Saxon culture'' for the political fervor over bullfights.

''There's an attempt to politicize the bulls, but the bulls have been the culture of the Spanish people for millennia,'' Martin said.

Spain's deep tradition with bullfights was named part of the country's cultural heritage in a law passed in 2013. And Martin says it's only fair for towns that regularly fund street parties that include live music and fireworks to help pay for the featured bull events.

''We don't want privileges, we just don't like being discriminated against,'' he said.

At a protest last weekend of about 150 people against municipal financial support for bullfights in Madrid's suburb of Fuenlabrada, Podemos member Luisa Barrios said some in her party don't think taking on bullfights should be a priority but said she knows no party members who support them.

Bullfight fan Francisco Valero paused to watch the activists, covered in fake blood, put on a show. He supported their right to protest but disagreed that the bulls are tortured.

''Fighting bulls were born to die in the ring,'' said Valero. ''This is Spanish culture.''

---

Associated Press writer Elsa Fraile in Madrid contributed to this report.
LEICESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 13, 2016 / One of Britain's leading Bridging Loan brokerages has spoken of a significant spike in interest and activity among the UK's Property Development community. According to Bridgingloans.co.uk, general queries and application volumes have increased dramatically as developers explore a growing range of alternative financing options.

In addition, the increase in lending activity suggests improvements in general economic confidence throughout the country as a whole.

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Bridging Loans represent a uniquely flexible, accessible and affordable alternative to conventional loans and mortgages. In the case of property developers where time is always a critical factor, tailored development financing solutions can be of enormous value.

From new property purchases to refurbishments of existing properties, it makes perfect sense that developers complete the required work as quickly as possible. Bridging Loans can provide quicker access to the funds required to finance development projects from start through to completion, with affordable rates of interest and extremely flexible repayment terms.

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The type of financing available and associated terms will vary in accordance with the nature and specifics of both the project and the borrower. Bridgingloans.co.uk is proud to offer some of the market's most competitive and straightforward Bridging Loans and our on-line bridging loan calculator can be used to generate an accurate and obligation-free quotation in an instant.

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SOURCE: Bridgingloans.co.uk via Submit Press Release 123
By Mfuneko Toyana JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A Standard & Poor's executive expressed concern on Friday about South Africa's dismal growth and its reliance on capital flows, while the deputy central bank governor said the economy was "flat on its back". The economy of Africa's most industrialised country is seen growing less than 1 percent this year after expanding 1.3 percent in 2015, hobbled by low commodity prices, drought and political ructions that have unnerved investors. Analysts fear the economy is on track for a first recession in seven years and is also moving closer to downgrades to "junk" as major sectors of the economy slipped into sharp decline. In December, S&P rated South Africa's debt just one level above subinvestment grade, with a negative outlook. S&P's Managing Director for sub-Saharan Africa Konrad Reuss told a conference in Johannesburg that the firm was yet to see tangible outcomes since December from the numerous government growth plans that were "gathering dust". He said reforms in state-owned firms were one way to boost growth, but this had not yet taken place. "When we look at our announcement from December last year what really has come to the fore more than ever before is the economic assessment and the weakness in South Africa's economy," he said. South Africa's rand fell more than 1.6 percent against the dollar following the comments from the ratings firm. S&P rates South Africa's debt at BBB-, the same level as fellow ratings firm Fitch. The two firms are due to make their decisions in June. The economy looks set for a period of prolonged weakness, with data this week showing manufacturing shrinking 2 percent and mining output plunging by 18 percent - the most on record. A severe drought has triggered high inflation while battering consumer and business confidence, which hovers around a quarter-century lows, forcing the central bank to raise interest rates despite the lack of growth. Data released on Monday showed first quarter unemployment had reached its highest levels ever at near 27 percent. The central bank expects the economy to grow by 0.8 percent this year, while the International Monetary Fund has forecast 0.6 percent growth. "It (the economy) is flat on its back," Mminele told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in the Rwandan capital Kigali. Mminele however said improved power supply in South Africa should spur economic growth, after electricity blackouts in the first half of last year hit economic activity. (Editing by James Macharia and Richsard Balmforth)
Steven Mnuchin, Donald Trumps newly appointed chief fundraiser, is making his pitch to prominent hedge fund investors in his quest to raise $1 billion for the GOP presumptive nominees general election campaign.

The New York Times reports that Mnuchin flew to Las Vegas to brush elbows with prominent business tycoons on Wednesday during the nations largest hedge fund conference, the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, or SALT.

According to the Times, Mnuchin attended a dinner that included a hodgepodge of billionaire hedge fund managers and Republican politicians like Kenneth C. Griffin, former CIA director David Petraeus and former House Speaker John Boehner. The host of the exclusive soiree was Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-partner of SkyBridge Capital investment firm and a recent Trump supporter.

Also Read: New Donald Trump Moneyman Steven Mnuchin Snagged Madoff Money, Evicted the Poor -- and Backed Hillary

Last week, Trump raised eyebrows when he tapped Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Hollywood producer, as his lead fundraiser.

As TheWrap previously reported, critics of Mnuchin have accused him of pocketing millions stolen by Bernie Madoff, prominently backing Hillary Clinton, and bankrupting Relativity Media, the studio responsible for The Fighter, among other films.

Whether Mnuchin is able to recruit wealthy hedge fund donors remains to be seen. Many have been apprehensive about backing Trump, worried about his proposed plans to end tax advantages and loopholes that benefit hedge fund executives. Others are taking a wait-and-see approach after donating to the failed campaigns of Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.

Also Read: Donald Trump Set to Kick Off Aggressive Fundraising in LA

But there are signs that at least some in the hedge fund community are coming around. Scaramucci, for example, was until recently one of Trumps biggest critics, calling him a hack politician just a year ago.

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens, who last year backed Bush, has also hopped on the Trump train.

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But, according to the Times, Mncuhin still has his work cut out for him with some hedge fund managers in Vegas expressing concerns, both privately and publicly, that theyre still uneasy about the prospect of a Trump presidency and its potential risk to the economy.

Related stories from TheWrap:

Donald Trump Goes After Amazon Boss: Washington Post 'Is Owned as a Toy by Jeff Bezos'

Donald Trump Denies Posing as Own Publicist: 'It Doesn't Sound Like My Voice' (Video)

Donald Trump Refuses to Reveal His Tax Rate: 'It's None of Your Business' (Video)
Gagay Jaires proudest moment was making the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. It was inspiring, she says, drawing clear, cool water from a cast-iron pump on the northeast rim of Samal Island in the southern Philippines. It is one of the Muslim dreams to reach Mecca.

Since she returned from Saudi Arabia, where she worked for fours years, Jaire moved back to her family home next to the islands Dungas Mosque. The squat, whitewashed building is the largest of Samals four Muslim places of worship, sitting right on the shore between tidal fishing pens of crooked poles and fields of scavenging goats. Its a beautiful spot, she grins.

It is for some, at any rate. On Sept. 21, Samal ceased to be an insular idyll and became instead an infamous site of global terrorism, presenting a security headache for the nations new President, Rodrigo Duterte, who was elected by a landslide on May 9.

That day, just a few miles down the palm-fringed coastal road, beyond rows of drying coconuts neatly sorted into halves, quarters and shards, around 20 members of Abu Sayyaf, a local Islamist militant group that recently pledged alliance to ISIS, launched a speedboat raid on the plush Holiday Oceanview Resort.

They abducted four guests: two Canadians, John Ridsdel and Robert Hall; Halls Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor; and Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad. The kidnappers demanded a $100 million ransom after making an easy escape. Unfortunately, the lead time that the abductors had and the darkness of night were able to cover the retreat of the abductors, military spokesman Colonel Restituto Padilla told reporters in Manila.

No ransom has been paid. On April 25, the severed head of Ridsdel, a 68-year-old Calgary businessman, was found in a plastic bag on in a street in Jolo, the main island of Abu Sayyafs heartland of Sulu, itself a chain of islands that stretches from Mindanao to the northern tip of Malaysian Borneo. His three fellow captives remain among a dozen foreign hostages held by the group.

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Abu Sayyaf are not good Muslims, says Jaire, her gregarious demeanor abruptly lost in a grim frown. Taking persons to another place like that and to kill him, they do not believe in God, in Allah.

The Philippines is no stranger to militancy. Islam arrived to the archipelagos south over half a century before the Spanish colonizers, and its practitioners naturally railed against the Catholic rule of European interlopers. There was also all round brigandage. Since before Spanish colonial rule, the Tausugs of Sulu had a cultural affinity for piracy and head-hunting, says Joseph Franco, a Philippine terrorism expert.

Communist rebel factions are also still prominent, but the more recent headlines have been made by militant groups identifying with the marginalized Moro Muslim minority, who have waged a guerrilla war that has claimed some 120,000 lives since the 1970s. Two of these principal armed groups  the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)  have since signed piece deals with the government. But splinter cells like Abu Sayyaf continue to launch lighting raids like the one on the Oceanview.

Kidnapping is bread and butter for Abu Sayyaf, whose adherence to Islamist doctrine has waxed and waned according to the whims of its leadership. Often, it is little more that a criminal enterprise that uses the specter of extremism to strike fear into its victims, and encourage the payment of hefty ransoms. Many join the group out of desperation. There are 14- and 15-year-old farming kids who join Abu Sayyaf simply because they pay more, says Clarke Jones, a radicalization expert at Australia National University.

As such, the beheading of Ridsdel was probably an act of brutal expedience. Ridsdel was too sick to move around and posed a liability, says Franco, so they killed him. Franco adds his beheading was probably also an attempt to attract acceptance, and thus elicit funds, from ISIS central command.

Philippine domestic terrorism has been complicated by the emergence of ISIS, and fissures within Abu Sayyaf itself. A faction led by Radulan Sahiron has not pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but the impoverished Basilan faction, led by Isnilon Hapilon, has been accepted as an ISIS branch in the Philippines. It has changed its name to ISIS Philippines and adopted the terrorist groups black battle flag.

The rank and file of Abu Sayyaf are deeply influenced by ISISs battlefield successes, says Professor Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Nanyang Technology University in Singapore. Abu Sayyaf fighters spend their evening watching ISIS videos. If Radulan Sahiron is killed or dies, it is likely that the entire Abu Sayyaf will join ISIS.

According to Abdul Sahrin, secretary general of MNLFs Sima faction, A good number of youths are already attracted to [ISIS]. In the Sulu archipelago as much as 10-15 % could support them. They feel hopeless.

This threat is replicated all over Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, where would-be jihadists are regularly intercepted en route to Syria to fight for ISIS. Jakarta was rocked by an ISIS-inspired bomb-and-gun attack in January.

Its a security headache for President-elect Duterte, who was voted in on his pledge to fight crime, drugs and corruption based on his three decades running Davao City, which sprawls across a narrow strip of sea from Samal. There, the 71-year-old former lawyer and prosecutor quelled an epidemic of crime, drugs and kidnappings launched by gangsters and politically motivated rebels.

Abu Sayyaf were already stepping up their attacks in the run up to his election. According to Gunaratna, the latest attack was on a Philippine army position in the town of Maluso in Basilan province, where one soldier was killed and another wounded. It was the second attack in the Philippines claimed for ISIS, the SITE Intelligence Group says. (The first, on April 13, saw nearly 100 Philippine troops killed.)

Though Dutertes reputation is uncompromisingly tough on those who bring terror to the city of 1.5 million, he draws grudging respect from rebel groups for his honest sympathy for their grievances. Moro leaders backed his call for the presidency, given his support for devolving power to the regions through federalism. His close personal contacts to rebel groups, particularly the communist New Peoples Army (NPA), are well known. On April 25, the NPA handed over five kidnapped policemen to Duterte personally.

Yet Dutertes zero-tolerance approach fighting crime  death squads under his control are responsible for hundreds of extrajudicial executions, say human-rights groups  may backfire. According to Jones, With this new President were in for a crisis in the Philippines correctional system.

The nations already brimming prisons  one Manila jail boasts 1,700 maximum security inmates, the largest such facility in the world  have long been crucibles for radicalization, and a recent crackdown on gangs means the eye has been taken off the terrorist cells, says Jones.

Speaking to TIME last month, Duterte fully backed Washingtons war on terror. The U.S. is hunting down rebels all around the world and they have every right to do it, he told TIME. America can just go in and out of any country like the big boss, strutting around like they own the place. I dont mind that, as the fight against terrorism really is a war.

The people of Samal are very much aware of that war. Security is tight all over the island. Guests need to sign waivers from their resorts simply to wander out onto the pearl-white beaches, and there is a 10 p.m. curfew. At Oceanviews concrete perimeter walls, a security guards terse refusal of entry is accented by twitches of a shotgun. (Requests for comment from the resorts management were unanswered at time of publication.)

We have over 20 security guards, says Rhonade Manlunar, standing sentry at the Samals Pearl Farm resort, which was hit by a failed Abu Sayyaf kidnapping raid in 2001 that claimed two lives. Police, army and private security all patrol here.

For many, that is still not enough. Tourist arrivals are down. Francis Scott, a dad of two from Nova Scotia who has lived 12 years in the Philippines, says a large number of the 120-odd foreigners who have homes on Samal havent returned after the Oceanview raid, even if the local community is rallying around. I know an Australian who lives in the middle of a Muslim village and they are very protective of him, says Scott, as they dont want to be associated if anything bad happened to him.

For Jaire, the worry is more than just violence. She fears the allure of ISIS getting its tentacles into local youth. We worry about young people going over [to the Middle East], she says, as the fading dusk light drawing the worlds largest colony of fruit bats from the neighboring Montford Cave, swirling and diving overhead, forming a vast dark cloud. At least that cloud will soon be lifted; fear and Islamist militancy will loom over Samal for a long time yet.
A big win on Thursday by House Republicans in a quest to defund part of Obamacare could be headed to appeal at a federal court where Merrick Garland is chief judge.

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In a lower federal court, Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled in favor of the House of Representative in its dispute with the Obama administration over how insurance companies are reimbursed for offering lower-cost heath plans to lower-income households.

In House v. Burwell, Judge Collyer said the Health and Human Services and Treasury Departments improperly spent money on cost-sharing arrangements because the funds werent directly appropriated by Congress.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, allowed for two programs to provide tax credits and reduced premiums to consumers who qualified for them. The first program, known as Section 1401, changed the tax code that is already approved by Congress. The second program, Section 1402, allocated money to insurers to compensate for the lower premiums they offer to certain consumers.

The House argued that it had never approved any spending to pay for the insurance provider rebates. The Obama administration said it had the ability to spend the money under the tax code that funds Section 1401, since the two programs are economically and programmatically integrated.

Judge Collyer found that Section 1402 needed its own direct appropriation from Congress before it can be funded.

Congress authorized reduced cost sharing but did not appropriate monies for it, in the FY 2014 budget or since. Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one, Collyer said.

That said, Collyer put her ruling on hold until it could be considered on appeal. And where and how that appeal happens could determine the cases outcome.

One possibility could come in the form of a request from the Obama administration for the Supreme Court to consider the appeal directly. But with the Supreme Court currently split on conservative and liberal lines, the administration could risk an evenly split decision, which would uphold Collyers ruling.

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The other option is for United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to take the case. If that court sounds familiar, it is the one where Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas Supreme Court nominee, serves as chief judge.

The court usually hears cases where three judges from the 11-person court are selected randomly to consider arguments. But on some occasions, the full 11-person bench will rehear a case already decided by the three-person panel.

And on the current full court, seven judges were appointed by Democratic Presidents.

Back in September 2014, the full Circuit Appeals court decided to rehear a three-judge panels judgment against another Obamacare provision with its full 11-judge bench. At the time, the act was seen as unusual. Two months later, the Supreme Court stepped in to hear the case, King v. Burwell, directly, invalidating the need for the en banc panel including Garland.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled for the Obama administration in the dispute over insurance exchanges run at a state level.

In the current case, Judge Collyer found that the House had standing to sue the Executive Branch. The administrations legal experts believe that on appeal, the standing issue may decide the issue in its favor before another court can review Collyers constitutional reasoning.

Recent Stories on Constitution Daily

Fact Check: Do existing federal civil rights laws already protect transgender people?

The history of women in politics

District of Columbia statehood supporters push for convention
Elements of the job hunt continue to change dramatically -- from interactive, Web-based resumes and social resumes such as your LinkedIn profile to video interviews using everyday tools such as Skype. Where is this especially true? Reference checking.

The days when you could offer one or two references for a potential employer to contact -- references who would then simply confirm that you weren't a thief or ax murderer? They are long gone. Same goes for using friends and fellow book club members.

[See: The 8 Stages of a Winning Job Search.]

Those kinds of references are no longer accepted or even realistically usable under any circumstances. What all these outdated ways of reference checking had in common was that they provided very little information to actually help employers determine whether you were good at your job or not, or what your strengths and weaknesses were.

That just doesn't fly anymore. Today's race for talent is pushing employers to seek out as much information as they can gather about candidates, so they can make the most informed hiring decisions possible. Done right, job references are central to this process.

Employers are increasingly recognizing the importance and value of references. Just look at all the businesses that now rely on the power of recommendations from others. From Angie's List to TripAdvisor to Yelp, the world is more and more attuned to the power of the crowd-sourced peer reference.

Employers are now applying the lessons from these peer-driven platforms, with a technology twist, to job references. Instead of making a few phone calls, companies are using online platforms to request references from candidates and allow references to respond confidentially -- so they can give more candid and therefore more useful feedback.

So what does this all mean for you? Here are the four biggest things to watch out for when it comes to navigating the brave new world of job references.

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The behavior and actions of your references matter as much as what they say about you -- and maybe even more. It's true. Research done at SkillSurvey based on well over a dozen scientific studies shows that the speed with which references respond to employers combined with the feedback they provide is a direct indicator of a candidate's performance on the job. In other words, references' unspoken or slow-to-respond behaviors can carry a tremendous amount of weight.

[See: 10 Job Resolutions to Revitalize Your Career in 2016.]

This means that you need to make sure your references really grasp the importance of their role in your job hunt. They need to be ready to respond rapidly to an employer's outreach. And the burden is on you to help them be prepared, responsive and thoughtful.

The best way to do this is to keep in touch with potential references. A quick note to check in, even if just once or twice a year, with prior colleagues and managers ensures that they stay up to date on your latest career moves. Then, when you're actually applying for a job, it really pays off to reach out to your references in advance and check that they're okay with you providing their name (and their email). When you do this, be sure to explain why you're looking to make a move, and refresh their memory on what you've been up to lately. This can help immensely in making sure that they're well-prepared when it comes time to provide feedback on you.

Be ready to share your references with a quick turnaround. The ten-year-old photocopied reference letter that you've been holding onto is as outdated as the typewriters on "Mad Men" (not to mention the smoking and drinking in the office). Employers are increasingly using online platforms to gather reference feedback quickly and confidentially. The turnaround time on these kinds of reference tools can be very fast. So in addition to ensuring that your job references are well-prepared to tell your story, make sure you are well-prepared to supply references in any form needed -- on a piece of paper, via email or by inputting them through an online platform.

Get beyond the basics. Another consequence of employers' growing interest in getting quality job reference feedback is the need to supply more than just a small handful of references. Employers want to talk to more people who have experience with candidates because they recognize that past performance is the single best predictor of future success. The emergence of online reference checking has also made it easier and more desirable for employers to request a higher number of references from candidates.

The traditional rule of thumb a decade or two ago was that you'd be in good shape with about three references. Now that number is closer to five. So think carefully about the kinds of former colleagues and managers you can turn to as job references and have a go-to list of even more than five -- so you can avoid relying too heavily on too few supporters.

[See: 7 Common -- and Costly -- Cover Letter Mistakes.]

Create a smart network. Keep in mind that you don't need to offer only managers and colleagues as references. Clients and customers can be great references too. This new element of referencing has grown especially fast on LinkedIn, where clients can post written -- and often quite compelling -- endorsements of people's work.

You can take the same model and apply it to your select reference network. Pick out the clients and customers you've done especially good work for and who recognize it. They can be great references to add to your portfolio. But remember the advice from earlier -- always be sure to check with potential references before providing their names. This avoids surprises and has the added benefit of ensuring that your references are well-prepared.

Don't step fearfully into the brave new world of job references. By following these key tips, you can create a reference network that will go a long way to helping you succeed in your job search.

Ray Bixler is CEO of SkillSurvey, a reference checking technology firm that harnesses the power of references to help organizations more effectively recruit, hire and retain talent. Ray has more than 20 years of human resources and career development executive experience.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's Greens, the junior party in the ruling coalition, picked Isabella Lovin as new joint leader on Friday, replacing Deputy Prime Minister Asa Romson who stepped down last week. The Green Party's annual congress voted for Lovin, the Minister for International Development, and re-elected Education Minister Gustav Fridolin to jointly head the party. "It has, of course, been a very turbulent and difficult time for the party," Lovin said. She said the party needed to gather its strength, renew voters' faith and show that "we want to continue the work in government and for a better future". Sweden's minority coalition of Social Democrats and Greens has struggled since taking power in 2014 and there has been rising discontent among Green supporters over a hardening of asylum policies and the party's lack of influence. Fridolin and Romson had also been widely criticized for their handling of the resignation of Housing Minister Mehmet Kaplan over past comments he had made comparing Israel's treatment of Palestinians to that of Jews in Nazi Germany. The turmoil has hurt the Greens, with opinion polls showing it getting just over 4 percent support - close to the threshold for seats in parliament. That will increase pressure on the leadership to deliver results, with some Green supporters questioning whether the party has sacrificed its principles to be in government. One key test will be whether the Greens can stop the sale of state-owned utility Vattenfall's lignite mines in Germany, which the company has agreed to offload to Czech firm EPH. If the Greens did withdraw from the coalition, the Social Democrats could govern alone until 2018 or call a snap election. The coalition is lagging the center-right bloc in opinion polls. Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced a government reshuffle after Romson's departure. (Reporting by Simon Johnson; editing by Andrew Roche)
One hundred years ago on May 16 Britain and France signed a secret deal to carve up the carcass of the moribund Ottoman Empire that has since become a byword in the Middle East for imperialist skullduggery  the Sykes-Picot agreement.

Indeed, it could be said that belief in a narrative that all the regions ills can be traced back to this single act of big power infamy is the one thing that unites its present protagonists. As they survey the current turmoil in their region, secular nationalists, democrats, autocrats, jihadists, Kurds, Sunni and Shia can at least agree that Sykes-Picot is to blame.

Little surprise then that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the so-called Islamic state, saw the PR benefits of summoning the bogeyman when he described his newly-declared caliphate in 2014 as a nail in the coffin of the Sykes-Picot conspiracy. ISIS even disseminated a 15-minute English-language video entitled the End of Sykes-Picot to reinforce the point.

Apologists for the 1916 agreementthese days it would be hard to find any serious defenderswould claim it was more muddle than conspiracy. The plan devised by two otherwise rather undistinguished diplomats, Sir Mark Sykes for Britain and Francois Georges-Picot for France, sought to map a post-World War I structure for Turkeys Middle Eastern territories. With the conflict against Germany and its Turkish ally still under way and the outcome far from certain, they drew artificial lines in the sand which reflected their countries interests rather than those of the inhabitants.

Pointing to a map, Sykes told his political masters in London that he wanted to draw a straight line stretching from the e in Acre, Palestine to the last k in Kirkuk. France would control the territories north of this border and Britain those to the south.

Sykes had travelled in the region, mainly as a tourist rather than a diplomat, and managed to persuade his government he knew more about it than he actually did. Picot was a promoter of Frances self-proclaimed civilising mission and liked to summon up his countrys centuries-old engagement with the Levant, dating back to the Crusades.

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The case for the prosecution is that the Sykes-Picot plan established artificial borders which failed to reflect the demographic, cultural and social identity of the varied communities that had lived for centuries under Ottoman suzerainty. The signatories to the agreement are accused of reneging on promises to the Arabs that they would be rewarded with independence for their rebellion against the Turks. That leads on to the charge that they laid the groundwork for a partition of Palestine that ignored the rights of the indigenous Palestinians.

A popular portrayal of the opportunist cynicism routinely associated with the deal comes in the 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia in which the late Claude Rains plays Dryden, a British official who reveals the Sykes-Picot terms to an outraged Colonel T.E. Lawrence, a hero of the Arab Revolt.

A man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth, the fictional Dryden responds to what he sees as Lawrences false indignation. But a man who tells half-lies, has forgotten where hes put it.

To borrow from Dryden, the case against Sykes-Picot consists of, if not half-lies, then at least of half-truths.

A cursory glance at the Sykes-Picot map shows that it diverges substantially from that to be found in any modern atlas. Most of the borders the diplomats proposed failed to survive the various negotiations that followed the end of World War I and its aftermath. Mosul, for example, was originally assigned to the French sphere of influence. But, days after the 2018 armistice, it was occupied by the British. It had not been the intention of either Sir Mark or M. Picot that it should end up in Iraq.

The anathema that Sykes-Picot has attracted tends to ignore the time and the context in which it was devised. In mid-1916, neither the two diplomats nor anyone else knew the outcome of a war that would determine the future of Europe and of two empires, the Hapsburg and the Ottoman. Just months earlier German troops had attacked Verdun in what was to be the longest battle of the war.

And if the Ottoman Empire was moribund, its military was still capable of fighting back. At the start of the year, Britain and its allies had withdrawn from a disastrous attempt to strike at the Ottoman capital of Constantinople via Gallipoli. In Mesopotamia, the future Iraq, British and Indian troops had just surrendered to the Turks at the besieged city of Kut.

Britains Czarist Russian allies were doing somewhat better, advancing in the Caucasus in an offensive which would only collapse when the 1917 revolution erupted. Russia was to be richly rewarded under the terms of Sykes-Picot which it had helped to devise. Leon Trotsky leaked the details of the secret deal soon after the Bolsheviks took power and dropped the claims on Turkish territory.

During the war, the allies response to the challenges they faced in the Middle East was often short-term, self-serving and even contradictory. For Britains part, it led to unresolvable promises being made to Arab nationalists and Zionists. Suspicion between Britain and France was often as deep-seated as their enmity towards their actual foes.

But it is difficult to single out Sykes and Picot for condemnation. It is their legacy to have their names become a cypher for all the perceived ills of colonial and post-colonial intervention in the Middle East, from the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq war to the current disintegration of Syria.

In reality, the victors sought to determine the Middle East map with the Treaty of Sevres which in 1920 effectively dismantled the Turkish heartland in Anatolia Three years later, with the Treaty of Lausanne, a resurgent Turkey under Kemal Ataturk regained what it had almost lost. Earlier promises that Kurds and Armenians might be allowed to determine their futures somehow evaporated.

Todays situation in the Middle East and the potential breakup of Iraq or Syria have prompted predictions  and not just from ISIS Baghdadi  that the region is seeing the end of the Sykes-Picot era. There are few predictions, however, about what might replace it.

As the historian Sean McMeekin wrote in his 2015 The Ottoman Endgame, Sykes-Picot had moved to the realm of cliche, a shorthand explanation for the latest upheaval in the Middle East that rolls easily off every tongue.

He suggested it was time to move beyond the Sykes-Picot myth to gain a better understanding of the developments that shaped the modern Middle East.
Beirut (AFP) - Al-Qaeda fighters and their allies shot dead 19 civilians from President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority in their own homes after seizing their village in central Syria, a monitor said Friday.

Other villagers were kidnapped following the assault in which eight pro-regime militiamen were killed trying to defend Al-Zara in Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"During the attack, they entered houses and opened fire on families, killing at least 19 civilians, including six women," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

State news agency SANA condemned the "massacre" of villagers in Hama, which like neighbouring Homs province is mainly Sunni but has a significant Alawite minority.

"Terrorist groups infiltrated Al-Zara and carried out a massacre as well as destruction and pillage," it reported.

The five-year civil war in Syria has enflamed sectarian resentment between the country's Sunni majority and the Alawite minority that is the main prop of the Assad regime.

The Alawites -- followers of an offshoot of Shiite Islam who are mainly concentrated in the Mediterranean coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus -- are despised as heretics by the Sunni extremists of Al-Qaeda.
Expecting Strong Growth, T. Rowe Expands Assets, Product Line

(Continued from Prior Part)

Retirement funds growth

T. Rowe Price Groups (TROW) assets under management growth of $1.5 billion in 1Q16 were primarily driven by the performance of its funds. For the three-year period ended March 31, 2016, 86% of the companys mutual funds across their share classes outperformed their comparable Lipper averages on a total return basis.

Of the companys mutual funds, 84% outperformed for the five-year period, 89% outperformed for the ten-year period, and 84% outperformed for the one-year period.

As of March 31, 2016, Morningstar rated 87% of the companys stock, bond, and blended asset funds with four or five stars. T. Rowes target-date retirement funds continue to deliver attractive long-term performance. All of these funds outperformed their comparable Lipper averages on a total return basis for the three-year, five-year, and ten-year periods ended March 31, 2016.

T. Rowe posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (or EBITDA) of $4.7 billion in the last fiscal year. Lets compare this to its peers EBITDAs:

BlackRock (BLK): $4.7 billion

Bank of New York Mellon (BK): $6.4 billion

State Street (STT): $3.6 billion

Together, these companies form 1.7% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

Research is key

T. Rowe Price Group employs research staff in the US, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore. The research team performs fundamental and quantitative security analysis to support the firms investment decisions. The team conducts industry and company research using sources such as management discussions and interviews, corporate activities, company-published financial and other information, corporate rating services, and field checks with suppliers and competitors in the same industry.

T. Rowe Price Groups research team has played a pivotal role in shaping its mutual fund and advisory businesses. The company also uses research from brokerage houses and analysis from private economists, political observers, and market analysts. Some of its investment portfolios security selections are based on quantitative analysis derived from computerized data modeling.

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Expecting Strong Growth, T. Rowe Expands Assets, Product Line

Asset growth

T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) reported its 1Q16 EPS (earnings per share) of $1.15, beating Wall Street analysts EPS estimate of $1.03. The company announced a quarterly dividend distribution of $0.54 per common unit.

T. Rowe reported net income of $295.2 million in 1Q16, down by 4.6% from $309.5 million in 1Q15. It reported revenues of ~$1.0 billion in 1Q16, lower by 3% when compared with the corresponding quarter in the prior year. However, the companys total assets under management stood at $764.6 billion, adding $1.5 billion to its December 31, 2015, number and $17.1 billion from the end of 2014.

Unusually high non-operating income impacted the net income number for the first quarter. T. Rowe realized $52.3 million in gains from the sale of certain sponsored fund investments in the first quarter of 2016 compared with $16.6 million in 1Q15.

Managements statement

In an April 26, 2016, press release, T. Rowes president and CEO, William J. Stromberg, noted, Although this volatile quarter for global markets ended with a sharp rebound, the steep declines through mid-February negatively impacted our average assets under management, and therefore our revenues.

We managed discretionary costs carefully but continued to invest considerable resources in strategic initiatives to develop new investment strategies and vehicles and to broaden our distribution footprint. We also continued to invest in a more robust customer relationship management platform and in enhancing our retirement plan servicing capabilities.

Investment management services

T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) provides global investment management services to retail and institutional clients around the globe. T. Rowe Price Groups offerings include sponsored mutual funds distributed in the United States.

T. Rowe offers a variety of investment portfolios, including:

sub-advised funds

separately managed accounts

target-date retirement trusts

collective investment trusts

a Luxembourg-based fund offered to investors outside the US

portfolios offered through variable annuity life insurance plans in the US

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T. Rowe posted revenues of ~$4.6 billion in the last fiscal year. Lets compare this to revenues for its peers:

BlackRock (BLK): ~$19.8 billion

Bank of New York Mellon (BK): ~$2.7 billion

State Street (STT): ~$4.5 billion

Together, these companies form 1.7% of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

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(Corrects name to Broadridge Financial Solutions from Broadridge Financial Services in paragraph 7)

By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Del., May 12 (Reuters) - T. Rowe Price Group Inc cannot sue computer maker Dell Inc for a higher price in the 2013 buyout by its founder because the fund company voted, albeit mistakenly, in favor of the deal, a Delaware judge has ruled.

The unusual dispute leading to Wednesday's decision stemmed from the mutual fund company's bid to recoup more for its 27 million Dell shares than the $13.75 per share paid in the buyout, by using a type of lawsuit known as appraisal.

After Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake took the computer maker private, hundreds of shareholders unhappy with the terms, egged on by billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, sought to have a judge review whether the price was fair.

The initial amount of Dell stock being appraised made it one of the biggest cases of its kind.

To qualify for an appraisal, a shareholder must not vote for a deal and must continuously hold the stock until the deal closes.

T. Rowe Price actively opposed the buyout and thought it voted against it.

But according to Wednesday's decision, its voting system generated instructions to vote in favor of the merger. The instructions were passed through stockholder service firms including Institutional Shareholder Services Inc, Broadridge Financial Solutions and Cede & Co.

The error proved fatal. "The T. Rowe Petitioners' shares do not qualify for appraisal," Judge Travis Laster of Delaware's Court of Chancery wrote in a 70-page opinion.

Bill Benintende, a T. Rowe Price spokesman, said: "We're disappointed in the ruling and are in the process of reviewing the opinion and evaluating our options."

Hedge funds that specialize in arbitration cases have been criticized for buying stock of companies involved in mergers so late in the process that they are not entitled to vote.

Delaware courts have found that as long as they did not vote for deals, they can seek appraisals.

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But mutual funds, unlike hedge funds, must report how they voted, which is how T. Rowe Price's Dell vote came to light.

Last year, Laster ruled that T. Rowe Price and other funds were beneficial but not continuous legal owners of nearly 1 million Dell shares and could not seek an appraisal.

The court has not determined a fair value for the Dell stock.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Dan Grebler)
GOP delegates at Texass Republican Party state convention will vote Friday on whether the state should secede from the U.S., after the idea passed a special platform committee on Wednesday.

The motion is not expected to pass the convention, but its a major step forward for activists with the Texas Nationalist Movement, who have long been agitating for the Lone Star State to secede from the union. The group reported a 400% increase in membership after the 2012 election, and more than 100,000 people signed a Change.org petition to the White House asking it to allow Texass secession.

Jon Carson, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, responded to the petition by citing the Supreme Courts 1869 decision in Texas v. White, which ruled [t]he Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union composed of indestructible States.

As much as we value a healthy debate, we dont let that debate tear us apart, Carson wrote.
As Texas Republicans meet for their state convention this week, one item on the table would invalidate the very name of the meeting itself: after a run of local resolutions supporting the Texas independence, the party will vote on the question of Texas seceding from the Union.

The measure is unlikely to pass, butif history is any indicationthats not likely to put an end to the question. Secession has been a part of Texas history for longer than the state has even existed.

After all, the state got its start by leaving the nation that had controlled it, in a revolution against Mexico. The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed in 1836 and the Texas Republic ratified its own constitution shortly after. In 1837, the U.S. formally recognized Texas as a nation, but the new country struggled economically without any of the resources of its larger neighbors, leading most (but not all) residents to welcome statehood by the time it came through in 1845. Only a little more than a decade passed, however, before the state tried to secede from its national government again, joining with the Confederacy in 1861.

Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter

After the Civil War, in 1869, Texas was at the center of the Supreme Court ruling that determined that the states that seceded during the war never actually had the ability to leave the Union. In Texas v. Whitea case that hinged on whether the federal government still had jurisdiction over Texas during the Civil War, in the period during which the state claimed to be part of a different nationit was declared that the Confederate states were in rebellion against their rightful federal government, not a separate nation fighting its neighbor. (Hence, the civil in Civil War.)

When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation, the decision stated. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration, or revocation, except through revolution, or through consent of the States.

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So, even if every elected official in Texas declared that the state was not part of the U.S., that didnt matter. Only an agreement by all of the other statesor victory in the Civil Warcould have made that decision mean anything.

In the 1990s, Texas unique history was nearly cause for another violent conflict, when the self-declared ambassador, consul-general and chief foreign legal officer of the separatist Republic of Texas, a man named Rick McLaren, led a week-long standoff against state authorities, as TIME reported. McLaren and his followers believed that when Texas became a state in 1845, that was really a hostile takeover of a separate sovereign nation, which meant that the Republic of Texas still existed.

The current push toward secession has been associated with a different group, the Texas Nationalist Movement.

MORE: The Man Who Would Be Kingof Texas

Texas is far from the only state to make noise about its own secession in modern history. For example, the moment that TIME identified as the first time since the Civil War Secession was publicly proposed in a State Legislature came in Depression-saddled 1933, in North Dakota when an 83-year-old State Senator proposed that all the rest of the country secede from the financial oligarchs of New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Be it resolved, the proposal read, that the remaining 39 States secede from the Union, carrying with us the Star-Spangled Banner and leaving them the Stripes which they richly deserved. (That didnt happen, obviously.)

And its not just states: New York City has many times talked about seceding from New York to become the 51st state, as the citys residents often feel that the legislature in Albany doesnt understand its needs.

Texas Republicans were expected to vote on the secession question on Friday.
On Thursday, Texan superintendent Dr. Rodney Cavness said that he would not heed President Barack Obama's historic declaration urging school districts to allow transgender students to use the bathroom they prefer.

Cavness  the superintendent of the Port Neches-Groves Independent School District  told a local news affiliate that Barack Obama "ain't my President" and that "he can't tell me what to do."

He continued:

"That letter is going straight to the paper shredder. I have 5 daughters myself and I have 2,500 girls in my protection. Their moms and dads expect me to protect them. And that is what I am going to do."

Dr. Rodney Cavness

Like North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, Cavness also believes that "there are accommodations to be made" for transgender students seeking to use the restroom. He did not, however, specify what those accommodations would be.

Earlier in the week, Gov. McCrory asked Congress to revisit, and to gut, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which ended segregation in public spaces and instated protections against discrimination in employment, housing and education.

Source: Mic/YouTube

Even though Cavness said he must protect 2,500 female students, and advocated for separate facilities, he said he doesn't believe transgender people are child molesters.

"I would say about molesters  99.9% certainly aren't," Cavness said.

Politicians like Gov. McCrory and Sen. Ted Cruz have used rhetoric around the protection of women and young girls to fuel the fire behind anti-trans bathroom legislation. Both politicians have been called out live on air for their views on transgender people  Ted Cruz by CNN's Jake Tapper and Pat McCrory by Fox News' Megyn Kelly.
Asian equities closed mostly lower on Friday as lower commodity prices weighed in on commodity-linked stocks, while poor earnings from several Japanese companies disappointed investors.

Energy explorer Inpex fell 4.2 percent after reporting a weaker-than-expected operating profit, while Mitsubishi Materials fell 11 percent as the company also reported a weaker-than-expected print. Meanwhile, the yen gained 0.2 percent to $108.83, bringing its weekly decline to 1.6 percent.

"After the rally in March and April, things are still looking a little bit uncertain," Oliver Lee, investment director at Old Mutual Global Investors (Asia Pacific) Ltd told Bloomberg. "There's not much conviction in the market. The market is still being driven by central bank sentiment and currency movements. The earnings season in Japan hasn't been great."

Find out what's going on in today's market and bring any questions you have to Benzinga's PreMarket Prep.

Japan's Nikkei index was a notable underperformer among major Asian indices, losing 1.41 percent. India's Mumbai Sensex index lost 1.17 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.99 percent, Taiwan's TSEC index lost 0.67 percent.

Australia's ASX index also lost 0.50 percent while China's Shanghai index lost 0.31 percent.

European stocks were also lower with more than 4 hours of trading remaining.

"The bounce in oil earlier this week is fizzling out, which reinforces the idea that we should be cautious about the current outlook," Chris Beauchamp, a London-based market analyst at IG Plc also told Bloomberg. "People just don't seem to believe in growth for the equity market and prefer staying on the sidelines. Investors are nervous ahead of retail sales, which has been an underlying theme this week."

The UK's FTSE index was lower by 0.51 percent, France's CAC index was lower by 0.33 percent and Germany's DAX was lower by 0.06 percent.

Oil prices were also lower early Friday morning. The price of brent crude fell 0.73 percent to trade at $47.73 a barrel, while WTI fell 1.22 percent to trade at $46.15.

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 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
By Michelle Martin BERLIN (Reuters) - The firm that invented thalidomide, a drug that caused birth defects in thousands of babies, carried out a deliberate misinformation campaign when experts first spotted possible severe side effects, a report commissioned by the German state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW) said on Friday. Thalidomide, developed by the German firm Gruenenthal, was marketed internationally to pregnant women in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a treatment for morning sickness. It was sold under the name Contergan in Germany, and elsewhere as Distaval. The drug harmed around 5,000 people in Gerymany alone, of whom around 2,400 are still alive. Many victims were born with missing arms or legs, malformed limbs or severe nerve damage. "We deeply regret the thalidomide tragedy and it will always be part of our corporate history," said Frank Schoenrock, a spokesman for Gruenenthal, adding that the firm was in a constructive and continuous dialogue with the victims. He said the company would evaluate the study, commissioned by the NRW health ministry, and could not make more detailed comments on its contents at the moment. The report, produced by the University of Muenster, said that once experts started drawing links between thalidomide and nerve damage, the manufacturer gave out intentionally false information and hushed up knowledge it had about the drug's side effects. The study said the firm had also used delaying tactics and threats of potential claims for damages against the state to keep the drug, which achieved high sales, on the market for as long as possible. Reuters was unable to independently confirm its findings. "The manufacturer could have spared a lot of people a lot of suffering if it had removed Contergan from the market after numerous indications that there were harmful side effects," NRW Health Minister Barbara Steffens said. The report said that even after the drug was pulled from the market, authorities were overwhelmed by the situation. It said they had trouble clarifying the effects of thalidomide, determining the number of people affected and banning Contergan. A spokeswoman for the NRW health ministry said the legal framework for banning the drug did not exist at the time. Niklas Lenhard-Schramm, author of the study, said that at the time, drug manufacturers were responsible for ensuring the safety of medications, unlike the state licensing procedure in place now. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
As a close adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron during his first two years in office, Steve Hilton helped to modernize and reform the modern Conservative Party in the U.K.



Later, after following his wife to the U.S. in 2012 for her job at Google (shes now an executive at Uber) and launching his first tech startup, the digital fundraising analysis site Crowdpac, he wrote a book drawing from his experiences in the political arena and Silicon Valley. Released in the U.K. in 2015, More Human: Designing a World Where People Come First argues for the radical decentralization of government power and warns of the negative societal impacts that giant conglomerates have in the business, education and health care sectors.

Now Hilton has reworked the book for a U.S. audience. It was released April 26 and published by PublicAffairs.

Hiltons argument  that political power has become far too centralized and needs to be radically diffused in order to start solving the nations problems  is similar to one made in a new book by conservative intellectual Yuval Levin, The Fractured Republic, which will be released May 24 by Basic Books. But during a conversation with Yahoo News, Hilton made it clear that he has some strong disagreements with Levins emphasis on local mediating institutions, which include neighborhoods  religious communities, fraternal bodies, civic associations, economic enterprises, activist groups.

I sat down with Hilton during his visit to Washington, D.C., last week and asked him what he thought were the most radical proposals in his book. He named three: banning minors from unsupervised Internet use and from owning Internet-enabled mobile devices (he has chosen not to have a smartphone himself); a universal, ongoing home-visiting service conducted by government workers to help families after the birth of a newborn; and the idea that the default setting for local government is the neighborhood.

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Our conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Yahoo News: Why did you start Crowdpac?

Steve Hilton: We want to be the worlds platform for democracy. The largest type of participation is voting. Other components are running for office  without relying on the party machine.

Youre not a fan of political parties then?

I think the rationale for them is falling away. Like everything, its not black and white.  Its been helpful to mobilize and organize, giving a voice to people who were literally oppressed by the system. I think now the effects are pretty pernicious in that you have this stale, entrenched way of viewing the world that stands in the way of a more interesting way of viewing the world, where labor and capital are not the only things that define and divide people.

Dont parties serve as a brake on radicalism?

I think its a brake on radicalism, [but] I think we need big changes in the way the world is organized.  Im certain that the party system will endure, but it would be good to dilute it a little bit with a more independent candidate.  Radicalism has to be combined with decentralization, so that in that sense youre mitigating the risk of system-wide failure and youre able to run truly radical experiments in a more local setting. And then if things work, they can be adopted elsewhere.

Is this about reducing the size of government?

I really hate the whole conversation about the size of government. I think its not helpful and not interesting. The real issue is the location and the manner and style and approach of government. The idea that you just cut it back and everything will be OK is completely wrong. This is the fundamental mistake that conservatives make when they get into this argument.

I couldnt be more of a crusader against big, bureaucratic government. Ive been there, Ive seen it, I completely have that impulse, but the idea that all you have to do is just cut it and everything will be OK is completely wrong. We all want to cut the supply of government because we think theres too much of it  too much spending and too much taxes. But if you cut supply without looking at demand, you end up with a mess or, more precisely, debt. No government can ignore the social problems that increase demand for government, so unless you solve the problems that cause government to grow, you will never in the long run cut government.

What do you think of the argument that many of the challenges to social breakdown should be handled by what some call mediating institutions?

To me, thats a bit lame. Ive read a bit of [Yuval Levins] book. Its a little bit like the Paul Ryan approach, which is, Lets transfer the responsibility in funding federal programs to local charities, and theyll do a better job. They might, but they might not. This is a very ideological and not human argument. Its a lazy, superficial, simplistic approach. Sorry to put it so harshly, but I get sort of irritated by it because I think its the sort of thing people say when they havent actually done policy work.  You cant just do that. It is not the answer. You have to have some sort of accountability, particularly when its public money.

What are the most radical proposals in your book?

One of them is minimum viable government. The unit I think should be the default setting for local government is the neighborhood. Its something human that everybody can understand. We should go through every service that government provides and ask ourselves, How can this be provided at the neighborhood level?

How would you accomplish that?

The power of example.  State and local leaders can demonstrate it.  They do have control over a lot of resources and policy. Potentially working through this system myself to show how that can be done. Running for office myself.  That is something I definitely think could be done.  You could say, Look what happens when you put neighborhoods in control, to show the positive side of a more human approach.
Wall Street kicked off the day mixed after a volatile week despite better-than-expected retail sales data. The Commerce Department reported April retail sales rose 1.3%. That marks the largest gain since March 2015.

Retail rout

Nordstrom (JWN) hit a fresh 52-week low in early trading. The high-end department store chain slashed its outlook for the year and said will need to make further adjustments to clear inventory. This after it reported much weaker-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and revenue that also missed estimates.

Things didn't go so well for J.C. Penney (JCP) either last quarter. Although the retailer posted a smaller-than-expected loss, revenue fell short of forecasts due to worse than expected same-store sales growth. The company also lowered its margin outlook for the year.

Ditto for Dillard's (DDS), the stock fell this morning. The department store chain rang in disappointing first quarter results as profit and revenue fell from a year ago.

Shake Shack (SHAK) raised its revenue guidance for the year after it delivered a beat on both its top and bottom lines for the first three months of the year. Sales soared 43% from a year earlier as it benefited from more store traffic thanks in part to the launch of its fried chicken sandwich.

Get the Latest Market Data and News with the Yahoo Finance App

Apples big investment

Apple (AAPL) is hoping to hail a ride to higher profits by investing one billion dollars into the ride hailing service Didi Chuxing. Apple's CEO Tim Cook says the company made the investment to learn more about the Chinese market  and of course  deliver a strong return for investors.

Facebook Investigation

Facebooks (FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg is launched an investigation into why pro-conservative stories were excluded from the trending topics list. The social networking site still denies tampering with the stories its users see. In order to add more transparency  the company released a 28-page document explaining how computer algorithms and news editors setup the trending topics feature.

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Trump vs. Amazon



Donald Trump is calling out Amazon (AMZN)- saying the company has a huge antitrust problem." He also called out Amazons CEO Jeff Bezos on a Fox News interview. Bezos owns the Washington Post -- and the Republican presidential candidate says he uses the paper -- to influence Washington and avoid paying taxes. Amazon did not comment on the accusation.
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil and gas producer Third Energy's application to carry out hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, at a shale gas site in North Yorkshire in England should be approved next week, a senior planning officer has recommended to authorities. The report by the head of planning at North Yorkshire County Council was prepared ahead of a meeting of councillors due to be held on May 20 to decide on the application. The planning meeting could continue until May 23 due to the number of registered public speakers, a press officer for North Yorkshire Council said. Third Energy applied for the fracking license at its Kirby Misperton well in north Yorkshire in May last year. The well is located in the Bowland shale formation that experts estimate contains the bulk of Britain's shale gas resources. Britain is estimated to have enough shale gas trapped below its surface to meet its gas needs for decades. But the use of fracking, a process whereby water, sand and chemicals are injected to open up the shale rocks and release the trapped gas is opposed by environmental campaigners. The report said objections to Third Energy's plan included those related to potential adverse impacts on surface and groundwater resources, nature, landscape, air quality and ground vibration. However, the report said it was "satisfied" that measures to mitigate effects on the natural environment, water, traffic and highways were "both appropriate and proportionate". The report added that the fracking plan was also in line with government policy as it could help increase gas supplies. "We believe that this thorough report will enable North Yorkshire county council to reach a positive determination on our application," said Rasik Valand, chief executive of Third Energy. "Third Energy has been drilling wells and producing gas safely and discreetly from this site in Kirby Misperton for over 20 years and we will continue to maintain the same standards in the future," he added. (Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by Susan Thomas)
Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe said at a press conference Friday that he spent over $2 million dollars on eight overseas trips during his first two years in office, reportedly to help Japan look prestigious on the world stage.

His sacrifice for his country included staying in $1,820-a-night London hotel suites, spending $11,700 to rent airport VIP rooms, and traveling with an entourage of 19 staff members. Masuzoes spending was not limited to international travel. He frequently used an official car and driver for transportation to his vacation house at a hot springs resort.

Masuzoe has been under scrutiny since early April when the Japanese Communist Party revealed that spending on his eight overseas trips had already outstripped that of former governor, Shintaro Ishihara, a rightwing nationalist who spent $4.3 million on 28 trips during his tenure.

Since then, repeated new revelations about spending have put the governor in the spotlight, with some saying that his actions may have violated the law.

In response to criticism over Ishiharas spending, the government in 2007 ordered officials to find the cheapest accommodation that meets security requirements. Masuzoe insists that his spending remained within the law.

Masuzoes latest embarrassment came Wednesday when Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun reported that he had spent about $3400 in government money on two visits to a resort hotel in Kisarazu in 2013 and 2014 to discuss what he called urgent and highly important matters related to upcoming elections. His family joined him on the trips because, he said, he had promised he would spend time with his children. He expensed the costs as conference fees.

Masuzoe took office as governor of Tokyo in 2014. Before that, he served as a lawmaker in Japans Upper House and as the nations minister of health.

Between 2012 and 2014, he purchased about $82,000 worth of art with state funds, which he said he used for diplomacy, giving the art as gifts to visitors from overseas.

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At the press conference Friday, the governor said: Having caused so much distrust, as a politician I feel embarrassed. He promised to cut back on spending and use his own car to visit his vacation home.

But at least he didnt try to buy an island.

In 2012, the Japanese government had to spend about $20 million to buy the Senkaku islands, not far from China, from their private owners in order to head off an offer from Tokyos then-governor: Ishihara himself. Ever since, those disputed islands have soured ties between Tokyo and Beijing.

Photo credit: The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images
By Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - Three top editors from Russia's RBC media group, whose reports about Vladimir Putin have irked the Kremlin, left their jobs on Friday with one source saying they were worried their managers were bowing to Kremlin pressure over their reporting. The exodus is a setback for what is widely regarded as one of the few independent media groups in Russia in a landscape otherwise dominated by state media outlets that closely toe the Kremlin's line. An article the newspaper ran on Wednesday reporting that oyster farming was set to start near a palatial property in southern Russia dubbed "Putin's Palace" by the media was the last straw, the same RBC source told Reuters. "It provoked the Kremlin's ire and they complained to the (group's) shareholder," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Putin has any connection to the property. When asked, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, told the Interfax news agency on Friday the editors' departure was not linked to Kremlin pressure or politics. The RBC newspaper had irritated the Kremlin in recent months by reporting on the business interests of Putin's son-in-law and with detailed dispatches about people in Putin's inner circle named in the leaked "Panama Papers" as having offshore firms. A prominent pro-Kremlin commentator, Dmitry Kiselyov, even held up a copy of the newspaper on state TV to complain about what he said were American helpers who were prepared to link Putin to offshore companies "in whatever way they can." Elizaveta Osetinskaya, the editor-in-chief of the overall media group, will leave, as will Maxim Solyus, the editor of the RBC newspaper, and Roman Badanin, the editor of the RBC news agency, the company said in a statement. "In recent times we have talked a lot about how to further develop RBC and in these conversations we couldn't reach a consensus about some important questions so the decision was taken to part company," Nikolai Molibog, the company's general director, said. The same source close to RBC said many of the group's journalists would follow suit in the next few weeks. RBC is owned by Onexim, a group controlled by billionaire tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov. Onexim wanted to fire the editor of the RBC newspaper, the source said, but the other two editors said they would all leave together instead. Onexim, whose offices were raided last month by law enforcement officers, declined to comment. (Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly and Polina Devitt; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
(BEIRUT)  Lebanons militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an explosion in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door.

Badreddine, 55, had been supervising the groups involvement in Syrias civil war since Hezbollah fighters joined the battles along with Syrian President Bashar Assads forces against militant groups trying to remove him from power, according to pro-Hezbollah media. Hezbollah, along with Iran, has been one of Assads strongest backers.

Hezbollah said several others were wounded in the blast. It said it was investigating the nature of the explosion and whether it was the result of an air raid, missile attack or artillery shelling.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV that is close to the group earlier said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later removed the report.

Badreddine (Ba-dre-deen) was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle Easts most dramatic political assassinations. The trial is ongoing near The Hague, Netherlands. A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanons most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Badreddines death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus. After that, Badreddine, known among the groups ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollahs top military commander.

Early information from the investigation shows that a strong explosion targeted one of our centers near the Damascus International Airport leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounded several others, Hezbollah said in a statement issued Friday.

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Hezbollah said Badreddine was a great jihadi leader that he had joined the convoy of martyrs on top of them his comrade and close friend Mughniyeh.

The group said it will be receiving condolences starting Friday morning in their stronghold south of Beirut.

Badreddine was the brother-in-law of Mughniyeh and was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people. He was detained in Kuwait and imprisoned for years until he fled jail in 1990 after Iraqs Saddam Husseins forces invaded Kuwait.

Over the past 30 years, Israel has killed some of the groups top leaders. In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Sayyed Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife, 5-year-old son and four bodyguards. Eight years earlier Hezbollah leader Sheik Ragheb Harb was gunned down in south Lebanon.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Hezbollah has paid a very steep price for its public and bloody foray into Syrias civil war. Once lauded in Lebanon and the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, it has seen its popularity plummet, even among its Lebanese base, because of its staunch support for Assad.

The Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in March. A month earlier, Saudi Arabia cut $4 billion in aid to Lebanese security forces after Lebanons Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil declined to join Arab and Islamic league resolutions critical of Iran and Hezbollah.

The predominantly Sunni Gulf Arab states, led by the kingdom, have taken other punitive measures. They have warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon as well as cut Lebanese satellite broadcasts, and closed a Saudi-backed broadcaster in Lebanon. The Gulf countries are also expelling Lebanese expatriates they say have ties to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which maintains a dominant militia force in Lebanon, has also aligned itself with the Saudi-opposed Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemens civil war.
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Lynden, Washington, U.S., May 7, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, one of the leading tech analysts in the world, isn't buying Donald Trump's tax accusations on Amazon, calling them "hollow," in a note published on Friday.

Munster writes that Trump's comments from his Thursday interview with Fox News, in which he says that Amazon "is getting away with murder tax-wise," bears no merit and doesn't pose any threat to Amazon's antitrust and tax issues.

"We believe it is very unlikely that Trump could have an impact on Amazon or that his comments will incite regulatory changes in any way," Munster wrote in the note.

He argued that all tax allegations on Amazon are baseless. The company already collects sales tax in 28 states, representing 85% of the US population, with the remaining states not requiring sales tax from sellers without a physical presence.

Amazon's international tax structure is legal, Munster writes, despite all of the scrutiny and accusations alleging that the company's built an overseas tax shelter to minimize its tax payments. He also wrote that Amazon's retail market share is far below antitrust thresholds.

Instead, Munster believes that the comments are aimed at bullying The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and targeting liberal/middle-ground voters with corporate-regulatory ideas. There's been reports of The Post deploying 20 reporters to scour every detail of Trump's life, with plans for an upcoming biography in the cards as well.

This isn't the first time Trump attacked Amazon and Bezos. In February, he accused Bezos of buying The Post to gain political influence, and previously said that the purchase was to use the newspaper as a tax shelter for Amazon.

Bezos hasn't responded to any of Trump's taunts yet, but did offer to send him away to space in a tweet last year.

Amazon's representative wasn't immediately available for comment.

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NOW WATCH: New Trump attack ad shows Clinton laughing amid footage from the Benghazi attacks





More From Business Insider


Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was among the first top U.S. state leaders to come out Friday against the Obama administration's bold move in the national transgender bathroom debate.

On Thursday, news broke that the Obama administration would issue a letter to state-level education officials across the country. The letter threatens to pull funding and seek legal action against schools that ban transgender students from using the bathrooms and locker room facilities of their choice.

B

I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama can't rewrite the Civil Rights Act. He's not a King. #tcothttps://twitter.com/abc13houston/status/730950825950908416 ... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiTb5zvUgAAC6dM.jpg:large

Abbott has vowed to help North Carolina defend House Bill 2, which mandates that transgender individuals use facilities corresponding with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Republican leader also hinted that a measure similar to N orth Carol ina's could be coming to the Lone Star State , which would undoubtedly put Texas in the Justice Department's crosshairs, the Associated Press reported. The Justice Department fil ed a lawsuit against North Carolina over HB2 Tuesday. The suit came hours after Gov. Pat McCrory sued the Justice Department to block it from pulling state funding over c ivil rights law violations.

During the Texas GOP convention in Dallas Th ursday, Abbott promised to lock horns with the Obama administration:

"I am working with the governor of North Carolina, and we are going to fight back."

Transgender Texans have several months to mount a defense against anti-LGBT measures should Abbott make good on his promise.

According to the AP, legislative action on the transgender bathroom issue isn't likely to happen until lawmakers reconvene in the new year.
Transgender rights have become a national conversation topic since North Carolina passed its controversial bathroom bill, and search data reveals that many Americans may be struggling to learn more about LGBT issues and understand what being transgender means.

Merriam-Webster revealed that searches for transgender in its online dictionary surged 630 percent after the Obama administration on Friday sent an open letter to public schools across the country with guidelines for supporting transgender students.

The letter, signed by officials from the U.S. Justice and Education Departments, calls for public schools to allow transgender students to use the restrooms that align with their gender identities.

Emily A. Brewster, associate editor for Merriam-Webster, told Yahoo News that the site has been tracking searches for years and that its fascinating to see how big news stories affect the frequency of searches for certain words.

For example, users also searched for triskaidekaphobia, which means fear of the number 13, on Friday the 13th. Last week, after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, searches for presumptive spiked.

Politics really is the biggest driver. I think one of the interesting facts about all this is that its not that people dont know what these mean. It seems they are words that people want to know more about, Brewster said.

The analytics help lexicographers prioritize the entries that need to be revised or updated most quickly.

The word [transgender] is a frequently looked-up word anyway, Brewster said. The issues dealing with gender and sexuality are a very prominent part of the cultural conversation thats happening in our country and the world right now, so these are important terms all the time.

Often, people want to make sure they are using a word like transgender in the correct way.

To have a directive like the kind that came from the Obama administration thats directed at all the nations public schools really brings interest in this particular term to the fore, Brewster said.

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The letter that sparked all this interest grew from an ordinance the Charlotte City Council passed in February that prohibited discrimination against transgender people and affirmed their right to use the public restroom they deem most appropriate. The following month, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2 (HB2) into law, which reversed what he considered Charlottes overreach.

The controversy over transgender rights and bathrooms was in the spotlight this week. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)



Merriam-Webster defines transgender as: of, relating to, or being a person (as a transsexual or transvestite) who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the persons sex at birth.

In addition to those web searches, the letter sparked a wide array of emotions and responses.

Nick Adams, director of GLAADs Transgender Media Program, said the letter is a huge step forward and acknowledges that transgender students simply want to go to school and learn, like any other student.

He noted that California has had a similar law on the books since January 2014 and that the Los Angeles Unified School District, in particular, has had a similar policy for over a decade.

Its important to note that states like California and school districts like LAUSD have been successfully implementing policies like these without incident, Adams told Yahoo News. How you are treated as a transgender student shouldnt be based on geography, which is why the possibility of Obama setting a national standard is so important.

Similarly, Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina, told Yahoo News that the Obama administrations guidelines should be applauded. He said being a teenager is difficult enough without discrimination.

I think we all can relate to the fact that its incredibly difficult to be a teenager and be successful in academic life and school, Sgro said over the phone. Transgender students dont need that to be any harder than it is.

In a news release, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin described Obamas guidelines as groundbreaking and said they provide public school districts with important information.

This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools, Griffin said.

HRC legal director Sarah Warbelow said there is an immediate and overwhelming need to recognize the rights of transgender students under federal law.

Transgender youth are already at heightened risk of experiencing violence, bullying, and harassment, and North Carolinas action exacerbates those risks by creating a hostile environment in one of the places they should feel the safest, she said in the release.

The letter says schools that practice sex discrimination (which it says includes discrimination based on gender identity) cannot receive financial assistance from the federal government, citing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick listens to a reporters question during a news conference at the Texas Republican Convention in Dallas on Friday. (Photo: LM Otero/AP)



But it was not without its critics.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to help defend North Carolina against Fridays guidelines. I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama cant rewrite the Civil Rights Act. Hes not a King, he tweeted.

The states Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Texas would forgo billions of dollars in federal funds aimed at public schools in order to defy the guidelines for transgender students and public school bathrooms.

Obamas announcement comes amid fierce controversy and a legal battle over North Carolinas HB2, which says a person must use public restrooms that correspond with his or her biological sex (as listed on a birth certificate), as opposed to gender identity.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state of North Carolina.

They created state-sponsored discrimination against transgender individuals, who simply seek to engage in the most private of functions in a place of safety and security  a right taken for granted by most of us, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said at a news conference Monday.

The following day, the National Association of Secondary School Principals announced that it intends to adopt a position statement in support of transgender rights after final consideration by its board in July. The statement acknowledges hardships faced by transgender students and provides guidelines for better supporting them within the educational system.

Related video:
Authorities in Nevada have rounded up a trio they say are the men who took out an extremely endangered fish during a booze-soaked vandalism spree at a U.S. National Park last month.

A joint effort by the National Park Service and the Nye County Sheriff's Office Scorpion Task Force led to the arrest of Steven Schwinkendorf, Edgar Reyes and Trenton Sargent.

Authorities say Schwinkendorf, Reyes and Sargent drunkenly broke into the secured habitat at Devils Hole in Death Valley National Park on April 30. The area is the only place on earth where the extremely rare Devils Hole pupfish calls home.

Read: Alligator Bites Off Man's Arm During Mental Breakdown That Led Him Into Lake

Charges against the three are pending.

The men allegedly left behind beer cans, vomit and boxer shorts in the water, where just 115 of the precious fish live, according to last count in April.

After motion sensors alerted officials to the break-in, which involved the men firing a shotgun about the habitat, according to authorities, one of the pupfish was found dead.

Surveillance cameras recorded the men climbing over the fence and driving away in the direction of Crystal, Nevada.

Nye County Sheriff Sharon Wehrly said it wasn't too diffficult to catch up with the men, thanks largely to the fact that they had been driving around in a distinctive vehicle that was also caught by the security footage.

The video shows the men riding in a blue Yamaha Rhino that had been customized with an added seat and safety cage, according to an NPS release.

"It wasnt anything that took a lot of technical effort," Sheriff Wehrly told InsideEdition.com.

The sheriff's office believes at least one Devils Hole Pupfish was killed, but it's possible that more deaths could follow due to damage to their food sources and egg sites, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Killing an endangered species is a felony.

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The fish population fluctuates widely each season, sometimes going as high as 500 while plummeting to just a dozen or so at other times.

Read: Woman Finds 300-Pound Alligator in Pool: It's Big Mouth Was Open Wide

The NPS began to secure the pupfish habitat after the Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that developers could not pump water from the area.

The security was put in place to prevent vandals who might be among the many opposed to the decision, which was made to save the rare, albeit useless, fish.

Watch: Man Caught Trying to Steal Pythons From Pet Store By Stuffing Them In His Pants

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By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump went on a charm offensive on Thursday to try to win the party establishment's support for his insurgent candidacy, but top Republican Paul Ryan stopped short of endorsing him. Trump was on his best behavior on a day of meetings with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He listened patiently as they raised concerns about his tone and the need to try to appeal to Hispanic voters. He avoided strident language, like the frequent criticism he has lobbed from the campaign trail that many lawmakers are awestruck by the corridors of power and forget why they were sent to Washington. "The whole discussion was very solid, reasonable and a warm and winning discussion," said Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. "I think you're going to find hes going to be better and better all the time. The U.S. budget deficit and debt were among the issues Trump and Ryan discussed, sources familiar with the meeting said. Trump's day in Washington was aimed at laying to rest some of the concerns that persist among Republicans about his incendiary tone and some policy proposals at odds with party doctrine. The New York billionaire, who needs the party behind him to bolster his chances at winning the Nov. 8 election, has vowed to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico, deport 11 million illegal immigrants, temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country and impose trade protectionist policies. Trump held an hour-long session with Ryan, who as speaker of the House of Representatives is the top U.S. elected Republican and can hold sway with many establishment Republicans leery of Trump. "This was our first meeting, but it was a very positive step toward unification," Ryan and Trump said in a joint statement. Trump told Fox News in an interview that he had a "very, very good meeting" with Ryan. "I think Paul felt the same way and everybody else did also," Trump said. Trump said he and Ryan largely agree on issues of border security, trade and beefing up the U.S. military. Party leaders are normally eager to rally around a presidential nominee to combine forces for the battle leading up to the general election. But Ryan has withheld his endorsement of Trump out of concern over the businessman's conservative credentials. In remarks to reporters after the meeting, the congressman said he was encouraged by the session but that more work will be needed. "There's no secret that Donald Trump and I have had our differences. We talked about those differences today," Ryan said at his weekly news conference. "I do believe we are planting the seeds in getting ourselves unified." Ryan, who may harbor aspirations of running for president in 2020 or later, noted that he represents a wing of the conservatives and that it is positive that Trump is bringing new voters into the party. TONE IT DOWN Despite his problems in winning over senior Republicans, Trump received a boost on Wednesday when a Reuters/Ipsos national poll showed him pulling even with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The online survey found 41 percent of likely voters supporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump. Later on Thursday, Trump went into a meeting with Senate Republican leaders, where he posed for photos with them and heard concerns about his campaign rhetoric but appeared to make some progress in tempering concerns about him. "Everyone here wants you to win," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told him at the Senate session, a source said. Senator Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia urged Trump to be careful in his tone. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a former U.S. trade representative, urged caution on his rhetoric against trade deals. The issue of tone did come up," said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who said he gave some advice to Trump on the importance of the Hispanic vote and the whole idea of distinguishing between illegal immigration and legal immigration. In a meeting at a Washington law firm, Trump sat down with James Baker, who served as secretary of state for Republican President George H.W. Bush. Earlier in the day, Baker had testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Under questioning from Senator Marco Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate, Baker said the world "would be far less stable" without a strong NATO, a slap at Trump's idea of reconfiguring the Western alliance and getting European nations to foot more of the bill. "Secretary Baker had a meeting with Donald Trump that was requested by his campaign," a Baker spokesman said. Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina softened a bit. Graham dropped out of the presidential race earlier this year and had said the choice between Trump and rival Ted Cruz was like trying to decide between being "shot or poisoned." Graham said he had a "cordial, pleasant conversation" on the phone with Trump on Wednesday. "I know Mr. Trump is reaching out to many people, throughout the party and the country, to solicit their advice and opinions. I believe this is a wise move on his part," said Graham. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Emily Stephenson, Doina Chiacu, Susan Cornwell, Patrica Zengerle, David Morgan and Eric Beech; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
Donald Trump has adamantly denied the voice on a newly uncovered interview is the GOP presidential frontrunner posing as his own publicist as he brags about the stable of actresses looking to date him.

The audio clip, recently obtained by The Washington Post, is a 1991 interview between a People magazine reporter and a man who calls himself John Miller.

Read: Sydney Leathers Responds To Anthony Weiner Documentary: 'I Feel Like I Had PTSD' From Scandal

The recording was unearthed by Post reporter Mark Fisher.

There is a certain voice, a certain cadence, a certain rhythm, a certain speech mannerism that are very distinctly Trumpy, Fisher told Inside Edition. There are at least a half-a-dozen editors and reporters that got these calls on a regular basis from him. We do not have an exact number but it seems it is something he did regularly. We also spoke to some of his former executives that say they heard him in his office making those calls.

In the clip, "Miller" can be heard commenting about Trumps relationship with then-girlfriend Marla Maples following his divorce to his first wife, Ivana.

Marla wants to be back with him and he wants to be with her, but he just feels it's too soon, the publicist is heard telling People reporter Sue Carswell. He's somebody that has a lot of options, and, frankly, he gets called by everybody. He gets called by everybody in the book, the types of women.

Carswell followed up, asking: Like who?

I mean, they call. They just call. Actresses, people that you write about just call to see if they can go out with him and things, the rep responded.

The man bragged about The real estate tycoons conquests like Italian model Carla Bruni, who would later become Frances first lady. The rep also alleged that Madonna wanted to date Trump.

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Read: Paul Ryan 'Encouraged' After Meeting With Donald Trump, but Still Won't Endorse Him

Miller also told the reporter: I mean, he's living with Marla and he's got three other girlfriends. Off the record, he probably felt Marla wasn't the right one, or whatever, but he just felt that it was too soon.

In 1991, Carswell was suspicious that "John Miller" was in fact, Trump posing as a publicist. The reporter even played the tape for Marla Maples, who reportedly burst into tears and confirmed that the man on the tape was her boyfriend.

As news of the recording broke, Trump quickly went on the defensive.

Trump told Sean Hannity Thursday night that The Washington Post is out to get him.

They are taking these stories and they have no proper information and in many cases, they are slapping them together, he told the Fox News host.

On Friday morning, Trump told the Today show: I dont know anything about it. It doesnt sound like my voice at all. I have many people trying to imitate my voice  sounds like a scam, doesn't sound like me.

Watch: Was Trump Looking At Photo of Ex-Wife Marla Maples in a Bikini Before Eating Taco Bowl?

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Anthony Scaramucci, who joined Donald Trumps finance committee, weighed in on efforts to build Republican Party unity behind Trumps candidacy and the fundraising goals for the campaign.

On efforts to get Republican unity behind Donald Trumps candidacy, Scaramucci said, Paul Ryan is a terrific person and a great leader and he said something that is super meaningful: I dont want sugar-coated unity, I want a real unity. And I think Donald Trump is a dealmaker, so he is synthesizing now.

As Trump establishes his campaign finance team, Scaramucci then discussed the hiring of investment banker-turned-Hollywood producer Steve Mnuchin as his national finance chairman.

He [Trump] hired Steve Mnuchin, who I think is an all-star talented person, he can play any position, the SkyBridge Capital Founder told the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo.

Scaramucci then explained how they came to the decision over the campaigns fundraising goals.

I think he needs a half a billion. When Donald and I were talking about it I said a half a billion and I gave him the reasons why. Steve set a goal of $1 billion, and so listen, were going to do everything we can to get to that billion dollar number. Thats what Governor Romney and President Obama raised in 2012, Scaramucci said.

Trump may be off to a solid start, on Friday, billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson endorsed Trump in a Washington Post Op-Ed. Adelson is chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS).

Anthony Scaramucci is a contributor to FOX Business Network (FBN) and Fox News Channel (FNC). He is also the co-host of Wall Street Week, which airs on Fridays at 8PM/ET.

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Donald Trump has called Fridays New York Post cover story a bombshell that may cause a big headache for former President Bill Clinton.

Today's cover: Bill Clinton's charity gave $2 million to a company owned by his "friend" https://t.co/uxrjWmAdbW pic.twitter.com/6S43p8avrp  New York Post (@nypost) May 13, 2016

The New York tabloid has reported that Clintons charity gave $2 million to a company owned by a "friend" of the former president.

Read: Sydney Leathers Responds To Anthony Weiner Documentary: 'I Feel Like I Had PTSD' From Scandal

On Fox and Friends Friday, Trump called in to give his opinion on the cover story: "It's a bombshell. There's no doubt about it."

The GOP frontrunner said: "It's a rough story and a lot of people have been talking about it for years."

The woman is wealthy divorcee Julie Tauber McMahon, a neighbor of the Clintons in Chappaqua, New York.

The 54-year-old business executive is described as the so-called "Energizer," a nickname given to her by the Secret Service for her supposed frequent visits to the Clinton home.

Citing a 2010 Clinton Global Initiative statement, The Post reports that the charity commits $2 million to support the work of Energy Pioneer Solutions, a company founded to deliver energy savings to communities in rural America.

Energy Pioneer Solutions is partially owned by McMahon.

IE spoke to Ron Kessler, author of The First Family Detail.

Unlike Hillary, Energizer is very nice to Secret Service agents, the author said.

Read: Paul Ryan 'Encouraged' After Meeting With Donald Trump, but Still Won't Endorse Him

Kessler alleges that McMahon and the former president had timed arrivals and departures to Hillarys schedule for rendezvous at the Clinton home.

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He said: In my book. I purposely stuck with what the Secret Service knew and what they saw with this woman, Energizer.

McMahon has repeatedly denied any intimate relationship with the former commander-in-chief.

Hillary Clinton's campaign has not responded to the story.

Watch: Re-Live Donald Trump's Most Memorable TV Show and Movie Cameos

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By Valerie Volcovici and Emily Flitter WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump on Friday picked a prominent climate change skeptic to help him craft his energy policy and pushed back against renewed calls that he release his income tax returns - saying his tax rate is "none of your business." The presumptive Republican presidential nominee is seeking to build out his policy proposals as he pivots from campaigning for his party's nomination to a likely general election matchup with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Among those he has asked for help is U.S. Republican Representative Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, one of the country's most ardent oil and gas drilling advocates and climate change skeptics. North Dakota has been at the forefront of the U.S. shale oil and gas boom. Trump's team asked Cramer, who has endorsed Trump, to write a white paper, or detailed report, on his energy policy ideas, according to Cramer and sources familiar with the matter. Cramer said in an interview that his white paper would emphasize the dangers of foreign ownership of U.S. energy assets, as well as what he characterized as burdensome taxes and over-regulation. Trump will have an opportunity to float some of the ideas at an energy summit in Bismarck, North Dakota on May 26, Cramer said. The senator was also among a group of Trump advisers who recently met with lawmakers from Western energy states, who hope Trump will open more federal land for drilling, a lawmaker who took part in the meeting said. A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign did not comment. Environmental groups, and Clinton's campaign, quickly attacked Trump for tapping Cramer. "Kevin Cramer has consistently backed reckless and dangerous schemes to put the profits of fossil fuel executives before the health of the public, so he and Trump are a match made in polluter heaven," Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce said in an emailed statement. The Clinton campaign also criticized the move. Donald Trumps choice of outspoken climate (change) denier Kevin Cramer to advise him on energy policy is just the latest piece of evidence that letting him get near the White House would put our childrens health and futures at risk," said campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson. Trump has been light on the details of his energy policy, though he recently told supporters in West Virginia that the coal industry would thrive if he were president. He has also claimed global warming is a concept "created by and for the Chinese" to hurt U.S. business. Clinton, meanwhile, has advocated shifting the country to 50 percent clean energy by 2030, promised heavy regulation of fracking, and said her prospective administration would put coal companies "out of business." 'NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS' Trump also took heat on Friday for not releasing his tax returns, something that American presidential candidates have done for decades. Clinton and her rival, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have both released their returns. Trump has said the Internal Revenue Service was auditing his returns and he wanted to wait until the review was over before making them public. "It should be, and I hope it's before the election," Trump told ABC's "Good Morning America." Pressed on what tax rate he pays, Trump refused to say. "It's none of your business," he said. The candidate has said there is nothing voters can learn from his tax filings. Tax filings show sources of income, both from within the United States and other countries, as well as charitable giving, investments, deductions and other financial information. The IRS declined to comment on whether Trump or any other presidential candidates were being audited. However, the Trump campaign earlier this year released a letter from his attorneys saying his personal tax returns have been under "continuous examination" from the IRS. This week, Clinton began calling on her probable Republican rival to release his returns. Last August, the former U.S. secretary of state posted the past eight years of tax returns for her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, on her website. Sanders released his 2014 return in April. Presidential candidates have a long history in the modern era of releasing their tax returns. "In 1976, Gerald Ford did not release his returns, but he did release some information about his taxes," said Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that provides tax news and analysis. "That was the last time that a major party nominee hasnt done it," he said. (Refiling to change dateline, previous WASHINGTON.) (Reporting by Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey; Writing by Luciana Lopez; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Richard Valdmanis)
In the last few years, almost everyone invested in Europes relationship with the United States, and vice versa, has become fixated on the free trade agreement known as TTIP. (For the uninitiated, thats the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.) The deal, a counterpart to the now-concluded but not yet fully ratified Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) between the United States and 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific, aims to further integrate the European and U.S. economies, which together account for around half of the worlds GDP and nearly a third of world trade flows.

Supporters of the project in Germany, Britain, and the United States often give the impression that the Wests entire future  the very concept of the West  hangs on its success. In truth, TTIP is just as likely to cause transatlantic friction as demonstrate transatlantic unity, as illustrated by media coverage in Europe of the leak by Greenpeace of papers from the treaty negotiations. Amid the fallout from the leaks, TTIP is as likely to discredit the idea of the West as revitalize it.

Supporters of the project see it as a way to renew and confirm the transatlantic relationship, in the words of European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, the lead negotiator on the European side. Some, including former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, have even referred to TTIP as an Economic NATO: a complement to the military alliance that guarantees the security of its members. Thus, Atlanticists  those who believe in the importance of the relationship between Europe and the United States  have largely bought the argument that TTIP is essential in order to maintain its relevance in the 21st century. Meanwhile, the treatys critics generally see the idea of the Westas outdated, incoherent, or offensive.

Thus, to be pro-Western has, in recent years, increasingly come to mean favoring TTIP. It is possible, however, to be a pro-Western skeptic of TTIP  especially if one believes, as I do, that the idea of the West should be defined by the common values, not just the common interests, of Europe and the United States.

TTIPs problems start with the hardly overwhelming case for its passage. In the early going, supporters claimed it would generate growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2013, the European Commission, for example, claimed that an ambitious deal could produce boost growth in Europe by 120 billion, and in the United States by 95 billion. But independent research done since then by various think tanks has concluded that the macroeconomic effects of TTIP would be lower than these claims suggested. Most serious studies, in fact, suggest it could increase the size of the European economy by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent of GDP over a 10-year period  in other words, by a modest to negligible degree.

Many of the other pro-TPP arguments do not apply to TTIP either. For example, Adam Posen has argued that TPP could strengthen the democratic and market-based development of Asian economies, but EU member states are already democracies with market economies, so the same argument does not extend to TTIP. Similarly, one cannot claim that TTIP will raise environmental or labor standards in Europe as TPP could in Asia  what Europeans fear, in fact, is that their high standards will be lowered by the treaty. One can also hardly claim that an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism  a system of tribunals to adjudicate on disputes between companies and states  is needed to protect U.S. companies from expropriation in Europe as one could argue in the case of Asia. (ISDS is one of the most controversial aspects of TTIP in Europe, where citizens worry that the tribunals lack transparency and force governments to make concessions to corporations.)

Moreover, while the upside of TTIP is questionable, there is a downside that should worry Atlanticists. Fears about TTIP, whether rational or irrational, are already fueling anti-Americanism in Europe  particularly in Germany, where there is a massive Stop TTIP movement. Critics say the so-called TTIP papers have confirmed their worst fears about genetically modified food and a lowering of consumer protection standards in Europe are likely to further strengthen opposition. In particular, the papers showed U.S. negotiators putting their European counterparts under pressure to ease restrictions on genetically modified food in exchange for a reduction in barriers to the export of European cars  hardly surprising, but alarming to Europeans who distrust GMOs. According to a new poll, 70 percent of Germans oppose TTIP.

If American and European negotiators reach the ambitious, comprehensive agreement they insist they want  which would include ISDS  this could be just the beginning of the transatlantic tensions to come. Both while the agreement is being ratified and once it kicks in, Europeans are likely to blame Americans for any lowering of consumer, health, and environmental standards, particularly in sensitive areas such as food safety. Americans, in turn, are likely to blame Europeans if they experience job losses in the automotive sector, and others, as a result of increased competition from Europe, regardless of the size of the overall boost to the economy on both sides of the Atlantic. In short, there is a real risk that TTIP will backfire and actually increase animosity between Europe and the United States.

The precedent for this is the European single currency  another endangered liberal project. It was meant to bring Europeans closer together by integrating their economies more deeply  just as TTIP is meant to bring Europe and the United States closer together by integrating their economies more deeply. But instead it has driven them apart.

Given the risk that it may prove impossible to pass TTIP, it is a mistake for its supporters to suggest it is essential to the future of the West. As the economic case for TTIP has failed to convince people, its supporters have increasingly sought to make a strategic case for it by invoking the concept of the West in this way. Although it is true that the transatlantic relationship needs to be reinvented, and that Europe and the United States must deepen their ties, a trade agreement is the wrong vehicle for this project.

The danger of forcing TTIP to carry this weight stems from the fact that it redefines the concept of the West in terms of the economic interests of the EU and the United States. At a time when power is shifting from west to east, Europe and the United States will increasingly need to cooperate with other like-minded states, especially global swing states like Brazil and India. In this context, the West cannot stand for the particular, exclusive economic interests of Europe and the United States. Rather, it must stand for universal, inclusive values  above all, democracy  and not simply be measured by prosperity.

Those who try to make a strategic case for TTIP often insist it is about values because it will allow the West to set the rules for the 21st century. It is not clear that other countries  those in Asia, for example  will really follow the rules set by Europe and the United States in TTIP (as opposed to the different rules in TPP). But even if they do, it will be only in limited areas like phytosanitary standards. This is surely not so much revitalizing the West, as trivializing it. The biggest threats to the West in the 21st century come from authoritarian and revisionist powers. It is difficult to see how TTIP will be of much help in responding to those threats (though TPP may be).

Supporters of TTIP should take a step back and think more carefully about the West, as both a geographic and a moral concept. In order to reach out to rising powers that are not part of the West in a geographic sense, Americans and Europeans need to emphasize the moral definition of the alliance and de-emphasize its geographic definition. But this is the exact opposite of what those who invoke the West in order to make the case for TTIP are doing. By identifying the West with the economic interests of Europe and the United States, they are as likely to discredit it as revitalize it.

Photo Credit: NurPhoto / Contributor
By Seyhmus Cakan and Seda Sezer DIYARBAKIR/ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) - Eight Turkish soldiers and 22 Kurdish militants have been killed in clashes over the last two days, authorities said on Friday, as violence widened in the largely Kurdish southeast following two bombings. After the collapse of a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst fighting since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s. President Tayyip Erdogan has said the violence, and a concurrent threat from Islamic State militants, justifies Turkey's broad anti-terror laws, which have become a sticking point with the EU in talks about a landmark deal to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe. "The fight by our security forces in coordination and in harmony with soldiers, police, village guards and all units against terror will continue with determination," Erdogan said in a statement. Erdogan, who had spearheaded the peace process between the state and the PKK, has ruled out any return to negotiations and has vowed to crush the militant group. Thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians, have been killed in the renewed violence. More than 40,000 people, most of them militants, have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984. The group wants autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority. IRAQ BORDER Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province near the border with Iraq on Friday, the military said. Two more were killed in a separate incident when a helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region. In the nearby Siirt province, one militant was killed when security forces pursued vehicles attempting to flee a security check, the local governor's office said. They found 200 kilograms of explosives in one of the vehicles. On Thursday, 15 militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, the military said. The military has also carried out regular air strikes against PKK camps in mountainous northern Iraq. A total of 140 militants have been killed in such attacks between April 29 and May 10, broadcaster NTV said, citing the military. The widening violence follows two bombings on Thursday. Four suspected bomb makers were killed and 23 people were wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in the southeast as PKK militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, the government said. (Reporting by Seda Sezer; Editing by David Dolan and Nick Tattersall; editing by Ralph Boulton)
By Marice Richter

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - Two Mexican citizens were convicted by a U.S. jury in Texas on Friday of helping set up an ambush slaying of a suburban Fort Worth attorney who prosecutors said was a high-ranking member of a Mexican drug cartel.

Jesus Ledezma, 59, and his cousin Jose Cepeda, 60, were each convicted of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the May 2013 shooting death of Juan Guerrero at a shopping center in the upscale Fort Worth suburb of Southlake.

Prosecutors presented evidence showing that Guerrero was gunned down by an assassin in a revenge plot masterminded by Mexican citizen Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandez, known as El Gato or "the cat," the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Texas said in a statement.

Ledezma and Cepeda tracked Guerrero for two years, both in Mexico and the United States to set up the hit, according to evidence presented by prosecutors.

The two men placed surveillance cameras in Guerrero's neighborhood of million-dollar homes and put tracking devices on vehicles owned by him and his relatives, prosecutors said.

Guerrero, who prosecutors said was an attorney for a former leader of the Los Zetas crime syndicate, was shot multiple times with a 9 mm pistol while he sat in a Range Rover parked in an upscale shopping area.

Video surveillance from the shopping center showed a Toyota Sequoia pull up behind the Range Rover. Someone then exited the vehicle and walked toward the passenger side of the Range Rover, where Guerrero was seated.

The gunman and getaway driver are still at large.

(Reporting by Marice Richter; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by James Dalgleish)
last-days-2-uproxx

Broad Green Pictures

If youve read the Bible, then you probably know a great deal about Jesus and his teachings. While inspired by biblical passages, Last Days in The Desert, from director Rodrigo Garcia, is an original story of Jesus. In Garcias film we see Jesus, as played by Ewan McGregor, as he wanders through the desert en route to Jerusalem. On this journey of prayer and solitude Jesus comes across a family that provides Him shelter. The familys teenage son, Tye Sheridan, looks up to this visitor while questioning his own relationship with his father (Ciaran Hinds), his dying mother (Ayelet Zurer), and his desires to leave the family trade and continue with this visitor to Jerusalem. Jesus has his own struggles too, as his efforts to communicate with his Father falter and as the voice of Satan (also played by McGregor) becomes continuously louder. The film is more spiritual than religious, offering questions on familial ties and the bond between a father and son  something the director can very much relate to in terms of his own relationship with his father, the late author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

We spoke with Sheridan about retreating to the desert, his own relationship with his father, and the beauty of dirt removal.



LastDays5

Gilles Mingasson / Broad Green Pictures

What was your initial impression of Garcias script?

I remember meeting with Rodrigo  I was probably 16 at the time, cocky 16-year-old from Texas  and I sat down with Rodrigo and he said, Im making this film and its a father and son story. He started telling me about it and he said, You would play the son of this man who is tied to his land and his home and youre very rebellious, you want to get out and break away from everything that that stands for. He asked me if I wanted to do it and I said, Yeah, that sounds great. And I asked him about an accent and he said, Well, as long as you dont sound too Texan youll be fine. And so when I read the script I fell in love with it immediately. I think this film is very much a coming of age story about being a man, what it means to be a man, what it means to have your own intentions and desires in life, and where you draw the line between family and your internal desires. I have a very strong relationship with my father, [my character] does as well. I think for generations what one man means to another is almost unexplainable but in the movie you get a sense of what that means, that relationship between a father and a son. That really popped off the page for me.

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And then, with all that being said, did Rodrigo mention in that first meeting that Jesus would be involved?

We werent making a Jesus movie. But he was Jesus. Literally thats what everyone kept saying on set, This isnt a Jesus movie. This isnt a movie about religion. But youre Jesus. This is a movie about existence and life and destiny and fate and families and drama. I grew up Christian but the structure of the film is very basic and simple with underlying themes that are very complex. I approached it like a father-son drama. I think we all did, that was the consensus. It was very much about the relationships between these men and what the father means to the son and what that role means and becoming their own person. How much does your father influence you and how much is it your job? Are you expected to grow up to be the man you were raised by? Or can you be a different man? Then you have Ewans character who is very much a gypsy and he gets caught up in the drama of this family, this father and son. Its almost a tragedy.

Theres a scene where the dynamic of your relationship with Jesus and your characters father plays out on a cliff. That moment really stuck with me, and Im wondering how that was to film?

Ciaran was actually really afraid of heights and he had bad vertigo. So him hanging on the edge of the cliff  spoiler alert  we did it, and it was very safe. We had cranes and cables and stuntmen and this and that but we were actually hanging off the edge of that cliff. I remember there was this weird draft the day we were shooting this and Ewan and I looking up over the edge of the cliff, and there are all these shots that are kind of a low angle on us when were leaning over the cliff. Theres constantly sand blowing up into your face and into your eyes. So until they say action you just close your eyes and you open your eyes. The film is very real and very gritty and we went out to the desert for six weeks. We were all very isolated from whatever life we knew to be our own. We were able to create this environment that felt real but was almost a realm of fantasy and served as the setting in this movie.

LastDays2

Gilles Mingasson / Broad Green Pictures

How was it to be so immersed in the setting of the movie?

I feel like I was in and out. When we were in it we were in it and everybody was in it. We were all out in the desert together and Ewan and I, everyone is just working and sleeping then working and sleeping. Theres no time for play in between. Ewan and I would sit in the makeup room, wed go in at 4:30 a.m. every day, both have long hair, and we would get makeup and dirt thrown on us every day. And then wed go to work for 10 hours. Then after the sun went down wed go to bed and do it all over. They literally would just pour dirt in my hair. I think the bathtub in my hotel room was black because I would literally come home and it would take me two hours to clean all the dirt out of my hair.

Ideally, what do you hope people take away from the movie?

I hope people come out of the theatre and it stays on their mind and their brain. You finish it and then you question what it meant, what the message is, the themes, and how you understand it. I think its all up to you to decide what the movie means to you. I think the message of the film is strong, at least the impact that it had on me. I remember my family watching it for the first time and really liking it and coming away thinking of the film a lot and reflecting. The film makes you self reflect on your relationships in your life and what it is. It just makes me think about my relationship with my parents and my relationship with my family and loved ones. Its about faith and its about destiny and its about love and companionship and brotherhood and fatherhood but I dont think its directly about religion or a strong belief towards anything. This movie is what you want it to be. And thats up to you to decide.
(Adds analyst quote, table, details on flows into mutual funds and ETFs, byline) By Trevor Hunnicutt NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. fund investors shied away from riskier bets in the latest week, Lipper data showed on Thursday, with junk bonds and emerging-market stocks posting their worst outflows since January.

The $1.9 billion outflow from high-yield bond funds during the week marks the largest withdrawal for those funds since January, while the $1.4 billion in outflows from emerging-market stock funds is also the largest outflow since that brutal month of trading, Lipper records show.

The exodus did not spare U.S.-based stock funds, which posted $6.1 billion in outflows during the week that ended May 11, data from the fund-research service showed.

After a rough start to trading this year, market returns have improved. Most widely traded financial assets are up - some substantially - from a February low. The S&P 500 benchmark has returned more than 13 percent since then, including dividend payouts.

Yet investors may be anticipating an unsettled market and responding accordingly, analysts said.

"The dominant story right now is still risk off," said Luke Oliver, head of ETF capital markets for the Americas at Deutsche Bank AG's asset-management arm. "We've got a lot uncertainty globally at the moment." Stock funds in the United States have now posted outflows in 15 of 19 weeks so far this year "despite the strength - or the perceived strength - of the market," said Lipper research analyst Pat Keon.

"It is contradictory to what we'd expect to see," he said. "Sentiment on the street is that it's over-valued, and they're moving away from it." Chinese stock funds posted $818 million in outflows during the week, the largest outflow since June 2013, according to Lipper, a Thomson Reuters unit. Data on Monday showed China's exports and imports fell more than expected in April, underlining weak demand at home and abroad.

Overall, taxable bond funds posted $514 million in outflows during the same period, the data showed, their first net withdrawals in six weeks.

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The continued popularity of high-credit, investment-grade corporate bond funds and municipal-bond funds softened the blow of withdrawals from more speculative funds. Muni funds took in the most money of any week this year, with $1.2 billion.

Money-market funds, where investors park cash, attracted $5.1 billion and their third straight week netting new money. Precious metals commodities funds, another haven, attracted $772 million.

The following is a broad breakdown of the flows for the week, including ETFs (in $ billions): Sector Flow Chg % Assets Assets Count ($Bil) ($Bil) All Equity Funds -6.071 -0.12 5,089.618 11,966 Domestic Equities -2.096 -0.06 3,600.760 8,493 Non-Domestic Equities -3.975 -0.27 1,488.858 3,473 All Taxable Bond Funds -0.514 -0.02 2,234.982 6,094 All Money Market Funds 5.107 0.22 2,334.548 1,122 All Municipal Bond Funds 1.212 0.33 371.991 1,421 (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Diane Craft)
By Lawrence Hurley

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a lawsuit calling for the full release a U.S. Senate report detailing the Central Intelligence Agency's interrogation and detention program following the Sept. 11 attacks.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against the American Civil Liberties Union, which sought access to the more than 6,000-page document, often referred to as the "Senate torture report."

ACLU lawyer Hina Shamsi said in a statement that the ruling "has the disappointing result of keeping the full truth about the CIA torture program from the American public, and were considering our options for appeal."

When the report was released in 2014, only a 500-page executive summary was made public. It said the CIA misled the White House and public about torture of detainees. Some captives were deprived of sleep for up to 180 hours, at times with their hands shackled above their heads, and the report recorded cases of simulated drowning or "waterboarding" and sexual abuse, including "rectal feeding" or "rectal hydration" without any documented medical need.

The ACLU sued under the Freedom of Information Act in 2013 to obtain the full report prior to its release. Congressional documents are exempt from the law, but the ACLU said the Senate Intelligence Committee relinquished control when it transmitted the report to the White House and other agencies, which are subject to freedom of information requests.

The appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's decision in favor of the government.

Writing on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel, Judge Harry Edwards said there was "clear intent by the Senate committee to maintain continuous control over its work product."
By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court put on hold Thursday's scheduled execution of a 65-year-old man convicted of murdering a police officer in 1985, ordering a review of his mental competency after his lawyers said he suffers from dementia.

Vernon Madison, one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The stay of execution issued by Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put off what would have been the 15th execution in the United States this year and the second in Alabama.

The state then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to go forward. The court narrowly denied that request, though the four conservative justices would have granted the motion to lift the stay of execution, the order said.

Madison's lawyers said that as a result of multiple strokes over the past year and other complications, Madison suffers from a condition called vascular dementia that has left him unable to understand why Alabama is seeking to execute him.

"Mr. Madison now speaks in (a) slurred manner, is legally blind, and can no longer walk independently as a consequence of damage to his brain," they said in a statement.

"It is unconstitutional to execute an individual who is mentally incompetent."

A federal court had earlier rejected the argument that Madison was not mentally competent to be executed. The appellate court said it will hear arguments in the case on June 23.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the stay.

Madison was convicted in the fatal shooting of police officer Julius Schulte in Mobile, Alabama. He shot the officer, who was responding to a domestic call, in the head.

He faced three trials. Madison's convictions in the first two were overturned on appeal. In the third trial, he was convicted and the jury, in an 8-4 vote, recommended life in prison. The judge sentenced Madison to death.

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State officials had wanted to proceed with the execution despite a May 2 U.S. Supreme Court order directing the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider death sentences in light of a Jan. 12 high court ruling striking down a similar statute in Florida.

The Supreme Court found that Florida's law had given judges powers that juries should wield in determining a defendant's eligibility for execution, violating the right to an impartial jury guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment.

(Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley in Washington and Eric M. Johnson; Writing by Letitia Stein; Editing by Will Dunham and Nick Macfie)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives will try next week to pass emergency funds to address a potential Zika virus outbreak in the United States, although they have not yet settled on a key component: how much money to spend. "Hope to be on the floor next week," House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers said when asked by Reuters whether he was making progress toward a bill. However, an aide said the Republican-led committee still has not settled on a dollar amount to be appropriated, other than that it will be less than what the Senate is contemplating. The Senate is expected to cast initial votes on Zika funding on Tuesday as it debates competing measures that range from $1.1 billion to President Barack Obama's request for $1.9 billion. Any bill the House produces next week will require that the money being spent on Zika be offset with cuts to other programs, which have not yet been identified, the aide said. Under the House plan, the money would be available to the Obama administration through Sept. 30, the end of this fiscal year, with the expectation that more money would be contained in legislation still to be written funding government programs in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Many Republicans in Congress have expressed reservations with Obama's $1.9 billion request for emergency funds, questioning whether that much was needed and arguing that the spending must be offset by savings elsewhere. Health experts have urged quick action by Congress, fearing the onset of warmer weather in North America will bring a wave of mosquitoes harboring the Zika virus that already has spread through large areas of the hemisphere. The virus is associated with the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities, as well as being suspected of causing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. (Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Bernard Orr)
By Megan Cassella WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration told U.S. public schools on Friday that transgender students must be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice, upsetting Republicans and raising the likelihood of fights over federal funding and legal authority. Conservatives pushed back against the administration's non-binding guidance to schools, the latest battleground in the issue of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the guidance "must be challenged." "If President Obama thinks he can bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms, he better prepare for yet another legal fight," Paxton, a Tea Party champion, said in a statement. Other Republican-led states joined calls to disregard the White House's directive and accused the administration of overstepping its role. In North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory labeled the move a "massive executive branch overreach" and called on federal courts and the U.S. Congress to intercede, while Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said it was "offensive, intrusive and totally lacking in common sense." The U.S. Education and Justice Departments, in a letter, told school districts nationwide that while the guidance carries no legal weight, they must not discriminate against students, including based on their gender identity. The guidance contained an implicit threat that school districts defying the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or be deprived of federal aid. The White House defended its actions, saying the guidance should not be viewed as a threat but instead as a set of "specific, tangible, real-world advice and suggestions" that many schools had sought and will welcome. "That's what we're looking for: solutions that protect the safety and dignity of every single student in school," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters at a daily briefing, adding that the idea was to prevent discrimination against a range of groups extending beyond the transgender community. The directive came as the Justice Department and North Carolina are battling in federal court over a North Carolina state law approved in March that prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to their gender assigned at birth, while other states weigh similar measures. North Carolina's law was the first to ban people from restrooms in public buildings and schools not matching the sex on their birth certificate. Mississippi has enacted legislation similarly viewed as discriminatory by civil and gay rights groups, and Tennessee and Missouri considered similar measures. The letter to the schools from Washington said that, to get federal funding under existing rules, a school has to agree not to treat students or activities differently on the basis of sex. That includes not treating a transgender student differently from other students of the same gender identity, officials said. The American Civil Liberties Union said the guidance would help make students "free to bring their whole selves to school." In a sign of what defiant states may face, the Justice Department this week asked a U.S. District Court in North Carolina to declare the state in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and order it to stop enforcing the ban. Americans are divided over which public restrooms should be used by transgender people, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed, 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. A group representing U.S. school boards called the guidance "unsettled law." "A dispute about the intent of the federal law must ultimately be resolved by the courts and the Congress, the National School Boards Association said in a statement. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, was less critical than many of his party in several television interviews, saying the issue should be left up to individual states. "Everybody has to be protected ... but it's a tiny, tiny portion of the population," Trump told Fox News. (Reporting by Megan Cassella and Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton in Washington, Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem and Jon Herskovitz in Austin; Editing by Frances Kerry, Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday removed from a U.N. blacklist an Indian-flagged tanker that was recently prevented from shipping oil for the rival eastern Libyan government after Libya's U.N. mission requested the de-listing.

The tanker Distya Ameya was added to a list of vessels under sanctions last month after the rival eastern government's parallel oil company attempted to use it to ship a cargo of 650,000 barrels of crude. The U.N. measure requires states to ban the ship from entering any port around the world.

Libyan Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told Reuters his mission had submitted an official request this week to the 15-nation council's Libya sanctions committee.

A council diplomat told Reuters that there were no objections to the proposed removal of the ship from the U.N. blacklist by the 3 p.m. deadline for members to object.

"No objections or holds to the de-listing went through," the diplomat said.

Dabbashi said the request was made "because of the cooperation of the flag state and the explanation given on the involvement of the ship in the illegal export."

He said the tanker's operators had no intention of getting involved in an improper transaction and had lacked proper information.

Two competing governments, one in Tripoli and one in the east, backed by armed factions, have struggled for control of the North African OPEC state since 2014.

The eastern administration has set up its own National Oil Corporation in parallel to the Tripoli-based NOC.

A U.N.-backed unity government, designed to replace the rival administrations, arrived in Tripoli earlier this year and is attempting to assert authority over the whole country.

Western powers fear any attempt by the eastern NOC to export crude independently would undermine the Tripoli government and further fracture the country along regional lines. The Security Council has banned the sale of Libyan oil by anyone not aligned with the recognized government.

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The eastern NOC claims legitimacy from the government and parliament based in eastern Libya, which received international recognition after armed opponents took control of Tripoli in 2014 and installed rival institutions there.

The new U.N.-backed unity government, which is an attempt to end the conflict, faces resistance from hardliners in both factions, whose rivalries steadily emerged following the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

There will be ministerial talks on providing support for Libya's new unity government in Vienna next week. The meeting will focus on international efforts to bring stability to Libya.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alistair Bell)
The Navy has canned the officer in charge of the unit whose two small boats and 10 sailors were seized by Iran in January, marking the services first public disciplinary action in an international fracas that threatened the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal.

The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command removed Commander Eric Rasch for a loss of confidence in his ability to command following a preliminary inquiry, according to a Navy statement.

At the time of the Jan. 12 seizure, Rasch was serving as the No. 2 officer of Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, a unit in charge of small, coastal vessels. Raschs boss, Commander Gregory Meyer, has been has been put on administrative hold, meaning his career is in limbo while the Navys official probe into the seizure continues.

The episode was a major embarrassment for the U.S. Navy, and the service has taken its time to investigate what took place. The 10 sailors aboard two riverine boats apparently strayed into Iranian territorial waters off Farsi Island in the middle of the Persian Gulf as they tried to sail from Kuwait to Bahrain.

Accosted by vessels manned by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranians videotaped the nine American men and one woman on their knees. Then they were taken to the heavily-defended Iranian island where they were held until a flurry of high-level diplomacy lead to their release the next day. While in custody, one of the sailors apologized on videotape for the snafu, which led Iran to award medals to its sailors who seized the Americans.

I have huge problems with the Iranians boarding our vessels, pointing guns at our sailors, Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., chairman of the House Armed Services Committees seapower panel, told TIME in February. I have huge problems with awarding medals to people for having done that.

Navy officials have said that engine or navigational-gear malfunctions, apparently combined with the sailors inattention, led them to drift into Iranian waters. If that proves to be the case, congressional aides have said, it would represent an indictment of not only poor maintenance in one of the worlds most notorious trouble spots, but a failure of seamanship. Navy officials say higher-ranking officers are likely to face punishment when the service completes its formal investigation sometime in the next month.

Navy officials stress that the U.S. got its sailors safely home, despite whatever international humiliation the worlds mightiest military might have endured in the process.

Retired Marine General Jim Mattis, who led U.S. Central Command (which includes Iran) from 2010 to 2013, told TIME last month that he doesnt know which nation came out on top. I dont think its clear either way, Mattis said. But obviously, it was not something that I could just chalk up to a win on the United States side.
The U.S. Navy said Thursday that an officer overseeing two boats that mistakenly veered into Iranian waters in January has been relieved of command over the embarrassing incident, which nearly triggered a dangerous confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer for Coastal Riverine Squadron 3, which included the boats that sailed into Irans territorial waters on Jan. 12, will be reassigned to another post, the Navy said in a statement.

Rasch was removed due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command, it said, though such an outcome often spells the end of a military career.

Navy officials said the punishment was based on the preliminary results of a military investigation that is expected to wrap up later this month. But by moving against an officer who was not on the vessels that strayed off course, the Navy signaled it was determined to hold the military chain of command accountable in the case.

After entering Iranian waters due to a navigational error, ten U.S. sailors were detained by members of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for 16 tense hours. In a video released by Tehran, the Americans were shown kneeling with their hands on their head, and footage later showed one of the sailors crying.

The crew were not accustomed to operating at such a long distance  about 240 nautical miles from Kuwait to Bahrain  in their riverine command boat, or RCB, a small, swift, craft about 50 feet long used to transport special operations forces, escort larger ships and patrol rivers, ports, and coastal waters. And it was the first time for the crew to be navigating through the Persian Gulf.

One of their boats broke down after they sailed close to Farsi Island, and the crew were repairing the vessel when Iranian forces showed up and surrounded them.

Foreign Policy reported previously that mechanical problems, communication breakdowns, and a lack of navigation training or preparation all played a role in the botched mission, according to officials and others familiar with the case.

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The incident took place just days before a landmark nuclear agreement with Iran entered into force, and the detention of the sailors had the potential to mushroom into a volatile international crisis. In the end, phone calls between top diplomats, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, defused the situation and the sailors were released unharmed.

The handling of the incident and its aftermath sparked criticism from President Barack Obamas opponents in Congress, who said it illustrated how the administration has taken a soft line with Tehran. Some lawmakers also accused the White House of initially withholding some details about the case.

The episode has been closely reviewed by the Navys top brass, as it raised doubts about the forces operations and readiness in one of the worlds most strategic waterways.

Photo Credit: MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty Images
By Emily Flitter NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service is investigating presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's former butler over a Facebook post calling for President Barack Obama's assassination. The former butler, Anthony Senecal, 74, said in a Facebook post Obama should be hanged for treason. He made the statement in 2015, and the magazine Mother Jones wrote on Thursday about the post and other similar remarks by Senecal. Senecal worked for decades as a butler at Trump's Palm Beach mansion, Mar-a-Lago. After reports of Senecal's comments began to circulate, the Secret Service said in a statement, "The U.S. Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation." The story broke as Trump, whose proposals to ban Muslims from entering the United States and build a wall along the Mexican border have drawn heavy criticism, concluded a charm offensive on Capitol Hill. He attended a series of meetings there on Thursday with Republican lawmakers to try to win the party establishment's support for his candidacy. Senecal has not served as a butler to the billionaire candidate since 2009, but he was identified in a March 15 profile in the New York Times as a current employee of Mar-a-Lago, serving as the estate's historian. Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Trump, said in a statement, "Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the president." She declined to comment on the Times report about Senecal's recent role. Senecal did not respond to a call seeking comment and could not be reached by email. "It is time for our Military to drag that fraud out of the white mosque and hang his ass for treason and other high crimes against AMERICA !!!!!!!" Senecal wrote on Sept. 13, 2015, in reference to Obama. Mother Jones reached Senecal on Thursday. The magazine reported that Senecal said of his Facebook comments, including a private comment on Wednesday in which he said Obama should be shot: "I wrote that. I believe that." (Reporting By Emily Flitter in New York; Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
By Joseph Ax

(Reuters) - A federal judge in New Jersey has extended the deadline to Tuesday for U.S. prosecutors to release a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the "Bridgegate" scandal, while she weighs a request from an individual on the list to keep it sealed.

U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark earlier this week had ordered the office of U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman for New Jersey to file the list by noon EDT (1600 GMT) on Friday after a consortium of media companies filed a motion seeking the information.

The court document could reveal how many individuals in the administration of Governor Chris Christie had been aware of the scheme to close down lanes at the George Washington Bridge, a major commuter link to New York City, in what prosecutors say was an act of political retaliation against a local mayor.

Christie, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for his party's presidential nomination this year, has denied knowledge of the plot.

The people on the list have been described in court filings as individuals who joined the conspiracy but have not been criminally charged.

In conspiracy cases, prosecutors do not always charge every person they believe had knowledge of the crime. Investigators may feel they lack evidence to secure a conviction, or the individuals may be cooperating with prosecutors to build a case against others.

The list of names, long a subject of speculation, had been provided by prosecutors to defense lawyers.

One of the unindicted co-conspirators late Thursday filed an emergency motion to stay Wigenton's order, arguing that the release of the list "brands him as a criminal without due process of law." The individual did not reveal his name in the court filing.

In a response filed in the court on Friday, the media companies called the anonymous request a "frivolous and desperate attempt" that came far too late.

Wigenton said she would consider the individual's request for a hearing. The new deadline for the list's release is noon on Tuesday.

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Prosecutors have charged three people in the Bridgegate case.

Two of them, William Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, are scheduled to face trial on charges of wire fraud and civil rights deprivation in September.

The third, David Wildstein, also a former Port Authority official, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Kelly and Baroni arranged for the September 2013 lane closure in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to pay back the Democratic mayor for refusing to endorse Christie's re-election bid, according to prosecutors.

While Christie has not been implicated in the scheme, the release of the list could be an embarrassing distraction for the governor, who is heading up the transition team for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The trial could unfold during the presidential campaign, with the general election set for Nov. 8.

The list may not include every person whom prosecutors believe was aware of the scheme. In court filings, prosecutors have distinguished between two lists of names: unindicted co-conspirators who joined the conspiracy, and others who may have known of the plan but did not actively join.

It is not clear how many individuals might fit into the latter category.

Bruce Rosen, a lawyer for the media companies, said on Friday he has asked prosecutors to hand over the second set of names. If the request is denied, the companies are prepared to file a motion asking Wigenton to order the government to comply, he said.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Richard Chang)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged 21 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria on Thursday in their latest round of daily attacks against the militant group, the coalition leading the operations said in a statement on Friday. The Combined Joint Task Force said 14 strikes in Iraq hit targets near 10 cities, including Mosul, Ramadi and Falluja. The strikes hit seven units of Islamic State fighters, as well as a mortar system, a machine gun and other weapons and fighting positions, among other targets, it said. In Syria, seven strikes near five cities hit six tactical units, seven fighting positions and a bunker, according to the statement. (Reporting by Washington newsroom; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Cook and Kalanick

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was planning a meeting at Apple's headquarters this week, The Information reports.

And now that meeting might be a whole lot more interesting, since Apple made a surprise announcement on Thursday that it's investing $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, Uber's main rival for ride-hailing dominance in China. It's unclear whether the meeting is still scheduled.

As the report notes, Apple and Uber already work together closely.

Apple has tapped Uber to be a prime partner for new App Store and device launches. For example, when Apple launched the Apple Watch in April 2015, Uber was one of the first app demos revealed by Apple's Kevin Lynch.

Uber also buys a lot of iPhones to equip its drivers.

Didi Chuxing is the top ride-hailing app in China, and has been leading a worldwide alliance between Uber rivals. Soon, for example, the Lyft app will be able to book cars from Didi Chuxing's service in China. Those companies, including Ola and GrabTaxi, are sharing technology, market knowledge, and resources.

Currently, Didi users visiting the US can use the Didi app to hail a Lyft car.

"Didi exemplifies the innovation taking place in the iOS developer community in China. We are extremely impressed by the business they've built and their excellent leadership team, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Neither Apple nor Didi has commented on Didi Chuxing's post-investment valuation. Previous reports indicated it was raising at a $25 billion valuation.

Earlier this month, Cook and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick were spotted together at the Met Gala. The two appear to be on friendly terms, and after the news broke, Kalanick didn't seem to be too stressed, cracking a joke on Twitter:

NOW WATCH: Apple just invested $1 billion in this Chinese company





More From Business Insider


By Nate Raymond

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - UBS AG urged a U.S. judge on Friday to reject claims that it should be held liable for $2 billion in losses that investors incurred on mortgage-backed securities issued before the collapse of the U.S. housing market.

Lawyers for UBS made their closing arguments in the non-jury trial in Manhattan federal court in a lawsuit being pursued by U.S. Bancorp on behalf of three trusts established for mortgage-backed securities.

Sean Baldwin, the trusts' lawyer, said UBS turned a blind eye to defects in the mortgages it acquired and packaged into bonds to be sold to investors, relying on vendors hired to do due diligence on the loans whom it considered "negligent or lazy."

"It was a business decision, but it should be held accountable for that business decision," he said.

But Robert Fumerton, a lawyer for UBS, said while the trusts contended thousands of loans were defective under the governing contracts, they had failed to establish those defects were material.

"Not all breaches of the guidelines and not all breaches of the representations and warranties are material," Fumerton said.

The case, being heard by U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel, is one of a handful to go to trial in recent years over losses incurred on mortgage-backed securities, the financial product at the center of the 2008 financial crisis.

The lawsuit follows a related action against UBS by bond insurer Assured Guaranty Ltd over the same mortgage-backed securities. UBS in 2013 agreed to pay $358 million to Assured, which was represented by the same lawyers as the three trusts.

The lawsuit centered on thousands of loans that UBS acquired that were originated by lenders including Countrywide Financial Corp, which it then pooled into three trusts that issued securities entitling investors to payments made by borrowers.

Out of 9,411 loans at issue, 7,440 had realized losses after being liquidated or modified, and that another 768 were over 60 days delinquent, Baldwin said.

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Many of those loans were materially defective and were packaged into the securities despite "red flags" of potential borrower fraud, he said. He pointed to two loans that claimed to be owner-occupied despite being issued to a single person.

"The loans should not have been approved, and the breaches could not have been compensated for," he said.

At the trial's start, Baldwin said $2.1 billion in losses resulted, for which the trusts are seeking to hold UBS liable.

The case is Mastr Adjustable Rate Mortgages Trust 2006-OA2 et al v. UBS Real Estate Securities Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-07322.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday said it was alarmed by Boko Haram's ties to the Islamic State Group and threw its support behind a Nigerian-led regional summit to confront the threat.

The 15-member council said in a statement that it welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari's "crucial initiative" to hold the summit on Saturday, which will be attended by regional leaders and French President Francois Hollande.

The council statement was drafted by the United States as a show of support for Buhari on the eve of the meeting.

The summit should help develop "a comprehensive strategy to address the governance, security, development, socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis," said a council statement.

The council expressed "alarm at Boko Haram's linkages with the Islamic State" and voiced "deep concern that the activities of Boko Haram continue to undermine the peace and stability of the West and Central African region."

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS last year and Nigerians have been reportedly fighting in lawless Libya, as well as having ties with Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the wider Sahel.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are among the senior foreign dignitaries expected in Abuja on Saturday.

The council renewed its call for regional countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger in a multinational joint task force to "further enhance regional military cooperation and coordination" to root out Boko Haram.

It demanded that Boko Haram "immediately and unequivocally cease all violence and all abuses of human rights" and "release all those abducted" including the 219 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Nigeria in April 2014.

Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world" in 2014. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since 2009.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Friday it was ready to take "necessary measures" to overcome the crisis in Guinea-Bissau after the president sacked the government and demanded that the ruling party choose a new cabinet.

The 15-member council said in a unanimous statement that the military must not intervene and called for dialogue.

President Jose Mario Vaz sacked his entire government on Thursday and said he was asking the ruling party to piece together a government able to pull the country out of crisis.

The council expressed "its readiness to take necessary measures to overcome the current situation," said Egyptian Ambassador Amr Aboulatta, the council's president this month.

Council members "reaffirm the importance of the continued non-interference of the defense and security forces in the political situation," said Aboulatta.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered multiple military coups since independence in 1974 and the army continues to play a heavy role in politics.

During a visit to the country in March, Security Council envoys underlined the need for its institutions to be allowed to function normally.
North American Rail Traffic Saw Double-Digit Slump

US weekly rail traffic

Every Wednesday morning, the AAR (Association of American Railroads) releases the weekly rail traffic data for the previous week. The latest report is for the week ended May 7, 2016. In this week, the total US railcars went down by ~233,000, reflecting a double-digit fall of 15% from 273,500 units in the week ended May 9, 2015. Last week, the US intermodal traffic slumped by 6.4% to 260,000 units from ~278,000 units during the same period in 2015.

Three out of ten carload commodity groups posted volume growth in the week ended May 7, 2016. These are miscellaneous railcars, chemicals, and grains. The commodity groups that posted a fall in the reported week were coal, down by 33.5%, followed by petroleum products and metallic ores and metals products.

Canadian and Mexican rail traffic

In the latest reported week, Canadian rail traffic recorded a decline in both railcars and intermodal. They reported a fall of 17% in railcars in the week ended May 7, 2016, compared with the corresponding period in 2015. These rail carriers recorded a fall of 4.5% in the intermodal traffic units in the latest reported week of 2016, compared with last year.

In the reported week, the Mexican railroads intermodal offered some respite. Their volumes of intermodal units went up slightly by 1.7% in the reported week of 2016. However, railcar volume fell by 3.5% in the same week.

North American freight traffic

There are 13 railroads that submit weekly data. These carriers handle about 95% of the total US and Canadian freight traffic. Class I railroads account for the lions share of freight rail movement. These are BNSF Railway (BRK-B), Union Pacific (UNP), Norfolk Southern (NSC), CSX (CSX), Kansas City Southern, Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), and Canadian National Railway (CNI).

Investors interested in dividend ETFs can opt for the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (VIG). This All US Class I railroads are part of VIGs portfolio.

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For more information on the previous weeks rail traffic, read Market Realists Week Ended April 30: North American Rail Traffic Falls, Mexico Up. In this series, well take a look at all major US railroads rail traffic for the week ended May 7, 2016.

Continue to Next Part

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Washington (AFP) - The officer in charge of 10 US sailors who were briefly captured by Iran in the Persian Gulf was relieved of his command, the Navy announced.

Commander Eric Rasch "was relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement, adding he has been temporarily reassigned to a new role.

The decision is the first time a sailor has been held publicly accountable after two US riverine patrol boats veered off course into Iranian territorial waters off Farsi Island in the Gulf.

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Tim Hawkins said other sailors have also been held accountable, but he would not say who these were because the incident remains under investigation.

"The commander of US Fifth Fleet took administrative action involving personnel assigned under his authority," Hawkins told AFP.

"Administrative action can range from verbal counseling to a formal letter of reprimand."

The Navy probe is expected to be wrapped up by the end of the month and will be released publicly soon after.

Though the sailors were held for less than 24 hours, the incident was a major embarrassment for the US Navy and President Barack Obama.

The United States carefully avoided escalating the situation, maintaining a conciliatory tone with Tehran days ahead of the implementation of a historic international deal over Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian media broadcast humiliating images of the American sailors during their detention, showing them kneeling on their boats at gunpoint with their hands on their heads.

The US military says the incident was caused by navigational and mechanical problems.
Washington (AFP) - A US Navy officer will stand trial on espionage charges for allegedly handing military secrets to Taiwan and China, an official said Friday.

Prosecutors say Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin committed a string of offenses including espionage, mishandling classified information and failing to follow lawful orders. He was also accused of adultery and using a prostitute.

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Tim Hawkins told AFP the commanding admiral in the case, Philip Davidson, this week ordered Lin to stand trial at a court-martial.

Lin must answer to all the original charges -- except the adultery and prostitution allegations.

The charges of "prostitution and adultery were dismissed without prejudice, meaning further punitive or administrative action may be taken," Hawkins said.

According to his charge sheets, Lin communicated "secret information relating to the national defense to representatives of a foreign government."

Officials have said he gave secrets to China and Taiwan, and potentially other countries.

Lin's defense lawyer Larry Youngner has said his client was entrapped in a "nefarious scheme" by government officials. Youngner did not immediately return a call Friday.

Prior to his arrest, Lin, 39, was assigned to a special squadron based out of a Marine Corps air base in Hawaii that flew special intelligence-gathering planes.

Lin will be arraigned Tuesday at a naval station in Norfolk, Virginia.
Washington (AFP) - The US government is ready to loosen a ban on arms exports to Libya, in a bid to help the country's fledgling unity government fight the Islamic State group, officials and diplomats have told AFP.

Under White House-backed plans, the United Nations would carve out exemptions to an embargo introduced by the Security Council in 2011, during Moamer Kadhafi's failed attempt to suppress a popular uprising.

"If the Libyan government prepares a detailed and coherent list of things that it wants to use to fight ISIL and responds to all the requirements of the exemption, I think that Council members are going to look very seriously at that request," a senior administration official told AFP.

"There is a very healthy desire inside of Libya to rid themselves of ISIL, and I think that is something we should be supporting and responding to," the official said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Kadhafi's regime was deposed with the help of NATO airpower in 2011 and he was ultimately killed in October of that year, but the country has been in turmoil since.

Dozens of militia groups have carved up the country into virtual fiefdoms, and two rival governments have been formed.

Western nations and many Libyans have watched in horror as the jihadist IS group has emerged from the chaos to control a swathe of central Libya around Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

With its port and airport, there are fears the jihadists could use the Mediterranean city as a staging post for attacks on Europe.

They have already hit nearby oil installations, choking much-needed oil revenues.

The Pentagon earlier this year estimated that as many as 6,000 Islamic State fighters were in the country, with a standing call for foreigners to join them.

US President Barack Obama's administration and its European allies have been eager to help the government establish itself and take on the jihadists.

When asked earlier this year about his greatest mistake in office, Obama cited Libya: "Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya."

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But the West has had to avoid the risk of appearing to interfere and, in so doing, undermining the fragile government.

- 'What are your needs?' -

Officials in Washington, Rome and elsewhere have recently toned down talk of sending a contingent of troops to the country to train and assist Libyan fighters, instead waiting for the government to request help.

"All the talk about what we might do, or could do, it responds to the needs of the Libyan government. When we talk about training or we talk about equipment, we are having a conversation about 'what are your needs?'" said the US official.

US actions in Libya have been limited to strikes against a suspected Islamic State training camp and a suspect believed to be involved in deadly attacks in neighboring Tunisia.

The US has also covertly sent a small group of special forces to Libya to gather intelligence and liaise with some militias, according to The Washington Post.

Loosening the arms embargo will be discussed when US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with his counterparts from regional powers in Vienna on Monday.

But it is not yet clear what weapons Libya might request and diplomats warn the government may struggle to come to that meeting with a concrete request amid factional fighting.

The UN-backed Government of National Accord is still very much a work in progress, struggling to extend its writ across Tripoli and the country.

Many militias refuse to come under government control, including those under the command of powerful renegade general Khalifa Haftar.

Officials and independent observers say that Haftar has received substantial military support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, calling the strength and utility of the embargo into serious question.

Other militias have been linked to Al-Qaeda.

If the arms embargo is to be eased, officials and diplomats say Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj will have to find a force both willing to fall under government control and battle jihadists who have shown they will fight to the death.

IS fighters, including two suicide bombers, on Thursday killed four Libyan fighters and wounded 24 in their latest foray into territory controlled by the government.

Sensing an attack may come soon, jihadists have begun pushing toward the coastal town of Misrata.

Sarraj's government will also have to address concerns about foreign arms falling into the wrong hands or fueling militia rivalries.

"There is no unified chain of command, there are still factional armed forces that are still more focused on fighting each other than on fighting ISIS," said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The real danger is that these factional militias would use the arms against each other."

Meanwhile the government has taken small steps to take control of ministries and begin to eke out a truly national military.

Earlier this week the government announced the creation of a "Presidential Guard" to protect government buildings, border posts, vital installations and VIPs.

"It's incremental progress, but it is tangible," said the US official.
Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal said on Friday that big-name players would still want to come to Old Trafford even if the club failed to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Tuesday's 3-2 defeat by West Ham left United fifth in the Premier League table, just outside the top four Champions League spots on offer to English clubs, heading into Sunday's final round of domestic top-flight matches.

Now United must beat Bournemouth and hope fourth-placed Manchester City lose to Swansea on Sunday if they are to qualify for the Champions League.

Such is City's vastly superior goal difference that a draw, barring a freakishly huge United win, would see them into the Champions League at their local rivals' expense.

But Van Gaal insists that United's ability to attract players will not be affected by their possible failure to qualify for next season's Champions League.

And the Dutchman is pressing ahead with close season plans and drawing up summer transfer policy with the club's hierarchy, despite the intense scrutiny over his own future at Old Trafford.

"Last year we were also in that situation and in the end we qualified," Van Gaal said.

"And still there were players that I wanted that we didn't purchase because you are dependent on a lot of circumstances. I can't discuss that with you because it's a question for the board not the manager."

- Creative players -

Van Gaal, however, acknowledged that FA Cup finalists United must improve their attacking play next season.

"I am always evaluating and always adapting to the situation where we stand for," he said.

"It's always the same, you have to evaluate yourself but also your staff and players, and then with that kind of people you have to communicate and listen to each other and that I'm doing. That shall be done also next season.

"The principles are always the same, except when one of the members of my staff or players or board members can convince me of other arguments.

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"I can say that we have to improve still. I don't think we have to improve defensive organisation too much, now we have to score more in our attacking way.

"That is also what I have said before this season a- we need creative fast players in attack. We have to change that, and that is very important."

Van Gaal was not mentioned by United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward as he announced financial figures on Friday that showed the club were on course to earn more than half a billion pounds in a single year.

Neither in a written statement nor in a subsequent conference call with investors -- which reporters could listen to but not participate in -- was Van Gaal referred to amid ongoing speculation he could be replaced by his one-time Barcelona assistant and former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

However, Woodward stressed the importance of United's youth system, something which many fans felt Van Gaal only reluctantly called upon when an injury crisis left him with little choice this season.

United's reputation for producing their own first-team players dates back to the 1950s and Woodward said on Friday: "As we look back on our season, I am delighted by the emergence of our young players.

"In the last two seasons alone, some 15 players from our Under-21 squad have appeared 130 times in our first team.

"Marcus Rashford made an immediate impact, scoring goals on his debut in Europe and then two more on his Premier League debut against Arsenal.

"Three of our regular first-team players -- Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard, (Cameron) Borthwick-Jackson -- are locally-born academy players, who have been with the club since they were eight-years-old."
By Crispian Balmer VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican played down on Friday expectations that Pope Francis might be ready to ordain women as deacons after he had raised hopes among liberal Catholics by promising to set up a commission to study the issue. Deacons are ordained clerics who sit just behind priests in the Church hierarchy. They can officiate at baptisms, funerals and weddings, but are not allowed to celebrate Mass, hear confessions or anoint the sick. The role is reserved for men, who, unlike priests, can be married. During a question-and-answer session with nuns on Thursday, the pope was asked if a commission could be created to study whether women might also serve as deacons. "It would be good for the church to clarify this point. I agree," the pope replied, setting off a mammoth debate that spilled out into the media on whether Francis was poised to rock the Church and crack open the all-male clergy. But 24 hours after Francis's comments, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi moved to head off any such speculation. "One has to be honest. The pope did not say that he had any intention of introducing ordination for female deacons, much less priestly ordination for women," he told Vatican radio. "It would be mistaken to reduce the many important things that the pope said to the nuns to this single question." The Church teaches that women cannot become priests because Jesus willingly chose only men as his apostles. However, St. Paul refers in the bible to a deaconess called Phoebe, leading liberal Catholics to argue that there is clear precedent for women to play a much more important role in Church life. Conservative Catholics would certainly put up fierce resistance to any such a move, eager to preserve clear and separate roles for men and women within the Church. After his election in 2013, Pope Francis swiftly ruled out ordaining women priests. However, he stirred concern among traditionally minded Catholics over what they perceive as his liberal leanings on a range of other issues, from divorce to the use of contraception. Earlier this year, he overturned centuries of tradition that banned women from a foot-washing service during Lent, upsetting conservatives and delighting women's rights activists. Church liberals had hailed his call for a commission to look into the question of deacons. "I cant underscore enough how groundbreaking this is for the Church," said Father James Bretzke, Professor of Moral Theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. "It's clear that Pope Francis, I believe, is trying to move toward institutionalizing a greater leadership and service role for women in the Church," he added in emailed comments. The Vatican did not say when the promised commission would be set up or what it would be asked to do. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong was in court Friday for the last day of a trial over pro-democracy protests, as he faces two imminent verdicts and a possible prison sentence.

Teenage Wong was at the forefront of mass rallies in 2014 which brought parts of the semi-autonomous city to a standstill as residents called on Beijing to allow fully free elections for future leaders.

He has been in and out of court hearings for the past year after being charged with multiple offences linked to protests leading up to what became known as the "Umbrella Movement".

Wong, now 19, has always argued that the cases against him are political persecution.

Friday saw final arguments in a case where Wong and two other young protest leaders were charged over climbing into a Hong Kong government complex forecourt known as Civic Square on September 26, 2014.

That protest triggered wider rallies that exploded two days later when police fired tear gas to disperse crowds.

Wong faces charges of taking part in an unlawful assembly and inciting others to do so, which carry a jail term of up to five years.

Defence lawyers argued that authorities should not have fenced off Civic Square -- previously a popular protest site open to the public -- in the febrile months before the Umbrella Movement.

"The reason why this problem has arisen is because there are people that are not allowing them to go in," said Michael Chai, a lawyer defending Wong's fellow protester Nathan Law.

"There was no damage to Civic Square...the force used was the mildest possible," added Wong's defence lawyer Randy Shek said.

The prosecution argued the fact they climbed into the square was unlawful and that the protest was pre-planned.

Wong did not comment Friday but has previously said he was preparing for a possible jail sentence.

The verdict will be handed down on June 29.

He will also face a verdict on May 23 in another case over an anti-China protest in the build-up to the pro-democracy rallies.

Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being returned to China by Britain in 1997, with much greater freedoms than seen on the mainland.

But there are fears those freedoms are being eroded by increasing interference from Beijing.
Tim Dubnau knew that helping lead a strike of almost 40,000 workers against Verizon Communications was going to be tough. But he had no idea that he would find himself, as he did on Wednesday, crammed in the back of an unmarked white van, terrified, being chased through the streets of Alabang, a city on the outskirts of Manila, by a group of armed men on motorcycles.

And the situation only got more tense when the men surrounded the van, forcing it to pull over, and called in a SWAT team of heavily armed Philippine police officers.

It was like being in a movie-they were dressed all in black with masks and automatic rifles, Dubnau recalled in an interview with Fortune. At first they were demanding that we get out. One officer even hit the door with his gun. But we didnt open up, we knew our rights.

Inside the van with Dubnau, an organizing coordinator at the Communications Workers of America union, were three visiting strikers from the United States. They were joined by representatives from a local call center workers group called BIEN Pilipinas, fellow local labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), and the international telecommunications union Uni.

To gain a little extra publicity for their cause, the group had tried to visit a Verizon office near one of the third-party call centers the company uses to handle some U.S. customer service duties. Instead of just being ejected and told to go home, the group was followed by a private security group from the Verizon building and chased through the streets.

After police arrived on the scene, as captured on phone videos viewed by Fortune, a local KMU representative got out of the van to negotiate a truce. Both sides agreed to go to the nearby District 3 police station in Alabang, where the matter was sorted out. Everyone was allowed to go home and the police filed no charges.

The over-the-top reaction by local Verizon officials, however, was just the latest move on both sides in a now month-long strike that seems to be escalating further each day. Verizon has accused union members in the United States of vandalizing company lines and following and harassing replacement workers. The union has taken its picket lines nationwide, called for a boycott of Verizons popular wireless service, and even tried to impose severance and stock-based compensation restrictions on management via shareholder proposals at the companys annual meeting last week in Albuquerque.

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Despite all the heat, theres been little progress in negotiating a settlement. The employees who went on strike generally work from Massachusetts to Virginia installing and servicing Verizons wireline telephone and FiOS Internet and television service. They had been working without a contract for nearly 10 months when they walked out on April 13.

The two unions involved, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, say they cannot accept Verizon proposals that would allow additional outsourcing of call center workers to the Philippines and Mexico, greater use of nonunion contractors, and the assignment of employees to other cities for up to two months at a time.

Verizon says is offering a 7.5% wage hike for the new contract over the next few years but also needs new work rules to gain greater flexibility and lower costs as its telephone business shrinks and its wireless business becomes ever more important. Last year, for example, the wireless unit brought in revenue of $91.7 billion, up 5% from a year earlier, and an operating profit of nearly $30 billion. The older wireline unit, which also includes wired video and Internet service, brought in revenue of only $37.7 billion, a 2% decline from the year before, and an operating profit of just $2.2 billion.

In some ways, the call center employees in the Philippines, who work for third parties that contract with Verizon, are caught in the middle.

They are paid less than $2 an hour in regular wages. After the strike began, they were required to work an additional shift-- a sixth day per week--plus one to two extra hours of overtime on their normal shifts. But promised overtime pay covering the extra hours has not been forthcoming, according to BIEN. Some call center workers protested by intentionally slowing their work and by reaching out to the U.S. strikers via the worlds most used social network, Facebook.

We started to investigate on our own why are the U.S. workers on strike, one call center employee told Fortune in a telephone interview from the Philippines. He asked that his name not be used to protect his job security. On Facebook, we saw the [U.S.] workers started to have protests, so we made contact.

The Facebook messages quickly escalated into a plan to meet in the Philippines and draw further attention to Verizons use of low-cost, outsourced labor.

When the CWA representative and Verizon workers arrived in the Philippines this week, they participated in a rally on Wednesday outside one of the call center offices in Quezon City near Manila. After passing out leaflets and talking with the workers there, they headed off to the local Verizon headquarters where the confrontation became much more dangerous.

Verizon declined to comment about details of events in the Philippines. But the company accused the union of wasting money and failing to help resolve the strike by sending its representatives across the Pacific.

Why in the world would the CWA, led by president Chris Shelton, spend tens of thousands of dollars to send a dozen or so CWA members to the Philippines for a fancy vacation at a time when 36,000 of our employees are lucky to get $200 a week from a union strike fund?, Verizon said in a statement to Fortune. Union members need to ask Chris Shelton and other union leaders whether they really think this perplexing tactic will lead to a new contract and bring our employees back to work where they get excellent wages, healthcare and retirement benefits.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
For the first time, visitors to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour in London will be able to enter the Dursleys' home at 4 Privet Drive, where Harry Potter grew up alongside his aunt, uncle and cousin Dudley.

Previously, visitors were only able to pose outside the family home of the Harry Potter film set.

But beginning May 27 for a limited time, the doors to the Dursley family home will open, offering an inside look at the family's quirks and eccentricities.

Visitors will behold little details like Dudley's school certificates "for always eating up his lunch," decorative ceramics, family portraits as well as the pretentious outfits worn by Mr. and Mrs. Dursley.

The salon will also feature the letters used in the film in an art installation meant to recreate the scene in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" when Hogwarts sends hundreds of letters shooting through the fireplace and the letter box.

The letters will be suspended in air to freeze-frame the moment.

Privet Drive opens at the Warner Bros Studio Tour London -- The Making of Harry Potter May 27 and runs until June 6.
MONTREAL (Reuters) - WADA's incoming director general said on Thursday he'd consider asking the International Olympic Committee to retest samples of Russian athletes from the Sochi Games, following allegations of systemic doping in that country. Olivier Niggli said the World Anti-Doping Agency would investigate allegations made by the former director of Russia's anti-doping lab in the New York Times, and could ask the IOC to retest samples if it deems the information useful. "If it's meaningful and if we agree with scientists that there is evidence to get from there, then of course," he said in an interview following a meeting held by the Montreal-based agency. While the cost of retesting could limit WADA's ability to probe frozen athletes' samples from the 2014 Sochi Olympics, athletes have called for action in the wake of the Russian allegations. "I think that retesting of samples has to be done in an intelligent and focused manner," said Beckie Scott, chair of the WADA athletes' committee and a former Canadian Olympic champion. "That being said, it could happen. Obviously now, with the report that came out in the NY Times, there is increased pressure and reason to do so." Before the Times's revelations, the IOC told the Associated Press it "would not hesitate" to retest drug samples from the Sochi Winter Games if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated. Despite its limited budget, WADA is coming under increased pressure to investigate and expose doping to ensure a level playing field in the run up to the Aug. 5-21 Rio Summer Olympics. WADA approved plans on Thursday for a program by year's end to better protect whistleblowers and to recover costs from countries that fail to comply with its drug-testing policies. "When a country is declared non-compliant we will be asking to recover the costs we had to invest," said Niggli, who becomes director general in July. Niggli said WADA would also discuss the future possibility of fining a country's anti-doping agency if it is deemed non-compliant. Money generated through the fines could be used to improve the agency's activities. "Why wouldn't WADA do that when all financial regulatory bodies, when they go and investigate the companies, they fine (them)," he said. "And they use that money to actually fund their organization and their program." (Reporting by Allison Lampert; Editing by Frank Pingue)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT is set to report first quarter fiscal 2017 results, before the opening bell on May 19. Last quarter, this retail giant posted a positive earnings surprise of 2.05%.

We note that the company has beaten earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters, missed estimates in one quarter and matched the same in the remaining quarter, making for an average positive surprise of 1.17%.

Lets see how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors to Consider

Wal-Mart has been delivering positive comps in the U.S of late as a result of lower fuel prices, which eased consumers spending power. E-commerce has also contributed to the companys sales. The company expects the trend of positive comps at Wal-Mart U.S. to continue in the soon-to-be reported quarter.

Wal-Mart expects U.S. comp sales growth of around 50 basis points for the 13-week period ending Apr 29 compared with 1.1% comps growth last year. While lower fuel prices will provide some tailwinds, food deflation, mainly in meat and dairy products will remain a challenge. Sams Club comp sales, without the impact of fuel sales, are expected to be flat compared with 0.4% growth last year.

However, the Bentonville, AR-based company is facing severe challenges and showing signs of acute weakness. Wal-Mart expects to incur huge e-commerce expenses. In an effort to compete with the biggest online retailer Amazon.com AMZN and to improve customer service, Wal-Mart is aggressively investing in its e-commerce business. Wal-Mart's focus on e-commerce will in turn lower profit margin potential, given shipping costs and price competition involved in it.

In addition, Wal-Mart is facing intense competition on all fronts, ranging from dollar stores to traditional grocery store chains and online business. Its international operations are also under pressure with a stronger dollar eating into sales. At the same time, Wal-Mart projects slower growth in small format Express stores due to price competition from local grocers in some markets.

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As a result, the company plans to close 269 stores in the U.S and globally, which will affect about 10,000 jobs domestically and will eliminate 6,000 jobs overseas, with a majority of the international impact relating to the closures in Brazil. These store closures will also impact fiscal 2017 net sales growth.

Wal-Mart has also pledged to invest $2.7 billion for raising employees wages and give them extra training in fiscal 2017. Under the initiative, Wal-Mart had increased its minimum wage to $9 an hour in April, and to $10 per hour in Feb 2016. The initiative of paying higher wages will further raise the expense burden on the retailer. Higher labor costs along with the companys efforts to overhaul its stores and invest in its online operations will weigh on its earnings.

The company anticipates higher wage investments to hurt the first quarter more on a year-over-year basis than in subsequent quarters.

In the first quarter of fiscal 2017, earnings are expected in a range of 80 cents to 95 cents per share, compared with the prior-year quarters earnings of $1.03 per share. Currency is expected to negatively impact earnings by 3 cents.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that Wal-Mart is likely to beat earnings this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. That is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: Earnings ESP for Wal-Mart is 0.00% as both the Zacks Consensus Estimate and the Most Accurate estimate stand at 88 cents.

Zacks Rank: Wal-Marts Zacks Rank #3 increases the predictive power of ESP. However, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about a positive surprise.

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Sell-rated stocks) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some consumer staple companies, which are worth considering, as our model shows that they have the right combination of these two elements:

Best Buy Co., Inc. BBY, with an Earnings ESP of +2.94% and a Zacks Rank #2.

The Home Depot, Inc. HD, with an Earnings ESP of +1.50% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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Greedo confronts Han Solo in A New Hope (Photo: Lucasfilm)



Last week, the New York Daily News posted an exclusive story pegged to Star Wars Day (May 4): Paul Blake, the actor who played Greedo, confirmed that Han Solo shot first. Of course, it said it all in the original script, we played in the scene in English and at the end of the scene, it reads, Han shoots the alien.  Blake told the paper of the bar shoot-out in 1977s Star Wars: A New Hope. The story was widely recirculated and became a trending topic on social media, but heres the thing: Han shot first isnt actually news. Though director George Lucas digitally altered the scene for the 1997 Special Edition, theres never been a question that, originally, Han killed Greedo before the bounty hunter could take a shot. If the actual footage wasnt enough to prove it, Hans smoking gun is mentioned in a widely available fourth draft of Star Wars, as well as in the shooting script (which was tweeted out by Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew earlier this year). So why is it headline news that Paul Blake  who didnt even play Greedo in the whole scene  said it? The answer, I fear, is that fans are thirsty for new trivia about the original Star Wars trilogy, even though that particular well has run as dry a Tatooine desert.



Theres simply nothing new under the two suns. Another headline-making Star Wars item from the past month  that Obi-Wan was originally supposed to survive his battle with Vader  is also common knowledge among aficionados, and appears in easy-to-find online sources like the Star Wars wiki. And then theres the behind-the-scene Star Wars documentary Elstree 1976, which opened on Friday to unenthusiastic reviews. Its not that the stories told by the films minor players are boring; its that all the die-hard fans have heard them before. Of course we have. Weve already seen hours of behind-the-scenes footage in documentaries and DVD extras, read dozens of books about the making of the films, and fallen down countless internet rabbit holes filled with B-roll footage and concept art.

Not that this has discouraged us from seeking out more. Last year, energized by the buzz around The Force Awakens, I published several articles about how iconic Star Wars moments were created, including a deep dive into the cantina scene that involved multiple interviews and months of research. While I would happily write a whole book of such articles, Im also cognizant of the fact that Ive uncovered nothing new. Correction: almost nothing. I did obtain two never-before-published casting cards of background actors  hardly a headline-making scoop, but that kind of minutiae is all thats left to find at this point.



George Lucas with Alec Guinness on set of A New Hope (Photo: Lucasfilm)



Ironically, the reason were running out of behind-the-scenes Star Wars lore is that George Lucas did his job so well. Long before we all had retweet buttons, Lucas was mythologizing the creation of his masterpiece: filing obscure paperwork and props in the Lucasfilm archive, commissioning Ken Burns to direct a making-of documentary, and following the lead of fans by meticulously cataloging every movie creature and character from the prequels onward. The publicity department at 20th Century Fox helped the process along, conducting extensive interviews with all of Star Warss key players even before the cameras started rolling. On The Empire Strikes Back, a unit publicist literally walked around set with a tape recorder, documenting the cast and crews conversations. As a result, we know an astonishing amount about how the first Star Wars films were made.

Why, then, are first-generation fans like myself still hungry for trivia we havent heard before? Probably because its our way of getting closer to the Star Wars universe. Like J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gene Roddenberry, George Lucas created a sprawling sandbox that everybody wants to play in. Some of us literally grew up playing in it, our childhoods filled with Luke and Leia action figures, Ewok stories on read-along records, and droid-themed activity books. As adults, I think unearthing those new bits and pieces of Star Wars lore helps us recapture that sense of discovery.

Theres also a kind of purity to the creation of those original films. Back then, the idea of a big-budget film trilogy was unheard-of, and the special effects were wildly experimental. Behind the scenes, the cast and crew were frequently baffled by Lucass vision, but they coasted on a giddy sense of possibility  the same one the audience felt when they entered that alien cantina for the first time. To learn how the films were made is to witness the messy birth of a modern mythology, and its hard not to get swept up in it.



Final scene of A New Hope (Photo: Lucasfilm)



And therein lies the silver lining of the Star Wars knowledge glut: like any mythology, there will always be different retellings. And the more people chime in, the less straightforward the story becomes. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Star Warss most entertaining and least reliable narrator, Carrie Fisher, for continuing to spin wild tales about her time on set. She has playfully hinted at affairs with George Lucas and Harrison Ford without ever confirming or denying a single fact. She has talked about how, in the final scene of A New Hope, she is openly laughing at Mark Hamill because hed burst a blood vessel in his eye during the trash compactor scene and looked ridiculous. That is actually impossible, because Hamills eye injury occurred over a month after the medal ceremony scene was shot. Fisher is a born storyteller, and whether shes obfuscating the truth or its been blurred by time (or all the cocaine she says she did on set), she delights in planting seeds of doubt in the minds of know-it-all fans.

Lucas also left some welcome blanks for fans to fill in. The filmmaker went through dozens, if not hundreds, of versions of the Star Wars saga, leaving room for plenty of speculation about his intentions. Former Lucasfilm advisor Craig Miller recently revealed George Lucas had planned a whole trilogy about Boba Fett, which, sure, he probably did at some point! Those plans may even be buried somewhere in the Lucasfilm archive, a vast treasure trove of ephemera that still has  as Lucasfilm exec Pablo Hidalgo told me  a few big holes.

Those big holes only apply to the original trilogy, though. No one will ever have to do more than an internet search to find discarded plot points or names of background aliens in The Force Awakens or its sequels. The slow unearthing of Star Wars trivia is already a thing of the past. Fortunately, Lucass universe is still thriving and expanding  its just that new fans wont quite grasp its legacy of mystery and happenstance, the low-budget inventiveness and enormous risk-taking that brought Stars Wars into being. Going forward, Star Wars fans will have every detail they want to know at their fingertips, along with Han Solos reassurance that everything that happened in the original trilogy is true all of it.
On May 10, 2016, we issued an updated research report on leading oilfield services company, Weatherford International Ltd. WFT.



Weatherford lowered its free cash flow guidance for 2016 to $400$500 million from the earlier projection of $600$700 million. Further, the company expects revenues and earnings to deteriorate in North America and Latin America during the second quarter of 2016. In short, the companys short-term picture looks gloomy.



Though the companys expenditure on exploration and production activity levels are gaining traction, we believe that this might be partially offset by competitive pricing and continuing margin pressure from excess capacity. In addition, Weatherford could be more adversely impacted than its peers, if the North American market underperforms. The reason is that a significant portion of its revenues comes from this region. Weatherford believes that the depressed natural gas and oil price environment will be a drag on its earnings.



Although secular growth opportunities are available for the companys new technologies such as Directional drilling and Artificial lift, it may take some time as well as considerable investment in research and development and marketing before the new technologies achieve critical mass.



Weatherfords debt-heavy balance sheet, its incapability to generate strong free cash flow as well as competition from larger peers are causes for concern.



However, with crude prices plunging over 50% since Jun 2014, most of the drillers have been compelled to make significant reductions to this years capital expenditures. This is expected to hamper Weatherfords business in 2016 as it assists the drilling firms in setting up oil wells.



Nonetheless, the measures undertaken by Weatherford to reduce costs both through direct cost reduction in view of the major downturn as well as its overall cost structure should result in a more efficient and better run company going forward. With revenue trends projected to surpass peers, the company is expected to witness improved earnings performance in 2016.



Further, Weatherford is aligning its organizational structure to keep up with the changing market conditions which, in turn, should greatly aid financials. The company is planning to shut down and consolidate several of its operating facilities across North America by the end of this year.



Stocks to Consider



Currently, Weatherford carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some better-ranked stocks in the oil and gas sector include CVR Refining, LP CVRR, Transocean Partners LLC RIGP and Braskem S.A. BAK. All these sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).



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By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Western Canadian crude stocks dropped by almost 1 million barrels last week and could decrease further due to massive wildfires in northern Alberta that shut down nearly half of oil sands output, energy intelligence firm Genscape said on Friday. Companies including Suncor Energy and Imperial Oil shut in more than a million barrels a day of production as a precaution against an uncontrolled blaze that forced all 88,000 residents of nearby Fort McMurray to flee the town 10 days ago. Data from the week ending May 6 showed crude inventories monitored by Genscape in Edmonton and Hardisty, Alberta, and Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, fell to 25.6 million barrels, down 4 percent from the previous week and 10 percent from record levels a month earlier. The vast majority of projects affected by the wildfire are still offline or in the process of restarting operations, and many industry players expect to see another draw next week. Genscape analyst Dylan White said the inventory draws were likely to be short-term as production returns, but there were many variables at play. Since last Friday's data companies such as Statoil ASA and Husky Energy have announced complete shutdowns at some oil sands projects, while Shell Canada said production had resumed at very reduced rates at its Albian Sands mine site. "Stocks could decrease in the next month due to seasonal trends and normal fluctuation, but long-term draws are not expected as a result of the recent wildfires," White said. Traders in Calgary said the draw on storage inventories had helped dampen moves in price differentials, which strengthened during the wildfire outages but have not moved as dramatically as they did during smaller wildfire production cuts last year. Light synthetic crude from the oil sands for June delivery last traded at $1.10 per barrel above the West Texas Intermediate benchmark, according to Shorcan Energy brokers, up from 95 cents a barrel over the benchmark on Thursday. Western Canada Select heavy blend crude for June delivery tightened to $11.90 per barrel below WTI, having settled at $12.30 per barrel below the benchmark the previous day. (Editing by David Gregorio)
Several Western officials walked out of Ugandan President Yoweri Musevenis swearing-in ceremony Thursday, after he mocked the International Criminal Court (ICC) in his inaugural speech.

Museveni called the court a bunch of useless people during his welcoming remarks as he was sworn in for a fifth term, extending his rule to 35 years, Reuters reports.

Among those in attendance was Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted by the ICC on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur between 2003 and 2008. Al-Bashir denies the courts authority and has flouted arrest warrants in the past when he traveled to South Africa last year.

In response to President Bashirs presence and President Musevenis remarks, U.S. State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said at a Thursday press briefing, the U.S. delegation, along with representatives of the E.U. countries and Canada, departed the inauguration ceremonies to demonstrate our objection.

But al-Bashirs presence was not the only controversy surrounding Thursdays inauguration. Ugandan opposition leaders have said Musevenis re-election campaign was marred by fraud and intimidation. And the U.S. said the election was deeply inconsistent with international standards and expectations for any democratic process, noting in particular the arrest of main opposition candidate Kizza Besigye.

[Reuters]
Robert Pattinson is best known for his role of Edward in the Twilight franchise, but the man who turns 30 this year has some other films under his belt that dont feature people who totally suck. Blood. Sometimes our pal Robbie Pats combs down that wild hair and trots out his acting chops outside of Washington State. Here are three of his best non-Twilight movies.

Before his ad-fang-tures with Bella, Pattinson was in another massive franchise  Harry Potter. He helped make a name for himself by playing the part of Cedric Diggory, a classmate of Harrys turned competitor in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The part was a small one, but Pattinson fit the bill as Diggory, a talented and popular wizard student at Hogwarts. The film itself is one of the best in the Potter series and is worth viewing. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is available to rent on iTunes.

David Cronenberg is thought to be one of Hollywoods most visually distinct filmmakers, and this film featuring Pattinson in the lead role only reinforces that view. The London-born actor stars as a Wall-Street type who sees his goodwill and fortune left in ruins when his bet made against the exchange rate of the yuan turns sour. Though the film wasnt universally liked by critics, they did give credit to Pattinson for taking a role that had more nuance than that of a moody, immortal vampire. Cosmopolis is available to rent on YouTube.

Before Mad Max came storming back into theaters, another well-received dystopian film set in the Australian outback was released. Set 10 years after a global economic collapse, the film features Pattinson starring as Rey, a man who gets left behind after a heist with his brother and partners goes poorly. He runs into Eric, a mysterious stranger played by Guy Pearce, who is out to recover the car Pattinsons brother stole. This movie got somewhat mixed reviews, but Pattinsons performance was held in high regard. The Rover is free to stream with an Amazon Prime membership.

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How Neighbors 2 Organically Became a Movie About Feminism:

What do you think? Prefer another non-Twilight movie to the ones we mentioned? Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below.
Toddlers put small, nonfood objects in their mouths -- that's what they do. As a parent, you breathe a sigh of relief when kids grow old enough to know better. But don't relax your vigilance just yet. Teens and tweens put cigarettes, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes in their mouths all too often -- that's what they do. Read on as experts describe trends in teen smoking, explain why kids are prime marketing targets and suggest how parents can either prevent their kids from starting or encourage them to quit.

[See: 7 Things You Didn't Know About Lung Cancer.]

When Dr. Cora Breuner talks one-on-one with kids about smoking, she appeals to their intelligence and desire to look out for themselves. "They should be aware of what marketers and advertisers have known for a long, long time -- there are a lot more nicotine receptors in the brains of kids below 18 years of age," says Breuner, a professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital and the University of Washington. "If you don't flood those receptors with nicotine, they just fade into the woodwork and go away."

It's difficult to get someone 30 or older to start smoking, says Breuner, who heads the Committee on Adolescence for the American Academy of Pediatrics. That, she says, is why tobacco advertising has been geared to kids over decades past, when young children were found to be just as aware of Joe Camel as Mickey Mouse.

Platforms may change, but marketing to youth persists. Kids aren't exposed to tobacco-industry ads on TV anymore, Breuner notes, but they see smoking in movies and online, in music videos and on YouTube and elsewhere. "I say this to kids: 'You know that the tobacco industry is a huge, multibillion-dollar enterprise that is aware that young smokers can easily become addicted to nicotine. You don't need to fall into this trap.'"

Veering to Vaping

Over the past two decades, smoking rates dropped among adults and kids alike -- for traditional cigarettes or cigars. The percentage of high school students who reported current cigarette use dropped from nearly 16 percent in 2011 to slightly more than 9 percent in 2014, according to the National Youth Tobacco Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

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But that's just part of the picture. Overall tobacco use by students failed to drop during that period, the survey found. Rising use of e-cigarettes and hookahs by students offset the healthy decrease in their use of traditional tobacco products.

E-cigarettes indeed qualify as tobacco products, says Vince Willmore, vice president of communications with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "They contain nicotine that's derived from tobacco, and they meet the definition of tobacco products that are in the law," he says, pointing to last week's FDA announcement of sweeping new rules that will require e-cigarette devices and ingredients to undergo review.

That's certainly a step in the right direction, Willmore says. Proven, large-scale methods for reducing smoking include hiking cigarette taxes to significantly boost the price of a pack, he says, and mass-media efforts like the CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign, which educates the public about the disastrous effects of smoking in a vivid way.

Last week, California became the second state (after Hawaii) to raise the age for buying tobacco products to 21, joining more than 145 cities and counties throughout the country. That, Willmore says, adds a new tool to the anti-tobacco arsenal.

[See: 10 Concerns Parents Have About Their Kids' Health.]

Nicotine in and of itself is harmful, research suggests, particularly to younger brains that are still developing. So a shift toward e-cigarettes is a "double-edged sword," says Steven Kelder, co-director of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living at UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin, Texas.

"Those of us that have been working in the tobacco-control movement for the last 30 years love it that cigarette rates are going down," says Kelder, who helps lead the school's Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science on Youth and Young Adults. In short, he says: "Cigarettes are bad -- real bad." Cigarettes contain tar and carbon monoxide, he says, among a host of chemicals known to cause cancer. E-cigarettes don't contain those ingredients, which is a plus. But nicotine exposure is a negative, no matter how you consume it, he says, making vaping a questionable choice.

Teen brains are wired to make risky decisions, Kelder notes. "The prefrontal cortex finishes maturing the last, and that's the place where you have more advance reasoning and you can start projecting what the consequences of your actions are," he says. Until then, he says, kids and even young adults have less impulse control over their own behavior: "Almost by definition, they're going to stick things in their mouth. The question is, do we want them to have e-cigarettes versus something safer or better?"

Hookahs and little cigars come with health concerns as well, Kelder says. An evening spent huddling around the hookah (or water pipe) is roughly equivalent to smoking two packs of cigarettes, he says. Little cigars contain the same hazardous ingredient as cigarettes, while offering youthful users a variety of flavors.

Reaching Kids

Parents play an important role in preventing kids from smoking or helping them quit before the habit takes too strong a hold. Being a role model by not smoking is foremost, while quitting gives kids another kind of good example.

If you are a parent who smokes, Breuner says, you can still take care to avoid certain messages. Don't say things like, "I need a cigarette to calm down," she advises, or complain about gaining weight if you try to quit.

When kids smoke, zero tolerance is the best strategy for parents, Breuner says. That means making and consistently reinforcing restrictions, such as no smoking inside or within 100 yards of the house. "Really make it difficult for a kid to smoke," she says. "And don't cave in."

As a physician, Breuner says, heaping dire warnings about long-term cancer risk or breathing problems likely won't get young smokers to stop. First, she says, kids have to want to quit. "Once you get a wedge in the door, then it's, 'Do you really want to kiss your boyfriend with cigarette breath?' Or, 'Do you really want more wrinkles on your face? Do you really want your fingers to look yellow? Do you really want your teeth to look yellow?'"

[See: 10 Surprising Habits Killing Your Teeth.]

Among other smoking-cessation treatments, a type of counseling called motivational interviewing has been shown to help kids (and others) quit smoking. Motivational interviewing helps people explore and resolve uncertainties about changing their behavior, according to the Cochrane Collaboration. Rather than taking an aggressive or confrontational style, it steers people toward changing their behavior to reach their own goals and encourages self-belief in their ability to do so.

Health care providers need to keep up with smoking trends, Breuner says. Even today, she says, pediatricians and other doctors tend to ask only about smoking or chewing tobacco. "They should include other products as they take a patient's current medical history," she says. "You have to ask about e-cigarettes or vaping. Kids will tell you if you ask, but they aren't going to offer that."

Prevention is golden, of course, and parents can eventually take heart, Breuner says: "If you can get a kid past 21 and not have them smoke, you're done. You can cross that off the list."

Lisa Esposito is a Patient Advice reporter at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn or email her at lesposito@usnews.com.
Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes participates in the Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RTS2G78

The White House is pushing back on a report in The Daily Beast that quotes top national-security official Ben Rhodes saying that he's "not proud" of US policy in Syria.

The Daily Beast quoted Rhodes as telling Syrian-American activists at an event on Wednesday that the US doesn't have "any good options" in Syria.

"We aren't proud of our Syria policy  but we don't have any good options ... nothing we could have done would have made things better," Rhodes reportedly said, according to three people present at the event who spoke to the publication.

He reportedly added, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad: "We're not the ones killing Syrians. Assad is the one killing people."

Ned Price, spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, told Business Insider in a statement that Rhodes "in no way indicted or distanced himself from our Syria policy."

"He has consistently explained US policy toward the conflict, which is what he did in this case (as evidenced by the other quotes)," Price said. "What is true is that he lamented the level of suffering the Syrian people have endured."

The US has faced criticism over its Syria policy and its reluctance to try to force Assad, whose forces have massacred thousands of civilians, from power.

One activist at the event, Ibrahim Al-Assil, a fellow at the Middle East Institute, told The Daily Beast that he spoke to Rhodes at the event.

"I told him I'm disgusted with his policy and that he doesn't care about Syrian lives," Al-Assil said.

Here's Price's full statement:

Ben in no way indicted or distanced himself from our Syria policy. He has consistently explained U.S. policy toward the conflict, which is what he did in this case (as evidenced by the other quotes). What is true is that he lamented the level of suffering the Syrian people have endured.

Beyond that, we will not rebut point by point a secondhand account of an impromptu conversation that took place two days ago following an award ceremony honoring Ben. Ben has repeatedly made the point that the United States will continue to do everything we can, in concert with our international partners, to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people, who have been brutalized at the hands of the Assad regime and, in other regions, ISIL. He also explained, as he has done publicly many times before, why we have not pursued additional military action against Assad, including a no-fly zone; we see no military solution to the civil war. We all acknowledge the tremendous suffering of the Syrian people, and no one should be satisfied with the status quo. That's why we continue to work toward a transition away from Assad just as we prosecute a relentless campaign against ISIL.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: A German orchestra traveled to Jordan to teach Syrian refugee kids how to play instruments





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Jim Chanos, the hedge fund manager who was one of the first to detect problems at Enron, says the accounting at Alibaba Group is as problematic as the now-defunct, corrupt energy company. Chanos specializes in short selling, or betting that certain stocks will go down.

Chanos says that Alibaba , like Enron, uses off-balance-sheet entities that make it impossible to know how much money the Chinese e-commerce giant is actually making.

The accounting at Alibaba is some of the most questionable I have ever seen for a major multi-billion market cap company that went public [in the U.S.], says Chanos, who has said in the past that his fund, Kynikos Associates, is betting against Alibabas shares.

Chanos made the comments about the Chinese Internet giant on Thursday at the SALT hedge fund conference in Las Vegas.

The most problematic aspect of Alibabas accounting, Chanos believes, has to do with its delivery operations. He says packaging up orders that people make on the website and getting those packages to the customers doors is a core part of Alibabas business. Yet Chanos says the operations of that business--notably the costs of doing all those deliveries--are excluded from the earnings that Alibaba reports to its American shareholders. Thats because Alibabas delivery operations are part of an unconsolidated separate entity that the internet commerce giant does not include in its financial statements.

The result Chanos says is that much of the companys cashflow gets sucked up by these affiliated businesses. What the company is really earning we dont know, says Chanos. My experience with Chinese companies is that what you dont know is generally not good news.

Chanos is one of several investors who have raised red flags about Alibaba and its accounting. Back in September, John Hempton, who runs Australian hedge fund Bronte Capital, said Alibabas numbers looked like they had been faked.

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In the past Alibaba has said that it stands by our reported financials and operating metrics." The company could not be reach for comment.

Chanos says that if investors were able to see Alibabas complete financials they would see that the companys returns on capital are plunging. What I like to remind people is that Alibaba was a thief, he says.

See original article on Fortune.com

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From Cosmopolitan

In the late 2000s, one of my favorite things to do (besides put disinfectant ointment on my navel piercing or try on jewel-toned velour tracksuits) was watch The Pickup Artist on VH1. The host, Mystery, had a tattoo of a pair of women's lips on his neck, a soul patch (with a labret piercing right through the middle of it like a bull's eye), and a large, fuzzy faux fur top hat with steampunk goggles strapped around it. On the show, he advised shy, introverted dudes falling somewhere on the dorky spectrum on how to hit on women.

One of his most popular techniques was negging, where a man gives a backhanded compliment to a woman in order to get her to desire his approval. He had all the answers and brand-new-to-the-dating-scene 19-year-old Dana was fascinated.

But, as an adult, I now know two things that the contestants on that show should have figured out before signing their contracts with VH1: Men who look like Mystery don't get laid and never trust someone with a dead Muppet on their head. And openly insulting women? Not the best way to get a girl in your bed, bro.

But I digress. The Pickup Artist was where I first heard the term "friend zone." And I really wished Mystery had never introduced that term into America's lexicon. Because when I hear "friend zone," I immediately think of all the hallmarks of "bro culture." If there was a Bro Culture Museum, it would be filled with red Solo cups, unopened boxes of Magnums, shitty cologne, Ray Ban classic wayfarers, and an entire room would be dedicated to the term "friend zone."

The problem with the "friend zone" is that it's a reaction to a woman's lack of consent. A man lands in the "friend zone" as the result of a woman essentially saying, "I want you in my life, but I don't want to sleep with you," and instead of respecting that woman's boundary, the man typically ends up doing three things:

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Moping about it. Talking to friends about it behind her back. Trying to get her to change her mind in weird ways instead of doing it with any genuine sincerity (i.e. doing favors).

A woman doesn't want to date a depressed man. She doesn't want to date a bitter or resentful man. She doesn't want to date someone who talks about her behind her back. She doesn't want to date someone who tries to manipulate her. And she certainly doesn't want to date someone who doesn't respect her.

Because here's the thing: A guy who says he's in the friend zone is assuming that the girl who friend-zoned him doesn't have a brain in her head. I will guarantee these guys that, at some point, the woman they're agonizing over has thought about dating them. She has made up her mind not to pursue them. That decision may have taken five seconds or five months, but it happened. And anyone trying to do things to get her to change her mind is working under the assumption that a woman can't make up her own mind and needs someone to do it for her.

I don't allow men into my life who would ever use the term "friend zone" to refer to their relationship with any woman. Because one of the hallmarks of a strong friendship is respecting each other's boundaries and doing things for the other person out of the kindness of their heart - not just for the possibility of a sexual encounter.

And because my real friends - my true, respectful, lovely male friends - know that if I hear another dude with American flag swim trunks on his dad's boat tell me he is in the friend zone, I will not hesitate to push him overboard, no doubt ruining the leather on his Sperry Top-Siders.
Value investing is always a very popular strategy, and for good reason. After all, who doesnt want to find stocks that have low PEs, solid outlooks, and decent dividends?



Fortunately for investors looking for this combination, we have identified a strong candidate which may be an impressive value; Manulife Financial Corporation MFC.



Manulife Financial in Focus



MFC may be an interesting play thanks to its forward PE of 10.1, its P/S ratio of 0.9, and its decent dividend yield of 3.7%. These factors suggest that Manulife Financial is a pretty good value pick, as investors have to pay a relatively low level for each dollar of earnings, and that MFC has decent revenue metrics to back up its earnings.



But before you think that Manulife Financial is just a pure value play, it is important to note that it has been seeing solid activity on the earnings estimate front as well. For current year earnings, the consensus has gone up by 6% in the past 30 days, thanks to 2 upward revisions in the past one month compared to no downward revisions.



This estimate strength is actually enough to push MFC to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), suggesting it is poised to outperform. So really, Manulife Financial is looking great from a number of angles thanks to its PE below 20, a P/S ratio below one, and a strong Zacks Rank, meaning that this company could be a great choice for value investors at this time.



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 >>



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MANULIFE FINL (MFC): Free Stock Analysis Report



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A "sixth sense" may protect drivers when they're a bit distracted behind the wheel  but not if they're texting while driving, a new study finds.

Drivers in the study were able to stay in their lanes when researchers distracted the participants with challenging questions, the researchers said. This likely happens because the brain subconsciously corrects for any mistakes that are made, the researchers said.

But when the drivers were asked to text while behind the wheel, they tended to drift between lanes, said the study, published today (May 12) in the journal Scientific Reports. The work was led by researchers at the University of Houston and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, and was funded in part by the Toyota Class Action Settlement Safety Research and Education Program. [Understand the 10 Most Destructive Human Behaviors]

Normally, "the driver's mind can wander, and his or her feelings may boil, but a sixth sense keeps a person safe, at least in terms of [avoiding] veering off course," Ioannis Pavlidis, a professor of computer science at the University of Houston and the lead author of the study, said in a statement.

"What makes texting so dangerous is that it wreaks havoc into this sixth sense," Pavlidis said.

In the study, 59 participants were asked to drive, in a driving simulator, down a challenging stretch of virtual highway under normal, nonstressful conditions. Then, the participants drove the same stretch under three different stressful conditions: cognitive stress, during which the driver was asked mathematical or analytical questions; emotional stress, during which the driver was asked "emotionally stirring" questions; and "sensorimotor" stress, "where the driver needs to move [his or her] eyes and one hand between the car's controls and the smartphone all the time." In this study, the sensorimotor stressor was texting.

The researchers measured every driver's biological stress response during each condition by looking at how much the driver was sweating around the nose. They also measured how many times the driver drifted into another lane.

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In all of the stressful situations, the drivers' stress levels went up, the researchers found. In addition, the increased stress levels were associated with jittery handling of the steering wheel, which could result in drivers drifting into other lanes, the study said.

However, when drivers were challenged cognitively or emotionally, they were able to correct for these "jitters" and stay in their lanes, the researchers found. It was only when the drivers' hand-eye coordination was disrupted, such as while texting, that they drifted into other lanes, the study said.

The "sixth sense," or the ability of drivers to correct their driving mistakes, may come from the part of the brain called the anterior cingulate cortex, the researchers wrote.

This part of the brain "is known to automatically intervene as an error corrector" when there is a problem, Pavlidis said. For example, if a jittery, stressed-out driver turns the steering wheel to the left, the brain responds instantaneously by steering back toward the right, he said. This ensures that the driver's steering is straight, he said. [10 Things You Didn't Know About the Brain]

But this "sixth sense," or subconscious correction, requires hand eye-coordination, the researchers said.

When drivers text at the wheel, they interrupt the necessary hand-eye coordination, and the brain no longer immediately corrects the mistakes, the researchers wrote.

Still, the results of the study don't give people license to let themselves get distracted while driving. The researchers noted that extreme levels of cognitive and emotional stress would lead to unsafe driving, and that the threshold for the amount of stress that could cause unsafe driving is unclear.

Follow Sara G. Miller on Twitter @saragmiller. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
eu brexit

The UK's biggest terrestrial TV commercial broadcaster ITV said on Thursday that worries over Britain's referendum on its EU membership have led to "uncertainty in the UK advertising market."

As a result, the broadcaster has lowered its ad revenue forecast in the first half of 2016  after its net advertising revenue shrunk by 13% in April.

Earlier this week, Jonathan Allan, director of sales at ITV rival Channel 4, blamed the slowdown in overall TV advertising spend partially on the EU referendum.

"About quarter of it is Brexit," Allan told Campaign.

It could be argued that this is evidence that Brexit  and the lead up to the referendum next month  would be bad for the ad industry and ad spend. Many leading figures, including WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell and Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy, have spoken strongly in favor of the Remain campaign.

Big majority in room at Advertising week (industry folk) for in... #aweurope pic.twitter.com/ZC5zU7nc1q  Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) 19 April 2016

In WPP's latest quarterly earnings, Sorrell raised concerns about the impact of the EU referendum in June, although he said the company still expected a strong performance in the second half of the year.

Sorrell said: "In the immediate future, we face the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom in June, where it is generally agreed by both sides that an out vote will result, at least in the short term or mid term, in GDP weakness in the UK, the EU and possibly globally, let alone further political and economic uncertainty in the UK around Scottish independence and further disintegration of the EU."

That said, WPP said the outlook for the year looked similar to 2015, in spite of the looming Brexit decision.

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So why do media and advertising companies in the UK keep referencing the Brexit when it comes to their performance outlook?

There's a general view in the industry that "uncertainty" holds marketers back from spending money on advertising. But that setback may only be a temporary blip.

Ian Whittaker, head of European media research at Liberum Capital agreed: "My personal view is that it will get back to normal pretty quickly. What you tend to find is that the impact of uncertainty tends to get overestimated.

Obviously it depends on how we vote, Whittaker said. "If we vote to remain, the general view would be that there will be a sense of relief and then [money will] come back into the market."

He added: If its leave  we would have the initial shock, but people would return back to normal relatively quickly.

Why is there uncertainty in the UK TV ad market now?

So, if there won't be a massive effect on the industry over whether the UK exits or remains in the EU, then why should companies be hesitant to spend on advertising in the months leading up to the vote?

"What you've got is people saying: 'I don't really need to spend this now, why don't I just wait and see what happens? Whittaker said.

Ian Twinn, director of public affairs at ISBA, the representative body for British advertisers, said one theory is that there is often a decline in ad spending at times of important political change.

In general elections, for instance, ad spend can drop, he said. Peoples minds are elsewhere. They are not necessarily concentrating on the latest car or what food to eat.

Could ITVs recent decline in ad revenue be a result of a move towards digital?

ian whittaker liberum

Everyone we asked agreed that Brexit affected spending in the UK ad market during the uncertain time leading up to the vote to a small extent. However, some considered that UK media companies could be using uncertainty caused by the EU referendum to cover up more long-term trends away from traditional TV advertising.

The other reason you could look at is the shift away from terrestrial television and more traditional media, like print, to digital, Twinn said. Thats a trend thats been going on for some time.

James McDonald, a data analyst at Warc, agreed: One of the prime drivers of total industry growth last year was the strong increase in investment on mobile formats, chiefly search, but also display formats such as banners, video and social.

We expect the rapid growth in this area to maintain as the spend continues to mirror media consumption habits, and indeed it is unlikely a Brexit will affect the current trajectory either way, he said.

NOW WATCH: Here's what would happen if everyone on Earth jumped at the same time





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CHICAGO (Reuters) - The wife of a white Chicago police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a black teenager said her husband is "not the monster" people think he is, the Chicago Tribune reported on Friday.

The wife of officer Jason Van Dyke, Tiffany Van Dyke, in an interview with the newspaper said he is not a trigger-happy, racist cop as he has been portrayed, but a gentle man who wanted to make a difference in law enforcement and loves his two daughters.

"He is not the monster the world now sees him as," she told the paper. "He prays for Laquan and his family. (The shooting) is not something he ever wanted to do."

Jason Van Dyke, 38, has declined to speak with the media since his arrest last fall, when he was charged with first-degree murder almost a year after he shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. The October 2014 shooting was captured on patrol car dashboard camera videos, but not released publicly until last fall.

The video's release came at a time of heightened national debate over policing, especially the use by police of excessive force against black men. It prompted weeks of protests, led to the firing of Chicago's police chief, a federal investigation of the police department and calls for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to resign.

McDonald family spokesman, Marvin Hunter, could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday. He told the Tribune he feels compassion for Van Dyke's family, but has little sympathy for the officer, saying he acted as "judge, jury and executioner."

Anne Kavanagh, media coordinator for Jason Van Dyke's attorney, Dan Herbert, said the family was no longer doing interviews and "the comments in the Chicago Tribune story stand for themselves." Herbert has said his client feared for his life and those of his fellow officers, and Van Dyke would prevail in court.

Van Dyke, who was suspended without pay after he was charged, pleaded not guilty to murder and is on bail pending the trial.

The Tribune also spoke with Van Dyke's father, Owen, who said he and his wife would continue to support their son, who he said was not a murderer. Van Dyke's African American brother-in-law, Keith Thompson, told the paper the shooting was not premeditated and not motivated by racism.

(Reporting by Justin Madden, Editing by Ben Klayman and Andrew Hay)
Rome (AFP) - World number one Serena Williams said she won't be eating dog food again after giving in to temptation, and coming close to upsetting her plans for a fourth Italian Open crown in Rome.

American star Williams beat compatriot Christina McHale 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 on Thursday to set up a quarter-final meeting with Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova.

A year after retiring following her opening match due to an elbow injury, Williams is looking for her first triumph in Rome since 2014 as she builds form ahead of the defence of her French Open title in Paris later this month.

But post-match, it did not take long for talk to turn to her off-court antics. On social media, Williams set tongues wagging when she claimed to have eaten "a spoonful" of her pet Yorkshire terrier's tasty-looking salmon and rice dish at her Rome hotel, telling her followers: "Don't judge me."

In the video, posted on the popular Snapchat platform, she claimed the food tasted "a little bit like a house-cleaner thing" and admitted she needed an urgent trip to the bathroom hours later.

Coming from one of the most famous and successful women athletes in the world, it raised eyebrows but Williams replied to queries on Thursday by saying: "I'm not the most serious person off the court. On the court I am, but off the court I don't have a serious bone in my body."

Smiling, she added: "In fact, I have been told I need to grow up a lot."

Admitting she was feeling no serious ill effects of the incident, she added: "No, thank God! But I don't know how my dog eats that. I guess he's okay with it."
A woman in Lawrence, Kansas, was beaten and held against her will for six days in April by a man she met on the dating app Tinder.

The Lawrence college student  whose name wasn't released  met 30-year-old Shane Steven Allen on Tinder and was kidnapped after their second date, Lawrence Journal-World reported.

Allen subsequently abused the woman throughout the six-day period, refusing to take her home per her multiple requests. On April 18, he agreed to finally take her home when she told him she wouldn't contact the police. Later that day in the hospital she was found to have two black eyes, scrapes, bruises and other injuries.

Allen is being held in the Douglas County Jail, and if convicted of the five felony charges, he could face 32 years in prison. In addition, his profile has been wiped from the Tinder platform.

Shane Steven Allen

A Tinder spokesperson released the following statement on the incident in an email to Mic:

"We are truly shocked and saddened by these events. Our thoughts are with the victim and we will work with law enforcement to help with this investigation. The suspect has been removed from our platform.

People with bad intentions exist everywhere. Tinder has become one of the largest social platforms in the world, with 10 billion connections made in just the last few years, and therefore we are not immune to this, despite the fact that it represents a minuscule percentage of our experiences. We take our users' safety very seriously and continuously advise our community of millions of users to be vigilant, report any suspicious activity and pay attention to our health and safety recommendations available on the app and online: https://www.gotinder.com/safety. If a crime has been committed, we encourage users to report it to local law enforcement. We will fully cooperate with law enforcement to aid in any investigation that involves Tinder."





A cursory search for stories about online dating that resulted in violence, "online dating murder" to be specific, reveals tragically and unsurprisingly there have been an unsettling number of instances in the past few years. According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence, three women die each day because of intimate partner violence. Mic's own Jenny Kutner wrote about 14 women who were brutally attacked for rejecting men  which is exactly what happened with the woman in Lawrence.

According to Lawrence Journal-World, Allen's abusive spree was sparked when he believed his date to be flirting with his friends.

The question stands as to what responsibility these dating apps have to keep women safe. But the root of the problem is evident, and it's not dating apps. Men murder women every day, dating apps are just another platform for men to find their targets.
From Cosmopolitan

A Pennsylvania woman was murdered by her boyfriend and had her phone recording the whole thing, local police say. Wesley Webb, 40, got into an argument with her boyfriend, 43-year-old Keith Smith, on May 2, and started to record the dispute on her phone.

According to the Times of Chester County, Smith can be heard shouting at her, "You want to record it now, bitch?" Then the sound of a gunshot can be heard; police say Smith then shot Webb in the chest with a 12-gauge shotgun. He then is heard saying, "Fuck you! How's that? That's where we just went." Smith then reportedly fired the gun at himself in a failed suicide attempt. The audio kept recording until the police arrived; the recording will be admissible in court under Pennsylvania's wiretap law.

Three children were in the house at the time of the killing; two were Webb's children, Madison and Matthew, and the third was Smith's child. They came downstairs, saw the aftermath, and called 911. Smith has been charged with first-degree murder, third-degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime, and endangering the welfare of children, according to WPVI-TV. He is in the hospital in stable condition.

"This was a savage, selfish, and cowardly murder," Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan said in a statement. "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."

Wesley's sister and brother-in-law have set up a GoFundMe account to help care for Madison and Matthew, and start a college fund for them. They have raised more than $27,000 in four days. The aunt and uncle are fighting for custody of the two of them and planted a Japanese maple tree in Wesley's brother's backyard in her memory.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A 37-year-old Brownsville, Texas, man was killed after being struck in the head and neck early on Wednesday by a falling 6-foot-long, 6-inch-diameter pipe while working at Exxon Mobil Corp's Beaumont, Texas refinery, a sheriff's office spokesman said on Thursday.

Miguel Barron was on an elevated platform working on a heat exchanger when he was struck by the pipe at about 12:30 a.m. CDT (1.30 a.m. ET) Wednesday, said Deputy Marcus McLellan, public information officer for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

Barron was initially treated by the refinery's emergency medical personnel but had died by the time Jefferson County deputies arrived at about 1:30 a.m., McLellan said.

An Exxon spokesman declined on Thursday to discuss the accident.

Barron was an employee of AltairStrickland, a subsidiary of Emcor Group Inc, that specializes in refinery and chemical plant unit overhauls and revamps.

"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," said Mava Heffler, vice president of marketing and communications for Emcor.

U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators have been sent to the refinery, said Juan Rodriguez, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor in Houston.

AltairStrickland is working on a planned overhaul of the Beaumont refinery's small crude distillation unit.

A Beaumont law firm announced on Thursday the agreed settlement of a lawsuit stemming from a 2013 fire at the refinery that killed two workers.

The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, said Robert Tharp, a spokesman for the law firm of Provost Umphrey, which brought the suit against the companies on behalf of the families or the two men.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by Diane Craft)
Susannah Mushatt Jones, the worlds oldest person, died at the age of 116 on Thursday, May 12, Robert Young, a consultant at her public housing facility told the Associated Press. The Alabama-born former nanny, who received the Guinness World Records title in July 2015, was born in 1899, four years before the Wright brothers took their first flight in 1903.

PHOTOS: Celebrity Deaths in 2016: Stars Weve Lost

Ms. Jones was the very last American from the 1800s, said Young, whose gerontology research group manages a database of the worlds longest-living people.



Jones passed away at the senior housing facility in Brooklyn where shes lived for the past three decades. Young told the AP that Jones had been ill for the past 10 days.

Celebrity Health Scares

Jones said in a 2015 interview with USA Today that bacon and sleep was her secret to a long life. According to the paper, she had a sign in her kitchen that read Bacon makes everything better.



She is survived by 100 nieces and nephews, but had no children of her own.

PHOTOS: Stars Gone Too Soon

A 116-year-old woman named Emma Morano, who resides in Italy, is now unofficially the worlds oldest person, according to Young.



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Photo: New York Daily News/Getty Images.

Susannah Mushatt Jones, who was believed to be the worlds oldest woman and the last living American born in the 1800s, died in Brooklyn, NY, on Thursday, according to The Guardian.

Jones was just a month and a half shy of her 117th birthday, which she would have celebrated on July 6.

At 116 years old, Jones lived through every major event of the 20th century. She was 21 years old when women got the right to vote, in her 60s during the civil rights movement, and 32 when the Empire State Building was built.

According to Business Insider, Jones said her long life was due to her family. Though she never had children of her own, she had a large extended family, who supported her and cared for her in her old age. Also important? Her favourite indulgences: bacon, chewing gum, and sexy lingerie  which she once wore to an EKG appointment, according to Time.

The doctors and nurses were surprised to see her wearing that lingerie, and she said, Oh, sure, you can never get too old to wear fancy stuff, her niece, Selbra Mushatt, told the magazine.

With Jones passing, the oldest person in the world is now believed to be Emma Morano of Verbania, Italy, who is also 116. Morano is a few months younger than Jones was.

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(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is standing by its procedures for wiring funds after facing scrutiny in the wake of the $81 million cyber heist at the Bangladesh central bank, a letter released by a congresswoman on Friday showed.

The New York Fed was responding to criticism lobbed by U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, who had called for a probe of the fund transfers triggered by the February cyber attack on Bangladesh Bank.

Criminals tried to withdraw $951 million from Bangladesh Bank's U.S. bank account in what ranked as one of the largest cyber heists in history. They succeeded in transferring $81 million.

In the April 14 letter Thomas Baxter, general counsel and executive vice president at the New York Fed, said the correct procedures were followed in approving five transfers of money on Feb. 4 and in blocking 30.

Baxter said the New York Fed's procedures for checking transfers included catching those to people subject to sanctions but would not stop a transfer if it had passed the authentication process on the SWIFT messaging network.

"The vast majority of authenticated instructions received from foreign official account holders are not flagged for manual review by the automated systems," Baxter wrote in the letter.

Authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere are still trying to figure out how hackers carried out the attack and what happened to the money, which was routed from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Fed to accounts in the Philippines.

Maloney said in a statement on Friday that while Baxter's letter provided key information about the incident, she remained "concerned that there are critical security gaps in the international payment system."

Maloney said she would urge the New York Fed to review its security protocols to make sure such a heist does not recur.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Though headquartered in Louisville, Ky., Yum Brands (YUM) is often associated with its ubiquitous presence in China. The owner of fast food chains KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell filed to spin off its China business into its own publicly traded company with the SEC on May 3. The new company will be called Yum China Holdings and the spin-off is expected to happen later this year.



Were creating two powerful independent companies that are interdependent on each other. Chinas going to be spun off but its going to be Yums largest licensee and pay a licensing fee to Yum, Yum Executive Chairman David Novak told Yahoo Finance.



The spin-off comes at an interesting time, as its China business, which Novak says accounts for 35% of Yums revenue, is on the upswing. Among Yums brands, KFC accounts for the largest piece of its pie in China; KFC represents 75% of Yums operating profit in China and posted 12% same-store sales growth last quarter.



China, while having served as a bright spot for Yum for the past decade, has also presented its fair share of challenges, given the countrys volatile market, food safety concerns and increased competition. Last year, the company opened 2,365 new restaurants, 743 of them in China, and the company expects to open 600 more this year. Yum has 400,000 employees in China alone.



Novak believes the spin-off is a logical step for Yums growth strategy. Though Chinese customers once had an insatiable appetite for American fast food, its been increasingly difficult to impress them. Thats why the company has been forced to innovate with new promotions like chicken bucket deals tied to the Lunar New Year. Well be able to self-fund all of our growth in China, he says. Well have free cash flow and become more a China pure play. China has earned the right to go off and become a public company.



Novaks next chapter

Novak has been a part of the Yum family for over 30 years: he joined the company as CEO of KFC North America in 1994, served as Yums CEO from 1997 to 2012 and has since stepped into the role of executive chairman. He is retiring at the end of this month. Shares of Yum rose 850% during his tenure as CEO.



But Novak says one of his proudest accomplishments has been his ability to shape Yums work culture (hes been known to hand out rubber floppy chickens and cheeseheads as symbols of recognition). Hes sharing his experiences and lessons in his new book called O Great One! A Little Story About the Awesome Power of Recognition.



He says there is a global recognition deficit, and writes in the book that 82% of people believe their supervisor doesnt recognize them for what they do. If youre a leader, look at your leadership as a privilege. You can really use that privilege by showing people that they matter and you recognize what they do, he says. If you use recognition to reinforce the behaviors that you know are going to drive your company, I guarantee youre going to have a great team and a great environment.



Novak was a monumental player at Yum, but believes the companys best days are still ahead. I think Yum brands is an incredible company, he says. Were in a state now where were changing for the better.
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  May 13, 2016  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL), Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL), JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) and Air France-KLM SA (AFLYY).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Thursdays Analyst Blog:

Earnings Beats Galore for Airlines: Is All Well Otherwise?

As the first-quarter earnings season draws to a close, we take note of the impressive bottom-line performances posted by many of the airline stocks. On taking a closer look at the releases, it is clear that cheap oil has notably benefitted the airlines bottom lines.

It is a well-documented fact that cheap oil has helped airline stocks cut operating expenses to a great extent. The substantial savings has thus helped the carriers boost their shareholder-friendly (dividends, buybacks) and employee friendly (profit sharing) activities.

Is Cheap Oil to Be Thanked?

The first quarter of 2016 has seen major airline companies like Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL), Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) and American Airlines Group Inc. ( AAL), among others, report better-than-expected earnings. Meanwhile, we can take a look at the factors that might have brought about the earnings beats in this quarter.

Oil prices have been weak for over 18 months. Given the extended period of the slump, it is quite natural analysts had already taken this major tailwind for airlines into consideration while arriving at their earnings per share estimates. With cheap oil already factored in, we believe that the reason behind the earnings beats lies elsewhere.

Despite the obvious benefit from the plummeting oil prices, the airline industry is not free from headwinds ranging from passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) woes, strengthening of the U.S. dollar and terror attacks. In view of these headwinds, the earnings per share estimates have been trimmed over the past few months. With the bar (pertaining to earnings estimates) being lowered significantly, courtesy the drastic downward revisions, it is of little surprise that most carriers have managed to beat the (highly conservative) Zacks Consensus Estimate in the first quarter.

Story continues

It is also to be noted that oil prices have recovered to a great extent over the past few months. Currently, oil is hovering around the $45 a barrel mark, reflecting a significant increase from the 12-year low of $26.21 recorded in February. Thus, it is clear that low oil prices have not been the factor behind the outperformance by the airlines this quarter.

In spite of the impressive earnings performances in the first quarter, there are a number of headwinds prevalent in the airline space. Lets take a look.

Roadblocks

The main headwind threatening stocks in the space is with respect to a key revenue metric PRASM (a measure of sales relative to capacity for a carrier). As in the past few quarters, this key metric impacted the top line of the carriers in the first quarter too. For instance, sector heavyweights such as Delta, United Continental and JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) reported lower-than-expected revenues in the quarter hurt by unit revenue woes. Lower fuel surcharges on international flights due to weak oil prices have been one of the main reasons behind the persistent decline in PRASM. Consequently, plunging oil prices have become a double-edged sword for carriers.

That PRASM will continue to hurt the stocks going forward too can be made out from the second-quarter projections for the metric. For example, United Continental expects consolidated PRASM to decline in the band of 6.5% to 8.5% for the second quarter while American Airlines forecasts a 6% to 8% drop in the metric. Capacity-related issues have also been an adverse factor.

Moreover, airline stocks have been hurt by the frequent terror attacks which have affected demand to a great extent. The Brussels attacks (in Mar 2016) impacted Deltas top line in the first quarter while the Paris assault had impacted Air France-KLM SAs ( AFLYY) revenues last year. Furthermore, outbreaks of diseases like the Zika virus and disputes similar to the ongoing one between legacy U.S. carriers and their Gulf counterparts pose challenges to the stocks in the airline space.

To Wrap Up

The above write-up clearly suggests that despite the series of earnings beats in the first quarter, the airline space is not free from challenges. We note that despite posting an earnings beat in the first quarter on Apr 26, shares of JetBlue Airways were hurt by the 8% decline in PRASM to 11.35 cents and 7% fall in operating revenue per available seat mile to 12.41 cents. Moreover, the fact that the NYSE ARCA Airline index has declined above 6% over the past month further substantiates the fact that the series of earnings beats in the airline space have failed to cheer investors.

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  May 13, 2016  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Medivation (MDVN), Juno (JUNO), Kite (KITE), ARIAD ( ARIA) and AbbVie (ABBV).

Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free.

Here are highlights from Thursdays Analyst Blog:

Biotech Stock Roundup: MDVN Rumors Continue

Earnings remained in focus this week as well with several small and mid-sized biotech companies reporting results. Meanwhile, Medivation ( MDVN) remains in the news as the acquisition saga continues with more companies rumored to be interested in buying the firm.

Other updates include data presentations as well as label expansions and product approvals.



Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories



1. With first quarter earnings season drawing to a close, several small and mid-sized biotech companies reported results over the last five trading days. Most of these are companies like Juno (JUNO), Kite ( KITE) and Repros which have no approved products in their portfolios and are still in the development stage. In such a scenario, investors are more focused on the pipelines and cash burn.

Kite and Juno are key names in the immuno-oncology space with both looking to bring their lead candidates to market in 2017. While Junos JCAR015 is in a registrational phase II study (ROCKET) in adult patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Read more: Juno Posts Wider Loss in Q1, Focus on Pipeline ), Kites KTE-C19 is in the pivotal phase of a phase I-II study (ZUMA-1) in patients with refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma including primary mediastinal B cell lymphoma and transformed follicular lymphoma (Read more: Kite Pharma Posts Narrower-than-Expected Loss in Q1 ).



2. Medivation, which had rejected an unsolicited offer from French drugmaker Sanofi, continues to be in the news as speculation increases about other companies being interested in acquiring Medivation. The latest rumor is that the company is now interested in selling itself. According to a Reuters article, Pfizer and Amgen are some of the companies that have signed non-disclosure agreements with Medivation.



3. As part of its ongoing strategic review, ARIAD (ARIA) has decided to divest its European operations and out-license Iclusig in Europe and a few other countries to Incyte. This deal will allow ARIAD to focus its efforts in the U.S. and it also provides the company with a non-dilutive source of funds. Under this agreement, ARIAD stands to receive up to $275 million including an upfront payment of $140 million plus tiered royalties starting from 32% that could go up to 50%.



4. The FDA expanded the label of AbbVies (ABBV) cancer treatment, Imbruvica. The label now includes new data from two late-stage studies supporting its expanded use in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).



AbbVie and Bristol-Myers also gained EU approval for their blood cancer treatment, Empliciti making it the first and only immunostimulatory antibody approved for multiple myeloma in the EU.

Story continues

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CANNES  Cyril Gely, scribe of Omar Sy hit Chocolat, is adapting U.S.-set thriller I Spit on Your Graves, the celebrated American race relations/revenge novel that made and killed -literally  French literary legend Boris Vian, a friend of Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker.

Set in a contemporary Southern U.S., to be shot in English,I Spit on Your Graves will be directed by Santiago Zannou, a Spanish Academy best new director Goya winner for The One-Handed Trick. Morena Films, producers of Steven Soderberghs Che and Oliver Stones Comandante, one of Spains best financed and most cosmopolitan of production houses, produces with Frances Mare Nostrum, headed by Alexandra Lebret, which garnered with Morena on Antonio Banderas Altamira.

Written in 1946, I Spit became a sensation when a copy was found on the bedside table of a strangled girl. Frances Catholic Church claimed that the pulp novels sexual charge incited her attacker to murder, Patrick Vian, son of Boris Vian, recounted at Cannes.

Zannous adaptation will be set however, in a contemporary U.S., a mark of its continuing relevance, 70 years after publication. In it, a mixed-race guy, in his twenties, sees his brother murdered after having an affair with a white woman. In revenge, he seduces as many white woman as he can as events spiral out of control, and the police are soon on his case.

I Spit on Your Graves portrays the craziness of youth, the desire to fit in but be different, to break with the establishment, the status quo, something common over all the world, and the desire for revenge creates a large suspense, commented Zannou, whose father is from Benin, and mother Spanish.

The film has the style of Shame or American Psycho, where audiences will like and root for the protagonist, but his acts also generates a certain fear, he added, saying the film will portray two-way racial hatred.

Per Morena Films producer-partner Alvaro Longoria, I Spit on Your Graves will be structured as a Spain-France-Canada-U.S. co-production, shooting in both Canada and the U.S., with, he aims, a U.S. producer-distributor on board.

Story continues

When I read the book, and this is a book that Santiago wanted to make for many years  I thought: This is amazing, it could happen today. This racism is imbedded in society, you just have to scratch a little and there it is.

I don-t think things have changed that much since my father wrote the novel. Planes, cars change, but people-s minds can remain much the same,Patrick Vian added.

Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) made a 2013 big-screen makeover, Mood Indigo, and starring Audrey Tatou and Romain Duris, of Vians LEcume des jours.

A first adaptation of I Spit on Your Graves was released in 1959. Boris Vian attended the premiere, rose to his feet to protest at the film, and dropped dead from a heart attack.

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Puerto Rico has reported its first case of brain defect microcephaly amid the ongoing Zika virus outbreak. The defect, which results in small heads and severe brain damage in infants, has been linked to the Zika virus in pregnant women.

Though the virus has spread rapidly in the territory due to the high prevalence of the mosquito that carries Zika, there had not been any cases of microcephaly up to this point. That was largely due, experts told TIME, to the fact that women in Puerto Rico who were infected early in pregnancy had not yet given birth. It is believed, though not confirmed, that first and second trimester are the riskiest periods for infection.

The U.S territory has over 900 confirmed cases of the virus including over 100 in pregnant women. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 20% of people in Puerto Rico are estimated to get Zika.

Microcephaly was detected in the unidentified fetus during pregnancy and the fetus was turned over, the Associated Press reports, to U.S. health officials where it tested positive for Zika. Officials have not released whether the woman miscarried or had an abortion. We were waiting for this news at some point, Health Secretary Ana Rius said, the AP reports. I want to urge any pregnant women with even the slightest concern of infection to go see a doctor.

Public health responders in Puerto Rico told TIME theyve struggled with apathy toward Zika given the fact that people in Puerto Rico are used to mosquitoes giving them infections. Over 80% of people in Puerto Rico have been infected with dengue virus, a severe infection spread by the same mosquito.

I think people are waiting for the first case of microcephaly, says Dana Miro, the executive director of the Puerto Rico WIC program told TIME in April. People say, If I dont see it, I wont believe it.

More cases of microcephaly are possible, since the virus is confirmed to cause microcephaly. Scientists are getting closer to understanding how the virus causes the defect, as well as why some pregnant women will have babies with the defect and others will not. For more information on the virus, read our recent cover story here.

MORE: 10 Zika Facts You Need to Know Now
From Town & Country

At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July, 100 naked women will stand facing the Quicken Loans Arena holding large, round mirrors. Theyll be part of artist Spencer Tunicks latest large-scale art installation: Everything She Says Means Everything.

The New York-based artist has been planning this project since 2013-back when Donald Trump was little more than a hyper-rich businessman and reality-TV personality.

I could never have imagined there would be such a heightened attention to the male-versus-female dynamic of this Cleveland juggernaut of a convention, Tunick tells me. But I feel like doing this will sort of calms the senses. It brings it back to the body and to purity.

So whats the deal with the mirrors, Spencer? The mirrors communicate that we are a reflection of ourselves and the world that surrounds us.

Tunick has been creating large-scale nude installations since 1994 when he organized a project at the United Nations. Hes staged them around the world and, for his largest undertaking, gathered 18,000 people in Mexico City. Lady Gaga wrote her NYU undergraduate thesis about Tunicks influential-and at times controversial-work, arguing: Tunick challenges traditional ideas of intimacy, and asks us to free the body of sexuality and view it aesthetically for the purpose of his art.

Tunick usually invites both sexes to participate. But this time, itll just be women. Its no surprise that the Republican party is facing a massive woman problem right now: Seven out of 10 women say they have a negative impression of Trump, the partys presumptive nominee, according to a recent poll. And his latest campaign tactic has been accusing Hillary Clinton of playing the woman card.

I have two daughters-9 and 11-and I want them to grow up in a progressive world with equal rights and equal pay and better treatment for women, and I feel like the 100 women lighting up the sky of Cleveland will send this ray of knowledge onto the cityscape, Tunick says. I think it will enlighten not only the delegates but set the vibe of the weekend, set a tone.

Story continues

Tunick announced the project and put out a call for unpaid volunteers this week. To pull it off, hell work with a location manager, volunteers from local art schools, and his wife. Early in the morning on July 17, the day before the convention, the women will meet across from the arena on private property to get into formation, rain or shine. He estimates the volunteers will be nude for about 15 minutes. Each participant will receive a limited edition print of the project.

While Trump events have drawn violence from his supporters and protesters, Tunick hopes his project will be a unifying one.

We really are reaching out to people of all parties. This is a work Republican women can participate in. Its not so much a protest as it is a representative artwork, says Tunick, who went to the New York Military Academy, which Trump attended as well. Who knows what will happen.

When asked if hes concerned about police intervention, Tunick says: I hope police participate in the project, too. Ive had a lot of cops participate in the past.

The artist is no stranger to legal pushback or controversy.

In 2002, after facing hundreds of protestors in Santiago, Chile, 5,000 nude volunteers turned out for a massive instillation. The people used my work as a catalyst to send a message to the government that theyre free and the government doesnt own their bodies, he says. That year, Tunick was named the countrys Man of the Year by a local newspaper.

Hes been arrested five times while attempting to work outdoors in New York, and Cleveland wont be his first brush with Republican politicians. While facing threat of arrest by New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the owners of Grand Central Station closed it down for him to host 400 women for an installation. The case against Tunick went to the Supreme Court. In 2000, the court ruled in favor of the artist.

I ran into [Ruth Bader] Ginsburg at a museum after that and I thanked her, Tunick says. She said, Just dont do it on the steps of the Supreme Court.
Business

Apple makes $1 billion investment in Ubers competitor  and China

iPhone maker Apple Inc. is aligning itself with Didi Chuxing, Uber Technologies chief rival in China, and making a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook says will help the company better understand the critical Chinese market. The $1 billion investment gives the company a toehold in two burgeoning waves of technology  the sharing economy and car technology  just as its iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing. At the same time, Apple is trying to reinvigorate sales in China, where it has come under greater pressure from regulators.

We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook

Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, said that the funding from Apple was the single largest investment it has ever received. The company, which previously raised several billion dollars, dominates the ride-sharing market in China. The company said it completes more than 11 million rides a day, with more than 87 percent of the market for private car hailing in China.
President Barack Obamas decision to normalize U.S. diplomatic and economic relations with Cuba, which has been considerably strained since 1961, is starting to show results. Under his administration, new Cuban policy regulations, which have been approved by the Treasury and Commerce departments, helped the U.S. telecommunications industry to gain initial exemptions from the existing embargo to invest in Cuba.

In Mar 2015, U.S.-based IDT Corp had formed a joint venture with Cuba's state-run telecom company Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA) to provide direct international long-distance service. In Sep 2015, Verizon Communications Inc. VZ became the first U.S. telecom operator to offer roaming wireless services in Cuba.

Service charges are $2.99 per minute for voice calls and $2.05 per Mb for data. The user must add Verizons Pay-As-You-Go International Travel facility to his/her wireless handset to enjoy the roaming service while travelling in Cuba. This service is offered through the network of Vodafone Group Plc. VOD. Moreover, in Mar 2016, Verizon entered into an agreement with Cubas ETECSA to offer direct roaming mobile interconnection services between the two countries.

In Nov 2015, Sprint Corp. S signed the first direct roaming wireless service agreement with ETECSA. Earlier, in Apr 2015, Sprints prepaid service division  Boost Mobile  had launched an unlimited voice call and text message service plan to enhance connectivity between the U.S. and Cuba. Starting at as low as $50 a month, the plan allows Sprints customers in the U.S. to make calls to Cuba without a long-term subscription contract.

Recently, T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS has signed an interconnection and roaming wireless service agreement with ETECSA. Notably, T-Mobile US serves the maximum number of customers in the U.S. who are of Cuban descent. Approximately 36.6% of Cuban-born U.S. wireless customers are subscribers of the company. Therefore, it is a logical step for this company to establish roaming wireless service in Cuba.

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Meanwhile, in Mar 2016, Reuters reported that AT&T Inc. T has shown its willingness for a mobile roaming agreement with ETECSA. At present, the company is extensively expanding in Mexico.

We believe, in the long term, Cuba may be a boon for U.S. telecom operators. An opportunity to sell products to 11 million odd customers is something to reckon with. Further, with the waning of communism and the willingness to enter the economic and political mainstream, Cuba is poised to become an attractive emerging market in the future. Moreover, Cubas geographical proximity to the U.S. is a major positive from the cost of operations standpoint for these telecom operators.

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We're probably not going to have to wait much longer to see the upgraded PS4 on store shelves. According to a press release from French video game distributor Innelec Multimedia, the new PS4 (codenamed Neo) will launch before October.

DON'T MISS: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Trilogy expected to launch for PS3, 360 next week

Shared on stocks website Boursier.com, the press release from Innelec claims that the "Neo 4K" (as the company refers to it) will arrive at some point in the first half of the company's fiscal year, which lasts from April - September 2016.

As IGN notes, that would also place the Neo's release date ahead of PlayStation VR, which Sony has already confirmed will be launching in October. It's too early to say whether or not this means anything regarding the relationship between the VR headset and the upgraded console, but the timing is auspicious.

It's worth noting that shortly after the news began to spread, Innelec released a statement denying any knowledge of the PS4 Neo. The statement was originally published on afjv.com and then translated by VideoGamer/Google:

"Innelec denies any official information about the launch of a PS4K Neo. It is possible that during the 2016/2017 fiscal developments exist on the current PS4 [but] for the moment we have no information about the nature of them."

Admittedly, that's not a very convincing cover-up.

Previous rumors have suggested that Sony will unveil the PS4 Neo (or whatever it ends up being called) at E3 in June, with a fall release date in mind.

Related stories

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End review: Blurring the lines between game and film

Sony executive hints that there might never be a PlayStation 5

New report details PS4K specs, price and potential for exclusive games

More from BGR: Watch a Tesla Model X in Ludicrous Mode go head to head with a McLaren 650S supercar

This article was originally published on BGR.com
By Julia Fioretti BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Consumers will be able to access their online subscriptions for services like Netflix , Sky and Canal+ when they travel across the European Union under proposals tentatively agreed by member states on Friday. The law was presented by the EU executive, the European Commission (EC), last December as part of its efforts to knock down national barriers in online services across the 28-member bloc. Member state representatives endorsed the proposal on Friday, paving the way for it to be approved by ministers when they meet on May 26. Consumers with subscriptions to services such as Sky TV Now, ProSiebenSat.1MaxDome TV in Germany or Netflix in France, would be able to view content they have paid for when they temporarily travel abroad. What constitutes temporarily was left open, but member states specified that it is a "limited amount of time". The EC hopes that the proposal will enter into force in 2017, the same year that roaming charges for using mobile phones when traveling within the 28-member European Union are supposed to be abolished. Knocking down barriers to a single market in both the online and offline worlds is a key aim for Brussels, and letting people take online subscriptions abroad is reminiscent of its efforts to allow use of domestic mobile phone subscriptions abroad without paying hefty roaming charges. While Netflix is already available in many European countries, content is tailored to local tastes, so a French user in Belgium, for example, will not have access to the specific French catalog without using workarounds such as virtual private networks. The proposal got a lukewarm reception from broadcasters and in December, some of whom are concerned producers and film studios could demand more money for making their content portable. Rights-holders are wary of anything that might be seen to be eroding the principle of territoriality, which they say is key to the financing of films. However their bigger worry is with the Commission's upcoming reform of EU copyright law which aims to improve people's access to content in other countries. Producers and film studios fear domestic license will lose their value if it becomes easier for people to access content abroad. A broadcaster might not be willing to pay as much for an exclusive French license if France residents can buy the same content broadcast in Germany. (Reporting by Julia Fioretti; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Last year an international cyber attack hit the German lower house of parliament (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

Berlin (AFP) - Germany's domestic secret service accused Russia on Friday of a series of international cyber attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in "hybrid warfare" that also targeted the German parliament last year.

The operations cited by the BfV intelligence agency ranged from an aggressive attack called Sofacy or APT 28 that hit NATO members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off air, to a hacking campaign called Sandstorm that brought down part of Ukraine's power grid last year.

"Cyberspace is a place for hybrid warfare. It opens a new space of operations for espionage and sabotage," said Hans-Georg Maassen, who heads the BfV agency.

"The campaigns being monitored by the BfV are generally about obtaining information, that is spying," he said. "However, Russian secret services have also shown a readiness to carry out sabotage."

Germany itself fell victim to one of these rogue operations, with the Sofacy attack last year hitting the German lower house of parliament.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party confirmed it had been targeted in April, adding that "we have adapted our IT infrastructure as a result".

The BfV said the "cyber attacks carried out by Russian secret services are part of multi-year international operations that are aimed at obtaining strategic information".

"Some of these operations can be traced back as far as seven to 11 years."

- Government, military, media -

IT experts believe that Sofacy or APT 28 is a so-called phishing tool of the broader Operation Pawn Storm, that has been blamed for targeting NATO and the US government and military as well as Ukrainian activists and Russian dissidents.

The operation included the attempted hacking of the Dutch Safety Board's computer systems by Russian spies seeking to access a sensitive final report into the July 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine, according to security experts Trend Micro.

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It also hit France's TV5Monde television channel last April, shutting down transmissions and placing jihadist propaganda messages on the station's website, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The station had initially focused investigations on the IS group, after the perpetrators claimed to be members of the jihadist organisation.

But in June, a French judicial source put the blame on Russian hackers.

"Sandworm" meanwhile refers to a group of hackers who deploy the malware known as Black Energy and KillDisk through phishing emails.

BfV said Sandworm targeted not just government posts, but "was also aimed at telecommunications companies, energy providers as well as higher education facilities".

The West has been boosting resources and tightening cooperation to fight the mounting threat of international cyber attacks, with cyber defence designated as a core NATO task.
Apple appears to be inching toward building an autonomous car with its investment in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing, analyst Gene Munster said.

Closely followed Apple analyst Gene Munster said Friday that the tech giant appears to be inching toward building a car with its investment in Chinese ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing.

At face value, the $1 billion bet on the Uber rival is a sign Apple (AAPL) is beginning to move beyond its core consumer device market, Munster said. But he said there is "probably something bigger going on."

He noted that Baidu (BIDU)  the Google (GOOGL) of China  has launched a self-driving car initiative and aims to turn it into a global business. More broadly, China is emerging as a front-runner in building autonomous cars, he said.



"I think Apple is starting to plant some of the seeds for that potential, which is consistent with a lot of people's and our belief that Apple is going to eventually have some form of a car," Munster told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

He maintained his previously stated view that a prototype could emerge by 2020 and customers may be able to order an Apple-engineered car by 2021 or 2022. He added that he trusts estimates that Apple has about 1,000 people working on the so-called Project Titan, which is believed to be a car.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has declined to comment directly on whether the company is building a car, but has not put to rest rumors that it's doing so.



However, Munster cautioned that what seem like viable Apple projects may never actually see the light of day. Last year, the analyst offered a mea culpa after The Wall Street Journal reported Apple had at least temporarily shelved its efforts to build a television. Munster had long proclaimed a TV would be a major new category for the company. Others believe Apple could still release a television.

Disclaimer


If you're a soldier, firefighter or even a hiker, a new soft robotic suit could one day help you carry hefty loads, a new study finds.

The wearable robot, or exosuit, reduces the amount of energy used while carrying a heavy weight by about 7 percent, on average, the researchers found. The suit also reduced the amount of work done by the hip, knee and ankle joints, all without affecting a person's stride, the researchers said.

"The goal wasn't to create a system to give someone superstrength, but rather to provide small levels of assistance during walking over a long period of time, with the goal of reducing fatigue and the risk of injury," said study senior researcher Conor Walsh, a professor at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University in Massachusetts. [Bionic Humans: Top 10 Technologies]

Unlike a rigid exoskeleton or even a flashy Iron-Man-like suit, the exosuit Walsh and his colleagues built consists of textiles and soft materials that attach to a person's legs, waist and back. The soft suit doesn't hinder people's movement, allowing them to walk like they aren't carrying a load at all, the researchers said.

Users simply have to put on a waist belt, two thigh pieces and two calf straps, which are connected by cables to two motors on a backpack. The motors' energy travels through the cables to the suit, and is then transferred back to the person.

This energy then helps the hip and ankle joints, which together provide about 80 percent of the power produced by the leg joints while a person is walking, the researchers said.

To test the suit, the research team examined people moving under three different conditions: while wearing a powered-off suit, while wearing a powered-on suit and while wearing a powered-off suit with the weight of the suit (14 lbs. or 6.5 kilograms) removed from the backpack.

Seven people walked on a treadmill at a constant speed of 3.3 mph (5.4 km/h) while carrying a load equivalent to 30 percent of their weight. The researchers used motion-capture technology and physiological measurements to study how people fared while walking, the investigators said.

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Previous research found that muscles in the lower legs work harder when people carry heavy loads, largely to sustain the load and maintain balance, the researchers said. This increased muscle activity is associated with more metabolic cost, which can lead to fatigue, less maneuverability and reduced performance overall. [Watch a Video of the Exosuit in Action]

What's more, people are more likely to injure themselves when they carry heavy loads, the researchers said. And the suit is easy to wear, they added.

"It feels like the muscles in the leg are doing less work, and it becomes very noticeable if the system is turned off very quickly," Walsh told Live Science in an email. What's more, the exosuit could help military personnel, first responders, patients in rehabilitation centers and, of course, hikers, he said.

But don't expect to see the exosuit on sale anytime soon. It's still a research project, and engineers are still tweaking the design, Walsh said.

"A big unknown is how do the muscle and tendons in the body react and adapt to external assistance from a wearable robot," he said. "So, basic science studies that attempt to understand how the wearers neuromotor system responds will be important to maximize the benefit that can be achieved."

The study was published online today (May 12) in the Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

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Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL  May 13, 2016  Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses the Telecom, (Part 3), including Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ), AT&T Inc. ( T), Sprint Corp. (S) and T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS).

Industry: Telecom, (Part 3)

Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/80779/us-telecom-pricing-war-net-neutrality-woes

Technological invention and innovation at a rapid clip have resulted in significant competition within the telecommunications industry. Product life-cycle and upgrade-cycle have gone down drastically with several firms coming out with new versions of products and services, back to back, within a short span of time. To combat competition, firms are thus increasingly looking at consolidation. This has resulted in an array of mergers and acquisitions in the telecom space.



To add to that, the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) net neutrality laws have made matters worse for telecom operators. Besides, several ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are in a tight spot over the FCCs orders pertaining to increased upload and download speeds of Internet service termed broadband.



Stiff Competition



In the meantime, the U.S. telecom market continues to witness intense pricing competition. The two industry behemoths, Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and AT&T Inc. ( T), at present command around 68% of the U.S. wireless market, whereas Sprint Corp. (S) and T-Mobile US Inc. ( TMUS) jointly control the remaining 32%. These two relatively smaller firms are now bringing on board several low-priced value-added products to lure customers away from their larger peers. In 2015, both Sprint and T-Mobile US added a substantial number to its customer base.



On the video services front, the pay-TV industry is facing severe competitive threats from low-cost online video streaming service providers. Cord-cutting has become a regular phenomenon in the country with over-the-top video operators offering smaller packages of channels, designed according to a customers need, at dirt cheap prices. Established pay-TV operators are now opting for the more customer-friendly Internet TV service in order to counter the threat.



Companies in the telecommunications industry continue with mergers and acquisitions. Consolidation among the largest telecommunication services-focused companies has created an environment where equipment-focused companies have to contend with fewer customers and reduced selling opportunities. This has prompted consolidation among equipment companies as well to enhance their marketing value by broadening product offerings for converged fixed-mobile networks.



Net Neutrality: A Major Concern



The net neutrality law adoption mandate by the FCC was announced on Feb 26, 2015, per which high-speed broadband (Internet) will now be classified as a public utility under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act instead of section 706 of the 1996 Telecom Act. Importantly, the latest regulations will be applicable to both mobile and fixed broadband networks. The reclassification of Internet makes a radical change in the way the government treats high-speed broadband services and ISPs. The FCC can now strongly regulate the ISPs.



Net neutrality implies an open-Internet atmosphere which will prohibit ISPs, especially telecom and cable TV operators, from discriminating against applications. In order to control the flow of bandwidth-consuming applications such as video streaming, the ISPs have been discriminating against several web-based content and applications. Content developers thus have to pay heavy sums to ISPs for accelerated data transfer.



The implementation of the new law will ban common ISP malpractices such as data traffic blocking, slowing down data traffic and paid prioritization. Notably, paid prioritization is a method through which content developers strike deals with ISPs for quick and smooth transmission of their data traffic. The FCC will closely monitor and put a check on all such deals in the future. Moreover, the FCC will also supervise interconnection deals, in which content developers pay ISPs to connect to their networks.

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Notably, on Jan 29, 2015, the FCC increased the download and upload speeds of Internet services to be deemed as broadband (high-speed data). In a majority vote, the FCC raised the new threshold download speed to 25 Mbps from the existing 4 Mbps while the same for upload has been boosted to 3 Mbps from the current 1 Mbps.



Weaknesses



In general, telecommunications companies under pressure have high debt levels and large financial leverage ratios. Moreover, they are often unable to cope with recent market trends. Other risks that pose threats are as follows:

Potential Business Slowdown: Sales fluctuations of carriers are expected to continue to weigh on capital spending decisions -- a major problem faced by equipment vendors. The companies are expected to retain focus on improving their balance sheets, financial discipline and free cash-flow generation.

Product Overlapping: We may see more product sharing deals between telecom, cable TV and satellite TV operators as each of these players are vying to grab a sizeable share in each others territory. Even pay-TV services, offerings to business enterprises, mobile backhaul and metro-Ethernet segments may witness more convergence. Mobile phone makers are now gradually offering tablets and chipset manufacturers are providing chips for personal computers as well as mobile devices  thus frequently interchanging their areas of operations.

Intensified Competition: Technological upgrades and breakthroughs have resulted in cutthroat price competition. Product life-cycle and upgrade-cycle have been reduced drastically as several firms are coming up with new products and services within a short span of time. Increasing competition is compelling players to offer heterogeneous and bundled services to retain their position in the space.

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Now that the acquisition of SanDisk by Western Digital Corp. (WDC) has received all necessary approvals, the deal is expected to close Thursday, May 12. After markets close that day, Alaska Air Group Inc. (ALK) will replace the flash-memory maker on the S&P 500 index.

Alaska Airlines was the top-rated legacy carrier in the 2016 J.D. Power North America Airline Customer Satisfaction Study released Wednesday morning, a position it has held for nine consecutive years.

The company recently reached an agreement to acquire Virgin America Inc. (VA) for $2 billion in cash and about the same amount in Virgin America debt. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2016.

ALSO READ: Powerball Lottery Winner Takes Home $430 Million: 12 Things That Winner Must Not Do

Alaska Air's five-year share price growth reached a peak of nearly 400% last November. Shares traded up about 300% over the five-year period Wednesday morning, compared with a gain of about 56% in the S&P 500 Index over the same period. SanDisk's growth over the five-year period was about 64%, while Western Digital's share price had risen by more than 200% as of late 2014, but traded Wednesday up just 2.5% over the five-year period.



Alaska Airlines stock traded down about 1% Wednesday morning, at $68.60 in a 52-week range of $58.15 to $87.17. The consensus price target on the stock is $88.41.

Related Articles
By Julia Love

REUTERS - Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market.

The tech giant's rare investment gives it a stake in two burgeoning waves of technology - the sharing economy and car technology - as the iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing.

Apple is trying to reinvigorate sales in China, where it has come under greater pressure from regulators, and Cook is traveling to the country this month.

The move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies Inc's chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. General Motors, for example, recently bought autonomous driving technology company Cruise Automation and has also taken a stake in U.S. ride-sharing company Lyft.

Cook said in an interview that he saw opportunities for Apple and Didi Chuxing to collaborate in the future.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," he said. "Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well."

Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement that this was the single largest investment it has ever received. The company, which previously raised several billion dollars, dominates the ride-sharing market in China. The company said it completes more than 11 million rides a day, with more than 87 percent of the market for private car-hailing in China.

Though Didi Chuxing is valued at upwards of $20 billion, according to a person familiar with its ongoing funding round, the company has been losing billions in a costly battle with Uber for market share in China.

"CONFIDENCE IN CHINA"

Analysts say the deal offers a glimpse of how Apple may diversify its business as sales of the iPhone level off. Apple has emphasized its burgeoning revenue from services such as Apple Music and mobile payment Apple Pay, a strategy that the ride-sharing investment appears to reinforce, said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy.

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"After all the hints about the service business and what they would like to do in the future, its all starting to fit together," he said.

Investors are eagerly watching to see whether Apple will enter the automotive business. Apple has hired a wide range of automotive experts, and the company is exploring building a self-driving car, sources have told Reuters.

Cook said Apple remained focused on the in-car experience with its CarPlay system, which links smartphones to vehicle infotainment systems.

That is what we do today in the car business, so we will have to see what the future holds," he said.

Although Apple's sales in China have slumped amid slowing economic growth there, Cook stressed he remained confident in the market.

"(The deal) reflects our excitement about their growing business ... and also our continued confidence in the long term in Chinas economy," Cook said.

Apple has enjoyed warmer relations with the Chinese government than some American tech companies, but regulators recently shut down its online book and film services, triggering concerns among investors. The true value of Apple's investment in Didi might be in shoring up that relationship, said analyst Ben Bajarin of Creative Strategies.

"This is as much about sending signals about their seriousness in that country as it is about helping Didi build a ride-sharing platform," he said.

Didi Chuxing is a poster child for Chinese technology, a criitical sector in Beijing's goal to shift the economy towards higher-value services.

Didi Chuxing executives have met with some of China's top leaders, including President Xi Jinping last December.

Jean Liu, Didi's president, is the daughter of Liu Chuanzhi, the politically connected founder of Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd.

"There's a lot of things we can work on together," she said when asked whether Didi Chuxing would help Apple's government relations in China.

(Reporting by Julia Love; Additional reporting by Paul Carsten in Beijing and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Leslie Adler and Will Waterman)
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei said Thursday he felt compelled to visit Gaza to understand its part in the global refugee crisis for a documentary he is filming.

While Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans have formed the bulk of the thousands of people fleeing to Europe, hundreds of Palestinians have also made the treacherous journey.

And Ai said he could not ignore the decades-old reality of Palestinian refugees due to their "long history".

"It is a big population and has such a complexity of political conditions and affects a huge society," he told AFP.

"If we are doing a documentary film we have to search (for) what happened in this refugee situation in the global sense and Gaza is a very, very important location we have to film in."

The Gaza Strip is home to more than 1.7 million people, over 1.25 million of whom are refugees, according to the United Nations.

Most come from families who left their homes during the war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948, and Ai joked that he arrived "late" to the story.

While the global film world has been focused on the Cannes Film Festival this week, the dissident documentary maker, who was jailed for 81 days over his support for democracy and human rights in China, entered Gaza.

He travelled to a number of parts of the coastal strip, including Jabalia camp in northern Gaza where he met refugees and displaced people whose homes were destroyed during the 2014 war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement which runs the Gaza Strip, have fought three wars since 2008, while Israeli authorities have maintained a blockade on the enclave.

Ai also visited the Rafah border crossing with neighbouring Egypt which Egyptian authorities opened temporarily for two days from Wednesday morning, where he interviewed a number of refugees crossing from Gaza.

He shared a series of photos from Gaza on Instagram, ranging from armed men to a starving tiger in a Gazan zoo.

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In another photo, he poses with a number of young Palestinian women by the port in Gaza City.

Mona Karaaz, a medical student at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, was among them and said she was considering leaving for good.

"I want to travel to Germany or any European country to find a job there. In Europe maybe I can become a scientist," she said.

- 'Invisible refugee crisis' -

Gaza has been run by Hamas since it took the territory by force in 2007 from the rival Fatah movement, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Years of talks aimed at reconciliation between the parties have failed.

"We lost hope in the (Palestinian) Authority and Hamas and all the factions," Karaaz said, adding that she hoped Ai "can take our message to the world".

More than 6,000 Palestinians last year arrived in Greece, a major migrant gateway to Europe, according to the International Organization for Migration.

But Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nation's body for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said competing UN remits meant they often "fall through the cracks" and do not get the help they need.

Dozens of Palestinians from Gaza drowned when their boat to Europe sank in late 2014.

"Amid the massive refugee flows today, the Palestine refugees are the invisible refugee crisis," Gunness said.

Ai's film, which he said is expected to be shown next year, discusses refugee issues across the globe.

He said he had faced a number of obstacles on his global tour, in which he conducted hundreds of interviews with refugees in Greece, Lebanon, Jordan, Macedonia and elsewhere.

"To shoot (video) in refugee situations is not easy," he said. "All the refugees are oppressed by political powers."

"We had problems but we always overcame those problems," he said.

Ai also shared online photos of his entry and exit visas from Palestinian and Israeli authorities, which are nearly impossible for many Gazans to obtain.

And he called for Israelis and Palestinians to understand each other better.

"We are living in the 21st century. We have to accept all humans are equal. We are not different from each other," he said.

"We have to coexist. We have to understand and to be inclusive to other people -- different types of people -- because humanity is the only thing we have."
(Adds company comment, additional financial results)

By Jeb Blount and Marta Nogueira

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA posted its third-straight quarterly loss on Thursday as oil prices and production fell and a weaker currency boosted debt costs.

The result missed analyst expectations of a profit.

The consolidated net loss at Petrobras, as the company is known, was 1.25 billion reais ($358 million) in the three months ending March 31, compared with a profit of 5.33 billion reais a year earlier, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in a securities filing.

The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Reuters was for a profit of 3.64 billion reais.

Petrobras has struggled mightily with a plunge in world oil prices and its role at the center of a massive corruption scandal. It is saddled the oil industry's largest debt and has also been hurt by falling domestic demand due to Brazil's worst recession since the 1930s.

The average price of benchmark Brent crude oil fell 36 percent in the first quarter to $35.21 a barrel from $55.13 a barrel a year earlier. Efforts to reduce its debt were also limited by an 11 decline in the value of Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar, raising the local currency cost of Petrobras' foreign debt.

"We want to increase our levels of predictability and meet our targets; when your debt is large and your risk increases you have fewer options," Chief Financial Officer Ivan Monteiro told reporters at Petrobras headquarters during an earnings presentation.

"Petrobras is a company with high cholesterol, and that cholesterol is debt leverage," he added, saying all senior executives are now focused on cutting costs and meeting targets.

Petrobras' net revenue, or total sales minus sales taxes, fell 5.4 percent to 70.3 billion reais. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, a measure of operating profit, fell 2 percent to 21.1 billion reais.

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Lower revenue was partly driven by lower production.

Average daily output fell 6.6 percent to an average 2.617 million barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas a day (boepd) from 2.803 million boepd a year earlier. Average daily output in the first quarter 2016 was the lowest in nearly two years.

The company promised to meet its annual oil production target of 2.145 million barrels a day, however, a target that does not include natural gas.

In 2015, Petrobras met its annual oil output goal for the first time in 13 years, Monteiro said.

($1 = 3.4816 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Jeb Blount, Marta Nogueira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Jeb Blount; Editing by Chris Reese and Tom Brown)
By Fabian Cambero and Gram Slattery

SANTIAGO, May 13 (Reuters) - A team of scientists will determine if salmon producers dumping tons of dead fish into the Pacific contributed to a massive "red tide" that is wreaking havoc among fishermen in southern Chile, the government said on Friday.

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, though the extent of the current outbreak is unprecedented.

After starting in the Los Lagos region, the bloom has steadily spread outward, depriving many coastal communities of their livelihood. That in turn has led to massive protests and a network of roadblocks set up by fishermen who consider the government's efforts to mitigate the economic fallout from to bloom to be inadequate.

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. Along with Chile's SERNAPESCA fisheries body, they have widely rejected a link between salmon dumping and the recent outbreak.

Many fishermen and communities in southern Chile, however, are blaming the country's salmon industry, the world's second largest, for exacerbating the problem by dumping tons of dead salmon into the ocean after a separate algal bloom killed off an estimated 100,000 tonnes of fish.

"A team of five excellent professionals has been formed that will be working on the task of examining the link between the dumping of salmon and the red tide phenomenon," Economy Minister Luis Felipe Cespedes said in a statement.

Fishermen have blockaded the principal access point to the island of Chiloe for the past three weeks, largely isolating its population of around 140,000 and stranding some tourists.

In recent days, protests have spread to the capital Santiago, resulting in some violent, though sporadic altercations with police.

Many salmon producers operating in Chile - most of which have facilities on or near Chiloe - are reporting heavy daily losses due to transport disruptions.

Story continues

Chile's National Fish Society, an industry group, said in a statement that 20 plants processing a variety of seafood, including the nation's heavily cultivated mussels, are "totally paralyzed."

Chilean companies AquaChile, Blumar, Camanchaca, Australis Seafoods, Multiexport Foods, Invermar, and the local unit of Norway's Marine Harvest have salmon farming operations in the nation.

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero and Gram Slattery; Editing by Anthony Esposito and Alistair Bell)
Attendees cheer the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during the 7th Workers Party Congress at the April 25 Palace in Pyongyang, on May 9, 2016 (AFP Photo/Antoine Demaison)

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to North Korea's Kim Jong-Un, congratulating him on his election as ruling party chairman at a congress at which Beijing -- Pyongyang's closest ally -- was notably absent.

In his message, Xi described ties with North Korea as a "precious asset" that was personally "cultivated by the leaders of the elder generation" the North's official KCNA news agency said Tuesday.

North Korea wrapped up its first ruling party congress in 36 years on Monday, appointing Kim party chairman and formally endorsing his legacy "byungjin" doctrine of parallel economic and nuclear development.

The fact that there was no Chinese representation at the once-in-a-generation gathering was viewed as a sign of fraying ties between the two traditional allies.

A large Chinese delegation had attended the last Workers' Party congress in 1980, headed by Li Xiannian, later China's official head of state.

Beijing has been a key diplomatic protector of North Korea, providing an economic lifeline that has allowed it to ride out waves of international sanctions.

But the relationship between the two nations, once said to be as close as lips and teeth, has become increasingly strained as China's patience with the North's refusal to rein in its nuclear weapons ambitions has worn increasingly thin.

China approved the latest raft of UN sanctions -- the toughest to date -- that were imposed after the North's January nuclear test, and there are signs that it is implementing the measures.

But China is wary of pushing the North too far, fearing a regime collapse that could create a refugee crisis on its border and swing the regional balance of power towards the United States.

"The Chinese party and government attach great importance to the Sino-DPRK relations," Xi said in his message. "We will make efforts together with the DPRK side to bring happiness to the two countries and their peoples."

DPRK is the official abbreviation for North Korea.
david tepper

Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper has dumped his massive Apple investment, according to a filing with the SEC.

Tepper had previously held 1.26 million shares, last valued around $133 million, according to data from Bloomberg.

This is just another huge hedge fund to dump the technology giant.

Carl Icahn announced on April 28 that he had sold all of his shares of Apple because of concerns over growth in China. Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn has also been decreasing his stake for some time.

This is a stunning turnaround, as hedge funds have long loved Apple stock. As of August 2015, 146 of the 833 hedge funds tracked by Goldman Sachs had the company as one of their largest positions. This earned the iPhone maker the No. 2 spot on Goldman's list of stocks "most loved" by hedge funds.

Since then, however, Apple has been faced with slowing iPhone sales and disappointing earnings, sending the stock lower. In fact, the company lost its status as the most valuable in the world.

Tepper's fund, Appaloosa Management, also bought 945,000 shares of the troubled pharmaceutical company Valeant, worth $24.8 million during the first quarter. He has since sold the stake in the company, however, making a profit from the trade.

According to the filing, Tepper has also taken a new position in Facebook, buying 1.6 million shares in the first quarter, and Bank of America with 6.9 million shares.

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(Updates prices) BRASILIA, May 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's currency lost ground on Thursday, as investors waited for interim President Michel Temer to outline his policy framework following a Senate decision to put Dilma Rousseff on impeachment trial.

The real, Brazil's currency, weakened 0.8 percent, erasing recent gains after the central bank eased upward pressure on the currency by selling reverse currency swaps for a second day.

Temer, who plans to host a news conference in Brasilia on Thursday afternoon, is expected to propose an overhaul of the nation's pension system at the forefront of his agenda, key advisers told Reuters.

He tapped Henrique Meirelles to be finance minister, giving the former banker the daunting task of fixing public finances and pulling the country out of its worst recession in decades.

"The political transition offers the hope, but not the certainty, of better policies," wrote Alberto Ramos, head of Latin America economic research at Goldman Sachs, in a note.

Senators voted 55 to 22 to put Rousseff on trial, ending more than 13 years of rule by her leftist Workers Party. Chances are small that Rousseff, a 68-year-old economist and former guerrilla fighter, is acquitted in a trial that could last as long as six months, according to analysts.

Elsewhere in Latin America, the Chilean peso weakened as commodities prices fell.

Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 2000 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD % Latest change change MSCI Emerging Markets 805.97 -0.25 1.74 MSCI LatAm 2219.81 0.33 20.91 Brazil Bovespa 53346.45 1.1 23.06 Mexico IPC 45685.82 0.39 6.30 Chile IPSA 4015.10 0.37 9.10 Chile IGPA 19722.35 0.36 8.65 Argentina MerVal 13402.25 -0.99 14.79 Colombia IGBC 10005.74 1.12 17.06 Venezuela IBC 15368.74 0.02 5.35 Currencies daily % YTD % change change Latest Brazil real 3.4720 -0.80 13.65 Mexico peso 17.9710 0.11 -4.12 Chile peso 685.2 -0.76 3.58 Colombia peso 2946 -0.30 7.58 Peru sol 3.326 0.09 2.65 Argentina peso (interbank) 14.1500 0.42 -8.25 Argentina peso (parallel) 14.65 -0.34 -2.59 (Reporting by Silvio Cascione; Additional reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein in Mexico City; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Diane Craft)
The opposition United Democratic Party in Gambia has demanded that authorities release its leader Ousainou Darboe, pictured here on November 24, 2011, and about 40 followers kept in detention since rallies calling for political reform (AFP Photo/Seyllou) (AFP/File)

Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambia's main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) demanded on Wednesday authorities release its leader Ousainou Darboe and about 40 followers arrested after protests last month, as prosecutors filed fresh charges over the demonstrations.

Some of the activists were detained on April 14 after a rare opposition protest demanding political reforms in the small west African nation ruled with an iron fist by President Yahya Jammeh.

The others were taken into custody following a demonstration two days later against the death of UDP official Solo Sandeng, who is reported to have died suspiciously in custody, according to his party and human rights groups.

In a statement the UDP's executive committee demanded "the unconditional and immediate release of its leader and Secretary General, the lawyer Ousainou Darboe and all the others" detained after the protests in the capital Banjul.

The statement went on to say: "We demand that reports of the torture and death of Ebrima Solo Sandeng be fully investigated and the culprits brought to book."

According to the UDP, some of its members arrested by Gambian security agents have yet to be accounted for by the authorities.

"The UDP still remains deeply concern about the whereabouts of one of its supporters, Dembo S. Darboe (Touray Darboe)," the statement said.

According to the UDP, he was picked up by security officers in April and has not been heard from since.

The 18 protesters arrested on April 14 pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a new charge of conspiracy, which comes on top of accusations that include unlawful assembly and incitation to violence.

Additionally, prosecutors filed similar charges against seven other protestors who also entered not guilty pleas.

In February, Jammeh was named his party's candidate to seek a fifth mandate in a presidential poll in December. He was first elected head of state in 1996, two years after the bloodless coup.

The regime is regularly accused by watchdog bodies and the US State Department of making opponents forcibly disappear and harassing the press and independent broadcasting media.
As the huge trove of leaked documents or the Panama Papers" continues to prompt government investigations around the world, Wall Street giant The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS becomes the latest bank to come under regulatory scanner over suspicion of a likely involvement with shell companies.



The news, first reported by the Bloomberg stated that The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has asked Goldman and three other global banks to provide the regulator with information regarding shell companies set up through a Panamanian law firm. The three other banks are Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, BNP Paribas SA BNPQY and Standard Chartered Plc.



Notably, on Monday The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that worked with international media partners including The Guardian and BBC on reporting of the leaked files, made its database of the documents publicly available on its website.



Through the database, the NYDFS officials found that Goldman and the three banks that are licensed by the state of New York had established Panamanian shell companies. However, none of these banks are accused of any wrong doing.



The NYDFSs latest letter is almost akin to the one sent last month to 13 banks, including Deutsche Bank AG DB, Credit Suisse Group AG CS, Commerzbank AG and Societe Generale SA. The New York States financial regulator is seeking information regarding the banks interactions with the offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca and the possible dealings among the employees of the banks New York branches and the law firm or the shell companies set up through it.



The regulator also asked the banks to reveal any ongoing internal or external probes involving the law firm or shell companies sponsored by them, including any investigation commenced in U.S. or abroad.



Currently Goldman carries a Zacks Rank# 3 (Hold).



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* Moody's to review Irish rating later on Friday

* Some analysts say upgrade likely

* Yields reach one-month low, but Brexit jitters persist (Updates prices for close)

By Dhara Ranasinghe

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Ireland's 10-year government bond yield fell to a one-month low on Friday, outperforming euro zone peers, before a ratings review that may result in an upgrade for Europe's fastest growing economy.

Most euro zone bond yields were lower on the day, with benchmark German Bund yields close to Thursday's one-month low as data showed stronger-than-expected German economic growth in the first quarter,

But Irish bonds were one of the best performers. Analysts at both Commerzbank and Rabobank said Moody's was likely to upgrade Dublin's Baa1 rating, for which it currently has a positive outlook.

A fall in Ireland's debt-to-GDP ratio below 100 percent, a commitment to improving its fiscal position and progress in strengthening the country's banks all bode well for a ratings upgrade, analysts said.

Ireland has rebounded quickly from a 2010 international bailout. Bolstered by declining unemployment, healthy retail sales and a weak euro, which underpinned its exporters, the economy grew 7.8 percent in 2015. It was fastest growing economy in the European Union for a second straight year.

Political uncertainty has also eased since Enda Kenny was re-elected Ireland's prime minister a week ago, ending 10 weeks of political deadlock after an inconclusive national election .

"A stronger economy is helping bring down Ireland's debt-to-GDP ratio at a fast pace and the new government, while in a minority, remains committed to fiscal consolidation," said Lyn Graham-Taylor, a fixed income strategist at Rabobank. "We're confident about a one-notch upgrade."

Ireland's 10-year bond yield fell 5 basis points to 0.82 percent, the lowest level in just over a month. It outperformed German and French yields, which were 3 bps lower on the day at 0.13 percent and 0.47 percent, respectively .

Story continues

The yield gap between Irish and German bonds narrowed to about 70 bps - down from 79 bps a week ago, when the spread was at its widest since late February. The Irish/French 10-year yield spread has narrowed about 6 bps over the past week.

However, Cantor Fitzgerald analysts estimate the average daily volume in Irish government bonds has fallen 40 percent this year, as investors withdraw before Britain's European Union referendum. Britain is one of Ireland's biggest trading partners, and a vote to leave the EU is a risk for the Irish economy.

For some analysts, the referendum was a reason to remain cautious towards Irish bonds.

"Moody's rating on Ireland has lagged Fitch and S&P, so Irish bond prices are appreciating on the back of expectations for an upgrade today," said Natixis fixed income Cyril Regnat.

"But I would be a bit more cautious because if we get a Brexit, then Ireland would be one of the biggest casualties in the euro zone," said Natixis strategist Cyril Regnat.

Research by Davy Stockbrokers shows that a 1 percent decrease in U.K. economic output has led in the past to a 0.3 percent drop in Ireland.

Standard & Poor's is scheduled to give an update on Italy later in the day. Commerzbank expressed some caution over Italian bonds before the review but expected the agency to affirm Italy's rating at BBB- with a stable outlook.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by Larry King)
Beirut (AFP) - Lebanese voters headed to the polls for the first time in six years for municipal elections including in Beirut, where a new grassroots campaign is taking on entrenched parties.

It is the first election of any kind in Lebanon since the last municipal polls in 2010, in a country with a deeply divided political scene that has not had a president for the past two years nor voted for a parliament since 2009.

Voters trickled to polling stations in Beirut and in two provinces of the Bekaa region in the first stage of an election to last until May 29 in five other provinces.

By the time polls closed at 1600 GMT turnout in the capital was weak, Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said.

He told reporters that turnout in Beirut was estimated at around 20 percent while it was much higher in the Bekaa region, dominated by the Shiite movement Hezbollah, at around 50 percent.

In Beirut, an unlikely alliance of citizens for the first time challenged traditional politicians like ex-prime minister Saad Hariri, whose Future Movement usually dominates elections in the capital.

Beirut Madinati, Arabic for "Beirut is my city", emerged after civil society gained momentum in protests last summer over a political crisis that saw trash pile up on streets.

Hariri claimed success for his list in the capital late Sunday, before official results were tallied.

"The results are favourable for the Beirut list," he told a crowd of supporters.

But Irahim Mneimneh, head of Beirut Madinati did not concede, saying his campaign "had very good results".

- 'Fed up' with corruption -

Coming out of a polling station in Beirut, a 43-year-old voter who gave his name only as Elie was enthusiastic the civil-society backed group would gain a foothold.

"Even if just one candidate from Beirut Madinati gets in, it'll be a victory for civil society," said the employee of a money transfer company, who in 2010 had voted for the Hariri-backed list.

Story continues

"We're fed up with this corrupt political class," he said.

The 24-candidate list of independents includes teachers, fishermen and artists such as famed actress and film director Nadine Labaki.

But 40-year-old Mariam said she had voted for the Hariri list because "it represents the people of Beirut".

Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, lists in the municipal polls every six years have traditionally been pulled together by a handful of parties often formed along sectarian lines and led by former warlords.

Beirut Madinati faces the formidable challenge of breaking through that established political class in a bid to win all 24 seats in the capital.

Only about 470,000 voters are registered in Beirut, a metropolis home to four times more people.

The country's electoral law stipulates that Lebanese are automatically registered to vote in the birthplace of their ancestors.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when the mandate of Michel Sleiman expired, because the country's Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze cannot agree on a candidate.

- 'Uncontested' Hezbollah lists -

The country's political scene is deeply divided, with the government split roughly between a bloc led by Hezbollah -- backed by Iran and Syria -- and another headed by Hariri -- supported by Saudi Arabia and the United States.

These rivals have joined forces against Beirut Madinati for the municipal polls in Beirut, however.

On Sunday posters of the traditional candidates were plastered on the city's walls, while Beirut Madinati supporters took to social media to convince friends and acquaintances registered in Beirut to vote.

Lebanese suffer from poor infrastructure and public services, as well as water and power shortages.

Beirut Madinati's programme to attract frustrated voters includes plans to improve public transport in the traffic-clogged city, introduce more green spaces, make housing affordable and implement a lasting waste management solution.

Hezbollah is expected to win in the Bekaa region -- except in the town of Zahle, where a list of candidates from an influential family backed by Hariri is vying against another supported by traditional Christian parties.

In Beirut and the Bekaa region, another grassroots movement called Citizens in a State, led by former minister and economist Charbel Nahhas, is taking part in the polls.
Morocco's King Mohammed VI meets with President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 11, 2016.Click here for high-resolution version

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 13, 2016) - On Thursday during an official visit to Beijing, Morocco's King Mohammed VI presided over the signing of 15 public-private partnership agreements between Morocco and the People's Republic of China. The King also announced that, in the interest of improving the two countries' relationship, Chinese citizens will no longer require a visa to visit Morocco.

The agreements covered a range of areas, from housing development to energy to logistics and shipping and more. They included agreements between:

Morocco and China's HAITE group to construct logistical and residential zones in the Tangiers region;

Morocco's office for electricity and drinking water (ONEE) and China's SEPCO III Electric Power Construction to conduct studies on extending and maintaining Morocco's Jerada power plant;

Morocco's National Tourism Office and China International Travel Service to increase tourism between the two countries;

Linuo Ritter, SIE, Cap Holding and Attijariwafa Bank for the creation of an industrial production unit for solar water-heaters in Morocco;

China Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) and Attijariwafa Bank to open new prospects for Moroccan-Chinese investment opportunities in Africa;

Haite Group, Morocco-China International and BMCE Bank of Africa to set up a Chinese-Moroccan industrial park in Morocco and a Chinese-Moroccan investment fund targeting the aeronautics, finances, industrial parks and infrastructure sectors; and more.

Over the last two decades, Morocco has taken steps to become a business hub in Africa, investing in infrastructure and sector-specific education, expanding business relationships throughout the continent while courting foreign investment. And the work has paid off. In April, French automaker Renault announced a major new expansion of existing investments in the country, expanding operations alongside other big names like Bombardier and Boeing who also have a presence there.

Story continues

Earlier this year, Morocco was named among the 50 most innovative economies in the world and one of just two such economies in Africa by the 2016 Bloomberg Innovation Index. The World Bank's Doing Business 2016 report ranked Morocco first out of 20 MENA countries in terms of "ease of starting a business" and placed it sixth overall in the region for "ease of doing business." In 2014, the Wall Street Journal's Frontiers/FSG Frontier Markets Sentiment Index reported that Morocco is among the top ten frontier markets -- and the only one in the Maghreb -- most favored by foreign corporations. KPMG International and Oxford Economics' 2015 Change Readiness Index (CRI) ranked Morocco as the most "change-ready" country in the Maghreb, with particularly positive results in the category of "enterprise capability."

"Thanks to forward thinking reforms under King Mohammed VI, Morocco today boasts a business-friendly, innovative economy, skilled workforce, political stability, and ever-strengthening ties in Africa," said former US Ambassador to Morocco Edward Gabriel. "All of this makes Morocco the ideal partner for world powers like China seeking to expand commercial and security relationships in the Maghreb region."

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/2016/5/13/11G098211/Images/King_with_Pres-82ae8ca8c1d3a6ec92eb24a5b36a5644.jpg


Vincent Southerland (L) and Jonathan Marvinny, lawyers for Francisco Flores de Freitas, leave the US Federal Courthouse in Manhattan December 17, 2015 in New York (AFP Photo/Don Emmert) (AFP/File)

New York (AFP) - Two nephews of Venezuela's first lady appeared in a US court Thursday for a preliminary hearing on charges of cocaine smuggling and a trial date was set for November 7.

An unidentified third party is paying the legal fees for Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, and Judge Paul Crotty warned of the "real danger" of conflict of interest.

He repeatedly asked the men, who followed the hearing through an interpreter, if they understood his remarks.

"No one can predict the course of this case," he said, pointing out they could not cite conflict of interest if they wanted to appeal after a conviction.

"Yes, I understand," the defendants, wearing black prison uniforms, answered in Spanish.

The two -- sons of brothers of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's wife Cilia Flores -- were arrested in Haiti in November and flown to New York by US Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Then 29 and 30 years old, the pair were accused of plotting to smuggle at least five kilos (11 pounds) of cocaine into the United States. They were also accused of taking part in meetings to plan a shipment of cocaine to the United States via Honduras.

If convicted they face up to life in prison. They have pleaded not guilty.

US officials believe much of the cocaine produced in Colombia passes through Venezuela before being transported to the United States and Europe.
India's central bank governor has said there is no chance of a "Lehman moment" in India. Speaking to CNBC, Raghuram Rajan, the governor of Reserve Bank of India said while there is no banking crisis in India, it is important that banks clean up bad assets.

"There is absolutely no chance we will have a 'Lehman' moment," Rajan said, referring to the collapse of the U.S. bank that triggered a chain reaction which led to the 2008 financial crisis.

"It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he added.

He said the Indian economy is a recovering economy and while there are bad news, overall the country is getting stronger.

"I think we are a recovering economy and when you talk about structural reforms, we have seen a playout in the past few days. For example we have a bankruptcy bill that was legislated last week and we also have a monetary policy committee that lays the framework that was also legislated last week. I think structural reforms are happening, are on their way and you see more green shoots."

India has taken a crucial first step to speeding up its insolvency regime by passing the country's first national bankruptcy law. The breakthrough is expected to help India tackle its mounting bad debt problem after two of the country's largest lenders provided unprecedented guidance on non-performing loans last month.





The country's bad loans problems have been estimated to be much bigger than New Zealand's $170 billion economy. Earlier this week an analyst from India Ratings and Research, a credit ratings agency and a unit of Fitch Ratings told Reuters that about Rs 13 lakh crore ($195 billion) of bad loans are already stressed.

In their first-ever report, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank revealed the depth of the problem. According to Axis Bank, 225 billion rupees of its loans is on a 'watch list.' The bank expects to put 60 percent of those to default in two years. ICICI Bank, one of India's top private lenders said about 525 billion rupees of its loans has been put on watch. These loans were made to sectors such as steel and power.

Story continues

The true extent of these bad loans was laid to rest after data from Axis Bank and ICICI hit the wires but the long-term impact of this continues to baffle both investors and analysts who compare the mounting loans problem to that of the U.S. subprime crisis. But Rajan thinks they are different.

"Ours is not a retail problem. It is a wholesale problem. There are big projectsand it is not because of corrupted lending or corruption. It was because the world changed."

He explained that these projects were set up with fairly high levels of leverage when things looked good, but then the economy slowed. "What we need to do is restructure the debt for some of these projects, put them back on track. It is not that there are acres of real estate that are unoccupiable. It's actually a power plant that can produce power and India is a growing economy that needs power. We just need to make sure the debt levels are appropriate."





Rajan has given the banks a deadline of March 2017 to fully disclose and provide for bad debt. However, investors are concerned that the central bank governor won't be around to see the end of this. With his tenure coming to an end in September this year, there is speculation if he will run for the second time.

Rajan assumed office in September 2013 in the midst of a crisis for the Indian economy. An allegedly corrupt government, high levels of current account deficit and over dependence on external factors such as the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy had been plaguing the economy.

Rajan told CNBC that extending the country's debt maturities, implementing sound policies and building up foreign exchange reserves were the best way to "firewall" the economy.

"I think the real way we are trying to firewall the economy is, on the first hand, with good policies, including as I said, the moves on reforms that have been enacted recently." The second he said is by trying to increase the maturity of debt.

"We have substantially increased the maturity of debt, external debt that we owe. The third is we built-up reserves."

India was one of the countries to be grouped under the notorious "Fragile Five" along with Indonesia, Turkey, Russia and Brazil after the Fed's decision to roll back its bond-buying program hit emerging markets. However, analysts have pointed out that Rajan's economic reforms and optimism surrounding the election of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled India out of the weak emerging economies to one of the fastest growing today.

"We have accomplished a lot. There is always more to do," Rajan said.

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Over the past quarter century, the US has incarcerated millions of people.

An alarming number of them were wrongly convicted, in some cases spending decades behind bars for crimes they did not commit, according to data from the University of Michigan's National Registry of Exonerations.

Since 1989, 1,761 people have been exonerated based on new evidence of innocence.

The number of exonerations is skyrocketing, too. In 1989, 22 people were exonerated. Last year, that number peaked at 149.

Aizman Law Firm, a Los Angeles-based firm specializing in criminal defense, put together a graphic using data from Michigan's registry to break down exonerations year by year:

wrongful conviction

That's a whopping 18,350 years of time served between all the exonerated prisoners, according to Aizman.

The graphic also points out some of the most high-profile exonerated prisoners. Steven Avery, the subject of Netflix's "Making a Murderer," spent 18 years in prison on a wrongful sexual-assault conviction before being exonerated in 2003.

Walter Lomax spent nearly 40 years in jail on a wrongful murder charge before being released in 2006 and exonerated in 2014  the longest time served before an exoneration.

The registry also breaks down the exonerated cases by state:

wrongful conviction

Washington, DC, leads the nation by far with more than two exonerations per 100,000 cases. The US attorney's office set up a federal unit in Washington to correct wrongful convictions, which may have contributed to its high exoneration rate, according to Aizman.

The rate of exoneration in DC is almost as twice as high as it is in the next state, Illinois, and more than 30 times as high as that of the last state, Colorado.

wrongful conviction

While the University of Michigan registry tracks every known exoneration, it's difficult to pinpoint the total number of people currently in prison on wrongful convictions.

According to one study from 2014, 4.1% of people sentenced to death are later found to be innocent.

Story continues

The leading causes for wrongful convictions include forensic misconduct, eyewitness misidentification, and inadequate legal defense, according to the Innocence Project.

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Who Is Ben Rhodes and why should I care?

Last week The New York Times Magazine published a 10,000 word profile of Ben Rhodes, who serves as deputy national security advisor for strategic communications  giving him a key role in crafting the administrations message on foreign policy and security issues.

House Republicans jumped on the article because Rhodes was, shall we say, imprudent discussing how he and the president were able to convince the press and lawmakers to support the controversial Iran nuclear deal. Republicans saw an opportunity to re-ignite the debate and politically embarrass President Obama ahead of Novembers election.

Related: Growing Debt Threatens US National Security: Defense Leaders

So some third-rate White House PR guy leaked a memobig deal!

Rhodes is a lot more than thathe was tied to the President on all foreign policy decisions and had a seat at the table at all policy briefings, including the National Security Council. The article has sent shockwaves throughout Washington because of Rhodes incredible condescending comments about the DC press corps and foreign policy experts, who he calls the Blob and how he was able to play them like a group of puppets by trotting out a legion of arms-control experts and think-tank wonks to champion the bargain to the media.

We created an echo chamber," Rhodes told The Times. "They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say."

Hmm. Its like a scene from House of Cards, but Im not seeing a smoking gun.

The 38-year-olds remarks also raised new questions about whether the White House knowingly misled the public about the origins of the nuclear agreement when it claimed that talks with Iran began in 2013, when they really started before then.

Related: Half a Trillion for the Pentagon? Why Defense Spending Is Only Going Higher

The fallout from the article has put the West Wing on its heels. This week White House press secretary Josh Earnest has repeatedly tried to contain the mess, describing Republican criticism as nothing more than revenge for Iran deal.

Story continues

Rhodes himself tried to clean up his remarks by saying the media is full of 27-year-olds  who literally know nothing and labeling the Washington foreign policy establishment as the blob -- in a post on Medium.

Rhodes is hardly the first and he certainly wont be the last White House aide to get out over his skis. But given the months-long, bruising fight over the Iran deal, GOP lawmakers want to put Rhodes on the mat.

What can the Republicans do at this late date? Its a done deal, isnt it?

Yes, but this is a political move to make the Dems look bad. On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), invited Rhodes to testify before the panel next Tuesday to examine if he and others in the administration misrepresented the Iran deal order to sell it to the public.

Its highly doubtful that Rhodes will show and Earnest dismissed the idea of convening such a hearing.

Related: Congress Is Taking an $18 Billion Gamble With the Pentagons War Fund

Well, with all due respect to the chairman, if he has an interest in a hearing about false narratives as it relates to the Iran deal, then I've got some suggestions for people that they should swear in, he said before rattling off panel members, and other GOP lawmakers, and charged them with ginning up comments about the agreement.

Whats the end game?

Meanwhile, House Armed Services Committee chair Mac Thornberry (R-TX) filed legislation that would slash the size of the National Security Council from its estimated size of 400 staffers, down to 100.

All of President Obamas former Defense Secretaries have complained about micromanagement by the NSC. I have personally heard from troops on the frontlines who have received intimidating calls from junior White House staffers, Thornberry said in a statement.

The current NSC has grown so large that the White House cannot even give us a clear estimate of how many people actually work for it. Now we hear reports of NSC staffers running misinformation campaigns targeted at Congress and the press, he added.

In addition to irking Congress, reporters, and foreign policy analysts, Rhodes comments drudge up other memories for some experts.

Rhodes comes off like a real asshole, Thomas Ricks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning military correspondent, wrote last week.

Fact check: Obamas hasnt been an original foreign policy as much as it has been a politicized foreign policy. And this Rhodes guy reminds me of the Kennedy smart guys who helped get us into the Vietnam War, he added.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
Peruvian equities and country-specific exchange traded fund investors breathed a sigh of relief as a recent ruling helped ease fears that MSCI indexing would downgrade the emerging market to frontier status.

The iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF (EPU) gained 2.8% Friday. Peru has also been one of the best performing emerging market this year, with EPU surging 45.7% year-to-date.

Perus equity market rallied Friday after MSCI kept Southern Copper within the Peru index. Southern Copper is one of three Peruvian equities that meet MSCIs investable requirements, and the indexer requires an emerging market to have at least three investable-designated stocks, according to Peru Reports.

Related: Peru ETF Makes a Big Move on Pro-Market Presidential Race

In the event MSCI moved Southern Copper out of its Peru index, Peru would have been downgraded to frontier status.

With Southern remaining in the Peru index, it will ease concern among investors about what happens in June. Peru is going to stay as an emerging market, Fernando Saavedra, a money manager at pension fund Prima AFP, told Bloomberg.

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Some observers are not pleased with MSCIs decision, arguing that Southern Copper should be moved to MSCIs USA equity index since the company is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Arizon. Moreover, only 45% of Southern Coppers business is from Peru and the majority is in Mexico.

Analysts, though, warned that reclassifying Peru could trigger $1.5 billion to $5 billion in outflows from the emerging market as financial products and institutions that track MSCI emerging market indices shift out of the Latin American market.

Related: Precious Metals Power Peru ETF

In the meantime, Perus finance ministry and the Lima stock exchange have actively worked toward bolstering liquidity and supported other stocks that could eventually meet MSCIs investable requirements, potentially solidifying the countrys emerging status. Peru previously avoided a downgraded to frontier market in August 2015 due to low liquidity in the Lima stock exchange  the uncertainty triggered a 5% drop on the exchange in one day of trading.

Story continues

For more news and strategy on Precious Metals, visit our Precious Metals category .

iShares MSCI All Peru Capped ETF
Gambia's President Yahya Jammeh (C) attends the 26th presidential summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa on January 30, 2016 (AFP Photo/Tony Karuma)

Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - The leader of the Gambia's main political opposition was arrested Saturday following a second round of demonstrations in the country, with supporters demanding answers over the death in custody of a senior party figure.

United Democratic Party (UDP) chief Ousainou Darboe, a human rights lawyer, was hauled away by police with three other party leaders after beginning a protest march from his residence just outside the capital of Banjul.

Gambian security forces armed with assault rifles fired tear gas at the protesters, according to eyewitnesses.

"Ousainou Darboe and other senior executive members were arrested by the security agents who dispersed the crowd after firing tear gas on them," witness Modou Ceesay told AFP. "Several people were beaten," he added.

Around 150 supporters had joined Darboe to call for justice in the case of UDP organising secretary Solo Sandeng, who died in custody on Thursday, according to his party and the Amnesty International rights group.

Sandeng had led a protest which ended with Gambian security forces beating and arresting dozens for making a public call for electoral reform and the resignation of strongman President Yahya Jammeh.

The opposition leader gave a defiant speech at a press conference prior to his arrest calling for the release of his detained colleagues and the return of Sandeng's body.

"These people have done nothing wrong. They have exercised their constitutional right and that constitutional right we are now going to exercise," Darboe said.

"We are going out there to ask for Solo's body to be given to us. We are going to ask for Madam Fatoumata Jawara and the rest to be released."

Jawara is president of the UDP youth wing and one of two women believed to be in a coma in detention.

"We are not going to allow anyone to trample on our rights on the pretext you want to maintain security and stability in this country," Darboe told journalists.

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- 'Another crackdown' expected -

Amnesty International west Africa researcher Sabrina Mahtani told AFP that Sandang had "died shortly after his arrest for participating in what we've been told by eyewitnesses was a peaceful protest."

The circumstances of Sandeng's death were "as yet unknown", Mahtani added, calling on the authorities to conduct an immediate and thorough investigation and to release any other UDP members still being held.

Gambia's information minister did not respond to a call for comment.

President Jammeh was out of the country when both protests took place, but was expected to address the nation upon his return, expected later on Saturday.

A military officer and former wrestler, he has ruled the tiny west African country with an iron fist since he seized power in a coup in 1994, and is regularly accused of sanctioning a catalogue of human rights abuses.

Amnesty's Mahtani said further repressive measures against opposition activity were likely in the run-up to a presidential election in December widely expected to return Jammeh to power for a fifth term.

"We are concerned with the election period coming up that there will be a further crackdown on fundamental human rights," she said.

A US State department report released this week accused the Gambia of torture, arbitrary arrest, incommunicado detention and enforced disappearance of citizens, as well as routine harassment of critics.

The UDP has recently filed a lawsuit against the state for keeping the chairman of the electoral commission in power long after his mandate expired, alleging he was also a Jammeh ally in a supposedly neutral position.

The Independent Electoral Commission last year submitted a bill to parliament, later enacted into law, which opposition parties viewed as placing harsh restrictions on their ability to field candidates in elections.
The SWIFT logo is pictured in this photo illustration taken April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Illustration/File Photo

By Francesco Canepa

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - SWIFT's payment network was not hacked in the $81 million heist on the Bangladesh central bank earlier this year, SWIFT's chief executive said on Thursday, adding it was unlikely to be the last such attack on a bank.

Gottfried Leibbrandt said SWIFT's network, used by firms and institutions across the world to exchange information about financial transactions, had not been violated during the cyber attack, in which funds were stolen from a Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Fed in February.

Security researchers at British defense contractor BAE Systems said last month the hackers had manipulated SWIFT's Alliance Access server software, which banks use to interface with SWIFT's messaging platform, in a bid to cover up the fraudulent transfers they had ordered.

"At the end of the day we werent breached, it was from our perspective a customer fraud," Leibbrandt said at a financial conference in Frankfurt.

"I dont think it was the first, I dont think it will be the last."

The SWIFT messaging network is used by commercial and central banks including the Fed and the ECB.

SWIFT, a cooperative owned by 3,000 financial institutions, has rejected allegations by officials in Bangladesh that its technicians made the Asian country's central bank more vulnerable to hacking before the heist, one of the biggest ever cyber swindles.

Bangladeshi police and a central bank official told Reuters the SWIFT technicians introduced security loopholes when connecting the messaging network to Bangladesh's first real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system.

Reuters has not been able to independently verify the allegations.

In a letter to users dated May 3, SWIFT told its bank customers that they were responsible for securing computers used to send messages over its network.

Representatives from SWIFT, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bangladesh Bank met in Basel on Tuesday and promised to cooperate to recover the stolen funds, following weeks of accusations over who is to blame.

(Reporting by Francesco Canepa; editing by Andrew Roche)
KAMPALA, May 12 (Reuters) - Uganda blocked social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and Whatsapp before the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday of President Yoweri Museveni, whose re-election sparked protests and a crackdown on dissent.

Museveni, 71, officially won 60 percent of the vote in February, allowing him to take on another term and extend his rule to 35 years. The opposition cried foul and protests broke out, leading to some clashes with police and dozens of arrests.

On Wednesday, police arrested opposition leader Kizza Besigye after a street protest. Besigye, who heads the Forum for Democratic Change party, won 35 percent of the vote in February. He has been under house arrest on and off since.

Godfrey Mutabazi, executive director of the telecommunications regulator, said security agencies had requested the move as "a measure to limit the possibility of terrorists taking advantage" of visits by dignitaries.

Uganda is hosting several heads of state for the ceremony.

In the preceding days, the authorities have placed more security patrols on the streets of Kampala and residents said there was a strong presence of military and police personnel on Thursday.

The authorities blocked social media during voting and shortly afterwards, a move criticised at the time by the United States and rights groups, who said it undermined the integrity of the process.

EU monitors said the election was held in an intimidating atmosphere and the electoral body lacked independence and transparency. Ugandan officials said it was free and fair, and dismiss accusations that they have clamped down on free speech.

The government had also banned any live television or radio coverage of protests.

Opposition to Museveni is strongest among youths in urban areas, where frustration has been fuelled by unemployment, corruption and crumbling public services.

Museveni has been credited with restoring order after years of chaotic rule since coming to power in 1986. The economy has been growing, but experts say it has failed to keep pace with the rising population.

Critics also complain about Museveni's failure to stem corruption and a clampdown on opposition voices.

(Additional reporting by Elias Biryabarema in Nairobi; Editing by Edmund Blair and Raissa Kasolowsky)
A clown sits inside a bus seen in front of a Wal-Mart store in Mexico City January 11, 2013. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File Photo

By Tom Hals

WILMINGTON, Del. (Reuters) - A Delaware judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N) shareholders who accused the board of the world's largest retailer of trying to cover up bribes paid by company executives in Mexico.

Chancellor Andre Bouchard of the Court of Chancery in Wilmington said an earlier dismissal by an Arkansas judge of a nearly identical lawsuit by another group of shareholders precluded the Delaware case from going forward.

He said that while the Arkansas plaintiffs may have chosen to rush their case rather than fully investigate alleged wrongdoing, their haste did not disqualify them from representing Wal-Mart shareholders.

"We believe that the Arkansas ruling is correct and have said all along that the Walmart Board of Directors has the appropriate authority to conduct an investigation into the matters alleged in these cases," Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove said in a statement.

Friday's decision is a loss for the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) and New York City pension funds that had brought the Delaware case. Their lawyer, Stuart Grant, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The litigation stemmed from a 2012 New York Times investigation that found Wal-Mart had engaged in a multi-year bribery campaign to build its Wal-Mart de Mexico business.

According to the newspaper, Wal-Mart sent investigators to Mexico City and found a paper trail of suspect payments totalling more than $24 million (17 million).

However, top executives shut down the internal probe and did not notify U.S. or Mexican law enforcement until after the newspaper had informed Wal-Mart that it was looking into the issue.

The Delaware lawsuit sought to hold Wal-Mart directors liable for damages they caused the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer, in what is known as a derivative lawsuit. Successful derivative cases usually result in corporate governance changes.

While the Delaware shareholders were fighting for company documents to bolster their case, a federal judge dismissed a parallel derivative case in Arkansas for failing to prove the board was too conflicted to investigate itself.

Story continues

That ruling has been appealed.

In his 60-page decision, Bouchard said the Arkansas plaintiffs' strategy "does not rise to the level of litigation management that was so grossly deficient as to render them inadequate representatives" of Wal-Mart shareholders.

The Wall Street Journal in October said a U.S. probe into the alleged corruption uncovered few major offences, and that Wal-Mart might be able to settle with a fine and no criminal charges being brought.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Chicago; Editing by Sandra Maler)
What Debts Can Be Taken From Your Federal Taxes?

If you're expecting a big tax refund, don't count on it -- and if you owe money to the state or federal government, your refund may be smaller than you think. The federal Treasury Offset Program gives the U.S. Treasury Department the right to withhold your federal tax refund to satisfy certain types of debts you may have incurred. While a refund offset can't be initiated to satisfy debt collectors or creditors who've filed a judgment against you in court, they can be implemented for a number of other debts, from child support to student loans.

Federal Taxes The IRS pays itself first, so federal tax debts take precedence over other types of debts when it comes to offsetting your tax refund. If you failed to pay taxes due in previous years or you owe money to the IRS for any reason, the agency will partially or fully offset your refund to collect these funds.

Non-tax Federal Debts If you are up-to-date on your federal taxes, but you owe money to any other federal agency, the IRS can take money from your tax refund to satisfy these debts. Federal agency non-tax debts include past due or defaulted student loan payments, payments on HUD loans and any fines, penalties or fees due to any federal department. If you've accepted overpayments or fraudulent payments on Social Security or disability benefits or other federal insurance programs, these debts may also cause your refund amount to be reduced.

Child Support Any past-due child support payments may be taken out of your tax refund. Typically, the federal tax offset programs kicks in if you owe more than $150 in state-assigned tax support payments or more than $500 in child support payments to an individual, such as your child's custodial parent. If the amount of the past due child support exceeds your refund, the IRS may continue to garnish your refund for multiple years until the debt has been satisfied.

State Taxes If you owe state income taxes to any state, whether you still live there or not, the IRS can offset your refund to take care of these debts. The government can claim this money even if you have a payment plan in place with the state that you owe money to.
How do I Make Big Profits With Stock Options?

Options trading has become increasingly popular with investors for two primary reasons. First, traders can make large profits in the options market without needing significant capital to start. Second, through options, traders can access large amounts of stock for a period of time without needing tens of thousands of dollars or more to purchase a corresponding amount of shares. Both traits allow for the potential of large gains.

Puts and Calls An essential element to making big profits with options is starting with the basic concept of knowing the difference between put and call options. Puts are the options a trader buys when he is bearish on a stock. As the stock falls, the puts increase in value. Calls are the options contracts a trader buys when he thinks the stock is going higher. If that assessment is correct, the calls increase in value as the underlying stock price rises.

News Events While it is not a guarantee of profits, trading stock options for potentially big gains around the time of major news pertaining to the underlying stock is a frequently used and easy tactic for even beginning investors to employ. Obviously, unscheduled events do happen, but investors can use sources such as Yahoo Finance and company investor relations websites to find out when the next earnings report is. Options traders frequently trade around earnings announcements. Another tactic to consider is trading options leading up to drug approval announcements by the FDA. The FDA has a calendar that traders can use to be prepared for the news.

Find Buyout Candidates Another way some traders make significant options profits is to buy call options on takeover targets. However, there are some moving parts with this strategy that make it challenging. First, options are time-limited, meaning American options expire on the third Friday of every month. Second, this strategy is also risky because rumors often fuel takeover chatter. If the rumor does not turn into a legitimate takeover announcement, traders can lose money on options that were purchased in anticipation of a deal happening.
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You can spew your rhetoric all you want. No one listens. The British have been a non event since the beginning of the 20th century. For over one hundred years, you have been incapable of defending yourself. You have no sustainable domestic policy. Successive governments have continually eroded infrastructure. You haven't had a foreign policy since the days of the wooden sailing ships. You depend on others to help. It's pathetic really.



As a people, you are on the decline, and have been since WWI. What the rest of us are witnessing is nature at work. Your species is being displaced by another, stronger one. The UK will be one of the first western countries to become Muslim. Do not expect help. Other nations will observe the UK in order to deal with the problem.



You can expect to see the flag of Islam flying over Buckingham Palace in the not too distant future. It is destined to become a mosque. :lol:
Postmedia CEO warns MPs newspaper industry 'ugly and getting uglier'By David Akin , Parliamentary Bureau ChiefFirst posted: Thursday, May 12, 2016 12:09 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, May 12, 2016 12:20 PM EDTOTTAWA - Postmedia Network CEO Paul Godfrey warned MPs Thursday that the newspaper industry in Canada is in peril and urgently needs some form of government help."In three years, there will be more (newspaper) closures, some in your communities," Godfrey told MPs on the House of Commons Heritage Committee.That committee has been studying ways to protect local traditional media -- newspapers, TV and radio -- that generally depend on the sales of advertising revenue to pay their journalists and other employees."The erosion of print revenue has been dramatic," Godfrey said. "The picture is ugly and it will get uglier."Earlier this year, Postmedia merged its newsrooms in cities where it owned both daily newspapers -- Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton -- and laid off some journalists.Torstar Corp., which is also cutting its workforce, ceased printing one of its big-city dailies earlier this year. The Mercury, which had been the daily newspaper in Guelph, Ont., since Confederation, was shuttered on the same day that Black Press shut down The Daily News, which had been publishing in Nanaimo, B.C., for 141 years."You're going to find there's going to be a lot more closings," Godfrey said.Godfrey's testimony mirrored that given last week to the same MPs by Bell Media executives about their television and radio networks.Just as Postmedia is the single largest and most-read publisher of newspapers in Canada, including Sun Media newspapers, Bell operates the most-watched private television network, CTV.Godfrey, like those from Bell, warned of further consolidation."Without community newspapers covering hyper-local stories, they would simply go unexplored, unchallenged, unreported," Godfrey said."Even in a time when people everywhere have more access to news than ever and when anyone can take an active part in breaking the news around them through social media, it is still the role of professional journalists to delve deeper, to gain access and to ask questions -- on behalf of us all."Liberal MP Adam Vaughan accused Godfrey of appearing before the committee to seek a "bailout" for Postmedia Network, which is dealing with a considerable debt problem.Godfrey rejected the idea, telling the committee he was looking for the government to be an "ally" for the entire industry.Three things the government could do right away, he said, would be to advertise more in Canadian newspapers, increase a tax credit for advertisers who buy ads in a Canadian newspaper, and improve an existing fund available to help periodical publishers.The Heritage Committee is expected to make some recommendations to the government this fall.Postmedia president and CEO Paul Godfrey, appears at commons heritage committee on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, May 12, 2016, to discuss the media and local communities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Fremont Public Schools has announced his schedule for the final week of the school year.

The final day of classes at Fremont Learning Center is Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Fremont High School students will attend school all day with quarterfinals in the morning. It will be the final day of school with regular dismissal and lunch served for the Pathfinder and Young Adult programs. Early dismissals will take place at the following: all elementary schools (including Grant and Washington), 2:05 p.m.; Johnson Crossing, 2:25 p.m.; Fremont Middle School, 2:35 p.m.

Thursday will be the final day of school. There will be a noon dismissal at all elementary schools (including Grant and Washington), Johnson Crossing and the middle school. No lunch will be served. FHS students will have quarterfinals and the morning and no classes in the afternoon.
Three years ago, Bob Denton and Ken Vampola attended a state conference together.

Little did the two know what would come out of that meeting during a conversation.

Denton, chief probation officer, and Vampola, Dodge County judge, reflect on the day and how they believe juvenile court continues to make a positive impact on the community.

I was daydreaming and turned to him and said Wouldnt it be great if we could remodel our Courtroom B and make it juvenile friendly? Within 48 hours, he had a grant written to the Crime Commission, Vampola said.

The grant was awarded from the Nebraska Crime Commission to fund juvenile detention alternatives, which allowed more youth to stay at home through electronic monitoring instead of being removed from their homes.

According to Denton, the conference presenter was talking about how kids need to be treated differently.

Judge Vampola was already very in tune to that so it was an easy transition, he said. He said if we could only get money.

Since Denton is involved in the Dodge County Aid Team, he was aware of a grant called County Enhancement.

It was a grant that comes around once a year and can be used for equipment, curriculum, and things like that, Denton said. Its a one-time thing. It was close to the grant cycle so I got it approved within a couple of months.

Denton said traditional courtrooms have had a very institutional appearance and have not been very hospitable for youth or their families while attending juvenile court.

I believe the new courtroom designed by Judge Vampola delivers a less adversarial atmosphere and supports our strategy of wanting to help youth and build strong collaborative relationships with their families, he said.

The courtrooms redesign broke the traditional courtroom setting with two parties on two different sides and the judge sitting up on his bench, looking down at all parties. On the wall is a flat screen TV, which reduces transportation expenses for juveniles in treatment centers.

County supervisors approved funding for furniture, chairs, carpeting and paint, Vampola said. This room has more than paid for itself and saved the county a lot of money.

Vampola said his experience as a juvenile court judge has been positive due to having a dialog with the juveniles. Being face to face with them is far more effective than sitting up on the bench.

The distance from the microphone to a juvenile sitting at a table might as well be the Grand Canyon some days, he said. If youre not connecting, not motivating them, youre not being effective.

Today, all members of the team, the youth and family member(s), defense counsel, guardian ad litem, Deputy County attorney and the judge sit around a conference table with the goal of working together as a team toward a positive outcome.

Using his court robe as an example for the juveniles, Vampola puts the responsibility back on them.

I tell them that the robe I wear cant make them do anything, he said. I can detain them, keep them away from people and substances by detention and isolate them, but I cant make them do anything to improve their lives. They have to be motivated. This court environment is conducive to motivate the juveniles for better behavior.

Vampola said one extremely negative influence he sees in juvenile court is the effect of social media.

Cyberbullying, harassment, people threatening each other on social media, he said. I see so much damage done to people. Bullying used to be face to face, now people get bullied by someone they dont even know.

Juveniles on probation have to surrender their passwords to social media.

In his eleventh year on the bench, Vampola said he believes hes become more patient.

I believe Im more understanding of other peoples circumstances, he said. Keep in mind that county court, when you look at jail versus probation or rehabilitation right now, Dodge County jail costs are high. The prison system is overcrowded.

Vampola said many times in juvenile and county court, those with drug-related cases may have the option of drug court, before they go across the hall for felonies to District Court.

I also believe drug court has been very effective, he said. I often sit in during drug court, to give support for people that Ive known since theyve been in juvenile court, kids that have now gone on to felonies. I have always believed they should have the opportunity for change. The problem with addiction is once your addicted, it almost lifelong. Addiction is a day-to-day struggle and one failure can put you back using again. Ive seen more drug-related cases in juvenile court and at a younger age.

According to county statistics, 435 children are under Dodge County Juvenile Court jurisdiction, 95 of them being abuse/neglect cases.

And despite the heavy caseload, Vampola is committed to working to making a positive difference in the lives of those who come before him. And being a part of the only juvenile court in Nebraska with this current set-up.

He believes that they are making tremendous strides toward rehabilitation and successful cases.

Having one of the highest caseloads in the state, I wouldnt want it any other way, he said. If you offered me a court with less work, less cases, I wouldnt take it. Fremont has been my community for 37 years and Im not going to leave. When I leave the bench in Fremont, Ill be retiring.
Jim Burford was in a foxhole in Vietnam when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

It was July 1969.

Burford had read in the Stars and Stripes newspaper that astronauts would be making their famous walk that day.

Then still a teenager, Burford looked up at the sky at the moon from his foxhole.

It was a pretty weird feeling, said Burford, a Vietnam veteran who lives at Woodcliff.

So many years have passed since that moon walk, since the time Burford was wounded only to return home to a nation where those whod served their country were treated terribly.

Next month, Burford will be among some 500 Vietnam combat veterans from Nebraska wholl board airplanes that will take them to the nations capital and back on June 6. As part of Operation Airlift, theyll see memorial monuments and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The first bus leaves at 2 a.m. to go to the airport, Burford said, smiling. It will be a long day for a bunch of old guys.

Burford was a young guy in the late 1960s. Just 17  years old, Burford had his parents sign for him so he could join the Marines.

His first day of boot camp was Jan. 31, 1969, and he turned 18 while in advanced infantry training.

That July, Burford and other Marines were flown to Vietnam. He would be a mortar man for 81 mm mortars, serving in a place called China Beach, 18 miles south of Da Nang.

Burford was at the base, when someone in his outfit tried unsuccessfully to kill a lieutenant and a gunnery sergeant. The situation disillusioned Burford, who decided that if he were going to be killed hed rather die at the hands of an enemy.

So when a forward observer job came up, he took it.

He and other Marines were on the fourth day of their companys patrol on Jan. 20, 1970. It was 6 p.m., and the men knew theyd have to go through some water before setting up an ambush on the other side.

I was the eighth man back, he said.

The 10th man back  a Californian named John  had been walking point just the day before. Burford wondered why that man now had the 10th position.

As the men stopped, Burford turned to the other man.

Why arent you walking point today? Burford asked.

This is my last night in the country, the man said. Im being pulled out with the 26th Marines.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. The other man had stepped on a booby trap.

Burford was hit with shrapnel.

I got hit and my radio man got hit, he said.

The men were medevacked to Da Nang.

Because I hadnt taken any morphine in the field, they gave me a spinal tap so I was awake during my operation, Burford said. The doctors were talking about cutting somebodys feet off and I freaked out.

I thought you said I was all right, Burford told the doctors, who assured him that theyd been talking about someone else.

Burford would find himself in a hospital bed next to the man whod accidentally stood on the booby trap.

That man was the one whod lost this feet.

I know this is crazy, but my feet are killing me, the man told Burford.

Burford was airlifted to Tokyo, flying on the outside of the helicopter like whats depicted on the M*A*S*H television show. He was sent to a naval hospital in Yokosuka, Japan for two weeks. He then was flown to a naval hospital, north of Chicago, where he spent two months.

A color snapshot shows the shrapnel wounds in his leg. He also was hit in the wrist and face. He still has shrapnel in his knee and wrist.

About 20 years ago, I had a bump on my leg and a doctor pulled out some shrapnel, he said.

Burford was honorably discharged on March 19, 1970.

Those returning from the war faced appalling treatment. That bothers him.

Only now do we treat our warriors with any decency, he said.

After his service, Burford started classes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, until it was discovered that he didnt have a high school diploma. He hadnt been given a diploma from Benson High School because he was just one hour short of graduating.

Burford took a GED class and passed the test. He transferred to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he graduated in 1978 with an animal science degree.

I worked in beef coolers for 36 years, grading cattle, half that time with the government and the other half with the industry. I retired at age 62, he said.

He and his wife, Mary, have three children and eight grandchildren.

Im proud that I served my country, he said.

Now, he looks forward to seeing the monuments in Washington, D.C., and hanging out with my fellow warriors.
LOS ANGELES  Six years ago, the small city of Maywood was struggling to stay afloat financially. So it turned to its larger neighbor, Bell, for help, essentially handing over day-to-day operations to that city.

The arrangement ultimately helped expose massive corruption in Bell, leading to top city officials being charged and convicted in a scandal that garnered national attention.

Today, Maywood is back on the brink of financial collapse and struggling to find any kind of rescue plan. The 1.2-square-mile municipality  one of the smallest in Los Angeles County  has amassed $16 million in debt that it cannot repay, according to a state report reviewed by the Los Angeles Times.

State auditors who examined the situation at City Hall found that city staff have been late with payments and failed to alleviate the crisis for years.

The revelations come as Maywood is facing political and legal problems as well. The Los Angeles County district attorney is investigating allegations that Maywood repeatedly violated state open meeting laws when hiring and firing top city officials and amending zoning changes, according to documents.

Councilman Ricardo Villarreal, who until this week served as the mayor, said he was giving up that title in protest over what he described as mismanagement and other problems in the city.

Maywoods problems are the latest in a series of municipal woes facing the predominantly Latino working-class cities along the 710 Freeway in southeast Los Angeles County. The cities have been plagued for decades by City Hall scandals and financial mismanagement.

Maywood was on the edge of bankruptcy in 2010, when officials proposed laying off much of the City Hall staff, contracting out policing to the L.A. County Sheriffs Department and having Bell handle many administrative functions.

But those plans were scuttled after The Times revealed huge salaries paid to top Bell officials, which eventually led to criminal charges.

Maywood has yet to recover, according to the California state auditor, which has deemed the city a potential high-risk entity and is conducting an extensive review of its finances and operations.

The review is designed to assess Maywoods financial health and its potential for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.

Using publicly available information, the state auditor identified Maywood as an agency that is facing fiscal challenges that may affect its ability to continue providing services to its residents, State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in an audit proposal analysis in January.

The roughly $16 million that Maywood owes includes civil lawsuits and unpaid pension obligations. The city has failed to adequately address its problems, the state said.

The city still contracts out for most public services, the auditor said, noting that the 11 city employees primarily perform accounting, revenue-collection and code-enforcement functions.

In addition to its inability to meet its long-term debt obligations, the city also has a history of making accounting mistakes and incurring late fees, including $49,000 in 2014 because of late payments to its largest contractor, the Sheriffs Department. It also has relied on non-operating revenue, such as legal settlements, to finance its operations.

The audit proposal also noted that Maywoods elected officials had failed to adequately oversee a city manager, who was fired in December after two new council members were elected.

City leaders said they recognize the seriousness of Maywoods financial woes and vowed to take steps to fix them.

I knew we were in a precarious financial position. I knew we owed money, but I also understood we had taken measures to make sure we stayed in the black (rather) than operating in a deficit, Councilman Eduardo De La Riva said this week.

De La Riva also expressed alarm at how Maywood had gotten to this point.

It seems like were repeating history, making the same mistakes that we made in the past, he said. Its disheartening whats become of our city.

The financial pressure comes during a tumultuous period at City Hall. Last year, the council hired an interim administrator after dismissing the city manager. But in April, he also was let go and officials replaced him with another interim city manager.

Its a tragedy, said Pedro Carrillo, the interim city manager who was let go in April.

At council meetings, there has been much rancor and finger-pointing among leaders.

Villarreal said he gave up his mayors title to protest what he saw as violations in open meeting laws, among other things.

The district attorney sent a letter to the city citing several examples of situations in which the meeting law was not followed.
It just took one act of bravery.

Around the turn of the 19th century, a Pawnee man named Petalesharo lived in Nebraska.

That man would become known not only for saving lives, but for helping to stop a deadly ritual.

Theres more than one version of this story, but the late Alfred Tichacek* provides his own detailed account.

Alfred wrote that Moravian missionaries came to Petalesharos village, now the site of Linwood in Saunders County.

The Pawnee chiefs invited the missionaries into their homes and fed them.

And although the Pawnees said they had their own god, Tirawa, they agreed to listen to the missionaries, who told them about Jesus and how he came to save the world.

According to Alfreds account, the Pawnees said theyd been asking their god for rain, but their crops were drying up.

So they asked the missionaries to pray to their God.

The missionaries prayed and when they finished, there was a flash of lightening and peal of thunder  and it rained.

After the rain stopped, the group went outside.

The sun was shining and there was a large rainbow. The Pawnees believed that Tirawa had built a bridge between their people and the missionaries. They said theyd believe in the missionaries God and would live in peace with them.

One of the chiefs sent his son, Petalesharo, with the missionaries to Independence, Mo., to learn about their God. Petalesharo stayed for three years. While there, the missionaries asked Petalesharo about the Pawnees way of life.

He told them about the practice of capturing a young woman from another tribe. Theyd feed her well and care for her. When the Morning Star appeared, theyd sacrifice her by shooting her to death with an arrow.

The missionaries said this was murder and asked Petalesharo to stop it.

So when he returned home and saw that a young woman was set to be sacrificed, he devised a plan. He caught two of the fastest horses and waited. The young woman was tied to a scaffolding.

A Pawnee man prayed, asking Tirawa not to send hail, tornados or blizzards. Other prayers included those for buffalo, rain and good crops.

Before the signal was given to have the arrow shot, Petalesharo jumped up and cut the ropes off the woman. He then raced with her to the horses before the others realized what had happened.

No one followed them.

Petalesharo sent the woman on to her village. He then returned to his own village to see what awaited him, but no one paid any attention to him.

The young man asked his father what would happen. His father said the people had decided that Tirawa wanted things to happen the way they did. And the people had decided to follow the God that the missionaries talked about.

Ive read and even written about other versions of this story.

But Ive never before read anything about missionaries taking Petalesharo to Missouri to teach him about God.

More than one account, including Alfreds, further romanticizes the story, saying Petalesharo later married the young woman.

Other historians say she probably just went back to her own village.

Historians seem to agree, however, that Petalesharo became one of several Great Plains chiefs to visit Washington, D.C.

By this time, the story of his heroic actions had reached the American newspapers.

Petalesharo received a large silver medal from Miss Whites Seminary. The metal had images that depicted his rescue. Petalesharo also is said to have prevented the sacrifice of a young boy.

The heroic man never lived to reach old age, but died of small pox.

What happened to the missionaries?

I dont know. I love the thought of them talking to Petalesharo and him acting on what they said.

The story provides a powerful lesson on how the influence of a few can not only save lives, but alter the course of destiny for a group of people.

Yet I must say that in another account, it mentions the missionaries coming sometime after  not before  Petalesharos act of bravery.

What if Petalesharo saved the womans life before the missionaries ever arrived?

Then it shows how one mans amazing compassion and act of courage can affect others and change the course of their lives.

Sometimes, all it takes is somebody whos willing to be brave.

I think of Bible heroes like Moses and Gideon, neither of whom wanted the job of being a leader  at first  but who took on the challenge anyway.

Moses would lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Gideon led the people in fighting off the Midianites whod persecuted them for years.

One of my favorite stories of courage involves a woman named Esther, an orphan who became a queen and saved an entire group of people from annihilation.

How did she do that?

She literally risked her life by going before the king, who could have had her executed.

Instead, he extended his scepter toward her and agreed to hear her petition. Esther ultimately unveiled a terrible plot to have all of her people exterminated. By doing so, she helped to save them.

There are other stories of bravery in the Bible  David who went up against, and defeated, the huge Goliath; the Apostle Paul, who survived a terrible shipwreck, and the Apostle Peter who preached even though it meant he was thrown into prison.

To me, the biggest hero of all time is Jesus, who died a horrible death on a cross so that those who believe can have eternal life.

I cant help but wonder if Petalesharo actually was inspired by the story of Christ.

But even if he hadnt heard about the Lord before his brave acts, Im glad that other people recognized and recorded Petalesharos heroism.

Whats more, I hope I can be courageous when the need arises and that Ill remember the words God spoke to a leader named Joshua, who faced an unknown and unnerving situation:

As it says in Joshua 1:9: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

A postscript: We can ask God to give us peace, courage, help and strength. The strongest people in the Bible were the ones who relied on him most.

*A History of the Linwood, Nebr., Community; Alfred Tichacek, 1971.
DES MOINES -- Iowa Republican leaders say they expect to capitalize on new voters brought into the process by Donald Trump, the partys presumptive presidential nominee, and as a result will follow their success in the 2014 election with another strong performance this fall.

And if there are Republicans who are set against supporting Trump, state party leaders said Thursday night at a fundraiser that there is another reason for GOP voters to stick together: defeating presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Party officials said roughly 650 Republicans attended the state partys spring fundraiser Thursday night in Des Moines East Village.

The event came just more than a week after Trump all but locked up the GOPs nomination for president.

The New York billionaire businessman has made waves during his presidential campaign, rallying the support of millions but also drawing frequent and stinging criticism, including from Republicans, some of whom have said they will not vote for him this fall.

But Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, sees Trumps candidacy not as a liability but as an opportunity.

Weve got a candidate that is going to bring new voters into the party, Kaufmann said. This is a time period where were going to, obviously some questions are going to be answered.  Peoples questions that they have are going to be answered. So I feel very good at the top (of the ballot).

Kaufmann said he believes Trumps populist campaign has upset the political apple cart, and he believes Trump will use the coming months to rally Republicans behind his candidacy.

What Trump wants to do is change the way that we fundamentally do business and change the way that we react to people. In other words, were listening to the grassroots, Kaufmann said. Any time you have that, youre going to have some healthy skepticism.  I think hes going to address his concerns. I think in a few months -- thats what its going to take, probably -- I think youre going to see a unified party.

If Republican voters defect because of Trump, the impact could also be felt in down-ballot races for Congress and the state Capitol.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad appears prepared to do his part to unify the party with Trump atop the ticket.

Earlier this week during his weekly news conference, Branstad went out of his way to express support for Trump. And during his remarks Thursday night, Branstad invoked Trumps campaign slogan, proclaiming loudly to the room full of party donors and supporters, We need to make America great again.

Branstad said it is important Republicans remain unified to change party control of the White House.

Thats why we as a party need to come together. We need to support Donald Trump, Branstad said.

Linda Upmeyer, who just completed her first session as Speaker of the Iowa House, scoffed at suggestions from pundits who, she said, say the Republican Party is fractured and divided.

Well, I think they are wrong, Upmeyer said. There is nothing that unites Americans and Republicans more than the distrust of Hillary Clinton.

The fundraisers keynote speaker was Kris Tanto Paronto, a former Army Ranger who was a member of the CIA security team that responded to the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said Thursday it is proposing an average base rate increase of 37.8 percent to 42.6 percent for its Affordable Care Act-compliant insurance plans for 2017.

The increases, which still must meet regulatory approval, will affect 30,000 people in the individual insurance market in Iowa.

That's just a fraction of the 1.6 million people the company insures overall, Wellmark said. The increase request is sure to turn heads, however. It was just last year that the Iowa insurance commissioner approved an average increase of 24.5 percent for Wellmark's ACA-compliant plans.

Those rates drew complaints from customers, as did increases for other insurers who also saw double-digit increases.

This will be Wellmark's first year on the exchange, where lower- and moderate-income families will be eligible for subsidies to help them pay for premium costs.

Those tax credits, which rise with premiums, are aimed at buffering people from premium increases. The Obama administration released a study earlier this week that said 85 percent of marketplace consumers in Iowa get tax credits and that the premiums people actually pay depends a great deal on whether they shop around and seek out the availability of the credits.

The Obama administration study said 59 percent of new and returning marketplace customers selected new plans in 2016.

Wellmark, the state's dominant insurer, attributed the rate increase proposal to several factors, including the number of large claims, the continued rise in costs for specialty drugs and a relatively small number of people who account for a large share of costs.

Wellmark said the overall cost of care for conditions costing more than $100,000 has risen 200 percent. It also said that 300 people drove 25 percent of its costs. For every $1 in premiums paid by members, $1.27 was spent in services, Wellmark said.

Wellmark said it lost more than $75 million on this part of its business.

"It is not as though we made any money," said Laura Jackson, the company's executive vice president for health care innovation and business development. "In fact we lost a tremendous amount of money. We wouldnt ask for these increases if it wasnt absolutely necessary to just even get to a place where next year we could break even. We will never make up for the losses. Its literally about trying to keep pace with the premiums for the people who are using these policies."

Wellmark also cited as a factor the expiration in 2016 of federal government reinsurance and risk corridor provisions aimed at buffering insurers against unexpected losses.

Rate information for the 90,000 members who have pre-Affordable Care Act plans will be available next month. Their use of health care services was lower than with people with ACA plans, Wellmark said.

The company said it is introducing new networks to try to control costs and improve health care services.

"We know the exchange marketplace has been tough for insurers over the last couple years, and one of the benefits we've had in watching from a distance is that successful plans have strong collaborations going with provider organizations," said Tom Newton, who is Wellmark's vice president for network engagement.

The company announced Thursday a joint venture with University of Iowa Health System and the University of Iowa Health Alliance to market new insurance plans in four counties under the name Wellmark Synergy Health. The plans are going to be available in 2017 in Scott, Linn, Johnson and Des Moines counties.

Wellmark also has formed a similar venture with Mercy Health Network for a broader area of the state.

Plans for the 2017 year will begin being sold on Nov. 1.

Other insurers in Iowa's marketplace also are proposing increases, but it's not clear in some cases to what extent. The state insurance division's website says that Medica, a Minnesota based insurer, is asking for a 19 percent increase. Aetna Health of Iowa, formerly known as Coventry Health Care of Iowa, is seeking an increase, but the amount was not listed.

Wellmark's proposed rate increases, along with those of other companies, will have to go before the state's insurance commissioner and be subject to a public hearing. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. July 23 at Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines and also will be accessible to people through a video conference at the public libraries in Atlantic, Columbus Junction, Eldora, Spencer and West Union as well as Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.
CLEAR LAKE  Officials say no one was seriously hurt in a crash that blocked a lane of a busy Clear Lake commuter road on Friday.

The crash was reported about 4:30 p.m. Friday at B-35 and Lark Avenue.

An Accura car driven by Gavin Nelson, 17, of Rockwell, was hit by a Jeep Cherokee while attempting to turn left from B-35 onto Lark Avenue, according to a Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office statement.

The Jeep came to rest on its side facing west on County Road B-35. The car had heavy damage to the passenger side, just in front of the door.

Nelson and the 62-year-old driver of the Jeep, Christopher Nelson, of Clear Lake, were not seriously hurt.

They declined transport to the hospital after being evaluated by paramedics, a deputy said.

The crash remains under investigation.

 Molly Montag
MASON CITY  Police in Mason City have asked the publics help identifying a woman suspected of passing a counterfeit bill at a local gas station.

The woman was shown in a video the department posted Wednesday on its Facebook page.

Officials want to speak with her about several instances of people using or trying to use fake bills this month in Mason City. Theyd received several tips as of Friday, said Mason City Police Lt. Rich Jensen.

Right now were seeing 20s and 50s, Jensen said. Weve had three 50s either passed or attempted be passed and two 20s.

Police in Clear Lake also released a photo this week of someone they say used counterfeit cash at the business in that city.

Store clerks are urged to look for the security strip and pay close attention to the print quality.

The microprint or the really find printing, they cant duplicate that, Jensen said.

He said the clerk who received the fake money in Mason City on Monday immediately became suspicious and contacted police.
In a planting season in which some farmers are trying to decide which crop would lose the least money, a new agricultural opportunity is gaining luster in some areas of the Midwest, particularly for small and beginning farmers.

A story in the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star earlier this month reported that Costco has even begun to help farmers buy land and equipment to grow organic food. The program has just started but Costco wants to expand it.

We cannot get enough organics to stay in business day in and day out, Costco CEO Craig Jelinek told investors at a meeting earlier this year, according to the Seattle Times.

Among the organic products that Costco sells are chickens. So connect the dots.

Costco is looking at sites near Fremont, Nebraska, for a chicken-processing plant and the local city council has taken the first steps toward annexing land to create a suitable location despite some local opposition.

Costco executive Jeff Lyons said the company would work with local farmers to provide chickens. Lyons said the local availability of corn and soybean feed would cut costs.

Admittedly, the company has not revealed whether organic chicken would be raised and processed for the new plant.

But theres no doubt that sales of organic food are growing by startling amounts.

Organic food sales were nearly 5 percent of total food sales, but organic farmland is only 1 percent of total farmland.

Organic food is one of the fasting-growing segments of American agriculture, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said last month as the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced another double-digit growth in the number of certified organic operators.

The number of domestic certified organic operations increased by almost 12 percent between 2014 and 2015, representing the highest growth rate since 2008 and an increase of nearly 300 percent since the count began in 2002, the USDA said. The total U.S. retail market for organic products is now more than $39 billion.

Costco last year also contracted with owners of organic fields in Nebraska to have local ranchers raise its cattle for is organic ground beef.

One of the reasons that organic food is in tight supply is that it takes three years for farmland to qualify as organic under USDA guidelines.

Thats why Costco has begun to offer help. Whole Foods has had a loan program for organic farmers since 2006.

A decade or so ago some viewed organic food as a fad and a niche market, but theres no sign its slowing. The law of supply and demand remains as strong as ever.

By the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal-Star, another Lee Enterprises newspaper.
ARLINGTON, Va., May 12, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Planned Systems International, Inc. (PSI), a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions and services for the federal government, is very pleased to announce the successful implementation and deployment of its Blood Donor Management System (BDMS) at all Blood Donor Centers (BDCs) worldwide.

The ongoing demand for blood donations is a critical item for the military readiness of troops worldwide, given that blood cannot be artificially reproduced and must be replenished due to a short shelf-life. Formerly, the Armed Services Blood Program used a separate system at each blood center, where data could not be shared. The improved global system, architected by PSI as the prime integrator, provides a centralized database to effectively manage and track the full spectrum of blood donor registration, screening, blood products and associated record keeping for military and civilian blood donors.

PSI and team member Mediware Information Systems, Inc. worked in close coordination and cooperation with the DHA Enterprise Blood Management System (EBMS) Program Office, the Armed Services Blood Program Office, Air Force, Army, Navy blood program offices, and each BDC, to successfully deploy this enterprise system to MHS sites worldwide.

PSI CEO Terry Lin said, We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of PSIs Blood Team and its role in supporting the Military Health System (MHS). Their efforts will have a long-term positive impact on improving the care our service members receive, and will ensure the continuity of vital healthcare services across the entire military community.

The successful implementation of BDMS included training over 400 end users, completing system installation activities, and the migration of each sites legacy data into the new system.

This achievement marks another significant milestone in PSIs long history of supporting the MHS. This follows PSIs Military Blood Program support team assisting in fulfilling the mission-critical objectives of the MHS by providing and deploying a fully integrated system to manage blood transfusion products and the associated record keeping for military members and their dependents worldwide.

About Planned Systems International, Inc.

Founded in 1988, PSI is a CMMI-DEV Level 3, CMMI-SVC Level 3, ISO 9001:2008, ISO/IEC 20000-1:2005, ISO 27001:2005, and ISO 14001:2004-certified enterprise IT solutions and management consulting services provider specializing in Health IT and Data Integration & Analyses. PSI has a stellar record of past performance and award-winning experience, and core capabilities in the following areas: Requirements Gathering & Design; Enterprise Architecture & Design; Software Development & Maintenance; Systems Integration; Testing Services; Web & SharePoint Development; Cloud Computing; E-Learning - Instructional Design & Delivery; Service Delivery & Customer Care; Medical Modeling & Simulation; Big Data Analytics & Business Intelligence; Mobility Systems; Theatre Systems Support, and Advisory & Assistance Services.

The company has earned a solid reputation for applying state-of-the-art technologies and the industry's most successful methodologies to support business solutions for the Defense Health Agency, Veterans Affairs, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, Corporation for National and Community Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and other Government clients.

Visit PSI on the web at www.plan-sys.com.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Wednesday, 11 May 2016, The North Carolina Army National Guard presented an award of appreciation on behalf of National Guard Bureau to the International Society of Automation (ISA) for its contributions in supporting Cyber Shield 2016, a nationwide training and assessment exercise designed to develop, train, and exercise cyber elements, threat analysis teams, incident handling, reporting mechanisms, and leaders.



More than 1,000 soldiers from the Army National Guard, Air National Guard and Army Reserve as well as airmen, Marines, sailors, and civilians representing 47 states and territories participated in Cyber Shield 2016, held 17-30 April 2016 at Camp Atterbury, Indiana. A core focus of the exercise was training cyber teams on network defense, forensic analysis, reporting and mitigation, and incident response through interagency partnerships and collaboration.



ISA was selected by the National Guard to provide hands-on industrial cybersecurity training based on its ISA/IEC 62443 series of industrial automation and control system security standards. The world's only consensus-based series of industrial cybersecurity standards, ISA/IEC 62443 is designed to prevent critical damage to the industrial plant systems and networks used in power generation, water treatment, refineries and other vital industrial facilities.

"I want to thank ISA not only for its contributions in helping to make Cyber Shield 2016 a success, but for its passion and commitment to help protect our critical infrastructure," said LTC Matt Chytka, Chief Information Officer, NC Army National Guard, speaking to an assembly of ISA staff at the award presentation held at ISA's North Carolina headquarters. "ISA is acutely aware of the threats cyberattack pose to America's security and welfare."



During his remarks, MAJ Robert N. Felicio, Cyber Shield J3, Exercise Control Operations Officer, NC Army National Guard, emphasized that key reason ISA stands out is because of its ability to "take a standards-based approach to training professionals in industrial cybersecurity."



Also addressing ISA staff at the ceremony were Vincent J. D'agostino, Jr., Chief Warrant Officer 3, Cybersecurity Operations Manager, NC Army National Guard, and SGM Larry Wiedel, Joint Forces Headquarters, NC Army National Guard.



"ISA is proud to have been selected as an industry partner for this critical National Guard exercise," said ISA Executive Director and CEO Patrick Gouhin. "As a global resource for industrial control systems cybersecurity, we are honored to stand behind the men and women who serve in uniform, and we look forward to providing high-quality, unbiased educational content to ensure that their teams can successfully mitigate cyber incidents and protect networks from cyber vulnerabilities."



ISA offers the most comprehensive set of industrial cybersecurity certificate programming and aligned training courses in the marketplacecovering the complete lifecycle of industrial automation and control system (IACS) assessment, design, implementation, operations and maintenance.

All of ISA's industrial cybersecurity certificate programs and training courses are based on ISA/IEC 62443, which also serve as a key component of the US government's cybersecurity initiative.



During Cyber Shield 2016, ISA provided four ISA/IEC 62443 standards-based courses with lab exercises. ISA also offered dozens of participants the opportunity to pass exams and earn three different cybersecurity certificates.



Below are the four operations technology focused courses (including hands-on, applications-based lab exercises) that ISA delivered at Cyber Shield 2016.



 Cybersecurity for Automation, Control, and SCADA Systems (IC32E)

 Using the ANSI/ISA-62443 Standards to Secure Your Control System (IC32)

 IACS Cybersecurity Design & Implementation (IC34)

 IACS Cybersecurity Operations & Maintenance (IC37)



Cyber Shield 2016 training course participants had the opportunity to take an exam to prove their knowledge and earn up to three different ISA certificates:



 ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Fundamentals Specialist

 ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Design Specialist

 ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Maintenance Specialist



These certificates are part of a comprehensive ISA/IEC 62443 Cybersecurity Certificate Program, offered to students taking the ISA suite of cybersecurity courses. For more information about all of ISA's cybersecurity offerings, including standards, books, training courses, individual certificate programs, conformity assessment programs, and more, visit www.isa.org/cybersecurity/resources.



To learn more about bringing ISA's automation and control training courses to your facility, or to find out how to take a course online, contact ISA at +1 (919) 549-8411.



About ISA

The International Society of Automation (www.isa.org) is a nonprofit professional association that sets the standard for those who apply engineering and technology to improve the management, safety, and cybersecurity of modern automation and control systems used across industry and critical infrastructure. Founded in 1945, ISA develops widely used global standards; certifies industry professionals; provides education and training; publishes books and technical articles; hosts conferences and exhibits; and provides networking and career development programs for its 40,000 members and 400,000 customers around the world.



ISA owns Automation.com, a leading online publisher of automation-related content, and is the founding sponsor of The Automation Federation (www.automationfederation.org), an association of non-profit organizations serving as "The Voice of Automation." Through a wholly owned subsidiary, ISA bridges the gap between standards and their implementation with the ISA Security Compliance Institute (www.isasecure.org) and the ISA Wireless Compliance Institute (www.isa100wci.org).
NORCROSS, Ga., May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EasyCare has appointed Steve Richards as National Director of the MOTOR TREND Certified program. Richards brings with him a wealth of experience in the automotive retail industry, including extensive knowledge of consumer behavior and the path to the purchase in today's market. With specific expertise rooted in both sales and management, Richards differentiates himself from others in the industry by consistently executing what he teaches on the dealership lot and applying his ongoing learning to enhance his ability to effectively communicate today's buying experience to sales people.



Prior to joining EasyCare, Steve was the Managing Partner at RedZone Sales Strategies, where he led the marketing and sales strategies of automotive consulting and training services around the country.



"While the consumer's purchase process continues to rapidly evolve, most dealership sales strategies are parked in neutral, having changed little in the last forty years. The skills necessary to meet the challenge of today's internet savvy consumer are different than those that traditional sales teams possess," said Richards. "The MOTOR TREND Certified program and EasyCare occupy a unique position in the industry in that we are well positioned to help the dealer modernize the process and provide the sales and service teams the necessary skills to help the customer buy, finance and protect their purchase with the backing and assurance of the iconic MOTOR TREND brand."



Richards will report to Chairman/CEO Larry Dorfman, and work from the EasyCare headquarters location in Norcross, GA.



"Steve brings a history of success with OEMs and individual dealers to the MOTOR TREND Certified program. His vision and insight into today's market is a perfect match for the MOTOR TREND Certified program's objective of creating a better buying and ownership experience for the consumer and a more profitable platform for the select MOTOR TREND Certified Dealerships around the country. We are fortunate to have Steve join us as we continue to grow the program for MOTOR TREND," said Larry Dorfman, CEO of APCO Holdings and EasyCare.



About EasyCare

EasyCare's mission is to help dealers succeed at every customer touch point by creating passionate employees and customers for your dealership. Whether it's protecting your customers on your behalf or helping deliver the ultimate driving experience, we're fully engaged. Since 1984, the company has provided leading-edge benefits that have helped nationwide dealers deliver an outstanding ownership experience to over 7 million customers. EasyCare provides the only F&I benefits that are deemed a "MOTOR TREND Recommended Best Buy" for franchised dealers, in addition to a full suite of training programs, management development and proprietary software. For more information, please visit easycare.com.

About MOTOR TREND

MOTOR TREND, a media brand of TEN: The Enthusiast Network, was founded in 1949 and is internationally recognized as a leading brand in the automotive category. The MOTOR TREND brand is comprised of MOTOR TREND Magazine; the award-winning website MOTORTREND.com; Motor Trend Auto Shows; MOTOR TREND en Espanol; MOTOR TREND India; MOTOR TREND Canada; MOTOR TREND On Demand video network; and the renowned MOTOR TREND Car of the Year, SUV of the Year, Truck of the Year, and Best Driver's Car awards programs.

A photo accompanying this release is available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=40135
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jonathan Loveland, a leader in the project development and execution of alternative water supply solutions, has joined Black & Veatchs water business. Based in Irvine, California, Loveland will serve as Global Practice Leader for the Alternative Water Supply business line, which includes all types of desalination, reclaimed and recycled water projects.



The importance of alternative supplies such as water reuse, brackish groundwater and desalination continues to grow as organizations look to build diversified, resilient water sources, said Cindy Wallis-Lage, President of Black & Veatchs water business. Jonathans experience in process and treatment solutions can help service providers develop a diversified resource portfolio, adding system resilience and delivering safe, reliable and cost-effective water supplies.

With a global portfolio of award-winning desalination and reuse projects, Black & Veatch assists communities around the world in the search for new water resource solutions. Loveland brings 23 years of experience in advanced water processes and treatment. He has particular expertise in seawater desalination, recycled water treatment, groundwater treatment, low- and high-pressure filtration, and membrane desalination treatment.

A recent highlight of Lovelands work is the award-winning Claude Bud Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The project was recently named Desalination Plant of the Year for 2016 by Global Water Intelligence. Loveland was responsible for the projects planning, permitting, preliminary design, and contract negotiation/execution, as well as the execution of its design-build phase, including drinking water permitting and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit compliance. Additionally, he was responsible for all technical elements of detailed design, construction management, commissioning and operations.

A professional engineer and active member of numerous water industry associations, Loveland gives presentations across the United States on an array of technical issues in advanced water treatment. He also writes extensively for peer-reviewed industry journals.

About Black & Veatch

Black & Veatch is an employee-owned, global leader in building critical human infrastructure in Energy, Water, Telecommunications and Government Services. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people in over 100 countries through consulting, engineering, construction, operations and program management. Our revenues in 2015 were US$3.0 billion. Follow us on www.bv.com and in social media.
WASHINGTON, May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) agreed to revise a controversial enforcement memorandum as part of a settlement agreement resolving a lawsuit brought by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), the American Petroleum Institute (API), and the American Chemistry Council (ACC). In return, the AFPM and the other industry petitioners agreed to dismiss their lawsuit, filed in the D.C. Circuit.

The OSHA enforcement memorandum addresses the agency's Process Safety Management Program, and more specifically the application of "recognized and generally accepted good engineering practices" or "RAGAGEP." AFPM challenged the June 8, 2015 memorandum, arguing that it unlawfully expanded and misinterpreted RAGAGEP requirements, and, if left in place, would undermine industry safety efforts. OSHA published a revised memo on its website on May 11, 2016, addressing AFPM's, API's, and ACC's concerns.

"We are pleased that OSHA and the Department of Justice were willing to engage us in settlement negotiations and ultimately to address all of our primary concerns with the revised enforcement memo. Settlements of this nature are pretty rare, and thus speaks to the strength of our case. Regardless, this settlement is good for AFPM's members and the government, as our collective resources are better spent on actual efforts to improve safety rather than litigation," said AFPM President Chet Thompson.

"AFPM and its members devote substantial time and resources to ensuring safe and reliable operations through compliance with numerous regulations, standards, safety programs, training, and public outreach. Working cooperatively with government and industry partners we will continue to strive toward the goal of zero incidents."
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NOHO, Inc. (OTCQB:DRNK), a producer and marketer of award-winning functional, premium lifestyle beverages, today announced it has retained Investor Relations Partners (IRP) to expand the Companys strategic investor relations program.



NOHO is rapidly building out a robust distribution platform for its uniquely functional and tasty NOHO Gold and NOHO Hangover Defense product lines, said Jay Grdina, NOHO Chief Executive Officer. We now have solid and growing global market penetration, with multi-million dollar minimum distribution revenue commitments, across developed nations in Asia as well as throughout the United States.

We anticipate 2016 being a breakout year for NOHO with sales ramping up through our recently engaged distributors, and are thrilled to announce Investor Relations Partners will be working with us to upgrade our investment story and tell it to a wider audience, he added.

Industry analysts report flavored and functional drinks, which are high in herbs, vitamins, amino acids, and minerals, are increasingly being preferred over aerated drinks across many regions. The global flavored and functional water market is expected to reach US$36.7 bn by 2019 from a market value of US$17.2 bn in 2012. The market is likely to register a CAGR of 11.50% between 2013 and 2019. Some of the driving forces of this market are the high rate of urbanization and rising number of health-conscious consumers along with the constantly growing concern of consumers towards maintaining a healthier life.1

Phillip Sugarman, Vice President of Investor Relations Partners, said, Once I tried my first NOHO beverage, I was a believer. This is the best product in class, with a bright future in a massive, fast growing global marketplace. We look forward to introducing the NOHO investment story to a much wider universe of prospective investors and media.

To be added to the Companys investor lists, please contact Phillip Sugarman at Investor Relations Partners at 818-280-6800 or via email at psugarman@irpartnersinc.com.

About Investor Relations Partners

Investor Relations Partners, Inc. (IRP) is a full-service investor relations firm serving a global client base. The principals of IRP have received top industry awards for their investor relations programs for a number of high-profile companies, including, but not limited to, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, ValueVision Media, Taro Pharmaceuticals, and LJ International. The firm's principals have executed effective investor relations programs for dozens of public companies, ranging from emerging micro-cap companies to multinational corporations with market capitalizations in excess of $15 billion. For further information on IRP, please visit the firm's Website at www.irpartnersinc.com.

1http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/flavored-functional-water.htm

About NOHO

NOHO produces and markets its award-winning Gold Premium and Functional Lifestyle beverage that is setting the standard for functional beverages that taste great. The 8.4 oz. can's light refreshing flavor can be used to help combat against hangovers by mixing it with your favorite liquor, or it may be a healthy alternative to high sugar sodas and juices. With only six grams of sugar and 30 calories, NOHO proves that healthy can taste good. The two-ounce NOHO Hangover Defense Shot provides the same essential ingredients in a concentrated prevention and treatment boost.

For additional information on NOHO please visit www.nohodrink.com and follow NOHO on www.instagram.com/nohodrink as well as at www.twitter.com/nohodrink.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.

This press release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These statements appear in a number of places in this release and include all statements that are not statements of historical fact regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Noho, Inc. (the "Company"), its directors or its officers with respect to, among other things: (i) financing plans; (ii) trends affecting its financial condition or results of operations; (iii) growth strategy and operating strategy. The words "may," "would," "will," "expect," "estimate," "can," "believe," "potential" and similar expressions and variations thereof are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control, and actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements as a result of various factors. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed by the company from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.


Tue, 10/26 (11:30am ET): MBA Essays - Talking About Your Past and Making Your Reader Excited About Your Future
New Jersey's a fascinating place, full of fascinating people who argue over fascinating things. The latest state debate? What the processed, pork-based breakfast meat popular on egg sandwiches should be called: Taylor ham or pork roll.

The deliberations began in the Legislature, who were trying to determine the state's official sandwich, an egg and cheese sandwich with either pork roll or Taylor ham. "In the north, people call it Taylor ham. Pork roll is the more generic name for it. We are voting for what to pick," Assemblyman Tim Eustace, the man pushing for the BEC designation, explained to the Wall Street Journal. Eustace has since launched an online survey so NJ residents can weigh in on their desired method of sodium and cholesterol consumption. God, at least it's not fucking yogurt.

In the 1850s, a state senator, John Taylor, created Taylor's Prepared Ham, which was later forced to change its name for not meeting the definition of ham as outlined by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. A butcher named George Washington Case put together his own version of the pork product in the 1870s, later becoming the Case Pork Roll Co.

"Its fierce and filthy," another pork roll company owner said of the name rivalry. "If there's going to be a state sandwich, it should absolutely be pork roll," Kate Kelly posited. "But I wouldnt want to see a lot of debating or taxpayer money wasted on this." Time to bring in an impartial arbiter.
Police have arrested four more children in connection with the arson of a bus outside a Jewish girls school in Crown Heights early on Sunday evening. The boys responsible apparently set the fire with cardboard boxes inside the bus, the door to which is open in a surveillance video of the incident.

No one was injured in the resulting fire, but the bus was gutted. Police arrested an 11-year-old boy on Monday and charged him with criminal mischief as a hate crime and arson as a hate crime. On Thursday, officers caught up to four more boys suspected to have been involved and charged them too with criminal mischief and arson, with hate crime enhancements. The boys are 11, 12, 14, and 14, all from Brooklyn.

Police say six boys were involved, leaving open the possibility of another arrest. The bus lacked writing on the outside indicating its affiliation, but did belong to a Jewish-owned company, BSD Trans Corp.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told reporters on Tuesday, "It was purposefully done with prior planning. Clearly this was a religious school bus. Anyone in the community knows that."

On Thursday, Boyce said, "We spoke with the Brooklyn DA. We were both in agreement this was basically motivated because it was a local religious school that was targeted."

The bus's owner, meanwhile, didn't immediately assume to understand the motivations of the culprits.

"I am not going to jump the gun and accuse these kids of a hate crime," owner Leon Yavich told the Daily News. "I will not accuse them of a hate crime simply for the fact that I have not spoken to them."

He added, "My bus doesnt have any Jewish markings. It doesnt belong to the yeshiva."

Police are investigating two other events in the area as possible hate crimes targeting Jews. Last Thursday afternoon, police say someone threw a brick at a Jewish school's bus, shattering a mirror. And on Friday, a 13-year-old boy flicked rubber bands at a Jewish man, and when the man confronted him, the kid allegedly punched him in the face. The man held the boy until police arrived.
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It's been over a year and a half since Joan Rivers passed away following a botched medical procedure, and now, her family has reached a settlement with the clinic and doctors that it blamed for her death. The specific amount has not been disclosed, but lawyers for the Rivers family called the settlement "substantial," and TMZ reports that it's in the millions.

Melissa Rivers sued Yorkville Endoscopy in January of 2015, following her mother's death on September 4th, 2014. In that lawsuit, she alleged that the clinic allowed Dr. Gwen Korovin, Riverss personal ENT, to be in the procedure room and perform a transnasal laryngoscopy on Rivers, despite the fact that she wasn't authorized to practice medicine at the clinic. Rivers had agreed to undergo an upper endoscopy performed by Dr. Lawrence Cohen, who was the director of the clinic at the time. Shortly following Rivers's death, Cohen stepped down as medical director.

That was just one of the malpractice instances of which Rivers's family accused the clinic and doctors involved in her death: Korovin and Cohen allegedly took photos of Rivers while she was under sedation, despite the fact that Rivers had never consented to having her picture taken. An investigation by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also found that the clinic failed to keep proper medical records, get informed consent for every procedure performed, or record Rivers's weight before sedating her.

When the anesthesiologist, Dr. Renuka Bankulla, pointed out that Rivers's vocal cords appeared swollen and at risk of seizing, Cohen allegedly dismissed her concerns. By the time it became clear that Rivers was suffering from a laryngospasm, Korovinwho, despite not being authorized to be there, was the only doctor present who could perform the emergency procedure necessaryhad already left the clinic. By the time 911 was called, Rivers had gone into cardiac arrest.

Rivers was placed in a medically-induced coma following her heart attack. A week later, she was taken off life support and passed away.

In a statement, Yorkville Endoscopy said that "our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family...We remain committed to providing quality, compassionate healthcare services that meet the needs of our patients, their families and the community."

Melissa Rivers said that, this settlement with Yorkville Endoscopy will allow her to "put the legal aspects of my mother's death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation...Moving forward, my focus will be to ensure that no one ever has to go through what my mother, (my son) Cooper and I went through and I will work towards ensuring higher safety standards in out-patient surgical clinics."
Susannah Mushatt JonesTee (short for Auntie) to her 100 nieces and nephews, Miss Susie to her friendshas died in Brooklyn at the age of 116, bequeathing the Guinness Book Of World Records title of Oldest Person. Born on July 6th, 1899the same year Queens and Staten Island joined New York CityJones was the last known living American who experienced the 1800s.

Raised in Alabama by sharecropper parentsher grandparents were slavesJones moved to New York City in 1923 (the year Yankee Stadium opened to the public in the Bronx), where she worked as a child-care provider until 1965. And although she became blind at age 100and was nearly deaf at the end of her lifeJones did not spend her final years bedridden; she was up and about to celebrate her 116th birthday last July.

In 2005, Jones, who had been living in the seniors-only Vandalia Houses in East New York for more than 20 years, got a letter from Mayor Bloomberg (wishing good health and great happiness") for her twice-daily commitment to the tenant patrol, despite her blindness. Jones also helped develop a college scholarship fund for young black women, and put her first niece through college. The grateful relative ended up getting a doctorate, and wrote a biography of Jones titled Susannah Our Incredible 114-Year-Old Aunt.

Married only once, and briefly at that, Jones had no children of her own. This may have been the secret to her longevity, in addition to "Sleep!" according to Guinness, and four strips of bacon with eggs every single morning. Relatives recently told the Guardian that Jones also got plenty of fruits and vegetables as a child, eating produce she harvested herself.

According to the News, the oldest living person in America is now Goldie Michelson, a 113-year-old who lives in Massachusetts who is originally from Russia. The oldest woman in the world is now Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, of Italy, who is 150 days younger than Jones and has also attributed her longevity to eating eggs and being single.

Jones reportedly died just before 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, at her senior home.

In a lovely profile of Jones last December, New York Magazine noted that the record holder still chewed double mint gum, and that her hair had recently, mysteriously grown in brown again after years of being white. Jones voted in 20 presidential elections, twice for Obama. If she had lived until November, the magazine noted, she might have had the chance to vote for the first woman president.
This weekend, our dear subway system seems to be a little bit... confused. The A and the C are back to thinking they're supposed to be the F; the D is the N, except for when it's not; the E is also jumping on the F identity theft train; and the 42nd street shuttle is just giving up. There are changes on a whopping 16 linesso plan accordingly, and remember, things always can (and certainly will) be worse.

Here's what to expect:

1 trains are not running in either direction between 14 St and South Ferry, from 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

2 trains are running local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station, from 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

3 trains will operate to and from New Lots all weekend, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday, trains will run local in both directions between Chambers St and 34 St-Penn Station.

4 trains are not running in either direction between New Lots Av/Crown Hts-Utica Av and Bowling Green, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

6 trains are nut running in either direction between Pelham Bay Park and Parkchester, from 3:30 a.m. on Saturday to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Main St-bound 7 trains will run express between Queensboro Plaza and 74 St-Broadway from 4:45 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

A trains will be rerouted via the F in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. They'll run local between W 4 St-Wash Sq and 59 St and between 125 St and 168 St from 12:01 a.m. on Saturday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

C trains are not running in either direction between 145 St and 168 St from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Also during that time, they'll be rerouted via the F in both directions between W 4 St-Wash Sq and Jay St-MetroTech.

D trains will stop at 135 St in both directions from 12:01 a.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and from 11:45 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday, Coney Island-Stillwell Av-bound trains will run express from Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr to 36 St. And from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 10 p.m. on Sunday, Norwood-205 St-bound trains will be rerouted via the N from Coney Island-Stillwell Av to 36 St.

E trains will be rerouted via the F in both directions between 21 St-Queensbridge and W 4 St-Wash Sq, from 11:15 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday, World Trade Center-bound trains will skip Briarwood and 75 Av. And from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 7 a.m. on Sunday, and from 11:45 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday, World Trade Center-bound trains will run express from 71 Av to 21 St-Queensbridge.

F trains are not running in either direction between Coney Island-Stillwell Av and Church Av from 11:30 p.m. on Friday to 4:30 a.m. on Monday. Free shuttle buses will make all stops. From 11:15 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday, Jamaica-bound trains will run express from 4 Av-9 St to Jay St-Metrotech. And from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday, Manhattan-bound trains will skip Sutphin Blvd, Briarwood, and 75 Av.

G trains are not running in either direction between Church Av and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts, from 11:15 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

Coney Island-bound N trains will run express from 34 St-Herald Sq to Canal St, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and from 11:45 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday, Coney Island-bound trains will run express from Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr to 59 St.

Brooklyn-bound Q trains will run express from 34 St-Herald Sq to Canal St, from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 5 a.m. on Monday.

R trains are not running in either direction between 59 St and 36 St from 11:45 p.m. on Friday to 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and from 11:45 p.m. on Sunday to 5 a.m. on Monday. From 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Bay Ridge-bound trains will run express from Atlantic Av-Barclays Ctr to 59 St. And from 6:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday, downtown trains will run express from 34 St-Herald Sq to Canal St, while Manhattan-bound trains will run express from 71 Av to Queens Plaza.

The 42 St S shuttle is not running from 6:30 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday.
Police are looking for a man accused of repeatedly masturbating or exposing himself in front of female subway riders since March. They have identified the suspect as Kenneth Wiley, 33, who is described as being about 6' and 195 pounds, with short black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray jacket, black hat and black jeans. Authorities also note that he has "Browns" tattooed on his hand and "Brooklyn" tattooed on his arm.

The NYPD detailed five separate public lewdness incidents:

Incident 1: (18 Pct) It was reported to the police that on Monday, March, 28,2016, at 0100 hours, the victim a 27-year-old female, was riding the "F" train when the individual sat in front of the victim and asked if the train was an express train. The male then began to masturbate under his hooded sweatshirt before exiting at the train at the Avenue of the Americas and the West 47 Street subway exit.



Incident 2:(1 Pct) It was reported to the police that on Friday, April, 1,2016, at 0825 hours, the victim a 23-year-old female was riding a northbound train "1" train when she observed the individual masturbating. The male then exited the train at the Greenwich and Rector Street subway station.



Incident 3:(1 Pct) It was reported to the police that on Friday, April, 29,2016, at 1740 hours, the victim a 23-year-old female was approached by the individual while riding the southbound "E" train who asked the victim a question. As the individual exited the train the Canal Street subway station he exposed himself to the victim who remained on the train.



Incident 4: (1 Pct) It was reported to the police that on Friday, April, 29,2016, at 1735 hours the victim, a 40-year-old female, was riding the southbound "E" train when the individual sat in front of her and masturbated in front of her. Both the victim and individual exited the train at the Chambers Street subway station where the male fled in unknown direction.



Incident 5: (1 Pct) It was reported to the police that on Saturday, April, 30,2016, at 0100 hours the victim, a 30-year-old female, was riding the southbound "N" train when the individual asked her a question. The victim responded and noticed that the male was masturbating inside of his hooded sweatshirt. The male then exited the train at the Cortland Street subway station in an unknown direction.

Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

If you see or experience sexual misconduct in the subway (this includes seeing a masturbator, being groped, being grinded on, etc.), you can report it to the MTA and police on this website. There's also a place for you to upload photos and/or video. Don't let the perverts win.
A Times Square regular whose sign says "Free Hugs" was arrested for allegedly punching a tourist who didn't tip him after taking a photograph with him. While being led from the police precinct, Jermaine Himmelstein admitted to reporters, "I was aggressively asking for tips."

Around 11 a.m. yesterday, Canadian tourist Sophie Violene Dauvios, 22, was apparently taking pictures with a friend on Broadway near West 45th Street when Himmelstein "darted over with a cardboard sign that read, 'Free Hugs' and squeezed into one of their photos," the Post reports.

The girl was taking photos with her friend, and [he] walked in to get a hug, said witness Brian Martinez.

After agreeing to give him a hug, Dauvios turned to walk away, apparently causing Himmelstein to snap.

He puts his arm around one of the girls, and then he pulls out his wallet, like hes asking for a tip, said Martinez, a tour-bus sales rep.

When she refused, Himmelstein followed Dauvios down the street and punched her in the eye before dropping the sign and fleeing, cops said.

One witness, Karen Lewis, told the Post, "He hit her pretty hard. Its going to take a few weeks for that to heal." Davis was taken to Mount Sinai West for a black eye, cuts and swelling.

Lewis also took a photo of the aftermath:

Crazies in NY happening now!! The lady in pic was punched in the eye and robbed by a " Free Hugger" sign holder A photo posted by Karen (@karenlew17) on May 12, 2016 at 8:26am PDT

Himmelstein fled Times Square and was found four hours later in Union Square; an NYPD recruit who had his mugshot spotted him. NYPD Chief of Department James O'Neill said that Himmelstein "is no stranger to this. He has multiple prior arrests and several were for the same type of offense.

According to WABC 7, "Himmelstein also is accused of punching a 23-year-old woman on April 29 as she was waiting for the subway near Times Square. Detectives are looking at whether he is linked to other unsolved similar assaults. He has been arrested 16 times since 2012. In 2013, he was arrested for throwing a can of soda at a woman who refused to hug him in Washington Square Park. The can bruised her face. He also is accused of punching a woman in the face on the Coney Island boardwalk last year."

The NY Times profiled Himmelstein in 2013; his parents, who say that he is autistic, had no idea he was traveling around the city with a "Free Hugs" sign and seemed distraught about their son. When they heard about the assault in Washington Square Park, his mother said, "Please tell every woman in America, I apologize. Any woman walking through that park, I apologize."

After a series of high profile incidents with Times Square characters either attacking, groping or frightening tourists, the City Council recently approved a measure that will force all Times Square entrepreneursfrom the Naked Cowboy to Elmo and masked superheroes, from desnudas to ticket sellersto remain in designated areas, free speech cages, if you will. The Council is also reviving a long dormant bill that would require the costumed characters to register with the city and wear special tags.

A woman who believed she saw Himmelstein punch the woman at Coney Island told NBC New York, "He needs help, he's hurting people."
Feed the insatiable carbohydrate demon that lives inside you with a Pasta Tasting Course at Davio's, an Italian steakhouse in Midtown. On Saturdays and Sundays, the restaurant is now offering a five-course tasting menu all about noodles, including ricotta-filled Lemon Ravioli in a ramp and lemon butter sauce; Tagliatelle Bolognese made with veal, beef and pork; and Ravioli Nero stuffed with lobster, swimming in uni butter. The meal costs $55 per person; reservations can be made at 212-661-4810.

West Village cocktail bar Analogue hosts their first ever Whiskey Festival on Saturday in conjunction with the Positively 8th Street Fair. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., they'll be offering samples of global whiskies like Teeling Whiskey from Dublin, Widow Jane from Red Hook, Koval Distillery from Chicago and a handful of others. Cocktails using the featured spirits will be discounted, and they're also offering complimentary BBQ. Tickets are $45.



(Nell Casey/Gothamist)

This weekend, Williamsburg's Extra Fancy opens their big, new outdoor bar and they're celebrating the occasion with a Crawfish Boil on Saturday from noon until 4 p.m. Brooklyn Brewery's doing a tap takeover for the event, and a $30 ticket ($35 at the door) gets you one pint plus "plenty'o'crawfish."

Sample and sip the flavors of Spain's Basque region on Sunday at the sixth annual Txikifest, an outdoor festival celebrating Spain's Txakoli wine. For the uninitiated, Txakolipronounced cha-co-liare predominantly white wines made from hondarrabi zuri grapes, a variety common to the Basque Country. The event is hosted by restaurants Txikito, El Quinto Pino, Tekoa and La Vara, all of whom are helping supply plenty of nibbles to soak up all the vino, as are Co. Pizza, Colonia Verde, Del Posto, Fonda, La Newyorkina, Llama Inn, Mateo, Please Don't Tell, Pomfrit Nogales, Quality Eats, Sullivan Street Bakery, Superiority Burger and a few others. Tickets are $50 and proceeds benefit Hot Bread Kitchen.
BILLINGS -- With the opening of the new Billings forensic crime lab, Eastern Montana can expect faster turn-around times when it comes to drug evidence identification in smaller drug cases, officials said Thursday.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, Montana Crime Lab Administrative Director Phil Kinsey and Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito announced the crime lab's grand opening at Billings Clinic Thursday afternoon.

The lab, which was anticipated to open in January, has already begun processing some evidence, Kinsey said. Fox congratulated both the state and local law enforcement agencies in their work to serve justice better and quicker in Montana. He thanked legislators for making the lab a priority and for pushing for its inception.

Kinsey said the new lab is projected to process about 700 cases a year and will serve the 27 Eastern Montana counties. A majority of those cases will come from Yellowstone County, which sent more than 500 cases to the Missoula crime lab last year.

The new lab will only test and identify drugs. Cases that have drugs in addition to others type of evidence will continue to be processed at the Missoula Crime Lab, which is much larger. The full crime lab in Missoula will continue to process the majority of forensic testing including breath alcohol; firearms and tool marks; latent prints and impressions; pathology; serology; DNA; toxicology; and trace evidence.

The request for a second crime lab was made by Twito after the 2014 election, when the county attorney told Reps. Dale Mortensen, R-Billings, and Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings the one thing he really needed was a lab. Twito's request was echoed by other Eastern Montana County Attorneys, who said the spike of drug-related cases coming through their offices could be dealt with faster if the prosecutors had access to a closer crime lab.

"We're on track to see the same number of possession cases as last year, maybe more," Twito said Thursday.

With drug possession charges making up a third of the criminal cases filed in 2015, Twito said speeding up the case will help to get drug users into treatment programs quicker. At least 20 percent of the Yellowstone County jail population was arrested on some type of drug charge, not including those incarcerated for either a supervision or probation violation, according to the detention facilitys jail roster.

Felony drug possession charges have increased in Yellowstone County from 171 in 2011, to at least 540 last year, with most not even being busts for large amounts of drugs. One third of the drug cases sent from Yellowstone County for analysis in 2015 were for "trace" or what's called "no weight" amounts. Drug evidence cases being processed at the lab has increased from 1,960 in 2008 to over 2,500 in 2015.

Sending evidence from Eastern Montana and back for those cases or sending an evidence technician to testify somewhere in Eastern Montana takes too much time. The Eastern Montana Crime Lab will help with many backlogged cases, Kinsey said.

The Billings lab will only have three employees  an analyst who moved from Missoula, a chemist from North Carolina, who completed her training at the Missoula Lab Thursday, and evidence technician Gaye Gauthier, a former Billings Police detective. The lab will also have three forensic instruments, valued at over $120,000 each.

Within the 1,553-square-foot space, lab evidence will be stored in a room secured by proximity cards. The cards will record who enters the evidence locker and when they enter. This information will also be relayed to the Missoula crime lab. The Missoula lab, a 30,000-square-foot facility, will be able to observe the inside of the Billings lab using four security cameras, some placed in the evidence lab and some in the main entrance of the lab.

The walls of the new lab were also built up to prevent anyone accessing the evidence through a false ceiling, Kinsey said. Security doors and locks and motion detectors were also added. Evidence will only be stored at the lab while it is being analyzed. It will be sent back to the requesting agency as soon as it is processed, Kinsey said.

Kinsey did not go into specifics regarding security breaches at the Missoula crime lab, where former Missoula police officer Steve Brester is being investigated for stealing drug evidence from the lab when he was employed as an evidence technician. Charges have still not been filed against Brester, despite the breach affecting more than 50 cases in Montana, 15 of which were in Yellowstone County. It is alleged Brester stole drug evidence for over 9 months while employed with the lab.

The breach has also promted defense attorneys in Yellowstone County to accuse prosecutors of hiding information regarding the ongoing investigation at the Montana State Crime Lab.

President of the Billings Clinic Foundation Jim Duncan said the hospital was able to accommodate the security needs of the lab just as it does all areas of it's campus. Duncan said the hospital has different security levels throughout the separate wings depending on what type of work is being done there. The forensic lab will be no different, he said.

The state is leasing the space from Billings Clinic in what used to hold the Deaconess Research Institute, at 1045 N. 30th St. Medical director of the Billings Clinic Cancer Center, Randall Gibb said research for the clinic was already being moved to other areas of the hospital when the state approached the hospital about the space in August.

The lease on the space will cost the state $45,720 a year and will last until June 30, 2019.

The Legislature authorized the DOJ to spend as much as $310,000 to secure a two-year lease and $476,000 to pay employees, with anything left over going into the DOJ's general fund. The money wasn't budgeted during the Legislature and will come out of the DOJ's budget, which it will ask the 2017 Legislature to supplement.

An additional $140,000 was spent to update the space including the cost of design fees, construction documents and programming, construction costs and specialty systems such as the security systems.

The Deputy State Medical Examiner is also leasing space in Billings at St. Vincent's Healthcare. Kinsey said the state is open to continuing to expand forensic services in Billings, but the Missoula Crime Lab will remain the forensic science hub in the state.
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission in Helena on Thursday moved forward a hunting and fishing conservation groups proposal to extend motorized watercraft restrictions on nearly 50 river and stream segments.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Quiet Waters Initiative was opposed by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks due to a lack of current conflicts, but commissioners agreed with a majority of public commenters that a public conversation about stream recreation is necessary before regulations become reactionary. A unanimous vote sent the petition into rulemaking, where the commission can consider future public comment in deciding if BHAs recommendations become regulations.

BHA conservation coordinator Greg Munther testified that in addition to jet skis and jet boats, watercraft technology continues to advance from motorized surfboards slaloming up streams to an ATV that converts to a personal watercraft. Technological advances both present and future mean regulations should be considered proactively, he said.

We dont want to be behind the curve and this maintains river opportunities for safety and fish and wildlife resources, he said.

The state has often acted proactively when it comes to conflicts with technology, Munther said, pointing to restrictions on drones for hunting as one example.

Munther and other commenters called the proposal conservative at less than 1 percent of Montanas stream miles. Common sense limits on horsepower, seasonal restrictions and watercraft types maintain the status quo users currently enjoy, they said.

We dealt with a number of these conflicts and Im really impressed, think its a really good step to be proactive and its time to look at river recreation, said former commissioner and state Sen. Bob Ream.

Representatives from the Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana and American Rivers also threw support behind moving the proposal forward, along with several other BHA members and river users.

FWP Enforcement Chief Tom Flowers presented on behalf of the agency, telling the commission that such restrictions are unwarranted at this time.

We asked the regions, Is there a conflict there? and the answer was no, he said. Its not that it couldnt happen, and even though we realize the potential is there for issues, our general stance is this is unwarranted at this time.

FWP called the recommendations drastic in agenda materials and suggested that existing laws against negligent and reckless boating address public safety.

A pair of opponents testified against moving the petition forward, arguing that restricting horsepower in swift currents could result in safety issues and that restricting motorized users went against multiple use principles.

(The petition) is making rules for a problem that does not exist and restricting the public from public waters, said Paul Rossignol with Montana Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the petition for FWP rulemaking, meaning a final decision will not come until future meetings when public comment is considered for draft and final proposals.

I agree this is a conversation worth having, we need to be proactive, but we need to make sure there is still multiple use, said Commissioner Richard Stuker of Chinook.
John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States of America, must be rolling over in his grave about the people who are seeking the Democrat Partys nomination for the presidency.

Bernie Sanders is an outspoken socialist and communist sympathizer who never had a real job until he was 40 years old. There is no way his socialist message can be reconciled with JFKs famous words, Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Hillary Clinton should have already been indicted for her private server and illegal mishandling of classified information. And, in an email written to her daughter on the night four Americans were killed in Benghazi, she stated that an Al Qaeda-like group had carried out a terrorist attack on our embassy. Within days, she was following the administrations bogus story about a video, even while speaking to the victims family members. Love all that honesty and transparency?

Voters better wake up to the fact that the Democrat Party is no longer the party of JFK. It is leading this country down the road to self-destruction. As Margaret Thatcher once said, socialist governments only work till they run out of other peoples money. And instead standing up to countries out to harm us, as JFK did during the Cuban Missile Crisis, this Democrat administration apologizes to them for our strength and makes bad nuclear deals with them, while all the time lying to our citizens.

Tim Popp

East Helena
MISSOULA -- While a decadeslong legal struggle over energy exploration in the Badger-Two Medicine revolves around its sacred nature to the Blackfeet Indians, it wasnt until this week that the tribe officially asked to join the fight.

Blackfeet tribal leaders joined several conservation groups in requesting intervener status in the case between Solenex LLC and the U.S. Department of the Interior before U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C. Two months ago, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell accepted a recommendation from the U.S. Forest Service to cancel Solenexs drilling leases on 6,200 acres of public land just south of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Solenex asked Leon to overrule the decision and reinstate the leases.

Those representing traditional Blackfeet culture did not have a seat at the table 30 years ago when the federal government leased our sacred lands for a dollar an acre, said John Murray of the Pikuni Traditionalist Association. This intervention is important to ensure that those representing traditional Blackfeet culture have a seat at the table now as the court considers the validity of the governments effort to correct that 30-year-old mistake.

The tribe was joined by the Blackfeet Headwaters Alliance, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, Montana Wilderness Association, National Parks Conservation Association and the Wilderness Society.

Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso, representing the tribe and conservation groups, argued they needed a seat in the courtroom because they faced risks that the government did not. To start with, the current court case revolves around whether Solenexs leases were improperly suspended by the Forest Service. The Blackfeet have argued the leases were improperly granted in the first place back in the 1980s.

Preso noted the federal agencies were particularly doubtful friends because as the party admitting wrongdoing, they lack incentive to explain their errors beyond what they deem necessary to support their lease-cancellation decision. Thats important because the tribe and conservation groups had spent decades unsuccessfully trying to get the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to declare the leases illegal.

The 165,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine area rests next to Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Murray described its significance to the Blackfeet language, belief system and spiritual practices invaluable.

Tribal officials attempted to negotiate a compromise with Solenex for other, less sensitive drilling lands on the Blackfeet Reservation, which has seen oil and gas exploration since the 1920s. Those unsuccessful talks were outside the legal bounds of Solenexs case against the Forest Service.
BILLINGS -- Montana and five other states say President Barack Obama overstepped his power by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, whose developers are now suing four presidential cabinet members.

The states along the pipelines route filed a friend-of-the-court brief this week arguing that Congress, not the executive, has the right to regulate interstate and international commerce. The pipeline, which would have crossed the Canadian border, was being developed by TransCanada, which is now suing the government.

Because of the presidents representations to the rest of the world that America would lead in reducing its carbon footprint, that that was the sole reason for denying the permit, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox said. Thats ludicrous because its outside the authority granted to the president and its the first time in history of these trans-border applications that one was denied for any reason.

TransCanada filed its lawsuit at the beginning of January, exactly two months after Secretary of State John Kerry announced that the U.S. would be best served by denying Keystone XL a permit. And Kerry did, according the Secretary of State documents, reference a need for the U.S. to practice what it preaches about climate change to other countries.

The United States cannot ask other nations to make tough choices to address climate change if we are unwilling to make them ourselves, Kerry said. Denying the Keystone XL pipeline is one of those choices.

However, leading by example wasnt the only reason given. Kerry also concluded that the Keystone XL pipeline would have insignificant impact on U.S. security. He said that the pipeline wouldnt lead to lower U.S. gas prices, and that Keystones long-term contribution to the U.S. economy would be marginal. The State Department concluded the Keystone XL pipeline raised concerns about water supplies in communities along its route and the preservation of cultural heritage sites. The department also objected to importing Canadian tar sands oil, a particularly dirty source of fuel.

The TransCanada lawsuit argues that by blocking Keystones pipeline construction, the United States violated the North American Free Trade Agreement. The company demands $15 billion in compensation.

Last month, the Obama Administration asked the Texas federal court, in which the lawsuit was filed, to dismiss the case. The administrations argument is that President Obama has the right to set foreign policy, the policy in this case being Obamas fight against climate change.

The attorneys general are advising the court that the Presidents decision does pose significant harm to the six states along the pipelines path. Jobs and tax revenue were lost when the pipeline was rejected, they argue. Approving the pipeline was a foreign commerce issue, they say. Congress calls the shots on foreign commerce, not the President.

There are over a 100 trans-border oil pipelines, gas pipelines and transmission lines, either over the Mexico-U.S. border of the Canadian-U.S. border, Fox said. All have been approved over the years, none of which have received the scrutiny the Keystone XL pipeline received and none of which were denied.

State attorneys general have proven they can influence a judicial debate, Fox said. Attorneys general have for now halted a federal government attempt to extend federal control on streams, ponds and tributaries feeding U.S. waterways. States have for now halted the Clean Power Plan, as well. The interest in both cases is states rights.

Its an extraordinary time to live in, Fox said. Weve never seen this amount, if you will, and level of federal overreach.

Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota are the other states involved in the amicus brief. The attorneys general are all Republican.

However in Montana, support for the Keystone XL pipeline has been bipartisan. Gov. Steve Bullock and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, both supported Keystone XL. Schweitzer secured an onramp at Baker for loading Bakken oil into the pipeline. U.S. Sens. Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester both supported Keystone XL. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican, joined the senators in opposing the State Departments decision last November.
The Department of Revenue filed a response Thursday to a temporary injunction that, for now, means it must administer a scholarship program in a way that provides money to students that attend religious schools.

In April a Kalispell court issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Department of Revenue from enforcing its new rule excluding children who attend religious schools from receiving the scholarship.

The scholarship program was enacted in May 2015 and provides tax credits up to $150 annually to individuals and donors who donate to private scholarship organizations. Those organizations then give out the money to families who want to send students to private schools.

The Department of Revenue said a provision in the state constitution prevents any "direct or indirect appropriations or payment" from government to religious institutions or religiously affiliated schools.

Three mothers whose children attend Stillwater Christian School filed a lawsuit in December to gain access to the scholarship money.

The families were contacted by Stillwater about working with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that calls itself the nations pre-eminent courtroom defender of school choice, last fall about the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

The Institute had been keeping a close eye on Montana, said one of its attorneys, Erica Smith, who testified at a public hearing last fall on the department's rules.

The filing possibly moves the case one step closer to trial.

So far just one organization has signed up with the department to provide scholarships  Big Sky Scholarships. The organization incorporated Jan. 11. Its registered agent is Sen. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, who is consulting attorney for the organization and filed their paperwork. Hansen said she couldn't disclose the names of the organization's five-member board of directors, and they aren't listed in filings with the Secretary of State; the three director slots say "none stated."
MUNDELEIN, Ill.  On the bucolic Mundelein campus that houses a theological university and the largest Roman Catholic seminary in the U.S., there are 220 men studying to be priests  plus one woman about to join a small cadre of female faithful blazing new paths.

On Saturday, Dawn Eden Goldstein graduated from the campus University of St. Mary of the Lake with a doctorate in sacred theology, which will allow her to help train aspiring priests. The feat marks the first time a woman at the north suburban school has earned such a degree.

Priests and administrators at the university emphasize that Goldstein, 47, is not earning her degree from Mundelein Seminary, but from St. Marys, a co-ed theological school where most students are men. Still, Goldsteins accomplishment signals a new direction in American Catholicism.

Ive found a kind of equilibrium here, she said, referring to the cautious pride professors have expressed about her pursuit. Ill be glad to move forward, but Im thankful for the experience of being here.

She is earning the degree, issued by the authority of Pope Francis, at the same time Francis is pushing to raise the profile of women in the Catholic Church, most recently in his 260-page apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, in which he praised some aspects of womens liberation, though he did not go so far as to say women should be priests.

Goldstein is not calling for womens ordination. Shes not condemning celibacy, and she voluntarily took a vow herself. Shes simply pursuing an education to shape the churchs ministers of tomorrow and mentor women who feel called to serve the church.

There is a lot more room for women in leadership positions in the church than has been allowed in times past, she said.

But overcoming suspicion that she is out to alter church teachings from within has been one of many challenges facing Goldstein and other women who want to accept the popes invitation to lead. Only a small number of lay women have earned the churchs highest theology degree from one of the seven American institutions that offer it.

Some people bristle at the term woman theologian, said Goldstein, sipping tea in the seminarys dining hall recently, surrounded by a sea of men. People think feminist theologian with an ax to grind. 

As a convert from Judaism, Goldstein has found a sense of spiritual fulfillment in the Catholic Church that she lacked for most of her first four decades.

Raised in a Reform Jewish household in New Jersey, Goldstein became an agnostic in 1981 after a rabbi preparing her for her bat mitzvah told her questions about her Torah portion belonged to scholars, not 13-year-old girls.

But by then, her connection to God already had begun to fray. At age 5, during her parents divorce, she accused a staff member at the synagogue of sexually abusing her  an allegation the rabbi did not believe at the time, and one Goldstein did not pursue. Goldstein said she was abused a second time years later by someone close to her mother, leaving emotional wounds that one day would direct her calling.

In high school, she began writing for rock music publications and dropped Goldstein from her nom de plume. Though she never legally changed her name, she remained Dawn Eden for decades to come. After graduating from New York University in 1989 with a degree in communications, she continued writing about rock, composing liner notes, covering shows and interviewing musicians.

Battling bouts of suicidal depression, she found herself drawn to Jesus 10 years later and sought baptism at a Seventh-day Adventist church where she lived in Hoboken, N.J. But the Protestant denomination didnt hold much appeal for Goldstein. Initially, Catholicisms complex liturgy and lack of fellowship also turned her off. But the churchs position against abortion rights and fertility treatments reflected Goldsteins political views.

In 2002, she launched a blog called The Dawn Patrol to rail against abortion rights, in-vitro fertilization and groups such as Planned Parenthood. During that time, she also worked as an editor and headline writer for Womens Wear Daily, The New York Post and New York Daily News. The blog occasionally prompted words of caution from editors  and eventually cost her her job at the Post.

She jokes that joining the Catholic Church in 2006 appealed to her rebellious streak.

When I saw how the world is against the church, I did feel I was rebelling for something, for truth, for the dignity of human life  and that attracted me, she said. Its not the main thing that attracts me now. If my only interest in the church was the pro-life teachings, then I think my life in the faith would be difficult to sustain.

By 2007, she left secular media to work for the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative watchdog that monitors Catholic education. The organization eliminated her job within six months, leaving her without health insurance shortly before doctors discovered thyroid cancer.

Knowing she needed a full-time job with health insurance to cover the cost of any future treatment, she enrolled in a masters theology program at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., with the intent of working in Catholic college ministry when she was done. There, she fell in love with a different calling. Urged by a priest to change her plans and continue her education, she started down the road to a doctorate in May 2010.

In 2012, she wrote My Peace I Give You, a book about how the lives of the saints could offer hope for abuse victims. As a Catholic, it disturbed her how defensive the church had become regarding the sexual abuse crisis.

Its not enough for the church to simply be in damage control mode, she said. Were not serving our mission as a church if were not providing spiritual accompaniment to people who are hurting.

Goldsteins sister, Jennifer Goldstein Lewis, a rabbi who lives in the Cincinnati area, thinks her sister will be a powerful force in the church and the formation of its clergy.

She is such a thinker, Lewis said. Shes going to be a unique voice as she teaches these new priests.

The Rev. Nick Parker, a priest from the Diocese of Salina, Kan., who has lived across the hall from Goldstein for two years, has read all of her books and is struck by how she has transformed her personal pain to help others, including priests.

Either you live in the misery of suffering or you find a way to transform it for the better, said Parker, who is pursuing the same canonical degree as Goldstein. Shes tried to transform her own past for the better.
DECATUR  Mining the moon presents many questions, but nothing an eighth-grader isn't willing to tackle.

I learned a lot, but I had fun, too, said Naudia White, a student at Thomas Jefferson Middle School.

The students have been part of a semesterlong project to study the challenges to mine the moon, and to design equipment and vehicles to use. Some countries, including the United States, are studying the feasibility, said Chris Willey, the Caterpillar Inc. engineer who guided the students through their project. A California-based company called Moon Express has even successfully launched a prototype moon lander from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It's a project to introduce the kids to what Caterpillar does when they approach a design project, Willey said. They went through site selection and trying to understand what was at different regions of the mine and brainstorming to build their lunar machines.

The middle school students were assisted by MacArthur High School senior Tiffany Welford, who interned at CAT this semester. Her lunar mining machine was based on biomimicry, the imitation of nature to accomplish a design. The collection bed of her machine is based on a pelican's beak, which expands to hold more fish, and the wheels are designed like palm trees rather than tires for greater efficiency without picking up moon dust debris when they move.

I actually changed my plans because of my internship, Welford said. She had intended to major in pre-med when she goes to college in the fall and instead, because she has learned how engineering affects almost every field, she wants to become a medical engineer and will major in that at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.

Branden Doyle, one of the Thomas Jefferson students, said he enjoyed the project but has reservations about mining the moon due to the damage that humans have done to Earth in harvesting resources.

I'd hate to see that done to the moon, he said.

Thomas Jefferson guidance counselor Paula Luckenbill and technology teacher Glenn Shaffer said the value of the project is in giving students a hands-on experience and exposure to the variety of careers they could pursue as adults. Welford's presence was valuable in that she's only a little older than they are, and gives them a view of what they could be doing in high school.

From the guidance counselor point of view, I'm thinking that maybe that gets them excited about school and 'If I continue to do this, this and this, maybe I can have that experience when I get to high school,' she said.

CAT first contacted the school two years ago, and at first, it seemed a good fit for combining art and technology, Luckenbill said. They chose students they thought would benefit, and realized that a long-term project would allow students to get more out of it. Engineers visited the school weekly during the semester and emphasized career plans and interests.

It helps get them motivated and thinking, really thinking, about the future, Shaffer said.
It wasn't precisely an act of moral courage, but House Speaker Paul Ryan's comment that he's not ready to support presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump was at least ... something.

Whether it's a start or a finish remains to be revealed, but it would seem that we're witnessing the beginning of the end. To wit: A Republican friend, who has abandoned her behind-the-scenes work of getting conservatives elected, called me recently to express her condolences. "I feel sorry for you," she said, "because you (given your job) can't ignore the collapse of Western civilization."

Now a renegade from the nominating process, she is like so many others disillusioned by the Trump movement who've slipped the noose of politics in search of meaning beyond the Beltway. But Trump's triumph, though most insiders thought it impossible, should have surprised no one. He was inevitable not because he was The One but because he's a shrewd dealmaker with deep pockets and unencumbered by a moral compass. Both his platform and style were crafted to fit the findings of extensive polling he commissioned before announcing his run.

In other words, Trump didn't write a book you loved; he wrote the book you said you'd love. If people were outraged about immigration, why then he'd build a wall. If they were upset about manufacturing jobs lost overseas, well fine, he'd kill the trade agreements.

Trump was never about principle but about winning, the latter of which he kept no secret. What this means, of course, is that his supporters have no idea whom they nominated. He simply paid to read their minds and then invented a drug that would light up the circuit boards corresponding to pleasure and reward.

"Believe me," he crooned to the roaring crowed.

"I'm not there right now," said the speaker, crossing himself in the sign of the cross.

Poor Ryan, a man of conscience in an unconscionable time. He wants to support the Republican nominee, but, at the end of the day, he has to answer to a higher authority. Trump, the party's standard bearer, isn't bearing the standard, Ryan said.

But what Ryan expressed as the basis for a desired meeting of the minds isn't about those standards, except the hope that Trump will behave better in the future. You know, act presidential and all that. Otherwise, Ryan is standing by the phone to hear that Trump will unify the party. How, pray tell? What would satisfy the Ryans of the party? For Trump to say, "Hey, I was just kidding?"

The problem, as with all relationships, is that certain words, once expressed, can't be taken back. No amount of backtracking can erase memories of what Trump really thought and said in a particular moment. It isn't only that his wildly conceived and frequently revised positions are at odds with those of leveler heads, but Trump has embarrassed those who can still be embarrassed.

Among those with either the gumption or nothing to lose by expressing no-support for Trump are both George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush. Neither will endorse the Republican nominee. Laura Bush, a consistent voice of sanity, recently hinted at a "Women in the World" conference that she'd rather see Hillary Clinton as president than Trump.

This is utterly treasonous to most Republicans. Not only is Clinton a Clinton, notwithstanding her Rodham-ness, but the next president likely will select up to four Supreme Court justices. Republicans magically think that at least Trump would pick good justices.

But upon what shred of fact or fiction do they base this assumption?

Still other Republicans are expressing disapproval by vowing not to attend the party convention in July. These include the last two GOP presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, though McCain is on record saying he'll support Trump, which can be viewed as loyal or merely sad.

The "sads" have it.

McCain seemingly has forgiven Trump's remark that he was a war hero only because he was captured. "I like people who weren't captured," said the anti-hero who managed to avoid service and once compared his navigation of the sexually risky 1960s to "sort of like the Vietnam era."

This is the man who would become commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, we're told, the party that adopted Trump without really knowing him is suffering an identity crisis and facing a moment of truth.

Phooey. The GOP began digging its own grave years ago and dropped one foot in when McCain selected Sarah Palin as his running mate. With Trump's almost-certain nomination, the other foot has followed.
I had the good fortune last week to spend some time in Washington, D.C., with about a dozen former members of Congress. As youd expect, we got to talking about the current Congress. Very quickly it turned out that the same question was troubling all of us: Why is it held in such low public esteem?

We represented both parties and a variety of eras, and had a range of experience under our belts. But we all found ourselves chagrined by what weve been witnessing. You have to understand that most former members of Congress believe deeply in the value of the institution for American representative government. We might take opposite sides of particular policy debates, but on one point we all agree: we want the institution itself to succeed and thrive. These days, its doing neither.

For starters, we were hard-pressed to come up with any real accomplishments for this Congress. It did pass a revision to No Child Left Behind, and a controversial expansion of cyber-surveillance capabilities, which it slipped into a must-pass budget bill. It also took the entirely uncontroversial step of broadening sanctions on North Korea. But thats pretty much it.

In the country at large, people are fretting about control of our borders, stagnant wages, college expenses, the cost of health care, the opioid addiction crisis, the spread of ISIS, the strengthening effects of climate change. The administration is trying to keep the Zika virus from gaining a foothold in this country, and congressional inaction has already caused Puerto Rico to default on one set of obligations, with a much bigger default looming  and doomed airline passengers to longer and longer waits as the TSA struggles. Yet on Capitol Hill, no one seems particularly concerned. Instead, its members left town to campaign.

This may be unfair, but I cant help but think about my first year in Congress. We enacted 810 bills, including the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Water Quality Act, and setting up the Departments of Transportation and of Housing and Urban Development. Not every year was like that, but the contrast is inescapable. Among the group of people I was with last week, people who watch Congress closely, there was unanimity: this will go out as one of the least productive years in congressional history.

Worse, members show little interest in making Congress more productive. Our little group all remembered times when we or our colleagues pushed reform efforts to make the institution work better, and were struck that current members arent doing so. Most Americans belong to some group or another thats trying to accomplish change for the better and improve itself at the same time. Why would Congress be an outlier? But it is.

Some of the observations we shared last week are old hat. Congress is excessively partisan, with too many of its members highly distrustful of the other party and inclined to blame it for Capitol Hills ailments. As an institution, it seems incapable of ridding itself of the bad habits its gotten into: the reliance on omnibus bills and continuing resolutions; timidity in the face of presidential power; a marked reluctance to use the levers of congressional authority, especially control of the federal budget, to prod or check executive action.

Yet none of us believe this is irreversible. We are all convinced that strong leadership in Congress could make an immense difference. In the past, effective legislators on both sides of the aisle, as committee chairs and as caucus leaders, have left behind them a legacy of great accomplishment. Democrat Emanuel Celler of New York and Republican William McCullough of Ohio joined forces to craft the Civil Rights Act of 1964; Democrat Wilbur Mills of Arkansas and Republican John Byrnes of Wisconsin together helped shape Medicare.

I wont waste your time with a list of consummate legislators who were able to get things done. The point is simple: it may be a different time and legislative environment from 50 years ago, but strong leadership can make Congress work. On that, my former colleagues and I, Republicans and Democrats, found ourselves in full agreement.
MITCHELLSVILLE  Police have located the pickup truck allegedly stolen by a Bellflower man wanted in connection with a police shooting and have intensified their search in the area where the truck was found.

Illinois State Police Capt. William Sons on Thursday would not disclose specifically where the truck was found, but said police are confident that Dracy Clint Pendleton is or has been in the Lusk Creek Wilderness Area in Southern Illinois since the search began Saturday night.

Pendleton, 35, is being sought on a Champaign County arrest warrant charging him with aggravated battery with a firearm in connection with a shooting of a Mahomet police officer Saturday night after a traffic stop.

The officer was reportedly shot in the arm and has been released from hospital care.

As a state trooper responded to the search for Pendleton late Saturday, he collided with a vehicle driven by Kelly E. Wilson of Decatur. Wilson died Sunday of injuries.

Sons said police are stepping up their search for Pendleton, adding patrols in the area.

We have information that he has been in the area. We have some pretty solid information from some earlier interview sightings that we are pretty confident that he is here or has been here, Sons said.

He added that police have had no contact with Pendleton and added that authorities are asking that he surrender.

Authorities closed the Lusk Creek Wilderness area on Monday. It is a large, rugged landscape of more than 5,000 acres, most of it public land within the Shawnee National Forest in northern Pope County.

Sons warned visitors to the forest outside the Lusk Creek Wilderness area to use caution and to report suspicious activity.

Pendleton is considered armed and dangerous, and police have said he may have an AK-47. On Wednesday, the FBI issued a federal warrant for Pendletons arrest and is 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 that can be reached by calling 866-765-8327.

Pendleton is reported to have survivalist skills and is familiar with the area, having lived in Pope County for at least one year in 2012, authorities have said.

During the exchange of gunfire in Mahomet, police believe Pendleton may have been struck in the neck and could seek medical attention.

He is described as white, 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighing 155 pounds. He has blue eyes and blond hair. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, camouflage pants and boots. He has shaved his beard and trimmed his hair.

Illinois State Police can be reached at (618) 542-1483.
SPRINGFIELD  Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly voted unanimously Thursday to approve $700 million in stopgap funding for social service programs that havent received any state revenue in nearly a year.

In the latest sign of bipartisan progress toward ending the states budget impasse, now in its 11th month, Republicans joined the Legislatures supermajority Democrats in approving the measure despite last-minute concerns from GOP Gov. Bruce Rauners administration.

At the same time, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent Rauner and the four legislative leaders a framework for a balanced budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The proposal includes $5.4 billion in new revenue, which would be generated by raising the states personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.85 percent and by expanding the sales tax to some services, among other changes, according to a member of the group.

The lawmakers also outlined $2.4 billion in savings, including a $400 million reduction in Medicaid spending, about $450 million from letting the state off the hook for repaying money borrowed from special funds to plug holes in last years budget, and $750 million from pension changes Rauner has proposed.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, who is a member of the bipartisan budget group but declined to go into detail about its work, said the conversations among lawmakers have been sometimes heated but generally productive.

Theres been a lot of progress in the last couple weeks, Rose said. Theres a long way to go.

Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, another participant, emphasized that theres no agreement.

As they were asked to do by the legislative leaders and the governor, lawmakers were simply putting together a scenario under which the budget could be balanced, Crespo said.

Were just presenting the leaders with what they asked for, he said, noting that it will be up to them to round up the necessary votes to pass a budget plan.

In addition to lawmakers from both chambers and both parties, Rauner budget director Tim Nuding has participated in the talks.

Notably absent from the groups work has been any talk of items on Rauners pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda. Thats because the group was assigned to stick to the budget.

But House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said any final agreement on budgets for this year or next absolutely must include some of the reforms the governor and his party are pushing for.

Were not close to having a deal, Durkin said, adding that theres no plan at this point for a meeting of the governor, himself and the three other legislative leaders.

Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, is part of another bipartisan group of lawmakers that has been discussing the governors reform agenda, which includes changes to workers compensation laws, a property tax freeze and other items.

Talks are slow, but the commitment continues, Brady said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle praised the social services funding measure approved Thursday as a sign of the parties continued willingness to work together.

It would authorize the use of $450 million from the commitment to human services fund, which receives dedicated revenue to support programs such as addiction treatment, autism services and rape crisis centers. Another $250 million would come from other special state funds for specific purposes such affordable housing and foreclosure prevention programs. The funding would account for about 46 percent of what the programs received last year.

Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who sponsored the legislation, said it was possible to reach an agreement because it doesnt include any general revenue, which Republicans have argued the state doesnt have because its already spending more than its bringing in.

Members of both parties said they still hope to get more funding to programs for the current year.

Senators also urged their House colleagues to take up a bill that was sent over earlier this month that would free up additional money for higher education, which hadnt received any state funding until a deal was struck late last month.
New Braunfels, TX (78130)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low around 55F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low around 55F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The following is an official release by the Human Rights Defenders Office in Armenia

On May 12 the Human Rights Defender of the Republic of Armenia Arman Tatoyan met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjrn Jagland in Strasbourg.

A. Tatoyan has presented to the Secretary General the gross human rights violations committed against the civilian population of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as a result of Azerbaijani aggression initiated in the beginning of the month of April.

During the meeting the Defender has presented to T. Jagland specific examples of atrocities committed by Azerbaijani armed forces. He has also transmitted to the Secretary General the published Report of NKR Human Rights Defender which analyzes those cases of atrocities.

A. Tatoyan has underlined the devastating consequences of Azerbaijani aggressive policy of disseminating hatred and violence towards people of Armenian ethnicity which endangers the Council of Europe human rights protection system. Moreover, the Defender has noted that such policy is being encouraged at state level and is of an absolutely intolerant nature.

It has been recorded that human rights violations are unacceptable under any circumstances; human rights protection cannot be limited by politics or to the borders.

The parties to the meeting have emphasized the role of the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) in implementing the European standards in the country. More specifically, the importance of the Ombudsman institute in executing the European Court of Human Rights judgments has been emphasized. The parties have also discussed the issues related to prevention of domestic violence, protection of the rights of people with disabilities, as well as other issues in the field of human rights protection.
The Boys and Girls Club of Dane County held a college acceptance ceremony celebrating students at Gordon Dining and Event Center on May 12, 2016 in Madison, WI.

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Some of Madison's dancers and acrobats have been "playing" with AcroYoga on the square on Saturdays. According to these AcroYoga enthusiasts i
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The Gordon Flesch Co., Madison, is one of six companies honored with Wisconsin Family Business of the Year awards.

The business won a special award, "Wired for Success."

Founded 60 years ago, in 1956, the Gordon Flesch Co. has provided modern business technology to companies in southern Wisconsin, from the days of typewriters to today's printers and scanners.

Founder Gordon Flesch's sons now own the company, at 2675 Research Park Drive, with nearly 600 employees and more than a dozen locations around the Midwest.

Grand Awards went to Empire Screen Printing, Onalaska - large company; Badger Basement Systems, Fort Atkinson - medium company; and Shiloh Dairy, Brillion - small company.

Other special awards were given to Architectural Design System in Lake Delton and Tamara's the Cake Guru in Oshkosh. The honors were handed out at a banquet Thursday night at Monona Terrace.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor alleges that two dozen Madison-area restaurants and hotels owe their employees back wages totaling nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

The agencys Wage and Hour Division says the establishments  which in some cases included several locations of the same company  must pay more than $724,000 in back pay to 275 workers for violations including:

Paying fixed salaries that do not compensate extra for working more than 40 hours in a week.

Improperly calculating overtime for employees who receive tips.

Paying overtime in cash at straight time rates.

Deducting the cost of uniforms and broken items from workers pay.

Failing to keep accurate and thorough records of employees wages and hours worked.

Paying servers tips only.

The largest violation involved Laredos Mexican Restaurant, which has two locations in Madison and one in Fitchburg. According to the report, investigators say 86 employees are due a total of $402,391 in back pay.

One of the owners of Laredos, reached Thursday, said he did not know about the case. Another owner could not be reached.

Cocina Real, Middleton, which has some of the same owners as Laredos, was issued the second-highest back pay order: $118,471 for 27 employees.

World Buffet, with two locations in Madison and one in Monona, has to pay $61,131 in back wages to 17 employees.

Owner James Jiang said the order came as a surprise. He said his employees receive more than minimum wage and additional benefits, but federal officials faulted him for paying regular wages instead of time-and-a-half for those who worked more than 40 hours in a week.

Jiang said he paid the bill. I just dont want to fight with (the Labor Department), he said.

The regional administrator of the Wage and Hour Division in Chicago, Karen Chaikin, said hospitality industry workers often are students or temporary or foreign workers.

Language barriers, fear of retaliation and fears about immigration status can cause these workers to be among those least likely to speak up, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, Chaikin said in a news release.

Also among those cited was Food Fight Restaurant Group, the umbrella organization for 17 Madison-area restaurants and a catering business, all with common owners.

Greg Frank, a managing partner, said 960 payrolls involving nearly 3,000 employees were scrutinized. Of those, questions were raised about 17 employees, mainly because they had worked in more than one Food Fight restaurant the same day. The company was chastised for not paying for their travel time, Frank said.

We didnt know that (rule). We made that correction immediately, he said.

Five employees were paid a higher wage in one Food Fight restaurant than another, also a violation, the company was told.

Frank said Food Fight did not quibble over the findings. We always want to make sure that were following all rules and regulations. Its a moving target to some degree, he said.

With an employee benefit package that includes a wellness program, tuition reimbursement and paid parental leave, we truly care about our people, Frank said.

Ed Lump, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, said his organization tries to raise awareness of the laws governing payments to employees but restaurant owners are sometimes uncertain about the rules.

We dont condone violations but there can be confusion in some cases in the differences between state and federal laws, Lump said.

Lump said the restaurants can appeal back-wage orders.

Labor Department spokesman Scott Allen said no fines have been issued to the establishments because they are coming into compliance and paying all the back wages. If there are further violations in the future, though, penalties could be imposed, he said.

The Labor Department said checks of the Madison hotels and restaurants are part of a larger investigation into hospitality jobs in Midwest college towns and resorts, including Ann Arbor, Michigan; Bloomington, Indiana; Lawrence, Kansas; and Ames and Iowa City, Iowa.

The Madison investigation, which began in October 2015, examines two years of payroll records and is continuing, the agency said.

Nationwide, the Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $38 million for 46,902 restaurant industry workers in the 2015 federal fiscal year, the agency said.
It was definitely the glitziest gathering in Madison so far for the gener8tor business accelerators premier night on Wednesday.

About 600 people  a record turnout, even before attendees knew theyd be treated to fancy hors doeuvres funded by Foley & Lardner and two free drinks, thanks to Michael Best & Friedrich  filled the presentation room at The Edgewater hotel, overlooking Lake Mendota and the setting sun, to hear four entrepreneurs introduce their young companies.

And young, indeed, in the case of at least one graduate of the 12-week intensive mentoring program.

This product did not exist a week ago, said serial entrepreneur Mark McGuire, who introduced the startup, Curate. Thats a lot of moxie.

Curate, of Madison, is a webscraping company that uses artificial intelligence and automation to extract the most relevant data from websites for its clients use.

We give clients the right data at the right time, co-founder Taralinda Willis told the group. The barely formed company had verbal commitments from seven potential clients in that first week, she said, almost with disbelief.

Were insanely excited, Willis said.

The other gener8tor graduates were:

Allergy Amulet, Madison and Boston  An electronic device that detects food allergies.

Behold.ai, New York City  Software that uses artificial intelligence to help radiologists identify abnormalities in medical images.

Dattus, Indianapolis  A combination of software and sensors that help industrial facilities make the most efficient use of their equipment.

A fifth company, Madison-based 23VIVI, an online marketplace for rare art, had gone through gener8tors early-stage gBETA program but dropped out of the more advanced program shortly before the end.

Curates Willis said her startup made a total pivot near the end of the session because the initial concept  providing services to app developers  didnt get traction. A good portion of an accelerators mission is to help entrepreneurs identify their target market and see if potential customers will bite.

Willis said gener8tor helped her press on, with a new focus. They believe in us and make us feel we can do anything, she said.

Since gener8tor began in 2012, 42 startups have completed the Madison and Milwaukee program and have received a total of more than $75 million in financing from other sources.

Four have been acquired: Optyn, Driblet Labs, Modern Movement and Docalytics.

Twenty-one percent have at least one female founder; 29 percent have at least one minority founder.

There were 544 applicants, from around the U.S., for the current class of five startups.

Were seeing trends change. Theres increasing interest in the Internet of Things (physical objects embedded with sensors that provide data), food technology and mobile technology, said Joe Kirgues, gener8tor co-founder.

With so many entrepreneurs beating a path to the Wisconsin program, gener8tor will start a gBETA program in Milwaukee this summer. From there, we are actively looking to expand both our gener8tor and gBETA programs beyond, but (have no) definitive plans yet, co-founder Troy Vosseller said.

EatStreet ads aired

One of gener8tors early grads, EatStreet, an online and mobile restaurant ordering platform, is probably the biggest investment draw, scoring about $28 million from investors, so far.

Now, EatStreet is using some of those funds to make waves with TV commercials and bus ads  a bold and probably pretty rare move for a startup.

Produced by Madison ad agency KW2 (Knupp & Watson and Wallman) using local actors, the commercials feature a hungry person looking into the refrigerator, finding nothing fit to eat, and calling EatStreet.

They began in Madison; Richmond, Virginia; DeKalb, Illinois; and Lawrence, Kansas  markets with EatStreets highest penetration rate, co-founder Matt Howard said.

The ads have appeared during programs such as New Girl, Empire, The Voice, and the American Idol finale.

The latter was not cheap, Howard said, but added, the results have been well worth it. In the first week, in Madison alone, more people came to EatStreet in one week than in the previous year, he said.

Howard said he hopes to expand the ads to more than 20 cities by the end of 2016.

EatStreet has 125 employees, all in Madison, and recently started a new service that lets customers order as a group and split the tab. We have no intention of moving out of Madison, Howard said.
Police leaders from the city and town of Madison tried to present a unified front Thursday in confronting what they agreed is something new and terrible on the Madison-area crime front: a series of gang-influenced, retaliatory-style murders.

With elected officials standing behind them, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval and town of Madison Police Chief Scott Gregory sought to both reassure and mobilize members of the public to help them solve three fatal shootings in the past three weeks that they acknowledged for the first time were linked and involve at least two rival factions.

Clearly theres an element of keeping score, Koval said at the joint press conference.

Family holds vigil for Tuesday's shooting victim, church calls community to prayer for peace Family and friends gathered Thursday to hold a vigil at the gas station where Darius Haynes was fatally shot Tuesday.

This stuff is serious and we need it to stop, Gregory said, noting the recklessness of the murders have been especially disturbing, with all three in public settings and two occurring this week during daylight hours. The way the value of human life has diminished  its just baffling to a lot of us.

The boldness, brazenness of it, Koval agreed. When normality turns on its head in public gathering places, that really resonates and gives us pause.

The most recent fatal shooting, and the third homicide since April 19, happened Wednesday night outside Capitol Petro Mart, 2570 Rimrock Road in the town of Madison.

On Thursday, the Dane County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Elijah James Washington III, 28, of Madison.

Washington was shot several times and died later at UW Hospital.

Also on Thursday, the Medical Examiners Office officially identified the man fatally shot Tuesday while in his car at a BP gas station at 4501 Verona Road in the city of Madison as Darius M. Haynes, 38, of Madison.

Preliminary autopsy results show both men died of gunshot wounds.

On April 19, Martez Moore was shot and killed outside OGradys Pub on Madisons Far West Side.

Moores brother, Kortney D. Moore, 28, was identified by Gregory as the suspect in Wednesdays shooting at Capital Petro Mart. Police went to an address in the 2500 block of Pheasant Ridge Trail once it was established that Moore was the suspect Wednesday night, but he fled the residence before police arrived, Gregory said.

We believe he is armed and dangerous, Gregory said. If you see him, call 911.

The apparently retaliatory violence is rare in Madison, Koval noted. I dont think weve seen anything the likes of this in our time, he said.

Bullets are flying in areas where innocent bystanders are present, Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said. Fortunately, the bystanders have not been hit.

Police have not said how they believe the Haynes shooting is related to the other two homicides, nor had they named suspects in the first two killings as of Thursday night.

Officials did identify four persons of interest Thursday that officers want to talk to about the two city of Madison homicides  William D. Flowers, Lordie J. Cole, Michael J. Collins and Travis G. Smith Jr.

Four additional people were identified as persons of interest in recent shootings around the city that either injured people or damaged cars and houses: Maurice Graham, Mitchell J. Hallmon, Michael J. Hallmon and Sorrell A. Gilmore.

Police asked for the publics help in finding all eight men.

We cant be everywhere at all times, Koval said, though he acknowledged that some people reluctant to share information with police were motivated by perhaps well-founded fear, not by any desire to uphold a no-snitching code.

Koval said some family members and friends of the shooting victims, for example, were concerned about their own safety when holding vigils and even funeral services, noting some have requested extra police security for those events and would receive it.

And Gregory noted he had received good cooperation from witnesses to Wednesdays shooting. Both Gregory and Koval said they hoped that would continue.

As these issues affect one of us, they affect all of us, Koval said, adding that police efforts can only be the tip of this initiative.

Koval added that there could be some outside interlopers involved in the homicides. But he provided few details about whether people from cities could be involved in the violence, and he noted the eight persons of interest being sought all had local ties.

One of the elected officials present at Thursdays press conference, Ald. Sheri Carter, 14th District, tried to speak directly to members of the warring factions.

Dont let your anger direct your future, she said. Dont leave your children without a father, and your mother and father without a (son). Take the time to think before you act.

Enough violence, Ald. Barbara Harrington-McKinney, 1st District, agreed. It must stop.

Ald. Maurice Cheeks, 10th District 10, noted he was the same age when he joined the City Council  28  as town of Madison homicide suspect Kortney Moore is now. He said he wanted to provide more opportunities for good jobs and secure futures for young men of color in Madison, adding he hoped the public could see the driving importance of young men being able to see a (productive) life here.

Koval said he also hoped to see resources invested into long-term community solutions, calling what police can do just a Band-Aid on deeper problems of education, skills development and job prospects.

DeSpain, who grew up in Madison, noted that he had the same hope but added, Were going to have to deal with the reality of whats been happening the last couple of weeks.

Police resources are being stretched as work continues on the three homicides, DeSpain said, calling the killings our highest priority right now. There are many detectives getting very little sleep now,

At the BP station Thursday morning, about 30 people gathered for a makeshift memorial service around 9:30 a.m. A longtime worker at the station, who declined to be identified, said hed never seen anything there like Tuesday nights shooting. He called having two shootings in two days at Madison gas stations weirdly scary.

Another vigil was held Thursday evening at the station.

Mayor Paul Soglin on Thursday announced city officials will hold a news conference on Saturday to address the recent gun violence and provide a call to action. It will take place in the third-floor community room of the Madison Public Library at 201 West Mifflin St. at noon.
The Internal Revenue Service doesn't make threatening phone calls and is not based in Afghanistan.

This should be commonly known, but that doesn't stop scammers from trying their best to squeeze dollars out of potential victims.

Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt found that out on Thursday, when he got a phone message supposedly from the IRS, telling him this was a final notice and he was going to be sued.

Curious, the sheriff called the number left on the message, which had a 605 area code; that's the area code for all of South Dakota.

The female at the other end answered "Internal Revenue Service." He asked if there was a way to verify that, and she said "It is not our job to verify who we are," and hung up.

His interest piqued, Schmidt tried the number one more time, this time getting a male on the phone. Here's part of the conversation, as related by Schmidt:

Scammer: "Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service, how may I help you?"

Schmidt: "I am the sheriff in Dodge County, Wisconsin, and I had a complaint about this number and I am trying to confirm that this is in fact the IRS. Is there a way you can confirm this for me?"

Scammer: "No sir, this is not the IRS. This is a scam."

Schmidt: "This is a scam?"

Scammer: "Yes."

Schmidt: "OK, can you tell me where you are from? Where you are located?"

Scammer: "In Afghanistan."

Schmidt: "In Afghanistan?"

Scammer: "Yes."

Schmidt: "Can you tell me your name?"

Scammer: "Malma Dali."

Schmidt: "Why are you scamming our citizens?"

Scammer: "This is our job, sir."

Schmidt: "You're stealing money from people."

Scammer: "Yes."

Schmidt: "And why are you doing that?"

The scammer answered by hanging up.

"These scams are very difficult to investigate as it is difficult to locate the people responsible," Schmidt said. "The phone numbers used are usually spoofed (meant to look like they are coming from a different location) and untraceable by law enforcement."

Schmidt said the IRS will not call you demanding money.

"If you have been victimized, please report it," Schmidt said. "If you receive these calls, your best course of action is simply to hang up and go on with your day."
An Edgerton man who crashed his vehicle into some boulders Thursday night was arrested for his alleged eighth drunken driving offense.

Gregory Swenson, 55, was taken to the Rock County Jail for the felony offense, and also was cited for having open intoxicants in a motor vehicle and hit and run to property adjacent to a highway, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies were sent at about 11:45 p.m. Thursday to a hit and run complaint in the 3300 block of East Thomas Street, where a vehicle hit several large boulders and other property.

The vehicle was stuck on the rocks but got off and left the scene.

A deputy on the way to the crash scene spotted a vehicle matching the description of the one involved in the crash, going west on Highway 59 in Newville.

The deputy followed the vehicle as it turned onto Hillside Road, where it almost hit a mailbox before stopping.

Swenson told the deputy he was involved in the crash into the boulders. He was arrested after field sobriety tests were given.
More than 50 family members, friends and community members gathered on the citys Southwest Side Thursday for a vigil at the gas station where Darius Haynes was fatally shot Tuesday.

Haynes, 38, of Madison, was in a car at a BP station at 4501 Verona Road when he was shot multiple times from outside the vehicle. It was the second of three fatal shootings in the city and town of Madison in as many weeks, and authorities said Thursday the incidents are linked.

Vigil attendees spelled out Darius with candles. They placed flowers and strung balloons around a tree on the perimeter of the gas station, creating a makeshift shrine.

At 6:30 p.m., just after the time Haynes was shot, those gathered held a moment of silence in his memory. Minister Daniel Davis III of the Second Baptist Church then offered a short prayer before the crowd released a stream of red, black and white star-shaped balloons into the sky.

After the death of her nephew, Haynes aunt, Grace White, said she is worried for the safety of her family.

Its just senseless killings, White said. Its really hard. You dont know whos going to be next.

White said that she moved here from Chicago nearly 30 years ago to get away from the violence. But, after the recent string of shootings, White said Madison is looking more and more like Chicago.

Quinesha McNeal, mother to one of Haynes four daughters, said the vigil was a chance for community members to show up and show that they care about the loss of their loved one, that they care about whats going on.

A friend of Haynes, who asked not to be named because of safety concerns, said that the recent spike in violence has made her nervous.

I dont even like going to Chicago (and) thats where Im from. Its unsafe, she said. Now the same thing is happening in Wisconsin. Its like, what did we get away from? What did we run from? Its like its haunting us.

Zonya White, Haynes aunt, decried the recent violence.

We cant keep burying people, we cant keep doing this. It dont make no sense, Zonya White said. Its black on black ... my heart hurts.

White said that her nephew was a fun-loving, good-spirited person.

We are out here to stop all of the violence, to stop all of the killings, come together as a community, she said We dont want to keep burying loved ones ... This is not what we want to do.

Also at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Fountain of Life Covenant Church held a communitywide call to prayer for peace, with pastors from area churches leading the prayer.

Kevin Evanco, an associate pastor at Fountain of Life, said that the three recent fatal shootings, one in April and two this week, are cause for concern for the entire Madison community, not just the black community.

He said one of the recent shootings took place near the school he teaches at, another near his apartment complex and the last near his church.

Evanco called on leaders across the city to address the violence.
The search continued Friday for Kortney Moore, who police said Thursday is wanted for the third of three related homicides in the city and town of Madison that happened within just over three weeks of one another.

Moore, 28, is believed by police to have shot and killed Elijah J. Washington III, 28, of Madison, on Wednesday outside Capitol Petro Mart, 2570 Rimrock Road, in the town of Madison.

Moore is the brother of Martez Moore, 30, who was fatally shot April 19 outside Martin OGradys Irish Pub, 7436 Mineral Point Road, on Madisons Far West Side.

The shooting at Capitol Petro came a day after Darius M. Haynes, 38, of Madison, was shot and killed in his car at the BP gas station, 4501 Verona Road, on the citys Southwest Side.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said Thursday that police believe the homicides are linked, and that they involve two rival factions carrying out retaliation-style murders.

Police have not named any suspects in the deaths of Haynes or Martez Moore, who were friends, but Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said Friday that police are investigating leads in the cases.

Just about anyone who is working, who is a detective, is on these cases, DeSpain said. Police continue to try to track down people who might know something about the shootings, DeSpain said, and have been in contact with some of them.

Madison police said Thursday there are four persons of interest they would like to talk to about the two homicides in the city of Madison  Lordie J. Cole, Michael J. Collins, William D. Flowers Jr. and Travis G. Smith Jr.

Town of Madison Police Chief Scott Gregory indicated Friday that there was no new information to share about Washingtons death and the search for Kortney Moore.

Gregory said Thursday that Washington was shopping at Capitol Petro when a man, later identified as Kortney Moore, came in, and the two saw each other. Washington left the store and Moore followed, and a confrontation occurred between the store and the car wash, where multiple shots were fired. Washington died a short time later at UW Hospital, Gregory said.

Kortney Moore was among the people who Madison police talked to early in the investigation into his brothers death, DeSpain said. Court records indicate that police had contact with him on April 21, two days after Martez Moores death.My sense is that he wasnt ready to share much, DeSpain said.
Following parent complaints, Madison School District officials say they are working to rectify a situation in which certain students face negative consequences for having opted out of the states standardized test.

The problem most immediately affects middle school students who opted out of the Badger Exam last spring and are now taking high school-level courses this year while still in middle school.

Those students  there are about 80 of them, according to the district  recently learned that they are not eligible to earn high school credits for those courses because they skipped the standardized test.

Sigrid Murphy said her son is one of those 80. He opted out of the Badger Exam during the 2014-15 school year and is now taking a high school geometry course this year as an eighth-grader at Hamilton Middle School.

When we opted out of the test last year  that was the first time wed ever done that  there was no communication from the district that there would be a consequence, said Murphy, a math teacher at Madison West High School. So when we heard a year later there would be consequences, it was surprising.

In explaining the situation, district officials cite Act 138, a state law that took effect for the 2014-15 school year.

It allows students in grades 7 and 8 to earn credits toward their high school diplomas. However, pupils first must demonstrate that theyre academically prepared for the higher-level coursework. The law gives them two ways to do that, either on the state standardized test or on a similar examination approved by the school board.

The current Madison School Board policy on the matter mirrors the state language, saying a student must show preparedness on the most recently administered state-mandated test or similar examination. However, the board policy does not specify what other tests qualify.

The policy needs to have that specificity to comply with the state law and resolve the issue, said Cindy Green, the districts executive director of curriculum and instruction. To that end, she said administrators will ask the board on May 23 to allow scores from the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test or an end-of-the-semester exam in the applicable content area to be used, she said.

Were confident that every one of those 80 kids will get credit, she said.

MAP is a widely used test nationally but not required by the state. The Madison School District administers it multiple times a year in grades 3-8 and considers it the primary tool to consistently track academic growth over time.

Board President James Howard said he supports the administrations recommendation but could not speak for his colleagues because the board has not discussed it.

Murphy said her son first heard about the negative consequences from a teacher about two weeks ago. Murphy began reaching out to school and district officials and School Board members and initially heard different messages, she said.

However, within a few days, she said it appeared the district was moving to fix the situation.

I feel confident that parents were heard and that the district is doing its best to get it resolved, she said.

Brad Werntz, another parent of a Hamilton middle school student, also contacted administrators after learning about the situation. His sixth-grade daughter is opting out of taking the states standardized test this spring.

The test is now called the Wisconsin Forward Exam and is the third version of a standardized test in the state in three years. Legislators soured on the Badger Exam after just one year due to delays, technical glitches, cost overruns and other problems.

About 3 percent of public school students in the state did not take the Badger Exam last year, most of them pupils whose parents opted them out of it. Many parents said the uncertainty and upheaval related to testing at the state level was a contributing factor.

They are part of a surge nationwide in recent years of parents opposing testing. Opposition to the number of tests given, how scores are used by lawmakers in determining school accountability, and using scores to evaluate teachers have contributed to the increase.

Werntz said he has many of the same concerns. There should not be a penalty for opting out of a state test, he said.

It felt punitive, frankly, he said.

The administrations recommendation to the School Board is great news, he said.

Green said district administrators started hearing from parents about their concerns earlier this school year. She did not respond to a request to be more specific.

Asked why parents were not made aware last spring of the potential consequences of opting out, Green said the districts focus at the time was on communicating with families that the district would not use the Badger Exam to make high-stakes decisions.

Through this communication, (the opt-out issue) was not made clear, she said.

Green said the situation is another example of how the instability at the state level has consequences for school districts that can put us in confusing and always changing situations.

More than 700 students in the Madison School District opted out of the Badger Exam last year. So far, 386 Madison students have opted out of the Forward Exam, although the count is preliminary and incomplete, said Rachel Strauch-Nelson, district spokeswoman.

The testing window extends through Friday, and schools will continue reporting figures after that, she said.

As the opt-out movement continues, there can be ramifications for districts. Wisconsin schools can be penalized on the states report card for having a test participation rate of lower than 95 percent.

No school report cards were issued in 2014-15 due to the fleeting nature of the Badger Exam.
On graduation day, 101 years after Milton Pettit Griswold entered UW-Madison, his family will accept his engineering degree, posthumously.

The degree comes in most part thanks to the research efforts of his granddaughter. Griswold died in 1954 after years of failing to get the university to acknowledge his completed war-time degree requirements.

In 1915, Griswold was a cadet in the universitys naval science program  a naval aviator  and was studying to become a mechanical engineer. World War I intervened in his education, however. By March 1918 he had enlisted in the Navy.

He remained on active duty until April 1919, married, moved to California and became a successful petroleum engineer.

Most likely, according to an account from the Engineering Department, when Griswold returned to Wisconsin after the war, he believed the university would award him a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering. The university had pledged to issue war credits to anyone who had served in the war and were seniors with the appropriate number of credits.

His granddaughter, Loralee Kendall, in her master of liberal arts thesis, Some Dance: The College Years, 1915 to 1919, about her grandparents UW-Madison years, provided unequivocal documentation that Griswold deserved his degree. His grandson, Jack, will accept the 1919 Regents War Degree on Griswolds behalf.

Posthumous degrees are rare at UW-Madison. Griswolds is one of two being awarded by the Engineering Department. The other is a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering being awarded to Craig Schuff, who died last October at age 30 of complications from paralysis suffered in a diving accident in 2011.
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus spies a budding bromance between his party's top two figures, Donald Trump and Paul Ryan, in spite of their recent public sparring.

Ryan, the U.S. House Speaker from Janesville, met with Trump, the party's controversial presumptive White House nominee, on Thursday. The summit was viewed as crucial to building GOP unity after Ryan said last week that he wasn't ready to back Trump.

Priebus, of Kenosha, is the man tasked with unifying a Republican Party riven by a historically contentious presidential primary. With that in mind, Priebus saw signs of a thaw Thursday in the chill between Ryan and Trump.

"I think they had very good chemistry between the two of them," Priebus told CNN. He noted that "this was not a usual election, it was a very contentious, tough primary."

Priebus also used his Twitter account to promote the message that all went well at the meeting, calling it "a very positive step toward party unity."

Ryan told reporters after the meeting that he was "encouraged" by it.

Trump, speaking behind closed doors, reportedly pulled back his threat to oust Ryan as chairman of the Republican National Convention and offered to help elect GOP candidates running for U.S. House and Senate, The New York Times reported.
Heres how members of Wisconsins congressional delegation voted on major issues this week.

Note: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, did not vote. By custom, the speaker does not vote except in rare circumstances.

HOUSE

ADDRESSING PAINKILLER, HEROIN CRISIS: Voting 413 for and five against, the House on Thursday passed a bill (HR 5046) that would authorize $515 million through 2021 for Department of Justice grants to help communities deal with a nationwide epidemic in which dependence on opioid pain medicines often leads to heroin addiction and death by overdose.

The bill would fund state, local and tribal actions such as expanding treatment and recovery programs; developing non-addictive pain-management treatments; adding drug task forces to police departments; conducting public-education and prevention programs; combating drug trafficking across international borders and state lines; developing evidence-based treatments for substance abuse and taking steps to keep unused and expired drugs from reaching children and traffickers.

A yes vote was to send the bill to conference with a similar measure passed by the Senate.

Voting yes: Mark Pocan, D-2, Ron Kind, D-3, Gwen Moore, D-4, James Sensenbrenner, R-5, Glenn Grothman, R-6, Sean Duffy, R-7, Reid Ribble, R-8

DRUG THIEVERY AT HOSPITALS: Voting 190 for and 225 against, the House on Thursday refused to allow HR 5046 (above) to fund programs that would combat employee thievery of prescription painkillers at hospitals, clinics and distribution centers. Supporters called this a common sense effort to reduce the black market for opioids, while opponents said the Drug Enforcement Administration already has programs to combat such illegal drug diversions.

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

Voting yes: Pocan, Kind, Moore

Voting no: Sensenbrenner, Grothman, Duffy, Ribble

SENATE

2017 ENERGY, WATER BUDGET: Voting 90 for and eight against, the Senate on Thursday passed a bill (HR 2028) that would appropriate $37.5 billion for energy, water and nuclear-safety programs in fiscal 2017. In part, the bill budgets $6.4 billion for environmental cleanup of former nuclear-weapons production sites and $6 billion for Army Corps of Engineers public-works projects.

A yes vote was to pass the bill.

Voting yes: Tammy Baldwin, D, Ron Johnson, R

UNDERCUTTING IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL: Voting 57 for and 42 against, the Senate on May 11 failed to reach 60 votes needed to advance a measure aimed at undercutting the recently implemented nuclear deal between Iran and six nations including the United States. The amendment to HR 2028 (above) sought to deny the administration funding it needs to purchase the heavy water used by Irans nuclear-weapons program. The U.S. plans to divert the chemically altered water to peaceful purposes such as medical and scientific research while removing it from the reach of global arms traffickers.

Approved last year, the nuclear agreement requires Iran to effectively dismantle, for at least 10 years, a program thought to be months away from producing its first atomic weapon. In return, the international community is lifting economic sanctions on Iran and releasing at least $100 billion in Iranian assets frozen overseas.

A yes vote was to advance the amendment.

Voting yes: Johnson

Voting no: Baldwin

FISH, WILDLIFE AND WATER PROJECTS: Voting 39 for and 60 against, the Senate on Wednesday defeated an amendment to HR 2028 (above) that sought to expand the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services influence in the planning and execution of Army Corps of Engineers water projects. But the proposed new authority for protecting fish and wildlife populations amid dredging and construction would be mostly non-binding.

A yes vote was to adopt the amendment.

Voting yes: Baldwin

Voting no: Johnson

Key Votes Ahead

In the week of May 16, the Senate will debate the 2017 transportation and housing budget. The House schedule was to be announced.

 Thomas Voting Reports, Inc.
TOWN OF SUMPTER  A series of strokes over the past 17 years have left Tom Every unable to walk. He has paralysis in his left arm and lives in a Sauk City nursing home.

But his intergalactic handshake, spirit, desire and never-ending ideas and designs have not been deterred.

So when Every, known by most as Dr. Evermor, is honored next week by the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation, those in attendance should be ready to extend their right hand. But instead of receiving a grip, Every, 78, will likely use the back of his hand to tap the backs of the hands of those he greets.

Its Everys way of transferring positive energy. And for those he meets, a chance to connect with one of the countrys legendary metal artists who, over the past 35 years, has not only built a five-acre sculpture park along Highway 12 in rural Sauk County but has also created a brand of time-traveling, steampunk-like art that has helped preserve some of the states industrial past.

You know, I didnt cut anything apart. I just kind of glued things together the way they were, Every said Thursday as he sat in his wheelchair in the center of his park. It was real antique (stuff) as it was. Some of the stuff will be 80 or 90 years old, so Im glad that I saved all of that for you guys.

Everys art can contain gears, fly wheels, tanks, massive pumps, boat propellers, springs, steel tubes and pieces of old machinery. His signature piece of art, the Forevertron, towers 50 feet high, is 120 feet wide and weighs an estimated 300 tons. Built over three years in the early 1980s, it includes an old compressor from a lumber company, a huge telescope and a former decontamination chamber from NASA.

He has built bus-sized bugs with eyes made from dozens of round survey markers, has a 17-foot tall and 23-foot long spider named Arachna Artie, and has constructed the head of an eagle that is 9 feet tall and 14 feet long. There are creatures that resemble pets, spaceships and a flock of dozens of 10- to 12-foot-high birds that make up the Bird Band. Each member holds an instrument salvaged from thrift stores, such as a French horn, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. Every used scrap blades from Fiskars to create plumage.

Dr. Evermors use of salvaged industrial materials and reconfiguring them and preserving them in a different form is as much of a reminder of our cultural history as any old home is, said John Martens, vice president of the Madison Trust for Historic Preservation. I feel that our industrial history is something we need to be reminded more of. Giving this award to Dr. Evermor helps shed some light on what role industry played in the growth of Madison.

Every will receive a Friend of Preservation Award at the Madison Trusts annual awards event at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive.

Other award winners include the restoration of the Catlin Chapel. It was built in 1878 at Forest Hill Cemetery as a memorial to John Catlin, who helped plat the city of Madison and who would become the citys first lawyer and postmaster. The $3 million restoration of the Al. Ringling Theatre in Baraboo and the renovation of the Stamm House in Middleton also are being recognized, along with the Steensland House. It was constructed in 1896 in Downtown Madison but moved last year to make way for an expansion of Bethel Lutheran Church. The house stayed on the same block but now faces Gorham Street instead of Carroll Street.

Every began collecting old newspapers to turn in to collection centers for cash when he was a child. His love of salvage grew, and for years he had his own salvage company. In the 1970s  before he took on the Evermor name  Every helped Alex Jordan collect and build at the House on the Rock near Spring Green. But in the early 1980s, Every had a falling out with Jordan and a short time later began working on the Forevertron. That project led to hundreds of sculptures and the creation of the park located across the highway from the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant.

All the component parts around here, I can tell you about every one of them, Every said. I just want to make people happy. I try to put humor in everything I can but Im free flowing on everything I do.

Every has lived in Brooklyn, Stoughton, Edgerton and on the East Side of Madison. Martens said Everys work on the restoration of Edenfred, a historic home in the Highlands on Madisons Far West Side, also was significant.

The Georgian-style mansion was constructed in 1916 for artists to work in peace and is where Every and his then wife, Lady Eleanor Every, raised their four children in the 1970s and 1980s. They married in 1964 and divorced in 1997, but never separated. Lady Eleanor now runs the sculpture park, which is open Thursday through Sunday. Admission is by donation.

Every spends much of his time in a corner of the library at his nursing home, Maplewood of Sauk Prairie, where he has a table, paper, pens, reading material, a painting of the Forevertron and a portrait of himself. A few of his bird sculptures peer through the window.

On Thursday, Every was dressed in all black, including his leather jacket and a fedora adorned with a peacock feather. He wore pins that included a real scorpion and a spider encased in clear resin, and when his cell phone rang, he answered, Yeah, this is doctor.

This is also where family members bring in boxes of metal for Every to study. He then gives directions on how to use the pieces in a sculpture.

People think he has died but he has a lot of work to do yet, Lady Eleanor Every said. He knows his metals and where they are (at the park). Were forever loading things in and out quickly so that it doesnt leave a mess in the library.

With the weather warming, Every will likely visit the park for three to four hours a couple of times a week. His daughter, Tya Kottler, will use Everys modified 1987 Dodge Caravan that allows him to be wheeled up a retractable ramp at the rear of the vehicle, his head lightly pressing into the sagging cloth ceiling.

Before returning to the nursing home, a detour to Green Acres near Sauk City for prime rib and a glass of Glenfiddich Scotch can be in order.

Every no longer has the physical ability to weld and assemble his sculptures, but his mind is constantly thinking of the next creation.
Dane County will issue domestic partnership declarations to opposite-sex couples, giving them the same legal benefits of same-sex couples, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said Friday.

McDonell said he is following the lead of Milwaukee Countys legal adviser and hoping to bring clarity to confusion.

If you follow the legal logic of the ruling on same-sex marriage it is clear that opposite-sex couples also have equal protection rights and should also be allowed to apply for and receive state domestic partnerships, McDonell said.

Many times I have talked to couples who are confused and wonder why only same-sex couples can apply for domestic partnerships. It frankly does not make sense and is not fair, he said.

It was unclear what immediate effect, if any, this would have on domestic partnership regulations. The states domestic partner benefits information, for example, does not specify if domestic partners have to be of the same or opposite sex under the criteria to meet for those benefits to apply.

McDonell said Dane County already has a handful of opposite-sex couples registered as domestic partners under the countys old law. County clerks around the state have discussed the change before, he said, already noting informally they were immediately on this unfairness that now gays and lesbians have two choices (marriage or domestic partnership) and heterosexuals have one choice. Why not just let everyone do it?

The big difference between marriage and domestic partnership, he said, is that a partnership can be terminated more easily.

The Milwaukee office of corporation counsels Friday letter about the opinion includes a footnote explaining that a resident recently asked her County Board supervisor why, in light of the same-sex marriage rulings, domestic partnerships were still limited to same-sex couples. That inquiry prompted this analysis.

If same-sex couples who have registered as domestic partners get such benefits as qualifying for a partners health insurance coverage, or getting survivor interest in property, or qualifying for family leave, why cant opposite-sex partners get those benefits, too? McDonell asked.

The legal opinion from Milwaukee County corporation counsel Paul Bargren states the same equal protection analysis that led the federal courts to declare Wisconsins ban on same-sex marriages to be unconstitutional applies to the attempt to limit domestic partnerships to same-sex couples. It is likewise unconstitutional.

Though Dane County has a local ordinance allowing opposite-sex domestic partnerships, it has extremely limited benefits, McDonell said.

The Milwaukee County opinion notes that Wisconsin law allows same-sex couples to form domestic partnerships and these partnerships are no longer limited to same-sex couples. That would be a violation of equal protection, Bargren said.

In 2006, Wisconsin voters passed a constitutional amendment providing that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state and prohibiting a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals. In 2009, the domestic partnership law created legal rights for a registering couple, with one of the five criteria being that the individuals are members of the same sex.

Challenges and appeals of the laws through 2014 resulted in same-sex marriage becoming legal in Wisconsin. Bargrens opinion is that the decisions mean same-sex and opposite-sex couples are now similarly situated in the eyes of the law in terms of the right to marry. And if the gender is no longer reason to discriminate in marriage laws, it should not be a basis for discrimination in the lesser formalities of the domestic partnership laws.
When my little girl was born shortly after President Barack Obamas first presidential victory, I wrote a journal entry infused with my optimism about her future. Still giddy over the election of the nations first black president, I wrote confidently she would live in a world that would be better than the one that I had known.

Since then, the fates have conspired to shake my faith in that better world. Global events (the rise of Islamic jihadists, the accelerating pace of climate change) as well as national trends (the bitter backlash against Obama, the ascension of Donald Trump) have dampened my optimism.

Thats why I needed to listen, via White House video, to the commencement speech the president delivered at Howard University earlier this month. It was inspiring on many fronts, including its thoughtful and clear-eyed reminder of the progress that the nation has made in the last few decades.

You dont hear much of that on the campaign trail these days. Candidates from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump have a vested interest in gloom and doom, in persuading voters that this great democratic experiment has gone awry, that average voters have been betrayed either by a rapacious plutocracy or by some insidious conspiracy of incompetent government and malignant immigrants.

Not so, Obama reminded his audience.

Given the current state of our political rhetoric and debate, let me say something that may be controversial, and that is this: America is a better place today than it was when I graduated from college, he said.

Since 1983, when Obama received his diploma from Columbia University, the country has experienced steep drops in violent crime and teen pregnancies, he noted. Several of Americas cities, once given up as dystopias, have undergone a renaissance. Even with the lingering aftermath of the Great Recession, the percentage of Americans living in poverty has declined slightly. And despite the ugliness of the backlash against the nations first black president, progress continues toward full racial equality.

So what accounts for the fear that has fueled this strange campaign season? Why are so many voters persuaded that the United States is in decline, that our best days are behind us? Why has Trump prevailed with his promise to make America great again?

Sanders and Trump have both managed to tap into a deep-seated economic anxiety, a sense, especially among white voters, that their living standards are in free fall. They believe they wont ever live as well as their parents did, and that their children will fare even worse.

There is just cause for at least some of those worries. Data analyses by the Pew Research Center show a middle class that really is shrinking, with fewer Americans living in the socioeconomic center, which Pew defines as an annual income between $42,000 and $126,000 a year for a family of three.

But even those data hold some reason for optimism: There has been substantial growth among upper-income households, too. Yes, income inequality is real: Too much money is concentrated in the hands of the upper echelon, a trend that presents a genuine threat to American democracy. Still, many married couples, older Americans and black families have risen into upper-income brackets, according to Pew. (A recent Wall Street Journal poll of economists found that 80 percent of them believe that the average American has a higher standard of living now than in 1990.)

Oddly, the fear among Trumps supporters is fueled in part by the very racial progress that Obama rightly celebrated in his speech. Blinded by bigotry, they blame their declining economic fortunes  wrongly  on policies put in place to boost the prospects of black and brown Americans. Trump panders to those wrongheaded notions.

But fear of change has never been a recurring narrative in the American story, nor has pessimism about the future been a feature of our mythology. So, Trumpism aside, I have gone back to that journal entry, written on the occasion of my daughters birth, to reclaim my optimism for her future. And I can see the outlines of that better world.
CHICAGO  In early August, 1945, a 19-year-old Navy ensign sailed from California to take part in the invasion of Japan. Those on board the vessel didnt know if they would live to see the end of the war. But suddenly, as they were en route, Japan surrendered.

What happened in that interval? The United States dropped a new weapon, the atomic bomb, on Hiroshima and then Nagasaki. Days later, the Pacific War was over, and America was victorious.

Last week, President Barack Obama announced he would visit Hiroshima, which no sitting president has done. His decision is bound to reopen the debate over President Harry Trumans use of nuclear weapons, the first and last time they were ever detonated in war.

That Navy ensign was my father, T.J. Chapman, who outlived the war and everything since, celebrating his 90th birthday last year. Had the bomb not been built and used, his life might have ended then, and I would never have been born. So I may be biased. But it has occurred to me that there could have been Japanese just my age who, because of those cataclysmic explosions, were never born.

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.

In Bombing to Win: Air Power and Coercion in War, University of Chicago scholar Robert Pape concluded that the U.S. sea blockade and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria had convinced Japans military leaders that the war was hopeless. The new weapon, in his view, didnt even hasten the day of surrender.

Other experts differ. The bombs convinced the Japanese military that its strategy for defending the home islands was doomed, George Washington University political scientist Alexander Downes, author of Targeting Civilians in War, told me. Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant that the United States could simply sit offshore and vaporize the defenders rather than having to invade.

What is clear is that no president would have declined to use these weapons. After four years of unimaginably savage and costly fighting in the Pacific, any military option that offered hope of finally achieving victory had to be seized.

It wasnt certain that atomic bombs would work, but it was more than plausible. The potential benefit was enormous. Each day the war continued meant hundreds more Americans killed: Three U.S. Navy ships were lost just between the bombing of Nagasaki and the surrender.

Nor was there any special moral issue in using the new weapon. For years, Allied bombers had been slaughtering enemy civilians on a mass scale in Germany and Japan. More people died in the March firebombing of Tokyo than in Hiroshima.

An invasion of the island nation would have been apocalyptic. Estimates of the Japanese civilian casualties ranged into the millions, and the U.S. military anticipated as many as 1 million Americans would be killed or wounded.

In the effort to win the war, there were no humane formulas or foolproof answers. In electing to drop the bomb, Truman acted in good faith to advance an impeccable and humane purpose  successfully ending a catastrophic conflict that had been forced on us. There is no good reason for a U.S. apology.

That doesnt mean Obama is mistaken to visit Hiroshima. The need to use nuclear weapons there is debatable, but the urgency of preventing another use is not.

His call for a nuclear-free world is less important in that effort than his effort to make sure our nuclear arsenal is safe and reliable, to deter other nuclear powers. The Iran deal is another step in the right direction.

Having a wise, restrained leader in the Oval Office is also critically important. Donald Trump, who raised the possibility of nuclear retaliation against the Islamic State, doesnt qualify. The prospect of his finger on the trigger should give us  and the rest of humanity  nightmares.

Obamas visit to Hiroshima should not cause Americans to feel deep guilt about how our government used nuclear weapons in the past.

But it should stimulate intense anxiety about how they might be used in the future.
One pound of phosphorus can produce 500 pounds of stinky, soupy algae in Madisons lakes. So just imagine all of the green muck Madison avoided last summer by stopping 8,200 pounds of phosphorus from reaching the water.

Thats a significant accomplishment by rural and urban partners that all of Dane County should be proud of.

Preventing phosphorus-laden manure, leaves and soil from washing into the Yahara chain of lakes makes it harder for algae blooms to foul beaches and shorelines while threatening public health. Protecting lakes Mendota, Monona, Wingra, Waubesa and Kegonsa also preserves Madisons reputation as a great place to live, work and visit, which is good for the economy.

But ensuring healthy lakes year after year will require more commitment, as the annual State of the Lakes report detailed last week. The Clean Lakes Alliance, which produced the report, called for accelerating progress so the goal of cutting phosphorus levels in half by 2025 can be reached.

Last years success at diverting 8,200 pounds of phosphorus was an improvement from the previous years total of 7,330 pounds.

But after four years of effort, the region is just 18 percent of the way to its goal of 46,200 pounds, which is the reduction scientists say will consistently keep our lakes clean.

The lakes were helped last year by lighter snow and fewer stretches of heavy rain, easing the amount of pollution in runoff. We wont be that lucky every year.

Farmers northwest of Madison are key to a permanent solution because streams there lead to Lake Mendota and the rest of the chain. Farmers used better erosion control last year to block phosphorus, according to the State of the Lakes report. They also avoided spreading excessive fertilizer to prevent an additional release. These encouraging efforts must expand.

Despite some setbacks, manure digesters that remove phosphorus from animal waste are worth further investment and are becoming more efficient.

DeForest last year cleared leaves out of street gutters so the organic material didnt wash into storm sewers. McFarland has banned raking leaves to the curb. Madison is testing leaf bags that can be composted.

Fitchburg last year dredged soil out of ponds to hold and filter more water. Monona reinforced shoreline. Middleton relocated a stream channel from a steep slope to slow stormwater.

Dane County has been a huge contributor in coordinating and funding a lot of the work.

Every community and neighborhood in the watershed is part of the solution and should get involved.
If heading to college commencement exercises this weekend in Madison, it might be a good idea to bring a jacket and umbrella.

Forecasters are predicting a rainy Friday and a chilly Saturday and Sunday, with a chance for frost early Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service said showers should be mainly after 3 p.m. on Friday, winding down in the evening, with another chance for scattered sprinkles Saturday afternoon.

27 Storm Track meteorologist Brian Olson said we should see some sun on Saturday and Sunday, but the sun won't provide much warmth, with highs of 51 on Saturday and 57 on Sunday.

Highs should rebound to the 60s next week, with chances for showers Monday and Tuesday.

Olson said the balance of the work week will be nice, with sun on Wednesday, Thursday and next Friday.

Thursday's high in Madison was 68, 1 degree above normal and 18 degrees below the record high of 86 for May 12, set in 1991.

The low on Thursday was 49, 4 degrees above normal and 25 degrees above the record low of 24 for the day, set in 1981.

Rain early Thursday added up to 0.44 inches at the airport, pushing the May precipitation (rain plus melted snow) total up to 1.27 inches, 0.04 inches below normal.

The record precipitation total on May 12 was 1.84 inches in 1970.

For the meteorological spring of March through May, Madison has received 7.34 inches of precipitation, 0.43 inches above normal, while 8.84 inches has fallen in 2016, 0.75 inches below normal.
WASHINGTON - The Obama Administration's Departments of Justice and Education sent a letter to the nation's public schools Friday, telling them that transgender students must be granted civil rights to access whichever bathroom they choose. These rights are in order for them to "enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment."

Specifically, this means that in order to receive Federal funds, the schools must not deny access or treat a student differently based on sexual orientation such as "gender identity."
Peter Tyroller, the member of Bosch's management board responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Sales of Robert Bosch GmbH in China reached a record high of 77 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) in 2015, as the German technology and service supplier underwent its biggest expansion amid China's industrial upgrading boom, senior executives said on Thursday.

The company said this year it will focus on four areasconnected mobility, connected industry, smart home and smart cityto enhance its earning ability from China's Internet Plus initiative.

Peter Tyroller, the member of Bosch's management board responsible for the Asia-Pacific region, said the sales record was achieved despite a less dynamic market environment. China's share in Bosch's global sales climbed to 16 percent last yearmaking it the group's largest market outside Germany.

"We continue to see many opportunities in the local market and also in the 'new normal' of the Chinese economyespecially for our business with connected products and solutions", said Tyroller.

New normal refers to China now moving up the value chain amid a developing economic model of slower but quality growth. This development has reshaped many international companies' business policies and investment strategies in the country.

Bosch said its Mobility Solutions unit continued positive growth in line with the development of the Chinese automotive market in 2015. Meanwhile, the Consumer Goods business recorded healthy growth, according to the company's 2015 financial report on its Chinese operations.

With the acquisition of the 50 percent stake of BSH Hausgerate GmbH, previously owned by Siemens AG, Bosch said it had further extended its position in the Chinese home appliance market.

It said that the industrial technology, as well as energy and building technology business sectors, were impacted last year by the slowdown of domestic infrastructure investment. But fresh opportunities remained.

"Focusing on areas such as industrial upgrades, environmental protection, electrified mobility, and on driving forward connectivity with the 'Internet Plus' initiative, China's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) presents many new opportunities for Bosch," said Chen Yudong, president of Bosch in China.

The company has invested 18 billion yuan in China over the past five years, with investments totaling 5.2 billion yuan in 2015 alone. Chen said the group plans to invest on a similar level this year as it aims to drive internet connectivity forward and promote industry upgrades in China.

Bosch employs 55,000 people in China, its biggest single workforce outside its home market.

It now has a number of Industry 4.0 pilot projectsthe high tech strategy initiative which promotes the computerization of manufacturing.

They are in its plants in Suzhou, Shanghai, Wuxi, Changsha, Nanjing, Beijing and Changzhou and Xi'an.

"We can connect mobility with energy, building, and industrial technology to offer cross-domain servicessomething few other companies can," said Chen. "China's fast growing 4G network will build a solid foundation for its manufacturers. This in turn will benefit greener, more efficient and sustainable development."

Bosch plans to recruit some 14,000 university graduates worldwide this year2,500 of them in China, among which over 500 will be software related.
Making cheaper models marks a shift for Hyundai, whose strategy of appealing to price-conscious Chinese buyers with older model versions has faltered as local brands surge.

By Reuters: Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia Motors plan to launch three low-cost sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China, their biggest market, from next year, people with knowledge of the plans told Reuters.

Making cheaper models, their first for China, marks a shift for the South Korean automakers, whose strategy of appealing to price-conscious Chinese buyers with older model versions has faltered as local brands surge.

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ALSO READ: Hyundai Santro set to return to India by 2018

Hyundai and Kia's China market share slid to a 7-year low of 8.9 per cent last year from 10.4 per cent in 2014, according to company data, hit by the rise of Chinese rivals including Great Wall Motor. The drop in annual sales was the biggest among the top 10 automakers in China, data from IHS Automotive showed.

Latecomers to China when they began making cars there in 2002, Hyundai and Kia rank third behind Volkswagen and General Motors. But Chinese brands are gaining share by aping Hyundai's original formula: sleek, but affordable, smaller models. The battleground has shifted from sedans to SUVs, which are increasingly popular and affordable partly due to the slide in oil prices.

ALSO READ: Maruti Suzuki Dzire vs Honda Amaze vs Hyundai Xcent

Hyundai plans to build a compact, no-frills SUV at its planned factory in Changzhou starting in November 2017, and a subcompact SUV at its new Chongqing factory in 2018, two of the sources told Reuters.

Kia will follow with its own subcompact, entry-level SUV in 2018, another two people said, with one adding that Kia also plans to produce its mid-sized SUV in China next year.

ALSO READ: Hyundai sales up 5.7 per cent at 54,420 units in April

"After missing out on a segment where Chinese have a head start, Hyundai is rushing to build small SUVs," said one of the individuals, declining to be named as the plans are private.

LOCAL ENGINEERING

Hyundai and Kia will also make more use of Chinese suppliers to source cheaper, lower-spec parts and bring down costs, another official with direct knowledge of Hyundai's engineering told Reuters. The two automakers, which have a joint research and development centre in the Chinese city of Yantai, are also stepping up local engineering, he said.

ALSO READ: Spec Comparison: Honda BR-V vs Hyundai Creta

Hyundai said it is taking steps to defend its position against Chinese rivals.

The group is "internally examining from various sides to develop differentiated SUVs that give customers a more practical value by continuing in our cost-cutting efforts," it said in an emailed response to Reuters' queries, and plans to "realign its line-up to range from lower-priced models to high-end cars to respond to demands from diverse customer bases."

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ALSO READ: Next generation Hyundai Verna concept revealed at Beijing Auto Show

Hyundai also said it is "developing parts and specifications" that are best suited to local needs as part of its efforts to be price competitive.

Some industry experts warned that introducing low-end SUVs could undermine the Korean automakers' quality and brand image.

"Going downmarket into low-cost SUVs may actually damage the brand in the long term," said James Chao, Asia-Pacific managing director at IHS Automotive.

ALSO READ: Hyundai Creta gets petrol automatic variant; priced at Rs 12.86 lakh

CRISIS MODE

In China, Hyundai and Kia have simultaneously sold two or three generations of the same model, a strategy that helped rapidly boost sales by targeting diverse customer groups.

Until late last year, Hyundai sold three generations of its Tucson SUV in China simultaneously. The oldest, based on the 2006 model year, is no longer available.

ALSO READ: How does the Hyundai Creta fare in city traffic?

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But the South Koreans, whose value-for-money image with sedans such as the Elantra positions them between other mass-market foreign brands at the higher end and Chinese brands at the lower end, were caught off-guard by the surge of cheaper Chinese SUVs.

"Whereas Chinese-brand car and SUV offerings were once looked upon with disdain or rejected outright, they're now increasingly accepted," said Michael Dunne, president of Hong Kong-based consultancy Dunne Automotive, citing "a clear sea-change" in buyer perceptions about Chinese brands.

ALSO READ: Can Honda BR-V dislodge Hyundai Creta from top spot?

The stakes are high for Hyundai as its two planned Chinese plants will boost its combined production capacity with Kia by nearly 30 per cent to 2.7 million vehicles a year in 2018.

One Hyundai executive in China said his colleagues worry about being replaced because of sluggish sales. A mid-ranking sales official at Hyundai's China operations described a "crisis mode". Neither wanted to be identified as they are not authorized to speak with the media.

--- ENDS ---
Toyota has not been able to sell any Innova or Fortuner vehicles in Delhi NCR since the ban was imposed in December-end.

The earlier version of Innova would be phased out which would be replaced by Innova Crysta.

By India Today Web Desk: Toyota is working on a petrol variant of its multi-purpose vehicle Innova after the company's sales took a hit following a ban on registration of diesel cars with 2,000cc and above engines in Delhi-NCR.

"Delhi-NCR is the biggest market among other regions of the country. Since sales of Innova and Fortuner have stopped there, there will be considerable impact in overall sales," VP of Toyota Kirloskar Motor Sailesh Shetty told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of Innova Crysta here.

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ALSO READ: Toyota Innova Crysta bookings open, deliveries start from May 13

"Last year, we had sold 1.39 lakh cars in the country. This year, the sales figure will be in that region," Shetty said today.

He further said, "We are meeting all the emission norms as per government regulations... Diesel is a good fuel and we hope that the ban will be lifted some day. However, we are working on the petrol engine of Innova, the highest selling MPV in the country".

He said that Toyota had not been able to sell any Innova or Fortuner vehicles in Delhi NCR since the ban was imposed since December-end.

ALSO READ: Toyota Innova Crysta launched in Mumbai; prices start at Rs 13.84 lakh

Sales of MPVs in India was between 8,000 to 9,000 units per month, he said, adding that 7 per cent of the sales has been hit in Delhi-NCR following the ban.

The earlier version of Innova would be phased out which would be replaced by Innova Crysta.

In the meantime, the new vehicle saw a good response from consumers on the first day of its launch.

ALSO READ: Toyota Innova Crysta bookings open, deliveries start from May 13

"Over 60 per cent of the 15,000 bookings we have received so far are for the automatic version of the top-end model," Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice chairman Shekar Vishwanathan told reporters after launching the new MPV in Mumbai.

As of now, the customers in Mumbai will have to wait for more than two months to get delivery. As the demand increases they will ramp up output and lower the waiting period, he said.

The top-end Innova Crysta (2.8-litre, 8-seater with AMT) comes for Rs 20.77 lakh here while the low-end model is priced at Rs 13.83 lakh.

ALSO READ: Toyota Mirai wins 2016 World Green Car award at NYIAS

He said since 2005, the year Innova was first launched, the company has sold a little over 6 lakh Innova's in the country, while globally it has 1.6 million customers. The Innova was sold only in three markets apart from India - Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai.

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Innova has been the market leader from the start. Despite the market getting so much cluttered with almost all companies having at least one model in the MPV segment, it still enjoys 35 per cent market share, the company said.

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The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE, Odisha) declared the Class 12 Board result (Science Stream) 2016. The candidates can check the result through the official websites, www.orissaresults.nic.in and chseodisha.nic.in.

By India Today Web Desk: The Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE, Odisha) declared the Class 12 Board result (Science Stream) 2016. The candidates can check the result through the official website, www.orissaresults.nic.in and chseodisha.nic.in.



This year almost 85,000 students appeared for the Class 12 (CHSE) Science exams which were held between March 2 and March 24 in the state of Odisha.



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Steps to check the result:



Log on to the official website: www.orissaresults.nic.in and chseodisha.nic.in

Click on the link 'CHSE Odisha 2016'

Enter the required details in the space provided and submit

The result will appear on the screen

Take a print out for future reference.

About the Council of Higher Secondary Education:

The Council of Higher Secondary Education, Odisha was established in accordance with the Odisha Higher Secondary Education Act 1982 and is authorised to conduct the board exam in the state of Odisha. It also helps to develop the Higher Secondary Education in the state of Orissa.





Read: Karnataka SSLC Board Results 2016: To be declared today at kseeb.kar.nic.in.

Read: Rajasthan PTET Exam 2016: Download admit cards now.



Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.



--- ENDS ---
As the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE, Odisha) declared the Class 12th Board results (Science Stream) on May 13, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha has invited candidates to fill up an application form for the Supplementary High School Certificate Examination.

Odisha HSC Supplementary Exam 2016: Fill up the application form now

By India Today Web Desk: As the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE, Odisha) declared the Class 12th Board results (Science Stream) on May 13, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha has invited candidates to fill up an application form for the Supplementary High School Certificate Examination.

Also, around 85,000 students appeared for the examination in the Odisha Class 12 board examination that was conducted between March 2 and March 24.

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(Read:Odisha Class 12 Science Stream results declared: Check at www.orissaresults.nic.in)

As per an official data, the examination is expected to be held on June 2 across various centres in Odisha.

According to a report published in Odisha Sun Times, the BSE president Prof Dakshya Prasad Nanda said, "The Supplementary examination will begin from June 2 and the students willing to take the exam can fill up the forms online from tomorrow till May 17 midnight."

Till now, the examination schedule is not yet declared by the board.

Steps to fill up the application form:

All the candidates need to log on to the website, www.indiaresults.com

Enter the school code and password

Click on 'login'

Fill in all the details in the prescribed format only

Click on to submit

The candidates are advised to take print of the online submitted application

Important dates:

The examination is scheduled to start from June 2.



Read: Karnataka SSLC Board Results 2016: To be declared today at kseeb.kar.nic.in.

Read: Rajasthan PTET Exam 2016: Download admit cards now.

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.

--- ENDS ---
Pranjal Patil, the visually impaired girl from Ulhasnagar cracked IAS exam this year with a rank of 773. The Ulhasnagar girl lost her vision completely when she was just six, but she still prepared her mind to become an IAS officer at her childhood.

By India Today Web Desk: Pranjal Patil, the visually impaired girl from Ulhasnagar cracked IAS exam this year with a rank of 773. The Ulhasnagar girl lost her vision completely when she was just six , but she still prepared her mind to become an IAS officer at her childhood.



Know how she cracked the IAS exam:



Patil told the DNA about her exam preparation, "I love to read and the entire process of academics excites me. I studied on my own and took test series from ALS academy in Delhi."



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It is not easy to crack the IAS in the first attempt, but Patil did it. "There were times when I was marred with doubts and disbelief regarding my ambition that. I think that when you have doubts, then only you get motivated." she added.



Know her education qualification:



Patil did her graduation in Political Science from Mumbai's St. Xavier's College and Master of Arts in International relations from Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). "In my education technology played an important role. I got this software installed on my computer which would read out chapters from various books for me," she said.



Regarding her posting, the Ulhasnagar girl said, "I do not know what they (UPSC) will give me. But whatever it is I am up for the challenge."

Read: MP Board Results: Anti cheating measures bring down success rate of Bhind district to 56 percent.

Read: Scholarship programme named after Sangram Singh.

Click here for more on education from India Today.

--- ENDS ---
The admit cards of the Telangana Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) has been released by the Government of Telangana State School Education Department on the official website, tstet.cgg.gov.in.

By India Today Web Desk: The admit cards of the Telangana Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) has been released by the Government of Telangana State School Education Department on the official website, tstet.cgg.gov.in.

All the candidates are requested to download same as soon as possible.

The examination is scheduled to take place at various centers in the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on May 22.

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Earlier, the board announced to conduct the examination on May 1.



The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) is mandatory for students who are willing take the profession of teaching in government schools from classes 1 to 8.

Steps to download the admit card:

The candidates need to log on to the official website, www.tstet.cgg.gov.in

Click on the link"Download the admit card"

Enter the registration number and date of birth

Download and take print out of the same

Paper pattern:

The TET examination will consist of two papers.

Paper-I: All the candidates who are willing to be teacher for Class 1 to Class 5 will appear for this examination.

Paper-II: The candidates who intend to be teachers of Class 6 to Class 7.

Exam time:

Paper-I: 9.30 am to 12.00 noon

Paper-II: 2.30 pm to 5.00 pm

Important dates:

All written examination will be held on May 22.

READ: BIT Mesra admissions 2016: Apply for PG courses

Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here.



--- ENDS ---
In an Exclusive interview to India Today TV, JDU leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh took potshots at Nitish for his attempt to defeat Narendra Modi alone in 2019.

There are voices of dissent that have started against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's "ekla chalo re" attitude despite being in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in Bihar.

Nitish Kumar has started moving across the country with his PM dream in his eyes for the 2019 polls. First he went to Kerala, then Jharkhand and on Friday he addressed a political meet to the JD(U) ahead of UP polls.

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ALSO READ: Lalu eyes in-house CM as Nitish goes national with PM dreams





However, The most credible voice of dissent is JD(U)'s national vice-president and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

In an exclusive interview to India Today TV, Raghuvansh Prasad took potshots at Nitish for his attempt to defeat Narendra Modi alone in 2019. The JD(U) leader ripped apart Nitish Kumar sating he should shun his personal interest for national interest. Singh also said the manner in which Nitish has started alone preparing for 2019 polls, he would be finished.



Here are the excerpts:

On Nitish going alone

Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RPS): National alternative should be formed, secular parties should unite itself, moving around alone will only help the BJP.

Nitish going alone weakening secular forces

RPS: The disintegration of secular forces only means strengthening the BJP. Secular parties should unite. Efforts should be made to unite other secular forces not just strengthen one's own party. If someone feels that by strengthening his own party he can attain success then why should I raise question but one should realise that only if other parties unite, one can attain success. Nitish is expanding his party at the moment. If Nitish goes alone, he will be finished.





On Nitish aspiring to become PM

RPS: Unless a leader shuns his selfish attitude, a potent anti-BJP force cannot be forged. One's own interest should be kept aside and national interest should be kept a focus. Today the entire world has become selfish and if Nitish is behaving selfishly, why should I object.

Can Nitish alone defeat Narendra Modi in 2019

RPS: If Nitish feels that he can defeat Narendra Modi single-handedly and if he has got his calculations done, then it's fine.

Can JD(U) alone do anything in Uttar Pradesh?

RPS: Nitish is testing possibilities alone in Uttar Pradesh, its fine. Last elections also he fought and his chances are very bright. He got 200-300 votes. If secular forces break, it will benefit BJP.

Nitish as PM material?

RPS: JD(U) claims that Nitish is PM material. RJD Chief Lalu Prasad has also supported Nitish for PM. I don't have any views.

Nitish efforts for anti-BJP force has always failed?

RPS: Has Nitish failed once? Everyone had gone to Mulayam Singh and elected him as their leader ahead of Bihar polls but that failed. Recently, he tried to forge alliance with RLD's Ajit Singh but that too failed. If he himself projects himself as leader then it will break the unity of secular forces.

No Mahagathbandhan(Grand Alliance) in Bihar?

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RPS: There is no structure of Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. There is only sharing of power in the govt that has been formed. There is no identity of Mahagathbandhan.

Should Nitish sacrifice his self-interest?

RPS: Everyone should sacrifice his self interest.

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According to the police, the girl's parents left her at the day care centre on Wednesday before leaving for work. When they returned in the evening, the girl complained of pain in the abdominal area.

By Mail Today: A 3-year-old girl was allegedly sexually molested at a day care centre in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The police have arrested a person working at the day care in connection with the incident.

What Happened



According to the police, the girl's parents left her at the day care centre on Wednesday before leaving for work. When they returned in the evening, the girl complained of pain in the abdominal area. They then took her to a local hospital where doctors after examining the child informed them that she had been sexually abused.



The hospital suggested the parents to lodge a complaint with the police. The parents later approached the police, who took up the case. After probing the incident, they arrested Chandu, who worked at the day care centre.

Case Registered



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A case has been registered against him under the POCSO Act at the JJ Nagar police station.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: imports

New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) AAP leader Ashish Khetan today filed a compliant with CBI alleging massive "over-invoicing" of coal imports running into nearly Rs 29,000 crore by top power companies.

He said that through coal imports, a huge amount of money has been siphoned off outside India, which is not only "illegal" , but also a loss to the public exchequer.

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"Over-invoicing of coal imports is a double whammy for the common man as artificially enhanced cost of coal is eventually passed on to consumers in the form of increased tariffs.

He said DRI is already investigating some companies in connection with the matter. PTI PR GVS PAL GVS

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Aditi Khanna

London, May 13 (PTI) Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has accused Pakistan of waging an "undeclared war" against his country and said the Tehreek-e-Taliban was the "greatest threat to the region".

Delivering a lecture on Fifth Wave of Political Violence at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) here yesterday, Ghani expressed frustration over little progress in peace talks and gathering of foreign fighters in Afghanistan.

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"Who fights in my country? Chinese, Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, but the greatest one of course is a huge movement from Pakistan. Then, of course all the rejects from the Arab world are sent on to us," he said.

"Our fundamental issue is peace with Pakistan. There has been undeclared war against us. I invested enormous amount of political capital to make sure the road to peace was the proper road. Our extended hand was not shaken," he said.

"The TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) is becoming the greatest threat to the region," he added.

Establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan and across Asia and the Middle East remains a pressing challenge for the international community.

To support global efforts to counter political violence, it is vital that governments grasp the distinctive characteristics of contemporary terrorist groups and encourage greater cooperation and alignment of understanding on a national, regional, and international level, he said.PTI AK ZH

--- ENDS ---
By Mail Today: While an infuriated Kerala government claimed to be mulling "legal action" against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'Somalia' remark, which Chief Minister Oommen Chandy claimed had hurt sentiments of people, another war of words broke out on Thursday between the CM and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

The two sparred over contending claims for taking credit for evacuation of 29 Indians from war-torn Libya.

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While the state goes to polls on May 16, the run up to the elections is becoming increasingly becoming charged. A total of 29 Indians have been evacuated from Libya out of which 16 are from Kerala and they reached Kochi on Thursday morning. At the centre of the latest controversy was Modi's claim at a poll rally on Wednesday where he had said that his government had "saved six families and evacuated 29 people."

"The Indian government is committed to working for people who go abroad to work; we have always tried to help them. It gives me immense pleasure and happiness to tell you that they are coming back and will be united with their families soon," Modi had said.

The claim was contended by Chandy, who said the state government was bearing the travel expense of the families, suggesting that the Centre had not extended financial assistance for their travel. "Sushma Swaraj paid for the earlier evacuations. This time we are paying for their travel," Chandy said. Swaraj jumped into fray via a series of tweets. "Mr. Chandy - We evacuated thousands of Indians from Kerala from Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Who paid for them? Mr.Chandy - You said 'Kerala paid for 29 Indians evacuated from Libya'," Swaraj said on Twitter.

The External Affairs Minister, who is recuperating in AIIMS where she was admitted on April 25, blamed Chandy for triggering the debate. "Mr.Chandy - You started this debate - as to Who paid? Not me. We always did this because this is our pious duty towards our citizens," she said in yet another tweet.

Also read:

Kerala election: Now, Sushma asks Chandy who paid for Indians evacuated from Libya



--- ENDS ---
A look at her Cannes appearances over the years will show you that with baby missteps the gorgeous actress has finally got her style sensibilities in line with international trends.

By Chef Ashish Massey, Shilpa Rathnam: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is a constant reminder to us lesser mortals that a thing of beauty is a source of depression forever.

The global icon is so flawless that it must be a Herculean task to design anything that would do her justice. Add her penchant for diplomacy and an icy cool image and any designer is set to fail. It's perhaps because of her stunning looks, and not despite them, that theactress has faltered many a time on the red carpet. But a look at her Cannes appearances over the years will show you that with baby missteps the gorgeous actress has finally got her style sensibilities in line with international trends.

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Let's make it a teachable moment. How do you adapt Aishwarya's top couture looks to your boardroom? Or more practically, to your neighbour's sangeet? We can help.

The ex-beauty queen made her Cannes debut in 2002 at the premiere of Devdas . Accompanied by her director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and leading man Shah Rukh Khan, she went the traditional route. Clad in a golden Neeta Lulla saree and weighed down by what looked like all the gold in the Indian coffers, Aishwarya's beauty still managed to shine through and made the world sit up and take notice.

Cop it: If you have a Malayali wedding to attend, this exact look might still be in fashion. No, that's not racist when I say it because I'm a South-Indian.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore a saree while walking the red carpet for the first time. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/ishasharma0004

Aishwarya returned to Cannes in 2003 as a jury member; she went the traditional route again and chose friend Neeta Lulla to design again. A green saree with her hair done up in a top knot, she played it safe and she played it bad. The look fell flat and earned her a lot of flak.

Cop it: If you have a similar green saree, you can make a cushion cover out of it to cry into for your poor fashion choices.

Her second outing was also a Neeta Lulla saree. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/sushantshukla

Aishwarya glammed it up in 2004, she was walking as the brand ambassador of L'Oreal for the first time, an association that has continued till now and she continued her association with Neeta Lulla as well. It was a risque shimmery cut out gown that didn't fit well but strangely managed to flatter the stunner despite that.

Cop it: Ever been invited to a "Shine bright like a diamond" theme party and didn't know what to wear? Well, me neither. But now you do.

Aishwarya glammed it up in 2004. Picture: Reuters

In 2005, Aishwarya opened the film festival at the French Riviera, which was the first for an Indian. A black Gucci gown with a short train and a plunging neckline showcased the stunner like never before.

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Cop it: This is a study in seduction. A decade is mercifully sufficient time for couture to become high-street It shouldn't be too difficult to get a similar dress for the next black tie event you're invited to. And definitely wear it if your significant other's ex has RSVPed yes.

The actress wore a black Gucci gown with a short train and a plunging neckline. Picture: Reuters

Aishwarya starrer Provoked was screened at Cannes in 2006. Aishwarya hit it out of the ball park again in a midnight blue Roberto Cavalli gown and a trend setting snake choker.

Cop it: A snake bracelet was all the rage one season ago. It's a pity we didn't write this back then.

Her midnight blue Roberto Cavalli gown was a red carpet hit. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/aay307

Abhishek Bachchan made his Cannes debut alongside wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 2007. Mani Ratnam's Guru starring the then newly-married couple was screened and so was the teaser of the magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar. Aishwarya kept it simple in an ethereal Giorgio Armani gown with an imposing diamond choker.

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Cop it: Her choker is proof that you can never wear too many diamonds. Try a heavy diamond choker just peeking out of a buttoned up white shirt. Extra points if you can get your husband to sport this look.

Abhishek Bachchan made his Cannes debut alongside wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 2007. Picture: Reuters

In 2008, Aishwarya attended the Cannes film festival with her family in tow, she was flanked by her husband Abhishek Bachchan, and in-laws Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan. Out of her all her looks, the fuschia pink Cavalli she wore to the Vicky Cristina Barcelona premiere would go down as one of her best looks.

Cop it: A fuschia pink pleated scarf is the perfect addition to a cool-toned outfit to set off the Indian complexion. If you must have an agenda, let it be magenta.

She stunned in a fuchsia pink number in 2008. Picture: Reuters

In 2009, Aishwarya was a vision in white at Cannes. The white Cavalli gown with a tiered skirt might have looked like a wedding cake on anyone else but the diva managed to pull it off with aplomb.

Cop it: Just what the doctor ordered to wear to your frenemy's church wedding. Your therapist doesn't like this doctor.

In 2009, Aishwarya was a vision in white at Cannes. Picture: Reuters

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Raavan premiered at Cannes in 2010, and Aishwarya accompanied by husband Abishek kept it simple yet stunning in a fail safe gold Sabyasachi. A severe updo and a simple blouse helped keep the spotlight firmly on the shimmering saree.

Cop it: When you're meeting your boyfriend's parents for the first time at a wedding this is perfect sanskaari outfit to lull them into think they're getting a big fat dowry. Little do they know you've bought this saree on EMI after selling your family car.

A severe updo and a simple blouse helped keep the spotlight on the shimmering saree. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/kamalchheda

2011 saw Aishwarya at her most futuristic yet. She cut a fine figure in a structured two toned Armani Prive. The monochrome palette provided the perfect backdrop for her dramatic blue and gold smokey eye.

Cop it: Wear it with two buns to the next Star Wars/Star Trek special screening. Better yet, organize one.

She cut a fine figure in a structured two toned Armani Prive. Picture: Reuters

All eyes were on Aishwarya at the Cannes red carpet in 2012. Back home in India her post natal weight gain was the talk of the town. But Aishwarya embraced her curves and her post-baby body and rocked an Elie Saab, which won her the admiration of international media and style gurus across the world.

Cop it: Update this to 2016 by snagging a fawn/nude version with a short hemline. You'll be the hostess with the mostest sparkle at your candlelight soiree.

Aishwarya embraced her curves and her post-baby body and rocked an Elie Saab in 2011. Picture: Reuters

After a series of monochromes, Aishwarya finally opted for colours on the red carpet in 2013. She attended the premier of Cleopatra in a fittingly regal teal Gucci Premiere gown complemented by hot pink lips. A sculpted hairdo was just the icing the outfit needed.

Cop it: Be a Scarlett O Hara, in reverse. You can never have too many satin curtains in your parlour.

Aishwarya finally opted for colours on the red carpet in 2013. Picture courtesy: Pinterest/lindaluau

By 2014 Aishwarya had dropped the pounds and was back to her svelte self. She made her most dazzling appearance yet in a gold Roberto Cavalli gown with a bold red lip. A flying kiss here, a wave there and her A-game on the red carpet, this was Aishwarya at her uninhibited best. That outfit and those pictures have become definitive of the golden actress.

Cop it: Teach your daughter that mermaids are real by twirling around her in this.

She made her most dazzling appearance yet in a gold Roberto Cavalli gown with a bold red lip. Picture: Reuters

Last year an on trend voluminous Ralph and Russo with muted makeup did the trick for Aishwarya. With dramatic ruffles, the dress provided just the right amount of oomph on the red carpet. Cop it: Visit your friendly neighbourhood Gauri and Nainika store for the perfect ruffles for Sunday brunch.

Aishwarya won the red carpet in her Ralph and Russo number. Picture: Reuters

That's been quite a style evolution. This year Aishwarya completes 15 years at the Cannes red carpet. It will be interesting to see if she will continue to favour international labels like she has in the recent past or if she will go the desi route. Heavy lies the head that has worn a beauty pageant crown!

--- ENDS ---
By Amarnath K. Menon : "Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) does not like Jayalalithaa and she does not like him. They both do not like me. This is not an election but a war - a war between Dharma and Adharma," declares the mercurial 'Captain' Vijayakanth of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK). It draws guffaws from the crowd. Enthused, he clenches his fist and teeth to suggest he is battle ready and promises more to their delight. The income of a family in each of the 12,620 villages in Tamil Nadu will be increased to Rs 25,000 a month, 5,000 farmers will be sent abroad every year to learn the latest practices and sell petrol at Rs.45 a litre to all. This is the Captain's pitch after launching his campaign from Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district - a strategic location for him as it is the north east corner of the state and auspicious for a good beginning in accordance with the principles and his belief in vaastu.

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Outlandish it may seem to others but Vijayakanth does not care. "People raise questions as to what Vijayakanth knows. They question my abilities. I am clean and that's my qualification. What those who question my abilities don't have is in fact what I have," he says, leading the charge of a six party alliance, christened the Third Front (TF). It has raised hopes of emerging as an alternative in a state where the national parties pose no serious challenge. The Congress is marginalised progressively, since it last governed the state in 1967 while the BJP is still finding it difficult to make any headway. But, as polling day - May 16 - draws near, TF as well as smaller rivals, are dismayed to discover they are in no position to dislodge the Dravidian majors.

It is a daunting challenge to break into the 50-year-old cycle of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) poll triumphs in Tamil Nadu. But the uncertainties posed by the health and advancing age of its leaders - AIADMK's J. Jayalalithaa and DMK's M. Karunanidhi is triggering a churn with others chipping at the base of their parties.

By picking Vijayakanth as its face TF is relying on the time trusted formula of film world personality inspired leadership like the AIDMK and DMK. It has not impacted as imagined. By presenting the man known by the moniker 'Karuppu MGR', the swarthy look alike of the legendary AIADMK founder MG. Ramachandran, as the leader of the pack, TF has suffered embarrassment. "The choice has virtually killed the prospects of furthering politics for the TF because of his personal traits and public conduct which are a concern of ridicule rather than admiration. TF wanted to fight the DMK and AIADMK by the same means and methods that people wanted relief from and has dug its political grave by conceding the unqualified space to Vijayakanth and DMDK," says Ramu Manivannan, Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras.

It is a daunting challenge to break into the 50-year-old cycle of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) poll triumphs in Tamil Nadu It is a daunting challenge to break into the 50-year-old cycle of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) poll triumphs in Tamil Nadu

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Another drawback is the lack of cohesiveness and commitment among the partners of the TF coalition in contrast to the well organized party system, membership and political culture of following the leader enjoyed by the DMK and AIADMK. This is coupled with a highly effective communication system between the leadership and the cadres in the two Dravidian parties. That both the DMK's M. Karunanidhi and AIADMK's J. Jayalalithaa have as chief ministers have been jailed on allegations of corruption is an issue that the TF has failed to capitalize on in their campaign.

The BJP has tried to by condemning both the Dravidian majors but it is perceived as an alternative, not to the DMK or AIADMK, but the Congress, like elsewhere. "It can still improve, depending on where the DMK and AIADMK are between now and 2019. But BJP, like the Congress, may not even join the battle despite all the tall talk. They are yet to identify a future leader to be promoted and accepted by the state's party factions in the first place. Like Modi at the national level, he or she has to go to the voter over the head of the state party, but none is in sight just now," explains Chennai based analyst N. Sathiya Moorthy. The Congress is virtually non - existent but for the DMK's forced coalition to save itself from the scandals.

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The Pattali Makkal Katchi, (PMK), in the race for all 234 assembly constituencies, has had a head start by beginning its campaign 15 months in advance and projecting Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, ex - union health minister, as its chief ministerial candidate. Initially, it made good impact, but peaked very early. "The PMK's innovative agenda and manifesto were liberally adopted by other parties and it lost its USP. The biggest mistake was its inability to create a critical mass of political alliances before openly declaring themselves as the alternative to the two Dravidian parties," says former bureaucrat turned social activist MG Devasahayam. Anbumani speaks well, like his father and party founder S. Ramadoss, but the PMK cannot shake off the pro - Vanniyar caste tag, on which it has evolved, easily. Though the party organization and its contestants are now representative of several communities and castes the PMK is viewed as practitioners of extreme caste based politics and remains unreliable on the count of caste identity and caste loyalty. "PMK is showing signs of combining caste politics with Tamil nationalism, a dangerous mix, that may see a new coalition of Tamil nationalism and intermediate castes in the future," observes Ramu Manivannan.

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Traditional Dravidian politics is predominantly of the OBCs which have kept out the Dalits who account for about 20 per cent of the population. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), a constituent of the TF, led by Thol Thirumavalavan has gained influence in the northern districts, particularly Chidambaram and Villupuram, where tension and caste violence with the Vanniyars is high while in the south it is the Puthiya Tamizhagam of another Dalit sub - caste - the Pallars. A third sub - caste, Arunthathiyars, do not even have a political identity of their own and do not identify with other Dalit leaderships, but only with a Dravidian major, if at all. Irony is despite the caste based politics in the state and heinous atrocities on them, the Dalits are not united to give the AIADMK and DMK a run for their money.

There is also cost factor too that deters the emergence of an enduring alternative to the well entrenched and cash rich DMK and AIADMK. Given the high cost of elections and electioneering, more especially in Tamil Nadu, it is also difficult for up and coming parties to survive with the staying power to fight back on another day, all alone. Where they may have like- minded allies, their own interests and egos have clashed. What was the problem with PMK and Vaiko's Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) once is now there between the DMDK and PMK. They are ready to work under either the DMK or the AIADMK but not with one another.

Psephologists have, analysing the polling patterns over the past three decades, pointed out Tamil Nadu is prone to extraordinarily high swings of about ten per cent, as opposed to small ones of one to two per cent in contiguous Kerala, in accounting for the see saw wins of the AIADMK and DMK. Except between 1977 and 1987 when M.G. Ramachandran was elected thrice in a row - the last time in 1984 while convalescing in a hospital at Brooklyn, in the US, after a kidney transplant, to retain his seat and the AIADMK control of the levers at Fort St. George. Prospects appear to be somewhat similar, a second term in a row, for Jayalalithaa this time as it is engendered by the lack of unity among AIADMK's rivals. But, if the state wide Nammaku Naame tour of MK Stalin has had a wide spread impact the DMK will return to office in the seesaw manner while the opportunity for a third alternative remains elusive. The other parties are banking on the support of the neutral and first time voters, apart from their own limited dedicated voter base.

Tamil Nadu appears to have little interest in the national parties. It waits for a new generation of politicians, ideas and ideological orientation. "There has to be a paradigm change and a new breed of politics. The requirement is a judicious combination of social and political transformation. This process has commenced in this election with groups of youth rallying behind certain civil society leaders who are guiding them in evolving social, economic and political agenda which they can take to the masses," says Devasahayam. But in a state where politics and cinema are inextricably linked what will matter most is projecting a person with a saleable face and staying power. That test is yet to begin and will be triggered by post poll convulsions in the DMK and AIADMK. And it is not a long wait.

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Anirudh Ravichander, the happening musician of Tamil film industry has signed a deal with Sony Music. As per the deal, from here on, the independent albums and live concerts of Anirudh's will be published and promoted by the global giant.

By India Today Web Desk: Anirudh Ravichander, the happening musician of Tamil film industry has signed a deal with Sony Music. As per the deal, from here on, the independent albums and live concerts of Anirudh's will be published and promoted by the global giant.

Anirudh took to Twitter to share the happy news with his fans.

Happy to announce that I have signed a record deal with @sonymusicindia @SonyMusicSouth for all my independent music pic.twitter.com/AzE1SqC2u0 Anirudh Ravichander (@anirudhofficial) May 12, 2016

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The official Twitter account of Sony Music also tweeted about the deal.

We are happy to add an exceptional talent like @anirudhofficial to our pop roster @shridhars @SonyMusicSouth https://t.co/IEYPPqoxhU Sony Music India (@sonymusicindia) May 12, 2016

Anirudh's career graph has only been ascending since his debut. Now, with this deal, his reach to the world audience will increase several folds.

The Kolaveri boy finished two international tours- Dubai and Cannada- in the past six months, and both the live concerts turned out to be huge hits and saw high footfalls.

His recent number, Halo Amigo, from the film Rum, has garnered him a fan across the world. The Grammy Award winner Dj Diplo tweeted his song with the caption 'My Indian Friend'.

Anirudh is currently working on Sivakarthikeyan's upcoming film Remo. He is also collaborating with Mohan Raja for an upcoming film, which also has Siva in the lead role.

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60-year-old Nimai Sanpui and his family in South 24 Pargana district were beaten up when they went to fetch water from the village tubewell on Thursday night. When the family protested, they were told that they won't get access to the local tube well as it was installed by the Trinamool government.

"When my daughter-in-law went to fetch water, Trinamool men stopped her and started abusing. When we told them that we have every right to take water from the public tube well they started beating us," Nemai's wife Kalidasi described her ordeal.

The family says, they had even been threatened against casting their vote during the recently concluded assembly elections in the state. "They beat us up because we work for the opposition party. They had threatened us before the elections saying that they will chop off our hands if we voted against TMC," alleges Nemani Sanpui.

The family has lodged a complaint against two local Trinamool Congress workers Samar Sanpui and Subhas Sanpui at the Canning police station. The two accused have fled the area.
By PTI: Ujjain (MP), May 13 (PTI) RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat today had lunch with sanitary workers, many of them Dalits, engaged to keep clean the site of the ongoing Simhastha Kumbh, a massive congregation of Hindus, at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.

Bhagwat squatted and ate meal with the sanitary workers (safai karamcharis) at Shri Guru Karshanaik ashram here.

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"The ashram management has invited 1,200 sanitary workers. Men were given shirts and trousers while the women workers were gifted Rs 100 and sarees," ashrams pontiff Swami Omkaranandji told PTI.

Yesterday, Bhagwat had taken a holy dip with members of tribal communities in the Kshipra river here.

He had also addressed a Janjati Sammelan, a gathering of members of tribal communities from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and other places, organised by the VKP in Ujjain.

Bhagwat had then said that the Hindu culture has its genesis in the tribal society.

"The sense of belongingness and sharing are the tenets of Hindu religion. Time has come that the tribal representatives stood up for them and demand their rights," he had said.

"God helps those who help themselves," Bhagwat said yesterday.

Bhagwats move is being seen as a step aimed at striking a chord with the tribals.

Notably, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday had participated in samrasata snaan (bath for social harmony) and samrasta bhoj (social harmony feast) with Dalit saints at the Kumbh Mela.

Shah had 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.

Sangh Parivar head Mohan Bhagwat had stirred a controversy by calling for a review of reservation policy during the run-up to the Bihar Assembly polls last year.

RSS is running a nation-wide campaign this year to promote "social harmony" among Hindus to woo tribals and Dalits which are key to BJPs hopes of wresting power in Uttar Pradesh, going to polls next year.

The RSS has already held discussions on samajik samrasta (social harmony) in its shakhas (morning get together classes) from January 3-10 in Madhya Pradesh. PTI CORR LAL MAS GK NM PVI

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Social media users seem to be divided on the latest Calvin Klein campaign; the photos from the campaign are being trashed for being too provocative and obscene.

The brand is being accused of everything from being provocative to blatant objectification. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Calvin Klein

By India Today Web Desk: Calvin Klein's ongoing ad campaign, #MyCalvins, has come under fire for a set of new photos that were recently released and are being accused of being instrumental in promoting rape culture, obscenity and paedophilia.

The campaign in question features a series of photographs that--according to the general verdict of several social media users--are "inappropriate", "immoral" and "disgusting", to say the least.

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While the campaign features a string of pictures, there is one particular 'up-skirt' picture that has managed to incite a whole new range of reactions. From people accusing Calvin Klein of normalising rape culture and up skirt pictures (which are a menace for women travelling in public transport) others are trying induce rationality in the whole scenario by highlighting the role of consent in the brand's campaign.

Starring actress Klara Kristin, the picture is titled, "Take a peek," and has been captured by photographer Harley Weir.

Take a peek: @karate_katia, photographed by @harleyweir for the Spring 2016 advertising campaign. #mycalvins A photo posted by Calvin Klein (@calvinklein) on May 9, 2016 at 3:45pm PDT

Also Read: Why is the internet so angry with the new Victoria's Secret ad?

Some of the reactions have been:

"Disgusting. Rape culture and paedophile acceptance is alive and well"

"You r normalizing up skirt porn. It's NOT ok. It's not sexy. It's pathetic"

"These young sl**s"

Evidently, people aren't very pleased with the idea of the 'graphic' imagery being promoted by Calvin Klein.

Also Read: Can you handle this hot Bar Refaeli bikini ad? Because this country has banned it for being too sexy

On the other hand, another set of users have also gone on to describe the campaign as a "perfect idea" and "Empowerment of the individual and the I. I support."

While there is no doubt about the fact that paedophilia and the normalisation of rape culture are unacceptable in any form, Calvin Klein's latest campaign might or might not be taking a clear stand on the above mentioned topics.The brand has refrained from commenting on the criticism and has in fact, posted some more pictures from the same series.



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The Chief Justice had on May 9 said courts in the country now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases.

On April 24, CJI TS Thakur broke down several times in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a national judicial conference.

By Harish V Nair: With an astounding three crore plus case pendency staring him in the face, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur on Thursday issued a notice to the Centre on a PIL which sought immediate directions to double the number of judges in the country as recommended by the Law Commission in its 245th report.

It is to be noted that a fortnight after his impassioned appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over shortage of judges at the state Chief Justices and Chief Ministers conference, the Chief Justice had on May 9 said courts in the country now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases.

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"While we (judiciary) remain keen to ensure that judges' appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continues to grind very slowly. The confidence of people on the judiciary has, over the years, multiplied. Over three crore cases are pending in various courts across the country," he had said.

The petitioner, a Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay said in his plea: "Judicial reform is not only necessary to secure fundamental right of fair trial and speedy justice to every citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution but also essential to control the prevailing corruption, crime, casteism and communalism."

"The Union government and State Governments had agreed to double the number of judges in Chief Justices and Chief Ministers conference 2013," it said. Upadhyay also pleaded for expediting the long pending judicial reform as recommended by the Law Commission in its various reports since 1986.

Law Commission submitted its 245th Report to the Union Government on 07-07-2014 on the topic of 'Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial Manpower' and recommended to double the number of judges necessary to ensure fair trial and speedy justice to the citizens.

This is essential to secure the fundamental right of fair trial and speedy justice to the citizens.

On April 24, the Chief Justice, known to be stronghearted, broke down several times in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a national judicial conference.

The emotional chief justice of India was in fact launching an unprecedented blistering attack on the present and earlier governments for often blaming the judiciary for mounting backlog of cases, which touched an alarming 3.14 crore, but at the same time doing nothing to improve the judge: population ratio and increasing the number of courts despite repeated pleas from the judiciary.

The ratio at present is 10 judges for 1 million people while the Law Commission had way back in 1987 recommended increasing it to 40.

While India had just 7,675 judges, the actual requirement of judges in the country today was 40,377.

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Israel's Independence Day, which commemorates the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, was celebrated amidst the presence of ministers, attaches, diplomats and other dignitaries inside the decorated hall.

By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: On May 11, ITC Maurya's Kamal Mahal Hall was drenched in the colours of Israel, with a number of blue and white balloons adorning its entry gate and tiny flags of the country lining the ceiling of the hall.

The colour scheme was quote appropriate as it was a special occasion for the historic country, the night marked the celebration of Israel's 68th Independence Day.

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The country's Independence Day (or National Day), which commemorates the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, was celebrated amidst the presence of ministers, attaches, diplomats and other dignitaries inside the decorated hall.

The night began with a speech by Sanwar Lal Jat, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, who spoke about India's partnership with Israel's in the fields of agriculture and water resources.

Israel's ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, thereafter delivered a speech highlighting both Israel's rich legacy as well as the bilateral ties between India and Israel. He said, "For us, Israel is a dream come true. We are very proud of our achievements in various areas. We are very well aware of all our challenges, the primary one being the struggle to reach the long-awaiting peace with all our neighbours." "This National Day celebration," Carmon continued, "is also a great opportunity to celebrate the significant journey of the Indo-Israel partnership that we have experienced in the last one year. We marked this friendship with many bilateral meetings this year, the first and foremost being the historic visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to Israel."

The ambassador also talked about the different partnerships in the fields of defence, agriculture, water resources, academia and culture that have taken shape in the past one year between the two countries.

Carmon was hopeful about the next year being significant in Indo-Israel diplomatic relations. He said, "Next year we will be celebrating 25 years of diplomatic relations. There is no doubt whatsoever that it will be a significant anniversary, which will bring in more major achievements."

The ambassador's speech was followed by a cultural act by a contingent of Israeli children who presented a traditional dance usually performed at the weddings of the country's Druze community.

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By Srijani Ganguly/Mail Today: Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini was only 21-years-old when he joined a Parisian weekly as a photojournalist and at the age of just 29, he lost his life in the line of duty, capturing the story of the Hungarian Revolution through his lens. Although Pedrazzini died at such a young age, the images he took of the revolution live on till this day, mesmerising people across the globe.

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Residents of the national Capital have the opportunity to view 28 of those photographs depicting various moments of the Hungarian Revolution as they are on display at the Hungarian Information & Cultural Centre in New Delhi till May 20.

With his Leica camera, photojournalist Pedrazzini captured the funerals of the victims of the volley in Mosonmagyarovar and also clicked the images of life after the announcement of the ceasefire in Budapest.

Zoltan Wilhelm, director of the Hungarian Information & Cultural Centre, New Delhi, says that before 1956, the year when the revolution took form in Hungary, "Pedrazzini travelled the world for 10 years, from Indochina to Egypt, from the North Pole to the Caucasus. After hearing the news of the Hungarian Revolution, he immediately left for Hungary, where he arrived on October 27, 1956." Pedrazzini, had by then, clicked several fascinating photographs.

From the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the first meeting of Prince Rainier of Monaco and American actress, Grace Kelly, he had through his camera, quite a few historic moments.He had another distinction, that of visiting the Soviet Union for an assignment at a time when many Western photojournalists were not able to do so.

In the October of 1956, Pedrazzini was witness to another momentous occasion. A day after he arrived in Hungary, on October 28, the French photojournalist began clicking photos of life and death across the country. With his Leica camera, he captured the funerals of victims of the volley in Mosonmagyarovar, later capturing the images of life after the announcement of the ceasefire in Budapest.

A few days later, he heard about clashes taking place at the Koztarsasag (Republic) Square and rushed to the site. Once there, he found himself in the midst of a fierce fight. He had to plug his ears with wool to muffle the loud sound. While taking photos near house number 25, he saw a young boy crossing the street get injured. Pedrazzini leaped forward to save the child, getting injured in the process himself, with shots to his legs, abdomen and spine.

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"Fourteen bullets pierced his body," adds Wilhelm, "and he was taken to France where he died despite multiple surgeries. The whole country mourned him, and he became an idol."

Pedrazzini's tomb became a place of pilgrimage and his colleagues named him the 'Photographer of Freedom'.

He was posthumously awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour by the French government, and his family was given the Order of Merit from the Hungarian Government in 2003.

The exhibition will be on at the Hungarian Information & Cultural Centre till May 20 on weekdays from 10am to 4pm.

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The high court has sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the university to function properly and there will be no agitation at JNU.

By India Today Web Desk: The Delhi High Court has issued a stay order on the disciplinary action initiated against JNU Students' Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others.

The court gave the directions after hearing the pleas by Kanhaiya and others challenging the universitys disciplinary action against them.

The court also sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the University to function properly and there will be no agitation. Justice Manmohan said, "You (Kanhaiya) can 'articulate' to the students sitting on hunger strike from past 16 days to end the agitation, allowing the university to 'function properly'.



Key developments: Close on the heels of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya challenging their rustication earlier this week, eight more, including Kanhaiya, on Thursday approached the Delhi High Court challenging the punishment given to them by JNU. Delhi High Court has put a condition before JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar as he challenges the disciplinary action against him and other students: Call off the 16-day old hunger strike and then we hear your petition. Later, Kanhaiya's lawyers told the court that the students were ready to end their strike provided JNU assured them that they would take no action against them. While Kanhaiya has been fined Rs 10,000, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and others have been rusticated. Khalid has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000 while Bhattacharya has been barred from the JNU campus for five years from July 23. The three students are currently out on bail after they were arrested and jailed for sedition. Kanhaiya and Khalid recently withdrew their hunger strike after their health deteriorated. Varying actions, ranging from rustication, debarment from the varsity and fines, were taken against them and several other students based on a high-level enquiry committee's report regarding the controversial row over the February 9 meetings on JNU campus. Apart from Kanhaiya, the others who have challenged the JNU order include Ashwati A Nair, Aishwariya Adhikari, Komal Mohite, Chintu Kumari, Anwesha Chakraborty and two others.

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By PTI: Mumbai, May 13 (PTI) Owing to severe slowdown in the global markets, domestic engineering exporters are now aggressively focusing on Middle Eastern countries.

"Due to a severe slowdown in the global markets, the engineering exporters are going all-out for a hard-sell in the Middle East countries by aggressive participation in the high-tech industrial fairs," EEPC India Executive Director and Secretary Bhaskar Sarkar said in a statement issued here today.

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Under the aegis of EEPC India and with the help of the Commerce Ministry, as many as 50 top engineering exporting firms are participating in Jordans flagship JIMEX 2016 event that brings under one roof about 200 global exhibitors representing more than 550 international trademarks.

While the brand India exercise will take place between May 16-19 during JIMEX, EEPC India has already participated in the UAE industrial fair held earlier this month.

"While the Middle East market, including the UAE and Jordan, is key for the Indian engineering exporters, we have witnessed quite a fall in the shipments in line with the falling trend in rest of the world.

"By some aggressive marketing strategy and with the help of the government under the Market Access Initiative (MAI), we want to reverse this trend," he said.

Against the exports of USD 396 million in 2014, engineering exports from India to Jordan fell sharply to USD 105 million under the impact of a steep fall in the commodity prices. Likewise, shipments dropped to USD 5.1 billion in 2014 from USD 6.4 billion to the all-important Middle Eastern market of UAE.

Sarkar further said a sharp drop in crude oil prices and the likelihood of the softening trend continuing would bring about a structural change in the Middle Eastern economies, a development full of opportunities for Indian engineering sector.

"We should also rope in the investors from the Middle East in our Make in India programme for common goals," he added.

The engineering exports to the region comprise segments like industrial machinery, automation, energy, safety and security and renewable energy. PTI PSK ARS ABM

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India Today exposes a bigger scam than the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal. The government has ordered inquiry into alleged favours given by the previous UPA government to an Italian shipbuilding firm which provided two naval tankers to India.

By Gaurav C Sawant: In what could be a scam bigger than the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal , the government has ordered a probe into alleged 'favours' done by the previous Congress-led UPA government in awarding defence contract to an Italian shipbuildingfirm. The naval scam could have far bigger implications than the Agusta deal.

According to exclusive details available with India Today, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has ordered a "discreet inquiry" into the alleged naval tanker scam.

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The Indian Navy has two fleet tankers INS Deepak and INS Shakti, that provide the Indian Navy's frontline warships with fuel, water and all other essentials while out in the sea. But the deal signed in 2009 to acquire them is now under scrutiny.

A serving 'whistleblower' naval officer has now raised a red flag over the way these ships were acquired from an Italian firm - Fincantieri.

What's the scam



Italian firm - Fincantieri - reportedly favoured by the UPA government. The company won deal from the government for two naval tankers in 2009. The UPA government approved use of inferior quality of steel in the naval tankers manufactured by the firm. The government is now scrutinising details of the contract awarded to the Italian firm. The lid over the scam has been blown off by a former naval officer who has demanded an investigation into the 2009 purchase of two fleet tankers, crucial for Indian Navy's deep water capabilities. These tankers had to be bought in 2009 and 2011 because INS Vikramaditya, Indian Navy's biggest aircraft carrier, was coming on from Russia. At that time, the then Defence Minister AK Antony had hailed this as one of the fastest procurements of a fleet tanker manufactured with Indian specifications. There are allegations that instead of using weapons grade steel, commercial grade steel was used. When one of the tankers was coming to India from Russia escorting INS Vikramaditya, it ran into rough seas and hull of the brand new ship developed cracks.

Naval scam: A timeline



- 2006: India floats bids for navy tanker ships

- Three countries - Russia, Korea and Italy - file respond to the tender.

- Only Russian firm offers required military-grade steel (DMR 249A)

- India relaxes steel requirement, Russia backs out

- 2009: Italian firm Fincantieri wins deal for 2 tankers

- 2010: CAG criticises the deal, says 'undue' favours were done

- 2016: Navy officer sounds alarm, Ministry of Defence begins discreet inquiry

Naval veterans react

Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha, former flag officer commanding in chief of the Western Naval Command, was in service when the murky deal was signed.

"When she (INS Deepak) was in passage and crossed the Atlantic, the sea had turned very rough and the vessel was keeping difficulty in sea keeping. We know that the tankers can keep to bad sea. I have commanded a tanker myself. The captain reported that he has seen some crack developing along the expansion joint on the hull. We told him to keep a watch," Vice Admiral Sinha told India Today.

"It (cracks) alarmed me and the entire operations team. When the captain told us that the cracks are developing, we got in touch with the naval headquarters and requested them to take the ship to Lisbon, Portugal, which was not a scheduled halt," he added.

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Admiral Raja Menon told India Today," I have never come across warships made of commercial grade steel. I don't know whether conditions were deliberately relaxed because it happened to be a tanker."

"I have never come across a case where shipbuilding specifications have been watered down. This should be investigated. I can't believe that the people in authority would have deliberately allowed military grade steel to be downgraded to commercial steel without giving reasons," Admiral Menon said.

Ready for any probe: Congress

Reacting to the India Today expose, senior Congress leader and former Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that his party is ready to face probe in the matter. Sharma said the BJP should stop vendetta politics.

"I would like to caution this government of not to enter in deception by selective leaks. It should realise that defence acquisition is a complex matter and it should not be used to target previous acquisitions," Sharma said.

"What is the ministry of defence doing? They should be doing their job correctly. They don't need a whistleblower to tell them what is happening. We are always ready for anything," he said when asked about is the Congress is ready for a thorough probe into the issue.

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Also Read:

The INS Vikramaditya's China connection

EXCLUSIVE: India's first conventional submarine in 15 years goes to sea

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The move to raise the Tibet Military Command's authority level would put it directly under the command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces.

By Ananth Krishnan: China has raised the rank and status of its western Tibet Military Command to widen its scope for missions and combat preparedness, in a move analysts in Beijing said was aimed in part at fortifying the border with India.

The move to raise the Tibet Military Command's authority level would put it directly under the command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces, the Party-run Global Times reported on Friday, and allow it "to shoulder more combat assignments".



For possible conflict with India



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A military expert in Beijing told the newspaper that the command "bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India", but currently faced difficulties "to secure all the military resources they need".

The move would raise its authority, including the designation of troops, but also "expand their function and mission", the deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Tibet Military Command, Zhao Zhong, was quoted as saying. This would also boost their combat readiness, a military expert told the Global Times.

China announced sweeping military reforms in January and February, aimed at creating a more nimble fighting force and unified military command.

Following the reform, provincial military commands were placed under the control of a newly set up National Defence Mobilization Department under the Central Military Commission, which is headed by President Xi Jinping.

The Tibet Military Command, however, will be directly under under the PLA Ground Force, headed by General Li Zuocheng, who sits on the CMC.



Brought under the PLA



"The Tibet Military Command's political rank will be elevated to one level higher than its counterpart provincial-level military commands, and will come under the leadership of the PLA Army," the newspaper quoted a report in the China Youth Daily as saying.

This suggested that "the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future," the Global Times quoted an unnamed source as saying.

"The promotion shows China is paying great attention to the Tibet Military Command, which will significantly improve the command's ability to manage and control the region's military resources, as well as provide better preparation for combat," Beijing-based military expert Song Zhongping told the paper.

Song was quoted as saying that "the Tibet Military Command bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, and currently it is difficult to secure all the military resources they need".



Border disputes



The newspaper noted that "border disputes between China and India have not been completely resolved", and in April when Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar visited Beijing, his counterpart had said China "reacted positively toward setting up a military hotline with India" which was agreed during the visit.

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Song, the military expert, said the Tibet Military Command required "specialist mountain skills and long-range capabilities, which need the deployment of special military resources".

"The promotion of the command's authority level shows the amount of attention China places on the defence of its southwestern borders. The higher the authority level is, the more military resources the command can mobilise," he said.

The Xinjiang Military Command may also be elevated in the future, the report said. Both commands are under the newly created Western Theater Command, the largest of five newly reorganised military regions of the PLA. Before the reorganisation, the Xinjiang command was part of the military region responsible for the western sector of the border with India and the disputed Aksai Chin region, while the Tibet command fell under the military region responsible for the eastern sector of the border.

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Eight-year-old Sudhanshu tries hard to fight back the tears. Next to him, his elder brother Priyanshu sits by the window looking out at the blue-black mountains. They say beyond the mountains lie more mountains. The boys saw the fire coming from way beyond there. Even at his age, Sudhanshu knows he must learn to live with the forest fires, an enemy that won't take defeat. On the afternoon of April 27, the two children lost their mother, 28-year-old Urmila Devi, to the forest fire that has ravaged the state of Uttarakhand, spreading beyond to Himachal Pradesh and even Jammu & Kashmir.

Urmila had gone down to check on her husband, who was trying to clear the grass and build fire-control lines on the slope of the mountain in Sauro village in Pauri Garhwal. That's when the fire leapt up, and now, the slopes are black and grey, much like most of the forests here. "It was around 3.30 pm when a ball of fire came towards us and exploded. That's what happens when the crown of the forest catches fire," Urmila's husband Digambar Kumar, 33, says. At some point, his wife's hand slipped from his. The smoke and the fumes blinded his vision. By the time he found her lying in the farms, her flesh had melted. She died at the burns ward at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi a few days later. "I don't know who to blame except these murderous pine trees that grow on our land," he says. "We are harbouring death in our own backyards, but we can't even cut them."

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Over 6,000 people were eventually deployed to fight the forest fire, defeat it, or just save whatever they could. Union environment minister Prakash Javadekar says around 2,000 hectares was affected by the fires that began in February. The state government was ill-equipped to control it. The fire-control lines that the British had constructed-to segregate parts of the forest with barren stretches-work only in theory because they haven't been maintained properly. The black-grey mountains after the first spell of rains are a testimony to the scale of the tragedy.

Forest fires reach close to a residential area in Buakhal near Pauri, May 1, 2016. Photo: Getty images

While the debate over whether the forest fires were natural or man-made rages on, it is clear that the state government, in turmoil over the political crisis that led to imposition of President's rule in late March, didn't have enough will, resources or expertise to fight the fires. With one forest guard posted for about 80 sq km of forest, there were neither enough people nor enough funds to pay the firewatchers hired during the season. To make things worse, conservationists and activists allege that the fires are a direct byproduct of the activities of the mighty timber mafia, flouting norms and abusing the forest for their vested interests.

It's true forest fires are getting more commonplace all over the country. The winters are not as cold as they were, the monsoon clouds not as pregnant with rain. You could blame it all on climate change, which is not one person's or one organisation's cross to bear, but there is a story of apathy, if not conspiracy, that runs through this entire tragedy.

At least seven people died while the fires were ignored for weeks. It was only when images of smoke rising from dense forests went viral on social media that the state government was jolted into action. After over two months of trying to manage the crisis with the forest staff trying to douse the fire with spades and tree branches, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the air force were finally called in on April 29. Kumaon's district fire officer, Prajapati, says forest fires are not new to the region, but this year the temperature was at least five degrees higher than usual, so the moisture in the soil had dried up. Then the strong, dry winds started to fan the flames. "We thought we could control it. But things soon went out of control," he says.

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Fighting the flames

On the ground, three NDRF teams marched inside the deep forests, spades in hand. They tried not to think about what could happen. Sometimes it would creep up on them while they had their back towards it.

These wildfires engulf, char and destroy. The winds are their ally. They ride the trees. How do you defeat such a fire that spreads in seconds? You light a fire and let it meet the forest fire on the ground. You build fire-control lines. You beat at it with branches. And you pray for rain. "We walked into the forests for kilometres trying to build fire- control lines with no water or equipment. Yet, what are men to mountains? Nothing," says Indrajit Sharma of the NDRF, which deployed 135 men in Uttarakhand to help fight the fires.

On May 1, the government decided to press two MI-17 helicopters into service as part of the operations. As some water fell on three NDRF men who had lost their way and got separated from the team, they laughed. "Five thousand litres of water in a jungle like this is like sprinkling a few drops over a sea of fire. You can't imitate the rains," said one of them, 29-year-old Yogesh Kumar.

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Fighting forest fires is not the mandate of the NDRF. Still, they built around 500 km of fire-control lines in 49 locations across three districts-Chamoli, Almora and Pauri-in four days. And they did it all without terrain-specific shoes and rationed drinking water (a litre a day per person per day in the jungles).

On May 3, they went deeper into the forests, some 10 km. And then, it began to rain, quenching the flames and bringing succour. Although the NDRF teams are still stationed in the region (as part of pre-flood preparations), the ordeal had ended.

Greed and apathy

There is no dearth of theories about what caused the fires. Some blame the timber mafia, some speak of how villagers had been setting fire to the forests to grow new grass as fodder for their cattle. "The fire came from the lands lying next to the villages which then spread to the jungles up in the hills. You can say pine needles are the reason, but they always fall during the season. Someone has to start the fire for the forests to burn like this," says G. Sonar, the forest conservator of Garhwal Circle.

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The Uttarakhand forests are also victims of the timber mafia. Locals allege that the wood traders cut more than 10 times the sanctioned number of trees, make deep incisions in trees for resin tapping, and set fire along the paths. "The resin catches fire and makes the tree burn longer. That's how the fire spreads," alleges J.P. Dabral, president of the Himalayan Chipko Foundation.

A tree in these Himalayan forests costs about Rs 30,000, and Dabral says that there was another massive fire in 1996 at a time when the timber mafia was very active. The Bhimtal-based lepidopterist, Peter Smetacek, also believes the timber mafia is to blame. "It is for the timber, and the resin, and all that can be extracted from the forest," he says. But the fire assumed alarming proportions because of the rising temperatures and the lack of staff. There are only 1,600 personnel for about 2.64 million hectares of reserve forest, which, Sonar concedes, is "nothing".

Every year, the state forest department and the van panchayats start preparing for the onset of forest fires by clearing up the old fire-control lines. No new fire-control lines have been built for years. The highly inflammable chir pine covers almost 20 per cent of the forests in the state, and the Himalayan forests are spread over inaccessible terrain, which adds to the challenge. Chir is widespread in Tehri, Pauri, Champawat, Almora, Bagheshwar and Pithoragarh. In 2015, the state government submitted a proposal for seeking clearance to cut the pine trees where they are in large numbers. "It is still awaiting the Supreme Court's nod," Sonar says. Under the Environment Protection Act (1986), felling pine trees above 1,000 m sea level has been banned. Though planting more pine trees was stopped in 2000, existing trees still can't be cut.

The government has been trying to implement policies for pine needle management for years now. But it's not worked because wages offered are lower than even MNREGA rates. A coal briquette plant in Adwani in Pauri Garhwal shut down a few months after it was opened. Other plans to collect and utilise pine needles also met with a similar fate. Forest guard Prem Gairola, 59, lights a beedi as he talks about the 1996 forest fire in Chamoli, where he was injured. "Nobody wins in this war against Nature," he says.

The forest fires in Uttarakhand demonstrate how poorly prepared the state and other agencies are to combat this recurring disaster. For the villagers living next to the forests, the fear is understandable. Seventy-two-year-old Sahukar Singh is unlikely to forget the fire that raced towards his shop in Satpuli in Pauri Garhwal on April 30. His hands are burnt in parts, and the roofs of the tea stall are blackened with soot. Outside, the trees are black and grey. "Ever seen a fire flying through the air? In the last 40 years that I have been here, I have not seen a fire like this. My damages are over Rs 40,000," he says. "Who am I supposed to blame?"

For starters, says Chipko Foundation's Dabral, who has worked in the region over 25 years, resin tapping needs to be banned. "It is not even a major source of revenue for the state government," he says, adding that plantations need to be monitored, and forest officials need to be held to account. "Forest fires may be a natural phenomenon, but human greed makes them a catastrophe," he says.

From his terrace in the little hamlet of Bukhal, Puran Singh Negi could see the fire come rushing toward his house like a deluge. The 65-year-old says it looked like it was far off and beyond the hills in the morning. It took the fire just 10 hours to travel to their village, and when it arrived, it burned their orchards, and almost burned down his house. "Who is at fault but us?" he asks. "Why must we let things get out of hand? Let us cut these pine trees. Let us end the greed."

There is hope, some firefighters say, from the bond that has been established between locals, state officials and agencies such as the NDRF in the process of fighting these fires. "At least we now have their trust," says NDRF director-general O.P. Singh. "I am waiting for our central team's report. We will research ways like chemical fogging that is used in some countries. We're also getting in touch with agencies in Canada, New Zealand and Australia because they are fire-prone countries. We need to study how they deal with the problem."

But real change is only possible if the ecological balance is restored, and villagers are given a share in the forests they live in. "The hills are dense. Water sources need to be regenerated. We have to provide fodder to villagers. We are now considering providing 20 hectares of land for this so they don't set fire to the forests," says Sonar.

It's a long, hard road ahead. But it is a journey that's not impossible to traverse. "These are the forests that I love," says Sahukar, staring at the ominous grey-black hills. "I just hope we can see the flowers again." That is the enduring hope of everyone in the hills.

Follow the writer on Twitter @chinkis

--- ENDS ---
Here is an edited transcript of Subramanian Swamy's explosive interview with Karan Thapar over the AgustaWestland Scam.

By India Today Web Desk: BJP leader Subramanian Swamy defended his charge against Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland chopper scandal during an exclusive interview with Karan Thapar.



Here is an edited transcript of the interview:

Karan Thapar: Mr. Swamy let me start with a simple question. everyone accepts that AgustaWestland paid bribes, many of the recipients of those bribes were Indians.

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But when you specifically and directly target Mrs. Sonia Gandhi by name you are doing so on the basis of prejudice not proof.

Subramanian Swamy: I have heard this before also when your channel interviewed me on national herald and now she is on bail in that case

Q: But, not guilty and you have not proven it.

A: yeah, I can have an opinion that she is guilty but to prove it to you I have to go through legal procedure.

Q: that is the point I'm making your opinion is based on prejudice not proof. It's a vendetta.

A: I will not take up a case unless I'm satisfied that the person is guilty. They have a right to appeal in the Supreme court, it's a long process and it takes time.

Q: let me tell you why I consider your opinion based on prejudice rather than one based on proof. At least in two interviews, the Italian judge who is the head of the Milan court of appeal, Justice Maiga has said a) there is no evidence connecting Sonia Gandhi to taking of bribe.

More importantly when times now asked him : Do you have any evidence to merit the probe against the Indian officials beyond the Tyagi brothers? his answer was absolutely not.

A: What he said is that they were Indians hence he had no interest.

Q: But, when he was asked specifically do you have evidence to merit a probe against anyone else than Tyagis; he said absolutely not.

A: that is your surmise. What I said in my speech is that she is a suspect; she knows something about a crime committed. It's been admitted by her former defence minister. The Italians admit bribe has been taken. So, the process begins by asking questions and she should be questioned.



Q: It's not just Mica who says there is no evidence to link her to corruption. The same point was made by Arun Jaitley in Times of India in Frankfurt yesterday. This is what he said 'it is only when substantiated evidence comes out there would be reason to believe who has taken the money. This means there is no reason to believe that Sonia Gandhi has taken the money.

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A: That you will have to question him. I never asked him about National Herald either. In National Herald also he had said at one stage that if they paid back the money they spent on the fraud transaction everything would be over.

That is rubbish. The fact of the matter is that it is my own opinion.

Q: Except that the person who is giving different opinion to yours is not just an ordinary individual. He is a member of a party, he is the finance minister, he is a leading lawyer, he is in fact former law minister. So, clearly he knows what he is saying.

A: I have been on positions he has held but, the point is I have evaluated the evidence and have a track record of not being wrong so far. I am telling you that she is guilty in this matter.

Q: let's then come to the letter you have evaluated. It comes from the Italian judgement and centrally linked to the letter written by Christian Michel on the 15th of March 2012. Infact, four days ago you wanted to cite the letter in Parliament but, you were stopped. What that letter does is that it has Christen Mitchel describing her a) as the driving force and b) the British ambassador should target her and her colleagues. That is a legitimate act of lobbying. It is not a suggestion of leave aside proof of bribery.

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A: I quoted that letter only because Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted him as having said that PM Modi had a talk with Italian PM to come a deal. So, I said if you read it, the un expunged parliamentary proceedings that I am touched by your reference to Christian

Michel and since you are quoting him let me quote what Christian Michel said in a letter that is included in the judgement.

Q: and that letter doesn't in any way establish any connection to bribery.

A: Wait, wait a minute, first thing you are wrong when you said I relied on that letter. I relied on that only because Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted his name. Now, I will tell you what the letter said. The letter said she is the driving force behind this deal. Now, that means she knew something about the deal.

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Q: It doesn't mean she is connected to bribery.

A:Why don't you just listen. You don't know the law. I am educating you about law. If she knows that there is a deal and that deal is a crime. Then she must be questioned.

This is what I said in parliament.



Q: But questioned in what connection? Presumably, you are suggesting in connection with taking bribes. That's the implication even if you won't spell it out.

A: I am sorry, then again you don't know the law. Read chapter 12 of the CRPC. Whenever a crime is committed and a case is registered it is the duty of the police, in this case the CBI...

Q: By your logic you will be questioning the British Ambassador as well?

A: I do not have the jurisdiction to question the Ambassador.

Q: but you would want to. That's the bizarre outcome of your position.

A: There is nothing bizarre. You don't understand the law and you go on saying this. I told you that she is a citizen; I assume that she is the citizen of India even today

Q: You don't assume it, it is a fact.

A: Well, I know you can speak on her behalf I can't because her name is different from her birth certificate and what she uses...

Q: let's come back to what we were talking about.

A: therefore you don't divert it. The fact of the matter is the duty of the police to question all those they think have knowledge about the matter.

Q: You are saying I have no knowledge about the law, let me quote justice mica who was questioned how he evaluates Christian Michel's letter. This is the answer he gave NDTV yesterday, 'for us it is a document of low importance. Something of colour or ambiance. Something of no value at all.

A: Absolutely, for his investigation there is no value because it is about contacting Sonia Gandhi and her advisors and it has got no value. The issue today is I never said in Parliament or I have said outside, but let's have it on record, I only said that she should be interrogated.

Q: You are relying whether you say up front or whether you do it by implication on something that Christian Michel had ....

A: No implication.

Q: Okay, he said it up front you are taking it up front. But you are relying..

A: I said she is the driving force.

Q: Absolutely!

A: therefore, she should be questioned. She knows something.

Q: And that has become your basis for questioning.

A: That's it.

Q: So you are relying on Christian Michel.

A: I am not.

Q: But you are not.

A: I am not.

Q: Relying on the phrase that she is the driving force....

A: Is it the interview of yourself or myself? I am telling you, there are four major references to her in the judgement.

Q: only four.

A: only four! She is completely irrelevant for the case but still there are four references.

Q: Can I come back to my question? Because she is described as the driving force by Christian Michel you believe it is the basis

for questioning.

A: No, that is not the only basis.

Q: part of it.

A: I again told you that Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad took the name that is why I brought it.

Q: Can I finish my question?

A: yes.

Q: I was going on to say that in one instance you are using this letter Christian Michel has used for preparing the grounds for questioning her.

What about the fact that the same Christian Michel in an interview on 27 of April to the Hindu, to your daughter Suhashini, when asked said, 'he was absolutely sure that Gandhis took no money'. When Suhashini your daughter said how can he be so sure?

He replied because I was there. Now, if you rely on him on one instance, why disregard what he said in the other?

A: I think you are dense or you are deliberately doing this. I told you from the start that Christian Michel was used as an indication because Ghulam Nabi Azad relied on him.

Q: But, you also said that the main driving force...

A: No no no. Don't Interrupt me. I said this in the Parliament that there are four places her name figures. It is clear that she had knowledge about this and the decision regarding the aircraft in her government could not have been taken without her concurrence

Q: All of that I accept but I am going back to something you said crystal clearly and when you hear this interview on transmission you will discover that I am right.

A: No, you are right? You are telling me a joke.

Q: You said one of the grounds for questioning her was the fact that she was described by Michel as one of the driving force, right and you added that from the driving force you mean she knew about the deal. You built that case up yourself. Now, I am saying to you that you rely on...

A: Wait a minute, let me say for the last time because you seem to be tensed. I am telling you that, the letter forms a part of the judgement. Now Mr. Christian Michel is sweating. He may say whatever he likes. This plus other evidence plus my knowledge of how the government of Manmohan Singh worked, I think this lady must be questioned.

Q: Precisely, your words are this plus other evidence means this is a reason for questioning her as well as other things.

A: Because, this is part of the judgement.

Q: Maybe, but when Christian Michel says something contradictory to your daughter, why don't you bear that in mind?

A: I will not take any post judgement statement, whether it is my daughter or my grand daughter or it is you.

Q: Because it doesn't suit you.

A: yes yes (mockingly), it doesn't suit you , to have the opposite view. Afterall, we know you have biases too.

Q: Let me come to something else. What you make of the fact that same Christian Michel to our channel India Today has said that he is under enormous pressure from Indian investigative agencies to incriminate the Gandhis in return for having the charges dropped against him. He said that bluntly and by the way, he has written formally to the President of the International Tribunal on the law of the sea to make precisely the same point.

A: Let him say it to a court of law.

Q: But he said it to something that is close to a court of law. He has written to the President of the Tribunal on the law of the sea. That is close to the law.

A: That has no locus here. Ha ha..

Q: I want to quote to you, you are laughing because you don't want to consider it law.

A: I am laughing at your ignorance.

Q: the point is that the Indian government at the moment has accepted it as a court. The marine case is handled there. We have accepted its jurisdiction. So, in the eyes of the government it's a court. Even if, it is not a court in your eyes.

A: Please don't shift the ground. This has nothing to do with that court or the international court. It has got to do with the arbitration for which both of us went to that court.

Q: Can I quote what Christian Michel on 23rd of December last year wrote to the President of the International Tribunal on the law of the sea, it was made very clear to me through a number of obtuse channels that if I was willing to denounce any member of the Gandhi family to the so called VVIP helicopter scandal, all charges and investigation against me will be dropped and by the way , when you wrote to the Prime Minister in November last year, he refers to something similar as well.

A: Who, I mean...

Q: Christian Michel, that is Christian Michel...

A: Who told him that we will settle?

Q: He doesn't reveal.

A: Aah! That's right, and you believe him. That is what I am saying you are completely complicit in this.

Q: But you are prepared to build a part of the case on his language of driving force.

A: Either you are dense I told you or you are doing it deliberately. I said Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad mentioned him as evidence.

Q: I know, but you also went on to say that it was part of the reason the word driving force...

A: It is because that particular letter is a part of the judgement.

Q: Can I point out something else?

A: Yes.

Q: The same Christian Michel in an interview to your daughter, published by the Hindu.

A: Again you are back to my daughter.

Q: No, because she's a very important journalist who got the interview.

A: So what? I brought her up. I know it. I think your parents did not bring you up properly.

Q: Therefore you should take credit for her interview even if it contradicts your position.

A: I am sorry I can't disclose what she told me altogether. It's irrelevant.



Q: He has also said to The Hindu that the Indian prime minister and the Italian prime minister in September last year had a brush-aside meeting at the UN and the Indian prime minister proposed a deal that if you give incriminating evidence against the Gandhis, we'll let off the marines and since then one of the marines have asked by the Italians to be sent back. That is the matter coming in front of the Supreme Court. Is there any connection?

A: I am not making any connection. Don't put any words in my mouth. I have got a track record unlike you of taking everything to a logical conclusion. In this particular case, Christian Michel's only factor I took into account was placed in the judgement. Since it was a document in the judgement, I quoted from it because Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad raised it. I am saying that based on the CAG report and the changes made and my knowledge of the Manmohan Singh government works, she has a person who has to be examined

Q: I am making a different point altogether. I am saying that the meeting that allegedly happened between the two prime ministers in the UN..

A: According to whom?

Q: According to Christian Michel.

A: Oh, I see..

Q: Could the possibility, in fact there is a link between that meeting and the request from the court that the Italian marine now be released - could that link up with the possibility that in fact Michel himself is under pressure from Indian agencies to incriminate the Gandhis. Are these documents linking up to suggest that you are putting pressure on Michel to incriminate the Gandhis? Is this an attempt to get at Sonia any which way?

A: I have already got her in National Herald despite all the rubbish you said.

Q: You think you've got her. Her lawyers are saying the opposite, they're confident you haven't.

A: You will also say because you are her advocate too. You don't understand the law. Let me educate you. She has been found prima facie guilty of the charges I made. Now the charges have to be framed and the trial has to start.

Q: I don't know what you mean by prima facie guilty. A case to be heard does not mean prima facie guilty.

A: What is the reason for her to take bail.

Q: That there is a case to be heard, not that she is guilty. Bail is part of the procedure.

A: Oh really? I know that your Anglo-Saxon education has poorly educated you about Indian law.

Q: Are you and your government trying to get back at Sonia any which way?

A: First of all, what Christian Michel says is pleasing to you. Ask him to put it on affidavit, then I will take it seriously. Otherwise, like journalists like you, he can say all sorts of rubbish. After all, he is an arms middleman. He has lived a life of lies. He can say anything.

Q: What is the case that you have that convinces you, maybe not the rest of the world, but you that she's actually guilty of some form of corruption in the AgustaWestland matter?

A: I am not gonna tell you. No, because I don't trust you.

Q: What do you mean you don't trust me. Whom I gonna tell?

A: You are not the person to be trusted with what I know. I said the same thing to you on National Herald, you have forgotten.

Q: Are you scared that I will reveal your secret to Sonia?

A: I am not scared of you. You are nobody. I have fought much stronger people.

Q: You are smiling and your eyes are particularly twinkling. As I know from the past that when your eyes twinkle you are only being mischievous. You don't mean what you say, but the audience will say that the reason he refuses to share is not because he does not trust Karan, but because he doesn't have any?

A: What audience?

Q: The audience who are listening to this interview.

A: They will all tweet and you will see. They'll say awful things about you.

Q: They will say you are simply targeting Sonia.

A: Yeah, yeah..only a handful of people who go around in your cocktail party. You just see your Twitter and be honest to put it on TV.

Q: If you have evidence to suggest she is corrupt...

A: I will not tell you because I don't trust you. I am telling you frankly. I don't trust most journalists who belong to Anglo Saxon stock because we know what your inclinations are. And therefore, I have told you what I have put on record. You have tried to twist that, I have put it straight. As far as her guilt, I will tell you on this channel - she's guilty as hell.

Q: I have to tell you at this moment that she is completely innocent until proven. If you don't show the evidence you claim to have, most people will say you don't have it.

A: There is no most people. The only way to test is social media. And you see what they say about you.

Q: It doesn't matter. The social media is not the final authority, but the verdict of the judges.

A: Certainly. Absolutely. That's what I am saying. Please go through the due process. Call her. Question her and then find out whether she has told the truth.

+++

Q: Let's come to the case you attempted to make in your Rajya Sabha speech yesterday. First, on the decision to alter the height from 6,000 m to 4,500 m. That decision was first recommended in December 2003 by Brajesh Mishra, Atal Bihari Vajpayee's national security adviser and principle secretary. UPA simply stuck and followed that advice. How then can you accuse UPA of this?

A: You have not been in government. You don't know how governments run. Mr Brajesh Mishra was a bureaucrat. He had said to the ministry of defence that this is something they can consider. But the letter that went to MoD has only two criteria. There is no mention of 4,500 m at all. It is true that in the December 2003 he recommended why don't you consider this, and that was minuted, and it was not binded or a governmental decision. Congress decorated Brajesh Mishra with the highest possible award below Bharat Ratna.

Q: What are you suggesting?

A: I am suggesting that he was a bug for the Congress. A Trojan horse.

Q: That's unfair to the man.

A: Well that's your concept of fair and unfair. He worked for the Congress party. I am telling you that.

Q: You really mean that?

A: What do you mean that I really mean. I really mean what I say. Not like you. He was a Trojan horse.

Q: And worked for the Congress party?

A: That's right... I said it was a bureaucrat's opinion which was not taken on board with the MoD. It was in November 2013, very soon afterwards the elections came. The letter that went originally was that SPG should be consulted, and that the single vendor thing should be avoided.



Q: On the decision to fix the cabin height to 1.8 m. You and the defence minister argued that this reduced it to a single vendor situation and both of you relied on the CAG report to back up your argument. The CAG report says something significantly different. It says that the MoD insisted that there were six other original equipment manufacturers who could produce helicopters with a 1.8 m height, if not more. The single vendor situation, it says, was opaque. Their conclusion is that the single vendor situation became questionable, if not reliable. But you are relying on it.

A: Your knowledge is all half-baked. I read out a question in the Rajya Sabha which Mr Antony answered. Please go and see my speech. The question was - Is it a fact that the Indian Air Force has said that the 6,000 m is an inescapable requirement. And Antony answers - Yes sir. Now second, the papers, not of CAG, the government papers itself show that the cabin height size was arbitrarily changed without anybody asking for it...

You may argue this in a court in Pakistan but not in India. If the accused will have their lawyer they can argue this and that time the evidence will be shown that the only helicopter which has 1.8 m cabin height is the AgustaWestland's.

Q: For the record, the CAG itself says that the MoD had six other QEMs..

A: The MoD may have said, but they include it in the list. Why?

Q: I don't know the answer to that.

A: Aah.. so investigation.

Q: The field evaluation, you said in your speech, was done overseas. You said that was wrong, unorthodox and against the rules. You overlooked that the NDA under Mr Vajpayee tweaked this to overlook the rules, and secondly the Brazilian plane which was bought under Mr Vajpayee was done overseas. So the rule and precedent was changed by Mr Vajpayee.

A: Please read my speech.

Q: I heard your speech.

A: No you didn't. You should get a doctor for your ears. The fact is, I said I don't care where it was tested. What I objected to was that instead of the helicopter you were buying that was to be tested, they took another surrogate model.

Q: In Rajya Sabha, you didn't use the word surrogate, but said that the wrong plane was tested.

A: Surrogate is the wrong plane.

Q: MoD said they used a representative plane.

A: Rubbish. What are you talking about. He may have used a different word. Don't be silly, I can't believe this.

Q: Language is important.

A: Oh, really? This is not a St Stephen's debating club. We are dealing with evidence. When the time comes for the evidence, what was the model used has to be put before the aeroplane you purchased.

Q: Representative means a plane that represents the plane that was being bought.

A: Why didn't you use the original plane - AW101?

Q: Because it was under construction at that time.

A: Then, what was the hurry? Hurry to close the deal.

Q: The defence officials used a different word.

A: They didn't use a different word. I don't know where you have been taught the english language. Babu english that you have .. that this word and that word. There is a certain flexibility in the use of words. There are antonyms and synonyms...

Q: These are not..

A: That may be your view. I don't know which Anglo culture you are coming from. I don't see any difference any representative and a different plane.

Q: Who is the invisible hand guiding the IB and CBI led investigations? Whose invisible hand ensured an appeal when Modi came to power?

A: At last we have something to agree on. Yes, it should be investigated who was behind it. I know who it is, but I can't tell. The next thing you will ask me what proof do you have. I don't trust you.

Q: So, this is a lapse on the part of the Modi government.

A: Not lapse. It was a complicity to see that it doesn't go any further. I didn't say Modi government. Not someone in the government.

Q: Then who?

A: Somebody. I am not going to tell you. A letter can be sent to mislead the government.

Q: Are you suggesting the attorney general.

A: I am not suggesting anybody. I am not telling you. You can go on examining me like a second-rate criminal lawyer.

Q: Arun Jaitley?

A: I have heard of fishing expeditions, but this is most outrageous fishing expedition I have ever come across. You are not gonna get a word out of me on this.

Q: Except that it is an indication of complicity.

A: Yes, of course. Somebody was trying to protect Sonia. I don't know who is somebody, it has to be investigated.

Q: Your interpretations of the initials AP as if they were Ahmed Patel. The prosecutors in Italy have no clue of that. It was googled. What sort of evidence is that? You are a lawyer and you know that.

A: I know I am lawyer and you are not one. You don't even know the law. You are an illiterate as far as this is concerned. See interview given to one of your rival television channels by the judge, who says in that AP is Ahmed Patel.

Q: The judge's quote to NDTV yesterday: "At best, the initials AP were an indication" and he then added there was no conclusion. It was a guess.

A: That is why I say that he should be examined. On the joke that it could be Anandiben Patel, I joked that the Italians must be madder than I thought. Therefore, we must ask Ahmed Patel what is your connection.

Q: On Dr Manmohan Singh... and a letter from Guiseppe Orsi.

A: First of all, I have very regard for Dr Manmohan Singh. I stood up for him in 2G even though he cracked up after his initially right correct reaction. He then got an got an order from above and he melted. The fact of the matter is that something has been raised and it is part of the judgement. There's no harm in going to his house and asking him a question - Did you delay the supply of documents? - that is now repeatedly being told by the judges that except some downloadable items, nothing else came.

Q: Going by your tone, it means that he is not a suspect, but you are simply fulfilling a procedure.

A: Yeah, I agree. He's not at the moment a suspect in my eyes.

Q: You treat him therefore at a different level than Sonia Gandhi.

A: Yes. And also Antony. I don't think he is a suspect.

Q: Is Ahmed Patel in the Manmohan or Sonia category?

A: Ahmed Patel and Sonia Gandhi are not too different political personalities.

Q: Everyone accepts today that AgustaWestland paid bribes. Most people in India readily agree that some people in India accepted them.

A: Not most, but the minister of defence himself - on the floor of Parliament.

Q: But then to put in your phrase, this is not a fishing expedition but a deep sea diving.

A: In my opinion, you have no credibility in the public when you make an allegation. Whereas when I make an allegation, because of my track record, people believe what I say.

You can watch the full video here:





Also read:

AgustaWestland scam: Sonia Gandhi is guilty as hell, says Subramanian Swamy

Watch: When Subramanian Swamy got super aggressive with Karan Thapar



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According to the government, the new policy will serve as a vision document to ensure synergies between the statute and institutional mechanisms.

It sets in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review.

"When there're new inventions, when there is growth in trade, commerce, industry, an intellectual property rights regime must be there for protection," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said

"We have a robust trademark law in place that deals with commercial identity of products. The one underlying principle is a person should sell products under his own identity and name - stealing identity should not be possible," Jaitley added.

"If you steal somebody's identity and piggy-back on it, it's called commercial theft," he said, but assured intervention when needed.

"We need this so that medicine costs don't get affected. Patents may give rise to a monopolistic situation. Hence a balancing act is needed," the minister said.

A strong regime on the subject was among India's commitment to the World Trade Organization under the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement.

Jaitley also said that by 2017, the time taken for trademark registrations, "which takes very long, sometimes years", would come down to one month.

Protection of intellectual property has been an assurance which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been giving to the global investor.
The Budget Session of Parliament started with a bang, with a news report about AugstaWestland scam and mention of senior Congress leaders right from Sonia Gandhi to AK Antony and others in it.

By India Today Web Desk: It's a classic case of difference between perception and reality. Ask any layman of what he thinks of the parliament, the general perception of parliament is like the day here begins with slogan shouting from both Opposition as well as treasurey benches on some issue. Staged walkout, dharna at Gandhi statue, a bit more of slogan shouting leading to adjounment of House for three or four times in a day. The dramatic tuen of events leading to the evening screaming headlines in TV channels and crores of rupees of public as parliament doesn't function for another day.

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War of Words over AgustaWestland scam

This session - part two of Budget session- was no different, at least perception wise. It started with a bang, with a news report about AugstaWestland scam and mention of senior Congress leaders right from Sonia Gandhi to AK Antony and others in the scam. The government, with glee, raised this issue in both Houses of Parliament and predictably the Congress party hit the roof at the mere mention of Sonia's involvement in AgustaWestland scam. This led to massive war of words between the two parties which continued till the third and final session of parliament and dharnas and protest march were organised to "save democracy". It was not an ominous start for any government and the session from all angle was staring at another washout.

Do you think the protests and dharnas was the only thing that was happening inside the parliament. Going by the televised image, was this session sacrificed at the altar of AgustaWestland and Uttarakhand. The answer is - absolutely not.

The parliament, with all kind of disturbances, was also working to its optimum capacity, thanks to the backroom negotiations between the Congress and the BJP. Three days into the parliament, it was clear to the government that Agusta was ready to singe the whole session. The parliamentary team of the government led by Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Arun Jaitley met Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma and sought their help in smooth functioning of the parliament. A truce was reached and certain 'lakshman rekhas' were decided. It was conveyed to the government that Congress was ready for an investigation but not for witch-hunt and it was decided that while no parties will leave their political agenda, it will also not hinder much of the legislative business.

Thanks to the political pragmatism betweenthe two sides, a deal was reached which worked out to the advantage of both sides.

In the middle of all the ruckus and temper flaring at all sides coupled with Lok Sabha being prorogued two days ahead of schedule, when the performance sheet of Lok Sabha was analysed it stunned everybody. According to sources, in the Lok Sabha secretariat, for the first time after 26 years, there was no adjournments due to interruptions. In fact, the House sat late for 14 hours and 32 minutes to transact urgent business. In her address, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expressed her happiness at the fact that this was the first session in recent past which has not been adjourned even for a minute.

MoS Mukhtar Naqvi on Budget Session of Parliament



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Lok Sabha performed a whooping 118 per cent and Rajya Sabha 87 per cent which is very commendable. It was being said that the whole session would be a washout but we have been able to perform well.

The Lower House of the Parliament was able to pass ten bills and Rajya Sabha twelve bills which includes major bills like the finance and railway appropriation bill, the insolvency and bankruptcy code bill, the Mines and Minerals bills and the anti-hijacking bill among others.

The government also said that in the past two years Modi government has performed better than UPA. The parliamentary affairs minister said that Lok Sabha held 78 sittings and passed over 48 bills per year as compared to 70 sittings and 45 bills in 2004-14. Same with Rajya Sabha, which had held 76 sittings and passed over 41 bills as against 67 sittings with 45 bills during 2004-14.

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Though the government faced some probing questions on why the session went sine die before the stipulated time, the government informed that the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die in view of the request received from Opposition members for last leg of campaigning for assembly elections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.



ALSO READ | Modi's regret: I wish we could have passed the GST Bill in Parliament











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By PTI: Srinagar, May 13 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said her government would show greater intent in discouraging use of tobacco products in the state and directed police to implement ban on sale of such items near educational institutions.

She also gave directions to police for immediate removal of illegal billboards and advertisements from city centres.

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"The government will show greater intent in discouraging use of tobacco products, as it exposes people to the grave risk of lung cancer," she said interacting with a delegation of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) which called on her at her residence here this evening.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister discussed with the Director VHAI, Seema Gupta, various measures required to be taken for comprehensive implementation of COPTA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) at the state-level and creating more smoke-free settings.

She sought VHAIs support in generating mass awareness about hazards of tobacco smoking, which has shown an alarming upward trend in the state, an official spokesman said.

Gupta requested the Chief Minister for creation of an Anti-Smoking Fund so that targeted interventions are made to protect women and children from falling prey to passive smoking.

Director VHAI also suggested increasing tobacco-tax as an effective way of reducing smoking and other tobacco use.

She appreciated the state government for imposing a tax of 40 per cent on tobacco products, describing it as a win-win situation for states as they work to balance the budgets while preserving essential services.

The Chief Minister assured the delegation of taking all out measures to protect the health of people by strictly enforcing COTPA. PTI SSB TA AKK

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Ranjan was on his motorcyle when the assailants fired at him near Siwan railway station. He was shot point blank three times in the head and neck.

By India Today Web Desk: Rajdeo Ranjan, the Siwan bureau chief of national Hindi daily Hindustan has been shot dead in Bihar. He was 40.

Ranjan was on his motorcycle when the assailants fired at him near Siwan railway station. He was shot point blank three times in the head and neck, and died on the spot.

Siwan is considered to be the backyard of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. He was in the nearby village Panki on Friday to campaign for a by-election. The RJD chief even visited a journalist's home to mourn his killing by criminals a day before in Jharkhand.

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India ranks 133 among 180 in the World Press Freedom Index of 2016. Nine journalists were killed in the country last year.

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A new study now says that supplemental calcium may put you at an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, especially if you are in yours 60s.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Taking calcium and vitamin D supplements may prevent bone fractures in elderly women but the net benefits may be outweighed by an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers have warned.

The findings showed that if 10 thousand 65-year-old women take on thousand mg calcium every day, 5,890 hip fractures and 3,820 other fractures would be prevented.

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On the other hand, as many as 5,917 heart attacks and 4,373 strokes could be caused. So for women above age 60, the risks outweigh the benefits.

"The moderate effect of calcium and vitamin D supplements on the risk of fractures is not large enough to outweigh the potential increased risk of cardiovascular disease, specifically in women who are at a low risk of bone fracture," said lead study author Gunhild Hagen from Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Previous studies have also shown that taking supplemental calcium may also increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Also read: 6 hormones you need to get checked if you feel you're gaining weight despite all your best efforts

The team used an advanced analytical model to investigate the total health effect of taking a combined calcium and vitamin D supplement, compared to taking no supplements based on a group of healthy women aged 65.

The findings, published in the journal Osteoporosis International, showed that more than 10 thousand heart attacks and strokes would be caused by supplemental calcium and vitamin D in a group of 10 thousand 65-year-old women, whereas the medium-risk model predicted about five thousand.

The number of years of high-quality life lost by taking calcium was higher than the number of years of high-quality life saved by preventing broken bones.

They also investigated the cost-effectiveness of offering 65-year-old women supplemental calcium and vitamin D, assuming that the women were at a low risk of cardiovascular problems.

Providing supplements in this situation is cost-effective and good for public health, given that the benefits outweigh the risks, the authors stated.

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By India Today Web Desk: Lenders to the grounded Kingfisher Airlines today initiated the process to take possession of liquor baron Vijay Mallya's Kingfisher Villa in Candolim in Goa. The villa, valued at Rs 90 crore, was Mallya's base for hosting parties in Goa.

The development came after North Goa collector Neela Mohanan gave the green signal to acquire the property to recover Rs 7,800 crore that Kingfisher Airlines owes them. The villa belongs to UB Holdings and was mortgaged to the bankers as collateral.

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District administration officials visited the villa this afternoon while the SBI Cap Trustee Company put up a notice: "The property is in possession of SBI Cap Company under section 13 (4) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 as per the orders passed by the district magistrate of North Goa."

Representing the 17-banks consortium, SBI Caps had sought physical possession of the property under Section 14 of the Sarfaesi Act in late 2014.

But three of Mallya's companies - United Spirits, Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries - had objected to the move. Last week, media reports had 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.

Also read:



Endgame: Interpol arrest warrant for Vijay Mallya?



CBI forwards Vijay Mallya's Red Corner Notice to Interpol



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Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o is in negotiations to star opposite Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther standalone film.

By Indo-Asian News Service: Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o is in negotiations to star opposite Chadwick Boseman in Marvel Studios' Black Panther.

ALSO READ: After Black Panther, Marvel plans a standalone movie on Black Widow

ALSO READ: Captain America Civil War's Black Panther - All you need to know about Marvel's first black superhero



Ryan Coogler, who wrote and directed Creed, is helming the comic book movie as well as writing the script, reported hollywoodreporter.com.

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Boseman as Black Panther was introduced in Captain America Civil War, which crossed the USD 700 million worldwide mark in under a week and half.

The character, whose name is T'Challa, is the warrior king of Wakanda, Marvel's fictional African nation that is rich in an unbreakable alloy called vibranium.

Black Panther is slated for a February 2, 2018 release date, with production set to start in early 2017.

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By Kiran Tare: The Maharashtra government is planning to adopt a model being implemented by the Andhra Pradesh government in dealing with the issue of land acquisition for setting up its new capital in Amaravati.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday instructed the officials of Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) to make farmers partners in its ambitious project, Mumbai Nagpur Super Communication Way (MNSCW). Fadnavis reviewed progress of the project at a meeting in mantralaya after the MSRDC officials made a presentation on the proposed 742 km road that will enable travel from Mumbai to Nagpur in eight hours. At present, the travel time is 18 hours.

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"We will acquire land from the farmers and give them some portion of the developed land in return apart from the cash compensation," MSRDC minister Eknath Shinde told India Today. "We are also thinking on whether we can compensate the farmers for the loss of their crop. A final decision in this regard will be taken soon," he said.

The state government needs around 5,000 hectares of land for the MNSCW which will pass through 10 districts of north Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha. The state also has planned to set up 22 smart cities along the road within a distance of 40 km each.

"We need 900 hectares of land for each smart city. Once complete the road will give a major economic boost to the less developed Marathwada and Vidarbha regions. The road has a potential to change the state's fortunes on the economic front," Shinde said.

The MNSCW will also connect two dry ports in the state, Jalna and Wardha. It will make easy for the farmers to dispatch their farm produce to Mumbai in lesser time. The government is expecting a major boost to the tourism sector also as the road will connect major tourist spots too.

The access controlled eight lane road has been divided into five sections. The per km construction cost is estimated at Rs 30 crore. Out of the eight lanes two lanes will be used for service road, utility shifting, bypass and other structures.

The construction of this road is expected to begin by end of 2016. It is supposed to be completed in 27 months.

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Mahesh Babu has also donated about Rs 2.14 crore for the development and betterment of his native village Burriplaem. Many welfare schemes have been sketched for the place, and it will be bankrolled by the Okkadu actor.

By India Today Web Desk: The prince of Tollywood, Mahesh Babu, visited his native village Burripalem on Sunday after ten years. The arrival of the actor was celebrated like a festival by the natives.

ALSO READ: Brahmotsavam trailer: Here's the sneak-peek into Mahesh Babu's upcoming family drama

Earlier, Mahesh Babu adopted the place after the release of Srimanthudu and also promised that he will visit the place after finishing the shoot of Brahmotsavam.The actor has stood by his word and has paid a visit.

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The actor has also donated about Rs 2.14 crore for the development and betterment of his native place. Many welfare schemes have been sketched for Burripalem, and it will be bankrolled by the Okkadu actor. The measures include building new classrooms for the existing schools, laying roads and fixing drainage systems.

The actor has told the natives that he will visit the place whenever he finds time. In a series of tweets, the actor thanked everyone who has a helped the good cause.

It was an amazing Homecoming at Burripalem today. I was humbled by all the love and affection shown to me. pic.twitter.com/cfBOmrg6ul Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) May 8, 2016

I would like to thank all the villagers, fans, leaders, officials, police and media (esp. @jaygalla) for making it such a special day.. Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) May 8, 2016

I seek everyone's help in making Burripalem a model village. Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) May 8, 2016

Mahesh Babu believes acting in Srimanthudu has been a life-changing event. Directed by Kortala Siva, the film tells the story of a billionaire adopting his native village and nurturing it.

Mahesh Babu is currently awaiting the release of his upcoming film Brahmotsavam, which is slated to hit the screens on May 20. The film has an ensemble cast of leading actors including Samantha, Kajal Aggarwal, Pranitha Subhash, Revathi, and Jayasudha.



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The initial probe on the Malegaon blast was conducted by the Maharashtra ATS and later handed over to the NIA in 2011.

By India Today Web Desk: In a significant watering down of the charges in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has decided to give a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur by dropping her name from its chargesheet to be filed in a Mumbai court today.

Flawed investigation?

According to the NIA, the investigation has failed to find any substantial evidence that establishes the Sadhvi's involvement in the blast. The watering down of charges against her may set the stage for her early release from jail.

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The NIA is also likely to tell the court that evidence against the key accused, Colonel Prasad Purohit, were fabricated and the investigation led by former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was flawed.

What is the case

The initial probe on the Malegaon blast was conducted by the Maharashtra ATS and later handed over to the NIA in 2011. Before the NIA took over the case, Maharashtra ATS had booked 16 people and filed chargesheets against 14 in a Mumbai court. Earlier this month, India Today TV had accessed the court of inquiry papers issued to Colonel Purohit, who has been in jail for eight years in connection with the Malegaon blasts of September 2008. The Ministry of Defence also claims that he has been falsely charged. The papers validate Purohit's claims that he had always kept his senior officials in the loop while carrying out intelligence activities that included infiltration of groups like SIMI, Indian Mujahideen and the Naxals. The Malegaon blast in Nashik district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008 claimed four lives and left nearly 80 others wounded when two bombs planted on a motorcycle exploded.

ALSO READ:



ATS forced me to implicate Lt Col Purohit: Samjhauta blast case witness



Malegaon blasts: Lt Col Purohit kept Army officials in loop, reveal documents









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The decision not to charge Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, a former office-bearer of the ABVP, was taken because of the "weak evidence" against her and the fact that MCOCA charges had been dropped against the accused.

By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Amidst allegations of National Investigation Agency (NIA) going soft on right wing terror cases, the investigative agency today submitted the second supplementary report in the Malegaon blast case of 2008 in NIA Special Court at Greater Mumbai in Maharashtra.

Giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and watering down case against Col. Purohit, two of the top accused in Malegaon 2, the Maharashtra ATS, which had earlier filed a charge-sheet in the case, named 14 people as accused including Thakur and Purohit.



Why NIA gave a clean chit Sadhvi Pragya Thakur?

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The decision not to charge Thakur, a former office-bearer of the ABVP, was taken because of the "weak evidence" against her and the fact that MCOCA charges had been dropped against the accused. NIA DG Sharad Kumar said, "There was insufficient evidence against Sadhvi Pragya."

"The only material evidence against her was the motorcycle on which the bomb was kept. This motorcycle was in her name but was being used by Ramchandra Kalsangra. Investigations have proved it was with him for two years prior to the blast."

Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, both accused in Malegaon 2 were accused of planting bomb using Sadhvi's bike. On 29 September, there was a bomb explosion opposite Shakeel Goods Transport Company, between Anjuman Chowk and Bhiku Chowk, Malegaon, Maharashtra. The blast took place by an improvised explosive device fitted in a LML Freedom motorcycle killing six persons and injuring 101.

Witnesses U-turn helped Sadhvi get a clean chit. Yashpal Bhandana a key eyewitness first made statement indicting sadhvi for her role in Malegaon 2 but later retracted his statement saying he had made his first statement under duress. Another witness RP Singh also corroborated Bhandana's second statement, where he said he was never part of the meeting in which he alleged Sadhvi Pragya attended.

Why Col Purohit is an accused?

An army Major and Subedar alleged that an ATS officer was present in Col Purohit residence in Deolali two days before the swab sample. The ATS officer, and an Assistant Police Inspector was found reported to be in the premises, making the role of ATS suspicious, alleging that RDX may have been planted by the agency. While NIA is silent on the role of ATS officer, the theory of Col Purohit using that RDX became weak.

NIA recorded statements of 7 witnesses belonging to the army. Five of them senior ranking officers. Though Col. Purohit was in military intelligence, he participated in many active operations where RDX was recovered. ATS had alleged that some of this was taken by Purohit for subversive activity. However, the witnesses gave statement that the 70 kg explosive was accounted for. And was destroyed, clearing Purohit's name of whisking the RDX for subversive activity.



Charge against Col. Purohit

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He floated an organisation called Abhinav Bharat for creation of Hindu Rashtra in 2007. During formation of Abhinav Bharat, Purohit identified himself as a farmer and not a serving military officer. Soon the orginasation became radicalised, actively participating in discussions on malegaon. As a senior officer, NIA said that Col Purohit was in involved in (bomb making) activities which detrimental to security and integrity of the nation.

Some of these meetings of Abhinav Bharat were recorded and later recovered by investigators from laptop of Dayanand Pandey alias Sudhakhar Dwivedi. The voice samples of the accused, including Col. Purohit, matched during forensic examination.

After the first arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Col Purohit, knew that he could be in trouble as investigators were closing in on him. So he floated a theory that he was infiltrating Abhinav Bharat. However his seniors in Military Intelligence denied any knowledge of this.

Phone intercepts submitted to the court is also an important piece of evidence which nails the accused Colonel.

Why MCOCA was dropped?

The decision to drop MCOCA charges against the accused was taken since the application itself was flawed. Sources said only one accused, Rakesh Dhawde, qualified to be charged under the law which requires that the accused must have at least two chargesheets against him, and proof that the crime was committed for pecuniary gains. "All others were charged for association. Even the two chargesheets against Dhawde were an afterthought. He was arrested in November 2008 for his involvement in the 2003 Parbhani blast and 2004 Jalna blast. The day after his arrest, he was chargesheeted. This was used as justification for slapping MCOCA," the officer said.

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While NIA believes Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is enough to deal with the accused.

While there are many loopholes in investigations. How Rakesh Dhawde met Col Purohit, and how a right wing terror syndicate worked is something the agency has not been able to work at. With passage of time, the terror trail or even how RDX was procured is something NIA is in the dark about.

While the agency has denied making any references to Hemant Karkare probe, the NIA says that it informed court of shortcoming in ATS investigative procedures.



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By PTI: Melbourne, May 13 (PTI) Continued marijuana use during pregnancy may increase the risk of pre-term birth by about five times, a new study has found for the first time.

The study evaluated data from more than 5,500 pregnant women from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK who took part in the SCOPE (SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints) study. Of those women, 5.6 per cent reported using marijuana before or during pregnancy.

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The researchers considered a range of risk factors - such as cigarette smoking, age, obesity and socio-economic status - and their links to serious pregnancy complications.

The results show that once all other major risk factors have been accounted for, continued marijuana use through to 20 weeks gestation is independently associated with a five-fold increase in the risk of pre-term birth, researchers said.

"Our results suggest that more than 6 per cent of pre-term births could have been prevented if women did not use marijuana during pregnancy, irrespective of other risk factors," said lead author Claire Roberts, professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

"This is the first time that continued marijuana use in pregnancy has been independently linked to pre-term birth. Based on our findings, we consider marijuana to be a major public health concern for pregnant women and their babies," she said.

The study found that among the 236 pre-term births recorded in the group, women who continued to use marijuana at 20 weeks gestation had a significantly shorter gestation (just less than 30 weeks on average) compared with those who did not use marijuana (more than 34 weeks on average).

The proportion of very early pre-term birth was also higher, with 36 per cent of marijuana users having delivered at less than 28 weeks gestation and 64 per cent at less than 32 weeks, compared with non-users: 5 per cent at 28 weeks gestation and 16 per cent at 32 weeks.

"Anecdotally, we know that some women are using marijuana to reduce nausea in pregnancy, even though there is no medical evidence to support this," Roberts said.

"Our study was unable to determine whether there is a safe time prior to 20 weeks gestation to give up marijuana. Therefore, we recommend total abstinence from marijuana during pregnancy," she said.

The study appears in the journal Reproductive Toxicology. PTI MHN SAR SAR

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"I wish the GST had passed during your tenure in Rajya Sabha as it would have immensely benefited people of the states you represent," Modi said in the Upper House.

By Javed M. Ansari : PM Modi regretted Parliament's inability to pass the GST Bill. Speaking at the farewell ceremony of retiring Rajya Sabha MPs, the PM made a pitch for the legislation that has been hanging for several years.

Modi sought to reach out to the regional parties saying that GST Bill will help the states. "I wish we could have passed the GST in parliament," PM said. His sentiments were echoed by the Congress as well. Deputy leader of the party Anand Sharma said it is possible to pass the bill through a consensus. "The onus to build a consensus lies with the Government. The PM must take the initiative in this regard," he said.

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The GST has been stuck in the Parliament for several years. The UPA initiated the process but was unable to get it passed on account of the opposition from the BJP, which was in the opposition then. Ironically both the national parties have changed their position on the issue. The Congress has now set three conditions for the passage of the bill.

The GST is a constitution amendment bill hence needs to be passed by the two-third majority of both houses. In the Rajya sabha the BJP and the NDA are in aminority. The bill can only be passed with the cooperation of the Congress party. It remains to be seen whether the sentiiments expressed by both parties will pave the way for the passage of this crucial legislation.

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By PTI: better healthcare

Kohima, May 12 (PTI) Nagaland Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Neikiesalie Nicky Kire today called upon the medical fraternity, especially the doctors and nurses to join hands in delivering better health care services.

?Both doctors and nurses need each other, therefore we have to work together without neglecting our jobs,? Dr Nicky said while addressing the International Nurses Day celebration on the theme, ?Nurses: A force for change: Improving Health System Resilience? at Naga Hospital Authority here this after afternoon.

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Exhorting the nurses, he urged them to rededicate themselves to change for the better, and also re-examine their purpose of getting into nursing profession.

?We should be responsible for everything what we do and also what is expected to be done by us,? he said.

The Minister also appealed them to encourage each other and perform their job without being tensed.

Deputy Director of Nursing, Vilhoulenuo said, ?Nurses make a significant contribution to developing and maintaining resilience in health system?.

She therefore advocated need for strong and resilient health system which will be able to respond effectively to challenges.

?It is imperative that we identify in our organisations and in ourselves, opportunities to strengthen and develop resilience,? she said adding that nurses can help guide improvements in the quality of health service delivery.

?With redesigned health systems and full participation of nurses in policy, we will be better equipped to provide care for all, even in times of difficulties,? she added. PTI NBS SUS SUS

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"Shocking that JNU postgrad entrance exams are scheduled on polling day, 16 May. Want to keep young people away from democracy? Or out of JNU?" Tharoor tweeted earlier today.

By India Today Web Desk: The Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi has been an epicentre of a massive protest against the Narendra Modi government for the last three months with the opposition Congress even declaring its solidarity with the students.

However, Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, has a grouse with the university now. He is "shocked" that the JNU, known for its vibrant student politics, has scheduled its MA entrance exam on May 16, the day Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry vote.

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"Shocking that JNU postgrad entrance exams are scheduled on polling day, 16 May. Want to keep young people away from democracy? Or out of JNU?" Tharoor tweeted earlier today.

The JNU will be holding its entrance examination for the next academic session on May 16, 17, 18 and 19 this year at nearly 30 centres across India.

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By PTI: Kozhikode, May 13 (PTI) People were twisting facts on Prime Minister Narendra Modis Somalia remark while in Kerala and he had only highlighted the plight of the tribal community and his desire to improve their living conditions, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today.

"Before becoming PM, Modi as a politician and social activist used to visit tribal areas. He only highlighted the plight of tribal community in his speech and expressed his desire to improve the living conditions of tribal people.

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"Modi has great regard and respect for Malayalis. People are twisting the facts," he said.

The comparison made by Modi at a poll rally in the state early this week when he said the "infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia" has set off a political storm and triggered criticism in the social media. PTI KV APR IKA

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"I wish the GST had passed during your tenure in Rajya Sabha as it would have immensely benefited people of the states you represent," Modi said in the Upper House.

By India Today Web Desk: As he said goodbye to a batch of retiring Rajya Sabha members today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a wish: that the contentious Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill was passed during their tenure.

"I wish the GST had passed during your tenure in Rajya Sabha as it would have immensely benefited people of the states you represent," Modi said in the Upper House, where the ruling BJP is in a minority.



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"You didn't get the chance. But I am sure all those of you who will come back will get this opportunity," he added.

The GST Bill, which the opposition Congress has blocked in the Rajya Sabha, aims to transform India into a uniform market by breaking the current fiscal barrier between states. It will facilitate a uniform tax levied on goods and services across the country.

Considered the biggest indirect tax reform since independence, the GST will be levied on manufacture sale and consumption of goods and services. Currently, the indirect tax system in India is complicated with overlapping taxes levied by the Centre and the State separately.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley once again asked the Congress to reconsider its opposition to the GST and withdraw its insistence on handing over dispute resolution under the proposed legislation to the Supreme Court.

"If India has to grow, please reconsider your position on having a provision (GST Bill) that would surrender legislative jurisdiction to the courts," Jaitley said.

On the Congress demand for a constitutional cap of 18 per cent on GST, Jaitley said though he had no problem with the rate proposed there could not be a constitutional limit placed in case adverse situations arose in future.

"There cannot be a uniform tax for all commodities. There are 'aam aadmi' (common man) commodities that could attract 5-6 percent tax.. that the GST Council will decide. But why should luxury products like a BMW car be taxed only 18 percent," he asked.



Rajya Sabha to elect 53 new MPs, but BJP will remain in the Opposition



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By India Today Web Desk: Special public prosecutor in the Pratyusha Banerjee death case, Nilesh Pawaskar, has written to the Maharashtra Law & Judiciary Department (L&JD), recommending that it challenges the Bombay High Court order--which granted anticipatory bail to Rahul Raj Singh--in the Supreme Court (SC), reports DNA.

Pawaskar feels Pratyusha's partner should be tried on charges of murder. "Even though Singh was booked by Bangur Nagar police on charges of abetment to commit suicide among other charges, there are several suspicious elements in the case which were overlooked by the police. Hence, it is important that Singh should be tried on charges of murder, culpable homicide and forcing a woman to promote miscarriage or abortion and should be sentenced for imprisonment as prescribed in the law," said Pawaskar.

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Also read: Pratyusha Banerjee death case: Maharashtra government likely to appoint special public prosecutor



"I tried my best to secure police custody for Singh during arguments. My scrutiny of case reports brought to my notice that Banerjee was tremendously tortured by the accused; the accused had relations with many women where he allegedly used their money and fled. The police investigation is also not up to the mark as many facts are hidden and were unobserved by the HC. The court has failed to notice that the accused is involved in abeting the deceased to commit suicide. Instead of granting custodial interrogation, they awarded him bail," Pawaskar's letter stated.

Also read: Early leads indicate Pratyusha Banerjee was murdered, says prosecutor



"The last telephone conversation between Banerjee and Singh clears all doubts, where the deceased told Singh that she was tortured, harassed and forced to commit abortion. Her statement "ab baccha kaha se vapas aayega" specifies that she was willing to have kids but he forced her to abort it. Singh, who is either a drug addict or peddler, alleged that Banerjee was drunk at the time of the suicide but the police have not found liquor bottles from the spot. Statements of the witnesses are not recorded properly by the police and Singh has allegedly created witnesses before the incident. He has tempered with evidences and after taking Banerjee's cellphone from the hospital, he absconded from the police for a long time," Pawaskar told DNA.

On April 1, 24-year-old Pratyusha, who shot to fame for her role as Anandi in Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide and was found hanging in her flat in suburban Goregaon in Mumbai.



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By PTI: From Aditi Khanna

London, May 13 (PTI) Britains Prince Charles today revealed that he uses homeopathic medicine for cattle at his organic farm in Highgrove estate in southwest England.

The heir to Britains throne was addressing delegates at the Royal Society in London on the issue of medicine and his concerns that antibiotics were being overused.

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"It was one of the reasons I converted my farming operation to an organic, or agro-ecological, system over 30 years ago, and why incidentally we have been successfully using homeopathic ? yes, homeopathic ? treatments for my cattle and sheep as part of a programme to reduce the use of antibiotics," the 67-year-old royal said.

He added, "I find it difficult to understand how we can continue to allow most of the antibiotics in farming, many of which are also used in human medicine, to be administered to healthy animals. This practice could, as some have pointed out, be described as a cheap form of insurance".

"Could we not devise more effective systems where we reserve antibiotics for treating animals where the use is fully justified by the seriousness of the illness?

"Would we, I wonder, advise adding antibiotics to our own food or water on a daily basis, just in case we became ill?" he said.

The princes strong faith in homeopathic medicine has been a longstanding factor, which has often clashed with medical experts in the UK.

The Prince of Wales Clarence House office later clarified, "Homeopathy is used on a case-by-case basis at Home Farm, in combination with more conventional medicine, to minimise dependence on antibiotics".

There are 500 farmers trained in homeopathy and 38 homeopathic vets, according to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. PTI AK KUN

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By PTI: impostor

New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) A probe has been launched into the fake calls and SMSs by unknown persons impersonating Delhi Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodias personal assistant (PA) seeking admission for children in prominent schools in the city,police said today.

Two or three schools in Vasant Kunj and Ashok Vihar were receiving calls and SMSs from different landline and mobile numbers for admissions to nursery classes. The callers claimed to be the personal assistant of Sisodia, who holds the Education portfolio, a senior police official said.

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In one such call to a school in Ashok Vihar, the caller referred to a communication between the Deputy CM and the school authority and apprised about sending name and other details of a child for admission, said the officer.

The matter came to light when principals and management of the schools contacted Delhi Secretariat for verifying the calls and found that no such calls or SMSs were made on behalf ofSisodia, he said.

On a written complaint of a Delhi Secretariat official, a case of impersonation and cheating has been registered at the IP Estate police station and investigation launched, he said. PTI DEY VIT KIS

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By PTI: Chandigarh, May 13 (PTI) The girls have outshone boys in Class 12 examination results which were declared today by Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), with the pass out percentage of girls being 84.03 as compared to 71.12 for boys.

A total of 3.18 lakh students had appeared in the exam with overall pass percentage of 76.77 per cent as against 2015s result of 76.24 per cent while more than 16,000 students failed to clear the exam, an official spokesperson said.

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Mahima Nagpal, student of RS Model Senior Secondary School in Ludhiana topped in the state, securing 99.56 per cent followed by Komal Rani, student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Patiala, scoring 99.33 per cent.

Third position was bagged by Riya, student of RS Model Senior Secondary School in Ludhiana with a percentage of 98.67.

The pass percentage of students in rural areas was higher at 77.06 per cent compared to the students of urban areas with a pass percentage of 76.46. The pass percentage of meritorious school was 97.71 per cent, he said.

The board issued two separate lists of topper for academics and sports.

Sahil Midda, student of Teja Singh Sutantar Memorial Senior Secondary School, Shimla Puri Ludhiana, was declared as the topper (sports) with 100 per cent marks.

He shared his first position with Rishabdeep Singh and Sumer Jeet Singh from Gurudaspur and Ludhiana respectively.

Of the total 341 students in the merit list, maximum are from Ludhiana district (114) and the lowest are from Tarn Taran and SBS Nagar (1), while there are three students from Mohali.

Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema said, 341 students secured position in the merit list and all these students secured more than 95 per cent marks. Out of this merit list, 76 students belongs to Government schools including 23 students from meritorious schools.

He further said that the education department would soon convene a meeting to evaluate the performance of those teachers who had given dismal performance in the examination. PTI CHS AYP RG AYP

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By PTI: New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Railways has set up two new directorates to enhance revenue and increase train speed considerably as part the public transporters vision of reorganising the Railway Board along business lines.

Railways has constituted a new directorate named as Non-Fare Revenue Directorate (NFR) to increase revenue by 10 per cent to 20 per cent from non-tariff sources like advertising and commercial exploitation of vacant rail land.

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The public transporter has also set up another directorate to focus on areas like speed enhancement as part of the Mission Raftaar announced in the budget.

The Mobility Directorate will address various factors affecting train movement at enhanced speeds in a focused manner.

Both the directorates were announced in the budget by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu. PTI ARU KND ZMN KND

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By PTI: New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) Swaraj Abhiyan today hit back at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on a AugustaWestland helicopter deal, saying instead of calling the charges against him as political motivated, he should respond to them.

"Today when he (Prashant Bhushan) questions your misdeeds, he is an agent of the Congress. Sir, would you care to answer these questions instead of levelling these charges," Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said.

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Yesterday, Bhushan and Yadav accused the Chhattisgarh government of floating a global tender in a "shady manner" to purchase a specific AugustaWestland helicopter by paying "over 30 per cent" commission without exploring options.

The two had also sought to link Raman Singhs son Abhishek to the controversy, alleging Abhishek formed a company called Quest Heights Ltd on July 3, 2008, almost six months after the bulk of the payment was made by the state government to Sharp Ocean, an agent company.

Singh had dismissed the charges as "baseless" and "politically motivated" and accused Bhushan of trying to dilute the issue saying there was no irregularity in the helicopter deal.

He said senior Congress leaders were facing heat over the scam involving corruption to the tune of several crores of rupees and these baseless charges against a BJP-ruled state were "an attempt to divert the attention".

Bhushan said everything they had said is based as per the documents procured under the RTI from the Chhattisgarh government.

He added that right from the beginning, the Chhattisgarh government was dealing with a commission agent of AgustaWestland whom they had given more than "30 per cent commission".

"Thereafter an account was found on the ICIJ website in the name of Abhishek Singh through a company called Quest Heights and the address given of the company and Abhishek is the same as Raman Singhs address.

"This certainly raises suspicion, but it is a strong evidence that kickbacks were paid in this deal and that kickbacks were appeared to have been deposited in British Virgin Island account," Bhushan said.

This charge has also been refuted by Singh and his son Abhishek.

"If Mr Raman Singh or his son says that it is not his account, then why didnt they ask the government to investigate the account," Bhushan added. PTI PR RCJ ZMN RCJ

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Sadiq Khan won such a convincing election victory to become the first Muslim mayor of London that his success now seems a foregone conclusion. But it was far more of a slog than it should have been.

His main opponent, the Conservative Zac Goldsmith, was known as an environmentalist, but his campaign failed to play to his strengths. Instead, they followed the template developed by the Australian Lynton Crosby who utilised negative tactics to win the Conservatives the general election against the wisdom of the opinion polls. This time, horrified Conservatives watching the campaign implode called them 'dog whistle' methods.

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Gita Sahgal

Steve Hilton, a former Conservative spin doctor, commented on the unlikelihood of Goldsmith bringing back 'the nasty party ' label to the Tories. Hilton understands, for he is immortalised in the political satire, The Thick of It, as a barefoot spin doctor teaching old school Tories to be cuddly and love 'the Big Society'. Hilton failed and went off to his spiritual home-California.

Were all the questions raised about Khan simply smears? Maajid Nawaz, a former member of the Hizb-ut- Tahrir, generously acquits Khan of being a fundamentalist sympathiser. Nawaz is grateful to Khan who defended him while he was a fundamentalist imprisoned in Egypt; even though he later smeared Nawaz as an 'Uncle Tom'.

Britain's open secret is that all parties have a rigidly communalist view of minority politics. Khan spent many years as a human rights lawyer defending terrorist suspects. Nawaz rightly distinguishes between his work and his political associations-which ranged over those associated with terrorism in Britain to defending Muslim Brotherhood preachers and the Jamaat-e- Islami umbrella organisation, the Muslim Council of Britain. I had investigated senior figures in the MCB during my work on the campaign against The Satanic Verses and the Bangladesh liberation war. In The War Crimes File, which I produced for Channel 4, we investigated Al Badr death squads. A leader, Chowdhury Mueenuddin, was later convicted of mass crimes in the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh. In spite of the allegations against him, he rose to prominence in Britain, embraced by Prince Charles as well as Tony Blair. It's perhaps not so surprising that a young lawyer looking to make his way in politics would gravitate to terror suspects and Islamist parties. They had become the heroes of the Left and necessary advisors to government. An earlier generation's power brokers were men associated with the Congress, the Pakistani PPP, the Bangladeshi Awami League or the Communist parties with their strength in various workers' associations. Now, these were pass; and the mosque and temple de rigueur, instead.

David Cameron has frequently denounced multiculturalism but his campaign video, Neela Hai Aasman , followed the Labour footprint. A garlanded Cameron is seen with his wife dressed in a sari, bowing before various godmen. Not a single Muslim is in sight, but Modi features strongly to add lustre to the Conservatives. Goldsmith had a similar video.

During Goldsmith's campaign, voters of Indian origin received leaflets targeted at religion and region. The British PM's visit to the Golden Temple was celebrated for Sikhs, Gujaratis were told Corbyn and Khan were anti-Modi. Scare stories spread of Labour taxing family jewellery.

But finally, Cameron over-reached himself when he used parliamentary privilege to accuse Sadiq Khan of supporting Suliman Gani, an imam he claimed was a supporter of the Islamic State. Gani denied the accusation and announced he was a Conservative supporter.

If Khan faced a rough time, his campaign tactics for his parliamentary seat summoned up a vicious communalism. Maajid Nawaz claims that Khan allied with Sunni Muslims against an Ahmadi Muslim candidate.

These horrors recall an earlier election in the 1980s where the gay Labour candidate Peter Tatchell faced vilification and violence for his sexuality. The Liberals fought and won a dirty campaign for their man, Simon Hughes, who had not declared that he too, was gay. Hughes went on to serve for decades as an honourable Liberal Democrat.

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In spite of the allegations, many anti-fundamentalist campaigners voted for Sadiq Khan. They want to challenge a poisonous anti-migrant narrative, and to address the housing crisis which has priced even middle-class Londoners out of the city.

Meanwhile, many secular Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Dalits and athiests-- all from minorities-- are subjected to death threats and discrimination by fundamentalists in the UK. Khan has distanced himself from allegations of anti-semitism but he needs to hear the voices of minorities within minorities.

Sadiq Khan has won a landmark election which he fought as the son of a bus driver and seamstress. Perhaps his greatest achievement is to restore the idea that the welfare state is the guarantor of stability and opportunity.

Gita Sahgal is Director, Centre for Secular Space, UK

Also read:

London's first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan is son of a bus driver

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By India Today Web Desk: Dheeraj Dhoopar who plays Simar's husband Prem Bharadwaj in Sasural Simar Ka, is all set to tie the knot, this time in real life. Want to know who his off screen Simar is? Well, she is none other than Vinny Arora of Udann fame.

This TV couple will get married next year, according to TellyChakkar. Like most of telly couples, Dheeraj and Vinny too met while shooting for a show--Maat Pitaah Ke Charnon Mein Swarg in 2010.

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Also read: Sasural Simar Ka completes five years; look who's throwing a party



It will be a year-end wedding and the couple will get married in a typical Punjabi wedding in Delhi in the second week of November. The wedding will be followed by a reception for industry friends in Mumbai.

Also read: Shocking! Avika Gor's character Roli to die in Sasural Simar Ka



Dheeraj has worked in soaps like Behenein, Mrs. Tendulkar, Zindagi Kahe - Smile Please, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge and Lage Raho Chachu apart from Sasural Simar Ka. Vinny has starred in shows like Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki, Shubh Vivah, Do Dil Ek Jaan and Love By Chance.

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is all set for her 15th appearance at Cannes Film Festival. The Jazbaa actor was clicked at Mumbai airport along with her daughter Aaradhya and mom Vrinda Rai.

By India Today Web Desk: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan heads off to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival along with her daughter Aaradhya and mom Vrinda Rai. Aishwarya has been a regular face at Cannes for the past fourteen years. The trio was clicked at Mumbai airport.

Aaradhya, who has been accompanying her mother to Cannes for the past few years, looked cute in her white tunic top and black leggings. The Jazbaa actor chose to wear a black and white coat with black trousers.



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Aishwarya is all set for her 15th appearance at Cannes. Aishwarya will walk on May 13th and 14th as the brand ambassador of cosmetic group L'Oreal Paris. But, this year, she will give the amfAR charity gala a miss as she is busy with the promotions of her upcoming film Sarbjit.

Fans and critics are eager to see Aishwarya's red carpet fashion look this year. Last year she looked stunning in golden Roberto Cavalli fishtail gown and gained the top spot with 2500 votes.

Aishwarya's first appearance was in 2002 and since then the actor has been a regular face for Cannes. On the work front, Aishwarya will next be seen in Omung Kumar's Sarbjit.

(Picture Courtesy: Milind Shelte, India Today)

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According to Congress sources, Ambarish, Ratnakara, Baig and Reddy are likely to be replaced because of their poor performance.

K'taka CM Siddaramaiah says the reshuffle will be done by month-end.

By Aravind Gowda: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who completed three years in office on Thursday, plans to axe seven ministers, as he is set to undertake a major reshuffle of his Cabinet to accommodate youngsters.

Film star-turned-politician and Housing Minister MH Ambarish, Primary & Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakara, Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy and Infrastructure Minister R Roshan Baig are among the prominent names that are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet. But Siddaramaiah has not yet taken the final call on who to sack.

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In Mysuru, Siddaramaiah announced that the Cabinet reshuffle would be completed by month-end. At the same time, he said that he intended to provide an opportunity for youngsters in the Cabinet. The reshuffle of the Cabinet was long overdue, as the delay had led to unrest among the party leaders.

Siddaramaiah is accused of giving powerful ministerial portfolios to his followers overlooking the traditional Congress leaders.

A section of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had already complained to the high command on this issue and now a Cabinet reshuffle appeared inevitable.

According to Congress sources, Ambarish, Ratnakara, Baig and Reddy are likely to be replaced because of their poor performance.

Last year, Siddaramaiah went on record on the floor of the House to declare that the Housing Ministry had not met its target. The second PU examination question papers were leaked twice earlier this year endangering the students' future while the Education Department failed to plug the loopholes. It is said that four more ministers will also be shown the door from the Cabinet.

In addition to accommodating youngsters, there is pressure on Siddaramaiah to induct senior party leaders like Kagodu Thimmappa (Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker) and former minister Dr AB Maalakaraddy into the Cabinet. The CM has a tough job on hands, as the Cabinet reshuffle could intensify rebellion within the party if not done properly.

Other Congress legislators such as NA Haris, ST Somashekar and KN Rajanna are vehemently demanding ministerial berths.

They met Siddaramaiah on several occasions and made it clear that their support was inevitable for the government.

"It has been three years since the Congress came to power in Karnataka. All of us are equally responsible for decimating the BJP in the elections. Siddaramaiah should accommodate youngsters like us," said Somashekar.

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By PTI: Bhopal, May 13 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will visit Sanchi in neighbouring Raisen district tomorrow to take part in a programme of Mahabodhi Society.

Sirisena will spend nearly an hour at Mahabodhi Society premises in Sanchi and unveil the statue of Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Angarika Dharmapala, who played a major role in the revival of Buddhism in India, Coordinator of Society, S A Siddiqui told PTI.

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The President will also perform puja and pay his respect to the relics of Budhhas disciple on the occasion. He is also likely to visit the world famous Sanchi Stupa, one of the ancient stupas in the country.

He is likely to arrive at Sanchi directly from Ninora in Ujjain district after taking part in the International Vichar Kumbh being organised on the occasion of month-long Simhastha (Kumbh) mela.

"From Sanchi, the President will come back to Bhopal airport and leave for his onward journey," Deputy Inspector General Bhopal, Raman Singh said.

As a precautionary measure, alternate route plan for the Presidents way from Sanchi to Bhopal has been prepared and a "Safe House" too has been organised in case of any exigency, the officer said.

Nearly 700 security personnel of different ranks have been deployed for ensuring Sirisenas security in view of his threat perception. PTI MAS ARS ANP

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Untold stories of Punjab's secret agents who risked their lives, served in Pakistan jails but now have been allegedly abandoned.

Daniel Masih, who now runs a rickshaw, says he worked for R&AW and visited Pakistan a dozen times.

Daniel Masih earns about Rs 150 a day running a rickety cycle rickshaw in Dadwan, a sleepy village in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. His wife makes about the same as a home help.

The couple and their three young children live in a dark, dingy room along a narrow lane, far removed from the fast cars, flashy tools and glamorous life of James Bond whose occupation Daniel says he shared for many years.

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The 48-year-old recalls visiting Pakistan about a dozen times while working for the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India's primary foreign intelligence agency.

"I was given the task to bring back maps and photos of bridges," says Daniel, who was arrested in the neighbouring country on charges of spying in 1993, but was released four years later. He received Rs 15,000 from officials here on his return, he added. "I visited Pakistan 10 to 12 times from Dera Baba Nanak sector and used to return within three days and would get up to Rs 3,000 per visit."

Daniel, who recently converted to Christianity, says during the four years he was jailed in areas such as Narowal, Sialkot, Lahore and Rawalpindi, he was tortured several times during interrogation but did not reveal that he was a secret agent.

His is not an isolated case of a former spy wallowing in misery. Punjab's backwoods, particularly Dadwan village, are dotted with people who say they worked for Indian intelligence organisations- jeopardising their lives for a few thousand rupees, languishing in Pakistani prisons for years only to be disowned by their employers and country on release.

The agencies stopped paying them after they were caught. Their wives and children are leading miserable lives. They now work as labourers, porters, rickshaw pullers and home helps.

"I was brutally tortured in prison. I was paralysed soon after I was released from (Pakistan's) Kot Lakhpat jail in 1999. I have been dying a little every day over the past 10 years. Nobody came forward to help me. There was no pension, no medical help," says 50-yearold David, Daniel's neighbour.

He says he was arrested in 1999 on charges of espionage and spent more than eight years in jail.

"My wife and four children were forced to go without food for days," he said. "When my wife approached the Jammubased agency office for help, she was given `100. We are patriots and put our lives at stake. Is this the way the government should treat us?"

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Experts say intelligence agencies routinely recruit from poor families living in areas of Punjab bordering Pakistan.

"I was not interested in working as a spy," says 50-yearold Sunil, who was arrested twice. "The officers compelled me. When I was caught, nobody visited my family. See the wounds (points towards the bruises on his hands and his hips).They tortured me like an animal. What did I get in return? Nothing. I have no pension, no money."

Sunil says he was arrested in 1999 at Sialkot and was released in 2006. He again went on a mission for the R&AW in 2011 and was caught once more. He was let off three years later.

"Are we citizens of this country?" he lamented. "Smugglers are better than us; at least they get enough money. We just got wounds for patriotism."

Many of these people are now demanding justice and compensation following the 2013 death of Punjab farmer Sarabjit Singh in a Lahore jail where he was kept for several years after being convicted of terrorism and espionage.

The issue received international attention through a popular campaign for his release and a biographical film on him will be out this month. After his death, the Punjab government provided a compensation of more than `1 crore, a job for his daughter and a gas agency for the family.

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The state has announced similar reparation for the family of Kripal Singh, an alleged Indian spy who purportedly died of a cardiac arrest in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail last month. However, no financial help has come so far.

"I am proud of my brother who sacrificed his life for the country. The state and central government should help us as we are a poor family," said 60-year-old Jagir Kaur, Kripal Singh's sister.

Harcharan Singh Bains, adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, said authorities are considering the case and efforts will be made to help other Indian prisoners jailed in Pakistan.

Also read:

Amarinder writes to Sushma on Gurdaspur youth issue



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The SC and ST MLA who are sitting on the hunger strike begged and fell down at feet of chief minister Naveen Pattnaik inside the Assembly to fulfil their demands.

By Manogya Loiwal : The Odisha Assembly saw some dramatic scenes today.

The SC and ST MLA who are sitting on the hunger strike begged and fell down at feet of chief minister Naveen Pattnaik inside the Assembly to fulfil their demands. While Naveen turned the blind eye, BJD lawmakers made a protective ring around him to thwart them. The ruling party members also prevented media persons from reporting the incident.

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Congress's Prafulla Majhi said, "Our demand have not been met yet. Today inside the house we requested CM so as per Oriya culture we fell infront of him but he didn't responded."

"There is nothing wrong in prostrating before the Leader of the House for the interest of 38 per cent of the population of the state. We followed the Odia culture to put forth our demands. But, honourable Chief Minister, who has an unkind heart, ignored us," Congress MLA Prafulla Majhi said.

BJP lawmaker Rabi Naik, who was one among SC/ST MLAs, said, "We have not brought any disrepute to the sanctity of the Assembly. We have just raised a demand that is vital for the interests of 38 per cent of the states population." The agitating MLAs were yesterday allegedly evicted from outside the Chief Ministers chamber in the Assembly forcibly by the security personnel. They had later shifted the dharna venue to the well of the House and spent a night there. "The Assembly authorities had last night switched off the air-conditioner to harass us. But it was restored after we protested," said Prafulla Majhi.

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Bihar deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav said Manorma Devi should surrender immediately. "Wherever Manorama Devi is, police will find her and arrest her," he said.

It's been more than 60 hours that Janata Dal (United) MLC Manorma Devi, whose son Rocky Yadav is accused of killing a 19-year-old boy in alleged road rage case, has been missing. The Bihar government has, however, said that she must surrender immediately.



Here are the latest developments: Bihar deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav said Manorma Devi should surrender immediately. "Wherever Manorma Devi is, police will find her and arrest her," he said. Manorma Devi has however now applied for anticipatory bail in Gaya's civil court. The case will be heard on May 16. It has come to light that Rocky was issued arms license without verification. Yadav said, "Centre should reply as to how he got arms license without verification in Delhi." "Bihar government will also conduct an inquiry as to how Rocky issued an arms license without verification," he added. There were major lapses found in handling the case by the Bihar police. Why no FIR has been filed by any of the three friends who were there in the Swift car with the victim Aditya Sachdeva. No FIR by eyewitnesses dilutes the case against the accused. The lone FIR has been filed by someone in Sachdeva family. Also, The blood-stained clothes of Aditya were thrown outside the postmortem room, however, it could have been used in investigation to prepare a water tight case against Rocky. The clothes could also have been produced in court of law. Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought a CBI enquiry into the road rage case. Rocky was arrested on Tuesday and later sent in a 14-day judicial custody by a Gaya court. Manorma Devi has been evading arrest in a case pertaining to the recovery of liquor bottles from her residence in Gaya town.

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Aditya, the teenaged son of a businessman, was shot dead on May 7 allegedly by Rocky Yadav, 30, for overtaking the latter's vehicle on the Bodh Gaya-Gaya road. Following the killing of Aditya, Rocky's father Bindi Yadav, a criminal-turned-politician, and a bodyguard were arrested and remanded in judicial custody by a court.

Did cops tamper with evidence against Rocky Yadav: 10 glaring lapses by Bihar police



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Roop Lal had written his jail diary 'Pakistan: Return from Gallows' before he died in Gurdaspur on February 14, 2011 where he writes, "The word spy is a respectable in one's own country but becomes an abuse when arrested."

Roop Lal was born and brought up in Marada village located in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.

Roop joined Rajputana Rifles in 1960 and fought four wars between 1960 to 1969. He left his job in 1969 and joined Indian intelligence in 1970.

He had successfully completed five spy missions, including Operation Sardodha, Operation Dera Gazi Khan, Operation Machh Jaail Queta Balochtan and Operation Gilgit Azad Kashmir between 1971 and 1974 but had also faced arrests three times in 1971, 1972 and and 1974, respectively.

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He was housed in Sialkot Jail between 1974 and 1977 and was later shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore. He was also housed in Mianwali, Multan and Sahiwal jails between 1979 and 1991. He was sentenced to death in 1976 but the then Indian government (Morarji Desai) intervened and his sentence was stayed. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 1998. He was released in 2000 after spending 26 years in various Pakistan jails.

He had written his jail diary 'Pakistan: Return from Gallows' before he died in Gurdaspur on February 14, 2011 where he writes, "The word spy is a respectable in one's own country but becomes an abuse when arrested."

In his diary, he also shares how he lured two Pakistani women to get highly sensitive information. He married a Pakistani nurse Shabiran in 1972 who left him after he was arrested on spying charges. He then married Tahira, a lecturer in a medical college. He completed operation Sargodha after this marriage.

Interestingly, Gurdaspur resident Saroj Lata married him when he returned to India in 2000.

--- ENDS ---
By Radhika Bhalla/Mail Today: The word 'Indigo' comes with so many associations--a colour in the rainbow, the British Raj, a rich pigment, the colour of a chakra. Unlike many other hues that emerge and recede as favourites, or fashion trends, the deep blue tint has maintained a deeper significance, and strangely enough, been soaked in a mysterious magnetism that captures the mind of the beholder. In the small hamlets of Rajasthan, indigo is a way of life.

An example of bagruprint, with it's hand-carved blocks developed by RK Chippa Derawala.

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Grown and imported from Andhra Pradesh and Bangladesh, a single supplier brings the rich colour to dyers and printers of the villages, who employ generations-old techniques on soft cotton and silk garments to turn them into works of wearable art.

Also read: Get the names of these Cannes red carpet favourites right

The earth turns a deep blue with the water from the process, and every now and then, the skies compliment it with heavyladen clouds of equally dark shade. Yet as the waters dry up in the state, and time-efficient techniques like screen-printing bring in faster production and quicker supply, nearly half a century old traditions are losing import in the fast market environment.

It is in this milieu that handmade retail chain, Fabindia is all set to launch its annual 'Indigo Collection' as part of their 'Indigo Diaries' series for summer 2016 on May 20. Speaking to Lifestyle, Prableen Sabhaney, Head-Communications & Public Affairs, shares, "An integral part of our mandate is to create sustainable demand for the artisans, so that they can continue with their traditional livelihood.

Home furnishing range.

India is a very craft-rich country, and there is always a danger that if something is not actively sustained, it will stop being a viable livelihood option." This craft-conscious strategy of the brand even made it to Harvard Business School in 2007 as a case study.

As Sabhaney explains, "Rather than encouraging artisans to migrate to commercial cities like Jaipur, we encourage them to work out of spaces where the work was traditionally done, like their homes and villages. We spend a lot of time developing clusters and assisting families in retaining their craft, by providing them training, advances and raw material, and also collecting the final products from their villages."

Also read: Tricky outfit solutions: Your guide to the right bra to make the most of your assets

This time around, the indigo range takes inspiration from Madhya Pradesh. Commenting on it, Creative Head, Women and Kids, Anuradha Kumra shares with Lifestyle, "This season's indigo offering is inspired by the unique architecture of Orchcha in Madhya Pradesh. The beautiful frescoes and jaalis of this historical site, established in the 16th century, have informed the original design development."

A children's line will be introduced this year.

Expect to see intricate techniques such as dabbu, ajrakh, clamp dyes, tie and dye, kalamkariand shiboriin classic ambiand floral designs, linear stripes, checks and lozenges. The range includes churidars, salwars, tunics, palazzo pants, saris, dupattas and stoles for women, and shirts and kurtas for men. A special kids range will also be included this time, as well as a variety of table linen, bed sheets and other home offerings.

--- ENDS ---

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Tom Hiddleston has been spotted in London meeting with James Bond director Sam Mendes, fuelling rumours he is set to replace Daniel Craig as the 007 agent.

By Bang Showbiz: Tom Hiddleston enjoyed a "jolly" meeting with James Bond director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli in London - fuelling rumours he is set to be the next 007 agent.

ALSO READ: Tom Hiddleston clarifies he isn't the next James Bond

ALSO READ: A new James Bond? Daniel Craig to quit 007, claim reports



The British actor - most famous for playing Thor's nemesis Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies - has set tongues wagging that he will replace Spectre actor Daniel Craig as the star of the long-running spy-action franchise.

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Hiddleston, 35, joined Mendes and Broccoli at private members club Soho House in the UK capital this week and an onlooker revealed, "At first it was Barbara, Tom and another good looking young man. Then Sam Mendes joined them at about 11 pm and they stayed until around 1am... There was lots of laughter; they all looked to be having a very jolly time."

Craig, 48, is believed to be considering hanging up his tuxedo and a few actors have been tipped to replace him, including Bastille Day star Idris Elba, who would become the first black actor to take on the role if he was cast.

However, the recent sighting will almost certainly put the odds in Hiddleston's favour and excite fans that the casting will soon be announced.

The source added to the Daily Mirror newspaper, "We were gobsmacked they were being so brazen about it. They clearly didn't mind who saw them."

Meanwhile, Hiddleston - who recently starred in TV drama The Night Manager - rubbished claims he had been offered the role.

He said last week, "The thing is, the position isn't vacant as far as I am aware. No one has talked to me about it.

"I think the rumours have all come about because in The Night Manager I play a spy and people have made the link."

--- ENDS ---
Nargis Fakhri has left the promotions of her upcoming films Azhar and Housefull 3 in the middle and if reports are to be believed, the actor has flown to the US to nurse her broken heart after her break-up with rumoured boyfriend Uday Chopra.

By India Today Web Desk: Nargis Fakhri plays Sangeeta Bijlani in Tony D'Souza's recently released film Azhar. While Emraan Hashmi and Prachi Desai went from city-to-city to promote their film, Nargis was nowhere to be seen. Reason - her alleged break-up with rumoured boyfriend Uday Chopra. Though the two have always remained tight-lipped about their relationship status, but it seems all is not well in their paradise.

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ALSO READ: Uday Chopra's Valentine's Day wish for Nargis Fakhri



According to a report in DNA, Nargis has had a nervous breakdown and soon left for the US leaving her films and producers in the lurch. If the report is to be belived, Uday has called off his wedding with Nargis and this led to her nervous breakdown.

A source was quoted as telling the daily, "Nargis was all set to announce her wedding to Uday Chopra, but he'd changed his mind about getting hitched and this came as a shock to her. There was a time when he was very keen to marry her and had proposed to her, but she wanted to focus on her career and Hollywood films. Now, the tables have turned."

The source added, "She had a huge fight with him, suffered a nervous breakdown and left almost overnight."

In fact, her personal life has taken a toll on her professional committments. The makers of Azhar, Housefull 3 and Banjo are in a fix. "The Azhar team was stumped when Nargis told them she was suffering from an injury and couldn't promote the film. But a friend of the actress says that she has had a nervous breakdown and she had packed her bags and left for her hometown (New York City)! She told her close friends that she was not in the state of mind to work and needed to get out of the country. She also told the producers of Banjo that she would adjust the dates and will shoot when she's back. With 97 per cent of the film complete and just some patchwork left, the producers are scratching their heads about what to do."

Though, Nargis never publically confirmed her relationship with Uday, but in a recent interview to The Indian Express, she admitted that Uday will always remain a part of her life. She was quoted as telling the website, "Uday Chopra is a person who will be a part of my life for the rest of my life. He is the most amazing human being who I have ever met in my entire life not just in India but around the world. If anyone is his friend that person is lucky to have him in his life."

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However, Fakhri's spokesperson has a different story to tell. "Nargis has been extremely overworked working on 3 films simultaneously over the last year. For someone who's used to doing one film at a time, this was quite a bit for Nargis. Schedules and intense work hours that film-making demands is not something everyone can cope with. In addition, she has been unwell right through the Azhar promotions with multiple injuries - torn hamstring, anterior knee ligament thinning and mild socket dislocation along with burning of the stomach lining due to lead and arsenic poisoning. Due to these multiple issues and her overall exhaustion, she had a fever of about 101 degrees right through her promotions. Even though she was advised complete rest, she ensured she completed everything she had committed to for Azhar. However, due to her deteriorating condition, she had to request her Sajid sir and bow out of Housefull 3 promotions to go back home to New York for a month to address all her medical issues and recuperate," said her spokesperson.

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Well, only time will tell if Nargis returns to India to fulfill her professional committments or continue to stay in the US to nurse her broken heart.

--- ENDS ---
By PTI: From Lalit K Jha

Washington, May 13 (PTI) Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US was not just a "suggestion" and if elected to the White House he would not allow Syrian refugees who are "not vetted properly" to come in.

"No, I would not allow people to come in from Syria. They are not vetted properly," Trump told Fox News last night.

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Responding to a question on his remarks a day earlier that his proposal was just a suggestion, the real-estate tycoon said it was not and that he would impement it as Syrian refugees were "moving in by the thousands."

"We dont know who they are, and if you look at the migration, you have a lot of young strong men. You look at the women. Where are the women and children? You dont have many by comparison," Trump said.

"We cannot allow people to come in from Syria, and I would stop it and I would stop it immediately. We have tens of thousands of people coming into this country. We dont know who they are. Theres no paperwork. Theres no documentation," Trump asserted.

Trump suggested that there should be "safe zones" built in Syria and he would get the Gulf states to pay for it because "our country has no money."

"Weve spent now almost USD 5 trillion in the Middle East. We cant do this anymore. We have to get back. Now, we have to knock the hell out of ISIS. That I have to say. But we have to get back to rebuilding our country," Trump said.

Trumps opponents took a dig on his controversial policy.

"Donald Trumps ongoing support for his dangerous ban on Muslims entering the United States remains strong, despite broad agreement that such a divisive measure would only make America less safe. It is clear that Donald Trump does not have the temperament or judgment needed to occupy the White House," the Democratic National Committee said.

The Hillary Clinton Campaign said there has been no change in Trumps policy as it is still posted on his website.

"His latest attempt at a makeover, unsurprisingly, runs afoul of his actual comments," the campaign said.

Last December in a statement Trump called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the US until "our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on." (MORE) PTI LKJ ABH AKJ ABH

--- ENDS ---
Learn all about NAVIC, India's very own GPS system, in this 90-second-long video.

By India Today Web Desk: India has waltzed into the elite club of countries that have their own navigation systems with the launch of the 7th satellite of the GPS system, NAVIC.

With NAVIC, ISRO has not only brought to us another thing to be proud about, but will be making it easier to have more accurate navigation facilities.

In order to give an idea about NAVIC, Inshorts and Office Chai have jointly created an explainer video which, in 90 seconds, gives a clear idea about it. So, before we become lost basking in the glory, let us find out what NAVIC is all about:

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What does NAVIC stand for?

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





Where does it place us on the international standard?

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





How many satelites does NAVIC consist of? When were they launched?

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





How does it work?

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





Who will benefit from this GPS system?

Better location data provided by NAVIC will particularly help the fishermen at sea, armed forces and emergency services.

For fishermen:

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube



For armed forces:

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube



For emergency services:

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





How much did it cost to create NAVIC?

Source: OfficeChai/ YouTube





You can also watch the 90-second-long video here:







--- ENDS ---
IAS officer Mittal countered the accusations saying the complainant was harassing colleges by delaying the delivery of the funds.

By Ankur Sharma: A woman working at India's National Academy of Fine Arts has accused a senior bureaucrat of abusing and persecuting her and says the police have not filed an FIR in over a week.

The Lalit Kala Akademi officer has alleged that KK Mittal, an additional secretary in the Union culture ministry and also the institution's administrator, insulted and threatened to suspend her for not clearing funds, which she says would have been against the rules.

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She said Mittal wanted the money to be released at any cost and she objected to this. The victim has also filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW).

Activists say though economic liberalisation in India has brought with it progressive ideas of gender equality, women continue to face a slew of threats at workplaces based on traditional patriarchal beliefs.

IAS officer Mittal, however, countered the accusations saying the complainant was harassing colleges by delaying the delivery of the funds. He also alleged that the woman had filed the complaint to protect herself from disciplinary action as he had reported her "misdeeds" to the ministry.

"In the past, she was putting up files in a manipulative and misleading way and was found responsible for delaying payments to the government art colleges," he said in a press statement.

"I reported these misleading and manipulative tactics to the secretary, ministry of culture. As some serious cases are already going on in the Lalit Kala Akademi, perhaps she felt that a case may also be started against her. To protect herself from the disciplinary action, she filed this false and fabricated complaint."

In her complaint, a copy of which is with Mail Today, the woman said Mittal had also abused her on previous occasions.

"On 4th May, Mittal called me in his room regarding the progress of a file. However, he started discussing another file. He suddenly got furious over a petty issue and started abusing me. He asked me to clear the file out of the way. He used filthy language and threatened me of serious consequences if I refused to clear the file as per his instructions. He also said he will suspend me if I didn't release funds," the complaint says.

"I have been harassed by him on previous occasions too. I came out of his room crying. Mittal has also got the CCTV cameras removed from the corridors of the Akademi," the woman told Mail Today.

The victim says she went to the Tilak Marg police station the same day with a complaint but the cops turned her away. The matter was first handed over to a male officer who was on leave, she added.

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When Mail Today contacted area DCP Jatin Narwal, he confirmed that the police have received a complaint and are "inquiring" into the case. The victim says no one contacted her after she gave the complaint to the cops and she has been running from pillar to post to get a case registered.

"When I contacted the police, an official told me that the case has been given to a male investigation officer. But later, a senior official assured me that a female officer will handle the case," she said.

Cops say the matter has been referred to senior officials but so far no reply has come from the top brass.

Also read:

Former India women's football captain accuses coach of sexual harassment



--- ENDS ---
Karan Patel, who plays the role of Raman Bhalla in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, refused to shoot a romantic rain sequence with Ishita aka Divyanka Tripathi.

By India Today Web Desk: A few weeks back, Karan Patel aka Raman Bhalla left his Yeh Hai Mohabbatein shoot midway because of health issues. This time, he flatly refused to shoot a romantic sequence and had a solid reason for it.

Karan had to shoot for a romantic track which required artificial rain, for which a lot of water was to be used. That didn't go down well with the actor. Wonder, why?

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Also read: Yeh Hai Mohabbatein: Finally, Raman and Ishita to reunite; here's proof



Upset that a lot of water would be wasted amid drought in a shooting sequence, the actor put his foot down until his concerns were met.

"I thought the scene was avoidable considering the water crisis we are facing. We at our level should try our best to save and conserve water," Karan said in a statement.

Also read: I still love Karan Patel, but don't want him back: Kamya Punjabi



"I feel it's our duty as we are looked up by people. This is the least as actors we can do. So I asked the production house to manage and create a scene where they do not have to use water," he added.

The makers then tweaked the sequence slightly, understanding the importance of water conservation. The actor then resumed shooting.



Also read: You may be a Karan Patel fan; guess who he's totally smitten by?



Yeh Hai Mohabbatein that airs on Star Plus also stars Divyanka Tripathi and Anita Hassanandani.

(With inputs from IANS)

--- ENDS ---
Many users have reported that the transaction history, which can be opened from the "My Transaction" tab on the IRCTC website, has suddenly gone missing.

By Manish Sain: Earlier last week there were reports of possible hack at IRCTC website, something that was denied by government officials. But it looks like there is indeed something amiss with IRCTC website. Some users have found that their transaction details have vanished from the site and they can no longer access the previous travel records.

Many users have reported that the transaction history, which can be opened from the "My Transaction" tab on the IRCTC website, has suddenly gone missing. All the options inside the My Transaction tab, like booked ticket history, last transaction detail and ticket refund history, show "No records found" message.

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Earlier, it was alleged that cyber criminals had stolen the user data, and credentials of over 1 crore users were available in the market at a price of Rs 15,000. While the Maharashtra government had confirmed the hack, theMinistry of Railways had saidthere was no data breach.

Although not all users are facing the issue related to vanished transaction details.

"The site is not showing any details from the tab, but it shows the latest booked ticket if I open the Booked Ticket History (Old and Mobile App) from the homepage. Although it takes me to the old IRCTC website, and even there it shows only the latest booked ticket," says Ankita Verma Mehta, an IRCTC user.

The panel for quick booking and cancelling tickets, which appears on the homepage, shows the required information only when a user clicks on the Booked Ticket History. The other options show "No records found" message.

Also read: Hackers running riot, here's how you can be safe

It is possible that this is just a temporary, albeit fairly serious, glitch. Or it could be connected to the alleged hacking and data breach. It is also possible that after the reports of the hacking, the IRCTC is trying to make changes to its website or is possibly digging into its systems to find out what went wrong. That could be the reason behind the glitch.

Although the worst scenario could be that the alleged hackers are still inside the IRCTC system and they are possibly breaking a thing or two on the website.

The Ministry of Railways had earlier denied there was any data breach or hacking on the IRCTC website. It has said that the Railways constituted a committee comprising cyber experts and vigilance officials from IRCTC and Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) on May 3 to check the possible theft of data and found no such case.

Also read: IRCTC website hacked? Here is what you should do ASAP

--- ENDS ---
Asus will launch the third-generation of flagship ZenFones in June, and not on May 30th as was widely speculated.

By Saurabh Singh: Asus will launch the third-generation of flagship ZenFones in June, and not on May 30th as was widely speculated. This comes straight from company CEO Jerry Shen who has also said that the ZenFone 3 family of phones, consisting of the ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Max and ZenFone 3 Deluxe will continue to target the mid-range segment much like the outgoing ZenFone 2 family. These phones will however be priced higher than the phones belonging to the ZenFone 2 family.

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"Sales of ZenFone 3 Max will account for nearly two-thirds of total ZenFone 3 shipments, and ZenFone 3 Deluxe and ZenFone 3 for the remaining," Shen was quoted by Digitimes as saying.

Moreover, the ZenFone 3, ZenFone 3 Max and ZenFone 3 Deluxe will be powered by either a Qualcomm chip or a MediaTek processor, unlike the ZenFone 2 which was powered by Intel. As per Shen, while 90% of the ZenFone 3 phones will be powered by Qualcomm processors, the remaining 10% will come with MediaTek SoC.

Also Read: Asus ZenFone 2 review: Speed racer, but not a looker

Asus is holding an event it calls the Zenvolution on May 30 in Taiwan, a day before Computex kicks off, where it is expected to unveil a string of Intel-powered devices. It was earlier speculated that the company may launch the next-generation ZenFones at the event, but as it turns out, that's not the case.

The ZenFone 3 is said to be a stark departure from the ZenFone 2 as far as design elements are concerned. These phones will reportedly feature a glass and metal design, and will in all probability have a fingerprint scanner on-board. Also, the new phones will likely run Android Marshmallow-based ZenUI out-of-the-box.

--- ENDS ---
Some may find it an unremarkable product because of its focus on simplicity. But those who find value in what the Steel is offering will probably gladly pay this price, and mind you, there is a lot of value in what this watch is offering.

By Javed Anwer: Since it debuted on Kickstarter a few years ago, Pebble has always been different. Its product philosophy is different. And its products, which are smartwatches, are different. Due to these differences, the company sees some unique opportunities as well as faces unique challenges. For now, it sees more opportunities, especially in India, and that is the reason why it launched four smartwatches here on Thursday.



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Of these, the top-end model is the Pebble Time Steel, which is also priced rather steeply at Rs 15,999. At least, that is how it seems. But after using the device for nearly a week, I have mixed feelings about it. For many users the Pebble Time Steel will be like an unnecessary indulgence, the way many smartwatches are. Some may even find it an unremarkable product because of its focus on simplicity. But those who find value in what the Steel is offering will probably gladly pay this price, and mind you, there is a lot of value in what this watch is offering.



Build quality, design and hardware



There is a reason why the Steel costs Rs 10,000 more than the Pebble Classic. It is a watch made with exquisite materials. Although its name says steel, the watch is made of metal allow. But this is good, premium looking, alloy. It not only feels durable and hard -- won't get scratched easily -- it is also smooth to touch.



The Steel is a regular-sized watch. Although it is not as small as some of the other watches, it's not chunky or heavy. If you are used to a watch, any watch, you won't mind carrying the Steel on your wrist. It is definitely more compact and a better fit, even on thin wrists, than something like the Galaxy Gear S2 or the Moto 360. By default, the watch comes with leather straps. Different colours are available and the quality of leather is very good.



One very interesting bit about the design of the Steel is that it lacks a touchscreen. We will talk about that in a while, but the lack of the touchscreen means that the Pebble relies on buttons for navigation. The Steel has four buttons -- three on the right and one on the left. The left button works as back button, while the middle button on the right works as menu and enter button. The two other buttons are navigation buttons.



These buttons have a nice textured surface, which helps if you are using the watch in the dark. They fit snugly into their sockets and provide ample clicky feel. It is also water-proof up to 30 metres. In other words, the Pebble Time Steel is a well-made watch. And although it can't match some of the sophisticated looks that the watches from Swiss makers carry and it will definitely not satisfy the old-fashioned watch aficionados, its classy and understated looks will appeal to a lot of users, especially those who like their designs clean and simple.



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The Time Steel has a 1.25-inch screen made of e-paper. It has rather chunky bezels, but those are one of the design elements of the Pebble watches and they make it look more like a watch instead of a tiny smartphone. The screen has a resolution of 144 x 168 pixels, although it matters little. The hardware inside is not as powerful as what you get in the regular smartwatches but that too is not all that important. In fact, the understated hardware has its own advantages as we will explain soon.





Features and experience



If you are paying attention you must have noticed that the Pebble Time Steel looks more like a watch and less like a smartwatch. And that is by design. Pebble founder and CEO Eric Migicovsky explains it best. "A Pebble is not like a miniature smartphone on the wrist. Before everything else it is a watch," he says. This is the guiding philosophy behind the Pebble watches.



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This is also the reason why Pebble Time Steel uses e-paper, which allows it to have an always-on display, which is always ready to display time, just like a regular watch. The other smartwaches have displays that switch off after a while to conserve battery. But not Pebble. Its display remains all the time. The Steel uses an e-paper display instead of usual LCD screen. Hence it doesn't have any backlight or glare issues. This makes the watch display very readable, even in bright sunlight.



The LCD screens are sharper compared to e-paper screens. To make sure that this is not a disadvantage for Pebble watches, the company has come up with a unique user interface and software. Pebble Steel runs its own home-grown software and interface, which is basic and yet tries to be a little playful with drawing-style icons and as less text as possible.



But the best bit about the Steel is battery life. Unlike other smartwatches that won't last more than a day on single charge, mostly because they are trying to do too many things, with a screen that hogs battery, the Steel lasts for days once its battery is full

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While it all seems somewhat weak on features and functionality compared to what watches like the Apple Watch or the Samsung Gear S2 give you, it does end up working beautifully well. The simplicity is the key here. The Pebble Time Steel does not try to do too many things. It shows time and it shows notifications once you have connected it to a smartphone -- Android and iOS are supported -- using Bluetooth. Additional it also lets you send a quick text or control music playback on your phone. Finally, there is a big emphasis on the health tracking, although the watch uses the Google Fit data as well as the sensors in the phone for motion tracking.



If you are in mood to explore, the Steel gives you access to over 13000 apps and watchfaces.



The navigation through buttons work better than expected, mostly because of the simple user interface. Although we feel that the Gear S2 ring, which can be rotated, is still the best way to navigate on a smartwatch, the four buttons Pebble Time Steel do the job, and do it well.



But the best bit about the Steel is battery life. Unlike other smartwatches that won't last more than a day on single charge, mostly because they are trying to do too many things, with a screen that hogs battery, the Steel lasts for days once its battery is full. This again is due to several reasons: the e-paper screen, the not-so-powerful hardware and the absence of features that may seem great on paper but aren't actually used all that much.



Should you buy it



The Pebble Time Steel is the kind of device that won't appeal to everyone. It's not flashy. It has a subdued e-paper screen. It can show notifications and have some smart functions but it doesn't have any camera etc. Heck, it doesn't even have a touchscreen. But then as Pebble says, it is a watch and not a tiny smartphone. The good bit is that it is fantastic watch. Yes, you will have to charge it weekly and it will need to be paired with your phone to offer full functionality, but the experience that it offers is, even if basic, almost flawless. And that makes it more useful than some of the other watches out there.



Smartwatches are still evolving and although the Steel is a good watch, whether it is useful or not is something only a user can decide. It is different for everyone. But here is what I feel about the Pebble Time Steel: If you want a watch for Rs 16,000, go buy this. You will most likely love it as a smartwatch. And even if you don't, you will like it enough as a regular watch.

####

Pebble Time Steel####8/10 #### #### Good stuff

Simple and easy to use

Always-on e-paper screen

Slick, understated design #### Bad stuff

Limited functionality

Expensive

Thick bezels ############

--- ENDS ---
Essay Competition. , together with essay CREATE , together with TrademarkNow and SCRIPTed are seeking submissions for an

competition with the theme of "How will Artificial Intelligence change the practice of Intellectual Property law". What will happen when A.I. can create and invent? Or do you have a vision for how A.I. could streamline litigation?

For a chance at the top prize of 300, and more information, see

.

The deadline for submissions is 30th August.



The UK IPO has unveiled its 2020 vision, in "IP Enforcement 2020" . The report promises to review platform liability online, and the familiar strains of education about IP and "follow the money" strategies to cut off income streams of profitable online piracy can be found, too. IP Minister, Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe said:

"As a country famed for its creators and innovators, we know that  intellectual property rights lie at the heart of the economic and creative wellbeing of the UK. But these crucial IP rights are undermined and devalued on all fronts by infringement, whether by the wholesale sharing of digital content through myriad file sharing and streaming websites, deliberate copying of patent or design protected products, or the importation and sale of counterfeit goods on a massive scale."

Australian Productivity Commission has recently published a report calling for a liberalising overhaul of copyright and patent laws. The 600 page document, initially designed to prepare codification of fair use down under, also managed to find room for recommendations including shorter copyright duration, stricter criteria for granting patents, and bypassing geoblocking restrictions. More information Thehas recently published a report calling for a liberalising overhaul of copyright and patent laws. The 600 page document, initially designed to prepare codification of fair use down under, also managed to find room for recommendations including shorter copyright duration, stricter criteria for granting patents, and bypassing geoblocking restrictions. More information here




The Daily Signal joined other critics in describing the Obama administrations Iran policy as appeasement, adding that that administration has somehow missed [the] point that that strategy does not work. To support this conclusion, the editorial called attention to a number of instances of Irans hostile activity actually escalating within the context of the White Houses outreach. These include repeated challenges to US naval forces in the Persian Gulf.

Last week, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to close off the Strait of Hormuz if Iran felt that the US had issued threats in the region. Subsequently, the Corps naval commander, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi described American presence as an absolute evil and claimed that Iranian naval forces would be capable of destroying American warships to enforce a theoretical blockade.

Such claims are not generally taken seriously among military experts, but the provocative remarks reach a wide Iranian audience thanks to the dominance of state media. As Iran News Update previously pointed out, provocative broadcasts by that media network are almost certain to continue, in light of the fact that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei controls the state media narrative and has demonstrated personal commitment to severe criticism of the US over the past several months.

Meanwhile, accounts of previous IRGC and state media boasting are still trickling into the Western media. For instance, the Maritime Executive reported on Wednesday that Rear Admiral Fadavi had backed up his claims about the combat readiness of Irans naval forces by asserting that the country had developed missile boats capable of speeds up to 80 knots.

Iranian military officials have made repeated claims to be working on a domestic version of a British-made vessel known as the Bladerunner, which can achieve a maximum speed of 72 knots. But as with a number of Irans claimed advancements, there has been no sign of this domestic production actually taking place.

Nevertheless, Fadavi used his interviews with state media to suggest that Iranian forces were capable of drastically outpacing the most advanced navies in the world. More than 35 knots is a dream for the world naval forces and the US vessels can cruise at a maximum speed of 31 knots, he said.

The recent revelations about Ben Rhodes indicate that the Obama administration deliberately crafter a narrative about the supposed moderation of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in order to justify the nuclear deal. To the credit of that narrative, it is apparently true that Rouhani has comparatively little support among the hardline Revolutionary Guards who are the originators of much of the recent anti-American rhetoric. However, this has not prevented the Rouhani administration from contributing to that rhetoric in its own ways, as when Rouhani himself ordered the dramatic expansion of the Iranian ballistic missile program in response to US sanctions on that program.

Furthermore, as some commentaries on the Ben Rhodes profile have been keen to emphasize, Rouhanis authority is very much subordinate to that of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and his influence may be short-lived, regardless of how it compares to that of traditional hardliners.

Underscoring this latter issue, Reuters issued a report on Thursday describing a recent speech delivered by Rouhanis firebrand predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It is reportedly being regarded as the latest in a series of indications of his possible return to politics. If that comes to pass and he seeks to reclaim the presidency, he could be expected to enjoy the support of the Revolutionary Guards, and to further contribute to their anti-Western provocations in turn.

Many of those who have responded to the Ben Rhodes profile have suggested that the persistence of Ahmadinejads hardline policies is inevitable and that the US should be setting policy with this in mind. The Daily Signal takes it for granted that the Obama administration will not spearhead such a policy, but it advises the US Congress to hold Iran accountable on nuclear, terrorism, ballistic missile, and human rights issues through oversight hearings and legislation.

Of course, the majority of Congress has been opposed to the Obama administrations Iran policy since the beginning of nuclear negotiations, although a Democratic minority has managed to prevent the rest of the legislative body from moving too strongly against it. But the Republican Party and some Democratic allies continue to push back against the White Houses policy in various respects.

On Thursday, Fox News reported that congressional leaders have expressed interest in summoning Rhodes to appear before the House Oversight Committee for questioning about the administrations narrative on the nuclear deal and Iranian moderation. Some have even indicated the desire to use subpoena power to compel his testimony should he decline to offer it willingly.
Tehrans announcement that it will not be sending pilgrims to this years hajj supposedly comes after the failure of the Iranian and Saudi governments to come to mutual agreements regarding transportation and security. In this sense, and as the Associated Press emphasized in its reporting, the announcement also reflects the broader deterioration in relations between the two Middle Eastern countries.

The connection between failed negotiations and recent regional conflicts was made evident by efforts to ascribe blame in the wake of the apparent failure of bilateral talks over the hajj. Iranian Culture Minister Ali Jannati was quoted as saying, We did whatever we could but it was the Saudis who sabotaged these talks.

Similarly one-side recriminations have surrounded both Iranian and Saudi commentary on regional conflicts, namely the Yemeni and Syrian civil wars, in which the two traditional rivals back opposite sides. Some analysts have argued that these Iranian-Saudi proxy wars in turn reflect upon a much larger, and steadily worsening sectarian conflict that spans the Middle East and beyond.

Whereas the Islamic Republic of Iran is a Shiite theocracy, the Saudi royal family supports Sunni Islam. The conflict between these two ideologies arguably came to a head in January when the Saudis executed a Shiite cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, whom they accused of espousing violence against the royal family. Iran quickly responded by portraying the execution as an assault on Shiism in general, thereby drumming up protests that led to attacks on the Saudi embassy and consulate. Iranian authorities were reportedly present at the gathering of these mobs but did not intervene.

Despite some international pressure for reconciliation between these two Middle Eastern powers, there has been little sign of progress in that direction. At the same time that Iran and Saudi Arabia have continued to fight a proxy war in Yemen, they have been described as being engaged in economic warfare as each refuses to cooperate with the other over the future of global oil output.

Last month, a gathering of OPEC and several non-OPEC oil producing countries took place in Doha with the intention of agreeing to a universal output freeze for the sake of stabilizing prices. But the Saudis scuttled the agreement after Iran, preoccupied with recovering market share in the wake of sanctions relief under last summers nuclear agreement, refused to attend.

The military and economic competition between Tehran and Riyadh is widely regarded a symptom of a wider competition for political-religious influence  a competition that has had an impact at least as far away as West Africa. This fact was detailed in an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal in Thursday. It described the rapid recent growth of Shiism in such places as Nigeria, Chad, and Ghana, and it ascribed much of this growth to Iran-backed conversions.

The article quoted Vali Nasr, the dean of Johns Hopkins Universitys School of Advanced International Studies, as saying, The core of the Saudi-Iranian confrontation over power and territory is in the Middle East. But West African Shiites are of symbolic value to Iran, for it to be able to say that its vision of Islam is expanding rather than shrinking. They give Iran more of a claim that theyre able to speak for Muslims in the whole world.

Such observations support the notion that Iran routinely exploits conflicts with Sunni Saudi Arabia, the state of Israel, and Western powers as a way to portray itself as a global leader of Shiite Islam. Last week, an article at Iran News Update highlighted the fact that Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan had met with the Palestinian terrorist organization Islamic Jihad as part of a broader project of advocating for global Muslim unity around the Palestinian cause.

Meanwhile, the Saudis have also found support from some of the African countries where Shiism has grown as a result of Iranian influence. The Wall Street Journal points out, for instance, that Sudan has even gone so far as to send troops to fight as part of the Saudi-led coalition against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
[May 12, 2016] Milton Security Group Releases ENDPOINTInformer

FULLERTON, Calif., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Milton Security Group Inc., the adaptive network security appliance manufacturer, has released ENDPOINTInformer, an agent that scans endpoints for their current security compliance that works in conjunction with the EdgeWall, the industry leading inline NAC Milton Security offers. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160512/367162LOGO ENDPOINTInformer, a pico-agent that is run on Windows  workstations and other endpoints, works with the assistance of the EdgeWall to determine if the endpoint should be allowed access to the network, through the use of highly granular settings configured by the administrator. ENDPOINTInformer works continuously, to ensure the security compliance of the systems meets the requirements of the network. The EdgeWall System is the industry's only inline Adaptive NAC appliance. It works with any equipment already on your network and gives you the flexibility that is necessary to handle any scenario that may arise. ENDPOINTInformer provides an alternative method to the EdgeWall System's traditional scanning methods, allowing deployments to scan endpoints without having to change any user, firewall or settings on the end client and with further granularity. "A few of our customers had very restrictive environments, presenting challenges for many endpoint health check solutions on the market," said Resham Ganglani, CEO of HaloData. "We turned to Milton Security for help getting adaptive scanning deployed to our customers and ENDPOINTInformer provided exactly what we needed." "We were excited for the challenges our partner HaloData presented and are proud tha we were able to provide a solution," said Jim McMurry, CEO of Milton Security Group. "We believe every organization should have the best network security possible and ENDPOINTInformer allows us to provide that security to even more environments."



ENDPOINTInformer, as part of the ever expanding Informer suite of solutions, joins USBInformer and EDGEInformer. We are going to Make Endpoint Security Great Again and we accomplish that with the Informer Series. In a world where BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) has become the norm it is necessary to have the ability to enforce security policies on devices that come and go within your network. ENDPOINTInformer breaks down the challenges that BYOD presents and comes preconfigured to accept instructions from the EdgeWall with specific security policies that are catered to your network's needs.

ENDPOINTInformer is being released now for Microsoft Windows  systems, with Apple Mac OSX, Linux, Android  and iOS  versions coming in Q3 2016 EdgeWall is available now in various configurations that can fit your requirements from 50 to 500,000 endpoints, starting as low as $4 per endpoint for large installations. About Milton Security Group, Inc: Over 500 companies have suffered public data breaches in 2015 alone. Milton Security's goal is to provide organizations with unparalleled levels of internal endpoint security. Milton's network access control solution, the EdgeWall, provides peace of mind by giving a company complete control over who is on their network, what machine they're using, when they're on, and what they're doing with their access. For almost 9 years, Milton Security has allowed C-level executives to rest easy, with complete confidence that their network is secure when using EdgeWall technology. #MakeEndpointSecurityGreatAgain #MakeNetworkSecurityGreatAgain About Halodata International Pte Ltd:

Halodata is a Product Distribution and an IT Security Company in South East Asia. They distribute many award-winning Data Security Solutions across the region. Their reach goes beyond 25 major cities and multiple resellers. With offices in Indonesia and Singapore, Halodata strives to provide the optimum in data security products and solutions for all technology sectors. www.halodata.biz For more information, visit www.miltonsecurity.com or call (888) 674- 9001. Media Contact: Lydia Coulter

Milton Security Group Inc.

261 E. Imperial Highway

Suite 550

Fullerton, CA 92835

Main: 888.674.9001

http://www.miltonsecurity.com

Email To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/milton-security-group-releases-endpointinformer-300268022.html SOURCE Milton Security Group, Inc.

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[May 13, 2016] GTL Offender Management System Now Available on GSA IT Schedule 70

RESTON, Va., May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Global Tel*Link (GTL) today announced its award of Contract No. GS-35F-203DA by the United States General Services Administration (GSA) under GSA's IT Federal Supply Schedule 70, one of the largest and most widely used acquisition vehicles in the government marketspace. Effective immediately all federal, state, and local government authorized users of IT Schedule 70 will be able to purchase GTL's enterprise-class Offender Management System (OMS) at government-approved pricing. "We are pleased to offer our customers a more efficient method for procuring our OMS solution," said Brian Oliver, CEO of GTL. "Currently 1 out of 4 inmates housed in county and private facilities in the United States is managed by GTL OMS. In the very near future, GTL will deploy OMS in a state facility. Being available on GSA IT Schedule 70 means that correctional facilities will have ready access to a powerful contract vehicle with pre-negotiated, discounted pricing with favorable terms and conditions," added Oliver. GTL OMS is a comprehensive enterprise management system that manages the lifecycle of incarceration from intake through release and features a full inmate trust accounting package along with audit tools that can help measure compliance with American Correctional Association (ACA) standards and ensure data integrity. This powerful software solution built on an openarchitecture platform integrates seamlessly with a wide array of systems including GTL's inmate telephone platform, commissary ordering, facility kiosks, and tablets as well as many third-party systems that interface with fingerprint scanners, provide statewide warrants, support NCIC checks, integrate mugshots, and more.



Now that GTL OMS is available on GSA IT Schedule 70, government-operated corrections facilities may be able to achieve greater efficiency and reduce costs by following a simplified procurement process that includes terms and pricing that have been pre-negotiated by the GSA to be fair and reasonable. Flexible contracting and streamlined ordering also offer major benefits to procurement officers. Eligible government entities  including federal, state, county, and municipal corrections facilities  may procure GTL OMS directly as may be allowed by applicable procurement regulations. According to John Lowry, GTL Senior Product Manager for OMS, "Operating under GSA IT Schedule 70 means that we can work with correctional facilities to get the system contracted and deployed faster than ever, thereby shortening the time required to bring a customer on line."

GTL's IT Schedule 70 award is a direct result of a complex process in which the government evaluated GTL's professional capabilities, organizational structure, performance history, customer satisfaction record, and pricing terms and conditions among other criteria. To further expedite government purchases, GTL has made its services available on GSA Advantage!, the government's electronic ordering system. For more information about the availability of GTL OMS on GSA, contact John Lowry at [email protected] or Bob Fragola at [email protected]. Interested parties are also welcome to meet with GTL personnel in booth #407 at the American Jail Association's 35th Annual Conference & Jail Expo in Austin, Texas, May 22-24. About Global Tel*Link

GTL, a leading provider of integrated correctional technology solutions, delivers financial value, security, and ease of operation to our customers through visionary products and solutions at the forefront of corrections innovation. As a trusted correctional industry leader, GTL provides service to approximately fifty percent of inmates nationwide, including service to 33 state departments of corrections, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and 32 of the largest city/county facilities. GTL is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with more than 10 regional offices across the country. To find out more about GTL, please visit our website www.gtl.net. You can also view us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367295LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gtl-offender-management-system-now-available-on-gsa-it-schedule-70-300268317.html SOURCE Global Tel*Link

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SPRINGFIELD -- While much energy is being expended at the Capitol trying to forge agreements on the state budget, several segments of Illinois power sector are hoping lawmakers will focus on legislation to deal with the states long-term electricity needs.

The nuclear, coal and renewable energy industries are competing for legislators attention as the General Assemblys spring session draws closer to its scheduled May 31 adjournment. All three are backing measures they say are vital to the states energy future and its economy.

Exelon Generation, which shares a parent company with northern Illinois power utility Commonwealth Edison, is seeking legislative changes that it says are essential to the future of its nuclear power plants in Clinton and near the Quad Cities.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, would extend state subsidies to nuclear power plants that are struggling financially. Exelon says the subsidies are warranted because, like wind and solar power, nuclear doesnt emit carbon pollution.

The company estimates that the proposal would cost customers about 25 cents a month on their power bills.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, and Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, joined a group of local officials from DeWitt County in a meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday at the Capitol. The lawmakers and local officials are backing the bill because they say it will save jobs and save residents money on their power bills in the long run.

If the Clinton plant were to close, youre talking about a massive rate increase on ratepayers anywhere in downstate Illinois -- senior citizens, families, businesses, Rose said.

Thats because the plant accounts for a large share of the base load power for the region, meaning it's generating energy nearly all the time, he said.

The bill would also save jobs, including nearly 700 at the Clinton plant, supporters say.

We will continue with this fight  to try to keep the power plant open, said Marian Brisard, executive director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce. Its a very important employer in our community.

Those who attended the meeting said the governors office is reviewing the legislation. His spokeswoman didnt respond to a request for comment.

(I) really appreciate the governor taking the time to listen to us, DeWitt County Board Chair David Newberg said. I believe he really did understand our concern.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers from central and southern Illinois is pushing legislation that aims to preserve coal as part of Illinois energy mix.

Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, is sponsoring the legislation, which would require utilities to have purchasing agreements with qualified clean coal facilities and create a special state fund to support the use of technology such as scrubbers to reduce emissions from burning coal.

We believe Illinois coal is part of the solution for energy, Bradley said this week at a Statehouse news conference.

Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, added, Illinois coal is a very effective way to produce energy.

Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said the industry group is for an all-of-the-above energy strategy.

Mitchell, whose district includes the Clinton Power Station, doesnt see a conflict between the backers of nuclear and coal power.

Coals important to the energy (mix) for Illinois, Mitchell said. So I want to include them in. I want to help them. I want them to help us in terms of nuclear.

I think coal, nukes, wind and solar are all good for Illinois. But right now the playing field isnt level for nukes. We just want to make it a level playing field.

The Exelon also bill includes $140 million in funding for the solar power industry.

Kevin Borgia, public policy manager for Wind on the Wires, said his industry is still pushing for a bill that would fix problems with the states renewable portfolio standard, which currently calls for 25 percent of Illinois energy to come from renewable sources by 2025.

Borgia said the Exelon bill as drafted would stifle the future development of wind energy in the state.

Thats really a loss for the state, he said. Its really a loss, in this case, for downstate and rural Illinois, which  is where were going to build wind farms.
Bells tolled and thousands bowed their heads in prayer in Hiroshima on Thursday at ceremonies that marked the 70th anniversary of the world's first atomic bombing. [Photo/CFP]

The White House has officially announced that US President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima on May 27, the first-ever such visit to the city by a sitting US president. Its implication goes far beyond the impact it will have on Japan and the United States.

The White House stated explicitly that Obama will not apologize for his country's atomic bombing of the city during World War II in 1945, and there is no reason for him to do so.

Yet, it is quite likely the Japanese media and right-wingers will interpret a visit by the US president itself as an apologetic gesture, as they did when US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the city's Memorial Park in April.

World sympathy has often been with the victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet, they are also victims of Japanese militarism, something the right-wing groups in Japan constantly try to shun.

To be exact, it is the war of aggression the Japanese militarists launched at the beginning of the last century that is to blame for the bombings.

To the world's dismay, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to whitewash the violence and suffering the Japanese Imperial Army inflicted on the people of the countries it invaded.

The museum in Hiroshima provides hundreds of chilling exhibits and poignant artifacts about the bombing of the city without providing the context in which the US made the decision to drop the bombs. Such an omission reveals, to a large extent, how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are viewed by quite a large percentage of Japanese.

The Abe administration's lifting of the ban on its military fighting overseas by making changes to its pacifist Constitution has drawn strong reactions from its Asian neighbors.

And the neighbors are right to feel uneasy, given Japan's attitude, its government's attitude in particular, toward its imperialist past. But the Obama administration that voices peace on other occasions has remained largely silent about such moves by its enemy turned ally.

In such a context, it is not hard to imagine how Obama's visit to Hiroshima will be exploited by Japan's right-wing and revisionist groups in favor of their efforts to whitewash the atrocious crimes it committed in neighboring countries.

This will abrogate what the White House claims is Obama's mission of "pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons".
Byron Boslau, who led Lincoln insurance company Farmers Mutual for more than a decade, died Tuesday after a long illness. He was 72.

Boslau was born in Oregon but grew up in North Platte. After serving for two years in the Army, he attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, graduated with a degree in business in 1970 and worked for a few years at what is now KPMG before embarking on a four-decade career at Farmers Mutual in 1974.

He began as accounting manager and steadily worked his way up the corporate ladder at the insurer. He was elected treasurer in 1979, vice-president in 1984, executive vice-president in 1986 and chief operating officer in 1991.

Boslau was promoted to president and chief operating officer in 1998 and added the title of chairman in 1999.

Mark Walz, who succeeded Boslau as CEO in 2014, said he was "just an outstanding leader at Farmers Mutual."

During Boslau's time heading up the company, he doubled the size of the policyholder surplus and also oversaw construction of Farmers Mutual's new 60,000-square-foot headquarters at 501 S. 13th St.

Despite all his business achievements, Walz said Boslau is likely to be remembered more for his community contributions.

"He was very passionate about any cause he became involved in," Walz said.

That included serving on the boards of Bryan Health, the Downtown Lincoln Association, US Bank and the YMCA.

His most passionate civic cause, however, was Special Olympics.

Boslau's son, Bradlee, has Down syndrome and is a longtime Special Olympics athlete.

Walz said Boslau was one of the driving forces in bringing the Special Olympics National Games to Lincoln in 2010.

Boslau's death, "is not a loss just for Farmers Mutual," Walz said. "I think it's a loss for the whole community."

In addition to his son, Boslau is survived by his wife, Olinda, and one brother.

Funeral services are set for Monday at 1 p.m. at St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 8550 Pioneers Blvd.
Federal regulations governing securities-based crowdfunding will become effective later this month. Two graduating law students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic are advising startups to proceed with caution.

Any brand new regulation, when it doesnt have a lot of guidance like this does, is sort of like the Wild West, said James Burton from Omaha, one of the E-Clinics consulting law students. The stakes are high for equity, and if you mislead people either intentionally or unintentionally, you may have to pay back everyones money.

Will Beyers, another consulting student from Loveland, Colorado, sees reward-based crowdfunding like Kickstarter to be relatively unregulated as well, but with much lower risk.

Whats governing Kickstarter? Basically nothing, Beyers said. But I doubt someone would hire a lawyer and sue over a t-shirt.

Beyers and Burton recently gave a presentation on both securities-based and rewards-based crowdfunding at Fuse Coworking. The presentation, called Kickstart Smarts, covered the positives and negatives of crowdfunding.

Rewards-based crowdfunding can be excellent for a small business with a clear-cut idea, on their way to establishing a product, Beyers said. But it wasnt popular in the early years because people didnt know what to expect. Securities-based crowdfunding is there now.

Most attorneys we talk to are taking a wait-and-see approach, Burton said. Compliance may be difficult, and you dont want to be the guinea pig.

In 2015, according to crowdfunder.com, crowdfunding overtook angel investing for total amount of startup funding and is rapidly closing in on the total for venture capital.

There are a bunch of funding portals and broker/dealers lining up to launch on May 16, Burton said. Where it goes from here depends on the type of business and peoples risk tolerance.

There are some consumer protections built into the federal regulations, including strict limits on the amount an individual can invest based on their income and net worth. But beyond that, Burton and Beyers see little guidance from the feds.

With more established ways of selling securities, people know exactly what the requirements are, Burton said. But selling securities through crowdfunding is so new that there is very little guidance about whats acceptable and whats not.

The legal framework for rewards-based crowdfunding is also rather undefined.

Basically its regulated through state consumer protection acts and federal contract law, Beyers said. Its a patchwork of things at this point. We dont really know how the law will come down if theres an issue.

Beyers said that rewards-based platforms like Kickstarter are sometimes used as much for marketing as they are for fundraising.

Some people use it as almost an advertising platform, he said. People with millions may still use it for the exposure.

The 2014 Nebraska Legislature enacted a state-level securities crowdfunding law, but to this point it appears to be collecting dust.

Many state programs, including Nebraskas, are going unused, Burton said. The SEC took longer than everybody expected with their regulations, but now theyre in place.

Europe, particularly Germany, is a little farther down the track with equity crowdfunding and may provide some insights.

Its certainly a place to look, Beyers said. Nothings gone crazy so far.

In the near term, Burton and Beyers recommend using more established ways to sell securities that are well understood.

You need to take an in-depth look at what youre trying to do and where, Beyers said.

The UNL Entrepreneur Legal Clinic, established in 2013, uses supervised law students to provide free advice and legal representation to startup businesses throughout the state. Under Nebraska Supreme Court rules, law students are allowed to provide direct client representation under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
Pioneer Hi-Bred recently closed its seed sales office in Lincoln.

Dupont Pioneer "made a business decision to close our Lincoln office," Susan Mantey, media relations manager for the company, said in an email.

Mantey said the "majority" of employees working out of the office "remain in their current roles." She did not say whether they are working out of their homes or somewhere else.

Pioneer had an office in Lincoln for more than 40 years. It had been in an office park near 14th and Yankee Hill Road since 2005. Before that, it was in an office building near Gateway Mall.

Mantey said the closing of the Lincoln office was part of a previously announced restructuring program that cut about 10 percent of the company's overall workforce.

She declined to say how many people lost jobs in Lincoln or if there were any other cuts in Nebraska. DuPont's Pioneer division has seed operations in York and Doniphan, and sales offices in several Nebraska cities.

DuPont and Dow Chemical have agreed to a merger that is expected to be finalized later this year.
I miss La Mexicana, the restaurant and grocery at 17th and P streets that was razed after a fire destroyed it in April 2015.

It was my go-to restaurant -- usually two or three times a month -- for Mexican food, offering a selection of authentic entrees. I routinely ordered a burrito with lengua (beef tongue). I ate there with my wife and parents just days before the fire.

Normally, La Mexicana would top my list of favorites among Mexican restaurants. But with La Mex gone, I have a new No. 1.

Its Copal, which opened in July at 47th Street and Pioneers Boulevard. Owner/general manager Cinthia Rebeca Lopez Cruz describes Copals dishes as a mix of pre-Hispanic flavors and modern Mexican trends. Her mole sauce is a must-try.

Heres my rundown of favorite Mexican restaurants for Jeffs Top Five: Second Edition.

1. Copal, 4747 Pioneers Blvd. Copal also has Lincolns best tequila selection to go along with its fine menu.

2. Super Taco, 5501 Holdrege St. Living on the north side of town, I go here to get my torta (Mexican sandwich) fix. The family-owned restaurant also is home to other Mexican favorites, including, as the name applies, tacos.

3. Pancho Villa, 5800 Cornhusker Highway. A lot of folks forget about this place because of its out-of-the-way location, but they shouldnt. The family-owned restaurant is worth the drive to northeast Lincoln for big portions at great prices. Try the chile relleno or super burritos.

4. Hacienda Real, 3130 Pine Lake Road. I still have dreams about the chile verde sauce I enjoyed during my review of the family-owned restaurant at SouthPointe. This is a much-welcome replacement to the Mexican chain that operated there before.

5. Mazatlan, 211 N. 70th St. A sister restaurant to La Mexicana (and El Toro, Mazatlan II and Las Margaritas), Mazatlan may be the fastest in terms of service in Lincoln. The restaurant also serves my favorite margarita in town.

Two of Lincolns oldest Mexican restaurants -- La Paz at 321 N. Cotner Blvd. and Ticos at 317 S. 17th St. -- finished first and fourth in our readers survey, which drew more than 700 votes.

La Paz, one of Lincolns friendliest to vegetarians, is 26 years old, while Ticos has been around since 1976. That's saying something.

Here are the readers choices:

1. La Paz -- 12.62 percent

2. Hacienda Real -- 9.96 percent

3. El Toro -- 9.82 percent

4. Ticos -- 7.29 percent

5. Mazatlan -- 6.87 percent
In 1914, Srinivasa Ramanujan traveled from India to England, invited by G.H.Hardy to come to Trinity College at Cambridge University to explore the mathematical theorems the untutored accounting clerk had developed, often scrawling numbers and symbols on a temple floor.

Mismatched -- with Ramanujan taking his formulas from divine inspiration while Hardy, a devout atheist, demanded rigorous proofs of the theorems -- the pair became groundbreaking collaborators, their pure mathematical discoveries still influencing mathematicians today.

The story of that collaboration is at the heart of The Man Who Knew Infinity, a biopic based on the Ramanujan biography of the same title from writer-director Matthew Brown and starring Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire and Jeremy Irons in its lead roles.

The film begins in Madras, India, where Ramanujan struggled to get work and had even more trouble getting anyone to take his formulas seriously.

But landing a job as an accountant because of his gift for numbers, Ramanujan was able to live with his wife Janaki (Devika Bhise) and through the business get a letter to Hardy containing one of his groundbreaking formulas.

That led to the invitation and collaboration -- and the scorn of most of the Cambridge dons, who wouldnt believe that an unschooled Indian could measure up to their standards. But Hardys friends, math collaborator John Littlewood (Toby Jones) and philosopher/logician Bertrand Russell (Jeremy Northam) encouraged the collaboration.

With the outbreak of World War I, life at Trinity College changed, as necessarily did the collaboration.

That story is well and movingly told. Im not going to come close to revealing the pivot point in Ramanujans story. Suffice it to say that Patel conveys that change and the mans almost mystical mathematical powers with the same strength that he brings to the depictions of his frustrations, loneliness and triumphs.

Irons is just as strong playing an isolated, principled man who only has affection for mathematics while supporting characters, particularly Jones, fill their parts with believability. And the picture looks and feels right, whether in India or in the rooms at Cambridge.

I had no idea what Ramanujan and Hardy were talking about when they discussed the formulas and the numbers and symbols that pop up on screen were indecipherable to me -- Im a writer for a reason.

Thankfully, advanced mathematical knowledge isnt required to be pulled into Ramanujans story or to appreciate the stellar performances by Irons and Patel in bringing it to the screen.
Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said Friday his office will not file criminal charges against Timothy Kubert, the Delta Upsilon Fraternity president arrested last week on suspicion of tampering with witnesses in a sexual assault investigation.

"The language used didn't amount to a crime, tampering with a witness or otherwise," Kelly said.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Police Department arrested Kubert on May 6, nearly a month after a sexual assault was reported at the residence of Delta Upsilon.

UNL police said they believed Kubert had told members of the chapter not to talk with police about what happened.

He was released from jail the same day.

Kelly said the sexual assault remains under investigation.
The fifth man charged in connection to the death of an 18-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student in the fall of 2014 got a year of probation and 60 hours of community service Friday.

William J. Miller, 22, of Central City, pleaded no contest to aiding and abetting a minor to possess or consume alcohol.

Lancaster County Court Judge Matt Acton sentenced him Friday to probation, community service and a $500 fine. Miller's charge is a Class 3 misdemeanor and the fine is the maximum.

Clayton Real died Sept. 5, 2014, of acute alcohol intoxication after drinking at an off-campus party for freshmen members of Farmhouse Fraternity the night before.

Real passed out at the party, and his fraternity brothers carried him back to the fraternity. The next morning, they couldn't wake him, and Lincoln Fire & Rescue workers couldn't save him.

Prosecutors charged Miller and four others. He was the last to be sentenced.

Last month, Vance Heyer, Ross Reynolds, Cory Foland and Thomas Trueblood got a year of probation, a $1,000 fine and community service: speaking once a month to high school and college students about the dangers of underage drinking. They were charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor, which carries a fine limit up to $1,000.

All four pleaded no contest to procuring alcohol for a minor, a misdemeanor. Trueblood also pleaded no contest to MIP.

Cameras at Ken's Kegs caught them buying the alcohol and loading it into Trueblood's SUV.
A 31-year-old Lincoln man will spend 19 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for producing child pornography.

United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf also ruled on Thursday that John Randall will pay $3,250 in restitution to the two minor victims in the case and will be required to register as a sex offender.

In August 2014, Homeland Security received a request from the British Columbia Integrated Child Exploitation Unit for assistance identifying the user of a Skype and Instagram account who was allegedly involved in the transmission and receipt of sexual images with a minor female victim in Canada, according to a news release.

The email and IP addresses lead investigators to Randall, who was living in California in 2014 and moved to Nebraska in 2015.

During their initial contact, a consensual search of his cellphone revealed several videos and images of child pornography. Investigators also found conversations with another person who appeared to be creating child pornography videos containing things specifically requested by Randall in return for payment, the release said.

Randall admitted he had been trading child pornography with people on an Internet-based message system. He said he would offer money to get the videos but wouldn't pay for them, the release said.

As a result of the investigation, law enforcement was able to identify the two minor victims involved who admitted they sent child pornography to Randall because he had offered them money.
They told the teachers at Meadow Lane Elementary that a Lincoln Public Schools administrator was coming to their morning gathering Friday in the gymnasium to review how they relayed daily announcements.

They said it wasnt a big deal, that he was just going to watch how things go at this morning ritual with 500-some students sitting sort of quietly on the gym floor.

It was a big lie.

This began to sink in to Susan Prabulos when she saw the superintendent there, and before long the real reason the big wigs from the district office had descended upon the school became apparent: To give Prabulos one of the most prestigious teacher awards in the district.

The Scottish Rite Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award is one of the oldest honors at LPS, which comes with a $3,000 check, and portraits of the honored teachers are on display at the district office.

There are many reasons Prabulos received it, but lets start with the most obvious: The woman has robots in her classroom.

Cute little robots named Dash and Dot shes piloting for the manufacturer, and that students can direct to do things by creating coding on their laptops.

The work takes computer coding from a 2-D to a 3-D world, and on the days Dash and Dot are turning, speaking, scooting forward and backward and turning their round little heads, its pretty wild.

I will say it gets really, really loud, she said. Its almost like Ive got little puppies in here with the kids.

She can handle it.

Prabulos has been an LPS teacher for 20 years, since she decided doing research in a biology lab was not her calling.

I checked out some Teachers College classes and I never looked back.

Shes spent most of her career as an elementary computer teacher, the last six at Meadow Lane. The class -- a longtime special that all students take on an alternating basis with other classes such as art, music and P.E. -- has changed dramatically in the past few years.

For one thing, technology is changing as fast as Apple can release its newest iteration of the iPhone. Secondly, LPS has invested millions upgrading classroom infrastructure and beginning a one-to-one Chromebook initiative.

Prabulos has been an integral part of that change, helping the district develop curriculum for the grade school class. Now called computer science, it is more focused on computational thinking, problem-solving and media arts.

Students now practice the basic computer skills once taught in the class as part of using their Chromebooks in other subjects.

Its such an exciting time to teach this, Prabulos said. Every day I come in and am blown away by what they do.

She can see the benefits of the new focus, she said. Kids are better problem-solvers in other areas and start to internalize the idea of "I haven't figured it out yet" rather than "I don't know."

And students dont just sit in front of computers in Prabulos' class, a practice enabled by her discovery of the wonders of painters tape.

It works really well on her floor, which is now partially covered by blue squares. Students stand in those squares and act out the parts of coder and computer: one student giving a direction, the other following it. Or they use the squares to illustrate the wonders of spreadsheets (Excel never looked so fun). Or they direct the robots from one square to another.

Thats how Prabulos rolls, to some extent, trying new things as they come to her.

Like the time her first-graders wanted to play a computer game called Cookie Clickers.

She suggested they make their own game instead.

We spent a quarter creating Cookie Clicker games, problem-solving together as we went, she said. Thats the place were at now, not just being consumers but creators.

Prabulos, who grew up in Lincoln and graduated from Southeast, majored in elementary education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln but it wasnt until she was student teaching at Randolph Elementary that she considered teaching computers. Her teacher noticed she was always bringing activities to class shed created on the computer and suggested she check out a few of those classes.

She spent her first year substitute teaching, then got a job teaching computer at Sheridan, the next year at both Sheridan and Brownell.

I was kind of scared out of my mind at first, but it was an exhilarating experience.

Shes considered changing jobs -- becoming a classroom teacher with one class all year, rather than a specials teacher who works with all grades. But then shes not sure, because what shes doing now is so much fun.

Who gets to play with robots and create games? she asked. Its almost like being a kid playing at work.
The Obama administrations directive Friday telling schools across the country they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms according to their expressed gender will not change the way Lincoln Public Schools handles the issue.

Director of Student Services Russ Uhing said Friday that LPS officials have been following guidance from the U.S. Department of Education as the debate over transgender rights has escalated.

The district created guidelines two years ago that involve a team approach to deciding how best to meet a transgender students individual needs. The group of people involved can include parents, the student, school and district administrators and others supportive of the student.

The districts guidelines recommend using the students chosen name and pronoun and creating a plan with the student and parents on when to start using them. LPS will change high school student IDs to match the students chosen name and gender expression.

The use of bathrooms and locker rooms is determined on an individual basis. Currently, three LPS students are using bathrooms according to their expressed gender; none are using locker rooms.

The guidance from the U.S. Justice and Education departments frames the issue as one of civil rights and says public schools must treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, regardless of the sex on their education or identity records.

The letter comes amidst a legal fight between the Obama administration and North Carolina over its controversial bathroom law that requires people use public bathrooms according to the sex noted on their birth certificates.

The guidance doesnt carry the weight of law, but is intended to clarify expectations of school districts that receive federal funding. But theres an implicit threat of loss of those federal funds for schools that dont comply.

The letter instructs schools to treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the district and there is no obligation for a student to present a specific medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect his or her gender identity.

The Nebraska School Activities Association recently created a process for transgender students to participate in high school sports, but it requires they use separate locker and bathroom facilities.

NSAA Executive Director Jim Tenopir couldnt be reached for comment on the Obama administration directive.

The Nebraska Family Alliance issued a statement condemning the directive, accusing the Obama administration of rewriting law by interpreting Title IX as applying to gender identity.

When the Obama administration demands compliance by threatening to withhold federal funding, we put children's safety at risk and force bad policy on the entire nation, the group said.

The administrations interpretation of the law is an extreme position out of step with the majority of Americans and unnecessarily meddles in state and local matters, the group said.
State Tourism Director Kathy McKillip will keep collecting a paycheck as the Nebraska Tourism Commission continues its internal probe following last month's scathing audit of the agency.

Commissioners voted Friday to place McKillip on investigative suspension, with pay. No timeline was given.

McKillip, who shared a table with commissioners during the meeting, was told to turn in her keys and government documents. She left the room without speaking.

Commission Chairman John Chapo of Lincoln declined to say why McKillip was allowed to keep her $86,000 annual salary and not fired or placed on unpaid leave, calling it a personnel issue.

That's the way the legal balls bounced," Chapo said.

The commission appears to be treading lightly for legal reasons.

When lawmakers spun Tourism out from under the state Department of Economic Development in 2012, they allowed McKillip and her staff to keep their state employee protections  including the ability to contest firing. The law says those protections remain "for purposes of transition," but doesn't list an endpoint.

Protected state employees are entitled to advance notice of disciplinary action and get a chance to review the allegations and respond, said Bo Botelho, deputy director for the state Department of Administrative Services.

"They're getting legal advice from their attorneys," Botelho said. "I can't even begin to try to put myself in their place. ... Obviously they feel the need to take some time and look into this before they come to a decision."

How much time is unclear.

Chapo and other commissioners didn't give a timeline for the investigation surrounding McKillip's suspension or explain its scope. And they didn't say who will be in charge of the commission's day-to-day operations while she is on leave.

Board members voted to place the commission's money and operations under more direct control by the board, requiring votes on personnel changes or purchases above $1,000, for example.

McKillip has shouldered the bulk of criticism following the April 29 report from State Auditor Charlie Janssen's office.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, former Gov. Dave Heineman and the state's two main travel groups called for her to be fired after auditors 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.

Ricketts called Friday's action a step in the right direction.

"The commission needs to follow its process, but ultimately Ms. McKillip must be fired," he said.

A longtime family friend and distant relative of McKillip defended her at Friday's meeting, saying Tourism's success under her leadership is being overshadowed by a "political circus which seems to be orchestrated" by Janssen and Heineman.

Hannah Hoch of Nebraska City said she made the comments on behalf of her mother, Nancy Hoch, a former University of Nebraska Regent who could not attend the meeting.

Janssen called Hoch's story "oddly far-fetched." Heineman said he has "absolutely no idea" where Hoch was coming from and that he only got involved after being contacted by media.

"My previous comments still stand," Heineman said. "Given the offenses (McKillip) committed and the wrongdoings, she should be fired."

Hoch's statement was the only public comment Friday before commissioners entered an hour-long closed-door session to discuss McKillip's fate and surrounding legal issues.

None of the nine commissioners opposed McKillip's suspension, although Chapo abstained and another member, Jeff Boeka of North Platte, wasn't present.

Boeka defended McKillip after the audit, saying she'd done "a tremendous job" promoting tourism in the state while acknowledging the need for better compliance and bookkeeping at the 4-year-old independent state agency.

Friday's special meeting took place in a crowded basement room of the State Executive Building, on South 14th Street west of the Capitol.

Commissioners met in Omaha days after the audit was published and formed a subcommittee to review the results and recommend possible fixes. Friday's votes came at the subcommittee's recommendation.

Janssen said what happens from here is out of his hands.

"Our investigation is over," he said. "The attorney general has it now."

Ricketts and others have suggested that putting Tourism back under the governor-controlled Department of Economic Development would promote better accountability in the future.

On Thursday, Economic Development Director Courtney Dentlinger said that's up to the Legislature to decide.

However, she said: "We'd be happy to take on the responsibility."
Standing on principle, not to mention common sense, is so rare these days that when someone does it they make headlines. Thats because you can quickly be labeled a bigot if you oppose a lot of the sludge dumped on us by the secular left, and few can withstand the onslaught.

North Carolinas Republican governor, Pat McCrory, is unafraid.

On Friday, the Department of Justice sent him a letter warning that North Carolinas House Bill 2, also known as the bathroom bill, violated the Civil Rights Act. The bill, which requires that transgender people use public bathrooms that match their birth certificates, was swiftly labeled anti-LGBT, which was all DOJ needed to hear. The government gave McCrory until Monday to confirm that North Carolina would not comply with or implement HB2. McCrory pushed back. On Monday, he filed a lawsuit against the DOJ, targeting Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. The suit, according to ABC News, accused the DOJ of a radical reinterpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and wrote that the federal governments position was a baseless and blatant overreach.

The governments letter, according to North Carolina Public Radio-WUNCs Jeff Tiberii, who obtained a copy, warned that The State is engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender state employees and both you, in your official capacity, and the state are engaging in a pattern or practice of resistance.

In a statement following the announcement of the lawsuit, Gov. McCrory said, The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina. This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level, meaning Congress and the courts.

McCrory added that Washington is telling every government agency and every company that employs more than 15 people that men should be allowed to use a womens locker room, restroom or shower facility.

The push and pull continues.

If you are a woman reading this, how would you feel about showering with a naked man? If you are a man who has daughters, would you be OK with allowing them to use a womens restroom knowing that a man could be in there? Target is fine with it, apparently. In a blog last week, the company stated that it welcomes transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. Target stores are now the target of a boycott.

What about school gyms? Are you fine with having your daughter changing and showering with a boy who believes hes a girl? What happened to the right to privacy, so revered by the progressive left?

Does the fact that we are even having this debate say something about the state of our culture and the attempts by secularists to undermine what remains of its creaking foundations, traditions and what used to be known as common sense? Who gets to decide? And on what is that decision based?

Are morals and ethics now up for grabs, depending on which group makes the most noise and promises the most votes? Perhaps Loretta Lynch and her deputy should lead by example and shower with a transgender male. Even better, how about first lady Michelle Obama? Media coverage could be discreet. Im betting that neither Lynch nor the first lady would go that far. In fact, I suspect that very few on the left would want to live under many of the laws and dictates they like to impose on the rest of us.

Have we gone mad? The question all but answers itself.

Gov. McCrory has already directed state agencies to make reasonable accommodations to transgender people by installing single-occupancy restrooms. North Carolina also allows private companies to set their own bathroom policies, but that is not what the Obama administration wants. It wants to fundamentally transform the United States of America. Its one of the few promises the president has managed to keep.
Will there be blood?

That question has gone conspicuously unasked as we enumerate the possible outcomes of Novembers election. The potential impact on the nations economy, its foreign policy and its standing in the world have all been duly analyzed. But there has been little, if any, discussion of the potential for violence.

It is, of course, Donald Trumps name on the ballot that necessitates the discussion. His rallies have erupted into brawls with depressing frequency; his followers assaulting demonstrators while he eggs them on.

And then, theres this: Last year, two South Boston brothers  Scott and Steve Leader  were arrested after allegedly peeing in the face of a homeless, 58-year-old Mexican immigrant sleeping on a bench. They beat him with a metal pole, breaking his nose. Authorities say Scott Leader explained himself thusly: Donald Trump was right. All these illegals need to be deported.

Trumps initial response was simply to note that his followers love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate. If that is the sort of passion a few rallies and speeches incite, how much worse would it be in the event  God help us all  of an actual Trump victory? How emboldened in their bullyboy behavior would people like the Leader brothers become with one of their own in the White House?

And thats not even the worst-case scenario. What if the far more likely thing happens? What if Trump loses? His followers are already filled with fury and an exaggerated sense of their own victimhood and entitlement. What happens if an embarrassingly emphatic repudiation is added to that mix?

Hate crimes might be the least of our problems. The greater worry might be terrorism.

In a nation conditioned to think of terrorism as the exclusive province of Muslim fanatics with difficult names, the idea will strike some as ridiculous. But to be sanguine about the danger of radical right violence is to pretend Cliven Bundys armed standoff in Nevada and the armed takeover of federal property in Oregon never happened. And it is to ignore a litany of radical right terror plots enacted or interdicted in recent years.

From the Oklahoma City bombing to the Atlanta Olympics bombing to a New York state plot to murder Muslims by radiation poisoning, to a massacre at an African-American church in Charleston, to the attempted bombing of a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, to the crashing of an airplane into an IRS office in Austin to a mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs to, literally, dozens more, the radical right has hardly been shy about using violence to frighten people as a means of achieving their political goals  the dictionary definition of terrorism.

Small wonder Mark Potok, editor of Intelligence Report, the magazine of the Southern Poverty Law Center, does not laugh off the possibility of violence from aggrieved supporters of Donald Trump. Radical right terror, he says, is a worry anyway, as we go through this huge demographic transition in the United States. But the thing about Trumps voters is that they are angry, they are riled up, and they are expecting to win. If and when they dont, he says, terrorism might well be their response.

Its not as unthinkable as some of us will want to believe. Too often, as the right has descended into tribalistic incoherence, the rest of us have underestimated the crazy, baselessly reassuring ourselves that theyll go this far, but surely no further. And too often, weve been wrong. Maybe its time to abandon baseless reassurance. Maybe its time to take crazy at face value.

Will there be blood? Heres a better question:

Will you honestly be surprised if there is?
Some agricultural commodity groups managed to slip a passage into an appropriations bill that would exempt them from the Freedom of Information Act.

Members of Congress need to strip out the language before it becomes law.

The commodity groups are just trying to avoid public scrutiny.

The attempt is anti-consumer and contrary to the public interest.

In the Farm and Food column in last Sundays Journal Star columnist Alan Guebert recounted multiple examples of how he has used the FOIA to unearth questionable and downright illegal spending by the checkoff organizations.

Among them was the time the National Pork Producers Council hired a Washington D.C. consulting firm to spy on activist groups.

The activist groups included such mainline organizations as Nebraskas Center for Rural Affairs and the National Farmers Union.

More recently advocates used the law to unearth emails efforts by the American Egg Board to prevent Hampton Creek, a San Francisco startup, from selling a plant-based product called Just Mayo at Whole Foods.

The emails included some creepy jokes about killing Hampton Creeks CEO. Can we pool our money and put a hit on him? asked one egg board member, according to The Guardian newspaper. An executive with the checkoff organization offered to contact some of my buddies in Brooklyn to pay a visit to the CEO.

The American Egg Board, which is under investigation by the US. Department of Agriculture because of the reports, has since apologized for the remarks. The boards CEO has taken early retirement.

The checkoff programs are quasi-public programs established by Congress, with boards appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.

Producers are required by law to pay into the checkoffs. In fact the U.S. Supreme Court has decreed that checkoff promotions are government speech.

In short the organizations are using the federal governments authority to tax as they collect about $500 million a year from producers.

The public has every right to know how the organizations are spending their money.

If Congress goes along with their attempt to hide their activities from public view it will make it more difficult for the public to learn about their food and where it comes from.

As Guebert reported, the 217-page funding bill for the USDAs $21.3 billion budget for next year sailed through on a voice vote.

Americans are well aware that Congress is barely functioning these days. Its all too easy for lobbyists to sneak things into legislation. We hope that Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, and the rest of Nebraska's congressional delegation can pry this passage out of the bill before it goes further.
I am writing in regards to Sen. Ben Sasse's remarks on May 6 ("Sasse: Draft a third presidential choice," May 6). This type of reasoning is a prime example of why the GOP continues to lose general elections. He has no respect nor does he care about the millions of voters who have supported Donald Trump. I am 83-years-old and know quite well about values and principles but they lose a lot of value when the party does not control the White House.
FORT CALHOUN  Fort Calhoun residents say they're worried that closing a more than 40-year-old nuclear power plant in the area could result in economic problems for the community.

The president and CEO of the Omaha Public Power District told its board of directors Thursday that it's no longer financially sustainable to operate the Fort Calhoun Station and he recommended that it be closed by the end of the year. The board is expected to vote on the recommendations next month.

About 150 of the nearly 700 workers at the plant live in Fort Calhoun, Blair or elsewhere in Washington County. Local businesses often reap benefits from workers who commute there.

The Calhoun Oil service station on U.S. 75 often captures the daily stream of traffic flowing to and from the plant.

"I hate to see anyone lose their job," said patron Kevin Burns, a Fort Calhoun resident. "There are probably a lot of guys close to retirement."

Lisa Scheve, director of Washington County's economic development arm, said that there is enough time to assess the workers' skills and find a way to keep them in the area.

"We have great skilled, quality talent, and we want to retain that talent in Washington County and the greater Omaha area," said Scheve, of Gateway Development Corp.

Sandy Kucera, owner of Too Far North, a gift, antique and wine shop in Fort Calhoun, said she will inevitably lose some business if OPPD closes its plant.

"I think it's a tragedy for our community," she said.
The 2016 Inspire Awards, presented by the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, took place April 14th at North Star High school. The Inspire Awards program, in its second year of existence, is the only district-wide recognition of exceptional educators and students in Lincoln Public Schools. This event celebrates individuals who contribute to their school communities in positive and extraordinary ways. By celebrating these individuals, the Foundation and LPS encourage a culture of community and hope to inspire others.

The process to become an Inspire educator or Inspire student begins in each school community and is ongoing. Toward the end of the school year, principals are asked to nominate educators and students to be recognized at the ceremony, which is usually in April. Dr. Steve Joel, LPS superintendent; Wendy Van, Foundation president; Board of Education members and Foundation board members honor the educators and students who exemplify personal and professional excellence, and make their school communities welcoming, vibrant education centers.

Winners received bright orange Inspire t-shirts, which they wore to the event  a high-energy, fun and informal celebration. LPS board members handed out medals and certificates to the winners as they entered the school. High school mascots, along with Lil Red from UNL, greeted attendees and ushered them into the auditorium. Onstage, North Stars pep band serenaded the honorees and families as they entered the auditorium, and beach balls were batted around to the music until the event began. The energy was palpable as Dr. Joel took the stage to welcome attendees and celebrate their legacy of excellence in Lincoln Public Schools.

Joel congratulated the winners on being a bright spot, a point of light that makes your school and our community remarkable. Wendy Van, president of the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, acknowledged the winners for Making a difference every day  for being the best and the brightest of our school district, and remarked that the awards are about who you are, and who you strive to be.

Jackie Ostrowicki, assistant vice-president for university affairs and director of marketing and strategic communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, gave an inspirational keynote address. Her discussion centered on building character. Saying that character is built when nobodys looking, she gave examples from her own family and life, and went on to discuss the honorees at the awards. She met personally with a couple of them to discern what about their character had put them on the path to be Inspire Award winners. Sharing these stories and discussing how to create a house where character can live encouraged those attending to reach higher and make small choices, day after day, to build character through practice. She summed up by saying that making tough choices and not giving up is something everyone can do by focusing on the good  and that people who do can change the world.

Fredstrom Elementary School Principal Vicki Schulenberg accepted the 2016 Inspire School award and outlined the work her school is doing to improve itself and its community through the Whole Child Initiative. Fredstrom received a $6,500 cash award, generously donated by Allstate and Wells Fargo, to continue these efforts.

Also recognized were Inspire sponsor Xerox, along with point of light sponsors Pinnacle Bank and the Lincoln Journal Star, and supporting sponsors Smith Hayes, Jersey Mikes and Fresh Thyme Grocery.

The festive atmosphere continued after the ceremony, as award winners congregated in the North Star commons to enjoy a social hour with snacks provided by HyVee, while a PowerPoint presentation played photos of all the winners.
First-Plymouth Church, 20th & D streets, and lay pastor Jen Davidson are starting a new group for adults 55 years and older called Third Chapter Ministries. All adults are welcome to join the group and activities.

Two new opportunities are available through Third Chapter Ministries:

"5 Books/5 Great Ideas About Spirituality and Aging" is Wed. May 25, 6:30-7:30 p.m., in Pilgrim Hall. Jen Davidson, lay pastor, will give a brief review of five books that explore the concept of Spirituality and Aging. For a list of books, visit firstplymouth.org. Contact addie@firstplymouth.org or 402-476-7550 to register.

"Pilgrimage to Omaha" is scheduled 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 4. Join fellow seniors (55 years +) for a day exploring faith traditions in Omaha. With expert guides, the group will visit: Family Holy Shrine, Tri-Faith Initiative (Christian, Muslim, Jewish), and the Hindu Temple. Chartered bus tour with expert guides at each location. $25 per person (includes bus and tour fees). Register by completing a form (firstplymouth.org) and return to the church, attn: Addie, 2000 D St, Lincoln NE 68502 or email addie@firstplymouth.org
SOMERS  University of Wisconsin-Parkside faculty will be the latest group to discuss a no-confidence vote against University of Wisconsin System leaders.

The university faculty senate is expected to meet at 3:30 p.m. Friday in room D139 at Molinaro Hall. The meeting follows faculty groups at multiple UW campuses casting symbolic no-confidence votes after state funding cuts of $250 million and the removal of some tenure protections.

Faculty at UW campuses in Madison, La Crosse, River Falls, Milwaukee and Green Bay have passed resolutions.

The UW-Milwaukee vote drew a rebuke from Gov. Scott Walker, who said that "before the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee issues their collective groan today about budgeting and job for life tenure, it is important to highlight the facts."

The governor wrote in his statement that full professor salaries averaged $101,700 in the 2013-2014 academic year and that facultys average time spent in classrooms dropped by 20 percent from 2000 to 2013.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ban on women going for domestic jobs lifted

The government has decided to allow Nepali women to work abroad as housemaids, backtracking on its resolve to lift the restriction only after signing separate labour agreements with the host countries.
Beijing sends freight train for Nepal

China has opened its first combined transport service (rail and road) to Nepal with an international freight train departing from Lanzhou, the capital city of northwestern Chinas Gansu province, for Kathmandu, on Wednesday.
China charges Hu Jintao aide Ling Jihua with corruption

China has formally charged Ling Jihua, a former aide to ex-president Hu Jintao, with corruption.
CIAA files graft case against suspended MP Lharkyal Lama

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority on Thursday filed a corruption case against suspended UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker Lharkyal Lama in the Special Court, charging him with amassing Rs 94.47 million through illegal means.
CIB arrests poacher of tiger-fitted with GPS

A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested a man involved in poaching Namobuddha, the countrys first tiger fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled satellite collar.
Committees to implement pacts with India, China

The government has formed two different committees led by Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi to oversee implementation of the agreements signed during the PMs official visits to India and China.
Complaint against recommendation for promotion to APF AIG post

Two DIGs of Armed Police Force (APF) have filed a complaint against the recommendation for the promotion to the post of Assistant Inspector General (AIG).
Prahlad Rijal is a business reporter at The Kathmandu Post, focusing on the energy sector. Before joining the Post, Rijal was an online reporter at The Himalayan Times.
Dhurmus-Suntali drive for model settlement in Melamchi

Nepal's popular comedy couple Dhurmus-Suntali are constructing earthquake-resistant integrated model houses in Tamang community at Melamchi municipality-8, Giraunchaur of earthquake worst-hit Sindhupalchowk district.
EU, TI Nepal to promote integrity in post-quake reconstruction

The European Union (EU) and Transparency International Nepal (TI Nepal) on Thursday launched a support programme to foster integrity in the post-earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation process.
Fanned up flames

Nepal may be a global leader in community forestry but it has a long way to go to fight forest fires
House endorses govt policy and programme

The Legislature-Parliament on Friday endorsed the policies and programmes of government presented for the upcoming fiscal year 207374 BS with a majority.
'Kurdish bomb-makers' killed in Turkey explosion

Four suspected Kurdish rebels have been killed while loading explosives in south-eastern Turkey, the interior ministry says.
Lawmakers give mixed views on government policies and programmes

Lawmakers continued to air their views in support and against the government new policies and programmes in today's session of the Legislature-Parliament.
Literary evening at RS Moto

Two of Safu Publications recent literary endeavoursThese Fine Lines: Poems of Restraint and Abandon, an anthology of poems by Nepali female poets, and the sixth volume of La.Lit, New Fiction from Nepalare slated to be launched at 6 pm on Saturday at RS Moto, Gahanapokhari in the Capital.
Madhesi parties blame govt for absence of talks

The Madhes-based parties have accused the government of not being serious about ending the Tarai crisis through talks.
Malaysia mulls lifting ban on foreign labour

Malaysia has been mulling lifting the ban on foreign labour after an acute manpower shortage started hurting industrial output, local media reported.
Man of Nepali origin elected mayor of UK town

A man of Nepali origin has been elected as mayor of Swanley Town Council in the United Kingdom.
Nepal and Republic of Guinea establish diplomatic ties

Nepal and the Republic of Guinea have established formal bilateral diplomatic relations.
No agreement to make Dahal PM, says deputy

UCPN (Maoist) Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha has claimed that he is not aware of the so called gentlemens agreement to appoint his party chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, as the next prime minister.
One dies after electrocution in Kanchanpur

A person died on the spot after touching an electric wire of high voltage at Kanchanpur on Thursday.
Parliament suspends lawmaker Lama

The Legislature-Parliament has suspended lawmaker Lharkyal Lama, who faces charges of amassing property earned through illegal means and corruption, from his post.
Plans afoot for heavy equipment leasing co

The government is planning to set up a company to lease construction equipment so that contractors engaged in infrastructure projects will not need to buy new machinery each time increasing the construction costs, National Planning Commission (NPC) Vice-Chairman Yubaraj Khatiwada said on Thursday.
PM appeals to one and all to lend support for Dharahara rebuilding campaign

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said the historic heritage Dharahara (Bhimsen tower) that was flattened by the last year's major earthquake will be rebuilt in a new model with the adoption of safe construction standards.
Press Council asks ABC TV to apologise

Press Council Nepal has demanded public apology from ABC Television for broadcasting an interview of Madhesi rights activist CK Raut.
Private medical colleges seek revision to medical education bill

The Association of Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Nepal has expressed its reservation over the final draft of the amended bill on National Medical Education Act submitted by Health Profession Education Commission (HPEC) to PM KP Oli on Thursday.
Reconstructing human capital

It is apparent that people opted out of the building regulations and placed themselves in harms way
Floods inundate market, shops in Salyan

Floods triggered by incessant rainfall on Thursday night have inundated streets, a dozen road-side shops, three motorcycles and 50 water mills in Dovan, Baphukhola-3 in the district. Dovan market place has also submerged after a flooding river entered the market.
Sanghiya Gathabandhan announces Kathmandu-centric protest

Sanghiya Gathabandhan, an alliance of Madhesi parties and Janajati forces, has announced to launch its Kathmandu-centric protest starting Saturday.
Takeover and taxation

Based on the evidence, the final chapter of the Ncell tax discord is yet to be written
Top Hezbollah commander Badreddine killed

A senior Hezbollah commander has been killed in an Israeli operation in Syria, the Lebanon-based Shia militant organisation says.
Tracing the missing

In spite of strict laws against child trafficking, the scourge remains rife
Victims say nine-point deal robbed them of justice hope

Sher Bahadur Chhettri of Pang village in Parbat registered a complaint at the Commission on Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) on April 21 about his sons disappearance during the conflict.
Writ on nine-point deal quashed

The Supreme Court has quashed the writ petition filed against the nine-point agreement between the CPN (UML) and the UCPN (Maoist).
Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits

Yes, they will make the city more inviting

Maybe ... does it really matter?

No, the signs in place are fine

No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars

Vote

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As a new government takes shape, calls for national dialogue are being resounded.

The latest is from civil society activist and retired Bishop Zac Niringiye who says what the country needs now is to move from Defiance to Dialogue.

Bishop Niringiye says this will help in negotiating a future in which all Ugandans can enjoy liberty and equal opportunity.

He tells KFM that the current defiance campaign by the opposition was triggered by the contested February 18 presidential elections leading to a political crisis.

Niringiye says national dialogue must start now because this stalemate coupled with the ban on live media coverage of opposition activities is not sustainable.

Similar calls were made earlier by the Citizens Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda on grounds that the results of the last presidential election as announced by the Electoral Commission and the decision of the Supreme Court have not brought an end to these contestations nor conferred legitimacy on the outcome of the election in the mind of a significant section of the Ugandan society.

Delivering his inaugural speech at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala on Thursday afternoon, President Yoweri Museveni called for unity after the polls saying Uganda is for everybody including the opposition.

Story By Catherine Ageno
Over 1,000 students of Gulu University have been suspended following Wednesdays violent strike.

The students mainly from the faculty of Education and Humanities set ablaze the Universitys Multi-purpose hall protesting delayed release of examination results.

The disgruntled students claim the said results were meant to be released in December last year.

Gulu University Deputy spokesperson, Mahmoud Khalid acknowledges the delay which he attributes to the absence of an assistant academic registrar.

He says the administration has also resolved to suspend the examinations that were due next week on Monday.
Cheryl Barker of Kendallville shared a picture one of Joels classmates drew for him. He couldnt understand why she has a duck on the side of her head. Grandson Joel is 5.
No

Yes, a light case

Yes, two or more light cases

One serious case

Two or more serious bouts

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With hundreds of votes tallied, Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, is releasing the results of a District 28B legislative questionnaire he distributed earlier this year.

Im very pleased with this years response to the district survey, Davids said. As always, the input I receive from the questionnaire helps me as I vote on issues that will likely receive votes at the State Capitol.

When asked what the Legislature should do with Minnesotas projected $900 million surplus, 51 percent want to keep it in budget reserves, while 34 percent would like to return it to the taxpayers. Fifteen percent chose increase state spending.

In order to provide more money for statewide road and bridge improvement, 83 percent said they would rather redirect tax revenues that are already being collected by Minnesota for transportation purposes, while 17 percent want to increase gas taxes by a minimum of 16 cents per gallon.

Regarding their feelings on MNsure, 46 percent say it isnt working and lawmakers should repeal it entirely; 24 percent think they should give Minnesotans more options outside of MNsure; 20 percent believe it can be fixed by enacting significant reforms; and 10 percent feel it is working and that lawmakers should leave it alone.

In addition, 64 percent of respondents prefer using surplus funds to provide tax relief rather than to increase spending for Local Government Aid; 71 percent do not want to provide state tax dollars to fund all day pre-kindergarten programs; and 67 percent said they do not support the DNRs approach to expand its authority for water buffer zones to include ditches.
HASTINGS, Minn. (AP)  A driver who caused a fatal crash in Lakeville, then disrobed and hid in a strangers town house, has pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and burglary.

Forty-year-old Eric Kasprzyk of Rosemount entered his plea Wednesday in Dakota County. Sentencing is set for Aug. 9.

The complaint says Kasprzyk ran a red light while speeding the wrong way down a Lakeville street on April 1 and broadsided another vehicle, killing 45-year-old Osah Phetsarath.

Authorities say Kasprzyk shed his clothes as he ran from the crash, entered a town home about two blocks away and locked himself in a closet. Police were called and took Kasprzyk into custody.

The judge ordered a presentence investigation. The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Kasprzyk remains in jail with bail set at $250,000.
Police found heroin and Xanax in the room of a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student who died after a medical emergency last month in Angell Hall.

According to La Crosse Police Department reports, witnesses said first-year student Connor Glynn had taken heroin and prescription drugs April 10, and they were worried he was an addict.

Medical personnel were called to the residence hall at 10:04 p.m. that Sunday after students found Glynn unconscious and not breathing in his room. Students provided CPR until emergency personnel arrived, including five personnel from the La Crosse Fire Department who provided basic life support at the scene.

Glynn, a 19-year-old student from Hartland, Wis., studying finance at UW-L, was taken by Tri-State Ambulance Service to Gundersen Health System and eventually Mayo Clinic Health System in Rochester, Minn., where he died April 14.

La Crosse Police released 26 pages of incident reports Thursday detailing the investigation during the week of April 10, which included searches of the students dorm room and car, the officers notes on the 911 call made by a UW-L student, as well as statements of witnesses who were with Glynn that evening. According to the records, a dark substance that field-tested positive for heroin was found in Glynns room in Angell Hall, as well as the prescription drug alprazolam, better known by the brand name Xanax. It is unknown, according to the reports, whether Glynn had a prescription for the drug.

UW-L requested the assistance of La Crosse police in conducting the investigation into the incident. As part of that assistance, Detective Andrew Dittman conducted a search of Glynns car April 13, which turned up no evidence, as well an examination of evidence collected by UW-L in Glynns dorm room April 10.

According to the report, a white envelope was found with a dark substance inside that tested positive for heroin. Also found were an empty cardboard package from a business in India with the label Health Supplement (Samples), a half empty two-pill pack of alprazolam and three empty pill packs.

According to the reports, a search warrant for Glynns phone and laptop were issued, and the items containing drugs were sent to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for further testing. Mayo officials said Wednesday Glynns death certificate would be completed soon.

During the week after the incident, Dittman also interviewed three UW-L students about the events of the afternoon and evening of April 10. The first student told Dittmann that Glynn lived with a resident assistant, tended to spend time alone and didnt have many friends.

On Sunday, the student said he went to Angell Hall to meet with Glynn to work on homework and saw Glynn consume a substance he believed to be heroin sometime before 6 p.m. After that, the two met another student in a common study area, and they worked on homework together.

According to the report, at some point that evening, Glynn started looking terrible and the two became worried. A student said Glynn told them he had taken Xanax and that he had never felt this faded before.

The student told officers they had told each other that Glynn had needed help but didnt know what to do and that Glynn had continued to get homework done.

Eventually, the two students convinced Glynn to go to bed, walked him to his room and watched him get into the bed. That was around 8:30 p.m., according to another student. The first student told detectives that he had checked in on Glynn several times, with Glynn saying each time he wanted to sleep.

The student said he checked on Glynn a final time, which the other student told police happened around 9:45 p.m., and found him unresponsive, pulled him onto the floor and began CPR while another student called 911.

The first student told Dittman he believed that Glynn had been struggling with addiction in recent weeks and had tried to get him help several times in the days prior to the incident. Each time, the student said, Glynn rebuffed the attempts.

Let me get help for you, please, the student told officers he said to Glynn a few days before the incident. Im a friend. Its hard, but I want to get you help.

Dittman also interviewed the other student in the study group, who also said Glynn used Xanax. A third student interviewed said Glynn seemed to be under the influence of some kind of drug.

Glynns parents told Dittman their son did not have a history of depression, nor did they know of him abusing drugs or prescription medications. They said Glynn had lost weight but that he told his family he didnt like the college food.

Gow said he wasnt privy to the investigation but that the incident was a tragedy. Messages left with Vice Chancellor for Student Life Paula Knudson and UW-L Police Chief Scott McCullough, officials involved in the investigation, were not returned Thursday.

Im very saddened to hear about the heroin, UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow said in an interview on Thursday. We will want to continue to investigate how he obtained it.

According to UW-L officials, the investigation into Glynns death continues. Requests for information from UW-L have been declined. UW-L has cited the ongoing investigation.
WINONA, Minn.  A few minutes can make all the difference in a water rescue, requiring quick action and a plan.

It also doesnt hurt to have dozens of workers close by and ready with exactly the right tools for the job, either.

Luckily, all were on hand Tuesday afternoon when Ames Construction workers pulled a woman out of the water after she went over the side of the interstate bridge.

Scott Klein and CJ Ruhl, who talked Thursday about the incident and their response, quickly and frequently credited their coworkers and help from several emergency responders, including Winona police, sheriffs deputies and first responders in rescuing the woman, who was pulled out and taken to a waiting ambulance in about 10 minutes.

Klein, the general superintendent of the site, who has worked for Ames for 12 years, said he was driving over the bridge when he saw someone sitting on the edge in the middle of the existing interstate bridge, and when he got to the side and was joined by Ruhl, there were already people contacting the police.

Not a minute after radioing the crews tugboat to see if they could free themselves up in case something happened, the woman was in the water and they were hurrying to a john boat kept for those kind of emergencies.

The officers on the shore used lights to point out where the woman was and guide the workers there.

Five minutes later, it was over.

Klein said the construction crews have the protocols in place while working on bridges that span water exactly for that reason. That includes emergency kits to prevent hypothermia on hand for anyone who falls in, which they were able to give to the woman and deliver her to the waiting crews.

Anybody that works with us would have responded the same way, Klein said.

Neither of them had witnessed a non-construction worker rescued before.

While they downplayed their role, their quick action surely prevented a potential tragedy, said Steve Buswell, Winona County jail administrator and Winona County Dive Rescue team member.

Buswell said the low temperature and choppiness of the river could have overcome the woman if given any more time.

If that boat hadnt been there, it would have been a recovery not a rescue, Buswell said.

The launch for the Dive and Rescue teams boat would have been the St. Charles Street boat landing, which would have added five to seven minutes onto their arrival, Buswell said. As it was, they were called off before even needed to get into the water.

Buswell said the two men and other workers went above and beyond the response of most witnesses of a situation.

They took it upon themselves to do what they could, Buswell said. It was a perfect collaboration  it really couldnt have worked any better.

Ruhl, a civil foreman who has worked for Ames for six years, said the whole process shed light on a broader picture of their work, from maneuvering the barge to their safety training.

We were all prepared, Ruhl said. It shows it was a group effort.
On Tuesday, protesters from several anti-frac organizations were outside the La Crosse Center opposing the Frac Sand Insider Conference. But these protesters werent just protesting sand mining, they were also protesting lower gas prices and countless opportunities for job creation thanks to the sand mining industry.

These protesters do not represent everyone in La Crosse. Many of us are thankful that gas prices are low and that jobs are coming back to the region.

Sand mining has the potential to bring hundreds of jobs to northwestern and western Wisconsin, but the antics of the left have made it harder for local governments to approve such projects, costing local municipalities and communities millions of dollars in possible revenue.
US President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hanover, Germany, April 24, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

When Elizabeth Trudeau, director of US State Department Press Office, read a statement on Tuesday about a US Navy surface ship "exercising the right of innocent passage" while transiting near China's Yongshu Reef that day, she said it was to uphold the rights and freedoms of all states under international law and to challenge the excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea.

She was soon challenged by an Associated Press reporter about who determines what constitutes an excessive maritime claim. Trudeau, who, like most people, clearly does not understand much of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, said this is consistent with UNCLOS.

She was then reminded that the US has not ratified UNCLOS, unlike more than 160 other countries. The US' concern is that ratifying the convention would subject it to international laws that would diminish the US' sovereignty on the high seas.

Such hypocrisy aside, the US Navy action reflects the deep-rooted US mentality that it is the self-appointed world's policeman.

It was just like a CNN report earlier this week talking about Russian military presence in Syria. In the end, the reporter quoted a Syrian civilian as saying that peace and stability can only be brought about by Syrian people, not external forces, implying that the Russian forces are not helping.

Yet as anyone who does not have short memory knows too well it was the US and its NATO allies that were the first external forces to become involved in the conflict in Syria, when they supplied arms to rebel groups and when US President Barack Obama said in 2011 that Syrian President Bashar Assad must go. Since their intervention, the Syrian conflict has escalated, causing huge loss of civilian lives, an influx of refugees and the rise of the Islamic State extremist group.

Unlike his predecessors, Obama's rhetoric has been less supportive of US being the self-appointed policeman of the world. In his last State of the Union Address in January, he said, "How do we keep America safe and lead the world without becoming its policeman?"

However, the US' actions in Syria, Libya and now the South China Sea suggest the US still regards itself as far beyond all other nations and international organizations such as the United Nations.

Yes, the world needs a policeman, and it is debatable whether UN can effectively serve that role. But the US' track record in this regard is hardly impeccable. Throughout the past half a century, it has supported and armed many ruthless dictators from Asia to Africa to Latin America. And it has enforced international laws in favor of its security allies and partners, no matter how bad they behave.

We should not forget that both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were good friends of the US just less than three decades ago.

The fact of the matter is the world is no safer today with the US serving as the world's policeman, or in euphemism, exercising its global leadership.

I am not denying it has played a positive role at times, but the role of world's policeman clearly needs to be kept under scrutiny by the UN and the international community. Otherwise, it invites chaos if every big power appoints themselves as a global or regional policeman.

A Pew Center poll released on May 5 about America's role in the world showed that most Americans say it would be better if the US just dealt with its own problems and let other countries deal with their own problems as best they can, and more people than before say the US should cut back its defense spending.

That is a clear disapproval by American people for the US playing the role of the world's policeman.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily USA. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
Flanked by City Council members, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval on Thursday addressed recent violence in the Madison area, resulting in three homicides since April 19, and emphasized the critical role of community leaders in investing in long-term solutions.

I dont think weve seen anything in the likes of this, Koval said at a press conference.

While police are continuing to investigate, Koval said putting suspects in custody is not a permanent solution, characterizing it as a Band-Aid on a significant problem.

If we hope to do the major surgery that is required or engage in preventative holistic medicine to avoid these tragedies, thats where (local elected officials) are going to have to be center stage, Koval said.

The most recent homicide, the sixth of the year in Madison, occurred Wednesday night at a gas station on Rimrock Road in the Town of Madison. A man was shot and died later at UW Hospital. The town of Madison has identified 28-year-old Kortney Moore as a suspect in Wednesdays homicide, and Chief Scott Gregory said he should be considered armed and dangerous.

This stuff is serious, Gregory said, calling on the community to contact police if they see Moore. We need it to stop.

On April 19, 30-year-old Martez Moore of Madison was shot and killed outside OGradys Pub on the citys far west side. On Tuesday, 38-year-old Darius Haynes  officially identified by the medical examiner's office Thursday  was shot and killed while inside his car at a gas station on Verona Road.

Police believe the three homicides are connected and individuals involved may have gang affiliations. While the investigation is ongoing, police believe the past homicide-related conflicts are between two groups of people, some of whom are friends, acquaintances or relatives.

Koval said the suspect in the town of Madison homicide is the brother of the victim in the shooting at OGradys. Police have identified four persons of interest in that shooting as well as four others in the recent uptick in gunshots fired around the city.

In the past year, Madison police crime analysts determined there have been 35 incidents of shots being fired, Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.

DeSpain echoed Kovals experience and said the sustained violence over a number of weeks has not been seen before in Madison.

We do see retaliation, but to have this type of retaliation with this type of deadly force in this time period is very new for Madison, DeSpain said.

Violence must stop

Large posters of the town of Madison suspect and eight persons of interest in a variety of recent crime were displayed on easels next to the podium during the conference. Kortney Moores mugshot was the most prominent.

All these young men look like me, said Ald. Maurice Cheeks, District 10. More like me than any of the press in this room.

Cheeks said when he was 28-years-old, the age of Moore, he was elected to the City Council. He said it is heartbreaking that the photos of the men all came from past interactions with law enforcement.

As we look at these person of interest and suspect, the pictures that we have for them represent  a small window into a moment of time where obviously their lens of opportunity was shrinking, Cheeks said.

He was joined by fellow City Council members Alds. Barbara Harrington-McKinney, District 1; Sheri Carter, District 14; and Matt Phair, District 19.

We are saying collectively, violence must stop, Harrington-McKinney said.

Cheeks said he and his colleagues wanted to reassure the public, but he said he hopes people are wholly discontent with this reality.

When you see young men losing hope, its because they've lost a sense of opportunity, Cheeks said. I hope that the public, that our residents, will come together and recognize the dire importance of young men being able to see a life for themselves here.

Carter spoke directly to young men in the community, imploring them to think before reacting.

Dont let your anger direct your future, Carter said.

Phair announced he and Cheeks are working on recommendations for gun violence prevention, aimed at youth in the community. Mayor Paul Soglin, who was not in attendance, will address the recent violence at a press conference Saturday at noon on the third floor community room at the Madison Public Library.

Also in response to the violence, Rev. Alex Gee held a prayer vigil Thursday at Fountain of Life Church, located at 633 W. Badger Road.
Hours after House Speaker Paul Ryan met with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, Wisconsin surrogates for Hillary Clinton slammed Trump's tax plan and highlighted the schism in the Republican party created by Trump's candidacy.

"Trumps proposal is a plan for the billionaires by the billionaires," said state Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, echoing comments Clinton made Wednesday in New Jersey.

Mason and Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shiling, D-La Crosse, spoke with reporters Tuesday.

Trump has taken some heat for inconsistencies on the contents of his tax plan and what he says it will do. He has said the plan will be "negotiated" and end up a different proposal than what he initially introduced.

The plan would lower taxes for the wealthy, but Trump said earlier this week that after negotiations, it will end up raising taxes on the highest earners.

And on Wednesday, it was reported that Trump's campaign was looking to conservative economists to help slash the plan's price tag.

In revisiting his tax plan, Trump has also indicated a shift in his opposition to increasing the minimum wage. He has expressed openness to a federal minimum wage "floor" and recently said he likes letting states set their own minimum wage.

Shilling said Trump's tax plan is a risky one and would "leave working families holding the bag."

As state lawmakers, Shilling and Mason said they're especially fearful of a Trump presidency.

"I think certainly states should be very concerned and alarmed should Donald Trump become president about what the responsibilities would be for our own states to balance the budget, and the partnership that state and federal government have in millions of dollars of federal programs," Shilling said.

Trump's meeting with Ryan came about a week after the Janesville Republican said he's not yet at a point where he can endorse the party's likely nominee.

In a joint statement, Ryan and Trump said the meeting was a "positive step toward unification."

"While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground. We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident theres a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal," they said.

Shilling said the lack of an endorsement from Ryan after Thursday's meeting shows that Trump is "dangerous," "divisive" and "erratic."

Now, Mason said, "Republicans are going to have to grapple with the realities of the Trump candidacy."

Some Wisconsin Republicans have been quicker than others to embrace the likelihood of a Trump nomination. Gov. Scott Walker has said he will support the party's nominee, but he, like most state GOP leaders, hasn't shown much enthusiasm for the candidate.

"I think the tightrope that leaders, Republican candidates, legislators have to walk this campaign season is either theyre running with Trump or theyre running away from (him), and they need to figure that out," Shilling said.
The La Crosse Area Retired Educators will meet for lunch at Black River Bar and Grill at 11:30 a.m. Monday, June 6. Everyone who has retired from Wisconsin public schools is invited.

Grumpy Old Men will be back to entertain us and we will also be honoring loyal members. The cost of the meal is $10. Reservations can be made through Karen Broadhead, 608-788-2485 or Marlene McCabe, 608-781-1039. The next meeting will be Sept. 12.
The question in the title of this post is the headline of this new lengthy cleveland.com article. Here are excerpts:

Ohio lawmakers have spent the last five years tackling the state's opioid epidemic, making it harder to obtain addictive painkillers and easier for people to receive treatment for their addiction. The same lawmakers have rebuffed efforts to legalize marijuana. One representative said last year that legalization would "be like pouring gasoline on the fire."

But the number of overdose deaths continues to climb -- nearly 2,000 people died from opioid overdoses in Ohio in 2014. And medical marijuana advocates point to a growing body of research that supports marijuana as a safer, less addictive alternative to those drugs.

Rep. Ryan Smith, a Gallia County Republican, said that point was raised several times during House GOP discussions about a bill legalizing medical marijuana. "The thought is we're treating pain right now with various addictive opiates so if there's an opportunity to treat them with something else that's less addictive, why not?" Smith said.

The House will vote Tuesday on House Bill 523, which would establish a tightly regulated medical marijuana program where patients could buy and use marijuana with a doctor's recommendation. Smoking and growing at home would not be permitted. Lawmakers hope the bill will halt two ballot measure efforts. Ohio would be the 25th state to legalize medical marijuana.

Clinical research doesn't support marijuana for most of the conditions states' laws allow, a study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association journal concluded. But the study did find sufficient evidence that marijuana can alleviate chronic and neuropathic pain and muscle spasticity associated with Multiple Sclerosis and preliminary evidence that it can benefit patients with seizure disorders.

Harvard Medical School's Dr. Kevin Hill, who authored the study, said there's no question cannabis is safer than opioids. "You may end up in the emergency room, but you're not going have a fatal overdose from marijuana," Hill said.

Greg Gerdeman, a pharmacologist and professor at Eckerd College in Florida, said the science is there, but federal laws placing marijuana in the same drug category as heroin has stifled research on American soil....

A handful of separate studies show pain patients who use marijuana decrease their opioid use. A 2014 study found states with medical marijuana laws had nearly 25 percent fewer opioid-related overdose deaths than those without.

A Canadian study of medical marijuana patients found 80 percent substituted marijuana for prescription drugs. And a University of Michigan study released in March showed a 64 percent reduction in opioid use among pain patients who also used marijuana.

Researchers in each study warned cannabis should not be an automatic replacement for opioids. Hill said the idea needs to be studied further and it's premature to recommend marijuana to treat opioid addiction. But patients say otherwise. Retired nurse Rhonda Agard of Toledo weaned herself off a pain pump, anxiety medication, and sleeping pills by switching to marijuana.

Agard had been on pain meds for 13 years after breaking her back. She overdosed at least 20 times by her count, including one time when her children found her on the floor, her heart beating only 15 beats per minute. "I was no better than people on heroin except mine was legal -- head nodding, falling asleep, drooling -- thank God I'm not like that today," Agard said.

The idea of using marijuana to treat opioid addiction has become a hot topic in Maine. Medical marijuana advocates there are pushing state regulators to add opioid addiction to the list of qualifying medical marijuana conditions.

Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year to examine the effectiveness of medical marijuana as an alternative to opioids and the impact of marijuana legalization on overdose deaths....

If Ohio decides to legalize marijuana for medical use, it won't be covered by health insurance plans and might be more expensive than prescription medications. And critics of the proposed bill say it creates too much red tape and few doctors will register to recommend marijuana.

Dr. Amol Soin, a pain management doctor in Dayton, said the research is promising, but he and other physicians want to be able to prescribe compounds known to work instead of the whole plant. "Given the scenario we have a compound vetted by the FDA and backed by studies, I think it will hold promise," Soin said.
Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier

The board earmarked $1.54 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for the dredge, designed to keep channels open and supply sand to nourish eroding beaches up and down the York County coast and beyond.


Brazilian police said 3 million people protested Sunday, asking for the removal of President Dilma Rousseff.

Brazil newspapers said the protests were the largest political demonstrations in the country's history. The protest took place in 200 cities and towns.

The protesters asked lawmakers to impeach the unpopular president. Rousseffs political party faces a corruption scandal while the country is in its worst recession in 25 years.

Sergio Praca is a political analyst at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro. He said the nationwide protests "were very powerful" and were "the worst scenario possible for the government."

Officials are investigating Rousseff and her Workers' Party for their role in the corruption scandal at state oil company, Petrobras.

Prosecutors said more than $2 billion was paid in bribes and other funds by construction and engineering firms in exchange for inflated Petrobras contracts.

Dozens of former Petrobras executives and political figures, including Rousseff's mentor, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, are under investigation. Some of the alleged corruption took place while Rousseff was chairman of the Petrobras board.

Rousseff, whose term ends in 2018, said she will not quit. But the president and her Workers Party are facing a new threat.

On Saturday, Rousseffs main governing partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, said it is reviewing its alliance with the Workers' Party.

Hai Do adapted this story from VOA News with additional materials from Reuters and the Associated Press. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

impeach - v. to charge a public official with a crime while in office

scenario - n. a description of what could possibly happen

role - n. a part that someone or something has in an activity or situation

bribe - n. when something of value is given in order to get someone to do something

mentor - n. someone who teaches or gives advice to a less experienced and often younger person

quit - v. resign; to stop working or stop doing
Tyler Mulvenna worked three jobs last summer, but was still short the money he needed to pay for college.

Mulvenna, 21, a junior at Georgia State University in Atlanta, got a small gift of money from his college. That allowed him to live at school and attend class.

Georgia State used the gifts, usually under $1,000, and other programs to increase graduation rates by 22 percentage points since 2006.

The school also watches student performance for early signs of trouble, such as missing classes, not completing work, or low test scores.

The idea, said Vice Provost Timothy Renick, is to help before problems grow and force students to leave school.

About 59 percent of college students graduate within six years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. That means many students leave college before graduating.

At Georgia State, the rate is 55 percent, but much higher than 10 years ago.

Georgia State is a school with 50,000 students, including many minority students. They are often the first in their families to attend college.

Mulvenna plans to graduate next year from Georgia State  making him the first in his family to complete college. He credits the school with helping him meet the demands of college.

An academic adviser helped him organize school work so he could get better grades, he said. Another helped plan a study year in France.

For his first two years, Mulvenna traveled to Georgia State from his home in Newnan, either taking a public bus or driving. It took at least 45 minutes, often longer because of Atlantas heavy traffic.

I would start my commute at 7:30 a.m., return around 4:30 p.m., then work at the YMCA from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., and then do it all over again the next day, he said.

Mulvenna wanted to live at school his junior year to save travel time and enjoy campus life more. The small money gift from Georgia State made that possible.

Renick, the Georgia State administrator, said the college was losing about 1,000 students a semester because they ran out of money after paying tuition for three years.

For a very small investment, we are helping more of our students to graduate, Renick said.

At Georgia State, tuition and fees are $11,866 a year for Georgia residents and $30,000 for people from outside Georgia.

Albion College in Michigan is very different from Georgia State University. It is much smaller, about 1,400 students, and, it is a private school with higher tuition, about $41,000 a year.

But it, too, had a problem -- losing students who did poorly on tests their first year of college.

Those students were placed on a watch list, Albion said. About 10 years ago, three of every four students on the watch list dropped out in two years.

Officials credit its Academic Success program with doubling the number of these students who remained at Albion.

It includes a class that teaches good study skills. The class also offers information about emotional factors that lead to success or failure.

The program also requires students to attend three, two-hour study sessions. The students also have an academic staffer and a psychologist to offer individual help.

Many of the students were just not putting out the effort needed to do well in college, said Barry Wolf, a psychologist who designed the program. Individual help, he said, allows the school to deal with the different reasons students fail.

Colleges are sensitive about dropout rates. Students and their parents might reject a college that has high dropout rates.

One college president was fired over his attempt to lower dropout rates.

Mount Saint Marys College in Maryland asked students a series of questions to measure how they might do in first-year classes.

The results were used to urge those who scored low to drop out in the first weeks of the school year. That way, they would not count on reports that measure dropouts.

Mount Saint Marys student newspaper in February reported the presidents actions. Six weeks later, the president resigned.

For Tyler Mulvenna, who is finishing up his junior year at Georgia State, the future looks bright. He is hoping for a good job in business.

I hope that whatever I do, Ill be able to do something Ive been hoping to do since I was 15, said Mulvenna. That includes travel, giving money to good causes and continuing to serve others, he said.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or share your views on our Facebook Page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

software  n. the programs that run on a computer and perform certain functions

commute  n. to travel regularly to and from a place and especially between where you live and where you work or go to school

semester  n. one of two usually 18-week periods that make up an academic year at a school or college

tuition  n. money that is paid to a school for the right to study there

psychologist  n. scientist who specializes in the study and treatment of the mind and behavior

dropout  n. someone who leaves a school


Yoweri Museveni has begun his fifth term as Ugandas president.

United States, Canadian and European delegates walked out of the official swearing-in ceremony on Thursday. They left to protest Musevenis comments about the International Criminal Court.

The delegates also were protesting the presence of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at the inauguration.

Bashir is a war crimes suspect. The court has accused him of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Darfur area of Sudan. He returned home from Uganda late Thursday.

In Washington, a State Department official said the U.S. is concerned that President Bashir has been able to travel to Uganda.

The country is a member of the International Crime Court. As such, Uganda is supposed to detain and surrender to the court any indicted suspects on its soil.

In his speech Thursday, Yoweri Museveni openly voiced his lack of support for the court. Speaking to a number of African heads of state and other officials, the Ugandan leader said he no longer supports the court. He called its members, a bunch of useless people.

Underlying tension

Museveni has been in power since 1986. Before the inauguration, he arrived at Ugandas Kololo Airstrip and received cheers from supporters. But the celebration took place against a setting of tension.

The government closed all social media websites the day before the swearing-in events. Police were deployed around Kampala, after unrest on Wednesday.

Opposition leader Kizza Besiyge had escaped from house arrest and made a surprise appearance. Besigyes supporters gathered to see him. He promised to continue his campaign of defiance, and calls himself the people's president.

Police fired tear gas to break up the crowd and began beating civilians, according to witnesses and videos published on social media.

One storekeeper who was beaten said, "They [police] find us when we were closing the shop. They told us you close your shop, and we go." He said people became afraid and ran to nearby buildings.

Besigye finished in second place in the 2016 presidential election. He has called for an investigation of the election results.

Ugandan officials say Museveni won 61 percent of the votes.

The opposition FDC party said it held its own inauguration for Besiyge. The party released a video of the event on social media Wednesday. A short time later, the government cut social media links in the country.

This is the second time a social media blackout has been enforced. The first time was during the presidential election.

Many Ugandans avoided the social media ban by using VPNs or virtual private networks. Before the inauguration, Ugandans began warning friends on social media to make sure their VPN apps were current.

Im Anne Ball.

Lizabeth Paulat wrote this story for VOANews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted her story 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

walkout  n. the act of leaving a meeting or event as a way of showing disapproval

inauguration  n. a ceremony to introduce someone, such as a newly elected official, into a job or position

indicted  v. to formally decide that someone should be put on trial for a crime

shopkeeper  n. someone who owns or manages a shop or store

defiance  n. a refusal to obey something or someone

blackout  n. a situation in which some kinds of information are deliberately kept from the public

indicted  adj. of or relating to a legal ruling to try someone for a crime

bunch  n. a group


If you learned about grammar in school, you were probably taught to think about correct and incorrect ways of using a language.

Maybe you had to unlearn some grammar patterns that you heard at home because your teacher said they were wrong.

Prescriptive Grammar

The traditional way of teaching grammar in school is called prescriptive grammar. Grammar is seen as a set of rules to follow. The rules are passed from one generation to another. Those who do not follow the rules are looked down upon as being careless or poorly educated.

In America, the style of grammar used in academic, government, and professional situations is called Standard American English. There is no official government agency in the United States that makes rules for the English language. In fact, the United States does not even have an official language.

Teachers usually rely on tradition and popular style guides to decide what proper grammar is.

Descriptive Grammar

Descriptive grammar takes a different approach. Descriptive grammarians observe and analyze language as it is used in different communities. They look for rules and patterns that people follow. In descriptive grammar, there is no correct or incorrect way of using grammar.

For example, a prescriptive grammarian might say, Dont use a double negative because it is illogical. A descriptive grammarian might say, Some communities use double negatives and some do not. Why is that? Well talk more about double negatives later.

Dr. Richard Epstein is a linguist at Rutgers University in Camden, New Jersey. Dr. Epstein says that most people do not understand the social and political processes behind grammar rules.

Nobody knows why we should not use aint or why we should not use double negatives because the teachers teach these things as if they were simply rules that came down from some higher power, authority, maybe God, and theres no rhyme or reason taught for the reason what the reason is for the existence of these rules. So it seems quite boring and totally arbitrary.

The Case of the Double Negative

Dr. Epstein says grammar rules have nothing to do with logic. Instead, they are based on social fashions, politics, and power. He gives the example of the double negative.

As we mentioned on an episode of Everyday Grammar, certain types of double negative words are not allowed in Standard American English. For example, I dont know nothing. The two words dont and nothing are both negative. Most Americans were taught that double negatives are illogical.

In math, two negatives equal a positive. But is this true in language? Does I dont know nothing mean I know something.? Of course not. It just makes a stronger negative. The rule against the double negative does not come from math; it comes from Robert Lowth, the bishop of London.

Robert Lowths book A Short Introduction to English Grammar, first published in 1762, prohibited the double negative. Dr. Epstein says that random grammar rules were a way for the upper classes of London to protect themselves from a rising middle class.

The upper classes became concerned that people below them were getting educated and getting access to sources of power. So to protect their own status and authority people started to prescribe rules for grammar. And if you couldnt follow those rules then you didnt have access to power and authority like the rich people of the day.

Aint aint a word?

Heres another example. American children are taught that aint is not a word. However, many Americans say aint in place of is not or are not. Listen to this song by Bob Dylan.

Someone to open each and every door

But it aint me, babe

No, no, no it aint me, babe

It aint me youre looking for, babe

American school teachers told children to stop using the word aint in the 1800s. But long ago, the word aint was the proper negative contraction for I am not. Ironically, the British upper classes continued to use aint after the Americans banned it. Dr. Epstein explains.

Knowing that regular folks used aint but the upper classes of the United States didnt, they created this sort of fake rule that you shouldnt use aint because it didnt make sense. Of course it makes perfect sense to anybody who says it. But now we have this rule.

So who makes the grammar rules? In America, the grammar patterns of rich white men are the basis of Standard American English, Epstein says. Nobody will go to jail for ignoring grammar rules. But they will have difficulty getting into the best schools and finding good jobs.

You aint seen nothin yet

B-b-b-baby you just aint seen nothin yet

Im Adam Brock.

Adam Brock wrote this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Please leave us a Comment below, and post on our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

prescriptive grammar  n. a set of rules for using language that are taught, or enforced, so that people will use the language in a particular way.

descriptive grammar  n. a set of rules about language based on how it is actually used. In a descriptive grammar there is no right or wrong language.

linguist  n. a person who studies languages scientifically

no rhyme or reason  idiom. no reason or evidence

arbitrary  adj. not planned or chosen for a particular reason : not based on reason or evidence

double negative  n. a clause that has two negative words (such as nothing and don't)

prohibited  adj. not allowed
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln honored Nebraska eighth-graders for their academic excellence, leadership and perseverance April 28 at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

The Big Red Stars program is designed to recognize outstanding eighth-grade students in Nebraska. These talented young people were nominated by school principals and guidance counselors for showcasing strong leadership skills and academic promise.

The ceremony was sponsored by UNL and EducationQuest. Highlights of the event included individual recognition and awards and special remarks from Peter Ferguson of Lincoln Public Schools.

The following is a list of students honored as 2016 Big Red Stars, by hometown:

Arapahoe: Lauren Bahe, Cooper Schutz

Eddyville: Ashley Schroeder

Gothenburg: Taran Barrett

Lexington: Hailey Wagener

Overton: Austin Haussler
MainOne recently hosted an Africa Panel Session at the recently concluded International Telecoms Week held in Chicago from 8 to 11 May 2016. The session was attended by a mix of African wholesale carriers, mobile network operators and a host of global service providers and content distribution companies at the annual global gathering of telecommunications companies.

Left to right: Chris George, strategic negotiator, Google; Mike van den Bergh, CMO, PCCW Global; Funke Opeke, CEO, MainOne; Chris Wood, CEO, WIOCC and Willem Marais, group managing executive and CEO, Liquid Telecom SA, during the MainOne-hosted Africa Panel Session.

It was an occasion for these industry leaders to share perspectives with a global audience on the recent developments in the region as well as opportunities and challenges being faced across the region towards the wide-spread proliferation of broadband services access. It was equally a gathering for discussing the needed impetus for getting the continent ready for the global information explosion already taking place in select parts of the continent, where Internet consumption by individuals is beginning to compare favorably with consumption patterns in advanced economies.

Shared infrastructure

Focus areas of discussion included the need for the adoption of shared infrastructure models in order to reduce the cost of retail broadband services in comparison to reductions that have taken place in wholesale pricing over the years to within less than 5% of retail broadband prices. The expert panel strongly advocated the view that the adoption of new business and regulatory models for shared infrastructure would foster the pervasive digital explosion much needed on the African continent rather than depend on proprietary network infrastructure built by mobile companies with thin pipes to deliver voice services.

Discussants also engaged on the need to support the growth of local content as a means for growing intra-continent traffic and eliminate cross-border barriers to the exchange of information. It was equally stressed that liberalisation would continue to play a major role in the development of internet proliferation in Africa with countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa used as models of advances being made in connecting more people on the continent.

Speakers at the event included executives from a diverse set of players including MainOne, Google, PCCW Global, WIOCC, and Liquid Telecom, with an in-depth analyst presentation reviewing developments on the continent by Russell Southwood of Balancing Act Africa. Various participants highlighted infrastructure deployments such as MainOnes metro fibre builds in Lagos, Nigeria; Liquid Telecoms fibre backhaul across East and Southern Africa, and Googles fibre last mile projects in Uganda and Ghana to demonstrate what can be achieved by with the availability of shared infrastructure offering uncapped and reliable bandwidth services.
Mumbai: Nargis Fakhri is out of country to address her health issues and not because of either a rumoured calling-off of a wedding with Uday Chopra or a decision to quit showbiz, the actress' spokesperson has said.

Nargis' sudden disappearance from showbiz  even the promotions of her film Azhar  has given fodder to gossip mongers.

There are media reports that Nargis was all set to announce her wedding with actor-producer Uday, but he called it off. Rumours were also rife that following the apparent relationship hitting rock bottom she had a 'nervous breakdown' and left the producers of all her upcoming films in a lurch.

However, the Rockstar actress' spokesperson has a different story to tell.

Nargis has been extremely overworked working on three films simultaneously over the last year. For someone who is used to doing one film at a time, this was quite a bit for Nargis.

In addition, she has been unwell right through the Azhar promotions with multiple injuries - torn hamstring, anterior knee ligament thinning and mild socket dislocation along with burning of the stomach lining due to lead and arsenic poisoning.

"Due to these multiple issues and her overall exhaustion, she had a fever of about 101 degrees right through her promotions," read the official statement by the spokesperson.

The representative added that it is due to Nargis' deteriorating condition that she had to request Sajid Nadiadwala  producer of her next film Housefull 3  and "bow out of its promotions to go back home to New York for a month to address all her medical issues and recuperate".

In Azhar, Nargis portrays Mohammad Azharuddin's second wife Sangeeta Bijlani. Next up, she will be seen in Housefull 3 and Banjo, and she will be back in action soon.

She has no plans to leave B-Town and will be back on sets to complete the pending patchwork for her film 'Banjo' in the second week of June.

"In addition, she has already verbally agreed to two other projects for 2017 before she left and will complete the paperwork when she's back. That coupled with her brand commitments that extend over multiple years, is testament of her being here to stay for good," the spokesperson added.

Confirming that Nargis left mid-way through the work for Housefull 3 due to her health, Nadiadwala said: "Our priority is Nargis's health. We do hope that she recuperates fast and can be there around the release of the film as she is an integral part of Housefull 3 team."
The Reserve Bank of India has allowed foreign banks higher shareholding in private sector lenders in the country under exceptional situations as it tweaked the guidelines, against the backdrop of norms on licensing of new banks.

With the changes, regulated, well-diversified, listed and government-run foreign financial institutions will be allowed to own as much as 40 percent of a private sector bank.

The ownership of non-regulated and non-diversified financial institutions will be capped at 15 percent, the RBI said in a document posted on its website on Thursday.

Foreign banks operating in India can continue to acquire up to 10 percent of the investee bank's equity capital but in exceptional circumstances such as restructuring or weak banks or in the interest of consolidation in the banking sector, the RBI may permit a higher level of shareholding, it said.

"The guidelines have been reviewed against the background of ... licensing of new banks in the private sector ... the need for additional capital for the banks consequent to the implementation of Basel III capital regulations and to rationalise the ownership limits," the RBI said.

The voting rights will be capped at the current level of 15 per cent, the central bank said.

The central bank last year issued two new bank permits in what was India's first bank licensing process in a decade. This month it published draft guidelines for licensing of more banks.
London: Confident of clearing up the bad-loan mess, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday said there is "absolutely no chance of a Lehman moment" in India and a three-cornered firewall was being created to safeguard the economy from external shocks.

He also rejected calls for any immediate privatisation of public sector banks and said the urgent need was to clean up their balance sheets and no private investor would anyway come without a cleaner balance sheet.

Dr Rajan, who has often been criticised for being too economical with rate cuts, indicated that rate cuts were not the only instrument to boost growth.

"I think the real way we are trying to firewall the economy is, on the first hand, with good policies, including as I said, the moves on reforms that have been enacted recently. The second is by trying to increase the maturity of our debt. We have substantially increased the maturity of debt, external debt that we owe. The third is we built-up reserves," he told CNBC news channel in an interview here.

Asked about bad loan problem in India being bigger than the size of New Zealand's $170 billion economy and whether there was risk of a banking crisis, Dr Rajan said, "I do not think it's that big. Second, many of bad assets are in public sector banks and the government fully guarantees them.

"So, there is absolutely no chance they will fail. There is also absolutely no chance there will be a Lehman moment."

It was the collapse of Lehman Brothers, once a giant banking institution, that began a severe financial crisis in the US in 2008.

"It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he said.

On whether he should privatise some banks and can that reduce some of the inefficiencies, Dr Rajan said, "I think, over time as we improve the governance in the banking system, that question can be addressed. At this point, the real issue is for most of these banks clean up their balance sheets without it is hard to imagine a private investor coming in without clean balance sheet.

"Also, many of them have the capacity to sustain the existence as public sector entities provided we improve the governance. Now, we have a Banks Board Bureau which has been set up primarily to distance itself from the government and to make a number of governance decisions including for appointments for the banks.

"My sense is we can do a lot without actually going to the point of privatisation. That's a decision the government will have to take down the line," he said.
Facebook (FB.O) on Thursday emphasized that it does not permit its employees to block news stories from its "Trending Topics" list based on political bias, amid a controversy over how the social media superpower selects what news it displays.

Technology news website Gizmodo on Monday reported that a former Facebook employee said workers "routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers" while "artificially" adding other stories to the trending list.

The Gizmodo story triggered a reaction on social media, with several journalists and commentators raising concerns about alleged bias, and prompted a U.S. senate inquiry.

The social media company, whose reach is global, had over a billion daily active users on average in March, according to statistics the company posted to its newsroom.

In a post published to Facebook's media relations section on Thursday, a senior company official outlined its "Trending Topics" guidelines at length.

"Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin, period," wrote Justin Osofsky, vice president for global operations. "We have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum."

The post went on to explain how certain topics emerge in Facebook users' trending feeds. Potential trending topics are identified by an algorithm, or formula, Facebook said, then reviewed by a "Trending Topics" team.

Gizmodo Editor-in-Chief Katie Drummond responded to the post with an email saying, "I don't see anything that contradicts our reporting--do you?"

Gizmodo's story sparked a Senate committee inquiry.

Republican U.S. Senator John Thune, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said in a statement on Tuesday that Facebook needed to respond to "these serious allegations."

"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 Thune.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court on Friday turned down a clutch of petitions challenging provisions of criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code. The Supreme Court has ruled that the provisions are valid and do not violate the Constitution.

Sections 499 and 500 in the IPC deal with criminal defamation. While the former defines the offence of defamation, the latter defines the punishment for it. The apex court's verdict will have a significant effect particularly on politicians, activists and journalists.

"We have held that penal provisions are constitutionally valid," a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said. "The right to freedom of speech and expression is not an absolute right," the court said.

The bench observed, "Difficult to perceive that provision on criminal defamation has chilling effect on right to freedom of speech and expression."

It also observed, "A person's right to freedom of speech has to be balanced with the other person's right to reputation."

The petitioners, Subramanian Swamy and Rahul Gandhi argued that the two provisions dealing with criminal defamation have an inhibitive effect on freedom of speech and expression, particularly political speech.

The two leaders, who have been charged with criminal defamation under section 499 and 500 of the IPC for their political speeches in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, contended that the colonial law enacted in the 19th century has become unreasonable and arbitrary in independent India and was continuing without debate or a test on its constitutionality.

Along with them, Delhi chief minister and Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is facing cases under the same provisions lodged by BJPs Nitin Gadkari and others, has also challenged them and sought de-criminalisation of defamation law.

Their stand that defamation be treated as a civil wrong has been opposed by the Centre which has advocated retaining sections 499 and 500 in the IPC, saying that criminal defamation will work as deterrent against growing tendency to defame people through social media.

While describing the penal provisions as "deterrent", the central government had defended their retention on the grounds that while in other countries, defamation cases are decided very fast, in India it takes years even decades before they reach conclusion.

The verdict was reserved on 13 August last year after bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant heard the matter spread over a month.

Rohatgi had said that there were sufficient safeguards in Article 19(2) which imposed reasonable restrictions of the right to free expression and speech guaranteed under Article 19.

The position was supported by amicus curiae TR Andhyarujina.

What the law states:

Section 499: Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person.

Section 500: Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

With inputs from agencies
New Delhi: Delhi Police on Thursday arrested Amit Jani, chief of Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena, who threatened to kill JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, from south Delhi's Greater Kailash area.

A Special Cell team arrested Jani under Section 41(1) of CrPC and will hand him over to the New Delhi district police, a senior official said.

Jani had earlier claimed on social media that he would surrender but apparently kept changing his mind.

On 15 April, a loaded gun and a letter purportedly signed by Jani, threatening to behead Kanhaiya and Khalid, were found in a bus plying between Kashmere Gate and Vasant Vihar via JNU campus.

The driver of the bus took the vehicle to Tilak Marg Police Station and reported the matter, following which a case was registered.

Two days later, police arrested Jani's brother Saurabh and his friend Sulabh here in connection with the incident. Later, another man was arrested but Jani had remained at large.

The police had unsuccessfully raided his office in Lajpat Nagar area and several possible hideouts in Delhi-NCR.

Jani had earlier threatened Kanhaiya over a Facebook post claiming that his men, at least 10 of whom are armed, are present inside JNU campus and can attack him anytime.
On Monday, the Maharashtra government told the Bombay High Court that it was declaring drought in over 29,000 villages in Maharashtra. The state is facing drought for the second straight year.

According to statistics on Factly, Maharashtra has 78 percent drought-affected districts, and has been allotted the largest sum of relief funds  amounting to Rs 3,049 crore. The State government declared that all help prescribed in the Drought Manual, 2009, would be provided.

3,228 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra in 2015, and in the first four months of 2016, the total number of suicides in the regions of Vidarbha and Marathwada are 339 which has declined in comparison to last year.

Jayakwadi dam in Aurangabad district in Marathwada, which is witnessing the worst drought in a century, has only one percent water left of its 2.17 billion cubic metre capacity, IndiaSpend reported in January.

On May 7, the Centre had decided to unconditionally release Rs 1,100 crore on 13 May as second installment to meet water requirements in states, many of which are battling severe heat conditions. Maharashtra has been given Rs 80.26 crore as its first installment.

As part of relief aid, the government has decided to supply drinking water to districts are are worst hit, but the Supreme Court acknowledged that it would not be possible to supply drinking water to all districts daily.

Water trains have been sent to the worst affected areas, but the government is said to be implementing long-term projects as well.

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.
New Delhi: The JNU administration has sent letters to parents of the students who are on an indefinite hunger strike against punishment imposed in connection with the 9 February event, asking them to instruct their wards to call off the fast and adopt "constitutional" means.

On the 15th day of the strike on Thursday, three more students including ABVP rebel Pradeep Narwal, who had quit the students' outfit in February citing difference over handling of the issue by BJP, joined the indefinite fast.

Other two students are JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora and former JNUSU President Ashutosh, who has been debarred from the hostel for one year.

Meanwhile, members of 40 women's rights and human welfare organisations have written to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking revocation of punishment to students in connection with the controversial event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised.

Reacting to the letter sent to parents, fasting student Shweta Raj, who was admitted to AIIMS on Wednesday after her health deteriorated, said "if the administration has courage it should talk to us and not scare our parents by sending them intimidating letters. We are adults and conscious activists".

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.

While Umar and Anirban Bhattacharya had earlier this week moved the Delhi High Court challenging the punishment, eight more students approached the court today over the issue.

The administration had on Wednesday appealed to the students to call off the strike as the matter is sub-judice.

The varsity had earlier this week formed a four-member committee to look into demands of agitating students.

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.
Chatra: A journalist was shot dead by unidentified people at Dewaria in this district, police said in Chatra on Friday.

Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), who worked for a news channel, was gunned down near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night, a police official said, adding that a bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked Director General of Police DK Pandey to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

A delegation of local journalists met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha and demanded adequate compensation to the family of the victim.
Mumbai: In a complete U-turn, the NIA on Friday dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, while charges under the stringent MCOCA law have been given up against all the other 10 accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

During investigation, "sufficient evidences have not been found against" Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet "that the prosecution against them is not maintainable".

Seven people were killed in twin blasts when people were coming out of prayers during Ramzan in 29 September 2008.

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the probe into the Malegaon blasts that was described as a handiwork of people associated with Hindu right wing groups.

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai's ATS Hemant Karkare, who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people but filed chargesheets on 20 January 2009 and 21 April 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court.

Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before Bombay High Court and Supreme Court challenging the chargesheet and applicability of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The agency also said during investigation that it has been established that no offence is attracted in this case under the Maharashtra Control of Crimes Act (MCOCA), in which any statement given before a SP level officer is admissible as an evidence.

"In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOC Act by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present Final report," the agency said in its chargesheet.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law UAPA, IPC, Arms Act and Explosives Substance Act.

Director General of NIA Sharad Kumar told reporters today there was no dilution in the case.

Asked about the stand taken by the agency in the past when it had opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi and others even in the Supreme Court, he said "till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet)".

The chargesheet was today submitted by public prosecutor Geeta Godambe before Special Judge S D Tekale here.

Special Public Prosecutor in the case Avinash Rasal said he was not informed about the filing of the chargesheet (by the NIA). "I am hurt and I may resign from the case", Rasal said.

The Congress attacked the NIA decision to drop charges against Sadhvi Praygya and five others besides diluting the case against Lt Col and nine other accused.

Senior leader Digvijay Singh said "as I had predicted BJP and RSS have started the process of saving the Sangh Activists involved in Terror Cases."

"Was the DG of NIA given extension for this?" he asked.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegation saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. "We allow agencies to work independently," he said.
Remember Hemant Karkare, the police officer who died on the streets of Mumbai battling terrorists?

No, Ajmal Kasab and his gang did not kill Karkare on 27 November 2008. He died a thousand painful deaths on Friday the 13th when the National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in the Malegaon blasts that shreds Karkare's reputation and questions his integrity.

In 2009, India decorated Karkare, the then chief of Mumbai ATS, with the Ashok Chakra for laying down his life for the country. Now, he has been thrown into the ugly chakra of terrorism politics.

In 2006, when residents of Malegaon were observing Shab-e-Baraat, two powerful blasts ripped through the Maharashtra town, killing 37 persons and injuring hundreds. Most of them were Muslims.

From 2007 to 2008 similar attacks took place on the Samjhauta Express (February 2007), Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid (May 2007), the Ajmer Dargah (October 2007) and once again in Malegaon (September 2008).

The case was cracked open by Karkare while probing the second blasts in Malegaon. Piecing together some disjointed leads, Karkare tracked down the owner of the motorcycle used in the blasts. It belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

Karkare's investigations led the police to a Hindutva plot, an alleged plan to respond to a bomb with a bomb. Soon, Thakur and Lt Colonel SK Purohit, a serving army officer, were identified as the main suspects, arrested and chargesheeted. A 4500-page chargesheet by the ATS gave details of the plot and identified Abhinav Bharat Sangh, a Hindutva outfit, as perpetrators of these attacks.

On Friday, the National Investigations Agency, which probed the blasts afresh gave a clean chit to Pragya Singh Thakur. And sullied Karkare's image for ever.

According to the The Indian Express, the new chargesheet says the investigation conducted by Karkare was flawed, that the evidence produced against Colonel Prasad Purohit, another key accused, had been fabricated, and statements of witnesses were taken under duress.

During the original probe, the ATS had found explosives at Purohit's residence in Deolali. NIA officials now claim the incriminating evidence was planted at Purohit's home by the ATS.

Investigations in India rarely lead us to the truth. Ishrat Jahan's encounter, Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj's murders are two telling examples of how different agencies discover their own brands of contrasting truths and facts in high-profile cases. So, nobody can say with any conviction if Karkare's ATS was the hero of the Malegaon probe or the villain, as being made out now.

By some sheer coincidence, since the change of government at the Centre, probe in all the blasts believed to have been plotted by Hindutva outfits have turned on their head. In many cases, like the Ajmer Dargah probe, witnesses have suddenly turned hostile. In others, like the one in Malegaon, fingers are now being pointed at the original investigators.

The stakes have always been high. In 2014, Swami Aseemanand, the main accused in the Samjhauta blast case, told a news magazine in a detailed interview that the attacks were discussed with RSS leaders after a conclave. "

"Aseemanand told me (the interviewer) about a meeting that allegedly took place, in July 2005. After an RSS conclave in Surat, senior Sangh leaders including Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar, who is now on the organisations powerful seven-member national executive council, travelled to a temple in the Dangs, Gujarat, where Aseemanand was livinga two-hour drive. In a tent pitched by a river several kilometres away from the temple, Bhagwat and Kumar met with Aseemanand and his accomplice Sunil Joshi. Joshi informed Bhagwat of a plan to bomb several Muslim targets around India. According to Aseemanand, both RSS leaders approved, and Bhagwat told him, You can work on this with Sunil. We will not be involved, but if you are doing this, you can consider us to be with you, the Magazine wrote.

Aseemanand later denied the interview but the magazine stood by the story and also submitted audio recordings of the interaction as evidence.

In 2015, Rohini Salian, who was a special prosecutor in the Malegaon case, had alleged that she was under pressure from the NIA against the accused. She had later filed an affidavit naming the NIA officer who had approached her. Salian was later denotified from the panel of lawyers.

Amidst the politicking and bickering, Sadhvi Pragya seems to have escaped the law. And Karkare's image has become the casualty.

Think about this: If the ATS under him really planted evidence to frame innocent karyakartas of Abhinav Bharat Sangh, did he deserve the Ashok Chakra?

And, if he didn't, if his findings were correct, did we really deserve a martyr like Karkare?
I love it. These little mental visuals we paint in the media of how the government will get Vijay Mallya back to India. The stories conjure up images of Sushma sending an email to David saying, "Hey can you send that guy back on a plane?" Then, we cut to the scene where Mallya is in an economy seat on Air India book-ended by two burly IB guys, and the media is waiting for its feeding frenzy at IGI airport. The frenetic pace of the deportation request and the extradition demand is hilarious like it was tomorrow nights flight.

I read one headline which said India to push hard for extradition. We can push hard, push softly, get the whole tug o war team, and nothing is going to happen.

Tomorrow night, Vijay Mallya is probably going to see a play at the Westend.

And in 2017, 2018, 2019 ad infinitum. Think of it. No Indian has been couriered back to India from Britain since the extradition treaty was signed in 1993, so that gives you a damn good idea how effective it is.

Again, it has nothing to do with the British government. It is a legal process and has eight to ten major steps that could take years.

And we havent even got to first base with Lalit Modi, not to mention the likes of alleged pedophile Raymond Varley and Ravi Shankaran who disclosed secret naval information. There is also Tiger Hanif who is a suspect in the 1993 Gujarat blasts.

Thing is that even as we fling these clods of untruths at the public and give the impression of desperate attempts we dont let on that even if the British Supreme Court okays the departure the individual can appeal European Commission for Human Rights and that is another ball of wool, like back to the starting line. Exactly what Tiger plans to do.

There is also this not so impossible theory that gets bandied about that we do not really want these fellows back. They might open have a tin opener for several cans of worms and it is better to create a froth of excitement knowing no one is really coming back to generate high nuisance value and project this picture of eager beavers doing their job bathed in righteousness.

Ironically, in the case of Win Chadha of the Bofors case, the man wanted to come back but every step taken was to ensure that he didnt.

Between letters rogatory (request from the court of one country to another for aid) and Interpol Red Alert notices the smoke and mirror game continues unabated. No wonder someone like Subrata Roy must be wondering what the heck I could have been in Kensington or shopping in Bond Streetwhy did I stay home that night.

Thats the odd part. First we let them go, catch a commercial flight and then we scream and holler to get them back.

In the case of Vijay Mallya you could have laid bets that he would scarper. Yet he was able to take an Indian carrier and zoom off.

As the government tries to sell this effort to bring him back there are at least half a dozen choices for him to buy another passport. Probably several.

A Paraguay passport is about $4000 like what Vijay spends on ties. St Kitts and Nevis give you one if you invest around a quarter million dollars. Think Mallya has enough pocket change to invest in the whole economy.

Dominica has over 4000 investor-citizens and being a Commonwealth country allows you to travel in the EU.

Pina Coladas and sunbathed bodies in Antigua and Barbuda come for a contribution of over $250,000 to a local charity. Good deeds by good fellas and they are gone for good. For half a million you get the EB5 visa that is as good as being a citizen.

Belize is another happy option. Home delivered.

If you have a more European bent of mind Malta and Cyprus offer passports without residency and we havent even gone down to South America.

So lets just cut to the chase. These guys arent coming back. And the money spent hiring lawyers, sending deputations, dispatching investigators is all really a jamboree and a jaunt with absolutely no possibility of anyone coming home. Save the money, it is waste of time.

In a few days like we forgot Lalit Modi we will forget Vijay Mallya and he can cheerfully order another funny coloured drink with an umbrella sticking out of the top of the glass.

He wont even be singing, Watcha gonna do when they come for you, because no one is coming.
Rejoice, ladies and gentlemen. Because today is the birthday of the environment-loving, always smiling and the future Nobel laureate Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

That's right. Today, the great spiritual leader, who showed us all how magnanimous he really is by sending a 'peace message' to Islamic State (with disastrous results) and blowing all our minds by showing us why teenager activist Malala Yousafzai did not deserve the Nobel Prize, turns 60.

And just in case you've been living in a cave (on Mars with your hands cupped over your ears and your eyes shut tight) for the past few months, here's a recap:

"Nowadays, there is no value to the Nobel Prize. When you award it to a 16-year-old girl who hasnt done anything, what value is left? It has become a political prize," Hindustan Times had quoted the great leader as saying when he was asked about Malala getting the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Uss ladki ne kuch bhi nahin kiya (That girl did nothing)," ANI had quoted Sri Sri as saying.

Of course, standing up for education for women and girls in the region of Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan (a region infamous for being controlled by local Taliban where girls had been banned at times from attending school) amounts to "nothing".

Malala Yousafzai clearly did not do anything to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Thanks, Sri Sri.

So, what does a person need to do to win a Nobel Prize? The answer is simple: Pollute, silly!

Even though the great Sri Sri had made it very clear that he had rejected the Nobel Prize offered to him earlier, we really think he will unwillingly accept one which will obviously be offered to him for getting two contempt notices for violating the orders of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), with regard to the World Culture Festival (WCF) he organised on the banks of the Yamuna in March 2016.

Sri Sri might also be just a bit worried that his chance to win a Nobel is running out. But there have been a lot of people (Kailash Satyarthi, Woodrow Wilson, Kofi Annan) who were 60 or above when they got a Nobel Peace Prize.

Moreover, because his 50s were full of amazing achievements like making petty remarks against a teenager or fighting allegations of polluting the environment, we're pretty sure that his 60s will also be full of such greatness.

For example, maybe Sri Sri will now say that Sunny Leone did nothing to earn the honour of sharing her birthday with a man as great as him. "Uss ladki ne kuch bhi nahin kiya" could be a remark used against Sunny now. After all, for a person so great that his 'achievements' are better than standing up for women's education, one should also have certain qualifications to share a birthday with him.

Considering his love for sending 'peace messages', Sri Sri might also send one to Donald Trump, asking him to get rid of his racist and communal thoughts. We're not sure how Trump would respond though. He might just propose banning Sri Sri from entering the United States too.

Or maybe the World Culture Festival will actually live up to its name now and go global. Maybe Sri Sri will decide that facing allegations of polluting the environment next to the Yamuna was not enough and that this needs to happen globally  WCF on the banks of the Danube, next?. After all, as we earlier said, nothing gets you a Nobel Prize faster than pollution.

So don't worry, Sri Sri. There are still enough opportunities for you to win  or maybe to continue to reject  the Nobel Peace Prize.

After all, happy thoughts make for a happy birthday!
Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy doesn't resemble the Amitabh Bachchan of 1970s but he is surely the angriest man in Indian politics these days. When not asking for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he is kicking up a storm with External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

Perhaps it is because of the election season since the state goes to polls on Monday but the latest controversy has erupted over an issue which should never have been the subject of a public spar. There is something nauseating over politicians fighting among themselves to claim credit for evacuating Indian citizens trapped in strife-torn regions abroad.

What makes Chandy's case worse is that he is picking fights when facts are not on his side. On the Kerala-Somalia issue, for instance, Firstpost pointed out yesterday how Modi wasn't the first one to compare the condition of tribals in Kerala's Attapaddy region with sub-Saharan Africa. Policy and governance publication EPW had earlier made such an assessment quoting verifiable data. Former Kerala CM VS Achuthanandan, too, had made a similar comparison in 2013.

On the subject of 29 Indians who flew down to Indian shores from battle-scarred Libya, too, the Kerala CM is on a sticky wicket. But before I delve into why Chandy is picking up frequent fights, it would be pertinent to explain the vote share equation in poll-bound Kerala.

The situation in Kerala is not unlike that of West Bengal where the rise of BJP as a key player in some places has upset the equations of a bilateral fight. Though the Left Democratic Front (LDF) is largely expected to return to power, Chandy's United Democratic Front (UDF) is hoping that BJP's punching above weight in the southern state may help it to scrape through in a triangular contest.

Towards that end, the UDF must do two things. One, it must search for a pan-Kerala issue to tide over local disgruntlements of anti-incumbency and two, it must project BJP as its main adversary to avoid fracturing of Muslim votes. This, in fact, also led CPIM general secretary Sitaram Yechury to comment that the Congress and RSS are stitching up a fixed match in Kerala to keep the Left out.

This is the reason why Chandy has appeared to be so 'hurt' by Modi's comparison and is now focusing on the Libya evacuation controversy to keep the focus firmly on BJP.

Since coming to power, the NDA government has pulled off a number of rescue missions with some amount of success. Last year, India evacuated 6,688 people from Yemen by air and sea routes. The number included 4,741 Indian citizens and 1,947 nationals of 48 countries under 'Operation Rahaat'.

First, let's get one thing straight. Politicians do not rescue people. Foreign office obviously plays a key role but it is diplomats, posted in the troubled zones, who go through the rough and tumble to secure exit.

A report in Firstpost mentions how an Indian ambassador to Libya flew into Tripoli from Djerba in Tunisia, where the Indian mission in Libya relocated last year amid the brutal civil war, met the Libyan foreign ministry's chief of protocol, and over prolonged talks convinced the government to issue exit visas to the 29 Indians.

"Our embassy has constantly followed up the matter with the hospital as well as with the Ministry of Health of Libya... Our ambassador personally flew down to Tripoli on 28 April and met with the Chief of Protocol on 2 May to resolve the matter," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup was quoted, as saying.

"Thanks to the embassy's intervention that their salaries were paid and their exit visas were issued and they were able to safely return to India today," he said.

Even as this was going on, Chandy chose to react to a comment made by Modi on Wednesday during an election rally in Kochi that Centre has rescued families stuck in Libya.

"Our government has saved six families and evacuated 29 people. It gives me immense pleasure and happiness to tell you that they are coming back and will be united with their families soon."

Not willing to let Modi walk away with the credit for the mission, Chandy jumped in on Thursday, claiming that Kerala government bore the cost of bringing them back.

"Sushma Swaraj paid for the earlier evacuations. This time we have paid for their travel," Chandy told NDTV. "Ask those who have come back, they will tell you the truth."

This enraged External Affairs minister Swaraj enough to fire off a series of angry tweets from her hospital bed in AIIMS where she is recuperating from an illness.

Mr.Chandy - We evacuated thousands of Indians from Kerala from Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Who paid for them ?  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016

Mr.Chandy - You said 'Kerala paid for 29 Indians evacuated from Libya.'  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016

Mr.Chandy - You started this debate - as to Who paid ? Not me. We always did this because this is our pious duty towards our citizens.  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 12, 2016

Under fire, Chandy then said that the state government will now reimburse the amount.

"The state government had tried to buy them the air tickets but we could not owing to foreign exchange issues. We did not want to delay their return, so we asked them to pay up for the air tickets. We will now fully reimburse their airfare," he told the media in Kochi.

The ugly spat has further lowered public discourse during this polling season and soon may nosedive below the Arabian sea.
Thrissur: BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday asked Congress and CPI(M) to explain the "ideology" behind their "dosti" (friendship) in West Bengal and "kushti" (wrestling) in Kerala.

There is "dosti" in West Bengal and "kushti" in Kerala. The CPI-M leader and the AICC Chief should explain to people "the ideology behind it", BJP President Amit Shah said at a public meeting here.

Attacking Gandhi, Shah said: "Gandhi came to Kerala and became emotional. She said BJP questioned her patriotism.

"Soniaji we know your desh prem (patriotism)...(Rs) 12 lakh crore corruption took place during the 10-year rule of UPA. Apka Desh prem kahan tha us samay (Where was your patriotism then)?" Shah said.

There was corruption everywhere during the UPA rule. "We know your (Gandhi's) desh prem very well," he said.

Targetting CWC member AK Antony's remark that BJP had hidden agenda, Shah said: "The only open agenda is to uproot and throw Congress-led UDF and CPI-M headed LDF into the sea."

Slamming Yechury, Shah wanted the communist leader to look into the mirror to see "his true face of violence".

"In Kerala, at least 250 RSS and BJP workers were killed by CPI-M workers," he alleged, adding: "BJP will not be cowed down by such violence, we will continue our fight till BJP forms government in Kerala."

He asked CPI-M to make clear whether VS Achuthanandan would be made Chief Minister if LDF comes to power.

"They will not answer. But I will answer. They will not make Achuthanandan the Chief Minister. CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan would be made the CM instead, even though they are seeking votes by showing the face of Achuthanandan," the BJP leader claimed.
The 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are round the corner and theres a likelihood of the issue of division of the state dominating the pre-election discourse. With the BSP emerging as a strong claimant to power, it may be subject to a referendum.

Prior to the 2012 elections, BSP supremo Mayawati had passed a proposition to divide UP into four parts  Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Western UP and Awadh Pradesh. The SP had raised its voice against it. Simultaneously, Mayawati, then in power, had also passed a no trust resolution against the opposition party. Political parties like the BJP and the Congress had supported her resolution. However, she failed to win the election and her proposal went into the cold storage. BSP cadres are of the opinion that this time she could put the proposal for the division of the state in the party manifesto itself.

Maintenance of law and order and lack of uniform development have been big challenges for the state ever since independence. Its humongous size is believed to the one of the reasons for these. Mayawati is determined to prove her vision and commitment for development in UP by going ahead with its division. This may also be her attack on the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government under which the law and order situation is in a helpless state.

In 1955, Ambedkar, in his book Bhashayi Rajya, too had recommended the division of the state. Mayawati can claim she is taking ahead Ambedkars vision and declare herself to be the inheritor of his legacy. A huge aspiration for development has made its way among ordinary people and local leaders who are working in these sub-regions. These people have affiliated themselves more with the political centre and are aspiring for political participation.

Mayawati may gain popularity among the common masses in these four sub-regions by her political move. Though this is an important issue, it failed to create a favourable environment for Mayawati during the last election due to various reasons.

One of them is Mayawati raised this issue late and it ended up being an election issue only. Secondly, with little time for dissemination, it could not reach a wider level at the grassroots.

Mayawati will raise it again but the scene is a bit different now. Unlike earlier, people now remember her struggle on this issue during the time of her government. It will be her USP. People aspire for a green and divided state in western UP which is the fundamental base of her politics. Her move may therefore strengthen her political base even more in western UP.

It is likely that BJP will join hands with the BSP because it has always been the supporter of small states. It is noteworthy to mention that states like Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh were formed during the rule of BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee. However, it may not take electoral advantage because it is seen as BSPs issue. The Congress is all set for alliance with Ajit Singh. In this case it has to support his demand of a green state and cannot go against the demands of Purvanchal and Bundelkhand.

Thus Samajwadi Party will be the only political outfit demanding an undivided UP. No matter whoever wins it seems that the issue of divided UP will emerge as a big issue in the forthcoming UP elections.
New Delhi: Congress on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark comparing Kerala with Somalia is an insult to "all Indians" and the state is "far far ahead" of Gujarat.

"The Prime Minister is known to make outrageous statements. This Prime Minister makes statements that are blatantly false...To go to Kerala and compare it with Somalia is an insult not only to the state but also to all of India," Congress spokesman Jairam Ramesh told reporters.

He said Kerala is number one in the country in parameters of education, health, female literacy, women empowerment and infant mortality, and "far far ahead of Gujarat".

"If Kerala is Somalia, Gujarat is worse than Afghanistan," he said.

"I don't know what the provocation was for the Prime Minister to bring up Somalia and compare Kerala with it. This is an outrageous comment. It is an insult to all Keralaites, it is an insult to all Indians," he said.

The quality of life and social indicators of Kerala are better than most countries in the world including the United States, he said.
Ahmedabad: Dubbing Gujarat government's decision to provide 10 per cent quota for the economically backward among forward communities as a mere "lollipop" to hoodwink people, Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela on Friday said his party will accord 20 percent reservation to the EBCs if voted to power next year.

Vaghela's promise to double the quota came a day after Hardik Patel dashed a letter to him seeking to give a firm assurance about the EBC quota.

Congress had demanded that the Anandiben Patel-led government double the quota and raise the income limit to Rs 12 lakhs from Rs 6 lakh after the BJP announced its decision last month, in the backdrop of a prolonged stir for OBC status by members of the influential Patel community.

"Congress was always in favour of EBC quota, even before the Patel agitation started. We feel that 10 percent EBC quota is not enough. It is nothing but a lollipop. The income limit of Rs 6 lakhs should also be raised to Rs 12 lakhs, so that maximum number of needy people can be given benefit," Vaghela, opposition leader in the state, said.

"If Congress comes to power in Gujarat, we will give 20 percent EBC reservation within 100 days of assuming power," he said.

Congress is out of power in Gujarat since 1995, where assembly polls are due next year.

In a letter yesterday, Hardik, the spearhead of the Patel agitation, asked Vaghela whether Congress is serious about the demand of 20 percent EBC quota and increase in income limit.

He also hinted at supporting Congress if the party promises to double the quota if it comes to power.

Meanwhile, senior minister and spokesperson of Gujarat government, Nitin Patel slammed Vaghela for making such a promise, which according to him is nothing but a gimmick to mislead the people ahead of assembly polls.

"Vaghela and his party is only doing politics by making such promises. There is no point in making such promises when you are not in power. Vaghela is misleading people. It is the strategy of Congress to stretch the issue of reservation till 2017 Assembly polls to get political mileage," said Patel.

"If Congress is in favour of EBC, then why don't they first implement it in states where Congress is ruling? To prove their commitment, Congress should immediately implement it in their states first. Otherwise, there is no point in making promises where you are not in power," said Hardik in his letter.

On 29 April, the BJP government announced the EBC reservation, apparently to placate the agitating Patels.

It was facing violent protests by outfits led by Hardik Patel and Lalji Patel from the numerically and socially strong Patel community over reservation in education and government jobs under the OBC category.

The decision also came in the wake of recent reverses in the civic polls, which left the ruling party jittery in the state.

The reservation announced by the government is over and above the cap of 50 percent reservation set by the Supreme Court, and may face legal hurdles. The state government already provides 50 percent reservation to SC/STs and OBCs.
The ferocity of the #PoMoneModi campaign on Twitter should ideally remind the Prime Minister of a flaw in his tactics: A predilection for running down states governed by rival parties and assuming that every Indian voter looks at Gujarat as an enviable model of development.

Past year, election results in Delhi and Bihar proved that the strategy of ridiculing rival states can easily backfire. And now Kerala's vitriolic rebuff to Narendra Modi's flawed comparison of the state's infant mortality rate with Somalia has underlined that the electoral strategy of belittling other states can make the practitioner a butt of jokes.

On the election trail in Bihar, Modi made a series of caustic remarks on Bihar. He called the state Bimaru, even when it had consistently done well on several economic indicators, talked about scarcity of bijli and paani and mocked the absence of roads in the state.

Any psychologist or management guru can tell you that a majority of humans do not appreciate criticism, even if it is valid. To make people listen, become amenable to suggestions you need to reinforce and reward positive behaviour and achievements instead of constantly carping about their flaws and failures.

It is basic human nature to distrust, even dislike, those who tell us there is a mental, moral or physical flaw in our personality. This aversion becomes more pronounced when the critic is an outsider, somebody who is seen as judging us. Nobody likes to be told, 'you are pathetic and only I can save you.'

Also, there is a subtle difference between castigating a politician or a political party and throwing barbs at a state or a population. Sometimes smart victims manage to erase the distinction with crafty campaigns and words, like Nitish Kumar did by pouncing on the PM's DNA remark and Arvind Kejriwal on the BJP's 'upadravi gotra' ad, and make an attack on them look like an affront to a larger community. But, often politicians themselves goof up while launching their salvos.

When Modi called Bihar Bimaru during the Assembly campaign, the hard-working people of the state saw it as a criticism of their inability to contribute meaningfully to development, even when several indices were suggesting that the decadal growth was much higher than other states. The constant comparisons with Gujarat were seen as hyperboles and boasts meant to remind Biharis that people in other states were more competent than them.

In Kerala, which leads every Indian state in almost every key human development index, Modi made a similar mistake by hurting their collective pride.

Though he dressed it up differently, he ended up telling a proud state that their living condition is so pathetic that scheduled tribe children would be safer growing up in Somalia. (You can read G Pramod Kumar's rebuttal of the comparison here).

The dismay of Modi's supporters at the #PoMoneModi campaign is understandable. His foot soldiers believe his words have been taken out of context, twisted and blown out of proportion. They argue that he compared just the IMR among local tribes with Somalia and did not insult the state. But, in politics, such tactics are often part of electoral warfare.

During the Lok Sabha campaign, when Priyanka Gandhi alleged that Modi was resorting to "neech rajneeti" (low-level politics), the PM quickly pounced on it and alleged that he had been attacked for being from "neechi jaati" (lower caste). Now, Kerala is giving Modi a taste of his own medicine.

In fact, Modi has often made the mistake of ridiculing people of his own country and its past, arguing that its calendar could be clearly divided into BM (before Modi) and PM (post-Modi) eras. In his speeches in foreign countries, 'India-was-terrible-before-I saved-it' has been a recurring theme.

In May 2015, Modi told his audience in Seoul and China that people were ashamed to be born in India till recently: "There was a time when people would say they were born in India because they committed some sin in their previous life...is it a country worth living in. What is this government and people? Lets leave it and move to some other place and people would set off. People from the industry would also say that they should not do any business in this country and should not live here.... Back then too he was rebuked on twitter with the hashtag #ModiinsultsIndia.

It is ironic that Modi has made criticism, most of the times invalid or grossly exaggerated, a hallmark of his campaign. Not so long ago, he had adopted a strategy based on positive reaffirmation and profuse praise of his electorate. When Modi won consecutive elections in Gujarat, many argued that one of the contributing factors was his appeal to Gujarati asmita. Modi, analysts argued, made people feel proud of their past and achievements; he made them feel good as a populace and a state.

Now, he ends up rubbing them the wrong way, negating the learnings from his own past. No wonder, the chants of Go, Modi, Go have turned into an embarrassing #PoMoneModi.
Chennai: Union Minister Smriti Irani on Friday described the Congress-DMK alliance for the May 16 Assembly

polls in Tamil Nadu as an "unholy" one while bringing up the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

"When we look at the unholy Congress-DMK alliance what we find is when people of this country speak about Congress and DMK alliance, the only memory we have is that of 2G scam which horrified the entire nation," Irani said at an election rally, canvassing for state BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan in Chennai.

Soundararajan is contesting from Virugambakkam constituency in Chennai.

"When we look at the alliance of Congress and DMK, you find that they did corruption not only 2G, but they did not spare even helicopter procurement for the nation," she said.

Ridiculing DMK for not yet identifying M Karunanidhi's successor, Irani said, "In their hands they have taken the rising sun as the party symbol. But when you ask the people of Tamil Nadu which son rises (after Karunanidhi), they will tell you that till now, even within the DMK, a decision has not been taken on who shall rise and who shall be left behind."

The Union Minster said that people should ponder over whether it was Tamil Nadu's destiny to be "hijacked" by the interest of one family.

On the freebies given by the ruling AIADMK, Irani, without naming the party, said one has to ask why this political party has not strengthened the citizens economically.

"On the one hand we have one party (AIADMK) which makes promises, distributes things. You need to ask yourself why this political party has not strengthened citizens economically, so that they themselves can look after their needs."

Making a reference to the works of great poets Subramania Bharati and Thiruvalluvar, she said for the first time in the nation's history, it was under Narendra Modi's leadership through the HRD Ministry that "we have recognised the contribution and the richness of Thirukkural (treatise) and we got it to the rest of the country through our school systems and universities."

Listing out some successful Central government schemes, Irani said that opening of accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme has seen the eradication of middlemen.

"I would like to remind you that this nation saw a time when a Congress leader from Delhi said that one Rupee leaves Delhi and by the time it reaches the pocket of poor person it becomes 10 paise," she said.

"When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, he announced the opening of bank accounts for every citizen so that no middleman can take away money from the poor and the funds were directly deposited into the bank accounts," she said.

Pointing out that Rs 30,000 crore has been deposited in bank accounts under the scheme, she said a cup of filter coffee costs Rs 30, but insurance is available at Rs one.

"When I ask for a cup of filter coffee in this very lane it is Rs 20 - Rs 30. But under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi insurance is given to citizen(s) for Rs one only," Irani said.

She said that one crore citizens had given up LPG subsidy so that poor women in rural areas could have free LPG connections.

BJP has planned to give free LPG connections to five crore people in the coming years, the Union Minister said.
The controversy surrounding Prime Minster Narendra Modis speech comparing Kerala to Somalia has taken a fresh twist with the Congress party releasing a CD claiming the much-debated photo of Adivasi children looking for food in waste pile was fake.

The photo that appeared in the Mathrubhumi daily in November 2015 showed two Adivasi kids foraging a garbage pile in the waste treatment plant in Peravoor near Kannur and created much uproar in the social media. Modi in his controversial speech in Kasargod had mentioned this photo on Monday.

According to media reports, the CD released by the Congress on Thursday contains the video of the kids in the photo and their mother who say they were actually bribed with bananas to pretend that they were eating from the waste.

In the video, the kids are saying that they were asked to pretend so by some people in the area, who also gave them a sack with waste in it and bananas. It was this photo that the media published, says this report in Malayala Manorama.

Another report in South Live quotes the father of the kids, Rajeevan, as saying that though there is poverty in the colony they are living in and it is not really bad. The mother, meanwhile, has said that she has never sent her children to eat from the waste pile. The family stays in the Ambalakuzhi colony in Thiruvonappuram near Peravoor.

Citing this photo, Narendra Modi had told a rally in Kerala that the situation of scheduled tribes in the state was worse than Somalia.

The situation with the child death ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is scarier than even Somalia. Recently, one came across a tragic picture in the media. In Peravoor, Scheduled Tribe children were seen foraging for food in a garbage dump, he was quoted as saying in The Indian Express.

The comparison of Kerala to Somalia became controversial. In an open letter, state chief minister Oommen Chandy said the PMs statements had nothing to do with reality and that it was unbecoming of a prime minister to make such comments.

He also denied of any such incidents in Peravoor.

"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 school students are provided with free midday meal, and egg on one day and milk on another day in a week," Chandy said.

Modi was trolled on Twitter with #PoMoneModi, which means get lost son, with detractors rolling out data comparing Gujarat and Kerala.
Lucknow: Claiming his party enjoys "unflinching support" of minorities, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said that the community in Uttar Pradesh has never sided with any political party for such a long time.

"The party has unflinching support of minorities due to their trust in us. They have never remained with any party for such a long time," he said.

The former chief minister was addressing a press conference where former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma formally joined the SP after leaving Congress.

Mulayam further said minorities have always been ignored by all the other political parties in the state and it was the SP which first raised the issues of their concern.

"All the police stations in the state now have at least three or four Muslim constables. We are the ones who work in their interest," said the veteran politician.

Praising his son and current Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam said that the CM had fulfilled all the promises made before the 2012 Assembly elections in two-and-a-half years and now, new projects have been initiated.

"The metro rail work has started. An expressway from Agra to Ballia is on the cards. Though, initially I was against the metro project, Akhilesh insisted on it. Now, I have asked him to complete the project soon. What is the use, if work starts only before elections," Mulayam asked.

Replying to a query on the possibility of the SP joining the grand alliance again, Mulayam said, "Ask this question to Nitish (Kumar)."

Interrupting him, SP leader Azam Khan said, "Yahan toh hum hi hum hain. Bihar ki baat alag thi" (In UP, it is only us. The situation in Bihar was different).
Elections these days are more about beating an opponent party rather than being a pivotal tool in bringing about a efficacious change and political parties in Tamil Nadu are a leading example at that.

Tamil Nadu has been listed as one of the most corrupt states in India by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) survey. Voters in the state have noted corruption and reservation for jobs as major issues, a survey by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

The two major Dravidian parties in the state which have been alternatively ruling for the past 50 years  All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) - have individually made it to headlines for being embroiled in major money laundering cases. The 2G scam, Aircel Maxis case and a disproportionate assets case are a few to start with.

Despite all this, the issue of corruption finds no mention in any of the political rallies as Tamil Nadu enters the last leg of campaigning.

It is not just corruption. Crucial concerns like good governance and over-all development are terms that are rarely used by politicians during their campaign rallies. The four-pronged election battle in Tamil Nadu with giants AIADMK and DMK on one hand, Vaiko-led alternative front (DMDK-PWF-TMC) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) on the other, it is not very strange that the issue of corruption has not been used as a poll plank in one of the largest states of India. "People will laugh if AIADMK or DMK blame the other for corruption. Who is a bigger fraud? They have no stand on that topic. One is better than the other," said a young voter at a BJP rally in Chennai's Royapettah area.

That is unfortunately true.

Corruption is not new to politics but political analysts in Tamil Nadu blame the two Dravidian parties who have ruled the state unchallenged over the past 50 years to have institutionalised corrupt practices in the southern state which goes to polls on 16 May.

"Who will speak against corruption? How will Karunanidhi or Jayalalithaa have any stand on corruption? Parties against corruption don't have the kind of manpower or resource to influence the mood of the people. Media is largely influenced by either the DMK or AIADMK, there are exceptions, but largely they are being influenced by the two parties," says political critic Gnani Sankaran, who added that money is uninhibitedly exchanging hands during the 2016 election.

Youth wing president of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the CM candidate of the party, Anbumani Ramadoss, while campaigning in his constituency Dharmapuri said that its shameful that the two parties, implicated in major scams, have not shied away from giving tickets to corrupt party members.

Speaking to Firstpost exclusively while campaigning for his party, Ramadoss said:

There was widespread criticism right after AIADMK supremo released her list of candidates. The AIADMK is contesting 227 out of 234 seats in the state, the first time the party is contesting such a large number of seats. Allies have been allotted seven seats in all. These allies too will contest under the AIADMKs 'two-leaves' symbol. The list surprised political analysts and critics in the southern state and substantiated Ramadoss' allegations.

Jayalalithaa had included several tainted candidates in the list and that  according to journalists and political commentators  was a daring move. Anand Kumar of Firstpost quoted senior journalist R Mani from Chennai as saying, "The AIADMK's candidate list is surprising. This move (to include ministers with allegations of corruption against them) shows the extreme confidence of the party leadership. Even when MGR (MG Ramachandran) was heading the party, such drastic action was not taken by him," he said.

Numbers and surveys substantiate the rising corruption issue in the state. According to the ADR survey, chief ministerial candidates of three major parties in Tamil Nadu  AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa, DMK chief Karunanidhi and DMDK leader Vijayakanth  are among the top 10 candidates with highest assets, with several crores worth of assets declared in their affidavit for the upcoming assembly elections. A total of 553 candidates (56 percent of the 997 candidates analysed) from 11 major parties in the state are crorepatis, says the report.

One way or the other, it won't bode well with the voters of Tamil Nadu if either the AIADMK or DMK attack each other on the issue of corruption. According to a senior leader in DMK it is a conscious party effort to not cross any lines while campaigning. "It yields no positive result, in fact, it creates sympathy in the eyes of the voters. Elections in Tamil Nadu are a direct fight between the AIADMK and DMK and its counter-productive if you call out the other on corruption charges," he said.

And this theory has been proven to be correct in the past as well. During the 2001 state assembly elections, DMK went all guns blazing at the AIADMK supremo over her alleged involvement in disproportionate assets case. Jayalalithaa swept the polls with 196 seats that year. According to poll watchers one of the major factors which helped her seal victory was the sympathy garnered in the eyes of the voters due to the continuous slandering by DMK cadres.

"Amma is committed about what she has done for the state and what she plans to do in the future. There is no place or time for mean and malicious attacks on any other political party. Everyone knows what DMK is. Their reputation preceeds them. AIADMK does not value cheap slandering just for poll benefits and no one has the substance to challenge Amma on any front," asserted Avadi candidate of AIADMK K Panidiyarajan.

In Tamil Nadu, the sheer brazeness of the two parties when they talk about corruption is striking. Members from either parties don't shy away from taking unbolted potshots at each other and when the topic is corruption, their benchmark is each other.

"Amma will come sweeping down on DMK and they will know who is the true leader of Tamil Nadu," bellowed an Amma supporter at her campaign rally in Chennai. "Karunanidhi is corrupt and so is his entire family. They have destroyed Tamil Nadu and we will not let them come back in power."

It is sad that in one of the largest states of India, pertinent issues like corruption, superior living standards and good governance are not even debated among parties and further are not even considered as poll issues. Cult culture and personality-driven polity is what makes Tamil Nadu politics interesting but blind faith caused due to the frenzy is also dangerous.
BRASILIA Brazil's center-right interim government said on Friday it has the political support for tough measures needed to return the economy to growth and can secure a permanent mandate once leftist President Dilma Rousseff's impeachment trial is over.

Presidential Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha said the incoming government understood it was only provisional for now and had ordered portraits of Rousseff to be left hanging in federal buildings.

Interim President Michel Temer was sworn into office on Thursday after Rousseff was suspended from office by the Senate for up to 180 days while she is tried on charges of breaking budget rules.

Rousseff, ousted from the presidential palace, took to the offensive, telling foreign reporters in her residence that she had been dislodged by an "illegitimate" and "extremely conservative" government run by only white males who would roll back social advances made by her Workers Party.

Padilha said Rousseff had left Brazil with unprecedented levels of fiscal deficit and public debt, and most Brazilians are aware that hard measures are needed to pull the country out a severe economic recession.

"We have enough support to pass urgent measures through Congress," he told a news conference following the government's first cabinet meeting, pointing to the distribution among nine political parties of 23 ministerial posts in a slimmed-down cabinet.

Despite having no electoral mandate, Temer promptly unveiled on Thursday an agenda of liberal reforms - including cuts to public spending and pension reforms - that would swing Brazil to the right after 13 years of leftist Workers Party rule.

To start with, Planning Minister Romero Juca announced on Friday that 4,000 jobs would be cut from the federal government payroll by the end of the year.

Juca said reforms to Brazil's pension and tax system were crucial to getting public debt under control in the midst of Brazil's worst economic crisis ever, though he said Temer would avoid the kinds of drastic measures that fueled popular anger in debt-strapped Greece and Italy.

Meaningful pension reform has eluded governments of all stripes, even when they had strong mandates. The pension system costs the state a crippling 13 percent of gross domestic product, more than any G7 nation except Italy.

'RESTORE FAITH' IN BRAZIL

Putting Brazil on a path to growth again is considered a priority after a crisis brought on by the end of the commodities boom and aggravated by a massive corruption scandal surrounding state-run oil company Petrobras.

Brazilians have taken to the streets in record numbers in recent years to protest against inefficient and corrupt government and they will reward a government that can restore confidence and investment, Temer's ministers said.

"We are convinced that we are going to do such a good job governing that the government that is provisional today will become definitive before 180 days are up," Padilha said.

The margin of the vote in the Senate to suspend her, 55 to 22, showed Temer's government currently has support in Congress needed for a series of tough economic reforms, Padilha said.

A two-thirds vote in the upper house is needed to convict Rousseff and remove her from office permanently. Temer would then complete her term until 2018.

Earlier on Friday, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said the government would unveil tough measures soon to curb a budget deficit that topped 10 percent of economic output last year, possibly including increasing taxes temporarily.

The gaping fiscal deficit cost Brazil's its hard-won investment grade credit rating last year, further undermining investor credibility in the Latin American nation's policies.

Experts have voiced concern that cutting public spending and raising taxes could further shrink a once-booming economy, which is on track in 2016 for a second year of contracting by more than 3 percent - its worst performance since the 1930s.

The Workers Party has vowed to organize mass protests against Temer, whom it has dubbed a traitor, and to derail his legislative agenda in Congress.

"We are certainly going to put up fierce opposition to some of these proposals," Workers Party Congressman Paulo Pimenta said in an interview. He also assailed the new government for not having a single woman in a cabinet of "white men."

In a sign of opposition to Temer's government, his Education Minister Jose Mendonca was received with boos by employees protesting the elimination of the Culture Ministry.

Following the most unpopular Brazilian president in a generation, Temer can tap into a widespread feeling that things couldn't get any worse.

"I think they can improve things, but it won't be easy because the crisis is so huge," said street vendor Marcelo Matos, 34 , who lives in one of Sao Paulo's largest slums.

"Whatever they do for Brazil will restore people's faith and they will have support. We don't have any alternative today."

(Additional reporting by Brad Brooks, Leo Goy and Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia, Brad; Haynes and Cesar Bianconi in Sao Paulo; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Mary Milliken)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
WASHINGTON The United States plans to renew the bulk of its sanctions against Myanmar when they expire next week, but will make some changes aimed at boosting investment and trade, according to several senior U.S. officials and congressional aides.

An announcement on extending much of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, could come as soon as Tuesday ahead of a visit to the Southeast Asian nation by Secretary of State John Kerry on May 22, officials said.

The U.S. Treasury Department has significantly eased sanctions against Myanmar by issuing general licenses that give companies and investors exemptions to sanctions targeting more than 100 individuals and businesses, including some of Myanmars biggest business players.

U.S. officials began lifting trade and financial sanctions against the country after military leaders launched reforms that led to a civilian government being formed in 2011, beginning its transformation from a half-century as an international pariah.

In December, Treasury temporarily relaxed trade restrictions on the country also known as Burma by allowing all shipments to go through its ports and airports for six months.

This time, Washington will likely offer more general licenses to specific companies, and take some people off Treasury's list of "Specially Designated Individuals" targeted for sanctions, congressional aides and U.S. officials said.

Kerry's visit to Myanmar is his first since the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's Nobel laureate, swept to power following a landslide election win in November. A constitution drafted by the country's former military rulers bars her from becoming president.

President Barack Obama's opening to Myanmar followed by its peaceful transition to an elected government is seen as one of his foreign policy achievements. He has visited there twice. But the administration also wants to maintain leverage on the country to guard against backsliding on reforms and to press for improvement on human rights.

By renewing the legal framework for sanctions even as it eases some measures, Obama will offer the private sector more breathing room while maintaining pressure on its military, which still holds significant political power. The sanctions had been due to expire on May 20.

Washington has deep concerns about human rights conditions in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, especially violence against ethnic and religious minorities including Rohingya Muslims.

'ROAD TO DEMOCRACY'

Members of the U.S. Congress, from both parties, are watching closely and could move to clamp down on Myanmar themselves if they think Obama is moving too quickly.

Last month, Senators Cory Gardner and Ben Cardin, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Foreign Relations Asia subcommittee, wrote to Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew expressing concern about rights, and asking the administration to work with Congress to ensure those concerns were addressed.

"Like you, we want to ensure that the U.S. is Burma's strongest supporter on its road to democracy," the senators said in the letter, seen by Reuters.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Aung San Suu Kyi supported the extension of U.S. sanctions with some changes. Discussions with her have focussed on how to properly target trade restrictions so they do not hurt Myanmar's overall economy, but keep pressure on military-owned institutions, they said.

"We are looking to take steps to demonstrate our support for the new democratically elected government of Burma ...and that we're taking the necessary steps to ensure that they succeed, that they can carry on economic developments and reforms," a senior administration official told Reuters.

"At the same time we want to do that in a smart, measured way that gives us a range of options and flexibility to respond appropriately going forward," the official added.

The United States is eager to expand relations with Myanmar to help counteract China's rise in Asia and take advantage of the opening of one of the world's last "frontier markets," growing but less developed emerging economies.

Peter Kucik, a former senior sanctions adviser at the U.S. Treasury, said despite an easing of some banking sanctions by the United States since 2012, transactions with Myanmar were still difficult.

"I suspect the changes that get announced all drive at the same end goal: which is to promote and make easier the trade and business relationships between the two countries and encourage continued reform while minding concerns," said Kucik.

"The details will really indicate where the principal areas of remaining concern are but broadly speaking they are going to be aligned with what we've seen so far," he said.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
"Morocco wants to speed up economic cooperation with China, and it can be a platform for Chinese companies entering Europe and West Africa," says Salaheddine Mezouar, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco in Beijng.

Mezouar was accompanying Moroccan King Mohammed VI during a three-day state visit to China from May 11 to 13. During the trip, Morocco and China agreed on the establishment of a strategic partnership and also signed 14 agreements between the two governments and 15 non-government deals.

"Morocco has kept close relationship with West Africa in history, culture and religion, so after we signed this strategic partnership, Morocco would play a key role in the bilateral relationship between China , Morocco and West Africa," says Mezouar.

Morocco has a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and the United States, so Chinese companies could use Morocco as platforms for entering Europe and the West Africa, while developing the Morocco market, he said.

"While maintaining the relationship with our traditional partners such as Europe and the US, we would also like to diversify our partners. The relationship with China is very important for us," says Mezouar, adding that the strategic partnership will accelerate future cooperation.

"King Mohammed VI will see to it in person that all the projects signed will be carried out."

Beginning June 1, Chinese tourists visiting Morocco will be able to do so visa-free. The deals signed during the visit cover a wide range of areas such as infrastructure, new energy, culture, education, tourism, and finance.

Mezouar says that Morocco will bring in China's high-speed railway technology, and will co-construct a 300-km long high-speed railway in the southwest part of the country from Marrakech to Agadir.

"Both countries have done a lot of research and evaluation about this project and will start preparation for the construction later," says Mezouar.

"Meanwhile, Morocco is also working on the construction of railways that runs from Morocco to West African countries. China and Morocco could work on these projects through various ways, such as transfer of technology, training of talent and joint investment.

"Moreover, Morocco would specially establish a 10 square kilometers industrial zone in the Tangier port in the north Morocco, which is only about 15 miles from Europe, so companies in the industrial zone will be able to send its products to any place in Europe. He says that they welcome Chinese companies, especially who are in automobile, textile and astronautics sectors.

While talking about industrial capacity cooperation, Mezouar says that he hope China would make efforts to help push forward Africa's industrialization process.

"We don't want to only produce raw materials, we are trying to make more added values to our product, and we hope China could help us go through the industrial process through investment, and talent training," Mezouar says.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced on Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria in a major blow to the coalition supporting the Damascus regime.

The group said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollah's massive intervention in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, came as a fragile truce in the country's five-year conflict teetered on the brink of collapse.

A six-day-old ceasefire in battleground second city Aleppo expired early Thursday without renewal and rebel sniper fire on the government-held sector of the city killed two civilians, one of them a woman, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in its Idlib province stronghold in the northwest, killing 16 of its fighters, including a senior commander.

Badreddine had been a key player in Hezbollah's military wing virtually since its inception.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, was a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and was one of Israel's most wanted men.

The Shiite militant group, which now dominates Lebanon's government, did not specify which of Badreddine's many enemies it held responsible for his death.

"According to preliminary reports, a large explosion targeted one of our positions near Damascus international airport killing brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding other people," it said in a statement.

"We are going to pursue an inquiry to determine the nature and causes of the explosion and ascertain whether it was the result of an air strike, a missile or artillery fire."

Damascus airport lies to the east of the capital where various rebel groups have a strong presence in the countryside, although pro-government forces have secured the highway to it for the past two years or more.

Badreddine's predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, his cousin and brother-in-law, was killed in Damascus in 2008 in an attack that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddine's death.

Israel made no comment, as it did in 2008 too, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollah's failure to point the finger.

In its 2012 terror blacklisting of Badreddine, Washington charged that he was the key pointman for Hezbollah's operations in Syria alongside its key foreign backer Iran in support of Assad's regime.

"Badreddine is assessed to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria since 2011, including the movement of Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon to Syria, in support of the Syrian regime," the US Treasury Department said.

"Since 2012, Badreddine coordinated Hezbollah military activities in Syria," it said.

Key prop for Assad

Hezbollah's intervention was vital in shoring up Assad's regime at its lowest point in the war against rebels backed by Gulf Arab and Western countries.

Its fighters secured most of the Lebanese border region, cutting vital rebel supply lines, and reasserted government control in most of the southern suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayyida Zeinab Shiite shrine district, revered by Hezbollah's followers and by its Iranian backers.

The intervention of Russia in September last year in support of its Damascus ally has sharply expanded the military coalition backing it.

Russian officials have vowed to work closely with their US counterparts to salvage a February ceasefire between pro-government forces and non-jihadist rebels but it was teetering on the brink on Friday after the collapse of the Aleppo truce.

That deal had sharply reduced a surge in the fighting in Syria's pre-war commercial capital that had killed more than 300 civilians.

Al-Qaeda, like the Islamic State group which controls much of eastern Syria, was never party to the truce and more than 60 air strikes on Thursday targeted the Abu Duhur airbase in an area of Idlib province it controls, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

It was unclear whether those strikes were carried out by the Syrian air force, Russian warplanes or aircraft of the US-led coalition, all of which have struck Al-Qaeda in Syria in the past.

As violence flared, efforts by the United Nations and the Red Cross to step up aid deliveries to the hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians trapped in besieged areas ran into trouble.

The United Nations on Thursday abandoned an attempt to make the first significant aid delivery in four years to the besieged rebel enclave of Daraya outside Damascus after a consignment of baby milk was blocked by pro-government forces.

"We urge the responsible authorities to grant us access to Daraya, so we can return with desperately-needed food & medicines," the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
Beijing: In a surprise move, China has elevated the rank of Tibet's Military Command which looks after the security along its border with India by putting it under the jurisdiction of PLA ground forces, suggesting it may "undertake some kind of military combat mission in future."

'China raises Tibet Military Command's (TMC) power rank,' state-run Global Times said in a frontpage report.

"The TMC's political rank will be elevated to one level higher than its counterpart provincial-level military commands and will come under the leadership of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)," it reported citing another official newspaper, the China Youth Daily.

"The promotion marks a new journey for the TMC command's construction," it said.

The sudden "elevation" surprised many observers as the PLA in this year's reform brought most of the provincial military commands under the control of Central Military Commission's (CMC) new National Defence Mobilisation Department. CMC, the overall high command of the PLA, is directly headed by President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the ruling Communist Party.

"The TMC on the other hand, is under the leadership of the Chinese ground forces, which suggests that the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future," the report quoted a "source close to the matter" as saying. There was no elaboration of what the "military combat mission" will be.

Seasoned military observers termed the report confusing.

Until last year, China had seven military area commands in Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu, Jinan, Shenyang, Lanzhou and Guangzhou. Of this Chengdu looked after security of India's Eastern sector in the Tibet region including Arunachal Pradesh while Lanzhou in Xinjiang looked after partly the western sector, including Kashmir region and Pakistan.

As per the new strategic zone plan, both Chengdu and Lanzhou gets integrated into strategic command region making it perhaps the biggest areas for Chinese military.

TMC may perhaps get a four-star General instead of a Lieutenant-General, while Lanzhou where the combat forces are stationed is already led by a General.

"Loosely put it, the report is very confusing. we need more information to get a proper prospective," a senior military official told PTI.

India-China borders largely enjoy peace and tranquillity, notwithstanding the dispute over the 3,488-kilometre-long border. They have set up mechanism at the ground and at the level of the government to address issues relating to the recurring transgressions by PLA troops in the areas claimed by India.

The issue was broadly discussed during last month's visit of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to China during which the two sides agreed to set up 'Hot Lines' between the militaries.
Islamabad: The Indian lobby has been making "untiring efforts" to reverse the US decision and block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has told the Senate.

Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion moved by Mohsin Khan Leghari and others over the withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16s fighter jets to Pakistan by the US, Aziz said the government is pursuing the issue of sale of F-16s with the country at different levels and forums.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself," Aziz was quoted as saying by an official statement.

"The move was however defeated proving the strong merit of our arguments, and the effectiveness of our outreach to the US at various levels, particularly to the US Congressional leaders," he said.

Congress opposed funding of these eight aircrafts through foreign military funding of the United States, he pointed out.

Aziz said Pakistan Defence Minister has written a letter to his American counterpart highlighting the importance of F-16s in the war against terror. He said Defence Consultative Group of the two countries would meet at the end of June where this issue would also be substantially discussed.

The Advisor said that Pakistan-US relationship was on a positive trajectory during the last three years with significant progress in the realms of political, economic and defence ties.
BAGHDAD Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs on Thursday in a major attack on government forces that recaptured the western city of Ramadi in December, military officials said.

The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, a day after killing at least 80 people in bombings at an outdoor market and two checkpoints inside the capital.

The attacks near Ramadi dealt one of the heaviest blows to the army since it drove Islamic State out of the western city five months ago.

An army colonel told Reuters that militants killed at least 17 soldiers with suicide truck bombs in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north, army sources said.

Air strikes by a U.S.-led coalition later allowed government forces to regain control of the supply route. But despite army reinforcements, the militants had dug into northern residential areas by nightfall and were lobbing mortars at government positions across the Euphrates river.

An officer said the Islamic State attack appeared designed to delay an expected army offensive that would have completely severed militant supply routes to Falluja on the western approaches to Baghdad, which Iraqi forces have ringed for more than six months.

As Islamic State has been pushed out of key towns and cities it seized in 2014, it has resorted increasingly to guerrilla-style attacks in civilian areas under nominal Iraqi government control.

The toll from Wednesday's three suicide bombings in Baghdad made it the deadliest day in Baghdad so far this year.

Police sources said Thursday's bombers approached a police station in Abu Ghraib from two directions before detonating their explosives. Baghdad Operations Command, one of the security organs charged with protecting the capital, said a third assailant was killed on approach to the police station.

Amaq news agency, which supports Islamic State, said two militants had clashed with police at al-Zeidan station before setting off their explosives-filled vests.

Sunni Muslim militant violence against security forces and Shi'ite Muslim civilians has persisted since Baghdad became the target of almost daily bombings a decade ago following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein.

A recent surge in bombings has heightened criticism of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as he grapples with a political crisis over his attempts to overhaul his cabinet to weed out corruption and mismanagement.

Lawmakers balking at ceding vested interests targeted by Abadi have failed to convene parliament since protesters loyal to powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, a vocal advocate of dismantling Iraq's quota-based governing system, breached the heavily-fortified Green Zone district two weeks ago and took over the assembly complex for several hours.

Sadr's supporters took to the streets of Baghdad on Thursday to denounce the government for failing to protect them, escalating a political confrontation that could doom the ruling coalition.

(Additional reporting by Kareem Raheem and Omar Fahmy in Cairo; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Tom Brown)

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Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia on Friday said the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will not be

shifted after five pieces of debris was found in the Western Indian Ocean, some two years after the plane carrying 239 people vanished mysteriously.

"We won't shift the search area as this was confirmed by our experts based on the drift patterns of the recovered debris," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said.

When asked whether or not the search area will be expanded, Liow said it will be decided after the tripartite meeting of Malaysia, Australia and China in June or July.

He said the search team was confident of finding more debris and probably the main wreckage in the Southern Indian Ocean.

"It is important that we find the wreckage of MH370. We need to look for the wreckage and analyse the cause of the incident," he added.

"The search will be continued as we are certain that more debris will be found in the area following the confirmation that the five pieces of debris found in Mozambique and Rodrigues Island near Mauritius were almost certain from MH370.

"So far we have completed 1,05,000 square kilometres and will continue to search until we complete the 1,20,000 square kilometre area identified by experts," he was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.

He said the search area covered 99 per cent of MH370's flight path and where it ended was determined by experts.

MH370's disappearance is one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries. The plane vanished from radar on 8 March 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people, including five Indians, on board.

The jetliner's journey is believed to have ended somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean about 1,800 kilometres off Australia's west coast.

Despite a two-year investigation costing millions of dollars, only one piece of debris has been confirmed as coming from the aircraft  a 6-foot-long wing flap that washed up on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

Australian officials last month had said the two pieces of debris recovered from beaches in Mozambique almost certainly belonged to the missing flight.

On Thursday, Malaysia said the two more pieces of plane debris found in South Africa and Mauritius "almost certainly" belonged from MH370.

Australia is leading the massive multi-nation search in the remote southern Indian Ocean, believed to be the final resting place of the Boeing 777.

The relatives of several passengers aboard flight MH370 have filed suits against the Malaysia Airlines amid doubts about the official explanation for the plane's disappearance.
Islamabad: Pakistan said on Thursday that it has closed its border with Afghanistan "to implement border control measures."

Pakistani authorities closed the border on Tuesday after the Afghan forces prevented Pakistan's plan to fence the border to stop illegal cross-border movement, Xinhua reported.

The Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Zakhilwal, also confirmed border closure at Torkham and said talks between Pakistani and Afghan officials to reopen it failed on Thursday.

Thousands of people and many trucks are stranded on both sides of the border, witnesses in the area said.

"Illegal crossings and other associated issues are major challenges for both countries. To address the situation, the government of Pakistan has decided to implement border control measures at Torkham for effective border management," the foreign ministry said in Islamabad.

"It is in the interest of both countries to have a well-regulated border. There were differences between the two sides on implementation of measures to manage and regulate the border, due to which the border has been temporarily closed," ministry spokesman Nafees Zikriya said.

He said both sides are in contact with each other through military to military channels to address this issue.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600 kilometers of border, mostly porous, and the illegal crossing has always been a source of tension between the two countries.

Kabul's ambassador in Islamabad said that Afghan defence and interior ministry officials held talks with a Pakistani delegation to solve the Torkham problem. However, the talks ended without any result and the border remained closed for the third day.
A day after the whereabouts of wanted gangster Dawood Ibrahim were reportedly revealed by CNN-News18, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has claimed that no Pakistan government is going to admit that Dawood has sought refuge in their country, according to another CNN-News18 report.

Through a sting operation, it had earlier been reported that Ibrahim lived at D 13, Block 4, Clifton, Karachi in a huge bungalow barricaded on all sides.

As a response to the video of Ibrahims house released by the news channel, Chidambaram said, the Pakistan government is never going to yield Dawood Ibrahim to you. They are never going to admit that Dawood has sought refuge there and even if they do, they are never going to make them available to you."

Dawoods address has been known to Indian intelligence agencies for a long time. Hindustan Times reported in 2015 that India possessed a telephone bill addressed to D 13, Block 4, Clifton in the name of Ibrahims wife Mehjabeen.

The Congress leader too referred to this in his statement. The whole world knows that Dawood Ibrahim has an address in Pakistan. In fact we have shared with the Pakistan government. They have of course denied it, he added, according to the CNN-News 18 report.

Pakistan has indeed been in denial. Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit asked the Indian government to share information on Dawood, if you have any." Chidambaram also commented on the efforts of the Indian government. He reportedly said that not being able to bring back Ibrahim is not a failure of any Indian government. The problem is with Pakistan.

Chidambaram's remarks on Dawood Ibrahim come at a time when the MEA said that the government was pursuing the matter of bringing back the underworld don from Pakistan.

"Dawood is a UN-designated global terrorist and a fugitive of the Indian law. At several points of time, his details have been shared by India with Pakistan government, including his possible locations in Pakistan. We will continue to pursue this matter and we expect Pakistan to hand over this international terrorist to us," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup had said on Thursday.

Watch Chidambaram's interview with CNN-News18 here:

With inputs from IANS
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz conceded that relations with the United States have been under stress for the past three months because of the conditions Washington had attached to the funding of F-16 fighter jets sale.

The confession was made by the adviser on Thursday while concluding a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Dawn online reported.

The adviser said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of some unfortunate incidents including WikiLeaks and the Abbottabad operation where former Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed.

Since 2013, Pakistans relations with the US had witnessed an upward trajectory, he said.

In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft, he said.

Aziz said that the US action might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been categorically rejected by Pakistan.

The adviser, however, assured the Senate that in view of the importance of the issue, Pakistan is making all-out efforts to finalise the F-16 deal with the US administration.

However, senators have termed the US a friend which could not be trusted anymore.

They also criticised the US for expanding its relations with India.
SOCHI, Russia A ballistic missile defence shield which the United States has activated in Europe is a step to a new arms race, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, vowing to adjust budget spending to neutralise "emerging threats" to Russia.

The United States switched on the $800 million missile shield at a Soviet-era base in Romania on Thursday saying it was a defence against missiles from Iran and so-called rogue states.

But, speaking to top defence and military industry officials, Putin said the system was aimed at blunting Russia's nuclear arsenal.

"This is not a defence system. This is part of U.S. nuclear strategic potential brought onto a periphery. In this case, Eastern Europe is such periphery," Putin said.

"Until now, those taking such decisions have lived in calm, fairly well-off and in safety. Now, as these elements of ballistic missile defence are deployed, we are forced to think how to neutralise emerging threats to the Russian Federation," he said.

Coupled with deployment in the Mediterranean of U.S. ships carrying Aegis missiles and other missile shield elements in Poland, the site in Romania was "yet another step to rock international security and start a new arms race", he said.

Russia would not be drawn into this race. But it would continue re-arming its army and navy and spend the approved funds in a way that would "uphold the current strategic balance of forces", he said.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said on Thursday that the shield would not be used against any future Russian missile threat.

Frank Rose, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control, warned at the time that Iran's ballistic missiles could hit parts of Europe, including Romania.

Putin said the prospect of a nuclear threat from Iran should no longer be taken seriously and was being used by Washington as an excuse to develop its missile shield in Europe.

The full defensive umbrella, when complete in 2018 after further development in Poland, will stretch from Greenland to the Azores.

It relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Sensors then measure the rocket's trajectory and destroy it in space before it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.

(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Lidia Kelly and Richard Balmforth)

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KIGALI Rwanda dismissed charges levelled in a U.N. experts' report that it had supported rebels in neighbouring Burundi, accusing the authors on Friday of trying to stir up trouble in the region.

The confidential report, seen by Reuters and due to be presented to the U.N. Security Council later on Friday, said Rwanda provided training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for insurgents seeking to oust Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza.

"Those people who write such stories could also be mobilised to be useful in addressing stories of countrys problems instead of exacerbating them or creating problems that shouldnt be there, Rwandan President Paul Kagame told a news conference in Kigali.

Kagame said Burundi should "look at whatever problems they are having as their own rather than making it sound like its a problem originates from elsewhere."

A year of political violence in Burundi has triggered fears of a full-blown conflict in the fragile central African region.

Burundi only emerged from an ethnically-charged civil war in 2005 and memories are still fresh of the genocide across the border in Rwanda nine years earlier. Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in Rwanda.

SECURITY COUNCIL

The panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on the Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel.

Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims.

In the experts' latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said "similar outside support continued through early 2016".

"This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC," the group of experts wrote in the report.

The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi.

The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government "which denied any involvement". Rwanda's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda.

Political violence erupted in Burundi after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term as president. His opponents accused him of breaking the constitution by running again, though he pointed to a court ruling allowing his campaign.

(Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Islamabad: The 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan was a "tragic mistake", Russia's Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Y Dedov has said, but claimed that it was not similar to Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Addressing a seminar on 'Russia's position on Afghanistan and Syria' at the Area Study Centre at Peshawar University in Peshawar, Deodov said Russian military support to Damascus was aimed at targeting violent jihadists, including the Islamic State and Al Qaeda-linked Jabha Al Nusra.

Describing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan as a "tragic mistake", Dedov said that there was no parallel between the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Bashar al Assad.

In 1979, the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan to back the Marxist government of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan to fight Mujahideens who were jointly backed by American CIA and Pakistan. He said Russia considered ISIS a threat to its national security since around three thousands of its citizens had joined it, causing problems in the Russian region of Dagestan and other places.

Dedov acknowledged that his country was in contacts with the Afghan Taliban to promote reconciliation in Afghanistan.

"There have been limited contacts with the Afghan Taliban," he told the participants.

The Russian envoy said that he was not aware of the level of engagements with the Afghan Taliban or whether his country had sought their help in countering the threat from the Islamic State.

"It's a delicate matter. I really don't know the level of these engagements, but they have been there", he said.

The Russian ambassador laughed off reports that President Vladimir Putin had met Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

"Were there reports that President Putin had met Mullah Omar too?" he asked.

He said that his country viewed the presence of ISIS in northern Afghanistan with concern. He also said that ISIS, which was present in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, had relocated to northern Afghanistan due to military operation.

It was a matter of concern due to its proximity with Central Asian Republics and Russia, he added.

Speaking about Russia-Pakistan relations, he said that it was positive and positions of both the countries coincided on 80 percent of issues. On President Putin's much-speculated visit to Pakistan, he argued that there would have to be something substantive for the Russian head of state to come to Islamabad.
WASHINGTON The United States congratulated the Philippines' "presumptive" President-elect Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday and said it looked forward to deepening U.S.-Philippine ties with his incoming administration.

Washington took the rare step of offering congratulations even though a winner has not been officially declared in Monday's election, which an unofficial count by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed Duterte easily won.

The United States and the Philippines, which signed a treaty of mutual defense in 1951, are deepening military cooperation in the face of China's increasingly assertive claims to disputed land features in the South China Sea.

While the United States closed its bases in the Philippines in 1992, it plans to send U.S. troops and equipment there on regular rotations and the two countries have begun joint patrols in the South China Sea as China asserts its territorial claims.

While Duterte has been criticized for allowing a spree of vigilante killings in Davao city, where he has served as mayor for more than two decades, the United States has made clear this week that it plans to work with him.

"The United States offers its sincerest congratulations to the people of the Philippines on the conclusion of the May 9, 2016 general elections, and to the presumptive president-elect Rodrigo Duterte," Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement.

"The United States looks forward to continuing to deepen our bilateral partnership with the new administration as we address common challenges and issues of mutual interest."

(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Alan Crosby and James Dalgleish)

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WASHINGTON A U.S. Navy flight officer with knowledge of sensitive American intelligence collection methods will face a general court-martial on espionage charges, the Navy said on Friday.

Lieutenant Commander Edward Lin, who was born in Taiwan and later became a naturalized U.S. citizen, was charged with communicating secret information "with intent or reason to believe it would be used to the advantage of a foreign nation."

The Navy has not disclosed what countries might have been the intended recipients of Lin's alleged activities. But U.S. officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, have in the past singled out Taiwan and possibly China.

Lin's attorney, Larry Youngner, said Lin was innocent of the charges.

The Navy decided not to prosecute Lin on charges of adultery and prostitution, which had been included on a redacted charge sheet previously seen by Reuters.

Youngner said he was pleased the Navy had dismissed those charges.

"Now that the remainder of Lt. Cmdr. Lin's case has been referred to a court-martial, we request a speedy trial on the merits," Youngner said.

Lin 's family has also created a website claiming his innocence.

"He is no spy for Taiwan, China or any other foreign country," according to the family's website, www.bringeddyhome.org.

Lin, who has been in held in pretrial confinement since September, is now at Navy Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake, Virginia. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday at noon in Norfolk, Virginia.

He was a flight officer assigned to the Special Projects Patrol Squadron, with experience managing the collection of electronic signals from the EP3-E Aries II signals intelligence aircraft.

Information about how the U.S. Navy carries out such signals collection operations could be highly valuable to a foreign government.

Lin enlisted in the Navy in 1999 and held a variety of positions over his 17-year carrier, including working on the staff of an assistant secretary of the Navy from 2012 to 2013. He served on the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Eisenhower from 2009 to 2010.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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WASHINGTON China is expected to add substantial military infrastructure, including surveillance systems, to artificial islands in the South China Sea this year, giving it long-term "civil-military bases" in the contested waters, the Pentagon said on Friday.

In its annual report to Congress on China's military activities in 2015, the U.S. Defense Department estimated that China's reclamation work had added more than 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land on seven features it occupied in the Spratly Islands in the space of two years.

It said China had completed its major reclamation efforts in October, switching focus to infrastructure development, including three 9,800 foot-long (3,000 metre) airstrips that can accommodate advanced fighter jets.

"Additional substantial infrastructure, including communications and surveillance systems, is expected to be built on these features in the coming year," the report said.

"China will be able to use its reclaimed features as persistent civil-military bases to enhance its presence in the South China Sea significantly."

The report comes at a time of heightened tension over maritime territories claimed by China and disputed by several Asian nations. Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea while Beijing, in turn, has criticized increased U.S. naval patrols and exercises in Asia.

The Pentagon report said China was focussing on developing capabilities to counter outside intervention in any conflict, but appeared to want to avoid direct confrontation with the United States in Asia, given the potential economic damage.

At the same time, "China demonstrated a willingness to tolerate higher levels of tension in the pursuit of its interests, especially in pursuit of its territorial claims," the report said.

MILITARY CHIEFS TALK

The Pentagon disclosed on Friday that the U.S. military's top officer, Marine General Joseph Dunford, had proposed an effort to "bolster risk reduction mechanisms" to his counterpart, the Chinese Chief of the Joint Staff Department, General Fang Fenghui.

Dunford's spokesman, Captain Greg Hicks, said in a statement that both sides agreed the talks, which took place by video conference on Thursday, were a valuable way to "manage both cooperative and contentious issues, and avoid miscalculation."

The Pentagon's report cautioned that China was committed to sustaining growth in defense spending even as its economic growth cools and to pursuing objectives increasingly distant from China's shores.

Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told a briefing that China's 2015 defense spending was higher than it publicly disclosed and had reached $180 billion, compared with an official Chinese of $144 billion.

The report pointed to China's November announcement that it was establishing a military facility in Djibouti. It said China was also expected to establish naval logistics hubs in countries with which it shares interests, including Pakistan.

The U.S report renewed accusations against China's government and military for cyber attacks against U.S. government computer systems, a charge Beijing denies. It said attacks in 2015 appeared focussed on intelligence collection.

"Targeted information could inform Chinese military planners' work to build a picture of U.S. defense networks, logistics, and related military capabilities that could be exploited during a crisis," the report said.

It also cautioned that the actions and skills needed for the intrusions carried out to date "are similar to those necessary to conduct cyberattacks."

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom; editing by Stuart Grudgings)

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Washington: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit here next month, four influential American lawmakers have introduced an amendment bill which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US defence ties on par with that of US' other NATO allies.

Moved by Congressmen George Holding, Ed Royce, Eliot Engel and Indian-American Ami Bera, the amendment submitted to the House Committee on Rules on Wednesday institutionalises the US government's focus on US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to New Delhi that Washington is a reliable and dependable defence partner.

Aimed at bolstering defence ties between the US and India, the legislation would amend the National Defence Authorisation Act, which is considered a must-pass bill.

The amendment has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, as demonstrated by the fact that the House India Caucus Chairs (Congressmen Holding and Bera) sponsored it along with the Chair and Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee (Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, respectively).

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, maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, enhance India's military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co- production/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.

"Strengthening the strategic partnership between the US and India is critical to address the shared security challenges our two nations face," Holding said.

"As the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy, the US and India share common values and a growing partnership on many fronts, especially on defence cooperation.

India plays a critical role as a strategic partner to the US and as a pillar of stability in South Asia," Bera said.

The move was welcomed by the US-India Business Council.

"The legislation that was originally introduced by Congressman Holding is moving through the legislative process.

Now that we have bipartisan support from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House India Caucus, we believe this amendment has a good chance of making its way into the House's version of the defence authorisation bill," said US-India Business Council President Mukesh Aghi.

Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn, the Senate India Caucus Chairs, introduced a similar bill earlier this week in the Senate.

Modi is expected to visit the US for a bilateral summit with President Barack Obama in June. He may address the joint session of Congress during his visit.
The location of seabird colonies along the northern Norwegian coast is strongly controlled by fish larvae and plankton 'hot spots,' where currents and the contours of the coast concentrate food for the birds. Credit: Per Harald Olsen, NTNU

Ninety per cent of Norway's two million pairs of cliff-nesting seabirds are located in nesting colonies above the Arctic Circle.

But why are these colonies located exactly where they are? Much of the 1200-km stretch of coastline from the Arctic Circle to Norway's easternmost point, on the Russian border, has features that ought to be attractive to birds that nest in colonies, mainly steep, protected cliffs that are essentially inaccessible to terrestrial predators.

Using computer models to describe ocean currents and the transport of floating fish larvae, researchers were able to show that bird colonies are located in areas where currents and the shape of the coastline cause fish larvae to concentrate.

More simply stated, "the birds are where the food is," said Hanno Sandvik, a biologist from the Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and first author of a paper published in Nature Communications on Friday.

This may seem like a self-evident fact, but the research team is the first ever to be able to essentially predict where seabird colonies should be, based on fish larvae "hot spots" that show up in computer models of how fish larvae are transported along the coast.

"We are starting from where the prey is," Sandvik said. "We know where the prey is (because of the computer models). Then, based on what we know about where their prey is, where should the colonies be?"

Spotting a pattern in hot spots

The idea for the study came about several years ago, when researchers met to discuss a different project for which oceanographers from the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (IMR) had created a coastal current and fish larvae transport model.

By using wind, water temperature and salinity information that has been collected by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute for decades, the oceanographers could calculate the strength and direction of currents along the Norwegian coast, and could simulate how fish larvae and plankton, which float with the current, would be transported.

The IMR researchers showed the assembled group of researchers a series of PowerPoint slides of the northern Norwegian coast with fish larvae concentrations mapped along the coastline over a number of years. They used red to show the densest concentrations, which meant that fish larvae "hot spots" were highlighted in red.

Although currents transport larvae and plankton along the entire coast, these floating organisms are not uniformly spread along the coastline. That's because of the way the current interacts with different coastal features, which concentrate organisms in the eddies that form along banks, islets and promontories.

After Robert Barrett, a biologist from the Department of Natural Sciences at the Troms University Museum, saw several of the slides, he realized that the red "hot spots" were in exactly the same place every year, and their location neatly predicted seabird colony locations.

"I said, 'Hang on! Let's have a look at that,'" said Barrett, who is also the second author on the paper. "Those red concentration dots are distributed exactly where the seabird colonies are."

It was then that the researchers decided to develop a statistical test to see if northern Norway seabird colonies are in fact closely associated with areas along the coast where currents concentrate food.

More than a million puffins nest in colonies on the coasts of the Norwegian and Barents Sea. Their nesting colonies are located in areas where currents and coastal features concentrate prey. Credit: Per Harald Olsen,

"We had been discussing for a long time why seabird colonies are where they are," Barrett said. "Here the IMR researchers were showing us models of fish larval concentrations, and it fit. The food, of course, is totally dependent on ocean currents, climate and topography. It turns out that yes, there are hot spots along the coast where food is concentrated. And this is what the seabirds have tuned into long, long ago."

Timing, stability important

For the research presented in the Nature Communications article, the IMR oceanographers simulated what the fish larvae and plankton concentrations would have looked like along the northern Norwegian coast each year from 1982 to 2011, or for 30 years. Sandvik and his other colleagues then combined this with seabird population numbers collected by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research to see what kinds of patterns emerged.

So, for example, it is well known that July, which is relatively late in season for nesting seabirds, is a very important month when it comes to parents feeding their chicks. The chicks are nearly ready to leave the nest, so they are quite large and need a lot of food. That means the parents are working overtime to feed them.

Because of this demand, high fish larvae concentrations in July were among the most strongly associated factors with the presence of a nesting colony.

Sandvik also found that colony locations were strongly associated with locations where fish larvae concentrations had a high minimum level across many years. If an area along the coast had very high levels of fish larvae concentrations, but if those levels were not consistent over the years, then a colony was less likely to be associated with that spot.

"Birds prefer places where the (prey) numbers are as stable as possible," Sandvik said. "The best places are where you have enough fish larvae every year."

This makes sense from a biological standpoint because seabirds can't suddenly change their reproductive abilities from year to yearthey can't lay 10 eggs in a good year and one egg in a bad year. So the birds simply can't take advantage of years when there is a lot of prey in the ocean.

But if prey is available nearly every year at the minimum level needed for birds to reproduce successfully, that is much more attractive to seabirdsand the research backs this up.

Lofoten key, stable source of cod

One other surprising finding was the importance of cod larvae that originate from spawning grounds in the Lofoten Islands, Sandvik said.

The two currents that are responsible for moving water along the northern Norwegian coast move north and then east, wrapping around the top of Norway near Hammerfest and heading east towards Kirkenes. These currents thus bring cod larvae north from spawning grounds and then east along the coastline.

If Sandvik looked just at concentrations of herring larvae, there was no significant association between herring and colony location. But if he looked at cod larvae, the association between larvae concentrations and colony location was highly significant, he said.

The Lofoten area has continually exported dried cod since the Viking times, 900 years ago, which suggests that the cod spawning area there has been stable over long periods, Sandvik said. That means it's possible that the location of the seabird colonies in northern Norway might have persisted for centuries, if not longer.

"It really seems to be the area that is driving this entire system," he said.

Explore further Increase in ocean acidification could lead to lost fish larvae in quiet reefs

More information: Sandvik, H. et al. Modelled drift patterns of fish larvae link coastal morphology to seabird colony distribution. Nat. Commun. 7:11599. Journal information: Nature Communications Sandvik, H. et al. Modelled drift patterns of fish larvae link coastal morphology to seabird colony distribution.. 7:11599. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11599 (2016).
The Baird government's council amalgamation agenda threatens to disrupt Malcolm Turnbull's re-election campaign in key marginal seats in NSW as more councils face the axe in the next seven weeks and as federal politicians distance themselves from the scheme.

The mass sacking of councils also posed a public relations threat to the Baird government's development plans in Sydney, many of which were predicated on the involvement of councils that would now be without elected officials for the next 15 months.

As councillors in 42 councils across Sydney and NSW grappled with the realisation on Friday that they no longer held offices, the political and policy fall-out of the sackings remained uncertain.
Jim Clay Harper and Danielle Bremner were considered the "Bonnie and Clyde" of graffiti.

In 2011 the US duo left their homeland for India, and have spray-painted trains and walls in more than 30 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia since.

Danielle Bremner (Utah) and Jim Clay Harper (Ether) are considered the Bonnie and Clyde of graffiti.

They released books and films, held exhibitions, and regaled their cult-like following online with tales of their exploits..

But Mr Harper's five-year celebrity world tour came to an end last week when Luke*, a single father from Fitzroy, wrestled him to the ground in a headlock for allegedly tagging shopfronts on Brunswick Street.
Chuck Raasch Chuck Raasch is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Chuck Raasch Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

WASHINGTON  All the many players were there.

Inside the Ronald Reagan Conference Center, behind a line of yellow police tape, a handful of United States senators, including Missouris Roy Blunt, were meeting Thursday with that lightning rod of a likely Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

Fresh off a meeting minutes before and eight blocks away with House Speaker Paul Ryan, where a similar tableau of protest and protection had unfurled, Trump arrived near high noon in a squadron of four black Suburbans.

The tank-like vehicles disappeared into a subterranean driveway under the headquarters of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, an organization that has raised $55 million to elect Republican senators. Led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, senators  driven from offices three blocks away on Capitol Hill  came and went through a side door.

It was another act of Trump Theater in D.C., one that ended with Ryan declaring himself encouraged but not ready to endorse. Cable networks covered it live and perpetually on a level once reserved for events such as Reagan-Gorbachev nuclear detente summits or the beginnings or endings of wars.

But this is Trump-mania, and no act is too small  not even an image of the billionaires jet plane sitting on the tarmac at Reagan National Airport. CNN interrupted an interview with a Trump surrogate who is on the network as much as some of its correspondents with the breaking news of a Trump tweet.

Great Day in DC, it said, which is also what your average D.C. tourist might have tweeted to friends back home at that very moment.

Parsing that tweet, and dissecting Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebuss declaration that the Ryan-Trump meeting had been cooperative and positive, kept the live cable theater going for several more hours.

At fortress NRSC, a phalanx of big men in dark suits and stern looks assembled out front, earpieces in right ears, Secret Service pins on left lapels. Eight metro police officers stood at ease in front of them, and police cars guarded the intersections where cable satellite trucks also loomed.

This is a familiar post-9/11 Washington formation, human barriers to the stand-and-wait, stand-and-chant crowds co-mingling on the perimeter.

Across the street, that stand-and-wait crowd of journalists marked its forward territory with a bank of a dozen television cameras. Famous faces talked through a couple of the cameras to voices in far-away studios. A couple dozen other reporters and photographers milled, hoping for a furtive photo opportunity or shouted quote, although they had been told there would be no press availability of any of the participants, including Blunt, after the meeting.

Still, you never know when news breaks out and all this standing in front of a building pays off.

Behind the journalists, a smattering of protestors  as many as 50 in the stand-and-chant crowd at one point  held up professionally printed anti-Trump signs. Cameras clicked and rolled. Sometimes led by members of Code Pink, the anti-war group that often disrupts congressional hearings, they chanted slogans such as racist, sexist, not okay  Donald Trump, go away and this is what democracy looks like.

Well, scripted democracy, anyway.

Joining in the anti-Trump chants was Brad Woodhouse, a professional Democrat and self-described campaign surrogate for President Barack Obama. He is president and CEO of Americans United for Change, a deep-pockets liberal group that has been involved in fights ranging from then-President George W. Bushs Social Security reform; to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare; to Obamas current nominee for the Supreme Court, whose confirmation is being held up by the very senators across the street.

Woodhouse has also headed up Correct the Record, a pro-Hillary Clinton group that is paying pro-Clinton users of Facebook and other online sites $1 million to counterattack anti-Clinton posters on social media. Woodhouse is a frequent talking head on some of the same networks whose cameras were lined up a few feet away.

Fifty minutes passed with no sign of a breakup of the private assemblage. Most of the protestors melted away, some heading for lunch at a nearby row of restaurants. Two young people, professional dog walkers on what looked like a daily route, momentarily occupied the space, then moved on, bewildered looks on their faces.

An elderly tourist barked: Wheres the pro-Trump rally?

Suddenly, movement!

The four Suburbans exited, Trump behind the tinted glass of one. An officer pulled down the police tape. The men in black were gone.

Only the cameras remained.
JEFFERSON CITY  The debate over prescription drug monitoring in Missouri could be over for the year as opponents stalled a vote in the state Senate on Thursday.

With time running low before the Legislature is forced to adjourn Friday, its unclear whether the measure will again be brought up for debate.

The proposal, which advanced narrowly through the House in early March, had encountered headwinds all legislative session.

Missouri is the only state without a prescription drug monitoring program. Under the measure, the state Department of Health and Senior Services would start tracking all federal Schedule II through Schedule IV prescriptions in the state.

Proponents say the programs are an important tool in deterring opioid abuse and doctor shopping  when addicts visit multiple doctors in pursuit of similar prescriptions. The programs allow doctors to compare notes and address addictions before they spiral, supporters say.

But opponents, led Thursday by state Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, say that other states have encountered problems with their databases and that the programs encroach on personal liberties.

Were saying we want every citizen of this state to give up a little bit of their liberty, Schaaf said, to take your privacy away from you  and put this sensitive information in this government database so that we can use that information to prevent someone else from breaking the law.

Sen. Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, the Senate sponsor, said that supporters had added numerous protections, such as reducing the time the data can be stored, requiring audits and encryption and preventing law enforcement from obtaining warrants based solely on the information.

We have done about everything that we can to address the concerns of individuals in this body, he said. Through the process, we believe that this bill accomplishes a great deal of things. Again, this legislation will save lives.

Both sides have accused the other of preventing the passage of a drug monitoring program.

Schaaf has his own legislation that would place tighter controls on how information is stored and how doctors can use it. He has said that supporters could either pass his version or tack on a referendum clause to Schatzs bill.

They couldve compromised five years ago, Schaaf said. I offered. They refused. It is absolutely the fault of the proponents of this bill that there is not a (drug monitoring program) in place.

But Schatz has said that there is little wiggle room with Schaaf when it comes to negotiations.

Are you just at the point where, you know, again, this is your way or no way? Schatz asked at an April hearing.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a statewide program, local programs have started to gain traction. St. Louis County has begun implementing its own program, and officials in St. Louis, St. Charles County and Jackson County have expressed interest in joining.

The legislation is House Bill 1892.
Next time you leave silly messages on the worlds highest mountain, beware: China is watching you.

Mountaineering officials have scrubbed graffiti from two granite tablets on the Chinese side of Mount Everests northern base camp and plan to name and shame future defilers.

State-run mobile news site The Paper reported this week that workers removed the signatures, dates, doodles and messages left by scores of visitors. They include lets wander together, farewell to the mountain and here I come.

The graffiti grew so thick it covered the information about the mountain carved into the tablets in Chinese, Tibetan and English.

The base camp at roughly 5,200 meters (17,060 feet) is a popular tourist site and has fallen prey to the sort of behavior the Chinese government says is uncivilized and vows to punish.



Along with publicizing the names of those leaving behind graffiti, base camp management is considering setting aside separate wall space just for visitors to write their names and other messages, a local tourism official, Gu Chunlei, told The Paper.

Its a way of getting travelers to change their habits without even knowing it, Gu was quoted as saying. Similar graffiti walls have been set up at other scenic sites, including the Great Wall outside Beijing that has long been a target for those seeking to leave a mark of their visit.

As personal incomes have risen, Chinese have become avid travelers and bad behavior by some of them has become something of an embarrassment. Along with sharp criticism in the media and online forums, the government has set up an online national database naming those involved in particularly egregious behavior and giving airlines, hotels and other travel outlets the option of refusing them service.

In 2013, a Chinese teenager scratched his name on an ancient Egyptian temple and was roundly condemned by his fellow Chinese.

Everest itself has accumulated garbage, pollution and other ills brought by the vastly increased numbers of climbers and visitors to the peak that straddles China and Nepal.

This week, two Britons and one Mexican reached the Everest peak, the first foreigners to do so in two years. (see report on back page) AP
Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the demographic cohort termed by experts in the West as those born between 1980 and 2000. Exhibiting shared traits that according to some are characteristic of the generation itself, Millennials have become a subject of intense controversy online and in the media over the last decade as they have increasingly entered the workforce in droves.

According to multiple sources, Millennials may make up as much as 50 percent of the workforce by 2020 in countries such as the U.S. and the U.K.

Across China, those born between just 1984 and 1996 number around 250 million, representing more than 18 percent of the population of the worlds second largest economy.

For managers and employees outside of this generation, understanding what drives this demographic cohort is proving a significant challenge, especially as generational differences drive wedges between the respective expectations of Millennials and non-Millennials.

In China, and even Macau, there are some who doubt that the demographic cohort model can be applied here with equal accuracy as in the West. The reasons are twofold: firstly, the distinct socio-economic status (and change in status) of populations in countries such as China over the last half-century; and secondly the question of whether these theories can indeed be applied cross-culturally.

Macau-based human resources expert, Leanda Lee, notes that although there is a great deal of interest in generational theory in Macau, she has not seen a great deal of evidence that the theory is not culturally bound.

Thats the problem with a lot of management research, it hasnt been tested cross-culturally and much of it has come out of North America. Applying Western theories to local contexts is hazardous, warns Lee.

For example, a common characteristic applied to Millennials in Western countries is that a greater proportion of them choose to live at home with their parents well into their 30s than did previous generations.

Those who argue that the mold equally applies to China, Macau or Hong Kong, point to an even larger proportion of young people living at home with their parents in the HKSAR  as many as 76 percent according to an article in the Financial Times earlier this year.



The point raised however, does not apply enough weighting to the cultural characteristics of countries like China, where multi-generational households have been the normal cultural practice for immeasurable time.

Indeed, the little research that has been undertaken so far on Millennials in China has pulled up results unlike that in the West, where the theories originated, leading some to assert that generational theory in China is far more nuanced.

Eric Fish, a Content Producer at New York-based organization Asia Society, wrote a book last year entitled, Chinas Millennials: The Want Generation.

Fish is not describing Chinas Millennials as The Want Generation in a negative sense, but rather he is seeking to categorize a group who are unsatisfied with the opportunities that the country currently offers them.

He found that generations in China were better categorized as every five years, as opposed to the traditional (up to) 20-year periods defined in the West. If Fish is correct, any management strategy seeking to develop a policy for Millennials in China would need to be far more nuanced in its approach than in the West.

Are people aware of these generational differences? Yes. But to the extent that they understand the theoretical underpinnings or name each group, probably not, said Leanda Lee.

Ive not heard them discussed by HR [human resources] professionals, although I have heard them discuss different groups [] in Macau over the years at different times being discussed as [] less motivated, money-grubbing, less aspirational, [and] not loyal, she added. But this also changes with the economic climate.

Numerous studies have shown a direct link between socio-economic status and expectations for quality of life. In other words, the wealthier a population is, the higher the expectations of quality of life, including in areas such as basic necessities, education and work.

Its arguable that Macaus level of socio-economic development places it closer to the West than to China, but its culture is overwhelmingly Chinese, both in origin and in influence today.

Macaus workforce is mixed generationally, its also mixed culturally, and in other senses very diverse, proposed Lee. An American Gen-Y does not tick in the same way as a Macau Gen-Y with parents from Xiamen, nor the same as a Macau-born Macanese Gen-Y.

Understanding and finding ways to engage with young workers in the MSAR is regarded as a significant challenge for employers, especially with a limited local labor force in the city and restrictions imposed on the hiring of non-locals for certain roles.

Whether Macau youngsters can be categorized as Millennials in the traditional sense or not remains open to debate, but with thousands of them entering the workforce each year employers will be increasingly looking to better understand what makes them tick.

seminar on millennials today in macau

A seminar will be held this afternoon at the Mandarin Oriental Macau discussing the topic of Millennials. Organized by the France Macau Business Association, Mark Cosgrove, director of Training at Dale Carnegie Training HK & Macau, will give a presentation entitled, Learn How to Engage Millennials. The talk will focus on sharing tested employee engagement drivers that are unique to Millennials, and will explain how organizations can develop strategies and an environment that helps to better engage and retain them.
Covering some 1.2 million sq km (more than France, Spain and Portugal combined) and with a population of 55 million (just 10 percent less than Italy), South Africa is a hugely diverse country, one with no less than 11 official languages  linguistically even more complicated than the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.

South Africas vinous history can be traced back to the mid-17th century, when during the Dutch Golden Age the Dutch East Indian Company established a supply station in modern day Cape Town. The very first vines and wines were planted and made to combat scurvy amongst sailors voyaging along the lucrative spice route, vital to the Dutch economic dominance. Of the Big Six New World countries (including from west to east the US, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand), South Africa is no doubt the oldest or, one might even argue, the bridge between the Old World and New World.

In the last quarter of the 17th century, many Huguenots (French Protestants) expelled by Louis XIVs Edict of Fontainebleau boarded on Protestant Dutch ships and emigrated to various parts of the New World, and South Africa was a popular destination, bringing with them viticultural expertise and winemaking know-how. Even today, French influence remains prominent  French varieties have hardly ever dropped below 75% of total vineyard plantings. By the 19th century, the Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains-based sweet wine Vin de Constance was already highly regarded on European royal tables, possibly the first New World wine to achieve international fame.

Much of the 20th century was the dark age for South African wine. State interference, bulk production and not least integrational boycott against the apartheid meant that significant progress was few and far between, with the notable exception of the Wine of Origin (WO) system  similar to the French AOC system  drawn up in 1973. Arguably the most terroir-conscious appellation system of the New World, the WO system comprises 4 levels of applications, from general to specific: province (geographical unit), region, district and ward. The stated area must constitute 100 percent of grapes used in the wine, and chaptalisation is strictly forbidden.

Coinciding with Nelson Mandelas rise to power, South African wine has made huge progress in the last 20 years. Endowed with a welcoming Mediterranean climate, oceanic influence from the Atlantic and Indian as well as a myriad of soil compositions, South Africa may soon be no longer satisfied with its current status as a top 10 largest wine-producing country by production volume.

Morgenster Laurens River Valley 2011

A blend of 59% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Petit Verdot from the Helderberg Ward of Stellenbosch, aged for 16 months in French oak, of which 30% is new. Rich garnet with cardinal-ruby rim, the nose is alluring and perfumed, effusing black cherry and plum for fruits, enriched with cinnamon, pencil shaving, incense and geranium. Braced by delightful acidity, velvety tannins and clean minerality, the palate is chiselled and exuberant, emanating cassis and damson for fruits, complemented by nutmeg, black pepper, sous bois and graphite. Medium-full bodied at 14%, the dainty entry persists through a caressing mid-palate, leading to a sprightly finish. A veritable temptation in all regards.

Morgenster Reserve 2011

A blend of 59% Merlot, 21% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Petit Verdot from the Helderberg Ward of Stellenbosch, aged for 16 months in French oak, of which 60% is new. Dark garnet with carmine-purple rim, the nose is brooding and scented, furnishing blackberry and cassis for fruits, infused with tomato leaf, nutmeg and sandalwood. Buttressed by generous acidity, ripe tannins and clear minerality, the palate is profound and structured, providing black cherry and prune for fruits, supplemented by allspice, dark chocolate and cigar ash. Full-bodied at 14%, the dense entry continues through a potent mid-palate, leading to a saturated finish. A very fine wine with both stature and longevity.

To discover the gems of South Africa, contact Ms Betty Mak of Grand Wine Cellar; W: www.gwc.com.hk; E: enquiry@gwc.com.hk; T: +852 3695 2389

Jacky I.F. Cheong is a legal professional by day and columnist by night. Having spent his formative years in Britain,

France, and Germany, he regularly writes about wine, fine arts, classical music, and politics in several languages
Chocolate addicts, listen up! The world renowned Belgian chocolatier GODIVA is launching Celebrating Our Past, Crafting Our Future, a gastronomic experience to commemorate its 90th birthday this year with the presentation of eight iconic pieces of chocolate and a brand new flavor to take guests on a unique time travel through the decades. It is all happening at the casual and authentic French brasserie, The Ritz-Carlton Cafe.

Aside from the free-flow champagne offered, menu highlights include the GODIVA raspberry rose white chocolate frappe, chocolate coffee verrine and hazelnut milk chocolate dacquoise, truly flavors amalgamated for the discerning palette. To further heighten the dining experience, a live caricaturist will also be present to sketch portraits.

Mango Mantra

Venetian Macaos Indian restaurant, The Golden Peacock, is launching a new Mango Mantra special promotion, showcasing fresh imported Indian mangoes. Known as the king of mangoes in India, alphonso mangoes are the main ingredients of the limited-time a-la-carte menu, designed to celebrate the wonderful fruit coming into season.

We strive to introduce new dining experiences for our guests by coming up with new creative menus. said Paul Justin, Senior Chef of The Golden Peacock. This time, we have prepared a variety of refreshing dishes made with alphonso mangoes freshly imported from India. Mango Mantra is like a story book from which guests can get to know this sacred fruit in India by taking them on a gourmet journey over several courses. I hope this summer twist will delight diners at The Golden Peacock.

Highlights of the special menu include tandoori tiger prawn, a king prawn appetizer served with a mango cilantro relish and spicy pickled onions; amras ki champ, cooked with Australian lamb chops, fresh mango, fresh cream and cashew nuts; and mango mango mango, a decadent mango dessert featuring pistachios, almonds, cardamom, thick organic milk and saffron to give it an Indian twist.
Kyle Bass, the hedge-fund manager whos wagering on a slowdown in Chinas economy, said Hong Kongs property market is in free fall and the credit expansion in Southeast Asian emerging markets will unravel.

Hong Kongs in a worse position than it was in prior to the 97 crisis today, Bass said at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. He said credit in Asian emerging markets has grown recklessly, citing Malaysia and Thailand.

Hong Kong property prices have declined and sales are hovering near a 25-year low as the city grapples with the repercussions of a slowing Chinese economy. Home prices have dropped about 13 percent from a peak in September, according to data compiled by Centaline Property Agency Ltd.

The last major housing crash in the former British colony saw prices tumble almost 50 percent in the 12 months from October 1997. They eventually bottomed in mid-2003 when the city was swept up by the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic and have almost quadrupled since then.

Bass, famed for betting against U.S. subprime mortgages prior to the housing crash, is predicting losses for Chinas banks and raising money to start a dedicated fund for bets in the nation. He said last week at a conference that investors putting money in Asia should ask themselves if they can handle 30 percent to 40 percent write-downs in Chinese investments.

China may be able to not tell the truth about specific output levels, or GDP figures  they might be able to fudge those numbers for a while, Bass said at a panel discussion, moderated by Bloomberg TVs Erik Schatzker. But their trading partners kind of tell the truth, and youre already seeing whats happening in their primary trading partners.

The Chinese credit system, according to Bass, is one of the biggest macro imbalances the world has ever seen. The fund manager said China is already experiencing a hard landing as we speak. He said he isnt a permanent bear on China, instead describing himself as a pragmatist.

Aggregate financing in China, the nations broadest measure of new credit, grew a larger-than-estimated 2.34 trillion yuan (USD360 billion) in March amid easing by the central bank. A lending binge before the lunar new year helped credit expand by a record 3.4 trillion yuan in January, Peoples Bank of China data show.

Paul Brewer, who runs Rubicon Fund Management out of London, said on the same panel that Chinas economic problems are worse than the U.S. subprime housing crisis.

Ken Tropin, founder of Graham Capital Management, said the recent surge in iron-ore prices is symbolic that things may become unglued in China. Tropin said even though its a crowded trade, hes bullish on gold. Saijel Kishan, Katia Porzecanski, Bloomberg
Rainbow of Macau has released its second Macau LGBTI Survey results yesterday, revealing that 88 percent of its respondents are unaware of the anti-discrimination legislation in force in Macau.

The survey, conducted between March 27 and April 10, has attracted over 800 respondents, offering 715 valid survey responses. Only responses from people who reside in the city and indicated themselves to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and questioning about their gender identity were accepted as valid.

The lack of knowledge of the anti-discrimination legislation in Macau almost undermines the effectiveness of the principle of equality in the citys labor law, says Jason Chao, the spokesperson for Rainbow of Macau.

The study, which was conducted online, found that 6.6 percent of the respondents had experienced violence from an intimate partner. By the standards of the United Nations and the European Union, the occurrence of violence between intimate partners, not necessarily cohabitating is classified as domestic violence, the association argued.



Eighty-one percent of the respondents held the opinion that the government is responsible for the social inclusion of the LGBTI community. The association believes that the government and education institutions should promote public understanding of the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identities.

Although the government had emphasized for quite some time that they do not discriminate against sexual minorities, results from this survey show that the communities dont think likewise, [indicated by] the fact that the government hasnt done enough work in this respect, said Chao.

Meanwhile in 2013, the first Macau LGBTI Survey had 170 respondents, and 20 percent of them admitted they had considered [committing] suicide due to feeling unaccepted by the community, while the latest study shows that 10 percent have also considered resorting to suicide.

The government should raise public awareness about Article 5 of the Labor Relations Law to ensure that lesbian, gay and bisexual people in Macau effectively enjoy protection, the association claims.

The advocacy group admitted that they have been urging the government to review its petition along with the United Nations domestic violence law. The Legislative Assembly is set to release its final reading of the bill on May 20.

Recently, the group expressed its concerns over the governments alleged decision to exclude same-sex couples from the domestic violence law. Staff reporter
Malaysias government said yesterday that two more pieces of debris, discovered in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off Mauritius, are almost certainly from Flight 370, bringing the total number of pieces believed to have come from the missing Malaysian jet to five.

The aircraft mysteriously disappeared more than two years ago with 239 people on board, and so far an extensive underwater search of a vast area of the Indian Ocean off Australias west coast has turned up empty.

Though the discovery of the debris has bolstered authorities assertion that the plane went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts thus far has yielded any clues into exactly where and why the aircraft crashed. Those elusive answers lie with the flight data recorders, or black boxes, which may never be found, said Geoff Dell, a specialist in accident investigation at Central Queensland University in Australia.

It shows theyre looking in the right ocean  thats about it, Dell said.

The two newly identified pieces of debris were found in March. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said one is an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo, and the other is an interior panel piece from an aircraft cabin  the first interior part found from the missing plane.

An international team of experts in Australia who examined the debris concluded that both pieces were consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, Liow said.

As such, the team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370, he said in a statement.

All five pieces have been found in various spots around the Indian Ocean. Last year, a wing part from the plane washed ashore on Frances Reunion Island. In March, investigators confirmed two pieces of debris found along Mozambiques coast were almost certainly from the aircraft.

The jet, which vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) off Australias west coast. Authorities had predicted that any debris from the plane that isnt on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.

Most of the passengers on the plane were Chinese, and many of their families have refused to give up hope that they could somehow still be alive despite the discoveries of debris.

I just dont believe what they said and no matter how many pieces of debris theyve found, I just dont think it is true, Zhang Qian, whose husband Wang Houbin was on the flight, said in Beijing. Unless we have a clear and full explanation of what has really happened from the beginning to the end, solving all the puzzles, we just feel they are still trying to trick us.

Investigators are examining marine life attached to the debris to see if it could somehow help them narrow down where the plane entered the ocean, but havent discovered anything useful yet.

The interior part, identified by its decorative laminate, is a panel from the main cabin and is believed to be part of a door closet, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a technical report.

But even this interior piece is also unlikely to prove very helpful to investigators, said Dell, the accident investigation expert. It wont, for example, answer the question that some have raised about whether anyone was still at the controls of the plane at the end of its flight, or whether the plane spiraled uncontrollably into the water after running out of fuel.

I wouldnt hang your hat too much on what it says, other than its got to come out of the airplane somehow and that suggests there was a structural failure in the fuselage that allowed it to get out, he said. But how, exactly  who knows?

That part was found by tourists on Rodrigues Island, while the piece with part of a Rolls-Royce logo was found by an archaeologist while walking along South Africas southern coast.

Ron Bishop, head of aviation at Central Queensland University, said the debris may help the investigation in a less direct way: by leading to more debris discoveries.

The best part about it is, it makes it where now anytime anyone finds something on a beach thats weird-looking [] theyll turn it in, Bishop said. Im sure theres tons of this lying on beaches  were just not noticing it that much.

Not all this stuff is going to look like a wing; its just going to look like garbage.

As for the underwater search, crews have combed more than 105,000 square kilometers (40,000 square miles) of the Indian Ocean to no avail. They expect to complete their sweep of what they have determined to be the planes most likely location by the end of June. Eileen Ng, Kuala Lumpur, AP
A state court judge in Las Vegas will continue to handle a lawsuit headed for trial involving billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelsons company and a former Sands China Ltd. chief executive, the Nevada Supreme Court said Wednesday [US time].

The ruling dealt a blow to Adelson and Las Vegas Sands Corp., whose lawyers argued that Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez had a conflict of interest and should be removed.

Jury selection had been scheduled to start June 27 in a wrongful termination case poised to air boardroom decisions about how the publicly traded corporate owner of the Venetian and Palazzo resorts in Las Vegas developed its lucrative interests in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau.

But that trial date has been canceled, according to the court docket. A new date wasnt immediately posted.

Attorneys for fired former Sands China executive Steven Jacobs argued the challenge to Gonzalez was an effort to stall or scuttle a case filed in 2010 that Adelson doesnt want a jury to hear. Attorneys for Jacobs,

Adelson and Las Vegas Sands didnt immediately respond to messages about the ruling.

The high court ruling upheld a finding by supervising Clark County District Judge David Barker that Gonzalez didnt exhibit bias when she was interviewed for a Time magazine story in January about the Adelson family buying the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper.

Harvard University Professor Alan Dershowitz, representing Sands China, told the state Supreme Court during oral arguments that judges shouldnt make public statements about cases, and Gonzalez should have known she was inviting trouble.

Gonzalez answered questions about her background, the public nature of the Jacobs-Sands lawsuit, and her observations about Review-Journal reporters in her courtroom, the justices said. She maintained that she didnt talk about the lawsuit itself.

The magazine story emerged amid revelations that Adelson family members were the previously undisclosed buyers of the Review-Journal, and that reporters from the newspaper had been assigned last year to watch Gonzalezs work on the bench.

In court, Gonzalez has clashed numerous times with Adelson and Sands lawyers in the Jacobs case.

She fined Las Vegas Sands and Sands China USD25,000 in 2012 for not turning over records as required to Jacobs and his lawyers. Last year, she fined Sands China $250,000 for similar violations.

Gonzalez also admonished Adelson during his testimony in open court last year, telling him that he didnt get to argue with her.

The high court noted that in court filings in response to a Las Vegas Sands Corp. request that Gonzalez recuse herself, the judge stated that she had no bias or prejudice toward Las Vegas Sands or its officers.

The court ruling came the same day the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced in a separate case that Las Vegas Sands faces a $2 million fine for failing to properly account for millions of dollars paid to a Chinese consultant and received from a high roller with a suspicious past. The company admits no wrongdoing under the settlement slated for Nevada Gaming Commission approval May 19. Ken Ritter, Las Vegas , AP
The article-by-article discussion of a law that introduces a rental control mechanism continued yesterday, with the Third Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) agreeing to introduce a requirement to have rental contract signatures notarized. This will require the presence of a person authorized by law to draw up or certify contracts, and the contract and rental agreements will have to be registered with the notary.

The new measure will crackdown on landlords who are avoiding tax payments on their properties.

The government has no way of knowing how many contracts are signed [at any given time], with this requirement, there has to be a proof of the payment of the due taxes, argued the president of the committee Cheang Chi Keong, as cited in a TDM report. As a result, it would be impossible to bypass the finances.

In addition to the stamp duty, landlords will now also be required to pay a tax on rental income as well as an additional urban contribution.

However, lawmaker Cheang maintained that the new measures would not create upward pressures on rental prices: The landlord has to take up the expenses. How that will work out, were not yet sure.

Last month Cheang Chi Keong raised a proposal that could see property rental reviews go up as much as 29 percent, which was hotly contested.

With the intention of limiting the rise in rental prices in Macau, lawmaker Cheang said then that he saw no contradiction between setting the maximum increase at 29 percent and meeting the intention of reviewing rental increases.

The next meeting of the Third Standing Committee of the AL will see lawmakers resume the debate on the issue of the duration of rental contracts. Current suggestions include a two-year minimum for housing contracts and a further one-year extension for commercial contracts.
A controversy over Chinese e-commerce giant Alibabas admittance into a respected Washington-based anti-counterfeiting coalition intensified yesterday when board members received an anonymous email threatening a mass defection unless Alibaba is pushed out, according to a copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The letter to board members of the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition outlined a list of concerns, including Alibabas membership and ties between the coalitions president, Robert Barchiesi, and Matthew Bassiur, who took over as Alibabas head of intellectual property enforcement in January.

[T]he majority will not continue on as IACC members if you continue to allow membership to Alibaba, said the email, which was unsigned but contained many accurate details about the groups inner workings. New governance and complete transparency is needed for this organization to resurrect itself.

The IACC board said in an emailed statement to the AP that it would undertake an independent review of the allegations. We will use this as an opportunity to review all of our policies and procedures to confirm that they meet the highest standards and that our corporate governance fits the size and scope of the IACC we have become, the statement read.

Luxury fashion brands Gucci America and Michael Kors have already quit the lobbying group since last months announcement of the boards decision to admit Alibaba, whose e-commerce platforms are widely criticized for selling counterfeit merchandise. Michael Kors general counsel said in a letter explaining the companys decision to pull out that IACC had chosen to provide cover to our most dangerous and damaging adversary.

Wednesdays protest email contended that additional unnamed members of the coalition would pull out unless changes were made. Former IACC board member Deborah Greaves, a partner at a law firm that belongs to the anti-counterfeiting group, said the letter is arguing sentiments shared by a lot of people. The AP was unable to determine who sent the letter, which circulated widely among IACCs members.

The anti-counterfeiting group said its board has full confidence in its president. AP
In Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution, Nathaniel Philbrick continues the saga of the American Revolution from his previous book, Bunker Hill: a City, a Siege, a Revolution.

This time Philbrick explores the period of time when the war wasnt going well. With the British takeover of New York City and Gen. Washingtons constant battles with Congress, hope for success and morale were low. Soon after Washington evacuates New York, Benedict Arnold does the seemingly impossible and beats the British on Lake Champlain.

The success of that campaign along with Washingtons endorsement should have propelled Arnold to greatness were it not for petty debates, the dysfunction of Congress that favored other candidates for random reasons other than their own attributes and Arnolds own misfortunes.

Philbrick has the ability to take seemingly dry facts of history and turn them into exciting prose. The players come alive and their motivations are clear. The people he chronicles are legends, so revealing to the reader what makes them human, foibles and all, helps make sense of the events that transpired and why they acted the way they did.

The time frame of the narrative covers September 1776 and the loss of New York up to the revelations of Benedict Arnolds treachery and Washingtons reaction to the betrayal. Its also clear that Philbrick has at least one more book forthcoming about the American Revolution to cover the end of the war that established the break from British tyranny and founded a new nation. Jeff Ayers, AP
CHINA A navy fighter jet on a nighttime training mission crashed into buildings in an eastern city, but the pilot ejected safely and there were no reports of casualties.

AUSTRALIA All 46 people aboard a tourist catamaran were rescued after the vessel caught fire and sank off Australias Great Barrier Reef, police said. A police statement said 19 of those rescued were taken to hospitals in Bundaberg and Gladstone for treatment of non-life threatening injuries after the vessel, Spirit of 1770, sank. Most of those on board were Chinese tourists, Nine Network television reported.

MALAYSIA The government says that two more pieces of debris, discovered in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off Mauritius, were almost certainly from Flight 370, bringing the total number of pieces believed to have come from the missing Malaysian jet to five.

BRAZIL Speaking hours after the Senate voted to impeach her yesterday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff blasted the process as fraudulent and promised to fight what she characterized as an injustice more painful than the torture she endured under a past military dictatorship.

USA Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan pledged to work together despite their differences after a meeting yesterday aimed at repairing their breach and unifying a party torn over Trumps rise to the cusp of the GOP presidential nomination.

IRAQ A twin suicide bombing hit a police station in Baghdads westernmost suburb yesterday, killing at least five policemen a day after a wave of attacks by the Islamic State group killed nearly a hundred people in the Iraqi capital. The IS-claimed bombings were the deadliest in Baghdad this year, coming at a time of turmoil and deadlock in Iraqs government and parliament.

ITALY joined the rest of Europe yesterday (Macau time) in giving some legal rights togay couples after a years-long battle and opposition from the Catholic Church to anything that smacked of authorizing gay marriage. The lower Chamber of Deputies voted 372-51 with 99 abstentions to approve legislation already passed in February by the Senate.

EUROPE 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 yesterday and officials breaking ground at another site in Poland a day later.

ZIKA Theres little doubt: Zika is coming to the continental United States, bringing frightening birth defects  and, most likely, newly urgent discussions about abortion and contraception. The highest risk of Zika spreading is in Southern states where long-lasting birth control and abortions are harder to procure.

NIGERIA Shell is temporarily closing the terminal exporting Nigerias benchmark Bonny Light crude and reportedly withdrawing workers from an offshore field.
Events across the globe are being held to mark tomorrows World Migratory Bird Day. Macau is no exception and local birdwatchers will organize activities to draw peoples awareness to the protection of both birds and their habitats. The Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM), along with the Macau Aves Society are going to organize a bird watching event on Sunday at several locations in the Cotai area.

The organizers expect citizens will extend their knowledge about the ecology of birds, and also to promote the protection of wetlands in the city. Lectures on basic birdwatching skills will be offered to applicants.

Chris Tai, president of the bird watching association since 2010, has consistently attended birdwatching events over past years. When asked about the reasons why he loves watching birds, Tai replied by saying that his hobby allows him to cultivate his mood. Moreover, he is aware that local environmental changes can be deduced from observing the birds and their behavior.

Tai told the Times that the government does not pay close attention to birds habitats, and remarked that urban development is restricting the habitats of birds. According to him, the number of birds landing in Macau has decreased every year since 2011, back when several plots of land started to give way to construction projects.

He exemplified his message with the Cotai area, which, when under construction, took over shoals around the area. Consequently, birds that used to spend their migration period on these spots started to disappear gradually. Tai noted a decline of 20 sighted species during 2016 compared with that of five years ago.

Some species cant be seen now, for instance the black tail godwit and the Terek sandpiper, indicated Tai. Most noticeably, according to him, the total number of migratory birds dropped 50 percent compared to 2011, with the exception of some stable species.

Each year, during the months of March, April, September and December, birds stop in Macau before heading to their final destination. In Macau, Tai acknowledged that people who consider birdwatching a hobby probably do not exceed 200, a number that stems from registered participations in relevant birdwatching events. Very few people pay attention, regretted Tai, adding that most people who are interested age from 30 to 60-years-old. The older ones have more spare time to fully enjoy their hobbies.

According to the birdwatcher, the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau Bridge is responsible for the disappearance of seagulls from the shoals around the border gate. Staff reporter
TWIN FALLS | St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center will begin a new relationship with Idaho nursing students in hopes of recruiting them later on.

This summer, the hospital plans to offer paid on-site experience and simulation training for nursing students approaching their last year of school at Lewis-Clark State College and Idaho State University.

Although nursing vacancies are sitting about average for St. Lukes, the hospital wants to combat recruiting challenges by acting early.

For recruitment, you obviously do the advertising, you do the social media, you do all those venues, said Marianne Rataj, the hospital's interim chief nursing officer. But knowing that the majority of new hires in any hospital across the country, nowadays, is new grads, you have to look for a way to kind of (distinguish) yourself from the next hospital.  Youre getting a relationship with them well in advance of any other suitor out there.

The Idaho Department of Labors Idaho Occupations in Demand report for March included registered nurses as an occupation with a higher vacancy rate in the region and the state  with 117 job openings and 1,168 employed. St. Lukes Magic Valley and Jerome centers hire about 700 registered nurses, and had close to 80 nursing positions posted as of Thursday.

Some of those jobs will be filled this summer. St. Lukes will hire graduating nursing students, mostly from the College of Southern Idaho.

We have about 40 of those students that will be coming on board, but not until later in the summer, Rataj said.

The biggest challenge to recruiting nurses to the area, she believes, is out of the hospitals control  whether new hires want to move to a more rural area versus a bigger city.

Students in the summer program will assist hospital nurses with acute care, get experience in a simulation lab, and build relationships with local nurses, Rataj said.

Another tool St. Lukes may use to recruit is bringing back retired nurses to help with training, she said.

Other Vacancies

The average employment in the region has grown 12.6 percent over 10 years ago, and 1.8 percent over last year. South-central Idaho had a small increase in job openings from last March.

Nursing and truck driving positions are typically among the top 20 highest vacancy rates in the region, Department of Labor Regional Economist Jan Roeser said. Vacancy rate is calculated using the number of job postings divided by the average employment regionally.

Positions with the highest vacancy rates in March were also among the highest paying jobs in the report. For example, speech language pathologists have a median wage of $76,045 in the region and were ranked No. 1 with a vacancy rate of 33 percent.

We do have an issue with getting the skill base we need, Roeser said.

Eva Craner, spokeswoman for the Twin Falls School District, said the district hires seven speech-language pathologists at the masters degree level of education, and six with bachelors degrees. This year, only one of those retired and the position has been filled.

We are lucky in our district, Craner said.

Although speech-language pathologists had a 33 percent vacancy rate in south-central Idaho in March, they are a small part of the total employment, with 54 employed and 18 openings.

Other jobs that ranked lower on the vacancy list  such as landscaping and math teachers  are posing harder to fill.

Kimberly Nurseries Landscape & Irrigation office manager Sherry Wright said shes taking applications for four landscapers and a sprinkler technician but sometimes sees competition for hiring.

Theres a lot of jobs out there, she said.

The Department of Labor report stated there were 3,157 job openings in March throughout the Magic Valley.

The top five positions with the highest vacancy rates were: speech-language pathologists (33 percent); physical therapists (26 percent); plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters (19 percent); security guards (19 percent); and first-line supervisors of transportation and material-moving machine and vehicle operators (19 percent).

Heavy tractor-trailer truck drivers had the highest number of openings, at 252.

Editor's Note: This story was updated May 18 with how the vacancy rate is calculated. A previous version of this story had an incorrect definition.
TWIN FALLS  Police are still tight-lipped about the investigation into the drive-by shooting death of 15-year-old Vason Widaman but say theyre working around the clock to solve the crime.

I can assure the community we havent scaled back our presence at the schools or the resources that are going into this investigation, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said Thursday. In fact, as the week has gone on weve increased the resources were pouring into this.

Widaman was killed about 3:50 p.m. Saturday while riding his bicycle on North College Road near Northern Pine Drive. Police say the shooting was an isolated incident  the result of a disagreement  and they believe Widaman and his assailants might have been at Canyon Ridge High School prior to the shooting.

Twin Falls Police Chief Craig Kingsbury on Monday urged people who were at the school on Saturday to think back and remember if they saw Widaman, a black sedan, or anything that was suspicious.

Police got several tips after releasing grainy surveillance photos Monday of a dark sedan, Palmer said.

Even this late after the shooting, we encourage the public to continue contacting us if they have information that might be helpful, Palmer said. If you were in that area, think back to where you were at and if you saw anything suspicious.

Investigators have continued to receive tips throughout the week and continue to follow up on every tip and lead, Palmer said. And five days after the Canyon Ridge freshmans death, police have not scaled back their presence around Twin Falls School District campuses and have no plans to.

A makeshift memorial has grown steadily throughout the week at the spot where Widaman was killed, while fellow freshmen at the high school made a memorial at the schools rock during lunch Wednesday.

A gathering of friends is planned Friday at the Widaman home where the teen lived with his grandparents, who adopted him as a baby.
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TWIN FALLS  A jury on Thursday acquitted a Twin Falls man of a rape charge. Emigdio Sanchez-Aguilar was accused of raping a convenience store employee in a bathroom last year.

After spending more than six months in the Twin Falls County Jail, 26-year-old Sanchez-Aguilar walked free Thursday after a three-day trial in which both he and his accuser testified.

Sanchez-Aguilar was charged Nov. 10 with raping an employee at the 24-hour Oasis Stop and Go store on Addison Avenue West. He was arrested just hours after the alleged attack in Jerome after the woman secretly used a cellphone to take a picture of his license plate.

During Tuesdays opening statements and Thursdays closing arguments, both the prosecutor and the defense attorney said Sanchez-Aguilar definitely had sex with the employee. But Chief Deputy Prosecutor Suzanne Craig said he raped the woman, while defense attorney Ben Andersen argued the sex was consensual.

She did not want to have sex on the floor of that bathroom of the Oasis Stop and Go, Craig said during her opening statement.

But Andersen argued a surveillance video showed Sanchez-Aguilar and the woman go into the bathroom twice.

They have sex for about two minutes when she hears the door chime, Andersen told the jury in explaining what they would see in the surveillance video. She walks out to help a customer buying a Mt. Dew  then you see her walk back towards the bathroom. She beelines back there, Mr. Sanchez is waiting in an eating area, she opens the door and holds it for him and they go in and the door closes.

The defense attorney said the woman was consistent in saying she was raped the one and only time she went into the bathroom with Sanchez-Aguilar.

But after seeing the surveillance tape, her story changed twice to fit what shed seen in the video, Andersen argued.

During her closing arguments, Craig said the video wasnt reliable because it showed the bathroom area only in a reflection.

The poor angles and blind spots bring up more questions than answers, Craig said.

The deputy prosecutor also said if the sex was consensual, it didnt make sense for the woman to text her friend about being raped, call 911 right away and risk her safety by going outside to sneak a picture of his license plate.

Rape cases are challenging, Craig told the jury Thursday. The video doesnt show clearly the comings and the goings of the bathroom area  But we know she resisted, we know she was pushed up against the wall, we know she told him no.

Andersen reminded the jury they had to have only a reasonable doubt and listed the factors that cast doubt on his clients guilt.

In the video, is Mr. Sanchez acting like a vicious rapist? Andersen asked the jury. No. He holds the door for her. And he is known at this store where he goes pretty much every day. The logic is not there; look at the logic.

Andersen said the womans story changed when she realized it wasnt supported by evidence or logic.

There are doubts, Andersen said. Look at her testimony, the video and the physical evidence and find him not guilty.

After three hours of deliberation, the jury did just that, reading a not-guilty verdict and setting Sanchez-Aguilar free.
TWIN FALLS | When Jennifer Crowdson decided to return to college, she looked through a list of programs and picked one she didnt know anything about: welding.

She chose it because of the high pay rate in the industry and short amount of time  two years  to earn an associates degree. But it was a challenge when she began classes in 2013.

It was horrible when I started, Crowdson said. I didnt know the tools or anything about it.

But she told herself shed finish what she started. She spent eight hours each day in the welding lab. And nine months into the program, she finally began to enjoy it.

She graduated in 2015 with an associates degree in welding technology. She decided she wanted to expand her skill set and learn about blueprint reading, so she continued her education.

Shell graduate Friday with her second associates degree: this time, in drafting technology.

Crowdson, 30, is among more than 1,000 CSI students who applied for graduation this year. About 400 are expected to participate in a commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday at the colleges gymnasium in Twin Falls.

Crowdson first started taking classes at CSI nearly a decade ago. She was taking online classes while living in Hailey and working as a waitress.

I just couldnt do the whole work and school thing, she said. At the lowest point, she had a 1.5 grade point average.

Eight years ago, her daughter was born and Crowdson suffered medical issues after the pregnancy. I had a really hard time getting back to school, she said.

She failed her classes and didnt drop them, so those grades were on her record.

At first, I thought I just wouldnt be able to get back to school, she said.

But three years ago, she did. It took a lot of paperwork, she said, plus an academic contract saying shed keep her grades up.

Crowdson ended up with a 3.4 GPA. She took an intense load of classes this semester  19 credits.

Drafting professor Pat Ferrell is one of the best teachers Crowdson had at CSI, she said.

Crowdson is a good example of a student who has some life experiences behind them, Ferrell said. They understand work ethic, the team concept and just the fact that they dont give up when they dont understand something.

Crowdson understands the need to keep pushing against barriers until she breaks them down, Ferrell said. Shes been a joy to interact with in the learning process.

CSIs drafting program has up to 16 students each year. But this year, there are only eight. They spend at least 30 hours per week together in class.

Its like a job, Ferrell said. We get to know each other well.

Drafting is a structured program, Crowdson said and it's relevant to her future plans. Theres so many jobs for welding and drafting these days because so many older people are retiring."

In addition to taking a full load of classes, Crowdson was president of CSIs drafting club this year.

Throughout her college years, the CSI Foundation helped her with tuition costs for summer classes, she said, and her parents also helped out.

Beyond her college costs, Crowdson said, she doesnt spend much money because shes just about always at school.

She was also a work study student for two years. Plus, she sells her metal artwork and does welding projects to supplement her income.

Ive done a lot of side jobs, she said.

Crowdson has donated pieces to the CSI Foundation for the silent auction at the yearly Black & Gold Ball. During this years event in April, one of the pieces sold for about $900.

She wants to apply her welding and drafting skills in a future career. After graduation, she wants to get an internship and then become a Certified Welding Inspector.
I have worked and served in the community with Stephen Hartgen, representative of District 24B in the Idaho House of Representatives. He is an informed community leader who listens to his constituents, understands the issues and the financial impact on southern Idaho before making decisions. He knows the importance of education and has supported every budget for public schools and the College of Southern Idaho.
New protests have surged in Bahrain calling for political and democratic reforms and protesters rallied near capital Manama to show support to Sheikh Ali Salman, the imprisoned leader of the main opposition bloc al Wefaq National Islamic Society.

The protesters promised to carry on with their demands through a peaceful campaign as they brandished portraits of Salman and Bahraini flags.

Authorities have always acted strictly against protests and Ambassador Jamal Fares al Ruwaie, the countrys Permanent representative to the UN, told the UN Security Council during an open debate on combating terrorist organizations ideological discourse on Thursday that Bahrain will continue its uncompromising stance against all forms of terrorism regardless of the motives, the perpetrator, or the funder.

Salman, arrested in December 2014, was accused of attempting to overthrow the government and collaborating with foreign powers. He was known for his strong criticism against the government and continuous calls for political reforms towards constitutional monarchy.

Al Wefaq bloc is dominated by Shia parties and is allegedly cooperating with foreign powers, namely Iran and Hezbollah repeatedly accused of attempts to destabilize Bahrain.

Ambassador Ruwaie said Bahrain is dealing with terrorism and terror organizations in accordance with the existing laws and urged the Security Council to work towards cutting their funds and their abilities to recruit foreign terrorist fighters.
The visit of King Mohammed VI to China, beyond its political and economic goals, confirms, once again, the Moroccan Sovereigns new diplomacy, which is dynamic, resilient and proactive and which takes into account regional and international changes and challenges.

According to political analysts, King Mohammed VIs diplomacy, which seeks to diversify strategic partners and build up new strategic alliances to preserve the countrys supreme interests, is a constructive, not obstructive policy.

The decision to set up new strategic partnerships around the world is not an impulsive or retaliatory move. It is rather a smart, judicious and clear-sighted drive.

The Moroccan sovereign has referred to this new policy and pragmatic strategy in several of his speeches. In 2015, King Mohammed VI visited India, one of the worlds major powers. Last March, he paid a visit to Russia, a superpower, before visiting in April the Gulf region to attend the 1st ever Morocco-GCC summit.

The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, gathering Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, is a powerful regional economic bloc and a steadfast supporter of the North African country.

After gaining full backing from the oil-rich Arab Gulf monarchies, King Mohammed is visiting this week China, one the most powerful countries in the world, where he sealed another important strategic partnership. These strategic partnerships come to enhance Moroccos longstanding alliances built with France, Spain and West African countries.

The North African Kingdom is also a key partner of the European Union and the United States, urged to review their stands and avoid their double standard policy.

Moroccos new foreign policy spearheaded by King Mohammed VI turns words into deeds with immediate positive impact on peoples lives. King Mohammed VI belongs to a generation of leaders who want to see things done fast with no procrastination, to see commitments fulfilled and agreements implemented as quickly as possible.

Thanks to its political stability, socioeconomic progress, religious tolerance and openness, Morocco has become a model, a preferred partner in the region and a reliable ally worldwide.

The strategic partnership Morocco signed with China comes to confirm the North African countrys international status, ambitions and pertinent vision.
The African Union (AU) has extended the mandate of its 22,000 strong peacekeeping mission, , in Somalia to May 30, 2017.

The force that was set up to combat the Islamist militant group al-shabab, will remain in the country for at least another 12 months, the AU Peace and Security Council said in a statement.

The council however expressed regret at the decision by the European Union (EU) to cut back its allowance to AMISOM by 20 percent during what it says is a critical phase.

The continental body has thus called on the EU to reconsider its decision ahead of the upcoming elections in Somalia.

Brussels cuts come at a time Al-Shabaab forces are rallying and looking to take strategic positions in Somalian cities.

AU has been sending task forces to Somalia for the last nine years to combat al Qaedas affiliate group in the country, Al Shabab, in an attempt to liberate the region.

Al-Shabaab militant group has been active in Somalia for a number of years and wants to establish an Islamic theocracy.
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Posted on: May 14, 2016



SATHYA SAI BABA ON

THE STHULA (GROSS), SUKSHMA (SUBTLE)

AND KARANA (CAUSAL) WORLDS

Part 03

Part 01 || Part 02 || Part 04

by Ms. Christan Mackenzie

Gold Coast, Australia

Distinguishing External Appearances

We need to distinguish the uniquely individual and private experience of sukshma-sarira from the visions or apparitions of God which may rarely occur for some people in the waking state. Baba says categorically that in all cases such experiences are generated by mans own mind. When they are not mere hallucinations, waking visions and manifestations of forms of God, arise from within mans heart. Man, through his intense focus or devotion, may bring about the conditions for God to appear in the objective world.

To experience Divinity (Atma) in this way Ekantha-Bhakthi (one pointed devotion) alone will help you. On any other path you may experience visions of different types. These are nothing but hallucinations and products of imagination. Without virtuous qualities, you cannot control your mind. How can you build a house without brick and mortar? To achieve purity and steadiness of mind, earnest practice is essential. Ekantha-Bhakthi is not obtained by locking yourself in a room and worshipping an idol with devotion. This can only be called Ekaki-Bhakthi; after all, the idol is only a created object. You should experience your Atma-Swarupa and not a created object. You should have a vision of the Primordial Divinity, whose reflection is your Atma. Worshipping an idol is necessary as a first step. But do not devote all your lifetime on the first step!

(Divine Discourse, 23 Jan 1982, Madras)



You say that Rama or Krishna or Sai Baba, etc. have appeared before you. Several people make such claims. These are all figments of one's illusion (bhrama). As long as you have bhrama you will be far away from Brahma (Divinity). On the other hand if you have realised Brahma, bhrama can come nowhere near you. The need of the hour is therefore to overcome this illusion. Get rid of the body attachment. Cultivate attachment to the Atma instead. Your true identity is Atma. It has neither a name nor a form. It is the embodiment of bliss.

(Summer Showers in Brindavan, 2002, page 74)

Bhagawan does not qualify this statement with some are real; He says, ALL are imagination. Remember, this is the universe of Maya, in which all forms are imagined!

Imagination is called the faculty of imagining. It is the ability to form new images and sensations in the mind, hence the term, the minds-eye. Imagination is thought turned inward and helps make knowledge applicable to solving problems. It is fundamental to integrating experience and the learning process.

Bhagawan talks about the great power of thought. He says that, thought waves make up the cosmos.

The mind is extremely powerful. It runs at great speed. It is subtler than the sky and even more subtler than electricity. The mind can run faster than light. The mind also operates like radio waves, just as you are able to hear a broadcast of music from a radio station in Delhi, in Whitefield. Thought waves emanating from the mind have also got properties of radio waves. There is no end to the waves arising from the ocean of the mind. The power of thought is immense. Thoughts outlast the human body. Thought waves radiate very much like heat waves, radio waves and light waves. The thought waves are the cause of man's joy or sorrow, health or disease, birth or death. The potency of these waves has to be understood by man and his conduct has to be based on this awareness. The whole cosmos is made up of thought waves; hence, the scripture declares: 'The mind is at the root of the cosmos.' There is no place, or form or action wherein the mind is absent. Hence, all thoughts of man should be turned in the right direction.

(Divine Discourse, 23 May 1993, Brindavan)

So the question is then, if apparitions of Sai Baba, Rama, Krishna and other deities are arising from imagination - but whose imagination is it? From Babas teaching (excluding hallucination and misrepresentation) it is about a connection that happens between the intensely focused individual (the force of thought) and God. Such an apparition may be karmic, for example the result of actions done in a past life, and occur to an individual without any apparent reason in this life.

An example of a true apparition of the Lord is told by Bhagawan in the story of Dhruva. Dhruva, a five year old boy was doing severe penance in a forest, in order to win his fathers love. The Lord finally appeared before him due to the intensity of his devotion, which was even burning the forest and alarming the sages.

As the Lord came closer and closer, His effulgence intermingled with Dhruvas aura and Dhruva shone brighter and brighter. Suddenly, finding his heart empty of the Lords Form, Dhruva opened his eyes. He saw the Lord standing in front of him. Smiling, Dhruva said, O Lord, so long You were in my heart. Now You are outside me. Are You trying to leave me? I wont allow it.

Dhruva had recognized that what we see outside is a reflection of our own hearts. If you feel that someone is bad, that bad is not in him, but only a reflection of your heart. Your own thoughts, both good and bad, appear to you outside as reflection, reaction and resound.

Even Lord Narayana was taken aback at Dhruvas ideal qualities! The Lord mused, How surprising that these eternal feelings have entered this young boy! He is enjoying the benefits of many past lives spent in the divine quest.

(Summer Showers in Brindavan, 1995 pp 87-92)

Baba tells how Druva went on to merge in the Anandamaya-kosa (the bliss sheath). A similar lesson is told about Radha and Krishna.

Since Radha had Krishna in her thoughts at all times, Krishna was also thinking of her. Just as by having continuous knowledge of the Brahman, one can hope to become identical with Brahman, so also by constantly thinking of Krishna, Radha wanted to merge in Krishna. If you keep on repeating the word Radha continuously, it becomes Dhara and similarly if you keep on saying Radha Krishna continuously it becomes Krishna-Radha. Therefore, Radha may be transformed into Krishna and Krishna may be transformed into Radha. The nature of God is such that the thoughts with which we think of Him and the ideas that we ascribe to Him will determine the kind of response that He will give.

God is like a clean, clear mirror. The actions that you perform will be reflected in that mirror. Radha said, Krishna! Will anyone want to see the image, if the original itself is available to him? Will the beauty of an object be fully reflected in its image? Out of milk which has been broken, can we get curds?

While Radha was thinking of Krishna in this manner, Krishnas divinity also came out in a bright and effulgent form. When this took a separate form, it left Krishna and began moving forward. In order to get back His brightness, Krishna was physically following the effulgence. Gradually, this effulgence came and merged in Radha.

In the context of this Jyothi coming and merging in Radha, she was also described as Ahladini - a name that signifies Ananda. Since this bliss came out of Krishna and merged in Radha, Krishna had to come to Radha for receiving back His effulgence.

Painting Courtesy: Vidhi S. Bhojwani, India

(Summer Showers in Brindavan 1978, pp 163-168)

These discourses show how the power of thought, intensity of focus result in reflecting the Inner Divine outwardly, and this power can build and travel across lifetimes!

Does the Sukshma-Sarira Manifest in the Waking State?

The subtle world (of higher wisdom and its opposites) is experienced in the waking state through the twenty-five instruments of the sthula. We have learnt that in the waking state, man in called Viswa. In the sthula-sarira (physical body in the waking state), the subtle world is experienced as emotion, feeling and wisdom, with the added ability to act upon these in the physical world through the organs of bodily action.

The sukshma-sarira or the dream body which lacks the organs of action, is illumined by the mind and the Tejas, the inner light, and so it is called Tejas (light). The Divine Principle in the dream state is referred to as Taijasa. Taijasa is Atma. Baba teaches that the sukshma-sarira, the dream or light body lit by the Atma, is unique to the individual concerned, is private to them and it functions in the dream state.

There is no suggestion that the appearances of God to Radha and Druva were the sukshma-sarira of the Lord, and one needs to be careful about making such deductions about very specific terms such as this. It is not suggested in Babas discourses that Radha and Druva were dreaming! Simply, the term sukshma-sarira is not the correct application for apparitions of God in the physical world.

Does the Sukshma-Sarira Survive Death?

In conversations with John Hislop, Sai Baba answered this question directly (He also points out that the subtle body doesnt have body-senses).

Hislop: When I am absent from Baba's physical person and far away in America, I know of His actual Presence by the jasmine perfume. Someone said it was smelled by the smell-sense of the subtle body, is this correct?

Sai: No. Senses are in the physical body. Subtle body does not have senses. The perfume is known by the physical senses.

Hislop: Does man have three bodies?

Sai: Yes. Body, Mind and Soul. Physical body, subtle body and causal body. On death, the physical and subtle bodies disintegrate, but the causal body remains.

Hislop: How about the five kosas, the five sheaths?

Sai: The food sheath, life sheath and mind sheath are impermanent. The intelligence sheath and bliss sheath remain. The body is mud. Out of the mud everything grows. Only the body dies. Life and all the senses merge into mind. Mind merges into wisdom. Wisdom merges into bliss, into God. Thus there are five sheaths.

(Conversations with Sai, Part 18)

The Life Sheath (pranamaya kosa) and with it the vital airs (digestive, circulating, upward moving, life-breath, downward moving) which circulate in the living physical body, disintegrates or is destroyed on death. It is the end of the sukshma-sarira as it is known and defined by Baba, because this dream body is the function of the three kosas associated with Atma in the living body of man.

Baba also says that after death we may experience some of the fourteen heavens or hells, which are all in the body of people (as karmas). (Prasnothara Vahini)

In Conversations with John Hislop He describes these places as thought.

The merging of the kosas and the existence of heavens and hells after death suggests that the disintegration of the manomaya-kosa (the mental sheath) is gradual after death, because there must be a cogniser for mental stuff that is eventually played out or subsumed into the karana (causal).

There is some confusion by writers concerning a statement of Babas regarding the Emperor Bali who is said to return annually in his sukshma-rupa to visit devotees. This is sometimes quoted and used to support an argument of precedence for such returns.

Bali was an embodiment of tyaga (renunciation) and he personified the aspects of dhathru tatwam (principle of charity) and dharma tatwam (righteousness). Since Onam is a festival day to be celebrated in memory of the reappearance of Bali in his sukshma-rupa (microscopic subtle form), it is imperative for everyone to remember and practise the ideals for which he stood when he was alive.

(Divine Discourse, 4 Sep 1979, Brindavan)

Being a sukshma-rupa - such a form could not be seen by anyone at any level of waking consciousness. Sai Babas statement may refer to people dreaming of Bali and sensing presence, since the form is described as microscopic and could not be actually seen. A more understandable view of Bali is provided by Sai Baba when He refers to the belief of Keralites that Bali comes back to bless the region once a year. He refers to the faith and devotion of these people, and from what we have learned about Radha/Krishna and Druva and the Lord, we can better understand any apparitions as arising from the Atmic hearts of intensely devoted people with their special inner connection with the Divine.

The Bhagavata Purana declares that he was consigned to Suthala, the most sacred of the nether regions. In other words, Bali was blessed with an inner vision of the Lord in his heart. The Lord assured him that He would grant him His constant presence in the Suthala region. The Message of Onam is that the Lord is won by means of total surrender of the ego. When the heart is pure, the Lord resides therein and guides man to Himself.

(Divine Discourse, 07/09/1984)

Bali merged with the Lord, and thus the constant presence of the Lord in that region can be best understood.



Karana (Causal)

Karana, the shrine (Garbhagriha), is associated with suvaha, spirit. It reflects Atma and pertains to the spiritual world, and means causal and its quality is radiation.

The karana-sarira (the causal body) is related to the deep sleep state. In this state all the senses are submerged in the mind and nothing can be seen or imagined  prajna, the highest wisdom, alone exists. Karana is also called, Constant Integrated Awareness.

In deep sleep, all the impulses (vasanas) are suspended; though they still persist, they are not manifest or active. In the causal body, the subconscious mind (chitta) is in association with the knower, the knowing principle (jnatha).

The karana-sarira has only two instruments  the Will and Constant Integrated Awareness. It has no vital airs, no subtle elements, no bodily organs and no elements.

It has one sheath, the anandamaya kosa, the sheath of Bliss. Even this sheath must be peeled away, as man reaches back to know and experience his pristine, Divine state, which is beyond the kosas.

The karana-sarira is the only body of man that categorically survives death of the sthula-sarira and the disintegration of the sukshma-sarira. The anandamaya kosa (bliss sheath) and the vignanamaya (the discriminatory power, the intelligence sheath) remain  but the other three kosas that form the body and mind (Annamaya, pranamaya and manomaya) do not.

Where the sukshma-sarira may be understood as the experiencer of karmas, and the sthula-sarira is the action body where karmas are played out on the physical plane, the karana-sarira is wisdom and knowing, beyond the mind. It can be likened to a storehouse, where things are kept for later distribution (later life play or new incarnation).

Mahakarana (Super Causal)

Beyond all these bodies or aspects of creation is the Mahakarana, known as the Super-Causal. Its state of consciousness is Turiya, complete ineffable Bliss in which the Universal Consciousness alone is experienced. It is beyond description, beyond both intellect (buddhi) and mind (manas). The experience is inadequately described as peace, grace, and oneness (santam, sivam, adwaitam); that is all. The mental agitations are stilled, so there is no more mind. It is the conquest of the mind, its negation, the mindless stage.

The Mahakarana is the pure consciousness unmixed with any or elemental principle (tatwa), the witness eternal, the Self-luminous. It is referred to as the Supreme Cause. It is also known as Cosmic Intelligence (Hiranyagarbha). Because it is stateless (beyond states of consciousness) it is described as the Imperishable (Akshara-purusha).



Part 01 || Part 02 || Part 04



Radio Sai Team
White matter fiber architecture of the brain. Credit: Human Connectome Project.

Assessing whether a fluffy bunny or a giant spider poses a threat to our safety happens automatically. New research suggests the same brain areas may be involved in both detecting threats posed by animals and evaluating other humans' intentions. The study, published in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, offers insight into a basic feature of human cognition: how we understand and evaluate other creatures.

"The idea that animals may be processed in a similar way [to humans] and may piggyback on regions of the brain that have been implicated in social cognition suggests that those regions ... are multipurpose," said study author Andrew Connolly of Dartmouth College.

Previously Connolly's research group found that hierarchical classes of animals (say, bugs vs. mammals) are represented in an area of the brain called the lateral occipital complex, a region involved in object perception and recognition. What was not known, however, was which brain regions process information about an animal's "dangerousness."

To investigate this, the researchers scanned volunteers' brains while they viewed pictures of bugs, reptiles, and mammals. Half of the animals depicted were classified as "low threat," such as butterflies and rabbits, and half were "high threat," such as snakes and cougars. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers determined which areas of the brain were active when participants viewed bugs, reptiles, and mammals, and when they viewed low- and high-threat animals. Researchers used these activity patterns to map how two kinds of informationtaxonomic class and threatare encoded in the brain.

As before, they found taxonomic class was represented in the lateral occipital complex. Surprisingly, a different area of the brain represented threat. This area, called the superior temporal sulcus, is a fold in brain tissue running just above the ear, and previous research has implicated the region in understanding facial expressions and deciphering others' intentions. The researchers speculate that evaluating other humans and evaluating threats posed by animals may be related functions.

Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge who studies visual object recognition and was not involved in the study, said this is interesting basic science. "Knowing what parts of the brain are involved in social cognition and how information processing works is relevant to our understanding of human brains, minds, and cultures."

The researchers are planning future studies to examine how activity in these brain networks changes over time. The present study used fMRI, which measures changes in blood flow as a proxy of neural activity, a measure that is slow and inadequate for understanding temporal relationships. To address this, the researchers plan to incorporate electrical recordings of brain activity in their studies.

Explore further Brain cells divide the work to recognize bodies
Despite being the third leading cause of death in the USA, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung disease) face significant challenges in accessing care, with treatment costs remaining out of reach for many, and hospitals failing to provide recommended standards of care, according to a new report commissioned by The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, presented at the American Thoracic Society conference in San Francisco.

Written by 28 leading US experts in the field of respiratory health, the Commission provides the first comprehensive look at COPD care in the USA by interviewing patient representatives, caregivers, health-care providers, insurance and pharmaceutical companies to identify the challenges patients face on a daily basis, and how these could be resolved.

"This report reveals a real patchwork of care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The disease is the third leading cause of death in the USA, and disproportionately affects some of society's most vulnerable people, yet many patients lack access to basic therapies to improve their quality of life," says Dr MeiLan K Han, lead author of the Commission from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. "As a physician, I can discuss best treatments with my patients, only to later find out it isn't covered by their insurance, or the co-pay is simply too high. This report aims to move us from debating what ideal care could look like, back to a discussion of what patients are actually facing on a day to day basis."

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. People with COPD suffer from increasing breathlessness and treatment usually includes drugs such as inhalers and pulmonary rehabilitation. COPD can be due to a number of factors, including smoking but also other environmental causes such as prolonged exposure to wood smoke or air pollution.

About 15 million adults (6.5% of the population) in the USA have a diagnosis of COPD, but some studies have found that up to 28.9 million people have evidence of pulmonary obstruction, suggesting that over half of Americans with COPD are undiagnosed. The disease disproportionately affects people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and older adults.

Although access to drugs such as inhalers has improved, the report finds that patients may face co-payments of $75 or more per drug. As a result, many patients report skipping days, not taking full dosages, or not collecting refills. Among patients with COPD, only half of medication doses are taken as prescribed. By comparison, up to three quarters of medication doses are correctly taken for other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease (figure 4). The high cost of COPD drugs is partly because there are no generic inhalers licenced for use in the US.

In addition, pulmonary rehabilitation is repeatedly described by patients as the most helpful intervention in terms of improving their quality of life. But access is still limited because of a shortage of programmes that are geographically convenient for patients, and variable insurance coverage.

Every year, over 10 million physician visits, 1.5 million emergency department visits, and nearly 700000 hospital stays are linked to COPD. One in 5 hospital admissions for COPD are readmitted within a month, putting a huge strain on resources. The Commission also highlights poor standards of care, as only 1 in 3 hospital admissions offered patients the standard recommended treatments. They add that the absence of written protocols for inpatients, as has already been established for other diseases, has led to COPD being a low priority in hospital.

Recent requirements by Medicare have focused on reducing the rates of hospital re-admission, but the report authors say most re-admissions for COPD are due to poor access to care or support outside hospital, and that preventing admission in the first place through improved diagnosis, access to treatment and care should be a priority.

The authors say that caring for patients will require better education for patients and physicians to improve diagnosis and treatment. They add that better coordinated action among insurers, the pharmaceutical industry and physicians is needed to reduce the financial burden on patients which could in turn increase adherence to medicines, and ultimately reduce overall healthcare spending.

Finally, the author say that more research is needed to understand the disease and develop new treatments. Unlike other chronic diseases where the amount of funding more or less matches the burden of the disease, COPD ranks 14th most funded research category by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), despite being the third leading cause of death in the USA.

Explore further One in four patients with COPD suffer from depression
A man in a dress, a woman dressed up like a man: this picture plays on society's expectations for the sexes. Such expectations are always powerful and may have a negative impact. If girls are regularly told that they are bad at maths, they will actual get worse in the subject. Credit: Katharina Schwarz

Expectations have a lot of power over people as is evidenced by the placebo effect: Patients get pills that have no active ingredient. But the patients are not aware of that. Firmly believing that they are taking an effective drug, they actually get better afterwards. Only their expectations were at play here.

"The placebo effect often works quite well when treating pain and depression," says Dr. Katharina Schwarz from the Institute of Psychology at the Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany. The mere expectation of getting a drug can alleviate symptoms and make you feel better: "And those are not just the patient's subjective sensations, it can actually be measured physiologically."

Expectations alter pain perception

Katharina Schwarz generally studies how expectations influence perception and behaviour. Pain was also a central theme of her doctoral thesis which she completed at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in 2015. One conclusion she draws: If men are told that they are more or less sensitive to pain than women, they will perceive pain differently afterwards.

The experimental set-up: Participants in the experiment were administered different heat stimuli trough a band on their forearm. They were asked to rate the pain they felt on a scale from "no pain" to "unbearable".

On the next day of the experiment, a leaflet casually informed the men that they were more or less sensitive to pain than women. The information was backed by evolutionary psychological reasons, respectively. One study group was told that men can endure pain particularly well given their ancient role as hunters, for example. The other group read that women had a higher pain threshold because they have to endure the pain of giving birth.

Afterwards, the experiment was repeated. Now, the participants who thought that men were less sensitive rated the pain as being much less intense than on the previous day. Those, however, who had learnt that women have a higher pain tolerance now considered themselves more sensitive to pain than before.

Review article published on the subject

In a review article in Trends in Cognitive Sciences Katharina Schwarz shows how far human expectations can go. For the first time, she has put examples from various disciplines into context: "Neurosciences, psychology and educational science all study expectations and their impacts. But the individual disciplines hardly exchange their knowledge and I would like to change that."

Her goal: "I want to increase the awareness, especially of students, for these mechanisms and in particular for the ones that have a negative impact on people." She believes that this is of practical significance for both therapies and psychological research: "Scientists, too, have certain expectations in their work. If they incorporate these expectations into the test design and influence test participants accordingly - albeit entirely in good faith - results can be distorted."

Focus on non-explicit expectations

Katharina Schwarz wants to advance this field of research at the University of Wurzburg and focus on non-explicit expectation processes, too. These are expectations people have but are not consciously aware of.

Since autumn 2015, Katharina Schwarz has researched as a postdoc at the department of JMU Professor of Psychology, Wilfried Kunde. Born in Wurzburg, she grew up and studied biology here. After graduating, she joined the Cognitive Neurosciences at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf to do her PhD.

Explore further Subconscious learning shapes pain responses

More information: Katharina A. Schwarz et al, Rethinking Explicit Expectations: Connecting Placebos, Social Cognition, and Contextual Perception, Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2016). Journal information: Trends in Cognitive Sciences Katharina A. Schwarz et al, Rethinking Explicit Expectations: Connecting Placebos, Social Cognition, and Contextual Perception,(2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2016.04.001

Provided by University of Wurzburg
Credit: CDC

(Medical Xpress)Gerard Niyondiko along with colleagues Frank Langevin and Lisa Barutel has posted a project on the crowd source funding site ulule for a product called Faso Soap. They claim the soap can cut in half the number of people bitten by anopheles mosquitoes carrying the Plasmodium parasite which is responsible for causing malaria.

Niyondiko first created the soap, with another colleague Moctar Dembele back in 2013together they won the Global Social Venture Competition held at the University of Californiaalong with $25,000 to help further develop their product. Now Niyondiko and his team want to finalize development of the soap which is made using shea butter along with natural oils that anopheles mosquitoes do not like. The initial goal for the project was $34,091, but that number has been eclipsed. The team expects to use the extra funds to further test the soap for efficiency in the field (at the National Center for Research and Training against Malaria in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) and if possible set up a manufacturing operation. They note that not only does the soap help ward off mosquitoes bites (for up to six hours) if used to wash the body, but the water that is used to rinse afterwards, which is typically discarded nearby, will not serve as a breeding ground for future mosquitoes because of the soap residue in it.

Despite wide media coverage, existing health organizations dedicated to eradicating malaria, most particularly in Africa, have been slow to embrace endorsing the soap because it has not been widely tested to ensure that it is safe for use on humans.

The Faso Soap team appears undaunted by such concerns, boldly predicting that their soap could save as many as 100,000 people a year in just two years time. They have already put plans into action to develop their own distribution network, which they claim will allow the soap to reach those most at risk of the disease. They also note that their soap overcomes a natural affinity to change in the African population, by introducing a product that is already widely used: soap. They suggest that local populations will be quick to embrace the soap once they realize that it really does help protect against contracting malaria.

Explore further Washing with contaminated soap increases bacteria on hands

 2016 Medical Xpress
Credit: Wageningen University

Offering light varieties of sweets, soft drinks or snacks only leads to over-consumption of these low-calorie products, in the long-term as well. It does not contribute to the reduction of obesity in the population. This was demonstrated in a recent study by the Wageningen marketing professor Joost Pennings. The study was published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing.

It has already been demonstrated that consumers eat more light crisps once they have switched to them. However, now it appears that this behaviour persists even a full year later. In fact, next to the 'light' versions, they also once again consume the familiar varieties of their favourite sweets. On average, they buy 13% more calories the year after their first 'light' purchases than compared to the previous year. This is why the research team made up of Kathleen Cleeren (KU Leuven), Kelly Geyskens, Maastricht University, Peter C. Verhoef (University of Groningen) and Joost Pennings (Wageningen University) advises the government to exercise care when promoting light products.

Curbing obesity

Curbing the lifestyle disease of obesity has been a concern of the government for decades. The food industry is seeking to benefit from this development and therefore offers light versions of crisps, candy and soda, for example. The health claim that these products contain fewer calories per 100 grams may be true, but because more is consumed this claim is counterproductive. Pennings explains: "People feel guilty when they eat something that makes them fat, but if they switch to light, they seem to immediately eat more of the product. This then becomes a habit, where they not only eat the light version, but to a certain extent often also return to the regular variety." It is the first time that this long-term effect has been scientifically established after one year.

The study focused on the consumption of light crisps, but according to Prof. Pennings the claims extend to all "hedonistic" products, including sweets and soda, which mostly have a pleasure function. The researchers relied on information from market researcher GfK, which followed the purchases of a sampling of households. The researchers chose households that had just switched to light crisps and counted the corresponding amount of calories. According to Joost Pennings, the results also apply to other Western European countries and the United States.

Due to these findings, Pennings and his colleagues believe that the government should be careful in its promotion of light products: "Light is not bad but we must be aware of the psychological impact of the claim. If we want overweight people to actually consume fewer calories, we need to educate them better."

Explore further Deciphering label claims on food products

More information: Regular or low-fat? An investigation of the long-run impact of the first low-fat purchase on subsequent purchase volumes and calories. Kathleen Cleeren, (KU Leuven), Kelly Geyskens (Maastricht University), Peter C. Verhoef (University of Groningen) and Joost M.E. Pennings (Wageningen University) will be published at the end of this year in the International Journal of Research in Marketing. Journal information: International Journal of Research in Marketing Regular or low-fat? An investigation of the long-run impact of the first low-fat purchase on subsequent purchase volumes and calories. Kathleen Cleeren, (KU Leuven), Kelly Geyskens (Maastricht University), Peter C. Verhoef (University of Groningen) and Joost M.E. Pennings (Wageningen University) will be published at the end of this year in the
Georgian wine exports increase in 2016

More than 11.5 million bottles of Georgian wine have been exported to 30 countries across the globe in the first four months of 2016.This was a 45 percent increase in wine exports in January-April (Q1) 2016 than in the same months of 2015, reported the Georgian National Wine Agency.The value of the exported wine amounted to almost $27 million USD, which was 15 percent more than in the same period of last year.The Georgian National Wine Agency today released the export numbers of Q1 2016.The five countries that imported the most Georgian wine in Q1 2016 were:1. Russia  5,925,933 bottles;2. Ukraine  1,488,737 bottles;3. Kazakhstan  1,281,100bottles;4. China  779,425 bottles; and5. Poland  682,522 bottles.The Agency said exports of Georgian wine increased: To Russia by 84 percent (5,925,933 bottles); To Ukraine by 70 percent (1,488,737 bottles); To China by 58 percent (779,425 bottles); To Poland by 31 percent (682,522 bottles); To Lithuania by 37 percent (183,636 bottles); To Kyrgizstan by 171 percent (107,646 bottles); To Germany by 23 percent (104,950 bottles); To Belarus by 31 percent (134,120 bottles); and To the United Kingdom by 72 percent (50,128 bottles).In Q1 2016 Georgia also saw an 86 percent increase in brandy exports.Almost 1.5 million bottles of brandy were exported to 11 countries. The value of the brandy exports amounted to $6.4 million, which was 43 percent more than last year.
Azerbaijan, Georgia to boost joint border goods transport

Transportation of goods through the Azerbaijani-Georgian border will be greatly accelerated, UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Ghulam Isaczai told reporters May 5.Isaczai is taking part in a conference in Baku dedicated to the 'Support to the development of the Red Bridge Border Crossing Point between Azerbaijan and Georgia' project.'Support of the development of the Red Bridge Border Crossing Point between Azerbaijan and Georgia' is a joint project of the UN Development Programme and State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan. The project worth $3 million will be financed by the EU.The project is multifunctional, and one of its main goals is security on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia, protection of the quality of goods, and the infrastructure of the border crossing point will be improved for that, Isaczai said.In addition, special training of personnel will be conducted for customs officials of the two countries, he added.He said that this project is very important both for Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the European Union (EU).This project will bring together the two countries with Europe, enabling them to further integrate into Europe, said Isaczai.In turn, Head of the EU Delegation in Azerbaijan Malena Mard told reporters that the project is planned to be completed within two years.The EU has allocated 2.7 million euros for the project, of which 1.8 million euros have been allocated to Azerbaijan, Mard said, adding that she thinks this project is very important for the EU as well, since this corridor is part of the Silk Road through which goods are transported from Asia to Europe.
Special evacuation construction will open in mountainous Georgia

By Messenger Staff

Georgias Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure is building a special evacuation construction on Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Larsi road section that will ensure safe transporting of people in case of road complications or national disasters.The Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Larsi road section that leads to the Georgia-Russia border often faces restrictions due to bad weather.The evacuation construction initiated by the Ministry of Infrastructure envisages the construction of a 208, 80 meter long and 2,25 meter wide tunnel and a special watch tower.In case of emergency situations, people working on the tower 24 hours day and night will send a signal to relevant emergency bodies. The bodies must ensure the closure of traffic and the safe transport of people from the disaster zone to the safe, evacuation area through the tunnel.Construction was launched in June last year and was scheduled to be completed before the end of the year.The cost of the project was $545,000.Such projects are of the utmost importance, especially in areas that are most susceptible to natural disasters and avalanches.There are several roads in Georgia, especially in mountainous regions, that require additional security measures.The Government should also take further steps to ensure early warning systems.Last year, a deadly flood in Tbilisi claimed 19 lives, and was one of the disasters in Tbilisi's history; it was a poignant reminder that Georgia requires better early warning systems.
The News in Brief

IRI to send international observers mission to Georgia



The International Republican Institute (IRI) will send international observers to Georgia to the parliamentary elections this year, IRI Eurasia Department Head Steven Nix has told the Voice of America.



According to him, the institute will send short-term as well as long-term observers.



A standard mission consists of up to 30-50 members. The long-term observers will spend two months in Georgia, while their short-term colleagues will spend one week, he has declared.



According to him, the IRI plans to conduct its next survey in September.

(IPN)







Supreme Court Nominees Weigh into President, GDDG MPs Row over Consultations



Echoing the position of the Presidents Office, nominees for the Supreme Courts three vacant seats criticized ruling GDDG party lawmakers call on the President to hold consultations over the nominations before the vote in the Parliament as an attempt to seek a behind-the-scene deal.



President Giorgi Margvelashvili named incumbent Deputy Defence Minister Anna Dolidze as a candidate for the Supreme Court in February, and Tamar Laliashvili and Nona Todua for two other vacant seats in the Supreme Court in March. Hearings in the parliamentary committees over the nominations were completed almost a month ago and the only procedure left is a vote at a parliamentary session.



But on May 4, MP Giorgi Volski - who chairs the largest faction in Parliament - made up of MPs from the GDDG party, said that members of his faction are undecided about whether to support the nominations and called on the President to engage in consultations; an offer which was declined by the Presidents Office on the same day.



The President never engages in horse-trading over Supreme Court nominations, Kakha Kozhoridze, presidents adviser for human rights and justice system, told journalists on May 4.



On May 5, three Supreme Court nominees made a joint appearance before journalists to read out a statement saying that the process moved to the wrong direction.



Discussions over our candidacies for the Supreme Court are ongoing in the Parliament for several months already. Statements made by parliament members [on May 4] moved the process to the wrong direction, the nominees said in the joint statement.



Its wrong when discussions over the judicial appointments centre around demands for behind-the-scene deals instead of [nominees] qualification or other universally recognized criteria. Putting the issue in this context is insulting for high status of a judge and for the idea of fair judiciary.



Behind-the-scene deals will not help in addressing challenges facing the judicial system, the three Supreme Court nominees said. We hope that Parliament will make decisions based only on each candidates knowledge, education, qualification and level of independence.



On May 6, the three candidates met Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili, who said that the only consultation that is ongoing is within the factions, which is necessary for taking final decision.



Usupashvili also said that the vote on the issue should be held before the end of this month.



Personally I think that all three candidates are very experienced, highly qualified and they can contribute to the judiciary, but its up to the Parliament to decide, which I suppose will happen before the end of May, said Usupashvili, who is a member of the Republican Party.

(Civil.ge)







Parliaments Human Rights Committee approves constitutional ban on same-sex marriage



Amidst fierce debates, Georgian Parliaments Human Rights Committee on Thursday almost unanimously (only one MP abstained, no one voted against) approved the bill of constitutional changes to define marriage as a voluntary union of a man and a woman.



The current constitution doesnt define the sex of spouses.



The draft bill was submitted in parliament by 80 MPs. It is supported by the Georgian Dream and its allies except the Republican Party, as well as by opposition Free Democrats. Republican Party and United National Movement are against.



We have to protect rights of children. In a world where there are societies protecting butterflies, lizards and ants, I deem we have to think more about future of our children, this is why this amendment is so important, Zviad Dzidziguri, Vice Speaker of the Parliament and leader of the Conservative Party, said on a committee session.



He referred to the constitutions of Latvia and Croatia, saying these EU member states have the same definitions and spoke about the demography, stating the nation is on the edge of extinction.



The committee session was attended by LGBTI rights activists. Despite their resistance, the committee eventually approved the bill.



Beka Gabadadze, from the LGBT Georgia NGO, told the DFWatch committee meeting revealed that entire process was launched by the political parties to mobilize voters for the election, which is scheduled on October 8. He reminded that Georgian legislation already bans same-sex marriages.



LGBT organizations and activist had never spoken about issue of [same-sex] marriage before. Then Tatishvili appeared from nowhere with his appeal and entire homophobic campaign launched about constitution amendments, he said adding that political forces attempt to gain more votes for election with a homophobic agenda.



I have a family which you may call non-traditional, but I think it is absolutely traditional. Considering legislative frames, lots of my rights are offended, Koba Bitsadze from Association Temida said.



Irakli Chikovani, of the Free Democrats, said people shouldnt perceive this decision as homophobic.



Before the draft law would reach the parliament, public meetings were held all around Georgia, which showed explicit support to the constitutional ban on the gay marriages, proponents of the bill argue.



However, Beka Gabadadze told DFWatch that meetings were held at cinema-clubs, museums, other places attended by mostly party activists and leaders.



In such places, especially in the countryside, LGBT citizens wouldnt be able to express opinion [about the bill]. No one had asked for our opinion, Gabadadze said, adding that LGBT community is afraid to reveal their identity publicly as they may become target of violence.



I guess it wouldnt have been right to ask at those meetings if any of the guests were lesbian or gay. Parliament Vice-Speaker Manana Kobakhidze responded after been asked whether LGBTI people attended those meetings.



Those people do not even consider us as citizens of this country, who have right to participate in parliamentary discussions, that we have rights of honor, dignity, freedom of expression, participating in election and all the other rights guaranteed by the constitution, Gabadadze said.



There is a possibility to bring up this issue on a referendum as Central Election Commission approved the question about same-sex marriage in the end of March.

(DF watch)







American friendship club comments on PM visit to the USA



American friendship club higherly avaluated the recent visit of the PM George Kvirikashvili to the United States. The meeting with high officials there proved once again that Georgia and USA are two friendly nations. PM Kvirikashvili met political, business leaders as well as representatives of NGOs and students.



The visit proved the US commitment to assist Georgia in different directions, political, economical, military, educational and so on.



American friendship club president Ilia Zukakishvili highlighted in the statement Georgia's determination to further confirm its Euro-Atlantic claims.

(The Messenger)




@NewsbySmiley

Now that Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez has made clear he will run for mayor in 2017 -- a decision that if followed-through will eventually require him to resign from his commission seat -- look for more candidates to announce bids to become his successor in representing the city's fourth district.

On Friday, Monolo Reyes officially declared his interest in the District 4 seat. The announcement is hardly a surprise, given that Reyes kept his campaign account open following Suarez's aborted bid in 2013 to run for mayor. Reyes, a perennial commission candidate, ran against Suarez in 2009 and lost in a run-off election.

He joins Ralph Rosado as a candidate.
@PatriciaMazzei

Democrats have found a new line of attack against Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo: He's not pushing for $1.9 billion in emergency Zika-prevention funding.

"Rep. Curbelo is standing with extreme Republicans and introducing toothless legislation that would secure NO NEW FUNDING to address the growing threat of Zika," Annette Taddeo's campaign wrote in a fundraising email Thursday.

"Instead of cozying up to extremists like Rick Scott who have failed Floridians on Medicaid expansion, education funding, and the environment, Curbelo should challenge his party and push for new funding to fight this very serious public health threat," Joe Garcia said in a statement.

The twist? Curbelo told the Miami Herald he does back President Barack Obama's $1.9 billion request. Curbelo said he's expressed his support in at least one radio interview. The Herald couldn't find audio online of the interview with U.S. 1 Radio in the Florida Keys.

His office, however, has conspicuously failed to mention that in the several Zika-related statements it has issued over the past few days. The statements have largely focused on Curbelo's proposed bill dealing with how Zika money is spent rather than how much. Curbelo said his legislation is complementary to, not mutually exclusive from, the funding Obama wants.

"What a shame that some people are so desperate and opportunistic that they would use a serious public health concern for personal political gain," Curbelo said in a statement. "For weeks I have been working with both Republicans and Democrats on a longer-term Zika response package while supporting the Administration's decision to use leftover funds from the ebola outbreak response in the interim. Like Senators Rubio and Nelson, I support full funding for the Administration's request."

When Curbelo and other lawmakers met with Florida Gov. Scott in Congress earlier this week, they released joint statements that -- like Scott's -- made no mention of how much money they want to fight the mosquito-borne virus.

Compare that to other Florida Republicans who have gone out of their way to openly and repeatedly buck their party on the issue. On Thursday, Sen. Marco Rubio joined his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Bill Nelson, in proposing legislative language to attach to a military-spending bill next week.

"This is a devastating disease," Rubio said on the Senate floor. "It's taken lives throughout our hemisphere. And the way it impacts unborn children alone should call us to action."

This post has been updated.
@PatriciaMazzei

A newsy nugget from our story about U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo's political survival in the age of Donald Trump: The Miami Republican plans to soon file a new version of the DREAM Act.

Within a few weeks, Curbelo plans to file the sort of big legislation he can campaign on in a general election, even if the bill has virtually no chance of getting a vote: a new version of the DREAM Act  renamed Recognizing Americas Children Act  that would allow immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to stay.

Curbelo offered few details about his bill, but he told the Herald it's important to change the proposal's name to give it a fresh start. The new name -- acronym RACA -- might "put pressure" on legislators to do the "recognizing" of the young immigrants, he said.
After waiting three days and drawing a lawsuit from the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Politico of Florida on Friday published profit details from the transcript of Seminole Gaming CEO Jim Allen, prompting the Tribe to declare its request for an emergency hearing "moot."

"Because the Court can no longer afford the Tribe meaningful relief, the Tribe hereby withdraws its Emergency Motion for Protective Order, and responds in opposition to POLITICOs Motion to Intervene,'' wrote the Michael Moody on behalf of the tribe. Download Tribe withdraws motion.

Politico, the online news site, obtained Allen's transcript on Tuesday as part of a public records request of depositions in the pending case before the U.S. District Court's Northern Florida division, but it chose not to write about the information or to make the document public.

On Wednesday, the tribe sought an emergency hearing to force Politico to seal a copy of a deposition given by Allen until it could redact the annual gaming revenue that was released by the Department of Business and Professional Regulation as part of a public records request. The tribe argued that the information was a trade secret and the state had informally agreed to withhold the information from the public record.

Politico's lawyers, and Florida public records advocates, argued the tribe's request -- and the state's alleged consent -- was an unconstitutional prior restraint of a public document and Politico asked to intervene in the pending case.

The tribe sued the State of Florida last October for allegedly breaching its gambling compact and for failing to negotiate in good faith. Allen was deposed as part of the lawsuit last month and, the tribe argues, the state agreed not to release the transcripts of any depositions without prior review from the tribe.

On Friday morning, Politico published a report quoting Allen saying that the tribe generated $2.2 billion in gaming revenues in 2014 and noted that Allen had previously been quoted as citing that revenue number in the past.

Those revenue figures were consistent with the numbers used by state economists when assessing the impact of proposed gaming legislation last session and were consistent with projections from a Spectrum Gaming analysis sought by the Florida Legislature in 2013.

The tribe's argued that the court should seal the document so that it can release a redacted copy of the transcript, arguing that it is a protected trade secret.

Barbara Petersen, attorney and president for the First Amendment Foundation, told the Herald/Times there is no exemption in this case for a trade secret.

"The Seminole Tribe has no authority to assert a trade secrets exemption,'' she said. "It's a public record in the hands of DBPR."

"It's troubling when the state is willing to negotiate into private negotiations over the public's rights of access to information,'' said Mark R. Caramanica, lawyer for Politico in an interview with the Herald/Times.
Vice President Joe Biden will headline a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston, in early June.

Stephen Bittel, a developer who lives in Coconut Grove, told the Miami Herald that he is hosting the fundraiser.

It''s no surprise that Biden is supporting Wasserman Schultz who is President Barack Obama's Democratic National Committee chair.

But his presence at a fundraiser for her is another sign that Wasserman Schultz is taking her Democratic primary challenger -- Tim Canova -- seriously. Canova, a Nova Southeastern University law professor, said in a fundraising email earlier this week that he is close to raising $1 million -- a huge sum for a first-time candidate who started his campaign in January.

Wasserman Schultz raised $1.8 million through March but hasn't announced what she has raised since that time.

Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is hosting a fundraiser for Wasserman Schultz on Monday.

The race in Congressional District 23 which spans Broward and Miami-Dade counties is expected to be one of the most expensive Democratic primaries in South Florida.
LOLO  Truth be told, it doesnt look like much.

The original Lolo fire station, built by volunteers in 1959, is encircled by chain link fence on a dead-end street west of U.S. Highway 93. Its made of hand-hewn logs with an interior space that a newly restored 1961 Harvester International fire engine all but fills.

But to Cheryl Hanson its akin to the Holy Grail.

Everybody these days talks about their bucket lists, Hanson said. Getting this back into the hands of firefighters was on my bucket list.

Her mission was shared by Chief Bill Colwell and the Missoula Rural Fire District, who recently accepted possession of the building from Charter Communications after negotiations that, through the fault of neither, stretched out for more than a year.

The MRFD board, of which Hanson is secretary and past chair, plans to make it a museum of sorts, with the shiny red engine its centerpiece.

Weve got quite a few scrapbooks weve been collecting over the years, some that go back to the 1960s, Colwell said. There were quite a few that were collected at the different stations.

Add some "digital things" created over the past eight years or so and the old fire house will one day be a showcase that celebrates the history of the 55-year-old rural fire district that's headquartered at South Avenue and Reserve in Missoula.

***

Hanson, whose family has roots to Lolo dating to 1910, has longtime ties to the local fire station.

The first one, she said, was built after a pickup parked in her grandfather Fred Kesters barn south of Lolo Creek blew up and blew him out of the truck.

How this ornery old guy made it out OK I dont know. But it was his barn burning and also a house burning that would have sat kitty-corner from the fire station that got all the people in Lolo together to start a volunteer fire department, Hanson said.

Kester, Hanson said, was among the 19 original volunteers. Ray and Dick Stolp were two others, and Hanson believes it was the Stolps who furnished the logs for the station in 1959.

It was built on the rise across from the junction of U.S. Highway 12, only to be moved to its current location on West Lewis and Clark Drive a few years later when Don Tripp built his truck stop on the site. It's now occupied by a Town Pump store.

Lolo Volunteer Fire petitioned to become part of the Missoula Rural Fire District in 1973, and its official name is Fire-Rescue Station No. 5. In 1985 the log station was replaced by a modern fire house on the west side of Highway 93, some three-tenths of a mile to the south.

Colwell hasnt been able to pinpoint the date, but at some time after the new fire station opened, the old one came into possession of Missoula's cable television provider at the time. Subsequent cable franchises  TCI Cablevision, AT&T, Bresnan and Optimum West  used the building for storage until Charter Communications moved into Montana in 2013.

Meanwhile, Cheryl Hanson was digging into her bucket list. It took some sleuthing to determine ownership of the nondescript building that represented so much firefighting history to her hometown.

Charter had discontinued use of the building, and was agreeable to dealing when approached by Colwell and the MRFD board. The property was part of a block that had a lien against it.

It was quite a hassle to get this piece freed so they could do what they wanted to do with it, Colwell said. I kind of thought wed lost the opportunity, but then the lien was cleared and it came together real well.

***

The classic red fire engine that occupies the bigger part of the old station has a history of its own. It was one of the first purchased by Missoula Rural when it was established in 1961. District firefighters reclaimed the truck in 2008 from the West End Volunteer Fire Department in DeBorgia, where it sat hidden and forgotten under layers of rust and pine needles.

The district turned to the Montana State Prison for a restoration it could afford. Memorial grants helped fund a rehabilitation effort led by inmate Brian Dean Adolf. It was completed last summer, in time for the engine to appear in Patriots Day and University of Montana homecoming parades in September, and was stored at the Florence fire station over the winter.

Last Saturday the engine was part of a long procession of fire vehicles across Missoula during a celebration of the life of fallen firefighter John Fidler, after which it was backed into its new home in Lolo.

Getting the old fire house ready for more relics is the next step. Fundraising is already underway by the Missoula Rural Volunteer Fire Fighters Association and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2457, as well as the fire board. None of the districts tax funds can be used.

Colwell said the fire truck project and consideration for the historic Lolo station project are made possible by memorial donations from the families of the late Richard Bertlin, John Jirsa and Albert Dufresne.

The historic station wont be manned, but it'll be opened to the public on special occasions.

***

Money is needed for such short-term projects as asbestos removal from the chinking, an electrical inspection, window replacements and repair of the overhead door, Colwell said. Long-term projects include replacing the big door, building a new side entrance, getting the overhead heater up and running before winter and perhaps refinishing the logs.

Hanson's grandchildren  Austin, Alexis and Layne Miller, who range in age from 11 to 8  stitched together a four-quilt throw blanket emblazoned with firefighting themes to be raffled off. That's raised about $140 so far.

It was supposed to be mine, Hanson said with a laugh. Youve heard about kids wrapping people around their fingers? Im super-glued.

Sometime soon Missoula Rural Fire and Lolo will have itself a fitting tribute to their respective histories.

Were happy to play a role in this, said Brian Anderson, Charters director of regional communications. But really were just happy to see the property going back to the firefighters and giving them a place to preserve a piece of their history.
BILLINGS  With the opening of the new Billings forensic crime lab, eastern Montana can expect faster turn-around times when it comes to drug evidence identification in smaller drug cases, officials said Thursday.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, Montana Crime Lab Administrative Director Phil Kinsey and Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito announced the crime lab's grand opening at Billings Clinic on Thursday afternoon.

The lab, which was anticipated to open in January, has already begun processing some evidence, Kinsey said. Fox congratulated both the state and local law enforcement agencies in their work to serve justice better and quicker in Montana. He thanked legislators for making the lab a priority and for pushing for its inception.

Kinsey said the new lab is projected to process about 700 cases a year and will serve the 27 eastern Montana counties. A majority of those cases will come from Yellowstone County, which sent more than 500 cases to the Missoula crime lab last year.

The new lab will only test and identify drugs. Cases that have drugs in addition to other types of evidence will continue to be processed at the Missoula crime lab, which is much larger. The full crime lab in Missoula will continue to process the majority of forensic testing including:

Breath alcohol

Firearms and tool marks

Latent prints and impressions

Pathology

Serology

DNA

Toxicology

Trace evidence

***

The request for a second crime lab was made by Twito after the 2014 election, when the county attorney told Reps. Dale Mortensen, R-Billings, and Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings the one thing he really needed was a lab. Twito's request was echoed by other eastern Montana county attorneys, who said the spike of drug-related cases coming through their offices could be dealt with faster if the prosecutors had access to a closer crime lab.

"We're on track to see the same number of possession cases as last year, maybe more," Twito said Thursday.

With drug possession charges making up a third of the criminal cases filed in 2015, Twito said speeding up the case will help to get drug users into treatment programs quicker. At least 20 percent of the Yellowstone County jail population was arrested on some type of drug charge, not including those incarcerated for either a supervision or probation violation, according to the detention facilitys jail roster.

Felony drug possession charges have increased in Yellowstone County from 171 in 2011, to at least 540 last year. Few were busts for large amounts of drugs. One third of the drug cases sent from Yellowstone County for analysis in 2015 were for "trace" or what's called "no weight" amounts. Drug evidence cases being processed at the lab has increased from 1,960 in 2008 to over 2,500 in 2015.

Sending evidence from eastern Montana and back for those cases or sending an evidence technician to testify somewhere in eastern Montana takes too much time, Kinsey said, adding that the Eastern Montana Crime Lab will help with many backlogged cases.

***

The Billings lab will have three employees  an analyst who moved from Missoula; a chemist from North Carolina, who completed her training at the Missoula Lab on Thursday; and an evidence technician who was a former Billings Police detective. The lab also will have three forensic instruments, valued at more than $120,000 each.

Within the 1,553-square-foot space, lab evidence will be stored in a room secured by proximity cards. The cards will record who enters the evidence locker and when they enter. This information will also be relayed to the Missoula crime lab. The Missoula lab, a 30,000-square-foot facility, will be able to observe the inside of the Billings lab using four security cameras, some placed in the evidence lab and some in the main entrance of the lab.

The walls of the new lab were also built up to prevent anyone accessing the evidence through a false ceiling, Kinsey said. Security doors, locks and motion detectors were also added. Evidence will only be stored at the lab while it is being analyzed. It will be sent back to the requesting agency as soon as it is processed, Kinsey said.

Kinsey did not go into specifics regarding security breaches at the Missoula crime lab, where former Missoula police officer Steve Brester is being investigated for stealing drug evidence from the lab when he was employed as an evidence technician. Charges have still not been filed against Brester, despite the breach affecting more than 50 cases in Montana, 15 of which were in Yellowstone County. Brester is suspected of stealing drug evidence for 9 months while he was employed with the lab.

The breach also has prompted defense attorneys in Yellowstone County to accuse prosecutors of hiding information regarding the ongoing investigation at the Montana State Crime Lab.

President of the Billings Clinic Foundation Jim Duncan said the hospital was able to accommodate the security needs of the lab just as it does all areas of its campus. Duncan said the hospital has different security levels throughout the separate wings depending on what type of work is being done there. The forensic lab will be no different, he said.

***

The state is leasing the space from Billings Clinic in what used to hold the Deaconess Research Institute. Medical director of the Billings Clinic Cancer Center Randall Gibb said research for the clinic was already being moved to other areas of the hospital when the state approached the hospital about the space in August.

The lease on the space will cost the state $45,720 a year and will last until June 30, 2019.

The Legislature authorized the DOJ to spend as much as $310,000 to secure a two-year lease and $476,000 to pay employees, with anything left over going into the DOJ's general fund. The money wasn't budgeted during the Legislature and will come out of the DOJ's budget, which it will ask the 2017 Legislature to supplement.

An additional $140,000 was spent to update the space including the cost of design fees, construction documents and programming, construction costs and specialty systems such as the security systems.

The Deputy State Medical Examiner is also leasing space in Billings at St. Vincent Healthcare. Kinsey said the state is open to continuing to expand forensic services in Billings, but the Missoula crime lab will remain the forensic science hub in the state.
In 2008, during the end of the Bush administration, the National Defense Authorization Act sanctioned the Department of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the (official) beginning of the Vietnam War. The United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration is the official title given to this program. It is designed for federal, state and local communities, veterans organizations and other nongovernmental organizations to become a Commemorative Partner, not to glorify this war but to honor the service of veterans who participated in a conflict that ended in 1975.

Over 3.5 million soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines served in the Republic of Vietnam, and many returning servicemen and -women were not honored by the American public as had been the case in previous wars. Our fellow citizens have come to realize that we need to honor these soldiers even if we didnt agree with the war.

Organizations desiring to participate in the Commemorative Partner program must submit a formal application to the Defense Department for approval. Western Montana is quite fortunate to have several organizations that are Commemorative Partners: the Montana Museum of Military History; the Western Montana Military Officers Association; and the Vietnam Veterans of America-938, Bitterroot Chapter, to name a few.

I recently participated in two local programs where veterans were honored and 50th anniversary lapel pins were given out to the attendees. It was brought to my attention after our VVA meeting that Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke is planning to host Commemorative Partner ceremonies himself in late May-early June. I was shown Zinkes office press release by one of our VVA members and it indicated that Zinke desires to distribute Commemorative Partner lapel pins in Missoula, Helena, Butte, Bozeman, Billings, Great Falls and Kalispell in less than a week's time.

I know that Zinke is a veteran and probably intends to truly honor Vietnam veterans, but his timing might be questionable for choosing to do this while attempting to get elected a second time in office. Butte author and 20-year Army veteran David Abrams wrote an opinion piece in the Feb. 14 New York Times titled Veterans, Patriots and Pawns. Abrams writes ,for candidates, veterans are the most useful props imaginable. They are real-life stand-ins for any number of campaign trail virtues: patriotism, national defense, anti-elitism, take your pick. Abrams further writes that military service is charged with a special aura of bravery and honor that politicians cant resist glomming on to.

The Commemorative Partner program is designed for communities, organizations, military service groups and the like to set up their own events and activities to honor veterans through 2018, which is when the programs ends. I dont believe it was intended for congressmen running for re-election to travel all over a state in six days handing out lapel pins.
Huckleberry-stamped diplomas to all the graduates attending Saturdays commencement ceremony at the University of Montana. We wish them the best of luck in putting those hard-earned degrees to good use as soon as possible, and in Montana if possible.

Chokecherries to Montanas first-place ranking in a national study of teen driver fatalities. CarInsurance.com put together the report after noting that car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in America, and found that the safest state for teen drivers is Massachusetts, followed by Maryland. Montana is the most dangerous, with both the highest teen driver fatality rate and the highest percentage of high-schoolers who drink and drive, and the third-highest percentage of high-schoolers who text and drive.

Huckleberries to Bernie Sanders for making a stop in Missoula this past Wednesday. Even those who arent feeling the Bern can appreciate a presidential candidate taking the time to rally for support in rural states like Montana, which holds its primaries relatively late in the election cycle and doesnt have many delegates to send to the national convention. Hopefully we can look forward to visits from the other presidential contenders as well.

Chokecherries to the Corvallis school bus driver who left a developmentally disabled teen on a bus, in a restraint system, for three hours after dropping off other students. The driver has been placed on paid leave while the Ravalli County Sheriffs Department investigates how the 16-year-old girl was apparently forgotten, and school officials are working on improving communication between bus drivers and school staff.

Huckleberries to the Missoula International Airport, which is set to receive $1.3 million in federal funding to build a new taxiway. The grant, provided by the Federal Aviation Administrations Airport Improvement Program, will fund infrastructure improvements that will ultimately bring new business and new jobs to Missoula, according to airport director Cris Jensen. Furthermore, the airport is in the process of planning a $42 million terminal improvement project that promises to support even more commerce in Missoula County.
I live in a rural area of Missoula County where sometimes its de rigeur to complain about the policies, directions and goings on in town. But I love Missoula and I fiercely love Missoula County. Our issues do not have black-and-white solutions, nor even gray ones. Our solutions must be more kaleidoscope in nature, structured but brilliant and varied. Missoula County is diverse, complicated, and our county commissioners maintain the necessary tension that makes this place so livable.

Dave Strohmaier is endorsed by Montana Conservation Voters. A lifelong hunter, fisherman and conservationist, he knows the importance of public lands and healthy habitats. He is concerned about food security and understands the struggles of farmers and ranchers. As county commissioner, he will promote our agricultural heritage and protect our prime agricultural soils.

He was a wildland fire incident commander for the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service who will promote public safety and sound land use planning in the wildland-urban interface. He was a supervisor, project manager and business partner in the private sector in addition to serving eight years on Missoula City Council. He values the connection between good planning and economic prosperity.

In a time where vitriol and poor behavior are demonstrated on the national political stage, it is a welcomed relief to support a candidate who is not a politician, but a statesman. Dave Strohmaier is able to authentically bridge rural and urban concerns. He is thoughtful, a great listener, collaborative, and above all, kind. While these may sound like qualities we were taught to strive for in kindergarten, they are the qualities that will keep us together while grappling with issues such as planning and development, climate change, public safety, human rights, justice, culture, land stewardship and conservation.

Juanita Vero,

Greenough
A truckload of chokecherries to the Chamber of Commerce and the Missoulian for their misleading article on May 3. Big headlines: "Missoula Mercantile site: Business groups support project: 85 percent of respondents in Chamber survey favor new development on site." Whew, 85 percent, that's a very big deal indeed.

But how significant is this 85 percent? The questionnaire asked, "Should the Mercantile building be deconstructed to make way for new businesses to use the site?" One thousand, five hundred sixty three members were sent this questionnaire, and only 224, or 14.3 percent, responded. That low number invalidates the survey as representative of the Chamber's membership. One hundred ninety voted in the affirmative, so out of 1,563 members questioned, only 12 percent said they were in agreement to demolish the building. Perhaps the Missoulian headline should have read: 88 percent of Chamber members did not reply positively to demolish the Merc!

Also, people, not businesses, replied to this survey. There was no information about who these people were; which businesses they represented, nor how many came from each business. For example, the majority could have come from a small number of businesses and not be representative of the business community as a whole.

And what was being responded to? The questionnaire tied the demolition of the Mercantile to redevelopment of the site, as if demolition were the only alternative. That is not true. Redevelopment and renovation are equally possible. Perhaps if the Chamber had asked its members about incorporating some or all of the existing building into a new design, they may have had a better response.

The public has the right to expect clear and unbiased information from their news sources. The Missoulian should not distort facts nor should the Chamber state that "members overwhelmingly supported" something when it is obviously not the case.

Nancy and David Tyrell,

Missoula
BIGFORK  A bomb threat forced the evacuation of Bigfork High School late Wednesday afternoon, according to the Flathead County Sheriffs Office.

A search by deputies and with an explosive detection K9 unit did not turn up any explosive devices, Flathead County patrol commander Brian Heino said.

Classes resumed Thursday.

Flathead County Dispatch received the report at about 4 p.m. Wednesday, and the initial report indicated there was a hand-written bomb threat within a science classroom at the high school, according to Heino.

According to postings on the Bigfork High School and Elementary School websites, school administrators were notified that the bomb threat was made in graffiti found in the high school science lab.

The Montana Highway Patrol and U.S. Forest Service personnel assisted with an evacuation of the school, Heino said, before the search was conducted.

"After a thorough investigation by the Sheriff's Department and bomb-detecting canines, it was determined that all schools in Bigfork School District 38 were safe," the posting on the elementary school website said, adding that classes would resume Thursday.

Heino said an investigation is continuing.
BILLINGS - Property owners neighboring a controversial zone change are suing Yellowstone County. The change allowed a helicopter flying service to relocate next to the Billings airport atop the Rimrocks.

The property owners allege the county commissions approval of the zone change for Billings Flying Service Inc. violates regulations regarding public zones and is spot zoning for a portion of the parcel that was changed to controlled industrial.

Further, the property owners claim the zone change approval is special legislation because of Commissioner John Ostlunds extraordinarily close relationship with the Blain family, which owns BFS.

Ostlund and Commissioner Jim Reno voted for the zone change on March 1 after hours of public comment both in support and opposition to the proposal. Commissioner Bill Kennedy voted against the zone change.

The lawsuit, filed in state District Court on May 4, is being heard by District Judge Mary Jane Knisely.

There are 20 plaintiffs, including Dave Kinnard and Elaine Kinnard, who filed a written protest with the county after the commissions vote. The plaintiffs own property neighboring the parcel.

Timothy Filz, a Billings attorney who represents the property owners, declined to comment. Earlier, Filz also filed a written protest of the commissions decision on behalf of residents in Stony Ridge Development, a residential subdivision south of Highway 3 and directly across the road from the development.

The suit names the county, the commissioners, Al and Gary Blain, BFS and the owners of the parcel purchased by the Blains.

The suit seeks a complete reversal of the zone change approval or a reversal of approval that changed agricultural open zone to public and agricultural open zone to controlled industrial.

Yellowstone Countys Chief Deputy Civil Attorney Dan Schwarz said Thursday the county will respond to the lawsuit. The county believes the actions taken by the board of county commissioners were proper under the law, he said.

The zone change involved about 58 acres of private land west of the Billings Logan International Airport and north of Highway 3. The parcel originally was zoned as agricultural open space.

The new zoning changed 18 acres on the northern portion to public zoning for the location of BFS and a helipad, 20 acres in the middle of the parcel to controlled industrial zoning and left about 20 acres along Highway 3 frontage as agricultural open space.

BFS is an international helicopter flying and service company that has operated on the Blain family farm at 6309 Jellison Road for 52 years. The company, which has seven civilian-owned Chinook helicopters, wanted to expand and relocate closer to the airport.

The lawsuit alleged that the portion zoned public will be used solely for the benefit of BFS on a for-profit basis and will not be available for public or semi-public uses.

The regulations for a public zone, the suit continued, say a public zone is intended for land exclusively for public or semi-public uses in order to preserve and provide adequate land for a variety of community facilities which serve the public health, safety and general welfare.

The zone change involving controlled industrial also is spot zoning, the suit continues, because the area is small and wholly incompatible with surrounding uses.

Ostlund, the suit states, declined to abstain from voting despite the existence of a long-standing and pervasive involvement with the Blains and BFS.

Had Ostlund removed himself, the vote would have been a tie and the zone application would have failed from a lack of a majority approval, the suit said.

Before the public hearing began, Ostlund disclosed his long-time friendship with the Blains and his joint ownership with the Blains and others in an airplane.

Schwarz advised Ostlund he had no reason to not participate as long as he disclosed his ties with the Blains and stressed to the public that his mind was open and that he would listen impartially to public comments before making a decision.

The City County Planning staff had recommended denial of the zoning request saying it did not comply with growth policy goals and did not meet zoning criteria.

The Zoning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the zoning change.
HAMILTON  Daniel Lyon knows that his road to recovery will be long and difficult.

But the young firefighter badly burned last summer in an incident that killed three others is thankful to be back home in Stevensville and for the outpouring of support that he has received since that sad day last August.

People have definitely made this terrible situation into the best that it could possibly be, Lyon said, while sitting at parents' kitchen table at the family home southeast of Stevensville.

Wherever I go, people recognize me and they thank me for my service. Im grateful that I can be here.

The 25-year-old was a member of a small engine crew protecting homes near Twisp, Washington, when the winds shifted 180 degrees on Aug. 19. Their vehicle missed a curve on a steep gravel road and crashed over a 40-foot embankment.

The fire overtook the engine. Richard Wheeler, 31, Andrew Zajac, 26, and Tom Zbyszewski, 20, were later found inside the burned vehicle.

Lyon survived, but he suffered third-degree burns over more than 60 percent of his body.

Lyon spent three months at Seattles Harborview Medical Center where he endured multiple surgeries, including the amputation of his badly burned fingertips and multiple skin grafts.

He was discharged from the hospital one day short of three months after the incident.

***

On his way home to Montana, he stopped at the scene of the Twisp River fire to pay his last respects to the men that he served alongside.

It was a beautiful day, Lyon remembered. It was crystal clear, but it was hard to be there. It was the first time that I got to say goodbye to my three buddies.

Lyon said the place had dramatically changed from what he remembered.

The scenery was so different, he said. It had been so green and beautiful and now it was essentially a wasteland.

When he returned to Montana, Lyon was met by an outpouring of support from both local wildfire fighters and the community.

I didnt realize just how big the Forest Service wildfire fighting community was, he said. They welcomed me with open arms.

Some local smokejumpers retrieved Lyons hound, Ozark, from the kennel and brought the dog to his parents' home in time for his arrival.

I had been looking forward to seeing my dog again, Lyon said.

When we pulled up at the house, he was there running in the yard. That meant a lot to me.

There was also a cooler filled with food sitting on the front porch.

A lot of members of the community provided us with meals, he said. They helped us in a lot of different ways.

***

Before the incident, Lyon was working toward a career in law enforcement. Some day, he hopes to continue on that path.

Im hoping to join the community policing program and slowly work my way back into law enforcement, he said.

For now, Lyon said it means a lot to him to know that his poster is pinned to the front door of the Stevensville police station.

Its nice to know that so many people here honor and recognize what we do as firefighters and the risk of it, he said. Its nice to live in a place where people understand that.

Lyons days now are filled with long hours of rehabilitative therapy that focuses on preparing him for the long list of surgeries that are to come. The therapy includes deep massage that works to soften his scarred flesh.

You can hear it crackle and pop, Lyon said. Of course, you feel that.

He and his parents, Dan Sr. and Barbara, make the trip into Missoula five or six times a week for the day-long therapy sessions.

When he gets into the car, he falls fast asleep, Barbara Lyon said.

The rehabilitation and his parents' care is making a difference. He has gained 30 pounds of weight since returning home. Hes also regained some of the use of his left hand.

My endurance is coming back too, he said. I still have a lot of surgeries ahead of me  at least a half of dozen. Its probably going to be a two- or three-year process.

***

Lyon wants people to remember that hes not alone.

There are a ton of other firefighters in this country who have been injured and they deserve attention too, he said. My case received a lot of national attention, which meant that I received a lot more support than others who were just as badly hurt.

Those who want to support injured firefighters can do so through the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. That organization has helped Lyon meet many of the expenses that arent covered through insurance and other sources.

Lyon recently joined fellow injured firefighters, Shane Ralston of the Bitterroot Valley and Brendan Mullen of Bozeman, as honored guests at a Putt and Pull Fundraiser sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula that raised funds for the foundation.

They had a really, really good turnout, Lyon said. In the first day, they raised $43,000. Its nice to know that people do care about us.

People havent forgotten Lyons sacrifice and his courage in facing the challenges to come.

***

In March, Lyon accompanied his father to the local banquet of the Sapphire Range Chapter of the Mule Deer Foundation. Dan Sr. serves as its the chapters president.

Both men didnt know that Tom Powers had been working behind the scenes with the National Mule Deer Foundation to honor the younger Lyons.

Working with members of both the local and national chapters, Powers had obtained a Savage 25/06 rifle with a carved stock and a flag that had flown over the states Capitol.

It was a special gun, Powers said. There were only 100 made, and this was the first one out of the box.

Dan Sr. was just as surprised as his son when the time came for the presentation of the two pieces.

I was overly impressed and a little bit emotional, Dan Sr. said.

Shooting had always been a part of the younger Lyons life.

I have a huge passion for guns, he said. I cant go out and shoot right now, but my number-one goal is to be able to do again someday.

Someday, Lyon said the rifle and the flag will be displayed in a prominent place in his home.

That flag is very, very symbolic to me, especially knowing that it flew over our states Capitol, he said. I didnt even fight fires here. It shows that they still support me. That definitely means a lot to me.
HELENA  The Department of Revenue filed a response Thursday to a temporary injunction that, for now, means it must administer a scholarship program in a way that provides money to students that attend religious schools.

In April, a Kalispell court issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Department of Revenue from enforcing its new rule excluding children who attend religious schools from receiving the scholarship.

The scholarship program was enacted in May 2015 and provides tax credits up to $150 annually to individuals and donors who donate to private scholarship organizations. Those organizations then give out the money to families who want to send students to private schools.

The Department of Revenue said a provision in the state constitution prevents any "direct or indirect appropriations or payment" from government to religious institutions or religiously affiliated schools.

Three mothers whose children attend Stillwater Christian School filed a lawsuit in December to gain access to the scholarship funds.

The families were contacted by Stillwater about working with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that calls itself the nations pre-eminent courtroom defender of school choice, last fall about the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

The Institute had been keeping a close eye on Montana, said one of its attorneys, Erica Smith, who testified at a public hearing last fall on the department's rules.

The filing possibly moves the case one step closer to trial.

So far just one organization has signed up with the department to provide scholarships  Big Sky Scholarships. The organization incorporated Jan. 11. Its registered agent is Sen. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, who is consulting attorney for the organization and filed their paperwork. Hansen said she couldn't disclose the names of the organization's five-member board of directors, and they aren't listed in filings with the Secretary of State; the three director slots say "none stated."
BERLIN  A lawmaker from Chancellor Angela Merkels party stunned his colleagues on Thursday when he took to the floor of the German Parliament to repeat a vulgar accusation that the president of Turkey has a venereal disease, perhaps contracted while having sex with goats.

Unbelievable, murmured one surprised lawmaker in the chamber when Detlef Seif, a member of the Christian Democratic Union, read a satirical poem about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The poem created a diplomatic firestorm when its author, the German comedian Jan Bohmermann, recited it on his national television show in March.

It so enraged Mr. Erdogan, who has sought to silence his critics at home and challenge them abroad, that he demanded Mr. Bohmermann be prosecuted under an obscure German law that makes it a crime to insult a foreign leader.
If you come from a privileged background and youre taking the financial support, you start to think its your right to have it. I just became entitled. I had a credit card for emergencies, and its amazing, over time, what gets considered an emergency. Like, how often am I going to be in South Africa with this view? I need to order a bottle of wine.

My parents sat me down one day, and said, You know, this isnt free. And after that sank in, I decided I was going to do it on my own. I cut up the credit card. I actually got even closer to my parents as a result because there wasnt that financial bond. I think entitlement is the kiss of death for the soul of a human being.

What were some influences for your leadership style?

Ive worked for some unbelievable people. Ive had eight bosses, and seven of them are people I respect. Once, a long time ago when I was very young, I had one boss I didnt like, and I ended up pouring a full pint of beer on his head in front of the entire team. I was so scarred and angered by the way he treated people, I decided I would never put myself in that situation again. When I work for someone, I have to either like or respect them, or both.

A lot of people feel as if theyre stuck with a bad boss.

Thirty years ago, when people stayed in one company, maybe they felt they didnt have a choice. But today, with the fluidity of the marketplace, you do have that choice. You have a lot more power to understand your options than you did before. You want to work for people you can relate to and be inspired by, and believe in.

I think leadership is fundamentally changing. There are two schools of leadership.

There is one style, which is youre going to come work for me, and Im going to pay you this, and Im going to judge you. Ill decide your bonus, and Ill decide when youre ready to be promoted.
FEDERAL CHARGES

Shelly Dawn Pyeatt, 46, of Melrose, appearing before U.S. Magistrate Johnston in Great Falls on May 3, pleaded not guilty to charges of misappropriation of postal funds and issuance of money orders without payments.

According to court documents, these offenses occurred between May 2015 and December 2015 at or near Divide. Pyeatt was a postal service employee.

If convicted of the most serious charge contained in the indictment, Pyeatt faces 10 years in prison, $250,000 in fines, and three years supervised release. The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General.

AX-WIELDING MAN

Brenden Lee White, 24, of Butte was arrested Thursday for allegedly damaging two utility poles around Charlie Judd Memorial Park. A couple reported they saw a man chopping the poles with a pickax. Police say White, who denied the vandalism, was wearing camouflage clothing.

The weapon was taken into evidence; its unclear if it was found with the suspect or left at the scene. He is facing a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief. The poles remained structurally intact.

THEFTS FROM VEHICLES

A Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver, a portable DVD player, and DVDs were reported missing from an unlocked 2015 F-350 Ford pickup truck parked on the 600 block of South Utah Street between midnight Thursday and 7:35 a.m. Friday. The pistol and player were valued at $700.

An Arvada, Colorado, man, 65, reported a stolen iPod and a Clarion CD/DVD/MP3 player with Bluetooth capability from a 2004 Ford F-150 pickup truck between 9 p.m. and 10:23 p.m. Thursday. Police say the molding around the drivers side door was damaged while the vehicle was parked in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 2609 Harrison Ave. Entry was made by prying the locking mechanism. The items were valued at $1,400.
A 55-year-old Butte man who prosecutors say harbored more than 50 cats, causing them severe abuse and neglect, received on Thursday a two-year suspended sentence to the Montana Department of Corrections and was ordered to pay restitution.

Judge Kurt Krueger ordered Douglas Dean Billman to pay a restitution of $6,696 to be distributed to the Chelsea Bailey Butte-Silver Bow Animal Shelter and the rental property owner.

Defense Attorney Frank Joseph had filed a motion for house arrest on behalf of his client, citing mental health issues.

Following a recommendation made by Probation and Parole Officer Susan Carroll for a two-year DOC commitment with all but 30 days suspended, Krueger told Billman he would be required to wear electronic monitoring for at least 30 days as part of an intensive supervision program.

Billman was arrested July 5, 2014, after police responded to a request to standby while Animal Control removed dozens of cats from his home on the 900 block of Delaware Street. A doctor from Highlands Veterinary Hospital, according to an affidavit, reported that the environment was not consistent with maintenance of life.

Deceased cats in various stages of decomposition, all of which showed signs of cannibalism by the surviving felines, were found in the residence. Fecal matter  up to several feet deep  was present on every surface, the affidavit states.

Fifty-four living cats between the ages of 6 months and 2 years were evacuated from Billmans home. Twenty-three were euthanized due to dehydration and starvation. The volume of feces indicated the cats were unattended for more than two years.

Billman was originally charged with seven counts of felony aggravated animal cruelty. Six of the counts were dismissed Thursday. He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated animal cruelty, a felony, in April 2015.

A neighbor of Billmans parents  with whom he resides  testified that he was not a danger to the community, saying he was kind and funny, and provided an invaluable service to his mother and father.

Deputy County Attorney Kelli Fivey argued that Billman was not cut out to do jail time and recommended following the plea agreement entered into by the parties.

Joseph concurred with Fivey, adding that his client truly loves animals and never intended for the cats to suffer or die.

Doug is a godsend to his parents, Joseph said, arguing that the recommended sentence would protect the community and protect his client, and serve as an appropriate punishment.
As debate rages over HB2, there remains confusion over what it means to be transgender.

In an interview Sunday on Fox News, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory continued to defend the state law that requires people to use public restrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificates. He characterized transgender people as "boys who may think they're a girl."

Health care providers and researchers who have treated and studied transgender people take issue with that description. While a person's feelings are involved in gender identity, experts says imaging studies and other research suggest there is a biological basis for the phenomenon.

"Research continues to show that it's not as simple as 'I'm a female, I'm a male,'" said J. Wesley Thompson, a physician assistant, medical director of Ballantyne Family Medicine and member of the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group.

"It's far more complicated than 'this is a choice.' That might be true for a very small minority, but for the vast majority, no one would put themselves through this kind of pain by choice," Thompson said. "Studies have shown that a transitioning patient loses 90 percent of their family-and-friends support network. That's one of the reasons that substance abuse and depression and suicide attempts are so high."

Dr. Deanna Adkins, director of the Duke Center for Child and Adolescent Gender Care, said she has transgender patients as young as 2. "They are not old enough to consciously just choose to do that.  It is not a choice in any of my patients. It's really an unpleasant thing to have going on in your body to feel that distress about yourself. I can't imagine anyone who would choose to do that."

IS BEING TRANSGENDER A MENTAL ILLNESS?

No.

In 2013, the term "gender identity disorder" was eliminated from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." The term was replaced by "gender dysphoria," which focuses attention on those who feel distressed by their gender identity.

The American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the DSM, stated that "gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder. The critical element of gender dysphoria is the presence of clinically significant distress associated with the condition." Experts say much of the distress is associated with societal attitudes rather than gender identity.

ARE PEOPLE FEMALE OR MALE AT BIRTH?

Not always. Duke's Adkins is one of 20 pediatric endocrinologists who wrote a letter to McCrory objecting to HB2 in part because "there are babies born in whom chromosomes suggesting one sex do not match the appearance of the genitalia."

The letter said: "This can be due to multiple biological causes such as chromosome abnormalities, abnormalities in anatomic development, environmental exposures during pregnancy, genetic mutations in the synthesis and actions of adrenal and gonadal hormones, and tumors that make sex hormones. For these children, gender assignment at birth is challenging and takes substantial time, sometimes requiring re-evaluation over months to years."

Adkins said these children would not qualify as transgender, but through them, "we are able to see what happens when we don't know from looking at a child what their gender is. It allows us to figure out how gender develops."

"There definitely is a lot of literature out there that shows us gender identity is hormonally influenced, influenced by exposures during pregnancy, and affected by your body's ability to respond to hormones. But the least likely thing is how you are raised," Adkins said.

HOW DOES GENDER DEVELOP?

"All human embryos are equipped with the starter kits for both male and female sexual anatomy," according to a BloombergView article by Faye Flam. "Every part on the male body has an analogous part on the female body."

Typically, females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y. "But these are just the starting switches for a complicated process in which genes on various chromosomes become activated and trigger precisely timed releases of hormones," Flam wrote.

Depending on which switches are flipped and when, there are lots of possible outcomes. "Not everyone comes into the world with a clear-cut sex," Flam wrote.

In her book "Becoming Nicole," author Amy Ellis Nutt describes identical twin boys, Wyatt and Jonas Maines, who were adopted at birth in 1997 by middle-class, conservative parents. The twins were healthy, happy and physically indistinguishable from each other. But by the age of 2, when the boys were just learning to speak, Wyatt asked his mother, "When do I get to be a girl?" In the fifth grade, with his parents' support, Wyatt changed his name to Nicole and is now a transgender woman.

Nutt writes that sexual differentiation of the genitals happens at about six weeks into a pregnancy, but sexual differentiation of the brain, including gender identity, is a distinct process, occurring at a different time and along a different neural pathway in the brain.

"Ultimately gender identity is the result of biological processes and is a function of the interplay between sex hormones and the developing brain, and because it is a process that takes place over time, in utero, it can be influenced by any number of environmental effects," Nutt wrote.

WHAT DOES RESEARCH SHOW?

Male and female brains are slightly different in structure. In 2013, Spanish researchers examined MRI scans of the brains of 42 transgender men and women. Even before treatment with hormones, the scans showed that specific structures in their brains were more similar to those in the gender they identified with than of those in the gender they were assigned at birth.

Also, researchers in Amsterdam examined adolescent boys and girls with gender dysphoria and how they responded to a pheromone-like substance that is known to cause different responses in the brains of men and women. The study, published in 2014, found that boys with gender dysphoria responded like typical females and girls responded like typical males.

"The interesting thing about that study," said Thompson, of the Charlotte Transgender Healthcare Group, "is that (responses to pheromones) cannot be influenced by training or environment. The response to odors is from our primal brain  Research continues to show that there is a discernible difference genetically and on an anatomical basis for the transgender identity."

Author Nutt, who summarized the research in her book, noted that female and male brains are not that different overall.

"What gets lost is that society favors conformity and nature favors diversity," she said in a phone interview. "What scientists have been able to discover is that gender identity and sexual anatomy is a spectrum. We can no longer think of transgender people as being some kind of aberration. We need to think of them as variations."
LIVINGSTON  A notion exists that humanity cannot improve on nature  a sense that the aesthetic splendor the good, green Earth has already created cannot be groomed past what we already see. But one inspired artist, who happens to call Livingston her home, shatters that basic assertion.

As of late, she is becoming known to the world as the "Montana Banksy"  a play on the title of the renowned British graffiti artist Banksy, whose spray-painted pieces spark a sense of wonder on the otherwise cold, drab and indifferent gray walls of the globe's cityscapes.

And just like the famous Englishman, our Banksy remains earnestly anonymous, The Livingston Enterprise reported.

Montana, being the wild place that it is, has inspired the Montana Banksy, or "MB," as she goes by for short, to blend elements of the earth with human creativity  bringing out the most captivating aspects of both and enrapturing an exponentially growing audience every day, thanks in large part to social media. Something about MB's work seems to resonate resolutely with anyone who senses even the slightest shred of the harmonious potential between art and nature.

Her most recent and popular works have included a series of designs crafted from carefully color-sorted river rocks around the Yellowstone River's frequented Carter's Bridge fishing access. As of this week, an 8-foot-long rainbow trout still remains intact above the spring runoff on a sandbar on the east bank, alongside a bison and a figure of a galloping horse striding away from a pair of pleasing circular patterns.

A butterfly, also borne of hued river rocks, is displayed in the sand just downriver from the bridge. In the wooded area adjacent to the Moja Campbell dog park next to Mayor's Landing, the sprouting spring grass is swallowing a panda bear of MB's making. A geologist by training, MB's affinity for rocks is evident, but her past works have integrated wood, sticks, snow, sand, leaves, bones and animal skulls.

At the suggestion of a family member, she now leaves a "calling card" on her designs  a solitary stone with an ornate, black "M'' painted on it within the design. She is also responsible for the small painted stones places in random locations around Livingston bearing the same initial.

MB, who agreed to be interviewed only via email to retain her anonymity, said she is more than a bit flustered from the spotlight.

"I am a bit freaked out by all the attention," she typed on April 15. "I have always felt awkward around people, even eye contact is hard for me, which is quite honestly part of the reason I'd like to stay anonymous. People are hard for me ... I am much, much better with animals and nature."

But even for one who feels challenged getting comfortable with humans face-to-face, she's inadvertently forged a social connection much deeper  and with a fan base far bigger  than she could have ever anticipated.

MB has created nature art since her childhood. She grew up as a "farm kid" in America's flatlands, moving around the vast expanses of the Midwest several times with her family. Her first land art projects were intricate pieces constructed from hay bales. MB would conjure a design and then enlist the help of her siblings to bring them to reality.

Before reaching adulthood, her designs would cross many state and international lines.

"In my teens, I made a giant sea horse, and a sea turtle, out of sand on a beach in Florida, and then spent the rest of the day watching the reactions of people who came across them," MB wrote. "So, even though I was never formally taught, I was always doing art in some form, even if I didn't realize it at the time."

Further south, the "Land Down Under" was adorned by one of MB's first, and largest works. Uluru, or Ayers Rock, as it was more commonly known when she climbed it, is Australia's iconic sandstone monolith.

The climb took a lot longer than she and her brother anticipated, and the sun was sinking low. Their destination was a logbook listing past climbers that was across the mountain from where they'd ascended. To not lose their way in the dimming light, MB created a series of large arrows out of rocks on the top of the formation to trace the way back to their descension point.

She recalls the pattern she'd created in their wake as "this interesting, repetitive pattern" that was "very large, obvious, artistic and cool."

"However, because of the scale of the line of arrows and how obvious they seemed," she continued, "I had an attack of conscience, and so my brother and I wrecked each arrow as we went past it on our way back down the mountain."

But she and her brother had been gone so long that their worried mother had assembled a team of rangers, who received them when they climbed down.

"I think it made me realize that art was everywhere, and not just something I drew in my sketch books," MB wrote.

"That, and don't climb mountains at night. It makes people worry," she typed, ending the sentence with a winky face.

Her entrancement with Montana began early on, when she would head west to visit her grandparents, who lived in a mobile home on the banks of the Yellowstone. As an adult she'd settle in Livingston, where she's lived for over a decade.

"Even living, and traveling, in places like Australia, England, Europe and Russia didn't dim the fascination I had with this place," she wrote of Big Sky Country.

Her desire for anonymity is rivaled only by her modesty. After sharing tales of her world travels, she expressed concerns in follow up emails, worried she might come off as "pretentious."

Her admirers have even started creating tribute rock art pieces alongside her work. A rock owl, not of MB's making, appeared next to her Carter's Bridge designs. It's something she said she loves to see.

One of her most popular works, the large rainbow trout, is 8 feet in length. Banksy said she's found it takes her about an hour to piece together every foot of a design. She'll often start sorting and stashing rocks for weeks at the design site and will work as swiftly as she can during the twilight hours of the day, so she can limit her chances of being spotted.

But perhaps the greatest beauty in her work stems from its ephemerality. The rocks of the panda will eventually be sucked back into the soil by the vegetation growing up through it, and the designs on the river will inevitably be washed away.

As for future pieces, MB said she already has the site for her next creation scoped out. It will be in an unspecified spot in a frequented area of the Yellowstone.

"Dog walkers, and other joggers, should keep their eyes peeled!" MB typed. "And, of course, my @montanabanksy Instagram account makes it a bit easier to find my installations, too."
HAMILTON -- The ringleader in Ravalli County's largest-ever heroin bust was sentenced Wednesday.

Ravalli County District Judge Jeffrey Langton followed the terms of a plea agreement and sentenced Marlen Ravelo, 47, of Port Angeles, Washington, to a 30-year prison sentence, all suspended.

Langton went beyond the agreement and required Ravelo to pay $78,750 in a fine to the state.

State law allows the court to levy a fine equivalent of 35 percent of the street value of the illegal drugs in a persons possession.

Ravalli County Deputy Attorney Thorin Geist said Ravelo and her two co-defendants had nearly $250,000 in heroin and methamphetamine when they were arrested last October.

Geist said he plans to file a lien against the $225,000 home that Ravelo owns in Washington State to ensure the fine will be paid.

The 30-year suspended sentence will run concurrent with a sentence yet to be imposed in a U.S. District Court on additional drug charges.

Geist said he expects that Ravelo will receive a five- to 10-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

There is no federal parole, Geist said. That will all be hard time.

Ravelo was one of three people arrested last Halloween after law enforcement officers acted on a tip and stopped their vehicle in the Florence area. After being ordered out of the car at gunpoint, sheriffs deputies found nearly a half pound of heroin and a similar amount of methamphetamine in the vehicle.

According to federal court records, Ravelo was part of a drug trafficking organization headquartered in western Washington led by a man named Antonio Contreras-Torres, aka Pipi.

The organization had been tracked by federal officers, who documented that Ravelo had obtained heroin and methamphetamine for distribution, including the drugs confiscated in Ravalli County.

Court records in Ravalli County said Ravelo and Mason Gregory Skerbeck, 23, of Washington State, brought the drugs into Montana with the intent to see if there was a market here.

Once in the state, they met Crystal Lee Griffin, 21, of Stevensville, who brokered deals at the University of Montana and in Stevensville.

The three were arrested while traveling to Stevensville to complete a transaction.

Both Skerbeck and Griffin have already been sentenced. Neither was required to pay the $78,750 fine.

At the sentencing, Geist told the judge that Ravelos only connection to Ravalli County was that she planned to open a drug trade route.

The impact of the drugs she planned to bring into the county would have been devastating, Geist said.

The message to drug dealers is to stay out of Ravalli County and stay out of Montana, Geist said.
HELENA -- The Department of Revenue filed a response Thursday to a temporary injunction that, for now, means it must administer a scholarship program in a way that provides money to students that attend religious schools.

In April a Kalispell court issued a preliminary injunction to stop the Department of Revenue from enforcing its new rule excluding children who attend religious schools from receiving the scholarship.

The scholarship program was enacted in May 2015 and provides tax credits up to $150 annually to individuals and donors who donate to private scholarship organizations. Those organizations then give out the money to families who want to send students to private schools.

The Department of Revenue said a provision in the state constitution prevents any "direct or indirect appropriations or payment" from government to religious institutions or religiously affiliated schools.

Three mothers whose children attend Stillwater Christian School filed a lawsuit in December to gain access to the scholarship money.

The families were contacted by Stillwater about working with the Institute for Justice, a Virginia-based law firm that calls itself the nations pre-eminent courtroom defender of school choice, last fall about the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

The Institute had been keeping a close eye on Montana, said one of its attorneys, Erica Smith, who testified at a public hearing last fall on the department's rules.

The filing possibly moves the case one step closer to trial.

So far just one organization has signed up with the department to provide scholarships  Big Sky Scholarships. The organization incorporated Jan. 11. Its registered agent is Sen. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, who is consulting attorney for the organization and filed their paperwork. Hansen said she couldn't disclose the names of the organization's five-member board of directors, and they aren't listed in filings with the Secretary of State; the three director slots say "none stated."
Jesse Laslovich, candidate for Montana state auditor, recently distributed an opinion, Air ambulance flights add insult to injury (May 5), 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 healthcare 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.

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 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. 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 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 president and CEO of the Association of Air Medical Services.
Three candidates running for chief executive in Butte-Silver Bow say it is OK to tap nearly $2 million from a tax-increment financing district to prop up spending over the past three years.

Two of the six hopefuls  Commissioner Cindy Perdue-Dolan and Public Works laborer Ron "Sarge" Rowling  said they opposed it, and Butte architect Mark Reavis said he wished county departments didn't feel compelled to go through all of their allotments.

"Every department does not have to spend down to zero," Reavis said during a forum Thursday night sponsored by The Montana Standard. Many of the night's highlights were reported in Friday's edition of the newspaper.

Last year  for the second time in his first three years in office  Chief Executive Matt Vincent and the Council of Commissioners relied on nearly $1 million from the county's tax-increment finance industrial district (TIFID) to prop up spending in the budget while avoiding increased property taxes.

Last August, on an 11-1 vote, the council approved a $175 million budget which runs through June 30 this year. Perdue-Dolan was the lone vote against the plan, which takes in funding from all sources, including federal, state and local taxes.

Tax-increment districts are designed to capture additional property-tax revenue from developments in specific areas so the money can be reinvested in those areas. But Montana law allows local governments to tap the funds if they essentially are used to avoid tax increases.

County government used an infusion of $990,000 in TIFID money for the current budget to help shore up other parts of the spending plan and free up cash for roads. Schools got almost as much money from the taxing district, too. A similar move was made a few years ago.

Even after tapping the fund this time, there was still about $20 million left in the kitty for supporting manufacturers and trying to lure more industry to Butte.

Vincent and two commissioners also running for chief executive  Jim Fisher and Dave Palmer  all said there was plenty of TIFID money available and it was OK to tap it.

"It helped relieve the rest of the taxpayers around town from footing the bill for some good projects," Palmer said.

Vincent agreed, saying the TIFID money comes from property taxes just like those that fund much of local government. The industrial taxing district includes some of the largest companies and property taxpayers in Butte-Silver Bow County, he said, including Seacast and REC Silicon.

There was still between $15 million to $20 million left in the TIFID account, he said, with no good projects to spend it on right now.

"Is it better just sitting out there in an account or is it better going to real needs in our community?" he said.

Fisher said he "didn't see any problem with that money coming into Butte-Silver Bow."

Perdue-Dolan did.

"I think it's playing a shell game that is pretty dangerous," she said. "It is kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul."

She said officials need to take a much closer look at all spending, including cash the county gives to festivals in Butte.

Before commissioners voted on the budget last August, they debated a proposal to renew their oversight of all budget transfers throughout the year.

Perdue-Dolan said extra scrutiny should be given to budget transfers that allow dollars to be spent outside their original intended uses. She wanted the council's Budget Committee to review  and if necessary, reject  transfers from one account or purpose to another without being justified.

The council turned down the proposal.

Reavis said there were many line items in the budget that should be reverted back to savings instead of being spent or moved around in a "shell game."

Rowling said money from tax-increment districts is supposed to be spent in those districts.

"Do not rob the money from those funds," he said.
MUSCATINE, Iowa Nancy Lueck, the finance director for the City of Muscatine, presented a recommendation from city staff to charge more for commercial dumpster pickup at the in-depth city council meeting Thursday.

City Administrator Gregg Mandsager said that, although the initial recommendation from city staff is that the rates need to be raised because of the money the city is loosing, there will be more information gathered because of the impact the decision could have on local businesses, which will include working with the landfill committee.

We will meet with them and work on more recommendations, then bring it to council. This will have a dramatic impact on customers and small business, so how do you implement, do you do it over time, what are the solutions, thats really what were looking for, Mandsager said.

Through riding with refuse collection on a route covering only commercial dumpsters, city staff were able to collect more accurate data regarding the amount of money being lost on commercial dumpster collection, something that had never been done before as analysis has always been done on combined commercial and residential information.

Lueck said that commercial is less than two percent of the total refuse collection stops each week, however, the waste tonnage is approximately 16 percent of the total annual waste volume.

"Annual revenues generated from the current rates are $62,794 less than the direct costs of providing the commercial dumpster services," she said.

City staff developed a proposed rate schedule for commercial dumpster accounts, that would set the rates for one pickup per week at $66 for a two cubic yard dumpster, $80 for a three yard, and $94 for a four yard. The rates would increase based on the number of time the refuse was picked up per week, with a discount as the number increases.

City Engineer Jim Edgmond also presented to Council, and said that although the city has had to remove trees, either due to their obstruction of sidewalks, sewage lines, water mains, or gas lines, they will be replacing the majority of them while working with property owners.

"Even though our intent was not to remove all of those trees, in construction there are always surprises," Edgmond said.

He also said that although they have had to remove several because of piping, they do not take the tree removal lightly.

"We dont do that frivolously, we do that as a last-ditch effort," he said.

In other business, Councilman Scott Natvig stated the importance of a successful bond sale, which Judy Blankenship described to Council at the last week's meeting.

"The citizens need to know the fact that we got such a good rate is not just luck, it reflects the citys trend of positive financial operations, conservative budgeting, and this is the 8th year of positive balances, so with all you read about cities and states in financial stress, Muscatines not one of them," he said.

The council also approved a resolution authorizing and approving a certain loan agreement, providing for issuance of $4,550,000 general obligation corporate purpose and refunding bonds, Series 2016, and providing for the levy of taxes to pay the same, and entered closed session per Iowa Code 21.5(1) j to discuss property acquisition at the end of the meeting.
DES MOINES, Iowa Iowa Republican leaders say they expect to capitalize on new voters brought into the process by Donald Trump, the partys presumptive presidential nominee, and as a result will follow their success in the 2014 election with another strong performance this fall.

And if there are Republicans who are set against supporting Trump, state party leaders said Thursday night at a fundraiser that there is another reason for GOP voters to stick together: defeating presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Roughly 650 Republicans, according to party officials, attended the state partys spring fundraiser Thursday night at a hotel ballroom in Des Moines East Village.

The event came just more than a week after Trump all but locked up the GOPs nomination for president.

The New York billionaire businessman has made waves during his presidential campaign, rallying the support of millions but also drawing frequent and stinging criticism, including from Republicans, some of whom have said they will not vote for him this fall.

But Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, sees Trumps candidacy not as a liability, but as an opportunity.

Weve got a candidate that is going to bring new voters into the party, Kaufmann said. This is a time period where were going to, obviously some questions are going to be answered.  Peoples questions that they have are going to be answered. So I feel very good at the top (of the ballot).

Kaufmann said he believes Trumps populist campaign has upset the political apple cart, and he believes Trump will use the coming months to rally Republicans behind his candidacy.

What Trump wants to do is change the way that we fundamentally do business, and change the way that we react to people. In other words, were listening to the grassroots, Kaufmann said. Any time you have that, youre going to have some healthy skepticism.  I think hes going to address his concerns. I think in a few months --- thats what its going to take, probably --- I think youre going to see a unified party.
WILL OF THE PEOPLE WORLD TOUR 2023
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 []
Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

US: Transgender students must be allowed to use facilities that match gender identity

Justice Department sued NC over bathroom access law

Obama administration says law violates Civil Rights Act

The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive, which is being sent to school districts Friday.

In issuing the guidance, the Obama administration is wading anew into a socially divisive debate it has bluntly cast in terms of civil rights. The Justice Department on Monday sued North Carolina over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

The guidance does not impose any new legal requirements. But officials say it's meant to clarify expectations of school districts that receive funding from the federal government. Educators have been seeking guidance on how to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding, Education Secretary John B. King said in a statement.

"We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence," King said.

Under the guidance, schools are told that they must treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the district that that identity "differs from previous representations or records." There is no obligation for a student to present a specific medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect his or her gender identity, and equal access must be given to transgender students even in instances when it makes others uncomfortable, according to the directive.

"As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students," the guidance says.

The administration is also releasing a separate 25-page document of questions and answers about best practices, including ways schools can make transgender students comfortable in the classroom and protect the privacy rights of all students in restrooms or locker rooms.

Brevard County Public Schools issued a statement in the wake of the Justice Department directive:

In response to news reports that President Obama will be issuing a letter requiring public education institutions to allow students to use the bathroom aligned to the gender for which they identify: At this time, we have not received any direction from the Florida Department of Education, nor have we received any details as to the actual language in the letter to be issued today.

Brevard Public Schools will have no change in behavior until we receive some official direction and/or legal review of an formal mandate.

The move was cheered by Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian and transgender civil rights organization, which called the guidelines "groundbreaking."

"This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools," HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement.

The guidance comes days after the Justice Department and North Carolina filed dueling lawsuits over a new state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate. The administration has said the law violates the Civil Rights Act.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has argued that the state law is a "commonsense privacy policy" and that the Justice Department's position is "baseless and blatant overreach." His administration sued the federal government hours before the state itself was sued.
Two weeks after a Ksh 4 Million anaesthesia machine was stolen from Chuka County Referral Hospital in Tharaka-Nithi County, the machine has been recovered and a suspect arrested.

The machine was found in Mwiki, Nairobi on Tuesday. A suspect who works as a surgical health officer was also arrested in connection with the recovery and was expected to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Governor Samuel Ragwa said the machine would be returned back to the hospital on Thursday.

He added that detectives were looking for more suspects since the robbery could hardly have been executed by one person.

Here is a photo of the arrested suspect:

It is alleged that Charles Oyalo, CEO Chuka District Hospital, was behind the robbery and had hired two young men in Chuka Town to take the machine to his car on the night of the incident. The plan allegedly came to light after one of the hired men realised that the CEO had short-changed them by only paying them Sh3000 yet the equipment was worth millions.

The machine was reportedly to be sold to a doctor who owns a clinic in Komarock, Nairobi.

Last week two watchmen working in the hospital were arraigned in court in connection with the theft.


Baptism is considered one of the most crucial religious practises in the Christian Church. The ritual is considered as a door to spiritual life and is usually marked with immersion in water.

However, the ritual is celebrated differently in some churches. One such church is the Roho Israel Church. The church in Kibera, Nairobi recently celebrated the baptism of one-month-old Fidel Castro Ochieng, who was named after CORD leader Raila Odingas son, the late Fidel Castro Odinga.

The churchs ritual is one of the most bizarre youll ever see as it involves throwing an infant in the air and other manner of unbelievable practices.

Here are some photos courtesy of WILBERFORCE OKWIRI/STANDARD.










The son of Malindi tycoon Charo Shutu has built a Sh20 million house for his fathers 12 widows.

Charo Shutu was the head of a family once gazetted as a criminal gang. He died in 2003 leaving behind 38 wives, 26 of whom have since died. He had 400 children and hundreds of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Japhet Noti Shutu, better known as Janja, handed over the 48 room modern house to his step mothers on Mothers Day in a ceremony presided over by the Catholic church.

Noti, 64, is the second born to the first wife who died a few years ago. He is a businessman dealing in real estate.

The house, sitting on half an acre piece of land, consists of 2 bedrooms and a verandah for each widow, totaling 24 sets of 2-bedrooms.

Noti announced last year during his fathers anniversary that he would build homes for his step mothers.

He also lamented at the justice system, saying his family lost a huge chunk of land to grabbers when the government branded them a criminal gang. Noti said that they have struggled for decades to get justice.

He however said their fortunes are slowly changing and they have been able to recover 100 acres of a total of 479.

Our fortunes are slowly changing after the High Court in Malindi cleared our name and ordered that it be degazetted as a criminal gang, he said.
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday proposed a $122.2 billion spending plan for California, down slightly from his January proposal after he projected tax revenues falling about $1.9 billion below expectations and a deficit when voter-approved sales and income taxes begin to expire.

The surging tide of revenue is beginning to turn, as it always does. Thats why its prudent and best that we prepare for a time of necessity, the governor said.

Tax collections have slowed since January, when Brown proposed a $122.6 billion general fund spending plan for the 2016-17 fiscal year beginning in July. By law, about half the states spending goes to K-12 education and higher education.

The governor included some spending increases sought by his fellow Democrats, including higher spending for developmental disability services and higher payments to Medi-Cal providers.

Brown faced mounting pressure from Democrats to increase funding for some safety net programs that were slashed during the Great Recession. Still, he continued his push to add an extra $2 billion above what is required for the states reserve fund, citing the need to prepare for the next recession.

Im going to be pretty resolute in this budget, he said.

Tax collections have slowed due in part to stock market fluctuations. The state controller reported Tuesday that revenue in April, the highest-earning month, was $1.19 billion short, mostly because personal income tax collections failed to keep pace with expectations.

Its unclear whether the weak revenue will continue, but the April figure may give ammunition to Brown, who is generally wary of spending increases.

Lawmakers from both parties have for months urged the governor to increase funding for programs they favor.

Democrats want $800 million to increase rates paid to subsidized daycare providers and to provide care to more children. Theyre also looking to eliminate the maximum family grant in CalWorks, which prevents families from getting additional welfare benefits if they have another child while receiving state assistance.

Republicans want to increase payments to dentists who serve the poor. Theyve also advocated a series of tax breaks, such as capping property taxes for seniors and disabled military veterans, creating a weekend-long sales tax holiday for school supplies and allowing people to use pre-tax dollars to save for a down payment on a home.

The state also faces a $59 billion backlog for road repairs, and Brown has seen no progress on his January call to raise gas taxes and vehicle fees to begin paying for the work.
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta  Canada's Prime Minister arrived in wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray on Friday and after taking a helicopter tour to assess the damage said he doesn't think most Canadians comprehend yet the scope of what happened in the oil sands capital, where more than 88,000 people were forced to evacuate.

Just Trudeau arrived in the northern Alberta city almost two weeks after a massive wildfire ignited, tearing through the isolated region and surrounding areas, causing several oil sands operations to shut down. Alberta officials say they will have a plan within two weeks for getting residents back into their homes.

Trudeau said that despite following updates and watching images on TV, the scale and the disaster didn't hit him until he visited the area.

"I don't think Canadians yet understand what happened. They know there was a fire. They're beginning to hear the wonderful news that so much of the town was saved," he told 150 firefighters and first responders after his aerial tour by military helicopter of Fort McMurray.

"But they don't yet understand that that wasn't a fluke of wind or rain or luck that happened. This was the extraordinary response by people such as yourself. The work you did to save so much of this community, to save so much of this city and its downtown core ... was unbelievable."

Trudeau was to tour one of the city's damaged neighborhoods after his visit with first responders and volunteers. He planned to meet with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley later in the day.

Trudeau took a helicopter ride over a patchwork of devastated neighborhoods, where some homes still stand while others have been burned to their foundations. Alberta officials say 2,432 structures have been destroyed, 530 damaged and 25,000 saved. Despite the savage fire, officials said 85-90 percent of the city has been saved.

In the forest surrounding the Fort McMurray airport, where Trudeau landed, trees looked like little more than used match sticks, charred right up to the tarmac, and the ground was blackened.

"I heard there were situations and peculiarities in this fire that give us pause for reflection on how we move forward," Trudeau told Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen, who led the fight against the fierce fire. "I'm very, very interested in not just what we manage to do to get through this one, but what we can do around minimizing the impacts of the next one  because it will come."

Allen said having the prime minister visit is a morale boost.

"Right now the residents aren't there, but there are hundreds and hundreds of emergency workers. I think they'll get a lift from that," he said.

Melissa Blake, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, accompanied Trudeau, saying it was critical for him to tour the burned neighborhoods.

"Once you see it, you know not just how daunting the work will be, but how important it is to make it back to what it was before," she said.

Trudeau was also accompanied by Notley and some federal cabinet ministers, who are part of a special committee that will coordinate aid and reconstruction efforts in the city.

Alberta Member of Parliament Kent Hehr, who heads the special committee, said it's important to show people that the federal government will be there for them in the reconstruction.

"It's very difficult for me as an Albertan," said Hehr, who represents a Calgary district.

More than 80,000 residents had to evacuate their homes May 3 as the flames carved a destructive path through the city.

The fire is now 930 square miles (2,410 square kilometers) in size and has moved away from the city. It's expected to burn in forested areas for at least a few more weeks.

The more than 80,000 evacuees have begun receiving direct financial assistance from the Alberta government and the Canadian Red Cross as officials asked for patience in getting residents home.

Canadian Red Cross chief executive Conrad Sauve has said that each adult will receive $600 Canadian (US$467) and each child will get $300 Canadian (US$234) in what he called the most important and fastest direct cash transfer in the organization's history. It totals $50 million Canadian. (US$39 million).

That's in addition to the $1,250 Canadian (US$973) per adult and $500 Canadian (US$390) per dependent from the government.
PAHRUMP, Nev.  Three Nevada men have been questioned by investigators about vandalism in an environmentally fragile area of Death Valley National Park that may have killed one of the rarest fishes on earth, officials said Friday.

No arrests have been made in the April 30 intrusion while authorities continue to investigate what could be a federal crime, Nye County Sheriffs Sgt. David Boruchowitz said. He said evidence includes DNA and video recordings.

The men from Pahrump, Indian Springs and North Las Vegas may be held responsible for the death of at least one critically endangered Devils Hole pupfish, Boruchowitz said, along with conspiracy, trespassing and damage to habitat charges.

Boruchowitz said a sheriffs sergeant was able to identify an off-road vehicle seen in surveillance video and interview the owner in Pahrump. The other two men were contacted by telephone.

Investigators determined the three had been shooting rabbits in the area before they climbed a fence into Devils Hole, a protected sanctuary in Nevada just east of Death Valley National Park in California, Boruchowitz said.
SACRAMENTO  The California Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved a proposal requiring local police departments to report how many rape kits they collect and give a reason for every kit that goes untested in an effort to reduce the accumulation of untested DNA samples taken in sexual assault cases.

Under the proposal from Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, law enforcement agencies would tell the state Department of Justice the number of DNA samples they collect in sexual assault cases. They would be required to give a reason for every kit not sent to a crime lab every four months they are not tested.

The data would become public once a year in a summary from the attorney general.

"In our state, we know there is a significant backlog, but we don't know how many rape kits have been collected nor do we know how many have been tested or why kits have not been tested," Chiu said.

On a 72-0 vote, members of the Assembly sent the bill to the Senate.

The California State Sheriffs' Association opposes the bill and has said providing statistics places a cost burden on law enforcement agencies.

Legislative analysts have projected Chiu's AB1848 would cost police no money and little time.

The bill stemmed from State Auditor Elaine Howle's 2014 recommendation that, as no state or federal law requires all kits to be tested or counted, legislators should mandate that police track rape-kit numbers and explain samples that are not analyzed.

Howle's office found that Oakland police, San Diego police and Sacramento County sheriff's deputies asked crime labs to analyze a combined 52 percent of the 1,900 rape kits those agencies collected from 2011-2013.

The auditor's office took a closer look at 45 sexual assault investigations with unanalyzed samples and decided officers had reasonable explanations for not seeking analyses in those cases. The report said a request for a DNA analysis would not have altered the outcome of the investigation.

Chiu argued that, even when a conviction is made without DNA evidence, testing as many samples as possible is crucial to linking perpetrators to other possible victims. He said untested samples could allow true assailants to go free.

Previous bills attempting to decrease the logjam by forcing police to test the kits more quickly died after police testified they do not have enough resources to test everything.
MIAMI  What are you more afraid of, the Zika virus, or genetically engineered bugs being released in the wild?

If you feel strongly about this issue, you have until midnight Friday to make your opinion known as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers whether to approve an effort to kill the disease-carrying mosquitoes by releasing genetically engineered bugs in Florida.

The biotech firm Oxitec plans to release non-biting male mosquitoes that have been modified to produce offspring that don't survive after mating with wild females. Researchers believe that within a few generations, this should sharply reduce the mosquito population.

Scientists have weighed in on both sides in the nearly 1,300 comments viewable online so far. Fear is also a common theme, but there's a split over what people find more frightening: genetic engineering, or birth defects linked to Zika.

WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY

Supporters are expressing confidence in the FDA's evaluation, Oxitec's data and reports about similar international trials. They say the risks of mosquito-borne diseases outweigh fears about releasing a genetically modified species into the wild. And some say they distrust GMO foods but still consider Oxitec's plan more environmentally friendly than pesticides.

Supporters include: several mosquito control districts in Florida, an Anguilla resident worried about Zika's effect on Caribbean tourism, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the global pest control company Rentokil, agricultural trade groups, deans of agricultural colleges and a researcher who led Oxitec's trials in Brazil.

While supporting the FDA's preliminary determination that it's safe to release these GMO bugs, the American Biological Safety Association questions whether Oxitec's technology is practical. The American Bird Conservancy also is in favor but wants more details about how the trial near Key West would be monitored.

Alyson Crean, a Keys resident who could be directly affected by the trial, expressed her full support.

"Having contracted dengue here in the Keys, I know how insidious" insect-borne diseases are, she writes. "The Mosquito Control District has provided thorough due diligence as to the safety and efficacy of using the modified mosquitoes."

OPPONENTS' CONCERNS

Critics raise the potential consequences to human health and the environment of releasing GMO mosquitoes without more long-term research, arguing that the risks are too high even amid a global health crisis.

"We are the citizens, as are you, and the last thing we deserve is a rushed process when it is so deeply concerning and non-controversial, more effective alternatives exist," writes Barry Wray of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition, which has led protests against Oxitec.

Wray and other opponents favor infecting mosquitoes with bacteria that curb their ability to transmit viruses, arguing that the technique is more effective and less polarizing.

There are plenty of informed, objective comments as well as passionate statements on both sides, but emotional pleas are far more common among opponents, who fear unwilling U.S. citizens will become guinea pigs. Some call the plan "insanity" and cite the "Jurassic Park" film series in warning against genetic tinkering. Others say little more than, "HELL NO GMO!"

Others compare Oxitec's proposal to GMO crops created by Monsanto (which isn't involved) and beg the government to stop approving any genetic engineering in food or insects.

OTHER OPINIONS

A March poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found only 16 percent of Americans opposed to using genetically modified mosquitoes to control Zika; 26 percent were neutral.

Nearly no comments have been submitted for applications that the University of Kentucky's Department of Entomology has pending with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to extend tests of bacteria-infected mosquitoes to the Florida Keys and Orange County, California, and to register specific bacteria as a pesticide product.

Residents in the Keys neighborhood chosen for Oxitec's trial will be able to vote on whether they want to participate during a county election on August 30. The ballot question's results will be non-binding, but officials at both the FDA and the Keys mosquito control district have repeatedly said they want to take the people's opinions into account.
For seven days, a dilapidated, abandoned porta-potty full of human waste sat outside a Napa business on Tanen Street while the owner tried to get the city to remove it. On the eighth, day it caught fire and melted to the ground, leaving an odiferous mess.

Amy Elliot, owner of Dive into Color on Tanen Street, said she had called various city offices complaining about the toilet, which she considered to be a public health hazard, but no one would call her back or promise its removal.

She also called area porta-potty companies to see if the toilet was theirs, but no one would claim it, she said.

She said she felt that her complaint wasnt a priority because of her business location on a backwater commercial street off of Soscol Avenue

They might have known who to call or who to contact if this was sitting in front of the public works building or the mayors office or if it was on First Street instead of Tanen Street, Elliot said. I dont think it would have sat for eight days until it was set on fire leaving a big poopy mess.

Only Napa Police responded to her calls, she said. An officer came out on Tuesday and agreed that it was a public health hazard, she said.

Wednesday went by and still no one else called her back or came to look at it, she said.

I came Thursday morning and there was this blob spilling feces everywhere, Elliot said. The porta-potty, which was already in bad shape, was split open, melted on the ground, exposing its contents, she said.

It looked like someone might have ran it over, said Cindy Correa, a mechanic at R&C Automotive LLC and B&B Foreign Car Repair across the street. The street smelled of porta-potty, she said.

Correa looked back at security camera footage that, although it didnt show the entire porta-potty, showed that a bright flash appeared from it at about 4:50 a.m. Napa City firefighters were on the scene by 5 a.m. and, about 20 minutes later, left the charred pile behind.

Firefighters and police were on the scene again at mid-day after Elliot made calls to dispatch, public works and even the mayor, she said.

There was no way for me to know if anybody was going to come back and clean up this health hazard, she said.

By Thursday afternoon, the smell was still lingering on the street, but workers from the Napa Sanitation District, as well as city firefighters, were scraping up the green and brown plastic. The area was cleaned with biodegradable chemicals, and kitty litter was used for absorption.

Our main goal is to not contaminate the sewer system, said Capt. Jim Cortese, Napa City Fire. Cortese said that the cause of the fire was unknown, but sometimes people set porta-potties on fire.

Firefighters who responded to the early Thursday morning call, left after putting out the fire after determining that there was no threat to the public, said Battalion Chief Jarrett Anderson. At that point, public works was needed to suck the sewage out of the outhouse, which had burned down to the tank level, he said.

Napa County Environmental Health advised clean-up crews as to the best way to deal with the leftover sewage and lingering smell, he said.

Napa City Code Enforcement had been planning to come and look at the porta-potty on Thursday, said Jaina French, public information officer for the city. Things took a bad turn prior to their visit, she said.

French said she was sorry that Elliot felt that she wasnt being heard or made a priority. The delay was definitely not a matter of location, she said.
William Ayres, the former go-to child psychiatrist for San Mateo County social service agencies who turned out to be a serial molester of boys, has died in state prison at the age of 84.

Ayres died of natural causes at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville on April 20, Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Thursday.

He was serving an eight-year prison term for sexually abusing five boys between 1988 and 1996. He pleaded no contest in 2013 after a lengthy legal saga that involved one hung-jury trial and a stint in Napa State Hospital, where doctors said he faked dementia to avoid court hearings.

Ayres was a former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Throughout a career that spanned four decades, he became a pillar of child counseling in San Mateo County, seeing hundreds of young patients sent to him by the countys pediatricians, social workers and juvenile justice system.

Unbeknownst to those officials, however, Ayres developed a practice of bringing boys into his soundproof office for medical exams and then fondling or masturbating them after making them undress.

He was arrested in 2007. At his sentencing hearing six years later, victims called him a monster and a master manipulator, and likened him to a wolf spider, known for its hunting skills.

He was a destroyer of all those boys, the mother of one victim, who gave his name only as Carl F., told Ayres as he sat in the courtroom in a wheelchair, mostly looking down.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Thursday that he was glad this sad story has come to an end.

The term evil  you have to use that selectively, he said. This time its appropriate. This was an evil man who committed evil acts, and now I hope his victims can move on.
The chickens have come home to roost at Connolly Ranch.

On Wednesday, the working farm and educational ranch in west Napa hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of its latest addition.

Called the Beckstoffer Grapegrowers Barn, the new building is purely for the birds  chickens, that is.

The project was made possible by a $100,000 donation from the Beckstoffer family and others who contributed their time and efforts.

It feels great to officially open the chicken barn, said Andy Beckstoffer, a grapegrower and philanthropist. .

We want to honor the grapegrowers of the valley, he said. The lifeblood of this valley is agriculture. Plus, we love chickens, he said with a smile.

This place is about kids, education and farming, Beckstoffer said. It doesnt get much better than that.

Were thrilled to have the barn now open  number one for our chickens and also for our visitors, said Connolly Ranch Executive Director Jennifer Fotherby. The ranch welcomed 9,000 visitors last year from Napa and all over the Bay Area, most through its free and subsidized field trip program, she said.

The chicken barn will allow the ranch to offer heritage poultry education, provide space for increased programming and enhance opportunities for visitors to learn where food comes from while experiencing life on the farm.

The barn will become home to several heritage breeds, including Rhode Island Red and Plymouth Rock chickens. The ranch may also raise Java, Jersey Giant and New Hampshire breeds.

Wednesday afternoon, after a red ribbon in front of the barn doors was snipped, crowds of young and older visitors streamed through the 575-square-foot barn, which has room for 60 chickens or chicks.

This is no ordinary chicken coop. The sparkling clean barn  nary a chicken dropping was in sight  has high ceilings and plenty of space for both birds and humans.

More than 200 people attended the ribbon cutting, including Napa mom Cheryl Brown, her mother Donna Holt and Browns 9-month-old baby Kelsey Brown.

We absolutely love Connolly Ranch, said Cheryl Brown. Kelsey loves the chickens and roosters so to see them getting a new home is very exciting. Connolly Ranch teaches the kids the importance of nature and taking care of animals, she said. It feels like going back in time.

Sarah Hansen, owner of Model Bakery, is on the Connolly Ranch board. There are very few farms accessible to the public, she noted. Its something I think all kids should experience.

Miles Henry, 9, of Napa, was also at the ceremony.

I like the goats, said Miles. His favorite is a goat named Sebastian. Its cool he has one horn, he said. It makes him look like a tough guy.

His mother, Julie Henry, a blacksmith, created the metal sign that hangs above the new barn. This is one of my favorite places in Napa, she said. Theres just nothing like it.
By the time repairs are expected to begin at Napas Goodman Library building, more than two years will have passed since the earthquake that battered the historic downtown landmark.

Construction work may begin in late summer or early fall and last nine months, said Ernie Cabral, an associate civil engineer for the city. The city-owned Goodman Library, which opened in 1901 as Napas public library and is now leased to the Napa County Historical Society, has remained closed to the public since the August 2014 earthquake damaged inner walls, roof trusses and outer stonework.

Early-stage plans providing an outline for the repairs are complete, and more detailed construction documents should be ready by early June, Cabral said Tuesday. Because of the Goodmans quake-related damage and its listing on the National Register of Historic Places, repair blueprints require approval from both the State Historic Preservation Office and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Overhauling the Goodman Library is estimated to require $1.8 million, but there are walls that need to be opened up, and its possible this number goes up after we get into nitty-gritty of construction, said Cabral. That forecast increased from $325,000 after the reinstallation of scaffolding last fall allowed engineers to peer more closely at the structure and detect more quake-related damage, he added.

Federal funds are expected to pay 75 percent, with the state paying 18.75 percent, in line with other repairs of city property after a disaster declaration.

Repairs will address cracks and displaced blocks in the Goodman buildings outer and inner stone walls, as well as cracked interior plaster, according to Cabral. Workers also must seal off remnants of lead paint found within interior walls, he said. A fire escape that is attached to the library building but serves the adjacent Native Sons of the Golden West meeting hall is slated for removal, to prevent the metal apparatus from punching holes in the Goodman wall in a future quake.

Earlier, workers in October 2015 stabilized a parapet tower atop the building that cracked from the force of the earthquake. A construction crane lowered a boxlike metal encasement, 12 feet tall and 16 feet wide, over the tower to hold it in place while the library awaited repairs.

Since the county library moved to its current building in 1974, the Goodman building has housed the Napa County Historical Societys office and archives. Employees have returned to the office but have conducted appointments in a building at 500 First St., as the Goodman Library has remained closed to the public since the earthquake.

Deprived of its usual stream of visitors, the society has worked to stay within the publics reach by stepping up the digital scanning of its historical archives, according to Executive Director Nancy Levenberg. But even with about 80 percent of its documents digitized and available online, the Internet is still not a full replacement for the librarys stacks and shelves, she said.

In-the-door revenue is substantially lost, and the inability to give people access to our physical collection is our biggest challenge, Levenberg said Thursday. Nothing substitutes for bringing people into the building and introducing them to the grandeur and beauty of Napas favorite downtown place.

The wait to repair the Goodman Library has one of its nearest neighbors anxious for a return of normalcy and tourists to First Street, where work on the Archer hotel and an overhaul of the Town Center shopping arcade have crisscrossed the block with barriers and scaffolding.

Its very difficult for people who dont know were here, the out-of-town visitors, to know were here because so much of the action is on Main Street, said Barbara Wiggins, owner of the Mustard Seed Clothing Co. They look up the street and all they see is scaffolding and the construction going on across the street. Ive been blessed to have such loyal local customers because theyre the ones who drive my business right now.

Im a little apprehensive about the timing because its the start of our big tourist season, she said of the landmarks possible reopening date in the spring of 2017. But I dont really care when they do it; I just want it done.
When talking to most winemakers, they tell me that one of their goals is to make wines that represent the place they are from.

But first, the winemaker must find his or her place. How does one decide where to make wine? In their home country? In a foreign place? In a well-known region or a lesser-known region?

Winemaker Rodrigo Soto spent 15 years working alongside some of the leading pioneers in the New World, but today he can say that he has found his sense of place with Ritual Winery in his home country of Chile.

Soto was born and raised in Chile. After studying agronomy in university, he knew he did not want an office job. So he found a job as a winemaker, which combined academics and intuition.

During his winemaking studies, Soto wrote his thesis on organic pest control. He was able to run trials at Carmen Vineyards with winemaker Alvaro Espinoza, Chiles leading pioneer in organic and biodynamic viticulture.

After his studies, Soto worked harvest in 1998 at Fetzer in California. In 1999, he spent a harvest at Wither Hills in Marlborough, New Zealand, followed by a harvest at Ceago Vineyards in California.

In 2000, Soto returned to Chile to design Matetic Vineyards and spent six years building Matetic, the first organic wine in Chile, and one of Chiles leading producers of terroir-driven pinot noir.

In 2006, Soto returned to California as head winemaker at leading organic producer Benziger Family Winery where he learned the fine art of biodynamics.

Desiring to return home to Chile, Soto took the position of head winemaker for the Huneeus wines of Chile in 2012.

Huneeus Vintners was started by Agustin Huneeus, a Chilean-born winemaker who ran Concho y Toro, Chiles largest winery. Huneeus also led Seagrams worldwide operations and later Franciscan Estate in Napa. In 1989, Huneeus built Quintessa estate and expanded the brand under Huneeus Vintners.

Returning to Chile in the early 1990s, Huneeus saw the world-class potential in the Casablanca Valley and established Veramonte, and later Primus, Neyen and Ritual.

The Huneeus family had already converted their California properties, Quintessa and Flowers, to organic farming and wanted to convert the four Chilean properties as well. Soto took over as winemaker for all four brands in 2012 and oversaw the conversion to organic farming.

Ritual, the flagship estate, is located on the eastern edge of the Casablanca Valley. Set against the northwestern side of Chiles coastal range, it is a cool climate area that is less than 30 kilometers (about 18 miles) from the Pacific Ocean. The 800-acre property is surrounded by 6,000 acres of protected native forest. This is an area that, according to Soto, gets one-third less rain than California, and Soto has altered the farming techniques to make the vines self-sufficient under their challenging circumstances.

Soto, working closely with consultant Paul Hobbs, is focused on making wines at Ritual with a true sense of time and place. The goal, according to Soto, is to showcase the best we can do in THAT region from THAT property. And to do it right, you need to know the place well. You have to connect with the roots and appreciate what you have in a native way.

The California wine industry has a 25-year head start on Chile, so Soto has taken this insight back to Chile. He is building and establishing a tradition and wants to be able to leave the Chilean wine industry in a place where someone can take over and not have to start from scratch.

Instead of dreaming about Chilean wine being compared to the likes of Burgundy or Bordeaux, Soto is focused on what makes Chilean wine special. While Soto is focused on his wines having a sense of place, he, too, has found his place.

As Chile emerges as a beacon for organic viticulture and winemaking, Soto is working toward being one of the leading winemakers of organic wine. He recognizes that this is the beginning of the future for Chilean wine.

We know the bad stuff of Chile but we need to know the good stuff, Soto stressed. Most importantly, he is helping to set a path for future winemakers.
Sometimes it seems that there are a lot of Mondavis in Napa Valley, but four who arent well known today are soon going to become much more prominent.

Angelina, Alycia, Riana and Giovanna  the four daughters of Marc Mondavi of Charles Krug Winery  have been chosen as honorary chairwomen for Auction Napa Valley in 2018.

Having four siblings chair the important event is significant, but thats only a part of what the busy sisters are doing.

All four are partners in Dark Matter, unusual long-aged wines made from their immediate familys vineyards.

In addition, Alycia is general manager of Aloft, a premium Howell Mountain cabernet sauvignon distinct from Charles Krug wines.

Riana is northern sales manager for C. Mondavi and Family, the family brand that owns Charles Krug and CK Mondavi as well as CR Cellars and Purple Heart.

Giovanna (Gigi) lives in Boston and works in the financial world, but also is involved in Dark Matter.

Angelina also makes Fourth Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon with her second cousin, Rob Mondavi, grandson of Robert Mondavi and son of Michael Mondavi.

All are the fourth generation of Mondavis in the wine business in the valley. Their great-grandparents were Italian immigrants Cesare and Rosa Mondavi, who bought Charles Krug in 1943. Cesare and Rosas sons, Robert Mondavi and Peter Mondavi Sr., were brothers.

The four Mondavi sisters are also the granddaughters of Peter Mondavi Sr., who died earlier this year at 101 after quietly pioneering many innovations in the Napa wine industry.

An inevitable direction?

Its hardly surprising that the girls ended up working in wine.

They received their first paychecks for 25 cents an hour, starting when they were 10, as apprentices working around the winery cleaning tanks, soaking bottles, pulling samples, routing hoses, and even running analyses under the direction of Grandpa Peter, father Marc and Uncle Pete. They also worked in the hospitality center.

At that age, they probably werent really aware of their legacy: Charles Krug winery is the oldest still-extant winery in Napa Valley and remains one of the largest family-owned wineries in the valley and one with a reputation for innovation.

All of the daughters went off to study, creating a virtual executive suite: production (Angelina), sales (Riana), marketing (Alycia) and finance (Giovanna), but the family has a rule that everyone has to work somewhere else for at least two years before joining the family business.

Angelina Mondavi

Angelina Mondavi, 33, attended Villanova University and majored in chemistry with a minor in business.

Her first job after graduation was with Hess Collection, where she worked as a lab rat during harvest.

She next took a harvest position at the Yalumba Wine Company in Barossa Valley, Australia. While in Australia, she earned a masters degree in oenology and viticulture from the University of Adelaides Waite Campus.

She became assistant winemaker at Pine Ridge Vineyards in 2007, where she worked with Stacy Clark, now winemaker at Charles Krug.

Angelina was even de facto winemaker for six months after the winemaker left, although respected winemaker Craig Williams helped out.

Angelina next joined Jayson Woodbridge at One True Vine, LLC in 2010 as assistant winemaker, responsible for Hundred Acre, Cherry Pie and Layer Cake.

I discovered that I liked being outdoors. I didnt like being confined to an office. My wine nerdiness began coming out, she admits, and her sisters agree jokingly. Shes the quiet one, said Riana, who is the opposite.

Earlier this year, Angelina left One True Vine to set up her own wine consultancy, A. Mondavi & Co. My focus is small-volume, high-quality clients who make 500 to 1,000 cases from their own vineyards. Theyre more committed and interested in the wine, and you dont have to search for good fruit.

She also is the winemaker for Dark Matter Wines, and co-winemaker for Fourth Leaf.

Alycia Mondavi

Alycia Mondavi, 31, graduated from the University of San Diego with degrees in marketing and management in 2007.

She earned her paralegal certificate in 2008 and worked in a law firm in Napa Valley.

She considered becoming a lawyer before choosing wine, but that legal experience has proven useful as she pursued her wine career.

She also worked as an assistant to marketing consultant Kathy Simpson at Cognoscente Fine Wine Marketing helping clients promote their ultra-premium wines. This helped me get my hands around cult wines, said Alycia.

In 2012, she joined C. Mondavi & Family, managing the familys high-end brand Aloft.

In addition to her full-time job with her familys company, she oversees the marketing and customer relations for Dark Matter Wines. She has also started working with Kathy Simpson in marketing consulting again.

Riana Mondavi

Riana Mondavi, 28, manages Northern California regional sales for the familys portfolio.

She developed a passion for food and traveling during high school, but she decided to try her hand in wine sales only after she graduated from Villanova University Business School in 2009. That was a terrible year to look for a job, as the market had just crashed.

Fortunately, she was hired as a wines sales associate Miami for Southern Wine & Spirits, the countrys largest wine and spirits distributor.

She was assigned to on-premise sales in one of the most aggressive sales territories in the country. They just sort of threw you to the wolves to learn the business, said Riana, but admits that it was fun.

She added, I couldnt do the job I do now without that experience.

After spending two years learning wine sales, she joined her familys business as northwest regional sales manager for C. Mondavi & Family in Seattle in January 2011.

Riana moved closer to home in fall 2014 and manages Northern California regional sales for the familys portfolio. She lives in Walnut Creek.

She oversees sales and brand management for Dark Matter Wines.

Giovanna Mondavi

Giovanna Mondavi (Gigi), 23, spent her high school years at Brentwood College, a boarding school on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

She continued her education in Boston, and in 2015, she graduated from the DAmore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University.

Having completed three six-month internships, she decided to stay in Boston to focus her career in sales with MFS Investments. Hopefully, shell bring management skills to us one day, Riana said.

Gigi manages the social media and assists in the daily operations of Dark Matter wines.

Dark Matter wine

Angelina worked with winemaker Jayson Woodbridge to create the first vintage of Dark Matter Howell Mountain zinfandel from 2 acres of their parents vineyard in 2006.

Under the tutelage of their father, Marc Mondavi, the four sisters launched the wine from 2 acres of their parents vineyard in 2012.

Each vintage is barrel-aged for four years and bottle-aged for an additional two years prior to release, far longer than most Napa Valley wines.

Staying true to the winemaking style of Dark Matter wines, the sisters recently launched a mountain cabernet sauvignon from their parents vineyard.

They picked just enough grapes for 140 cases, and call the wine Dark Matter Limitless. The sisters have chosen innovative packaging to further set the wine apart. We want it to look different, said Angelina.

The zinfandel sells for $100 per bottle and the cabernet $185, each in three packs.

Aloft Wine

After a soft 2008 release, Marc Mondavi relaunched 2009 Aloft cabernet with 100 cases in 2011. Thomas Brown now makes 300-400 cases of the pure cabernet from the pick of Marc Mondavis 25 acres of vineyards on Howell Mountain.

The wine is not made at Charles Krug, although the family owns the brand. Its distributed in three states as well as California and sells for $150 in three-packs only.

One ironic benefit of the brand is that its the only one in the familys portfolio that is exported; the Krug name is verboten due to Krug Champagne, and the Mondavi because of the other Mondavi wine company. This is giving Alycia useful experience. Weve trademarked the name all over the world, she noted.

It, like Dark Matter, is also sold direct to consumers, another area relatively new to Charles Krug, but one that is expanding with the lure of its renovated tasting room.

Fourth Leaf

Fourth Leaf is a small brand created by Angelina Mondavi and Rob Mondavi. The first wine was 90 cases produced in 2011 from vineyard on Atlas Peak owned by Rob and his sister Deena, and from Angelinas family vineyard on Howell Mountain.

Since then, theyve produced about 150 cases per year, and find half from each side works best. The 2012 is the current release. It sells for $155 per bottle in three packs direct only.

They dont plan to expand production or add varieties.

An era of peace

The Mondavi family is known for strong opinions and disagreements, but the sisters seem to have overcome that background. Sometimes we do argue and yell, but then its all over, and we move on, said Alycia, adding that their mom often gets involved when they disagree. Riana agrees. We can come to agreement, she said.

Were all really passionate about our work, but we realize that we shouldnt cross over into each others work. Weve learned to respect each other, said Angelina.

The same is true of past problems with the other side of the Mondavi family. The family drama is behind us, said Angelina. Were a close circle of a family now.

The sisters will have plenty of opportunity to disagree and agree as they manage 2018 Auction Napa Valley. To get experience, Alycia is chairing the e-auction this year, and her mother Janice is recruiting the big lots.

And there are more Mondavis coming. Their uncle, Peter Mondavi Jr., has two children, Lucio, 21, at Stanford Business School and Lia, 19, at Harvard. No one is betting that they wont join the family business some day.

In addition, Angelina is getting married in June, so one day we may have more Mondavis in that clan. And it should be noted than Rob and Lydia Mondavi have two young sons, too.

The fifth leaf of Mondavis is emerging.
And so its time to bid farewell to ABCs Nashville after four seasons, in a completely shocking announcement that the show has been canceled. Despite a commendable viewing audience and its 100th episode in the not-so-distant future, ABC has pulled the plug on the show that made Music City an even bigger tourist spot, according to The Hollywood Reporter. With only two new episodes left to air, Nashvilles series finale will take place on May 25.

Nashville starred Connie Britton (also producer), Hayden Panettiere, Clare Bowen, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson, Sam Palladio, Chris Carmack, Lennon Stella, Maisy Stella, Will Chase and Aubrey Peeples.
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

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Deputy Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS: Baku's goal is that Karabakh has no Armenian population

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Moscow consciously sold war weapons to Azerbaijan against its The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) ally, Deputy Director of Russias Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Alexander Khramchikhin writes.

There can be long and interesting discussion on who Moscow objectively considers more advantageous to be friends with  Yerevan or Baku; or the fact of irreconcilable Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict should be ignored and attempt should be made to uphold neutrality. However, according to the facts, Armenia is a CSTO member, which supports Russia in almost all key international issues. As to Azerbaijan, it isnt and hasnt been included in any pro-Russian organization in the post-soviet area and never agreed its foreign policy with Moscow, being guided first of all by its ethnic kindred Ankara, the analyst writes.

For instance, in March 2014, Armenia voted together with Russia in the UN General Assembly in favor of the Crimean issue, which is most important to us, while Azerbaijan voted against Russia. That is, Yerevan is the legal and actual ally of Moscow, while Baku isnt. The author of the present article is not ready to answer how objectively good or bad this is for Moscow; he merely states the fact. Another fact is that the ally obligations should be fulfilled. In the recent eight years, Russia has demonstrated on the examples of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Crimea and Syria that it is a very strong and reliable ally, while NATO showed on the same examples that the friendship with it is a suicide. NATO is in no way engaged in the Karabakh conflict, while Russia had its first serious program failure here.

In the recent years, Azerbaijan bought huge amount of modern military equipment from Russia, Turkey and Israel. Azerbaijan bought most of the weapons from Russia, this offensive weapons apparently being designed not for parades in the center of Baku, but for breaking the Armenian fortifications in Karabakh. One doesnt need to be a diplomat or military officer to understand this. Moscow thereby consciously sold war weapons against its CSTO ally. From a commercial point of view, this was a very successful bargain, but from political standpoint it was dubious, to put it mildly. Moscows argument in this connection that if we dont sell, others will do that is even more dubious, if not stronger and tougher in this case. Besides, others cannot sell certain things. For instance, merely nobody in the world has an analogue to the most powerful TOS-1A system, while exactly the latter can cause very great harm to Karabakhs frontline troops. Its absolutely unclear where Azerbaijan could find analogous T-90. Thus, the argument about others is not only rather cynical, but it also doesnt correspond to reality.

Perhaps understanding all this, Kremlin exerted significant efforts to cease fire and restore the status quo in Karabakh. The trouble is that as mentioned above, this cannot last forever, while Moscow has no magic recipe for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, since it doesnt exist at all. Besides, Yerevan has now very frankly struck an attitude, and this is understandable, since Moscows attempt to take up a pronouncedly neutral position in the light of the CSTO existence seems a little strange. In fact, Moscow still wants to see in CSTO an analogue to NATO, a powerful united military bloc. Now it can already be said that we will manage to have the analogue to the real NATO - a soap bubble, in which nobody is going to defend others.

Before the April war, Russia announced about the arms supplies, including the same TOS-1A flamethrower systems and Smerch multiple rocket launchers, to Armenia. And this was done by loan (We sold this equipment to Azerbaijan for the full price). This will to some extent restore the balance of forces in the conflict zone and will retain the status quo much better than all the diplomatic efforts, especially considering that the fall in the oil and gas prices has seriously affected the Azerbaijani military budget. Even the current, slightly noticeable military advantage of Azerbaijan doesnt ensure its victory at all. If this advantage reduces, Bakus decision on the military operation against NKR will move into doubtful future, Khramchikhin wrote.
Russias statement on that Krabakh conflict has no military solution strongly reminds demagogy, while the western politically correct bleating on the necessity to restore confidence between the sides is so foolish that it doesnt even deserve to be commented on, Deputy Director of Russias Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Alexander Khramchikhin writes.

The mutual hatred between the Armenians and Azeris not only doesnt reduce, but grows further, this being a very national hatred indeed. And it is quite impossible to understand how the compromise might look. Karabakh is not going to again become part of Azerbaijan, even as a maximally wide autonomy, which Azerbaijan is not at all going to provide it. Returning of the Armenian regions surrounding the Ngornno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) - which is often considered as a possible transitional compromise - would instantly turn the current very firm and stable strategic position of Karabakh into a hopelessly catastrophic one, even if the Lachin corridor remains with the Armenian side. Therefore, the Armenian side can go for this only in case of an unambiguous legal recognition of the NKR independence, but Baku will not even consider such a possibility. The return of the Azerbaijani refugees to Karabakh and their residence there is only possible under the control of the Azerbaijani troops, which Stepanakert will apparently not agree to under any circumstances. Speaking about the solution of the Karabakh conflict in the framework of the international law was senseless even before, while the Kosovo principle actually eliminated this right.

Thus, the only way to the peaceful solution is the voluntary unconditional surrender of one of the sides. Currently, apparently neither the Armenians nor Azeris are going to surrender, and why should they? Everyone is happy with the present status quo but for Azerbaijan: the status-quo records its defeat. Since it is completely impossible to change the status quo by peaceful means  and nobody is going to do this  Baku wants to break it by military means, for which it buys enormous quantity of modern technology from Russia, Israel and Turkey.

The issue is when Azeris will decide that they have gained decisive advantage not only over the NKR, but also the entire armed force of NKR and Armenia, ensuring the breaking of the Armenian defense and full return of all their lost territories.

The April events showed that such a decisive advantage of Azerbaijan is still far away. Why did Baku decide to wage a war? The Azerbaijani leadership might simply have wrongly assessed the situation. Or it consciously carried out reconnaissance by a battle, without hoping to plant a flag above Stepanakert. Most probably, Baku was induced to war by its main strategic ally, Ankara. Erdogan decided to answer Moscow symmetrically: it created very great problems in Syria, and decided to cause other problems in the Caucasus. And it should be said that it managed to do that in a lot if ways. And it couldnt fail, since Moscow itself significantly placed itself under these problems. Russia didnt suffer any military or economic loss from the April war, but the political loss is obvious, the analyst writes.
YEREVAN. - The April war radically changed the geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus. The deconstructive policy and necrophilous actions of the Azerbaijani authorities prove that they are not going to substitute war paradigm for peace paradigm.

Political analyst Mariam Margaryan wrote the aforementioned on her Facebook page, referring to the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group on the possible meeting between Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Vienna next week.

This leads to the conclusion that the Armenian sides should use the rebus sic stantibus principle of international law (fundamental change of circumstances) and adopt a policy of recognizing the current borders of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) based on the peoples right to self-determination.

The Azerbaijani deputys call to link Zangezour to Azerbaijan is a vivid example of the deconstructive policy, necrophilia and predatory ambitions [of that country], she wrote.

According to the analyst, the Armenian ruling elite and all Armenians face the following issues in the present circumstances:

1. Disagree to resume talks without an official NKR representative, who will have equal rights with the participating sides.

2. Concede no territories, since this step will only open the appetite of the Turkish-Azerbaijani alliance, creating serious security issues for Armenians. Besides, what concessions can be discussed if we have [already] conceded Western Armenia, Nakhijevan and Eastern Karabakh?

3. Continue to actively raise the issue of liberating the Eastern Karabakh occupied by Azerbaijan.

4. The statement mentions confidence-building, but the confidence cannot be restored as long as the international community puts an equal mark between the sides and Azerbaijan refuses to recognize the NKR independence.

5. The mentioned condition should result in the recognition of NKR independence by Azerbaijan.

All the Armenians worldwide should not forget about their bitter historical experience and realize that we are the guarantors of our security, Margaryan said.
Russian Deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin informed that the readiness of specific Russian defense institutions to mobilization was analyzed at the consultation with the Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday.

Its quite evident that the situation in the world shows that we must be ready to the most different action scenarios, and the very fact of the readiness to rebuff the threats of different kinds is the most important restraining factor to prevent these threats, Rogozin told journalists, RIA Novosti reports.

We analyzed all the pros and cons of the situation related to the mobilization preparation of different institutions. We also saw the problematic points and in this connection presented the position of the Military and Industrial Committee Board to the President, the Deputy PM said.

Rogozin also noted that a new normative base will most probably be presented in November, this allowing to react to all cases of catastrophes with minimal costs.
Assyrian, Kurdish Militias Repel ISIS Assault in Nineveh Plain

For the first time since its launch two years ago, an Assyrian defense force has met ISIS in a large battle in the Nineveh Plain north of Mosul. Approximately 200 Assyrian Christian fighters from the Nineveh Plains Protection Unit engaged ISIS and helped drive the attackers out of the Assyrian Christian village of Teleskof 15 km north of Mosul on May 2 and 3, according to Jeff Gardner, the chief of operations of the Restore Nineveh Now Foundation. The battle began with a surprise attack on Teleskof early in the morning of May 3 and involved more than 450 ISIS fighters, including approximately 50 men wearing suicide vests, according to Rudaw, a Kurdish news site. The fighting claimed the lives of 10 Peshmerga and a U.S. military advisor, Navy Seal Charles Keating IV as well as wounding 100 Peshmerga. After the initial attack, Nineveh Plains Protection Units (NPU) drove south from their base in Alqosh and engaged with ISIS for several hours until they withdrew north of the city due to lack of ammunition. U.S. military Apache helicopters peppered the ISIS positions with fire on the late afternoon of May 3 and continuing on May 4, causing most of the Jihadist casualties, Gardner told The Philos Project. When the fighting stopped May 4, more than 154 ISIS bodies were left on the grounds round the village. The NPU claimed to be the cause of three ISIS members dead and reported three of their own soldiers wounded, Gardner said. South of Kirkuk the Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army have pushed ISIS forces 35 km outside the perimeter of the Kirkuk oil fields, according to the top Kurdish general in the area. The city of Mosul, once Iraq's second-largest city, has steadily lost population during the last year as living conditions worsen and civilians flee the city every week. The city of two million has dwindled to between one million to 1.5 million, according to Gen. Muhsin Rashed, chief surgeon of the Kurdish Regional Army the Peshmerga. Cash-strapped Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government are hard-pressed to pay their soldiers due to the low price of oil during the last 18 months. Peshmerga have to wait four months for a paycheck. ISIS soldiers also are stressed by the cash crunch. Whereas the jihadist volunteers two years ago could expect at least $400 a month, a cell phone and a car, most are currently receiving only $50 a month now, and morale is at a low ebb, according to Mike Pregent, an adjunct scholar at the Hudson Institute in Washington. In the north of Iraq, the tension between the Kurdish Regional Army and the Iraqi Army is portentous. A case in point is the disparities in medical aid to the two forces. Muhsin, who serves on the General Staff for Medical Military affairs for the Kurdish regional army, calls for equitable sharing of first-aid equipment for soldiers on the frontlines. He says that anti-hemorrhaging kits are commonly distributed to Iraq Security forces and to tens of thousands of Shia militia that fight alongside the army, but are rare in Kurdistan. According to Muhsin, "More than 1500 Peshmerga have been killed in Northern Iraq since the ISIS invasion of 2014, and many of these deaths were due to battlefield injuries resulting in massive blood loss." He goes on to add that they "have requested emergency first-aid kits with compression bandages from the Central Government in Baghdad but so far, none have been delivered." Another sore point for the Peshmerga is that ISIS increasingly has used chemical weapons from which the Kurds have little protection. There have been nine chemical weapons attacks between Sinjar and Zumar since August of 2015, according to Muhsin. The most serious attacks were 38 mortar rounds armed with Mustard gas, wounding 50 Peshmerga on the Makhmour front during fighting Aug. 11-12. Of more than 160,000 Peshmerga defending an 800-km front line in Iraq, only about 2,500 soldiers are equipped with gas masks, and virtually none of them have chemical body suits, according to Muhsin. Meanwhile the Iraqi Army's 14,000 regular infantry based on the Makhmour Front south and east of Mosul are uniformly equipped with full sets of chemical suits, gas masks and anti-chemical injections, Rudaw reports. There is a stark contrast between ambulance fleets operated by Iraqi Security forces and those obtained by Pesherga, Muhsin said after attending a conference at Central Command in Tampa, Florida. "The Iraqi Army has 150 ambulances, according to their documentation at the conference; the whole Peshmerga forces have only 23 ambulances that are fully operational," Muhsin said. "There is a also a critical need for field hospitals and first-aid kits." Even while Kurdish and Arab soldiers fall in battle on the Nineveh Plains north of Mosul, a political battle rages in Baghdad. The high-pressure demonstrations in April of the radical Shia Sadrist faction led by Muqtada Sadr threaten to bring down the Central government. South of Kirk, pitched battles have broken out in late April in Tuz Khurmatu between Peshmerga and Shia militia over turf, even though both forces are assumed to be allies in the war against ISIS. The guns of war in Iraq grow louder as the dream of joining a mosaic of nationalities under the flag of the Republic of Iraq fades.
20:54

Over 160 passengers and crew on board a Lufthansa flight from Munich to Mumbai had a providential escape after all four back tyres of the Airbus aircraft were damaged while landing at the Mumbai airport.



The 163 passengers on board the Airbus A330 flight were deplaned through stairs and none of them were hurt, the airline said.



The incident, that took place on Friday night, forced the Mumbai airport to shift the operations to the secondary runway, leading to cancellation of many international flights besides delays.



While the aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation has initiated a probe into the incident, experts say the damage to the tyres could have been caused either by manual braking or landing at a speed higher than the prescribed limit.



Besides the four tyres at the back of the aircraft, there are two in front.



"It can't be a tyre issue. It is next to impossible that all four rear tyres of the aircraft get damaged at the same time. In this case, prima facie, it appears to be either a snag in the braking system or the pilot landing at an unusually high speed," a former DGCA official said.



He also ruled out any possibility of the incident occurring due to any problem in the runway surface. There has not been any instances of such an accident being reported in the country in recent memory though aviation industry officials said such accidents are not very rare.
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BENGALURU: Back in 2014, many eyebrows were raised when Facebook announced the acquisition of a pretty much unknown company called Oculus. The deal was a work of genius from Mark Zuckerberg because he knew at the time that virtual reality could be the next big thing in technology. Now, two years later, we are beginning to witness the benefits of the deal. According to latest reports, users will be able to upload 360 degree photos to Facebooks News Feed.

To view these 360 degree photos, all you need to do is either tilt your phone or hold and drag it around with your finger. However, the real fun comes in VR, if you own an Oculus powered Samsung Gear VR headset. Oculus says that a new feature in the Oculus 360 Photos app will let users view Facebook 360 degree photos in virtual reality by moving their heads around with the Gear VR on. Imagine standing in the middle of a colorful parade at the Rio Carnival, or letting family from far away feel like theyre part of that special birthday gathering, said Oculus in a blog post.

Nowadays, VR headsets are used predominantly for watching video content. But, Facebooks new feature could change all that. To put it in the words of TechCrunchs Josh Constine, With more intuitive content navigation, new ways to explore your photo memories, and exciting new content being developed every day, the VR ecosystem has never been more promising! We cant wait to bring mobile VR to the next million. As the availability of VR content rise with each passing day, its fair to say that Zuckerberg was indeed right.

Read Also:

Oculus Keeps Tech-Lovers at the Edge of their Seat by Adding Features to its 360 Degree Video Library

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Pakistani authorities closed the border on Tuesday after the Afghan forces prevented Pakistan's plan to fence the border to stop illegal cross-border movement, Xinhua reported.

Afghan ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Zakhilwal, also confirmed border closure at Torkham and said talks between Pakistani and Afghan officials to reopen it failed on Thursday.

Thousands of people and many trucks are stranded on both sides of the border, witnesses in the area said.

"Illegal crossings and other associated issues are major challenges for both countries. To address the situation, the government of Pakistan has decided to implement border control measures at Torkham for effective border management," the foreign ministry said in Islamabad.

"It is in the interest of both countries to have a well-regulated border. There were differences between the two sides on implementation of measures to manage and regulate the border, due to which the border has been temporarily closed," ministry spokesman Nafees Zikriya said.

He said both sides are in contact with each other through military to military channel to address this issue.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly 2,600 kms of border, mostly porous, and the illegal crossing has always been a source of tension between the two countries.

Kabul's ambassador in Islamabad said that Afghan defence and interior ministry officials held talks with a Pakistani delegation to solve the Torkham problem. However, the talks ended without any result and the border remained closed for the third day.

--IANS vr/

( 265 Words)

2016-05-13-03:08:04 (IANS)
Amid opposition protests in the National Assembly over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs continuous absence, the Pakistan premier was on Friday set to embark on a one-day private visit to Turkey, media reported. The prime minister was expected to attend the National Assembly session on Friday to face a number of questions tabled by the opposition members over the issue of Panama leaks but, according to Dunya News, the decision to attend the house was suddenly postponed till Monday. It was also announced that Sharif would go to Turkey on Saturday on a private visit. Meanwhile, opposition members staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against Sharifs continued absence from the House. Pakistan Peoples Partys (PPP) Naveed Qamar said opposition lawmakers wont sit in Parliament until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responds to their questions. Later, the assembly session was adjourned due to lack of quorum. On the other hand, a joint meeting of the opposition parties chaired by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan took place at Parliament House. Members of PPP, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf and other opposition parties participated in the meeting. The meeting decided to boycott proceedings until the Prime Minister arrived in the House. The opposition has demanded that it be taken into confidence on the Panama Papers Leaks. The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the worlds fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Sddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. News daily Indian Express was also among those with which the information was shared. The names of a number of politicians across the world have figured in the Panama Papers -- which name 259 Pakistanis as having interests in offshore companies. Sharif's three children are among those named as having offshore wealth. --IANS ahm/dg ( 341 Words) 2016-05-13-17:40:07 (IANS)
Actor George Clooney isn't looking forward to hitting 60 in five years' time. He is convinced he will probably celebrate it by crying in his bedroom all day. Clooney, who will be seen onscreen in Jodie Foster's forthcoming directorial venture "Money Monster", is "bothered" with turning 60, reports etonline.com. "(I'll probably celebrate it) by mostly hiding in my room and crying because the next one is 60... The thing is, age has never been an issue. Turning 50 didn't bother me, turning 55 didn't bother me. None of it bothered. But I think 60 is going to kind of," Clooney said. Clooney will be seen as an anti-hero in "Money Monster", which revolves around a financial TV host Lee Gates (Clooney) and his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) and how the two are put in an explosive situation when an irate investor, played by Jack O'Connell, takes over their studio. The film will release in India by Sony Pictures on May 15. --IANS ank/rb ( 174 Words) 2016-05-13-03:44:04 (IANS)
Amid controversy over the evacuation of Indians back to Libya, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said India embassy in Libya has been trying its best to assist Indian nationals, who had opted to stay behind in Libya despite our regular advisories for them to exit during the evacuation carried out in August 2014. Divulging details, MEA official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "Regarding the Indian nationals who were in Zawiya, Libya, our embassy has constantly followed up the matter with the hospital as well as with the Ministry of Health of Libya." "As you know, our embassy has been relocated to Djerba in Tunisia. Our Ambassador to Libya personally flew down to Tripoli on April 28 and met with the Chief of Protocol on the first working day after that, that is on May 2, to resolve the matter," he said. "It was thanks to the embassy's intervention that their salaries were paid, and their exit visas were issued, and they were able to safely return to India today by commercial airlines," Swarup added. "As External Affairs Minister had also tweeted," he said, "this is our pious duty towards our citizens. I am not going to get into the issue that you have mentioned because I do not think it serves any useful purpose." A controversy broke out on Thursday over the evacuation of Indians back to Libya, and Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy attacked prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, in turn, attacked the Kerala CM on Twitter. "We evacuated thousands of Indians from Kerala from Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Who paid for them? You said 'Kerala paid for 29 Indians evacuated from Libya. You started this debate - as to Who paid? Not me. We always did this because this is our pious duty towards our citizens," said Swaraj in a series of tweets. (ANI)
He will address the valedictory session at the Vaicharick Mahakumbh which is being held as part of the Simhastha Mahakumbh in Ujjain on the 14th of this month.

He will also visit Sanchi where he will tour the World famous Sanchi Stupa and attend a function by the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka during which he will unveil a statute of Angarika Dharmapala.

The President of Sri Lanka will also be in Delhi today where Prime Minister will host a dinner in his honour.

The visit is expected to contribute to further strengthening the close and cooperative relations between India and Sri Lanka. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Traders Federation (TNTF) PresidentT Vellaiyan today appealed to the people to utilise the May 16Assembly poll as an opportunity to defeat the anti-people WorldTrade Organisation (WTO) agreement, which was not beneficial to the country. Talking to reporters here, he said the Federation had earlierannounced that it would pledge it support to those political parties which gives a commitment to oppose the WTO in the election. Since political parties, which were striving to protect the welfare of the people have failed to oppose the WTO,people should think on their own and come forward to casttheir ballots taking into account the ill-effects that wouldcause to the people by the WTO. Mr Vellaiyan said he had been staging various forms of agitations over the years against the ill-effects of the WTO agreement, which had only supported MNCs and has made India heavily dependant on imports. He said the WTO pact has sounded a death knell for retail traders with the introduction of FDI and online trading. Pointing out that Agriculture sector was the worst hit because of the WTO agreement, he said if the central government continued with its present policy of opening up of FDI in key sectors, the retail trade would cease to exist in the country and lakhs of retail traders would be the affected badly. He also accused the State Government of toeing the line of the Centre on the issue of FDI in key sectors, including, retail trade, insurance and telecom.UNI GV CS -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-730362.Xml
Asserting that there should be no interference at any level in the handling of the Malegaon blast case, the government on Friday accused the former UPA regime of coining slogans like 'Hindu-terror and saffron terror' which tarnished the entire community. "We found earlier that the UPA government has pressurised and influenced certain government on the basis of political motivated campaign by coining wrongful slogans like Hindu-terror of saffron terror which tarnished the whole community," Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju told ANI. He added that the Congress had by giving a communal tinge to the entire issue managed to take the case into one direction which was a strong religion connotation and has 'done a lot of damage to the country'. "What our government is doing is that the investigative agencies have been given absolutely freedom to take action on the basis of available circumstances and evidences and as per the direction of the court," Rijiju said. Meanwhile, the National Investigative Agency filed a chargesheet in the case in a special court. Earlier today, the NIA did not name Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as an accused in its chargesheet which sets the stage for her early release from jail. However, Colonel Prasad Purohit, another key accused, remains to be a key accused in the chargesheet to be filed by NIA. The state ATS had chargesheeted 12 alleged 'Hindu extremists', including Lt. Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in the case. (ANI)
TERI University is reaching out to the students of Delhi NCR in order to educate and sensitise them about Sustainable Development (SD). Under its School-University Network (SUN) programme, TERI University has selected a group of post-graduate students, who will teach SD education to school-going students. So far, the programme has covered five schools in Delhi and NCR region and has fixed a target of reaching out to 30 schools in the region during the current year, largely from among the Kendriya Vidyalayas and some private schools. According to the programme, the students will visit the varsity twice over a period of 15 days. On each visit, they would be provided exposure to one of the key chosen themes of Sustainable Development. The second phase would envisage an ambitious target of providing training to about 1200 students from over 40 schools, mainly students of municipal high schools. Pro-Vice Chancellor of TERI University Prof Rajiv Seth said, ''Existing school curriculum touching on the subject of sustainability follow a conventional pattern and are structured around the approach of divisibility, with inadequate appreciation of the core issues of SD. ''The SUN programme is aimed at bridging this gap in a more structured and systemic manner by identifying five core areas of SD such as climate change; energy efficiency; urban sustainability; waste and water managements, and providing students an exposure to these themes."Initially, as part of this ongoing programme, five groups of school students from Kendriya Vidyalayas at Arjungarh, Rohini and RK Puram and the Pathways School visited the varsity and interacted with senior faculty and post-graduate students of the University, and were taken through a structured session to expose them to the ideas of sustainable development.UNI SHS RJ RSA 1443 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-730423.Xml
Altogether seven hardcore militants belonging to banned outfit National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), including a self-style lieutenant, have surrendered to police without arm last night.Police said all of them have fled from Chittagong hill tracts hideouts following acute crisis of food and other resources in the camps. The outfit doesn't have even the strength to save their identity because of strong strategic actions by the security forces of Tripura and Bangladesh.They deposited two wireless sets while surrendering stating that NLFT doesn't have any more arms in operational except a few with the top bosses in their personal possession. The outfit could not manage the arms to secure sentry duty in the hideouts, confessed Sunil Kanti Tripura, one of the surrendered cadres.Police said the surrendrees were identified as Ghanicharan Rupini, Satiranjan Debbarma, Judhicharan Debbarma, Subhnan Tripura, Alendra Reang besides, Tripura. They were brought for interrogation in the special branch cell. UNI BB BM SV GC1428 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-730241.Xml
Education New Zealand (ENZ) and Fashion Design Council of India hosted the 'Runway to New Zealand,' an interesting fashion fiesta, in the capital, today. The event was a culmination of a month-long journey which saw an amalgamation of creative impetus and ingenuity. It celebrated independent thinking and encouraged team work as two participants from New Zealand and India came together to curate ensembles. It showcased the 'Think New' collection by 12 students from New Zealand (Massey University and AUT University) and Indian institutions (National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Pearl Academy) using indigenous sustainable fabrics to craft new-age garments based on the theme ''Future World Connection." The competition was judged by an esteemed jury, which included prominent names from the style galaxy: Amit Aggarwal, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal and Varun Bahl. Two winning pairs were selected- Yoshino Maruyama from Massey University and Megha Sharma from Pearl Academy; the second pair - Claire Nicholson from AUT University and Aishwarya Jain from Pearl Academy, won a two-week internship at the participating New Zealand fashion school where they will get an opportunity to experience New Zealand's eclectic teaching processes. The fashion show featured engaging concepts by the six student pairs, covering themes such as creative uniform, ambitious girls in a dystopian global environment, boundary less world, among others. The student designers were judged on the basis of technical, theme interpretation, ramp impact, market relevance and functionality. Other designers seen at the event as guests were Reynu Taandon, Rahul Mishra, Hemant Lalwani, Gaurav Jai Gupta and many more. New Zealand High Commissioner Grahame Morton said, "The event was a tremendous success and I congratulate the winners and all the young kiwi and Indian student designers who participated. We saw some great ideas and the winners will have a very immediate opportunity to continue their work together in New Zealand. We are grateful to NIFT and Pearl Academy and the Fashion Design Council of India for working with Education New Zealand on this wonderful event." Speaking about the event, John Laxon, Acting Regional Director, Education New Zealand, said "This is the first of its kind initiative organized by Education New Zealand in India. We are pleased to have partnered with some of the best names in the fashion industry from both countries." "The initiative reinforces New Zealand's reputation as a premier higher education destination. We are delighted that more and more Indian students are choosing to study at our Universities, which are all ranked in the top 3 percent worldwide. I am very pleased that 'Runway to New Zealand' has not only strengthened academic connection but also initiated cultural and social ties." "We hope to create more such avenues of engagement for students from both countries, exploring the creative potential of New Zealand and India to its best," he added. Sunil Sethi, President, Fashion Design Council of India said, "It is captivating for the FDCI to be associated with a cross-cultural fashion event of this magnitude. The charged minds from the two countries, New Zealand and India, have worked meticulously to showcase their individualistic take on fashion. This event proves that style is truly seamless and this could not have been achieved without the unflinching support of the Education New Zealand." (ANI)
South Africa's High Court gave the green light today for class action suits seeking damages from gold firms on behalf of up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis while working underground.The decision by Judge Phineas Mojapelo sets the stage for protracted proceedings in the largest class action suits in Africa's most industrialised country which analysts have said could cost the gold industry hundreds of millions of dollars.Mojapelo also said that workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits - with any damages paid to their family members - and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages."We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in the unanimous ruling by a three-judge bench."Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," the judge said.Silicosis is caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis.The defendants in the case include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labour unrest among miners.The defendants include global mining firm Anglo American , Africa's top bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti , Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold and African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), all of which have together formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) Working Group to deal with such issues.The OLD said in a statement that the gold firms were studying the judgment and would decide at a later date whether to appeal the verdict.Shares in the gold companies shares were steady following the ruling, tracking a stronger price for the precious metal.The class action suits, which have little precedent in South African law, have their roots in a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that for the first time allowed lung-diseased miners to sue employers for damages.The claims, which stretch back decades, involve not just South Africans but also thousands of former miners from neighbouring countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland.That is why Anglo American, which no longer has any interests in gold mining, and ARM, which no longer operates gold mines, have been named in the claims.Friday's ruling is separate from a 30 million dollar silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold. REUTERS AKC CS1509 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-730619.Xml
Rejecting as "baseless" and "politically motivated" the allegation of corruption levelled against him and his son in purchasing of an Agusta Westland VIP helicopter by the Chhattisgarh government in 2007, Chief Minister Raman Singh has warned to drag Swaraj Abhiyan leaders Prashant Bhusan and Yogendra Yadav to the court after taking legal opinion. "This is a ploy to tarnish the image of the BJP regimes here and at the Centre beside diverting people's attention from the biggest Agusta VVIP Chopper scam of the United Progressive Alliance government in which all national leaders of the Congress are involved," the Chief Minister said. Addressing a press conference at his official residence here last night hours after the Swaraj Abhiyan leaders accused the state government of having paid USD 1.57 million commission in the deal to a British Virgin Islands-based firm linked to Chief Minister's son and Lok Sabha member Abhishek Singh, CM Mr Singh said, "The allegations are totally baseless and politically motivated and aimed at diverting attention from the biggest Agusta chopper scam." Claiming that no commission was ever paid to any firm in the deal, the Chief Minister said his government floated a global tender with experts' opinion and maintained hundred per cent transparency in the entire process for purchase of an Agusta A-109 Power helicopter for Rs 26.11 crore. However, the government had to pay an additional Rs 65 lakh to the firm for purchasing the chopper because of delay in the tender process as it was pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)in its report, Dr Singh said. The Chief Minister said that the Public Accounts Committee of the state Assembly had gone through the CAG report. The report would be tabled during the next Assembly session and appropriate action would be taken, he added. Defending his son Abhishek over the alleged payment of 1.57 million dollars kickback to dealer Shark Oceans in the helicopter deal, the Chief Minister reiterated that Abhishek -- whose name had figured in the Panama papers leak -- had nothing to do with the deal or had any offshore account. However, the Swaraj Abhiyan and the Chhattisgarh unit of the Congress demanded a court-monitored probe into the chopper deal. UNI SS BDG SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-730383.Xml
The Second Special Sessions Judge of Rangareddy District Court awarded life imprisonment to seven main members of the notorious 'Snake Gang' of Pahadishareef of the city.

They were convicted by the Second Special Sessions Judge Court, Ranga Reddy district for using criminal force with the intention of outraging the modesty of a young woman, dacoity and house-trespass.

Talking to newspersons here, State Women Commission Chairperson Tripurana Venkata Ratham, lauded Cyberabad police police for nabbing snake gang and meting out punishment to them swiftly. .

Dr Tripurana urged the Centre, as well State Government to set-up a separate desk at Airports to monitor the visits of women to other counties like Gulf on a month visa, as they were facing considerable inconveniences, including sexual abuse after reaching their destination.

The Chairperson also appealed to the concerned governments to issue ID cards, agents particulars and passport post numbers to the women, who are employed as domestic workers (unskilled) in Middle East countries. It would be of immense assistance to them, when they are in dire-straits, Dr Tripurana added.UNI VV KVV AK 1750

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AICC working committee member and former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma today returned to Samajwadi Party, giving a jolt to the Congress, which was trying to revive with the help of poll strategist Prashant Kishor. Beni, an influential Kurmi leader of Central UP, joined the SP just a day after Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (united) president Nitish Kumar, also a Kurmi leader, presented a mega show in Varanasi and announced to launch a Mahagathbandhan like Bihar, in UP polls. Mr Verma's home coming, ahead of the 2017 state Assembly elections, is crucial for Samajwadi Party, which is trying to woo smaller parties and caste-based leaders to counter the anti-incumbency factor in the 2017 polls. "I was feeling suffocated within the Congress and with the way it was functioning in the state. I did not join the Samajwadi Party for any personal interest, nor there was any condition. I left the Congress as they refused to give me any work for the past two years," said Mr Verma, while talking to mediapersons at the state SP headquarters here. He was, however, thankful to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi for giving regard to him. "But from past two years, I was not able to adjust with the existing culture of Congress in UP," he said. Mr Verma, as Congress leader, was a bitter critic of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and had even accused him Yadav of conniving with BJP stalwart Lal Krishna Advani for the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 said, "I did not join the Congress for the lure of lucre to become the Union minister. I have come back to the Samajwadi Party to ensure that Akhilesh Yadav takes over as Chief Minister of UP for the second term in 2017." Mr Verma has returned to the Samajwadi Party after nearly a decade. He is likely to get an RS berth from the SP and his son Rakesh Verma could become a Minister in the Akhilesh Yadav ministry. But Mr Verma said," there was no pre-condition on my return to SP. I have never done such type of politics." Meanwhile, Congress has termed the act of the leader as an opportunistic step and as Mr Verma cannot live without a post, hence he joined the SP. "There are very less people left in the politics, who have followed ideology and now, they have made the politics totally a business," said UP Congress media chairman and former UP Minister Satyadev Tripathi here. "It is unfortunate that leader like Mr Verma, who had criticised severely Mulayam Singh Yadav in the past, embraced SP just to get an RS berth and some post for his son," Mr Tripathi charged. More UNI MB RJ CS1802 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-730910.Xml
After long years lone leftist Chief Minister of the country, Manik Sarkar held meeting with US Consul General in Kolkata Craig Hall today at Agartala on prospect of higher education, regional connectivity and economic tie ups in respect to the development of Tripura.It seems leftists have shifted their stand towards America and are coming closure to USA to harness the fruit of Obama's Indo-US development initiatives. The discussion was focused on the growing US-India relationship.Mr Hall called on Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy during his two days maiden Tripura visit.Mr Hall interacted on US-India Relations: A Partnership for 21st Century with students of Tripura University and said, "The United States sees with India the potential for a friendship and partnership that will be transformative for the 21st century." He also stressed on the importance of people-to-people connections and said, "As Americans, we believe in the promise of India. We believe in the people of India. We are proud to be your friend. We are proud to be your partner as you build the country of your dreams and inspired the students to become transformational leaders".As part of his outreach, Consul General Craig Hall visited the Akhaura border post and witnessed the beating retreat ceremony also visited Tripura government museum at Ujjyanta palace and Tripura Sundari temple and was charmed by its historical and cultural heritage.UNI BB AKM SB VN1831 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-731051.Xml
The assailants, who were on motorcycles, fired five rounds of bullets on the Chatra-based journalist on Thursday night. He died on the spot.

The attack took place while he was returning home after work. Yadav was a correspondent for a local TV channel.

"We have got some vital clues including video footage of the bike and its number. The CID and forensic science team are investigating. We will soon crack the case," Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey told IANS.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the killing and directed the police to arrest the criminals at the earliest.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who was in Chatra on Friday campaigning for the Panki by-election, met the journalist's family members.

He voiced concern over the "worsening" law and order situation in Jharkhand.

"On a regular basis murders are taking place in Jharkhand. Even journalists are not safe under the BJP government. The law and order situation is worsening," he said.

The Jharkhand Journalist Association (JAA) and other media associations have condemned the killing.

A JAA delegation met police chief Pandey and Home Secretary N.N. Pandey and demanded the arrest of the accused and Rs.50 lakh compensation to Yadav's family.

--IANS ns/lok/rn/mr

( 228 Words)

2016-05-13-18:44:09 (IANS)
With just a couple of days left for the Assembly polls in Kerala, Saritha S Nair, the prime accused in the ever lasting sensational solar scam, pushed Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy once again into dilemma by handing over the alleged digital evidences that establishing her claim that she had met the Chief Minister along with Sreedharan Nair before the Solar Commission. After presenting the evidences, she claimed to reporters that she had handed over the video clippings that establishing her allegation that she had met the Chief Minister at his office along with Sreedharan Nair, a complainant of solar scam. Claiming that the visuals that presented before the commission were proving her statement while she was in the police custody, she said the evidences that handed over to the commission include the visuals of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's official reside of Cliff House, Rose, the official residence of Minister A P Ankil Kumar and government rest house. If the commission permitted, the evidences that she had handed over to the commission could be released to the media too, she said. Besides copies of email messages, said to be sent by Chief Minister's former aide, she had also submitted sexually explicit videos with four people, Sexual harassment against here by a former Union Minister and current MP at Delhi and some other places were also handed over the commission.UNI CGV CNR1858 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0312-731284.Xml
Indicating widening gap between the saffron alliance and the Shiv Sena in Kerala, Sena Supremo Uddhav Thackaray has directed the party workers to not vote for BJP in the the May 16 Assembly elections in Kerala as a protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comparison of Kerala with Somalia. Shiv Sena Kerala Pramukh MS Bhuvana Chandran today said the Sena Supremo has directed the Kerala unit to defeat BJP candidates in the Assembly elections as a protest against the Prime Minister who insulted the state by making baseless remarks. Alleging that the BJP was acting as a big brother in NDA affecting the alliance, he said the Shiv Sena was not considered properly in allocation of seats in the Assembly elections. The achievements of Kerala in health and education sectors were minimised by making comparison of the State with the Somalia. This was an insult to the people of Kerala. Hence, the party decided to not vote for the BJP candidates in the elections.UNI DS CNR1848 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0324-731276.Xml
Congress efforts to forge a grand alliance on the pattern of Bihar against the Akhilesh Yadav government for 2017 Assembly elections and his marginalisation in the grand-old party led him to switch loyalty and rejoin the Samajwadi Party, Former Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma said today. "I can fight Mulayam Singh Yadav, I can also tolerate if somebody is opposed to Mulayam Singh Yadav but I cannot stand opposition to Akhilesh Yadav. He is like my son. Congress is trying to forge a coalition against the Samajwadi Party for the 2017 assembly elections, so I decided to part company with the grand old party,'' disclosed Mr Verma here while talking to UNI after rejoining the SP."I wish to thank Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi for giving me the honour of nominating me to the highest decision making body of the party, the Congress Working Committee, and also inducting in the Union cabinet,'' said Mr Verma. He said, "I have nothing against the Congress, for the past two years since the 2014 Parliament election, I was practically without any work and I met Rahul Gandhi couple of times but nothing materialised, so I decided to join the SP.''On the UP Congress employing the poll strategist Prashant Kishor for the revival of the party in the state, Mr Verma said, "I have never met Prashant Kishor so I have no idea as to what he is doing for the revival of the party in the state but I can say it's most unfortunate for the Congress to rely on such persons.''"Congress ke liye isse jyadaaa durbhagyapurna aur kya ho sakta hai ? (What can be more unfortunate than this for the Congress?) It is indeed most pathetic to see that the grand old party is relying on the services of a greenhorn and political novice like Prashant Kishor rather than reinventing itself for its revival in UP,'' said Mr Verma.The former Union Minister had shown his resentment to the Congress leadership in the past and boycotted almost all the meetings of the party after he lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from Gonda. He was also unhappy with the Congress over the party's support in getting P L Punia, elected to Rajya Sabha in 2014. Punia a retired IAS and former principal secretary to former chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati. Mr Punia was elected to the Lok Sabha from Barabanki (reserved) Lok Sabha seat in 2009. Barabanki is the native district of Mr Verma.The `Ghar Wapsi' of Beni Prasad Verma to the SP would immensely impact the electoral fortunes of the ruling party in at least 10 districts of east and Central UP and also in Bundelkhand where the Kurmis are in sizeable numbers, analysts say. The SP is desperate to shore up its electoral support base among the Kurmi and other OBCs social groups ahead of the 2017 state assembly elections. Mr Verma, an over-four-decade old associate of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav parted ways with his old friend after 2004 Lok Sabha elections. He is the founder member of the SP but left the party just before the 2007 assembly elections and formed a new political outfit 'Samajwadi Kranti Dal'. The fledgling political outfit did not click and in the 2007 assembly polls, he indirectly allied with the Congress but failed to win any seat. Mr Verma lost his security deposits from Faizabad-Ayodhya seat in the 2007 assembly polls. Later, he joined the Congress before the 2009 elections.The tallest leader of the Kurmi community in UP, Mr Verma, is a five-term Lok Sabha member. He was first elected to Lok Sabha as SP candidate in 1996 from Kaiserganj seat and was re-elected in 1998, 1999, and 2004 from the same seat. In 2009, he was elected from Gonda Lok Sabha seat. He served as the Union Communications Minister in H D Deve Gowda's cabinet from 1996-98. Kurmis are the second most dominant OBC caste in the state. On July12, 2011 was appointed the Union Steel Minister in the Manmohan Singh government.UNI MB RSA SB 1921 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-731355.Xml
Addressing different election meetings in Palair near here, Mr Uttam Kumar described the contest as a battle between morality and political arrogance. "TRS and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao wants to take advantage of untimely demise of sitting MLA Ramreddy Venkatreddy, he charged.

Instead of giving Ramreddy's family an opportunity to fulfill his accomplished dreams, Mr Rao fielded R&B Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao to increase his party's tally in Assembly. This is nothing, but smacks of arrogance and greed for power," Mr Reddy alleged.

Mr Uttam accused the TRS Government of misusing the official machinery in the by-poll.

He also warned the TRS Government against intimidating the Congress workers in Khammam district.

TRS might have gained expertise in playing mind games. But Congress knows the art of winning people's hearts, the TPCC chief said, adding, the downfall of TRS Government will begin from Palair. UNI KNR KVV AK 1850

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Announcing the result, P S Jayakumar and CEO of Bank of Barodasaid a total income has increased from Rs 12,057.39 crore for thequarter ended March 31, 2015 to Rs 12,789.06 crore for the quarterended March 31, 2016., repersenting an increase of 6.07 percent.

For the Year ended March 31, 2016 Bank has posted a net loss of Rs 5395.55 crore as compared to net profit of Rs 3398.43 crore forthe year ended March 31, 2015.

However, a total income has increased from Rs 47,365.55 crore forthe year ended March 31, 2015 to Rs 49,060.13 crore for the yearended March 31, 2016, repersenting an increase of 3.58 percent.

On consolidate basis Bank has posted a net loss of Rs 5,067.680crore for the year ended March 31, 2016 as compared to net profit of Rs 3,911.73 crore for the year ended March 31, 2015.

A total income has increased from Rs 50,364.23 crore for the yearended March 31, 2015 to Rs 51,791.17 crore for the year ended March31, 201, repersenting an increase of 2.83 percent. On banks performance Mr Jayakumar said ''The year 2015-16 has beenone of transformation addressing NPAs. We are excited by thetransformation journey we have embarked on, which will give usleadership position in the banking and financial services sector.''

Board of Directors of the Bank has not declared any dividend forthe fianacial year ended March, due to non-availability of CurrentYear's Profit.UNI NV SM1936

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Home Minister R Lalzirliana, who inspected the construction today, was informed that since the entire physical works could not be completed by that time, admission would be done for only 60 students for class six.

Besides buildings, ongoing physical works include power supply from Chhingchhip power sub-station at the cost of Rs 97.66 lakh and water supply from Phaisen river at the cost of Rs 7.8 crore. The officials said water supply is the biggest challenge that they are facing.

The Home Minister found the quality of works to be satisfactory and urged the contractors and engineers to continue to maintain quality and speed so as to complete the works within the stipulated time.

The minister praised the Chhingchhip village council for donating land for the Sainik school, and said it was a wise move as the village would be the one that benefit the most from the school.

Mizoram Sainik school will be the 26th such institution in India and the fourth in the northeast. Assam, Manipur and Nagaland have Sainik schools.UNI ZS AKM SW SB PM1914

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In a bid to strengthen friendship and fraternity between Nagas and Assamese, the second round table meet between Assam and Naga civil societies under the aegis of the Asom Sahitya Sabha and the Naga Hoho was held here today. Initiated by the Nanda Talukdar foundation of Guwahati, the meeting discussed the possibility of expanding the horizon of the trust building peace process besides strengthening friendship and fraternity between the two neighbours. Addressing the inaugural session, former minister of Nagaland Tiameren Aier expressed concern over the decade long boundary dispute between Assam and Nagaland and shared possibilities and opinion to search for a lasting solution and peaceful coexistence. He said a consistent dialogue process would definitely help enhancing cultural exchanges, trade and business and people-to-people contact despite having divergent perceptions on the vexed border dispute and political issues of the two sister states. Parliamentary secretary Nagaland engineer Levi Rengma said there should be some institutionalised mechanism from civil societies for effective interventions whenever tensions arise unreasonably. President Asom sahitya sabha Dr Druva Jyoti Bora insisted on holding such dialogue on regular basis for mitigating the present environment of entrenched suspicions against each other. UNI AS AKM PY SW VN2120 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-731607.Xml
The Eastern Naga Students' Federations (ENSF) has called upon Naga political groups (NPG or undergrounds) to continue abstaining from levying tax to the teaching community. According to a release by the ENSF reminded that it had since 2012 embarked on a mission to dissuade Naga political groups from taxing the teaching community. It added that this had resulted in the "no tax" to the teaching community within eastern Nagaland on January 18, 2015. Acknowledging that the groups had endorsed and reacted positively to this, the ENSF expressed their appreciation. This, the ENSF said has positively affected the student and the teaching community both in spirit and in results. Asking for "continued perseverance to foster our dreams," the ENSF called upon the Naga political groups to "remain in the good book in transforming our people and the land." "The present segregated walls within should not subdue our Naga political struggle into chaos and mess. This ailment needs immediate medic hence, let our initiative on reforming the education system be inculcated into our joint mission," it said The ENSF asked the groups to disseminate the "vision of our joint mission" to all its cadres or civil officers assigned on duty to refrain and abstain from taxing the poor teaching community. The ENSF further asked the teaching community to be efficient. Violators will be tagged as criminal to the very educational rights of the Government, it added. The ENSF then said it has empowered the village level students union with the authority to process complaint against any non functioning teacher. UNI AS AKM PY SW NS2116 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-731651.Xml
Police said here that motorcycle borne outlaws intercepted Ranjan working for a Hindi daily, Hindustan, while he was going somewhere. Later, they opened fire on him leading to his death on the spot. The reason behind his murder is not immediately known, sources added. He was a native of Hakam village under Mufassil police station area in the district.

A massive manhunt has been launched to nab criminals.

Meanwhile, Indian Journalists' Union (IJU) and Bihar Working Journalists' Union (BWJU) condemned the brutal murder of the senior scribe Ranjan.

IJU secretary Amar Mohan Prasad and and national executive member Shivendra Narayan Singh and BWJU general secetary Amalendu Mishra said the killing of the senior journalist Mr Ranjan proved that even mediapersons were not safe under the present dispensation in the state.

They demanded immediate arrest of outlaws involved in the murder and threatened to launch a massive agitation if culprits were not brougth to justice without any delay.

Former state general secretary of National Union Journalists' of India (NUJI) and senior journalist Priya Ranjan Bharati also condemned the incident, demanding immediate arrest of criminals who gunned down Mr Ranjan in Siwan district. UNI DH AKM SW NS2144

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Political parties in Goa reacted sharply and condemned the lathicharge on the traditional fishermen who are protesting since May 11 demanding that the government take strict action against those using LED lights to catch fish last evening.Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Luizinho Faleiro said, "We strongly condemn the violence used against Goan traditional fishermen by BJP government. The traditional fishermen of Goa have been since long demanding from the government a solution to the problem which has adversely affected the small canoe owners."Alleging that the government had completely failed to address difficulties faced by traditional fishermen despite several warnings of agitation from them leading to a law and order situation, he said, "Government's inefficiency in protecting the interest of local traditional fishermen has led to this entire chaos and theviolent manner in which our Goans have been treated by the BJP government is deplorable. We strongly stand-by the traditional fishermen in this hour."The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Goa condemned the lathicharge on the demonstrators and demanded resignation of Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado.Addressing a press conference at the party office, NCP vice-president and chief spokesperson, Trajano D'Mello said, "We strongly condemn the lathi charge on demonstrators whose daily bread is at threat. The lathi charge on innocent women and men is highly condemnable. Reports appearing in the media state that there was noproper sanction for this lathi charge. When the Nigerians blocked the national highway then government believed that it was needed to dealt with delicately. At that time also the local MLA of the area had tried to add fuel to the fire by bringing a mob of goons and acting in a most unruly manner."'Alleging that the Fisheries Minister had failed to sort out the problem and after the merciless lathi charge, the NCP demanded that the Minister immediately step down expressing dissatisfaction over handling of the peaceful protestors.MORE UNI AKM SS SW VN2255 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-731762.Xml
Before the war, there were 560,000 Palestinian refugees in Syria, but as the war continued, between 110,000 to 120,000 left the country, said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Xinhua reported.

Krahenbuhl said 45,000 Palestinians had left Syria for Lebanon, 15,000 for Jordan, half of the overall number for Europe via Turkey, and the rest for countries in Asia and Latin America.

Regarding the UNRWA efforts, Krahenbuhl said the situation of the people in the Palestinian camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus, is still desperate, noting that the aid efforts to Palestinian refugees in areas near Yarmouk have recently improved.

He noted that the UNRWA has concentrated on giving aid to the neighbourhoods near Yarmouk camp.

The Yarmouk camp is a large district in southern Damascus. It has recently become a stage of intense battles between the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.

--IANS vr/

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2016-05-13-06:52:03 (IANS)
Political administration sources told Dawn that the move comes besides sending more troops after their negotiating teams failed to resolve the border fencing dispute.

Pakistan started fencing some vulnerable points of the border with Afghanistan to halt illegal and secret border crossings and movements of people.

Afghanistan has objected to the border fencing and officially protested to Pakistan over the issue.

Because of the tense situation, the border remained closed for the third consecutive day. (ANI)

Hathras, May 13
Donald Trump's foreign policy proposals would make the world a less stable place, former Secretary of State James Baker told a US Senate hearing today as the Republican presidential candidate met elsewhere with party congressional leaders.Under questioning from Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump rival in the presidential race, Baker said the world "would be far less stable" with a weaker NATO or if more countries had nuclear weapons as Trump has proposed."We've a got a lot of problems today, but we'd have a hell of a lot more if that were the case," Baker told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, adding that US commitments around the world "promote US security."Trump met with Baker yesterday at Trump's request, said a Baker spokesman, who declined further comment.The hearing, on "America's Role in the World," was called by the committee's Republican chairman, Senator Bob Corker. Corker praised a foreign policy speech Trump gave in Washington last month. Some US allies worried after Trump's remarks that his invocation of an "America first" agenda is a threat to retreat from the world.Without naming Trump, Rubio referred to the businessman-turned-candidate's suggestions that the United States should rethink the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and that Japan and South Korea should consider getting nuclear weapons to defend themselves."Some have suggested 'why don't you just let Japan and South Korea get their own nuclear weapons and let them defend themselves?'" Rubio asked."The more countries that acquire nuclear weapons, the more instability there is going to be in the world, in my opinion," Baker said.Tom Donilon, Democratic President Barack Obama's former national security adviser, called Rubio's question an "important thought experiment," as he backed Baker's comments about the importance of NATO."It's not just a thought experiment, it's actually been proposed," Rubio said.As the hearing took place, Trump was on Capitol Hill meeting with Republican congressional leaders on how to heal divisions within the party, including those between establishment figures like Baker and the insurgent candidate.Baker, a Republican who was secretary of state under President George Bush and Treasury secretary under President Ronald Reagan, testified alongside Donilon.Former Presidents Bush and George W. Bush do not plan to endorse Trump, or any candidate, in this year's White House race.REUTERS PS RK0415 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-730007.Xml
Hours after Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first woman president, was suspended by a Senate vote to put her on trial for breaking budget laws, the man who took her place unveiled his cabinet: an all-male line-up of 23 ministers.The significance was not lost on feminists in the Latin American country, especially after a male-dominated Congress voted to remove Rousseff amid shouts of "Goodbye, dear!""Fifty-two per cent of Brazil's population has been ignored," said Rachel Moreno, coordinator of a group that seeks to combat violence against women."We have suffered an attack from conservatives on the achievements of the feminist movement," she said in a telephone interview from a women's rights conference in Brasilia that Rousseff attended this week.A former member of a leftist guerilla group during Brazil's military dictatorship, Rousseff has vehemently denied any wrongdoing. She said last month that the impeachment process was marked by "a large amount of prejudice against women."After the lower house voted to impeach Rousseff on April 17, the Senate suspended her yesterday for the course of a trial that could last six months. Her vice president, Michel Temer, 75, was promoted to interim president, ending 13 years of rule by Rousseff's Workers Party.Temer takes office at a time the "bullets, beef and bible caucus" of conservatives, ranchers and evangelicals is gaining strength in Congress. Jair Bolsonaro, an anti-gay former army parachutist who praised the dictatorship when he voted to impeach Rousseff last month, is a rising star.Some worry that advances in political participation for women in recent years, as well as social programs that benefited the poor, could be lost with the fall of Rousseff's government and a political shift to the right.Although he promises to safeguard social programs, Temer has pledged to implement austerity measures and cut spending to control public debt without cutting taxes as he tackles an economy mired deep in recession.Soy baron Blairo Maggi is taking over the powerful agriculture ministry from Katia Abreu, the first woman to hold the job. A fierce defender of Rousseff, Abreu once threw a glass of wine in the face of Senator Jose Serra after he called Abreu a "maneater."Serra is now Temer's foreign relations minister.Rousseff, 68, was suspended with the majority of Brazilians in favor of her ouster, deeply unpopular amid the economic crisis and the biggest corruption crisis Brazil has seen.Some congressmen who gave their "Goodbye dear" shouts during impeachment proceedings in the lower chamber were simply quoting the farewell words of Rousseff's predecessor and mentor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a telephone call with her that was recorded by anti-graft investigators.Prosecutors said the call provided evidence of Lula and Rousseff discussing how to obstruct their investigation. Rousseff and Lula have denied all wrongdoing.'MAIDENLIKE'Asked why the cabinet did not include a single woman, Planning Minister Romero Juca said ministers had been selected based on technical criteria and political party affiliation, as Temer looked to shore up support for his government."We will have secretariats headed by women," he told reporters. "So respect for women and the world of women and the contribution they can make to politics will be a strong component of the Temer government."For most of her five years in office, Rousseff avoided talking about leading Brazil as a woman.But last year she told the Washington Post that some of the most common criticism against her, that she is a micromanager who interferes too much in day-to-day affairs, was mostly related to her gender."Have you ever heard someone say that a male president puts his finger on everything? I've never heard that," she said.Yesterday, Rousseff said it was an honor to be Brazil's first woman leader.For some Brazilians, a recent profile in Veja Magazine of Temer's wife Marcela, a former beauty queen who is 43 years his junior, titled "Beautiful, Maidenlike and a Housewife," confirmed the worst of their fears over creeping sexism.The title spurred weeks of mocking on social media, with women posting their least maidenlike photos and criticizing Veja. The parodies continued on Thursday, but few were laughing."Temer's Cabinet: Neither beautiful, nor maidenlike. They are all at home," Estado de S. Paulo columnist Jose Roberto Toledo said on Twitter.REUTERS PS RK0506 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-730012.Xml
The police force in Manila is so underfunded that officers say they have to buy their own bullets and it is not uncommon for funeral service cars to give cops a lift along to murder scenes because they have no vehicles of their own.Enter Rodrigo Duterte, who won this week's presidential election in the Philippines on a single-issue campaign of crushing crime, corruption and drug abuse. He has pledged to raise policing standards to the level of Davao, the once-lawless city in southern Mindanao, where he has been mayor for 22 years and the only one in the country that runs its own 911 emergency call service.Duterte's message, unpolished and peppered with profanities, tapped into popular alarm over a drug-fuelled jump in crime. In 2012 the United Nations said the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine, or "shabu", use in East Asia. The US State Department said 2.1 per cent of Flipinos aged 16 to 64 were using shabu, the main drug threat in the Philippines along with marijuana.Reported crimes in the Philippines more than doubled from 319,441 cases in 2010, when President Benigno Aquino took office, to 675,816 last year, according to national police data. Roughly half of those were serious crimes, and rape cases jumped 120 per cent over this period.Police officials say the figures overstate the problem because reporting of crimes has risen with the introduction of closed-circuit TV cameras in many urban areas and SMS messaging for filing complaints.Still, Duterte says he intends to be a 'dictator' against forces of evil. He told Reuters on the campaign trail five criminals should be killed a week and promised if he became president the fish in Manila Bay would grow fat on the bodies of all the "pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings" dumped there.Rights group say death squads have operated with impunity in Davao, killing some 1,500 people since 1998. "Duterte Harry", as he is known, denies ordering extrajudicial killings, but he doesn't condemn them.STRETCHED POLICE FORCEIf the police station Reuters visited this week in the capital, Manila, is any measure, then Duterte has much to fix.Captain Rommel Anicete, chief of the Manila police district's homicide division, told Reuters he and his men have been buying their own bullets since the 1990s.They split the cost of getting two air-conditioners serviced and, while they do share a couple of ageing computers, they are always short of paper for their printer and have no photocopier.There aren't enough police cars to go around and Anicete said one colleague uses a motorbike to do his policing duties, paying for fuel and repairs out of his own pocket.The Philippines had one police officer for every 651 people in 2012, according to official data. Its force is far more stretched across an archipelago than neighbouring Thailand with a 1:302 ratio and Malaysia with 1:267 in the same year.The government budgeted 88.1 billion pesos (1.89 billion dollars) for the police this year, up around 13 percent from 2015. A senior police official said it was still too little for the force of about 160,000 officers."We lack patrol cars and secure radios," said the official, who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media. "We want to issue a gun for every police officer but those recruited after 2012 will have to wait a bit."Like other police officers questioned for this story, he declined to say who he had voted for, but added: "Of course we like what we have heard so far from him.""CRIMINALS WILL BE AFRAID"Duterte has promised to double police pay, which for some officers is as low as 18,000 Pesos (390 dollars) a month. Asked on Wednesday how the government will fund this, Duterte spokesman Peter Lavina said: "We will find a way."He added that a new detachment to fight drug crime would be set up, and corrupt officers would be fired from the force.Duterte also wants to set up command centres for security cameras in cities around the country that are modelled on a state-of-the-art crime reporting hub in Davao City.Roderick Tan, a sergeant in the Manila Police District's theft and robbery division, said he welcomed Duterte's assurances that he will shield the police from legal suits and the harassment of criminals or suspects complaining of injuries.The incoming president has also made it clear that he is no friend of human rights groups and corruption watchdogs that investigate the police's battles against criminal gangs."That should boost police morale," said Anicete. "I think criminals will be afraid, especially those involved in drugs."REUTERS PS RK0538 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-730015.Xml
Burkina Faso plans to withdraw its troops deployed in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur and to bring them home against a backdrop of growing security threats in the Sahel-Saharan region, the Burkinabe army's chief of staff said today.The West African country was rocked in January by an attack on a hotel and restaurant in its capital, Ouagadougou, claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, that killed 30 people.The group has been targeting since November civilians at locations frequented by Westerners. It carried out attacks in Mali's capital Bamako and in a beach resort town in Ivory Coast, leaving dozens of people dead."When Burkina Faso decided eight years ago to deploy its first battalion in Darfur, we were in an environment without threats at our borders," General Pingrenoma Zagre told reporters in Ouagadougou. "We had a security situation in the Sahel-Saharan region that was overall satisfactory."But the current circumstances and the logistical costs "led us to a reassessment of the means deployed to support peace keeping theatres and consider the prospect of a withdrawal of one of our three battalions," he added.Burkina Faso, which is the eleventh-largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, has one battalion of 850 soldiers in Darfur and two battalions in Mali. A military source said the battalion to be withdrawn would be the one in Darfur.The withdrawal from Darfur has yet to be approved by the political authorities, Zagre said. REUTERS PS RK0619 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0140-730016.Xml
Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike at the Lebanese-Israeli border this week, the Lebanese Shi'ite group announced today."He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said in a statement announcing his death, describing Badreddine as "the great jihadi leader". He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said.Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander, Imad Moughniyah, was indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, and was sanctioned by the United States.Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad. REUTERS SDR RAI0913 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-730052.Xml
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has called for a review of the country's ambitious program to develop 35 gigawatts of new power stations by 2019, the energy minister said on Friday."He emphasised that there should be a thorough review while the deadline is still a long way off, so that we don't encounter obstacles when we're already halfway," Minister Sudirman Said told reporters.Said was referring to reviews of aspects ranging from the tender process to financing and management by state electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)."Investors and businesspeople have started to question if we can finish this or not," Said added.The program aims to build nearly 300 power plants, most of them coal-fired, in a bid to overcome Indonesia's endemic shortages of electricity and fuel growth. REUTERS SDR RAI1240 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-730253.Xml
The Opposition in Pakistan has hit out at the Nawaz Sharif regime, terming America's decision to block F-16s sale to Pakistan as a failure of the country's diplomacy and a success of the Indian lobby."It seems that the Foreign Office is not even fully functional. We do not have any foreign minister," Senator Mohsin Leghari said participating in a debate in the Pakistan Senate on an adjournment motion on the US decision to withdraw proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.Usman Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party regretted that there had been no role of Parliament in formulating the country's foreign policy.The senators termed the US a friend which could not be trusted anymore. They also criticised the US for expanding its relations with India, ignoring that Pakistan had been its frontline partner in the war on terror.They were of the view that the US had no care for the 'sacrifices' Pakistan had rendered and losses it had suffered in the war on terror.Winding up the debate, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz conceded that relations with the US had been under stress for the past three months because of conditions Washington had attached to the funding of F-16s sale.The adviser said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents like WikiLeaks, Raymond Davis and the Abbottabad operation (in which Osma bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces). Since 2013, the relations had witnessed an "upward trajectory"."In the past three months, however, this upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," he said.Mr Aziz said that the US action might have been caused by concerns raised by Washington on the nuclear issue which had been categorically rejected by Pakistan. "We have also rejected frequent demands, especially by the US Congress, for the release of Dr Shakil Afridi. The US officials, Congress, think-tanks and media, in tandem with our adversaries, have also been blaming Pakistan for supporting the Haqqani network without giving any concrete evidence to enable us to take additional action against it or other terrorist organisations," he added.However, Mr Aziz said, the Haqqani Network issue remained the top US concern at the moment. The Indian lobby in the US, he said, had also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, especially after the Pathankot incident.The adviser, however, assured the Senate that in view of the importance of the issue, Pakistan had been making all-out efforts to finalise the F-16 deal with the US administration. Mr Aziz said that the spring offensive launched by Afghan Taliban with the latest terrorist attack in Kabul had further aggravated the already bleak security situation in Afghanistan.He said that Pakistan had been impressing upon the US and Afghan sides that the reconciliation process needed to be given a fair chance and more time and irreconcilable elements could be targeted after efforts for negotiations had failed."We hope to discuss these issues in detail during an upcoming meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group in Islamabad on May 18 and 19." UNI XC AT 1223 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0435-730319.Xml
South Africa's High Court today gave the green light for a class action suit seeking damages from the gold mining sector on behalf of thousands of miners who contracted the fatal lung disease silicosis while working underground.The court also allowed a class action to go ahead on behalf of miners who contracted tuberculosis in the mines.The defendants in the case include Harmony Gold, Gold Fields, AngloGold Ashanti, Sibanye Gold , African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) and Anglo American, which have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) Working Group to deal with such issues.REUTERS RSD VP1320 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-730406.Xml
The Turkish military has killed 140 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in air strikes in northern Iraq between April 29 and May 10, Turkish broadcaster NTV reported today, citing the military.Turkey has been regularly attacking PKK targets in mountainous northern Iraq since the collapse of a ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish state in July last year.REUTERS DS PM1447 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0177-730590.Xml
A Hezbollah member of parliament said today Israel was behind the killing of one of its top commanders, indicating that the Lebanese group would respond "at the appropriate time"."This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," Nawar al-Saheli said told the Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar TV station."The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time," he said.Hezbollah earlier announced that Mustafa Badreddine had been killed in an explosion near Damascus airport, but did not say who had carried out the attack. The pro-Hezbollah Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen had earlier said it was Israel. REUTERS AKC PM1424 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-730480.Xml
Taiwan today called on an international tribunal not to make a ruling on a disputed South China Sea island if the judges don't visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life.Taiwan wants to prove Itu Aba is not just a rock, but a real island that can qualify for a maritime economic zone.China refuses to recognise a case lodged by the Philippines with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over the South China Sea and says such disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks.The panel does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands."The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan's formal name) once again solemnly invites the five arbitrators (in the Philippine case) to conduct a field study on Taiping Island," Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement."If the tribunal decides not to respond to our kind invitation, then it should not rule on the legal status of Taiping Island."Last month, the panel allowed written evidence from a government-linked Taiwanese group pressing Taipei's position that Itu Aba is not a rock and is entitled to part of the disputed waterway as an economic zone.China, which claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, also claims almost the entire South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.Taiwan has just finished a 100 million dollar port upgrade on Itu Aba, known as Taiping in Taiwan, in the disputed Spratly islands. The island has an airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.Itu Aba is the biggest natural island in the Spratlys and is the only one claimed by Taiwan.Manila is challenging the legality of China's claim, in part by arguing that no land mass in the Spratly archipelago can legally be considered a life-sustaining island, and therefore, cannot hold rights to a 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.China has appeared unruffled by Taiwan's upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because Itu Aba could fall into China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan.China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. REUTERS AKC AS1515 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-730660.Xml
China has elevated the rank of its Tibet's Military Command (TMC) which looks after the security along its border with India, media reports said today. State-run Global Times reported that Beijing has put it under the jurisdiction of the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces, suggesting it may undertake some military combat mission in future. The report said, "The TMC's political rank will be elevated to one level higher than its counterpart provincial-level military commands and will come under the leadership of the PLA." It said "the promotion marks a new journey for the TMC command's construction." The sudden elevation surprised many observers as the PLA in this year's reform brought most of the provincial military commands under the control of Central Military Commission's (CMC) new National Defence Mobilisation Department. CMC, the overall high command of the PLA, is directly headed by President Xi Jinping, who is also the head of the ruling Communist Party. "The TMC on the other hand, is controlled by the Chinese ground forces, which suggests that the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future," the report quoted a source close to the matter as saying. Details about the possible military combat mission have not been disclosed. More UNI XC-SHK RP1825 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-731223.Xml
Hundreds of migrants were brought to Italy today having been rescued from the sea over the past day, however the majority were not Syrian, as previously reported, but came from a variety of countries, officials said.The Italian coast guard, which orchestrated various rescue missions yesterday, initially said most of the new arrivals appeared to be from Syria -- a sign that Middle East refugees were shifting their route into Europe away from Greece.However, further checks showed that while there probably were Syrians and Iraqis on board two rescued boats, there were also a large number of Egyptians, Somalis and Eritrean. In all, there were just over 800 people aboard the two vessels."The majority are not from Syria," said Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, after a first group of 340 people were brought ashore.She confirmed initial reports that the two boats had set sail from Egypt rather than Libya, which is the usual staging post used by people smugglers looking to move migrants into Europe from north Africa."What is sure is that the (Egypt) route is very long, it is very risky and these people including many families with babies have been adrift at sea for many days, up to a week," she told Reuters TV. "We know also that there are a lot of unaccompanied minors, from 12 to 16, 17 years old."More than a million migrants, many from Syria, have entered Europe via Turkey and Greece in the past year but the number has fallen sharply since March, when Ankara agreed with the European Union to take back refugees landing on the Greek islands.REUTERS AKC PM1731 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-731002.Xml
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will leave on a day-long private visit to Turkey tomorrow.Media reports say he was expected to attend the National Assembly today to face a number of questions tabled by the opposition members over Panama paper leak issue but it was suddenly postponed till Monday. Opposition members staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against Sharif's continued absence from the House. Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Naveed Qamar said opposition lawmakers would not sit in Parliament until the Prime Minister responds to their questions. A joint meeting of the opposition parties chaired by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan also took place at Parliament House. Members of PPP, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf and other opposition parties participated in the meeting, which decided to boycott proceedings until Mr Sharif arrived in the House. The opposition parties are demanding that they should be taken into confidence on the Panama Paper Leak issue. The names of a number of politicians across the world have figured in the Panama Papers that name 259 Pakistanis as having interests in offshore companies. Mr Sharif's three children are among those named as having offshore wealth. The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Sddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). UNI SHK SB 1908 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0430-731372.Xml
In a huge embarrassment to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was shown as part of India at CASA 1000 power project he inaugurated in Tajikistan capital.Images of the map clearly showing Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) and Gilgit Baltistan as part of India went viral on Pakistan channels and social media even as Pakistan's Foreign Office issued clarification in a failed attempt to douse the fire."No one from the government circles took notice of this blatant act of ignorance and inefficiency on part of CASA inauguration ceremony organisers. Even the ambassadors present there also failed to take note of it," chided ARY channel, displaying the "incorrect" map and the "correct" map side by side in day long repeat telecasts.This was not the first time map has stirred a controversy. Last year, a teacher of Panjab University Lahore was suspended for three months for not showing Kashmir region as part of Pakistan in a workshop.A private TV channel had also shown Pakistan map without Kashmir in a live programme show last year, "sparking outrage among public." The channel later apologised.Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Office issued a detailed statement, regretting the drubbing by media despite a clarification."It is surprising that media instead of carrying the clarification remained focused on the error which was noted and steps already taken towards rectification by the host government," the Foreign Office statement regretted saying the media was fully apprised of the alleged faux pas."A section of the media including the social media is circulating a map displayed at the site of the inauguration of CASA-1000 in Tajikistan, yesterday, criticising the inaccurate depiction of Pakistan's boundaries," it said."It is clarified that this discrepancy was noted immediately on arrival at the site by the Pakistan delegation, particularly the political leadership in the delegation, and brought to the attention of the host country. The host government immediately took note and regretted the error while explaining that it was not meant to be a map, as such, but a painting depicting the region without any focus on the boundaries of the countries. They did, however, offered their regrets and also undertook to rectify the painting," the Foreign Office said"It may also be pertinent to mention that the official brochure, which was circulated among all the delegates at the ceremony, contained the map correctly depicting the boundaries of Pakistan," it added.UNI PRA SW 2047 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-731642.Xml
No aircraft from the US-led coalition were in the area of Damascus where Hezbollah's top military commander was reportedly killed in a blast, the White House said today."There were no US or coalition aircraft in the area where he was reported to be killed," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, adding that he could not confirm Mustafa Badreddine's reported death, which the Lebanese Shi'ite group said occurred at a base near Damascus airport. REUTERS PY VN2326 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-731789.Xml
BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and European political party representatives will meet in Beijing next week to discuss green development and cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Some 80 delegates from over 30 political parties and the European Parliament will attend the fifth China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum from May 17 to 18, according to the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

The delegates will also visit Zhengzhou City, capital of Henan Province, to promote practical cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Cops arrest cop in sting operation

It is alleged the officer, who is from Princes Town and who has four years service, had struck a deal for a man who was arrested for larceny of a car, to pay him a certain amount of money, to forego prosecution.

Newsday understands that officers of the PSB under Assistant Commissioner of Police Baldeo received information on the alleged deal and the sting was set up. At about seven oclock on Wednesday night, the policeman went to the suspects home in Mon Repos to collect the money.

As soon as the money exchanged hands, officers who were in hiding moved in, announced themselves and arrested the officer.

He was taken to the Belmont Police Station and placed in a cell.

The young policeman was interviewed yesterday by PSB officers and directions will now be sought from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Other officers taking part in the exercise included Insp Montrichard and WPC Cartie. In January, six police officers were arrested and charged for misbehaviour in public office and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The case against the six remains pending before the courts.
3 policemen freed by Appeal Court

Appellate Court judges, Justices of Appeal Peter Jamadar, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Gregory Smith yesterday quashed the order of Magistrate Nalini Singh, who sat as a coroner in an inquest into the death of 24-year-old Nazim Christian, killed during a shootout with police on May 4, 2005 in Laventille.

In an oral ruling yesterday, the judges also ordered a new inquest into Christians killing. The officers, Sgt Terrence Roy and PCs Damany Bentick and Kene Baldwin, appealed the 2013 ruling of Justice David Harris who dismissed their judicial review application, which sought to have the High Courts review a decision of Coroner Nalini Singh.

In 2012, following an inquest hearing at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court, Coroner Singh ordered that the three officers be charged with the murder of a Laventille man. Senior Counsel Israel Khan, one of the attorneys representing the police officers, submitted to the appellate judges that the coroners decision was irrational and she failed to give reasons why she rejected the version of the killing, given by the policemen and their witnesses.

Khan pointed out that there were two diametrically opposed versions of the shooting, and the coroner as adjudicator of the facts, had to say why she rejected the officers evidence. The coroner is not a rubber stamp. She was bound to give reasons in an inquest. She fell short of her judicial functions when she gave no reasons, attorney Khan argued.

He said the case was of extreme importance since it affects other similar cases of police officers, as it relates to the execution of their duties. In response, attorney Jagdeo Singh, who appeared for the coroner and DPP, said a police officer who charges a suspect on reasonable grounds, could not expect to not be subjected to the same.  Police officers are not placed in special categories. There is no distinction to be drawn and would be wrong to place a police officer in a special class, Singh said. The three appellate judges will give their decision after entertaining submissions on the issue of bias, as concerns were raised about statements the coroner made in coming to her decision.

Christian was shot dead by officers who responded to a report of a shooting at Mariquette Street, East Dry River in Port-of-Spain.

During the inquest, evidence was given that Christian shot at the officers, hitting PC Baldwin in the right hand. Civilian witness Erica John, however testified that she and her son Jivonne saw the officers surround Christian, before shooting him. Attorney Ulric Skerritt also appeared for the policemen while attorney Donna Prowell Raphael represented Coroner Singh.
Escapee found dead in bushes

The man was identified by relatives as Peter Solomon who had been in hiding since his daring escape from a prison cell in the Central Police Station last year.

Solomon reportedly prised open two cell bars and escaped without being detected by officers of the station. An island wide search was carried out for Solomon and intelligence gathered revealed he was hiding out in the South Western Division, however, during a police raid over the weekend for Solomon proved futile. It is believed that Solomon fled to Mausica and was living in a shack close to a fish farm where he was hiding out. At about 2.45 pm yesterday police were alerted to a call from someone who claimed that a man was shot dead in the Carapo area However, despite several searches nothing was found. However it was shortly after midday yesterday when officers were contacted and told that the body of a man was lying on his back clad in a short pants in bushes at Mausica Road. A party of officers led by Senior Superintendent Simboonath Rajkumar and including Inspector Mark Maraj and officers of the Homicide and Crime Scenes Unit went to the scene.
Doctors murder trial begins

In 2006, he was beaten to death in his house.

Yesterday, the murder trial began in the death of Dr Ravi Maharaj, 63, with the testimony of a female relative who told a judge and jury, that a female employee benefitted from the doctors estate. On trial before Justice Hayden St Clair Douglas and a jury of 12 members, is Roger Greene, 38, of Blitz Village, Pleasantville.

Senior State attorney Trevor Jones in presenting a summary of the prosecutions case to the jury, said that Sumintra Enal was Maharajs common-law wife and they lived at the corner of Penitence and Chacon Streets, San Fernando. At 6.55 am on January 11, 2006 she left Maharaj asleep and went to the gym, then to the Plaza on High Street.

Jones said that when at 1 pm, Enal did not get a telephone call from her husband - which she expected - she went to the house. She saw louvre window panes missing and the burglar proofing appeared to have been tampered with. The jury, comprising 12 members heard that Enal found Maharaj lying under his desk with his hands tied. She called the police and Maharaj was taken to nearby General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

It appeared he had been beaten to death.

Jones then told the jury that Enal went back to the house two days later and found cash and jewelry missing.

The judge heard from the prosecutor that Corporal Kurt Simon who investigated the murder, spoke to a suspect named Brian Worrel. He asked jury members to pay attention to such a witness, for he had given police a statement, that the day before the killing, he, accused Greene and a rastaman, had spoken.

And, that Greene had said, I have to go in a house. It have a safe with $100,000. On that fateful day, Worrel took Greene with the rastaman in his car to the corner of Penitence and Chacon Streets.

The jury was further told by prosecutor Jones, that Worrel is a State witness, having been offered immunity from prosecution by the DPP.

Jones then called Roshni Singh, who testified that Maharaj was her uncle and that he was a medical doctor.

She said that he was not married and that he owned Plaza Mall on High Street, San Fernando, the Corner Store at the end of St James Street and two properties in Toronto, Canada. Attorney Kwasi Bekoe, instructed by attorney Jared Ali, who is defending Greene, cross-examined Singh who said there was a female worker at the store who claimed to be Maharajs common-law wife.

There were issues which impacted on the release of the body, she added, in respect of who should plan the funeral and where it should be held. Asked who benefited from the doctors estate, Singh replied that the worker did. The trial continues today.
Murdered boys mom gets death threats

I am not taking this lightly at all, because it was the same rumours that was circulating in the village that Darian would be killed and then he was killed. I am not taking these rumours lightly at all, Nedd said.

Darians charred, dismembered remains were found among the ruins of the familys home at South Oropouche.

The Form One student of Siparia East Secondary School, is believed to have been chopped to death inside his Red Brick Trace home which was then set on fire.

Reports said that two men were seen throwing molotov cocktails (crude, home-made incendiary devices) at the familys wooden house which soon become engulfed in flames. Blood samples were taken from the teenagers parents which would confirm, via DNA testing, the identity of the teenager.

Three weeks have passed and I am still waiting. I just want to bury my son and put him to rest. As a mother it hurts to know that you cannot bury your dead son. It really hurts and even more your life is being threatened, she said.

Nedd said she hopes police conduct proper investigations into the threats made to her and her family members. A 24-yearold man is before the Siparia Magistrates court charged for the teenagers murder.
Ramdeen: Conflict of interest in SSA vote

Two Independent senators  Junkere and Ian Roach  voted for the Governments Bill which the Opposition and the remaining seven Independent senators opposed.

At a news briefing at his Woodbrook, Port-of-Spain law office, Ramdeen distributed High Court documents dated December 15, 2015, that named Junkere as an advocate attorney for the Office of the Attorney General (AG).

Ramdeen submitted that it is a conflict of interest for Junkere to have been retained by the Office of the AG, while now serving as an Independent Senator during the vote on the SSA Bill.

He said Junkere and/or AG Faris Al-Rawi should have disclosed this during Tuesdays debate. Ramdeen added Al-Rawi is unfit for office.

Claiming the method of the Bills passage is a fundamental breach of the TT Constitution and of the rule of law, Ramdeen vowed to write a complaint to President Anthony Carmona for possible action before the Bills assent and proclamation.

He also vowed to ask the law courts if the Bill needs to be passed by a special majority (which it did not get). If needs be, Ramdeen said he would go all the way to the Privy Council.

Junkere however told Newsday that no wrong has been done as he never received any legal brief under the current Peoples National Movement (PNM) administration including AG Al-Rawi.

In fact, Junkere said he was given the 2015 brief (CV2015-01900), Eastern Engineering versus AG, under former Peoples Partnership AG Garvin Nicholas, and moreso, he never submitted an invoice for payment.

By a letter dated July 14, 2015, I received my brief, related Junkere.

There was no conflict of interest. I was not the beneficiary of any State brief from this administration. Asked if this is a case of playing ball so as to expedite payment for whenever the invoice is submitted, Junkere said not at all. He said payment for the 2015 brief, for which he is entitled, does not depend AG Faris Al-Rawi, but rather on the Office of the AG.
Colm: Great hike in Venezuelan arrivals

There is a tremendous increase, Imbert said at the Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Port-of-Spain.

He said the rate of arrival used to be 300 a month. Now it is about 3,000 a month.

Imbert said he has requested a report from Minister of National Security Edmund Dillon on immigration trends. However, the acting Prime Minister said current information suggests that about 99 per cent of Venezuelans coming into the country do so legally.

He said Venezuelans are entitled to stay in Trinidad for 90 days as visitors and, therefore, there is no need for illegal migration.

He said from January to May 10 there had been 14,000 arrivals.

I found that number very low so I have asked the minister for further clarification, Imbert said. The Immigration Division seems to have the matter under control. Venezuela is suffering from the effects of low oil prices, a crippling drought, and severe political tensions.
What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames

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NATO, Pentagon would love to get ahold of tech behind Bitcoin

(Cyberwar.news) The basis of bitcoin  blockchain technology  has many applications, like allowing finance firms to cut down on administrative costs and trade faster, while allowing nations like Estonia to securely track health records.

Now, the U.S. military, along with NATO, want to get in on the technology as well, reports Defense One. The Defense Department and the long-standing military alliance have both put forth requests for military-related apps that are built on blockchain technology, which is a decentralized digital ledger system.

The ledger is stored in multiple copies across a large group and changes are issued to all of them simultaneously and immediately, utilizing a mathematical protocol that renders the ledger tamper-proof. That in turn creates an immutable record of information, and since all have a copy of the data, records are still safe even if a few people are hacked.

Defense One noted further:

The two are looking at different implementations. The DoDs Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, wants to use blockchain to create a secure messaging service. The group recently put out a public request for pitches on the project, and wants a web or native messaging app to help secure communications between different departments and even potentially troops in combat. NATO is looking at more traditional usesusing blockchains to make military logistics, procurement, and finance more efficient.

Blockchain can be speedier than traditional messaging and data transfer systems. Also, and perhaps more importantly, the decentralized nature of the technology makes it far less appealing to hackers.

If significant portions of the DoD backoffice infrastructure can be decentralized, the Defense Advances Research Projects Agency [DARPA] writes, smart documents and contracts can be instantly and securely sent and received thereby reducing exposure to hackers and reducing needless delays in DoD backoffice correspondence.

More:

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President of India attends Centenary Celebrations of Banaras Hindu University

Varanasi, Fri, 13 May 2016 NI Wire

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee attended the Centenary Year Celebrations of Banaras Hindu University and delivered the Centennial Address today (May 12, 2016) at Varanasi.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said by 2030 more than half of India's population will be in the working age bracket. The so called demographic dividend is a double-edged sword. Our huge workforce can be an asset or a liability. It will be an asset only if we can provide quality education and skills training. If we can enhance the employability of our youth, we can become suppliers of workforce to the world.

The President said research and innovation needs to be made a national priority. It is critical that we make substantive investments in research and development as well as in our institutions of higher learning. Only with such investments can India join the ranks of leading countries of the world.

The President paid homage to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on the occasion and said Bharat Ratna Pandit Malaviya was one of the tallest leaders of Indias freedom struggle. He said the Mahamana decided wisely to establish the University in Kashi because the city was not merely a geographical expression but a name which ignites minds as a place which has nurtured the growth of civilization.

The President said Malaviyaji could foresee the need for a university to produce a pool of professionally trained scientists, engineers, social workers, political thinkers, philosophers and academicians who would contribute to nation-building. He wanted students to develop a scientific outlook, and at the same time, retain the deep connect with our rich indigenous culture and knowledge.

The President praised BHU for turning itself into a great centre of learning with around 32,000 students, half of them living on campus making it the largest residential University in Asia. He praised the architectural beauty of its buildings, the greenery of the campus and the fact that it provided education for both worldly progress and inner growth.

Source: PIB
Speech by the president of India at the presentation of National Florence Nightingale Awards for nursing personnel

New Delhi, Fri, 13 May 2016 NI Wire

It is indeed a happy occasion for me to confer the National Florence Nightingale Awards for the year 2016 to the deserving nursing personnel of our country. These Awards are presented on the occasion of the International Nurses Day. At the outset, let me extend my warm greetings to the entire nursing fraternity on this occasion.

2. Today through the medium of these Awards, we have recognized 35 men and women who have distinguished themselves by their extraordinary services in the field of nursing. The National Florence Nightingale Awards is a fitting tribute to the iconic Lady with the Lamp who continues to symbolize the dedication of nurses and inspire the nursing community worldwide. Florence Nightingale viewed nursing as an independent profession, which shares a unique relationship with the medical profession. Nursing professionals are the backbone of the healthcare system. Through education and innovation, this profession has undergone considerable professionalization over the last few decades.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

3. Nurses play a vital role in all aspects of healthcare, be it national health campaigns like polio eradication, mid-wife services and community education. Their level of commitment and care are much valued in both urban and rural areas, including remote areas of the country. Their contribution is critical in the achievement of the nations healthcare goals. Their inputs into health sector policies are equally important for they help in creating the necessary supportive work environment for their practice.

4. It is heartening to learn that the International Council of Nurses has selected an appropriate theme for this year: "Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems resilience. Developing resilient health systems is a key to realize the United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals. Emerging global threats such as microbial resistance, new pandemics, infections, and natural disasters have added to the pressure and demands on healthcare services. The services of nurses are crucial for a response system that a government creates to meet these challenges.

5. As the nursing profession gains a higher profile in the development of local, national and international responses, it will generate a confident and well-informed leadership. Such a leadership will pursue the interests of the nursing workforce and organize them to meet the evolving nature of the professional demands with efficacy. They will also have an important role in advancing inter-professional collaboration and ensuring that it is supported by appropriate governance and policies.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

6. The nursing personnel in our country are increasingly better educated and well-trained. They are now more adept at communicating with patients, and connecting with citizens, communities and policy makers. In the next fifteen years or so, the nature of their services will undergo significant change. Training and capacity building in this field will require new levels of innovation and leadership. Yet, one thing will endure. And that is, the premium all communities in the world will place on the sensitivity, empathy and humanity of Indian nurses.

7. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, significant gains have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing many of the risk factors associated with child and maternal mortality. Nurses have made important contributions to the improvement rate of child survival. Their role and impact are well documented. But there are distances to cover in this healthcare journey. In this context, I would like to bring to your kind attention a report of the World Health Organisation and the World Bank Group. The report brings out a few alarming facts. For one, 400 million people worldwide do not have access to essential health services. And then, six percent of people in low and middle income group countries are forced into extreme poverty burdened by their expenditure on personal health. These grim findings are indicative of the fact that improvements in health and economic conditions are mutually reinforcing. We must, therefore, continue investing in improvements in the health sector. One of the key components will be adequate and wider dispersal of trained human resources.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

8. The Government of India has developed global standards for professional nursing and mid-wifery education. These are aimed at raising the quality of nursing education and creating paths for professional advancement in line with national, regional and global health needs. New technologies are now available for monitoring progress in all aspects of training and capacity building. I am confident that these new measures will go a long way in achieving the desired results.

9. With these words, I conclude. I wish the meritorious nursing professionals of our country, who have been honoured today, all success in their careers. Let me also express my deep appreciation for the efforts of the Health Minister and his Ministry for their encouragement to the nursing community through awards and similar programmes and initiatives. Best of luck for the future!

Thank you.

Jai Hind.

Source: PIB
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The Army is fast-tracking an emerging technology which gives combat vehicles an opportunity identify, track and destroy approaching enemy rocket-propelled grenades in a matter of milliseconds.

Called Active Protection Systems, or APS, the technology uses sensors and radar, computer processing, fire control technology and interceptors to find, target and knock down or intercept incoming enemy fire such as RPGs and Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, or ATGMs.

The Army is looking at a range of domestically produced and allied international solutions from companies participating in the Armys Modular Active Protection Systems (MAPS) program, an Army official told Scout Warrior.

The idea is to arm armored combat vehicles and tactical wheeled vehicles with additional protective technology to secure platforms and soldiers from enemy fire; vehicles slated for use of APS systems are infantry fighting vehicles such as Bradleys along with Stykers, Abrams tanks and even tactical vehicles such as transport trucks and the emerging Humvee replacement, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

The US Marine Corps plans to buy the Israeli Trophy Active Protection Systems for M1 Tanks.

Various Active Protection Systems

Rafaels Trophy system

Israeli Military Industrys Iron Fist

Artis Corporations Iron Curtain

UBT / Rheinmetalls ADS system

Trophy

DRS Technologies and Israeli-based Rafael Advanced Defense Systems are asking the U.S. Army to consider acquiring their recently combat-tested Trophy Active Protection System, a vehicle-mounted technology engineered to instantly locate and destroy incoming enemy fire.

Using a 360-degree radar, processor and on-board computer, Trophy is designed to locate, track and destroy approaching fire coming from a range of weapons such as Anti-Tank-Guided-Missiles, or ATGMs, or Rocket Propelled Grenades, or RPGs.

Trophy intercepts and destroys incoming missiles and rockets with a shotgun-like blast. Trophy is the product of a ten-year collaborative development project between the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries Elta Group. Its principal purpose is to supplement the armor of light and heavy armored fighting vehicles.

In June 2014, Rafael unveiled Trophy LV, a lighter application of the system designed to offer protection to light military vehicles (less than 8 tons) such as jeeps and 4x4s. It weights 200 kilos, significantly less than other Trophy applications.

Trophy Combined with Iron Fist

In December 2014, it was revealed that Rafael, IAI, and Israel Military Industries had agreed to jointly develop a next-generation active defense system for vehicles, based on a combination of the Rafael/IAI Trophy and IMI Iron Fist. Rafael will act as the main contractor and system developer and integrator, and IAI and IMI will be subcontractors providing the radar and interceptor respectively. Unlike the Trophys interception method of metal pellets that spread over a wide area, IMIs interceptor is based on an anti-missile missile. Interest for a vehicle APS grew significantly following Trophys successful performance during Operation Protective Edge in mid-2014, where dozens of tanks equipped with the system suffered no injuries or false alarms. The Defense Ministry had pushed the companies to work together and combine their systems

SOURCES -Scout, Rafael, Wikipedia, Defense Daily
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The Obama Administration is willing to untighten the arms embargo on Libya to help fight the Islamic State group if the Presidency Council makes concrete requests, US officials say.

If the Libyan government prepares a detailed and coherent list of things that it wants to use to fight ISIL and responds to all the requirements of the exemption, I think that the Security Council members are going to look very seriously at that request, a senior administration official told AFP.

There is a very healthy desire inside of Libya to rid themselves of ISIL, and I think that is something we should be supporting and responding to, the official said, using an acronym for the group.

Washington will intervene on behalf of the Presidency Council to carve out exemptions to an embargo introduced by the Security Council in 2011, during Kadhafis failed attempt to suppress a popular uprising.

During a trip to Cairo this week, Head of the Presidency Council Faiez Serraj slammed the international community indicating that Libya can never overcome IS with the embargo still in force and urged the United Nations to lift the ban so that Libya can better equip its army.

Since entering the country in 2014, IS has been able to establish its rule, mainly in coastal regions including in Kadhafis home Sirte, seating some 100km from European coasts.

The group has recently lost ground and was pushed in its stronghold of Sirte due to advances of the Libyan National Army (LNA) loyal to Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) and other militias opposed to the LNA Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

The discussions to loosen the embargo will take place Monday during a meeting between US Secretary of State John Kerry and his counterparts of regional powers in Vienna, reports say.

Libyas neighbors have been against a military intervention in the North African country warning that such action will be disastrous for the region. They further underlined that Libyan internal affairs is the concern of Libyan authorities. Egypt has also backed Libyas call for the removal of the ban.

Given the fact that Libya still has no unified army, there are fears that arms to be possibly sent may fall in wrongs hands.

There is no unified chain of command; there are still factional armed forces that are still more focused on fighting each other than on fighting ISIS, said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The real danger is that these factional militias would use the arms against each other.
The United States Wednesday delivered a set of military equipment including jeeps and aircrafts to Tunisia to help the North African country better secure its borders against illegal crossings of terrorists.

The equipment estimated at $20 million is made of 48 jeeps, 12 aircrafts and a communication system. The package will be used to identify the positions of terrorists trying to cross the border, US Assistant Secretary for Defense Amanda Dory told reporters at the ceremony.

The equipment is likely to boost the military capabilities in the protection of the land and sea borders, Tunisian Defense Minister Farhat Horchani was quoted as saying.

Horchani also told reporters that Tunisia was expecting to receive a number of attack aircraft, without giving further details.

The US and other western countries have come to Tunisias help to withstand growing terrorism that has shaken its young democracy.

The North African country was last year subject to three major terrorist attacks claimed by the Islamic State.

Security authorities in a move to curb illegal crossing by IS militants from neighboring Libya, have built a barrier along the 200 km-long border with Libya, equipped with electronic system detectors capable of identifying suspicious movements.

Germany and the UK have also provided logistical assistance to Tunisian forces.

German paper Der Spiegel last week reported that Germany was to offer a double digit sum to help Tunisian army buy armored vehicles to be used for border security surveillance.
Libyas state-owned National Oil Corporation (NOC) accused the Tobruk-based government led by Prime Minister Thinni of stopping the state from earning the much needed revenue from oil sales by blocking loading at the Marsa al Hariga port.

Tripoli-based NOC warned in a statement that stopping the exportation of oil will heavily impact the value of the Libyan dinar against foreign currencies and will add to the acute shortages of foods and medicines while power outages will last for longer hours.

NOC claimed that the actions of the Tobruk-based government is costing the state around $10 million of oil exportation per day and its spokesman Mohamed Al-Harari alleged that Thinni is playing a role in the blockade as he claimed that a tanker that was to be loaded last week was stopped on the express orders of the Prime Minister.

Libya is heavily dependent on oil sales and the Hariga terminal presently accounts for 75% of international sales in the war torn country where oilfields and terminal are controlled by different armed groups with multiple governments claiming legitimacy.

The Tobruk-based government could be using the blockade as a weapon to deprive the state of its oil revenue after efforts to sell oil on its self-styled NOC based in Tobruk failed.

Meanwhile, after reports of small number of French and British troops being on the ground in Libya, US officials under the condition of anonymity revealed that two teams of less than 25 troops are operating around Misrata and Benghazi since 2015 and their mission includes identifying potential allies among local armed factions and gathering intelligence on threats.
By Sabah Lebbar

On Wednesday, Morocco and China signed a joint statement establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries. Under the joint statement, the two countries vowed to deepen cooperation in areas including petroleum, mining industry, agriculture, environmental protection, ocean fisheries, infrastructure construction and digital communication. They also pledged to expand cooperation in renewable energy, and develop partnership in industry, metallurgy and electronics.

On Thursday, the two countries started honoring their pledge and King Mohammed VI presided over the signing ceremony of fifteen partnership agreements between both the public and private sectors.

The first MoU signed during the ceremony is related to the creation of new logistics and residential zones in the northern region of Tangiers. The project, to be developed by the Chinese HAITE group, was already contained in the strategic development plan envisioned by King Mohammed VI as early as 2003, when the Tangier-Med project was launched.

Since then, the King has been closely following the development of the Tangier-Med project, meant to be a flourishing industrial zone, leading to the creation of more wealth and more jobs.

According to a Moroccan analyst, the project falls in line with Moroccos regionalization process, which consists in providing regions with adequate development means, and is consistent with the countrys policy to enhance the various regions competitiveness and consequently the overall competitiveness of the Kingdom.

In an increasingly globalized world, the new logistics and residential zones in Tangiers will further strengthen the anchoring of the country as an inescapable pole of exchange in its regional space, said the analyst.

For him, the fact that China, one of the worlds leading industrial powers, showed interest in the region, will undoubtedly buttress the standing of the Tangier-Med project.

Other agreements are related to the extension and maintenance of the Jerada thermal power plant, investment and finance cooperation through Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited, and the purchase and construction of an electric bus-manufacturing unit in Morocco.

Other accords provide for the setting up of a number of industrial units in Morocco, including a solar water-heaters production unit, the development of a production unit for photovoltaic cells, the construction of a cement plant, and the establishment of a Chinese-Moroccan industrial park.

A MoU provides for the development of an industrial and logistical hub for manufacturing spare parts for railway, car and aeronautics industries.

The two sides also agreed to set up a Chinese-Moroccan one-billion dollar investment fund targeting the sectors of aeronautics, finances, industrial parks and infrastructure, to launch a fund management company and to reinforce partnership in the fields of life insurance in China and aircraft leasing. Part of their technical partnership, a bank on new technologies will be set up in China.

A number of other accords signed Thursday provide for joint actions to back up African enterprises, fund development projects in key-sectors in Africa, develop logistics zones in the continent and develop an E-market platform for Chinese products destined to Africa by using Morocco as a distribution hub and a gateway to Africa.

All these agreements, in addition to the strategic partnership launched on Wednesday by King Mohammed VI and President Xi Xi Jinping, will give a new momentum to the special relations between the two countries and enhance the solid bonds of friendship and mutual esteem between the two nations.

As put by King Mohammed VI in a message of thanks to the Chinese President at the end of his official visit to China, This is a tangible embodiment of our shared will to build a special, effective, solidarity-based and multi-dimensional South-South cooperation model from which our peoples stand to benefit greatly and which will contribute to promoting security, peace and stability around the world.
*Sips tea*

Former House Speaker John Boehner said he would support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for president even though he doesnt agree with any of his policy ideas, CNN reports.

Speaking at a Las Vegas hedge-fund conference on Thursday, Boehner said Trump was the nominee whether people like it or not, then proceeded to answer no repeatedly when asked whether he supported Trumps proposals to build a giant wall along the border with Mexico, temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S., and impose aggressive tariffs on trade with China and other countries.

Boehner may not be thrilled to board the Trump train, but he does appear relieved to be rid of Ted Cruz, the Texas senator whom he publicly called Lucifer in the flesh. Thank God the guy from Texas didnt win, he told reporters.

His successor, Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan, has been reluctant to support the presumptive nominee and is currently engaged in an elaborate courtship ritual with the Donald. Boehner predicted that the obstacles to Ryans endorsement would get smoothed over soon.

So what does Boehner, whose speakership consisted of multiple efforts to effectively nullify President Barack Obamas legislative legacy, like about Trump? Mainly, it would seem, that hes a Republican with a pulse and a plausible shot at winning the White House. Anybody who doesnt think Donald Trump can win, he said, just watch.
A man is detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

Donald Trump is an exceptional figure in modern American politics. No major-party nominee has boasted the Donalds combination of policy ignorance, transparent mendacity, and open hostility to the norms  both social and constitutional  that undergird an open, democratic society.

Since Trumps aberrant political style inspired revulsion from elites in both parties, even some outlets with pretenses toward objectivity felt comfortable calling the candidates racist, authoritarian, or simply absurd proposals exactly what they were. This was, for the most part, a healthy development. But it did come with a drawback: By calling out Trumps mathematically impossible budget proposals, or his defense of reinstituting torture  but refusing to do the same for those of his GOP rivals  some mainstream political reporting fostered the impression that these failings were unique to the Donald. (In truth, the difference between Trump and other Republicans on these subjects was one of degree, not kind.)

Occasionally, liberals have exceptionalized Trump in an analogous fashion, as the Boston Globe editorial board did with its dystopic April 9, 2017 front page:

Obviously, Donald Trump and Barack Obama have radically different immigration policies. And the GOP nominees plan to round up and deport 11 million undocumented immigrants would send America several miles down the road to a police state. But we dont need to wait for a future, Trumpist dystopia to write the headline Deportations to Begin.

The Boston Globe prints mock front page ripped from a dark, Trump-led future: https://t.co/6YZ79IbItk pic.twitter.com/yudzfMGAHW  Delmi (@DelmianyoE) April 16, 2016

On Thursday, Reuters reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is preparing to launch a 30-day surge of arrests focused on Central American mothers and children who have already been instructed to leave the United States. The operation will be the largest deportation sweep since a two-day drive in January that resulted in the detention* of 121 perople. More than 60,000 family units  defined as mothers and children traveling together  have crossed into the United States illegally since 2013. Many of these families were fleeing an upsurge of violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Theres nothing unprecedented about this kind of enforcement action, and to allow all of the migrants who have entered the country over the past few years to reside here permanently would likely stretch the bounds of executive authority.

But for individual undocumented mothers and children, being rounded up and deported by a liberal presidents ICE agents probably wont feel any less terrifying than being hunted down by a pseudo-fascists deportation force.

For progressives, this raises the question: Is Trumps deportation plan outrageous because of its scale, or because the deportation of noncriminal undocumented residents is morally unacceptable in and of itself?

The reaction of the two Democratic presidential candidates to the Reuters report suggests that the party remains ambivalent but is trending toward the latter. Bernie Sanders condemned the operation in terms of moral absolutes, saying, Sending these people back into harms way is wrong. Clinton also met the proposal with outrage, but insistently framed her objection around the size and scope of the operation. Im against large scale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities, she said in a statement. Large scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country.

And yet: If a raid aimed at hundreds of undocumented migrants  who came as part of an influx of 60,000  is unacceptable in its scale, what practical option does the state have for dealing with this population other than granting the vast majority legal status?

The terms of the Democratic candidates debate over deportation stands in stark contrast to the Obama administrations record of aggressive enforcement. At the Democratic debate in Miami, Univisions Jorge Ramos asked if the candidates would commit to allowing every single law-abiding undocumented immigrant currently in the country to remain here. Neither candidate felt comfortable saying no.



Certainly, this reflects the growing influence of Hispanic voters and advocates for the undocumented within the party. But Trump also deserves some credit for the development  the more Democrats define themselves in opposition to the demagogue, the more difficult it becomes to defend small-scale versions of his policies.

*This has been corrected to show that 121 people were detained in the January deportation raids, not deported.


The Zika virus is spread by mans worst enemy: mosquitoes. Photo: LUIS ROBAYO/Getty Images

The U.S. might not be ready for Zika, but its getting there. On Thursday, the Senate approved a $1.1 billion emergency-spending measure to combat the Zika virus, the Associated Press reports.

The deal, struck between Patty Murray and Roy Blunt, is quite a bit less than the $1.9 billion the Obama administration was seeking, but it was the most Senate Democrats could get out of a GOP caucus reluctant to authorize any new spending. Republicans in Congress rebuffed the administrations initial request for funds in February, forcing it to use $500 million in unspent money earmarked for fighting Ebola instead.

I have pushed for the $1.9 [billion] since the beginning, Murray said. I think its the right package. But I have reached an agreement with Blunt on what we can put into a package, and well have a vote on it. For its part, the White House said it welcomed any sort of forward momentum on the matter, but Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid panned it as not enough, especially when the amount will likely be reduced further by House Republicans.

Of the $1.1 billion, about $361 million will go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, $200 million will go to the National Institutes of Health to research a vaccine, and $248 million will go to efforts to combat the disease abroad.

The measure will be attached to a bill funding veterans and transportation programs, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already scheduled a floor vote for the legislation next week.

The Zika virus, which, when contracted by pregnant women can cause severe birth defects, has had devastating consequences in Brazil and other South American countries. It has since appeared in the U.S., with a pregnant Connecticut woman testing positive for the virus last week.
Transgender rights for some, states rights for others. Photo: Mark Lyons/Getty Images

Last month, Donald Trump said that transgender people should be able to use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. Ted Cruz pounced on the remark, praying that this display of New York values would be enough to turn the GOP base against the mogul. He spent the final weeks of his campaign (essentially) shouting, Donald Trump wants to make it easier for grown men to molest your daughters. And then Trump won the Evangelical vote in Indiana, Cruz suspended his campaign to spend more time elbowing his family, and America enjoyed a two-week respite from national politicians demagoguing transgender issues.

But on Thursday night, the transgender bathroom controversy returned to the national spotlight, as the Obama administration issued a directive instructing every public school in the country to allow its students to use the restroom that comports with their gender identity. The directive does not have the force of law, but it comes with the implicit threat that federal funding could be cut off to noncompliant schools.

Social conservatives were not pleased.

We will not sell out our children to the federal government, Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick told reporters Friday. This is a modern-day, come-and-take-it issue, and the president of the United States, like the superintendent of Fort Worth, is not coming and taking our children.

The superintendent of the public-school system in Port Neches-Groves, Texas, was similarly defiant.

I got news for President Barack Obama, superintendent Rodney Canvass told 12News. He aint my President and he cant tell me what to do. That letter is going straight to the paper shredder. I have 5 daughters myself and I have 2,500 girls in my protection. Their moms and dads expect me to protect them. And that is what I am going to do.

Iowa Republican congressmen Peter King said he would likely hold hearings on this latest act of executive overreach.

The partys standard-bearer also came out against the measure  but in decidedly milder terms.

I think this should be a states issue. Its become a huge story and yet it affects  and everybody has to be protected, if its one person  but its a tiny, tiny portion of the population, and its become a massive story, Trump told Fox & Friends. I think there should be a states issue.

As to the merits of the issue  whether it is appropriate for public-school students to select bathrooms on the basis of gender identity rather than biological sex  Trump refused to take a position.

Its a new issue, Trump said. Right now I just dont have an opinion.

If Trump is able to maintain that neutrality in the coming months, it will be a testament to how far the national debate over LGBT issues has shifted, four short years after the Democratic president declared his support for same-sex marriage.
Susannah Mushatt Jones. Photo: Bobby Doherty

The oldest person in the world, who also happened to be a Brooklynite, died at 116 at her senior home Thursday night. Susannah Mushatt Jones was born July 6, 1899, and was the only American still around whod lived in the 19th century.

Jones, whom New York featured in the magazine last year, was born in Alabama to a tenant farmer and was one of 11 siblings. From the article:

Jones graduated from high school in 1922 and came to Newark, New Jersey. She worked as a nanny and a housekeeper there, and later in Westchester. She briefly married in 1928. She lived in Harlem for a bit, and continued working until 1965. She went back to Alabama after her retirement, and then returned to New York for good.

Jones moved to her senior home in Canarsie at 80. Shes outlived all of her siblings. By 100 shed given up cooking and her neighborhood-watch duties. At 116, she slept a lot and had some hearing problems, but:

 She still loves her bacon  four strips, every morning, eaten with gusto. Has a pretty good appetite, in fact. Chews Doublemint gum. Her hair, long since turned white, has come in brown again. She voted for Barack Obama, twice. (A birthday letter from him hangs on her wall.)

Jones cedes the title of worlds oldest person to Emma Morano, from Italy, who was born on November 29, 1899. At just a few months younger than Jones, shes the oldest in Europe and the last person born before 1900 now left in the world. Morano credits her long life to three raw eggs a day and being single for most of her life.
Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images

Newly leaked Facebook documents, published today in The Guardian, confirm earlier reports from Gizmodo about the all-too-human process that goes into the platforms seemingly algorithmic Trending Topics sidebar feature. (Facebook confirmed the documents were legitimate but described them as an older version.)

That Facebook had a clearly defined set of practices around its Trending Topics  including, apparently, a procedure to insert stories that were not necessarily trending  conflicts with how the company has previously described the section: as a series of topics whose appearance and importance was determined algorithmically and via automation. In fact, these early guidelines show that Facebook, in its infinite wisdom, still relied on less than a dozen publications in determining whether stories were of national importance.

Facebook relies heavily on just 10 news sources to determine whether a trending news story has editorial authority. You should mark a topic as National Story importance if it is among the 13 top stories of the day, reads the trending review guidelines for the US . We measure this by checking if it is leading at least 5 of the following 10 news websites: BBC News, CNN , Fox News, The Guardian, NBC News, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Yahoo News or Yahoo.

Perhaps the biggest contradiction to Facebooks earlier claims is that, per The Guardians documents, curators were in fact allowed to inject (Facebooks words) stories into the trending section that had not actually reached the computer-determined threshold for what constitutes trending. Earlier this week, the company said that they do not artificially inject stories, implying that topics still had to pass some sort of newsworthiness smell-test before they entered the system. But they were injected nevertheless.

The company itself disclosed with a list of 1,000 trusted sources  the news outlets whose reporting Facebook relied on to confirm the accuracy of its Trending Topics summaries. News topics needed to be corroborated by reporting from at least three Media 1K outlets, making Facebook, somewhat recursively, a gatekeeper for media gatekeepers. Its not news until Facebook says that three other places said its news.

Notably, the list includes conservative sources like Breitbart and the Daily Caller, the types of sites that, earlier this week, Facebook contractors said had at times been excluded from the Trending section. That those conservative sources are in the list is good news for those worried about Facebook leaning left in the information it provides, but maybe less reassuring to people who dont think highly of the quality of reporting of sites like Breitbart. The presence of frequently inaccurate sites like ViralNova  in the science section, no less!  is similarly unreassuring.

None of this is hugely surprising to sophisticated consumers of Facebooks product  of course the company has guidelines, of course it has a list of reliable news sources, of course its decisions are largely driven by human editorial judgment. But its at odds with Facebooks self-image as an impartial, machine-driven enterprise, in which computers crunch big data to better cater to their users, without the intervention of humans and their messy biases.

In response, Facebooks VP of Global Operations, Justin Osofsky, broadly described the Trending curation process in a blog post today. Its more or less similar to what Gizmodos reporting had previously described  a current-events sandwich where algorithms are the bread and humans are the meat. An algorithm surfaces topics (many people are talking about Prince), curators confirm the news and write the short descriptions (Prince died), and then an algorithm determines which users would benefit from seeing it (show this story users who like Princes page).

Old news though it might be, its still nice to hear it directly from Facebook. The service has so far stubbornly stood by its commitment to a vaguely defined neutrality and an appeal to the impartiality of the algorithm. Better that it acknowledge that its human intermediaries are, well, human, susceptible to biases and subjectivity, and explain how it mitigates those concerns.
Great Rooms A visual diary by Design Editor Wendy Goodman Photo: Wendy Goodman

The inseparable artist-and-designer, husband-and-wife collaborators Ruben and Isabel Toledo met in high school in New Jersey, both their families having fled Cuba during the revolution. Isabel went on to design Michelle Obamas coat and dress for the first inauguration, earn a Tony nomination for her costumes for the Broadway musical After Midnight, and pen an autobiography, Roots of Style. Ruben collaborates on each and every project.

The Toledos, pictured here in their live-work studio, have just launched their new fragrance, Pink Putti , the third in their Hot House Beauties collection for Lane Bryant. The black-and-white tiles on the wall here are Rubens designs for Ceramica Bardelli in Milan.

Since 1995, the Toledos have lived and worked in this magical loft within a temple atop an 1895-era building. This is where they start to dream up and work out their projects. We usually create a whole universe, Ruben says. Whatever we are doing, whether it is a Broadway show, a collection, or a perfume, we make a whole world out of it. Rubens designs include a line of furniture shown at Ralph Pucci International , and he recently collaborated with Louis Vuitton on a limited-edition monograph of his illustrations.

The shape of this skylight is what inspired Rubens design for the perfume bottle

When scaffolding went up around the building a year ago, Ruben took advantage of it, exploring the sculptures on the front facade facing the street, only to discover a world of angel putti, at work and play, representing perhaps the various artisans who worked on the buildings beautiful design. There is a whole universe of artists, Ruben says of the frieze he was able to study up close. Isabel adds, There are compasses, there are brushes. It is really what this building is being used for.

We had been aware of the architectural putti high above on our building and they had always intrigued us, Isabel says, and as we were developing the fragrance notes for Pink Putti, it became clear that this perfume had to be about the birth of creation itself, the innocence of the new.

Isabel on the balcony under the buildings frieze that depicts Mercury, a goddess, and industrious putti at work.

The development of Pink Putti began with lots and lots of paintings and drawings by Ruben, a fraction of which are pictured here. If you would have walked into this place when we were creating Pink Putti, you would have walked into a pink world, Isabel says. Adds Ruben, It was drawings of Versailles, drawings of Venice, sunsets, watercolors, and beaches.

Pink Putti, which the Toledos developed with the perfume house Givaudan, has notes of the national flower of Cuba, white mariposa. The other two fragrances, Kuba Rose and Crystal Honey, have their own intimate alchemy. The idea of the packaging was to develop from the inside out, Ruben explains. The outside is rather classic and iconic, and the inside is baroque and full of energy. The perfume boxes are made from one continuous piece of paper that wraps itself into this kind of rosebud that holds the bottle.

Isabels workout Hula-Hoops adorn a column off the mezzanine of the loft. Its about art, period. Isabel says of their daily lives here. We are constantly working, and that is the art. Its not the concept of being an artist; its working, that is what develops the art.

Ruben works in many different areas of the loft, including here, upstairs, in a room with the original magnificent windows and terrazzo floor intact. What began as a small potted Christmas tree has grown into a huge Dr. Seusslike character.

The lower floor has been cleared so that Ruben can start work on their next project, a show of new art and designs called Bodies at Work, opening October 7, at the Columbus Museum of Art, in Ohio.
Jian Ghomeshi with his lawyer, as protesters picketed the courthouse. Photo: AP Photo; Getty Images

For those of us who care about justice for survivors of sexual violence, this was a depressing week. Kristen Stewart, who walked the red carpet with Woody Allen at Cannes to promote his new film, in which she stars, explained that she had considered the abuse allegations against Allen but ultimately decided it would be fruitful to work with him. Then a judge in California put a lawsuit brought by former supermodel Janice Dickinson against Bill Cosby on hold. And then the final criminal counts against former Canadian radio host Jian Ghomeshi were withdrawn in court. As part of the deal, he had to issue an apologetic statement to a former co-worker who had accused him of assaulting her in the CBC offices.

To some, this looks like justice at work: If you cant prove guilt in court, the accused is not guilty. But to the rest of us, it looks like a predictable pattern. Its notoriously hard for victims of sexual violence to find justice in a court of law (and in the court of public opinion), so these results are predictable. They are a potent reminder of how we fail most survivors of assault and abuse. No wonder many do not come forward. When they do, were great at the initial outrage part, and not so good at securing justice.

Its not just that the court let Ghomeshi off after a rather shocking display of ignorance in March by a judge who clearly has no idea how abuse functions. Its not just that major celebrities have continued to work with Allen. Just as bad is that our collective outrage meter has barely registered the legal systems shortcomings, especially when compared to the initial reaction to the accusations against these men. Its becoming apparent how little public outcry is really worth when it comes to securing justice for victims.

We are witnessing a sea change in how we talk about sexual assault and abuse, writes Ronan Farrow in an op-ed this week about celebrities supporting Allens new movie. But there is more work to do to build a culture where women like my sister are no longer treated as if they are invisible. Its time to ask some hard questions. So what are those hard questions?



They probably start with this one: What does justice even look like? We usually assume that it means prosecuting and convicting people who perpetrate sexual violence. Since the passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, America has funded efforts to train police and judges about the issue. Thats resulted in some positive changes, yet it hasnt completely changed the fact that, for many women, cops and courts are threats, not safe havens. And that many observers dont see the remote possibility of jail time as a real deterrent for would-be abusers.

Then theres the pain that survivors must go through in order to subject themselves to the legal process. Ghomeshis accuser Kathryn Borel told reporters that a trial would have maintained his lie, the lie that he was not guilty, and it would have further subjected me to the very same pattern of abuse that Im currently trying to stop. She chose to settle for an apology. I wonder if that really felt like justice to her, or if it felt like the best of a bad set of options.

All too often, our collective outrage at sexual assault is only tenuously connected to justice for survivors. Some of this has to do with the passage of time and the whims of the news cycle. But at a more fundamental level, perhaps the brokenness of the criminal-justice system is a core reason that its so hard to maintain our anger as accusations morph into charges and lawsuits. The system is so consistently frustrating that its easier for observers to focus on supporting survivors who have come forward with new accusations, rather than see old cases through to their inevitably disappointing end.

And speaking of hard questions, its rare that we stop and ask survivors what justice looks like to them. We usually assume that the answer is a criminal conviction, even in decades-old cases where the statute of limitations has long passed. But thats not every survivors desire, especially when pursuing a conviction involves the kind of insulting comments like those made by the judge in the Ghomeshi case. We cant let our collective outrage eclipse individual survivors definition of justice.
Because Woody Allen "empowered" her with his shitty roles

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ryan reynolds penis

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MTE, l always wonder why she's still somewhat a thing.

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She can't act, has a weird speaking voice and her face. being white must be great

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and yet Leighton, who is clearly superior, is nowhere near as famous. smh

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You forgot - she's stupid af, like we already knew she had hair for brains but then she had to go making noises about how calling Woody out wasn't "respectful" because Bing Crosby or sth



and nm that Bing Crosby was a child abuser who terrorised his own son

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omg i missed you

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perfect first comment, you're the best

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She should just not say anything at all tbh.

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Please stop talking.

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Plantation Blake would.

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Interesting Blake ended up being the spokesperson for this movie instead of Jesse or Kristen

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i didn't even know she was in it until yesterday

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She's the only one dumb enough to do this. Someone in her camp doesn't love her.

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It's for the best tbh

Jesse and Kristen already said many stupid things in interiews to make people hate them forever lol.

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i think this clearly isn't for best

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Lol I had no clue she was even in this movie until your comment.

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it's so weird too bc she didn't even get any questions asked at that one conference she went to.

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was just going to comment the same thing. i was not expecting her to take the lead on shitty things to say.

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I mean, if this is a PR move, that's kind of genius? Evil, but genius.

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KStewpid has already made a fool of herself in an interview with Variety:



Stewart admits that initially she had concerns about working with Allen. She was aware of the sexual-abuse allegations of his daughter, Dylan Farrow, who wrote an open letter to The New York Times in 2014, condemning actresses like Emma Stone and Scarlett Johansson for supporting his work. After she was cast, Stewart had a conversation with Eisenberg about the situation.



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, Stewart says. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.



Sure, it was "fruitful," if your thirst for an Oscar nomination outweighs your integrity.

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omfg, when will the madness stop!



As a general rule, I hate when men get to be "empowering" to women, because they fucking aren't. But this? THIS? Come on ladies, get it together.

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It's very dangerous to factor in things you don't know anything about.



so stop acting like he's all good then. stop standing up for him when you might be standing up for a rapist. just back off if you "don't know anything" about it.



also she's such a shit actress, like how did she even land this role?

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men want to fuck her. that's the only explanation for her career.

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yeah why doesnt she take her own fucking advice

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actors have a weird cognitive dissonance when defending woody allen

it's like when kristen stewart said she didn't want to "personalize" the allegations about woody, and then went on to empathize with him

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She's just trying to keep those roles coming in. Collect your checks I guess, Blake.

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making films where a woman is the lead =/= feminism

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"It's very dangerous to factor in things you don't know anything about."



sis you missed your own cue to stop talking.

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Seriously lmao. I can't with her.

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lol it took me a second to realize this comment was not about James Blake

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lmao, shots fired.

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she would tbh

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Why is she becoming the spokesperson for this? Is the rest of the cast this time just smart enough to shut up and not die on this hill (though they all should for working with him)?

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I'm guessing Kristen is choosing to focus all her attention on Personal Shopper for the rest of the festival and Jesse is hiding, lol. Corey Stoll is the only other cast member who went to Cannes, and he's not really on the general public's radar.

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Why is Jesse hiding?

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Is the rest of the cast this time just smart enough to shut up and not die on this hill (though they all should for working with him)?



Yes, they are.

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Kristen Stewart has said things similar to this, if you look in her tag.

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The others have already said their shitty statements (Kstew for both herself and Eisenberg) so they're all trash basically

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that wedding is a terrible idea

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-I don't even like Penny but I wasn't here for Callie trying to blame her. It was your stupid idea, Callie. Take some responsibility.



-Watching Owen is like watching paint dry. I have never found the energy to care about him.



-Kyle is no Denny. It didn't help that Wilmer is an awful actor.

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The writing is so rushed and terrible this season. I was confused that I was expected to give a fuck when Kyle died tbh. We got to know Denny over a season and through multiple characters. This cheesy guitar playing shit is not a personality.

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LOL they REALLY wanted us to have Denny feels in that scene, and I was just kinda casually browsing Twitter in another tab. No ty to the actor and the character. The only sad part was his mom breaking down. :\

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parents crying makes me so sad :(

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Right?! Penny didn't ask her to do any of this, she's just a convenient person to blame because otherwise Callie would have to acknowledge that she totally f*ed up her custody situation and dynamic with her co-parent for a relationship that she ultimately wasn't as invested in as she tried to make everyone think she was. If anything, this is more evidence that the judge's decision was right, because Callie was willing to change everything about Sophia's life just because she fancied herself in love with Penny. When she realistically, could have just spent the year visiting Penny and occasionally bringing Sophia along on those trips. Miranda was right.

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Jo as an awful person. Poor Alex proposing for the third time and she said no. He deserves better. And they better no do the "I am already married" or "I got married at a young age and divorced and it turned me off marriage" crap.

Is anyone surprised at Mer and Riggs hooking up? We all knew this was inevitable.



WTF at Owen and Amelia moving this fast. The only got back together like 2 episodes and are getting married, already? Seriously, WTF?

How can April be in labor already? Unless they had a time jump between last night's episode and the finale.



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I'm convinced Jo got married young and never finalized the divorce. It's cliche, but with that episode description it totally makes sense.

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I was going for the she got an abortion and never told him

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That's the only thing I can think of. That or she's secretly dying or something. It's so annoying; I've liked them in the past because they were actual stable and sane and acted like adults, but now we're back to this 'big dark secret' high-school bullshit. Lawd.

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That was my first impression when she told him. I thought she was going to finish by saying, "because I'm already married."

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idk why, but i was surprised by mer and riggs until about 30 seconds before it happened lol



and it was an ugly makeout :/

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By the way Jo kept saying she "can't" marry Alex and not that she won't or doesn't want to makes me think that she's already married.

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I totally didn't realize Riggs & Meredith were gonna go for it until like thirty seconds before it happened, when they were doing that classic argue-back-and-forth-pause-then-kiss thing. DDDD: DO NOT WANT

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how the hell are they getting married

i feel like they just met a few months ago and have just started actually dating like last week

wtf is this shit

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Also how dare Callie blame Penny by telling her that she "helped enough". She practically forced her to take her to New York. And pity Penny left like that, I kinda liked her. She's better than Jo and Stephanie at least.

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The best thing for Penny is to get away from all of these people. She's had such an unfortunate run with all of them-and now Callie. Go to New York where no one will blame you for "killing" Derek. I like her and she just took too much abuse this year.

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mte. she took SOOO much shit this year for nothing

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I hope in the finale Callie owns up to her choices and has some responsibility for the decisions she chose to make. Her blaming Penny was so ridiculous.

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Yeah, I didn't mind Penny originally but I felt so bad for her :/ She has to be the most mistreated character ever on the show.

For the first time ever I hated Callie. Ugh.

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Thank god Jo and Alex are done. I wish Alex would have been the one to end it though. She doesn't deserve him.



Meredith was really harsh on Amelia last night. I don't like her and Riggs together. But if Owen's sister shows up in the finale then hopefully that will put a stop to a Mer/Riggs relationship.



Steph annoyed me by trying to doctor Wilmer's character after he and his family said they wanted her to stay away. I cringed when she was begging Jo for information and then when Jo told her what Amelia was going to do. Has no one in this hospital ever heard of HIPAA??

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I bet they still aren't done. Ugh

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Owens sister showing basically puts us squarely back in a Meredith/Derek/Addison type triangle.

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Ugh. Meredith was awful this episode. I hate that her feelings about Derek mean she can be a complete shit whenever the mood strikes and never - never - apologize for it.



And now Riggs and Meredith??!! I was rooting or Riggs and Maggie. Which was apparently the writers' plan, since TVLine has an interview saying they deliberately had them vibing the whole episode just to "surprise" us with the Riggs/Mer ending. Meredith "winning" despite sucking is supposed to be a surprise? They even said that Maggie is going to have a crush on Riggs, so great. Awesome. Ugh.



I am sure Jo has some kind of secret reason, but the thing is - I don't care. She and Alex are a terrible, miserable couple. Neither appears to have any respect for the other. I just don't get it.



Owen and Amelia are boring.



No one cares about Stephanie's boyfriend of two episodes. Seriously, they keep throwing stuff at Stephanie with zero buildup. It sucks, she sucks, I don't care.



I loved Jackson's little "wanna touch the belly, don't touch the belly" move with April.



Callie is awful. So now it is just understood that she can't move with Penny, and thus they are over, because Callie can't leave Sofia for a year. Can she just have ONE MOMENT where she realizes that she wanted to just take Sofia from Arizona for a year without discussion. Like she doesn't seem to get that she was doing the exact thing to Arizona that she considers untenable to survive herself. Unreal.



And despite all this bitching - I still love this show, lol. They do a great job of keeping drama rolling and viewers invested.

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ugh, I was so excited about the potential of Riggs and Maggie. Heaps of chemistry ;___; what a disappointment.



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Me too. They have charm.

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Somebody also pointed out that Callie tried switching days for Sofia when that was used against Arizona in court so way to go there.

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Like she doesn't seem to get that she was doing the exact thing to Arizona that she considers untenable to survive herself. Unreal.

This!! It's hard for me to root for anyone on this show, but I will say I was happy for Arizona. And Alex definitely deserves better than Jo.

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I hate what they did with Maggie/Riggs/Meredith. I knew he was for Meredith when Martin was cast, but why make Maggie have a crush on him? She deserves better.

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ita about Meredith. I hate how she refuses to recognize that other people lost someone when Derek died, too. half the people in the hospital knew him longer than she did. yeah they were married but she didn't even fucking call his family when he died. their ~special turbulent love does not nullify being his sister. she's such an asshole.

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Meredith made me lose it again with this episode. It was the mid-season finale again and I felt like we took 10 steps back. I miss S10 and S11 Meredith.



The thing with Riggs... uhm, I thought Shonda said he wasn't supposed to be a love interest for Meredith.



I like Amelia but Owen is the most bland character. At least Webber has the decency of not being an annoying asshole like Owen.



Meh, I want them to give Maggie something better to do than another generic love story like the one she already had.



Stephanie was shit during this episode. And I only hope this delivers drama between her and Amelia because that gut was no Denny.



I felt so bad for Penny and I wish her goodbye had been more important. It felt so uneventful. For the first time ever, I am hating Callie.

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Amelia deserves so much better than Owen. And can Meredith stop blaming Amelia for shit that's not her fault? SHE'S NOT THE REASON DEREK IS DEAD SO STOP TAKING IT OUT ON HER FOR FUCK'S SAKE.



LOL at Callie breaking up with Penny and starting this whole custody battle over nothing. And then someone brought up the good point of her trying to switch days when that was used against Arizona in court.



I'm 99% sure Jo's already married and that's why she said no, tbh.

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Meredith is batshit crazy and I'm not even sure if the show wants us to sympathize with her and her crazy ass

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I think Meredith just doesn't like Amelia, and never has - so at the slightest change of mood Meredith goes straight into "look at that bitch eating crackers". Even when they're good, I always get the vibe that she's making an effort cause she's family, not cause she cares about Amelia at all.

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Damn, poor Penny. And poor Amelia. None of them deserved the way they were treated by Callie and Mer, respectively. Mer has become a cruel creature, she sees Amelia experiencing a minimal amount of hope and happiness and she just squashes it. I'm not Amelia's biggest fan (her monologues make me cringe every time), but I'm not here for gratuitous cruelty.



I think Samantha Sloyan did a great job with her last scene. Penny seems like a sweet person caught between a bunch of petty assholes (and I say this with love)... any chance she'll be back?



I'm so upset about Maggie/Riggs being a red herring, whyyyyy. His make out with Mer came out of the blue, and with how much I was enjoying the apparent build up between him and Maggie I was super taken aback by it. My queen Maggie deserves better.

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Penny is not in the guest list for the finale, I think this was her last episode.

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I didn't like Penny but I felt bad for her. She's better off in NYC.



Maggie/Riggs was an obvious red herring to me, but the joke is on the writers as they have better chemistry than Meredith/Riggs. That makeout scene wasn't hot.

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That's what I was holding onto, that Kelly and Martin have had a lot of chemistry since the beginning (imo). I wanted to be invested in a Grey's couple for a change.

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I really need Christina to come back for an episode and verbally smack the shit out of Mer and then dance it out.

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If you think Maggie deserves better wh would you want her with Riggs? Lol



I was never here for that. Riggs is too much drama. Let Mer deal with the Riggs/Owen nonsense, that's more her speed tbh

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Maggie deserves better than another love story. We haven't had career-focused storylines in a while I feel. They should give her one.

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I'm hoping the Mer/Riggs thing was just a stress relief fuck, not the start of something bigger, but that's probably too much to ask of the show.

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the storylines are boring me rn. i might finally quit. i blame wilmer valderama

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Alex's (shitty btw) proposals don't erase how he treated Jo the last couple of seasons. She put up with being second in his life for a really long time... even before Derek died, lbr.

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yup. also I love Alex as a character and how far he's come from all the shit life has thrown him, but I hate how casually rude he is to everyone. if my bf told me to shut up because he didn't want to deal with my feelings I'd break up with him.

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Meredith is the biggest cunt ever. It pisses me off the way Amelia just allows Meredith to treat her like shit for no reason. The way she spoke to her last night was disgusting. Amelia should've punched her.

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I would've smacked the shit out of her, she threw in her face the fact that she helps her raise her kids? WTF she's their aunt Meredith.

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mte. like yeah you're welcome for helping to raise her kids despite the fact that Meredith has no respect for Derek's entire side of the family.

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HOW MANY TIME JUMPS CAN A SHOW HAVE DAMN. That's just so lazy. It made sense after Derek's death, but it has been overkill since then.



Amelia is making the biggest mistake of her life. Maybe Grey's will pull a Melrose Place and Owen will get fatally hit by a car on his wedding day.



Meredith is awful. Amelia is helping her raise her kids. She's so ungrateful. It's not her fault Derek, HER BROTHER, died. Ugh, Meredith is annoying. Amelia should stand up for herself. Speaking of Meredith being horrible, good luck with that, Riggs. He gained points for pointing out her bitchiness (Alex too), but he doesn't know what he's getting into with her dark and twisty personality. Maggie is neurotic, but at least she's nice and apologizes when she's wrong. She also loves bacon. We all know Megan is going to show up anyway and I wouldn't want an Addison part 2 for Maggie.



Run, Penny, run. She did everything for Callie and this is how she gets rewarded. She gets blamed for Callie's wrong decisions. I hope she has a good life in NYC. She shouldn't come back. Callie doesn't apologize, just like Meredith. No wonder they get along. Arizona is a better person than I am, because I would have thrown the "unfit mother who switches schedules" in her face.



I felt bad for Richard in the end. I thought something would happen to him. I'm glad Catherine showed up.



No matter what Jo's secret is, I bet it's stupid and won't make sense. She should have told Alex when he first proposed or before that. They've been together for 4-5 years.



I bet Stephanie is gonna leave. She hasn't been developed a lot so I won't be too sad if that happens. Jerrika is a good actress, she deserves better than to have her character stuck in limbo (like Jo). She has that new Shonda show so it would make sense for Steph to exit.

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http://tvline.com/2016/03/16/jerrika-hinton-greys-anatomy-cast-toast/ Yeah. A comedy called "Toast". They say that she could still star in Grey's with reduced screentime (so 2 seconds every 5 episodes).

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ita about Richard. I'm glad there's at least *one* happy couple on the show who actually like and need each other.

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I'm glad they went with Mer/Riggs. Mer exists for drama and Maggie is too good to deal with the Riggs/Owen hurricane.



I hated Jo/Alex so I'm glad that went south.



I want Alex/Maggie to be a thing. They were great together when Mer dipped out. Also when they were in the OR talking about what to do with Mer earlier this season. Plus I hate Riggs and Jo and I don't want Alex/Mer to be a thing. It'd be nice if they could just have their close friendship and not every girl and guy need to hook up. I know it's Greys but white bffs screwing is done to death and was already a disaster on this show.



Was there a time jump? Because Amelia and Owen getting married, and having a big wedding so fast and not a chill courthouse thing and small party after doesn't seem their speed at all.



Not to mention April popping the kid out suddenly. Why is only Warren there? I wanted April to die during childbirth but not if Bailey tries to pin it on him. Oh well, as long as we get Jackson being a hot single dad I'll deal with it.



Callie treating Penny like shit was too much. You made the decision to try and run away with your kid, you tried to get full custody and lost. You made am these terrible choices and refuse to take responsibility.. I'm done with her.



Speaking of treating people badly, Meredith is always using Amelia as her personal dumping ground and it's exhausting. I wonder who she'd take her anger out on if Penny and Amelia weren't there.

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According to data compiled by Haynes and Boone, in just the first four months of 2016 there had already been double the amount of bankrupt energy debt than in all of 2015, with the total secured and unsecured defaults rising to $34 billion, double the $17 billion total for all of 2015.

(Click to enlarge)

We can now add two more major names succumbing to the Saudi onslaught against marginal shale producers, with Linn Energy announcing a prepackaged Chapter 11 deal, followed by Penn Virginia defaulting just hours later.

In the first case, oil and gas producer Linn Energy LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy after reaching a deal with lenders to restructure its $8.3 billion debt load and obtain $2.2 billion in fresh financing. In its bankruptcy filing press release, Linn announced that the holders of more than 66 percent of its credit facility have agreed to the broad terms of a debt restructuring but didnt provide further details. The lenders also agreed to let Linn Energy spend the cash securing their debt, known as cash collateral, and to help fund a new $2.2 billion term loan. Related: Can Saudi Arabia Really Break Its Dependence On Oil?

LinnCo LLC, a publicly traded affiliate, filed for bankruptcy alongside Linn Energy Wednesday. LinnCo was created to help Linn Energy raise additional equity capital and is taxed as a corporation, rather than as a master limited partnership like Linn Energy.

For those wondering if the bankruptcy would prevent the company from pumping more oil, bad news: Linn Energy said access to the cash will allow it to continue normal operations without lining up new bankruptcy financing. However, the company still requires permission from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Victoria, Texas, to begin spending.

Having obtained creditor consents in advance as part of the prepackage deal, we assume that once the existing equity is wiped out, the company will reemerge with a far smaller debt load. However, a problem may emerge if its partnership status with LinnCo poses a problem for investors. As the WSJ writes, partnerships, as opposed to corporations, take advantage of a structure that allows companies to avoid paying corporate income taxes. Investors hunger for yield fueled a boom in these partnerships, which pay out their available cash to investors. Linn Energy led a revival of this status among companies pumping oil and gas and was once the largest energy producer operating as a partnership.

Such partnerships bankrolled the shale boom, buying up the older, more predictable fields that other drillers were trying to jettison to chase new prospects in flashier shale formations. But the partnerships had to keep buying new fields to keep their outputand cash distributionsgrowing. Many took on heavy debt loads to fund their acquisitions.

Even before the price of oil began to slide in 2014, some critics raised questions about whether these companies would be able to keep their promises of steady and growing payouts. An earlier wave of partnerships went bust in 1980s when commodity prices fell. But proponents of the structure argued that more sophisticated hedging markets would allow upstream MLPs to produce reliable streams of cash. Related: Oil Spikes After EIA Reports Surprise Draw

In an effort to stem the hit to investors, Linn Energy completed an exchange offer last month in which holders of Linn Energy units were given the chance to swap them for stock in LinnCo. Shares in both companies are likely to be wiped out now that they are in bankruptcy, but the swap could address the tax issue for investors.

Following the April exchange, Linn Energy launched a second, similar exchange offer that is set to expire May 23. In its bankruptcy announcement, Linn Energy said it is going to ask the bankruptcy court to allow unit holders to continue to swap Linn Energy units for LinnCo shares.

The strategy is largely untested and many are watching to see whether it proves successful for Linn Energy.

The Linn bankruptcy was not a surprise: the company warned in March that a bankruptcy filing may be unavoidable, and said last month that it reached a settlement with bondholders on a restructuring that could take place through a chapter 11 reorganization.

In the day's second bankruptcy, energy producer Penn Virginia also filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday. And just like Linn, the Pennsylvania-based explorer and producer deals said it had reached a prepackaged agreement with holders of 87 percent, or $1.03 billion, of its total funded-debt obligations to restructure under chapter 11 protection and eliminate long-term debt by more than $1 billion. Related: Big Oil Pulls The Plug On Arctic Oil, Relinquishes Drilling Rights

Penn Virginia said it expects to emerge from chapter 11 by the end of the summer.

Penn Virginias history dates back to 1882 with its founding as a coal concern in Virginia. It shifted to oil and gas in the 1980s, and more recently has pared its natural-gas holdings in favor of oil fields.

"Like many other exploration and production companies, Penn Virginia has been significantly affected by the recent and continued dramatic decline in oil and natural gas prices, Interim Chief Executive Edward Cloues said. We believe using the chapter 11 process is the most efficient way to achieve our financial objectives and deleverage the Companys balance sheet."

As a result, now that two more energy companies are about to see their interest expense slashed drastically going forward, the only real impact on the company will be that their all in production costs will decline substantially, allowing both to pump more oil at even lower prices, and thus adding to the global supply imbalance, something that will infuriate Saudi Arabia and add even more output to a market that remains chronically oversupplied.

By Zerohedge

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Six Saudi officials are believed to have actively supported al-Qaida members in the run-up to the 9/11 attacks on America, former 9/11 Commission member and investigator John Lehman has disclosed.

Lehman, who was a member of the 9/11 Commission between 2003 and 2004, said there is documented evidence against employees of the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and specifically against individuals who worked for the Saudi Embassy in the U.S., Saudi charities and the Saudi government-funded King Fahd Mosque in California.

"There was an awful lot of participation by Saudi individuals in supporting the hijackers, and some of those people worked in the Saudi government," said Lehman, stressing that these individuals had strong ties with the Saudi government in Riyadh.



Related: Where Will Halliburton And Baker Hughes Go From Here?

The issue is resurfacing now as pressure builds to release the 38 pages of the 9/11 Commission investigation that had been redacted. Lehmans disclosure of this information to the media is expected to increase this pressure.

Lehmans disclosures also come at a time when the long-standing relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia is being questioned and re-evaluated.

The Commission members disclosures contradict previous statements from other Commission members.

The Commission's chair and vice chairs, former Republican New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, released a statement in April saying that "only one employee of the Saudi government was implicated in the plot investigation."



Related: EPA Launches New Methane Rules For Oil And Gas

Still, Lehmanformer Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan--stressed that we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization.

Despite that, our report should never have been read as an exoneration of Saudi Arabia, Lehman said, referring to the final document of the commission issued in 2004.

He also implored the pubic to remember that 15 of the 19 9/11 attackers were from Saudi Arabia. He is now calling for a new, thorough investigation into the extent of Saudi involvement. But more immediately, Lehman is calling for the remaining 28 pages of the redacted 9/11 Commission report to be declassifieda move that could spur along the already partial break in U.S.-Saudi relations.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

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Iraq has now overtaken Saudi Arabia in crude oil exports to India, shipping some 960,700 barrels per day (bpd) to India in April, against Saudi Arabias 787,700 bpd in exports to the Asian nation, turning the tables on the Saudis and placing Iraq at the top of the chain of OPEC members grappling for market share in this growing economy.

Iraqs oil exports to India rose by 41 percent in April and by 79 percent compared to a year ago. At the same time, Saudi Arabias exports to India were down 14 percent in April over the same time last year.

Overall, Iraq accounted for 22 percent of Indias crude oil imports in April, while last year it accounted for 15 percent. Saudi Arabias India crude oil market share dropped to 18 percent, down from 25 percent last year.



Related: Iran Hits Saudis Where It Hurts, Offers Discounts On Asian Crude

India has seen a new surge in crude oil imports overall. Since March, Indian crude imports are up 6% on the month, and up 9.9 percent in the first four months of this year. For the first four months of 2015, imports fell 0.6 percent from a year ago largely due to outages at refineries.

Demand for crude oil in India has risen this year due to a lack maintenance processes at Indian refineries, which have been postponed and would normally have taken refineries offline for a spell.

Analysts are not surprised by this latest market share change: "Iraqi oil is much more beneficial than Saudi because they are better priced. There is a significance difference in prices," said A. K. Sharma, head of finance at Indian Oil Corp, as reported by Reuters.



Related: Appreciating Dollar Caps Crude Rally Again

But Iran is also zeroing in on Indian market share, with a fair amount of success and could challenge both Iraq and Saudi Arabia here. The country accounted for about 9 percent of overall purchases in April compared to about 7.2 percent a year ago.

Over the first four months of 2016, Iranian oil accounted for about 7.4 percent of Indian imports from about 4 percent a year ago, becoming fifth-largest oil supplier to India compared with the eighth position a year ago.

By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com

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"In politics, the Third Way is a position akin to centrism that tries to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of right-wing economic and left-wing social policies. The Third Way was created as a serious re-evaluation of political policies within various centre-left progressive movements in response to international doubt regarding the economic viability of the state; economic interventionist policies that had previously been popularized by Keynesianism and contrasted with the corresponding rise of popularity for economic liberalism and the New Right. The Third Way is promoted by some social democratic and social liberal movements." -- Wikipedia

Is this the last gasp of a dying political philosophy? Will the "Third Way" ushered in by Bill Clinton end with Hillary Clinton? I do not see a Third Way candidate emerging as the leader of the Democratic Party again. I believe the centrist movement will die with the end of the Clinton machine. Let's look back at the history of the Democratic Leadership Conference, the architects of the "Third Way" in America.

It was 1985, and Walter Mondale had just lost to Ronald Reagan. Many Democrats were pointing to Jimmy Carter as the only Democratic candidate who had won the White House since LBJ. They were looking for a way to nominate a moderate Southerner instead of Northern liberal. We will focus on the US, but the "Third Way" movement had already swept through Europe, with politicians like Tony Blair in the UK and Gerhardt Schroeder in Germany. The idea was that they could be socially liberal while being fiscally conservative.

The first attempt for the DLC was the 1988 Presidential election. It was the first "Super Tuesday." A bunch of Southern states -- Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, and Georgia -- came together and held their primaries on the same day, with the goal of nominating a Southern moderate. Jessie Jackson spoiled their plan and had the best day. The results did nothing to boost the prospects of their rising star, Tennessee senator Al Gore.

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Donald Trump supporters

(Image by Gage Skidmore) Details DMCA



The prototypical Trump backer is a poorly educate, slob of a blue collar white male worker or farmer in the backwoods of the Deep South or Midwest who alternately fears and loathes Blacks, Hispanics, gays, liberals of all stripes, Obama, and big government. This is a dangerous, and self-serving myth. Even before the first vote was cast in any primary or caucus, last December, Civic Analytics, a Democratic data firm, surveyed more than ten thousand Republican leaning voters. It found that far from the ignorant bumpkin who is the butt of much caricature and ridicule to explain away the Trump phenomena, the Trump backers defied popular conceptions and stereotypes with the huge numbers of college educated, suburbanite, business and professionals, young persons, and Hispanics and women who said they'd vote for him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/upshot/donald-trumps-strongest-supporters-a-certain-kind-of-democrat.html?_r=2

Let's crunch the numbers. In the survey, Trump got backing from nearly 30 percent of those under age 29, nearly one fourth of Hispanics, and a quarter of those who held bachelor's degrees or higher. The demographic of Trump backers held up in the primaries. In the Northeast states and the Midwest, Trump scored just as big with well-to-do college educated voters in the suburbs as he did with blue collar voters everywhere else.

The Trump vote pattern is really not new. The George Wallace campaigns of the 1960's blended the mix of blatantly racist appeals with thinly disguised racial code words that hammered big government, corrupt Washington bureaucrats, and liberal social programs. Wallace drew lots of applause and bushels of votes from college educated, suburbanites, and women. GOP presidents Nixon, Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush picked up on the gold mine of votes that were there for the taking among the disenchanted, fearful, suburbanites, and some ethnics, at all educational levels, and genders. They played hard on what millions of voters think and that's that government is too big, intrusive and costly and that the traditional family, conservative religious beliefs, patriotism, a strong military, and a sliced down government are still time tested and noble values that must be fought for and preserved. They are and will continue to push and prod the GOP not to cave in to liberals, Hispanics and blacks and become a Democratic lite party.

The fool hardy notion that it's only ignorant rednecks who wave and shout, act a fool at Trump rallies, and occasionally beat up protesters, also gives smug comfort to many Trump loathers. They can point a finger at them as the predictable racist rabble, and have a field day lampooning, caricaturing, and ridicule Trump as a racist, misogynist, homophobic uncouth boob. This makes it easy to just as smugly assure that Trump doesn't have a prayer, and the election is practically in the bag for Hillary.

There are a couple of more Trump oddities to reckon with. One is that at the first GOP presidential debate in August, 2015, in Cleveland, Ohio, there were seventeen would be GOP presidential contenders on the stage. All of them, with one exception, had solid GOP party credentials. They were either current or former political governors, senators, congresspersons, were firmly committed to the GOP core conservative philosophy and had firm financial backers. All, that is except one. The one was, of course, Trump. He held no office. He was considered by straight line conservatives as not conservative enough since he had contributed money and support to Democrats, even some liberal Democrats. He was a businessman whose businesses took jobs out the country. He had a checkered and turbulent personal life. He said outrageous, bigoted, blatantly misogynist things about immigrants and women.

He was viewed by much of the GOP establishment as an ego driven reality show con man and not a serious presidential candidate. He was endlessly mocked, ridiculed, laughed at, scorned, lampooned, and caricatured by many in the media and the general public. The pundits, the studied political analysts, officials in both parties, and the prognosticators were near universal in their smug prediction that his presidential tent would fold quickly and give way to the serious, and credible GOP candidates.

Yet, in April, 2016, eight months after the first GOP debate in Cleveland, of the seventeen would be GOP candidates on the stage that night, Trump was the only one still standing. He had beaten all the predictions and the odds.

The other is that the white males who have been the traditional bulwark of GOP support from the Reagan years on and are Trump's core backers too, also range from the less educated, blue collar worker to business and professional, university graduates. Many of whom were one time Democrats. Despite much talk about their virtual disappearance as a political force, the truth is anything but that. They still comprise one in three American voters.

Trump got where he is with a lot of help. And a lot of that help didn't come from just a bunch of poorly educated white guys.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His forthcoming book is How "President" Trump will Govern (Amazon Kindle) He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report Saturdays 9:00 AM on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.
by NW Spotlight

The Independent Party of Oregon (IPO) achieved major party status in February 2015. The IPO qualified by having enough registered IPO voters to reach the 5% threshold of the total voters registered for the November 2014 election.

The Statesman Journal reported at the time Oregon has become the only state in the country with three major political parties, with the IPO joining the Republican and Democratic parties as major political parties in Oregon.

Becoming a major party allowed the IPO to participate in primary elections.

Last August the IPO qualified as a major party for the 2016 elections. In this 2016 Oregon Primary, the IPO has two candidates for governor, two for US senator, one for US representative (3rd District), one for state treasurer (Chris Telfer), one for Oregon secretary of state, one for state senator and 9 for state representative.

The challenge of hanging on to major party status

When the IPO achieved major party status in February 2016, it cleared the 5% threshold by just 3 voters  Oregon had 2,188,286 voters in February 2015.

The Bend Bulletin reported last August Party leaders believe it may be difficult to maintain major party status when the next secretary of state certifies parties after the 2016 election. Thats when the estimated 300,000 new voters will be registered automatically through the states pioneering universal voter registration law. Sal Peralta, secretary and one of three main leaders of the Independent Party, was quoted Once (automatic voter registration) kicks in, it almost certainly kicks us back to minor party status.

Voter registration numbers from the two most recent months in 2016 are validating Peraltas prediction so far.

The IPO had 5.01% of registered voters in February, but then dropped to 4.87% of registered voters in March and dropped further to 4.55% of registered voters in April.

UPDATE (h/t HBguy): Based on the reader comment from HBguy on some actions taken in the 2016 short session, we reached out to Sal Peralta, IPO Secretary. Sal confirmed the information from HBguy:

It is true that Motor Voter threatens the existence of several third parties, including the Greens, Libertarians, etc.

It is true that the Rs and IPO worked to pass a temporary fix from the impact of motor voter on the states small parties and it seems unlikely that the Ds would have allowed the full fixes to move if the Senate Rs had not dug in their heels.

The Senate Republicans were absolute champions for the smaller parties during the special session. Every one of them signed on to a letter asking the D leadership to move both bills to protect third parties.

The fix basically sets the denominator for how ballot access is calculated to the 2014 pre-motor voter level through the 2018 election. However, some of the small parties have already fallen below the 2014 level for ballot access and because of motor voter will have to struggle just to get back to the 2014 membership levels so it was really just a partial stay of execution.

I suspect that IPO will retain major party status at least through 2018, but we still have some work to do.

The bills were SB 1501 and SB 1599:

SB 1501 (Relating to calculation for maintaining status as a minor political party)  passed & signed by the governor

SB 1599 (Establishes July 1, 2015, as date for determination of total number of registered electors in this state for purpose of maintaining status as major political party through 2018 general election)  passed & signed by the governor
Sponsored by Sony Electronics Inc.

Shooting from 2,000 feet above the ground is one of the fastest ways to initiate new gear. And a sunset hot air balloon ride in San Diego provided a perfect kickoff for Sony Artisan and SoCal wedding and portrait photographer Mike Colon to try out the new Sony 85mm f1.4 G Master lens. I was actually putting the other balloon in the furthest corner of the viewfinder, focusing it there, and zooming in on it and it was razor sharp, Colon says.

But that was just the beginning. Would the 85mm G Master lens work over the next two weeks, as Colon tested it in variety of shooting scenarios? Spoiler alert: with an amazing quality of sharpness and bokeh, he was not disappointed.

I got to shoot model headshots with the new lens, and I typically do a lot of manual focusing for portraits because if Im wide open at f/1.4, I want the eyes to be razor sharp, he says. With previous Sony lenses, the manual focus was a little more difficult to control, but with the 85mm G Master, they really tightened it up so I can move it just a hair and see the focus adjust accordingly. I even compared to the Zeiss Otus 85mm f/1.4, and it is just as super fine-tuned.

Images captured with the Sony a7R II and the 85mm G Master Lens.  Mike Colon

The AF lock kill switch also came in handy for Colon, giving him the flexibility to switch back and forth between Auto Focus and Manual in an instant. I photograph for UFC, so I do a lot of shooting through the cage next to the fence, he says. With the fighters moving around so sporadically, I dont want the camera to constantly be hunting for focus. There are times when Id rather be locked most of the time, and deal with focus when I need it at my fingertips. So I can hold that button, recompose and shoot.

The 85mm G Master also has an incredibly useful feature for filmmakers: the choice to go silent. For a photographer like Colon whose clients are increasingly asking him to do video, this option is paramount. If Im in the middle of shooting a video and want to change my aperture, I can do it without hearing it or creating vibration, he says. On the other hand, when shooting stills, its nice to be able to hear the click between f-stops and calculate your setting without looking.

After comparing the 85mm G Masters sharpness and quickness of focus with other lenses in its class, Colon was solidly impressed with its overall quality. It felt well-balanced, like a lighter weight lens, but the images came out so great, he says. Its nice that Sony is making fast lenses now because thats huge for wedding photographers. The 85mms fast f/1.4 aperture makes it so much easier to work in the super low-lighting situations that were so often dealing with at weddings. And of course, the razor-sharp glass, shallow depth of field, and insanely beautiful bokeh is the perfect recipe for making our subjects pop against the busy backgrounds of a wedding scene.

For more information on Sonys G Master Lenses and Mike Colon, visit AlphaUniverse.com/lenses.
A group of five female seed beetles, of which one in the bottom pair is trying to mount the other by climbing up on her back. Credit: Ivain Martinossi-Allibert

Same-sex sexual behaviour is common in animals but puzzles evolutionary biologists since it doesn't carry the same obvious benefits as heterosexual courtship behavior that leads to mating and production of offspring. A study from Uppsala University sheds new light on the pervasiveness of same-sex sexual behaviour in the animal kingdom.

Same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) is behavior usually displayed during heterosexual mating and courtship rituals, but instead displayed towards individuals of the own sex. SSB is common in animals ranging from insects to mammals, presenting somewhat of an evolutionary enigma. A new study from researchers at the Department of Ecology and Genetics at Uppsala University now sheds light on the pervasiveness of SSB in the animal kingdom. The researchers hypothesized that, because males and females share most of their genes, SSB may occur in one sex because its underlying genes carry benefits when expressed in the other.

The idea was tested in a small seed beetle where both males and females express low levels of SSB. The researchers used artificial breeding on either males or females to create genetic strains with increased tendency to display SSB. Using these strains, the researchers showed that when a particular sex had been bred for increased SSB, siblings of the opposite sex enjoyed an increase in reproductive performance.

A group of male seed beetles. Two of the males are mounting and trying to mate with two other males, which happens frequently when males are kept in single sex groups. Credit: Ivain Martinossi-Allibert

'For example, we noted that males that had been bred for increased same-sex mounting behavior were less discriminating when given a choice between courting a male or a female in later tests, while their sisters laid more eggs and produced more offspring than before', says David Berger, Assistant Professor at the Department of Ecology and Genetics at Uppsala University and one of the researchers behind the study.

The findings thus support the idea that SSB may be prevalent in one sex because the genes regulating the behaviour are preserved by natural selection through their benefits in the opposite sex, pointing to a general mechanism maintaining multiple forms of SSB across a wide variety of animals.

Two male seed beetles. The male to the left is trying to insert his genitalia into the other male after having mounted him. This usually results in the mounted male kicking with his hind legs in an attempt to escape. Credit: Ivain Martinossi-Allibert

Explore further Beetles assert dominance by being a lover not a fighter, new research shows

More information: David Berger et al, Sexually antagonistic selection on genetic variation underlying both male and female same-sex sexual behavior, BMC Evolutionary Biology (2016). Journal information: BMC Evolutionary Biology David Berger et al, Sexually antagonistic selection on genetic variation underlying both male and female same-sex sexual behavior,(2016). DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0658-4
A platform developed by UCLA professor Adnan Darwiche helps Toyota and Lexus shoppers see, in real time, which vehicles match their desired criteria. Credit: iStock.com/Aslan Alphan

An innovation in artificial intelligence that was described in a 2001 paper by a UCLA computer science professor has found a somewhat unexpected application: helping car buyers customize their vehicles online.

The websites for Toyota and its Lexus division both offer shoppers the opportunity to tailor their vehicle from among a range of models, colors and accessories. The software that powers the sites, called a "product configurator," is based on a logical form of artificial intelligence that was devised by Professor Adnan Darwiche.

The websites use artificial intelligence to perform sophisticated, real-time reasoning to ensure that if a consumer wants a specific vehiclefor example, a red Camry with a tan interior and a performance packagethat exact combination of options could be manufactured by the company or is available in its inventory. The websites can also reason about features that are co-dependent, such as removing a minimum number of features when a combination is not feasible or determining which features must be bought together.

"I was very pleased to see this appreciation for the practical significance of my work to the point of adopting it for this massive commercial application," Darwiche said. "What was particularly gratifying is that engineers found my publications sufficiently detailed to implement the work, without additional help from me or my group at UCLA."

Darwiche's innovation, known as a decomposable negation normal form circuit, addressed a central challenge in artificial intelligence: How to efficiently reason with knowledge, which is a core task of intelligent behavior. His research on DNNF circuits, which was published in the Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery, is just one part of his body of work in a field called knowledge compilation.

Knowledge compilation assembles knowledge into simple forms that allow reasoning to be conducted very efficiently. Darwiche proposed the compilation of knowledge into tractable circuit representations, including DNNF circuits, leading to very simple and minimal reasoning systems.

Another challenge of sites like Toyota's is that the artificial intelligence decision-making must take place on the user's computer. Having all of those computations take place on the company's servers would overload the system if too many people were using it at the same time, but forcing it to happen on users' machines would allow any number of cars to be configured simultaneously. This, in turn, means that the configurator must use minimal computer memory so it doesn't strain users' home devices.

To accomplish that, knowledge about Toyota's manufacturing combinations and available inventory is compiled into a DNNF circuit, which is then loaded into the shopper's web browser. Configuration takes place within the web browser using simple and efficient DNNF algorithms.

Darwiche said another type of tractable circuits he developed, called sentential decision diagrams, are being evaluated by Toyota as a possible way to allow more sophisticated queries in the product configurator. He described his research on sentential decision diagrams in a presentation at the 2011 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

Although tractable circuits were originally developed for efficient reasoning, Darwiche says that researchers have employed them in other tasks, including machine learning.

More recently, Darwiche has started an effort to use tractable circuits to help solve a highly complex type of computer science problems known as Beyond NP problems.

"These tasks will expand the use of computers in various applications, including medical decision making, yet our current knowledge is limited on how to solve them very efficiently," he said.

Explore further Toyota forms company to make technology simpler
Researchers believe that competition tends to differentiate ecological requirements after repeated interactions and allows biodiversity. Even if the mechanisms that allow species to evolve, coexist, compete, cooperate, or become extinct are understood, the factors that allow species to coexist within the same environment are still debated. From Gause's principle of competitive exclusion to Connell's ghost of competition in the past, intra- and interspecific competition for the evolution of biodiversity are important.

Recently, the principles of competitive interactions as an explanation for biodiversity have been criticized from both theoretical and empirical approaches. Since Hutchinson proposed the provocative "paradox of plankton," a series of alternative hypothesis has been proposed to explain why the principle of competitive exclusion is not actually found in nature. The reason probably lies in the fact that ecologists have not questioned some of the principles of evolution. In fact, most ecological models are too simplistic and are often considered outdated.

A new conceptual evolutionary model first proposed in 2015 in bioRXiv and then published this year in the journal Biologia by Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, associate professor of ecology and biodiversity at Tomsk State University (Russia), reviewed the debated mechanism of speciation, suggesting that competition and a struggle for existence are not the main drivers of evolution. This research points out the importance of avoidance of competition, biological history, endogenosymbiosis, and three-dimensionality as the main forces that structure ecosystems and allow the evolution of biological diversity.

A few weeks ago, researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland published an empirical experiment that proves this theory. David Marques and colleagues demonstrated that a population of stickleback fish that breed in the same lake (Lake Constance, where they were introduced around 150 years ago) was splitting into two separate species at rapid speed. The study shows that even if both types of fish breed in the same streams at the same time of year and have been interbreeding, they are splitting into two genetically and physically different types.

In his paper, published in Biologia, Roberto Cazzolla Gatti wrote, "My model predicts that the coexistence of two species in a sympatric way can happen only if there is low competition or weak competitive exclusion between them and a kind of avoidance of competition that leads to a slight shift of the niche of a meta-population, which accumulated a series phenotypic differences due to genomic inclusions coming from other sources of genes. Thus, eventually, it's the avoidance of competition and the process that I call endo-geno-symbiosis that drives the expansion of the diversity of living beings."

In the paper, endo-geno-symbiosis describes the capacity of endogenous 'gene carriers' to share parts of their genome in a symbiotic relationship with their hosts, after the idea of 'endosymbiosis.'

There are numerous examples of rapid evolution, including cancers developing resistance to drugs and pests becoming resistant to pesticides. Even some species of fish are evolving smaller sizes to avoid being fished. This very rapid evolution through sympatry, thanks to the avoidance of competition, may be the norm rather than the exception.

Marques and colleagues wrote, "We cannot know for sure that the Lake Constance sticklebacks will continue evolving until they become two non-interbreeding species. But evidence for sympatric speciation is growing, from mole rats in Israel to palms on Lord Howe Island, Australia, and apple maggots evolved from hawthorn maggots in North America, leading some evolutionary biologists to think it could be surprisingly common."

Gatti became interested in the role of cooperation in evolution in 2011, when he published a controversial paper titled "Evolution is a cooperative process: the biodiversity-related niches differentiation theory (BNDT) can explain." He concluded: "These theoretical findings, confirmed by empirical approaches, should motivate our species to think before it is too late about how human competition, for the first time in the history of life on Earth, has been systematically leading to the extinction of animals and plants. My new model of evolution does not only attempt to explain some of the mechanisms that underlie the current presence of the myriad forms of life, but it also sheds new light on the need of periods of sufficient time scale to generate the awesome number of species that currently inhabit our planet. If humanity does not stop its 'unnatural' competitive spirit in the massive elimination of species, more billions of years could be needed before the diverse set of living beings that we now call biodiversity can be regenerated. And the extinguishing power of the sun will not allow it."

Explore further Watching new species evolve in real time

More information: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, A conceptual model of new hypothesis on the evolution of biodiversity, Biologia (2016). Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, A conceptual model of new hypothesis on the evolution of biodiversity,(2016). DOI: 10.1515/biolog-2016-0032

Provided by National Research Tomsk State University
An aerial photograph showing the surales mounds. Credit: Delphine Renard

Earthworms are the engineers behind the 75,000 km2, densely packed, regularly spaced, and mound-patterned landscapes, called surales, in the South American seasonal tropical wetlands, according to a study published May 11, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anne Zangerle from Technische Universitat Braunschweig, Germany, Delphine Renard from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues.

A seasonal wetland in Colombia and Venezuela is dotted with mounds that can reach as large as 2 meters tall and 5 meters across. However, despite this unusual vegetation pattern, the ecology of the mounds is little known, and some researchers have proposed that these patterned arrays result from erosion. The authors of this study investigated the origin and extent of the surales landscapes by comparing earthworms and soil properties at sites with and without mounds, as well as analyzing aerial images obtained from drones and Google Earth.

The researchers found that the mounds were dominated by the earthworm Andiorrhinus sp., which is also the largest earthworm in the study area at lengths up to 1 m. This earthworm feeds in shallowly flooded soil and deposits casts to build a small "tower" of dry habitat, where it breathes. The tower may eventually become a mound surrounded by a moat. The researchers propose that as neighboring mounds grow, they fill the intervening basins and form larger mounds, creating the surales pattern. By building mounds in this seasonal wetland, these worms "engineer" the ecosystem and create dry habitat also used by plants and other earthworms. The authors suggest that further research is needed to investigate the microtopography of the floodplains where surales occur, as well as whether worm behavior has driven the development of similarly patterned landscapes elsewhere in the tropics.

Anne Zangerle adds: "We were really impressed not only by the regularity in the size and spacing of mounds in surales landscapes, but also by their spatial extent. We showed that they occur throughout much of the Orinoco Llanos, in both Colombia and Venezuela, but they have hardly been noticed by ecologists. We were surprised to find that the main driver of these earth-mound landscapes appears to be a single very large earthworm species."

Explore further Mysterious mounds created by earthworms

More information: Anne Zangerle et al, The Surales, Self-Organized Earth-Mound Landscapes Made by Earthworms in a Seasonal Tropical Wetland, PLOS ONE (2016). Journal information: PLoS ONE Anne Zangerle et al, The Surales, Self-Organized Earth-Mound Landscapes Made by Earthworms in a Seasonal Tropical Wetland,(2016). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154269
Assistant Professor Jessi Halligan and a research team recovered several bones and stone tools from the Page-Ladson site on the Aucilla River. Credit: Bruce Palmer/Florida State University

The discovery of stone tools found in a Florida river show that humans settled the southeastern United States far earlier than previously believedperhaps by as much as 1,500 years, according to a team of scientists that includes a University of Michigan paleontologist.

Michael Waters of Texas A&M University and Jessi Halligan of Florida State University led a research team that also included U-M's Daniel Fisher and scientists from the University of Minnesota, University of Texas, University of Arizona, Stafford Research Laboratories in Colorado, Aucilla Research Institute in Florida, and Exeter and Cambridge universities in the United Kingdom.

A report on the team's findings is scheduled for online publication May 13 in Science Advances.

The researchers excavated the Page-Ladson site near Tallahassee, an archaeological site that is 26 feet underwater in a sinkhole on the Aucilla River. It was named Page-Ladson after Buddy Page, a former Navy Seal diver who first brought the site to the attention of archaeologists, and the Ladson family, owners of the property.

The site was first investigated from 1987 to 1997 by James Dunbar and David Webb. But their original findings, which included eight stone tools and a mastodon tusk with apparent cut marks, were dismissed.

U-M's Fisher reassembled and re-examined the tusk and concluded that the original interpretationthat the deep, parallel grooves in the surface of the tusk are cut marks made by humans using stone tools to remove the tusk from the skullis correct.

"These grooves are clearly the result of human activity and, together with new radiocarbon dates, they indicate that humans were processing a mastodon carcass in what is now the southeastern United States much earlier than was generally accepted," said Fisher, director of the U-M Museum of Paleontology and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

"In addition, our work provides strong evidence that early human hunters did not hunt mastodons to extinction as quickly as supporters of the so-called 'Blitzkrieg' hypothesis have argued," Fisher said. "Instead, the evidence from this site shows that humans and megafauna coexisted for at least 2,000 years."

Working in near-zero-visibility waters in the murky Aucilla River from 2012 to 2014, the team led by Waters and Halligan excavated stone tools and the bones of extinct animals. The stone tools included a biface, a knife used for cutting and butchering animal meat.

Seventy-one new radiocarbon dates from the Page-Ladson site leave no doubt that the artifacts date to about 14,550 years ago. It's believed that Clovis huntersonce widely considered the first inhabitants of the Americassettled in various sites about 13,000 years ago.

The underwater excavation of the Page-Ladson site in the Aucilla River, FL. Credit: Edited by James Waggoner

"The new discoveries at Page-Ladson show that people were living in the Gulf Coast area much earlier than believed," said Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans.

"The stone tools and faunal remains at the site show that at 14,550 years ago, people knew how to find game, fresh water and material for making tools. These people were well-adapted to this environment. The site is a slam-dunk pre-Clovis site with unequivocal artifacts, clear stratigraphy and thorough dating."

Fisher's re-examination of the mastodon tusk revealed more than a dozen deep, parallel linear grooves on the end of the tusk that attached to the skull. The grooves are perpendicular to the long axis of the tusk. Most are 6 to 8 centimeters long and 1.5 millimeters deep or less.

The tusk may have been removed to gain access to edible tissue at its base, Fisher said.

"Each tusk this size would have had more than 15 pounds of tender, nutritious tissue in its pulp cavity, and that would certainly have been of value," he said.

Another possible reason to extract a tusk is that ancient humans who lived in this same area are known to have used ivory to make weapons, Fisher said.

Tusk roots, like all mammalian tooth roots, are suspended within their socket by a system of fibers called the periodontal ligament.

"It now appears that people were targeting disruption of this tissue when they cut into the side wall of the tusk socket, leaving the set of transverse grooves," Fisher said.

In this 2015 photo provided by Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, divers investigate the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. Scientists say artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago. That makes it the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said. Credit: S. Joy/CSFA

Fisher has excavated mammoths and mastodons in North America and Siberia and has personal experience with the practicalities of tusk removal. He once removed a tusk from a juvenile woolly mammoth preserved in Siberian permafrost.

That carcass was in a condition similar to a freshly killed animal, he said. Because he needed to avoid unnecessary damage to the specimen, and because he had to improvise methods and tools to get the job done, it took him about eight hours.

"Compared to ancient hunters, I was a novice," Fisher said. "But I quickly learned that the most important thing was disrupting the ligament fibers holding the tusk in place."

The Clovis hunters originated south of the large ice sheets that covered Canada at that time and are the direct descendants of the earliest people who arrived in the New World around 15,000 years ago.

"This is a big deal," Florida State's Halligan said of the Page-Ladson discoveries. "There were people here. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas."

In this 2012 photo provided by the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology, Jessi Halligan, left, and other researchers hold a partially reassembled Mastodon tusk from the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. Scientists said the mastodon tusk had long, deep grooves which were made by people, probably as they worked to remove the tusk from a skull. Credit: DC Fisher/University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology

Texas A&M's Waters said the Page-Ladson site has changed dramatically since it was first occupied 14,550 years ago. Millennia of deposition associated with rising water tables tied to sea level rise left the site buried under 15 feet of sediment and submerged.

"Page-Ladson significantly adds to our growing knowledge that people were exploring and settling the Americas between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago," Page-Ladson said. "Archaeological evidence from other sites dating to this time period shows us that people were also adapted to living in Texas, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and South America. Clearly, people were all over the Americas earlier than we thought."

Additionally, the evidence from Page-Ladson and the other sites shows that people coexisted with and hunted large mammals, such as the mammoth and mastodon, before they became extinct, he said.

Work by Texas A&M graduate student Angelina Perrotti on the dung fungus Sporormiella shows that extinction of the megafauna occurred around 12,600 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, a date that is synchronous with other regions in North America, Waters said.

Explore further Hunters present in North America 800 years earlier than previously thought: DNA analysis

More information: Pre-Clovis occupation 14,550 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, and the peopling of the Americas, Science Advances, advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/5/e1600375 Journal information: Science Advances Pre-Clovis occupation 14,550 years ago at the Page-Ladson site, Florida, and the peopling of the Americas,
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WARRENSBURG  Quickly finding the home where an injured or sick person is located can be a matter of life or death for a rescue squad or fire department. Thats often challenging in rural areas like the Adirondacks, where there are few streetlights and homes are often set back from the road.

Warrensburg Emergency Medical Services is using a new technology to help its members find hard-to-locate residents in its coverage area.

The squad is the first in the state to offer michrochip-enhanced Smart Bulb lightbulbs for use in exterior lights at homes, so ambulance crews can locate homes where their services are needed.

This is going to do great things for us, said Heather Romano, operations secretary for the squad. There have been numerous calls weve gone to where the house number doesnt match up with the 911 address, or its too dark to see the number or the house is set back from the road. At night, its tough.

The bulbs blink when activated, making it easier for emergency responders to spot the home where they are needed.

The squad will host an event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to show residents how the bulbs work and make arrangements for their installation at homes in Warrensburg and Thurman. Romano said the squad has 100 to give away and will get more if needed.

Warrensburg EMS bought the bulbs from manufacturer Smart Electric, a Philadelphia-based company that sells them under the product name Smart Bulb.

Stan Angelo, president and founder of Smart Electric, said he met Warrensburg squad personnel at an emergency medical services convention in Baltimore, and they were enthusiastic about using the product to improve their call response. The squad is the first in New York to distributed them in its district, he said.

The bulbs are simple to operate. They are equipped with microchips that activate the bulbs blinking feature when the wall switch is flicked twice.

You can even use it if the pizza delivery guy cant find your house, he said.

Angelo, a former chairman of Westinghouse Lighting, said the bulbs were a project he started in retirement out of a belief they could help. And its not just rural areas where they are needed, he said.

In the suburbs, a lot of people dont have street numbers on their homes, he said.

Angelo said the bulbs are for sale at many home stores, hardware stores and online retailers, selling for $7 to $9 apiece.

Those who cant attend Saturdays open house or are wishing to contact Warrensburg EMS about the program can call 623-4911.
Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether 

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In Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, And The Fate Of The American Revolution (Viking), National Book Award winner Nathaniel Philbrick presents a complex, controversial, and dramatic portrait of a people in crisis and the war that gave birth to America. But its the tragic relationship between George Washington and Benedict Arnold that fuels the narrative. PW recently caught up with Philbrick to talk about two towering figures in American history.

What do you believe to be the biggest misconceptions Americans have about George Washington's role in leading the Revolutionary War?

We think of Washington as the defensive-minded pragmatist who won the Revolution by avoiding unnecessary risks on the battlefield. But that was not how he started out. Whats been largely forgotten is that Washington was highly passionate and aggressive, and it was only after losing Philadelphia to the British after a string of disastrous battlefield performances that he finally resigned himself to the more conservative approach with which he has since become associated. The irony is that Washington was, in reality, very much like Benedict Arnold. The big difference was that Washington was ultimately able to control his emotions, something Arnold never learned to do.

As you did your research, what surprised you most about Benedict Arnold?

I was surprised by how much sympathy I had for him. Arnold was no saint, but he was Americas best battlefield general, and the abuses he suffered from his own government when it came to being overlooked for a much-deserved promotion would have been hard for any officer to take, no matter how noble and self-sacrificing.

Arnold is often portrayed as evil, and there has been a tendency to assume he was a conniving Satan from the start, but that simply was not the case. He was a natural born leader on the battlefield, but when it came to ordinary life he was, to my mind at least, unexpectedly susceptible to the influence of others. Time and time again you see him being influenced, if not outright manipulated, by those around him, whether it was the members of his military family at the Battle of Saratoga, who encouraged his infighting with Horatio Gates; his aides who encouraged him to go head to head with the radicals of Pennsylvanias legislature when he was military governor of Philadelphia; even his loyalist-leaning wife Peggy, who encouraged him to explore becoming a traitor.

Historians have been trying to present a more nuanced view of Arnold for decades. Do you think theres a chance his negative image will eventually change?

I hope so. Unfortunately, we have a tendency to see figures from the past as caricatureseither all good or all badwhen the truth is always much more complex. In the case of Arnold, the truththat Arnold was not all bad from the start and that he was, in a sense, betrayed by the government for which he was fightingleads to the troubling realization that the American Revolution was not just a question of noble patriots throwing off the shackles of British tyranny. But a lot people just dont want to hear that.

Its difficult for many, in retrospect, not to regard the rebels victory in the Revolutionary War as inevitable. How close did they come to defeat in the period you cover in Valiant Ambition, and how did they manage to succeed?

As Washington and Arnold knew better than anyone, America came very close to losing the Revolution in the summer of 1780. After five years of war, the patriotic ardor of many Americans had cooled, to the point that many had basically lost interest in the conflict. The states were reluctant to fund the war and without an ability to tax the people. And the Continental Congress was powerless to provide Washington and his army with the financial support it required. Ironically, it was the betrayal of Benedict Arnold that woke up the American people to the realization that the War of Independence was theirs to lose. Indeed, you could argue that no one except for Washington did more to win the Revolution than Arnoldboth as a patriot general and as a traitor.

What are you working on next?

Im now working on a book that focuses on the Battle of the Chesapeakea relatively little known naval battle between the French and British that made the victory at Yorktown in 1781 a virtual fait accompli. As an author who has always enjoyed writing about the sea, this is my chance to portray a naval slugfest, like the kind you read about in a Patrick OBrian novel.
IITA is involved in research for development of tropical cash and food crops and has over the years explored possibilities of exploring the Ghanaian market.

The legal issues has been finalised and the signing of the agreement paves the way for the company to establish it branch in Ghana.

It will establish its headquarters in Accra and will aim at building individual and institutional capacity in Agriculture to enhance food production.

The Deputy Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Alfred Sugri Tia who signed the agreement explained that the "agreement aims to confer legal status and as well as privileges and immunities on the beneficial relationship in accordance with the laws of Ghana.

"The agreement provides key leaves including exceptions for communications and transportation controls.
The report also revealed that the developing world lost 6.6 trillion dollars through illicit outflows, adding that foreign direct investment increased from 2.89 billion dollars in 2009 to 3.23 billion dollars in 2003 with more than half of the total inflows going to the extractive sector.Mr Abdallah Ali-Nakyea, a Tax Consultant, disclosed this at a presentation in Accra at a civil society Anti-Corruption dialogue on extractive sector organized by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP).He explained that illicit financial flows are the moneys that are illegally earned, transferred or utilised, saying such money are moved across borders from three sources; corruption, criminal activity and cross border.He said key sources of illicit financial flows include money laundering, tax invasion as a result of weak tax administration system.

He said the oil sector corruption is high because of confidentiality and concentration of decision making and monitoring.Mr Ali-Nakyea noted that some of the challenges in illicit financial flows are poor resource governance models and weak tax administrations coupled with multinational tax avoidance schemes.He urged African countries to strengthen the capacity of their financial institutions as well as the need to reshape the global financial architecture as mechanism in addressing illicit financial flows.Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Executive Director of ACEP, said the extractive industry provides enormous opportunity for addressing development challenges in many resource-rich countries.

Dr Adam said failure of many states to transform their natural resources to development benefits for their people has been attributed to poor governance.He called on government to commit to the implementation of an open and competitive process for awarding oil, gas and mining concessions and a mandatory requirement for the disclosure of oil, gas and mining contracts
In an interview with Roman Fada on Atinka FM, the "Gbemze Gbemze" hitmaker Bernice said she and her husband are living peacefully and does not know where this breakup news is coming from.

"I am not like other gospel stars who in any small misunderstanding divorce their husbands. As we're talking, my husband and I are living peacefully without a problem. I am thinking about my carrier and not those fake rumours," she revealed.

Bernice Ansah is currently set to release her latest Gospel single dubbed "I Am Free" which she said is going to be a mind blowing song and hopes to trend far with the hit.
Speaking on Pluzz FMs AM Pluzz, Dada Hafco said although EL did well the year under review, his audience appeal was limited to the aforementioned regions.

I still believe that ELs appeal to the people does not truly go beyond Greater Accra and Ashanti regions. You hardly hear EL play a concert in Takyiman, Sunyani or something. Bisa had been all around the country playing all the shows. And I believe that, people love the song thats why he won the Most Popular Song of the Year and Album of the Year. So obviously, I was thinking that he would win the Artiste of the Year. Nevertheless, EL wasnt a bad choice, he stated.

EL, real name, Elorm Adablah, was crowned Artiste of the Year at the 17 edition of the biggest event on Ghanas music calendar. He beat competition from Stonebwoy, Bisa Kdei, Sarkodie, VVIP and SP Kofi Sarpong.

Other categories won by EL were Afro-pop Song of the Year, Music Producer of the Year, Hiplife/Hip-pop Artiste of the Year and Best Music Video of the Year.

Bisa Kdei won four awards on the night: Highlife Song of the Year, Highlife Artiste of the Year, Most Popular Song if the Year and Album of the Year.

Meanwhile, the rapper has said he will not be distracted by the five awards he won.
Fosus plea was not taken by the court presided over by Ms Gloria Naa Botor Laryea, the Ghana News Agency reported.

Prosecution said Fosu alleged that he and his accomplices had killed 17 people across the country adding that one of the accomplices, Kwame Alex, engaged them to do the killing and pays him a fee of GH 25,000 cedis for each person killed.

Fosu and the alleged four accomplices, Kwame Alex, Yaw Ampofo, William Arthur and Yaa Pokua now at large were caught when they allegedly murdered a 14-year old boy Kweku Owuredu at Abokyifrom, near Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region in November last year.

The court heard the complainant, Nana Manu Asiamah, Chief of Abokyikrom went to police on November 29 last year, saying some people at Abokyikrom had reported that a young boy has been murdered and dumped in a bush in the community.

According to the prosecution a team of policemen were dispatched to the area where the deceased was found in cocoa farm.

The body of the deceased was found to have a deep cut under the throat.

The deceased lived with the father Kwadwo Awuah at a village called Korengtengkrom.

On the day of the incident the family left the house early in the morning for church at Abokyikrom and the deceased was to join them later, the GNA reported.

The father's brother later told him that on his way to church he saw a pair of sandal stained with blood that looked like that of his son.

A search party from the village then discovered the body.

On April 12, this year, prosecution said intelligence gathered led to the arrest of Fosu aka T.O at Atiebie Amanfrom and when he was searched a kitchen knife was found on him.

In Fosus investigation caution statement to the police, he admitted murdering Owuredu and mentioned his accomplices.

Fosu told the police that Alex had given him GH 13,000 cedis after killing Owuredu.

On April 18, Fosu was put before a District Court at Nkawkaw where he was remanded to assist in investigations.

Fosu was however discharged by the court and handed over to the Police Homicide Unit at the police headquarters for further investigations.
In a video circulated through the world's media, Cameron could be seen speaking to the Queen, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Speaker Justin Welby. They were at Buckingham Palace at an event to mark the Queen's 90th birthday.

They were speaking about an anti-corruption summit in London.

"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," Cameron said.

But, in an interview with the BBC, President Mahama said "finger pointing" should not be the solution to issues of corruption, but rather how to have the correct systems in place to curtail the menace.

"I think that it doesnt make a good environment when there is a finger pointing amongst us, we must be working as partners."so yes we must look at the sources of corruption, we must put the systems in place that prevent it from happening but when it has happened we must look at these advanced and developed countries where these monies are hidden and can be returned to their legitimate owners in the developing world," President Mahama added.
The meeting was to find a common ground on how both the media and the security agencies can work to sustain the peace in the country before, during and after the elections.

"This is our country, we have nowhere else to go. Let me assure you that the Ghana Armed Forces and other security agencies and services are ready to hold the country together at all cost,Air Vice Marshal Oje Sampson said. "That is what we are paid for."

He warned "anyone who seeks to use the upcoming election to undermine the peace, stability and integrity of the country," will be dealt with.

"The security agencies cannot sit back and will not sit back and allow anyone to disrupt the peace that we have all toiled for all the years and continue to enjoy today.

"We will use every means available to us to safeguard the security of the country," he assured Ghanaians.

"Let all our actions be geared towards execution of yet another peaceful elections to the admiration of the whole continent and the world at large," he argued.

The IGP John Kudalor in an address charged the media to eschew reportage that will create crisis in the country. He urged media neutrality.

He added that the practice where media houses assume the spokespersons of political parties is not helpful.

"The practice where media houses assume the role of political party spokespersons and phone in callers and churn out all king of inflammatory comments is not helpful to anybody."

He assured that the police and its sister will discharge it mandate without fear or favour.

Kudalor stress that the police will remain neutral and impartial.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Vice Marshal Oje Sampson, made this known in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM.

According to him, the ranks of the two military men will possibly be reduced.

The Ghana Armed Forces came under public criticism after it emerged that it tortured a teenager for at least five hours.

The boy, Christopher Bama, according to a report by the Chronicle newspaper, was beaten by the two soldiers after he was accused of stealing a mobile phone belonging to one of the soldiers.

According to the paper, the boy was hanged on a tree, had a gun pointed at him and beaten up in order to force a confession out of him. After the boy subsequently fell unconscious, the soldiers are alleged to have melted plastic bags on his back until he regained consciousness.

These revelations were made by the sister of the young man who claims her brother had gone to the military quarters to fetch water. When he was returning, he was called back and accused of stealing the mobile phone, it has been alleged.
The police administration contracted GBC as the sole channel to sell the forms.

Public Relations Officer of the police service told Accra based Citi FM that they chose GCB so as to keep a lid over the entire process.

We are using only one channel, or that is GCB alone, so that we could keep a lid or a cover over the entire process to ensure that the security of it is guaranteed and that it is not abused in any way, Superintendent Cephas Arthur said.

The sale of the forms is said to be destructing banking activities at GCBs various branches but the bank has assured customers of its capacity to contain the situation.

The bank is currently selling the recruitment forms at all its branches after resolving challenges that slowed down the sale of the forms on the first day, Wednesday, 11th May, 2016. GCB experienced a large number of prospective recruits at its branches on the first day which affected the smooth flow of the sale, the statement said.
Speaking on Joy FM's Thought Leadership programme, Effah Dartey said the BNI's recent attitude of disobeying court orders is an affront to Ghana's laws.

"...I can guarantee it is very painful to go to see your client at the BNI.

"It is terrible, it is terrible...I say this with emotion", he added.

"Nobody will answer any question of yours... "Even where to park your car is a problem," the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Berekum in the Brong Ahafo Region said.

Nkrabea Effah Darteh further wondered why the BNI failed in investigating recent ethnocentric comments by the former Transport minister, Dzifa Attivor.

Attivor, who resigned as transport minister in the wake of the GHC3.6 million metro mass branding saga, asked Voltarians to vote for the National Democratic Congress because she will be jailed should the New Patriotic Party win the November 7 elections.

According to her, the NPP has a record of persecuting Ewes, citing the prosecution of Victor Selormey and Dan Abodakpi.

Effah Dartey believes that if the BNI were really interested in achieving national security, then the comments from the former Transport minister should have caught their attention.

However, political scientist, Dr. Kwesi Aning has said an attack on the BNI will not be ideal considering the terror threats being imposed on African countries and the world as a whole.

He argued that the BNI has helped reduce drug trafficking in the country and provided Ghanaians "freedom from want and freedom from fear."

The BNI came under some public criticism during the arrest of the three ex-South African cops who had arrived in Ghana to train the security detail of the NPP flagbearer, Nana Akufo-Addo.

The three faced three counts of unlawful training, conspiracy to commit crime and engaging in unauthorised military activity, charges they pleaded not guilty to and were subsequently granted bail.Even before bail conditions will be satisfied, BNI officials whisked the three away to the Regional BNI Headquarters where they have been.
The Judicial service workers called off a similar nationwide strike following a crunch meeting with officials from the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Staff of the judiciary had declared an indefinite strike over the failure of government to implement the consolidation of their salaries beginning the 1st of April 2016.

The judicial service workers later agreed to resume operations after assurance by the labour minister Haruna Iddrisu to address their concerns.

However, two months and some few days into the Minister's promise, General Secretary of JUSSAG, Derrick Annan said their grievances have still not been addressed.

"We called off the strike based on some assurances from the government. Weve had some progress except that as at present we dont see governments position on our request.

"So weve written to the government respectfully afford the government the opportunity to respond. With respect to the 18 May date that is the time that we are expecting that the government would have communicated something to us," he said.
This comes at a time when the president has joined other world leaders at an Anti-Corruption Summit being organised by the UK Government.

According to the Coalition, even though the president has expressed his willingness to sign the Bill as soon it gets to him, they "have not heard the President requesting Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, pass the most important anti-corruption tool  the RTI Bill  into law."

"Even though the Bill has gone through the first and second readings and has been referred to the consideration stage, Parliament has hastened very slowly with the consideration processes. There is currently no clear indication as to how Parliament is planning to ensure that the Bill is passed before the elections in November, 2016. There is also nothing to show that the Executive is lobbying or engaging Parliament, as it committed to do in its OGP action plans, to ensure that the Bill is passed before June 2016.

"As much as we understand that the executive may not wish to interfere with the work of the legislature in the spirit of separation of powers; we also know that His Excellency, the President can request for the RTI Bill to be passed under a certificate of urgency if His Excellency so wishes; as has been the case with some other Bills," the statement added.

Below is the full statement from the coalition:

GLOBAL SUMMIT ON ANTI-CORRUPTION:

WHAT MR PRESIDENT SHOULD BE TELLING THE WORLD

On 12th May, 2016, world leaders will be meeting in London, United Kingdom for the Global Anti-Corruption Summit. This meeting would provide an opportunity for world leaders to show case their commitment to the fight against corruption both locally and internationally. Clearly, Ghanas participation at the upcoming summit will mark yet another important step for the government of Ghana to demonstrate its commitment to the fight against corruption.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa office would like to call on His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama to make concrete commitments on the passage of an effective and efficient right to information legislation in Ghana.

Efforts by civil society organisations in Ghana to secure the passage of the right to information Bill has proved abortive for more than a decade. Several governments have made promises to put the legislation in place but failed to do so despite their proclaimed commitment to the fight against corruption. Ongoing conversations around open contracting and beneficial ownership have brought to the limelight the value of access to information in helping to expose those who make substantial economic gains but are able to hide their identities in the mist of opaque company structures. The availability of the means for the public to scrutinize activities of public institutions and private bodies performing public functions through guaranteed access to information helps in the fight against corruption and promotes transparency.

If His Excellency gets an opportunity to address the summit, CHRI would like Mr. President to tell not only Ghanaians but the world at large how government has demonstrated efforts as part of the fight against corruption, to ensure the passage of the RTI Bill since he assumed power in 2012.

We recall that Mr. President has on several platforms indicated that when the Bill gets to his table he would sign it without delay. But we have not heard the President requesting Parliament to, as a matter of urgency, pass the most important anti-corruption tool  the RTI Bill  into law. As much as we understand that the executive may not wish to interfere with the work of the legislature in the spirit of separation of powers; we also know that His Excellency, the President can request for the RTI Bill to be passed under a certificate of urgency if His Excellency so wishes; as has been the case with some other Bills.

We would like to draw the attention of Mr. President that under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Initiative, Ghana has for the second time running made commitments in its National Action Plan to pass the RTI Bill which has been in Parliament since 2013. Specifically, on transparency, the government of Ghana on behalf of the people of Ghana committed among other things, to lobby Parliament to pass the Bill by the end of, 2013. But three years on, the Bill is yet to be passed. The Bill currently at the consideration stage has thoroughly been reviewed by the Select Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs since December 2014, making it a very robust and effective tool for fighting corruption.

Even though the Bill has gone through the first and second readings and has been referred to the consideration stage, Parliament has hastened very slowly with the consideration processes. There is currently no clear indication as to how Parliament is planning to ensure that the Bill is passed before the elections in November, 2016. There is also nothing to show that the Executive is lobbying or engaging Parliament, as it committed to do in its OGP action plans, to ensure that the Bill is passed before June 2016.

As His Excellency makes further commitments at the Global Summit to eradicate corruption at home, it is our hope that he will also present a roadmap to the world and to Ghanaians on how he plans to fulfill governments OGP commitment to engage Parliament for the speedy passage of the RTI Bill before June 2016.
LPG and Lubricant sales went up by 6% and 12% respectively compared with the same period last year. Notwithstanding unreliable product supply within the year, Goil managed to increase LPG sales through competitive pricing and increased investments in new filling plants, Professor Asomaning stated.

READ MORE:Goil slashes diesel price ahead of Easter

Current economic challenges notwithstanding, Goil has leveraged on the petroleum deregulation policy which gives Oil Marketing Companies the freedom to competitively differentiate their prices, to do well.

Goil has been one of the Oil Marketing Companies with the cheapest prices on the market since the deregulation policy started in June 2015.
"But we certainly have an interest like that in other plants that we build, that the national gas company in Trinidad and Tobago would want to be involved in that, he stated in an interview with Citi FM.

Rowley who was on a four-day visit to Ghana noted that his country has in recent times been exploring ways of collaborating with Ghana to develop the country's gas resources.

During his visit to the Atuabo Gas Plant together with President Mahama, Dr. Rowley said "The gas pipeline is something that will serve Ghana immediately. Trinidad and Tobago is in a position to provide the technical and other expertise immediately."

"We are small and we have limited resources but in the areas where we have resources (we have) a 100 years or more experience and experienced personnel. We can bring that to bear and on these projects immediately."You are larger in Ghana and you have the resource base, but in terms of dealing with some of the third parties, you are in your infancy so, there is a tremendous benefit if we do these things together," he added.

Before he departed from Ghana to participate in an anti-corruption summit in the UK, the two countries signed agreements in the areas of General cooperation and Oil and Gas.
Read More: President Mahama says he has never taken bribe

Dr. Nduom told Joy News that the president has paid lip service to deal with corruption and has done nothing about punishing persons found in his administration found culpable of corrupt practices.

According to him, the President should not be talking about corruption, but rather he should be seen 'doing actively by example what will deal with corruption'.

"Corruption steals significant funds from us in Ghana. In my estimation, at least $1 billion dollars and so the President should not just be talking but be doing things that tell everyone he does not like corruption and this is what I am doing as President so the citizens will do their part," Dr. Nduom stated as quoted by Myjoyonline.com

He said nothing has happened in fighting corruption although there are some people in court the President has not come clear to ensure that they own up for what they have done.

The ex-Minister of Public Sector Reform further stated that it has been a trend with all Presidents including the Mahama at least have tried to shield their own when it comes to the issue of corruption and don't do enough to fight it.
Brenda Biya is reportedly admitted in a Los Angeles hospital and has her mother, Chantal Biya by her sick bed.

According to unrenowned sources, Cameroon First Lady arrived USA yesterday, May 12 after the news of her daughter broke.

Brenda Biya posted a video of herself puffing out smoke from her mouth and nostrils on her Snapchat early this week which sparked serious criticism from Cameroonians around the world calling on her to "behave properly".

In response to the hate, the president's daughter posted another video showing her smoking heavily in an enclosed room on social media. Of course, worse comments followed it.

Back in April 2015, Brenda posted a racy picture on her Instagram showing her kissing a mystery boy. After receiving serious backslash for the image, she was forced to take it down alongside all other pictures on her page.
The Hollywood act has now revealed via a tweet that he is planning a trip to Nigeria in the nearest future.

The Nigerian "Star Wars" alum, who has been listed on Forbes' Hollywood 30 under 30 influencer's, has been very forward about his Nigerian roots and just might be ready to integrate himself with his people.

Boyega had been on a steady rise since the beginning of this year and is definitely one actor to look out for, as has been pointed out by his winning of the Rising Star Award at BAFTA 2016.

In 2013, John Boyega starred in the movie Half Of a Yellow Sun featuring fellow Nigerian actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton. The movie was about a love story set during the Biafra War.

ALSO READ: Actor slammed for telling Black actors to stop complaining about diversity
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!
It was gathered that Sunday and the couple had been having issues and on May 6, he brought out a dane gun and shot at the couple at their residence along Ago Aduloju area, Ado-Ekiti.

The Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Monica Ikebuilo, told the court that the accused had, on the said date, unlawfully attempted to kill the couple after a quarrel, adding that the offence contravened Section 320 of the Criminal Code, Cap C 16, Laws of Ekiti State. 2012.

She said the duplicated case file had been forwarded to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

Sunday's plea was not taken as his counsel, Chris Omokhafe prayed the court for short date of adjournment.
According to Katsinanewsblog, Kabir could be stoned to death for the offence which is considered an abomination in Islam and tantamount to adultery.

The middle-aged woman is being accused of marrying her first husband in 1994 and then taking a second husband five months ago when she is not officially divorced from the first, contrary to laws of the state.

According to the police prosecutor, her first husband, Kabir Mohammed, lives in Jibiya, while her second husband, Shamsu Saulawa, lives in Katsina township.

My Lord, anytime she wants to sleep with one of them, she will tell the other that she will be traveling to either Jibiya or Katsina, the prosecutor told the court presided over by Alhaji Kabir Hamisu Bello.

Continuing, the prosecutor told the court that nemesis caught up with the woman when she quarreled with one of her friends, Hindatu, over a debt and the friend who was in the know, leaked the secret to her first husband, Mohammed.

"Mohammed who allegedly witnessed the quarrel, thought Hindatu wanted to paint his wife black and thus decided to sue her for defaming Amina.
Adrianna Hutto's mother, Amanda Lewis, has been revealed to have been responsible for her daughter's death, as the reports reveal that she had drowned Adriana for being naughty.

At first, Mrs Lewis had claimed that Adrianna had been cleaning bugs out of the pool when she had slipped and fallen in, drowning, until her son and Adrianna's younger brother, AJ had proved otherwise.

Mrs Lewis had reportedly called emergency services appealing for help, and revealing that AJ, 6, had tried to save Adrianna before screaming for help.

Fortunately, while Mrs Lewis had been busy with the doctors battling to save her daughter's life, AJ who had been under the care of his grandparents, had begun to tell the sinister tale behind Adrianna's dilemma.

AJ told his grandparents how his mother had helped Adrianna in the pool, using her hand to cover her daughter's face, pushing her underneath the water.

The grandparents had immediately passed on AJ's account to the local Sheriff' department, who had later taken AJ to be interviewed while Adrianna had still been alive but in critical condition at the hospital.

The reports reveal that AJ had been interviewed on two occasions that day, first by the investigators before child experts, and both accounts had largely remained the same:

'Adrianna had been dunked by his mother as a punishment for being naughty'.

'Shed sprayed window cleaner in the living room over the TV and this had made momma mad.

During the interview, AJ, demonstrates his mother's actions by putting his hand to his forehead to explain how Mrs Lewis had held Adrianna down in the pool.

AJ reportedly told the police:

"Mama dunked my sister. She done some stuff that she ain't suppose so my mama got mad, so she throwed her in the pool."

Adrianna had died in hospital in nearby Panama City, that same afternoon.

Mrs Lewis had been interviewed three times by the Sheriff's Department for the next two days, during which time she had repeatedly denied the claims, going on to take a polygraph test which she later passed.

Further investigations into the day the crime had taken place, corroborated with AJ'S recollection of the days events, proved that the little boy had a clear memory.

One month later, Mrs Lewis had been charged with murder, as her co-worker's reportedly reveal that she had talked about 'killing' her daughter who had ADHD, after Adrianna had vandalised her car by writing 'loser' with permanent marker on the interior.
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According to the police prosecutor, Inspector Innocent Uko, Akinteju committed the offence on April 26, at Mowo bus stop in Badagry area of the state, when he stole the items from the shop of one Blessing Ukwo.

The complainant is a petty trader at the bus stop, so the accused just came out of nowhere, snatched two cartons of biscuits and started running away.

Onlookers who saw what happened ran after him and helped to apprehend him," Uko told the court, adding that the offence contravened Section 245 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, Nigeria.

When the charges were read to him, Akinteju pleaded not guilty and his defence counsel, Frank Nwadiuke, pleaded with the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.
The men were snacking up noodles at 11 PM when the policemen forced them into a van around Ogunlana Drive in Surulere and took them to the police station, report says.

According to Punch, the policemen demanded a sum N15,000 for the release of the men, who had to spend the night in a stinking police cell.

One of the arrested men, Sango Svengali, while speaking to Punch said, I had a stressful day at work on Tuesday. There was a lot of traffic. Instead of going home through the Third Mainland Bridge, I decided to spend the night at a friends place in Ojuelegba."

"Some other friends came to my friends place. Later, around 11pm, we were hungry and we decided to go down the road to buy noodles."

The Mai shai are basically night-food people. So we knew they would still be selling food. We drove to Ogunlana Drive and saw a woman selling noodles by the roadside."

"The three of us decided to buy noodles and eat. We sat on the trunk of the two cars we brought and ate the food. As we were about to go, three police vans stopped by our vehicles. There were about eight policemen in the vans."

The policemen dragged me into one of their vans. I was confused and wanted to resist. But when I saw the young man selling recharge cards beside the woman being slapped several times, I knew it was useless resisting."

"The policemen did not ask us any question. They did not ask us to identify ourselves.

It was learnt that Svengali and his friends met with eight other people who had been arrested when they arrived the police station.

According to him (Svengali), they were treated like criminals, as one of the police officers who arrested told them they looked like members of the Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram.

They were soon asked to shave their beards, which according to Svengali is the most embarrassing moment of his life.

As we moved on, I noticed that my other friends  except one  were in the other vans. When we got to the station, we found that eight people had been picked up too."

"The policemen at the station said, Why una no chop for house? One of my friends started negotiating for us at the counter. The policemen said they wanted N15,000 to let three of us go. He was begging them to take N5,000. They refused."

The cell stank like a gutter. There were about 18 of us there. We endured the stench till morning. When it was around 7am, we were brought before the area commander."

"We were lined up like criminals. He said our misdeed was that we ate at an unholy hour. He said we looked like fanatics and Boko Haram members."

He ordered them to lock us up again. After some time, some of our friends came, one of them is a lawyer. He spoke to the area commander."

"He said the only way to release us was to shave our beards. The police bought shaving sticks and made us shave at the counter. I was so embarrassed."

"All this while, we never wrote any statement. We were not accused of anything. When I finally left, it was some minutes before 10am.

According to Punch, one of the men arrested laid a complaint to the Complaints Response Unit, in Abuja, concerning the matter.

The CRU are said to be investigating the report based on an information received from their head, CSP Abayomi Shogunle.

He said, A special monitoring team from the Force Headquarters on nationwide patrol is at the police station in Ojuelegba to verify this report. The complaint is acknowledged and the tracking number is CRU 359117.
According to Punch, the men confessed to have been involved in the crime since 2006.

Musa Daura, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 5 confirmed the arrest to the press.

He said, After the third suspect (Itama) got drunk, Osagiede took him to his house and raped him. Since then, they have been committing the crime with each others at large until May 2016, when luck ran out on them,

One of the suspects, Imahanrebhor, who is also the youngest said he was introduced to the act of homosexuality by Osagiede, who had threatened to kill him if he disclosed what transpired between them.

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They had gone on to copulate with each other since the incident until they were nabbed in May 2016.

Imahanrebhor said, It happened late last year, when I was returning from a birthday party at night. I was unable to get public transport back home.

I met Festus (Osagiede) on my way and he asked me why I was roaming about.Later, he offered to let me pass the night at his place.

That night, he touched me. In the course of shouting at him, he forcefully penetrated me and it got me sick.

He said if I told anybody, he knew where to find me and my family, and he would kill me.
"It is rather unfortunate that an organization of higher repute such as Amnesty International could come around to release a report which is completely baseless, unfounded and source-less with the intent of denting the image of the Nigerian Armed Forces," the military said through Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar, Acting Director, Defence Information.

"We would remain committed to the task we have started against the Boko Haram terrorists until they are annihilated. We are calling on all well-meaning Nigerians and International Communities to discountenance this report as it has no iota of truth."
Murray-Bruce made the call via his Twitter account today, May 13, 2016.

The sentiment has also been expressed by the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.

There has to be a serious review of the minimum wage if you are going to increase the pump price of petrol because we all know everything rests on that, Gbajabiamila said on Thursday, May 12, according to The Nation.

Prices are going to skyrocket, from school fees to food to transportation to school uniforms and to books. Everything is going to go up because of mono economy. If we are going to do that, it is incumbent upon the government to take seriously the demands of labour.

Minimum wage needs to be reviewed; we cannot increase the cost of living and keep salaries where it is, they go hand in hand, he added.

Fuel is now expected to sell at N145 per litre around the country due to the governments removal of subsidy.

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U.S. officials told Reuters this month Washington wants to sell up to 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria in recognition of President Muhammadu Buhari's reform of the country's army. Congress needs to approve the deal.

Under Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, the United States had blocked arms sales and ended training of Nigerian troops partly over human rights concerns such as treatment of captured insurgents.

In the first Nigerian comment since the Reuters story, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said the government had set up reporting mechanisms inside the military to monitor human rights.

"We are taking it extremely seriously and are implementing best practices in the area," he told reporters.

He said he hoped Congress would recognise the changes implemented to approve the sale of aircraft and other hardware needed to tackle Boko Haram, which has been waging a seven-year insurgency in Nigeria's northeast.

The widening U.S. military cooperation would be a victory for Buhari, who took office last year pledging to crack down on the corruption that has undermined the armed forces in Africa's most populous country.

Many of the funds alleged to have been misused under Jonathan were earmarked for the fight against Boko Haram, which has killed thousands in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring countries.

Onyeama spoke ahead of a security summit on Saturday in Abuja, which will be attended by Nigeria's neighbours, French President Francois Hollande as well as senior U.S. and British officials to coordinate the fight against Boko Haram.
Nnamdi Kanu is a political prisoner, and this was confirmed in the presidential media chat, he said.

The pronouncements of the president is affecting the decision of the court. We consider the pronouncements prejudicial. The president should not be making pronouncements that are indirectly influencing the decision of the judges.

We went to ECOWAS court because we believe we will be given justice. Only ECOWAS court can give us justice, he added.

Kanu was arrested in October 2015 and is currently being detained at the Kuje prison in Abuja on charges of treason.

Buhari had earlier said that the Biafra leader would not be released due to the seriousness of the allegations against him.

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This is coming on the heels of a comment made by the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, describing Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt nation.

Buhari said When it comes to tackling corruption, the international community has unfortunately looked away for too long. We need to step up and tackle this evil together. That is why we have gathered here today.

Corruption creates a system where resources are shared by a small elite while the majority wallows in poverty. Corruption also undermines the ability of countries to finance development.

Buhari, who said new ways of fighting corruption are being initiated, also called on the international community to help Nigeria to combat the problem of crude oil theft.

He said I recall, in this regard, the landmark Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the 3rd International Conference on Finance for Development held in January this year.

A prominent feature of that global framework is the recognition that good governance and measures to combat corruption and curb illicit financial flows will be integral to the effort to attain sustainable development globally by the year 2050.

Adding that It is for this reason that my government is determined to address illicit financial outflows which have served as a major impediment to progress in our country.

I wish to reiterate our demand that the global community must come up with mechanisms for dismantling havens for stolen funds and facilitate the return of stolen assets to their countries of origin.
The FG also announced that the subsidy removal will lead to an increase in the price of petrol and that the product will now sell for as much as N145 per litre.

The announcement was made by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu after a meeting with Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo and oil sector stakeholders in Abuja.

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, the governors forum, and labour unions (NLC, TUC, NUPENG and PENGASSAN), he said.

All oil marketers will be allowed to import petrol on the basis of forex procured from secondary sources and accordingly, the PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency) 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 petrol will not be above N145 per litre, he added.

Every forward thinking Nigerian had been expecting the cancellation of the subsidy payments because the policy has done more harm than good to the country.

However, the means by which it was stopped, and fuel prices increased, by the Muhammadu Buhari administration was wrong and completely insensitive.

How do you subject citizens to an unending fuel scarcity and then, with no warning whatsoever, inform them of a price increase? How do you treat your citizens with such levity and disrespect? Does Buhari not have a communications team?

The government did not even try to usher citizens into the increase by giving them time to prepare. It just made a declaration and left citizens at the mercy of greedy fuel station owners who immediately started selling at N145 despite getting the product before the announcement was made. Some even closed shop completely and worsened the scarcity.

The Buhari administration might have good plans, but any plan which is not effectively communicated will only result in disaster. The president and his administration really need to work on their communication skills as they are already alienating citizens and they havent even spent up to one year in office.

It appears that Buhari and his officials believe that they dont owe Nigerians an explanation for their actions, that they can just do whatever, whenever and people dont have a choice but to obey.
Its utterly irrational and illogical to further impoverish the people in order to achieve liberal self-serving liberal economic aspirations.

Its all evident that capitalist forces are holding the FG hostage and are blackmailing it to implement its inimical version of economic reforms. It makes no sense if everyone must perish in order to revamp the economy.

Economic reforms are necessary but it must be done with a human face and human heart if its made in the interest of human beings, Sani said.

Adding that the Outrageous increase in pump price is a social provocation. Its possible to reform the oil sector without necessarily incinerating the country. We must not take the patience, the sacrifice and the goodwill of Nigerians for granted.

I stand opposed to the increase in pump price and I call on PMB to weigh in on the NNPC to rescind the decision.
The Nation reports that the source said Surely we are going to discuss it when we reconvene next week. Some Senators are, no doubt, agitated about the way and manner the increase was announced while some others are bound to support the new policy.

But it is necessary that we discuss the issue so as to let our constituents know where we stand. I can tell you, as explosive as the debate might be, the leadership of the Senate will not be opposed to the idea of debating the matter.

The Federal Government announced the removal of fuel subsidy, and the subsequent increase in the pump price of fuel to N145 per litre on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

Also on the issue of fuel price increase, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara has also assured Nigerians that they will not allow the Buhari led administration to take decisions that will cause hardship to the poor.
Dogara said We are the House of the people, so we dont judge. I do not want to come out with an opinion because I know that the matter, very soon, will come to the floor of the House of Representatives and as the presiding officer, I dont want to give my opinion before that time. But one thing we can take home and assure our followers is that we will never allow any measure to be embarked upon by the government that will further impoverish our people.
Akpoebi Benson criticized the Justice Kazeem Alogba-led tribunal for rejecting electronically-generated evidence after it had been admitted, The Nation reports.

The Bayelsa APC chieftain made the comment via a statement released on Thursday, May 12, 2016.

It reads:

The decision by the tribunal to admit the evidence in one breath and avoid it being played to the hearing of the tribunal is a clear case of perversion of justice and brazen bias. This is a rape of court proceedings more so that the nations apex court, the Supreme Court had in Dickson vs Kubor ruled in a similar case.

We are worried that a lower court of jurisdiction like a tribunal could flagrantly give a contrary decision on same issue that had been settled by the Supreme Court. Wherein the source of such powers are unknown to law, actions as this, taken by the election petition tribunal can only be products of compromise.

Our fears about the impartiality of the tribunal have been on and suppressed for long. But Tuesdays decision was one too many. It gave out the tribunal as a biased body that contends with integrity challenges. This is more so that Governor Dickson has been boasting about how he has pocketed members of the tribunal.

For the avoidance of doubt, the DVD in question was processed and stored in a computer owned by Channels TV and there was certainty about its compliance to the extent that same has to be demonstrated once admitted in evidence.

The evidence so admitted but kept away cannot be for sale in the market but for demonstration to serve justice as enunciated by Section 84 of the Evidence Act.

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His call for unity among the Eggon people was welcomed. People trooped to Alakyo, a tiny community in Nasarawa State to keep a date with their deity.

He was killed but his second in command, Danjuma Omeh took over. Danjuma is from Mada Station Development Area of Nasarawa Eggon.

Just like the strict adherence to their culture caused uncertainty in the polity of Nasarawa State during the time of BabaAlakyo, Danjuma is believed to have kept faith with their deity. The state government has outlawed the group.

The ritual is called Ombatse, meaning, Time has come. The group seeks to cleanse the Eggon nation of ills, including adultery, fornication, theft, killings and drunkenness to pave way for the culture of morality and chastity.

Ombaste is said to be a spiritual deity that was passed to the new generation from their forefathers, Azhili.

Eggon sons and daughters who joined the Ombatse always visit and pray for success, good health, and financial breakthrough. This spiritual practice, which hitherto had been silent and spoken about only in whispers, became a political rallying point to the Eggon people in their pursuit for political power.

It was championed by Baba-Alakyo because he accepted to reintroduce the deity in his home country, Alakyo. The group came to limelight prior to the 2015 general elections which led to serious political unrests in Nasarawa State.

A former Police Commissioner in Nasarawa State, Mr. Abayomi Akeremale,on receiving reports of how a cultural organization, Ombatse, were said to be abducting people from places of worship and forcefully administering an oath of allegiance to the Eggon deity, swung into action to avert it.

According to the then Police Commissioner, there was a large cache of illegal arms stockpiled at the shrine where Baba-Alakyo administered the oath.

The Police's first report appeared to be contrary to the activities of the Ombatse as their call was against stealing; cheating, betrayal and that one must not sleep with his brother's wife.

"These were the condition given by the Ombatse leader to all that must practice the Eggon culture," an Eggon man, Istifanus Luka said.

There were fears that for once, a tribe in the Middle Belt region which has suffered long years of political and identity crisis was uniting in the buildup to the 2015 general election.

Several attempts were made by government officials to arrest the Ombatse leader which led to the killing of over 74 security operatives on May 7, 2013. Head of the security agencies involved in the operation had said they forgave the perpetrators. A comment many viewed to have confirmed the illegality of the operation.

There was search even among the security forces of someone with strong spiritual experience to help in arresting the Ombatse leader.

Sophisticated weapons were approved for the security forces to arrest the alleged deadly leader who locals described as unarmed civilian endowed with strong spiritual powers.

"I can tell you categorically that we were not using guns to protect our leader, Baba Alakyo. We move round our communities with machetes bow and arrow to wade off external attacks."

"Let me tell you what actually happened on that fateful day when they came to arrest Baba Alakyo. He was not even in his house when they came to arrest him. His "God" fought for him and they turned their guns against themselves," one of the boys told our reporter.

A virgin girl from one of the African countries was allegedly hired to deal with Baba Alakyo. She was killed by the Ombatse group. She was said to have been so powerful that the group had to cut her head. There was demand for the head of the virgin from interested parties which created a crack in the leadership of Ombatse.

Alakyo community which lacks social amenities such as electricity, roads, schools, hospital and had no mobile phone network was raided several times by security forces seeking to arrest the Ombatse leader.

The operation was said to be illegal by security experts that questioned the rationale behind sending over 70 security men with sophisticated weapons to arrest an individual.

The search for Baba Alakyo was still on when he granted an interview to Elanza Magazine, alleging that there were plans to kill him. The interview which was published in November 2014 seems to be an eye opener concerning several interests.

Circumstances which led to the killing of the Ombatse leader have emerged. Crack among the Eggon political elites who were both not ready to let go their personal interest of vying for the Nasarawa State governorship played a major factor.

Even though both Sen. Solomon Ewuga and Hon. Labaran Maku declined comments when contacted by Pulse, findings revealed that Baba Alakyo, a Muslim Eggon man was not supporting any individual to emerge as the governor of Nasarawa State. His only interest was for an Eggon man to emerge governor.

As a Muslim, with a house close to a Mosque where people in the community always gather to read the Koran, Baba Alakyo does not pray in the Mosque with traditional attires.

To his disciples, it was a weak point his enemies took advantage of. Baba Alakyo was said not to have travelled out of his community to meet a politician. His second in command, Danjuma Omeh had done so. Omeh had visited the then Minister of Information Mr. Labaran Maku.

On different occasions, Maku was said to have given Omeh money and even bought cars for him.

Apart from Makus interest to become governor, other interested candidates were Senator Solomon Ewuga who had let go of a possible return to the Senate and Dr. Yusuf Agabi. They were all Eggon people interested in becoming governor.

"The group's loyalty was divided. Some to Omeh, some to Baba Alakyo. But the state agents penetrated Omeh to get the head of a young virgin sent to kill the Ombatse leader," a resident who gave his name as Bulus Omeh said.

Getting the head of the hired virgin was the first success story for the interested parties, it was gathered.

"Rumor has hit the community that there was an attack in a neighboring community, Shamgba and boys guarding the Ombatse leader went. The said attack was untrue and as the boys were returning, they saw Alakyo community burning. They saw Baba Alakyo lying."

"Some of us advised the community not to allow the boys access to Baba. And till today, what the boys know is that Baba Alakyo disappeared to another community. We did this to avert destruction as at that time," said an Eggon leaderwho doesnt want his name mentioned.

He said the attackers made effort to cut the head of Baba Alakyo but they couldn't. "Baba Alakyo's boys were very dirty and they could see danger and laid ambush. That was why they were not allowed access to Baba Alakyo's remains.

Barrister Zachary Zamani Allumaga, Legal Adviser of the Ombatse group confirmed the dead of Baba Alakyo and a village head of Alakyo. He blamed the killing on herders.

Pulse gathered that Baba Alakyo was killed around 2:30 am on Saturday, November 15, 2014, and was buried at about 9am on Sunday.

A source told our correspondent that prior to the killing of the Ombatse spiritual leader, a gift had already been handed over to him by a lady allegedly from the American Embassy. She claimed she was on assignment to the community.

The source said they suspected the gift to be a gadget that kept track of Baba Alakyo up to the time he was killed. "No one is privy to the gadget," he said.

Initial reports had portrayed the Ombatse leader as a deadly being. Because of fear, many people were afraid to enter the community until an interview conducted by Elanza Magazine in October and published in November, few days before he was killed.

The visit of Sen. Solomon Ewuga alongside journalists changed the mindset of the people who have been made to belief the Ombatse leader was a deadly terrorist and invisible.

"He relates well with everyone in the community. He had no discrimination even against strangers and that was the rationale behind accepting a gift from a lady that just visited the community for the first time."

Let me tell you, even when they killed Baba Alakyo, did they kill Ombaste? The deity is still being worshipped. We are not a cult group but practicing our culture which has the backing of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Samson Ilesha, an Eggon man said.
Tinubu, who stated this in a statement issued by his media office, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking a bold step.

According to him, the new 'no subsidy' regime will purge the petroleum sector of the rot undermining its benefits, and push out fake businessmen who became true billionaires over night.

We all want fuel at a cheaper price under the subsidy, we got the right price but not the fuel, Tinubu was quoted to have said.

This change will mean higher fuel costs in generally. I would be lying if I said this will cause no pain or dislocation. However, it will rational supply and end the hidden buy substantial costs associated with long waits and delays for fuel. The days and hours of waiting for fuel will be a thing of the past.

As originally envisioned, the subsidy formed a basic part of the social contract between the people and their government. It was a benefit all were to enjoy. Yet, because past governments were not for and of the people, the true meaning and objective of the subsidy policy became lost. Over the years, the operation of the measure was distorted to where it no longer functioned for the benefit of the masses but for the undue enrichment of a small club of businessmen, some legitimate in their work, some not.

Instead of remaining a positive aspect of the social contract, the subsidy was transformed into an opaque haven of intrigue and malfeasance. It was turned into a shadowy process from which the unscrupulous extracted large sums of money without providing the services and products duly paid for. Fake businessmen became true billionaires over night as if by supernatural force. They paraded themselves as such.

To allow this unfairness to continue would have been a breach of the promise made by this government to the people. While we all have an emotional and sympathetic attachment to the ideals upon which the subsidy was founded, the statement said.

The two-time governor of Lagos State admitted that he would have ordinarily preferred that the sector was sanitised and not totally liberalised, but he said he is confident that the government of the day took a decision in the best interest of the people.

This administration entered office with a mandate of CHANGE. The government could not forever sit back and allow this dire inequity to continue lest it forfeit the essence of its mandate, he said.

I wish we could have sanitised the subsidy regime and thus continue it, but I believe that President Buhari is removing it not for the austere purpose of saving money but for the nobler purpose of putting those same funds to fairer, more equitable use in order that government might better serve those of us who are truly in need.

While this may not be perfect, it is a much better deal than the one the subsidy offered us,the statement said.
What better way to ease off the stress of the week than watch a good movie.

With that in mind, check out our list of movies currently showing in cinemas across Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron

Synopsis: As a war between rival queen sisters Ravenna and Freya escalates, Eric and fellow warrior Sara, members of the Huntsmen army raised to protect Freya, try to conceal their forbidden love as they combat Ravenna's wicked intentions.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 6:50pm

Friday - Thursday: 12:00PM, 4:40PM, 7:00PM

Friday - Thursday: 10:20 pm

Starring: Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson

Synopsis: Political interference in the Avengers' activities causes a rift between former allies Captain America and Iron Man.

Showing:

Friday - Wednesday: 12:45PM, 3:35PM, 6:25PM, 9:10PM

Thursday: 6:50PM, 9:10PM, 12:45PM, 3:35PM, 6:25PM, 9:10PM

Fri & Sat: 1:05 pm, 4:05 pm, 7:20 pm, 9:25 pm, 10:10 pm

Sun - Thu: 1:05 pm, 4:05 pm, 7:20 pm, 9:25 pm

Fri-Thur: 12:30pm, 2:05pm, 3:10pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:45pm, 8:45pm[2D]

Fri-Thur: 4:15pm[3D]

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts

Synopsis: Three generations come together in the week leading up to Mother's Day.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 12:10PM, 5:00PM, 6:20PM

Monday - Thursday: 11:00AM, 5:55PM, 9:05PM

Friday - Thursday: 10:20am, 12:30pm

Friday - Thursday: 12:05 pm, 7:05 pm

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Gal Gaddot.

Synopsis: Fearing the actions of Superman are left unchecked, Batman takes on the man of steel, while the world wrestles with what kind of a hero it really needs. With Batman and Superman fighting each other, a new threat, Doomsday, is created by Lex Luthor. It's up to Superman and Batman to set aside their differences along with Wonder Woman to stop Lex Luthor and Doomsday from destroying Metropolis.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 10:00am

Starring: Stan Nze, Rotimi Salami, Ijeoma Agu, Obutu Roland, Brutus Richard

Synopsis: Two brothers are on opposite paths. Victor is a recent ex-con who is trying to piece his life together while Duke is a brilliant undergraduate determined to see his mum live. Duke enlists the help of his two friends in stealing cars by decorating the cars and pretending to be married. Despite some unforeseen hiccups, their operation was pretty successful until people got greedy and violent."

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 5:00 pm

Friday - Thursday: 2:45pm, 9:05pm

Starring: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley

Synopsis: The man-cub Mowgli flees the jungle after a threat from the tiger Shere Khan. Guided by Bagheera the panther and the bear Baloo, Mowgli embarks on a journey of self-discovery, though he also meets creatures who don't have his best interests at heart.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 12:00PM, 2:00PM

Friday - Thursday: 10:25am, 12:45pm, 4:30pm

Friday - Thursday: 12:05 pm, 2:30 pm

Starring: Alexx Ekubo, Oyinbo Princess, Francis Odega

Synopsis: A young man in his late 20s-Robinson-who believes the only way he can succeed is to travel overseas, and an easy way out is surfing through the internet for an online date. Luck smiles on him as he hooks up with a white prospective lady, Emilia. He starts financial extortion in the pretence that he is preparing the marital rites.

Showing:

Tues-Thur: 5:15pm, 8:45pm

Friday - Thursday: 6:00 pm

Friday - Thursday: 1:15PM, 4:45PM, 7:20PM

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman

Synopsis: In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders.

Friday - Thursday: 8:55PM

Genre:

Starring: Dakore Akande, Bryan Okwara, Alexx Ekubo, Osas Ajibade, Wale Ojo, Wole Ojo, Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Sadiq Daba, Kemi Lala-Akindoju, Femi Jacobs, Stephanie Coke.

Synopsis: Sharon is a young executive who owns a growing consultancy firm in Lagos. She is in an open secret relationship with Tunde, one of her staff. Tunde loves Sharon but hes not very sure if she will be totally humble and respect him as the man in the relationship.

After a night out together, they had an argument over who should have settled the bill, and the argument resulted in a quarrel which took Tunde away from the office and separated them for some days. In a bid to resolve the issue, Sharon went to Tundes house and there she found something more interestinga script; which Tunde has been working on privately.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 2:30PM, 6:45PM

Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure

Starring: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston, Dustin Hoffman

Synopsis: Continuing his "legendary adventures of awesomeness", Po must face two hugely epic, but different threats: one supernatural and the other a little closer to his home.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 11:20am

Genre: Romance

Starring: Ice Cube, Regina Hall, Anthony Anderson

Synopsis: As their surrounding community has taken a turn for the worse, the crew at Calvin's Barbershop come together to bring some much needed change to their neighborhood.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 2:00PM, 6:20PM, 8:40PM

Friday - Thursday: 4:45 pm, 7:05 pm

Friday - Thursday: 4:15pm, 6:20pm, 8:30pm

Genre: Romance

Starring: Uche Jombo, Chioma Akpotha, Ufuoma McDermott, Kehinde Bankole, Kalu Ikeagwu, Julius Agwu, Kenneth Okonkwo.

Synopsis: The movie is a hilarious comedy about a group of market women who decided to take matters into their own hands against their husbands in a bid to stir them into standing up for a young girl whom they wanted to protect from the wishes of her own father. The women, who hilariously interpret their roles, set a series of events in motion to give the movie many moments of laughter without missing a beat on the reason for everyone to know why they are on strike.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 4:50PM

Friday - Thursday: 2:40pm

Genre:

Starring:Rykardo Agbor, Kehinde Olorunyomi- Odukoya, Bayray Mcnwizu, Ifeanyi Kalu, Labelle Vitien, Frank Paladini.

Synopsis: The Novelist is an African Romance Drama about a best-selling authors seemingly perfect life which is turned upside down when he leaves his wife in the bedroom with his tape recorder on. He is suddenly faced with secrets he would rather not know and truths he would rather remain buried. The film is written by Kehinde Olorunyomi the acclaimed writer of the award winning Finding Mercy and In the Cupboard.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 2:50PM, 9:05PM

Genre:

Starring:Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot

Synopsis: In a last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot, a dead CIA operative's memories, secrets, and skills are implanted into a death-row inmate in hopes that he will complete the operative's mission.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 12:00PM, 8:35PM

Fri -Thu: 2:35 pm, 9:35 pm

Friday - Thursday: 6:30pm

Starring:Emma Watson, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Nyqvist

Synopsis: A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend that draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody ever escaped from.

Showing:

Friday - Thursday: 10:25am

Starring:Chloe Grace Moretz, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne

Synopsis: After a sorority moves in next door, which is even more debaucherous than the fraternity before it, Mac and Kelly have to ask for help from their former enemy, Teddy.

Showing:

Friday - Sunday: 1:00 pm, 3:30 pm, 7:45 pm
It is not yet time to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari or the All Progressives Congress because we in the PDP are in a crisis and we are trying to rebuild our own house, he said.

We have to remove the speck in our own eyes before we can see the one in the eyes of the others. The APC and the President have asked for time to deliver on their campaign promises and we are watching. For now, whether it is fuel price hike or other government policies, I will say no comment.

We are busy holding meetings in order to rebuild the PDP and it would be unnecessary to make any comment yet. As I speak to you, I am in the middle of a meeting; our party is trying to resolve its crisis.

The next general election is still very far away. It is three years away from here. In the fourth year of this government, when elections are around the corner, this present government would have almost finished its tenure. It is then we can roll out our plans and be able to make a good critique of the Buhari government, he added.

Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose has said that he wont support Georges ambition to be PDP chairman.

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Although I am in a party in the opposition, you have to accept if somebody does well. I can assure you Mr President has done excellently. You could remember even how he restored the dignity of this nation in the global community, he said.

Nigeria is now being respected and so he has done a lot; you see leadership of the world particularly the developed nations are always willing to receive him and to talk on investment, to talk on anti-terrorist activities and many other aspects.

He is in London to discuss or on a conference on anti-corruption. So I can assure you, this man has done exceptionally well. There may be hardship in the land but look at it, the reduction of terrorist activities in the country and the image of this country that he has built overseas is so important to us that this hardship that we are suffering will likely disappear within a very short period, he added.

Meanwhile, PDP chieftain, Bode George has said that its too soon to criticize Buhari.

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Okupe, who had worked under Obasanjo, had severally hurled insults at the former president during the re-election campaign of Jonathan.

The seeming 'son' and 'father' relationship between the two grew colder, especially with Obasanjo not favourably disposed to Jonathan's re-election.

According to Premium Times, the reconciliation meeting took place last Sunday at Obasanjo's Hilltop G.R.A. residence in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital

It was gathered that when Okupe arrived Obasanjo's residence, he was initially prevented form entering the premises until the former President told his security operatives to allow him in.

It was also reported that Obasanjo had rejected Okupe's apology, saying you cannot abuse me in the papers, on TV, on radio and on the streets and then come here to privately apologise.

Why dont you mount the same platforms you used in abusing me to apologise to me? Obasanjo was quoted as saying.
The Word for Today devotional by United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) says

To do God has will, Moses had to leave his comfort zone. Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter  He thought it was better to suffer  than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward (Hebrews 11:24-26 NLT).

To fulfil the assignment God gave him, Moses had to be willing to give up two things:

1) Comfort.

Ease is a greater threat to your progress than hardship. After living in a palace, Moses spent his next forty years in the desert-tending sheep. He married one of Jethros daughters, managed her fathers business, and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.

Can you imagine leaving all that to go back and face Pharaoh? Gods plan for your life will bless and reward you, but never assume it will be easy.

2) Security.

When God called him, Moses had many doubts and questions: Who am I that I should go? (Exodus 3:11 NKJV). What shall I say to them? (Exodus 3:13 NKJV). Suppose they will not believe me? (Exodus 4:1 NKJV). But I am slow of speech (Exodus 4:10 NKJV). Finally he told God, Send someone else (Exodus 4:13 NIV 2011 Edition).

Have you been doing that? Fortunately, God would not take no for an answer, and Moses finally did the one thing that works when you are uncertain about the future: He obeyed God, entrusting the details of the future to Him.
According to the National president of the association, Comrade Tijani Shehu, NANS is already mobilizing Nigerian students to resist the new N145 per litre pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS.

Today.ng reported that Shehu confirmed these plans during a protest rally where the association was calling for the removal of the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu

Shehu said, a directive has been issued to all tertiary institutions to shut down all campuses on Tuesday and Wednesday, next week. After that, they will all converge on Abuja for a mass protest.
The West African country was rocked in January by an attack on a hotel and restaurant in its capital, Ouagadougou, claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, that killed 30 people.

The group has been targeting since November civilians at locations frequented by Westerners. It carried out attacks in Malis capital Bamako and in a beach resort town in Ivory Coast, leaving dozens of people dead.

"When Burkina Faso decided eight years ago to deploy its first battalion in Darfur, we were in an environment without threats at our borders," General Pingrenoma Zagre told reporters in Ouagadougou. "We had a security situation in the Sahel-Saharan region that was overall satisfactory."

But the current circumstances and the logistical costs "led us to a reassessment of the means deployed to support peace keeping theatres and consider the prospect of a withdrawal of one of our three battalions," he added.

Burkina Faso, which is the eleventh-largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, has one battalion of 850 soldiers in Darfur and two battalions in Mali. A military source said the battalion to be withdrawn would be the one in Darfur.
In a statement that provides daily operational updates, the minister said that 40 militants were wounded and five suspected militants were detained in the raids.

It said the raids were carried out by the army with assistance from the police and personnel of national intelligence agency.

According to the statement, joint forces also seized weapons, ammunition and defused several landmines planted recently by the militants.

Two vehicles and eight motorbikes belonging to the insurgents were also confiscated.

The Afghan security forces have beefed up security operations against militants since early April after Taliban militants started their so-called annual spring offensive and intensified attacks across the country.
It was the third time in five days that police have fired tear gas at supporters of Moise Katumbi, the former governor of Congo's copper-mining region, who is accused of hiring the mercenaries as part of a plot against the republic.
The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that it had sent a letter to the Egyptian embassy to express its "surprise and dissatisfaction" with the government's failure to thoroughly investigate the case, penalize the perpetrators and compensate victims.

The ministry said that although media outlets had reported on negotiations with one of the victim's families, Mexico did not have any knowledge of the case.
Kenya had announced a day earlier it was drawing up a timetable to shut Dadaab camp, shrugging off pleas to reconsider the move by the United Nations and rights groups.

The vast settlement on the Kenyan side of the Somali border houses about 350,000 Somalis and other refugees taking shelter from conflicts raging across the region. Kenya says militants have also used it as a base to launch attacks.

But Somalia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said any move to close it would only hurt the refugees and possibly drive more people into militancy.

"Expelling vulnerable Somali refugees at a time Somalia is making internationally recognised progress towards stability and institution building, will only increase the risk of insecurity in the region," the ministry said.

Somalia's Western-backed government is struggling to rebuild the country after more than two decades of turmoil, first at the hands of clan warlords, then Islamist militants.

Kenya says fighters from Somalia's al Shabaab militant group have used the camp as a launch pad for attacks on the nearby Garissa university in 2015 and other targets.

Last year, Kenya said it was setting a three-month deadline to close Dadaab, but backtracked on following U.N. condemnation of any forced return.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR, Kenya and Somalia signed a tripartite deal in 2013 to repatriate Somali refugees voluntarily, including 50,000 in 2016.
Summer colds are the worst.

Youre not sure how you caught one, but you did  and now youd love to know where it came from. Or maybe thats one of those medical mysteries, the kind that Mary Guinan, PhD, MD solved. In her new book Adventures of a Female Medical Detective (with Anne D. Mather), she takes you on some not-so-cold cases.

Born of Irish immigrants, Mary Guinan says her parents were grateful for Americas opportunities and made it clear that college was mandatory for each of their five children. Guinan chose Hunter College in New York, where she learned that she had a knack for chemistry; what she really wanted was to study medicine, but women were rarely admitted to medical school then.

Frustrated with a lack of opportunities, she graduated with a degree in chemistry and entered the astronaut program in Houston. Options were limited for women there, too, so when she heard about a plan to eradicate smallpox, Guinan applied to train with the CDC for a chance to join the effort. Told that India disallowed women into the program, she had to argue to get her first big case but once overseas, the remote area in which shed been assigned became smallpox-free because of her efforts.

It was, she says, one of the most exciting experiences of my life.

Back in the U.S. and further into her career, Guinan stumbled upon work in STD research, gaining a reputation for specialization. That led to an edgy and ultimately irksome tour in Pakistan, then to an assignment with the CDC to study the emerging AIDS epidemic.

In California, she followed a group of AIDS research patients, and accidentally received a needlestick. She writes of irritation with a writer over confidentiality, and problems with media misinformation on AIDS and women. She witnessed unrelenting and vicious homophobia against HIV-positive patients, some of whom she particularly and poignantly remembers. And now, as professor emerita at the University of Nevada, she busts some myths.

From the comfort of your sofa or chair, theres nothing quite like a good adventure. But Hemingway, Roosevelt, Heyerdahl, Peary, you can put them aside after youve read Adventures of a Female Medical Detective.

Author Mary Guinan, PhD, MD, is a true pioneer, and the stories she tells of her early career are jaw-dropping. Seen through modern eyes, its rather jolting to remember that it wasnt so long ago that women were completely barred from certain jobs in the workplace. In every job-related battle she fought, Guinans tenacity is impressive and empowering.

And then there are the adventures hinted about in this books title: Guinan (with Anne D. Mather) shares the kinds of stories that youd hear at a dinner-party. Sometimes, theres humor attached to them; others are told with a sense of outrage and humanity.

My only complaint? Not enough pages in this skinny book, which made me want more. For medical students, field workers, doctors, or anyone who loves swashbuckling tales, Adventures of a Female Medical Detective is a book to catch.

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was three years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives in Wisconsin.
Despite all of Ronald G. Waynes accomplishments as a co-founder of the Apple Computer Company in 1976, product development engineer, inventor, author, poet and artist, one of his main passions has always been stamp collecting.

Despite all of Ronald G. Waynes accomplishments as a co-founder of the Apple Computer Company in 1976, product development engineer, inventor, author, poet and artist, one of his main passions has always been stamp collecting.

Wayne could open a post office in Pahrump since he has well over one million stamps, a conservative estimate. Wayne is a lifelong philatelist, the official title of one who collects and studies stamps.

All of his stamps are precisely labeled, mounted on plastic-covered cards and catalogued in drawers. At a moments notice, Wayne can locate any stamp by category or year and give a description of its history from his vast collection.

His fascination with stamps dates back to his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio when he was influenced by his older brother who used to collect stamps. The hobby stuck with the younger Wayne throughout the years.

When he was a kid growing up back in the 1940s, stamp collecting was the number one hobby in the world according to Wayne and the trend continued in the 50s up through the 60s.

You go back into the late 19th, early 20th century, it was not uncommon for people to live out their whole lives and not get more than 50 miles away from where they were born, he said. If they had a stamp from Zanzibar it might as well have come from Mars and it was their linkage to the outside world.

People collect stamps for many reasons, including the artwork since the finest engraving was done on stamps and money in those days said Wayne.

Some are interested in stamps from their heritage or home country and the history of many nations is reflected on postage stamps.

They come from England so they collect stamps of Great Britain because, you know, they want that linkage, or they honor that linkage.

There are also topical collectors who only want stamps based on a theme like zeppelins, insects, flowers, flags, or presidents.

Most collectors specialize in categories like special delivery, postage due, airmail, or another area of interest.

Wayne said some collectors consider stamps an investment, buying them at a low price and selling at a higher one to make a profit.

Then there is the stamp collectors stamp collector, the philatelist, and he has got to have this particular stamp that he spots in the window, you know, Wayne stated. He finally found that stamp he has been looking for. The kids may not eat next week, but hes going to have that stamp. The serious collector buys, never sells.

His particular interest is U.S. and airmail stamps, along with those depicting the history of modern civilization, but he collects stamps from all over the world.

One of his prized acquisitions is a 1930 complete set of the three denominations of Graf Zeppelin stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office for exclusive use on mail carried on the airship. There were only about 30,000 to 40,000 of each value ever released to the public. Wayne stated the set is even more rare since it is unused and post-office fresh with exceptional centering. In those days, the perforating machines had no idea where the stamps were on the sheets and most were printed off-center.

Another one of his treasures is a 30-cent U.S. stamp issued in 1869 with a photo of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Thirty cents may have been all the money in the world in those days, Wayne said. There werent too many people who needed 30 cents on a letter.

The first two stamps in the U.S. were issued with photos of President George Washington and Benjamin Franklin since he was the first postmaster general. Both of their images appeared on more stamps than anyone else, Wayne said.

There are two major categories of stamps, definitive or general postal issued by the postal service and commemorative, which honors some person, place, or event. Up until 1893, all of the issued stamps were definitive.

That same year a worlds fair, known as the Worlds Columbian Exposition, took place in Chicago marking the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus arriving in the New World.

Wayne said commemorative stamps in several denominations were issued to mark the expo and it was a first for the postal service to recognize an event with a stamp.

The trend continued and by the mid-1920s commemorative stamps were being issued every few days.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of greatest stamp collectors of the 20th century.

He was absolutely bound up with stamps, Wayne said.

When Roosevelt took office in 1933 he had to rebuild the economy and the morale of the people during the recovery of the Great Depression.

Stamp collecting was the worlds number one hobby then and since the president was an avid collector himself, he had Postmaster General James A. Farley annually issue souvenir sheets of stamps for collectors.

Farley also organized a traveling stamp museum which toured the country. Any visitors to the museum could receive a souvenir Truck Stamp.

Wayne said stamp collecting will be with us forever since its a very individualized hobby.

Its a hobby with so many facets to it, he explained. People are drawn to it for different reasons: for art, for history, for economics, some people for money, they think they can make money at it.

Wayne added that a serious collector of anything, whether its stamps, coins, guns or even paper clips, realizes we dont own these items.

We are merely curators of them during our lifetime. The responsibility of any serious collector is to see to it that this stuff passes on to succeeding generations.

Aside from being a collector of U.S. and world stamps, Wayne describes himself as a discount dealer and will take 30 percent off the catalogue value of a stamp as the sole dealer in Pahrump. He also deals in coins and unused bulk postage. Contact Wayne at 727-5750 or email: ronnieg@ezax.net.
CARSON CITY  The Nevada Supreme Court dealt a likely lethal blow Wednesday to an effort to repeal the states new commerce tax, ruling that an explanation of what the referendum would do is defective.

CARSON CITY  The Nevada Supreme Court dealt a likely lethal blow Wednesday to an effort to repeal the states new commerce tax, ruling that an explanation of what the referendum would do is defective.

The unanimous ruling sends the issue back to a state judge in Carson City, but time is running out for backers of the referendum measure.

They face a June 21 deadline to collect 55,000 signatures to qualify it for the November ballot.

State Controller Ron Knecht, a leader in the repeal effort, said his group called RIP Commerce Tax has collected about 20,000 signatures as of early May. Wednesdays ruling means they would have to rewrite the petition and start anew.

The commerce tax imposes a levy on businesses with $4 million or more in annual revenue. It is projected to generate $60 million annually for the state budget.

The referendum sought to give voters the final say on the commerce tax passed as part of a bigger tax package by the 2015 Legislature and supported by Gov. Brian Sandoval.

The Coalition for Nevadas Future, a group of business interests that supported the tax, challenged the referendum on several grounds. Carson City District Judge James Wilson in December rejected the coalitions arguments and allowed the effort to proceed, prompting the appeal to the high court.

While justices dismissed some of the coalitions arguments, they agreed that the description of the effect  a required 200-word explanation of what the petition does  was flawed because it doesnt tell voters the effect it would have on the state budget.

Accordingly, we conclude that the referendums description is deceptive for failing to accurately identify the practical ramification of the commerce taxs disapproval, and any signatures obtained on petitions with this misleading description are invalid, Chief Justice Ron Parraguirre wrote for the court.

Justice Nancy Saitta, in a concurring statement, said petition signers have been both deceived and misled.

Such drafting threatens the sanctity of the petition process and consequently is untenable, and thus, I concur with the majoritys conclusion that the description is invalid, Saitta wrote.

Sandoval said he appreciated the court moving quickly to resolve the issue.

The sponsors of this referendum owed it to the voters to explain the effect signing this petition would have on the state budget and most importantly, students and classrooms across Nevada, Sandoval said in a statement released Wednesday night. This decision is a victory in the fight for transparency and a citizens right to accurate and truthful information.

RIP Commerce Tax is considering its next move, Knecht said in an email Wednesday evening. We are evaluating our options for clarifying these matters, resolving the court case and getting the required signatures, he said.

The group disagrees with the courts finding, Knecht said

With all due respect, we believe the Nevada Supreme Courts decision reflects a misunderstanding of the facts about the effect of a commerce tax repeal on the FY15-16 and FY16-17 budgets and state spending, he said. As we have shown, there will be no effect on either of them. And any effect that would be realized in FY17-18 and beyond would be addressed by the legislature in the budgets it will adopt a year from now.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com. Find @SandraChereb on Twitter.
The founder of Understanding the Threat.com this week did not hesitate to quash discussions, innuendo and rumors within the community about the federal government planning to haul busloads of male Syrian refugees to Pahrump to start a new life.

The founder of Understanding the Threat.com this week did not hesitate to quash discussions, innuendo and rumors within the community about the federal government planning to haul busloads of male Syrian refugees to Pahrump to start a new life.

However, John Guandolo, a former FBI agent and military veteran, did spend three days in Pahrump speaking to community members and Nye County law enforcement officials about what he perceives as a global threat of the Islamic movement.

He did not concur with the Syrian refugee rumor.

I am not aware of the Department of Homeland Security busing Syrian refugees to Pahrump, he said. I always make it a point to shut that kind of ignorant talk down whenever I hear of it.

Guandolo did say that the threat from the global Islamic movement is much more significant than domestic terrorism.

He spoke about why the United States is not seeing more terrorist-inspired attacks from the Islamic movement at present.

My response is that if you understand their strategy, right now they are not focused on the west and the United States, he said. They are focused on the Muslim community.

One of the many concerns Guandolo has is that teaching Islam in American schools is permitted and encouraged by the American legal system, as students have the right to academic instruction about religion.

Sharia, an Islamic religious law, governs not only religious rituals, but various aspects of day-to-day life in Islam.

Translated, Sharia means the way.

Guandolo said the fact that Sharia is taught in American schools in the United States and Islamic schools, makes it relevant and makes it a valid doctrine for groups such as ISIS, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and others.

When you look at what Sharia actually says, 100 percent of it is oblige Jihad until the entire world is under Islamic rule, he said. The law of Jihad under Sharia specifically supports what ISIS and al-Qaida says it does. We are seeing that right now in Germany and Las Vegas, when a woman is plowing over people at 40 miles per hour on the strip on New Years Eve, or a guy who goes into a Columbus, Ohio restaurant, with a machete hacking people. Those are acts of individual Jihad.

Guandolos hard-line position on the issue has generated some push back around the country.

Hes been labeled anti-Muslim on more than one occasion by those who disagree with his beliefs.

He lamented the fact that some people prefer to attack the messenger, rather than the message hes conveying.

I am told that as far as Muslims are concerned, I paint with a broad brush but that is not true, he said. Im specifically identifying the threat and saying that you need to be concerned about this because they are saying they adhere to a doctrine that threatens you. Im saying that we have an obligation and duty to do something.

Additionally, Guandolo said like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, he too supports an immigration ban, but not just for Muslims alone.

I would support a ban on all immigration until we get a handle on it from the economic aspect, the security aspect, the health aspect, he said. There are a lot of issues on how we are handling immigration right now and by the way, the people who are legally trying to come through the system are getting crapped on. They are the ones that are paying the price while other people are manipulating.

Conversely, Guandolo said there are many people who self-identify as Muslims that do not want to live under Sharia, and they dont espouse Sharia.

He was cautious to say that not every Muslim should be feared or perceived as a threat, especially if they dont adhere to the Sharia doctrine.

As an FBI agent, I worked with Muslims who did very dangerous things for the United States, he said. They went over and went to Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places and literally went into al-Qaida safe houses and identified people that we were able to kill or capture.

Guandolo did provide his thoughts on President Obama, who prior to becoming Americas first black president, was accused by most Republicans as a Kenyan as well as a Muslim.

More than 80 percent of Kenyans subscribe to Christianity, while 11 percent are Muslim.

I have no idea whether the president is a Muslim or not, Guandolo said. During interviews, I tell the person that if I want to evaluate a man, Im going to look at who he is and his background and what his policies are. Even though he says hes a Christian, I dont know.

Though hes in favor of banning all immigration into the U.S., Guandolo said he not sure how to go about such an exercise.

I dont know how you would ban all Muslims from entering the United States, he said. I would more accurately say that I think there should be a minimum five-year ban on all immigration until we get our act together. Not just Muslims. We have a system which is allowing people to come into the country that are hostile to us and its not just Muslims.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes
In 1968, Eugene Kendrick worked as a clerk at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) office in area 12. He would stay at the site over the work week and make the drive back home to Las Vegas on weekends.

In 1968, Eugene Kendrick worked as a clerk at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) office in area 12. He would stay at the site over the work week and make the drive back home to Las Vegas on weekends.

I felt it was safe, Kendrick, now of Henderson, said about his past job.

Later on, Kendrick developed Graves Disease and a white blood cell disorder. And while he cant say whether those issues are related to his exposure to nuclear blasts at the job that he held for a year, his memories of the detonations that took place at site are still fresh.

I didnt even think about it til years later. Didnt even think about it til this came up. To me, it was just another job, he said.

They constantly had blastings there and the machine was constantly going, the dust was always flying in the air. Thats all the time dusting. Every single day, he said.

So far, Kendrick hasnt received any benefits or compensation after his claim was denied by the U.S. Department of Labor. Now, at 66, he is in the process of appealing the decision.

On Tuesday, Kendrick was one of several dozen former workers of NTS, now called the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), who attended a Las Vegas community town hall event organized by Cold War Patriots, a Denver-based nonprofit organization that provides support for former nuclear weapons-complex workers and uranium miners exposed to radiation during the Cold War.

The organization held a presentation on benefits and health compensation that former workers could qualify for because of their medical conditions.

Tim Lerew, chairman of Cold War Patriots said the organization saw a disproportionately high number of various types of cancer, especially from former workers at the NNSS.

Unfortunately, this national defense work they had performed made too many of them ill. So if they do have what could be a work-related illness, we want to get the word out so that they know there might be benefits available to them, both financial and medical, he said.

Thanks to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 that provides benefits to employees of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors, who became ill as a result of exposure to radiation and other toxic substances, over 10o,000 applied for benefits since the program was enacted in 2001, Lerew said.

The Manhattan Project, a research and development program that produced the first nuclear weapons during the Cold War, had research centers around the country, including Hanford, Washington and Oakridge, Tennessee.

Over 900 nuclear tests were conducted in Nevada between 1951 and 1992 after the Atomic Energy Commission designated a big portion of land 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas for atmospheric atomic testing. The NNSS is one of 12 sites where the Department of Energy still does work. The site has over 2,000 employees.

By 1957, the impact of radioactivity on workers and the surrounding population shifted testing bombs underground, and by 1962 the U.S. government stopped all atmospheric testing.

Cold War Patriots holds town hall meetings around the country as part of its mission and outreach.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova @dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77
The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions final supplement to the Department of Energys environmental impact statement for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear repository cant be appealed in court, Nevada officials said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions final supplement to the Department of Energys environmental impact statement for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear repository cant be appealed in court, Nevada officials said.

At the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects meeting on Tuesday, State Board of Examiners Consultant Marta Adams said that the final supplement to the DOEs environmental impact statement for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is not appealable or capable of judicial review because its not accompanied in a record of decision.

Normally, to be right for a judicial challenge, you have to have a decision thats going forward and we dont have that yet. We keep being in a little bit of a limbo status, Adams said.

The final report issued by the NRC on May 5 is essentially a supplement to the 2002 Yucca Mountain EIS prepared by the DOE and the secondary 2008 EIS.

The NRCs report on Yucca Mountain however will help Nevada, Adams said, as the state developed new contentions for the possible NRC licensing proceeding.

What we have been able to establish is how inadequate and deficient the document is in terms of addressing the very substantive comments that the state of Nevada made. So that was disappointing on many levels, she said.

State officials said the report was deficient and 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.

After issuing the final supplement, Nevada officials said the NRC will have $1 million to 2 million in Yucca Mountain funds left and will need at least $330 million for full licensing over three to five years. The NRCs board will be down to three commissioners in summer.

And at that point, we think that it is somewhat likely that a pre-adjudication case management conference could be held. And that would be a very significant milestone for us. So, we are looking at that, Adams said.

The state of Nevada currently has five pending lawsuits related to Yucca Mountain. Two of them are water cases that are being considered in courts in Las Vegas and Tonopah in which the U.S. challenges Nevada States Engineer Jason Kings denial of water to develop Yucca Mountain.

The DOE is developing a consent-based siting program for a pilot storage facility for spent fuel from shut down reactors, a larger consolidated interim storage facility for spent reactor fuel, and a geologic repository at a site other than Yucca Mountain. The initiative is supposed to ensure that communities and states are comfortable with the location of potential storage before its constructed.

And I think all of us are hoping that other initiatives such as this consent-based initiative, such as this new interim proposal will basically take the heat off Yucca Mountain, no pun intended, and get us back to looking at a more suitable geological site, Adams said.

Meanwhile, the states legal team continues to prepare in the anticipation of the resumption of the adjudication process before the NRC.

We hope it doesnt happen but we cant sit on our thumbs, Adams said. We have to go forward because we want to be in a state of readiness to continue Nevadas 25-year effort in this feign.

Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @DariaSokolova77
A local cheer and dance team brought home top prizes during a recent competition in Las Vegas.

Pahrumps VIP Allstars CDG (Cheer, Dance Gym), the sole studio in town offering competitive cheer, dance and gymnastics, routed the competition during two matches in Las Vegas last month.

Coordinator Alicia Lewis said Pahrumps team performed like the champions they were while competing in Las Vegas on April 23.

There were four teams and all the teams took home first place, she said. We are a small gym so we dont compete against the larger ones. Out of the small gym category, all four teams took home first place. Thats pretty remarkable for our small town.

Pahrumps athletes range in age from two to 18 years of age in four categories.

The team participated in two competitions known as Sharp.

Its described as a high-energy competition and camp circuit for those interested in performing in national cheer competitions in Las Vegas, California, Hawaii and beyond.

During the second Las Vegas competition, the squad took home one second place award for the tiny team.

We then had our mini, youth, senior, and dance team, she said. We also had one individual routine. We also took home the Most Spirited Gym, which was huge, because they put all the gyms together. To get most spirited along with some of the larger gyms, that was huge.

During a recent Sharp competition at Knotts Berry Farm in California, they went head-to-head against several Golden State teams.

This particular competition was just for the cheer team, but we have a mini team, a tiny team, a youth team and our senior team, she said. They also competed in another Sharp national competition and that one was at Knotts Berry Farm on Sunday, May 1st.

In the Knotts Berry Farm competition a lot of California-based teams were there as well as a couple of Las Vegas teams, she said. It was a two-day competition. They also had high school and middle school cheer teams. They had different variations of cheer and dance in the competition.

At present, there are roughly 40 kids participating in Pahrumps VIP Allstars.

Lewis said she is hoping to take on more students when tryouts occur this Sunday and early next month.

There are two separate dates for tryouts, she said. The first one is going to be on Sunday, May 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be another one on June 4th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Parents and their kids are welcome to come in and try a free class to see what its like. They can come and meet the staff here.

The VIP Allstars gym is located at 1375 State St. Suite 9, just a block north of the Saitta/Trudeau car dealership off Humahuaca Street.

For additional information, contact gym owner Natalia at 775 537-3629.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes
Two weeks ago, three men assaulted a 19-year-old American Muslim in Astoria, Queens. One suspect shouted Arab and punched the victim twice in the face. A second screamed ISIS and approached with a metal pipe. When a bystander appeared, the three suspects fled the scene.

Two weeks ago, three men assaulted a 19-year-old American Muslim in Astoria, Queens. One suspect shouted Arab and punched the victim twice in the face. A second screamed ISIS and approached with a metal pipe. When a bystander appeared, the three suspects fled the scene.

Whats especially alarming about this incident is how commonplace such hate crimes have become across the United States. Attacks on American Muslims and Muslim institutions have surged over the past year  a surge that can be directly correlated to anti-Muslim rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign, according to a study released last week by the Bridge Initiative at Georgetown University (bridge.georgetown.edu).

During the presidential primaries, candidates for the highest office in the land have repeatedly stirred fear and loathing by suggesting that Muslims are not fit to serve as president (Ben Carson), Muslim neighborhoods should be heavily policed (Ted Cruz), and all Muslims should be temporarily banned from entering the country (Donald Trump).

During that same period, the Bridge Initiative study documented a dramatic escalation of violence directed at Muslims. In December 2015 alone, there were 53 total attacks, 17 of which targeted mosques and Islamic homes. By comparison, when the presidential election season began just 9 months earlier, there were only 2 anti-Muslim attacks.

Words have power. By conflating Muslims and terrorists, presidential candidates have fostered a climate of suspicion and fear that affects the lives of millions of American Muslims. Demonizing Islam by claiming as Trump did recently that Islam hates America does nothing to keep us safe from terrorism. On the contrary, such rhetoric fuels ignorance and hate  which, in turn, makes us all less safe.

Not just Muslims, but anyone who looks like a Muslim is at risk. Two recent examples: In February, a Buddhist monk mistaken for a Muslim was attacked in Oregon. And in March, a Sikh temple  mistaken for a mosque  was vandalized in the state of Washington.

Not surprisingly, campaign rhetoric aimed at Muslims and others has also had an impact on young people in our schools.

A recent survey of 2,000 K-12 teachers conducted by the Southern Poverty Law Center found an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets of candidates on the campaign trail. Two-thirds of the teachers reported that Muslim students expressed fears about what would happen to them after the election.

On the campaign trail, Islamophobia has moved from the crackpot fringe to mainstream political discourse. But contrary to anti-Muslim propaganda, radicals in extremist movements who propagate false narratives about Islam to promote violence are no more Islamic than the KKK and white supremacist groups who act in the name of Christ are Christian.

Here is the truth: Islam is not the enemy and American Muslims are among the most engaged, patriotic and committed citizens in our country. (See What is the truth about American Muslims? at www.religiousfreedomcenter.org)

For a ray of hope, look across the pond.

While Republican primary voters were signaling overwhelming support for Trumps Muslim ban, London voters elected Sadiq Khan as the citys first Muslim mayor.

When asked about Khan, Trump suggested that the mayor could be an exception to his ban on Muslims. Khan responded by telling BBC News: 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.

Mayor Khan went on to warn about the consequences of anti-Muslim rhetoric:

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 extremists. Trump and those around him think western liberal values incompatible with mainstream Islam. London has proved him wrong.

Its time for the American people to prove Islamophobia has no place in American political life.

We have been down this road before: Anti-Catholicism plagued America in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but it is not the American story. Anti-Semitism has a long and ugly history in the U.S. (and persists to the present day), but it is not the American story.

The American story  on our best days  is people of goodwill standing up to hate and prejudice by speaking out for religious freedom as a universal right.

Only by making America safe again for Muslim citizens will we keep America safe for people of all faiths and none.

Charles C. Haynes is vice president of the Newseum Institute and founding director of the Religious Freedom Center. E-mail: chaynes@newseum.org Web: www.religiousfreedomcenter.org Twitter: @hayneschaynes
In a quest to be recognized as one Quad-Cities, organizers of a new regional vision initiative encouraged business, community and elected leaders Thursday to rally around four priorities set out by the Q2030 vision.

With more than 60 people from across the bistate area on hand, Q2030 steering committee leaders provided an update on the plan's progress.

Launched three years ago, the vision has gathered the support of 145 Quad-City entities from governments to businesses, schools and nonprofits. After a public survey, a 55-person steering committee has identified four pillars, or priorities, for the Quad-Cities to become: Cool Places, Creative People, Connected Region and Prosperous Economy.

Kent Pilcher, one of Q2030's tri-chairs, told the crowd at the downtown Davenport Public Library, that to implement the action plan, work is beginning to engage and recruit talented volunteers centered on each of the pillars. Before a June 30 public launch of Q2030, he said champions for each area as well as a number of loaned executives are being recruited.

"Part of the real beauty of this is we all believe in this vision," he said, adding, "The real key is we are creating something for the future that is significant."

Don Doucette, chancellor of Eastern Iowa Community Colleges, was one of several speakers to discuss the importance of aligning community efforts to work together on issues identified by the vision, such as creating a 21st century workforce in the Quad-Cities.

"Understand, we are in a talent war ... our ability to attract, retain and develop talent will determine our future," he said.

By creating cool places, it will attract young people, he said.

Rob Woodall, manufacturing director for Alcoa Davenport Works, said the region needs to think collectively and realize "a prosperous economy is about jobs."

"The I-74 corridor is a once-in-a-generation opportunity ... It will set the tone for the next 100 years," he said. "We've got to think about that as a way to develop a prosperous economy."

Throughout the update, speakers focused on the need for strong regionalism.

"Davenport is not just a community of 100,000, but a region of 450,000," Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch said after the meeting.

Applauding Scott County Administrator Dee Bruemmer, a steering committee member, as someone who really "thinks regionally," Q2030 tri-chair Joe Slavens got a huge laugh when he presented her with a T-shirt with the word "Quad-Citizen."

Rock Island Mayor Dennis Pauley told the crowd that "we have to promote that what is good for one is good for all. If you put a business with 500 jobs in one community, it helps us all ... We're only going to prosper if we think outside local boundaries and embrace regionalism."

Pilcher reminded the group that the initiative was born out of the Regional Opportunities Council three years ago after a merger created the Quad-Cities Chamber.

"For the first time ever, we had one group of people focused on our area rather than five or six chambers," said Pilcher, the president of Estes Construction, Davenport.

He added that the council, made up of many of the largest employers, asked, "How do we create a regional vision?"

"This had to be different than the past (efforts)," he said. "What became obvious to us is one of the things that held us back in the past was parochialism."

According to Pilcher, one of the main differences with Q2030 vs. other visioning plans is the widespread support.

"The fact that so many people showed up today shows they believe in the idea of one region," he said after the presentation. "People now trust that (idea of regionalism). They are not fearful we have plans for a uni-government."

Also different is its engagement model structure, which is continuing to unfold as more participants are brought into the process.

"What is making this different is we don't have every tactic and strategy identified," Rene Gellerman, the chamber's senior vice president and a loaned executive to Q2030, said after the meeting. "We have priorities identified, and as people take the lead (on them), they are going to shape the initiative."
A $15,000 cash or surety bond was set Thursday for a Milan man charged in Scott County with fondling a 13-year-old several times in 2015.

Darryl Wayne Wilkins, 31, is charged with third-degree sexual abuse and lascivious acts with a minor. Both charges are Class C felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Wilkins waived his right to a preliminary hearing and will be arraigned June 2.

According to an arrest affidavit filed by Bettendorf Police Department in support of the criminal complaint:

Sometime after 9:45 p.m. on May 3, 2015, Wilkins was in his bed with the girl when he fondled her while she pretended to be asleep. Wilkins said he had taken two over-the-counter sleeping pills and had accidentally performed the action while sleeping.

Sometime between April 1, 2015, and May 3, 2015, Wilkins admitted to fondling the girl while they were lying together on a couch. The girl said Wilkins fondled her on at least five different occasions, according to the affidavit.
New federal rules could make it easier for a Memphis-based company to fight allegations that it will "cherry pick" patients at its proposed new psychiatric hospital in Bettendorf.

The allegation has been an important part of the months-long debate over whether Strategic Behavior Health can open a 72-bed hospital at Tanglefoot Lane and Golden Valley Drive.

The Obama administration last week published a sweeping new set of regulations for Medicaid managed care organizations, and one of the provisions would loosen the rules governing federal funding for what are called Institutions for Mental Disease.

For years, the federal government has banned Medicaid payments for adults, those between 21 and 64 years of age, who get treatment at larger psychiatric institutions, or IMDs. Critics, however, say the prohibition is outdated and restricts access.

The new rules, which were published in the Federal Register last week, will allow payments to IMDs for adults for stays of up to 15 days.

Critics of the proposed hospital have argued that Strategic would not be able to accept Medicaid patients because of the longstanding federal rules and that it would instead lure the most profitable patients, ignoring the poor ones. They argued such a tactic would undermine existing providers.

For its part, Strategic has denied that and said 30 percent of patients would be on Medicaid. In a document sent to the state of Iowa last month backing its request to build the psychiatric hospital, Strategic Behavioral Health pointed to the new rule and said it plans to seek out contracts with the managed care organizations overseeing the program in Iowa.

"They tried to convince folks that we couldn't take adult Medicaid, this ruling shoots that argument down," Jim Shaheen, Strategic's president said in an email this week.

The argument over what is called the "IMD exclusion" is a part of a wide-ranging debate in the Quad-Cities over whether the state should give permission for Strategic to locate its hospital here.

The Quad-Cities' two largest hospitals, Genesis Health System and UnityPoint Health-Trinity, have opposed the application.

In addition to arguing that Strategic would pick off the patients with more ability to pay, the hospitals have said the Tennessee company would undermine their ability to draw professional staff and be inconsistent with the state's move toward regional delivery of behavioral health services. Strategic has disputed those assertions.

Iowa's State Health Facilities Council deadlocked on the question, 2-2, after an eight-hour hearing in February on whether to grant it a certificate of need. Because there was a tie vote  one member of the council was absent  the certificate was not granted. Strategic has said it will try again before the council at its next meeting in July.

Officials at Genesis and UnityPoint responded to the new federal rules by saying that, ultimately, it is up to the state of Iowa whether Medicaid payments will be allowed at IMDs in the state. That decision hasn't been made yet.

Ken Croken, Genesis' vice president for communication and advocacy, said until Iowa agrees to provide Medicaid payments, there's no change.

"I have no reason to think that will be the case before July 7," he said.

"If they do adopt these rules at the state level, that opens the door for SBH to receive payment for Iowa Medicaid patients. However, whether they decide to accept these patients or not is their business decision, not ours," Dennis Duke, president of the Robert Young Center, an affiliate of UnityPoint, said in a statement.

Strategic has said that it will accept patients regardless of their ability to pay.

A spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Human Services, Amy McCoy, said the issue still is being studied. It wasn't clear when the state might weigh in on the matter.

Representatives for UnitedHealthcare and Amerihealth Caritas said they would make their own decisions in consultations with the state.
Walter Braud, chief judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit, said he always tries to find a silver lining around every dark cloud.

But addressing the Rock Island County Board on Thursday about a proposed budget that would entail a possible 116 layoffs, Braud told the board, This is a near tragedy.

Speaking of County Administrator Dave Ross, Braud added, Were in such a difficult situation Im not sure how hes going to pull us out of it. But Dave has given us a plan.

Last week, Ross presented the board with four five-year budget options, two of which Ross said could not be adopted realistically. One of those, labeled Budget A, explained that by doing nothing, the county would find itself in the hole to the tune of $27 million in five years. Another, labeled Budget C, called for a property tax increase of 101.5 percent in the first year.

That left Budget B, calling for a referendum on a half-cent sales tax, or budget D, which would require massive cuts and cutting $5,575,000 out of the general fund budget.

Braud was one of about 15 non-elected department heads who addressed the county board Thursday about what cuts to the current minimal level of staffing would mean.

Braud told the board that the courthouse handles 750 to 1,000 cases a week. Criminal cases require a clerk, a court reporter, a judge, a bailiff and an armed sheriffs deputy to properly function.

I have to keep a courthouse, Braud said after the meeting. Im required by law to have a good and proper courthouse. In each courtroom, there has to be a court reporter to record the proceedings, a clerk to maintain the court records, and there have to be armed deputies. Everything we do isnt totally safe, but everyone who comes into the courthouse isnt a criminal. The good people of our community who come to the courthouse each day need to be safe.

Without those people in the courthouse, he said, the courts could not run, which, by the way, would be a violation of the law. The Supreme Court would not allow that."

Trent Vandersnick, director of court services, which oversees probation, said his staff of 25 probation officers is handling about 90 people per officer.

We were one of the first counties to have drug court, pretrial intake, mental health court, Vandersnick said. These programs are often called evidence-based because evidence proves they work. They are cost-saving because they keep people out of jail.

Probation officers check up on people who are sentenced to probation, as well as test them for illicit drugs and make employment checks. Its a way to be proactive, Vandersnick said.

If these cuts happen, we wont be proactive anymore, he said. People will come and check in and walk out, and thats it.

The coming of criminal justice reform to keep people out of jail and prison, he said, will mean the need for more probation officers.

Baron Heintz, the Rock Island County public defender, said his staff of six attorneys performs a lot of work on their own time and they pay for training out of their own pockets.

This office has been and continues to be understaffed for the mandated workload, Heintz said. In 2015, with only six attorneys, we closed 704 felonies, 2,694 misdemeanors and 223 juvenile matters.

Any cuts to his office, Heintz said, would not allow his office to provide a constitutionally required service, directly related to basic liberty.

If I dont have the attorneys to put into the courtrooms, then the courts will appoint private attorneys to fill the gap, he said. Private attorneys bill by the hour per case. It would have a tremendous negative monetary impact on the community.

Braud said that he hopes the community can come together and vote in the half-cent sales tax.

Such a small amount of money can make life proper for our people, Braud said. I just hope somehow we can overcome this feeling that we have that if you say the word tax, its like saying poison.

Ross said the residents of Rock Island County need to know this isnt a game. Were not playing with anybodys money. We already are doing so much with so little.

Budget B can solve the problems and lower countys portion of the property tax by 9.26 percent over five years, he said.

At the end of the day, this year, its up to the voters, Ross said. Were broke.

Ross said he hopes the voters will take the time to just look at this objectively and to know that we do have a very concrete plan to solve the situation, not waste anyones money, were definitely not doing that, and that this will carry the county forward to continue with the minimum level of service that we have now.

The board will continue working on the budget during the regular county board meeting Tuesday.
This week on the podcast, reporters discuss if Democrats will support GOP incumbent Rep. Steve King, if an Iowan will be the next vice president, and the state of the U.S. Senate race.

On Iowa Politics is a weekly news and analysis podcast that aims to re-create the conversations that happen when political reporters from across Iowa get together after the day's deadlines have been met. This week's show features James Q. Lynch, Todd Dorman, Erin Murphy, Bret Hayworth and Ed Tibbetts.

This week's show was produced by Clare Murphy and the music heard in the podcast is courtesy of Dr. Z's Experiment.

Send those band sound files to oniowapolitics@gmail.com.

Chat with us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter @OnIowaPolitics and subscribe on iTunes.
Thunderstorms are expected across to spread across the Quad-City region this afternoon and evening, according to a hazardous weather advisory from the National Weather Service.

The Storm Prediction Center is calling for a slight risk of severe storms today for areas along and south of a line from Clinton, Iowa to Sterling, Ill.

The weather service is predicting that the initial storm to occur between 1-3 p.m. with possibly severe storms between 3-8 p.m.

The major threats this afternoon and evening would be large hail and damaging winds.

Then unseasonably cold air will flow out of Canada and down across the area tonight sending temperatures into the upper- to mid-30s by early Saturday morning. Conditions may be harmful to sensitive plants.

Patchy frost is possible Saturday night for areas along and north of U.S. 30.

 A body was found in the Mississippi River this morning near the public boat landing in Buffalo, according to the Scott County Sheriff's Office. A deputy on scene says they were called about 9:30 a.m. That's all we know right now. Check back later at qctimes.com for more details.

 Today is Friday the 13th  Millions of Americans get so paralyzed by the fear of Friday the 13th they avoid their normal routines. This fear is often called friggatriskaidekaphobia. Here's a look at some common superstitions and bad/good luck.

 Looking for something to do later today? Here are some options.

Rock into Murder: 6 p.m. Skellington Manor Event Center, 420 18th St., Rock Island. Murder Mystery Dinner. $35.

Hi-Fi: 6:30 p.m. Lavender Crest Winery, 5409 Highway 6, Colona. $5.

Weekly races: 7 p.m. Davenport Speedway, Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. This season points stock car races will feature IMCA late models, mods, street stocks, sport mods and 4 stocks on the  mile dirt track. Guests INEX Legends. $12 adults, $10 students/senior citizens, $6 for kids 7-12 years.

ComedySportz: 7 p.m. The Establishment Theatre, 220 19th St., Rock Island. Featuring two teams of comedians competing against each other in this fast-paced improv competition. Rated E for everyone. $10 to $14.

Almost Heaven: The Songs of John Denver: 7:30 p.m.Through May 15. Timber Lake Playhouse, 8215 Black Oak Road, Mount Carroll. Timber Lake Playhouse will present this special, pre-season musical revue. This musical is part of a new Jukebox Series at the playhouse, which also will include, "Always  Patsy Cline," in September. $25 adults, $22 senior citizens, $17 children and students 18 years and younger/active military.

Sister Act: 7:45 p.m. Through July 2. Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island. Performances at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 5:45 p.m. on Sundays and at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. $29.26 to $50.16.

A Behanding in Spokane: 8 p.m. Through May 21. District Theatre, 1724 4th Ave., Rock Island. Presented by the District Theatre. $20 Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday, $10 Thursday.

3 Pil Morning with the Zealots: 9 p.m. Rock Island Brewing Company, 1815 2nd Ave. Cover charge.

Abbey Road: 9 p.m. Redstone Room, 129 Main St., Davenport. $10.

Ego Death with Strange Relations and Gosh! 9 p.m. Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island. This will be an all-ages show. $5 to $10 sliding scale.

Soul Storm: 9 p.m. 11th Street Precinct Bar and Grill, 2108 E. 11th St., Davenport. Free.

 Check out the mugshots from the Scott County Jail. See who has been arrested and charged.
One of the chief policy mysteries of Donald Trump's campaign platform is how he intends to achieve the arithmetically impossible: reduce taxes by trillions of dollars; shield Social Security and Medicare benefits from any cuts; "rebuild" the military and infrastructure; and -- depending on what day Trump is talking -- start to pay off the national debt, if not eliminate it by the end of his second term.

Perhaps, I thought, Sam Clovis, Trump's national co-chair and chief policy adviser, could explain. Clovis, an economics professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, was the Trump campaign's emissary to a summit on fiscal responsibility Wednesday sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

To say the session was unedifying fails to convey its incoherence. It was alarming. "I understand less about Trump's budget plan after listening to Clovis than I did before," tweeted David Wessel of the Brookings Institution.

Indeed. Interviewed by CNBC's John Harwood, Clovis started by misstating the cost of Trump's tax plan and proceeded downhill from there.

Harwood noted that the Tax Foundation, a group that Clovis himself described as a "highly credible organization," had estimated the price tag of the Trump tax plan at $10 trillion over 10 years -- even under what is known as dynamic scoring, giving the plan credit for spurring economic growth.

Clovis: "That's not entirely true, because the Tax Foundation model is a static model. It's not a dynamic model."

Harwood: "They do it both ways, but I believe that their $10 trillion figure that they came up with was in their dynamic model."

Clovis: "Well, that's what they told me, and I sat across the table from them just like this, John."

Advantage, Harwood. The Tax Foundation puts the "dynamic" cost of the Trump plan at $10.1 trillion. The "static" score is $11.9 trillion. No biggie. A trillion here, a trillion there.

Clovis' fiscal insouciance was breathtaking. "Our proposals, what we think will happen, will lead us in fact to about a $4.5 to $7 trillion surplus at the end of 10 years, if all of our initiatives are put in place," he said.

Pause for a moment to appreciate the audacity of this claim. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that deficits will total another $9.4 trillion during this period. So Trump is purporting to pay for his $10 trillion tax cut, plus eliminate that additional deficit, plus amass a surplus amounting to several trillion more? Outlandish is too kind a word for this.

And then there was Clovis' puzzling answer to Harwood's questions about whether Trump -- who has vowed not to cut entitlement benefits -- might be willing to back away from that pledge once in office.

Actually, Clovis said, once the Trump-generated economic growth has taken off, "we'll take a hard look at those to start seeing what we can do in a bipartisan way."

Still, Clovis said, "Right now, we're not going to touch anything because we can't predict the growth. If we don't have that growth, then I think that whoever [is] the next president is going to have a horrible time in dealing with this, because those entitlements will race to the front of all the economic issues we have in this country."

If Trump is open to entitlement reform, that's good news, from my point of view. But who can tell what Trump position is real and what is illusory, what can be relied on only for the fleeting moment and what constitutes a matter of deep conviction?
Alderman Bill Boom really seems to hate downtown liquor licenses. Except his own, of course.

Boom has spent years fighting new licenses in downtown Davenport, and Robby Ortiz is the latest victim of Boom's no-new-booze crusade.

Ortiz wanted to transform dilapidated buildings into a small grocery store. He worked with city officials. He met with residents. He reacted to concerns, pulling the planned gas pumps and proposed a more "community store" approach.

But, true to form, Boom's quest to limit competition and personally select what kind of clientele should have a drink ruled the day. The local fury Boom whipped up left Ortiz weary, and he pulled his liquor license permit Wednesday night.

A part of town desperately in need of investment lost out. Boarded-up windows and crumbling walls remain.

Boom co-owns Marys on 2nd, a well-known gay bar that helped Davenport secure a No. 9 ranking in 2015 for "Queerest City" by The Advocate. It's a badge of honor for Davenport, denoting the cities inclusiveness and cultural offerings.

In that context, Boom's quest to keep the rabble out of downtown is strange in its own right.

He's waged a protracted siege on Shenanigan's Irish Pub, a hip-hop club that caters to Davenport's young black residents. A stabbing in 2014 launched a city assault on the bar. Shenanigan's ownership took the situation seriously. They are one of the only bars in downtown Davenport that search would-be patrons at the door. A member of this editorial board has, on more than one occasion, handed over his pocket knife before grabbing a beer there. It's a unique level of security in downtown Davenport.

Yet, the city this year denied Shenanigan's request for a road closure during its St. Patrick's Day event. All around the club, however, the party was on.

The musical score is called "Picking Winners and Losers." And Boom is a maestro.

He was the progenitor of a failed moratorium on issuing new downtown liquor licenses in 2013. Too many convenience stores were taking advantage of revised city code and selling liquor by the bottle, he argued. The measure failed.

Now, Boom has pivoted to a per-case offensive.

Crime would skyrocket around 1808 W. 7th St. if Ortiz built his wholly legal establishment, dissenters said. Yet, a Times investigation found that new locations selling booze only really boosted vandalism. Macro-investigations, using Pennsylvania as a working laboratory, further insert doubt into the narrative Boom uses to pick who is worthy of slinging liquor in his ward.

In 2003, Pennsylvania ended its ban on Sunday liquor sales, offering sociologists a rare opportunity. A pair of peer-reviewed, well-regarded studies -- one published in April -- did find an uptick in violent crime on Sundays when booze became available. But aggregate crime throughout the week remained flat. Essentially, alcohol-related crime was simply spread out throughout the week.

Bluntly, the very foundation of Boom's war against new liquor sales is questionable at best.

Maybe Boom wants to fend off competition, representing a significant conflict of interest, if true. But, that explanation would be too easy. Ortiz's business, after all, wouldn't have posed a direct threat to Boom's bar a several blocks away.

While Boom's motives remain unclear, there's a demonstrable behavior at work.

Clearly, for Boom, some are more worthy of liquor licenses than others.
DES MOINES  Iowa Republican leaders say they expect to capitalize on new voters brought into the process by Donald Trump, the partys presumptive presidential nominee, and as a result, they will follow their success in the 2014 election with another strong performance this fall.

And if there are Republicans who are set against supporting Trump, state party leaders said Thursday night at a fundraiser that there is another reason for GOP voters to stick together: defeating expected Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Roughly 650 Republicans, according to party officials, attended the state partys spring fundraiser Thursday night at a hotel ballroom in Des Moines East Village.

The event came just more than a week after Trump all but locked up the GOPs nomination for president.

The New York billionaire businessman has made waves during his presidential campaign, rallying the support of millions but also drawing frequent and stinging criticism, including from Republicans, some of whom have said they will not vote for him this fall.

But Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, sees Trumps candidacy not as a liability, but as an opportunity.

Weve got a candidate that is going to bring new voters into the party, Kaufmann said. This is a time period where were going to, obviously, some questions are going to be answered.  Peoples questions that they have are going to be answered. So I feel very good at the top (of the ballot).

Kaufmann said he thinks Trumps populist campaign has upset the political apple cart, and he thinks Trump will use the coming months to rally Republicans behind his candidacy.

What Trump wants to do is change the way that we fundamentally do business and change the way that we react to people. In other words, were listening to the grassroots, Kaufmann said. Any time you have that, youre going to have some healthy skepticism.  I think hes going to address his concerns. I think in a few months  thats what its going to take, probably  I think youre going to see a unified party.

If Republican voters defect because of Trump, the effect could be felt in down-ballot races for Congress and the state Capitol.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad appears prepared to do his part to unify the party with Trump atop the ticket.

Earlier this week during his weekly news conference, Branstad went out of his way to express support for Trump. And during his remarks Thursday night, Branstad invoked Trumps campaign slogan, proclaiming loudly to the room full of party donors and supporters, We need to make America great again.

Branstad said it is important Republicans remain unified to change party control of the White House.

Thats why we as a party need to come together, Branstad said. "We need to support Donald Trump."

Linda Upmeyer, who just completed her first session as speaker of the Iowa House, scoffed at suggestions from pundits who, she said, say the Republican Party is fractured and divided.

Well, I think they are wrong, Upmeyer said. There is nothing that unites Americans and Republicans more than the distrust of Hillary Clinton.

The fundraisers keynote speaker was Kris Tanto Paronto, a former U.S. Army Ranger who was a member of the CIA security team that responded to the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says President Obama doesn't have the authority to require schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

Jackley's statement came after the Obama administration issued a directive Friday over bathroom access for transgender students.

The guidance from leaders at the federal Education and Justice Departments says public schools must treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different gender.

Jackley says the administration's directive and threat of lawsuits and withholding of federal education funding "is not a proper approach." He says he's discussing action with other attorneys general.

The guidance doesn't impose new legal requirements, but clarifies expectations for districts receiving federal funds.
PIERRE  At the encouragement of the South Dakota Department of Veterans Affairs, Gov. Dennis Daugaard has proclaimed May as National Military Appreciation Month, a time for all to honor, remember, recognize and appreciate those who have served in the past and those now serving, as well as their families.

The vigilance of the members of the Armed Forces has been instrumental to the preservation of freedom, security and prosperity enjoyed by the people of this great nation, the Governors proclamation states. The success of the Armed Forces depends on the dedicated service of its members and their families.

National Military Appreciation Month includes: Armed Forces Day on May 21 and Memorial Day on May 30.

These days provide an opportunity to learn more about military members and the families who have given of themselves to support and defend the principles we hold dear, Daugaard said.
Attorney General Marty Jackley says 2015 crime statistics show drops in many property crimes and juvenile offenses but a need to strengthen prevention when it comes to drug and alcohol offenses, financial crimes and child sex crimes.

Jackley also says that increased methamphetamine use continues to have an impact on higher levels of violent crime. Drug arrests jumped 22 percent, to more than 6,800.

Law enforcement agencies in the state last year reported about 40,000 total arrests, up nearly 6 percent from 2014. Total offenses were up 9 percent, to about 71,000.

Homicide and negligent manslaughter arrests dropped from 20 to 16, but arrests for sex offenses, assault, driving under the influence and child porn all increased.

Juvenile arrests dropped nearly 4 percent, to about 4,700.
The man who authorities say shot and wounded a Rosebud Sioux Tribe police officer Wednesday night is still at large, and the FBI is offering a $1,000 for information leading to this capture.

According to Rosebud Sioux Tribe law enforcement, the incident happened at 1:30 a.m. in the Ironwood Neighborhood on the Rosebud Indian Reservation. It was there, authorities say, that Linn Crossdog shot a police officer and fled.

On Wednesday, the officer was stable and being treated for his injuries, according to a Rosebud Law Enforcement Services Facebook post.

Police are urging the public to not approach Crossdog as he is believed to be armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on Crossdog's whereabouts is urged to call law enforcement.
As a P-51 Mustang fighter pilot assigned to the 325th Fighter Group, commonly known as the Checkertail Clan, John Gaston flew long, lonely missions from an Italian base deep into enemy territory.

Once there, he squared off in one-on-one aerial combat with the best Germany had to offer during World War II.

Now nearing 92 years of age, Gaston was raised barefoot and poor on a dirt farm in Kansas, yet flew into history and was one of the few in his squadron to come home alive.

In March 1944, Lt. Ira C. Eaker, air chief in the Mediterranean theater, disclosed that his command had lost 20,570 men in the previous year  staggering losses when one considered the combat crew strength of the 15th Air Force was about 20,000 men at the time. In addition, Eaker reported that 2,050 heavy bombers had been lost in the same period.

We take some consolation that these losses saved many thousands of ground soldiers from the loss of their lives in battle, Eaker said in the Universal Press report. Our pilots every day see the modern German fighting force parked on airdromes for want of fuel. They average 20 missions daily. We average more than 2,000.

Credited with three kills of German aircraft on the ground and damaging others in aerial combat, Gaston became an ace and earned the prestigious Distinguished Flying Cross. He spent more than 22 years in service to his country, retiring as a lieutenant colonel before spending 15 years as a corporate pilot.

With the help of his daughter, Harmony Gaston, both of rural Newcastle, Wyo., Gaston will tell of his experiences in World War II on Saturday morning at Ellsworth Air Force Base in an event sponsored by the Black Hills Veterans Writers Group.

Gaston reminds us that the superheroes of history have tended to be loners, men written up in tales such as 'The Odyssey or 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, said Writers Group co-founder and former university professor Brad Morgan.

He said veterans often find that even the names of some enemy fighter pilots have become legendary, such as Japans Saburo Sakai or Germanys Erich Hartmann.

Life and death had everything to do with split-second reactions, Morgan added. The tiniest speck of dust on the windshield might be a figment of the imagination  or an enemy plane that would suddenly appear, already calculating the coup de grace that would end your consciousness forever.

Flying out of a base at Lesina-Foggia, Italy, Gaston lived through 50 missions, a rarity in the waning years of the war as Germany attempted to protect its homeland with increasing ferocity. Immersed in solitude, Gaston made every decision himself, even as flak and small-arms fire above the battlefield meant that he might die alone. He recounted his wartime experiences in his memoir, A Pilots Story, published last August.

We would fly deep into enemy territory, as far as the bombers could go, Gaston said earlier this week. Our targets were as far as 600 miles away from our base and, hopefully, it was 600 miles back.

Though he was never shot down, Gaston said he had some close calls.

We did some long-range strafing missions where we would attack an airdrome, he recalled. It was low-altitude work and we were exposed to a considerable amount of ground fire. Thats always a memorable thing, being up there flying, and watching bullets go through your wings.

And, even though he flew a single-seat aircraft, Gaston said he never really felt alone.

Thats an easy question to answer but kind of hard to explain, he said with an uneasy laugh. I never felt alone because I was part of a group, and we were a cohesive group. You were a part of something much bigger than that, much bigger than any one of us.

A bit hard of hearing and three weeks shy of his 92nd birthday, Gaston can still fit into his Air Force dress blues, after accumulating 7,000 hours of airtime flying 45 different aircraft ranging from fighters to huge transports. He grew quiet when asked what he missed most about flying.

The freedom and the experience and just the wonder of the whole thing, he finally said.

Gaston returned from World War II and became a flight instructor, then married his wife, Chris, in 1946. After 54 years of marriage, she died in 2001. Of all he had attained in a very long lifetime, Gaston said his family remained his proudest achievement.

They provide a certain feeling of accomplishment, you might say, he said. One thing about it, they cant be replaced.

So, too, is Gaston proud of more than two decades of service and being part of the Greatest Generation that made the world safe for democracy.

They had so little and yet they accomplished so much, said his daughter, Harmony, who also serves as his traveling companion and caregiver.

And, like so many of his time, Gaston downplays his role and seems to diminish his individual contribution.

I was only a small cog in the big wheel, he said.

But, even in the autumn of his life, Gaston retains the spirit of patriotism and the love of flight that led him to enlist in the Army Air Corps in November 1942. On his bedroom wall, a framed poem titled, High Flight, sums up what his own lips could never say.

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings, it reads in part. And, while with silent, lifting mind Ive trod, the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

Even now, it can still bring him to tears.
A circuit court judge now has the case on whether the Meade County Commission erred in allowing a vote on the incorporation of Buffalo Chip as a town.

A trial on the subject before Fourth Circuit Judge Jerome Eckrich began and ended Wednesday at the Meade County Courthouse. Just three witnesses were called to testify  Gary Lippold, who owns land near the Buffalo Chip campground; Kirk Chaffee, Meade County Director of Equalization/Planning; and Jim "Wally" Walczak, Finance Officer for the Town of Buffalo Chip.

But the judge will have reams of evidence to sift through in making his decision.

Lawyers John Dorsey and Kent Hagg, representing the town of Buffalo Chip, Jack Hieb, representing the county, Mark Marshall, representing Lippold and Jane Murphy, landowners who live near the new town, and Greg Barnier, attorney for the city of Sturgis, met with Eckrich following the trial to make sure all the documents presented into evidence were accounted for.

Barnier says it will take about two weeks to receive transcripts from the trial.

"When counsel have received their copy of the transcript, the parties will provide proposed finding of fact and conclusion of law, based on the evidence in the record, for the court to consider," he said.

But there's no set time frame for when the judge will issue his decision.

"Since all the evidence is in, I am confident the court will want to issue its decision only after it has fully reviewed all the evidence submitted by all the parties," he said.

Lawyers for the town of Buffalo Chip continue to assert that Sturgis has no legal standing to challenge the county commission decision to allow a vote on the incorporation.

Voters who said they live within the boundaries of the town of Buffalo Chip approved the incorporation last May and in September, the town's board of trustees approved a city sales tax.

Hagg has said that once a municipality is established, the decision allowing the incorporation cannot be appealed.
Anyone who doubts the commitment of Bernie Sanders to fight for every last available Democratic delegate need only look at why he came to South Dakota.

The 74-year-old Vermont senator spent an entire day of time and resources Thursday crisscrossing a state that will contribute only one-half of 1 percent of all the delegates to the July 25-28 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Sanders trails former secretary of state Hillary Clinton by hundreds of delegates with only 11 primaries and caucuses remaining in the Democratic presidential campaign. Most experts say he cannot win the nomination.

So then, why would Sanders campaign so aggressively in South Dakota, which has only 25 delegates, including only 14 that will be at stake in the states June 7 primary election?

Political science professor Jon Schaff said Sanders appears to be scrounging up poker chips and hoping to draw an inside straight.

My guess at whats inside his head is that he wants to build up as many delegates as he possibly can to make as strong an impression at the national convention as he possibly can, said Schaff, of Northern State University in Aberdeen. And on the outside chance that something happens to Hillary Clinton, hell be there with so many delegates that it will be hard to deny him.

That something could be a criminal indictment in the ongoing investigation into Clintons use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state, or some other unforeseen scandal that could cause her to withdraw or falter.

Barring anything like that, party rules and arithmetic are against Sanders, and little is likely to change based on the results of South Dakotas primary. Even under the best possible outcome for Sanders, his swing through South Dakota might bring him only several more delegates than he would otherwise garner if he did not visit the state.

That's not to say South Dakotans didn't welcome him. Sanders drew about 800 people to a speech in Pine Ridge and another 2,000 or so in Rapid City. He also had a rally scheduled for Sioux Falls on Thursday night.

Officially, there will be 25 South Dakota delegates at the Democratic National Convention, but determining the number that are actually winnable in the states primary is an exercise in subtraction dictated by party rules.

The exercise starts by subtracting five, which is the number of so-called superdelegates who can support whichever candidate they please, regardless of the primary results. That reduces the number of delegates at stake in the South Dakota primary to 20.

From 20, subtract six, which is the number of delegates who will be selected nearly three weeks after the primary at the South Dakota Democratic Convention scheduled for June 24-25 in Sioux Falls. That reduces the number of delegates at stake in the primary to 14.

Among the six delegates to be selected at the state convention, there will be four at-large delegates and two Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) delegates. Suzanne Jones Pranger, executive director of the state Democratic Party, said both of those categories of delegates are likely to be split evenly between Sanders and Clinton, because the delegates are awarded proportionally (either candidate would need to win the primary by a 3-to-1 ratio, for example, to win more than two of the four at-large delegates).

Finally, among the remaining 14 delegates that are up for grabs in the primary election, its realistic to subtract five or six, which is the number that either Sanders or Clinton are likely to capture even if they lose. Thats because the delegates are awarded proportionally based on the percentage of votes won by each candidate, and unless there is a landslide, the winning candidate will probably collect only eight or nine delegates at most.

So, in the worst case scenario for Sanders in South Dakota, he might pick up only about five delegates in the primary; in the best case scenario, maybe he can take up to 10. Hell likely pick up another three from the at-large and PLEO delegates at the state convention.

Additionally, he could convince one or more of South Dakotas five superdelegates to support him, although there is no sign of that happening so far.

The Journal contacted four of the superdelegates this week. One of them, former Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, said he supports Hillary Clinton. Three of them  Ann Tornberg, the state party chairwoman from Beresford; Sharon Stroschein, a longtime party officer and activist from Mansfield; and Joe Lowe, a former gubernatorial candidate from Rapid City  declined to say which candidate they support. The fifth, Nick Nemec, a rancher and former legislator from Holabird, is resigning his post and will be replaced by a superdelegate to be elected at the state convention in late June.

Several of the superdelegates said theyve been contacted frequently by both campaigns. At least one of the superdelegates, Joe Lowe, was in the audience Thursday at the Sanders rally in Rapid City.

So far, Hillary Clinton has not announced any plans to campaign personally in South Dakota, though her husband, former president Bill Clinton, is slated to campaign for her in Sioux Falls on May 20. If Hillary Clinton does not come to the state, Schaff said he could foresee Sanders winning the primary.

He might be the only game in town, so to speak, so he might be able to steal a few delegates, Schaff said.

Those few delegates could end up being meaningless because of the much bigger California primary, which is the same day as South Dakotas and includes 546 delegates. Counting superdelegates whove indicated they will support Clinton, she already has approximately 2,240 delegates, just 143 from the winning threshold of 2,383. And she has a lead in the California polls.

The big prize is California, Schaff said. Its hard to imagine he can deny her enough delegates there to keep her from winning, unless something incredible happens.
Three pistols from among the 25 guns stolen from The Rooster sporting goods store in Rapid City in April have been recovered in Colorado after a series of violent crimes there.

On May 5, deputies of the Adams County Sheriffs Office arrested a murder suspect following a standoff at a Lakewood, Colo., motel.

The suspect is 37-year-old Jose Ocampo, of Denver. Following the arrest, police recovered two handguns that were determined to have been stolen from The Rooster. Ocampo was wanted for his involvement in a fatal shooting the prior day in Adams County.

A third firearm stolen from the Rapid City business was recovered early Wednesday morning from a suspect killed in an officer-involved shooting with the Aurora Police Department.

The shooting came after the suspect reportedly carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint before leading Aurora Police on a high-speed chase. That suspect has not been identified.

Obviously, weve now seen the dangerous consequences of criminals with stolen firearms in their possession, said Captain James Johns of the RCPDs Criminal Investigation Division in a press release Thursday. The location of the remaining firearms is a priority concern for the RCPD, and wed urge anyone in our community with information about the burglary to contact police immediately.
Law enforcement officers and Special Olympics athletes hope to be joined by other law enforcement officials, runners and the public as they carry the Special Olympics Flame of Hope across the state next week during the 28th annual Law Enforcement Torch Run.

The run starts in Sioux Falls at 8 a.m. on Monday, May 16, with two groups of runners visiting 15 East River towns.

The groups meet up in Pierre on Wednesday and will proceed west to the Black Hills, arriving in Spearfish for the start of the Special Olympics South Dakota Summer Games on Thursday.

The Torch Run raises funds and awareness for Special Olympics and athletes across South Dakota. For more information, log on to sosd.org, or call 605-331-4117.
A man once dubbed "Porn's New King" was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday on charges he scammed the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and other investors of more than $60 million.

Charges against Jason Galanis and six others were announced by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan. Defense lawyers did not immediately comment.

Prosecutors said Galanis and others lied to an entity of the Oglala Sioux Tribe from March 2014 through April about how proceeds from its bonds would be invested. They said the dealings occurred with the Wakpamni Lake Community Corp., an economic development corporation arm of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakotas Pine Ridge Reservation.

Tribal officials said late Thursday that they had just been informed of the matter on Wednesday and were working to determine what long-term impacts the bonds, reportedly valued at $43 million, could have on the Oglala Sioux.

Ive gotten calls on it and people are asking if we are aware of the situation, said Jacqueline Siers, a tribal councilwoman representing the Wakpamni District, located on the eastern side of the reservation. Im sure well be addressing it.

Siers said that when it was formed, the Community Corporation had asked the OST for approval of its economic development ventures, but the Tribal Council had turned it down.

The tribe never approved it, she said. As a community corporation, they were doing it on their own. Its a separate form of government.

OST spokesman Kevin Yellow Bird Steele said he believed the transactions involving the bonds dated to the previous administration of President Brian Brewer, and referred calls for comment to the Wakpamni Lake Community Corp.

New York City attorney Marc Mukasey, representing the Community Corp., said his client was absolutely a victim in this case, but declined to discuss how much money was involved, what the bonds were used for, and what entity might ultimately be responsible for paying it all back.

Noting that seven defendants had been charged in the scheme, a statement released Thursday by the Community Corp. stated, As this is an ongoing legal matter, the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation is not able to comment further at this time.

Charging documents totaling 43 pages filed Wednesday by the Security and Exchange Commission allege the accomplices exerted undisclosed control over the sham Native American tribal bonds, the proceeds of which they ultimately diverted to their own use, spending money on other investments, supporting a technology company's initial public offering, and buying luxury goods at retailers such as Gucci and Prada.

The government alleges that Galanis and the others also purchased homes, cars, travel and jewelry with the funds. It said they duped investors into buying the bonds as well. Galanis was charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit investment adviser fraud and investment adviser fraud.

"Instead of investing the proceeds in a way that would provide capital for development and help cover the interest payments, the defendants allegedly pocketed most of it to pay for their own personal expenses," Bharara said in a statement. "The defendants' alleged fraud has left devastation in its wake: a tribe with tens of millions in bond obligations it cannot pay, and investors out tens of millions, left holding bonds they did not want."

Diego Rodriguez, head of New York's FBI office, said: "The alleged fraudsters named in this case didn't just see an opportunity to steal money when they thought no one was looking, they allegedly hatched a plan to scam a municipal entity from the start. The most egregious fallout from this scheme is that the bondholders now hold worthless securities, and the tribe can't make the interest payments due."

Galanis was labeled "Porn's New King" by Forbes magazine when it reported in 2004 that he had bought the nation's largest payment processor for internet porn.
For Spink County residents in northeastern South Dakota, it seems too early to say yes, and too early to say no.

But we like the passion they are displaying and the questions they are asking about a possible borehole drilling test project in their county.

The federal government and others are looking for a suitable way to store spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste deep underground. With seemingly suitable rock formations beneath the surface, Spink County has been deemed as one of the possible testing sites  at least for a dry run.

U.S. Department of Energy officials have stressed that the borehole testing would not involve any nuclear waste. However, no promises have been made that the area in the future wouldn't be considered as a site where waste could eventually be deposited 3 miles deep.

However, officials from the U.S. Department of Energy said during recent meetings that no nuclear waste could be stored in South Dakota unless approved by a public vote. Some say such a decision would be in the hands of state lawmakers. Either way, it's nice to know there's an in-state safety valve.

Plus, there has been no approval given for even testing or drilling in Spink County. Right now, it is all in the talking stage.

The 10-month experiment would involve drilling a straight hole 3.2 miles deep to take core samples from the granite. The granite is about 1,000 feet below the surface in Spink County. Teams would drill 15,000 feet into the granite for core samples and to see if drilling a very straight hole is possible.

Some Spink County residents have been quick to shout "NO!" to this idea in no uncertain terms. We understand their concerns, accept their reasonings, and again, applaud their passion.

But this seems like a fascinating project. We wonder if it has the potential of future jobs and other ways of stimulating the local economy beyond the initial testing.

The real question, though, is whether it's safe. Nothing else matters if it is not safe. Money means nothing if the safety of Spink County residents is compromised.

To us, it seems like people should learn all they can about the project  pros and cons. Discuss it and learn what your friends and neighbors are saying about it. Ask a ton of questions  many good ones have already been asked by residents.

Even if the answer is no in the end, this seems like a good process to go through. Walking through processes often provides teaching moments that are useful in future situations.

Disposing of nuclear waste is a serious matter. Do it wrong, and you can affect many future generations to come.

So the issue needs careful study, intense listening and thoughtful questions. After that, the answer some Spink County residents are searching for should become clear.

We hope an answer can be found that works for a majority of our friends and neighbors to our south.
RAPID CITY | Phil M. Syverson, 89, stepped into the presence of God on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at Fountain Springs Health Care.

He was born Oct. 7, 1926, in Millerton, ND, to Martin Iver Syverson and Alice (Renslow) Syverson. He was the second oldest in a family of three boys and three girls.

The family moved to Jamestown, ND, before Phil was school age, and moved to Rapid City, SD, in 1942.

Phil worked at the Air Base, then known as the Rapid City Army Air Base, as a general helper mechanic in the summer of 1943 and until he joined the U.S. Marine Corps on Sept. 19, 1944. He served in the Pacific until the end of WWII. Phil then became a professional truck driver and was employed by Pacific Fruit & Produce Company and Food Services of America from 1953 until his retirement in 1991, during which time he received numerous Safe Driving Awards. In 1990, he was designated as the Branch Outstanding Driver of the Year.

He married Eva Ramich on Oct. 11, 1953. They recently celebrated their 62nd anniversary.

Phil has been an active member of the Open Bible Christian Center since 1952. He served on the Church Board for 27 continuous years and as an Usher for 49 years.

He enjoyed rifle and archery hunting, fishing, camping, traveling and photography.

Phil and his wife of 62 years always shared a desire to Experience the World and felt blessed to have visited all 50 states plus the Canadian Rockies and a bit of Mexico before their first trip Overseas. Together they crossed the Arctic Circle and the Equator, dipped their hands in the Arctic Ocean and the Dead Sea, crossed the Sea of Galilee, sailed down the Amazon and the Yangtze Rivers, walked the Great Wall of China, took an African Camera Safari, spent An Evening in Paris, rode a gondola in Venice, explored ancient Inca ruins (Machu Picchu) high in Perus Andes Mountains, with their own eyes saw Spain and Portugals cork trees and mimosa, Switzerlands Matterhorn, Rio de Janeiros Sugarloaf Mountain, Israels Masada, the teeming wildlife of the Galapagos, the visual splendors of New Zealand and the historic countryside and sheer beauty of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Their final trip included Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, which fulfilled their bucket list.

He is survived by his wife, Eva Syverson, two sisters, Louise Ennen of Rapid City and Jennie Walters of Denver, CO, two brothers, Martin Syverson of Rapid City and Leonard Syverson of Rochester, NY, and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and sister, Rose Ramsey.

A memorial has been established to the Open Bible Christian Center for the Creekside Christian School or a charity of your choice.

Visitation from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at Kirk Funeral Home in Rapid City, and one hour before services at the Church.

Services at 10 a.m. Monday, May 16, at the Open Bible Christian Center in Rapid City. Burial with full military honors will be at 1:30 p.m. at Black Hills National Cemetery near Sturgis.

He will be remembered as a well-loved husband, brother, uncle and friend.

Family and friends may sign Phils online guest book at the Kirk Funeral Home website.
Greg Chilcott

Incumbent County Commissioner District 2

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: It is well known that I have been a vocal advocate for going back to the traditional partisan, three-member board of commissioners serving six-year terms for the structure of county government.

However, I must admit that the citizens of Ravalli County enjoy some efficiencies from the five-member board as well as broader representation for their issues. With a five-member board, two commissioners can work together on a project (much like a subcommittee) and present options to the board for consideration and action.

As far as the question of partisan versus non-partisan, I support retaining partisan elections. I believe voters should have all the information available on a candidate and it is never a good idea to withhold information about a candidate for an elected office from them.

In the end, I believe the citizens of Ravalli County will make the best decision on their form of county government and I will support and serve under that structure.

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 voters of Ravalli County overwhelming rejected the Growth Policy due to the regulatory overreach of the liberal majority controlling the Board of County Commissioners in 2008.

Our current subdivision regulations have many elements of long-term planning included. The seven review criteria consider short and long-term impacts to agriculture, irrigation practices and facilities, public health and safety, traffic/roads and local services, water and wastewater, the natural environment, wildlife and wildlife habitat. We are required to mitigate impacts identified through the subdivision process.

Property owners also have voluntary (citizen-initiated) zoning and covenants available as long-term planning tools.

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: I am proud that Ravalli County has taken a stand on forest management and use within our jurisdiction.

After a long and very public process we adopted the Ravalli County Natural Resource Use Policy in 2012. In this policy we specifically address forest management goals and objectives.

Healthy forests positively contribute to our economy, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities while our current unhealthy forests have a negative effect on all aspects including our citizens health and safety. Active forest management would ensure a healthy and vibrant forest and provide a sustainable and continuous supply of wood, wood products and wildlife habitat while reducing devastating catastrophic wildfire and smoke.

I am a strong advocate for increased access to our public lands and keeping our public lands public.

I support the letter we sent regarding the Syrian refugees. The Director of the FBI and the Secretary of Homeland Security testified before Congress that they could not adequately vet the requests for refugee status and provide Congress and citizens assurances that Islamic terrorists would not be imported into our communities.

Ultimately, I believe county commissioners have the duty to provide the highest level of health and safety for our citizens whether we are discussing forest or refugee issues.
Jay Blakslee

Candidate County Commissioner District 2

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: I believe voters should decide how many commissioners can best serve the countys needs. The benefits of three commissioners are the obvious financial savings to the county and two commissioners can meet and discuss county issues without calling a 48-hour public meeting which makes it more practical. Five Commissioners creates smaller districts and closer relations with the people of that district.

One reason I am a candidate is that I believe being a commissioner requires a commitment to putting in a full days work for a full days pay. From what I have been told by many county people, my opponent spends very little time in his office. I will be working for my constituents in or out of the office depending on appointments; but I will be working for the county, that I promise. The code of the West is based not on myth, but on the reality of life on the open range, words to live by today, James P. Owen.

Should the office remain a partisan position? The office should definitely remain partisan. Please join me in supporting and retaining partisan elections. You dont buy a meal without knowing what it is, so why would you put someone into office when you dont know their values, beliefs, ethics, etc.? You should know what they stand for and what they oppose.

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 citizens have spoken and it is not for me to change what they have voiced.

Yes, things are picking up, but considering the number of families who have had to leave the county and the number of homes sold in the past year, we are light years away from a recovery that would impact our services, our schools and growth. The number of approved, yet undeveloped, subdivisions are already out there.

I would suggest one might not be of sound mind wishing to start another large subdivision in Ravalli County under the current conditions. The litigation obstacles are tremendous and are the reason we have such a difficult time keeping businesses open.

Ravalli County is not known for its welcome mat to new businesses. This must change before anyone needs to worry about uncontrolled growth. When that time comes, the citizens can bring the need forward to readdress a growth policy. Any area of the county can create their own growth policy and zoning district if they feel the need and can gather the support of their neighbors. Let the voters decide. I remind you that this country was founded on property rights, person or what you own.

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: The countys number one job is to protect the health, safety and general welfare of its citizens.

I think it is pretty obvious that the issues in question certainly fall under that premise.

We do not live in a bubble. Today, the world is shrinking due to media, global communications, instant messaging of images and our transient societies. Europe is failing economically and socially with their communities and citizens being displaced by the overwhelming influx of Islamic radicals as well as law breakers who hide within the families seeking a new and safer world. Unfortunately, they are bringing the very problems they are fleeing with them.

We must not allow this to happen here in our valley. Legal entrance is always welcome. Illegal undocumented people from regions where our service men and women are engaged are not welcome.

Our forested lands cover over 80 percent of our county with 72 percent under federal management. There is an old saying that if you keep doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results is insane.

For over 50 years, we have stopped managed logging, allowing uncontrolled growth in our forest. Under this management strategy, fire fighting and local access to our public lands has become a serious problem.

Finding a common ground to work in concert is what I believe the gubernatorial candidate you are referring to is proposing. It is my understanding that as of today. The people of Ravalli County do not have standing with regards to the management of our forests. We should be the voice to protect our forests.

As people who love our forests, who recreate in them and live within them, we have an intimate knowledge of the symptoms of the illness that outside lawmakers of a forested county would not have. If we cannot be the voice of our ailing forest and have an impact when our very safety and health is being compromised by smoke and fire, then a key component in what is the law of forest management is being denied. Refer to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (1976).
David A. Smith

Candidate County Commission District 2

Democrat

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: The one issue all five government study commission members agreed upon and recommended is going back to three commissioners.

I agree that would be the best thing to do from both a budget and a quorum aspect. That way, one commissioner cant approach the other four one at a time trying to push a particular idea or agenda. It promotes more independent thinking.

The bottom line, though, is that the issue is really one of quality candidates rather than quantity.

As for the partisan versus non-partisan issue, I believe the office of county commissioner should be non-partisan because the job itself is non-partisan. A county commissioners job is to keep the roads in good repair, and ensure public health and safety. Those are not partisan issues. Partisan politics are mostly played out on the state and national political stages, not on the local government stage. Thats why city council positions are non-partisan.

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: A growth policy would be beneficial for a number of reasons.

The Legacy Ranch subdivision lawsuit debacle should have shown us a growth policy would have provided both the developer and the county with a clearer picture of what is important and expected in regards to subdivision development.

A growth policy also would give potential land buyers an idea of what kind of growth they can expect in their neighborhood. No one wants to buy a piece of property and then find out too late that a racetrack is planned for next door.

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: A county commissioners job is to manage the county, not to enforce federal immigration law or manage national forests.

The current county commission cant seem to manage county business very well at all. They created a disaster by hiring Valerie Stamey as county treasurer. They fired David Ohnstad, one of the most effective county road supervisors weve ever had, and then hired two people to replace him. They rejected a plan to improve the Hamilton airport, which sent the whole issue back to square one after many years of work and expensive consultation. They rejected $50,000 in family planning funds, leaving 500 local women without health care. They lost a lawsuit to the Bitterroot Star for holding a public meeting without giving public notice. They lost a lawsuit to Bitterrooters for Planning for illegally approving the Legacy Ranch subdivision, and then paid $70,000 in legal fees. And most disturbingly, they paid out nearly $1 million to two land developers following a no-judgment lawsuit, and never explained their reasons to the taxpayers who paid the bill.

This commission cant seem to do anything right  they cant even fix the potholes  and yet they want to weigh in on federal immigration policy and national forest management. As county commissioner I would concentrate on transparency in county government, fixing the potholes and ensuring public health and safety.
Support Theresa Manzella

I enthusiastically endorse Theresa Manzella Republican candidate for House District 85 in the June Primary Election. As a freshman legislator last session, she served the Bitterroot Valley and the state of Montana well. She always conducted herself in a manner that brought respect from legislators.

It is difficult for a freshman legislator to get any of their legislation into law. Theresa successfully got SB37 to the governors desk. This bill would have required the state to properly notify all land owners of the procedures for filing their water rights claims: a bill that would have helped every land owner ensure their water rights are protected.

Sadly, the governor vetoed this bill, despite it having passed the Legislature unanimously. It takes a lot of skill to successfully present a bill in committees and on the House floor.

Rep. Manzella was also fiscally responsible in her voting. If a bill had wasteful pork barrel spending in it she would vote against the bill, because she always keeps the best interest of the taxpayer in mind; not the special interests clamoring for your money.

Theresa Manzella is an asset to Ravalli County and the state of Montana. For the good of us all she needs to be back in the Legislature next session.

Keith Regier

Kalispell


Kathmandu, Nepal: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said that it would monitor the protest program of the Federal Alliance, which is being launched from coming Sunday.



The alliance is going to launch the Kathmandu centric protest program with the slogan that Lets go to Kathmandu, Lets encircle Singh Durbar.



Issuing a press statement on Friday, the NHRC spokesperson Mohna Ansari has said that NHRC has decided to monitor the protest program after holding separate discussions with the concerned stake holders including the administration, Nepal Police, protesters and human rights activists.



As the alliance that comprises the agitating Madhes based parties had launched a violent strikes in Terai districts and border centric protest, it is feared that to be launched strike would turn violent.



However, the alliance has been claiming that to be launched Kathmandu centric protest would be peaceful. The protesters have expressed a commitment to keep the protests peaceful and the security agencies have also committed not to use unnecessary force, spokesperson Ansari has stated in the statement.



The NHRC has reminded to both the sides to respect principles of human rights as provisioned in various and international laws including the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights during the protests.




Kathmandu, Nepal: The Parliament has suspended controversial lawmaker Lharkyal Lama on Friday after the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) filed a corruption case against him.



The CIAA had filed the corruption case against the UCPN-Maoist lawmaker on Thursday alleging him of embezzling the state property worth Rs 94.47 million while assuming various positions.



Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar informed the house about the suspension of Lama by reading a notice.



The suspension would be effective according to provisions of the CIAA Act, 1991 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2002 till the Court would make a final verdict on the case.



The CIAA had been investigating into property details of Lama after he began to assume the public posts. As the very beginning, he was appointed as the chairman of the Monastery Development Committee.



After that, he was appointed as the state minister in the tenure of Jhala Nath Khanal led government and later he was appointed as the member of the constituent assembly doubled parliament by the UCPN Maoist under proportional representative quota.


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Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 55F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 55F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
 "Maximum security Nordic 'open prisons' look more like college dorms than penitentiaries" | Main | "Was 1960'S Liberalism the Cause of Today's Overincarceration Crisis?" 

Earlier this week I posted this commentary arguing against federal statutory sentencing reform headlined "Drug dealing is a violent crime" and authored by William J. Bennett, the director of drug control policy for President George H. W. Bush, and John P. Walters, the director of drug control policy for President George W. Bush. Now I see that Kevin Ring, Vice President of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, has this new Daily Caller commentary in response headlined "Drugs Czars Peddle Fear." Here are excerpts:

Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, once offered his insight into Americas nascent drug problem: There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the U.S., and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. Its easy to laugh off Anslingers ignorant comments because they were made in another era. But recent claims from two other former drug czars are similarly anachronistic and wrongheaded.

William Bennett and John Walters, who served as drug czars for Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, respectively, wrote in a recent Washington Examiner op-ed, Considering all that America knows about drug addiction, only the dishonest or willfully blind can claim that drug trafficking is a non-violent crime. But whos being dishonest? After all, words have meanings. Violent, for example, means to use physical force to do harm. Yet Bennett and Walters would like people to believe that Debi Campbell, a drug addict herself who sold drugs to buyers in other states through the mail, was violent. Campbells most violent act was opening an envelope, yet she served 17 years in federal prison. Stephanie Nodd was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for helping a friend sell drugs for one month. Stephanie was just 23 years old and had never lifted a finger against any person. Neither Campbell nor Nodd could by any conceivable measure be considered violent criminals. Bennett and Walters dont want you to know they exist. But they do, and there are thousands more just like them.

Indeed, the U.S. Sentencing Commission found that of the 22,000 federal drug offenders sentenced in fiscal 2104, only 142  or 0.7 percent  used actual violence or threats of violence. 84 percent neither used nor had a weapon during the commission of their offense. And while Bennett and Walters are correct that most federal drug offenders are not college kids who were caught smoking a joint, they mislead readers when they describe them as experienced traffickers. Nine out of ten federal drug offenders played no leadership or management role. Many sold drugs solely for the purpose of feeding their own addiction. Again, words mean things. Pretending every drug sale is by definition an act of violent victimization is simply false....

One wonders if Bennett and Walters realize how increasingly out of step they are with conservatives across the country. Conservative governors and state lawmakers are utilizing evidence-based solutions to reduce crime and bloated prison budgets, a win-win situation for taxpayers. Many conservatives in Washington, including Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) support sentencing reform. Cruz has written, Harsh mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes have contributed to prison overpopulation and are both unfair and ineffective relative to the public expense and human costs of years-long incarceration.

But, the old drug czars say, The cost of incarcerating drug dealers is small compared to the true cost of their crimes to society. Even if thats true, its irrelevant. The choice before Congress is not between incarcerating drug offenders and doing nothing. The more important question is whether sentencing flexibility for drug crimes can more effectively reduce recidivism  and at less cost to taxpayers  than harsh mandatory minimums. The indisputable answer, based on decades of states experiences, is yes.

Refusing to let any tragedy go to waste, Bennett and Walters suggest that the frightening increase in heroin overdoses is further evidence of the need for tough drug sentencing laws. What they fail to mention is that heroin dealers are already subject to stiff mandatory minimum sentences and have been for the past 30 years. This heroin epidemic is occurring under the regime Bennett and Walters helped to create. If that were not damning enough to their case, consider that the rate of illegal drug use by teenagers is the same today as it was when Bennett quit as drug czar in 1988.

I know that Bennett and Walters are genuinely concerned about making the country safer. And I agree with them that drug dealing is reprehensible and deserving of swift and certain punishment. Too often, however, their demagoguery appears calculated to exploit the publics fears about safety the way Harry Anslinger exploited its racial prejudices decades ago. Conservatives interested in reducing crime and drug abuse should ignore fact-free fearmongering and support reforms that are rooted in science, evidence, and experience.
The chorus calling for the removal of San Francisco's chief of police gained several important voices this week, as now a total of four San Francisco Supervisors have made it known that Greg Suhr has got to go. Jane Kim was the first to publicly call for his replacement, with The Examiner reporting that Kim opened the floodgates yesterday morning with a statement from her office saying it was time the city begin the process of finding a new police chief. David Campos, John Avalos, and Eric Mar soon followed suit.

Chief Greg Suhr has served San Francisco for over 30 years and we should thank him for that service," reads a statement from Kim's office. "But even he must acknowledge that leading a culture shift in that department would be easier and faster if there was new leadership there. It is time to launch a search for a new chief who can implement fundamental reform."

Supervisor Campos quickly backed fellow progressive Kim, with Mission Local reporting that Campos says police reform "is not going to be implemented by Chief Suhr because Chief Suhr has become a distraction." Campos had previously publicly stated his opposition to removing the chief, but says he had a change of heart after reading the preliminary findings from a year-long inquiry launched by District Attorney George Gascon into the SFPD.

For me the Blue Ribbon Panel is a game changer, Campos observed yesterday. I dont see how [Suhr] can remain as chief of police and implement the changes needed. At a minimum there needs to be a new head of the police department.

SFist spoke with Campos this afternoon, and the supervisor detailed his vision of the effort to find a new chief. "It should be an expedited national search," he explained, continuing that a replacement could be found "hopefully in the next two, three months  although I don't know if that's realistic." Campos said the search to replace Suhr "should be a process that involves community," but "we need a permanent chief quickly." Perhaps most interestingly, he mentioned that the Police Commission can recommend up to three names to the mayor, but ultimately Lee has the final say.

The Mayor, for his part, doesn't appear to be swayed by the progressive supervisors' demands, with the Ex reporting him as alleging that replacing the chief is "[putting] politics before police reforms." If the voices within City Hall calling for the chief's ouster continue to grow in number  like if other progressive bloc member Aaron Peskin joins in  he may not be able to ignore them much longer.

Related: After Mayor Floats $17.5 Million Police Reform Package, Supes Grill Him, Some Call To Fire Suhr
A Utah man is asking Tesla to investigate after he claims his Model S drove itself into a parked tractor-trailer. The Fremont manufacturer, meanwhile, rejects the allegation that its self-driving software is to blame, and instead argues that the fault lies with the car's owner. This all went down on April 29, reports KSL, and car owner Jared Overton is not happy with the company's handling of the situation.

"I think it behooves them to figure out what happened, what happened with the vehicle, address it, Overton told the publication. Just fix it.

Who is at fault apparently hinges on a feature that Tesla claims is still in beta mode. "Summon," as it is known, is a self-driving and parking mode that according to the company enables the car to do things like "open your garage door, enter your garage, park itself, and shut down." According to Overton, it also enables it to crash itself.

Overton says that he parked his car, got out, chatted a few moments with a curious passerby interested in the car, and then went in a store. When he came out five minutes later, he says the car was pinned underneath the trailer. We were trying to figure out how on earth the vehicle started on its own, Overton said. What happened with this kind of rogue vehicle?

"Tesla has reviewed the vehicles logs," reads a statement from a Tesla regional service manager reported on by Hot Hardware, "which show that the incident occurred as a result of the driver not being properly attentive to the vehicles surroundings while using the Summon feature or maintaining responsibility for safely controlling the vehicle at all times."

In other words, Tesla says it's on Overton. And anyway, the summon feature is still in beta and meant to be used "on private property" at this stage. Overton, who says it's not about money as the damage totaled around $700, is calling BS.

They can tell me what they want to tell me with the logs, but it doesnt change what we know happened here," he says. Imagine if a child was right there  I guarantee that they would be responding to this a lot differently. I will not feel safe with my little boy playing in the garage or the driveway if theres the potential for a rogue vehicle.

Related: Video: Tesla Autopilot Saves Uber Driver From Crash
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.

Instagram, which Facebook bought for a billy in 2012, is refreshing for a social network. While there have been changes afoot recently  an algorithmically reordered timeline and a brand new redesign  it's not like the point of the platform has shifted. Instagram is great because it's so much simpler and more delightful than its parent company. Facebook is a disorganized jumble of political rants and baby photos and news articles, but Instagram cuts right to the core. What do you see, it seems to ask. Of course, you'll notice plenty of Instagram posturing  the question might really be "what do you see that you want someone else to see you seeing?" Still, the project of self presentation in pictures is kinda *artsy* and *fun,* and it's fun to see other people trying it, too. Anyway, here are a few best practices to keep it that way.

Public or Private

It's all or nothing on Instagram. Anyone who stumbles across your feed can see all your photos if you're public. If you're private, they need your approval. I think being public is better. First, without any barriers, you'll get more followers, which is how you win. Kidding sorta. Second is that you probably shouldn't post, like, photos of drug use or illegal activity anyway, even if you're private, because it isn't really so private after all. Perhaps you don't want people to know exactly what you look like, but Snapchat, in my humble opinion, is for selfies, while Instagram is not.

What to Post

Post good pictures. They're better if they're of something interesting, but they don't have to be. Conversely, don't post bad photos. I don't want to see a blurry, unfocused photo of an interesting thing, because that's just frustrating. We get it, you were near a cool thing. You have a photo (with your thumb in it) to prove it. Post photos of weird stuff. An average photo of the Statue of Liberty says "I went to New York." A striking image of a rat eating garbage says "I get New York now."

How Much To Post

Did you know that if you post five pictures in quick succession that are of a similar thing I will unfollow you? I will! I think you should post once, maybe twice a day. A lot of people keep their feeds curated, and pictures are bigger than tweets and such, so you're occupying space. The task of posting less is also a fun artistic constraint, because it forces you to think about what you want to say.

Bragging

Instagram is kind of for showing off, but this can be super gross sometimes you guys. If what you're showing off is that you have a bunch of money to blow on shit and you take bad pictures of it, what are you really saying that the Rich Kids of Instagram haven't said already? Did you work hard and now you're taking a vacation? People are proud of you and want to see your photo of it! Did you go out for another fucking dinner? Are you planning to add that to your carefully curated Instagram feed of expensive things signifying nothing? Less cool.

That all said, I don't mean to sound too proscriptive. If you got it, flaunt it. We see you lookin confident, and we like it. Tell a cool story.

Hashtags

Use them. They're still kinda useful and funny on Instagram, and can provide good context. Were you #winning today? If so, #bless.

Filters

Filters on Instagram are fun and you should use them, but don't distract from your image. They're really there, at least they were in the first place, to make phone pictures look not quite so bad. Now phone pictures are good, so I find them less necessary. #nofilter #2016 #wokeuplikedis #yasss

All SFist Etiquette Week 2016 Posts
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.

It was back in 2007 when the San Francisco Chronicle announced that there were more dogs than kids living in the city. According to San Francisco Animal Care & Control spokesperson Deb Campbell, their dog count has only grown (in line with the city's population), with an estimated 150,000 on SF's streets today.

All those dogs need to be walked, both for fun/exercise and so they can relieve themselves somewhere other than on your new flokati. I really do believe that most people who choose to care for an animal are well-intentioned, kind folks  after all, pets can be a pain in the ass! But there are a lot of things people do as they walk their dogs that are poor etiquette, rude, or just plain dangerous. And, hey, many of the things I'm about to talk about are mistakes I have made myself! Though I was raised caring for a dog, my SF dog experience didn't begin until 2004 (behold: the late, great SFist Franny), and I frequently did the wrong thing because I didn't know any better. So, please, learn from my mistakes! I am certain that we can all work together to make SF's parks and sidewalks pleasanter for humans, animals, and everything in between.

Pick Up Your Dog's Shit

Hey, fun fact, did you know that the fine for failing to pick up dog shit is hundreds of dollars higher than the fine for failing to pick up your own, human shit? Part of your responsibility as a dog's guardian is to pick up their feces. Yes, sometimes you will find yourself without a bag, and with no handy free weeklies or whatever to use as a makeshift scoop. But that should not be the norm! If you're able-bodied, yet you don't have the fortitude to pick up your animal's crap, then you don't have what it takes to care for a dog.

I'm not just talking about the sidewalk, either. Just because you're in the wild (dog park or otherwise) or at the beach doesn't mean you're off the hook. There are other people walking around in the world, and they don't deserve your dog's digested dinner all over their shoes.

Choose Urination Areas Judiciously

In a perfect world, all dogs would pee on grassy knolls in the backyards of mansions we just bought with our Powerball winnings. But we do not live in a perfect world, we live in a dense(ish) urban area. And your dog still needs to pee. So, this becomes a situation where we all just need to do the best we can. If you don't have access to a park they can use, please do your best to seek out the occasional greenways or trees between the sidewalk and street and steer your full-bladdered dog in that direction and away from (obviously) yards or against buildings (seriously, do you want piss on your building? I don't!) or utility poles. But this is not always possible, I know, I know, and you just need Spot to take a quick piss! So, sometimes, you will have to let him drain the lizard on the sidewalk or against a building. But for every time you do that, make an effort to make your dog's other two pee breaks somewhere "better." And, seriously, keep them off the utility poles, because causing them to fall onto cars or people is as poor as etiquette gets.

Walk Your Dog On A Leash Any Time You're Outside An Off-Leash Area

This is a true story: I once asked someone who was strolling down my street holding their dog's leash folded in their hand as their pup walked unfettered why they didn't just leash the dog, and was told "he wants to be free, man." Reader, that dog darted onto Noriega Street a few months later as his owner called for him in vain, and was killed by a passing car.

Campbell hears stories like this one again and again. "I know people think they have perfect voice control over their pets, but no one does. They say they want their dog to be free, they want it to enjoy life...then let it have a life they can enjoy." There's a reason there are laws mandating dogs be leashed as they walk along the sidewalk, and they aren't just to protect passers-by from vicious animals (which, of course, yours aren't), it's to keep your dogs, which are less intelligent, have poorer judgement, and can't see what's coming as well as we, from getting smeared all over the road.

In addition to the politeness you accord your dog by keeping it safe, there are your fellow humans. Many people fear or dislike dogs, and THAT IS OK. Those people deserve to share the trails, (non-dog) parks, and sidewalks with us secure in the knowledge that your pet is firmly in your grasp. "But my dog would never hurt anyone..." doesn't matter, those people don't know that! All they see is an unleashed dog coming towards them.

A Note On Leashes

Campbell, and most people who are experienced in the ways of dog care, are not huge fans of retractable leashes (here's an example of what a retractable leash is). When you use a retractable leash as you walk your dog, you are stretching an almost-invisible tripwire between you and your dog and endangering anyone who might not see that narrow cord as they attempt to pass. In addition, your dog isn't under great control, as the retraction alone isn't enough to tug your dog to you in a time of crisis  you'll have to retract as you dart back toward your dog and hope it all works. Keep everyone else who might have to walk by you and your dog safe by using a regular webbed leash, or splurge on a near-indestructible Rope For Rescues leash made from climbing ropes and help fund dog rescued from SF to Ecuador. ( I don't know those guys, I just love the leashes.)

Read The Room

As I just mentioned, not everyone loves dogs, and that's their right. If you have a dog that loves to run up to people as they go on their leashed walk down the street, don't assume that those people want to be run up to. Scan them for signs of fear or efforts to avoid your dog, and say something like "is it OK if he/she says hi?" if they don't look scared but aren't cooing a welcome. And if they say "I'd rather not" or whatever, respect that.

The same goes if you're with your pup at a parklet, dining al fresco, or anywhere else where people are seated. There are plenty of people who would love to say hello to your dog, but don't allow your pup to force themselves on others.

On Leaving Your Dog Tied Up Outside

We could talk about the safety, humanity, or legality (it's not) of leaving your dog tied up outside as you go grab a carton of milk, but this is a discussion of etiquette, not those things. So, again, I'll just say that when you leave your dog tied up outside, he or she is not in your presumably peerless and polite control, so rudeness will often ensue.

Here's an example: I was sitting on the bench outside my favorite coffee place eating a muffin when a guy tied his super-sweet Lab up and went inside. As soon as the guy was out of sight, the dog murphed my muffin, then took a piss on my leg. (I hear you laughing! Stop it, the pee was stinky and I really wanted that muffin!) The dog's guardian was so mortified, I felt pretty bad for him! But dogs, man, they do dumb stuff when you aren't there to control them. Yes, even yours. Why set yourself up for that?

I will let Campbell have the last word on this one, though. At the ACC, she says, "we hear about so many dogs that get hurt, killed or stolen while they're tied up while someone just goes in for a second. Leave them at home."

If Your Dog Harms Someone, Remain At The Scene

If you are out and about and your dog bites a person or another dog seriously enough to cause injury, Campbell says, the first thing you need to do is call 911. Don't you DARE take off, even if it was totally the other dog's/person's fault. Stick around, and calmly explain things to the police.

One thing that will make your life a lot easier if this happens is to go to the trouble of licensing your dog, as that is easily verifiable, visible proof that your dog has been vaccinated for rabies. (You can learn how to get a dog license here  I just got one for my new dog the other day and it took less than 10 minutes, start to finish.) If your dog isn't licensed, officers might seize your pup, Campbell says. You don't want that!

I am sure you have other etiquette advice for dog walkers, and I am eager to hear all about it in the comments! But I think we can all agree that much of being a polite dog guardian comes down to doing everything you can to reduce or eliminate the damage or harm your wonderful, adorable dog might cause the rest of the world. None of us are perfect, dog or human! But we are all in this thing together, and as long as we all continue to try our best to respect each other and get along, everything's going to be OK.


You wouldn't expect, probably, that one of the standout dishes on an already great menu at Brandon Jew's new Chinatown restaurant would be his take on fried rice. But the simple, homestyle dish gets a welcome and ridiculously delicious revision in Jew's hands. And combined with a bevy of also stellar, banquet-style items (don't miss the hot and sour soup or the delicious BBQ pork with steam buns), it's a key piece of evidence that Mister Jiu's will turn out to be one of the standout  if not the standout  openings of the year.

"When we were putting the opening menu together," Jew says, "I asked myself I wanted Mister Jiu's to be one of those restaurants that serve fried rice." Obviously the answer became yes, and we should all be grateful.

Jew's take on fried rice, he tells SFist, all started with his mother. "Growing up, my mom would make fried rice all the time with bacon and leftover steak," he says. "So this is kind of a nod to my mom's fried rice."

He says that fried rice evolved into an important food memory for him and his wife, when he became an adult. "When we were super poor, I'd make fried rice with whatever leftovers we had in the fridge. So I thought, hey, I can have it on the menu as an homage to that time, and make it more than regular fried rice."

And more it is. Jew sources beef tenderloin off-cuts from Cream Co., dicing the beef into small cubes and rendering the fat to cook the rice in. It's finished with egg and house-made oyster sauce  with oysters all shucked and smoked in house, and combined with black bean, sugar and soy  and topped with shaved tuna heart from Sicily.

As Jew correctly sums it up, the dish is a "trifecta of beef, tuna, and oyster, which give it a lot of funk and flavor  almost like an umami-bomb surf and turf."

The umami funk of the dish is indeed what sets it apart from any fried rice you've likely ever had, and Jew's effort to perfect this dish  and make it a standout  is evident in every bite. And don't be afraid of that tuna heart, as one of my dining companions was  that shit is delicious.

Just as delicious but more subtle is Jiu's whole salt-baked trout. The fish is first wrapped in lotus leaves that impart hints of flavor to some perfectly tender and juicy fish, and it's served with the salt crust cracked open and the leaves peeled back, and topped with a condiment of charred scallions tossed with mortared ginger and soy, as well as trout roe. It's a celebratory fish, and that's what Jew was after in creating this restaurant  to modernize the idea of the special-occasion Chinese banquet for a new generation of diners. And doing it in a dining room as pretty and well appointed as this, with its view of the TransAmerica Pyramid, isn't going to hurt either.

Mister Jiu's - 28 Waverly Place between Clay and Sacramento - Reservations here

For budgetary reasons, SFist editors and contributors occasionally accept complimentary meals from restaurants and their publicists. More often, we pay out of pocket for our meals. While we refrain from writing formal reviews, we make every effort when giving opinions about restaurants to be objective, and to focus more on food and ambiance than service in order to make up for any possible bias.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to meet with conservative leaders to address allegations that his website's Trending Topics section suppresses conservative news and news outlets.

Before that, it seems Zuck will be answering to the US Senate Commerce Committee, who sent him a letter asking key questions about how Trending Topics are selected.

The letter was a reaction to a report from Gizmodo that purports to pull back the curtain on that section's operations. Its sources such as former contractors who say they worked on the section, which reaches Facebook's massive, roughly 167 million-person audience.

"This week, there was a report suggesting that Facebook contractors working on Trending Topics suppressed stories with conservative viewpoints," " Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. "We take this report very seriously and are conducting a full investigation to ensure our teams upheld the integrity of this product."

In a press release from Facebook, vice-president of global operations Justin Osofsky scratched the surface of how Trending Topics works, stating that it's "governed by a set of guidelines meant to ensure a high-quality product."

But what are those? That's what the Commerce Committee wants to know: "When did Facebook first introduce these guidelines?" their letter asks, furthermore requesting that the company "please provide a copy of these guidelines."

According to the original report, a former contractor with the Trending Topics team alleged that the section is rather arbitrary, full of hand-picked injections of news rather than items selected purely by algorithm, and that guidelines, stated or implied, censored news related to popular conservatives. "I believe it had a chilling effect on conservative news," that source said.

While Zuckerberg writes that "we have found no evidence that this report is true," he's playing offense as well as defense. "In the coming weeks, I'll also be inviting leading conservatives and people from across the political spectrum to talk with me about this and share their points of view," the CEO writes. "I want to have a direct conversation about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible."

One noted conservative and die-hard Trump booster, Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos, appears to want in. "Users deserve to know whether the Trending Topics on Facebook really are trending or whether it's just something that some social justice warrior in San Francisco wants you to believe is popular," he says in a Youtube video written up by CNN. "I think it's time you answered your users and I think it's time that you sat down with me." Yiannopoulos hopes a conversation between them might be live-streamed to Facebook.

In the past, Zuckerberg has scrupulously avoided political labels of his own. In 2013, while pushing for immigration reform, CNN says he finally pinned himself down. "I'm pro-knowledge economy," he said.

Previously:Facebook Denies Allegations About Cherrypicking News As Senate Opens Inquiry
A man is fighting for his life today, after he was seriously injured in a shooting in the Tenderloin Thursday night.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, a 24-year old man was at the corner of Eddy and Leavenworth Streets at 10:04 last night, when he was approached by a group of nine men described by witnesses as in their early 20s.

A "verbal argument ensued" between the gang and the solitary man, police say. That discussion turned violent when one of the fellows in the group "pulled a handgun and shot" the man in the chest.

The nine men fled west on Eddy towards Hyde Street, police say, leaving their victim on the ground suffering from life-threatening injuries. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where police say he remains Friday morning.

The suspects in the shooting remain on the loose, according to SFPD. As always, if you know anything about this crime, you're urged to call SFPD's Anonymous Tip Line at 415-575-4444 or to text a tip to Tip411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.
A teenaged driver was arrested at the height of yesterday's on Bike to Work Day commute, after police say that she intentionally struck a cyclist as he rode down Market Street.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, it was 4:55 p.m. Thursday when a 26-year-old male cyclist "got into a verbal argument" with an 18-year-old woman driving near the intersection of Fourth and Market Streets.

The cyclist "banged on the window" of the driver's red Hyundai Accent, police say, then passed the car and took his place in the lane in front of her.

The driver then ran the cyclist "over...with her vehicle" in what police characterize as an "Assault (Vehicle vs. Bicycle)."

The Ex reports that the collision occurred "before a gaggle of cyclists and other onlookers, as well as volunteers from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition who were out and about for Bike to Work Day."

After hitting the cyclist, the Ex reports, the driver "walked behind her car to check on the cyclist", "moved the bicycle, then tried to run back to the drivers seat" to flee, witnesses allege.

Her escape was thwarted by bystanders, who "grabbed the driver before she could get back to her car, and someone pulled her car door open," the Ex reports. Then "a 'good Samaritan' leapt into the car and grabbed the drivers keys."

In response, witnesses say, the driver grabbed her pink Taser and tried to Tase [him].

As of publication time, SFist was unable to independently confirm the Ex's account of events with SFPD.

According to SFPD, the cyclist suffered a "fractured back and pelvis lacerations," and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment of those injuries, which police say are not life-threatening.

The driver was arrested at the scene, police say. A call to SFPD on what charges she was booked under was not returned at publication time.

Related: Officials Pretend To Care About Cycling For 22nd Annual Bike To Work Day
In a swap that we all should have seen coming, what was once the last gun store in San Francisco is slated to become a medical marijuana dispensary. And, because it's just too perfect, 7x7 reports that the dispensary's owner plans to keep the gun shop's name: High Bridge.

High Bridge Arms closed in October of last year, following a decision by the general manager to get out of business before a new ordinance sponsored by Supervisor Mark Farrell requiring all guns sales in SF be videotaped went into effect. The store, located on Mission Street between Valencia and Powers Avenue, had been in business since the mid-1950s, but GM Steven Alcairo said at the time that he was unwilling to comply with the forthcoming legislation.

What we dont do is voluntarily give private information to the police department," explained Alcairo. "We just dont do that. People are very private about their information.

Supervisor Farrell, for his part, seemed fine with the closure and told the Examiner as much. At the end of the day I would much rather see a preschool, a coffee shop, a senior center or some other neighborhood-serving entity that contributes to the vitality of our city in its place."

No word yet on whether or not the supervisor thinks a marijuana dispensary "contributes to the vitality of our city."

Sean Killen, the founder of the new cannabis club, also spoke with KTVU about the transition from gun shop to pot club. "It seems very San Francisco," he observed. "It seems like one of those things that for us, it seems like it was one of those things that was supposed to happen the way it did."

High Bridge is set to replace nearby Bernal Heights Collective, which will likely be evicted next month. "We really want it to be safe and affordable access for everybody here and hopefully it'll spread out to the rest of San Francisco," Killen explained.

As long as city officials approve Killen's plans, the club will open in July. No word yet on whether the new High Bridge will carry AK-47.

Related: It's Official: As Of October, There Will Be No Gun Shops In San Francisco


You know things can't be that awesome in the Vallejo Police Department when an officer who was responsible for the most high-profile screwup the department has seen in years gets a special commendation. But that's what's happened, as ABC 7 reports, as Detective Matthew Mustard recently was awarded Officer of the Year for 2015.

Huskins's family and her attorney, who have already filed a civil rights complaint against the department that they seem pretty likely to win, are of course furious. Says attorney Doug Rappaport, "It's an insult... He may do a very fine job in other cases and this may be the one time he didn't, but boy when the one time he didn't, it was a big one."

ABC 7's Melanie Woodrow caught wind of the VPD's newsletter, where she saw the description of their annual awards luncheon that took place on April 28. Mustard is described as having lead the investigations of 18 homicides in the last year, but there is no mention of the case of Denise Huskins, who was bound and abducted in March of 2015, and allegedly subjected to a sexual assault by accused kidnapper Matthew Muller.

VPD Chief: Det. Mustard "defines outstanding qualities" #GoneGirl fam outraged at Officer of Year @abc7newsBayArea pic.twitter.com/MBuWnByfnf  Melanie Woodrow (@MelanieWoodrow) May 13, 2016

As we learned last month, the civil complaint against the VPD alleges that Mustard, in the hours following Huskins's return to her family, told Huskins's mother that her daughter's claims of being raped twice while in captivity were likely false, and upon hearing that Huskins had been sexually abused as a child, he said, "That's what sometimes people do who are victims of sexual assault, that they make it up later and try to re-experience the situation and enjoy the excitement."

The department and its Lt. Kenny Park went on to make a public statement shortly after the kidnapping declaring the entire thing a hoax, a story that went on to make national headlines  and something that they had to apologize for a few months later when Muller was arrested for a similar crime in Dublin, and later basically confessed to a reporter in a jailhouse interview.

Because the Vallejo PD dismissed the case so quickly as a bizarre hoax, it appears they failed to collect evidence that would have suggested otherwise.

Muller has admitted to suffering from severe delusions and bipolar disorder. He has yet to stand trial in the Huskins case, and in September pleaded no contest to a home invasion in Dublin, for which he was ultimately nabbed.

All previous coverage of the Huskins kidnapping on SFist.
More than 250 wineries have sprung up in the 10 counties that can be considered part of the Foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The wines being produced are incredible: intense, unique, sometimes even experimental in terms of blends and varietals. Learn more about this great and growing California wine region!
SIOUX CITY | What do nightclubs and classical music have in common?

Mason Bates.

The composer who moonlights as a DJ, along with world-renowned violinist Gil Shaham, will come together for a collision of musical sounds in the Sioux City Symphony Orchestras special encore event at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday.

Music Director Ryan Haskins calls "Collide" the perfect capstone for the symphonys 100th anniversary season.

"We're proud to be presenting one of the most creative concert experiences ever seen," he said. "Lights, live music, electronics, classical traditions, projections and special effects will all be on parade to create something that has never been seen before in the history of Sioux City.

A contemporary composer grounded in both the fundamentals of classical music and electronica, Bates tackles broad, creative themes, moving the orchestra into the digital age and dissolving the boundaries of traditional symphonic music.

Haskins and Bates first started talking about early concepts for the concert experience two years ago, when the DJ was here for his debut performance with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.

'Collide' is new ground for all of us, Haskins said. This is the very reason why it is so thrilling that these dreams are finally coming true.

Bates, who has been recognized as the second most-performed living composer, currently serves as the first composer-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where he introduced KC Jukebox, a contemporary music series that premiered in November.

Using an immersive mix of cutting-edge technology, evocative lighting elements and dynamic electro-acoustic palettes, KC Jukebox brings together forward-thinking instrumentalists, vocalists and DJs from Washington and beyond, integrating traditional works with new music and presenting them in a variety of performance spaces throughout the Kennedy Center.

And heres where Sioux City gets one-up on Washington -- the acclaimed classical/club event Mercury Soul hits Pierce Street Saturday night, but it wont debut in the capital until the fall.

The first half of the concert will feature Grammy Award-winning violinist Gil Shaham performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major.

Following the intermission, everyone will move outside for a club-like experience, set under a huge tent, stretching across the entire block in front of the Orpheum Theatre, and Bates will take on his alter ego as DJ Masonic for one of his signature programs, Mercury Soul.

"This is where club music, classical music, lights and electronics all join together into one mind-blowing experience," Haskins said. "The 'collision' of two different worlds."

This immersive, sonic event reimagines a world where classical and electronic dance music come together in one space.

"Collide" combines 21st century stagecraft with club production. Mercury Soul has performed to sold-out shows around the country, from San Francisco's famed Mezzanine club to Miami's New World Symphony and Chicago's Metro.

"For Sioux City to be a part of the exploration and discovery of the next generation of concert presentation is something that is wonderfully invigorating for this organization, Haskins said.

I can't think of a better way to propel the Sioux City Symphony into the next 100 years, by providing our community with creative and powerful performances. The future is exciting and vibrant -- something we can't wait to explore."
Milana Vayntrub plays giddy and goofy roles, but she was fidgety and troubled as she tried to relax on a recent vacation in Greece.

The actress best known for her role as the chirpy, blue-shirted "Lily" in a popular series of AT&T commercials was a toddler when her parents fled Uzbekistan as refugees in 1989. How was she supposed to just sit on the beach, she wondered, when migrants fleeing Syria were coming ashore a few miles away?

"It felt a little ridiculous that I could do something but would choose not to," she said.

Vayntrub, 29, deliberately missed her flight home so she could wrap refugee babies in blankets and make sandwiches for the new arrivals. Later, back in Los Angeles, she founded CantDoNothing.org, a nonprofit with a simple mission: Encourage people around the planet to do something  anything  to help.

"I'm asking everyone to find simple ways to share your time, your money, your voice to make a difference. Helping can be a lot of things," Vayntrub told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Her initiative, shared under the hashtag #CantDoNothing, has unleashed a buzz on social media, with people from around the planet sharing photos and videos of their acts of kindness and solidarity.

It's also highlighted Vayntrub's own harrowing journey from oppression to opportunity nearly three decades ago, and her emergence as a sort of accidental activist.

Although she's most recognizable for her advertising work as a quirky AT&T salesperson, she's gained a following for comedy films including "Junk" and "L!fe Happens," as well as Netflix's "Love," HBO's "Silicon Valley," Yahoo's "Other Space," and her YouTube channel, "LivePrudeGirls."

She's had to adapt her stand-up routine, though, since returning from Greece.

"All my life kvetches sounded so petty," she said. "Here, what's going on with the refugees doesn't really pop up in my feed. It's not in my daily life. But when you travel, you see it."

Using her iPhone, Vayntrub made a short video about her vacation-turned-mission. It shows dozens of bright orange life jackets littering the beaches of the Greek island of Lesbos, where refugees from Syria continue to make the perilous sea crossing to reach Europe.

From a distance, the jackets "look like a field of poppies  a beautiful nature scene. Then you get closer and realize the humanity," she said. "That was the first real shock."

The video also shows Vayntrub greeting boats carrying refugees from Turkey as they come ashore. The U.N. refugee agency says more than 1 million people crossed the Mediterranean in 2015, most in unseaworthy boats, and nearly 200,000 have made the crossing so far this year.

Vayntrub was only 2 when her parents left their home in the former Soviet Union, so she has no memories of her own flight to an eventual new life in southern California. "But I do remember feeling like an outsider  that everyone's from here, and I'm not," she said.

Providing the refugees with food, shelter and medical attention is critical. But Vayntrub  who's planning to visit a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan next month  also worries about the lack of educational and cultural opportunities for young migrants.

"I'm haunted by who these kids will be in 20 years with no exposure to literature or musical instruments. What kind of adult does that breed?" she said.

Responses to the #CantDoNothing movement have been varied and spirited. A YMCA in Richmond, Virginia, collected new and used baby carriers to send overseas. A school in Santa Monica, California, held a stuffed animal drive. A poet in Ontario, Canada, wrote free verse about the refugees' plight.

"I'm a much more grateful person now," Vayntrub said. "We're so lucky to take being alive for granted."

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Follow Bill Kole on Twitter at https://twitter.com/billkole.
LE MARS, Iowa | The Christian Women's Club invites all Siouxland women to attend an event at 9 a.m. Tuesday at United Methodist Church of Le Mars, 901 Third Ave. SE. First timers attending will be guests.

The special feature will be a talk by Judy Marienau of the Le Mars Art Center on "Summer at the Art Center." Reservations can be made by calling 712-546-4683 or 712-548-4496.
SCREENINGS

Sloan Community Blood Drive, 3:30- 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Community Hall, 423 Evans St. Schedule an appointment at lifeservebloodcenter.org or call 800-287-4903.

Free blood pressure screenings, 9:30 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays at Countryside Senior Living, front lobby. No appointment necessary.

PROGRAMS/SELF-HELP GROUPS

Al-Anon Information Center, call 255-6724.

Al-Anon and Alateen, meetings locally. For times, dates and locations of area meetings, call 255-6724.

Alcoholics Anonymous, beginners information, call 252-1333.

Arc of Woodbury County, serving the mentally challenged, 5:15 p.m. meeting, second Monday of the month at Mid-Step Services, 4303 Stone Ave. For families and interested persons.

Child Care Resource and Referral, provides resources, education and advocacy for children, parents, and child care providers. Assists in child care needs. For more information, call 712-277-1180.

Co-Dependence Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at First Lutheran Church, Fireside Room.

Co-Dependents Anonymous (CODA), 10 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St.

Compassionate Friends, 7 p.m. fourth Wednesday of each month (third Thursday in November and second Sunday December) in Mercy Medical Center's Leiter Room. For families who have lost children. Contact Nancy Webb 712-212-4032 or Don Mulder 712-541-5512.

Children of Divorce, to help children cope with the challenges of parental separation or divorce. Call 712-279-2373 for more information.

CLINICS

Siouxland District Health immunization clinics, call for appointment, 712-279-6119 or 1-800-587-3005.

INFORMATION

Family and Addictive Illness series, for more information, call 234-2300.

Iowa Fathers, 6 to 8 p.m. fourth Tuesday of each month at Hope Lutheran Church, Education Building, 218 W. 18th St., South Sioux City, Neb. Support group to help single, divorcing and divorced parents residing in the state of Iowa.

Mercy Pathways Outpatient Program, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, on the third floor, Mercy's Central Medical Building, 801 Fifth St., Suite 360. Provides hope, help, opportunity to connect through group therapy for individuals experiencing personal, relationship, psychiatric issues. For more information, call 712-279-5991.

Narcotics Anonymous, meetings daily, various times, dates and locations. For more information, call 712-279-0733.

Overeaters Anonymous, 7 p.m. Mondays at Floyd Valley Hospital, Lower Level, 714 Lincoln St. NE, Le Mars, Iowa; 1 p.m. Tuesdays at Wesley United Methodist Church, 3700 Indian Hills Drive; 6 p.m. Tuesdays at St. John's Lutheran Church, 402 Lane Ave., Storm Lake; 7 p.m. Tuesdays at Church of the Nazarene, 226 N. Main St., Viborg, S.D.; 5:30 p.m. Thursdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays at Newman Center, 320 E. Cherry St., Vermillion, S.D.; 10:30 a.m. Saturdays at Hawkeye Club, 420 Jones St. A 12-step recovery program for people who have problems with food and weight. No fees.

St. Lukes Outpatient Behavioral Health Program, 9 a.m. to noon Monday, Tuesday and Thursday on fifth floor of St. Luke's, located at 2720 Stone Park Blvd. Offers several levels of outpatient care including partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and group therapy. This program provides support and integrated treatment to individuals experiencing personal or relationship issues as a result of their mental illness. For more information and admission criteria, call 712-279-3906.

Sobriety By Faith, 8:30 a.m. Saturdays at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For more information, call James Mothershead at 712-577-9715.

The Link-Recovery and Freedom, at PMA Building, 6000 Gordon Drive; 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday workshop, and Christian 12-step meeting 7 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. For all ages. Call Dee at 389-7432.

Women in Recovery, meets monthly at Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1421 Geneva St. For details, call 712-255-4623.

Tarahouse Meditation Center, 8 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 6:30 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, all at 3112 Rebecca St. Three easy 10-minute sessions in small group; beginners welcome. For more information, call 490-6410.

Blood pressure and blood sugar screening, 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesdays in the lobby at Westwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. Free to public.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous, 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays at Hawkeye Club basement, 420 Jones St. For more information, call 277-5935.

Celebrate Recovery, Bible-based 12-step recovery group. Thursdays at 6:30 at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive. Daycare provided. 712-490-3343.

PFLAG of Siouxland, (Parents & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), 7 p.m., fourth Monday of January, March, May, July, September and November. St. Mark ELCA Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., in the upstairs meeting area. 712-258-3116.

Singles widowed and divorced, all ages, 4 p.m., Sundays. McDonald's at Sixth Street and Lewis Boulevard. 712-252-2675.

HIV/AIDS Support Group, meets weekly. For more information, call Darla or Teri at Siouxland Community Health Center, 712-252-2477 or 888-371-1965.

La Leche League of Siouxland, breastfeeding support group meets every third Thursday at 11 a.m. at Morningside Lutheran Church. Children are welcome. For more information, call Mary at 712-546-7280 or Jacquie at 712-255-2998.

Living Each Day Cancer Support Group, 7-8 p.m. second Thursday of the month, Floyd Valley Hospital, Conference Center Room 2, Le Mars, Iowa. Open to all cancer patients, cancer survivors and family members. No charge. Pre-register by calling 712-546-3441 or 800-642-6074, ext. 441.

Mom and Baby Support Group, 10-11 a.m. last Monday of the month at the Orange City (Iowa) Hospital, lower level. For new moms and babies. 712-737-5260.

Tri-State Sober Project, 12-step meeting, 7:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Friendship Community Church, 305 Sergeant Square Drive, Sergeant Bluff. 6-7 p.m., Thursdays, Transitional Services of Iowa, 1221 Pierce St., Sioux City.

Doug's Donors Support Group, information for organ donors and recipients, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Wednesdays, 5:15-6:30 p.m. second and fourth Thursdays of the month at Mercy Cafeteria Woodbury Room. 712-277-1050.

Divorce Care, noon Sundays starting Jan. 10; GriefShare, 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays starting Jan. 12; Single & Parenting, 6:30 p.m. Thursdays starting Jan. 14; all at Sunnybrook Community Church, 5601 Sunnybrook Drive, Sioux City. 712-276-5814.

Multiple Sclerosis Support Group, 1:30-3:30 p.m. first Saturday of the month at the CNOS, Dakota Dunes. For anyone with MS and/or their families. Call Janet Limoges at 605-217-2726 prior to attending.

NAMI Siouxland, (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Support Group meets 6:30 p.m., second Tuesday of the month at Friendship House, 1101 Court St. For individuals and family members dealing with mental illness. 712-255-4209.

New Life Life Support Group, 3:30 p.m. every Saturday at 2929 W. Fourth St. Spiritual 12-step program. For more information, call Donald at 712-574-1744 or James at 712-255-7624.

Post Polio Support Group, 11 a.m. first Thursday of the month at Perkins Restaurant by Menards. 712-490-8213.

Relationship Support Group, 7 p.m. Fridays at Marketplace Mall. For more information, call 239-3129.

Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, Individual and Support Groups. For more information, call CSADV in Sioux City at 712-258-7233; Plymouth County at 712-546-6764; Monona County at 712-423-3443. Advocacy and support available 24 hours a day at 1-800-982-7233. All services free of charge and confidential.

Sickle Cell Disease Support Group, 11 a.m. third Saturday of each month at St. Luke's Hospital, meeting room 1. For patients, their family and any concerned member. Call La'Keshia Rainey at 712-203-2019 for more information.

Sioux City Association of the Deaf, 7 p.m. third Saturday of the month at Morningside Church of Christ, 5015 Garretson Ave. Regular meeting, September-May; no meeting, June, July, August and December.

Siouxland Autism Support Group, second Thursday of the month at Northwest Area Education Agency, 1520 Morningside Ave. For more information, call Julie Case at 712-490-8939.

Siouxland Epilepsy Support Group, 5 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at Prestwick Apartment Clubhouse, 4230 Hickory Lane. For anyone diagnosed with seizures or epilepsy and family or friends. For more information, call Steve at 274-6927.

Siouxland IC support group, meets quarterly in Sioux City. For patients struggling with interstital cystitis. For more information, call Jacque Dundas 316-641-9766.

Siouxland Informational Group for the Blind, 2-5 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at Northern Hills Retirement Community, 4002 Teton Trace. For more information, call 712-266-8926 or 258-8151.

Grief support group, 5:30-7:30 p.m., beginning Oct. 5 for 13 weeks (may join at any time), Crescent Park United Methodist Church, 2826 Myrtle St., Sioux City. Scott, 712-899-6315.

Siouxland Ostomy Association, 2 p.m. first Sunday of each month (except September, which will be second Sunday; and no meetings June, July, August), in Room 300 at Mercy Medical Center, 801 Fifth St. For more information, call Dick Lindblom at 251-2453.

Siouxland Parkinson Disease Support Group, 1 p.m. fourth Monday of the month at Siouxland Center for Active Generations, 313 Cook St. For more information, call at Jack Scherrman at 712-277-9337.

Sojourners, support group for families of persons with life-threatening illness, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, Room 416. For more information, call Marjorie Jarvill at 402-241-8637.

South Sioux City Weight Support Group, 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays at St. Paul United Methodist Church, South Sioux City. For more information, call 494-1401 or 494-2133.

Disabilities Resource Center of Siouxland, 520 Nebraska St., Suite 101: Women's Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Wednesday of the month; LGBT Support Group, 1:30 p.m. first Friday of the month; Adult ADHD, 6 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; Advocacy Group, 1:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month. For more information, call 712-255-1065.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly, group meetings various times, days and locations in Siouxland. For information on the chapter in your area, call 1-800-932-TOPS.

Voice Disorder Support Group, meets as needed at Mercy Medical Center, Buena Vista Room. 712-279-2686.

Women's Peer Support Group, in Wayne and South Sioux City, Neb., for those who have experienced domestic abuse. For more information, call the Wayne office at 402-375-4633 or 1-800-440-4633; in South Sioux City, call 402-494-7592. Help and support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Services free and confidential.

Woodbury County D.M.D.A., noon-2 p.m. first Saturday of the month at Country Friendship Acres, 4501 West St.; 7-8 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at 515 Court St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. second Tuesday of the month at 441 W. Third St. in the Community Room; 7-8 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at 409 W. Third St. in the Community Room. Support group for people with disabilities and mental disorders.

Natural Mamas in Siouxland, 1 p.m., third Tuesday of each month in the Garretson room of the Morningside Public Library. All ages of children are welcome to come with moms. For sharing natural living tips, recipes, natural remedies and health, homemaking, mothering, etc. For more information, call 402-913-0038 or visit their Facebook page.

A Step Beyond support group, 3:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, except for August, November and December when it meets at 5:30 p.m. (no meeting in January) at the Christy-Smith Resource Center, 1819 Morningside Ave. For more information, call 712-276-7319.

Divorce care, 5 p.m., Sundays. Fireside room, Morningside Lutheran Church, 700 South Martha St.

Gamblers Anonymous meetings, 4 p.m. Thursdays at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 315 Hamilton Blvd.; 7 p.m. Wednesdays, Morningside Presbyterian Church, 4327 Morningside Ave.; 7 p.m. Tuesdays, St. John Lutheran Church. 712-277-2901.

Art therapy support group, 5:30 p.m. second Thursday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. Registration required, call 252-9387.

After Breast Cancer Support Group, 5:30 p.m. third Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call Brenda, 252-9370.

After Prostate Cancer Support Group, 5:15 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the June E. Nylen Cancer Center. For more information, call 252-9426.

Alzheimer's Association, Big Sioux Chapter Support Group, 2 p.m. second Tuesday of the month; 4 p.m. third Tuesday of the month (under age 65) at 201 Pierce St., Suite 110 (Famous Dave's building); and 6 p.m. first Tuesday of the month at the Barnes and Noble Cafe. For more information, call Emily Lord at 712-279-5802.

Christy-Smith Funeral Homes of Sioux City, extensive grief library at the Morningside location. Open to the public during weekday hours. For more information, call 276-7319.

Chronic Pain/Chronic Illness Support Group, 7:30 p.m. fourth Wednesday of the month in the lower level of the Orange City Hospital. For more information, call 712-737-5260.

Connections Area Agency on Aging, and Mercy Medical Centers Older Adult Services Welcome to Medicare, 1:30-4 p.m., the first Friday of every month at Connections Area Agency on Aging, 2301 Pierce St. To pre-register, or for more information, contact Connections Area Agency on Aging at 712-279-6900.
NOIDA, India | Four Hindu priests sat cross-legged on the floor in front of silver trays of rice, flowers and vermillion powder, chanting in low baritones that reverberated off the bare walls of the old brick temple.

An iPhone propped on a chair captured the service  known as a puja  and beamed it via Skype to a home in San Francisco, where a middle-aged woman wearing a red bindi and a head scarf watched intently.

Every so often, the priests peered into the screen and instructed her to mimic a gesture or repeat an incantation.

In Hinduism, the dominant religion among Indias 1.2 billion people, there are elaborate pujas for virtually every life event  and now there are virtual pujas too, along with last rites and other religious ceremonies being sold over the Internet.

This digital twist on a mystical, ancient faith is a growing part of Indias multibillion-dollar spirituality market. E-commerce sites also have popped up for Indian Muslims as well as minority Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists.

Offering their services anywhere in the world, the companies are capitalizing not only on improved Internet connectivity throughout India but also on a growing diaspora as more citizens immigrate for higher education and employment, leaving behind their families and spiritual networks.

According to a 2011 census, 11.4 million Indian citizens lived overseas. There are more than 3 million people of Indian origin living in the United States.

Among the companies cashing in is Shubhpuja.com.

The idea for selling religious services online came to Saumya Vardhan when she was living in London. A friends father died in New Delhi and his widow struggled to manage the extensive rituals of the traditional 13-day mourning period on her own.

Leaving her career as a management consultant, Vardhan moved back to India to start the company in 2013 with her father, Harsh Vardhan, a retired bureaucrat and aviation expert who practices Vedic astrology on the side.

The company now employs five priests, all with advanced degrees from Hindu religious institutions. It has equipped a decades-old temple in New Delhis Noida suburb with high-definition cameras and hard drives to record pujas for out-of-town clients.

Each month, the priests conduct hundreds of pujas and consultations, mainly for Indian customers but also for a growing roster of Hindu clients in the U.S., Europe and the Far East.

People want to keep traditions alive but no one has time to keep up, especially if you are far away from home, Saumya Vardhan said.

The company offers 151 pujas covering much of the human experience  extramarital affairs, bad grades, business setbacks, criminal cases, distractedness, studying abroad, stomach problems and being unpopular. Prices start at $10 and go up to nearly $500 for the full wedding package.

The San Francisco client wanted to resolve problems in her romantic life. Her service was custom-designed based on discussions with the priests and an astrological reading by Harsh Vardhan.

The priests began the ceremony by summoning Ganesh, the Hindu elephant god and remover of obstacles. It ended a little more than an hour later with an arti  a ceremonial offering to the gods of light from a fire  before each person in the room turned 360 degrees to mimic Earths rotation.

But can an online puja work as well as having the devotee in the room?

The most important thing in a puja is the vibrations, said Narayan Shastri, one of the dhoti-clad priests. As long as she is following the actions with her own hand and saying the mantras, the sound travels the same whether its through the air or through a mobile phone.

At least some customers report good results.

One, who grew up in New Delhi and now lives in Northern California, turned to Shubhpuja more than a year ago when he felt he wasnt advancing in his job as a program manager. Ankit, who did not want his full name used so as to protect his privacy, said several telephone and Skype sessions convinced him that his rough career patch was due to a temporary planetary alignment.

He stuck with the job and soon received a promotion.

Though he was not very religious growing up, he said the professionalism of the priests reconnected him to the family pujas of his childhood. The day before a Skype session, he would receive a list of instructions: Dont eat meat, dont drink alcohol, wear light colors and find a quiet place in your house to sit.

Then you just log in at the appointed time and follow along, he said. Its way more convenient, to be honest. It fits with our lifestyle.
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa | A Rock Rapids man faces several felony charges for having a sexual relationship with a minor, according to court documents.

Melvin Goevany Aguilar-Lopez, 22, was arrested Thursday and charged with four counts of third-degree sexual abuse and one count of enticing a minor.

Courts documents say Aguilar-Lopez had sex with a 14-year-old girl four times between March and May this year. Aguilar-Lopez admitted to picking up the girl while she was at school several times so the two could spend the day together, documents said.

Aguilar-Lopez said he originally met the girl at a party in 2015 when she was 13-years-old, the documents said.

A press release from the Lyon County Sheriffs Office said Aguilar-Lopez was arrested after an extensive investigation.

He is currently being held in Lyon County Jail.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man was sentenced to six years in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Jose Mejia-Fraijo, 23, pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

He admitted to obtaining methamphetamine from Colorado to distribute in Sioux City, a press release issued by the United States Attorney's Office said.

With the sentence, he must also serve a two-year term of supervised release, said the release. He is not eligible for parole in the federal system.

He is currently being held in the United States Marshals custody until he can be transported to federal prison.
SIOUX CITY | The first line of the hit movie, "Top Gun," was directed at Scott Krambeck, a former Sioux City resident.

Krambeck spoke the second line of the 1986 film. He appeared in "Top Gun" later on, moving past Tom Cruise as the actors, some of them movie stars and others authentic Navy fighter pilots (like Krambeck) dispersed following an air crew briefing, on their way to the action-packed climax.

Krambeck's wheels touched down in Sioux City this week, as he paid a visit to a teacher and a school for the first time in 46 years, a person and an institution he believes helped shape his career.

"When we got to Miss Day's fourth-grade class in the fall of 1969, I was wondering what I'd be in life," said Krambeck, 56. "She taught us in a manner that gave us a confidence that I'd never really had before. She let me know that anything was possible."

Geri Day, now retired after a 44-year teaching career, basked in the recollections of her student. "Scott was always an eager learner," she said. "You can teach and teach and teach, and then you hear something like that and you realize that maybe you did have an impact."

Krambeck, son of Dave and the late Lynn Krambeck, lived with his parents three blocks from Crescent Park Elementary School in the late 1960s. He walked to and from school at 1114 West 27th St. He was having his best year in school in the fall of 1969, a fourth-grader in Miss Day's class.

Then, the sky fell. Well, his sky fell.

"At Christmas, I was loving school and thriving, and then my dad received a promotion with Northwestern Bell, and told us we'd be moving to Altoona (Iowa)," Krambeck said. "January and February were tough for me."

Krambeck watched "The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" on TV that year and his father purchased a guitar for the 10-year-old. Krambeck stayed after school to take lessons from Miss Day, a musician who played in the All-America Band. She taught him guitar. He's played ever since.

"On that last day of school for me (in Sioux City) I was a wreck," Krambeck remembered. "I asked my mom if Miss Day could give me a ride home from school. She said that would be fine."

It remained his last memory of school in Sioux City. That is, until an envelope showed up at their home in Altoona in the late spring of 1970.

"Miss Day took our class composite picture and had each member of the class sign it," he said. "She sent me the picture and a letter. It's hard to describe what that meant to a 10-year-old."

Krambeck reached into an envelope and pulled out the picture, as well as class composites from his first four years at Crescent Park Elementary, a school that will be called Bryant Elementary for at least the next two years, until a new Bryant school is built on its existing site.

Following his graduation from Iowa State University and a successful U.S. Navy career, Krambeck, who achieved the rank of captain, and his wife, Laura, have settled in Poway, California, with their 5-year-old identical twin daughters.

Last fall, Krambeck called the Sioux City Community School District and asked if there might be some way he could tour his old school and maybe meet his fourth-grade teacher, if she were still around.

Day was, in fact, still around. The two traded email messages last fall before connecting in a phone conversation that lasted two hours.

Krambeck, who develops state-of-the-art air refueling systems, among other programs, for General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, knew he'd be traveling east during the spring for a speaking engagement at the University of Maryland. He coordinated a stop in Sioux City amid his cross-country trek.

He and Day spent two hours at Crescent Park Elementary School on Wednesday, retracing steps they took through these halls nearly a half-century ago.

"The wood floor of my old fourth-grade classroom, the cubby hole where we'd hang our coats and galoshes, it's all the same," Krambeck said.

"He always wanted to learn," Day said.

Krambeck let his old teacher know how things turned out after he left Sioux City. He graduated No. 3 in a class of 240 at Southeast Polk High School in 1978. He used an R.O.T.C. scholarship to earn a degree in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University. He would end up flying eight different aircraft, primarily F-14s, during a Navy career that spanned three decades, featured three deployments, including Operation Desert Storm, and two years at The Pentagon.

And there was that movie gig, a bit of a claim to fame in "Top Gun," which may have a sequel in the works.

"I was working and they ran out of extras," Krambeck said. "I was asked with another guy if we could help. We drove up to the USS Ranger at San Diego, where they were filming. I ended up being in 'Top Gun' and having a line."

Krambeck lauded the movie for its realism, particularly many, though not all, of the aerial fighting scenes. U.S. Naval involvement in the movie, he said, helped provide a realistic boost to "Top Gun."

Krambeck said a big boost for him came from a top gun of a teacher and a cozy, creaky neighborhood school constructed in 1919. He simply sought out this week the chance to walk these halls while expressing his thanks.

Scott Krambeck's sky didn't fall, after all. An educational experience in Sioux City opened the skies and expanded the horizons for a future fighter pilot.

"A piece of my story can be traced to here," Krambeck said. "I learned here that you can plant the seeds, and that the world is open to you if you set your goals."
SIOUX CITY | A Washington man who avoided federal prosecution in Iowa for more than 12 years has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison.

Somsock Senlouangrat, 45, of Tacoma, was sentenced Tuesday to 160 months after pleading guilty in January in U.S. District Court in Sioux City to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking and failure to appear.

The U.S. Marshals Service apprehended Senlouangrat in June in Tacoma. He had absconded from pretrial supervision in November 2003.

He had been arrested in September 2003 in Monona County while transporting 2 pounds of meth from California to Minnesota. He and his passenger also possessed a handgun.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man who fondled a young girl has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Evert Scott, 68, pleaded guilty Thursday in Woodbury County District Court to lascivious acts with a child with a habitual offender enhancement and indecent contact with a child with a sexual predator enhancement. Scott must serve 11.5 years before he's eligible for parole.

According to court documents, the girl, who is under age 12, was at Scott's residence in the 2400 block of 11th Street between July 1 and Dec. 31. While the girl was sleeping on a couch in the living room, Scott rubbed her vaginal area and buttocks with his hands.

The girl reported that Scott had touched her several times at several homes during a two-year period and that he had touched her both over and under her clothing, court documents said.
SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City teenager has been charged with first-degree burglary and two counts of assault in connection with an assault that hospitalized a female teenager Friday morning.

According to court documents, 17-year-old Andres Botello, of Sioux City, went into a house in the 1500 block of Helmer Street just after 1 a.m. Friday to see if his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend was spending time with another male. Documents say Botello heard her and another male inside, then entered the residence to confront them.

Botello pulled the female by the hair, then body-slammed her, causing visible scratches and bruising on her neck and back, according to documents. Documents say he then shoved and hit the male, an 18-year-old, leaving visible scratches on his right arm.

The 17-year-old female was hospitalized for her injuries.

Botello has been charged with first-degree burglary, serious assault and simple assault. Woodbury County authorities said he was being held in the Juvenile Detention Center on $1,300 bond.
RUTHVEN, Iowa | A South Sioux City man is in intensive care following a three-vehicle crash at the intersection of U.S. Highway 18 and 310th Avenue near Ruthven Friday morning.

According to a news release from the Clay County Sheriff's Office, 62-year-old Albino Garcia-Esquivel, of South Sioux City was stopped in his 2011 Toyota RAV4 facing east on Highway 18, waiting to make a left turn onto 310th Avenue, when a Ford F250 driven by 26-year-old Adam Vanderlaan, of Spencer, Iowa, failed to struck the back end of Garcia-Esquivel's vehicle.

The impact pushed Garcia-Esquivel into the westbound lane, causing him to be hit by a 2013 Ford F450 driven by Manuel Garcia, 59, of Lithia, Florida, the release said.

Garcia-Esquivel and Vanderlaan were transported to Spencer Hospital with non-disclosed injuries, the release said. Garcia-Esquivel was treated and taken by helicopter to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City, where a Mercy representative said he is in intensive care.

Garcia and a male passenger were evaluated at the scene and not transported, the release said.

The crash remains under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol. Charges are pending.
SIOUX CITY | The city will accept a $1.25 million gift from Missouri River Historical Development on Friday that will help complete the riverfront trail system along Interstate 29.

"This is a game changer for Sioux City and all of Siouxland," said Matt Salvatore, the city's parks and recreation director. "This contribution toward our trails will help connect the most high priority trail project for the city and support numerous trail connections."

The historic grant will be the largest award MRHD has handed out in its 22 years of distributing gaming revenues to nonprofit organizations or governmental agencies. MRHD is the state licensed nonprofit group for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City.

Quality-of-life enhancements are key to economic and workforce development, MRHD president Mark Monson said in a statement. Sioux City has the beginnings of a world-class trail system."

The award will be formally presented at a ceremony Friday afternoon at City Hall.

Salvatore said the grant will be used to help fund the estimated $2.9 million extension of the riverfront trail at Chris Larsen Park, south toward Chautauqua Park. The connection could be completed by fall 2017.

Once gaps are filled in, Salvatore said the expanded trail, which will include two new bridges, will span roughly 10 miles along I-29

"Itll help support future connections to Sergeant Bluff and Le Mars," he said.

The $1.25 million development grant to the city brings MRHDs total contribution to non-profit organizations and governmental entities to more than $26 million since 1994. Earlier this week, MRHD awarded $305,000 to The Siouxland Initiative, a not-for-profit regional economic development organization affiliated with the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce.

Under a long-term contract with the Hard Rock's operator, MRHD receives 4.25 percent of the downtown casinos gross revenues for distribution to various charitable and civic purposes. In the state's most recent fiscal year, the nonprofit collected nearly $3.4 million, up from the roughly $1.8 million it took in from a former riverboat casino.
How can government legalize guns, but the people who would like to have fireworks just to use on July 4 cannot have them in Iowa? State lawmakers won't legalize them, but we all can have guns even though guns kill, guns ruin lives and guns harm more families than fireworks.
DAVENPORT, Iowa | Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said Thursday it is proposing an average base rate increase of 37.8 percent to 42.6 percent for its Affordable Care Act-compliant insurance plans for 2017.

The increases, which still must meet regulatory approval, will affect 30,000 people in the individual insurance market in Iowa.

That's just a fraction of the 1.6 million people the company insures overall, Wellmark said. The increase request is sure to turn heads, however. It was just last year that the Iowa Insurance Commissioner approved an average increase of 24.5 percent for Wellmark's ACA-compliant plans.

Those rates drew complaints from customers, as did increases for other insurers who also saw double-digit increases.

This will be Wellmark's first year on the exchange, where lower- and moderate-income families will be eligible for subsidies to help them pay for premium costs.

Those tax credits, which rise with premiums, are aimed at buffering people from premium increases. The Obama administration released a study earlier this week that said 85 percent of marketplace consumers in Iowa get tax credits and that the premiums people actually pay depends a great deal on whether they shop around and seek out the availability of the credits.

The Obama administration study said 59 percent of new and returning marketplace customers selected new plans in 2016.

Wellmark, the state's dominant insurer, attributed the rate increase proposal to several factors, including the number of large claims, the continued rise in costs for specialty drugs and a relatively small number of people who account for a large share of costs.

Wellmark said the overall cost of care for conditions costing more than $100,000 has risen 200 percent. It also said that 300 people drove 25 percent of its costs. For every $1 in premiums paid by members, $1.27 was spent in services, Wellmark said.

Wellmark said it lost more than $75 million on this part of its business.

"It is not as though we made any money," said Laura Jackson, the company's executive vice president for health care innovation and business development. "In fact we lost a tremendous amount of money. We wouldnt ask for these increases if it wasnt absolutely necessary to just even get to a place where next year we could break even. We will never make up for the losses. Its literally about trying to keep pace with the premiums for the people who are using these policies."

Wellmark also cited as a factor the expiration in 2016 of federal government reinsurance and risk corridor provisions aimed at buffering insurers against unexpected losses.

Rate information for the 90,000 members who have pre-Affordable Care Act plans will be available next month. Their utilization of health care services was lower than with people with ACA plans, Wellmark said.

The company said it is introducing new networks to try to control costs and improve health care services.

"We know the exchange marketplace has been tough for insurers over the last couple years, and one of the benefits we've had in watching from a distance is that successful plans have strong collaborations going with provider organizations," said Tom Newton, who is Wellmark's vice president for network engagement.

The company announced Thursday a joint venture with University of Iowa Health System and the University of Iowa Health Alliance to market new insurance plans in four counties under the name Wellmark Synergy Health. The plans are going to be available in 2017 in Scott, Linn, Johnson and Des Moines counties.

Wellmark also has formed a similar venture with Mercy Health Network for a broader area of the state.

Plans for the 2017 year will begin being sold on Nov. 1.

Other insurers in Iowa's marketplace also are proposing increases, but it's not clear in some cases to what extent. The state insurance division's website says that Medica, a Minnesota based insurer, is asking for a 19 percent increase. Aetna Health of Iowa, formerly known as Coventry Health Care of Iowa, is seeking an increase, but the amount was not listed.

Wellmark's proposed rate increases, along with those of other companies, will have to go before the state's insurance commissioner and be subject to a public hearing. The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. July 23 at Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines and also will be accessible to people through a video conference at the public libraries in Atlantic, Columbus Junction, Eldora, Spencer and West Union, as well as Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.
SIOUX CITY | A state hearing over charges the city of Sioux City's failed to properly treat wastewater discharged into the Missouri River has been delayed until next month.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources wants to refer the case to the state Attorney General's office, which could levy heavy penalties against the city for environmental violations. At its monthly meeting Tuesday in Des Moines, the state Environmental Protection Commission had been scheduled to decide whether to refer the case. At the request of the city, however, the matter has been postponed until June 21, the DNR said in a news release Friday.

In an investigative report, the DNR said it found "overwhelming evidence" that at least six city employees manipulated the levels of chemicals used to treat sewage from the wastewater treatment plant. As a result, discharges with high levels of harmful E. coli bacteria entered the Missouri River.

According to the DNR, improperly treated discharges occurred over an 803-day period between March 2012 and June 2015.

In an interview with the Journal Thursday, an outside attorney representing the city described the DNR report as "one-sided" and missing some of the facts in the case.
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
(EDGE) A representative for Caitlyn Jenner is denying a report claiming the reality star is considering transitioning back into a man,according to the New York Daily News.

"Not worth commenting on such an idiotic report," Jenner's rep told the newspaper. "Of course it's not true."



The rumor mill was in full swing Thursday, after The Wrap published a story where biography writer Ian Halperin alleged several sources told him Jenner has been unhappy for months after coming out as a trans woman last year.



"One source confirmed to me Caitlyn has made whispers of 'sex change regret,' hinting she might go back to being Bruce Jenner," the author said in the report.



Halperin also said a longtime friend of the Olympic champ told him Jenner was glad she brought trans issues into the national conversation but that transitioning was "much harder than she anticipated."



"She's thrilled she has raised awareness about how transgender people have long been discriminated against but I think there's a chance she'll de-transition in the next couple years," the friend allegedly said. "I don't think it would surprise anybody in her inner circle."



Jenner has yet to comment on the claims herself.
In an effort to raise awareness of the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), activists marched into the Pembroke Pines office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Thursday.

We have demands we want to see of her, said Michael Tikili, one of four Florida residents who met with members of Wasserman Schultzs staff.

Created in 2003 by then U.S. President George W. Bush, PEPFAR provides life saving antiretroviral treatment in 65 countries. Tikili, who calls Brevard County home, is urging members of Congress to increase spending on global AIDS programs by two billion annually.

Traveling to Pembroke Pines was the first step.

She (Wasserman Schultz) has a direct role in this, Tikili said, noting the Congresswoman sits on the House subcommittee for state and foreign operations.

Joining Tikili at the meeting with Wasserman Schultzs staff were Miami activists Robert Hyde, David Goode, Jr. and Crystal Lee. The Congresswoman was not in attendance. SFGN was invited to the meeting by the activists and attempted to attend, but was denied entry by Wasserman Schultzs staff. Tikili told SFGN the meeting went well.

Great reception, the Congresswomans staffers are completely in support of PEPFAR in its connection to ending AIDS by 2030, Tikili said.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, N.Y., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party, met with more than 70 individuals representing various HIV/AIDS organizations. In the meeting, Clinton highlighted her past work in raising awareness and improving research and treatment programs. She also called for a cap on out-of-pocket pharmaceutical expenses and expansion of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prevention strategy.

It was a blunt, heartfelt and productive meeting, said Michael Rajner, a Broward County HIV/AIDS activist, who attended the New York meeting.
Saturday 9th April at the Truman Brewery in East London, in the now-traditional humid atmosphere of multi-level coffee fandom, with queues stretching past seven decades of vintage gear on Brick Lane, there runs a happy current of booze and competitive mixing at The London Coffee Festival. The expectation is high each yearcoffee folk know plenty about flavorand the end result is a bevy of distinct, unique one-off drinks youre unlikely to find anywhere else. Below are a few tipples that we thoroughly enjoyed, with recipes to boot:

Bulleit Bourbon x The Gentlemen Baristas

Bulleit Frontier Whiskey spent a year working on the original barrel-rested coffee featured in their cocktails at London Coffee Festival, served solo and hot at the other end of the bar by award-winning dapper chaps The Gentlemen Baristas. Two versions were created: The Gatsby, a filter roast from Cuacacayo in Colombia and The Trucker, the espresso offering from Los Hernandez in El Salvador. Both sets of green beans rested here in London for fourteen days in bourbon casks from the Stitzel-Weller Distillery in Kentucky, then went for a quick bespoke bake courtesy of The Roastery Department.

Bulleit Brand Ambassador Andrea Montague created two cocktails for the respective roast profiles: Rested and Zested made with the Trucker espresso, orange, quince and dark chocolate and The Gentlemens Agreement using the cooled filter coffee, which was as beautifully balanced as any cocktail Ive ever had made by a knowledgeable barkeep. Fragrant, a little delicate spice and tea-like flavour from the bourbon-stained brew, with a soft, nutty, coconut accent to round it all out. This one was a real highlight at the festival.

The Gentlemens Agreement  35ml Bulleit bourbon - 80ml Gatsby Filter  brewed hot, then chilled  20ml roasted coconut and nutmeg syrup  One drop orange blossom water Shake with ice, pour over a few cubes and grate a little nutmeg to finish.

Mr. Black

Mr. Black is a contemporary take on coffee liqueur, made in 300-bottle batches at their distillery in New South Wales. In the world of coffee liqueur, Mr. Black offer a notably progressive take thanks to their attention to the coffee base ingredient, made from a blend of specialty-grade beans from Ethiopia, Brazil and Papua New Guinea. Mr. Black blend a concentrated cold-brewed extraction of this coffee with a vodka-like grain spirit, and the results have been much lauded. Designer Tom Baker and distillery-owner Philip Moore established the company in 2012 with a fast-track success story; early on the company won a gold medal at the London International Wine and Spirits competition with their coffee liqueur for coffee purists.

Mr. Blacks booth on the upper level of the festival was surrounded by keen midday drinkers, and the brand was featured in cocktails around the site. Founder Tom Baker was tipping dark booze into cups and serving it straight up, also infusing the liqueur into a resulting negroni by passing the alcohol through citrus peel in a water dripper brewer. All the flavour comes from the coffee, he says. The black liquid alone is lightly syrupy with a concentrated cacao and nut brittle sweetness. The coffee flavour is dark and none too bitter.

I asked Baker for his ideal serving suggestion: glass, ice, finger stir, Downton Abbey.

The Mr. Black Negroni 20ml Mr. Black

20ml gin

15ml Campari

10ml sweet vermouth

Stir with ice. Strain over fresh ice. Garnish with a twist.

Ground Coffee x Crumbs and Doilies

Ground Coffee, based in South London, hit upon a sweet (soz) idea for the fest: a collaboration with their wholesale client Jemma Wilson and her stunning cake store Crumbs & Doilies. The results wound up being one of the most surprising and enjoyable drinks served at the Artisan Bar, a section hosting a changing lineup of roasters and cafes. With the addition of a chocolate orange ganache, Ground and Jemma Wilson created a delightfully and modestly sweet boozy offering, served hot with a tiny, pillowy cupcake. If I lived in the US, I would swap eggnog out for this pronto come Christmas.

A little backstory: for us in the UK, a Terrys Chocolate Orange used to be quite a classic gift, a fun trip to peel away the crispy orange foil for a fake (brown) orange split into segments and allegedly shared. Terrys chocolate orb hasnt aged wellits seen as a little kitsch these daysbut it remains a consistently delicious product with a fun history. This cocktail riff on the classic takes espresso, Makers Mark, chocolate orange ganache and steamed milk. No frills, no sprigs or shakingwe truly enjoyed this drink poured like a potent piccolo.

Old Terry Single shot of espresso Squirt of Terrys Chocolate Orange ganache (1 part hot water, 1 part chocolate) 25ml Makers Mark Muddled, topped with steamed whole milk to 5oz capacity  serve hot.

Still more cocktails! Special mentions from the fest:

The Starbucks stand brewed literally buckets of espresso to make hundreds of flat white and espresso martinis for their collaboration with Baileys. Mostly milk, there was little Starbucks taste in the mix but the setup was grand: imagine two full bars and a cart dishing out cocktails on two levels. Everywhere we turned, the waft of Baileys.

Local restaurant Hawksmoor in Spitalfields served up Erins Coffee, an icy Vietnamese-style coffee slushie created by Ali Reynolds, Bar Manager and cocktail master. Using a slushie machine, this drink starts with ice blended with light, burnt-toffee Kernel Brewery Export India Porter, Mr. Black liqueur, Small Batch Coffee Co. espresso syrup, cream liqueur and condensed milk. The result were earthy caramel, boozy not-too-sweet icy mounds of refreshing coffee slush. The drink will be served at the downstairs bar at Hawksmoor on Commercial Street, intending to mix digestif and dessert functions. Reynolds calls it a frozen margarita meets Irish coffee and intends to serve it on bar forever.

London cold coffee company Sandowsarguably the first to bring regular and Nitro cold brew to these Islesmade the best Martini variation of the day, a shot of simple syrup spiked with vanilla blended with vodka and a creamy Brazilian coffee on nitro, roasted by Assembly. Sandows served this gem up on draught for the foamy head of a classic espresso martini.

Nico Halliday is a coffee professional based in London. Read more Nico Halliday on Sprudge.

Photos by Johnny Simpson for Sprudge.com.
Do they have buses to take 350,000 people across the border? No, so I think the aim of sowing fear though abuses and harassment is likely to be the strategy, Gerry Simpson of Human Rights Watch told the Guardian. He explained that there is concern that if the government gets desperate to empty the camp, it will resort to violence.

Simpson detailed that, without food or shelter, people being forced out of the camps become easier targets for recruitment by extremist groups.

Shutting down the refugee camps will mean increased protection risks for the thousands of refugees and asylum seekers  [the] majority of who are women, children and unaccompanied minors, Oxfam, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee, and many other aid groups, said in a joint statement urging the government to reconsider.

The current humanitarian situation in Somalia and South Sudan remains dire and fragile. Somalia is faced with drought and other security risks that are likely to see an increase in displacement and vulnerability, reads the statement.
BERLIN (Sputnik)  Under the proposal, migrants from Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco would have less chance of getting asylum and would be deported from Germany on a priority basis, Der Tagesspiegel newspaper said.

According to the media outlet, Germany's authorities registered almost 26,000 refugees from Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya in 2015, while only some 0.7 percent of them were granted asylum in the country.

Germany has become a key destination for the migrants fleeing war and poverty since the start of 2015. The countrys Interior Ministry estimates that Germany received around 1.1 million registered migrants last year alone, while about 500,000 undocumented migrants are currently staying in the country.
Underground, a photo chronicle of Donbass in September 2015, shows the last residents of war-devastated towns and villages  abandoned seniors, for the most part. They hide from the artillery shelling in the cellars of their ruined houses. Some are determined to stick it out in their homeland to the bitter end, while others simply have nowhere elseto go.

The Gotham City series also illustrates Ukrainian events. It shows Lugansk while under curfew. This is what Melnikov says about his photos: "When Lugansk falls asleep, Batman wakes up. Batman is the call sign of one of the most influential local warlords. He and his men control the city at night. Lugansk is under curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. There are no cars and pedestrians on the streets. It is prohibited to appear outdoors at night. Steeped in darkness, the city is frozen with fear in agonized anticipation of the next day."
The cooperation agreement is a logical continuation of the friendly relations we have established with our colleagues at Dongbei Wang, Dmitry Sobiyev, deputy head of Sputnik China, said during the ceremony. Users of this website take a lively interest in news about Russia. The agreement will give the Chinese Internet audience prompt access to Sputnik content about the most important aspects of political and economic life in Russia, Russia-China cooperation and major international events.

Bao Linxuan, editor-in-chief of Dongbei Wang news portal, for his part, said:

The fact that the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and Dongbei Wang have signed a cooperation agreement is very important. Remarkably, within the framework of the bilateral years of exchanges between Russian and Chinese media our connections have become deeper and closer. We exchange news items and reports about our economies, trade and culture. The Heilongjiang Province plays an important role in trade and economic relations between Russia and China, and we are very close geographically. I am sure that deeper cooperation between our media will promote exchanges in culture, trade and other areas and will bolster ties between our peoples.
"Anyone not wedded to ideological illusions will recognize Thursdays development as one more stepa large one this timein Washingtons determined campaign to escalate tensions in relations with Russianot least Europes."

US policymakers had been alarmed by increasing signs of warming economic and diplomatic relations between Russia and major European nations and wanted to derail that trend, Smyth maintained.

"In my view this is part of an effort to disrupt the salutary drift toward ever-greater density and interdependence in Western Europes relations with Russia. To me it is plain that the US wishes to restore the sharp demarcations, defined by animosity and distrust, of the Cold War."

US leaders had defended the missile interceptor deployments as intended to increasing the security of all NATO member states, but by increasing the dangers of conflict on the European continent, the policy would have the opposite effect, Smyth predicted.

"European security, it seems to me, is the stated objective but not the true intent here. There seems no question the Europeansand of course Russiansare less safe Thursday than they were Wednesday."
"Local mosquito transmission of Zika virus infection (Zika) has been reported in Grenada," the warning stated. "CDC recommends that travelers to Grenada protect themselves from mosquito bites."

The US health agency has warned Americans against traveling to more than 30 countries as the Zika virus has been linked to brain defects in newborn babies.
Furthermore, he accused one of the child victims of inviting him to the restroom to join in sexual intercourse for money.

Meanwhile, in his testimony at the prosecutor's office and in court the 12-year-old victim A.D. told a different story.

"He beckoned me and took me to the bathroom and offered me [$o.5o] to have sex with him. I refused. Then he hastily pulled my pants down and raped me. It wasn't too painful. In several days, he called me over again but I ran away. However, the next day he grabbed me dragged me into the bathroom and did it all over again."

Another victim, a 12-year-old M.H., described what he experienced. "During the month of Ramadan E.E. called me into the shower and said that he would give me 5 lira ($ 1.5) so I went after him. First he stroked me in different places, then he began to touch my genitals, but there was no rape. 15 days after Ramadan, he took me to an empty room in the camp and did the same thing."

During a testimony another young boy, H.E., said that "E.E called me to the toilet and said that he wants to have some fun with me and promised to give me 10 lira ($ 3)."

"Then he said that he needs to bring something and left. At this point, I ran away. I went to my father and told him everything. Then we went with my father to the police station and told them about what had happened."

The victim, M.I., recalling the incident said, "E.E. from time to time called me and my friends to the toilet. He offered me 5 lira for intimacy with him, but I refused and ran away. Later I told this to my uncle's son H.E. and to the other guys. They confirmed that the same thing had happened to them as well."
The activist described the US attacks on the Doctors Without Borders trauma center in Kunduz, detailing stories of patients "burned alive in their hospital beds" and "doctors killed at the bedside next to their patients." Terrell argues that the attack on the hospital was intentional and a war crime, further stating that the entire ongoing conflict is illegal.

"I think it is kind of an extension of the mentality of the drone warfare where someone who is not involved and not a combatant can be killed by people far away because of the accusations of a neighbor, innuendo, or patterns of behavior," said Terrell. "It is only a short distance from that to incinerating someone who you think might be a Taliban fighter in a hospital bed and anybody else in the hospital."

With the rules of engagement gray and blurry, do you expect war crimes to continue?

"Yes," said Terrell. "The disturbing thing is that the Pentagon investigated this crime which is the criminal investigating themselves despite there having been draft appeals from all levels to have an international inquiry into what happened."

Terrell questioned the Pentagons rationale for only issuing administrative punishment to the military personnel involved, rather than criminal punishment, as the soldiers purportedly did not intend to commit a war crime.
The sources pointed to the fact that when India requested a session with the NSG participating governments at the recent NSG Consultative Group meeting on April 25 and 26, where it would have made a formal presentation in support of its membership, Pakistan also sought a similar opportunity. Though being aware that its request would not be accepted, Pakistan made it in order for China to look "neutral" and reject both applications on grounds of parity.

Sources from the US expressed their disappointment with China's tactics of "using Pakistan's non credentials with the NSG to settle scores with India." The "either both or none" strategy is not a secret; it was coordinated during the visit of Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain to China in November 2015. According to sources, the Chinese government told President Hussain that if India is allowed into the NSG, China would ensure that Pakistan also gets its membership in the group. However, "if India is allowed to join the NSG and Pakistan is deprived of NSG membership, Beijing will veto the move and block the Indian entry."
Earlier on Thursday, top generals from China and the US held a video conference over the South China Sea issue during which Chief of the General Staff Fang Fenghui told chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford that Beijing does not want the issue impact overall relations with Washington.

The meeting came following Washingtons further accusations that Beijing is attempting to take advantage of the situation and proclaiming control over the South China Sea region.

On March 30, 2016 US guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence transited the Philippine Sea coming into the strategic waters without Beijings permission.

The Pentagon said the warship conducted a routine freedom of navigation operation within 12 nautical miles of a land feature in the South China known as Fiery Cross Reef.

Whereas, Beijing has maintained that it has every right to build within what it considers to be its own territory, and that the islands will be used primarily for humanitarian purposes.

China lays claim to most of the highly disputed region, and there are overlapping claims by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, and Taiwan. Nearly $5 trillion in trade passes through the South China Sea annually.

During the meeting, China also warned Washington to withhold interference into Hong Kongs city-states affairs, saying that such a move would provoke a bad reaction.

The warning came after the US Department of State released a report, saying that Hong Kongs autonomy was being eroded under expanded influence and interference from Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang in response said that Hong Kong was a part of China and no other country had a right to interfere in its internal affairs.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The investigation team will continue its searches for the missing aircraft of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, until they fully cover the search area of the 120,000 square kilometers (over 74,500 square miles), Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said Friday.

"The search will be continued as we are certain that more debris will be found in the area following the confirmation that the five pieces of debris found in Mozambique and Rodrigues Island near Mauritius were almost certain from MH370. So far we have completed 105,000 square kilometers [more than 65,000 square miles] and will continue to search until we complete the 120,000 square kilometers area identified by experts," the minister was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.
Its also unique in that it includes anti-ship ballistic missile capabilities which allow it to strike aircraft carriers from a range of up to nearly 2,500 miles.

The DF-21D carrier killer is another cause for concern. While it has a shorter range of 900 miles, is maneuverable warhead gives Beijing "the ability to hold at risk US Navy aircraft carriers operating east of Taiwan from sites on the Chinese mainland."

The Chinese military has a fleet of 36 H-6K bombers which also concern Wilson. With a range of over 2,000 miles, the aircraft can carry CJ-20 land-attack missiles (LACM), as well as supersonic YJ-12 anti-ship cruise missiles.

The report also mentions an as-yet-unidentified LACM currently under development by the Chinese military, which will have the ability to be launched from sea.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia has allowed the Germanys largest dairy company to buy a cheese production business in Russia,allowing DMK to control operations of several Russian cheese manufacturers and suppliers.

DMK has been granted permission to buy several dairy companies in the Voronezh Region, including the Bobrovsky cheese-making factory, as well as some dairy retail companies in Moscow and the Moscow Region.

The Russian companies and DMK have long been in talks, a source close to the deal told the Russian newspaper Vedomosti.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the agency, the first shipment of US LNG arrived in Europe at the end of April, and it remains unclear how many more shipments will arrive. Fitch noted that such shipments will increase liquidity in the global LNG market.

Fitch predicted that Europe would prove to be a more attractive market for LNG supplies from the United States than Asia because of lower transport costs.

Washington has long been pushing for LNG exports to Europe, arguing that such supplies would help its European allies decrease their dependence on Russia energy.
The 10 largest independent US refiners booked a combined net income of $944 million in the first quarter of 2016, 74 percent less than in 2015, according to a Reuters analysis.

The six largest US refiners plan to cut their total capital spending by 17 percent this year, to $10.9 billion. Profits are fallings amid a glut in the fuel market caused by increased production both in the US and overseas.

Currently, US refiners can meet domestic and international demand for fuel without adding new investments.

"We are going to have a prolonged period where the refiners can meet the sum of domestic and international demand without expansion," Mark Routt, a senior economist with KBC Advanced Technologies, said.

The slump in global oil prices resulted in a growing number of US oil firms filing for bankruptcy. Now, the number is approaching levels seen during the telecom bust in 2002 and 2003.

In early-May, Reuter reported that 59 US oil companies have filed for bankruptcy since prices began to fall in 2014. Fifteen oil and gas companies filed for bankruptcy in the first quarter.

"I think we'll see more filings in the second quarter than in the first quarter," Charles Gibbs, a restructuring partner at Akin Gump in Texas, said.

According to a February report by Deloitte, 35 US E&P firms with a cumulative debt of under $18 billion filed for bankruptcy protection from July 2014 to December 2015.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The blueprint signed by Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Hennadii Zubko and Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz follows guidelines set in the bilateral declaration on strategic partnership signed in March in Ankara.

"The minutes of the meeting signed by the intergovernmental commission virtually follows strategic roadmap signed by president of the two countries and outlines points of interest in our cooperation to boost trade relations between our countries in all areas," Zubko said, as quoted in one of the statements.
Chinas Ministry of Environmental Protection will have the power to send inspection teams to various parts of the country and discuss environmental issues with provincial leaders, according to China Daily.

Liu said that over 120 specialists will be sent randomly to targeted areas in all of Chinas provinces every two years.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the minister, 101 people "with direct links to terrorism" have been arrested this year and 15 potential attacks have been foiled since 2013.

"We do everything to protect the French, but the threat is still very high," Cazeneuve said in an interview with the Ebra media group, to be published on Friday, as quoted by BFM TV.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, the Polish cabinet minister in charge of the national security, Mariusz Kaminski, said the countrys Internal Security Agency (ABW) illegally watched dozens of journalists and activists under the previous administration.

"Military special services conducted surveillance against not 20, but more than 40 people  politicians, journalists, publicists and scientists there were no grounds for this and these were political repressions," Macierewicz told the TVP television channel Thursday.

In February, a new law expanding government surveillance powers came into force in Poland. Under the law, Poland's Interior Ministry gains the ability to access citizens' personal data, communication and internet records without requiring a court's decision.
ANKARA (Sputnik)  The Cobra aircraft, taking part in the counterterrorist operation, crashed at 2:50 GMT in the Hakkari province due to a technical failure, according to the general staff. Both pilots were killed in the crash.

The majority of the provinces population is Kurdish. Tensions between Ankara and the Kurds escalated in July 2015 as fighting between the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Kurdish pro-independence organization considered to be terrorists by Ankara, and the Turkish army resumed. Ankara has imposed several round-the-clock curfews in Kurdish-populated towns, preventing civilians from fleeing the regions where the military operations are taking place.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Operation Sophia, stipulating inspection, seizure and diversion of suspicious ships in international waters, was launched in June 2015 in response to the vast migration crisis to Europe from the Middle East and Northern Africa.

"However valuable as a search and rescue mission, Operation Sophia does not, and we argue, cannot, deliver its mandate. It responds to symptoms, not causes," the House of Lords report said.

The lawmakers commended the operations success a search and rescue, calling it a "vital humanitarian obligation."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to The Express Tribune newspaper, 53 migrants deported from the Mediterranean nation arrived at the Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) located in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

The newspaper added that the migrants had been handed to the anti-human trafficking body of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency.

Europe has been beset by a massive refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries to escape violence and poverty. More than 1.8 million migrants entered the European Union in 2015, according to the EU border management agency Frontex.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the VG tabloid, the suitcase was discovered Friday morning. The police cordoned off the streets in the region, but nobody has been evacuated. It remains unclear what inside the bag may be.

The suitcase was discovered by a synagogue worker. The police reviewed CCTV recordings and saw a men dressed in dark clothes leaving it outside in the early hours of Friday.
Sweden is the US president's favorite country, which is why he often starts meetings at the White House by saying that all difficult issues should be "handed over to Swedes," the tabloid Expressen reported, citing US Vice president Joe Biden. "He said that if we were all Scandinavians, it would be easy to solve international problems," Sweden's Ambassador to the US Bjorn Lyrvall told the tabloid.

Today's summit is truly historic in many ways. Never before have the five Nordic heads of state been invited to the White House simultaneously for a full day with the US president.

"This is a very important meeting, and it is a fantastic invitation from the American president and the American administration. It is also a token of the importance attached to the US' relation with the Nordic countries," Ambassador Bjorn Lyrvall said. "We see ourselves as part of the solution, not part of the problem. We come up with ideas on how to tackle some of the major global challenges," he continued.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Thursday, Macierewicz said that the Polish special military services conducted surveillance on over 40 local politicians, journalists, publicists and scientists. The defense minister labeled the surveillance "political repression."

"With full confidence  Macierewicz was under surveillance," the source told the Wirtualna Polska media outlet.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, a police bomb squad was summoned to a synagogue in the Norwegian capital after a suspicious bag was found outside the building. The police cordoned off the streets in the region.

"The suitcase turned out to be empty. Barriers maintained in Bergstien [Street]. Other roadblocks repealed. No suspect in the case," the police said on its Twitter account.

According to local media reports, the suitcase was left by a man wearing dark clothing in the early hours of Friday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Speaking before journalists at the UK Treasury, Lagarde said IMF had looked at a wide range of opinions and worked out several scenarios for a Brexit.

"And frankly in the very vast majority of what weve seen we havent seen anything that is positive. Its always been on the negative side. Consequences will vary," Lagarde said, adding that the impact on the British economy could range from "pretty bad to very, very bad."
The decision to bar Hizb ut-Tahrir from undermining democracy in state-owned premises came just days after the Danish government tightened the screws in its public information law in a bid to cripple extremist associations and groups promoting violent radicalism.

The doors to taxpayer-funded facilities have finally been shut for the notorious Islamist organization after years of failed attempts by the state of Denmark in an uphill battle against the Islamists' tirades against Jews, homosexuals and Western democracy.

"I am a very happy man. Now we can finally ban extremists and subversive organizations from using the municipal offices," Copenhagen Deputy Mayor for Culture and Leisure Carl Christian Ebbesen of the Danish People's Party told the news outlet Altinget.
We turned to Erdogan for help because we did not have a single policy on migrants. I wish we had one and had evenly distributed the 1.5 million migrants who arrived in Europe last year among 500 million Europeans. The problem is that they were distributed among just three countries. Thats why I dont think there is any alternative to a concerted European policy on migration, Gabriel said.

Sigmar Gabriel, who is also leader of the Social Democrats, added that such a policy should include a legal opportunity to migrate to Europe and provide for an even distribution of incoming migrants among all members of the European Union.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In response to the growing number of migrants reaching their territories, some European states, such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia, have announced the construction of fences, while other states, including Austria and Germany, have toughened their migration policies.

"[As many as] 6.2 million leva [has been allocated] to continue building a temporary fence on the Bulgarian-Turkish border in the region of Burgas. The facility is crucial to counter migratory pressure which has been steadily increasing in recent years on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, and it seeks to protect the state border and control of refugee waves," the press release read.

In mid-March, Brussels and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen area.
Sarah, who works in a law firm said: "Neither side has really been able to say what the implications are. In all cases theres a lot of known unknown and some unknown unknowns. Either way its going to be a problem."

Germany Calling the Shots

Some said the EU was already in a huge mess, with the migrant crisis dividing Europe and the Eurozone facing troubles ahead. One commuter told Sputnik: "The difficulty about this is that it doesnt matter whether were in or were out. Europe is possibly going to change internally and we have no guarantee as to what the world economy is going to do and how it will affect us".

"Weve been inside the EU for a long time and weve been hopelessly inadequate at fighting any causes from within. Why on earth would Germany want to let in one million migrants to undercut the local workers? How come suddenly Germany has this massive great say in Europe? Its the elephant in the room. Germany rules the roost. They are the biggest in Europe and they call the shots. Germany is the USA of Europe."

Latest EU referendum voting intention: Remain 42%, Leave 40%, Don't know 13%  https://t.co/EEgB2rwkyM pic.twitter.com/CHELRm0ceT  YouGov (@YouGov) May 9, 2016

"I think I can make an informed decision. I understand economics, to a degree and politics, to a degree. I was a total 'don't know' three months ago. My heart said get out, my head said stay in. Now my head says get the f*** out while you still can because it's going to fall to bits," said plumber Kevin.
According to Defense Minister Jussi Niinisto of the populist True Finns Party, the aim of the proposal is to be able to provide military assistance to allies under extraordinary circumstances as part of Finland's international duties.

He also stressed that the priority will be to only deploy military personnel who have particularly expressed their willingness to participate and are part of the recruitment pool for crisis management operations. The establishment of a separate recruitment pool would necessitate a considerable increase in the defense budget, which Finland can ill afford, admitted Niinisto.
The British pound is birthed in sovereignty and history, moving to a single-currency is a big fear for most Brits. Having seen the impact that the euro had on countries such as Greece, keeping the pound is a huge deal.

David Cameron has assured the British people that a move to a single-currency is completely out of the question, and he has secured assurances from the Eurozone that they will not discriminate against Britain for having a different currency.

Security

With the recent attacks in Paris and the increase of terrorism around the world, security is of paramount importance for people in the UK and a vital part of the EU referendum debate.

Former Work and Pensions secretary, and Brexit camp supporter, Iain Duncan Smith, said recently that we are leaving the door open to terrorist attacks if we stay in the EU.

However, a dozen senior military figures, including former chiefs of defense staff, Lord Bramall claim the opposite.

In an open letter to No 10, they argue that the EU is an "increasingly important pillar of our security," especially at a time of instability in the Middle East.

Heads of MI6 and MI5 warn of very real regional security dangers of #Brexit and that counter terrorism is a team game.  Otto English (@Otto_English) May 8, 2016

PM David Cameron, who wants to remain in the EU, also argued points on the issue of security by stating that leaving the EU could end the border agreement in place between England and France.

However, French officials have dismissed Cameron's statement and said that they will not pull out of the arrangement if the UK votes to leave the EU.

Employment

This topic depends on immigration, investment and trade; pro-EU campaigners have said that up to 3 million jobs are at risk if the UK leaves the EU. Statistics from Full Fact however, stated that 3 million jobs are linked to the EU, suggesting that these jobs are not dependent on the UK being part of the EU.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said it predicted nothing positive from the potential Brexit, adding that the impact on the British economy could range from "pretty bad to very, very bad".

"These are the facts that the British people need to hear. If we vote to leave, British families will be poorer and Britain will be poorer. Incomes would be hit, businesses would suffer, and wed have less money to spend. Thats if we vote to leave. But theres a positive future for Britain on offer if we stay in the EU," Osborne said in a statement.

On June 23, the United Kingdom will vote on whether to remain part of the European Union. Supporters of UK exit from the bloc argue that EU membership has eroded Britains independence to legislate, direct its economy and control its borders. Opponents warn that leaving the European Union could deeply harm the countrys economy.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, Norwegian Minister for Immigration and Integration Sylvi Listhaug, who is also a member of the Progress Party, unveiled her 49-point plan for integration.

"The other parties have said that there are a lot of constructive and good ideas in the integration plan, and we expect most will vote for it," Kristian Larsson asserted.

The Progress Party is the junior partner in the ruling coalition together with the Conservative Party but they do not command an overall majority in parliament.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Bulgarian border police backed by riot police are searching for undocumented migrants across the country, in particular in the capital of Sofia.

"This is a part of our approach to deal with the pressure of migration. Not only guarding the border, but also checking the registration of identified illegal immigrants in the country [in order] to be able to master the entire flow [of immigrants]," Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova explained to Bulgarian National Television.
The construction includes modular radio-electronic components. The system is equipped with an AN/SPY-1 radar and vertical launchers for 24 Standard SM-3 Block IB missiles.

The deployment of US missile defenses to Romania will not affect possible trajectories of Russian ballistic missiles, an article on Lenta.ru read. The trajectories of Russian missiles go from the European part of Russia and over Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea. The capabilities of existing and advanced US missile defense would not allow for intercepting of such launches.

What is more important is the fact that the new Romanian facility is officially aimed at the possible interception of Iranian missiles. The US has changed the configuration of its missile shield in Europe. Currently, it includes radars in Turkey and launchers for SM-3 missiles in Romania as well as planned SM-3 launchers in Poland.

The technical base of the Aegis Ashore system allows for launching SM-3 missile as well as Tomahawk cruise missiles. Thus, the new facility in Romania will pose a threat to military and civil facilities in south-western Russia, including in Crimea.

This is also a violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF). The document prohibits deployment of land-based cruise missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers.

For the past 20 years, the treaty has created more problems than possibilities. However, neither Washington nor Moscow wants to withdraw from the deal. The INF Treaty is an important argument in the bilateral relations. And the second Aegis Ashore facility which is expected to be inaugurated in Poland in 2018 will further destabilize the situation in Eastern Europe.
Our objective is t return to a normal functioning of #Schengen as soon as possible #EPlenary https://t.co/bDAbuE4CqS pic.twitter.com/RRG0LzsA3d  DimitrisAvramopoulos (@Avramopoulos) May 11, 2016

"What is a population of 80 million compared to 1.4 billion in China? How can we survive alone in the 21st century? Those who claim that we should bring down Europe and re-nationalize are playing with the security and the future of an entire generation," he said.

Brexit

With just five weeks to go before the UK holds an In-Out referendum on its membership of the EU, on June 23, Schulz said that Britain would lose influence if it left the union.

"While I hope it won't happen, it's not out of the question. But a Brexit would be a disaster both for the European Union and for Britain."

He said that Britain had already negotiated a deal on reforms as a condition of remaining within the EU, but said that the Eurozone crisis would inevitably lead to even more reforms.

"I think one of the problems of the Eurozone is this macro-economic imbalance  in our jargon that means very uneven development within the Eurozone. We must fix that, whether Britain stays or leaves. But I think if it left, that would force the other member states to realize: now is the time to act. And in any case, after June 23, we'll need to discuss the future structure of the European Union," Schulz said.

EU-Turkey Deal

Schulz said the agreement being negotiated between the EU and Turkey to relocate "irregular migrants" from Greece back to Turkey in return for Syrian refugees  on a one-for-one basis  being relocated from Turkey to the EU was by no means a done deal. Turkish citizens would only be granted visa-free access to the Schengen zone, if Turkey met a series of conditions.

"[Last week] I stopped the plan for visa-free travel that the Commission put to the Parliament, because Turkey had in no way met the 72 criteria demanded in exchange. Among them is a reform of anti-terror legislation, a reform of data protection, and just as this man mentions, if Turkey continues on this path and says it won't reform anti-terror laws, then we won't begin these discussions on visa-free travel," he said.
The Torist, the first magazine for the anonymous Tor network has been created, providing a channel into the dark world for budding writers.

"There's no reason our innocent activities  creative or mundane  should be wiretapped, and there's every reason that they shouldn't be," G.M.H., the magazine's anonymous co-founder, told WIRED. G.M.H. says he sees the Torist as another entry point into the dark web for budding writers keen to keep things encrypted.

The Torist, first lit mag on dark web, goes live and has poem about @Snowden by @lisquart. https://t.co/ygySPjPZJM pic.twitter.com/ImobUlgfqa  Peter Maass (@maassp) January 23, 2016

The darknet exists in cyberspace beneath the radar of standard Internet search engines  which is a particular bugbear for governments  including Britain, which is keen to pass a law allowing its police forces and spy agencies access to private encrypted data held by Internet companies.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the minister, there were serious threats emanating from Russia for the European security architecture, expressing hope that "a response to a new and less stable situation in the field of security" would be worked out at the upcoming NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland.

"This presence must be strong and have a new quality and readiness to defend NATO territory <> Poland is convinced that the right response to the security threats and challenges from Russia is to enhance NATOs presence in our region," Waszczykowski said in an interview with the Eesti Paevaleht newspaper.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Tuesday, the European Parliament issued a statement saying that most of its members disagreed with the European Commission for proposing to ease visa requirements for Turkey even though the country has not yet fulfilled all the benchmarks necessary for visa regime liberalization.

"Now, it is up to the Turkish government to continue working on fulfilling all the set benchmarks. We should once again state that the European Parliament is not going to be blackmailed by the Turkish president on the EU-Turkey agreement on migrants," Iliana Iotova said.

LIBE held a meeting on May 9, at which it declared that Turkey should not be discriminated against but neither should it receive preferential treatment.
Other reforms include a cap on severance pay for workers dismissed by a company. The current uncertain cost of laying-off workers mean that companies are risk-averse to doing so, leaving them less flexible and  in some cases  less productive. Opponents say the reforms would undermine workers rights on pay, overtime and breaks.

Bypassing Parliament

The reforms would normally pass to the upper house of the French Parliament, where the Republicans have a majority, paving the way for a political ping-pong match, but Hollande's Prime Minister Manuel Valls has won cabinet approval to invoke the rarely-used Article 49.3 of the constitution which allows the reform bill to bypass parliament.

This immediately brought cries of condemnation from opponents and triggered riots in Paris, Nantes and Bordeaux. Hollande is set to face further strikes and protests in what is becoming a major standoff between the president and the people.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The EU official held talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kiev on Thursday. Avramopoulus informed the Ukrainian leader that the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament were now ready to consider approving a visa waiver for Ukrainian passport holders visiting the Schengen area, a deal which has been under negotiation since 2008.

"Our proposal to offer visa-free travel to Ukraine is an acknowledgment of Ukraine's successful reforms. That is why it is important that Ukraine remains committed to continue the reform process," Avramopoulos wrote in an official statement.

However, visa-free travel does not afford the right to work in Europe, which has been so important for Ukrainian advocates of integration with the European Union, he added.
Polish top diplomat stressed that US-designed ballistic missile defense system in Europe was directed against missile threats from the Middle East.

On Thursday, the US Aegis Ashore missile defense system was officially inaugurated at a military base in Romania.

"These two bases  in Romania and Poland  are located so that they will be practically unable to intercept missiles launched from Russia in direction of the United States, that is why Russia's criticism is unfounded," Waszczykowski said.

Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the creation of the ballistic missile defense system in Europe, approved in 2010 during a NATO summit in Lisbon. A group of European countries, including Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey, agreed to deploy elements of the system on their territories.

The facility in Redzikowo is expected to be fully operational by 2018. The military base is expected to be equipped with medium range SM-3 interceptor missiles as well as a radio guidance radar. About 300 US servicemen are supposed to serve the facility.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov  On Thursday, the UK government stated that it would be "incubating" a new Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub, with the possible participation of several other countries, including Norway, in order to raise the efficiency of global anti-corruption efforts by connecting social and technology experts and scientists with business and civil societies as well as with law enforcers.

"I can confirm that Norway will participate in the Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub," Kristian Larsson said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On May 10, the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets disclosed the names, addresses, phone numbers and E-mail addresses of journalists accredited by the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk to cover developments in the conflict zone.

"We ask for justice in the investigation of this case. The Ukrainian authorities should take immediate measures against the website Mirotvorets," Johann Bihr, director of RSF East European and Middle East Bureau, said.

RSF strongly condemned those who it said had put the lives of thousands of journalist of various nationalities in danger.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, media reports emerged claiming the Belgian Air Force would conduct airstrikes on positions of Daesh terrorist group in Syria from July 1, using six F-16 fighter jets.

"Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders and Minister of Defence Steven Vandeput detailed today the decision to extend the mandate of the Belgian F-16s in Syria, in rotation with the Dutch aircrafts as of July 1st 2016. This decision responds to a request from the international coalition to intensify our support in the fight against Daesh," the spokesman said.

Belgium, as a part of the US-led coalition, has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh militants in Iraq since the summer of 2014.
She also noted that Belgium was a loyal ally of the EU and NATO partners, working closely in the coalition to defeat Daesh on the ground.

"It means we take responsibility when requested. We see the results on the ground, with a shrinking occupied IS [Daesh] area," Vautmans stressed.

Moreover, the decision to reinforce military response to the actions of the terror group was triggered by March attacks in Brussels, when a series of blasts hit Brussels Airport and a metro station in the center of the city, killing 35 people.

"Nobody can doubt that after the attacks in Brussels, there is ample ground for co-operation with the allies to defeat IS," Vautmans added.

In early March, Belgian media reported that Washington formally requested Belgium to participate in airstrikes on the Daehs positions in Syria.

Daesh, a group outlawed in Russia, the United States and many other countries, seized vast territories in Iraq and neighboring Syria.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, the European Parliament suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the European bloc, citing Ankara's lack of progress in meeting all the criteria required for such a step.

The five important criteria in question include a revision of Turkeys national anti-terrorism laws, under which the notion of terrorism includes non-violent political activities  a pretext the authorities can exploit to arrest dissident journalists and academics.

"Our assessment is that Turkey has done its best and fulfilled enough requirements. It is not a mathematical problem, but a political one," Bozkir was quoted as saying by the Daily Sabah newspaper.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On May 10, the Ukrainian website Mirotvorets disclosed the names, phone numbers and E-mail addresses of more than 4,000 journalists accredited by the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk authorities to cover developments in the conflict zone. The leak contained names of representatives of CNN, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, Vice News, Al Jazeera and other media.

"This case was brought to my attention by prominent European journalist associations and freedom of expression organizations that have collectively submitted an alert to the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of journalism and Safety of Journalists, of which they are partners," Thorbjorn Jagland's letter read.

Jagland pointed out that he was concerned by the "particularly worrying" fact that the publication was supported by some politicians, including members of the Ukrainian parliament.
He showed the documents containing the phone records of one of the organizers of the terrorist attacks in Turkey, Ilhami Bal, known in the ranks of the jihadists, as Abu Bakr.

These entries recorded comprehensive information such as which hotel the terrorists are going to stay in, where they will wait for their car, which gas station they will use for refueling in a mosque in Kilis, how many people and who exactly would be responsible for the preparation of a terrorist attack."

Despite the fact that all this information was in the hands of the authorities, the security forces had not carried out any operations to detain terrorists. I ask one very simple question: why were these terrorists not arrested? Erdem pointed out.

The deputy further spoke about how the Safety Authority tapped and recorded all phone conversations of the terrorists.

For example, Ilhami Bali asks his interlocutor: How many people have crossed? He is wondering how many militants crossed the Turkish-Syrian border. At the other end of the line the man answered 175 crossed into Syria. He added, No, I mean in the opposite direction. The man answers 1,128 people.

Do you understand what these figures mean? 1,128 jihadists crossing the border at the same time in a place known to intelligent agencies, but no one even thought to organize an operation to detain them. Control on the border areas is zero, the deputy stressed.
"Everything will be arranged in such a way that we [Poles] will have to dip into our pockets," he said. "And thats not the worst thing about it. The worst thingis that all these purchases and modernization plans are devised for Poland to buy mostly obsolete US weaponry, which the US army no longer needs and is looking to get rid of."

The Russian government has also repeatedly expressed its concern over military buildups along its border. On Friday, President Vladimir Putin warned that new missile defense systems in Poland and Romania threaten to start "a new arms race."

"This [US missile shield in Europe] is not a defense system, but a part of US strategic nuclear potential in east Europe," he said.

"This is a clear violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, because missile launchers, which will be deployed after the commissioning of the radar station in Romania, missile launchers that will be deployed in Poland, can easily be used for mid- and short-range missiles."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  His nephew, Shazib Khan, 23, was jailed for 13 years for plans to join the Daesh in Syria along with his uncle.

"Junead Khan, 25 (29.01.91), from Luton, was told he will serve a minimum of 12 years before he is eligible for parole for engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts and will serve eight years concurrent for a second count relating to his plans to travel to Syria to fight alongside Daesh," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
In the first part of this programme, Dr Simon Mabon, a lecturer in International Relations in the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University, and David Lindsay, a writer and editor of the influential blog, The Lanchester Review, debate some of the key issues.

Can the UK education system survive without the money we receive from the EU? David Lindasy said the answer is yes, as the money we receive from the EU is only a part of the money we put in. Plenty of countries such as China and the USA have a very strong educational basis without being part of the EU. Research culture is effectively global. Dr Mabon does not agree, arguing that the UK receives much more than it puts in. However, the main point that Dr Mabon makes is that we stand to lose an international culture of learning and research because of the special academic environment within our educational institutions; a culture of a confluence of ideas of people from all types of backgrounds as soon as we debate this issue, a number of staff become concerned about whether they will be able to continue their jobs in my department, for example. If staff have to apply for a visa every year, some of them will move elsewhere where pay and conditions are better.

David Lindsay then stressed that this is exactly the point; that people come to the UK for a very specific collegiate atmosphere, and that they will always do so, regardless of whether the UK is in the EU or not. But, as Dr Mabon argues, it is not just the number of students that we are concerned about, it is the type of students! This means, Dr Mabon said, that only students from a certain background will come, if we leave. My university in Lancaster, for example, he said, is one of those universities that strives on students who arent necessarily from the most affluent backgrounds, but really want to push themselves. David Lindsay pointed out that there were no undergraduate tuition fees charged by this country for about a generation, and there is no reason to assume that they will be increased after leaving.
Political parties and factions are using the impeachment process as an excuse to put the Workers Party and its policy on trial. To take away the Workers Party from the government and to redirect the country in whatever direction the PMDB (the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party) sees fit, he noted.

Dilma Rousseff has not been implicated in any major scandals at this point, including the Petrobras corruption scandal.

Dr. Dos Santos also said that Rousseffs impeachment was still a way to address some of those problems and could lead to something better in the future.

When asked if interim President Michel Temer could also be suspended from office as his party is involved in a corruption scandal with the state company Petrobras, Dr. Dos Santos said that in theory the PMBD has the clout and members both in the House and Senate to slow down any attempts to impeach Temer.

The volatile political environment and public pressure may actually sway even party members or even other parties to push for Temers impeachment and new elections he said.

Eight percent of Brazilians consider Dilmas impeachment and replacement as the best way to deal with the crisis and 62 percent believe that new elections would be the best way out of the crisis.

Well, new elections are difficult because you have to have a constitutional amendment to call new elections outside the once-in-every-four-years system. And there is a possibility that as a result of new elections [ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva]will be elected and thats an outcome the opposition is not going to risk. Lulas popularity is still very high. So a new election is difficult, but is possible. I dont think it would be a solution to the problem. In any case we would see a very nasty campaign from both sides, Dr. Dos Santos said in conclusion.

More than half of senators who voted for Dilma Rousseffs impeachment have pending legal cases against them.

60% of the legislators accusing her of corruption and judging her, in fact, have procedures running against them for corruption, Doctor Kai Michael Kenkel, Professor at the Institute of International Relations at University in Rio de Janeiro, told Sputnik.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In two January and June 2006 cables marked "Sensitive," Temer relayed his views on party unity and upcoming presidential elections to the US Southern Command in Miami and the US National Security Council among other recipients, WikiLeaks said.

"Brasil's new president #Temer was an embassy informant for US intelligence, military," the website tweeted.
On Thursday, the US shipped hardware to Tunisia to bolster the North African countrys southern border. According to US official Amanda Dory, the allocation is part of a $20-million effort to enhance the military capability of the country.

The delivery includes 12 light surveillance aircraft and 48 jeeps, as well as communications technologies to track extremists attempting to infiltrate the country, according to Dory.

"These aircraft will be able to provide advanced warning to ground forces employing advanced digital communications technology to coordinate rapid introduction utilizing these new jeep vehicles or other existing assets," Dory said.
Reports state that 15 Israelis were arrested as they walked to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, that Jews call Temple Mount. The sacred site, located in the center of Jerusalems Old City, allows Israelis to visit, but is off limits as a place of worship to members of the Jewish faith.

Local police said that dozens of Jews, actively engaged in the act of worshipping, refused to disperse. The police remarked that the Jewish worshippers acted aggressively toward local Palestinians.

"They had formed a human chain to prevent local residents from entering the Old City and committed acts of violence against them," said the statement, which gave no further details.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the Thursday statement, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation at the Hmeimim airbase registered a total of seven violations of the ceasefire regime in Syria in the last 24 hours.

"To the towns of Homs province, 300 kilograms of bread have been passed, baked in the Russian field bakery. The formation of humanitarian convoys for residents of settlements of the Latakia and Homs provinces continues," the Thursday statement says.
Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) stated that the Ahrar ash-Sham Islamist group shelled the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood using white or yellow phosphorus munitions. At the same time, the Jaish al-Islam group has stated that it had deployed "forbidden" weapons.

A doctor told AI that he treated six civilians and two YPG fighters in April for symptoms including shortness of breath, numbness, red eyes and severe coughing fits.

"He said that several of the victims reported seeing yellow smoke as missiles impacted," the group reported on Friday, adding that a toxicologist who viewed video clips of the apparent attack and reviewed the doctors testimony, said the patients symptoms "could be the effects of a chlorine attack."

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups. A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force across Syria on February 27, but it does not apply to terrorist organizations active in the country.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the group, Badreddine was killed on Tuesday night, but the exact location of the Israeli airstrike that hit him remains unclear.

"He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982," Hezbollah said as quoted by The Guardian on Friday, adding that Badreddine was a "great jihadi leader."
"Today, representatives of the center for reconciliation of the warring parties brought from Hmeimim to Aleppo another batch of humanitarian aid for Syrian citizens of Russian origin. We provide this aid to people who are in dire need of this assistance," the spokesman said.

Radical militants continue to conduct shelling in Aleppo with several reports having emerged recently of chemical weapons being used in the city, particularly in the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district.
Three unknown mn including two suicide bombers opened fire on a popular cafe in a mainly Shiite town of Balad in northern Iraq, killing at least 12 and injuring 25 more.

As soon as police officers arrived at the scene of the attack two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests.

#BreakingNews: Police said gunmen in northern #Iraqi town of #Balad opened fire on a cafe overnight, killing at least 12 and wounding 25  Asharq Al-Awsat Eng (@aawsat_eng) May 13, 2016

Balad is a Shi'a district   Angel Tyson (@Glittermegangel) May 13, 2016

The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital while the security forces cordoned off the area and carried out raids in search of those perpetrators who may have fled the cafe, according to Iraqi Alsumaria TV network.
The journalists found fortified underground structures in every house they visited.

The militants, the crew said, gained access to different fortifications depending on their rank. Seasoned fighters could hide in well-protected underground bunkers, while new recruits were hiding in less secure facilities.

"This is one of [Daesh's] fortifications," a member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told the television channel. "This is one of the rooms where they used to hide. They didn't sleep in the houses, they slept here."
TEL AVIV (Sputnik)  Speaking before foreign diplomats, Netanyahu reiterated that he was ready to meet Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas anywhere.

"You cannot make peace with anyone who refuses to sit down with you <> Its about time," Netanyahu said Thursday as quoted by The Jerusalem Post newspaper.

Last month, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced that ministers of 20 countries would take part in a meeting in Paris on May 30 aiming to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials will be attending the event.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, media reports emerged claiming that Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night. A source close to the Lebanese movement told RIA Novosti that Badreddine had been killed in an explosion near the Damascus airport in Syria.

"We have seen media reports but we do not know how reliable they are. The information is due to be checked," Peskov said.
As a result of the raids in Istanbul's districts of Sultangazi and Gaziosmanpasa, police detained eight people on suspicion of implication in the explosion, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

According to the daily, the terror attack could have been perpetrated by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
One of them, named Bagur Ferhad, is an Afghan national born in 1993, the source said.

"I examined Daesh fighters. They had gunshot wounds. None of them received life-threatening injuries," the medical worker detailed.
He added that in addition to Wilayat Sinai, there are a number of terrorist groups supporting radical Islam and Daesh, including Jaysh al-Islam, he Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem, Jund Ansar Allah and others.

After Egyptian leader Mohammed Morsi was toppled in July 2013 ties between Egypt and Israel have significantly improved.

The current Egyptian government is actively cooperating with Jerusalem, including sharing intelligence data on radical Islamist groups, Rodier said.

In order to counter the threat, Israel allowed Egypt to deploy more troops in the Sinai Peninsula than was authorized by the 1979 peace treaty.

At the same time, the situation concerning possible cooperation against Daesh between Hamas and Israel is difficult, the expert noted.

"The movement is still hostile toward Israel and is considered the main enemy by Jerusalem. But sometimes an old and well-known enemy is better than a new one. This is why Daesh must be stopped from assimilating Hamas," he pointed out.
CAIRO (Sputnik)  It is not worth making hasty conclusions about the reasons that led to the Russian A321 passenger jet crash over Egypts Sinai Peninsula, as the investigation is still underway, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Sputnik in an interview.

"The terrorist attack is a version within this criminal case. However, you should not make guesses until the prosecutor general brings charges against those who are guilty of the plane crash," Shoukry said.

In mid-April, Egypt's Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek said that the case of the Russian plane crash had been referred to the State Security Prosecution after receiving an official report from the Russian Investigative Committee, suggesting suspected criminal activity in the case.
LONDON (Sputnik)  He added that the current cooperation agreements in place between the two countries required six months of negotiations.

"No, we are not talking about that yet," Syromolotov told RIA Novosti in answer to a question about possible joint US-Russian operations in Syria.
Warren added that the terrorists are no longer able to replenish their ranks at the rates their operatives die on the ground.

The spokesperson said the Coalition attributes the reduction of fighters to a number of factors, including allies military gains on the ground, improved border security and counter-recruitment efforts.

In February, US National Intelligence Director James Clapper estimated that more than 36,000 foreign fighters from 120 countries have joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq since 2012. Of those, about 6,600 Islamic volunteers came from western countries.

US plans on deploying additional troops to Iraq are not affected by the recent terrorist attacks or the protests in Baghdad, Warren said.

"Our plans to flow in additional accelerants remain on track," Warren stated. "We do not believe that any of this recent, whether it would be ISIL[Daesh]-initiated bombings or political churn taking place or the demonstrations that weve seen are going to impact our ability to flow this additional forces and get them into position to assist the Iraqi security forces in their efforts to prepare for eventually liberating Mosul. So, no impact."

On Wednesday, three bomb blasts in Baghdad killed over 80 people and injured at least 140, according to various reports. Daesh took responsibility for the attacks.

On April 26, supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr entered the Baghdads Green Zone, housing government buildings and foreign missions, and broke into the Iraqi parliament to demand reforms of the political quota system.

In April, US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the United States will deploy additional 217 troops to Iraq to assist the local forces in the fight to retake the city of Mosul from Daesh, outlawed in many countries, including Russia.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  There were no US or coalition aircraft in the area where Hezbollahs top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was reportedly killed in Syria, White House spokesperson Josh Earnest said during a press briefing on Friday.

"Weve seen the reports of his death. I cant independently confirm them. I can confirm that there were no US or coalition aircraft in the area where he was reported to be killed," Earnest told reporters.
Warren said that various reports read that the violent extremist group is in turmoil, feeling threatened, as they should." He detailed that Daesh is relocating its troops around Raqqa and constructing shields to protect positions from both air and ground attacks in different parts of the city.

Earlier this week, spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance Tajir Kobani told Sputnik that they are readying for a three-pronged attack on Raqqa that would eventually free the city from extremists. The offensives are expected be conducted from the northeast and northwest of the war-torn country, he added.
"Lockheed Martin recently delivered two C-130J Super Hercules aircraft: one HC-130J to the US Coast Guard and an MC-130J Commando II to the US Air Force," the release stated.

The Coast Guards HC-130J was originally delivered in 2015 and received post-production modifications at Lockheed Martins Greenville, South Carolina facility, the release explained.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Pentagon officials have identified dozens of targets that could be hit if a broader anti-Daesh operation in launched in Libya, the newspaper said on Friday, explaining that so far, the United States has only launched two airstrikes against Daesh in Libya.

According to The Washington Post, two "contact teams" of American Special Operations troops, numbering fewer than 25, have been stationed in eastern and western Libya since 2015.

Libya has been in a political and security vacuum since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and the ouster of the North African nations long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi. Last December, a unity government was eventually mediated by the UN between the two rival governments, in Tripoli and Tobruk.
"Six of our comrades died and eight were injured during a shootout with members of the PKK separatist terrorist organization which began on May 13 at [01:50 GMT]," the statement read.

Six militants were killed in the shootout, according to the statement.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Belgium, as a part of a US-led coalition, has been conducting airstrikes against Daesh militants in Iraq since the summer of 2014.

According to Le Soir newspaper, the decision to expand the geography of operations to Syria was made by the Belgian authorities. They have also prolonged the participation of the Belgian air force in operation in Iraq.

In early March, Belgian media reported that Washington has formally requested Belgium on the participation in the airstrikes on the positions of Daesh in Syria.
KOROLYOV (Moscow Region), (Sputnik)  The Glonass satellites are being used to ensure the work of the Russian precision-guided weapons in Syria, a senior space industry official said Friday.

"Glonass is the system which is the most important for us. Not only is this a system, it ensures national security. This is the matter of those five or six meters in Syria, aiming of precision weapons which is less effective without such systems," Nikolai Testoyedov, the head of the Information Satellite Systems (ISS) company, which manufactures satellites for the Glonass project, said in a speech.

Glonass, a global navigation system operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces, consists of 28 satellites, 23 of them operational. The system allows real-time positioning and speed data for surface, sea and airborne objects around the world.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The protest gathered dozens concerned with the health, environmental and employment opportunity effects from the US ballistic missile defense system.

"We do not want there to be this equipment, we believe this is a big threat for the region and its inhabitants, we will bear huge losses," a local resident told the TVN24 broadcaster.

Rally-goers were seen holding signs depicting crossed out rockets in show of opposition to the US missile system.
Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the Senate of Pakistan that the Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Pauls resolution, to block the sale itself.

He further added that we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of 8 F-16 to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defense deals concluded between India and US during US Defense Secretarys recent visit to India. We have also emphasized the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia.

Earlier, India strongly expressed its displeasure to US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during his recent visit to India. India has repeatedly voiced its concern with the US administration that the sale of F-16s to Pakistan will be used against India and not against terrorists.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The United States did not conduct the airstrike in Syria that resulted in the death of Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, Operations Inherent Resolve spokesperson Col. Steve Warren said during a press briefing on Friday.

"That is correct," Warren stated when asked to confirm that the United States did not carry out the airstrike. "It is really too soon for us to access right now what impact this [strike] is going to have."

Earlier in the day, media reports emerged claiming that Badreddine had been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday night, but the exact location of the Israeli airstrike that hit him remains unclear.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The expected flight endurance of the Orion is at least 24 hours, while the altitude  about five miles. The drone will also carry a pay load of up to 660 pounds.

At the Gromov Flight Research Institute [in the Moscow Region] tests of the medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle Orion have started, the source said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The ground-breaking ceremony was held at the Redzikowo Air Base earlier in the day.

"We are certainly against the construction in Poland. Today, the Polish allies say these military installations are only against aggressive countries, for example Iran and North Korea. In our opinion, it's only against Russia," Jankowski said.

Russia has repeatedly expressed its concern about the creation of a US-designed ballistic missile defense system in Europe, approved at the 2010 NATO summit in Lisbon. Poland and Romania joined Spain and Turkey in agreeing to deploy elements of the system on their territories.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, the Polish village of Redzikovo hosted a ground-breaking ceremony of the US Aegis Ashore missile defense system, attended by US and Polish officials, including the country's president. The construction of the base is expected to be completed by 2018.

"The missile defense system will intercept potential missiles which would fly further to the Western Europe. Today we are entering the new phase of strengthening of security of the free world and Poland," Duda said at the ceremony as quoted by the Polish television.

According to Duda, the base is aimed at providing security and "it is not directed against any country."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Denmark will also financially support stabilization efforts in Iraq, while Finland will contribute up to 100 training staff in the fall of 2016 and provide $29 million for humanitarian relief in Syria.

Norway will continue its anti-Daesh contributions and will deploy a contingent of around 60 soldiers to train Syrian local forces. Meanwhile, Sweden will send military trainers in Iraq and spend $200 million in development assistance to Syria.

"Denmark will redeploy F16 fighter jets, a C-130J transport aircraft, and make additional troop contributions, including special operation forces, for operations in Iraq and Syria," the statement said.
"Washington ignores its NATO allies and wants to create in space a platform for future combat actions, not like in George Lucas movies, but with real space weapons," he suggested.

Before Barack Obama became the US president, during his presidential campaign, he called for talks with Russia on anti-satellite weapons which started back in the 1970s but then was terminated by Washington, the analyst said.

However, the problem has not yet been solved, he added.

Kozin stressed that space should remain de-militarized.

"Of course, some military systems can be deployed to space, but not weapons. They are surveillance, meteorological and navigation satellites. But there should be no weapons in space. The US wants a military monopoly in space," he concluded.

Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Frank Rose had expressed concern over what he alleged was the continued development by Russia and China of anti-satellite weapons.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  But the images do not prove, however, that the system fired, the company said in a report on Friday.

"The imagery shows the air defense system, mounted atop a transloader, being transported east through the Donetsk town of Makiivka," the report stated. "The new imagery obtained by Stratfor does not prove that this particular Buk system fired a missile at the airliner."
The disturbing human rights abuses perpetrated against Egyptian civilians are often at the barrel of US weapons, a clearly illegal use of the procurement program. Several US laws prohibit military aid from being sold to countries that systematically violate human rights, the most prominent of which is the "Leahy Law," named after the bills sponsor in the Senate.

Specifically, the bill requires the State Department to immediately suspend military aid to any individual, unit, or nation that "has committed gross violations of human rights law."

The GAOs new report shows that the State Department, under the tenures of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, have routinely certified that countries, including Egypt, have not violated human rights.

"While the memos declare States compliance with the Leahy laws, State Department officials acknowledged that there is no required process used to support the statements in the memos," the GAO report states.

Further, the report notes that "officials with information about human rights violations in Egypt are not involved in the drafting and do not play a role in the development of these memos" certifying that the recipient of military aid is not a gross violator of human rights.

The GAO report is published alongside growing acknowledgment that the two primary recipients of military aid, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are two of the worlds most egregious violators of human rights. The US State Departments lack of process and unwillingness to recognize oppression runs counter to their stated mission to "work to promote a lasting peace" in the Middle East.
The contempt proceedings focused on three alleged violations: (1) The sheriffs office failed to turn over required video evidence, prior to the racial profiling trial; (2) the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) continued to enforce federal immigration law after Snow expressly prohibited the practice; and (3) the sheriffs deputy failed to collect evidence after the trial.

Attorneys for Arpaio acknowledge the failures to comply with the court order, but deny that the violations were willful  a distinction that will ultimately determine whether Arpaio will face civil or criminal contempt charges.

The case against Arpaio dates to a December 2011 injunction prohibiting the MCSO from engaging in law-enforcement practices that unfairly target Latinos. The controversial sheriff, who lacks direct jurisdiction over federal immigration laws, continued the practice of targeting and requesting papers from Arizona Latinos, campaigning openly on the issue.

Arpaios use of racial profiling and his crackdown on undocumented migrants finds its legal inspiration in the controversial law SB 1070. The 2010 law, struck down by the US Supreme Court, for a period of time emboldened the sheriffs office to require Latinos to show evidence on demand that they were legal citizens.

The enforcement of that hotly-debated law led to the detention and improper deportations of dozens of US citizens of Latin American descent and caused thousands of Arizona Latinos to live in fear.
"[Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov has been the best teacher that Secretary [of State John] Kerry has had in how to conduct diplomacy," Freeman stated on Thursday.

Freeman, though critical of the Russian leadership, noted that its six-month military intervention in Syria is "a brilliant example of the limited use of force for diplomatic purposes."
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Baker, who served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1991, noted that the relationship between the United States and Russia "was the best it has ever been at the end of the Cold War" during his tenure.

"We have worked out a lot more difficult items when I was Secretary of State," Baker said when asked about the current US-Russia disagreements over missile defense systems in Europe. "I think that ultimately we will work them out."

"For fifteen years thereafter, Russia and the United States really worked closely together," Baker added.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  According to the Bureau's director, Artem Sytnyk, the memorandum, negotiated since 2015 and signed in Warsaw on Thursday, incorporated the best practices of East and Central European countries.

"I am convinced that it is vital to stay in close contact with anti-corruption agencies of other countries. Corruption schemes investigated by our specialists generally involve more countries than just Ukraine," the official said adding that Ukrainian and Polish agencies have very much in common in their functions.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The State Department said the United States and Cuba will plan to engage on environmental protection, agriculture and maritime security, among other issues.

"The meeting will provide an opportunity to review progress on a number of shared priorities since the last Bilateral Commission meeting in November 2015, including progress made during the Presidents historic trip to Cuba in March," the release stated on Thursday.

State Department Counselor Ambassador Kristie Kenney will lead the US delegation, while the Cuban side will be represented by Foreign Ministrys Director General for US Affairs Josefina Vidal, according to the press release.
NATO officials have long claimed that the EPAA does not pose a threat to Moscow, but officials, politicians and analysts from Russia and elsewhere remain unconvinced. Political analyst Georgy Fyodorov maintained that this is NATO's strategy aimed at "putting Russia off its guard."

"Of course they will say that all [the bloc's] tanks in Estonia and Latvia, as well as war-games are not meant to counter us, but instead serve to protect [the alliance] against Daesh or some other terrorist group," he told Radio Sputnik. "But we should have no illusions. All military and deterrent actions performed close to our borders are carried out primarily against us."
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  It is impossible to envisage the future structure of Syrian state and solve its current issues without the Syrian Kurds who are an important military and political force, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday.

"The Kurds are a serious political force, and also a serious military force and it is impossible to speak of the future structure of the Syrian state and resolving all the issues that the Syrian people are facing now without their participation in the intra-Syria dialogue," Gatilov told reporters.

While the Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria, none of their representatives have been invited to the Geneva proximity talks. The International Syria Support Group (ISSG) that Russia and the US co-chair is scheduled to take place next Thursday, May 19, in Vienna.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On May 17, the Austrian capital of Vienna is expected to host the next ISSG meeting.

"Usually it can not be avoided and such meetings are always held on the sidelines of such events," Gatilov told reporters, answering a question on possible meeting of Lavrov and Kerry in Vienna.

He added that Lavrov's schedule was under consideration for approval at the moment.
He remarked that the right-wing, pro-US elements inside and outside Brazil "are particularly angered at the Worker's Party and, more broadly, the left."

"This is not because of corruption  though corruption undoubtedly remains a problem  but because of the ascendance to power of political forces representing working class and poor Brazilians," the US political analyst emphasized.

Political analysts Pepe Escobar and Andrew Korybko echoed Draitser in their analyses for Sputnik and OrientalReview.org.

"This sorry saga has nothing to do with corruption, allegedly the key motive behind the sprawling, two-year-old, initially NSA spying-fueled Car Wash investigation. It's all about dirty political opportunism," Escobar wrote in his April article entitled "Why the Coup in Brazil Should Fail."

Both Escobar and Korybko dub what is going on in Brazil a "hybrid war."

"At the moment," Korybko wrote on April 25, "it looks like the 'constitutional coup'-Color Revolution two-step might succeed in removing Rousseff and replacing her with Vice-President Michel Temer, who had actually been practicing his post-coup address to the nation in a recently leaked speech."

The analyst's prognosis came true. On May 13 Brazil's interim President Michel Temer addressed the Senate saying "Together we can overcome this moment of great difficulty. It is urgent to calm the nation and unify the nation, create a government of national salvation."

There is something really fishy about Temer. To justify the analysts' suspicions WikiLeaks tweeted on May, 12:

"Brasil's #Dilma ousted in parliamentary coup; new pres [president] is US embassy informant Michel Temer"

WikiLeaks released two US diplomatic cables which contain Temer's detailed report on the prospects to defeat the Brazilian leader Lula da Silva in the 2006 presidential election.

"Federal Deputy Michel Temer, national president of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), believes that public disillusion with President Lula and the Workers' Party (PT) provides an opportunity for the PMDB to field its own candidate in the 2006 presidential election," the cable, sent on January 11, 2006 to US Secretary of State, read.

There are serious suspicions that the current development in Brazil traces back to Washington. The whole affair looks strikingly similar to the other "regime change operations" launched by the US policymakers.

However, the major problem is that the new interim government poses a threat to Brazil's democracy.

"Whatever damage PT is doing to Brazil, the plutocrats and their journalist-propagandists and the band of thieves in Brasilia engineering this travesty are far more dangerous. They are literally dismantling  crushing  democracy in the world's fifth-largest country," Greenwald writes.

"It's also an important lesson for anyone, in countries all over the world, who blithely assume that things will continue as is or that they're guaranteed stability and ongoing progress," the journalist warns.
Putin emphasized that currently there is no nuclear threat from Iran. Moscow proposed Washington to cooperate on the issue, however, US authorities refused to do so, he said.

"All our proposals were rejected, we are invited not to jointly work, but to discuss this issue, nothing concrete. Everything is done unilaterally, without taking into account our concerns."

Russia will not be dragged into an arms race, Putin said, adding that Moscow is doing its best to maintain strategic balance of power and avoid large-scale military conflicts.

"Of course, we are doing everything needed from our side so as to provide for the maintenance of this strategic balance of power that is the most reliable guarantee against the appearance of large-scale military conflicts, which in their aftermath, undoubtedly, would be in no comparison to those conflicts in the hot spots on the planet that we know. We cannot allow this to happen and we won't," Putin said during a meeting with top military personnel.

"As we have said before we will not be dragged into this race, but will go our own way, we will work very accurately, without exceeding the plans on financing of the rearmament program, which we set several years ago," Putin said.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Philippines sees potential in cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that require deeper confidence building, Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said Friday.

"The attributes of this cooperation reflect the potential for strategic partnership, but it will require us to work hard to bring together people and institutions," Sorreta said at a press conference in Moscow.

The Philippine envoy noted the difficulty of building strategic ties because "the parties do not sufficiently trust each other" and the Southeast Asian regions status as "the only one in the world where three superpowers  Russia, China and the United States  are in a virtual rivalry."
RIGA (Sputnik)  Russia should start to comply with international standards again and implement the Minsk agreements in order to resume its cooperation with the European Union, Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said Friday.

"We all want to achieve predictability in Russia's actions We expect Russia to return to complying with international standards and to implementing the Minsk agreements. Without that cooperation as before is impossible," Kucinskis said, addressing the deputies of the Saeima [national parliament]

The European Union imposed sanctions against Russia in 2014, having accused the Kremlin of exacerbating the Ukrainian crisis. Moscow dismissed the allegations and slapped Brussels with a food embargo in response.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia urges to start the direct negotiations between the participants of the intra-Syria settlement talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Friday.

"We call on the parties to the Syrian talks to proceed to direct contact. Time will show to what extent it is possible, but, unfortunately, the conditions that would allow the parties to start direct talks have not been created for a variety of reasons so far," Gatilov told reporters.

He added that direct talks were the most effective way to reach an agreement.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Strengthening the security of the Baltic Sea region requires dialogue with Russia, Finlands President Sauli Niinisto said at the White House ahead of a summit with his US and Nordic counterparts on Friday.

"The situation has become even more tense in the Baltic Sea region and northern Europe  our neck of the woods," Niinisto said during opening remarks with US President Barack Obama and Nordic leaders. "Strengthening security and stability there is called for, and this includes appropriate dialogue with Russia to enhance transparency and reduce risks."

Niinisto noted that the Arctic Council can be used as an instrument of relationship-building in the region.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  The United States has imposed sanctions on the Libyan Speaker and President of the House of Representatives Agila Saleh Issa for actively working to delay the formation of Libyas internationally-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA), the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement on Friday.

"Agila Saleh Issa is responsible for stalling political progress in Libya, and todays action sends a clear message that the US government will continue to target those who undermine the peace, security, and stability of Libya," Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) Acting Director John Smith stated.

The sanctions block all of Issas property that is within the jurisdiction of the United States or in control of US persons, and prohibit US persons from engaging in transactions with him.
He added the current approach, providing support to the moderate Syrian opposition to increase pressure on the Assad regime "is not working, and unlikely to work."

Gordon also commented on the idea of a "no-fly zone" in Syria, saying it would not be enough to end the war.

"OK, you did the partial no-fly zone, but theres still all this killing going on and theres still a disastrous situation on the ground and refugees arent going back. So, OK, you know, youre still at that fork in the road," he said.

In order to resolve the crisis, the first step should be the extension of a national ceasefire and providing humanitarian aid so "people see the benefits of the agreement," Gordon suggested.

He also recommended advancing a process of decentralization that would allow for a further process of long-term political transformation and constitutional reform.
According to British journalist and author Ed West, the performance "was of course a propaganda exercise."

"but what a propaganda exercise!" he added.

"It fills me with genuine sadness that no Western power would ever think to pull such a stunt, and this reflects a deeper problem with our foreign policy," West underscored in his article for the Spectator.

Perhaps, many are unaware of the fact that the Palmyra concert, that took place amid the ongoing war in Syria, is part of Russia's tradition which originated in the World War II era. Likewise, on August 9, 1942 Dmitri Shostakovich's famous Symphony No. 7 was performed by the Leningrad Radio Orchestra in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) while the city was under the siege by Nazi Germany military forces.

During WWII St. Petersburg, one of the most beautiful Western-style Russian cities, sustained tremendous damage, while half a million victims of the Nazi siege died of hunger. Although the musicians of the Leningrad Radio Orchestra were weak and exhausted, the concert was highly successful. Interestingly enough, the symphony was also broadcast to the German front lines through loudspeakers, showing the Nazis that nothing could break the spirit of the people of Leningrad.

It is rather symbolic, that since the late 18th century, St. Petersburg has been called the "Palmyra of the North." Thus it is not surprising that the Russians took the loss of Palmyra to heart.

"For the people of St. Petersburg, the loss of Palmyra was a personal, emotional event, a tragedy. Palmyra means a great deal to us. It is not just a tourist destination but something deeply symbolic. The genius of Palmyra is like the genius of St. Petersburg, where architecture flows together with nature. At around the same time that Palmyra was discovered by European travellers, Peter the Great was building St. Petersburg," the Director of the Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky said in his interview with Rachel Polonsky of Standpoint magazine.
SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik)  Most Italians do not support the sanctions against Russia, Italian Senator Paola De Pin said during a meeting with the Crimean authorities on Friday.

"The most important thing is the will of the people. If Italians could make a decision on their own, the majority would be against sanctions," De Pin said.

A delegation of five Italian senators are in Crimea for a three-day visit to discuss economic and cultural issues. During their stay in Crimea they will visit the cities of Sevastopol, Yalta and Simferopol and hold a number of meetings with local authorities.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer in the London-based Hermitage Capital Management hedge fund. He was arrested in Moscow in 2008 on tax evasion charges and later died of heart failure while in prison. An official investigation into his death was closed due to lack of criminal evidence.

"I note that we are able to stop the perpetrators of this crime with the current Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, because it is checking the eligibility at the border. We have this capacity," he told the Commons, the lower chamber of Canadian Parliament, explaining that any additional legislation in the field is redundant as reported by The Globe and Mail.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik that US officials attempted to draw the lines in the new ceasefire accord in a way that would include al-Nusra Front, leading Moscow to believe that someone was using Washington to protect the terrorist group.

Lavrov also told Sputnik that the Turkish government had links to both the al-Nusra Front and Daesh.

"We have seen troubling cooperation between certain opposition groups and al-Nusra," Kirby stated. "Our message to the armed opposition with respect to al-Nusra and to any perceived or real cooperation or collusion has been, again, consistent. We have made it clear that our expectation is they [opposition] wont do that."
The analyst remarks, however, that it does not mean that Washington should abandon its military power. Instead, it should "shift the balance back towards the use of financial and commercial tools to defend US interests."

He underscores that Washington should also adopt a new vision toward its global partners, "expanding the definition of states that matter" to the US' national interests from security partners to so-called "keystone states."

Gvosdev explains what a "keystone state" means in his article for the CIRSD (The Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development).

"As the name implies, a keystone state gives coherence to a regional order  or, if it is itself destabilized, contributes to the insecurity of its neighbors. Such countries are important because they are located at the seams of the global system and serve as critical mediators between different major powers, acting as gateways between different blocs of states, regional associations, and civilizational groupings," he wrote in autumn 2015.

"Increasingly, they [keystone states] will emerge as the most important of the 'capable partners' identified by the 2015 National Security Strategy," Gvosdev added.

The US scholar poses the question: will the future American presidential administration adopt this new and well-balanced approach? He argues that "the prosperity of ordinary Americans is tied up with the maintenance of the current global system."
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova  Montejo will lead the Philippine delegation at a summit that Russia is holding with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on May 19-20 in Sochi.

"After his visit to Sochi, Mario Montejo will travel to Moscow to meet with the Russian officials from the Academy of Science and from the ministries related to science and technology sectors to exchange views on the Russian-Philippine cooperation," Sorreta said.

The envoy noted that the recent growth of the Philippine economy is related to the countrys achievements in scientific research.
A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too." The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?" the scorpion replies: "Its my nature" Now, if you are wondering if this story is about modern day politicians, you might possibly just be right.

This week kicked off with a massive scandal when a former high-ranking White House staffer openly admitted that he not only manipulated the media  but he also said that they were pretty much too dumb to know what was going on, and by default, the public at large was as well. The New York Times quoted Ben Rhodes when he said  all these newspapers used to have foreign bureaus, now they dont. They call us (at the White House) to explain to them whats happening in Moscow and Cairo. Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter [the White House] talks to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. Thats a sea of change. They literally know nothing. Get that? The talking points that drive the daily news cycle and in turn are repeated ad nauseam are created by people that should know what they are talking about, but do not! But it gets better!

The article in the New York Times goes on to note that  The way in which most Americans have heard the story of the Iran deal presented  that the Obama administration began seriously engaging with Iranian officials in 2013 in order to take advantage of a new political reality in Iran, which came about because of elections that brought moderates to power in that country  was largely manufactured for the purpose for selling the deal. Even where the particulars of that story are true, the implications that readers and viewers are encouraged to take away from those particulars are often misleading or false. Did you catch that? Manufactured! As in created out of thin air! Or even false! Maybe the Iranian deal was a good one. Maybe it was a bad one. Apparently, it doesnt matter. What does matter, however, is pushing an agenda, using whatever means necessary. But there is more!
In an article titled North Korea Hardens Nuclear Stance at Party Congress, carried by The Wall Street Journal and written by Alastair Gale, the journalist wrote that:

North Korean state media reported that the Workers Party congress agreed to make the countrys nuclear status permanent and to boost its nuclear arsenal both in quality and quantity. On the former, North Korea will likely continue to develop a more powerful hydrogen-based nuclear bomb after outside experts assessed that its January detonation was probably a precursor to such a device.

In terms of future prospects, Gale remarks that:
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SIMFEROPOL (Sputnik)  Earlier this week, Russian presidents permanent representative to the Crimean Republic Georgy Muradov said that a delegation of officials and lawmakers from Russia's Crimea would pay an official visit to China on May 16-18 to promote the republic's investment potential.

"The first group of more than 20 people was in Sevastopol on May 9. We already have pre-orders coming in for September," Alexei Chernyak told RIA Novosti.

According to the official, tourists from China are mainly interested in historical and educational routes of the peninsula.
Many Ukrainian tour companies are back on the Black Sea peninsula to cater to thousands of holidaymakers from the countrys central and eastern regions that plan to spend their vacations in Crimea.

An estimated 15,000 are expected to come this year  not too many of course, but still a notable jump from what they had the past two years, the newspaper wrote.

According to Ukrainian tour operators, most of the returnees are people who used to spend their vacations in Crimea before and those who have relatives and friends living there.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  In May, Alexandrov and Yerofeyev were taken prisoner near a front-line town in the Lugansk region in eastern Ukraine. The Kiev authorities have claimed that the detainees were active-duty Russian army servicemen.

The men are facing charges of terrorism-related activities, illegally crossing the border, illegally transfering weapons and ammunition and the illegal possession of weapons, among other charges.

The source said that international agreements do not assume the swapping of prisoners serving terms in countries other than their home country and that each case is handled separately.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia has an average murder clearance rate of 89 percent which is about 21 percent higher than in the United States, Russia's Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Friday.

"Our murder clearance rate is about 89 percent, in the United States the murder clearance rate is at the 68-percent level," Markin said during a lecture at Moscow State University.

He said that only 0.4 percent of cases sent to courts by the Investigative Committee result in acquittals.
SEVASTOPOL (Sputnik)  Oleg Belaventsev, Presidential envoy of the Crimean Federal District, who invited Italian lawmakers to meet Crimean Tatars, stated that "Crimean Tatars problem does not exist, there are problems of certain odious leaders who are in Ukraine and make problems for the entire multinational Crimea."

The official visit will wrap up on May 16.

"We will meet [them] with pleasure, by the way, this is an issue that must be examined thoroughly. This is our common opinion," delegation member Giulietto Chiesa said.
"In the first stage, the testing will be conducted with cargo, but later, after several test flights, it [the drone] could be used as a passenger one," Aviaton CEO Avtandil Khachapuridze said as quoted by the newspaper on Friday.

According to Izvestia, Aviaton estimates that it will need 1.5 billion rubles ($23 million) to create the first model of the passenger drone.
KOROLYOV (Moscow Region) (Sputnik)  Approximately 20 Soyuz carrier rockets will be launched into space from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana in 2016, the general director of Russias Progress Space Rocket Center said Friday.

There are around 20 launches of the Soyuz scheduled for this year from the Kourou Space Center. The earliest launch is planned for May 25 to deliver the European Galileo satellite [into orbit], Alexander Kirilin told journalists.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The US police are searching for an armed man suspected of injuring two police officers with a handgun on Friday in Manchester, New Hampshire, the city's police department said.

"At this time the suspect believed to be responsible for both shootings is at large. Witnesses have described him as a white male with long hair, a green trench coat and carrying a black backpack. The suspect is armed with a handgun and is considered extremely dangerous," the police statement reads.

Local law enforcement agency's employees said that the two injured officers were being treated at local hospitals for non-life threatening injures.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  President Barack Obama signed into law earlier this week the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA), which allows private companies to file federal lawsuits for economic espionage.

"Recent high profile trade secret cases involving China and other Asian countries have certainly put a spotlight on trade secret litigation," Ward said. "The reality is that theft of trade secrets by foreign competitors has hurt the US economy."

The DTSA, he noted, represents a monumental step because it allows for federal civil remedy for trade secrets misappropriation whereas in the past trade secrets were subject to state regulations.
The bill, proposed by Representative Gwen Moore of Wisconsin, would penalize police chiefs for not properly preparing their officers to take suspects into custody without the use of lethal force.

In a statement announcing the Preventing Tragedies Between Police and Communities Act, Moore wrote that too many mothers have been forced to bury their children due to senseless fatal encounters with police. Too many young men and women in this country are unreasonably struck down by the very people who swore an oath to protect them.

The bill requires officers to undergo crisis intervention training, and training in verbal and physical tactics to minimize the need for the use of force, with an emphasis on communication, negotiation [and] de-escalation techniques.
The auction was originally set to take place on GunBroker.com, but that website backed out, saying that they did not want to be involved in the negative publicity.

"Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing," a GunBroker statement read. "We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving."

Hours later, UnitedGunGroup announced that they would host the auction, with an opening bid of $5,000. When the auction went live, the site immediately crashed.

By Thursday evening, the website put out a statement saying they would no longer host the auction, but the sale remained active on their website.

"As an organization, we stand by the rule of law and, while no laws have been broken, we do not feel like it is in the best interest of the organization to continue to host this sale on our platform," it said.

"Our mission is to esteem the 2nd Amendment and provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens; our association with Mr. Zimmerman does not help us achieve that objective."

On Friday morning, the website issued another statement, contradicting what they had previously announced:
"The consensus is 'make more war.'"

Even presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, one of the most progressive members of the US Congress, isnt guilt-free.

"Bernie Sanders lobbied for F-35 production in Vermont," Draitser says. "He has a vested interest in making sure that this military programtook place in Vermont. He lobbied for it, he was in favor of it, and hes gone down, at least in Vermont history, as a major supporter of that program.

"So even when you go to the left-progressive end of the political spectrum, they have a vested interested in making sure that programs such as the F-35 continue."

The problem also relates to the Obama Administrations inability to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

"The story continues to be the same tired narrative that Obama desperately wants to close Guantanamo. Its just this political gridlock, its the legislation, its the language thats in place, its the Republicans, its the boogeyman, its Putin, its everybody preventing Obama from closing Guantanamo," Draitser says.

"When in fact it is a consensus that Guantanamo stay open."
Run by the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Army Forces Strategic Command, the HELMTT tests used a "simulated" environment to test the vehicles ability to acquire, track, engage, and destroy both ground and air targets.

These targets included small drones and mortar rounds.

Having successfully tested HELMTT, Aberle said the army now wants to learn how to employ and develop the tactics, techniques and procedures of operating it and do missions planning.

Earlier claims from the US Army indicate that the US hopes to have these weapons battle-ready by 2024.

"I believe were very close," Mary J. Miller, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology, told the House Armed Services Committee in March.
MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The Justice Ministry said on Friday it is reviewing 288 requests from Ukrainian inmates serving their sentences in Russian prisons to be extradited back to their home countries.

The Russian Justice Ministry in association with the appropriate Russian bodies, and of course with the Ukrainian Justice Ministry, are currently reviewing 288 requests from Ukrainian citizens on their transfer to Ukraine <>, as well as nine requests from Russian citizens on their extradition from Ukraine to Russia, the Justice Ministry responded in a letter from RIA Novosti.
GENEVA (Sputnik)  Earlier in the week, the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed willingness to accept the visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Hussein in the south-eastern regions of the country.

"We are ready to send a team at the earliest opportunity and, in light of the statement by the [Turkish] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, look forward to swift official confirmation that this mission will indeed be welcomed and fully supported by the Turkish authorities," Colville said at a briefing in Geneva.
"Keep in mind that we are in the German parliament, and that even with quotations one should not forget this fact," Edelgard Bulmahn, a cive president of the Bundestag, told Seif.

The speech was broadcast live on national TV. The comedian uploaded Seif's speech to YouTube, turning the politician into an internet sensation. The footage has already been viewed more than 270,000 times.

The notorious poem has been at the heart of a diplomatic scandal between Germany and Turkey that has sparked an intense debate on the state of the freedom of speech in both countries.
Yonkers Raceway and the Standardbred Owners Association of New York are again playing grateful hosts to some very special guests.

This Saturday evening, the Raceway and its horsemens association shall welcome approximately 100 veterans to enjoy dinner and a night at the races. Its the second such endeavour for the heroes, all of whom are from the greater New York area.

Trainer Robbie Siegelman is once again acting as point person. Siegelman has been a long-time, active volunteer with HorseAbility (horseability.org), an Old Westbury, NY-based non-profit organization offering therapeutic riding programs, hippo therapy and a summer day camp to children, adults, and families with special needs.

Many of the veterans have become involved with the HorseAbility program, including those chosen to lead Saturday nights first three post parades (one vet each from Army, Navy and Marines).

Were always happy to welcome our veterans, Raceway COO Bob Galterio said. Its a thrill for us, and were doing what we can to make it a special night for them.

Everyone from our group is going out of our way to make sure these veterans have a terrific experience, SOA of NY president Joe Faraldo said.

Post time for the 12-race card is the usual 7:10 p.m.

(Yonkers Raceway)
East-coast driving kingpin Gilles Barrieau is scheduled to make his 2016 Canadian driving debut this Saturday (May 14) at Red Shores Charlottetown Driving Park.

First-race post time for the 13-dash program is 6 p.m.

An article by The Guardian states that Barrieau is down to drive six horses on the program. Barrieau wintered in Florida, and took the time last fall to discuss his decision with Trot Insider.

Big Surf has gotten the top call in Saturdays Preferred Pace at the CDP. The son of Somebeachsomewhere turned a lot of heads with his recent qualifying mile of 1:57.3 for trainer Trevor Hicken and driver Marc Campbell. That assignment also included a closing panel of :27.1 seconds.

Big Surf, owned by Burkie By The Bay stables, PE and Perry Burke, QC has drawn Post 6 against last weeks feature winner, Forever Paradise, who will get the services of Barrieau. Silverhill Shadow and driver Terry Gallant will start from Post 2, which will most likely set up an opening speed duel.

Carnivore will make his first start since May 23, 2015 for trainer Marvyn Webster and Valleygrove Farms, Kensington, PE. Walter Cheverie will handle the driving duties on the lifetime winner of $609,260. The line-up also includes First Art Down off the rail for Ken Murphy, Cambest Kisser (Jason Hughes), DBS Rosco (Kenny Arsenault) and Tempo Seelster (Vince Poulton).

Ramblinglily will ship into Charlottetown from the Allan Jones stable to take on Best Risque (Corey MacPherson) in the open mares contest in Race 10, which is scheduled to head to post at 8:34 p.m. Ramblinglily posted qualifiers at Exhibition Park in Saint John, NB and Truro Raceway in NS for the Jones-Norman Leger ownership team. The mare had 14 wins from 22 starts in 2015 and gets Cheverie back in the bike. The $2,350 class also has Bettim Jenny, Pictonian Zena, Sam and Ideal Space.

Heres a name that may stay with you. John Wick is a three-year-old colt by Art Colony, who makes his career debut in the evenings first race after an impressive qualifier. Clifford Murphy does the training for the Lenny and Squiggy stable, Stratford, PE.

To view the harness racing entries for Saturday at the CDP, click the following link: Saturday Entries  Charlottetown Driving Park.

(With files from Red Shores and The Guardian)
Obama's Bathroom Bullies

Contact: Karen England, Privacy for All , 775-737-6616SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 13, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- In its latest effort to create new law, the Obama administration is issuing a decree telling all public school districts to allow students to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity, even if that is opposite of their biological gender."The Administration is equating gender identity with biological gender," said Karen England, spokesperson for Privacy For All. "There is no basis in law or logic for doing this.""The Department of Justice is not condemning sex separate facilities. In fact sex separate bathrooms, showers and locker rooms are permitted. According to the federal bathroom bullies, what is not permitted is labeling somebody as a boy or a girl," said England.Privacy For All has consistently noted its compassion for those that believe that biology has betrayed them and they support reasonable accommodations for those that are not comfortable in traditional sex separated facilities. But PFA opposes any effort that would result in unwanted exposure to or from a physically opposite person in public bathrooms, showers or locker rooms.According to England, "PFA asks two questions: Is it ever appropriate for a biological male to be exposed to a female against her will? Is it ever appropriate for a female to be forced to expose herself to a biological male against her will? If you answer no to either or both of those questions, you cannot support this federal decree."PFA also takes exception with these new laws being introduced in schools. "There is enough discomfort for young boys and girls in public school locker rooms already. Forcing them to share these facilities with physically opposite individuals is cruel. And it is doubly cruel when we know that the President and other government officials have private bathrooms."
A decade ago, there was a flurry of interest around Syrah. A few years ago, it was Grenache. This spring, it seems to be Grenache Blanc's moment in the spotlight. In February, within a week of each other, I got phone calls from the Wine Spectator's MaryAnn Worobiec and the Wine Enthusiast's Matt Kettmann, each looking for insight into this grape that had impressed them in recent blind tastings. The results of these conversations were published recently. [The Wine Spectator article is available behind their paywall, and the Wine Enthusiast article is free access.]

Why Grenache Blanc, and why now? I've got a few theories.

Grenache Blanc has an unusual and appealing combination of bright acids and full body.

There are a few other grapes that can hit this, in the right climates (Riesling in a cold environment, or Chardonnay in a cool one, are two) but most white grapes exist somewhere on the continuum between bright and lean on one end, and rich and soft on the other. Grenache Blanc, like its red-skinned cousin1, is a grape that typically comes in at high sugars (providing glycerine and richness) and high acids (providing freshness). Take a look at its numbers from 2014 (our last relatively normal vintage) compared to our other white grapes:

Grape Avg. pH Avg.  Brix Viognier 3.51 20.8 Marsanne 3.82 19.2 Grenache Blanc 3.33 22.9 Picpoul Blanc 3.17 22.0 Roussanne 3.83 21.0

The pH differences between Grenache Blanc and the Roussanne / Marsanne / Viognier trio is even more significant than the above chart likely suggests. The pH scale is a logarithmic scale (so, a solution with a pH of 3 has ten times the acid concentration as one with a pH of 4, and one hundred times the acid concentration of one with a pH of 5, etc). This means that Grenache Blanc, with a pH of 3.33, has 50.7% more acid ions than Viognier (pH 3.51), 214.4% more acid ions than Marsanne (pH 3.82), and 217.3% more acid ions than Roussanne (pH 3.83). It's no wonder that even a small addition of a higher acid grape like this can have a major impact on the taste of a finished blend.2



And yet, with many high-acid grapes, you run the risk of thinning out the mouthfeel of a wine. Not Grenache Blanc. You can see from the above chart that even though its acids are high, it also has the highest average sugar content at harvest.

Grenache Blanc's ideal climate matches California's well.

For many of the world's most popular white grapes -- I'm thinking Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc here -- California is a challenging climate because of its sun and its warmth. These grapes reach their peaks in relatively cool parts of France, and so in California, growers are searching for sites that have significant marine influence, or fog, or extreme altitude, because otherwise they end up picking in August and making wines without much complexity. There just aren't that many spots like this in California, particularly not after you realize that most of these climates are also highly desirable as places to live. Grenache Blanc is originally from Spain, whose warm, sunny climate far better approximates most of California's than does that of Burgundy, or of the Loire. There are far more places where Grenache Blanc is likely to do well. So, whether you're looking in Paso Robles, in Santa Ynez, in Dry Creek, or in El Dorado, you're going to find people doing a good job with Grenache Blanc.

Grenache Blanc is productive and relatively easy to grow.

There are grapes that we feel like we fight with each year, either in yields or in keeping it balanced. Viognier is famously low-yielding. Roussanne and Marsanne (and Viognier, for that matter) pose challenges in keeping acidity levels while you wait for ripeness. Viognier and Roussanne are both susceptible to drought-induced stress symptoms. But Grenache Blanc is pretty easygoing. Its yields are naturally higher than our other white grapes; over the last 10 years, it has averaged a healthy 4.2 tons/acre here, better than Marsanne (3.7 tons/acre), Picpoul (3.4 tons/acre), Roussanne (2.8 tons/acre), or Viognier (2.4 tons/acre). This means that people can produce Grenache Blanc at a reasonable price, which translates into more affordable wines and more opportunities to get it in front of potential new customers.

Grenache Blanc blends well, but it's also good on its own.

We originally planned to use our Grenache Blanc as a complement to our Roussanne and our Viognier, as is typically done in the Rhone. And we still use Grenache Blanc as a supporting player in our Esprit de Tablas Blanc (behind Roussanne) and Cotes de Tablas Blanc (behind Viognier), as well as in a starring role in our Patelin de Tablas Blanc (along with Viognier, Roussanne, and Marsanne). In a blend, it adds brightness, rich mouthfeel, sweet anise spice, and green apple fruit, all flavors that are easy to like and easy to incorporate. But it has exceeded our expectations as a varietal wine. We first bottled our Grenache Blanc in 2002, and we haven't missed a vintage since. Part of the reason why is that, at least at first, it was new to many people, and having it on its own was a great educational tool. But the more time we spent with it, the more we came to appreciate that it's a worthy and appealing grape on its own, textural and rich, bright and lively, with sweet spices on the attack and a dry finish.

So, it's little surprise to me that in the last decade, Grenache Blanc plantings in California have grown from 101 acres to 333 acres, an increase of 229%.3 And based on all the reasons it's done well in recent years, as well as the new attention the wine press has been giving it, I fully expect this growth to continue. It couldn't happen to a more deserving grape.

Footnotes

1 There is also a pink-skinned variant (Grenache Gris). For a longer dive into Grenache Blanc's history, characteristics, and family relations, check out this blog from 2010.

2 You might note that Picpoul shares most of the characteristics of Grenache Blanc. It's one reason that if I had to lay bets on which Rhone white would be the next to be "discovered", Picpoul would be my answer.

3 Over that same 10-year period, Roussanne acreage has increased 96% to 347 acres, Marsanne acreage 90% to 131 acres, and Viognier acreage 34% to 2969 acres. Picpoul isn't sufficiently planted to be included in the California Grape Acreage Reports, which require 50+ acres to escape the category of "other".
It's Election season and our editor's mailbox is overflowing. Who do your neighbors support? Read about it here.
An Oregon mayor plans to ban camping on Portland streets in the next year and a half. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said the aim is to gradually move people from street encampments to campsites designated by the city. Wheeler said his goal is to open at least three such sites, with the first opening within 18 months of securing funding. It's unclear when funding will be allocated. The sites will initially serve 125 people and provide access to basic services such as food and hygiene. The announcement comes as Portland grapples with a growing homelessness crisis. Wheeler said there are 700 homeless encampments across the city.
The vintage camp trailers that were gathered for a rally last month at a park bordering the Snake River in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, all tell their own story, Les Blair said.

And if they dont, Watt Orbie Mungall countered, theyre in the wrong place.

Blair and Mungall participated in the rally at Three Island Crossing State Park. The event was hosted by Idahos segment of the Rollin Oldies Vintage Trailers, a loosely organized group of folks who own camp trailers produced before 1980 or newer models made to look like the classics.

ROVT was founded in Dallas, Ore., in 2007. Idaho is the first state to form its own sub-group, with Marilyn and Bret Peoples of Caldwell serving as Idaho Wagon Masters. They have three rallies planned this year with a fourth likely to be added.

About 40 trailers and motor homes participated in the Three Island Crossing event, which featured a blue-ribbon country fair theme.

The first Idaho event, in September 2014, included 12 trailers.

Its mostly nostalgia, said Jerry Kwiatkowski, who founded the ROVT group with his wife Linda. Its like the old cars. They hit their peak and waned down because of a lack of them available. Well, trailers havent hit their peak yet. Theyre gaining more and more popularity.

Kwiatkowski, who visited the Idaho group for the first time at last months event, bought his first vintage trailer after enduring multiple problems with his newer fifth-wheel trailer. He bought that vintage trailer  a 1964 Kencraft  for $400.

It looked like a dumpy thing, he said. I spent two years restoring it because I didnt know what I was doing. Im a mechanic, not a woodworker.

At the first ROVT rally, he put a for-sale sign on the trailer with a price of $2,600. It sold.

Two years later, the buyers re-sold the trailer for $5,000.

Kwiatkowski is two and a half years into his fifth trailer rehab. He also is working on a 1955 Chevy Nomad wagon.

People buying cars to go with trailers

Now the big thing is people are buying the old cars to go with the old trailers, Kwiatkowski said. I keep telling these people: Watch for these old cars. Watch for these old trucks. Get them married. Thats money in the bank when you get ready to sell. 

The Peopleses have a motorhome and two trailers. Blair, of Fruitland, has three trailers and a pickup camper.

Its like a car habit, Marilyn Peoples said. You get one and then you want another one. But its whether you have enough room to park them all.

She sold her 1954 Rainbow to neighbor Susan Villanueva, who adores her tiny trailer.

I got super lucky, Villanueva said. I would always see the little trailers and I thought they were so cool. There are people who like more modern things. Im not one of them. The rustier the better. I like things to look their age.

And to many, that age looks much better than the shiny, new models coming out of todays factories.

They have style to them, Marilyn said. The big boxes are very functional. Thats what we call (new trailers). But these have history to them. Theres a lot of unique stuff in them. They are all designed a little different.

Mungall, who lives in Willard, Utah, and is the Northwest rep for the national Tin Can Tourists group, enjoys the camaraderie of people who know quality.

Most of these are just real materials, he said.

Mungall brought one of the most beautiful trailers to the rally: a 1952 Silver Streak Clipper with an aluminum shell.

He purchased the trailer in the early 2000s for $1,200. It had been sitting alongside a highway for sale for 12 years.

Back in the early 90s, these things were considered ugly, Mungall said.

Now theyre treasured collectibles.

The market for vintage trailers hasnt overheated in Idaho yet, but in some states they are difficult to find and the prices can get prohibitive, the vintage-trailer enthusiasts say.

A restored trailer in the 12- to 15-foot range likely will cost more than $5,000 in Idaho.

Even the trailers in need of an overhaul arent cheap anymore.

You used to be able to buy one for a hundred bucks, Kwiatkowski said. Now youre lucky if you can find them for right around $2,000 or $3,000  for a project.

Some restored trailers go for as much as $40,000-plus, Linda Kwiatkowski said.

The 50s and 60s are getting hard to find, Marilyn Peoples said. So people are coming up into the 70s now because theyre a little easier to find but they are cool, too.

Idahos ROVT group grows somewhat through trailer envy. Others see trailers in the neighborhood or attend the open houses at the rallies and decide they want one, too.

One of the ROVT traditions is open/closed signs in the windows of the RVs. If theyre open, that means theyre available to be toured.

Some visitors already own trailers and want tips on restoring them.

When I bought that trailer over there, it was a total wreck, Blair said, indicating his beautifully redone trailer nicknamed Suite P. It can be overwhelming.

Rallies cost $10. There are no membership dues for the group.

Organizers like to say newcomers enter as strangers and leave feeling like family.

Were all a little quirky because we like the vintage stuff, Marilyn said. ... Its almost like a family reunion atmosphere at a rally.
COUGAR  Kokanee found dead floating along the shore of Yale Reservoir probably died of oxygen deficiency caused by the lakes shift from winter to summer conditions.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has received a half dozen telephone calls about dead kokanee at Yale, a 3,000-acre reservoir on the North Fork of the Lewis River.

Anglers netted some of the dead and dying fish and brought them to Speelyai Hatchery on Merwin Reservoir.

Bryan Quinton, a fish and wildlife health specialist for the department, examined the fish.

My estimation for cause of death would be a case of acute toxicity or anoxia, Quinton wrote in an email. Kokanee are one of the most chemically sensitive fish that I work with. Any slight shift in water chemistry or clarity has a tendency to shake a few out. With the weather pattern we have had lately, I would assume that the reservoir water has inverted. This would induce a water quality change that could produce this type of loss. This has happened already at a couple of my lake and reservoir water stations.

Quinton added that a loss of kokanee in spring was common in Lake Whatcom in northern Washington. He also has seen it occur in Alder, American and Summit lakes.

Quinton also wrote about Yale: These fish had no visible signs of trauma, infection or disease. Skin and gill tissue had no parasite or bacterial pathogens present. Fat level was good, all organs had normal coloration, texture and size. Stained tissue samples showed no internal parasites or bacteria present.

Spawning report  Kokanee spawning in Cougar Creek, a Yale Reservoir tributary, was well below average in 2015, according to a report by PacifiCorp, operator of the three dams on the North Fork of the Lewis River.

Last fall, biologists for the utility estimate 20,942 kokanee  a landlocked sockeye salmon  spawned in Cougar Creek in southern Cowlitz County. Thats well below the 10-year average of 28,483 and the 1978-2015 average of 63,981.

The 20,942 is a decrease from 33,626 observed in 2014.

Male kokanee averaged 12.1 inches, while females averaged 11.3 inches.

The report says predation, low reservoir productivity from water turbidity or dam operations, lack of access to portions of Cougar Creek due to logjams, harvest, disease or competition all could be dampening the kokanee production in Yale.

It is difficult to quantify each factor and its specific effect on kokanee escapement, the report conclude. However, it is clear that kokanee escapement is much lower in Cougar Creek in recent year, especially when compared to historical records.

Cougar Creek is the main spawning area for Yale kokanee.
Starting next week, Cowlitz County will host its second statewide Search and Rescue Conference in six years.

Hosted by the Cowlitz County Sheriffs Office, the conference is expected to draw 500 people. It features demonstrations and classes on rescue techniques and emergency response preparedness.

The conference will occur at the Cowlitz County Regional Conference Center on Seventh Avenue. Pre-conference trainings, including tracking, canine disaster and human remain detections, will occur May 17 through 19.

The main conference lasts from May 20 to 22 and will feature 97 classes including ones on bone identification, grant writing, search team management and navigation.

On-site camping is available as well.

Registration for the entire conference costs $130. One-day registration costs $70.

You can register at www.wasarcon.org or download a PDF registration form. A list of classes also is available on the website.

There is no deadline to register. However, if youre interested in registering for pre-conference trainings, check the website for contact information before signing up. There are a limited number of spaces for those classes.

The county hosted the statewide conference in 2011. Local organizers said businesspeople said the conference gave them a boost and asked for it to return here again.

On May 21, keynote speaker William Lokey will address the history of volcano emergency responses beginning in the 1970s, using Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens as case studies. Lokey has been involved in search and rescue operations for decades, as a former member of the Tacoma Mountain Rescue, and in his roles at the federal and Washington Department of Emergency Management among others.

A hospitality night will be hosted 7-10 p.m. May 20 at the Kelso Red Lion ballroom. The event gives time for conference attendees to network with free desserts, coffee, tea and a no-host bar.
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A day after the apex court waived call drop penalties from telecom service providers, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced a 25 percent more stringent voluntary call drop benchmark.

It said in a statement it has set a benchmark of 1.5 percent for mobile call drops against the current Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) prescribed norm of 2 percent under the quality of service regulations.

"Based on the calculation of the call drop rate during network busy hour on a monthly average, any amount calculated for exceeding the 1.5 percent voluntary benchmark, subject to a maximum of Rs.100 crore per annum, will be contributed by Airtel towards the education of underprivileged children in rural areas," the statement said.

After the Supreme Court verdict on Wednesday, Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Consumers expect mobile operators to provide good services. I as the minister will keep a check that they are doing it."

"At Airtel, we are absolutely passionate about serving our customers and have deployed globally benchmarked technologies and processes. This self-regulation on Quality of Service further underlines our commitment to our customers despite the challenges of limited spectrum availability and acquisition of sites in urban areas," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel.

"We have already rolled out Project Leap, our pan-India network transformation programme, under which we transparently report our site deployments and invite our customers to log their network issues and site requirements," he added.

Following the new benchmark, Airtel will contribute Rs.1 lakh for every 0.01 percent increase in call drop rate beyond 1.5 percent every month in each circle of operation, the statement said.

"Airtel has decided to apply this standard benchmark across the country despite the constraint of difficult operating conditions in some areas, in particular hilly regions such as Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and North East," it added. Airtel's mobile network in India serves over 250 million subscribers across the country.

IANS
Aditya Madanapalle

Creo is a Bangalore based company that is following the approach of manufacturers such as Xiaomi, LeEco and OnePlus. The company is aggressively taking feedback from its users, and has outright demanded for negative feedback as well. Feedback given on the forums are used to come up with future OS updates. Although updates have started to roll out every month, there is a longer cycle of development and testing for each of the updates behind the scenes. So, don't expect the latest comments to be incorporated in the next update itself. Creo has just rolled out the first monthly update for Mark 1. Here is what has changed, in the new phone.

(Also Read: Creo Mark 1 review: A good first attempt, but a lot depends on those promised software updates)

Data Manager: The Data Manager feature allows users to get granular control over what applications use data. There is a doughnut chart that shows how much data was consumed in the previous month, with a breakdown of how much of that data was consumed by apps running in the background. The app shows a handy list of how much data each app consumed while in background mode. You can toggle whether or not the application is allowed to download data when in the background mode. Toggling these settings will interfere with the updates and notifications of the particular applications.

Enhance: This is a photo manipulation utility. There are filters similar to Instagram. A simple to use menu allows adjustments, transformations and vignettes. After manipulating an image as per requirement, the whole set of edits on an image can be saved as a filter. The sequence of edits are added as a filter in the default menu, and then you can tap on the particular filter once, to apply the same set of edits on any other image. This gives some kind of rudimentary batch editing feature, allowing users to conveniently edit a series of photos that require the same treatment.

Echo: Echo is the in-built answering machine. At the launch of the phone, there was only one default pre-recorded voice prompt, in English. Now there are more languages added, and even more in the pipeline. Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telegu, Marathi and Bengali have been added. You can also record and keep custom welcome messages. These can now be served according to the caller, or groups of callers. For example, friends and colleagues can have different welcome messages. There is also a meeting mode. If you regularly schedule your meetings on Google Calendar, then the phone automatically reroutes all incoming calls to the answering machine.

Selfie Flash: This is a feature that boosts exposure through software algorithms. There is no front flash, but in low light conditions, there is now a one tap flash button on the side, that prevents the photos from being too dark.

Sense: Sense is an advanced search feature. It is modeled on the search functionality of the iPhones. There are some utilities that sense does not seem to recognise as of now, the homescreen widgets are an example we found. Sense now supports WhatsApp integration, after this update. The Sense interface has also been updated with a space for pinning most used contacts, so you can just bring them up with a two finger swipe down any time. There are as some new enhancements that take Sense in a direction even Apple has not gone. Sense took some baby steps into become some kind of universal input space for all kinds of tasks. You can enter a number and add a contact from the "search" bar. It is also possible to feed in arithmetic, and use Sense as a calculator.

There were minor fixes on a screen flickering issue in the adaptive brightness mode, and battery drain enhancements.

Creo has a refreshing approach. It is taking feedback of local users to make a better product every month. This is an undertaking that they cannot go wrong on. The Mark 1 is a software based phone, and Creo plans to open up the software platform they are making better every month, available to other manufacturers as well. Every effort Creo has taken in this month's update, is aimed at improving the user experience. Whether it works or not, this is a customer centric effort at differentiating their product from an overcrowded smartphone market.
tech2 News Staff

Evan Thomas Spiegel had a privileged upbringing. He was the son of two Attorneys and spent his childhood in Los Angeles area. As a kid he worked on Photoshop and promoted Red Bull. He joined a product design course at Stanford, that he never finished.

At Stanford, Spiegel teamed up with two other "bros" Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown to create Picaboo, an app that deleted photos after they were sent. The application did not take off, and Brown wanted to quit the team. Murphy and Spiegel used the same basic concept, called their app Snapchat, and they were in business. Snapchat did take off, and did attract investor attention. It bucked a whole bunch of trends in social networks. There was no feed. You did not experience something then catalog it, the interaction itself was the living experience. There is no monetisation based on intimate details collected about users and their social networks.

In many ways Spiegel's story is an Echo of Mark Zukerberg. Both had a luxurious childhood and went to well known colleges. Both started disruptive social applications in their college. Both were sued for that application by their former partners. Both rejected offers for buyouts, Spiegel refused Zukerberg's offer to buy Snapchat. Both went on to become billionaires when still in their twenties. But there were marked differences as well. Spiegel, unlike Zukerberg, was in no way an introvert. Spiegel was the king of cool in college, in charge of social activities of his fraternity. It was during this time that he would write a series of emails that would later leak, and give him the reputation of an imbecile.

He now runs Snapchat with an Iron Fist. An rapidly increasing number of people are using his ephemeral photos based social application. Companies are flocking to the service to connect with their customers, without getting so much as a link back to their web site. And Spiegel continues to go against the flow by making strange decisions that would not be considered at Google or Facebook.
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Mozilla Corp has asked a federal judge to order the US government to disclose a vulnerability in its Firefox web browser that the company says the FBI exploited to investigate users of a large and secretive child pornography website.

Mozilla filed papers in federal court in Tacoma, Washington, on Wednesday seeking information on a vulnerability in a browser used to view websites on the anonymous Tor network that is partly based on the code forFirefox.

In a blog post, Denelle Dixon-Thayer, Mozilla's chief legal and business officer, said a judge had ordered the vulnerability disclosed to lawyers for a defendant caught in the probe, Jay Michaud, but not to any of entities that could fix it.

"We don't believe that this makes sense because it doesn't allow the vulnerability to be fixed before it is more widely disclosed," she wrote.

A US Justice Department spokesman said it would respond at a later date. Mozilla's brief came amid renewed attention to the process for disclosing computer security flaws discovered by federal agencies, following a recent standoff between Apple and the FBI over a locked iPhone linked to a shooter involved in a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, in which 14 people were killed.

The FBI said it could not submit to an inter agency review the hack used to access the iPhone because it did not own the method or possess sufficient knowledge of the underlying vulnerability.

Mozilla said it had asked if the FBI submitted the browser flaw through the vulnerability review process but not received an answer. Michaud is one of 137 people facing US charges after the FBI in February 2015 seized the server for Playpen, a child porn website on the Tor network, which is designed to allow anonymous online communication and protect user privacy.

In order to identify its 214,898 members, authorities sought a search warrant from the Virginia judge allowing them to deploy a "network investigative technique."

That technique would cause a user's computer to send them data any time that user logged onto the website while the FBI operated it for two weeks. The investigation has recently run into legal trouble, after two defendants secured rulings declaring the warrants used in their cases were invalid.

In Michaud's case, US District Judge Robert Bryan in February ordered that prosecutors disclose to his lawyers the code used to deploy the "network in

Reuters
Nimish Sawant

Sony has launched its flagship G Master series of full-frame lenses for the Indian market with three lenses: the FE 24-70mm f/2.8 standard zoom lens, the FE 85mm f/1.4 prime lens and the FE 70-200mm f/2.8 telephoto zoom lens. While the FE 24-70mm lens is priced at Rs 1,54,990 and the 85mm lens is priced at Rs 1,29,990, the pricing of the telephoto zoom lens is yet to be announced.

The G Master lenses will be differentiated with an orange square with the letter G inside it. The E-mount full-frame lenses can be used on Sony's mirrorless still cameras as well as with the video cameras. Sony has tried to cover pretty much most of the use cases with these three lenses - letting you shoot different genres such as wildlife, portrait, travel, sports, and much more.

Sony G Master FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM Standard Zoom lens

The FE 24-70mm standard zoom lens comes with a constant f/2.8 maximum aperture. It has three aspherical elements with on extreme aspherical element to keep the aberration under check claims Sony. This is further complemented by an extra low dispersion (ED) glass element and a Super extra low dispersion element to keep chromatic aberrations under control. The lens is powered by a direct drive super-sonic wave motor (SSM) which tends to operate quietly and helps in acquiring quick focus. There's a 9-blade aperture to give a near circular shape.

Sony G Master FE f/1.4 GM Telephoto prime lens

The FE 85mm block lens is targetted at photographers who shoot a lot of portraits such as fashion photographers or documentary photographers covering social issues and others. The lens comes with extreme aspherical element along with three ED glass elements to give a creamy bokeh while keeping the portraits sharp. There is an 11-blade circular aperture, which is the most in any alpha series lens. The Nano AR coating helps reduce flare and ghosting says Sony. The 85mm lens has a ring drive SSM motor system and it also has two position sensors.

Sony G Master FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS Telephoto zoom lens

The final lens in the list is the 70-200mm zoom lens which is geared towards the wildlife, sports, adventure, travel photography enthusiasts. The maximum aperture is f/2.8 across the entire focal range. Just like the two lenses above, the 70-200mm lens also has the extreme aspherical, Super ED and ED glass elements inside along with the Nano AR coating. There is a floating focussing system which has been implemented for the first time in an Alpha lens which ensures that you get a minimum focussing distance of 0.96m. There is an SSM motor along with dual linear motors to ensure easier movement of the large lens elements. It also comes with optical SteadyShot image stabilisation.

All three lenses come with dust and moisture resistance chops and have a metal build with rubberised focus and zoom ring elements. Each lens comes with a dedicated focus hold button. Sony representatives present at the event stressed a lot on the creamy bokeh aspect of its lenses along with the high levels of sharpness.

The sample images shown in the demo zones did show smooth bokeh without any noticeable jaggies. The sharpness levels around all the corners seemed good enough, but one needs to test these lenses outdoors as well, specially in landscapes where there is a definite focus drop-off around the corners, specially if fine patterns or leaves are present around the edges. But we will need to test it in various conditions to get a complete picture.
tech2 News Staff

Google self-driving cars are being tested for quite a while now. And as the program reaches maturity, the testing has to keep up. The Verge pointed out that Google is now looking for test drivers in Arizona, to test out its self driving cars in the state, but certain requirements needed to apply for the job will surprise you.

The test drivers (odd because we are pretty sure there is little "driving" involved) will need to have a bachelor's degree. According to The AZ Republic, the reason for the same comes from the necessity at the moment as the search giant has hired English teachers and orbital welders in the past.

Employees will need to have a clean driving record and a spotless criminal history. They are also expected to be able to type up to 40 words per minute. Other details as pointed out by HireArt include Google's expectations from the employee to keep their work confidential and the need to pass a number of car-related training courses as well.

The good part is that Google will pay its employees $20 an hour and this would include long 12-24 month contracts. Employees hired under the contract will have to work with the test vehicle between six to eight hours a day. At the same time they will have to provide accurate feedback to Google's engineering team as well.
tech2 News Staff

Xiaomi has announced the upgrade to its Yi Action Camera 2 - called the Yi 4K. As the name suggests, it can shoot 4K videos at 30fps, along with full HD recording at 120fps and HD recording at 240fps. The Yi 4K will come in Black, White and Pink colours and is priced at CNY 1199 (approx Rs 12,500). The Yi 4K along with a Bluetooth remote and selfie stick is priced at CNY 1299 (approx Rs 13,500).

At the moment it is only available for order via crowd funding in China and will be shipped to backers in June, says Fonearena.

In terms of specifications, the Yi 4K action camera houses a 12MP Sony IMX377 image sensor which has a 1/2.3-inch sensor size, 7P lens with f/2.8 aperture and 155 degree angle of view. The Yi 4K comes with a 2.19-inch display on the rear side with Corning Gorilla Glass protection.

The Yi 4K comes with dual-band Wi-fi support to connect to Android smartphones. Image processing will be done by the Ambarella A9SE SoC which supports the H.264 codec. The camera will come with a separate app for image and video editing. You can shoot timelapse videos with intervals as long as 0.5 / 1 / 2 / 5 / 10 / 30 / 60 seconds.

The camera is powered by a 1400mAh battery which Xiaomi claims can let you shoot 2 hours worth of 4K footage. There is a microSD card slot and has dual microphones to capture sound. There is a 6-axis gyroscope with electronic image stabilisation.
Malaysia healthcare campaign begins in Dhaka

Staff Reporter :

Malaysia brings health and wellness to Dhaka in the month of May with "Malaysia Healthcare Month 2016 (MHM 2016)", organized by the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC), in collaboration with GD Assist Limited (GDAL), said a statement

Featuring the theme "Malaysia Loves You",MHM 2016 is an expansion of the highly successful Malaysia Healthcare Week 2015, held in Dhaka in October 2015. MHM 2016 will feature various activities centred on health and wellness, including a fun run, health fairs, free medical consultation sessions and health talks by top specialists from leading Malaysian private healthcare institutions, an autism awareness program, as well as exciting campaigns featuring healthcare travel options in Malaysia. The activities will be held in various locations throughout Dhaka, including prominent clubs, corporate houses and public parks.

Malaysia Healthcare has moved from strength to strength in the last few years. The country was named "Medical Travel Destination of the Year" at the Medical Travel Awards 2015 by the International Medical Travel Journal.
Bangladesh, Egypt to sign investment agreement

Economic Reporter :

Bangladesh and Egypt have agreed to sign bilateral investment agreement to boost investment in the industrial sector for mutual benefits of the two countries.

The decision was taken by Bangladesh Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu and Industries and Commerce Minister of Egypt Engineer Tarek Qabil during a meeting held on the sideline of the 5th Ministerial Meeting on D-8 Industrial Cooperation in Cairo on May 11, said a handout here on Friday.

During the meeting, Amu highlighted the lucrative environment atmosphere in Bangladesh and said fertilizer, paper, petrochemical and shipbuilding are the highly potential sectors for investment.

Tarek Qabil said private entrepreneurs of his country are eager to invest in these sectors and assured that he would extend all government's assistances to Egyptian entrepreneurs to invest in Bangladesh.

He underscored the need for boosting diplomatic contact and exchanging trade representatives between the two countries in this regard.
Students asked to be science-minded

City Desk :

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan urged students to be science-minded along with following religious commandment.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's idea of Digital Bangladesh is part of science and this idea has made the lives of people of Bangladesh easy. So we have to accept science as part of our life," he said.

The minister came up with the observation on Friday while addressing inaugural function of the seventh science fair at Monipur School and College in the capital.

Presided over by school's governing body chairman and local lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Mazumder, the function was also addressed by principal of the college Motahar Hossain, and governing body member Delwar Hossain.

"Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami is crying foul for war criminal Nizami. How dare, they are interfering in the internal matter of Bangladesh," he added.
Disciplinary action against one cannot be taken denying him opportunity of being heard

Appellate Division :

(Civil)

Surendra Kumar Sinha CJ

Syed Mahmud Hossain J

Hasan Foez Siddique J

Government of Bangladesh, represented by the Secretary Ministry of Establishment Dhaka ............... Appellant

vs

SM Raiz Uddin Ahmed .. Respondent*

Judgment

November 4th, 2015

Administrative Tribunal Act, 1980 (VII of 1981)

Sections 4, 6 and 6A

Relying only on the adverse remarks of the Tribunal, the respondent was censured without giving him any opportunity of being heard. ..... (13)

Principle of natural justice-It is not permissible to take disciplinary action against a person solely on the basis of adverse remarks made by a Tribunal in a criminal case unless the allegations imputed in the adverse remarks are proved in disciplinary proceeding ..........(14)

Ridge vs Baldwin, [1964] AC 40 ref.

Goutam Kumar Roy, Deputy Attorney-General, instructed by Haridas Paul, Advocate-on-Record-For the Appellant.

Bivash Chandra Biswas, Advocate-on-Record-For the Respondent.

Judgment

Syed Mahmud Hossain J : This appeal, by leave, is directed against the decision dated 11-2-2010 passed by the Administrative Appellate Tribunal, Dhaka in AAT Appeal No.1 of 2008 affirming the decision dated 23-9-2007 passed by Administrative Tribunal No.1, Dhaka, in AT Case No. 151 of 2006.

2. The facts, leading to the filing of this appeal, are precised below:

The respondent instituted AT Case No. 151 of 2006 for declaration that the letter communicated under Memo No. mg/k-2 (wegv-23/95/233 ZvwiL 10-7-1993, awarding punishment to him, which was served upon him on 28-9-2006 was illegal, void, collusive and the same was not binding upon him. The case of the respondent, in short, is that on 21-1-1986, he joined as Assistant Commissioner under the Ministry of Establishment. He was promoted as Senior Assistant Secretary on 14-9-1994 and thereafter as Deputy Secretary on 10-2-2003. While he was serving as Thana Nirbahi Officer at Atgoria, Pabna, the Secretary, Ministry of Establishment, framed charge against him stating that at the time of serving as Magistrate at Bagerhat, he, without writing the statements of the witnesses under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure himself, allowed the Investigating Officer to write those statements and thereafter put his signatures in those statements. The respondent in his reply denied the allegation. It has further been stated in the petition before the Administrative Tribunal that being satisfied, the concerned Secretary, after hearing the respondent, informally told him that no action would be taken against him. Thereafter, the respondent got two promotions and selection grade. While searching his position to get promotion as Joint Secretary. the respondent came to know that in that proceeding punishment in the form of "censure" had been awarded to him. He filed an application addressing the Secretary of the Concerned Ministry to get the order of 'censure' and got the said order on 18-9-2006. Thereafter, he preferred an appeal before the President of the Republic but did not receive any reply. Then he filed the instant Administrative Tribunal case.

3. The Government, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Establishment, contested the case by filing a written objection contending, inter alia, that Eklas Khan, Mizan Khan and Yousuf Sheikh, the witnesses of GR No. 57 of 1995 arising out of Bagerhat PS Case No.6 dated 18-5-1992 were produced by the Investigating Officer before the respondent for recording their statements under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The respondent, without recording their statements himself, allowed Investigating Officer of the said case to write the statements of those witnesses and then he put his signatures in the said statements which were found in the judgment in STC Case No. 36 of 1993 by the Tribunal. Bringing such allegation, a departmental proceeding was initiated against the respondent and the same was established on holding departmental inquiry. Accordingly, the respondent was awarded punishment. The order awarding punishment was duly communicated to the respondent. Therefore, the case should be dismissed.

4. The learned Member of Administrative Tribunal No. I, Dhaka, upon hearing the parties and considering the evidence on record, by the dccision dated 23-9-2007 allowed the said case and declared the punishment awarded to the respondent void.

5. Being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the decision dated 23-9-2007 passed by the learned Member, Administrative Tribunal No.1, Dhaka, the Government-respondent preferred AAT Appeal No. I of 2008 before Administrative Appellate Tribunal, Dhaka, which was dismissed by the decision dated 11- 2-2010.

6. Feeling aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the decision passed by the Administrative Appellate Tribunal, Dhaka, the appellant as the leave-petitioner moved this Division by filing Civil Petition for Leave to Appeal No.794 of 2010, in which, leave was granted on 21-7-2013, resulting in Civil Appeal No. 99 of2013.

7. Mr Goutam Kumar Roy, learned Deputy Attorney General, appearing on behalf of the appellant, submits that there is a specific finding by the Special Tribunal that while acting as Magistrate of Rampal, Bagerhat, the respondent put his signatures in the statements of three witnesses recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which were alleged to have been written by another person and on such allegation, the Government initiated a departmental proceeding against the respondent and that as there was no specific denial on behalf of the respondent, the Administrative Tribunal and Administrative Appellate Tribunal committed an error of law in interfering with the punishment awarded to the respondent and as such, the impugned decision should be set aside.

8. Mr Bivash Chandra Biswas, learned Advocate-on-Record, appearing on behalf of the respondent, on the other hand, supports the impugned judgment delivered by the High Court Division.

9. We have considered the submissions of the learned Deputy Attorney-General for the appellant and the learned Advocate-on-Record for the respondent, perused the impugned.

10. Before entering into the merit of the appeal, it is necessary to go through the ground, for which, leave was granted. The ground is quoted below:

"There is a specific finding by the Special Tribunal that while acting as Magistrate of Rampal, Bagerhat, the respondent put his signatures in the statements of three witnesses recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure alleged to have been written by another person and on such allegation, the Government initiated a departmental proceeding against the respondent and that as there is no specific denial on behalf of the respondent, the Administrative Tribunal and Administrative Appellate Tribunal committed an error of law in interfering with the punishment awarded to the respondent and as such, the impugned decision should be set aside."

11. Having gone through the record, we find that while performing the function of the Magistrate, First Class, the respondent recorded the statements of some of the witnesses under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. It is alleged that the respondent did not record the statements of Eklas Khan, Mizan Khan and Yousuf Sheikh with his own hand and that he signed those statements alleged to have been written by another person. Unless the allegations brought against the respondent are inquired into, it is difficult to believe that the allegations brought against him are true. In reply to the show cause notice, the respondent in writing denied the allegations brought against him and, as such, the allegations could not be established without any inquiry. The respondent also alleged that the allegations were brought against him out of a conspiracy at the instance of a vested quarter. Therefore, the censure made by the appellant against the respondent cannot be said to be legal.

12. The case in hand has similarity with Ridge vs Baldwin, [1964] AC 40. In the cited case, the Chief Constable of Brighton has been tried and acquitted on criminal charge of conspiracy to obstruct the Court's justice. Two other Police Officers were convicted and the Judge took opportunities to comment adversely on the Chief Constable's leadership of the force. Thereupon, the Brighton Watch Committee, without giving any notice or offering any hearing to the Chief Constable, unanimously dismissed him from service. His Solicitor then applied for a hearing and was allowed to appear before a later meeting. The committee confirmed their previous decision, but by a vote of nine against three. The Chief Constable exercised his right of appeal to the Home Secretary, but his appeal was dismissed. Finally, he turned to the Courts of law, claiming a declaration that his dismissal was void since he had given no notice of any charge against him and no opportunity of making his defence. This was refused by the High Court and by a unanimous Court of appeal. The House of Lords by a majority of 4 to 1 held that the initial dismissal was not only a breach of principle of natural justice, it was contrary to the express provisions of the statutory regulations governing police discipline which in cases of misconduct required notice of the charge and an opportunity for self-defence. The hearing given to the Chief Constable's solicitor was held to be irrelevant since even no notice of specific charge was given and natural/justice was again violated.

13. In the case in hand, relying only on the adverse remarks of the Tribunal the respondent herein was censured without giving him any opportunity of being heard.

14. The Administrative Tribunal and the Administrative Appellate Tribunal rightly found that the allegations brought against the respondent could not be substantiated. It is not permissible to take disciplinary action against a person solely on the basis of adverse remarks made by a Tribunal in a criminal case unless the allegations imputed in the adverse remarks are proved in disciplinary proceeding.

In the light of the findings made before, we do not find any substance in this appeal. Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed.


US stand on Rohingyas deserve praise

MYANMAR and the United States appeared to have agreed to disagree on what to called the Rohingya Muslims. Many Buddhists inside Myanmar prefer to call them "Bengalis", arguing that the one million or so members of the minority community are mostly illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and not a native ethnic group. Reports said the new Myanmar government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had asked US Ambassador Scot Marciel not to use the term Rohingyas while dealing with their cause. It will not help them anyway. He however did not agree. He said it is the US government practice to call 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. We must say that the US envoy did what he was rightly expected to do by the global community and he deserves appreciation. He did not succumb to pressure from Myanmar's so-called democracy leader who is now out to disown her own people. The international community had so long waited that Suu Kyi would prove different although she was maintaining total silence to speak for Rohingya Muslims under the junta government. Now her government policy shows to be equally hostile to the country's small ethnic group who seems to be no challenge to its security except being Muslims by names. 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. It appears to be an indirect threat violating standard diplomatic norms. The Myanmar junta and its Buddhists ultra nationalist forces were persecuting the Rohingya Muslims over the past decades, killing them, burning their homes and forcing them to flee to other South Asian countries for safety including Bangladesh. Large number of Rohingyas are already living in Bangladesh as being homeless and Myanmar is pushing more such refugees across the border at frequent intervals. In the latest move the Rohingyas were disfranchised and bared from voting as Myanmar's nationals in last year's election which led the nation to democratic rule after decades of military rule in the country on the Southeastern border of Bangladesh.Many had hoped that Myanmar transition to democracy under National League for Democracy (NLD) would bring peace to its persecuted minorities. But the latest attempt to put an end to their ethnic identity as asking people not to call them Rohingyas shows that they are doomed to be permanently stateless as expelled from their home country.
4 BPC officials get clean chit

Staff Reporter :

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has cleared four top officials of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) of the charge of embezzling Tk 100 crore by illegally selling bitumen in local market.

The Commission has given clean chit to them through an official notification signed by its Secretary Abu M Mustafa Kamal recently.

The officials of the BPC are Md Yunusur Rahman,

former Chairman of BPC (now Secretary of the Banking and Financial Institution Division), MS Rezwan Khan, BPC Director (previously Joint Secretary of the Commerce Ministry), Dipak Chakrabarty, its former secretary (Joint Secretary) and Md Yusuf Hossain Bhuiyan, BPC General Manager.

The ACC received an allegation in 2015 that the top BPC officials in collusion with one another sold bitumen in black market by preparing fake work order and thus swindle Tk 100 crore from the Petroleum Corporation.

Receiving the complaint, the national anti-graft body initiated a probe against them. But the ACC during its inquiry did not find any irregularity in selling bitumen in local market.

On May 27 in 2015, the ACC interrogated then Joint Secretary of the Commerce Ministry MS Rezwan Khan in connection with the bitumen selling scam.
Suicide, gun attacks kill 16 in Iraq

Al Jazeera News :A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a market in a town north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least four security personnel, hours after gunmen killed 12 people at a cafe in the same town. At least 25 people were also wounded in the attack on the restaurant in the mainly Shia town of Balad, hospital and police sources said on Friday. The attackers used machineguns to spray the cafe with bullets from cars parked outside for about 10 minutes before leaving the scene, the Reuters news agency reported.They passed three police checkpoints before reaching their target, police sources told Reuters.The town is about 40km from a frontline held by Shia militiamen, which was almost overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in 2014. Iraqi authorities have faced criticism over security breaches after suicide attackers set off three bombs on Wednesday in Baghdad killing at least 80 people in the bloodiest day for the city so far this year. The country is in the grip of a political crisis over a cabinet overhaul that has crippled the government for weeks and threatens to undermine the United States-backed war against ISIL, which still controls swaths of territory in the north and west.
BNP rejects accusation of ties with Israel

Staff Reportar :

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday categorically rejected the accusation of maintaining relationship with the Jewish State of Israel. He vehemently criticised some ruling party ministers and leaders for manufacturing a story about BNP that it shook hands with Tel Aviv to topple the Bangladesh government.

"BNP has its full support for the people of Palestine and its sovereignty, expressing optimism that the prevailing fraternity will remain alive in future. The party on many occasions condemned Israel for unleashing acts of aggression against the people of Palestime," Fakhrul said in response to the ruling party's allegation, linking BNP with Mossad, the Israel's state intelligence agency.

The BNP leader was speaking at a press

conference held in the party's Naya Paltan Central Office in Dhaka.

"BNP is a liberal political party. It believes in changeover of power through election process only and not in any unconstitutional way".

In the briefing, the secretary general announced to hold countrywide protest rally in all district headquarters and metropolitan cities except Dhaka on May 15 in protest against filing of false cases and submitting charge sheets against party Chairperson Khaleda Zia. He said the rally in Dhaka city would be held on May 16.

When asked about the party's reaction over the execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami, Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, on charge of committing war-crimes during the War for Independence in 1971, Fakhrul said, BNP is always in favour of the trial against war criminals, but that must be transparent, fair and free, and not politically motivated.

BNP Standing Committee Member Mirza Abbas, Vice Chairman Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf, Selima Rahman, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury and Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also were present on the briefing.

Meanwhile, the party Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan the same day said that India unilaterally withdrew water from the international rivers depriving us of our shares. It is because there is no elected government in Bangladesh.


Mitford Hospital ailing

Reza Mahmud :

The state run Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital (Mitford Hospital), which is situated in the old part of Dhaka city, has been suffering from shortage of manpower, equipments and rooms for long. Patients in thousands come to the hospital for treatment everyday, but the institute itself languishes with multiple problems, sources said.

"We come here for treatment at sustainable cost, but do not get that for various reasons. When doctors advise us for MRI report and to get the head scanned, the hospital's technicians do not cooperate most of the time. It is not that all of us get frustrated. The fortunes and the well off people manage every thing.

When contacted, the Director of the hospital Brigadier General Brian Bangkim Haldar told The New Nation, "We got an administrative order from the higher authority in 2012 to arrange 300 more beds in addition of our existing 300 beds in the hospital. But the reality is that the hospital is not able to accommodate more beds for want of rooms.

In these circumstances, patients use floors of wards to take rest and to sleep at night. We get foods and medicines for patients of 300 beds only," said the director of the hospital.

While visiting the hospital on Wednesday it was seen, many of the injured patients and their attendants were busy to buy tickets for getting quick treatment. But only one official was on duty on the emergency desk. Some outsiders were also seen to issue tickets to the patients to help the man on desk.

Ahmad Kabir from Wari, Dhaka told this correspondent that the doctor asked him for collecting MRI report. But when he went to the MRI room, it was found locked. No one was there to answer him.

It appeared that the MRI machine room was locked for long. When asked, an official said preferring anonymity that the machine had gone disorder a month ago. The CT scanner machine was also out of order more than a month, according to the officials.

When contacted, the Director of the hospital told, ``We are trying to get permission from the Health Ministry to repair those machines."

The patients said the treatment has become uncomfortable in the hospital due to lack of sufficient logistic supports.

Doctors said, patients from neighbouring Keranigonj, Kotowali, Bangshal, Sutrapur, Gandaria, Shyampur and Jurain come to this hospital with high hopes. The poor patients outnumber the rich patients. We do our best to serve them and the hospital has good reputation.

Every day thousands of patients approach the hospital to get treatment. A patient said, medicines are to be bought from outside, while the unwanted persons disturb us, giving needless suggestions. Not only that, many brokers try to lure patients to the nearby private clinics and hospitals.
Hackers leak data of 3 Bangladeshi, 2 Nepalese banks

bdnews24.com :A Turkish hacking group has stolen data of three banks in Bangladesh and two in Nepal.US-based cyber security website databreachtoday.com says in a report that the stolen data was 'apparently posted online' on May 10 by the group Bozkurtlar. The Bangladeshi banks whose data have been stolen are Dutch-Bangla Bank, The City Bank, and Trust Bank run by Army Welfare Trust. Sanima Bank and Business Universal Development (BUD) Bank are the two Nepalese banks that came under cyber attacks.According to the report, the same hacking group recently leaked data tied to Qatar National Bank and UAE's InvestBank. databreachtoday.com says it contacted the five South Asian banks to talk about the data hacking but they did not respond. bdnews24.com also tried to reach officials of the three Bangladeshi banks but failed as Friday was an weekend holiday. Links to the file archives containing data from the five banks have been posted from a Twitter account supposedly operated by Bozkurtlar or 'Grey Wolves'. The databreachtoday.com report says the group appears to be making good on their threat to release data of more Asian banks, an indication that more such disclosures may be expected in the region.Quoting several security experts who have been following Bozkurtlar, the report says the data in the newest leak appears genuine, but the volume of data from them is smaller than the QNB and InvestBank dumps. The file archives posted were 11.2 MB from The City Bank, 312 KB from Dutch Bangla Bank, 95 KB from Trust Bank, and 251 MB and 47 MB from for BUD Bank and Sanima Bank respectively. The report says the scope of the data varies widely and that each of the zip files contains at least some customer information or account credentials. Quoting Security Engineer Omar Benbouazza, databreachtoday.com says his analysis of the data points to a webshell upload being used at Sanima Bank and Dutch Bangla Bank, as was the case of the Qatar National Bank.
Pakistan doesn't owe you a free mansion

By MOHAMMED HANIF :

KARACHI, I once knew a building contractor who worked for the government of Pakistan. He was very corrupt and very open about it. After hearing endless stories about bribes given for contracts and payments received for projects that were never finished, I asked why was he so open about all this stealing.

He was a bit puzzled. "Why do you call it theft?" he asked. "Look, the state is like our mother, and surely everyone takes something from their mother when she is not looking. Don't you?"

For Pakistan's ruling elite, mother is never looking.

In the wake of the Panama Papers leak, this country, like many others, is consumed by a debate over corruption. People accused of owning offshore companies include our prime minister's children, senior opposition politicians, a media tycoon, two judges and about 400 businesspeople.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in prison for 14 months and spent eight years in exile, but that didn't stop his family empire from expanding and running sugar mills and poultry farms. To clear his name after the Panama Papers story broke, he promptly went on the air and in a whiny speech recounted all the sacrifices his family has made for the country and how their business has suffered.

Mr. Sharif's spin masters reminded us that the allegations weren't about the prime minister but about his children. They reminded us that owning an offshore company is not illegal. Maybe it's unethical, they conceded, but you can see this country doesn't really protect its rich, so what were they to do?

This might have stayed a mere debate if Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif (not even remotely related to Mr. Sharif), hadn't then sacked six senior army officers, including two generals, on charges of smuggling and other forms of corruption. One of the generals was accused of getting two officers killed while test-driving a smuggled Nissan Fairlady.

It turns out that some of those army officers were actually sacked last year without facing a military court, and that they will continue to receive

pensions and medical benefits. But never mind that. The timing of the army's public announcement sent a clear message: We don't tolerate corruption in our ranks; civilian governments shouldn't either.

Now the opposition parties want the prime minister's family business to be investigated. And the prime minister wants everyone to be investigated. Our national discussion about corruption is starting to sound like an argument among a bunch of thieves, with some saying to others, "You have stolen more," and the others saying, "You get caught more often."

We treat our politicians like criminals, and some of them become criminals. In an age-old tradition, many working criminals also turn to politics to protect and multiply their assets. Former President Asif Ali Zardari spent 11 years in prison on charges of corruption without ever being sentenced in a single case. Nobody knows how he came to own a country estate in England and a chateau in France.

There is no public debate about the army's financial affairs because we treat our generals like conquering heroes. But conquering heroes take what they think is theirs, and even while fighting very long wars inside and outside Pakistan's borders, the armed forces have managed to deal in real estate, make fertilizers, run bakeries and sell breakfast cereals. All of these activities are legal, because at one point a military dictator or a weak civilian leader sanctioned them.

Pakistan's history is so intertwined with plunder that some older Pakistanis who lived through the partition of India in 1947 don't call it partition or freedom: They refer to it as the time of lut, Punjabi for loot. The migrations and massacres of the day were accompanied by mass plundering of the evacuees' properties, and many fortunes were made through false claims.

Take Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. It's not the first capital of a country to be built on plunder, but it must be one of the prettiest that was built entirely on plunder. Half a century ago, our generals, politicians and bureaucrats picked a scenic spot, allotted lands to one another, built on them and then sold the properties to the next generation. One of the poshest areas in Islamabad was meant for working farmers. Today, it's nothing but swanky mansions with acres of manicured lawns. Many of those who lecture us about corruption live there.

Politicians, generals and bureaucrats aren't the only ones who think the state owes them a mansion and a manicured lawn. In many cities journalists have been promised, and in some cases given, subsidized plots in housing colonies to build homes on.

I asked a fellow journalist who is lobbying to get one of those, "If it's wrong for politicians and generals to get free plots, how is it right for journalists?"

"It's people like you who are holding us back," he told me. No surprise, then, that it's rare to read an article or see a news report about the millions of Pakistanis who live in slums or are struggling for land rights.

I am a proud member of Karachi's Arts Council, an organization of artists of all varieties, mostly poets. Before every annual election, the candidates for the council's executive body promise us that the council will continue its efforts to get us residential plots somewhere. Even those of us who look at the stars keep one eye on mother's purse.
Our situation does not call for counter-terrorism, but political solution

Editorial Desk :Indian Foreign Secretary Mr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during his brief visit to Dhaka on Thursday offered his government's total support to work together "bilaterally" with Bangladesh to eliminate terrorism and violent extremism now making the country highly volatile. The US Ambassador to Dhaka Marcia Bernicat earlier on Monday had said after meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque that " Our three governments - Bangladesh, India and the USA - all fighting extremism. We are all on the same page here. All three of us are on the same page in that regard." The three-country strong counter-terrorism platform as proposed in which Bangladesh, India and the USA will fight terrorism together is being widely discussed at various levels. But when Indian Foreign Secretary Jaishankar said on Thursday in Dhaka that he knew nothing about it and only came to know of it from media report here, appears to be highly intriguing to observers of the development.Jaishankar met civil society leaders at a breakfast meeting in the capital on Thursday but they were totally different people than whom the US Assistant Secretary for South Asia Nisha Desai Biswal met during her earlier stay in Dhaka to know about Bangladesh situation. The newspaper editors are not considered important because some of them are partisan, others fear to discuss the situation freely. It may be suggestive that despite both the countries are opposed to terrorism; they fall apart from each other with respect to their national interests. Jaishankar came on Dhaka visit immediately after the high profile visit of Nisha Desai Biswal who was sent by Secretary of State John Kerry to offer the US government's total support to Bangladesh in its fight against terrorism. Desai's announcement to help Bangladesh to eliminate terrorism and violent extremism before it takes roots came with the fresh wound in mind of the killing of US embassy officer Xulhaz Mannan and his friend few days back. In short the US is not only describing the situation as not terrorism, but believe it must not take roots. That is optimistic for us. The offer of the three-way fight against terrorism in Bangladesh came from the US and obviously they are not telling publicly the whole truth. But India's announcement to bilaterally fight terrorism with Bangladesh mainly is based on protecting interest of minority in Bangladesh. We shall not be surprised if he also did not tell the whole truth. He expressed concern about safety of minority in Bangladesh meaning that the Hindus are persecuted and killed. Our observation is that in a democracy there is no group which should be considered minority. All are equal, enjoying equal opportunity.Under the present government a considerable number of important public positions are held by Hindus. What we would like to suggest to India is that it has to be very sensitive in its relationship with Bangladesh. The Hindu-Muslim suspicion goes back to British days and has to be ended by Hindus and Muslims living together happily. It has to be accepted as true that safety cannot be available to a particular group of people if lives of all others are not safe. In Bangladesh, more Muslims have been targets of killing than others. Only yesterday we read news of an Awami League young leader stabbed to death. In Union Parishad elections some 80 persons were killed -- more than the so-called "terrorists" have killed during the same period. More than the USA, we expect India to understand our internal politics better for its close association with Bangladesh, that the crisis is wholly political. India knows as much we know the politics of exclusion and intolerance is creating political anger among the people and opportunities for violence. Depriving the people free elections hurts every sensible person.Our politics is primarily based to use of force against force and not free election. There are few who are fighting the liberation war against anti-liberation forces of their choice. Tolerance and compromise are virtues of democracy. In Bangladesh shortly after independence conspiracy began to kill democracy. People of Bangladesh have proved that they are democratic minded and not communal. But the general public have been sidelined. No one can blame the people for whatever ugly is found here. Political considerations and vision are lacking in managing the affairs of the country. The truth is not welcome, so it is near absent in our public affairs. The self-seekers are benefited by misleading the government detached from the people. That situation is politically most explosive should be understood. Even the opposition is not political for political solution. Our politics is intertwined with plunder. So we have no doubt that we need help from our democracy practising friendly countries. We have no terrorism in the sense it is understood, but we have extremism as a political problem. It will be wrong to fight supposed terrorism with brutal terrorism. All violence and killings cannot be called terrorism. It will be a grave mistake if political solution is not sought.
SWIFT said in a statement that the attackers clearly exhibited "a deep and sophisticated knowledge of specific operation controls within the targeted banks  knowledge that may have been gained from malicious insiders or cyber attacks, or a combination of both."

SWIFT, the global Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, warned on Thursday of a second malware attack similar to the Bangladesh central bank hack one that led to $81 million cyber heist.In February, $81 Million cyberheist at the Bangladesh central bank was carried out by hacking into SWIFT, the global financial messaging system that thousands of banks and companies around the world use to transfer billions of dollars every day.However, the hackers behind the cyber heist appear to be part of a comprehensive online attack on global banking and financial infrastructure.The second attack involving SWIFT targeted a commercial bank, which the company declined to identify. SWIFT also did not immediately clear how much money, if any, was stolen in the attack.However, SWIFT spokeswoman Natasha de Teran said that the second attack and the Bangladesh bank heist contained numerous similarities and were very likely part of a "wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks," the NY Times reported The malware involved in the Bangladesh cyber heist was used to manipulate logs and erase the history of the fraudulent transactions, and even prevented printers from printing the fraudulent transactions.The malware used in the attack also has the capability to intercept and destroy incoming messages confirming the money transfers, preventing hackers to remain undetected.News of a second attack involving SWIFT comes as law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere investigate the February's $81 Million cyberheist at the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.The hackers had attempted to steal $951 Million in total from Bangladesh central bank account using fraudulent transactions, but a simple typo by hackers halted the further transfers of the $850 Million funds.SWIFT has acknowledged that the scheme involved Bangladesh cyberheist did not harm its core messaging system.However in both the cases, insiders or hackers had successfully penetrated the targeted banks' systems, pilfering user credentials and submitting fraudulent messages that correspond with money transfers.
The Higg, AKA Clay The Cajun John Wayne Higgins, announced Wednesday which seat in Congress  the U.S. House or Senate  he will win in November.

The former St. Landry Parish Sheriffs Office captain, who shot to fame with CrimeStopper videos that aired weekly on local television, tells The Advocate that God has another plan for me and that he will go to Washington D.C. representing the real Americans and the real Acadiana. (The article also contains some eye-opening accusations of domestic abuse and protective orders in The Higgs' not-too-distant past.)

Were not quite sure who the real Americans and real Acadiana are, but were confident The Higg will soak Capitol Hill in enough testosterone to more than accommodate for President Trumps ladyhands. Regardless, we're confident that 1,900 miles is a safe distance between Lafayette and The Higg, who, our ideas about safe distances notwithstanding, might also consider waiting a just a bit longer for the opportunity to run for Lafayette city marshal as the current office-holder likely will not be in that office by years end (wink-wink).

Countdown to Glory: Clay Higgins Goes to DCCountdown

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Incidentally, as the images below indicate, Higgins shot his most recent video at the Lafayette city marshals office. Hes wearing a uniform issued by the office  The Higg was sworn in as a reserve deputy in March by City Marshal Brian Pope  and notice the grain and knot patterns in the piece of Louisiana art in both images, not to mention the flags. We dont think Pope violated any state ethics laws prohibiting the use of an elected office and/or resources for campaigning because Higgins doesnt actually announce a bid for office in the video. (We would love to know who footed the bill for that slickly produced video, however.) The Higg later told local media he planned to use the public response to the video as a gauge for whether to seek elected office. As the Advocate article points out, he evidently got a resounding yes from Jane Q. Public.
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 this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 48F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by a few 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.
Jazz pianist and composer Keith Javors is celebrating the release of his eighth jazz album as band leader with two shows in his native Southern Illinois next week.

Javors will perform two free shows The Grotto Lounge in Carbondale at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, May 18 and 19. Javors will be accompanied by Jim Wall on bass and Wayne Goodwin on drums.

The new album, "The Meeting," features co-leader Oleg Kireyev, a Moscow, Russia native, trumpeter Tom Harrell, bassist Ben Williams and drummer E.J. Strickland. Its official release date is May 31, but records will be for sale at the two Grotto shows; pre-orders can also be made now on iTunes and Google Play.

Javors is from De Soto, and graduated from Carbondale Community High School. In addition to his music, he teaches and runs Inarhyme Records out of Philadelphia.

The Grotto Lounge is located in the basement beneath the Newell House, at 201 E. Main St.

 The Southern
CARTERVILLE  More than 600 students will gather at John A. Logan College one final time for graduation this weekend, said Tim Williams, director for student services at JALC.

The graduates  several with honors  will commemorate their academic voyage at 7 p.m. Friday inside of the Donald J. Brewer Gymnasium and Convocation Center.

Joining the college graduates will be the 2016 recipients for Distinguished Faculty Member award, Distinguished Term Faculty award and the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Along with Jadon Urban, a West Frankfort native who will be speaking on behalf of the graduates during the commencement, Mark Whitehead, Jane Minton and Nikki Borrenpohl will address the graduates on behalf of JALC staff.

Whitehead, a Marion native, will be receiving the award for Distinguished Alumnus. Minton, who teaches Death and Dying, will receive the Distinguished Term Faculty award.

"I was thrilled," Minton said about receiving the outstanding faculty award.

Minton, who has been teaching her on-campus and online course at JALC for 26 years, said she enjoys interacting with her students, and finds some of their interactions regarding her class surprising.

"My relationships with my students is excellent," she said. "My online class is surprisingly the only class the students are much more likely to talk about their experiences with death and dying."

Although the class brings sentiments of depression, Minton said she plans to enhance her career as an adjunct professor at JALC, covering all aspects of death and dying  in culture, religion and humanities  for as long as she can.

Borrenpohl, who has been part of the JALC English department for seven years, will join Minton as a speaker for her recognition as the 2016 Distinguished Faculty Member.

"I love helping our students transform into more critical thinkers and writers over the course of their time here," she said. "This faculty is the best group of people with whom I have ever worked. They are experts not only in their content area, but also in college-level teaching methods. There's no question that I am a better educator and person as a result of my interactions and collaborations with my colleagues."

Borrenpohl won't be returning to JALC because of the budget impasse, she said, but she remains hopeful that legislators will pass a budget allowing faculty and staff back to the campus, and advises that graduates carry the same confidence for future goals.

"I'm not sure what path my career will take next year, but I'm confident that there's a bigger plan for me and the rest of my riffed colleagues," she said. "My advice for graduates is to go forth into whatever life holds for them next with confidence and never give someone else the power to define their value."
Six Southern Illinois residents and one Cape Girardeau man were indicted this past week on methamphetamine-related felony charges, according to a federal prosecutor's office.

James Porter, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, said in a news release on Friday that the seven individuals were all charged in a superseding indictment charging conspiracy to manufacture and distribute meth.

Five of the six from Southern Illinois facing charges reside in Murphysboro. They are Kyle E. Easterly, 29; Charles W. Yearian, aka Chucky, 29; Randall J. Riley, 42; Lucas L. Holland, 29; and Ivan Weaver, 24.

The other two facing charges are Elizabeth A. Stell, aka Beth Bramlett, Elizabeth Albritton, 45, of Dongola; and Devonce C. Patterson, aka George, Little Buddy," 22, of Cape Girardeau.

Easterly and Yearian are also charged with one count of possession of pseudoephedrine knowing that it would be used to manufacture methamphetamine, according to Porter's news release.

The indictment alleges that the offenses occurred between April 2015 and March 2016 in Jackson and Perry counties. Easterly, Yearian, Holland, and Stell have appeared in federal court and are currently being held without bond pending a July 11 jury trial.

Riley, Weaver, and Patterson are scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court on Monday.

The methamphetamine offenses carry a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison, to be followed by 3 years supervised release, and up to a $1 million fine.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, Murphysboro Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The Union County Sheriffs Office and Jackson County States Attorneys Office also assisted in the investigation.
Two women, one from Dongola, was injured in a two-vehicle crash Thursday in Paducah, according to McCracken County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies, along with Concord Fire Department and Mercy Regional Ambulance, were dispatched at about 1:55 p.m. Thursday to the intersection of Cairo Road and Maxon Road. Estelita Wilson, 60, of Dongola was driving a 2014 Dodge Journey northbound on Maxon Road and failed to stop at the Cairo Road intersection.

Her vehicle collided with the driver side of a 2001 Toyota Avalon traveling west on Cairo Road, driven by Lavanda Elrod, 67, of Paducah. Wilson was taken to Lourdes ER and Elrod, who had to be extricated from her vehicle, was taken to Baptist ER for incapacitating injuries.

Members of the West McCracken Fire Department and Paducah Fire Department also responded.

-- The Southern
DONGOLA  Country Boys Can Survive, is a song famously written and recorded by American country artist Hank Williams, Jr.

It also would be a good mantra for Dalen Treat, a graduating senior at Dongola High School.

He loves farming, hunting, fishing and the simple, country life. So it probably comes as little shock that he loves Southern Illinois.

Treat is heading off to college in the fall at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. But he said he plans to make the roughly five-hour drive home at least once a month to see his family and friends, and tend to the Treat family cattle farm in rural Union County.

And unlike some in his graduation class of about 24 seniors at Dongola High School who say they hope to leave Southern Illinois behind after they walk across the stage, diploma in hand, on Friday, May 20, Treat says hes looking forward to getting through school so that he can return to the area and plant roots for good.

Ive heard people say they want to go as far away as possible. I dont understand all that, Treat said, momentarily shutting down his tractor to speak to the newspaper.

Explaining the noise in the background, Treat said, Were raking hay to feed the cows this winter. They have to have something to eat.

Treat was one of about 170 students honored May 3 for achievements in academics, service and leadership at the 46th annual Southern Illinois Society for High School Achievement Banquet, a partnership between area high school guidance counselors and administrators, and The Southern Illinoisan.

Theres been much hand-wringing of late about people feeling Illinois as the political climate here sours  and with good reason. Even before that, the rural brain drain  a phenomenon of the best and brightest leaving rural America in droves  has taken its toll on some Southern Illinois communities, and the region as a whole.

The Southern Illinoisans 2015 series Gone Generation by reporter Sarah Halasz Graham included this startling statistic: Only New Jersey outstrips Illinois in terms of the rate at which young people are leaving the state. In 2012, Illinois experienced a net loss of 16,563 students, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

But among the troubling trends are still lots of bright students like Treat who plan to stick around, who still see a bright future for small map-dot communities across the region, and are willing to make a go of a career here. Treat, 17, is one of two boys in the family; his younger brother, Evan Treat, is 14.

Treat was accepted into the high school early acceptance program for Southwest Baptists doctoral of physical therapy program. Of the 100 people in the program, 20 slots are set aside for incoming freshman, he said. The other 80 come from a pool of about 500 applicants annually hoping to get accepted.

Treat will start school with about a semester behind him, as hes already earned 15 credit hours from Shawnee Community College. He said his goal is to complete his bachelors degree in about 3-1/2 years. After that, students move into the graduate portion of the program, which includes two more years of classroom work, and a year of clinical, he said. Hes earned a partial-tuition scholarship for his undergraduate work.

Treat said that after graduation he hopes to be hired on at Southern Illinois Healthcare. If necessary, Treat said hes willing to drive into Missouri or nearby surrounding states for work, but he intends to live in Southern Illinois. He got interested in physical therapy watching his mom, who works as a physical therapist assistant at SIH. Treat shadowed employees there before making a decision and studied the job market.

Its also a career he feels like would make a profound difference in the lives of others so that they can make the best use of their bodies  no matter what challenges life may bring. Even on the farm working with cattle that are sometimes injured, Treat said hes seen the healing power of physical therapy. Treat said if he were injured, hed hope someone would be passionate about helping him recover in the same way he hopes to give back to others.
THOMPSONVILLE  Like any other, the Thompsonville High School graduating class includes its cliques: the athletes, the studious ones, the artists, the comedians, the popular kids and so on.

Though, in this case, the list really isnt that long.

These cliques, as described by the students, also are a bit smaller in size  comprising just a few, or even one student, each.

That's just part of the oddities experienced by a class of only 12 students.

Most of these graduates, through thick and thin, and a whole lot of picking on each other, have been together since pre-K, which they began around the time the Twin Towers fell.

Inside their modest brick school in rural Franklin County, located about 10 miles from both West Frankfort and Benton, they have come of age together in rural America. They are scheduled to graduate on Wednesday, and then walk their separate paths.

Three students, or 25 percent of the class, have committed to or are considering the military. It was kind of more of a way to pay for college, said Dakota Borchelt, about his decision to join the National Guard. I also want to do my part for our country.

He leaves behind Thompsonville, population 543 at the 2010 Census, for basic training in July.

Eight percent of the class  or 1 student  is leaving town to attend a four-year college. Savannah Sweet said shes been accepted into the pre-med program at Murray State University in Kentucky.

The majority of the class is heading to nearby Rend Lake College to pursue career interests that include nursing, teaching and art; one plans to take online criminal justice courses at Liberty University, based in Virginia, and another is heading to John A. Logan College to earn a welding certificate and commercial drivers license.

These seniors make up a small fraction of the thousands of high school seniors who will graduate this May from public schools across Illinois both large and small. The high school graduating class of 2016 was born in or around 1998  the year of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal.

Their high school experience is uniquely small town, and one shared by current and former students of rural Southern Illinois schools, though this class is on the smaller size even by comparison.

Theyre a very, very close knit group and being so small makes them even more close to one another, said Principal John Robinson. Its just one of those rare occasions. Even being a small school, its unusual for us.

While they may be close, do they like each other? Not really, the students say. At least not enough to hang out together as a group outside of school. It depends on what part of the group youre in, explained Jesse Darnell.

Still, their love for one another runs deep, despite the fact that there are no class sweethearts and have not been since early grade school when many of the handful of girls in the class took turns dating Lucas Lingle when they were much younger.

Lucas is the senior class president  he won by unanimous show-of-hands vote against classmate James Emberton  and hes also the homecoming king.

I have the school in my hand," Lucas said. "Its a mixture of money and intimidation.

These seniors tend to relate more as a big family than as classmates. Which makes sense, since close to half of them are technically cousins of varying degrees. When asked how many of the 12 were related, several hands shot up.

Student Lexi Wolf clarified, with emphasis, she is not among those related. Im one of them, but Im not part of them, she said of her classmates.

Thats her way of saying she hates us, Jesse responded.

Laughter echoed off the walls of their small classroom.

Nobody really takes anything seriously, said Danielle Steiner. But their sarcastic remarks are no match for their heart. The class, as a group, decided to split what's left in their senior fund -- about $500 -- between a yet-to-be announced scholarship and a school need that they plan to reveal as a surprise.

Danielle noted that, despite their differences, the classmates that attended the recent senior trip to St. Louis bonded on a deeper level. Theres different cliques and stuff, she said, but I think that day we merged together and became one.

The seniors said that throughout their high school career, they put their emphasis on being remembered rather than winning school competitions. They did that in various ways, such as when the 6 feet, 3 inches tall James surprised everyone by wearing a My Little Pony onesie during homecoming festivities, and when the janitor let them into the school one recent evening to decorate the high school with balloons and confetti as a senior prank.

Im going to miss this group, said Gaye Blades, who teaches business classes.

Especially me, said senior Max Baney, not missing a beat.

Several of the students said they couldnt wait to get away from Thompsonville. Its hard to find culture in a town of 600, James said. The ones who say they can't wait to leave, those are often the ones who end up staying and having families, and sending another generation through the school, said history teacher Beth Webb.

Danielle, on the other hand, said she's already made up her mind about sticking around.

I think its cozy, she said.
CARTERVILLE  John A. Logan College has recently been designated a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Two-Year Education school by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.

JALC is only the second community college in Illinois and one of 40 nationwide to receive this prestigious designation. There was a news conference Friday to officially announce the designation.

Cyber defense is important to the national security of the United States, as well as business and industry. The need to train technicians and engineers is one of the main priorities of both the NSA and DHS. And it is this need to train individuals that makes the program at Logan so valuable.

According to long-term employment projections by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the number of Information Security Analysts needed in Illinois alone is expected to grow 30 percent by the year 2022, and over one million jobs will be needed worldwide this year alone.

JALC faculty have worked tirelessly throughout the past year to help the College receive the distinction.

Computer Information Systems professor Terri Rentfro and other instructors from CIS and the computer science field, including Mark Rogers, Kylee Williams and Diane Rudolph, Melanie Pecord and CIS term-faculty, worked to map coursework to meet the strict NSA requirements.

According to Rentfro, students completing degrees will receive a notation on their transcripts that they have met the NSA and DHS requirements, including a certificate with the JALC and NSA logos, and a letter from the CIS faculty that certifies that they have met the qualifications.

Students will have this documentation to present to four-year universities and employers as they continue their education or enter the workforce," Rentfro said. "This recognition tells universities and potential employers that the students have met the gold standard in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense education from a two-year school.

Mark Rogers, Associate Professor in CIS, added that because John A. Logan College has been designated as a CAE2Y, students have a tremendous opportunity in both academic and career fields.

This is not just a certification for our CIS programs; it is an institution-wide designation, Rentfro said. In addition to meeting the Knowledge Units, we were required to prove that the entire institution follows and upholds Cyber Security standards.

Also, we had to show pathways and formal agreements with area high schools and four-year universities, as well as cyber security education provided to our faculty, staff and students as well as the general region.

To receive this designation, the college went through a rigorous application process, chaired by Rentfro.

The NSA wants to be assured, she said, that not only are the degrees and coursework in place for the students, but the credentials of the faculty are also paramount in receiving the designation.

College President Dr. Ron House stated that the designation attests to the fact that students at John A. Logan are getting one of the best educations in the country right here in Southern Illinois.

Our CIS programs are among the top in the nation, and now, we can provide students with the NSA/DHS approved designation as they leave JALC to pursue a four-year degree or employment.
SPRINGFIELD  Both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly voted unanimously Thursday to approve $700 million in stopgap funding for social service programs that havent received any state revenue in nearly a year.

In the latest sign of bipartisan progress toward ending the states budget impasse, now in its 11th month, Republicans joined the Legislatures supermajority Democrats in approving the measure despite last-minute concerns from GOP Gov. Bruce Rauners administration.

At the same time, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent Rauner and the four legislative leaders a framework for a balanced budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The proposal includes $5.4 billion in new revenue, which would be generated by raising the states personal income tax rate from 3.75 percent to 4.85 percent and by expanding the sales tax to some services, among other changes, according to a member of the group.

The lawmakers also outlined $2.4 billion in savings, including a $400 million reduction in Medicaid spending, about $450 million from letting the state off the hook for repaying money borrowed from special funds to plug holes in last years budget, and $750 million from pension changes Rauner has proposed.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, who is a member of the bipartisan budget group but declined to go into detail about its work, said the conversations among lawmakers have been sometimes heated but generally productive.

Theres been a lot of progress in the last couple weeks, Rose said. Theres a long way to go.

Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, another participant who likewise declined to give details, emphasized that theres no agreement.

As they were asked to do by the legislative leaders and the governor, lawmakers were simply putting together a scenario under which the budget could be balanced, Crespo said.

Were just presenting the leaders with what they asked for, he said, noting that it will be up to them to round up the necessary votes to pass a budget plan.

In addition to lawmakers from both chambers and both parties, Rauner budget director Tim Nuding has participated in the talks.

Notably absent from the groups work has been any talk of items on Rauners pro-business, union-weakening turnaround agenda. Thats because the group was assigned to stick to the budget.

But House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said any final agreement on budgets for this year or next absolutely must include some of the reforms the governor and his party are pushing for.

Were not close to having a deal, Durkin said, adding that theres no plan at this point for a meeting of the governor, himself and the three other legislative leaders.

Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, is part of another bipartisan group of lawmakers that has been discussing the governors reform agenda, which includes changes to workers compensation laws, a property tax freeze and other items.

Talks are slow, but the commitment continues, Brady said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle praised the social services funding measure approved Thursday as a sign of the parties continued willingness to work together.

It would authorize the use of $450 million from the commitment to human services fund, which receives dedicated revenue to support programs such as addiction treatment, autism services and rape crisis centers. Another $250 million would come from other special state funds for specific purposes such affordable housing and foreclosure prevention programs. The funding would account for about 46 percent of what the programs received last year.

Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who sponsored the legislation, said it was possible to reach an agreement because it doesnt include any general revenue, which Republicans have argued the state doesnt have because its already spending more than its bringing in.

Members of both parties said they still hope to get more funding to programs for the current year.

Senators also urged their House colleagues to take up a bill that was sent over earlier this month that would free up additional money for higher education, which hadnt received any state funding until a deal was struck late last month.
SPRINGFIELD  While much energy is being expended at the Capitol trying to forge agreements on the state budget, several segments of Illinois power sector are hoping lawmakers will focus on legislation to deal with the states long-term electricity needs.

The nuclear, coal and renewable energy industries are competing for legislators attention as the General Assemblys spring session draws closer to its scheduled May 31 adjournment. All three are backing measures they say are vital to the states energy future and its economy.

Exelon Generation, which shares a parent company with northern Illinois power utility Commonwealth Edison, is seeking legislative changes that it says are essential to the future of its nuclear power plants in Clinton and near the Quad Cities.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, would extend state subsidies to nuclear power plants that are struggling financially. Exelon says the subsidies are warranted because, like wind and solar power, nuclear doesnt emit carbon pollution.

The company estimates that the proposal would cost customers about 25 cents a month on their power bills.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers from central and Southern Illinois is pushing legislation that aims to preserve coal as part of Illinois energy mix.

Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, is sponsoring the legislation, which would require utilities to have purchasing agreements with qualified clean coal facilities and create a special state fund to support the use of technology such as scrubbers to reduce emissions from burning coal.

We believe Illinois coal is part of the solution for energy, Bradley said this week at a Statehouse news conference.

Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, added, Illinois coal is a very effective way to produce energy.

Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association, said the industry group is for an all-of-the-above energy strategy.

Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, and Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, joined a group of local officials from DeWitt County in a meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday at the Capitol. The lawmakers and local officials are backing the bill because they say it will save jobs and save residents money on their power bills in the long run.

If the Clinton plant were to close, youre talking about a massive rate increase on ratepayers anywhere in downstate Illinois  senior citizens, families, businesses, Rose said.

Thats because the plant accounts for a large share of the base load power for the region, meaning its generating energy nearly all the time, he said.

The bill would also save jobs, including nearly 700 at the Clinton plant, supporters say.

We will continue with this fight  to try to keep the power plant open, said Marian Brisard, executive director of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce. Its a very important employer in our community.

Those who attended the meeting said the governors office is reviewing the legislation. His spokeswoman didnt respond to a request for comment.

(I) really appreciate the governor taking the time to listen to us, DeWitt County Board Chair David Newberg said. I believe he really did understand our concern.

The Exelon bill includes $140 million in funding for the solar power industry.

Kevin Borgia, public policy manager for Wind on the Wires, said his industry is still pushing for a bill that would fix problems with the states renewable portfolio standard, which currently calls for 25 percent of Illinois energy to come from renewable sources by 2025.

Borgia said the Exelon bill as drafted would stifle the future development of wind energy in the state.

Thats really a loss for the state, he said. Its really a loss, in this case, for downstate and rural Illinois, which  is where were going to build wind farms.
There is an old adage that states: Fool me once, shame on you  fool me twice, shame on me.

That sage piece of advice crossed my mind when I read a story this week that Illinois lawmakers are proposing what is being labeled as an innovative investment plan for Illinois coal industry.

The story related that the bill was introduced by Democratic lawmakers exactly six months prior to the general election.

The story had only one voice detailing the new legislation. Interestingly, that voice was not an elected official. A gentleman by the name of Ryan Keith, who was listed as a PR Specialist in the story offered some quotes. Keith said the new legislation is a creative plan to get some life into the coal industry, and hopefully do it in a more friendly way than it has been done before."

He went on to say: "Financial well-being is tied to the success in the coal industry. Different mine closures and other challenges puts people in a real state of hardship, so this legislation is hoping to offer some incentive for the industry to get on its feet."

Let me enlighten you about this spin story and also establish a cold, hard fact  this legislation has nothing to do with coal. It has nothing to do with the coal industry. It has nothing to do with correcting the hardships the coal industry has suffered. It has nothing to do with innovation or an investment plan. It has nothing to do with incentives for the coal industry. It has nothing to do with getting the coal industry on its feet.

Instead, this same old tired song has everything to do with getting re-elected, period. It has to do with spouting off platitudes during stump speeches about fighting for the coal industry. It has to do with color glossy mailers that will soon be appearing in our mailboxes detailing this bogus legislation. It has to do with November 8, 2016  Election Day!

In short, its another election year and so its time to trot out yet another feel-good coal story.

Isnt it interesting that we have Democratic state lawmakers introducing legislation they claim will offer incentives for the Illinois coal industry while at the federal level President Obama continues to work feverishly to keep his 2008 campaign promise to bankrupt the coal industry? By the way, that word bankrupt is Obamas word, not mine. Its the word he used when detailing his plans for the coal industry while being interviewed eight years ago by the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle. Never let it be said that Obama never kept a campaign promise, because he made good on that one. And if elected, the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has stated clearly and unequivocally that she will continue Obamas legacy to kill the coal industry.

Just for the record the list of coal companies that have filed bankruptcy during Obamas fight against coal includes Peabody Coal Company (the largest privately-owned coal company in the world), Arch Coal, Patriot Coal, Alpha Natural Resources, James River Coal and Walter Energy. The common denominator in all these bankruptcies boils down to one thing: federal regulations. And it should be pointed out that most of these over-reaching regulations were implemented through executive orders handed down by Obama. Interestingly, the same lawmakers who are touting all theyve done for coal are the same ones who endorsed Obama eight years ago.

On the same day that I read the vote-for-me/coal story I read another story that documented that the state of Illinois has had no job growth in the private sector during the 21st Century. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Illinois has actually lost approximately 1,000 jobs in the private sector between January 2000 and March 2016. Thats zero job growth during the past 16 years. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. The only state with worse numbers in this category than Illinois is Mississippi.

So, pardon me for being cynical about this new sure-fire legislation to revitalize the coal industry, but you see Ive been fooled before. But, I wont be fooled again.
Okay, I can scratch ocean cruise off my bucket list. Been there, done that. And, I have decided once is enough. While I hope to travel to other beautiful places like the Bahamas, it probably wont be aboard a ship.

Its not that I didnt have a wonderful time on my cruise. I absolutely did! The problem is that I never seemed to find my sea legs. Sea sickness wasnt really the problem. I only got queasy once on the voyage. It was one evening during a show when the ship was apparently hitting waves head-on, causing the vessel to vibrate. If the show hadnt ended when it did, I would have gotten very sick.

My problem was that I couldnt seem to keep my balance while I was aboard ship. Thats my story, and Im sticking to it. Honestly, I only had one Bahama Mama and one Bloody Mary on two different nights, so I cant blame what happened on partying too hard. Instead, I just blame it on the ship.

It all started when my friend Tracy and I went to see the British Invasion show featuring hits by British rock bands. Our dinner ran later than expected, and we arrived at the theater after the show had already started. I took the lead in feeling my way through the dark theater to find us seats. When I went to sit down, I thought the seats were regular chairs with stationary seats  not folding ones. Well, I proceeded to plop down on the ... floor. One minute I was looking at the performers on the stage and the next minute I was looking up at the back of the seat in front of me ... from the floor.

Tracy looked down at me and just shook her head. (I blame the rolling of the ship.) She asked me what she could do to help me get up as my legs were splayed out in front of me under two different seats in the next row and I had scraped my elbow. I handed her my sandals, got up on my knees and pretended to be searching for an imaginary object I had (wink, wink) dropped. At that point, it was all about saving face in case other theater-goers had witnessed my fall from dignity. Once again, Tracy shook her head.

A couple of nights later, we were headed for the frozen chocolate yogurt dispenser that Tracy fell in love with on the cruise (I think shes having one installed in her kitchen at home now) and I asked her to wait while I popped into the restroom. Thats when Miss Grace here tripped over the door sill inside the restroom and split open the bottom of my left big toe. (I suspect my new sandals had something to do with this mishap  or the ship.) I didnt realize how bad my injury was until I looked down and the bottom of my white sandal was covered in blood. I grabbed some toilet tissue and stuck a wad of it between my big toe and the next toe and hobbled out to where Tracy was waiting. Again  the head shaking.

Tracy was mortified. She saw the wad of toilet paper and automatically assumed I had unwittingly walked through it and traipsed out with it stuck to my foot. She seemed to be relieved that I had only practically cut off my toe. Always at the ready, she fished a band-aid out of her purse and wrapped it around my toe.

Things seemed to be going better until the next to last day of the cruise. We were leaving our cabin and I somehow managed to stick my finger in the door jam as the door was closing. Why I thought that was an appropriate place for a finger, I cant tell you. But I have the scar to remind me to never to do that again.

My new sandals certainly didnt help matters on the cruise. They were too big for my feet. As Tracy and I were going into dinner one night, I was hurrying to keep up with our hostess as she led us to our table. All of a sudden, one of my sandals sailed off my foot and flew through the air. I lost my balance and had to prop myself up on a table, apologizing to the startled diners for the intrusion. Fortunately, the sandal didnt land in anyones plate.

Call it sea legs or gracefulness  I never did find either on my maiden voyage.

Contact the writer: cbarker@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5525.
Southeast Frozen Foods leaders celebrated the expansion of the companys Calhoun County operations Thursday with an ice-breaking ceremony.

The food distributor and cold storage provider is undertaking a $6 million, 35,000-square-foot expansion at its facility near Gaston. Its investment is expected to generate about 30 jobs over two to three years.

We have always thought that Calhoun County has had a solid labor force and logistical advantages, Southeast Frozen Foods President and Chief Executive Officer Rich Bauer said

In the past few years, in an era of economic uncertainty, our company has continued to grow not only with our existing customers but new customers as well, he said.

The expansion will be completed in early July. Rocky Mount, North Carolina-based Smithson E.G. & Associates Inc. is handling the construction work.

With temperatures approaching 90 degrees during the ceremony outside, Bauer joked that if anyone was too warm he would be happy to take them to the freezer to cool off.

It takes a special person to be able to work in minus-15 degree environment in all hours of the night, Bauer said. Our company pays for productivity. We incentivize our people for safe work behavior.

During the ceremony, officials broke into an ice block bearing the companys logo with picks. The company received a United States and a state flag, as well as a framed state seal.

Rep. Russell Ott, who also works as a farmer, expressed his appreciation for the expansion.

Whenever we see a company with the word food in it, we get excited, the St. Matthews Democrat said.

Agriculture is South Carolinas biggest industry and you all are sitting really well in what we are trying to do to expand in one area of economic development to another area of economic development, he said.

But Ott said there is still much to do. He noted that even though Interstate 26 is being expanded to six lanes, access to Southeast Frozen Foods remains a challenge.

We still have a lot of work to do primarily in our infrastructure and road system here in South Carolina, Ott said. When those trucks go out of here and take that frozen food and distribute it all across the Southeast, they need a good infrastructure in place to do that.

Calhoun County Deputy Administrator Ted Felder said the county prides itself on lower taxes, reasonable regulations and making sure people find a friendly staff when they come in and go through the permitting process.

We will stay committed to that, Felder said.

Southeast Frozen Foods arrived in Calhoun County in 1999 when it purchased Land Distribution, a cold storage company. It occupies a 17-acre Frontage Road site.

Thursdays announcement marks the third expansion Southeast Frozen Foods has made in the past eight years in Calhoun County, investing more than $20 million and creating more than 100 jobs.

Following the expansion, Southeast Frozen Foods Calhoun County facility will cover more than 200,000 square feet.

Calhoun County Development Commission Executive Director Pat Black joked the county already has 2020 penciled in for another expansion announcement, noting the county has always prided itself on being business friendly and eliminating bureaucracy.

We like green tape rather than red tape in Calhoun County, Black said. This is another milestone in economic development progress in Calhoun County.

In addition to the capital investment and job creation, Black said there is also another reason Southeast Frozen Foods is important: it keeps cold things cold.

How many of you eat ice cream after it is melted and then refrozen? he said. It does not taste good. None of us like melted ice cream.

Southeast Frozen Foods supplies independent and regional supermarket chains throughout the country.

Central South Carolina Alliance President and CEO Mike Briggs said the company is forward thinking in providing high technology freezing.

You are defining the industry, Briggs said. This is a small world we live in. Products from this facility find their way to locations in this world that we dont even know the name of. That is impressive.

The announcement received praise statewide.

Southeast Frozen Foods commitment to both the local community in Gaston and our state as a whole is something we are extremely proud of, Gov. Nikki Haley said in a press release.

This investment of $6 million, and the 30 new jobs it means for Calhoun County, is a huge win for Team South Carolina, and we congratulate Southeast Frozen Foods on their continued success there, she said.

The company employs about 150 at its Calhoun County plant.

Hiring for the new positions is expected to begin in the summer of 2016. For more information, visit www.seff.com.
Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office

Deputies responded to an alarm call on Wednesday morning at a home on Pleasant Branch Road in Norway.

They arrived to find a footprint on the open front door and rooms in disarray.

The homeowner arrived moments later and told deputies that the following items were missing: a 46-inch flatscreen TV, a three-foot high jewelry box, dresser drawers, jewelry, antique coins and checkbooks.

The value of the stolen items is $1,100.

In an unrelated incident, deputies responded to a Wildbrook Lane, North, residence at 10:42 p.m. Wednesday after the homeowner reported that two speaker sound towers and two speaker stand towers were stolen. They are valued at $1,000.
Lois Cramer Allen

Lois Cramer Allen gently entered into eternal rest at the Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut on Wednesday, May 4, 2016.

She was born on Jan. 2, 1924, in Rowesville to the late Theo Cramer Sr. and the late Druceil Bruce Cramer.

Funeral services will be held in Paramus, New Jersey, on Sunday, May 15, 2016.
You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes

You can steer your self

Any direction you choose.

Dr. James Williamson, president of the S.C. Technical College System, launched Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical Colleges 2016 graduating class into the world with words from Dr. Seuss.

During Thursday nights commencement ceremony, Williamson told the graduates that theyll be deciding whats next in their lives.

Some are contemplating a new career. Some are working on promotions. But what they decide will be unique and special.

The degrees and certifications awarded to OCtechs students ranged in areas from criminal justice to health sciences to automotive technology.

Williamson said each of them has a different and unique story.

With a grade point average of 3.957, KeAndra Johnson of Orangeburg graduated with the highest average of any student in her area. She earned an associate degree in criminal justice.

Im very excited, she said. But I feel like its just a stepping stone on my way to my bachelors degree.

She plans to return to OCtech as part of its bridge program with four-year colleges. Shell be able take all her courses except those in her last semester at OCtech. Thats much more economical, she said.

At one point, she wanted to be a law officer, but shes looking at working at a prison because shes really interested in prison reform.

I dont like the jail system, especially in South Carolina, she said. There are a lot of people doing a lot of time for crimes that really werent that serious and that they could have gotten lesser charges for.

Johnson plans to become a guard and work her way up in the system.

I would love to become a warden and see how I could help with prison reform, she said.

Claire B. Arnold is the first college graduate in her family. They were all at graduation to help her celebrate, she said.

Arnold earned an associate of arts degree and plans to transfer to the University of South Carolina-Upstate to get a bachelors degree in middle school education.

Im really excited and proud, she said.

The greatest thing about her experience at OCtech was developing a family here. Its such a close-knit school and TRiO has had my back 100 percent.

TRiO is OCtechs student support services program.

Shirley B. Smith is a non-traditional student who overcame major obstacles to graduate with her class. She was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, but she put off surgery to graduate with her class.

I was determined, she said. Im 52 years old, and this is the first time Ive ever marched.

Smith says her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday and the doctor has given her a good prognosis.

To God be the glory, she said. The way that I found out about it, I had been having some pain, and they found it early.

Smith earned her certification in patient care technology. Thats three certifications in one, she said.

Shes been through other obstacles during her time at OCtech, including losing her mother last December. But she has some words of advice for people, she said.

No matter what youre going through, always continue to push forward. Continue to smile and know that theres a greater plan for your life, she said.

Leonard Rivers, another non-traditional student, earned his certification in automotive technology. He said hes always loved working on cars.

I feel great, he said. I feel terrific. Ive always wanted to do this.

He plans to open his own business.

I want to be an entrepreneur, Rivers said.

Williamson offered the graduates words of advice about looking for opportunities.

Keep your eyes open, he said. Opportunities seldom show up telling you theyre opportunities. Often, things that look like obstacles turn out to be great opportunities in disguise.

Dont let a fear of being uncomfortable prevent you from accepting a challenge. Dont focus on what could go wrong. Focus on what could go right and replace fear with curiosity.

Williamson was named head of the S.C. Technical College system in March 2014.

Before that, Williamson served as chief human capital officer for Agape Senior and president of Northeastern Technical College and Williamsburg Technical College.

Additionally, he has served as a faculty member or administrator at four community colleges and three universities in South Carolina.
The Armed Services Committee recently approved a measure requiring American women ages 18 to 26 to register for the draft and sent it to the full House for consideration. If this measure becomes law, it will do nothing to enhance gender equality in the Department of Defense that recently lifted a ban on women serving in combat.

The ASCs action typifies the inanity extant in the legislative branch. Although the measure passed by a vote of 32 to 30, Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Republican head of the committee who submitted the measure, voted against it. If it becomes a bill and makes it to the White House, President Barack Obama will sign it. Why is it inane?

First, it has been 43 years since anyone has been drafted. Over those years the Army shrank from over 1,000,000 active duty soldiers to half that number and is on track to dip to 420,000 by 2017. Additionally, the Department of Defense claims the all-volunteer force works well. Indeed it does.

Second, modern conscription of citizen soldiers began with the French Revolutions Levee en Masse in 1793 to raise a citizens army to oppose European monarchial armies marching to crush revolutionary France. Conscription also was used during the American Civil War  though unpopular on both sides. North and South allowed bounties for substitutes and many Confederate states refused to support the draft.

Washington and Richmond turned to conscription because Civil War battles were deadly confrontations between armed masses where the latest technological advances like rifled musketry and rifled artillery fostered previously unimagined slaughter.

Third, by 1914 the Industrial Age factories and transportation systems made it possible for major powers to raise, train, equip, feed and then transport immense armies. Further advances in military technology to include machine guns, rapid-fire rifles, chemical weapons and combat aircraft escalated the carnage.

Conscription heightened by nationalism and driven by competing ethnic and ideological dispositions drove armies into battles that consumed humans at a rate that made the first half of the 20th century the worlds bloodiest.

In 1945, at end of World War II, the atomic bomb and later the proliferation of nuclear weapons made that kind of warfare almost impossible for the handful of powers able to raise and sustain such armies because using them was no longer necessary or desirable given that the ultimate ridiculous conclusion would be mutual nuclear annihilation.

Fourth, while North Korea, China and to some extent Russia still field modified examples of large Industrial Age armed forces, the United States does not. North Korea chooses to have an army of 1,000,000 (twice the size of the U.S. Army) because its sole reason for being is to overwhelm South Korea. The armed forces of China and Russia are much more sophisticated but also large because these countries are major land powers sharing the same Eurasian continent.

The armed forces of the United States are transitioning to Information Age and Cyber Age warfare. The United States can use smaller forces to dominate battle spaces extending from space to the oceans depths. These forces rely on speed, stealth, information dominance, and precision munitions to find, fix, and annihilate opposing forces.

Even if needed, the United States could not generate a million-person Industrial Age armed force because America lacks the heavy industrial capacity and the wealth to do so. Given the cost of modern weapons, purchasing enough to support a force a quarter the size of our Industrial Age armies would be prohibitive. Beyond that, being nearly $20 trillion in debt means that the United States cannot afford a massive military buildup. In any case, Beijing is unlikely to lend Washington the money to fight it.

Conscription makes about as much sense as poodle skirts in the age of pant suits and eight-barrel carburetors in the era of fuel-injected engines. As for gender equality, current policies allow women who want to serve to do so in any military capacity for which they physically and mentally qualify.

Furthermore, given the size of the modern battle space, female service members have been in combat since Desert Storm, when two were captured, neither of them at the time involved in what would be considered a combat operation. Todays battlefield is multi-dimensional, not linear with the front and rear areas that previously existed.

Ultimately, the issue of conscripting women is a political charade. Republicans support it to avoid being accused of starting a war on women. Democrats do so as a matter of social justice and social engineering and not national security. Either way, drafting women is inane.
What does it say about our political process, and the judgment of the American electorate, that the likely nominees of the two major political parties are both facing legal actions involving serious allegations of malfeasance?

Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, is facing three separate class action lawsuits alleging fraud in the operation of Trump University. The lawsuits involve claims that the "university" defrauded as many as 5,000 people out of $35,000 in tuition fees for a series of real estate seminars.

A hearing in one of the cases will begin on the first day of the Republican National Convention, an event traditionally used to showcase the rectitude and leadership qualities of the party's nominee. A full-blown trial in two of the cases is expected to occur at some time before the presidential election in November.

Hillary Clinton, the likely nominee of the Democratic Party, has campaigned under the cloud of a pending FBI criminal investigation into violations of the Espionage Act. She is accused of mishandling classified information during her tenure as secretary of state. The investigation followed allegations that she used a private home-based email server for official business with the purpose of circumventing U.S. transparency laws. Recent news reports have alleged that the FBI probe has now expanded into a public corruption investigation of foreign government donations to the nonprofit Clinton Foundation.

These legal difficulties are not isolated incidents. Nor do they reflect aberrations in the candidates' characters. Both Clinton and Trump have long, well-documented, scandal-ridden histories. Collectively, they have more baggage than Samsonite.

It's not as if the voters didn't have a choice of other, scandal-free candidates who ran campaigns based on core ideological principles. Bernie Sanders continues to win elections as the Democratic Party's delegate rules keep the nomination just out of reach. Yet the voters appear to have chosen Trump and Clinton, one of whom will be the next president of the United States.

Both candidates, and the voters who elected them, represent an apex in an American political pragmatism that has had Europeans scratching their heads for nearly 200 years. In his 1840 work "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville observed that Americans "tend to results without being bound to means, and to aim at the substance through the form."

Almost 25 years later, in his 1863 essay "Life Without Principle," Thoreau wrote that Americans "do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth."

In the case of both Clinton and Trump, the voters were oblivious to or overlooked the character of each messenger because they either liked the message or believed the candidate had a better chance of winning the general election. The truth of the many allegations of ethical and legal lapses leveled against the candidates didn't seem to matter.

Trump has pandered to the conservative base of the Republican Party, while Clinton has pandered to the progressive base of the Democratic Party. Yet Hillary Clinton is no more a principled progressive than Donald Trump is a principled conservative.

The majority of principled progressives and conservatives rejected Trump and Clinton during the primary elections. So what do they do now that these two are the only "viable" options? The answer is that any option that requires you to compromise your principles is not a "viable" option.

Voters should not be expected to engage in a gymnastic cost-benefit analysis to determine which candidate is the lesser of two evils. Voting for a candidate is an endorsement of that candidate, and the voter bears some small measure of responsibility for the conduct of the candidates they elect into office.

Citizens should not feel their integrity has been compromised after exiting the voting booth. Which is why principled voters, who don't find a viable option in either of the two major party candidates, might consider a third option when they enter the voting booth in November.

-----

Nat Hentoff is a nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. He is a member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow. Nick Hentoff is a criminal defense and civil liberties attorney in New York.
Donald Trump is running a presidential campaign that often seems to be more about projecting strength than it is about specific policy positions. Trump presents himself to voters as a strong man type who would deport more than 10 million people currently living in the United States, bar Muslims from entering the country, shut down mosques, and perhaps set up a national database to track Muslims.

Given that Trump is now the presumptive Republican nominee, its worth considering how his strong man approach would play out in office. Some are skeptical of his rhetoric, arguing that Trump, if elected, would have to contend with the reality that presidents generally cannot act alone.

The Constitution divides most powers between the president and Congress: Presidents cannot go to war unilaterally, they cannot make unilateral decisions about most matters involving national security. The constitutional system of separation of powers uses checks and balances to make sure no one branch of government has concentrated power.

That is certainly correct, in theory. In practice, however, recent presidents have shown a willingness and ability to write Congress out of the equation.

A President Trump who determined to act without Congress would have recent precedent to draw on  most notoriously, the unitary executive theory relied on by the Bush administration. The unitary executive theory rejects the idea of checks and balances, claiming unchecked power for the president, even the power to set aside criminal laws.

As political scientist Jim Pfiffner observes, this theory assigns presidents powers once asserted by kings. The Bush administration invoked the unitary executive theory to justify torture and warrantless surveillance prohibited by criminal law, and to claim complete power over decisions to use military force.

It is well worth finding out what Trump  and other candidates, for that matter  think of the unitary executive theory. During the 2008 election, reporter Charlie Savage surveyed the presidential candidates to ask specific questions about the scope and limits of executive power. Of course, getting candidates on the record is not enough  President Barack Obama has not adhered to the limits on power he acknowledged when answering Savages questions as a candidate.

But it is a useful starting point to ask Trump and other candidates whether they acknowledge constitutional limits on presidential power. Some of Trumps public statements suggest he believes that constitutional limits would not bind him. For instance, during a debate, Trump said Obama lacked the courage to use military force against the Assad regime in Syria in 2013. In reality, Obama lacked constitutional authority to act alone against Syria  he needed congressional authorization, which Trump seemed to dismiss.

Trump has also said that he would order the military to carry out torture, declaring that they would follow his orders, whether lawful or not. Trump seemed to later backtrack when he said he would stay within the laws in responding to ISIS  but his new position does not immediately make sense.

Trump said hed like to change the law to allow waterboarding. But waterboarding is torture. Torture, by definition, is illegal  both under U.S. law and international law. The United States has signed a treaty prohibiting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Would Trump have the United States withdraw from the treaty? If Congress did not support him, would he act anyway?

Candidate Trump has proposed a number of radical, dangerous ideas. He is running a campaign based in large part on the promise that he would be a strong leader who would take actions other presidents have been unwilling or unable to carry out.

The U.S. constitutional system has checks in place that, in theory, can set limits on presidential power. But those checks have not functioned well during times of crisis, including in the years since 9/11  especially when Congress is passive or deferential. Its essential to consider what a President Trump could do to deliver on his promise to rule as a strong leader. The answer is that it could largely depend on how far he is willing to go.
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie (right) speaks to Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) His Excellency Ambassador Irwin LaRocque (left), at the Official Opening Ceremony of the 9th UK Caribbean Forum, at Grand Lucayan resort, Freeport, Grand Bahama, as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom the Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond (second left) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration the Hon. Fred Mitchell look on.

British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, attended the 9th UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum in The Bahamas, 29-30 April 2016, talks on trade and investment, security and justice reform and global challenges like climate change.





He was accompanied by Minister for the Caribbean, James Duddridge.





Taking place every two years, the Forum is a high-level dialogue on bilateral, regional and international issues between the UK and the Caribbean community.





At the talks, the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Caribbean reaffirmed the special relationship that exists between them.





The visit follows on from a series of activities recently carried out by the UK to support the Caribbean, including:: supporting a conference in the Caribbean last month with representatives from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) on how to harness the economic opportunities presented by the recent influx of sargassum seaweed in the region; .providing a 5.6 million package to enable sustainable "blue (maritime related) growth in Commonwealth Small Island Developing States, including the Caribbean, during 2016-17; committing to supporting the Caribbean in facing the global health challenge of Zika virus, by first establishing a bespoke project team of UK public health experts to work with the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA).

During his visit to Jamaica and Grenada last year, the Prime Minister announced a package of additional UK support that included: 300m for the establishment of a UK Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund; 30m to improve the disaster and climate resilience of health facilities; and 30m for economic development to support private sector development and to improve public sector effectiveness.
Ricardo McFee was denied bail and remanded for his own safety.

A 28-year-old Redemption Sharpes man has been slapped with firearm and ammunition charges, following a joint police operation at Rose Place, Kingstown, May 4.





Riccardo McFee, a labourer, has been charged with possession of a .380 Glock Pistol serial no. GBS 749, without licence.





He is also charged with having 50 rounds of ammunition without licence.





McFee pleaded not guilty to the charges when he appeared before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne at the Serious Offences Court on Monday. He was remanded following objections to bail by Senior Prosecutor Adolphus Delpleche.





Delpleche asked that McFee be remanded for his own safety.





The Prosecutor noted that McFee had told the police he had been on the run since 2007 as his life was in danger.





Delpleche also highlighted that there was an ongoing joint investigation between the police here and those in Grenada, in relation to the gun McFee is accused of possessing.





McFee is expected to return to the Serious Offences Court on May 17, when the court is expected to be provided with an update on the matter.





McFee was taken to court on the firearm and ammunition charges about one week after Ottley Hall resident Keron Hadaway had appeared in the same court charged with having, without licences, 69 rounds of .22 ammunition, 7 rounds of .40 ammunition and 14 rounds of 5.56 ammunition.





Hadaway had pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of $20,000 with reporting conditions. He was also ordered to surrender his travel documents.





Hadaway is accused of possessing the ammunition at Ottley Hall on May 2. His matter has been adjourned to May 12.





Both matters have surfaced in the wake of an upsurge in criminal activity here in recent weeks.




Digicel male employees about to leave corporate office to deliver roses to patients at the MCMH.

Female patients, especially mothers, at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, were pleasantly surprised when the male managers and staff of Digicel SVG invaded the hospital on Friday May 6th, and brought them some early Mothers Day cheer.





The Digicel employees presented red roses to the females, and thanked them for the important role they play as mothers, many of them making daily sacrifices in order to care for their children.





The visibly moved females thanked Digicel for recognizing them and for appreciating the role of mothers in the development of the country.





Additionally, three lucky winners each made good use of their prizes of opportunities for lunch for two at the French Verandah Restaurant on Mothers Day.





The three, Donique Culzac of Lowmans Leeward, Fay Patrick of Chester Cottage and Eliska Bowens of Largo Height were serenaded by Digicels Brand ambassador Lancelot Mad Skull Gloster-Scott, who sang his Vincy Mas 2016 release,  Mama Doh Worry, and also presented themwith red roses.





The winners were randomly selected after qualifying for the promotion by topping up 15 dollars or more, paying their bills in full and on time or signing up for any of Digicels smart plans.





These latest activities formed part of Digicels 2016 Mothers Day promotion dubbed Mama Doh Worry, which also saw Digicel rewarding needy mothers in all fifteen constituencies across St. Vincent and the Grenadines with free groceries, free Digicel services, hygiene products and also had up to 100 dollars paid on any of their utility bills.





The week long promotion ran from Friday April 29th through to Friday May 6th.
PC Giovanni Charles will be appropriately sent off by his Police Officer colleagues.

Police Constable 602 Giovanni Charles will receive full police and military honours at his funeral service, scheduled to commence at 12:30pm, Saturday 14th May (tomorrow), at the New Testament Church of God, Wilson Hill, Kingstown.





This was confirmed by the Royal SVG Police Force, which said further that a large contingent of police officers and military service members are expected to march from the Central Police Headquarters to the church. The contingent will also form part of the procession from the church to the Kingstown Cemetery, where PC Charles will be interred.





THE VINCENTIAN understands also, that officers from the various departments/divisions of the Police Force will line the funeral route.





PC Charles, 25, died as a result of stab wounds he received on Monday May 2, while he was providing service at a fair at the Belmont Government School.





The suspect in the stabbing, Maverick Joseph, an 18-year-old resident of Belmont, has since been charged with causing his death, and has been remanded in custody.





PC 602 Giovanni Charles is survived by his father, Douglas Pompey and mother Susan Charles.
Left: Veron Primus, pictured here in a NYPD mug shot, has resurfaced as a person of tremendous interest in the alleged murder of an honours student in New York. Right: Family and friends of Chanel Petro Nixon are still in search of justice for the crime against their loved one.

New Yorks television station WPIX-TV says its investigative team, PIX11 Investigates, has learned that the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Brooklyn District Attorneys Office are reviewing multiple "cold cases in New York City to determine whether Vincentian-born murder suspect, Veron Primus, could be a serial killer.





WPIX-TV said on Monday that PIX11 Investigates is working along with Crime Watch Daily on the unsolved 2006 strangulation of a Brooklyn teen honours student, Chanel Petro Nixon.





"This is a big one, a law enforcement source told PIX11. "We are pursuing every cold case that may be linked to him.





WPIX-TV said the 2006 case involving Nixon, a former classmate of Primus, "has exploded to the forefront again, after a young woman was rescued April 15 from a mountain home on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.





According to WPIX-TV , Mewanah Hadaway told investigators that Primus, 29, locked her in a wooden enclosure for three months.





The television station said Hadaway was dating Primus last summer "and told detectives he showed her a 2006 news clipping from the Petro-Nixon case.





WPIX-TV said Crime Watch Daily flew PIX11s Mary Murphy to St. Vincent and the Grenadines "to get the back story.





The station said Murphy interviewed the former captive.





To date, Primus, deported to St. Vincent and the Grenadines last June after completing state prison time in New York for violating an order of protection secured by an ex-girlfriend, has been charged with one murder in St. Vincent and the Grenadines  the November 2015 fatal stabbing of real estate agent Sharleen Greaves.





WPIX-TV said investigators in New York and the Caribbean "think Primus has exhibited a pattern of behaviour with ex-girlfriends and other females that involves rage.





And it was evident that the NYPD was also interested in the arrest of Primus. They arrived in the country and interviewed Miss Hadaway in April, and returned a week later to question Primus, talking to him for 45 minutes before he requested a lawyer, the NY Police officers reported.





In fact, they described the interview as fruitful, but that he did not confess to the crime, the Mail Online reported on Wednesday 11.





Kidnap victim speaks up





It is said that on April 15, St. Vincent and the Grenadines police found a 24-year-old woman locked in a small room in the house.





Hadaway said he refused to let her leave on New Years Day, according to WPIX-TV.





When she tried to escape, she told WPIX-TV that he "repeatedly assaulted her.





Primus was accused on April 29 of kidnapping and rape, the station said, a week after he was charged with murder of the real estate agent.





Hadaway, according to WPIX-TV, said Primus even took cell phone video of a grave that he dug, and threatened to bury her in it.





The television station said Primus has "long been the main person of interest in the 2006 strangulation of 16-year-old Petro-Nixon.





"She knew Primus from middle school, the station said. "Their families attended a Seventh Day Adventist Church [in downtown Brooklyn]. Primus was three years older than Chanel.





Petro Nixon dead, not missing





On Fathers Day 2006, WPIX-TV said Petro-Nixon told her mother, Lucita, and her best friend, that she was going to meet Primus and file job applications at an Applebees restaurant on Fulton Street, downtown Brooklyn.





Chanel never came home, said the station, adding that detectives initially characterized her as a runaway on a police report.





Petro-Nixons friend said Primus claimed the girl "stood him up, according to WPIX-TV.





Four days later, Chanels body was found in a trash bag on the sidewalk outside 212 Kingston Ave., Brooklyn, less than a mile from her home, the television station said.





It said a sanitation man had tried to lift the bag, and told a woman resident on the block she needed to break up the trash.





But, when she opened the bag, she discovered Chanels body, WPIX-TV said.





"It was folded over in a fetal position, Brooklyn North homicide detective, Chris Scandole, recalled to WPIX-TV in 2014, when the television station reviewed the unsolved case.





Media reports also said that the straight-A student was found with a chemical scar on her leg, which some investigators believe may have been from the bleach that was used to kill her.





The Petro-Nixon case was featured on Americas Most Wanted and the Nancy Grace programme on CNN.

"Now, because of a rescue in the Caribbean, there could be new hope for a resolution in the Petro-Nixon case, WPIX-TV said.
Bernard Ash stood in awe as a team demolished the building he had called home for the last 50 years.

by Carlyle Douglas





"All I know is that a surveyor came here last week and took measurements and now they breaking down me house.





This was the lamentation of Pauls Avenue resident and popular newspaper vendor Bernard Ash, as he watched a crew of fellow Pauls Avenue residents demolish what he said was his place of abode for the past fifty years.

According to Ash, he has lived on the property all his life, and that it was also the place of abode of his mother and an uncle.





The property lies opposite the business place owned and operated by long standing member of the Pauls Avenue community, Mr. Grafton Mutt Stephenson.





Another resident, who gave her name simply as Josette, was visibly irate. Her sentiments gave the impression that she may be a relative of Ash, though this was not confirmed.





"We born and grow up here, and these people just come down from foreign and claiming Possessory Title, and we never seen them before, she told THE VINCENTIAN.





When THE VINCENTIAN arrived on the scene, there were two females seemingly supervising the demolition, but they moved out of camera view, avoiding any attempt to solicit a comment from them.





Many residents with whom THE VINCENTIAN spoke, expressed concern for Ash, with one describing him as "an affable character always willing to help.





One resident disclosed that he had taken it upon himself to report the matter to the police, but was told that Ash should file a report if he thought there was any misdeed committed.





Up to press time, there was no confirmation that Ash had made a report to the police.





The incident has thrown the Pauls Avenue community into a state of disagreement over who has right to the property.




Honouree Winston Michael Greaves (seated) with senior co-workers and Management (from left) Bryan Alexander, Fitzroy Phillips, CEO Ms Pamela Veira, Director Audrey de Freitas, Godfrey King and Charles Gabriel.

Fifty unbroken years of service to the same entity is perhaps becoming a rarity, and when it does occur, is therefore worthy of recognition .





Mr. Winston Charles Greaves was so recognised and honoured by the Management of P.H. Veira & Co. Ltd.

Greaves, a resident of Queens Drive, began working with P. H. Veira & Co. Ltd. on May 8, 1966 as a wrapper, at the companys supermarket. He was then 16 years old.





His primary duty was to assist the cashier to place customers purchases in shopping bags; but he found himself, as time went on, filling in for the cashier when she went to lunch.





He worked in the supermarket from 1966 to 1972 before be was transferred to and made manager of the Companys heavy hardware and grocery store in Bequia.





Mr. Greaves did two stints there: 1972 to 1980 and 1983 to 1987.





His return to the mainland in 1987 saw him being reassigned to the companys modernised supermarket as a supervisor. He continued in that position until he was transferred to the P.H. Veira Hardware, Kingstown, where he continues to work as the Supervisor.





Chief Executive Officer of P.H. Veira & Co. Ltd. Ms Pamela Veira, in expressing gratitude to Mr. Greaves on behalf of the owners, management and staff of the Company, said that the Company has made many strides because of his unquestionable, dedicated service to the company.





For his part, the honoree said he was pleased to have worked with the company for five decades.





"I enjoy working with other workers, meeting people and making them satisfied, he said, adding that he enjoyed working in Bequia most of all.





Winston Greaves and his wife Stephanie are the proud parents of four children, two boys and two girls.





THE VINCENTIAN joins in recognising Michael Greaves outstanding accomplishment, and wishes him and his family continued good health and success.
(From left): Incoming chairman Sir Louis Straker and outgoing chairman Alva Baptiste at last Sundays meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the OECS.

Sir Louis Straker, this countrys Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, has appealed to his colleague ministers to be patient with him.





Sir Louis made the plea as he assumed Chairmanship of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, at a meeting of the Council which convened at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Conference Room, Sunday 8th May, 2016.





St. Lucias Alva Baptiste was the outgoing Chairman.





Addressing the opening ceremony of the meeting, Sir Louis expressed hope that the substantive issues on the agenda would have been dealt with, in the interest of advanciang the integration process.





He reflected on the gains made since the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, especially as they related to the free movement of people and circulation of goods within the sub-region.





Straker wants to ensure that the OECS continues to speak with one voice at CARICOM, the Organisation of American States and the United Nations, and anticipates that the body would be distinguished by its actions.

Go forward, the new chairman called, for "joint commitment to a more strategic approach in foreign policy, including a "cost effective operation of the OECS Mission in Cuba.





Outgoing Chairman Baptiste ranked it as a "privilege to have served as Chairman.





He reflected on the inclusion of Martinique to the OECS fold as a "rendezvous in history.





He also pointed to the efforts towards presenting a unified approach to the Small Islands Developing States Framework Convention at the conference in France, last December. That gathering focussed on Climate Change.

Baptiste expressed the wish that the pace towards integration continue to be "breathless.





Sundays session served as a forerunner to the staging of the 19th Meeting of CARICOMs Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).
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/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Days of Dagestan, running in Baku, were solemnly opened in the capitals Heydar Aliyev Palace with participation of leading Dagestani art masters on May 12.



The ceremony was attended by prominent public figures, representatives of culture, art and science, and diplomatic missions.

An exhibition by Dagestans masters, where they featured national costumes, paintings and interesting folk art works, aroused a great interest of the guests.

Azerbaijans Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov, who addressed the ceremony, said that the fraternal ties between the peoples, as well as centuries-old historical ties and very close cultures and customs play an important role in the development of bilateral relations between the two sides.

Asadov noted that friendly bridge between Azerbaijan and Russia is being held through fraternal Dagestan, which is a federal subject of Russia.

Last year the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to about $2 billion, while between Azerbaijan and Dagestan, this figure amounted to $61 million. We believe that the two countries have significant potential for turnover growth, Asadov said.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, in turn, emphasized that Azerbaijan and Dagestan historically related to each other.



He said Azerbaijan plays a strategic role in the foreign policy of Russia, stressing the role of inter-regional relations.

Azerbaijan and Dagestans city of Derbent cooperate in many areas, in particular Azerbaijan has participated in the restoration of the ancient city of Derbent.

Following the speeches, the guests enjoyed colorful show, performed by famous Dagestani actors, dancers and groups.

As part of the Days of Dagestan, the countrys theater groups will perform in Khachmaz, Balakan, Zagatala and Gusar.
/By Azernews/

By Amina Nazarli

Connoisseurs and lovers of horses indeed have heard a lot about the beauty and grace of majestic Karabakh horses from Azerbaijan.

They are considered one of rare species in the world and the oldest one in Asia and the Caucasus, being a source of pride and dignity for Azerbaijanis over the centuries.

Today, beautiful Karabakh horses are known as a special breed throughout the world.

The horses, famous for their dense chestnut color, recently showed their brilliant performance at the celebration of the 90th jubilee of British Queen Elizabeth II reign.

The celebration programme saw troupe of dancers from Azerbaijan, and riders who perform acrobatics on Karabakh mountain horses.



Synthesis of the elements of the national dance shown with higher horse breeding composition grasped huge interest of the participants. The moderator announced the composition to be a favorite of the show.

Karabakh breed horses were also presented at the celebration of the anniversary of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II reign in 2012. Before, the English queen received a golden horse of Karabakh as a gift in 1956. The Karabakh stallion named Zaman went down in history as the first Azerbaijani breed presented at the London castle.

The Queen already is known for her love and passion for horses, who is successfully breeding animals which have gone on to win more than thousands races. On her fourth birthday, the young Princess Elizabeth first experienced to ride on, when she was given a Shetland pony called Peggy by her grandfather.

As part of the four-day celebration party lasting for over 90 minutes, 900 horses and more than 1,500 participants from around the UK and the world will create a joyful event for the Queen.

The Karabakh horses are valued for their resistance in mountainous terrain, mild temper and dense chestnut color.

Unfortunately, the number of Karabakh horses began to decline in the backdrop of the civil and ethnic wars in the Caucasus and Karabakh region. At the beginning of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, horses constantly moved from one place to another, and it was one of the reasons for the dramatic population declines of these amazing creatures.

Now the breeds largest and purebred herds living in the dense forests of Sheki region.



In 2007, the Agriculture Ministry developed a program for the conservation and growing of the breed for the next 15 years.
Relations between the friendly countries of Azerbaijan and Iran are developing rapidly. The two countries enjoy excellent mutual cooperation in all spheres, including religious and cultural ones, said Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations Mubariz Gurbanli as he met with chairman of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman.





Mr Gurbanli noted that national leader Heydar Aliyev always paid great attention to the relations between the two countries. President Ilham Aliyev today continues this policy.





He underlined that Azerbaijan was one of the model countries for tolerance and multicultural values to the world. He highlighted the government`s work to preserve and promote religious tolerance and prevent radicalism in the country. Mr Gurbanli said all countries must join their efforts in combating radicalism and terrorism.





The Chairman of the Committee then spoke of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.





Mr Ebrahimi Torkaman recalled meetings between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Iran last year, saying these meetings played a vital role in developing the two countries` ties.





He also expressed Iran`s interest in expanding cultural relations with Azerbaijan. The days of Iranian cinema are underway in Azerbaijan. An exhibition of photos of Azerbaijani mosques will be held in Tabriz on May 22, he added.




Leading Iranian vehicle manufacturer Iran Khodro Company (IKCO) has signed a letter of understanding with an Azerbaijani company to assemble completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles in Azerbaijan, said a report.



IKCO would not make any investment in Azerbaijan but the partnership with the Azeri company is limited to technical and engineering services to establish an assembly line, Saeed Tafazzoli deputy head of IKCO for export and international affairs, was quoted as saying in an Iran Daily News report.



He further noted that studies have been conducted to assess the Azerbaijan market adding IKCO products are well-known in the country.



IKCO has produced a number of vehicles in Azerbaijan including Samand, which has been among the most popular passenger vehicles in the country given its adaptability to the cold weather of Azerbaijan.



"Iran Khodro used to export vehicles' complete built up (CBU) to Azerbaijan," Tafazzoli stated, adding that in view of the good market in Azerbaijan, IKCO has decided to set up an assembly line there.



He said that with the establishment of the assembly line, Azerbaijan will turn into IKCO's export hub in the region.



Tafazzoli cited Samand, Soren and Runna as the vehicles to be assembled in the first phase while the production of commercial vehicles for public transport fleet of Azerbaijan has also been predicted.



The line is set to be established in Neftchala city with the direct investment of Azeri side, added the report.
A delegation from Chinas Yinchuan City recently visited Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority (Dafza) to discuss potential avenues of collaboration and the prevailing business and investment environments of China and Dubai.



Vice mayor Guo Bai Chun, deputy mayor of Yinchuan City, the provincial capital of China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, led a high-level group of international affairs, financial, administrative and health officials committed to forging strong ties in various social and economic areas, said a statement from Dafza.



The visiting delegates were received by Dr Mohammed Al Zarooni, director general of Dubai Airport Freezone (Dafza) and also included Zhao Bo, commissioner of foreign affairs; Tian Yong Hua, director of health commission; Yong Hui, commissioner of treasury; Yang Zhao Hua, commissioner of administration and audit; and Yu De Wai, director of secretarial office, it added.



Over the past years Dafza has witnessed a significant rise in the number of Chinese companies interested in doing business with the free zone due to our strategic location, advanced infrastructure and services, and the success of the Chinese enterprises we have been hosting, said the statement.



Al Zarooni held discussions with deputy mayor Bai Chun and his group regarding Dafzas capabilities to meet Yinchuan's business and investment needs and to ensure mutually beneficial growth moving forward, it stated.



The UAE is China's largest export market in the Gulf, and Dafza has conducted informative seminars in China to outline the benefits of partnering with Dubai and specifically Dafza and also using the free zone as an entry point to the thriving Gulf and broader Middle East and North Africa (Mena) markets, it said.



China is currently among Dafzas primary target markets under its ongoing global expansion plan, it added.  TradeArabia News Service
Consul general of the UAE in Los Angeles, Abdulla Alsaboosi, and Emirati students studying in the US, witnessed Solar Impulse 2 take-off yesterday (May 12) on the next stage of its journey around the world.



The next stop will see it touch down in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before continuing its journey towards the eventual finish-line in Abu Dhabi, said a statement.



Prior to take off, the consul general wished the pilots safe travels and Hasan Al Redaini, UAE national traveling with the mission, spoke to the group of students about the importance of Solar Impulse 2 to the UAE and Masdar, it said.



Making its way back to Abu Dhabi, Solar Impulse 2 will head across the US and towards New York from where it will traverse the Atlantic Ocean. It will make stops at key destinations in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East before returning to the UAEs capital to complete its global journey later this year, it added.



Alsaboosi said: The UAE, through Masdar, and Solar Impulse share a visionary spirit and a common goal of advancing renewable energy. Therefore, I am delighted to be here to be able to send this beacon of innovation onto the next stage of its journey.



This trip also underscores Abu Dhabis leadership in sustainable and clean energy. I am proud of the UAE and Masdar for supporting such an innovative initiative that demonstrates what can be done for a better, cleaner and sustainable future. I wish the pilots a safe journey as they make their way towards the finish line in Abu Dhabi, he added.



Al Redaini said: One of Solar Impulses most significant activities is youth engagement, inspiring young people to adopt an innovative mindset. I am very happy to see the same reaction everywhere around the world: curiosity and inspiration.



Being around Emiratis in the US makes me happy knowing our country is supporting innovation that has a real impact on mindsets of young people right across the globe, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed, the Lebanese group said on Friday, the biggest blow to the Iranian-backed organisation since its military chief was killed in 2008.



Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and assessed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.



A Hezbollah statement did not say when, where or how he was killed, though it cited him saying he would return from Syria either victorious or as "a martyr".



The Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen earlier reported Badreddine had been killed in an Israeli air strike in Syria.



There was no immediate confirmation from Israel which has struck Hezbollah targets inside Syria several times during the country's five-year conflict.



A US Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.



Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander, Imad Moughniyah, was indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri.



He was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.



For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments by operating clandestinely.



The U.S. Treasury statement also said he had led Hezbollah ground offensives in the Syrian town of al-Qusayr in February 2013, a critical battle in the war when Hezbollah fighters defeated Syrian rebels in an area near the Syrian-Lebanese border.



Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict.



Hezbollah accuses Israel of carrying out the 2008 killing of Moughniyah, who was killed by a bomb in Damascus. - Reuters
Abu Dhabi Police recently organised a workshop named Reconciling Objectives of Employees and Institutions, discussing mechanisms for engaging employees in the Knowledge Council initiative.



This initiative was launched by the Abu Dhabi Excellence Programme (ADEP) at the General Secretariat of The Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, with the contribution of 27 governmental bodies, said a statement.



The initiative encourages Abu Dhabi Government employees to share knowledge and experience with others to gain new skills. Among the initiatives further objectives are spreading a culture of excellence and the fostering of cooperation with other governmental bodies, it said.



In his opening speech, Colonel Thani Butti Al Shamesi, head of the training department at Abu Dhabi Police stressed the importance of working to bridge the gap between various points of view and to unify objectives among the institutions of the Abu Dhabi Government, including those working under its umbrella.



He pointed out the essential role of channelling the capabilities of the employees at these institutions by turning them into a cohesive team, to facilitate the integration of efforts within these institutions.



Additionally, Al Shamesi stressed the importance of organising these workshops regularly to foster partnerships and enhance the process of exchanging knowledge and views. He pointed out that the resulting culture of excellence contributes to providing the best services, in accordance with the vision of the Abu Dhabi Government.



During the workshop, Major Mohammed Nasser Al Esaaei, chief of employee performance evaluation section, discussed the mechanisms for engaging employees in the objective-setting process for the institutions, as well as the ways of formulating the announcement of these objectives, in a way that meets the desired outcomes.



He also stressed the importance of matching employees objectives with those of their institutions, as a workforce is the best positioned to deliver the ultimate image and embodiment of their institutions vision.



Participants agreed that similar workshops may strengthen employee experience, as they enable them to enhance their work. Laila Al Zarouni, head of the training and occupational development department at ZonesCorp (Higher Corporation for Specialized Economic Zones) in Abu Dhabi, said that based on the experience of the Abu Dhabi Police the workshop was important for reviewing opinions, which helps to continuously develop its systems.



Mohammed Hasan Al Ameri, chief of the skills development and Emiratisation section at Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, said: This session and other workshops are important for transferring knowledge between the institutions under the Abu Dhabi Government. It is a distinguished initiative for supporting excellence in the UAE in general.



Saeed Matar Al Mazroui, chief of the training and employee development section at Al Ain Municipality, said: This initiative highlights the commitment of all participating institutions to exchange their excellent practices with other Abu Dhabi Government institutions.  TradeArabia News Service
Editor:

Judge Ruth Neely has served as municipal judge in Pinedale for 21 years. Neely has a track record of fairness and dedication to public service. In all her years serving as judge she has never been disciplined nor had a complaint filed against her. She has proven herself to be a friend to the citizens of Pinedale and has been noted and commended for not only her strong character but also her devotion to the law.

All that changed on Dec. 5, 2014. Asked by a reporter with the Sublette Examiner if she was excited to be able to begin to perform same-sex marriages, she simply replied with a statement of her Christian belief about marriage. For those beliefs Neely has gotten in trouble even though she was never asked to perform a same sex marriage nor had ever refused to do one. Neelys beliefs were enough to get her into trouble, even though our Constitution guarantees us the right of free speech and freedom to practice our faith.

It is important to note that magistrates have discretionary capacity as to whether or not they perform any marriages. Moreover, in the state of Wyoming it is very easy for almost anyone to get deputized by the county to perform a wedding. It is clear that this is not about a same-sex couple not being able to find someone to do their wedding -- it is about forcing someone to sanction a practice they find wrong.

Neely should be commended for her years of faithful service, not vilified for her Christian conscience.
ROCK SPRINGS  An argument over $10 has left one man dead and another charged with first-degree murder.

Charles Kenzell Carter, 27, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was charged with first-degree murder this week in the Rock Springs Circuit Court of Judge Craig L. Jones. Bond was set at $1.5 million. A preliminary hearing is set for at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Rock Springs Circuit Court, 3rd Judicial District.

The charges stem from the Monday night stabbing death of Toboris Lee, 20, of Batesville, Mississippi.

On Wednesday, Jones asked Carter if he was under the influence of any substance or had a mental condition which would affect his understanding of the proceedings. Carter said yes.

He told the judge he didnt recognize whats being said.

Carter told the court he is bipolar, suffers from schizophrenia and needs to contact his family in North Carolina so he can access his medications.

Ive been trying to get home from this job, he said.

Setting bail

Sweetwater County Chief Deputy Attorney Teresa Thybo said Wednesday she wanted to continue with the proceedings.

At this point we need to advise him of his rights and set bond, she said. He seems perfectly competent to whats being said in the court today.

After the judge read Carter his rights and the charge against him, Carter said he understood and would prefer for the court to appoint him an attorney.

The court asked the prosecution what it would determine an appropriate bond amount.

Thybo addressed Carters criminal history, which includes convictions in North Carolina for robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, going armed for the terror of the people, possession with intent to sell a controlled substance and assault on a female.

These factors definitely weighed toward him being a flight risk, she said.

Carters lack of connection to the community also factored into the prosecution asking for a $1.5 million bond.

He was merely here for the day. He has nothing in this community to remain for, Thybo said.

Deadly argument

Carter and Lee arrived in Rock Springs with a group of people who were selling a cleaning product door to door, the groups supervisor Daniel Hollowell told police at the scene. They attempted to apply for a transient merchant license, but did not go through the proper channels, Rock Springs Police Chief Dwane Pacheco said Tuesday.

While in the van, Carter said he and Lee got into an argument. Carter said Lee didnt intend to pay back the $10 he owed him. Others in the van began laughing, and Carter said it made him mad, according to the affidavit of probable cause. Carter told officers he got out of the van and that was all he remembered.

The group had stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. One of Carters co-workers, Ricky Lee Smith Jr., said the two were arguing and so he tried to calm Carter and separated the two, according to court documents.

Carter told officers that once inside the store, he thought Lee was about to hit him, so he pushed Lee.

Back outside, Carter said Lee confronted him again, making him feel threatened, so he defended himself and pushed Lee, according to court documents. After that, Carter told officers he blacked out.

Another co-worker, Bryan Cunningham, said no punches were thrown, but Carter stabbed Lee, according to court documents.

Cunningham told investigators he heard Lee say, Im hit.

Carter allegedly used a 6-inch folding pocketknife to stab Lee in right side of the abdomen, the middle of the chest and the left shoulder, according to court documents, which also state Lee had a cut on his left eyebrow, the right side of his back and on the palm of his left hand.

Cunningham said he saw a bloodied Lee walk into the store and collapse, while Carter remained outside woofing, acting mad and talking loud, according to court documents.

Police arrival

Officers began arriving on scene around 9:27 p.m. Sweetwater County Sheriffs Deputy Sheriff Brandy Dick found several people outside the store yelling and pointing to a man with a pocketknife, identified as Carter.

She saw a red spot on Carters shirt, which she recognized as blood, and found a partially extended folding pocketknife in the area where she first saw Carter. The blade appeared to have a reddish substance on it consistent with the blood, as well as fatty tissue consistent with biological matter, according to court documents.

Police Cpl. Brenda Baker entered the store and saw Lee lying in a pool of blood with people performing CPR.

An emergency medical services crew transported Lee to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, but could not revive him. Lee was pronounced dead at 11:03 p.m. Monday.

A first-degree murder conviction can result in the death penalty or life in prison.
DOUGLAS  State lawmakers did not bite Thursday morning on a proposal to allow Wyoming cities and towns to tax food, although legislators said they are interested in giving local governments more flexibility on collecting sales taxes.

Sen. Ogden Driskill told colleagues on the Joint Revenue Committee that he thought a food tax could help communities  especially small ones with a gas station and a bar or two  raise new revenue at a time when money from the state has declined. Lower energy revenues have legislative committees discussing how to trim back the government or generate revenue during the months before the 2017 session.

Driskill, a Republican from Devils Tower, wanted the food tax to be optional and only implemented if voters approved it at the polls.

But most of the people who testified before the committee at the Wyoming State Fairgrounds opposed a food tax.

It got beat up pretty bad, Driskill said about the proposal.

Wyoming had a statewide sales tax on groceries until about 10 years ago. The Wyoming Association of Churches worked to exempt food from taxes because low-income people end up spending a larger portion of their incomes on groceries than others. A food tax is an additional burden, said Chesie Lee, the groups executive director.

It is a necessity to have food, she said. You dont choose to have food or not. That places an extra burden for people on limited incomes. We advocate for the poor.

Shelley Simonton of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities said her organization believes that if the Legislature is going to remove the exemption on the food tax, it should, in fact, go back the way it came as a statewide tax.

Some parts of the state have communities separated by just a street. Casper, for instance, is surrounded by Mills, Bar Nunn and Evansville. If one community decided to tax food, shoppers would take their business to the other communities. That would pit communities against each other, she said.

We dont believe right now that is the best situation for the state of Wyoming, she said.

Chris Brown of the Wyoming Retail Association said his organization had similar concerns.

The reason why is because of the uneven playing field, he said.

Lawmakers on the 14-member committee, which only has one Democrat, said they did not want to raise taxes on Wyomingites during this challenging economic time.

Seventy-five seats in the 90-member Legislature are up for election this year.

After the discussion, Driskill said he plans to sit with the Association of Municipalities and others to discuss ways to make a food tax more palatable.

Lawmakers discussed the constraints around optional sales taxes that communities can adopt. The state sales tax is 4 percent. Communities can tax an additional 3 percent, although no community in Wyoming has a 7 percent sales tax, said Scott Badley of the Association of Municipalities.

The additional 3 optional percent taxes fall into different categories. The so-called fifth penny category is for government operations and is divided among cities and counties. The so-called sixth penny tax is for special projects such as a road or library. The seventh-cent option is for government operations, specific projects or economic development, Badley said.

The committee ordered its nonpartisan staff to provide it more information on the optional taxes communities can implement.

Simonton, of the Association of Municipalities, said some communities are more interested in adopting additional sales taxes than others. For instance, Park County tried to adopt a fifth penny and the community rejected it. Teton County has a fifth and sixth.

Its really locally specific, she said.
DOUGLAS  If Wyomingites paid sales tax on items they purchased online, between $23 million and $46 million would be added to state coffers each year, Wyoming Department of Revenue Director Dan Noble said this week.

The money is especially needed at a time when revenues from oil, gas and coal are down significantly. Noble discussed national efforts to implement a tax on Internet sales with members of the Joint Revenue Committee on Thursday at the Wyoming State Fairgrounds.

The committee met Wednesday and Thursday to discuss ways the state could save and raise money. Ideas ranged from increasing public school classroom sizes to raising taxes on wind energy and giving local governments more flexibility with the sales tax. The committee discussed proposals and received reports on taxation from people such as Noble and hasnt yet advanced any proposals to the full Legislature.

Rep. Mike Madden, a committee chairman, said the ultimate solution to lining up state revenues with expenses will be a combination of tapping into the states rainy day fund and other measures.

We cant solve it by cutting expenses alone, the Buffalo Republican said. We cant solve it by raising taxes alone.

Noble, the Revenue Department administrator, said neighboring South Dakota enacted a law to collect taxes on goods purchased online. Almost 70 percent of that states revenues come from sales taxes, he said.

A group of online retailers have sued the state, arguing that the law is an unconstitutional expansion of powers and that the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s decided states cant collect taxes on out-of-state retailers without a physical presence in the state.

Two bills in Congress would require online retailers to collect taxes and send the money to the states, Noble said. In the U.S. Senate, the Marketplace Fairness Act is sponsored by Wyomings Republican Sen. Mike Enzi. A similar bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is in the House.

Enzis bill was introduced twice and sent over a year ago to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, where no action has been taken on the measure. Enzi continues to speak with colleagues in the House and Senate to build support for the bill, said his spokesman, Max DOnofrio.

Supporters of taxing online sales say brick-and-mortar retailers are at a disadvantage. They note more and more products are sold online, meaning sales tax revenues could diminish over time.

Barring action from Congress, the Supreme Court will rule on this, Noble said.
We didnt want just us three safe, we wanted all four safe, he said. It wasnt a choice for us, we had to go get Kendell.
Wyoming education superintendent Jillian Balow says the federal government shouldnt tell state educators how to handle sensitive issues such as which restrooms transgender students should use.

The Obama administration told public schools across the U.S. on Friday to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

Balow says its critical to recognize and reasonably accommodate the uniqueness of all students. But she says federal bureaucrats shouldnt interfere.

School officials in Laramie recently spent months working on a transgender restroom policy. They suspended work in April as the issue took hold nationally.

The federal governments guidance was met with tearful praise from parents of transgender students.

Its heartbreaking that these kids are losing their lives because they cant be accepted, Hope Tyler, who has a transgender son at a Raleigh high school, said in reference to suicides among transgender people. Somebody has to speak for the kids.

The directive from the U.S. Justice and Education Departments represents an escalation in the fast-moving dispute over what is becoming the civil rights issue of the day.

One by one, conservative political leaders thundered against it and President Barack Obama.

This is the most outrageous example yet of the Obama administration forcing its liberal agenda on states that roundly reject it, said Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.

The guidance was issued just days after the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other a state law requiring transgender people to use the public bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate. The law applies to schools and many other places.

While supporters say the measure is needed to protect women and children from sexual predators, the Justice Department and others argue the threat is practically nonexistent and the law discriminatory.

The guidance issued on Friday is not legally binding, since the question of whether federal civil rights law protects transgender people has not been definitively answered by the courts and may ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.

But schools that refuse to comply could be hit with civil rights lawsuits from the government and could face a cutoff of federal aid to education.

Texas lieutenant governor said the state is prepared to forfeit billions rather than let the Obama administration dictate restroom policy for its 5.2 million students.

We will not be blackmailed by the presidents 30 pieces of silver, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.

Rodney Cavness, superintendent of the Port Neches-Groves school district in Texas, said, When I get that letter, Ill throw it away.

Similarly, GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said schools should disregard the directive, which he derided as social engineering.

Governors and top leaders in other conservative states railed against the guidance but stopped short of telling schools to ignore it.

The last time I checked, the United States is not ruled by a king who can bypass Congress and the courts and force school-age boys and girls to share the same bathrooms and locker rooms, North Carolinas Republican Senate leader Phil Berger said.

And Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin said: It is difficult to imagine a more absurd federal overreach into a local issue.

However, Democratic Govs. Peter Shumlin of Vermont and Jay Inslee of Washington praised the Obama directive, saying it was consistent with their own policies.

I applaud the Obama administration for establishing policies that will better provide all our children an opportunity to thrive, Inslee said.

The federal guidance may portend more court fights over transgender bathroom access.

Already, officials from eight states  West Virginia, Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Maine and North Carolina  signed on to a brief in recent days asking a federal appeals court to re-hear a case in which it sided with a Virginia transgender student seeking to use the boys bathroom.

The new guidance says public schools must treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records indicate a different sex.

Some school systems around the country already accommodate transgender students when it comes to bathroom use.

Nearly half the schools in the 53,000-student Seattle district have gender-neutral restrooms, and students can also use the bathrooms in the nurses office, spokeswoman Stacy Howard said.

The National School Boards Association has published guidelines for its members in dealing with transgender students. It stops short of telling them exactly what to do, instead advising them to work with their attorneys to determine the best course amid a shifting legal landscape.

Francisco Negron, chief attorney for the organization, said there is a disconnect between what is happening in various states and what the federal government is demanding, and school districts are caught in the middle.

Tyler, whose 15-year-old transgender son attends the Raleigh high school, said she cried when she heard about the Obama administration directive.

It means a lot to our kid. People dont realize that these kids in schools werent having any bathroom issues before, she said.

Since the passage of North Carolinas bathroom law, Tylers son has been doing his schoolwork under a special arrangement that allows him to take classes mostly from home.

Before the new law, Hunter Schafer, 17, had no problems being accepted by her peers at the North Carolina School of the Arts, a residential high school in Winston-Salem where she has lived in the girls dormitory.

With the passage of the law, Schafer said she found herself just having to decide do I break the law, or do I put myself in this highly uncomfortable or highly dangerous situation in the mens restroom?

Eventually, the school gave her her own private restroom.

Her father, Mac Schafer of Raleigh, was elated to hear the new guidance from the Obama administration.

As a parent, some of your core instincts are protection for your child, he said. To know that the federal government is pushing for respect and safe space and rights for Hunter is thrilling.
So after two four-year terms in office, Cheyennes maintenance mayor has decided to hang up his hard hat early next year.

We wish we could say well be sorry to see him go.

Yes, all public servants deserve our thanks for giving up their personal and family time to attend countless public events. Rick Kaysen will be remembered fondly for always being willing to support local civic groups and causes with a proclamation and his presence.

In fact, had he been the president of Visit Cheyenne, we would be praising his tenure. As a city booster, Kaysen has been a resounding success.

He also has been, by all accounts, accessible, approachable and a hard worker, often putting in long hours at City Hall. Plus, theres no doubt Kaysen is simply a nice guy.

And yes, he deserves some credit for guiding the city through the post-recession years that included buyouts, layoffs and the reduction of some services.

But we expected much more from this mayor.

After all, this newspaper recommended Kaysen to voters in October 2008. (And did so reluctantly again in 2012.)

Before he was first elected, we said Kaysen had the complete skill set to be mayor, including business experience, networking and negotiating skills, salesmanship and a vision for Cheyenne.

During the past nearly eight years, though, he has done little more than keep the city from falling apart. At practically every monthly news conference, he has spent more time updating reporters on city road projects than talking about how the city could move to the next level.

Even more than his lack of vision, what has most disappointed us is Kaysens inability to be decisive on important issues. Through the years, he has tended to overanalyze situations, rather than act quickly or decisively.

Remember the long, drawn-out debate over the trees in Lions Park that the mayor said the FAA wanted removed? And what about the more than a decade it took to decide what to do with the downtown hole on West Lincolnway? Or his handwringing over the aforementioned layoffs?

All of this led the Chamber of Commerce to push for a city administrator form of government last year. And although city voters ended up soundly rejecting the proposal in a November special election, that doesnt mean it was a referendum on Kaysens performance.

In fact, from the tenor of online comments since he announced his decision not to seek a third term, as well as unscientific results from our poll at WyomingNews.com, Kaysen must have seen the writing on the wall: Its time for him to move on.

Which opens the doors to a new leader for the states Capital City. Candidates will start filing for the office Thursday, and heres what we think voters should look for:

A proven track record of decisive leadership.

A vision for what Cheyenne can become and a specific, detailed plan for how to get there.

A sense that they will be much more than a maintenance mayor who just wants to keep things chugging along as they always have.

Thank you, Mr. Kaysen, for keeping the city coffers and potholes filled (for the most part).

Heres hoping your replacement achieves so much more.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP)  Rosebud Sioux member Russell Eagle Bear remembers feeling relief as night was falling at a sacred site in the Black Hills of South Dakota called Pe' Sla. People had gathered to pray on a cold, windy evening in December 2012 just after a group of tribes completed the purchase of the roughly 3-square-miles of land.

"We paid a high price for it because we wanted to protect our burial sites, our cultural sites, our ceremonial sites," Eagle Bear, historic preservation officer for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said Wednesday.

But nearly 140 years after Congress seized the Black Hills from the Sioux for gold mining, the tribes are facing opposition in South Dakota to preserving the small sliver of their former lands.

The state in April appealed a federal decision to take the land purchased by the tribes into trust. The opposition in part stems from jurisdictional concerns over the rolling grassland hills near the center of the Black Hills National Forest. The state contends that tribes can already use Pe' Sla as a sacred site, while it remains subject to state law.

Some Rosebud Sioux were dismayed when South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard said last month that he believes the money to buy and maintain Pe' Sla should be spent on the reservation, which is among the poorest places in the United States.

"You have many tribal members who have needs here on the reservation, and if grandma needs housing, or if grandma needs food, or if grandma needs transportation, grandma doesn't need you to spend tribal resources on a parkland setting 200 miles away for religious use or for buffalo agricultural use," Daugaard said at a Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council meeting.

To some Native Americans, it showed a lack of understanding.

"It definitely is not a white guy's place to dictate to the tribe anything after the history of what has happened between the state of South Dakota and the tribes from the taking of the Black Hills till now," said O.J. Semans, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Health Board.

Pe' Sla holds cultural and spiritual significance beyond monetary measure, similar to sites across the world held dear by other religions, Rosebud Sioux tribal member Wizipan Little Elk said.

The change would guarantee that Pe' Sla stays in the hands of Native American people and would exempt it from taxes, said Kurt BlueDog, an attorney representing the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota and the Crow Creek, Rosebud and Standing Rock Sioux tribes of the Dakotas.

In 2012, the tribes raised $9 million to buy roughly 2,000 acres from private landowners. They later acquired additional acreage and reintroduced buffalo to the site, with about 20 there now.

Most Americans know the Black Hills for the popular tourist destination of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, where the faces of four ex-presidents are carved in towering granite.

But before the presidents, the mountain range sprouting from the Great Plains in western South Dakota was the territory of Native Americans including the Sioux.

In an 1868 treaty, the U.S. government agreed that a huge area west of the Missouri River would be set aside for use by the Sioux. After gold was discovered in the Black Hills, miners and other fortune-seekers flocked to western South Dakota. That led to military battles that culminated in George Custer's defeat by the Sioux in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

When the Sioux refused to ratify a new treaty giving up the Black Hills, Congress passed a law in 1877 seizing the land anyway. More than a decade later, the Rosebud Indian Reservation was created  roughly 200 miles away from Pe' Sla  through the division of the Great Sioux Reservation.

"We may not be attacked by U.S. Cavalry anymore, but now people are using the law to attack us," Little Elk said of the state's attempts to block the trust.

There are many translations for Pe' Sla, including "the bald area" and "the center of our world" because of its central location in the Black Hills, which are significant in creation stories that vary among tribes and family groups, said Duane Hollow Horn Bear, an instructor at Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud reservation. There is beauty in the diversity of the legends and language, but they share a common reverence, he said.

A ceremony held at Pe' Sla helps teach people how to deal with grief, he said.

South Dakota has fought against converting the land in part because of concerns over jurisdiction, which would be exacerbated by the distance of Pe' Sla from existing reservations, according to a 2015 letter from the state attorney general's office to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Daugaard, a Republican, said at the tribal council meeting last month that he opposes an "island of tribal trust jurisdiction" on land away from the reservation.

He also conceded then that it's not his decision how tribal resources are spent. A spokeswoman said Daugaard's statement against the Pe' Sla plan is "his personal opinion," separate from the state's opposition.

"We are a poor tribe. All the tribes, we struggle every day. Yet we had to go out and seek monies to purchase this land," Eagle Bear said. "It should have been given back to us."
PHOENIX  Rejecting the concerns of some neighborhood groups, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation Thursday to prohibit cities from barring homeowners from renting out their houses to vacationers.

The measure, which takes effect later this year, overrides existing ordinances in several Arizona communities that specifically make it illegal to rent out property in residential neighborhoods for less than 30 days.

Sedonas city council adopted a ban on short-term rentals in 1995, for instance.

We resent being dictated to by legislators who do not even live in Sedona or anywhere near it, Warren Woodward, president of a Sedona homeowners association, testified to state lawmakers in a bid to kill the new measure before it reached Duceys desk. He said the changes will lead to more traffic and noise.

But Daniel Scarpinato, Duceys spokesman, said there are sufficient protections built in. Theres already laws and ordinances in place dealing with noise, dealing with disruptions, he said. So if youre making noise at all hours of the night and waking people up, guess what? Youre going to get in trouble.

Scarpinato said the bottom line for Ducey is his belief that removing local laws is good for business, including people who have houses and want to make some money from them.

The new law also recognizes the reality of the market, Scarpinato said. This is how consumers, particularly in our state, want to do business now. They want to be able to be able to make their properties available. And people want to be able to have this as an option rather than necessarily going to a hotel or motel.

The measure was designed largely to help Airbnb, an online service that links up property owners and renters around the world.

Cities, towns and counties will not be allowed to prohibit or restrict such rentals simply because the property is not classified as a hotel. That protects the rights of individual property owners to use their homes the way they want, said Jared Blanchard of the Goldwater Institute, a conservative think tank.
The Secular Humanist Jewish Circle will host a talk on "End of Life Issues from a Secular Perspective" by Dr. Gil Shapiro, a Tucson podiatrist and a board member of Freethought Arizona.

The talk at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21 at the Murphy-Wilmot Library, 530 N. Wilmot Road, will compare religious and secular perspectives on the topic, according to press materials.

RSVP to Dee Morton at deemorton@msn.com. Attendees are asked to bring a snack to share and an optional donation of $1 for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.
For the better part of a year, people vilified Colleen Mathis.

In November 2011, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer ousted the Tucsonan from her position as chair of the states Independent Redistricting Commission, only to have the states Supreme Court quickly declare the ouster illegal.

The anger got so deep that one blog posted a picture of what it said was Mathis walking into a Tucson building that housed an office of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, alleging the photo proved her Democratic leanings. The building had many other offices, of course  and it turned out it wasnt even her in the picture.

Now Mathis is feeling vindicated. On April 20, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the legislative districts drawn by the commission under her controversial leadership should stand.

This was the second case involving the commission, though the first one simply upheld the existence of the independent commission as constitutional. Another case challenging congressional district lines is still to be heard.

This last decision from the Supreme Court felt good, Mathis told me recently at a Tucson coffee shop. This one felt good because it was about our work product.

Mathis enraged Republicans because they felt she favored Democrats, even though she was the five-member commissions sole independent. Indeed, she voted with the two Democrats on the commissions most important decisions.

The experience still riles up Scott Freeman, a former commission member who is a Republican.

It really started with her application, which had material omissions in it, said Freeman, a Phoenix-area attorney.

Here, hes referring to the allegation that her application should have included that Mathis husband had served as treasurer to Democrat Nancy Young Wrights legislative campaign. This was rather thin gruel, in that the other four commission members picked Mathis, and her own political involvement was miniscule compared to that of true partisan activists.

When we got to the legal counsel and a rigged procurement process, the Republicans didnt get the counsel of their choice, Freeman said. I felt bad and dirty in a way that we conducted these public interviews of the four finalists. They had to put on a dog and pony show.

Republicans also disliked Mathis emphasis on creating competitive districts, which was one of six criteria Arizonas constitution requires the commission to consider. The lawsuit over legislative districts, for example, alleged that those created by the commission were unlawfully unbalanced in population, packing Republicans together and spreading Democrats out.

All the Republican-leaning districts were overpopulated, Freeman said, adding that means, If youre a Republican, your vote counts a little bit less.

Of course, thats not how its played out in real life. Republicans have continued to dominate both chambers of the state Legislature. And Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the unanimous court, said the reasons for the deviations in population between districts were legitimate.

The deviations predominantly reflected Commission efforts to achieve compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act, not to secure political advantage for one party, Breyer wrote.

Although the upcoming case makes additional arguments against the commissions congressional districts, the April court decision makes it look likely that Mathis will be vindicated again. If so, the histrionics that surrounded the commissions map-drawing can be remembered largely as a partisan tantrum.

Despite the rocky experience as commission chair, Mathis has become a bit of an evangelist for independent redistricting. Shes working to get it passed in Illinois, where it is majority Democrats who control the drawing of the maps and want to keep it that way.

In Arizona, she would prefer, as some other commissioners do, that the board be expanded. She likes the idea of three Democrats, three Republicans and three independents, instead of the current two-two-one makeup.

I wish all states had independent redistricting, she said. I think it levels the playing field for voters.

Ducey vetoes Gowan

One of the main critiques of outgoing House Speaker David Gowans tenure has been that he too often used his power to benefit special interests rather than the common good. With three vetoes this week, Gov. Doug Ducey rejected those efforts and asserted the publics interest.

Gowan, a Sierra Vista Republican whose district reaches easternmost Tucson, sponsored one law that would have made it easier for developers to force governments to sell tax-exempt bonds to pay for infrastructure. It would have benefited a proposed mega-development in Gowans district east of Benson.

Another pair of bills  sponsored by Republican Sen. Gail Griffin but pushed hard by Gowan  would have allowed cities to opt out of county requirements that new developments prove they have a 100-year water supply. They would have benefited a proposed development in Sierra Vista, which is also Griffins hometown.

Duceys vetoes, especially those of the water bills, amounted to the triumph of the common good over special interests. They also brought an ignominious end to Gowans speakership.

Tucson term limits?

A group of Tucsonans has pulled petitions and is collecting signatures to put term limits on council members and the mayor.

The initiative would set a lifetime limit of three terms for any one person, including no more than two terms as mayor or council member. In other words, a person could serve two terms as mayor and one as council member, or vice versa, but no more than three total.

Armando Rios Jr. and Alex Rodriguez are co-chairs of the effort, which is also being led by John Kromko and Natalie Fernandez Lee.

When I talked to Rios Tuesday, he said the idea is to limit the power of incumbency, giving more people chances at the seats, and to minimize the number of career politicians in those jobs. Rios himself once ran for City Council and lost, but he said thats not the reason for the initiative, and hes not planning to run again.

Rios has often been associated in his public efforts with auto dealer Jim Click, but he said nobody has committed to fund the effort yet, and Rios himself will cover the cost of gathering signatures if necessary. The committee must gather 9,200 valid signatures by July 2 to put the issue on the November ballot.

Supreme Court appeal

You know what they say about making a deal with the devil?

Well, Arizonas chief justice, Scott Bales, is making a last-ditch effort to avoid getting burned.

In an April 17 column, I explained how Bales had struck a deal with legislative leaders to improve funding for the priorities of the states judiciary. In exchange, Bales would not object to a proposal to increase the number of Supreme Court justices from five to seven, although he didnt support that idea on its own.

Well, the Legislature didnt follow through on all its funding commitments, but it did pass the expansion proposal, sending it to Ducey for his signature. In a letter sent May 5, Bales is asking Ducey to veto the measure.

Yeah, he probably should have thought of this problem when he was cutting the deal.
Britney Scott didnt make it to her senior prom.

In fact, the 18-year-old student chose not to go. She realizes she might have missed some fun, but there were more important things to do.

Such as going to an auction to buy a new hog.

Id rather birth a pig than go stand around and dance and stuff, she said.

The Amphitheater High School senior is a grand champion of swine showmanship  a title she took at the Pima County Fair for her outstanding performance showing her pig, Black China. Shes got several other ribbons, plaques, banners and belt buckles from other competitions.

The schools land lab, an off-campus farm that is part of a Joint Technical Education District agriculture program, is her second home, where she starts out and ends most of her days.

And when shes not there feeding, breeding, cleaning and caring for the animals, shes thinking about how to do those things better. Its just what I love to do, Britney said.

Showmanship competitors take their pigs into an arena and demonstrate the animals for judges. Participants are judged on the ability to keep their animals under control and the animals physical qualities, among other things.

Britneys passion has taken her around the state, including Casa Grande, Parker, Buckeye, Sonoita and Safford. And now, the senior, who will graduate May 19, is heading to Iowa in June to compete in the World Pork Expo with her pig, Texas Bama.

Britney said whats more important is that through competing in showmanship, she is learning to help others and building a community in which she can grow. They are part of my family, she said of her peers, teachers and mentors at the land lab.

THE LAB

As students rolled into the classroom at the land lab on a recent afternoon, agriculture teacher JT Van Huss announced they were going to drain an abscess from a pigs foot and build pens for pregnant sheep. CJ, the pig, had hurt her back right foot.

But the 400-pound pig was not easy to control. So while Van Huss attempted to treat the injury, Britney held on to a rope tightened around the pig.

Shes been doing it forever, Van Huss said of his student. She knows the drill.

Britney isnt the only one in her family who knows her way around a farm animal. Her mother, Robyn Scott, competed in swine showmanship as a young woman, and frequently helps out at the land lab.

Britneys sister, Kelsey, had also competed and made a name for herself. And though Kelsey had chosen a career away from the farms, she still supported the high school senior in her endeavors, including contributing to hog and feed purchases.

Future Farmers of America, the land lab and 4-H are programs where children can build confidence and grow in a safe and productive environment, Robyn said.

You do raise animals, but you raise more, she said. Youre building relationships for a lifetime.

Its kept her daughters off the streets, she said. And as a single mother, she said she really couldnt have done it by herself.

CHARLOTTES WEB

Britneys love of farm animals has been in the making since her first year in school.

Her kindergarten class was reading Charlottes Web, her mother said. And since Britney was dyslexic, her mother thought it would be best if she could learn hands-on.

So Robyn borrowed a piglet, asked for the teachers permission and brought the animal into class so the kids could touch and interact with the pig while they read the book.

A lot of kids dont have that exposure, Robyn said.

Since then, Britney was hooked, she said.

The journey has had its challenges, Britney said. There werent many minority children competing in FFA events and there were times when she felt she was not treated fairly based on her skin color.

Folks are more open-minded now, she said, especially at Amphi High. And its not like subtle racism has ever stopped her from competing before.

She was there to compete and she was willing to compete no matter what, Robyn said of her daughter.

After graduation, Britney is headed to Pima Community College to study general education. At the same time, she will continue to show at county and state fairs and work toward finding a career working with animals.

For now, Britney is focusing on training and caring for Texas Bama, whom she will take to Iowa for the world competition.
Pima Community College is proposing a 1 percent increase to its portion of local tax bills next year as it struggles to reverse the worst enrollment slump in its history.

Continued enrollment declines are a major factor in the spending plan approved unanimously Wednesday by the colleges Governing Board, a staff report said.

Another major factor is the Legislatures decision to cut all state aid to the college for the second straight year, the report to the board said.

Even with a tax increase, PCCs total spending is expected to fall by nearly $11 million next school year.

Thats due in large part to a projected $5 million drop in financial aid revenue  money the college wont receive with fewer students on board.

For homeowners, the tax increase works out to an extra $1.36 for each $100,000 of assessed value. The owner of a $100,000 home who current pays $135.97 would pay $137.33.

Property taxes are PCCs largest revenue source, providing more than a third of the $247.8 million the college expects to spend in the school year that starts July 1.

Its a challenging budget, PCC finance boss David Bea told the board, adding that its critical for the college to start reversing the enrollment slide that began in 2011.

PCC has lost the equivalent of more than 6,400 full-time students as it faced accreditation problems and controversy over admission restrictions that later were abandoned.

The new spending plan calls for measures including:

A $2.3 million cut to college operating costs with specifics to be determined by individual units.

Elimination of 23 jobs from PCCs payroll, all of which are vacant positions.

A $500,000 contribution from taxpayers for PCCs athletic programs, which used to be funded solely by student fees. With fewer students now paying fees because enrollment is down, athletics needs help to cover its basic operating costs, Bea said in an interview.

More than $500,000 to try to boost enrollment, including $400,000 for marketing and advertising and around $150,000 for a new software program to identify students at risk of dropping out.

A 4 percent tuition hike for the vast majority of local students and a tuition decrease of nearly 15 percent for international students.

The new spending plan doesnt mention how many students the college expects to have next school year, and Bea did not respond Thursday to repeated requests for that information.

The proposed budget is subject to a public hearing before a final board decision. Both are scheduled for June 8 at college headquarters starting at 5 p.m.
Increases in security mean you must be transparent when you attend commencement ceremonies. But even that has caveats. No tinted plastic bags, printed transparent totes or mesh bags are allowed. University of Arizona Security has made no mention of deep pockets, cargo pants and the like, but you may need an ID, and it has to go somewhere.

1 of 10 1 No backpacks No backpacks allowed. North Face shows the Surge II Charged Laptop Backpack. 2 No purses No purses allowed. This might be hard on Great-aunt Alice. The rule is that a purse must be the size of a hand or smaller. Most women's wallets aren't that small. 3 No laptop bags or cases No laptop cases allowed. Belkin FlyThru laptop case. 4 No briefcases No briefcases allowed. Cole Haan briefcase. 5 No camera bags No camera bags allowed. Cameras are allowed if they are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Consider your smart phone. Camera bag powered by G24i's DSSC Technology. 6 No large seat cushions No large seat cushions that have covers, zippers, pockets or compartments allowed. Dimensions aren't provided, so what is large? To avoid the risk that you'll have to hike back to the car, leave the cushion behind and accept the hard seat. 7 No fanny packs No fanny packs allowed. Yes they are small, but it's amazing what you can fit in one, and Security probably doesn't want to slow the line searching them all. Louis Vuitton fanny pack. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune/MCT) 8 Small coin purses allowed This little coin purse is allowed! Be aware that Security will ask you to open it so they can peak inside. 9 One-gallon plastic bags allowed All those things you would have put in a purse, backpack or fanny pack are permitted as long as they are in one clear, gallon-size plastic bag. 10 Maybe - diaper bags Diaper bags may be allowed but they will be searched. It's probably better to leave babies with a sitter anyway. Wee Generation's eco-diaper bag. Photo via BusinessWire More like this... Close 1 of 10 No backpacks No backpacks allowed. North Face shows the Surge II Charged Laptop Backpack. No purses No purses allowed. This might be hard on Great-aunt Alice. The rule is that a purse must be the size of a hand or smaller. Most women's wallets aren't that small. No laptop bags or cases No laptop cases allowed. Belkin FlyThru laptop case. No briefcases No briefcases allowed. Cole Haan briefcase. No camera bags No camera bags allowed. Cameras are allowed if they are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Consider your smart phone. Camera bag powered by G24i's DSSC Technology. No large seat cushions No large seat cushions that have covers, zippers, pockets or compartments allowed. Dimensions aren't provided, so what is large? To avoid the risk that you'll have to hike back to the car, leave the cushion behind and accept the hard seat. No fanny packs No fanny packs allowed. Yes they are small, but it's amazing what you can fit in one, and Security probably doesn't want to slow the line searching them all. Louis Vuitton fanny pack. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune/MCT) Small coin purses allowed This little coin purse is allowed! Be aware that Security will ask you to open it so they can peak inside. One-gallon plastic bags allowed All those things you would have put in a purse, backpack or fanny pack are permitted as long as they are in one clear, gallon-size plastic bag. Maybe - diaper bags Diaper bags may be allowed but they will be searched. It's probably better to leave babies with a sitter anyway. Wee Generation's eco-diaper bag. Photo via BusinessWire More like this...
A wildfire on Mount Lemmon was considered under control, but hotshot crews will continue to fight the blaze through the night, the sheriff's department said.

The Montrose Fire was discovered at about 5 a.m. in the area of Box Spring, about three miles northwest of Rose Canyon Lake. It is believed to be human caused, said Heidi Schewel, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman.

The 12-acre fire is burning in heavy downed timber and brush, Schewel said.

Helicopters will continue dropping water on the fire until about 7 p.m., the sheriff's department said. Rose Canyon Lake is expected to be reopened for fishing on Friday morning.

Shortly after 1 p.m., Pima County sheriff's deputies assisted in the rescue of a hiker who was discovered nearby. The man was dehydrated, after having been on the trail for a few days, and is not considered to have any connection with the fire, said department spokesman, Deputy Ryan Inglett.

Roughly 60 personnel are fighting the fire, with four helicopters dropping water from Rose Canyon Lake and hand crews engaged in full fire suppression efforts, Schewel said.
City Councilwoman Karin Uhlich will not seek re-election next year, she announced Thursday in an email to constituents.

I will fulfill my next 18 months of service with sustained energy and focus, she wrote.

Then, after 12 years in office, Ill proudly step aside and support the incoming Council Member as she/he enters this fulfilling and privileged role serving the public.

Completing 12 years will place Uhlich among the top 10 of longest-serving council members.

Uhlich represents Ward 3, which covers much of the citys north side.

Uhlich said she finds politics to be rewarding work and isnt retiring from the field altogether. If the right opportunity presented itself, she might run for office again, she told the Star.

Uhlich said shes especially proud of her work on regional water sustainability and stewardship and hopes to spend the remainder of her term supporting the efforts of the new city manager and police chief to reorganize city resources and put the city in a better financial position.

Uhlich came under criticism in 2014 for buying a home and living outside the ward she represents.

The city charter, which is like the citys constitution, requires council candidates to live within the city limits for three years and says specifically they must live in their ward for one year before qualifying for the ballot.

Uhlich would have had to move back into the ward this year to run for re-election in that ward.

Uhlich said that issue did not factor into her decision about whether to run again. She has maintained a residence in Ward 3 and lives there part time, she said.

The ongoing city discussion about whether City Council members should be elected by their ward only or citywide is important and we owe it to the community to get that resolved and clarified, she said.
PHOENIX  Attorney General Mark Brnovich refused Thursday to try to postpone Tuesdays special election despite foul-ups by Secretary of State Michele Reagan, saying theres nothing in state law to permit that.

At a hastily called press conference, Brnovich unloaded on Reagan for failing to comply with state laws requiring voters to get ballot pamphlets explaining the two issues before they got their actual early ballots. And he said there needs to be an investigation of why Reagan hid that information from the public for weeks.

This was a complete fiasco, Brnovich said.

I dont know what the right word to express it is, he continued. But it pisses me off, as an Arizonan, as the attorney general.

But Brnovich laid some of the blame on lawmakers for leaving him with his hands tied.

We know that we want strict compliance with election laws, he said. But the legislature never provided any penalty.

Reagan spokesman Matt Roberts said Thursday afternoon his boss was too busy to speak to reporters.

She is meeting with staff to further review what happened and how we can get better, he said.

Roberts conceded earlier this week that at least 200,000 pamphlets explaining propositions 123 and 124 did not go out on time. The first deals with increased funding for public schools; the second alters constitutional provisions on public pensions.

The homes appear to be those with two people on the list to get early ballots. That means more than 400,000 voters could be affected.

Roberts said the problem was with an outside company that was supposed to prepare mailing lists.

Its by no means any deflection of what happened, he said. The secretary accepted responsibility for it.
The Arizona Daily Stars Sportsmens Fund Send a Kid to Camp program raises money so children from low-income households and military families can attend overnight YMCA, Boy Scout and Girl Scout camps for little or no cost to their families.

We are raising $180,000 to send 670 kids to summer camp. So far this year, weve received 880 donations totaling $100,883. Were 56 percent of the way to our goal.

Several donations today are in memory of Jim Riley, former county manager and a longtime Sportsmens Fund member, who died April 5.

Since 1947, the Arizona Daily Star Sportsmens Fund has helped pay for 37,907 children to go to camp. It is one of the oldest 501(c)(3) charities in Arizona. Your contribution qualifies for the Arizona tax credit of up to $400 for donations to qualifying charities.

Recent donations include:

Jason and Wyn Hayward, in memory of James Riley, $50.

Dorothy Maxwell, $100.

Richard and Mary Belle McCorkle, $100.

Janice Means, $10.

Delores Morey, $200.

Minna Moskowitz, $25.

Jim and Connie Murphy, in memory of Jim Riley, $100.

Nancy, Kenyon and Charmaine Newman, in memory of Jack Newman, $100.

Annegret Perlmutter, $50.

Marianne and Brad Powell, $200.

Bill and Adrienne Reeves, $100.

John and A-Lan Reynolds, $350.

Dennis Riley, in memory of John, Carolyn and Robert Riley, $30.

Kathleen Rivera, in memory of Rosalio Valencia, a Pueblo High School Warrior killed in action in Vietnam on May 26, 1968, $100.

Carole Roberson, $75.

Joe Roth, $25.

S. M. Russell, $35.

Dan and Bette Sexton, $20.

Kenneth Silverman, $50.

M. Spies, in memory of Jim Riley, $100.

Dale and Audrey Stein, $100.

Frank Stiltner, in memory of Gertrude Bombenek, $100.

Suzanne Stokes, in memory of Marjorie Beeson Cary, $50.

Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Summers, $400.

Earl and Lee Surwit, $50.

Lawrence Tagg, $100.

Laurie Tahija, $100.

Tucson Womans Club, $250.

Faith Thesingh, $25.

Barbara Thompson, $75.

John and Betsy Van De Beuken, $50.

N. Verduco, $25.

The Vieto family, $50.

Connie and John Weiler, in memory of Jim Riley, $25.

Lane Meyers and Mariah Weiler, Jim Riley, $25.

Judith Wells, $15.

Ron Winters, $250.

Monty Woolson, $35.

Pat and George Yuhas, $100.

Darwin and Kay Afdahl, $400.

Mike and Lisa Aiehler, in memory of Joseph Riley, $25.

Robin Andrews, $50.

William Autrey, $400.

Robert Bailes, in memory of Jim Riley, $50.

Luise Bell, $50.

Tom Buchta, $50.

Michael Budka, $50.

Michael Carpenter, $40.

Carol Choc, $25.

Linda Colucci, $50.

Jane and Art Coppola, $25.

Robert Crone, $100.

Nancy Crosby, $100.

Theresa Dellheim, $50.

Rita Eisenman, in memory of James Reisinger, $50.

F.G. and Sharon Fancher, for Clara, $50.

Barbara Flores, $50.

Frank Frana, $100.

Bridget Gagnon, $100.

Hildreth Garb, $50.

GFWC-ESO 5th Wheels, $25.

Linda Groves, $25.

Lavonne Haines, in memory of Jim Riley, $20.

Joane Janega, $200.

Steven Jarrett, $100.

Jeff Jeffcoat, $400.

Jeremy Kahn, $90.

Kautz Family Foundation, $5,000.

Nellie Keener, $25.

Edar King, $200.

Dr. Alan and Lynn Lesselroth, $400.

Kenci and Randy Lewis, $100.

H. Lilley, $100.

Dave and Patty Lucas, $200.

John Marus, $25.

Cecelia Matson, $100.

C.J. Merkle, in memory of John Alva Montgomery, $100.

John Merlin, $50.

Michael and Helene Miron, $100.

Loyal Moore, $500.

Lawrence and Nancy Morgan, $100.

Louis and Nora Nelson, $25.

John and Susan Nord, $50.

Jan and Michael Roth, $100.

Cynthia Rupp, $25.

Florence Scarff, $25.

Ellen Shenkarow, $100.

David and Diane Stallings, $100.

Darlene Streicher, in memory of Mildred and Abe Chanin, $100.

Gail Wachtel, $500.

Charles Wilson, $100.

Hope Zveitel, $25.

Two anonymous donations totaling $150.

More donations will be acknowledged in the coming week.
Politics and a recent hospital merger fueled a decision by top trauma surgeon Peter Rhee to leave Tucson for Atlanta, he confirmed Thursday.

Rhee, who was dubbed a rock star surgeon by the media for his care of victims of the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting, says he has hit a wall at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson and its time to leave. His last day will be June 20.

His new job will be senior vice president of acute care surgery and medical director of the Marcus Trauma Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, which treats a large number of low-income people and is the fifth largest public hospital in the country.

In Tucson, Rhee is a tenured surgery professor at the University of Arizona with an endowed $2 million chair and also chief of trauma, critical care, burn and emergency surgery at Banner-UMC.

I love Tucson so much. Its greatest asset is its people. I am so sad I have to leave, the South Korean-born surgeon said in an interview. But I cant stay in a place and play defense all the time.

In a joint emailed statement, the UA and Banner Health said they had hoped Rhee would remain in Tucson and praised his tireless efforts to build a trauma care and training program, and for creating a legacy that will benefit patients and students for years to come.

True leaders build sustainable programs and that is what Rhee did, the statement says.

Merger woes

A merger last year left Phoenix-based nonprofit Banner Health in control of the hospital and added a layer of bureaucracy that slowed progress and shifted priorities away from research, Rhee said.

I dont think the UA is necessarily unique but in health care right now, focus is away from academics. The primary area of concern in medicine right now is going to be just about making money for the hospital and away from research and development, Rhee said.

They want everything. They want the icing but the focus is making money to go forward. I need to be in an academic environment.

Banner officials and the UA responded Thursday that they are committed to growing both the academic and clinical aspects of the trauma program.

Rhee, a former battlefield surgeon with the U.S. military, also was saddened by the 2013 suspension and subsequent departure of Dr. Rainer Gruessner, the former department of surgery chair, he said. Gruessner recruited Rhee to revive a flailing trauma program in 2007. At that time the hospital was called University Medical Center.

Gruessner, who is credited with expanding and improving the hospitals transplant and trauma programs, left amid a bitter political dispute with the administration that preceded last year's merger.

Until Gruessners departure, Rhee said hed always assumed hed be in Tucson for the rest of his career. He has had 32 addresses in his life and the one where hes stayed the longest is here.

For a long time, Tucson was a good fit, said Rhee, who came to Southern Arizona from the Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California Navy Trauma Training Center, where he prepared Navy doctors and medical personnel for the battlefield. He saw the Tucson job as a challenge.

I was a very loyal supporter of Dr. Gruessner and I think he got shafted, Rhee said. It ended with no one but losers ... Ive done as much as I can in this particular program.

Rhee said the Grady trauma program is twice the size of the one in Tucson and gives him a new challenge.

Ive always considered my work public service, Rhee said. They recruited me heavily for a long time now. It is a county hospital working with inner-city people as well as taking care of entire metropolitan Atlanta.

Tucson program

was struggling

Rhee first came to Tucson in 2007 to help revive the hospitals struggling trauma program.

The program was in disarray, the funding was a major issue and almost all the staff had left  which to me looked like an opportunity, Rhee recalled in his 2014 memoir, Trauma Red: The Making of a Surgeon in War and in Americas Cities.

In that book, Rhee wrote that building up the local trauma program wasnt easy. The only top-level trauma center in Southern Arizona, Banner-UMC handles about 5,000 patients per year whose injuries range from gunshot wounds to car crash injuries. It wasnt unusual for him to work 120-hour weeks, he wrote.

Rhee and Gruessner brought a research focus to the surgery department, with Rhee focusing, among other things, on gunshot wounds and on a last-ditch lifesaving method called suspended animation that involves bringing patients bodies down to hypothermic temperatures by infusing a refrigerator-cold solution into their veins.

Data from a peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons shows that under Rhee, the survival rate of people treated at the local trauma center who had been shot in the brain rose from 10 percent to nearly 50 percent in five years.

Rhee took an approach of aggressive management of such cases  an approach that some question because some of the people who survive do not go on to have meaningful lives.

He used aggressive interventions on Gabrielle Giffords, the former U.S. congresswoman who was treated at the trauma center after she was shot in the head during an assassination attempt on Jan. 8, 2011.

You dont know who is going to live and die, Rhee told the Star in 2014. You dont want me as a physician to be judge and jury.  Any time you touch any part of the brain, technically there is a deficit, obviously. But a lot of those things you can overcome. And Gabby is not the only person who has survived in her same fashion.

The evening of the shooting, after Giffords had part of her skull removed, Rhee used a device on her that cools the skin. Cooling the body is counterintuitive care for trauma patients, who are normally kept warm to help blood clot.

In January 2011 when Gabby Giffords got shot, a lot of people say she got lucky. I think its because of what we had in place at that time, Rhee said in 2014.

At Grady, Rhee will be going back into more academia and research, he says, working with two medical schools  Emory University School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

Jan. 8, 2011

Giffords and 10 other victims were brought to the hospital the day of the mass shooting.

Gruessner had recruited four of the six lead physicians who treated the Jan. 8 victims. Dr. Michael Lemole performed surgery on Giffords and, along with Rhee, became a household name, with some media dubbing them rock star surgeons.

Rhee earned a reputation for no-nonsense candor in his many appearances in print and broadcast media and also got some laughs for his phone ringtone: The Bee Gees Stayin Alive.

He has since become outspoken about guns and the devastating injuries they are causing and addressed the issue in his book.

In 2014, Rhee and his colleagues published a study in the Journal of Acute Care Surgery that found that children are safer in states with strict firearm legislation. Arizona was not one of the 11 states with strict firearms legislation.

It is pretty straightforward that the laws do make a difference, Rhee said at the time.

3rd trauma surgeon

to depart in 5 months

We are extremely excited to have a surgeon of Dr. Rhees extraordinary talents and experience join the Grady medical leadership team, Dr. Robert Jansen, executive vice president, chief medical officer and chief of staff at Grady Health System, said in a prepared statement.

Rhee says he hopes Banner does a national search to fill his post. He says he will be the third trauma surgeon to leave Banner-UMC in the last five months and that more may be leaving shortly.

I feel like I am abandoning the town I love. Tucson has been so good to me and the people have been so generous, he said. While a few people resistant to change have made it politically difficult for me here in the last few years, I love Tucson with all my heart and will always call it home.

I know that am leaving the trauma center here a better place than I found it. I will really miss the people that I have been privileged to have worked with and for. Trauma is a public service.
Nationally known surgeon Dr. Peter Rhee has had 32 addresses in his life and the one where he's stayed the longest is in Tucson.

But that's about to change.

Rhee's last day as top trauma surgeon at Banner  University Medical Center Tucson is June 20, he confirmed this morning. His new job will be chief of acute care surgery and medical director of the Marcus Trauma Center at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

"I love Tucson so much. Its greatest asset is its people. I am so sad I have to leave," Rhee said in a telephone interview. "I feel like I am abandoning the town I love and Tucson has been so good to me and the people have been so generous."

Grady is the fifth-largest public hospital in the country and serves a large number of low income patients.

"I've always considered my work public service," Rhee said. "They recruited me heavily for a long time now it is a county hospital working with inner city people as well as taking care of entire metropolitan Atlanta."

In Tucson, Rhee is a tenured surgery professor at the University of Arizona with an endowed $1.7 million chair and also chief of trauma, critical care, burn and emergency surgery at Banner  University Medical Center Tucson.

He first came to Tucson in 2007 to help revive the hospital's struggling trauma program. At that time, the hospital was locally owned and called University Medical Center. Rhee was recruited by Dr. Rainer Gruessner, who was then the new department of surgery chairman and left the hospital in 2013 in a bitter dispute with administration.

The hospital was taken over by Phoenix-based Banner Health in a merger that was completed in 2015.

Rhee sprung into action on the morning of Jan. 8, 2011 when the hospitals trauma department was notified of a shooting on Tucsons northwest side. The rampage was an assassination attempt on then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and she was among the injured. She and 10 other victims were brought to UA Medical Center that day.

At Grady, Rhee will be going back into more academia and research, he says, working with two medical schools  Emory University School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine.

A 1983 graduate of Georgia Tech, Rhee earned his medical degree from Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland.

He has a masters in public health from the University of Washington is double boarded in general surgery and surgical critical care.

"We are extremely excited to have a surgeon of Dr. Rhee's extraordinary talents and experience join the Grady medical leadership team," Dr. Robert Jansen, executive vice president, chief medical officer and chief of staff at Grady Health System said in a prepared statement.

"Under his direction, Grady's already outstanding trauma services will advance to an even higher level of care."

Rhee serves on national steering and research committees, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's blood products advisory committee.

Grady Health System is one of the largest safety net health systems in the United States. Grady consists of the 953-bed Grady Memorial Hospital, six neighborhood health centers, Crestview Health & Rehabilitation Center, and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding, which is operated as a Children's affiliate.

A South Korea-born surgeon, Rhee came to Southern Arizona from the Los Angeles County and the University of Southern California Navy Trauma Training Center, where he prepared U.S. Navy doctors and medical personnel for the battlefield. He saw the Tucson job as a challenge.

The program was in disarray, the funding was a major issue and almost all the staff had left  which to me looked like an opportunity, Rhee recalled in his 2014 memoir, Trauma Red: The Making of a Surgeon in War and in Americas Cities.

In that book, Rhee wrote that building up the local trauma program wasnt easy. The only top-level trauma center in Southern Arizona, the Banner-University Medical Center Tucson handles about 5,000 patients per year whose injuries range from gunshot wounds and stabbings to car crashes and drownings. It wasnt unusual for him to work 120-hour weeks, he wrote.

Rhee also wrote about all the gunshot wounds he's seen on the job, including the victims of the Jan. 8 shooting.
PHOENIX  Gov. Doug Ducey isnt worried that a disaster, natural or otherwise, is going to leave Arizona without a leader.

Ducey on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have required the secretary of state, attorney general or treasurer be taken somewhere else the next time theres an event that normally would include all of them plus the governor.

Thats mainly aimed at things like the annual State of the State speech or the inauguration for statewide officers every four years.

Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City West, said its a simple matter of ensuring government will continue.

She said if everyone in the line of succession is wiped out, theres no provision in the Arizona Constitution for who is in charge.

Ducey essentially dismissed the whole idea as interesting  but unnecessary.

I appreciate the sponsors concern and hard work on this issue, he wrote in his veto message. However, I have great confidence in the capabilities of our law enforcement professionals to detect threats and protect us on a daily basis.

Burges said thats too bad and that all she was trying to do is prepare for possibilities.

It was a cautionary measure, Burges said. What if something were to happen?
Well find out this weekend whether soaking a farm field blamed for a series of crashes on Interstate 10 near the New Mexico state line will be enough to keep its dust from blowing.

There have been no crashes or detours since last Friday, but thats because the wind isnt blowing, said Trooper Kameron Lee, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

That changes on Friday afternoon, May 13. The National Weather Service predicts windy conditions beginning then.

The main impact of this system will be the strong and gusty winds Sunday and Monday, the Weather Service reported.

The Tucson area forecast discussion warned of the potential for blowing dust along Interstate 10, specifically in Cochise County near San Simon.

The problem in San Simon is a denuded 640-acre site that a Phoenix land company cleared over the winter and did not plant.

The Arizona Department of Transportation is applying water to the site after meeting with agents of the landowner last week, along with inspectors from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

It is using its own trucks to tank water from nearby wells and has hired a local contractor to water the field. So far, about 320 acres of the plot closest to the interstate have been watered, said ADOT spokesman Doug Nintzel.

Nintzel said ADOT is tracking the expenses and expects the landowner to reimburse the state.

The state Department of Agriculture is also working with representatives of a land company owned by David R. Turner of Phoenix to devise permanent steps to cut down on dust emissions from the site, according to ADOT.

With strong winds in the forecast for the coming weekend, more closures are a possibility even after trucks have given the field an initial watering, said an ADOT news release.

The release quoted ADOT Director John Halikowski: We realize that closing I-10 for an extended period is a hardship for motorists, for drivers of commercial vehicles and for those along the lengthy detour route, but in this case the safest option is the only option.
SEATTLE  For about $5 per student in Washington state's public schools, every parent could know if the drinking water in their child's school was free of lead.

But instead of putting $5 million in the state's budget to pay for lead testing inside public schools, Washington's Legislature has left school districts to their own devices on this health and safety issue.

The Associated Press asked all 295 Washington school districts plus tribal districts whether they test for lead in the water. Of the 174 districts that responded to AP, nearly 40 percent said they do not do test for lead. Most big, well-funded districts test their water. Many small ones do not.

And of the 106 that reported they do lead testing, 28 districts started after the Tacoma Public Schools revealed last month that 13 of its elementary schools have tested positive for lead in drinking water.

"Unless you test, you do not know," said Randy Dorn, Washington state's superintendent for public instruction.

Dorn says this is clearly an equity issue, among the many ways Washington's education funding system is unfair. It's one more reason why the Supreme Court's McCleary decision on school funding is so essential, he said.

"My guess is with the media coverage, most schools will be testing now," Dorn said.

Dorn blames the Legislature and the governor for not finding the money to pay for testing, although Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week he would make testing a higher priority.

No states require schools to test their water for lead, although the Michigan Legislature is currently considering several proposals, according to Doug Farquhar, program director for environmental health at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Washington, D.C.

There's no federal mandate for school water testing under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Childhood lead poisoning can lead to learning disabilities, decreased muscle and bone growth, behavior problems and speech and language issues.

Farquhar said that because of the lead water crisis in Flint, Michigan, this issue is currently on the minds of lawmakers.

"With Flint, everyone's kind of refocused their attention," Farquhar said.

Washington's Department of Health decided in 2009 that testing water for lead inside public schools would be a good idea, but money to pay for it was caught up in a legislative fight over budget cuts. The department proposed a rule which also requires testing for mold and other environmental hazards at a total estimated cost of $45 million, but it can't be enforced until the state pays for it.

That money has never materialized.

Two of the state's three largest school districts  Seattle and Tacoma  have found lead in the water at some of their schools. The third, Spokane, has not tested its school drinking water since 1999, but just began testing again.

Of the three largest districts, only Seattle has a regular testing program, which it started more than a decade ago. The state's largest school district found lead above the EPA threshold for schools in some of the drinking water at about 35 schools in 2006.

Among those districts that test, 24 percent have found lead above the level at which health departments require action, which is between 15 and 20 parts per billion, depending on which guidelines are followed.

Some districts that don't test their water said they have all new school buildings so the chance of finding lead inside is low. Health laws require local water systems to test regularly for lead and other contamination. But once that fresh water flows through old pipes and fixtures, lead could become a problem.

Although the state Health Department estimated in 2009 water testing for lead in public schools would cost up to $2,270 per school or about $5 million for the entire system, the test results would likely lead to more costs down the line, from replacing a drinking fountain to retrofitting an entire building water system.

Inslee last week ordered the state Department of Health to bring a proposal to the Legislature to pay for water testing. The legislative session begins in January.

The Senate's lead budget negotiator Andy Hill, a Republican from Redmond, said he couldn't promise money in the Republican budget until the estimated costs are updated and he can see how they fit in with the larger state budget. But he said safety of children is a top priority.

The House's new budget writer, Rep. Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said House Democrats can guarantee money to test school drinking water for lead would be in their budget proposal.

A spokesman for the state teacher's union agreed with Dorn that testing for lead in public schools is an equity issue.
Help India!

By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,

Guwahati: Nazrul Islam, a man in his late 40s is just another auto-rickshaw driver in Guwahati. But this bearded gentleman has become talk of the town after this residence of citys Dakhin Gaon won accolades for returning the valuable belongings of one of his passengers.

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Pijush Kanti Das, a former scientist of Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSRTI) of Mysore could not believe his luck when he recovered his lost valuables while travelling in Guwahati with Nazrul.

It was no less than a fairytale when I got my belongings back. My laptop was full of important data, including all my research works. But the incident has made me realise that good people still exist in todays world, an excited Das told TwoCircles.net.

The incident took place on May 5, when Das boarded an auto rickshaw (AS-01-DC 3343) from citys Odalbakra area and got down at Beltola. Das forgot his belongings in the auto and left the place.

Once he realised his mistake, Das ran from post to pillar in search of his belongings. I thought it was over. I lost all hope. I travelled to different places and looked for the auto. I even interacted with other auto drivers but I could hardly gather information of my loss. Then I also contacted with the secretary of the auto drivers association before lodging an FIR. I almost lost hope, said Das.

On the other hand, the auto-driver Nazrul was also desperately looking for Das to return his belonging. Failing to find out Das, Islam returned to his home.

When I realized that my passenger has left his belonging in my auto, it was almost more than one hour. But I didnt know his address. So, I asked my daughter to look for his address in the bag so that I can return it to him, said Nazrul.

Nasli Begum, Nazruls daughter, somehow managed to find a phone number of Das friend from a visiting card which was in the bag. I called in that friends number and told him what had happened. I came to know the owners name from his ATM card. Finally, I managed to contact Das. We felt so happy seeing the reaction of Das, said Nasli.

Das arrived at Nazrul Islams residence at around 8.45 pm to collect the belongings. It was one of the major experiences of my life. This incident has proved that there are still some good human beings left in our society. I even tried to offer him some money for returning the bag but Nazrul simply denied, said Das.

While talking to TwoCircles.net, Nazrul said this was not the first time he had returned a passengers belongings. I have faced such incidents earlier also and have always returned all belongings of my passengers. I have no interest in others belongings. Im a follower of Islam and my ideology has always been like this. I may not have money but people respect me. And this is my greatest asset. I have also taught my children the same values, said Nazrul.

Related:

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Help India!

By Rakesh Sharma

The Malegaon terror attacks of 2006 and 2008 will soon join the growing list of heinous crimes for which nobody will be finally held accountable or punished like the Akshardham attack case or the Haren Pandya assassination etc.

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File Photo

It is a rather familiar script:

a. Post-crime, the Intelligence agencies and Anti Terror Squad (ATS) rapidly crack the case, arrest a few Muslims and extract confessions.

b. Pliant journalists and TV channels treat IB/ ATS leaks as sacrosanct and peddle the concocted story, pronouncing guilt, passing judgements and whipping up hysteria.

c. Independent journalists, activists and the Judiciary ask uncomfortable questions, sift the slender fact from much fiction, put IB/ ATS/ CBI in the dock.

d. Years pass and eventually the Judiciary acquits those framed, often passing strictures against the so-called investigators.

e. This results in gross miscarriage of Justice at multiple levels  those who lost their loved ones do not see the actual perpetrators punished and those who languished in jail for years on fictitious charges do not get compensated but worse  the biased & partisan investigators get away scot free to merrily continue framing others ( think Vanzara, Raghuvanshi and the likes).

Am I surprised that the Malegaon case is following the regular script? Not really, as it was widely anticipated, especially after the special prosecutor Rohini Salian was sacked after ignoring instructions by the new government to go slow on the Hindutva accused.

Im still curious to see how theyll exonerate Sadhvi Pragya  after all, the bomb was planted on a motorcycle owned by her! In the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, Rubina Memon was convicted as the car used to transport bombs was registered in her name ( and no, she didnt drive the car to any of the spots). Shes now serving a life sentence for her role. If ownership of the bomb-laden vehicle is enough for a conviction, then Sadhvi and Rubina must be treated as equal before the law, a fundamental right India extends to all is citizens, not just some!

There are also multiple phone call records (pre and post blasts) between the Sadhvi and fellow conspirators (and bomb planters?), but more importantly, there are the confessions and statements, recorded in front of multiple Judicial Magistrates, admissible in trial court. How will all of that be erased and glossed over?

Will Malegaon ever get Justice? What do you think?

Rakesh Sharma is a documentary film maker who made the acclaimed Final Solutions, a documentary about the 2002 Gujarat Riots. The text is taken from his Facebook post.
Help India!

By TCN News

Siwan: Rajdev Ranjan, bureau chief of Hindi Daily Hindustan was killed near the Siwan Railway Station on the evening of Friday, May 11. According to initial reports, unknown assailants opened fire near the Railway Station fruit market on Ranjan. He had been on his motorbike and was returning from a function. Two shots were fired at him at extremely close range and one bullet hit his head while the other hit his chest.

This incident comes within a week after the road rage incident in Gaya, where Aditya Sachdeva was shot dead allegedly by Rocky Yadav, the son of local MLC. A local court remanded Yadav to two days police custody on Wednesday.

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Warrior for the disabled lauds advances made Updated: 2016-05-14 02:49 By yan dongjie(China Daily USA)

Over 20 years, Judith Heumann said, she has seen great improvements in the way disabled people in China are treated. That observation came into sharp relief for her recently when she was in Beijing and found it easy to gain access to the city's subway system wherever she went.

"I wanted to take the subway in Beijing during my last visit here in 2014, but I couldnt because the (subway) staff could not find the key to the wheelchair elevator," said Heumann, special adviser for international disability rights for the US State Department.

Heumann recalled being disappointed. It was a station near the United States embassy, in one of the more prosperous areas of the city, she said.

Nine years earlier, when she had been on her first to China attending the World Conference on Women in Beijing, getting around the city with her fellow delegates had been a headache because most places they visited had no wheelchair access.

"But this time there was no obstacle for me taking trains any more. I have been all around by subway."

Heumann, who attended the second China-US Coordination Meeting on Disability in Beijing recently, said the improvements she saw extend beyond public transport. "Physical access has improved significantly In the realm of education, students who are blind or have physical disabilities now have access to the gaokao, or college entrance examination."

More than 6.2 percent of Chinas population, or 85 million people, are disabled, the China Disabled Persons Federation said, and Heumann said the corresponding percentage for Americans is about triple the Chinese figure, but that this is likely to be because of different definitions and different ways of counting. "But we have seen the number of people with disabilities growing in China in recent years, and China is also paying a lot of attention to them." Seeing such changes "reminds me of the changes I have seen in my own country", said Heumann, 69, from New York, who has had an association with disability lasting almost a life time. She had polio when she was 18 months old and needed a wheelchair for mobility from a young age.

She has been a warrior for the rights of the disabled for decades, and the US embassy in Beijing sees her as an embodiment of the transformation of rights for the disabled in the US. The first real difficulty Heumann said she faced in her life was when the local public school barred her from attending when she was 5.

"That was the moment I realized that I was different from others, but I wanted to do the same thing people of my same age group do, and I knew I had the abilities."

The New York Education Bureau appointed a tutor who went to her home two and a half hours a week. Heumann was unhappy with both the tutor and her situation, and for nearly four years she demanded to be allowed to attend school. She finally started attending school when she was 9 but was put in a classroom separate from those without a disability.

Heumann said she has faced this kind of treatment almost her entire life, and in recognition of her abilities as an advocate for the disabled. US President Barack Obama named her special adviser on disability rights for the US State Department in 2010.

On her recent trip to China she visited a school for the disabled in Chengdu, Sichuan province. In addition to lauding the efforts of the Chinese government in improving the living conditions of the disabled, she also spoke positively of the fact that more and more people in China are caring about people with disabilities.

"To put it simply, I see more disabled on the street who used to be too shy to get out of their home," said Heumann, adding that these kinds of changes can be seen in many facets of life.

However, Heumann said resources can be used in better ways. "It is important to take money that could be used in constructing segregated schools to improve services in regular schools."

She directs that advice at both China and the US.

Heumann said China and the US are communicating more, talking about how services for the disabled can be improved, and finding solutions together.

Even though the US started to work on this issue about 40 years ago, and China has started on this path in only the past 10 or 20 years, they can both learn from one another, she said.

"The inclusion of disabled people in our societies has strengthened our two countries and will continue to do so."

yandongjie@chinadaily.com.cn
Bilateral ties crucial: Jim Baker Updated: 2016-05-13 12:13 By Chen Weihua in Washington(China Daily USA)

Getting the US-China relationship right should be a top priority, in the eyes of two former senior US government officials.

James Baker, who served as secretary of state in George H. W. Bush's administration, said one of the biggest challenges facing American policymakers today is how to react to the rise of China as a global power.

"It's extremely important that we get it right," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on Thursday. "It's important that China gets it right, too, in terms of their relationship with us."

Baker believes there are areas of convergence of interests with China, but that areas of tension will continue to exist.

"We need to cooperate with China where we can," he said, citing the issues of regional security, energy security and trade.

"But we need to manage differences that are going to exist," he said, noting the matters of human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the South China Sea.

"It's not foreordained that United States and China are going to become enemies, at least in my opinion, if we play our cards right," said Baker, who also served as secretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration.

"There is no more serious diplomatic burden that we are going to have looking forward than managing the US-China relationship right," Tom Donilon, former national security advisor in the Obama administration, told the committee.

He said it's a great challenge for policymakers on both sides, given the dynamic of a rising power and existing power throughout history.

While historically the most likely outcome between an established power and an emerging power is conflict, Donilon said conflict is not inevitable.

"I do not see international relations as a subset of physics," he said. "Our countries' leaders can avoid conflict through steady engagement and a concerted effort to avoid strategic miscalculations."

Donilon believes a major test of the US-China relationship going into the next year is the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He was referring to the deployment of the THAAD missile system and other measures the US is likely to take against the threat from the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. He acknowledged that it would make China uncomfortable strategically.

Both China and Russia have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the deployment of a THAAD system in South Korea and regard it as a strategic threat to their territories.

"The dialogue on this with China is quite urgent," Donilon told the senators. "It's a real test for the relationship going forward."

Both Donilon and Baker emphasized the importance of a continued US military presence and security alliances in East Asia. They expressed concerns over what they described as "aggressive" and "provocative" activities by China in the South China Sea.

Many Chinese regard the US as a major player behind the scenes in stirring up tensions in the South China Sea to advance its rebalance to Asia strategy and curtail the growing influence of a rising China.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
China's major EV battery maker geared up for US Updated: 2016-05-13 12:13 By Lia Zhu in San Francisco(China Daily)

Guoxuan High-Tech Co Ltd, a major Chinese electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturer, is geared up to enter the US market with the help of its research and development center in the Silicon Valley.

Prompted by the country's focus on developing battery-powered cars, the Chinese company set up its first overseas R&D center in Fremont, California, near the assembly plant of Tesla, in July 2014 to take advantage of the region's innovative and cutting-edge science and technology.

The center, wholly funded by Guoxuan's subsidiary Hefei Guoxuan High-Tech Power Energy Co Ltd, has a multinational research team of 15 engineers, who previously worked for major original equipment manufacturers and EV-related companies worldwide.

Tasked to develop battery manages system (BMS), power train and vehicle control at three stages, Gotion is expected to deliver the first BMS sample to Chinese customers in the second quarter of 2016, and the new models equipped with Gotion's BMS are expected to hit the Chinese market by the end of this year, said Jason Yan, Gotion's business development manager.

In February, Gotion was also tasked to market one of Guoxuan's major products - the lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) battery, also known as the LFP battery, which is a type of lithium-ion rechargeable battery for high power applications, such as EV.

Though its energy density is lower than the nickel-cobalt manganese (NCM) battery which is used by Tesla, the LFP cells feature high discharging current, non-explosive and long-cycle life, and are cost-effective when considering their long lifetimes, according to Yan.

"The most important advance of the LFP battery is its thermal and chemical stability, which means it's safer than other lithium-ion cells and the NCM version," he said. "It can find a number of roles in vehicle use, such as electric bus, electric truck and neighborhood electric vehicle, as well as in energy storage."

Yan said the US did not have strong LFP battery makers and most of the LFP products were imported from Japan and South Korea. "In terms of technology, our products are as good as Samsung, Panasonic or LG; in terms of price, ours are very competitive," he said.

Gotion has targeted more than 30 EV-related companies as potential customers. It has signed a strategic partnership with a California-based solar energy company.

"The company has put us at the top of their priory list to purchase Guoxuan's cells for energy storage," said Yan. "They made the decision after a tour of Guoxuan."

To support the production of LFP cells, Guoxuan launched a new cathode material plant in Hefei city, Anhui province, in February 2015 with an investment of $767.8 million. On completion in five years, the plant is expected to produce 5 tons of cathode material for LFP batteries a year.

The first phase of the project has achieved the targeted output of 3,000 tons in October 2015 and the second phase, which started early 2016, is expected to produce another 3,000 tons.

China, the world's largest new-car market, has seen EV sales jump to 331,000 units in 2015, nearly threefold. It aims to bring around 5 million EVs on the streets by 2020.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com
Chris Laing (center), with Wang Yiqing (right), program officer from the China Education Association for International Exchange, and Lu Sibin, Laing's interpreter, at the opening ceremony of the inaugural Zhi-Xing Eisenhower Fellowship held at Renmin University of China in Beijing in October 2015. Provided To China Daily

Experience teaches there are more and more opportunities to cooperate and solve the world's problems

Chris Laing was born in Hong Kong but he had never made it to the Chinese mainland until last year.

Laing was one of 10 American mid-career leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors chosen to participate in the first Zhi-Xing China Eisenhower Fellowships Program, which had its genesis in annual talks on people-to-people exchange between Vice-Premier Liu Yandong and US Secretary of State John Kerry. The program is designed to advance greater understanding between the two nations.

The 10 traveled to the Chinese mainland in October 2015 for a month-long exploratory trip.

"I have family connections in HK and Macao but had never been to the mainland before. This is the first time I've had the chance to visit it. I haven't previously had any professional nor personal networks in the mainland," said Laing, vice-president of science and technology at the University City Science Center in Philadelphia.

As a child, Laing immigrated to Australia from Hong Kong with his family, where he earned a PhD in molecular endocrinology from the University of Sydney. He then completed his post-doctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine in 2004, when he began working with the Science Center as a consultant in 2004 and joined the staff as director of Science & Technology in 2006.

In May 2010, Laing was promoted to vice-president, a role in which he oversees several programs at the center and provides direct R&D strategy support to Science Center Port business incubator companies and facilitates their access to Greater Philadelphia's academic and clinical communities through the Science Center's Scientific Advisory Committee for the Board of Directors.

He said he wanted to create networks in the mainland and to study aspects of its growing innovation activities.

Laing visited a variety of organizations that support science and technology and innovation in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an and Chengdu.

He met with leaders at the Ministry of Science and Technology, provincial and city level governmental entities, universities, accelerators and technology parks and companies.

He said he learned a lot about emerging innovation ecosystems in the mainland. "China, like the US, is a large country with diverse communities that shows geographic variation in terms of the type of economic development," he said.

"In the future, I would be interested in understanding how policies related to innovation are influencing these communities differently, for example, in the far west, versus in the very well developed eastern seaboard. We see here in the US that polices related to innovation have different effects in urban centers versus rural centers," Laing said.

In conversations with his Chinese counterparts, Laing was surprised to find that the challenges faced by people who work in the science and innovation space on the mainland seem the same as many of those faced by his colleagues here in the US. "Often, when I asked questions about hurdles for innovation, the answers that I received were very similar to those I would expect from my colleagues in the US," he said.

His experience has made him realize that "there are many more opportunities to collaborate than we are taking advantage of. We are really trying to solve the same problems. We don't want the two major innovation economies to evolve in isolation. We should be finding ways to solve common problems collaboratively, rather than separately."

Laing found his interactions with people on the mainland encouraging. "I met many people who desire to create, to innovate and to make the world a better place. They were very welcoming and eager to exchange ideas. This left me with a desire to seek ways in which we can work more closely. I see possibilities to create strong relationships with people on the mainland," Laing said.

Laing said his trip to the mainland "certainly affects" his professional thinking.

"My experience has pushed me to think about ways in which we may be able to create collaborative opportunities. I have two or three concepts that are in development; I'm not sure whether they will materialize yet - but I'm hopeful. We are working on a couple of ideas and are in continued discussion with several Chinese counterparts. So watch this space!

"I think when you spend an intensive amount of time immersed in a place as big and as diverse as China, it takes a long time afterwards to process your ideas and to focus in on what are the best ways to create practical outcomes. I'm in that process right now," Laing said.

Laing said that since he returned to Philadelphia, representatives from two organizations that he visited on the mainland have called on him in the US.

Most recently, a delegation from Shanghai Jiao Tong University visited the Science Center at the end of March. He said he has created some connections that they have been following through, and he is excited about the possibilities.

"I believe that I can use the experience to help to create meaningful networks that will hopefully allow Americans and Chinese organizations to collaborate in technology and innovation commercialization. And I believe we can each learn how to create and improve innovation ecosystems in China, in the US and elsewhere," he said.

Laing said he hopes that his first trip to the mainland was "the first of many".

leshuodong@chinadailyusa.com
Baijiu producer buoyed by industry award Updated: 2016-05-14 00:04 By HUA SHENGDUN in Washington(China Daily USA)

Members of Guotai International, LLC celebrate the winning of the gold medal in the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America 73rd Annual Convention and Expo on April 21 in Las Vegas. From left: Paul Varga, associate communication manager, Meng Xianqin, product manager, Shirley Chai, vice-president, Mauricio Garzon, regional sales director and Annie Wang, associate marketing manager. Guotai is the only Asian products among the three honorees and has been the only Baijiu that has ever received this award. Provided to China Daily

Whiskey, wine and beer are historically have been the alcoholic drinks of choice for American consumers, but in the past few years, baijiu, a traditional Chinese spirit, has gained traction in the American market.

Guotai, a baijiu brand recently introduced to the US market, won the gold medal at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America 73rd Annual Convention and Expo on April 21 in Las Vegas. It is the first baijiu product to win the award.

"On the day before the blind taste of the Guotai, the judges were already pretty impressed," said Shirley Chai, vice-president of Guotai Internationl. "During the blind taste, the judges felt that the taste was very special, mixing a sharp, mellow and a light, sweet flavor together."

Guotai is distilled in Maotai in Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Baijiu has long been the national spirit of China and is one of the most widely consumed spirits in the world. But "85 percent of people in the US don't know what baijiu is," said Mauricio Garzon, regional sales director for Guotai International. "What we're doing is trying to educate those consumers."

Other established brands have paved the way for baijiu distribution in the United States, notably Kweichow Moutai, the top brand in China and abroad. Others include Wu Liang Ye and Shui Jing Fang, and a US baijiu, Vinn, produced out of a distillery just south of Portland, Oregon.

Byejoe in Houston, a private enterprise owned by a handful of American and Chinese investors, including Texas' Yao Ming Investments Inc, imports baijiu from China but modifies it for the US market.

From 2011 to 2013, Byejoe spent two years in product research and development, andto obtain the more than 60 different certificates and licenses necessary to sell liquor in the US. Byejoe started sales during the Chinese New Year 2013.
Panel sees US, China financial services expanding Updated: 2016-05-14 04:53 By PAUL WELITZKIN in New York(China Daily USA)

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the United States, congratulates Guangdong province and New York State representatives for their efforts to strengthen economic and trade cooperation during a conference held by Guangdong province in New York on Friday. HEZI JIANG/China Daily

As economic activity grows between China and the US, Guangdong province is poised to play a vital role in the expanding financial services sector that is emerging between the two nations, participants told a session of the China (Guangdong)-US (New York) Economic and Trade Cooperation conference in New York City.

Ramond Yang, president of Guangdong Finance Investment (Holding) Corp Ltd, said increasing business activity between the province and the US will open up opportunities for the financial services industry.

"Guangdong is attractive for US financial institutions to establish offices and to make capital investments in China," he said Friday.

Morris Li is the executive director and president of China Guangfa Bank based in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province and its largest city with 13 million people.

Li said financial services are complementary to the burgeoning economic trade and investment between China and the US.

"Financial services can provide impetus for additional cooperation in areas like cross-border financial activity," Li said.

He also urged greater collaboration among stock exchanges in the US, Europe and China, especially in corporate governance and anti money-laundering programs.

Earlier this year, Citigroup Inc agreed to sell its 20 percent stake in Guangfa Bank to China Life Insurance Co, the nation's biggest life-insurance company by premiums, for about $3 billion.

Global merger-and-acquisition activity drew the attention of Chris Ventresca, global co-head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase & Co, and George Tierney, COO of global M&A at Citigroup.

Ventresca said global M&A activity is down about 18 percent this year from the same period in 2015. "That's basically due to the lack of mega deals  those valued at $10 billion or more," he said.

Cross regional merger and acquisition deals are up slightly from a year ago and China is playing a much bigger role than it did a little over a decade ago, said Ventresca. He noted that so far this year Chinese concerns have made purchases totaling $32 billion in North America (with most in the US), already surpassing the $20 billion from all of 2015.

"Chinese buyers include corporations and private equity," said Ventresca. He also noted that the Chinese have expanded the industries that they are making purchases.

Citigroup's Tierney said the Chinese have become sophisticated buyers participating in auctions for companies like Swiss chemical firm Syngenta AG and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

A consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group Co pursued Starwood until withdrawing from a $14 billion offer for the company. Tierney said Anbang deposited funds for the deal in an escrow account at a US financial institution to alleviate any concern Starwood might have had about Anbang's ability to participate.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
Guangdong comes to New York Updated: 2016-05-14 05:50 By AMY HE in New York(China Daily USA)

Senior government officials and business leaders from Guangdong came to New York to promote China's most prosperous province as a place with great business potential and technological innovation.

"Guangdong is one of the most prosperous provinces in China. It has always been at the forefront of economic development in China, and it has always been very innovative," Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, told the China (Guangdong)US (New York) Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference on May 13.

"In 1983 Guangdong province had already entered into a partnership with Massachusetts and the province had 20 friendship cities in the US, so it is already a reality that it has become a close friend of the United States," he said.

A large delegation from various business sectors in Guangdong along with Chinese and US government officials attended the conference that showcased tech industries in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, where many of China's biggest tech companies have headquarters.

Guangdong province is China's most populous province, home to more than100 million, and is the largest economic power within China. In 2015, GDP in Guangdong reached $1.17 trillion, an increase of 8 percent over the prior year and one-ninth of the domestic GDP. Its GDP of $10,800 per person is the highest in China.

"After over 30 years of economic reform, Guangdong has achieved progressive development. Currently, Guangdong has entered into a new economic norm and maintains a stable development trend," said Hu Chunhua, Communist Party secretary of Guangdong province.

Guangdong's main task going forward is to "promote structural adjustments", which includes promoting high-tech industries, improving traditional industries, and relying on new technology development, Hu said.

The province is also seeking to implement smart manufacturing and green low-carbon ecological development to improve the environment, and also to "speed up innovation and economic patterns," he said.

"We know that Guangdong is at the forefront of innovation in China and it has served as a gateway to China, way back to the days when it was first called Canton," said Patrick Santillo, deputy assistant-secretary of Commerce for China at the US Department of Commerce.

Santillo called Shenzhen  home to companies like medical-equipment maker Mindray and electric-car manufacturer BYD  a "tech-savvy and innovative city" that will play a key role in China's economy.

In two years, BYD has received more than 1,000 orders from six different US states for electric buses, and Ni Yidong, vice-president of BYD America, said the company has more than 50 percent of the electric-bus market in the US. BYD announced in February that it will supply 85 electric buses to the Antelope Valley Transit Authority in California.

Shenzhen's Mindray is a leading medical-device company, with its equipment used in 31 countries. The 25-year-old company employs more than 10,000 people globally, and in November 2015 reported $327.6 million in net revenue.

"Guangdong is combining internet with agriculture, manufacture, finance, logistics, business, environmental protection, and public service," said Chen Yuehua, deputy director general of the Guangdong commerce department.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com

Hezi Jiang contributed to this story.
China's Huawei looks to expand safe city solutions in Africa Updated: 2016-05-13 04:02 (Xinhua)

KIGAL -- Huawei,a Chinese Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution provider, announced Thursday plans to expand safe city solutions in Africa, providing ICT-based security systems to help in incident prevention, emergency response and evidence collection.

Eman Liu, President of Huawei Enterprise Business in Eastern and Southern Africa Region, announced this at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali.

According to Liu, safe city solution is part of smart city, a combination of different ICT solutions like wireless network (broadband), smart phones, cloud computing.

Liu said that Huawei wants to partner with the African country government to introduce the safe city solutions in the continent.

Huawei already provided safe city solutions in Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa since last year.

Rwandan capital Kigali has also adopted the Smart Kigali initiative, supported by Huawei, which aims at modernizing the lifestyle of Kigali City dwellers and visitors through use of ICT.
Shaanxi shows its stuff  SAN FRANCISCO Representatives of Shaanxi province visit California to promote the area's tourist attractions, on May 5 in downtown San Francisco. One of the representatives drew a winning ticket for a free round-trip flight on United Airlines between Xi'an and San Francisco. UA started service between the cities on Sunday. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY
Getting US-China relations right: Former US government officials Updated: 2016-05-13 09:33 By CHEN WEIHUA in Washington(chinadaily.com.cn)

Getting the US-China relationship right should be a top priority, in the eyes of two former senior US government officials.

James Baker, who served as secretary of state in George H.W. Bush's administration, said one of the biggest challenges facing American policymakers today is how to react to the rise of China as a global power.

"It's extremely important that we get it right," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a hearing on Thursday. "It's important that China gets it right, too, in terms of their relationship with us."

Baker believes there are areas of convergence of interests with China, but that areas of tension will continue to exist.

"We need to cooperate with China where we can," he said, citing the issues of regional security, energy security and trade.

"But we need to manage differences that are going to exist," he said, noting the matters of human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the South China Sea.

"It's not foreordained that United States and China are going to become enemies, at least in my opinion, if we play our cards right," said Baker, who also served as secretary of the treasury in the Reagan administration.

"There is no more serious diplomatic burden that we are going to have looking forward than managing the US-China relationship right," Tom Donilon, former national security advisor in the Obama administration, told the committee.

He said it's a great challenge for policymakers on both sides, given the dynamic of a rising power and existing power throughout history.

While historically the most likely outcome between an established power and an emerging power is conflict, Donilon said conflict is not inevitable.

"I do not see international relations as a subset of physics," he said. "Our countries' leaders can avoid conflict through steady engagement and a concerted effort to avoid strategic miscalculations."

Donilon believes a major test of the US-China relationship going into the next year is the situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. He was referring to the deployment of the THAAD missile system and other measures the US is likely to take against the threat from the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. He acknowledged that it would make China uncomfortable strategically.

Both China and Russia have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the deployment of a THAAD system in South Korea and regard it as a strategic threat to their territories.

"The dialogue on this with China is quite urgent," Donilon told the senators. "It's a real test for the relationship going forward."

Both Donilon and Baker emphasized the importance of a continued US military presence and security alliances in East Asia. They expressed concerns over what they described as "aggressive" and "provocative" activities by China in the South China Sea.

Many Chinese regard the US as a major player behind the scenes in stirring up tensions in the South China Sea to advance its rebalance to Asia strategy and curtail the growing influence of a rising China.

Former Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Fu Ying and National Institute for South China Sea Studies Director Wu Shicun expressed such a view in a lengthy article published in the National Interest on May 10. The article defends China's actions and stance by detailing the historical developments involving the South China Sea issue, details not typically found in US news media reports.

Chinese suspicions do not seem unwarranted. A Washington Post editorial on Thursday expressed concern over Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's bid to mend ties with China.

"It nevertheless appears that the already complicated US mission of mustering counterweights in East Asia sufficient to deter China's overreaching is about to get still more difficult," the editorial said.
EU lawmakers vote against recognizing China's market economy status Updated: 2016-05-13 17:56 By Wang Mengzhen(chinadaily.com.cn)

Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg, France, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

A non-legislative resolution in the European Parliament on Thursday has failed to recognize China's market economy status.

Based on the protocol on China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China will automatically transit to a market economy status for Europe by Dec 11, 2016.

However, lawmakers in the EU are still concerned that the influx of Chinese products might threaten the survival of European enterprises and employment once the market economy status is granted to the world's second largest economy.

As such, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) proposed that China's exports to the EU must be treated in a "non-standard" way. In other words, EU still needs to evaluate the price and cost of these commodities when conducting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probes.

However, MEPs stressed the importance of the EU's partnership with China, given that China is now the region's second biggest trading partner "with daily trade flows of over 1 billion euro."

Therefore, lawmakers pin their hopes on the European Commission, the EU's executive body, to put forward a proposal that strikes a balance between these needs. They believe that the EU should "find a way to do this in compliance with its international obligations in the WTO, and in particular China's accession protocol."

According to Article 15 in the protocol on China's Accession, WTO members who have yet to grant China the market economy status are authorized to use external benchmarks, normally prices and costs in another country, to determine China's dumping margin by December 2016. So, whether to recognize China as a market economy after 2016 has been heatedly discussed within in the EU.

More than 80 countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia, have recognized China's market economy status as of now.

Earlier this year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has urged the EU to obey the WTO rules and stop its unfair treatment of China.

China hopes the EU, a vital supporter of the multilateral trade and international legal systems, will fulfill its commitments to China's entry into WTO, Hong added.
China urges EU to honor MES status, despite parliamentary vote Updated: 2016-05-13 21:50 By By Zhong Nan in Beijing and Fu Jing in Brussels(chinadaily.com.cn)

Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg, France, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Beijing urged Brussels on Friday to honor its commitment of treating China as a market economy even though the European Parliament passed a non-legislative resolution of refusal.



European experts warned European institutions not to be influenced by lobbyists, saying it could result in the China-EU relationship to become embroiled in a tit-for-tat scenario, which "Beijing and sane Europeans" are not willing to see.



The UK, The Netherlands, and Nordic countries support China's market economy status. Germany is, in principle, supportive, but is interested in safeguards for sensitive industries, while Italy is strongly opposed.



China is recognised as a market economy by dozens of non-EU countries such as Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia and Russia.

An unidentified representative of China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that the European Union bloc must observe the accession articles of China's entry of World Trade Organization, which stipulate that China should be automatically given market economy status in December this year after a 15 year transition period.

"In line with Article 15 of the accession protocol signed when China joined the WTO, the Surrogate Country approach used by other WTO members for anti-dumping investigations against China must be dropped by 11th December this year," the representative said.

The Ministry said this international obligation must be shouldered by all WTO members, and European Union is no exception.

On Thursday the European Parliament voted to refuse China MES status, with many members saying that China has not met the five criteria of market economy set by the European institutions.

Beijing maintains granting MES is dependent on international rules, instead of respecting domestic criteria.

Though the resolution is not legally binding, Fredrik Erixon, Director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) said European Parliament was flexing its muscles and is trying to add more clout to the campaign to refuse China MES, to reform anti-dumping policy, and to take emergency action on steel.

"That campaign is waged by member states and business groups and the EP's support now makes it stronger," said Erixon. "Both China and sane people in Europe understand that whatever the result of the MES issue, it should not trigger a tit-for-tat escalation in trade actions against each other."

Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a non-profit organization in Brussels promoting bilateral digital and Internet cooperation, said to deny MES to China would be a strong political signal from the EU and may well cause the deterioration of the recent warming political relationship between the two economies.

Gambardella said in the short term, there are concrete risks of retaliation from the Chinese side, causing EU economies serious pain and uncertainty on what will be the end result.

"Closing the door to China may thus have very negative effects," said Gambardella.

The experts from China said Beijing has enough cards at hand but it focuses on constructively deepening bilateral economic and trade relationship.

Lin Guijun, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said imposing anti-dumping investigations over European wine, auto parts or vehicles could see China warning the EU that it is not reasonable to persist in trade protectionism, especially under the current global business setting.

The EU has remained China's top trading partner for 12 years, while China has remained the EU's second-largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years.

"For China, having a MES would make it harder for Europe or other economies to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods sold at knock-down prices under the WTO rules, because it would change the method for determining a fair price," said Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing.

Ma said that is why the EU is unwilling to offer this status to China as they don't want to see China's foreign trade becoming more flexible with this right under the WTO framework.

The EU began to repeatedly launch defensive trade measures since last year, seeking to impose punitive tariffs against China's various competitive steel products, though such products have helped cut the cost of business in Europe amid economic stagnation.

He Jingtong, a professor of trade at Nankai University in Tianjin, said that in the long-term, China will continue to face frequent trade friction and there is no reason to be optimistic about the prospects in the context of the country's international trade environment and the resurgent protectionism in the world.

"Meanwhile, the recovery path of the global economy is proving to be more complex than anticipated. The uncertainties surrounding the economic recoveries in the EU and the US, together with concerns over employment prospects, suggest high risks of trade remedy measures against Chinese exports to protect local employment," He said.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn


EC launches probe into imports of Chinese hot-rolled steel Updated: 2016-05-13 23:17 By Fu Jing in Brussels(chinadaily.com.cn)

The European Commission on Friday launched an anti-subsidy investigation into imports of Chinese hot-rolled flat steel, which has been the subject of an anti-dumping investigation since February.

The announcement follows shortly after the European Parliament passed a non-legislative resolution that China should not be given a market economy status in the end of this year, at the end of its 15 years of transition to World Trade Organization accession.

Including today's decision, the European Commission said there are now ten active trade investigations into steel products, in addition to the 37 anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures already in place.

"Seven of these investigations and 15 of the measures concern steel products originating from China," European Commission said in a press release.

Fredrik Erixon, Director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) said both China and what he called sane people in Europe understand that whatever the result of the MES issue, it should not trigger a tit-for-tat escalation in trade actions against each other.

"The steel sector on both sides has it bad enough, and overcapacity problems cannot be solved by trade policy," said Erixon.

"Trade defence measures, however, is a multiplier, it makes the overcapacity an even bigger problem and will distort markets even more, he added."

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Shaanxi shows its stuff - San Francisco Representatives of Shaanxi province visit California to promote the area's tourist attractions, on May 5 in downtown San Francisco. One of the representatives drew a winning ticket for a free round-trip flight on United Airlines between Xi'an and San Francisco. UA started service between the cities on Sunday. Provided to China Daily
China refutes Japanese media's South China Sea related reports Updated: 2016-05-14 04:16 (Xinhua)

BEIJING -- China on Friday refuted reports in Japanese media on the South China Sea, saying China is garnering support from more and more countries.

"The Japanese side has been attempting to form factions on the South China Sea issue and defame China. However, we need to listen to the official voice of the Kuwaiti government instead of the Kyodo News Agency," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

Lu made the remarks at a regular press briefing, in response to a report by Kyodo on Thursday, which said the prime ministers of Japan and Kuwait agreed that the security environment in East Asia has become increasingly severe because of China's unilateral attempt to alter the status quo in the East and South China seas.

A meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Kuwaiti counterpart Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah was held in Tokyo on Thursday.

Lu said senior officials of Kuwait attended the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum held in Doha on Thursday, which issued a statement saying that participating Arab countries support China's efforts to peacefully resolve territorial and maritime differences through dialogue and negotiation.

The Arab countries also agreed that the rights of sovereign nations as well as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea signatories to decide how they solve their disputes should be respected.

Lu said a report by Kyodo earlier this month saying Japan and Laos had reached a consensus on the South China Sea issue during their foreign ministers' meeting also did not reflect the stance of the Laotian government.

According to Lu, Venezuela and Mauritania have issued statements, calling for the settlement of the South China Sea issue through negotiation and consultation. The Gabonese Foreign Minister Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet also sent letter to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, supporting China's stance.

"China's stance is gaining understanding and support from more and more countries. The Doha statement and those countries' stance accord with international practice of dispute settlement through consultation and negotiation, manifesting the essence of the rule of international law and embodying the just and fair opinion of the international community," Lu said.
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Program officers and experts of SNV introduce the usage of biogas in husbandry households

at the office of the Biogas Programme for the Animal Husbandry Sector of Vietnam.

SNVs Sector Leader of Renewable Energy Dagmar Zwebe said that Biogas Program

was registered the Golden Standard to help improving the life and technology sustainably.

Constructing biogas digester according to SNVs instruction.

The team led by Ho Van Han constructs the 1020th biogas digester for farmers in Chuong My District.



Biogas is used in cooking to save energy.

SNVs officers instruct to famers in Vinh City, Nghe An Province.

Documentations of the Biogas Programme are provided sufficiently to the farmers.

Cac tai lieu, phim anh ve du an chuong trinh khi sinh hoc uoc cung cap ay u cho nguoi nong dan. Anh: Tu lieu

SNV inaugurates the 100,000th Biogas works in Vietnam.

SNVs officers examine the project launched in Thai Binh Province. Photo: File
A production line of Traphaco Company. The company has set up one of its factories with a 100ha farming area for medicinal plants in Lao Cai Provinces Sa Pa Town, that employs about 600 local farming households.  Photo enternews.vn

HA NOI  Enterprises who engage in inclusive business could tap into new markets and ensure their business efficiency, according to a conference held in the capital city on Wednesday.

Ho Sy Hung, head of the Ministry of Planning and Investments Enterprise Development Agency said it was necessary for countries including Viet Nam to facilitate inclusive business  a sustainable business model that benefits low-income communities.

Promoting this business initiative in Viet Nam would speed up the countrys achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said.

Viet Nam has made increasing efforts to improve the environment for inclusive business with a focus on facilitating development of the private sector and supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Since 2000, the private sector has been performing a greater role in the nations economy. In 2015 alone, the sector contributed about 48.3 per cent of the countrys GDP while their investments made up 38.5 per cent of the total social investment capital.

Over past years, the sector has also created more jobs for local people including low-income earners, he noted.

Participants at the event also discussed how the momentum of SDG implementation could be leveraged to improve the environment for inclusive business at the national level.

They also underlined the need for closer co-operation to build ecosystems for inclusive business, speeding up the achievement of the SDGs.

Several firms that have been involved in inclusive business shared their stories at the event.

Ecofarm representative Nguyen Hong Quang, said his company has engaged in inclusive business by creating links between enterprises, farmers, the Government and scientists.

The company has been working to boost technology transfer and research and development activities, help farmers access soft loans and technical support besides building agriculture co-operatives, Quang said.

Meanwhile, Traphaco Group chairman Nguyen Huy Van said as a medicine manufacturer, his company has set up one of its factories with a 100ha farming area for medicinal plants in Lao Cai Provinces Sa Pa Town, that employs about 600 local farming households. VNS
HCM CITY  Demand for organic farm produce has increased significantly both in Viet Nam and globally, and this offers good prospects for businesses investing in the field, a seminar heard in HCM City yesterday.

Wouter Van Ravenhorst from Control Union, an international inspection and certification agency, said demand for organic food in the US and EU is growing by 10-15 per cent a year and likely to continue to do so.

Globally, organic agricultural land increased significantly between 1999 and 2014 but not in Asia, including Viet Nam, meaning there is a lot of potential for the region to invest in it, he said.

Nguyen Ba Hung, general director of Organik a Lat, said organic farming requires uncontaminated agricultural lands clearly separated from normal lands, the non-use of pesticides and chemicals and record-keeping to keep clear track of product flows.

His organic vegetable production can never meet demand and he would to like to tie up with other producers to expand, he said.

Deputy minister of Science and Technology Tran Quoc Khanh said food safety is a top concern for all of society, and organic agriculture plays an important role in ensuring this.

Organic farming is an inevitable trend globally since it helps increase productivity and farmers incomes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and chemical contamination, he said.

In Viet Nam, organic agriculture is done on around 23,400ha or 0.2 per cent of the countrys total agricultural lands, he said.

There are some successful organic models such as Hoa Sua Foods organic rice brand by Ca Mau-based Vien Phu Organic and Healthy Foods Joint Stock Corporation, vegetable production by Organik a Lat, a unique thick-skinned orange in Ham Yen, Tuyen Quang Province, and others.

Delegates at the seminar agreed that organic agriculture offers advantages like lack of pesticides residues, helping increase the value of agricultural and aquaculture products and having a greater likelihood of being accepted in choosy markets.

But companies in the field face many challenges, they said. For instance, there is no domestic certification organisation for organic products and growers have to depend on foreign organisations like Control Union, IMO, and JAS, they pointed out.

Vo Minh Khai, president and CEO of Vien Phu Organic and Healthy Foods Joint Stock Corporation, said, Government policies related to developing organic or climate-friendly agriculture are still not clear.

Besides, the standards for certifying produce as organic are not clear, he said.

There are too many kinds of production standards like VietGap, GlobalGap, Organic, Natural, CFA (climate friendly agriculture), he said, wondering what the differences between them are and saying official agencies should clarify.

The Government should have long-term policies to zone production areas for various kinds of produce to avoid contamination, he warned.

To develop sustainable agriculture, the Government should have transparent, clear policies that persuade farmers to switch gradually from chemicals-based farming to sustainable, climate-friendly agriculture to cope with international competition and safeguard the health of the community, he said.

The policies (land use, credit, market policies) need to be strong and distinct for farmers, enterprises, fertiliser makers, and others involved in organic farming on one hand and chemicals-based farming on the other, he said.

Increasing public awareness about the production and use of organic products is also a big challenge, delegates said, adding authorities should educate people.

Deputy minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said his ministry would review and amend policies to boost organic agriculture.

The country has enough natural and social conditions to develop organic farming, especially produce like vegetables, fruits, rice, tea and fisheries.

Existing and proposed free trade agreements would bring opportunities for exports, especially of organic produce, he said.

At the seminar, companies and organisations, including Hung Thinh Co., Ltd, Binca Seafoods An Giang, Saigon Co.op, Organic Life JSC, the Trade Promotion Centre, the Institute of Viet Nam Organic Agricultural Economics and Tay Ninh Department Agriculture and Rural Development signed agreements to increase production and consumption of organic produce.

Organised by the Department of Processing and Trade for Agro-forestry-Fisheries Products and

Salt Production and Organic Life, the seminar titled Recognition of Viet Nam organic agricultural products, prospects for development and marketing attracted more than 500 local and foreign business executives, government officials, and researchers. VNS
HCM City  The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) are expected to offer more market opportunities for insurance companies in Viet Nam, but will also present tough challenges in a more competitive international environment.

The current Vietnamese insurance market is facing many disadvantages and hasnt met its potential for development, Pham Thanh Hai, legal director of Bao Minh Insurance Corporation, told a seminar held yesterday in HCM City on the development of the insurance industry in the country.

The insurance industry has been active for 20 years in Viet Nam. As of March 2015, the country had 69 insurance companies, and more than 400,000 employees with total turnover of VN54 trillion (US$2 billion) in 2014.

The legal framework for the insurance industry, however, is outdated and incomplete, and most residents do not buy insurance, Hai said.

Also, the industry lacks good governance, and fails to provide quality services and insurance products that meet customers needs.

Shortages of high-tech use and trained and professional staff are other problems plaguing the industry, Hai said.

Unhealthy competition among insurance companies, through price and commissions, is another issue.

Limited quality human resources, poor foreign languages, lack of experts in areas like the law, risk management, analysis and insurance fees have also restricted development of the industry, he said.

Hai noted that demand for insurance would sharply increase as Viet Nam joins AEC and TPP.

The insurance market will open and help improve the situation, he said. The threat is real that Viet Nam could become a place that imports insurance services from other AEC and TPP member nations to meet insurance demand for foreign capital.

Domestic companies are expected to face strong competition from other insurance businesses in the region, including Japan and the US.

Speaking at the seminar, Truong Minh Cat Nguyen, of the TILA Insurance Service Consultancy Ltd company, said, The financial and governance strength of foreign insurance corporations will dominate the Vietnamese market.

To cope with the situation, Nguyen suggested that State authorities offer training to insurance corporations in AEC and TPP insurance-related content and complete a new legal framework for the industry.

Creating transparency and sustainable regulations and laws for the market, as well as better supervision to ensure safety, are also necessary.

He urged insurance companies to review the entire system to increase economic efficiency and to restructure management models with proper long-term business strategies.

The companies should also avoid unhealthy competitive activities, invest in human resources and technology, improve management skills, and promote co-operation among domestic insurance companies, he added.  VNS
Wood products dislpays at a showroom of a home decoration company. Fair trade is now one of the most important concerns for European Union (EU) consumers, along with concern for sustainable development. VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

HA NOI  Fair trade is now one of the most important concerns for European Union (EU) consumers, along with concern for sustainable development, a Ministry of Trade and Industry official said.

Tran Ngoc Quan, deputy director general of the Europe Market Department, Ministry of Trade and Industry, made this observation at the policy dialogue Promoting fair trade in Viet Nam in Ha Noi yesterday.

The dialogue was held by the Viet Nam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute, in collaboration with Viet Nam Tea Association, Viet Nam Cocoa  Coffee Association and Viet Nam Handicraft Exporters Association.

The FTA between Viet Nam and the EU has brought big advantages for the market and Vietnamese enterprises when exporting to the EU market, he said.

The EU cares for economic development with opportunities for future generations. As such, in the EU member states, especially more developed countries, consumers have higher requirements for products and services, Quan highlighted, adding The market requirement is strict, including requirements for producers for environment and society.

If Vietnamese enterprises actively sought voluntary labels such as ecolabel, social responsibility and fair trade, it will give EU consumers more confidence while choosing Vietnamese products, he added.

According to EU statistics, EU revenue of fair trade products has increased steadily, especially for coffee, tea and handicrafts.

Fair trade represents 1.5 million producers and labour in 1,200 manufacturers in 74 countries, according to Nguyen Bao Thoa, director of the Promoting fair trade in Viet Nam project.

Speaking at the dialogue, Thoa said that for producers and labour, fair trade helped them by creating a fair and stable price for their products, welfare funds to re-invest into their community, empowerment to voice their opinions in decision making process, and improvement in working and living conditions based on the establishment of production, or a consumption model with responsibility.

For businesses, fair trade is a global certification for easier recognition, meeting market demands, pricing themselves according to the fair trade criteria, improving their organisational structures, and being part of a global market, in addition to exchanging opportunities to learn and voice their opinion on fair trade itself.

Consumers of fair trade will buy products according to values and rules of fair trade, choosing good products, with clear origin, showing producers responsibility to the economy, society and environment.

Fair Trade was a tool for delivering sustainable development, Christine Gent, director of World Fair Trade Organisation in Asian region, said.

Fair Trade supported sustainable rural livelihoods and helped to stem the tide of urban migration, she added.

However in Viet Nam, fair trade was relatively new and yet to be well known, Thoa said.

A coffee grower in ak Lak Province said at the meeting that as soon as his co-operative applied fair trade practices, it saw improvements.

The quality of coffee was enhanced, while the awareness of both planters and buyers on social responsibility increased, he said.

However, as the province was still weak in financial capacity, he proposed to organisations that they support the co-operative with a fee to build a trade promotion brand, and hoped the Government would lend support through investment funds on materials.

A representative of the handicraft sector also spoke highly on the advantages of fair trade in exporting to foreign markets, especially the European Union (EU) market. She also recommended to the State that they have policies to attract more companies and enterprises taking part in fair trade activities to further promote fair trade in the country.

The project Promoting fair trade in Viet Nam is funded by EU with the total budget of more than 504,000 euro (US$574,000) in a period of 35 months from June 2014 to May 2017.

The project aims to develop and increase the fair trade business ability in Viet Nam following all requirements to the EU market.  VNS
HA NOI - Cat Bi International Airport in the northern Hai Phong port city began operations yesterday after it underwent upgrades for more than two years.

This was done under a plan approved by the then Prime Minister in 2012.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said the airport was expected to help not only Hai Phong City, but also the northern coastal region to maximise their potential and strengths.

The airport, together with Hai Phong International Port, Tan Vu-Lach Huyen Bridge and Ha Noi-Hai Phong and Quang Ninh-Hai Phong Expressways, will form a complete transport network, facilitating socio-economic development and ensuring national defence and security in the region, Phuc said.

He urged the Ministry of Transport, the city and other localities to speed up the construction of transport, tourism and service infrastructure networks in order to make the best use of the airport.

He also asked Airports Corporation of Viet Nam and Viet Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation to maintain and protect the airports infrastructure, and co-ordinate with customs and police forces to ensure safety of flights.

Cat Bi has becomes a 4E-level international airport under the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards, a first-level military airport and a standby for Ha Noi-based Noi Bai International Airport.

It is capable of accommodating Boeing 777, Boeing 747 and similar models, according to the municipal Peoples Committee.

Currently, the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and low-cost airlines Vietjet Air and Jetstar Pacific Airlines have been offering flights to and from Cat Bi International Airport, including five domestic routes to HCM City, a Nang, Nha Trang, Pleiku and Buon Me Thuot.

More services will be launched linking the airport with destinations at home and abroad, including Phu Quoc Island District in the southern Kien Giang Province as of yesterday, a Lat City in the Lam ong Province from May 20, followed by routes to Nghe An province and Can Tho City as well as China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Thailand.

At the ceremony, Cat Bi received the decision recognising it as an international airport.

In the first quarter of this year, the airport welcomed 363,600 passengers, up 48.7 per cent and handled 1.610 tonnes of cargo, up 15 per cent.

By 2020, the number of passengers is expected to reach 2.3 million while the amount of cargo will top 11,000 tonnes.

Hai Phong international container terminal project launched

Construction on the Hai Phong International Container Terminal (component B) began in Cat Hai District in the northern port of Hai Phong City yesterday.

The two 750m-long wharfs in the component will sit on an area of 40ha each and cost a total of US$321 million. Once completed in 2018, the terminal will become the first deep-water port in the north, capable of receiving vessels up to 100,000 DWT, Nguyen ang Nghiem, the Sai Gon Newport Corporations general director, said.

It is also expected to be a major point connecting with international deep-water ports at Cai Mep-Thi Vai, making it easier for Vietnamese goods to navigate European and American markets.

Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony, Prime Minister Phuc lauded the Sai Gon Newport Corporation, the Japanese Molnykit company and the Hai Phong International Container Port Company for launching the project as scheduled.

He also thanked the Japanese government for providing support for Molnykit throughout the process.

Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Fukada Hiroshi hailed the project as a symbol of Viet Nam-Japan ties and a pilot one in infrastructure in the form of public-private partnership.

In order to put the port into operation in 2018, the Prime Minister asked investors, contractors and relevant units to seriously comply with commitments in the contract in line with the law, ensuring the progress and quality of the project.

Hai Phong City widely open for international trade

The city is expected to attract more resources in building a green, modern and civilised port city in the future thank to an adequate and synchronous infrastructure system together with open investment environment.

In the middle of last December, Rent-A-Port Group, Belgian experts in marine infrastructure and industrial zone development, started construction of South inh Vu Industrial Zone 2 (Deep C II) on an area of 650ha.

The $117 million Deep C II project has a total area of 513ha, lying closest to Lach Huyen Deep Sea Port (7km) and Cat Bi International Airport (6km), directly connected to Ha NoiHai Phong New Highway and Tan VuLach Huyen Bridge. With this strategic location, Deep C II expects to rapidly complete its infrastructure development and hand over 40ha to committed clients in 2017.

Statistics from the municipal Department of Planning and Investment, in the first four months of the year, the city attracted more than $1.69 billion of FDI, over five time higher than the same period last year and accounting for 89 per cent of the whole years target.

The city has welcomed big companies such as LG, Bridgestone, Fuji Xerox, and Haengsung Electronics Viet Nam, in addition to JX Nippon Oil and General Electric, to take advantages of FTAs. Local investors have also sought investment opportunities to make use of the citys preferential policies.

Hai Phong City and the business community have been ready in welcome both opportunities and challenges from TPP, ASEAN Economic Community and others, Le Van Thanh, the citys chairman, said.  VNS
HA NOI  Thailands plan to accelerate sales of 11.4 million tonnes of rice in stockpiles within two months sparked concerns that it would hurt prices as well as Viet Nams rice exports. However, some people were optimistic that the impact would not be significant.

Thailand planned to sell all 11.4 million tonnes of rice in a government stockpile in May and June to generate US$2.8 billion, in what could be the biggest rice sale clearance ever of the worlds second largest rice exporter after India.

According to Le Van Banh, director of the Department of Agro-Fisheries Processing and Salt Production, the biggest stockpiled rice sell-off from Thailand would certainly have an impact on the global rice market following the law on supply and demand, as well as on Viet Nams rice market.

However, the impact on Viet Nams rice exports would not be significant, at least in the short term, Banh said.

Banh also said that Thailands plan to sell 11.4 million tonnes of rice within just two months was not feasible.

He said that Thailand exported on an average 400,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes of rice per month. To sell 11.4 million tonnes in just two months sounds unrealistic, Banh said as quoted by vietnamplus.vn.

The Viet Nam Food Association said that the impact on rice exports would not be huge in the second and third quarters as most contracts had been signed in the last quarter of 2015, and there were estimated to be 1.4 million tonnes of rice remaining to be shipped abroad following existing signed contracts.

According to Banh, the stockpiled rice for this clearance would mainly be sub-standard quality that the Thai government had purchased following the 2012-2013 rice mortgage programme and Thailand would target the not-too-demanding markets such as in Africa.

Since May 2014, Thailand has auctioned off 5.05 million tonnes of rice worth US$1.5 billion. The Thai government had previously said it aimed to clear the stockpile by the end of 2017.

Meanwhile, major import markets of Vietnamese rice were China, the Philippines and Indonesia which had standards for rice quality and preferred newly-harvested Vietnamese rice, he said. Rice exports from Viet Nam would not be significantly affected by Thailands sell-off in the coming months, he said.

According to Ma Quang Trung, director of the Plantation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Viet Nams rice exports in the first four months of this year reached 2.06 million tonnes, worth $916 million, rising by 11.8 per cent in volume and 13.8 per cent in value over the same period last year. Average rice export price was $438 per tonne, increasing by 0.32 per cent over the same period last year. China was the largest importer of Vietnamese rice, accounting for more than 30 per cent of the Viet Nams total rice exports.

Last year, Viet Nam was the third largest rice exporter in the world with an export volume of 6.4 million tonnes.

Close watch

According to Banh, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked the Viet Nam Food Association, rice companies and farmers to closely track movements in the global rice market, especially from Thailands clearance sale, for timely measures.

Nguyen Van on, director of food trading company Viet Hung in southern Tien Giang Province, said the sale of Viet Nams sub-standard rice would be affected the most by Thailands move, as Thailand accelerated the stockpiled rice sale in the months coinciding with the rice harvest crop of Viet Nam

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said at the end of April, days after Thailands announcement, that the global rice market was seeing unpredictable developments, which would influence Viet Nams rice exports in 2016.

Besides export prices which no longer was of Vietnamese rice competitiveness, quality and brand were also matter of concerns in exports.

The ministry said that it was important to hasten the restructuring of the agricultural sector and rice production towards building up a value chain, enhancing quality and developing a Vietnamese brand.

Quality would help Viet Nam to compete and maintain markets amid the flurry of low-priced rice, an expert said.

The industry and trade ministry also said that it would enhance trade promotion to take advantage of the new-generation free trade agreements to expand rice export markets.

In addition, the ministry proposed to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to provide preferential loans to rice traders for investments in warehouses and for buying rice from farmers in an effort to accelerate exports this year.

---- Inbox----

Building a national brand

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc approved the agriculture ministrys proposal of a Vietnamese rice brand development and management master programme from combining five separate projects.

These projects were previously raised in the Prime Minister Decision 706/Q-TTg about developing rice brand issued in May 2015.

The master programme aimed to enhance the recognition of Vietnamese rice in the global market to boost competitiveness, improve rice added value and expand markets.

It would focus on developing a national rice brand name, brands for major rice products of Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, the countrys biggest rice production area, rice brand protection, trade promotion and exports expansion.

Viet Nam aimed to become the worlds leading rice brand by quality and food safety by 2030, under the approved project.  VNS
HA NOI  The first collaborative stage work by Japanese Edo Marionette Theatre Youkiza and the Viet Nam Youth Theatre will debut in Ha Noi tonight.

The work, entitled Poisoned Wild Duck, is based on Norwegian Henrik Ibsens The Wild Duck from 1884, and will be performed by marionette artists from Japan and Peoples Artist Le Khanh and actor Thanh Binh.

It is a result of a project between the two theatres which received financial support from The Japan Foundation Asia Centre and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.

The work will be directed by Sakate Yoji from Japan who will be working with the Marionette Theatre Youkiza for the first time.

I chose Ibsens The Wild Duck by chance not for any special reason. I met Vietnamese actress Le Khanh at the first phase of the project and thought she would be fit for one of main roles in the work, said director Sakate.

In the play, the hunter uses lead bullets which cause serious environmental pollution. Accidentally, I know that the central coastal areas of Viet Nam are polluted. The old story will convey a message of the natural environment to todays spectators.

In Poisoned Wild Duck, a funeral procession carries a coffin of a little girl who killed herself.

It is shown wandering in a forest in search of a burial site. The story is traced by the members of the procession, all looking back on the events which lead to the death of the injured creature and other wild creatures dying by human tyranny, such as lead poisoning and hunting. The play attempts to contrast natural scenes with the damages caused by humans.

Plays involving marionettes and actors are popular in Japan but it is rare in Viet Nam to see a performance combining these two theatrical techniques.

Le Khanh and Thanh Binh will act with marionettes controlled by Japanese artists.

The actresses and some members of Viet Nam Youth Theatre had a chance to observe rehearsals and performances by the Youkiza Theatre in 2014 under the Japan Foundation Training Programme.

She was deeply impressed by the fusion of the 380-year-old tradition and contemporary theatre and had a strong desire for the Youth Theatre to collaborate with the Youkiza.

We wanted not only to learn and get experiences from a Japanese theatre but also desired to put on a stage work, said actress Le Khanh.

Poisoned Wild Duck was performed at the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre from March 16 to 21, gaining high acclaim from Japanese art critics and artists.

Twenty-five members including puppeteers and stage technicians led by Youkiza Theatre director artist Yuki Magsaburo came to Ha Nois performances.

The director is 12th generation Magsaburo, whose ancestor founded Youkiza Theatre in 1635.

Todays Youkiza continues to be active, preserving traditional marionette repertory and skills, as well as performing new plays and magic lantern shows, touring aboard and holding international projects.

It will be an interesting stage work for spectators. I hope the joint play will be performed many times not only a few, said director Magsaburo.

The play will take place at Viet Nam Youth Theatre, 11 Ngo Thi Nham on May 13, 14 and 15 and in the Opera House in the northern city of Hai Phong on May 17.

Free tickets can be picked up at Japan Foundation, 27 Quang Trung Street.  VNS
A NANG  Antoine Roland-Billecart, a sixth-generation descendent of the 197-year old Champagne House, will come to a Nang for an exclusive champagne dinner at La Maison 1888 inside the InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort on May 20.

It will be the first time that Roland-Billecart, the proprietor and winemaker of famed champagne Billecart-Salmon, visits Viet Nam and the central coastal city.

Established in 1818 by Nicolas Francois in Mareuil-sur-Ay, Billecart-Salmon is known in France and around the globe for producing the most elegant champagnes.

Diners will have chance to taste the world-renowned champagne and celebrate its history of success in champagne production with Roland-Billecart.

Three-star Michelin Chef Pierre Gagnaire and local chefs will prepare an extravagant menu with five French dishes at the restaurant, located just 600m above sea level, starting at 6.30pm.

La Maison 1888 was recognised as one of the worlds 10 best new restaurants by CNN, and one of the 101 best restaurants in Asia by the Daily Meal, a US food website.  VNS
HCM CITY  A Summer Party held last night in downtown HCM City for fashion industry insiders and guests kicked off activities for Viet Nam Designers Fashion Week.

Organised for the second time in the country, the event, held from May 12-18, will give 10 top local designers and the nascent fashion industry a much-needed boost.

Famous designers and fashion houses that will present their collections at shows with 200 front-row seats.

They include Kelly Bui, Li Lam, Leas by Le Ha, Ha Linh Thu, Huy Vo, Cashew, Tai Le, Lien Pham Paris, Maschio and Xita.

During the last two days of Fashion Week, a fashion festival will be held where visitors can buy the latest designs showcased on previous days of the week.

The fashion event was founded in 2015 by the Dream Team, which includes Huong Color, Huy Can, Model Xuan Lan and Thai Ba Dung.

The first Fashion Week was organised in December last year.

The collection of fashion designer Huy Vo will be showcased at 5pm today.

A show displaying Xitas collection will start at 7pm on the same day, followed by the collection of Leas by Le Ha at 9pm.

On May 14, Ha Linh Thus collection will be unveiled at 5pm. Designs from Maschio will be on the runway at 7pm on the same day, followed by Cashews collections at 9pm.

The show of Lien Pham Paris is scheduled on 3pm on May 15, followed by Tai Le at 5pm.

Designer Li Lam will present her collection at 7pm, and Kelly Bui at 9pm.

Last year, the event attracted 11 veteran and young designers.

The international standard fashion event will be held at Saigon House at 77 Nguyen Hue Street in HCM Citys District 1. VNS
Next Week: What do you think about sign boards in Viet Nam?

Ha Noi authorities have decided to equip shops along the newly-upgraded Le Trong Tan Street in Thanh Xuan District with uniform sign boards with the aim of creating a new model for an orderly street. All the sign boards are the same height and have the same colours of red and blue.

Authorities of any city always want to create positive changes when introducing a new regulation. However, this idea has received objections from many shop owners, who said it would hinder their creativity by preventing them from creating their own brand and style. Also, the change would make it difficult for consumers to distinguish between different shops, they said.

What do you think about signs in shops and restaurants in Viet Nam? Are they interesting and attractive to tourists? Should they all be made the same size and same colours? How are sign boards in your country regulated?

Please reply by email to: opinion@vnsmail.com, or by fax to (84-4) 3 933 2311. Letters can be sent to The Editor, Viet Nam News, 79 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, Ha Noi. Replies to next weeks questions must be received by Thursday, May 19, 2016.  VNS
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh has protested Taiwans violation of Viet Nams sovereignty over the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago. VNA/VNS Photo

HA NOI  Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Hai Binh has protested Taiwans violation of Viet Nams sovereignty over the Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago.

He raised the issue yesterday in response to reporters queries about Viet Nams stance on Taiwans arrangement of visits for its former senior officials to Ba Binh Island in Viet Nams Truong Sa archipelago, as well as its release of stamps featuring Ba Binh Island and other archipelagoes in the East Sea.

Taiwans ongoing undertaking of illegal activities, including bringing its former senior officials to Ba Binh Island and releasing stamps highlighting its claims in the East Sea, regardless of Viet Nams concerns and protests in the past, are a serious violation of Viet Nams sovereignty, he said. He added that it further complicates the situation and hinders the maintenance of peace and stability in the region.

He said Taiwans actions do not change the fact that Viet Nam holds sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa archipelagoes.

Viet Nam resolutely demands that Taiwan end and prevent the repetition of similar actions, and make practical contributions to joint efforts with Viet Nam and concerned parties to maintain peace and stability in the East Sea, Binh stated.  VNS
KON TUM  The Peoples Committee of the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum has decided to withdrawn the investment certificate of ak Brot Hydropower Plant and stop construction in response to long delays.

The investment certificate withdrawal is expected to be completed today. Earlier, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reported that the construction site of the project in ak Glei District has been turned into a gold mining field, polluting the surrounding environment and angering local residents.

ak Brot Hydropower Plant was given a construction permit six years ago, and the project was expected to cost over VN56.7 billion (US$2.5 million), but no progress has been made since then.

The plant would reportedly cover over eight hectares of land, including protected forest and farming land owned by locals. The hydropower plant, which was originally slated for completion in 2012, would have a capacity of two megawatts.

Local residents who witnessed the projects prolonged delay said that big machines and a lot of workers were dispatched there, but they were mining gold rather than building the plant.

ak Brot stream used to be clean, but the water has become tainted and seriously polluted since the gold mining started, they said.

A Phuong, deputy chairman of the Peoples Committee of ak Glei District, told Tuoi Tre newspaper that the investor, Phuc Kim Tam Company, signed a contract with an individual named Than Van Tam, a local of ak Glei District, to mine gold in the area without any permission from local authorities.

The district Peoples Committee has conducted inspections, but the violations still continue, he said.

In an interview with the newspaper, Bui Thi Kim Tam, director of Phuc Kim Tam Company, denied the companys involvement in any gold exploitation. She said the company was levelling land to create suitable farming space for locals.

We hired a unit to level the land surface, but it exploits the mine on its own free will, she said.

Notably, this is not a rare case in ak Glei District. A district official said there are currently six or seven hydropower plant projects in the region, but none have produced electricity yet. The reasons for the delays vary from dam breaks to a lack of capital.  VNS
HA NOI  Illegal Vietnamese workers in South Korea who voluntarily return home from May 1 to September 30 this year will not have to pay any administrative penalties.

This was announced by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Under government regulations, Vietnamese contract workers who had fled their workplaces in South Korea or were staying illegally in the country even after the expiration of the labour contract but voluntarily returned will not be fined for administrative violations.

The move is aimed at encouraging and facilitating the return of Vietnamese workers and reducing the rate of workers illegally staying and working outside Viet Nam.

Doan Mau Diep, deputy labour minister, said South Korea had recently issued an order granting amnesty from April 1 to October this year to all foreign workers illegally staying in their country if they opt to return home voluntarily.

These workers will have the opportunity to return to South Korea for work and will not be banned from re-entry for five years as they would have been if there were no amnesty and they got caught, Diep said.

The regulation states illegal workers abroad may have to pay administrative fines of up to VND100 million (over US$4,440) on their return.  VNS
HA NOI  The Ha Noi Peoples Court on Wednesday sentenced a 54-year-old woman to 12 years of imprisonment for defrauding others and making fake government seals.

Pham Thi Tu, of Ngoc Liep Commune in Ha Nois Quoc Oai District, told many people that she could help them become permanent teachers at state schools in exchange for monetary payments.

In May 2013, Kim Thi Nhung, 30, of Ha Nois Phuc Tho District, gave Tu VN135 million (US$6,000) to help her become employed in a state school without taking any professional skill examination.

Tu asked her younger sister, Pham Thi Tam, 34, to create fake decisions of the Thach That District Peoples Committee and the Ha Noi Department of Home Affairs stating that Nhung was enrolled as a permanent teacher.

Tu gave Nhung two fake decisions in July 2014 and asked Nhung to pay an additional VN35 million ($1,500). Nhung waited for a long time, but no school called her to work.

A police investigation showed that Nhung defrauded five other people, taking VN700 million ($31,100) with the same trick.  VNS
HCM CITY More than 41,400 new jobs were created in HCM City in the first four months of the year, a year-on-year increase of 0.49 per cent, according to a report by the Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Tran Anh Tuan, deputy director of the citys Centre for Forecasting Manpower Needs and Labour Market Information, attributed this to the fact that many companies have been expanding operations.

They need 20,000 workers this month, 30 per cent of them college and university graduates, he said.

Workers with vocational training and unskilled ones will account for 35 per cent each.

Demand is high in the textile and garment, information technology, architecture, construction, real estate, transportation, and foreign trade sectors.

The number of job seekers is estimated to rise in the next few months as new graduates come into the market, Tuan said.

Highly skilled workers would be in great demand for the rest of the year, he said.

Companies based in industrial parks and export processing zones need 25,360 workers this year, according to the HCM City Export Processing and Industrial Zones Authority (HEPZA).

Around 14,600 of them are needed for the companies to expand operations, Tran Cong Khanh, head of the HEPZA office, said.

Most of the vacancies are in the footwear, electronics and textile and garment sector, with manual jobs accounting for a majority.

Demand for mid-level and senior managers rose dramatically -- by 48 per cent year-on-year -- in the first quarter of the year, according to a report from Navigos Search, a provider of executive search services.

The manufacturing sector ranked first in terms of demand with 29 per cent, followed by consumer goods and retail (16 per cent) and banking/ insurance/ securities/ finance (12 per cent).

In terms of jobs, workers in sales and marketing, IT engineering, electrical-electronic engineering, and human resources were the most in demand.

In March demand for workers rose by 60 per cent over February 50 per cent over January.

The demand is likely to keep rising in the second and third quarters, according to a survey conducted by recruitment website JobStreet.com.

The survey, which polled more than 370 companies in the first quarter, found that more than 80 per cent planned to hire more staff than last year.

Human resources are most sought after in sales, marketing, information and communications technology and engineering.  VNS
More than 50 per cent of asthma patients have poor control of their disease, despite the availability of treatments to help manage their condition, according to the Society of Asthma and Allergy and Clinical Immunology in HCM City.
HA NOI  Nang Song Hong Eco JSC was asked to stop its business operations on the Hong (Red) River bed in Bo e Ward and dismantle its construction works before June 30.

The Peoples Committee of Ha Nois Long Bien District yesterday assigned the Bo e Wards Peoples Committee to ensure that the river bed which had been encroached upon by the company was cleared. The results of the incident would be reported to the committee before July 30, it said.

The request was made following the violations of the Nang Song Hong Cultural and Tourism Village. The project, which was built in the model of eco-tourism site with aquaculture, fruit trees and ornamental plants, was located in the area of nearly 5.3 hectares on the right side of the Hong River in July, 2013.

During the construction process, the project owner had renovated and rebuilt a number of projects which were in violation of the approved design plan.

Nguyen Van Luyen, deputy chairman of the committee said that most of construction with regard to the project were in line with the approved plan. However, the structure was changed, which did not use bamboo or leaves as committed, but brick, concrete, glass and aluminium or steel frames.

A representative of the project said that the company had stopped operations since May 10, and would have to explain to the authorised agencies about the incident.  VNS
HA NOI  The Prime Minister has agreed to a pilot project to run electric cars to serve tourists in two more provinces.

Under the programme, the electric cars will be introduced to serve tourists in Hoi An City in central Quang Nam Province and in southern Kien Giang Provinces Phu Quoc District.

The two provinces will be responsible for implementation of the project in the area and to ensure traffic safety.

After six months of trial operations, the provincial authorities will report the results of the project to the government for effective implementation in the next round.

The Transport Ministry has also asked the locals to assess the utility of electric cars and to recommend solutions to the government this month.

The ministry said the pilot model of tourist electric cars had earlier been adopted in four cities and provinces - Ha Noi, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh.

Other cities and provinces, including Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Lao Cai and a Nang, as well as Thua Thien-Hue and Ba Ria-Vung Tau, are also using electric cars to meet tourist demands in their areas.

In addition, electric cars have other great benefits  save energy, considerable drop in noise, air pollution and traffic jams, as well as safe travel and promote the use of public transport.  VNS
BINH PHUOC  Happy Spoon Ltd Co, which supplies food to workers at the Minh Hung industrial zone in the southern province of Binh Phuoc, has been forced to temporarily suspended operations after 243 workers suffered from food poisoning.

On April 21, workers of the Sung Ju Vina Company in Chon Thanh District fell ill after eating their lunch meal.

Six food samples provided by the company and some samples of patients vomit were sent to the Institute of Public Health in HCM City for testing.

Test results revealed microorganisms in the tofu, which was mixed with meat, had led to the food poisoning.

The microorganism that caused the poisoning is called Staphylococcus aureus.

The company will be strictly penalised according to the law for the food safety violations.

During a probe into the incident, the company told the provincial inspection team that they were on their way to complete documents to get the certification for food safety.

The provincial Peoples Committee of Hygiene and Food Safety Department has asked the relevant agencies to strictly handle food safety violations.

The agencies will publicly announce the names of those units that provide unsafe food to the community.

Meanwhile, the market management department in the central Nghe An province yesterday reported the detection and the seizure of nearly 900 packs of seasoning with the forged trademark of the Miwon Viet Nam Ltd Co.

The departments officials seized the goods after inspecting two private businesses in Quy Hop and Que Phong districts.

Goods worth VN14.3 million (US$635) were destroyed by the department.

The two businesses also had to pay administrative penalties amounting to VN17.5 million ($770).  VNS
HAI PHONG  Nearly 27 tonnes of frozen meat have been left unclaimed at Chua Ve Port in Hai Phong City for two years, the Tien Phong (Vanguard) online newspaper reported today.

Vu Quoc Duong, head of the Hai Phong Port Customs Division, said the imported frozen meat was stored in two containers and had been at the port since 2014. The meat is now rotting, producing a foul odour.

Duong said the name printed on the bill of consignment was Minh Khue Seafood Joint Stock Company, located in Quang Ninh Provinces Mong Cai City.

However, the company had sent a notice to the division in August 2014 insisting they did not own the goods.

The shipping agent of the consignment was CTL Maritime Co., Ltd., based in Hai Phong.

Duong said if no one claims the goods, the port would destroy the consignment, but only after the shipping agent pays fees for warehousing and destroying the items.

The warehousing fee alone amounts to VN1 billion (US$44,800), he said.

The shipping agent has said it cannot afford the fee. Therefore, negotiations between the division and the shipping agent are still underway.  VNS
By Hoang Linh

My cousin, Nguyen Thanh Tra, whos finicky by nature, kept going back and forth about places to visit. According to her, theres nothing but trees in the mountains and theres nothing to do on the beach except play in the water.

Women are so hard to please!

It was then that I suggested, Only an ocean on the mountain would satisfy you!

Maybe so. You reminded me of Bien Ho Lake in Pleiku City! Why dont we plan a trip to Tay Nguyen, wouldnt that be fun? Tra replied.

I am an enthusiastic backpacker. Her idea appealed to me. We set off for the highlands on my old motorbike right away. Just three hours from Quy Nhon, we soon arrived at Bien Ho or TNung Lake, or Pleikus eyes, as described by a famous musician. This magnificent freshwater lake is located in the south of Pleiku City in Gia Lai Povince in the Tay Nguyen area.

As soon as we arrived, I understood where the name Bien Ho (a lake as big as the ocean) comes from. The oval-shaped lake, some 30m deep and spread over 230ha, is one of the biggest and most beautiful lakes in Tay Nguyen. Both Bien Ho and TNung mean ocean on mountain. This reflects the longing for the sea of people living here.

Our first impression was of Bien Hos crystal clear water and the gentle cool breeze, blowing away memories of heat in the coastal areas where we had come from. Tay Nguyen is usually hot and humid in the summer. Now the atmosphere was truly pleasant. We filled our lungs with sweet fresh air.

The path leading to the lake is picturesque. It is surrounded by seemingly endless evergreen forest. My cousin was captivated by the scenery and at one with nature.

If only my boyfriend were here with me, it would be lovely, Tra said.

Hearing this, my ego was crushed. I made time for this trip. And she stood there making nonsensical wishes, instead of showing me some appreciation and gratitude.

I strode quickly to the end of the path that led to an elevated terrace through a rocky area. Standing on that terrace built on a hill right in the middle of the lake, I feasted my eyes on the stunning scenery -- the waters surface was like a gigantic mirror Mother Nature had given to the women of Gia Lai. Far away, lush forest camouflaged a hard mountain range and concealed stilt houses typical of the local culture in Tay Nguyen.

Bien Ho is a reserve with many varieties of rare beautiful flowers and many species of endangered birds and fish.

Reflected on the surface of the lake is the very tall Ham Rong Peak. The duality of Ham Rong Peak and Bien Ho Lake implies fertility. The erection of HamRong Peak - and the concave womb of Bien Ho Lake - resemble Linga and Yoni. Ham Rong is yang. Bien Ho is yin, deep inside Mother Earth. These extraordinary masterpieces nature reflect the longstanding beliefs and culture of the people of Tay Nguyen.

According to a legend passed from one generation to another and believed even today, Pleiku was once a bustling town. Unfortunately, all the buffalos and cows in the town died one year. Thinking they had angered Giang (God), the villagers went to the forest to capture a deer for sacrifice. Right after the ritual, the ground began vibrating strongly. The whole village collapsed and fell into the huge newly-formed crack in the ground. The entire area was flooded and everyone drowned. Except the Mac May family. They were away visiting distant relatives, and hence saved from the catastrophe. This is how Bien Ho Lake was born.

On our trip, we hired a guide take us for a ride on Bien Ho Lake in his dugout canoe. The old man told us mystical stories of this legendary land while we relished this moment, surrounded by the enchanting landscape.

Now we also understood why Bien Ho is called the jade stone or the eye of Pleiku.

Now you have enjoyed both ocean and mountains, as you desired, my dear, I bantered playfully.

It is only you who indulges me the most! Tra said with a giggle. In the background, dusk settled over Bien Ho. -- VNS
DAMACUS  An aid convoy was refused entry to Syrias Daraya Thursday, the Red Cross said, dashing hopes for the first such delivery since regime forces began a siege of the rebel-held town in 2012.

Further north in the province of Idlib, unidentified aircraft carried out more than 60 raids targeting a military airport controlled by Al-Qaedas Syria affiliate, killing 16 jihadists from Al-Nusra Front and allied fighters, a monitor said.

A truce in Syrias battleground city Aleppo expired, meanwhile, with no new last-minute prolongation after it had been extended twice through last-minute intervention by Moscow and Washington.

The five-truck convoy organised by the ICRC, the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent had been due to deliver baby milk and medical and school supplies to Daraya.

"We urge the responsible authorities to grant us access to Daraya, so we can return with desperately-needed food & medicines" outside the capital, said the International Committee of the Red Cross after the convoy was refused entry.

A UN said it had decided against going ahead with the convoy after "nutrition items" were removed.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura and the resident humanitarian coordinator had "decided to abort the mission to Daraya because of the removal of nutrition items for children other than vaccines from the UN convoy at the last checkpoint," said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Daraya had a pre-war population of about 80,000 people but that has dropped by almost 90 percent, with remaining residents suffering from severe shortages and malnutrition.

We want to eat

In a video posted by the towns council on Facebook, residents begged for food and drink.

"We dont want books or pens. We dont want just medicine," said one young woman clutching a baby, her voice breaking.

"We want to eat. We want to drink."

World powers are to meet in Vienna next week to try to push faltering peace talks towards ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people.

They hope a broad ceasefire in Syria could help the flow of desperate needed relief supplies to reach people trapped by fighting and violence.

At least one civilian died in regime shelling in the town on Thursday afternoon, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In the northern city of Aleppo, emergency workers reported no deaths in eastern rebel-held areas since the local truce expired on Wednesday night.

But two civilians including a woman died in sniper fire on the divided citys regime-controlled west, said the Observatory.

That truce came after a spike in violence that killed more than 300 civilians on both sides of the city last month.

The Britain-based Observatory said a top Al-Nusra chief was among 16 jihadists killed in a wave of more than 60 air strikes on Abu Duhur military airport in Idlib.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said it was unclear if the strikes were carried out by the Syrian regime, Russian or US-led coalition aircraft.

Al-Nusra and its allies seized the military airport from regime forces last September.

Also on Thursday Al-Nusra captured Zara village in central Hama province, said the monitor.

Stalling peace talks

Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group are not included in a ceasefire between the regime and non-jihadist rebels implemented in late February to set the ground for UN-backed peace talks.

World powers are to meet in Vienna next week to try to push faltering peace talks towards ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people.

The last round of peace talks in Geneva reached a deadlock in April when the main opposition group suspended its participation over mounting violence and lack of humanitarian access.

Talks have also faltered over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, with the opposition insisting any peace deal must include his departure. But Damascus says his future is non-negotiable.

"My priority is how we can resolve this crisis through political dialogue," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The head of Syrias main opposition group, Riad Hijab, earlier called for tougher action against Assad, whom he claimed had effectively received a "green light" from Moscow and Washington to continue bombing civilian areas.

Millions have fled Syrias conflict since it started with anti-government protests in 2011.

These include 20 percent of Syrias Palestinian refugees, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency said Thursday.

Before the war, Syria was home to about 560,000 Palestinians whose ancestors fled the 1948 foundation of Israel and ensuing conflicts.  AFP
Care Initiatives locations in and around the Cedar Valley provide tremendous opportunities for employees and nurses by investing in their education through a company-sponsored tuition assistance program, as well as supporting career advances from within.

Care Initiatives is the West Des Moines-based parent organization of skilled nursing centers Ravenwood, Windsor, NorthCrest (formerly Parkview) and La Porte City Specialty Care, as well as Care Initiatives Hospice.

Care Initiatives is a not-for-profit organization providing physical, occupational and speech therapy services, skilled nursing care, long-term care and hospice care to thousands of Iowans each day.

The organization employs 3,000 Iowans, with 422 in Black Hawk County alone.

The history of these locations providing health care services, elderly care and hospice care to the Cedar Valley runs deep and demonstrates a commitment to the area and to the residents and patients each of these entities serve.

Just as important, each location makes a commitment to their nurses who provide the care.

This commitment comes as an investment in furthering the education of aides and nurses to reach new heights in their careers, whether it is as a licensed practical nurse, registered nurse or nurse with a bachelor of science in nursing.

Care Initiatives tuition assistance program provides up to $2,000 per semester or up to $5,250 per year to an employee seeking further education.

Registered nurse Joy Cox is the assistant director of nursing at Ravenwood Specialty Care in Waterloo. Cox received her RN through Hawkeye Community College.

She has been able to defer the cost of her student loans with the help of the Care Initiatives tuition assistance program, in which she enrolled in 2015.

Its a beneficial program and I would recommend it to others, she said.

Registered nurse Adam Clopton started with Care Initiatives in March 2007 as an LPN at Ravenwood Specialty Care.

Clopton utilized the tuition program in 2009.

The tuition assistance program allowed me to attain my goal of becoming an RN much sooner than I thought financially possible, he said.

After a brief stint away from Care Initiatives, Clopton rejoined the team in July 2014 working as an RN for Care Initiatives Hospice serving the Cedar Valley and surrounding communities.

Registered n Maggie Kjeld began working at La Porte City Specialty Care nearly five years ago with the goal of becoming an RN.

She started as a certified nurse assistant while attending school to obtain her LPN license.

With an LPN license in hand, Maggie accepted a position as a charge nurse.

She went back to school to obtain her RN and was promoted to RN charge nurse.

Working at Care Initiatives La Porte City Specialty Care has allowed me to continue my education and grow within the facility, she said.

I loved that they offered many opportunities to advance. They allowed me to grow within the same facility as I continued to go back to school and didnt have to look for a new job every time my title changed.

Whether its tuition assistance, advancement or promotion, continuing education units for corporate-sponsored training and online training, or an anniversary bonus program rewarding employees for their loyalty and longevity, Care Initiatives and its locations in the Cedar Valley are committed to providing support and opportunity to their nurses.
WAVERLY  The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Waverly man in connection with a stabbing the stemmed from a dispute at the Happy Hour Pub in March 2014.

Woodrow Woody John Hall had been convicted of willful injury causing serious injury, going armed and assault while participating in a felony for stabbing Brandon Probus in the neck and shoulder, narrowly missing the carotid artery.

On appeal, Hall, who argued at trial that he was acting in self defense, claimed that prosecutors didnt present evidence that he intended to injure Probus. But in a ruling issued Wednesday, the Iowa Court of Appeals said Halls that jurors could have used Halls actions to conclude his intent.

The appellate court also ruled that Halls justification defense wasnt grounded because Hall had an alternate course of action.

He could have stayed in the bar or approached the men in a nonconfrontational manner to avoid the physical clash, the ruling states.

According to court records, Probus and his coworkers were at Happy Hour at the Red Fox Inn because a snowstorm had delayed their maintenance work on a cellular tower in the area. After one of the crew failed to leave a tip on an $80 tab, Halls girlfriend, who operates the establishment, told them never to come back, court records state. She also told Hall that the men had shoved her, and Hall left the pub and walked about 100 yards, finding Produs and a coworker at the pool area, records state.

A fight broke out, and Probus and Hall went to the ground. Hall would later testify that Probus was hitting his head against the floor, and he pulled out his knife because he was afraid for his life.
WATERLOO  Hours before Daytrell Raymond Pendleton allegedly opened fire on Andrew Spates Jr. with a shotgun outside a convenience store, someone had thrown a brick through the window of Pendletons home.

Pendleton, 26, is charged with attempted murder, and on Friday a judge set his bond at $500,000.

Police have declined to discuss a motive in the shooting, which landed Spates at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City where he was in critical but stable condition.

But police reports and court records show a brick smashed through the double-pane front bay window at a home at 121 Hope Ave. around 3:35 a.m. Thursday.

The same Hope Street address is listed as Pendletons home on his arrest paperwork.

A woman at the home  who is a relative of Pendleton and Andrew Spates wife  told police she had a suspect in mind, but there was no evidence indicating who threw it, the report states.

Court records show the woman had requested a protective order in April, and a judge found evidence of domestic abuse and ordered Andrew Spates Jr. to keep away from her and not communicate with her. The order expires in April 2017.

On Friday, Pendleton waved to friends and family from the jailhouse courtroom as Judge Joel Dalrymple set bond at $500,000 during an initial court appearance. Although Pendleton has no prior criminal record.

The shooting happened at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday, and Spates suffered shotgun wounds to his abdomen, hip, hand and elbow. Police recovered five spent shotgun shells near the Kwik Star parking lot on Franklin Street and seized a shotgun.

Court records state Black Hawk County Sheriffs Deputy Harold Oliver was on his way to work and stopped at a stop sign at Franklin and Irving streets at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday when he saw Pendleton step out of a pickup truck holding a shotgun and then aim and fire the weapon.

After firing off five shells, Pendleton returned the shotgun to his vehicle and was taken into custody.

Meanwhile, police continue to investigate a shooting that erupted hours after Spates was shot. Investigators said they believe the second round of gunfire was related.

Police were called to 1210 Columbia St. shortly before 8:20 a.m. Thursday when someone opened fire on a home and a parked vehicle. No injuries were reported.

An officer in the area stopped a red Jeep Liberty leaving the scene. One juvenile inside the vehicle was detained on an unrelated pickup order, and the other three children were released to their parents, officers said.

At least one person in the Jeep was related to Andrew Spates Jr., police said, and people at the Columbia Street home were related to Pendleton.

No one has been arrested.
WEST UNION -- Jurors on Friday heard from a number of law enforcement officials who investigated an officer-involved shooting or participated in a related manhunt for defendant Abel Quijas Jr.

Prosecutor Douglas Hammerand also called Quijas' father, Abel Quijas Sr., who talked about whether to give up his son or a grandson to police.

Quijas, 33, of Maynard, is charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to hit Jay Tommasin with a car, who was then a lieutenant with the Oelwein Police Department.

The trial in Fayette County District Court began Wednesday and will go into next week. If convicted as charged, Quijas faces up to 25 years in prison for the forcible felony.

Quijas Sr. lives at 210 First St. SE in Oelwein and told jurors about receiving a FedEx package. The two delivery people, however, were in fact Tommasin and Kyle Bassett, a special agent with the Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

The package was addressed to Enrique Trujillo Jr., a high school student. Trujillo is Quijas Sr.'s grandson and Quijas Jr.'s nephew.

Trujillo and Quijas Sr. were not the intended recipient. The package, which contained a half-pound of crystal methamphetamine concealed in a child's toy, was meant for Quijas Jr., according to Quijas Sr.'s testimony.

Tommasin and Bassett laid out Quijas Sr.'s options: He could tell them who the package was for -- or face arrest himself, according to Quijas Sr.

"They gave me a choice between my grandson and my son ... I chose my son," Quijas Sr. testified.

"You were in a hard spot?" Hammerand asked.

"Yes," Quijas Sr. said.

As instructed by his son earlier in the day, Quijas Sr. called his son to let him know the package had arrived from California. Quijas Jr., who lives in Maynard, said he would come get it.

About a dozen police officers and troopers with the Iowa State Patrol were already staged near Quijas Sr.'s apartment. Tommasin and Bassett remained inside, according to their previous testimony.

Quijas Jr. entered the residence by a back door, retrieved the package and left. Little was said, according to Quijas Sr., who sat in a living room chair.

"I think he waved at me. That was it," Quijas Sr. said.

"A couple of minutes later I heard shots," he added.

According to earlier testimony, Bassett and Tommasin caught up to Quijas Jr. at his vehicle parked in an alley in a neighbor's driveway. During the confrontation and struggle, each officer fired two shots, and Quijas Jr. was hit in the arm.

"I didn't get up because I didn't want to see my son dead or something," Quijas Sr. said.

Authorities allege Quijas Jr. intentionally swerved at Tommasin and intended to run him down with the Chrysler 300M.

Other witnesses Friday testified about events after Quijas Jr.'s escape that afternoon and subsequent effort to track him down.

Capt. Ron Voshell Jr. with the Oelwein Police Department testified he was also concealed in Quijas Sr.'s apartment building. He also said the entire incident, once Quijas Jr. arrived, played out quickly.

"This all happening in a matter of seconds," he testified.

When he heard a commotion and officers yelling, Voshell said he also jumped into action.

"I then knew things weren't going exactly as planned," he added.

Authorities later found the Chrysler 300M at the intersection of Sixth Street and Outer Road near Oelwein. A $1 bill, a $5 bill and a drop of blood were nearby.

Police tried to set up a perimeter to apprehend Quijas Jr. who was now apparently on foot in rural Fayette County. Investigators tracked a blood trail and found bits and pieces of the child's toy and packaging in a creek running through a wooded area, according to Josh Mulnix, a special agent with the Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

Police called in additional support from the Iowa State Patrol, which provided an airplane, and from the National Guard, which provided a helicopter. Authorities, however, suspended the search later that night, Mulnix said.

Quijas Jr. showed up at 7 a.m. at Trent Fitzpatrick's home in Maynard. He was holding his arm, according to Fitzpatrick's testimony.

The men had previously worked together at Ashley Industrial Moulding in Oelwein, according to Fitzpatrick. Quijas Jr.'s house was also a few blocks from Fitzpatrick's in Maynard.

Fitzpatrick said he told Quijas Jr. he could not be there because Fitzpatrick had heard news accounts and believed Quijas Jr. had shot an officer.

"He said, 'I never shot no police officer.' ... He said, 'They shot me,'" Fitzpatrick testified.

Fitzpatrick testified he was concerned for his family's safety.

"My first instinct, people do desperate things in desperate times," he said.

Fitzpatrick made an excuse and took his wife and daughter to Oelwein. He and his wife then went to police.

A tactical team from the U.S. Marshal's Office on Sept. 12, 2014, entered Fitzpatrick's house and apprehended Quijas Jr., according to Voshell. Investigators subsequently recovered muddy and bloody clothing and nearly $2,700 in cash. They have not yet recovered the meth.

Farmer Brent Scharff later informed police one of his semi drivers suspected a break in at a shed on his property.

"He saw a tremendous amount of blood around," Scharff testified.

Chief Deputy James Davis Jr. collected blood samples in the semi and took photos of the scene.

Trooper Nathan Miller with the Iowa State Patrol based in Cedar Falls was part of the investigation team. He used Total Station surveying equipment to map out tire marks, shell casings and broken glass in the alley behind Quijas Sr.'s apartment. Miller also provided diagrams presented Friday to jurors.

According to Miller, a track he first thought was from acceleration actually was not. The tire mark was created, he testified, because Quijas Jr. apparently had the parking brake on as he attempted his escape, and a the vehicle was dragging a wheel.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday. Attorney predict they may move to closing arguments by Tuesday morning.

The jury has six women and seven men. One person is an alternate and will be dismissed if not needed for deliberations.
WEST UNION  Judge Richard Stochl on Thursday said he needed time before deciding whether to stop defendant Abel Quijas Jr.s trial for attempted murder.

Stochl promised to issue his ruling at 9 a.m. today, either allowing testimony to continue or cutting off proceedings immediately and dismissing the jury.

Defense attorney Melissa Anderson-Seeber requested a mistrial after one of the states witnesses offered his opinion while testifying in Fayette County District Court.

Quijas Jr., 33, of Maynard, is charged with attempted murder for allegedly trying to drive a Chrysler 300M over Jay Tommasin, a lieutenant with the Oelwein Police Department, in September 2014.

Jurors heard opening arguments Thursday and testimony from Kyle Bassett, a special agent with the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement.

In September 2014 Bassett joined a drug investigation initiated by Tommasin. The two led a team that included several Oelwein officers and representatives from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Iowa State Patrol.

The effort began when FedEx in Waterloo notified Tommasin of a package from California addressed to an apartment at 210 First St. S.E. in Oelwein. Tommasin, who also testified Thursday, told jurors the address was tagged by authorities as a potential destination for illegal drug shipments.

Tommasin requested the Waterloo Police Departments canine visit FedEx, and the drug dog hit on the package. After getting a search warrant, Tommasin, Bassett and others inspected the package at the Oelwein police station, according to Tommasins testimony.

They discovered a childs toy inside. When Tommasin split the toy, the officers found a 1/2 pound of crystal methamphetamine wrapped in plastic.

Bassett testified the meth was worth up to $20,000.

Officers decided to make a controlled delivery and fanned out discreetly in downtown Oelwein. Most were in unmarked vehicles, but three state troopers converged at McDonalds, according to testimony.

Tommasin and Bassett put on FedEx shirts and took the suspect package addressed to Enrique Trujillo to the address, an apartment occupied by Abel Quijas Sr., the defendants father. Trujillo was identified as Quijas Sr.s grandson, though not Quijas Jr.s son.

According to Bassetts testimony, Quijas Sr. accepted the package, first denying but later admitting the drugs were meant for his son, Quijas Jr. Quijas Jr. had received four or five such shipments, according to Bassett.

Bassett and Tommasin hid in the apartment as Quijas Jr. arrived to collect the package. The officers caught up to Quijas Jr. as he got into his car.

Bassett said he scuffled with Quijas Jr. and tried to get Quijas Jr. out of the vehicle. Both officers drew their weapons.

When Tommasin got in front of the car, Quijas ripped the steering wheel to the left, gritted his teeth and mashed the gas, according to Tommasin.

I clearly remember hearing the engine rev really loudly, Tommasin testified, adding there was a look of rage on Quijas Jr.s face.

I could tell by the look in his eye he was going to do whatever he needed to get out of there, Tommasin added.

The two officers each fired twice, and Tommasin said he remembered seeing blood on Quijas Jr.s arm.

Bassett testified Quijas Jr.s purpose seemed clear.

There was no doubt in my mind that he was going to take that car and run over and kill Jay, Bassett said.

Anderson-Seeber objected to the answer.

Anderson-Seeber, prosecutor Douglas Hammerand and Stochl had previously agreed witnesses would not use the words attempted murder or any similar terminology.

As Anderson-Seeber argued in a pre-trial motion, attempted murder is a legal conclusion the jury is called upon to decide.

Hammerand on Thursday said Stochl could offer a curative instruction to jurors, but Anderson-Seeber said the damage to her client is so prejudicial we cant recover from it.

Fingalsen was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison in April 2013 after pleading guilty to first-degree theft. During sentencing she said a shopping addiction and a case of obsessive compulsive disorder led to the embezzlement.

She was released on parole in July 2014.
WAVERLY -- Six Wartburg College students were recently awarded one-time scholarships from Lutheran Services in Iowa.

Gabby Larson, Grace Marten, Amanda Phillips, Adriana Rodriguez, Abby Schaper and Heather Sommerfeldt will each receive a $1,000 Doug Johnson Service Scholarship for the 2016-17 academic year. All six are social work majors.

The scholarships honor Lutheran Services retiring CEO, Doug Johnson. A reception in honor of Johnson and the recipients was held at Lutheran Services Bremwood campus.

LSI and Wartburg College have a central focus and mission of service to others, Bonnie Jackson, chair of LSIs board, said in a prepared statement. It was only fitting to make a special scholarship gift to Wartburg social work students in honor of LSI's retiring president and CEO, Pastor Doug Johnson, to celebrate the history of partnership between Wartburg and LSI and to encourage future social workers to pursue a lifetime of service.

Wartburg College has made increasing financial aid support a centerpiece of the $75 million Transforming Tomorrow campaign, resulting in new or additional scholarships awarded to 119 students since fundraising began in 2012. This has allowed the college to meet an additional 4 percent of students financial need. Fundraising continues as the college aims to secure $37 million in new scholarship support.

For information about scholarships, call (8660 219-9115, email development@wartburg.edu or go online at www.wartburg.edu/transform.
WATERLOO  The Friends of the Art Center will host the annual scholarship reception at the Waterloo Center for the Arts at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The community is welcome to attend and celebrate three area high school students accomplishments.

The Marilyn S. Hurley Scholarship recipient is Morgan Seemann, daughter of Jody Seemann. She attends West High School, where her art teacher is Carrie Schaefer.

The Raymond T. Forsberg Scholarship recipient is Landry Boerhave, daughter of Ann Pierschbacher. Boerhave is a senior at Cedar Falls High School, where her art teachers are Emily Luensmann and Lisa Klenske.

The Preceptor Beta Lambda Scolarship recipient is Elizabeth Burken, daughter of Lawrence Burken. She is a senior at Cedar Falls High School, where her art teacher is Emily Luensmann.

Seemann, Boerhave and Burken will each receive $1,000 tuition awards to be applied toward their college studies in the arts.

A panel of art professionals selected the scholarship recipients based on their presentation of a portfolio, essays, grades, ACT/SATs, and letters of recommendation.

The Friends of the Art Center make these scholarships available to graduating seniors attending high school within a 35-mile radius of Waterloo, and who plan to pursue a post-secondary education in the arts.
WATERLOO  U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, laughs off the speculation she will be presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps running mate.

Instead, she says she is focused on Iowa right now.

We havent heard anything from their campaign, so its a lot of to-do about probably nothing, so Im very much focused on Iowa, Ernst said.

Ernst demonstrated the sincerity of that statement Friday by making a half-dozen stops in the Cedar Valley  touring businesses, holding a town hall and hosting a fundraiser.

Among her stops was an inaugural trip to TechWorks to see the 3-dimensional printing operation in person after her staff have made previous stops.

TechWorks staff and students took Ernst through the process  from design to finished product  during a 45-minute tour.

One example they used for the retired Iowa National Guard member was printing a fuel system component for an F-35C joint strike fighter plane.

If we can save time and money on such a large project, we need to be looking at that technology and utilizing that, Ernst said after the tour.

It was fantastic.

Jerry Thiel, Metal Casting Center director, explained how the 3-D printing allows for a quicker turnaround of products, narrowing the time to completion from about 10 weeks to 12 days.

Ernst also highlighted the importance of the center in keeping jobs  and young people  in the state.

Aside from TechWorks, Ernst also toured Ritchie Industries in Conrad and Tyson Fresh Meats in Waterloo.

By the end of her Friday stops, Ernst said she will have been through 48 of Iowas 99 counties.

Ernsts final stop Friday took her to a fundraiser for Iowa Senate District 30 Republican candidate Bonnie Sadler.

She hopes to give Republicans the edge in the Iowa Senate where she used to be a member, in the minority throughout her tenure.

When I left the state Senate, I just made that promise that I would stay involved and active with the state Senate and try and push into that majority so that we can get more of our bills through, make sure were working with the governor, just working for the betterment of Iowa, so this is one way that Im able to contribute back is just be involved with our candidates, Ernst said.
DECORAH -- The Luther College Concert Band and Jazz Orchestra will perform a music showcase, part of Luther's commencement weekend events, at 1:30 p.m. May 21.

The event will be in the Center for Faith and Life. The performance is open to the public with no charge for admission and will be streamed live online stream.luther.edu/music.

Joan deAlbuquerque, Luther director of bands and associate professor of music, directs the concert band and Juan Tony Guzman, Luther professor of music and director of the jazz program, directs the jazz orchestra.

The concert band maintains one of the longest-running touring programs in the country, according to Luther, with an annual tour schedule that includes international travel every four years.

deAlbuquerque was appointed director of bands at Luther College in 2011. She conducts the Luther College Concert Band, Wind and Percussion Ensemble and Varsity Band.

The jazz orchestra is one of Luther's four major touring ensembles and maintains an annual Midwest tour schedule. Every four years the group travels internationally and will go to Brazil this summer.

Guzman holds a doctoral degree in music education from Florida State University. He also holds a bachelor's degree in music from Luther College and a degree in electromechanical engineering from the Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
WATERLOO  A block of buildings on downtown Waterloos west side is one of the oldest slices of historic downtown.

Its also home to the newest place to get a slice of pizza.

The four buildings that housed Walden Photo have been renovated with their historic features revived.

These are some of the oldest buildings left in Waterloo, said David Deeds, controller with JSA Development, the company that headed the projects.

One of the four commercial spaces, 225 W. Fourth St., will be home to Basal Pizza. The pizzeria offered free sample slices to people attending the opening reception of the $2.5 million project Thursday.

The entire project features four commercial spaces and six loft-style apartments. Three of the apartments have tenants planning to move in, and two of the four commercial spaces are occupied. The commercial space at 227 W. Fourth St. is occupied by 4u Clothing.

The oldest building, 229 W. Fourth St., was built in 1882. The newest was built in 1904. Developers said renovating the buildings and finding new uses for them preserves the appeal of downtown.

I have fun doing these projects because Waterloo needs them, said Jim Walsh, president and founder of JSA Development.

Walsh said downtown Waterloo has lost about a third of its buildings. The renovations, which include foundation work, new ventilation systems and roofs, will add to their already long lives.

These buildings would have been knocked down if we did not do this, Walsh said. Theyre good for another 150 years.

Tavis Hall, executive director of Main Street Waterloo, said unique spaces like the Walden Block are a draw and provide a connection to the past.

Historic preservation is about exactly that, Hall said. For people ... theres something a little bit deeper about the stores and shops theyre in.

For decades, the Walden block housed Walden photo downtown until the business left in 2007. The three-generation business closed its other locations in 2008. Members of the family were on hand Thursday.

After being vacant for almost a decade, the spaces already have life.

Its going to be a great pizza place, said Chuck Hoecker, adding his opinion might be biased  his son, Matt Hoecker, is the head chef at Basal Pizza.

The whole project in general looks nice, Hoecker said. I really think it will bring more people downtown.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, toured the buildings.

This is incredible, Danielson said.

the project is a good example of private, state and local cooperation, he added. Deeds and Walsh also thanked the state its historic tax credit program and the city for its support for the project.

Sometimes you have to drag them in, but theyre a partner too, Walsh said.

Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart said there may be times the city will want to drag JSA into some projects. Hart noted the project is good for the vibrancy of downtown and economic development but added JSA adds more than economic development to the city.

You have to have a vision to be able to see something great in something some people just think is old, Hart said. Its really, really a great talent and it speaks to Mr. Walsh as well.

Basal Pizza officially opens May 17.
Q: Are there any plans to surface Grundy Road south of Highway 20?

A: Engineering staffs in Black Hawk and Grundy counties have been discussing long-term improvements to the county line road from U.S. Highway 20 to County Road D-35. While Black Hawk has earmarked money for improvements in the five-year roadway construction plan, it has not been determined at this point what type of work or surface the project would entail.

Q: We were in Arizona for the last six months and had our first class mail forwarded. How do we save our third class mail? The post office threw all ours away.

A: Your best bet is probably to talk to the postmaster in your town and ask for options.

Q: The FCC is proposing a restriction on 50,000-watt AM radio stations for after sunset. Can you have Jeff Stein of KXEL explain further?

A: He didnt respond to a request for help. A lot of so-called Class A broadcasters are upset about the proposed change. The Radio World website  www.radioworld.com  has a pretty good summary of some of the issues and questions involved.

Q: Why did it take the Mason City Globe Gazette to feature our Cedar Falls twin boys who are in the Marine Corps?

A: We werent invited on that trip to California; a Mason City Globe Gazette staffer was and offered to share stories with us. We are grateful we could share their stories with readers.

Q: Can you print the recipe shown on the Today Show on April 21 for the Royal Queens Custard Tart?

A: Here it is:

Pastry

8 oz of flour

1 lemon

5 1/3 oz of butter

2 2/3 oz of caster sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 pinch of salt

Custard Filling

9 egg yolks

2 2/3 oz of caster sugar

1 1/16 pint of whipping cream

2 nutmegs

Preheat oven to 338 degrees. For the pastry, rub together the flour, salt, lemon zest and butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar to the mixture. Beat together the egg yolk and whole egg and slowly add these to the mixture. Mix until the pastry forms a ball. Wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate for two hours.

Line tart tin with grease-proof paper and place on a baking sheet. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to 1/16 inch in thickness. Arrange the rolled pastry into the tray. Line the inside of the pastry with thick catering grade cling film, ensuring to use enough to go over the outside of the tart shell. Use small baking beans to fill the lined tart shell. Bake blind for about 10 minutes or until the pastry is starting to turn golden brown. Turn the oven down to 266 degrees. For the filling, bring the cream to the boil. Whisk the yolks and sugar together then add the cream and mix well. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a jug. Place the pastry case in the oven then pour the custard mix right to the brim. Grate the nutmeg liberally over the top then bake for 30-40 minutes or until the custard appears set but not too firm.
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How wonderful to meet a hero

Last night I was haunted by the past of the Tiny Russian Village and by my own past

I think that the village talks to me, because of all I have done in the past. My past is much more than your past. There are very few men or women on this planet that have experienced what I have extrapolated in my past. The path I have walked was deep and dark. It did not allow failure or such would have been death for me. I do not know if there is a Heaven, but I do know that there is a Hell. If one can be without the other than so be it

I have found heaven in my eyes and she is in Moscow right now. I understand that heaven can only be reached through women, but that does not immigrate the facts into my head; is heaven real or not?

* * * * * * * * * *

Hell is another story; I several times held onto the gates opening into Hell and kicked and screamed as I fought my way back

I understand why some men and or women are not able to cope with what they do and we as a country (USA) hero-worship men and or women who fight in illegal wars all over the world. I find very few people like me that do nothing but scowl and pull away, when people thank you for their service and what heroes we are. You would never even mention the word hero, if you ever walked in their shoes. People are indoctrinated through worship at church, propaganda on the news and in general just as a way of life in the US, to feel awe at a service person of the military. It gets sickening to even converse with starry eyed individuals who immediately spout propaganda about how brave you are and how wonderful to meet a hero

Maybe I am crazy at times, but if you had the facts like I do about the true state of affairs in American policies, then just maybe you would be crazy also

If you only knew the truth!

* * * * * * * * * *

Wanderers.and I

It cost me dearly to erase my past in the physical sense, money can buy erasure of records or sealing of files. Shredders were invented for just such things. Key strokes on a computer work as good. I use to be fairly rich in paper money and there are individuals that will, for a price, remove data.But you can never erase the past in your mind and some things creep back to haunt you as you sleep, work, play, dream, talk and walk. Last night the demons decided to visit me and it all started with the souls from the past in the Tiny Russian Village I live in. I have talked before about this past and the discovery of the cemetery of the ancient womens monastery located here, has woken some spirits to express themselves

I am here in the Tiny Russian Village for a reason and most of that reason I now realize is for my own healing. Both physically and mentally. Things happened in this village during early Soviet times that bring up my past and when the souls stir, I have memories dredged up and tossed in my face like a sack of grain from ten stories above. Not fun, I can tell you

I will not go into detail, but I will say that there are ones of long ago, that have been very dissatisfied with the happenings in the village and since 99% of the people on earth are totally out of touch with reality. They never see or hear such dissatisfaction as it is permeated around in given areas

But, I am here in the village to sooth issues and it works. Sometimes though, I pay a price and last night the price was high

* * * * * * * * * *

Ever wake and expressed gratitude that it was just a dream?

The payment came in reliving my past. Sometimes your dreams have a life of their own and I awoke four times during the night and sighed deep relief to comprehend that I was safe in the Tiny Russian Village

The night started normal, but soon souls visited and they were from the dead of the village. Nuts huh! They were happier than they have been for a long time, but now they want the saints buried here to be found. That was all fine and I will do as I have done in the past. Dig, dig around for areas that are important and try to point out in whatever way I can here; here it is important. Just like I did with the church area for several years. As I discover their past, I find my past is healed slightly. Thus, they help me in return.What ever works is what I say

Last night though my dreams became diverted into my past

The price I paid was to relive some details of my past and I really feel that it is done to allow me to heal. The healing that never came while living in America. Living in America is like a fancy prison and you have all you need, but what you really need is outside the wall around the county. The wall is not physical, for a physical wall is easy to get over or crash through. The wall that surrounds America is propaganda and it is a hard wall to see around and or over.Hotel California says it best

Last thing I remember, I was

Running for the door

I had to find the passage back

To the place I was before

Relax, said the night man,

We are programmed to receive.

You can check-out any time you like,

But you can never leave!

I dreamed and remembered the pregnant woman being torn into shreds like confetti as the 50 caliber rounds pelted her like rain in a storm. I remember the child who had his hand out and the other hand had a grenade with the pin pulled. I remember the man who I fought hand to hand and he died in my arms, for I did not want to die that day. I remember a target who pushed his sunglasses up on his head as his senses told him death was near and I stared through my scope and the look in his eyes of resignation as he felt what he would never see coming. I remember walking in Agent Orange rain as they cleared the jungle of foliage. I remember most of all men who offed themselves instead of killing one more innocent human. I remember these men treated as heroes just so that everyone back home would call them heroes. Sometimes you would think they were the smart ones

I remember much on some nights, as last night and when I do it in the Tiny Russian Village, it seems to stay put in my mind and eased in pain for awhile.Old souls help to heal the wounds

* * * * * * * * * *

Will you do me a favor?

Dont call us heroes! For that implies we did something heroic and invading and killing another country for geopolitical and resources, is not in the least bit heroic

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

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May 13, 2016 | By Tess

Along with technological developments and progress come inevitable concerns, often raised about security, health, and intellectual property. We saw it (and continue to see it) in the development of the internet, just as we saw it with the popularization of mobile phones. Recently, and to address the risks of newer emerging technologies, the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) Division of the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University issued a report identifying and detailing 10 at-risk technologies. Among them are, enterprise 3D printing, augmented reality, the connected home, networked telematics, smart medical devices, autonomous machines, smart sensors, commercial unmanned aerial vehicles, vehicle autonomy, and vehicular communication systems.

The study, called 2016 Emerging Technology Domains Risk Survey, was geared towards investigating the security of emerging technologies with maturing potential over the next five years. In the study, the team of research analysts, which included Dan Klinedinst, Todd Lewellen, Garret Wassermann, and Christopher King, focused on a number of security concern areas, not only limited to cybersecurity. Other areas that were considered in addition to cybersecurity were: safety, or the impact on human health and life; privacy; finance; and operation.

As vulnerability analyst at CERT, Christopher King explains, In today's increasingly interconnected world, the information security community must be prepared to address vulnerabilities that may arise from new technologies. Understanding trends in emerging technologies can help information security professionals, leaders of organizations, and others interested in information security identify areas for further study.

As 3D printing technologies currently stand, the report did not highlight many serious risks, noting that it would continue its research of additive manufacturing technologies into 2016. The report reads, There is currently little evidence to suggest information security problems with 3D printing, but this situation may change as 3D printing enables consumers to print circuit boards and other electronic hardware.

Notable risks that are related to 3D printing technologies are not explicit as they have more to do with the physical risk posed by the machinery. As the machines, which can be found in offices, factories and homes, are connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet and are equipped with various servomechanisms which control heating and distribution nozzles, the risk of damage to the device or its surrounding environment in the event of a security compromise seems to be the biggest risk. Of course, and as the report states, this is not unlike the risk posed by many other industrial machinery.

Another security risk associated with the technology is one weve seen in practice before: that of additively manufacturing custom designed keys. Just last month, for instance, a group of hackers in Australia 3D printed a number of restricted keys, and in September the 3D model of a TSA master key was released to the public. Along with this risk, is the ability inherent in 3D printing technologies, to create virtually anything in a covert manner.

Of course, one of the biggest risks of 3D printing technologies is the theft of intellectual property. The report explains,  As with a variety of automated manufacturing machines, the 3D printer must be configured with instructions that tell the printer what materials to deposit and where to place them. These instructions represent valuable intellectual property that can be stolen or even modified in place to produce defective items. In this way, 3D printing exposes all supply chain vulnerabilities and impacts, from manufacturing problems to impacts to customers when defects are not easily detected.

Concerns about intellectual property within the sphere of 3D printing are not new, as another recent study, by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, revealed that even the sounds of a 3D printer could reveal and put 3D model designs at risk.

Augmented reality (AR) also found its way to the top of CERTs at-risk emerging technologies list. The technology consists of adding to its users physical environment through things like real-time imagery, and visual projections. Its current applications are such products like Google Glass, or an augmented reality navigation system for pilots. Though the emerging does not pose any direct threats to human safety, the report does suggest that there may be safety consequences in applications where the AR systems are depended upon as primary sources of information, for instance in flight navigation, or in the medical field. The risk from AR comes from the potential to compromise the systems, thus creating a high-risk event.

UAVs or drones also made the list, for reasons one might expect, such as invasion of privacy, potential of physical damage (whether by projectile or the drone itself), and aerial interference. Like 3D printing technologies, CERT has stated it will continue its investigation and surveying of these at-risk technologies as they continue to develop and become more ubiquitous.

Posted in 3D Printing Technology

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Karen Bannan wrote at 6/2/2016 7:44:53 PM:"As the machines, which can be found in offices, factories and homes, are connected to Wi-Fi or Ethernet and are equipped with various servomechanisms which control heating and distribution nozzles, the risk of damage to the device or its surrounding environment in the event of a security compromise seems to be the biggest risk." Also a big risk: How people can use those connected devices such as printers for a network attack. Scary stuff. Great facts in there: "Consequently, an average of 44 percent of network-connected printers within their organizations are insecure in terms of unauthorized access to data stored in printer mass storage, and an average of 55 percent are insecure in terms of unauthorized access to printed hard-copy documents." Food for thought! --Karen Bannan, commenting for IDG and HPShin wrote at 5/14/2016 7:34:45 AM:While 3D printing deserves a spot on the list, it ranks far below automated vehicles and the upcoming problems of augmented reality in terms of threats to the general public. HOWEVER, the list is telling in terms of who benefits, and who stands to lose the most by these technologies. 3D printing will have greater economic impact than all the others combined, because it will transform the way commerce is done, in moving from centralized corporate factory models to domestic micro factories.




May 13, 2016 | By Kira

The light manufacturing industry covers a wide range of products, from the brightest of industrial fixtures to soft, mood-setting bedside lamps. While considered a rather conventional industry, lighting is in the midst of a real revolution, according to 3D printed optics experts LUXeXcel, who believe that the well-known advantages of additive manufacturingincluding reduced lead times and unprecedented customizationare perfectly accentuated in light manufacturing, as it just so happens that most of the materials needed are 3D printer-friendly.

Netherlands-based LUXeXcel is the first and only company in the world to 3D print fully transparent, perfectly smooth and optically functional lenses. They do so thanks to their patented Printoptical Technology, which uses small droplets of UV-curable droplets and high-powered UV lamps to form perfectly clear, geometric freeform shapes, including prisms, lenses, or full-color graphics that would not be possible with SLA or other professional 3D printing technologies.

For the lighting industry, LUXeXcels technology, as well as other additive manufacturing solutions, could represent an entirely new way of thinking about how lights can be made.

A great manufacturing change is [about] to happen in the lighting industry, which is commonly known as a rather conventional industry from its origin, explain the Dutch innovators. Functional prototypes of lighting components but also entire fixtures can now be printed straight from a designers computer. It becomes just a matter of conversing a 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) file into real parts with one push on the print button. In just one step you go from CAD to product.

Whats more, however, is that additive manufacturing can go beyond changing how lights are made, to changing precisely how lights are used in our day-to-day lives: A new generation of designers and architects is approaching lighting from a whole new perspective, they explain. Lighting is no longer just functional. Lighting is being used in an engaging, personal and emotional way to create the right ambiance or mood, and 3D printing customization is helping to enhance these possibilities and provide completely new ones.

As LUXeXcel outlines, there are two major advantages of 3D printing in the lighting industry: Speed and Customization.

First, speed. From design to delivery, 3D printed optics, components or even complete lighting fixtures can be completed in a matter of days. Because the Printoptical process requires no molds, tooling or post-processing, such as polishing, grinding, or coloring, lead times are dramatically reduced. Whats more, the shape and complexity of the clients design has no effect on production time. Since time (and tools) equal money, 3D printing lights is as user-friendly as it is cost-efficient.

Second, Customization. As we have seen time and again, mass-production is losing ground as consumers demand more personalized products that speak to them as individuals. Consumers are also concerned with sustainable, ethical manufacturing, and dont want tons of products being shipped from overseas and then sitting uselessly in storage. Additive manufacturing can take place locally and on-demand, eliminating both of those issues.

Beyond that, however, 3D printing allows light designers and engineers to produce entirely new types of lights, since they dont have to rely on standard, off-the-shelf parts. The focus is no longer just on the development of LEDs with a lower wattage or higher output (lm/watt), because of the rising demand for custom designs, explains LUXeXcel. Instead, designers can tailor their lighting to specific rooms or projects. Optics can be designed to optimize light distribution, diffusion, intensity, or any other property, truly enhancing the function of light in our lives.

While LUXeXcels portfolio of 3D printed lighting solutions includes everything from super-reflective parking garage lights to a lens that amplifies your smartphones flash, they are not the only company shining a light on these unique opportunities. Previously, 3D printing helped produce the worlds thinnest LED light, and Graphene 3D has developed a process for 3D printing an organic LED light source that functions immediately after being printed.

At the end of the day, 3D printing is working its way into nearly every industry imaginable, and for light manufacturing in particular, it has the power to illuminate a new way forward.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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May 13, 2016 | By Benedict

Kanesis, a thermoplastic composites startup based in Sicily, is launching an Indiegogo campaign for its HempBioPlastic 3D printing filament. The company recently filed its first patent application for the eco-friendly 3D printing material.

For thousands of years, hemp has been grown around the world for its versatile fibre, which can be used to make cloth, paper, and rope, amongst other things. However, since the plant is a close biological relative of marijuanaa drug prohibited in most parts of the worldhemp cultivation has decreased significantly over the last few hundred years. According to some environmentalists, however, this decrease in hemp use is something to be concerned about, since hemp can be used to make natural, decomposable products, far greener than common plastic alternatives.

Last year, Italian startup Kanesis burst onto the 3D printing scene with its innovative hemp 3D printing filament, which it has spent the last year refining, marketing, andcruciallypatenting. Far more than a green novelty, the startups HempBioPlastic filament is demonstrably more efficient than several bioplastics on the market, and is around 20% and 30% stronger than PLA, the go-to 3D printing material of choice for many 3D printers. This impressive strength, coupled with a high resistance to warping, makes the hemp-based filament suitable even for industrial applications. But thats not all for the versatile filament: HempBioPlastics wood-like appearance makes it highly valuable for aesthetically minded printing projects as well.

Naturally, HempBioPlastic has also been created with the environment in mind, with its lower producing temperature resulting in lower energy usage and reduced environmental impact. On top of that, the material is also fully biodegradable, and can even be recycled in many places. To make the most out of its exciting product, Kanesis is even looking beyond 3D printing, and speculates that several thermoplastic sectors could make use of the hemp-based material, contributing to greener industrial sectors around the world.

In order to raise the funds to fully launch its product, Kanesis is starting a crowdfunding campaign via Indiegogo on May 17, which will enable the startup to continue its hard work without making compromises: This choice allows us to maintain our independence and decision-making autonomy, factors that we do not intend to overlook at this stage of our growth, commented Giovanni Milazzo and Antonio Caruso, Kanesis co-founders.

The young company believes that its own commercial success will enable it to induce gradual changes throughout the industry, making hemp a viable material choice for many manufacturing and design applications: We strongly believe in a future where eco-friendly materials can replace those derived from petrochemicals, but every big change comes from the grassroots, said Milazzo and Caruso. This is why we decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign, the real democratic funding.

Regardless of the success of the Indiegogo campaign, Kanesis at least hopes that its project will bring the conversation about eco-materials back on to the table. This is not just about fundraising; we also want to raise awareness on environmental issues Milazzo and Caruso said.

Posted in 3D Printing Materials

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Alex wrote at 5/26/2016 6:24:07 PM:See http://www.hemplyne.com for 100% biodegradable, compostable & biobased Hemp bioplastic granulate, now available as filament for 3D printing via http://www.3d4makers.comBill Hearst wrote at 5/14/2016 1:55:30 PM:Hemp is superior in about any application.




May 13, 2016 | By Andre

We recently reported on the Allforge desktop combo factory that incorporates 3D Printing and mold making into a single consumer-ready machine. Its aim is to escape the limits of the two technologies in such that one is very slow, and the other very expensive, by finding a sweet compromise spot.

While not technically a 3D printer, the Allforge relies heavily on the technology by utilizing 3D printed mold plates that constitute the machines backbone into customization. Once the 3D printed mold is in place, low melting point materials such as chocolate, candy, soap, silicone, plastics, rubbers and even select metals can be pressed through the Allforge and into a finished product in minutes instead of the hours many are used to with 3D printing.

It's worth checking out the CEO of the company describe things himself in the below video taken at the 2016 Makerfaire Austin.

Ultimately however, we're reporting on the Allforge again because theyre fresh into a crowd-funding campaign and are close to tripling their $100,000 campaign goal in the first third of the 30 day run. Its also through this campaign that they unveiled the previously undisclosed price-points (including big discounts for early backers), timeline, risks and of course the specs for the three versions of the machine they have on offer.

First off there is the Sweet, which is their entry-level machine capable of producing parts made of materials with melting temperatures up to 350F (148C) with upgrade capabilities coming down the road. Materials such as waxes, soaps, candies, and resins are deemed perfect for the Sweet edition.

Next in line is the Startup, the middle-of-the-road unit that has everything included with the entry-level unit but also incorporates a stainless steel injection screw chamber for producing plastic and rubber based products under 650F (340C). They claim to support the use of your own material (even old recycled bottles) but offer virgin plastic pellets if you want to go that route instead.

Finally there is the Boss. This top-of-the-line unit incorporates the same 6061 Aluminum frame as the previous models, but has a full graphite crucible that can be used to melt metals under 650F. And while you wont be pouring molten steel through the 3D printed mold with much success any time soon, the company has developed its own non-toxic material with metallurgists that can be used in ABS molds and gold or silver plated after the fact.

Interestingly enough, the company has decided to go on their own and bypass the likes of popular crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Theyve done this, so they say, for the benefit of the consumer in that it would be easier for the backer to recoup their purchase via PayPal or their credit card should the campaign turn sour.

Beyond the core scope of the product - that of an automated mold making machine - it comes equipped with smartphone compatible software, claims to be built to the highest standard possible and promises to deliver all orders by December of this year. Theyve also teamed up with 3D Hubs to provide a network of 3D printers that can produce your molds if you are more interested in the fast and the now. A library of previousloy designed molds can even purchased through their 3Dmold.it service if you're not big on design yourself.

From a quality perspective, any item produced on the Allforge is only as good as the mold itself. So if you 3D printed the mold, the layer lines common in 3D printed items will translate into the item being produced with the mold. Of course, this is more something thats good to be aware of and should not be seen as a deterrant if youre interesting in the purchase. Acetone smoothing methods or even sanding down of prints are options to produce a smooth finish.

However, just like any crowd sourcing campaign there are concerns that need to be addressed. While they have manufacturers on standby to begin knocking out the machines once the money rolls in, inevitable supply chain slow-downs has the potential to set the release date back. And considering theyve only really given themselves a month for manufacturing after the reiteration period passes in September, things need to run perfectly if the delivery schedule is to be maintained.

In the end, the product being promised is in a class of its own when you consider the price-points (ranging from $2,495 - $4395 in the early-bird deals), is backed by a team of diverse characters, and even supply a phone number that you can reach them at during regular business hours. That right there is a sign of commitment to me in today's text communication only world.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jeff S. wrote at 5/19/2016 1:40:09 PM:Allforge starts at 2500 and is fully automated...Joe wrote at 5/14/2016 5:58:30 PM:A number of years ago, LNS Technologies introduced a $600 injection molding machine that you would connect to a drill-press. also, they now have a stand-alone unit for $1,500. This is definitely a simpler machine than the Allforge system, but certainly more affordable. than the $4,000 starting point for the Allforge.




May 13, 2016 | By Alec

3D printed jewelry has become a common sight over the last few years, with more and more fantastic 3D printed pieces appearing on online platforms such as i.materialise. But one Hong Kong-based wedding shop is now using 3D printing for the most important jewelry you will ever wear: wedding rings. Using 3D printings unique advantage of creating completely customized shapes at a moments notice, they are now offering 3D scanning and 3D printing services to create perfectly fitting wedding ring samples.

The store in question is Forever Couple, which just opened a new Hong Kong flagship store in Lee Tung Street at Wan Chai, on May 12. The franchise already operates other stores in Hong Kongs Causeway Bay, Tsim Sha Tsui and in Shanghai in mainland China. For now, the new flagship store will be the only one offering 3D printing sample services. Its also a prime location for wedding ring shoppers, as the store covers two stories and about 2,000 square feet. Exhibiting rings from nine different designers from around the world, its the perfect place to find that one special ring you were looking for.

Should you find it, the new 3D scanning and 3D printing services will ensure you get a perfect fit. The service has been set up in collaboration with the Hong Kong Productivity Council, and provides state-of-the-art 3D printed ring measuring technology. According to the stores founder Eddie Lai, research and development for the technology cost about 1.4 million Hong Kong dollars (about $180,000 USD) and is currently patent pending.

So how does it work? The customers hand is 3D scanned free of charge, and a 3D printed ring is produced in-store, which can be used to test the shape and feel. 3D scanning takes about two minutes, and the software automatically generates a digital ring sample. The whole process, including 3D printing, can take as little as ten minutes. The ring is 3D printed in resin for optimal accuracy.

According to Mr. Lai, they hope to add a new dimension to peoples weddings through this service. Wedding rings are a product you wear for years, he says, but finger size can change over time or due to temperature changes. Through the 3D printing service at the Forever Couple store, clients can therefore get a feel for the ring and see if its comfortable. Hopefully, it will help them find the exclusive wedding ring they are looking for.

Mr. Lai further said that he believes the technology was fully worth the investment. Whatever the economy does, the number of marriages is expected to remain stable. In part thanks to these new services, the companys revenue is expected to rise by 20 percent over this year. Mr. Lai is also looking towards the future already. I hope that by the end of this year, we can apply to the Hong Kong Brand Development Council's Made in Hong Kong Flag program, to realize a special Hong Kong-brand wedding ring, he says. Weddings, it seems, are big business in Hong Kong.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Alan Jacobs at The New Atlantis:

The British passport was so transformed because it met, or seemed to meet, a need never mentioned in the debates over what the French and other European nations demanded. We may call it the Miss Marple problem: Setting aside foreigners, who always and instantly raise suspicions when they turn up in charming little villages like Chipping Cleghorn, how do you know that your neighbors are who they say they are?

In their introduction to a collection of essays extending the work of Raymond Williams, The Country and the City Revisited: England and the Politics of Culture, 15501850, Gerald MacLean, Donna Landry, and Joseph P. Ward note that during the sixteenth century, most men and women worked in the agrarian sector and lived in the countryside, while fewer than five percent of them lived in towns. By the middle of the nineteenth century that had changed so dramatically that towns with more than 10,000 inhabitants together comprised roughly half the population of England. And of course that trend has only continued, in England and elsewhere in the world, in the decades since. Such a trend means that places like Chipping Cleghorn will inevitably decline in population, affected as their people are by the gravitational pull of the great metropolises; but the resulting circulation of persons created will bring the occasional stranger into the villages small orbit. The arrival of an Arnaud du Tilh, under his own name or some other, will be a regular, not an exceptional, occurrence. And what do the long-term residents do about that?

In A Murder Is Announced, Miss Marple comments that in the modern world, People take you at your own valuation. They dont wait to call until theyve had a letter from a friend saying that the So-and-Sos are delightful people and shes known them all their lives. Why would anyone take an unknown woman at her own valuation?

more here.
Micah Yongo in Media Diversified:

A persons identity, Lebanese-French author Amin Maalouf once wrote, is like a pattern drawn on a tightly stretched parchment. Touch just one part of it, just one allegiance, and the whole person will react, the whole drum will sound.

It was these words that came to mind as I finished reading Haris A. Durranis intriguing debut novella, Technologies of the Self: a shrewd commentary on identity and culture that masquerades so well as something else that by the time you finish reading you almost feel hoodwinked.

The story begins as a classic immigrant family drama, complete with amusing observations on life as a western millennial born to parents from differing and more traditional cultures. However, we are soon ushered seamlessly from the smell of platanos and the rapid, witty dialogue of family members around the dining table, into some of the broader themes that are explored.

The protagonist is a young American Muslim who wrestles to reconcile the varying influences of family, faith and place. Son to a Pakistani father and Dominican mother, Jihad  or, to his Caucasian counterparts, Joe  journeys through his own memories and those of his family as he seeks to examine the immigrant experience and understand himself in relation to it.

More here. [Thanks to H. M. Naqvi.]
In an era of rapidly proliferating, precisely targeted treatments, every cancer case has to be played by ear.

Siddhartha Mukherjee in the New York Times:

The bone-marrow biopsy took about 20 minutes. It was 10 oclock on an unusually chilly morning in New York in April, and Donna M., a self-possessed 78-year-old woman, had flown in from Chicago to see me in my office at Columbia University Medical Center. She had treated herself to orchestra seats for The Humans the night before, and was now waiting in the room as no one should be asked to wait: pants down, spine curled, knees lifted to her chest  a grown woman curled like a fetus. I snapped on sterile gloves while the nurse pulled out a bar cart containing a steel needle the length of an index finger. The rim of Donnas pelvic bone was numbed with a pulse of anesthetic, and I drove the needle, as gently as I could, into the outer furl of bone.

Dr. Azra Raza speaking to Donna M.

A corkscrew of pain spiraled through her body as the marrow was pulled, and then a few milliliters of red, bone-flecked sludge filled the syringe. It was slightly viscous, halfway between liquid and gel, like the crushed pulp of an overripe strawberry.

I had been treating Donna in collaboration with my colleague Azra Raza for six years. Donna has a preleukemic syndrome called myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS, which affects the bone marrow and blood. It is a mysterious disease with few known treatments. Human bone marrow is normally a site for the genesis of most of our blood cells  a white-walled nursery for young blood. In MDS, the bone-marrow cells acquire genetic mutations, which force them to grow uncontrollably  but the cells also fail to mature into blood, instead dying in droves. It is a dual curse. In most cancers, the main problem is cells that refuse to stop growing. In Donnas marrow, this problem is compounded by cells that refuse to grow up.

More here.


Blackham Acquires Stockpile

Perth, May 13, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackham Resources Ltd ( ASX:BLK ) ("Blackham") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Intermin Resources Ltd ('Intermin')( ASX:IRC ) to purchase their calcine tailings stockpile located next to the Wiluna Plant.



Intermin owned the Wiluna calcine tailings stockpile. The stockpile comprises a JORC 2004 Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate of 370,000t @ 5.0 g/t Au for 59,500oz Au (per IRC ASX announcement 20 June 2011). It is located on Mining Lease M53/200 and is adjacent to the Wiluna Gold Plant.



The purchase also allows Blackham greater flexibility over the placement of tailings within the direct vicinity of the Plant. The Calcine tailings are the residual product from cyanidation of roasted sulphide concentrates produced prior to WWII from Wiluna gold ores.



Blackham has agreed to pay a total of $1.5m comprising an initial payment of $800,000 and the balance due by 31 December 2016. Once the consideration has been paid, Blackham will have 100% of the calcine tailings.



To view tables and figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6R10WV3I





About Wiluna Mining Corporation Ltd





Wiluna Mining Corporation (ASX:WMC) (OTCMKTS:WMXCF) is a Perth based, ASX listed gold mining company that controls over 1,600 square kilometres of the Yilgarn Craton in the Northern Goldfields of WA. The Yilgarn Craton has a historic and current gold endowment of over 380 million ounces, making it one of most prolific gold regions in the world. The Company owns 100% of the Wiluna Gold Operation which has a defined resource of 8.04M oz at 1.67 g/t au. In May 2019, a new highly skilled management team took control of the Company with a clear plan to leverage the Wiluna Gold Operation's multi-million-ounce potential.
Nearly half of New Mexicos Legislature is stepping into the fray between ranchers and the federal government over the fencing of watering holes on national forest land to protect an endangered mouse found in three western states.

The 50 lawmakers say the government has overstepped its authority and is trampling private property and water rights.

They sent a letter to State Engineer Tom Blaine, asking that he use his authority as New Mexicos top water official to stop the U.S. Forest Service from limiting access to springs, streams and other riparian areas.

Blaine announced today that he has ordered his staff to investigate the complaints from ranchers.

Blaine says New Mexico continues to be concerned with federal mismanagement of public lands and effects on farmers, ranchers and their livelihoods. He says hes committed to working with lawmakers and local communities to ensure access to needed water.

The Forest Service first began ordering closures and installing fences to protect mouse habitat in 2014 on the Santa Fe and Lincoln forests. Some of the contested areas are in the Jemez Mountains, including along the Rio Cebolla.

The mouse also is found in Arizona and Colorado, and federal wildlife officials recently set aside nearly 22 square miles in the three states as critical habitat.
MEXICO CITY  President Enrique Pena Nieto said Thursday that he will ask Mexicos Congress to raise the limit on decriminalized marijuana for personal use to 28 grams, or about one ounce.

Currently, only possession of five grams, or less than a fifth of an ounce, is exempt from prosecution.

This means that consumption would no longer be criminalized, Pena Nieto said.

Possession of larger amounts would still be punishable under drug trafficking laws.

We Mexicans know all too well the range and the defects of prohibitionist and punitive policies, and of the so-called war on drugs that has prevailed for 40 years, Pena Nieto said. Our country has suffered, as few have, the ill effects of organized crime tied to drug trafficking.

Fortunately, a new consensus is gradually emerging worldwide in favor of reforming drug policies, he said. A growing number of countries are strenuously combating criminals, but instead of criminalizing consumers, they offer them alternatives and opportunities.

Pena Nietos proposal also would allow the use and importation of cannabis-based medications and it would free people who are on trial or serving time for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.

The move comes after Mexicos Supreme Court approved an appeal by four people to allow them to grow and possess marijuana for personal use. That helped launch a national debate on marijuana policy. However, it appeared to bear no relation to the legal measure announced Thursday.

An ounce is equivalent to about 20 to 25 marijuana cigarettes.

The plan would put Mexico in the middle range of marijuana regulation policies in Latin America.

In Cuba and Venezuela, possession of any quantity of marijuana is a criminal offense. On the other extreme, Uruguay passed a law in 2013 that not only legalized limited pot consumption and production, but also set up a regulated market of producers who can sell through a network of pharmacies. Colombia and Ecuador have decriminalized amounts up to 20 grams, and Paraguay considers up to 10 grams as possession for personal use.

While legalization advocates are vocal in Mexico, recent polls suggest a majority of Mexicans oppose legalizing marijuana. Pena Nieto had earlier said he opposed legalization.

Neither side got all it wanted.

Without doubt, we set aside the all or nothing approach, in favor of one that put the public health aspect first, said Jose Narro Robles, rector of Mexicos National University. It is a process we can all feel satisfied with.

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the U.S. Drug Policy Alliance, called the measure a modest but important step in the right direction.  The problem, of course, is that this falls so far short of what other countries are already doing successfully in Europe and the Americas, and so far short of whats needed in Mexico. 
LAS CRUCES, N.M.  Authorities in southern New Mexico searched Thursday for a jail inmate who escaped from a medical clinic after he was accused of kidnapping a driver by gunpoint in Texas and twice leading police on car chases.

Police in the city of Las Cruces said Michael Derby, 24, is dangerous and urged the public to report tips on his whereabouts after he fled the clinic where he was taken for a medical exam Wednesday night.

Derbys restraints were removed for the exam and afterward he bolted down a hallway and out the front door, running to a nearby business where he stole a truck with a trailer containing three horses, officials said. The vehicle and horses later were found in a residential area.

Police said they learned that Derby used a cellphone in the truck to call a friend and that a relative picked him up. No additional details were released, and police said he remained at large.

Derby was described as 5-foot-11 and 181 pounds, and police said he has a light goatee, short hair and a tattoo of a skull on a back calf. Court records dont list an attorney for Derby who could comment on the allegations.

His escape comes after two state prisoners broke out of a prison transport van March 9 during a fuel stop along a rural highway. They were caught days later 200 miles away in Albuquerque.

Derby was arrested Sunday after two police pursuits and a carjacking in a neighboring state. It began when a police officer stopped him in Las Cruces and saw a handgun in the car, authorities said.

Derby drove off, and officers chased him until he crossed the New Mexico line into Texas. In El Paso, about 45 miles south of Las Cruces, he carjacked an SUV and briefly held the driver at gunpoint, authorities said. The driver got away at a gas station.

A second chase began hours later when the stolen SUV was spotted in the Las Cruces area. Derby twice tried to strike a deputy with the SUV, and he had to be forcibly removed when officers got it stopped outside the city, authorities said.

Derby was arrested on suspicion of numerous crimes, including aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated fleeing from a peace officer and possessing a stolen vehicle.

Hell face additional charges as a result of the escape, said Jess Williams, a spokesman for Dona Ana County, where Derby was jailed.

The suspect is considered dangerous because he might have obtained another gun, Las Cruces police spokesman Dan Trujillo said.
Ponderosa Brewing Co. has a fresh new approach under new head brewer Bob Haggerty, who is tweaking some staple beer recipes and bringing in some creations of his own.

This is not Haggertys first rodeo when it comes to brewing. But it is his first stint as head brewer. Haggerty previously brewed for Albuquerques La Cumbre Brewing Co. and Oxbow Brewing Co. in Newcastle, Maine. Haggerty started homebrewing after his career as a chef was not suitable with his life as a father.

My first child came along, and 90-hour weeks did not seem like it was very compatible for a family, he said. I tried to think of a profession where I could use my palate and still create and that would be more reasonable in the way of hours and expectations. I started homebrewing, and that led sort of naturally to brewing professionally.

Haggerty is putting his touch on some of the staple Ponderosa beers that previous head brewer Andrew Krosche created before moving to Chama River Brewing Co. Haggerty has put his spin on the Ghost Train IPA, Rip Saw Red, Crosscut Kolsch, American Wheat, Bellamah Brown and Spanglish, a Mexican-style lager.

Ponderosa Brewing Co.

WHERE: 1761 Bellamah NW

HOURS AND INFORMATION: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. Information, call 639-5941 or visit 1761 Bellamah NW11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. Information, call 639-5941 or visit ponderosabrewing.net

Haggerty has also brought on board some of his own brews, including a cask-conditioned beer that will be featured every Friday. A pale ale with Azacca hops will be featured today.

Haggerty also will soon be bringing back a Belgian IPA and has plans for a bottle release series featuring Belgian and Belgian-inspired beers. The first one will be a sour saison, followed by a Belgian Strong, then a Belgian IPA and finally, a sour brown. Haggertys Saison Chat Sauvage, which is currently available, is a nod to Oxbow.

Using a French saison yeast and pairing it with American hops, thats another thing Oxbow did very successfully, he said.  I just got to really love that flavor. That particular yeast with American hops I found to be just really nice. The yeast itself is citrusy and a little bit peppery, and it doesnt have an overwhelming amount of sweet fruit esters as a lot of Belgian yeasts do.

Haggerty also brought on board a dry milk stout.

I love milk stouts, but they sometimes tend to be a little bit too sweet, Haggerty said. I brewed that one to be intentionally a little bit drier. I started with an Irish dry stout recipe and added some lactose to add some body. I like the way it came out. It sort of splits the difference between a dry and sweet stout.

Haggerty is proud of his Berliner weisse, which also is currently available at Ponderosa.

Berliner weisse is one of those styles that if you know it and like it, youre going to appreciate it and if not, it can come across as being sort of thin or light, Haggerty said. I think this one came out great. Its been aging for a few months now, and I think its fantastic. Im a big fan.
You wouldnt believe all the complaints weve been hearing about the choices left in this years presidential election. There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction and genuine angst out there.

But this is America. And, dadgummit, just as there are at least 20 kinds of potato chips at the grocery, there are more than two political parties.

There are, in fact, at least 15 that appear to have presidential candidates.

So, as a public service of sorts, Ive compiled a look at some of them in brief.

Some might say that voting for a minor party candidate is throwing away your vote. But others might argue that voting for either major party candidate this go around is doing the same.

So, (drumroll, please) starting with the party that has a local tie-in and appears to be the most major of the minors, heres the list.

Libertarian: The partys nominating convention is May 27, and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is again campaigning to be its standard-bearer, as he was in 2012. That year, he got 1,211,982 votes  about 1 percent of the votes cast (President Obama had more votes and won the election).

This party of individual rights believes in a world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.

Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL): For those who think Bernie Sanders is a socialist, these guys are the real thing. From their website: For the Earth to Live, Capitalism Must End! Jobs, Healthcare & Housing for All! The PSL candidate is Gloria LaRiva.

Americas Party: Founded in 2008 as Americas Independent Party, this conservative group has nominated Tom Hoefling for president, as it did in 2012. No. 1 in Hoeflings Keys to Saving the American Republic: Remind the American people that the source of their rights is God, not men, and that those rights are therefore unalienable.

Veterans Party of America: Founded in 2013, when Congress chose to balance the budget by reducing the cost of living allowance for military retirees, including those medically retired after sustaining injuries during combat with the enemy. The VPA describes itself as a centrist party dedicated to solving problems intelligently, simply, directly, and constitutionally. You dont have to be a veteran to be a member. Its presidential nominee is Chris Keniston.

Workers World Party: Monica Moorehead is the presidential candidate for this party, which seems to be to the far left of the PSL. Its slogan is Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! The partys platform? Disarm the Police & ICE Agents; Fight for Socialist Revolution; and Defend Black Lives Matter. As its been said, we all want to change the world.

Prohibition Party: Yes, its still around. And for this ultraconservative party, founded in 1869, The alcohol question is the Prohibition Partys unique, signature issue. Beverage alcohol is Americas No. 1 narcotic drug problem. The partys opposed to tobacco, too. Its candidate is Jim Hedges.

Constitution Party: Founded in 1992 as the U.S. Taxpayers Party, this party says its mission is to present candidates who will uphold the principles of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. Darrell Castle is its nominee.

Other parties that appear to have candidates include the Green Party, the American Freedom Party, the Independent American Party, the Reform Party and a slew of other socialist parties with cool names, but Im running out of room. Youll have to look them up.

Birthday Party: I did, however, want to mention one other candidate who has shown up in presidential races since at least 1976 under the banner of the Birthday Party. This year, he actually looks pretty good.

He is Nobody, the creation of Curtis Spangler and Wavy Gravy. Spangler is campaign manager, and Gravy is Nobodys fool.

The campaign is chock-full of slogans like:

Nobody cares!

Nobody listens!

Nobody will fix all your problems!

Hes apparently been on other candidates minds, too. On March 21, Republican Donald Trump was quoted as saying, Nobody respects women more than I do. And on April 18, Democrat Hillary Clinton said, Nobodys held accountable.

Nobody always tells the truth. You can trust Nobody.

UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to editorial page editor Dan Herrera at 823-3810 or dherrera@abqjournal.com. Go to ABQjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.
Two Democrats are vying to be the next Bernalillo County clerk, replacing Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who was appointed by the County Commission to fill an unexpired term in 2007 and was subsequently elected to four-year terms in 2008 and 2012.

Both candidates, Roman Montoya and Linda Stover, cite current and previous work experience that they said makes them ideally suited for the job of county clerk.

The winner of that contest during the June 7 primary will face off against the sole Republican candidate, Maryellen Ortega-Saenz, in the Nov. 8 general election.

The clerk serves as the chief elections officer of the county, overseeing countywide elections and providing assistance for municipal elections within the county. The clerk is also responsible for overseeing the recording, filing or issuing of official records in the county, including marriage licenses and property maps and plats.

Montoya, 45, is currently the deputy clerk under Toulouse Oliver. Before that, he was the Rio Rancho city clerk from 2004 to 2012 and the chief deputy city clerk for the city of Albuquerque from 2000 to 2004. He is also an election committee member with the New Mexico Municipal League.

If elected, there will be no transition time needed, he said. I will hit the ground running on day one.

Montoyas goal as county clerk will be to remove all barriers when it comes to voting, he said. We must have fair and open and honest elections. Im a progressive Democrat, and protecting the right to vote and fighting voter suppression is fundamental to why Im in this race. Im also the only candidate running who has election experience.

A proponent of universal voter registration, Montoya said that he will support expanding election access through additional voter convenience centers, adding Chinese and Vietnamese to the languages already available on sample ballots. He would also make vote tabulating machines more user-friendly and interactive for people who speak languages other than English, as well as for people with disabilities.

Another of Montoyas goals, he said, is to increase voter education efforts throughout the county and get voters to understand the day-to-day interactions with local government, which helps them appreciate the importance of having their voice heard, helps them understand the issues and ultimately leads to higher voter turnout.

Stover, 68, says the job of county clerk is the only political office that ever interested her.

Ive always been interested in voting and peoples rights to vote, in unencumbered elections and getting peoples voices heard, she said.

Stover cites her more than 30 years of managerial experience as a director of the New Mexico Rural Rehabilitation Corp., a financial and lending program designed to help the states rural poor, including financially troubled farmers and ranchers, and which has been run for more than 40 years by three generations of her family.

Stover said she still works part-time for the corporation, doing interviews for student loans.

The New Mexico Rural Rehabilitation Corp. is directly overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she said, so I understand government bureaucracy because Ive worked with it my whole life. Her experience working with the federal government has also helped to hone her management skills, giving her a competitive edge because the county clerks office is largely a managerial position, she said.

While Montoya has latched on to the voter convenience centers as source of pride and accomplishment, Stover said that in some ways they are barriers to voting because they are not conveniently located, and people are forced to go out of their normal and familiar areas to vote.

Consequently, she said, voter turnout in the county during the last election was down compared with the previous election cycle.

Stover said she doesnt dispute that the voter convenience centers save money over traditional polling places, which have been reduced in number, but in order for the convenience centers to truly be convenient, she said, there needs to be more of them, particularly in higher density areas, something she would push for if elected.

She also wants to see free bus passes made available on Election Day to anyone who requests one to get to and from a voting site.

Like Montoya, Stover wants to ratchet up emphasis on voter education.

I will put together a program for the schools, service clubs, anybody who will have me, and I will go in and talk about the value of one vote, she said.

We need to remember what a gift voting is and the excitement of casting that vote. We have to get people talking about the issues so they become informed voters. When people are familiar with the issues, they feel vested and they want to vote.
As was the case with Miesha Tate, says Lenny Fresquez, Holly Holm will be facing the toughest opponent available when she returns to the octagon.

If Valentina Shevchenko had shown up for the first two rounds of her fight with Amanda Nunes, she might be training for a title shot against Tate on July 9  or that same night against Holm, had the Albuquerque fighter beaten Tate and retained the title shed won from Ronda Rousey in November.

Instead, as announced earlier this week, Shevchenko will face Holm on July 23 on UFC on Fox in Chicago  two weeks after Nunes faces Tate with the title on the line in Las Vegas, Nev.

Holm (10-1) and Shevchenko (12-2) lost on the same night, March 5, in Las Vegas, Nev.  Holm to Tate, Shevchenko to Nunes.

Other possible opponents for Holms return were discussed, said Fresquez, the Albuquerque fighters agent. He mentioned Lauren Murphy (9-2, ranked 13th in the UFC bantamweight division) and Ashlee Evans-Smith (4-1, 15th).

But Shevchenko, ranked No. 9, is one of only two top-10 challengers to Tates title who didnt already have a fight scheduled between now and July.

Rousey (No. 2, behind Holm) is one of those. But UFC President Dana White has said Rousey may not return to the cage in 2016. Liz Carmouche (9-5, ranked No. 8) has a 2010 victory over Shevchenko but hasnt fought since April 2015.

It was a team choice, Fresquez said of the decision to take the Shevchenko fight.  Shes a pretty tough girl, solid.  We didnt want to fight (an opponent outside the top 10) and get criticized. But any way we do it, well get criticized.

Like Holm, Shevchenko is left-handed and is primarily a striker. She does have five wins by submission, however. Holms loss to Tate came via fifth-round rear naked choke.

On March 5, in her fight with Nunes, Shevchenko was listless in the first round and nearly submitted in the second. Shevchenko came alive in the third, dominating the round, but lost by unanimous decision.

Shevchenko is a native of Kyrgyzstan but lives in Lima, Peru.

BRANDAO: In a video obtained by TMZ of a police interview with Diego Brandao, the former UFC fighter admits to having possessed a gun at a Downtown Albuquerque strip club but says a club employee had a gun, as well.

Brandao, who trains at Albuquerques Jackson-Wink MMA, was arrested April 15 after an altercation at Knockouts during which he was accused of pointing a gun at patrons and club employees and striking a club employee in the face with the butt of the gun.

Brandao was arrested on charges of aggravated battery and three counts of aggravated assault. He was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center and released on $15,000 bond.

After the incident, the UFC released Brandao from its roster.

In the video, Brandao at first denies having had a gun at the club but later admits to having had it. He tells police he later destroyed the weapon and says a club employee choked him.

According to online court records, the District Attorneys Office has not filed formal charges against the 28-year-old Brazilian fighter.

UFC 199: Two-time UFC champion BJ Penn, who trains at Jackson-Wink MMA, is now scheduled to face Cole Miller (21-9) June 4 in Los Angeles on UFC 199. Miller replaces Dennis Siver (22-11), who withdrew with an injury.

Penn (16-10), a Hawaii native, will fight Miller at the 145-pound featherweight limit. Penn has won UFC titles at 155 and 170 pounds.

UPCOMING: King of the Cage will return to the Embassy Suites in Albuquerque with a card June 10.  Jacksons Series XIX is scheduled for Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino in Pojoaque on June 25.
Former President Bill Clinton will make a two-day campaign swing through New Mexico later this month to stump for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Bill Clinton, who served as president from 1993 through 2000, will hold public events in Albuquerque and Espanola on May 24 and 25, the Clinton campaign announced Thursday.

No other information was released about the events.

New Mexico is among the final wave of states to hold its primary election. This years primary is set for June 7, with 34 delegates at stake on the Democratic side.

Bill Clinton, who carried New Mexico in both 1992 and in his 1996 re-election bid, is no stranger to the state.

Most recently, he campaigned in Espanola in 2010 for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Diane Denish, who lost that years race to now-Gov. Susana Martinez. Clinton also attended former Gov. Bruce Kings funeral in Moriarty in 2009.

HEADING TO NEW MEXICO: Gov. Susana Martinez will host fellow Republican governors from around the nation at a policy summit next week in Bernalillo, after spending much of this week traveling out of state.

Martinez, who was elected chairwoman of the Republican Governors Association last fall, has traveled out of New Mexico extensively in recent months  to nine states since the beginning of March.

She was in St. Louis earlier this week for RGA meetings and will be in Omaha, Neb., on Saturday to speak at the Nebraska state GOP convention. In between, the governor attended the burial of Albuquerque police officer Daniel Webster, who was killed in the line of duty last October, at Arlington National Cemetery, outside Washington, D.C.

Martinez wont have so far to go next week, since an RGA corporate policy summit is scheduled for Monday through Wednesday at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort and Spa in Bernalillo.

RGA spokesman Jon Thompson says GOP governors meet several times a year to discuss whats working in their states and how to drive economic access, grow jobs and institute needed reforms.

He said that usually around 15 or more governors attend, but he wasnt able to say who would come to New Mexico. Theres a similar meeting in September in Boston.

WORKING FOR TRUMP: The chairwoman of the Santa Fe County Republican Party stepped down from her post last week to work for Donald Trumps presidential campaign.

Jo Ann Eastham said this week that shed been weighing the move for several months. She also told the Journal she believes that negative stereotypes of Trump supporters are largely false.

In New Mexico and elsewhere, elected party officials are generally required, via internal rules, to maintain neutrality in primary elections.

In a case last summer that drew national attention, former Santa Fe County GOP Treasurer Ignacio Padilla was removed from his post after hosting an anti-Trump pinata-bashing event on the Santa Fe Plaza.
John Henry survived 27 missions aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress during World War II, but the last flight left him in a tree, dangling at the end of a parachute.

I had to walk back from my 27th mission, said 92-year-old Henry, who was shot down over the Italian Alps on July 24, 1944.

But instead of walking back to the American lines, Henry spent three months hiding from Germans, followed by a four-day forced march to a German prison camp after his capture.

Henry was one of two former B-17 crew members who flew Thursday aboard one of the last airworthy Flying Fortresses, which is visiting Albuquerque this weekend at the Double Eagle II Airport.

Dubbed Aluminum Overcast, the aircraft is owned by the Experimental Aircraft Association, a nonprofit formed to preserve aviation heritage and foster interest in aviation.

The eight months Henry served as a prisoner of war didnt diminish his opinion of the four-engine heavy bomber, in which he served as a top-turret gunner from December 1942 until his capture.

There were a lot of good planes, he said, but the B-17 was one of the best.

Theres nothing comfortable about a B-17 flight. The roar of the engines makes conversation all but impossible, and the vibration is bone-rattling. The aircraft jerks and jostles, making it difficult and hazardous to move around the narrow fuselage.

When they opened the bomb bay doors, it was like a gale blowing through the airplane, recalled George Peterson, 91, who served as a B-17 tail gunner on 23 missions from 1943 to 1945. As a tail gunner, Peterson spent long flights crammed into a narrow space below the tail wings, operating a pair of machine guns.

It was like riding a bicycle, Peterson said of the tail-gunner position. You are riding in a crouched position.

B-17 Aluminum Overcast flights and tours

WHAT: The public can tour and take flights on a B-17 Flying Fortress World War II-era bomber.

WHEN: Today-Sunday

WHERE: Double Eagle II Airport, 7401 Atrisco Vista NW

COST: Flights, $449 booked in advance. Ground tours, $10 for individuals, $20 for families. Free for children under 8.

MORE INFO: Visit The public can tour and take flights on a B-17 Flying Fortress World War II-era bomber.Today-SundayDouble Eagle II Airport, 7401 Atrisco Vista NWFlights, $449 booked in advance. Ground tours, $10 for individuals, $20 for families. Free for children under 8.Visit b17.org for tickets and flight schedules.

Flying a B-17 is a labor of love for pilots accustomed to modern aircraft with amenities such as heated, pressurized cabins.

Its old and heavy, said John Bode, co-owner of Bode Aviation in Albuquerque, who has flown B-17s for 11 years. Theres no automation of the aircraft whatsoever. They were not built for creature comfort. If its raining outside, its raining inside.

And the cabin is cold, anytime of year. Its miserably hot on the ground, and you get to altitude and you freeze, he said.

The B-17 on display through Sunday in Albuquerque never entered combat in WWII.

It rolled off the production line in Burbank, Calif., in May 1945, just days after Germanys May 8 surrender ended the war in the European theater, where most B-17s were in action.

Aluminum Overcast was among the last of the 12,732 Flying Fortresses manufactured from 1935 to 1945. More than a third  4,735  were lost in combat. Most B-17s that survived combat were scrapped after the war.

Aluminum Overcast escaped oblivion when it was purchased by a private company in 1945 to map commercial aviation routes around the world, Bode said.

Today, Aluminum Overcast is one of only nine B-17s still flying. It is one of only six or fewer that are certified by the Federal Aviation Administration to give rides to the public, he said.
A second-grade teacher at Dennis Chavez Elementary School was accused of child abuse and placed on paid administrative leave May 6 for allegedly bruising a girls arm.

Daniel Ormrod grabbed the childs left bicep after pulling her out of class on May 5 for playing with her hair, according to a report from Albuquerque Public Schools Police.

The girl told officers that she was hurt but went back into class and did not say anything because she thought she would get into trouble.

Her mother, Lizette Gonzales, contacted police May 6, and they interviewed the girl at a safe house and took photos of the two large bruises for evidence. The Journal could not reach Gonzales for comment.

Dennis Chavez Elementary parents received a letter from Principal Jessica Kettler on Thursday, which explained the situation and stated that Ormrod could face criminal charges.

The allegations are limited to one student at this time and the allegations are not sexual, Kettler wrote.

The APS Human Resources Department is also looking into the incident, and Ormrod will remain on paid leave until the investigation is complete.
More than 27 percent of New Mexicos children live with food insecurity, while more than 17 percent of the states overall population are at risk of hunger.

Thats why the Roadrunner Food Bank is asking communities across the state to participate in this years Stamp Out Hunger food drive on Saturday.

The drive, sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers, is the largest single-day food drive in the United States. It benefits food banks nationwide, including Roadrunner.

Community members can participate by leaving nonperishable food items in paper or plastic bags near their mailboxes on Saturday.

Letter carriers will collect the donations and take them to area post offices, where Roadrunner volunteers will sort them before transferring the items to the food bank for distribution.

People who have post office boxes may also participate by bringing food directly to their nearest post office.

Stamp Out Hunger provides an easy way for our community to give back, to meet the food needs of the 70,000 people we serve each week and to take part in a national call to action, said Melody Wattenbarger, president and CEO of Roadrunner Food Bank.

At-risk children, who often get free meals during the school year, are at particular risk of hunger during the summer vacation months, making the Stamp Out Hunger food drive extremely important to them at this time of the year, she noted.

Hunger affects every town, every city across the country, Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers said in a statement released through Roadrunner Food Bank. At least six days a week, our letter carriers are out in their communities and we are honored to be able to support our neighbors in need though the Stamp Out Hunger food drive.

Last year, letter carriers in the Albuquerque metro area alone collected more than 209,870 pounds of food.

Nationwide, letter carries rounded up nearly 71 million pounds from 10,000 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Guam.

Nonperishable food items could include things like canned meats, canned fruits, canned vegetables, cereal, beans, rice, condiments, sauces, pastas, boxed meals, soups, peanut butter, jelly, shelf-stable milk or any pop top single-serving item.

The Stamp Out Hunger food drive was established in 1992. People who wish to volunteer to help unload and sort food at the different area post offices should call (505) 349-8837.
The two Democratic candidates for district attorney faced off in a forum in Albuquerque on Thursday night.

Raul Torrez, who has worked as a prosecutor at the federal and state levels, and Edmund Perea, a retired Albuquerque police officer and a special prosecutor in the 13th Judicial District, are vying to replace DA Kari Brandenburg, who has been Bernalillo Countys top prosecutor for more than 15 years.

Both candidates were asked questions about their plans for the office in front of an audience of about 100 people at the New Mexico State Bar Associations headquarters.

They fielded questions on how they approach organizing prosecutions and other legal matters.

They took different positions when asked about the governors plans to assign representatives to track drunken driving cases, monitor outcomes and post on social media results that appear lenient.

Perea said that was almost like a form of community policing.

Victims of drunken drivers want to be part of the process, he said.

Torrez said it would politicize the legal process, and said he would rather meet and discuss legal strategies with advocates against drunken driving instead of having them spread opinions on particular cases.

Both candidates said they would restructure the District Attorneys Office.

Torrez said he would create a major crimes unit, which, in some cases, would assign senior prosecutors to particular defendants with a lengthy and serious criminal history.

Perea said he would give prosecutors more control of individual cases from indictment through final judgement.

Both candidates said they were in favor of criminal justice reform that emphasizes crime prevention and treatment for drug addiction instead of incarceration.

The primary election is June 7.

Simon Kubiak is the lone Republican candidate.
As a young girl, Blackfeet tribal member Helen Augare-Carlson remembers her grandfather anticipating his yearly hunting trip in the Badger-Two Medicine region of northern Montana. It fulfilled him, says Augare-Carlson.

When she returned to the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning in the early 2000s, the Forest Service was beginning to establish a traditional cultural district within the Badger-Two Medicine, a designation that recognizes an areas historic value. It also requires an extensive review process that calls into question activities such as oil and gas exploration.

During the Reagan administration, more than 40 oil and gas leases had been issued in the Badger-Two Medicine  18 of which remain today  and many of the tribes roughly 15,000 enrolled members believe that those leases threaten both wildlife habitat and the areas wild character.

Augare-Carlson agreed that the Badger-Two Medicine should stay untouched. She decided to reveal the kind of connection her grandfather had to the land by coordinating with an ongoing project called Art for the Sky.

The projects originator, Daniel Dancer, creates living paintings of people through aerial photographs, and for their picture, the Blackfeet chose to form a bear, an animal that embodies wildness.

More than 360 students participated, and Augare-Carlson used the experience to discuss the tribes ancestral ties to the region as well as its continued relevance to their lives today.

Just seeing how much impact it had with the youth was really encouraging. They were all excited to be out there and participate and maintain the area, she says.

The traditional cultural district was approved by the Forest Service, but even though the agency placed a moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the largely roadless area, the leases remained.

That state of limbo persisted until 2013, when one of the lessees, Solenex LLC, a Louisiana-based company, sued the Interior Department for delaying its ability to develop the lease. That lawsuit, filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, brought national attention to the issue.

During the years that the tribe spent trying to convince the Forest Service and BLM to cancel the leases, national and regional environmental organizations had signed on as allies. They included the Montana Wilderness Association, The Wilderness Society and the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance as well as others.

After generations of mistrust of outsiders, however, the tribal administration was reluctant to accept either their involvement or their help. But after elections in the summer of 2014 brought in a new administration amenable to working with outside groups, a partnership has flourished.

Were here to support their effort, says Casey Perkins, Rocky Mountain field director for the Montana Wilderness Association. Compared with past efforts, Perkins and her environmental colleagues have embraced the value of letting the people on the ground have the spotlight. We get peoples attention when tribal leaders speak out.

John Murray, the tribes historic preservation officer, says the primary role of the environmental groups has been to navigate political channels and attract and facilitate media coverage.

Over the past two years, the coalition has collaborated on legal strategies, pressed for expanding the designated traditional cultural district, and elevated the issue on a national scale. As a result, Montanas Democratic Sen. Jon Tester has become a strong advocate for cancelling the leases, as has Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

Numerous papers have also run editorials supporting the coalitions position. Publicity reached a fever pitch last spring when the legendary rock band Pearl Jam, which has Montana roots, publicly opposed drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine and posted a petition about the effort on its website.

The hard work and willingness to break down historic barriers paid off. On April 1, the Interior Department canceled one of the leases, saying that the Solenex lease was improperly issued in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historical Preservation Act.

Even with the leases cancellation, however, the partners arent sure about the future of the Badger-Two Medicine. Solenex may challenge the Interior Departments decision, and 17 other leases remain in limbo.

Meanwhile, the Blackfeet largely oppose any official wilderness designation, because tribal leaders say they want to share management responsibilities with the Forest Service  something both Perkins and Jennifer Ferenstein with The Wilderness Society say they could support. Despite the uncertainty, most people involved in the coalition remain hopeful.

Its nice to see them (Anglos) learning and trying to understand our perspective. There have been so many times in the past when natives and non-natives clashed over management practices, says Augare-Carlson. Now were coming to the table equally and able to communicate. Its a really big step for both sides.

Michael Dax is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an opinion service of High Country News. He writes in Santa Fe and is the author of Grizzly West: A Failed Attempt to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears in the Mountain West.
For over 30 years, Ive grown garlic on a small farm in northern New Mexico, selling most of it at farmers markets in Santa Fe, Taos and Los Alamos. I now grow it on about an acre, which yields about a ton of garlic annually.

We are a tiny David compared to Harmoni Spice of Zhengzhou, China, the largest importer of Chinese garlic, and Christopher Ranch in Gilroy, Calif., the primary distributor of Harmonis garlic. Harmoni and Christopher Ranch are the Goliaths of our industry.

But our little garlic patch  in collaboration with Avrum Katzs Boxcar Farm in a neighboring town  is raising hell in law firms and government offices in places as far away as New York City, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, not to mention China.

All we did was file a formal request with the U.S. Department of Commerce for an administrative review of Harmoni Spices anti-dumping rate, which is zero. Duties are imposed in this country on some 300 products to raise the price of imported products so that they are closer to domestic prices. A rating of zero means that no duty is imposed.

At over 19 million metric tons a year, China is now the worlds largest producer of garlic, while the United States is down to a mere 175,000 metric tons.

Currently, the wholesale price of garlic in China is $1 a kilo, and this has enabled Harmoni Spice, the only garlic importer that pays no duty, to undercut U.S. producers for the past 10 years. Anti-dumping duties, which can run as high as $4.71 a kilo, would serve to level the playing field for U.S. producers, bringing the price of imported garlic in line with U.S. wholesale prices.

Harmoni maintains its zero duty rate through a loophole in Commerce Department regulations, which allows an interested domestic party of like product to ask for an administrative review and then to withdraw its request for that review. This is where the loophole comes in.

Every year for the past 10 years, the California-based Fresh Garlic Producers Association, of which Christopher Ranch is the largest player, has first requested administrative reviews of a number of Chinese garlic importers, and then, just at the deadline, withdrawn Harmoni Spice from the process.

The result is that Harmonis zero rate gets rubberstamped without review. Until now, no other growers have contested the situation, presumably for fear of tangling with the garlic Goliaths.

Ted Hume, a trade attorney with 40 years experience, moved to Taos with his artist wife last summer, after staying in the B&B on our garlic farm. On my behalf (and later with Boxcar Farm), he filed a request for administrative review.

We expected some pushback, but Harmonis lawyers have buried us in some 2,000 pages of filings with the Department of Commerce. They also filed what is patently a SLAPP suit  a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation  against a total of 21 defendants, including us. Recently, both Avrum and I were visited by a private investigator, who claimed he wanted to grow garlic in Texas. We didnt believe him.

The lawsuit and Harmonis filing with the Department of Commerce are attempts to get us to withdraw our review request and thereby enable Harmoni to retain its zero anti-dumping duty rate. We think Harmoni is attempting to interfere with our constitutional right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

And we realize that this may be a long, drawn-out battle, but were hoping it will end in a level playing field for U.S. garlic growers.

Perhaps a larger issue is that other U.S. producers have gamed the import duty system in a similar way, allowing them to profit from the funneling of cheap Chinese goods, both agricultural and manufactured. The Department of Commerce, in short, may be allowing millions if not billions of dollars to slip through taxpayers fingers, destroying countless jobs in the process.

As trade attorney Bill Perry told the Los Angeles Business Journal, The whole system certainly smells to high heaven.

International trade law is an arcane subject, seemingly remote from everyday life. But every time you stop into a Wal-Mart or Family Dollar, youre already knee-deep in it. And it is certainly true whenever you buy supermarket garlic. Think before you shop. Garlic should add flavor to life, not be part of a system that smells to high heaven.

Stanley Crawford is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an opinion service of High Country News. He is the author of A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm and eight works of fiction, most recently The Canyon. He lives in Dixon, N.M.
A committee of the Santa Fe Council on Monday approved construction and management contracts for a huge public works project that has been decades in the discussion and planning phase  an underpass for bicyclists and pedestrians beneath St. Francis Drive just north of Cerrillos Road, providing a link between the Acequia Trail and the Railyard Park and a way for nonmotorists to avoid the chaos of the busy St. Francis/Cerrillos intersection.

As City Councilor Joseph Maestas said, Kudos all the way around for the citys successful pursuit of federal money that will cover 85 percent of the roughly $5 million project.

The design drawings released this week have a significant cool factor, with a light sculpture that seems to look like icicles along with skylights to let in the sun. Were even told the project should not cause major traffic problems on Santa Fes busiest thoroughfare during a construction period expected to last just six to eight months.

There are many positives here. The underpass is an investment in promoting commuting by bicycle or walking, providing a tiny bit of balance in a public infrastructure that overwhelmingly focuses on helping cars to get around.

The tunnel design and surface-level landscaping, which includes a ramada and the old railroad caboose thats long been parked at the intersection as key features, appear to be well conceived and should make the gateway intersection more attractive.

Still, our support for the goals of this project comes with reservations.

The City Council last year scuttled plans for another, less ambitious tunnel crossing of St. Francis for the River Trail at Alameda Street and decided to put the $2 million or so in bond proceeds that had been designated for that project into other trails work. Theres likewise a good argument that spending $5 million on making bike travel safer and easier all over Santa Fe could more broadly serve the community than this single, approved tunnel, which will be about 150 feet long.

Yes, bikers and walkers now have to stop, punch the buttons for crossing signals at St. Francis and Cerrillos and wait through various cycles of vehicle traffic before they can proceed.

And the intersection, with its multiple traffic lanes, bisected diagonally by Rail Runner train tracks whose indentations are perfect traps for bike tires, is probably confusing and potentially dangerous for pedaling tourists or other bikers encountering it for the first time.

But commuting by pedal power and urban biking isnt a race and having to stop for a minute or two to cross the streets didnt seem like a major problem for at least some of us who have tried riding bikes to work.

Also, remember that the new tunnel will only provide unfettered traffic-free crossing for people approaching the intersection from the north/west side of Cerrillos Road.

Those commuting from the south/east side of Cerrillos, such as bikers using the great Rail Trail to get into town, will still have to find a way to cross Cerrillos to use the tunnel to go under St. Francis.

The issue of whether a St. Francis crossing should go above ground via a long, gently sloping pedestrian/bike bridge or under the roadway was a subject of significant debate over the years.

Romantics among us were taken with the idea suggested by some that a bridge, with a unique artistic design  hey, master architect Zaha Hadid just passed away, but Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei are still out there  could have provided a special, iconic entranceway into the heart of Santa Fe.

The tunnel, though, was certainly the more practical choice, as theres a lot of anecdotal evidence that many pedestrians would rather run across a busy street at ground level than walk over a bridge.

A realistic concern is whether the bright, beautiful underpass we saw this week in the renderings presented to the City Council can be maintained and kept safe. Should we lay bets now on when the tunnel is first victimized by a major tagging attack? Will the light sculpture stand up to determined vandals? Will the underpass feel safe at night, even with a light sculpture?

The $5 million tunnel is on its way. Despite our concerns, we hope it becomes and stays the jewel of the citys trail system. That will probably take a lot of work even long after construction is complete.

Now, if city planners could just do something about getting Rail Trail users safely across St. Michaels Drives six lanes of racing traffic at a spot where there are NO nearby traffic lights, much less a tunnel
District 5

EDUCATION: High school/continuing to work on my degree.

OCCUPATION: Retired

POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Retired from Santa Fe Police Department at the rank of lieutenant, after 23 years of service. Two years as security director after Cerro Grande Fire, FEMA. Sheriff candidate.

MORENO: Prior to my government service and facilitation practice, I was a journalist for The New Mexican and later the Associated Press. As a government watchdog I observed examples of selfless public service, and of inappropriate use of power. I became a facilitator and mediator to help organizations use constructive dialog as a means to solve problems. I can put these skills to work helping guide county policies on water, land development, roads and transportation.

Age: 62

EDUCATION: Bachelors Degree in Journalism/Economics from the University of Northern Colorado

OCCUPATION: Consulting practice in facilitation and mediation

POLITICAL\GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: I joined the New Mexico State Land Office in 1983 and served as a senior advisor to Commissioner Ray Powell for two consecutive four-year terms. My title was Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs. In my private facilitation consulting practice I have worked on contract for the states Interstate Stream Commission, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the City of Santa Fe. Most recently, I served as a legislative analyst for the New Mexico Senate Education Committee (2014) and as House of Representatives analyst (2016).

Why are you running for county commission? What distinguishes you from your opponent?

DALTON: I have always enjoyed serving my community. What better way to serve than being elected to county commissioner. I support the direction the past commission has started for the county and I want to continue in that direction. The county has conducted one-on-one meetings with staff and commissioners, town hall meetings, study sessions, task forces, advisory committees and formal citizen surveys. Presently, there are over 40 boards. I believe in strong public participation.

MORENO: Prior to my government service and facilitation practice, I was a journalist for The New Mexican and later the Associated Press. As a government watchdog I observed examples of selfless public service, and of inappropriate use of power. I became a facilitator and mediator to help organizations use constructive dialog as a means to solve problems. I can put these skills to work helping guide county policies on water, land development, roads and transportation.

What is the biggest issue facing county government and how would you address it?

DALTON: I feel that our ground and surface water must be protected at all cost. Extending the areas already taking advantage of the service and making county water available beyond the points it is currently reaching should be explored. The drought is far from over and we should be planning for any water emergency which could hit at any time. Those water emergencies are classified as any negative impact which could affect the quality of our water.

MORENO: Although the budget affects all of the countys ability to meet its responsibilities, water is the most common concern among District 5. The Buckman Diversion Project needs an estimated $27 million to replace or repair. I believe it is urgent to prioritize the funding of the replacement. This situation cannot be eliminated without absolute cooperation between the city and county. I hope to serve on the Buckman board to serve as a county representative.

Do you support the countys living wage law that sets the required pay rate at $10.91 an hour now?

DALTON: I support the living wage ordinance.

MORENO: Yes. I support the countys living wage ordinance and would look toward raising it to $15.00 an hour.

District 2

Age: 61

EDUCATION: GED and training in governmental issues through the New Mexico Municipal League and the New Mexico Association of Counties

OCCUPATION: Self-employed woodworker; I also teach traditional woodworking to middle-school students

POLITICAL\GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Over 20 years of work on social and environmental issues, beginning with community organizing, 12 years as City Councilor, one term as county commissioner, current chair of the County Commission. Long-term member of several regional committees including Solid Waste Management, Regional Transit District and Buckman Direct Diversion Board. Member of the Board of Finance, Housing Authority, and Investment Committee.

Age: 67

EDUCATION: Bachelors of Fine Art and Master of Art Degree in Photography from University of New Mexico.

OCCUPATION: Small-business owner, Dakini Design & Consulting LLC. Photographer, designer, event planner, art director of Green Fire Times.

POLITICAL\GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: New Mexico State Board Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, chair, (2003-2006), member 2003-2009, appointed by Gov. Richardson; Parks & Open Space Advisory Commission, chair (2013-14), member 2007-2015, 2008 Park Bond Audit Task Force (2014), Bicycle Master Plan Advisory Group (2012); Concerned Citizen for Nuclear Safety, chair (1999-2004), Santa Fe River Commission (2015-present). Elected to the Democratic Party State Central Committee 2006-2016, elected Ward Chair, Santa Fe County.

Why are you running for County Commission? What distinguishes you from your opponents?

CHAVEZ: I have a long record of public service and extensive experience with county and regional issues. I am running for re-election to continue the work I have done in the last three years on roads, facilities and other infrastructure; economic development, especially the arts, media, and tourism; social justice; and public lands, water, recycling, and other environmental issues. I will continue to be responsive to all constituents from District 2 and the entire County.

HANSEN: As a Parks Commissioner, Santa Fe River Commissioner and community organizer, Ive been at the forefront of issues for years and have noticed a lack of responsive and accountable representation. As a small-business owner and 43-year resident, I understand the negative impacts a lack of funding and services have had on the area. Voters and community leaders are demanding new, active representation to address economic and development concerns, and threats to our land and water.

What is the biggest issue facing county government and how would you address it?

CHAVEZ: The state-mandated administration of county correctional facilities presents humanitarian, public safety and fiscal challenges. Appropriate therapeutic treatment for the approximately 50 percent of all inmates who suffer from mental illness/addiction will better their lives, improve community safety and might be more cost-efficient than the current system. I have worked with the New Mexico and National Associations of Counties on these issues and am convening a countywide Behavioral Health Summit in May to develop workable solutions.

HANSEN: Water is a major concern. The Buckman Direct Diversion Project has experienced major filter issues and the toxic chromium and perchlorate plumes threaten our scare resource. This coupled with issues surrounding the Aamodt settlement and water rights and adjudications of wells in the Pojoaque Basin requires real leadership to be addressed, as I have demonstrated over the years. We must do more to protect the water rights of county residents and traditional agricultural farming communities.

Do you support the county living wage law that sets the required pay rate at $10.91 an hour now?

CHAVEZ: I was a co-sponsor of the citys original Living Wage Ordinance and I was one of the co-sponsors of the Living Wage Ordinance in the county. I added the provision that even tipped employees in the County should be paid a Living Wage and that the base wage for tipped employees be higher than it is in the City. I would like to see this provision extended to all tipped employees in the state.

HANSEN: I was proud to have worked on efforts to pass the living wage at the city and county levels and continue to support the living wage being tied to the CPI. I believe we must go further to value our workers and encourage paid sick leave and family leave. With ongoing reports of workers not receiving the living wage within the City, the County needs to ensure our local businesses are following the ordinance.
Santa Fe County Commission candidate Anna Hansen says she has always felt destined to end up in New Mexico.

As a little girl living in Los Angeles, her family would often travel through the state on trips to visit relatives in Iowa. She remembers when she was 8 years old the family made a stop at Laguna Pueblo and she begged her mother to buy her a piece of pottery. I said to my Mom, Im moving to New Mexico when I grow up. Thats always stuck in the back of my mind, she said.

Sixteen years later, she did just that, moving in with a group of friends she met while attending college at University of California-Berkley. She spent the summer in Llano before coming to grips with the fact she needed to make a living. So she moved to Santa Fe.

Ive always been a designer, and Ive always worked for myself, said Hansen, who owns her own design and consulting business and also serves as art director for the Green Fire Times.

Her opponent in the District 2 race for county commission, incumbent Miguel Chavez, similarly felt destined to become a public servant.

In some families you see people who have always had a concern for community that went well beyond family. I think thats a big part of who I am, he said.

His boyhood memories include his father, who made a run for Santa Fe City Council in the early 1970s, and uncles sitting around talking about different topics and different people.

I didnt know it then, but they were talking politics. That probably led me to where Im at today, he said.

A self-employed woodworker and part-time middle school teacher, Chavez dedicated much of his life to being a community organizer. He later ran for City Council and won three consecutive terms before being squeezed out by redistricting.

That set me on the path Im on. Im actually better off now, said Chavez, who this year is serving as chairman of the County Commission. Ive been committed to dedicating a large portion of time to discuss and find solutions to community challenges, and Im dedicated to another four years of continuing that work.

The two Democrats face off in the June 7 primary. The winner faces no opposition in the fall general election.

Chavez, 61, said his focus is on what he calls soft infrastructure  things like community services for the elderly and those in crisis. That includes addressing the needs of those with behavioral health issues or who are addicted to drugs, especially those in the county jail.

Our jails are acting as de facto mental health facilities right now. We need to get a better handle on that, he said.

While she has always been politically active, Hansen, 67, is a latecomer as a politician. She ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2006, finishing second to current councilor Carmichael Dominguez.

She said helping care for her elderly mother prevented her from pursuing political office since then, though shes been active in the Democratic Party and served on numerous committees, including the citys Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission, the Bicycle Master Plan Advisory Group, the Santa Fe River Commission and others.

And Ive been a real progressive on environmental issues all my life, she said, noting her past involvement with Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety. Thats been my generations fight. It came on the planet with us.

Hansen leads fundraising

Hansen appears to have done a good job raising money for her campaign. According to campaign finance reports from May 9, the $12,990 she raised by that date ranked ninth among more than 170 county commission candidates across the state  Bernalillo County candidates taking up the top six spots.

Much of that money has come in relatively small doses of $100 or less. Her biggest contributors were the Plumbers and Steam Fitters union, retiree M.E. Latimore of Santa Fe, and physician Jonas Skardis, who each gave $500 apiece, and A.L. Swartzberg, another Santa Fe retiree, who gave $350.

Some familiar names contributing smaller amounts to her cause are city councilors Peter Ives and Joseph Maestas, Santa Fe school board president Susan Duncan, and former New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

Hansen had spent more than $7,609; about half ($3,882) of it went to Voter Research LLC, of Los Alamos.

Chavez had raised $6,075. His biggest contributors were Richard Barela and William Herrera, both of Santa Fe, who each gave $1,000, and Eleanor Chavez for Public Education Commission, which contributed $500.

His fellow incumbents on the County Commission, Robert Anaya and Kathy Holian, also pitched in for his campaign.

Chavez had spent about $1,500, the vast majority of it going to Alphagraphics of Santa Fe for yard signs.

The winner of the June 7 primary wins the District 2 seat for a four-year term, as there are no Republican challengers.
Santa Fe is a mecca and a destination for authentic art, a representative of the U.S. Department of Interior told a city government committee this week.

Its also one of the main destinations for fakes, she added.

Nina C. Alexander, a staffer with Interiors Indian Arts and Crafts Board, said she was overjoyed in December when Mayor Javier Gonzales proposed a plan to fight sales of fake Indian jewelry and bogus versions of other types of Native American arts and crafts.

But Alexander, along with a group of downtown merchants, told the advisory Business and Quality of Life Committee that Gonzales plan wont work.

The mayors measure would create a district in downtown Santa Fe, around the Plaza and Canyon Road, where stores and vendors would have to provide customers with specific information on who made purportedly authentic Indian items, the makers tribal affiliations and the materials that were used.

Its not going to solve the problem, said Craig Allen, an owner of the True West gallery on Lincoln Avenue. Anyone whos being disreputable can do these paper tags all day long.

The problem is the laws on the books arent being enforced, said Elizabeth Pettus of the Things Finer shop in La Fonda, referring to state and federal statutes on Native American art.

The committees Wednesday meeting was the first public hearing on Gonzales proposed ordinance. There was plenty of support for his goal of trying to guarantee the authenticity of items sold in Santa Fe as Indian-made.

Pettus, president of the Downtown Merchants Association and a board member for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts, which produces the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, said examples of the fakery include describing the stone in a piece of jewelry as white buffalo turquoise, which doesnt exist, or as lab-created opal, which is just plastic.

She said unscrupulous sellers will look into a customers face and say its authentic Native American. Alexander said manufactured items are sold as handmade, and artists are identified by Native American names that dont even exist.

But Alexander said a piece of paper wont guarantee authenticity. Alaska came up with a seal intended to certify that businesses or artists were dealing in real indigenous art, she said. But its just like the art, Alexander said. It can be copied.

She said a tag on an item is never going to tell the consumer or the collector anything about that piece that a good marketeer in the business or the artists themselves cant do a better job of. She said requiring information on a sellers relationship with a particular artist provides far greater support for authenticity than these labels.

Allen showed before-and-after photos of a display case full of Native American jewelry at True West, one without the identifying tags that the proposed ordinance seemed to suggest and the other with such tags attached to all of the pieces. The tagged display made for a cluttered presentation that was more tag than jewelry.

This is what youre going to turn display cases into, Allen said. In essence, youre turning a fine gallery like ours into like a pawn shop. Its not becoming to the galleries, its not becoming for our business and its not consumer-friendly for shoppers.

City staffers said the proposed rules will make it clear that individual tags are not required for every small item being sold as authentic Native American, such as a group of rings or displays of dozens of small earrings.

In a statement Thursday, Gonzales said, This is the legislative process at work. We welcome this kind of input and we are confident the bill will move forward stronger than ever when it comes back to (the committee).

This effort is important. We can and should act to protect the integrity of art in Santa Fe and the ability of our native artists to make a living from their craft. So we wont rest until we are successful.

City Councilor Signe Lindell, chair of the committee, on Wednesday pressed Alexander on why the public doesnt see enforcement of federal laws against selling fakes, such as raids on businesses in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Gallup that took place in October, more often than every couple of years. Why is it so difficult? Lindell asked.

Alexander said developing such cases can take several years and requires experts to detect fakes. She said shes willing to work with the city to help come up with enforcement ideas.

The proposed ordinance is fairly simple. As part of the annual business licensing process, stores or table vendors in the Native American Arts or Crafts District permitted to sell Indian items would provide certification that they will, at point of sale, clearly disclose in a statement that an item is authentic along with the name of the artist, the artists tribe and the materials used.

Such vendors would get a special city Native American arts or crafts vendor sticker that they would have to display at the business entrance.

There are also definitions for whos an Indian (enrolled tribe members or people who can meet the minimum qualifications for services offered by the United States government to Native Americans) and for authentic Native American arts or crafts (the items have to be handmade, cant be imported replicas from overseas/foreign countries and have to have been produced after 1935, on grounds that confirming an items provenance before that can be difficult).

John Dressman, of Dressmans Gifts on Lincoln, told the committee Wednesday that he believes the proposal will make the proliferation of selling fakes worse, by providing stickers from the city that tell customers that a seller is honest, but without enforcement to guarantee it.

The proposal was not conceived well, and it was fleshed out even worse, he told the Journal. He said peer organizations, such as the Downtown Merchants Association, can do a better job of requiring that retailers meet standards.

Debra Garcia y Griego, director of the city Arts Commission, noted in an interview earlier in the week that the proposed ordinance says policies and procedures will be developed to implement the requirements, and she said stakeholders such as businesses would be part of that process. It has to be reasonable for a business to comply, she said.

Enforcement would come broadly through the city Finance Department, which oversees business licenses, and code enforcement or land use personnel also could get involved.

Also, the city attorneys office could refer cases to the feds or the state Attorney Generals Office, Garcia y Griego said. There would also be efforts through the city tourism bureau and the use of rack cards to inform consumers about the ordinance and the authentication stickers that would be issued to businesses, so people understand what the sticker is about.

The Business and Quality of Life Committee, consisting of city councilors Lindell and Michael Harris and nine citizen appointees, decided Wednesday to postpone action at Harris suggestion for more work with merchants and other parties like SWAIA.

Dallin Maybee, COO of the Indian Market group, told the committee that SWAIA was ecstatic when Gonzales put forth a plan to authenticate Indian items but since then nobody talked to us.

Lindell voted for the postponement along with the rest of committee members present. She said afterward the idea behind the mayors effort was noble.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

After some students called it racist, the University of New Mexicos nearly half-a-century-old seal might be changed.

UNM President Bob Frank announced Friday morning that he and his staff have started discussions about creating a new image to replace the current seal that features a conquistador and frontiersman, figures some say are racist and glorify violent European treatment of Native Americans. Others say it represents Spains role in the founding of New Mexico.

Frank told the Board of Regents he met with some students to discuss the seal on Thursday.

It was a very educational experience for me, Frank said.

The announcement comes weeks after students staged protests about the seal. The largest protest took place last month outside Scholes Hall, home to the office of the president. They carried loud speakers and highlighter-yellow picket signs that said Abolish the racist seal.

Protest of the seal has been ongoing since the student group Kiva Club, a Native American student group, and the Red Nation, a Native American advocacy group, first raised their complaints about the seal earlier this year.

The protesters say its emblematic of deeper-seated racism at the university, and they also have a list of demands that includes increasing the number of Native Americans on faculty, the creation of a Native American cultural center and tuition waivers for members of federally recognized tribes.

University officials have already started talking to students about the seal, and on Thursday they hosted a sparsely attended public forum  during finals week.

Jozi de Leon, head of UNMs Division of Equity and Inclusion, said her staff would start discussions with groups such as staff and alumni who are available during the summer, and UNM will host a second public forum in August.

The university also emailed a survey earlier this month asking students to share their thoughts on the seal, then yanked it. De Leon said the site where the survey was hosted allowed students to take the survey multiple times.

Head of the Board of Regents Rob Doughty wrote an Op-Ed in the Journal in which he said it may be time to consider changing the seal.

A seal should be a core reflection of the universitys identity, and it is important that it be an accurate reflection of who we are now and for the foreseeable future, Doughty wrote. If one agrees with that idea, then the students who have raised the issue have a righteous claim because this seal seems to fail that test.

The current seal has been around since 1969, though its origins can be traced back to the 1910s.

Conversations at UNM have thus far been mostly focused on changing the seal, with most in favor.

But three members of the public offered a different view during the public forum portion of Fridays regents meeting. While they didnt say the seal should remain the same, two said they didnt believe the conquistadors had committed genocide against Native Americans. One person suggested that the seal retain the conquistador and frontiersman, while adding a Native American.

Ralph Arellanes, chairman of the Hispano Round Table of New Mexico, said removing the conquistador would be denying the role the Spanish played in colonizing New Mexico.

Modifying yes, removing is unacceptable, he said.

He suggested getting rid of the conquistadors sword, and maybe have him riding a horse.

Ultimately, its the Board of Regents decision to change or alter the seal.
The Albuquerque Police Departments bomb squad did not find any explosives in a rental truck after a disgruntled customer made a bomb threat Friday morning, according to a police spokesman.

APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said officers were called to the Penske Truck Rental at 1400 Candelaria NE around 9:30 a.m. because a customer, later identified as Ryan Purdue, 43, believed he had left some belongings in one of the trucks and got in argument with employees.

Purdue threatened to burn the business down and then said there was a bomb in the rental truck.

Police detained him and the bomb squad was called out to investigate. Candelaria was closed between the I-25 frontage road and Edith NE, and all businesses in that perimeter were evacuated as a precaution, Tixier said.

He said thats because if the truck was packed with explosives it could do significant damage.

These situations, nine times out of 10 they are hoaxes, Tixier said.

That appears to have been the case in this incident. Around 3 p.m. Tixier said no explosives were found in the truck, and the road was reopened.

Purdue was arrested on three misdemeanor warrants and may face charges related to the false bomb threat, Tixier said.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is seeking a temporary restraining order in state district court to prevent the federal government from releasing endangered Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico.

Basically we are asking the court to review our case and to halt any imminent releases by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Game and Fish spokesman Chris Chadwick. We asked them to not conduct any releases at this time and they refused. This is basically the only remedy we had left.

Despite state opposition, Fish and Wildlife released two captive-born Mexican wolf pups into a wild wolf den in Catron County last month as part of its ongoing effort to recover the endangered species in New Mexico and Arizona.

Last year, Game and Fish refused the Service permits to release wolves in the state, citing concerns with the federal governments management of the recovery program. The Service vowed to carry on with releases, citing its obligation under the Endangered Species Act to recover the species.

What recovery looks like has been a matter of debate.

In a recent court settlement with environmental groups, the Service agreed to develop a long-overdue recovery plan by 2017 that will define what recovery means in terms of wolf numbers and habitat.

The wild wolf population declined at last count to 97 wolves in New Mexico and Arizona, down from 110 the previous year, according to Fish and Wildlife.

In April, Game and Fish notified the Service it intended to sue in federal court over the wolf releases. The temporary restraining order being sought in the 7th Judicial District in is separate from that notice, Chadwick said.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

A North Carolina man pleaded guilty Friday to grabbing a Muslim womans hijab, a headcovering worn by observant Muslim women, last December during a Southwest flight to Albuquerque.

That action, accompanied by slurs aimed at her religion, led to Gill Parker Payne, 37, of Gastonia, N.C., admitting in U.S. District Court that he intentionally obstructed her in the free exercise of her religious beliefs. The criminal misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in custody and was prosecuted as a federal hate crime.

According to facts included in the document filed with U.S. Magistrate Judge Steve Yarbrough, Payne acknowledged standing up on a Southwest Airlines plane, still in flight, from Chicago to Albuquerque, walking up to the woman he did not know in an aisle seat ahead of him and saying something like, Take it off! This is America! then pulling off her head scarf, leaving her head exposed.

The woman, who felt violated, quickly grabbed the hijab and covered her head again. Payne also admitted that he knew it was part of the religious practice to wear the hijab.

A police report on the incident says Paynes words were less polite than is reflected in the written court filing. According to the report, Payne said, This is America! Take that (expletive) off!

U.S. Department of Justice attorney Fara Gold of the civil rights divisions criminal section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon Gerson negotiated the plea agreement with Paynes attorney Amber Fayerberg, calling for two months of home detention for Payne, to be completed by Jan. 1, 2017. The criminal information was filed in court at the conclusion of the hearing.

Albuquerque attorney Ahmad Assed, who helped inform the Justice Department of a possible hate crime, was in the courtroom Friday.

The U.S. Attorney General must approve any federal hate crime prosecution, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office.

No matter ones faith, all Americans are entitled to peacefully exercise their religious beliefs free from discrimination and violence, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who heads DOJs civil rights division. Using or threatening force against individuals because of their religion is an affront to the fundamental values of this nation.

Assad said the victim is Khawla Abdel-Haq, 48, a Palestinian-American who has lived in Albuquerque since the 1980s.

He said Abdel-Haq is seriously considering a civil lawsuit against Payne and Southwest.

According to Asseds office, Abdel-Haq was on her way back from her daughters wedding in Chicago on Dec. 11, 2015, when there was a commotion involving a medical episode that demanded flight attendants attention at the front of the plane.

That was when Payne got up from his seat and stood in the aisle for a few minutes, and during that time he noticed Abdel-Haq and stared at her for a minute or two before he began shouting.

After deplaning, Payne was not initially detained by a Southwest Airlines supervisor who met with Abdel-Haq until Abdel-Haq insisted that Aviation Police be called to make a report.

Once officers arrived, passengers who had observed what happened werent questioned, either, Asseds office said.

Aviation Police took a report but didnt file charges.

Payne was released from custody Friday on his own recognizance, pending formal sentencing, at which Abdel-Haq is expected to speak. A sentencing hearing hadnt been set.

The plea agreement includes a waiver of the right to an appeal.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  Reaching adulthood generally means you can purchase tobacco. That wont be possible soon in Cottonwood, Arizona.

The small northern Arizona has joined two states and about 140 local jurisdictions nationwide in raising the age to buy tobacco and vapor products from 18 to 21. Its the only city in Arizona to do so.

A group of students from Mingus Union High School in Cottonwood worked to draft the city ordinance that regulates products like smoking and chewing tobacco, cigars and electronic cigarettes. It goes into effect in June.

We listened to both sides of the issue, and we all agreed that we needed to place the health of our youth as a top priority, Cottonwood Mayor Diane Joens said.

Education classes will be offered to people under the age of 21 who are caught with tobacco or vapor products on the first offense. Retailers face a maximum $250 fine on the first offense and higher amounts for subsequent violations.

Its unclear whether the ordinance runs afoul of a state law that would cut shared revenue from municipalities and counties that pass regulations that conflict with state law. Mia Garcia, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals office, declined to speculate.

State Sen. Sylvia Allen, who represents Cottonwood, said it could violate the state law. She said the students from the Yavapai Anti-Tobacco Coalition of Youth have approached her about raising the age for tobacco purchases statewide, and shed support that move.

You need to have consistency across the state, she said.

Cottonwood City Manager Doug Bartosh said he doesnt anticipate any problems with the ordinance.

The students pick a policy issue to tackle each year. In 2015, they asked the City Council to ban smoking in a handful of Cottonwood parks. The city instead designated smoking areas.

The students have a strong idea of how legislation works, participate in compliance checks of tobacco retailers and attend leadership training, said Jen Mabery, the adult coordinator for the group.

She said the group shared personal stories with the Cottonwood City Council, including one from a students mother who started smoking at the age of 12 and quit recently in recognition of her daughters anti-tobacco efforts. The group stressed that the majority of lifetime smokers start before 18, presented facts about teen brain development and addressed concerns about loss of business, Mabery said.

They really did their background, she said.

The National Association of Tobacco Outlets Inc. and some retailers urged the council to reject the age change, saying retailers are not the problem. Rather, most teenagers get tobacco from social sources, the association said.

Data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration shows that minors were sold tobacco twice in nearly 40 compliance checks of Cottonwood retailers from May 2011 to January 2016.

Matt Nelson, who owns the only shop with vapor products in Cottonwood, said he sells mostly to people ages 25 through 45. He objected to the ordinance, saying anyone who can vote, live on their own and sign up for the military should be able to buy tobacco.

As far as taking away the option as an adult to choose what youre going to do, whether its good or bad, nobody can tell me that, he said.
Copyright  2016 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  The private contractor that runs Sandia National Laboratories got an outstanding overall performance rating in its annual federal evaluation released Friday, and the lab was awarded a $27.3 million fee, almost the full amount available based on performance.

But in the leadership category, Sandia Corp. was marked down considerably because of the results of a Department of Justice investigation and resulting monetary settlement over allegations of improper use of government funds for lobbying activities.

The allegations and subsequent settlement damaged the reputation of the Laboratory and the parent company, says the fiscal year 2015 evaluation released today by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

The allegations and subsequent settlement damaged the reputation of the Laboratory and the parent company, says the fiscal year 2015 evaluation released Friday by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Meanwhile, the managers of New Mexicos other national lab, at Los Alamos, got a much better evaluation than for the prior year, as its director had previously disclosed.

Still, the NNSAs evaluation confirmed that contractor Los Alamos National Security LLC lost $7.7 million in potential fees for an electrical explosion that severely burned a worker and a radiological release at a Nevada site that LANL is in charge of.

LANSs fee for FY2015 was set at $45 million, out of a potential $61.7 million if all performance goals had been met. The annual award fees paid to weapons complex contractors like Sandia Corp. and LANS come on top of their management contracts, now $2.9 billion for Sandia and $2.2 billion at Los Alamos.

The labs annual evaluations were published late this year. They are typically posted on the NNSA website in January following the close of the federal fiscal year Sept. 30. NNSA has not explained why the process took so long for FY2015.

Sandias performance for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 was outstanding, with several notable exceptions, according to the evaluation by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Sandia exceeded many expectations and performed outstanding work in managing the nuclear weapons mission, the report says. Sandia got very good ratings in that category and for operations and infrastructure. It received the higher excellent rating for its mission of reducing global nuclear security threats, performing Department of Energy programs and other projects related to national security, and in the science, technology and engineering category.

But the performance of Sandias leadership was rated only satisfactory.

This rating is based on the positive work of Sandia leadership in the majority of the performance objective, but largely degraded by the results of the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation and settlement based on allegations of improper use of government funds for lobbying activities, the NNSA report says. It states that Sandias leaders have implemented corrective measures, but did not overcome negative results of the DOJ investigation and settlement.

The lobbying controversy was over a 2014 report by DOEs Office of Inspector General that concluded that Lockheed Martin, Sandia Corp.s parent company, wrongfully used federal funds provided to Sandia for lab operations to lobby for a no-bid contract extension it received several years ago.

Sandia Corp. and Lockheed Martin subsequently paid a $4.8 million fine for using tax dollars to lobby Congress and federal agencies for renewal of the DOE contract in violation of federal law. A 2013 inspector generals report alleged Sandia had inappropriately paid former Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., about $226,000 in consulting fees to lobby for Sandia to take on new federal assignments. Sandia reimbursed the government more than $226,000 for fees paid to the consulting company run by Wilson.

The negative finding about the DOJ investigation didnt cost Sandia much in the evaluation released Friday.

Leadership represents only 10 percent of the overall determination of the at-risk, performance-based portion of Sandias annual fee. Sandias possible maximum award of $280,000 for leadership was cut by 50 percent to $140,000.

Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico reacted by saying in a statement that Lockheed Martin should be made to seriously pay for its lobbying crimes at Sandia and called the $140,000 fee deduction peanuts.

Sandia officials should have been prosecuted for blatantly illegal lobbying activities and Lockheed Martin barred from competing for Sandias new management contract because of its criminal history, he said

Sandia spokesman Jim Daneskiold said of the evaluation, Taken as a whole, it was a positive and fair assessment. Throughout the document, many of NNSAs comments recognize the sustained efforts and dedication of Sandia staff. He also said, NNSAs explanation of the rating on Leadership states explicitly that the agency is pleased with the positive work of Sandia leadership in the majority of the performance objective. 

Los Alamos evaluation

LANL director Charlie McMillan previously described his labs FY2015 evaluation in meetings with lab employees before NNSA released it. The evaluation is a vast improvement over the disastrous rating for FY2014, during which a waste drum improperly packed with a combustible mix at Los Alamos breached at the nations nuclear waste storage facility near Carlsbad.

The resulting radioactive contamination has kept the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant closed since the February 2014 leak. The feds cut the award fee for LANS for FY 2014 by nearly 90 percent, to $6.25 million. That compared with award fees of more than $59 million paid to the LANS consortium the previous two years.

In the latest evaluation, LANS  a consortium including Bechtel, the University of California, Babcock & Wilcox and URS Energy & Construction  was given initial ratings good enough to earn an award fee of $51.7 million out of a potential $61.7 million.

But NNSA contracting officer Robert Poole docked LANS another $7.7 million for two incidents. In what Poole described in a letter as a first-degree performance failure, a LANL worker suffered third- and fourth-degree burns over 30 percent of his body in an arc flash electrical explosion in May 2015. A less severe failure occurred in October 2014 at the Nevada National Security Site, when there was a significant radiological contamination event involving highly enriched uranium.

Lab contracts

Operating contracts for both of the New Mexico labs are being rebid soon. NNSA is expected to issue its final request for proposals for the Sandia contract within days, after first announcing in 2011 that it planned to open the contract to new bidders but then approving a series of extensions.

LANSs contract runs out at the end of the fiscal year that ends in September 2018. The consortium failed to get adequate evaluations to earn contract extensions in recent years and even lost an extension year because of its poor performance the year of the WIPP leak.
The farm-to-table movement now has a new iteration: farm to hospital.

Presbyterian Healthcare Services is seeking out business relationships with New Mexican farmers and ranchers, looking to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry products it can highlight in cafeterias, patient meals and catering.

Hospitals are an exciting new market for farms, said Vicki Pozzebon, of Prospera Partners, who announced Friday that her organization, the Hispanic-American Institute and Delicious New Mexico have entered into a contract to source locally grown and sustainably prepared food for some of the 3 million meals per year that Presbyterian serves.

The financial impact of the direct-sales relationship for the food producers has yet to be determined.

Presbyterian, the states largest hospital system and insurer, said the initiative is one way of keeping some of its purchasing dollars in the New Mexico market.

The Local and Sustainable Food Procurement Program is part of Presbyterians healthy eating priority, which is one aspect of a larger community health plan and aligns with the Healthy Food in Healthcare  a national initiative of Healthcare Without Harm.

Founded in 2005, Healthcare Without Harm works with hospitals across the country to improve the sustainability of their food services. The organization provides education, tools, resources and support to healthcare facilities, making the connection between the health of patients, staff and the community and the food they serve.

Presbyterian began the conversation around the healthy foods available in our hospitals in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in 2008, said Leigh Caswell, director of community health for Presbyterian Healthcare Services.

In 2015, we took the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge to demonstrate our commitment to first do no harm and to further encourage and support local vendors that produce healthy and sustainable food.

Pozzebon said the consortium partners are extremely proud to have their fresh-from-the-fields bounty served at major hospitals. Good nutrition is at the forefront of healing, said Pozzebon.

Nationwide, health care institutions spend $12 billion in the food and beverage sector each year, according to a survey of hospital food service directors. The vast majority of it is with large distributors, but hosptials are seeking out relationships with local growers in greater numbers, said Pozzebon, a local economy and food system consultant.
Thomson Reuters released a special report, What to Do If Your Client is a Victim of Tax-Related Identity Theft, providing guidance for tax professionals advising victims of ID theft.

Thomson Reuters cites a September 27, 2015 Bureau of Justice Statistics press release finding that 17.6 million U.S. residents age 16 or older were victims of at least one incident of identity theft in 2014, compared to 16.6 million in 2012. And according to a 2016 IRS report, more than 1.3 million taxpayers accounts had been targeted and 724,000 were fraudulently accessed for ID theft.

There is no doubt that tax-related identity theft will continue for the foreseeable future, stated Trenda Hackett, technical editor with the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters and author of the report. As your clients trusted advisor, knowing how to advise and navigate them through the resolution process is a great way to demonstrate value.

In addition to helping practitioners and taxpayers understand trends, tax fraud schemes and developments in identity theft, the report explains:

The warning signs of tax-related identity theft at filing and after filing tax returns.

Steps practitioners can take when their clients receive IRS letters 4464C, 5071C, 4883C or Notice CP01B alerting them to fraudulent returns filed on their behalf and requesting identity verification.

Steps practitioners can take when their clients receive letter 4491C explaining that someone used their social security number to obtain employment.

A list of what to do when a client suspects identity theft.

What clients need to do in relation to actions the IRS takes in resolving tax-related identity theft.

What contributes to the delays in resolving these thefts.

When to contact the Taxpayer Advocate Service.

How victims can request a copy of the fraudulent tax return.

The free report and supplemental client summary is available for download here.
The Department of Finance, Insurance, and Law atIllinois State Universitys College of Businessannounced last weekthe launch of their Institute for Financial Planning and Analysis, with professor of finance Edgar Norton named the Institute's director.

The big picture is partnering with the finance profession so our students benefit and our program benefits as well, Norton said in a statement. These partners can provide good advice as to what is going on in the real-world of finance.

Department of Finance, Insurance, and Law chair Gary Koppenhaver collaborated with Norton to create the Institute, hoping the facility will give both businesses and students alike a place to work with the University's faculty. Businesses can use our faculty as a resource to deal with the training, development, and research issues they face, Koppenhaver stated. The Institute is committed to building valued partnerships with the broader community served by Illinois State University and the College of Business.

Norton also added that he'd like to bring in guest speakers to campus to "learn about [the Institute's] programs and then maybe they would be willing to hire an intern or be available for a day of job shadowing so a student can learn what its like to be a corporate treasurer, financial planner, or investment analyst. Norton stated that he'd also like to make the Institute a source of continuing-education credit, namely CFP (Certified Financial Planner) and ChFC) Chartered Financial Consultant).

For more on Illinois State University, head to their site here.
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TheNew Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJCPA), with contributions fromBowman & Company, announced this week that the recipient of the Lisa A. Donahue Scholarship was Sarah Donahue, daughter of the award's namesake.

The Lisa A. Donahue Scholarship is given in honor of Mrs. Donahue, who passed away from cancer eight years ago and was recognized with the scholarship for her dedicated service to the CPA profession. She was previously a partner at Bowman & Company.

Sarah Donahue is currently attending Saint Josephs University in Pennsylvania - where her mother also attended - and will complete her undergrad degree in Accounting in May of 2017. Bowman & Company will also be welcoming Sarah for an internship this summer.

Bowman & Company represents the largest accounting and management consulting firm in Southern New Jersey. Established in 1939, the Firm specializes in providing audit, accounting, tax planning and preparation services, as well as employee benefit plan administration and management consulting services to commercial and non-profit clients.

For more on the NJCPA's scholarships, head to the Society'ssite here.
(Bloomberg View) In January, Donald Trump had this to say when he was asked about whether he would release his tax returns: I have very big returns, as you know, and I have everything all approved and very beautiful and well be working that over in the next period of time.

Yet he held off on releasing his returns. And on Tuesday night, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee seemed to close the door for good on the matter. He told the Associated Press that he wouldnt release his returns prior to the November elections unless what he described as an Internal Revenue Service audit of his finances was complete.

Theres nothing to learn from them, Trump said of his tax returns.

That prompted Mitt Romney to take Trump to task late Wednesday afternoon.

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, wrote the former GOP presidential nominee in a Facebook post. 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.

Trump then stepped up with a surprise of his own and reversed course again last night, telling Fox News that he would, indeed, release his taxes before the elections. Ill release. Hopefully before the election Ill release, he said. And Id like to release.

For anyone who had whiplash after all of this, Trump offered some comfort by reaffirming that whenever he might release his returns, there wouldnt be anything of value to be discovered there anyway.

You learn very little from a tax return, he told Fox News.

Actually, as someone who saw Trumps federal tax returns about a decade ago as part of a legal action in which he sued me for libel (the suit was later dismissed), I think there probably are some things to be learned from them.

The tax returns my lawyers and I reviewed were sealed, and a court order prevents me from speaking or writing about the specifics of what I saw. I can say that Trump routinely delayedfor months on endproducing those documents, and when they finally arrived they were so heavily redacted that they looked like crossword puzzles. The litigation ran on for five years, and during that time we had to petition the court to compel Trump to hand over unredacted versions of the tax returnswhich he ultimately did.

So despite Trumps statements to the contrary, here are some general questions that a full release of at least several years of his tax returns might usefully answer:

1) Income: Trump has made the size of his fortune a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, implying that its a measure of his success as a businessman. He has also correctly noted that the income shown on his tax returns isnt a reflection of his total wealth. Even so, income is a basis for assessing some of the foundations of any individuals wealthand would certainly reflect the financial wherewithal of the businesses in which Trump is involved.

After Fortunes Shawn Tully dug into Trumps financial disclosures with the Federal Election Commission and an accompanying personal balance sheet his campaign released, he noted in March that Trump appears to have overstated his income, by a lot, which could be the reason he has so far tried to avoid releasing his returns. Tully said that Trump apparently boosted his income in the documents by conflating his various businesses revenue with his personal income. Trump didnt respond to Tullys assessment, but he could clear up all of that by releasing his tax returns.

2) Business Activities: Trump has long claimed that his company, the Trump Organization, employs thousands of people. He has also criticized Fortune 500 companies for operating businesses overseas at the expense of jobs for U.S. workers. Trumps returns would show how active he and his businesses are globallyand would help substantiate the actual size and scope of his operation.

3) Charitable Giving: Trump has said that hes a generous benefactor to a variety of causesespecially war veteranseven though its been hard to find concrete evidence to support the assertion. Other examples of major philanthropic largess from Trump have also been elusive. Trump could release his tax returns and put the matter to rest.

4) Tax Planning: Theres been global attention focused on the issue of how politicians and the wealthy use tax havens and shell companies to possibly hide parts of their fortunes from authorities. If released, Trumps returns would make clear whether or not he used such vehicles.

5) Transparency and Accountability: Trump is seeking the most powerful office in the world. Some of the potential conflicts of interest or financial pressures that may arise if he reaches the White House would get an early airing in a release of his tax returns.

For the last 40 years, presidential candidates have released their returns. Trump, of course, has portrayed himself as the un-candidate, the guy who bucks convention. But disclosing tax returns is a valuable political tradition thats well worth preserving.
(Bloomberg) Former billionaire Sam Wyly may have been hoping for a better outcome on his home turf as a Texas judge weighed tax-evasion claims related to the fraud trial he lost in New York two years ago. He didnt get it.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Houser in Dallas roundly rejected the 81-year-old entrepreneurs argument that he was simply following orders from his own employees when he set up a web of offshore funds that hid his assets, allowing him to make hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal profits.

The court does not believe that the law permits Sam to hide behind others and claim not to have known what was going on around him, Houser said Tuesday in her 459-page ruling.

The decision is the latest blow to Wyly, once a fixture in Texas high society, in a string of legal battles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Internal Revenue Service that threatens to wipe out the fortune he amassed over a lifetime building companies including the arts-and-craft chain Michaels Stores Inc. and Sterling Software Inc.

The IRS was seeking $1.4 billion from Sam Wyly and $834 million from his sister-in-law, with penalties and interest accounting for 80 percent of the totals, the government said in court papers filed Jan. 25. But instead of deciding on those claims as requested, Houser on Tuesday gave the parties 30 days to confer and submit agreed amounts on the claims to the court. Failing an agreement, each side is to submit its own proposal, Houser said.

Estate Lawyer

Faced with Tuesdays ruling, the Wylys will probably have to strike a deal with the IRS and pay a significant amount of tax to resolve the case, according to Laura Zwicker, who chairs the private-client services group at the law firm Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger LLP in Los Angeles.

For the tax planning community generally, its really a wake-up call and a further indication that the U.S. courts are not going to allow abusive tax planning to take place, said Zwicker, who isnt involved in the case.

The IRS argued it was the victim of a vast fraud revealed in a 2010 SEC suit against Sam and Charles Wyly, brothers and longtime business partners. Charles died in a car crash in 2011, leaving his widow, Caroline Dee Wyly, caught in the fallout of the litigation.

Hidden Holdings

In 2014, a federal jury in Manhattan found the brothers had used a web of offshore trusts for 13 years to hide stock holdings and evade trading limits, allowing them to rake in $550 million in illegal profit. The verdict quickly triggered bankruptcy filings by Sam Wyly and his sister-in-law. And then the IRS fight began.

Houser held a two-week trial in January in Dallas to determine whether the Wylys defrauded the IRS. The proceeding shed light on the assets and lifestyles of the extended Wyly family, including their Dallas mansions, expansive ranch properties in the mountains of Colorado and rare artwork.

The IRS argued many of the luxuries were purchased by offshore trusts and loaned to the family to avoid taxes, and that property was gifted to children for the same purpose.

Lawyers and Accountants

Sam Wyly said he had relied on lawyers and accountants to set up the offshore trusts and knew few details about how they operated. During the trial, his lawyers called the arrangement aggressive but not illegal. Dee Wyly testified that she entrusted financial matters to her husband and signed tax returns and other documents without reading them, an argument that Houser largely accepted in her ruling Tuesday.

But the judge had little patience for Sam Wylys defense.

To accept the Wylys explanation requires the court to be satisfied that it is appropriate for extraordinarily wealthy individuals to hire middlemen to do their bidding in order to insulate themselves from wrongdoing so that, when the fraud is ultimately exposed, they have plausible deniability, Houser said in the ruling.

The judge, however, found that Dee Wyly hadnt participated in any fraud.

There is simply no persuasive evidence in the record that Dee understood how these very complicated estate planning transactions worked, Houser said. Dee did not have the educational background or sophistication in business and tax matters to know if her tax returns contained any understatements of income.

Mixed Reactions

Stewart Thomas, general counsel for the Wylys, said they were pleased with the ruling on Dee, as well as the courts rejection of an IRS gift-tax claim, but they are surprised and disagree with the courts fraud finding as to Sam and his brother Charles.

The case is In re Samuel Evans Wyly, 14-35043, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas).
(Bloomberg) The global fight against corruption should focus on major jurisdictions rather than bullying small territories, the heads of government of two tax havens told world leaders.

Addressing an anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday, Allan Bell, chief minister of the Isle of Man, and Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin called on the U.S. and other big countries to lead the way in legislating to open up company registers to the public.

When Mr. Obama took over he attacked a single building in Cayman for having 19,000 companies registered there. There is one building in Delaware which has 285,000 companies registered in that one building and they dont know the beneficial owners of any of them, Bell said. Thats 10 times the total number of companies we have in the Isle of Man and we know the beneficial owners of all of them.

Nations represented at the summit, including the U.S., China, Russia, Afghanistan and India, pledged to expose, pursue and punish corruption by companies, government officials and individuals. Tax havens, many of which were exposed in papers leaked from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca last month, were singled out at the meeting for hiding the identities of owners of assets.

No Harbor

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the international community must unite against corruption to choke off funds for extremism and promote the rule of law.

We have to say no safe harbor anywhere, we need to get the global community together and have no impunity for corruption, Kerry said at the summits opening session. Its the beginning of something that can help us in the battle against extremism, help us in the battle for strengthening commitment to the rule of law.

But the Isle of Man and Cayman, which are both U.K. territories, pushed back at the U.S., saying that without truly global action any agreement at the summit would be meaningless. In doing so, they echoed U.K. Prime Minister David Camerons comments to lawmakers on Wednesday when he pointed out that, while he wanted U.K. territories to go further in opening up their registers, they are more transparent than many jurisdictions in the U.S.

Gold Standard

If those countries with real political clout on the world stage continue to focus only on jurisdictions that are smaller in size, while ignoring obvious jurisdictions that ought to be part of the conversation, the result will be continued failure, McLaughlin told delegates. To seriously tackle corruption and not just pay lip service to it we in this room must be committed to a standard that is truly global and to put behind us the shades of hypocrisy which are part and parcel of the global discussion of this issue for years and years.

Cameron, who called the summit last year, underlined the scale of the task.

This is going to be a journey, he said in remarks closing the summit. The gold standard is public registers. What Ill push for as long as theres breath in my body is for everybody to do it, not just picking on small islands. Id like to see the United States, China, everybody do it.

London Property

So far both the Cayman Islands and Isle of Man have joined other U.K. dependencies in resisting pressure from Cameron to set up public records of beneficial owners of companies registered there. They agreed to share information with the U.K. on beneficial owners but refused to make the information public.

Cameron is seeking to put corruption at the top of the agenda for multinational bodies including the Group of Seven industrialized countries and the United Nations. Representatives of 50 countries were at the summit and leaders from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and pressure groups joined discussions, which were held in public and broadcast over the Internet.

There were plenary sessions on exposing and tackling graft and one specifically focused on corruption in sport. Cameron, who has legislated to try to slow the amount of money being laundered through expensive homes in London, was keen to stress it is not only a problem for the developing world.

There is no government that is entirely free from corruption, there is no country that is entirely free from corruption, he told the summit. We know theres more that needs to be done.

Afghanistan, France, Kenya, the Netherlands and Nigeria told the summit they will set up public registers of company ownership while Australia, Georgia, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway committed to exploring doing so.
(Bloomberg) If Donald Trump refuses to release his tax returns before November, it would be disqualifying to the presumptive Republican presidential nominees election bid, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said.

Trump doesnt expect to release his tax returns before November, citing an ongoing audit of his finances, according to an Associated Press report. It said he indicated he will release them after the Internal Revenue Service completes the audit.

Theres nothing to learn from them, Trump said, according to the published report.

The billionaire businessman later sought to clarify his remarks, but not before Romney renewed his criticism of Trumps fitness for the presidency.

Trump on Twitter

Trump said in a Twitter post Thursday afternoon: 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! A campaign spokesman didnt respond to requests for comment. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who supports Trump, told reporters Thursday that if those audits are complete prior to Election Day, hell release his returns. If theyre not, he wont.

If Trump doesnt release any returns before the Nov. 8 election, thered be an unprecedented level of secrecy surrounding his personal finances, said tax historian Joseph Thorndike, the director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts, a trade publication.

Every major-party nominee since Jimmy Carter has released at least a single return, and often quite a few more, Thorndike said. Former President Gerald Ford released only a summary, not a full return, but every candidate has done so since.

Trump first said in February that he was being audited by the IRS, and wouldnt release any returns until the audit is over. For many years, Ive been audited every year, he said during a Feb. 25 Republican debate in Houston. Twelve years or something like that.

But IRS officials have said theres no reason an individual cant release his or her returnseven during an audit. Thorndike said theres a precedent for doing so: President Richard Nixon disclosed his return while he was being audited in 1973.

Nixons Returns

Nixon released his returns because he was under audit, said Thorndike, a visiting scholar in history at the University of Virginia. Presidential candidates dont live by the same standards as everyone elsethey agree to disclose a lot to voters. This is required by tradition. Theres no good explanation for him not to release his returns.

Romney, who released two years worth of his tax returns during his 2012 presidential campaign, in March called Trump a phony, a fraud, and speculated that his tax returns must contain a bombshell. He repeated that theme on Thursday on Facebook, saying, We can only assume its a bombshell of unusual size.

Trumps statements about whether hed release tax returns have shifted over time. Last October, he said on ABCs This Week that he would release his returns when we find out the true story on Hillarys e-mails. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Hillary Clintons use of private e-mail during her term as secretary of state, but hasnt set a deadline for the investigation.

In response to a question in October about his effective tax rate, Trump said: "Im not going to say it, but at some point, Im going to release it. But I pay as little as possible, Im very proud to tell you.

Very Big Returns

Then in January, Trump said on NBCs Meet the Press that he was preparing to release returns. Were working on that now, he said. I have very big returns, as you know, and I have everything all approved and very beautiful and well be working that over in the next period of time.

Of the Democratic Party presidential candidates, Clinton, the front-runner, has posted returns from the past eight years on her website, and decades of returns for her and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, are available online. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also seeking the Democratic nomination, has released only his 2014 tax return.

Clinton said during a campaign event in New Jersey Thursday that she plans to make Trumps tax returns an issue in the general-election campaign. Christie called it ironic that Hillary Clinton is talking about transparency to anyone, given that she has her own e-mail server that she used constantly and had her colleagues in the State Department use in order to avoid public-record requests.
The question we get asked the most often is, so if youre the London International Awards, why do you hold it in Las Vegas? says LIA Event Coordinator Laurissa Levy with a smile.

Its a bit of a head scratcher for many people, to be fair. In 2009, London International Awards founder Barbara Levy decided to ditch the virtual juries and headed to Sin City, landing on the opulent Wynn/Encore hotel. The plan was to bring the worlds top ad folk together to judge.

But why Las Vegas?

Well, the truth is, youll have to ask Innoceans Global CCO, Jeremy Craigen. In 2008, he met Barbara in Singapore while judging the World Press Awards, which Barbara started with Neil French.

At dinner, Jeremy was having a conversation with Neil about the numerous award shows hed been asked to judge. Hed turned down numerous shows, one of which was LIA, summed up in one word from Jeremy as shit. At that point, Neil said to Jeremy, Why dont you just tell that to Barbara directly? Shes sitting across from you. And of course, Jeremy did just that.

I did say that admits Jeremy. I had had a few Singapore slings by that point.

Barbara adds that the group then moved over to the lounge bar at Raffles Hotel, where she and Jeremy sat down on a couch to start what has become a long-time relationship. With his head in her lap, Jeremy once again told Barbara how he felt about LIA, describing it with an equally flattering crappy.

Unperturbed, Barbara told him it was her ambition to elevate LIA to a top-tier show and that she had her eye on Jeremy as the first Jury President for the two separate competitions of Print and Outdoor, the latter of which has since morphed into Non-Traditional.

Jeremy agreed. On one condition. I was like, I know Ill do it if you hold it in Vegas.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Barbara flew straight to Nevada with the LIA team. We literally went from hotel to hotel, and we ended up at the Wynn, as it was the only hotel with outside convention space. I got on the phone and I called Jeremy and said, mark these dates in your calendar. He said, I told you already, Im not judging your stupid show. No, I told him, you said you would judge in Las Vegas.

She is amazing, marvels Jeremy. She phoned me up a week later  shed flown out to Las Vegas and been to the Wynn. She said, Ive booked it, are you coming? And I had to stay true to my word! No other show would do that.

Barbara adds that LIA was planning on going to Vegas for one year and then returning back to its old format. However, Jeremy and the inaugural Las Vegas Jury Panel were so impressed with the Vegas setup that they demanded we stay.

In 2012, LIA scrapped its London awards show in favour of a new educational initiative. Each year, networks are invited to send their rising stars to the Creative LIAisons event, which runs concurrently with the judging. Young creatives attend talks and workshops from global CCOs and influencers, and even get to witness the jury deliberations, observing the experts as they dissect the work. Its an unrivalled experience that is all paid for by LIA. (The condition is that they must attend every session or pay back the full fee.)

With an irresistible location and commitment to nurturing young talent, LIA now boasts some of the finest judges in the world and a growing army of staunch supporters.

How amazing is that? says Jeremy. They realised that they did a couple of shows in London that werent, to be honest, great. They said, why are we doing the show? Lets take that money and fly over 80 young creatives from around the world and let them sit in on conversations. We then all had the idea to let them sit in on the jury discussions at the end, which they all think is the best thing. And it is. Because you realise that were not just advertising people who just want to have a laugh. We are absolutely torturing each piece of work.

So, thats how a spontaneous quip changed the landscape of LIA  and radically overhauled the brand. And that sense of spontaneity seeps into everything the privately owned business does. Not beholden to a Board, theyre able to quickly adapt and act on suggestions of world-leading creatives like Jeremy, Mark Tutssel, Khai Tham Meng, Amir Kassaei, Rob Reilly and many more. Time and time again, adds Barbara, jurors and entrants comment on how the show is professional, but that everyone feels like part of a family.

In 2011, Morgan Spurlock entered his film Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. The jury didnt know what to do with it, says Barbara. Chloe Gottlieb of R/GA, who was on The NEW jury, said, Wed like to give a special award for this, so can you ask your Board? Barbara walked outside, returned in less than ten seconds, and said, The Board has given their approval. And so the film was given a special White statue in recognition of its unique and profound analysis of the ad industry and product placement.

Over the past four years, LIA has transformed into a highly influential event and has boosted the careers of many young talents  several of the past attendees of Creative LIAisons have risen through the ranks so quickly that they are now on the LIA Juries. A few of them actually attributed their success to what they took away from the Creative LIAisons program.

A lot has changed. But some things, says Barbara, havent. Oh and by the way, we never got rid of Jeremy.

This article first appeared on Little Black Book.



The LIA 2016 Entry System is now accepting entries. The initial Entry Deadline is 10th. Judging will take place in Las Vegas from 6th October to 14th October. The shortlists will be announced as each judging session concludes, with Winners being announced 8th November.
In order to give a big impetus to content in Network18, Santosh Menon has been brought on board as Chief Content Officer. Till recently, Menon was Deputy Executive Editor of The Economic Times and headed the news operations of the paper, while also seeding a Digital First culture in the paper.

Menon will work closely with Manish Maheshwari, CEO of Network18s Digital Properties.

Prior to joining The Economic Times in 2008, Menon was with Reuters News in London in a variety of writing roles that took him to various parts of Europe. He also worked in Reuters for more than a decade in its Mumbai, Delhi and London newsrooms in various capacities.
YES BANK has won multiple awards at The Asian Banker Bankers Choice and Asian Banker Transaction Banking Awards 2016 programme held in Vietnam

 Best Corporate Payment Project in India 2016  YES BANK Snapdeal API Banking solution  The Asian Banker Bankers Choice Awards 2016

 Best Trade Finance Bank in India  The Asian Banker Transaction Banking Awards 2016 (2 nd year in a row)

YES BANK implemented a customized API Banking corporate payment solution for Snapdeal which was recognized as the Best Corporate Payment Project in India. YES BANK is the 1st Bank in India to have implemented API Banking solutions and helped Snapdeal reduce Customer Refunds timelines and enabling Instant Refunds (80% within 30 mins and close to 100% in an hour). The award recognizes YES BANKs ability to use the financial supply chain to add value to partners in the upstream and downstream activities of their businesses and also responding to changing needs of its customers. The Asian Banker also acknowledged the transformational change that YES BANK and Snapdeal are bringing out in their respective industries by leveraging this innovative banking solution. YES BANK had won award in this segment last year as well for its innovative solution to facilitate farmer payouts for HATSUN Agro Product Ltd.

YES BANKs victory as Best Trade Finance Bank in India was its 2nd successive victory at the Transaction Banking Awards. This demonstrates the Banks impressive and sustained progress in offering customized Trade Finance & Service solutions complimented by prudent Risk Management and regulatory compliance, best in class supply chain practices, innovative and differentiated services & solutions to our customers. The Asian Banker Transaction Banking Awards is the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent annual awards programme recognising leadership in the cash management, trade finance and payments industries amongst international financial institutions in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

Speaking about the awards, Mr. Asit Oberoi, Group President & Global Head, Transaction Banking Group, YES BANK said YES BANKers are pleased to receive these prestigious recognitions from The Asian Banker magazine. API Banking is revolutionizing B2B Digitized Banking and YES BANK is proud to be at the forefront of such innovations along with its partners like Snapdeal. This is also the 2nd successive year where YES BANK has been recognized as the Best Trade Finance Bank in India which is a testimony to our expertise in this space. The multiple awards reinforce YES BANKs leadership in the Transaction Banking and Payments domain which is backed by innovation, technology and robust risk management frameworks.

Speaking about the award, Anup Vikal, Chief Financial Officer, Snapdeal, said, Snapdeal is building an ecosystem that powers billions of digital commerce transactions. Refunds form a crucial part of customer experience. With YES Bank's customized API banking corporate payment solution we were able to introduce a truly game-changing service that provides our customers the most seamless and fastest refund facility resulting in a superior customer experience.

The Asian Banker Awards are widely acknowledged by the financial services industry as the highest possible accolade available to professionals and banks in the industry as recognized in the Asia Pacific region. A stringent three-month evaluation process based on a balanced and transparent scorecard had been used to determine the winners.
Raptors complete successful European deployment

Twelve F-22 Raptors from the 95th Fighter Squadron and about 220 Airmen from Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, completed on May 8 a month-long deployment to Royal Air Force Lakenheath.



This historic deployment was the largest Raptor deployment in Europe to date and is part of their Global Response Force training.



"The F-22 deployment to RAF Lakenheath makes perfect sense," said Col. Robert Novotny, the 48th Fighter Wing commander. "Lakenheath is the home (to) combat fighter aviation in Europe; it's the place where we work with our NATO allies to sharpen our tactical skills and reaffirm to our commitment to the alliance."



During the deployment, the F-22s participated in exercise Iron Hand 16-3, conducted air training with all three RAF Lakenheath fighter squadrons and RAF Typhoons. The Raptors also forward deployed to Romania and Lithuania, both NATO countries, and participated in the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Lafayette Escadrille in Paris.



"Deploying Raptors here and integrating with our efforts in these areas has been a phenomenal success," Novotny said. "During their deployment, we were able to integrate seamlessly into some of the largest fighter exercises in Europe."



According to 1st Lt. Jolly Foss, a 95th FS Raptor pilot, training with the Typhoons was one of the main objectives for deploying to the U.K.



"There's different capabilities here, different airspace that we don't have access to back home and being able to integrate with the three F-15 Eagle squadrons and with the Typhoons has allowed us to go through our exercise objectives," Foss said.



Foss explained the different type of training sorties while deployed to the U.K.



"We had some long sorties, where you send anywhere between 10-12 jets on the blue side against 10 aircraft on the red side; tactical sorties, where we look into destroying targets on the ground; and strictly defensive counter air, which is keeping the enemy from approaching that line," Foss continued.



The F-22 is the Air Force's newest fully operational fifth-generation fighter aircraft. Its combination of stealth, maneuverability, integrated avionics and multirole capability enhances its warfighting capabilities.



"Sending the Raptors into Low Fly Area 7 (Mach Loop in Wales) was an opportunity for their low-altitude qualified pilots to see firsthand the amazing training opportunities we have in the United Kingdom. The training ranges and low flying airspace here are some of the best in the world," Novotny said.



The F-22s forward deployed to Eastern Europe to maximize training opportunities and demonstrate the United States commitment to NATO allies.



"The intent of the exercise was to show the capabilities of 'rapid Raptors' by taking two F-22s to Lithuania and Romania, along with our support assets on a tanker, and being able to go anywhere in the world with very little coordination and notice," Foss said.



According to Novotny, many lessons were learned that will ensure faster, simple and if necessary more lethal deployments in the future.
Carter shares commitments that guide him with Academy cadets





WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Defense Secretary Ash Carter shared four commitments that guide him and asked cadets of the U.S. Air Force Academy on May 12 to adapt them to their circumstances.



Carter spoke to about half of the cadets who attend the Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.



The first commitment, the secretary said, is to ground all of your training, all of your thinking and all of your actions in our core mission of the Department of Defense.



Our primary mission will always be protecting our people and serving our nations interests, he told the cadets.



From the White House Situation Room to flightlines around the world, defending American interests is what matters most, Carter said. Some regions of the world are exceedingly messy, but were not daunted or confused, because we have our North Star, he added.



Leading other nations, people



Protecting American interests often means leading other nations and other people, the secretary said. Ever since World War II, the United States has stood as the worlds foremost leader, partner and underwriter of stability and security in every region of the world, he said. It is a mantle we embraced again after the Cold War, and one that continues today to the great benefit of this nation, but also the rest of the world.



The positive and enduring partnerships the United States has cultivated with other nations around the world are built on American interests, but rest on American values -- which most find decent, honorable and attractive, Carter said.



The Air Force provides the United States unprecedented global power and global reach, the secretary told the cadets, and these capabilities, when applied consistent with American values, are of great benefit to the nation.



When a natural disaster occurs on the other side of the world  it is often the United States Air Force who is first on the scene to deliver aid and demonstrate our values to the world, he said. I can tell you that really creates an impression.



When targeting enemies, America does all it can to protect innocent life, Carter said. When we do that, he added, we demonstrate our values to the world.



Keeping people in mind



The next commitment is to remember it is people who make the American military the finest fighting force in the world, Carter said. And it is our people who will ensure that the force of tomorrow, which you will command, remains as great as the force of today, he said.



The secretary said this is why he is pushing for new ways to recruit and retain the best and why the United States military seeks to be inclusive.



From the first classes of female cadets, including Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey and your own superintendent, Lt. Gen. (Michelle) Johnson, to the first female combat pilots, including my former assistant, Brig. Gen. Jeannie Leavitt, to Gen. Lori Robinson, who tomorrow will become the first woman to lead a combatant command, the Air Force has proven time and again that we are strongest when we draw from the strength of our entire nation, he said.



Finding solutions



The third commitment is to remember that our nations defense rests on being able to find solutions to seemingly intractable problems, Carter told the cadets, noting that they will face unexpected challenges and life-or-death decisions.



Have the courage to accept risk to solve those problems and the wisdom to determine when a risk becomes a gamble, the secretary said. You are responsible for the lives of your people and the accomplishment of your mission. Balancing these two solemn duties one of the most difficult tasks you will face, but youve got to succeed. That is the burden of command.



As missions progress, Carter told the cadets, they must constantly re-evaluate the situation. To chart a new course, he added, you must have the confidence to be open to new ideas.



This should be a lesson for our enemies: never underestimate the ingenuity of our officers, he said. We need to maintain that advantage forever.



Character, resolve



Finally, the secretary discussed character. He noted that the halls of the Pentagon have portraits of many Airmen who were held as prisoners of war in North Vietnam. They serve as reminders of the character and resolve at the core of our mission, he said.



Throughout their careers, Carter said, the cadets must constantly learn -- and teach -- character. Youll find the words of George Washington you memorized as a fourth class cadet: Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that make the officer, and that there is more expected from him than his title, Carter said. That will have new and greater meaning as you go on.



We are a great nation, with great responsibilities, he continued. As we meet these responsibilities, our nation stands on the foundation of character that both you and this institution make stronger and send forth into the world. As you embark on your career and lives of service, know that our nation is 100 percent behind you. Im a thousand percent behind you, and I am so proud of you.
Ramstein airlift squadron kicks off exercise in Romania

The 37th Airlift Squadron from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, kicked off exercise Carpathian Summer 2016 on May 9 at Otopeni AB.



The 11-day, off-station training is a bilateral exercise to enhance interoperability and readiness with Romania by conducting combined air operations.



According to 1st Lt. Mark Alpert, the 37th AS executive officer, the exercise demonstrates the U.S. commitment and close cooperation with NATO partners.



We have a lot to learn from each other, Alpert said. We have a great relationship with the Romanians and have been working with them since 1996. Its been beneficial for both of our armed forces.



About 80 personnel from the 37th AS and three C-130J Super Hercules are participating in the exercise.



Airmen will be improving their training in areas such as high-quality threats, unimproved-landing zone qualifications and more.



According to Airman 1st Class Daniel Ehrsam, a 86th Operations Support Squadron weather forecaster, the opportunities gained through the exercise are invaluable.



Ive had an amazing time so far, Ehrsam said. Its been an interesting process working in a different environment than usual. I think Ive learned more about my job here and Im excited to bring this experience with me back to Ramstein.
The Air Force chief of staff published his 2016 professional reading list May 13.This years reading list addresses every Airman on our total force team, said Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. The profession of arms, Air Force heritage, and developing Airmen are topics that apply to all of us.This years list contains books, TED Talks, a film, work from Air Force photojournalists, journals, and, for the first time, military-themed blogs.One of this years books recommended by Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James A. Cody, At All Costs, was written by Air Force reservist Chief Master Sgt. Matt Proietti.Im delighted the book was included in the reading list because it means more people will hear about Chief (Master Sgt. Richard) Etchbergers life, Proietti said. He was a remarkable GI, one worthy of emulation well before he performed heroic actions at the end of his life.A TED Talk on this years list, given by cultural innovator Verna Myers, is a compelling presentation about unconscious bias."With thoughtful leadership, General Welsh has put together a powerful list of diverse content that will challenge each Airman to expand her or his worldview, Myers said. With this valuable information, Airmen will be equipped to break down stereotypes, to understand the life experience of people different from themselves, and to foster a more inclusive, fair and high-performing Air Force. I'm honored to be part of this important list."Print selections of the books will be arriving in base libraries in the coming weeks, but Airmen can find many of the works available electronically through Air Force Libraries OverDrive system.The complete 2016 reading list can be found here
He has made a loose statement without reading true vedas says Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti expressed its displeasure over the statements made by Adi Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Group mentioning that beef ban is impacting the Indian economy. Activists of the outfit are also irked with Godrejs remark In Vedic era, Hindus used to eat beef and said that he lacks knowledge about Vedas. According to them, Hindus consider cow as a mother and is deeply respected. They regard cow as a caretaker and people are dependent on it for dairy products and tilling fields. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has warned that Adi Godrej should retract his statements, which he made purposely to hurt the religious statements of Hindus, failing which Samiti will have to teach him a lesson in legal ways by boycotting the products of Godrej group of industries.

Ramesh Shinde, National Spokesman, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti said, Adi Godrej, while using his anglicised intellect in supporting beef-eating has made a loose statement. He appears to have made such statement without reading true Vedas. Apart from strongly protesting the consumption of beef at many places in Vedas, they have stipulated a very stringent punishment for cow slaughter.

How Adi Godrej, who only thinks from the perceptive of profit is supposed to realise the importance of a cow? Even if one were to forget what was mentioned about cow slaughter in Vedas for a moment, and had Godrej read Parsi scriptures, he would not have dared to make such statements. Parsi priests, in Avesta, yasna, 38.3 have banned the consumption of meat of cow, bullock and calves. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti strongly protests the statements made by Adi Godrej, he added.

There is a reference in Hathyogpradipika (3.48)          which means When meditating by folding your tongue (The word Go is referred in the meaning of tongue, and not as cow) and touching it to palate, is like eating beef, and it absolves of all sins. However, selfish, rich people find no time to comprehend the difference between apparent meaning and hidden meaning. Thats why, they are quoting wrong meaning of Vedas. In Atharvaveda (1.16.4), it is categorically stated that those indulging in cow slaughter should be punished with death. It is a misfortune of our nation that the people like Adi Godrej do not know that to comprehend the saying in scriptures, one has to perform sadhana (Spiritual practice).

Adi Godrej is making such statements to increase the profit of the industrialists engaged in the trade of beef and alcohol. Mr. Godrej, who is worried about the industrialist in the nation, has maintained a studied silence about Vijay Mallya, an emperor in alcohol production industry, about defaulting on bank loans to the tune of Rs. 9,000 crore. Hindu culture does not teach us to sell our mother or eat her meat by slaughtering her, said Shinde.

Adi Godrej is the first leading voice from India Inc to speak out against beef ban and prohibition and point out its adverse impact on the economy. His warning comes at a time when the government at the Centre is set to complete two years in office, and several states seek to strictly implement beef ban and push for prohibition close to assembly elections.
Belgium will extend its F-16 air strikes against Islamic State terrorists in Iraq into Syria, the government said Friday, as it grapples with the fallout from deadly IS-claimed bomb attacks in Brussels in March.

In accordance with UN Resolution 2249, the engagement will be limited to those areas of Syria under the control of IS and other terrorist groups, a spokesman for Prime Minister Charles Michel said after a cabinet meeting.
The National Investigation Agency on Friday dropped the names of Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur and four others as accused in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case, in its charge sheet filed before a Special Court.

During investigation, sufficient evidences have not been found against Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet that the prosecution against them is not maintainable.

In its chargesheet filed t, the NIA is expected to comment on the investigation by the ATS, which alleged that Lt Col Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya had met Swami Aseemanand , the main accused in the Samjhauta Express blast of 2007, and plotted the Malegaon blasts.

The NIA move will strengthen opposition parties, who repeatedly accuse the NDA government of going slow in cases where Hindu terror suspects are involved.

The central government wanted to save Malegaon (blast case) accused as they have connections with them, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said.

Even Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) wants to save the people involved in terror activities.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegations, saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. We allow agencies to work independently,

Another key accused, Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, was charged under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. Purohit was allegedly involved in the setting up of Abhinav Bharat and met some of its members to discuss terror plans.

NIA director general Sharad Kumar said there was no dilution in the case.

Till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet).

The September 2008 blasts in the Muslim-majority Maharashtra town killed seven people. In 2009, the state anti-terrorism squad named 14 people in a chargesheet, including Thakur  who was arrested on charges of being a key conspirator.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases of alleged Hindu terror.

Several such cases  such blasts in Malegaon (September 2006 and September 2008), Samjhauta Express (February 2007) and Mecca Masjid (May 2007)  have been dogged by slow prosecution and hostile witnesses.

Of around a dozen witnesses in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, two retracted their statements five years back. One made a complaint before the Maharashtra human rights commission, alleging coercion. Two more witnesses, Yashpal Bhadana and Dr RP Singh, recently alleged the same in front of a magistrate.

Former NIA prosecutor in the case Rohini Salian had alleged that an officer of the agency asked her to go soft on the accused after the NDA came to power.
While giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and dropping all charges against her in the Malegaon bomb blast case, the NIA says Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit had organised several meetings with the other accused and had collected money for procuring weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

He is one of the key members of criminal conspiracy. Accused Purohit had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned officer of armed forces of India which is against the service rules, the NIA said in its supplementary charge sheet filed before a Special Court.

The NIA alleged that on January 25-26 in a secret meeting held at Faridabad, Purohoit proposed for a separate Constitution for Hindu rashtra with separate saffron flag.

He read over the Constitution of Abhinav Bharat which he had prepared, discussed about the formation of central Hindu government (Aryawrat) against the Indian government and put forth the idea of forming this government in exile in Israel and Thailand, the NIA said.

Purohit also discussed about taking revenge for the atrocities committed by the Muslims on Hindus.

About the RDX recovered from Purhoits residence, the NIA quoted a Court of Inquiry report of the Army which had claimed that the explosives were planted at his residence by ATS officials who had entered his residence forcibly.

They said the Army has also given a breakup of about 70 kg of RDX, suspected to have been proposed to be used for the blasts.

The army has accounted for it by way of controlled destruction or handing over to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the NIA said.

The NIA also alleged that he along with other accused had collected huge funds for the Abhinav Bharat organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

On Sadhvis role, the NIA said in its charge sheet that it does not have sufficient evidence against her and five others.
District Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) has ordered Thane Municipal Corporation to pay a compensation of Rs. 6.61 lakh to a woman who lost her husband during treatment after a road accident involving a civic bus in 2012.

Additional Sessions Judge and MACT member K D Vadane in his judgement pronounced recently ordered TMC to pay the amount to Vasanti Joshi (62) and her daughter Kirti (35) even as he held the deceased equally responsible for the mishap that occurred on November 9, 2012.

Due to contributory negligence of the deceased, the compensation amount was cut by half from Rs. 13.23 lakh, the Judge said.

According to the claimant council, the original claim was filed by Satish Joshi (63 then), who had stated in his application that he was crossing road in Naupada area here when a TMC-run Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) bus rammed into him, injuring him grievously.

Joshi underwent treatment at a hospital and died in March, 2013, during the pendency of the claim. He worked as a broker and priest and earned an income of Rs. 12,000 per month.

Later, his wife and daughter were made the applicants in the case. They stated before the tribunal that they spent nearly Rs. 8 lakh on Joshis treatment.

In support of their claim, they produced the FIR and other relevant documents and evidence of the examination by doctors during the deceaseds hospitalisation.

The TMC was represented by advocate S E Darandale, who contested the claim and challenged the income and age of the deceased.

The respondent dismissed the claim and said that it was due to the sole negligence of the deceased that he sustained injuries and later died.

Darandale said Joshi was suffering from Parkinsons disease and also was paralytic and was limping at the time of the accident. The deceased fell before the bus while crossing the road.
Lufthansa Cargo and Cathay Pacific Cargo joint business agreement signing in June 2016

Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa Cargo have signed a partnership that will see the two airlines offer a joint network of more than 140 flights per week between Hong Kong and 13 European destinations.

The highly integrated bilateral co-operation is due to begin early next year and will see the two airlines work closely together on network planning, as well as sales, IT and ground handling.

Cathay Pacific director cargo Simon Large said: Cathay Pacifics large number of direct connections to multiple European destinations fits perfectly with Lufthansas strength in Frankfurt, the most important European airfreight hub, and in Europe through its dense feeder-network.

Lufthansa Cargo chief executive and chairman Peter Gerber added: By joining forces, customers gain access to unique flexibility with more flights to choose from and a combination of feeder and direct flights. In this way their cargo can reach its destination hours earlier.

We will also have more options for shipments which have to be transported by freighter due to their size or properties.

The airlines said customers will be able to access the entire joint network via the booking systems of both partners.

Joint handling, initially at the Hong Kong and Frankfurt hubs, will also make things easier for customers since there is just one point for export drop off and import delivery.

Both partners plan to transport the first shipments under the framework of the cooperation from early next year  initially from Hong Kong to Europe. The ability to also book eastbound shipments from Europe to Hong Kong will then follow in the course of the year.

Lufthansa Cargo has been looking to expand its partnerships over the last few years, opting for a metal neutral setup that sees revenues generated distributed from a central pot and then distributing accordingly. This is done to stop sales teams from prioritising their own services.

All flights are also displayed on each partners booking platforms so there is no delay when bookings are placed.

Past airline alliances failed because response times on bookings were slow because processes werent as digitised as they should have been, cargo on one plane had to be delivered to various member premises, there was not enough harmonisation of standard products and they often faced implementation problems.

As well as its partnership with ANA on the Europe-Japan trade, it is also in process of negotiating a deal with United Airlines covering the transatlantic.

The news comes after a tough first quarter for Lufthansas cargo business as it recorded another operating loss as industry overcapacity and weak demand took their toll.
May 11, 2016

LATAKIA, Syria  As an anonymous group of self-professed Alawite leaders recently declared their independence from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad  himself an Alawite  it seems appropriate to get to know more about the somewhat obscure sect sometimes known as the third branch of Islam.

Many Alawites are unwilling to discuss their beliefs openly because their foes consider them apostates who believe Imam Ali is God. The Alawites consider these characterizations to be fabrications. Though some Alawites and Shiite scholars try to portray Alawites as Twelver Shiites, the anonymous group says Alawites are an independent, third sect of Islam who follow a mystical interpretation of the Quran.

On April 3, the anonymous Alawite group dared to issue a controversial declaration designed to "reform" and clarify Alawite identity. For example, the document calls for ending the practice of "taqiyya." (A simplified explanation of taqiyya describes it as the belief that Muslims may use deception to protect their knowledge or escape a situation in which they feel threatened.) The document emphasizes that Alawites are neither Sunni nor Shiite and rejects the tradition of the salvation sect," under which some Muslims believe their sect is the only true way to salvation, and all other sects are apostates. According to the declaration, Alawites believe there are good people in all religions and sects.

Ahmad Adeeb Ahmad, a Syrian Alawite religious scholar, told Al-Monitor, Faith and salvation, according to our beliefs, are not tightly linked to a sect, but to loyalty. So we acknowledge the existence of good and faithful men everywhere."

The Alawites claim to belong to the line of Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (599-661), the fourth caliph who was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Alawite sect originated in Iraq and soon moved to Aleppo in Syria under the rule of Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamadani (890-1004), an Alawite who helped spread the doctrine. He followed a senior Alawite scholar, Hussein bin Hamdan al-Khusaibi (874-961), the founder of Alawi religious practice.

The Alawites were persecuted by the Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk and Ottoman states, which carried out massacres against the Alawites after occupying the Levant in 1516. The Alawites fled to the Latakia mountains after a large massacre in Aleppo in which thousands of them died.

Hanbali theologian Taqi ad-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328) issued fatwas in the early 1300s deeming Shiites, Alawites, Druze and Ismailis to be apostates. The Mamluk and Ottoman authorities used these fatwas as religious justifications to kill Alawites. This persecution deeply affected Alawite society, which resorted to taqiyya in religious practice and to nationalist, leftist and secular ideologies in political and partisan work.

The April 3 declaration states, Alawite mysticism is not a secret religious practice but a way to divine the true nature of the miraculous secrets of creation, not to hide a religious belief.

Ahmad rejects the call to end taqiyya because Ali specifically told followers to use taqiyya to protect their religion and religious knowledge, he said. Ahmad explained that secrecy does not mean hiding our teachings from others, but is about theological knowledge and secrets that are obtained by those who have dedicated their souls to God, who opened up to them and gave them the mystical knowledge, which they protected from falling into the hands of renegades who would distort them.

Some Muslims accuse Alawites of deifying the imam, a charge Alawites deny. Ahmad said Ali is the guardian and Muhammad is the prophet and no one can determine the link between them. Ahmad quoted Muhammad as saying, I am from Ali, and Ali from me.

An Alawite scholar based in Latakia, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor that while Alawites do not deify Ali, they have overstated his position due to a misunderstanding of the doctrine. Alawites' perception of Muhammad and Ali goes beyond the traditional view; they see the two as a manifestation of the creator, while all the prophets are a single person who appears at different times and the messages they reveal are several springs that originate from one source, God.

Ahmad, however, rejects the idea that the prophets are one person, saying, The prophets in our belief are not mortals, but they are lights of God.

Alawites share some common beliefs with Twelver Shiites (the oneness of God, justice of God, prophecy of Muhammad, divine leadership of the 12 imams and the day of judgment), and also some differences as a result of the philosophical and mystical dimensions of the Alawites.

The Alawites believe in the transcendence of God in his entirety and manifestations. Ahmad said Alawites see God expressed in the Quranic al-Noor verse: Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a brightly shining star.

Ahmad added that Alawites' view about Tawhid, the oneness of God, is expressed in the Quranic Ikhlas verse: He begets not, nor is He begotten, and there is nothing at all like Him.

The April 3 declaration said Alawites believe in the mystical interpretation of the Quran. Ahmad explained that the Alawites say, The Quran has visible and invisible faces. We consider all of them.

The document states that Alawites drew from other monotheistic religions such as Judaism and Christianity and that this is a source of completeness and richness for them. Ahmad, however, said that claim is an attempt to distort the Alawite way and accuse us of introducing Israeli matters into our beliefs. This is pure fabrication. But we believe in the words of Moses, Issa [Jesus], Solomon, David and all the prophets. We cite their words and we are committed to their teachings.

Muslims of other sects oppose the Alawites belief in reincarnation, saying it is contrary to Islam. But Ahmad explained, Reincarnation does not mean a random movement of the soul between two bodies without order. It is a religious and scientific fact that we have a lot of evidence for. It is not incompatible with the principle of punishment on judgment day and it does not deny the existence of heaven and hell, because divine justice requires that no one can achieve his full self and purify himself in one life."
May 13, 2016

CAIRO  One of the main factors that sparked Egypts January 25 Revolution more than five years ago was the rigging of the 2010 parliamentary elections in favor of then-President Hosni Mubaraks ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Though the NDP was dissolved in April 2011, its former members still seek a major role in Egyptian politics, especially in parliament.

On April 23, the House of Representatives finished electing 25 committee heads, 11 of whom are former members or affiliates of the NDP.

According to a Dec. 29 study on the current parliament's composition, about 145 former NDP parliament members who were elected in 2010 participated in the 2015 elections. Sixty-five of them won, while 80 candidates lost, some of whom went out in the first round and did not make it to the runoff. The study was published in Democracy, a journal issued by state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper.

The Mubarak-era candidates won 124 seats, or about 21% of parliament. The House of Representatives consists of 448 individual seats, 120 seats based on the absolute closed-list system and 28 members appointed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Akram Alfi, a researcher who specializes in parliamentary affairs, told Al-Monitor, The former NDP members winning this percentage of seats in the current parliament was expected, as they contested the elections on the For the Love of Egypt list, which was dubbed as the list of the state and the list of stability. Therefore, it managed to win many votes. For their part, the members who won based on the individual system carry a lot of clout and have a record in their departments, despite the collapse of the ruling party following the January 25 Revolution, as some state apparatuses were biased toward those members for sharing the same political visions with them. Add to this that voters were looking for [parliament members] willing to offer them services, and the NDP-affiliated [parliament members] were keen to do so in order to guarantee votes.

As for the commission elections, Al-Monitor noted that 31 members of the now-dissolved NDP and former members of previous legislative councils, both the People's Assembly or the Shura Council, won seats in the internal special commissions, distributed as follows: 11 committee heads, 16 deputies in 13 committees, and four secretaries in four different committees. Each commission consists of a head, two deputies and a secretary.

Commenting on the 31 commission position winners, Alfi said, There are three main factors behind this win. First, the parliamentary experience of those members when it comes to creating blocs that would allow them to get many votes, as well as these members participation in committees that are true to their abilities. Second, a bloc of former NDP [parliament members] had originally joined the For the Love of Egypt list, which accounts for a large majority in the parliament. Therefore, these [parliament members] guaranteed their win within their commissions. Third, the former NDP members were able to adapt and exert notable influence during the past three months parliament meetings. They also catered to the convenience of the executive branch at a time when other members faced marginalization because of their positions that are critical of the executive branch.

Asked how the formation of special commissions influences the work of the House of Representatives, Alfi said, The previous data confirm that these commissions [can] reduce clashes between the legislative and executive powers due to the agreement of the special commissions members, especially the former members of the NDP, on the executive branchs vision. There will always be a relative agreement with the ruling regime.

Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor the revived careers of former NDP members is evidence of political regression. "The January 25 Revolution was aborted, and the biggest proof is the configuration of the current parliament and the NDP former members taking it over," he said.

"The entire formation of the current parliament is loyal to President Sisi, Nafaa said. Despite the absence of a partisan majority in the House of Representatives, its essence has returned to the old configuration with the same names, but with a different speaker and a different mechanism of action.

He added, "The NDP men have returned through political money and the security services. Five years into the January revolution, Egypt is back to square one, and the current regime is a mere clone of the pre-2011 revolution regime.

Alaa Abed, head of the parliamentary commission for the liberal Free Egyptians Party, noted that most of the elected commission heads are currently affiliated with the state support coalition, which is made of the For the Love of Egypt list.

He told Al-Monitor that this coalition mainly relies on the old NDP members and added that in the absence of proof of involvement of former NDP [parliament members] in corruption cases, we cannot accuse them unjustly. It is their right to participate in political life.

Abed criticized the ages of the commission heads belonging to the state support coalition. They are above 60 years old and insist on marginalizing the role of the youth, he added.
May 13, 2016

When professor David Dean Shulman won the Israel Prize, his admirers called his decision to donate the 75,000-shekel ($20,000) prize to anti-occupation organization Taayush "sweet revenge." Other anti-occupation activists contend that the leading researcher of religion and philosophy chose a creative and intelligent form of protest to reconcile the ethical dilemma the prize presented him. On the one hand, as an opponent of the occupation, accepting the prize at all might be construed as reneging on his worldview in front of the Israeli establishment. On the other hand, rejecting the prize and refusing to shake the hands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Naftali Bennett on Independence Day would look as if he were making himself a pariah.

Established jointly by Shulman and his colleague Gadi Elgazi during the start of the second intifada in 2000, Ta'ayush  "living together" in Arabic  set a goal of protecting the basic rights of Arabs in the territories and Israel. The organization is very active in dealing with the appropriation of Palestinian lands by the state as well as the displacement of the Bedouin.

Over the past several months, the radical right-wing movement Ad Kan has waged a much-ballyhooed campaign against Ta'ayush. Disguised as leftist activists, some of the movement's members allegedly joined Ta'ayush to expose its methods of operation. One of Ta'ayush's most prominent activists, Ezra Nawi, was portrayed in the material Ad Kan provided to the media as someone who exposed Arabs who sold lands to Jews and handed that information over to Palestinian Preventive Security. Ad Kan alleged that some of the Palestinians whose identities were revealed to the Palestinian security forces were later executed, though those allegations were proven to be baseless.

In his 2007 book "Dark Hope, Journal of a Taayush Activist," Shulman describes his activity within the organization between 2002 and 2006. Though he describes the settlers as violent and brutal, he lays most of the blame on the state's leaders, the ones whose hands he shook upon receiving the prize. He describes an elaborate overarching system that benefits the settlers and corrupts the speech and even the thoughts of Israelis.

Under advisement by colleagues, he decided to accept the prize but chose to donate the money to an organization that Netanyahu and Bennett see as the root of all evil. The check Netanyahu handed to Shulman on May 12 was passed directly to the organization the Israeli premier is trying to stifle financially through his Transparency Act, which targets human rights and leftist organizations in Israel. There's no better way to describe the protest of the Israel Prize laureate than a poke in the eye of the Israeli establishment and right-wing organizations that have labeled him a foreign agent and traitor.

In a talk with Al-Monitor shortly before receiving the prize, Shulman said that he knew that winning it this year  just months after the widely-covered confrontation between the right and Ta'ayush  could be an embarrassing moment for him. "It calls for a distinction between the State of Israel and its leadership. Though it's difficult, such a distinction is possible," Shulman said. "I was convinced [to accept the prize] after many talks with my family, friends and activists in Ta'ayush, because at a time when we and other human rights organizations are being boycotted, delegitimized and cast as pariahs, we mustn't give up and we mustn't relinquish the entire state and its important symbols to the radical right."

The decision to donate the prize money to Ta'ayush elicited anger among right-wing organizations. Hilel Weiss, a radical member of the Academic Council for National Policy, called on Netanyahu and Bennett to abolish the Israel Prize ceremony altogether. He believes it has become too political a platform. "This is a Jewish mental illness expressing self-hate. This is Stockholm syndrome. Every person thinking of himself as enlightened identifies with the person out to destroy him."

The protest from the right was mainly aimed at Bennett, who had to explain to his constituents how he  as chairman of right-wing HaBayit HaYehudi  could entertain the idea of awarding the prize to someone who is considered by many voters a basher of Israel. Bennett told his critics, "No person should be disqualified for their views, whatever they are  left or right."

Shulman told Al-Monitor that Bennett "did the right thing," saying, "I was very happy and I'm grateful. This cannot be taken for granted. I know that he was put under a lot of pressure, which intensified when I announced that I would give the prize money to Ta'ayush. I heard and read the attacks on him. It's unbelievable. The rage was directed mainly at him, not even at me. They nearly made him out to be a Ta'ayush member."

Before the ceremony, Shulman was greatly troubled by the thought of having to shake Bennett's hand, but much more by the prospect of taking Netanyahu's. "I knew that it would be hard to shake his hand, but right now I don't feel this way. In the past he bestowed another prize, which was given to me by the Emet Foundation. I must say that I wasn't thrilled to do it, but I said something he probably doesn't remember. In the 10 seconds allotted to me I told him that he had to make peace." This time, the professor whispered nothing in Netanyahu's ear. He realized that for Netanyahu, too, this was an awkward and difficult moment.

Shulman's protest on Israel's 68th independence anniversary forced the Israeli establishment to grapple with the most intense dispute in Israeli society and the deep rift the occupation has created within it. In recent years, especially after Netanyahu's election to a fourth term and the establishment of a patently right-wing government, a direct or indirect onslaught has begun on nearly every institution, organization or public figure that does not toe the government's line. During the Israel Prize ceremony celebrating Israel's Independence Day, the protest was a stark reminder of that reality.

Among other things, Shulman was able to shed light on an organization that has worked for human rights for many years, while recently focusing mainly on the rights of Bedouin and Palestinians in the southern Hebron Hills. The Israeli media by and large and the rest of the Israeli public are not keen on knowing what's going on in the West Bank in general, especially the remote and rural south Hebron hills region. Whenever the Israeli public does debate that region and the state of human rights there, it usually happens thanks to the activities of Ta'ayush and other human rights movements.

"Our opponents and the right in general call us the radical left," Shulman said. "Whenever I get the opportunity I say: We are not radical people. If there's something radical about our behavior, its actually our moderation. In that sense, I hope I've exposed Taayush to the media."
May 12, 2016

BEIRUT  Despite all the doubts shrouding the municipal elections in Lebanon following a second extension of the parliament term and in light of the Lebanese political crisis, elections began May 8 and are set to be held over four consecutive Sundays ending May 29 and covering all Lebanese provinces.

These elections are bringing democratic life back to Lebanon, which has endured a presidential vacancy since May 2014 and the obstruction of official institutions in light of the political crisis and sharp divide in the country since former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in 2005.

Also, the Council of Ministers is experiencing major disagreements over several issues, including national security, and has almost been disbanded on several occasions.

The parliament hasn't held legislative sessions since November, as the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and the Lebanese Forces Party have refused to attend any legislative session whose agenda does not include a new electoral law. Lebanons Muslims and Christians are both calling for a new electoral law that would give them fair and equal representation.

Parliament voted to extend its term twice: the first time in May 2013 for 17 months, and the second in November 2014 for 31 months, until June 2017.

These two extensions were supported by all parliamentary groups except for FPM members, who submitted appeals to the Constitutional Council each time asking that use of the extension law be limited to exceptional circumstances. Such situations were indeed encountered during periods of unrest, in particular the clashes in Tripoli between Alawites and Sunnis in mid-May of 2013, and a series of explosions, most notably the one in Haret Hreik in the predominantly Shiite southern suburbs in January 2014.

Attempts to agree on an electoral law are ongoing. Parliament formed joint committees to address finance, budget, administration and justice, foreign affairs and migrants, national defense, interior and municipalities, and media and telecommunications. The joint committees started a series of meetings called by parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to discuss the proposed electoral law.

The first meeting of the joint committees was May 3; discussion was limited to five electoral proposals and draft laws. There are 17 proposals to be discussed.

The first five proposals include the majority single-member district system submitted by the Phalange Party; the mixed system including 64 parliament members according to the majority system and 64 members according to the proportional system as proposed by Berri; the mixed system proposed by the Lebanese Force, the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party based on the election of 68 parliament members according to the majority system and 60 according to the proportional system; the proportional system submitted by Najib Mikati's government to the parliament in 2013 based on dividing Lebanon into 13 districts; and the Hezbollah-supported proposal of a proportional system based on a nationwide vote.

Will the municipal elections now underway and the parliament meetings to agree on a new law revive hope of successfully holding legislative elections in June 2017? If the parliamentary committees fail to reach an agreement, will Lebanon face a third extension of the parliament's term or will elections be held according to the old electoral law?

Ibrahim Kanaan, a parliament member representing the Change and Reform bloc, told Al-Monitor, The fact that municipal elections were held confirms that there is no excuse for not holding the legislative elections, and that the extension of the parliament stems from political reasons.

He added that imposing yet another extension would inevitably stir an angry public reaction. "Holding legislative elections requires a decision, and promulgating a new electoral law requires a [genuine] will," Kanaan said. "Will the meetings of the joint committees lead to an agreement on this law? Although the experiences of the FPM with the political parties on the subject of electoral law are not encouraging, everyone must now assume their responsibilities in light of the institutional paralysis. No party can afford to fail approving this law.

Kanaan seemed optimistic that the legislative elections will be held next year. He even said he expects the elections to be held earlier than scheduled, since the current government bottleneck makes them imperative.

Those who support the extension option cannot keep opposing the legislative elections, and the Christian understanding between the FPM and Lebanese Forces pushes the democratic process forward, he said.

According to Berri, the parliament will never be extended again, and agreeing on a new electoral law will pave the way for conducting elections at any given moment. During the last session, on May 11, the deputies conveyed the possibility of ending the parliaments term early, before June 2017.

Parliament member Ahmad Fatfat of the Future Movement told Al-Monitor, "The municipal elections confirm the Lebanese ... will to promote the democratic life. The municipal elections are an important electoral movement, even if they do not have the same political dimension as the legislative elections.

Fatfat said he doesn't believe the successful municipal elections demonstrate that parliament term extensions weren't needed. When the extensions were decided upon, the security situation was more difficult than it is today, in light of the lack of an electoral law agreed upon by all parties and the parliament's inability to pass a new law, he said.

He confirmed that the Future Movement does not want an extension but prefers elections based on a new law.

Fatfat also confirmed that there is a collective will to prevent a third extension of the parliament, stressing that the Future Movement and Berri are exerting their utmost efforts to pass a new law. He also accused other parties of derailing discussions about the law by refusing to make compromises; he specifically blamed Hezbollah and the FPM for the failure to elect a president.

While optimism seems to prevail, an agreement doesn't appear imminent  and reaching an agreement is just the first step needed. Lebanon has to deal with internal constitutional and political challenges ranging from actually implementing the law and holding the elections all the way to dealing with the mother of all crises: the ongoing presidential vacuum.
May 13, 2016

Palestinians now go days between hearing about an armed attack against Israelis. During the first two months of the current unrest, multiple attacks took place every day.

The Shin Bet's latest assessments, as reported by Israeli Channel 10 on May 3, indicate a decline in Palestinian attacks in April. Since October, 282 attacks have been reported, including 166 stabbings, 82 shootings and 29 vehicular incidents as well as stone-throwing attacks. April only saw 16 attacks against Israelis, including one stabbing, two shootings and 13 bombings.

On May 10, two Israelis were stabbed while three others were wounded in an explosion in Jerusalem.

Samira Halayka, a Hamas representative at the Palestinian Legislative Council in Hebron, disagreed, telling Al-Monitor, The intifada has not been receding, as stabbing incidents have not stopped recently. It seems as though the Palestinian factions wield little influence on the intifada compared to the first one in 1987 and the second in 2000. Moreover, Israeli media coverage of the intifada events has been gradually declining since its outbreak, after Israel shut down several Palestinian media outlets in the past few months while the Palestinian Authority warned against covering news of operations and armed attacks. This is not to mention the Israeli and PA crackdown on the intifada youth through political arrests. All of these factors have contributed to what experts perceived as the decline of the intifada on the ground, which is not the case.

It could also be argued that the security coordination between the PA and Israel has been an important factor of the possible decline. On May 5, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen said that the PA security services have been thwarting attacks soon after receiving intelligence from Israel, praising the security coordinations role in the efforts. Cohen added that on occasion, the PA fails to take action against militants, and this is where Israeli forces come in, but the PA often takes the lead in crowded Palestinian areas, as it is harder for Israel to intervene there.

On May 4, Haaretz reported that since the outbreak of the violence, the Israel Defense Forces and the PA security services have collaborated to arrest Palestinians suspected of planning or taking part in attacks against Israeli targets, with the PA responsible for 40% of all arrests in the West Bank.

Amin Maqboul, the secretary-general of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, told Al-Monitor, Fatah has not used the term 'intifada' to refer to the recent attacks in the Palestinian territories. The party considers these attacks part of a popular uprising that constantly peaks and declines, which is typical of any popular movement.

Maqboul said, This popular uprising came as an angry response to the firebombing by Israeli settlers against the Dawabsha family's home in the West Bank in July 2015, as well as the ongoing Israeli desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The PA was supportive of the popular aspect of the Palestinian reaction and even called for its continuation. The security coordination is irrelevant to the decline or receding of the uprising.

It is worth noting that on April 19, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attacks perpetrated by Palestinian youths against Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Abbas statement met an angry response from Hamas, which accused him of undermining the intifada by coordinating with Israel.

Some Palestinians may argue that the uprising has had no effect on the Israeli public, which remained indifferent to their legitimate calls for independence and the establishment of a state. However, there have been popular Israeli demands that the government take more oppressive actions against Palestinians. The attacks have failed to elicit a positive response from the international community, and the Palestinian media has quieted its incitement.

Nine months into the unrest, Palestinians failed to reach a consensus regarding its nature, ultimate goals and means. As a result, demonstrations were in complete disarray with only dozens or at most hundreds of participants, while tens of thousands took to the streets during the previous two intifadas, indicating that Palestinians are now at odds with the current wave of attacks.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Khalil Shaheen, the head of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies in Ramallah, said, The decline was expected since the outbreak of the intifada. Some Palestinians rushed into calling it a third intifada because what is happening is a wave of popular uprising, which may evolve or stumble eventually. It may even take a different direction even if it receded at some point. We are now witnessing a Palestinian generation that wishes to resume the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and deal with Israel as a colonial power, adopting a defiant stance against it.

Shaheen said, As for the current decline of the intifada, it is due to the absence of an official leadership or organization, as well as of a political agenda. Add to that the waning influence of Palestinian factions, and you have a gap between the Palestinian public and the official stance of these factions.

Amid what seems to be the receding of the uprising, Hamas is forging ahead with a plan to inflame the West Bank against Israel to the point of bombings and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, as revealed by the Shin Bet in February. Such actions would necessarily entail another Defensive Shield-type operation, like the one conducted in 2002 in similar circumstances of Palestinian attacks in the West Bank. Such a development could work to the detriment of the PA, which would prompt further efforts on its part to thwart Palestinian attacks against Israelis for fear that Hamas will benefit from them. For the PA, this a red line that shall not be crossed, even if that takes the crushing of the uprising to prevent it.
May 12, 2016

On the night of April 30, the crowd that stormed the Green Zone gathered in the Great Celebrations Square inside the zone and chanted Iran Out Out and Qasem Soleimani  Sadr is a divine person, in reference to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. This indicates that feelings and political stances hostile to the policy that Iran has adopted in regard to Iraq since 2003 have been revived among the Shiites.

It is understandable that hatred for Iran prevails within the Iraqi Sunni community, due to sectarian considerations that are influenced by the current sectarian conflict in the region. Hatred for Iran, based on the Arab nationalist considerations hostile to Persian nationalism, which prevailed under the rule of Saddam Hussein, is also understandable.

Yet, what happened in Celebrations Square points to the unique reasons behind the feelings that prevail among the Shiites, which are supposed to be on the side of the Iranians in the current conflict.

The emergence of this new political stance away from the sectarian affiliation is an important development in the Shiite communitys political awareness, which has been a result of the Iranian bias and arrogance in dealing with the Iraqi issue after the fall of the Baath regime.

The criticism of the Iranian stances by Iraqi Shiite religious and political leaders is growing. On March 8, 2015, Ali Younesi, President Hassan Rouhani's adviser on ethnic and religious minorities affairs, said that Iraq is a part of the great Iranian civilization.

In response to these remarks, the spokesman for Iraq's top Shiite cleric Ali al-Sistani, Sayyid Ahmad al-Safi, said on March 13, 2015, "We are proud of our country, our identity, our independence and our sovereignty. While we welcome any help offered today from our brothers and friends in our fight against terrorism and thank them for it, it doesnt mean that we would ignore our identity and independence in any way. For we are writing our history with the souls, wounds and blood that our sons from all constituents and ethnicities shed during the battles against terrorism.

He spoke of the Iranian ambitions, saying that Iraq, as always, will be immune to any attempts to change its identity, alter its heritage and falsify its history.

In an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper on Dec. 21, 2013, Sadr criticized the Iranian role in Iraq. He said, Qasem Soleimani is the most powerful man in Iraq, who implements an Iranian agenda in the country. He added that there are disagreements on some fundamental issues with the Iranians.

In an interview with the Iraqi Al-Mada channel on Feb. 26, spokesman for Sadr, Sheikh Salah al-Obeidi, said, Muqtada al-Sadr does not want Iranians to speak on behalf of Iraqi Shiites. He added, "Muqtada al-Sadr has repeatedly said that we are with Iran, as a neighboring country that we respect, but we categorically reject any Iranian interference in the Iraqi internal affairs.

In regard to the recent Sadrist support for the protests and sit-ins, he said, Iranians are wary of Muqtada al-Sadrs current moves. They are complaining that he takes decisions without seeking their advice, does not listen to their advice and always surprises them with embarrassing decisions.

A statement on March 13 by the committee overseeing the Sadrist Movements protests referred to Sadr as the Arab leader, which points at Sadrs attempt to separate himself from the Iranian agendas.

Critics of the Iranian role in Iraq say that Iran is embracing and supporting Shiite parties involved in corruption issues and that they have failed to manage the Iraqi government since 2003. In addition, they say that Iran is dealing with Iraq based on the sectarian divide rooted in the post-2003 period, which reinforces the sectarian rift among constituents of one people.

Ahmad Abdul Hussein, a leader of the civil protests supporting the Sadrist Movement, wrote in a Facebook post, Irans insistence on embracing corrupt thugs and thieves, desperately defending them, assisting them during crises and covering up for their disastrous corruption and failure will drive Iraqis to hate Iran, in case it continues to sponsor these thugs.

In this regard, the champions of the Iranian role in Iraq believe that Iran has provided Iraq with substantial assistance in its war against terrorism, particularly the fight against the Islamic State (IS), in the past two years.

These champions are present within the ranks of Shiite political and military organizations that were founded by Iran and receive direct financial aid, as well as political and administrative support from the Iranians such as the Badr Organization, led by Hadi al-Amiri. Those criticizing Iran consist of Iraqi Shiite groups such as the Sadrist Movement.

Nevertheless, observers have become aware that the Iranian aid to Iraq serves in the first place the Iranian security and economic interests, and does not consist of free grants offered by Iran to its neighbor.

Al-Monitor reported in February 2014 of Iraqs intention to strike a deal to buy weapons from Iran; in December 2014, Iraq signed a security agreement with Iran involving arms deals.

A source at the General Directorate of Arming and Equipping at the Iraqi Defense Ministry told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Iraq paid the price of the weapons received from Iran, as part of the trade deals, and that they are not necessarily benefiting Iraq. Some weapons are manufactured in Iran, but many are a copy of the Russian arms that Iraq ends up paying a higher price for than the originals. The source added that defeating IS would subsequently result in pushing it away from the Iranian border, and that based on this the Iranian aid to Iraq also serves the Iranian national security.

Iraqi Shiites perceive that Iran is a strategic depth for them to protect themselves from the sectarian threat posed by Sunni Arab regimes. Yet, important Iraqi Shiite forces have condemned the Iranian use of Iraq as a tool in its struggle against its regional rivals such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, or its international rivals such as the United States. In an attempt to ward off any equivoque, they believe that their disagreements with Iran does not contradict the principle of mutual respect, taking into account both countries common interests.
May 13, 2016

To turn a blind eye to the ordeal of the Syrian refugees and leave them to their fate is impossible. For Turkey, therefore, the financial burden of hosting the Syrian refugees is growing by the day, along with the refugee numbers, as the country now holds the title of the top refugee host. As Turkey's tourism and export revenues are falling, the money the country spends on the refugees keeps going up, raising questions on how long this situation can continue.

Turkeys monthly spending on refugees has reached $500 million, a figure not limited to exceptional periods but apparently now the norm. In the eight months from July 2015 to February, the average monthly spending on refugees stands at $500 million, according to figures compiled from public statements by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the head of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD).

On July 9, 2015, Erdogan said Turkey had spent a total of $6 billion on refugees. The sum covered the period from 2011, when the influx of Syrians began, to June 2015. On Oct. 5 the same year, Erdogan put the figure at $7.5 billion, which meant another $1.5 billion had been spent over a period of three months, reaching an average of $500 million per month.

AFAD Chairman Fuat Oktay provided the latest update March 2, in a meeting with journalists from European Union countries. He stressed that the Syrians in Turkey benefit from free health care and free schooling for their children, and that the 26 refugee camps in the border regions met all physical, social and psychological needs of their inhabitants. He then disclosed the bill, saying, Turkey has spent about $10 billion on Syrian refugees [to provide conditions] in line with UN standards.

Analyzing the figures, the spending in the first five years  from 2011 to the end of 2015  emerges as $9 billion. Meanwhile, in the past eight months, the spending stands at $4 billion, meaning that the monthly average has reached $500 million. If spending continues at the same pace, the yearly figure will hit $6 billion at the end of 2016, compared to the total of $9 billion, or $1.8 billion on average per year, in the first five years. This would mean that annual spending will have increased three times since the initial stages of the influx.

So, why is spending on the rise? In his statement on July 9, 2015, Erdogan put the number of Syrian refugees at 2 million. In October, he said the number had reached 2.2 million. On March 5, speaking in a teleconference organized by a US-based nongovernmental organization, Oktay said Turkey was hosting 2.75 million refugees. Hence, 750,000 more Syrians have joined the existing refugee population over the past eight months, which emerges as the main factor pushing the spending up.

In short, the Syrian refugees, with their growing numbers, remain a black hole for the Turkish economy at a time when it is already struggling under the impact of regional turmoil, the crisis with Russia and simmering violence in the countrys Kurdish-majority southeast.

In his May 5 column, Hurriyets Ertugrul Ozkok drew attention to the swelling bill of hosting refugees in a country where millions of citizens depend on social benefits. We have a generous state. Lets be proud of it but lets also know [the facts] so that the Europeans and other rich nations know as well, he wrote.

In remarks to Al-Monitor, former Minister of State Aydin Tumen said the 3 billion euros the EU has pledged in support of Turkeys refugee effort was not enough. Everyone involved in the Syrian issue must share the burden. We are a neighboring country and faraway countries are unaware of the hardship we are going through, he said. We cant look after those people forever. The Turkish economy cant carry such a big burden on its own. Some other formula should be found.

Tumen slammed the Ankara government for still resisting a Syrian solution involving President Bashar al-Assad, despite the international trend on the contrary. The burden on the Turkish economy will grow even bigger unless a political solution is quickly found, he warned.

But does it mean the Syrian refugees have had no positive impact at all? Remarkably, they have. International credit-rating agency Standard & Poors said last week that the refugees have contributed to Turkeys economic growth. According to agency analyst Frank Gill, the refugees have boosted consumption by spending earnings from illegal work and savings, and have the potential to raise Turkey's headline growth by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points annually.

Yet, the refugees might boost not only economic growth but also the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). In 2019, Turkey is scheduled to hold three elections  municipal, parliamentary and presidential. By then, 1.9 million refugees will have completed their five-year residence in Turkey, becoming eligible to apply for citizenship. And those who get it are expected to repay the AKPs favors at the ballot box.
May 13, 2016

TEHRAN, Iran  The US Supreme Court ruling to confiscate $2 billion worth of Iranian assets to compensate American victims of terrorist attacks has hit hard in Tehran. The asset seizure, which has the backing of the US State Department, has been described by Iran's President Hassan Rouhani as "blatant theft," while Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called it "highway robbery."

There is no doubt that the measure will have severe repercussions on the already tense relations between Tehran and Washington; its impact can be roughly categorized under four headings.

First, a "wall of mistrust" will be created. The Supreme Court ruling is causing Iranians to be pessimistic about the easing of tensions between Iran and the United States. Following the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015, political experts were hopeful that the two countries would work toward the easing of tensions and removing this "wall of mistrust." However, with the recent Supreme Court decision, all such hope has been ruled out. This has not only empowered the opponents of the JCPOA in Iran, but also those more broadly opposed to relations with the West. This has prompted the Rouhani administration to adopt a passive approach.

Indeed, the commander of Iran's paramilitary Basij force, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, has stated, "This is not a small matter. After all the patience and flexibility to reach a [nuclear] agreement, the United States is now using something that happened 33 years ago as an excuse to confiscate $2 billion of assets that belong to the Iranian nation." Meanwhile, Rouhani has talked of the unflinching difficulties facing the relations between Tehran and Washington and likened the US Supreme Court ruling to that of a hungry cat that is greedily eyeing Iran's assets. He said, "We have had, still do and will continue to have problems with the United States. So why should we throw meat in front of a cat and not expect it to be devoured?"

The US ruling has also become a subject for puns among Iranians on social media, with one person writing, "Very soon Iran will have to pay a multi-billion dollar compensation for the diapers used by [US Secretary of State] John Kerry's grandchild," while someone else wrote, "United States! Don't pick our pocket, lift the sanctions instead."

The second impact of the court ruling is the increased prospects of the collapse of the JCPOA. Although the Supreme Court ruling is not directly linked to the JCPOA  and is in fact based on a lawsuit dating back to 2003  these kinds of developments are often intertwined. The expectation among the Iranians following the conclusion of the nuclear talks was that all negotiating parties would cooperate based on goodwill. However, with the Iranians now viewing the recent US move as a malicious act, it will be difficult to engage in reciprocal cooperation to implement the JCPOA.

At present, the majority of JCPOA opponents in Iran unanimously agree that the Rouhani administration showed too much flexibility in regard to the nuclear file and that the US Supreme Court ruling is an indication of that. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who represents a wide array of Principlists, has described the JCPOA as a document supplemented with evident drawbacks for Iran, the result of which has been the stealing of Iranian assets. In a statement, Ahmadinejad's office rhetorically asked, "How can Iran's nuclear rights and its facilities that are approximately worth $30 billion be thrown away  some destroyed while others left to be covered with dust  all based on vague, half promises made by the US president and his foreign secretary, without any concrete guarantee?"

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has, however, yet to take a direct stance regarding the US Supreme Court ruling. Just days before the asset seize, Ayatollah Khamenei had referred to the JCPOA as fragile, saying, "On paper the United States claims to have lifted sanctions, but in reality different steps are taken that create Iranophobia. The US banking regulations, which some European Union members are bound by, prevents them from doing business with Iran."

The third impact of the ruling is the neutralization of the grounds for trade. The neofunctionalist theory of international relations and history show that trade links can lead to bilateral political relations between nations and reduce their political differences. Considering that Iran's private sector is weak and that its economy is mainly state-run, measures such as the US Supreme Court ruling will prevent both Iran's government and its private sector from depositing even a single dollar in a bank account when there is a possibility that Iranian assets could be confiscated by the United States. This has widened the gap between the two nations and their governments, while making it easier for hard-line politicians to maneuver as they wish. According to the US Census Bureau, bilateral trade between Iran and the United States  which is largely conducted by the private sector  was worth less than $300 million in 2015, with $271 million consisting of US exports. The Supreme Court ruling is likely to decrease this figure further.

Last but not least, the US Supreme Court ruling will empower Iran's hard-liners and weaken the Rouhani administration. The seizing of Iranian assets has had a negative impact on the image of Rouhani and Zarif, both of whom have pursued a policy of interaction and engagement with the West. If measures such as the asset seizure are repeated, and Iran's economy does not experience a significant change due to previous US sanctions, Iranian opponents of interaction with the West will definitely flex their muscles in the country's upcoming 2017 presidential elections. Though Rouhani's popularity has seen no palpable change as a result of the Supreme Court ruling, it has the potential to be negatively affected. According to a 2015 survey, public satisfaction with Rouhani declined only 1% between the spring and winter of 2015, reaching 48%. Public dissatisfaction with the Rouhani administration's economic performance also declined very little during this time. Given that Iranian voters are first and foremost preoccupied with the economy, these are all warning signs that require the United States and the West to adopt more logical policies toward the current administration in Iran.
A 14-year-old from Opelika is making waves in the business world.

Taylor Rosenthal, an Opelika High School student, has turned down a $30 million buyout before he learned to drive, CNN Money reports.

Rosenthal started RecMed, a first-aid vending machine. The idea is that basic first-aid needs like cuts and scrapes could be solved at places like sporting tournaments or amusement parks without waiting in line for a first aid tent.

Rosenthal told CNN Money he originally thought about a vendor selling first aid kits at sporting events, but started thinking about automation when he realized how much it would cost to pay someone minimum wage to sit at a six-hour tournament.

"It's hard to balance it out with school and other things, and also some adults won't take me as serious as they would another adult," Rosenthal told CNN Money.

Check out the full video from CNN Money:
South Cypress

South Cypress is a national flooring retailer with Alabama roots that will open its first showroom in Birmingham's Design District.

(Courtesy)

A Birmingham-based flooring retailer is moving from the virtual showroom into a physical showroom in Birmingham's Design District.

South Cypress was founded in 2005 and has been selling products online. But the company is opening its first showroom at 2717 Second Avenue S. in Lakeview.

"The goal is for our showroom to be a destination for homeowners and the design community alike where they find high-quality products and best-in-class service at a reasonable price," South Cypress CEO Drew Goneke said in a statement.

South Cypress sells flooring materials including natural stone, wood-look tile, outdoor stone, Calcutta Marble look porcelain tile and more.

Though South Cypress was not founded until 2005, the family-owned business traces its roots to the 1950s, when the current owners grandparents worked in flooring in Mobile.
Sign.jpg

(Courtesy of adeca.alabama.gov)

Dozens of surplus items will be available next week during a public property auction by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs in Montgomery.

The department's Surplus Property Division will auction vehicles, computers, office furniture, kitchen equipment, TVs, vending machines and more starting at 8 a.m. May 18 until the last item is sold.

The event, one of three state auctions held each year, will take place at the ADECA warehouse on 4590 Mobile Highway in Montgomery. It will feature surplus property no longer needed by federal and state agencies.

In some cases, the items were abandoned voluntarily at airports throughout the Southeast. Bargain hunters can visit www.adeca.alabama.gov/surplus for a complete list of items that will be up for bid.

To participate in the auction, guests will need a photo ID and a Social Security number or federal employee ID. ADECA will host an on-site inspection of the property from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday.

Call 334-284-0577 with questions.
Randy Thornhorn closeup.PNG

Novelist Randy Thornhorn lived in Alabama from 2002 until his death on May 6, 2016. He was 60.

(www.thornhorn.com)

Randy Thornhorn

The rising Alabama novelist who went by the literary name of Randy Thornhorn wrote two books that many literary critics praised as among the best Southern gothic novels ever.

In August 2015, both his novels made the top 20 in the list of the Oxford American's 100 "Best Southern Novels of All Time."

His book "The Kestrel Waters," published in 2014, was ranked No. 17. "Wicked Temper," published in 2012, was ranked No. 19, ahead of Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" at 20, James Dickey's "Deliverance" at 21 and William Faulkner's "Light in August" at 22.

Thornhorn died on May 6 from complications after injuring himself in a fall. He was 60.

Thornhorn, whose real name was Randy White Thornton, had been working on a screenplay of "Wicked Temper." Both books had gotten interest from movie producers, said Barbara Vetter of Los Angeles, a longtime friend and business partner who said she lived with Thornhorn for about 12 years starting in 1990 and supported him while he wrote.

"They're very cinematic, Southern gothic tales," Vetter said. "They're spiritual, fantastic realism. He would look at a dilapidated house covered with kudzu and would see the beauty in the ugliness of decay and the ugliness in the dark that not everyone wants to see."

Thornhorn had been living in Auburn since 2002, after marrying Peggy Brown Thornton, a psychologist who now lives in Birmingham. They both graduated from John Marshall High School in Oklahoma City in 1973 and met again at a 25-year reunion. They divorced several years ago, but Thornhorn decided to remain in Alabama.

"He was gregarious, intense, larger than life, tortured," said his stepdaughter, Amanda Campos. She and her mother both work as psychologists at Grayson & Associates in Birmingham.

Campos said that Thornhorn attended her wedding at The Bottletree, a now defunct cafe and nightclub in Birmingham, on June 6, 2010. "That was the best wedding ever," she said.

Campos lived for awhile with her mother and Thornhorn at the house on a wooded hill near Auburn City Lake where Thornhorn still lived at the time of his death. "He always had dogs and cats," including two Great Pyrenees dogs, she said. "He loved to cook in a smoker in the backyard. The house was up on a hill, and during the summer, the strangest thing would happen. There were thousands of fireflies and it only seemed to happen in their backyard. Maybe there was some inspiration there."

Alabama was a good fit for Thornhorn, his friends say, and where his writing career was finally beginning to blossom.

"He's just an incredible Southern gothic writer, compared to Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy," said his publicist, Lyn Young, of Arlington, Texas. "It's very sad we've lost him. It's a huge loss."

She said he had been working on a third book that would complete a trilogy before his death.

In its review of "Wicked Temper," Kirkus Reviews wrote: "The power of this story undeniably comes from the author's darkly lyrical voice, and his sinister reimagining of Appalachia virtually comes alive on the page."

William Peter Blatty, author of "The Exorcist," read "The Kestrel Waters," subtitled "A Tale of Love and Devil," and wrote: "I was haunted throughout by a sense of mystery and otherness. This book is a mesmerizing, wonderfully written and extraordinary work of the imagination."

Thornhorn described "The Kestrel Waters" as a fable about a bluegrass gospel singer who "falls in love with a wild mountain girl who hides in the trees, a girl who was raised by a flesh and blood devil on a haunted mountain."

Thornhorn was born in Torrance, California, but moved to rural east Texas at an early age to live with his aunt and uncle to raise on their farm near Malakoff, Texas. He moved during high school to Oklahoma City to live with father. After high school he served in the Army from 1976-79 and later worked in a video store and installing alarm systems.

"He never went to college," Vetter said. "He was a self-taught man in so many ways."

Thornhorn liked to drive through the South and take pictures. "He took photos of old gas stations, old people," Vetter said. "He just loved that. It is old and dilapidated. That's the charm, that's the beauty of it. He was one of the smartest men about movies. He knew more about movies than almost anybody I've ever met. He loved animals, the more damaged the better. If you had a three-legged one, that's the one he wanted."

Thornhorn had written "Wicked Temper" as early as 1995 and had written dozens of short stories, poems and song lyrics, Vetter said.

While in Los Angeles, he tried to break into acting while also writing, she said.

"He was very funny, could turn a character on a dime," Vetter said.

He continued acting in community theater in Alabama, at the Red Door Theatre in Union Springs, she said.

"He has had an incredible life traveling all over the country but he loved the South, loved Alabama and Georgia and the mountains," Young said. "That's where his characters are. He captures them very well."

A private memorial is planned for June 4 in Texas.

"East Texas is different; it's Southern," said Young, who for 15 years ran Dunsavage Farms Bed and Breakfast in Athens, Texas, where she first met Thornhorn. "He wrote a story called, 'The South Ends Ten Minutes West' and it was true. The terrain changes, the people change, the city styles change. He feels that he grew up in the South."
Authorities said a woman wanted in several Georgia counties was arrested this week in Cherokee County when, trying to evade arrest, she gave police the name of someone who was also being sought.

Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver said investigators went to a residence on County Road 96 Tuesday in the Broomtown area and found a woman hiding under a bed, as well as some methamphetamine.

The woman gave them a false name, Shaver said, but there were warrants on the name she gave.

The woman was actually Shellie Thompson Yarbrough, 44, who was wanted in Cherokee County for forgery, and has forgery and burglary warrants in Georgia. She is also being charged with drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and obstruction of justice.

Anthony Miles Yarbrough

Her husband, Anthony Miles Yarbrough, 44, was also arrested on charges of drug possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and hindering prosecution.

Both were transported to the Cherokee County Detention Center.
The capital murder trial of a Gadsden man accused of shooting two men to death in a car on Gadsden's Meighan Bridge in 2013 has been tentatively set for March 2017.

Judge Allen Millican this morning told lawyers the trial of Cedric Orlando Young, 29, could not happen any earlier than next March as both sides sort through evidence and motions.

Young is accused in the Aug. 17, 2013 murders of Jabari Player, 35, and Billy Baker, 53. Authorities at the time said Young shot the men with an AK-47 from a gray four-door Ford 500 on the bridge while three others were in the Ford. A total of four people have been charged with capital murder in the case. Another person has been charged with hindering prosecution.

Investigators said Baker was not involved in any criminal activity and was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Baker was a longtime employee of Riverview Regional Medical Center.

Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh, who has been appointed to prosecute the case, was in court today. Etowah County District Attorney Jody Willoughby has recused himself from the trial because he had previously represented one of the defendants in the case.

McVeigh said each of the defendants charged with capital murder will probably be tried individually. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty with Young, he said.

Young's lawyers made several requests during the hearing, such as recordings of Young's phone conversations in jail. Young is currently being held in the Calhoun County Jail.
Some historians say the number of dead could be as high as two million people during Mao Zedongs communist purge.

You would be hard pressed to find someone in China who has family, friends or relatives who were not touched in some way by the Cultural Revolution.

The father of Chinas President Xi Jinping was persecuted and the young Xi was forced into hiding in the countryside.

It was a mass brainwashing  collective madness in which those with the most sadistic streaks flourished  and many did.

No wonder so few people are prepared to really talk about what happened; to admit their guilt, to express their sorrow. It is as if one is trying to talk to Cambodians about life under the Khmer Rouge.

There are still no official figures on how many people were killed or purged in China during the Cultural Revolution.

But some historians say the number of dead could be as high as two million  still less than the millions who died during the famines blamed on Chairman Maos disastrous policies in the late 1950s.

READ MORE: Chinas Cultural Revolution must be confronted

For many Chinese people, the Cultural Revolution remains a taboo subject, especially among those of 65 years of age or older. But occasionally  just occasionally  you come across someone who is prepared to confess to the very worst of crimes.

For the past three decades Wang Yiju has run a successful riding school and stud farm outside Beijing. But it is his life in the previous two decades that he has agreed to discuss on this bright spring day.

In clinical dispassionate language he describes how he became sucked into the anarchy going on all around him.

At first we were reluctant to beat others, but someone would criticise us  Finally we loved to beat others. Killing became very common at the time when people treated fighting as fun. It was natural to kill people in such circumstances, said Wang.

On August 5, 1967, Wang became a killer. His victim was another student from a rival faction.

I beat the back of his head with a rod. The rod was thick and hard, very long about 1.6 metres long, similar to the handle of a big hoe  I beat his head and broke the back of his skull. The police later told me that one blow was enough to kill a person with such a rod and with my power.

Wang was arrested, but later freed after the family of the dead student forgave him.

He finally made a full apology in 2008 and is urging others who killed to confess.

Few people will understand what the Cultural Revolution was if we all hold back the truth, said Wang. I think the true nature of that time is made up of memories and stories of the participants who clearly know what happened. Someone has to tell the truth, or our generation will have failed. That is why I spoke out.

It is a paradox that Mao Zedong, the man who unleashed the Cultural Revolution, remains the most enduring political brand in China.

His face is ubiquitous. Its on banknotes, T-shirts, caps, key rings and he adorns millions of commemorative plates. Maos portrait still hangs over the entrance to the Forbidden City facing Tiananmen Square.

READ MORE: Chinas red princess turned investigative journalist

During the 1989 student protests, which happened only 13 years after the Cultural Revolution came to an end, the Forbidden City was repeatedly vandalised.

For the moment, Maos image has yet to be eclipsed by another. But more often these days you do see another face appearing beside Maos, that of Chinas current President Xi Jinping.

That is a sign, some Western commentators say, that Xi is building a personality cult with echoes of Mao.



Cult-like following for Chinas president grows

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Filmmaker Mohamed Echkouna is on a mission to have Africans tell their own stories.

Atlanta, United States  Mohamed Echkouna is on a mission to control your mind.

The 24-year-old filmmaker says that film is a way to influence emotions and shape perspectives.

Its like doing brain surgery without opening up the brain, he says with a smirk. The way things come together to make a film, its magical.

Through film, Echkouna wants to change the way people think about Africa. He has a profound attachment to the continent of his birth.

On his phone are tracks by Senegalese, Nigerian and Malian musicians. He talks at length about the glorious sound of the kora, the 21-stringed harp lute instrument of the Mandinka people.

If you hear the kora, you wouldnt think that it comes from Earth. It sounds heavenly, he says with a wistful nod of his head.

Clearing his voice, he says, Im a light-skinned Arab by skin. By identity, Im African.

Building an identity

His journey of self-discovery involved challenging what he believes is a steady flow of propaganda from the international media that has distorted perceptions of Africa and Africans.

Echkouna was raised in his mothers village in Adrar, Mauritania. His father was away, working as a cameraman at a local television station in the capital, Nouakchott. The family was semi-nomadic, setting up camp in ancient towns perched on the dunes and plateaus of the Sahara desert.

It was an almost mystical landscape, thought to have been occupied since Neolithic times.

We didnt see ourselves as Africans

During the day, Echkouna tended to his familys hundreds of camels and sheep, resting with them under the shade of date palms in the placid oases. In the evening, the herdsmen returned to the village as the heat of the desert gave way to a cool breeze.

There were only 13 families in the village, and everyone would take care of each other, creating a sense of human closeness in the vast landscape.

Here, Echkouna formulated his identity as a Moor, speaking Hassaniya Arabic and learning about local customs.

But when he was 10 years old, he moved to the city to be with his father. It was around this time that Echkouna began to pay attention to the media and its influence on how people formed a sense of identity.

The channels on TV in Mauritania dont show Africans. Sudan is the closest thing to black Africa that we had, he says. Growing up in Mauritania, I realised we didnt see ourselves as Africans.

It was Hollywood that introduced him to Africa: to Sierra Leone through the hit movie Blood Diamonds and to Nigeria through Tears of the Sun. It was a portrayal that sat uncomfortably with him.

The images of war, kids carrying guns, poverty  its always negative, he reflects.



READ MORE: Inside Kannywood  Nigerias Muslim film industry

We need to be the hero

Frustrated but driven by a newfound zeal to discover his black identity, Echkouna applied to the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. From there, he took a gamble and applied to study at one of the foremost art schools in the United States, the Savannah College of Art and Design.

He didnt have the tuition money, but he went anyway.

The gamble paid off. With two months to go before he completes his studies in visual effects at the schools Atlanta campus, Echkouna has already created a film that has received critical acclaim.

Trail of Hope started as a class project. Now, it is being screened at the Cannes Film Festivals Short Film Corner. The film delicately explores sensitive subjects such as womens education, domestic violence and arranged marriage.

Its the story of Mariam, a girl who enjoyed school but was forced to stop attending and to marry a man who eventually killed her.

Mariams story is fictional. But it is also the story of countless women in my native Mauritania, and a story I hope will change the way we think of womens rights in my home country, Echkouna says.

READ MORE: Refugee crisis highlighted in Africa film festival

With such storylines, Echkouna does not deny the developmental challenges still affecting many African countries, but he believes Africans should tell their own stories to the world.

We need to be the hero, he says.

Im an African in the world, telling my story

One of his aims now is to discover talented actors across the continent.

While his film is touring the film festival circuit, he is already generating ideas for the next one. He wants to make a documentary about spiritual chanting to illustrate the connectedness of spirituality around the world.

The inspiration came to him, he says, when he lived in South Africa and attended churches where he experienced the power of gospel music sung in Xhosa.

Echkouna sees himself as part of a new generation of young African filmmakers who cherish their indigenous culture and want to share it.

In the southern American city of Atlanta, he strives to maintain his identity.

In the college cafeteria, his gaze takes in the diverse array of international students.

I am an African in the world, telling my story, he reflects.



READ MORE: Take a tour through the golden era of Nigerian cinema


Brazils new interim president, Michel Temer, has held his first official cabinet meeting, after vowing the new team would try to rescue the countrys plunging economy at a moment of profound political confrontation.

Fridays gathering at the government headquarters followed a chaotic day that saw the Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government  a move she branded a coup.

Temer moved quickly to announce his new team, including Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, who is respected by some for serving as Central Bank chief during the boom years from 2003 to 2010.

Our biggest challenge is to staunch the process of freefall of our economy, Temer said at a swearing-in ceremony on Thursday for his 22 cabinet ministers. First of all, we need to balance our public spending. The sooner we are able to balance our books, the sooner well be able to restart growth.

He also promised to support the widening investigation into corruption at the state oil company that has already ensnared leading politicians from a variety of parties and even implicated Temer himself  as well as several members of the new Cabinet.

His choice of ministers also raised criticism for its makeup: All its members are middle-aged or elderly white men  a particularly sore point in this majority non-white country. Six women, including one black, were included in the 39 members of Rousseffs cabinet when she began her second term last year.

Temer made a bid for peace with Rousseff, offering his institutional respect for the suspended leader, who continues to live in the presidential residence even as her replacement holds down the government offices.

Rousseff, however, vowed to fight her ouster, calling it a coup led by a social and economic elite that had been alarmed by the policies of her leftist Workers Party, which had held power for 13 years.





Rousseff warned that Temer plans to dismantle government social programmes that benefit around one-fourth of the Brazilian population. He insisted the programmes would be maintained and perfected under his leadership.

But his choice to lead the Social Development Ministry, Osmar Terra, acknowledged that could be tough.

What President Michel is proposing is that those programmes be the most sheltered [from cuts]. But if the budget hole is very big, well see, he said. The country is bankrupt.

Rousseff will be suspended for as long as 180 days pending a trial in the Senate. If two-thirds of the 81 senators vote to find her guilty, Temer would serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in December 2018.

Temer, the longtime leader of the centrist Democratic Movement Party, had been Rousseffs vice president as part of a coalition of convenience that broke down under the strains of economic woes and corruption scandals. He is known less for a specific ideological stance than for its skill at backroom deal making.
Congo police fired tear gas at thousands of supporters rallying outside the prosecutors office where a leading opposition presidential candidate was facing a hearing over accusations he was plotting a coup.

Fridays incident was the third time in five days that police fired tear gas at supporters of Moise Katumbi, the former governor of the countrys copper-mining region, who the government has accused of hiring mercenaries as part of the plot against the government, according to the Reuters news agency.

Authorities have given scant details about the allegations made last week, which Katumbi denies.

He says the accusations are aimed at derailing his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled since 2001, but is barred from standing for a third term in an election set for November.

Police also threw rocks at the demonstrators, who flocked towards Katumbi when he arrived outside the prosecutor generals office. One rock hit Katumbis older brother, Abraham, in the face.

Its sad that there is not a state of law  police officers who throw stones and wound my older brother, Katumbi said before entering the building.

The hearing was suspended after Katumbi said he felt unwell due to the tear gas.

Dozens were killed in January 2015 in protests over a proposed revision of the electoral law that critics said was a ploy to keep Kabila in power beyond the end of his mandate. Kabila has not said whether he will leave power this year.
Human Rights Film Festival organised for second year running to highlight plight of Palestinians under siege.

The second annual Human Rights Film Festival is underway in Gaza, bringing a measure of glitz and glamour to a city that continues to be under Israeli siege.

While the Hollywood elite are turning on the glamour at the Cannes Film Festival, this modest and very different festival is a break from everyday routine for the people of Gaza.

The idea here is to let residents of Gaza, where there are no functioning cinemas, experience a little cinematic escapism, Al Jazeeras Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from the festival, said.

Attendees of all ages, so tired of conflicts and embargoes  were clearly happy to get a chance that doesnt often come their way, Jamjoom added.

Organisers say the event is meant to give the people of Gaza a chance to feel at peace, however momentary it may be.

The slogan, the hashtag of our festival is in Arabic Badna Nitnafas  which means in English we want to breathe, we want to breathe air, we want to breathe freedom, said Saud Aburamdan, one of the organisers of the festival.

The event is also intended to send a message to the world that Gaza is not a city of terrorists but a city of people who love life, Aburamdan added.

Gaza has another face, another beautiful face. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip love life, they are not terrorists  they also can go and watch a movie.

Over the course of four days, 70 films are scheduled to screen, among them narrative features, documentaries and shorts, all free to the public.

While the Cannes festival may be getting all the headlines, the film fans who came out on the first night of the Gaza event said that their version, which is certainly not nearly as flashy, is, to them, just as special

Gaza resident Maysa Al-Atrash said: Im excited. I like an event like this, activities for me and my kids, a cultural event.
Lebanese Shia group says one of its highest-ranking officials Mustafa Badreddine killed in an air strike in Syria.

An earlier version of this story reported Hezbollah said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli strike. This was an error on our part. Hezbollah said he had been killed but did not indicate who carried out the attack, or its specific nature.

Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in Syria this week, the Lebanese Shia group has said.

He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982, Hezbollah said in a statement on Friday, announcing his death and describing him as a great jihadi leader.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and believed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollahs military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said, adding that the attack targeted one of Hezbollahs bases near Damascus airport, the groups nerve-centre in the Syrian capital.

On Friday, thousands of Hezbollah supporters carried the coffin of Badreddine, draped in a Hezbollah flag, during his funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut.

READ MORE: Israel  Any war with Hezbollah will be devastating

The group said it was working to define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile [attack] or artillery.

Successor to Mughniyah

Mustafa Badreddine replaced his brother-in-law Imad Mughniyah after the Hezbollah commander was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.

Israel officially denied being behind Mughniyahs killing, but Israeli media reported at the time that the Hezbollah commander had been a target of Israeli assassination attempts since the 1990s.

Accounts cited by the Jerusalem Post stated that Mughniyah was assassinated by Israeli intelligence agents in revenge for the 2006 Lebanon War.

Earlier on Friday, the Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen reported that Badreddine had also been killed in an Israeli attack.





However, there was no immediate response from Israel, which has attacked Hezbollah targets in Syria several times during the countrys five-year conflict.

We decline to comment, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said Badreddine was the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander to have been killed in Syria since the conflict began five years ago.

Some Hezbollah sources are saying that when Imad Mughniyah was killed, he was not replaced by just one man, Badreddine, but rather by several men. Nonetheless, Badreddine was a very high-ranking figure in the organisation.

Hezbollah has suffered heavy losses in Syria, with some sources estimating that at least 1,200 fighters have died since the group started its involvement in the war. The group is weakened and some in Lebanon are wondering what Hezbollahs exit strategy is.

Hezbollahs military intervention in Syria caused a divide in Lebanon. Some say it was totally wrong as it exposed Lebanon to threats. However, Hezbollah sees this as an existential decision because the Syrian government provides a lifeline to the group.

A significant blow

Badreddine was indicted by the United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the 2005 killing of a former prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, and was also sanctioned by the United States.

READ MORE: Killing Imad Mughniyeh made him a legend

Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

Mathew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and the author of Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanons Party of God, told Al Jazeera that Badreddines killing would hurt the group.

This is a pretty significant blow to Hezbollah  He was extremely close to the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, Levitt said.
Amnesty International report says rebels may have used chemical weapons and hell cannon rockets.

A Syrian rebel group that is laying siege to a Kurdish district in Aleppo may have used chemical weapons, as well as hell cannon rockets made from gas canisters, according to a rights group.





Amnesty International said that groups fighting under an alliance known as Jaish al-Fatah have been carrying out indiscriminate attacks on the predominantly Kurdish Sheikh Maqsoud district of the city.

The rebels may have used chemical weapons to target civilian homes, markets and mosques, killing and injuring civilians, Amnesty said on Friday.

Among the weapons used by the groups were unguided projectiles, which cannot be accurately aimed, such as mortars, home-made Hamim rockets, and the gas-canister rockets, the report said.

Hell cannon projectiles are usually made with cooking-gas canisters, which are packed with explosives and fitted with a fin before being fired from home-made canons.

Two of the armed groups conducting attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud  Ahrar al-Sham and Army of Islam  have sent representatives to the UN-brokered negotiations on Syria in Geneva, while the others have approved delegates to represent them at the talks, Amnesty said.

There are around 30,000 civilians living in Sheikh Maqsoud, a district controlled by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Unit (YPG) forces, and the area has come under sustained attack from opposition armed groups who control areas to the north, east and west of the district, the report said.

READ MORE: Syrias continuing chemical fallout

Taj Kordsh, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance which includes the YPG, Jaish al-Thuwar and other Kurdish groups, told Al Jazeera there have been several such attacks in recent months.

These attacks targeted civilians in Sheikh Maqsoud. We have proof that these rebel groups obtained these weapons and used them to target residential areas, Kordsh said.

Amnesty said it had obtained the names of at least 83 civilians, including 30 children, who were killed by attacks in Sheikh Maqsoud between February and April.

One man, Mohamad, lost seven members of his family when his home was struck by an improvised Hamim rocket launched by an armed group on 5 April, the group said.

There are no [military] checkpoints near my house. It is a residential street and there are even people displaced by fighting or who fled air strikes in Aleppo city living on the same street, he told Amnesty.

READ MORE: Major obstacles ahead of Kurdish self-rule in Syria

Saad, a pharmacist, told Amnesty that April 5 was the bloodiest day the neighbourhood had witnessed. He said that shelling from armed groups went on for nine hours.

Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnestys Middle East and North Africa deputy director, said that Sheikh Maqsoud was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis.





It is critical that the Syrian government and armed groups urgently allow unfettered access for humanitarian aid and allow civilians who wish to leave the area to do so, Mughrabi said.

Aleppo ceasefire

On Monday, government forces and rebels in Aleppo agreed to extend their truce for a second time, according to the Syrian army.

The cessation of hostilities was initially to last for two days but was later extended until Tuesday at 00:01 am (21:01 GMT Monday).

Announcing a further extension, the army command said: The regime of silence in Aleppo and its province has been extended by 48 hours from Tuesday 01:00 am [local time] to midnight on Wednesday.

A tenuous ceasefire has been in place since February, brokered by Russia and the United States, but Damascus has continued to bomb rebel-controlled parts of Aleppo. Nearly 300 people have been killed in a recent surge of violence.

With additional reporting by Diana Al Rifai
Human rights groups accuse ruling coalition, including Maoists, of attempting to wash away the crimes of the conflict.

Rights groups have slammed a deal between Nepals ruling parties to withdraw civil war cases from courts and offer amnesty to people accused of abuses during a decade-long Maoist rebellion.

Security forces and former Maoist rebels have been accused of carrying out torture, killings, rapes and forced disappearances during the conflict, which ended in 2006 leaving more than 16,000 dead.

The ruling Communist Party (Unified Marxist Leninist) of Nepal and its coalition partner, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), last week signed an agreement paving the way for war crimes cases to be withdrawn or pardoned.

In a joint statement, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) accused the two parties of attempting to wash away the crimes of the conflict with the new agreement.

IN PICTURES: What became of 1,400 people who disappeared in Nepal?

It flies in the face of Nepals international human rights obligations and the rulings of its own Supreme Court by trying to wash away the crimes of the conflict and provide blanket amnesty to alleged perpetrators, said Sam Zarifi, ICJs Asia-Pacific director.

Nepals Supreme Court has repeatedly opposed attempts to grant amnesty for serious rights abuses.

The Himalayan nation set up two post-war commissions for transitional justice in 2015, which began to accept complaints from victims last month.

Activists accused the security forces of threatening witnesses, who have not been provided adequate safety and protection.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Commission for Enforced Disappearances were agreed as part of the peace pact signed between the Maoists and the government in 2006.

Although the Supreme Court has issued arrest warrants in several cases of alleged war crimes, only one verdict has been given, with five former Maoist rebels convicted in 2014 of the murder of a journalist.

An army colonel, who was arrested in January 2013 in Britain over allegations of torture committed during the war, is also facing trial in a British court.
At least 16 senior members of the group killed in an air strike on an airbase it controls in northwest of the country.

At least 16 senior members of the al-Nusra Front armed group have been killed in an air strike in Syria, according to an organisation that monitors the war there.

The strike hit a meeting the group was holding at the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the northwest of the country on Thursday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

One of the dead was a foreign commander, the monitor said.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the strike. Both Russia and the United States have previously targeted the al-Nusra Front in Syria.

Idlib province, where the attack took place, borders Turkey and is almost completely controlled by rebel groups, including the al-Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham.

Al-Nusra Front is part of an alliance of groups known as Jaish al-Fatah, which is fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian- and Iranian-backed allies in the Aleppo countryside.

At least 250,000 people have been killed during Syrias five-year war, according to the United Nations, and four million people have been forced to flee the country.
At least four security personnel killed hours after 12 people were gunned down at cafe in the town of Balad.

A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a market in a town north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least four security personnel, hours after gunmen killed 12 people at a cafe in the same town.

At least 25 people were also wounded in the attack on the restaurant in the mainly Shia town of Balad, hospital and police sources said on Friday.

The attackers used machineguns to spray the cafe with bullets from cars parked outside for about 10 minutes before leaving the scene, the Reuters news agency reported.

They passed three police checkpoints before reaching their target, police sources told Reuters.

The town is about 40km from a frontline held by Shia militiamen, which was almost overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in 2014.

Iraqi authorities have faced criticism over security breaches after suicide attackers set off three bombs on Wednesday in Baghdad killing at least 80 people in the bloodiest day for the city so far this year.

The country is in the grip of a political crisis over a cabinet overhaul that has crippled the government for weeks and threatens to undermine the United States-backed war against ISIL, which still controls swaths of territory in the north and west.
What was going to be the first aid delivery to besieged Daraya, Syria, in nearly four years has been blocked by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

The convoy  organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent  was prevented on Thursday from reaching the city. Shortly afterwards, regime shelling killed a father and son waiting for aid.

The Assad regime killed malnourished civilians waiting for aid. But theres no question that the apathy and inaction of world leaders played a role in their deaths, said Bissan Fakih, a spokesperson for the advocacy group The Syria Campaign.

The father and son should never have been standing for hours waiting for food, Fakih told Al Jazeera, noting that the Syrian government has used denial of food as a weapon of oppression against civilians since the beginning of the conflict. This is state policy and nobody, not the UN, not the US, Russia or the rest of the International Syria Support Group, is doing anything to challenge it.

INTERACTIVE: Whats left of Syria?

Even before it was stopped, the planned aid delivery to Daraya had come under criticism due to its contents, which included medical supplies, vaccines, baby milk and hygiene items  but no food.

The convoy left Damascus at 11am on Thursday and reached the final regime checkpoint outside Daraya at around 1pm, according to the Daraya local council. At that point, government forces demanded that the baby milk and medical supplies be removed.





Negotiations between the two sides continued until the early evening, when the mission was cancelled and the convoy returned to Damascus. Soon afterwards, regime forces shelled the civilians who had been waiting for aid, killing a father and son and injuring five others.

Muhammad Shihedeh, a member of Darayas local council, told Al Jazeera that the shelling was probably an act of retaliation. It was revenge, for daring to [remain resilient] all this time, he said.

Until Thursday, the situation in Daraya had been largely peaceful since the ceasefire, Shihedeh added, despite occasional sniper attacks and mortar shells.

Daraya, which lies in western Ghouta outside the capital Damascus, has been under an increasingly tight government siege since 2012, with no access to essential services, such as running water and electricity. No vaccinations have been carried out during that time.

Only about 8,000 people remain in Daraya, which had a population of about 80,000 before the war. But what little food can be grown locally is not enough, locals say.

The food we do have is about to expire, Sumaia, a resident of Daraya who did not want to give her last name, told Al Jazeera, noting that she survives each day on a single serving of soup made from lentils, home-grown spinach and herbs.

We feel like we are being ignored. They just talk about Daraya without doing anything to help people here. by Sumaia, Daraya resident

When a partial ceasefire, brokered by the United States and Russia, came into effect in parts of Syria in late February, it was conditional on the delivery of aid to besieged areas of the country. More than a million people are living under siege in Syria, according to the monitoring group Siege Watch. But while aid has been allowed to enter other besieged towns, Daraya has been denied access.

We feel like we are being ignored, Sumaia said. They just talk about Daraya without doing anything to help people here.

OPINION: A Syria without Syrians

Often over the past few months, aid deliveries to Daraya have been planned only for the convoys to be held up at the last minute. The ICRC says it is hoping to organise another convoy soon.

We are trying to do everything we can as soon as we can. We obviously dont know when that will be, but we are in touch with everyone, Krista Armstrong, the Middle East communications officer at the ICRC, told Al Jazeera on Friday.

We had the green light from the government, it was all in order, and we hope that we can go back  not just with what we had, but also the delivery of other things that people need.

In April, Stephen OBrien, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said that the Syrian government was ignoring countless requests for aid to be allowed into Daraya. Locals and aid officials fear that the full extent of the situation in Daraya will be realised only after it is too late.

We are heading towards starvation similar to what happened in the city of Madaya, the local council said in a note posted to Facebook this week, referring to the deaths of dozens of starving civilians in Madaya in recent months.
Hezbollah commander, who was killed in Syria, buried in southern Beirut, as supporters call for revenge for his death.

An earlier version of this story reported Hezbollah said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli strike. This was an error on our part. Hezbollah said he had been killed but did not indicate who carried out the attack, or its specific nature.

Thousands of people in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, have attended the funeral of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in Syria.

Badreddine died in Damascus this week, the Lebanese Shia group announced on Friday.

Badreddines coffin, draped with a yellow Hezbollah flag, was carried through the streets of a suburb in southern Beirut, as thousands of supporters called for revenge for his death.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and believed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollahs military operations in Syria, where thousands of its members are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

[Badreddine] took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982, Hezbollah said in a statement, announcing his death and describing him as a great jihadi leader.

He was killed on Tuesday night, the statement said, adding that the attack targeted one of Hezbollahs bases near Damascus airport, the groups nerve-centre in the Syrian capital.

READ MORE: Israel  Any war with Hezbollah will be devastating

The group said it was working to define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile [attack] or artillery.

Successor to Mughniyah

Mustafa Badreddine replaced his brother-in-law Imad Mughniyah after he was killed in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.

Israel officially denied being behind Mughniyahs killing, but Israeli media reported at the time that the Hezbollah commander had been a target of Israeli assassination attempts since the 1990s.

Accounts cited by the Jerusalem Post newspaper said that Mughniyah was assassinated by Israeli intelligence agents in revenge for the 2006 Lebanon War.

Earlier on Friday, the Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen reported that Badreddine had also been killed in an Israeli attack.





However, there was no immediate response from Israel, which has attacked Hezbollah targets in Syria several times during the countrys five-year conflict.

We decline to comment, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut, said Badreddine was the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander to have been killed in Syria since the conflict began.

Some Hezbollah sources are saying that when Imad Mughniyah was killed, he was not replaced by just one man, Badreddine, but rather by several men. Nonetheless, Badreddine was a very high-ranking figure in the organisation.

Hezbollah has suffered heavy losses in Syria, with some sources estimating that at least 1,200 fighters have died since the group started its involvement in the war. The group is weakened and some in Lebanon are wondering what Hezbollahs exit strategy is.

Hezbollahs military intervention in Syria caused a divide in Lebanon. Some say it was totally wrong as it exposed Lebanon to threats. However, Hezbollah sees this as an existential decision because the Syrian government provides a lifeline to the group.

A significant blow

Badreddine was indicted by the United Nations-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the 2005 killing of a former prime minister, Rafik al-Hariri, and was also sanctioned by the United States.

READ MORE: Killing Imad Mughniyeh made him a legend

He was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

Mathew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and the author of Hezbollah: The Global Footprint of Lebanons Party of God, told Al Jazeera that Badreddines killing would hurt the group.

This is a pretty significant blow to Hezbollah  He was extremely close to the Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, Levitt said.
Anderson Ponty BandBoulder TheaterBoulder, COMay 4, 2016Some collaborations are inevitable; Ella and Louie, Tedeschi and Trucks, peanut butter and chocolate. Others are not so obvious; Plant and Krause,and, pineapple and pizza (OK, maybe some people will disagree on that last one). Sometimes these seemingly unlikely pairings can be even more fun than the obvious ones because of unanticipated and serendipitous results.The Anderson Ponty Band falls into that latter category. At first blush, the melding offrom the progressive rock bandand jazz-fusion violinistseemed like it could be a clash of cultures. Rock versus jazz? Well, Miles and others fused those two nearly 50 years ago. And, although Anderson was the lead vocalist of Yes and Ponty's music has been almost exclusively instrumental, the bodies of work of the two musicians really aren't separated by oceans, either topographical or enigmatic. (See, Tales From Topographic Oceans by Yes (Atlantic, 1973) and Enigmatic Ocean by Ponty (Atlantic, 1977).) Yes, they were both on the same label in the 70s. Maybe this is a match made in inevitability!After switching from classical music to jazz, Ponty began in a straight ahead vein, recording on the stalwart jazz label, Pacific Jazz. Before long, he hooked up with, himself a purveyor of intricate jazz rock. Ponty played in Zappa's band and used him as a producer of the King Kong album (World Pacific, 1970). Yes was blazing trails in the progressive rock arena about that same time drawing heavily on classical music, but also incorporating significant jazz influences. The similarities were actually extensive. Both relied on intricate, virtuoso playing and highly arranged compositions, often in the form of suites or even mini-symphonies with multiple movements. Swirling and glistening synthesizers played an important part in the work of both artists.Lately, Anderson and Ponty have spoken about how they've actually been discussing a collaboration since at least the 1980s. In fact, the first album from the band is entitled Better Late Than Never (Liaison, 2015) to emphasize how long this project has been percolating. The results take the music of both artists to another level.A prime example is the song "Renaissance of the Sun." "Renaissance" is one of Ponty's greatest tunes, appearing on one of his early Atlantic records, Aurora (Atlantic, 1976). When Ponty got together with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White and Frank Gambale for the tour in support of the album Forever (Concord, 2011), the band played "Renaissance." For the Anderson Ponty Band rendition, Anderson wrote lyrics for the hitherto instrumental song and added a new lyricism. Thus, APB took a really great song and made it better.The rest of the band consists primarily of veterans of Ponty's 1980's bands. Drummerplayed with Ponty for many years and appears on numerous Ponty albums. The same goes for guitarist Jamie Glaser. Keyboardist Wally Minto did the same. The newcomer to the band ison bass. All these musicians seemingly played anything and everything, at any tempo or volume. They easily laid down the most intricate riff, often in concert with Ponty's violin or with another band member. The overall sound, not surprisingly, was somewhat closer to Ponty's than Yes's.Anderson's distinctive upper register voice made Yessongs immediately recognizable. And it's his voice, more than anything else that evokes echoes of Yes in the APB. At age 71 Anderson sounds great. His voice remained strong and clear throughout the entire two and a half hour performance (with an intermission) Wednesday night at the Boulder Theater. The voice is the weak link in many classic rockers, but Anderson has done whatever it takes to preserve his. He didn't limit himself to singing, but often selected a guitar-type instrument to play on most of the songs. Yes was famous for using unusual looking instruments. Guitarist Steve Howe often used guitars seemingly designed by Roger Dean, the artist who drew the Yes album covers and Wednesday night, Anderson's instruments seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Yes bassist Chris Squire was known to play a triple neck guitar. Wednesday night, Anderson also added percussion on occasion during some of the longer instrumental breaks.The set list included both Yes tunes and Ponty songs. None was an exact copy of the originals. Besides "Renaissance of the Sun," Anderson has added lyrics to other Ponty songs as well, for example, turning "Mirage" into "Infinite Mirage" and "Rhythms of Hope" has become "One in the Rhythm of Hope." These songs are based on the original Ponty compositions with lyrics and some new melodies added by Anderson.The Yes catalog was well represented in the set list as well. And while the Ponty tunes were Anderson-ized, the Yes tunes were Ponty-ized. "Long Distance Runaround" is one that benefited the most from the treatment. The APB version Wednesday night was acoustic and, while maintaining the original lyrics and melody, had a new jazzy sheen. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" was actually pretty close to the hit version, but others, such as "And You and I" and the ever-popular "Roundabout" sported significant modifications.At one point during the between-song banter, Anderson said that people sometimes ask him what type of music APB plays. He shrugged. Indeed, Wednesday's set went far beyond progressive-jazz-rock. Ponty, in particular, seemed responsible for much of the musical mash up. The second set began with a Ponty favorite, "New Country" from Imaginary Voyage (Atlantic, 1976). As the name implies, it had a distinct country feel. "Under Heaven's Door" followed, another song seemingly born in the wide open spaces as opposed to a gritty urban environment. "Jig" changed things up again, this time in an Irish direction. "Time and a Word" took the proceedings to Jamaica for a distinct reggae feel, even quoting Bob Marley's "One Love" in an extensive coda.Ponty remains one of the top violinists on the scene. He continues to move effortlessly from one musical context to another all the while putting forth one creative and inventive solo after another. With the Anderson Ponty Band, both he and Anderson have created a musical force based on the past but, at the same time, new and forward-looking and most importantly of all, vital, engaging and vastly entertaining.
The new ensemble led byandis called Spin Cycle. It could, maybe should, have been dubbed The Chameleonic Quartet. Along with the virtuosic sidemen, guitaristand bassist, the ten tracks spin-off varying styles and musical modes, from blues to ballads, punk to funk.Such catholic tastes are not unexpected from drummer Scott Neumann, who was raised on the jazz-rock fusion ofand, then went on to tour with The Woody Herman Orchestra,, Jazz Mandolin Project, and Brother. His Neu3 Trio withandreleased the 4.5 star Blessed (Origin, 2013). Likewise, saxophonisthas performed with The Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, The Gil Evans Project, Paquito D'Rivera, Joe Lovano, and Cheap Trick.Spinning the cycle here is like the board game Twister. Your ears may get tied in knots. Opening with the stop/start "Rainbow Shoelaces" the band releases the beast inside McCann's guitar, letting him shred the melody followed by Christensen's high-wire solo. Likewise, "Hamsters, Hamsters" mines that tight swinging blues, Palombi's finger-fast bass chasing the saxophone from beginning to end, only pausing for Neumann's propelled solo. But then, just when you've pigeonholed the band, they shift into the gentle melody of "Drift," which conjures the later work of's bands. Cymbal accents highlight the pastel wash of guitar and saxophone. Spin again and you're gob smacked by faux-punk oxymoron "Smart Aleck" ("smart stupid"). Rock drumming frames the school-boy-punk of McCann's glam solo and Christensen's overblown antics. If this were a garage band, the police would have been called.The ballad "Trust" follows, yielding another of Palombi's proprietary solos that absolutely melt into McCann and then Christensen's luscious take on the melody. In a similar vein is "Crystalline," with McCann switching to acoustic guitar and Christensen to soprano saxophone. The music is picture painting perfection. Just depends on what picture they plan to paint.
           2005     ..        
Created in 1998 by the Corrales Historical Society, the annual Heritage Day returns to Corrales on Saturday May 14, 10am to 4pm. This is a free community event for all ages that celebrates the village's history and agrarian heritage.

Casa San Ysidro: Gutierrez/Minge House (973 Old Church Road, Corrales, NM 87048) is partnering with the Corrales Historical Association to highlight the history in your backyard. Activities at Casa San Ysidro focus on the tangible aspects of local history and culture such as wool production, blacksmithing, traditional music and art. Families may visit with multi-horned churro sheep and serene pack burros to learn about the importance of these hard working historic breeds to New Mexico's past.

"We are really excited about new performers to Heritage Day," says Emily Stovel, the new site manager of Casa San Ysidro. "An all-female mariachi band will be performing - they are totally awesome! And this will be the first time we've had pueblo dancers. The day really captures the total breadth and depth of our New Mexican communities and arts."

Performances at Casa San Ysidro

11am Mariachi Buenaventura, all female mariachi group



Noon and 2pm Arrieria, the ancient craft of packing and droving, with burros Freighter and Amiga



1pm Haak'u Buffalo Dancers (Acoma)

All day: Churro sheep, blacksmithing, horno bread baking, spinning, hands-on art project.

Art display: Tinwork, colcha, encrusted straw, and retablos

Heritage Day at Casa San Ysidro is supported in part by Wells Fargo.

Casa San Ysidro is a historic building managed by Albuquerque Museum. The c. 1875 home, restored and expanded by Dr. Ward Alan and Shirley Minge, combines traditional building techniques and architectural features that evoke New Mexico's Spanish Colonial past. Located in the farming village of Corrales, just north of Albuquerque, the museum is listed on the State Register of Cultural Properties and El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail.

Summer tour hours run from June through August, Tuesday through Saturday 10:30am, noon, and 1:30pm.

Tour Fees: $4 Adults, $3 Seniors (65+) and students (13+), $2 Children (12 and under), Albuquerque Museum Foundation Members are free. Group and school tours by reservation only. Call (505)898-3915.




AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank

Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War

The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool

She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold

In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners

By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him

But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63

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FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground

AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World

COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground

ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words

BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance

A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum

OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008

HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground

BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum

WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground

FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World

POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day

FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance

YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum

THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground

OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:

WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama

PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words

TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day

THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum

THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies

AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance

CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida

SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World

PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground

VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day

REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies

FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum

SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008

AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World

STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special

SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum

TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt.  Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground

IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008

CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies

WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto

DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance

I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
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!)
This week the second trial of a Baltimore City police officer over the death of small-time hood Freddie Gray is set to commence. The officer now in the dock, Edward M. Nero, is being prosecuted on the unprecedented grounds that he lacked probable cause to arrest Gray, and that therefore his actions in detaining Gray and placing him in a police paddy-wagon were not just a mistake in judgment (if that), but criminal. The Gray police prosecutions are a case study of how an American metropolis can descend into mob rule, and how fragile are the social bonds and legal protections that hold this republic together.

Nero was one of the bicycle patrol officers that first detained Gray and is charged with the least serious offenses. The prosecutions theory of the case is that Gray died from injuries received during his ride in the police van, not through anything that Nero or his partner did. As a result, neither Nero nor his partner is charged with offenses directly related to Grays death. But Nero and his partner are white, and appear on video dragging a recalcitrant Gray into the police van. Letting them off the hook when three black officers have also been wrongly charged in Grays death would be politically impossible for Baltimores craven mayor and states attorney. So they have ginned up charges against Nero and his partner which are different, but just as legally and morally outrageous as the charges against their black colleagues.

One of those black officers, William Porter, was charged with manslaughter and already tried, with the result of a hung jury. That produced a legal quandary for the prosecution which had planned to force Porter to testify against his colleague Caesar Goodson (charged with the most serious offense of murder) when Porter would no longer face legal jeopardy, having been either acquitted or convicted. When that did not happen, the prosecution could have declined to retry Porter and grant him immunity. Instead they decided to retry him and force his testimony against Goodson with limited immunity while he is still in legal jeopardy, another unprecedented situation in Maryland and most other states. The trial judge, Barry G. Williams, agreed with the prosecution and Marylands leftist and pusillanimous Court of Appeals affirmed his ruling, meaning that Porter will be forced to testify against Goodson (or presumably go to jail for contempt) this summer.

But before that will be Neros trial and presumably a couple of others. And Neros trial is shaping up as more of a farce than Porters. Nero decided to be tried by Williams rather than take his chances before a jury in the racially polarized city. That Porter was not acquitted by a jury, despite a lack of any reasonable or competent evidence that he did anything to harm Gray, was warning enough for Nero and his attorneys. At least some jurors voted to convict Porter showing that the risk of jury nullification -- that jurors will ignore the evidence and instructions and vote to convict -- is not only possible, but probable in all the Gray cases. But even a bench trial is risky for Nero in this mob-ruled city, especially since it is before Williams, who appears to be helping the prosecution along as much as he can.

If the case against Porter was weak, the one against Nero is effectively nonexistent. The evidence is really not in dispute. Nero and his partner caught Grays eye in a crime ridden section of West Baltimore and Gray took off running. Nero gave chase, caught Gray and patted him down, finding a folding spring-loaded knife of a type which while legal in Maryland, is banned by a Baltimore City ordinance. Its obvious that Gray ran because he had the knife in his possession, and his possession of the knife gave Nero probable cause to arrest Gray.

But when you read an article about the Nero case, you have to do a double take, because where normally it is the defense that contends arresting officers lacked probable cause to apprehend their client, in this case the prosecution contends that Nero lacked reasonable suspicion to chase Gray, and probable cause to arrest him. Therefore, under their theory all of Neros actions thereafter, including restraining, cuffing and loading Gray in to the police van constituted crimes.

This is a novel and unprecedented charge against a police officer. It is one thing to question an officers judgement in an ordinary street arrest, and perhaps (assuming he actually did something improper) discipline him internally, or even fire him. But to subject an officer to criminal charges based on an alleged misjudgment of probable cause is not only absurd, but will ensure that officers will no longer make street arrests unless a states attorney is present to evaluate the situation. If I were a Baltimore cop thats what Id demand before made an arrest on the street that might result in my own arrest later.

The prosecution also improbably contended that Grays knife was not illegal, although that clearly appears to have been the case and Gray obviously thought so himself. Judge Williams has ruled that the prosecution will not be able to raise the issue of the knifes legality, but will be able to argue that Nero lacked probable cause to make the arrest, and that Gray later died in police custody, even though Nero had nothing to do with Gray after he was loaded onto the van.

Its quite as if the Black Lives Matter movement was running the city and the judicial system. Neros prosecution is only conceptually viable if one first buys the argument that black men are deliberately persecuted by police and therefore when they run from police it is for that reason alone -- not because they are carrying illegal substances or weapons. In Baltimore from now on, all an African-American drug dealer or armed gang-banger has to do when he sees a cop is run. If the officer gives chase, it seems the assumption will be that he is doing it for illegal reasons, and the officer will be subject to criminal prosecution. Complete anarchy is not far off.

Baltimores elected officials are under the thrall of mob rule, and its professional functionaries in the states attorneys offices, are proving willing Torquemadas in pursuit of this unconstitutional inquisition.
The week of Israels 68th anniversary, NATO invited Israel  and three other countries  to establish diplomatic missions to NATO headquarters. This is not NATO membership, something to which Israel does not aspire, but recognition that Israel has something to offer the Atlantic Alliance. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, The countries of the world want to cooperate with us because of our determined struggle against terrorism, because of our technological knowledge, our intelligence deployment and other reasons.

It may have something to do with the revelation that Israel had warned Brussels of lax airport security before the terror attack at Zavantem Airport in March. Or the discovery that Israel had offered France a tracking system for terror suspects after the Charlie Hebdo/kosher supermarket attacks and nearly a year before the September bombings that killed 130 people in Paris. France had declined. An Israeli source said, French authorities liked it, but (an official) came back and said there was a higher-level instruction not to buy Israeli technology the discussion just stopped.

It may have something to do with NATO member Turkeys increasingly perilous position in the Middle East. Facing increased Kurdish restiveness, spillover from the Syrian war, ISIS imposed genocide, and increasingly strained relations with Russia over Syria and Ngorno-Karabakh, restoring security cooperation with Israel might be a lifeline for Ankara. This would account for Turkey dropping its opposition to Israels NATO mission.

Or maybe NATO is reverting to its previous view of Israel as a security partner and moving closer to the traditional American position, regardless of the increasingly shrill tenor of European politics (were not the only ones). There is history here.

In 1979, I worked on what was called a "quick reference guide" to the capabilities Israel brought to U.S.-Israel security cooperation. Israel has:

A secure location in a crucial part of the world

A well-developed military infrastructure

The ability to maintain, service, and repair U.S.-origin equipment

An excellent deep-water port in Haifa

Modern air facilities

A position close to sea-lanes and ability to project power over long distances

A domestic air force larger than many in Western Europe and possessing more up-to-date hardware

Multilingual capabilities, including facility in English, Arabic, French, Farsi, and the languages of the (former) Soviet Union

Combat familiarity with Soviet/Russian style tactics and equipment

The ability to assist U.S. naval fleets, including common equipment

The ability to support American operations and to provide emergency air cover

A democratic political system with a strong orientation to support the United States and the NATO system.

NATO formally bought the idea, and in 1989 Israel was designated a Major Non-NATO Ally. The status allowed for joint R&D, purchase of certain weapon systems off-limits to others, joint training, the ability to bid on certain contracts, and various other benefits. More countries were added over time, essentially degrading the category from supportive allies not in NATO to countries seeking NATO support. After Pakistan (2004) and Afghanistan joined the list (2014), the U.S. Congress created an additional category for Israel  Major Strategic Partner  to ensure that Israel would stay a step ahead.

And as the Europeans shifted this week, so did the U.S. Reversing its previous opposition, the U.S. announced that Israel would be permitted to modify the F-35 fighter jets that will be delivered beginning in December. According to Wired magazine, Israel will install software described as "an app-like 'command and control' system' and Israeli-made weaponry. Wired went on to note:

Israel is quite adept at building advanced military technologies, from weapons systems to sensors to communications gear, and sells a lot of it to the U.S. Israels Litening precision targeting system -- an external pod that uses infrared imaging and laser range-finding to guide bombs to targetsis used in a variety of U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft. The sophisticated Joint Helmet-Mounted Display system for F-22 fighter pilots leans heavily on Israeli technology.

The idea that investments in Israeli defense and defense industries will pay dividends in the United States and to our NATO allies also underpins the Congressional budget debate over security assistance to Israel. It isnt a debate between Republicans and Democrats, but rather a mechanism by which the Obama administration deliberately short-changes Israels missile defense programs  possibly out of antipathy for missile defenses in general  and a bipartisan majority in Congress restores the money. Senator Lindsay Graham called it a game they (the Administration) play. Were far more realistic about Israels defense needs than they are. And they know were going to meet them.

This year, the appropriation will include $62 million for the Iron Dome system and $150 million and $120 million, respectively, for the David's Sling and Arrow 3 systems, for a total of $332 million -- more than double the administrations request.

And it should be noted that regardless of the administrations views on missile defense or Israeli politics, it has never vetoed the Congressional appropriation.

It should be noted, too, that the quick reference guide of Israeli capabilities that can benefit NATO and individual allied countries has undergone revision over time. In 1996, R&D capabilities and intelligence cooperation were added. Post 9/11, urban counterterror training was added. More recently, ballistic missile defense and tunnel detection capabilities have been added.

Nothing has been ever been deleted.
In his 2008 book Jihad and American Medicine, Dr. Adam Frederic Dorin considers what "thinking like a terrorist" would entail in terms of attacks on our healthcare system. According to the blurb "Dr. Dorin's unique book offers the first in-depth expose and loud alert to the risks and gaping weak spots in our healthcare system." Dr. Dorin asks "[i]sn't it odd that in our post-9/11 world we should choose to ignore facts that implicate the extremely lax degree of security in American medical institutions? Do we really believe that our suppression of reality -- and our state of indifference -- will protect us from attack against relatively helpless victims in hospitals, surgery centers, and other health care facilities?" Dr. Dorin asserts that the title of his book was "chosen carefully, because the battle waged by extremists (who would like nothing better than to lay ruin to our freedoms) is moving our way. It is only a matter of time before our homeland is struck again; it is only a matter of time before American medical facilities are targeted."

Dorin cites examples of suspicious incidents involving unknown individuals who were found in protected and restricted areas of hospitals. Yet, very little information was ascertained about these intruders. Dorin applauds the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center that planned to implement a perimeter security system around the medical campus to provide a layered approach to security protocols and limiting access to public entrances. But how many other medical facilities have done this?

In their 2013 article titled "The Infiltration of Terrorist Organizations into the Pharmaceutical Industry: Hezbollah as a Case Study" authors Boaz Ganor and Miri Halperin Wernli discuss how terrorist organizations have long been involved in "extensive international ties, which they exploit for fundraising and money laundering, weapons and goods smuggling, and the transportation of activists." In fact, Hizballah members have "been found to be engaged in the production and sale of counterfeit medications in Lebanon and elsewhere" as a source of income.

Distribution of such medications is worldwide. Crime groups already cooperate with terrorists in drug trafficking and punishment is minimal for making and distributing counterfeit medications. But consider if terrorists, as part of the global jihad, were to taint the medications as a means to kill infidel users.

According to Ganor and Wernli, "Hezbollah members were arrested and indicted for smuggling and distributing counterfeit Viaga and pseudoephedrine (used to treat nasal and sinus congestion) in the United States." In fact, Hizballah had been "smuggling counterfeit medications into Canada, and from there selling them directly to American consumers who sought inexpensive medications."

Certainly one motivation of "terrorist organizations to infiltrate the pharmaceuticals industry is the use they can make of counterfeit medications in their attacks -- that is, terrorist-motivated adulteration of medications (TEMA)." Thus, "...a terrorist organization may choose to use counterfeit medications to physically harm the people who take them by adding poisonous ingredients, removing active therapeutic ingredients, or intentional improperly storing, handling, or transporting them, which will result in the medication being ineffective or deliberately harmful. Use of adulterated medications can lead to death, thereby meeting a root goal of the modern terrorist organization: to spread fear and anxiety among large target populations and to destroy the confidence in the whole health care system."

Consequently, the "increasing involvement in the manufacture, smuggling, and sale of counterfeit medications is a 'wake-up call,' a warning sign that terrorist attacks may yet be perpetrated using counterfeit and purposely adulterated medications. Those terrorist organizations that are already involved in manufacturing and distributing counterfeit medications are liable to use their production centers, international smuggling and distribution networks, and ties to international crime syndicates to insert deadly adulterated drugs into the pharmaceuticals market."

In another vein, ISIS has "long tried to recruit medical students." Robert Spencer wrote in January 2016 that "[t]he numbers of UK-born medics being recruited to [the] vile jihadi cause is so worrying that British officials have been sent to Sudan in a desperate attempt to stop the flow. ISIS has already persuaded doctors from Australia, Russia, and nearly 20 from Britain to join their makeshift health ministry. British officials are now coordinating efforts to prevent more Britons from joining the terrorist health service by sending a delegation to Sudan. Many of those who have already joined up with ISIS include at least 17 British doctors who were studying at Sudans University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST). Parents had sent their children to Sudan to study medicine to reconnect with their African and Islamic roots before returning to work as doctors in the NHS."

Even more astonishing is that "[a] British Home Office source said the students would not automatically face prosecution if they returned to Britain under anti-terror legislation, so long as they could prove they have not been fighting." Does this mean that ultimately these medical personnel who may harbor jihadist tendencies would return and work for the British National Health Service?

Rob Pattinson notes that "An NHS consultant has been suspended for revealing how a Muslim surgeon refused to remove her hijab for an operation -- even though [wearing] it broke hospital health rules." Furthermore, the hijab was blood-stained from a previous operation but the Muslim surgeon refused to remove it. But in our irrationally-functioning world, the whistleblower "anesthetist was accused of racial discrimination" and was eventually "suspended." The article cites the fact that no other physicians "dared to highlight the issue about the blood stained hijab because they feared being accused of racism." It should be noted that religious head scarves are "excluded in areas such as theatre, where they could present a health and cross-infection hazard" but clearly hygiene and patient safety play second fiddle to charges of alleged racism.

An Australian-accented Muslim doctor has joined ISIS and is promoting the Islamic State's launch of its own healthcare service in Syria. Abu Yusuf is calling on foreign doctors to travel to the ISIS stronghold Raqqa to help the Islamic State Health Service. Yusuf claims that he sees this as "part of [his] jihad for Islam, to help the Muslim Ummah or community" in the medical field.

And we should not forget that jihadist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was a psychiatrist who spouted jihadist ideology well before he went on a rampage that left 13 people dead in Texas.

In Kenya, a Muslim medical intern at Wote District Hospital was placed under arrest by anti-terror police. Ryan Healy writes that "Kenya's General of Police announced that they had a cell of jihadist medics linked to ISIS that planned on conducting biological attacks against innocent Kenyans." The head of the group is Mohammed Badi Ali and his "network included medical experts" who planned "on unleashing a biological attack in Kenya using anthrax."

Inside Jihad: How Radical Islam Works, Why It Should Terrify Us, How to Defeat It, is the autobiographical book by Tawfik Hamid. He explains that "[m]edical students are often more attracted to religion because they see the power of God in nature on a regular basis. In fact, Hamid asserts that "Westerners are often astonished to observe highly accomplished Muslim doctors in the terrorist ranks." Hamid cites the example of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian surgeon currently leading al-Qaeda. In fact, "Dr. Ayman, as he was known through his involvement in various Islamist groups... 'came from a wealthy, well-known and well-educated family and was a top postgraduate student.'

In Jihad and American Medicine, Dr. Dorin highlights the fact that a December 2006 report by the Trust for America's Health came down "extremely critical of [America's] general level of preparedness for various health care crises." Prevention must be the hallmark and identification and correction of the numerous weaknesses within the medical infrastructure must be made, i.e., arming security; dealing with power grid failure; preventing contamination of hospital cafeteria food that could potentially disable hospital staff; and establishing regional response teams are but a few of his recommendations.

Dorin recalls that on September 11, 2001, "several Middle-Eastern physicians stood around the lone television and cheered. The cheering doctors, who happened to be foreign-trained surgeons from Islamic countries, were commenting 'The U.S. is getting what they deserve... let's see what these Jew-lovers have to say now.'" The good doctor reminds us that "these doctors who jumped for joy upon seeing the carnage of the Twin Towers in New York and the attack on the Pentagon, are still among us."

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com
For months now I have avoided writing this. I dreaded the process and hoped it wouldnt be necessary. But alas, events and the pleas of others have compelled me. Three emails in the span of about 30 minutes last Tuesday sealed the deal. Recently, in discussions with Trump supporters, I have had many say to me that one of the reasons they support Trump is because he is the modern-day equivalent to Ronald Reagan, writes Connor, a former student of mine in his final year of law school. Trump supporters keep perpetuating this comparison. Considering your expertise on everything Reagan, I wanted to mention this to you, in hopes you would write an article on it.

Connors email was far from the only such entreaty. I have been receiving these requests for months. Further back still, one writer about a year ago wrote a piece asserting 15 similarities between Reagan and Trump. That thing has been sent to me more often than I could count. It practically went viral. Enough is enough. Yes, its time.

I can hear Trump supporters protesting me writing this now, insisting that its time to unite against Hillary and support their Donald. But Trumps status as the presumptive nominee is a separate issue from the comparisons to Reagan, which seem to be picking up steam. The constant claims of Trump being another Reagan must be addressed and must be stopped, if merely in service of truth, but also in service of what Ronald Reagan really represented and what we need to remember. The indisputable reality is that there is no meaningful, legitimate set of similarities between Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan.

Before proceeding further, Ill begin with a general statement on my Reagan bona fides -- that is, for Trump supporters new to the conservative movement who have no idea who I am.

I have published six major books on Reagan, several of them bestsellers, ranging from (the first) God and Ronald Reagan (HarperCollins, 2004) to Reagans Legacy in a World Transformed (Harvard University Press, 2015). Some of those in between include The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism (2006) and 11 Principles of a Reagan Conservative (2014). Two of these books are the basis for the Reagan/film bio-pic, Reagan: The Movie. That film, like my books, are positive affirmations of Reagan. I am and have long been a Reagan conservative. I am hardly an establishment RINO. In fact, I literally wrote the book on Reagan conservatism. And my next book, scheduled for release next spring, is a 1,000-page-plus Cold War work on Reagan.

I have done thousands of articles, speeches, and radio and TV and print interviews on Ronald Reagan. I have personally interviewed hundreds of people who lived with or knew or worked with the man and Ive spent endless days in the Reagan Library, at the Reagan Ranch, at Reagans Eureka College, in his hometown, at the river where he lifeguarded, in nursing homes talking to elderly women who were baptized with Reagan in the summer of 1922, etc., etc., etc. I have read countless letters written by Reagan, and still far more pages of words scribbled by others. Its quite possible that Ive read more by or about Ronald Reagan than any living person on the planet. I assure you Im in the top 10.

This is very much a short list (two paragraphs) of my (embarrassing) amount of life activities dedicated to illuminating the person, life, and mind of Ronald Reagan.

My point in presenting this isnt to toot my own horn. (Quite the contrary -- all of this Reagan focus makes me seem rather strange, I think.) The point is that this is what I study. I have some credibility on the matter of Ronald Reagan. If someone wants to try to compare Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan, my opinion ought to have at least some degree of informed merit.

So, with that said, let me state unequivocally and undeniably that not only is Donald Trump not the next Reagan, but he is the anti-Reagan. Really, I find not only that the two men have preciously little in common, from their policies to their person, but I think there may be no two men more glaringly different. Donald Trump is a polar opposite of Ronald Reagan.

Generally, in terms of policy/ideological preferences, there is not much that Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan have in common, from domestic to foreign policy, which is quite odd given two Republican nominees for the presidency not too many years apart. Sure, policywise, I suppose there are some things, like favoring a strong military and -- maybe, at one point -- perhaps possibly cutting income-tax rates. But even then, as I write, Trumps favoring of lower taxes is something on which he is already reneging. Indeed, between my first draft of this article last week and my final version this week, he has flip-flopped on taxes. In a matter of minutes on Sunday, from NBC to ABC, he soared all over on taxes, and on the minimum wage.

Ronald Reagan, on the other hand, is legendary for his refusal to reverse himself on income-tax cuts throughout his entire presidency. Trump is reversing himself even before the Republican convention. Reagans refusal was because Reagan was principled. Trumps reversal is because Trump is not principled. Reagan was a complete conservative. Trump is momentarily pretending to be a conservative, and is getting away with it because of followers who back him no matter he says or does -- just as he boasted they would. (Click here for Trumps woefully embarrassing attempt to define conservatism, a problem Reagan never had. Trumps definition is that of someone attempting to hijack conservatism merely in order to get elected.)

Reagan opposed high taxes because federal income taxes were (among other things) the mothers milk that sustained and grew big government. I see no evidence that Donald Trump believes in small, limited government the way Reagan did. The way Trump speaks of what he would do as chief executive is not small-government at all, and is actually quite stunning in its remarkable lack of Constitutional comprehension. He talks as if the president can just magically cancel trade agreements and enact massive changes unilaterally. The Founders carefully never devised such a system. Im reminded of Harry Trumans warning to his Oval Office successor, Dwight Eisenhower (Im paraphrasing): Poor Ike. Hell come here and say do this, do that, do this, do that, and nothing will happen. It wont be anything like the military.

Precisely. Our system was designed so the chief executive cannot stomp in and do whatever he pleases. Thats how banana republics operate. If Trumps advocates are frustrated with the inaction of the federal government now (by the way, federal-government inaction is not a bad thing to a conservative), just wait until they see Trumps inability to kick and scream and get what he wants from behind the Oval Office desk. The federal government is not a business, and the president is not a CEO. The Founders did not want the president to be a CEO. Conservatism and genuine conservatives grasp this. Reagan did. Trump doesnt, or at least he speaks on the campaign trail like he doesnt.

But easily the starkest difference between Trump and Reagan relates to temperament and personality. Ronald Reagan was always universally liked, even by nasty critics on the left. You would have never seen Ronald Reagan hampered by 60-70% unlikability ratings like those earned by Donald Trump. It was precisely Reagans likability that made him so electable. It is precisely Trumps unlikability that makes him so unelectable.

When Reagan left office in 1989, Gallup rated him with the highest favorability/likability of any president since Eisenhower. Ironically, his likability, typically in the 60-70% range, is nearly identically matched by Trumps unlikability.

Reagan was liked by people because he liked them and treated them kindly. I never encountered one episode, ever, from Dixon, Illinois to Hollywood to Sacramento to Washington all the way to his tomb in Simi Valley, California, of Ronald Reagan speaking to anyone even once with the crudeness, rudeness, bombast, vitriol, vulgarity, and insults as Donald Trump does daily. Trump does not just lash out when someone criticizes him, or when he loses -- he explodes, he ascribes sinister motives, he threatens lawsuits, he maligns. (As I write, his newest victim is Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist Convention, a kind Christian leader whose sin was that he dared to criticize Trump. Moore is suddenly a nasty guy with no heart.") Trump does this without restraint toward fellow Republicans. Reagan had an 11th Commandment -- thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. Trump effectively seems to have one, too -- thou shalt always speak ill of fellow Republicans. Or, that is, of fellow Republicans who do not praise him.

Think about it. Consider the leading Republicans that Trump has lit up: Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, George Bush, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ben Sasse, Carly Fiorina, and on and on. They are liars, losers, morons, chokers, and (for the women) ugly. Donald Trump has spent the last six months torching the best and brightest of the future of the conservative movement and Republican Party that dared to stand in his way. He is only happy when he is winning. Anytime that Trump lost a state in the primary to Ted Cruz, all hell was guaranteed to break loose the next morning.

Reagan did not do this. In fact, Ronald Reagan was the most humble person of his power and position that I have observed in my study of the presidency. His charitable nature was extraordinary. Bill Clark, one of his closest aides and friends, used to tell me often of Reagan (I was Clarks biographer): There was no pride there, Paul. No pride at all. Donald Trump, to the contrary, is one of the most prideful human beings weve witnessed in American politics. He is a narcissist without question.

Bill Clark would further add of Reagan: The man had no ego, Paul. No ego at all. Donald Trump is all-ego. His ability to brag about himself is alarming, and I fear potentially dangerous. Psychologists will study Donald Trump for years to come.

Reagan was a man of great grace. Trump is tremendously lacking in grace.

Reagan was exceptionally kind to people. He went out of his way to give people the benefit of the doubt. Trump goes out of his way to insult people. Trump is a bully who openly encourages his supporters to knock the hell and knock the crap out of dissenters at his rallies. It is plainly unimaginable to picture Ronald Reagan speaking that way.

Reagan spoke eloquently of the dignity and sanctity of each human being, saying that every person is a ressacra (Latin for sacred reality). This was intrinsic to Reagans conservatism (and his faith).

Reagan was the consummate gentleman, especially toward women, to whom he was shy and gentle. Women have told me with tears in their eyes about his deference toward them. Trumps boorish sexual references toward women and his high-schoolish rips at their physical appearance would have horrified Ronald Reagan. I can honestly say that Donald Trumps digs at the face of Carly Fiorina and Heidi Cruz alone would have caused Ronald Reagan to reject the man because of an obvious character deficiency.

In all, these traits reflect on each mans temperament, stability, and suitability for the office of the presidency. Few men in the history of the presidency were as emotionally well-suited as Ronald Reagan, whereas few are as emotionally ill-suited as Donald Trump.

Again, there is so much more that could be said here in this comparison, but Im already approaching 2,000 words. Ill conclude with just a couple of comments on the most frequent Reagan comparisons being generated by Trump supporters.

The very worst of them is ridiculously inane in its simplicity. Its the assertion that Trump, just like Reagan, trails the Democrat in the presidential race right now, and thus -- wow, whizzbang, shazam! -- will overcome the deficit in November and win. I cant believe that I need to say this, but the mere fact that Trump, like Reagan, is trailing the Democrat does not thereby mean -- ipso facto -- that he surges like Reagan and wins in November. I know our education system is lousy, but do we really lack in critical thinking this abysmally? Such a certain surge from behind by Trump is especially less likely given the astronomical (record-breaking) unlikability numbers of Trump, which stand in complete contrast to Reagans likability. Reagan did not repulse huge segments of voting blocs like Trump does. This particular comparison is absolutely apples vs. oranges.

And still more, Ronald Reagan did not consistently trail Jimmy Carter like Trump has trailed Hillary and even Bernie Sanders. For an extended factual analysis of the data, click this superb piece by Louis Jacobson for PolitiFact. Jacobsons information is thoroughly researched.

Heres another comparison that has currency among Trump boosters: It is stated that both Reagan and Trump were dismissed by elites as policy/intellectual lightweights. They were underestimated. That is true. But the analogy ends there. The truth is that Trump clearly is a policy/intellectual lightweight, and Reagan was not. Scholars of Reagan, left and right, will today tell you that Reagan was impressively well-read and grounded in policy details. For a snapshot of the pre-presidential Reagan in the latter 1970s, and his prodigious digging into (and writing about) the nuances of policy, check out any of the books by Kiron Skinner and Martin and Annelise Anderson, by Craig Shirley, by Steve Hayward, and others. And when Ronald Reagan spoke of being a conservative, and anchored his policy preferences in conservative roots, it stemmed from years of devouring conservative books and publications and attending and speaking at conservative conferences.

Trump has done none of that intellectual heavy-lifting, nor does it seem to interest him. Recall the spectacle of watching Donald Trump in the Republican debates, especially against Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. The man was a veritable policy midget. How anyone might walk away from the TV set after watching those debates and assert that Trump won and earned their support is something I will never be able to comprehend.

And alas, one more comparison often made by Trump defenders: Trump, like Reagan, has been framed by opponents as unstable and dangerous, a man who cannot be trusted with his finger near the button. Sorry, Trump fans, but Donald Trumps explosive personality, frequent outbursts, shocking tantrums, abrasive impulsiveness and seeming lack of control (even the fawning Ann Coulter called him mental) have understandably invited these concerns in a way that Reagans behavior never merited. In Reagans case, this was totally unfounded. In Trumps case, he cannot act as he does and then expect people to feel instantly reassured with him. The man cannot be trusted with his finger at the button of his Twitter account. The feeling of unease is completely his fault.

Again, much more could be said. Donald Trumps followers can point to other things they like or see in the man -- his business experience, his confidence. Good enough. But please, in the name of Ronald Reagan, cease the nonsense about Trump having any meaningful semblance of similarity with Ronald Reagan. This is an emotional statement of wishful thinking and profound ignorance that should be stopped immediately.

Trumpists, you got your man, who a majority of Republican voters in a divided 17-person primary, voted against. You got what you wanted. But do not compare him to Ronald Reagan.

Dr. Paul Kengor is professor of political science at Grove City College. His latest book is Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage. His other books include The Communist: Frank Marshall Davis, The Untold Story of Barack Obamas Mentor, and Dupes: How Americas Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century.
Lying and spinning history are becoming an international disease. On May 3, 2016, the world learned that the White House had deliberately falsified information about Obama administration's relations with Iran. A month earlier, the spinning and falsification of history had been demonstrated at the headquarters in Paris of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Yet the difference between the two is meaningful. Whatever ones views of the correctness of U.S. policy on Iran, the White House acted for political reasons, though falsely, to score a policy success. UNESCO was created in 1945 after World War II not as a political body, but to contribute to peace that would be established on the basis of humanitys moral and intellectual solidarity.

UNESCO betrayed its own principles and ethos by the resolution, passed by the Executive Board on April 16, 2016. Not only inaccurate historically and factually, the resolution was one partly of self-protection for reasons of security, but mainly based on hatred and animosity toward the State of Israel and, on the part of some countries, of anti-Semitism.

The resolution, submitted by seven Arab countries including Egypt, passed by 33 in favor, 6 against, and 17 abstentions. France, Spain, Russia, and Sweden voted in favor; the U.S, the U.K., and Germany voted against. The vote of France, which has experienced terrorist massacres in Paris, was particularly surprising and disappointing. UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova dissociated herself from the resolution, saying it was a political decision by the economic council and the management council of UNESCO and that she herself was opposed to it.

UNESCO does not have a good record regarding Israel and Jewish holy places. In 2010, and again in October 2015, resolutions proclaimed that Rachels tomb near Bethlehem and the Cave with the tombs of the Jewish patriarchs in Hebron (Maarat HaMachpela), which are mentioned in Genesis, are Islamic holy sites. The new 2016 resolution reaffirms that the two sites are an integral part of "Palestine" and calls on Israel to end its illegal archeological excavations there.

The resolution in strong terms condemned Israeli actions in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, but most pointedly it concentrated on supposed Israeli actions on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and the Plaza of the Western Wall in the Old City. The resolution referred to the area of the Temple as al-Aqsa Mosque/al-Ha-ram al Sharif, and to the Western Wall as al-Buraq Plaza, implying they are regarded as Muslim areas. UNESCO thus refused to recognize the 3,000-year historic and religious connection between the Jewish people and those holy sites in Jerusalem and in Israel.

For some years the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have used spin and false rumors that Israel intended to change the status quo on the Mount. The UNESCO majority accepted the spin and charged that Israel does not respect the integrity, authenticity, and cultural heritage of the mosque as a holy site of worship. The resolution requires Israel to restore the status of the Mount to what it was before 1967.

This in itself is the height of hypocrisy as well as the rewriting of history. Two things are pertinent. One is that since 1967 and Israeli control of Jerusalem, all faiths have had access to the holy places in the city. By comparison, in the period, 1948 to 1967, when the area of Jerusalem and the West Bank were under Jordanian control, the city was physically divided, Jewish civilians were attacked, and 57 synagogues were destroyed.

The second factor is that conditions in the disputed area changed in September 2000, when Arafat deliberately started the Second Intifada and falsely declared that Israel was about to change access to the Mount. In fact, at that time, the Jordan Wakf had full control of the area, including access to it. Today, the site is under the authority, but not the control, of the Wakf. It was the very Palestinian riots provoked by Arafat that led to Israeli control of access to the site for security reasons.

Today, only Muslims are allowed to pray on the Mount. Jewish worship has been forbidden there since 1967. The resolution calls on Israel not to restrict Muslim worshippers from access to the mosque, but Israel has never had any intention to do so.

Not surprisingly, the UNESCO majority accepted the Palestinian Narrative of Victimhood and saw Israel as the repressive occupying power. But it is morally reprehensible that it agreed to the Palestinian attempt to erase the historic connection between the Jewish people and its holy sites. In addition, the majority forgot that the Palestinian Authority has laid claim not simply to Jewish sites, but also to the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The one-sided resolution continued its misleading and false charges. It condemned Israeli plans to build a prayer space for women at the Western Wall. It charged that Israel had placed Jewish fake graves in spaces in Muslim cemeteries on Wafk property near the Temple. It condemned the "new cycle of violence" since October 2015 but laid the blame on the victims of terrorism in Israel. It accused Israel of the continued conversion of many Islamic and Byzantine remains into the so-called Jewish ritual baths or Jewish prayer places.

Again not surprisingly, without mentioning the continuing rocket attacks by Hamas on Israel and the projected use of tunnels in order to attack Israel civilians, UNESCO deplored the continuous Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and the intolerable number of casualties among Palestinian children. UNESCO appears ignorant of the reports including the important one by Amnesty International that indicates the use of children by Hamas for military purposes and stresses the war crimes committed by Hamas.

It is shameful that UNESCO, set up for peaceful purposes to promote intercultural dialogue, has been misused for political purposes. Its one-sided resolutions against Israel and its citizens demonstrate that it has become a vehicle for hatred, not peace.
The most recent revelatory tea leaves available to interpret in the Clinton email scandal give us a bit more to go on. Those recent events are the Cheryl Mills FBI interview and FBI director James Comeys recent comments on Clintons characterization of the investigation as a security inquiry. In order of probability, we can assume the following from these events:

Strong Probability: The Justice Department has no interest in prosecuting Hillary or her aides in this scandal. This was already fairly evident in President Obamas comments on it, and Justices acquiescence permitting Clintons top aides to be represented by the same well connected Washington attorney. If there was any doubt about this, the circumstances of the Mills interview confirm Justices lack of interest. Not only were Mills and her attorney consulted beforehand regarding questioning, but they were permitted to make certain categories of inquiry off limits. When an FBI agent diverted from the script, Mills and her attorney stopped the interview and lodged a protest. The interview then continued on their terms, with the pair taking further consultation breaks as needed. The restricted category of questioning has been described as touching on attorney-client privileged communications. This is clearly a broad interpretation of privileged communications among Mills, Clinton, and her aides, but evidently one the Justice Department will respect. Since Mills is a lawyer, it will put off-limits most critical communications among her, Hillary, and other Hillary aides.

Moderately Strong Probability: The FBI is unhappy with the Justice Departments determination to let Hillary and her aides skate in the email scandal. We know pretty much for sure that at least one FBI agent is frustrated by Justices stance  the agent who asked the prohibited question. We can assume that the agent did not make a mistake, since these matters are meticulously prepped and rehearsed. It is also unlikely that the agent acted on his own, since such a move might well be a career-killer. Thus, it is also probable that the question was approved by at least the agents immediate supervisors, if not higher up, as a way of embarrassing Justice and Mills and making the FBIs displeasure apparent. Adding credence to this interpretation were Director Comeys comments mocking Hillary Clintons characterization of the case as a security inquiry. While Comey did not come out and say explicitly that the investigation is criminal, that was the clear implication of his comments, which also embarrassed Justice and the Clinton team.

Lesser Probability: Comey is hedging his bets as Hillary Clintons political position weakens. As long as she was both the presumptive Democrat nominee and the prohibitive favorite to beat the probable Republican nominee, Comey  an experienced political hand himself  was determined to be very careful, since Clinton would be his likely future boss. As the inevitability of her ascension to the presidency weakens, Comey is becoming bolder, and also bolstering his supposed bona fides as an incorruptible lawman in the event that the blunt and mercurial Trump wins the election. None of this will likely move Justice to prosecute Hillary, but it does increase the likelihood that the FBI will refer criminal charges to Justice, embarrass Clinton, and further erode her flagging political fortunes.
In a big victory for House Republicans, a federal judge has ruled that one of the Obamacare subsidies that pays insurance companies to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses for poor people is unconstitutional.

The subsidy that helps consumers pay for insurance premiums was not at issue.

The Hill:

In a major ruling, Judge Rosemary Collyer, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said the administration does not have the power to spend money on "cost sharing reduction payments" to insurers without an appropriation from Congress.

Collyer's decision doesn't immediately go into effect, however, so that the administration can appeal it.

This is an historic win for the Constitution and the American people," Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said in a statement. "The court ruled that the administration overreached by spending taxpayer money without approval from the people's representatives."

At issue are billions of dollars paid to insurance companies participating in ObamaCare so they can reduce customers' out-of-pocket costs, such as deductibles for low-income people.

The House GOP argued that the administration was unconstitutionally spending money on these payments without Congress's approval.

But the administration said it did not need an appropriation from Congress because the funds were already guaranteed by the healthcare reform law in the same section as its better-known tax credits that help people pay for coverage.

Collyer ruled that the section only appropriated funds for tax credits and said the cost sharing reductions require a separate congressional appropriation, which the administration does not currently have.

Such an appropriation cannot be inferred, Collyer wrote. None of Secretaries extra-textual arguments  whether based on economics, unintended results, or legislative history  is persuasive. The Court will enter judgment in favor of the House of Representatives and enjoin the use of unappropriated monies to fund reimbursements due to insurers under Section 1402.

Unlike previous ObamaCare lawsuits, this one is not expected to deal a crippling blow to the law if Republicans ultimately prevail.

A study from the Urban Institute found that a GOP victory would force insurers to make a major adjustment and hike premiums, but government subsidies would increase to help make up the difference and the system would likely not face major negative consequences.

Still, the case adds a major element of uncertainty to a healthcare system trying to adapt to ObamaCare.
In a new email released by Judicial Watch, Hillary Clinton directed one of her top aides, Cheryl Mills, to contact her on her unsecured home phone when the two were having problems connecting on the secure State Department line.

It's unknown if this was a regular practice by Clinton, nor is it clear if Mills ever dialed her boss's home line.

The Hill:

I give up. Call me on my home #, Clinton told then-chief of staff Cheryl Mills in a February 2009 email, after more than an hour of trouble trying to communicate via a secure line. I just spoke to ops and called you reg line - we have to wait until we see each other b/c [the] technology is not working, Mills said in another email sent at almost exactly the same time. Pls try again, responded Clinton, a few moments later. Its unclear whether the two did connect, or if they moderated any discussion they may have had to avoid sensitive topics while on an unsecure landline. But the episode is likely to cause concern among critics of Clinton, who have previously accused her of resorting to unsecure forms of communication out of convenience, potentially jeopardizing sensitive information. Another email of Clintons, released in January, appeared to show her telling a top aide to remove identifying details and send a sensitive document through a nonsecure channel instead of via "secure fax." This drip, drip of new Clinton emails show Hillary Clinton could not care less about the security of her communications, said Tom Fitton, the president of the watchdog group, Judicial Watch, in a statement releasing Thursdays email. How many other smoking gun emails are Hillary Clinton and her co-conspirators in the Obama administration hiding from the American people? Judicial Watch obtained the messages as part of a lawsuit filed against the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act. The emails were not included in the more than 30,000 messages released by the State Department in recent months, raising questions about the scope of the departments records. Clintons presidential campaign has previously said the Democratic presidential front-runner did not use the personal clintonemail.com account during the early weeks of her time as the nations top diplomat. Instead, they have said, she used a different account, which was a holdover from her time as a senator, and she no longer has access to those emails.

What kind of operation was Clinton running? Fitton is spot on when he says Hillary could not have cared less about securing her communications. The man she hired to install her private server, Brian Pagliano, came to his job unqualified in settting up secure communications.

Daily Caller:

His resume shows he had only basic computer networking certifications, and none that would have provided the foundation for protecting a sensitive email system like Clintons. In addition to certifications in MSCE NT and 2000, CCNA, A+, and CCA, Pagliano had a political science degree from Emory University. Questions have swirled around the security of Clintons email system, which utilized her personal non-government BlackBerry and the server, which was kept at her house in New York. The Democratic presidential front-runner has insisted that there is no evidence that the server was hacked, and the FBI has reportedly not found evidence of a hack. But experts have said it is possible that Clintons system was infiltrated in other ways besides a traditional hack or by sophisticated foreign government operatives who could cover their tracks. The Romanian hacker Guccifer recently claimed that he infiltrated Clintons server after breaking into her friend Sidney Blumenthals AOL account in 2013. The claim has not been corroborated and Climtons campaign has denied it. Paglianos hire, despite his thin resume, demonstrates his political connections more than qualifications that folks would typically want for a sensitive position like that, Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton told The Daily Caller. The CEO of one security consulting firm that handles all manner of security threats for the federal governments, private companies and heads of state concurs. While Pagliano does, in fact, have some IT experience, its a far cry from anything near qualifying for a position of that level of responsibility, Global Executive Management CEO Jamie Williamson told TheDC. His resume is sparse for actual qualifying work experience and, it appears, that working for the Clinton campaign is probably the sole qualification.

Given all we know about Clinton's I.T. operation, the fact that Pagliano  who was granted immunity by the Justice Department  is singularly unqualified for his job isn't surprising.

We may never know if Hillary's privater server was hacked. If it wasn't, that would make Hillary Clinton one of the luckiest public servants in history.
"One note samba" ("Samba de Uma Nota So") by Antonio Carlos Jobim was recorded in Portuguese, and then others jumped in, like Frank Sinatra:

This is just a little samba, built upon a single note

Other notes are sure to follow but the root is still that note

Now this new note is the consequence of the one we've just been through

As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you...

Welcome to the Brazil impeachment crisis.

Brazil's Senate has just impeached President Dilma Rouseff. And there is a lot more coming, as the lyrics of the song tell us.

Back in 1998, the U.S. House impeached President Clinton, and the case was sent to the U.S. Senate for a trial. However, President Clinton retained the presidency and even ordered a bombing of Iraq. Some of you may remember the split TV screen  on one side, the House voting on impeachment, and U.S. jets dropping bombs on Iraq on the other screen. Others may recall an impeached President Clinton delivering a very long State of the Union address to Congress.

It is a little different down in Brazil:

In Brazil, the term impeachment is used only after a conviction is made in the trial, said Daniel Vargas, a law professor at Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro. Now that Brazils Senate voted against her on Thursday, Ms. Rousseff will have to step aside during her impeachment trial, which could last for six months. But if she is ultimately absolved, she will not have been impeached, Mr. Vargas said. Others agreed. Formally speaking, she has not yet been impeached, said Ronaldo Porto Macedo Jr., a law professor at the University of Sao Paulo and other institutions. She is only considered impeached when theres a final judgment.

In the meantime, V.P. Michel Temer will be the president until the trial is over.

Many people in Brazil are saying the political class want to put impeachment behind them for two big reasons. First, the Zika virus. Second, and more importantly, the Olympics are around the corner, and the country needs a stable government. I think they mean they do not want a president under investigation for massive corruption.

To be fair, President Rouseff has her supporters, as we see from the marches opposed to impeachment. She is also calling her removal a coup.

However, the state of the economy and general sense that corruption is out of control are driving the decisions by Congress.

Should we really say "congratulations" to interim President Temer?

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
When it comes to appeasing certain victim groups, its truly a no-win situation. This Donald Trump learned in an innocent attempt to make a nod to the Hispanic community  eating a taco bowl on Cinco de Mayo and tweeting out the picture. This was dubbed by Jezebel as the Taco Bowl Peace Gesture, proving they too have a sense of humor. And wouldnt you know it? The Donald is drawing criticism from all quarters.

From the Hispanic media, we hear, Que Diablo es eso?, which translates approximately to What the Devil is that? This sums up the exasperation over at Univision. Other Hispanics impudently asked, Can we make the taco bowl president instead of Trump? This is perhaps the mirror image of many who have suggested that Trump/Wall would be the best ticket for 2016.

Reince Priebus, who has reconciled himself to the reality of Trump as nominee, defended the tweet to a Politico reporter: Hes trying. How dare you condescend to Mr. Trump, sir? This was met with laughter and derision by the liberal audience, who knows well the rule that youre damned if you do and damned if you dont. Republicans are to be openly scorned should they attempt to ingratiate themselves to minorities. And so you see, Trump is not allowed to try to establish any rapport with special victim groups; only their cultural Marxist advocates are allowed that privilege. And yet one has to wonder if this little game will work with our new standard-bearer...

The Guardian refers to the photo as blatant pandering. We dont have to get into a tit-for-tat and point out instances of Democrats pandering also; rather, as the Guardian points out, [t]hese tricks are an unfortunate part of the electoral process now. The Guardian admits it, and we begrudge it, but we all accept it: in multiracial societies, politics becomes a matter of doling out the spoils to competing tribes.

What I like about Trumps efforts in this direction is that they are so frank. The Guardian decries this lack of subtlety, yet I find it refreshing. Its almost as if even Trumps pandering is meant to be slightly offensive, slightly trolling. He cant be bothered to be subtle; he doesnt have the time or inclination. His smile in the picture can be interpreted as friendly, or it can be that smirk he gets when he knows hes done something provocative and naughty.

Ever the marketing genius, perhaps Trump envisioned that this would happen: sales of taco bowls have soared, according to the head chef at Trump Tower. But no, this presidential run is not designed to run up the sales of Mexican food in Trump Tower. This was a move to show his solidarity with Mexican-Americans. And what came of it? Ridicule. I have noticed this phenomenon. To repeat: youre damned if you do and damned if you dont when you venture onto the politically correct territory of pleasing special victim groups. If you ignore their wants, they scorn you; if you court their favor, they deride you. Would you prefer to be scorned or derided? This is the treatment we are now afforded in our own country.

Its like when Joe Biden praised President Obama for being clean and articulate and then was castigated for it. You try to say something nice, and then youre the bad guy. This is part of the effort to morally disarm us to the point where on certain subjects you are advised to literally say nothing and cede the field to the most extreme advocates of multiculturalism. Whats worse is that conservatives also jump on this bandwagon and were quick to pile on Biden for his gaffe, to give just one example. Because Democrats are the real racists, dont you know?

As to whether Hispanics and blacks are actually offended by this kind of thing, I am skeptical. But the degree to which they are offended, I would suggest, is only the result of having been conditioned by the media/educational complex to be offended. Its as though there is a new and complex way to pander to different groups for their votes without being seen as doing any such thing. Ultimately, the rules seem to be that when a Democrat engages in pandering, we dont take note; when a Republican attempts to do so, it becomes an embarrassing public spectacle.

Im capable of holding two somewhat contradictory ideas in my head at the same time. In his tweet, Trump followed up his praise of his taco bowl with the declaration, I love Hispanics. If Trump says he loves Hispanics, I take him at his word. Its possible to hold this sentiment, while also adamantly wanting to build a wall on our southern border. Im sure taco bowls would still be available.

Contact Malcolm Unwell.
In an attack on Donald Trump, David French at National Review lists a number of reasons why Trump is a flaming liberal.

Reason #8 is as follows:

Trump has now signaled support for job-destroying minimum-wage increases, in a breathtakingly brazen flip-flop: STEPHANOPOULOS: Minimum wage -- all through the primaries, you were against an increase. Now youre saying youre looking at it. So whats your bottom line on this? TRUMP: Well, I am looking at it and I haven't decided in terms of numbers. But I think people have to get more. STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's a change from where you were during -- TRUMP: It's not a very (INAUDIBLE) ... STEPHANOPOULOS: --- the primary. TRUMP: Well, sure it's a change. I'm allowed to change. You need flexibility, George, whether it's a tax plan where you're going to -- where you know you're going to negotiate. But we're going to come up with something.

Well, if raising the minimum wage makes one a liberal, then the following Republican presidents were all liberals, too:

Dwight D. Eisenhower raised the minimum wage from $0.75 to $1.00/hr in nominal terms, representing a raise from $6.31 to $7.59/hr in 2012 dollars.

Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford oversaw a nomimal minimum wage increase from $1.60 to $2.30/hr.

George H.W. Bush increased the nominal minimum wage from $3.35 to $4.25/hr, which translated into an inflation-adjusted raise from $6.18 to $6.96/hr in 2012 dollars.

George W. Bush presided over a minimum raise increase from $5.15 to $6.55/hr in nominal terms, or $6.72 to $7.02/hr in 2012 dollars.

Ronald Reagan didn't increase the minimum wage, but he did greatly increase federal spending and the national debt, which  when coupled with a protectionist trade policy  must sure make him a liberal in NRO's view as well.

French's reason #3 why Trump is a liberal is that Trump used to support amnesty for illegal immigrants. Well, Reagan actually did sign an amnesty bill into law, meaning Reagan is undeniably a liberal using the NRO rules.

Thus, using NRO's "rigorous" criteria, there has not been a conservative president since WWII.
In the last few days, the #NeverTrump movement has resurfaced an older poll from Utah suggesting that "[i]f Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years."

According to the poll, in the Clinton-Trump head-to-head, Utah voters would choose Clinton by a narrow 38%-to-36% margin. If the Democratic candidate is Bernie Sanders, the poll suggests that Sanders will beat Trump 48% to 37%.

Senator Mike Lee from Utah, a Mormon, has said Trump "scares me to death" and may not endorse Trump.

If the Mormons decide to go #NeverTrump, does it matter for Trump's election chances? Probably not. In fact, it may even help him.

According to Pew Research Center polling, the public's negative feelings toward Mormons, who make up only about 2% of the U.S. population, are almost as negative as those held against atheists and Muslims and below the much more positive views toward Jews, Catholics, Evangelicals, Buddhists, and even Hindus. Losing the LDS wing of the GOP may cost Trump less than he gains by minimizing the role of a relatively unpopular religion within the party.

The public's view of Mormonism means the GOP will not win general elections with Mormons at, or near, the head of the party  perhaps a lesson they should have figured out before 2012, which was an entirely winnable election had Mitt Romney not been the public face.

It would be odd if Mormons voted Democrat this time around, anyway, since Democrat-leaning voters rank Mormons as their least favorite faith, below Muslims and atheists. For Mormons, choosing the Democrat Clinton over the Republican Trump sounds like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

In terms of their location, Mormons are predominantly concentrated in Utah and southeastern Idaho, where they make up 55% and 19% of the state populations, respectively. Out of 538 electoral college votes, Utah gets six (1.1%), and Idaho has four (0.7%). The election will be won or lost in the key swing states of Florida and Ohio, who hold 47 electoral college votes by comparison.

Consequently, Mormons have negligible bargaining power with Trump. They are viewed negatively by the general public and are borderline despised by Democrats, they constitute only a tiny proportion of the total population, and their core voting bloc is concentrated in two states whose contribution toward the overall electoral college is effectively irrelevant to the election outcome.

If the Mormons walk on the GOP, it almost certainly won't signify a general negative trend.
When it comes to mobile payments it feels as if these have always been on their way to market, but theyre always just a little out of reach. Or at least, thats how many of our readers might feel across the pond in the UK, because while the US has had Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay the UK has to make do with just Apple Pay, having launched a while ago. Not too long ago though, Google announced their launch partners for Android Pay in the UK, and now, theres more evidence that Android Pay is about go live in the UK very, very shortly.

UK Newspaper, The Telegraph, has spotted signs that Android Pay is being excepted in a Pret A Manger store, a popular chain of coffee shops in the UK. The store in question told the paper that the cards were to be put out on display starting May 13th, which could suggest that Android Pay is to go live at any moment. However, the timing is of course a little curious, what with Google I/O kicking off next Wednesday, May 18th. A major expansion of Android Pay into Europe as well as elsewhere is more than likely the sort of thing that Google would save for their keynote address at Google I/O, but theres the possibility the service will go live over the weekend, too.

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When Android Pay launches in the UK, the following banks will be supported by the service; Bank of Scotland, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, M&S Bank, MBNA and Nationwide Building Society. It will also be available to those using Transport for Londons contactless payments system as well as available in a huge amount of stores up and down the country. For users running Android across the pond, they will be thinking about time as those in the States have enjoyed the system for some time now. Notable by their absence in the above list is Barclays, which is famous for trying their own contactless payments, and just this week introduced a new smartphone-based feature for Android users, which suggests that theyre not looking to adopt Android Pay any time soon, sadly.
From the very start of the courtroom spat between Oracle and Google over Android, it was obvious that Andy Rubin, the father of Android, would end up on the stand at some point. When the fight escalated to a $9 billion war with the possibility of a major blow to the concepts of fair use and open source at stake, industry watchers began waiting with bated breath to see what the original Android programmer would have to say. Rubin was cross examined for four straight hours by Oracles lawyer, Annette Hurst, hailed by some as a pathfinder in the field of intellectual property law. While Hurst kept the pressure and the heat on, even earning a few sustained objections to her incendiary lines of questioning, Rubin kept his cool and did not disappoint.

Hurst brought up financial motives that Rubin may have had for the timing of Androids release, insinuating that the urge to outshine the newly released iPhone before it could gain too much ground may have been a reason to rush the end product and led to the use of Java APIs instead of Google writing their own. She also pointed out that, at one point, a spokesperson calling Android a better flavor of Java elicited a knee-jerk reaction from Rubin to have the PR team ensure that no unauthorized parties spoke on Googles behalf in the future.

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The crux of his time on the stand came when Hurst began zeroing in on whether Googles use of Java, open source at the time of building, constituted fair use and if that fair use was still valid after Oracle bought up Sun Microsystems and their Java language. When Hurst squeezed out of Rubin that Googles approach was a clean room one, she shot back with A clean room means you dont copy stuff out of someone elses book, right, Mr. Rubin?, while picking up a book of Java language from a nearby table. Rubins icy-cool reply; That depends There are books about open source software. Hursts response was to insinuate that Rubin didnt know for sure if there truly was a clean room, which earned her a sustained objection from Google. Rubin went on to say that some specifications and code dont taint a clean room, such as the Apache Harmony license that Java fell under, to which Hurst replied, So you thought it was okay to take Suns stuff if it was in Apache Harmony? A set of emails involving Rubin were also cited, having to do with trying to find a replacement for Java an Rubin acknowledging that some parts of Java were off limits. Rubin stayed cool through the whole ordeal, which will continue tomorrow.
Taiwanese tech company, Asustek Computers, released its financial report for the first quarter of this year on Wednesday, May 11th. As part of its earnings call, the company broke down its NT$110.05 billion ($3.38 billion) consolidated Q1 revenues to reveal that 66% of it came from PC sales while 17% came from smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Meanwhile, 14% of its revenues during the quarter came from its famed PC components business that is known for its RoG (Republic of Gamers) range of enthusiast-grade motherboards, graphics cards and other computer hardware, while 3% came from IoT (Internet of Things) devices. The company designs, manufactures and markets the ZenBook range of laptop computers, the ZenFone range of popular Android-powered smartphones, ZenPad-branded tablets and the ZenWatch line of smartwatches that run on Android Wear.

Taking a detailed look at Asusteks financial report for the last quarter, the companys consolidated revenues grew 7.7% Year-on-Year (YoY) and 11.24% on a Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) basis. The company also said that as much as 48% of its revenues came from Asia, while Europe contributed 35% to the companys topline. North America, meanwhile, accounted for just the 17% of the companys consolidated revenues for Q1 2016. Meanwhile, net operating margins during the quarter declined by 0.12 percentage points YoY, although, net profits were up an impressive 13.07% from the corresponding period last year. The company reported a net profit of NT$4.161 billion ($127.69 million) for Q1 2016, with net operating profits hitting NT$4.697 ($144.13 million).

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Meanwhile, even as the company announced decent results for Q1 2016, its second quarter results are likely to be a bit of a downer for its investors. According to the guidance provided by ASUS, consolidated revenues for the current quarter is likely to be in the region of NT$95-100 billion ($2.93-3.08 billion), which would be a substantial 9-14% decline on a sequential basis. The company further revealed that it expects its PC business to bear the brunt of the downturn with a 10 to 15% decline in QoQ sales, while its hardware business is also likely to shrink by around 5% to 10%. However, even after the heavy sequential declines, the company still expects its PC and PC components business to grow by 5% on a YoY basis during the current quarter.
Earlier this week, Verizon Wireless improved their prepay plans with an increase in data allowances for customers. The $60 plan saw data increase to 6 GB a month, including a 1 GB boost through using the Auto Top Up. Verizon, Americas largest carrier, had previously dismissed the prepaid market at something it was not particularly interested in, but this U-turn may signify something of a change. And today, Sprints prepaid carrier, Boost Mobile, has launched a range of improved plans designed for families, offered on a time limited basis  these offers are available until early July 2016. Sprint had been quiet with their Boost Mobile prepaid option and many industry commentators were not expecting any major development until the relaunch of the Virgin prepaid network, due later this year.

The plans are structured around multiple lines sharing a pooled 10 GB of high speed (LTE) data allowance with unlimited calling and texting. Prices start from $70 a month, which covers two lines. After the 10 GB of data has been used, Boost Mobile throttles data speeds to 2G levels for the remainder of the month  and for customers roaming off the Boost network, calls are limited to fifty minutes a month. Customers wanting three lines will pay $95, four lines is $120 and for five lines, its $145 a month. However, for customers the Auto Re-Boost option (which automatically pays the costs) will qualify for a $5 a month credit on the second and subsequent months. Furthermore, customers installing and using the Boost Dealz application also benefit from a further $5 a month saving, so customers could be paying $135 a month for five lines of unlimited calling and the equivalent of 2 GB of LTE speed data per line. Boost describe the Boost Dealz application as providing Android customers with exclusive content and offers, which are displayed on the unlock screen of the device.

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Boost Mobiles plans also offer the ability to continue to receive free incoming calls and text messages even after their credit expires, which could be handy for those forgetful families! For those customers interested in streaming music, Boost also offer unlimited streaming with Pandora, Slacker Radio, iHeartRadio, Samsung Milk Music and 8tracks services, but the carrier has plans to add more music services in due course.
For many reasons, being within the EU is a complicated matter and part of the reason as to why aspects take their time to be resolved. Roaming is one of those aspects, although after much debate and deliberation, roaming is now becoming less of an issue with carriers continually removing roaming chargers for those who travel with the EU states, in line with the EUs deadline of 2017. However, that is not to say that all roaming-related issues have been resolved yet. While you are free to travel within the EU and not pay roaming charges for data used, the services you get for that data can still fall foul of intentional borders. Streaming services like Netflix being a prime example. Traveling from one EU member state to another can alter and change the content you are provided with, as the content is tailored differently to different countries within the EU. Likewise, the ability to use UK services like Sky TV Now or the BBC iPlayer are services which require you to be in the UK, with the apps able to detect and lock content when outside the borders. An issue which the EU now hopes to have resolved soon enough.

It is now being reported that an agreement has been made on proposals to remove the issue of online subscription services when travelling within the EU. While representatives from the member states have endorsed the proposal, it will still need to be approved by ministers when they next convene on May 26 and providing it is further approved, this will then open the door for consumers to make use of their paid services when they travel to other EU countries. Of course, there will still be some restrictions and the most notable one will likely center around the time-frame that you can be away from a home country and still receive the service. While the current proposals do not seem to provide any direct details on this time-frame, it is understood that this would not allow for the permanent ability to access home country content, but instead would be made available for what is currently being described as a limited amount of time.

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On a slightly separate note. While the BBC iPlayer is technically offered as a free service to those in the UK, that is also something which looks to be changing soon. While the country does debate whether it remains in the EU or not, government officials are looking to make it law that you need to have a BBC licence to be able to use the iPlayer app, a change which is also set to take effect from next year and one which will essentially turn the iPlayer app into a paid service, albeit by way of bundling the service in with the already established TV licence fee.
If you are in any doubt that Google is serious about virtual reality, then you only have to look at the number of Google-related announcements that are now coming through on the topic. While it is the week before Google I/O 2016 and there is always a number of rumors and reports coming though about what Google might unveil, introduce or announce, a number of the reports on virtual reality have been about structural changes in the new VR wings of Google. For instance, back in January of this year, the first hard indication of Googles virtual reality ambition was noted when it was reported Google was creating a new virtual reality division and putting Clay Bavor in charge.

Now, we have the next high-profile change being announced. Amit Singh, up until now was part of those in charge of progressing the Google for Work platform. However, Singh has today announced that he is now joining the companys new virtual reality team. A move which is being seen within the industry as one which will likely provide a more structured and business-like approach to the virtual reality division. Not to mention, Singh is thought to be someone who likes the challenge of newer and emerging technologies, which virtual reality certainly currently falls within. In terms of his position, Singhs Twitter account is already reflecting the move and detailing that he has now adopted the role of Vice President of Business and Operations for the virtual reality department.

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Of course, the structural and organizational elements are just one half of the news that is coming through in relation to Google and VR, as there are plenty of indications that Google is likely to announce something by way of Android VR. It is currently unclear what Android VR will encompass, although the reports on Android VR (and the interesting timing of Singhs transition from Google for Work to Google VR), does further indicate that Google is not only serious about the upcoming platform, but are likely to make some big announcements next week. Either way, with the event slowly edging closer, it should not be too long before everything Google and virtual reality-related is confirmed.
China continues to remain Xiaomis largest market by an order of magnitude, but the company is increasingly trying to spread its wings beyond its home turf. Its international foray began in 2014 when it entered the Indian market with a number of offerings, including its then-flagship, the Mi 3. Indian customers, thus far saddled with overpriced, under-performing devices from global multinationals like Samsung, LG and Sony at the mid and entry-level segments, lapped up the high-spec, low-cost devices from the Chinese company like there was no tomorrow. Pleasantly surprised by the response from Indian consumers, the company doubled down on the South Asian country, but also branched out to other international destinations like Indonesia and Brazil over the next year and a half.

However, with Xiaomis international operations head, Mr. Hugo Barra, and co-founders, Mr. Lin Bin and Mr. Lei Jun, repeatedly stressing on how important the Indian market is to them, the company has even started to make some of its smartphones in India through its contract manufacturer, Foxconn Electronics. The company is also believed to be interested in setting up an R&D center in the country, and has also been toying with the idea of setting up brick-and-mortar retail outlets to augment its online-only marketing mantra. Towards that end, the company had recently applied for a license to operate single-brand retail stores in the country. However, according to a report carried by the Economic Times, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has now asked Xiaomi to furnish further details about its plans before it allows the Chinese multinational to proceed any further.

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At the heart of the issue is the regulation that requires all single-brand retailers in the country to locally source at least 30% of all raw materials (by value) that go into the finished product to be sold through the single-brand retail outlets. With Xiaomi applying for an exception for products like Wi-Fi amplifiers, Bluetooth speakers and power banks, the company will now need to prove its case as to why it believes it satisfies the stringent regulations that govern who gets exemptions and who does not. Silicon Valley tech giant Apple has already got a green signal from the panel that decides on these matters, and its fate now lies in the hands of the department of economic affairs. Meanwhile, a Xiaomi spokesperson has already confirmed the developments, saying, We are in constant discussion with the department for small clarifications, and have not met any major obstacles to date. We are unable to comment further on the specifics of the application as it is still being processed.
In less than a weeks time, Motorola is expected to unveil its most powerful mid-range smartphone ever  the fourth-generation Moto G. While theres still no agreement among large sections of the tech media on whether the upcoming device will be marketed as the Moto G4 or Moto G (2016), the fact remains that many of the other details are already in public domain, including the fact that the company is likely to release not one, but two variants of the device this time around. While the more interesting model, said to be called the Moto G Plus, will sport a fingerprint scanner and a 16-megapixel primary camera, the base version will reportedly only have a 13-megapixel camera on the back and forgo the fingerprint scanner altogether.

However, even as the two Moto G models are expected to differ on some fronts, they will still come with fairly similar hardware otherwise, including a 5.5-inch, 1080p display panel and a Snapdragon 617 SoC. Now, the upcoming device has popped up on the Geekbench database, giving us an idea about what to expect from it once launched. Most of the specifications listed on the Geekbench site tallies with what we already know about the upcoming device, so theres not a whole lot of surprise on that front. According to Geekbench, the Moto G4 will be powered by the MSM8952 chipset (Snapdragon 617), sport 3 GB of RAM and run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box.

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While rumors about Motorolas upcoming launch is coming thick and fast, its important to look at what we do know as facts. The company has already sent out invites for an event to be held on the 17th of this month in the Indian capital of New Delhi, although, theres no word officially on what to expect on that day. However, the international tech media is almost unanimous in their belief that the company will launch the two aforementioned models at the event next week. The company has also organized a simultaneous event in Brazil and invites to that particular event actually mentions the Moto G specifically by name, it would be a massive surprise if the company doesnt unveil its fourth-generation Moto G devices next week.
If you use Runkeeper to track your runs, you may want to rethink that. It turns out the app is actually tracking you all the time. Even when youre not using it. That may not be a big deal to a lot of people, but FitnessKeeper (the company that owns and develops Runkeeper) has been selling this data to advertisers without getting permission from their users. Thats where the issue lays, and why they are receiving a formal complaint from the Norwegian Consumer Council. As they are going against the European data protection laws, which are taken quite seriously in Europe.

The data that Runkeeper is tracking and selling to advertisers is your location. This is actually really helpful data for advertisers, as they can target the user with ads that would work in their area. Say theres a new restaurant that opened up nearby. They can advertise that restaurant to people in the area, instead of around the country, and get a better response for their client. But that doesnt make this practice okay. The advertiser that Runkeeper sells this data to is Kiip.me and is located in the US. When it comes to Runkeeper tracking you, its expected. But only while you are using the app. As Finn Myrstad, Norwegian Consumer Council Digital Policy Director stated, everyone understands that Runkeeper tracks users while they exercise, but to continue after the training has ended is not okay. Not only is it a breach of privacy laws, we are also convinced that users do not want to be tracked in this way, or for information to be shared with third party advertisers.

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The Norwegian Consumer Council is a consumer rights watchdog and they have been looking into about 20 different apps to see if they do exactly what their permissions state, and to monitor their data. Runkeeper was one of those apps that does indeed flow data to third-party services. Tinder is another one, that is doing pretty much the same thing as Runkeeper. The NCC has also found that Runkeeper has multiple breaches of user privacy. However, since the company is a US-based company, theres not much that the Norway Data Protection Agency can do with them, in terms of imposing sanctions on the company.

If you do use Runkeeper, and arent too keen on them tracking you 24/7 and then selling that data to advertisers, then its a good idea to uninstall that app and find another app to track your runs.
Since launching Samsung Pay last year, the company has been hard at work in offering all sorts of promotions to get their users to actually use the service. Currently, Samsung Pay is only compatible with the Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. While the availability doesnt seem to be all that great, dont forget how popular Samsungs flagships really are. Weve seen Samsung use Qi Wireless chargers, gift cards up to $30 and much more, in attempts to sway users to use the service. But this may be the biggest bonus weve seen.

If you are a Sprint customer, and never used Samsung Pay before, then you can get $100 from Samsung and Sprint. However, its not going to be easy. You will need to purchase a Sprint-branded Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 or a Galaxy S7 Edge between today (May 13th) and June 7th. If you bought your device yesterday, you arent eligible for this promotion. Its a way for Samsung and Sprint to move some devices, as well as get people into using Samsung Pay. Thats not the only hoop youll need to jump through, though. You will need to create a Samsung Pay account (i.e. you cant already be a Samsung Pay user), then add a card and make three purchases between now and July 31st.

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Once youve done that, you can get your free $20 gift card for Nike, Overstock.com, Toys R Us, Gap or Whole Foods. Yes, you read that right, a $20 gift card. After that, youll get $30 in gifts from one of those retailers after completing two transactions. Once youve made ten Samsung Pay transactions, youll be able to get the final $50 gift card. Its perhaps the most complex promotion weve seen for Samsung Pay, but those that were going to use the mobile payment service anyways, this becomes a great reason to get started using it.

Samsung Pay is compatible with just about every merchant. Seeing as Samsung has MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) technology in Samsung Pay, which means you just need to tap your phone on the reader to make your purchase. Its quite simple, and much faster than pulling out your wallet.
Dedicated to Security Studies Photo by Scott Gartman

With ASU officials, many local military and business leaders and San Angelos State Rep. Drew Darby also in attendance, Angelo State University on May 10 officially dedicated its Center for Security Studies (CSS) in honor of former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was a driving force behind the formation of the CSS in 2010.

It was primarily through Hutchisons efforts on ASUs behalf that the U.S. Department of Defense in 2009 awarded ASU $6 million, spread over two years, to fund the CSS startup. That funding was mainly used to hire the centers first administrators and to upgrade the infrastructure in ASUs Hardeman Building with instructional media, information technology equipment and other facilities in preparation for CSS operations and classes.

Hutchison also played a key role in the CSS being awarded an additional $3 million grant from the U.S. Air Force in 2012 to continue and expand its faculty, curriculum and facilities.

Since it opened in April 2010, the CSS and its academic component, the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice, has become one of the largest and fastest-growing departments at ASU, with a current enrollment of 510 undergraduate and graduate students.

While the CSS was initially envisioned as an education support center for Air Force intelligence and security personnel, its scope has expanded significantly to offer academic degree plans for both military and civilian students seeking careers or career advancement in military intelligence fields, law enforcement, border and homeland security, and related civilian and government agencies. All CSS degree programs are also available online and are attracting students from across the globe.

(L to R) State Rep. Drew Darby, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, ASU President Brian J. May and Goodfellow AFB Commander Col. Mike Downs Undergraduate students can choose from bachelors degrees in border security, criminal justice, homeland security, and intelligence, security studies and analysis. Graduate students can choose from totally online masters degree programs in criminal justice, homeland security, security studies, and intelligence, security studies and analysis.

Kay Bailey Hutchison Dedication Ceremony











The CSS faculty is made up of recognized experts with extensive practical experience in their respective fields that include, but are not limited to, North Korean military and political issues, U.S./Mexico border security, Middle Eastern security issues, homeland security, military history and manpower, and criminal justice. They are supported by state-of-the-art equipment and facilities in the Hardeman Building and ASUs Global Immersion Center.

By unanimous vote of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, the CSS will now forever be named the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Security Studies.
George Zimmermans gun is an American artefact: a museum should buy it

When George Zimmerman shot dead unarmed Trayvon Martin, America wept and bled. Zimmerman claimed self-defence and was found not guilty. Now comes news:

Zimmerman Sells Gun Used In Trayvon Martin Death

The gun belongs to the shooter.

Maybe a museum will buy it. In 2015, the BBC reported:

An assault rifle used in seven unsolved murders has been discovered on public display at the Imperial War Museum. BBC Panorama has learned that investigators re-examining paramilitary murders in Northern Ireland found the gun on display in an exhibit on the Troubles. The families of the murder victims had previously been told by the police that they had disposed of the weapon Forensic tests conducted in the 1990s showed the rifle was one of two weapons used in an attack on a Belfast betting shop in 1992. Five Catholics, including a 15-year-old boy, were killed in the attack on the Ormeau Road by Protestant paramilitaries. The rifle has also been linked to the unsolved murders of two other men in 1988.

Is the Zimmerman gun an American artefact? He says:

I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American firearm icon. The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012.

We will know its value by its sale price. Zimmerman can sell it  but lets see who buys it and for how much.

Paul Sorene

Posted: 13th, May 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
Migrants: Bundestag, Morocco Algeria Tunisia safe countries Measure will make repatriations easier, asylum requests harder

(ANSAmed) - BERLIN, MAY 13 - The German Bundestag on Friday approved a new classification of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia as countries of safe origin. A total of 424 members voted, with 143 no votes and 3 abstentions.



The measure is also a consequence of the New Year's Eve violence in Cologne, where North African citizens were accused of having sexually assaulted women who had come out into the streets to celebrate the new year.



The measure, which will now have to pass the Bundesrat, will make it harder to grant the right to asylum in Germany for citizens coming from these three countries. (ANSAmed).




BEIRUT/TEL AVIV - The Lebanese Hezbollah chief Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in Syria, according to the military group, which said Badreddine was in Syria to fight against extremist groups, without providing additional details.



The Lebanese network Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, said that Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air raid.



Badreddine reached the head of the Hezbollah military in 2008, following the killing of his predecessor Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bombing in Damascus. In the past, Israel has killed some of Hezbollah's top leaders.



There was no comment from Israel regarding the Lebanese Hezbollah allegations that Israel was responsible.



"We decline all comments," said an army spokesman cited by the media.



These media sources added that various factors seem to indicate that there's no connection between Badreddine's death and Israel.



In the past, the press has attributed various attacks in Syria, which had a goal of providing weapons to Hezbollah, to the Israeli Air Force.



Israel has said on various occasions that it was its job to stop this passage of weapons.

Badreddine was one of five members of the Party of God who was formally accused of having taken part in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2015 in Beirut. He and four other Hezbollah members were called to trial in the proceedings currently taking place in The Hague at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

In the February 14 attack of 11 years ago, 21 people died in addition to Hariri. Hezbollah has always denied any involvement in the Valentine's Day attack and has accused Israel. According to the anti-Israeli Lebanese movement's media sources, Israel is behind Badreddine's killing in Syria.

Badreddine is pointed to as one of the main proponents of Hezbollah military strategy in Syria. The Shiite militants have participated since 2012 in the Damascus government's repression of the armed revolt that exploded on the wave of peaceful protests in 2011. Hezbollah has been present in all the Syrian war hotspots for some time: from Aleppo, to the north, to the trenches on the southern border with Jordan, and in the southwest on the edge of the 1974 Armistice Line between Syria and Israel, on the Golan Heights occupied by the Jewish State in 1967.

he funeral for Badreddine, the Hezbollah leader killed in Syria "in an Israeli air raid" according to media sources close to the pro-Iranian movement, will take place Friday at 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. in Italy) in the fortress of the Party of God in Beirut's southern outskirts.
Archaeology: Jordan, Aphrodite statue discovered in Jerash Statue biggest of its kind to be discovered

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, MAY 12 - Archaeologists on Thursday discovered at the Roman city of Jerash a statue of Aphrodite, God of Love, believed to be the biggest of its kind unearthed so far, officials announced today.



The discovery was made during a routine excavation by French and German archaeologists mission in cooperation with the university of Jordan, said Petra news agency.



Archaeologists have discovered the statue in the eastern part of Jerash, a major Roman city that once served as the hub of the Roman empire. The discovered part is 154 height, representing the lower part, as archaeologists believe the upper part is expected to be up to one metre in length.



The statue is known for its beauty and is considered the first life-size representation of the nude female. It depicts the goddess Aphrodite as she prepared for the ritual bath that restored her purity, discarding her drapery in her left hand, while shielding herself with the right hand. Her hands are placed in a motion that simultaneously shields her womanhood and draws attention to her nudity. Archaeologists plan further excavation and research to determine circumstances surrounding the making of the statue, which will be renovated and placed in the local museum in Jerash. Officials hope the breakthrough in the discovery will mark a major achievement in the excavation process in Jerash and would help attract more tourists to the struggling city. (ANSAmed).




BRUSSELS - Frontex said Friday that the number of asylum seekers to arrive in Italy in April was greater than the number who arrived in Greece for the first time since June 2015.



The European Union border agency said around 2,700 asylum seekers arrived in Greece last month (90% down in the previous month), while those registered in the central Mediterranean numbered 8,370.

Nearly 1,000 migrants to arrive in Sicily and Calabria. On four different ships

SIRACUSA - Nearly 1,000 migrants are set to disembark in Sicily and Calabria on Friday, ANSA sources said. On the eastern coast of Sicily, 342 migrants will arrive at the port of Augusta aboard the ship Peluso, while just north in Catania, the ship Merikarhu is set to dock with 250 migrants. The ship Rio Segura is headed for the island's capital, Palermo, with 173 migrants aboard. In Crotone on the northeastern coast of Calabria, the ship Acquarius is set to arrive with 233 migrants aboard.

EU rejects Austria's requests for Brenner controls. Vienna had asked for permission for possible move



BRUSSELS - The European Commission has rejected Austria's request, on the basis of special provisions in the Schengen treaty, for permission to introduce controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass should it consider them necessary, ANSA sources said on Friday.

German minister calls for Italy support, not Brenner checks

BERLIN - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Italy should get the support of its EU partners in tackling the asylum-seeker crisis and blasted Austria's proposal to introduce controls at its border with Italy at the Brenner Pass.

"Austria should support Italy instead of setting up new controls at the Brenner - one of the Europe's borders with the greatest emotional significance," Schaeuble was quoted as saying by Handelsblatt
Lebanon: Hezbollah, Badreddine funeral today in Beirut Head of Shiite militants in Syria was defendant in Hariri trial

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, MAY 13 - The funeral for Mustafa Badreddine, the Hezbollah leader killed in Syria "in an Israeli air raid" according to media sources close to the pro-Iranian movement, will take place Friday at 5 p.m. local time (4 p.m. in Italy) in the fortress of the Party of God in Beirut's southern outskirts.



Badreddine was one of five members of the Party of God who was formally accused of having taken part in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2015 in Beirut.



He and four other Hezbollah members were called to trial in the proceedings currently taking place in The Hague at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.



In the February 14 attack of 11 years ago, 21 people died in addition to Hariri. Hezbollah has always denied any involvement in the Valentine's Day attack and has accused Israel. According to the anti-Israeli Lebanese movement's media sources, Israel is behind Badreddine's killing in Syria.



Badreddine is pointed to as one of the main proponents of Hezbollah military strategy in Syria.



The Shiite militants have participated since 2012 in the Damascus government's repression of the armed revolt that exploded on the wave of peaceful protests in 2011.



Hezbollah has been present in all the Syrian war hotspots for some time: from Aleppo, to the north, to the trenches on the southern border with Jordan, and in the southwest on the edge of the 1974 Armistice Line between Syria and Israel, on the Golan Heights occupied by the Jewish State in 1967. (ANSAmed).




Migrants: Frontex, in Italy many from Eritrea Egypt Nigeria Inversion Greece-Italy arrivals without signs of route change

(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, MAY 13 - The number of migrant arrivals in Italy in April surpassed that of Greece for the first time since June 2015, with about 2,700 arrivals in Greece (90% less than the previous month) and 8,370 arrivals registered in the central Mediterranean, said Frontex on Friday.



The inversion between Greece and Italy came about despite the fact that the 8,370 arrivals registered in the central Mediterranean represent a 13% decrease compared to March data and a 50% decrease compared to one year ago, Frontex said.



It said the majority of migrant arrivals in Italy are Eritrean, Egyptian and Nigerian, and "there aren't signs of a significant movement of migrants from the western Mediterranean route", that is, the route that passes through Greece.



"There was a drastic reduction of arrivals on the Greek islands," said Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri.



April arrivals "are well under the number of people that we have often seen arrive daily on the island of Lesbos during the peak months of the past year".



According to Frontex, the drop is due to various factors, first among which is the EU-Turkey agreement, but also more checks put into place by Macedonia along its borders with Greece. That said, Syrians are still the majority of those who continue to arrive in Greece, followed by Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis. (ANSAmed).




RABAT- A same-sex marriage between a Moroccan man and an Algerian one in the Spanish enclave of Melilla has sparked controversy in Morocco. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Spain since 2005 and same-sex couples have been able to adopt children since 2006.

The couple is staying at the refugee center in the city, located in the enclave in Morocco, and the news has shaken the Muslim community there, according to the Arabic-language daily Assabah.

The daily reports that there are about 140 same-sex Moroccan couples from Tangiers and Tetouan that are preparing to reach the other Spanish enclave in Moroccan territory - Ceuta - which also has a refugee center.

A same-sex marriage request may thus become a key for North Africans wanting to enter the Schengen area, since the EU obliges Spain to grant homosexuals refugee status. The issue may foster further diplomatic tension between Spain and Morocco. Homosexuality is a crime in Morocco and any Muslim caught in the act of alleged homosexual relations may be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
Nearly 1,000 migrants to arrive in Sicily and Calabria On four different ships

(ANSAmed) - SIRACUSA, MAY 13 - Nearly 1,000 migrants are set to disembark in Sicily and Calabria on Friday, ANSA sources said.



On the eastern coast of Sicily, 342 migrants will arrive at the port of Augusta aboard the ship Peluso, while just north in Catania, the ship Merikarhu is set to dock with 250 migrants.



The ship Rio Segura is headed for the island's capital, Palermo, with 173 migrants aboard.



In Crotone on the northeastern coast of Calabria, the ship Acquarius is set to arrive with 233 migrants aboard.




Syria: Hezbollah commander killed, 'in Israeli air raid' Mustafa Badreddine head of Lebanese group. Israel, no comment

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT/TEL AVIV, MAY 13 - The Lebanese Hezbollah chief Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in Syria, according to the military group, which said Badreddine was in Syria to fight against extremist groups, without providing additional details.



The Lebanese network Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, said that Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air raid.



Badreddine reached the head of the Hezbollah military in 2008, following the killing of his predecessor Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bombing in Damascus. In the past, Israel has killed some of Hezbollah's top leaders.



There was no comment from Israel regarding the Lebanese Hezbollah allegations that Israel was responsible.



"We decline all comments," said an army spokesman cited by the media.



These media sources added that various factors seem to indicate that there's no connection between Badreddine's death and Israel.



In the past, the press has attributed various attacks in Syria, which had a goal of providing weapons to Hezbollah, to the Israeli Air Force.



Israel has said on various occasions that it was its job to stop this passage of weapons. (ANSAmed).




DUBROVNIK - Regional peace and stability, security, management of the migrant emergency crisis, and transnational economic cooperation were the major themes that emerged during the first day of the First Forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR) on Thursday.



It's an Adriatic-Ionian region that proposes to be more united and jointly supportive in managing emergencies.



The area is still too heterogenous, but shows a willingness to come together politically thanks to the "Dubrovnik Declaration" signed on Thursday by the foreign ministers of eight countries (Croatia, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia) that agree to the strategy launched in November 2014 led by Italy during its EU Council presidency.



The document defines the future outlines of the region and calls for cooperation among the countries agreeing to the strategy as well as the European Commission, all aimed at improving well-being of citizens in the region.



The States agree to place attention "on the necessity of finding adequate responses to the current migrant crisis".



It's a generic declaration, but supported by the words of the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu during a speech she gave.



"We need responsibility and solidarity from the part of all States," she said.



"The Declaration that we've adopted is a clear indication of the willingness of the countries involved in the Strategy to stabilise the region and make it prosper".



She said that the Strategy was launched about 18 months ago, and "now it's time to concentrate on its implementation in four strategic sectors: blue growth, connecting the region, environmental quality, sustainable tourism" - all of which are destined to play a crucial role in creating jobs and stimulating economic growth in the area.



"It's time to react," she said.



"The Commission will take on the role of facilitator and coordinator, to stimulate economic growth in the area and policy integration in the area, where all countries - EU and non EU - are on the same page," she said.



She said that there wasn't a lot of money, "but we need ideas and the capacity to best use the available funds".



Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni continued to insist on European integration in the Balkans, and said that Italy has always "believed in the potential of the Adriatic-Ionian region and in the fact that the Western Balkans should be part of the European integration process".



Gentiloni said the region is "economically and commercially" strategic for Italy, which boasts "a 27-billion-euro interchange with countries from the Adriatric-Ionian macro-region".



He said that Italy and Germany "represent the two most important economic figures in the area", and that talk of the region means talking of "interconnection of the Balkan countries in the energy fluxes, a topic that's very important for us", highlighting the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) that will bring Azeri gas to Puglia.
Brussels - Libyan authorities have asked EU ships participating in the EUNAVFOR MED anti-human trafficking operation to enter their national waters to help train its Coast Guard and Navy, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini announced Friday.



Mogherini said the EUNAVFOR mission has been extended for a year, and its mandate has been widened to include the training of Libya's Navy and Coast Guard, as well as enforcing a UN arms embargo on Libya.



Mogherini said this was a very positive development and that she will discuss it further with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj at a conference organized by Italy and the United States in Vienna on Monday.



Officials said EUNAVFOR ships will not be tasked with hunting down human traffickers in Libyan waters, but that this is a further step in that direction.



The EU council of foreign ministers is expected to give a final green light to the new, extended EUNAVFOR MED mission when it meets on May 23. (ANSAmed)
(by Cristiana Missori) DUBROVNIK - Foreign and EU integration ministers of eight countries spent two days at the first annual forum of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSAIR, to take stock of infrastructure, transportation, respect for the environment and the sea, sustainable tourism and the migratory emergency. At the forum, Croatia, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia strongly reiterated the need to join forces and get past obstacles for the wellbeing of the region. EU Commissioner for Regional Policies Corina Cretu noted that four of the countries are EU member states and that the other four are waiting to become so, and that they must ''speak to each other on an equal basis'', despite coming from different economic and social conditions. There are many difficulties that must be overcome for the sake of cooperation, and especially the idea of being able to ''go it alone''. ''Greater cohesion is required,'' the foreign ministers said on Thursday in signing the Dubrovnik Declaration. Local leaders must also be better prepared and know how to use EU funding better, Cretu said. The Adriatic is a ''sea of opportunity'' for Italy, which enjoys 27 billion euros in trade with the region every year, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. It is also so for Germany, which alongside Italy is the most important economic player in the area, and which last year launched an initiative to speed up integration and cooperation of the Western Balkans. Migration is also an issue that must be dealt with, and alongside the four strategic sectors - blue growth, connecting the region, environmental quality and sustainable tourism - the deputy vice president of the Adriatic-Ionian region said that ''a fifth should be added: reception and integration''. Greece, which on June 1 will take on the rotating EU presidency, noted that cohesion also means including the easternmost part of the strategy and including the Aegean Sea on the border with Turkey and Bulgaria: a sign that much work has yet to be done on the Adriatic-Ionian region. (ANSAmed). 5%.


(by Massimo Lomonaco) JERUSALEM - The current migration crisis is a test bed for Europe, which frequently acts as an advocate for human rights but which now must show that it can respect them itself even in difficult circumstances, Pierre Krahenbuhl told ANSA on Friday.



The Swiss commissioner-general of The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also spoke about Palestinians, who ''have been waiting for the world to solve the conflict with Israel for 68 years''.



Krahenbuhl spoke shortly before leaving for Rome to meet with representatives from the foreign ministry, those working in international cooperation and MPs. He will also be taking part in a conference at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) with a speech on the difficult situation Palestinians find themselves in, amid a geographical situation experiencing growing instability. ''In the past, the EU,'' he said, ''has often underscored to other countries the importance of respecting refuge rights and international humanitarian laws. It has been an excellent advocate for rights. But the true test is when it has to deal with the situation at home.'' In his opinion, Europe both as a continent and as a population should now ''join together and say that refugees are perhaps a concern, that we may not have the perfect solution but that we are Europe and we are on the side of values.'' Faced with ever more insistent rumors that the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees will be ''revised'', he stressed that one cannot ''re-discuss the law when the crisis hits you and instead think that the law is perfect when you are speaking about someone else. This is an important moment, because the world is watching.'' Krahenbuhl then noted UNRWA's role in helping to stabilize - despite severe financial difficulties last year, when the organization suffered a 100-million-dollar deficit - Palestinian refugees without contributing to greater instability in the region. He said that Palestinians were suffering from the lack of a ''political horizon'' and signs that could induce hope that the situation will change. The commissioner-general said that UNRWA had helped Palestinians remain in the region through providing its regular services but warned that if these services were to lessen, Europe would likely see more Palestinians trying to reach it, as well. He noted that some progress had been made in reconstruction efforts in Gaza following the 2014 war and that UNRWA had helped about half of the population, ''almost 60% of the people that'' the UN agency had wanted to help. Of the overall sum promised by the Cairo conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, UNRWA, Krahenbuhl said - noting that youth unemployment stands at 65% in Gaza and that the agency was working to ensure regular school attendance - received only 32%. The commissioner recently returned from Syria, where he met with Palestinians from the Yarmouk refugee camp, who are facing the consequences of a ''growing armed conflict'' under the Islamic State (ISIS) and the local Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Al-Nusra. He said that he had assured them that UNRWA would spare no efforts to continue to provide aid and assistance. ''Italy,'' he said, ''has a very strong tradition of supporting the agency, and for me this is very important that there is interest in Rome and Italy both within the political establishment and civil society, as well as among the public on issues concerning refugees. Thus, for me it is very important to explain UNRWA's position and continue to remind Italy and the world what the situation of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.'' (ANSAmed).


US prepared to lighten arms embargo on Libya To help new PM in fight against ISIS

(ANSAmed) - NEW YORK, MAY 13 - The US government is prpared to lighten an embargo on arms to Libya foreseen by sanctions on the country. Government sources quoted by international media outlets say that Washington might ask for a partial modification of the US Security Council Resolution approved in 2011 in the period of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi's ouster from power. The aim is reportedly to help strengthen the forces of national unity government prime minister Fayez Al-Sarraj to fight the Islamis State (ISIS) in Libya. (ANSAmed).




SYRACUSE  In a speech that balanced personal reflection with advice for a new generation of legal minds, Vice President Joe Biden encouraged Syracuse University College of Law graduates to find joy while pursing the career of their choice.

"It's your time," Biden said at Friday's commencement ceremony in the Carrier Dome. "Time to attempt to find that sweet spot where happiness and success intersect."

Biden, a 1968 Syracuse University College of Law graduate, recalled his time at the school and the friends he made while in central New York. He noted that many fellow graduates were there for him when he first ran for U.S. Senate in 1972.

And the college, he said, helped him through one of the worst periods of his life when his wife, the late Neilia Hunter Biden, and their young daughter were killed in a car crash.

"This law school  my faculty, my friends  embraced me with open arms," he said.

The vice president also discussed what the school meant to his late son, Beau, who graduated from the College of Law in 1994 and went on to serve as Delaware's attorney general.

He said Beau's friends from law school were there when he was departing to serve in Iraq with the Delaware Army National Guard. And they were by his side again when he was fighting brain cancer.

Beau Biden died a year ago this month.

In March, Syracuse announced the establishment of the Beau Biden Memorial Scholarship.

William Banks, interim dean of the College of Law and one of Beau's former professors, said they recently received support to further fund the scholarship.

"We have created a lasting tribute to Beau, reflecting his impact on the College of Law," he said.

With the scholarship, Vice President Biden said the college "continues to look out for my boy's memory."

"We are indebted to Syracuse, not only for the support, but for the affection," he said.

Biden's message then shifted to the law school graduates seated in front of him. He praised their tolerance and called them the best of their generation.

He also urged them to build good relationships, even with people they may disagree with.

"I promise you will not only be happier for it, but you will be more successful," he said.

It was the fourth time Biden spoke at a Syracuse commencement ceremony. He delivered the law school's commencement address in 1994, 2002 and 2006. He was the speaker for the university's commencement ceremony in 2009.

His son, Beau, was the College of Law's commencement speaker in 2011.

The elder Biden quoted his son, who called on graduates five years ago to "be the guardians of a more complicated truth."

"He believed as I did that you can find balance between ambition and what's really important," Biden said. "You can do both."
Sheikh Aiman Al Hosni, OMACs Chief Executive Officer, said the company is in talks with the government to seek approval to operate the terminals at service level B, as opposed as A, which would boost capacity of the new Muscat International from 12 million passengers a year to 20 million and that of Salalah International from one million to two million.

While the CEO could not give a definite date for the opening of the new Muscat International, he disclosed that the existing facility will be dedicated to general aviation and low cost carriers once the airport opens.

Sheikh Aiman said OMAC, which also oversees operations at the regional airports of Sohar, Ras Al Hadd and Ad Duqm hopes to open the Sohar facility in the middle of next year. Sohar Airport, will have an annual capacity of 250,000 passengers and is being built within the proximity of the major commercial, industrial and economic centres of Sohar including the Port of Sohar Special Economic Zone. It will complement future plans for a major expressway and rail network which will underpin the port city`s eventual transformation into a major industrial and economic hub on the Batinah coast, said Sheikh Aiman. The airport will also serve as a new gateway for cargo and courier traffic in northern Oman. Sohar Airport will have stands for two aircraft and will cater to up to 50,000 tons of cargo per annum.

Meanwhile, the CEO, said the company is expecting a 20% increase in traffic this year through Salalah International, which opened last year. Salalah International handled just over a million passengers last year  half of those arrived during citys Khareef monsoon season, double that of the 2014 season, he explained.

Sheikh Aiman also said that OMAC is in close discussion with the Port of Salalah and Salalah Free Zone to develop a sea-air cargo offering. OMAC is building a new cargo terminal at Salalah International which will be operational by August this year with a capacity of 100,000 tons per annum.

Meanwhile, Salem Awad Said Al Yafaey, General Manager of Salalah Airport said the new facility is now receiving five charter flights a week from Europe and Scandinavia and is expecting further traffic boosts this year.

Qatar Airways now operates 13 flights a week to Salalah which will increase to 21 by June, he said. Six airlines  Qatar Airways, Flydubai, Oman Air, Rotana Jet, Air Arabia and Air India  currently operate scheduled flights into Salalah and are are expected. We have had talks with others including Kuwait Airways, PIA, NAS of Saudi Arabia and Gulf Air and we are now on their radar, explained Al Yafaey. Last year Salalahs hotel room inventory increased by 650 rooms and with another two hotels due to open, the destinations tourism potential increases.


Its not clear who the first Europeans were to see the land that is now New York State.

We know that Columbus never came this far north.

And there were some Norsemen who lived for a brief time in Canada several hundred years before Columbus, but historians are pretty sure that they never came quite this far south.

There are also stories of other people from Europe and Africa who came to the Americas even before that, but nobody can prove those stories are even true, much less exactly where they visited.

What we do know is that, once Columbus and other explorers of that time figured out that this was not Asia, some of them wanted to find out what was here, and others just wanted to find a way to get past the Americas to Asia.

The first Europeans to visit New York were searching for that passage, not only because it would be shorter but because a treaty signed in 1494 gave Portugal the rights to use the trade routes that went around Africa to India and China.

That treaty would not last long, but it caused several nations to search for another route.

In 1524, an Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazzano, who was sailing for the French king, sailed up the coast from what is now North Carolina to Newfoundland. Along the way, he reached the mouth of what would later be called the Hudson River.

Verrazzano wrote that he anchored the ship and took one of its boats up the river, along which the Lenape, an Algonquin people, gathered in large numbers, welcoming him and his crew and showing them safe places they could land their boat and come ashore.

The boat went upriver, he reported, to a wide area he called a lake, with many Lenape people following along in canoes to see the strange visitors.

However, before he could land and explore the area, a strong wind came up and Verrazzano, not wanting to put his ship in danger, sailed away from a land he said was very pleasant and could turn out to be valuable.

The lake Giovanni Verrazzano had found was, in fact, Upper New York Bay, and, today, the mouth of that bay is where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (spelled with only one Z) connects Staten Island and Brooklyn.

Two years later, another explorer reached the mouth of the Hudson, but, like Verrazzano, he didnt stay long.

Estevao Gomes, a Portuguese explorer working for the King of Spain, was also looking for a way through to Asia.

In fact, Gomes had sailed with Ferdinand Magellan in 1519 on the first trip to go all the way around the world, but had turned his ship around and returned to Spain before Magellans fleet went around the tip of South America.

Now he was looking for a shorter, easier passage at the northern end of the New World.

Gomes started at Cuba and worked his way up the coast of North America to Nova Scotia before giving up, but not before seeing what he named the San Antonio River, the same river Verrazzano had found so pleasant.

The search for a passage to Asia continued, but Spain had brought gold and silver back from Mexico and the Caribbean, and the idea that Europeans could make money right there in the New World itself began to become popular.

In 1534, France sent Jacques Cartier in search of the passage, but, by his second trip the next year, he was also paying more attention to the possibilities of doing business in this new land.

Cartier became the first European to meet with Iroquois people, relatives of the People of the Longhouse, though not part of the Iroquois League that lived in our region. But on this second trip, he only traveled up the St. Lawrence River as far as Hochelaga, a native city of 1,000 people where Montreal now stands.

There he found a set of rapids that his ship could not get through, or Cartier might have gone a bit farther and become the first European to visit what is now Northern New York.

He named the place La Chine, after the French word for China, because he thought surely this mighty river would one day take French traders through to the Pacific.

What was more important, however, is that, on his first trip, Cartier had claimed the land that the St. Lawrence River flowed through, so that only France was supposed to trade or settle there.

In those days, when maps of the New World were not very accurate and it was not certain exactly what the interior of North America looked like, France had become the first European nation to make a claim that would include at least a part of what today we know as New York.

It would be nearly three-quarters of a century before Europeans walked the ground of New York, but then, in 1609, it was only a few months between the day in June that the Frenchman, Samuel de Champlain, came to the Champlain Valley in the north, and the day in September that the Englishman, Henry Hudson, established the first Dutch presence in the valley to the south whose river bears his name.

Now, for the nation that had been here all along, a new era in their history was beginning.
Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet...
May 13, 1936

Cayuga County will be well represented at the annual conference of the Northern District Federation of Home Bureaus to be held May 13, 14 and 15 in the Hotel Martin, Utica. The sessions will start at 1:30 daylight saving time on Wednesday. Mrs. Eber Salley of Ensenore will be the delegate from the Cayuga County Executive Committee, and Mrs. Jarvis Reynolds of Cato will represent Cayuga County in the public speaking contest Wednesday evening. The winner of the contest will represent this district in the state federation contest in November.

May 13, 1961

One of seven Holstein cows led to safety from the flaming Butler bar in Owasco yesterday afternoon by a passing motorist, Richard James of Cardiff, gave birth to twin calves moments after its rescue. One calf was born during the height of the barn blaze and the other one arrived less than a half hour later.

May 13, 2006

One hundred Auburn second-graders on May 23 will be treated to gifts  and their teachers with materials and supplies  when Seward Elementary School celebrates Children's Day. Children earned an official day of recognition in New York when, in 1998, Albany designated a day to honor them. The idea had its roots with retired Syracuse teacher Tina Norton, as she and her fourth-grade social studies students immersed themselves in civics lessons. Her class also worked with local officials and state lawmakers to create the resolution, which Gov. George Pataki signed into law eight years ago.

Norton will present the program at Seward, where faculty and students will also hear from speakers like Auburn Mayor Tim Lattimore and Peter Ludden of New York State United Teachers.

May 13, 2011
With the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015, ASEAN achieved a significant milestone in the regions growing political, economic, and cultural integration. As set out in 2007s ASEAN Economic Blueprint, the AEC seeks to transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital. While considerable progress has been made in liberalizing and normalizing the regions standards in most of these areas, establishing the free movement of skilled labor lags appreciably behind.

Although ASEAN has clearly stated its goal to promote skilled labor mobility, current policies not only trail the European Union, where freedom of movement is essentially unencumbered, but also less ambitious regional trade agreements such as the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The lack of a cohesive regional framework, nationalist and protectionist policies, and middling political will impede ASEANs skilled labor mobility. However, employers can still take advantage of policies that facilitate the hiring of skilled workers in certain sectors to address the frequent skilled labor shortages found within ASEAN countries.

Labor Mobility Provisions

Provisions for skilled labor movement within ASEAN principally revolve around Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs), which allow for a workers skills, experience, and accreditations to be recognized across ASEAN, permitting them to work outside their home country.

Engineering

Nursing

Architecture

Medicine

Dentistry

Tourism

Surveying (framework)

Accountancy (framework)

ASEAN currently has MRAs in place for six sectors and framework agreements in place for two more. MRAs exist for the following occupations:

The standards imposed by each MRA vary by profession. For example, an engineer must first hold a license issued by the regulatory body of his or her home country and have at least seven years of work experience following graduation, two of which entail significant work. The application would then be submitted to the ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineers Coordinating Committee for review and, if successful, the applicant would be permitted to work in other ASEAN countries as a Registered Foreign Professional Engineer. In contrast, case-by-case assessments have been eliminated entirely for the tourism sector, allowing automatic recognition for 32 tourism-related occupations.

In addition to the MRAs, the ASEAN Agreement on the Movement of Natural Persons (MNP) and the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) streamline business visa procedures for citizens within ASEAN. People engaged in the trade of goods and services, investors, business visitors, contractual service providers, and intra-corporate transferees enjoy eased access for temporary cross-border stay.

Limitations

The eight occupations governed by MRAs, though increasing mobility, represent a modest beginning to ASEANs envisioned free movement of skilled labor. For example, NAFTA  which is a regional trade agreement rather than an association  lets professionals in 63 fields move between Canada, the United States, and Mexico with just a work contract. Workers covered by existing MRAs represent only 1.5 percent of the regions workforce, and 87 percent of intra-ASEAN migrant workers are unskilled, many of whom are irregular and not governed by formal agreements. Further, while the MNP and ACIA facilitate cross-border business, visa standards are still not uniform across the region and do not increase employers abilities to hire skilled talent from other ASEAN member states.

In addition to the limited amount of fields covered by MRAs, taking advantage of one often proves difficult in practice. For Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos, companies must demonstrate that there will be a transfer of skills and knowledge to local employees and that foreign employees will eventually be replaced by locals. In Indonesia, companies must prove that the position cannot be filled by local employees, and the Philippines even constitutionally bars foreigners from certain occupations. Multinational companies, however, are able to bypass many of these restrictions by hiring employees from one country and then relocating them to another market.

The restrictive labor policies held by several South East Asian countries demonstrates the lack of political and public will to pursue increased labor mobility. Politicians, professional associations, and the public alike fear migrant workers swarming richer countries and introducing increased competition and instability, while poorer countries fear losing their most educated to brain drain. Despite these concerns, there are labor and skill shortages in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam  countries that could benefit from skilled labor from other ASEAN states with stronger education. Similarly, other countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore are in need of affordable labor, which Indonesia could easily supply with its surplus of young unemployed workers.

Regional Standards

The dearth of effective labor mobility programs is also a symptom of the need for regional standards regulating various industries. ASEANs aviation industry, for instance, does not have common regulations for personnel licensing, training, safety and maintenance, flight operations, and air traffic management. Establishing common guidelines for industries across ASEAN could facilitate the growth of regional businesses and industries, build a larger and more qualified labor force, and promote interconnectivity.

ASEAN is addressing some of these issues by establishing ASEAN Qualification Frameworks to create universal measures of qualifications and to harmonize regulations and by encouraging universities to cooperate and develop common standards. In the long term, increased skilled labor mobility in ASEAN is highly likely; however, the free movement of skilled labor remains far away. Indeed, it is the sole AEC goal that does not have specific targets to encourage and achieve progress.

Given ASEANs goal of creating free movement of skilled labor, investors operating businesses in the region may be surprised to see such limited mobility between countries. In fact, companies hiring skilled foreign workers generally have no incentive to hire an employee from an ASEAN country over an international one. In most cases, hiring a foreign worker from another ASEAN member state requires following the same visa and work permit procedures as apply to other countries. For sectors covered by MRAs, however, employers benefit from access to a much larger potential talent pool. When establishing a business in ASEAN, it is essential for investors to have a clear understanding of the relevant labor market and potential skill shortages that may arise, particularly given ASEANs uneven levels of development and complex regulations.
A Centro bus bumbled along the back country roads of Cayuga County in the Friday morning rain showers, giving its passengers a unique look at the place most of them call home.

The bus tour, organized by the Soil and Water Conservation District, made several stops across the county  from waste storage systems to cover crop implementation sites to erosion control systems  showing the public examples of good conservation practices at work.

"All the practices you see today, they're designed; they're implemented," said Doug Kierst, the executive director of the county's SWCD. "They don't just appear out of thin air."

One of those examples was a stop at Allen Farms in Scipio. Duane Allen, one of the farm's owners, had been fined $10,000 by the Department of Environmental Conservation in 2014 for manure runoff that polluted tributaries and a neighbor's drinking well.

The farm has come a long way since then, and is now one of the SWCD's examples of good manure management.

Allen explained his farm's manure separator system, which separates the solid waste from the liquid. The solid waste becomes a compost byproduct and is used as bedding for Allen's approximately 1,400 cows.

The liquid manure gets pumped down the road to the manure lagoon. Currently the Allens are working on putting a 6,000-foot pipeline to transport the poop to the 22-foot deep vat. It holds about 7.2 million gallons  about a one-year supply of excrement.

Colorful umbrellas dotted one of the Allen's farm fields as approximately 20 people waded through wet grass and dandelions to the lagoon.

"I think we should do more of these tours to inform the public about how hard the farmers are working," said Jim Beckwith, president of the Owasco Watershed Lake Association. "I know almost all farmers are very conscientious about protecting the environment, and in our case, Owasco Lake. They're doing a great job."

Legislators Joe DeForest, Mark Farrell and Aileen McNabb-Coleman also attended the tour. While DeForest has seen many of these practices already, he said it was interesting to learn about how interconnected the farms and water bodies are.

Auburn residents MaryAnn Finn and Theresa Knepper decided to go together on the tour simply because they were interested.

"It makes me appreciate the farmers more, and these people who work in this conservation area, and all they do, and the concern they have," Finn said. "To me, that's so important."

Knepper, who grew up in Auburn but lived most of her life in New York City working for the Environmental Protection Agency, has found herself back in her hometown for the past 11 years. She worked mostly on education and grant initiatives with the EPA, and her interest in the tour was around where the various grants go and how the work is monitored.

"It's very important to see how the money is being spent, and that it's spent properly," Knepper said. "It's a beautiful area because we have all these lakes. We have to take care of them."
Thousands of northerners living in the south are being driven from their homes. People are terrorised with police raids, job dismissal, and hangings by security committees and Saudi troops.

Aden (AsiaNews) - Northern Yemenis are being driven out of Aden. The forced removal campaign begun in 2015, and has picked up steam in the past few days.

The aim of the ongoing ethno-geographic cleansing seems to be the expulsion of northern Yemenis as a preliminary step towards the homogenisation of the southern population and the country`s partition along pre-1990 boundaries.

Former President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi appears to behind this plan with backing from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Despite the fact that many in the country oppose the move, fears are growing that it is going in this direction anyway. The arrival of US troops has not allayed such fears, on the contrary.

Strictly speaking, this is not ethnic cleansing since the victims of persecution have the same ethnic background as their persecutors. Nevrtheless, even if the cleansing is geographic in nature, it is a form of racism.

Earlier this week, hundreds of workers from north of Sana'a were driven away. In a week, Hadi-appointed security authorities drove 842 workers from Taaz out of Aden.

Local authorities rejected accusations of targeted persecution, but the facts show that the expellees are all from the north.

Such actions were justified by claiming that the expelled workers had "no identity papers". However, when the latter spoke to refugee advocates, they dismissed the authorities` argument, showing their ID cards to the activists.

The incident occurred in the Tor area, half way between the two provinces of Al Haj and Taaz, before TV cameras (pictured).

When confronted with the video evidence, southern authorities changed their tune, accusing the expellees of being "informers for Ansar Allah and the Presidential Guards," and using "fake papers to support the opposition in the South".

In October last year, security forces backed by the United Arab Emirates detained and expelled 400 northeners for lack if ID papers.

Yemen`s former Culture Minister Arwa Osman described the deportation as a "degrading image of man and his dignity."

In March 2015 pro-Hadi armed groups, along with members of Al Qaeda and local armed militias, seized the Central Security headquarters in Aden, as well as properties and businesses owned by northerners.

This was followed by the dismissal of northern civil servants. The geographic hate campaign intensified later, when Aden came under the control of "security committees", reaching a peak in August when Saudi troops intervened as Hadi`s "allies".

Persecution and expulsion have turned physical with thousands of northern families "voluntarily" leaving as a result of harassment, abuse, torture and killings.

Northern-owned shops have been looted and notherners have been publicly hanged for allegedly belonging to or collaborating with Ansar Allah.

Daily abuses include raids against northern homes, ostensibly to find concealed weapons, with residents forced to put up with all sorts of harassment.

This hate campaign is splitting the country apart, 25 years after reunification.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the end of the First World War, Yemen was divided into an independent part and another under British mandate.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Yemen was reunified, but tensions have persisted between north and south. (PB)
Manila (AsiaNews / CBCP) - The new government of the Philippines must tackle the issue of funds that were supposed to arrive to those affected by Typhoon Yolanda, and which are still missing. The new president Rodrigo Duterte, who during the election campaign said he alone was capable to fight corruption, must "tell how millions of dollars donated from abroad were spent." This is the appeal launched by Caritas to the new administration that will take office on June 30.



Fr. Edwin Gariguez, executive secretary of Caritas, said that "this is an important agenda that the incoming administration needs to address". He added that a thorough investigation on the missing funds would be "a good start" for Duterte, who has described himself as "a dictator" able to defeat crime in six months.



Haiyan/Yolanda hit the Visayas Islands on 8 November 2013. About 11 million people were affected in 574 towns and cities. The price tag for getting back to normal was estimated to be around US$ 8 billion.The Philippine Church has already committed around EUR 9.7 million in recovery projects, assistance and rehabilitation in favor of more than two million people.



In August 2015, Fr. Gariguez had accused the government of using the money allocated for the emergency fund for the general elections held on 9 May. According to the Foreign Aid Transparency Hub, the Philippines has received at least $ 386 million in foreign aid. More than two years after the disaster, however, thousands of people are still waiting for government assistance.



Caritas has confirmed that it will continue to cooperate with Manila to rehabilitate areas devastated by Yolanda: "We have always been open to working together - said Fr. Gariguez - and recently we have started many projects together with the government".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The "refugee crisis" in general and the fight against poverty is " above all a moral one, calling for global solidarity and the development of more equitable approaches to the concrete needs and aspirations of individuals and peoples worldwide". An economic vision geared toward material well-being, in fact, is "incapable of contributing in a positive way to a globalization that favours the integral development of the worlds peoples, a just distribution of the earths resources, the guarantee of dignified labour and the encouragement of private initiative and local enterprise".



Pope Francis has returned to reaffirm these concepts, which are particularly dear to him, during today's meeting with participants at the International Conference Business Initiative in the Fight Against Poverty: The Refugee Emergency, our Challenge", organized by the Foundation Centesimus Annus - Pro Pontifice, 25 years after the promulgation of the encyclical of John Paul II.

" The refugee crisis, whose proportions are growing daily, is one especially close to my heart said the Pope In my recent visit to Lesbos, I witnessed heartrending scenes of human suffering, especially on the part of families and children. It was my intention, together with my Orthodox brothers, Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Ieronymos, to make the world more aware of these scenes of tragic and indeed desperate need, and to respond in a way worthy of our common humanity (Visit to Moria Refugee Camp, 16 April 2016). Apart from the immediate and practical aspect of providing material relief to these brothers and sisters of ours, the international community is challenged to devise long-term political, social and economic responses to issues that transcend national and continental boundaries, and affect the entire human family".



" The fight against poverty is not merely a technical economic problem, but above all a moral one, calling for global solidarity and the development of more equitable approaches to the concrete needs and aspirations of individuals and peoples worldwide. In the light of this demanding task, this initiative of your Foundation is most timely. Drawing inspiration from the rich patrimony of the Churchs social doctrine, the present Conference is exploring from various standpoints the practical and ethical implications of the present world economy, while at the same time laying the foundations for a business and economic culture that is more inclusive and respectful of human dignity. As Saint John Paul II frequently insisted, economic activity cannot be conducted in an institutional or political vacuum (cf. Centesimus Annus, 48), but has an essential ethical component; it must always stand at the service of the human person and the universal common good.

An economic vision geared to profit and material well-being alone is  as experience is daily showing us  incapable of contributing in a positive way to a globalization that favours the integral development of the worlds peoples, a just distribution of the earths resources, the guarantee of dignified labour and the encouragement of private initiative and local enterprise. An economy of exclusion and inequality (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 53) has led to greater numbers of the disenfranchised and those discarded as unproductive and useless. The effects are felt even in our more developed societies, in which the growth of relative poverty and social decay represent a serious threat to families, the shrinking middle class and in a particular way our young people. The rates of unemployment for the young are not only a scandal needing to be addressed first and foremost in economic terms, but also, and no less urgently, as a social ill, for our youth are being robbed of hope and their great resources of energy, creativity and vision are being squandered".

The Second Vatican Council, concluded Francis, teaches Christians that for Christians, economic, financial and business activity cannot be separated from the duty to strive for the perfecting of the temporal order in accordance with the values of Gods Kingdom" : the ultimate desire of the Pope is to "always contribute to the growth of the civilization of love which embraces the entire human family in justice and peace".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Pope Francis wants to set up an official commission to "study the issue" of the diaconate in the early Church, in particular as it regards the role of "deaconesses," or what they actually were charged with doing. The Pope himself said as much during a meeting with over 800 general superiors participating in the meeting of their International Union. The announcement sparked jubilant reactions particularly in "lay" circles, for the most part unjustified  when one considers the examples Francis used - but understandable in light of how what the Pope actually said is interpreted - and quite often exploited.



"Female deacons" aside, the pope's statements in the meeting held yesterday are of note. He was responding to some questions posed by the nuns  on the "feminine genius" and the role that women must also have in formation and the decision-making processes in Church. "Because women look at life with their own eyes, and we men cannot look at it the same way. The way a woman looks at a problem, the way a woman sees something is different to that of a man. They must be complementary, and it is important that women are involved in the consultation process".



Another "hot issue", was about the possibility of women giving the homily during Mass. The Pope responded by highlighting the difference between the sermon given during a Liturgy of the Word and that of the Eucharistic liturgy. "There is no problem - he said - with a woman - a religious or lay woman  giving the sermon in a Liturgy of the Word. No problem. But the Mass is a liturgical-dogmatic problem, because the celebration is one - the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist, are united - and the He who presides is Jesus Christ. The priest or bishop who presides, does so in the person of Jesus Christ. It is a theological and liturgical reality. In that situation, since there is no ordination of women, they cannot preside. But what I have very quickly and simply just said can be studied and explained more".



The issue, however, allowed Francis to warn against "two temptations" related to the theme of the homily. "The first is feminism: the role of women in the Church is not that of feminism, it is a right! It is the right of a baptized with the charisms and the gifts that the Spirit has given her. We must not fall into feminism, because this would reduce the importance of women. Right now, I do not see this as a great danger among religious. I do not see it. Maybe once, but generally this is not the case. The other danger, which is a very strong temptation, and I talked about it several times, is clericalism. And this is very strong. Just think that today more than 60 percent of the parishes  I do not know about the dioceses, but maybe fewer - do not have a Council for Economic Affairs and the pastoral council. What does that mean? That the parish and the diocese is led with a clerical spirit, only by the priest, who is not implementing parish synodality, diocese synodality, this is not new to this Pope. No! It is in Canon Law, the pastor is obliged to seek the advice of the laity, for and with the laity, lay and religious, for pastoral programs and the financial affairs. And they do not do this. And this is the danger of clericalism in the Church today. We have to go ahead and remove this danger, because the priest is a servant of the community, the Bishop is a servant of the community, not the head of a firm. No!".



The Pope then spoke in favor of the idea of "prolonging temporary vows in consecrated life. "In consecrated life - he said  I was always struck - positively  by the intuition of St. Vincent de Paul: he saw that the Sisters of Charity had to do such a difficult job, so 'dangerous', right on the front lines, that every year they must renew their vows. Only for one year. But he did so as part of the charisma, not as a culture of the provisional: to give freedom. I believe that in consecrated life first vows facilitate this. And, I do not know, you all should discuss this, but I would be quite favorable to prolonging 'temporary vows a bit, for this culture of provisional that young people have today ... to prolong the engagement before getting married! This is important".



Returning to the theme of "female deacons", Francis said that "in fact there was [a female diaconate] in ancient times: there was a beginning ... I remember it was a subject that interested me when I was in Rome for meetings, and I was staying at the Domus Paul VI; there was a Syrian theologian, really good, who wrote a critical edition and translation of the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian. And one day I asked him about this, and he explained to me that in the early days of the Church there were some 'female deacons'. But what are these female deacons? Were they ordained or not? The Council of Chalcedon (451) speaks about it, but it is somewhat nebulous. What was the role of women deacons in those days? It seems - the man told me, he died, he was a good teacher, wise, erudite - it seems that the role of women deacons was to help women in baptism, immersion, they baptized them, out of decorum, they even anointed women's bodies, in baptism. And a curious thing: When there was a judgment on marriage, because a husband beat his wife, and she went to the bishop to complain, female deacons were charged with seeing the bruises left on the body of the woman from her husband's beatings and inform the bishop. This, is what I remember".



"There are a few publications on the diaconate in the Church, but it is unclear what it actually was. I think I will ask the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to report to me on the studies of this issue, because I have responded to you only based on what I'd heard from this priest who was an erudite and valid scholar on the permanent diaconate. And also I would like to set up an official commission to study the issue and I think that will be good for the Church to clarify this point; I agree, and I will discuss doing something like this".
In his Pentecost message, Mgr William Goh tells the faithful to be proud of Christ and renew their commitment to society. "We cannot afford to remain as spectators on the sidelines when our faith is challenged, denigrated and ridiculed. He also highlights the limits of the Church in the city-state, with congregations that are "too concerned with the 'doing'and members who are too individualistic.

Singapore (AsiaNews)  Mgr William Goh, archbishop of Singapore, issued a letter for Pentecost in which he talks about the challenges the Church has to face in the city-state where many of the faithful are forgetful of their duties and responsibilities.

If the call to be proud to be Singaporean means to stand up for Singapore, so too, is the call to stand up for Jesus if we are proud to be Catholic, the letter says. We must make Jesus known and loved. The Good News, if it were truly good, cannot be kept under a blanket but must be seen by all and give light to others.

To achieve this, Mgr Goh's first appeal is for unity. What the world needs most is unity, but The reality is that there can be no unity unless there is love. But there can be no love unless it is founded in truth. So where is the truth to be found?

For him, the Christian answer to true unity is the Holy Spirit who leads us to Jesus who is the fullness of truth. Hence, being proud to be Catholic means that we should be even more patriotic as citizens. What is more, We are called to play an active role in fostering unity in the world but not just any superficial unity which the world is currently built on.

Catholics must be ready to individually speak up and stand up for our faith and Catholic values. Today, many channels are possible; through the internet, Facebook, blogs, Twitter, mass media and forums. We cannot afford to remain as spectators on the sidelines when our faith is challenged, denigrated and ridiculed.

Yet, before we can do all these, we need to be formed in our faith. This entails first and foremost, strengthening our spiritual and doctrinal faith.

Sadly, Singaporean Catholics have serious limits. We have very little knowledge of our faith, both with respect to prayer life and spiritual life. Our knowledge of the faith and the teachings of the Church are weak and superficial. Less than 10 per cent of our congregation are actively involved in the service of the Church.

What is more, too many are more concerned with the 'doing', but hardly do they set aside time for spiritual, scriptural and doctrinal preparation.

The archbishop goes on to describe the "little sense of community" that Sunday Mass goers have, and the sadness caused by lay people and clerics who are lukewarm in their faith or betray it for money.

At the same time, Mgr Goh warns against being too judgemental. In this Jubilee Year of Mercy, we are reminded of the Gospel of compassion and forgiveness.

So we stand up for Jesus not to condemn others but to stand up for fullness of life and truth and for love.
by Mairbek Vatchagaev

In recent months the ideology of radical Islam has taken hold among both men and women. The men are fleeing to Syria to fight alongside the militia; the women are assisting the wounded as nurses. In the Northwest Caucasus there is a long tradition of Islamic terrorism, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. An analysis published courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

Cherkessk (AsiaNews) - The Islamic State is also becoming popular in the southern part of Russia, and in particular the Caucasus republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. This is revealed by the latest Russian security services survey, which steadily monitors the spread of radical ideas among young Muslims. They exchange information through the popular cell phone messaging apps and forge links with jihadist leaders in Syria.



The spread of terrorism in the Federation is of great concern to leaders, with Putin targeted by Islamic propaganda. Fears of a proliferation of radical ideas in the mother country are the root cause for the Russian military intervention in Syria against Islamic State positions of the. An analysis published courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

Karachaevo-Cherkessia, a mountainous republic in the northwestern Caucasus, has long been out of the news when it comes to attacks by the armed Islamist underground movement against government forces. Russias security services effectively destroyed the Karachay jamaat in 20052007 (Agentura.ru, 2007). The Karachay jamaat has since been unable to resume operations, even though the Karachay jamaat was the first in the post-Soviet space at the start of the 1990s. The remaining forces of the jamaat joined the Kabardino-Balkarian jamaat at the time of the Caucasus Emirate, and the unified organization was called the Velayat of Kabarda, Balkaria, and Karachay (Kavkazcenter.com, May 11, 2009).

News of possible insurgent activities in Karachaevo-Cherkessia unexpectedly started to emerge at the end of 2015. A group of young people announced through social networks that they had taken an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The statement was spread via the WhatsApp application, which is intensely monitored by the Russian security services for the purposes of locating all suspicious individuals. According to Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAK) spokesman Andrei Przhezdomsky, at the end of December, the authorities launched a criminal investigation into the militants of Karachaevo-Cherkessia who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. He said the investigation was being conducted in accordance with Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code, covering terrorist activities. The authorities are investigating ten individuals in connection to the case. Thus, while experts and analysts consider Karachaevo-Cherkessia free of militants, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Ministry of Interior have quietly worked to neutralize a group that declared itself part of the international jihad. Przhezdomsky said that those people gathered together in some place, video-recorded their fealty to ISIS [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syriasince renamed the Islamic State, IS] and sent it via WhatsApp to Syria. In their message, they said they were prepared to fight a holy war.  The NAK spokesman said that the Karachaevo-Cherkessian Islamists managed to establish contact with one of the leaders of the Islamic State and received instructions about preparing terrorist attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation (Uinp.info, January 29). Government forces killed three militants and detained six more during a special operation (Rosbalt.ru, December 24, 2015).

Is it possible that the emergence of the group is an isolated case in the republic? That is unlikely, because an ethnic Karachay, Abu Jihad (Islam Atabiev), serves as the right-hand to the most notorious leader of the Islamic State from the Caucasus region, Umar al-Shishani (Tarkhan Batirashvili). Abu Jihad, 33, comes from the village of Ust-Jeguta, in Karachaevo-Cherkessia, and has been on the United Nations Security Councils list of the most wanted members of the IS in Syria since October 2, 2015. The fact that someone of Karachay origin has such a high rank within the IS would sooner or later have prompted some Karachays to try to contact him. In recent months, there have been regular reports of various individuals in Karachaevo-Cherkessia being detained or arrested for expressing sympathies for the Islamic State or attempting to join the group. In 2015, the authorities launched a criminal investigation against two locals in Karachaevo-Cherkessia for making public calls in the media to carry out terrorist attacks. The authorities also accused 31-year-old Mussa Shardan and 25-year-old Rustam Suyunchev of calling to violate the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. In November 2015, Shardan and Suyunchev, using the pseudonym Amr Amri, published a video titled The IS Threatens Putin. The authorities said that the two men called for terrorist and extremist activities, and justified terrorism (Ekhokavkaza.com, April 15).

In March 2016, the North Caucasian District Military Court sentenced a resident of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Temirzhan Eslimesov, to two and a half years in prison for involvement in a terrorist organization. The court determined that Eslimesov flew from Mineralnye Vody airport in Stavropol region to Turkey with the intention of traveling on to Syria, for training by the militants there in the use of weapons, military tactics, sabotage and terrorist methods. Eslimesov then planned to engage in armed actions against the Syrian Arab Republic within the Caucasus Emirate international terrorist organization. However, for reasons beyond his control, the aspiring militants plans failed, as he was arrested by the Turkish authorities and handed over to the Russian security services (Regnum, April 19).

The desire to participate in the jihad in Syria has also spread to women in Karachaevo-Cherkessia. Several nurses from the republic flew from Stavropol, Krasnodar and Makhachkala to become members of the Islamic State. According to a North Caucasian website, these four females work at a hospital in Syria, where they helped wounded IS militants. The Russian Investigative Committees branch in Karachaevo-Cherkessia launched a criminal investigation against the four nurses who allegedly help the IS23-year-old Dana M., 27-year-old Alina Ch. and two sisters, 25-year-old Madina B. and 26-year-old Marina B. The authorities said they determined that the four suspects repeatedly flew from Stavropol, Makhachkala, and Krasnodar to Istanbul and back in 2014 and 2015. In Turkey, locals helped them to cross the border into Syria and reach Al-Raqqa. The authorities assert that the four suspected females share an extremist religious ideology and voluntarily joined the Islamic States affiliate organization, the Abu Hanif jamaat (Donday.ru, April 4).

The publicly exposed ties of the Karachaevo-Cherkessian radicals to the Islamic State are only part of the actual magnitude of such ties. The real situation is probably much worse because Karachaevo-Cherkessian officials try to hide such incidents in order to avoid scaring off tourists from the republic, give that tourism is one of Karachaevo-Cherkessias major sources of revenue. The situation in Karachaevo-Cherkessia indicates that southern Russia is becoming increasingly radical, as the ideology of the Islamic State spreads.
Photographer Plans Mass Nude Photo Shoot For The Republican National Convention

Trending News: This Artist Is Looking For 100 Women To Pose Nude Outside The Republican National Convention

Why Is This Important?

Because it'll be funny to see how these conservative politicians react.

Long Story Short

World famous photographer Spencer Tunick, known for taking photos involving huge numbers of naked people, is looking for 100 women to pose outside the Republican National Convention in July. The artist aims for the photo to be a message in support of women, contrary to some of the not so nice things about women the Republican candidate has said.

Long Story

Like looking at nudes (who doesn't?), then Spencer Tunick is the photographer for you. Spanning decades, the American artist has organized around 70 massive shoots where large numbers of people strip down to their birthday suit for the sake of art. The art displays are meant to show people, in their rawest form, united as a whole. Individuals en masse, without their clothing, grouped together, metamorphose into a new shape," as Tunick explains it.

For his latest piece, and perhaps most controversial yet, Tunick is recruiting 100 women to pose naked with mirrors outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July while Donald J. Trump is anointed with the party's nomination, as reported by The Huffington Post.

"The photograph will involve 100 nude women holding large mirror discs, reflecting the knowledge and wisdom of progressive women and the concept of 'Mother Nature' into and onto the convention center, cityscape and horizon of Cleveland," explains the event's website (sign up there if you're a lady who is interested in taking part).

For our daughters,

I just couldn't stand by and do nothing. https://t.co/dAR5OA3G7B pic.twitter.com/IPe6hrP23d  Spencer Tunick (@SpencerTunick) May 11, 2016

Tunic told Cleveland Scene Weekly that the photo is a direct shot at Trump, who has said not so nice things about women, including but not limited to Fox News reporter Megan Kelly and TV star Rosie O'Donnell.

The work is for my daughters, for their future, for them not to grow up in a society with hate, for them to grow up in a world with less violence toward women and more opportunities for them, he said.

Some of Tunick's previous installations include having 1,700 people lie together nude (of course) on the streets of Munich, another saw 800 people take part in a naked pillow fight, and in 2010, he ate sushi off naked people.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Is Tunick just using art as a disguise for being a perv?

Disrupt Your Feed

This guy has the best job ever.

Drop This Fact

So far 12,000 people have signed up to take part in Tunick's upcoming nude shoot in Bogota.
Finland Burger King Introduces Saunas

Trending News: Your Next Trip To Burger King May Also Involve A Spa Day

Why Is This Important?

Because this changes the meaning of "full service restaurant"

Long Story Short

A Burger King in Helsinki, Finland aims to turn a quick stop for burgers into a full-blown spa day. The restaurant features multiple saunas and a lounge area, and visitors can even book reservations online.

Long Story

Patronizing a fast food restaurant is hardly what most folks consider "relaxing," especially when that fast food restaurant is a Burger King. I mean, I'm sorry, you can't cut chicken nuggets into the shape of onion rings and hope that people forget that your food is trash. But one Burger King in Helsinki, Finland is hoping that you find your wilted lettuce/fake grill mark experience very relaxing  a trip to this particular burger can also, should you so desire, turn into a spa day.

"A 15-person sauna area is perfect for a group of friends for social gatherings or work, venue for the birthday party, or even the organization of the show studio," according to the restaurant's website. I have no idea what the Finnish for "studio show" was supposed to translate to; if I did, I would have transcribed it.

It a sauna for 15 of you and your best bros to hang around naked in isn't enough, the restaurant also boasts another, 10-person sauna with a 48" television. If sweating for no good reason isn't your thing, there are separate media lounges with 55" televisions and Playstation 4s. You could, conceivably, turn an otherwise banal excursion for bland food into an entire day at Burger King.

Burger King

If this sounds strange to you, it's important to keep in mind that saunas are a HUGE part of Finnish culture. They use them the same way we use neighborhood bars  as a place to relax, meet with friends and catch up on local gossip. In fact, you can still find people who were born in saunas. It's less common now, but at one point saunas were the best birthing option because they're sterile and located near hot water. It would be stranger for a Finnish Burger King to not have a sauna, is what I'm saying.

The saunas cost 250 for three hours, which is about $282. Get your friends to chip in. You can reserve the saunas online. There's still time open today if you act fast!

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Cultural or not, who wants to get sweaty before or after they eat?

Disrupt Your Feed

That sauna could be full of naked Finnish women and you still couldn't get me to spend three hours at Burger King.

Drop This Fact

Finland is home to 5 million people and 3 million saunas, working out to about one for every household.
Sex Workers And Ethics

Can You Buy Sex Ethically? Women In The Industry Weigh In

This article was originally published by AskMen UK.

Jess is talking to me about her horses and the sex she has with strangers for money. She spends most of her time tending to the three geldings she owns but, for three days of the week, she works out of a hotel as an independent escort.

Jess provides the Girlfriend Experience to her clients, who've booked her service online. The GFE  a term you probably know by now, thanks to the critically acclaimed television show bearing that name  is the simulation of intimacy by a sex worker. It typically includes vaginal sex, mutual oral, kissing, cuddling and  if you're really lucky  conversation.

I ask her if she considers her work to be ethical. She rolls her eyes, like she has been asked similar questions a million times before. I work very hard at what I do. I take pride in it, and who likes their jobs anyway? She pauses. Do you know what would be unethical? Me not getting paid.

So can you buy sex ethically?

Just this April, a suburb of Leeds attracted interest nationwide when it legalised women selling sex between specified hours. Leeds so called managed approach means that in a specified network of roads, street prostitutes can sell their services from 19.00 to 07.00 BST, without being stopped by police. Although selling sex is not actually illegal in Britain, soliciting  offering sex in a public place  is.

Jess, however, works in New Zealand, a country where any citizen can be a sex worker. It has been this way since 2003, when  to much controversy  New Zealand decriminalised the Kiwi sex industry by one paltry vote in their parliament. This means sex workers have the same rights as people with any other occupation  workplace safety and, as equal citizens, expect to be treated by police in the same way if they report a crime. New Zealand law now makes little distinction between a hairdresser, a waiter or a sex worker.

Jess, while reluctant to talk about any good experiences she has had, conscious of being stereotyped as a 'happy hooker', tells me that last week she was booked by a fireman. He was so into the process, taking his time, being a good lover. Usually, I keep one eye on the clock, but [with this client] we could easily have spent three hours; it wasn't enough.

The easy answer then, is that it depends where you are in the world  and how you treat the person you've paid to have sex with you.

Audrey is a Kiwi sex worker whos a big fan of decriminalisation. She's been doing it for nearly a year, working with an agency while she attends university. I work without fear and am confident to stand up for my rights, she says. But, even though sex work is decriminalised, there is still a lot of stigma that needs to be resolved.

Whats it like for them?

Audrey describes the sex she has with her clients as being like a physical conversation which can be pleasurable or boring, depending on how much of a mutual exchange occurs. I have had some great clients who have brought out the best in me I've been surprised by the amount of enjoyment I have experienced with clients who I wouldn't look twice at in real life.

Crystal, who is a sex worker in America  where sex work is still highly illegal  tells me she is more afraid of the police than she's ever been of her clients. This sort of shame is what keeps me awake at night, she says, sending me links to local news sites which display mug shots of young, bewildered-looking sex workers who have been arrested, and who must now live their lives hoping that nobody ever Googles their names.

But it's unsafe, right?

Sex workers believe that criminalising them, their clients and other parties in the sex industry, drives sex work underground, making them unsafe. 237 sex worker-led organisations have rejected making a crime out of sex work. Last year, Amnesty International decided that allowing workers to choose how they work is a human right and have started advocating for decriminalisation.

I reached out to Catherine Healy, national co-ordinator of the New Zealand Prostitutes' Collective. Her organisation launched a Code of Conduct to encourage participants in the sex industry to follow ethical behaviours. These include upholding the right of sex workers to say no to providing sex at any time; having a zero-tolerance approach to violence, including physical, sexual or emotional; and believing what sex workers say about bad clients, and supporting them in asserting their personal boundaries.

Healy says that when all parties are criminalised, it makes criminals of sex workers: When people talk about protecting sex workers, often, they really mean policing them to me, the word 'ethical' means sex workers are listened to."

Crystal describes the cloak-and-dagger rituals of meeting her clients: I would prefer to work in a brothel where I can just meet people straight up. Johns in the states love to go back and forth and back and forth. Just cut to the fucking chase already!

Criminalising clients and sparing sex workers from prosecution is often called 'the Swedish Model', an approach which has been slowly gaining support across Europe, thanks  in part  to Labour MEP Mary Honeyball's lobbying (Honeyball believes the death of a sex worker last December, Daria Pionko, in a managed area of Leeds is reason enough for Britain to outlaw paying for sex).

I ask Jess in New Zealand, what she makes of this. Has she ever felt afraid of a client? I'm fine with my clients but, from memory, one was very pushy. I felt uncomfortable and I had to be very firm, then I blocked his number once he had left. I knew my mate was in the house so it was okay. If I was on my own, I might have been more afraid.

When I tell her that  had she been in Sweden or (most of) Britain  she'd be committing a crime by working with her friend, she snorts. I'll call the police if I ever need help, thank you very much.
AUBURN  When Marion Blumenthal Lazan was a little girl, she made up a game called Four Perfect Pebbles.

The rules were simple: find four pebbles of the same size and shape. The prize: all four members of her family  four Jews held at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany  would survive.

"Somehow this game gave me something to hold onto," Marion said. "Some distant hope."

Now 81 years old, the Holocaust survivor shared her story Thursday evening at Auburn Junior High School. Standing before an audience largely made up of local students, Marion spoke about her first-hand experiences as a child prisoner in Nazi Germany.

Her story began in November 1938 on the Night of Broken Glass when her father was taken to Buchenwald concentration camp for 10 days before being released for having immigration papers. Two years later, just one month before the Blumenthals were scheduled to leave for America, the Nazis invaded their new home in Holland.

Marion was 6 years old.

"We soon became equated with the ever-present, terrifying 12-foot-high barbed wire," she said.

Students, teachers and parents sat in silence Thursday in Auburn Junior High's auditorium as Marion recalled the hardships she faced for more than six years  memories of lice and hunger, frostbite and dead bodies. She recalled her four perfect pebbles and the "three B's" that brought her hope, knowing she would someday be reunited with a bed, bath and bread.

Still, despite those hardships, there was one thing Marion said several times throughout her hour-long presentation:

"I was very lucky."

She was lucky, she said, to be so young and share a bunk with her mother. She was lucky the guards did not catch them cooking soup in that bunk. She was lucky she did not lose her leg after it was burned by that boiling soup. And she was lucky to survive.

But several middle school students from Port Byron Central School District said they think they're the lucky ones.

"There's not very many people that survived (the Holocaust) and this is a great opportunity for young kids to realize what happened during that time from a person that survived it all," eighth-grader Lizzie Grenga said.

Grenga was one of dozens of Port Byron students in the audience Thursday who are currently reading Marion's book, "Four Perfect Pebbles," which the author sold and signed at the event.

And it's a story Marion  who now lives in Long Island with her husband Nathaniel  asked everyone to share.

"In a few short years, (survivors) will not be here any longer to give a first hand account," she said. "I ask you to please share my story or any of the Holocaust stories you hear or read about. When we're not here, it is you who will have to bear witness. And as difficult as it is, the horror of the Holocaust must be taught, must be studied and kept alive. Only then can we stop it from ever happening again."
AUBURN  Every year, a special group of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students leads Genesee Elementary School in a service project for the community, and this year they decided to do something sweet.

More than 350 students lined up outside the Cayuga County Office Building in Auburn Friday afternoon to donate nearly 90 so-called "sweet cases"  bright blue duffle bags filled with basic necessities and comfort items  for local children in foster care.

Anne Mlod, the school librarian at Genesee Elementary and an adviser for Kids with Pride, said this year the group was inspired by the charity Together We Rise, a non-profit that aims to improve the lives of foster children across America.

"We have students within Kids with Pride that have connections to foster care," she said. "So they decided this was something they wanted to support."

At the beginning of the school year, the group's goal was to raise $1,200 to buy 50 bags of items for local foster children. But by the year's end, that donation had nearly doubled.

"This is one of the most innovative projects I've ever seen," sixth-grader Oakley Fitzgerald said. "We had the entire school involved and raised over $2,200."

At $25 a bag, each "sweet case" includes a blanket, coloring book, crayons, stuffed animal and hygiene kit, all of which Cayuga County Department of Social Services Home Finder Cate Richardson said is important for children growing up in foster care.

"It's stuff to help them feel more at home," she said. "Children come in with very little so this is a way for them to receive something that is theirs from the start."

Genesee students, staff and alumni came out for the donation Friday when Kids with Pride delivered 89 "sweet cases" to the county. Mlod said the last case is going to a child in the Philippines, where she is traveling this summer for service.

And according to Fitzgerald, it won't stop there.

"We are hoping to donate to foster care next year as well, outside of our service project," he said. "I like to think that the kids know they're not alone when they get one of these sweet cases."
James Cowled, the judges associate who used a character reference from a retired judge to escape career-killing drug charges after he was caught by police in position of a $200 bag of cocaine, is now under a criminal investigation after claims he misled the judge.



Former Federal Circuit Judge Michael Lloyd-Jones has lodged a formal complaint to police claiming he was under the impression Cowled was in court for a drink driving offence. NSW Police confirmed that a complaint was lodged by the judge at Rose Bay Police Station after he read about the proceedings in the media, The Daily Telegraph reported this morning.



Police can confirm a formal complaint has been made about the matter, a police spokesman said yesterday.

As it is an ongoing investigation we cannot release any more detail.



Cowled has been stood down from his judges associate role at the Federal Circuit Court pending investigations from the Department of Justice and NSW Police, into whether he should be charged with perverting the course of justice.



Lloyd-Jones wife told The Telegraph yesterday that her husband was a man of honour but could not comment because the matter is now a criminal investigation.



In court last week, Cowled, who pleaded guilty to cocaine position after he was found snorting it off the a smart phone in the bathroom of Mrs Sippy in Double Bay, told Magistrate Lisa Stapleton that asking for a character reference from the retired judge was one of the most difficult things Ive done in my life.



When Magistrate Lisa Stapleton realised that who had written Cowleds character reference, she decided to spare Cowled from a career-killing conviction. She dismissed the charges and placed Cowled on a 12-month good behaviour bond.


A feisty Oxford law student called out comments made by top crime barrister Matthew Scott on social media over the weekend, in response to a report by the Mail on Sunday.



Scott commented that Oxford law students are too delicate to study law in response to a report by the paper that Oxford law students are given trigger warnings before learning about sensitive legal issues.



An anonymous student told the paper that before lectures on sexual offences, students were warned that the content could be distressing, and were then given the opportunity to leave if [they] needed to.



Scott quickly took to social media to label the students as delicate Oxford flowers.



Law student Giorgia Litwin, Oxford features editor of The Tab, wrote a strongly worded piece in response to the barrister suggesting students need to man-up.



Clearly Oxford students have forgotten that sensitivity doesnt conform to the standards of hyper-masculinity needed for any and every legal career, she wrote.



Please excuse us while we focus our energies on conforming to gender stereotypes in order to progress, and the females amongst us accept lower pay-checks and lesser roles. (Who cares if you got a first if youre not the superior sex?)



She went on to say that discretionary trigger warnings are important in understanding the mental health needs of students, something which should be celebrated.



Yes, sexual offences lectures are going to discuss sexual offences. But as one student pointed out, when youre going to a lecture on economic loss, you wouldnt generally anticipate half of it being dedicated to the Hillsborough tragedy.



Lots of love, a delicate flower x, she signed off.



Scott then penned a strongly worded and lengthy piece in response, published in The Telegraph.



He suggests that trigger warnings might be a slippery slope, urging law schools to resist such warnings.



It is not just rape: if you have been traumatised by a burglary, hearing the details of legally significant burglaries may be intensely upsetting, he wrote.



His concern is that law lecturers are not psychologists and shouldnt be expected to anticipate trauma topics, and commented that shying away from difficult questions will produce a generation of infantilised future lawyers.




By John Cook, Climate Communication Research Fellow, Global Change Institute, The University of Queensland

Shutterstock/Kuznetsov Dmitry

Its been almost a month since the paper I co-authored on the synthesis of research into the scientific consensus on climate change was published. Surveying the many studies into scientific agreement, we found that more than 90% of climate scientists agree that humans are causing global warming.

Its a topic that has generated much interest and discussion, culminating in American Democrat Senator Sheldon Whitehouse highlighting our study on the US Senate floor this week.





My co-authors and I even participated in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on the online forum Reddit, answering questions about the scientific consensus.

While my own research indicates that explaining the scientific consensus isnt that effective with those who reject climate science, it does have a positive effect for people who are open to scientific evidence.

Among this undecided majority, there was clearly much interest with the session generating 154,000 page views and our AMA briefly featuring on the Reddit homepage (where it was potentially viewed by 14 million people).

Here is an edited selection of some of the questions posed by Reddit readers and our answers.

Q: Why is this idea of consensus so important in climate science? Science isnt democracy or consensus, the standard of truth is experiment.

If this were actually true, wouldnt every experiment have to reestablish every single piece of knowledge from first principles before moving on to something new? Thats obviously not how science actually functions.

Consensus functions as a scaffolding allowing us to continue to build knowledge by addressing things that are actually unknown.

Q: Does that 97% all agree to what degree humans are causing global warming?

Different studies use different definitions. Some use the phrase humans are causing global warming which carries the implication that humans are a dominant contributor to global warming. Others are more explicit, specifying that humans are causing most global warming.

Within some of our own research, several definitions are used for the simple reason that different papers endorse the consensus in different ways. Some are specific about quantifying the percentage of human contribution, others just say humans are causing climate change without specific quantification.

We found that no matter which definition you used, you always found an overwhelming scientific consensus.

Q: Its very difficult to become/remain a well-respected climate scientist if you dont believe in human-caused climate change. Your papers dont get published, you dont get funding, and you eventually move on to another career. The result being that experts either become part of the 97% consensus, or they cease to be experts.

Ask for evidence for this claim and enjoy the silence (since they wont have any).

As a scientist, the pressure actually is mostly reversed: you get rewarded if you prove an established idea wrong.

Ive heard from contrarian scientists that they dont have any trouble getting published and getting funded, but of course that also is only anecdotal evidence.

You cant really disprove this thesis, since it has shades of conspiratorial thinking to it, but the bottom line is theres no evidence for it and the regular scientific pressure is to be adversarial and critical towards other peoples ideas, not to just repeat what the others are saying.

Q: Whats the general reasoning of the other 3%?

Interesting question. It is important and diagnostic that there is no coherent theme among the reasoning of the other 3%. Some say there is no warming, others blame the sun, cosmic rays or the oceans.

Those opinions are typically mutually contradictory or incoherent: Stephan Lewandowsky has written elsewhere about a few of the contradictions.

Q: Do we have any insight on what non-climate scientists have to say about climate change being caused by CO2?

In a paper published last year, Stuart Carlton and colleagues surveyed biophysical scientists across many disciplines at major research universities in the US.

They found that about 92% of the scientists believed in anthropogenic climate change and about 89% of respondents disagreed with the statement: Climate change is independent of CO2 levels. In other words, about 89% of respondents felt that climate change is affected by CO2.

Q: It could be argued that climate scientists may be predisposed to seeing climate change as more serious, because they want more funding. Whats your perspective on that?

Any climate scientist who could convincingly argue that climate change is not a threat would:

be famous get a Nobel prize plus a squintillion dollars in funding a dinner date with the Queen lifelong gratitude of billions of people.

So if there is any incentive, its for a scientist to show that climate change is not a threat.

Q: I was discussing politics with my boss the other day, and when I got to the topic of global warming he got angry, said its all bullshit, and that the climate of the planet has been changing for millennia. Where should I go to best understand all of the facts?

Skeptical Science has a list of common myths and what the science says.

But often facts are not enough, especially when people are angry and emotional. The Skeptical Science team has made a free online course that addresses both the facts and the psychology of climate denial.

You can also access the individual Denial101 videos.

Also, remember that you may not convince him, but if you approach him rationally and respectfully you may influence other people who hear your discussion.

John Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Originally published in The Conversation.
By Andrew Tomkins, Geologist, Monash University

rwarrin/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Not long ago, my colleagues and I found some micrometeorites in the Pilbara region in Western Australia. Whats truly remarkable about them is that these tiny meteorites can tell us a great deal about the chemistry of Earths atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago.

And this week our findings were the subject of a paper in the journal Nature.

This is pretty exciting for us, because getting published in Nature is seen as a bit of a holy grail for scientists of all disciplines. But perhaps more interesting is the behind-the-scenes story that led to our publication.

Roaming the Pilbara

The story starts with me doing my once-a-month scan through of the top journals in my field. I came across an article by Tetsuji Onoue and colleagues in the journal Geology.

Theyd recovered 240 million-year-old fossil micrometeorites from a sedimentary rock called chert.

I thought:

Wow, thats cool! Wouldnt it be interesting to try to find the worlds oldest micrometeorites and use them to estimate the flux of space dust to Earth billions of years ago!

A year or so later, Lara Bowlt came into my office at the end of the third year of her geoscience degree looking for an honours research project. Lara was torn between doing a minerals industry-focused project, which she thought might help her get a job, and following her interest in meteorites and planetary science. Luckily, she chose the latter.

To find the oldest micrometeorites ever, we had to use a bit of basic geoscience logic. Micrometeorites are constantly falling to Earth. They are the remnants of meteors (shooting stars) that you can see on any night of the week.

Some of those meteors end up as tiny particles  micrometeorites  that land anywhere on the Earths surface. They can be collected from the roof of your house for example, and scientists can easily recover them from the ocean floor by dragging a magnet along the bottom, as many are magnetic.

Because they are constantly falling to Earth, sediments that accumulates very slowly will have a greater abundance of micrometeorites. The oldest sedimentary rocks in Australia are located in the Pilbara region in Western Australia, so we decided to go there for samples. We also decided to target limestone sedimentary rock because this can be easily dissolved in mild acid, leaving behind the micrometeorites.

Lara and I flew over to Port Hedland. From there, we spent several days driving around in a 4WD, camping in tents and sampling 2.7 billion-year-old limestone. We collected large solid blocks with very thin and straight laminations, indicating very slow sediment accumulation in a quiet setting.

Back in Melbourne, Lara cut the weathered rind off the outside of the limestone blocks, before crushing the unweathered interior into small fragments.

With the help of Sasha Wilson, the crushed limestone was then bathed in vats of mild acid for a few weeks, kept constantly covered to avoid contamination from modern micrometeorites. Lara then used a magnetic separator and hand picking under a microscope to separate what she thought might be micrometeorites from the residue.

After using an electron microscope to see the fine details on the surface of the extracted particles, I got a very excited message from Lara:

Oh my goodness, I think we found some!!!!!!!!!!!!

Atmospheric revelations

We contacted micrometeorite specialist Matt Genge at Imperial College in London, who confirmed that we had indeed found a number of micrometeorites.

These were mostly I-type micrometeorites, which formed when sand-sized particles of iron metal floating around in space entered Earths atmosphere moving at very high speeds (more than 43,000 km/h), causing them to melt and form spheres.

One of the curious things that we noted about the I-type micrometeorites is that they were composed primarily of the iron oxide minerals, with metal preserved in a few examples. The mineralogy crew  Sasha and Helen Brand  used fancy gizmos such as the Australian Synchrotron to confirm mineral proportions.

This was a surprising result, because it is widely believed that the Earths atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago contained very little oxygen.

I realised that this meant that the micrometeorites had reacted with a narrow band of the upper atmosphere during the brief period when they were superheated, and oxidised upon atmospheric entry. This would have occurred at about 90 to 75 km altitude.

So this was the first sample of Earths ancient atmosphere from 2.7 billion years ago!

Matt generated a mathematical model of how much oxygen would need to be present in the ancient atmosphere to cause the observed mineral changes in the micrometeorites.

This model suggested that oxygen concentration in the upper atmosphere would need to be close to modern-day concentrations to explain the observations. Jeremy Wykes and I backed this up by evaluating the effects of CO2 and CO on oxidation.

This was initially a surprise, because it is widely accepted that Earths lower atmosphere contained less than 0.001% O2 before about 2.3 billion years ago.

But interestingly, our results somewhat confirmed the predictions of atmospheric chemists. These scientists had generated a series of models of the chemical structure of the ancient atmosphere, based on the composition of gases emitted from volcanoes and the knowledge that ultraviolet light from the sun breaks gas molecules like CO2 into smaller molecules like CO and O2.

They had predicted elevated oxygen in the upper atmosphere at this time, caused by UV-induced decomposition of CO2. Although our results suggested a little higher O2 and less CO than they had predicted.

So a bit of purely curiosity-driven science had identified a new way to study the chemistry of the ancient Earths upper atmosphere. And there is still much more to do from here!

As an epilogue to this story, it turns out that curiosity did not kill the cat; Lara got a great job as an exploration geologist, which is exactly what she wanted.

Andrew Tomkins is affiliated with Monash University.

Originally published in The Conversation.
I don't think you are at the moment. It gets down to a couple of things. Firstly, what occupation you could be assessed in. Would it be an IT occupation or an Engineering Occupation. Secondly, a Bachelor of Engineering in Automobile sounds a bit odd. Are you a Mechanical Engineer or an Automobile Mechanic. There are very different occupations in Australia.



Whether you get 15 points for education depends on whether your degree is equivalent to an Australian Bachelor Degree. Most degrees obtained in Indonesian Government Universities are equivalent, but not all Private Universities are equivalent. You may need to be assessed by an experienced Australian Registered Migration Agent to determine whether you are eligible now or what you will have to do be become eligible.
Latest News

CAST calls on Federal government to reinstate Australia Council funds

Details Site Administrator 13 May 2016

The Confederation of Australian State Theatre Companies (CAST) calls on the Federal government to formally review its budget cuts to the Australia Council after todays announcement that 62 arts organisations will be defunded after failing to secure key organisation core funding.



CAST considers these cuts and subsequent defunding of arts organisations to be a deeply concerning outcome that will cause a devastating cultural and employment deficit with widespread and long-lasting impact.



These cuts have an impact just as dramatic and negative as the arts industry has feared and will cause irreparable damage across the sector  one that contributes over $4.2 billion to GDP in Australia1, the CAST Executive Council said.



Of the 147 small to medium arts companies previously awarded operational funding through the Australia Council, only 85 were successful in the four year funding rounds announced today. Despite 43 new organisations receiving funding, this still leaves 62 organisations with an unknown future including the risk of closure, hundreds of job losses, and an overall increased instability throughout the arts industry as these companies join the many others whose survival balances precariously on a knife-edge.



Small to medium companies are the lifeblood of the theatre sector across Australia and where some of the most innovative new Australian work is generated and presented. They also punch well above their weight in terms of both national and international touring and play a vital role in developing artists and practitioners nationally, including five of the current artistic directors of CAST companies who were significantly supported by the small to medium sector before taking on executive roles at major performing arts organisations.



Likewise, many acclaimed and award-winning co-productions in recent CAST company seasons would not have been possible without collaboration with small to medium organisations. These organisations include Arena Theatre, Barking Gecko, Brink Productions, Chunky Move, Circa, Force Majeure, Griffin, Hothouse Theatre, Ilbijerri, LaBoite, Performing Lines, Playwriting Australia, St Martins Youth Arts Centre, The Blue Room Theatre, Windmill Theatre and Yirra Yaakin.



It is virtually certain that a number of the key organisations defunded today wont survive. While CAST acknowledges that the governments new Catalyst program might provide funding for some projects that may have previously been supported by the Australia Council, project funding is of little use to a company that has no operational support to exist in the first place, the CAST Executive Council said.



Funding cuts at any level of the arts sector have a dramatic flow on effect throughout the industry  from independent artists to the major performing arts companies. In this sudden climate of uncertainty and upheaval amongst the sector, CAST is committed to supporting artists and small to medium companies to help sustain their future and that of Australias vibrant cultural landscape.



In doing so, CAST implores the Federal government to show that they recognise and understand the importance of these companies and take prompt action to review and reinstate funds cut from the Australia Council to the small to medium sector and key organisations.



This statement is co-signed by the Confederation of Australian State Theatre Companies and the executive management of each organisation.










The Honda NS 400R is a liquid-colled, three cylinder, two-stroke of an unusual configuration a V3. The NS 400R is the lightest and quickest bike ij its`s class. It is fast, nimble and responsive.
This is exactly what happened to Autocar's Sam Sheehan, who recently visited the Belgian track for a proper test of the manic Focus.Sure, it's not easy to draw the line between a successful and a failed attempt to chase another vehicle on the track, but we'll vote for the first version here.We're not sure about the tires on the Focus RS, though - when asked about the rubber on YouTube, the British publication said the Blue Oval machine used the "optional Michelin Pilot Super Sport," but those are the standard tires, while the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup2 are the optional units.Regardless, the sheer idea of comparing a $35,900 hot hatch with a $85,595 mid-engine Porsche seems surreal. We'll remind you the Focus RS is animated by a 2.3-liter turbo four delivering 350 hp and 350 lb-ft of twist, while the 911-borrowed naturally-aspirated 3.8-liter flat-six in the middle of the Cayman GT4 produces 385 hp and 309 lb-ft of torque.And while we only see Sheehan pulling awesome tricks with the stick, we all know the driver of the Porsche with the 911 GT3 suspension was doing the same thing.The aftermarket side of the industry will undoubtedly build on the Mk III Focus RS platform, so sportscar drivers who enjoy track stints should be worried about this.This is a pursuit that reminds us of Ring Wolves - this is a term we've come up with to describe the kind of hot hatch drivers who know the Nordschleife like the back of their hand and love to stay in the rear-view mirrors of 911 GT3 RS or Ferrari 458 Speciale toys whose drivers can't push their cars to the limit. And yes, these guys usually like to form packs.
The 911 R you see here was spotted in a parking lot by fellow enthusiast Boosted Boris . Given the image's location tag on the man's Facebook page, this stick shift weapon was found close to the Nurburgring.Judging by the number plates of the rear-engined coupe, which come from the Baden-Wurttemberg region, we are, most likely, dealing with a factory car.To the best of our knowledge, this is the second time such a Zuffenhausen unicorn shows up in the wild. As a coincidence, both spotted examples came in Silver with Green stripes, but the one we showed you back in April had Black wheels, while using the same colors for a set of side decals.The plates are also different, while the funky white shades of the latter car's driver are nowhere in sight.Alas, most Porsche aficionados will have to stick to admiring other people's 911 Rs, since the German automaker is only building 991 examples of the creature.It's difficult to steer clear of bitterness when reminding you the R was already sold out when it made its debut back in March, at the Geneva Motor Show.Fortunately, though, this isn't the only 911 special that returns to the manual religion. For one thing, the upcoming GT3 will also offer a third pedal as an option and the 911 R's six-speed setup is the expected hardware.The 991.2 GT3 is currently approaching the end of its development cycle and we should see the boxer-engined athlete by the end of the current year. Since this derivative is already missing from the 911 line-up on the Porsche website, you'd better call your financial adviser soon.
TDI

The concept looks are complemented by aesthetic details that debuted on the Audi A4 (B9) . As an all-round effort, the next generation of the A8 shapes up to be a more slender car than the current A8.Underneath the swirly camouflage that hides the redesigned exterior, Audi employs the MLB evo architecture. More colloquially known as MLB 2, the modular longitudinal platform is also used by the Audi Q7, Audi A4, Bentley Bentayga, and Volkswagen Phideon. An 8-speed automatic will row gears for an assortment ofand TFSI powerplants displacing from 3.0 to 6.0 liters. A duo of e-tron plug-in hybrid variants are also expected to get the green light.Better still, the all-new Audi A8 will shed a lot of weight compared to the model it replaces. Furthermore, Audi has confirmed that the next-gen A8 prides itself on level three autonomous driving technology. In other words, the full-size sedan will be able to steer, accelerate, decelerate, and brake to a halt all by itself.Chief executive officer Rupert Stadler made it official that the 2018 model year Audi A8 is bound to arrive in 2017, probably in Geneva. If were lucky, production will start in the fall, which means were a little over a year away from getting behind the wheel of the long-awaited German sedan. An A8 L is also in the works.Meanwhile, all eyes are on the Ingolstadt-based manufacturers electric efforts. The make-or-break product Audi will launch by the end of the decade is the Q6 e-tron , the first all-electric sport utility vehicle in the brands history. Expect the Q6 to start production sometime in 2018 at the Audi Brussels plant in Belgium.
Below you can have a go at some Snaefell on-road action recorded by a 360fly mounted on Ian Hutchinson's Tyco BMW S1000RR. With the weather in Manx not being in the most camera-friendly mood during Hutchinson's test ride, the whole picture looks a bit grim, albeit being shot in FullHD.However, things are only going to get better as 360fly informs us that, for the Isle of Man TT 2016 races, they will be using 4K cameras on the selected motorcycles. With 4K slowly becoming more of a standard when it comes to breathtaking action videos, we're eager to see how life looks from behind the bars of a TT bike during an actual race.Fans who can't make it to the Isle of Man will be able to watch the live streams via the Livit platform and the content being distributed through Isle of Man TT's social channels. "Content from the race paddock, rider pressroom, VIP hospitality, and grandstand activation area, as well as on-bike footage from competing riders will be available on YouTube and Facebook. Additionally, 360fly will be live streaming from the race paddock and rider pressroom. Fans can download the free Livit Now mobile app on iOS or Android and follow @360fly," the camera maker informs us.360fly has also signed a contract with the 2015 MotoGP World Champion and Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo, and we can also expect interesting footage from the premier class track and Lorenzo's different training sessions.A company specializing in consumer-level and budget-friendly 360-degree video, 360fly aims at popularizing this new type of video experience among not-yet-professional users. Even more, thanks to the intuitive mobile app, shooting, editing and sharing 360-degree videos taken with the 360fly is now easier than ever.Talking about the partnership with the Isle of Man TT, 360fly CEO Peter Adderton says, "Isle of Man TT is an incredible event that the vast majority of race fans are unable to attend due to its secluded location. The ability to not only track rider perspectives, but also pan in 360-degrees across the Islands breathtaking terrain, will bring an entirely new dimension to how fans experience this unparalleled racing event."The 360fly HD camera and its 4K sibling can be acquired for $399 (352) and $499 (440), respectively. The 2016 TT starts Saturday, May 28, with the untimed practice sessions, whereas races commence Saturday, June 4.
Ralphs towing warrior is a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the EcoDiesel V6, an engine that isnt only frugal but also powerful and torquey. On the Jeep website, were told that the oil-chugging Grand Cherokee is able to return up to 30 miles per gallon or 7.8 l/100 km.Ralph doesnt do 30 miles per gallon because, well, hes Ralph Gilles. However, he is adamant that the EcoDiesel-powered Grand Cherokee gets 20 to 21 miles per gallon (11.7 to 11.2 l/100 km) when hes towing his white-painted Dodge Viper GTS on an open-air trailer. But then again, the fuel economy drops to 18 to 19 miles per gallon (13 to 12.3 l/100 km) when Ralph tows his Dodge Viper ACR on the same open-air trailer. How is that possible? After all, the two Viper models are very similar in terms of exterior design.You see, when you equip the Dodge Viper ACR with the Extreme Aero Package, the slithering supercar produces the highest downforce of any road-going car in production today. More to the point, 2,000 pounds or 907 kilograms at 177 miles per hour (285 km/h). That ginormous rear wing and the various aerodynamic bits and bobs up front are vital to the ACR-branded models high drag coefficient of .541. Compared to it, the less downforce-crazy Dodge Viper GTS prides itself on a drag coefficient of 0.369.Being a car designer at heart, Ralph Gilles wont let things be the way they are now. I am in the process of fashioning a simple device that stalls the rear wing (fills in the top), he told Road & Track . When was the last time youve seen a higher-up in the industry get down to business and put some elbow grease into it?
CVT

New European Driving Cycle

In production since 2011, the Toyota Prius+ has been gingerly updated in the United Kingdom (and the rest of Europe) for the 2017 model year. To summarize the refresh nicely, the Prius+ adds goodies such as a betterand more technology.Five years since it started production, the Prius+ gains a more refined CVT that promises to provide more linear acceleration while delivering a quieter driving experience. Additional sound insulation plus a tunnel silencer are also to thank for.Engineers also tinkered with the engine, reducing revs by approximately 1,000 rpm under acceleration by using more electric get-up-and-go to support the 1.8-liter VVT-i Atkinson cycle four-cylinder engine. Speaking of the powertrain, the output of the seven-seater compact multi-purpose vehicle remains unchanged.Under the, the 2017 Toyota Prius+ returns up to 3.8 liters per 100 km (62 U.S. mpg or 74 imperial mpg) in city driving and emits 96 grams of CO2 per km. In regard to performance, 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) arrives in 11.3 seconds, while top speed is limited to 102 mph (164 km/h).The Toyota Prius+ also levels up to the latest iteration of the Touch 2 multimedia system. Compared to the preceding system, Touch 2 is a bit more intuitive and connection to the My Toyota online customer portal has been made easier.Touch 2 with Go now includes three years of navigation and connectivity updates, along with real-time traffic and weather intel. Better still, services such as Google Search, Google Streetview, and Twitter are also available. Last but not least, the 2017 Toyota Prius+ compact-sized hybrid multi-purpose vehicle gains a new exterior finish (Phantom Blue), bringing the total up to seven paint finishes.
kW

SUV

Introduced at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show and inspired by the cult classic FJ40 Land Cruiser, the Toyota FJ Cruiser stopped being sold in the U.S. after the 2014 model year. The 4Runner took it over from then on. Happily, however, the FJ Cruiser soldiered on in markets such as the Middle East, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Nevertheless, all good stories come to an end and the Toyota FJ Cruiser makes no exception to the golden rule.According to the Australian arm of Toyota, we will be bidding a fond farewell to the FJ Cruiser in August. The FJ rides into the sunset as a vehicle renowned for its ability to traverse rugged outback trails while offering plenty of utility for all types of activities and being equally well-suited for everyday driving, said Tony Cramb, executive director of sales & marketing at Toyota Australia. The FJ Cruiser will leave lasting memories as one of the most iconic vehicles in Toyota's rich SUV history, helping to bring renewed energy to the Toyota brand.Since day one, the Toyota FJ Cruiser was available with one engine option: the 1GR-FE 4.0-liter V6. Conjoined to either a six-speed manual or a five-speed automatic transmission, the naturally aspirated mill churns 268 horsepower (200) and 280 lb-ft (380 Nm) of torque. Despite the so-and-so performance, people tend to forget that thisboasts 36 and 31 degrees approach and departure angles.Theres no information on a direct replacement for the FJ Cruiser. If Toyota doesnt offer a successor for this body-on-frame SUV, the Japanese brand will be making a big mistake. The thing is, lifestyle-oriented vehicles inspired by glorious machines from days gone by are vital to the strengthening of a car brand. Toyota should know better. Case in point: the GT 86 is a worthy successor to the AE86 of the 80s.
Photo courtesy of Subaru.

Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), is renaming itself to Subaru Corp. to enhance a rising Subaru brand that closed its fiscal year in March with sales of 1.05 million vehicles for the first time in its 58-year history.

The renaming will allow the new company to enhance the Subaru brand and focus on building a strong business structure, according to a release. In addition to the automobile division, the company has an aerospace division, industrial power business, and eco technology division that sells refuse trucks, a robot sweeper and wind turbines. Subaru now sells vehicles in 90 countries.

The company will change the name in 2017 as it celebrates the centennial of Nakajima Aircraft Company  the primary suppliers or aircraft to the Japanese government during WWII that was broken up by the Allies after the war under keiretsu legislation.

FHI was incorporated in 1953 with the joining of five companies, including Fuji Kogyo, Fuji Jidosha Kogyo, Omiya Fuji Kogyo, Utsunomiya Sharyo and Tokyo Fuji Sangyo.

The company offered its first Subaru vehicle in 1958, when it introduced the Subaru 360 minicar. At the time, FHI CEO Kenji Kita chose the Subaru name, a Japanese word refering to the Pleiades star cluster. It represented five stars becoming one.

Subaru of America was established in 1968 in Philadelphia by Malcolm Bricklin and Harvey Lamm, and later moved to Cherry Hill, N.J., when FHI acquired full ownership.

Subaru now offers four cars and four crossovers in the U.S. market, including the BRZ, Impreza, WRX, Legacy, Forester, Crosstrek, Crosstrek Hybrid, and Outback.

For the 2016 model year, the Outback was the top Subaru vehicle added to commercial fleets, followed by the Legacy.
Photo courtesy of Google.

Google is looking for "vehicle safety specialists" for $20 per hour in Arizona to sit behind the wheel of its self-driving cars and take over at a moment's notice.

In a job posting on HireArt, Google said the full-time position will be based out of Phoenix. The role calls for an associate who can "operate comfortably in a fast-paced environment, sometimes managing up to four communication channels simultaneously via various high- and low-tech mediums."

Google has been expanding its self-driving car fleet in Chandler, reports The Verge.
Moses Frenck, owner of a Storm Century light sport airplane, has decided to give away his LSA as a prize to a winning essay writer rather than letting it languish in the classifieds. Frenck, a 20-year pilot who has owned the Century since 2010, had listed his New Jersey-based aircraft on Trade-A-Plane for $75,000. While he had interested buyers, their biggest hindrance was getting financing for an LSA that is not common in the U.S., Frenck told AVweb. The Century, which comes from an Italian company, is more common in Australia and Europe. Banks are reluctant to finance piston aircraft in general, and aviation finance companies tend to stay away from pre-owned LSAs and manufacturers that are not well known, Frenck said.

His solution was to launch his pay-per-entry essay contest, a model often used to give away big-ticket items like cars and houses. If he receives at least 500 entries with a $100 entry fee for each, with a maximum of 1,000 essays, Frenck will get a minimum of $50,000 for the airplane. A panel of three unnamed professional writers and editors will serve as the judges, but a sincere love of flying will outweigh technical writing ability, Frenck said. The winner will likely be someone who would use the airplane to share the love of flying, such as giving rides to young people or anyone whos curious. Someone who would put the airplane to good use, not just have one for the sake of saying they own an airplane, he said.
13 May 2016 11:36 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

French MP has criticized his countrys local authorities' attempts to cooperate with the unrecognized regime in Nagorno-Karabakh and urged to condemn such steps.

Jean-Francois Mancel, member of the French National Assembly, president of the Association of Friends of Azerbaijan in France, has voiced his position in his inquiry addressed to the French Interior Minister in connection with the international activities of the countrys local communities.

Today, amid the rising tensions and deterioration of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and when France, as one of the co-chairing countries of the OSCE Minsk Group, should take the initiative for achieving a just and lasting peace, the fact of local French authorities establishing relations with the occupied Azerbaijani town of Shusha is particularly regrettable, and must be condemned, Mancel said in his inquiry.

The French MP further urged to comment on what measures will be taken to enforce the country's legislation concerning the requirements for the international activities of local communities.

In his request dated December 15, 2015, Mancel asked to clarify the conditions and orders, which should be adhered by the local authorities when establishing their international relations. He reminded the Interior Minister that three local authorities have established partnerships with so-called "government" of the occupation regime in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The French Interior Minister, in response letter, stated that the internal letter sent to all local authorities says that local communities should take into account the international obligations of France during their activities. The main point was that they should not sign any agreement with foreign countries or structures not recognized by France. Information about local authorities external cooperation has to be sent to the Foreign Ministry and the State Commission for Cooperation, created under the Ministry of International Development.

However, Bourg-les-Valence (Drome department of France) ignored the letter and announced about networking with Shusha which is located in the occupied Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

France's Villeurbanne city mayor Jean-Paul Bret received the so-called head of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan in May and even signed an agreement between the Villeurbanne city and Azerbaijan's Shusha city which has been under Armenian occupation for over 20 years already.

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.

Under Azerbaijans legislation, any illegal activity in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan can be cause for a prosecution. Also, unauthorized visits to Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions of Azerbaijan are considered illegal and individuals who pay such visits are included in Azerbaijani foreign ministrys black list.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Polish your chainmail and head to Sedona Monday for a Monty Python and the Holy Grail sing-a-long.

The Sedona International Film Festival will host the special event with two showings Monday, May 16, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre in Sedona. The audience can sing along with the Knights of the Round Table, costumes are encouraged and coconuts will be available while supplies last.

The event is in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the classic comedy. The film has been digitally remastered to high definition and will include a new Terry Gilliam feature, "The Lost Animations."

Released in 1975, Monty Python's first feature film is a medieval quest set in England 932 A.D. King Arthur (Graham Chapman) accompanied by his trusty servant Patsy (Terry Gilliam) is seeking knights to join his Round Table at Camelot. Arthur confronts two guards preoccupied with swallows, argues with a group of constitutional peasants, challenges a Black Knight who comes apart at the seams and witnesses the outing of a witch before enrolling his first knight, Bedevere the Wise (Terry Jones). Other knights follow: Sir Lancelot the Brave (John Cleese), Sir Galahad the Pure (Michael Palin) and the not-quite-so-brave Sir Robin (Eric Idle).

Avoiding the singing dancers of Camelot, Arthur and his Knights are inspired by God to quest together for the Holy Grail. But taunted and humiliated by the French, they decide go their separate ways.

Sir Robin is confronted by a Three-Headed Knight, Sir Lancelot hacks his way through a wedding to save a damsel in distress, Arthur and Bedevere, warned by a Soothsayer, meet the shrubbery loving Knights of Ni while Sir Galahad almost falls to the temptation of the virgins of Castle Anthrax. The Knights join up again and after an arduous journey encounter Tim the Enchanter who leads them to the cave, guarded by a foul creature, wherein an ancient inscription reveals the whereabouts of the Grail. The Bridge of Death claims its victims and only Arthur and Bedevere reach the final resting place of the Holy Grail, only to be thwarted by old adversaries.

Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members. For tickets and more information, call 928-282-1177. Both the theater and film festival office are located at 2030 W. Highway 89A, in West Sedona. For more information, visit SedonaFilmFestival.org.

Ballet students to perform Peter Pan

All That Dance will presents the classic tale, Peter Pan today, Friday, May 13, at 6 p.m., at the Sinagua Middle School auditorium. This ballet showcases the dance students in the ballet program at All That Dance. Choreography is by ballet director Ikuko Milton with additional choreography by ballet teachers Becca Hansen, Nicole Lloyd and Anna Yee.

Dancers will tell the familiar story of Peter Pan, the mischievous boy who can fly but never wants to grow up. Peter Pan will be danced by Anna Yee. Wendy, John and Michael fly to Neverland with Peter. Tinkerbell and some magic pixie dust help them on their way. Once they arrive in Neverland, they meet the Lost Boys who are at war with Captain Hook and his rowdy bunch of pirates. Captain Hook will be performed by Delaney Merrick.

Tickets are $15 in advance, or $18 at the door. For more information call 714-9300 or visit allthatdancesite.com.
13 May 2016 11:09 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's Military Prosecutor's Office has opened a criminal case in connection with the use of banned incendiary weapons by the Armenian armed forces against the civilians in the line of contact between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in early April.

The Military Prosecutors Office reminded that the ammunition with chemical composition (phosphorus incendiary) which is internationally banned to use, was found in the territory of Askipara village of Azerbaijans Tartar region. On May 11, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA has neutralized the unexploded ordnances.

Specialists of the Military Prosecutors investigation department held monitoring in the mentioned territory where were found 2 unexploded ammunition, including 1 mortar shell 122 mm D-4 gun containing 3.6 kg of P-4 (chemical code of white phosphorus) and 1 mortar shell 152 mm.

The use of such a weapon is a rude violation of the Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims (1949) and respective paragraphs of the 1980 Protocol III on Incendiary Weapons of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons restricting the use of incendiary weapons as a means or method of warfare during armed conflicts.

Armenian armed forces use such shells ignoring the international humanitarian norms not only in shelling the positions of the Azerbaijani armed forces but also while firing at settlements and civilians.

In this connection, the Azerbaijan Military Prosecutor's Office has launched a criminal case on the fact of use of chemical weapon against civilians by Armenian armed forces.

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13 May 2016 14:48 (UTC+04:00)

Ignoring the truce, the Armenian armed forces continue to escalate the tension on the contact line between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported that violating the ceasefire regime on May 12, the Armenian troops killed Azerbaijani soldier Rahil Arabli. The ceasefire breach was recorded on the line of contact between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia.

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13 May 2016 10:06 (UTC+04:00)

A new print edition of the AZERNEWS online newspaper was released on May 13.

The new edition includes articles about that Armenia continues staging war against civilians, Azerbaijan expects new wave of labor migrants, Central Asia, Northern Europe show interest in BTK project, Azerbaijan qualifies for Eurovision Grand Final, etc.



AZERNEWS is an associate member of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

The online newspaper is available at www.azernews.az.
13 May 2016 10:27 (UTC+04:00)

Relations between the friendly countries of Azerbaijan and Iran are developing rapidly, said Mubariz Gurbanli, Chairman of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations as he met with chairman of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization of Iran Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkaman, Azertac reports.

Gurbanli further added that the two countries enjoy excellent mutual cooperation in all spheres, including religious and cultural ones,

The official noted that national leader Heydar Aliyev always paid great attention to the relations between the two countries and President Ilham Aliyev today continues this policy.

He underlined that Azerbaijan was one of the model countries for tolerance and multicultural values to the world. He highlighted the government`s work to preserve and promote religious tolerance and prevent radicalism in the country.

Gurbanli said all countries must join their efforts in combating radicalism and terrorism.

The Chairman of the Committee then spoke of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Torkaman recalled meetings between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Iran last year, saying these meetings played a vital role in developing the two countries` ties.

He also expressed Iran`s interest in expanding cultural relations with Azerbaijan. The days of Iranian cinema are underway in Azerbaijan. An exhibition of photos of Azerbaijani mosques will be held in Tabriz on May 22, he added.

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13 May 2016 11:29 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans Consul General in Los Angeles Nasimi Aghayev visited San Francisco on May 5-6 2016 at the invitation of the American Jewish Committees (AJC) regional office.

During the visit, the Consul General addressed three separate events organized by AJC San Francisco. He spoke in this regard to the board members of the AJC San Francisco, members of AJCs young professionals organization ACCESS, as well as the Sherith Israel Congregation, which is the oldest and largest synagogue in San Francisco.

Aghayev spoke about the historical and cultural roots of Azerbaijans strong traditions of multi-faith tolerance and multiculturalism, as well as elaborated on the current atmosphere of brotherhood reigning between various religions and ethnicities in the country.

He mentioned that despite all the challenges Azerbaijan has faced and continues to face, being located in a complicated geography, the country has been able to build a successful model of tolerance and positive multiculturalism, which allows for Muslims, Christians, Jews and representatives of other faiths to live in peace, harmony and dignity.

The Consul General noted that thanks to the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, this environment of multi-faith and multicultural harmony and tolerance is becoming stronger and stronger every day. He stressed in this regard that the year 2016 had been proclaimed by the President to be the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan.

Aghayev also mentioned the overwhelming success of the recent Global Forum of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations, which was hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan and attended by around 3,000 representatives from over 140 countries.

The Consul General informed the events participants also about Azerbaijans strong relations with the United States and Israel, as well as the historically close friendship between the Azerbaijani and Jewish people. Commending the role of the American Jewish Committee in building bridges between ethnicities, religions and cultures, Consul Genreral Aghayev highlighted the tremendous importance of such an engagement especially now in these turbulent times when the world is seeing so much division and strife. Aghayev said in this regard that both Azerbaijan and AJC are choosing hope over hate, unity over division and light over darkness, and thats how the difference is made to build a better world and brighter tomorrow.

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13 May 2016 17:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov visited a newly established military unit on the frontline at the instruction of the President of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev.

A new military unit built for the frontline battalion has been provided with modern equipment modern equipment, the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday.

Hasanov met with the units personnel who mostly live in nearby villages to talk about the conditions created here.

He informed the personnel on the works carried out to further enhance combat and moral-psychological training, improve the service members social conditions, and strengthen the logistics base.

Zakir Hasanov also gave instructions over the construction of new military units along the frontline.

On the night of April 2, all Azerbaijani border positions came under intense fire from large-caliber weapons, mortars, grenade launchers and artillery by Armenia. In addition, a number of frontline settlements of civilians were shot. Some of them were killed or wounded.

The sides agreed to ceasefire from 12 p.m. of April 5. However, Armenia constantly violates it throughout all the frontline.

Azerbaijani Army destroyed 370 enemy soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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13 May 2016 12:25 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani, Turkish and Georgian defense ministers Zakir Hasanov, Ismet Yilmaz and Tinatin Khidasheli will meet on May 14, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported.

During the meeting to be held in Azerbaijan's Gabala city, the ministers will discuss the military and technical cooperation and hold trilateral and bilateral meetings.

The first initiative of military cooperation between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia emerged in 2013 and was followed by the first official meeting of the defense ministers on the sidelines of NATO Ministerial in Brussels, in June 2014.

Further meetings of the ministers in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan in August 2014 and in Georgia's Tbilisi in April 2015 put forward the planning and execution of joint training exercises in view of protecting the region's strategic energy-transport infrastructure.

Last time, the defense ministers of the regional neighbors have come together in Istanbul on December 17 to look though the development perspectives of the trilateral military ties.

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13 May 2016 17:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Gunay Camal

Azerbaijan has started a decisive stage to eliminate the consequences of Armenian aggression, liberate its occupied territories and restore its territorial integrity.

Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov made the remark at the hearings in the Azerbaijani Parliament on the "Recent developments along the line of contact: Problems of the international humanitarian law" on May 13.

Noting that Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan stand at the root of the conflict, Khalafov expressed regret over the fact that the conflict is called the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Unfortunately, the former authorities of Azerbaijan failed to prevent it and in 1992, at the time of adoption of the Helsinki document on the conflict, it was named the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," he said. "In reality, it is the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and Armenia's territorial claims against Azerbaijan are the root of this conflict."

He noted that Armenia is interested in staging provocations in the process of settlement of the conflict and has to date staged numerous provocations along the line of contact.

Armenia's main purpose is to protract the conflict and achieve the problem's settlement in line with its own interests, he said, reminding that Azerbaijan has always suppressed the attempts taken to fulfill those plans.

Armenia, which is responsible for the early April clashes on the line of contact, has chosen the aggressive policy, said the deputy FM.

He added that Azerbaijan faced humanitarian problems as a result of the Armenian aggression. "Currently, the European Union is in perplexity after having faced the problem of a million refugees, whereas Azerbaijan coped with the problem of refugees and IDPs on its own," said Khalafov.

Spokesman for Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry Vagif Dargahli, addressing the hearings, announced that Azerbaijani Armed Forces killed more than 320 Armenian servicemen during the April clashes on the contact line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

He added that more than 500 Armenian soldiers were injured, 30 enemy tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as more than 25 artillery pieces were destroyed during the counter attacks of Azerbaijan.

Dargahli said that Armenia was carrying out various provocative actions prior to the April events as well. In 2014, immediately after the meeting of the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the Armenian side held large-scale military exercises in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region, he added.

Dargahli further reminded that Armenia has been shelling Azerbaijani civilians as well.

The shelling of civilians became frequent since March 2016, said Dargahli, adding that in response to these actions Azerbaijani Armed Forces inflicted strikes on the enemy positions, having destroyed numerous manpower and military equipment of the enemy.

Armenians desecrated the dead bodies of Azerbaijani servicemen killed during the April events on the frontline, senior assistant to Azerbaijan's military prosecutor, Colonel Safar Ahmadov said.

Ahmadov noted that during the inspection of the dead bodies of servicemen handed over to the Azerbaijani side, it was revealed that those bodies were desecrated.

A criminal case has been initiated upon the fact in Terter District Prosecutor's Office and an investigation is underway, he added.

"Moreover, the Eskipara village of Azerbaijan's Terter district was subjected to shelling on Apr.26-28. An artillery shell was found on a cotton field in the village," said Ahmadov. "It was revealed that it is a poisonous 122-mm artillery shell. An investigation on the criminal cases continues."

The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands began shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

Azerbaijan and Armenia declared a truce brokered by Russia on April 5. But, still Armenia continues to breach the ceasefire, firing the worst violence in more than 20 years in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

As many as 32 criminal cases in connection with the premeditated murder of Azerbaijani civilians by Armenia and destruction of property were initiated in the prosecutor's offices of Azerbaijan's Tartar, Aghdam, Fuzuli and Agjabadi regions in April 2016, head of the investigation control department of the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan Nazim Abbasov said.

"Armenia has violated the rules of international humanitarian law," said Abbasov, addressing the hearings. "The deaths of six civilians were caused by shots fired at settlements."

The head of the department also noted that 641 houses were damaged, adding that work on collecting the proofs of crimes committed by the Armenian side continues.

Chingiz Asgarov, chief of section of the department on work with law enforcement bodies at Azerbaijan's Presidential Administration, for his announced that the European Court of Human Rights made a decision to review two grievances on the crimes committed by Armenian armed forces on the frontline

Asgarov noted that the citizens have filed grievances over the crimes committed by Armenian armed forces.

"Applications to the European Court of Human Rights should be submitted by lawyers," he said. "If the communication process with regard to these grievances starts soon, the Azerbaijani side will take relevant steps."

Based on the information received from lawyers, Asgarov said that grievances over the houses destroyed by Armenian armed forces will also be submitted to the European Court of Human Rights soon.

"People should appeal to the European Court over the damages, the destroyed houses, since their rights defined by the European Convention have been violated," he added.

Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

The OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, proceeding talks based on the renewed Madrid principles.

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13 May 2016 16:59 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Azerbaijan and Bulgaria relations are developing successfully and in the spirit of friendship, President Ilham Aliyev said, naming Bulgaria one of Azerbaijans closest friends.

The president made the remark in Baku on May 13, as he received a delegation led by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov, Azertac reports.

President Ilham Aliyev recalled with pleasure his meetings with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliyev and Prime Minister Boyko Borissov both in Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. The President stressed the importance of the fact that these meetings were held on a regular basis.

Hailing level of political ties as good, President Aliyev added that Azerbaijan is interested in expanding economic cooperation with Bulgaria.

The head of state praised Bulgarias high-level representation in the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, adding that the project is successfully implemented.

President Aliyev further thanked Bulgaria for supporting Azerbaijans plans for partnership with the European Union. Expressing his hope over successful continuation of negotiations with the European Union, the head of state said there are good opportunities for expanding cooperation between the two countries, which, he said, was of strategic importance.

The head of state said the bilateral relations were based on sincere, friendly and mutual trust, and pointed to active cooperation in the field of culture.

Mitov thanked the head of state for hospitality and also hailed the high level of ties between the two countries.

The minister said the bilateral relations were friendly and strategic in nature, and noted the necessity of strengthening ties in this regard.

Speaking of energy projects, the Bulgarian FM said the Southern Gas Corridor project was of strategic significance for his country. This project will open up opportunities for not only Azerbaijan and Bulgaria, but also for expanding Azerbaijan-European Union cooperation, he added.

The sides exchanged views over the expansion of opportunities for cooperation in agriculture, tourism, information and communication technologies and other areas.

During the Baku visit, the Bulgarian minister also met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov and other officials.

During the meeting, Elmar Mammadyarov and Daniel Mitov discussed several issues such as the current situation in Azerbaijan-EU relations and ways to improve these relations, cooperation in economic and energy sectors, Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and made opinion exchange on international and regional issues.

Azerbaijan and Bulgaria have developed friendly relations after Bulgaria recognized the independence of Azerbaijan in January 1992.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in June 1992 and the embassy of Bulgaria in Azerbaijan was opened in December 1999. In 2014, the Azerbaijan State Statistics Committee reported that trade between the two countries amounted to $124.596 million.

Bulgaria has intention to become main gas transit country for South Eastern and Central Europe.

The diversification of natural gas resources and the routes delivering natural gas to Bulgaria is vital for the country. In this regard, Azerbaijan could become an important partner for Bulgaria. The country continues to put in all efforts to aid in the construction of the Greece-Bulgaria Interconnector for the supply of Azerbaijani gas.

The IGB is a gas pipeline that will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, mostly from the second stage of development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz gas and condensate field. The IGB will connect to the Trans-Adriatic pipeline, providing a steady flow of natural gas from Shah Deniz in the Caspian to European markets.

In January 2014, TAP and the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria Company  which is in charge of the development, financing, and construction of the IGB  signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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13 May 2016 14:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Over the past years, Switzerland and Azerbaijan have established a close partnership, as the bilateral cooperation relies on productive political framework. The two countries seek to further expand the economic partnership.

Swiss investors are interested in the real sector of Azerbaijan, said Philipp Stalder, Switzerlands ambassador to Baku and Ashgabat as he met a delegation headed by President and Editor-in-Chief of Caspian Energy International Media Group Natalya Aliyeva.

The ambassador mentioned that currently a large number of Swiss companies are represented in different spheres of the Azerbaijani economy.

One of the Swiss companies producing cement in its factory south of Baku is even the biggest source of FDI in the countrys non-oil sector. Another Swiss company, manufacturing specialty chemicals for construction and industry, has announced this spring its willingness to operate a new factory at Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park. So, there is an interest from Swiss investors in the real sector of the economy in this country, he explained.

Speaking about the energy cooperation, the envoy noted that Switzerland very much welcomed and actively supported the selection of Trans Adriatic Pipeline) as the pipeline infrastructure of the Southern Gas Corridor, designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe.

TAP which is a Swiss based consortium is a striking example of this fruitful cooperation in the energy sector, Stalder added.

The ambassador further reminded that SOCAR is an active foreign investor and employer in Switzerland with its 160 pumping stations and its trade entity in Geneva.

Compared to previous years, when bilateral trade amounted to nearly one billion Swiss francs ($1 billion), I see a wide untapped potential and considerable interest on both sides to increase the current levels of trade, stressed Shtalder.

Currently, some 65 companies with Swiss capital are operating in the country. They have invested $220 million in the country's economy.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs has successfully implemented 30 projects worth $90 million in Azerbaijan. The secretariat itself has allocated $25 million of this amount.

Switzerland recognized the independence of Azerbaijan on 23 December 23, 1991. The embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan was opened in Bern in October 2005. In 2001, Switzerland set up a cooperation office in Baku, where embassy operates since 2007.

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PHOENIX -- Attorney General Mark Brnovich refused Thursday to try to postpone next week's special election, despite foul-ups by Secretary of State Michele Reagan, saying there's nothing in state law to permit that.

At a hastily called press conference, Brnovich unloaded on Reagan for failing to comply with state laws requiring voters to get ballot pamphlets explaining the two issues before they got their actual early ballots. And he said there needs to be an investigation of why Reagan hid that information from the public for weeks.

"This was a complete fiasco," Brnovich said.

"I don't know what the right word to express it," he continued. "But it pisses me off, as an Arizonan, as the attorney general."

But Brnovich laid some of the blame on lawmakers for leaving him with his hands tied.

"We know that we want strict compliance with election laws," he said. "But the legislature never provided any penalty."

Reagan publicist Matt Roberts said Thursday afternoon his boss was too busy to speak to reporters.

"She is meeting with staff to further review what happened and how we can get better," he said.

Roberts conceded earlier this week that at least 200,000 pamphlets explaining Proposition 123 and 124 did not go out on time. The first deals with increased funding for public schools; the second alters constitutional provisions on public pensions.

The homes appear to be those with two people who are on the list to get early ballots. That means more than 400,000 voters could be affected.

Roberts said the problem was with an outside company that was supposed to prepare mailing lists.

"It's by no means any deflection of what happened," he said. "The secretary accepted responsibility for it."

Arizona law mandates that one pamphlet goes to every household with a registered voter ahead of people getting their early ballots. It contains not only what is supposed to be an impartial explanation of every measure but also pro and con arguments.

By law that should have happened by April 20.

The gap in mailings went unnoticed publicly until attorney Tom Ryan pointed it out earlier this week and asked the attorney general to intercede.

Brnovich said there is no legal recourse against Reagan. He said that is up to voters.

"We do know and do believe the secretary of state violated Arizona law," Brnovich said. "Unfortunately, there's nothing in the statutes that provide an adequate remedy."

But Brnovich was more than clear in his displeasure. He pointed out the law says Reagan "shall" get the pamphlets out into the homes of voters ahead of the early ballots being mailed.

That should have happened no later than April 20.

"This put a lot of people into a bad situation," he said, pronouncing himself "frustrated."

"It seems like every time we have an election here it ends up in a goat rope," Brnovich continued. "It's incredible we can't get these things right."

Brnovich said the failure to mail the pamphlets on time is only part of the question.

"Why did it take weeks to inform the public?" he asked.

Roberts said his boss never considered making that failure public until attorney Tom Ryan made an issue of it earlier this week.

"We were focused on getting the pamphlets to the people that did not receive one and less so on having some public declaration," Robert said, even if that was simply to tell voters who did not get a pamphlet that they could read a copy online.

Brnovich said he now is focused on two things.

One is preventing something like this from happening again.

The other is to put something in law to deal with the situation if it does, whether to halt the election or to punish the elected official who breaks the law. At this point, he said, the only remedy is for voters to make their displeasure known at the ballot box.

"I think that the public will need to hold accountable other officials," Brnovich said.

Roberts said his boss does not fear such public scrutiny.

"I think voters will see that we worked to immediately start printing the ballot (pamphlets) once we figured out what happened," he said.
13 May 2016 10:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijans Saba OJSC, engaged in the food production and sale, seeks to increase its capacity up to 25,000 tons of poultry meat per year, Trend reports.

The company has already submitted its investment project to the Economy Ministry in order to get investment incentives. Currently, the companys production capacity is 17,000 tons of poultry meat per year.

The project stipulates the increased efficiency of the production through sophisticated technologies, improvement of processing, and packaging of poultry meat, minimization of manual labor. The company representative stated that it will not only allow to increase the production capacity and up labor efficiency, but also decrease net costs.

The company aims to up the production volume and expand in the market as it set a goal of becoming the leader in the domestic poultry production, supplying internal market with the production and entering the foreign market.

The total cost of the project, which is planned to be realized in two years, is 1,283 ($0.85 million) million manats.

Saba JSC is one of the first companies appealing for the investment incentives. The company also plans to enter foreign markets with wide variety of goods.

We have already signed contracts with Russian companies on the delivery of dairy products and currently implement them successfully. But the production of other products such as meat, vegetable oil is directed at the internal market supply, the representative said.

Half of the companys income will be exempted from taxes should the company gets investment incentives. First of all, benefits will affect manufacturing equipments imported by legal individuals and private entrepreneurs. Import of manufacturing equipments will be exempted from VAT and customs tariffs for 7 years. The company will also be free from the payment of tax on property and land.

Currently, the SABA trademark unites Davachi Broiler ASC, Bilasuvar Agro MMC and Karabakh Takhil MMC, Baku Food Company MMC and Davachi Broiler Deep Processing MMC companies.

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13 May 2016 10:09 (UTC+04:00)

Irans Minister of Agriculture Jihad Mahmoud Hojjati and a group of Iranian businessmen will embark on a three-day visit to Azerbaijan this Sunday, Azertac reports.

During the visit Hojjati will meet with officials of the Agriculture Ministry to discuss the bilateral ties. He will also give a press conference.

The visit will feature an Azerbaijani-Iranian business forum.

Azerbaijan and Iran, the two strategic partners and two neighboring countries with historically close links, enjoy cooperation in various fields.

After the western sanctions were lifted from Iran, it has repeatedly expressed intention to improve trade with neighboring Azerbaijan in a bid to make up for the recent decline in trade turnover between the two countries.

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13 May 2016 11:49 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Baku hosted an Azerbaijani-Russian business forum on May 12 within the framework of Days of Dagestan and visit of Head of the Dagestan Republic Ramazan Abdulatipov to the capital.

Azerbaijan's Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev, addressing the event, said that the relations between the two sides are developing successfully in all the directions and regular mutual visits of officials and joint events demonstrate the interest in deepening mutual relations.

Azerbaijan and Dagestan have common historical and cultural roots," said the minister.



He further talked about the Days of Dagestan running in Baku on May 12-13. Mustafayev noted that the event will be a new phase in the development of cultural, as well as trade and economic relations.

The minister pointed out that Azerbaijan is the main consumer of Dagestans products and the trade turnover between the two parties increased in the first quarter of 2016.

Mustafayev also invited Dagestan's business community to do business in Azerbaijan.

Speaking at the forum, Ramazan Abdulatipov stressed that Dagestan stands ready to offer preferences to Azerbaijani entrepreneurs.

The head of Russia's Dagestan Republic pointed out that Dagestan is interested in expanding the relations with Azerbaijan, adding that there are opportunities to create joint enterprises in Dagestan.

The effective use of the existing potential can make it possible to significantly develop the trade and economic relations between Azerbaijan and Dagestan, according to Abdulatipov, who added that the two countries may cooperate in the spheres of construction, tourism and services.



He also noted that Azerbaijan and Dagestan have a potential to increase the trade turnover by dozens of times.

Abdulatipov believes that the trade turnover, which stood at $160 million as of 2015, doesn't correspond to the level of the Azerbaijani-Dagestani relations and it can be significantly increased.

As part of the business forum, the Agency for Entrepreneurship and Investment of Russia's Dagestan and Azerbaijan's Caspian Invest Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement.

The document was signed by the head of the Dagestani agency, Bashir Magomedov and head of the Caspian Invest Ltd., Aydin Huseynov.

Caspian Invest Ltd. commercial director Namig Rahimli said the company will build a greenhouse complex, a logistics center and a trade house in Dagestan.

Since its establishment in 2003, the Caspian Invest Ltd. has offered consultancy, engineering and investment advisory services to its clients in both private and public sectors, in partnership with its international partners.

The company actively operates in various areas, including finance, energy, transportation and others.

Azerbaijan continues to strengthen business cooperation with Russian regions, thus increasing number of mutual agreements and business entities.

The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and largest city Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea.

Parliaments sign cooperation document

Azerbaijans parliament and People's Assembly of the Dagestan Republic of the Russian Federation have signed a document on cooperation.

The document was signed at the meeting of Parliamentary Chairman Ogtay Asadov and the chairman of People's Assembly of the Dagestan Republic Khizri Shikhsaidov.

Asadov has noted that there are ancient friendly and neighboring relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, adding that today the relations between Azerbaijan and Dagestan are developing in all areas.

Mutual visits at high level open new opportunities for further development of bilateral ties, according to Asadov. He emphasized that the starting Days of Dagestani Culture in Azerbaijan will promote these relations even more.

Asadov has especially noted the role of parliaments in expansion and strengthening of bilateral relations, emphasizing that cooperation and exchange of experience in the legislative sphere yield positive results.

Shikhsaidov, in turn, noted that Dagestan is interested in development of relations with Azerbaijan in all fields.

He has noted that Dagestanis wish the quick peaceful settlement of the painful problem for Azerbaijan - the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The sides had comprehensive exchange of views on other questions of mutual interest.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 May 2016 13:09 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The government of Azerbaijan intends to complete the process of regulating drug prices by the end of June.



The government began to pay a special attention to sale of medicines in its pharmacies starting from last September, and Tariff Council began to adjust and approve prices for a number of medicines.



The country has registered more than 10,000 kinds of medicines and Tariff Council has approved the prices of 7,075 kinds.



New prices for 5,741 drugs are already in force, and they should be sold according to the approved prices. Prices for 1,334 medicines will enter into force from June 1.

Establishing single prices for medicines is aimed to improve the level of medical services provided to the population and combating price gouging.



On Tariff (Price) Council website (www.tariff.gov.az ) in Medicines tab one can get acquainted with the list of approved drugs.

Medicinal products whose prices have been approved by the Council and entered into force, should be sold at these prices in all pharmacies across the country.

In case consumers face with different prices on approved medicines, they are advised to call the information center of the Economy Ministry 195-2 or 498-15-01 and 498-15-04 of the State Service for Antimonopoly Policy and Consumer Protection under the Ministry.

All medicines imported to Azerbaijan are examined before reaching pharmacies and hospitals. The country bans the import of medicines into the country without a license, permission, or other relevant documents.

A total of 57 percent of medicines registered in Azerbaijan are produced in Europe, 26 percent in the CIS countries, including 12 percent made in Russia. The small proportion is the medicine produced in Asian countries.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 May 2016 15:23 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Azerbaijan plans to introduce brand new technologies and systems in the transport sector to upgrade the field.

U.S. Wavetronix has offered Azerbaijan a new radar system to monitor traffic, Jake Fillmore, the company's regional sales manager for Eastern Europe, told Trend.

Wavertronix is engaged in creating tools for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) including advanced radar sensors, power and communication solutions and data management appliances.

He added that the company proposes to use different radars, road sensors in Azerbaijan, which enable to monitor the traffic on highways and motorways, as well as city roads.

This detector allows determining the exact number of the vehicles at crossroads, as well as provides forecasts and reports. "This system is widely used in many countries of the world," noted Fillmore, adding that among the CIS cities it is used in Moscow and Astana.

Azerbaijan also plans to introduce the system of toll roads which is innovative for Azerbaijan.

The Baku-Shamakhi-Kurdamir and Baku-Guba leading to the Russian border, Baku-Ganja and Haji Zeynallabdin Tagiyev  Sahil motorroads, will be paid roads. Construction of paid roads presupposes existence of alternative roads, otherwise charging for the use of the road is considered illegal.

The new Alat-Astara highway may be paid in the future as it is considered to be an alternative highway. Alat-Astara-Iran highway is considered an integral part of the transport corridor "North-South". Ongoing works on ground stabilization are currently implemented in the area. Major peculiarity of the highway is absence of residential areas in the territory beginning from entrance of Salyan till Astara-Iranian border. The route is expected to shorten the distance by about 40 km as compared to the previous one.

Work on the construction of underground passages, highway tunnels in the area also draw to a close. Speed limit of toll roads is considered to be at the rate of 120-140-160 kph which is higher as compared to standard roads.

Experts say that toll roads offer a solution to the majority transportation problems. The system of paid roads is widely used in most of the European countries. The number of paid autobahns is steadily increasing all over the world.

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13 May 2016 10:32 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijan Shakespeare Carpet competition has been announced in honor of Shakespeares 450th anniversary.

The competition organized by the British Council in partnership with the Academy of Fine Arts and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum is for the design of a carpet in honor of and inspired by Shakespeare. The competition brings together Azerbaijans rich cultural heritage in carpet design and the place of Shakespeare in world literature, the British Council said.

The competition is the only one of its kind in the world. On the occasion of the launch, Elizabeth White, Director British Council Azerbaijan, stated, Azerbaijan has a remarkable tradition of carpet-making. The oldest dated carpet, and one of the largest, most historically important and most beautiful carpets in the world is the Ardabil carpet from southern Azerbaijan. It was made some 15 years before Shakespeare was born; and it now displayed in the V&A Museum in London. What better way to mark Shakespeares anniversary in Azerbaijan than to create a new carpet? Were proud to work with the Academy of Arts and the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum in this and to invite all creative people to join the competition and to design a carpet for Shakespeare.

The designs are submitted online, and dont need to be technical carpet design - they can be images made with a paint-box or a lap-top. The competition is open to anyone in Azerbaijan, with three categories: professional designers, children, and others. The best designs will be exhibited, and the prize-winning designs made up into carpets and presented. The winner of the competition will travel to London to visit the V&A Museum and Shakespeares Globe theatre, the British Council said.

The Azerbaijan Shakespeare Carpet could show a scene or scenes from Shakespeares plays; it could show motifs from his works; it could reflect Azerbaijani tradition; it could be a portrait carpet  it could even be an abstract design. What matters is that the carpet is inspired by Shakespeare or by his writing, and that it honours his name and the tradition of the Azerbaijani carpet, the British Council added.

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13 May 2016 12:03 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Days of Dagestan, running in Baku, were solemnly opened in the capitals Heydar Aliyev Palace with participation of leading Dagestani art masters on May 12.



The ceremony was attended by prominent public figures, representatives of culture, art and science, and diplomatic missions.

An exhibition by Dagestans masters, where they featured national costumes, paintings and interesting folk art works, aroused a great interest of the guests.

Azerbaijans Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov, who addressed the ceremony, said that the fraternal ties between the peoples, as well as centuries-old historical ties and very close cultures and customs play an important role in the development of bilateral relations between the two sides.

Asadov noted that friendly bridge between Azerbaijan and Russia is being held through fraternal Dagestan, which is a federal subject of Russia.

Last year the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to about $2 billion, while between Azerbaijan and Dagestan, this figure amounted to $61 million. We believe that the two countries have significant potential for turnover growth, Asadov said.

Ramazan Abdulatipov, in turn, emphasized that Azerbaijan and Dagestan historically related to each other.



He said Azerbaijan plays a strategic role in the foreign policy of Russia, stressing the role of inter-regional relations.

Azerbaijan and Dagestans city of Derbent cooperate in many areas, in particular Azerbaijan has participated in the restoration of the ancient city of Derbent.

Following the speeches, the guests enjoyed colorful show, performed by famous Dagestani actors, dancers and groups.

As part of the Days of Dagestan, the countrys theater groups will perform in Khachmaz, Balakan, Zagatala and Gusar.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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13 May 2016 14:25 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

The oil prices that fell dramatically since mid 2014 are forecasted to rush back to previous highs only in 2040.

The U.S. Energy Department has updated its forecasts for oil prices on energy markets until 2040.

Global oil prices which fell from a high of around $115 per barrel in 2011 to $50 per barrel in 2015 will be restored in 2040 by reaching $141, analytics of the department believe.

In its forecasts, the department highlighted four fundamental factors such as investments decisions by OPEC countries, fuels market, market of non-inflammable resources, as well as, global demand for fuel and other flammable resources. Dynamics of all four factors may instantly change the balance in the oil and gas market. As a result of it, the given forecasts need to be revised, the department announced.

$141 per barrel is a forecast of high oil prices scenario, which is based on the assumption that production costs of the oil companies and countries will be reduced and demand for oil will gradually increase.

In this case, OPEC will focus on keeping its market share at 39-43 percent. In the meantime, the OECDs demand for oil will grow from current 45.5 million barrels to 46.1 million barrels, and total demand for energy products will increase from 44.8 barrels to 74.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Low oil prices scenario forecast also projected a rise in oil prices until 2040. In accordance with this forecast, global oil prices will reach to $75 (in dollar terms of 2013). In this forecast, the Department takes into account slower economic growth and decrease in demand for fuel products.

The minimal increase in demand is expected Europe and Eurasia and non-OECD countries, including in Russia.

In its forecasts, the Department also provides its estimates for oil producing countries. Russia is expected to increase the production of the natural gas by 2040 due to the development of the fields located in the Arctic and Eastern region of the country.

The global oil prices begin to fall since mid-2014. The current oversupply problem in the global oil market is named as the main reason why the oil prices cannot recover.

It is believed the solution for the problem is that the oil producers need to cut their production. However, even talks held by these countries about freezing their production at the level of January 2016 keep failing.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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13 May 2016 18:18 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB, also known as Stara Zagora-Komotini pipeline), that will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor, will be commercially viable according to the latest data, and its construction can begin very soon.

Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic announced about this in EBRD-filmed interview.

The SGC is very important project, and it is implemented in accordance with the schedule, said Sefcovic, reminding that the transportation of the Caspian gas to Turkey is expected by 2019, to Europe by 2020.

Bulgaria and Greece signed a final investment decision on the IGB project in December, 2015.

Worth noting, the IGB will be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor- one of the priority energy projects for the EU.

TAP and the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria Company  which is in charge of the development, financing, and construction of the IGB  signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in January 2014.

The interconnector will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijans gas, mainly from Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field.

Within the framework of the SGC project, the existing pipeline infrastructures will be upgraded and a chain of new pipelines will be developed.

South Caucasus pipeline, Trans-Anatolian and Trans-Adriatic pipelines are the components of this giant pipeline network. It will stretch across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece and southern part of the Italy.

Upon realization, the IGC will be a continuation of the Southern Gas Corridor into Europe.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
13 May 2016 12:43 (UTC+04:00)

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) forecasts Turkmenistan's GDP growth at the level of 6.5 percent and 7.1 percent in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

The bank's experts note that the Turkmen economy's growth was 6.5 percent in 2015, as compared to 10.3 percent in 2014. The improvement in Turkmenistan's growth in 2017 the experts link to the fact that the country is a largest exporter of energy raw materials.

EBRD report said that the risks to this latest outlook include continuing political tensions, as well the possibility of a sharp deceleration in growth in China, a prolonged weakness in commodity prices and a possible further drop in the price of oil.

The report also said that the weak commodity prices and recession in Russia are continuing to put pressure on the economies of Central Asia.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of the gas reserve volume and exports gas to China and Iran.

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13 May 2016 13:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Fatma Babayeva

Iran has strived to increase its oil production and oil export to pre-sanctions level as soon as the nuclear related sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic were lifted in January 2016.

In April, Iranian crude production reached the pre sanction volume, Bloomberg reported on May 12 by referring to the International Energy Agency.

The oil production of Iran soared to 3.56 million barrels per day in April which is the maximum volume reached by Iran since November 2011, according to the information provided by IEA,.

The surge which was observed in Irans oil output in April pushed OPECs production to the highest in almost eight years.

In the meantime, the oil exports of the country amounted to 2 million barrels per day for the same period.

The largest importer of Iranian oil was China by acquiring 800,000 barrels per day in April. In addition, Europe bought 500,000 barrels per day during the given timeframe.

Worth noting, Iranian energy officials previously uttered that the oil exports of the country will be reached to the pre-sanction level (about 2.2 million barrels per day) by the end of this summer.

Foreign investments in Iranian oil industry

Once sanctions cleared, the foreign energy companies started rushing to get a foothold in Irans oil and gas industry. Iranian Petroleum Ministry earlier announced that the country needs investments worth around $400-$500 billion in order to develop its oil industry.

Recently, China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation expressed determination to invest in the oil sector of Iran.

China plans to make investments in the projects on the downstream sector of the Iranian oil industry, IRNA news agency reported by quoting acting Deputy Petroleum Minister Masoud Hashemian.

Hashemian made the statement following the meeting between Li Shousheng, vice chairmen of the CPCIF and Amir Hossein Zamaninia, Iranian Deputy Petroleum Minister for International Affairs in Tehran on May 9.

Indias interest to expand ties with the Islamic Republic has also increased, especially to invest in joint oil and gas ventures of Iran.

Last month, Sushma Swaraj, Indian External Affairs Minister and her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif held a meeting to discuss expanding co-operation between their countries in various field including energy.

In addition, Iran inked contracts with several European oil companies earlier in April, and the implementation of those contracts is expected to take place in near future.

Meanwhile, there are already operating contracts for exporting Iranian hydrocarbons to Europe with the Greek company Hellenic Petroleum, Russia's Lukoil and Spanish Cepsa, in addition to the agreement with Total.

Shell may also resume oil imports from Iran after it pays all debt for previously delivered oil. In March, the company repaid most of its debt -$ 1.9 billion out of $ 2.1 billion blocked Iranian assets for the sale of oil.

However, some challenges remain for foreign investors who are keen to make investments in Iran. Although most of the sanctions have been cleared in January 2016, Iran still has problems with banking system. The U.S. sanction which bans to conduct transactions in U.S. dollar with Iran is still in place, and the export of U.S. technologies to the Islamic Republic is also prohibited which creates obstacles for Iran to find investment and cooperate with international companies.

The new oil investment framework known as Iran Petroleum Contract will be unveiled by July 2016, According to the Iranian officials.

BPs statistical review of world energy 2015 reports that Iran holds 9.3 percent of the worlds total proven oil reserves.

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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva

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13 May 2016 11:39 (UTC+04:00)

A military helicopter crashed in Turkey's Hakkari province, the Milliyet newspaper reported May 13.

Eight people, including two pilots were killed as a result of the air crash.

The cause of the accident is yet to be determined.

Reportedly, the helicopter was heading from the military airfield to take part in the operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization.

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13 May 2016 17:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Abbasova

Tajikistan has launched large-scale CASA-1000 regional project in the power industry.

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon, Afganistan's Foreign Minister Abdulla Abdulla, PMs of Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan Navaz Sharif and Soorbay Jeenbekov attended the event that was held in Tursunzade city.

CASA-1000 is a new interregional electricity transmission project in Central and South Asia to connect four countries -- Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. It is presupposed that the project will create opportunities for the export of electricity surplus in summer period from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzistan to Afganistan and Pakistan.

The commissioning of CASA-1000 electricity transmission system aimed at more efficient use of clean hydropower resources in Central Asian countries by means of transferring them to the countries with deficient amount of resources in South Asia thus making the use of surplus arising in summer period more efficient.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzistan are expected to deliver approximately 5 billion kilowatts of power per hour in May-September period. Tajikistan plans to invest about $320 million for the implementation of the project, while Afganistsan plans to invest $354 million, and Pakistan $209 million.

High voltage power transmission line with the power of 500 kilowatt and length of 750 kilometers will be constructed in the first stage of the project realization, while high voltage power transmission line from Tajikistan to Afghanistan and further to Pakistan with the length of 750 kilometers will be constructed later.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have the worlds most abundant clean hydropower resources. Both countries have the surplus of electricity during the summer due to water cascading from the mountain ranges, while Afghanistan and Pakistan face chronic electricity shortages and cannot keep pace with demand for it.

The project is supported by The World bank, Islamic development Bank, Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. State Department and UK Department for International Development.

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13 May 2016 15:47 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Baku has ranked the fifth in the list of cities most visited by Russians during May holidays.

Russia'a tourist agency Travel.ru compiled the ranking summarizing the data about Russian tourists travelling during May holidays, Day.az news portal reported.

While preparing the ranking the agency took into consideration hotel and apartment booking data for May 1-10, 2016.

The top 10 cities included Minsk, Prague, Riga, Vilnius, Baku, Tallinn, Helsinki, Berlin, Tbilisi and Belgrade.

The tourists remained in Baku for approximately 3 days and paid about 50 dollars per day for accommodation.

The longest Russian tours were made to Prague -- around 6 days. In contrast, the shortest ones were to Krakow, Poland, just for one day. The most expensive city to live for tourists was Venice (over than 150 Euro per day); the cheapest one was Bucharest (17 Euro).

The most popular cities for beach facilities throughout May holidays were Cyprus, Greece and Tunisia. The cheapest resort country was Vietnam  about 35 dollars for hotel stay.

Baku also entered the top-three list of cities in neighboring countries beloved by Russian tourists. They were Minsk, Baku and Tbilisi.

The main tourist-attracting factors of Azerbaijan are its nature, ancient sites and buildings architecture. The country has a developed tourism infrastructure, nine climatic zones, and five world heritage sites of UNESCO.

Lately, Azerbaijani authorities invested much in tourism sector. As the result, the country is reachable for tourists of all financial capabilities - Baku and Azerbaijan in general, provide all types of accommodations from cheap hostels to luxurious hotels for them.

Moreover, Baku has adorable beaches due to its seashore location. Tourists also accent the countrys cuisine of myriad dishes and the hospitality of the nation.

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       3.0 (      -       -         ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com
Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona will host its 17th house build and groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, May 19, at noon, at the construction site (2318 N. Izabel St.). Habitat board directors will be on site barbecuing from Findlay Toyota Tundra tail-gate truck. The first 100 guests will receive a special gift and $10 ReStore gift certificates.

Habitat for Humanity of Northern Arizona was founded in 1994 and is a non-profit, volunteer organization that works in partnership with people in need of decent homes, renovations and repairs. Habitat seeks to eliminate substandard housing in Flagstaff and has built 16 homes for partner families.
Local libraries are among the winners of more than $800,000 in grants from the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records (State Library). The grant money was made possible with federal funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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The federal tax evasion trial for a Flagstaff anesthesiologist began in U.S. District Court in Phoenix Thursday.

Dr. Gary Christensen is accused of concealing more than $2 million in income from the Internal Revenue Service and failing to pay more than $500,000 in federal income taxes between 2004 and 2010. A grand jury indicted him in 2014 on seven counts of evasion of assessment, five counts of filing a false return and two counts of willful failure to file a return. The case was expected to go to a jury trial later that year but was delayed due to the high volume of tax records that had to be reviewed for the trial.

Christensen helped found Forest Country Anesthesia in Flagstaff in 1988. According to the indictment filed in U.S. District Court, Christensen used his positions as director and treasurer at Forest Country Anesthesia to make sure his income from the practice was not reported to the IRS. He is accused of arranging to have his paychecks either given to him in cash or directed to a phony entity called GSCOO Club  an account that listed Christensen as the only authorized signor.

He did continue to file individual and corporate tax returns, reporting income from investments and other business ventures, but falsely reporting that he had made no income from his job at Forest Country Anesthesia.

In all, Christensen stands accused of using GSCOO Club to conceal approximately $2,100,163 in income, and to evade the assessment and payment of approximately $562,083 in federal income taxes.

Forest Country Anesthesia cut all ties with Christensen soon after his indictment. In an October 2014 letter to the Daily Sun, Dr. Mark Chapman of Forest Country said the medical practice was cooperating with investigators.

Although FCA became aware approximately three years ago that the IRS had initiated an investigation of Dr. Christensen, we were unaware of its scope and magnitude until the indictment was released, Chapman said. We have fully cooperated with the IRS in their investigation, and have been assured by the IRS that FCA is not a target of the investigation.

Christensen also served on the board of directors for Northern Arizona Healthcare and Flagstaff Medical Center prior to his indictment. Both boards approved his requests for a leave of absence in 2014.
A man who led police on a 45-minute car chase through Flagstaffs downtown and Southside neighborhoods this past fall pleaded guilty Thursday to more than a dozen charges.

Flagstaff Police Department officers arrested Zachary Daytona Garner, 27, on Oct. 6, 2015 after he led police officers on a chase around west Flagstaff and then collided with multiple vehicles near the corner of South San Francisco Street and Phoenix Avenue, injuring one person. As part of a plea deal with the Coconino County Attorneys Office, Garner agreed to plead guilty to 14 counts in Coconino County Superior Court Thursday.

The charges included unlawful flight from a law enforcement officer, endangerment, aggravated assault, attempted aggravated assault of an officer, making a false report to an officer, two counts of aggravated DUI, four felony counts of criminal damage and three misdemeanor counts of criminal damage.

It all began with a couple phone calls from concerned citizens reporting a suspected drunken driver.

According to FPD, at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 6, 2015, a witness reported a man with a shaved head falling out of a white pick-up truck in the area of West Santa Fe and West Grand Canyon Avenues in the Flagstaff Townsite neighborhood just west of downtown. Another witness, who was following the truck, then called to report its location heading south on North Humphreys Street.

An officer began following the vehicle, turning on his lights and siren to get the Garners attention. He did not pull over. The officer stopped his pursuit when the truck turned onto West Santa Fe Avenue again because he and the on-duty supervisor decided a chase would be too risky, according to FPD.

Garner then began to drive the wrong way on East Route 66.

After breaking off the pursuit, FPD lost track of Garner until another officer spotted the white truck driving erratically on East Ellery Avenue near the Northern Arizona University campus. Marked and unmarked police vehicles tried to block in the car, but Garner turned around and drove over a curb to escape.

Officers located the vehicle in the parking lot at an electric contracting company located at 25 S. Mikes Pike St. They attempted to stop Garner by blocking in the vehicle, but he escaped again, this time by driving through a chain-link fence.

The white truck sped through more stop signs, then collided with the three parked vehicles at the intersection of South San Francisco Street and Phoenix Avenue. He also crashed into a vehicle that was stopped on South San Francisco Street waiting for a train to pass. The driver sustained a broken collar bone and a head injury.

According to police, Garner attempted to flee on foot after the collisions. Officers subdued him with a Taser and took him into custody. He was transported to Flagstaff Medical Center as a precaution due to his involvement in the crashes and his suspected intoxication. Blood tests showed he had a small amount of methamphetamine in his system and his blood alcohol content was 0.253 percent. He was also driving on a revoked license.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 10 at 9 a.m. in Coconino County Superior Court, Division 2.
PHOENIX -- Rejecting the concerns of some neighborhood groups, Gov. Doug Ducey signed legislation Thursday to prohibit cities from barring homeowners from renting out their houses to vacationers.

SB 1350 which takes effect later this year overrides existing ordinances in several Arizona communities that specifically make it illegal to rent out property in residential neighborhoods for less than 30 days.

"There's a certain expectation about a quality of life,'' Robert Pickels, the city attorney for Sedona, told lawmakers in a bid to kill the measure before it even got to the governor's desk. He said that's why his city council adopted a ban on short-term rentals in 1995.

And Warren Woodward, president of a homeowners association in that community, chided lawmakers for even considering the issue in the first place.

"We resent being dictated to by legislators who do not even live in Sedona or anywhere near it,'' he testified. Woodward said the changes will lead to more traffic and noise.

But Scarpinato said there are sufficient protections built in.

"There's already laws and ordinances in place dealing with noise, dealing with disruptions,'' he said. "So if you're making noise at all hours of the night and waking people up, guess what? You're going to get in trouble.''

But Scarpinato said the real bottom line for Ducey is his belief that removing local laws is good for business. And Scarpinato said that includes people who have houses and want to make some money from them.

"The governor has been very clear that we need to be helping all businesses large and small,'' he said. Anyway, Scarpinato said, it's just recognizing the reality of the market.

"This is how consumers, particularly in our state, want to do business now,'' he said.

"They want to be able to be able to make their properties available,'' Scarpinato continued. "And people want to be able to have this as an option rather than necessarily going to a hotel or motel.''

The controversy goes beyond the question of whether state law should preempt what local officials decide is best for their own communities. It also goes to the scope of the measure designed largely to help Airbnb.

It started out as a computer application to hook up homeowners who had a spare bedroom -- and perhaps an air mattress -- with people who were looking for a place to stay.

Even the Arizona legislation to deal with the problem started out small.

SB 1350 was envisioned as a way to eliminate the requirement for homeowners who make some extra money from having to collect local taxes every time they rent out a room or a house.

The change first proposed would make it the responsibility of online firms like Airbnb that make the connections to collect the applicable taxes and forward them to the Department of Revenue. That agency would, in turn, send the proceeds to the affected jurisdictions.

But what Ducey finally signed into law is quite something else.

Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, tacked on language which says cities, towns and counties cannot prohibit or restrict these rentals simply because the property is not classified as a hotel.

Jared Blanchard of the Goldwater Institute said that protects the rights of individual property owners to use their homes the way they want.

The bill has other supporters.

Glenn Odegard told lawmakers about his efforts to restore a 1898 home in Jerome which had been buried in a mudslide in 1953 and sat vacant ever since.

Odegard said he got all the necessary permits from the city to rehab the house for vacation rentals, only to have the city council change its mind and declare that was not permitted. He sued and is being represented in court by the Goldwater Institute.
Here's what you need to know about Tampa Bay's weather on Friday and into the weekend:

Cold front moves in tonight



Clouds gone early, mostly sunny Saturday



Highs in mid to upper 80s



There is a front on the way, but it will not bring a blast of cool air like the front did last weekend. Instead, it will bring a brief shot of less humid, drier air.

Morning lows will be warm due to an onshore breeze, staying in the low 70s near coastal areas, while inland spots dip into the mid to upper 60s.



Saturday will feature partly cloudy skies in the morning with a small chance of a stray sprinkle or shower. However, the front will come through fast enough that most of the day will end up being mostly sunny.



Saturday night will be clear and beautiful for this time of year with lower humidity. Lows will drop into the 60s into Sunday morning.



Sunday will wrap up the weekend on a nice note, with mostly sunny skies and low humidity. However, due to the dry air and abundant sunshine we will actually have warmer highs in the upper 80s.



The boating forecast for Saturday will feature a wind from the west-northwest at 10 to 15 knots. Seas will run 2 to 3 feet. Bay and inland waters will have a moderate chop.






Frances Short Pond is chock full of fish right now. On Thursday, the Arizona Game and Fish Department stocked the Flagstaff pond with four kinds of fish, from 14-inch trout to 1-pound largemouth bass.

In the morning, contractors from Arkansas who work for the department delivered 500 pounds of catfish, 40 pounds of largemouth bass and 40 pounds of bluegill sunfish.

Then, a few hours later, another truck arrived loaded with large rainbow trout from the show pond at Page Springs Fish Hatchery south of Sedona. That pond is emptied of its fish only once a year, said Scott Rogers, aquatic wildlife program manager with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

About 400 of the rainbow trout went into Frances Short, while hundreds more went into Buckskinner and Cataract lakes near Williams.

It was coincidence that both fish deliveries fell on the same day, Rogers said.

The stars aligned, he said.

The bluegill sunfish and largemouth bass are normally self-sustaining in Frances Short, but their populations got depleted during the citys renovation of the pond in September, Rogers said.

He said he expected catfish and trout to start getting active by Thursday evening. The catfish will go fast, he said.

Most will be caught and on peoples dinner plates by the end of the week, he said.

Rogers reminded people to be aware of special regulations at the locations where they fish and promoted a new fishing license for children and teens age 10-17 that costs $5 and is available anywhere fishing licenses are sold.
PHOENIX -- Gov. Doug Ducey isn't worried that a disaster, natural or otherwise, is going to leave Arizona without a leader.

Ducey on Thursday vetoed legislation which would have required the secretary of state, attorney general or treasurer be taken somewhere else the next time there's an event that normally would include all of them plus the governor. That's mainly aimed at things like the annual State of the State speech or the inauguration for statewide officers every four years.

Sen. Judy Burges, R-Sun City West, said it's a simple matter of ensuring government will continue. She said if everyone in the line of succession is wiped out, there's no provision in the Arizona Constitution for who is in charge.

Ducey essentially dismissed the whole idea as interesting -- but unnecessary.

"I appreciate the sponsor's concern and hard work on this issue,'' he wrote in his veto message. "However, I have great confidence in the capabilities of our law enforcement professionals to detect threats and protect us on a daily basis.''

Burges said that's too bad. She said all she was trying to do is prepare for possibilities.

"It was a cautionary measure,'' Burges said. "What if something were to happen?''

It won't, said gubernatorial press aide Daniel Scarpinato.

"The Department of Public Safety obviously tracks any threats,'' he said. "And they know if there's anything to be concerned about and are keeping statewide elected officials safe at all times.''

Yes, but what about a different kind of disaster? The weather can be unpredictable. Or the inaugural stage could just collapse.

"Things do happen,'' said Burges.

"That has not happened,'' Scarpinato responded.

"It doesn't seem like that's a real issue,'' he continued. "There are a lot of bigger issues than that going on.''

Anyway, Scarpinato said, the state hasn't lost a chief executive to a terrorist, a windstorm or even a faulty stage in its 104-year history.

There is precedent for what Burges was requesting.

At the federal level, after the president and vice president, the line of succession passes to the speaker of the House and president pro-tem of the Senate. All of them normally attend the annual State of the Union address.

But the line goes deeper than that. Members of the Cabinet also are in the line of succession, based on when the agency was created. That starts with the secretary of state and ends with the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Historically, one member of the Cabinet does not attend the State of the Union address. Burges said her legislation simply extended that same caution at the state level.

There was a quirk of sorts in what Burges proposed.

There actually are four people who are in the state line of succession. After the secretary of state, attorney general and treasurer, there is the superintendent of public instruction.

Burges said this was not a slap at Diane Douglas, the current holder of that office, but simply an acknowledgment that whoever is in that position may be less familiar with the daily issues of government than the other three.
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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
PHOENIX -- With no time for a legal challenge and insufficient funds for a recall, an attorney is calling on the Republican-controlled Legislature to do something it's unlikely to do: impeach Secretary of State Michele Reagan.

Tom Ryan said the blame for more than 400,000 Arizonans not getting their ballot pamphlets by the deadline required in law lies strictly with Reagan and Eric Spencer, her hand-picked elections director. Reagan, through a spokesman, said the problem was due to a mistake by an outside firm in preparing mailing lists.

Ryan said even if that is true, that does not excuse what happened next.

"She hid the fact that the publicity pamphlets had not gone out,'' he said at a press conference outside the Capitol tower where Reagan has her office.

Reagan never voluntarily disclosed the problem, which she knew about no later than April 25, but only conceded the problem earlier this week. And by that time, Ryan said, it was too late to bring a legal challenge to postpone the election.

Worse yet, Ryan suggested a political motive for the foul-up -- or at least the cover-up.

He said Reagan is a supporter of Proposition 123. And he said the arguments against the measure that went out in the ballot pamphlet were a key tool of the foes who are being outspent by a margin of $4 million to less than $10,000.

"She is not supposed to be putting her thumb on the scales,'' he said. "And that's effectively what she's done.''

Reagan, as she has done for days, would not consent to an interview. Instead, publicist Matt Roberts said his boss did everything in her power to correct the problem once she learned of it.

"There was no cover up,'' he said. As to the failure to voluntarily disclose the problem, he said the office "was focused on making right what was wrong.''

Roberts also denied that his boss is campaigning for -- or even supports -- Proposition 123, though he conceded she did make statements in favor of the school funding plan by Gov. Doug Ducey that eventually led to what will be on Tuesday's ballot.

"What her statements clearly indicate is that she supports and end to the litigation and recognizes that our schools are underfunded,'' Roberts said. "And this was a solution that seemingly made sense.''

Roberts said his boss does not fear even the possibility of an impeachment, something that would take the vote of the majority of the House; conviction would require two-thirds of the Senate.

"She certainly recognizes everyone's frustration out of 1.7 million ballot (pamphlets) that were sent out, 200,000 were not,'' he said. And the skipped households each had at least two registered voters.

"But I also think she recognizes elections are human endeavors,'' Roberts continued. "Mistakes occur. And it's what you do with those mistakes moving forward.''

There's little precedent for what Ryan wants.

Gov. Evan Mecham was impeached by the House in 1988 on three charges: covering up a $350,000 campaign loan, lending $80,000 in state funds to his car dealership, and allegations he tried to stop the Department of Public Safety from investigating a death threat against a former Mecham lobbyist.

The Senate dismissed the campaign loan charge but convicted him on the other two, removing him from office.

But there was political fallout for Republicans who agreed to oust the Republican governor, including House Speaker Joe Lane being defeated in his reelection bid.

Ryan acknowledged that one method of getting around legislative reticence to impeach anyone would be to go the recall route.

But he pointed out backers would have just four months to gather 366,128 valid signatures on petitions to force an election. And Ryan said there's no one who has the $1 million it would take to hire paid circulators to meet that goal.
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ExxonMobil has settled negligence lawsuits filed by family members of two workers who were killed and six others who were injured in an April 2013 explosion and fire at the company's Beaumont refinery, a plaintiffs' attorney said Thursday.

A Jefferson County district judge signed the settlement agreement on Tuesday, one day before a contract worker was killed at the refinery while doing maintenance work.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The suit sought at least $1 million in damages.

The 2013 fire erupted from a heat exchanger that contract workers were maintaining during a turnaround of one of the 365,000-barrel-per-day refinery's units.

The plaintiffs contended that ExxonMobil and contractor Clean Harbors failed to "properly test, clear, clean, or monitor the heat exchanger."

ExxonMobil declined to comment.

ExxonMobil, Clean Harbors and the contractor Signature Industrial Services were fined a combined $45,600 for safety violations leading up to the fire, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates workplace deaths.

Meanwhile, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office identified the 37-year-old Brownsville man killed at the refinery Wednesday as Miguel Barron.

An ExxonMobil spokesman said Thursday the company is working with the man's employer, AltairStrickland, to support Barron's family.

Barron was working on a heat exchanger when a pipe fell from above and struck him in the head and neck, 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.

"The safety and well-being of our employees is a top priority at AltairStrickland," said Mava Heffler, spokesperson for Emcor Group, the contractor's parent company. "Following our comprehensive safety plans and procedures, we are fully cooperating with regulatory authorities as they carry out their investigation."

EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news
In an Affordable Care Act lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer of the District ruled various ACA payments have been funded illegally, according to the Washington Post.

Here are eight highlights:

1. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled President Obama went above his authority by unilaterally funding an ACA provision that gave billions of dollars of subsidies to health insurance companies.

2. Judge Collyer put her rule on hold pending the Obama administration's appeal.

3. Her decision backed the Republican House, which challenged the ACA for spending more than $175 billion on subsidies.

4. The Republicans have tried many times to repeal parts or the entire ACA without much luck. Judge Collyer's decision marks a significant milestone in their effort to dismantle the ACA.

5. In response to the ruling, White House press secretary Josh Earnest predicted the courts will overturn the rule due to the separation of powers between presidents and Congress. Mr. Earnest went on to say, "This suit represents the first time in our nation's history that Congress has been permitted to sue the executive branch over a disagreement about how to interpret a statute."

6. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan strongly praised the decision and referred to the ruling as a historic win for "Congress and the American people."

7. Many payers have lost a great deal of money on the ACA exchanges, causing UnitedHealth to exit several ACA exchanges in 2017 and Humana to give notice it may leave some Affordable Care Act exchanges next year.

8. However, some experts say insurers may substantially increase their premiums if they no longer receive subsidies, and Republicans may have a difficult time getting elected if their proposed plans cannot provide health insurance to low-income Americans.



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Here are four gastroenterologists who recently made headlines.

The Massachusetts Medical Society named Francis P. MacMillan Jr., MD, vice speaker of the House of Delegates.

Syracuse (N.Y.) VA Medical Center named Anand Gupta, MD, chief of gastroenterology.

Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, N.J., honored gastroenterologist Joseph F. Binns, MD, at its annual Physician Recognition Dinner.

Charles Accurso, MD, discussed his facility's experience with bundling payments for colonoscopies at the recent National Value-Based Payment and Pay for Performance Summit in San Francisco.
Joan River's family reached a settlement with Yorkville Endoscopy in New York City, the site of the botched procedure that led to the comedian's death in 2014, according to a The New York Times.

Here are eight key notes:

1. The physicians Melissa Rivers, Ms. Rivers' daughter, named in the lawsuit in 2015 accepted responsibility for Ms. Rivers' death. Gwen Korovin, MD, an ENT specialist; Renuka Bankulla, MD, the main anesthesiologist as well as two other anesthesiologists; and Lawrence Cohen, MD, the ASC's former medical director, were all named in the suit.

2. The specific dollar amount of the settlement was not disclosed. However, the lawyers for the Rivers' family noted it was "substantial."

3. The physicians will not contest the lawsuit's findings, which include a number of serious mistakes that occurred during a routine laryngoscopy for the late Ms. Rivers.

4. In August 2014, Ms. Rivers was admitted to the ASC for an elective procedure. Ms. Rivers struggled to breathe under sedation due to a laryngospasm, leading to cardiac arrest. A New York medical examiner concluded Ms. Rivers' "death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy," in October 2014.

5. Among the series of mistakes that led to the cardiac arrest was the late identification of deteriorating vitals signs and delayed resuscitation efforts. Additionally, Ms. Rivers' weight was not recorded prior to sedation and an unprivileged provider  Dr. Korovin  was allowed to administer care to Ms. Rivers.

6. Dr. Cohen also took a photo of Dr. Korovin and Ms. Rivers while Ms. Rivers was unconscious, and told the staff in the room Ms. Rivers might want to see the photo in the recovery room. Neither Ms. Rivers nor the clinic authorized the use of the phone or the photo.

7. Melissa Rivers engaged the law firm Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom and Rubinowitz to investigate Yorkville Endoscopy in October 2014.

8. In the aftermath of the incident, Yorkville Endoscopy lost its American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities accreditation. In addition, Dr. Cohen stepped down as medical director. The ASC is now accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.

Melissa Rivers said in a statement that she was happy to be "able to put the legal aspects of my mother's death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation," according to the Times.
Major for-profit hospital operators' stock prices dropped Thursday after a federal judge ruled the Obama administration has been improperly funding cost-sharing subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems' share price fell 11 percent to $12.56 at the New York close Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings were also down, with share prices falling 9.8 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

The ruling was made in a challenge to the Obama administration's implementation of the ACA. House Republicans argued the administration overstepped its powers when it began paying health insurers billions of dollars to reduce co-payments for lower-income Americans and families. U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary M. Collyer agreed with the House GOP. She held that Congress never appropriated funds for the cost-sharing subsidy program.

The ruling, if it stands, could discourage patients from purchasing health insurance, which would take a toll on hospital finances.

The ruling also negatively impacted major health insurers' stock prices, as shares of Aetna were down 3.06 percent and shares of Anthem dropped 2.82 percent in afternoon trading Thursday.

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The Human Rights Campaign honored 496 hospitals as "2016 Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality," including 142 first-time honorees, a new record.

The hospitals that won the award met HRC's four criteria for LGBT patient-centered care: patient non-discrimination, equal visitation, employment non-discrimination and training in LGBT patient-centered care.

The leaders are spread across every region in the country, but this year the South in particular made substantial gains in LGBT healthcare equality. It added the most new leaders, bringing it to the No. 2 region in the nation for the most leaders in LGBT healthcare equality, after the Northeast.

Four states do not have equality leaders in 2016: Alaska, Idaho, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

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New Orleans-based LCMC Health is sounding the alarm that state budget cuts could force its University Medical Center to cut a 900-physician residency program that trains students from Baton Rouge-based Louisiana State University and New Orleans-based Tulane medical schools, according to The Times-Picayune.

The cuts were made by the state House Appropriations Committee and would reduce funding to the schools by 25 percent, according to a letter obtained by The Times-Picayune from LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn.

Larry Hollier, MD, chancellor of LSU Health Sciences, added in a written statement, "LSU appreciates the committee's efforts to redistribute funding for LSU's hospital partners, but remains concerned the proposed cuts will jeopardize training programs for future doctors and health professionals," according to the report.

However, House Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry has said the threats to close the residency programs are merely meant to "shock" legislators, according to the report.

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Rebekah Gee sided with LCMC, calling the cuts "nonsensical," according to the report.

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Flagstaff residents will have a chance to speak with several local and state lawmakers Monday afternoon.

Flagstaff Councilmember Jeff Oravits is hosting a meet and greet with food and drinks at 5:30 p.m. May 16 at the Fourth Street Professional Building, 2501 N. Fourth St.

Arizona Speaker of the House David Gowan, along with Arizona Sen. Sylvia Allen are supposed to be at the event. Flagstaff Mayor Jerry Nabours and Councilmember Karla Brewster will also attend. Council candidate Charlie Odegaard and Board of Supervisors candidates Christine Gannon and Josh Collier will also be there.

Two city candidates turn in signatures

Mayoral candidate Coral Evans and Council candidate Jamie Whelan have turned in their petition signatures to put their names on the ballot for Flagstaff City Council.

Whelan has lived in Flagstaff for 26 years. She is a parent and a grandparent and has owned several small businesses. She currently owns the Old Town Creperie just off Heritage Square and has taught in the Flagstaff Unified School District and has supported students in Special Education for 11 years. She is a senior lecturer in the College of Education, Educational Specialties, Special Education at Northern Arizona University.

Evans has served on the Flagstaff City Council for eight years. She was re-elected in 2012 and served as vice mayor from May 2012 to November 2014.
An Austin, Texas-based system, of which Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Holdings is the majority owner, will purchase Dallas-based Forest Park Medical Center's yet-to-open hospital in Austin for $115 million.

Forest Park Medical Center's network of six physician-owned facilities fell into financial trouble in 2015 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2016.

In April, HCA completed its acquisition of Forest Park's hospital in Frisco, Texas. The 54-bed hospital is now named Medical City Frisco and part of Irvine-based HCA North Texas.

Now, HCA will buy Forest Park's hospital in Austin, which has sat vacant for more than a year. Todd Furniss, chairman of the management company for the Forest Park chain, told the Dallas Business Journal that he expects to close the transaction Friday.

"The bottom line is HCA is excited about the prospect of opening the facility," Mr. Furniss told the Dallas Business Journal. "They will be working with the local doctors who are part of the operating company, and they are moving forward briskly."

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A Kentucky circuit court judge issued an order to unseal documents next month on the marketing of OxyContin, which has been blamed for kindling the opioid and heroin epidemic that the U.S. now faces, according to STAT.

STAT filed a motion in March to have the records unsealed, reasoning that the drug epidemic creates substantial public interest in the case, which involves a 2007 lawsuit by the state of Kentucky against Purdue Pharma, who marketed the painkiller. The lawsuit was settled in December for $24 million.

As part of the settlement, the state agreed to destroy its copies of Purdue records obtained during litigation, according to a press release from STAT. However, other copies of key documents are still sealed in the court, STAT reported. Those sealed records are believed to include the deposition of Richard Sackler, PhD, MD, a board member and former president of Purdue Pharma, and a member of the family that owns the company. It is also believed Dr. Sackler is the only member of the family who was questioned under oath about the case.

Purdue has already issued a statement that it looks forward to appealing the ruling, according to STAT. However, Judge Steven Combs, who issued the ruling, said he plans to stay the order if it is appealed.

"The national opioid epidemic is killing 30,000 people a year, and we are pleased that the court moved so swiftly to bring to light records that can inform the public's understanding of Purdue's role in this crisis,'' Rick Berke, STAT's executive editor, said in a press release. "We see pursuit of this story as integral to STAT's central mission to hold institutions and individuals accountable.''

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A woman was arrested in Boerne, Texas, for allegedly stealing a Chicago physician's medical credentials and treating patients, according to a local report from KSAT 12.

Police issued a search for Katinca Hunter Tuesday and she was arrested at a medical office Thursday evening. Ms. Hunter had been posing as Catherine J. Hunter, MD, a pediatric surgeon at Chicago-based Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

The real Dr. Hunter told KSAT her imposter appeared to have prescribed benign drugs, though they could have complications. "It does appear that she was preying on patients with end stage cancer diagnoses, a particularly vulnerable population," Dr. Hunter said, according to the report.

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Following a string of attacks from a discharged patient, Taunton, Mass.-based Morton Hospital Thursday cut ties with the third-party contractor that performs its Medicaid mental health evaluations in the emergency department.

A statement from the hospital issued Thursday alleged the contractor was not performing mental health evaluations in a timely way, "and when Morton Hospital proposed to do the evaluations ourselves we were rebuffed or ignored by the subcontractor," the statement reads. "This inability of the state subcontractor to provide critical and timely services continues to put patients at risk."

The hospital faces a state investigation into its procedures after Arthur J. DaRosa, 28, stabbed two people to death and injured five others on Tuesday evening, hours after he was discharged from the Morton ED. However, Morton Hospital did not mention the attacks in its announcement to ban the contractor, the Norton Emergency Services AKA Taunton/Attleboro Emergency Services.

However, a previous statement from the hospital regarding the attacks stated the following: "If the state contracted agency responsible for conducting evaluations in the Emergency Department had requested an admission to a psychiatric bed, there were beds available within the hospital's network." This statement suggests the hospital faults the contractor for not flagging Mr. DaRosa as a patient who needed longer monitoring.

The hospital said its own licensed and credentialed staff members will provide evaluation services, effective immediately.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is reviewing procedures at Taunton, Mass.-based Morton Hospital after a patient killed two people and injured five just hours after his discharge, according to the Boston Herald.

Arthur DaRosa, 28, was brought to the Morton emergency room Monday evening and discharged Tuesday morning, according to the report. That night, he stabbed two people in their home, killing one. He then drove four miles, crashed into a Macy's, and attacked others, killing one more victim, according to the report.

He was shot and killed by an off-duty deputy sheriff, according to the report. Though Mr. DaRosa's case was a rare incident, Massachusetts Health and Human Services Secretary Marylou Sudders said, "I think its important for us to review what occurred from the point of entry to his discharge from the emergency room," according to the report. She also said state officials will look into how he was assessed at the hospital and the services he was given, according to the report.

In addition to Mr. DaRosa, the victims were also treated at Morton hospital. A spokesperson declined to comment on the case due to confidentiality laws, according to the report.

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Deductibles under family insurance plans are less straightforward than those under individual plans. The slight differences between embedded and non-embedded deductibles can cause some families to rack up thousands of dollars in excess out-of-pocket expenses.

Insurance companies haven't been overly concerned with making the differences between family policies clear to consumers. This lack of clarity is landing some major insurers in hot water. This week, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota agreed to pay a $90,000 penalty and offer refunds to about 300 subscribers to settle allegations about non-embedded deductibles in certain family health plans, reports Star Tribune.

To help explain how these policies work, here are six things to know about embedded and non-embedded deductibles.

1. Embedded deductible plans. Under family coverage, an embedded deductible plan means that each family member has an individual deductible in addition to the total family deductible. Each individual's deductible is much lower than the total family deductible. When an individual meets their respective out-of-pocket total, the insurer begins to pay for that person's covered medical services, regardless of whether the family deductible has been fulfilled.

2. Non-embedded deductibles. Under a non-embedded deductible plan, also known as an aggregate deductible plan, the total family deductible must be paid out-of-pocket before the insurer starts paying for healthcare services for any individual member. For plans sold on the government exchanges, shared out-of-pocket deductibles are capped at $13,700.

3. The benefit of embedded deductibles. In some cases this double-layered deductible can actually enhance individuals' coverage, according to the Center for Health Insurance Reform at Georgetown University. If an individual family member incurs a significant amount of medical expenses, the individual will fulfill their deductible sooner because it is lower than the family deductible. This can save families thousands of dollars because the individual's insurance policy will begin to cover benefits even if the family deductible isn't met.

4. Non-embedded deductibles are not economical for some families. For some families, such as married couples without children, non-embedded deductible plans can cause families to spend thousands of dollars in extra out-of-pocket expenses that otherwise would have been covered had they purchased individual plans with lower deductibles or embedded family plans.

5. Federal regulations about non-embedded plans. HHS released a rule that attempted to relieve extreme out-of-pocket spending for families with non-embedded deductible plans purchased on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The rule extended the ACA's out-of-pocket individual spending limit of $6,850 to those enrolled in shared deductible plans. This means that if a family has a shared deductible of $13,700 and an individual incurs $10,000 in medical expenses, the family only pays $6,850.

6. The BCBS of Minn. settlement. The Minnesota commerce department launched an investigation into BCBS, which revealed the insurer was selling non-embedded family health plans to certain families that should have been offered individual policies. This caused some families to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they would have under individual plans. A married couple in Burnsville, Minn., said they spent more than $3,000 in extra out-of-pocket costs related to their shared deductible family plan last year. Blue Cross did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Alliance (Ohio) Community Hospital will now shutter its obstetrics unit May 20, more than a month ahead of its planned July 1 closure.

The hospital originally planned to close in July to give families ample time to make arrangements elsewhere if they had planned to deliver at Alliance. However, a shortage of nurses has forced the hospital to expedite the closure. When the plans to close the unit were announced in March, several nurses found jobs elsewhere, the hospital said.

"We will continue to work with our local doctors and their patients to assure a smooth transition," CEO Stan Jonas said in a press release. "But with patient safety as our top priority, we need to close the unit by Friday May 20."

Patients will still be able to receive OB/GYN services at the hospital, including prenatal and post-partum care, and the hospital will provide transportation to Canton, Ohio, for deliveries.

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OrthoPediatrics received regulatory clearance for its RESPONSE Spine System in Japan.

Here are four takeaways:

1. The RESPONSE Spine System was launched in the United States in 2015.

2. The system features low profile screws, simple rod reduction and de-rotation instrumentation.

3. OrthoPediatrics entered into an exclusive agreement with Japan-based Robert Reid to distribute its devices.

4. OrthoPediatrics currently markets 17 surgical systems within the global pediatric orthopedic market.
Here are 15 key notes on orthopedic and spine device companies over the past week.

Invibio signed a settlement agreement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to resolve antitrust allegations.

DJO Global reported 12.7 percent net sales growth to $278.9 million in the first quarter of 2016 over the same period last year.

GE Healthcare signed its first U.S. managed equipment services agreement.

Mazor Robotics generated revenues of $6.4 million for the first quarter of 2016, a 42 percent increase from the $4.5 million reported for the same period last year.

Misonix's global recurring revenue increased to $4 million in the third quarter of 2016, up from $3 million in the same period in fiscal 2015.

SI-BONE partnered with the Yale University Open Data Access Project to share data from the company's clinical trials.

DePuy Orthopaedics, part of the DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson & Johnson, acquired BioMedical Enterprises.

The first surgeries using Safe Orthopaedics' new SteriSpineCC range have been successfully completed.

InVivo Therapeutics added Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania as a clinical site for the INSPIRE study.

OrthoPediatrics received regulatory clearance for its RESPONSE Spine System in Japan.

Camber Spine Technologies' ENZA Zero Profile Anterior Interbody Fusion system received FDA 510(k) clearance.

The FDA cleared the two-level components for Intelligent Implant Systems' Revolution Spinal System for sale in the United States.

France-based neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Lefranc performed the 100th procedure with the Medtech ROSA Spines robotic spine surgery device.

The first 10 procedures using Integra LifeSciences' Integra Cadence Total Ankle have been successfully completed.

RTI Surgical presented on why its stockholders should vote to elect the company's director nominees on the WHITE proxy card.
New Coconino Community College President Colleen Smith will oversee her first commencement ceremony Friday afternoon when about 120 CCC students receive diplomas.

The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. Friday on the CCC Lone Tree Campus. CCC graduates Kiril Kirkov and Marilyn Tsinajinnie will be the featured speakers at the ceremony.

Last month, two outstanding graduates were named to the All-Arizona Academic Team, which provides a scholarship to attend an in-state university and complete the remaining 60 credit hours required to obtain a bachelors degree.

Alexa Greer, one of the two CCC winners, said she ended up taking classes at CCC after a mistake in Northern Arizona Universitys financial aid department left her without a scholarship. The Tucson native still wanted to join her friends in Flagstaff, so she enrolled at CCC.

Her time living in Flagstaff was not always easy, including an oil fire in her apartment that triggered sprinklers and destroyed belongings. But Greer said she has tried to make the most of her time by volunteering with several organizations, getting involved in student groups and taking classes that interest her.

I really like working with people, she said. I like being in a position to help people.

At CCC, Greer got involved with Phi Theta Kappa, a community college honors society, and I am That Girl, an organization that promotes self-love and positivity for women on college campuses. Greer said she led retreats with I am That Girl, which she said helped foster an environment where people could be vulnerable and honest with their thoughts and feelings.

Greer said she also volunteered her time with various organizations, including leading a financial literacy class for women who had fled abusive relationships.

She will attend the University of Arizona in the fall, and said she is still deciding between sociology or business.

The scholarship has opened a lot of doors, she said. Its incredible. Its lifted some of the weight off my shoulders, and it gives me permission to pursue what Im interested in.

Greer said her time in Flagstaff has been a series of baby steps to help her along with her career and life goals, and said while the experience was not always positive, it was surreal that I ended up here.

Rachel Soumokil was the other CCC recipient of the scholarship, which she said will jumpstart her plans to attend Northern Arizona University.

Soumokil said she decided to go to CCC after her husband encouraged her to try it.

I love learning, and I am an avid independent learner, she said. My husband suggested I go back to school, but I didnt think I could do it.

During her time at CCC, Soumokil was involved in leadership positions within Phi Theta Kappa, coordinated blood drives on campus, led a team in the Relay for Life, and participated in many charity drives.

Soumokil, who is a parent of two children herself, was also a foster parent during her first year at CCC. She said she has taken a break from fostering children to focus on getting into nursing school.

After becoming a teen mother herself, and having another stressful birth experience years later, Soumokil said her dream is to eventually open a nonprofit birthing center.

I want to provide a safe and positive environment for families, Soumokil said. For the medical community, its a regular day for them to deliver a baby, but for families, its something that might only happen once or twice. I want to make a comfortable and supportive environment, but with medical backup if there are any complications.

Soumokil said she owed a lot of her success to biology instructor Shawn Nittmann and anatomy and physiology instructor Tom Lehman.

What kept me here and what kept me going, even in those times of doubt, were those teachers, she said.

She said she was also grateful for Sandra Dihlmann-Lunday, the Phi Theta Kappa adviser.

She said the scholarship will alleviate financial stress for her family.

Im just so grateful for everything, Soumokil said. Im so grateful for everything CCC has done for me.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chairman Sir Howard Davies has told a Balmoral Show event that he "wouldn't choose" the economic uncertainty posed by next month's EU referendum.

Sir Howard spoke at a lunch for the agri-food industry hosted by RBS subsidiary Ulster Bank - the title sponsor of the show for the eighth year in a row.

Lunch was attended by many of Northern Ireland's best-known food companies, including Moy Park, Linden Foods, Dunbia, Mash Direct and Finnebrogue.

Sir Howard praised the achievements of food companies in Northern Ireland.

But the businessman - who also headed up the Airports Commission into whether Heathrow should receive a third runway - said that while RBS was "not telling people how to vote" in next month's referendum, it would not choose the economic risk of the present uncertainty.

Business surveys have been showing a slowdown in the UK economy in the run-up to next month's vote, in indicators including manufacturing, production and services.

But the audience heard that food and drink in Northern Ireland is in rude health. Richard Donnan, Ulster Bank's head in the province, said food and drink manufacturing enjoyed weekly sales of around 175m.

He said recent years had brought major challenges for farmers in the form of commodity price changes, exchange rates and other problems - but that food and drink remained a "key driver" of the Northern Ireland economy.

"Northern Ireland is blessed with fantastic natural resources and has talented people and businesses who are adding enormous value through innovation and an intimate understanding of their markets," he said.

"With the global population rising and developing countries becoming wealthier, demand for what Northern Ireland's food and drink sector produces will only grow.

"It may not feel like it to everyone now, but the current challenges will also pass and the industry is well placed to capitalise.

"Collaboration within the sector as well as with government and banks like ourselves is one of the critical components of future success, so that challenges in the food chain can be overcome, export opportunities can be maximised, and the industry can be promoted to its full potential.

"That's why I am delighted to see the Year of Food and Drink initiative this year, and I would encourage everyone in Northern Ireland to get behind it."

He said the remaining six months of the Year of Food and Drink posed an opportunity "to really build a global identity for Northern Ireland food and drink and help drive growth for many years to come".

Sir Howard told a RBS investors' meeting earlier this month that its core business did not depend "critically" on unlimited EU markets access.

According to reports this week, the Republic's foreign direct investment agency IDA has been targeting banks, including RBS, to encourage them to bring finance jobs to the Republic of Ireland, in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

The agency has been pushing towns such as Shannon, Co Clare as ideal locations.
A Co Londonderry international shoe designer is aiming to win a grant from entrepreneur Richard Branson to take her business to the next level.

Anita Flavin is the maker of the Ennio Mecozzi shoe brand, which has been worn by international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney.

Ms Flavin, who works from her home in Glenullin near Garvagh, has created the new brand over the last 12 months, working with an Italian shoemaker.

Although tipped to be the next Jimmy Choo, the American designer shoe brand made famous by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex in the City, Ms Flavin said the fledgling company urgently needs investment to fund its expansion.

The experienced businesswoman has entered the world's biggest pitch competition, the Virgin Business Voom pitch awards.

And if she manages to get into the top 80 entrants, she will win a much-needed funded marketing plan for her brand.

"I really believe that we will get into that top 80," said the creative designer.

"We are currently sitting at 121st position and I'm sure that we will get enough votes to get into the top 80.

"Even if we don't, I firmly believe that the exposure itself will bring good things with it as well."

The former buyer at high street shoe chain Office and retailer John Lewis, Ms Flavin knows that she has thrown her hat into a very competitive ring.

"I already have done a lot to present the brand to London and the international fashion trade press and buyers and they are always impressed and want to place orders," she said.

"But it always comes down to the same thing, needing a marketing campaign and that's where I hope that the Voom awards will help.

"A marketing campaign can cost as much as up to 250,000, but I could do a lot with 50,000 so any award would help as we really need the investment."

Ms Flavin produced her pitch video for 370 with the help of Alison Clarke of ACA Model Agency, with model Zara Shaw and the North West Regional College.

Although born in England, Ms Flavin said she considers herself to be Irish, as her mother is from Glenullin and her father is from Co Kerry.

She spent every summer in Glenullin as a child and returned to live there 10 years ago.

Ms Flavin, who is a graduate of the London College of Fashion, explained to the Belfast Telegraph: "When I am designing our collection, the woman I have in my mind to wear Ennio Mecozzi for me is a beautiful woman of passion, power and substance."

Ennio Mecozzi shoes can be bought at Vault, the atelier shop which is run by the fashion designer Grainne Maher at the Spires in Belfast.

Votes for Ennio Mecozzi can be cast at www.vmbvoom.com/pitches/ennio-mecozzi-ladies-luxury-footwear-brand-1
Economy Secretary Harriett Baldwin has warned that Brexit could have dire consequences for the financial services industry in Scotland

Kezia Dugdale has warned against underestimating the "populist nationalism" of those backing Brexit as she drew parallels with the arguments made by supporters of Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum.

The Scottish Labour leader pointed to symmetries in the arguments of the two campaigns as she launched Labour In for Scotland alongside Labour In for Britain chair Alan Johnson.

She said the EU referendum gives her party the opportunity to regroup following the "painful defeat" of coming third behind the Tories in last week's Holyrood election.

Labour will make the positive case for the EU in the face of the "confusion" of nationalists and the "civil war" in the Tory Party, she said.

Addressing supporters in Edinburgh, Ms Dugdale said: "We are Scotland's internationalist party. We believe in solidarity beyond borders. We believe that sharing sovereignty makes us all stronger, wealthier and safer. We believe in Scotland's place in the UK.

"For those of us who campaigned in the Scottish referendum, many of the arguments from those campaigning for Brexit are eerie echoes of those we heard two years ago from some of those campaigning to leave the UK.

"We defeated those arguments two years ago, but in doing so we learned that populist nationalism should never be underestimated.

"We know that even faced with the overwhelming weight of evidence, it refuses to concede anything to reasoned argument.

"So in this debate we must win the arguments that appeal to the head, but we remember that they have to be combined with a story that reaches people's hearts."

Ms Dugdale said that in some of the arguments made by Brexiteers, the "playbook" of the Scottish referendum is being brought out again.

She added: "If we believe of ourselves that we are as a nation in Scotland more pro-European than our neighbours across the UK, perhaps we have a greater responsibility on us in Scotland to make the positive case for Europe.

"And actually I wish the SNP would do more of this, because all I've heard them do so far is be really negative about how negative the European campaign has been rather than set out the arguments from their perspective about why we should remain as part of the EU.

"I think there's a challenge for the SNP with the strength of public will that they have behind them, to use that public will to make the case for Europe in Scotland and across the UK."

Mr J ohnson added: "I think there is a distinctly Scottish case as there is a distinct Welsh case. You can keep your national identity , this is really the nub of the issue.

"I think that's where there's a kind of parallel perhaps with the Scottish referendum, that you can keep your nationality, you can keep your identity and be part of something bigger."

Mr Johnson began his speech with a ringing endorsement of Ms Dugdale's leadership, telling those present: "When times are tough you need the best of leadership qualities - there is no better leader in the Labour Party than Kezia Dugdale."

A recent Survation poll put the Remain vote in Scotland at 76%, while the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said 68% of business people would vote to stay in.

But Mr Johnson warned: "We can take nothing for granted, there can be no room for complacency in this campaign when so much is at stake. This is a once and for all decision.

"We will make our case in an emotional and powerful way because the consequences of this decision will outlast this generation of political leaders and impact so profoundly on our future."

The former home secretary said that in addition to the importance of the EU for Scottish jobs, investment, safety, security and workers' rights, the debate is "about what kind of country we want to be".

Brexit would leave the UK "a small island, shut off from the continent, proud of our past, but unsure about the future".

Mr Johnson said: "Let's be clear, we are in the fight of our lives for the next six weeks. An event which will define a generation. The fork in the road.

"Never, in all my time in the Labour movement, have I known such solidarity, such unity across the party on a single issue.

"Scottish Labour, Welsh Labour, UK Labour, our 2,000 members in Northern Ireland, where we've been twice on this campaign, the parliamentary party, the affiliated unions, the constituency parties, the campaigners on the doorsteps. We speak with one voice.

"This is the Labour movement at its very best, working together to fight for workers' rights, for new jobs and protections for every family.

"And it will be the Labour Party's destiny once again in rising to the service of the nation to win the vote on June 23."
Dairy boss David Dobbin is stepping down from his post as chief executive of Dale Farm owner United Dairy Farmers after 16 years at the helm.

Dr Dobbin is leaving his role as group chief later this year.

And the company has confirmed that Nick Whelan, from Glanbia Ingredients, will replace Dr Dobbin in the role.

A spokeswoman for Dale Farm said Dr Dobbin will still play a key role in the business, and the wider dairy industry.

Its understood the announcement was made internally on Tuesday.

He will continue his other roles, including chairman of Dairy UK, the Northern Ireland Dairy Council as well as continuing to serve on the Agri-Food Strategy board.

John Dunlop, chairman of United Dairy Farmers, said: The board would like to thank David for his leadership and sterling contribution to the group which he has successfully transformed into the UKs largest dairy co-operative. We wish him the very best in his retirement.

Dr Dobbin is also the current chairman of Belfast Harbour.

He walked away with a special award for Outstanding Contribution to the Progressive Development of Business in Northern Ireland during this years Belfast Telegraph Business Awards.

His replacement, Nick Whelan, joined Glanbia in January 2007, bringing with him experience from 12 years with the Kerry Group, where he held a number of senior positions.

Glanbia Ingredients Ireland acquired the milk supply of Fivemiletown Creamery in Co Tyrone in 2014. Glanbia also manufactures mozzarella cheese in Magheralin near Craigavon.

Last year, Dr Dobbin said the next six to nine months would be some of the most challenging facing dairy farmers in Northern Ireland.

He said there remained serious concern for both farmers and processors, particularly those who have invested and borrowed money who have to survive this downturn.
Exiting the single market would severely weaken the growing financial services sector, City Minister Harriet Baldwin has told a UK Trade and Industry event in Belfast.

Ms Baldwin warned that staying within the EU is the best deal for the sector in Northern Ireland.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury delivered the stark 'this is as good as it gets' message as she cautioned that jobs in the city's developing financial hub would be threatened.

The minister dispelled the idea in her keynote address that leaving the EU would only pose a problem for the City in London, without affecting places like Belfast. Afterwards she told the Belfast Telegraph: "All trade arrangements with the EU are worth being a member of the single market, specifically for the financial service sector.

"It's only by being a member of the EU that you have the passport to sell financial services across the EU with its customer base of 500 million people, so any trade deal is going to be a worse trade deal than the one we have now.

"If we evoke article 50 - which is the only way to leave the EU - then it means that it is the other 27 countries who decide, and the UK will have no say in what the agreement is.

"We know that we will not be offered a better deal than the one that we have now."

She argued that the UK has been the most successful country in Europe in attracting foreign direct investment worth 150m over the last 10 years.

"In financial services, half of the worldwide firms which have based themselves in the UK say that its the access to the EU market that has been important," Ms Baldwin added.

"It's an incredibly important part of the offer that we have for foreign investors. We are a great country to invest in anyway, and that being part of the single part, being part of the EU, really adds to that attractiveness."

Her view was supported by representatives of Citibank, the US financial institution which employs 2,000 people at two bases in the Titanic Quarter.

James Bardrick, vice chair of Citi, said: "We operate in the UK, not only as the UK is a global financial centre, but also because the UK is for many of our customers and our clients an entry point into the wider European market.

"So Citi is in the UK as much for the EU as the UK is an important market as well."

Citi is one of several financial services companies, along with the Allstate Corp, First Derivatives and Liberty Mutual who employ some of the 21,000 people working in financial services in Northern Ireland, with a further 15,000 in related professional services.

Citi plans to employ 2,500 employees earning upwards of 25,000 by 2017.

But its Belfast managing director Leigh Meyer stressed that he did not believe his employees were too worried about Brexit. "We have an extremely strong presence here in Belfast and our recent strategy in how we view the UK reinforces the importance of Belfast," he said.
Swift said attackers had used malware to target a PDF reader at a bank

A new cyber attack has hit an unnamed bank, part of a co-ordinated campaign that follows the theft of 101 million US dollars (70 million) from the Bangladesh central bank, Swift said.

The Belgium-based international money transfer supervisor said attackers had used malware to target a PDF reader at a bank, allowing them to transfer money and tamper with bank documents.

It did not say whether any money was taken but called on clients to urgently review their security systems.

Swift said forensic experts believe the use of the malware is "not a single occurrence, but part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks".

It underlined that the Swift system, which connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organisations as well as other clients moving billions each year, had not been compromised by the malware.

Swift said "the attackers clearly exhibit a deep and sophisticated knowledge of specific operational controls within the targeted banks".

It said that know-how "may have been gained from malicious insiders or cyber attacks, or a combination of both".

In February, cyber attackers stole 101 million dollars from the Bangladesh central bank's account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Bangladeshi investigators said that at least 20 foreigners were involved.

They said the suspects were identified after investigators visited Sri Lanka and the Philippines, where the stolen money was transferred.

Sri Lanka intercepted 20 million dollars (13.9 million) transferred there and returned it to Bangladesh.
Kemp left the BBC soap to make a series of documentaries investigating gang violence, the war in Afghanistan and troubles in the Middle East

Ross Kemp may have faced an Islamic State sniper, but he is more nervous about his EastEnders comeback.

The actor was last seen in Walford as hardman Grant Mitchell 10 years ago.

He left the BBC soap to make a series of documentaries investigating gang violence, the war in Afghanistan and troubles in the Middle East - including an upcoming special on Syria and Iraq.

Speaking with hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes on ITV's This Morning, Kemp revealed his latest brush with danger.

"High-velocity sniper rounds, we think he was a Chechnyan sniper fighting for Isis," he explained.

"We don't have any close protection, we use local people on the ground, and local intelligence that they give us.

"Of course that worry is there, I've got a family and everything, but also it's my job now and I absolutely adore it, I love it. It's something that gives me an element of freedom to my life as well which I probably never had when I was acting.

"So to be able to mix them both, it's been a very interesting year so far!"

Kemp, 51, will return to Albert Square on Friday evening as soap fans prepare to say goodbye to his on-screen mother Peggy Mitchell, played by Dame Barbara Windsor.

Peggy has recently learned that her breast cancer has returned. It will ultimately prove fatal.

Kemp said it was "bizarre" that he was more nervous of returning to Albert Square than to a war zone.

He explained: "First scene, first morning, three days in after coming straight back from Mozambique, jet lagged, really scared, really nervous.

"'Cause when I first joined it, 20 years ago, there was no expectation and of course as you get older there is more expectation placed upon your shoulders and I didn't want to let people down, particularly Barbara."

He joked his EastEnders stint could force him into therapy.

"I've had a tough year, started off in Columbia then went to Iraq and Syria, then went to Mozambique, just come back from Mongolia and I'm off on my travels again very soon," he said.

"To sandwich that between Walford I thought was a bridge too far and I haven't finished it yet cause I've got to go back for another three weeks to finish off the story line after Barbara leaves.

"So it's been an interesting year - I think I'll be in therapy by the summer!"
Matt Smith will be appearing at the Royal Court from July 2 to August 6

Former Doctor Who stars Matt Smith and Billie Piper are both poised to return to the London stage.

Smith, who played the Doctor from 2010 to 2013, will return to the Royal Court in Unreachable, a new play by Anthony Neilson about a film director on an obsessive quest to capture the perfect light.

He has performed in two previous plays at the theatre.

Ideas the company are trying out for the production will be posted online throughout the rehearsal period to give audiences an insight into the process of devising the work.

Piper, who played Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant's companion Rose Tyler in the BBC sci-fi series, will star in Yerma at the Young Vic, a new telling of Federico Garcia Lorca's play written by Simon Stone.

Piper will play the title role of a woman whose inability to have a child tears her life apart.

She is an experienced stage actress who won acclaim for her roles in The Effect at the National Theatre and Treats at the Garrick. This will be her Young Vic debut.

Unreachable will run at the Royal Court from July 2 to August 6.

Yerma will run at the Young Vic from July 28 to September 24.
Playwright Sam Thompsons anti-sectarianism work Over The Bridge was set against backdrop of the shipyard

Dan Gordon has been listening to an item on the Stephen Nolan radio show about bullying at Glengormley High School, where he used to teach English. The actor and writer blames the school's problems with bullying on budget cuts - and voices further concerns over the plight of working-class Protestant youths, who repeatedly under-perform in exams.

"I would give off to pupils for not having homework done until my wife, who's a special needs teacher, pointed out to me that many of these children were going to school with their pyjamas under their uniform because their mothers were drunk and there was no father around, and no one to make them breakfast and 'there's you shouting at them about homework. They've more to worry about'," he recalls.

"It's true. A lot of these kids will be swallowed up, whereas the Catholic single-sex schools get the top marks. The Catholic community realised a long time ago that education was a way out, when working-class Protestants relied on jobs in heavy industry and thought they'd no need of an education."

It's a theme that reverberates in Dan's new BBC series Groundbreakers: In The Shadow Of The Shipyard, in which he considers how four of the greatest Belfast writers of the 20th century - St John Greer Ervine, Sam Thompson, Thomas Carnduff and Stewart Parker - absorbed the experiences of working-class communities and brought their voices to a wider audience.

First up is Ballymacarret-born Ervine (1883-1971), often cited as the founding father of modern Northern Ireland drama, particularly for his seminal plays Boyd's Shop and Mixed Marriage.

"Ervine was extraordinary - he left school at 15 and went to London and Dublin and met Yeats," says Dan, an east Belfast native.

"He witnessed the 1916 Rising and supported Home Rule, and his play Mixed Marriage (1911) was revolutionary in the way it depicted sectarian strife and how mixed couples were treated by their own communities.

"That was back before the Titanic, and this was a man who grew up on the Albertbridge Road, with parents who were deaf and mute. What he achieved was incredible."

Ervine is followed in the Groundbreakers series by another Ballymacarrett man, Thompson (1916-1965). He was a trade unionist who challenged the unionist establishment with one of the most controversial plays of the 1960s, Over The Bridge. It is known for its highlighting of sectarianism in the Harland & Wolff shipyard.

"To me, Over The Bridge is an anti-sectarianism play," says Dan, who comes from a long line of H&W workers.

"Sectarianism was used by the establishment to control the Protestant working classes, to keep them beholden to secure their vote.

"They exploited the disquiet among unionists after 1916 and 1921, but shipyard workers I spoke to for my play The Boat Factory were more concerned with earning a living than anything else."

The third writer explored by Dan in the series is poet and playwright Carnduff (1886-1956).

Originally from Sandy Row, he did a variety of unskilled jobs before finding permanent work as a shipyard labourer, and then as a caretaker in Belfast's Linen Hall Library.

Unusually for a man of his background, Carnduff regularly frequented libraries and was a prolific writer. His poetry and plays, such as Songs Of The Shipyard and Workers, dramatised the lives of working-class Belfast people during the recession of the 1930s.

"Carnduff lived in such poverty he couldn't afford the paper to write on at times," says Dan. "He used the Belfast idiom, the way people spoke in the Thirties, and he wrote about domestic violence. He didn't make any money, but he got the voice of the working man out there."

Finally, there's Parker (1941-1988), regarded as the major Belfast playwright of the Troubles, a writer who gave a voice to a new generation in the 1970s and 1980s.

Born in Sydenham, Parker's work - including The Iceberg, Spokesong and Northern Star - is strongly rooted in a Belfast troubled by the ghosts of its past and present.

A classmate of Parker's niece, playwright Lynne Parker, Dan got to meet the charismatic Stewart before his death from cancer at 47 in 1988.

"He was a lovely man. He loved music; he loved life and he was horrified by what he saw happening on the street here when he returned from a spell in America during the Troubles.

"His plays gave voice to the Protestant unionist tradition and the working man, as did the other three writers.

"I got to interview his brother George and he told me some great stories about him and Stewart as tiny boys, sitting on the same chair listening to Dick Barton, Special Agent on the radio. But I don't want to give it all away - you can see it in the programme."

Growing up in the shadow - literally - of the shipyards, Dan remembers hearing air raid horns that were used long after the Second World War to summon the workers to Queen's Island.

"It might sound arrogant, but I like to see myself as a continuation of these guys, in trying to keep and preserve the voice they gave to their traditions.

"You know, I was playing the Orangeman in Shadow Of A Gunman in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin recently and, being an east Belfast Prod in my DNA, I sang the Orange Lily-O at the top of my voice - maybe a bit too loud! But these guys, they were all ahead of their time and, incidentally, they recognised the role of women at a time when women weren't expected, or allowed, to write anything."

As well as highlighting the lives and work of the four writers, Groundbreakers: In The Shadow Of The Shipyard provides a fascinating insight into life in Belfast through the 20th century.

Archive photographs and film footage help bring to life the people and the environment these writers found so inspiring.

"The shipyard has loomed large in the life of my family - my grandfather, my uncles and my father passed through its gates," adds Dan.

"But, while most of the men were building ships, there were these others at work with their pens, inspired by the yard and the people of Belfast. Exploring their work and how it intersects with the working people of this city has been a great privilege for me."

Dan's father David, whom he closely resembles, died in 1992 from a disease related to asbestos that he was exposed to in the shipyard. His mother Irene (83) continues to be an active member of her community, attending her local day centre daily and "answering everybody else's questions at the quizzes".

Irene and David moved their family from Mersey Street in east Belfast to the quieter Holywood Road when Dan was seven, and enrolled him at Sullivan Upper after he passed his 11-plus.

In spite of always wanting to be an actor, after school Dan went to Stranmillis College to train as a teacher. He met Cathy at drama class there and they married in 1984. The couple have three grown-up daughters - Sarah (27), Hannah (24) and Martha (18). Cathy has lived with alopecia, unbothered by the condition, for 18 years.

"The older two are creative, I'm afraid, and won't have any money," he declares. "The eldest went to art school in Dublin and she recently got into lighting with Game Of Thrones. She writes, too.

"The middle one is in Australia for a year and she's doing a yoga teaching training course. She's a brilliant comedienne and ukulele player. I encourage her with that.

"And the youngest is going to be the only Gordon with an employable skill. She's going to do nursing."

In good health since a scare a decade ago, when he was convinced he had testicular cancer, Dan is as passionate about drama as ever.

"One of the most poignant times we had shooting Groundbreakers was at the fairground that was set up underneath the cranes at the yard last year," he says. "To think of all that industry of the past there, and all the lives that passed through it, and now it's a fairground. It's not right.

"I hope the series will help preserve the memories of the place for the older people watching and show the younger ones how Belfast grew from a scattering of houses and stretched out over the river, building bridges and railways.

"And, of course, show how the voice of the real people of the time was reflected by these four writers."
And so we arrive at another NAU spring commencement, this one 50 years after the signs were officially changed from Arizona State College to Northern Arizona University.

A lot more than just the signs have changed in that half-century, not the least of which is the size of the spring graduating cohort  5,000 strong, counting graduate students and those from satellite campuses and online programs. On any given day during the school year, the Mountain Campus has 20,000 students and 3,000 faculty and staff, more than the entire population of Flagstaff back in 1966.

The difference is not just in numbers but in proportions in 1966, the Mountain Campus enrollment stood at 5,000 compared to a city population of about 20,000. Today, with a Flagstaff population of 70,000, the Mountain Campus plays a significantly larger role that is set to grow as 5,000 more students arrive in the next decade.

NAU is also drawing from a broader and more diverse demographic profile. More than a thousand students are from foreign countries. And students representing racial and ethnic minorities make up more than a quarter of the graduating class. NAU is in the top five in the nation for degrees awarded to Native Americans in a variety of fields.

The admissions office is also reaching out to high school students who in the past might not have considered higher education -- 49 percent of entering full-time NAU freshmen report they are the first in their family to attend a four-year college. That makes it more likely their brothers and sisters still at home will follow them to NAU, depending on how their older siblings fare.

And so far, getting those freshmen to graduation, especially within the four years covered by the tuition freeze, has proved a challenge. The latest figures show just 40 percent of undergraduates are getting diplomas in four years, although another 38 percent either graduate within six years or are still enrolled at NAU or another institution. Raising the four-year graduation rate to 50 percent will take even more investment in programs like the math computer lab and remedial intervention to prevent freshmen from falling too far behind even before their sophomore year.

So to those students walking across the stage this weekend four years after arriving in Flagstaff, we offer our special congratulations. You have likely had the support of not only your families but also a special cadre of staff and faculty on the Mountain Campus who recognize the challenges you face.

But youve also shown personal resilience and persistence. You arrived in the fall of 2012 under a different university president and a campus in the throes of a major building boom. As you graduate this weekend, most of those projects  the Science and Health Building, the new aquatic center, the renovations to the Skydome  have been completed. And despite losing $17 million this year in state funding, NAU under new President Rita Cheng has largely stayed the course while enrollment has continued to grow.

Will NAU show as much growth and diversity in its next 50 years as in its first? We tend to doubt it  a Mountain Campus with 80,000 students by 2066 would be bigger than ASUs Tempe campus today. But we do see NAU continuing to strengthen its appeal to underserved populations in the Mountain West while building on core programs in genetics, forestry and health sciences, among others. Todays graduates should not worry about the value of their NAU degrees holding up. Just remember, however, that education is a lifelong pursuit  dont forget to reach for the skies even while honoring your academic roots in Flagstaff.
The man was returned to custody following the hearing.

A north Belfast man has been ordered to stand trial accused of threatening to kill and repeated sexual assaults on a schoolgirl.

The 23-year-old defendant appeared before the city's magistrates' court on Friday to face a total of 19 charges.

He is not being named to ensure the alleged victim's identity is protected.

The man faces 15 counts of sexual touching involving penetration with a child under 16.

Other charges include subjecting her to an assault occasioning actual bodily harm, making a threat to kill her, and common assault.

The alleged offences occurred between September 2014 and November 2105.

During a preliminary enquiry hearing the accused confirmed he understood the charges against him.

His lawyer did not contest prosecution submissions that he has a prima facie case to answer.

The defendant declined to give evidence or call witnesses at this stage.

District Judge Nigel Broderick granted an application to have him returned for trial at Belfast Crown Court.

Mr Broderick remanded him back into custody to appear for his arraignment on a date to be fixed.
A former CEO of a north Belfast housing association who performed a sex act on himself in a busy hotel spa has avoided a prison sentence.

Married father-of-two Dermot Gerard Leonard (55) was given two years' probation and 100 hours' unpaid work by Downpatrick Crown Court Judge Piers Grant, who told him he was "very close" to be being jailed.

The judge also described the incident as "sordid and unpleasant and a matter for which you should be utterly ashamed", adding: "No woman should be exposed to this type of behaviour."

Four days before his trial was due to start last month, Leonard, from Ailesbury Crescent in south Belfast, confessed to a single count of outraging public decency by performing a sex act on himself on January 26 last year.

Laura Ievers, prosecuting, told the court a woman in her twenties was using the spa at the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle when she saw the defendant in the sauna performing a sex act with his shorts pulled down. He continued while staring at the woman, who then moved away.

After the police were called, it emerged that earlier the same day Leonard approached a middle-aged woman and made comments she deemed offensive, although there was no suggestion of any physical approach.

In two police interviews, Leonard denied doing anything wrong. He claimed he was lying down but jumped up when he saw an elderly woman struggling with a door, snagging his shorts in the process. He added that he was not performing a sex act, but rather "putting his hands to his shorts to adjust himself".

Ms Ievers told the court that by pleading guilty, Leonard had abandoned those claims. She also revealed that he had a previous conviction for indecent assault from 20 years ago, relating to an indecent in which he inappropriately touched a colleague he was kissing on a train.

Defence QC Eugene Grant said his client had resigned from his job, now relied on benefits and his civil servant wife and that his reputation was "finished".

He also told the court that Leonard, who has been barred from the Slieve Donard Hotel and every other hotel in the Hastings chain, felt "deep shame" over his actions.

As well as probation and unpaid work, Judge Grant also imposed a 750 compensation order, allowing Leonard six months to pay. He warned him that if he failed to pay or breached any terms of the order, "you certainly will not get the clemency of the court... if you come back before me you will be sentenced to a significant period of custody".
Injuries Dan Murray sustained in a previous murder attempt when he was shot in the face

The 53-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the murder of takeaway driver Dan Murray has been released unconditionally by police.

He is the second man to have been arrested by detectives investigating the west Belfast man's fatal shooting on Monday.

However, both the 53-year-old and the other 38-year-old have now been released unconditionally by police.

Mr Murray was a father of six who was lured by gunmen to his death in Lady Street near the Grosvenor Road under a fake delivery order.

The 55-year-old was known to police and had been previously targeted by dissidents.

He was shot twice in the head, as well as his chest, arm and leg.
A bomb is found in the grounds of a Londonderry hotel ahead of a police recruitment event. The event was cancelled. Two other recruitment events in Belfast and Omagh went ahead despite bomb alerts at the venues

A bomb is found at Linden Gardens, off the Cliftonville Road in north Belfast. Police said it may have fallen from a car belonging to a man with connections to the armed forces

A "military-style hand grenade" is thrown at a patrol in east Belfast as officers respond to reports of anti-social behaviour near Pottingers Quay. The device failed to explode

Prison officer Adrian Ismay is seriously injured after a booby-trap bomb explodes underneath his van in east Belfast

Police are dealing with a terrorist bomb attack every week in Northern Ireland, shock figures have revealed.

The number of bombing incidents across the province increased by 44% over the past year, confirming concerns that paramilitary groups have stepped up their terror campaign with the use of explosives.

In the past 12 months there were 52 bomb attacks - including the booby-trap that killed prison officer Adrian Ismay - compared to 36 incidents in 2014/15, according to new PSNI statistics. These incidents include devices which exploded or were defused.

The revelations come a day after Home Secretary Theresa May, on the advice of MI5, raised the official threat level to Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism to 'substantial'. The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file PSNI members, warned that the rising violent crime rate and persistent terrorist threat were putting an extreme burden on officers.

"These figures come as no surprise given the pressure on resources and the fact that we are heavily under-strength," said Federation chairman Mark Lindsay.

"Grappling with rising violent crime rates and a continuing and persistent dissident republican terrorist threat are placing an inordinate strain on officers.

"There's only so much 6,500 officers are physically capable of doing. Right now they're stretched to the limit, and there's a very real danger we're close to a tipping point."

Mr Lindsay said that given the warning from MI5 this week about the threat level, "there is an undeniable case for an immediate recruitment drive to bring the force up to a resilient and realistic total of 7,500".

"We need the Government to make a forceful statement on officer levels. We're currently 600 below the minimum peacetime number recommended by Patten ... we have to prevent the migration of dissident republican activity to the mainland, and to do that we need more officers on the ground," he added.

SDLP MP Margaret Ritchie said: "There is a need to ensure the police have resources to ensure people can live in peace and harmony. These statistics are concerning.

"This type of terror campaign should not still be happening. Those behind these attacks need to get off people's backs."

Terrorist bombing incidents over the past 12 months included the murder of Mr Ismay, the discovery of a bomb at a Londonderry hotel ahead of a police recruitment event, a bid to kill police with a mortar bomb in Strabane, and the discovery of a car bomb under an officer's car in Eglinton.

Over the past year there were also 36 paramilitary shootings.

Two people were shot dead by dissident republicans in Belfast in recent weeks.

On Monday night takeaway delivery driver Dan Murray was murdered after being lured into a part of west Belfast by a bogus call in what was a third shooting in 24 hours.

Last month taxi driver Michael McGibbon was killed in an alleyway shooting close to his north Belfast home.

However, despite concern over terrorist gun attacks, the number of shooting incidents in the past year was 51% less than in 2014/15, when there were 73.

One officer told the Belfast Telegraph: "We have more bombing incidents, dissident republicans are running around shooting people dead in Belfast, scores of people in the city living under death threats, violent crime is on the up, and yet they keep taking our resources off us. It's becoming more and more difficult to keep people safe."

Another officer warned: "The pressure we are under is immense. Several potentially deadly attacks have been stopped, but unfortunately it's only a matter of time before someone else is killed."
Liam Neeson is to star in a new remake of Norwegian hit move In Order of Disappearance

Liam Neeson is reported to have landed the lead role of a remake of the hit Norwegian movie In Order of Disappearance.

The Ballymena-born actor will take on the role of avenging father out to find out why his son was murdered by a drugs gang, according to Deadline website.

Watch here for a feel of the original movie:

He will appear in the role originally played by Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, who starred in the BBC One crime drama River last year.

Unlike his famous role of ex CIA man Byran Mills in the Taken franchise, Neeson will play an easy-going snow plow driver who gets caught up in the drugs underworld in the action thriller.

The movie is to be directed by Hans Petter Moland, who directed the original 2014 film.

Neeson, (63) is currently preparing to star in Felt and will play top former FBI agent who became the Deep Throat source during the Watergate cover-up during the Richard Nixon presidential administration.

Further reading:
A Co Antrim mum whose nine-year-old son is battling cancer has launched an appeal to pay for vital changes to her home to protect her seriously ill child from the risk of infection.

Single mum of four Donna McCrellis (39), from Portrush, has to turn the dining area of her rented house into a bedroom to protect son Hunter, who currently shares with his brother.

With no spare cash, Donna has set up an appeal on Crowd Funding.

It is just another challenge for the heartbroken mum, whose life has been turned upside down in the past two months since it was discovered Hunter has an aggressive and fast-growing tumour in his throat.

He has been diagnosed with BCell non Hodgkin Lymphoma, which spread rapidly to his mouth, pancreas and kidneys.

Hunter, who was left fighting for his life in intensive care in March, has just completed a fourth round of intensive chemotherapy and has spent much of the past two months in and out of the Royal Victoria Hospital battling infections.

To make matters worse, the Bushmills Primary School pupil struggles with behavioural problems and learning difficulties which, after numerous assessments, remains undiagnosed.

Life has always been difficult for Hunter, who finds crowds and noise hard to deal with, so the ordeal of his treatment and spending so much time in hospital is even more of a challenge for him and his mum.

Travelling back and forward to Belfast with three other children in the house - Brooke (12), Kai (11) and Caprice (6) - has added to the pressure for Donna.

Now she has been told that Hunter needs his own bedroom to protect him from infections and she is hoping the public will support her appeal.

Donna and Hunter are hoping for good news today when the results of his latest scan will hopefully confirm that his chemotherapy is working and the cancer is receding.

She said: "The cancer was so aggressive it doubled in a day and they had to start chemotherapy when Hunter was still in intensive care.

"The chemo is also aggressive which means it works fast and already the cancer in his mouth seems to have gone and hopefully we will hear it has cleared.

"As well as chemo and surgery he has been back in hospital constantly being treated for infections and the risk is so great that I have been told he can't share a room with his brother any more.

"I have one girl sharing with me, the older one has her own room and the two boys shared. Now I am turning my dining area into a bedroom for Kai so Hunter can have his own space, which he needs anyway because of his behavioural issues.

"We think he might have autism, but still don't know for sure. Since he was two I have been running to specialists to get him support and assessed.

"Life can be hard for him as he prefers to be on his own and doesn't cope well with people. I want to create a room for him that is his wee cave and a wee space just for him where he can relax, as well as be protected from the risk of infection.

"Everything I have in my house has been given to me second hand and I have had to clear out as much as I can to reduce dust and the risk to Hunter and now I hope if I can raise enough money I will be able to give him his own bedroom."

Donna first took Hunter to the doctor with a sore throat in February. Initially she thought he had a cold but when his speech was affected she took him to her GP who immediately referred him to Antrim Area Hospital.

Doctors there suspected he had an abscess in his throat which they tried to remove and treated with antibiotics.

When the lump didn't shrink as doctors had hoped they decided to remove the child's tonsils.

However, unknown to doctors, Hunter had cancer in his tonsils and during surgery he suffered a serious bleed into his stomach and had to be rushed to intensive care.

Donna said: "He had to get a tracheotomy to save his life and was then sent to intensive care for a few days on ventilation.

"It was a scary time and he was very ill, but the hospital was amazing and they did everything to save him.

"He got home a week later and the next evening I received a phone call to say the biopsy results were back and Hunter had cancer."

Hunter was admitted to hospital two days later for tests, but again his airway started to close over and he was rushed to intensive care for a second time.

His cancer spread rapidly to his tongue, mouth and throat area and he was so gravely ill that chemo was started immediately while he was still in intensive care.

He has just completed his fourth cycle of chemo and in between treatments has suffered numerous infections.

Life has been so frantic that it is only now that the full horror of what her son is going through has hit Donna.

She said: "The night I was told he had cancer I had already suspected it, but to hear it for definite I just couldn't hold it and I broke down completely.

"It has been so hard, but I realised early on I had to pull myself together and be strong for Hunter and my other children.

"I just thought, I can't let him down and his dad Ian has been a brilliant support as well. It has been really hard on Hunter.

"He doesn't deal well with people or strange places, so being in hospital was very hard for him and he wouldn't even talk to the staff or even us sometimes.

"It was only this week when we took him to a quiet spot to watch the North West races that I saw him smile for the first time in months. He has also started to let me know if he is in pain which is great, because he has been so quiet and I think it was because it was scary for him.

"It has been such a hard few months that it is only now that it is starting to hit me. Hunter struggles and I understand him and I have to be there for him and I won't let him down.

"We are just hoping for the best news today and if we can get his wee bedroom done then maybe it will help with his recovery."
A Northern Ireland man missing in New Zealand for eight years is "more than likely" dead, police have said.

It comes a month after the investigation into the disappearance of Matthew Alexander Hamill was dramatically reopened.

Mr Hamill's case has been shrouded in mystery since he vanished in October 2008.

He was last seen near Queenstown, a resort town in Otago in the south-west of New Zealand's South Island.

At the time it was thought he had taken his own life, after his car was discovered with a suicide note inside.

But the case took a bizarre twist a year later when police said they were not convinced that Mr Hamill was dead. Last month Queenstown Police reopened their investigation, appealing for anyone who had seen Mr Hamill since October 2008 to contact them.

However, the appeal failed to provide any new information.

Detective Matt Jones said: "It is considered more than likely that he is in fact deceased.

"Next-of-kin and friends of Mr Hamill have been contacted as a matter of course."

Mr Hamill was 59 when he went missing, and was married with a family.

He left Northern Ireland at a young age and was well-travelled, including time spent in Canada.

When he disappeared on October 29, 2008 he left a suicide note in his unlocked car at the Roaring Meg lookout near Queenstown.

Extensive land and river searches of the surrounding area at Kawarau Gorge took place, but his body has never been found.

The last confirmed sighting of him was that afternoon, purchasing weedkiller from a local store.

Mr Hamill's silver Mitsubishi Diamante Sedan was later found unlocked at the Roaring Meg power station lookout.

In December 2009 police reopened investigations into his death amid suspicions that he could still be alive.

There had been no sightings of Mr Hamill and there had been no activity in his bank accounts since the time of his disappearance.

His family has always denied speculation that Mr Hamill had faked his own death.

The mystery has been compared to the case of 'canoeist' John Darwin in England.

The former teacher and prison officer turned up alive in December 2007, five years after he was believed to have died in a canoeing accident.

He faked his death to claim life insurance money and planned to move with his wife to Panama.
Jamie presented Caolan and his father, Paul with the custom Lightsabers from Saberforge which were bought and tailored to suit both Caolan and his little brother Ciaran

Jamie and Little Sister Faith. Jamie's "Little Princess Faith" visiting him the last time he was in hospital a few weeks ago

The day Jamie organised along with the Emerald Garrison to pay a little visit to Ciaran's house. Jamie is the one wearing the Darth Vader costume.Courtesy of GC Photographics

"Jamie, Ciaran, Caolan" The first time Jamie met the boys, after sending them to a private screening of The Force Awakens, as Ciaran wouldn't have been able to go otherwise, due to his immune system being low.

He's defeated cancer twice and now all this brave teenager from Northern Ireland wants is to meet his idols - the cast of Star Wars, who just so happen to have touched down in Belfast to film the latest installment of the blockbuster series.

Jamie Harkin was diagnosed in June 2011 with Hodgkins Lmphoma cancer and suffered a relapse in January 2013.

Having beaten the disease twice in five years, the 17-year-old has been seriously ill since January this year.

However, the determined teenager has taken it all in his stride and set up Jamie's Journie, a community to help those in the north west suffering from cancer, raising over 15,000.

He has set up many experiences in the community to help other young people.

Jamie has been a Star Wars fan since he was three and always aspired to direct the films with one of his dreams being to cross lightsabres with the cast.

And it just so happens that the likes of Luke Skywalker, Rey and Kylo Ren - instead of being a galaxy far, far away - are actually remarkably close.

Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver were snapped arriving at Belfast International Airport on Friday morning.

While the iconic Millennium Falcon has docked at Malin Head in Co Donegal.

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Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars cast members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning. They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Rian Johnson (director ) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Rian Johnson (director ) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Rian Johnson (director ) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Rian Johnson (director ) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 13/5/2016 Daisy Ridley (Rey) pictured as Star Wars Cast Members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning , They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. The entire shoot is very much top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) pictured as Star Wars cast members arrive at Belfast International Airport on Friday Morning. They are due to film Star Wars Episode VIII at Malin Head in Co Donegal. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker

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Mum Patricia says Jamie is the biggest Star Wars fan in the galaxy and so she launched an appeal to get the actor's attention using the hashtag #StarWarsForJJ on social media.

The as-yet-untitled Star Wars Episode VIII is filming just out of view of Jamie's Derry house which is right on the border, his mother said.

Should he get to meet the cast, the selfless teenager who is studying for his GCSES, doesn't want it just for him, rather he wants it for the others in his Jamie's Journie community.

Among them is little Ciaran Murphy who turns two next week, he was diagnosed with leukaemia last summer and loves all things Star Wars.

The little boy is back in hospital and will be for the next number of weeks and Jamie would love to have something sorted for the his birthday on Thursday.

Patricia said: "We didn't even think about Star Wars coming here because Jamie has been so sick. If Jamie had have been better, he would have been doing this for Jamie's Journie's kids himself.

"I put up a public appeal the other day, and overnight there was more than 20,000 views.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA / Facebook

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Whatsapp JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA

"Jamie has been a massive fan of Star Wars since he was three and when he turns 18 he plans to join the Emerald Garrison to visit sick children as Luke Skywalker."

Last year Jamie dressed up as Darth Vader and arranged for members of the Emerald Garrison - a Star Wars-themed costume club which raises money for charity - to visit one little Ciaran, one of the youngest members of the Jamie Journie family.

Now with the cast of Star Wars arriving in Northern Ireland and being so close, Patricia said the appeal is just something they needed to do.

"They are on our doorstep," she said, "We have all these amazing kids that have been through so much and are going through so much.

"We just really want to get Jamie and some of the kids, even to go on set, just something.

"It's just so close and it's such a dream. It's never going to happen again.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The model of the Millennium Falcon being built on the Star Wars set at Malin Head in Co Donegal A Millennium, Falcom in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA A set is created in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey The view of the Star Wars film set from Ardmalin Caravan Park. Pic: Ardmalin Caravan Park A fleet brought the Star Wars set to Malin Head. Pic: Ardmalin Caravan Park The view from Ardmalin Caravan Camp. Pic: Ardmalin Caravan Park The view from Ardmalin Caravan Park. Pic: Ardmalin Caravan Park Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA A Millennium, Falcom in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a star Wars costuming club, in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there. PA PA Hazy Zoom - wires and cabling snake through the terrain from base to the Millennium Falcon. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. Construction on the millennium falcon which is perched on rocks on the rugged landscape at Ireland's most northerly point - Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey. The stunning landscape surrounding the Star Wars set in Malin Head. Pic James Whorriskey Remote - Malin Head, Ireland's most Northerly point and location for the latest Star Wars movie. Picture James Whorriskey A mixture of tourists and inquisitive Star Wars fans mingle - Pic at Bamba's Crown, which overlooks the cast and crew tents. Picture James Whorriskey Cast and crew areas being readied ahead of weekend filming - roads in the area will be closed for several days. Picture James Whorriskey Cast and crew areas being readied ahead of weekend filming - roads in the area will be closed for several days.Picture James Whorriskey Cliff path to the Millennium Falcon - private security staff prevent people from getting too close. Picture James Whorriskey Millennium Falcon Base - scaffolding, fencing and crew buildings surrounding the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Gardai on standby and ready to politely ward of anybody who security deem to have gotten too close for comfort. Picture James Whorriskey Concealed - A drone hovers to the left of picture, over the Millennium Falcon location - and what's that partially visible on the right? Picture James Whorriskey Tight security guards the boundaries of the Star Wars set. Picture James Whorriskey Millennium Falcon base at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Crews at the Millennium Falcon site. Picture James Whorriskey Security try to prevent photography at the location. Picture James Whorriskey Narrow single track roads are the only way around Malin Head - In the distance the Millennium falcon site. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Private Security posted at public vantage points in Malin Head attempt to prevent photography. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey New signs erected in many of the surrounding fields - Millennium Falcon in the distance. Picture James Whorriskey Construction underway on the Millennium Falcon at Malin Head. Picture James Whorriskey Basecamp at the Millennium Falcon site. Pic James Whorriskey The landscape overlooking the Millennium Falcon base. Picture James Whorriskey. / Facebook

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Whatsapp The model of the Millennium Falcon being built on the Star Wars set at Malin Head in Co Donegal

"Jamie wants it for him and some of the kids. They are as mad about Star Wars as he is.

"He's been so ill since January and it would be good for all the kids."

She added: "With him being so sick of late, I thought maybe it's time that somebody pushed for something for him."
He's a man who stays true to his word.

Political commentator Alex Kane made a promise that if Green party MLA Clare Bailey was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly following May 5 elections - he would stand on the steps of Stormont in a dress and sing a song.

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Green party leader Steven Agnew reminded him of this as the votes were being counted.

And after Clare Bailey was returned to the south Belfast constituency - all eyes were on Mr Kane.

Last night, on BBC The View he fulfilled his promise and donned a purple dress, stood proudly on the famous steps of Parliament Buildings and belted out the Gloria Gaynor classic, I Am What I Am - under the watchful eye of the Green MLA.
Former Sinn Fein MLA Phil Flanagan could face further legal action after insisting he cannot pay the 50,000 libel damages a court ordered him to hand over to UUP MP Tom Elliott.

Mr Flanagan, who is unemployed after losing his Assembly seat in last week's election, also said he would not be asking Sinn Fein to help cover the penalty. Speaking on BBC Northern Ireland's The View political programme last night, he explained: "It would probably be unfair to ask Sinn Fein to cover the costs.

"If it's only 50,000, that would be me asking Sinn Fein not to have two members of staff to cover me for something daft I said about Tom Elliott on Twitter.

"It's something that's always in the back of my mind, but I don't think I'm overly worried about it because I don't have the money to pay it. So I'm not going to lose too much sleep over it."

In February this year, a High Court judge in Belfast ordered Mr Flanagan to pay Mr Elliott almost 50,000 compensation for falsely implying he harassed and shot people while a member of the UDR. The post was seen by 167 of Mr Flanagan's followers before it was taken down.

During the hearing, Mr Justice Stephens said: "To state that a senior politician, who had been the leader of a party, was responsible for harassing and shooting people during his service with the UDR is a most serious libel."

The baseless allegation was aggravated by Mr Flanagan's failure to publish an apology until the former UUP leader took him to court, the judge decided.

Mr Elliott, who is the Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, brought court action against Mr Flanagan (left) over the contents of the tweet, which was sent by the former Sinn Fein MLA from the Stormont car park in May 2014.

Contacted by the Belfast Telegraph last night, Mr Elliott said: "This is a matter for my lawyers. Phil Flanagan showed total recklessness by not dealing with this matter properly. I'll now be referring the matter to my solicitors."
First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness with RUAS president Billy Robson and Chinese Consul General Wang Shuying at the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs breakfast event at the Balmoral Show yesterday

Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are checked off as they arrive at Parliament Buildings

The Assembly is to have its first official opposition since the Good Friday Agreement after the Ulster Unionists announced they would not take a seat in the power-sharing government.

Party leader Mike Nesbitt said the move heralded a new era for devolved politics in the region.

The 1998 Agreement established a form of government based on a ruling coalition Executive made up of all Northern Ireland's main parties. The aim was to ensure all sections of a deeply divided society had a role in power.

While smaller parties and independents have sat outside the Executive in past mandates, they have not been afforded the recognition, funding and status of an official opposition.

A new law passed earlier this year now enables parties with the electoral strength to enter the Executive to instead form an opposition.

Mr Nesbitt made the announcement moments after DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness were re-appointed First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively.

"Let battle commence," the UUP leader and former TV broadcaster told the Assembly chamber. The UUP nailed its colours to the mast two days after receiving a proposed programme for government document and two weeks before the deadline for a new five-year government plan to be agreed and Executive formed.

With the DUP and Sinn Fein having consolidated their positions at the head of the Executive in the election, the focus now shifts to the SDLP to see if it will follow the UUP out of government. The Alliance Party is expected to remain in the Executive.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said his party would wait until negotiations around a new programme for government were completed.

The UUP walked out of the power-sharing administration last autumn, when official opposition was not an option, amid a crisis sparked by a murder linked to the Provisional IRA.

Mr Nesbitt had said his party's return to the Executive table would depend on a number of factors, among them the need for a "progressive" programme for government and a commitment from the main parties to work collectively across departments. He said neither had materialised.

He said an assessment by police chiefs that structures of the Provisional IRA remain in place also did not make a return to power with Sinn Fein an attractive option.

Mr Nesbitt said his party's Assembly group had voted unanimously to form an opposition.

"This heralds a new era for devolved politics at Stormont, and a big, bold step forward to normal democracy for Northern Ireland," he said.

Eighteen years ago, the UUP was one of the key architects of the Good Friday Agreement while the DUP opposed the deal.

Mr McGuinness accused Mr Nesbitt of a lack of leadership, claiming he had "repudiated" the UUP's Good Friday Agreement legacy.
A 20-year-old Irish man jailed in Egypt for the last 1,000 days as he awaits trial and a potential death penalty has said his incarceration has felt like 1,000 years.

Ibrahim Halawa's family and supporters are holding an awareness day on Dublin's Grafton Street to allow people to see pictures of him and to learn about his detention.

Arrested in Cairo aged just 17 in the midst of protests over the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, he has been held without trial for almost three years and is due to face justice as part of a mass trial in late June.

His family released a section of a letter he wrote to them in the last week to mark the 1,000 days.

Mr Halawa wrote: "One thousand days with 1,000 different stories. Sadly not the type of joy, laughter and smiles. But rather the type full of suffering, pain, torture, tears, abuse, suicide, and death.

"One thousand days that have felt like 1,000 years. Not only for me but for hundreds behind bars.

"One thousand days for something I believe people should be able to live in just as I do back home, in a free democratic country.

"One thousand days and 1,000 more if it takes to be free. Some have lost hope and written THE END on their story, but I leave many blank pages to be filled."

The Halawa family insist his imprisonment is unlawful and unjust.

One of Mr Halawa's sisters, Somaia, said: "We want to come together to show Ibrahim our support and that we haven't forgotten him.

"We also want to call on an end to this nightmare. We call on more serious and assertive action to be taken to help free Ibrahim."

The Halawas insist Ibrahim has been jailed without a fair trial and no adequate access to a lawyer, and claim he has been electrocuted, beaten, spat on and moved without his family's knowledge.

They have also criticised the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs over what they claim is a "softly, softly" approach by diplomats with Egyptian authorities.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has ordered talks amid the controversy of Mr Halawa being moved from prison to prison, and sent Ireland's ambassador to Egypt Damien Cole to discuss the matter with officials in Cairo. He has also brought in the Egyptian ambassador Soha Gendi in Dublin as part of the diplomatic process.

Mr Halawa's family have set up an information stall on Grafton Street to create awareness of his plight.

Lynn Boylan, Sinn Fein MEP and one of their most vocal supporters, called on Ireland to seek Mr Halawa's release under a "presidential decree".

"I am asking the incoming government and in particular the new Independent ministers to intercede on Ibrahim's behalf. In particular I ask (Children's) Minister Katherine Zappone TD from Ibrahim's constituency to speak for Ibrahim at the cabinet table."

Ms Boylan called on the new cabinet members to ask Taoiseach Enda Kenny to take up the case personally and seek the Egyptian presidential decree.

The London-based Reprieve organisation, which has campaigned for the Halawas and opposes the death penalty, reiterated calls for his release.

"It is a scandal that the Egyptian authorities continue to seek the death penalty for Ibrahim despite his having been a child at the time of his arrest," Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of the death penalty team, said.

"The Egyptian authorities must immediately call an end to this mass trial and others like it and release Ibrahim and the hundreds of others like him who have been illegally detained for so long."

He was 17 when he was detained while taking refuge in a mosque near Cairo's Ramses Square as a "day of rage" was held over the removal of president Mohamed Morsi.

The mass trial he is facing, along with more than 400 others, has been repeatedly postponed since his detention in 2013.

Amnesty International met with the Egyptian ambassador in Dublin this week and warned that her previous comments on the case had been outrageous.

Irish director Colm O'Gorman said: " The ambassador's assertion that torture is not an issue in Egypt is simply not credible.

"Egyptian law's definition of what constitutes a 'terrorist act' is overly broad and grants the authorities free rein to detain peaceful government critics, including journalists, on vague grounds."

Reprieve launched an online petition calling for Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to free Ibrahim and end mass trials.

It was more than halfway to its 10,000 target within a few hours of going live.
At least 13 people were killed and 15 others injured when a group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Balad, 50 miles (80km) north of the capital.

The incident came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad which killed nearly 100 people - attacks that have been claimed by the Islamic State group. The deadliest struck the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in north-east Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 63 people.

The Balad attack started when three gunmen, armed with machine guns, opened fire into the crowd in the cafe shortly after midnight on Thursday, the officials said.

Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests, they said.

The IS bombings this week exposed lingering gaps in Baghdad's defences, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias who do not always co-operate. They also point to the resilience of the extremist IS group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost some territory to Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes.

On Thursday evening, hundreds took to the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City to demand government accountability for the security breaches. Protesters carried signs calling for the interior minister to resign while others called for the defence minister and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to also step down.

Anti-government protests first erupted last summer as temperatures soared and millions were left without electricity. While Mr al-Abadi proposed a series of government reforms in August 2015 that he claimed would combat corruption, very little has been implemented.

Repeated delays in Iraq's parliament sparked another wave of protests this year, led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In late April the cleric's supporters stormed Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone and the parliament building.

Since the unprecedented breach of the compound, which is home to many of Baghdad's ministries and foreign embassies, the country's government has been largely gridlocked as many politicians are boycotting parliament.

Iraqi officials and analysts warn that the deepening political crisis may be distracting Iraq's security forces from the fight against IS. The Iraqi government claims IS only occupies 14% of the country's territory after a string of battlefield losses, but the extremist group still controls key border areas between Iraq and Syria as well as Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.
David Hernandez, top centre, and Marta Miguel, centre right, arrive at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia (AP)

David Hernandez gives a thumbs up as he is stretchered away upon his arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia (AP)

Four people who spent 10 days adrift at sea together have said they survived by eating flying fish and distilling seawater using a technique one of them saw in a film.

A Spanish couple were with the Hong Kong-born owner of a Malaysian resort and a resort employee when a freak wave capsized their boat just off the Malaysian coast on May 2.

They managed to right the boat and bail it out but they were unable to restart the motor. The food and water they had aboard were lost.

Marta Miguel, who was with her partner David Hernandez, told Spain's COPE radio station on Friday that three flying fish landed in the boat on the third night.

She said: "Up to the sixth or seventh day, we didn't have anything else to eat."

One of the survivors had the idea of eating clams stuck to the bottom of the boat and mussels encrusted on a passing piece of flotsam, which provided more nourishment, she said.

They got drinking water thanks to her recollection from a film.

Ms Miguel said: "I recalled seeing something about a castaway who had to do this thing to drink water.

"I wasn't certain whether it was from evaporation or the water, but seeing as we had so much time on our hands we made it up as we went along."

They used a mobile phone screen and a plastic bag to catch evaporating water, according to Ms Miguel.

"Doing it every 15 minutes, we were each able to have a drink once an hour," she told COPE.

The two Spaniards were weakened but in relatively good health, her father Luis Miguel told Spanish National Radio.

Ali Hassan Mohamad Dusi said his daughter Armelia, the resort employee, told him she was in good health apart from being sunburnt. Tommy Lam Wai Yin was the resort owner.

Mr Hernandez told COPE the four never lost hope, even though many vessels and an air plane passed close by, apparently without seeing them or realising they were in trouble.

He said they felt "fear and frustration" that their families had no news of them.

"We were more afraid of that than for ourselves," he said.

TV images showed them smiling on Friday as they got off a plane and met family members in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu after being rescued by two Vietnamese fishing boats off Borneo island.
Migrants and refugees who were camped in Idomeni walk through fields in their attempt to cross the Greek-Macedonian border (AP)

The number of migrants arriving in Greece has fallen sharply thanks in part to the European Union's pact with Turkey, according to the EU border agency.

The drop came amid signs that the widely-criticised agreement to stop people heading to Europe could unravel.

The Frontex border agency said fewer than 2,700 people had entered Greece in April, a 90% fall from the previous month.

It attributed the decline to the effect of the EU-Turkey deal and tight border controls at the Greek-Macedonian border, which has been shut to migrants since early March.

"The drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said.

He added that April's total was well below the daily figure arriving on the island of Lesbos alone during the peak months last year.

Officials say the agreement for Turkey to stop migrants heading to European shores and take back thousands who have arrived since March 20 is working, but the government in Ankara is opposing an EU demand that Turkey's anti-terror law be modified.

The demand is part of EU requirements to secure visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens.

The visa waiver is an incentive - along with up to six billion euro (4.7 billion) and fast-track EU membership talks - for Turkey to stop migrants reaching Europe and take back thousands more.

But given the recent spate of suicide attacks, Turkey refuses to change the law.

Turkish European affairs minister Volkan Bozkir said:."If there is a difficulty in this particular element then perhaps all of the elements of the package we have discussed and decided in the last months will be at stake."

The aim of the deal, agreed on in March, was to stop the flow of hundreds of thousands of people from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, which had become by far the most popular route for refugees and migrants into Europe.

Under the agreement, those arriving on Greek islands on or after March 20 faced deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece - something the vast majority are reluctant to do in a financially stricken country where about a quarter of the workforce is unemployed.

On Friday, 118 people reached the islands of Chios and Kos, Greek government figures showed.

The EU-Turkey deal and Balkan land border closures have left more than 54,700 people stranded in Greece, with the country scrambling to build enough refugee camps to house them all.

More than 9,300 remain at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, in a makeshift unofficial camp, with most living in small donated tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks.

According to Frontex, most new arrivals on the Greek islands were from Syria, with far fewer numbers from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The agency said the number of migrants along the Balkans route from Greece north towards preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia had also dropped as a result of the border closures.

It also said that the number of people entering Italy from across the Mediterranean surpassed those arriving in Greece for the first time in almost a year.

Officials have been keeping a watchful eye on smugglers' boats travelling towards Italy to see if there has been a shift in routes since the closure of the Balkans route.

International Organisation for Migration (IOM) spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said on Friday that so far there has been no impact on Italy.

The Italian Coast Guard said some 800 migrants rescued on Thursday and 231 rescued on Wednesday were brought to four Sicilian ports.

They were initially reported by the Coast Guard to be mostly Syrians, but Mr Di Giacomo said the first group arriving at Augusta included Egyptians, Somalis, Sudanese and just one Syrian, and that a ship heading to Catania was transporting mostly Eritreans and Somalis.

A pregnant Somali woman was evacuated separately by helicopter to a hospital in Catania.

The two boats loaded with 515 and 286 migrants that were rescued on Thursday had departed Egypt, which Mr Di Giacomo said indicated that the long route from Egypt was opening earlier than usual.

Arrivals this year are on pace with last year. According to IOM data, 27,926 migrants had arrived in Italy through April this year, compared with 26,221 in the same period last year. Just 26 were Syrians.

Meanwhile, German MPs have approved a plan to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia "safe countries of origin", a move aimed at making it easier to send migrants from the three North African nations home quickly and deter others from coming.

It still requires approval from the upper house.

Germany last year declared several Balkan nations whose citizens are barely ever granted asylum safe countries.

That effectively reverses the burden of proof, with a country assumed to be safe unless an asylum applicant can prove persecution in his or her case.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015 and is keen to see far lower numbers this year.
The search of the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Two more pieces of debris found in South Africa and near Mauritius are "almost certainly" from Flight 370, which disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board, the Malaysian government said.

The discovery brings the total number of pieces believed to have come from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet to five.

Although they have bolstered authorities' assertion that the plane went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts has so far yielded any clues into exactly where and why the aircraft crashed.

Those elusive answers lie with the flight data recorders, or black boxes, which may never be found, said Geoff Dell, a specialist in accident investigation at Central Queensland University in Australia.

He said: "It shows they're looking in the right ocean - that's about it."

The two newly identified pieces of debris were found in March.

Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said one is an engine cowling piece with a partial Rolls-Royce logo, and the other is an interior aircraft cabin panel piece discovered on Rodrigues Island, off Mauritius - the first interior part found from the missing plane.

An international team of experts in Australia who examined the debris concluded that both pieces were consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, Mr Liow said.

"As such, the team has confirmed that both pieces of debris from South Africa and Rodrigues Island are almost certainly from MH370," he said in a statement.

All five pieces have been found in various spots around the Indian Ocean.

Last year, a wing part from the plane washed ashore on France's Reunion Island. In March, investigators confirmed two pieces of debris found along Mozambique's coast were almost certainly from the aircraft.

The jet, which vanished on March 8 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean about 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off Australia's west coast.

Authorities had predicted that any debris from the plane that is not on the ocean floor would eventually be carried by currents to the east coast of Africa.

Most of the passengers on the plane were Chinese, and many of their families have refused to give up hope that they could somehow still be alive despite the discoveries of debris.

"I just don't believe what they said and no matter how many pieces of debris they've found, I just don't think it is true," Zhang Qian, whose husband Wang Houbin was on the flight, said in Beijing.

"Unless we have a clear and full explanation of what has really happened from the beginning to the end, solving all the puzzles, we just feel they are still trying to trick us."

Investigators are examining marine life attached to the debris to see if it could somehow help them narrow down where the plane entered the ocean, but have not discovered anything useful yet.

The interior part, identified by its decorative laminate, is a panel from the main cabin and is believed to be part of a door closet, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said in a technical report.

But even this interior piece is also unlikely to prove very helpful to investigators, said Mr Dell.

It will not, for example, answer the question that some have raised about whether anyone was still at the controls of the plane at the end of its flight, or whether the plane spiralled uncontrollably into the water after running out of fuel.

He said: "I wouldn't hang your hat too much on what it says, other than it's got to come out of the airplane somehow and that suggests there was a structural failure in the fuselage that allowed it to get out. But how, exactly - who knows?"

That part was found by tourists on Rodrigues Island, while the piece with part of a Rolls-Royce logo was found by an archaeologist while walking along South Africa's southern coast.

Ron Bishop, head of aviation at Central Queensland University, said the debris may help the investigation in a less direct way: by leading to more debris discoveries.

"The best part about it is, it makes it where now anytime anyone finds something on a beach that's weird-looking ... they'll turn it in," Mr Bishop said.

"I'm sure there's tons of this lying on beaches - we're just not noticing it that much.

"Not all this stuff is going to look like a wing, it's just going to look like garbage."

As for the underwater search, crews have combed more than 105,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles) of the Indian Ocean to no avail.

They expect to complete their sweep of what they have determined to be the plane's most likely location by the end of June.
The speech by Dr Len O'Hagan (Comment, May 9) was particularly disjointed and evaded many truths. I hope his Dublin audience recognised this; certainly, here in Northern Ireland and in the UK it is obvious.

Dr O'Hagan at times speaks as if Northern Ireland is a member of the EU. But it is the UK and, therefore, a UK referendum.

There will not be parochial debate in other regions of the UK and it is time that Dr O'Hagan thought in terms of the UK, as what is good for the UK is good for Northern Ireland.

He states that 44% of UK exports are to the EU. Actually, it is now 40% - and still falling. But he avoids mentioning that the EU exports twice as much to the UK as the UK exports to the EU. This, in itself, emphasises that the EU would not wish to create trade barriers with the UK (and, therefore, no trade barriers at the Irish border).

Dr O'Hagan claims that farmers would lose EU subsidies. Of course they would, but there is the prospect of even greater support for farmers outside the EU.

Once again, he avoided mentioning that we send 20bn per year to Brussels, of which the EU retains 10bn and only sends 3.8bn back to our farmers.

Brexit would mean that the Treasury would have available an extra 10bn to increase funding for the health service, the block grant for Stormont and even greater subsidies for our farmers - and this they need, due to the collapse of farm prices overseen, at present, by ... the EU.

Both Norway and Switzerland, by remaining outside the EU, now give greater subsidies to their farmers than the EU gives to its farmers.

I love Europe. I campaigned strongly for the UK to remain in the Common Market. I spent 17 years in Strasbourg as an MEP and then in the Council of Europe.

But as well as Europe, I love Northern Ireland and increasingly I am concluding that our best interests may well be outside the EU.

LORD KILCLOONEY

House of Lords
Despite the electorate in the Republic of Ireland allegedly voting the incumbent Fine Gael government out of office, subsequent post-election negotiations have put the party back into government.

In Northern Ireland, the DUP have 38 MLAs and Sinn Fein have 28, which means they secure the Office of First Minister and first pick of ministerial offices. Meanwhile, the UUP, SDLP and Alliance hold 16, 12 and eight seats respectively. However, theoretically, the latter parties could choose to upset the apple cart.

Let me pose two hypothetical scenarios. Firstly, if the UUP MLAs "joined" the SDLP for the term of this Assembly they would boost its numbers to 28 to equal Sinn Fein's tally. And, if they were able to include, say, Jim Allister, or Claire Sugden, they could supplant Sinn Fein as the largest "nationalist" party to secure the position of deputy First Minister and get second pick of ministerial office.

Secondly, were the UUP, SDLP and Alliance able to come together under the UUP banner then they would have a combined strength of 36 MLAs. If they were able to negotiate with independents to secure 39 MLAs then the new UUP grouping would be the largest designated "unionist" party and secure the position of First Minister along with first pick of ministerial positions.

In this scenario, the UUP would hold the First Minister's office as Northern Ireland approaches its centenary; the SDLP would get the opportunity to make Northern Ireland work; Alliance could negotiate to take the Justice Department again, but this time get to have real input and the independents, or smaller parties, would be able to effect real change, instead of sitting in the "naughty corner".

Enda Kenny snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. In the north, the question is whether Mike Nesbitt, Colum Eastwood and David Ford can emulate their counterpart in the south.

BERNARD J MULHOLLAND

Belfast
DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster celebrates with party colleagues at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast after taking three seats in North Belfast

The DUP's stunning success in returning unscathed, numbers-wise, at last week's Assembly election defied most predictions. Even those of us who had predicted little change (a loss of two seats to the UUP was my forecast) were slightly surprised at the capacity of the DUP to hold all of what it held.

The party had briefed that a loss of "around four seats" was expected from the 38 of 2011 given that, in the words of one senior source, it was "unlikely that the ball would bounce as favourably". Yet 86% of DUP candidates were elected. So how did it happen?

Firstly, the choice of Arlene Foster as leader was a good one. That's not just hindsight. It was obvious at the time of her elevation that Foster could appeal to a broad swathe of unionists - Church of Ireland moderates and hardline Free Presbyterians; Orange and non-Orange; men and women, border and urban unionists.

Untypical of her party (only 27% female and 28% Church of Ireland), but sharing its robustness, Foster's appeal traverses internal unionist boundaries.

Secondly, it offered effective election messages. While there was predictable criticism of the DUP's "Stop Martin becoming First Minister" approach, there is still mileage in old-style sectarian head-counting.

Those who don't like that sort of politics don't vote, with non-voting particularly high among the young, although that problem is not exclusive to Northern Ireland.

Not unreasonably, the DUP prefers to concentrate upon the 55% who do vote.

Thirdly, "soft" liberal politics still does not cut it. We may have had a DUP-Sinn Fein duopoly for almost a decade at Stormont but the mutual loathing of the support bases remains intact if we look at vote transfers.

Less than 1% of DUP and UUP transfer votes went to Sinn Fein. DUP to DUP surpluses ran at over 70%, with around 20% going to the UUP.

The First Minister's own surplus provided a typical example - although here there were some cross-community final transfers from the UUP to the SDLP, depriving Sinn Fein of a third seat.

For all the talk of a new Northern Ireland and a mellow campaign lacking in orange versus green heat, ethnic bloc-voting on traditional lines remains very dominant.

The DUP countered the "Arlene for First Minister" critics by asking which political party goes out campaigning NOT wanting to win an election?

The DUP also knew not to rely solely on the old "keep themuns" out - hence the accompanying, much more positive, five-point plan.

The plan was little more than a wish-list - in the same way I "plan" to win the Lottery this weekend. It aspired to "create more jobs" and "raise standards in education" - as if opponents planned redundancies and a lowering of educational attainment - but created a useful aspirational image.

Fourthly, vote-management was exceptionally good (again). Only six candidates did not make it to the Assembly.

With careful poster balances and campaigns for all its candidates in different parts of each constituency, the spread of first preference votes between each candidate was admirably narrow: the average differential between the vote for each DUP candidate and their nearest running mate in the poll was only 2%, compared to almost 4% for the UUP.

The UUP's constituency strategies require examination. Optimism is laudable, but fielding three candidates in both South and East Antrim veered on the side of giddiness.

None of the above is to argue that the UUP ran a bad campaign. This wasn't November 2003, or Upper Bann 2005.

Foster's brief recalling of "pushover unionism" during the second leaders' debate threatened, momentarily, to take us back to those days.

Mike Nesbitt may have read the bad news for the UUP on TV at the time, but I'm not sure the newscaster was responsible for the news. The UUP may have struggled to attack the DUP, but likewise the old DUP criticisms of the UUP have reached the end of their shelf-life.

As the Westminster election last year showed, Nesbitt has stopped the rot and this year his party hoovered the Assembly defector debris, without making further advances.

The 'Make it Work' election slogan was reasonable. The party offered useful ideas on, for example, mental health and wellbeing, but needs more.

The UUP's vote share fell less than the other main parties, although that is damning with faint praise. The lack of representation in Belfast (just one MLA) is stark.

The UUP needs to explain more clearly why voting for a 16-seat Assembly party is a better idea than for its bigger rival, given the communal head-counting problem.

The UUP's continuing sizeable membership (much larger than the DUP's) ought to be capable of advancing party messages.

It will also help the UUP that the contest within unionism is not muddied by other parties. While mainstream republicanism is challenged by poll-topping People Before Profit Leftist radicalism - The Internationale versus A Soldier's Song - you can forget the minor unionist parties in Assembly contests.

The PUP might hold a few council seats, but doesn't have strength beyond. Ukip and the Northern Ireland Tories are an irrelevance. That leaves only the forensic brilliance-cum-pantomine villainy of Jim Allister. The Traditional Unionist Voice will always be a lonely one.

So, what happens next? Having felt obliged to play the 'Stop Sinn Fein' card in the early months of her tenure, a long break before the next set of elections will allow us to see whether the First Minister really wishes to usher in an era of politics owing less to the past.

The DUP's ministerial portfolio choices will be interesting - posts and personnel-wise. Control of the Finance ministry may be hard to relinquish - especially to Sinn Fein - even if the Department for the Economy offers a more strategic role as corporation tax is lowered.

The DUP might well covet Education, to "maintain support for academic selection", a manifesto commitment. A period in Opposition may sharpen the clarity of UUP messages in response. But the dilemma is, what will it find in the utopianism of the DUP's five-point plan to oppose?

Jon Tonge is professor of politics at the University of Liverpool. He co-authored The Democratic Unionist Party: From Protest To Power and is co-authoring The Ulster Unionist Party: Decline And Rebirth (both Oxford University Press)
Pictured with the first book off the production line is Madison Rafferty of Down High School who created one off the winning stories in the Ulster Bank farm safety competition.

An important new resource to promote farm safety in schools has been unveiled at the Balmoral Show following an Ulster Bank schools competition, running in partnership with AgriKids and the Health and Safety Executive Northern Ireland.

Ulster Bank, the principal sponsor of the Show, invited school pupils to create a short-story highlighting one of the four key risk areas identified by the HSENI which are Slurry, Animals, Falls and Equipment. Children were also asked to incorporate the characters from popular book series AgriKids into their story to promote farm safety.

Four winners were selected from the hundreds of entries received by judges representing the key organisations involved and have been since compiled into an impressive book of short-stories which was officially launched at the Ulster Bank marquee on the first morning of the show.

The stories will also be available to download as an eBook free of charge, meaning that thousands of pupils across Northern Ireland will now be given the opportunity to learn about the important issue of farm safety.

Ulster Banks Senior Agricultural Manager Cormac McKervey says, In Northern Ireland, farming is one of our most important industries but we are still seeing tragedies and fatal accidents occurring far too often. We believe that education has a centrally important role to play in helping to ensure the number of sad incidents continues to decrease and to prevent those working or living on a farm from taking unnecessary risks.

We were especially pleased to have the support of AgriKids, HSENI and the RUAS to help create this book of short-stories which we are confident will be a very useful learning resource for schools. Id like to thank everyone who took the time to submit their entries and of course congratulate each of our four winners on their excellent ideas.

Bryan Monson from the Health and Safety Executive says that finding new and innovative ways to keep promoting the issue of farm safety is essential to ensure the message resonates with our young people.

We are very pleased that once again Ulster Bank has decided to actively encourage schools to pay closer attention to the issue of farm safety. The resource that has been created has the potential to play a key role in educating thousands of young people about the dangers playing on a farm can pose and give sound advice on how to stay safe. I would like to congratulate each of the four winners and look forward to using the book when we deliver our school talks.

On top of having their idea professionally produced into a story book, each of the four winners will also receive a selection of goodies for themselves and books for their school courtesy of AgriKids along with a class pass to the Balmoral Show, including transport and lunch at the event provided by Ulster Bank.

The four winners were:

 Timothy Gilmore - Gorran Primary School, Garvagh

 Madison Rafferty  Down High School, Downpatrick

 Meredith Johnston  Tempo Primary School, Enniskillen

 Clidhna McTague  St. Patricks Primary School, Rasharkin

Further information about the RUAS Balmoral Show is available at: www.balmoralshow.co.uk
Richard Donnan, left, Ulster Bank Head of Northern Ireland at the Ulster Bank lunch at the Balmoral Show main marquee with Neal Kelly, centre, Director of Fresh Foods at Henderson Group, the speaker at the event, and Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of Ulster Banks parent company, RBS.

Ulster Bank hosts key food sector leaders in Balmoral Show main marquee

Challenges exist, but strong fundamentals are in place.

The long-term opportunities for Northern Irelands food and drink sector far outweigh the current challenges it faces, Ulster Banks Head of Northern Ireland emphasised at one of the Balmoral Shows flagship events.

Speaking at the Ulster Bank lunch in the shows main marquee, Richard Donnan said that with weekly sales of some 175million, according to the latest figures, the food and drink manufacturing sub sector is an incredible Northern Ireland success story and has the potential to further elevate its growing international reputation.

Mr Donnan was joined by speakers at the event including Neal Kelly, Director of Fresh Foods at Henderson Group, which employs over 2,500 people in Northern Ireland and includes wholesale, retail and food service businesses.

Sir Howard Davies, Chairman of Ulster Banks parent company RBS also spoke to the audience of around 100, including senior representatives from local food and drink businesses.

Mr Donnan said that recent years had brought considerable challenges in relation to commodity prices, exchange rates and other issues, but that the food and drink sector remained a key driver of the Northern Ireland economy and has the potential to become even more globally recognised. Northern Ireland is blessed with fantastic natural resources and has talented people and businesses who are adding enormous value through innovation and an intimate understanding of their markets, he pointed out.

With the global population rising and developing countries becoming wealthier, demand for what Northern Irelands food and drink sector produces will only grow. It may not feel like it to everyone now, but the current challenges will also pass and the industry is well placed to capitalise. Collaboration within the sector as well as with government and banks like ourselves is one of the critical components of future success, so that challenges in the food chain can be overcome, export opportunities can be maximised, and the industry can be promoted to its full potential. Thats why I am delighted to see the Year of Food and Drink initiative this year, and I would encourage everyone in Northern Ireland to get behind it.

We are almost half way through the Year of Food and Drink so there are six months left to maximise the opportunity to really build a global identity for Northern Ireland food and drink and help drive growth for many years to come, he adds.

Addressing the audience, Neal Kelly, Director of Fresh Foods at Henderson Group, took the opportunity to give an insight into the Henderson business and the strategies they have implemented to create success. Members of the local agri-food sector are operating in an increasingly challenging arena and barriers to business seem to be intensifying. In order to be successful, we at Hendersons forced ourselves not to fear change and found that being adaptive and moving with our market has led to significant growth across all aspects of our business. I would strongly encourage everyone here today to avoid stagnation by placing more focus on innovation and have the courage to take risks in order to allow your business the freedom to flourish.

Whats more, we have found that our dedication to local produce has had real resonance with our customers, who are paying closer attention than ever to the food that goes on their plates. We work daily with the top supply companies in Northern Ireland and are proud to have these ranges on our shelves. Seeing first-hand the excellent practices and products they deliver gives me great confidence about the overall health of our local food industry and assurance that it will continue to thrive for many years to come.

Ulster Bank is the principal sponsor of the Balmoral Show. It has been involved in the Show for many years, and became the first ever principal sponsor in 2009. Further information about Ulster Bank is available at www.ulsterbank.co.uk
Diplomatic fallout from Bangladeshs execution of the chief of the countrys largest faith-based party grew Thursday when Turkey summoned home its ambassador to Dhaka after condemning the hanging.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has asked Turkeys ambassador to Bangladesh to report to Ankara for consultations in the aftermath of hanging of a senior Jamaat-e-Islami party leader in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, Turkeys state-run Anatolia News Agency reported Thursday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Meanwhile, a diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan escalated over Wednesdays hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes allegedly committed during the Bangladeshi war of independence in 1971, when the country was known as East Pakistan.

On Thursday Turkish ambassador Devrim Ozturk boarded a homeward flight, a day after Turkeys foreign ministry issued a statement condemning the execution of Nizami, the chief of the opposition Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) party, Bangladeshi officials said.

The Turkish ambassador left Dhaka at 6:20 a.m. Thursday on a Turkish airlines flight, Kazi Imtiaz Mashroor, the officer-in-charge of immigration at the Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, told BenarNews.

However, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters that the Turkish government had not officially informed Dhaka about a recall of its ambassador.

He [Ozturk] has informed us that he would be out of the country from May 12. And he also informed us who would be serving as ambassador in his absence, Alam said, without naming who would assume that role.

The statement from the Turkish foreign ministry pointed out that Turkey had abolished capital punishment.

We strongly condemn the execution, since we do not believe that Nizami deserved such a punishment and wish Gods mercy upon the deceased, the statement said.

For the protection of social harmony and peace in Bangladesh, we have in the last three years repeatedly called upon the leaders of Bangladesh at the highest level to suspend the execution of death sentences and conveyed our concerns that the practice of capital punishment may cause new tension in the society due to its unjust nature, the ministry added.

Elsewhere, Pakistan on Thursday summoned Bangladeshs acting high commissioner in Islamabad, Nazmul Huda, to deliver a strong protest letter. Hours later, Bangladesh summoned Pakistans envoy to Dhaka, Shuja Alam, and delivered its own protest letter.

The attempts by the government of Bangladesh to malign Pakistan, despite our keen desire to develop brotherly relations with it, are regrettable, Pakistans foreign ministry said a statement.

On Wednesday, the Pakistani parliament adopted a resolution denouncing Nizamis execution.

Very tough

Former Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury described Ankaras apparent decision to recall its ambassador as an act of protest over Nizamis execution as extreme.

Pakistan has not recalled its ambassador, but Turkey has. So, the events show that they are very tough on this issue, he told BenarNews.

He said Turkey also reacted angrily when Bangladesh executed its first convicted war criminal in December 2013.

The current President [then Prime Minister] Recep Tayyip Erdogan telephoned our prime minister and expressed his frustration about the execution of Abdul Kader Molla, Chowdhury said.

The United States, where the death penalty is enforced, was among countries and organizations voicing concern about whether Nizami and other convicted war criminals like him had received a fair trial by the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), the Bangladeshi court that has been trying and sentencing to death suspected war criminals from 1971.

Hours before Nizamis execution, the U.S. State Department on Tuesday called for improving the judicial process in Bangladesh while expressing misgivings about executions there.

While we have seen limited progress in some cases, we still believe that further improvements to the ICT process could ensure these proceedings meet domestic and international obligations. Until these obligations can be consistently met, we have concerns about proceeding with executions, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.

Again, we support bringing to justice those who committed crimes during the war of independence, but we also have remaining concerns about proceeding with executions under these conditions which we will raise with the Government of Bangladesh.

War crimes

JeI opposed the war of independence in 1971. The party sided with the Pakistan army even as civilians, including minority Hindus, were killed.

Bangladesh claims that 3 million people, including 300,000 women, were killed between March and December 1971, a figure rejected by Pakistan.

JeI formed armed auxiliary units to stop efforts for Bangladeshi independence. Nizami was the head of one such armed group, al-Badr that was held responsible for the extermination of leading Bengali intellectuals on Dec. 14, 1971  two days before the Pakistani army surrendered in Dhaka.

Nizami was hanged in Dhaka for the killings of intellectuals and genocide in his hometown Pabna. The JeI student front, Islami Chhatra Shibir, on Wednesday clashed with police in the cities of Chittagong and Rajshahi over holding of a gayebana janaza (funeral prayer in absentia).

JeI called for a countrywide general strike on Thursday, which passed without incident, according to authorities.
Kho Jabing of Sarawak, Malaysia is to be executed on May 20 after a judicial panel at the Singapore Supreme Court (shown here) upheld his conviction, March 29, 2015.

The government of the eastern Malaysian state of Sarawak has exhausted efforts to save a local man from being executed by Singapore next week for a murder conviction, the chief minister told BenarNews on Friday.

The execution date for Kho Jabing, 32, has been set for May 20 but Sarawak officials were unable to persuade Singaporean authorities to grant the man from Ulu Baram clemency for killing a construction worker in the city-state eight years ago, Chief Minister Adenan Satem said.

We have sent representatives to secure leniency and even written to the Singaporean authorities, but we have failed to change their verdict, he told Benar.

Khos family received a letter from the Singapore Prison Service on Thursday saying that his execution was scheduled to take place next Friday.

I cant believe that they are going to hang my brother on my birthday, Khos younger sister, 27-year-old Jumai, told BenarNews.

In 2010, the Singapore High Court in found Kho guilty of using a tree branch to kill the construction worker, Cao Ruyin, during a robbery attempt in 2008.

Since then, Khos family pleaded with the Sarawak government to appeal to the Singaporean authorities to change the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Jumai and her mother are expected to leave for Singapore on Saturday, hoping they can persuade the Singapore government to change Jabings death sentence.

I am still hoping that some miracle would come to our family. All we ask for is a life sentence so that we could at least meet him every now and then. I just dont want to bring my brother home in a coffin, Jumai said.

Kho had been scheduled to be executed on Nov. 6, 2015, but received a stay after his lawyer filed a motion challenging the verdict. On April 5, the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence and lifted the stay of execution.

In August 2013, following revisions to Singapores mandatory death penalty laws, a court sentenced him to life and 24 strokes of the cane instead. However, the prosecution challenged the decision and the top court changed the sentence to death.
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UAE-based satellite operator, Yahsat, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tele10 Group, the regional broadcast and internet service provider, to discuss collaborations for improving internet connectivity in Rwanda, Burundi and East Democratic Republic of the Congo. The MoU comes ahead of Yahsat taking delivery of its third satellite, Al Yah 3.

Image by 123RF

The launch of Yahsats upcoming satellite will see the roll out of YahClick, the companys cost-effective satellite broadband service, to 19 new markets in Africa during the first half of 2017. YahClick, delivered through a modem and small satellite dish, is currently the number one satellite broadband service in Africa, providing subscribers access to uninterrupted, high-speed internet anywhere in the coverage area with in-country technical, operational, and customer care services.

As Yahsat works towards expanding its coverage area across the African continent, the company is in talks with local service providers to reinforce the presence of YahClick and strengthen its customer care.

Commenting on the MoU, David Murphy, Yahsats chief commercial officer, said, Our cutting edge satellite technology connects individuals and businesses across Africa, regardless of the level of telecommunications infrastructure present in each country. At Yahsat, we are dedicated to serving underserved and remote areas by providing better connectivity to new and existing internet users.

To further our commitment to the region, we have entered a MoU with Tele10 to discuss the provision of high-speed connectivity to three of Africas fast-emerging markets, Rwanda, Burundi and East Democratic Republic of the Congo. We look forward to working together and providing unparalleled broadband services to our customers across our expanding footprint.

Tele10 has been serving the East African region for 20 years, by providing diverse solutions including pay-TV, radio broadcasting, and ICT services. In 2017, the company will grow its portfolio to offer the YahClick broadband products, services and value-added solutions to its existing customer base as well as new customers. New markets will be served using the latest Ka-band technology, which is highly reliable in all weather conditions.

Murphy concluded: Today, internet plays a crucial role in socio-economic development as it facilitates education, trade, commerce, and agricultural activities. By providing the YahClick service to growing economies, we ensure the delivery of unmatched connectivity to support knowledge transfer and consequently, regional development.
Mortimer Harvey has announced their acquisition of Action Ambro's, one of the industry's most-awarded and reputable direct marketing agencies.

Andrew Fradd, Group Managing Director of Mortimer Harvey, says the acquisition underscores the agencys continued focus on building leading, innovative OmniChannel solutions and will further enhance its established direct marketing and CRM offerings.

Led by the vast expertise of industry stalwart, Andrew Ambrogioni, Action Ambros has been in the driving seat of multiple award-winning campaigns for some of South Africas leading brands over the last 11 years.

According to Fradd, the action lies in the delivery of exceptional creative underpinned by robust direct and CRM strategies. We are delighted to have this leading team on board. Ambrogioni will take up the reigns as Executive Creative Director: Direct and CRM in the Mortimer Harvey team, bringing his characteristic out-of-the-box creative solutions.

The two agencies have long shared a passion for data-driven insights and campaigns that deliver real, measurable results for their clients. More importantly, both agencies were built on a great respect for both client- and people-centricity and this meeting of minds and cultures makes for a dynamic road ahead, says Fradd.

About Mortimer Harvey

Mortimer Harvey is an independent, OmniChannel, results-driven consulting, marketing and integrated communications company that delivers hard-working strategy, business, advertising and marketing solutions. Their regional offices in Johannesburg, South Africa and Cairo, Egypt are well placed to help their clients achieve the widest possible reach.

The company delivers true OmniChannel solutions and a full go-to-market service to clients through their team of in-house industry specialists in all fields.

Mortimer Harvey Advertising and communications, including above-the-line, below-the-line, promotions, shopper and retail marketing, digital, CRM and direct marketing. MH Africa Middle East OmniChannel services, plus go-to-market strategy development informed by data-driven insights operating across Africa and the Middle East. MH Digital Content development and implementation for online, social, mobile, app and digital platforms. MH Public Relations Public relations and media management. Boom.Studio A new record label that challenges traditional music marketing. Gravitate Multi Video Programming and content generation. Kulcha.Click Influential tastemakers creating authentic brand experiences at the intersection of culture and content. Loyal Solutions A state-of-the-art, Cloud-based loyalty programme management platform with real-time benefits. Stream.Digital Live and on-demand video streaming and content distribution. LM&P Brand promotions, events and experiential marketing.

For further details, visit mortimerharvey.com

For further information please contact:

Jacques Verster at Mortimer Harvey

Tel: +27 (0)11 996 2833

Cell: +27 (0)83 276 9009

Email: moc.yevrahremitrom@seuqcaj




Entries to the POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) South Africa 2016 Awards are open for entries until Thursday 30 June, with an extended deadline and final cut-off for all entries of Friday 29 July 2016.

The POPAI SA Marketing-at-Retail Awards recognise and reward excellence in point-of-purchase advertising displays and in-store activations. Design and insights agencies, P-O-P manufacturers, retail design experts, category managers, trade marketers, shopper technology specialists as well as brand manufacturers and retailers from all over South Africa are invited to enter and display their in-store work.

The pinnacle of the awards is winning of the Display-of-the-Year Awards - for the best temporary and permanent entries across all categories as well as Display-of-the-Year in the campaign category.

New award category

An addition to this years awards is the introduction of the Insights to Action category. This is aimed at brand and category management teams, within manufacturers, retailers and agencies, that can demonstrate how the use of insights led to a change in a fixture or at the point-of-purchase that has resulted in a positive impact not only to the shopper experience, but that also shows a tangible change/difference in retail sales.

The 2016 POPAI SA Awards will offer 26 categories catering to the retail marketing for work produced and placed between 1 August 2015 and 30 July 2016, said Dee Berry, business manager of POPAI SA.

International benchmark

Our awards present a unique opportunity for trade and category professionals to win accolade among their peers in the local industry. Winning a Gold award allows South African winners the added opportunity to compete and be judged against Gold winners from other POPAI chapters across the globe at the 2017 POPAI Global Awards.

We are proud to have had two of our winners, POD Communications and Kansai Plascon top their categories at the Globals in 2015 and equally proud to celebrate Fishwicks Printers Global win at the 2016 POPAI Global Awards in Las Vegas last month.

This years winners will be celebrated at a gala event in November 2016.

For more information, go to http://awards.popai.co.za.
NEW YORK - US retail giant Wal-Mart is suing Visa to give customers using chip-enabled debit cards in its US stores the right to punch in a PIN code.

Wal-Mart Stores said Visa's opposition to allowing PIN use in the chip cards, which immediately debit the amount from the linked bank account, creates an unacceptable risk to customers' bank accounts.

Currently, customers sign a receipt for their debit-card transaction, as they do with magnetic-stripe cards that are swiped.

Wal-Mart filed its complaint against Visa in a New York state court Tuesday, according to court documents reviewed by AFP.

In its complaint, Wal-Mart said Visa refuses to allow the use of PIN codes and imposes a signature as verification on debit as well as credit cards, which involve a delayed transaction.

"We believe Visa's position creates unacceptable risk to customers and its actions and rules are inconsistent with federal law," the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday to AFP.

It noted that debit cards are the most-used form of payment in its thousands of stores.

"PIN is the only truly secure form of cardholder verification in the marketplace today, and it offers superior security to our customers," said the company, which has sought PIN use from Visa for several months.

"This suit is about protecting our customers' bank accounts when they use their debit cards," the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said.

In the United States, card-transaction terminals recently have begun to accept pin-and-chip cards, which have been used for years in Europe and elsewhere. The switch to the chip-enabled cards was accelerated by massive data thefts from the bank accounts of millions of customers in retailers, such as Target.

"Visa has acknowledged in many other countries that chip and PIN offer greater security," Wal-Mart said.

"Visa nevertheless has demanded that we allow fraud-prone signature verification for debit transactions in our US stores because Visa stands to make more money processing those transactions."

Source: AFP
I'll be the first to admit that my online analytics skills are sub-par - mention anything data-related and my brain switches to safe mode. Eva Hieninger's session at #FRO16, however, kept me, and I imagine many others, engaged. Hieninger, owner of Marketing for Good (Germany), provided a brief but very lucid lesson in online tracking and web analysis during the virtual digital fundraising conference.

Eva Hieninger, owner of Marketing for Good (Germany)

Keeping it simple, Hieninger clarified why its important, what it is, and lastly, how it works.

Imagine if you could evaluate your online marketing assets so that you can make better choices in terms of where you spend your money and how much, and improve your return on investment. This is exactly what your basic tracking system allows you to do, she explained.

You have a really high advantage in comparison to classic advertising, such as posters in the streets or an ad in a magazine, because you don't really know if a person sees it and goes to your website and donates or goes and writes you a cheque. But with online marketing, you can track everything, she said.

Tools available

There are a number of online tools  some free, some a bit more complicated than others  that allow you to track a users behaviour on your website, including any actions he/she may take. Here is a list of tools Hieninger recommended: Google Analytics, etracker, Piwik, Open Web Analytics, and Clicky.

How does it work? There are three methods, explained Hieninger: conversion tracking, e-commerce tracking, and campaign tracking.

Conversion tracking tracks anything a user does on your website e.g. signing up for a newsletter or reading an article.

With conversion tracking you can track how your donations perform, but you can also track how much your users are engaged with your website. To do conversion tracking, you need to implement a conversion pixel. For example, when you want to track when a user converts from a user to a donor, you need to implement a conversion pixel on your thank you for donation page, explained Hieninger. She recommended using Google Tag Manager to implement the conversion pixels.

Using conversion tracking, you can ascertain how many users came through which channels, how many converted to donors and why. Using this data, you can decide which channels to invest more in.

When several users go to the last page but they don't finish the donation, you can then formulate hypotheses on why these people don't actually go to the last step, she explained. The next step is to optimise your landing pages, testing out all these different hypotheses.

Measure your campaign success

E-commerce tracking allows you to see how much someone has donated, as well how your different fundraising products perform. Its actually very similar to campaign tracking which allows you to measure the success of your online campaigns. The technical bit is that you, for example, have to attach a parameter to the URLs of your ad campaigns. This allows you to track which source, medium, campaign, and which ad content is responsible for how much money or for how many conversions on your website. Hieninger recommended using Googles URL builder for this.

Summing up her session, she reiterated the importance of online tracking and web analysis: Web analysis and tracking help you to get to know your user better and his behaviour. It also helps you to evaluate your marketing channels, your creative, and your landing pages, and you can optimise accordingly to the knowledge you gain through web analysis and tracking. You can save a lot of money, a lot of time and you can improve your return on investment.
There is nothing more frustrating for an insurer than having a suspicion of insurance fraud, but not having sufficient evidence to prove it.

The facts of the case of Renasa Insurance Company Limited v Watson reads like the perfect insurance fraud set up. Only the courts didnt think so. Watson, the insured, discovers the arson plot and reports it to the police in a curious curtain-raiser hours before his factory is set alight by an unknown person.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently heard the appeal of Renasa and confirmed that the insurer had failed to discharge their onus of proving that insured was the arsonist or that the insured is precluded from claiming losses due to his failure to take reasonable steps and precautions to prevent the loss.

The facts of the case

A fire erupted during the morning of 10 January 2011 in an industrial premises in Elsies River, Cape Town. The property was owned by Flashcor 201 CC which let the premises to CB Watson. Watson conducted a business from the premises as a sole proprietor.

Renasa had insured both Watson and Flashcor under a written short-term insurance policy. Watson was insured against the loss or damage of plant, machinery and stock suffered as a consequence of fire for R17, 5m. Flashcor was insured against the loss or damage to the buildings on the premises as a consequence of fire for an agreed insured sum of R640,000.

Elementary, my dear Watson

Did Watson create an ingenious alibi?

He gave evidence that on the same morning of the fire he had arrived at the premises at 6.19am and found that the main door unlocked and the CCTV system and burglar alarm disabled.

He was met with the smell of petrol and a carefully constructed arson scene with a number of plastic drums filled with petrol strategically suspended from the cable trays above the printing and other machines in the factory area.

Watson alerted the Elsies River police, who arrived within a few minutes and they found no one else on the premises and no evidence of forced entry. His GPS supported this evidence.

Watson was requested to follow the police to the police station to open a criminal case docket. He locked the door and security gate and no steps were taken to secure the scene, nor to cordon off the premises or the building and apparently and no attempt was made to notify the fire brigade or any other emergency services of the potential fire threat.

Evidence was lead that Watson was told by the police not to attend the scene in order to preserve forensic evidence.

Two hours later that same morning a neighbour discovered smoke from the premises and summoned the fire brigade who arrived in minutes. There were multiple fire starting points.

It was common cause from the evidence led that the fire was caused by arson and that access had been gained to the premises by a person who had a key to the premises.

After investigation of the arson, Renasa repudiated the claim relying on two provisions of the insurance contract:

Fraud: "If any claim under this policy is in any respect fraudulent or if any fraudulent means devices are used by the insured or anyone acting on their behalf or with their knowledge consent to obtain any benefit under this policy or if any event is occasioned by the wilful act or with the connivance of the insured, the benefit afforded under this policy in respect of any such claims shall be forfeited.

"If any claim under this policy is in any respect fraudulent or if any fraudulent means devices are used by the insured or anyone acting on their behalf or with their knowledge consent to obtain any benefit under this policy or if any event is occasioned by the wilful act or with the connivance of the insured, the benefit afforded under this policy in respect of any such claims shall be forfeited. Prevention of loss: The insured shall take all reasonable steps and precautions to prevent accidents or losses.

Elaborately constructed alibi?

In proving its case of fraud, Renasa struggled to explain why Watson would have called the police to the scene and they were not successful in showing that his conduct was part of an elaborately constructed alibi.

The courts view

The court held that one would ordinarily expect the police, when summoned to such a scene, to take the necessary steps to manage the scene and prevent the flammable liquid from being ignited.

Watsons phone call to the police would therefore effectively have thwarted his carefully planned operation to burn the factory down. Such an elaborate gamble did not make sense in the circumstances to the courts.

The courts also found that a reasonable person in the position of Watson would not have foreseen, as a reasonable possibility, that an unknown arsonist would have attempted to manually ignite the fire after he left the premises.

Insurance fraud affects the consumer

Committing arson to make a false insurance claim is not uncommon. Some common motives are:

The business is in trouble and cant meet its financial obligations or is carrying a high inventory of obsolete goods



The property is difficult to sell and or the owner wants to relocate



Marital problems

The insurance industry passes on increased losses from insurance fraud to policyholders, which results in higher premiums. The industry has a vested interest in curbing arson claims in order to maintain competitively low premiums.

In addition, insurers must not be seen to be rewarding crime. It is in both the industrys and consumers interest that all suspected arson cases be investigated thoroughly by the insurance company. Where a case of suspected arson is found, the insurer should deny the claim on the basis of fraud.
Wits student Vedhant Maharaj took first prize at the Corobrik Architectural Awards in Johannesburg held on Wednesday, 11 May.

Vedhant Maharaj

Vedhant Maharajs winning dissertation, entitled Yantra, Infrastructure of the Sacred and Profane, exhibited critical elements that had been picked out by the judges  innovation and technical excellence expressed with a keen understanding of the combined social, economic and environmental context that is changing the approach to the built environment today.

Innovation differentiates design resolutions and helps define architecture. Innovation in sync with context provides the delight factor permitting architectural design to compete comfortably on the world stage. Technical skill, the ability to create memorable form that draws one in while treading softly on our planet put the finishing touches to sustainable architecture, said Corobrik managing director, Dirk Meyer.

He admitted that it had been a challenge to separate a winner from the eight regional finalists from the countrys major universities this year. These finalists won their respective regional awards during 2015 and went forward to compete for the national award.

Meyer said that all eight entries showed how innovation could blend with sustainability, social awareness and technical excellence. However, Maharajs offering illustrated how creativity could make an exceptional and meaningful contribution to South Africas diverse and multi-cultural landscape.

Rich architectural heritage of Varanasi

Responding to the announcement that Vedhant Maharaj had been presented with this years Corobrik Architectural Award, Dr. Mpho Matsipa, Maharajs co-supervisor said that, Yantra, explored water infrastructure provided water that was safe for human consumption while respecting the rich architectural heritage of Varanasi. In so doing, he demonstrated both a nuanced and layered understanding of sustainability, technological and social innovation which encompasses daily spatial practices on the Ganges River, larger scale developmental processes in India, heritage in the built environment and everyday spatial practices as well as the complexities of religious plurality in India. Additionally, this thesis is rigorously researched, using both primary and secondary sources, with confidence and creativity.

She said that Maharajs attention to questions of access for majority populations was both poetic and attentive to questions of social and spatial justice.

The mastering of change of scale is exceptionally convincing: Yantra works as political argument down to the design of bricks in 1:1. He uses the language of tectonics as a tool to make the city into a space for a society of the collective, a rare yet highly needed ambition within our profession, added co-supervisor, Kirsten Doermann.

Dr Matsipa concluded: I believe that Vedhant demonstrates a lot of passion for thinking about the spatial, technological and ambient possibilities of infrastructure as culturally informed architecture. I would advise him to continue working and thinking across different scales and locations. I believe that he could become a leader in the field - specifically in terms of thinking about water architecture from the Global South.
Employers should ensure that they act in accordance with workplace equity policies and plans that comply with employment equity legislation.

The employee in Solidarity obo Pretorius v City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (Solidarity) was a white male who had been shortlisted for a particular position by his employer. The Acting Executive Director: Human Resource Management approved the shortlist but made his approval subject to the following condition: only candidates from a designated group should be shortlisted and interviewed. The position was re-advertised and the employee was not shortlisted a second time.

The employee claimed that the employer had unfairly discriminated against him on the grounds of his race and gender. The employer justified the HR Directors conduct with reference to its staffing policy. The employer could not rely on an Employment Equity Plan (EE Plan) to justify its conduct because its EE Plan had expired and a new EE Plan had not yet been implemented.

The employer conceded in its evidence that it had discriminated against the employee. The consequence of this was that the onus was on the employer to prove that the discrimination was fair.

Discrimination is permitted if it is done in accordance with an affirmative action measure, as defined in s15 of the Employment Equity Act, No 55 of 1998 (EEA). Therefore, the Labour Court had to decide whether the employers staffing policy qualified as an affirmative action measure. If so, the employers discrimination against the employee would be fair and the court would have to decide whether the staffing policy was applied fairly.

The court noted that the HR Director made the condition based on workplace profile statistics reflected in a table on the form submitted to him for approval. The numbers on the form gave the HR Director the impression that too many white males were shortlisted. The HR Director conceded in his evidence that he did not consider any numerical targets with which he could have compared the white male representation, nor did he consider whether the broader representativity was relevant to the shortlisting of candidates for the [particular] position in [the] specific department.

The Labour Court held that an affirmative action measure must be capable of measurement and being monitored. Equality, according to the court, presupposes a measurable result. The court held that the staffing policy did not comply with the EEA because it does not provide for numerical goals, set in accordance with the economically active population. Furthermore, the court held that the staffing policy is inflexible in that it does not allow for exceptions or deviations in certain circumstances. In light of this, the staffing policy did not comply with the EEA.

The Labour Court found that the employer had unfairly discriminated against the employee. The court noted that the employer did not lead evidence to show that the appointment of the employee in the position he was initially shortlisted for would not adversely affect the goals, targets and objectives of the employers new EE Plan, (which had been implemented subsequent to the recruitment process wherein the employee took part). Thus, the court ordered the employer to appoint the employee in the position he was shortlisted for.
There have been several cases on the fairness of disciplinary action taken against employees for engaging in misconduct on social media platforms, with the popular defence being raised of the right to privacy, provided by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

This is a relevant factor as generally, allegations of misconduct on social media arise from information obtained from an individuals personal social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter.

The Constitutional Court, in the case of Gaertner & Others v Minister of Finance & Others 2014, found this to be a clear and simple issue, when it stated, Privacy, like other rights, is not absolute. As a person moves into communal relations and activities such as business and social interaction, the scope of personal space shrinks.

Evidence of lack of fiduciary duty

The High Court in the case Harvey v Niland and Others (unreported) followed this principle. The High Court was required to deal with the issue of whether Facebook communication, obtained by hacking the former employees Facebook account without his knowledge, was admissible as evidence against him. The former employee remained a member of the Close Corporation of the employer and therefore continued to owe a fiduciary duty to the Close Corporation, despite his resignation from employment.

Niland had tendered his resignation as an employee of Huntershill but remained in his capacity as a member of the Close Corporation, when he took up employment with Thaba Thala, a competing safari tour company. Niland then shared posts on his Facebook account to the effect of advising several clients of Huntershill that he had moved onto bigger thinking and would be operating close by.

The remaining member of Huntershill, Harvey, obtained the password for Nilands Facebook account and accessed the posts that Niland made, in reference to his new employment. These posts were printed and submitted as part of the application to the High Court to interdict Niland from continuing his activities, which caused financial harm and reputational damage to Huntershill.

Furthermore, the High Court was requested to order that Niland was still obliged to act in the best interests of Huntershill and to comply with his fiduciary duties, as he remained a member of the Close Corporation.

Niland objected to the use of his Facebook posts and argued that such evidence was inadmissible as it was unlawfully obtained and violated his fundamental right to privacy as enshrined in s14 of the Constitution.

Courts decision

Plasket J found that s86(1) of the Electronic Communications Act was silent on admissibility of evidence obtained in contravention of the provision, and that in the circumstances, the High Court would have the discretion to decide whether to allow the evidence. In exercising its discretion, the High Court considered various factors, such as the reasons why the evidence was unlawfully obtained, the nature of the evidence and availability of lawful means, as well as the extent to which the right to privacy has been violated.

The High Court noted that while the information was obtained unlawfully in violation of the right to privacy, the right to privacy is not absolute. This does not mean that people lose their right to privacy but the right is weakened depending on the manner in which an individual has carried themselves out in the circumstances.

The High Court held that there were no other practical and lawful means available for obtaining access to the Facebook communication and, without such information, Huntershill would have no platform to enforce its rights against Niland. In addition, Niland had denied his conduct on several occasions and therefore he could not be allowed to hide behind the expectation of a right to privacy.

These cases are important as it illustrates that the right to privacy is not absolute and employers may be entitled to use information, which cannot be obtained in any other manner, in order to protect its interests and reputation. Employers must however be careful in the manner of obtaining information as the admissibility of unlawfully obtained information is subject to the discretion of the court and in certain circumstances can amount to a violation of the right to privacy.
WASHINGTON, USA: Sextortion - using nude photos of someone to press for even racier content or other goods - is surprisingly common, a US think tank says in what it calls the first in-depth study of another danger lurking in cyberspace.

Most victims are minors, the predators are almost always men who prey on multiple targets, and almost all adult victims are women, it said. Most victims choose to stay anonymous, out of shame.

And while US law enforcement officials acknowledge the problem, no agency or advocacy group keeps data on it, said the Brookings Institution, which published the study on Wednesday, 11 May 2016.

Even the term 'sextortion' is not a real word, but rather slang that prosecutors use to refer to an offense that does not fit neatly into a single category.

Depending on where you are in America, it can be prosecuted as child pornography, stalking, extortion or hacking. But sextortion as a crime per se does not exist, the think tank said.

"Legally speaking, there's no such thing," the report states.

Sextortion can entail a hack into someone's computer to rob a sexy picture or video or take over a webcam, then the use of this content to extort victims for even more.

It is even more common for perpetrators to resort to social media to elicit a photograph from a victim, than use it to demand more. The Brookings Institution said it studied 78 cases from recent years that met its definition of sextortion and many others that contained elements of it.

Those 78 were prosecuted in 29 states and territories of the United States and three foreign jurisdictions.

"For the first time in the history of the world, the global connectivity of the Internet means that you don't have to be in the same country as someone to sexually menace that person," the study states.

Those cases involve at least 1,379 victims. But for a variety of reasons - such as prosecutors not seeking out all victims of a given predator - the true number of victims from those 78 cases could actually range from 3,000 to 6,500 or even more, the study said.

An accompanying report from the same think tank detailed how sentencing of people convicted in sextortion cases varies wildly because some are tried in federal court and some in state court.

One man accused of victimizing at least 22 young boys and tried in a state court got a prison sentence of a year. But another alleged to have had one victim faced trial in federal court and got 12 years, the study found.

The key to ending the disparity, it added, is for Congress to pass a federal sextortion law incorporating elements present in federal sexual abuse, extortion, child pornography, and abusive sexual contact statutes.

The first report on the offense itself also provided harrowing details of actual sextortion cases. One involved a woman who opened an email from an unknown sender and found sexually explicit photos of herself, data about her job, husband and three kids, and a demand for a porno video of her.

"And if she did not send it within one day, he threatened to publish the images already in his possession, and 'let (her) family know about [her] dark side,'" the study said.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
Investing in property is much like running any other business, in that it requires research, conscientiousness and an acute attention to detail. As with owning a business, a property investor needs to capitalise on opportunities in the market and more importantly minimise their potential for making costly mistakes. There are certain mistakes that property investors could make that would be more detrimental than others, so it is important to understand what they are and how to stay clear.

When it comes to property investment it is far better to learn from others mistakes, then make them yourself. An incorrect investment decision could potentially be devastating, affecting the investors financial well-being both now and in the future. Those who are new to the real estate investment landscape should learn from savvy, seasoned investors and avoid possibly dangerous business mistakes.

A few mistakes that property investors should watch out for:

Not seeing people as an asset

While property is the commodity that real estate investors use as a means to supplement their income, it is certainly not the only asset that investors have in their arsenal. There are few things that are worth more than the people the property investor chooses to work with. While an investor may buy and sell many different properties over the span of their real estate investment career, the best investors will have the foresight to understand that their network and relationships with the right people can net them more profits than any one property deal.

Property investment is not just about bricks and mortar, it is a people business. It is important not to focus only on the bottom line and neglect the people that made the deal possible. Building and nurturing the right relationships is one of the key elements to real estate investment success. A good rapport with people can propel any business to the next level. It is vital to work with property professionals who are reputable, experienced and well-connected.

No plan B

There are several aspects that need to come together to ensure a successful real estate investment. An experienced investor will be aware of this and have a system in place to ensure that as little as possible is left to chance. However, even with what would seem like a fool-proof-plan, there could always be unexpected elements that will be need to be accounted for. In reality not all plans will go as expected. In fact, it is important that investors have a backup plan to cover themselves in the eventuality that their original plan fails. It is never good to assume that all will fall into place without complications. Those who have more than one plan to rely on will have a higher inclination towards success. Never be content with having everything riding on one method or system.

Growing the portfolio too quickly

Every profitable property that an investor owns will add to their bottom line and increase their ability to expand their portfolio. However it is important know when to expand and when to hold back and maintain.

While expansion is good, growing too quickly can run the investor at the risk of expanding beyond their means. This will essentially set the investor back, rather than propelling them forward. A property investor should continuously be aware of the market and take cautious steps when looking at expanding their portfolio. An interest hike for example, has financial implications on a homeowner who owns a primary residence, how much greater will the impact be on an investor with several properties in their stable? It is vital that investors understand their capacity for growth as well as their limitations.

Growing and managing a successful investment portfolio requires merging the right plans, the right people and latest the technology. Investors need to work with people who can contribute to their growth, implement plans that can repeat successful results and utilise technology that will maximise their efficiency.
Community-driven hospitality company Airbnb offers travellers unique experiences around the world while simultaneously providing people with a way to monetize their extra space. Airbnb is growing in popularity in SA with thousands of homes listed across the country. Airbnb recently rolled out with an updated app to encourage travellers to live like the locals. We spoke to Nicola D'Elia, general manager - Middle East and Africa at Airbnb to find out more about the South African Airbnb market.

Nicola D'Elia

What makes the South African market ideal for Airbnb offerings?

Nicola D'Elia: I am in love with South Africa because of its natural beauty, the incredibly hospitable people and the lifestyle that really has something to offer to everyone. And thats the experience our hosts can provide to guests. They can show visitors to South Africa, the hidden spots in neighbourhoods that they might not get to see if they travel in a more traditional way. Personal hospitality has a long history in South Africa and the Bed & Breakfasts are world renowned  Airbnb is the digital version of that, safe, easy and convenient and with a network of more than 20,000 homes to choose from in South Africa alone.

Airbnb officially launched in SA in July last year? How has the Airbnb market in South Africa grown since then?

D'Elia: Airbnb has been available in South Africa right from the start when the three founders offered their airbeds for rent in 2008. I am not sure when the first South Africans travelled the world staying in an Airbnb or when the first South African host opened their homes to guests  but awareness was most likely rather low for a time. That has changed luckily and growth is very dynamic by now. The number of homes being shared in South Africa has almost tripled in the last year alone. Also, more and more South Africans choose to stay in an Airbnb when they travel  this number has grown by almost 350% in the last year.

Any notable trends that stand out for SA Airbnb offerings?

D'Elia: While most of our Airbnb listings are in Cape Town which is a very sought after destination especially during the summer months, I am very excited about the growth in cities like Johannesburg and Durban. The number of guests staying in an Airbnb when they travel to Durban has grown by more than 500%, for example. As Airbnb strengthens its offerings in the business travel segment less touristy destinations experience a surge in bookings.

What are the greatest benefits Airbnb has to offer for clients/customers?

D'Elia: Airbnb is good for the hosts and good for the guests. Hosts are able to make an extra income while doing something they love  showcasing their home, their hometown, meeting strangers that can turn into friends. And guests get to experience a city like a local, they benefit from their hosts tips and insider knowledge, all the while staying in a place that most likely has more style, space, and character than other accommodation options.

For whom is participation on the Airbnb platform ideal?

D'Elia: With more than two million homes in more than 34,000 cities in more than 190 cities, it is no overstatement to say that Airbnb really has something to offer for everyone  from luxury penthouses in cities like Cape Town, London and New York to more affordable options. We offer large properties that are perfectly suited for families or groups of friends traveling together as well as romantic treehouses perfect for a couple on honeymoon. The beauty of Airbnb is that it makes travel unique and fun and offers great value for money.

How would you encourage people to utilize Airbnb for their under-utilized spaces?

D'Elia: I want to encourage people to just give Airbnb a try  hosting is something that needs to be experienced really. We hear from a lot of our hosts that they started having guests through Airbnb with a specific goal in mind, maybe they were saving money for a trip or for a special purchase. But even after they have reached that goal they continue hosting just because its a rewarding experience to showcase ones hometown, to make visitors feel welcome, to feel like traveling without leaving your own home. And the extra income from an underutilized space is also welcome to pay the bills or take a vacation.

The most interesting/favourite/unique Airbnb listing in SA according to you?

D'Elia: I personally would love to stay in this houseboat in Knysna - it looks peaceful and fun. The reviews are fantastic, the hosts seem to be very accommodating and it would be perfect to get away for a few days.

Which other African markets show growth and potential for Airbnb?

D'Elia: There are many places in Africa that show great potential and I am confident that we will see similar growth all over the region once awareness grows. So far Morocco is the second biggest market after South Africa, but many other places with amazing natural beauty would be perfect as Airbnb destinations.
A court order obtained urgently gave Comair temporary respite from the grounding of its flights as a dispute rages with the Air Services Licensing Council (ASLC). The interdict stopped the council from suspending kulula.com and British Airways domestic flights before a court hears the case next Tuesday.

Comair CEO Erik Venter

The licensing council was due to decide yesterday (11 May) on the suspension, saying it had found that Comair had exceeded the 25% limit for foreign shareholding of a domestic airline. However, Comair says it is compliant, and on Monday it applied in the High Court in Pretoria for an interdict to stop the council from suspending its operations until a court reviewed its case.

Comair's second interdict yesterday followed a meeting with the licensing council at the Department of Transport in Pretoria. It requested certainty from the council that it would not suspend the group's airlines before Tuesday's hearing. But the council said it could not guarantee that Comair would not be suspended and Comair approached the court.

Comair CEO Erik Venter said last night that it had resorted to "extra-ordinary measures" to ensure operational certainty. "We are pleased that this result will place the burden of decision into a court of law where Comair will be afforded a fair opportunity to make representation as to why we are confident in our compliance with the act," he said.

Venter said Comair wanted the interdict before the council had written its decision. He said the interdict was sought because the licensing council had not given certainty that it would not suspend the airline.

Department of Transport deputy director for licensing and permits Andries Ntjane said yesterday Comair had already been given 120 days to submit information on its shareholding but the council was not satisfied with the submissions. Comair asked for a further extension until yesterday. He said Comair had gone "off track" by approaching the courts instead of providing the necessary documentation to the council, which is an independent regulator. "You can't just rush to court before council has made a decision," said Ntjane.

Shareholders of the shareholders

Comair operates 411 flights on kulula.com and 400 regional and domestic flights on British Airways, and a suspension would mean all its domestic flights would be grounded.

Transport economist and aviation expert Joachim Vermooten said the licensing council should have looked at the shareholders of Comair as the holding company, as that is the entity that should be regulated.

Comair is 11.5%-owned by British Airways, according to its 2015 annual report. Its largest shareholder is Bidvest, which owns 27%, followed by Allan Gray with 12.9%. Vermooten said the council had instead focused on the shareholders of the shareholders. "They should just look at the airline shareholders of Comair as the regulated entity and not the shareholders of the shareholders." He said that it was necessary and understandable that the regulator would want oversight as the aviation industry had specific safety issues and accountability was important.

Last year, empowerment group Thelo, led by Ronnie Ntuli, sold its 6.1% stake in Comair to HNA Group, a Chinese multinational, for R160m. In 2013, Atul Gupta disposed of his shares in Comair, which were worth more than R68m.

Shareholder and management changes

The licensing council has also charged Comair with not communicating shareholder and management changes with the council for 17 years. The matter dates back to 2013, when low-cost carrier Flysafair, a new entrant in the market, brought the matter to the council's attention. Flysafair argued that Comair had breached the 25% limit for foreign shareholding but withdrew from the case last year.

Comair issued a SENS announcement only on Tuesday announcing that it had applied for an interdict against the council. Venter said Comair did not have to issue a SENS announcement to shareholders in previous years because it was public information contained in the company's annual report. But the JSE yesterday said it was looking into whether the company had complied with disclosure requirements.

"The JSE is aware of the matter and is currently assessing it and will be engaging the company in this regard," it said.

Source: Business Day
Good day fellow wine lovers. We've promised to keep you informed of the most interesting happenings in the local and international wine industry each week, and we've kept true to our word. Here are a few of the most exciting things that happened in the world of wine this week.

El Nino weather phenomenon affects 2016 SA harvest yield

The gist of it: It has been reported that South Africa's grape crop yield will, on average, be just shy of 7% smaller this year when compared to the 2015 harvest. Francois Viljoen, manager of VinPros viticulture consultation service, said: "Although the crop is smaller, the industry still managed to reach higher productions than initially expected following a season characterised by abnormal heat and water shortages."

South Africa, noted as the world's seventh-largest producer of wine, had the driest year recorded since 1904, but there is still cause for optimism. The smaller berries produced will lead to good colour and intense flavour in this years red wines, VinPro said. The white wines also appear surprisingly good, with great structure and good flavours.

Further afield the Burgundy region has suffered the worst frost conditions since 1981, which reduced their bud break by up to 80% in severe cases. This is the seventh bad vintage this region has suffered in a row. Read more here.

The morning after frost in Burgundy, April 2016. Credit: Frederic Billet / @fredericbillet1

Bonus factoid: Dryland farming, a non-irrigation agricultural approach that has been used by Swartland farmers for decades, is now gaining popularity in the US and further afield. Read more about this environmentally-friendly vineyard practice here.

Simonsig took three awards at the Top 100 Wines Competition

The gist of it: 2016 Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival exhibitor Simonsig took three awards for wines from its Malan Family Selection in this years Top 100 Wines Competition, including one wine adjudged Best in Class. Simonsig Frans Malan 2014 (a blend of Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, named after Simonsigs founder) topped the Cape Blend Class. Read more about the outcome of the National Wine Challenge incorporating Top 100 SA Wines here.

Bonus factoid: The late Frans Malan, beloved patriarch of the Malan Family and one of the pioneers of the South African wine industry, was not only a craftsman of superior wines, but also introduced groundbreaking innovations including co-founding the Stellenbosch Wine Route and producing South Africas first Methode Cap Classique, a bottle fermented sparkling wine made in the style of French champagne

SAWIS trilingual wine dictionary now available online

Have you ever been at a loss when reading press releases in Afrikaans or speaking to a Xhosa wine enthusiast? Weve got wonderful news  SAWIS has an incredibly useful trilingual online wine dictionary that allows you to type in wine-related search terms in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa and translate it to any of the other two languages. Best of all, this wonderful resource is completely free! Find it here.

New research reveals that yeast microbes play a big role in regional wine variation

The gist of it: It was previously accepted that wines produced from the same variety of grape by different vineyards draw their singular geographic signature only from environmental factors, such as local soil conditions, climate and agricultural practices. But now new research by the University of Lincoln, UK, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand, has revealed how sub-populations of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast microbe (the main microbe involved in the fermentation process) affects the flavour and aroma of a wine.

The researchers investigated six different populations of the yeast from six major wine growing regions in New Zealand. Using Sauvignon Blanc grapes, they found that concentrations of 39 different compounds derived from yeast during the fermentation process affect the flavour and aroma of wine; 29 of these compounds vary depending on which region the yeast originated from. Read more here.

This weeks Weekly Wine Wrap-up was brought to you by Juliet Cullinan Wines. The 26th annual Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival will be hosted on 12 and 13 July, 2016, at Summer Place, Hyde Park, Joburg. Tickets are available at Webtickets.
I am a Joburg kid and I love those streets, but I must say that, aside from the wine farms and the Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts, Goldfish's annual Submerged Sundays residency (which usually runs for about ten weeks) at Shimmy Beach Club is a staple of mine since moving to Cape Town.

There are few things better in life than dancing barefoot in the sand, beer in hand, surrounded by friends and jamming to the sweet sounds of Goldfishs jazzy tunes. On Saturday, 7 May, the Submerged event kicked off, but, because there was no way we were going home until Sunday morning, it was definitely still a Submerged Sunday in my mind. Since it was the last one for the year, before Goldfish head out to Dubai, everyone went big.

Forever exciting Goldfish

Goldfishs duo is made up of Dominic Peters and David Poole. Both are Capetonian classically trained Jazz musicians. The duo has been slaying the electronic music scene since 2005 when their debut album, Caught in the Loop, launched. Four more albums, three compilations and a string of hit singles later and they have won two South African Music Awards, an MTV Africa Music Award and become well-known internationally, especially in Europe. I have been to more Goldfish shows than I can remember, but I get excited every time I attend a show. Their brand of music is just so laid back and catchy that you cant get tired of it.

A Submerged session isnt a Submerged session without an international guest artist lined up to add more fuel to the party fire. This time we were graced by another Shimmy staple, German electronic DJ, Wankelmut. The 28-year-old Berliner rose to worldwide fame with remix hits like "One Day / Reckoning Song" and "My Head Is a Jungle" with Emma Louise. The rest of the line-up included X Ray, Thank Me Later, JET and Minx. The event itself was sponsored by MINI and Heineken and they had Shimmy Beach Club all decked out in its best party clothes.

Cruising the hits

Wankelmut warmed up the crowd, but Goldfish is what we all went to see and when they came on stage the crowd went mental. At some point I was right in the thick of things and had a Cinderella moment and lost my shoe. The duo just kept dropping banger after banger that lifted everyones spirits. They hit us with jams like Choose Your Own Adventure, Cruising Through, Hold Tight, Heart Shaped Box and One Million Views.

I dont know about everyone else, but by the time the night came to an end I was standing there with my beer in hand, feet in the sand and with some chums around me thinking that that was pretty radical. It was another cool Submerged session and oh boy were we submerged in those tunes! Until next year

Images sourced from Shimmy Beach Club Facebook page
Eskom's senior general manager: engineering Willy Majola said at a stakeholders' briefing held in Sandton this week, ahead of Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa in July, that great strides have been made in reducing load shedding and stepping up power infrastructure maintenance in South Africa.

Willy Majola, senior general manager: engineering at Eskom

Majola, speaking on behalf of Matshela Koko, group executive generation at Eskom, said: Since August last year, we have not done any load shedding. To achieve this remarkable performance, we have stepped up maintenance and we are bringing more generation capacity online. On the transmission side, Eskom is rolling out 765kV lines for more efficient bulk distribution, and has installed over 6,000km of transmission lines in the past seven years. On the distribution side, we have electrified over 4.6-million households since 1991.

Learning from international mistakes

Industry experts also noted that renewable energy is going mainstream, offering significant potential to provide affordable power to under-served rural areas across the continent. In addition, high-level conferences such as Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa were increasingly giving African power sector players an opportunity to learn from international mistakes and leapfrog into next generation power generation and distribution, they said.

Noting that other African countries learn from South Africas example, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa conference chair Dr Willie de Beer said: South Africa is reforming the industry by default. By introducing IPPs, enabling self-built transmission grids and supporting the solar revolution, our industry is adapting to change and moving away from the hW/H utility model."

Solar is reforming the industry, so utilities have to adapt to accommodate this, de Beer noted.

Earlier, Sindiswa Mzamo, chief operating officer of the Edison Power Group and Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa participant noted that Africa had reached a tipping point for the adoption of solar power. Across Africa, solar is the solution for powering rural communities, because it is cost effective and does not need to be connected to a grid to power an isolated geographic area. The wave of solar adoptions might be one of the most important initiatives in African power right now, she said.

Focus strongly on solar technologies

Glenn Ensor, MD of conference organisers PennWell, told stakeholders that due to the growing importance of solar power in Africa, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa would focus strongly on solar technologies and strategies this year. He also announced that a delegation of Turkish solar product manufacturers would travel to South Africa to participate in the expo, showcasing advanced solar technologies suited to African markets.

The 2016 edition of Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa will highlight a number of other key themes, including the maintenance and management of ageing assets, the nuclear power question, the gamut of renewable energies, and advanced technologies and smart grids. The conference has also expanded its reach to include energy heavy industries such as mining, plastics and manufacturing.

Under the theme Creating power for sustainable growth, Power-Gen & DistribuTech Africa will take place from 1921 July at the Sandton Convention Centre, with a strong focus on renewable energy, sustainable power generation and distribution, pan-African power provision and smarter management and grids.

Because power challenges cannot be seen in regional isolation, PennWell says, greater pan-African participation has been encouraged by engaging more pan-African power stakeholders in the event advisory boards by inviting a delegation party of over 50 sub-Saharan African VIPs from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, among others to attend as guests and participate in scheduled B2B matchmaking sessions with potential business partners and suppliers.

For more information and to view the agenda, go to www.powergenafrica.com.
For the first time in 100 years the wild tiger population has risen. It's a success story viewed as a beacon of hope by South Africa's rhino conservationists in their fight to combat the wiping out of the species.

The triumph of international tiger conservation efforts comes in the face of the additional challenges of deforestation and human wildlife conflict. The poaching and illegal trade of tiger parts led to the endangerment of the species to the point of near extinction.

But this year, for the first time in a century, the number of wild tigers has increased. There are suddenly more tigers in India, Nepal and Russia, according to WWF census data released recently. This positive advance in the Asian big cats plight is now a story of hope for the African rhinoceros.

Extinction a very real possibility

Last year alone 1,175 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa. The casualty rate of 22 rhinos a week saw the wiping out of 4,9% of Africas rhinoceros population in 2015. The findings of a peer-reviewed science research paper cautions that, should the current rate of poaching persist, the extinction of the rhino is a very real possibility in just 20 years.

While medicinal myths and the high value of rhino horn remain the driving forces behind poaching, South Africa will need R6,2bn over the next two decades to successfully combat the problem. This figure increases to R9,3bn when the population of privately-owned rhinos in game reserves is factored into the equation.

So what strategies from the recent and successful tiger conservation programme are appropriate for South Africa, if we are truly set on preserving rhinos?

Without doing away with current rhino anti-poaching strategies at a grassroots level, addressing the source of the problem is necessary to curtail the very demand that is fuelling poaching activity.

The tiger conservation efforts have focused on awareness campaigns to curb demand and trade of tiger parts in Asia. These efforts illustrate the reasoning that poaching is a symptom, consumption is the cause and that successful treatment of the issue is possible.

Demand by an end-user

Poaching, dehorning and rhino deaths are a direct result of demand by an end-user. The top Asian market for Africas coveted ivory powder is Vietnam, where rhino horn is revered as cancer cure, a status-giving drug for wealthy elites and a medicinal tonic for excessive alcohol consumption.

And so focusing on addressing the source appears to be the more sustainable, cost-effective and long-term solution.

Conservation efforts should focus on convincing the Vietnam government to put effective law enforcement in place, and create and uphold a regulatory framework that will restrict trade and demand. The fact that no significant seizures of rhino horn have taken place in Vietnam points to the failure of law enforcement in the country.

Law enforcement efforts should be backed up by educational programmes that dispel beliefs that rhino horn has medicinal value and is seen as a societal status enhancer.

This approach is already delivering results: in 2014, a year-long public awareness campaign saw only 2.6% of Vietnam citizens continue to buy and use rhino horn, a decrease of 38%. There has also been a marked decrease of 25% in the number of people who think rhino horn has medicinal value.

More commitment and investment

In South Africa more commitment and investment in conservation programmes is needed. India, home to two-thirds of the wild tiger population, has channelled significant financial resources to its tiger conservation programmes, delivering targeted results.

Government is currently considering more options to fight poaching. These include a collaboration with Denel on high-tech drone monitoring and observation systems, community engagements, more visible policing and the deployment of rangers and counter-intelligence operatives.

But the reality remains that despite the efforts of both government and the conservation community last year, poaching has continued to devastate the rhino population.

Successes in anti-poaching programmes in the northern parts of the country have seen poachers simply moving to the Eastern Cape. While it is sad that they continue to operate, its a positive sign that they are being forced to retreat.

A key feature of the tiger success story is the results of shared resources and co-operation - especially between India and Nepal. Good communication saw a drop in tiger smuggling.

Share strengths, best practices

Good cooperation in South Africa will entail sharing resources between provinces and regions. Government, the private sector, civil society and conservation need to jointly form a rhino anti-poaching movement.

It is time to create a strategic map to share strengths and best practices. There have been some great successes in the Kruger Park. That intelligence and experience should be implemented on a national scale.

The lessons from Asias success in reversing the decline of wild tigers offer us an important way forward. Positive progress will require new strategies to curb demand for rhino horn in Asian markets, a commitment and investment from government and close collaboration and co-operation between provinces and even other African countries.
In this exclusive interview I speak to Traecy Smith, director of diversity at the One Club and One Show Awards taking place in New York City this week, about professional development and the importance of properly training creatives on management and leadership.

Nurock: Traecy what does your role as director of diversity involve?

Traecy Smith

Smith: Thank you, first of all, for having me today, its so great to see you. As the director of diversity for the One Club, Im in a very fortunate position where I get to influence change; necessary change in the industry. As you know, there are many efforts being made, some agencies are doing it better than others, to increase diversity in a natural, organic way and I think that my role is simply to help these agencies find this diverse talent and understand the importance of diversity. Its incredibly crucial to our overall success in the industry. This is a very vibrant, creative, exciting industry to be in. I think that the industry and the agencies need to reflect that great diversity in the world. If were communicating to people from all over the world  and we are  then we have to have people on our teams inside of these agencies who are creating work that speaks to this beautiful global community. My role is to help these agencies get there.

Nurock: How do you go about doing that?

Smith: We have great programs at the One Club, where we find this talent and source it globally as we become a global organisation. Were now smartly entering certain cities where we know the diversity is there and the creative diversity particularly exists. So weve expanded some of our programs. One program that Im very proud of it is the creative boot camp, its a four-day workshop that introduces diverse creatives or those that are trying to enter our industry and may not know about it fully but have creative talent, and we seek those students out. We started out in New York and Atlanta and now were in about eight cities in the US, were in London, thankfully were also in Cape Town and now well be in Johannesburg this summer. These students are sharp, they have great creative skills and are showing these agencies that this talent does exist. So weve been in the very fortunate position of working with just about everybody. The schools benefit, everybody wins when we do this kind of program. The students win, the clients win, and ultimately the agencies win.

Nurock: But its been proven so many times that any organisation that has diversity, and particularly those that have a board of directors that are diverse, are more successful than those that are not. So its kind of weird when you see organisations that dont really buy into diversity, and thats globally. Obviously for us in South Africa, diversity is a huge priority. So the fact that the One Club is doing these boot camps in South Africa is just fabulous for us. What success have you seen with the boot camps  with the students that attend and them getting jobs? What is the conversion?

Smith: Many of the students who attend the boot camps go on to enter the industry, and some of these students were not aware of advertising as a viable career option prior to this program. So the most rewarding thing that happens is that they discover themselves, they discover their creativity and that theres another industry thats open to hiring them, and they start to immediately hone these skills that I dont think they were even aware they had. So its really great for us because were able to present these opportunities that these students would otherwise never get. The One Club works with the best creatives and the best agencies in the world to be able to provide this level of access. We open those doors and we make sure that these students have the ability to walk through them, meet them and get these jobs, and they do.

Nurock: Is the diversity at the boot camps more in terms of racial diversity or is it also related to gender?

Smith: Its gender, its racial, its LGBT. We try to focus on providing opportunities for anyone whos under-represented in our industry.

Nurock: What I love about this award show is that actually has a purpose that goes beyond just awards.

Smith: Yeah, we care about what we do and it shows. Throughout my career, coming to the One Club and being able to work with some of my colleagues on these programs, I can hands down tell you that they all care. That makes a huge difference when we approach the work that were doing every day  were not just coming to work, were trying to figure out how to make this better. With everyone having that mindset here, were a small team but it makes it very effortless and beneficial and rewarding at the same time.

Nurock: What do you think is the reason why only 3% of women globally are creative directors? Because if you get to account management or PR or media, women dominate. Why is it not so in the creative department?

Smith: I did diversity for one of the largest Swiss banks in the world and the issue remained the same. I think that there are subtle biases that exist within our industry, in most industries, and I think that those biases allow those currently at the helm  mostly white males  to hire people like themselves because they feel more comfortable interacting with them from a business perspective or even from a personal relationship. So its definitely not because there are no talented women, in fact quite the contrary. With the programs Im doing, Im seeing more and more young women trying to enter the creative side of advertising than ever before and there are a lot of women in the industry who would love to be in those positions. It would behove our clients to lean on some of the agencies a little bit more, to make sure that women are represented at the highest levels in advertising. I also think that as women, we have to knock down those barriers and be more forceful. I think that weve accepted the backseat in that were not demanding that we get a seat at the table, and when we do finally decide enough of being behind the scenes, well see what we can accomplish.

Nurock: Thank you Traecy. Just continue doing this amazing work. The advertising industry and business needs more people like you. I think every organisation needs a director of diversity.

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.
The Information Officer, Khaing Myo Tun, said: It is true that a lawsuit has been filed. It was filed on 5 May. Lt-Col Tin Naing Tun, a staff general (grade 1) from the Sittwe-based Regional Operations Command (ROC), filed it directly with Sittwe Township Court. I heard that I have been charged with Section 505, Defaming the State.

In a statement released on 24 April the ALP accused the Burma Army of forcibly recruiting local residents as porters, using civilians as human shields, and breaching the Geneva Convention by executing prisoners of war during their ongoing war against the Arakan Army in the Arakan State.

The Arakan State Borders and Affairs Security Minister Colonel Htain Linn then summoned Khaing Myo Tun and Major Khaing Ye Linn, the ALP Kyauk Taw Relations Officer, to the government offices on 27 April and told Khaing Myo Tun that if he could not produce evidence for the allegations made against the Burma Army in the ALP statement he would be arrested.

The ALP then submitted their evidence against the army to Col. Htain Linn on 1 May.

Despite the ALPs evidence Lt-Col Tin Naing Tun still filed the defamation case on 5 May.

Arakan State Government representatives met with ALP representatives led by Daw Saw Mya Yarzar Lin in Sittwe on 9 May to discuss the case, but there have been no further developments.

Daw Saw Mya Yarzar Lin said: I read about the lawsuit in the newspapers. The government also told us. They told us about the charges. Both [the government] and us have signed the NCA (nationwide ceasefire agreement). According to the NCA, it stands on the principle of finding solutions through negotiations when issues arise. I have told them that we believe the issues in Burma can only be resolved through negotiation and we can continue while maintaining our friendship.

She said that she did not know whether the lawsuit against Khaing Myo Tun would proceed as negotiations about it are ongoing.

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21698251-donald-trumps-victory-disaster-republicans-and-america-trumpu2019s-triumph

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 Indianas 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. Even if this is as far as he goes, Mr Trump has already done real damage and will do more in the coming months. Worse, in a two-horse race his chances of winning the presidency are well above zero.

It is possible that, with the nomination secured, Mr Trump will now change his tone. The crassness of his insults may well be muted as he tries to win over at least some of the voters, particularly women, who now abhor him. His demeanour may become more presidential (though there was little sign of that in this weeks bizarre and baseless pronouncements that the father of Ted Cruz, his erstwhile rival, had been around Lee Harvey Oswald before he shot John F. Kennedy). What he will almost certainly not do is change political course. For it is increasingly clear that Mr Trump has elements of a world view from which he does not waver (see article). These beliefs lack coherence or much attachment to reality. They are woven together by a peculiarly 21st-century mastery of political communication, with a delight in conflict and disregard for facts, which his career in reality television has honed. But they are firm beliefs and long-held.

Beyond the braggadocio

That world view was born, in part, on his fathers construction sites in New York in the 1960s. Mr Trump likes to explain that he once spent his summers working in such places alongside carpenters, plumbers and men carrying heavy scaffolding poles. That experience, he claims, gave him an understanding of the concerns of the hard-working blue-collar men whom American politics has left behind. It explains his deep-rooted economic nationalism.

Mr Trump has railed against trade deals for decades. He was arguing against NAFTA in the early 1990s. He now calls it the worst trade deal in the history of the world. Similarly, he has always viewed Americas trade deficit as evidence of foul play or poor negotiating skills. For a man with such convictions, it is plain that more such trade deals would be a disaster and that American companies should move production back home or face tariffs. Mr Trump might be willing to bargain over the penalties they should pay, but the underlying instincts are deeply held. He is a conviction protectionist, not an opportunistic one. And, judging by the results of the Republican primaries, at least 10m voters agree with him.

On foreign policy Mr Trump mixes a frustration at the costs of Americas global role, something that has become common after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with a desire to make the country feared and respected. Those outside America who dwell on his geographical and diplomatic ignorance (of which there is plenty) risk missing the simple principle that animates him. Mr Trump wants to make those outside America pay the full cost of the hegemonic protection it gives them. Allies should have to stump up more for American bases on their soil, and for the costs of equipping and paying the soldiers in them. It is not correct to call this isolationism, since Mr Trump has also proposed some foreign adventures, including the occupation of Iraq and seizure of its oilfields. Rather it is a Roman vision of foreign policy, in which the rest of the worlds role is to send tribute to the capital and be grateful for the garrisons.

Counting the damage

For those, such as this newspaper, who believe in the gains from globalisation and the American-led liberal order, this is a truly terrifying world-view. Fortunately, Mr Trump will probably lose the general election. A candidate whom two-thirds of Americans view unfavourably will find it hard to win 65m votes, which is about what the winning candidate will need. The share of women who disapprove of him is even higher.

But that should be scant comfort, for even without a victory in November Mr Trumps coronation as candidate will cause damage. There may be violence at the Republican convention in Cleveland, where Trump supporters and protesters are likely to clash. Voters will spend the next six months hearing over and over again that Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent, is a crook and a liar. Much of that will stick even if she wins, leaving those who believe it enraged and Mrs Clinton weakened. Americas allies will watch the polls fearfully: whether at the UN Security Council or at bilateral talks in Beijing, Mr Trumps spectre will loom over every meeting between America and a foreign power between now and November 8th.

The Republican Party, always fractious, may actually fracture. Even if he loses, Mr Trump will have shown that there is a path to the nomination that runs via nativism and economic populism. Mountaineers know that the surest route to the summit is the one that has worked before. Some Republicans will say that Mr Trumps message, shorn of its roughest edges, could deliver victory next time. Others will argue that he lost because he was not a true conservative. Without agreement on what went wrong, it will be hard to forge something new.

And then, of course, there is the possibility that he might just win. Mrs Clinton is not loathed by as many Americans as Mr Trump is, but the share who view her unfavourably is far higher than is usual for presidential nominees. Just as the killings in Paris in December energised Mr Trumps campaign, a terrorist attack or other event that terrified Americans could tip the vote his way. The balance of probability is against, but none of this is impossible. That is why Mr Trumps triumph has the makings of a tragedy for Republicans, for America and for the rest of the world.
The Walking Drum, by Louis LAmour, on Compromise

On my way out to Mingladon, I call upon two friends, each of whom learns less from me than I from them. As usual.



U Aung Min, former chief negotiator U Aung Min, former chief negotiator

Political parties, elected or not, should be invited to participate in the political dialogue. It is in line with Daw Suus Inclusiveness and national reconciliation policy.

Participation of CSOs, other than those officially registered, should also be considered

My success, modest though it may be, came from two things:

One, I took calculated risks.

Two, I didnt wait for my mandate.

In fact, I asked for it.

I hope Dr Tin Myo Win does the same.



Sai Nyunt Lwin, General Secretary,

Shan Nationalities League for Democracy Sai Nyunt Lwin, General Secretary,Shan Nationalities League for Democracy

The Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) (which the SNLD has taken over in March as its rotating chair), will be holding a 19-party meeting on 30-31 May under the title, Whither Peace? All parties active in Shan State, including the NLD and the USDP, will be invited. The likely venue is Taunggyi. (N.B. He later told News Eleven the choice is between Taunggyi and Lashio)

The peace process, under the leadership of the quasi-military government, was tough. But at least there was some give-and-take I hope it will be smoother under the new government. That there be no accusations like being anti-democracy or committing hostile acts to the state.

Well, making peace with others has never been an easy matter, I say to myself. There are questions of trust, funding, power etc, and of who gets more and who gets less involved.

As for myself, Im just happy to be of help. My problem has never been with others, but only with myself. But I think I know the solution and Im still struggling with it.

At 11:00, Im at Mingladon.

At 14:30, Im back in Chiangmai.
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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.
Press Release:

Transcript:

Contact: The Pat McCrory Committee

The Pat McCrory Committee media@patmccrory.com

Raleigh, N.C. Maybe it was a Freudian slip? During a recent appearance at an event hosted by the N.C. Chamber of Commerce, Roy Cooper praised North Carolina's economy under Governor McCrory, admitting that North Carolina is the best state in the country for business and the state is now in a good position for future economic growth.This week, new statistics showed that North Carolina has had the fastest-growing economy of any state in the country under Governor McCrory's leadership, with GDP growing 13.4 percent since 2013. North Carolina was also ranked the first in the nation for business competitiveness by Site Selection Magazine, winning the publication's "Prosperity Cup" award.Recently, Bloomberg News reported that North Carolina "has gained the most economic ground over the past three years of any U.S. state" and our "economic health has improved faster than any other state's."When Governor McCrory took office, North Carolina had the 5th highest unemployment rate in the country and was struggling to emerge from one of the worst economic downturns in our history. Since 2013, North Carolina's economy has added over 275,000 net new jobs and the unemployment rate is now lower in every county across the state compared to when the governor first took office.It's no wonder why Roy Cooper is now conspiring with out of state special interests to stop businesses, tourism and growth all to achieve his own political aims.Roy Cooper: We are the best state in the country for businesses to come, and for businesses to grow. I believe that we have, with our great universities, our community college system, our natural resources, and our people, that you can't find a better place... North Carolina is a great place to be. It's a great place to do business... North Carolina is too great. We are ready to take off. We are in a good position to have an economy that we all want.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Long-serving heart specialist Dr. Michael Turabian has been instrumental in several successful cardiology programs and services in Brandon.

Back in 1985, the Cardiac Rehab Program was created and five years later, formal echocardiography services began in the Wheat City. Now, Brandon is one of only three centres in Manitoba to offer echocardiography, which is essentially ultrasound examination of the heart.

We provide state-of-the-art examinations here, that Im very proud of, Turabian said.

Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Brandon heart specialist Dr. Michael Turabian received a Canadian Medical Association honorary membership at Doctors Manitobas annual meeting earlier this month.

Turabian was one of four Manitoba doctors who received a Canadian Medical Association honorary membership at the Doctors Manitoba annual general meeting earlier this month. The other recipients were Dr. Heather Dean, Dr. Pravinsagar Mehta and Dr. Arnold Naimark.

CMA honorary membership is bestowed on those who are at least 65 years old and have been active CMA members for at least 10 years. They are nominated by their provincial medical association and had their nominations approved unanimously by the CMA board of directors.

Nominees are held in high regard by their colleagues. They are humanitarians who have put into practice the aims and ideals of our profession. They exemplify the words of the CMA Coat of Arms: Integritate et misericordia  integrity and compassion, according to Doctors Manitoba.

Turabian said the honour was a great surprise, as he generally tends to avoid notoriety or publicity. But when asked about his career highlights, his passion was clear.

Very early in the pacemaker era, I started doing pacemaker implants in Brandon, since 1980, he said. And now its morphed into a full-time service, were very active in it, so that is something Im proud of.

The Cardiac Rehab Program is going strong in Brandon, after a fledgling beginning in the mid-1980s. At that time, cardiac rehabilitation was not widely practised.

In fact, people were afraid of pursuing an exercise program in patients with heart disease. Now its become the norm, he said. There was only one other program in Canada  that was in Toronto  and we modelled our program in Brandon after the Toronto experience.

 See Coming to Canada  Page A7

For many years, cardiac patients have been able to take part in the program at the YMCA, which is supervised by physicians.

Turabian was born in Syria, and moved to Winnipeg at the age of 15 to finish high school.

I had an uncle in Winnipeg who was a physician and he invited me to come and finish my education in Canada, he said.

Coming to Canada to complete his education was a dream come true, he said. Following high school, he went to the United College (now the University of Winnipeg). He completed medical school at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 1972.

I thought I was very privileged to be in Canada  a civilized society, clean It was just a great challenge and a great opportunity, he said.

Turabian first came to Brandon as a family physician in 1973 for four years. His parents were able to join him in Canada as well.

While he doesnt have any ties to Syria anymore, his heart goes out to the people in this desperate time.

I think its a tragedy at the human level, and I thank the Lord that Im here, he said.

Turabian went to pursue his dream of cardiology and completed his post-graduate training at the University of Western Ontario and U of M.

He returned to Brandon in the 1980s, and has called it home ever since.

Its big enough to have most things but small enough to be very comfortable, he said. Its a safe place, its a great place to raise a family.

He and his wife Carol, raised two children here, and now have three grandchildren.

He was a founding member of the Canadian Society of Echocardiography and served as board member representing Manitoba and Saskatchewan for a decade. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

 jaustin@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @jillianaustin
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 12/05/2016 (2356 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After nearly 70 years of providing summers to remember, whats a camp like Wannakumbac to do to raise the bar one more time?

Well, what if we ensure that all our campers as busy as bees helping tend a new wildflower initiative that will help our bee population?

We hope this new activity will be sweet as honey and just one more reason to send your child to Wannakumbac this summer.

We are always looking for new activities and approaches that connect with kids and ensure that Wannakumbac is a camp that works for todays generation, says Wannakumbac manager Janet Gusdal. Over the years, we have added a wide range of new programming from kayaking to mountain biking to environmental science. With concerns mounting about the challenges facing honey bee populations, we thought this would be a smart and responsible new offer for our campers.

Of course, Wannakumbac also offers all the traditional programming that Manitobans have come to know and love since it first opened in 1948. Theres canoeing and archery, campfires and sing songs, overnight campouts and much, much more along with smores.

Weve had a pretty good track record of knowing what kids need and what kids want, said Kristian Rents, who is returning again as the summer director. We know how to ensure that they have not only the kind of summer that they will never forget, but also experiences that will help them learn and grow.

Camp Wannakumbac offers co-ed weekly camps for children aged 8-15 over the course of the summer. Situated on the shores of Clear Lake adjacent to Riding Mountain National Park, Wannakumbac has 164 acres for children to experience the great outdoors while supervised by our well-trained staff of counsellors. Wannakumbac is accredited by both the Manitoba Camping Association and the Canadian Camping Association.

Wannakumbac is a non-profit, with the help of these organizations who continue to support Camp Wannakumbac financially: Federated Co-operatives, Manitobas Credit Unions, Keystone Agricultural Producers, Parrish and Heimbecker, Co-op Hail Insurance, Manitoba Elks Association, and the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba

Theres a good reason why so many Manitobans know about Camp Wannakumbac, Gusdal says. In every town across our province, you will find our former campers who will always have a summer at our camp as part of who they are. We know the impact we can have on a child in one week and I am delighted that there are so many Manitobans today who can look back fondly on their time here.

Dont miss out on the summer we have in store for your child at Wannakumbac. We guarantee it will be sweeter than ever.
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WHISTLER, B.C. - Eight cases of mumps have been reported in young adults in Whistler, B.C., and Vancouver Coastal Health is urging residents to check their vaccination records.

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OTTAWA - Health Canada is planning to change regulations to allow doctors to prescribe heroin to some opioid addicts who do not respond to treatments such as methadone.

We need your support!

Local journalism needs your support!

As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed.

Now, more than ever, we need your support.

Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website.

or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527.

Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community!
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL  Despite recently losing its high-profile leader, the Parti Quebecois has reasons to smile as the sovereigntist party has collected more donations so far in 2016 than the other major parties combined.

Between Jan. 1 and May 10, the PQ gathered $384,250 from citizens, more than double the amount the governing Liberals raised, which stood at $163,383, according to data from Quebecs elections office.

Quebec solidaire, a far-left party whose core support lies mostly in the Montreal area and which holds three seats in the legislature, has collected $69,126, $16,000 more than the right-leaning Coalition for Quebecs Future, which has 20 seats.

Quebec Opposition Leader Pierre-Karl Peladeau questions the government on health, during question period, Thursday, April 28, 2016 at the legislature in Quebec City. Despite recently losing its high-profile leader, the Parti Quebecois has reasons to smile as the sovereigntist party has collected more donations so far in 2016 than the other major parties combined. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

The fundraising results are not surprising at all for Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch and visiting professor at University of Ottawa.

He said that since Quebec reformed its electoral laws in 2012, the province has had the international gold standard of party financing, which benefits parties with closer ties to citizens as opposed to unions or large corporations.

When the PQ won the 2012 election, thanks in part to a series of embarrassing political corruption scandals involving the Liberals, it quickly reformed party finance laws.

The legislation that went into effect in 2013 slashed the maximum amount of money citizens could donate to political parties from $1,000 a year to $100, with some exceptions.

Additionally, the law bumped up the per-vote subsidy parties receive to $1.50 from 80 cents.

Taxpayers also match every dollar a party receives up to $20,000, per political party.

While the federal government, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia have banned corporate and union donations, their individual limits are much higher than Quebecs.

Alberta, for instance, has donation limits of $15,000  150 times more than in Quebec.

Conacher, whose group lobbies governments to make their financing and electoral laws more democratic, said the PQ and Quebec solidaire are able to raise a lot of cash because they are more grassroots parties.

The Liberals (used to rely) on wealthier people for donations, he said. And when you lower the limit to $100, someone who used to give $100 still gives the same amount while the person who was giving $1,000 is giving one-tenth so youre cutting your donation base 90 per cent.

The Liberals, however, have proven relatively resilient with regard to the level of donations they have collected since the reforms went into effect.

While they trail significantly in 2016, they outfinanced their rivals in 2015 and slightly in 2014.

And although the PQ lost its leader, media tycoon Pierre Karl Peladeau, when he abruptly resigned earlier this month, the upcoming leadership race might increase the partys visibility and allow it to collect even more money.

The Liberals, meanwhile, are atop the polls but voter dissatisfaction rates are high and the governments recent budget cuts have been unpopular.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  The accounting firm of KPMG is under fire from several directions. The Canada Revenue Agency is looking at its offshore tax structures in the Isle of Man and a union representing government financial officers has lodged complaints of professional misconduct against the company. Heres a quick look at the company, the controversy and the island.

 Last fall, the CBC reported that the Canada Revenue Agency had offered amnesty agreements to some KPMG clients who used its Isle of Man tax shelter.

 The tax shelter had operated quietly for years before the revenue agency caught wind of it.

 Opposition politicians have demanded explanations, claiming wealthy tax dodgers are getting an undeserved break.

 KPMG is one of the worlds top four accounting firms, with about 174,000 employees worldwide.

 The KPMG International network was formed in 1987 when Peat Marwick International and Klynveld Main Goerdeler merged along with their respective member firms.

 The network reported revenues of $24.44 billion US for the 2015 fiscal year

 The Isle of Man is a small island (572 square kilometres) lying in the Irish Sea equidistant from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

 It is a political oddity. It a Crown dependency, although it is not part of the United Kingdom. Its 90,000 islanders are British citizens, but arent part of the European Union.

 It has its own legislature, the Tynwald, which passes its own laws with the assent of the Crown granted in the British Privy Council. The Crown remains responsible for defence and diplomatic representation, although the island has its own controls on immigration and housing.

 It has long been known for low taxes, both personal and corporate, although it has worked hard to shed its image as a tax haven.

 The Economist reported last fall that one-tenth of the islands income came from online gambling and one-third from financial services.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the past six weeks, one of the most common questions Ive received about beer here in Westman is, Where in the world is Red Racer? Central City Brewings popular IPA has been missing from store shelves for more than a month now.

You will be happy to learn that its back in stock  but in incredibly limited quantities. By the time you read this, all three Liquor Marts (plus the Liquor Mart Express) may be sold out. The Keystone Motor Inn vendor may have some in their beer can fridge.

Call me a hipster, but I preferred Red Racers IPA back from 2010 before they ever expanded the brewery. Its easily one of the best West Coast IPAs in all of Canada, but I find that the consistency varies from batch to batch.

The only IPA Ive been savouring lately is Driftwood Brewings Fat Tug IPA. While it is certainly more expensive than a can of Red Racer IPA, it also has a springtime aroma that I can only describe as new growth (p.s., Driftwood Brewing has a beer called New Growth!) and citrus zest  absolutely delicious for the patio season.

Yes, patio season is here  and the moment the grass first made an appearance back in March, I overheard customers at the Liquor Mart asking about any new Radlers. Like Belgian witbiers, Bud Light Lime and Bud Limes

O-RITA line of products, Radlers tend to be popular only when its 15 C or higher.

The newest Radler available here in Westman is Central Citys Red Racer Radler, a wheat beer brewed with grapefruit juice that tops out at only 3.5 per cent ABV.

Red Racer Radler pours a very murky orange and grapefruit concoction that looks more like a fruity cocktail you would receive at your pub or restaurant of choice rather than a wheat beer. I almost feel like I have to put a wedge of lemon or a cherry in my glass.

Its incredibly carbonated like a grapefruit soft drink and has a minimal amount of light white head keeping hold to the side of the glass.

The aroma is one part unfiltered Belgian wheat ale (which gives off a rich yeasty breadiness), a bit of coriander and hint of clove, while the remainder is mostly grapefruit juice  but that shouldnt be surprising because a Radler is 50 per cent beer and 50 per cent grapefruit juice in the first place.

The taste is an interesting gritty, rising bread dough flavour, with a hint of orange juice, lemongrass and of course grapefruit.

As for the beers aftertaste, it leaves just a subtle lemon sourness on the tongue, which makes it surprisingly appetizing when I was expecting the rising bread dough to try to force its way into the mix.

This is certainly not the best Radler Ive had  even in the past month  but its a nice take on a German Radler that I feel should be garnished with some sort of fruit wedge and a cherry or two on top. This just doesnt look like a beer but a summertime cocktail.

It costs $2.70 per 473 ml can at the 10th and Victoria Liquor Mart, but it will likely expand to other locations in coming days.

 Rating: 3.5 pints out of 5.

Cody Lobreau is a Canadian beer blogger who reviews every beer he can get his hands on as he believes that he should try every beer twice to get an understanding if its truly good or bad.

 BeerCrank.ca
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the great cities of the world now has a Muslim mayor. Not Cairo, Istanbul or even, with all due respect, Calgary but London, England. The capital of Britain and the metropolis that shapes so much of the worlds body politic, financial progress and international culture decided last week that Sadiq Khan, the candidate of the Labour party, was the right man to succeed the painfully flamboyant Tory Boris Johnson.

Nor is Khan a non-practising Muslim, one of those secularists paraded on a regular basis to criticize the excesses of radical Islam. Hes observant, the working-class son of Pakistani immigrants and an incalculable and simultaneous blow to jihadists, Muslim-bashers and the far left.

A blow to Islamic radicals because he is a genuine moderate, has made a point of reaching out to the Jewish community in particular, has repeatedly condemned extremism and has shown Muslims not only belong in the West but can also achieve the highest office within the democratic system.

A blow to Muslim-bashers because in spite of a quite shameful campaign by the Conservative candidate to paint him as a friend of Islamists and even terrorism, Khan has united rather than divided disparate London and made it abundantly clear he governs not as a Muslim but as an Englishman.

A blow to the far left because Khan is a social democrat, more to the centre of his party, who has already distanced himself from hard-left Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and aggressively rejected the hysterical anti-Zionism of former mayor Ken Livingstone. Frankly, it would be a surprise if Khan were not Labour leader and perhaps prime minister within a decade, having pulled his party away from the leftist and unelectable fringe in which it currently finds itself.

While the election was being fought and as soon as Khan was named the victor, old canards were trotted out that he had shared platforms with Islamic radicals and thus couldnt be trusted. It was even suggested London was not safe from attack under Khan as mayor. His response was that as a former human rights lawyer he had indeed shared platforms with all sorts of people with whom he disagreed because thats what human rights lawyers tend to do. As an MP, he added, he established a polished record in bridge-building, calling on the Muslim community to adapt to and embrace Britain and for Britain to appreciate it was the radicalization of Islam and not Islam itself that was the problem.

Now this is important. Thats because to reject that notion is to assume some sort of culture war, perhaps bloodless but perhaps not, is inevitable and even desirable. Its what we hear even in Canada from right-wing blogs and the odd columnist or two, and its incredibly irresponsible and dangerous. It lacks nuance, understanding and experience, and it tries to exploit the most raw and ugly emotions.

What Khan has shown, however, is less the influence of Muslims on a western, secular state but the influence of a western, secular state on Muslims. He gained the trust of more than 44 per cent of Londoners; George Galloway, the former MP, Respect party leader and champion of the Palestinian (and pretty much any other Arab) cause, was flicked off with a derisory 1.4 per cent.

London contains almost half of the countrys Muslim population, but thats still only 12 per cent of the citys people. Even if all of them voted for Khan  and they didnt  it would still mean the vast majority of those who supported him were non-Muslim. Its worth remembering a fundamentalist Islamic leader in Englands north issued a fatwa on Khan because he voted in favour of same-sex marriage in Parliament.

The next few years of this mayoralty will tell us a great deal about the place of the Islamic diaspora and the future of Islam in Europe and North America. Khan can speak hard truths to Islamic radicals in a way other leaders cant, and so far he has shown no sign of pulling any punches.

The weight on his shoulders is unfair, and he shouldnt really have to be judged other than as a politician; but he has been and will be, and he knows it. Londons calling, Londons watching, and so is much of the world. I dont envy the man, but my goodness, I wish him well.

 Michael Corens new book is Epiphany: A Christians Change of Heart & Mind over Same-Sex Marriage. His column recently appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press.
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 13/05/2016 (2355 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Theres an old quote by American inventor Charles Kettering that goes something like this: If you want to kill any idea in the world, get a committee working on it.

He was probably more right than even he knew. A great many ideas  both good and bad  have died a slow death under the examination and study of a committee. And thats not necessarily a bad thing.

Take, for example, the new committee unveiled by the current federal Liberal government this week. Via a motion on Tuesday evening, the Liberals made good on an election plank to create a special committee that would study alternatives to Canadas first-past-the-post voting system, including proportional representation and preferential balloting.

That move was based on a pledge by Justin Trudeau that the 2015 federal election would be the last under the old system.

As per the CBC report, the committee would consist of 10 voting members, including six Liberals, three Conservatives and one New Democrat. One member each from the Bloc Quebecois and the Green party would also be members of the committee, but not allowed to vote.

According to Democratic Reform Minister Maryam Monsef and Government House leader Dominic LeBlanc, this new committee would be asked to identify and conduct a study of viable alternate voting systems, and also examine mandatory voting and online voting.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with attempts by the federal government to find new ways to engage citizens and ensure that their votes are equally valuable to any other Canadian. One of the main problems with the FPTP system is that the proportion of seats each party may win doesnt generally match the percentage of vote that they drew.

In the last two federal elections, for example, both the Tories and the Liberals in 2011 and 2015 won majorities with the support of less than 40 per cent of the voting public.

Ideas for changing the system have been around for decades, and indeed countries around the world utilize various forms of proportional representation and preferential ballots to choose their governments. The precedents are there  we just need to find the best fit.

But there are two major problems with the way the Liberals are going about addressing electoral reform.

While the specifications for this new committee seem to follow the Liberal campaign promise  its got at least one chair for all parties in the House of Commons  its composition is stacked in favour of the ruling party. NDP democratic reform critic Nathan Cullen, who called into question the balance of this new committee  had previously suggested a 12-member committee that would reflect the national popular vote: five Liberals, three Conservatives, two New Democrats, and one MP for the Bloc and Greens each.

There is the potential that the reform put in place could subtly benefit the Liberals in the long term, especially under a preferential ballot, which Trudeau himself prefers.

Also problematic is the fact that Canadians will likely be denied the ability to vote on the system(s) proposed by the government before having to learn a new voting system to choose their new representatives in the House. To date, the Liberals have refused to back the idea of a referendum.

Perhaps this is understandable, given the fact that a similar referendum held by the B.C. government back in 2009 was defeated. Perhaps Trudeau doesnt feel like putting himself up to this kind of ridicule, or maybe his party doesnt believe that Canadians will ever choose electoral reform without being pushed into it.

But as it stands, not only could the way we vote change without Canadians having a say in the matter, our right to say no to casting a ballot is also on the table. Yes, the Liberals won a mandate for change. But their version of change looks a little too much like the previous governments version of change  our way or the highway.
Update 8.45am: Gerry Light from trade union Mandate has said Debenhams 1,400 workers are afraid of losing their jobs, as they company's Irish operation enters examinership.

He said: "Our members are reeling at the announcement yesterday. Theyre very shocked and disappointed.

"Now we have face into the reality, to drill down into the issues with the examiner and with the company to see exactly what are the challenges facing the business."

Earlier:

There are fears over jobs at Debenhams after the retail chain's Irish stores were placed into examinership.

The chain employs more than 1,400 people at its eleven stores in the Republic of Ireland, which will remain open and continue trading.

The main financial problem for Debenhams is their rent bill, which is reportedly 25m a year.

Debenhams have told customers and staff that it's business as usual for the moment, as they aim to restructure their Irish operation.

SIPTU organiser Robert Purfield said workers were not expecting the news.

"Things have been hard for them in terms of sales, but we had it clear in our minds we were coming out of the worst of it," he said.

"I suppose at this stage there's not much we know, and that's adding to the shock and surprise workers are feeling."
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the latest organisation to have its say on the UK's referendum on EU membership.

The IMF's managing director Christine Lagarde (pictured) is expected to give a warning about the economic impact of the UK leaving the union, when she meets with the British Minister for Finance (Chancellor) George Osborne today.
Earlier this week, Calvin Klein released images for their Spring 2016 campaign - and while many of the images were provocative, one in particular has attracted a firestorm of criticism.

The ad posted to the US brands social media accounts shows the 22-year-old Danish actress Klara Kristin standing over the camera, with the camera pointing up her skirt. The caption reads I flash in my Calvins.

Commenter's online say it normalises the upskirt shot - photos often taken without womens consent - and glamourises sexual harassment.

You r normalizing up skirt porn. It's NOT ok. It's not sexy. It's pathetic.

This image implies more that looking up a skirt is acceptable, in which it is not. I dont disagree that double standards exist, but it doesn't make images like this more acceptable. We should be careful what messages images like these promote to the younger audience who might take this as looking under skirts as acceptable

"The people that look at these images and find them appealing are the problem with this. Lots of women have suffered this form of sexual harassment and now it's being advertised by an underwear company which is messed up and not okay."

Thats not flashing; thats the kind of shot that women are struggling to get made illegal. Way to help invalidate their issue and victimize them further.

would you be happy if a creeper took a picture of your girlfriend wife daughter or mom that looks like this? Upskirting happens to unsuspecting females by perverts constantly.

But others have defended the ad.

"It's an attractive female proudly displaying her CK's... she's controlling the shot, she's creating the shot and there's not a shred of "assault" or misogyny taking place here".

it's called freedom. Both Calvin Klein, as a company, and the model have it- regardless of your opinion. Get over it. It IS ok.

The company has yet to comment on the controversy but the London-based photographer Harley Weir tells The Associated Press she's "really happy" with the response.

I love it.

What do you think?
The search is on in Cork for a 49-year-old tortoise named Schumacher.

The middle-aged animal went missing around 6pm Thursday evening around College Road close to the University College Cork.

Any students in the area are asked to keep an eye open for the Ninja Turtle who is named after the infamous race-car driver for his surprising speed.

His eight-year-old owner is said to be very distressed and the family are worried that Schumacher might wander out onto the busy road and come to an untimely end.

Schumacher is 15cm in diameter and 20cm in length and the family are keen to get him back.
Following a serious car crash a passer by, Santiago Portillo, rushed to the aid of the driver, pulling him from his blazing vehicle and calling on others to call an ambulance.

An admirable feat, but people are a little sceptical about the mans motives.
The new Government is being urged to ramp up efforts to get Ibrahim Halawa released from prison in Egypt.

Today marks 1,000 days since the Dubliner was put behind bars in 2013.

Ibrahim's trial has been postponed more than a dozen times, and Amnesty International has named Ibrahim a prisoner of conscience.

The Irish Government, the European Parliament and the United Nations have all called for his release.

Deputy leader of the Green Party Catherine Martin said Ibrahim has been let down by the State.

"It's time to step up and seek his immediate release," she said.

"All our passports say that the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Ireland requests all whom it may concern to allow the bearer, a citizen of Ireland, to pass freely and without hindrance, and to afford the bearer all necessary assistance and protection.

"Ibrahim is not getting the necessary assistance and protection. He has been unlawfully and unjustly imprisoned."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he intends to make a number of visits to Britain and Northern Ireland over the course of the next two months to convince UK voters to vote against exiting the EU.

Mr Kenny has called on the UK to stay in the EU - saying Ireland has a unique perspective and interest in the outcome of the referendum and would be "severely impacted" if the UK left.

Speaking at a Bloomberg Conference at the Gibson Hotel in Dublin, he said a number of studies have shown that Ireland will be hit economically if there is a Brexit.

Most credible economic assessments conclude that in a Leave scenario the negative impact on the UKs GDP could range between 1% and 5%, he said.

According to the ESRIs research, in turn, every 1% decrease in UK GDP could normally be expected to result in a decrease of 0.3% in Irish GDP.

He added that development in the North is dependent on the UK staying in the European Union.

The EU has directly provided much-needed funding, including through programmes like PEACE and INTERREG, which will provide almost 3bn in the six years to 2020, he said.

A closer look at what this EU funding means on the ground reveals funding for new investment in infrastructure, research and innovation that is supporting a transition in the Northern Ireland economy and creating new sustainable jobs.

While stating that it was important to ensure that the strong bonds between Britain and Ireland are preserved, the Taoiseach said that Ireland will remain a committed member of the EU, regardless of the outcome of the UK referendum.
The UN's Human Rights Council has called on Ireland to allow abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest.

A total of 262 recommendations were made to Ireland other member states under the Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights, including some on abortion law reform.

A total of 152 have been immediately accepted, including one from the Vatican which wants a housing-led approach to end the problem of long-term homelessness.

Many recommendations are in relation to the need for Ireland to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities (CRPD) and the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT).

Ireland has promised to respond to the UN by September.

Only 13 of the 262 recommendations were rejected, including a call from Haiti to consider a universal basic income for every citizen.

Welcoming the response of the Irish Government, Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) executive director Mr Mark Kelly said: "Ireland's reaction to the 2016 Universal Periodic Review will come to be seen as a watershed moment in the protection of rights and equality in this State.

"The ICCL particularly commends the Tanaiste and Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald TD for accepting that it is high time that Ireland provides for independent monitoring of all places of detention and independent oversight of the treatment of people with disabilities.

"On the issue of abortion, the ICCL notes that there has been a sea change in the Government's attitude to criticism of our highly-restrictive abortion regime since Ireland last appeared before the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.

"At that time, Ireland rejected all recommendations to bring its law into line with international human rights standards.

"This time, none of the dozen solid recommendations on abortion law reform have been rejected and the Government has undertaken to give a full report on how they will be implemented to the United Nations by September 2016.

"Now is the time for the Government to publish its blueprint for the Citizen's Assembly on Repeal of the 8th Amendment that will provide the pathway to finally repeal Article 40.3.3 of our Constitution."
A woman punched a disabled man and robbed his wallet after tricking him into believing she was going to help him tie his shoelaces, a court heard today, writes David Raleigh.

Belinda O'Sullivan, (aged 24), pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court, to robbing the wheelchair-bound man, on May 25th, 2014.

She also pleaded guilty to robbing 39.14 worth of hair and beauty products from a hair salon, on July 2, 2014.

O'Sullivan carried out the robberies while she was on two consecutive suspended sentences for robbery; threatening to kill a garda, assaulting the same officer, and possessing an imitation firearm during the same incident.

On December 19, 2013, O'Sullivan received a one-year jail sentence which was suspended for four years after she pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Garda Gavin Fisher, assaulting Gda Fisher, and using an imitation gun when she threatened to kill the officer, at the Travelodge hotel, Coonagh, Limerick, on July 16, 2012.

She received a consecutive two-year sentence on the same date, which was also suspended for four years, after she pleaded guilty to robbing two men of a mobile phone and 50 cash, on October 11, 2010.

Presiding judge, Tom O'Donnell, said O'Sullivan, of McGarry House, Alphonsus Street, Limerick, had "an appalling record" having clocked up 102 previous convictions.

The court heard that O'Sullivan, who knew the victim, robbed the man on Lord Edward Street, Limerick, after approaching him with an accomplice.

The victim, who has cerebral palsy, was asked if he wanted help tying his shoelaces.

"The accused took his wallet and struck the victim in the face," the judge said.

The man who was in a "very distressed" state after the incident was helped by two passers by who called gardai.

"A specially trained Garda and a disability advocate had to be called to deal with the man," the judge said.

The accused robbed a beauty salon two months later when she placed stolen products into a buggy and walked out without paying for the items.

Following her arrest, O'Sullivan initially told gardai that she "was trying to help the man" in the wheelchair, however she later admitted robbing him.

The court heard she had "expressed remorse" for committing the robberies.

Judge O'Donnell praised the male victim, "who despite his difficulties, gave an excellent account of what happened to gardai".

"The victim felt that the accused saw him as an easy target," the judge said.

Reading the man's victim impact statement, judge O'Donnell said he "was nervous for a period afterward" and has "started building up his confidence".

The judge added: "One hopes he continues to do so."

"He deserves enormous credit for the courage he has displayed," he said.

Judge O'Donnell described the robbery at the beauty salon as "a brazen exercise".

O'Sullivan, who took ill during today's sentencing hearing, also appeared in court for the activation of two previously suspended consecutive sentences for robbery totalling three years.

Judge O'Donnell remanded her in continuing custody for sentencing on June 1.
Everybody Today Is Smart ... Or are they?

A California couple lured a handyman to their house and then kidnapped him for 6 hours while they forced him to work on their dish washer & other appliances.

They enroll full of anticipation to become something really smart.

The first night in college they go to a party.

The next night they go to another party.

They quickly learn that all those books their parents paid for are great for sitting on so they can be seen at the bar by the bartender when they are ready for the next round of whatever they are practicing their drinking with.

This pattern continues to perfect itself until they are really Accomplished Drinkers.

The up and coming generation must be smart because they are all going to College.Here is the gist of an article I read in my newspaper recently...Is this the tip of the Iceberg? Are we starting to run out of Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers? It seems all of our young people are becoming Brain Surgeons, Rocket Scientists and, heaven forbid, Lawyers.Who is going to fix things in the future?My Father had 6 siblings and none went to college but all supported their families well. They did such things as Graphic Artist, Inventor, Grocer, Another Grocer, Married a Rich Guy (who did not go to college), a Factory Worker of some kind and a Food Caterer.My Brother was the first of the next generation to go to college. Even then only 3 or 4 of 14 of that generation went to collegeNow is seems like everybody goes to college. If this trend continues, who is going to Cut our Meat into Steaks, Bake our Bread into Loves and Make Our Wax into Candlesticks?I'm really not that worried about the Candlesticks because candlesticks are many times really Butane Lighters hidden inside what looks like a Candlestick.On the other hand, who is going to assemble the Butane Lighters and make the thingy that looks like a Candlestick?I guess that's why our Federal Government invented China. It's going to be a long time before they all go to college.I just did a lot of research into this Impending Disaster and found out I have been wasting your time. This issue is not an issue that we really need be concerned about because our Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers are going to come from the ranks of our College Freshman. There is not going to be a shortage after all.The reality of our modern American Institutions of Higher Learning influx and out flux of Freshmen actually functions as follows... Do you get my drift? A very high percentage of College Freshmen do not become College Sophomores. What they become are Butchers, Bakers and Candlestick Makers. They do not all become Brain Surgeons, Rocket Scientists and, thank heaven, Lawyers.All is right with the world after all.Would I kid u?Smartfella
An Australian couple whose three children were killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine two years ago have welcomed a new baby, saying the birth has given them faith that love trumps hate.

Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris, of the western Australian city of Perth, said the arrival of their daughter Violet May Maslin, on Tuesday, had brought them "love and light, hope and joy" after enduring two years of grief over the loss of their three children.

Mo, 12, Evie, 10, and Otis, eight, died with their grandfather, Nick Norris, when Flight 17 was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. The children were travelling with their grandfather from Amsterdam back to Australia.

At the time, the couple said they were living in an "ongoing hell", with the pain they felt unfathomable.

In a statement on Thursday from the Australian foreign affairs department, the couple said they believe Violet is a gift sent by Evie, Mo, Otis and Nick.

"Violet's birth is a testament to our belief that love is stronger than hate," the couple wrote. "We still live with pain, but Violet, and the knowledge that all four kids are with us always, brings light to our darkness. As Martin Luther King said, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that'."

A Dutch civil investigation concluded that the plane was downed by a Soviet-designed Buk surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board died.

Maslin and Norris said they would continue to love all four of their children equally.

"Violet brings some hope and joy for us," the couple wrote. "We hope she brings hope and joy for you too."
SINGAPORE: Palm oil is biased to fall into a range of 3,958-4,001 ringgit per tonne, following its failure to break...
SINGAPORE/NEW DELHI: China is likely this month to export the highest volume of diesel, aviation fuel and gasoline...
England bowler Mark Wood said he can still bowl faster after clocking speeds of 154 km per hour in their five-wicket...
LAGOS: More than 600 people are now known to have perished in the worst floods in a decade in Nigeria, according to...
LONDON: Penny Mordaunt, one of two candidates to be Britains next prime minister, is still in the leadership race...
A court has dismissed charges against a childcare worker accused of assaulting children at a north Canberra centre.

Samantha Grutzner, 30, was among four childcare workers charged for using excessive force on children as young as one at the Northside Community Service Civic Early Childhood Centre.

Ms Grutzner pleaded not guilty to four common assaults in the ACT Magistrates Court.

The charges related to four incidents witnesses observed at the childcare centre in 2013 and 2014.

In one incident, Ms Grutzner picked a crying child up then forced her back down onto the ground "in a really hard manner", court documents said.
The real Olympians have to wait until August for their moment to shine, but medal-hungry four-legged athletes need only wait until Sunday.

The RSPCA ACT is holding its first ever Paw-lympic Games, as part of the Million Paws Walk this Sunday at Stage 88, Commonwealth Park.

Beki Smith with her dog Minty on some of the obstacles that will be at the Million Paws Walk's first ever Paw-lympics Games. Credit:Elesa Kurtz

Dogs can go for gold in hurdles, relay, cross country obstacle course, a shot put catching balls challenge, or 'weightlifting' where they must sit and drop as many times as they can in 30 seconds.

The events are open to all dogs registered for the walk. RSPCA ACT chief executive Tammy Ven Dange said: "I guarantee you there's going to be many owners surprised by the talents of their pets."
Lyn Brazil, a Queensland investor/grazier/farmer, has told The Australian Financial Review that his only son wanted to succeed without using the family fortune. "He said: 'Don't even put me in the will'," the 72-year-old said. "Ben says he doesn't want any of it. He is determined to be his own man."

Just as Gen X and Y across Australia implore baby boomer parents to help them buy homes, the 44-year-old debt-investment banker has asked his father to exclude him from sharing in the $300 million-plus family fortune.

In a jaundiced world inured to ever-swelling executive salaries and bonuses, the Macquarie Bank financial whiz and poster boy for self-made millionaires, Ben Brazil has nipped the hand that raised him.

Easy for some. In fact Ben Brazil is one of Macquarie Bank's best-paid bankers. His $15 million total salary  including a $6.7 million bonus  this year made him Macquarie's third-highest paid executive, up from fourth. He has overseen $33 billion of investments in debt since 2008, generating big profits for the bank but raising complaints from rivals that he is exploiting Macquarie's privileged position as a regulated bank thanks to the added extra of Australian taxpayers underwriting its business  Macquarie has a standing emergency line of credit from the Reserve Bank of Australia and can raise capital as cheaply as 1.9 per cent a year.

One of Macquarie Bank's best paid bankers: Part of the mystique around Ben "Brains" Brazil's CAF unit is that even investors who follow Macquarie closely don't know what's in its books.

Obviously, Ben Brazil is not exactly a self-made man.

His father studied accounting at Queensland University in the 1960s before returning home to help run the family poultry business. Over the years Brazil senior built a multimillion-dollar rural portfolio that included stations and holdings in the Northern Territory and the Darling Downs. But he went way beyond pastoral: he is also a venture capitalist who trousered a cool $33.2 million after presciently investing in the web booking service wotif.com before it was floated. Last year Lyn Brazil made $50 million selling land on Brisbane's southern outskirts to Macquarie. Like a lot of rich people, he gives millions to the charities of his choice.

The son shone early. Completing a fine law degree at the University of Queensland, Ben Brazil was immediately hired by Macquarie, and quickly adopted as a protege by Nicholas Moore, now Macquarie Group chief executive. His fellow bankers nicknamed him "Brains".
Finding the headquarters of poppy processor TPI Enterprises is not easy  the car GPS even gets confused.

You won't find the company's address in the phone book and on its website all that's listed under the "contact us" page is a P.O. Box.

TPI Enterprises Managing Director Jarrod Ritchie with a bag of thebaine, a narcotic raw material, which has a commercial value of about $US600 a kilogram. Credit:Pat Scala

"It's like something out of The Avengers," says veteran stockbroker Hugh Robertson. "It's not supposed to exist".

And that's for a very good reason.
Don't look now, but this election is being fought on actual policy grounds. Yes, it's economic modelling at 20 paces in a fight to determine which party's policies will deliver the biggest boost to the economy.

The Coalition's centrepiece is a $48.2 billion policy to cut the corporate tax rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over a decade.

Labor is pledging to spend an extra $37.4 billion on schools funding over the coming decade to boost the future productivity of the workforce.

The battle lines are clear. Labor won't cut company tax and the Coalition won't spend as much on schools.
The air of patronage and cronyism that has swirled about the Barr government in recent months took on a brisk new edge this week. The ABC News site posted a video of Andrew Barr delivering a "testimonial" for Dexar Group, a private company which trades in the ACT as the Independent Property Group. In his opening remarks, the chief minister described the video as testimonial. The words used ("most awarded real estate agency in Australia  provides a range of very important services  achieved excellent results for the ACT government") were redolent more of puffery than support, however.

The short video was never meant for local consumption  Dexar intended it as a marketing tool to help it drum up Chinese interest in buying, leasing, developing or managing Canberra property.

High public office-holders generally do not endorse specific companies or products in public (at least not until they retire) and the chief minister's gift of his time and the authority of his office to Dexar has elicited surprise, concern and some disapproval in various quarters. The opposition leader, Jeremy Hanson, says Mr Barr may have acted inappropriately, and he will refer the matter to the ACT's commissioner for standards, Ken Crispin, QC for possible investigation. He's also said he will write to Mr Barr seeking an explanation.

In a later statement, Mr Barr argued it was a chief minister's job "to support Canberra businesses to grow and expand", that companies expanding into international markets can benefit significantly from ACT government support, and that he hopes to have "more opportunities to endorse businesses" in the future. His logic is credible, but only up to a point. Chief ministers and premiers do indeed spruik the businesses or products of their home state or territory. They do so in broad-brush terms, however, since to single out individual brands or products would inevitably give rise to perceptions of conflict of interest.
Something new to bet on this weekend: what are the chances that Dami Im, Australia's entrant in the Eurovision song contest, will end in the top five, maybe, even the top spot?

That's thrilling enough. But can we just focus for a moment on the fabulous frock? This is not a word you'll often see in Herald editorials, but wow!

Australia's Dami Im performs the song Sound of Silence in a dress by Steven Khalil. Credit:AP

Eurovision is a glitz blitz as much as a talent quest, so Ms Im was not kidding when she said her outfit would be "probably one of the most important aspects of my performance". She also thought it important to have an Australian designer, so turned to Sydney's Steven Khalil in Paddington.
Real estate agents and bankers: hardly the two professions most beloved by voters.

And yet, in the first political debate of the campaign, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appeared to rush to their defence.

Even for a man known for his love of innovation, this was quite something.
Mr Shorten says he hopes people have a better idea of who he is after tonight.

Mr Shorten mentions health, education and climate change.

Mr Shorten says the election is not about who wants a better Australia "but how we get there".

"For me, it's about putting people first," he concludes.
When you're a star as big as Julia Roberts, you can do what you damn like, even go barefoot at one of the most stylish events on the fashion calender.

Promoting new movie Money Monster alongside pal George Clooney, his wife Amal, and film director Jodie Foster, at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Thursday, the Pretty Woman star held up her black off-the-shoulder Armani Prive gown to show off her shoeless state as she climbed the famous steps.

In earlier stages of the red carpet, Roberts wore a pair of black peep-toe, platform heels, but she must have got tired of them after awhile and went without. Onya Roberts.
Photographers who are starting out are often given the same piece of advice: photograph what you know. Whether it be friends or family or daily experiences, most established photographers have honed their skills by keeping a visual diary of their daily lives.

These photos often remain hidden in archives, but in a rare exhibition, Public image, private lives, the Art Gallery of South Australia are showing a collection of 60 photographs from the private lives of Australian and international photographers.

Waiting, 1975, Melbourne, gelatin silver photograph; Maurice A. Clarke Bequest Fund 2013, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. Courtesy the estate of the artist. Credit:Stewart Adams

When Australian photographer Carol Jerrems captured what would become an iconic photo of 1970s Australia, 'Vale street, 1975', it was late afternoon in suburban Melbourne. Jerrems had invited two of her photography students home to meet her friend Catriona Brown and they'd spent the day modelling for her. In the afternoon light, she asked them to remove their shirts. The mood changed and became more charged and Jerrems photographed what would become a feminist statement, with the central figure a boldly empowered nude woman.

The central figure, Brown recalls: "We just got to a quiet time of day and we weren't laughing and joking any more  Carol was obviously looking for something and pushing the moment."
It's a dispute that raises questions about the use of Indigenous cultural stories, government grants and accountability.

A row over the intellectual property in a series of Aboriginal readers produced at a school in Alice Springs has laid bare deep rifts between the Indigenous community and the white professionals who were seen as the saviours of the school but who have now been accused of exploitation and misappropriation of culture.

Margaret James, who claims authorship and copyright in the Honey Ant Readers, the books at the centre of a dispute with Yipirinya School in Alice Springs.

The Yipirinya School Council has demanded that Margaret James, wife of the former principal Ken Langford-Smith, hand back copyright in a series of small books known as the Honey Ant Readers. They say that despite sizeable grants to the school from government and private philanthropists, they have been left with nothing to show from the $434,000 the school spent on the project.

Ms James for her part says she has always been the owner of the copyright and that it was her, not the school, who secured the grants to produce the readers, even though the grants were paid to the school. She says she has been motivated only by her passion for teaching Aboriginal children to read by producing a series of culturally appropriate books in Aboriginal English that transition to standard English.
Dressed in a grey polo shirt and an oversized tanned blazer, accused killer Roger Rogerson often gripped the witness stand with both hands, his white knuckles visible as he answered some of the final questions that would be put to him.

At times the former detective would adjust his black hearing aid and then settle back in his chair and continue to glare at Crown Prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC during his cross examination.

Roger Rogerson is led from the Supreme Court after giving evidence. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The entire case against him was "complete nonsense" and he had never planned to do anything on May 20, 2014 except trim his lawns and sweep the gutters outside his Padstow home in Sydney's southwest.

In front of a NSW Court Supreme jury on Friday, the 75-year-old vehemently denied he was part of a "cold and calculated" plan to lure and kill university student Jamie Gao inside a Sydney storage unit.
The death of a worker on the Airport Link tunnel has cost construction company John Holland $170,000 after the Federal Court in Brisbane found it had breached Commonwealth health and safety laws.

Mechanical fitter Samuel Beveridge was injured on September 29, 2011, while working on smoke duct formwork in the Airport Link tunnel.

Samuel Beveridge, not pictured, died from injuries sustained working on Brisbane's Airport Link tunnel. Credit:Glenn Hunt

A section Mr Beveridge was cutting collapsed upon him, which caused severe crush injuries and he died in hospital two days later.

In an agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, John Holland admitted it failed to provide Mr Beveridge with training on risk or control measures for the work, or a safe system of work for the cutting of the formwork.
Aurukun Mayor Dereck Walpo has told his troubled Cape York community they should be ashamed of themselves for not taking responsibility for their children.

Mr Walpo delivered cutting words as he addressed the townspeople following a crisis meeting of community leaders, police and government officials on Friday.

The meeting was prompted by violence from groups of out-of-control teenagers that forced the closure of the town's school and teachers and staff being relocated to Cairns this week.

Mr Walpo said the meeting was due to the school's weeklong closure but all had to acknowledge there were inherent problems that were "bigger than just this week".
A Brisbane gelateria has scooped up the award for Australia's best gelato at the Royal Queensland Food and Wine Show competition on Friday.

Mr Yue Lin from Milani House of Gelato at Hamilton won a staggering five out of six awards, including the Grand Champion Ice-cream, gelato or sorbet of show for his dark chocolate gelato.

The dark chocolate gelato from Hamilton's Milani House of Gelato. Credit:Robert Shakespeare

Mr Lin has a decades-long career in hospitality and travelled to Italy five years ago to study the art of making gelato for two years before buying the Hamilton shop two years ago.

Mr Lin's son, Jack, 28, said each gelato was made fresh daily and thought that was what made their product stand out.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk's Liberal National Party council colleagues have left him isolated  at least publicly  by failing to back his push to have the council officially endorse same-sex marriage.

Cr Quirk will introduce a motion to next Tuesday's council meeting at City Hall calling on the council to support the legalisation of same-sex marriage and write to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to urge the federal government to legislate to that effect "as soon as practicable".

Lord Mayor Graham Quirk (left) pictured at last year's Brisbane Pride Festival. Credit:Glenn Hunt

While the motion was timed to coincide with the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia on Tuesday, it also coincided with the federal election campaign, in which marriage equality remained a hot issue.

The Liberal National Coalition is going into the election promising a costly plebiscite to resolve the issue, while Labor has promised to legislate in the Federal Parliament.
A man whose burnt body was found in parkland in Melbourne's north on Friday may have set himself alight.

Emergency services were responding to reports of a fire near Cooper Street in Epping when they discovered the body about 3.10pm.

"The exact cause of death is yet to be determined," Sergeant Anthoula Moutis said.

Police have not ruled out that the man set himself on fire.

The man's body was found near an industrial electrical box, but this is not believed to be related to his death.
Pru Joss was relaxed and untroubled when she pulled into a random police check for vehicle registration late last year.

She knew her renewal letter from VicRoads hadn't arrived yet and was confident her car's registration was still valid.

VicRoads says her car registration renewal reminders were returned unopened. Pru Joss says she never saw them. Faced with a huge fine she's fighting back. Credit:Jesse Marlow

So it was a shock when police slapped her with a $758 fine and ordered her to find alternative transportation because she was driving an unregistered vehicle.

Her registration usually fell due in December, but Ms Joss recently bought a new car with registration that expired in August. Initially she blamed VicRoads for failing to send renewal notices.
If Mr Clarke, a retiree living in bayside Brighton, agreed, he would have to complete a short survey and have a small device fitted to his car for about nine months.

Roger Clarke has taken part in a survey which could see us all paying every time we jump in the car. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Mr Clarke said yes and over the next few months the full scale of the study he had signed up for became clear: it was not merely a survey of people's driving habits, but an attempt to create a blueprint for a new way to pay for roads - a future in which all of the roads in Australia would, in effect, become toll roads.

And the study was not being driven by Ipsos, but by Transurban, Australia's toll-road giant.

In that future, every time each of us gets in the car we will pay a toll - be it to drive to work, to the local shops or down the coast for a holiday.

An Ipsos representative visited Mr Clarke's house to reveal more about the nature of the study.

Mr Clarke was one of 1200 motorists in Melbourne who had been recruited, and whose every move behind the wheel was being tracked in a bid to find the best model for a switch to user-pays roads.
Numbers at a makeshift homeless shelter near City Square have swollen, as more people set up camp there to avoid what they say is the authorities' crackdown on rough sleepers.

About 40 people have settled in at the busy meeting place, saying they will not move on until somebody gives them a place to go.

The protest camp was set up on Thursday, the day after the Herald Sun published a front page story about aggressive beggars picking fights with pedestrians in the central business district.

The protest leaders said this story sparked a crackdown on homeless people, which has left them facing eviction.
Veteran rockers Iron Maiden have touched down at Perth airport in their private Boeing 747-400, piloted by the metal band frontman, Bruce Dickinson.

Nicknamed "Ed Force One" - a pun on the US presidential aeroplane and referencing the band's mascot, Eddie the Head - the plane was spotted by many at the airport with the extensive Iron Maiden branding.

Iron Maiden lands at Perth Airport ahead of Book of Souls performance.

The band is set to rock Perth Arena this Saturday night as part of their Book of Souls tour, expected by fans to include classics like Run to the Hills and Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter.

Iron Maiden is considered one of the most successful metal bands in history, having sold more than 90 million albums and played more than 2000 live shows since their formation in 1975.
A legal fight has erupted in Perth over a cheese festival as parties fight for a slice of the action.

In April, WAtoday reported plans for what organisers are calling the Festival Fromage, to be held at the Perth Town Hall in September.

A legal spat has emerged over the rights to Perth's Festival Fromage. Credit:Jarrad Seng

But a second party has since claimed the idea as their own and instructed lawyers to act on her behalf in the matter.

Louise Cashmore's lawyer sent a notice of reservation of legal rights, to a number of parties, including WAtoday, claiming right over the intellectual property of the festival.
Washington: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pushed back against renewed calls for him to release his tax returns before the election, saying the rate that he pays is "none of your business."

Mr Trump, who has all but locked up the Republican Party's nomination for the November 8 presidential election, has said the Internal Revenue Service is auditing his returns and he wants to wait until the review is over before making them public.

"It should be and I hope it's before the election," Mr Trump told ABC's Good Morning America.
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

Making broker news this week, fraud concerns lead to foreign currency crackdown; one expert weighs in on potential market damage following foreign currency blacklist; and one mortgage franchise announces $4.1m acquisition.Fraud concerns by Australian banks have led to a crackdown on foreign lending and the exclusion of foreign-sourced income for mortgage applications. Westpac and ANZ kicked it off when they announced this week they will be investigating mortgages that have been backed by questionable foreign-income documentation, which forced them to stop approving such loans last month.This was followed by Citigroup, who notified mortgage brokers of a foreign currency blacklist; and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank , who warned brokers to halt lending to foreign borrowers and exclude foreign-sourced income. NAB was the most recent lender to announce tightened foreign lending conditions this week, announcing it would decrease the LVR for foreign borrowers to 60% and will only recognise just 60% of foreign income sources.Despite the crackdown by the banks, one broker has predicted that limited foreign lending wont have a far-reaching effect on the Australian property market. CEO of N1 Loans, Ren Wong , said only a small segment of the property market is likely to be effected.As per the banks comments, foreign borrowing only made up a minority portion of the loan book, Wong told Australian Broker.The restriction to lend to foreign borrowers will definitely impact the real estate market, but will likely be limited only to off the plan properties, which in itself is a minority market of the overall real estate industry.Finally, mortgage and wealth franchise Yellow Brick Road has eaten up one of South Australias top three non-bank lenders. Executive chairman Mark Bouris said the $4.1m acquisition will help the franchise to diversify YBRs mortgage book geographically.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, Bouris said.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.
There will be no more country music on ABC. After four seasons, the network has cancelled Nashville, the drama starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. But ABC has a lot more in store for today, with renewal and cancellation decisions on many other shows like The Catch, Agent Carter, American Crime, The Real ONeals and more. Keep reading to see whats gone and whats coming back.

CANCELLED

ABC Cancels Castle After 8 Season>>

Nashville: The show started strong and even earned Britton an Emmy nomination for Lead Actress in its first season. But the ratings declined throughout the years, with most recent episodes dropping below 4 million viewers. There were initially reports that new showrunners were being brought in for a potential fifth season, but the costs of filming were too high for the network to proceed. Now the May 25 season 4 finale will serve as the series finale for Nashville.

Agent Carter: After two seasons, Marvels prequel about young secret agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) has been cancelled.

The Family: The freshman drama which airs Sundays at 9pm and stars Joan Allen, will join Blood and Oil, Wicked City and Of Kings and Prophets on the first-year scrap heap.

The Muppets: After one failed season, ABC has cancelled its rebooted version of the classic Muppets.

Galavant: After two seasons, this musical fairy tale event series has come to an end. The only surprise is that it got a second season in the first place. And dont feel too bad, because the creators are already working on turning it into a stage musical for Broadway.

RENEWED

The Catch: ABCs latest ShondaLand drama starring Mireille Enos and Peter Krause has been renewed for season 2. It joins Greys Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder, plus a new drama Still Star-Crossed that was just picked up. This means Shonda Rhimes is now an EP on five different dramas for ABC, the same as Greg Berlanti on the CW and Dick Wolf on NBC.

American Crime: The critically-acclaimed and Emmy-winning anthology series from Oscar-winner John Ridley will be back for a third season with another new story and new cast of characters.

The Real ONeals: This freshman comedy starring Martha Plimpton as the Catholic mother of a gay teenage son has been picked up for season 2. The show joins a long list of ABCs successful comedy formula of quirky but lovable families, including The Middle, Modern Family, black-ish, The Goldbergs and Fresh Off the Boat.

Dr. Ken: Despite being relatively quiet on Friday nights. Ken Jeongs sitcom has been renewed for a second season.

Last Man Standing: Once again, Tim Allens sitcom lives on at the last minute as the show will enter season 6.

NEW SHOWS

Still Star-Crossed: ABC has ordered Shonda Rhimes fifth drama to series, Still Star-Crossed. The period drama is a sequel to Romeo and Juliet, following the aftermath of the two teen lovers committing suicide. It stars Buffys Anthony Head and Reigns Torrance Coombs.

Conviction: Before you get too sad about the end of Agent Carter, its star Hayley Atwell will still be on ABC next season. Atwell stars in this legal drama as a former First Daughter who gets roped into joining a special unit of the DAs office dedicated to looking into potential wrongful convictions. It also stars Eddie Cahill, Emily Kinney and Merrin Dungey, who happens to be the sister of ABCs new network president.

Time After Time: Joining the time travel bandwagon, this drama stars UnREALs Freddie Stroma as H.G. Wells who travels to the present to track Jack the Ripper, played by Revenges Josh Bowman.

Notorious: This soapy drama looks at the way criminal defense attornies interact with the media. It stars Piper Perabo, Daniel Sunjata, Aimee Teegarden and Ryan Guzman.

Downward Dog: This comedy stars Fargos Alison Tolman as a millenial whose struggles are told from the POV of her dog.

The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport: This comedy is going to change its title, but it stars Katy Mixon as a plump housewife in a rich and perfect Connecticut town.

Imaginary Mary: Jenna Elfman stars in this comedy about a woman who falls in love with a divorced dad with three kids, and her life gets even more complicated when her childhood imaginary friend starts showing up again.

Speechless: Minnie Driver stars in this comedy about a family with a special needs child.

ABC will reveal its full schedule and line-up for the 2016-2017 season on Tuesday, May 17.

(Image courtesy of ABC)
UBs Goldwater Scholar takes unconventional road to research prominence

After learning how incredibly creative and powerful an engineering research career could be, I was immediately driven to make a career change. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Anna Smith has earned distinction around the University at Buffalo campus for her  to say the least  nontraditional career path. Smith ran her own makeup business in Paris and New York for five years before she decided  as unlikely as it seemed to many around her  that she wanted to be an engineer.

Against all odds, was the first thing Smith said when discussing her road as UBs 2016 Goldwater Scholarship recipient.

Her admirers and boosters should consider the rest of the story. After all the disappointments and disillusionments Smith has gone through to get here, she makes it clear there is a message she wants others to hear. She says it with her familiar steely determination and the no-nonsense approach of someone who had to prove herself every step of the way.

Despite obstacles that could have made others bitter, Smiths defining message is as idealistic and encouraging as a university admissions office brochure.

An education in engineering or some similar field can offer you a lot, she says, in almost the same breath as explaining how young women in engineering often are treated differently from their male peers.

You can come from nothing and an engineering degree can help you get somewhere, even if you dont have money or if you come from an environment where people are unfamiliar with engineering as a career. If you work hard, you can make something of yourself.

Its a particularly powerful message coming from Smith, who as much as anyone knows the real world often acts in anything but a collegial way. She knows she lived what many consider a fantasy life while she ran her own makeup business for magazines and catalogs after moving to Paris soon after high school. And make no mistake, there were exciting and fulfilling times. After earning the proper credentials, she organized, trained and supervised crews of makeup artists for on-site photography shoots. But the darker side of making a living in that business eventually led her to search for more.

Its a magical world on the outside, says Smith, now 28. But one of the things that turned me off to it is people do not collaborate with each other. There are a lot of walls built up between going on projects together so theyre not able to produce their best work. I saw it happen repeatedly. Its anything but collaborative.

Its a cutthroat industry. There is no loyalty to the people. You can work for a client and do an incredible job, and everyone goes home happy. And they wont hire you again because they found someone cheaper, or somebody who knows so-and-so.

So even if you do incredible work and you have an incredible network, that doesnt mean that your career will necessarily take off, says Smith.

Her professional makeup-artist chapter did provide that link to her blossoming engineering career. While running her makeup company, Smith met an engineer who owned a company that produced a self-buffering skin peel that was easier on the skin than others on the market. It was a product developed with his engineering expertise. This was the first time Smith had really talked to an engineer. She had no background in engineering.

Nothing, Smith says. I didnt know what physics was. I couldnt add fractions.

But the fascination with the underlying principles of chemistry and how they can lead to innovation  in this case in the beauty market Smith knew so well  took hold in a big way.

I wasnt inspired in what I was doing, Smith says. I didnt feel challenged. And I wanted to do something that made a bigger impact. And when I talked to him, I said to myself, Why am I not doing this? This is inspiring. I think I have something to contribute by bringing more innovative ideas to the market. And that was what sparked my interest in getting more involved in a STEM career, going in that direction.

After learning how incredibly creative and powerful an engineering research career could be, I was immediately driven to make a career change.

But I wasnt sure I could do it.

Smiths path to the Goldwater Scholarship followed that same trend. Its a national recognition for research achievements, Smith says, a distinction and avenue into a national research network, probably more invaluable than the scholarship money.

Smith is among this years 252 award winners chosen by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program from a nationwide pool of 1,150 undergraduate applicants. Congress established the program in 1986 to honor Barry Goldwater, a five-term senator from Arizona. Each award winner will receive up to $7,500 per year to cover educational expenses for college sophomores and juniors who intend to pursue research careers in the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

I wasnt even planning to apply, says Smith. I didnt think I could win. Im not a 4.0 student. Im not perfect. A lot of students who have won Goldwater Scholarships before have parents who are professors or who work in the chemical engineering industry. And before my engineering mentor, I had never been exposed to the engineering discipline or any researchers who worked in the field.

But Liesl Folks, dean of UBs School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, recognized Smiths promise, calling her an extraordinary student with all the cognitive and non-cognitive skills to perform truly groundbreaking research as she pursues her graduate degree and beyond.

Folks was particularly impressed with Smiths clarity of thought and determination.

I can think of no other student who has arrived in my office with such a clearly distilled plan, Folks wrote in Smiths Goldwater application.

Folks recommended Smith to Elizabeth Colucci, UBs coordinator of fellowships and scholarships, whose office has fostered a significant increase in the number of UB undergraduates chosen for nationally competitive scholarships. And Colucci reached out.

So when Elizabeth contacted me and said, You should come into my office and we can talk about this, I was like, OK, Smith says.

So thanks to the Goldwater award, Smiths can-do message has multiple elements. Now, her answer to the critics and doubters goes beyond how engineering students do not have to fit some narrow mode. Its also about being chosen for one of the nations most prestigious undergraduate science research fellowships.

I think its important I am recognized for these things to get out my message, and that is you can come from any background and if you work hard, you can get here.

Smith, who has run UB student seminars called Shes Not Cut Out for STEM that make colleagues and students aware of real-life, shocking instances of sexism against female engineers, pulls few punches when it comes to her personal experiences.

She wishes others around her had been more encouraging. As much as she tried to discount it, the negative feelings could hurt. There were a lot of naysayers, some who probably meant well and others who clearly didnt.

Ive gotten messages  direct and subtle  from colleagues telling me I should quit or I wasnt suitable for an engineering career, Smith says. People I knew before I was a student would tell me You cant possibly do this.

I faced a lot of challenges. And I hope that if I keep going, what keeps me going is to help make things easier for people who come after me. Especially for women and other underrepresented groups.

Because its hard. And sometimes I really want to quit.

Folks remains impressed with Smiths almost singular path to her promising engineering and research career.

I believe that background is important information since it makes clear how very determined this student is, Folks wrote, and how many highly developed skills she brings to the research enterprise.

She did not arrive at the university perfectly prepared to succeed. Instead, she has figured out where the gaps in her preparation were and dedicated herself to addressing each of them in turn.

This is a student of rare grit and determination, even in the face of personal adversity, such as she unfortunately faced this past semester as her marriage ended, creating significant emotional and financial turmoil in her life, according to Folks. These experiences, much more than perfect preparation, will be invaluable as she pursues her graduate path and I anticipate that she will have a brilliant and highly creative career as a researcher as a direct result.

Smith has turned her determination into an impressive resume of research jobs, as well as a strong interest in encouraging promising students in underrepresented groups. She was a researcher in the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network Research Experience for Undergraduates in Stanford Universitys chemical engineering department, designing an artificial eye camera that conforms to the shape of an eye sensor. She was a research and development intern at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering within SEMATECH.

Closer to home, Smith has worked with UBs National Science Foundation-funded Interdisciplinary Science and Education Partnership, which improves science education in at-risk schools in the Buffalo Public Schools. She hosted a UB visit for students from Buffalos PS 59, hoping to spark interest in a STEM career. oSTEM, the club Smith co-founded at UB and is president of, is recognized as a university-wide LGBTA professional organization for graduate, undergraduate, faculty and staff members in STEM. Smith will spend the summer in Boise, Idaho, working in Micron Technologys research and development department.

And through it all, that clarity Folks recognized and praised remains as focused as ever: complete a PhD in chemical engineering and become an interdisciplinary researcher. Then start a company based on the innovative research and development of materials and electronics.

I plan to launch my own company based on products developed from novel research ideas that I will work on during my PhD and beyond. In addition to my aspirations to make advancements in research and bring these ideas to fruition in industry, I am committed to serving the community by promoting the STEM fields through outreach and mentorship programs.

Those who have watched Smiths progress would agree. Not to mention the Goldwater Scholarship board. The more Smith talks, and after each meaningful accomplishment, those odds she cited of her success sound more and more like a good bet than anything resembling a long shot.
Independent builders merchant Sovini Trade Supplies (STS) has exceeded its financial targets in a record-breaking year for the business.

The Merseyside-based company turned over 5.9m in the last financial year, far surpassing its projected turnover of 5m.

The building supplies store  which has a warehouse in Aintree  almost doubled its anticipated annual profits from 215,000 to 500,000, proving how successful it has been since its inception in 2014.

Sovini Trade Supplies director Anita Harrison-Carroll said: We have a great working culture at STS, our team is small but we have an extensive skill set, which has been the driving force behind our financial success.

Every member of our team has contributed hugely to this fantastic achievement, and we aim to increase our turnover to 7.1m in 2016/17 as we win new business and develop existing relationships.

We have a large array of customers across the North West including W Carroll Group, JC Construction and North Liverpool Construction, and this list will continue to grow as we move into the next financial year.
Vegans, here's what to order at these South Jersey restaurants

Colonial Diner, Kitchen 519, Tortilla Press and Sabrina's are just some of the South Jersey non-vegan restaurants ready to serve you vegan fare.
Matrimonial advertisements have for long been the stock of good laughs, but when Padma Iyer placed one last year to find a prospective partner for her Mumbai-based son, it created ripples that spilled way beyond the realm of classifieds. Under the tell-tale image of two interlinked wedding rings, Iyer had posted her requirement for an animal-loving, vegetarian groom for her son, Harrish.

But with Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code hovering heavy over the LGBTQ community in India, a same-sex marriage cannot see the light of day in the country, a realisation that led a father-son NRI duo to set up a bureau specifically to cater to the gay population.

Called (AGM) and headquatered in Chicago, the service has received over 700 applicants since it opened last November. A substantial chunk of this figure - 400 individuals - are Indians.

In the eight years that Joshua Samson and his father, Benhur, provided surrogacy services to a clientele that was 95 per cent from the LGBTQ community, they came across many instances where individuals welcomed the idea of same-sex arranged matrimonies. With about 50 per cent of marriages ending up in divorce in the US, arranged marriages are becoming more than just an "intriguing" concept, says Joshua Samson, CEO at AGM.

Having India's openly gay ex-prince Manvendra Singh Gohil as their brand ambassador has also worked greatly in their favour, says Samson. Gohil, the prince of Rajpipla in Gujarat, came out to his parents in 2002, years after his divorce in 1992.

"Gohil has become an icon for India's gay population, and after the US passed legislation recognising same-sex marriages last year, we realised we could essentially open up a highway to connect people on a global basis," says Samson.

While a majority of their clients don't have support from their families, Samson has had cousins and siblings of the prospective client approaching them. "These clients are from India, Dubai and Turkey primarily because coming out is more 'hidden' on the eastern side. I've spoken to parents and I see them getting involved to see what their child is doing. There are a lot of mixed emotions that we see," he says. When adults are ready to look beyond Grindr (a homosexual equivalent of the now-sanskari Tinder for the heterosexual lot), families standing by their choices serve as cornerstones for happily-ever-after tales.

When his mother put out the matrimonial ad, Harrish Iyer shares how she had the same concerns as any traditional parent. "She was concerned about me being single and alone in my old age, the only difference here was that her child was a man looking for a man," says Harrish.

In an evocative post in The Toast last year, a version of which was featured on Quartz India, Detroit-based Rohin Guha wrote about how Indian matchmaking sites such as Bharat Matrimony and Shaadi.com, unlike their American counterparts, don't let men seek out male matches, or women seek out female matches.

In Guha's world, his parents are his cheerleaders. "That is why their input is important to me in a decision like this. At the end of the day, if I haven't found a match for myself after a decade of dating, I'd be curious to see what my parents who have raised me and in many ways, know me better than I know myself, may come up with," says Guha, an editor at an online magazine called The Aerogram.

While family support is of great significance, the first priority is to know the client well. "We find that some come to us with the wrong intentions - of obtaining citizenship in another countries. But of course, this isn't a problem just with gay marriages, the same issue lies with heterosexual marriages," says Samson.

Since many countries now recognise same-sex marriages, and it is becoming more of "normal", Samson reiterates on background checks being an integral part of the screening process. As part of the process to gauge a client's "true intentions," the service charges a hefty (refundable) fee of $5,000.

People may have some very hard-lined views about how this portal is commercialising marriage, says Harrish. "But I think it does no harm if people are willing to pay for it and they are going ahead with good intent. Why should we expect people to do this for free as a service to humanity?"



Samson shies from sharing specific figures of the matches made since the service hasn't reached its one-year mark, "we'll need at least 12 months to perfect matches."


The idea sounds like fantasy: an invisible film that can be painted on your skin and give it the elasticity of youth. Bags under the eyes vanish in seconds. Wrinkles disappear.

Scientists at Harvard and MIT have discovered that it is not fantasy at all. Reporting on Monday in the journal Nature Materials on pilot studies with 170 subjects, the researchers said a "second skin" composed of commonly used chemicals deemed safe by the Food and Drug Administration can accomplish that - and in small studies of it, so far no one has reported irritation or allergic reactions.

Undereye bags are just the start. You can soak the film with sunscreen and protect yourself without worrying about sweat or water washing it away, researchers said. They expect it can be used to treat eczema, psoriasis and other skin conditions by covering dry itchy patches with a film that moistens and soothes.

The chemicals are siloxanes - their basic form is one atom of oxygen linked to two atoms of silicon - which form polymers, long chains of repeating units. The researchers made a large collection of them by modifying molecular such as the chain length to get the ones with the properties they wanted.

Then they devised a two-step process. First, a polymer, a clear liquid, is applied. Its chains are not very strong, though, so the next step is applying a product that links them together. By modifying the chemistry of the chains, the researchers can alter the properties of the second skin, depending on how it will be used, making it more or less permeable, for example. A more permeable might be used for undereye bags while a less permeable one might hold a medication in place. It can be removed with a solution that dissolves the polymer.

The research was funded by a small, privately owned biotechnology company in Cambridge, Mass, Living Proof, and the product is being developed by another small, privately owned Cambridge company, Olivo Laboratories, which owns the patents. All of the authors on the new paper have an equity interest in Living Proof and so, indirectly, in Olivo.

The report published on Monday describes pilot studies, the first test of the product. The researchers say they are not sure yet when they will have enough data to submit to the Food and Drug Administration for marketing approval - they will know more later this year.

"I think it is brilliant," said Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia, who was not involved in the research. "What they have done is design a clever biomaterial that recapitulates the properties of young and healthy skin. They can use it as sort of a Band-Aid over old and aging skin and get very significant results."



Murad Alam, a professor of dermatology at Northwestern University, who also was not associated with the study, was impressed, too, but he cautioned that it was still early.

"This is a first step," he said, "and all these applications will require further work." But, he added, if the testing is successful, "I think it will be very popular."



The idea for originated more than a decade ago when R Rox Anderson, a professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, was approached by Living Proof, which had been working on a polymer to be used as a hair product. Since dermatologists also know about hair, the company consulted him. Why, Anderson asked the company executives, couldn't there be a polymer to put on skin? "A lot of what happens when we age and skin starts wrinkling and sagging is loss of elastic recoil," he said. "When we move skin, it doesn't snap back to what it used to be."



What if there was a way to restore the elastic nature of skin?



Anderson listed what would be needed: "It has to be nearly invisible. The skin still has to be able to breathe through this stuff. And it needs to be strong enough and elastic enough that it actually affects the recoil of the skin."



That, he said, "is the challenge I put to them".

Robert Langer, a biomedical engineer who is a professor at MIT and a scientific founder of Living Proof, started searching for something that would work. "We made literally hundreds of polymers," he said. "We were looking for safety, spreadability, adherence, and the right kind of mechanical and optical properties."



The "skin" can last for more than a day.

2016 The New York Times
LED Expo, Indias largest and the only exhibition for LED Lighting, products and technologies which opened this week hosted over 160 exhibitors from 6 countries, the exhibition covered all aspects of LED lighting and applications that serves the cause of promoting LED and energy efficient, environment friendly and cost-saving technologies in India. Day two of the fair hosted the LED Summit, which provided a project update on government schemes, LED lighting standards and certification as well as initiatives, policies and programs supporting energy efficiency through Bureau of Energy Efficiencys experience in 2015.

The exhibition comes at an important juncture when the Indian government is aggressively pushing LEDs for all street lamps, residential and public space lighting. The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company, Pune zone has recently launched a scheme to distribute one crore LED bulbs to domestic consumers as part of its energy conservation plan. Various products concerning power-saving technologies and advanced lighting systems were launched or introduced for the first time at the three-day fair.

Technologies like: LED Emergency Bulbs, Intelligent Smart Bulbs, LED Rechargeable Flood Lights, 24 x 7 light and Solar Lanterns, Soft strip lights, industrial tube light fitting, Award winning and patented LED driver technology and v arious light and colour changing energy-efficient lighting technologies for commercial spaces will be seen at the fair.

The LED Summit shared light on Emerging Markets and the opportunities before the Indian LED . S K Marwah, Director, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communication & Information Technology (DeitY) gave a special address on "Policy Initiatives for Promoting Electronics Manufacturing in India". While speaking in his address he shared, The current market size of LED Manufacturing is $1.8 billion and this is slated to reach at $3.6 by year 2020. The focus is on Indian manufacturing and 50% will be domestic manufacturing."
After home furnishing and electronics, Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is taking its hypermarket format Big Bazaar online. The e-commerce portal is ready and will be launched pan-India in three months, Biyani told Business Standard.

Unlike e-commerce market places such as Flipkart and Amazon, Future Group has taken the omni-channel route for its e-commerce foray. This means the companys online sales will be supported by a chain of physical stores across the country.

We are building up capabilities in the warehouses. We wont do local delivery, said Biyani. He, however, added the company was taking a step-by-step approach for its e-commerce foray. We believe it (omni channel) is a very expensive model. As a group, we dont want to do any business which incurs losses.



A fierce critic of the existing e-commerce business model prevalent in the country, Biyani has quietly made an entry into the world of e-commerce. It has already taken its electronics retail stores, eZone, online through the omni-channel model, while its acquisition of Rocket Internet-promoted Fabfurnish earlier this year has given it a footprint on the home furnishing e-commerce segment.

While relaunching the portal earlier this month, the company had said it was expecting Fabfurnish to become profitable in three months. To a query on whether Future was looking at further acquisitions for its e-commerce play, Biyani said the company was only looking at specialty retail. We are looking at niche retail segments; anything in which we can make money.



With the ambition to play a bigger role in the e-commerce segment, Biyanis views about the sector have somewhat been moderated now.

I think e-commerce has a lot of strengths. Long tail (selling less of more by focusing on offering a large amount of niche products), and sales velocity (time taken for a new lead to become a closed deal) help reach the geographies faster. So they have to build on the strengths. They have to reduce the costs of customer acquisition, transaction and delivery. Customers will have to pay for delivery; only then can it become profitable, said Biyani. So, it will evolve in a new form. It wont survive in the current form.



In the fashion segment, though, Biyani is still taking a big bet on the brick-n-mortal model. The group has started refurbishing the Central stores, the flagship retail format of Future Lifestyle Fashion, starting with its first set of Central stores on Residency Road in Bengaluru, launched 11 years ago.

Work has already started to redesign Central stores in Goregaon and Hyderabad, Biyani said, adding the company was spending Rs 7,500-8,000 per sq ft for this redesigning.

The other area where the company is making a push is to establish small store formats across the breadth of the country under the



Easyday brand, which it acquired through Bharti Retail. After the integration of Bharti Retail with itself, Future is looking to establish 4,000 Easyday stores across the country over the next five years compared with around 500 now. That is the biggest thing that would be happening here. We will go to towns, which have even a population of around 50,000.
motorcycles-maker Eicher Motors' shares, which have scaled Himalayan peaks over the past few years, went downhill on Friday when promoters announced they had sold 4.2 per cent stake in the company for Rs 2,100 crore.

Three promoter entities, including Anita Lal, mother of managing director and chief executive Siddhartha Lal, have sold 1.14 million equity shares in a block deal. Siddhartha's aunt, Rukmani Joshi, and The Eicher Goodearth Trust are the other promoter group shareholders who have sold their stake. The aggregate realisation of the sale was Rs 2,100 crore, Eicher said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

Each share was valued at around Rs 18,400, a discount of 6.8 per cent to Thursday's NSE closing of Rs 19,753. The stock managed to recover from its lows of Rs 18,380 to close at Rs 18,960 on Friday, a loss of four per cent. "The sale has been done to provide liquidity to the promoters, and the proceeds will be utilised for personal uses, such as portfolio and other investments, and for charitable purposes," the firm stated.

Eicher runs Goodearth Education Foundation, which works with government schools in various states. It also assists an eye hospital in Delhi and runs a school in Himachal Pradesh.

Post Friday's announcement, the promoters hold a 50.67 per cent stake in Eicher. Promoters have assured shareholders they would continue holding a majority stake in the company.

"We believe there is a huge growth potential for Eicher Motors in its domestic and overseas markets," Lal said.

Investors, however, seem to be worried if the stock, which grew about 100 times in value since the lows it touched post-Lehman crisis, has touched its peak levels now.

The stock's stunning performance has been rewarding for the promoters. Looking back, the run itself was flagged off by one such promoter sale eight years ago. In May 2008, the promoters sold 8.1 per cent stake to Swedish heavy vehicle giant Volvo for Rs 157 crore.

Thus, not long ago, the entire company was available for less than Friday's block deal value - Rs 1,936 crore to be precise.

Even this was because of a premium valuation offered as part of a larger deal that included a slump sale of Eicher's commercial vehicles unit to the new joint venture. Volvo bought promoter stake at Rs 691.68 per share when the market price was hovering around Rs 320 a share mark.

This had brought the Lal family stake to 50.1 per cent. However, a 3.56 per cent holding with Japanese partner Mitsubishi Motor Corporation meant that the promoter holding was at 53.66 per cent.

Though the Volvo deal came with a buyback offer for public shareholders, funded by the cash that came out of the slump sale, global financial crisis, a few months later, saw the stock plunge to Rs 188 in October 2008. At that price, Eicher Motors' market capitalisation was just Rs 526 crore.

However, the restructuring and Lal's focus on the two-wheeler business began to pay dividends. After two flat years in FY07 and FY08, Eicher saw profit-after-tax (PAT) zoom by 33 per cent. And there was no looking back. Foreign investors' interest started building up steadily. Foreign investors held 30.07 per cent stake in Eicher Motors at the end of March 2016, data from BS Research Bureau show. Eighteen months after the entry of Volvo, Mitsubishi ended its 27-year partnership with Eicher. The Lals bought out its entire 3.1 per cent stake. Lal had termed this purchase of stake as "consolidation".

"For more than 10 years, we did not have a working technical relationship with Mitsubishi They will no longer be listed as a promoter of our company," Lal was quoted as saying in a The Times of India report. The shares had rallied 13 per cent after the Mitsubishi exit, to close at Rs 670 per share. Reports said the family entities had bought the 0.84 million shares held by the Japanese partner for about Rs 50 crore. As Bullet sales went into cruise mode, the top line of Eicher grew three-fold between 2009 and 2014, to Rs 8,738 crore. PAT zoomed from Rs 83.39 crore to Rs 615 crore.

The numbers had more to do with Bullet and less with the commercial vehicles business. In FY16, a year when most two-wheeler makers struggled, Bullet sales in domestic market jumped 54 per cent, to 498,791 units. Eicher earned a consolidated profit of Rs 1,452 crore on sales of Rs 15,428 crore in the fifteen months ended March 31, 2016. While Royal Enfield's share in sales is only 40 per cent, it contributes a lion's share of 85 per cent to the profit.

By May 2014, the stock had grown 10 times from the time of Mitsubishi exit. As more investors started discovering the stock, valuations began to look fuller. Even an exit by Volvo in 2015 did not deter the stock. Volvo itself made Rs 3,600 crore for its investment of less than Rs 160 crore.

On many occasions in FY16, Eicher's market cap surpassed Hero MotoCorp, the country's largest two-wheeler maker. Friday's promoter sale looks too small a bump in the context of the company's Rs 50,000 crore-plus market cap to stop the cruise of the Bullet.
It has become difficult to launch new products or commit fresh investments in India, according to Japanese auto major Toyota, which is fighting a Supreme Court-imposed ban on diesel vehicles, despite producing vehicles complying with the norms.

Kirloskar Motor, the local subsidiary based in Bengaluru, on Friday launched the Innova Crysta, an all-new model of its best-selling vehicle Innova. However, the firm cannot launch it in the Delhi national capital region (NCR) due to the Supreme Court ban. This is the first launch in the industry impacted by the ban.

Shekhar Vishwanathan, vice-chairman of Kirloskar Motor, said: If we were to go and ask TMC ( Motor Corporation) for new products, they would ask how do you know it will not get banned? and I have no answer. So, my first step is to make sure the ban gets lifted. (If) we have to pay a nominal cess, (then) so be it, even though we dont believe the cess is a fair imposition. Then, we will represent back to TMC and tell them please trust us. Its the element of trust that has been broken.



The SC, in its December order, banned sale of all diesel-powered passenger vehicles having engine capacity of 2,000cc and above. This severely impacted Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Toyota Kirloskar and Mercedes-Benz, though a month later M&M circumvented the ban by launching existing vehicles with downsized engines.

It is not so much about the ban itself. Okay, we will lose some money; thats fine, but why was such an unfair thing done in the first place when you have complied with every law? That is what is hurting. This is not an arithmetic loss. Everyones perception changes to 'oh can the law be interpreted that even when you are compliant you can ban and suddenly bring my business to a standstill?, Vishwanathan added.

The Innova Crysta, which is based on a new platform, is powered by two new diesel engines, 2.4-litre, 5-speed manual transmission and 2.8-litre, six-speed automatic transmission. A petrol variant of the multi-utility vehicle is in the works and will be launched in the coming months including in the Delhi-NCR market.

Innova Crystas prices start from Rs 13.83 lakh for the base variant to Rs 20.77 lakh for the top-end variant (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The vehicle, launched in four variants with seven- and eight-seat options, has driver and front passenger airbags for all variants.

Toyota had been clocking 5,500 units per month of the older Innova including the overall sales loss of eight per cent in the Delhi-NCR following the ban. In addition to the Innova, Fortuner, Land Cruiser and Prado are also facing the ban. Toyota said it would not look at downsizing of engines as an option to skirt the ban.

When the SC said it will ban 2,000cc-plus engines, it was actually not targeting us but somebody was targeting us to put someone else at an advantage. The SC has not done this with a view to favouring somebody or hurting us. TMCs confidence in India has taken a knock but it is our job in TKM (Toyota Kirloskar Motor) India to reinstate that confidence, added Vishwanathan.

Toyota launches Innova Crysta

Toyota launched the Innova Crysta at a starting price of ~13.83 lakh on Friday. It is available in the diesel variant. It comes with a new 2.8 litre engine with a six-speed automatic transmission, while the low-end model comes with a 2.4 litre engine with five-speed manual transmission.
James Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the VVIP chopper scam, has told NDTV that he had in fact, in 2008, described Congress President Sonia Gandhi in a letter as "the driving force" behind the deal to acquire the choppers.

However, Michel also clarified that he did not personally know Gandhi or her son and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

In a May 11 interview with India Today TV, Michel maintained that he had never met Sonia or Rahul Gandhi. He added that he had not met then prime minister Manmohan Singh or then defence minister AK Antony either.

Michel also insisted that his written suggestion that they be lobbied by diplomats does not mean that bribes were paid to them.

Responding to a question about his comments that the Gandhis had no part to play in the scandal surrounding the deal, Michel said: "I have to protect the Gandhis to protect myself." Speaking to NDTV, he added, "I have to prove they are innocent to prove my innocence."

Late last month, in an interview with the Hindu, Michel had offered himself up for interrogation by Indian authorities. Even then he had maintained that he had never met a member of the Gandhi family in his life.

Michel's name has been thrown up again since reports on a recent judgement by the Italian Court of Appeals cited a note from a middleman reportedly describing the Congress president as the "driving force" behind the chopper deal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party lost no time in latching on to the note and mounting a political offencive against Gandhi. In no time, battle-lines were drawn and the issue seems to be far from over.

Italian marines connection:

Speaking to NDTV, Michel also stood by his earlier claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had offered to release the two Italian marines imprisoned in India on murder charges in exchange for information linking the Gandhi family to the deal.

According to Michel, the prime minister made this offer last year during a meeting with his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi in New York.

Earlier this year, the Telegraph and Outlook India magazine reported that Michel had accused the current Indian government of "offering Italy the freedom" of the two marines accused of killing Indian fishermen in exchange for information linking Sonia Gandhi and her family to the chopper scam.

Michel has made these claims, according to the reports, in a letter to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Seas in Hamburg and the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

Meeting SP Tyagi:

During the India Today TV interview, the middleman said the only person related to the chopper deal that he has ever met is former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi. Speaking to the channel, Michel said: "I probably met him at Delhi's Gymkhana Club at a social event."

Tyagi is one of the main accused in the scandal and was questioned by investigating agencies earlier this month.

In March, 2013, the Central Bureau of Investigation said that it had found evidence against Tyagi that suggested that he had extended favours to by changing specification requirements for the VVIP choppers. The agency registered a first information report (FIR) against Tyagi, besides 12 others.

The FIR also named three of Tygai's relatives  Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep.

The allegation against the former IAF chief was that he had reduced the flight ceiling of the prospective helicopter from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres (15,000 feet), ostensibly to help AgustaWestland's case.
The government has asked all ministries and departments to do away with unnecessary consultations on draft Cabinet notes, to expedite project approvals.

A cabinet secretariat memo to all government secretaries has reiterated the formal position that the notes should be circulated only among those ministries and departments which are relevant to the proposal.

It has been observed that sponsoring ministries/departments are in some cases circulating draft cabinet/cabinet committee notes to many ministries/departments for inter-ministerial consultations, including to those not related to the subject matter, according to the memo. This delays finalisation of a cabinet note, it has added.

A civil servant said in many cases, secretaries send out draft cabinet notes to several ministries to deflect responsibility, although these are supposed to go to only those which could be impacted by the proposal. The must list for circulation of any includes the finance ministry, law ministry and Planning Commission (now Niti Aayog), according to a bureaucrat. Home is another ministry consulted frequently, for security-related issues.

Making of effective cabinet notes and timely clearance of projects has often been conveyed in memos to secretaries during the two years of the present government. Soon after coming to power in May 2014, the government had issued a directive to civil servants that discussion between ministries on a Cabinet note must be completed within two weeks. And, some months earlier, a reminder in this regard was sent to all secretaries.
In developments that could dilute the blasts probe further, the Investigation Agency (NIA) is all set to not name Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur as an accused in its chargesheet, The Indian Express reports. Meanwhile, Colonel Prasad Purohit is likely to drop charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The news comes weeks after nine accused Muslim men were discharged for lack of evidence by a Mumbai court. This was after they had spent a decade in prison.

The investigating agency will also be giving a clean chit to three other accused who were said to have a peripheral role and were not aware of the conspiracy behind the blasts. The explosions, which took place on September 29, 2008, had killed four and injured 79.

The chargesheet, to be filed in a Mumbai court on Friday, is set to mention that the investigation carried out by the former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare was flawed. It is likely to state that evidence against Purohit had been fabricated and witnesses statements were taken under duress, the publication reported.

In fact, the chargesheet will mention that it was the ATS that planted the explosives in Purohits quarters at the Deolali Army camp at the time of his arrest. Karkare was killed in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

Former Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday questioned the NIA's actions in the case. He said that it was strange how witnesses were turning hostile, CNN-News18 reports.

Case file

The Maharashtra ATS, in a chargesheet filed earlier, had named 14 people as accused, including Thakur and Purohit. This was before the NIA took over the investigation three years ago.

NIAs probe felt pointed to weak evidence against Thakur. The only material evidence against her was the motorcycle on which the bomb was kept. This motorcycle was in her name but was being used by Ramchandra Kalsangra. Investigations have proved it was with him for two years prior to the blast. He was the one who would get it repaired and pay for its maintenance. Witness statements proved it, an officer told the newspaper. Thakur may be all set to walk free.

Meanwhile, Purohit is likely to be charged under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, while MCOCA is set to be dropped. The agency is said to have evidence linking him to the organisation that plotted the blasts. A money trail had led to Purohit.

Controversy-clad

The case had garnered attention then due to the emergence right-wing terror activities.

Apart from this, the special prosecutor in the case had, last year, said that she was being pressurised from the NIA to go soft on the accused ever since the new government came to power. She was later removed as the case prosecutor.
The proposed new civil policy may finally take off  after being presented for the first time in November 2014. The Ministry of Civil has cleared the policy for final Cabinet approval after months of debates and inter-ministerial consultations.

The draft policy was revised in October 2015. Public comments were thereafter invited. According to the revised draft, the government intends to create an ecosystem that will enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027. Similarly, it aims to increase international ticketing to 20 crore by 2027. The other goal of the government is to ensure safety and increase regional connectivity.

Below are the key takeaways of the draft aviation policy:

1.Introduction of new regional flights, allowing new carriers to fly abroad  with partial or full abolition of the 5/20 rule. Under the 5/20 rule, carriers need to have atleast five years of operational experience and a fleet of minimum 20 aircrafts to be allowed to fly abroad.

2.The Centre has proposed a regional connectivity scheme (RCS) by offering concessions to the airlines, incentivising them to fly on regional routes. The government has also proposed a fare cap at Rs 2500 for an hours flight on regional routes. As per the scheme, the Centre will fund 80% of the airline's losses and the rest will come from the states.

3.The draft proposes a regional connectivity fund to be set up by levying a 2% cess on domestic and international tickets.

4.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will try to create a single-window system for all aviation-related transactions, queries and complaints.

5.DGCA also intends to ensure real-time safety tracking and prompt incident reporting.

6.As per the draft, Indian carriers will be free to enter into code-share agreements with foreign carriers for any destination within India on a reciprocal basis. International code share between Indian and foreign carriers will also be completely liberalized, subject to Air Service Agreements (ASA), which India has with 109 countries, between India and the relevant country.

7.The government plans to liberalize the regime of bilateral rights, leading to greater ease of doing business and wider choice to passengers.

8.Revival of air strips, depending on demand, as no-frills airports will be done at a cost not exceeding Rs 50 crore, mostly through AAI. Requirement of 12% project IRR will be relaxed for revival of these airports, wherever the airport is under AAI control

9.MRO, ground handling, cargo and ATF infrastructure co-located at an airport will also get the benefit of infrastructure sector, with benefits under Section 80-IA of Income Tax Act.

10. The government will promote the growth of Scheduled Commuter Airlines (SCA). The eligibility criteria for SCA in terms of paid-up capital will be kept at Rs 2 crore. SCA shall have aircraft with capacity of 100 seats or less. There will be no restrictions on number of aircraft for an SCA, but it would need to operate a minimum number of movements per week to RCS destinations as prescribed. SCAs will also be able to enter into code shares with other airlines.
The Cabinet has approved an intellectual property rights policy aimed at strengthening the regime and improving infrastructure.

The policy, a long time in the making, names the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) under the commerce ministry as the nodal body for the governments IPR push.

The policy would act as a road map to coalesce existing laws, DIPP Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said. Accordingly, administration of the Copyright Act, 1957, and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act, 2000, have been brought under DIPP. A cell in DIPP will facilitate creation and commercialisation of IP assets.

The policy aims to increase IPR outreach, speed up approvals, enhance commercialisation, and enforce norms, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Friday.

Customising IPR programmes for various sectors and reaching out to traditional knowledge holders will be focus areas. A baseline IP audit has been suggested as has been making IPR a compulsory part of the curriculum at major national institutes. The need for a national research institute on IPR has also been made out.

The policy said India should develop indigenous products to offset growing foreign dependence, like that on active pharmaceutical ingredients imports from China. The policy seeks a stronger institutional monitoring mechanism and suggests cells at the state level to curb IP offences. The DIPP aims to lower the average time for clearing pending IPR applications to 18 months from 5-7 years. This involves bringing down the time for registering trademarks from 13 months at present to one month by 2017. Commerce ministry data showed more than 2,37,000 patents were pending approval.

The US pegs losses from piracy of music and movies in India at approximately $4 billion per year and the commercial value of unlicensed software at $3 billion. India claims the US is trying to pressure it to enhance IPR protection beyond the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement that sets minimum standards for forms of IP regulations for WTO members. Jaitley said all aspects of the policy were compliant with global norms. The US also criticises specific provisions on drugs in Indias patent laws. Jaitley said Section 3 (d) of the Patents Act, which stopped evergreening of patents, would remain.

PROMOTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOCUS AREAS OF NEW IPR POLICY
Bidding farewell to 53 members retiring from the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday bemoaned at the end of the Budget session that the MPs (members of Parliament), who represent Indias states and Union territories, couldnt see the passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

You will always have the regret you could not see the crucial Bill being passed during your tenure. Bihar would have benefited from GST; Uttar Pradesh, too. In fact, barring one or two states, all states would have benefited from GST," said Modi.

The Constitution Amendment Bill is pending in the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in minority, primarily because of the opposition by the Congress.

Later, junior minister of parliamentary affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said the government was hopeful of passing the Bill in the monsoon session. He said the numbers would be more favourable for the government by the time the House meets again. But since GST is a constitutional change, Congress' support will be necessary, he said.

The Congress will continue to be the single largest party after the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha, but the gap between itself and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will reduce.

The government said the just-concluded Budget session, despite the Agusta controversy, could accomplish substantial legislative agenda. According to Naqvi, this was made possible with senior ministers Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu reaching out to Opposition leaders, who also rose above political prejudice to offer constructive opposition.

The minister also said that a recent meeting chaired by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Hamid Ansari discussed the need to change several rules of procedure of the Upper House to make its functioning smoother.

The Budget session was scheduled from February 23 to March 16 and then a month-long recess from April 25 to May 13. The session was prorogued during the recess period to allow the government to issue a couple of ordinances. When Parliament convened again on April 25, 2016, it was a new session. The Lok Sabha session ended two days in advance on May 11, while the Rajya Sabha was on Friday adjourned until the next session.

In this analysis, the two sessions have been treated as one Budget session. It was one of the more productive sessions in recent years despite the Agusta controversy.
The Bihar governments move to ban liquor sales in the state to curb alcoholism and empower women has turned out to be an opportunity for (OMCs) to strengthen their ethanol blending programme (EBP).

The prohibition by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has freed up as much as 60 million litres of ethanol.

The Union petroleum ministry has accepted a proposal by the Bihar government and asked OMCs to consider lifting entire ethanol produced by distilleries in the state.

ETHANOL BLENDING TO GET BOOST The Bihar governments controversial move to ban liquor sales in the state has turned out an opportunity for (OMCs)s ethanol blending programme



The prohibition has freed up as much as 60 million litres of ethanol



The Union oil ministry has asked OMCs to consider lifting entire ethanol produced by distilleries in the state

OMCs under the ministry of petroleum and natural gas have informed that around 60 million litres of ethanol may be produced in Bihar through the molasses route. OMCs will strive to absorb this ethanol for EBP to help the state of Bihar, the petroleum ministry said.

The initiative is likely to generate income of around Rs 300 crore for Bihar farmers through sugar mills and distilleries, apart from aiding proper usage of molasses. The volume of ethanol likely to be diverted from Bihar will be a tenth of the total ethanol supply for EBP in sugar year 2014-15.

Having successfully implemented the prohibition in his state, Nitish Kumar has been campaigning in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Kerala for a similar ban. He is also scheduled to visit Rajasthan and Odisha next month to drum up support for a ban on alcohol  further boosting the blending scheme.

The government is running the EBP in 21 states and four Union Territories to promote renewable energy, reduce dependency on crude oil imports, and improve remuneration to farmers.

In a bid to provide a stimulus to EBP, the Narendra Modi-led government had boosted the ethanol procurement price in December 2014, allowed an alternate route of ethanol production, and made domestic sourcing of ethanol mandatory. Ethanol supplies for the blending programme have risen from 380 million litres (30 per cent of requirement) in 2013-14 to 674 million litres in 2014-15.

This year, the OMCs have floated a tender for 2.66 billion litres of ethanol to meet the 10 per cent blending target. The ministry said there is considerable improvement in the response from the sugar sector, which has offered more than 1.35 billion litres for the current sugar year.
Punjab government would spend Rs 500-600 crore on the beautification and overall development of the holy city of .Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today informed that all projects being executed in the city, which are development oriented, would be completed within next three months.

Interacting with media at today, Badal informed that special emphasis would be laid on development of heritage hotel, Bus Rapid Transport System, Solid Waste Management system and electric parking in . Divulging more, he said that the Urban Haat and Gobindgarh Fort would be developed as ourist centers. It is important to mention here that Urban Haat has been developed by Punjab Urban development Authority (PUDA) in league with Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage (INTACH) with the primary purpose of preserving cultural, artistic and culinary traditions of Punjab.

He told that his recent China visit has been very fruitful as 5-6 companies are ready for establishing cycle plant in the state. Disclosing more, he said that a cycle plant would be coming up in Ludhiana in 300 acres which would produce 15 lakh cycles and provide employment to 1 lakh people.

He also said that a quilt plant would be set up in Amritsar at a cost of Rs 200 crore employing 2000 people. He also announced opening up of investment office in China by the state government to attract more investments for the state.
Former Union law secretary T K Viswanathan was the key architect of the just-enacted Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, as chairman of the Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee which produced the report in this regard. An interaction on it with Sudipto Dey. Edited excerpts:



Now that Parliament has cleared the Code, by when do you expect the new bankruptcy regime?

It can start functioning within a month. It is so structured that it need not wait for the entire infrastructure and eco-systems envisaged in the Code to be in place on day one. Section 241 (revised as 244 in the Code) provides for transitional arrangements, that until the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board is constituted or a financial sector regulator is designated under Clause 195, its powers shall be exercised by the central government. It also authorises the Centre to issue regulations for recognition of persons as insolvency professionals, insolvency professional agencies and information utilities under the Code.

The government could not introduce amendments to the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) Act and the Sarfaesi (Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest) Act. Also, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is yet to take shape. How much of a setback is that?

All the necessary consequential amendments to the Recovery of Debt Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act, 1993, which are crucial to the resolution of insolvency and bankruptcy of individuals and partnership firms have been identified, and effected by virtue of the fifth Schedule inserted by Section 246 (old number, now Section 249) in the Code. The proposed amendments are part of the ongoing exercise undertaken by the finance ministry. This will make the functioning and access to tribunals more efficient and widen the circle of stakeholders. Operationalising of the Code need not wait for these amendments to be in place.

Any suggestions to expedite the creation of infrastructure for the new regime?

The exercise to fill the posts in the NCLT and its appellate tribunal is on and receiving top priority. I am sure the finance ministry has started the process for establishment of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board as envisaged under the Code. Once that is done, the momentum will pick up.

A World Bank report said the time taken to resolve insolvency in India is 4.3 years. What is the estimated improvement in timeline for resolution of an insolvency situation under the new regime?

It should not take more than 18 months.

Not all the existing rules and regulations get subsumed under the new Code. Could this overlap in legislation be a source for litigation?

No, the Code has overriding effect. The old Section 234, now the new Section 238, state the Code's provisions shall override anything inconsistent (with it) in any other law or any instrument having effect by virtue of any such law.

Are individual insolvency and corporate bankruptcy treated differently under the Code?

Part II of the Code deals with insolvency of corporate entities. It also provides for a fast-track insolvency process under Chapter IV, where the resolution period will be shorter (90 plus 45 days). There is a provision for voluntary exit of corporates under Chapter V.

Usually under the present provisions of the Companies Act, to wind-up and close a business takes a minimum of three years. The time-line of 180 plus 90 days applies only to corporates. For individuals and partnerships, there is no specific mandatory period within which the resolution decision has to be taken. This is because individual businesses are varied and vastly different, with no standardised information about their activities. More, a corporate person can be liquidated but an individual cannot. He has to be declared bankrupt.

Once an insolvency petition is filed for corporates under Section 17, the management of the company is taken over by the interim resolution professional, and a moratorium will be declared by the tribunal. In individual insolvency, there is no provision for takeover of management.

For individual insolvency there is a fresh start process under Part III, Chapter II, not available for corporates. Also, the adjudicating authorities are different - NCLT for corporates and DRT for individuals. However under corporate insolvency, if any director has given a personal guarantee, this will also be adjudicated by the NCLT, not by a DRT.

Will the Code have any impact on the burden of cases being handled by the judiciary?

Chapter XIX of the Companies Act, on rescue and rehabilitation of sick companies, is replaced by the Code. All proceedings before the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction will abate. As far as the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act of 1908 and Provincial Insolvency Act of 1920 are concerned, they are rarely invoked by creditors, as more effective remedies are available elsewhere.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the central government to release adequate funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) to states and pay delayed wages to farmers in drought-hit areas. It also directed the government to ensure that compensation for delayed payment is given to workers whose wages have been delayed beyond 15 days.

"It is regrettable that the pending wage bill for 2015-16 was cleared only during the pendency of this petition. The Government of India must shape up in this regard," the court said in the second and third part of its judgment delivered on Friday. The first part was released on Wednesday.

The court regretted the "chicken and egg" situation prevailing now  the release of funds by the Centre is low because the performance of state governments is poor; and, the performance of state governments is poor because the release of funds by the central government is low.

"The suffering is of the unemployed unskilled manual labourer as an individual and the society as a whole," the judgment said.

The court set seven guidelines for the implementation of the Food Security Act. These were framed in the public interest petition moved by Swaraj Abhiyan. Justifying the unusual step taken by the court, it criticised the government for passing the law without setting up an implementation machinery.

"This is completely inexplicable. We fail to understand how a statute enacted by the Parliament can be given effect to without appropriate rules and regulations. It is perhaps this tardiness in execution that enables some state governments to take it easy and implement the law whenever it is convenient to do so," the judgment written by Judge Madan Lokur said.

The court directed each state before it to establish an internal grievance mechanism and appoint District Grievance Redressal Officers as postulated in the Act within one month. Each state shall also constitute a State Food Commission for monitoring the implementation of the Act within two months. All households in drought-hit areas shall be provided their monthly entitlement of food grains. They shall not be denied this benefit because they have no ration card. Bihar, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh must, within a month, make adequate provision for the supply of eggs or milk or any other nutritional substitute for children under the mid-day meal scheme. They shall be provided at least three days in a week, preferably five days.

"Keeping in mind the children of this country, financial constraints shall not be an excuse for not complying with this direction," the order emphasised. Regarding the implementation of the rural employment scheme, the court directed the states to release adequate funds in a timely manner so that the workers are paid well in time. The court told the state governments they ought to present a realistic budget which should then be considered by the Empowered Committee. This procedure will avoid any unnecessary controversy between the central and state governments about the release of funds under .

Central and state governments have been directed to make all efforts to encourage needy persons to come forward and take advantage of the scheme. "A success rate below 50% is nothing to be proud of," the judgment remarked. It further asked the central government to set up a Central Employment Guarantee Council as envisaged in the Act and ask state governments to follow suit within 45 days.
A study by Kerala Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysing the affidavits of 97 outgoing MLAs who are contesting again in the 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections says that the average assets of the re-contesting MLAs has gone up by 92%.

Kerala Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy's wealth has increased 36% over the last five years from Rs 91 lakh in 2011 to Rs 1.24 crore in 2016, while the Opposition leader and Communist Part of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader VS Achuthanandan's wealth increased by 288% from Rs 16 lakh in 2011 to Rs 62 lakh in 2016.

Nationalist Congress Party MLA and one of the richest candidates Thomas Chandy has seen an increase of 103% in assets from Rs 45.59 crore in 2011 to Rs 92.37 crore in 2016. The highest percentage of growth in wealth has been of Kerala Congress (B) MLA and former minister KB Ganesh Kumar, whose wealth has grown 1702% to Rs 22.21 crore in 2016 from Rs 1.23 crore in 2011.

A party-wise analysis on average asset change of re-contesting MLAs shows average assets of 27 Indian National Congress MLAs has gone up almost 42% from Rs 1.10 crore in 2011 to Rs 1.56 crore in 2016.

Similarly, the average asset size of twenty three MLAs of CPI-M has gone up from Rs 45.06 lakh in 2011 to Rs 94.73 lakh in 2016, an increase of 110.23%. The wealth of 12 CPI candidates grew 116.5% from Rs 30.90 lakh in 2011 to Rs 66.90 lakh in 2016.

Wealth of seven MLAs including well-known leader PC George has dropped during the last five years. Georges wealth has dropped 15%  from Rs 2.92 crore in 2011 to Rs 2.47 crore in 2016. N Shakthan of Congress party, who was the speaker of the Legislative Assembly, has seen his wealth drop 32% to Rs 79.66 lakh from Rs 1.16 crore during the period.

The average asset size of the 97 re-contesting MLAs in 2016 is Rs 3.47 crore, which is an increase Rs 1.66 crore from 2011.
Election campaigns in the southern states have a different flavour, but what adds even more colour are the live translations of speeches that leaders from other states make.
The Annual Conference of Relief Commissioners and Secretaries of the Department of Disaster Management of States/UTs will be held on May 18, 2016 in New Delhi. The Conference will be inaugurated by Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Union Home Secretary. .

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The Annual Conference will review the status of preparedness for South West Monsoon, 2016 and discuss other Disaster Management related issues. .

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Representatives of concerned Central Ministries/Organizations rendering Emergency Support Functions, scientific organizations associated with forecasting officers of the Armed Forces and Central Armed Police Forces will participate in he Conference. .

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The Ministry of Home Affairs, India Metrological Department, Indian Space Research Organization, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), Central Water Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Geological Survey of India, Ministry of Defence and National Disaster Response Force will make presentations sharing their efforts towards preparedness of dealing with disaster situations. .

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United Nations has formally lifted the sanction put on Indian flag tanker MT Distya Ameya owned by M/s Arya Shipping, Mumbai. The oil tanker was blacklisted by the United Nations on April 26, 2016 after it had sailed from Al-Herega port in Libya picking up the consignment of over 6.5 lakh barrels of oil to discharge at Malta. .

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Subsequently, it had emerged on April 25, that this was in breach of the sanctions of the United Nations in as much as the said interim Government of Libya is not recognised by the United Nations. The vessel Distya Ameya was listed pursuant to the resolution as transporting crude oil illicitly exported from Libya, based on information received from the government of Libya," said the United Nations Sanctions Committee in its order of April 26. .

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Being an Indian flagged ship, the Director General of Shipping, Government of India, took up the matter with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations. Upon the instructions of the DG Shipping, the vessel sailed back to Libya and discharged its entire oil consignment at the designated port Zawiya in Libya, under the supervision of the National Oil Corporation. This port is under the control of the Government of National Accord of Libya, which is recognised by the United Nations. This cargo evacuation was completed on May 6, 2016. It was also found out that the foreign charterers or the Indian owners and managers of the ship were unaware of the UN sanction. .

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Upon this the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York issued a Note Verbale to the UN Security Council apprising it of the positive developments in the compliance of order. The UN on May 12, 2016 formally lifted the sanction on the Indian vessel 16 days after it was held for carrying disputed Libyan oil. The ship is now completely free to resume its normal sailing and carry on its commercial operations. .

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PIB Mum | MD
1. Recently, Government of Bihar has announced New Excise Policy, wherein total ban has been imposed on liquor in Bihar. Government of Bihar had requested Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to explore whether the oil companies would be able to lift the entire ethanol produced by the distilleries in Bihar. .

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2. The Central Government is keen to undertake developmental works more specifically for the agriculture sector in the State of Bihar. The proposal of Government of Bihar has been considered by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in consultation with Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). OMCs under MoP&NG have informed that about 6 crore litres of ethanol may be produced in Bihar through molasses route. OMCs will strive to absorb this ethanol for EBP to help the State of Bihar. This initiative is likely to give approx. 300 crore to the farmers of the State through sugar mills / distilleries. This will also ensure proper utilization of molasses in the State. .

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3. This Government is committed to promote alternate renewable source of energy such as Bio-ethanol and Bio-diesel which would reduce our dependency on import of crude oil, address growing environment issues and provide better remuneration to the farmers. As a step in this direction, Government of India is running Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme in 21 States and 4 UTs with immediate target to achieve 10% ethanol blending in Petrol. In-order to support the Domestic Industry, Government has also decided to source ethanol from domestic sources only. .

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4. In the past, Ethanol supplies were enough to meet only 30% of the blending requirement. During the sugar year 2013-14 only 38 crore litres of ethanol could be supplied for EBP Programme. In-order to give a stimulus to this programme, Government in December2014 enhanced the Ethanol procurement price and opened alternate route including Lignocelluloses route for Ethanol production. Oil Marketing Companies also eased the procurement process for the benefit of suppliers. .

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? 5. All these steps have helped in doubling the ethanol supplies during the Sugar Year 2014-15 wherein 67.42 crore litres have been supplied for blending in Petrol. This year OMCs have floated tender for 266 crore litres of ethanol procurement to meet 10% blending target. There is considerable improvement in the response from the Sugar Industry which has offered more than 135 crore litres for the current sugar year. .

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6. Other plans specifically for the State of Bihar include, capacity expansion of IOCL Barauni Refinery from 6 MMTPA to 9 MMTPA, up gradation of this refinery to produce BS-VI quality products, integration of this refinery to produce other value added options/specialty products and establishment of Petro-chemical complex at Begusarai, Bihar. .

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As has been reported in certain sections of the media, it is clarified that transfer petitions (Criminal) filed by the petitioner Ms Sujatha Ravi Kiran @ Sujatasahu wife of Lt Cdr Ravi Kiran, have been dismissed by the Honble Supreme Court. Further the prayer made by the petitioner to transfer the investigation carried out by Kerala Police to the CBI on the misconceived grounds of alleged bias/ connivance with the Indian Navy has also been disbelieved and thereby dismissed by a bench comprising Honble Chief Justice of India, Honble Mr Justice UU Lalit and Honble Justice Ms.

R Banumathi vide order dated 12 May 16. .

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To facilitate expeditious investigation in the matter, the Apex court has directed Kerala Police to continue with the investigation by constituting a special investigating team comprising officials of Kerala Police headed by a DIG level officer and to complete the investigations preferably within three months. .

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The Indian Navy strongly denies the allegations made by Ms. Sujatha Ravi Kiran. The Kerala Police has also denied any influence by the Indian Navy in the investigation. .

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Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have expressed opposition to the reported plans of Obama administration to conduct large scale raids targeting illegal immigrant families from violence-hit Central American countries.

Clinton and Sanders in separate statements called on President not to go ahead with large scale raids after news reports in this regard surfaced yesterday.

"I urge President Obama to use his executive authority to protect families by extending Temporary Protective Status for those who fled from Central America," Sanders said.

Clinton said: "We need a comprehensive plan to stop the root causes of the violence in Central America and expand orderly resettlement programmes. Large scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country."

Clinton said she is against largescale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities.

"I am concerned about recent news reports, and believe we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night. Families fleeing violence in Central America must be given a full opportunity to seek relief," she said.

"We need to take special care of children - which is why I've laid out a plan to guarantee all unaccompanied minors are provided access to counsel. We must also fix our asylum and refugee systems, and work with regional partners to strengthen conditions in Central America," Clinton said.

Sanders said he is opposed to "the painful and inhumane business" of locking up and deporting families who have fled horrendous violence in Central America and other countries.

Sending these people back into harm's way is wrong, he said.

"I recently met a young Salvadoran woman who came to the US on her own at the age of 15 to flee gangs trying to recruit her. I've also spoken with many children who have told me with tears streaming down their faces that they live in daily fear that their parents will be taken away," Sanders said.

The operation, reportedly planned over this month and the next, aims to round up and deport immigrants who have evaded deportation orders or not shown up for court hearings.
Amid allegations that a team of editors at is manipulating the popular "Trending Topics" by "injecting" selected articles to promote a particular perspective.The social media giant has reiterated that it does not allow or advise its reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin.

A report in technology website Gizmodo had accused of an editorial bias against conservative news organisations, which led to a call for a congressional inquiry from Senator John Thune (Rep) from South Dakota and Chairperson of US Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over media issues.

The panel has also sent a letter to Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asking for answers related to the "Trending Topics" row.

"Yes, we take these reports very seriously and will continue to investigate the allegations.We have found no evidence to date that 'Trending Topics' was successfully manipulated but will continue the review of all our practices," posted Justin Osofsky, vice-president, global operations, Facebook on Thursday.

"The guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. About 40 per cent of the topics in the queue get rejected by the reviewers because they reflect what is considered "noise" - a random word or name that lots of people are using in lots of different ways," he said, adding that this tool is not used to suppress or remove articles or topics from a particular perspective.

"Trending Topics" was launched in 2014 to surface major conversations happening on Facebook.

It appears on right-hand side on desktop as well as when you tap on the search box in the mobile app and primarily for people using Facebook in English (there are limited tests being run in Spanish and Portuguese).

"At its core, 'Trending Topics' is designed to help people discover major events and meaningful conversations," Osofsky posted.

According to him, "Trending Topics" team is governed by a set of guidelines meant to ensure a high-quality product, consistent with Facebook's deep commitment to being a platform for people of all viewpoints.

"The guidelines demonstrate that we have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum. Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin or period," Osofsky stressed.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reported that it has access to leaked documents that show "how Facebook relies on old-fashioned news values on top of its algorithms to determine what the hottest stories will be for the one billion people who visit the social network every day".

The documents show that Facebook relies on the intervention of a small editorial team to determine what makes its "trending module" headlines, the report added.

In a reply to this, Osofsky posted: "Potential 'Trending Topics' are first surfaced by an algorithm that identifies topics that have recently spiked in popularity on Facebook".

"The 'Trending Topics' algorithm also uses an external RSS website crawler to identify breaking events so that we can connect people to conversations on Facebook about newsworthy events as quickly as possible," he noted.

"We have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum, as well as to eliminate noise that does not relate to a current newsworthy event but might otherwise be surfaced through our algorithm," Osofsky clarified.

The list of "Trending Topics" is then personalised for each user via an algorithm that relies on a number of factors, including the importance of the topic, Pages a person has liked, location, feedback provided by the user about previous 'Trending Topics' and what's trending across Facebook overall.

"Trending is also integrated into Facebook Search so you can search for any Trending topic that may not show up in your Trending suggestions," the post read.
Facebook, the largest social media network, published internal editorial guidelines on Thursday, the company's latest attempt to rebut accusations that it is politically biased in the news content it shows on the pages of its 1.6 billion users. The 28-page document details how both editors and computer algorithms play roles in the process of picking what should appear in the "Trending Topics" section of users' pages.

describes a list of processes it uses to display some of the most popular content across the network, including relying on algorithms to detect up-and-coming news trends as well as a team of editors who, much like a newsroom, direct how those topics are presented and decide what should be displayed to people who regularly use the service.

As the guidelines make clear, at practically every point in the process, a human editor is given the leeway to exercise his or her editorial influence.

The document was released just days after a report on the tech news site Gizmodo said editors had intentionally "suppressed" news topics from conservative publications trending across the network. The report also said editors were able to artificially inflate the importance of other topics by "injecting" them into the Trending section of users' Facebook pages.

Since those claims surfaced, Facebook has been questioned by news sites across the political spectrum and by legislators in Washington. On Thursday, critics urged the company to consider the biases of its editors. "As long as Facebook is hiring editors who lean left politically, those stories are going to get preferential treatment," Erick Erickson, former editor in chief of the conservative website RedState and founder of another conservative site called The Resurgent, said in an email. "I'd hope that Facebook would take care to consider all views and all news."



The company has continued to deny accusations of political bias and pointed to editorial rules that discourage Trending Topics staff members from taking one viewpoint or another.

"The guidelines demonstrate that we have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum," Justin Osofsky, vice president for global operations at Facebook, said in a company blog post on Thursday. "Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin, period."



The Guardian first reported on Facebook's editorial guidelines. As Facebook has noted several times this week, algorithms drive much of the decision-making for its Trending Topics, according to the documents. And the company said it has not found evidence that any editor intentionally manipulated the section to suppress conservative content.

But the guidelines, which have never before been made public, give insight into how editors guide and discover news items being shared widely across the social network, and how those editors decide what to promote inside the Trending Topics section.

While algorithms determine the exact mix of topics displayed to each person, based on that user's past actions on Facebook, a team of people is largely responsible for the overall mix of which topics should - and more important, should not - be shown in Trending Topics.

For instance, after algorithms detect early signs of popular stories on the network, editors are asked to cross-reference potential trending topics with a list of 10 major news publications, including CNN, Fox News, The Guardian and The New York Times.

Editors are also entrusted to spot potentially large news stories bubbling up outside Facebook by using an algorithm that trawls more than a thousand automated feeds, up to and including competitors like YouTube and Reddit, along with traditional news sites.

These editors can then introduce those trends into the Topics box, in order to "connect people to conversations on Facebook about newsworthy events as quickly as possible," according to Facebook.

One former Facebook Trending Topics editor, who spoke under condition of anonymity because this person had signed a nondisclosure agreement with the company, said it was up to the editors' discretion to promote newsy topics that were not quite percolating on Facebook.

The guidelines were first created in 2014, according to a Facebook spokeswoman, and have continuously been updated over the last year and a half.

On Tuesday, Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, sent a letter of inquiry to Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, asking the company to further explain its editorial guidelines and to disclose whether there was "any level of subjectivity associated with" the Trending Topics section.

Facebook said it planned to address Senator Thune's questions, and that it was "continuing to investigate whether any violations took place."



However, experts warn that fearing bias in human editors and trusting the neutrality of algorithms is a faulty premise. Algorithms are, after all, created by humans and therefore susceptible to the same unconscious biases.

"Imagine going back in time to the 1950s and building a machine-learning algorithm, based on historical data at the time, to decide who would be 'successful' in their jobs," said Cathy O'Neil, a data scientist and author of the forthcoming book "Weapons of Math Destruction," a study of how algorithms exacerbate inequality. "It would be only white men, because the data it had was picking up the sexism and racism of the time, and the data was informing the definition of success."



Facebook's stance, as it made clear on Thursday, is that the best way to handle these issues is with a mix of both human and machine input.

"Every tool we build is designed to give more people a voice and bring our global community together," Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook, said in a post to his Facebook page on Thursday evening. "For as long as I'm leading this company, this will always be our mission."

2016 The New York Times News Service
Honda Motor Co's annual profit fell again on the costs of recalling four times the number of vehicles it made last year to replace Takata Corp air bags. Now a stronger yen will weigh on prospects for a rebound. Net income fell to 344.5 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in the full-year period ended in March, the Tokyo-based automaker said in a statement Friday, missing its forecast by 34 per cent. Honda will recall 21 million more vehicles to replace Takata air bags, Executive Vice President Tetsuo Iwamura told reporters. With the yen strengthening more than 10 per cent this year, profit this ...
pointed to a larger oil supply surplus on the market this year as lifting of sanctions on Iran helps boost its output, making up for outages within the group and losses in outside producers hurt by the collapse in prices.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 32.44 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the exporter group said in a monthly report on Friday citing secondary sources, up 188,000 bpd from March.

and non-member producers including Russia failed at an April 17 meeting to agree to freeze output in a bid to tackle a supply glut that has weighed on prices.

The April output figure is OPEC's highest since at least 2008, according to a Reuters review of past reports on its website.

OPEC's report points to a 950,000-bpd excess supply on average in 2016 if the group keeps pumping at April's rate, up from 790,000 bpd implied in last month's report.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) kept forecasts for global oil supply and demand unchanged in its last monthly assessment before members meet to review the market. The 13 nations of the Opec pumped 32.44 million barrels a day in April, slightly less than will be required in the the third quarter. Production rose as gains in Iran and Iraq compensated for losses in Nigeria and Kuwait. Investment by the global oil industry through 2018 will slump to less than half the amount spent from 2012 to 2014 following the collapse in prices, Opec said. Oil prices have rebounded more ...
Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is mulling further checks and balances on participatory notes (P-notes), aimed at increasing transparency and prevent misuse of the investment route.

The proposals will be debated by the Sebi board on the coming Friday. Following recommendations last year by the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team on undisclosed money, Sebi had begun consultation with the issuers on tightening these norms.

P-notes or Offshore Derivative Instruments allow foreign investors to take exposure to Indian stocks without registering with Sebi. These are issued by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) registered with Sebi. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse are among the biggest P-note issuers on the Indian market.

Additionally, Sebi might impose restrictions on transfer of P-note among subscribers. It might also ask issuers to conduct a semi-annual check on the P-note holders and positions. The regulator wants strong systems in place to identify the end-beneficiaries. Information on the latter is needed to ensure an institutional investor doesnt breach the 10 per cent investment cap in a single company.

Further, Sebi might prescribe better profiling of P-note subscribers to ensure if they are regulated in their home country. Issuers might also have to ensure that the threshold of 25 per cent for companies and 15 per cent on trusts and partnership firms isnt breached.

In the past two years, Sebi has been tightening norms on P-note issuances to prevent round-tripping and flow of undisclosed money through this route.

At the peak in 2008, nearly 40 per cent of foreign flows into the country were through P-notes. Currently, these account for 10-12 per cent for foreign flows. Beside regulatory tightening, the new FPI regulations, which have made the registration and compliance process easier for foreign investors, have led to the dwindling of flows through the P-note route.

However, P-notes remain an important access product. Several investors who dont want to go through the pain of registering onshore and filing returns opt for this route. These investors might stop investing if rules are tightened, said the official quoted above.

As of end-March, equity assets under custody (AUC) stood at Rs 2.23 lakh crore, nearly 12 per cent of the total FPI AUC of nearly Rs 19 lakh crore.
Talks between Pakistan and on the border crossing at Torkham ended in a stalemate , leaving thousands of people stranded along both sides of the border.

For the third consecutive day the border crossing at Torkham remained shut,reports Dawn.

Pakistani authorities closed the border on Tuesday after Afghan border forces prevented fencing along the border to stop illegal cross-border movements.

Thousands of people and vehicles are stuck up on both sides of the border, witnesses said.

Afghan defence and interior ministry officials held talks with a Pakistani delegation to solve the Torkham problem, but the talks ended without (yielding) any result and the border is still closed, Afghan Ambassador in Islamabad Omar Zakhliwal said.

He urged his countrymen not to exert pressure on the government's negotiating team and tolerate all problems for the sake of 'national interest and Afghan pride'.

Kabul, according to Zakhliwal, will continue its efforts to negotiate the reopening of the border.

He urged authorities on both sides to rise above such issues.

At his weekly news briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria confirmed that the Torkham border crossing had been shut down temporarily due to differences between Pakistan and over new border control measures.

In order to address the situation, he said, the government of Pakistan had decided to implement border control measures at Torkham for effective border management.

It is in the interest of the two countries to have a well-regulated border.

There were differences between the two sides on the implementation of measures to manage and regulate the border, due to which the border has been temporarily closed, he added.

He, however, pointed out that both sides were in contact with each other through the military-to-military channel to address this issue.
With the Bihar government under fire over the tragic incident of a teenager's murder allegedly by Janata Dal (United) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky Ranjan Yadav in a road rage incident, state Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Friday shifted the blame on the Centre. He asserted that the accused had procured a gun license without verification, clearly through the influence of someone powerful within the government.

"We have been asserting from day one that we condemn what happened but the politics happening over it is saddening. It has been printed today in a Delhi newspaper that the Delhi Police gave the gun license without verification. Why is no one talking about this?," Yadav told the media here.

He further added that if the Bihar police had done the same and doled out a gun without a license, the furore created by the Centre would have been unimaginable. The Bihar government will probe the matter.



"Everyone needs to maintain calm and practice a little restrain so that the law can take its own course. The incident is saddening and tragic for sure but the entire Bihar should not be disgraced for it. The BJP government is targeting Bihar to hide their own flaws," the minister said.

was arrested on Tuesday morning from his father's farm in Bodh Gaya., while the Excise Department had on Wednesday sealed the house of Manorama Devi.

A local court on Wednesday remanded Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead a student for overtaking his vehicle in Bihar, to two day police custody. The court had earlier sent Rocky to 14 days' judicial custody.

Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky is accused of killing Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva after an argument with the youth for overtaking his vehicle on Saturday night.
Local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Tapas Mallick was arrested today from Bamangachhi, North 24 Parganas in West Bengal, in the case of the murder of ITI student Kaushik Purkait. Kaushik was lynched to death by a mob three days ago on the suspicion of being a cattle smuggler.

On May 9, Purkait who was out for an evening stroll was captured and confined in a local club and was brutally thrashed by the people on the suspicion that he was a part of the gang involved in smuggling of cattle in the area.

He was later announced brought dead on arrival at the hospital.

Police have so far arrested four people, including a woman, in the case. Mallick, the prime accused was on the large.
Kendra Wilkinson has used social media platform to vent out her anger against her former co-star and Playboy Playmate, Holly Madison.

The 30-year-old actress took to her Twitter handle to write, "Now Holly is on cover of People mag sayin she lived in fear at the mansion. She wasn't in fear with that d - k in her ass for a paycheck," News.com reports.

The 'Kendra on Top' actress further tweeted, "That bitch is in fear now knowing so many of us saw her doing some nasty s - t. She's embarrassed and in shame. She was the clean up girl, adding: Hollys job was to get Hef hard again and clean him up with her mouth."

It is being said that Wilkinson's Twiiter rant came after a story, in which the 36-year-old New York Times Best-Selling author had said that she is no longer Wilkinson's friend.

However, later the 'Girls Next Door' star deleted the three tweets and wrote, "I know my recent posts were a little over the top and I apologise for that. Sticking up for my beliefs is hard for me at times. Sorry.
Bank of Maharashtra fell 2.36% to Rs 29 at 9:27 IST on BSE after the bank reported net loss of Rs 119.84 crore in Q4 March 2016 compared with net profit of Rs 112.72 crore in Q4 March 2015.

The result hit the market at the fag end of trading session yesterday, 12 May 2016.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 75.35 points, or 0.29%, to 25,714.87 .

On BSE, so far 8,950 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 23,149 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 29.15 and a low of Rs 28.75 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 44.15 on 15 May 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 26.75 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 12 May 2016, rising 0.85% compared with 2.56% rise in the Sensex. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 4.58% as against Sensex's 12.20% rise.

The mid-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 1168.33 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Bank of Maharashtra's gross non-performing assets (NPA) stood at Rs 10385.85 crore as on 31 March 2016, as against Rs 8301.62 crore as on 31 December 2015 and Rs 6402.06 crore as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of gross NPA to gross advances stood at 9.34% as on 31 March 2016, as against 7.97% as on 31 December 2015 and 6.33% as on 31 March 2015. The ratio of net NPA to net advances stood at 6.35% as on 31 March 2016 as against 5.52% as on 31 December 2015 and 4.19% as on 31 March 2015. The bank's provisions and contingencies rose 57.32% to Rs 679.51 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015.

The Government of India (GoI) held 81.61% stake in Bank of Maharashtra (as per the shareholding pattern as on 31 March 2016).

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for development of 8/6 laning of Delhi-Meerut Expressway - Package-II - Uttar Pradesh Border to Dasna Section of NH-24 in Uttar Pradesh.

The cost is estimated to be Rs.1983.51 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 19 kms.

This work will be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-VI. The approval is in Hybrid Annuity Mode.

The project will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between 'Delhi-Meerut' Uttar Pradesh Border to Dasna section on National Highway-24.

The development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of the concerned regions of the State. It would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities.

It has been estimated that a total number of 4,076 mandays are required for construction of one kilometre of highway. As such, employment potential of 78,602 (approx.) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of this stretch.

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Sales rise 91490.00% to Rs 91.59 crore

Net profit of Hinduja Ventures declined 20.25% to Rs 14.18 crore in the quarter ended March 2016 as against Rs 17.78 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2015. Sales rose 91490.00% to Rs 91.59 crore in the quarter ended March 2016 as against Rs 0.10 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2015.

For the full year,net profit rose 8.64% to Rs 100.59 crore in the year ended March 2016 as against Rs 92.59 crore during the previous year ended March 2015. Sales rose 266420.00% to Rs 266.52 crore in the year ended March 2016 as against Rs 0.10 crore during the previous year ended March 2015. ParticularsQuarter EndedYear EndedMar. 2016Mar. 2015% Var.Mar. 2016Mar. 2015% Var.Sales91.590.10 91490 266.520.10 266420 OPM %35.6818730.00 -61.4694750.00 - PBDT22.9818.74 23 125.4394.77 32 PBT22.6718.37 23 124.1193.31 33 NP14.1817.78 -20 100.5992.59 9

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Sales rise 23.37% to Rs 87.16 crore

Net profit of Kriti Industries (India) declined 42.75% to Rs 1.46 crore in the quarter ended March 2016 as against Rs 2.55 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2015. Sales rose 23.37% to Rs 87.16 crore in the quarter ended March 2016 as against Rs 70.65 crore during the previous quarter ended March 2015.

For the full year,net profit rose 334.57% to Rs 11.69 crore in the year ended March 2016 as against Rs 2.69 crore during the previous year ended March 2015. Sales rose 27.67% to Rs 462.21 crore in the year ended March 2016 as against Rs 362.04 crore during the previous year ended March 2015. ParticularsQuarter EndedYear EndedMar. 2016Mar. 2015% Var.Mar. 2016Mar. 2015% Var.Sales87.1670.65 23 462.21362.04 28 OPM %9.1710.88 -8.125.31 - PBDT4.724.91 -4 23.378.11 188 PBT3.673.97 -8 19.324.18 362 NP1.462.55 -43 11.692.69 335

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Manorama Devi, a Janata Dal-United legislator and mother of murder accused Rocky Yadav, on Friday filed an anticipatory bail plea in Bihar's Gaya civil court, even as authorities prepared to confiscate her house.

An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday against Manorama Devi for keeping liquor in her home in Gaya town against the prohibition law and for harbouring her fugitive son who has since been arrested, a police official said.

Her bail plea is scheduled to be heard on Monday, the official said.

The legislator, who was suspended from the ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Tuesday, has been evading arrest.

Her son Rocky Yadav was arrested on Tuesday from a house in Bodh Gaya for allegedly killing on May 7 Aditya Sachdeva, the teenaged son of a Gaya-based businessman, and has been remanded in police custody.

Manorma Devi's husband Bindi Yadav, a criminal turned politician, has also been arrested in connection with the killing of the teenager.

Aditya's family has demanded a CBI probe into the case and speedy trial to ensure justice for them.

With Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asserting that no guilty will be spared, the police promised to file a charge sheet within a month.

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) Sunil Kumar said: "Police have been working to complete investigations in the case within three weeks. The charge sheet will be filed within a month to ensure speedy trial."

--IANS

ik/kb/vt
An Australian security official working at the embassy in Iraq's capital Baghdad was shot dead during a gunfire, authorities confirmed on Friday.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop confirmed the news, after an alleged exchange of gunfire killed the man while he was stationed at the embassy on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I confirm the death of a 34-year-old Australian security contractor working at the Australian Embassy in Baghdad," Bishop said in a statement released on Friday.

"The circumstances surrounding his death will be thoroughly investigated."

Bishop said the man was a former member of the Australia's Special Air Service regiment, and was working as part of private security detail Unity Resources Group, which protects Australian diplomats stationed overseas.

She said despite the tragic death of the worker, other staff members were currently being protected by a "high level of security".

--IANS

ksk
Brazil's new interim President Michel Temer has pledged to renew economic growth and has called for greater trust.

In his first speech as acting president on Thursday, the former vice president voiced the urgency of creating a government of "national salvation" so that "we can overcome the serious crisis that we are in", Xinhua news agency reported.

"Trust in the values of our people and in our ability to rebuild the economy," Temer, 75, said while addressing the nation from the presidential headquarters of Planalto, minutes after President Dilma Rousseff vacated the offices after the Senate voted to put her on an impeachment trial.

After Wednesday's all-night session that lasted more than 20 hours, senators voted by 55 votes to 22 to suspend Rousseff and put her on trial for budgetary violations.

In her final speech on Thursday afternoon, she again denied the allegations and vowed to fight what she called an "injustice" by all legal means.

Temer has now taken over as president for up to 180 days - the maximum time allowed for the impeachment trial of Rousseff.

Surrounded by his new cabinet and other officials, Temer noted that dialogue was the first step towards facing the challenges and guaranteeing renewed economic growth.

"Nobody has the best way to go about making the reforms that are needed (but) the government, the parliament, society ... together we will find a way," he said.

Temer said that he wanted to boost public-private sector agreement to "generate employment in the country," and to make reforms.

Temer highlighted the need to rescue Brazil's credibility in the international market "so that entrepreneurs and workers become enthusiastic and invest and employ once again in Brazil."

Temer, who was the vice president for the last five years, also denied charges from Rousseff's Workers' Party and its allies that he would cut government social programmes.

"We all know that Brazil is a poor country and I confirm, with capital letters, that we will keep the social programs .... They are projects that were successful and for that reason they will have improved management," Temer said.

He added that he wanted to put a stop to "the habit that each new government has of destroying what was previously done. You have to honour what was done well and improve it."

"We have already got rid of several ministries in the government and we will not stop there," he said, adding his government was looking to cut unnecessary public posts.

Temer also said that the Carwash Operation, an investigation into alleged corruption within the government-run oil company Petrobras, "should be protected".

--IANS

ksk
Babusona Sarkar, 27, from West Bengal, in the running for the state assembly polls is a tea seller. However, any comparisons with Prime Minister Narendra Modi a la the chaiwala are simply brushed aside.

"I am not comparing myself to him. I am myself," Sarkar told a television channel when asked if he is another Modi in the making.

Sarkar is contesting as a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate from Ranaghat Uttar Purba constituency in Nadia district and is the only son of chaiwala parents.

The youngest contestant in the polls, he takes care of the small tea shop at the railway station platform at Aranghata around 9 km from Ranaghat.

According to a CPI-M webpage, "Introduction to Left politics began only when Babusona became associated with the Students Federation of India (SFI) in Ranaghat College in 2006. Through his practice to voice the demands of the common students in the college, he emerged as an activist and gradually acquired the rare qualities of leading the student movement."

With Rs.700 in his bank account and Rs.93,000 in assets, the Bengali literature postgraduate says his campaign was funded by sympathisers and supporters.

"I have not spent anything from my pocket," he said while serving piping hot tea to locals.

His mother is superstitious of speaking about her son's prospects as a potential legislator lest her own pride "becomes an omen".

"If he is successful then I know my life has been meaningful," his father said.

The six-phase West Bengal elections began on April 4 and concluded on May 5. The results will be declared on May 19.

--IANS

sgh/lok/rn
A former Chinese presidential aide was charged on Friday with taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power.

Ling Jihua, 59, the former chief of staff to ex-president Hu Jintao and the former deputy head of China's national political advisory body, was indicted by prosecutors in the port city of Tianjin, Xinhua news agency reported.

Prosecutors claimed his abuse of power caused great damage to public assets, the country and the people.

Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the Chinese government has spearheaded an aggressive anti-corruption campaign.

Nearly 300,000 Chinese officials were punished for corruption in 2015.

Ling was put under investigation in December 2014 and expelled from the Communist Party of China (CCP) in July 2015.

--IANS

ksk/vt
The Delhi High Court on Friday granted interim bail, till July 31, to Jharkhand Ispat Pvt. Ltd. directors R.S. Rungta and R.C. Rungta, who had been convicted and sentenced to four year jail term in a coal block allocation case.

Justice Siddharth Mridul granted bail to the duo on a personal bond of Rs.10 lakh each with two sureties of the like amount.

The court i its order said: "The sentence awarded to the appellants (Rungtas) by the trial court by way of judgement and order on sentence dated March 28 and April 4 respectively, impugned in the appeals, is suspended and they shall be released on interim bail till July 31."

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) did not oppose the interim bail to the directors - R.S. Rungta, 79 and R.C. Rungta, 60.

In the first sentencing in a coal block allocation case, a trial court on April 4 had sent the duo to jail for four years for the offence of criminal conspiracy and cheating under the Indian Penal Code in bagging a coal block.

Sending them to jail, the trial court had said that "white collar criminals are more dangerous" to society".

The court had also said that they had "fraudulently" and with a "dishonest intention" deceived the government in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.

--IANS

gt/vd
The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) rebel negotiators announced a mechanism to provide security and legal stability to a final peace agreement.

"This is a series of complementary institutional and democratic mechanisms, which together constitute an expeditious and safe route to comply" and to introduce the final peace agreement in the Colombian legal system, according to a joint statement released by the negotiators on Thursday in Havana.

The future peace agreement will be considered a "Special Agreement" and will become part of the Colombian constitutional block on a temporary basis, explained Colombia's government head of negotiators Humberto de la Calle.

The "special agreement" is based on the Geneva Conventions and will be incorporated into domestic law through a legislative act, which will be treated as an ordinary law. It will be discussed in joint constitutional commissions in Congress and Senate, as well as in plenary sessions of the two chambers.

As agreed, the Colombian government will present the processing mechanism agreed on Thursday to the legislative chambers before May 18, including a proposal for an transitional article in the Constitution.

It was announced that once the agreement is signed, there will be a presidential statement before the Secretary General of UN so that the agency supports the peace agreement.

--IANS

ksk
Filmmaker Omung Kumar's wife Vanita Omung Kumar, also the production designer for his film "Sarbjit", says creating a Pakistani ambience was a tough task for her.

"Creating Pakistan for 'Sarbjit' was a tough task for me. We could not go there to shoot for various reasons. So to find a place like a Pakistani jail was so difficult. Pakistan jails are very different. They are like huge and have major areas. The walls are like a fort," Vanita told IANS.

"So we went to Palghar fort and it was so interesting. They had these Islamic arches so I created the whole jail in Palghar. I have kept the beauty of the fort intact and it's completely in a real zone," she added.

Randeep Hooda plays Sarabjit Singh in the film, which is a biopic on the Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death.

Vanita, who is also co-producing the film, says it is very special to her.

She said: "Co-producing happened because this film is like our baby. A lot of hard work, passion, blood and sweat has gone into making this film. It's not just a film. It's like a mission and I just hope people feel the same way as we did while making this film. It's not just another film. It's a very special film for all of us."

--IANS

uma/nn/vm
The on Friday upheld the constitutional validity of the criminal defamation law in the country, saying it was not in conflict with the freedom of speech.

The apex court bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Prafulla C. Pant, while upholding the relevant sections of the Criminal Procedure Code, notably Section 499 and Section 500, said defamation doesn't have any chilling effect on freedom of speech.

"It is not necessary for all in the chorus to sing the same song. A magistrate should be extremely careful in issuing summons on a plea for the initiation of any criminal defamation case," Justice Misra said, pronouncing the judgment.
Cuban and US officials are set to meet again next week on normalising ties.

The third session of the Cuba-US Bilateral Commission will take place on May 16 in Havana, with the focus on improving political and economic ties, Foreign Affairs Ministry's Deputy Director for US affairs, Gustavo Machin said on Thursday.

"We will cover a number of issues we have been able to discuss in the last few months and we will set the agenda for the rest of the year," said Machin.

The two sides continue to have many differences on key matters, such as the withdrawal of US forces from Guantanamo Bay and the lifting of the Washington-led trade embargo, Xinhua news agency quoted the official as saying.

However, less than a year since they formally reopened embassies, Havana and Washington have made significant progress in the areas of environmental protection and maritime security, and have resumed postal services and direct flights, he noted.

In the diplomatic and political field, there have been many achievements through the meetings presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama have held, particularly the visit of Obama to Cuba in March, Machin said.

In the economic field, however, many unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington continue to hamper the normalisation of ties, he said.

"Cuba hasn't been able to make financial transactions in U.S. dollars, which means that banks around the world fear dealing with Cuban institutions because of possible sanctions by Washington," said Machin.

The third bilateral commission will be led by Josefina Vidal, the ministry's head of US affairs, and Kristie Kenney, counsellor for the US State Department.

--IANS

ksk
Six guerrillas of National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), who fled from their Bangladeshi hideout, have surrendered to the police, officials said here on Friday.

The guerrillas were led by their self-styled Second Lieutenant Gantha Charan Rupini, 39, and their surrender took place on Thursday night, Tripura police spokesman Uttam Kumar Bhowmik said.

Aged between 34 and 39, the militants told the police they recently fled from the NLFT camps at Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeast Bangladesh.

According to them, more NLFT cadres from Bangladesh were likely to surrender, Bhowmik said.

Over the past one month, 22 NLFT rebels with a huge quantity of arms and ammunition have surrendered to the Tripura police after escaping from their hideout in Bangladesh.

NLFT cadres and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) militants undergo arms training in hideouts in Bangladesh which shares an 856-km border with Tripura.

Banned in 1997 by the union home ministry, the two outfits advocate secession of Tripura from India. ATTF, however, has become almost defunct due to the surrender of most of its cadres.

A senior police official, citing intelligence reports, said that Bangladesh Army and security forces in separate raids have recently busted two different camps of NLFT and National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah faction) in mountainous Chittagong Hill Tracts.

--IANS

sc/kb/vm
The Congress on Friday alleged that Malegaon blast accused were being set free because they have links with the BJP-led central government.

"The central government wanted to save Malegaon (blast case) accused as they have connections with them," senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told the media here.

"Even Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) wants to save the people involved in terror activities."

Digvijaya Singh's remarks came amid reports that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had given a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case that killed six people in the predominantly Muslim town of Maharashtra.

The NIA is to submit its charges in a Mumbai court later on Friday.

--IANS

ruwa/sar/vm
Almost half of the 15.5 million children in the EU under the age of three were cared for by only their parents in 2014, with 28 percent attending some form of formal childcare, official data showed on Friday.

Being looked after by only their parents was the main childcare arrangement for this age group in a majority of EU member states, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.

However, there were big differences between member states. Countries which had the highest proportion of young children looked after by a stay-at-home parent were Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary and Slovakia, while the lowest figures were recorded in the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark and Cyprus, Efe news reported.

In 2002, an EU initiative to provide childcare for at least 33 percent of children under three was created as an incentive to encourage women to stay in the workforce upon becoming mothers.

This target of 33 percent of formal childcare, whether full-time or part-time, was reached in 10 EU member states in 2014, including Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Slovenia, Spain, and Finland.

Overall in the EU, fewer than a third of children under three attended formal childcare, meaning the target was still not reached, said Eurostat.

--IANS

py/dg
Actor Allu Arjun, who is basking in the phenomenal success of his latest Telugu outing "Sarrainodu", says he hasn't yet been used to his full potential and that there are many genres and different subjects that he would like to explore.

"I feel I haven't been used to the fullest of my potential. There are so many genres to explore and diverse subjects to work on," Arjun, one of the top cine stars in Telugu film world, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

He also feels he has restricted himself to one industry, thereby losing out on opportunity to work with directors from other languages.

"In the next five years, I am keen on expanding my base as a pan south Indian actor. Since most of our films cater to crossover audiences, I think it's time we make films for multilingual viewers. If 'Baahubali' could rake in over Rs.200 crore, it was only possible because it was released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi," he said.

"There has always been a market for bilinguals. It's just that we have realised it late, but I'm glad filmmakers are finally open to the idea. I'm really looking forward to work with directors from Tamil and Malayalam film industries," said Arjun, who will next team up with Tamil filmmaker Linguswamy for a yet-untitled Tamil-Telugu bilingual project.

While he remained tight-lipped about the impending project, he said: "I like new challenges. Working in a new industry will open the door to new horizons. Recently, I was in Bangalore to promote my film and the reception I got there took me by surprise. With such unprecedented support, I see it as a great industry (Kannada) to explore."

On a career high with three back-to-back blockbusters, Arjun's "Sarrainodu" is unstoppable at the ticket window, having recently grossed over Rs.100 crore.

Commenting on the successful run of his film, he said: "I just hope this momentum doesn't stop. The pressure to succeed has considerably increased as people will now expect my next film to do much better."

Even though the masses loved the film, it didn't elicit positive response from the critics.

"You can't expect critics to appreciate all kinds of cinema. They are intellectual, well read, so I don't think they can understand this film," he said, adding what really matters to him finally is whether he is given a good film or not.

He also said there's a strong reason why he did "Sarrainodu".

"I've always wanted one of my films to be in top five grossers across all areas in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Although some of my films are in the top league in Telangana, I couldn't create a similar impact in Andhra Pradesh. 'Sarrainodu' helped me achieve it," he said, and added that the film stands next to "Baahubali" in terms of overall revenue share across most areas in Andhra too.

"This film has served the purpose 200 percent," said an elated Arjun, who also has a yet-untitled Telugu medical thriller with director Vikram Kumar in the offing.

"Vikram and I are attempting something that hasn't been done in Indian cinema before. It's too early to talk about it," he said, assuring to share more information closer to the film's launch.

(Haricharan Pudipeddi can be contacted at haricharan.p@ians.in)

--IANS

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The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) will honour eminent Indian space scientist U.R. Rao with its 2016 'Hall of Fame' award for his outstanding contribution to astronautics, the Indian space agency said on Friday.

"The IAF award is intended to reward personalities for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the federation," state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement here.

Rao, 84, will receive the award and a certificate at the closing ceremony of the 67th International Astronautical Congress on September 30 at Guadalajara (Mexico).

"It is a true honour for IAF to attribute this award to Rao, who have been for many years an active participant to the success of space and of the federation," IAF president Kiyoshi Higuchi said in a letter to him.

The IAF Hall of Fame consists of a permanent gallery of famous personalities, including a citation, biographical information and a picture in a special part of the IAF web presence.

Udupi Ramachandra Rao was ISRO chairman and space secretary from 1985 to 1993. During his eight-year tenure, he accelerated the rocket technology development and guided his team of scientists to build rockets for launching two-tonne class of satellites into the polar orbit.

The Bengaluru-based Rao also initiated the development of the geostationary launch vehicle and cryogenic technology in 1991.

He is presently chairman of the governing council of the space agency's Physical Research Laboratory at Ahmedabad and chancellor of the Indian Institute of Science and Technology at Thiruvananthapuram.

The Paris-based IAF is an international space advocacy body set up in 1951 to initiate a dialogue among scientists the world over for space cooperation. It has 300 members from 66 countries.

--IANS

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Pakistan's ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani has, responding to the New York Times editorial, said that Pakistan cannot be held responsible for the mess in Afghanistan. He termed it the result of the collective failure of the international community, it was reported on Friday.

In a letter to the newspaper, the ambassador said, "Allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful, especially when Pakistan has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan. Hundreds of suicide bombings and tens of thousands of civilian casualties are the direct result of the US-led war in Afghanistan after 9/11."

"Instead of complaining the heavy cost imposed on us due to sustained external intervention in our neighbourhood, Pakistan has consistently cooperated with the US and coalition forces in sharing intelligence and decimating the terror outfits operating from the region," Jilani said.

"Since 2009, Pakistani forces have been engaged in incremental operations to clear the Pakistani soil from all the terrorist networks concentrated in this area because of the competing interests and mutual rivalries of the big powers," he said.

It was Pakistan's military which "fractured the back of Taliban" through indiscriminate counter-terrorism operations, the envoy added.

His letter read: "Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability. Omitting such fundamental questions, that impede a long-term solution to the Afghan problem, smack partisanship on part of the New York Times."

Jilani emphasised that Pakistan does not benefit from instability in Afghanistan and was determined to restore peace and prosperity in the neighbouring country.

The Pakistan envoy went on to say that the country played a completely neutral role in the Afghan elections and offered every possible assistance to the Afghan government to find a political solution in the country.

"The ongoing process involving the US and China besides Pakistan and Afghanistan has rightly agreed that the long-term peace in Afghanistan can only be achieved through reconciliation between the various Afghan stake holders. It is imperative that this peace initiative be given a chance to succeed what the war has failed to achieve in the last fifteen years," he added.

--IANS

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Milan, May 13 (IANS/AKI) An Italian priest accused of abusing dozens of children over a decade has agreed to pay 125,000 euros compensation to families of some of his alleged victims ahead of a criminal trial opening in June.

Mauro Inzoli, who is due to stand trial in the northern Italian town of Cremona for sexual abuse of minors, agreed to pay 25,000 euros to five of his alleged victims' families at a preliminary hearing on Thursday.

The families of the victims, whose current ages range from 12 to 16, had been considering becoming civil parties at 66-year-old Inzoli's fast-track trial which opens on June 29.

Inzoli faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted of eight acts of sexual violence against minors aged 10 to 16 between 2004 and 2008.

The alleged sexual abuse took place at parish offices where Inzoli led prayer groups, and in hotels during summer trips with pupils from a high-school in the Lombardy town of Crema where he was headmaster between 2004, according to prosecutors.

Fifteen other alleged paedophilia cases against Inzoli have been timed out by Italy's statute of limitations. The alleged victims in these cases are now adults.

Pope Benedict XVI defrocked Inzoli in 2012 after he was first accused of paedophilia but Pope Francis reinstated him in 2014, ordering him to stay away from minors and retire to "a life of prayer, penitence and humble discretion".

An outcry over Inzoli's treatment led to criminal proceedings being initiated against him in the Italian town of Cremona, after Franco Bordo reported the case to prosecutors.

Vatican has reportedly refused to hand over details of its own investigation of the priest, who is an ex-confessor of senators.

Inzoli is also known for his passion for cigars, expensive restaurants and luxury cars, which earned him the nickname "Don Mercedes" in the Italian press.

Close to 850 priests have been defrocked for sex abuse in the last decade and hundreds of millions have been paid to settle compensation claims by victims following investigations by Church tribunals.

--IANS/AKI

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Unidentified gunmen shot dead a journalist, Indradeo Yadav, in Jharkhand's Chatra district, police said on Friday.

The assailants, who were on motorcycles, fired five rounds of bullets on the Chatra-based journalist on Thursday night. He died on the spot.

The attack took place while he was returning home after work. Yadav was a correspondent for a local TV channel.

"We have got some vital clues including video footage of the bike and its number. The CID and forensic science team are investigating. We will soon crack the case," Jharkhand Director General of Police D.K. Pandey told IANS.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the killing and directed the police to arrest the criminals at the earliest.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, who was in Chatra on Friday campaigning for the Panki by-election, met the journalist's family members.

He voiced concern over the "worsening" law and order situation in Jharkhand.

"On a regular basis murders are taking place in Jharkhand. Even journalists are not safe under the BJP government. The law and order situation is worsening," he said.

The Jharkhand Journalist Association (JAA) and other media associations have condemned the killing.

A JAA delegation met police chief Pandey and Home Secretary N.N. Pandey and demanded the arrest of the accused and Rs.50 lakh compensation to Yadav's family.

--IANS

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Spanish premium fashion brand Massimo Dutti has made its debut in India with the launch of its first store here.

Massimo Dutti, which was created in 1985 in Spain, opened its newest global concept store at Select Citywalk here. The store was launched on Thursday, a statement said.

The concept of the new store, which houses womenswear, menswear, footwear and accessories, is based on a progressive evolution of the original boutique style.

The change is based primarily on finishes and shapes that aim for warmer, more contemporary spaces and environments.

The opening marked the foray of the Spanish premium brand into the Indian market at the behest of Inditex, the Spanish retail group which owns the brand. Globally, the brand has 755 stores across 73 countries.

--IANS

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is one of the most "straight forward and outspoken" person, who can help in improving the relations between India and Pakistan, says Pakistan-India Business Council (PIBC) Chairman Noor Muhammad Kasuri, who worked closely with former prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto.

"I feel that the atmosphere has changed for the better in both the countries towards each other, and I think it will continue. Politically speaking. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi is a very straight forward and outspoken leader, and I feel in the presence of such a strong-willed person, India and Pakistan relation has got a new breakthrough," Kasuri told a small group of reporters in response to a question by IANS.

"I think in the last few years, things have changed for the better between both the countries. Perception and mindset of people have changed. Coming from Pakistan, we feel that why should we spend more money on importing things from other countries when we have India as a neighbour. It will be much easy to import from them," he said.

Kasuri is confident that the trade dialogue between both nations will increase in years to come and shared that he has sent proposal to Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj for the same.

"The trade dialogue between both the countries has increased. In fact, just today we sent a proposal to Sushma Swaraj for better trade relations. Now we won't let this stop. I am expecting that the trade relation of India from Pakistan to touch $30 billion in the next five to six years."

He feels that small efforts will go a long way in building a bond.

"He called the Pakistan premier for his oath-taking ceremony and he also attended his birthday in Pakistan. These things show that India and Pakistan relation has got a new high. I feel that in the next five years, things between both the countries will change for the better," he added.

Kasuri was in the capital to grace the launch of Lifestyle Asia 2016 edition. The exhibition, which began on Friday, focuses on Pakistani and Indian craft, with over 60 stalls displaying designer and brand creations from both countries. Crockery, footwear, formal wear, bridal wear, artificial jewellery and Pakistani suits -- there's something for all.

"Our purpose is to make the relation between India and Pakistan smooth and the reason behind this exhibition is the same. This is about people-to-people contact," he said.

(Nivedita can be contacted at Nivedita.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Former Gujarat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to undermine the judiciary's independence.

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, made available to IANS, Mehta pulled up Jaitley for remarking that the judiciary was destroying the edifice of India's legislature "step by step, brick by brick".

"It is not the judiciary which is seeking to undermine the executive or the legislature," Mehta, formerly in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said in the letter.

"Rather, it is the executive, led by Modi, which is doing it on purpose, seeking to destroy the independence of judiciary in order to remove all the hurdles which he believes are coming in the way of establishing his autocratic rule."

Mehta quoted Modi as telling a gathering of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts that courts "need to be cautious against perception-driven verdicts" and that "perceptions are often driven by five star activists".

Mehta's letter to Jaitley said that Modi's efforts were to drive home the point that the judiciary should not go by the perception held by activists and others critical of the government.

He also alleged that the government does not appear "very keen to allow a smooth functioning of the Supreme Court collegium, which has the powers to appoint judges".

Mehta said these were some instances where the Modi government was trying to undermine the judiciary's independence.

Saying Jaitley may be finding the atmosphere under Modi "suffocating", he said: "I have personally suffered such suffocation in 2002 when I was industries minister under Modi (in Gujarat)."

Once a leading BJP leader in Gujarat, Mehta was the chief minister from October 1995 to September 1996. He quit the BJP in December 2007 after opposing then Chief Minister Modi.

He joined the Gujarat Parivartan Party but quit that too when it merged with the BJP in February 2014.

--IANS

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Monsoon is expected to hit Kerala by May 28 - two to three days early, predict weather analysts.

The monsoon this year would reach Andaman and Nicobar Islands by May 15. After hitting Kerala around May 28 it would reach central bay of Bengal and then gradually reach the northeastern states, they said.

"It's a good sign because it, at least, assures timely rains this year, but once the monsoon reaches eastern parts of the country that includes Bihar and Jharkhand it may become stagnant," private weather forecaster Skymet's director Mahesh Palawat told IANS.

Parts of Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Manipur may also see rainfall three to four days before the normal monsoon date, he said.

Some weather analysts, however, claim that stagnant monsoon predicted in eastern parts of India may not be a good sign.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has already predicted good rains - 104-06

centimetres - this year. The prediction pattern was based on change in the nature of El Nino

pattern.

--IANS

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Baba Hardev Singh, spiritual head of the Sant Nirankari Mission, died in a road accident in Montreal, Canada, on Friday. He was 62.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders expressed their condolences over the death of Baba Hardev.

"It was around five in the morning when his car met with an accident and he died," an official of the organisation told IANS here.

He said arrangements are being made to bring the mortal ramains of the spiritual head to Delhi and details about it would be known soon.

"With profound pain and sorrow, this is to inform you that His Holiness Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj has merged into this Almighty God," said an official statement issued by the mission.

The sect, with millions of followers across the world, has also requested them not to rush to the mission headquarters in New Delhi to avoid unnecessary inconvenience.

Modi said Baba Hardev Singh's demise was tragic and a great loss to the spiritual world.

"My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time," Modi said in a tweet.

Sonia Gandhi expressed shock and grief over Baba's death and offered condolences to all his followers.

"Spiritual values of equality and simplicity perpetuated by him and the Nirankari Samaj will forever remain relevant," she said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh said he was deeply pained to learn of the demise.

"He was a not only a spiritual leader but also a social reformer," Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also condoled the death of the spiritual leader.

--IANS

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Every morning, Gao Ru Lung zigzags on his bicycle between the crawling cars in the maddening traffic of Beijing. After wading through a sea of cars, the 46-year old professor of philosophy reaches the lane for cyclists, only to be honked at by the vehicles that spill on to the reserved lane.

"I feel like kicking the cars parked in bicycles lanes. It's very annoying," said Gao with clenched jaw and tightened fist.

His short commute from a subway station to his college frustrates him. It is the same story for every cyclist who is crying out for space which is shrinking with the swelling number of cars in Beijing, once called "kingdom of bicycles."

In 1986, about 63 percent people pedalled in the streets of Beijing. The number plummeted to 11 percent in 2015, thanks to China's galloping economy which is conspicuous on its roads where cars of every description from Hummer to Lamborghini jostle for space every day.

In the city of around 22 million, 5.6 million cars -- once deemed as a barometer for booming economy -- have added to the woes of Beijing as it battles with deadly air pollution and frightful traffic jams.

Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Heavy smog engulfs the capital quite often worsened by vehicular pollution.

The rising number of cars, which Beijing is trying to restrict, has forced the cyclists off the dedicated lanes and roads.

China is one of the largest bike producers in the world, but the number of bicycle riders has fallen to some three million, a number much better than Delhi that shares similar concerns of pollution and congestion.

The government is however gearing up to revive the bike culture in Beijing by sharply increasing the dedicated cycle lanes in the capital.

"Riding bikes was very popular in Beijing. When I was a child Beijing used to have a nickname of 'kingdom of bikes.' With the increasing popularity of private cars and public transport, the number of cyclists is declining sharply," Zhou Tian, deputy director in the decongestion department of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, told IANS.

"But we do know that these bikes can play an important role in reducing pollution. We have decided to make 3,200 kilometre lane for cyclists in Beijing by 2020," Zhou said.

Even though the polluted air and the high number of cars are dissuading factors for bike enthusiasts, many carry the portable and folding bicycles in subway trains.

The public bike sharing system is quite popular in the city. People like to use bicycles for last mile connectivity.

"Riding from the university to subway station is quite convenient, but not beyond. Too much pollution and traffic nowadays," a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University said, requesting that she be not named.

At present, there are some 1,900 bicycle racks in Beijing. Zhou said the government wants to increase their number to 10,000.

Most of them are near subway stations and bus stops.

One can take a bike from these racks by using the government-issued card. The first hour of usage is free.

Zhou admits that the people illegally park their cars in the bicycle lanes.

The rising number of cars has created a problem of parking. Many car owners occupy space in firefighting lanes. Zhou said the government will crack down on such car owners.

"Since riding bike is environment friendly, there is a plan of reviving it. In many European countries, more and more people choose to ride bikes to go out, Zhou said.

Zhang, who owns a bicycle shop in Beijing, laments people buy cycles for exercise, not for commuting, any more. The commuting system will have to go a full circle before Beijing is taken back by pedallers.

(Gaurav Sharma is Beijing correspondent of IANS. He can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallik, prime accused in the lynching of a 24-year-old ITI student in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said on Friday.

Mallik, a panchayat member representing the Trinamool, had been absconding since Monday when Koushik Purakait, an ITI student was lynched by a mob in Harindanga village near Diamond Harbour, accusing him of being a cattle thief.

"Mallik was arrested late Thursday night near Duttapukur (in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district)," said a police officer.

The family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident alleging the police to be "biased".

Meanwhile, the Diamond Harbour Bar Association said no advocate will represent Mallik who will be presented before a court on Friday.

"As a mark of protest against this barbaric incident, the bar association has unanimously resolved that none of its members will defend Mallik. I am a Trinamool member and our MP Abhishek Banerjee has instructed that any party member indulging in any wrong doing should be dealt harshly," said Sudip Chakraborty of the association.

While the family has named 10 people in its complaint including Mallik alleged to have led the lynching, the police have arrested five people in this connection.

Purakait had come to visit a relative's place and was roaming around when a mob confronted him with stealing a buffalo and thrashed him.

Purakait was taken to the city's SSKM Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

The incident attracted widespread condemnation with opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the lynching.

--IANS

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The Prakash Singh Committee, set up to probe lapses in the official response to the violence during the in Haryana in February, has held certain police and administrative officers guilty of laxity.

The panel, headed by Prakash Singh, former Director General of Police (DGP) for Uttar Pradesh and Assam, submitted its report to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Friday.

Sources in the Haryana government told IANS that nearly 30 officials were held responsible for inadequate response to the situation during the Jat reservation agitation from February 7 to 22 this year, which turned violent and paralysed life in 10 districts of Haryana.

Khattar, after getting the report said," The government would examine it and take appropriate action at the earliest."

The Jat reservation agitation resulted in blockade of roads, including highways, and extensive damage to public and private properties in many districts during the violence. At least 30 people, mostly young men, were killed and over 320 others injured. Property worth hundreds of crores of rupees was damaged and destroyed in the mayhem.

The report examined the role of officers in the affected districts like Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat, a state government spokesman said here.

"Officers who were derelict in the performance of their duties or who showed soft corner for the agitators and thereby allowed them a long rope have been identified," the spokesperson said.

The committee was set up to probe into omissions on the part of all the officials of civil and police administration during the reservation agitation.
A team of researchers, including those of Indian-origin, has found material in rock formations that dates back to shortly after the Earth formed.

The discovery, reported in the journal Science, will help scientists understand the processes that shaped our home planet's formative period and its internal dynamics over the past 4.5 billion years.

The research team -- which included Sujoy Mukhopadhyay and Vicky Manthos of University of California Davis, among others -- was able find a geochemical signature of material left over from the early melting events that accompanied Earth's formation.

They found it in relatively young rocks both from Baffin Island, off the coast of northern Canada, and from the Ontong-Java Plateau in the Pacific Ocean, north of the Solomon Islands.

These rock formations are called flood basalts because they were created by massive eruptions of lava.

The solidified lava itself is only between 60 and 120 million years old, depending on its location.

But the team discovered that the molten material from inside the Earth that long ago erupted to create these plains of basaltic rock owes its chemical composition to events that occurred over 4.5 billion years in the past.

The team arrived at the conclusion by measuring variations in these rocks of the abundance of an isotope of tungsten - that contains one isotope of mass 182 that is created when an isotope of the element hafnium undergoes radioactive decay, meaning its elemental composition changes as it gives off radiation.

It was a surprise to the team that such material still exists in Earth's interior.

"This demonstrates that some remnants of the early Earth's interior, the composition of which was determined by the planet's formation processes, still exist today," explained lead author Hanika Rizo from Universite du Quebec a Montreal in Canada.

"The survival of this material would not be expected given the degree to which plate tectonics has mixed and homogenised the planet's interior over the past 4.5 billion years, so these findings are a wonderful surprise," Richard Carlson from Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC.

The team's discovery offers new insight into the chemistry and dynamics that shaped our planet's formative processes.

Going forward, scientists said they will have to hunt for other areas showing outsized amounts of tungsten-182 with the hope of illuminating both the earliest portion of Earth's history as well as the place in Earth's interior where this ancient material is stored.

--IANS

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Amid opposition protests in the National Assembly over Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's continuous absence, the Pakistan premier was on Friday set to embark on a one-day private visit to Turkey, media reported.

The prime minister was expected to attend the National Assembly session on Friday to face a number of questions tabled by the opposition members over the issue of Panama leaks but, according to Dunya News, the decision to attend the house was suddenly postponed till Monday.

It was also announced that Sharif would go to Turkey on Saturday on a private visit.

Meanwhile, opposition members staged a walkout from the National Assembly in protest against Sharif's continued absence from the House.

Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Naveed Qamar said opposition lawmakers won't sit in Parliament until Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responds to their questions.

Later, the assembly session was adjourned due to lack of quorum.

On the other hand, a joint meeting of the opposition parties chaired by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan took place at Parliament House. Members of PPP, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf and other opposition parties participated in the meeting.

The meeting decided to boycott proceedings until the Prime Minister arrived in the House.

The opposition has demanded that it be taken into confidence on the Panama Papers Leaks.

The Panama Papers are an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The records were obtained from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The ICIJ then shared them with a large network of international partners, including the Guardian and the BBC. News daily Indian Express was also among those with which the information was shared.

The names of a number of politicians across the world have figured in the Panama Papers -- which name 259 Pakistanis as having interests in offshore companies. Sharif's three children are among those named as having offshore wealth.

--IANS

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The Korean Federation of Environmental Movement (KFEM) on Friday called on consumers to boycott British company Oxy Reckitt Benckiser (Oxy RB) over at least 70 deaths related to toxic cleaning products sold by the company.

The Korean Centre for Disease Control in 2011 linked Oxy RB's humidifier disinfectant, sold in South Korea since 1991, to respiratory illnesses and impaired lung function affecting at least 177 persons, 70 of whom have died, Efe news reported.

The product has now been withdrawn, and South Korean prosecutors earlier this week requested a warrant to arrest former CEO of Oxy Korea, Shin Hyun-woo, for allegedly being aware of the toxicity of products but marketing them nonetheless.

The multinational company has since taken full responsibility and vowed to make amends.

"OXY RB and RB have expressed our sincere apologies to all those victims of the HS tragedy in Korea and stated absolutely our determination to do the right thing for the victims and their families," the company said in a statement.

But civil activists, including those from KFEM, said OXY RB still maintains an 80 percent share in the disinfectant market globally, continuing to sell the toxic cleaning materials in 180 countries worldwide.

"It has been three years and eight months since this unbelievable tOXYc chemical disaster was unveiled. But still you are denying your responsibility," accuses a petition on social movement platform change.org, listing acute interstitial pneumonitis and terminal bronchiolo-alveolar damage owing to chemicals found in dozens of Oxy RB cleaning products.

--IANS

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Spanish nationals Marta Miguel and David Hernandez, who disappeared 11 days ago while sailing in Malaysian waters north of Borneo island, said on Friday that they never lost hope of being rescued.

"We always had hope, we never thought that this was the end," Miguel told EFE after passing a checkup at Gleneagles Hospital in the northeastern state of Sabah.

Miguel and Hernandez, along with Malaysian national Ali Hassan Armella and Chinese Tommy Lam, were rescued on Thursday by Vietnamese fishermen in waters in the South China Sea, about 370 km west of where they disappeared.

The four were travelling in a 12-metre-long boat from Balambangan island to Kudat, Sabah state, on a route that usually takes about two hours.

But a wave knocked them over, and broke the boat's engine, causing the vessel to drift as it was dragged by the current.

"The first three days we saw the coast is far but after the seventh day we could not see the coast," said Miguel, hours after stepping on land.

Good weather, a calm sea and fish jumping into the boat helped them survive until they were rescued by the fishermen.

"The sea is relentless but was also generous to us," Hernandez said.

--IANS

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The mail from Lucknow was terse. "Ibne Hasan Advocate is no more."

He was "Ibne Hasan bhai" to me ever since he cast me as the young Daagh Dehlvi in 1954 in "Dehli Ki Aakhri Shama" (Flicker of the Last Lamp in Delhi), a Tamseeli Mushaira enactment of the last poetic gathering in the Red Fort in 1857. Ghalib, Zauq, Momin, Daagh and other great contemporaries participated in this historic soiree.

The show was staged at the University Union Hall where Ibne, as master of ceremonies, announced a hundred awards for the young Daagh.

The couplet which brought the ceiling down was:

"Jo rahe ishq mein qadam rakkhein,

Woh nasheb o faraz kya jaanein"

(They who step onto the path of love,

Do not distinguish the highs from the lows)

Prof. Ehtesham Hussain, Prof. Aale Ahmad Suroor, Amritlal Nagar, all sent chits of paper to Ibne requesting him to announce awards for me as "Daagh" in their names too. At 14, I was eager to collect these "awards" which, alas, never materialized. One had to take the will for the deed.

This was typical of Lucknow's intellectual elite - their budgets having shrunk after the Zamindari (landlordism) Abolition of 1951. In a general sort of way they moved in two political directions. Some stayed with the Congress party, largely because of Jawaharlal Nehru's appeal. Others of a more literary bent gravitated towards progressive causes, even Communism.

This became the stepping stone for the Progressive Writers Association which received a shot in the arm when P.C. Joshi became Secretary General of the party. Sajjad Zaheer, Ali Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi, Majrooh Sultanpuri, Niaz Haider, Saiyyid Mohammad Mehdi, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Balraj Sahni, Bhisham Sahni, Krishan Chander, Mahinder Singh Bedi, Ismat Chugtai, Sahir Ludhianvi - the lot - became active in the PWA. Many followed Joshi to Mumbai as "full-time" members of the party. Thence to Bollywood.

There were others who could not make these stark choices. Majaz Lucknowi for instance. Ibne belonged to a whole category of educated youth, highly politicized, but unable to strike a balance between Leftist idealism and the practical requirement of bread for the table.

Because he had been in university with my firebrand Aunt, Alia Askari (later Alia Imam), and addressed my mother a "Baji jaan", we had a ringside seat on his impecunious circumstance.

He spent his mornings table hopping at the Coffee House, now with Ram Manohar Lohia, Amritlal Nagar, Ehtesham Hussain and, most frequently with Majaz, a genius in the firmament of Urdu poetry but in penury. He had found Bollywood too harsh and retreated into his Lucknow shell. This provided Ibne the opportunity to know Majaz better, even when the latter shifted to Delhi to take up employment at All India Radio. Ibne had no great memory for poetry but he remembered Majaz's couplet, the first one ever to have been broadcast:

"Saara aalam gosh bar awaz hai,

Aaj kin haathon mein dil ka saaz hai."

(The world listens with rapt attention.

Who is playing this instrument of the heart?)

Failed love, once with a married woman in Delhi, and another in Lucknow were reasons for nervous breakdowns which resulted in Majaz being confined to psychiatric centres for long spells. This was Ibne's version as Majaz's informal Boswell.

Ibne was part of the well knit team Alia Askari put together to organize the Urdu convention in Lucknow's Qaisar Bagh Baradari in December 1955. The mushaira turned out to be a historic event: Sardar Jafri challenged the audience: let us see who tires first, poets or the audience? The scintillating stalemate continued well past midnight.

Majaz, in an advanced stage of inebriation, had recited a rather tepid ghazal:

"Jigar aur dil ko bachana bhi hai

Nazar aap hi se milana bhi hai."

(How do I protect my heart,

And yet make eye contact with you?)

No one noticed that someone had whisked Majaz away to a country liquor tavern in a lane near Lalbagh. It is not known what happened on the first floor of the bar. But when the bar opened the next day, Majaz was found lying, in a coma, on the terrace. He had spent a cold December night in the open. Efforts to save him in the nearby Balrampur hospital failed.

The memorial meeting at the Rifah e Aam club, where Ibne, like my elder brother, escorted me, will always remain etched on my mind. As a teenager, I had the privilege of shedding a tear on the death of a great poet.

Ismat Chugtai was blunt. She put her finger where it hurt. "Shame on the women who loved his poetry but, for married life, they sought middle class security elsewhere." Majaz describes this rejection in his masterpiece poem, Awara or Vagabond.

The term "Middle class", had almost derogatory implications for generations which had transited from feudalism to economic embarrassment but progressive politics. They had totally missed out on the "middle class" experience. Many of our eccentricities, it turns out, derive from that missing link.

Ibne's political acumen was spotted by Keshav Dev Malaviya, a progressive member of Nehru's cabinet. This proximity was sought to be exploited by owners of some sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh. For Ibne, it was not harmless drudgery. But even these adjustments did not take away from Ibne bhai his unconventional agnosticism.

In his last days Ibne bhai was ailing but still found the strength to recite Majaz's lines:

"Phir iske baad subah hai,

Aur subhe nav, Majaz

Hum par hai khatm

Shaame gharibaa ne Lucknow."

(Look, a new dawn breaks. The night of Lucknow's exiles, will end soon - along with me.)

(Saeed Naqvi is a commentator on political and diplomatic affairs. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)

--IANS

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Actor Tom Hiddleston has fuelled rumours that he might be the next James Bond after he was spotted enjoying a "jolly" meeting with director Sam Mendes and producer Barbara Broccoli here.

Hiddleston, best known for his portrayal of Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, joined Mendes and Broccoli at private members club Soho House here this week.

"At first it was Barbara, Tom and another good looking young man. Then Sam Mendes joined them at about 11pm and they stayed until around 1 a.m... There was lots of laughter; they all looked to be having a very jolly time," mirror.co.uk quoted a source as saying.

"We were gobsmacked they were being so brazen about it. They clearly didn't mind who saw them," the source added.

--IANS

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A top Hezbollah commander was killed on Friday in a pwerful explosion near the airport in Syria's capital Damascus.

"A big explosion targeted one of our positions near the International Airport of Damascus, which led to the martyrdom of our brother, commander Mustafa Badreddine," Hezbollah, in a statement told Xinhua news agency.

Badreddine was a military leader of Hezbollah. He was the cousin and brother-in-law of late Imad Mugniyah, a high-ranking commander, who was also killed in Damascus by an explosion in 2008.

Badreddine held several positions in Hezbollah and was tasked with many operations abroad. As the group started fighting the jihadi groups in Syria alongside tgovernment forces, Badreddine was among those operating in Syria.

According to local media reports, the explosion was caused by an Israeli strike near Damascus airport.

--IANS

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Abu Dhabi, May 13 (IANS/WAM) A UAE researcher has contributed to the discovery of a new species of ant, according to a paper published in the Journal of Natural History.

The study, led by Mostafa R. Sharaf of the College of Food and Agriculture Sciences at Saudi Arabia's King Saud University, describes the ant species, whose scientific name is Lepisiota omanensis, as being remarkable because of "its exceptionally long, acute and strongly curved propodeal spines".

The paper describes the new species on the basis of five specimens, one of which was collected in Oman in 2012, two of which were collected in Ain Al Waal in UAE in 2014, and two in Oman in March this year.

The UAE researcher, Huw Roberts, from the Emirates University, said: "I have so far recorded well over 400 species of insects, most of which have been identified from specimens by specialists from around the world."

"This discovery shows that we still have much to learn about the wildlife and biodiversity of the UAE," he added.

--IANS/WAM

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The United Nations has lifted sanctions imposed on an oil tanker owned by a city-based company which had breached them during a business operation in Libya last month, it was announced on Friday.

The oil tanker, MT Distya Ameya, owned by Arya Shipping Co, had been blacklisted by the UN on April 26 after it picked up 6.5 lakh barrels of oil from Al Herega Port in Libya and was bound for Malta, and it emerged that this shipment was in breach of sanctions imposed on the interim Libyan government which the UN did not recognize.

"The vessel MT Distya Ameya was listed pursuant to the resolution as transporting crude oil illicitly exported from Libya, based on information received from the government of Libya," the UN Sanctions Committee said in its order on April 26.

Since it was an Indian-flagged ship, the Indian Director-General of Shipping (DGS) took up the issue with the Permanent Mission of India to the UN.

Following the DGS directives, the oil tanker returned to Libya, discharged its entire oil consignment at the designated port under the supervision of the north African country's National Oil Corporation, controlled by the government of National Accord of Libya, which is recognized by the UN.

The cargo unloading was completed on May 6 and it was found that neither the foreign charterers or the Indian owners and managers of the ship were aware of the UN sanctions.

After this, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in New York issued a Note Verbale to the UN Security Council apprising it of the developments and compliance of the orders, and on Thursday, the UN formally lifted the sanctions on the vessel - 16 days after it was slapped with the restrictions for carrying the disputed Libyan oil.

The ship is now completely free to resume its normal sailing and commercial operations.

--IANS

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Susannah Mushatt Jones, the granddaughter of slaves who held the title of "world's oldest living person" and "the last American born in the 19th century", has died at the age of 116, it was reported on Friday.

Born in July 6, 1899, she passed away on Thursday in a Brooklyn nursing home where she had lived for three decades.

Originally from Montgomery, Alabama, Jones, according to RT online, was born the same year the word "automobile" first appeared in text - and lived through two World Wars and 20 US presidents.

Jones credited her long life to not drinking, smoking or partying, a family member told NBC, adding that the fresh fruit and vegetables she ate during her childhood helped maintain her health.

One of 11 siblings, she graduated from school in 1922 before working full-time picking crops with family members on the same land her grandparents farmed as slaves.

Her grandmother lived to be 117 years old, according to US census data.

She was accepted into Tuskegee Institute's teaching programme. But as her parents could not afford the tuition fees, she left for New Jersey and then New York where she found work as a nanny and housekeeper.

Married once with no children, she returned to Alabama after retiring in 1965. But as more of her family moved north, she returned to New York where she lived until her death.

At age 80, she moved into an elder home in Brooklyn where she continued to cook for herself and partake in the neighbourhood watch until she was 100.

She refused cataract surgery, leaving her blind and partially deaf.

Her reign as the world's oldest person commenced last year when 117-year-old Misao Okawa died in Tokyo in April 2015.

Now, 116-year-old Emma Morano from Italy, born after Jones on November 28, 1899, is the world's oldest person and one of the last living links to the 19th century.

--IANS

ahm/mr
Jammu and Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Muhammad Yasin Malik on Friday criticised the Mehbooba Mufti government for "stifling the voice of separatists" and also attacked its industrial policy.

"When out of power, (chief minister) Mehbooba Mufti behaves like a human rights activist, but when in power, she unleashes state terrorism," he said at a press conference here.

He hit out at the state government for disallowing a seminar called here by the hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani.

"Disallowing debate and discussion is the worst kind of state terrorism perpetrated by the state government," he said.

Malik also said the industrial policy announced by the state government was similar to the setting of East India Company through which the British finally subjugated India.

"Kashmiri businessmen and industrialist must boycott this policy. We will oppose the policy tooth and nail."

He also said the people and the separatists would not allow setting up an ex-servicemen (Sainik Colony) in .

--IANS

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The UK government's latest reply to the Indian government expressing its inability to deport Vijay Mallya, instead offering to help with the extradition process, has raised several questions. Till now, unlike in past cases, the Indian govt was seen to be proactive in ensuring Mallya is brought back to the country and forced to pay his dues of over Rs 9,000 cr that he owes to Indian banks.
is joining forces with another fruit in China. The US tech giant is investing $1 billion in car-hailing app Didi Chuxing, whose Chinese name means "little orange". can afford to lend Didi a helping hand in its costly battle with rival Uber. But, it's less clear how that will help revive iPhone sales or ease regulatory pressure.

When Didi's president first met Chief Executive Tim Cook in April she joked that "a company named after a fruit could always achieve something big". Cook must have agreed: less than a month later, the $495 billion giant made a rare strategic investment in Beijing's tech darling, last valued at a reported $25 billion.

The timing looks ripe. The Cupertino-based company suffered its first drop in quarterly revenue in 13 years in the three months to March. Sales in Greater China - its most important market after the United States - were down by more than a quarter year on year. Relations with Beijing have also soured: regulators shut down Apple's online book and film services last month, and the company lost a key trademark case. Investors, including activist Carl Icahn, have bailed out.

The Didi investment will barely dent the more than $150 billion of cash and marketable securities that Apple had on its balance sheet at the end of March. Besides, at the rate that it generated operating cash flow last year, the company will replenish the $1 billion outlay in less than five days.

Less certain is how Didi can help Apple reverse its fortunes in the People's Republic. The two have yet to announce any details of the strategic tie up. Car technology may be one area of cooperation. Another is Apple Pay, which launched in China earlier this year. But Didi already offers competing mobile payments systems from its existing shareholders, local tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.

Meanwhile Apple is wading into the costly battle between Didi and Uber China. The two are spending billions of dollars each year on subsidies for drivers in an attempt to gain market share. Though the latest investment gives it a huge boost, Didi could burn through Apple's funds in a matter of months. The benefits Apple can squeeze out in return are harder to digest.
I often visit places of worship (PoW) out of gluttony. If there is good food available, and there almost always is near every major PoW, I'm game. I also visit PoWs for aesthetic reasons. Some of the world's most wonderful works of architecture, art, literature and music, et al, were created in honour of the divine. If a PoW is beautiful, or it has historical significance, or it hosts tuneful musicians, or features mellifluous chanting, I am happy to show up. Of course, I also visit PoWs for social reasons. Somebody has died; somebody is getting married; whatever. I will show up to demonstrate my affection for the concerned persons.
In politics, symbolism is all. The escalating row over China's status in trade disputes is a case in point. Both the People's Republic and its foreign partners are attaching too much importance to the debate.

Beijing thinks it should be awarded "market economy status" as a seal of approval for the reforms it has made over the last few decades. Many European lawmakers think doing so would destroy jobs by opening the floodgates to cheap Chinese steel. In reality, neither side is right.

Despite the grand title, this is actually a technical argument over trade rules. Market economy status matters when it comes to deciding whether a country is "dumping" - exporting goods at below cost price. Nations deemed to be market economies can resist anti-dumping measures if they can show that domestic prices are no higher than the price at which goods are sold overseas. This makes it harder for trade partners to claim they are selling abroad at unfair prices.

is pushing Western countries to give it the designation. But, a global glut of cheap Chinese steel has galvanised political opposition. It is the main reason that the European Parliament on May 12 voted overwhelmingly to reject China's claim to market economy status. Though the vote is non-binding, it raises the stakes for the European Commission, which will decide whether deserves to have its status upgraded.

Given the easy credit, free land and subsidised energy many Chinese state-owned companies enjoy it is hard to argue they are operating in a market economy. Besides, has made little progress in reforming state-owned enterprises in recent years, despite promises to do so.

However, the political row overstates the importance of the matter. A mere 1.4 per cent of bilateral trade between China and the European Union (EU) is affected by the provision. And, even if the EU were to grant China market economy status, the bloc could still tighten its guidelines on antidumping procedures to protect its domestic industry.

Heightened rhetoric from China and its trading partners is obscuring how little this provision really matters. The danger is that the symbolic debate will do serious damage to wider trade relations.
The first major corruption scandal in independent India was in 1962 when the chief minister of Punjab was accused of malfeasance -and condoned by Jawaharlal Nehru. Since then it has been one damn thing after another in an accelerating mode. The AgustaWestland affair is merely the latest.
A 19-year-old woman and her two male accomplishes have been arrested for allegedly robbing a woman in south Delhi, police said today.

Sanna, along with her associates, had hatched the conspiracy to rob her friend Jyoti Chhabra, as she was jealous of her lifestyle, they said.

Besides Sanna, the police have arrested 22-year-old Aman and a juvenile in the case and claimed to have recovered robbed cash of Rs 11,500, a gold chain, two mobile phones and a scooty which was allegedly used in the crime.

On the intervening night of May 5-6, the police were informed about a robbery at Chhabra's house in Humayunpur village near Arjun Nagar here.

The victim had told the police that she was present in her rented house with her two friends, including Sanna, and around 12.15 AM, three unknown youths barged in and committed the robbery at knife point.

The police said a case was lodged and Sanna and others were questioned.

Sanna's testimony was not found to be consistent after which footage of CCTVs installed in the area were examined, they said.

They said that in the CCTV footage, Sanna was found to be with the three and the victim identified them as the robbers.

DCP (South) Ishwar Singh said Sanna was found to be a drug addict and she had contacted the victim and offered her to return her robbed articles if she would take back her case.

On May 11, when the two accused approached the victim and started talking to her, she signaled the police and they were apprehended.

Aman was previously involved in three criminal cases.

"During interrogation, both accused confessed to have committed the robbery along with co-accused Yogesh, as per the conspiracy hatched by Sanna," the police said.

Sanna was arrested and a robbed gold chain was recovered from her possession, they said.

They said efforts to arrest Yogesh are on.
Thirty liquor bottles were seized from a passenger train at Jhajha railway station in Bihar, in a joint operation by Excise department and GRP today.

Excise Superintendent Prahlad Prasad Bhushan said during search in 8183 UP Tata-Danapur Express the team of excise officials and GRP seized a bag containing 30 bottles of whiskey from a general compartment.

No passenger claimed ownership of the seized consignment with the street value of about Rs 15,000, he said.

Nitish Kumar government had on April 5 this year imposed total ban on the sale and consumption of country and spiced as well Indian-Made Foreign Liquor.
Four people, including three foreigners, who turned up after disappearing for more than a week in the South China Sea were found by chance aboard a trespassing Vietnamese trawler, Malaysia's coast guard has said.

Spanish nationals David Hernandes Gasulla and Martha Miguel, Hong Kong citizen Tommy Lam Wai Yin, and Malaysian Armilla Alihassan went missing in their small boat May 2 while on an island-hopping excursion off the Malaysian state of Sabah on Borneo island.

Malaysia's coast guard and navy launched a search-and-rescue operation but hope faded as days went by and they were not found.

The quartet were unexpectedly discovered yesterday when a Vietnamese fishing trawler was intercepted in the disputed Spratly Islands near Layang-Layang atoll, a popular diving spot, for encroaching in Malaysia's territorial waters, coast guard First Admiral Zubil Mat Som told local media.

Through the trawler's crew, authorities learned that the four had been picked up by two other Vietnamese fishing boats, he said during a press briefing in Sabah's capital Kota Kinabalu late Thursday, The Star reported.

The other Vietnamese ships were then contacted by radio.

"We were shocked. The woman on the radio told us she was Armilla and it didn't hit me then that she was among the four missing people. It was only when she said she was with Tommy that it clicked," he said.

The foursome were said to be in good health, and photos posted on Twitter by Malaysia's coast guard showed them smiling as they arrived back in Kota Kinabalu on Friday morning.

Zubil said he did not know why the group went missing or how they came to be aboard the Vietnamese boats. They were to be interviewed by authorities on Friday.

Malaysian fishermen had recovered an engine entangled in their net last weekend that was believed to be from the missing boat, prompting fears that it had sunk and the group had perished.
Six insurgents of outlawed National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT), who fled from their base camp in Chittagong Hill Tract in neighbouring Bangladesh, have surrendered before police.

Superintendent of Police (Police Control), Uttam Bhowmick, said the ultras led by self-styled lieutenant, Ganthachran Rupini surrendered before DSP, Ranabir Debbarma, at Bhandarima, a remote tribal hamlet in North Tripura district, yesterday.

They deposited two wireless sets during surrender.

The insurgents told interrogators that the outfit was facing financial difficulties.

Besides, frequent raids by Bangladeshi security forces in their camps are making it difficult for the outfit to use the foreign soil, Bhowmick said.

The NLFT was formed in 1989 to establish independent Tripura but it was weakened over the years due to splits and raids by security forces in both India and neighbouring Bangladesh where they had set up a number of camps.
The Delhi High Court today said the AAP government appeared "more interested" with regard to advertisements on buses as they would bring more revenue rather than focusing on a policy for ads on autos where the money would go to owner of the vehicles.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru made the observation after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government told the court that it was reconsidering the entire policy of outdoor advertisements and handed over minutes of a meeting held regarding ads on buses.

"The minutes of the meeting deal with advertisements on DTC buses. Why don't you (Delhi government) answer the three questions raised by us?



"It appears you are more interested in buses as then you can display full body wrap advertisements and the revenue comes to you, unlike autos where the revenue goes to the owners," the court said and directed the government to "focus" on the three questions raised by the bench in its order of September 2014.

The bench gave the government time till July 22 to file an affidavit indicating its "clear stand" with regard to policy for advertisements on autorickshaws.

In its order of September 19, 2014, the court had focused on three issues - whether political advertisement should be allowed on public service vehicles, their pre-censorship, and whether advertisements ought to be allowed only for vehicles having GPS and GPRS systems.

The court was hearing two PILs filed on behalf of some auto unions challenging the government's policy on display of advertisements on public service vehicles and in which the court has already reserved its verdict.

The court has taken up the matter now as it wanted to know whether the government on its own would address the issues raised by the petitioners.

During the hearing, advocate Govind Jee, appearing for the petitioners, said the current government "was also insensitive like the previous ones" as it has not yet taken a decision and keeps asking for more time. He contended that reconsideration of the three aspects should not take so much time.

The earlier government had refused to remove the word



"political" from the guidelines.

In June 2013, the then Delhi government had banned advertisements on public service vehicles after auto-rickshaws started sporting AAP posters in the run-up to Delhi assembly elections.

Thereafter, the high court had stayed the ban.

In May 2014, the city government had informed the court that it was in the process of finalising the general guidelines for allowing advertisements on public service vehicles and it was awaiting approval of the Lt Governor.

On August 1, 2014, the government had placed before the court its latest guidelines for display of advertisements on public service vehicles, as per which advertisements containing political, ethnic, religious or sectarian text will not be permitted.

The policy also stated that advertisements cannot be displayed without prior approval of municipal bodies and would be allowed only for vehicles which have installed GPS/GPRS systems.
Ahead of the impending dengue season, the Delhi government has decided to do a mapping of dengue-affected areas identified last year and launch an awareness campaign on prevention of the mosquito-borne disease in the capital.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said as cases of dengue mostly start emerging from June onwards, the government will focus on preventive measures so that mosquito breeding could be checked.

"We will engage people to prevent spread of the viral disease and for this, we will run a campaign on large scale in schools and other places," he told reporters here.

He said the government will focus on educating people about the prevention of the disease.

"If the government focuses on preventive measures this year we can be able to control dengue cases," he said.

The Minister also appealed to the people to do cleaning works at their houses every week and not allow storage of water in containers and plants for more than seven days.

As per the plan, the AAP government will strictly monitor works of domestic breeding checkers (DBC), hired by municipal corporations. DBC workers are involved in checking households for mosquito breeding which is essential to keep the cases of dengue under control.

Last year, with over 15,500 cases till mid-November, the dengue outbreak was reported to be the worst in the city since 1996 when 10,252 cases and 423 deaths were reported.

According to a municipal report, at least seven cases of dengue have been reported in the national capital this year, five of them in the first 10 days of April.

Jain further said the government will make sufficient



arrangements at mohalla clinics to treat dengue patients and fever cell will also be set up at these clinics.

The Delhi Health Corporation (DHC), which will be responsible for purchase of medicines, consumables, equipment, and providing other services across 36 hospitals run by the city government, was registered yesterday.

"Delhi Health Corporation registered today. A big step in health sector reforms,(sic)" Jain tweeted last night.

"After registration of DHC, government will not engage doctors in non-clinical works so that there will be no dearth of doctors in its hospitals," he said.
An 'action commander' of the proscribed Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, and 23 other members of the outfit surrendered before the Director General of Police Rajiv Mehta today and deposited arms and ammunition.

The 'action commander', identified as Hedeo Ch Momin, surrendered with an AK 56 rifle, over 1,300 anti-aircraft ammunition and over 3,400 medium machine gun ammunition.

Of the other 23 rebels who surrendered today include West Garo Hills district 'area commander' Chingnang who laid down an AK 56 rifle, while 'area commander' of Chokpot area of South Garo Hills, Josbel Ch Marak, surrendered an SLR rifle and three magazines, police said.

Earlier this month, 30 hardcore cadres of GNLA including its Finance Secretary laid down arms on two separate occasions.

GNLA's announced objective is to achieve a separate Garoland on the lines of the Bodo Territorial Council in Assam but the group were also involved in killing, kidnapping for ransom and terrorising people in five western Garo Hills districts in the state.
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd today said it has signed an exclusive deal to bring London-based designer brand Simon Carter to India.

"This deal was part of our strategic intent to grow our international portfolio and this new relationship with Simon Carter will bring London's high fashion to the Indian market," Aditya Birla Group Business Head, Apparel & Retail Business Pranab Barua said in a statement.

The company plans to launch Simon Carter exclusive stores across the three top metros of Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, he added.

"The brand will offer complete ensemble solutions ranging from formal wear to casual wear," Barua said.

Carter said: "We have worked together for a number of years and they are perfectly placed to use their expertise and resources to bring my brand to the Indian customer."



Simon Carter, who began his career in 1985 with a wholesale business, retails his collections in 40 countries around the world, including Liberty, Bloomingdales USA, Seibu Japan, Brown Thomas Ireland, and David Jones Australia.

Formerly known as Pantaloons Fashion & Retail Ltd, ABFRL has a portfolio of brands spans from luxury to super premium, premium, sub-premium to fast fashion segments. It has over 7,000 points of sale across over 375 cities and towns, which include more than 2,000 exclusive ABFRL brand outlets.
Hollywood superstar George Clooney says his wife Amal gifted him a lawn mower as his 55th birthday present.

The actor joked that he celebrated his birthday with "crying and drinking", reported People magazine.

"We have a beautiful front lawn at our house in England and I used to mow lawns when I was a kid. So she bought me this giant riding lawn mower that is sitting at the house right now and I'm very excited about putting that to work when I'm home," Clooney told ET Canada at Cannes Film Festival.

The actor was at the festival to promote his upcoming film, Jodie Foster-directed "Money Monster" with co-star Julia Roberts.

Roberts said she could see Amal's influence on Clooney, who married his barristor wife in 2014.

"Only when we're at their house I see the influence. In a beautiful way that all wives kind of have a beautiful, loving influence over their husbands."



Clooney added, "I would concur because there is no version that I could not concur. I would get into trouble.
AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today exhorted her partymen to explain the development work and welfare schemes of her government, the party's electoral promises including freebies and remind people of the "unholy" alliance between the DMK and Congress.

"I have successfully implemented a host of schemes, both short-term and long-term to benefit all the families in Tamil Nadu," she said in a letter to her party workers.

AIADMK regime had implemented various schemes including freebies like 20 kg rice for ration card holders, mixers, grinders and milch cows and goats. However, several of these schemes had attracted opposition flak with allegations of corruption.

Highlighting her regime's performance she cited "achievements" like creation of 1.5 crore new job opportunities and setting up of the "highest number" of small and micro industries in India.

"Tamil Nadu people are living happily, protected by rule of law," she said.

On the AIADMK manifesto, she reiterated that women would get 50 per cent subsidy for buying scooters or mopeds, waiver of farm loans, 100 units power free of cost, increasing allocation of gold (four to eight grams of gold) under 'Thallikku Thangam Scheme' (Gold for Mangalsutra Scheme).

Referring to the DMK-Congress alliance as "unholy," she asked her party workers to tell voters that this combine would jeopardies the efforts of Tamil people who are striving hard to win back their rights in Sri Lanka.

Hitting out at DMK, she said "remind voters that if the poison tree of family politics is going to strengthen itself, it will be dangerous for individual freedom and also tell them how all industrial ventures went into the control of one family till 2011."



DMK was in power between 2006-11.

Alleging that DMK planned to cancel popular AIADMK schemes



like Annadanam in temples and shut down Amma Canteens, Jayalalithaa said: "Every vote for DMK-Congress alliance is against your own welfare."



She said DMK had not promised any pro-poor measures in its election manifesto while her party has assured a slew of them to ensure public welfare.

Jayalalithaa, recalling her earlier government doing away with entrance test for medical courses in 2005 by way of a legalisation, promised that admission to MBBS and BDS will be done without entrance test if her party was given the popular mandate once again.

"If required, we will enact a legislation for this purpose," she said.

She criticised Karunanidhi for not doing anything for the withdrawal of the 2010 IMA notification making entrance test mandatory for medical courses, or at least seek exemption for Tamil Nadu.

She recalled that the UPA government was in power at the Centre and DMK, its constituent, was the ruling party in Tamil Nadu.

Hitting out at Karunanidhi for his remarks that the AIADMK manifesto was aimed at "fooling" people, Jayalalithaa said all the promises, including freebies, were aimed at the overall welfare of people and uplift of the poor and downtrodden.

In fact, the DMK manifesto had no such pro-poor promises, she said, adding Karunanidhi, despite being a five-time Chief Minister, had failed to implement schemes like free milch animals.

Jayalalithaa, addressed as 'Amma' (mother) by supporters, said that as a "mother", she was aware of what to give to the people of the state and said that while she had implemented all promises made in the 2011 poll manifesto, she had even come out with schemes not mentioned then.

Price-mitigation schemes and others like Amma Water, Amma Salt and Amma Cement were some of these, she said, adding, such a kind of "spring" will continue if the voters elected her party candidates in the hustings.
Suspended Commandant of Assam Rifles Col Jasjit Singh, one of the main accused in a case of smuggled gold robbery, was today remanded to police custody for 72 hours by a local court.

Singh was arrested on May five after eight Assam Rifles personnel, who allegedly waylaid a vehicle on December 14 night on the outskirts of Aizawl and robbed it, claimed that they committed the crime at the behest of the Commandant.

The Assam Rifles personnel had reportedly decamped with 52 gold bars worth around Rs 14.5 crore, a cellphone and Rs 75,000 in cash after threatening the driver of the vehicle at gun point.

All the eight AR personnel involved in the crime were later arrested and sent to police custody. Last week, they, along with four civilians, were remanded to judicial custody.

The arrested civilians included Lalmuanawma Mithipi, a former student leader and transporter or 'mule' employed by gold smugglers, and Bulaki Chand Baid, a well-known Aizawl-based businessman.
Asset Reconstruction Company of India (Arcil) today said the business restructuring carried out by it at debt-laden Sakthi Sugars has been successful and the company, which failed in two successive CDRs, has a better future now.

The Erode, Tamil Nadu based Sakthi Sugars owed Rs 1,100 crore to five banks.

"Our calculations even at the numbers below the current sugar prices seem to suggest that the restructuring which we have carried out will leave the company in a situation where the debt servicing capability is good and assured with a certain amount of buffer as well," Arcil Chief Executive and Managing Director Vinayak Bahuguna told PTI.

Arcil, the country's oldest asset reconstruction company (ARC), bought 50 per cent of Rs 1,100 crore loan that the sugar company had taken from five banks led by Bank of India and its internal teams started working on the restructuring from 2014.

"The objective was to restore the company to financial stability and solvency where it can regularly meet its debt obligations, protect and grow shareholder value," he said.

As part of a three-pronged solution, Arcil wrote off a part of the bad debt, converted Rs 61 crore of its debt for a 19 per cent equity and also refinanced one of the group companies which was given a loan by Sakthi Sugars, he said.

He did not disclose the extent of the debt write-off and refinance, but explained that one of the group companies, which is not into sugar business, was given a loan by the parent, which has now been refinanced for a period of four years, thereby helping the cash flows of Sakthi Sugars.

Sakthi Sugars had failed the CDR twice, in 2009 and 2013, and Arcil has time till 2022 to be with the company and may exit its holding before that as well, he said.

When asked about what Arcil will get from the deal, he said, "Its fees, coupon on the loan and equity upside."



Bahuguna said the strategy adopted by Arcil is a departure from the way ARCs are operating, where they focus only on the recoveries and do not implement such an exercise of restoring value in a business.

The fact that the company is in the volatile sugar industry, which is subject to government-set minimum support price, caps on exports and other restrictions, only made it more challenging, he said.

He also exuded confidence that banks holding the security receipts will be able to redeem above par, which is good for the bad assets-hit lenders. Additionally, now that some value has been restored, banks will also be able to sell their security receipts (SRs) in the secondary market.

The company had reported Rs 20.05 crore loss on a revenue of Rs 147.33 crore for the quarter ended December.

Sakthi Sugars stocks closed 2.6 per cent down at Rs 37 on the BSE, as against a 1.19 per cent correction in the benchmark Sensex.
The Wrestling Federation of India is likely to pardon temporarily suspended Babita Kumari for forfeiting her bout in a recent qualifying event and allow her to compete at the Rio Games, as she secured an Olympic berth after her rival failed a dope test.

Babita (women's 53kg) and another Indian wrestler Ravinder Khatri (Greco-Roman 85kg) were lucky to have acquired berths at the Rio Games after United World Wrestling ruled out the athletes who tested positive from competing in the Olympics and handed their quota places to the next best in the respective weight divisions.

"Babita has apologised for forfeiting her bout (at the 1st World Qualification tournament in Mongolia). She explained that in order to consume her energy she did not fight in what was an inconsequential bout," Vinod Tomar, WFI assistant secretary, told PTI.

"Since she has got a quota place now, she is likely to be let off and allowed to compete at the Olympics," he added.

Babita qualified for the Olympics after Mongolia's Sumiya Erdenechimeg failed a dope test in women's 53kg at the Asian Olympic qualifier.

Although currently she remains temporarily suspended, the ban may be lifted after WFI holds a meeting on Tuesday.

"Babita has been asked to come on 17th May. The WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has decided to accept her apology. He has also decided to urge with the disciplinary committee to pardon Babita and give her a second chance, and allow her compete at the Rio Games."



The official, however, said that Babita would have to reply to the show-cause notice, which has already been issued to her, along with other wrestlers, by May 15.

"She would be required to reply to the show-cause notice by May 15," he said.

Besides Babita, her elder sister Geeta Phogat (women's 58kg), Sumit (men's 125kg freestyle) and Rahul Aware (men's 57kg freestyle), were also handed temporary suspension for indiscipline.

Geeta may also be pardoned, considering her past record.
With more people switching to online banking, top British banks have shut over 600 branches across the country over the past year, a media report said today.

Parts of Wales, Scotland and south west England lost the most per population between April 2015 and April 2016, according to figures obtained by the BBC.

Five of the top 10 areas losing banks are in Wales: Powys, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Conwy, and Carmarthenshire.

The banks said that demand for branches was falling, as more people switch to banking online.

The data came from the big six High Street banks: Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HSBC, Santander, Barclays and the Co-operative.

Over the last year, RBS closed the most branches - 166 - followed by HSBC with 146.

In total, about 3,000 branches have shut over the last decade, according to the Campaign for Community Banking Services, leaving around 8,000 now.

Aside from rural areas, many closures occurred in commuter towns, where customers are more likely to do branch banking near their place of work, or use telephone or online banking.

The seaside town of Birchington-on-sea in Kent has lost three banks in the last year, with the last branch due to close next month.

"We never take the decision to close branches lightly," a spokesperson for HSBC said.

"The way we bank is changing very quickly, and with an increase in the use of online and telephone banking over the past few years, use of branches has fallen significantly," he said.

Figures from RBS show that over-the-counter transactions have fallen 43 per cent since 2010. At the same time, online and mobile banking have increased four-fold.

"We review our branch network regularly to make sure the services we provide are appropriate for each local community, based on our customers' usage and other ways to bank in the local area," an RBS spokesperson said.

The British Bankers' Association - which represents all the major High Street names - said transactions in branches were down 6 per cent over the last year.

On the other hand, there were about 9.6 million daily log-ins to online banking.

Basic banking is available at 11,500 branches of the Post Office, which offers a bigger network than all the High Street banks put together, the report said.
The Reserve Bank today said it is processing applications of entities for authorisation to operate as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) and conveying directly to those getting in-principle approvals.

"These applications are being processed and the Reserve Bank has commenced communicating the decision directly to the applicants," the RBI said in a release.

Further, it said 'in-principle' approvals to operate as BBPOU are conveyed where the applicants meet all the eligibility requirements including existing net worth and requisite billing experience.

Billing experience for eligibility as a BBPOU does not include activities in which the applicant is only a front-end of a bill aggregator and does not have tie-up with billers, the apex bank said.

The RBI also said it has received a large number of applications, so it is processing in order of receipt of full information from the applicants.

The RBI had invited applications from banks and non-banks for authorisation or approval as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU).

As on extended date of December 18, 2015, the RBI said it received, in all, 62 applications from non-banks and 80 approvals requirements from banks to get the authorisation.

The Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) is conceptualised as an electronic GIRO payment system to enable a pan-India touch points for bill payments by customers in the country, irrespective of the geographical location of the billers.

The need for an integrated bill system was felt as the existing systems do not fully address the needs of the consumers to pay a variety of bills such as utility bills, school/university fee, municipal taxes.

India lacks interoperability in the bill payment processes and a vast majority of customers do not have access to various modes of electronic payments.

According to RBI data, bill payment is a major component of the retail payment transactions in India. As per its 2013 report, over 30,800 million bills amounting to Rs 6,223 billion were generated each year in the top 20 cities in the country.

The RBI said various forms of payments are accepted in India, though cash and cheque payments continue to be predominant.
In a counter-attack at the Centre, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav today demanded to know how Rocky Yadav got a license for his pistol without proper verification in Delhi, and called for a thorough probe into it.

"They (NDA) should first explain as to how he (Rocky Yadav) got license for his pistol in Delhi without verification," he told reporters at Patna Airport while returning from Delhi.

Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the RJD leader said.

"We demand a probe into the license issued to Rocky Yadav without proper procedure of verification," he said in a strong counter-offensive against BJP which had gone hammer and tongs against the Bihar government over the murder of Aditya Sachdeva on Saturday last by Rocky in a road rage incident.

The Gaya police maintained that the pistol license to Rocky Yadav had been issued from Vasant Kunj area of Delhi.

The Bihar Deputy CM also said the fugitive MLC and mother of the accused would be arrested.

He said RJD workers met the aggrieved family of class XIIth student Aditya Sachdeva who died after being allegedly shot at by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav for overtaking his SUV.

Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had commented two days back in Delhi as to why the term "jungle raj" was not referred to incidents like Pathankot attack, large number of road rage cases in Delhi and killing of an officer in Jharkhand. The comment drew sharp reaction from his political rivals who took exception of him bringing up the Pathankot terror attack issue while referring to the audacious Gaya road rage case.
Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Prakash Javadekar today hit out at the DMK and AIADMK, which have alternately ruled Tamil Nadu, for introducing "freebie culture" in the state and said what the people wanted was employment and not freebies.

"In the last 10 years, by giving freebies to the public, government has spent Rs 11,500 crore. Both DMK and AIADMK want to rule the state by giving away freebies," Singh said at an election meeting in Salem.

Both the Dravidian parties had 'brainwashed' the people by giving away freebies, he alleged.

The Union Home Minister said during the 10 years Congress- led UPA rule at the Centre, there were several scams, including the Rs 1.76 lakh crore 2G scam. However, since the BJP-led NDA assumed power and adopted a transparent policy, coal auction had netted a profit of Rs two lakhs crore.

He also referred to the December 2015 floods in Chennai and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had rushed to Tamil Nadu to take stock of the situation and sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to the state.

In Virudhunagar, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said there was no use in implementing the freebie scheme when what people wanted was not freebies, but jobs.

Citing the example of giving 20 kg rice free of cost, he said the Centre was bearing Rs 32 as cost and the state government was spending only Rs three.

He criticised DMK and AIADMK for promising to bring in prohibition and said though they had assured it in their manifestos, neither party would do so. He claimed that only BJP was capable of it and would implement it if voted to power.
Having fielded a three-time former DMK MLA as its candidate here, BJP is pinning its hopes on this coastal constituency, where the 'salt satyagraha' was held during the freedom struggle, to make entry in Tamil Nadu Assembly in the May 16 elections.

BJP has fielded S K Vedarathinam, a popular businessman of this town, who joined the party last year after resigning from DMK and is confident he would help the lotus bloom.

Vedaranyam, a major salt producing centre in Nagapattinam district, has its place in the country's freedom struggle as it was here that C Rajagopalachari in 1930 staged the 'salt satyagraha', south's equivalent of Dandi march undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi against imposition of tax on salt by the British.

Besides its vast salt pans, the town, located about 350 kilometres away from Chennai, is also known for prawn cultivation and fishing.

It is witnessing a multi-cornered fight involving Vedarathinam, ruling AIADMK's O S Manian, Congress candidate P V Rajendiran, DMDK nominee Vairanathan and PMK's Usha Kannan.

Vedarathinam, who scored a hat-trick of wins from the constituency from 1996 as a DMK nominee, lost to AIADMK's N V Kamaraj in the 2011 polls.

A businessman, Vedarathinam is popularly known as "SK" among the locals. He was a strongman of DMK and got elected to the Assembly in 1996, 2001 and 2006 from Vedaranyam.

He joined the BJP last year and has got the party ticket to try his luck for a fifth time.

AIADMK has dropped Kamaraj, giving a second chance to Manian who lost to Vedarathinam in 2006.

Congress, which is contesting the polls in alliance with DMK, has nominated P V Rajendran, an industrialist.

Political analysts feel that keeping in mind the popularity and winning streak of Vedarathinam, BJP had chosen Vedaranyam as among the places for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's electioneering in the state to give a strong push for the party's goal of making a mark in the polls.

After failing to rope in its former allies such as DMDK and PMK, which were part of the rainbow alliance stitched by it for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, BJP is contesting the coming elections with a few minor parties and Vedaranyam is among some of the constituencies where it fancies its chances.

Modi earlier this week addressed an election rally at Thethukodi locality here and highlighted his government's schemes for the welfare of farmers and others.

He also expressed joy on being informed that he was the first Prime Minister to visit this part of Tamil Nadu.

Some of the major issues in the region include road development between Thiruthuraipoondi and Vedaranyam, setting up of a harbour in Aarukattuthurai and basic infrastructure for fishermen community who form a major chunk of the 1.80 lakh voters in the constituency where Vanniayr and Thevar communities hold sway.

Congress candidate Rajendiran is also not a novice in electoral politics and had been elected from this constituency in 1989 and 1991.

PMK's Usha Kannan hails from Vanniar community and is banking on the community votes to help her sail through.

Vedaranyam has a total of 1.80 lakh voters comprising 88,869 men and 91,369 women.
BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who compared Kerala to Somalia during an election rally, kicking up a furore, will get a 'shock treatment' in the May 16 assembly polls, senior congress leader A K Antony said here today.

"The Prime Minister's remarks comparing Kerala and Somalia will result in both him and BJP getting a 'shock treatment' in the hustings," he told reporters at Kollam.

Modi had compared the infant mortality rate among tribals in the state with that of African country Somalia during the poll campaign rally earlier this week, triggering widespread criticism among political parties in Kerala.

Antony took a swipe at the visits of the PM and union ministers to the state in the run up to the polls, saying "The Prime Minister and a dozen central ministers are camping in the state since the past few days. If there is a need the cabinet can meet in Kerala."



Antony also attacked the CPI(M)-led LDF, saying it will have to sit in the opposition for another five years.

Alleging that the Prime Minister was 'cheating' the state with his promises, Antony said that after the Puttingal temple tragedy at Kollam, in which 109 persons were killed and several others injured, Kerala's only plea had been to declare the mishap as a national disaster, which was not considered.

The state's plea to amend the CRZ norms brought by the centre, taking into consideration the difficulties faced by fishermen in coastal areas was also turned down, he said.

He said if the ruling congress headed UDF was given a chance to govern the state for another five years, it would take up peoples' welfare, development and education matters in such a way that Kerala will become the number one state in the country.
Lebanon's Hezbollah announced today that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria where the Shiite militant group has deployed thousands of fighters backing the Damascus regime.

Hezbollah said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollah's intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the start of the five-year war, came as a fragile truce in Syria teetered on the brink of collapse.

A six-day-old ceasefire in battleground second city Aleppo expired early yesterday without being renewed and rebel sniper fire on the city's government-held sector killed two civilians, one a woman, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in its Idlib province stronghold in the northwest, killing 16 fighters including a senior commander.

Badreddine, who was in his mid-50s, was a key player in Hezbollah's military wing.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, was a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and was one of Israel's most wanted men.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say which of Badreddine's many enemies it held responsible for his death.

"According to preliminary reports, a large explosion targeted one of our positions near Damascus international airport killing brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding other people," it said in a statement.

"We are going to pursue an inquiry to determine the nature and causes of the explosion and ascertain whether it was the result of an air strike, a missile or artillery fire."



Badreddine's predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, his cousin and brother-in-law, was killed in Damascus in 2008 in an attack that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddine's death.

Israel made no comment, as was also the case in 2008, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollah's failure to apportion blame.

But Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV listed Israel among the enemies of the group.

Hezbollah lawmaker Nawwar al-Sahili told the network it was too soon to prejudge the results of the investigation into Badreddine's death, but noted that the group faces "an open war" and "will retaliate at an opportune moment".
Bosnian police said today they had arrested five suspected smugglers and seized arms including rocket launchers destined for Sweden, but declined to confirm reports it was for an Islamist group.

The five were seized on Thursday in an operation carried out in coordination with Swedish police, Bosnian police spokeswoman Mirna Miljanovic told AFP.

"A huge quantity of arms, ammunitions and military equipment was seized," Miljanovic said, adding that one person was earlier arrested in Sweden, and two others were still at large.

The search was conducted at seven locations in the northern Bosnian towns of Gradiska and Laktasi, he said, giving no further details.

The suspects have admitted involvement in smuggling, Boris Grubesic, a spokesman for Bosnia's prosecutor office told AFP.

But he said there was no evidence so far that they had links with terrorist groups, and they do not fit a jihadist profile.

A police source who asked not to be named said however there were some indications the arms were destined for a group called the Muslim Brothers.

The link with Islamists was "not official," the source said, giving no other details of the group, whose name is similar to the Egypt's opposition movement the Muslim Brotherhood.

Local media said the arms included four rocket launchers, 16 hand grenades and one sub machine gun, as well as rifles, pistols and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
Brazil's interim president Michel Temer was expected today to launch urgent economic rescue measures as he kicked off his new administration a day after his predecessor was suspended to face an impeachment trial.

The former vice president's new business-friendly cabinet held its first meeting Friday morning, just hours after his boss-turned-nemesis, Dilma Rousseff, quit the presidential palace.

The swift transfer of power ended 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers' Party, which helped lift tens of millions of people from poverty with progressive social programs but became mired in corruption scandals, recession and political paralysis.

Now Temer will have to steer clear of the vast graft scandal engulfing Brazil's political and business elites, while working to fix the economy.

"We don't have much time," Temer, a veteran of the center-right PMDB party, said on taking office.

"We must rebuild the foundations of the Brazilian economy and significantly improve the business environment for the private sector so it can get back to its natural role of investing, producing and creating jobs."



Temer announced the start of the cabinet meeting on Twitter. It was to be followed at 1430 GMT by a conference by incoming Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, who was expected to unveil urgent measures to drag Latin America's biggest economy out of its worst recession in decades.

But Temer faces many of the same stumbling blocks as his predecessor, plus a few of his own.

Political analysts warned his honeymoon may not even last until he opens the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 5 -- South America's first.

Temer is just about as disliked as the deeply unpopular Rousseff. A recent poll found he would receive just two percent of the vote in a presidential election.

He will also face a deeply hostile left resentful of being sidelined in what it calls a "coup."



And he will have to coexist with Rousseff, who will still be holed up in the presidential residence mounting her defense during an impeachment trial that could drag on for up to six months.
Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today blamed previous UPA government for heavy losses at state-run BSNL in recent years.

Talking to reporters here on the status of BSNL, he said when NDA regime ended in 2004, BSNL had made a profit of Rs 10,000 crore.

But after 10 years of UPA rule, BSNL's loss was estimated to be around Rs 8,000 crore due to the 'non-performance' of Manmohan Singh government, he alleged.

Now after one year and eight months of NDA rule, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BSNL for the first time had an operative profit of Rs 672 crore, he claimed.

To prove his point that BSNL was moving on the right track, Prasad noted that BSNL which was adding six to seven lakh mobile lines per month, had reported 20 to 22 lakh connections in February last.

Modernisation was underway in BSNL, with 21,000 towers already in place and another 21,000 in the offing. It was also proposed to have 40,000 wi-fi hot spots in another two years, he added.

"In one year and eight months, we have brought BSNL on par with private players and is in the process of turnaround," Prasad said.
The Cabinet has approved the national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy with a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The aim is to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said while briefing reporters about Thursday's Cabinet decisions.

The minister also let out that by 2017, the window for trademark registration will be brought down to one month.

"The policy aims to create and exploit synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), statutes concerned and agencies," he said.

According to Jaitley, there are seven objectives that guided the policy mechanism, which include public awareness, stimulation of generation of IPRs, need for strong and effective laws and strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat infringements.

The policy also puts a premium on enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection.

It is expected to lay the future road map for intellectual property in India, besides putting in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review.

The idea is to incorporate global best practices in the Indian context and adapt to the same.

This policy shall weave in strengths of the government, research and development organisations, educational institutions, corporate entities, including MSMEs, start-ups and other stakeholders towards creation of an innovation-conducive environment, an official statement read.

The end product stimulates creativity and innovation across sectors as also facilitates a stable, transparent and service-oriented administration in the country, it stressed.

Giving due recognition to the growing criticality of in the global arena, the blueprint makes out a case for increasing its awareness in India, whether it is owned by oneself or according respect to others.

"The importance of IPRs as a marketable financial asset and economic tool also needs to be recognised. For this, domestic IP filings as also commercialisation of patents granted need to increase. Innovation and sub-optimal spending on R&D too are issues to be addressed," the statement said further.
A group of gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad today, killing at least 13 people and wounding 15 there, Iraqi officials said.

Within hours, the Islamic State group posted a statement online claiming responsibility for the attack, which took place shortly after midnight Thursday in Balad, 80 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital.

The attack came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people attacks that have also been claimed by the Islamic State group.

The deadliest struck the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 63 people.

According to Iraqi officials, three gunmen armed with machine guns opened fire into the crowded Balad cafe and once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Later Friday, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned the wave of attacks and said the government is ultimately responsible for such security breaches, accusing the country's politicians of "closing their ears to their advisers."



Al-Sistani's words were relayed by his aide Ahmed al-Safi in a televised speech from the holy city of Karbala following Friday prayers. Over three months ago, al-Sistani suspended his weekly political sermons after his repeated demands that the country's politicians tackle corruption went unheeded.

The IS bombings this week exposed lingering gaps in Baghdad's defenses, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias that don't always cooperate.

They also point to the resilience of the extremist IS group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost some territory to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes.

On Thursday evening, hundreds took to the streets in Baghdad's Sadr City to demand government accountability for the security breaches. Protesters carried signs calling for the interior minister to resign while others called for the minister of defense and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to also step down.

Anti-government protests first erupted last summer as temperatures soared and millions were left without electricity. While al-Abadi proposed a series of government reforms in August 2015 that he claimed would combat corruption, very little has been implemented.
The huge forest fire that prompted the evacuation of Fort McMurray remained out of control but cooler, more humid weather slowed its advance, Canadian officials have said.

All told, crews were battling 20 fires in Alberta province, although Fort McMurray's was the only one still out of control, as it spread east. Half the province's 1,500 firefighters are assigned to fight it.

The blaze has now charred more than 2,290 square kilometres of land and destroyed some 2,400 homes and other buildings.

The entire city of 100,000 people was evacuated last week. Its suburbs suffered major damage, but not the city centre.

Still, the toll is expected to be staggering.

"We know already the damage resulting from the wildfires will be in the billions and take years to recover," said Conrad Sauve, head of the Canadian Red Cross yesterday.

Of 67 million Canadian dollars (USD 52 million) raised by the Red Cross over the past week, USD 50 million will be handed over immediately to people evacuated because of the fire, Sauve told a conference.

The Red Cross will hand out 600 Canadian dollars per adult and 300 dollars for each of their dependents.

The federal and provincial governments have pledged to match every dollar raised by the Red Cross.

The risk of fire in western Canada remains high because of dry and unseasonably hot weather in recent weeks.
In a jolt to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy ahead of May 16 assembly polls, a local court today dismissed his interim plea to restrain opposition leader V S Achuthanandan from levelling 'false' allegations against him.

Second Additional District and Sessions Judge A Badharudeen, while rejecting the interim petition of the CM, observed that aninjunction would be an encroachment in the rights of the opposition leader to point out flaws in the administration.

Chandy had contended that Achuthanadnan's statement that there were 31 corruption cases against him and 136 against his cabinet colleagues was baseless and defamatory.

The court said that "if an injunction is granted, which would work as one restraining the Opposition leader from pointing out flaws in the administration, it is an encroachment in the right of the Opposition leader. In view of the matter, the court is not inclined to allow the petition", the Judge said.

However, the Judge made it clear that 'the allegations and proof pertaining to the case shall remain to be opened to be adjudicated by both parties by convincing evidences during trial and the court here observes that either the allegations are true or false".

The Judge also said that this order shall not be read as oneoperating as a shield for adjudicating the suit of the petitioner (Chief Minister) on the merits and granting appropriate relief as per law.

Giving another reason for rejecting the plea, he said there was no prayer in the original suit for an injunction.

Chandy had contended that Achuthanandan's "defamatory" statement was fabricated for the sole purpose of maligning him and the reputation he enjoys among the people of the state.

Chandy, who is contesting for the 12th time in a row from his home constituency Puthupally, also stated that the opposition leaders's statement was "scandalous, libelous and showers sarcasm".

Chandy in his defamation suit filed on April 28 sought a compensation of Rs one lakh from Achuthanandan for levelling baseless allegations.
Defending its move to block India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, claimed Friday that several members of the 48-nation bloc shared its view that signing of the NPT was an "important" standard for the NSG's expansion.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that not only but also a lot of other NSG members are of the view that Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone for safeguarding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Asked about reports that is pushing Pakistan's entry into NSG linking it to India's admission into the bloc, Lu said the NSG is an important part of NPT, which has been the consensus of the international community for long.

Although India is not part of the NSG, Indian side recognises this consensus, he claimed.

"All the multilateral non-proliferation export control regime including the NSG has regarded NPT as an important standard for the expansion of the NSG," he said.

Avoiding any references to Pakistan, Lu said "Apart from India, lot of other countries expressed their willingness to join. Then it raised the question to the international community - Shall the non-NPT members also become part of the NSG?" he said.

"The international community believes that there should be a side discussion in the NSG on this issue and decision should be made in accordance with relevant rules. China's position is not directed against any specific country but applies to all the non-NPT members," he said.

India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan were among four UN member states which have not signed the NPT, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Last month Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that China has helped Pakistan to stall India's bid to get NSG membership.
China has denied visa to a German legislator heading the human rights panel for his remarks backing "Tibetan independence", saying his position is against Germany's one-China policy, state media reported today.

Michael Brand, Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag, is not welcome to China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, defending Beijing's move to deny him a visa.

Brand's position of backing "Tibetan independence" is against Germany's one-China policy, Lu said yesterday.

Brand was denied permission to visit China purely because of his position on Tibet, not for his comments on the human rights situation in China, according to the state-run Xinhua agency.

Brand, who reportedly criticised China's human rights record, sought a clear response from the German Foreign Ministry about the denial of visa to him.

Lu said the Chinese Embassy in Germany and relevant departments have done a lot of work preparing for the visit of the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament.

"The German government knows that very well. The remarks by the specific person you mentioned are calling white black," Lu said in his comments posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.

"We don't invite him to China, not because of what he said about China's human rights, since you know that he is not the only one that has something to say about China's human rights. But a lot of people still made their visits to China.

"He cannot come because he blatantly breached the commitment of the German government to the "one China" policy and stuck his heels in advocating "Tibet independence" which is so wrong," he said.

"I can say for sure that China will not welcome such a man. I have to say that the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament is very unwise in issuing the statement and hurling accusations at China," Lu added.
Chinese police has detained 140 suspects in a social media fraud scheme where they cheated male victims by swindling their money.

Police mounted four operations from May 5 to 12 in Dongguan City and Shenzhen to nab the suspects, who allegedly used social media to commit fraud, Shenzhen police said.

The suspects, organised as a pyramid scheme, registered WeChat and QQ accounts, sought male victims and swindled their money, it said in a statement.

The sum of money taken from the victims has not yet been published.

According to police documents, a victim, surnamed Liu, was cheated out of 8,000 yuan (about USD 1,200) after he befriended a stranger through the "shake your phone" function on WeChat.

Liu became emotionally involved with the purported female friend, who later borrowed money but soon disappeared, state-run Xinhua agency reported today.
A new Pentagon report says China has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in the southeastern South China Sea. But the country's focus has shifted to developing and weaponizing those man-made islands so it will have greater control over the maritime region without resorting to armed conflict.

In its most detailed assessment to date of China's island-building program, the Defense Department said three of the land features in the Spratly Islands now have nearly 10,000-foot runways and large ports in various stages of construction.

And it has excavated deep channels, created and dredged harbors, and constructed communications, logistics and intelligence gathering facilities.

The report argues that the accelerated building effort doesn't give China any new territorial rights. But it says the airfields, ship facilities, surveillance and weapons equipment will allow China to significantly enhance its long-term presence in the South China Sea.

"This would improve China's ability to detect and challenge activities by rival claimants or third parties, widen the range of capabilities available to China, and reduce the time required to deploy them," according to the report released today.

"China is using coercive tactics short of armed conflict, such as the use of law enforcement vessels to enforce maritime claims, to advance their interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict," the report adds.

The 3,200 acres only represents China's reclamation in the Spratleys and doesn't include its building in the Paracels, further northwest, including the contested Woody Island, in its estimates. China has deployed anti-aircraft missiles to Woody Island.

Chinese officials have defended the land reclamation by saying it is Beijing's territory, adding that the buildings and infrastructure are for public service use and to support fishermen. It accuses the Philippines, Vietnam and others of carrying out their own building work on other islands.

Lu said China has lodged a formal protest with Australia



over the comments of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop who has stated that Canberra would keep exercising its international rights to freedom of navigation and overflight and support others to do the same in light of the tribunal's verdict.

Asking Australia to join the "majority of the international community" in not recognising "illegal outcome" of the verdict, he said China respected freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with the international law.

Answering another question, Lu said China and the Philippines are in contact to discuss future course of action between the two after the verdict.

The new Philippine government headed by President Rodrigo Duterte is positive about resuming talks with China. "We welcome that and the door is open for that," he said, adding that the two countries are already in contact with each other through diplomatic channels.

The Philippines, which had launched the legal challenge in 2013, called for China to respect the tribunal's decision.

The US and Australia were among Manila's allies to call on China to respect the decision, saying it was legally binding, and increasing the international pressure on Beijing which says it has "historic rights" over the disputed region as it was the first to have discovered and named the area.

Asked about the US statement that, like China, Washington has interests in the Asia-Pacific and will there be more competition between the two countries in the South China Sea, Lu said Beijing has never denied the legitimate interests of the US in the region.

"We hope the US will play a positive role for peace and stability of the region. I also want to point out that the interest of the US is not the sole interest in the region.

"China and other countries in the region have our immediate interests. If any outsider wants to safeguard their interests they should not obstruct efforts by regional countries to protect their interests," he said.

Criticising the US' Asia pivot and rebalance strategies, he said despite differences the countries in the region can manage their efforts and maintain peace in the region and ensure the region becomes an engine of stable economic growth.

"It serves the interests of all parties in the region," he said.

Asked whether Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei will also opt for international arbitration following Tuesday's verdict, Lu said for a long time countries in the region have been striving to manage their differences and stay committed to growth.

"Under the current circumstances ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries came up with that dual track approach which is that South China Sea disputes should be resolved by countries concerned through bilateral negotiations and consultations and China and ASEAN countries will work together for peace and stability of the south china sea. Peace and stability of the region is shared aspiration of China and other countries," he said.
A Christian man in Pakistan's Punjab province, who allegedly watched anti-Islamic lectures on his mobile phone has been accused of blasphemy, forcing him and his family to flee from their village.

Imran Masih, a sweeper in a health centre in Mandi Bahauddin, some 250 kilometers from Lahore, and his family members fleed from their village to save their lives after being accused of blasphemy, Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra, a Christian leader and chairman of Human Liberation Commission Pakistan said.

"Tension is rising in the area where some 25 Christian families are residing and they feeling vulnerable. We have requested police to provide security to the Christian families," he said.

Sahotra said Iftikhar, a colleague ofImran Masih had watched a blasphemous video clip on his cell phone.

He said Iftikhar other Muslims who subjected Masih to severe torture.

The local cleric declared Masih a blasphemer, forcing which he had to flee along with his family members to save their lives, Sahotra said.

He said the other members of Christian community in the village are also facing threats.

Police chief of Mandi BahauddinRaja Basharat said the situation in the area is under control.

"Police personnel have been deployed in the village to stop any untoward incident," he said adding that the police had not registered a blasphemy case against Masih.

"We have asked complainants to first present the cell phone of Masih. A case cannot be registered without examining the 'blasphemous' clip", he said.

Blasphemy carries the death penalty and is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where people generally from the minority community have been targeted under the controversial law.
Democratic presidential front- runner Hillary Clinton took a jibe at Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump for not releasing his tax returns, which would be a break from the decades-long precedent in the race to the White House.

"Here is what Donald Trump wants to do. He has released just one detailed proposal in this whole campaign," Clinton said, referring to the real estate tycoon's tax plan.

"What about his taxes? So we'll get around to that, too, because when you run for president, especially when you become the nominee that is kind of expected," she said at an election rally in Blackwood, New Jersey.

"My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns. We got eight years on our website right now. So you got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them? Yeah, well, we're going to find out," said the 68-year-old former secretary of state, as she was joined by many others including the 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in asking Trump to release his tax returns.

In a post on his Facebook page, Romney said that not releasing ones tax returns is "disqualifying" for a presidential candidate.

"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," Romney said.

He said there is only one logical explanation for Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them.

"Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size," he said.

Trump quickly hit back, defending his decision not to release his tax returns unless the ongoing audit is completed.

"My taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election!" the 69-year-old tweeted.

In February, the International Revenue Service (IRS) in a statement said there is nothing in law that prevents an individual from sharing their tax information.

"Nothing prevents individuals from sharing their own tax information," the IRS had said.

"The IRS stresses that audits of tax returns are based on the information contained on the taxpayer's return and the underlying tax law - nothing else. Politics and religion do not factor into this.

"The audit process is handled by career, non-partisan civil servants, and we have processes in place to safeguard the exam process," said the agency.

Making tax returns public is not required of presidential candidates, but there is a long tradition of major party nominees doing so.
A special court today reserved for May 20 its order on whether a Jindal Group's chartered accountant, who is an accused and has sought to turn approver in a coal scam case involving industrialist Naveen Jindal and others, would be allowed the to be questioned by CBI.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar reserved the order after CBI submitted that Suresh Singhal, also a director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, was required to join the probe to decide whether his assistance can strengthen the case.

"He (Singhal) is required to make full length disclosure. We request the court to allow him to join the probe. There are documents which are to be verified. We must know the nature of testimony of this person (Singhal) and for that we need him to join the probe," special public prosecutor R S Cheema said.

"In order to answer the question (on whether to make him approver in the case and if he could be pardoned), we need his assistance in the probe," Cheema said, adding that Singhal was in possession of certain documents which could be useful for the prosecution.

He further said, "The testimony is likely to strengthen the prosecution case. However, no such document is produced by Singhal till date. The person seeking permission to turn approver must make full and true disclosure."



Meanwhile, advocate Asim Ali, who appeared for Singhal as amicus curiae, told the court that Singhal was in possession of various documents and could produce them as and when required.

The lawyers appearing for other accused told the court that, "what is required to dispose off this application is already with the court."



The court then reserved its order for May 20.

Earlier on May 11, the court had said that Singhal's statement be supplied to the CBI for rendering assistance on the issue. Following this, the documents were supplied to the probe agency.

The court had, however, clarified that issue of supplying the copy of Singhal's statement to the counsel representing other accused would be decided after hearing the arguments advanced by the probe agency.

While seeking pardon, Singhal had sought to make a disclosure statement in the case which was later recorded by a magistrate and was placed before the special judge in a sealed cover.

On April 29, the court had ordered framing of charges



against Jindal, former Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao, ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and 12 others for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other offences in Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation scam case.

The court is yet to formally frame charges against the accused.

In his plea, Singhal has claimed that co-accused Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, had purchased New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd at the instruction of Sushil Maroo also working with the Naveen Jindal Group.

"I was also in the practice of selling companies. Rajeev Jain had been purchasing different types of companies from me. I also sold New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd to him. I also handed over all the papers required by him for the purpose of transfer of ownership and management, documentary evidence of which forms part of the records...

"Rajeev Jain in conspiracy with Maroo kept me in the dark and didn't disclose their real purpose. After getting all the transfer papers from me they kept the shares and directors change pending taking the advantage of my good faith which I had for them," he has claimed.

Singhal has further claimed that decision to invest and pay Rs 2 crore to Sowbhagya Media Ltd, allegedly promoted by co-accused and Rao, was carried out at their behest.

The court, while ordering framing of charges, has said Jindal was the "central figure" in the entire criminal conspiracy in the case.

Apart from Jindal, Rao and Koda, the court had also ordered to put on trial former Coal Secretary H C Gupta and 11 others, who were chargesheeted by the CBI in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and GSIPL in 2008.

Besides them, the other accused are -- Rajeev Jain, Director of Jindal Realty Pvt Ltd, Girish Kumar Suneja and Radha Krishna Saraf, Directors of GSIPL, Suresh Singhal, Director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, K Ramakrishna Prasad, Managing Director of Sowbhagya Media Ltd and chartered accountant Gyan Swaroop Garg. These accused are currently out on bail.

Besides them, five firms -- JSPL, JRPL, Gagan Infraenergy Ltd (formerly known as GSIPL), Sowbhagya Media Ltd and New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd -- are also accused in the case.
The Delhi High Court today granted interim bail till July 31 to two directors of Jharkhand Ispat Pvt Ltd (JIPL), R S Rungta and R C Rungta, who were convicted and sentenced to four years jail in a coal block allocation scam case.

A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul granted the relief to Rungtas on a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh each with two sureties of the like amount after special public prosecutor R S Cheema, who appeared for CBI, said he was not opposing the grant of interim bail.

"The sentence awarded to the appellants (Rungtas) is suspended and they shall be released on interim bail till July 31...," the court said.

During the hearing, Cheema said that appeals filed by both the convicts challenging their conviction should be heard expeditiously.

To this, Justice Mridul said, "it will not be possible for me to hear these appeals out of turn on my own. I will not do this unless there is a direction from the Supreme Court or the Chief Justice of this high court."



Cheema said as the summer vacation of apex court would start from tomorrow, he would move an appropriate application in this regard before the Supreme Court in July after its reopening.

"R S Cheema states that till he makes an appropriate application before the Supreme Court, he does not oppose the grant of interim bail and suspension of sentence," the court noted in its order and fixed the matter for further hearing on July 29.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who was representing Rungtas, told the court that sentence awarded to his clients should be suspended.

When Cheema said that this case was about an "economic offence of severe nature" and hearing of the appeals filed by the convicts should be expedited, the bench said, "unless directed (by Supreme Court or Chief Justice of Delhi High Court), I will not expedite the appeals."



The bench had earlier sought CBI's response on the appeals filed by Rungtas, who were sentenced on April 4 by the special court which had lamented that India was lagging behind in development due to such "unscrupulous businessmen".

The special court had also imposed a fine of Rs five lakh



each on R S Rungta, 79, and R C Rungta, 60, who were convicted on March 28 for the offences of cheating and criminal conspiracy under the IPC.

It had also slapped a fine of Rs 25 lakh on the company JIPL which was also held guilty along with the Rungtas.

It was the first case in the coal scam which was decided by the special court, constituted exclusively to deal with all such cases.

Rungtas and JIPL were convicted by the court which had noted that they had "fraudulently" and with a dishonest intention "deceived" government in allocating the North Dhadu coal block in Jharkhand to the firm.

Besides this case, 19 other cases investigated by the CBI in the coal scam are pending before the special court. Two other cases probed by ED are also pending before the court.
Police today pasted the order for attachment of property of fugitive MLC Manorama Devi in three places after getting the court nod to do it.

The order was pasted at Manorama Devi's residence at posh Anugrah Puri colony here, Gaya railway station and her husband Bindi Yadav's mixer plant in Bodh Gaya from where their son Rocky Yadav was arrested in connection with the murder of a youth.

Earlier in the day, Gaya police made a plea to a district court to grant permission for property attachment of Devi which was accepted.

Gaya police returned the warrant of arrest issued against the MLC earlier and made a prayer for issuance of property attachment against her in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate S K Jha.

The Anugrah Puri house has been sealed by the Excise department in the wake of recovery of six liquor bottles in the process of search for Rocky Yadav on Monday last.

The court order for property attachment came around an hour after the absconding JD(U) MLC had filed an anticipatory bail application in the court of (in-charge) District Judge S N Singh who posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

Manorama Devi is on the run since Wednesday after her son Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav was arrested from his father's mixer plant in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Aditya Sachdeva on May 7.

She was suspended from JD(U) on Tuesday and her name was added in the FIR lodged by the police against her husband Bindi Yadav and son Rocky Yadav in connection with recovery of six bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor during house search on Monday for Rocky Yadav.

Bindi Yadav and son Rocky Yadav were arrested.
The Supreme Court today upheld the constitutional validity of the 156-year-old penal laws on defamation, saying "reputation of one cannot be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other's right of free speech".

The apex court rejected the pleas of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and others to decriminalise the colonial-era penal provisions and they will now have to face criminal defamation cases lodged against them.

Upholding the constitutional validity of sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, dealing with criminal defamation and punishment for it which entails upto two years imprisonment or fine or both, the court held that the right to freedom of speech and expression is "absolutely sacrosanct" but "is not absolute."



The bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said the balance between the two rights -- freedom of speech and right to reputation -- needed to be struck and "reputation of one cannot be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other's right of free speech".

The judgement, delivered on a batch of 27 pleas, including those filed by Rahul, Kejriwal and Swamy, said that they can now knock the doors of various High Courts to challenge the issuance of summons by magisterial courts within eight weeks during which the interim protection and stay of criminal proceedings against them would remain in force.

The top court, which analysed the two penal provisions and section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure dealing with prosecution for defamation, did not agree with the contentions that criminalising defamation attacks freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19 (2) of the Constitution and there cannot be reasonable restriction on free speech.

However, it clarified that since the offence of criminal defamation has its own gravity, the magistrates have to be extremely careful in issuing summons.

"As we declare the provisions to be constitutional, we observe that it will be open to the petitioners to challenge the issue of summons before the High Court either under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or Section 482 CrPC, as advised and seek appropriate relief and for the said purpose, we grant eight weeks time to the petitioners," the bench said.

It also made it clear that if any of them has already approached the High Court and also become unsuccessful before this court, he shall face trial and put forth his defence in accordance with the law.

While Swamy is facing three criminal defamation cases in Tamil Nadu filed by the J Jayalalithaa government for allegedly making certain comments against her, Rahul has a case in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra for allegedly blaming RSS for the assasination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Kejriwal is facing a number of defamation cases out which criminal proceedings are stayed in four. The cases against him have been filed by Union Ministers and BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Congress leader Kapil Sibal's son Amit Sibal and by others.

After the pronouncement of the 268-page verdict in a



packed court, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Congress Vice President, sought extension of the eight week stay on criminal proceedings till July 19 when the case will come up for hearing in the trial court.

After Sibal submitted that eight weeks period would not cover the protection for Gandhi, the bench said he can move the apex court in July and seek reliefs.

While dealing with the contentions, the bench held that the right to freedom of speech and expression is "abolutely sacrosanct" but "is not absolute" and "is subject to imposition of reasonable restrictions" and "it is difficult to come to a conclusion that the existence of criminal defamation is absolutely obnoxious to freedom of speech and expression."



Holding that the legislature in its wisdom has not thought it appropriate to abolish criminality of defamation in the obtaining social climate, the bench brushed aside the contention that "the existence of defamation as a criminal offence has a chilling effect on the right to freedom of speech and expression."



"Once we have held that reputation of an individual is a basic element of Article 21 of the Constitution and balancing of fundamental rights is a constitutional necessity and further the legislature in its wisdom has kept the penal provision alive, it is extremely difficult to subscribe to the view that criminal defamation has a chilling effect on the freedom of speech and expression," the bench said.

However, it said since "the offence has its own gravity and hence, the responsibility of the Magistrate is more. In a way, it is immense at the time of issue of process.

(REOPENS LGD37)



The bench, while putting a stamp of approval on the 1860 penal law, held that "notwithstanding, the expansive and sweeping and ambit of freedom of speech, as all rights, right to freedom of speech and expression is not absolute. It is subject to imposition of reasonable restrictions".

"There can be no denial of the fact that the right to freedom of speech and expression is absolutely sacrosanct. Simultaneously, right to life as is understood in the expansive horizon of Article 21 has its own significance," it said.

It held that reputation is an "inextricable aspect of right to life" under Article 21 of the Constitution and the State in order to sustain and protect the said reputation of an individual, has kept the provision under Section 499 IPC "alive" as a part of law.

The bench said that though right to freedom of speech and expression is a "highly valued and cherished right", the Constitution conceives of "reasonable restriction" and added that protection of reputation is a fundamental and human right.

"In that context, criminal defamation, which is in existence in the form of Sections 499 and 500 of IPC, is not a restriction on free speech that can be characterized as disproportionate.

"Right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame the other. Protection of reputation is a fundamental right. It is also a human right. Cumulatively, it serves the social interest. Thus, we are unable to accept that provisions relating to criminal defamation are not saved by doctrine of proportionality because it determines a limit which is not impermissible within the criterion of reasonable restriction," the bench said.

It held that applying the doctrine of balancing of fundamental rights, existence of defamation as a criminal offence is not beyond the boundary of Article 19(2) of the Constitution, "especially when the word 'defamation' has been used in the Constitution".

It said the concept of fraternity under the Constitution expects every citizen to respect the dignity of the other and mutual respect is the fulcrum of fraternity assuring dignity.

"It does not mean that there cannot be dissent or difference or discordance or a different voice. It does not convey that all should join the chorus or sing the same song. Indubitably not. One has a right to freedom of speech and expression.

"One is also required to maintain the constitutional value which is embedded in the idea of fraternity that assures the dignity of the individual. One is obliged under the Constitution to promote the idea of fraternity. It is a constitutional obligation," it said.
In yet another suspected case of honour-killing in Tamil Nadu, a 26-year-old Dalit woman, whose brother was in love with a caste Hindu girl, was hacked to death here today, police said.

Viswanathan (25), who was in love with a 20-year-old caste Hindu girl, had eloped with her a few days back, following resistance from her parents and relatives, City Police Commissioner Thirugnanam said.

Angry over the incident, the girl's father and his relatives came to the residence of Viswanathan. However, he was not there. His elder sister Kalpana tried to placate them, but to no avail and she was hacked to death.

Kalpana was mother of a girl child.

On March 13, a young couple, whose inter-caste marriage was opposed by their families, was brutally attacked by a gang with sickles in full public view in Tirupur district, resulting in the death of the husband, sending shock waves across Tamil Nadu.

Video footage of the attack had gone viral triggering an outrage. Five persons, including the girl's mother had been arrested.
Contrary to reports, the Defence Ministry has not opened any other deal for investigation besides the AgustaWestland chopper contract, defence sources said today.

The remarks came in backdrop of media reports that the MoD has opened an inquiry into a 2009 purchase of two naval tankers.

The allegations were that inferior quality of steel was used by the Italian firm which caused an incident on board the tanker in 2010.

"MoD has not opened any inquiry into navy tankers with so called sub standard steel," sources said.

However, the deal had come under criticism of the CAG in 2010.

A Navy spokesperson said necessary procedures were followed diligently prior to acquisition of these tankers.

The official said a few minor cracks were observed on the superstructure when the ship was coming back from Russia with aircraft carrier Vikramaditya.

"The cracks probably occurred due to a combination of factors like sub-zero temp in the region, heavy sea, stormy conditions among others. The repairs were carried out in Lisbon by original equipment manufacturer and the ship was made ready in a few hours.

"Board of Inquiry to investigate the cause was conducted and there was no material failure found. The ship is fully operational since and has been deployed extensively," the official said adding the ship is on deployment in the Persian Gulf as of now.
Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai, who recently underwent an operation for removal of a bullet stuck in his neck for 17 years, today arrived here for further treatment.

From Hyderabad he will go to Chennai also for treatment. He is expected to return to Delhi after 20 days.

He was hit by a bullet during a demonstration at Allahabad University in 1999.

The bullet had over time migrated from the back of his neck to a burrow under the skin in the back of his body. He underwent the bullet removal surgery in Delhi last week.

"Rai will undergo physiotherapy treatment in Hyderabad for his paralysed right hand. On May 17, his stitches will be cut by the doctors at a hospital.

"After spending 10 days in Hyderabad, he will leave for Chennai to undergo physiotherapy treatment for his legs at another specialised hospital," said a Delhi government official.

Rai has to take assistance for walking as his right leg has also been affected.
A unique 'hackathon' to explore digital solutions to agriculture issues in the country was organised here with support from software giant Microsoft and other organisations.

The two-day event, which concluded today, was held at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

'Hackathon' (an event in which computer programmers and others involved in software and hardware development, including graphic designers, collaborate on software projects) was also supported by aWhere, a US-based agricultural information firm, and T-Hub (a start-up incubation centre set up with the participation of Telangana Government and some premier academic institutions).

Over 100 participants (11 teams) took part in the programme, Hack4Farming. A team, DARe (Digital Agri Rural e-Marketing), won the prize of USD 2000 for an innovative model. They also won the opportunity to get business and sector specific mentorship services with T-Hub to develop their idea into a viable business or product, a release issued by the organisers said today.

Their model was chosen by a team of judges for the cloud-based application that will help connect a large number of smallholder farmers with multiple buyers, it said.

The model will help in real-time price discovery using current e-mandi price, recent price trends, variety and other quality parameters. The application will also provide farmers location-specific weather forecasts and information on technology providers in their locality.

"Hack4Farming aims to unlock benefit of intelligent cloud solutions to positively impact the agriculture sector. It had mentors from Microsoft to guide participants in their quest to build solutions using intelligent cloud technology.

"The hackathon has highlighted that technology, when harnessed correctly, has the potential to transform lives and have a major socio-economic impact," said Anil Bhansali, MD, Microsoft India R & D Pvt Ltd.

Noting that digital technology can accelerate the pace of developing and delivering sustainable solutions to small- holder farmers, ICRISAT Director General David Bergvinson said the Hack4Farming' was part of the institute's digital agriculture initiative.

"Digital technology such as cloud computing and mobile phones provide an important platform for youth to see farming as a viable business. These tools will help us manage natural resources and support a modern food system that delivers safe and nutritious food to all consumers," he said.
Owing to severe slowdown in the global markets, domestic engineering exporters are now aggressively focusing on Middle Eastern countries.

"Due to a severe slowdown in the global markets, the engineering exporters are going all-out for a hard-sell in the Middle East countries by aggressive participation in the high-tech industrial fairs," EEPC India Executive Director and Secretary Bhaskar Sarkar said in a statement issued here today.

Under the aegis of EEPC India and with the help of the Commerce Ministry, as many as 50 top engineering exporting firms are participating in Jordan's flagship 'JIMEX 2016' event that brings under one roof about 200 global exhibitors representing more than 550 international trademarks.

While the brand India exercise will take place between May 16-19 during JIMEX, EEPC India has already participated in the UAE industrial fair held earlier this month.

"While the Middle East market, including the UAE and Jordan, is key for the Indian engineering exporters, we have witnessed quite a fall in the shipments in line with the falling trend in rest of the world.

"By some aggressive marketing strategy and with the help of the government under the Market Access Initiative (MAI), we want to reverse this trend," he said.

Against the exports of USD 396 million in 2014, engineering exports from India to Jordan fell sharply to USD 105 million under the impact of a steep fall in the commodity prices. Likewise, shipments dropped to USD 5.1 billion in 2014 from USD 6.4 billion to the all-important Middle Eastern market of UAE.

Sarkar further said a sharp drop in crude oil prices and the likelihood of the softening trend continuing would bring about a structural change in the Middle Eastern economies, a development full of opportunities for Indian engineering sector.

"We should also rope in the investors from the Middle East in our Make in India programme for common goals," he added.

The engineering exports to the region comprise segments like industrial machinery, automation, energy, safety and security and renewable energy.
Malayalam movie actor Salim Kumar today resigned from Association of Malayalam Movie artists in protest against popular actor Mohanlal's campaign for Kerala Congress(B) candidate K B Ganesh Kumar in Pathanapuram Assembly constituency.

Tendering his resignation from the organisation, Salim Kumar, who has been campaigning for candidates contesting on Congress ticket in the May 16 Assembly polls, alleged that Mohanlal had violated an unwritten code in AMMA that actors should not take part in campaign in constituencies where actor-turned politicians are contesting.

While Ganesh Kumar, a film actor and former minister, is contesting the polls from his sitting seat with the support of CPI(M)-led LDF, actor-turned politician Jagadish is the Congress candidate from the seat.

NDA has fielded another film actor Bheeman Raghu from the seat to take on both Jagadish and Ganesh Kumar.

Meanwhile, AMMA president and Lok Sabha MP Innocent rejected Kumar's claim that the members of the organisation were barred from participating in Kerala election campaign.

He said AMMA has always made it clear that it would not interfere in the political allegiance of its members.

Campaigning for Ganesh Kumar in Pathanapuram along with director Priyadarsan yesterday, Mohanlal had said he was canvassing votes for Ganesh Kumar not as a film star, but as his elder brother.
Five Bangladeshi nationals have been sentenced to four years imprisonment in connection with a dacoity case by a fast track court here.

Judge Rakesh Bhardwaj also imposed a fine of Rs 21,000 each on the accused after holding them guilty under sections 395 (dacoity) and 412 (dishonestly receiving property stolen in the commission of a dacoity) of the IPC here last evening.

According to the government lawyer, armed robbers raided the house of one Kamil in Amba Vihar locality here and looted cash, ornaments and other goods at gunpoint in June 2011.

During investigation, the accused, Kamrul, Munir, Alauddin, Aslem andAlemgir, were arrested and they have been in jail since their arrest.
Following is the chronology of events that led to the judgement by the Supreme Court refusing to decriminalise the defamation law:



* Oct 29, 2014: SC agrees to hear Subramanian Swamy's plea to quash defamation case filed by Tamil Nadu govt for making comments against Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

* Oct 30: SC stays proceedings on defamation cases against Swamy.

* Apr 7, 2015: Centre's response sought on constitutional validity of sections 499 and 500 of IPC.

* Apr 17: SC stays Kejriwal's prosecution in defamation cases filed by Union minister Nitin Gadkari and an advocate.

* May 1: SC stays two other cases against Kejriwal filed by Amit Sibal and Pawan Khera.

* May 8: SC stays defamation proceedings against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly blaming RSS for assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

* July 14: Swamy and Rahul assail criminal defamation law.

* July 15: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal says defamation law is abused, calls for re-examining of law.

* July 23: Centre says quashing of defamation laws will lead to "anarchy".

* Sep 7: SC stays criminal proceedings against Subramanian Swamy in three defamation cases, filed by Tamil Nadu govt.

* May 13, 2016: SC upholds constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation; asks petitioners to approach HC for further relief in the case.
France's already unpopular Socialist government faces a no-confidence vote today after it bypassed parliament and forced through a labour reform bill that has led to two months of demonstrations.

The government said Tuesday it would resort to the controversial move in the face of fierce opposition from within President Francois Hollande's own party that was set to lead to the bill being defeated in parliament.

Opponents need 288 votes to bring down the government, which is considered an unlikely prospect because left-wing rebels and extreme-right lawmakers have said they will refuse to join forces with parties on the right.

Its critics say the bill is heavily weighted in favour of employers, but a defiant Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the reform must go ahead "because the country must move forward and because salary negotiations and workers' rights must progress."



Unions have called for more demonstrations on Thursday to coincide with the vote of no confidence.

The government argues the reform will give companies more flexibility to fight endemic employment, which stands at more than 10 per cent -- joblessness has been the defining issue of Hollande's four years in power.

But while the right believes the reform fails to go far enough, unions and student groups say it will only serve to erode job security.

The right, which has a minority in the National Assembly, or lower house, says Hollande has led the country into an "impasse".

Left-wing critics failed by just two votes to bring their own vote of no confidence.

Valls remains confident and said he had "no fear" that the government would be brought down.

The standoff over the labour reform is just the latest headache for Hollande since he was forced to abandon his attempts at changing the constitution in the wake of the November 13 terror attacks on Paris.

In a sign of the government's nervousness on the labour reform issue, it has made a significant U-turn on one of the most controversial measures. Companies which want to lay off staff will not be able to solely use losses in France to justify such a move.

Unions fear that companies with profitable international operations will "cook the books" to make it look as if a loss is being made in their French units in order to make redundancies.

All of this comes less than a year from the 2017 presidential election.
German police searching for a missing Chinese student say they have found the body of a woman with severe head injuries.

The body was discovered today in the eastern town of Dessau-Rosslau, where the woman from China had been studying. Friends reported the unnamed 25-year-old missing on Thursday, a day after she had last been seen going out for a jog.

Chief Prosecutor Folker Bittmann said a homicide investigation has been launched, but that the victim's identity hadn't been established yet because of the severity of her injuries.

German agency DPA quoted local police saying they are working on the assumption that the body is that of the missing student.

Daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported that the body was discovered less than 100 meters (109 yards) from the Chinese woman's home.
Goa's Central Jail at Aguada, which no longer houses prisoners, will now be converted into a tourist attraction, the state tourism department has said.

"The jail is all set for a major transformation. Since May 30, 2015, this prison no longer houses inmates who have now been shifted to the new jail at Colvale," a spokesperson of the tourism department said today.

"Nonetheless, the Central Jail at Aguada will not stand forgotten as it will soon join the Dhagshai Jail of Himachal Pradesh and the Cellular Jail of Andaman as a jail museum," he said.

While the Dhagshai Jail in Himachal Pradesh and the Cellular Jail of Andaman are of the British era, the Central Jail, Aguada, dates back to the Portuguese rule.

The Goa Tourism Development Corporation's mega project to convert the old Central Jail into a museum is taking solid ground and the work has already begun, the spokesman said.

The GTDChasinvolved Goa Heritage Action Group (GHAG) and state'sfreedom fighters in the project asit intendsto revive and restorethe history and heritage, and to make it an attractive location for tourists.

"The 17th centurystructurehas some historical landmarks andDarashaw & Co Pvt Ltd, theproject development consultants,haveresearched andsurveyedevery aspect of the structure that will needto be given prominence, based on the historical andheritage value," the spokesman said.

One of the majorhighlights will include bringing to life Goa's freedom struggle through sound and lightshows and paying tributes to thevaliant andheroic deedsof young men and women who sacrificed their lives for Goa'sliberation.

The master planfor developingAguada Jailat Sinquerim into a tourist destinationinclude creating activity zones, viewing galleries, amenity zones, tourist information centres, improvement of temple and chapel areas, among others.

"The old Central Jail at Aguada is very well knownnot only as a prison but for itshistory andheritage," GTDC Chairman Nilesh Cabral said.

"GTDC has requestedthe governmentto make this vacant structure as atourist spot. The Corporation has started working ona project that will preserve the heritage structure and showcase Goa's freedom struggle," he said.

GHAG's Prajal Sakhardande said, "We are very happy with the project proposal and thank the GTDC and Goa Tourism for taking us into confidence."



"We have fervently requested the tourism officials to ensure that the heritage of Aguada Jail be well maintained and landmarks within the jail are projected prominently," he said.

Promotion of computerisation in tourism would also



help the IT services industry in a win-win situation, Sheth said.

Like it happened in the IT industry, entrepreneurship needs to grow in tourism industry for the sector to grow, he said.

"Think about making that unbranded street food, package it, promote it like 'Haldirams'. You are going to be millionaire. And, also serve the society well...So, we need to just upgrade the way you do businesses," he said.

Citing the example of China, Sheth suggested that hosting mega conventions would attract more tourists.

"China is hosting mega conventions...Event based tourism is what Singapore has done. Not just meant for Singaporeans, but everybody comes there...That is a big thing. For which, you need to build an infrastructure," he said.

"So, all major cities of the world have gone from typical small group tourism to more convention-style tourism. Because, then you can sustain a large convention bureau, a hotel structure etc," Sheth said.

The state tourism boards need to take good care of tourists from the moment they land till they leave, he said.

Noting that the IT industry grew in the country as governments took steps, like establishing Special Economic Zones and engineering colleges, he said tourism can become more organised.

Hospitality industry is organised, but the tourism sector as a whole needs to get more organised in different aspects, he added.
Putting the blame squarely on the Congress for the logjam on GST, Government today said it was "blocking" passage of key legislations for "political reasons".

Addressing media on the last day of the Budget session, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, also ruled out any attempt to target the Congress leadership on AgustaWestland scam, an issue which rocked both Houses of Parliament.

Naqvi expressed satisfaction over the legislative business completed in both Houses and described it as "fruitful despite political confrontation" and raising of some contentious issues.

The minister said that Lok Sabha, where the BJP has majority, saw "not even a single adjournment due to interruptions" and noted that even in the Rajya Sabha, disruptions recorded a "declining" trend.

Giving details, he said the productivity of Lok Sabha during this session has been 117.58 percent and that of Rajya Sabha at 86.68 percent. "Ten bills were passed in Lok Sabha and 12 in Rajya Sabha."



Naqvi also said that during the two years of Modi government, over a dozen reform bills got Parliament's nod.

"The number of sittings of both the Houses and bills passed during the Lower House have improved during this period. Lok Sabha held 78 sittings and passed 48 Bills, per year as against 70 sittings and 45 Bills per year during 2004-14 period.

"Rajya Sabha held 76 sittings and passed 41 bills per year as against 67 sittings and 45 bills per year during 2004-14 (when the UPA was in power)," he said giving an account of efforts made by the government towards legislation and functioning of Parliament over the last two years.

Stating that there is a definitive need for Parliament to give a major push to the priority reforms, Naqvi hoped that Congress will "introspect" during the gap between the conclusion of Budget Session today and the convening of the next Monsoon session and help pass the crucial GST bill.

Due to the logjam on the issue, the GST bill could not considered in the second part of the Budget session that began on April 25.

Asked how does it expect Congress to help pass the bill, when the leaders of the main Opposition party are being attacked, Naqvi said,"corruption-free development is needed for nation- building. If corruption has happened at any level, compromise with that is not possible.

Noting that an Italian court has given punishment to



"bribe givers", the minister said,"it is clear that the bribe-takers are in our country. We have been saying that while no bribe taker will be spared, no innocent will be touched at the same time. So it is not appropriate for our friends in Congress to be concerned and think that their leaders are being attacked.

"Our attack is not on any party or its leadership. Our action is against the bribe takers and who they are, will be clear after investigations. Congress leaders have also said on the floor of the House that speedy investigation should happen in the AgustaWestland case. I assure that the desire of Congress will definitely be fulfilled."



To repeated questions on the AgustaWestland issue and the goverment's handling of it, Naqvi said, "we did not dig out this issue. It came from Italy."



He also said the GST being a Constitutional Amendment Bill, the support of Congress is also required and the government will make attempts to take the Opposition party on board.

"There were many important issues like the GST on which a consensus could not be made, especially the support of Congress was not there even as all other parties and states ruled by other parties are in favour of it.

"We hope that our Congress friends will introspect in the period available between the end of the Budget session and beginning of the Monsoon session and we will be able to pass the GST in the next session," he said.

Naqvi claimed that when the BJP was in Opposition, it took care that legislations for the development of the nation are not blocked.

Asked about the oft-repeated stand of Congress that BJP is yet to come out with some formal response to its demand for three amendments in the GST, Naqvi cited the recent remarks of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament saying "there can be no more formal response than this".

He said that the bill was referred to a Select Committee on the demand of Congress and most of the recommendations of that panel have already been accepted.

"If there is some new thing, then they can be placed in the House itself and discussed," Naqvi said.

He also downplayed questions on the impact on GST's future due to the BJP-AIADMK sparring during Tamil Nadu elections saying many things are said during elections and the Chief Minister of the state should also understand that Tamil Nadu will benefit if GST happens.

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"GST Bill will not be held up for long on political considerations and hopefully it will be passed soon," Naqvi said as he also lauded what he called the government's "persistent outreach" to opposition and other parties is resulting in better functioning of Parliament.

To a question on whether the BJP feels that it won't require Congress support to pass the GST in Rajya Sabha after June 11 elections for 57 seats in the Upper House, Naqvi said that there is no doubt that the number of seats of BJP and NDA will increase "but GST is a Constitutional bill. So support of all parties will have to be taken."



Major Bills passed during this Session included -The Finance Bill and the Railways Appropriation Bill, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, the Industries (Development and Regulation) Bill and the Anti-Hijacking Bill, passed by both the Houses and the Compensatory Afforestation Bill, passed by Lok Sabha.

44 Bills are pending in Rajya Sabha for consideration and passing while it is 11 in case of Lok Sabha, Naqvi said.

The Minister noted that over a dozen reform Bills were passed by the Parliament over the last two years. Naqvi further said that at the same time, 1,175 outdated and outlived Acts have been repealed over the last two years to avoid confusion.

He said government has reached out to opposition and other parties through sustained coordination, communication and cooperation by Finance Minister and Leader of Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu and the two Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs on various issues.

About questions on curtailing the period of the session by two days for Lok Sabha, Naqvi said a number of leaders from opposition parties have requested the government to do in view of the last leg of campaigning in poll-bound Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Naqvi also targetted Congress over its demands in Parliament for an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Italian' remarks against Sonia Gandhi saying "they will only get disappointment. They are making this demand as they are not able to digest the commitment of Modi to work for the country".

To a question about CAMPA bill, which was also stuck, Naqvi blamed it on "sudden negative behaviour" of a Congress MP.

"There was sudden change in behaviour of a Congress MP. Congress MP's behaviour was negative. He was not ready for a discussion. The Congress member gave amendments to block it. Amendments also came from CPI-M," he said.
The government today announced a comprehensive National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy, in a move to incentivise entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation and curb manufacturing and sale of counterfeits.

The policy, with a tagline of 'Creative India: Innovative India', also calls for updating various intellectual property laws, including the Indian Cinematography Act, to remove anomalies and inconsistencies in consultation with stakeholders.

"The aim is to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society... The policy aims to create and exploit synergies between all forms of IP, statutes concerned and agencies," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while briefing reporters about the yesterday's Cabinet decision.

On trademark, Jaitley said the registration process will be reduced to one month by 2017.

The seven objectives of the policy, he said, include IPR awareness, stimulation of generation of IPRs, need for strong and effective laws and strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat infringements.

The policy seeks to promote R&D through tax benefits available under various laws and simplification of procedures for availing of direct and indirect tax benefits.

It also called for providing financial support to the less empowered groups of IP owners or creators such as farmers, weavers and artisans through financial institutions like rural banks or co-operative banks offering IP-friendly loans.

For supporting financial aspects of IPR commercialisation, it asked for financial support to develop IP assets through links with financial institutions, including banks, VC funds, angel funds and crowd-funding mechanisms.

To achieve the objective of strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat IPR infringements, it called for taking actions against attempts to treat generic drugs as spurious or counterfeit and undertake stringent measures to curb manufacture and sale of misbranded, adulterated and spurious drugs.

"The Indian Cinematography Act, 1952, may be suitably amended to provide for penal provisions for illegal duplication of films," the policy said.

The policy called for promotion of licensing, technology



transfer, formulation of suitable guidelines to enable commercialisation of IPRs, patent pooling and cross-licensing for products and services.

It also suggested examining the feasibility of an IPR exchange, besides incentivising Indian inventors, MSMEs and start-ups to acquire and commercialise IPRs in other countries and make efforts to reduce dependency on API imports.

Commenting on the policy, Dev Robinson - National Practice Head-IPR and Partner, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co, said: "We hope that the new policy will provide the necessary platform for innovation. Easier registration and better enforcement of IPRs would be key to such fostering."



P K Vijay, founder of Corporate Professionals, sees the policy improving ease of doing business in India for foreign companies due to "its robust IPR process".

According to the policy, the government needs to take stock of all IP funding by the Centre and suggest measures to consolidate with a view to scaling up funding, avoiding duplication, enhancing visibility of IP and innovation related funds so that utilisation goes up.

Further, the administration of the Copyright Act and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act will now be under the administrative control of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

It will lead to synergetic linkage between various IP offices under one umbrella, streamlining of processes and ensuring better services to users.

To facilitate promotion, creation and commercialisation of IP assets, a Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) should be constituted under the aegis of DIPP, it suggested.

The policy will be reviewed after every five years.

On the apprehensions that the government may yield to the pressure of developed countries with regard to its IR regime, an official said: "India will never go beyond its current commitments in TRIPS. Section 3 (d), patent linkage, data exclusivity and compulsory licensing are red lines.

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The policy clearly said India will continue to utilise the legislative space and flexibilities available in international treaties and the TRIPS agreement even as it continues to engage constructively in the negotiation of such international treaties and agreements.

"India shall remain committed to the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health," it said.

The IPR policy favoured the government considering financial support for a limited period on sale and export of products based on IPRs generated from public-funded research.

It called for creation of an effective and simple loan guarantee scheme in order to encourage start-ups and cover the risk of genuine failures in commercialisation based on IPRs as mortgage-able assets.

Besides, it seeks promotion of "infusion of funds to public R&D units" as part of corporate social responsibility to foster a culture of open innovation and provide special incentives for creation of IPRs in green technologies and manufacturing of energy efficient equipment.

To increase public awareness, it said a nation-wide programme of promotion should be launched about benefits of IPRs and their value to rights-holders and the public.

"Adopt the national slogan Creative India; Innovative India' and launch an associated campaign on electronic, print and social media, including linking the campaign with other national initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, and Start up India in future," it said.

As per the blueprint, the ambit of Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) should also be expanded while the possibility of using it for further R&D shall be explored.

To modernise and strengthen service-oriented IPR administration, the policy pitched for augmentation of manpower after analysing projected workload and speedy liquidation of backlog.

It also made out a case for measures to check counterfeiting and piracy.

"It would be desirable to adjudicate on IPR disputes through specialised commercial courts. Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism may also be explored," the policy road map said.

It has also made out a strong case for progressive introduction of IP teaching in schools, colleges and other educational institutions and centres of skill development.
Madras High Court has issued notice to the Law Ministry and Election Commission of India on a PIL seeking to declare as unconstitutional certain provisions in the Representation of Peoples Act, enabling convicted candidates to contest elections after a period of six years.

The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh issued notice recently on a PIL from one Parthasarathy, a voter of Chepauk constituency here, seeking to declare as unconstitutional, provisions in Sections 8 and 9 of RPA, by which those convicted are allowed to be members of legislatures, restricting the disqualification period upto six years.

The petitioner alleged that there is discrimination in applying this rule to the Executive and Judiciary.

In the judiciary, when one is arrested or convicted for any criminal offence, he or she is suspended automatically and their services are terminated.

But this rule is applied differently in convicted perons. Even after conviction and undergoing sentence, they can contest and become member of legislatures after expiry of six years period from the date of their conviction, he said.

The petitioner submitted that RPA, being burdened with the important task of law making, has not provided for any proper guidelines in the form of minimum educational qualifications, good character and conduct.

Parthasarathy sought a direction to declare the provisions restricting the disqualification period upto six years as violative of principles in Articles 13 and 14 of the Constitution.

The bench then issued notice to the Law Ministry and EC, directed them to file their counters and posted the matter for further hearing to July 26.
The Madras High Court today refused to vacate its interim order restraining the office-bearers of 'Abdul Kalam Vision India Party' from using the name and the pictures of late President A P J Abdul Kalam but allowed them to use it in individual capacity as a candidate.

Vacation court judgeJustice M V Muralidharan, however, modified the May 6 last order to the extent allowing the office-bearers to use the name in individual capacity and not in the name of a political party since its registration and recognition was yet to be decided by the Election Commission.

Defendants permitted to use the name, figure, picture of Kalam in individual capacity as candidate and not in the name of the political party, the judge said in his order and posted the matter to June 3 for further hearing.

The court had earlier granted the ad-interim injunction on a civil suit from A P J Mohammed Muthu Meera Maraikayar, elder brother of Kalam, restraining the defendants from using the name/figurine/picture of Kalam as a part of the party name or in the flag of their political party or for any other political activity.

Ponraj, who worked as Secretary to Kalam, along with S Kumar and R.Thirusenduran, formed the political party--'Abdul Kalam Vision India Party' on February 28.

Maraikayar submitted that they started the political party only with a view to encashing the love and faith the people of the nation reposed on his brother.

In the application seeking vacation of the stay, the office-bearers of the party said thecourt ought to have considered that the name of the political party was not a prohibited name or against the Constitution.

They further contended that the suit was not maintainable when the Election Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer issued election notification for Tamil Nadu Assembly 2016 and commenced the election process.
A huge waste ground near Madrid where millions of tyres have been dumped was on fire today, releasing a thick black cloud of toxic fumes that officials worry could harm nearby residents.

The government of the Castilla-La Mancha region where the dump is located, dozens of kilometres south of the Spanish capital, said it had activated an emergency action plan as it believes the fire may last for days.

Firefighters and helicopters were working to extinguish the blaze, which produced a "toxic cloud... That could affect part of the (nearby) town of Sesena," with its 20,000 residents, the regional government added in a statement.

The dump stretches over some 10 hectares (25 acres), the equivalent of 10 rugby fields, straddling the Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions.

By late morning, three-quarters of the site had burnt, the Spanish capital's emergency services said on their Twitter account.

Authorities have urged residents nearby to close their doors and windows, and to try and stay away from the cloud of smoke, but no evacuations have yet been deemed necessary.

"No problem has been detected in any (air quality) measuring station," the emergency services said in a bid to ease health concerns, adding there were no injuries.

"Everything points to the fact that this disaster was deliberate," Sesena Mayor Carlos Velazquez told Spanish radio, pointing out that the area had been rained on for several days, which makes an accidental ignition unlikely.

The massive pile of tyres started to form in the 1990s when a company began using the site as a temporary depot for old tyres due to be recycled.

But over the years these started to accumulate, resulting in three-metre (10-feet) high piles.

Environmentalists have for years warned that the dump poses a health hazard, and the town of Sesena has lived in fear of the rubber heap catching fire.

These types of blazes are notoriously difficult to put out and have been known to go on for months and even years, as tyres often continue to burn inside even if they are extinguished from the outside, and easily reignite.

Emiliano Garcia-Page, President of Castilla-La Mancha, warned that the fire could last "for several days."



The black cloud emanating from the blaze appeared to be moving south over the day, sparing Madrid and its international airport, according to Vicente Garcia, a spokesman for environmental group Ecologists in Action.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the government is putting in place a mechanism to drastically bring down the time period for registration of trademark to one month by 2017.

He said: "Now in India, we have a very effective and a robust trademark law in place... It takes a lot of time for getting the registration done and our plan is to facilitate online applications and bring down the time period to one month by 2017."



The move would help in cutting down the pendency of applications.

The total number of patent applications and trademark registration requests pending as on February 1, 2016 are 2,37,029 and 5,44,171 respectively.

Talking about the national IPR policy, the minister said capacity would be built to achieve objectives of the policy.

Further, he said one has to balance the consideration of inventibility with public health considerations so that cost of medicines does not become prohibited because patent may itself create a monopoly.

On compulsory licensing (CL), he said so far, India has issued only CL for a cancer drug.

"We rarely exercise this power," he said.

The statement assumes significance as developed countries, including the US, have raised concerns over India issuing the CL.

As per the WTO norms, a CL can be invoked by a government allowing a company to produce a patented product without the consent of the patent owner in public interest.

Under the Indian Patents Act, a CL can be issued for a drug if the medicine is deemed unaffordable, among other conditions, and the government grants permission to qualified generic drug makers to manufacture it.

The policy is clear that India shall remain committed to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is a WTO agreement which deals in intellectual property-related issues, including CL.
A married couple from India has lost their legal battle to stay in the UK on the grounds that their relationship would not be legally recognised in India.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, arrived from India as friends in 2007 and went on to enter into a civil partnership in Scotland in 2008, which they converted into marriage last year.

Judges at the UK's Court of Appeal rejected their application to remain in the UK yesterday on the grounds that their relationship would not be legally recognised in their home country of India.

According to the 'Guardian', they both completed Master's degrees in Scotland and then found work and have always lived on legal visas in the UK and now want to acquire an "Indefinite Leave to Remain" in the country.

The Court of Appeal, however, analysed background material on India and accepted that India provided no legal protection or recognition of same-sex couples but felt their return to India would not be a violation of their right to a family life as there was no evidence the couple would suffer violence on return.

"My family do not know that I am a or that I am married. If I return home they will treat me as a single woman and start looking for a suitable husband for me," one of the women who cannot be identified was quoted as saying by the report.

"I won't have any legal protection for who I am because my marriage will not be recognised in India. In India we will both have to hide who we are. In the UK we enjoy our family life together," she said.

The couple's barrister, S Chelvan, said: "This is a landmark judgment, as it is the first case from the Court of Appeal to address the balancing of the rights of migrant same-sex couples to legal recognition and protection, with immigration control and economic interests of the UK."



The couple are now planning to appeal against the decision to the UK's Supreme Court.
Union Minister Smriti Irani today described the Congress-DMK alliance for the May 16 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu as an "unholy" one while bringing up the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

"When we look at the unholy Congress-DMK alliance what we find is when people of this country speak about Congress and DMK alliance, the only memory we have is that of 2G scam which horrified the entire nation," Irani said at an election rally, canvassing for state BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan here.

Soundararajan is contesting from Virugambakkam constituency in Chennai.

"When we look at the alliance of Congress and DMK, you find that they did corruption not only 2G, but they did not spare even helicopter procurement for the nation," she said.

Ridiculing DMK for not yet identifying M Karunanidhi's successor, Irani said, "In their hands they have taken the rising sun as the party symbol. But when you ask the people of Tamil Nadu which son rises (after Karunanidhi), they will tell you that till now, even within the DMK, a decision has not been taken on who shall rise and who shall be left behind."



The Union Minster said people should ponder over whether it was Tamil Nadu's destiny to be "hijacked" by the interest of one family.

On the freebies given by the ruling AIADMK, Irani, without naming the party, said one has to ask why this political party has not strengthened the citizens economically.

"On the one hand we have one party (AIADMK) which makes promises, distributes things... You need to ask yourself why this political party has not strengthened citizens economically, so that they themselves can look after their needs."



Making a reference to the works of great poets Subramania Bharati and Thiruvalluvar, she said for the first time in the nation's history, it was under Narendra Modi's leadership through the HRD Ministry that "we have recognised the contribution and the richness of Thirukkural (treatise) and we got it to the rest of the country through our school systems and universities".

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Listing out some successful Central government schemes, Irani said opening of accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana scheme has seen the eradication of middlemen.

"I would like to remind you that this nation saw a time when a Congress leader from Delhi said that one Rupee leaves Delhi and by the time it reaches the pocket of poor person it becomes 10 paise," she said.

"When Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, he announced the opening of bank accounts for every citizen so that no middleman can take away money from the poor and the funds were directly deposited into the bank accounts," she said.

Pointing out that Rs 30,000 crore has been deposited in bank accounts under the scheme, she said a cup of filter coffee costs Rs 30, but insurance is available at Rs one.

"When I ask for a cup of filter coffee in this very lane it is Rs 20-Rs 30. But under the leadership of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi insurance is given to citizen(s) for Rs one only," Irani said.

She said one crore citizens had given up LPG subsidy so that poor women in rural areas could have free LPG connections.

BJP has planned to give free LPG connections to five crore people in the coming years, the Union Minister said.
Iraqi officials say gunmen and a suicide bomber have attacked a coffee shop north of Baghdad, leaving at least 13 people dead and 15 wounded.

The officials say the attack in the town of Balad started with three gunmen, armed with machine guns, shooting into the crowd in the cafe shortly after yesterday. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests.

Balad is 80 kilometers north of Baghdad. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The attack comes on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in the Iraqi capital that killed nearly 100 people.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today expressed grief over the death of three students in acloudburst near Batote in Ramban district yesterday.

In her condolence message, the Chief Minister conveyed her heart-felt sympathies to the bereaved family members in their hour of griefand prayed for eternal peace to the departed souls.

Three young school-going children were washed away by flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in Batote area of Ramban yesterday.

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Targeting the former Omar Abdullah-led government and Manmohan Singh-led UPA dispensation, Mehbooba said it was unfortunate that no substantive measures were taken by the previous government in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the one at the Centre to expand the ambit and scope of the cross-LoC travel and trade and build on this major confidence building initiative.

"Ironically, not even the buses deployed in April 2005 for carrying cross-LoC passengers were changed by the previous regime. It is only after the present government assumed office, that new Volvo buses have been deployed on Srinagar-Salamabad and Chakan-da-Bagh sectors.

"Because we believe that when a passenger comes from there, he should feel that he has come to Jammu and Kashmir, into that nation which is very big in every respect and then his eyes will open," the J&K Chief Minister said.

Mehbooba said there are misconceptions among the people across the LoC and those needed to be cleared.

"I remember when the road opened for the first time and (former Chief Minister and her father Mufti Mohammad) Sayeed went there to receive them, some people asked him if they could offer Namaz (prayers). He told them what were they asking. There is a mosque in every town here and there is no restriction on the prayer and they could offer prayer wherever they want.

"So, I want to say that, there are some misconceptions and they can be cleared only when we will open the routes for all," she said.

Mehbooba said the government is also planning to promote border tourism activity in the state in a big way.

"Given the typical geographical advantage of the state, we have immense potential for developing and promoting border tourism activity to attract high-spending tourists for an enriching experience," she said.

She said measures have already been taken to build requisite infrastructure for border tourism at Suchetgarh, Chamlyal, Salamabad and Chakan-da-Bagh.

"We want to develop Suchetgarh as another Wagah and during my recent meeting with the Director General BSF, I flagged the issue of holding march past at the border point the way it is being done at Wagah in Punjab," she said.

The Chief Minister said the aim of the government is to encourage good things in both the countries.

"The opening of the border will encourage friendship and business and improve the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir," she said.

Referring to a query by a member of the Legislative Council about getting doctors back from abroad, Mehbooba said, "They will come only when the situation is better here. They would think that even if they are paid less salary, their children should not come under stone-pelting when they leave in the morning. So, I feel the opening of these routes will have a good impact on the situation of J-K and so, we all will make efforts for it to open maximum routes.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said her government would show greater intent in discouraging use of tobacco products in the state and directed police to implement ban on sale of such items near educational institutions.

She also gave directions to police for immediate removal of illegal billboards and advertisements from city centres.

"The government will show greater intent in discouraging use of tobacco products, as it exposes people to the grave risk of lung cancer," she said interacting with a delegation of Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) which called on her at her residence here this evening.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister discussed with the Director VHAI, Seema Gupta, various measures required to be taken for comprehensive implementation of COPTA (Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act) at the state-level and creating more smoke-free settings.

She sought VHAI's support in generating mass awareness about hazards of tobacco smoking, which has shown an alarming upward trend in the state, an official spokesman said.

Gupta requested the Chief Minister for creation of an Anti-Smoking Fund so that targeted interventions are made to protect women and children from falling prey to passive smoking.

Director VHAI also suggested increasing tobacco-tax as an effective way of reducing smoking and other tobacco use.

She appreciated the state government for imposing a tax of 40 per cent on tobacco products, describing it as a win-win situation for states as they work to balance the budgets while preserving essential services.

The Chief Minister assured the delegation of taking all out measures to protect the health of people by strictly enforcing COTPA.
The Prakash Singh Committee report on Jat agitation has identified about 90 officials who indulged in "deliberate negligence" when violence hit Haryana, noting that in some areas "mayhem" was allowed for hours, with authorities turning a blind eye to the loot and damage.

Detailing the situation during the height of the violence that took place in February, the Committee said in one instance a police official was so scared that he ran away while judicial officers rattled by the rampage even took off their nameplates outside their houses to save themselves from attacks.

Prakash Singh, former DGP of UP and Assam, who submitted the report to the government today, however, said that he has not suggested suspension or dismissal of "negligent" officials.

After receiving the report, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the government would examine it and take appropriate action at the earliest.

"Around 90 officers, including IAS and IPS officers, were found indulging in deliberate negligence during Jat agitation. We have made adverse comments against them in the report which was submitted today," Singh said after submitting the report.

"Out of these officers, one third were in Rohtak, which saw maximum violence and damage during the Jat stir," Singh said.

The committee inquired into the role of officers from the rank of Sub Inspector till SP in police and Naib Tehsildar or Duty Magistrate till the rank of Deputy Commissioner in civil administration.

It also examined the role of officers in the affected districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat.

Noting glaring negligence on the part of some officials in violence-hit areas, the former DGP said, "In some areas, it seems, they allowed (mayhem) for hours. I heard from victims who said officials did nothing. They virtually allowed loot and damage by arsonists. We have identified those officials."



Singh said he had found there was complete "lawlessness" in some areas.

"In one sub-division, violence took place for several hours. It seems full freedom was given by officers of that area, including SDM and DSP, for loot and violence to happen. Arsonist looted for six hours. We identified them (officials) and asked for strict action against them," Singh said, while refusing to share the area and names of officials.

"Some people while saving themselves said we did not get orders from seniors. I told them why do you need orders. Houses were being burnt and people were being beaten up and you needed orders. You have rights under Criminal Procedure Code to maintain law and order. It is your responsibility to control the situation," said Singh.

He further said there was confusion in the minds of officials on whether to take action or not.

"Some felt that if they take action and if somebody dies and then will the government defend them or not. It was in their minds. Some even said situation may turn worse. I asked a SHO why he did not save his police station. He said if he used force, they (arsonists) will bash them. One even said that he got scared and he ran away," he said.

Haryana was rattled by widespread violence during Jat



agitation in February which had left 30 people dead with large-scale damage to property in several areas.

State government had appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Singh on February 25 to inquire into the acts of omission and commission on part of police and civil administration officials from February 7 to February 22.

The Committee, which submitted its report within 71 days from the date of formation, hoped that the government would take strict action against those who did not perform their duty in maintaining law and order during the agitation.

"I think the state government will take action and I have got indication that the government wants to prepare action taken report as soon as possible," he said.

"It is important to take strict action against guilty officers to send right message across the officials. If they get away then such kind of violence can be repeated," he said.

However, he further said this report was not binding upon the state government.

Singh said the Commission had heard 2,217 people and recorded their statements.

"We visited places which saw large-scale violence and damage to public property. We met people and also received written statements, affidavits and even memorandum from people. We also got 142 video footage which we analysed during inquiry," he said.

The entire proceedings were video recorded and the hard disc of these recordings would be submitted to Home Department for their record, he said.

The Commission had also met eight judicial officers in Rohtak who strongly criticised the role of district administration during the stir.

"Judicial officers said there was no police and there was no administration and we have quoted it in our report. They were upset. They told us that they were so scared that they had even taken off their nameplates outside their houses to save themselves from any attack," he said.

On "security withdrawal" of judicial officers, he said there was no intention to withdraw their security cover.

"Wherever the need for more security personnel was required they were sent there. In this process, their security cover may have become less. It is not government's intention to withdraw their security," he said.

The Commission submitted its report in two volumes. The first volume of 414 pages contained report and annexures while second report of 37 pages was related to intelligence which will go to the Home Department and DGP.

On the issue of political involvement in the widespread violence during Jat agitation, the Commission said the inquiry was confined only into the acts of omission and commission of police and civil administration officials.

"We have not gone into it as far as role of political involvement is concerned. Justice Jha Commission has been formed by the government which is mandated to probe the conspiracy behind the violence," he said.
Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) will oppose the proposed 'sainik colony' in the Valley in any form, even if it was meant for the state subjects only, the group's chairman Yasin Malik today said.

He said there was no need to construct a colony for ex- servicemen even if they were state subjects.

"What is the need for a sainik colony? Why does the government want to give land and construct colony for the retired employees.

"When other government employees or policemen, who retire from the services, have to leave their government accommodation and live in their own houses, why a colony for the retired army men," Malik asked while talking to reporters.

The JKLF chairman said his group would also oppose the creation of separate settlements for Kashmiri Pandits as well as the new Industrial Policy.

"We have always maintained that Pandits are our brothers and are welcome to return to the Valley and stay at their ancestral places, but we will not allow separate colonies for them.

"Similarly, we will not allow this new industrial policy which would give lands to outside businessmen at cheap rates and settle them here in the same pattern as East India Company," he said.

He also accused the PDP-BJP coalition government of "creating issues" in the state and then firefighting them.
"Money Monster" director Jodie Foster has commented on the gender wage gap in Hollywood, saying it's a valid issue.

"In terms of pay, it's hard for me to get interested in millionaires worried about who gets paid more," Foster said, explaining that the market effectively dictates what an actor or actress will make on a project and that the main factor for studios as they negotiate pay is risk.

"I'm just so grateful to be an actor, and I know lots of actors feel that way, that it's hard for us to complain because we're artists, and unfortunately we're artists in a marketplace, and the marketplace pays what the marketplace demands, so we need to change the marketplace."



The issue of equal pay in the film industry exploded last summer when Jennifer Lawrence wrote a well-publicised essay on the matter in Lena Dunham's "Lenny" newsletter. Since then, many female stars including Meryl Streep, Emma Watson and Reese Witherspoon have spoken out on the matter, said the Hollywood Reporter.

"These are conversations that we need to have in our culture," Foster said.

"We need to have conversations about diversity all over the place, and inequality. Especially now, when the class inequality and financial inequality is larger than ever, and it really is the problem of our future. Its something that we all need to look at and think about how to solve.
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 has said.

The decision has been condemned by domestic and international rights groups and organizations dealing with refugees.

Dadaab camp, with an estimated 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 yesterday.

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 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.

US Secretary of State John Kerry in a statement late yesterday said he was concerned by the decision to close the camps. He urged Kenya to continue its "leadership role in protecting and sheltering victims of violence and trauma, consistent 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.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was to leave for Saudi Arabia today to launch a week of efforts to try to end the crises in Libya and Syria.

From Jeddah, where he will meet senior Saudi leaders, Kerry will fly on Monday to Vienna where he will co-host international meetings on the two conflicts.

Then on Wednesday, he will fly on to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and talks on the full range of challenges facing the Western allies.

Kerry's spokesman John Kirby said the secretary of state and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni would jointly host the Libya crisis meeting.

Attendees will "discuss international support for the new Government of National Accord, with a focus on security," Kirby said.

Libya's new UN-backed government has been set up to unite the fractured country and fight the Islamic State group, but it is still a work in progress.

Officials say the fledgling regime is drawing up a list of requests for Western partners to assist its forces with arms, training and intelligence.

After the Libya meeting, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead a meeting of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group.

Kirby said the goal was to "ensure humanitarian access throughout the country, and to expedite a negotiated political transition in Syria."



The ISSG, under the odd couple of Kerry and Lavrov, is pushing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and a coalition of opposition groups to respect a shaky truce.

Officials hope next week's meeting will inject new life into the peace process and -- if the ceasefire holds -- secure talks on forming a unity government.

And, with Russia and France, Kerry will also co-host a meeting on the Nagorny-Karabakh conflict with the rival Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.
Key American lawmakers are not prepared to support US giving military aid to Pakistan without "some specific actions" by that country in combating terrorism, the Obama administration has said.

"Key members of Congress have been clear they're not prepared to support US military aid to Pakistan absent some specific actions," State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters.

Trudeau, however, would not say what specific actions US lawmakers want Pakistan to take before they can support the military aid.

"I would direct you to Congress, those specific members, for anything further on their position. As always, we are committed to working with Congress to deliver security assistance to our partners and allies. It furthers US goals by building capacity to meet shared security challenges," she said.

Asked if the State Department is willing to certify that Islamabad is taking enough action against the Haqqani network, Trudeau said: "We've spoken about our views on Haqqani quite a bit as well as what we view Pakistan needs to do."



She said Pakistan has said they would not discriminate against militant groups.

"We could encourage them to continue to live up to that," she said.

Meanwhile The New York Times in an editorial praised Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for putting a hold on the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan with American taxpayers' money.

"Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has wisely barred the use of American aid to underwrite Pakistan's purchase of eight F-16s. Pakistan will still be allowed to purchase the planes, but at a cost of USD 700 million instead of about the USD 380 million," The Times' Editorial Board said.

"Mr Corker told The Times he would lift the hold on the aid if Pakistan cracks down on the Haqqani network, which he called the 'No 1 threat' to Afghanistan and American troops there," it said, adding that "it is time to put the squeeze on Pakistan."



"Pakistan's double game has long frustrated American officials, and it has grown worse. There are now efforts in Washington to exert more pressure on Pakistan Army," it said.

Responding to the damning editorial, Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful especially when his country has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan.

"Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability. Omitting such fundamental questions, that impede a long term solution to the Afghan problem, smack partisanship on part of the New York Times," Jilani wrote.

Congressman William Keating ranking member of the



Subcommittee on Terrorism, Non-Proliferation and Trade asked panelists if ISIS was a state within a state.

"It is by no means a rogue institution within Pakistan. It does not operate independently or on its own. It is an instrument or an arm of the Pakistani army. It is implementing the policies of the Pakistani army. It is implementing on behalf of the Pakistani Army," said Tricia Bacon, Assistant Professor, American University.

"Roggio said ISI is an arm of the Pakistani military. It is executing the will of the Pakistani military, which is really the Pakistani State. The (elected) government is just the face of the Pakistani military," Bacon said.

"I concur with my colleagues," Khalilzad said.

Salmon said he personally believed that as the first step, the US should completely cut off aid to Pakistan.

"That would be the right first step. If we do not any changes, we move some of the other suggestions, state sponsor terrorism, possible economic sanctions. I personally believe we have the worst policy that we have and what we are doing is rewarding thugs," Salmon said.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit here next month, four influential American lawmakers have introduced an amendment Bill which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US ties on par with that of US' other NATO allies.

Moved by Congressmen George Holding, Ed Royce, Eliot Engel and Indian-American Ami Bera, the amendment submitted to the House Committee on Rules on Wednesday institutionalises the US government's focus on US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to New Delhi that Washington is a reliable and dependable partner.

Aimed at bolstering ties between the US and India, the legislation would amend the National Defence Authorisation Act, which is considered a must-pass Bill.

The amendment has strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, as demonstrated by the fact that the House India Caucus Chairs (Congressmen Holding and Bera) sponsored it along with the Chair and Ranking Member of House Foreign Affairs Committee (Chairman Royce and Ranking Member Engel, respectively).

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, maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative, enhance India's military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co-production/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.

"Strengthening the strategic partnership between the US and India is critical to address the shared security challenges our two nations face," Holding said.

"As the world's oldest democracy and the world's largest democracy, the US and India share common values and a growing partnership on many fronts, especially on defence cooperation. India plays a critical role as a strategic partner to the US and as a pillar of stability in South Asia," Bera said.

The move was welcomed by the US-India Business Council.

"The legislation that was originally introduced by Congressman Holding is moving through the legislative process. Now that we have bipartisan support from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House India Caucus, we believe this amendment has a good chance of making its way into the House's version of the defence authorisation Bill," said US-India Business Council President Mukesh Aghi.

Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn, the Senate India Caucus Chairs, introduced a similar Bill earlier this week in the Senate.

Modi is expected to visit the US for a bilateral summit with President Barack Obama in June. He may address the joint session of Congress during his visit.
Seventy American lawmakers have introduced a bill in the Congress to ensure people were not barred from the US because of their religion, even as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has stuck to his controversial "temporary" ban call on Muslims.

"We cannot allow fear and paranoia to drive our public policy, especially when it comes to the defining values of our country," said Congressman Don Beyer, the lawmaker behind the move to introduce the Religious Freedom Bill.

Beyer has been able to cobble together a coalition of as many as 70 lawmakers - mostly from the Democratic party, and a few from the Republican party - to back the legislation.

"Our Founding Fathers guaranteed religious freedom for all in the First Amendment to our Constitution. People all around the world look to us as the standard for freedom, liberty, and tolerance," he said.

The bill yesterday gained support of over 100 ethnic and minority groups, including from Indian-American communities.

Several lawmakers in their statement made clear that the legislation was in response to the call given by Trump to prevent Muslims from entering the United States.

"This bill is about the very foundation our nation was built on, and that's religious freedom," said Congressman Joe Crowley, Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus.

"Unfortunately, the rhetoric we've heard over the past year or so has not only greatly affected our national discourse, it has fanned the flames of hate and hurt innocent families," said Crowley, a former co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans.

House minority leader Steny Hoyer said regardless of what Trump may think, barring members of a particular religious group from entering the country is unconstitutional and would never be supported by the Congress or the courts.

"I hope House Republicans will join with us as cosponsors of this bill to send a strong message of support for our Constitution and the freedoms we hold dear and that have sustained us for generations," he said.

The OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates in a statement commended the introduction of the legislation.

"We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in demanding fair treatment, equal rights, and an end to xenophobic rhetoric," said Ken Lee, OCA national president.

"As a Chinese-American, the Muslim ban proposal is a shocking reminder that the Chinese Exclusion Act can never be far from our thoughts," Lee said.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR), said: "America must uphold its ideals of religious tolerance and welcoming the stranger, or else we face a diminishing role at the table of international leadership."



Meanwhile in an interview to Fox News, Trump reiterated his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States.
Lenders to the grounded today started the process to take physical possession of Kingfisher Villa, which was pledged by beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya to the bankers as collateral for over Rs 7,800-crore loan.

The move comes within two days of North Goa Collector Neela Mohanan allowing, after a two-year delay, the application of the bankers to take over the Rs 90-crore worth villa at Candolim in North Goa. Following this, SBI Cap Trustee Company today put up a notice on the villa.

"The property is in possession of SBI Cap Company under section 13 (4) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 as per the orders passed by the district magistrate of North Goa," says the notice put up on the villa.

The district administration officials also visited the villa this afternoon along with SBI Cap officials.

On Wednesday, the Collector had issued an order in favour of the 17-banks consortium led by SBI to take physical possession of the villa.

The villa used to be Mallya's base in Goa and also the venue of his many parties.

Representing the bankers' consortium, SBI Caps had sought physical possession of the property under Section 14 of the Sarfaesi Act in late 2014.

But three of Mallya's companies -- United Spirits, and United Breweries -- had objected to the move. Last week, media reports had 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, the 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 SBI Cap approach the Goa bench of Bombay High Court.

The bench then 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 1,240 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 last month that he was ready to repay up to Rs 6,800 crore of the total dues of over Rs 9,430 crore.

Last month, the consortium of banks had failed in its attempt to sell the airlines' 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.
Re-elected Tibetan Prime Minister in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, will be sworn-in on May 27 at a function here which will be attended among others by the Dalai Lama.

The ceremony will be held at the Tsuklakhang (Main Temple) in McLeodGanj and the oath will be administered by the Chief Justice Commissioner, a Tibetan government in-exile spokesperson said.

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama has very kindly consented to grace the swearing-in ceremony with his presence," the spokesperson added.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has raised questions over the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad's (ATS) handling of the Malegaon blast case in which it has been accused of using torture to extract confessional statement from the accused and the invoking of MCOCA provisions against them.

In the supplementary chargesheet filed today in a special court in the case of the 2008 blast in which seven people were killed, the NIA listed many "shortcomings" in the ATS' investigations and claims how courts did not believe the confession statements of the accused.

The NIA said that accused Sudhakar Dwivedi when produced before the magistrate for confirmation of the confessional statement made by him, stated that his confession was the outcome of torture meted out to him.

The agency also said that "dubious" methods adopted during investigation by ATS become crystal clear from the disappearance of one of the main witness.

"The CBI during its investigation in the disappearance of the witness has submitted findings against the officers of the ATS Mumbai," the agency said.

"ATS Mumbai invoked MCOCA on the basis of the involvement of accused Rakesh Dhawade in the previous two blast cases i.E. Parbhani and Jalna in which the concerned courts had taken the cognisance. The way and circumstances in which the ATS invoked the provisions of MCOCA in this case becomes questionable", the NIA chargesheet said.

According to the NIA chargesheet a case was registered in November 2003 in Parbhani bomb blasts. The chargesheet was filed against two accused persons Sanjay Choudhary and Himanshu Panse. While in September 2006 first supplementary chargesheet was filed against accused Maruthi Keshav Wagh and Yogesh Deshpande.

"The second supplementary chargesheet was filed against accused Dhawade on Novmber 13, 2008 after his arrest on November 11, 2008 i.E within two days of his arrest (in Parbhani case)," the NIA said.

"This raises considerable doubt on the integrity of invoking of MCOCA by ATS," the chargesheet said.

(Reopens DEL49)



The federal anti-terror agency also said that a case was registered in August 2004 in Jalna bomb blasts case against unknown persons and the chargesheet was filed against accused Maruti Keshav Wagh on September 30, 2006. Then the first supplementary chargesheet was filed against Yogesh Deshpande, Gururaj Jairam, Rahul Manohar Pandey and Sanjay Choudhary in the case on January 7, 2008.

"Second supplementary chargesheet was filed against accused Dhawde on November 15, 2008 on the day he was arrested in that (Jalna) case. It may be mentioned that in this case, no accused was shown as wanted in the earlier chargesheets," the NIA document said.

The agency also said that Dhawde was arrested in the 2008 Malegoan blast case on November 2, 2008 and four days later Sukhwinder Singh, the then additional commissioner of ATS, sent a letter to Police inspector of Aurangabad ATS and instructed him that arrested accused Dhawde has disclosed that he had organized a training camp in July/August 2003 at Singhgad (Pune) in which the arrested accused in Parbhani blasts had participated.

"Further (Sukhvinder Singh) directed to formally arrest Dhawde and to investigate the crime," said the NIA chargesheet.

According to NIA, the investigation officer of Malegoan 2008 case, Mohan Kulkarni sent a letter to the police inspector local crime branch (LCB) Jalna and informed that Dhawde has disclosed that eight persons had come for taking training of preparation of explosives and carrying out test blasts for terror activities.

Kulkarni, NIA said, also informed that Dhawde had received eight recruits from Pune railway station and taken them to Singhgad and looked after their logistic arrangements.

"Kulkarni directed the inspector of LCB to arrest accused Dhawde in the Jalna blast case", the NIA chargesheet said.

The agency said that on considering the dates of arrest and filing of chargesheet (against Dhawde) it is apparent that there was hardly any time available to ATS Mumbai to collect the evidence against the accused before filing of chargesheet.

"The said chargesheets were filed with the sole purpose of fulfilling the condition of the enabling provision of MCOCA Act", the NIA said.

The NIA also said that there is no evidence to show that the accused persons (in Malegoan 2008 case) had any knowledge of the involvement, if any, of accused Dhawde in Parbhani and Jalna bomb blast cases.

"Accused Rakesh Dhawde met another accused (Lt Colonel) Prasad Purohit for the first time in mid of the year 2005 at Pune. It is on record that he had not attended any meeting of Abhinav Bharat held at Faridabad, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Kolkata and Nashik," the agency said.

In the chargesheet NIA also said that there is no evidence on record to show that Dhawde had informed any of the accused in 2008 Malegoan blast case regarding the alleged Singhgad training or his involvement in Parbhani and Jalna case. Neither there is evidence of any of the accused persons of the Malegoan 2008 case knowing of the involvement of Dhawde in any continuing criminal activity.

The agency said confession of Dhawde before the Mumbai police has been retracted pointing out that certain key words and sentences were not stated by him.

"Dhawde has been acquitted in Jalna case where a finding has been given by the court after a full-fledged trial wherein the prosecution case against him is that he imparted training to others in bomb making and explosion. Similar is the contention of ATS in the Malegoan blast case and same set fo witnesses have been relied upon all of whom were not believed in the Jalna case trial by the court," the agency said in its chargesheet.
With the killing of a journalist in Siwan in Bihar, BJP today attacked Nitish Kumar for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state which it dubbed as "maha jungle raj".

BJP Spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said while the chief minister was visiting Benaras, the people of the state were migrating out from the state as criminals were "ruling the roost."



He also described the killing of a journalist in Siwan as an "attack on the fourth pillar of democracy".

"Chief Nitish Kumar, who also holds charge of Home department, is moving around in Benaras and even journalists are not being spared in Bihar. Law and order situation in Bihar has turned so bad that people are migrating out. It is not 'jungle raj' but 'maha jungle raj'," he said.

The BJP leader said 11 crore people of Bihar had elected Nitish Kumar as their chief minister with the hope of orderly rule in the state where lives of everyone were protected.

"Today, criminals are ruling the roost in Bihar and not law and order. When ruling party leaders and legislators are involved in crime, how can one expect the law and order to be normal and when asked the chief minister avoids answering the issue of rising crime. He talks of Bihar being liquor-free, but the state has become full of crime instead," he said.
Congress today termed the NIA decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case as vindication of the disclosure made by former special public prosecutor Rohini Salian that "NIA was asking her to go soft on Hindu terror suspects" while BJP and Shiv Sena welcomed the NIA move.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said today's events "prove" what Salian had said about the NIA.

"The NIA's decision of removing Sadhvi's name from the chargesheet indicates how people related to Sangh Parivar are being saved despite being involved in heinous crimes.

"It is shocking that NIA now says there is no evidence against her (Sadhvi) when an officer like Hemant Karkare, who laid down his life for the nation, had investigated the episode," Chavan said.

The Congress also claimed the Central investigation agencies are under "tremendous pressure" of the BJP regime.

The BJP and Shiv Sena welcomed the NIA decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others and alleged that Sadhvi and another accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit were "framed" in the case at the behest of Congress.

Terming Pragya Thakur and Purohit as two "respectable people", Shiv Sena demanded a monetary compensation for Sadhvi for her "false implication" by the previous government.

"We have always been saying that these two (Sadhvi and Lt Col Purohit) have been framed wrongly. The word saffron terror was first coined by (former Finance minister) P Chidambaram and stressed upon by (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar. Who is to be held responsible for almost 10 years that she (sadhvi) spent behind bars? Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said.

"These two are respectable people. The Congress has been exposed today on how they used investigation agencies to defame Hindu religion. The government needs to provide monetary compensation to Sadhvi for the troubles she has gone through," she said.

BJP spokesperson Shaina N C said her party has nothing to do with the decision of NIA.

"When Sadhvi first went to jail, there was no concrete evidence against her. She was arrested despite not having substantial proof. If the NIA has something to suggest, we have to have faith in the judiciary. Judiciary works on evidence and not on hearsay or what political parties have to say. Allegations that the BJP has to do something with the NIA's decision are absolutely false and untrue," she said.

"When Salian gave the statement, it had started



appearing that the case is fizzling out. Today, what she (Salian) had said on NIA (that it was) asking her to go soft on Hindu terror suspects has been proved true," he added.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that by giving a clean chit to Sadhvi, the BJP-led government has insulted Karkare.

"Giving a clean chit to Sadhvi amounts to insulting the martyred Hemant Karkare. When Rajnath Singh and Advani ji were in the Opposition, they had approached the then Prime Minister to drop charges against her.

"Karkare, on the morning of 26/11 was asked to explain his stand before the PMO but he was martyred the same day. Now the BJP is in power and thus are fulfilling their agenda," he claimed.
Bihar government today increased the incentive of Mamata health workers in the state by three times.

Mamta workers, who are contract health workers in maternity wards of government hospitals to take care of newborns and their mothers, will now get Rs 300 instead on Rs 100 that they got earlier per delivery.

Cabinet Secretariat Department Principal Secretary Brajesh Mehrotra said the decision was taken at a cebinet meeting which was chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

There are more than 6000 Mamta workers in various government hospitals and health centres across Bihar.

The cabinet also approved implementation of Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from April 1, 2016, he added.
Investigators, probing the 'Panama Papers' leak where several hundred Indian identities figure, have found that a number of these offshore asset investments have been made in the tax haven of British Virgin Islands (BVI).

Official sources said the Multi-Agency Group (MAG) group constituted by the government, led by the CBDT, has come across the BVI "link" in multiple cases after which it has been decided to approach the nation with queries in this regard under the protocols of the existing tax information pact called the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA).

Sources said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has instructed the field investigation units to prepare "water tight" cases before approaching BVI with all relevant background to obtain information in this regard.

The North Caribbean island country has figured a number of times in cases of black money and overseas probes of various investigative agencies like the IT department, Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.

Sources said while a "good number" of entities named in the 'Panama Papers' disclosure have been found to have declared these investments to the taxman in the past, there are "many" who have not done so and are now being probed by the tax department.

Last year, the CBDT had brought out fresh and specific standard operating guidelines for Indian investigators to seek information from jurisdictions like BVI and a host of others while working on cases of tax evasion, money laundering and subsequent round-tripping and layering of funds to and from India.

Hundreds of individuals, entities and addresses with links to India figure in the latest edition of 'Panama Papers' giving information on offshore holding of companies in tax havens.

A random check of the database for India displays about 22 offshore entities, 1,046 officers or individual links, 42 intermediaries and as many as 828 addresses within the country.

These range from the tony and posh locations of metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to mofussil locations like that in Haryana's Sirsa, Bihar's Muzaffarpur, Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur and state capital Bhopal and those in North Eastern states.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published a searchable database that strips away the secrecy of nearly 2,14,000 offshore entities created in 21 jurisdictions, from Nevada to Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands.

The data, part of the Panama Papers investigation, is the largest ever release of information about offshore companies and the people behind them. This includes, when available, the names of the real owners of those opaque structures, the consortium said.

The global body that brought out last month the first edition of the 'Panama Papers', by way of secret offshore data sourced from a Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, said the information about a particular country could have "duplicates" as it reiterated that "there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts.
Continued marijuana use during pregnancy may increase the risk of pre-term birth by about five times, a new study has found for the first time.

The study evaluated data from more than 5,500 pregnant women from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the UK who took part in the SCOPE (SCreening fOr Pregnancy Endpoints) study. Of those women, 5.6 per cent reported using marijuana before or during pregnancy.

The researchers considered a range of risk factors - such as cigarette smoking, age, obesity and socio-economic status - and their links to serious pregnancy complications.

The results show that once all other major risk factors have been accounted for, continued marijuana use through to 20 weeks' gestation is independently associated with a five-fold increase in the risk of pre-term birth, researchers said.

"Our results suggest that more than 6 per cent of pre-term births could have been prevented if women did not use marijuana during pregnancy, irrespective of other risk factors," said lead author Claire Roberts, professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia.

"This is the first time that continued marijuana use in pregnancy has been independently linked to pre-term birth. Based on our findings, we consider marijuana to be a major public health concern for pregnant women and their babies," she said.

The study found that among the 236 pre-term births recorded in the group, women who continued to use marijuana at 20 weeks' gestation had a significantly shorter gestation (just less than 30 weeks on average) compared with those who did not use marijuana (more than 34 weeks on average).

The proportion of very early pre-term birth was also higher, with 36 per cent of marijuana users having delivered at less than 28 weeks' gestation and 64 per cent at less than 32 weeks, compared with non-users: 5 per cent at 28 weeks' gestation and 16 per cent at 32 weeks.

"Anecdotally, we know that some women are using marijuana to reduce nausea in pregnancy, even though there is no medical evidence to support this," Roberts said.

"Our study was unable to determine whether there is a 'safe' time prior to 20 weeks' gestation to give up marijuana. Therefore, we recommend total abstinence from marijuana during pregnancy," she said.

The study appears in the journal Reproductive Toxicology.
A massive fire broke out at a chemical factory in Nacharam area here today, leading to evacuation of people living in the adjoining buildings.

Thick black smoke enveloped the area but no causalities were reported, fire services officials said. It's a residential area, with some factories.

People living in the surrounding area were evacuated by authorities as huge flames erupted from the factory.

The fire started at around 9 am and was brought under control by afternoon. The cause was still not known.

"Fire-fighting operation is still continuing....We are using foam to control the fire. Apart from four fire engines and three sophisticated vehicles, water tankers from the municipal corporation are also helping the operation," a senior fire services official told PTI.

As there was no proper access road for the vehicles to enter the premises, fire-fighters had a tough task on hand, he said, adding chemicals such as capric acid, sulphuric acid and ethanol were stored in drums inside the factory, which led the fire to spread quickly.

Hyderabad Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, who visited the spot, said the state Government was considering shifting the chemical factories from the residential areas (such as this) and the process to identify such factories was on.
A controversial EU-Turkey deal dramatically cut the number of migrant arrivals in Greece last month, data showed today, even as a row between Brussels and Ankara threatened to sink the agreement.

Last month 3,360 migrants and refugees landed on the Greek islands, compared with 26,971 in March -- an 88 per cent drop, according to figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The EU border agency Frontex also reported what it described as a "dramatic" slowdown, saying it had registered 2,700 arrivals in Greece last month.

The figures are the first for a full month-long period since the EU-Turkey deal came into force in March and will be seen as a key measure of its effectiveness.

"The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last year's peak months," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said in a statement.

Under the March deal, Turkey agreed to take back Syrian migrants landing on Greek islands in exchange for incentives, including billions of euros in aid and visa-free European travel for its citizens.

The agreement is the cornerstone of the EU's plan to curb a crisis that has seen 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants enter Europe since January 2015.

But the deal was at risk of unravelling after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed on Thursday that Ankara would not amend its counter-terror laws -- a key condition set by Brussels for Turkey to secure visa-free travel.

With Turkey's military battling rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Ankara has said that it cannot change its anti-terror legislation.

Ankara must also fulfil four other outstanding conditions including anti-corruption and data protection issues. Turkey has so far complied with 67 requirements of the deal.
Amid the charges and counter-charges over the AgustaWestland issue, Friday accused the Modi government of "working overtime" tapping the phones of opposition, civil servants and judges.

Party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma said, "there is a dirty tricks dept in the BJP Government, which is working overtime tapping phone of Opposition, civil servants and judges".

He alleged that the government is putting senior leaders and bureaucrats under surveillance, manufacturing documents, using state agencies and "pliable" sections of media.

Cautioning the government to stop this game of political blackmail, he said it was "spreading canards" and making attempts to "defame".

Wondering as to how classified documents of Ministry of Defence, of CBI, of ED, have been selectively leaked to few channels and agencies, he said this created an "incomplete picture".

"The selective leaking and distribution of classified documents creates an incomplete picture. The whole picture is brought out by Opposition in Parliament", he said.

He said the government instead of targeting the opposition, should focus on delivering on its promises. "They have failed miserably when you look at the state of economy, job growth, falling exports and falling investment rate".

Turning to the just concluded session, he said budget Session has passed 24 laws. It is a record in itself.

Noting that since 2014 when the Modi government assumed office, more than 80 Bills have been passed, he said adding that this is "testimony of a mature Opposition".

"This is also a rejection of the canard spread by PM Modi that Opposition was hindering passage of Bills", he said.

Seeking to turn tables on the BJP, he said that many of the bills passed were held hostage by BJP while in the opposition.

At the outset, Sharma targeted the government over the Uttarakhand issue.

"The second half of Budget Session became a fresh session because of the wrong decision of this Government to justify the unconstitutional destabilisation of the Uttarakhand Government, by encouraging defection and promoting an environment where money power and the Union's power were abused," he said.

Giving a word of advice and caution to the government in the backdrop of AgustaWestland issue, he said it should seriously reflect and stop what they are doing and they would "end up seriously compromising defence acquisition and defence preparedness" of the country.

Citing an instance, he said that since the Bofors case, India has not acquired any major artillery system since 1988.

Sharma was sharply critical of the way the Prime Minister Narendra Modi went about on the issue of Rafale fighter deal without the mandate of the Cabinet Committee on Security.
A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court Friday rejected the bail petition of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister who is facing charges of money laundering in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

69-year-old Bhujbal had sought bail on health grounds saying he had multiple problems, including diabetes, blood pressure, chronic asthama and blockages in heart.

The senior NCP leader pleaded that he was in custody for nearly two months and was suffering from multiple health problems for which he needed to undergo treatment. Hence, he sought bail.

Designated Judge of PMLA court P R Bhavake, however, rejected the bail petition of Bhujbal after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) objected saying investigations were still on and he was getting proper treatment in government hospital.

Bhujbal was arrested on March 14 by ED on the charge of money laundering in the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

Anti-Corruption Bureau had filed an FIR against Bhujbal after it found irregularities in construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi which was built at a cost of Rs 100 crore. It is alleged that the contractor has given kickbacks to Bhujbal.

Another FIR was also filed by ACB against Bhujbal in which it is alleged that he had received kickbacks in awarding the contract of state central library in Kalina campus of Mumbai University.

ED lawyer Purnima Kantharia opposed Bhujbal's bail saying the diseases cited by Bhujbal in the bail petition are not new and he has been living with them for the last 15 years. He has been given proper medical treatment and the prosecution would provide the best medical doctors to treat him, she said.

Bhujbal is currently lodged in Central prison at Arthur Road here along with his nephew and former MP, Sameer who was also arrested in the same case on similar charges.
The issues of alleged "encroachment" by judiciary on the rights of legislature and media accountability were today highlighted by MPs in Rajya Sabha as it bid an emotional farewell to 53 retiring members.

Samajwadi party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said Parliament members are concerned over "encroachment" on legislature's rights by judiciary.

Constitution, he said, has given Parliament the right to legislate laws and make budget.

"If the judiciary does it what is our relevance," he said asking the government to discuss the issue during the monsoon session of Parliament.

Parliamentary honour, strength and supremacy has to be maintained, he said. "Constitution has drawn clear lines."



Yadav found support from BSP Chief Mayawati who said "we should act unitedly, especially on important issues" and rise above political affiliations.

"We would have to look within" why judiciary is taking advantage, she said.

"We should act unitedly and especially on important issues we should rise above political affiliations," the BSP leader said.

Just two days back, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley had voiced concern over the issue, saying judiciary was "step by step, brick by brick" encroaching upon the legislature.

"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 had said while asking the Congress to "reconsider" its stance on GST in his reply to a debate on Finance Bill.

"Can't you see, step up step, brick by brick, the edifice of India's legislature is being destroyed. And outside the Appropriation Bill, we are being told to create this levy this fund," he had said.

The members including Congress leader Anand Sharma today stressed on the important role played by the Upper House in raising the level of debate and correcting "flaws" in key legislations.

Sharma said a wrong image was created outside that no work is transacted in Rajya Sabha, adding obstructions are part of democracy and are used to put across reservations on policies and programmes.

Yadav said while some people have mocked Rajya Sabha as "second-grade" house of unelected, the Upper House has its importance.

Legislations passed by Lok Sabha in a rush are debated



and discussed at length in Rajya Sabha to correct any flaws, Yadavsaid.

Referring to the media, senior leader of JD(U) Sharad Yadav, who is among the retiring members, stressed on striking a balance on the issue of freedom of speech



"Only politicians are accountable...But others must also have some accountability," he said, adding the maximum hiring and firing is in the media sector.

"Owners have become editors," he said.

Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) said the fourth estate plays an important role, but cautioned against the ill effect of "paid or match fixing".

J D Seelam (Congress) expressed concern over "commercialisation" of politics and incidents where public representatives are lured by money.

He said that while it is said that courts should not interfere but the legislature should also examine what it is doing.

The issue of disruption of proceedings was also raised by members. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD) said in the democracy one should "discuss, debate and decide". Without referring to any one in particular, he said when members rush to Well of the House, smaller parties do not get time to raise their issues.

He also made a case for special session of parliament to discuss judicial reforms.

Tapen Sen (CPI-M) said in a democracy, it is the numbers which decide, but efforts should be made to reach consensus on different issues.

He said members may argue or even quarrel in the House, but things never go to "personal level".

Kanaklata Singh (SP) gave an emotional farewell speech in which she said people in politics should realise that it is means to serve people.

She lamented the frequent disruptions especially during Question Hour and Zero Hour that prevented many a MP like her from raising issues even after a lot of preparation.

Singh, daughter of former Parliamentarian Mohan Singh, called for upgradation of Gorakhpur Medical College to a super speciality hospital and Gorakhpur University to a Central University.

V P Singh Badnore (BJP) raised the issue of



disruptions of the House and demanded that members creating ruckus and stalling the proceedings be penalised.

"It is a matter of shame and we hang our heads in shame when we disturb the House. We should evolve a system whereby if members come to the Well and disturb, they should not be allowed to come to the House for the next two days," he said urging Chairman Hamid Ansari to act against such members.

Chairman Hamid Ansari merely remarked, "the rules are made by the members."



Ansari said parting is painful and more so when it involves a colleague and friend. He said every member retiring has "contributed significantly".

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said politicians don't retire and end of term in Rajya Sabha does not mean retirement from public life. While some may come back, others may change positions.

"All members have significantly contributed in enriching the House," he said.

On a lighter note, Kurien said in his sincerity of running the House, he may have been harsh on some members but it was in spur of moment and he continues to be good friends will all of them outside.

Sharad Yadav, a parliamentarian for almost four decades, said "members in large numbers are retiring today and my number has also come" but added that in politics there is no such thing as "farewell".

He said a large number of members have contributed towards nation building, but the country is yet to reach the place where it should have been. The level of development is not uniform across the country.

In a brief speech, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) quoted the first stanza of a 'Bombay Ka Babu' song by Mukesh to convey his wishes to the retiring members. 'O janewale ho sake toh laut ke aana ' (You are going, if possible do come back).

Mayawati said political parties asked the retiring members not to feel saddened today and said that it is their responsibility to use this experience to work for their parties and the country.

Vishambhar Pradad Nisad (SP) said he belongs to a poor family and had come to know from TV that his party had selected him for Rajya Sabha.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill also figured



with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ruing that Rajya Sabha did not approve the biggest indirect tax reform measure since independence in this session.

The MPs lost out on an opportunity to be part of a historic move that would have immensely benefited the states, he said.

In his speech, Congress leader Anand Sharma blamed the ideological differences for the delay in passage of some bills saying these had led to stalling of the GST bill for years when the UPA was in power.

UPA had piloted the GST bill but BJP-ruled states like Gujarat had opposed the draft.

BSP Chief Mayawati said the government should bring the GST Bill during the next session and assured support of her party.

Chandan Mitra (BJP) said the Rajya Sabha, with the vast experience and knowledge of its members, can act as a "intellectual fountainhead" to Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

"There should be some scope for debating key issues," he said, adding that the Upper House should have had debates on the meaning of nationalism as well as prominent issues like wildlife and environment.

The BJP leader said he has learnt a lot ever since he first became a member of the Upper House in 2003 and is retiring after two terms. He concluded his speech with a poem written by Urdu poet Faiz.

K P Ramalingam (DMK) said he represented the farmers and called for having a separate budget for the agriculture sector.

V Hanumantha Rao (Cong) thanked his leadership for providing an opportunity to represent the backward classes. He also raised issues pertaining to development of Andhra Pradesh and sought their early resolution.
As Rajya Sabha bade farewell to 53 retiring members, the House saw voices against the alleged "encroachment" by judiciary on the rights of legislature, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley pressing the need for preserving the supremacy of Parliament in the making of law and budgets.

"This House (Rajya Sabha) and the Lok Sabha has the primacy in law-making and budget-making. Law-making and budget-making cannot be decided by any third party," Jaitley said, in an apparent reference to the judiciary.

"If the right to law-making and budget-making goes out of here, it will weaken the parliamentary democracy as well as democracy itself," the Leader of the Upper House warned.

He said the "seriousness" of this issue has to be considered by all segments of the society.

"I believe that the maturity of insititutions in the country will one day decide the way forward keeping the logic of Constitution-makers in mind," the Minister said.

The comments came just two days after he made some scathing remarks in the House against the judiciary, saying it was "step by step, brick by brick" encroaching upon the legislature.

His remarks had come after the Supreme Court had directed the government to set up an additional fund, besides the NDRF and SDRF, for drought mitigation.

Jaitley's views were echoed by some other members in the Rajya Sabha.

Samajwadi party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said Parliament members are concerned over "encroachment" on legislature's rights by judiciary.

Constitution, he said, has given Parliament the right to legislate laws and make budget.

"If that is done by the judiciary, what is the relevance of Parliament," the retiring member wondered and said the issue should be discussed during the next Monsoon session.

Parliamentary honour, strength and supremacy has to be maintained, he said. "Constitution has drawn clear lines."



BSP chief Mayawati, an arch rival of Samajwadi Party, also raked up the issue and said "we should act unitedly, especially on important issues" and rise above political affiliations.

"We would have to look within" why judiciary is taking advantage, she said.

Senior SAD leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa made a case for special session of Parliament to discuss judical reforms.

Among other issues, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav raised the



issue of accountability of the media and pitched for striking a balance on the issue of freedom of speech.

"Only politicians are accountable...But others must also have some accountability," he said.

He said the maximum hiring and firing is in the media sector where "Owners have become editors".

J D Seelam (Congress) expressed concern over "commercialisation" of politics and incidents where public representatives are lured by money.

Tapen Sen (CPI-M) said in a democracy, it is the numbers which decide, but efforts should be made to reach consensus on different issues.

He said members may argue or even quarrel in the House, but things never go to "personal level".

Kanaklata Singh (SP) gave an emotional farewell speech in which she said people in politics should realise that it is means to serve people.

BJP member V P Singh Badnore raised the issue of disruptions of the House and demanded that members creating ruckus and stalling the proceedings be penalised.

Chairman Hamid Ansari said parting is painful and more so when it involves a colleague and friend. He said every member retiring has "contributed significantly".

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said politicians don't retire and end of term in Rajya Sabha does not mean retirement from public life. While some may come back, others may change positions.

K C Tyagi (JD-U) in a lighter vein remarked that he would now be able to make long duration speeches, which were not allowed in the House by the chair and may even use unparliamentary words.
Donald Trump, who courted global controversy with remarks on "temporarily" banning Muslims from entering the US, today appeared to be slightly softening his hardline stance saying the proposal was "just a suggestion" until the issue is worked out.

"We have a serious problem, it's a temporary ban, it hasn't been called for yet, nobody's done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what's going on," Republican presumptive presidential nominee Trump told Fox Radio.

"We have radical Islamic terrorism all over the world, you can go to Paris, you can go to San Bernardino, all over the world, if they want to deny it, they can deny it, I don't choose to deny it," he said responding to a question on newly- elected London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Trump said he would grant exemption to the Pakistani- origin mayor to come to the US under his presidency though he was critical of Khan.

"Well I assume he denies there is Islamic terrorism. There is Islamic radical terrorism all over the world right now. It's a disaster what's going on. I assume he is denying that. I assume he is like our President that's denying its taking place," the real estate tycoon said to a question on an interview by Khan to CNN.

"My message to Donald Trump and his team is that your views of Islam are ignorant. It is possible to be a Muslim and live in the West. It is possible to be a Muslim and love America," Khan had told CNN.

In December, Trump had called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," which had triggered global outrage.

Trump refrained from giving any hint on who his vice presidential nominee would be.

He said he would reveal the name at the Cleveland convention. But he praised two Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Sessions.

"Well Corker is a great guy. I want to keep it as a total surprise. I want to surprise even you. You have such access to me and everything I do, every once in a while I like to surprise even you. But I can tell you, Sessions and Corker are fantastic people, they love the country, they love their party and they love the country," he said.

While Sessions is helping him on immigration policies, Corker is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on foreign policy. It is Corker who has put a hold on the use of US taxpayers' money for sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan.
After witnessing a prolonged unrest, Film And Television Institute of India may be revamped as its new director Bhupendra Kainthola today hinted towards a crackdown on ragging and alcoholism on the campus.

Spelling out his pro-student measures to improve atmosphere on the campus after the scene of 139-day-long strike on the issue of chairmanship of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan drew nought, Kainthola said he would have a "zero tolerance" policy for rampant ragging and alcoholism in the premiere institute.

"Although I have not received official complaints of ragging, during my interaction with students, particularly females, I have perceived it is happening and they are scared to go on record to say it. Actually, it has resulted in a decline in the number of female students seeking admission to FTII," he told PTI here.

Kainthola, who succeeded Prashant Pathrabe recently, said alcoholism too was taking toll on the health of the students and that he had also "heard" of instances of drug abuse on the campus.

"We are going to have a zero tolerance policy for all this. If necessary we will rope in institutions such as Alcoholic Anonymous and de-addiction therapists," he said.

Outlining his priorities, the FTII director said a revision of the three-year syllabus was underway and he would ensure that the students completed their three year course without spilling over the prescribed timeline.

"We are recruiting new faculty members and we shall also approach famous film industry personalities to interact with the students as visiting faculty in order to impart practical experience for the would-be industry professionals being trained at the FTII," he added.

Asked whether the FTII management had any plans to withdraw the cases filed against a group of students booked in connection with the gherao of former director Pathrabe during the heated atmosphere of the strike against Chauhan's appointment, Kainthola said any decision in the matter would be taken after due deliberations.

During the strike, some students had barged into his office of Pathrabe in August last year, objecting to his decision on assessment of 2008 batch projects.

"The matter at present is sub-judice," he added.

He said the FTII management was committed to making the institute a centre of academic excellence and there would be no budgetary constraints in procuring necessary equipment and providing necessary facilities to the students to pursue their goals.
Nigeria hosts a security summit on ending the threat from Boko Haram, with increasing signs of closer military cooperation between regional powers and international support.

French President Francois Hollande, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain's top diplomat Philip Hammond are among the senior foreign dignitaries expected in Abuja.

The leaders of Nigeria's neighbours Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger are also invited, along with delegations from the European Union and the West African and Central African blocs.

Nigeria said this week "the successful conclusion of ongoing military operations" and "the speedy resolution of the humanitarian crises" would dominate the talks.

Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world" in 2014. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since 2009.

But Nigeria's military maintains its fight-back since early 2015 has the Islamists in disarray and recently announced the launch of operations inside the rebels' Sambisa Forest stronghold.

"The idea is to be able to announce (at the summit)... that this sanctuary no longer exists," a source close to Chadian President Idriss Deby told AFP earlier this month.

"That is a military and also a political imperative."



Yet there are mounting concerns for the future of more than 2.6 million people displaced by the violence, with many living in host communities or camps and affected by chronic food shortages.

Borno -- the Nigerian state worst-hit by the violence -- last month said there was a "food crisis" and it needed $5.9 billion (5.1 billion euros) to rebuild shattered homes and infrastructure.

The election of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's president has given fresh impetus to the military counter-insurgency.

Buhari, who last December said the militants were "technically" defeated despite repeated suicide attacks, has pushed hard for a new regional force, which was supposed to have deployed last July.

The status of the African Union-backed force, comprising some 8,500 troops from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, is likely to figure prominently in Saturday's talks.

Plugging gaps and improving coordination between armies operating largely independently is seen as vital, with Boko Haram now thought to be in remote border areas on and around Lake Chad.
Confident of clearing up the bad-loan mess, RBI Governor today said there is "absolutely no chance of a Lehman moment" in India and a three-cornered firewall was being created to safeguard the economy from external shocks.

He also rejected calls for any immediate privatisation of public sector banks and said the urgent need was to clean up their balance sheets and no private investor would anyway come without a cleaner balance sheet.

Rajan, who has often been criticised for being too economical with rate cuts, indicated that rate cuts were not the only instrument to boost growth.

"I think the real way we are trying to firewall the economy is, on the first hand, with good policies, including as I said, the moves on reforms that have been enacted recently. The second is by trying to increase the maturity of our debt. We have substantially increased the maturity of debt, external debt that we owe. The third is we built-up reserves," he told CNBC channel in an interview here.

Asked about bad loan problem in India being bigger than the size of New Zealand's $170 billion economy and whether there was risk of a banking crisis, Rajan said, "I do not think it's that big. Second, many of bad assets are in public sector banks and the government fully guarantees them.

"So, there is absolutely no chance they will fail. There is also absolutely no chance there will be a Lehman moment."



It was the collapse of Lehman Brothers, once a giant banking institution, that began a severe financial crisis in the US in 2008.

"It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he said.

On whether he should privatise some banks and can that reduce some of the inefficiencies, Rajan said, "I think, over time as we improve the governance in the banking system, that question can be addressed. At this point, the real issue is for most of these banks clean up their balance sheets without it is hard to imagine a private investor coming in without clean balance sheet.

"Also, many of them have the capacity to sustain the existence as public sector entities provided we improve the governance. Now, we have a Banks Board Bureau which has been set up primarily to distance itself from the government and to make a number of governance decisions including for appointments for the banks.

"My sense is we can do a lot without actually going to the point of privatisation. That's a decision the government will have to take down the line," he said.

Admitting that the banking sector is under stress in India, Rajan said, "Ours is not a retail problem. It is a wholesale problem. There are big projects and it is not because of connected lending or corruption. It was because the world changed."



He was replying to a question on whether there are problems because of some public sector banks granting loans to influential persons because of their connections.

"What we need to do is restructure the debt for some of these projects, put them back on track. It is not that there are acres of real estate that are unoccupiable. It's actually a power plant that can produce power and India is a growing economy that needs power. We just need to make sure the debt levels are appropriate," he added.

The banking sector problem, he said, is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank.

"...And that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he added.

Answering questions on the economy, Rajan said lot of structural reforms have taken place and the nation's economy is on the path of recovery.

Rajan said there are some bad news, but the Indian economy was getting stronger.

"I think we are a recovering economy and when you talk about structural reforms, we have seen a playout in the past few days. For example, we have a bankruptcy bill which was legislated last week. We also have a monetary policy committee that lays the framework that was also legislated last week. I think structural reforms are happening, are on their way and growth steadily is ... You see more green shoots.

"Of course there is some bad also every once in a while," he said.
North Korea has supplied pistols to the Democratic Republic of Congo that ended up in the hands of Congolese peacekeepers serving in the UN mission in the Central African Republic, according to a UN report.

A panel of experts "found that pistols with characteristics similar to those produced in DPRK were issued to certain members of the FARDC (armed forces), as well as to Congolese national police that were deployed to MINUSCA," the UN mission in the Central African Republic, said the report seen by AFP today.

Congolese soldiers and police said the arms were delivered in 2014 as part of a training program of the presidential guard and special police units carried out by some 30 North Korean instructors.

The same type of pistol is sold on the black market in Kinshasa, said the report.

North Korea is banned from selling weapons under UN sanctions.

The report also said Rwanda continues to train Burundian refugees with the goal of overthrowing President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Despite denials from Kigali, the support to Burundian insurgents continued in 2016, it said.

The experts confirmed allegations of involvement by Rwanda that were outlined in a previous report in February.

"Similar outside support continued through 2016," said the report. "This took the form of training, financing, and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC."



The experts met Rwandan nationals who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DR Congo to help support the armed Burundian opposition.

Contacted by the panel, the Rwandan government denied the allegations of involvement and said it was not aware of the recruitment of Burundian refugees in a Rwandan camp.

Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win.
The number of endangered deer 'Sangai' found in Manipur has increased from 204 in 2013 to 260, according to the latest census.

Manipur Forest Minister Hemochandra told newsmen here yesterday that the wildlife census to calculate the number of the "brow-antlered deer", also referred to as dancing deer, was carried out jointly by Wildfire Wing, Forest department, state government, Manipur University and Wildfire Institute of India.

The census to determine the number was done at "Keibul Lamjao National Park" on March 29, March 31 and April 2 this year, said the minister.

A report released by Directorate of Information and Publicity Affairs stated that another 24 Hog deer were also spotted at the marshy wetlands of Laipham Phumlak and Yawa Lamjao while conducting the census.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest P N Prasad said that there is a scheme under which Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 is provided to women self help groups living around the national park.

He said the department was taking up efforts to develop eco-tourism in the buffer zone of the National Park and that the department has sought assistance for infrastructure development from DoNER and Tourism Ministry.

The census was conducted using point transect method.
US President Barack Obama warned Russia about its military build-up in northern Europe today as he hosted leaders from five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said at the end of the meeting.

As tensions with Moscow spike over a plethora of issues from aerial military interceptions to Ukraine, Obama looked to make common cause with Russia's near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Earlier, Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."



Obama put Vladmir Putin's government on notice that, while willing to deescalate tensions, the White House would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea region -- "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."



But as Obama hosted the meeting, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.

Tensions with Russia are currently at levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

In the joint statement, the group said they would only lift all sanctions on Russia once Crimea is returned to Ukrainian control.

"Russia's illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, which we do not accept, its aggression in Donbas, and its attempts to destabilize Ukraine are inconsistent with international law and violate the established European security order," the statement read.

Russia and the West have also clashed over Moscow's military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

And Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.
Having helmed two biopics, director Omung Kumar is now all set to shift gears and start his next film which will be a psychological-thriller.

The director, who is currently awaiting the release of his latest project "Sarbjit", said his next film, which is untitled as of now, is likely to go on floors this year.

"I am doing a psychological-thriller next. I have already written it. The film will go on floors this year. It is a fantastic thriller which will be an actor's dream role. It won't be a female-oriented film though," Omung told PTI.

Omung made his directorial debut with Priyanka Chopra starrer "Mary Kom", which went on to bag National Award.

His latest film "Sarbjit" is based on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national, who was jailed in Pakistan on the charge of spying.

The film stars Randeep Hooda in the titular role, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan plays his sister Dalbir Kaur.

"Sarbjit" is scheduled to release on May 20.
Even as over 200 farmers ended their lives in drought-hit Osamanabad of Marathwada region in the last 16 months, the district administration has rejected proposals for government help sought by the kin in 76 suicide cases.

The district collector, however, said the 76 proposals were rejected following inquiry.

During last 16 months, 212 farmers committed suicide in Osmanabad district, which is facing severe water crisis for four consecutive years. Government help was provided to the kin in 120 cases, as per official figures.

Besides, 76 proposals for help were rejected by the district administration and 16 suicide cases are still pending for inquiry, according to the data.

Notably, in 2015, 164 farmers committed suicide in Osmanabad, which is the highest number of such cases in the district in last one decade.

This year till April, 48 farmers ended their lives over reasons including drought, harassment from private moneylenders for loan recovery and crop failure.

In the district's Devlali village, farmer Prashant Kaspate (35) allegedly hanged himself in his house in October last year, following crop failure and harassment from private moneylender for loan recovery.

The district administration rejected his 70-year-old mother Subabai Kaspate's help proposal, saying Prashant had not taken loan from a nationalised bank.

Subabai now lives alone amid poor economic conditions, still awaiting government help.

"Government is not thinking in favour of farmer. This government is against the farmers," Subabai alleged.

Like Subabai, 76 families of farmers who committed suicide are waiting for government help.

Osmanabad District Collector Dr Prashant Narnaware told PTI, "We are with farmers. We rejected proposals after inquiry."



"We are taking strong action against private moneylenders who harass farmers, and appeal farmers to give written complaints against moneylenders," he further said.

Meanwhile, former state minister and Congress MLA from Tuljapur in Osmanabad, Madhukarrao Chavan demanded a fresh inquiry into all the rejected proposals and economic help to the kin of the deceased farmers.

"In worst drought situation the government and administration are busy judging farmer suicide cases whether they are eligible for help or not, this is against humanity. The government needs to change the rules and give all help," he said.

Chavan also said that Congress will soon protest against the government over this issue.
Pakistan's ties with the US has witnessed a "downward slide" amid a row over a decision by the Congress to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said.

Briefing the Senate, Aziz candidly admitted that Pakistan-US ties were under stress for the past three months over the F-16 issue but the two were working to resolve it.

"In the past three months, however, the upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," Aziz said yesterday during a debate on the US decision to withdraw a proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16s.

Aziz also mentioned the 'India factor' for at least three times during his speech.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself."



But "we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defence deals concluded between India and the US during US Defence Secretary's recent visit to India. We have also emphasised the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia," the adviser said.

At another point during his speech, Aziz spoke about Indian using the Pathankot attack against Pakistan in the US.

"The Indian lobby in the US has also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, specially after the Pathankot incident on January 1, 2016," he said.

Aziz said that US-Pakistan ties had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents like the WikiLeaks revelations, Raymond Davis and Abbottabad operation.

But Since 2013, the top diplomat said, Pakistan's relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory."



He said Pakistan was working on multiple levels to improve ties and sort out differences on various issues.

He mentioned about the differences between the US and Pakistan over the handling of the issue of Dr Shakil Afridi, arrested for allegedly helping CIA track down Osama bin Laden, and the fight against Haqqani network and the nuclear issue.

He also briefly mentioned Pakistan's efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and said a key meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US would be held in Islamabad on May 18 and 19.
Pakistan's relation with the US is under stress due to a decision by the Congress to block the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to the country, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said.

Briefing the Senate, Aziz candidly admitted that Pakistan-US ties were under stress for the past three months over the F-16 issue but the two were working to resolve it.

"In the past three months, however, the upward trajectory in relations has witnessed a downward slide, as reflected in a decision of the US Congress to block partial funding for eight F-16 aircraft," Aziz said on Thursday during a debate on the US decision to withdraw a proposed subsidy on the sale of F-16s.

Aziz also mentioned the 'India factor' for at least three times during his speech.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself," the adviser said.

But "we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defence deals concluded between India and the US during US Defence Secretary's recent visit to India. We have also emphasised the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia," he added.

At another point during his speech, Aziz spoke about India using the Pathankot attack against Pakistan in the US.

"The Indian lobby in the US has also been highly pro-active in adding fuel to the fire, specially after the Pathankot incident on January 1, 2016," he said.

Aziz said that US-Pakistan ties had come to a standstill in 2011 because of unfortunate incidents like the WikiLeaks revelations, Raymond Davis and Abbottabad operation.

But Since 2013, the top diplomat said, Pakistan's relations with the US had witnessed an "upward trajectory".

He said that Pakistan was working on multiple levels to improve ties and sort out differences on various issues.

He mentioned about the differences between the US and Pakistan over the handling of the issue of Dr Shakil Afridi, arrested for allegedly helping CIA track down Osama bin Laden, and the fight against Haqqani network and the nuclear issue.

He also briefly mentioned Pakistan's efforts to stabilise Afghanistan and said a key meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group involving Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the US would be held in Islamabad on May 18 and 19.
Twenty-seven years after he came to India with the dream of graduating from a university in the country, Fatouh Ahmed Mahmud Abu Satta is facing an uncertain future as his return to his home in Gaza in Palestine is stuck in red tape.

Fatouh landed in India in 1989 when he was 22 years old and just six years after that he was sent to a prison, though his brush with the law-enforcing authorities began in 1993 when he was first arrested in Nagpur under the Foreigners Act for overstaying.

He was released on bail shortly after, but his travel documents were seized.

He again got arrested for alleged criminal activity in Delhi and West Bengal and was sent to prison in 1995. Since then he has been serving his time in a West Bengal prison. He completed his sentence in 2013, but for absence of proper documents he was not released.

Director-General of Correctional Services in West Bengal Arun Kumar Gupta told PTI, "We couldn't release him in 2013 after his prison term was over as he did not have any proper papers. And it is a normal procedure that if a foreign convict doesn't have any proper papers we can't leave him after he completes his term. Later on an initiative of CHRI, an NGO working on refugees, got in touch with the embassy of Palestine and got his papers."



"He was eventually released from prison on May 11, but he could not board the flight as the Emirates Airlines refused to let him fly as he was a deportee, leading to his return to jail again," Gupta said.

This fact was confirmed by the Emirates Airlines.

On a query, a spokesman for the airlines said in a statement, "Emirates confirms that a passenger who was booked on our flight EK 573 departing from Kolkata to Cairo via Dubai on 11 May this year was a deportee. The passenger was denied boarding due to lack of necessary permits from some of the concerned authorities in India and the United Arab Emirates."



Fatouh Ahmed now has to wait for another few months before the Gaza borders opened again and talks were on with the airlines, apart from the Emirates Airlines, to take him to his county, Gupta said.
Palm oil imports rose marginally to 7,29,536 tonnes in April this year on sharp jump in shipments of refined palm oil, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said today.

India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 7,25,088 tonnes of palm oils in April 2015.

Palm oils make up more than 65 per cent of the country's total vegetable oil imports. Of late, there has been a sharp increase in the import of RBD palmolein.

"The alarming increase in import of RBD palmolein (refined palm oil) is seriously hurting the domestic refining industry. This situation has arisen due to the fact that currently the landed cost of RBD palmolein is lesser than crude palm oil (CPO)," SEA said in a statement.

Due to increase in import of refined palm oils, the domestic refining industry is facing severe crisis of under utilisation of capacity and is on the verge of closure, it said.

Refined palm oil is cheaper to import because the export tax imposed on it by Indonesia/Malaysia is more than CPO.

"Therefore, the duty differential in India has to be made variable to be in line with the differential duty prevailing in Malaysia and Indonesia and justify to increase in duty difference between crude and refined vegetable oils from 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent," the SEA said.

Among palm oil products, import of RBD palmolein rose by 74 per cent to 3,25,902 tonnes in April 2016 from 1,87,534 tonnes in the year-ago period.

The shipments of CPO, however, fell by 26 per cent to 3,92,106 tonnes in April from 5,30,557 tonnes in the year-ago period, while the import of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) rose by 65 per cent to 11,528 tonnes from 6,997 tonnes in the said period.

Among soft oils, import of soyabean oil increased by over 86 per cent to 3,48,195 tonnes in April from 1,86,849 tonnes in the year-ago period, while sunflower oil and rapeseed oil shipments stood at 1,00,750 tonnes and 51,087 tonnes, respectively, in the said period.

The import of RBD palmolein have risen sharply to 13.23 lakh tonnes in the first six months of the current oil year ending October 2016 from 4.92 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

"RBD palmolein imports have replaced import of CPO and expected to increase further in the coming months," SEA said.

Country's total vegetable oil imports increased by 12 per cent to 12.42 lakh tonnes in April this year from 11.08 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period.

Total stock at ports and in pipelines increased to 24.40 lakh tonnes in April 2016, while the country's monthly requirement is about 16.5 lakh tonnes, SEA said.

India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of crude soft oils, including soyabean oil from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia.
Patanjali Group, promoted by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, will soon set up a food processing park and cow research centre in Madhya Pradesh.

"Patanjali Group has been given offers by many states to set up food processing park. But we have decided to establish it in Madhya Pradesh and if everything goes well then it will become functional this year itself," Ramdev said.

He was addressing the International Vichar Mahakumbh being organised here as part of the ongoing month-long Simhastha Kumbh Mela underway at Ujjain.

The yoga guru also informed that the Group wants to establish cow research centres at four places with an investment of Rs 500 crore. One of the centres will be set up in Madhya Pradesh.

"The centre in Madhya Pradesh will conserve local cows and will make efforts to enhance their milk production," he said.

Ramdev's close associate Acharya Balkrishna toured Dhar and Agar-Malwa regions of the state in April to select a site for setting up these proposed units. He was also accompanied by higher officials.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today accused SAD-BJP government in Punjab of "adopting double standards and committing fraud" with the people of the state on river water issue.

"BJP stands exposed for taking anti-Punjab stand on the issue in the Supreme Court. It has also unmasked the Parkash Singh Badal-led Punjab government since SAD is in alliance with BJP at the Centre and Harsimrat Kaur Badal is a member of the Union Cabinet," claimed AAP's legal cell head, Himmat Singh Shergill.

The Centre yesterday had told the Supreme Court that it is maintaining its stand of 2004 taken on the Satluj-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal case and wants that both Punjab and Haryana should settle their disputes on the matter by themselves.

Shergill, along with AAP spokesperson Kultar Singh, claimed that Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, representing the Centre in the apex court, had "categorically supported" the cause of Haryana and Rajasthan and their right over Punjab's river waters.

The Solicitor General argued that since Rajasthan is a part of Indus Basin it has every right over Punjab river waters, he claimed, adding Kumar also opposed Punjab Termination of Waters Agreement Act and supported construction of SYL canal.

"Badal and his party has no moral right to stay in alliance with the BJP at the Centre. He should apologise and ask his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal to resign immediately," Shergill said.

"The stand taken by the Centre in the SC clearly shows that Badal is playing a fixed match with BJP. His sympathy towards the cause of Punjab river waters and the farmers is superficial," he alleged.
People were 'twisting facts' on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Somalia remark while in Kerala and he had only highlighted the plight of the tribal community and his desire to improve their living conditions, Union Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today.

"Before becoming PM, Modi as a politician and social activist used to visit tribal areas. He only highlighted the plight of tribal community in his speech and expressed his desire to improve the living conditions of tribal people.

"Modi has great regard and respect for Malayalis. People are twisting the facts," he said.

The comparison made by Modi at a poll rally in the state early this week when he said the "infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia" has set off a political storm and triggered criticism in the social media.
Ajay Piramal-led Piramal Enterprises has entered into an agreement to acquire four brands from Pfizer for a consideration of Rs 110 crore.

"The company's consumer products division has entered into an agreement to acquire four brands from Pfizer Ltd for a consideration of Rs 110 crore," Piramal Enterprises said in a filing to BSE.

The acquisition includes brands Ferradol, Neko, Sloan's and Waterbury's compound, it added.

"The agreement also includes the trademark rights for Ferradol and Waterbury's Compound in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka," Piramal Enterprises said.

Commenting on the development, Piramal Enterprises Executive Director Nandini Piramal said: "The consumer products division of the company currently ranks seventh in India but we aim to be a top 3 player in the OTC market by 2020."



The company believes these brands from Pfizer will fit "our portfolio and also strategically help us move closer towards our stated objective," she added.

Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) is currently present in the segments of Healthcare, Healthcare Information Management and Financial Services.

Shares of Piramal Enterprises today closed 3.89 per cent up at Rs 1,263.60 apiece on BSE.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today pitched for a permanent solution to the vexed fishermen issue during his talks with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena in which a range of other key matters including ways to boost trade also figured.

Modi hosted a dinner for Sirisena over which both the leaders deliberated all major bilateral issues, particularly problems being faced by Indian fishermen, status of various economic projects being implemented by India in the island nation and steps to further increase trade and investment.

Sirisena arrived here today on a two-day visit. He will leave for Ujjain tomorrow to attend the Simhastha Mahakumbh and Modi will accompany him during the visit.

"Prime Minister said that President Sirisena's visit for the Simhastha Kumbha in Ujjain was very significant as it showed the deep civilisational ties between India and Sri Lanka," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

In the meeting, Swarup said Modi stressed on the need to develop a mechanism and find a permanent solution to the issue of fishermen straying into each other waters.

Modi also appreciated Sirisena's efforts to promote reconciliation in Sri Lanka so that all sections of the Lankan society can live with equality and dignity.

"The two leaders discussed all issues of bilateral interest, in particular the problems being faced by Indian fishermen, the status of various economic projects being implemented by India and efforts to further increase trade and investment," Swarup said.

He said Sirisena expressed appreciation to Modi for the assistance provided by India to Sri Lanka, particularly for various developmental projects.

"In this context, both the leaders appreciated the meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission led by two foreign ministers, which had met after the gap of three years," said the MEA spokesperson.

The Sri Lankan President will also visit the famous Sanchi Stupa in Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh. He will then go to Bengaluru from where he will depart for Colombo in the evening.
Describing his job of formulating monetary policy in India as a 'joyful' and easy task, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said complexities arise when ensuring its political acceptance and one needs to be "a little more clever" for that.

"You can't bulldoze your way in some of these situations and therefore you have to be a little more clever... You have to understand where altering a policy from Economics 101 will make very little difference, but be politically more acceptable," he said.

Addressing Cambridge University students last evening as part of his concluding presentation at the two-day Marshall Lecture series 2015-16, Rajan said policy formulation in an emerging market like India is a fairly basic economics task as such.

"A lot of policy formulation is Economics 101. Just like in industrial countries, there is a lot of stuff, which does not require deep insights of economics. To my mind, deeper insights come when you are trying to make it politically feasible," the former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist said.

Asked how easy he found his job of economic policy formulation in India, he joked: "Formulation is very easy. I think it is harder to implement the policy."



On a more serious note, he added: "The joy of trying to formulate policy in a developing country is that there are many more places where good policy can have significant effects. In that sense, there are lots of low hanging fruits and often no real impediment to plucking them.

"You have to be a little intelligent about what fruits are easy to pick and what are not so easy to pick. And if they are not so easy, what kind of strategies to pick."



The on-leave Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School was addressing the topic of 'Banks, Central Banks, and Crises' to conclude his two-day lecture series organised by the Faculty of Economics of Cambridge University.

In his first lecture titled "Why Banks?" on Tuesday, he had used what is described as "matchstick theory" to conclude that banks were peculiar yet enduring structures, which offered an efficient form of borrowing.

Picking up on the same theory, he went into greater theoretical depth about the workings of the banking system and the role that central banks play.

Addressing a largely student and academic audience, Rajan however started with a disclaimer saying "none of what I say today is a policy statement. It is simply a way of thinking about the world.
Pope Francis is to visit Armenia's main genocide memorial during his visit to the country next month, the Vatican confirmed today as it made public his programme for the trip.

The pontiff will be in Armenia June 24-26. He will visit the Tsitsernakaberd memorial as his first duty on the morning of Saturday June 25 but is not scheduled to say anything at the site, according to the programme.

Francis sparked a row with Turkey last year when he described the mass killings of Armenians a century ago as a "genocide".

Turkey disputes the use of the term for what it describes as deaths resulting from civil strife triggered by Armenians siding with invading Russian troops as the Ottoman Empire was falling apart.

Francis will be the second pope to visit Armenia since it became an independent state following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pope John Paul II went there in 2001.

The trip will also be the latest in a series of visits Francis has made to countries on the periphery of Europe where Catholics form a small minority of the population, following earlier trips to Albania and Bosnia.

Armenia's Christians are mostly Orthodox and make up the majority of the population in a country which was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301.
BJP today welcomed the NIA decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and suggested a probe against those involved in building the case against her in the UPA government, saying she was "framed".

In an apparent attack on the UPA dispensation, BJP said there was conspiracy over Malegaon and Samjhauta express blasts cases, in which Hindutva groups were prosecuted by investigation agencies, and some politicians worked against the country's interests.

"I was of the opinion from day one that Pragya Thakur and others have just been framed in these cases. All the atrocity a person like Pragya Thakur has undergone, I think had there been any other liberal, law-abiding country there would have been a counter investigation against people involved in it.

"There was nothing against her. There was conspiracy over Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blasts and anti-national forces were fighting. People associated with politics worked against the country's interest. I look with respect at the NIA's decision in favour of Pragya Thakur," party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi told the media.

Asked about dilution of charges against other accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, she said she would not give any clean chit to him or speak for or against him as she does no details of the case against him.

Lekhi said she knew Thakur and is limiting her argument to the Hindutva activist.

She brushed aside Congress leader Digvijay Singh's criticism of the government over the NIA decision, saying he had earlier alleged RSS involvement in the Mumbai attack.

RSS functionary Indresh Kumar alleged that the UPA government had a conspiracy to target Hindutva groups over the blasts.

"The UPA government had linked saffron and Hindutva with terrorism. There cannot be a bigger crime, sin and injustice. That is why the UPA government hatched a political conspiracy. First it had put Muslims behins bars," he told reporters.
The parents of TV star Pratyusha Banerjee, who was found dead at her residence in Mumbai on April 1, today approached the Supreme Court seeking cancellation of anticipatory bail granted by the Bombay High Court to actor-producer and Rahul Raj Singh accused of abetting her suicide.

In their petition filed before the apex court, her parents alleged that the High Court had granted the relief to Singh and he can tamper with the evidence.

They have sought custodial interrogation of Singh contending that there were several deep injury marks on the body of the deceased.

The High Court had on April 25 granted anticipatory bail to Rahul who has denied the allegations levelled against him.

The police had earlier filed a report before the High Court in which it had alleged that Rahul, who was staying with Pratyusha at a flat in Goregaon in Mumbai, used to assault her and borrow money from her.

The 'Balika Badhu' fame actress was found hanging at her residence in Goregaon and was rushed by Rahul to a hospital in Andheri where she was declared dead.
President Pranab Mukherjee will receive the first copies of two books on Rabindranath Tagore at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.

'Tagore's Vision of the Contemporary World' and 'Tagore and Russia' are being published by Indian Council for Cultural Relations, a press release issued today by the President's secretariat said.

"They contain papers presented at international conferences organised by ICCR in New Delhi and Moscow in 2011 as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore," it said.
The Madras High Court has directed Tamil Nadu government to pass orders on or before May 14 on a representation of a prisoner seeking parole for canvassing as he is contesting as an independent in the May 16 assembly election.

Justice V Bharathidasan gave the direction on a petition filed by the sister of Dhanasekharan, contesting as an independent in Thiruvottiyur constituency, seeking grant of parole to him to effectively canvass votes for the Diamond symbol allotted by Election Commission.

"Since the election is to be held on May 16, the Home Secretary, the third respondent is directed to pass orders on the representation of the petitioner dated May 9 on or before May 14," the judge said.

Dhanasekharan, who is facing several criminal cases, has been detained under Goondas Act and is lodged in Central Prison, Puzhal.

The prisoner submitted that he had filed his nomination to contest the polls from Thiruvottiyur constituency in Thiruvallur district.

The Returning Officer had accepted his nomination and he was allotted the Diamond symbol.

Dhanasekaran submitted he has every right to campaign in his constituency as his nomination has been accepted.

He said he had submitted a representation to the Home Secretary on May 9 to allow him to go on parole to appoint booth agents and also to tour his constituency but this was not considered and so he moved the court.

When the matter came up yesterday, Additional Public Prosecutor Maharaja submitted that the prisoner is a 'goonda' and involved in a number of criminal cases.

He further submitted that if parole was granted, peace and tranquility in the constituency would be affected.

Election Commission's counsel Niranajan Rajagopalan submitted that contesting an election is only a statutory right and under Section 62(5) of the RPA, a person confined in prison, whether under sentence of imprisonment or in lawful custody of police, has no right to vote. However an exemption was given to persons subjected to preventive detention.

He also submitted that under Section 60(d) of RPA, any person subjected to preventive detention has a right to vote by postal ballot. Apart from the above, there was no other statutory right conferred on the detenu.

The Judge heard both sides without going into the merits of the case and said that since the petitioner had made a representation to the authority as early as May 9 seeking parole, which is pending, "the Home Secretary is directed to pass orders on or before May 14 on the representation of theprisoner.
The girls have outshone boys in Class 12 examination results which were declared today by Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), with the pass out percentage of girls being 84.03 as compared to 71.12 for boys.

A total of 3.18 lakh students had appeared in the exam with overall pass percentage of 76.77 per cent as against 2015's result of 76.24 per cent while more than 16,000 students failed to clear the exam, an official spokesperson said.

Mahima Nagpal, student of RS Model Senior Secondary School in Ludhiana topped in the state, securing 99.56 per cent followed by Komal Rani, student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Patiala, scoring 99.33 per cent.

Third position was bagged by Riya, student of RS Model Senior Secondary School in Ludhiana with a percentage of 98.67.

The pass percentage of students in rural areas was higher at 77.06 per cent compared to the students of urban areas with a pass percentage of 76.46. The pass percentage of meritorious school was 97.71 per cent, he said.

The board issued two separate lists of topper for academics and sports.

Sahil Midda, student of Teja Singh Sutantar Memorial Senior Secondary School, Shimla Puri Ludhiana, was declared as the topper (sports) with 100 per cent marks.

He shared his first position with Rishabdeep Singh and Sumer Jeet Singh from Gurudaspur and Ludhiana respectively.

Of the total 341 students in the merit list, maximum are from Ludhiana district (114) and the lowest are from Tarn Taran and SBS Nagar (1), while there are three students from Mohali.

Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema said, 341 students secured position in the merit list and all these students secured more than 95 per cent marks. Out of this merit list, 76 students belongs to Government schools including 23 students from meritorious schools.

He further said that the education department would soon convene a meeting to evaluate the performance of those teachers who had given dismal performance in the examination.
While giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and dropping all charges against her in the Malegaon bomb blast case, the NIA says Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit had organised several meetings with the other accused and had collected money for procuring weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

"He is one of the key members of criminal conspiracy. Accused Purohit had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned officer of armed forces of India which is against the service rules," the NIA said in its supplementary charge sheet filed before a Special Court here.

The NIA alleged that on January 25-26 "in a secret meeting held at Faridabad, Purohoit proposed for a separate Constitution for Hindu rashtra with separate saffron flag.

"He read over the Constitution of Abhinav Bharat which he had prepared, discussed about the formation of central Hindu government (Aryawrat) against the Indian government and put forth the idea of forming this government in exile in Israel and Thailand," the NIA said.

Purohit also discussed about taking revenge for the "atrocities" committed by the Muslims on Hindus.

About the RDX recovered from Purhoit's residence, the NIA quoted a Court of Inquiry report of the Army which had claimed that the explosives were planted at his residence by ATS officials who had entered his residence forcibly.

They said the Army has also given a "breakup" of about 70 kg of RDX, suspected to have been proposed to be used for the blasts.

The army has accounted for it by way of controlled destruction or handing over to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the NIA said.

The NIA also alleged that he along with other accused had collected huge funds for the Abhinav Bharat organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.

On Sadhvi's role, the NIA said in its charge sheet that it does not have sufficient evidence against her and five others.

Analysing the evidence against six accused persons, the NIA said that motorcycle used in the blast was used by accused Sadhvi.

However, the agency said that evidence recorded by ATS and reassessed by NIA shows those four witnesses have all stated that absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra was in possession of the motorcycle and using it.

"The register of garage also shows that Kalsangra was in possession of the bike," the NIA said.

Purohit had also participated in the meeting of Abhinav



Bharat which was held on September 15/16 2008 at Bhosla Military School, Nashik in which accused Ramesh Upadhayay was elected as working president of Abhinav Bharat.

"In this meeting it was decided that the power to take back the weapons acquired for Abhinav Bharat from accused Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi would vest with Upadhayay," the NIA said.

It alleged that Purohit collected huge amount of funds for himself and for this Abhinav Bharat organisation out of which Rs 2.5 lakhs were paid to one builder in Nashik through accused Ajay Rahirkar for house booked for himself.

During investigation, the FSL report was received with regard to the data retrieved from the laptop of accused Dwivedi.

The voice samples of accused Purohit, Dwivedi, Upadhayay are also available, which are positive as per FSL.

"The authorised intercepted conversation between Purohit and Upadhayay and others reveal that they were also in the process of creating their defence in case," the NIA said, adding Purohit had even suggested to Upadhyay to procure another SIM for himself.

He even alerted him by saying that they should be very meticulous thereafter. "The post conduct of the accused persons shows the guilt in their minds and their active participation in the crime", NIA said in its document.

On October 24, 2008, after the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit had messaged accused Sameer Kulkarni saying that ATS has entered his house in Pune and also directed him (Kulkarni) to delete numbers from telephone and to leave for Bhopal immediately.

"This act of the accused confirms his complicity in the present crime," NIA said.

The agency said that, "notwithstanding the shortcoming in the evidence, at this stage there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Purohit under various statutes and sections of law and the value of the evidence placed on record shall be assessed at the trial stage.
France changed its military strategy and started airstrikes in Syria last year because of concerns months before the attacks on Paris that ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was plotting to target a concert and take hostages, according to a French newspaper report.

The report in today's Le Parisien, citing French and Belgian intelligence material and police recordings, lists repeated occasions when authorities allegedly failed to catch Abaaoud, even though he had been considered a major threat by several European intelligence services before the November 13 attacks that left 130 dead in the French capital.

US intelligence was also onto Abaaoud. President Barack Obama's envoy for the anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGuirk, said today that at as soon as he heard about the "we all assumed this was probably something that was planned by Abaaoud" from the Syrian ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, McGuirk described the as unusually sophisticated.

Abaaoud was killed in a police raid five days after the attacks by ISIS suicide bombers on a concert, stadium and cafes. Most of those killed in the were hostages in the Bataclan concert hall.

The French president's office and the Interior Ministry, which oversees intelligence services, did not respond to requests for comment on today's report.

The news came as survivors and families of victims marked six months since the attacks, which shook the nation and prompted a state of emergency that is still in place.

French authorities came under criticism immediately after the attacks for intelligence missteps that failed to prevent the bloodshed. France had been under high alert since deadly shootings at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a Paris kosher market in January 2015.

By September 2015, Le Parisien reported, authorities had identified links between Abaaoud and thwarted attacks on a high-speed train and a church, and suspected he was plotting a big attack.

The report quotes a witness as saying Abaaoud asked him to find a concert or other easy target with a lot of people, with the goal of seizing hostages and dying while fighting police.

France joined the US-led coalition against ISIS in Iraq in 2014 but stayed out of Syria. President Francois Hollande changed that tack in September 2015, launching Syria airstrikes.

Le Parisien said the decision was prompted by intelligence about Abaaoud, and that a September 27 French airstrike on Deir ez-Zor in Syria was aimed at Abaaoud's training camp.
Swaraj Abhiyan today hit back at Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on a AugustaWestland helicopter deal, saying instead of calling the charges against him as political motivated, he should respond to them.

"Today when he (Prashant Bhushan) questions your misdeeds, he is an agent of the Congress. Sir, would you care to answer these questions instead of levelling these charges," Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said.

Yesterday, Bhushan and Yadav accused the Chhattisgarh government of floating a global tender in a "shady manner" to purchase a specific AugustaWestland helicopter by paying "over 30 per cent" commission without exploring options.

The two had also sought to link Raman Singh's son Abhishek to the controversy, alleging Abhishek formed a company called Quest Heights Ltd on July 3, 2008, almost six months after the bulk of the payment was made by the state government to Sharp Ocean, an agent company.

Singh had dismissed the charges as "baseless" and "politically motivated" and accused Bhushan of trying to dilute the issue saying there was no irregularity in the helicopter deal.

He said senior Congress leaders were facing heat over the scam involving corruption to the tune of several crores of rupees and these baseless charges against a BJP-ruled state were "an attempt to divert the attention".

Bhushan said everything they had said is based as per the documents procured under the RTI from the Chhattisgarh government.

He added that right from the beginning, the Chhattisgarh government was dealing with a commission agent of AgustaWestland whom they had given more than "30 per cent commission".

"Thereafter an account was found on the ICIJ website in the name of Abhishek Singh through a company called Quest Heights and the address given of the company and Abhishek is the same as Raman Singh's address.

"This certainly raises suspicion, but it is a strong evidence that kickbacks were paid in this deal and that kickbacks were appeared to have been deposited in British Virgin Island account," Bhushan said.

This charge has also been refuted by Singh and his son Abhishek.

"If Mr Raman Singh or his son says that it is not his account, then why didn't they ask the government to investigate the account," Bhushan added.
Russia has told the United Nations that it will not endorse the decisions of the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, in the latest setback for the international gathering.

The May 23-24 summit, which has been three years in the making, aims to rethink the global aid strategy and draw a closer link between humanitarian assistance and development.

In a letter to the UN secretariat obtained by AFP on today, Russia criticized preparations and expressed "great disappointment" that its input on the so-called core commitments of the summit was ignored.

Moscow complained that the package of decisions was hastily put together and contains "a series of far-reaching obligations, which are now being imposed as 'take it or leave it,' with no room for member-states to reflect their individual positions and observations."



"Given all these alarming circumstances, our delegation is not eager to sign up to any of the commitments," said the letter.

Moscow is sending a low-level delegation to the event.

Russia's refusal to endorse the summit outcome comes amid tensions between Russia and Turkey over the war in Syria, which worsened after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border in November.

Moscow is backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey is a key supporter of the rebel opposition.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric rejected Russia's criticism, saying that "the summit is the result of three years of consultations, including with member-states, which have repeatedly stressed inclusiveness."



Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "trusts that Russia will fully play its part" in the summit, he added.

The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said it will not take part in the summit and dismissed its objectives altogether, calling it a "fig leaf of good intentions."



Some 50 world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to attend what is being billed as the first-ever global aid summit.

In all, 110 countries have confirmed that they will send delegations.
Scientists in the UK have discovered a protein which helps embryos stick to the womb and improve treatments for recurrent miscarriages and pre-eclampsia, a pregnancy complication characterised by high blood pressure.

The pioneering study by scientists at the University of Sheffield shows that a protein called Syncytin-1, which was the result of a viral infection of our primate ancestors 25 million years ago, is first secreted on the surface of a developing embryo even before it implants in the womb.

This means the protein is likely to play a major role in helping embryos stick to the womb as well as the formation of the placenta.

This fundamental understanding of the earliest stages of human embryo development is crucial for improving current treatments for a variety of stressful complications during pregnancy such as recurrent miscarriages, foetal growth restriction syndrome and pre-eclampsia -- a life-threatening condition of elevated maternal blood pressure during pregnancy.

"Recurrent miscarriages, foetal growth restriction syndrome and pre-eclampsia are all significant and very stressful complications of pregnancy," Professor Harry Moore, Co-Director for the University's Centre for Stem Cell Biology and lead author of the study said.

"Eventually we may be able to develop blood tests based on our results to identify pregnancies that might be at risk and also develop appropriate therapies. There is a lot on the about the Zika virus infection at the moment and its devastating effects on foetal development but not all viral infections are necessarily as disastrous," he said.

"Amazingly the Syncytin-1 gene is the result of a viral infection of our primate ancestors 25 million years ago. The viral DNA got into our ancestors genome and was passed on through heredity and the gene involved in the fusion of the virus with cells for infection was co-opted and became Syncytin-1," he said.

"Without it humans probably would not have evolved. Surprisingly scientists know much more about the processes of early embryo development in animals than they do in humans," he added.

However, embryo development and reproduction is an aspect of biology where there are fundamental differences between species.

Researchers will now investigate whether the level of Syncytin-1 secretion on the pre-implantation embryo is somehow related to outcome of pregnancy in women undergoing IVF.

The study was published today in the journal "Human Reproduction".
Acting upon recommendations of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money, market watchdog plans to tighten due diligence requirements for issuance and transfer of controversy-ridden P-Notes and put the onus on investors to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering law.

While (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has been of the view that the regulations have already been strengthened to check any misuse of this route for money laundering like activities, it has decided to put in place additional safeguards as suggested by the SIT.

The regulator plans to put in place six specific changes to the KYC (Know Your Client) norms and transferability of Offshore Derivative Instruments (ODIs)  commonly known as Participatory Notes or P-Notes  in this regard.

The proposed changes have been finalised after discussing with concerned stakeholders including some major issuers of P-Notes and they have broadly agreed to the suggested measures in the interest of the markets, a senior official said.

These include mandating the issuers of P-Notes to file Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), if any, with the Indian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in relation to the ODIs issued by them.

On the KYC norms, while current regulations also mandate that ODIs can be issued only after compliance to the KYC requirements, the issuer entities have been adopting either the Indian AML (anti-money laundering) norms, norms in the jurisdiction of the issuer or the norms in the jurisdiction of the end beneficial owner or the ODI subscriber.

According to the proposal, Indian AML norms would need to be followed by issuer entities for carrying out customer due diligence of the ODI subscribers.

Officials said the regulations have been very robust to check any misuse of P-Notes and the proposed changes might not affect the flow of funds in a big way as they are mostly procedural in nature and do not drastically change the regulatory framework.

P-Notes are typically instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the domestic stock without registering themselves directly in India, but still need to go through a proper due diligence process.

P-Notes make up for about 10-12% of the total FII inflows, as against over 50% at the peak of stock market bull run in 2007. Rules have been tightened several times in recent years to check any misuse of this route, but P-Notes have still continued to court controversies.

The Supreme Court appointed SIT on black money last year had suggested that should further strengthen its norms to keep a tab on beneficial ownership of P-Notes as they were widely used by foreign investors and could be prone to misuse.

The slew of measures that have now been proposed by Sebi in this regard would require the ODI issuers to identify and verify the persons with exposure in excess of a pre-defined threshold in the subscriber entities  which could be 25% in case of a company and 15% in case of partnership firms, trusts or unincorporated bodies.

The KYC review would need to be carried out as per the risk profile of the subscribers.

The issuer would also need to do reconfirmation of the ODI positions on a semi-annual basis, while such reconfirmation reports, along with any breaches and the remedial actions, would need to be reported to Sebi.

In current norms, there is also a lack of uniformity amongst the issuer entities when it comes to identifying the persons controlling the operations of the subscriber entities. This gap would be taken care of through periodic reporting to Sebi, as per the risk classification of the subscriber.

On transfer of ODIs, the current regulations state that any further issue of transfer of any ODI is made only to persons regulated by an appropriate regulatory authority.

It has been proposed now the issuer entities would ensure that the transfer of OFIs is done to only such entities that are eligible to invest in ODIs and have been pre-approved by the issuer entities.

However, the transfers are as such very rare as such and are mostly related to the rebalancing of portfolios.

Recently, Sebi Chairman U K Sinha had said strong measures have been put in place to check any misdemeanours including misuse of P-Notes, as he sought to put to rest concerns that these instruments were misused to bring back black money into the country.

He had said sufficient safeguards have been put in place to check any possible gaps and Sebi is now in a position to identify and check details of beneficiary owners of such funds to the second, third and even fourth levels.

In case of any irregularities, Sebi can take penal action and also share the details with the tax department and other authorities for further action on their part.

Earlier it was difficult to identify the end-users of such instruments, but since 2014 Sebi has limited the rights for who can subscribe to these instruments to only two of the three classes of Foreign Portfolio Investors. These are sovereign funds and regulated entities, while others are already debarred others from using P-Notes.

"It has been said that PNs are a big source for bringing black money into the country. Prior to 2011, we did not know who were subscribers of P-Notes and who were the subsequent beneficiary owners. Now, by regulations, every month Sebi is getting the information who are the latest beneficiary owners of the P-Notes," Sinha had said in an interaction.
Delhi Police have so far failed to ascertain the identity of those who allegedly abducted and assaulted a senior consultant of an MNC here even as it formed a number of teams today to trace the people involved.

Police have shown the victim, Sumit Chakraborty, photographs of several habitual offenders in Andrews Ganj area of South Delhi and questioned several persons but have so far drawn a blank as far as the identity of the accused is concerned, a senior police official said today.

The abductors took the victim from Andrews Ganj bus stand to Noida, that is for sure, and later threw him out of the car near south Delhi's Malviya Nagar. But the routes they took in between could not be ascertained as Chakraborty was mostly blind-folded, police said.

Investigators are also trying to track his robbed mobile phone but that too has been of little help, the official said, adding that several teams, including the Special Task Force of Delhi Police's south district, have been pressed into service to crack the case.

The 55-year-old senior consultant of a multinational company was thrashed and robbed of cash and other belongings by a group of men who allegedly abducted him from south Delhi's Andrews Ganj area on the pretext of offering a lift in their car yesterday.

The incident took place at around 7 am when Chakraborty was waiting at the Andrews Ganj bus stand to go to his office in Noida.

The group allegedly robbed Chakraborty of his gold ring, watch, and mobile phone before dropping him at a secluded stretch in south Delhi. The victim managed to reach a private hospital nearby from where he called up police.
A wanted sharp shooter was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force from Gautam Buddha Nagar, police said.

Rahul, a resident of Thasrana Dankaur village and belonging to Anil Dujana Balram Thakur gang, was arrested from a mango field at Ghanori road in Thasrana last evening, they said.

A country-made pistol and four live cartridges were seized from him.

Eighteeen cases including murder, attempt to murder, robbery, arms act and gangster act were registered against him at Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bagpat, Meerut, Bulandshahr, Faridabad, Hapur, they added.
Observing that India has made significant progress in implementing the civil nuclear deal in the last 18 months, the Obama administration told lawmakers that it is now up to individual companies to take decisions in terms of risks and opportunities.

"One of the areas we have been able to have significant breakthroughs is the civil nuclear cooperation. We have seen in the past year-and-a-half significant progress with respect to India's establishing its liabilities law which are compliant with international convention on supplementary compensation," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on South Asia.

India, she said, has now ratified it and is now a member of the international convention on supplementary compensation for nuclear damage.

"India has established an insurance pool," she said in response to a question from Congressman Brad Sherman who wanted to have an update on the civil nuclear deal.

"I think, each individual company at this point has to make its own commercial decisions in terms of risks and in terms of opportunity. I think we are starting to see companies making those decisions," Biswal said.

"It is at this point largely a commercial decision. We stand ready through the US Government, through our financing bodies to support," senior State Department official said.

It is believed that Westinghouse Electric and Nuclear Power Co-operation India Ltd are in advance stage of talks for building six nuclear reactors in Gujarat.

The long awaited commercial deal could be inked during next month's expected visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington. There has been no official confirmation of Modi's travel to the US yet.
The Supreme Court today slammed the Centre for not giving compensation to workers for delayed payment of work under MNREGA scheme in drought-like situation and said it "does not behove a welfare state" as "social justice has been thrown out of the window".

The apex court said it was extremely unfortunate that government had no provision for providing compensation to the workers and it was also regrettable that it cleared the pending wage bill for 2015-16, only during the pendency of the case and "the government of India must shape up in this regard".

"...A worker is entitled to compensation at the rate of 0.05 per cent per day for delayed payment of the wages due. We are quite pained to note that the government of India has made no provision for this compensation while releasing the wages for 2015-16 of Rs 7,983 crores.

"This is extremely unfortunate and certainly does not behove a welfare State in any situation, more so in a drought situation. Social justice has been thrown out of the window by the government of India," a bench comprising Justices M B Lokur and N V Ramana said.

The Centre has admitted before the apex court that the pending wage bill under MNREGA scheme till March 31, 2016 was around Rs 7,983 crores.

However, later the Centre in its affidavit has said in April that an amount Rs 11,030 crore will be released to the states within one week which will take care of the pending wage bill including Rs 2,723 crore of ten drought-affected states where additional 50 days of employment is given to households.

"The government of India is directed to ensure that compensation for delayed payment is made to the workers whose wages have been delayed beyond 15 days as postulated by paragraph 29 of Schedule II of NREG Act and the Guidelines for Compensation formulated pursuant thereto.

"Both the state governments and the government of India are directed to make all efforts to encourage needy persons to come forward and take advantage of the scheme. A success rate below 50 per cent is nothing to be proud of," the bench said in its three-part judgement given today concerning different drought-related issues. The first one was pronounced on May 11.

The bench directed the Centre to release to the state



governments adequate funds under the scheme in a timely manner so that the 'workforce' is paid its wages well in time and observed that it is regrettable that the pending wage bill for 2015-16 was cleared only during the pendency of the case and "the government of India must shape up in this regard".

It further directed the Centre to ensure that the Central Employment Guarantee Council is immediately constituted under provisions of MNREG Act within a maximum period of 60 days and asked it to proactively request state governments to establish the State Employment Guarantee Council within 45 days.

The court also noted that job cards have been issued to about 13.26 crore households all over the country and the number of active job cards is about 5.72 crores and the total households that have worked in the financial year 2015-16 is about 4.77 crores.

Regarding the National Food Security (NFS) Act, the apex court said that even though the statute was passed by Parliament and have come into force on July 5, 2013, some states have not implemented it.

"It is surprising that the implementation of a law enacted by Parliament such as the NFS Act is left to the whims and fancies of the state governments and it has taken more than two years after the NFS Act came into force for Gujarat to implement it and Uttar Pradesh has only implemented it partially. This is rather strange," the bench said.

The bench said that a state government, by delaying implementation of a law passed by Parliament and assented to by the President of India, is effectively refusing to implement it and Parliament is left a mute spectator.

"Does our Constitution countenance such a situation? Is this what 'federalism' is all about? Deliberate inaction in the implementation of a parliamentary statute by a state government can only lead to utter chaos or worse.

"One can hardly imagine what the consequence would be if a state government, on a similar logic, decides that it will not implement other parliamentary statutes meant for the benefit of vulnerable sections of society. Hopefully, someone, somewhere, sometime will realize the possible alarming consequences," the bench said.

(Reopen LGD40)



The apex court further said that it is the obligation of the Centre to comply with all the provisions of the laws enacted by Parliament and it should establish and constitute bodies and authorities provided for by law and make available the necessary finances.

"The State cannot say that it is not bound to follow the law and cannot adhere to statutory provisions enacted by Parliament and create a smokescreen of a lack of finances or some other cover-up. The rule of law binds everyone, including the State," it said.

The court said that for implementation of a policy and monitoring its implementation, the Centre and states are required to set up watch-dog committees or ombudsmen to see that the polices framed are faithfully implemented as "ad hoc measures really do not serve any purpose and eventually the consequence of an ad hoc reaction tends to travel to this Court for a response."



The bench also refused to appoint Court Commissioner as demanded by petitioner NGO Swaraj Abhiyan for implementation of directions of the court saying in-house checks have already been statutorily recognized for all the issues.

It, however, did not dispose of the petition and kept it pending while seeking a status report from the Centre on the action taken on various directions. It adjourned the case for August 1.

The apex court also asked states to extend the mid-day meal scheme for the benefit of children during the summer vacation in schools and said that if the extension has not yet been made, then it should be done within a week.

It said that at least one-fourth of the country's population (if not 1/3rd) is affected by drought and the state governments must take appropriate steps to ensure that at least the statutory requirement of foodgrains is made available to the people in drought-affected areas of the country.

It said that states shall constitute a State Food Commission for monitoring and reviewing the implementation of NFS Act within two months.

The apex court said that no household in a drought- affected area shall be denied foodgrains as required under NFS Act only because the household does not have a ration card.

It directed that Bihar, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh must within a month from today make adequate provision for the supply of eggs or milk or any other nutritional substitute for children under the mid-day meal scheme.
Mumbai Congress today said BJP MP Kirit Somaiya's "Bandra sahib" comment has validated the party's charge that the Shiv Sena-BJP-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is riddled with corruption and demanded police probe into the matter.

Last week Somaiya had alleged that there was "a 'ghotala' (corruption) in every (civic) department and the BMC was in the "grip of a powerful mafia" being controlled by a "sahib from Bandra and his PA".

However, the BJP Parliamentarian from Mumbai did not identify the persons he was referring to but his comment was seen as a veiled criticism of the Shiv Sena.

Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam latched on Somaiya's comment and demanded filing of an FIR against "the sahib of Bandra and his PA".

"We have launched a series of initiatives that have exposed the murky world of corruption prevailing in the civic body. Now ruling party MP Kirit Somaiya has also corroborated our stand by saying BMC was in the 'grip of a powerful mafia'," he told PTI.

"There is scam everywhere (in BMC). Nullah desilting scam, road repairing scam, dumping ground scam, fire brigade scam, tablet scam, waste management scam etc," the former Congress MP said, adding "there is a perfect case for police to book the duo."



Nirupam said he along with party workers would soon visit Azad Maidan Police Station in South Mumbai and press for filing of an FIR.

Police should ask Somaiya to identify the persons he was referring to, the Congress leader said.

"If Azad Maidan Police does not register an FIR, we would approach Police Commissioner. If he also snubs us, we would go to Anti-Corruption Bureau, to Governor or to Lokayukta. We are not going to let the issue of large scale corruption prevailing in BMC die down," said the former MP from North Mumbai.

On May 11, Nirupam dashed off a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis seeking dissolution of the civic body due to the prevailing "graft".

The country's richest civic body, ruled by saffron allies for over two decades, will go to the polls in early 2017.
The 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan was a "tragic mistake", Russia's Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Y Dedov has said, but claimed that it was not similar to Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Addressing a seminar on 'Russia's position on Afghanistan and Syria' at the Area Study Centre at Peshawar University in Peshawar, Deodov said Russian military support to Damascus was aimed at targeting violent jihadists, including the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda-linked Jabha Al Nusra.

Describing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan as a "tragic mistake", Dedov said that there was no parallel between the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Bashar al Assad.

In 1979, the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan to back the Marxist government of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan to fight Mujahideens who were jointly backed by American CIA and Pakistan.

He said Russia considered ISIS a threat to its national security since around three thousands of its citizens had joined it, causing problems in the Russian region of Dagestan and other places.

Dedov acknowledged that his county was in contacts with the Afghan Taliban to promote reconciliation in Afghanistan.

"There have been limited contacts with the Afghan Taliban," he told the participants.

The Russian envoy said that he was not aware of the level of engagements with the Afghan Taliban or whether his country had sought their help in countering the threat from the ISIS.

"It's a delicate matter. I really don't know the level of these engagements, but they have been there", he said.

The Russian ambassador laughed off reports that President Vladimir Putin had met Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.

"Were there reports that President Putin had met Mullah Omar too?" he asked.

He said that his country viewed the presence of ISIS in northern Afghanistan with concern. He also said that ISIS, which was present in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, had relocated to northern Afghanistan due to military operation.

It was a matter of concern due to its proximity with Central Asian Republics and Russia, he added.

Speaking about Russia-Pakistan relations, he said that it was positive and positions of both the countries coincided on 80 per cent of issues. On President Putin's much-speculated visit to Pakistan, he argued that there would have to be something substantive for the Russian head of state to come to Islamabad.
Claiming his party enjoys "unflinching support" of minorities, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav said the community in Uttar Pradesh has never sided with any political party for such a long time.

"The party has unflinching support of minorities due to their trust in us. They have never remained with any party for such a long time," he said.

The former chief minister was addressing a press conference where former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma formally joined the SP after leaving Congress.

Mulayam further said minorities have always been ignored by all the other political parties in the state and it was the SP which first raised the issues of their concern.

"All the police stations in the state now have at least three or four Muslim constables...We are the ones who work in their interest," said the veteran politician.

Praising his son and current Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam said that the CM had fulfilled all the promises made before the 2012 Assembly elections in two-and-a-half years and now, new projects have been initiated.

"The metro rail work has started. An expressway from Agra to Ballia is on the cards. Though, initially I was against the metro project, Akhilesh insisted on it. Now, I have asked him to complete the project soon. What is the use, if work starts only before elections," Mulayam asked.

Replying to a query on the possibility of the SP joining the grand alliance again, Mulayam said, "Ask this question to Nitish (Kumar)."



Interrupting him, SP leader Azam Khan said, "Yahan toh hum hi hum hain. Bihar ki baat alag thi" (In UP, it is only us. The situation in Bihar was different).
Eminent space scientist Prof U R Rao will be honoured by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) with the 2016 'IAF Hall of Fame Award" for his outstanding contribution to the progress of astronautics.

The IAF award is intended to reward personalities for their contributions to the progress of astronautics and the Federation.

In a letter to Rao, a former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, IAF stated "It is a true honour for IAF to attribute this award to Prof Rao, who has been for many years an active participant to the success of space in general and of the Federation in particular".

The IAF Hall of Fame consists of a permanent gallery of these personalities, including a citation, biographical information and a picture, in a special part of the IAF web presence.

This year's 67th International Astronautical Congress will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico during September 26-30, 2016.

Prof Rao will receive the 'IAF Hall of Fame' Award and a certificate, during the closing ceremony on September 30, according to an ISRO release.
The Spice Girls have reunited to record their first song in 16 years.

Geri Horner, Mel B and Emma Bunton joined forces for a secret music session at London's Deep Play studios this week, working on new material for the first time in almost two decades, reported Daily Mirror.

But their bandmates Mel C and Victoria Beckham were noticeably absent.

Teasing the new project that the trio are working on, the Spice Girls' former producer Eliot Kennedy tweeted, "Now that was a day for the history books. Like 20 years had never happened. Proper friendship! Hit Song."



Mel also shared a picture of the group on Instagram and wrote, "And I say oohhhh LALA (sic)."



A new single and album are expected to be released later this year, while the Spice Girls have been tipped to play a number of dates in both London and Los Angeles next year.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will visit Sanchi in neighbouring Raisen district tomorrow to take part in a programme of Mahabodhi Society.

Sirisena will spend nearly an hour at Mahabodhi Society premises in Sanchi and unveil the statue of Sri Lankan Buddhist leader Angarika Dharmapala, who played a major role in the revival of Buddhism in India, Coordinator of Society, S A Siddiqui told PTI.

The President will also perform puja and pay his respect to the relics of Budhha's disciple on the occasion. He is also likely to visit the world famous Sanchi Stupa, one of the ancient stupas in the country.

He is likely to arrive at Sanchi directly from Ninora in Ujjain district after taking part in the International Vichar Kumbh being organised on the occasion of month-long Simhastha (Kumbh) mela.

"From Sanchi, the President will come back to Bhopal airport and leave for his onward journey," Deputy Inspector General Bhopal, Raman Singh said.

As a precautionary measure, alternate route plan for the President's way from Sanchi to Bhopal has been prepared and a "Safe House" too has been organised in case of any exigency, the officer said.

Nearly 700 security personnel of different ranks have been deployed for ensuring Sirisena's security in view of his threat perception.
Students of SCB hospital's nursing school here today vacated their hostels after the state government closed the school sine die.

The sine die was declared last night after the government failed to resolve the nursing school crisis that was in turmoil for over five days.

Demanding removal of their Principal Kajal Rani Sinha for her alleged misbehaviour and assault, the students were on a strike boycotting hospital duties.

While vacating their hostels, the students nevertheless, threatened that they would continue their protest against the Principal outside the campus.

"Respecting the government order, we are vacating the hostels now, but our protests against the Principal shall continue until she is removed," the students said terming the decision to close the school sine die as "unfortunate."



The government's decision also came in for severe criticism from the parents of the students, who felt it was taken in a hurry.

"The government should have resolved the matter by engaging with the striking students and the Principal through discussion. Closing the school for an indefinite period is not the solution. It can even precipitate the situation further," said a relative of one of the students.

Meanwhile, the police who have registered a case against the Principal of the nursing school on the basis of a complaint filed by a victim student.

The Police have booked the principal under several sections of IPC and SC and ST (prevention of atrocities) Act.
Indian American Neera Tanden today led the Hillary Clinton campaign in slamming the economic policies of Donald Trump, Republican presidential presumptive nominee, and alleging that this poses threat to the economic future of women and families.

"Make no mistake: Trump's divisive comments about women's health are a direct threat to our dignity and economic security," said Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

"Trump is now trying to cover up the bald spots in his economic plan but women can see for themselves and women can see through his comb over," said Tanden who was joined by Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland.

The two said that the trillions in tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires and corporations laid out in Trump's tax plan would be an enormous boon for the top one per cent of earners, made at the expense of working families, seniors and the health of the economy.

Trump's plan would give USD 3 trillion over 10 years or more than 35 per cent of its tax breaks to millionaires, enough money to ensure Medicare and Social Security's solvency for the next 75 years, repair the ailing infrastructure, or raise every person now living in poverty up to the poverty line.

Trump would give multi-millionaires in the top 0.1 per cent like himself a raise of USD 1.3 million a year, or USD 100,000 a month.

Tanden alleged Trump's ideas are not the only risk a Trump presidency would pose for the economic future of women and families around this country.

"His tax plan gives USD 3 trillion to millionaires, that's enough to make Social Security and Medicare solvent for 75 years. Women, who rely disproportionately on Social Security, can't afford such an irresponsible giveaway," Tanden said.

Tanden and Mikulski said Trump still opposes raising the minimum wage because he believes "wages are too high" and recently said he doesn't favor a federal floor for the minimum wage, which could leave many workers subject to a lower minimum wage.

At a time when two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women, this issue is critical to working families, they said.

"I'm with Hillary because I know that she's the only candidate who will make fighting for women and families her priority," Mikulski said.
A teacher of a government school of Ambala Cantt was today arrested for allegedly indulging in obscene act, police said.

Rajinder Kumar of Government Middle School was arrested following a complaint by several girl students, Suraj Kumar, SHO Ambala Cantt police station said.

After the complaint, members of State Child Protection Council (SCPC) Paramjit Barola, District Child Protection Officer Megha Singla and ACP Pankhuri Kumar visited the school and recorded the statements of 13 girls.

Later, the child line recommended the Ambala Cantt police station to lodge an FIR against the teacher.

An FIR has been registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 and more sections of IPC will be added in the FIR once the investigations are complete, the SHO added.

More than half a dozen girl students of class VI to VIII complained that the teacher was allegedly indulging in obscene acts for last several months.

Most of the girl students belong to slum areas.
Brazilian interim president Michel Temer's new cabinet promised to blaze a new path today to revive Latin America's largest economy after a string of crises put an end to 13 years of leftist rule.

As workers took down portraits of suspended president Dilma Rousseff, who faces an impeachment trial in the Senate, Temer's ministers held their first meeting in the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Ministers said afterwards that the new priorities would be to create a leaner government, balance finances, and root out the corruption that a huge judicial probe has uncovered at the highest levels of Brazilian politics and business.

"We're living through the worst economic crisis in the history of Brazil," said chief of staff Eliseu Padilha.

"People took to the streets to seek two things: they wanted a state without corruption and they wanted an efficient state," he said, referring to mass protests against Rousseff.

"Out with corruption and in with efficiency," he added, admitting achieving that would be "very difficult."



Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, the man tasked with restoring confidence in Brazil's economy, said the country demanded a "change of course," which he vowed to bring by cutting spending.

He pledged not to cut the popular social programs launched under the sidelined Workers' Party (PT) -- initiatives credited with helping lift tens of millions of people from poverty -- as long as beneficiaries really need them.

But he warned: "Maintaining a social program doesn't mean maintaining the misuse of a social program. We will make a rigorous evaluation of how social programs are being used." Temer faces many of the same stumbling blocks as his predecessor -- plus a few of his own.

Political analysts warned his honeymoon may not even last until he opens the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 5 -- South America's first.

He is just about as disliked as the deeply unpopular Rousseff. A recent poll found he would receive just two percent of the vote in a presidential election.

Temer will also face a deeply hostile left resentful over what it calls the "coup" against Brazil's first woman president.

He appealed on Thursday for "dialogue" to heal the wounds of the impeachment battle, but stoked opponents' outrage with his cabinet appointments: all 23 of his ministers are white men.

"We tried to search for women but because of the timetable... It was not possible," Padilha said.

He said the absence of female ministers would be compensated by putting women in non-cabinet-level jobs that have "a similar importance.
Real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who is now the Republican presumptive presidential nominee, would meet top party leaders here today as part of his efforts to sort out differences and forge unity within the bitterly divided party before he mounts his presidential bid.

Topping the list of leaders is Congressman Paul Ryan, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, who last week dropped a bombshell saying he is not ready to support Trump as the presidential nominee of the party.

Days later he toned it down to say that he would do whatever the presumptive nominee wants him to do.

"On Thursday, the two men will meet in Washington, striving for party unity after Ryan refused to endorse Trump's presidential bid. When he arrives, Trump will have nearly clinched the GOP nomination by running squarely against Ryan's vision of what Republicanism is," the Washington Post said.

Trump would also hold meetings with the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The Republicans hold a majority in both chambers of the US Congress and many feel that a Trump candidacy might put this majority at risk.

According to Time magazine, the Ryan-Trump meeting comes at a critical juncture as the two party leaders jostle for positions as the face of the future of the party.

The magazine said that Ryan is unlikely to embrace Trump after the first meeting.

"I'd be shocked if he embraces Trump all the way. The things Trump has said and done, both the policy reversals and the insults, just in the last week, I can't see how one meeting is going to change that. Trump's actions mean a lot more than any one meeting," a Ryan insider was quoted as saying by Time.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Congressional leadership announced that it would unveil the "Trump Textbook" today.

It is a new report from Senate Democrats that will outline a number of policies to show that, despite attempts to keep their distance from Trump's policies, Senate Republicans have actually been pushing the same special interest-driven agenda for years.

On the eve of the much anticipated meeting, Trump received a shot in his arm as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich announced that he is endorsing the New York billionaire.

"I endorse Donald Trump. I am going to work very hard for the nominee," Gingrich told Fox .

Politico reported that Trump as part of his efforts to make peace with the Republican leadership is turning to lawmakers for help on the policy front.
The Tunisian government has said 37 suspects, including several jihadists linked to the Islamic State group, had been arrested in the security operations carried out the previous day.

Two "dangerous and wanted terrorists" were killed during the raid on Wednesday in Mnihla near the capital, while 16 suspected jihadists were arrested, the interior ministry said yesterday.

Another 21 other suspects were arrested in raids that followed, the ministry added.

All those arrested were members of "terrorist cells operating across (Tunisian) territory".

"They have been monitored and followed by the national guard for more than four months," the statement said.

In a deadly confrontation that erupted during one of the raids in the Tataouine governorate, four policemen were killed when a militant detonated his explosives belt after a firefight erupted.

The men arrested in the raids had all been trained in the use of firearms, the ministry said.

"They were preparing to gather in Tunis to attack vital, sensitive targets in the capital and the rest of the country, as well as security positions and agents," it said.

The suspects had been planning bomb and "suicide attacks", it added.

Some of those arrested were "implicated in the terrorist acts that hit the Bardo Museum, the Imperial hotel at Sousse, the presidential guard's bus and most recently Ben Guerdane," the statement 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.

IS claimed brazen attacks last year on the Bardo Museum in Tunis and the 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.

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.

"They were also active elements of the terrorist groups in the Tunisian mountains... And had links with Tunisian members of... Daesh in Libya, Syria and Iraq," the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

None of the suspects' identities were revealed.

Thousands of Tunisians have joined jihadist groups in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past few years.
The Congress led UDF government will explore steps to form a state vigilance commission to probe corruption cases if voted to power in the May 16 assembly polls,KPCC President V M Sudheeran said today.

Sudheeran, under whose pressure UDF changed some controversial political policies, including the land issue, said the state-level commission could ensure more credibility and impartial investigation in the corruption cases.

"My suggestion is that steps should be taken to form a state-level vigilance commission if UDF comes into power again. There should be more credibility in the investigation of corruption related cases," the Kerala Pradesh Committee President told in a meet-the-press programme here.

However, the present Vigilance system is efficient and his suggestion to the commission was it should ensure more credibility, he said.

The next UDF government would be more vigilant and cautious not to invite any charges or controversies, he said, adding that CPI(M)-led LDF opposition had no interest to end corruption. Their allegations were not ideology-based but according to their political convenience, he said.

He also said that UDF has a corrective force within the front to guide the government in the right direction in essential situations.

Attacking BJP, he said the functioning of the two year old BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi would also be evaluated in the assembly polls.

Some of Modi's remarks in his election rallies would affect the poll prospects of BJP in the state, he said referring to Modi's comparison of Kerala to Somalia.

"Modi's speeches in the state were part of his attempts to defy federalism in the country. His Somalia remark and statements against AICC chief Sonia Gandhi were sub-standard and unbecoming of his position as Prime Minister," he said.

At a poll rally earlier this week in Kerala, Modi had said that the "infant mortality rate among Scheduled Tribe community in Kerala is worse than Somalia", setting off a political storm and triggering criticism in the social media.

Sudheeran said Congress is the only party at the national level to fight the saffron force while CPI(M) has its presence only in Kerala and West Bengal. Moreover, the third front has no relevance in the country.

"Congress is on a comeback trial. The recent civic body elections in Gujarat and Maharashtra in which Congress scored victory over BJP, is an indication to that. The party's aim is to ensure a BJP mukth Bharat in the next Lok Sabha elections in 2019," the leader added.
India has criticised the "disaggregated" counter terrorism infrastructure of the UN, saying the world community has failed to address the menace of terror and there is a need to have a seamless structure in the world body to tackle the global scourge.

"Terrorism does not fit into the conventional paradigm of threats to peace and security. Yet, today it affects us all, across continents, whether we are from developing or developed world," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said at a high-level UN General Assembly thematic debate on peace and security.

He expressed concern that terror thrives on and is sustained by its trans-boundary networks for ideology, recruitment, propaganda, funding, arms training and sanctuary.

"However, the global community has failed to address this menace effectively. Here at the United Nations there is a disaggregated counter terrorism infrastructure with no effort to tie them together in a seamless weave under a high level functionary. We need to address this," Akbaruddin said.

India has been pressing for early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism(CCIT), a long-pending legal framework which would make it binding for all countries to deny funds and safe haven to terror groups.

With the objective of providing a comprehensive legal framework to combat terrorism, India took the initiative to pilot a draft CCIT in 1996 but the convention hasnot yet been adopted as nations have "entangled" themselves on the issue of definition of terrorism.

The Indian envoy also lamented the "endless" process of trying to reform the Security Council even as the world grapples with challenges more diverse in nature than they were when the world body was created 70 years ago.

He emphasised that the structures of global governance have to be made representative to deal with current threats and challenges or else the UN risks becoming "irrelevant".

"On the one hand we find a growing tendency where issues much broader than the conventional peace and security context are being considered as germane.

"Issues related to the international system of criminal justice, large scale human rights violations, and monitoring compliance with disarmament arrangements are brought onto the agenda of international peace and security stretching the canvas of collective action by the Security Council. At the same time, we are faced with efforts to spin issues of Reform of the Security Council in an endless manner," he said.

Akbaruddin said while technology, social media and instantaneous transfers of funds have unprecedented benefits, these very same inter-linkages are now also being used for the spread of radical propaganda, extremist ideologies, recruitment of followers beyond national boundaries and spread of terrorist networks.
After India's intervention, United Nations has lifted sanctions on an India-flagged oil tanker, which was carrying 6.5 lakh barrel of oil illegally from eastern Libya, controlled by an unrecognised government.

The development follows Director General of Shipping Deepak Shetty asking the vessel to sail back to Libya and discharge oil consignment at Port Zawiya in Libya under the supervision of National Oil Corporation (NOC).

"UN has lifted sanctions on MT Distya Ameya within 16 days of imposition of sanction," Shetty, who heads Indian Flag and Maritime Administration, told PTI.

The tanker is owned by Mumbai-based Arya Shipping Charterers, while Elektrans Shipping Private Ltd (Mumbai) is crewing and technical manager of the vessel.

The vessel on April 25 left Marsa el-Hariga port in eastern Libya, where the unrecognized government was behind the sale of the crude, to India.

However, the tanker was asked by Indian authorities not to move from Malta after it was added to UN sanctions blacklist for illegally carrying crude from Libya on April 26.

Libyan UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi had written to 15-member sanctions committee for blacklisting the tanker.

The vessel was engaged on time and voyage charters by Emerald Tankers, Sharjah, UAE & DSA, Sharjah, UAE for a period of 18 months from March 13, 2016.

The vessel on the advice of its foreign charterers had picked up 6.5 lakh barrel of oil of the NOC under the control of the interim government of Libya.

Subsequently, it emerged on April 25 that this was in breach of the UN sanctions in as the said interim government of Libya was not recognised by the UN.

"On the advice of the UN, the real/beneficial owner and crewing and technical manager of the vessel, both based in India, on instruction of DG Shipping, the vessel sailed back to Libya and discharged its entire oil consignment at Port of Zawiya under the supervision of NOC, under the control of government of National Accord of Libya, which is recognised by the UN," a statement said.

This cargo evacuation was, accordingly, completed on May



6 under supervision and certification of UN and consequently the vessel moved out of the Libyan waters on the same day.

"The vessel had taken on board the said oil consignment at the instance of the foreign charterers/dispondent owners and its India owners/ manager were unaware of the UN sanctions," the statement said.

The owner and the manager on knowing the details "immediately and fully" complied with UN advice to return to Libya and discharge the said consignment of vessel at the UN designated port, it said.

"In the light, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN at New York, USA had submitted a Note Verbale to the Security Council of the UN, apprising it of these positive developments and requesting the UN, in the face of aforesaid facts and circumstances, on record, to revoke the said sanction and de-list the vessel from its sanctions for Libya," it said.
An American police officer, who brutally assaulted an Indian grandfather and left him partially paralysed, is no longer facing state criminal charges in the US state of Alabama.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said the state no longer wishes to pursue a criminal case against Madison police officer Eric Parker in Limestone County Circuit Court.

"After a careful review of the witness testimony included in 2,000 pages of federal trial transcripts and a re-evaluation of the evidence, we are seeking to dismiss State charges against Parker," Strange said in a release today.

Parker, 27, is accused of assaulting 58-year-old Indian grandfather who was taking a stroll around his son's home when he was brutally assaulted by him in February last year.

He was fired six days later and police arrested him for misdemeanor assault.

Parker was cleared of federal civil rights charges in January, after two mistrials.

Following the back-to-back mistrials, US District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala in January granted a motion to acquit, saying there would not be a third federal trial.

With the federal case concluded, Parker had been scheduled to face a bench trial in district court in Limestone County starting on June 7.

That was for the misdemeanor assault charge, which carries up to a year in jail.

Strange today filed the motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charge.

"Without a doubt this is an unfortunate case and we agree with US District Judge Madeline Haikala that 'The result in this case is by no means satisfying. Hindsight brings clarity to a calamity...," wrote Strange.

"After a review of the federal trial testimony, it does not appear that there would be sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, we have a duty to move to dismiss the charge," he added.

Newly-appointed DistrictJudge Douglas "Doug" Lee Patterson, who had said he was ready to move forward with the trial since it is amisdemeanour and there was no need to prolong the case, approved the request to drop the charge.

"The State of Alabama having filed a motion to dismiss this action and the Court having considered the same it is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that this case is dismissed," he ruled.

The former Alabama police officer also faces a lawsuit filed against him by Patel.

The assault had sparked outrage in the Indian community and India had raised the issue with the US, demanding expeditious investigation into the matter.

The Governor of the US state of Alabama had apologised for the brutal police assault on Patel.
Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed the concerns of the international community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource- rich sea. However, the White House yesterday refused to describe the situation in the South China Sea as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily conference yesterday.

The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that international law allows," Earnest said, adding that this operation was undertaken in consistent with that principal.

A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres 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, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

The concerns and the tensions that exist around the South China Sea do not actually directly involve the US. The United States is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea, Earnest said.

"Our concern lies principally with the need for those



parties that do have competing claims to resolve them through diplomacy. And we certainly do not want to see the tensions increase, because of the risk that that could pose to the extensive commerce that's conducted in that region of the world," Earnest said, adding that this also underscores the complexity of the US relationship with Australia.

"Australia is one of our closest allies and we work with them on a range of issues. I will let the Australians describe the concerns that they may have or the impact on their national security that the tensions in the South China Sea may have. But obviously, the Australian economy is affected by the glut of capacity in the steel industry in much the same way that the US is as well.

"I know that the (Australian) Prime Minister (Malcolm) Turnbull has indicated his own priority for ensuring that international trade is conducted fairly. That common ground is the basis for kinds of conversations that President (Barack) Obama and he have on a fairly regular basis," he said.

Despite all these, Earnest said the US has been able to work with China in pursuit of other priorities.

"We have talked about North Korea, and the influence that the Chinese government has with North Korea," Earnest said.

The US also worked with China to complete the Iran deal. That would not have been possible without China's active participation in the discussions but also China had to be helpful in terms of imposing and enforcing the sanctions that compelled Iran to the negotiating table in the first place, he observed.

"So, this illustrates that there are differences of opinions that we have with China, and I am certainly not seeking to downplay them. They are significant and they have significant consequences for our economy in particular. But they have not prevented the US and China from being able to work effectively together to pursue other areas where we're in better agreement," Earnest added.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan fiercely contest China's claims. They also have overlapping claims over the area stated to be endowed with oil, minerals and rich with fisheries.
The Obama administration has "recognised" the concerns of lawmakers with regard to sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan and those are right now being taken into consideration, a top American diplomat told Congress today.

"We understand the very serious concerns that has been raised by the Congress and those concerns are right now being taken into consideration," US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Nisha Desai Biswal, told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on South Asia.

"I do not have an update for you on with respect to that notification and where it goes. But I will say that we recognized the concerns that Congress has raised with us," Biswal said.

During the hearing Congressman Matt Salmon Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific praised the Obama Administration for taking into the strong viewpoint of the Congress and its lawmakers with regard to sale of eight F-16 to Pakistan.

"It looks that that sale is in kind of a limbo right now," he said.

"We have a very important relationship between the United States and India. We also have a very important between the United States and Pakistan. Each relationship stands on its own merit in furtherance of our goals and interest in both countries. We do not see them in any way as a zero sum," Biswal observed.

"The F-16 platform is the one we have felt has been used successfully in combating terrorism. That has been the basis on which the administration put forward the notification to provide an additional eight F-16s," Biswal said.

"This (opposition to sale of F-16 to Pakistan) was across the aisle. This was not just Republicans or Democrats. This was across the aisle and a lot of concern that was expressed to end to its credit the administration I believe is taking those things into account," Salmon said.
The Obama administration is in talks with India on understating its interest to become a member of APEC forum for 21 Pacific Rim member-economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region, a top US diplomat has said.

"Largely, the conversation is around better understanding of its desire for membership in APEC and India's approach and philosophy as it comes into largely economically focused body on important issues of open free and fair trade," Indian- American Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal said yesterday.

Biswal, who is Obama administration's point person for South and Central Asia except for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was responding to a question on India's desire to become a member of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), which is a forum for 21 Pacific Rim member economies promoting free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

US President Barack Obama along with the top officials of his administration has welcomed India's desire in this regard and the two countries are holding talks on this issue.

"I think those are conversations on going between the administration and the government of India and I think those conversations would help chart the path of how to move forward on India's interest," Biswal said.

"The President has welcomed India's interest in APEC. The size of the Indian economy make sit one that we want to engage with and engage in an ambitious but constructive way.

"India's interest is one that we certainly welcome that, which we have not only heard from the President but across all the levels of our government," she said, adding that there are multiplicity of views with respect to India's entry into APEC.

Recently, legislations have been introduced in the House of Representative and the Senate asking US secretary of state to develop a strategy for India becoming an APEC member.

Responding to another question on bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between India and the US, Biswal said this would greatly advance and facilitate additional American investment in India and would create a level playing field for American companies and for American investment so that there are necessary safeguards and protections for that investment.

"We are already starting to see that US investment is starting to flow towards India and in fact India because surpass China is the largest destination for some segment of American investment and we are likely to see that trend continue.

"We are in the midst of discussion on the bilateral investment treaty to ensure that there is a commitment on both sides to be able to address some of the areas of discrepancy between India's model BIT and what we see as a high standard investment treaty and were hopeful and confident that those discussions can lead to the formal launching of negotiations," Biswal added.
Strongly refuting Chinese allegations, the US has said that its freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea (SCS) is not an act of provocation, two days after an American navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the area.

The US, on the other hand, reaffirmed concerns of the community, particularly of the countries in the region, against Chinese movements and actions in the resource-rich sea.

However, the White House on Friday refused to describe the situation in the as headed towards tension.

"I would not describe it that way. I think that there are concerns about China's activities in the South China Sea, (which) are well documented. Our concerns that we have raised both publicly and privately with Chinese officials at a range of levels," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference on Friday.

The freedom of navigation operation that was carried out by the US forces earlier this week is relatively routine, the presidential spokesman said.

"We have done that at least a couple of times just in the last four or five months. It is not intended to be a provocative act. It is merely a demonstration of a principle that the president laid out on a number of occasions, which is that the US will fly, operate and sail anywhere that law allows," Earnest said, adding that this operation was undertaken in consistent with that principal.

A US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Tuesday. The guided missile destroyer, USS William P Lawrence, passed within 22-kilometres of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what law regards as an island's territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbour and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure.

Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer when it passed.

The concerns and the tensions that exist around the do not actually directly involve the US. The United States is not a claimant to any of the land features in the SCS, Earnest said.
The US government will issue a directive to all public school across the country asking them to allow transgender students use bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The letter, signed by officials from the Education and Justice departments, does not have the force of law but contains an implicit threat that schools which do not abide by the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move comes in the wake of the controversy surrounding the so called bathroom law in North Carolina.

Because of the differences, the State of North Carolina and the federal government sued each other last week.

The US Department of Education and the Justice Department in a joint letter asked schools to allow transgenders use the bathroom matching their gender identity, the Obama Administration said in a statement.

"No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus," said John B King Jr , Education Secretary.

"We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence," he said.

The letter going from the federal government is not a law but a directive to schools, the non-implementation of which might affect their federal funding.
The 2012 Delhi gang rape case that shook the entire country was the inspiration for Mumbai-based Manipuri artist Dinesh Singh's steel and bronze sculpture titled "Innocence."



Singh has built a life size sculpture of a young woman in bronze to bring to the notice how society plays an important role in supporting victims of sexual violence.

An ongoing exhibition titled, "Master Strokes" at the Visual Arts Gallery here is showcasing artworks, by both veteran and emerging artists, that reflect their respective inner-most thoughts.

"The artist struggles and aspires to imitate the ideas in his mind which manifest in master strokes. The creation reflects the uniqueness of the individual self, of what one sees, perceives, contemplates and meditates," Kishore Labar, curator of the exhibition, says.

To deliver his message, Singh has placed several pairs of hands on a mirror finished steel platform beneath the sculpture of the woman to help the society reflect within itself and realise their role.

"Through my work I want to give the message that the society, family and friends must support anybody who has been a victim of violence.

"I also want to tell that the society plays a great role in the upbringing of an individual, if the youth goes astray, family and friends have the responsibility to bring them back to the right path," Singh says.

He renders a wooden texture to the sculpture to give an extended earthly feeling and a better understanding of the subject.

Another city-based artist Priyadarshi Gautam, finds his



inspiration in nature. He replicates the photographs of iconic landscapes from across the world, into oil paintings, giving it a personal touch.

Some of his works include scenes depicting 'cable car ride in the Swiss Alps','a landscape of a famous German peak' and 'para gliding in the Solang Valley in Manali."



"Nowadays artists don't need to travel physically. That used to happen in the earlier days when they would sit at the spot and paint. Now there is the Internet and I look at the photographs and paint with my personal touch," Gautam says.

Kusum Jain who has been creating fibre sculptures has been in the profession for two decades now. She says she looks around herself and all things spiritual to find subjects for her art.

Jain works in mixed media - bronze and fiber - to bring a multitude of expressions to her creations.

Her works include sculptures of multi-faced Buddha, Radha-Krishna, lovers et all.

"The purpose of my work is to provoke a perceptual, internal, and intellectual response in the viewer," she says.

Hamlet Shougrakpam, who is an art teacher at a Central school in Rohtak, reinterprets the folklores of Kings and Queens "that our parents used to narrate to us while we were young" through his "Revival" series.

"The basic instinct of every living being looks for revival and I revive the folklores that I heard as a child in my artworks," Shougrakpam says.

The show also features few works by stalwarts like SH Raza, MF Hussain and FN Souza.

The selling show is set to continue till May 13. The artworks are priced between Rs 20,000 to Rs 8 lakhs.
Environmentalists today sounded caution over the latest WHO report, which showed that Delhi was not the most polluted city as per 2013-14 data, saying it does not give the right picture.

Greenpeace India campaigner Sunil Dahiya said the 2014 WHO report, under which Delhi earned the tag of being the most polluted city, was based on data of 2013 from six monitoring stations while the new report records data from 10 stations.

"If anybody is saying that there is improvement in Delhi's air quality, then it will be wrong as you are taking the data for the same year but at more places," Dahiya said.

Referring to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's statement "congratulating" people over the findings of the report, Sunita Narain of Centre for Science and Environment said people rush to take credits "where it's not due."



"This data is comparing 2012 to 2014. This is not of the current Chief Minister's period," she said, noting that the data was two-year old.

Dahiya also said there could have been no major improvement as there were no major steps taken by Centre or Delhi government during the 2013-14 period based on which WHO compiled its data.

He said claiming that air pollution situation in Delhi has improved would be wrong as the base years for both the WHO reports, 2016 and 2014, were almost similar "so the question of improvement does not arise as it was the same air quality at the same place with more stations."



Emphasising that the current situation may be "different", CSE's Anumita Roychowdhury said,"....The pollution is not getting worse but the levels are still very high. Yes, the current situation can be different."



According to a new World Health Organisation (WHO) report 2016 based on data collected between 2008 and 2013, and in case of Delhi based on 2013-14, the national capital was the 11th most-polluted city while four other Indian cities - Gwalior (2), Allahabad (3), Patna (6) and Raipur (7) - figured in the top seven cities with worst air pollution.
In a setback to Pakistan government, Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali today refused to set up a judicial commission to probe Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and others in the Panama Paper leak, saying a "toothless" probe panel would not serve any purpose.

Sharif last month formally wrote to Jamali to set up and lead a commission to probe those who have been named in Panama leaks.

Panama Papers, a massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents that reportedly exposed the secret offshore dealings of around 140 political figures globally, named three of Sharif's four children -- Maryam, Hasan and Hussain -- listing them as owners of offshore companies.

Jamali in his reply to the government said that the proposed probe commission would not serve any purpose unless its scope and powers were clearly known.

He asked the government to legislate a special law in parliament.

"Formation of Commission of Inquiry under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 1956 (Act VI of 1956), looking to its limited scope, will result in the constitution of a toothless commission, which will serve no useful purpose, except giving bad name to it," Jamali wrote in the letter.

He further added that a judicial commission cannot be formed until the issue of terms of references (ToRs) is resolved between the government and opposition parties.

"The terms of reference incorporated in the attached notification (of government) are so wide and open-ended that, prima facie, it may take years together for the commission to conclude its proceedings," he said.

Presently, opposition and government have prepared separate TORs for probe and there is little chance that the two sides agree on a single draft.

The main hurdle is that opposition wants the probe to target Sharif while the government wants to probe everyone mentioned in the Panama leaks.

Apart from the government and opposition, last month, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) also issued its draft of ToRs for the proposed probe.

Meanwhile, Sharif is expected to address the parliament on Monday on the issue of Panama papers and probe.

It will be for the first time that he will face the opposition in the parliament.

Opposition parties this week boycotted the parliamentary session to force Sharif come to the house and issue a formal statement.
Susannah Mushatt Jones, the world's oldest person, who lived through two world wars and 20 US presidencies, has died here at the age of 116 years.

Jones died yesterday at a senior home in Brooklyn, Robert Young, a senior consultant for the Los Angles-based Gerontology Research Group, said.

Born on an Alabama farm in July 1899, Jones was also the last living American born in the 19th Century.

Jones became Guinness World Records' official oldest person when 117-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan died last year.

Following the death of Jones, the oldest person in the world is now believed to be 116-year old Emma Morano, who lives in Verbena in Italy. She was born in November 1899.

Jones was one of 11 children. Her grandparents were slaves, her parents crop pickers.

She attended a special school for young black girls and graduated from high school in 1922.

She moved to New York to work as a nanny, where she helped to start a scholarship fund for young African-American women.

Jones remained active until the end of her life, serving as a member of the tenant patrol of her nursing home until she was 106, US media reports said.

As one of the last few remaining human links with the 19th Century, Jones has lived through more history than anyone else in the world.

Jones always maintained that lots of sleep and no smoking or drinking were the main reasons she lived to celebrate her 116th birthday last year.

Jones, known to loved ones as 'Miss Susie,' had last year said that she ate four strips of bacon with scrambled egg every day.
Yemeni government forces have captured around 250 "Al-Qaeda members" since they retook Mukalla, the largest city in the country's southeast, last month, a top officer said today.

"We have arrested around 250 members of Al-Qaeda, including some leaders, since our operations began," General Faraj Salmin told AFP.

Salmin commands the second military zone which includes Mukalla, capital of the vast desert province of Hadramawt.

The port city was retaken from the jihadists on April 24.

"One of these chiefs, Mohammed Saleh al-Orabi who calls himself the emir of Shar, was detained on Thursday" in the area of the same name some 60 kilometres (35 miles) east of Mukalla, he added.

All of the arrests were made in Mukalla and its surroundings, the general said.

Al-Qaeda occupied the city for a year, and imposed strict Islamic law on residents.

Special forces from the UAE, a member of a Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite Huthi rebels across Yemen, played a major role in retaking Mukalla.

Last week, the United States said that "a very small number" of American soldiers were also involved in the operation.
Local Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallick, one of the 10 persons named in the lynching of an ITI student in Diamond Harbour of South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said today.

Tapas, the TMC Upa-Panchayat Pradhan of the area, was absconding ever since his name surfaced in the FIR lodged by the family of Kaushik Purkait who was beaten to death on Monday night.

He was arrested from near Duttapukur in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district late last night, a senior police officer said.

He was accompanied by a youth named Biltu from the car in which they were travelling, the officer said.

The youth has been detained.

Four others had earlier been arrested in connection with the murder of the youth, who was mercilessly beaten up on suspicion of being involved in theft of cattle from the area, the officer said.

Koushik, who came to visit his aunt in the area, was roaming around when he was confronted by members of a local club and forcibly taken to a room on Monday night.

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 on Tuesday.

The incident triggered a public outrage in the area with a mob vandalising houses of the accused when the youth's body was taken to the house of his aunt in a procession on Wednesday.

Opposition CPI(M), Congress and BJP visited the family of the deceased and demanded punishment for those involved and immediate arrest of Tapas, alleging that he was deliberately not being arrested by the police despite playing a key role in the confinement and lynching of the youth.

While the four other arrested have already been remanded to 13-days' police custody by SDJM court, Diamond Harbour on Wednesday, Tapas would be produced in the same court later in the day.

Nine others were also been named in the FIR by the youth's family.
Photo of Ford F-150 courtesy of Ford.

Ford Motor Co. is recalling approximately 184,000 2011-2012 model-year Ford F-150 trucks and 2012-MY Expedition, Mustang and Lincoln Navigator vehicles in the U.S. because theyre at risk for unexpectedly downshifting.

These vehicles, each equipped with a 6R80 transmission, have a potential problem with the output speed sensor on the transmission lead frame. Under certain conditions, the transmission controls could force a temporary downshift into first gear.

Depending on the speed of the vehicle at the time of the downshift, the driver could experience an abrupt speed reduction that could cause the rear tires to slide or lock up. This condition could result in loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash, according to Ford.

Ford noted its aware of three reports of accidents, but no injuries have been related to this condition.

The Ford F-150 vehicles were built at Dearborn Truck Plant and Kansas City Assembly Plant from Aug. 19, 2011, through March 9, 2012. The Ford Expedition vehicles were built at Kentucky Truck Plant from Aug. 19, 2011, through Dec. 19, 2011. The Ford Mustang vehicles were built at Flat Rock Assembly Plant from Aug. 19, 2011, through Feb. 21, 2012. The Lincoln Navigator vehicles were built at Kentucky Truck Plant from Aug. 19, 2011, through Dec. 17, 2011.

In addition to the vehicles recalled in the U.S., 17,900 vehicles are being recalled in Canada.

Dealers will inspect the powertrain control module for diagnostic trouble codes tied to the issue. If no related diagnostic trouble codes are present, dealers will update the powertrain control module software, which will eliminate the downshift into first gear if an OSS fault occurs, Ford said.

Additionally, as part of the corresponding customer satisfaction program, Ford will provide a one-time replacement of the lead frame at no charge within 10 years or 150,000 miles from the warranty start date.

If related diagnostic trouble codes are present, dealers will update the powertrain control module software and replace the lead frame at no cost to the customer, Ford said.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet
British liquor major Diageo Plc on Thursday submitted a copy of its agreement with liquor baron Vijay Mallya to the Debt Recovery Tribunal here, as directed by its presiding officer Justice C.R. Benakanahalli on April 29.

"A Diageo counsel handed over to the presiding officer the document, which details the exit deal it signed with Mallya on February 25," a tribunal source told IANS.

In accordance with the $75 million (Rs 515 crore) exit deal, Diageo paid Mallya $40 million on February 25 and agreed to pay the balance $35 million over the next five years on the latter meeting certain conditions in the agreement.

As per the deal terms, Mallya resigned as chairman of Diageo-controlled United Spirits Ltd and agreed to not compete with it in the global beverages market, except in Britain for the next five years.

Justice Benakanahalli also told counsel representing Mallya, the State Bank of India (SBI) and other defendants to cooperate with the tribunal in disposing off the case within two months, as directed by the Supreme Court, and posted it for final hearing on June 2.

As a lead bank of the consortium of 17 banks to which the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines owes Rs.9,091 crore as combined loans with interest, SBI filed the case before the tribunal on March 2.
At least six major industries have pulled back their projects from Odisha while South Korean steel player Posco has temporarily put its plan of setting up a 12-mtpa greenfield steel plant near Paradip on hold, the state government said.

"Posco has put its Odisha project on hold temporarily," Industries Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said while replying to a written question in the assembly.

The minister's statement on Posco takes on significance as it came barely three days after Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo informed Parliament that the Centre has not received any communication from South Korean steel giant Posco on "disinterest" in pursuing its proposed plant.

Mishra's reply was in response to a question from Congress member Kailash Chandra Kulesika, who wanted to know whether Posco has withdrawn its project.

To another question from Congress member Asshuman Mohanty, the minister said: "Posco India Private has deposited Rs 41,61,71,739 with the state-owned IDCO for procurement of land, out of which Rs 40,17,61,606 has been sent and exhausted for land acquisition."

Mishra, however, clarified that the government has no information on the expenditure incurred by Posco in Odisha.

Posco last month had informed the National Green Tribunal that its steel project in Odisha "cannot proceed" any further at this stage due to regulatory hurdles.

The steel maker told the green panel that it is yet to receive land and forest clearance for setting up the plant.

The project is billed as the largest FDI in India.
If you are an employee of a foreign company in India, your business income will be taxable if you have spent 90 days in the country in the past 12 months. The amended India-Mauritius tax treaty has also inserted a new clause allowing source-based taxation at 10 per cent on fees paid for technical and consultancy services.

The revision provides for 10 per cent tax on gross basis for fees for technical services (FTS) in the source state, according to the text of the treaty amendment, which was signed on Tuesday. So far, a company or entity was deemed to have a permanent establishment (PE) in India if it had a place of business or site or office building or factory workshop.

According to tax experts, now if a company's employees spend 90 man days in India, then the companies' business income in India will be taxable at 40 per cent. Through the inclusion of the services PE clause, the tax net has been widened, an expert said adding that tax credit can be obtained.

The tax will be at the highest applicable rate between the two countries. As per the protocol, the definition of PE has been enlarged to include furnishing of services, including consultancy services, by an enterprise through employees or other personnel for more than 90 days within any 12 months.

The amendment to the more than three-decade old treaty, which aims to plug a loophole which allowed investors to use the Mauritius route to evade taxes on capital gains in India, also gives right to the source country to levy 7.5 per cent tax on interest earned. The original treaty of August 1983 provided exemption on interest received by banks in the source state when they are residents of the other country.

The amendment has removed this exemption, as per the text of the revised protocol. However, exemption would continue to be granted in the case of interest arising from debt claims existing on or before March 31, 2017, provided it is derived and beneficially owned by any bank resident of the other country carrying on bona fide banking business in the source state.

Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha met representatives of foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and deliberated on their concerns over taxation against the backdrop of India signing a revised tax treaty with Mauritius.

"Met FPIs with (Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia) for an intense discussion on tax concerns such as GAAR, tax treaties' implications, etc," Sinha tweeted. FPIs encompass all foreign institutional investors, their sub-accounts and qualified foreign investors.

The meeting came amid concerns being expressed by tax experts about the taxation of participatory notes and the impact which the treaty revision can have over investment from other countries, including Singapore, Cyprus, and other low tax jurisdictions.
Global aerospace major Airbus SAS on Thursday signed an agreement with Karnataka-based Aequs Aerospace to source 100,000 titanium machined parts for its A320 new engine programme.

"The parts will be delivered to Airbus plant at Toulouse (in southern France) where they will be assembled onto pylon structure for mounting engines on the aircraft wing," Airbus senior vice president Oliver Cauquil told reporters here.

As a tier-1 supplier of aerospace components and aerospace parts to Indian and global manufacturers, Aequs has set up a $100 million (Rs 667 crore) machining facility in the 250-acre special economic zone (SEZ) at Belagavi, about 500km from here.

"The multi-year contract for one-lakh titanium components to Aequs reaffirms our commitment to the government's 'make in India' progamme and increase sourcing from 45 Indian suppliers, including 15 in tier-1 category," said Airbus India president S Dwaraknath.

The French aircraft maker for civil and defence sectors plans to procure components and sub-assembly parts cumulatively valued at $2 billion by 2020 from $500 million in 2015 from Indian suppliers.

"We employ latest technology with quality processes to meet high standards of Airbus to whom we supplied detail machined parts for its single aisle, long range aircraft since 2009, including wing parts for its A380 jumbo jet," said Aequs chief executive Aravind Melligeri.

The three-tier Indian suppliers, including the state-run HAL provide engineering and IT services, aero-structures, detail parts and systems, materials and cabins to Airbus for its A380, A350 and A320 family and A330 programmes.

"Our procurement from India has grown 16 fold since we started sourcing over a decade ago," Dwaraknath said.

Noting that each Airbus aircraft had some part made in India, he said Aequs was one of the two firms from where the titanium parts were being sourced for the A320neo programme. The other is a western firm.

Aequs plans to invest an additional $100 million during the next four years to expand production capacity and achieve $300 million from sales, including exports by 2020.

"We will ramp up our workforce to 5,000 engineers by 2020 from 1,500 in 2015-16 for executing the multi-year contracts to our global customers, including United Technologies Aircraft Systems (UTAS), Safran, Bosch, Eaton, Baker Hughes and Halliburton," Melligeri added.

With overseas production facilities in Europe and the US, Aequs recently acquired SiRA aerospace group in France for an unspecified amount to provide precision machining, assembly, aero engine testing, landing gear, aircraft actuation components, welding and fabrication of aircraft assemblies to its European customers such as Dassault, Safran and UTAS.
Over half of business owners are doubtful that new Government will bring about positive change for businesses in Ireland according to the latest France Ireland Chamber of Commerce Business Owner Sentiment Index.



Furthermore, the vast majority (77%) are concerned that the new government will hike corporate tax, while 23% share no such worry.



The survey indicates over half (54%) of Irish business owners are worried that the UK leaving the EU would negatively impact their businesses while 46% do not share these concerns.

Although the vast majority (86%) of business owners think businesses should have plans in place to effectively react to a Brexit, surprisingly, only one in five (20%) business owners have actually developed a plan to cope with the potential consequences of a Brexit.

The FICC research also found that more than one third (34%) of business owners would be less likely to do business with the UK following a Brexit due to increased legislative restrictions and trading costs. Additionally, a resounding 86% of business owners think that new trade agreements between Ireland and the UK will have to be introduced if the UK leaves the EU.



FICC President and MD of JCDecaux Ireland, Joanne Grant says, "Although there are concerns among business owners regarding the potential impact that the newly appointed government will have on Irish businesses, I think that its effectiveness can only be accurately judged once those in power are given the opportunity to lead and effect change."

She added, "I hope the remainder of 2016 is as promising for the new government as it would appear to be for Irish businesses."

Source: www.businessworld.ie

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The Irish Independent has today reported that Microsoft has been given the go-ahead to construct four huge data centres in Dublin that are likely to involve an investment of as much as 900m.



Microsoft claim that almost 1,800 construction jobs will be supported by the three-year project and will also result in the creation of 140 full-time jobs. The local council has just approved the project, which will be built at Grange Castle in Clondalkin.



Microsoft is currently building a new 134m campus in Dublin for 1,200 staff. It has also spent over 800m on its existing data centre operations at Grange Castle and it's one of the biggest facilities of its type in Europe.

The data centre operations are used by Microsoft as cloud computing hubs. Between 2007 and 2014, Microsoft was granted planning permission for four data centre facilities at Grange Castle. The first was constructed in 2008. Three others are also now operational.



The Irish Independent reports that the current application that has just been approved by the council is phase three of Microsoft's data centre development at Grange Castle. Microsoft, whose Irish managing director is Cathriona Hallahan, opened its Irish base in 1985.



Source: www.businessworld.ie


New figures released today by Vision-Net show that over 7,600 company start-ups have been formed so far this year.



There were 7,665 new companies formed between the 1st January and 12th May 2016 - an average of almost 60 per day.

Just over a fifth of these new companies (1,593) operate in the professional services sector (accountants, consultants, legal practices etc).



Source: www.businessworld.ie
Ryanair would move some investment out of Britain if it votes to leave the European Union and the "extreme volatility" that would follow such an outcome could put downward pressure on air fares in the short term, its chief executive said on Friday.

The Irish low-cost airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, flies 40 million of its 100 million-plus passengers a year to and from the United Kingdom and has its largest hub at London's Stansted Airport.

CEO Michael O'Leary is one of the most vocal business leaders campaigning for a vote to remain ahead of the June 23 referendum on EU membership.

"After 9/11, after every crisis Ryanair is selling cheaper fares, we keep people flying. So the fact is it would have a downward effect on our pricing for six to 12 months, but we will keep people flying," O'Leary told reporters.

"The longer term effect though is we will invest less in the UK, we will certainly switch some of our existing UK investment into other European counties because we want to continue to invest in the European Union and it will be bad for air travel and British tourism."

British air fares could also rise sharply in the long term if a vote to leave threatened Britain's access to EU air services agreements, he added.

A Brexit may also put some downward pressure on aircraft prices and O'Leary said there is always an opportunity for Ryanair to stock up in such a downturn, though its current supply of Boeing planes takes it out until 2023.

However, he said the "Remain" campaign should be cautious about warning of "apocalyptic scenarios." While a period of extraordinary volatility would undoubtedly follow for six to 12 months after a Brexit, fundamental economics would then take over and sterling would recover, O'Leary said.

Ryanair is spending around 25,000 euros to run advertisements calling on its customers to vote to remain, he said, and would step up that marketing drive closer to the referendum date.

"Most of the contribution being made by Ryanair is through our email, our customer base, advocating a remain vote because we fundamentally believe it's in the UK's best interests to remain in Europe," O'Leary said.

"Will Ryanair have any effect? I think not really. Around the margins, we may." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Facebook on Thursday emphasized that it does not permit its employees to block news stories from its "Trending Topics" list based on political bias, amid a controversy over how the social media superpower selects what news it displays.

Technology news website Gizmodo on Monday reported that a former Facebook employee said workers "routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers" while "artificially" adding other stories to the trending list.

The Gizmodo story triggered a reaction on social media, with several journalists and commentators raising concerns about alleged bias, and prompted a U.S. senate inquiry.

The social media company, whose reach is global, had over a billion daily active users on average in March, according to statistics the company posted to its newsroom.

In a post published to Facebook's media relations section on Thursday, a senior company official outlined its "Trending Topics" guidelines at length.

"Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin, period," wrote Justin Osofsky, vice president for global operations. "We have a series of checks and balances in place to help surface the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum."

The post went on to explain how certain topics emerge in Facebook users' trending feeds. Potential trending topics are identified by an algorithm, or formula, Facebook said, then reviewed by a "Trending Topics" team.

Gizmodo Editor-in-Chief Katie Drummond responded to the post with an email saying, "I don't see anything that contradicts our reporting--do you?"

Gizmodo's story sparked a Senate committee inquiry.

Republican U.S. Senator John Thune, chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, said in a statement on Tuesday that Facebook needed to respond to "these serious allegations."

"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 Thune. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The International Monetary Fund said Britain risks falling into a self-reinforcing cycle of weaker economic growth and lower house and share prices if voters opt to leave the European Union next month.

"A vote for exit would precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial market volatility and a hit to output," the IMF said in a report published on Friday.

A sudden stop in investment into key sectors of the economy such as commercial real estate and finance could exacerbate Britain's record-high current account deficit, the IMF said.

"Such market reactions could sharply contract economic activity, further depressing asset prices in a self-reinforcing cycle," the Fund said.

The warnings came in an annual report by the Fund on Britain's economy.

The report said following a Brexit, it could take Britain years to renegotiate trade deals with the EU and other world economies, hitting investment and weighing heavily on economic sentiment.

The Fund repeated a warning made last month that the shock of Britain deciding to leave the EU could upset the global economy.

"Contagion effects could result in spillovers to regional and global markets, although the primary impact would be felt domestically," Friday's report said.

"While there is wide uncertainty around the market reaction to a leave vote, as the historical experience with similar events is limited, it is expected to be negative and could be severe."

On Thursday, the Bank of England said Britain's economy would slow sharply, and possibly enter a brief recession, after a vote to leave the EU. But the BoE did not provide detailed forecasts for how big a blow Brexit would deal to the economy.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has also warned that a Brexit would hurt Britain's economy. It said on April 27 that British voters risk paying a "Brexit tax" equivalent to a month's salary by 2020 if they left the EU.

The predictions of an economic hit do not appear to have swayed many voters. Opinion polls show Britons believe staying in the EU would be best for the economy but they remain evenly divided on how they intend to vote on June 23. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The United Nations on Thursday said it cut its forecast for global economic growth in 2016 by half a percentage point to 2.4%, largely due to downward revisions for Africa, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Latin America.

In a new report entitled "World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016," the U.N. said it has lowered its forecast for growth of world gross product this year to 2.4%, the same as in 2015, from its December forecast of 2.9%.

"Global economic growth prospects for 2017 also remain well below pre-crisis trends, and a protracted period of slow productivity growth and feeble investment weigh on the longer-term potential of the global economy," it said.

It cited weak demand in developed economies as a major drag on global growth, alongside low commodity prices, mounting fiscal and current-account imbalances and policy tightening in commodity-exporting economies.

Other negative factors, the report said, are "severe weather-related shocks, political challenges and large capital outflows in many developing regions."

In the CIS region of the former Soviet Union, the report said Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia will likely see declines in gross domestic product this year and said international sanctions are among the major negative factors for Russia's economy.

Another important factor is "Brazil being mired in a deeper-than-expected recession," it said. Concerns about the upcoming referendum on European Union membership in Britain also pose a potential risk for the global economy. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Help Us Help Those in Need is the theme for the 23rd annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive coming up on Saturday, May 14th. The United States Postal Service is a major sponsor and according to Aaron Porter, a letter carrier with the Logan Post Office, postal workers will be picking up food donations when they come to leave your mail.

We will be collecting food that we deliver to the Cache Community Food Pantry, says Porter. All we ask people to do is to fill up the bags that they will be getting in the mail with non-perishable food items that we can pick up Saturday, or Friday or even Monday. Then well take it to the food pantry for you.

Porter says, on average, the letter carriers have collected 25,000 to 30,000 pounds of food on Stamp Out Hunger day. He said last year it was considerably less because there was rainy weather. He says everyone is hoping Saturday will be a sunny day.
The recent tragic loss of more than 550,000 acres of forest and thousands of homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, brings into focus the hazards that come with wildfire and its suppression and the risks firefighters take to protect life and property. They are tasked with protecting the growing number of structures between wildland and urban environments. Property owners can assist firefighters and improve their own safety by preparing their structures and landscaping for the possibility of a wildfire.

The likelihood of a home burning is directly related to the amount of flammable material near it. The home and landscape near it are called the home ignition zone. A few hours of light-duty yard work are well worth the effort to protect this area. Consider the following tips.

 Replace wood roofs with fire-resistant roofing material. Enclose the eaves with soffits and screen openings with 1/8 galvanized mesh. This will reduce the chances that blowing embers could start a fire in an attic space.

 During a fire, burning embers land in some of the same places that collect leaves, needles and other debris, so it is important to regularly clear debris from roof valleys, gutters and deck corners.

 Remove debris from the yard and mow, irrigate and prune. The first 3 to 5 feet from the home should be a no-burn zone consisting of pavers, concrete or small, succulent plants. This is a good place for a sidewalk, patio or driveway to butt up against the house. From there to approximately 60 feet out is the most critical area of the landscape where trees should be thinned and pruned, with no shrubs underneath to carry fire into their crowns. This mid-zone should be your irrigated landscape. Mowed, green grass works well, along with manicured beds of herbaceous perennials. Maintenance is key here; a plant that is maintained may be firewise, while one that is not may be a hazard. From 60 to 100 feet out, the landscape should be clean and green, with dead leaves, needles and twigs removed. There should be few trees and shrubs in this zone, and trees should be pruned. To be effective, maintenance must be done on a regular basis, depending on the type and amount of vegetation.

 Select appropriate species to grow in the home ignition zone. Evergreens and scrub oaks tend to be highly flammable, while aspen and most broad-leaved trees and shrubs are less flammable. Plants that are green and moist during the hottest, driest part of the year are best.

 The wildlands beyond 100 feet should be thinned, and brush should not be dumped there. Many people do not control the land 100 feet or more from their home, but a plan can still be in place. Contact your neighbors and talk with them about safety and what you can do together. This includes individual neighbors, but may also include government neighbors like the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management.

 Keep firewood, construction material and other flammable items at least 30 feet from your home. Be sure propane tanks are located at least 100 feet from any structure, and clear vegetation 10 feet around them.

 Make sure emergency personnel can easily locate and identify your home. Be sure house numbers are clearly marked and visible.

 Your driveway needs to be wide and clear so firefighters can enter it in an emergency, and they will need enough overhead and turnaround space to get in and out with equipment.

 Take the time to protect your home. Homes that do not meet these minimum specifications are less likely to receive full consideration by firefighters since they pose an unnecessary risk to their safety and equipment.

 For a list of firewise plants and more information on landscaping to minimize fire hazard, visit USU Extension forestrys website at forestry.usu.edu or call 435-797-4056.
The unprecedented escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict on April 2-5 is the topic of a process of intense discussions between Russian and Armenian authorities. After the Chiefs of Staff of Armenias and Azerbaijans armed forces, Yuri Khachaturov and Najmaddin Sadigov, reached an oral ceasefire agreement in Moscow, Russia immediately activated its policy toward the conflict, including several high-level visits to Yerevan and Baku for discussions with the respective authorities.

Russias Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov visited Yerevan on April 21-22, meeting with Armenias President Serzh Sargsyan, who stated that by launching large-scale military operations against Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan once more proved that Karabakh cannot have anything common with Azerbaijan. Sargsyan also highlighted that Azerbaijans actions have pushed the negotiation process into the distant future. In turn, Lavrov said that if the parties could develop common principles, which could serve as a basis for the preparation of legally binding documents, it would not only play a crucial role in restarting the negotiations, but also serve to contain the risk of new clashes. Lavrov reaffirmed that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has no military solution.

During his visit, the Russian foreign minister also met with his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, who emphasized that calls and exhortations are not enough to make Azerbaijan sober up, and that concrete steps are needed to induce Azerbaijan to take a constructive position. The interlocutors stressed the importance of the agreements reached in 1994-1995, pertaining to the establishment of the ceasefire regime. The ministers also discussed cooperation between Armenia and Russia in the political, military-technical, economic, humanitarian and other spheres, as well as issues of cooperation under the framework of the UN, CSTO, EAEU, CIS, OSCE, CoE and other international organizations.

At a joint press conference, in response to a question on Turkeys reaction to the recent escalation, Lavrov declared that statements coming from Turkish authorities are absolutely unacceptable for a simple reason: they were an appeal for war, not peace, an appeal to resolve the conflict by the use of force  we are getting used to such quirks from the current Turkish leadership. On April 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had declared that Turkey will support Azerbaijan to the end. In his opening remarks at a meeting with the ambassadors of the OSCE participating states, Sargsyan said that Turkey is acting from a position of inciting a great war in the region and is explicitly encouraging the adventurist policy of the Azerbaijani leadership. Azerbaijan is bragging about its alleged victory and Turkey congratulates it on that occasion.

Before his visit to Yerevan, Lavrov had discussed the current situation around Nagorno-Karabakh in Baku on April 7. Simultaneously, late in the evening of April 7, Sargsyan received Russian Prime Minister Dmitri Medvedev. The Armenian president said that Armenia expects targeted statements and certain actions from the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and ally states. Sargsyan also declared that the refusal of some Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) partners to participate in the meeting of EEU Heads of Governments in Yerevan definitely tarnished the reputation of the organization.

Another frequently discussed topic during the weeks following the escalation of the conflict was the sale of Russian arms to Azerbaijan. Sargsyan voiced this concern during his meeting with Medvedev, arguing that the fact that the Azeris have used weapons that they have acquired recently from Russia with full force resonated strongly in Armenia. It is quite understandable since at the public level in Armenia, Russia is perceived as the closest ally and friend. These concerns were voiced also in Berlin during Sargsyans joint press conference on April 6 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Sargsyan stated that Russia is indeed our strategic partner and we are in the same security structure  CSTO, and it is naturally painful for us when Russia sells arms to Azerbaijan.

The issue of arms sales provoked even more concerns after Russias Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin declared that Russia will continue to supply Azerbaijan with arms according to the contracts. Against this backdrop, Armenias Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shavarsh Kocharyan, commented on Rogozins declaration that a similar style cannot be typical of a state official.

Image attribution: pbs.twimg.com, accessed on May 10, 2016
What has Gov. Abbott done about the six mass shootings on his watch?

Politics
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/KEN JOHNSON Luc Labelle, Nuka De Jocas-McCrae and Julien Granger paddle away from Stephen Ford's home on Friday in Padre Island on their way southward to Mexico.

SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/KEN JOHNSON Each of the 18-foot Epic Kayaks the Go Fetch team uses weighs about 80 pounds and are packed with another 80 pounds of supplies, enough for several days on the Intracoastal Waterway.

By David Sikes of the Caller-Times

Three Canadian adventure seekers left Padre Island in kayaks Friday morning to complete the next leg of the 6,000-mile Go Fetch Challenge Go Fetch Challenge.

The Go Fetch Challenge, which began as a joke, involves a nearly two-year planned odyssey involving Luc Labelle, Nuka De Jocas-McCrae and Julien Granger, who hope to paddle from Canada to Mexico, promoting international goodwill and encouraging students to dream big and go far.

The three friends, who met during high school in the island town of Ile Perrot, Quebec, said goodbye Friday to the soft mattresses and air-conditioned comfort of Stephen Ford's Padre Isles home. They paddled their way through the neighborhood's canals and continued southward along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

Ford wished them well from Arkansas, where he was visiting family.

"I was completely taken by their kindness, their sense of adventure, their storytelling and just their personalities," said Ford, who spent a few days with the group before leaving his house to them alone. "I just think these guys are wonderful ambassadors for the human race. I was delighted to meet them and happy to let them stay at my home."

Local kayaker Ken Johnson Ken Johnson arranged the Go Fetch trio's Corpus Christi accommodations, who the group contacted long before their arrival. Johnson reached out to Ford, who is part of the local kayak community, and Ford agreed to host the Go Fetch crew during their stay. He'd never met before he picked them up in Rockport and drove them and their kayaks to Padre Isles, where he got a earful of their enthusiasm.

"I've never seen a more joyful approach to life," Johnson said. "Whether it's facing obstacles and difficulties or enjoying a good meal and conversation with friends. And these guys truly enjoy each other's company. I was happy to help and be a part of what they're doing."

Johnson bid farewell to the group while paddling beside them Friday in his own kayak through the Padre Isles canals.

Ford, most likely, will not be the last resident along the Go Fetch route to offer hospitality and laundry facilities, Granger said. The trios' destination: Rio Lagartos in the Yucatan province of Mexico.

They have a ways to go, about 2,000 miles, actually. But Granger said their arms and attitudes are up for the challenge, which began in Montreal last year in May. They hope to reach their destination in October.

In addition to self-transformation, camaraderie and pure enjoyment, the group's purpose is to provide information to French students back home on the geographic, cultural and environmental features they encounter during their transnational travels. They do this through video modules, which are available to teachers. Students can track the path, while learning from the group's observations.

A variety of sources is funding the adventure, including Kickstarter, private donations and corporate sponsors, Granger said. The 18-foot ocean-style kayaks they use came from Epic Kayaks.

It would be difficult to estimate the cost of the venture, Granger said. They raised about $15,400 in cash, but with donated equipment the total is closer to $47,000, he said. What cannot be measured is the overwhelming level of hospitality received along the way, Granger said.

It's a good thing, he added, because staying at hotels is not an option on their budget. After about four or five nights of camping in tents, usually a local kayaker or fan invites them to stay at their home.

The trio refers to their quest as a registered non-lucrative organization, which means they relies heavily on donations and the kindness of well-wishers. Granger worked as Harley-Davidson mechanic. Lebelle was a student working at a nonprofit restaurant and De Jocas was employed as a French youth coordinator before taking their leave.

When this is over, Granger said, they hope to become professional adventurers and continue traveling as far and as long as possible.

Twitter: @DavidOutdoors
FARES SABAWI/CALLER-TIMES Cecilia Garcia Akers signed copies of her book that were for sale at a reception before the scholarship banquet.

SHARE FARES SABAWI/CALLER-TIMES Del Mar College Regents Elva Estrada (left), Trey McCampbell and Sandra Messbarger attended the American GI Forum Scholarship Awards Banquet. McCampbell, the chairman of the board of regents, was honored at the banquet for standing up for veterans.

By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times

Cecilia Garcia Akers said she's always humbled by receiving any award, but her most recent one is especially important to her. On Thursday, she was recognized by the organization founded by her father.

The Dr. Hector P. Garcia American GI Forum Founders Chapter and Dr. Clotilde P. Garcia Chapter recognized Akers and three other local leaders at the Fifth Annual Scholarship Awards at Holiday Inn Corpus Christi Airport. Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi President Flavius Killebrew, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi Capt. Steve Banta and Chairman of Del Mar College Board of Regents Trey McCampbell also were recognized for standing up for veterans at the banquet.

"It's an honor for me to be in with this group of people," Akers said. "Whatever I can do to help veterans is just following down the lines of what (Hector P. Garcia) did."

Local high school seniors, 15 in all, also were awarded $500 scholarships. Some of the recipients' awards will be matched by the college or university they attend.

Tuloso-Midway High School senior Cody Caudle said receiving the scholarship paid homage to his Hispanic heritage.

"Most of my family is Hispanic," Caudle said. "It's a big part of my life."

To receive the scholarship, Caudle had to submit an essay about the impact of Drs. Hector and Clotilde Garcia.

"I learned a lot," he said. "They did so much for this community."

Caudle plans to attend Del Mar College to pursue occupational safety and work in a local refinery.

Caller-Times Editorial Page Editor Emeritus Nick Jimenez delivered the keynote address at the dinner. Jimenez focused on the bond between veterans and why they have a responsibility to make their voices heard on foreign policy. Jimenez, a veteran of the Vietnam War, said too many representatives in Congress have no record of military service, making veterans' opinions on going to war especially valuable.

Twitter: @Caller_Fares

"Standing Up For Veterans" Honorees

Cecilia Garcia Akers, Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Foundation President

Capt. Steve Banta, Naval Air Station Corpus Christi

Flavius Killebrew, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi President

Trey McCampbell, Chairman of Del Mar College Board of Regents and Chief Administrative Officer of American Bank
SHARE Hernandez, 35, is charged with attempted capital murder of a peace officer.

By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

Lawyers arguing for and against a man accused of shooting at Corpus Christi police officers know the case comes down to a two-part question.

"Did (Josue Hernandez) know they were officers, and did he intend to shoot them?" Prosecutor Retha Cable said to jurors before they began deliberating.

Hernandez's family paced back and forth in the hallway while waiting for a verdict Thursday. They hugged. They read a Bible.

The jury's answer didn't come. They deliberated less than an hour before breaking for the day. Deliberations will continue Friday in 148th District Judge Guy Williams' court.

Hernandez, 35, is charged with attempted capital murder and three counts of aggravated assault of a police officer. To convict, the jury must believe Hernandez knew the people he was shooting toward were police officers on Feb. 15, 2015.

Hernandez testified Wednesday in his defense and said he didn't see the officers who went around his house toward his backyard on Dody Street. He also said he didn't hear Officer Allan Miller, a four-year veteran of the department, tell Hernandez to drop his weapon.

Defense lawyer Mark Gonzalez revealed in his closing arguments that he and lawyer Matt Manning told Hernandez they did not think he should take the witness stand and open himself up to prosecutors' questioning. Gonzalez said Hernandez's decision should tell the jury that he testified honestly.

Hernandez was shot but the Nueces County medical examiner testified it was unclear whether the bullet struck him from behind under his arm or the front of his chest. Also unclear is whether the officer or Hernandez shot first. Prosecutors said Hernandez shot four or five times at officers, and Hernandez said he shot in self-defense after he realized he had been hit. He then ran into the house and dialed 911 but never spoke to an operator. Cable suggested he made the call to cover up his crime and his handgun was found behind a washing machine.

If convicted, Hernandez can be sentenced to as long as life in prison. Hernandez previously rejected prosecutors' offer to plead guilty to the aggravated assault charges in exchange for five years in prison and drop the attempted capital murder charge.

No officers were injured in the shooting. Hernandez was hospitalized about two weeks before being booked into the Nueces County Jail, where he has remained.

The shooting started after Hernandez fired a gun up into the air after a dispute with a neighbor and residents on the street called police.

Twitter: @CallerKMT
SHARE

Janis Wood

Obama shouldn't visit Hiroshima

I see in the May 11 issue of the Caller-Times that U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama is planning a trip to visit Hiroshima. He will be the first sitting president since World War II to do so. This is unacceptable.

Japan started World War II by attacking the United States and slaughtering thousands at Pearl Harbor. I had two uncles (Louisiana farm boys) who were enlisted men in the Army and miraculously survived the Bataan Death March where, again, thousands were slaughtered. The brothers were separated; one was put aboard an unmarked ship headed to Japan and it was sunk by unknowing American planes. The other young man spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp. At over 6 feet tall, he weighed less than 100 pounds when he was rescued. Had the U.S. not bombed Hiroshima, in my opinion there is no doubt that not one U.S. prisoner in Japan would have survived.

There is a reason no presidents have visited Hiroshima.

In memory of the multitude of Americans who lost their lives fighting Japan in World War II.
Late April saw the launch of a national branding campaign for Liberty Insurance, featuring the tagline Embracing Simple Joys, fronted by national swimmer Quah Zheng Wen.

The campaign showcases Quah as he prepares for the Olympic Games taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, later this year.

The new messaging aims to demonstrate that the company is focused on helping customers remove the complexity and confusion that is usually associated with insurance, Teo said.

By making life simpler for customers, we want to enable more Singaporeans to spend quality time with their family and loved ones, and, in doing so, embrace the simple joys in life, he said.

The company reached out to the Olympic hopeful, as he is a great role model who can inspire younger generations of athletes to pursue their dreams.

He is also someone who truly embraces the simple joys in life, such as walking his dog or reading a book, when he is not busy training for competitions, said Teo.

The yearlong initiative will be featured on print, radio, out-of-home and various digital platforms. The brand recently appointed creative agency Blak Labs for the brand launch, and The Media Shop as its media agency.

Prior to the official launch, the company also launched an internal campaign to get staff and intermediaries excited.

For example, we set up a Joy Wall in the office to get people to post messages regarding their simple joys in life, said Two, adding that the initiative received really good engagement from staff.

Teo declined to share how much was spent on the branding campaign, or how much the company spends annually on its marketing initiatives.

Upping the table stakes

Liberty Insurance Singapore is a wholly owned strategic business unit of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, a Boston-headquartered company that recorded revenue of US$37.6 billion and consolidated net income of US$534 million in 2015.

Not many people are aware that Liberty Insurance is actually ranked higher than Nike or McDonalds on the Fortune 500 list, said Teo.

In Singapore, Liberty Insurance is considered the seventh largest general insurer, and the sixth largest motor insurer.

Globally, over 50,000 people work in Liberty across 19 countries. Within APAC, the company operates in China (including Hong Kong), India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The company is seeking to stand out in the marketplace by moving beyond traditional messages related to protection and peace of mind.

But these are table stakes that customers expect their providers to deliver in the first place, said Teo. What we want to achieve is to share not just a different message, but a meaningful one.

He added that the new tagline reflects the companys brand DNA, which is that everyone at Liberty is focused on keeping the entire insurance process simple for customers, so that they can focus on the little things in life that matter the most to them.

Teos job designation as the head of both marketing and analytics reflects the position of importance the sphere of analytics and business intelligence has internally, a resource that many organizations are hoping to better leverage internally.

He added that at Liberty, marketing strategy is closely tied to business strategy and it is not good enough to simply come up with a tagline that appeals to people.

More importantly we need to deliver on our brand promise, said Teo. This means that at Liberty, our processes and people must be geared up to always keep things simple for our customers, be it buying insurance or making a claim.

He pointed to the companys new motor claims solution, which has been designed to make it easy for customers to report an accident, repair their vehicle, and get access to a replacement car.

The marketing team works closely with the various business functions, such as underwriting, sales and claims, to drive the implementation of data-driven insights across its operations.

This gives me deeper insights into our overall business, which in turns influences our marketing strategy to ensure that we can tailor our messages to engage a specific audience, he added.

In addition, the team is constantly testing new and different ideas when it comes to marketing, and analytics aids in expediting successful campaigns.

Its an important enabler that helps us to measure how our campaigns are doing, and to identify the key drivers of a successful campaign, so that we have the ability to quickly scale things up, Teo added.

With the current branding campaign, he adds that a quick win would be for more people to see or hear about it, and respond positively to it.

For me, the real test lies in converting more people into our brand advocates - who will actively recommend their family and friends to buy from Liberty Insurance, said Teo.
The office will be run by Marc Wesseling and Jean-Francois Thery.

Wesseling, a Dutchman, co-founded USN in Tokyo with Michael Sheetal in 2007. He now serves as director alongside Tomokazu Murakami, who joined in 2008.

USN bills itself as a global creative sweatshop born and raised in Harajuku. It is a respected digital agency in Japan, where foreign and independent agencies face a notoriously stiff challenge from domestic giants.

Wesseling will split his time between Tokyo and Singapore.

Thery, a Singaporean, will serve as brand and strategy lead. He has a masters degree in digital media management from Hyper Island and has worked at agencies such as Cheil and BBH.

Wesseling said USN would seek to grow the team over the coming months with young up-and-coming creatives that want to push the creative boundaries. He said the agency aim to have a staff of four or five by the end of the year, but that it would also work with freelancers and promote an exchange of staff between Tokyo and Singapore to keep fresh.

He was unable to state which clients USN will initially work with in Singapore due to non-disclosure agreements. Wesseling said USN was working closely with a few partners on the first campaigns, which we will reveal in mid-June.

Clients in Tokyo include Heineken, Red Bull, Asics, Nike and Mini. Wesseling said opening an office in Southeast Asia was a logical step. He said the office would look to work with a combination of international and Japanese companies, but that Japanese companies would be a key focus. He said he saw huge potential to help Japanese brands expand their business in Asia.

Outlining USNs positioning in Singapore, Thery said he thought a lot of the creative work produced in Southeast Asia was still very traditional.

Technology is a white elephant in a lot of places, Thery said. Very few people have successfully merged technology and creativity.

Wesseling said the agency would be selective in the work it takes on, look to work with young companies and startups, and make a point of avoiding taking on work just to cover the overheads.

The reason Im in advertising is to make fun and beautiful communications, he said. A lot of agencies end up taking on mindless retainer work and before you know it, the life is sucked out of you. Were not going to be like a banner factory or production company. You dont go to McKinsey to make expense reports, for example.

He cited Party, which has offices in Tokyo and New York, as an agency he was jealous of for its high creative standards and having raised the bar in Japan.

USN has ambitions to open more offices around the world and Wesseling listed Jakarta, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and London as potential cities for further expansion.

This article first appeared on Campaign Japan
Nishitani joins the digital media agency from Apple, where he worked as general manager for iAd, a mobile advertising platform that the company launched in 2010.

Nishitani will report to Kyoko Matsushita, Essences Tokyo-based Asia-Pacific chief executive. Matsushita said the agency had been looking for a strong leader with local media knowledge.

Additionally, we wanted someone who could lead a team of experts to drive change within the regional media landscape, she said.

While at iAd, Nishitani developed marketing partnerships with global brands and agencies.

In January, Apple announced plans to phase out iAd in its current form and lay off 100 employees from the platforms sales division.

He has worked in marketing for 18 years, having started out at Dentsu. He went on to work at Walt Disney, Viacom and comScore.

Nishitani said Essence showed massive growth potential in Japan and across Asia-Pacific.

Japan is Essences most important market in Asia-Pacific in terms of revenue. According to Matsushita, Japan currently accounts for 65 percent of regional media spending for Essence. Clients include Google.

Speaking to Campaign earlier this year, Matsushita said marketers in Japan were rapidly becoming more data-driven and demanding greater transparency in terms of media spending and ROI.

Essence launched in Tokyo in 2014, having opened in Singapore a year earlier. It became part of GroupM following an acquisition last year.

This article originally appeared on Campaign Japan
Reporting to Teo, the newly appointed four agency brand heads are:

Sapna Nemani, CEO, Starcom (formerly chief strategy officer, Starcom Mediavest Group China)

Siew Ping Lim, CEO, Zenith and local business growth, Publicis Media (formerly CEO of ZenithOptimedia group)

Scarlett Shih, CEO, MediaVest Spark (formerly MD of Starcom Mediavest Beijing and Taiwan)

Sandy Lai, CEO, OptiMedia Blue 449 (formerly MD of Zenith Shanghai)

These leaders focus on client management, product excellence, brand differentiation and culture development and revenue generation.

Global practices

Also as part of the new global strategy , Publicis Media China has also named heads of nine business practices to be shared and centralised across the group. While most of these practices already existed, two new ones have been introduced: technology and operations, and innovation and partnerships.

The leads for the nine practices, who will report jointly to Teo and newly named Publicis Media COO, Mykim Chikli, are:

David Chen, managing director, data, technology and innovation

Silvia Goh, chief content officer, content

Dylan He, CEO, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX)

Mathias Chaillou, CEO, performance / chief integration officer, Publicis Media

Shann Biglione, chief strategy officer, business transformation

Chris Maier, managing director, analytics, research and insight

Krys Piotrowski, general manager, business development and communications

Vivian Zhu, chief digital & innovation officer, innovation and partnerships

Benny Lam, managing director, technology and operations Centralised operations

With the media agency brands newly centralised under Publicis Media, Teo has also appointed the group's leaders of talent and finance. These leads are:

Janice Foo, chief talent officer, Greater China (formerly chief talent officer of Asia-Pacific for ZenithOptimedia)

Virginia Ou, chief financial officer, China (formerly CFO of Starcom MediaVest Group China)

SengChyi Pang, chief commercial officer, Greater China / CFO, Taiwan (formerly CFO for ZenithOptimedia Greater China)

We firmly believe that this new structure will bring simplicity and better integration so that we can achieve more together, ultimately bringing benefit to all our clients," said Teo. Mykim and I have full confidence in this team.

When asked to comment about the gender-balance of her team, Teo said, "Weve put together the strongest team for the leadership of Publicis Media  and yes, it so happens there are more women than men. I believe this is a testament of how far we have come as an industry and for Publicis Media Greater China, we can proudly say that women are holding half the sky!

This article was updated on May 16 to include Teo's last comment
The new unit will operate within the Y&R office, under the J. Walter Thompson name, and be managed by Y&Rs managing director for Korea in partnership with J. Walter Thompsons Asia Pacific and Y&R Asia Pacifics chief executive officers, JWT said in a statement this morning.

It is understood that only the international business division of JWT is moving under Y&R.

The statement came in response to queries from Campaign Asia-Pacific around rumours that the network had shuttered its JWT Adventure Korea office and moved its business into Y&R Korea.

The news of Kims arrest broke in March over allegations that he had created slush funds. The funds were allegedly created by exaggerating the unit price in contracts with partners, and were worth more than US$826,000, according to reports by Korean media.

At the time of the arrest, J. Walter Thompson issued a statement saying that the company had on 23 February, accepted the resignation of the managing director of JWT Adventure [Junghwan Kim] in connection with an investigation by the prosecutors office.

The agency has since suspended a number of people, including the finance director, pending the outcome of the investigation.

We are cooperating fully with the Korean authorities on this matter, the agency said in March. We have also appointed external auditors and are undergoing a thorough internal investigation as well.

JWT said today that it is unable to comment further, because the investigation is ongoing and because it involves non-JWT individuals and other companies.

Korean media have also reported that Seo Hong-min, owner of private loan company Lead Corp, was arrested on 2 May. The firm was being investigated over allegations that Seo had pressured JWT, and another agency, Oricom (owned by Doosan), into giving him bribes of about US$1 million.

Oricom is also under investigation, though it is currently unclear which individuals at the company have been implicated.

The investigation started with tobacco and Ginseng company KT&G, and that company's president, Baek Bok-In, is still under investigation over allegations he received a bribe of US$50,000 from JWT. He was expected to be formally charged at the end of April, but there has been no news of this.
| BY Ricki Green |

Independent agency The Works has appointed integrated marketing expert Adam Donnelley as head of strategy, further expanding its award winning team as the Sydney agency continues to record new business growth.

A director on the board of the IAA, Donnelley joins The Works with a wealth of experience, having previously held the role of managing partner at DDB Australia across its Telstra business.

During his 16-year career, Donnelley has held senior roles at top tier agencies, notably his role as executive vice president with MRM Worldwide working on GM, Mastercard, Nikon, Chase Bank and Verizon. An integral part of the team, Donnelley successfully helped establish the 275+ strong Detroit office before returning to take on the role of EVP, strategy director for New York and Princeton.

The newly created role is part of The Works growing talent acquisition strategy with Donnelley joining Phil Watson in its recent senior hires.

Says Douglas Nicol (above, right), creative partner of The Works: Adam is a strategy specialist, his career experience has allowed him to develop skills across the full spectrum of marketing challenges we face as modern marketers.

As head of strategy Adams local and international experience will play a vital role to the position and offer invaluable insight to a breadth of clients at The Works, he is a brilliant addition to the team.
| BY Ricki Green |

The question we get asked the most often is, so if youre the London International Awards, why do you hold it in Las Vegas? says LIA event coordinator Laurissa Levy with a smile.

Its a bit of a head scratcher for many people, to be fair. In 2009, London International Awards founder Barbara Levy decided to ditch the virtual juries and headed to Sin City, landing on the opulent Wynn/Encore hotel. The plan was to bring the worlds top ad folk together to judge.

But why Las Vegas?

Well, the truth is, youll have to ask Innoceans global CCO, Jeremy Craigen. In 2008, he met Barbara in Singapore while judging the World Press Awards, which Barbara started with Neil French.

At dinner, Craigen was having a conversation with French about the numerous award shows hed been asked to judge. Hed turned down numerous shows, one of which was LIA, summed up in one word from Craigen as shit. At that point, French said to Craigen, Why dont you just tell that to Barbara directly? Shes sitting across from you. And of course, Craigen did just that.

Says Craigen: I did say that I had had a few Singapore slings by that point.

Barbara adds that the group then moved over to the lounge bar at Raffles Hotel, where she and Jeremy sat down on a couch to start what has become a long-time relationship. With his head in her lap, Craigen once again told Barbara how he felt about LIA, describing it with an equally flattering crappy.

Unperturbed, Barbara told him it was her ambition to elevate LIA to a top-tier show and that she had her eye on Jeremy as the first jury president for the two separate competitions of Print and Outdoor, the latter of which has since morphed into Non-Traditional.

Craigen agreed. On one condition. I was like, I know Ill do it if you hold it in Vegas.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Barbara flew straight to Nevada with the LIA team.

Says Barbara: We literally went from hotel to hotel, and we ended up at the Wynn, as it was the only hotel with outside convention space. I got on the phone and I called Jeremy and said, mark these dates in your calendar. He said, I told you already, Im not judging your stupid show. No, I told him, you said you would judge in Las Vegas.'

Says Craigen: She is amazing. She phoned me up a week later  shed flown out to Las Vegas and been to the Wynn. She said, Ive booked it, are you coming? And I had to stay true to my word! No other show would do that.

Barbara adds that LIA was planning on going to Vegas for one year and then returning back to its old format. However, Jeremy and the inaugural Las Vegas Jury Panel were so impressed with the Vegas setup that they demanded we stay.

In 2012, LIA scrapped its London awards show in favour of a new educational initiative. Each year, networks are invited to send their rising stars to the Creative LIAisons event, which runs concurrently with the judging. Young creatives attend talks and workshops from global CCOs and influencers, and even get to witness the jury deliberations, observing the experts as they dissect the work. Its an unrivalled experience that is all paid for by LIA. (The condition is that they must attend every session or pay back the full fee.)

With an irresistible location and commitment to nurturing young talent, LIA now boasts some of the finest judges in the world and a growing army of staunch supporters.

Says Craigen: How amazing is that? They realised that they did a couple of shows in London that werent, to be honest, great. They said, why are we doing the show? Lets take that money and fly over 80 young creatives from around the world and let them sit in on conversations. We then all had the idea to let them sit in on the jury discussions at the end, which they all think is the best thing. And it is. Because you realise that were not just advertising people who just want to have a laugh. We are absolutely torturing each piece of work.

So, thats how a spontaneous quip changed the landscape of LIA  and radically overhauled the brand. And that sense of spontaneity seeps into everything the privately owned business does. Not beholden to a Board, theyre able to quickly adapt and act on suggestions of world-leading creatives like Jeremy, Mark Tutssel, Khai Tham Meng, Amir Kassaei, Rob Reilly and many more. Time and time again, adds Barbara, jurors and entrants comment on how the show is professional, but that everyone feels like part of a family.

In 2011, Morgan Spurlock entered his film Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Says Barbara: The jury didnt know what to do with it. Chloe Gottlieb of R/GA, who was on The NEW jury, said, Wed like to give a special award for this, so can you ask your Board?'

Barbara walked outside, returned in less than ten seconds, and said, The Board has given their approval. And so the film was given a special White statue in recognition of its unique and profound analysis of the ad industry and product placement.

Over the past four years, LIA has transformed into a highly influential event and has boosted the careers of many young talents  several of the past attendees of Creative LIAisons have risen through the ranks so quickly that they are now on the LIA Juries. A few of them actually attributed their success to what they took away from the Creative LIAisons program.

A lot has changed. But some things, says Barbara, havent. Oh and by the way, we never got rid of Jeremy.

This article first appeared on Little Black Book.
| BY Ricki Green |

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced that visionary leader of ethical brand TOMS, Blake Mycoskie (left), will be honoured with the Cannes LionHeart Award at this years Festival.

Says Terry Savage, chairman of Lions Festivals: Blakes unstoppable passion and commitment has driven him to create a brand model that has made a positive impact on millions of peoples lives across the world. His vision to develop a new kind of conscious consumerism has transformed into a global movement. Blakes ongoing achievements truly encapsulate the spirit of the Cannes LionHeart.

Introduced in 2014, the Cannes LionHeart is an honorary award, presented to an individual who has innovatively harnessed commercial brand power to make a significant and positive difference to people or the planet.

Says Mycoskie: It is incredibly special to receive the Cannes LionHeart award. Im humbled and honoured that the TOMS movement has influenced so many and continues to inspire others to make a difference. Since TOMS began, we have given over 60 million pairs of shoes all over the world. This award not only belongs to me, but to all the many brilliant people working at the intersection of purpose and profit and to everyone that has helped share our mission along the way.

Mycoskie launched TOMS 10 years ago, as a non-for-profit, sustainable business that has provided new shoes to millions of disadvantaged children worldwide. In 2011, he started TOMS Eyewear and has helped to restore sight for over 325,000 people in need, through every pair of sunglasses sold. Mycoskie is the catalyst behind the One for One business model, which has inspired other global entrepreneurs to launch socially minded companies.

Mycoskie was recently asked to join Richard Bransons B Team, a group of business leaders embracing sustainable business practices and is also the author of best-selling book Start Something That Matters.

Mycoskie will be presented with the LionHeart at the Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony on Saturday 25 June 2016.
Hoisin sauce adds tangy sweetness to grilled pork tenderloin. Cut down on kitchen time by cooking the noodles on the side burner of the barbecue, if your model has one. Add the noodles to the dressing just before serving, otherwise they will soak up too much of the sauce.

Ingredients Pork: 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon Asian chili sauce such as sriracha

1 pork tenderloin 450 g, trimmed Sesame Soba Noodles: 2 heads bok choy about 250 g total

4 teaspoons vegetable oil

225 g soba noodles

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sesame seeds toasted

2 teaspoons sodium-reduced soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

4 green onions sliced

1 cup matchstick-cut carrots Nutritional facts per serving: about Fibre 4 g

Sodium 402 mg

Sugars 4 g

Protein 37 g

Calories 437.0

Total fat 12 g

Potassium 821 mg

Cholesterol 61 mg

Saturated fat 2 g

Total carbohydrate 49 g %RDI Iron 24.0

Folate 27.0

Calcium 9.0

Vitamin A 74.0

Vitamin C 35.0

Method Pork: In small bowl, whisk together hoisin sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and chili sauce. Set aside.



Place pork on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and grill, turning once, until juices run clear when pork is pierced and just a hint of pink remains inside, 16 to 20 minutes. Transfer to cutting board; cover loosely with foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Brush pork with hoisin mixture and slice crosswise.



Sesame Soba Noodles: While pork is cooking, halve bok choy lengthwise and core; brush all over with 1 tsp of the vegetable oil. Place on greased grill over medium-high heat; close lid and grill, turning once, until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. Remove to cutting board and let cool slightly; thinly slice crosswise.



In saucepan of boiling water, cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and rinse under cold water; drain well.



In large bowl, whisk together vinegar, sesame seeds, soy sauce, sesame oil, mustard and remaining vegetable oil. Add noodles, bok choy, three-quarters of the green onions and the carrots; toss to coat. Top with pork and remaining green onions.



Tip from The Test Kitchen: Look for bags of precut matchstick or shredded carrots in the produce section of your grocery store (alongside bagged salads).
He had also served the community significantly in other ways. He was with the State Emergency Service during its response to the Thredbo landslide, and has spent 11 years in the Rural Fire Service.
"In a town like Canberra, with its government-centred workforce and with the local media being what they are, it's never easy for the Liberals to win government. It takes a perfect storm, with everything going right for us - and a few things going wrong for Labor, federally as well as locally. We're not there yet, but I believe we're well on track," she wrote.
A government alcohol white paper released in April set out three options for a bar's last drinks: service ends at 3am with current fees; or a 300 per cent increase in fees to get a 4am licence; or a fee increase of up to 500 per cent to stay open till 5am, which is the current closing time.
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Phone: <Your business phone number>

Fax: <Your business fax number>

Email: <Your business e-mail address>

Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM

<Your Business Headline>

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<Your list of brands>

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Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned []
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.
Following the refresh of the European-spec model (the Prius+) earlier this year, Toyota has applied a similar makeover to the Prius v sold in the United States.



Debuting at the LA Auto Show, the model features a new front styling and new taillights, as well as new colors including Attitude Black Metallic, Absolutely Red and tasty Toasted Walnut Pearl. The car features a new front bumper and grille, available integrated fog lights and available LED low- and high-beam headlights.

Inside, the 2015 Toyota Prius v gains improved equipment including a new Entune Audio system, newly available 8-way power drivers seat and a 4.2-inch TFT screen (standard on Prius v Three and higher). Additionally, the available Advanced Technology Package has been upgraded for 2015 model year and now includes the Automatic High Beams and Lane Departure Alert functions.

Nothing changes mechanically, with the Prius v using the same Hybrid Synergy Drive system as the standard Prius, which consists of a 1.8-liter Atkinson-cycle 4-cylinder engine, an electric motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery pack. With a combined output of 134 horsepower, the Prius v delivers EPA-estimated 44 mpg (5.3 l/100 km) city / 40 mpg (5.9 l/100 km) highway ratings and can run on the gasoline engine alone, battery alone, or a combination of both.

The 2015 Toyota Prius v will arrive in U.S. dealerships in December with a base MSRP of $26,675 for the Prius v Two. The Prius v Five will cost $30,935 (all pricing excludes a $825 delivery, processing, and handling fee).

PHOTOS
Springtime brings Europes most exclusive concours event, the Concorso dEleganza Villa dEste in Italy, where BMW will be presenting an as of yet, unidentified number of new concept vehicles.



As the shows main sponsor and co-organizer since 2005, the BMW Group has premiered a flurry of concept cars and motorcycles over the past decade, most of which were modern interpretations of the brands golden classics, but at this years event, it has a special reason to be even more active as the Bavarian company is celebrating its landmark centenary.

Munich wont tell us yet what theyre planning to present for their 100th birthday on the shores of Lake Como from May 20 to 22, 2016, but we suspect that at least one of them will be a nod to the brands past.

If you could choose one of their classic models to be recreated as a retro-futuristic concept, which one would it be? Our votes would go to any of their shark-faced sedans, the E31 8-Series, E24 6-Series or the 2002 Coupe; how about yours?

While you think about it for a moment, well tell you that the BMW Group will host a special exhibition at the show named Hommage and Concept Vehicles where it will present earlier Hommage Concepts from the BMW, MINI and BMW Motorrad brands side by side with their historic counterparts.

Note  all concepts pictured here are from previous events

Photo Gallery
Nowadays, there are more public drag racing events than you can count, but street racing remains the most adrenaline pumping and dangerous activity, not to mention illegal, for diehard modders and tuners.



All they need is a stretch of open road with no-one in sight, a watchful eye, and outrageously modified automobiles.

This particular gathering  which could put an official NHRA event to shame  seems to have all the right ingredients, including the bonkers cars. Held on the streets of Missouri, the occurrence assembled the biggest names in the industry, including Skinnies TT Fox 1200 HP twin turbo Fox Body 408 cui (6686 cc) LS-Swap Fox Body Mustang, and the 88m twin turbo big-block, 1100 HP FR8Train Firebird that appeared on the TV program Street Outlaws.

As the video description goes, a lot of big horsepower figures were being laid down on the asphalt, transforming it into an insane playground.

So, if you want to see a variety of supercharged and turbocharged vehicles making noise and going from 0 to 60mph in no time, well shut up now and let you watch the video.

VIDEO
Footage from a high-speed chase spanning from Massachusetts to New Hampshire shows at least two officers repeatedly and violently punching the driver, even though he appeared to surrender by dropping to all fours.



The incident occurred on Wednesday when Richard Simone, 50, of Worcester, Massachusetts, led police to a one-hour long chase from Holden, Massachusetts to a dead end street in Nashua, New Hampshire, where spike stripes put an end to his run.

In the aerial video shot by news helicopters, Simone is seen exiting his pickup truck, kneeling down and placing his hands on his head, before at least two officers started punching him. The other officers, who appear to be from different agencies, then quickly moved on to him.

Witnesses collaborated what was seen in the video. He wasnt putting up a fight. He got out and they were attacking him and I dont know what he did. Obviously they werent happy, but, I mean, he wasnt fighting them, so it was a little bit much I think, witness Melissa Oquendo told WBZ-TV.

According to Massachusetts State Police, the driver was wanted on charges for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny, and failure to stop for police.

Authorities on Thursday announced that one New Hampshire state trooper and one Massachusetts state trooper were removed from active duty pending an investigation, without releasing their names.

A spokesman for the N.H. State Police told ABC News that the officer in question has been relieved without pay, in response to the incident. The New Hampshire State Police does not condone the unauthorized use of force, he said, adding that the public trust must never be compromised.

Massachusetts State Police issued a similar statement saying the actions taken by a trooper from our department and other officers involved in yesterdays apprehension of suspect Richard Simone in Nashua, N.H. - as those actions appear in news footage of the arrest - are, upon initial review, disturbing.

Joseph Foster, the New Hampshire attorney general, said Thursday that his office has commenced a criminal investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding Wednesdays incident to determine if the force utilized by any of the police officers violated any provisions of the criminal code. Foster added that Colonel Robert Quinn of the New Hampshire State Police, Colonel Richard McKeon of the Massachusetts State Police and Chief Andrew Lavoie of the Nashua Police Department have assured their agencies fullest cooperation with the investigation.

Video
Photo: Thinkstock.com

Government of Canada Launches Canada Post Review

During the election, the Government of Canada promised Canadians they would receive quality service from Canada Post at a reasonable price. On May 5th, the government launched its independent review of Canada Post.

Some of you have contacted me on this issue already but public input is being sought throughout the Review through a variety of channels including email, mail and social media. To learn more and take part, please visit www.Canada.ca/canadapostreview .

Helping Fort McMurray

Over 80,000 residents have been evacuated in the largest fire evacuation in Albertas history.

The Government Operations Centre (GOC), based out of Public Safety Canada, and our Canadian Forces stand ready to offer assistance. Four CH-146 Griffon helicopters, one CC-130J Hercules, and a CH-147F Chinook helicopter are currently supporting relief efforts in the province.

Additionally, the Government of Canada will match individual charitable donations to the Canadian Red Cross in support of disaster relief efforts in the affected communities (through the Disaster Financial Assistance Agreement). If you wish to donate, please go to www.redcross.ca .

Medical Assistance in Dying Legislation

Bill C-14, the Medical Assistance in Dying bill has generated a great deal of interest. Thank you to all constituents who have written to me on this issue and to those who attended the small rally in front of my constituency office.

This is a deeply personal issue for all of us and it is important to understand how the government came to draft the legislation in response to the Supreme Courts decision.

I encourage constituents to learn more about the legislation by going to the following link at the Department of Justice website: http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/cj-jp/ad-am/index.html?WT.mc_id=AD_NR .

As the Prime Minister noted, this bill is a responsible first step. Please be assured that as the bill makes its way through Parliament, the government remains committed to listening to what you have to say and passing legislation that carefully balances the rights of those seeking assistance for medical assistance in dying, while ensuring protection of the most vulnerable.

Canada Summer Jobs

The Canada Summer Jobs program is bringing a record number of jobs to Kelowna-Lake Country this summer. In partnership with local organizations, non-profits and small business, our government has doubled the jobs and financial commitment to the program this year.

With federal funding in the amount of $620,194, we have created 206 jobs for youth in our riding.

Summer employment is a valuable way to provide young people with the experience and skills development that will prepare them for a career following life after school. Thank you to all our local employers who support our students.

Foreign Affairs Resolves Congolese Adoption Cases

Since last year, our office has been working with the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to help a local family bring their daughter home from the Congo. Im pleased to report that the long wait is over.

In a statement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Stephane Dion, acknowledged the resiliency and conviction of the 29 Canadian families who experienced a number of difficulties in finalizing the adoptions and bringing their children home. This success story is an example of what can be accomplished when citizens, government officials, and MPs and Senators from all sides of the aisle work together to help Canadians resolve challenging global issues.

New Liberal Pacific Caucus Established

Liberal members from BC have established a new Pacific Caucus, which will give the pacific region a greater voice in national caucus.

Prior to the formation of Pacific Caucus, BC members were part of regional groups that included northern and western Canada.

Now my colleagues and I from British Columbia can present issues specific to British Columbia directly to national caucus to ensure they get the attention they deserve.

Stephen Fuhr is the Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country. Constituents can reach him through the constituency office at [email protected] or by calling 250 470-5075.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: Contributed

The wheels of justice grind slowly, according to the saying, but six law students at Thompson Rivers University believe they have a solution to save time and money when it comes to appearing in court.

The group will present its high-tech concept to the local Kamloops bar association on Thursday at noon.

The students have come up with an app called SUMMONS that provides a platform (on mobile or desktop) that acts as a point of contact between court registries, the public and lawyers.

They are seeking feedback and comments on the app that the group believes would increase access to justice right across the country.

The app provides users live updates of daily court schedules, notifying them of a scheduled time to appear thereby reducing cumbersome wait times.

The concept specifically addresses the often lengthy wait times ... between the beginning and end of an action, during which parties and/or their legal representatives may have to appear in court several times. Currently, there is no formalized way to know of the time when they will be heard and some may not even be heard on the scheduled day, according to a university press release.

This costs clients an exorbitant amount of money since there is no way of controlling how much time the lawyer (or law student) will spend handling the matter.

The idea for the app developed as a project in the university's Lawyering in the 21st century course.
Photo: PNE.ca

The famed PNE Prize Home, which was unveiled in Vancouver Wednesday, was built and transported by an Okanagan company this year.

Freeport Industries has been building homes since 2004, and now employs 50 people at its West Kelowna location.

The company was awarded the contract in the fall and began construction on the 3,200-square-foot, three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in West Kelowna the week of Christmas.

After completing the six separate sections of the house, Freeport transported the home to Vancouver, where it was set up and finishing touches were put on.

We were finished in Vancouver on March 31, Chris Inkster, vice-president of Freeport Industries. Theres a lot of site work in order to finish it.

The house now sits on the PNE grounds, where it can be toured by curious Exhibition-goers who are interested to see what a $1.4-million home looks like.

On Oct. 31, Freeport will split the home back into its six parts and bring it to Naramata  its final resting place  for the lucky winner.

Raffle tickets for the home will be sold throughout the summer, with a deadline of Sept. 5. The draw for the home is on Sept. 12.

The PNE is non-profit registered charitable organization and the revenue raised by the Prize Home Lottery supports agriculture, community and arts programs.

Were super proud to be a part of it, Inkster said.

Tickets for the raffle are $25 for five, or $50 for 15 and can be ordered here.
Photo: File photo

Police in Kamloops are warning parents about a bear snooping around Summit Elementary School Friday morning.

The RCMP received a report of the black bear moseying around the schoolyard at 425 Monarch Court at 8:15 a.m.

The curious creature did not appear aggressive, but the RCMP are warning parents regardless.

RCMP and conservation officers remain at the school, but the whereabouts of the bear is currently unknown.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Thousands of people were evacuated from homes and businesses in the English city of Bath after a 500-pound unexploded Second World War shell was found under a school playground.

Police advised residents to leave more than 1,000 properties in a 300-metre zone around the device, found during construction work on a disused playground at the Royal High School Bath on Thursday. Some spent the night at a local racecourse.

Chief Inspector Kevin Thatcher of Avon and Somerset Police said Friday that army explosives experts were working to make the shell safe.

The bomb squad was building a barrier around the device with sand before moving it outside the city where it can be exploded safely.

Police said some residents might not be able to return until Saturday.

Britain was heavily bombed by Germany's Luftwaffe during the war, and undetonated explosives are sometimes found during construction work.

Bath, a city of elegant Georgian buildings 177 kilometres west of London, was targeted in the "Bath Blitz" over several days in April 1942. Some 400 people were killed and 19,000 buildings damaged.
Photo: CTV

The City of Vancouver is using a new tool to protect some of its oldest properties.

A heritage inspection has been ordered for a 94-year-old Tudor-style home on the city's west side.

It's the first such order by the director of planning, who is using new powers approved by councillors last fall to protect heritage and character properties.

The house built in 1922 by the same architects who designed city hall was originally constructed as a show home that was "wired for electricity."

The property in the tony Shaughnessy area was listed for $7.4 million but was taken off the market, and Mayor Gregor Robertson says the city intervened when a demolition permit was requested.

The home cannot be altered, moved or damaged while under the 30-day heritage inspection order.

"Granting temporary heritage protection to this property is an important first step that gives the city time to properly assess its heritage value and character, and I look forward to staff reporting back later this month on next steps," Robertson says.

"We heard very clearly from the public their concerns regarding the potential loss of the historic (house)," he says in a news release.

The property is not listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register, but is one of the sites nominated as part of the register's upgrade currently underway.

The city says consultants and staff are reviewing options to encourage the retention of heritage and character homes and will begin public consultation starting in June and continuing through the fall.
CDC adds Grenada to interim travel guidance related to Zika virus

Media Statement For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 12, 2016

Contact: Media Relations,

(404) 639-3286

CDC is working with other public health officials to monitor for ongoing Zika virus transmission. Today, CDC posted a Zika virus travel notice for Grenada. CDC has issued travel notices (level 2, practice enhanced precautions) for people traveling to destinations with Zika. For a full list of affected countries/regions, visit http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information.

As more information becomes available, CDCs travel notices will be updated. Travelers to areas with cases of Zika virus infection are at risk of being infected with the Zika virus. Mosquitoes that spread Zika are aggressive daytime biters. They also bite at night. There is no vaccine or medicine for Zika virus. The best way to avoid Zika virus infection is to prevent mosquito bites.

Some travelers to areas with Zika will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home and they might not have any symptoms. To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to prevent mosquito bites.

Some people who are infected do not have any symptoms. People who do have symptoms have reported fever, rash, joint pain, and red eyes. The sickness is usually mild with symptoms that last from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon and the number of deaths is low. Travelers to areas with Zika should monitor for symptoms or sickness upon return. If they become sick, they should tell their healthcare professional when and where they have traveled.

CDC has received reports of Zika virus being spread by sexual contact with sick returning travelers. Until more is known, CDC continues to recommend that pregnant women and women trying to become pregnant take the following precautions.

Pregnant women

Should not travel to any area with Zika.

If you must travel to or live in one of these areas, talk to your healthcare provider first and strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

If you have a male partner who lives in or has traveled to an area with Zika, either use condoms, the right way, every time you have sex or do not have sex during your pregnancy.

Women trying to get pregnant

Before you or your male partner travel, talk to your healthcare provider about your plans to become pregnant and the risk of Zika virus infection.

You and your male partner should strictly follow steps to prevent mosquito bites.

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections. CDC is working with Brazil to study the possibility of a link between Zika and GBS. For more information on Zika, visit www.cdc.gov/zika.

###

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICESexternal icon

CDC works 24/7 protecting Americas health, safety and security. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, stem from human error or deliberate attack, CDC is committed to respond to Americas most pressing health challenges.
Tunisia: petcoke shortage risks near-doubling cement price

ICR Newsroom By 13 May 2016

Tunisias Industry Ministry is looking into to alternatives to alleviate the petcoke shortage in the country. Importing petcoke is proving to be difficult as El Fouledh port, temporarily tasked with importing the fuel, is not able to receive the ships and volumes required for the cement industry. At present, works at the port of Ciment de Bizerte prevent petcoke imports at that location.



The petcoke shortage risks the closure of several cement plants in Tunisia unless they can successfully switch to natural gas. However, it is expected this would lead to a rise in cement prices from TND7.50 (US$3.67)/bag to TND13/bag.

Published under
India: Adilabad cement plant could reopen

13 May 2016

A closed cement factory at Adilabad will be the discussion of a possible reopening as Union Heavy Industry Minister Anant Geete is set to hold a meeting with officials of the Telangana government and the Cement Corporation of India (CCI).



The meeting is expected be held in June at Hyderabad or New Delhi as per the assurance given by the Minister on Thursday to a team comprising the Telangana State Forest and Housing Ministers, Jogu Ramanna and A Indrakaran Reddy, Adilabad MP G Nagesh, and TRS Adilabad West District Unit President, Loka Bhuma Reddy.



The Telangana ministers met Mr Geete for the second time within a span of few months seeking revival of the closed CCI unit at Adilabad. The latter, they told media persons, responded positively and said that he would weigh various options for reopening the factory during the Hyderabad meeting.



According to Mr Bhuma Reddy, the Union Minister will consider the options of privatising the factory or handing it over to the state government for reviving it. He expressed interest in reopening the factory when he was told that the unit had its own land and the limestone reserves would last 100 years.







Published under
Zimbabwe: firms face closure

ICR Newsroom By 13 May 2016

Due to an influx of cheap imported products in Zimbabwe, local cement producers have warned of a possible scaling down of operations and closures, saying protectionist measures are needed to save the industry.

In a recent position paper presented to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce by the Cement and Concrete Institute of Zimbabwe, local cement manufacturers have called for the government to ban imported cement, among other interventions, saying the market is oversupplied. Some measures suggested in the paper include: a protection tariff to equate the landed price of imported cement to the cost of local manufactures (US$50/t cement), granting of import licences to local producers and lowering duty on raw materials.

The granting of import permits comes at a time where the region is in oversupply of cement. A surplus of 8Mta against an installed capacity of 24.8Mta has resulted in some countries, such as South Africa and Zambia, exporting to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwes main producers  Lafarge, PPC and Sino Cement  currently have an installed capacity of 1.85Mta against a demand of 1.17Mt in 2016. Official figures show that all three players invested nearly US$185m in the last five years in kiln upgrades, packing, grinding and other cement processes to improve efficiency to the existing equipment and reduce the cost of manufacturing.

Local cement producers fear the influx of cheap imports into the market could affect their plans to recoup their investments. The paper states that, The local industry cannot compete with imports leading to potential closure of business. Local prices and sales have been negatively impacted by the cheap imported cement leading to operating losses for local industry.

Industry and Commerce Minister, Mike Bimha, said government had removed cement from the general import licence to protect domestic industry.

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Lyft has boosted its proposed settlement payment to drivers in a lawsuit over worker classification. (Lyft)

San Francisco  Lyft Inc. offered Wednesday to pay $27 million -- more than double what the company had originally proposed  to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by California drivers who wanted to be classified as employees.

The San Francisco ride-hailing firm initially offered to pay $12.25 million in January to settle the lawsuit, which was filed in 2013 by drivers who said Lyft wrongly treated them as independent contractors.

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U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria rejected the settlement agreement in April, saying it did "not fall within the range of reasonableness," and that drivers were being shortchanged.

Plaintiff attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan said in a prepared statement that the new agreement will provide "significant payments to Lyft drivers who have put a lot of their time into this company." Drivers who have worked more than six months could receive more than $6,000, on average, she said.

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A settlement would affect an estimated 100,000 Lyft drivers in California.

As part of the proposed settlement, Lyft would change its terms of service so there is more transparency around driver termination.

The revised settlement agreement still needs to be approved by Chhabria.

Lyft competitor Uber recently agreed to settle a similar class-action lawsuit. The ride-hailing giant offered to pay up to $100 million to settle the case. That settlement also awaits court approval.

tracey.lien@latimes.com

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Shoppers descend on the escalator at the Walgreens at State and Randolph streets on July 20, 2015. As part of a transition to Advocate Health Care, 56 of Walgreens' in-store health clinics in the Chicago area will close May 15, 2016, for three days. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune)

In a transition to new ownership, 56 of Walgreens' in-store health clinics in the Chicago area will close Sunday for three days.

Downers Grove-based Advocate Health Care, the largest hospital chain in Illinois, acquired the clinics in its first foray into the growing trend of retail health care. Advocate will hold grand opening events Wednesday at select Walgreens locations.

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Retail clinics are seen as a convenient and cost-saving alternative to physician offices and hospital emergency rooms for minor illnesses. Customers can walk in without an appointment, and care is usually provided by nurse practitioners rather than by doctors.

Grocery stores and retailers such as Walmart have long had pharmacies, so the move to provide some limited health care was a no-brainer. There are now nearly 2,000 retail clinics across the country, and they receive more than 6 million patient visits a year, according to a recent study by the RAND Corp.

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Clinics are a small part of Walgreens, and the drugstore chain has begun selling them to streamline operations. The Deerfield-based company has about 8,100 stores across the country but only about 400 of them have walk-in clinics.

Several hospitals and large health systems have recognized the retail trend and opened their own walk-in clinics, known as "urgent" or "immediate" care centers, as a way to compete and provide more convenience to their patients.

The walk-in clinics also offer patients more transparency about prices. Hospitals and physician offices rarely post the prices they charge for a visit. Consumers with insurance typically pay a copay for an ER visit or doctor's appointment.

Advocate's clinics inside Walgreens will charge a flat fee for services of $89 for patients who pay out of pocket, said spokeswoman Lisa Lesniak. The clinics will accept the same insurance plans Advocate accepts, she said.

Advocate plans to expand care inside Walgreens to children as young as 6 months old by January. The clinics will be integrated with the health system's electronic medical records and billing systems.

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Most drivers are confused by new car technology, including senior drivers, who stand to benefit the most from advanced safety features. (Jessica Lynn Culver / Getty Images/Flickr Open)

Before settling on a new 2014 Ford Edge SE, Cynthia Manson resisted sales pressure to move up to a trim level that had, along with a bigger price tag, more onboard technology and available options.

The lower-grade SE had suited her fine. Although the newly retired Manson could've afforded a more loaded vehicle, all she required was a CD player for road-trip music and her beloved audio books, plus a navigation system. And, remote start would come in handy on chilly Park Forest mornings. At her age, she said, simplicity is best.

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"I think when you have too much stuff, like automatic braking and lane departure warning and all that, you begin to rely on it too much, and you lose your focus," said Manson, 70, a former bus driver for the Chicago Transit Authority.

It's hard to avoid too much technology. New vehicles feature an ever-growing array of gizmos, a lot of which are standard.

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"The velocity of technological change is only going to continue and will accelerate," said Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The proliferation of technology is confusing to anyone, not just seniors, which is why the National Safety Council recently launched the "My Car Does What?" website, which simplifies advanced safety features into an interactive guide. But seniors might stand to benefit the most from using such technology.

Organizations such as AAA and AARP offer ways to help older drivers understand technology related to safety, ergonomics and comfort.

For example, AAA has a list of recommendations including: active safety systems, which use cameras and sensors to alert drivers of looming danger; 360-degree camera systems, which are particularly good for parking; adaptive headlights, which swivel in the direction the steering wheel is turned; automatic crash notifications; automatic high beams; blind-spot warning; drowsy-driver alert systems; keyless entry; adjustable steering wheels and pedals; power seats; and motorized trunk lids.

While such technology often is considered a convenience by younger drivers, it can help senior drivers remain safe and comfortable. According to AAA, nearly 90 percent of motorists 65 and older have health issues that may affect driver safety. The number of licensed drivers ages 65 to 69 rose more than 15 percent from 1983 to 2014; for the 70-and-older set, it rose 43.6 percent, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

The Institute for Highway Safety projects that by 2030, the number of drivers who are at least 70 will climb from 30.1 million to 53.7 million.

Car manufacturers are keenly aware of this burgeoning demographic. General Motors, for example, recruits individuals 60 and older to test its infotainment systems. Across town, Ford Motor uses a so-called "Third Age" suit to help engineers and designers understand how physical limitations can affect driving. The Collaborative Safety Research Center at the Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., meanwhile, has a variety of projects related to older drivers, partnering with universities and other institutions.

It's difficult to measure how much demand is driving the onslaught of available technology, experts said. The list of top-selling models last year among drivers 65 and older by percentage share of registrations, without regard to trim levels, included the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac XTS, Lincoln MKS, Lexus LS and Lincoln MKT, respectively, according to Edmunds.com.

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"There's no safety feature specific for older drivers, but there's no demographic that that doesn't help," said Carroll Lachnit, a consumer advice editor for Edmunds.com. "You may be a 45-year-old with early onset arthritis. So if you have trouble turning your head, blind-spot warning is helpful. So it's almost as though, what's the issue for the individual driver?"

But too much technology can overwhelm drivers.

That's partly why manufacturers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz now have teams who can explain to car buyers how to use new-car features.

For her part, for instance, a frustrated Manson returned to her dealer after failing to figure out her vehicle's Bluetooth system. "I finally went and told the guy, show me how to use this, and he did. It was important for me to learn because I wanted to be able to be hands-free."

Coughlin warned against generalizations about older drivers, saying studies show a wide range of ability within that group. "Younger drivers who rely only on instruments are problematic too," he said. "I've found that people who have driven for a while have learned how to drive and learned how to drive well."

He said future vehicles are expected to feature an ageless, more personalized interface. For example, instead of audible warnings, drivers with impaired hearing may choose color signals or vibration instead. "Apple's iPad is a very sophisticated piece of technology, but profoundly ageless as well," he explained. "The future will deliver an experience that's about you."

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Chuck Gulash, director of Toyota's safety research center, said the next five years will include focus on advanced study that supports a safe transition to automation. "It's about how we're going to be able to manage this variety of technologies and understand what the car can do, how that affects the human experience, and vice versa," he said.

Until then, car shoppers should try to keep a vehicle for a week or two, then return for a comprehensive walk-through, according to Lachnit from Edmunds.com. "People only buy cars about every six years, and a lot can change in that time," she said. "So maybe 9:30 on a Saturday night is not the best time to buy a car."

That's exactly what worries Jane Garcia, 68, who soon must replace her trusty 1999 Lincoln Continental with a vehicle that will likely be chock full of unfamiliar innovation. "My husband keeps asking me when I'm going to buy a car, but I don't know about all that new stuff," said Garcia, chairwoman of LaSed, an economic development organization in southwest Detroit. "Me, I just want to get in and get to my location."

Rachel Churches had similar trepidations. She liked the roominess, high fuel economy and ease of entry and exit of the 2015 Ford C-Max wagon she considered buying, but she was intimidated by all the sensors and gauges that accompany hybrid technology. Because hybrid and electric cars are so quiet, Churches once nearly walked away from her vehicle before returning to hit the off button. The vehicle's alert had saved her.

"That was my only incident," said Churches, 89, of Novi, Mich. "Now, I love it. My kids were surprised when I bought the car, and I surprised myself too."

AgeLab's Coughlin said it is all about attitude. "While old age has gotten better because we have technology to support us, there's a demand on each of us to maintain some agility to that change," he said. "Remember, there's no reasonable alternative to the car in the vast majority of the United States."

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Mary Chapman is an automotive freelance writer.
This was a hugely ambitious project for TimeLine  the big cast also features Christine Bunuan, Cheryl Hamada, Caron Buinis, Dan Lin and Janelle Villas  and very difficult to stage. Bowling is a highly competent director, but here he leans too much into the cheaper tendencies of the script when he needed instead to emphasize its more thoughtful moments and help out on the credibility front. He was no doubt confronted with the need to keep such a long play moving, so one sympathizes, even though the production did not, on opening night, feel fully secure.
Robin Givhan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post fashion critic, was all business as she spoke to a crowd of fashion enthusiasts recently during the Chicago Humanities Festival.

Fashion is always deeper than clothing, said Givhan, perched on a chair dressed in a dark sleeveless dress and conservative strappy black shoes by Dries Van Noten (a Belgian designer who happened to create shoes with red bottoms a la Christian Louboutin), her hair pulled back into a messy bun that was falling into a ponytail.

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Givhan's talk was focused on her new book, "The Battle of Versailles," but she touched on everything from the lack of racial diversity in the fashion world to politics because, well, how could she not?

She started by assuring the crowd of her admirers, most of whom were clad in black glasses that echoed her own, that she had no political ties.

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But, "So many politicians have used their clothes as a kind of costume for the story they want their administration to tell," Givhan said. "There is a small part of me that hopes that we will have a first gentleman, so I can call and ask, 'Who made your tuxedo?'"

Robin Givhan's new book, "The Battle of Versailles." (Handout)

The answer probably would be someone with white skin, seeing that there are so few fashion designers at the moment who are not white, she said.

The reason for this isn't so simple, but Givhan has a few ideas.

There's a trickle-down effect to cutting arts funding in public schools, she said. Once the schools knocked out the arts classes, then the underprivileged students had few other outlets to learn about drawing and fashion.

If education about fashion isn't happening in the schools, Givhan said, then black students won't grow up to be black fashion designers.

Currently, she said, the percentage of black students at design schools is in the single digits. And the numbers are just as stark when it comes to black models.

"Battle of Versailles" models Amina Warsuma, Charlene Dash, Norma Jean Darden, Bethann Hardison, Pat Cleveland and China Machado attend the Tribute to the Models Of Versailles 1973 at New York's Metropolitan Museum Of Art in 2011. (Stephen Lovekin / Getty)

"We have a lot of stories about the importance of diversity in sports, but I don't think that we view fashion through that same lens," Givhan said. "If we did, there would have been much greater outrage, because we could go through an entire fashion season and see 10 models of color on 200 runways.

The fact that there is less diversity on a fashion runway may not seem like a huge deal on the surface, but it's a reflection of a greater problem in our culture today.

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"If we are not represented by the fashion industry, which determines standards of beauty and what it means to be feminine, what it means to be masculine, then it means that there are whole segments of the population that are undervalued," Givhan said.

She has spent her career dissecting the role of fashion on the runway, on politicians and in your closet, so while some may think that clothes are just clothes, she sees fashion as much more significant.

"In Robin's hands, fashion is a lens to which to view the world," said Gioia Diliberto, author of "Diane Von Furstenberg: A Life Unwrapped." "Fashion is about character and personality, and it offers clues."

Models in the 1973 fashion show billed as the Battle of Versailles. (Charles Tracy)

Those clues are laid out clearly in "The Battle of Versailles," when Givhan describes how a 1973 fashion show in Versailles, France, that included five American designers  Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Anne Klein, Halston and Stephen Burrows  five French designers and 10 black models was a pivotal point for American fashion.

During her talk, Givhan explained that on that night, when 10 out of the 36 models were black, it was the first time there had been so many black models on a runway at one time.

"At least three designers had to agree to use a particular model," Givhan said. "These models came of age at a time when the culture was thinking about race relations."

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Advertisers and designers were looking for black models, and society was hoping that racial harmony could be achieved by using black models in line with white models.

It was also a time when individuality was celebrated, when fashion designers were letting the models do their own thing on the runway rather than having a monotonous feel to their shows.

"They were three-dimensional characters," she said.

This changed in the 1990s, when designers were interested in having a much more homogenous look.

They wanted models who looked the same, had the same hair and makeup, and walked the same, so that the clothing would shine rather than the models.

"What was celebrated at Versailles was not so much the beauty of the black models, but it was the idea of personality and individuality," Givhan said. "When fashion stopped celebrating individuality, they stopped celebrating diversity."

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And the celebration never recovered.

Danielle Braff is a freelance writer.

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An Illinois Department of Corrections van carrying Drew Peterson arrives at the Randolph County Courthouse in Chester, Ill., on May 23, 2016. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)

Nearly four years ago, Drew Peterson watched as potential jurors in a Joliet courtroom answered questions about their fitness to determine whether Peterson was guilty of killing his third wife.

Since then, Peterson has waged war on two fronts  the first to have his murder conviction tossed, and the second, authorities allege, to exact revenge on the prosecutor who led the effort to put him behind bars.

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On Friday, jurors again filed into a courtroom, this time in the tiny Randolph County Courthouse in downstate Chester where Peterson is to stand trial on charges he attempted to find a hit man to kill Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow.

Peterson, 62, was charged with solicitation for murder in February 2015 after a fellow inmate allegedly recorded him trying to arrange the hit from inside the maximum security Menard Correctional Center where he is serving a 38-year sentence for killing Kathleen Savio.

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Peterson gained infamy when his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, vanished in 2007 from their home in Bolingbrook, where Drew Peterson was a longtime police officer.

Her disappearance  amplified by his oafish behavior and appetite for media coverage  garnered international headlines, and prompted Glasgow to open a homicide investigation into the 2004 death of Savio, whose death was originally ruled an accident after her body was found in her bathtub.

Stacy Peterson has never been found, and no one has been charged with a crime in connection with her disappearance. However, statements she made to her pastor and a divorce attorney just before she went missing were critical factors in finding Drew Peterson guilty of Savio's death, jurors said.

Shortly before Will County Judge Edward Burmila sentenced him in 2013, Peterson singled out Glasgow in a rambling 40-minute speech in which he bitterly complained that prosecutors had conspired to railroad him.

Convicted killer Drew Peterson, left, was charged Feb. 9, 2015, with trying to put a hit on Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow, right, who sent him away for 38 years, the Illinois attorney general's office said. (Illinois Department of Corrections, Chicago Tribune)

"Mr. Glasgow, all aspects of my life have been destroyed. Everything from my personal life to my professional life to my social life  all aspects have been destroyed," said Peterson, who later demanded Glasgow look him in the eyes.

"Never forget my face ... never forget what you've done here," he told Glasgow.

Authorities allege that between September 2013 and December 2014, Peterson offered to pay an unnamed hit man to kill Glasgow. Investigators sought the help of an informant to secretly record Peterson's discussion of his plan.

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But Peterson's attorneys claim the recordings are suspect due to the involvement of a Will County judge and members of Glasgow's office in obtaining permission from the informant to record the conversations and unsuccessfully sought to bar them from being played at trial.

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The solicitation-for-murder trial, which is being prosecuted by the Illinois attorney general's office, comes as Peterson is trying to persuade the Illinois Supreme Court to toss his 2012 murder conviction on the grounds that he was denied a fair trial due to errors by the courts and his former attorney.

Peterson's attorney in the murder case appeal, Steven Greenberg, said he expects to file briefs by mid-June and does not expect the court will rule on the matter before the end of the year. He does not believe the solicitation trial will affect the high court's decision.

"The discovery in that case is sealed, but from what I've seen in the (news) papers, that case is as much a hot mess as ours," said Greenberg. "If he loses, I expect that case will probably end up in the Supreme Court."

The solicitation-for-murder trial is expected to last about a week, according to a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office, which is assisting the Randolph County state's attorney's office with the prosecution. If convicted, Peterson could face 60 years in prison in addition to his sentence for Savio's murder.

mwalberg@tribpub.com

Twitter @mattwalberg1
Paramedics were called to a Hyde Park bank Friday where a bank robber made off with cash after throwing gasoline on the face of a bank teller, according to officials.



The incident happened at a Fifth Third Bank branch at 1420 E. 53rd Street at 1:08 p.m., according to the FBI.



The robber is described as a black man with a heavy build and about 5 feet 9 inches tall. He was wearing a dark hat and sweatshirt. A photo shows the man with a beard.



According to the FBI and fire officials, the man threw gasoline on a bank teller before fleeing westbound from the bank. FBI officials said the man displayed a handgun.



The suspect fled with cash. Paramedics were called to the bank but fire officials could not immediately give details about the incident.

The female bank teller was treated at the scene but did not require hospitalization, according to Chicago Fre Department officials.
A student at Northwestern University told police a man she does not know entered her dorm room May 12, 2016, and hit her when she followed him out. (CBS Chicago)

Police have released a surveillance photo of a man suspected of hitting a Northwestern University student after entering her dorm room in north suburban Evanston.

The student told police a man she did not know entered her dorm room at Allison Hall at 1820 Chicago Ave. around 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to an alert on the university's website.

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The two started arguing and the man ran away. The student followed him, and the man hit her and said, "I'll shoot you," according to the alert.

The student didn't report physical injuries and said the man did not display a weapon, the alert said.

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The man suspected of hitting a Northwestern University student at Allison Hall in Evanston. (Northwestern University Police Department)

The suspect was described as black, about 6 feet tall, in his late 30s or early 40s and weighing about 210 pounds, the alert said. He has a bald head, no facial hair and a medium complexion. He was wearing a green sweatshirt and blue jeans, and he carried a gray backpack, according to the alert.

Anyone with information can call the Northwestern University Police Department at 847-491-3456 or the Evanston Police Department at 847-866-5000.
Members of the union that represents University of Illinois faculty who are not on a tenure track, picket outside the English Building on the University of Illinois campus in Tuesday, April 19, 2016 in Urbana, Ill. (John Dixon / AP)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.  The University of Illinois and faculty members who are not on a tenure track say they have reached a new labor agreement.

The union said Saturday that members who had been on strike over the last two weeks for a total of four days will vote whether to suspend the strike Sunday. A contract ratification vote will be held later in the week.

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The contract is the first with the university for the union, which has about 500 instructors, researchers and other faculty. They typically work on one-year contracts and are not part of the tenure system that offers professors and others job protections.

Faculty members at many universities across the country have complained in recent years about the growing reliance on non-tenured instructors, who often make less money.

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Associated Press
Illinois state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, is sponsor of a bill that would provide about $700 million for the state's network of social service providers. Gov. Bruce Rauner's office raised doubts that he'd sign off on the measure. (Christian K. Lee / AP file)

SPRINGFIELD  House lawmakers advanced legislation Wednesday that would pump roughly $700 million into the state's network of social service providers, a stopgap plan aimed at curbing layoffs and closures as agencies that care for the vulnerable struggle to keep the lights on after going nearly a year without funding.

While the measure cleared a House committee without opposition, Gov. Bruce Rauner's office raised doubts that he'd sign off on it, saying he's focused on a more comprehensive budget deal.

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Under the plan, roughly $450 million would come from a specialized fund earmarked for human services that's supported by a portion of income tax revenue. Another $250 million would come from federal sources and other special funds. The money would be used on dozens of programs ranging from mental health counseling, treatment for those with epilepsy and autism, homeless prevention services, care for patients with HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancer screening and burial expenses for the poor.

Sponsoring Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said the funds amount to roughly 46 percent of what social service providers would have received under the budget Democrats sent Rauner last year, which he vetoed.

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While some providers have been able to operate with relatively little disruption after court orders kept the funding spigot on, many others have raided reserves or cut back on services to keep their doors open as they await state payment. Last week, a group of more than 64 agencies sued the Rauner administration, saying the state owes them more than $100 million for services they've provided since budget impasse began last July.

Harris said the legislation would relieve some of the immediate financial pressure and "we hope that we will be able to make whole all of the agencies who have been providing services."

The proposal follows an earlier stopgap plan to keep universities and community colleges open through the fall, a bipartisan agreement that Rauner signed off on because it did not rely on money from the state's general checkbook but again tapped into specialized funds that had surpluses following income tax season.

Officials with Rauner's office threw cold water on the social services plan, saying they feared the legislation is a signal that Democrats will pull out of behind-the-scenes negotiations aimed at striking a comprehensive deal, which has thus far remained elusive.

Further, if lawmakers continue to empty those funds, there will be less flexibility for Rauner down the road when the next budget emergency arises  such as the operation of prisons, where vendors are also waiting to be paid.

"The administration supports full-year funding for human services, public safety and public health in the context of a complete balanced budget for (this year and next)," said spokeswoman Catherine Kelly.

Still, Republicans gave initial approval to the plan on Wednesday, with reservations.

"I think that most of our members are probably going to support this bill today, but there are some concerns because we haven't had time to really read through it or our staff to read through it," said Rep. Patti Bellock, R-Hinsdale. "I'm just asking that you'll work with us for the next day or two over the bill."

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In other action Wednesday, home health care workers sounded off over the Rauner's decision to limit their overtime pay, with caregivers telling a House panel the state's neediest residents are suffering because of the cost-cutting move.

A federal rule took effect earlier this year that would require those workers to be paid at time-and-a-half when they work overtime. Under Rauner's policy, which took effect May 1, overtime pay is allowed only in exceptional circumstances. The administration contends the state can't afford to comply in the midst of its budget stalemate, and has said additional workers must be brought into any home where the primary caregiver has already worked 40 hours that week.

Advocates for the disabled contend that's easier said than done, as part-time health care workers aren't well-compensated to do a difficult job. Patients testified that they feared having to wait for care if a crisis happens outside their workers' shifts, losing personal assistants they've grown close to after years of service and ultimately having to be institutionalized.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois, the union representing the state's home health care workers, filed a claim with the Illinois Labor Relations Board this month, saying the governor should have first negotiated new overtime rules with them. The union also argued that it's foolish to cut home health care funding, as it saves the state millions. It estimates the average cost of home health care services is $15,217 per year compared to the $52,000 per year it costs to live in a nursing home.

But the state's goal isn't to send more of those consumers to residential care, said Greg Bassi, chief of staff for Rauner's Department of Human Services, who said most agencies and businesses expect their employees to justify requests for overtime pay. He added the agency has worked to recruit up to 5,000 additional providers to help fill the gap.

"Individuals living in their home are actually safer in the long run when they no longer have to rely on just one person that can provide that care, that understands their needs and that can be there in case something does happen," he said.

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Committee chair Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, became emotional during testimony, saying workers shouldn't be punished for wanting to provide adequate care.

"You are not to be bullied and disrespected because of what it is you want to do," Flowers said. "You want to do your job, and you're doing it being paid or not."

mcgarcia@tribpub.com

cbott@tribpub.com
President Obama speaks during an arrival ceremony with Nordic leaders at the White House on May 13, 2016. (Carolyn Kaster / AP)

WASHINGTON  Six wealthy donors and foundations gave a total of $1.84 million last year to the nonprofit Barack Obama Foundation, which is preparing to build his presidential center on Chicago's South Side.

The Gill Foundation of Colorado gave $347,000, followed by the Sacks Family Foundation of Illinois, at $333,334.

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Two couples from New York, Lise Strickler and Mark Gallogly and Marilyn and Jim Simons, gave $330,000 each.

David and Beth Shaw, also of New York, contributed $250,000. ImpactAssets, which is headquartered in Maryland, likewise gave a quarter-million dollars.

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The major donors, several of whom were generous givers to Obama's political campaigns, appear on the nonprofit foundation's 2015 tax return, made public Friday.

A look at the big givers:

Tim Gill, who made a fortune founding the software firm Quark, started the Denver-based Gill Foundation, which supports the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and people with HIV/AIDS.

Michael Sacks, chairman and CEO of the investment firm GCM Grosvenor Capital Management, is, according to records, president of the Highland Park foundation that bears his name. A close ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Sacks sits on the Obama Foundation's volunteer board.

Gallogly is co-founder and managing principal of Centerbridge Partners, which focuses on private equity and credit investing. He has served on Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and his Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Jim Simons, whose net worth is estimated to be $15.5 billion, is the founder of a hedge fund firm, Renaissance Technologies, Forbes says.

Shaw, also on Forbes billionaires list, is worth an estimated $5 billion and, according to the magazine, is a pioneering quantitative trader in the hedge fund industry. He founded D.E. Shaw & Co..

ImpactAssets, in Bethesda, Md., promotes investments with social, environmental and financial impact.

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Some of the givers in 2015 also donated to the foundation in the previous year.

The Obama Foundation, on the South Side at 5235 S. Harper Court, periodically releases information about large donors but gives their contributions only in broad dollar ranges. Friday's release offers greater clarity about who is bankrolling the massive project.

The foundation was created early in 2014. Total public support was $5.4 million in 2014, compared with more than $1.9 million in 2015, the return shows. The $1.9 million figure includes small donations that are not listed on the tax return.

Officials have said that until Obama leaves office, they plan to raise only as much money as is needed for operational purposes. The center is expected to open in 2021.

The foundation's expenses were $2.82 million in 2015, so it spent more than it took in that year, but it ended last year with nearly $2.6 million on hand.

The foundation is chaired by Chicago businessman Martin Nesbitt, a close friend of the Obamas. He was one of seven foundation directors in 2015  none of whom was paid.

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Four full-time foundation officials were among its highest-compensated employees, the return said.

They were Robbin Cohen, executive director, whose wages were $244,838; Justin Rosenthal, strategy and operations manager, $131,596; Jamison Citron, external affairs manager, $137,500; and Jonabel Russette, director of accounting and administration, $121,329.

The foundation is to name an architect for the presidential center in coming weeks.

The center, planned for either Jackson Park or Washington Park, will house Obama's presidential library, a museum and a campus to engage in activities reflecting Barack and Michelle Obama's "values and priorities," including civic engagement, global perspective, health and wellness, environmental stewardship, public education and innovation, officials said.

The tax return and an independent audit were posted online Friday on the foundation's website.

kskiba@tribpub.com

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Last July, Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison threw an entire ABC News roundtable for a loop with just two lines: "People terrified of the possibility of President Trump better vote, better get active, better get involved," he said. "Because this man has got some momentum, and we'd better be ready for the fact that he might be leading the Republican ticket."

The laughter erupted before he could finish his prediction. George Stephanopoulos, the show's host and a former Bill Clinton employee, let out a snort, chortling like a bemused, yet slightly exhausted, preschool dad. Maggie Haberman, a reporter for The New York Times, could barely keep it together.

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"I'm sorry for laughing," Haberman declared, struggling to crawl out of her pile of giggles.

"We know you don't really believe that," Stephanopoulos added blithely, moving on.

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Today, over in Trump Tower, someone else may be laughing, and it's certainly not the raft of pundits and election "experts"  in other words, almost all of them, including yours truly  who underestimated the Trump campaign for months. (It might not be Donald Trump laughing, however; neither he nor his wife, Melania, appears to be a public chortler. Could it be their campaign staff, awash in justified merriment? Sadly, we may never know.)

What we do know, of course, is that at this point, Trump defeated all comers and has essentially clinched the Republican presidential nomination. And this week, amid increasingly muted cries of "It'll never happen" from a few well-oiled politicos, he's surged in the polls. A Quinnipiac University survey, released Tuesday, showed Trump neck-and-neck with Hillary Clinton in three key swing states; a Reuters poll, meanwhile, showed a remarkable surge in Trump support  13 points up since last week  leaving him and Clinton in a virtual tie.

It's still early, and polls can be unreliable  the Reuters poll, in particular, has been criticized for its methodology. But don't kid yourself: Trump could very well win the presidency of the United States. That's because 2016 is special. It reminds me of the old "Seinfeld" episode in which a fire breaks out at an idyllic child's birthday party and George Costanza runs for the exits in wild panic, shoving all the little kids and performing clowns and tiny, tottering old ladies out of the way.

Luckily for all of us, 2016 also comes with its own set of goggles. Like beer goggles  you know, the alcohol-infused lenses that give users an uncanny ability to transform a dreadful roadside "Star Wars" bar filled with cobwebs and soggy paper cups into an evening at the swanky restaurant Cipriani with Chris Hemsworth, the hunky actor who starred in "Thor"  2016 Goggles work to make the previously wacky and unthinkable slowly look sane, realistic, and actually kind of normal.

So it is that in 2016, in all likelihood, we will have Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump facing off in this year's presidential contest  and Clinton is the No. 1 reason that Trump could win.

I'm sorry, Democrats, but Clinton is dreadful. I'd ask where you found her, but we all know, and no one wants to hear that story again. She is a government-expanding nightmare with a humorless cackle. She is under federal investigation. She lies almost as much as Trump does, but with less charm and aplomb. For some, in fact, with the help of 2016 Goggles, she makes Trump look like the political version of actor Hemsworth, hunk of the aforementioned "Thor."

Clinton also seems to quietly dislike (a) people, and (b) America, and you don't need an advanced degree in election analytics to know this is not good. Sure, Trump has talked about how stupid the people in Iowa are and how he wants to punch protesters in the face, and maybe sue a few journalists here and there, and how he won't leave nuking Europe off the table, but overall  and again, here are those magic 2016 Goggles working  he manages, like President Barack Obama, to serve as a blank screen upon which his followers can project their hopes.

No one cares about policy when it comes to Trump, apparently not even Trump himself. Just as Obama fans ignored his wacky former pastor and Obama's promise to control global sea levels, Trump fans ignore a multitude of Trump's sins. To his supporters, Trump projects "Team America," even though we have no idea what Trump's America might do. (Note: This should be mildly terrifying.)

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Clinton, meanwhile, bless her cynical heart, desperately tries to project a team of some sort, but fails miserably every time. This is because, as noted before, she doesn't seem to like you all that much, and for many Americans, the feeling is mutual.

What a year. What a choice  and at this point, either one could win. Alas, I don't think I can vote for either. Sad!

Heather Wilhelm is a writer based in Austin, Texas.
Protesters are seen while Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meets with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., at the National Republican Congressional Committee on May 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images)

In the days leading up to Donald Trump's much-ballyhooed courtesy call to Capitol Hill on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., seemed like a groom wanting his presumptive bride to change before he does.

"This is the party of Lincoln, of Reagan, of Jack Kemp," he said on CNN, letting it be known that the presumptive nominee still had a lot of explaining to do before he could get an endorsement from the top Republican elected official. "What a lot of Republicans want to see is that we have a standard bearer that bears our standards."

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House Speaker Paul Ryan says he was encouraged by the meeting with Donald Trump May 12, 2016, but that it will take time to unify the Republican Party. (AP) (Associated Press)

Not even a glimmer of such clarity emerged on Thursday. The joint statement that followed the meeting was carefully worded to give the appearance of cordiality but also made clear that the standard bearer's standards remain a work in progress.

"While we were honest about our few differences, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground," Trump and Ryan said. They will keep talking and are confident "there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall."

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So nothing got done, but they will keep at it. According to those on the periphery, Trump was in uber-charming mode after hamming it up for the crowd outside party headquarters on Capitol Hill on his way in, as if he were still campaigning. He wasn't making any concessions. Since essentially wrapping up nomination, his preferred analogy is that he's won the pennant, the fans love him, so why would he change his fastball for the World Series?

He is critical of Ryan's first marriage to Mitt Romney and blames Ryan for its failure. He is fond of saying that the speaker doomed the 2012 ticket with his promises to "cut the hell out of your Social Security." Ryan would still trim Medicare and Social Security to save them; Trump would leave them alone. That's a hard difference to paper over.

Later in the day, Ryan said he would still be keeping the details "private," but commented that when it comes to unifying the party, "It takes some time, you don't put it together in 45 minutes."

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, a bland broker who produced a report after the 2012 shellacking that predicted irrelevance and doom if the party didn't move to a place exactly opposite to Trump's, told CNN the meeting was "great."

Great was the meme of the day. Trump, unusually quiet after, tweeted a couple of hours later that it was "a great day in D.C ... Things working out really well." Trump later went to Jones Day, the law firm representing his campaign, sparking speculation that former Secretary of State James Baker, in attendance, could be on his list of vice-presidential choices.

Even if Trump had chosen to praise or adopt part of Ryan's agenda, it wouldn't mean much. He is inconsistent, even by the lax standards of politicians. He will jettison anything he wants  tariffs on China, a ban on Muslims (he already refers to it as temporary), maybe even saving entitlements, getting Mexico to pay for a wall and his bromance with Vladimir Putin. He may end up liking other things, such as tax increases and the Iran deal. But who knows? Not even Trump himself, it seems, can predict what he will do or say.

Just when Republicans thought they were getting close to getting some closure, the pain keeps coming. The awkward first date on Capitol Hill just added to the anguish of a week in which Trump announced that he intends to "put some showbiz" into the July convention in Cleveland and continued to weave and bob about releasing his tax returns, potentially becoming the first major party nominee in 40 years to refuse to do so. He's not a Lincoln, Reagan, Kemp or Ryan Republican. He's a Donald Trump Republican.

The final stage of grief for Republicans is: Get Used to It.

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Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist.
Illinois has taken a go-slow approach to medical marijuana, limiting risk by allowing the industry to operate as a pilot program until the start of 2018. So far, so good: The highly regulated system, designed to provide relief to patients suffering from 39 specific ailments, such as cancer and Parkinson's, has operated smoothly since it started last year.

Gov. Bruce Rauner, like his predecessor, Pat Quinn, hasn't rushed the process. But a policy of prudence that doesn't evolve with the evidence can wind up being overly cautious: Today some hurting Illinois residents can't get the aid they seek because of Rauner's approach.

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A key to Illinois' strategy was to cap the initial list of illnesses approved for medicinal marijuana use and then allow an expert panel to recommend over time whether to expand it. Twice the state Medical Cannabis Advisory Board has heard from patients, studied the scientific literature and voted to add some conditions and illnesses to the list. And twice the governor, acting through the Department of Public Health, has rejected those recommendations, indicating he wants to assess the program for a longer period.

This month, the board tried again, reiterating support for 10 conditions to add to the 39, including specific types of chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, migraines and post-traumatic stress disorder. Two illnesses were added: Type 1 diabetes and panic disorder. The governor has until summer to rule on the proposals. We hope he'll broaden his thinking on medical pot.

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For eons people have known that marijuana has medicinal qualities. But scientifically assessing its ability to soothe is challenging because of the drug's nebulous legal standing. In terms of federal law, marijuana is illegal. That puts a damper on the research.

Nevertheless, there is broad scientific and political recognition that grass can be a godsend to the ill. California was first to allow medical use, passing a ballot initiative in 1996. Medical marijuana is now legal in 24 states, with Ohio positioned to become the 25th. In many states, dispensaries are just part of the landscape; they don't turn heads anymore.

Cultural acceptance is broad enough that Walgreens, which does not sell marijuana, recently posted some informative straight talk  though not an endorsement  on its blog. "Research on the health benefits of marijuana is ongoing, but current studies have proven that canabinoid receptors play an important role in many body processes, including metabolic regulation, cravings, pain, anxiety, bone growth and immune function," wrote Dahlia Sultan, a resident pharmacist at Walgreens and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Sultan noted that research indicated marijuana may impair lungs, memory and judgment, but also can "provide pain relief in ways traditional pain medicines don't," as well as "improve appetites and relieve nausea in those who have cancer, and it may help relieve symptoms such as muscle stiffness in people who have multiple sclerosis."

What's more, medical marijuana is a safer alternative to powerful painkillers that can be highly addictive or even kill.

The advisory board is scrupulous in its vetting. Dr. Leslie Mendoza Temple, a Chicago-area physician who chairs the panel, said her group does a comprehensive review of each proposal and rejects conditions that don't meet their standards. "Anxiety," for example, was rejected because it's too broad a category. Lyme and MRSA were left out because the scientific research was "too vague to draw any conclusions."

The board is frustrated with the governor, for good reason. "We don't get everything that we want on this board anyway, several times over," Mendoza Temple said at the most recent meeting.

About 6,200 people in Illinois have been approved to use medical marijuana. That's well below early estimates. The state's dispensaries and growers  a new industry for this jobs-starved state  are counting on a larger customer base. Expanding the list of uses would give Springfield a fuller track record to evaluate when lawmakers decide whether to extend the legalization of medical marijuana. But the most important reason to expand the list of ailments is to help suffering patients.

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Batavia is working on ways to regulate massage businesses after workers at two parlors in the city were charged with prostitution.

Batavia is in the process of drafting an ordinance that would specifically regulate massage businesses, said Batavia Police Det. Sgt. Shawn Mazza. Most likely, the mayor, who acts as the liquor control commissioner, would also handle regulation of the businesses, Mazza said.

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At 10:45 a.m. Thursday, an undercover investigator with the Batavia Police Department went into Superb Spa in the 0-99 block of North Island Avenue and arranged for a massage while other investigators waited in a squad car nearby, Mazza said. During the incident, the woman giving the massage offered to perform a sex act in exchange for money, according to Batavia police. The officer then stopped the massage and notified investigators outside, according to police.

Jin Mie Zhang, 55, whose address is the same as Superb Spa's, was charged with one count of prostitution. Police think she was living at the spa part-time, Mazza said.

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At 1:08 p.m., the same undercover investigator asked for a massage at Gem Spa in the 300 block of East Wilson Street while the team of investigators again waited in a car nearby. The woman giving the massage offered to perform a sex act for money, and the officer ended the massage and contacted investigators outside, according to police.

Tong Liu (Batavia Police Department / Handout)

Tong Liu, 22, of the 2100 block of South China Place, Chicago, was charged at Gem Spa with a single count of prostitution.

Both women were released on $150 bond and are scheduled to appear June 7 in Kane County Branch Court.

Both Superb Spa and Gem Spa have been open for less than a year, and this was the first time police conducted a compliance check on the two businesses, Mazza said.

In April, massage licenses were revoked for three massage spas in nearby St. Charles that violated their licenses. Employees at two of the spas also were charged with prostitution, and both are scheduled to appear in court later this month.

In St. Charles, the liquor control commission, headed by the mayor, oversees massage parlors and spas.

hleone@tribpub.com
"I don't think he ever got over the fact he felt like he'd failed to protect her," added Cheryl Lynn's mother, Garnet Bailey, who was at her son-in-law's bedside when he died. "Part of his heart went with her when she died. She was the love of his life, and he could not deal with life after she was gone."
Participation in the popular race is way down, just a fraction of what it should be, she told me. And she's certain these disturbing numbers are because people are mistakenly associating it with the beleaguered Wounded Warriors Project that has come under fire in recent months over the way it was spending much of the $800 million it has raised in the last four years.
Chelsea Laliberte, whose brother Alex "Lali" Laliberte died of a heroin overdose in 2008, was in Washington, D.C. Thursday to see bipartisan legislation pass that will increase access to the life-saving heroin antidote naloxone.

"We are getting closer to some very important progress," she said from the office of U.S. Robert Dold, R-Ill.

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The house voted 414 to 4 to pass the measure, known as Lali's Law in honor of Alex Laliberte, a Stevenson High School graduate who became addicted to prescription opioid drugs.

Lali's Law creates a grant program that will help states increase access to naloxone. The primary purpose of the grant is to fund state programs that allow pharmacists to distribute naloxone without a prescription. Many states use these programs to allow local law enforcement officers to carry and use naloxone, similar to the Lake County program.

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"This is a disease," Chelsea Laliberte said. "The reason I do this is we are human, and we're wired for addiction."

As a sophomore in college, Alex Laliberte was hospitalized for a mysterious illness that turned out to be withdrawal. He died of a heroin and prescription drug overdose days before final exams.

"Addiction knows no zip code boundaries and it's prevalent throughout the United States," Dold said. "It's in every high school, and it's cheaper than cigarettes and more readily available than alcohol.. ... Sadly, Alex's life was cut short before he ever had the chance to seek help for his opioid dependency. In Alex's memory, our bipartisan bill Lali's Law will give thousands of others a second chance at recovery and spare their families from unimaginable heartbreak."

Laliberte's family, who has since founded the substance abuse and overdose awareness organization Live4Lali, partnered with Dold to introduce Lali's Law.

"When we started Live4Lali we just wanted to help one family or one person in need of support," Chelsea Laliberte said. "We never envisioned that our message would be received so strongly across the Midwest, the country and by U.S. Congress through Congressman Dold's advocacy. ... That message is that every person is important, every person deserves a chance to lead a fulfilling life, and not one of us can judge another for what makes he or she human. Without a pulse, no change is possible."

Alex Laliberte's mother, Jody Daitchman, added: "Watching Congressman Dold speak in the U.S. House and witnessing the vote for Lali's Law is such an honor. ... My hope is that many people will soon have easier access to naloxone. It's truly life or death. Alex would be overjoyed that the opportunity to save many lives is on its way to becoming a federal law. As a mother who had to bury her beautiful child, I'm thrilled that the necessary steps are being taken to accomplish this."

The bill was sponsored by Dold and U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass.

According to Dold, there were three times as many prescription overdoes and six times as many heroin overdoses in the United States in 2014 compared to 2001. Heroin now takes a life every three days in Chicago's collar counties and claims more than one life every day in Cook County, he said.

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Naloxone, however, has proven to be hugely successful as a life-saving antidote, Dold said. Naloxone helps restore breathing that has been stopped by an overdose.

In Lake County, naloxone is credited with saving 77 lives since a program developed by the Lake County Opioid Initiative was introduced to equip first responders with the antidote. With increased access, the World Health Organization predicts naloxone could save another 20,000 lives every year, Dold said.

"This bill will help ensure that more people have access to naloxone, which will save lives," Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim said. "Congressman Dold has been a huge partner in our efforts to address the opiate epidemic in Lake County, and I applaud him for his leadership."

Last year, Illinois legislators passed a provision  also named Lali's Law that now authorizes trained pharmacists to prescribe anti-overdose drugs to users and family members of those at risk of a fatal overdose.

The bill also provided criminal immunity for healthcare professionals who prescribe naloxone and improved first responder access to naloxone. The federal Lali's Law will give Illinois officials, as well as public health officials in other states, the opportunity to use federal grants to fund changes authorized as part of the state-level Lali's Law and similar legislation passed elsewhere in the country that will increase access to naloxone.

A similar bill that previously passed in the senate will now be reconciled in the coming weeks and then will end up on the president's desk for his signature.

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"Another chance is another chance, whether they are going on their first (overdose) or ninth," Chelsea Laliberte said. "Lives are important. We have a duty to save people's lives."

fabderholden@tribpub.com

Twitter @abderholden
Men and a horse are seen outside of the Gary Land Co. building in an undated photo. The building was Gary's first. (Calumet Archives / Post-Tribune)

Editor's note: On Dec.11, 1816, Indiana became the 19th state in the Union. Lake, Porter and Newton counties originally were one, but on Jan. 28, 1836, Porter County was created. A year later, on Jan.18, Lake County became independent. As the state celebrates its bicentennial, the Post-Tribune will be taking a regular look back at the history of Northwest Indiana.

Gary's first building, the original home of the Gary Land Co., is getting some polish made possible by a $50,000 Legacy Foundation Neighborhood Spotlight grant.

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"One of the things we were required to do with the grant is to select an early-action activity and we selected the Gary Land Co. building because it is in our footprint and we understand it is the oldest building in all of Gary," said the Rev. Curtis Whittaker, executive director of the Families Anchored in Total Harmony Community Development Corp., a consortium of four neighborhood as the outreach arm of Progressive Community Church. FAITH CDC is the convening organization for the Gary Downtown-Emerson Neighborhood Spotlight.

Constructed in 1906, the Gary Land Co. building is considered the birthplace of Gary and a symbol of U.S. Steel, according to Naomi Millender, director of the Gary Historical and Cultural Society. Millender is the daughter of the society's late founder, Dharathula (Dolly) Millender, educator and librarian and author of "Gary's Central Business Community." The society is the official caretaker of the Gary Land Co. building, although it is owned by the city.

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"We went there and we did a cleanup. We put things that needed to be archived in boxes and we cleaned up the inside and the outside of the building," said Whittaker. "We are looking now for individual contractors to go in and do work. We had someone come to do a (heating, cooling, plumbing) assessment and to see if it can again become a tourist attraction in the Gary Downtown-Emerson location."

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Gary Land Co. building was built on a "balloon frame construction" with a cross gable roof. The building is about 20 feet wide and 40 feet long and has a basement and a front porch.

Today it sits in Gateway Park at 401 Broadway. It was the city's first town hall, first post office and first school. Its most recent use was as a museum to house the city's artifacts, said Millender. Those materials are currently stored at the Calumet Archives at Indiana University Northwest.

In the early days of the 20th century, U.S. Steel was seeking Midwest expansion and access to railroads and steamers when it created a subsidiary, Indiana Steel Co., and acquired 5,000 acres of land in Lake County along the shore of Lake Michigan. The new steel mill was expected to be the industry's largest plant, at a cost of approximately $10.5 million. In addition, the company would develop a city for its workers, according to the April 25, 1906, Chicago Tribune.

Chairman E.H. Gary presented the plan to U.S. Steel's board of directors in April 1906. The steel mills would occupy a square mile of land, the Tribune reported. They would be adjacent to the railroads and the steamers on the lake. Ultimately, the city would take the chairman's name.

"We are planning to make the city a model city," said Gary. "All matters affecting transportation, sewerage, lighting, water works, sanitation and so on will be gone over with the greatest care before the city is built. It will be a city in which every care will be taken before a stone is laid to insure the comfort, health and happiness of its inhabitants," the Tribune reported.

Gary predicted the model city would have a population of 100,000 and the mills would employ 15,000 within four years. He said he already had hundreds of applications from bankers, hotelkeepers, businessmen and tradesmen.

"We shall sell lots, of course, but we shall only do so with restrictions in the deeds that will make the city conform to our ideas," Gary told the board.

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Eugene J. Buffington was named president of the Indiana Steel Co. and the Gary Land Co. was formed to plan and develop the town, according to Millender. Gary was incorporated as a town on July 17, 1906. Its first elected board of trustees included Thomas E. Knotts, Millard A. Caldwell and John E. Sears.

Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
A Hobart woman is facing charges in connection with a Michigan man's 2014 disappearance, according to police reports.

According to reports from the Iron River, Mich., Police Department, the Kentucky State Police arrested the woman on April 28.

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The Associated Press said Kelly Cochran, 33, of Hobart, has been extradited to Iron County, Mich., in the Upper Peninsula, on charges of homicide, concealing a death and conspiracy to mutilate a dead body.

Her arrest is in connection to the disappearance of Christopher Karl Regan, 55, who went missing in Iron River in October 2014. Police found his vehicle, a 2013 Hyundai Genesis, a few days later in Iron River, according to police reports.

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Police continued to search for the woman, announcing in October that they had identified a person of interest and were working with the FBI on the case. Police reports said the she fled from her Michigan home in March 2015 and moved to Hobart. Iron River Police began working with the Hobart Police Department, according to police reports, until Hobart police discovered she fled Indiana on April 28. Police were able to track her to Wingo, Ky., where she was arrested that same day, according to Iron River police.

A representative with the Kentucky State Police and the Hobart Police Department could not be reached for comment.

A woman with the Iron County Prosecutor's office said the woman had not been arraigned as of Friday and said no information on the case would be released until she had.

It was not clear as of Friday if Regan has ever been found.

tauch@post-trib.com
China signed an agreement on Thursday with Canada, India, Israel and New Zealand to share tax information of multinational companies to fight international tax avoidance.

International firms with total annual revenue over 750 million euros (US$855 million) should submit tax information to their location countries' taxation departments for inter-government sharing, according to the agreement, which has been signed by 39 countries.

The agreement honors the commitment made by G20 leaders on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, a program to fight global tax avoidance and one of fruits of the ongoing Tenth Meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) in Beijing.

This is the first time China has hosted FTA, the world's most important meeting on tax administration. The meeting is one of a series of events related to the September G20 Hangzhou summit.
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The board of governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will hold its first annual meeting in Beijing on June 25-26, the bank announced on Thursday.

Governors and representatives from the bank's 57 founding signatories, along with invited observers from international partners, will attend the meeting, it said.

AIIB, a new global multilateral financial institution headquartered in Beijing, was formally established on Dec. 25, 2015, and started operations on Jan. 16.

Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei was elected as the first chairman of the AIIB board of governors, and Jin Liqun first AIIB president. The board of governors will meet each year.
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Huawei,a Chinese Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution provider, announced Thursday plans to expand safe city solutions in Africa, providing ICT-based security systems to help in incident prevention, emergency response and evidence collection.

Eman Liu, President of Huawei Enterprise Business in Eastern and Southern Africa Region, announced this at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali.

According to Liu, safe city solution is part of smart city, a combination of different ICT solutions like wireless network (broadband), smart phones, cloud computing.

Liu said that Huawei wants to partner with the African country government to introduce the safe city solutions in the continent.

Huawei already provided safe city solutions in Kenyan cities of Nairobi and Mombasa since last year.

Rwandan capital Kigali has also adopted the Smart Kigali initiative, supported by Huawei, which aims at modernizing the lifestyle of Kigali City dwellers and visitors through use of ICT.

Huawei entered Africa in 1998. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue, and it ranks No.3 in terms of global smartphone market share, after Samsung and Apple.
China was the most promising consumer market in Asia in 2015, and will probably remain so in the next four years, according to a Bloomberg report released Thursday.

"Even as China's economy slows and its population ages, it appears set to remain the most attractive Asian market for retailers in the years ahead," said Bloomberg economists in "Insight: Asia retail forecasts show China market to stay No. 1."

The report said the Asia-Pacific region accounted for just under a third of Apple's revenue, and more than half of the revenue of Yum! Brands, operator of fast food chains including KFC and Pizza Hut, in 2015.

"Asian consumers have shifted from bit-part players in the drama of global demand to a leading role," it said.

In ranking of the most promising consumer markets in 2015 by Bloomberg Intelligence Economics, China, Japan and India came first, second and third.

"For China and India, that reflects their massive young populations and large economies," the report said.

Following India were Australia, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia. Pakistan and Bangladesh ranked at the bottom of the list.

Using GDP and GDP per capita forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, and demographic forecasts from the United Nations, it's possible to project the ranking scores forward to 2020, the report said.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, slowing further from the previous quarter but better than many had feared.

And foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland continued to rise in the first four months of this year, official data showed earlier this week.

FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 4.8 percent year on year to 286.78 billion yuan (45.3 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-April period.

China will encourage an overhaul of its consumer goods industry to meet the needs of increasingly picky buyers, according to a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting Wednesday.

The government will back enterprises to spend more on design and R&D, the statement said.
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A solar-powered airplane that landed in Arizona last week after a daylong flight from California is now headed to Oklahoma on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.

The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 3am local time with a destination of Tulsa International Airport.

The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.

After Oklahoma, the plane is expected to make at least one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa.
Shi Yingkang, former president of the West China Hospital of Sichuan University.[Photo/Sina Weibo]

A former president of one of the country's leading medical institutions, the West China Hospital of Sichuan University, was found dead in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on Wednesday afternoon.

Shi Yingkang, 65, fell to his death from the 20th floor of his apartment building, which was within walking distance of the hospital.

Liao Zhilin, chief of the hospital's publicity department, said it was "certain Shi was not murdered".

"But it is unknown whether he committed suicide or fell from his residence accidentally," he said, adding that the apartment building is privately owned and not associated with the hospital.

Liao denied speculation that Shi's death was in some way related to a recent visit by a Party discipline inspection committee, as reported on caixin.com.

"As a matter of fact, it is the National Audit Office that is auditing the university. It is a regular audit which is not targeting the West China Hospital of Sichuan University," he said.

In response to the death of Shi, who served as president of the hospital from 1993 to 2013, a prominent section of the university's website was turned over to an obituary on a black background, mourning a "great loss".

It said the former president was instrumental in turning the hospital into a leading medical establishment for hospital management, theoretical research and practical applications, as well as a national-level treatment center for difficult, complicated and critical diseases in West China.

On Wednesday night, medics lit candles forming a giant heart in the hospital's compound, offering their condolences for the late Shi.

Shao Zhenyong, a native of Henan Province who worked at the hospital for six years before moving to the Longquanyi district hospital in Chengdu two years ago, was among them.

He said Shi was a renowned cardiac surgeon who was well regarded both as a medic and a manager.

"It was Shi who changed an obscure hospital which was only known in Sichuan into a famous one in China. He was nice to his colleagues," Shao said.

Liao, from the hospital publicity department, added: "Shi had a hot temper and an unyielding character. But he was nice to the staff in the hospital."

Shi's daughter, an associate professor with the hospital's nephrology department called Shi Yunying, wrote a post on WeChat following her father's death.

"He became disillusioned and tired. So he wanted to leave," she said.

Liao speculated that the former president may have been influenced by his father's suicide, which occurred during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

Shi Yingkang came from a line of famous doctors. His father was the founder of the pediatrics department at Chongqing Medical University, his mother was a renowned gynecologist and obstetrician and his uncle, a cardiothoracic surgeon, was president of Shanghai First Medical College.

He had given a lecture on medical sector reform three days before his death, according to a report on caixin.com.
Environmental inspections by the central government have been given more power and increased importance, and will include all provinces, according to a Chinese environmental official.

A resident reacts to the air in Handan, Hebei province, in April. The city, known for its highly polluting industries, such as steel, is facing an industrial transformation. [Photo/China Daily]

The Ministry of Environmental Protection will be China's second national authority, after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to have the power to send inspection teams and hold discussions with provincial leaders.

Fourteen more provinces will be subject to central government inspection this year after a pilot mission was completed in heavily industrialized Hebei province, Liu Changgen, head of the National Environmental Protection Inspection Office, said in a web interview.

Plans for the follow-up inspections are awaiting approval from national authorities, so it is not yet clear when they will begin, according to sources close to the matter.

Findings from the Hebei inspection disclosed on Wednesday showed many problems, ranging from rapid ecological degradation to ineffective reinforcement of laws and regulations.

Liu said the central-level inspectors held discussions with all top provincial officials during their monthlong mission to Hebei, which accounts for nearly 25 percent of the nation's steel output and is among the most heavily polluted provinces.

Surrounding Beijing, Hebei had five of China's 10 cities with the worst air pollution problems in the first quarter of this year, according to the Environment Ministry.

Liu said that during the inspection, his colleagues and he received more than 100 calls a day from Hebei residents telling them of local pollution problems.

He said the environmental protection inspection teams will prioritize efforts to review how local authorities have met their promises and solved problems the inspectors find.

Liu said the Environment Ministry has formed a talent pool of more than 120 people devoted to the inspections, and they will be sent randomly to targeted areas. Such inspections will cover all provincial areas every two years.

Zhang Xiaode, director of the Ecological Civilization Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said negligence by government officials over pollution problems could result in more harm to residents than that caused by corruption.

He said there has always been less enthusiasm about environmental protection at local, rather than central level, because many government officials are mainly assessed on the GDP growth rate of the area they serve.

"We need to set up a fundamental system to supervise environmental protection. But before this, central government inspections will help spur local authorities to devote more efforts to environmental protection," he said.

Chang Jiwen, deputy director of the Institute for Resources and Environment Policies at the State Council Development Research Center, said the inspections in Hebei have been more effective than previous ones as they represented the authority of the central government and the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

However, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, an NGO that monitors pollution problems in China, said the government inspections must be coupled with improved law enforcement and better involvement from the public.

"The central government inspections can reach the top local government leaders, and that is why they are effective."
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A former official with China's central government has been kicked out of the Party and is likely to face criminal charges.

A file photo shows Zhang Kunsheng. [Photo: fmprc.gov.cn]

Former assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng has been removed from the rolls of the Communist Party of China for violating internal party rules.

These have included accepting bribes, abuse of power, obstruction of justice and excessive spending on government-funded trips.

CPC officials are now forwarding the results of their investigation to judicial authorities for potential criminal prosecution.

Zhang Kunsheng fell under investigation early last year as part of the government's wide-scale crackdown on graft.
As a new graduate of Hotan Teachers College in 2016, Liu Pei prowled the annual job fair held at her alma mater in late April, hoping to find opportunities to work in the area where she had studied and lived for three years.

Graduates visit a booth during a job fair organized by Hotan Teachers College, Hotan prefecture, in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on April 29. [Photo/China Daily]

The 21-year-old from Northwest China's Gansu province wanted to become a teacher in Hotan prefecture in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"I have been here for three years and formed an affection for everything here, the environment, the people... I believe there will be great opportunities for my life and career if I stay here," Liu said.

Jurat Dolat, director of the college's department of student affairs, said more than 1,400 students will graduate from the college in 2016, and, judging from previous experience, many will end up landing jobs as bilingual teachers in Xinjiang.

"Last year, the employment rate of our graduates exceeded 88 percent. Among all the colleges in Xinjiang, we had the largest number of students who were employed as teachers last year," he said.

Zhang Wenying, a bilingual teacher at No 1 Middle School in Hotan's Jiya county, was such a person. The 29-year-old, who is of Han ethnicity, moved from Northwest China's Shaanxi province to Hotan in 2007, so he could learn Uygur at the college.

He graduated in 2010, and now speaks fluent Uygur and teaches Mandarin to Uygur students.

Zhang urged the college's graduates this year to add fluency in the Uygur language to their skill sets.

China has 56 ethnic groups. The Han are the majority group, and Mandarin is the official and most widely used language. In Xinjiang, many locals lack even basic Mandarin knowledge. The language barrier not only puts the mat a disadvantage in the job market, but also impedes economic development in the region. The autonomous region encourages ethnic groups to study Mandarin to enhance mutual understanding and open up career opportunities.

Learning the Uygur language is also helpful for Han students who want to work in southern Xinjiang, where bilingual education is in short supply, according to Zhang.

Hotan prefecture is known for its harsh natural conditions and poverty. Hotan Teachers College had trouble enrolling Han students before it started recruiting them directly from other provinces and regions in 2005.

More than a decade later, the population of Han students and teachers at the college has increased from 5.5 percent in 2005 to 25 percent in 2015.

Zhang said his class had 40 students when he was a student there. Twenty-five of his classmates were from outside Xinjiang. After graduation, 35 of his classmates chose to find jobs in Xinjiang.

Since 2010, 526 of the college's 583 graduates recruited from other provinces have chosen to stay in Xinjiang.

Ababekri Ablet, the president of the college, said Han students from inland provinces get to live, learn and communicate with Uygur students and teachers at the college and that sets them up to find work in the region.

"After graduation, they are willing to start their careers here," he said.

To help improve the employment rate, Jurat Dolat, the college's student affairs department head, said the institution will hold a series of lectures and training events this year to boost students' skills, so they can hunt for a wider rage of jobs, in addition to teaching.

"We encourage our students to broaden their vision when it comes to careers, and try some work opportunities in other fields, like being a civil servant or working in the private sector," he said.

Mamatemin Gojaabdula, general manager of an international trade company in Hotan, led a delegation to the job fair in search of talent.

"We are a fast-developing company that makes and sells handmade carpets, so we are particularly in need of young talent with ability," he said. "Hotan Teachers College nurtured lots of such people and we hired six satisfactory graduates last year, so we came again."

Mixed classes

To boost bilingual education, Hotan Teachers College started offering mixed classes for Han and other ethnic group students in September 2015. So far, the college has 40 such mixed classes, accounting for 29 percent of the total.

In the mixed classes, Han students not only have classes with other ethnic group students, but also can live with them in the same dorm.

Abliz Hekpar, 21, from Qira county, said he had no Han friends before he started taking mixed classes at the college. He said living and learning alongside Han students helped him improve his Mandarin.

Likewise, Han students have also made friends with Uygur students.

Every morning, Miao Lanxuan reads aloud in Uygur with the help of her tutor, Aynur Ghulkhazim, another student at the college.

Since 2005, the college has encouraged Han students to practice their Uygur in the classroom every morning, while Uygur students read Mandarin aloud to Han students.

Miao, from Shihezi city in northern Xinjiang, started studying in Hotan last September. She wanted to learn fluent Uygur and make more Uygur friends at the college.

"I have four Uygur language classes each week, which I thought might be far from enough to improve my speaking ability," Miao said. "But my tutor helped me a lot and I got to practice my speaking and learn grammar from her."

Miao also applied to live in a dorm with Uygur students.

She likes dancing and is good at modern dancing, while her roommate, Arazgul Turejan, likes folk dancing. She said the pair like to dance together in their dorm.

Thanks to the mixed living and learning environment, Miao said she can now speak fluent Uygur and even bargain at local bazaars with a Hotan accent.

Cheng Bin, from Gansu province, is also learning Uygur at the college and has developed a friendship with his roommate, Turghun Abduraziq, who hails from neighboring Kashgar prefecture.

Cheng said he had a fantastic winter vacation when he was invited to stay with Turghun Abduraziq's family for more than 40 days. He said he was warmly welcomed, and his friend's mother treated him like her own son.

Cheng said he will return the favor by inviting Turghun Abduraziq to his hometown during the summer vacation.

The college will expand enrollment of students from inland provinces in the future to encourage more Han students and teachers to teach, learn and live alongside Uygur students, said Zhao Ming, secretary of the college's Party committee.
The Guangdong coast guard have seized illicit cigarettes with a market value of over 50 million yuan (about 7.7 million U.S. dollars) and detained 13 suspected smugglers from an unidentified foreign vessel on waters of the Beibu Gulf.

According to the coast guard, officers received a tip-off on Sunday that a vessel carrying smuggled goods was likely to pass through the waters of the Beibu Gulf.

They later noticed a suspicious foreign vessel named MAN FU that was consistently navigating along the margins of China's sea area. They seized the vessel and discovered about 7,583 boxes with more than 300,000 cartons of cigarettes on board, including the brands OX3, OX5 and DUDANG GARAM.

Further investigation is ongoing.
The fathers of two men who were sentenced for capturing and selling endangered falcons turned themselves in on Tuesday for paying bribes to prosecutors, court officials and police officers in hope of getting a retrial for their sons.

Yan Xiaotian, a former college student, was sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison for catching and selling endangered falcon chicks in Henan province. His friend, Wang Yajun, was sentenced to 10 years.

"I know I face imprisonment, but it's all worth it if my son's case can be reopened, because corruption is involved," Yan Aimin, 46, said on Thursday.

The son, who was a student at Zhengzhou Technical College, found the birds in his home village in Huixian, Henan, in July 2014. He and Wang used a ladder to reach 12 chicks. Yan sold 10 of them to buyers from the province.

Later that month, Yan and Wang, found another nest and took four falcons. Police detained them soon afterward. Most of the 16 birds were an endangered species, the Eurasian hobby.

In May 2015, Yan and Wang were sentenced to prison terms by the city court. The two appealed the decision, but it was upheld by a higher court, which also rejected any further trials in the case.

The elder Yan, said he and Wang's father has spent about 40,000 yuan ($6,140) to bribe prosecutors, court officials and police officers in the city who were involved in the case, and about 10,000 yuan was rejected.

"I personally handed 30,000 yuan to a prosecutor who originally asked 50,000 from us," Yan said.

The procuratorate in Xinxiang, which has jurisdiction over Huixian, announced on Wednesday that it listened to Yan and Wang's claim and is investigating the matter.

Xie Tongxiang, a lawyer in Beijing, said that under Chinese criminal procedure law, the court must retry a case if corruption is found during the trial. Bribing officials is a crime, but Yan may receive a light punishment if he is seen as turning himself in.

The case went viral on the internet. Many commenters said the student's sentence was too harsh. Some said the student may not have known the chicks were endangered birds.

But a prosecutor in Huixian defended the sentence, saying Yan had previously bought a crested goshawk online and resold it at a profit.

State guidelines on wildlife infringement cases provide for a 10-year prison term in cases where more than 10 endangered wild animals are captured and sold.

Yan's father said the case needs a new trial not only because corruption is involved but because there are still many questions that were not answered, including how many falcons were actually captured by his son and Wang.
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Shenzhen police said on Friday they have detained 140 suspects in a social media fraud scheme.

Police mounted four operations from May 5 to 12 in Dongguan City and Shenzhen to nab the suspects, who allegedly used social media to commit fraud, Shenzhen police said in a statement.

The suspects, organized as a pyramid scheme, registered WeChat and QQ accounts, sought male victims and swindled their money, it said.

The sum of money taken from the victims has not yet been published. According to police documents, a victim, surnamed Liu, was cheated out of 8,000 yuan (about 1,200 U.S. dollars) after he befriended a stranger through the "shake your phone" function on WeChat.

Liu became emotionally involved with the purported female friend, who later borrowed money but soon disappeared.

Further investigation is under way.
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China said on Thursday that Tokyo's illegal "island" claims encroach on the high seas and the interests of the international community as a whole.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said it is illegal for Japan to claim areas around the Okinotori Atoll as its continental shelf or exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Lu made the remarks in response to reports that during the G7 summit in Japan later this month participants will discuss maritime order based on international law, and Japan recently reiterated that it classed Okinotori as an island, not a collection of rocks.

Lu explained that the atoll, some 1,700 km south of Tokyo, was a group of rocks in the western Pacific Ocean, and less than 10 square meters of the rocks are above sea level at high tide.

According to Article 121 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life cannot have EEZ or continental shelf status.

Lu reminded that in 2012, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf did not accept Japanese claims over the geopolitical classification of Okinotori, nor any continental shelf claims.

Japan now claims about 700,000 square kilometers of sea around the atoll, Lu said, noting that such claims encroach on the high seas and ocean floor under international jurisdiction, and damage the interests of the international community as a whole.

According to the UNCLOS, international seabeds and their resources are the commonly inherited property of mankind.

It is unimaginable that Japan should knowingly break the international law and at the same time try to paint itself as an advocate of rule of law in international maritime affairs to win support at the G7 summit, Lu said.

"This only shows that certain countries are frivolous and hypocritical when they are talking of safeguarding international maritime law, and it will be more absurd if any organization will choose to stand for such behavior," Lu said.
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South Korea's military conducted an artillery exercise in the maritime sea border with Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday, Yonhap reported.

Marine Corps conducted a maritime firing drill on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands for one hour from 4:00 p.m. local time under a scenario in which DPRK has launched fresh military provocations, a military official was quoted as saying.

About 400 artillery rounds were fired from K9 howitzers and the Kooryong multiple rocket launch system into the southern side of the sea demarcation line, according to the military.

The military official said that the exercise is defensive in nature and part of regular trainings, adding that Marine Corps in the training checked up on its readiness posture to retaliate resolutely when DPRK attacked the northwestern islands.

Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong are among a group of South Korean-controlled islands sitting along the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the Yellow Sea. The NLL represents the de facto sea border between the two Koreas.
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Eight people including five soldiers were wounded in an explosion that occurred near a military post in Istanbul on Thursday, Turkish media reported.

A car exploded as a military shuttle bus passed near the compound located in Istanbul's Asian neighborhood of Samandra, the reports said.

Of ten people on board the bus, eight were wounded including five soldiers, the reports said, noting that the vehicle was detonated by a remote control.

The Istanbul governor confirmed that five soldiers were among the injured.

Istanbul has been bracing itself for more terror attacks, as several bombing attacks have hit the metropolis in the past months amid a deteriorating security situation in Turkey.
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Officials of Cuba and the United States are set to meet again next week on normalizing ties, Cuba's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Thursday.

The third session of the Cuba-U.S. Bilateral Commission will take place Monday in Havana, the capital of Cuba, with the focus on improving political and economic ties, Gustavo Machin, the ministry's deputy director for U.S. affairs told reporters.

"We will cover a number of issues we have been able to discuss in the last few months and we will set the agenda for the rest of the year," said Machin.

The two sides continue to have many differences on key matters, such as the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Guantanamo Bay and the lifting of the U.S.-led trade embargo, said the official.

However, less than a year since they formally reopened respective embassies, Havana and Washington have made significant progress in the areas of environmental protection and maritime security, and have resumed postal services and direct flights, he noted.

In the diplomatic and political field, there have been many achievements through the meetings presidents Raul Castro and Barack Obama have held, particularly the visit of Obama to Cuba last March, Machin said.

In the economic field, however, many unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington continue to hamper the normalization of ties, he said.

"Cuba hasn't been able to make financial transactions in U.S. dollars, which means that banks around the world fear dealing with Cuban institutions because of possible sanctions by Washington," said Machin.

One issue that has yet to be discussed is reparations, with Cuba claiming at least 121 billion U.S. dollars in compensation for economic and material losses inflicted by the embargo and acts of terrorism by U.S.-backed anti-government groups.

Washington, in turn, says it should be compensated for U.S.-owned property that was nationalized following Cuba's 1959 Revolution.

"We are not yet negotiating the subject of claims even if there is recognition on both sides that these exist," said Machin.

The third bilateral commission will be led by Josefina Vidal, the ministry's head of U.S. affairs, and Kristie Kenney, counselor for the U.S. State Department.
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The National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, on Thursday rejected a censure motion against the government after the Socialist executive team used a decree to push through controversial labor reform.

The ruling Socialists survived their second no-confidence vote in parliament with 246 lawmakers backed the motion, falling short of the 289 votes needed for victory.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manuel Valls had resorted to a 49-3 decree, to push through the law without parliament vote, because according to him, "It's an essential reform for enterprises and important for workers."
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Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Thursday the two were "totally committed" to cooperation.

"While we were honest about our few difference, we recognize that there are also many important areas of common ground," said Trump and Ryan in a joint statement after their first meeting since Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee.

"We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall, and we are totally committed to working together to achieve that goal," said the statement.

The "very encouraging" meeting with Trump, as described by Ryan here at a press conference, came amid deepened rift between the two after Ryan said last week that he was "not ready" right now to endorse Trump, a candidate famous for his bombastic style and incendiary remarks.

The highest-ranking GOP officeholder's reservations about the party's standard-bearer sent shock waves through the party, and underscored the uphill battle Trump was now facing to repair the fractured GOP in the wake of a chaotic primary season.

Four previous GOP presidential nominees, namely George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney had already announced that they wouldn't attend the GOP National Convention in July when Trump would be formally nominated.

Trump first drew widespread criticism last June when he said in his presidential announcement speech that Mexico was sending "rapists" and drug dealers to the United States. Since that, he had repeatedly vowed, if elected president, to deport about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

In another outburst of emotional remarks, Trump called for a "total and complete" ban on Muslims entering the United States in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015.

Since then, the targets of Trump's insults expanded to include women, African-American protesters, family members of rivals, etc.

According to a list compiled by The New York Times, Trump had insulted on Twitter 210 individuals, places and things since declaring his presidential candidacy last June.

The Times list did not include targets of Trump's insults broadcasted on cable.

Despite the urgency to unite the divided GOP, Trump indicated in his recent interview with the New York Times that he had a "mandate" from his supporters to continue his candidacy as a "fiery populist outsider."

"You win the pennant and now you're in the World Series - you gonna change?" said Trump to The Times. "People like the way I'm doing." Enditem
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Chinese authorities have decided to shut down the country's embassy in Libya amid the worsening conflict in the country.

The announcement, made via the foreign ministry's official Weibo account, is also warning against Chinese nationals visiting Libya.

In announcing the temporary closure of the Chinese embassy, the Foreign Ministry says it will still maintain some officials in the country in case of emergencies.

The Chinese embassy in Libya will be shut down until at least November.
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The Brazilian President, Dilma Rousseff (C), greets her supporters during her departure from the Planalto Palace, in Brasilia, capital of Brazil, on May 12, 2016. The Brazilian Senate Thursday voted to continue the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office for 180 days. [Xinhua]

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who was suspended Thursday to face an impeachment trial, warned that the impeachment movement threatened key government welfare programs and recently-discovered deep-sea oil deposits.

The legislature's decision to put her on trial, effectively preventing her from governing for what could be the next six months, targets more than the presidential office, Rousseff said in a televised speech to the nation.

"I want to address the entire population to say that the coup is not just aimed at ousting me," Rousseff said from the presidential headquarters of Planalto in the capital of Brasilia, calling the trial as an attempt to seize power.

"By ousting me, they want to prevent the implementation of the (national) program that was elected by a majority of Brazilians," said Rousseff, who was re-elected to a second term in 2014.

"What is at stake is respect for the independent will of the Brazilian people and the Constitution, and for the achievements of the past 13 years" under the leadership of the Workers' Party, said Rousseff, flanked by her cabinet and political allies.

"What is at stake is Brazil's great discovery, the pre-salt (oil deposits); what is at stake is the future of Brazil," she added.

The Workers' Party spearheaded landmark social programs that were recognized by the United Nations and other international agencies. And it was during her administration that Brazil announced discovery of substantial oil deposits under deep layers of salt below the ocean floor.

Following a special Senate session that began early Wednesday and lasted nearly 22 hours, lawmakers voted to try Rousseff for inflating fiscal accounts in the lead-up to presidential elections that saw her reelected to a second term.

Rousseff has denied any wrongdoing, and vowed to fight to complete her term.

"On behalf of the votes I received, I will fight with all legal means to conclude my mandate on Dec. 31, 2018," said Rousseff, who won the votes of some 54 million Brazilians in the election, but failed to secure a decisive lead over her conservative rival.

Since the bitterly disputed October 2014 contest, the opposition has instigated political instability "to take by force what they failed to win at the polls," she said.

She called on supporters of her government to maintain a united front against what she called the illegitimate interim government that will take her place.

Vice President Michel Temer, who was made acting president Thursday, unveiled a new cabinet and is expected to announce spending cuts and pro-business measures to revert an economic slowdown.

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French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Thursday announced that 1,000 people have been arrested since March, after renewed nationwide rallies against proposed reform turned violent.

Addressing the Senate, Cazeneuve said riot police arrested 1,000 of trouble makers during the different actions against labor reform which began in March with "hundreds of individuals have been or will be judged."

He added that 300 police officers have been wounded during violent standoff with a group of "breakers."

Earlier on Thursday, violent clashes were reported across French cities where thousands of people voiced their opposition to loosen labor rules.

In Toulouse, southwestern France nine people were arrested following clashes with police. Six others in Nantes, west France and at least two in Paris were also arrested, according to police.

"There is no complacency. There is a total government's firmness and determination to not let these groups acting," Cazeneuve said.
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A biochemical leak near a Stockholm hospital on Thursday injured 11 as around 500 people were force to vacate an office building, local media reported.

Staff at the medical company Sci Life Lab near Karolinska University Hospital reported the leak at noon before police cordoned off the area for about three hours, public broadcaster Swedish Television reported.

"An unknown person spilled or threw the substance into a janitor's waste bin," police spokesperson Albin Naverberg told the channel.

The 11 victims who inhaled the chemicals experienced dizzy spells and facial numbness, although none had to be taken to hospital, Naveberg said.

"There has been a strong chemical smell on a couple of floors, but we do not know what it is," said Erik Malm, a security coordinator at Sci Life Lab, told the news agency TT.

In the late afternoon, rescue services said the leaked substance was likely a cleaning detergent of some kind.

"This is not a regular detergent used in people's homes, but much stronger stuff since this is a laboratory," Jonas Frojmark, head of the rescue mission, told Swedish Television.
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Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer on Thursday signed a Senate notice promoting him to acting president, after lawmakers voted to open impeachment proceedings against suspended President Dilma Rousseff.

Senate speaker Renan Calheiros issued the notice giving Temer the authority to serve as acting president for the duration of the impeachment trial, which can take a maximum of six months.

The Senate voted in the early hours of Thursday to try Rousseff for inflating fiscal accounts in the lead up to presidential elections that saw her reelected to a second term.

Many Brazilians feel the campaign to impeach Rousseff and oust her left-leaning ruling Workers' Party (PT) is politically driven by the conservative opposition, which lost the elections by a slim margin.

Brazil's political crisis will see Rousseff more than simply sidelined from the day-to-day affairs of government for the duration of the trial.

Temer, a member of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), on Thursday signalled the country is under entirely new leadership by unveiling his handpicked cabinet. Largely comprised of members of his own party, it also includes members of Brazil's right-wing The Democrats (DEM) and the center-right Brazilian Labour Party (PTB).
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A group of young Chinese Americans has launched an online campaign to support Donald Trump's campaign to become the next U.S. president. On May 4, they hold an offline meeting in Los Angeles and lay out the group's objectives. [Sina.com.cn]

A group of young Chinese Americans has launched an online campaign to support Donald Trump's campaign to become the next U.S. president.

More than 500 Chinese descendants in the United States have joined in the pro-Trump group on the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat.

On May 4, they held an offline meeting in Los Angeles and laid out the group's objectives, including supporting Trump in all activities.

"I'm planning a meeting for all Chinese-Americans supporting Trump in two months. I plan to invite Trump to give us a speech," said the group's founder Wang Tian.

Wang has been fascinated by Trump ever since he spent five hours watching the latter's speeches on YouTube. "It suddenly came to me that this guy is trustworthy because he makes no secret of his feelings," Wang said.

Trump's supporters are a small but significant minority of the American Chinese community. For the past 20 years, first generation Chinese-Americans have preferred the Democratic Party, but the Republican Party has become increasingly popular among young Chinese-Americans.

"[The first-generation] Chinese-Americans were mostly poor, so they were more in favor of the Democratic Party, as it could give them more social welfare," Wang said. "But this shouldn't be our American dream. The Chinese-Americans should make successes in business. We should be more active in politics. We should be a part of mainstream society."

Trump has given many critical speeches on China, but none of them are seen to be offensive to the pro-Trump Chinese-Americans. They firmly believe that as a businessman-turned-politician, Trump has been using China as a punching bag and would maintain U.S.-China relationships if elected.
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Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016 [Photo/China.org.cn]

The Anti-Corruption Summit 2016 is an attempt to bring together world leaders to jointly tackle corruption, and to talk about corporate secrecy, government transparency, the enforcement of international anti-corruption laws, and the strengthening of international institutions.

Corruption costs the world trillions of dollars, and contributes to crime and terrorism. As covered in the opening session of the summit, corruption leads to governments losing money to educate its people, provide healthcare, and crucial infrastructure. Corrupt practices such as money laundering also fund terrorist organizations and organized crimes.

In the opening plenary, British PM David Cameron described corruption as a "cancer" that the international community should work together to solve.

Measures to combat this "cancer" include transparent sharing of tax and ownership information between governments and institutions, and returning assets to their rightful countries.

Also at the opening plenary were U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, and World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim.

"When it comes to tackling corruption, the international community has unfortunately looked the other way for far too long," President Buhari told officials at the Summit in Lancaster House, London. "We need to step up and tackle this evil. This charge sums up why we are here today."

Buhari later urged the international community to come up with mechanisms to get rid of safe-havens and to work towards the return of stolen funds and assets to their rightful countries.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said that the joint efforts of global leaders are needed now especially because of "radical transparency."

"Whether we like it or not, hackers are going to expose more and more. " Kim said.

Kerry said in his speech that corruption funds crime and terrorism, and deprives children of education, takes money away from important infrastructure, and affects healthcare systems.

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Brazilian interim President Michel Temer pledged on Thursday to renew economic growth and cut unnecessary public posts, denying charges that he would cut government social programs.

In his first speech as acting president, the former vice president voiced the urgency of creating a government of "national salvation" so that "we can overcome the serious crisis that we are in."

Temer spoke at the presidential headquarters of Planalto, just minutes after President Dilma Rousseff vacated the offices after lawmakers voted to put her on trial for allegedly misrepresenting public finances.

Surrounded by his new cabinet and other officials, Temer noted that dialogue was the first step towards facing the challenges and guaranteeing renewed economic growth.

"Nobody has the best way to go about making the reforms that are needed (but) the government, the parliament, society ... together we will find a way," he said.

Temer said that he wanted to boost public-private sector agreement to "generate employment in the country," and to make reforms.

Temer highlighted the need to rescue Brazil's credibility in the international market "so that entrepreneurs and workers become enthusiastic and invest and employ once again in Brazil."

Temer, who had been the South American country's vice president for the last five years, also denied charges from Rousseff's Workers' Party and its allies that he would cut government social programs.

"We all know that Brazil is a poor country and I confirm, with capital letters, that we will keep the social programs .... They are projects that were successful and for that reason they will have improved management," Temer said.

He added that he wanted to put a stop to "the habit that each new government has of destroying what was previously done. You have to honor what was done well and improve it."

"We have already got rid of several ministries in the government and we will not stop there," he said, adding his government was looking to cut unnecessary public posts.

Temer also said that the Carwash Operation, an investigation into alleged corruption within the government-run oil company Petrobras, "should be protected."
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This satellite image shows the Yongshu Jiao of China's Nansha Islands. [Photo/Xinhua]

The South China Sea issue has become one of the major irritants in the China-US relations in recent years, over which the public opinion in the two countries is very critical of each other. There are even frictions in the sea between the two navies. The South China Sea seems like an outlet for the rivalry and confrontation that are building up of late between China and the US. As a result, the two sides seem to be reassessing each other's intentions on a strategic level. The latest rhetoric is about "militarizing the South China Sea", and on the part of the US, announcements to carry out "freedom of navigation operational assertions".

Hawkish voices are growing louder in both sides of the Pacific. Such frictions surrounding the South China Sea are leading to further strategic mistrust and hostility. The American scholar David M. Lampton was straightforward when he observed worriedly in reference to the existing situation, "A tipping point in the U.S.-China relations is upon us". It is obvious that the South China Sea issue is a major catalyst for the troubled China-US relations, if not the key contributing factor.

Opinions diverge in both countries on what has led to the current situation in the South China Sea. In China, it is widely believed that it is the US's Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy, its taking sides on disputes in the South China Sea, and its direct intervention that have escalated the tensions and made the issue more complicated.

In the US, accusations are strident of China's defiance of international law, coercion of smaller neighbors by force and attempted denial of access to the US, in its bid to gradually take control of the South China Sea using a salami-slicing strategy and to eventually turn it into a Chinese lake.

It is obvious from the incidents and events that have unfolded in the South China Sea over the years that all disputes are centered on sovereignty and rights over the Nansha Islands and their surrounding waters. In fact, such disputes were not uncommon in third world countries in modern history, including during the Cold War era. But the discovery of abundant oil reserves in the Nansha waters in the late 1960s and the introduction of international arrangements concerning the EEZs or the continental shelf, such as the Convention on the Continental Shelf and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, provided fresh incentives for other claimants to covet and grab China's Nansha Islands.

The disputes then spilled from those islands and reefs to wider maritime areas, but without spinning out of control. A good proof was the "golden era" of the China-ASEAN relations from 1991 to the end of 2010, during which bilateral cooperation flourished and trade ballooned nearly 37 times, from no more than $8 billion to $300 billion. During this period, China's GDP rose rapidly, and most Southeast Asian economies expanded more than five-fold.

Tensions started to build up in 2009 and have escalated since 2012. How have things festered against a backdrop of peace of development, and following a sustained period of regional cooperation? It is obvious that no single event or cause could have escalated and changed the situation in the region. So it is worth examining the incidents and behavior that have happened, the reactions they triggered, and the consequences incurred, in the leading up to the current state of affairs.

This article provides an overview of the chain of events contributing to the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, as well as the context in which they occurred and potential connections they have. It is hoped this article will help those concerned about the disputes see the bigger picture and get to the heart of why things have happened that way. It also serves as a warning against further deepening of misunderstanding and spiraling of tensions for all countries concerned.
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A commander in the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah group was killed on Friday, when a powerful blast shook one of the group's positions near the International Airport of Damascus, Hezbollah said in a statement sent to Xinhua.

"A big explosion targeted one of our positions near the International Airport of Damascus, which led to the martyrdom of our brother, commander Mustafa Badreddine, otherwise known as Sayyed Thu al-Faqar," Hezbollah said.

Badreddine was a military leader of Hezbollah. He was the cousin and brother-in-law of late Imad Mugniyah, a high-ranking Hezbollah commander, who was killed in Damascus by an explosion that targeted him while leaving home in Kafar-Suseh district in 2008. Hezbollah then accused Israel of being behind the blast.

Badreddine had held several positions in Hezbollah and was tasked with many operations abroad. As the group started fighting the Jihadi groups in Syria alongside the Syrian government forces, Badreddine was among those operating in Syria.

Investigation will be carried out to identify the nature of the explosion and whether it was a result of aerial bombardment, a rocket or artillery fire, said the statement.

Meanwhile, according to the pro-government Radio Sham FM and a reporter from Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, the explosion was caused by an Israeli strike near Damascus airport.
In July of last year, the majorityof temples and churches in Pingyang County, Zhejiang received notices pressuringthem to destroy their crosses. For this reason, Zhang Chongzhu, the pastor ofPingyang Christian Church, sent out an invitation to the outside world, hopingChristians would go to Pingyang County and stand in a circle and watchcrosses being demolished. At that time, Zhang Chongzhu had previously explainedduring an interview with this radio station that the local authorities hadsecurity in the knowledge that their act of forcibly demolishing crosses had[government] backing, and that he sent out the invitation for lack of a better,more reliable option, hoping that this could be used to attract the attentionof the outside world, and cause authorities to exercise restraint. In August oflast year, Zhang Chongzhu was arrested along with many other pastors anddeacons. After that, though the majority of the people have been released, andZhang Chongzhu has continued to be detained to this day. (Editor: Shi Shan)
Zhang Chongzhu

(Photo: China Aid)

China Aid

By Brynne Lawrence

(Wenzhou, ZhejiangMay 9, 2016) The pastor of a state-run church in Chinas coastal Zhejiang province was released at noon today after an eight-month detention.

Authorities took Zhang Chongzhu, the pastor of Pyongyang Three-Self Patriotic Movement Church into custody on Sept. 8, 2015, after he spent most of the year resisting a government-backed cross demolition campaign and charged him with stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to entities outside China.

This same charge was given to Zhang Kai, a human rights lawyer who legally defended churches affected by demolition efforts. Both men had been scheduled to meet with the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom, David Saperstein, causing members of Zhang Chongzhus church to suspect a correlation between this meeting and his detention.

China Aid will continue to update this case as more information becomes available.

China Aid reports on cases such as that of Zhang Chongzhu in order to expose abuses and promote religious freedom and rule of law in China.

China Aid Contacts

Rachel Ritchie, English Media Director

Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.chinaaid.org
Containers are unloaded at ECT's newly-built Euromax Container Terminal in the Europort in Rotterdam. [Photo/Agencies] Firm hopes to cash in on trade from Silk Road Economic Belt

COSCO Pacific Ltd, a subsidiary of China COSCO Shipping Corp, has signed a share sale and purchase agreement to buy 35 percent of Euromax Terminal in Rotterdam from a subsidiary of Hutchison Holdings Ltd.

The acquisition comprises of 41.43 million euros ($47.34 million) for 35 percent of the share capital of Euromax and to pay for assignment on a dollar-for-dollar basis of 35 percent of the shareholder's loan, COSCO Shipping announced on Thursday.

ECT Participations BV is a subsidiary of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Port Holdings Ltd, which is a private holding company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and manages port assets in 25 countries and regions.

Euromax is principally engaged in the operation of Euromax Terminal Rotterdam, which is located at the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

It is an automatic container terminal which commenced operation in mid-2010. The terminal has an annual handling capacity of 3.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units. Throughput at the terminal totaled 2.28 million TEUs in 2015.

Xu Lirong, chairman of COSCO Shipping, said Rotterdam is situated at the end point in Europe of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the new Asia-Europe economic corridor. Based on medium to long-term development trends, the Port of Rotterdam will continue to be Europe's main hub.

The Port of Rotterdam has been the base port of COSCO Shipping in northwestern Europe for more than a decade. It is located at the junction of the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and ocean-going 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. These two trading routes cover about 4.4 billion people in Asia, Europe and Africa.

"COSCO Shipping will continue to deploy ultra-large container vessels to the European route, and the Port of Rotterdam will be the main anchor hub in the region," said Xu.

The company sealed a deal to purchase a majority stake in the Greece's biggest harborPiraeus Port in April, a move that would give the shipper control over one of the country's key thoroughfares into Europe.
A citizen selects melon at a supermarket in Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei province, May 9, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China was the most promising consumer market in Asia in 2015, and will probably remain so in the next four years, according to a Bloomberg report released Thursday.

"Even as China's economy slows and its population ages, it appears set to remain the most attractive Asian market for retailers in the years ahead," said Bloomberg economists in "Insight: Asia retail forecasts show China market to stay No. 1."

The report said the Asia-Pacific region accounted for just under a third of Apple's revenue, and more than half of the revenue of Yum! Brands, operator of fast food chains including KFC and Pizza Hut, in 2015.

"Asian consumers have shifted from bit-part players in the drama of global demand to a leading role," it said.

In ranking of the most promising consumer markets in 2015 by Bloomberg Intelligence Economics, China, Japan and India came first, second and third.

"For China and India, that reflects their massive young populations and large economies," the report said.

Following India were Australia, the Republic of Korea and Malaysia. Pakistan and Bangladesh ranked at the bottom of the list.

Using GDP and GDP per capita forecasts from the International Monetary Fund, and demographic forecasts from the United Nations, it's possible to project the ranking scores forward to 2020, the report said.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, slowing further from the previous quarter but better than many had feared.

And foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland continued to rise in the first four months of this year, official data showed earlier this week.

FDI, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 4.8 percent year on year to 286.78 billion yuan ($45.3 billion) in the January-April period.

China will encourage an overhaul of its consumer goods industry to meet the needs of increasingly picky buyers, according to a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting Wednesday.
A Chow Tai Fook Jewelry Group Ltd employee talks with a customer in a store in Hong Kong. [Photo/Agencies]

China's gold jewelry sellers are facing new challenges as young gold buyers are seeking out fresh and modern takes on jewelry designs, coupled with a declining gold consumption in the first quarter, officials said on Thursday.

"The post 90s (generation) will become the main buyers for gold jewelry in the next decade, and they have a different view of investing in such expensive items," Wang Lixin, general manager of the World Gold Council, told China Daily. "Unlike older generations, they prefer jewelry that can represent themselves, something customized and personalized."

China is the world's fastest-growing market for gold jewelry, driven by an expanding and affluent middle class, who believe the precious metal can bring in good luck and fortune.

But the shifting trend is posing challenges to the country's gold industry from designers to producers and dealers, who will be forced to roll out more items with distinctive designs, he said.

"As a Chinese tradition, gold jewelry sets are used for weddings, but for younger generations, I'm not sure whether they would like to keep that tradition," Wang said.

From January to March, gold demand in the world's biggest gold market dropped 12 percent year-on-year to 241.3 tons due to a fall in the sales of gold jewelry, which accounts for more than 60 percent of the total gold consumption, a WGC report said.

The consumption of gold jewelry fell to 179 tons, down 17 percent from a year earlier, while gold investment such as on gold bars and coins increased 5 percent to 62 tons, it said.

Experts said jewelry sales fell as gold buyers adopted a "wait and see" approach on higher prices, as the international gold price hit the 15-month high to $1,300 per ounce this month.

Wang said the slowing economic growth is also part of the reason for the decrease, expecting the country's gold consumption to be flat at between 900 and 1,000 tons this year.

Zhu Zhigang, senior analyst and vice-president of the gold association in Guangdong province, said that despite difficulties and challenges, the market for gold jewelry will recover as gold companies are adjusting their strategies and marketing campaigns.

The gloomy capital market is also driving investors into the gold market, as it is seen as a safe haven by investors, he said.

At the same time, global gold demand jumped 21 percent to stand at 1,290 tons in the first quarter compared to the previous year, making it the second-largest quarter on record, the WGC said.
Mainland tourists are seen with luxury brand shopping bags in Hong Kong, China, May 17, 2011.[Photo/IC]

GUANGZHOU - Four Chinese cities have made the list of world's top ten favorite destinations for luxury retailers, according to a report released on Thursday.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Taipei have joined London, Paris and New York as global luxury retailers' most favorable cities, the report from real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) found.

The four Chinese cities, along with Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, and city-state Singapore, made the Asia-Pacific region the best place for luxury retailers to reach out to increasingly affluent consumers.

The consultancy expects a surge in the number of high-income families across Asia over the next 15 years, a trend that will put the region at the heart of global luxury consumption.

Hong Kong ranks second for luxury retailers after London and followed by Paris. Despite China's slowing economy and the continued anti-corruption campaign, luxury retailers still see Hong Kong as a gateway to the China market and a popular destination for high-spending tourists from the Chinese mainland, JLL said.
BEIJING - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to beef up industrial capacity cooperation with Morocco when meeting with King Mohammed VI in Beijing on Thursday.

The Chinese government supports Chinese companies taking part in the infrastructure construction and industrialization in Morocco, he said, suggesting cooperation in the areas of industrial parks, high-speed railways and renewable energy.

China will step up efforts to transfer applicable technology and train technical and managerial personnel for Morocco, in a bid to enhance the self-development capacity of the country, said Li.

He expressed hope that the two sides would concentrate on several demonstrative cooperative projects, so as to boost common development and prosperity.

Li said he appreciated King Mohammed VI's decision granting Chinese citizens visa-free access from June 1 this year, stressing that China is willing to work with Morocco to facilitate people-to-people exchanges between the two sides.

King Mohammed VI said Morocco appreciates China's achievements in development and the strong measures it has taken to address climate change.

He spoke highly of China's policy towards Africa and China's proposition of non-interference in internal affairs of other countries as well as peaceful settlement of disputes.

Morocco hopes to cooperate more with China in infrastructure building, high-speed railways and green industries and expand people-to-people exchanges, said the King.

Top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang also met with the King on Thursday.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), called on the two sides to boost cooperation by implementing the ten China-Africa cooperation plans and jointly advancing the Belt and Road initiative.

The NPC is ready to expand friendly exchanges and enhance legislative cooperation with Morocco's parliament, so as to provide legal guarantees for bilateral political, economic and cultural exchanges, said Zhang.

King Mohammed VI started his state visit to China on Wednesday.
Tourists on Phuket Island, Thailand, enjoy unspoiled scenery. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The latest data released by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) shows that China's revenue from international tourism in 2015 amounted to $11.4 billion, taking Spain's former ranking as second in the world. The US remains first with $17.8 billion.

As for spending and visits to overseas countries, China ranks first in the world, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The spending of Chinese tourists abroad witnessed a year-on-year increase of 25 percent, reaching $292 billion, followed by the US ($120 billion), Germany ($76 billion) and the UK ($63 billion). The number of Chinese people traveling abroad grew 10 percent overall and totaled 128 million, the data showed.

Global revenue from tourism in 2015 rose 3.6 percent, amounting to $1.4 trillion with an average daily spending of $4 billion per day. The number of international tourists increased 4.4 percent to reach 1.2 trillion.

The growth rate of tourism worldwide has exceeded that of merchandise trade for four consecutive years. The tourism industry accounted for 7 percent of world exports and 30 percent of exported services in 2015.
A female Chinese worker processes a steel product at a plant in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, April 1, 2016. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - China's bloated steel industry saw a profit turnaround in March, Xinhua-run newspaper Economic Information Daily reported Friday, but the momentum is unlikely to sustain due to a persistent mismatch between supply and demand.

China's large and medium-sized steel producers reported 2.7 billion yuan ($415.4 million) in profits in March, ending a 15-month losing streak, the paper quoted unnamed authorities as saying.

The unexpected improvement was largely due to recovering steel prices on the back of a pick-up in infrastructure and property projects, as well as elevated speculation in the steel futures market, which analysts said would be unsustainable.

Steel makers have been in deep water over the past few years as a result of shrinking demand and excessive capacity built up during decades of rapid expansion.

"Steel demand only improved slightly. There is no strong rebound," said Xu Xiangchun, an analyst with industry information provider mysteel.com. He predicted steel prices had peaked in April.

China's over-supplied steel sector experienced years of plunging prices and factory shutdowns due to the sluggish economy. However, with encouragement from an upward trend in prices in March, many steel mills are resuming production, challenging government efforts to cut overcapacity in the industry.

At a press conference on Thursday, Zhao Chenxin, spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), pointed out that the price surge will only mildly disturb the de-stocking efforts, and the price increase will be short-lived.
Electricity-powered cars from the BAIC Motor Corporation Ltd are on display at the 15th Qingdao International Auto Show 2016 held in the coastal city of Shandong province on May 11. [Photo by Wang Haibin/China.com.cn]

The 15th Qingdao International Auto Show 2016 is being held in the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province from May 11 to 16. More than 1,100 cars are displayed, and over 50 of them make their debut during the show. Well-known international name brands include BMW, Bentley SUV Bentaga, Jaguar F-PACE and Lincoln Continental, while domestic ones include Roewe RX5, Refine M5 and IEV6S. The six-day event provides a wonderful opportunity for car enthusiasts.
Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei attended a forum in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2012.

Telecom equipment giant has focused on core business for 28 years, says its chief

Ren Zhengfei, one of the best-known and richest tech tycoons in the world, is a modest man.

The 71-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was recently spotted standing in a long taxi queue at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, with no chauffeurs, subordinates, and bodyguards about, who would presumably befit a man of his status.

By now, his Shenzhen-based company has grown into the world's leading telecom equipment maker that boasts a yearly revenue of 395 billion yuan ($60 billion) and a business presence in Europe, Africa, Asia and other regions.

Looking back across Huawei's development path that started 28 years ago in a shack with an initial investment of 21,000 yuan, Ren says focusing on one thing is his secret to success. "Our goal is to blaze a trail into No Man's Land in the telecom industry."

Recently, he talked to Xinhua News Agency about his business strategy, his views on innovation and Huawei's journey to a "No Man's Land". The following are edited excerpts of the interview.

Huawei has achieved robust growth despite the global economic slowdown. Why?

Firstly, Huawei has benefited a lot from the nation's political changes and Shenzhen's favorable policies. Without the reform and opening-up policy, Huawei would not have thrived.

Without the local government's efforts to clarify the ownership of private enterprises in 1987, we would not have created Huawei.

As Huawei grew up, we felt the tax burden was too heavy and lots of my colleagues proposed giving up. Then the Shenzhen government said it would not levy taxes on investments until companies managed to make profits. The policy greatly facilitated Huawei's efforts to scale up.

Secondly, we have been focusing on the telecom sector for 28 years. Back when we had just dozens of employees, we were targeting the telecom sector.

When we evolved into a company with hundreds of or even thousands of people, we were still focusing on the same thing. And this remains the same case when we currently have more than 100,000 employees. We are targeting it with "intensive bombardment".

Every year, we invest more than 100 billion yuan ($15 billion) into the telecom sector, with about 60 billion yuan on research and development, and 50 to 60 billion yuan going to marketing services.

Eventually, Huawei became a world leader in the area of big data transmission. And we propose establishing an open win-win framework, under which thousands of enterprises can work together to build the information society.

Thirdly, Huawei keeps on transforming itself by learning western corporate structures and management philosophies.

After spending 28 years on learning from the West, we have yet to go through the whole process.

But compared with some other companies, we are doing better in management.

However, we still have 20,000 more management personnel than Ericsson and $4 billion more annual management fees. Thus, we will keep optimizing the corporate structure and improving efficiency.

Every year Huawei spends more than $100 million inviting IBM's consultant team to help manage the company, why such a big investment?

You know what? A retired director of Toyota Motor Corp has worked at our company for 10 years, in charge of a senior management team.

A group of German engineers also spent more than a decade in Huawei to standardize and improve our production procedures.

Starting from producing products worth about 10,000 yuan, we moved up the value chain to make products worth tens of billions of dollars to hundreds of billions of dollars. With their help, Huawei is making steady progress, so every year we are spending more than $100 million on consulting fees.

When we started venturing into overseas markets, we knew nothing and had no idea of what project delivery was. We asked engineering consultants all around the world to help us. The first step was to study conscientiously so as to graduate toward a standardized management structure. Now we are making one step further, aiming to make things simpler and better by ourselves.

Does Huawei have any weak points?

Yes, we do. We almost collapsed 3 years ago. Because employees were rich and averse to take hardships. We were unable to send employees overseas. Everybody wanted to purchase a house in Beijing, and to be with their family.

Everyone wanted to stay in a good place. We asked ourselves: "Why not enhance front line employees' welfare?" We made sure that standards for our "generals" in Africa were more favorable than for employees in Beijing and Shanghai. In Africa, young employees could soon become "generals". When they were qualified, they could take salaries commensurate with a "general". Now our African employees do not even want to come back.

Huawei's growth coincides with a boom in China's real estate market. Have you ever considered branching into that sector?

Never. We did not buy any stocks or engage in any real estate business.

Have you ever been tempted?

No. Once there was a stock trading place downstairs. Huge crowds of people bought stocks there. But upstairs, our employees were as calm as water, working on our products. We focused on doing one thing, leading the team in a charge up into the telecom sector.

Why does Huawei not consider a listing on the stock market?

We do not care for earnings and profits that much. We fight for our ideas and goals. Sticking to our dream is very difficult, and there are a lot of sacrifices.

If Huawei is listed, shareholders may pressure us to branch into more sectors so they can put into their pockets several more billion yuan.

Then we would be unable to blaze a new trail into 'No Man's Land'.

You are optimistic about Huawei's future. But you also worry that Huawei may be the next one to collapse. Why?

Two reasons. Firstly, our employees can become slack. Currently we are expanding very fast but will we become lazy after such a rapid growth? We need to pay close attention to our weakness.

Secondly, China needs to beef up efforts to protect intellectual property. Physical properties are already protected by laws. Intellectual properties deserve at least equal protection. Only when a country protects intellectual property, can we have innovation.

What do you think about innovation in China?
An Apple store is seen in Los Angeles, California, United States, April 22, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

China's largest ride-hailing application Didi Chuxing said on Friday that it has received $ 1 billion in strategic investment from US tech giant Apple Inc.

The investment from Apple is the single largest investment Didi has ever received. Apple is among a group of Chinese and international institutions that are bankrolling Didi's ambitious expansion plan in its latest fundraising round.

Through this investment, Apple has become a strategic investor in Didi, and joins Tencent, Alibaba and other key supporters to help further Didi's mission of building a data-driven ride-sharing platform to serve hundreds of millions of Chinese drivers and passengers.

Cheng Wei, founder and CEO of Didi, said: "The endorsement from Apple is an enormous encouragement and inspiration for our four-year-old company. Didi will work hard with our drivers, riders and global partners, to make available to every citizen flexible and reliable mobility choices, and help cities solve transportation, environmental and employment challenges."

"Didi exemplifies the innovation taking place in the iOS developer community in China," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "We are extremely impressed by the business they've built and their excellent leadership team, and we look forward to supporting them as they grow."

Building on its data mining and analysis capabilities, Didi said in a statement on Friday that it records over 11 million rides a day on its platform, serving close to 300 million users across over 400 Chinese cities with a diverse range of mobile technology-based transportation options.
Shanghai Disneyland holds a parade for visitors on Wednesday during a trial run before the amusement park opens to the general public on June 16.[Photo/Xinhua]

Visitors can't take the souvenir balloons they purchased at Shanghai Disneyland on the metro train when they leavethat's one of the bugs discovered during the trial run of the 389.7-hectare park.

Shanghai Disneyland, Walt Disney Co's sixth theme park and its first on the Chinese mainland, has been open to employees, partners and stakeholders since Sunday to iron out the kinks.

And there have been complaints, including insufficient communication between the metro authority and the park, high food prices, and security checks regarded as too tight at the metro line linking the city and park.

Visitors had to discard their 60 yuan ($9) Mickey Mouseor othersouvenir balloons before they could board the subway leaving the park.

Metro security staff members said the balloons, especially the hydrogen-filled ones, could cause explosions and disrupt the operation of the trains.

"Some passengers argued when we didn't let them take their Disney-themed balloons into the station, but we don't have any choice. The store should warn customers when they buy them," said a metro station policeman who declined to give his name.

Shanghai's Disney Resort Metro Station requires passengers to have all of their bags and even purses scanned before they can board the train.

At other city metro stations, only large luggage and bags are scanned.

"We've been told by the city's Public Security Bureau to scan all bags," the police officer said.

He also said that the heightened security has raised the risk of theft as crowds gather at the checkpoint with their bags.

Another complaint during the trial run has been about high food costs. Most dinners cost at least 70 yuan, for a main course and beverage, and they look nothing like their beautiful photos representations at the park.

"Dining and accommodation prices are almost the same as at other Disney theme parks, but our incomes can't compare with those in developed countries like the US and Japan," said Sunny Sun, a Shanghai resident who visited Shanghai Disney Resort with her family.

Shanghai Disney Resort said nearly everyone told them they "had an excellent experience" at the theme park.
China's first deep-sea research center is the latest attempt to protect the ecology of the Nansha Islands, observers said.

The center, which officially began operations on Tuesday, is also an essential step for China to build itself into a maritime power, they said.

The Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, located in Sanya, Hainan province, will focus on research beyond depths of 6,500 meters, known as the hadal zone. This a new field of study for Chinese engineering.

"Mankind has entered an era of marine resource development, but a lot of research and ecological evaluation is required before exploiting the resources," said Cui Weicheng, a professor at the Hadal Science and Technology Research Center at Shanghai Ocean University.

Among the reasons that the institute's research will be significant, Cui said, is that in order to protect the ecology of the Nansha Islands, statistics collected from deep-sea research will be needed to assess possible models for exploiting resources.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei previously dismissed claims that China's activities on the Nansha Islands are harmful to the marine environment.

"As owner of the Nansha Islands, China cares about protecting the ecological environment of the islands, reefs and water more than any other country, organization or people in the world," Hong said. China's activities on the Nansha Islands strictly follow the principle of conducting green projects and building ecological islands and reefs, he added.

Xu Liping, a senior researcher of Southeast Asia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the operation of the research center comes at a time when deep-sea study is urgently needed.

"Development and cooperation in the South China Sea will be the mainstream in the future," he said.

The institute also takes China further along the path to joining the leading players in deep-sea studies, experts said.

Only when a country is engaged in this field, which is the cutting edge of ocean science, can it qualify as a maritime power, Cui said.

Chen Qinghong, a researcher of South China Sea issues at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said, "Deep-sea research benefits all human beings, and it reflects a country's comprehensive strength."
As a growing maritime power, China is increasingly paying attention to the prevention of ocean disasters, an official said on Thursday.

"Building a strong maritime power is based on preventing disasters and reducing damage," said Liu Cigui, governor of Hainan province.

Liu spoke on China's Disaster Prevention and Reducing Damage Day, which fell on Thursday, the anniversary of the earthquake that hit Sichuan in 2008 and killed more than 80,000 people.

As an island province, Hainan is greatly affected by maritime disasters, Liu said, adding that Typhoon Wilson that hit the island in 2014 killed more than 60 people and caused huge financial losses.

China established Sansha city in 2012, with its government seat on Yongxing Island, to administer the Xisha, Zongsha and Nansha islands and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea.

In 2013, the country launched the Belt and Road Initiative.

"All of those projects depend on a safe maritime environment," said Liu. "Hainan, as a service provider and rescue base, has the responsibility to prevent disasters and reduce damage."

Luo Peishi, deputy director of a maritime environment monitoring station in Sanya, said that monitoring and forecasting are getting more important. "The best way of reducing damage is being well prepared before disasters happen," he said.
An elderly man in central China's Henan province was irritated when the bus he usually takes pulled over sporting a sign saying "women only".

Since late April, the bus company in Zhengzhou has operated summer buses reserved for female passengers during rush hours. The buses are part of an effort to reduce sexual harassment during the summer, when women often wear skimpier clothing, and to make breast-feeding mothers more comfortable, according to Kong Chaoping, a representative of the company.

But Liu Tianhao, a male passenger, worried that "segregation" of passengers based on gender could lead to even greater negative impacts and a waste of social resources.

"It's discrimination against men to presume all of us are sexual harassers," a micro-blogger said on his Weibo account.

Public spaces designated for women have become increasingly visible in Chinese cities.

In Shanghai, four unusually large parking spots painted pink appeared at an office building, and an intercom system for emergency calls was installed.

Despite a warm welcome from some women's groups, others expressed dissatisfaction on social media.

Li Yinhe, a well-known Chinese sociologist and sexologist, said the suggestion 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. Still, giving women priority in certain circumstances is justified, Yang added.
The Baidu logo outside the company's headquarters in Beijing. Greg Baker / Agence France Presse

The nation's health authorities will establish a family doctor system to guarantee early response and accurate information for patients. Shan Juan reports.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission, China's top health authority, is formulating plans to establish a family doctor system to ensure a well-organized and orderly healthcare environment.

The move comes after the news that a 21-year-old computer science student with cancer died after undergoing an experimental cancer therapy that was heavily promoted by Baidu, China's leading internet search engine.

Wei Zexi, from Shaanxi province, who died on April 12, had synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft tissue. He paid 200,000 yuan ($31,000) for four courses of immunotherapy at the biomedical center of the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps, a military hospital that had outsourced the work to private service providers.

Although there is no suggestion that Wei's death was caused or accelerated by the treatment, it was later revealed to be an experimental process that had not be cleared for clinical use.

In a message posted online shortly before his death, Wei said he chose the hospital after seeing its name displayed prominently on Baidu when he was searching for information about his illness.

The case, which made headlines around the world, exposed Baidu's reliance on paid listings, which rank search results according to how much the advertisers have paid, and the low levels of supervision in some military hospitals.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the online watchdog, held its own investigation and released a statement demanding that Baidu, which holds about 70 percent of China's search-engine market, restructure its listing services.

It said Baidu relied excessively on profits from paid search listings and failed to clearly identify commercial promotions, which compromised the objectivity and impartiality of its search results.

On April 5, Li Bin, the commission's director visited a primary healthcare center in Beijing as part of preparations for her top priority for the next five years - establishing a system under which every family will be registered with a general practitioner.

"It will help to establish a well-organized and orderly healthcare system to better ensure public health," Li said, during the visit.

Liu Yuanli, dean of the School of Public Health at Peking Union Medical College, said Li's visit signaled a new approach to healthcare: "A family doctor system would help prevent tragedies like Wei's in the future."
Graduates visit a booth during a job fair organized by Hotan Teachers College, Hotan prefecture, in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on April 29. Mao Weihua / China Daily

People from different ethnic backgrounds get opportunity to absorb more than language

As a new graduate of Hotan Teachers College in 2016, Liu Pei prowled the annual job fair held at her alma mater in late April, hoping to find opportunities to work in the area where she had studied and lived for three years.

The 21-year-old from Northwest China's Gansu province wanted to become a teacher in Hotan prefecture in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"I have been here for three years and formed an affection for everything here, the environment, the people... I believe there will be great opportunities for my life and career if I stay here," Liu said.

Jurat Dolat, director of the college's department of student affairs, said more than 1,400 students will graduate from the college in 2016, and, judging from previous experience, many will end up landing jobs as bilingual teachers in Xinjiang.

"Last year, the employment rate of our graduates exceeded 88 percent. Among all the colleges in Xinjiang, we had the largest number of students who were employed as teachers last year," he said.

Zhang Wenying, a bilingual teacher at No 1 Middle School in Hotan's Jiya county, was such a person. The 29-year-old, who is of Han ethnicity, moved from Northwest China's Shaanxi province to Hotan in 2007, so he could learn Uygur at the college.

He graduated in 2010, and now speaks fluent Uygur and teaches Mandarin to Uygur students.

Zhang urged the college's graduates this year to add fluency in the Uygur language to their skill sets.

China has 56 ethnic groups. The Han are the majority group, and Mandarin is the official and most widely used language. In Xinjiang, many locals lack even basic Mandarin knowledge. The language barrier not only puts the mat a disadvantage in the job market, but also impedes economic development in the region. The autonomous region encourages ethnic groups to study Mandarin to enhance mutual understanding and open up career opportunities.
CCDI publicizes violations of anti-graft code (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-05-13 13:50

BEIJING - The top discipline watchdog of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday named and shamed people in 116 cases of violating the Party's anti-corruption and frugality rules.



The violations, details of which were published on the website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), included bribery, illegal bonuses, applying for government subsidies with false information, embezzling office funds and abuse of power.



In one case, an official in north China's Hebei Province was expelled from the Party and public office for deliberately making human resources approvals difficult for applicants by refusing to handle application materials submitted 10 times in a row, suggesting a request for gifts and money.



Offenders received punishments ranging from official warnings, demotion, and expulsion from the CPC to removal from office. Cases involving criminal liability have been transferred to judicial organs. Some officials have also received jail terms.



The CCDI has been publishing such violations monthly in a bid to deter officials and correct undesirable work styles.
Cities on Yangtze Delta eyeing closer ties, better development (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-05-13 15:36

SHANGHAI - Every Friday, Lu Junbo, an engineer in an American company in Shanghai, takes a train home to Wuxi, 130 km away.



"House prices in Wuxi are much lower than in Shanghai, and the trip is only about 40 minutes by high-speed train. It's a no-brainer for me to live in one city and work in another," said the man who calls himself a "Yangtze Delta resident."



Lu Junbo's choice is still an unorthodox one in China, but that may be about to change as cities in the Yangtze Delta plan for coordinated development, according to a plan approved by the State Council, China's cabinet, on Wednesday.



A cluster of cities in the region that includes Shanghai and parts of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, will become a city cluster with "global influence" by 2030.



The cities are being asked to replicate the experiences of Shanghai FTZ, promote integrated development of markets such as finance, land and property, and to cooperate on public services including education, medicine, transportation and social security.



Since the launch of the Shanghai FTZ in 2013, it has been used to test a number of new policies including negative list management of foreign investment, opening up more industries to them.

"Taking custom clearance as an example, the Shanghai FTZ has fast customs clearance.If the system is used elsewhere, more companies will have their cost reduced," said Shanghai customs official Zhang Binzheng.



Cities in the region will work together to solicit foreign capital, attract foreign employees, open up their service sectors and bring in more foreign trade.



Environmental protection with coordinated prevention and treatment of air, soil and water pollution is a key aspect of the plan.



China has been emphasizing green development along the Yangtze so it is important for the delta, the leading growth engine of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, to pay due attention to the matter and a regional ecological protection and compensation mechanism is to be established.



In the region is the major fresh water source Taihu Lake which is in urgent need of rehabilitation and protection.



With Shanghai at the center, the cities will be linked by more railways, expressways and waterways. High-speed rail track in the Yangtze River Delta already exceeds 3,400 km.



"Institutional integration is more important than infrastructure. The cities need consistency in environmental protection and pollution control," said Yu Hongsheng of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.



China has shown itself to be keen on developing city clusters in recent years. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, along with the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas, have been important growth engines.

Xiao Jincheng, of the National Development and Reform Commission, believes city clusters will eventually lead to coordinated development of smaller cities and even townships, vital to future urbanization.
More than 10,000 people have been safely evacuated from the Tibet autonomous region's Dingchen county following a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that stuck Qamdo on Wednesday, authorities said.

By Thursday evening, 69 people had been confirmed injured, 12 severely, and 108 houses had collapsed.

"My house became twisted with big cracks in the walls, and a large amount area of paint fell down. It is not safe to live in the house anymore," said Dungri Tsomo, 38, whose seven family members have all been evacuated to temporarily live in tents.

The concerned mother said she had trouble sleeping as she was worried for her house and the well-being of her children.

"I could not sleep well the last two nights as I was worried about my one-year-old infant," she said.

The local government responded quickly to the quake, with rescue teams despatched to the scene immediately and debris cleared from six of the area's eight damaged roads as a priority.

"Two roads have not been reopened yet as the removal of more debris is under way," said Gyime, the Party secretary of Dingchen county, adding that the work should be complete within a day as more than 70 people were helping out using large machinery.

Dingchen county is about 800 kilometers away from Tibet's capital of Lhasa.

Monitors measured the quake's epicenter to be at 31.99 degrees north latitude and 94.94 degrees east longitude, with a depth of seven kilometers.

The worst-hit settlements were located near the Kata township, at an attitude of about 4,200 meters.

Almost half of all evacuees come from this area and have been provided with food, drinking water, and other necessities by the authorities.

More than 400 tents, 500 sets of bedding and as many overcoats have been ordered, to be distributed among the displaced.

According to the Dingchen County Education Bureau, the Kata Village Primary School, which was only lightly affected by the earthquake, will resume operation within two days.

"Our school buildings are lightly affected, the students resumed classes in the tents, and villagers are safely arranged in the settlement," said Rinchen Dondrub, deputy head of the bureau.

"The students are provided with supplies of food, water, and other basic necessities and they are gradually getting back to normal."

The 34-year-old added that Kata township had been worst affected by the quake, with many houses partially collapsed.
The commercial departments of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei all signed an agreement on Friday that will cover 26 projects this year in logistics, transport, finance and consumption products.

Yan Ligang, director of the Beijing department of commerce, said,"The joint development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei is key to alleviating the pressure brought by tight traffic and large population in the capital city," said .

"The collaborative development will optimize the resource allocation once the three regions develop as an organic entity."

Li Shi, director of the department of commerce of Hebei said the region is working on building a national modern logistics hub to ease the transport pressure in Beijing.

"We want to ensure agricultural produce gets delivered within one hour from Hebei to Beijing and Tianjin," said Li.

"Moreover, the senior citizens industry is also picking up speed in our province. Hebei has become the first choice for senior citizens in the region to live during their retirement."

Zhang Aiguo, director of the department of commerce in Tianjin, suggested longer transit visas in the region for overseas tourists.

"The current transit visa is 72 hours. If it can be extended to 144 hours, tourists on the cruiser that stop over at Tianjin port might consider traveling in Beijing and Hebei, therefore boosting the tourism industry in the region."
Chen Man (R) [Photo/CCTV Sina Weibo]

HAIKOU -- Wrongly convicted of murder and arson, Chen Man, who served 23 years behind bars, was awarded compensation of 2.75 million yuan ($429,000 dollars) on Friday.Yan Xianwen, spokesman for Hainan Higher People's Court, said that 1.85 million yuan was compensation for wrongfully deprivation of personal freedom for 8,437 days, based on the standard daily per-capita income. The rest was for emotional harm.Chen was released in February, aged 53, and filed a claim for 9.66 million yuan (about $1.48 million dollars) in compensation in March.Demand included 1.85 million yuan for deprivation of personal freedom, 3.71 million yuan for loss of work, 3 million yuan for emotional harm, 1 million to cover his legal costs over the past two decades, and 100,000 yuan for medical costs."I am disappointed by the final amount, but I accept it," said Chen.He said he did not want to "waste more time and energy on further appeals." He only wanted a normal life and will try to find a job.The consultation mechanism for compensation for wrongful conviction has recently changed to allow victims to take part in negotiations.Chen was arrested at the end of 1992 and sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by Haikou Intermediate People's Court in November 1994, a sentence deemed "too light" by prosecutors who called for immediate execution, a request finally rejected by Hainan Higher People's Court in 1999.The victim Zhong Zuokuan, Chen's landlord, was killed on Christmas Day 1992. Chen had argued with Zhong over the rent and had been asked to move out. The procuratorate wrongly alleged that Chen had hacked Zhong to death with a kitchen knife and set fire to his body.On the orders of the Supreme People's Court, a high court in East China's Zhejiang province reopened Chen's case in 2015, as "his role in the murder is not clear and the original judgement lacks evidence."The Zhejiang court quashed the conviction after finding a number of failings. Chen's confession was inconsistent, switching many times from admission of guilt to denying the charges and back again. His statements on the timing, methods and weapon used were not consistent with the crime scene investigation, forensic report or testimony of witnesses. Chen claimed that some of his confession was extracted under torture.China is working on miscarriages of justice, as a number of wrongful convictions have raised public concern.Among the most prominent cases, an 18-year-old man was found guilty of rape and murder by an Inner Mongolian court in 1996 and executed. He was posthumously acquitted in December 2014. His parents received state compensation of more than 2 million yuan (about $310,000 dollars).
Colin Mackerras poses at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, where he teaches.[Photo by Liu Xiangrui/ China Daily]

An early Sinologist from Australia, Colin Mackerras is still discovering China, especially its ancient art forms. Liu Xiangrui reports.

Colin Mackerras was pursuing his master's degree at Cambridge University when he learned that foreign-language teachers were needed in China in the 1960s. He decided to give it a try despite the different geopolitical conditions back then.

His visits over half a century have resulted in hundreds of academic papers and dozens of books with views from within China and the West.

An early Australian to follow Asian studies with a focus on China, Mackerras is today known as an established Sinologist. He had taken up Chinese studies at the behest of his mother.

"I was interested in Chinese culture, especially theater," Mackerras, 77, says of his desire to come to China along with his wife, Alyce, in 1964.

Back then, China had no diplomatic relations with Australia.

Despite the challenges of living in a foreign country, they were able to make friends in China, and many remain so to date.

The couple taught until 1966 and left before the start of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

But Mackerras continued his Chinese studies in Australia. He returned to China in 1977 and has since visited time after time, mainly to teach and for research.

More recently, he has been dividing his time between the two countries.

He is now teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University as professor emeritus.

Fluent in Chinese, Mackerras usually rides an old bike to class and spends a lot of time with his students.

In all these years, he has also followed his passion for Chinese opera, which he describes as "music of the people" as it was played outdoors.

Mackerras, who wrote his PhD thesis on Peking Opera, still has gramophones of the ancient art form.

"It took me a while to get used to the style of Chinese opera singing, which is so different from Western opera," he says. "But both are beautiful."

As an admirer of Peking Opera master Mei Lanfang, Mackerras says he is happy to see the art form being revived with government support today.

Mackerras, who has written books on Chinese opera, has explored the relationship between Chinese opera and society.

Other than research, his knowledge comes from extensive travels within the country, including in remote ethnic regions.

He has carried out interviews with ordinary people and local officials.

"I have a perspective over a relatively long period of time in China. It's very helpful for my research," he says.
Ang Lee. [Photo/Mtime]

Renowned director Ang Lee has released a video to support the film Song of the Phoenix by late director Wu Tianming.

Lee is the man behind Oscar-winning films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain.

Lee said in the video that he had a long talk with Wu many years ago in New York which he thought was very enlightening.

"I have very deep impression on director Wu, his works and his ambitions about films. I think he was truly a great man in Chinese film society. Without him there were no fifth generation directors. Without the fifth generation directors, there won't be such a prosperous film market in China. In the market where competition is so fierce today, it is very thought-provoking to be able to see a film like Song of the Phoenix."

Wu was the man behind the rise of directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

He took over the position of the head of the Xi'an Film Studio in 1983 and helped young filmmakers of that time to flourish and thrive.

Song of the Phoenix was Wu's last directorial work.

He died of a heart attack in Beijing two years ago, just one month after he finished the film. He was 74.

The film revolves around an elderly suona, or double-reed horn performer who tries to pass on the art form despite its falling popularity in modern China.

The film has been backed by a number of celebrities and filmmakers in both home and aboard.

However, the market is not responding well.

The film took in less than 2 million yuan ($306,600) in four days after opening, partly due to the massive clash from Hollywood blockbuster Captain America: Civil War.

Related:
The Moutai Group has recently launched UMEET, a new baijiu product, which is aimed at young women.[Photo/ CFP]

An expert panel says humans have always had a thirst for alcohol, and China's baijiu makers must respond to a new marketplace to take advantage of it. Mike Peters reports from Guizhou province.

The global popularity of Chinese food offers a lesson to the makers of baijiu, China's distinctive white spirit, says former Croatian ambassador to China Ante Simonic.

Speaking at the World Famous Liquor Summit hosted by Moutai Group in Renhuai, Guizhou province on Tuesday, Simonic told a packed auditorium that he loves Chinese food, but sometimes likes it better at home in Europe than here in China.

"That's because in Europe the Chinese food is tailored to my taste," he says.

Chinese and foreign experts at the forum joined the former diplomat, a physician and president of the new World Wine Industry Alliance, in urging baijiu makers to be innovative as they pursue new markets abroad.

Highlighting two US-based baijiu makers that have enjoyed some success in New York and the West Coast, author and baijiu fan Derek Sandhaus says he's convinced the case can be made for the fiery liquor abroad.

"I hope the next case study of success for baijiu in America will be about a company that's in this room," he adds.

Ye Xin, vice-president of the China Wine Writers Association, insists that the potential is great for expanding baijiu's global footprint. Like other speakers, he points to sake, Japan's popular but potent spirit, as a trailblazer in the West that can be a model. Noting that sake is now often an automatic part of meals in Japanese restaurants worldwide, he suggests that a "baijiu cuisine" could be developed, pairing dishes that highlighted and even included the flavor of the spirit.

He also told the assembled distillers and distributors a story: Old Shanghai Restaurant had adjusted its classic recipe for "lion's head", a stewed meatball of pork and fish, before a visit to the city by President Obama. The White House asked for a more health-conscious version with less pork, and the chefs obliged by making the meatballs 75 percent fish.

"Today," Ye says, "the 'Obama lion's head' is one of the restaurant's best sellers."

Health is an issue for young and female drinkers both in China and abroad, and observers like Sandhaus have long pointed to baijiu's high ABV (alcohol by volume), in the 55-percent-plus range, as a deterrent in a changing market. Some brands in the international marketplace have pared the alcohol down to about 45 percent, in line with globally distributed vodka, rum and other liquors widely used in cocktails.

Wang Yancai, president of the China Wine Industry Association, says the country's liquor makers need to promote a drinking culture that promotes consumption in a sensible, healthy way. He and other speakers also made the case for quality and more automated production, participation in wine competitions globally, investing in science, and seeking international opportunities to promote China's wine industry.

Yuan Renguo, chairman of forum host Moutai Group, notes that baijiu first made waves abroad in 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

"A vendor broke a bottle in the exhibition hall and the aroma filled the room," he says, noting that an eager and curious crowd followed their noses. Moutai and Xinghuacun were two distillers who came back from the show with awards of distinction.

"We have to automate and mechanize," says Wang, "but we have to preserve the tradition and craftsmanship as well. Without quality and tradition, we have nothing."

China's liquor industry has struggled in recent years, hit first by an economic slowdown and then by the country's campaign against extravagance and official gift-giving. That's fueled a push to reach new markets abroad, but the challenge of winning foreign drinkers is common throughout the global industry.

Baudouin Havaux, chairman of International Organizing Committee of Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, notes that 40 percent of all wines and spirits are consumed outside the country that produces them. China's distillers have focused on domestic consumption in the past, so there is plenty of room to grow if there's a change in the world view of Chinese wines and spirits, he says.

The forum concluded with a cocktail reception that highlighted baijiu's potential in cocktails, featuring three Western bartenders with an affinity for the spirit.
Ma Huiqin believes the fruit will be planted in more areas in China. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Professor Ma Huiqin is a well-known figure in Chinese wine circles. The expert from China Agricultural University in Beijing hosts regular grape and wine workshops, and she has a formal position with the Ningxia Bureau of Grape Industry Development.

But her secret passion may be another fruit.

"You like figs?" she says after a recent wine tasting. "You must come to see my fig greenhouses. I have amazing figs!"

I was amazed to learn there were fig greenhouses in the Beijing suburbs, but I probably shouldn't have been.

Figs are appearing on more and more elegant plates in China's restaurantsboth for their sweetness and eye appeal. Some European chefs, for example, combine figs and fennel with pork or fish to give dishes a smooth, sweet-savory finish.

The attraction for Ma, however, is rooted in a tradition much older: The Silk Road. While fresh figs are a seasonal delicacy that don't keep well, travelers on the ancient network, however, appreciated how tasty dried figs could be. The trade in Mediterranean and Middle East figs has boomed ever since. Turkey is the world's largest producer of dried fruits such as figs.

"China has two major fig-growing regions, Shandong and Sichuan," she says. But when a colleague noted that Uygur farmers in western China grew and liked the fruits, she says, she realized that figs could be big in China.

"Our country imports a lot of figs now," she says, "but maybe in the future we won't have to."

Figs, called wu hua guo in Chinese, have been known in China for "hundreds and hundreds of years," writes Jacqueline M. Newman in a 2008 article for Flavor and Fortune, a journal dedicated to the art and science of Chinese cuisine.

"The Chinese cook with them when fresh, and Cantonese people adore adding dried ones to soups and stews for taste and for fitness. The Greeks and Romans thought the same."

Newman observes that Chinese traditional medicine doctors have used different wild figs for many centuries: "They believe this fruit invigorates the spleen, moistens the bowels, induces urination, etc. They know that the fruit enters the spleen, stomach, and intestinal channels, and is good to use when treating dry sore throats and coughs."
Theresa Dankovich holds her "drinkable book", which won her the top prize at the same presentation.[Photo by Wang Kaihao/ China Daily]

From water filters to chairs, China's top design awards celebrate unusual ideas. Wang Kaihao reports in Hangzhou.

US chemist Theresa Dankovich, who is in her 30s, won the top prize at the Design Intelligence Award 2016 on Sunday in Hangzhou, the capital of East China's Zhejiang province. Her entry called a "drinkable book" uses technologically advanced filter paper, which is said to be capable of killing deadly germs that cause cholera and typhoid. And there is information inked on the pages, which is mainly to remind people about water safety.

Speaking to China Daily about what prompted her to design the "book", she says: "Around 3.4 million people globally die each year from water-related diseases, but the even bigger problem is that most of them don't know that the water they are drinking is unsafe in the first place."

To use the "book", people have to pick out a filter-like page from it, slide it into a regular filter, and pour water through it for drinking.

"When I went to a village in Bangladesh and showed them my 'book', a woman was so determined to have it that she said, 'If my husband doesn't buy this for me, I will write poetry and sell it, so I can have this and my family will be healthy.' That's best quote I have," says Dankovich.

The award, launched by the Zhejiang local government and the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art, which will be given annually, is said to be the world's richest industrial design award for now.

For Dankovich, the needs of local communities are more important than a fancy appearance when it comes to developing the product. "I have learned to listen and understand, and then deliver a design that fits the local lifestyle and culture, not to cater to the top end of the market."

Responding to a question from one of the judges that her "book" is too delicate to be of use in poverty-stricken areas, she says she expects future versions to use plastic casing instead of the current hard cover and thus make the filters renewable.

Her "book" is now being used in a pilot project in schools in Kenya and South Africa, and there are plans for it to be marketed there later this year at affordable prices, she says.
Beijing

Texas: Smokin' again

If you've been mourning the untimely closure of Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q in the Silk Market #2 building, take heart. Owner Tim Hilbert has reopened not one but two venues serving up smoky brisket, ribs and other grilled specialties as well as American classics and Tex-Mex dishes. Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline and George Strait are all back, too, singing their hearts out in the background.

111, Building 11, Central Park, Chaoyang district; 010-6591-9161. B109 Block F, Wangjing International Commercial Center, Chaoyang district; 010-6470-0501.

GERMANY

500 years of beer

Germany's ancient purity law, which dictates beer-making only with barley, hops, yeast and water, celebrated five centuries of tradition around the globe this month. The law, or Reinheitsgebot, was introduced in 1516 by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria, and while the strict recipe has produced classic brews for generations, tastes are changingeven in Berlin, where craft brewers have noticed that today's beer-making awards are going everywhere but Germany. Robin Weber, CEO of Berliner Berg, says he and his colleagues used to work overseas and were impressed by the variety of flavors available in places like the United States and Australia. Weber told US-based National Public Radio that Germany's brewing standards wouldn't stop his team from adding other ingredients in the future, such as orange peel or coriander. "The problem is not the small breweries experimenting with fruits or whatever," he asserts. "The real problems lie in mass production and in an agriculture that is not focused on healthy crops."

HONG KONG

Chateau Palmer wine dinner

Tin Lung Heen head chef Paul Lau and wine sommelier Benson Yan are presenting a six-course dinner menu featuring the finest selection of wines from Chateau Palmer, one of the oldest wineries in Bordeaux, established in 1748. Wine produced in this 55-hectare vinery was classified as one of the 14 Troisiemes Crus (Third Growths) in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Through July 31, guests at the two-Michelin-starred restaurant can enjoy a carefully crafted menu paired with 1995 and 2011 Chateau Palmer, two remarkable vintages from the legendary winery. The two wines are served with roasted crispy French duck with honey and vintage tangerine peel. The pairing dinner is HK$2,888 ($372) per person and a five-course lunch menu is HK$1,888 per person. All prices are subject to a 10 percent service charge.

Tin Lung Heen at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, International Commerce Centre, 1 Austin Road West, Kowloon district; 852-2263-2270.
People watch a house being demolished in Wenling cityk, Zhejiang province, after its owner reached an agreement with the local government. [For China Daily]

VILLAGERS IN Xuegang village, Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province in Central China, paid homage to Fan Huapei on Wednesday, a 36-year-old man killed by police gunfire one day after he stabbed three men to death in a conflict over the forced demolition of his home. Ifeng.com commented on Thursday:

In the context of forced demolitions, there is not much that makes this one a special case. But the desperate have their own path.

The limited disclosure of information by the local government reveals a significant change in its relocation policy and compensation standards, which meant even less compensation was being paid to villagers such as Fan Huapeinot enough to build a new houseand there was no "resettlement before demolition" as required by State regulations.

Cutting off the water and electricity supply to force Fan from his home were the final triggers for the tragedy.

By resorting to violence, the desperate show they feel helplessness and unable to change their fate.

It's a cruel way to give the whole society a wake-up call.

Every extreme behavior is often accompanied by the collapse of a person's belief in the system.

More and more people are losing patience as they have no say in the demolitions and feel they can only be heard through violence.
Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte talks to reporters in Davao city in southern Philippines, May 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

DAVAO CITY mayor Rodrigo Duterte is poised to become the new president of the Philippines. Beijing Times commented on Thursday:

Winning the Philippine presidential election will be just the beginning of Duterte's new political adventure. He has to deliver on his promises to voters while dealing with a slew of tricky challenges at home and abroad left by outgoing President Benigno Aquino III.

This is not going to be easy. Often compared to the pugnacious US presidential candidate Donald Trump, Duterte did manage to persuade many Philippine voters, who are desperate for "a change", to believe that he is the long-awaited game-changer.

It would be unfair to blame the current administration alone for the severe corruption, high crime rate, and widening income gap, which have long existed in the country. But under Aquino's six-year stewardship, the situation has become worse.

During his two-decade term as the mayor of Davao, Duterte has succeeded in improving local security but not people's livelihoods. More important, leading and managing the whole country will be totally different from running the city, especially for the new president who lacks political resources in the capital.

That said, to significantly reduce corruption he will have to confront certain political elites, plutocrats, and oligarchs in Manila. But implementing new policies might be difficult due to his lack of support in the Congress.

As for his diplomatic pledges, it remains unclear whether Duterte will keep accommodating Washington to sustain the US-Philippines military alliance, or pursue peaceful regional cooperation. However, he said during his presidential campaign he is unlikely to break with Washington in the short term.

As part of his campaign, Duterte's previous comments on the South China Sea issue have been varied. It is time for him to contemplate proper measures to address the South China Sea disputes between China and his country, and wake up to the fact that Beijing is always open to negotiations but will not give up its lawful territorial claims.
The scenery of provincial roads in Zhangbei, a small country in North China's Hebei province. [Photo/IC]

The furor over the introduction of a charge to drive on a remote scenic highway in North China's Hebei province will probably come to end now the provincial price authority says the practice is legal and the money is duly collected according to regulations.

Known as "China's Route 66", the 130-kilometer highway received more than 330,000 visitors last year, far beyond its capacity, according to officials in Zhangbei county.

They claim the tourists have damaged the local ecology and environment and disrupted the lives of local residents, and the charge of 50 yuan ($7.7) per person will prevent the situation from worsening.

This sounds reasonable, but also very familiar.

Similar reasons were cited in 2013 when local officials in Fenghuang in Central China's Hunan province started to charge tourists an entry fee to visit the ancient town, despite complaints from tourists and shop owners. In fact, the local government was forced to revoke the fee in April this year as it drove away potential visitors and seriously hurt local businesses.

Turning a public highway into a fee-charging tourist site, not only sets a bad example for other places that happen to boast of similar resources. It also goes against the trend encouraged by the central government to make more roads toll free to cut logistic costs and facilitate unrestricted flow of goods and services.

Though Zhangbei officials said they would charge only tourists, a viable method is yet to be worked out to avoid the indiscriminate charging of all users.

When tapping their tourist attractions, local governments should take a long-term view and broad perspective by improving infrastructure facilities and their management capabilities. Focusing on earning quick money with such fees is simply killing a goose that can lay golden eggs.
From the dinner table presentation of a duck's feet to a karaoke-singing Buddhist monk, I had a wonderful time

I think I must be cursed with the ability to experience the bizarre and weird things that life has to offer - let's face it, as a journalist you're always looking for something that lifts a story above the mundane.

Back in London after a monthlong trip that included a first stay in Beijing and my umpteenth visit to Ho Chi Minh City, I'm looking back at some of the odder moments in what was ultimately a very successful and personally satisfying trip.

As I've said before, I wasn't sure what to expect from my first visit to Beijing.

I knew I'd get a friendly welcome, if the Beijing expatriates in my office here in London were anything to go by.

I was inundated with suggestions of things to do, places to go, and obviously things to eat.

I was braced for the inevitable Peking duck extravaganza. What I had forgotten was that in China, as elsewhere in Asia, not a scrap is wasted. So after polishing off the skin, pancakes, hoisin sauce and cucumber, I was a bit taken aback by being presented with the feet, and worst of all, the head, complete with beak. Dear reader, I failed that test.

In this day and age of smartphones - and Beijingers seem to have them glued to their hands - photographing one's food before eating it seems to be the norm.

But I had to stifle a laugh when the chef at our table, preparing to carve the duck, white gloves and all, offered us a photo opportunity before he set to work.

What they don't warn you about in Beijing are the silent but deadly electric scooters and delivery trucks. Students and fast-food delivery boys tend to run them without lights in darkness, to squeeze the maximum range out of their batteries.

Let me tell you, I almost died a million times before I got used to having eyes in the back of my head.

But I was impressed by the orderly flow of traffic on the wide boulevards, although one friend warned me that Chinese drivers had only had about 20 years to get used to traffic flow, "so lane discipline can be an issue". On the highways leading out of town, "lane discipline" indeed seems to be an issue, if not a remote concept.

Next stop, Ho Chi Minh City.

I know comparisons are odious, and the great thing about travel is experiencing a different culture in each country. But considering Vietnam and China, centuries ago, shared a common alphabet and a number of cultural things, the difference when you fly from Beijing to Vietnam is huge.

Both have large, modern and relatively well-functioning airports.

But that's where the similarities end. Leave Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat International Airport and your senses are assailed the second you step outside the customs area.

I've always been a believer in the theory that the earlier a country is in its developing stage, the more family members are needed to greet or say farewell to a traveler. No matter what time of day or night, the concourse at Tan Son Nhat's main terminal is heaving with people.

You enter the barely controlled chaos that is Ho Chi Minh City traffic. That workhorse of family and small business life, the motor scooter, dominates the scene, weaving in and out of the cars, trucks, buses and light vans. Everyone makes use of the horn, otherwise known as the developing world's fifth gear.

So it was a pleasure to head for Thu Duc, about 30 kilometers outside the city, for a celebration of my wife's cousin's 50 years as a nun in the Benedictine order.

The convent is an oasis of peace and calm, stretched over many acres.

There was a mass, and afterward a lunch in the grounds given by the family (it's a huge family - there must have been 40 or 50 members there). Obviously, I was the only foreigner.

Then things got very surreal. The choral background to lunch, by a group of novices, was charming - but it was the karaoke-singing Buddhist monk that grabbed my attention, crooning a song, in Vietnamese, that urged listeners to examine their spiritual inner selves.

Great, I thought. Beat that.

And they did. Next up was a Benedictine friar who delivered a monologue of jokes, again in Vietnamese, all of which he assured us could be found in the Bible.

Then I needed to head for the bathroom, and when I asked a waiter where it was, he summoned a giggling novice nun to show me the way. She did, and waited outside for me, still giggling.

That, dear friends, was definitely a first.

The author is managing editor of China Daily European Weekly, based in London.



Contact the writer at chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution that isn't legally binding, refusing to treat China as a market economy.

Many say it is a "landslide" denial from European Parliament, where 651 out of the 751 members were present in Strasburg, France, where the costly monthly sessions of parliament are held.

For those attending Thursday's session, 546 voted against treating China as market economy while only voting 28 members were in favor, with 77 abstentions.

The result is intended to help the European Commission, the EU's executive body, to take a final decision, but the voting results are not convincing at all.

First of all, trade rules, anti-dumping and cost calculations are extremely technical and to some extent, most European Parliament members are no differences of those passers-by on the streets in terms of knowledge preparation.

They are prone to be influenced by biased reports (bear in mind one of the widely-circulated reports on this topic is from a think tank based in the US) and with the probability that many of them haven't ever set foot in China, they don't know in reality how sophisticated the economy there is, or that market-oriented reform is still going on.

Secondly, European businesses, especially those investing and trading in China won't agree with the parliamentarians who voted against MES for China.

Of course, some biased European businesses chambers in China, which are in the habit of putting pressure on the Chinese government, despite how much profits their members have earned in China, will be happy about the voting.

Statistics have indicated that more than 80 per cent of European businesses in China are profitable. If China is not a market economy, how are those European investors growing in the increasingly sophisticated market environment there, and indeed survive with such profit margins?

Thirdly, the voting results do not have to be accepted by the member states and other countries in the world. Although there are no official figures, more than half of countries in European Union including Nordic countries, UK, Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg and those from central and east Europe are prepared to recognize Beijing's market economy status.

This means if the decision is made on a one-country-one-vote basis, the result will be, for sure, far from that achieved on Thursday. By the way, out of 751 members, 100 members were absent from the voting. Why?

What's more, up to 100 members of World Trade Organization have recognized China's market economy status. Is European Union's criteria is even higher than that of Austria and New Zealand? Or Switzerland?

To be honest, the European Union is a fragmented market which needs harmonizing rules, while different member states enjoy various degrees sophistication of market economy. Obviously, China needs radical market-oriented reforms.

Both sides should admit each other's strengths and weakness while holding constructive, visionary and forward-looking attitudes.

More opportunities will occur as China continues to open up, instead of closing doors and imposing protectionism.

All in all, the voting results are misleading and unconvincing. And if they improperly being taken as a key part of decision making, European institutions may make further mistakes while it has already waged a campaign against China in trade.

Simply put, China holds the cards.

The author is deputy editor of China Daily European Weekly. To contact the writer: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn


China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) regards "Silk Road Tourism" as a new brand to attract foreign visitors, setting it as the leading theme of tourism promotion in recent two years.[Photo/Xinhua]

"I have been deeply interested in the silk road since I was a child, now I've finally got a chance to really experience it," Heinrich Schultz, a 77-year-old German retiree, told Xinhua on Thursday when he started a bus trip with some 50 other Germans along the ancient silk road towards China.

The journey across the entire Euro-Asian continent lasts for nearly two months, and brings the tourists through Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The group will then enter China from the country's western border.

"It will be a very special, unforgettable experience to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific," said Liu Guosheng, chief of China Tours which co-organized the trip, in Berlin.

According to him, nearly half of the 13,000-kilometer-long trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang at the western border to Shanghai at the eastern coast, tourists will visit over 20 Chinese cities.

"We have been running the route for 10 years. More and more people, not only from the German speaking countries, are joining us," Liu said.

Nearly 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015. Some 5 million among them were from Europe. Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai and the Yangtze River are traditional Chinese travel destinations for European tourists.

"Compared with modern cities, western China is more attractive for me," said Schultz, "the culture, ethic minorities, their lives...all these are very interesting."

China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) regards "Silk Road Tourism" as a new brand to attract foreign visitors, setting it as the leading theme of tourism promotion in recent two years.

"It helps people to know more about China, especially the north-western part of the country," said Shi Xiang, head of CNTA office in Frankfurt.
From the Silicon Valley to the worlds most populous nation, fintech, a combination of finance and technology, has developed into a booming industry that continues to draw an extraordinary level of funding from investors.

The most recent gold-spinning episode was the completion by Alibabas Ant Financial Services Group (Ant Financial)  a fintech behemoth established in October 2014  of a $4.5 billion Series B round of financing in April. The company is expected to go public soon.

Skyrocketing into innovative startups, fintech has been transforming the way we lend, transact, invest and insure. According to a list jointly compiled by Australias H2 Ventures and KPMG on the worlds top 50 fintech startups, there are 25 unicorn companies worth $1 billion or more in the United States and seven in China.

The fintech industry differs greatly in many ways in the US and China, said Long Chen, a finance professor at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and a well-known economist in China.

The influence of fintech on the public life in Western countries lags far behind than that in China, Chen wrote in a recent opinion piece in Caixin magazine. The practice of fintech in China is much more broad and deep.

With its pillar business units: Alipay, the worlds leading third-party payment platform, which split from Alibaba in 2011; Ant Fortune, which includes the money market Yue Bao and the third-party financial services platform Zhao Cai Bao; Koubei; the private online bank MYBank; micro-loan provider Ant Micro Loan; and Sesame Credit, Chinas first credit-rating system  Ant Financial has profoundly transformed everyday life for Chinese people.

Ant Financial can handle more than 80,000 transactions per second, outpacing all of its leading Western counterparts and breaking Visas world record of 14,000 transactions per second.

On micro loans, Ant Financial has issued some $96 billion to small- and medium-sized enterprises and rural and urban merchants in the past five years. Americas biggest peer-to-peer (P2P) consumer loans platform, the Lending Club, reported $16 billion in loans over the same period, Chen said.

Morgan Stanley estimated that there are more than 1,500 P2P lending platforms in China, and the total volume of P2P lending in China surpasses $33.2 billion, more than in the US.

Still, credit, security and risk control in Chinas P2P market remain problematic. In February, the Chinese government investigated online P2P lending industry players and cracked down on Ezubao, a company that officials said was a Ponzi scheme that offered mostly fake investment products to nearly 1 million investors. Ezubao enticed them with promises of annual returns of up to 15 percent and was accused of defrauding investors of more than $7.6 billion.

Cheng Li, CTO of Ant Financial, visited Silicon Valley to talk at the Ant Financial Tech Forum on Sunday.

Innovative technology and extensive data analysis underpin everything we do, Li said. The cloud and Big Data power our rigorous credit, security and risk- control processes and allow us to tailor our products to customers individual needs and operate in the safest, most efficient and cost-effective manner.

Our mission is to grow a financial ecosystem in China and beyond by collaborating with domestic and international partners, Li said.

Fintech also helps bring about lifestyle changes.

We call it from fintech to finlife, said Li, adding that Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle-enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, pay the utility bills, make doctors appointments or buy movie tickets directly from various modules within the app  and also purchase wealth management products such as Yue Bao.

More than 600,000 brick-and-mortar merchants and some 1 million taxis now accept Alipay as a payment method across China. As of December 2015, Alipay was accepted in more than 50,000 retail stores outside of China, and tax reimbursement via Alipay was supported in 24 countries and regions, including South Korea, Germany and France.

Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com.
Fighters from the Iraqi pro-government forces inspect the damage at the Albu Aitha bridge north of Ramadi following an attack a military source said was carried out by the Islamic State (IS) group, on May 12, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

BAGHDAD - Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs on Thursday in a major attack on government forces that recaptured the western city of Ramadi in December, military officials said.

The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, a day after killing at least 80 people in bombings at an outdoor market and two checkpoints inside the capital.

The attacks near Ramadi dealt one of the heaviest blows to the army since it drove Islamic State out of the western city five months ago.

An army colonel said that militants killed at least 17 soldiers with suicide truck bombs in Jarayshi, 10 km (6 miles) north of Ramadi. They also surrounded an army regiment, seized a bridge and cut a key supply route linking Ramadi to the Thirthar district further north, army sources said.

Air strikes by a US-led coalition later allowed government forces to regain control of the supply route. But despite army reinforcements, the militants had dug into northern residential areas by nightfall and were lobbing mortars at government positions across the Euphrates river.

An officer said the Islamic State attack appeared designed to delay an expected army offensive that would have completely severed militant supply routes to Falluja on the western approaches to Baghdad, which Iraqi forces have ringed for more than six months.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang speaks at a regular press conference in Beijing on May 12, 2016. [Photo/Website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs]

At the invitation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development of France will pay an official visit to China from May 16 to 17.

Q: Chinese and US officials in charge of cyber security met in Washington on May 11. Cyber security has always been a sensitive topic for the two sides. Could you give us more details? What significance does this meeting hold for future cooperation in this field between the two sides?

A: Following the consensus reached between the two sides on cyber security last September, on May 11, China and the US held the first senior experts group meeting on international rules for cyberspace in Washington. Delegates from various departments of the two sides attended this meeting.

The two sides talked about international rules for cyberspace in a positive, in-depth and constructive way, touching upon norms for state behavior and cyberspace-related international law and confidence-building measures. As agreed by the two sides, the second meeting will be held in six months.

Cyber security is a challenge for the entire international community and requires all relevant parties to cooperate effectively based on mutual respect, mutual trust, equality and mutual benefit. Consensus reached by China and the US last year indicates the two countries' acknowledgement of common interests and shared responsibilities in the field of cyber security. We agree that China and the US should have more dialogues on this, and we also stand ready to turn cyber security cooperation into a new bright spot of bilateral relations.

Q: The EU parliament will decide to oppose China's market economy status in the WTO. What is your response?

A: We have responded to this question many times. In fact, there exists no definite stipulation for market economy status under the framework of the WTO. What we have been stressing is that relevant parties should obey Article 15 of the accession protocol signed when China joined the WTO. That is, when the time comes, the Surrogate Country approach used by other WTO members for anti-dumping investigations against China must be dropped. This international obligation must be shouldered by all WTO members. Bearing in mind the interests of all WTO members, it is better that we preserve the sanctity of WTO rules and respective obligations.

Q: It is reported that the G7 Summit which will be held in Japan this month will talk about the South China Sea issue and reiterate the importance of safeguarding maritime order in accordance with international law. However, what Japan has done regarding the Okinotori issue clearly violated international law. So do you think that Japan is contradicting with itself? If the G7 summit did issue a joint statement on the maritime issue, how would China respond?

A: We have talked about our position on this issue many times. Okinotori is a rock in the West Pacific far away from the Japanese soil. To claim Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf based on this rock makes no sense and violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). That is also why in April, 2012, the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, when giving its recommendations to the submission made by Japan on the limits of its outer continental shelf, did not recognize Japan's claim of an outer continental shelf based on Okinotori.

You may have already known that the above-water area of Okinotori is less than 10 m2-or no bigger than two beds as some people say-at high tide. Japan is anchoring its claim of jurisdiction over waters of 700,000 km2 on an outcropping no bigger than two beds. This encroaches upon the high sea and international seabed areas and severely harms the common interests of the international community.

Japan is acting against law while knowing law perfectly well. It is rather confusing to see Japan trying to draw others to its high-profile campaign for the international rule of law at the G7 Summit while breaking the law on the other hand. This only exposes its hypocrisy and that Japan is not serious. Considering all this, if the relevant institution still endorses Japan's behavior, then that would be very ridiculous.

Q: About what the UK said yesterday, Chinese media had a lot of criticism against western media. The Global Times even accused western media of being stuck in an uncivilized barbarianism. What is your comment?

A: There are a variety of comments every day on all kinds of media outlets. I cannot comment on each and every one of them. As for the Chinese government's attitude, I have repeated many times yesterday.

Q: Regarding US President Obama's visit to the A-bombed city Hiroshima. Did the US government give any explanation to the Chinese government?

A: It seems that you believe it is necessary for the US government to give an explanation to China.

Q: It is reported that Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament, Michael Brand, has been banned by the Chinese government from travelling to China because of his criticism on China's human rights record and participation in "Tibet independence" activities. Brand said that he has asked for a clear response from the German Foreign Ministry. The Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament on May 11 discussed this and issued a statement condemning China's behavior. Can you confirm that? Why did China refuse to issue a visa to Brand?

A: China attaches importance to exchanges and cooperation with the Federal German Parliament and its affiliated committees. The Chinese Embassy in Germany and relevant departments have done a lot of work preparing for the visit of the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament. The German government knows that very well. The remarks by the specific person you mentioned are calling white black. We don't invite him to China, not because of what he said about China's human rights, since you know that he is not the only one that has something to say about China's human rights. But a lot of people still made their visits to China. He cannot come, because he blatantly breached the commitment of the German government to the "one China" policy and stuck his heels in advocating "Tibet independence" which is so wrong. I can say for sure that China will not welcome such a man. I have to say that the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament is very unwise in issuing the statement and hurling accusations at China.

Q: You may have taken some questions on the NGOs in the past couple of days. I just want to check if the Chinese government has discussed with NGO representatives this new law on the NGOs as well as the new relations between the government and the NGOs following the enforcement of the law? Has China explained to them how this law will work?

A: You have to admit that legislation is an act of sovereignty. It is the same for every country. For example, when the governments of other countries, like those who have said something about China regarding this issue, decided to enact a new law in their countries, have they thought about soliciting opinions from other countries?

The Chinese government is doing its best in being open and transparent on this issue. We listen earnestly to all the well-meant and constructive opinions. However, it is the sovereign right of the Chinese government to decide how to make and enforce this law.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, in Beijing, May 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

China is willing to support domestic companies to participate in Morocco's infrastructure and industrialization by endorsing production capacity cooperation, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday in Beijing.

Premier Li met with Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, during the latter's visit to Beijing. Mohammed VI ascended to the throne in 1999 and was the country's first king to visit China in 2002.

"We have rich experiences in infrastructure and price advantages in fields such as construction materials and equipment manufacturing," Premier Li said.

China-Morocco cooperation has a bright future as the two economies share strong complementarities and both countries can promote capacity cooperation in areas such as industrial parks, high-speed railways and renewable energy, the premier added.

Premier Li also said China would also like to transfer technologies fit for Morocco's demands and help the African partner train technical and management personnel to enhance its independent development.

Mohammed VI said Morocco will strengthen pragmatic cooperation in infrastructure and high-speed railways, as well as broaden people-to-people exchanges with China, in efforts to boost all-round cooperation between the two countries and contribute to the development of China-Africa ties.
This satellite image shows the Yongshu Jiao of China's Nansha Islands. [Photo/Xinhua]

The South China Sea issue has become one of the major irritants in the China-US relations in recent years, over which the public opinion in the two countries is very critical of each other. There are even frictions in the sea between the two navies. The South China Sea seems like an outlet for the rivalry and confrontation that are building up of late between China and the US. As a result, the two sides seem to be reassessing each other's intentions on a strategic level. The latest rhetoric is about "militarizing the South China Sea", and on the part of the US, announcements to carry out "freedom of navigation operational assertions".

Hawkish voices are growing louder in both sides of the Pacific. Such frictions surrounding the South China Sea are leading to further strategic mistrust and hostility. The American scholar David M. Lampton was straightforward when he observed worriedly in reference to the existing situation, "A tipping point in the U.S.-China relations is upon us". It is obvious that the South China Sea issue is a major catalyst for the troubled China-US relations, if not the key contributing factor.

Opinions diverge in both countries on what has led to the current situation in the South China Sea. In China, it is widely believed that it is the US's Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy, its taking sides on disputes in the South China Sea, and its direct intervention that have escalated the tensions and made the issue more complicated.

In the US, accusations are strident of China's defiance of international law, coercion of smaller neighbors by force and attempted denial of access to the US, in its bid to gradually take control of the South China Sea using a salami-slicing strategy and to eventually turn it into a Chinese lake.

It is obvious from the incidents and events that have unfolded in the South China Sea over the years that all disputes are centered on sovereignty and rights over the Nansha Islands and their surrounding waters. In fact, such disputes were not uncommon in third world countries in modern history, including during the Cold War era. But the discovery of abundant oil reserves in the Nansha waters in the late 1960s and the introduction of international arrangements concerning the EEZs or the continental shelf, such as the Convention on the Continental Shelf and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, provided fresh incentives for other claimants to covet and grab China's Nansha Islands.

The disputes then spilled from those islands and reefs to wider maritime areas, but without spinning out of control. A good proof was the "golden era" of the China-ASEAN relations from 1991 to the end of 2010, during which bilateral cooperation flourished and trade ballooned nearly 37 times, from no more than $8 billion to $300 billion. During this period, China's GDP rose rapidly, and most Southeast Asian economies expanded more than five-fold.

Tensions started to build up in 2009 and have escalated since 2012. How have things festered against a backdrop of peace of development, and following a sustained period of regional cooperation? It is obvious that no single event or cause could have escalated and changed the situation in the region. So it is worth examining the incidents and behavior that have happened, the reactions they triggered, and the consequences incurred, in the leading up to the current state of affairs.

This article provides an overview of the chain of events contributing to the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea, as well as the context in which they occurred and potential connections they have. It is hoped this article will help those concerned about the disputes see the bigger picture and get to the heart of why things have happened that way. It also serves as a warning against further deepening of misunderstanding and spiraling of tensions for all countries concerned.

This article was published on the website of the National Interest magazine.
Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg, France, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Beijing urged Brussels on Friday to honor its commitment of treating China as a market economy even though the European Parliament passed a non-legislative resolution of refusal.



European experts warned European institutions not to be influenced by lobbyists, saying it could result in the China-EU relationship to become embroiled in a tit-for-tat scenario, which "Beijing and sane Europeans" are not willing to see.



The UK, The Netherlands, and Nordic countries support China's market economy status. Germany is, in principle, supportive, but is interested in safeguards for sensitive industries, while Italy is strongly opposed.



China is recognised as a market economy by dozens of non-EU countries such as Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland, Iceland, Australia and Russia.

An unidentified representative of China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that the European Union bloc must observe the accession articles of China's entry of World Trade Organization, which stipulate that China should be automatically given market economy status in December this year after a 15 year transition period.

"In line with Article 15 of the accession protocol signed when China joined the WTO, the Surrogate Country approach used by other WTO members for anti-dumping investigations against China must be dropped by 11th December this year," the representative said.

The Ministry said this international obligation must be shouldered by all WTO members, and European Union is no exception.

On Thursday the European Parliament voted to refuse China MES status, with many members saying that China has not met the five criteria of market economy set by the European institutions.

Beijing maintains granting MES is dependent on international rules, instead of respecting domestic criteria.

Though the resolution is not legally binding, Fredrik Erixon, Director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) said European Parliament was flexing its muscles and is trying to add more clout to the campaign to refuse China MES, to reform anti-dumping policy, and to take emergency action on steel.

"That campaign is waged by member states and business groups and the EP's support now makes it stronger," said Erixon. "Both China and sane people in Europe understand that whatever the result of the MES issue, it should not trigger a tit-for-tat escalation in trade actions against each other."

Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a non-profit organization in Brussels promoting bilateral digital and Internet cooperation, said to deny MES to China would be a strong political signal from the EU and may well cause the deterioration of the recent warming political relationship between the two economies.

Gambardella said in the short term, there are concrete risks of retaliation from the Chinese side, causing EU economies serious pain and uncertainty on what will be the end result.

"Closing the door to China may thus have very negative effects," said Gambardella.

The experts from China said Beijing has enough cards at hand but it focuses on constructively deepening bilateral economic and trade relationship.

Lin Guijun, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said imposing anti-dumping investigations over European wine, auto parts or vehicles could see China warning the EU that it is not reasonable to persist in trade protectionism, especially under the current global business setting.

The EU has remained China's top trading partner for 12 years, while China has remained the EU's second-largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years.

"For China, having a MES would make it harder for Europe or other economies to impose anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods sold at knock-down prices under the WTO rules, because it would change the method for determining a fair price," said Ma Yu, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation in Beijing.

Ma said that is why the EU is unwilling to offer this status to China as they don't want to see China's foreign trade becoming more flexible with this right under the WTO framework.

The EU began to repeatedly launch defensive trade measures since last year, seeking to impose punitive tariffs against China's various competitive steel products, though such products have helped cut the cost of business in Europe amid economic stagnation.

He Jingtong, a professor of trade at Nankai University in Tianjin, said that in the long-term, China will continue to face frequent trade friction and there is no reason to be optimistic about the prospects in the context of the country's international trade environment and the resurgent protectionism in the world.

"Meanwhile, the recovery path of the global economy is proving to be more complex than anticipated. The uncertainties surrounding the economic recoveries in the EU and the US, together with concerns over employment prospects, suggest high risks of trade remedy measures against Chinese exports to protect local employment," He said.

To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn


Salaheddine Mezouar (R), the minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco, speaks at a press conference on May 12 in Beijing. [Photo by Chen Yingqun /chinadaily.com.cn]

"Morocco wants to speed up economic cooperation with China, and it can be a platform for Chinese companies entering Europe and West Africa," says Salaheddine Mezouar, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Morocco in Beijng.

Mezouar was accompanying Moroccan King Mohammed VI during a three-day state visit to China from May 11 to 13. During the trip, Morocco and China agreed on the establishment of a strategic partnership and also signed 14 agreements between the two governments and 15 non-government deals.

"Morocco has kept close relationship with West Africa in history, culture and religion, so after we signed this strategic partnership, Morocco would play a key role in the bilateral relationship between China , Morocco and West Africa," says Mezouar.

Morocco has a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and the United States, so Chinese companies could use Morocco as platforms for entering Europe and the West Africa, while developing the Morocco market, he said.

"While maintaining the relationship with our traditional partners such as Europe and the US, we would also like to diversify our partners. The relationship with China is very important for us," says Mezouar, adding that the strategic partnership will accelerate future cooperation.

"King Mohammed VI will see to it in person that all the projects signed will be carried out."

Beginning June 1, Chinese tourists visiting Morocco will be able to do so visa-free. The deals signed during the visit cover a wide range of areas such as infrastructure, new energy, culture, education, tourism, and finance.

Mezouar says that Morocco will bring in China's high-speed railway technology, and will co-construct a 300-km long high-speed railway in the southwest part of the country from Marrakech to Agadir.

"Both countries have done a lot of research and evaluation about this project and will start preparation for the construction later," says Mezouar.

"Meanwhile, Morocco is also working on the construction of railways that runs from Morocco to West African countries. China and Morocco could work on these projects through various ways, such as transfer of technology, training of talent and joint investment.

"Moreover, Morocco would specially establish a 10 square kilometers industrial zone in the Tangier port in the north Morocco, which is only about 15 miles from Europe, so companies in the industrial zone will be able to send its products to any place in Europe. He says that they welcome Chinese companies, especially who are in automobile, textile and astronautics sectors.

While talking about industrial capacity cooperation, Mezouar says that he hope China would make efforts to help push forward Africa's industrialization process.

"We don't want to only produce raw materials, we are trying to make more added values to our product, and we hope China could help us go through the industrial process through investment, and talent training," Mezouar says.
An Ipsos Mori survey of international businesses, including those from China, think a British vote in favour of leaving the European Union would be negative for their operations, according to a press release from Ipsos-Mori.

The survey, of 667 businesses from China, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden, found that 78 percent believed a UK departure would have a negative effect.

All the companies surveyed, between April 19 and May 2 this year, have UK operations.

Only 5 percent said a vote to leave the EU in the planned June 23 UK referendum would have a positive effect. Some 13 percent said the effect would be neither negative nor positive, and 4 percent said they didn't know.

The survey also asked what the effect of a decision to leave would have on likely future investment in the UK, with 61 percent saying this would most likely be negeative, and only 5 percent thought a leave vote would have a positive effect on future investment.

Those surveyed were members of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and bilateral chambers of commerce from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

To contact the reporter: chris@mail.chinadailyuk.com
2 countries' senior military officials also agree to work constructively to manage differences

Senior military officials from Beijing and Washington have pledged to try to manage their differences in a constructive way and effectively control risks, following recent maritime tensions in the South China Sea.

Tensions rose after the US guided-missile destroyer William P. Lawrence entered Chinese waters on Tuesday off Yongshu Reef in the South China Sea in what the US claims was a "freedom of navigation" operation.

Observers said it will take time to see if Washington will match its words with deeds, as the United States may seek to increase its military presence in the region.

During a video conference on Thursday night Beijing time, Chinese Chief of the General Staff Fang Fenghui told US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford that China values freedom of navigation in the South China Sea "more than any other country in the world".

Fang, also a member of China's Central Military Commission, urged the two sides to bear in mind the overall situation and to constructively manage their differences.

Dunford was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying that the US is willing to work with China to establish an effective mechanism for risk control in order to peacefully maintain stability in the South China Sea.

The conversation came at a time when Beijing and Washington have exchanged barbs after US military patrols and exercises near China's Nansha Islands.

Fu Mengzi, vice-president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said both countries agree on the need to maintain stability in the South China Sea, and neither wants conflict.

"It is not worth it if relations between the two militaries deteriorate over the South China Sea issue," he said, adding that the US should play a more constructive role to resolve the issue.

During a regular news conference on Friday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang blamed "a certain country" that is thousands of kilometers away from the South China Sea for "stirring up tensions in the region".

"Unlike this country, China sincerely hopes to maintain regional peace, stability, security and prosperity, because this is in accordance with our own interests," Lu said.

China's stance on the South China Sea has won wide support from the international community, with nearly 40 countries voicing support for its statements.

Meanwhile, a statement issued at the close of the seventh ministerial meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum on Thursday said that the participating Arab nations support China's efforts to peacefully resolve territorial and maritime differences through dialogue.

Fu of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations said Washington is likely to continue to take advantage of the South China Sea issue to realize its goal of an Asia-Pacific rebalance.

James Baker, who served as secretary of state under former president George H.W. Bush, told China Daily that although there are areas of converging interests with China, areas of tension will continue to exist. "But we need to manage differences that are going to exist."
By Zhong Nan in Beijing and Fu Jing in Brussels | China Daily | Updated: 2016-05-14 02:40

Members of the European Parliament take part in a voting session in Strasbourg, France, April 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Beijing urged Brussels on Friday to honor its international obligation to treat China as a market economy, after the European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution of refusal.

European experts said the parliament's decision could result in the China-EU relationship becoming embroiled in a tit-for-tat scenario.

On Thursday, the European Parliament voted to refuse China market economy status, with many members saying that China has not met the five criteria for a market economy set by European institutions.

The UK, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries support China's market economy status. Germany supports it, in principle, but wants safeguards for sensitive industries, while Italy is strongly opposed.

China is recognized as a market economy by 80 countries including Russia, Brazil, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia.

An unidentified representative of China's Ministry of Commerce said on Friday that the European Union must observe the accession articles of China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

These stipulate that China should be automatically given market economy status in December this year after a 15-year transition period.

The ministry said this international obligation must be shouldered by all WTO members and the European Union is no exception.

Beijing maintains that granting market economy status is dependent on international rules rather than domestic criteria.

To deny such status to China would be a strong political signal from the EU and could well lead to deterioration of the recent warming political relationship between the two economies, said Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a non-profit organization in Brussels that promotes bilateral digital and internet cooperation.
BEIJING -- China's position of neither participating in nor accepting the results of the forceful arbitration initiated by the the Philippines over the disputes in the South China Sea does not mean the country disobeys international law, on the contrary, it's defending it.

The initiation of the arbitration by the Philippines in January 2013 under the UN Convention of the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) is abuse of international law as the initiative does not satisfy the preconditions set in the Convention.

Peacefully resolving international disputes is an important principle in the UNCLOS. Compared to other measures such as negotiation and consultation, compulsory arbitration is a secondary and complementary method. The application of it has to meet at least four preconditions.

First, the crux of the subject matter of the arbitration is the territorial disputes caused by the Philippines' illegal occupation since the 1970s of some islands and reefs in China's Nansha Islands, maritime delimitation disputes, and the evolution of the contemporary law of the sea.

The issue of the territorial disputes is outside the scope of the UNCLOS, thus neither can the Philippines initiate a compulsory arbitration under this convention, nor does the arbitral tribunal in the Hague, the Netherlands, have the jurisdiction to adjudicate upon the case.

Territorial disputes are governed by the UN Charter and general international law, not the UNCLOS.

Second, on the subject of maritime delimitation, China made a declaration in 2006 in accordance with Article 298 of the UNCLOS, excluding disputes such as maritime delimitation, historical titles or rights, and military activities from the compulsory proceedings.

China's declaration of the optional exception means it will not accept the compulsory mechanism of Part 15 of the UNCLOS in dealing with the overlapping maritime claims or delimitation issues.

More than 30 countries have made similar statements. The declarations made by China and other countries constitute an integral part of the Convention and should be respected.

Third, both China and the Philippines have committed themselves many times to resolving disputes between them through bilateral negotiations and consultation. Therefore, the Philippine submissions are neither suitable for compulsory arbitration at all, nor there is any basis for the formation of the tribunal.

From 1995 to 2011, there were at least six joint statements between the two countries repeatedly reaffirming negotiation as the means for settling their disputes. The mutual understanding was also reflected in the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed in 2002 by China and the Philippines, among others. The DOC emphasizes that negotiations shall be conducted by the states directly concerned. All these obviously have produced the effect of excluding any means of third-party settlement.
CAIRO -- The 7th ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) held in Doha on Thursday paves the way for further economic and political cooperation between China and the Arab world, said Arab experts.

China and the Arab world enjoy vast economic partnerships, mutual political and diplomatic support and strong relations based on respect, friendship and shared interests, according to many analysts.

The China-Arab Cooperation Forum was described by Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby as "a good example for the South-to-South cooperation," stressing the Arab nations are "sincere and confident in our strategic cooperation."

BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Doha that the Belt and Road Initiative is "a historic opportunity" for China and the Arab nations to boost common development and national rejuvenation, expecting "huge potentials" for future Chinese-Arab cooperation in infrastructure projects.

During the one-day meeting, held under the theme of "Working together on the Belt and Road Initiative and deepening China-Arab strategic cooperation," the two sides agreed to take the initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as the lodestar to promote their relations.

The initiative, which comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was announced by President Xi in 2013, with the aim to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road.

"This initiative may form a cooperation framework between the Chinese and the Arab sides, and transport can be one of the fields of cooperation," said Gamal Bayoumi, head of the Arab Investors Union, noting the ancient Silk Road crossed some Arab states, including Egypt.
China and Europe's political leaders will meet to discuss China's "green development" and "open development" strategies during the 13th Five-Year Plan and discuss opportunities for cooperation.

The 5th China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum will be held from May 17-18 in Beijing. China and Europe's new cooperation opportunities in green development and how to find opportunities in China's open development, especially the Belt and Road Initiative, are the two main topics. And on May 19, a meeting about cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative will be held in Zhengzhou, Henan province.

More than 80 European leaders representing more than 30 political parties from 24 European countries; two regional European political parties and two political party groups in the European Parliament, will attend the forum.

The forum, initiated by the Communist Party of China, was first held in Beijing in 2010, and is a high-level, multilateral and strategic dialogue platform. It aims to push forward China and Europe to build partnership of "peace, growth, reform and civilization", and strengthen both sides' communication and connectivity.
(Photo : George Frey/Getty Images) Two suspected kidnappers were shot dead in a gunfight with police officers in Shanxi Province.

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Two men suspected of kidnapping a Chinese businessman were shot dead in a gun fight with police officers on Wednesday.



The kidnappers were shot dead during a gun fight that ensued as they attempted to escape, police said at a press conference on Thursday.



The two men allegedly abducted Zan Baoshi, the chairman of Datong Huayue Construction Group, a real estate company, according to Xinhua. Zan was kidnapped on Tuesday morning as he made his way to his office in Datong city in north Chinas Shanxi Province.



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Datong City police were informed of the kidnapping around noon on Tuesday. The kidnappers demanded US$20 million as a ransom for Zan. More than 500 policemen were commissioned to conduct a search and rescue operation, Datong City public security bureau said.



After spending more than 10 hours searching, police located the suspects on Wednesday morning. The suspects were found driving two cars in a village near Datong.



The police tried to arrest the suspects by surrounding them. However, they resisted arrest and started a gun fight with the authorities.



Both suspects were shot dead on the scene. Zan was safely rescued, the bureau said. Police also seized two cars, two firearms and 31 bullets.



The two suspects, identified only as Jia and Tong, were both from Datongs Nianjao district, police said.



Zan, the victim, kept a low profile before the incident. Little is known about him. According to information available online, he established Huayue Group in 1996. Zans company is currently worth 2.8 billion yuan (about $430.64 million).



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TagsShanxi province, Datong Huayue Construction Group, Zan Baoshi, Nianjao district
(Photo : SpaceX/Twitter) Dragon recovery team on site after nominal splashdown in Pacific.

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A SpaceX Dragon capsule returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around 3 P.M. EDT on Wednesday, after docking at the International Space Station for a month, carrying 3,700 pounds worth of precious scientific haul of experiments and research.



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British astronaut Tim Peake of the European Space Agency said to mission controllers in Houston that the Dragon Spacecraft has served them well, releasing the Dragon into space using the space station's robotic arm around 9:19 A.M. He adds, it is good to see it departing full of science, where the crew wished it a safe journey and recovery back to planet Earth.



Inside the 1,300 pound worth of experiments are more than 1,000 vials of blood, urine and saliva from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly when he spent almost a year aboard the the orbiting space laboratory, that ended last March. NASA scientists will now study and analyze these biological samples to further study the long term effects of a zero gravity environment on the human body. In another study, Kelly's physical results will also be compared to his twin brother's, Mark Kelly, back on Earth.



Inside the Dragon are also protein crystal experiments that can further develop better design for cancer treatments. NASA engineers will also be able to investigate a spacesuit used last January when a spacewalk was immediately halted due to a water bubble forming inside the helmet of astronaut Tim Kopra. Even if Kopra was safe from the incident, this spacesuit issue has not yet been resolved by NASA since this is not the first time that water leaking in spacesuits occurred.



This cargo resupply mission is also Dragons' first mission in a year, after a cargo resupply mission failed last June, as the Falcon 9 rocket exploded. The Dragon capsule is crucial for station operations as no other spacecraft can carry and return that massive amount of cargo back to Earth.



This Dragon Capsule was launched last April 8 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where SpaceX also successfully landed back its Falcon 9 booster on a floating droneship on the Atlantic Ocean for the first time ever.



Two days later, the Dragon successfully docked at the ISS with 7,000 pounds of cargo including an inflatable space habitat known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, which is a prototype developed by Bigelow Aerospace which will be inflated later this month.



Before re-entering the planet's atmosphere Wednesday morning, the Dragon capsule orbited the planet three times before firing again its thrusters as it began to drop from orbit around 2 P.M. Splashdown occurred at 2:52 P.M. some 260 miles southwest of Long Beach, California, as boats are expected to return the capsule to the shore within one day.



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(Photo : US Navy) USS Zumwalt and a prototype electromagnetic naval railgun

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The most modern and most powerful destroyers on the planet -- the U.S. Navy's Zumwalt class -- are expected to see service in the Pacific Ocean once these fantastic ships armed with electromagnetic railguns become operational by the next decade.



The first ship of this class, the USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000), successfully underwent a series of hull, mechanical and engineering (HM&E) trials to uncover bugs in its first-of-its-kind Integrated Propulsion System. This system generates 80,000 megawatts, more than enough power to fire an electromagnetic railgun.



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Once other sea trials are successfully completed, the USS Zumwalt will head for the Pacific Ocean to complete the activation of its combat systems. The destroyer will be home-ported at Naval Base San Diego in California, principal homeport of the United States Pacific Fleet consisting of 50 ships.



The Pacific Fleet has command over the U.S. Navy Third Fleet defending the West Coast and the Seventh Fleet in Asia.



The U.S. Navy's Naval Sea System Command (NAVSEA) is studying the feasibility of adding an electromagnetic railgun to the USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG-1002), the third Zumwalt-class destroyer, said Vice Adm. William Hilarides, NAVSEA commander.



Adm. Hilarides said the studies will determine if the Zumwalt-class will have the space and power to deploy a railgun. Once deployed, the railgun will probably replace the 155 mm gun mounted ahead of the ship's deck house.



"We have begun real studies -- as opposed to just a bunch of guys sitting around -- real engineering studies are being done to make sure it's possible," said Adm. Hilarides.



He said the USS Lyndon B. Johnson is currently being built at General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works and has an expected delivery date in 2018.



The railgun to be mounted on DDG-1002 will have a range of over 160 km and will fire special hypervelocity rounds. Future rounds will be self-guided, and the first tests of this capability will take place this summer.



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TagsUSS Zumwalt, electromagnetic railgun, United States Pacific Fleet, Vice Adm. William Hilaride, china, USS Lyndon B. Johnson
(Photo : Getty Images) Barak Obama signed a bill to protect American companies' intellectual property and used the moment to speak in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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President Obama signed a bill designed to protect American companies' trade secrets and took the opportunity to ask Congress to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.



"Unfortunately one of the problems that we have in [the Asia-Pacific] region is the tendency to steal trade secrets, produce knockoffs for those markets, and we end up losing business," Obama said. "That means we're losing American jobs"



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Obama said the partnership with the 11 Asia-Pacific countries includes measures to fight the theft of American trade secrets in the region.



Roughly RMB 6.5 trillion (USD 300 billion) worth of trade secrets is stolen from American companies annually.



The bill signed into law by Obama is domestically focused. The legislation allows American companies to bypass state courts and sue at the federal level over the theft of intellectual property, speeding up the legal process.



Obama said the new law will deter intellectual property thieves, because it will "hurt them where it counts, in their pocketbook."



Sponsored by Republican senator from Utah Orrin Hatch, the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 easily passed the Senate and the House. The only two votes of opposition came as the legislation passed through Congress on April 27.



David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Global Intellectual Property Center, said the bill "marks a significant victory for American innovators and American workers."



Hatch lauded the bipartisan work behind the bill as proof "that Republicans and Democrats can work across the aisle in seeking to advance important public policies that will benefit the American people and boost our nation's economy."



As for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, there is no timeline for its vote in Congress. Global Policy Watch reported that such a vote could happen after the elections in November are complete.



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TagsObama, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Asia Pacific, Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016, Intellectual property theft, Orrin Hatch, David Hirschmann, Utah
(Photo : Getty Images) Chinas leading ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing has received a $1 billion investment from Apple Inc.

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China's leading ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing has announced that the company has received an investment of $1 billion from Apple Inc. This is the single largest funding Didi has ever received.



"The endorsement from Apple is an enormous encouragement and inspiration for our four-year-old company," the company's CEO Cheng Wei said in a statement. "Didi will work hard with our drivers, riders, and global partners, to make available to every citizen flexible and reliable mobility choices, and help cities solve transportation, environmental and employment challenges."



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With the $1 billion funding, Apple joins Didi's other investors, such as Chinese Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent. China is a strong market for Apple. The company has a share of 13.7 percent in China's smartphone market. The Asian country is also second largest market for the iPhone maker. Apple earned $18.4 billion in first quarter of the current financial year from China.



Apple's CEO Tim Cook, in a telephone interview with Chinese news agency Xinhua, said Apple decided to make the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including the chance to learn more about certain segments of the Chinese market.



"We see lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies, and we also believe it will deliver strong returns," he said.



Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, is the biggest ride-sharing application in China with 87 percent of the market share. It is also second largest e-commerce platform in the country. The company is in fierce competition with global car-hailing application Uber. Apple's investment is expected to help Didi to consolidate its market in China.



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(Photo : Getty Images) China claims that certain people in the U.S. are trying to disturb the social order in Hong Kong.

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China's Foreign Ministry on Friday said that certain unidentified people in the United States are try to destabilizing its autonomous territory, Hong Kong. The accusation comes after the U.S. State Department expressed concern over the eroding autonomy of Hong Kong in a recently released report.



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Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang categorically said that Hong Kong is an integral part of China and no other nation has a right to interfere in its internal affairs.



"We also remind the United States that certain people on the U.S. side have always wanted to disturb Hong Kong, disturb its socio-economic development, disturb the normal order of its residents' lives, and even use the Hong Kong issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," Lu said at a news briefing.



He warned U.S. that such efforts will prove to be futile, adding that it will make Chinese people all the more alert.



The United Kingdom transferred the sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997, marking the end of Britain's 156-year rule over the island. The transfer of sovereignty hinged on the condition that Hong Kong's unique way of life and its legal system would remain unchanged for at least 50 years.



However, since 1997, China has been criticized by the international community for incidents in Hong Kong.



Hong Kong had witnessed full blown protests in 2014 after China had refused to grant complete democracy to the island.



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(Photo : SpaceX/Boeing) The Dragon spacecraft from SpaceX (left) and its competitor, Boeing's CST-100 Starliner.

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The first commercial space race is all but over. Boeing's recent announcement it was delaying to 2018 from 2017 the first crewed flight of its CST-100 Starliner means SpaceX and its Dragon spacecraft has all but won the race spawned by NASA's Commercial Crew Program.



Elon Musk's SpaceX remains on track to send its Dragon V2 with its first crew of NASA astronauts on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by April 2017. On the other hand, a crewed flight carrying one NASA astronaut and one Boeing test pilot to the ISS originally set for 2017 is now scheduled for February 2018.



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SpaceX is still scheduled to send an uncrewed flight of its Dragon spacecraft to the ISS in December 2016 followed by its first crewed flight test to the ISS. The crewed version of Dragon is called the Dragon V2.



The only thing or things that can prevent SpaceX from crossing the finish line first would be a set of unexpected circumstances similar to the ones that derailed Boeing's bid. In Boeing's case, these were a series of technical issues and new requirements from NASA.



"We're working towards our first unmanned flight in 2017 followed by a manned astronaut flight in 2018," said Leanne Caret, Boeing executive vice president, confirming the delay.



Despite acknowledging the delay, Caret still hopes Boeing will be the first company to fly its commercial crew vehicle.



"It is our vision that the CST-100 will be the first of the new American capsules to take astronauts to space," she said.



Which is another way of saying she wishes something will derail SpaceX winning this race. And there's a chance that might occur, as Boeing can attest to in this case.



The last American spacecraft to travel to the ISS was the space shuttle Atlantis. The space shuttle also flew the last shuttle mission on July 21, 2011, capping close to 30 years of spectacular missions that began on April 12, 1981 when Columbia took to space.



Since then, the U.S. has been paying the Russians to fly Americans to the ISS on Russian Soyuz capsules at some $70 million a passenger.



SpaceX has already achieved notable firsts in this space race against Boeing. On May 25, 2012, a Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with and attach to the ISS. Previously, in December 2010, Dragon became the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to be recovered successfully from orbit.



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The biggest motion picture of India, Baahubali  The Beginning is all set to be released in Taiwan.

The successful film has already released in more than 30 international circuits and has done phenomenal business in almost every country. Baahubali has high scope to become a big hit in Taiwan considering the culture of Taiwanese being similar to the lead character, Sivudu, from Baahubali.

A short video of Prabhas notifying the release of Baahubali in Taiwan has been released by the makers on Twitter. The films release date, schedules etc. is also released. We have to wait and see what kind of magic Baahubali does in this country flooded with mountains.

Meanwhile, Baahubali 2 is being canned with utmost care as expectation shave multifold after the success of first part. April 14, 2017, is the D-Day.
Women deacons for the Catholic Church? Perhaps, Pope Francis says 13 May, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

VATICAN CITY (Christian Examiner)  A long time prohibition on women holding the office of deacon in the Catholic Church could be coming to an end after Pope Francis suggested the church should study how women could take on a larger role in church leadership, Catholic News Service has reported.

Francis was speaking to women in the International Union of Superiors General  made up of nuns from various orders  when he said May 12 he agreed with the idea of establishing "an official commission to study the question."

"I accept," Pope Francis said. "It would be useful for the church to clarify this question. I agree."

But agreeing to a commission to study the issue is a long way from actually adopting the station of service for women in the church. Male deacons in the church today officiate at baptisms, weddings and sometimes even preach sermons.

Francis said female deacons are mentioned in the New Testament (such as Phoebe in Romans 16), by several church fathers and in Canon 19 of the Council of Nicaea. It is unclear if the deaconesses mentioned in those writings had the same function as male deacons, whether they were ordained, and if they assisted only with services provided to women, such as baptism and anointing with oil.

For actual doctrinal matters, Francis will turn to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the theological watchdog of the church, for answers. He told the superiors he would ask the CDF if there are studies on women deacons. In turns out, there already is.

In 2001, the International Theological Commission, an assembly of theologians which advises the CDF, said female deacons in the early church did not have the same duties and significance as the modern diaconate.

"The deaconesses mentioned in the tradition of the ancient Church  as evidenced by the rite of institution and the functions they exercised  were not purely and simply equivalent to the deacons," the commission said.

It also added that ordination to the diaconate was clearly not the same as the ordination of bishops and priests. That may signal an opening for the church to be more inclusive without opening up the larger role of the priesthood to women.

The pontiff said women still cannot preside over the Mass.
A young Pakistani Christian boy has been forced to flee his home after Muslim neighbors accused him of blasphemy against Islam.

ChristianToday.com reports that Imran was accused by Muslim colleagues of watching an anti-Islamic video on his phone.

The Center for Legal Aid, Assistance, and Settlement (CLAAS), an organization that helps persecuted Christians in Pakistan, has said that Imrans Muslim coworkers purposefully stole his phone and looked up the videos in order to accuse him of blasphemy.

The antagonistic Muslims beat Imran and locked him up, but members of the local Catholic church were able to release him.

He has now fled his village in Punjab, Pakistan because authorities placed a $10,000 bounty, called a fatwa, on his head.

Members of Imrans village were also told that they must convert to Islam, leave the village forever, or hand Imran over to be killed. In addition, Muslims were encouraged to boycott all Christian establishments.

"I cannot believe that such things are still happening in this world. Such treatment towards Pakistani Christians is a slap on the face of the Punjab and central government, and to all those who never tire of telling the world that minorities are protected and enjoying equal rights in the country, stated Nasir Saeed, direction of CLAAS UK.

"I don't understand how watching a video on the internet can be criminalised as an act of blasphemy. And if this is blasphemy then all those who watch this video or any other videos against Islam have committed blasphemy and everyone should be arrested, charged and punished under the blasphemy law, he continued.

"Such conditions from lay people make a mockery of the law. The Government of Pakistan must take this matter seriously, provide protection to the local Christians, and those who are breaking the law should be dealt according to the law."

Publication date: May 13, 2016
The pastor of a China state-run church called Pyongyang Three-Self Patriotic Movement Church who protested against the cross-removal campaign in Zhejiang province was released this week after being imprisoned for the last eight months, China Aid reported.

Zhang Chongzhu was detained in September 2015, and accused of "stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing state secrets or intelligence to entities outside China."

The same charge was applied to a human rights lawyer, Zhang Kai, who along with Chongzhu was scheduled to meet with US Ambassador-at-Large David Saperstein, a day before they were arrested.

Zhang Chongzhu remained under residential surveillance at an undisclosed location.

Residential surveillance in China either implies confining an accused at his home, or at a place sanctioned by authorities about which no information is provided to media. Those charged with serious crimes against the state are relegated to residential surveillance at unknown places.

Article 73 of the Criminal Procedure Law says: Where, for a crime suspected to endanger State security, a crime involving terrorist activities and a crime involving a significant amount of bribes, residential surveillance at the domicile of the criminal suspect or defendant may impede the investigation, it maybe enforced at a designated place of residence.

Zhangs wife told Radio Free Asia that such charges against him were ridiculous.

They are saying it's for gathering and leaking state secrets or some such thing. I think this is too ridiculous for words," she said. "But we are powerless to do anything; we can't sue the government," she said. "All we can do is pray."

Zhang had spoken publicly against the cross-demolition campaign for over a year before he was arrested.

Churches in Zhejiang have openly protested against the demolition of crosses and churches, which the authorities say is to enforce building standards and beautification of city.

Church congregations in the city of Wenzhou, also called Chinas Jerusalem, have written open letters to authorities, sung Christian hymns in front of security forces, and worn T-shirts with crosses to protest government campaign.

Many churches were demolished for not meeting changing regulations of the state, and over 1,800 crosses have been removed.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has placed China under the category of "countries of particular concern" in its 2016 annual report. Such countries are classified as those in which the governments either engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.

The Chinese government conspicuously took steps since 2014 to suppress religious freedom in its efforts to maintain communal order based on socialism. Most of the persecution of authorities was directed towards Christian groups, as they sought to put pastors and Christian lawyers behind bars for protesting against government campaign of razing churches and crosses.

Hundreds of protesters were detained in China over the past year, and many of them still remain in judicial custody.
Hanam Presbyterian Church in South Korea, which has been serving pastors of non-self-sufficient churches for the past eight years, has set out to now serve pastors of Korean immigrant churches. The ninth Happy Pastors Seminar that Hanam Church has hosted was attended by 30 some pastors of Korean immigrant churches and took place late last month at High Desert Church and CJ Grand Hotel.

I also felt a thirst while serving at an immigrant church for nine years, shared Rev. Sung Il Bang, the senior pastor of Hanam Church. I wanted to encourage and cheer on those pastors of immigrant churches who may feel like Elijah when he was sitting under that tree during their lonely pastoral journey.

The aspect that stirred the attention of pastors for this particular seminar, however, was the fact that Tom Mercer was featured as one of the guest speakers. Mercer, who leads High Desert Church, introduced a new paradigm of evangelism and church growth called Oikos, and through it, his church grew to some 12,000 members in 27 years.

Oikos is not a program or an event, said Mercer. Its everything that Jesus did and taught and lived to build up his church.

Oikos means family in Greek, and according to Mercer, God supernaturally and strategically created an individual to be able to form meaningful relationships with eight to 15 people. God used the family as a primary space to share the gospel, and oikos means an extended family. The primary family could be a biological one, or it could be a workplace, people one sees as they visit a market on a regular basis.

There are too many programs and ministries in todays church, Mercer said, and all of these programs overwhelm the congregants who have a lot to deal with in their daily lives.

Mercer added that when a church conducted a survey among its members asking how many hours each week they would be willing to invest in church, most said they would be willing to invest five hours each week. And when they were asked whether they would like to participate in some work that would change the world during those five hours, many of them agreed to it. So with those five hours, the church decided to spend an hour and a half in meaningful worship, two hours in meaningful small groups, and an hour and a half in service or ministry through the church, according to each persons giftings.

Mercer also emphasized the importance of worship, and said his sermons always focus on three main parts: A) Admitting sin; B) Believing that Jesus is the only one who can save from sin; and C) Choosing to follow Christ. Listening to sermons that always focus on these three aspects allow anyone to easily understand the gospel, Mercer said.

The last day also featured a Q&A portion with Rev. Bang. When asked whether the Oikos paradigm was applied in Hanam Church, Bang responded, Oikos isn't a program or a workshop. It's something you just need to do to be able to say you are doing it.

Mercer's disciples are people who share the gospel. In the Korean church, there are many Pharisees who have listened to too many sermons so their heads have become big. Our church is also wrestling to go back to the basics of the church, to be one that shares the gospel.

While pastoring in the Korean immigrant church, I felt myself becoming frustrated and helpless. I found myself just drained of energy and feeling empty, Bang said. At that rate, I knew I would either just collapse on my own or get kicked out. Pastors must have a time for themselves to recharge.

Meanwhile, Hanam Church will continue the 'Happy Pastors' Conference by serving Korean pastors in Europe next year.
Terence Davies is a legend. In his four-decade career, Davieswho was raised in Liverpool in a devout working-class Roman Catholic family, the youngest of tenhas created a body of work like no one else, one that examines memory, family, and place through often startling beauty.

Davies abandoned religion as a teenager, and often grapples with his complicated relationship to the church, tragedy, and sexuality in his movies; he is outright critical of religion.

But his films (including Of Time and the City, The Long Day Closes, and Distant Voices, Still Lives) exude a spiritual sensibility and palpable longing thats nearly unmatched in contemporary cinema. His cameras careful attention to small things, like the light streaming through a window or a flickering candle, imbues everyday life with something like holiness.

Theres often large gaps between Daviess films, due to funding. But this year, he has two out at once. Sunset Song, out in theaters this weekend, is an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbons 1932 novel about a young Scottish woman, Chris Guthrie. Chriss life is marked by both great tragedy and beauty, and critics (including this one) are hailing it as a masterpiece. A Quiet Passion, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and is still awaiting a U.S. release date, traces the life of Emily Dickinson and her struggles with her faith and her art. (Read our report from the films premiere.)

Davies, who speaks warmly and almost musically, spoke with me for forty-five minutes about truth-telling in cinema, shooting light and potatoes, religion, spirituality, and the rich inner life of Emily Dickinson. (He also quoted poetry.) What follows was ...

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Youre probably going to hear more of rapper Lecrae thanks to his new deal with Columbia Records.

After a decade of success with Reach Records, the Christian hip-hop outlet he founded, the Grammy- and Dove-winning artist scored his first deal with a major label, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reports.

At Columbia, the biggest label under Sony Music, Lecrae joins some of the most popular names in music: Beyonce, Adele, Pharrell Williams, and One Direction.

A rapper who happens to be Christian, Lecrae has already enjoyed mainstream successcollaborating with hit artists, topping the Billboard charts, and appearing on TheTonight Show. But the Columbia deal takes things to another level.

That will bring on things like radio airplay, larger tours, more featured placement on digital retailers and large playlists on services like Spotify and Apple Music, said Chad Horton, co-owner of the Christian hip-hop site Rapzilla. It will get him ...

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When 16,000 college students gathered at InterVarsity Christian Fellowships latest Urbana conference to talk about missions, one of the main debates became how evangelicals should engage with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

In practice, they arent engaging much at all. Evangelicals are among the least likely of religious groups to support BLM, and the most likely to hold conservative positions on race, according to new research from Barna Group.

There are exceptions: One of the latest additions to the BLM camp is pastor and author John Piper.

This past December, many were surprised when worship director and BLM activist Michelle Higgins took the stage at Urbana.

Black Lives Matter is not a mission of hate. It is not a mission to bring about incredible anti-Christian values and reforms to the world, said Higgins, who directs worship and outreach at South City Church, a Presbyterian Church in America congregation in St. Louis, Missouri. [BLM] is a movement ...

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Late last month, Slate published an article by Jennifer Miller investigating Mercy Multiplied, a Christian recovery ministry accused of hurting some of the young women it sought to help. Tracing the stories of more than a dozen former residents, Miller depicted a program that preached one thing but practiced another.

In an email to CT, Mercy Multiplied, which operates facilities in Tennessee, California, Missouri, and Louisiana, said that Counselors are not required to be licensed in the locations where we have homes. However, Mercy is not opposed to licensure and over the years counselors have been licensed or have pursued licensure while working for us. In their Louisiana home, counselors are licensed by the state, and all counselors are required to posses advanced spiritual maturity and working knowledge of the Bible. According to Mercy, counselors do not practice medicine, or even therapy, but instead follow a set format meant to aid the young women in the program in their recovery.

The claims in the Slate article underscore the various definitions of Christian counseling, even among Christians: Does the term include practices like exorcism and healing prayer? Is it primarily medical treatment in a faith-friendly setting? Since a growing number of ministries are taking mental health more seriously, there are more medically sound options for Christians in need of treatment. Still, patients may not know what to expect from a given program.

Mercy Multiplied reportedly crossed boundaries by accepting mentally ill clients when they werent licensed to do so. Miller wrote that

Mercy staffs lack of formal clinical training puts mentally ill or traumatized clients at ...

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New Book Helps Readers Cultivate a Personal Relationship with God and Trust in His Mercy catholicfire.blogspot.com



WICHITA, Kan., May 13, 2016 /



"Learning to Love with the Saints" is the inspiring personal witness of how Jean M. Heimann was wooed by Jesus to return to the Church after being raised Catholic and then leaving her faith for fifteen years. In this riveting memoir, Jean tells the story of growing up in the Midwest in a French-Catholic family during the tumultuous times of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War and mass misinterpretation of Vatican II in the Church in the '60s.



Jean grew up in a stable home environment with devout, hard-working Catholic parents. Her life took some treacherous turns as she entered into marriage with a drug-addicted, abusive man, which was soon followed by divorce, causing her to leave her Catholic faith.



Throughout her life, Jean faced numerous sufferings and trials. In this intimate account, Jean shares her fears, her pain and the graces she received from God to rise above her circumstances. She reveals how she came to see her own value in the eyes of God, to surrender to Him and to embrace His tender love and mercy.



JEAN M. HEIMANN is a Catholic author and freelance writer with an M.A. in Theology, a parish minister and a diocesan speaker, a retired psychologist and educator, and an Oblate with the Community of St. John. In addition to her highly acclaimed first book, "Seven Saints for Seven Virtues," Jean has had her work published in a variety of Catholic periodicals.



To receive a review copy of "Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir" or to obtain an interview, contact Jean at

Share Tweet Contact: Jean M. Heimann, Mercy Press, 316-243-5885, jean.heimann@gmail.com WICHITA, Kan., May 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Mercy Press announces the release of author Jean M. Heimann's new book, "Learning to Love With the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir." Available in digital ($2.99) and paperback ($13.99) editions at Amazon.com, "Learning to Love with the Saints" gives us practical insight into the abundant love and mercy that flows from the Sacred Heart of Jesus to our hearts when we learn to trust in His love and mercy. "Learning to Love with the Saints" shows us how to develop a personal relationship with God, to grow more deeply in love with Him, to trust in His mercy and to use the saints as our supporters and spiritual guides."Learning to Love with the Saints" is the inspiring personal witness of how Jean M. Heimann was wooed by Jesus to return to the Church after being raised Catholic and then leaving her faith for fifteen years. In this riveting memoir, Jean tells the story of growing up in the Midwest in a French-Catholic family during the tumultuous times of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War and mass misinterpretation of Vatican II in the Church in the '60s.Jean grew up in a stable home environment with devout, hard-working Catholic parents. Her life took some treacherous turns as she entered into marriage with a drug-addicted, abusive man, which was soon followed by divorce, causing her to leave her Catholic faith.Throughout her life, Jean faced numerous sufferings and trials. In this intimate account, Jean shares her fears, her pain and the graces she received from God to rise above her circumstances. She reveals how she came to see her own value in the eyes of God, to surrender to Him and to embrace His tender love and mercy.JEAN M. HEIMANN is a Catholic author and freelance writer with an M.A. in Theology, a parish minister and a diocesan speaker, a retired psychologist and educator, and an Oblate with the Community of St. John. In addition to her highly acclaimed first book, "Seven Saints for Seven Virtues," Jean has had her work published in a variety of Catholic periodicals.To receive a review copy of "Learning to Love with the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir" or to obtain an interview, contact Jean at jean.heimann@gmail.com
home Faith Anti-Ark Encounter ads rejected by billboard companies, atheist group looking for takers

The atheist group that is in opposition to the Ark Encounter theme park in Kentucky had long expressed their plans to put up protest ads along the roads leading to the life-size replica of Noah's Ark. However, two billboard companies turned down the project.

"We tried with everyone we could think of, and these were [billboard] companies that originally were in agreement to do business with us," Jim Helton, the president of Tri-State Freethinkers, told ABC News. "We're just looking for someone to take our money."

The group had raised $10,000 for the project, but billboard companies Lamar and Event Advertising and Promotions LLC turned it down. Helton surmises that they are afraid of scandal as the proposed billboard would have displayed the slogan, "Genocide and Incest Park: Celebrating 2,000 years of myths." According to Mail Online, there was also to be an image portraying the Biblical vessel with two giraffes poking their heads out and people around the ark drowning in the flood.

"In Genesis Chapters 6-9, the God of the Bible was unhappy with man, so he decided to kill every living thing, except for one family and two of each animal. We see no other way to look at this other than mass genocide," Helton told The Huffington Post in March. "This is the second time that incest was used to populate the world. We are taught this story as children as a fun story, as a good story, filled with animals and a boat. People rarely take a look at the actual story because when they do, they realize how immoral it is."

The Ark Encounter theme park is an endeavor of Answers in Genesis, the same Christian group that runs the Creation Museum. The organization believes that the Earth is 6,000 years old, and it refutes the scientific view of evolution. Rather, it tells people that dinosaurs lived alongside people. This creationist stance is part of the organization's Statement of Faith, belief of which is part of the requirements for people to get a job at Ark Encounter -- something that had stirred controversy in recent months.

Fundamentalist Ken Ham, the president of AiG, responded to TSF's attempts at going against them, tweeting, "The @TSFJim secularists aren't out for free exercise of religion but to impose their anti-God religion on the culture."

Tri-State Freethinkers is reportedly considering putting the billboard outside of Kentucky if anyone is willing to put it up. They are also planning a protest on July 7, the day the park will open its gates to the public.
home Entertainment Caitlyn Jenner 'sex change regret'? Could go back to being Bruce Jenner?

Reality star Caitlyn Jenner is said to be feeling regret over her decision to become female and is reportedly considering transitioning back to being the male Olympic medalist Bruce Jenner.

Speaking with The Wrap, biographer Ian Halperin said, "One source confirmed to me Caitlyn has made whispers of 'sex change regret,' hinting she might go back to being Bruce Jenner."

The author of "Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America's Royal Family" claimed to have learned of Jenner contemplating transitioning back while doing research. Sources allegedly told him that the reality star had been miserable for months.

Jenner, father to six children including popular stars Kendall and Kylie and foster dad to the Kardashians, had created a huge sensation last year when he revealed that he is a trans woman. Bruce was interviewed by Diane Sawyer on "20/20" in 2015, saying, "For all intents and purposes, I am a woman." She, as Caitlyn, was later featured on the cover of Vanity Fair.

"It hasn't been easy for Caitlyn, it's been very hard," the friend reportedly told Halperin. "She's thrilled she has raised awareness about how transgender people have long been discriminated against but I think there's a chance she'll de-transition in the next couple years. I don't think it would surprise anybody in her inner circle. It has been much harder than she anticipated. My heart goes out to her and I know her true friends will be there to support her on whatever path she chooses."

Moreover, Halperin's friend allegedly said that Jenner is still interested in women and wants to meet the right one. This, on the other hand, is contradictory to what the reality star said in an episode of "I Am Cait," wherein she expressed an interest in dating a man, as pointed out by Daily News.

A representative for Jenner had denied the Halperin's claims.

"Not worth commenting on such an idiotic report," the representative told Daily News. "Of course it's not true."
home World Chaldean priest asks why U.S. can't find ISIS when it can find water on Mars

A Chaldean priest, who runs a displacement center in Ainkawa in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, has blamed the United States government for not exerting enough effort to quash the Islamic State terror group.

Speaking in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to raise awareness regarding the plight of thousands of Christians and other civilians in war-torn Iraq, Father Douglas al-Bazi said that the U.S. only moved against IS when the terrorists made their way into the Kurdish town of Erbil. This was after Mosul and other Christian and Yazidi towns in Northern Iraq have already been conquered in 2014.

"When the Islamic State attacked, no one took action until the Islamic State arrived to Erbil. [It wasn't until then] when the Americans started bombing the Islamic State," he said, as quoted by The Christian Post. "So the Yazidis and Christians, they ask why America just helped those people and they forget about us? Also another group called Shabak, they had the same feeling."

The feeling of despair was exacerbated when, in September 2015, the world celebrated the discovery of water on Mars by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, while the people in Iraq were displaced, homeless, and suffering.

"My people, they [ask why] NASA can find water on Mars but they were not able to find the Islamic State [when] they were just in the middle of desert by hundreds, [with] Toyota cars everywhere," Bazi explained. "[They were] just in the middle of the desert and [the U.S.] was not able to find them by satellite. This is a disappointment."

The U.S. State Department already recognized in March that the acts of the Islamic State is genocide. This, according to the Chaldean priest, is the first time that the U.S. showed they care, but he said that caring means so much more than just words, "it means taking action for my people."

According to the report, a source said that Christians and other religious minorities are unlikely to receive much help because foreign government aid -- except for those that are given to churches that help Christian refugees directly -- goes through the Iraqi government. Moreover, Christian refugees try not to register with the United Nations for fear of being targeted by Muslims, and this diminishes their chances of being resettled in the U.S., which relies much on the U.N. registry.

Bazi also said that the 2005 Iraqi Constitution needs to be changed because while the first part speaks of democracy, the second says that one "cannot have any law against Shariah and Quran."

The Chaldean priest, who was held hostage in 2006 and suffered torture in the hands of terrorists, now runs Mas Elias Church.
home World Christian committee in India recommends giving transgender Christians equal rights to ancestral property

India is moving forward in terms of gender equality as a new recommendation, if approved, could give transgenders who belong to the Christian community equal rights to ancestral property.

According to The Hindu, the Law Commission of India asked the Delhi Minorities Commission for recommendations on amendments to the India Succession Act. The DMC consulted with the Advisory Committee of Christians, and they suggested that section 44 of the India Succession Act of 1925 be amended to include transgenders, giving them equal rights as men and women when it comes to claims on ancestral property. The 52 professionals and religious leaders belonging to the Advisory Committee agreed to the proposal.

"The entire Christian Committee agreed. We are hopeful that this will be incorporated and the Law Commission clears this recommendation," DMC's Abraham M. Pattiyani said. "With the inclusion of the term 'transgender' in the Act, they can move to court if they are discriminated during distribution of property."

However, some activists do not see this in a positive light, saying that there is already a law in place that states equal rights of siblings to property.

"The Christians Committee is only trying to score points," said LGBT activist Ashok Row Kavi. "Some Churches do not recognize transgenders."

In the view of a Christian transgender named Laxmi, though, the proposal is a good move. She had experienced having been passed over when her brothers split their inheritance among themselves, leaving none for her.

"I also have a sister but her share was given to her as dowry when she got married. They didn't give me a single penny," Laxmi said. "But hopefully many transgenders can benefit if this becomes law."

Prior to a 2014 ruling by the Supreme Court, wherein the "third gender" category for transgenders or hijras was created, individuals were required to declare either male or female in official documents. However, according to Supreme Court lawyer Dr M.P Raju, the law only specifies equal rights of brothers and sisters.

"This amendment will help those who do not want to be called son or daughter but just transgenders," he said.

The recommendation will still be considered in Parliament, but if it becomes law, then transgender individuals cannot be denied their right to claim their share of ancestral property.
home World Egyptian court gives death sentence to two Al-Jazeera journalists; Former President Mohamed Mursi's verdict postponed

An Egyptian court on Saturday, May 7 ruled a death sentence for six individuals including two Al Jazeera journalists on charges of endangering national security by passing over important documents to Qatar during the administration of ousted president Mohamed Mursi.

According to Reuters, the two Al Jazeera journalists facing death penalty are Jordanian national news producer, Alaa Omar Sablan, and former director of Al Jazeera's Arabic channel, Ibrahim Mohammed Helal. The two were tried in absentia and so have the legal rights to appeal the verdict.

Al Jazeera posted on its website that it categorically denies allegations that it was collaborating with Mursi's elected government. The satellite channel describes the court's ruling as "an unprecedented assault on freedom of expression."

The third individual who can also appeal after being tried in absentia and facing the same ruling is Asmaa Mohamed al-Khatib, a reporter for pro-Muslim Brotherhood Rassd news outlet.

Judge Mohammed Shireen Famy announced Saturday's ruling and said that a final decision including that of Mursi's verdict would have to wait until the Grand Mufti, the country's top religious authority, make their non-binding opinion on June 18.

Mursi, overthrown in 2013 by then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was already sentenced to death and life imprisonment in three other cases. He is now in jail together with thousands of Brotherhood members who are also facing death sentence in different cases. Sisi believes Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, which was what used to be the country's most organized political group, still poses a serious threat to the national security. Relations between Egypt and the Gulf Arab state of Qatar have turned sour since the ouster.

"I believe that this is a weak point in the Egyptian system, which might bring catastrophes to the whole country, especially when it comes to freedoms and human rights," Al Jazeera's Middle East analyst Yahia Ghanem said about the court ruling.

"The case's documents are devoid of any type of espionage or participation in it," a defense lawyer told Reuters.
home US 'Homeless Jesus' in Syracuse resonates Bible message to help the poor

A new homeless Jesus statue installed May 6 in New York reminds passersby of the Biblical message to help the poor.

The statue, which sits outside St. Lucy's Catholic Church in Syracuse, depicts a man covered in a robe, his hand held out as if asking for alms. A wound in the middle of his palm gives a clue that he is a symbol of Jesus, the crucified and risen Lord.

The statue is one of several homeless Jesus statues created by Canadian Christian artist Timothy P. Schmalz. These statues send a message to the public about the importance of helping the poor. They also communicate the top priorities of churches.

The one outside St. Lucy's Catholic Church was titled "Whatsoever You Do," in reference to the famous Bible passage in Matthew 25:40 that says, "Whatsoever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

The statue embodies the mission of the church to extend a helping hand to the less privileged, according to the Rev. Jim Mathews.

"It really spoke to who we want to be and who we are and who we're called to be here at St. Lucy's," Mathews said. The church runs weekly outreach programs that feed the poor. "That's what our mission and our goal is here, that we reach out and try to make the gospel message alive," he added.

Mathews said the statue reminds people of the sacredness of human life.

"This is a very powerful gospel just by looking at it," he stated. "You can stand there and look at it and think about the implications. It's a powerful symbol and I think it represents what we're all about here."

Homeless Jesus statues are also found in other places like Washington, Phoenix, Dublin, Chicago and Grand Haven, Mich.

In Ontario, Hamilton Paramedics received emergency calls in January as people reported about a homeless man lying on a bench, mistaking the homeless Jesus statue for a real person. The reports were made after authorities asked the citizens to call for assistance if they should see people staying out in the cold.
home World North Korea views prayer and worship as weapons, says former detainee Kenneth Bae

North Korean officials regard prayer and worship as weapons so effective they have the power to overthrow the government, a Korean-American missionary said.

Kenneth Bae was working as a missionary in North Korea, bringing in other missionaries through a series of trips, when he was arrested in 2012. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, but served only two years of the sentence before he was released in 2014, according to CBS News.

Bae said North Korean authorities considered his missionary work as a threat, and one of them labeled him as the "most dangerous criminal" they had encountered.

"One of the prosecutors told me that I was the worst, most dangerous American criminal they had ever apprehended since the Korean War," he recalled. "I said, 'Why?' and they said, 'Because not only [did you come] to do mission work on your own, you asked others to join.'"

Apparently, North Korean authorities viewed prayer and worship as weapons. Bae said there was a time when a prosecutor accused him of attempting to overthrow the government "through prayer and worship."

"They really took prayer as a weapon against them," he said.

Recounting his experiences as a prisoner, Bae said he still feels like he bears the "103" badge across his chest, as he was prisoner number 103 when he was in the labor camp. When he was there, he had to remind himself that he was a missionary and he had to embrace the suffering that had come to him in his labor to let people know about Jesus.

Bae was released in 2014. U.S. Intelligence James Clapper brought him out of North Korea along with another prisoner.

Bae wrote the details of what he had gone through in the North in a book entitled, "Not Forgotten." He urged readers to remember the citizens of the isolated country and have compassion for them.
home US Target not changing LGBT-friendly bathroom policy despite protests

Retail giant Target is firm in its stance regarding its LGBT-friendly bathroom policy, despite the protests lodged against it.

In an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, Target chairman and CEO Brian Cornell said, "Our focus on safety is unwavering. And we want to make sure we provide a welcoming environment for all of our guests."

The company has come under fire after it announced in April that they are allowing transgender individuals to use their stores' restrooms and fitting rooms based on the customers' gender identity, saying in a statement that "Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination."

More than 1.2 million have expressed their disappointment over the company's policies by pledging to boycott its stores unless they are changed. The petition was spearheaded by the American Family Association, which firmly believes that this is the kind of policy that miscreants use and abuse to conduct their predation on women and children.

"Target's policy is exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims," the Christian group says. "And with Target publicly boasting that men can enter women's bathrooms, where do you think predators are going to go?"

The group has suggested that the company keep men's and women's facilities separate while also providing one for anyone's use. But Cornell said the latter is already available in many of its stores, and they are going to make sure that this option becomes available in all their branches over the coming months.

"What's been lost in this story is the fact that the vast majority of our stores, over 1,400 of our stores, already have a family restroom," Cornell said. "We are committed over the next few months to make sure every one of our stores has that option."

This, however, has loopholes. A man pretending to be transgender still has the option to ignore the unisex restroom or fitting room and use the women's facility. As Carrie Peterson from Utah said, according to The Christian Post, one cannot verify a person's intent and these policies can make women's restrooms "a dangerous place for women and children."

Still, the company is standing firm, with Cornell saying that they want provide a safe and comfortable welcoming environment for everyone. He also said that the current issue is akin to one in the '60s when they featured African-American models in their ads despite the negative reaction they received.

"Back then, it wasn't well received," he said. "We had a lot of tough feedback. But sitting here today, we know we made the right decision."
Anti-Corruption Summit reactions: Cameron failed to deliver 'major surgery needed'

David Cameron failed to tackle UK-sponsored corruption in the form of tax havens at the Anti-Corruption Summit on Thursday, according to a number of charities.

The summit aimed to engage global leaders with tackling the issue of corruption and to develop and agree practical ways to do this.

A number of charities say Cameron missed an opportunity to stop the network of UK-controlled tax havens.

"Today was David Cameron's best chance to stop the UK's network of tax havens profiting from secrecy, but he has failed to take the action he urged on others," said Toby Quantrill, principal economic justice adviser at Christian Aid.

"Soon countries like Nigeria, Kenya and Afghanistan will be more transparent than UK-controlled tax havens. Mr Cameron's failure to clean up the UK's own back yard is a missed opportunity that he must address with the utmost urgency."

Cameron has said all company registers should be public, yet has chosen to exclude the UK's overseas jurisdictions from this measure of transparency that the rest of the UK is pursuing.

"This summit has shone a welcome light on the problem of corruption. But positive moves to make it harder to hide dirty money in the UK risk being overshadowed by the Prime Minister's failure to deliver on his 2013 promise to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the UK's own tax havens," said Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring.

"If corruption is a cancer then this summit has delivered some pain relief but not the major surgery needed to heal the global economy."

Without rich countries like the United Kingdom preventing their tax havens helping the corrupt, efforts from other nations are limited in efficacy, according to Alvin Mosioma, executive director of Tax Justice Network Africa.

"Some African governments have shown commitment to tackle corruption within their borders and the Nigerian government's recent announcement of a public register of beneficial owners is a good example," he said.

"However, these efforts will not yield the intended results if governments including that of the UK, which should be considered as the hotbed for global corruption, are only paying lip service while providing the getaway cars that allows funds to be siphoned out of Africa.

"Flowery political statements by rich countries' leaders' must translate to concrete action, with them cleaning the corruption swamps in their own backyards."

Cameron's failure to act on UK tax havens does not discredit his work in "putting transparency on the global agenda in 2013", Quantril said.

"The UK has moved a long way in three years and even today has decided to shine a light on the ownership of businesses that knowingly facilitate financial crime, as well as ending their impunity.

"These are small pieces in a much bigger puzzle and Mr Cameron's failure to stand up to UK tax havens, whose total population is the same of a small UK city, leaves us questioning why he is unwilling to do so."

Donald Mogeni, World Vision UK's social accountability advisor said: "Addressing the challenges of tax havens was never going to be a walk in the park, and the post summit media narrative has predictably made #PanamaPapers the chief reference point. We believe that the UK and the leaders in London have made commendable in making commitments on financial disclosures although for us in the aid sector we feel the course of discussions had too heavy a focus on the private sector than the function of charities and the civil society."

"World Vision welcomes the summit's resolution to launch of an Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub, which aims to support social innovators, technology experts and data scientists to collaborate with law enforcement and civil society on innovative approaches to tackling corruption. We believe that in future, technological innovation and social media will increasingly become essential tools in the fight against corruption given their proven potential to reduce opportunities for wrongdoing, empower citizens to highlight illegal practices, and enhance government transparency and accountability. While media and technology will not be the ultimate panacea by themselves, when fortified with well-intentioned complimentary policy reforms, they can make a significant contribution to the fight for good governance," he explained.

Ahead of the conference Cameron called corruption "the cancer at the heart of so many of our problems in the world today". In an article for the Guardian he wrote: "It destroys jobs and holds back growth, costing the world economy billions of pounds every year.

"It traps the poorest in the most desperate poverty as corrupt governments around the world siphon off funds and prevent hard-working people from getting the revenues and benefits of growth that are rightfully theirs."

Ahead of the conference Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith leaders wrote to the Prime Minister and said the UK was "among the main enablers of corruption", branding it a "moral outrage".
Christian broadcasters in Middle East say 'spiritual hunger' is growing as viewer responses treble

Spiritual hunger is growing in the Middle East and North Africa, according to Christian radio station broadcasting to persecuted Christians and unbelievers in the region.

"In the past two decades, many conflicts have overtaken or drawn in more than half the countries SAT-7 serves, Iraq and Syria in particular. But these conflicts, and extremism in the name of religion, have only increased the profound spiritual hunger for our programming," said SAT-7's founder, Dr Terence Ascott.

The viewer responses to SAT-7's broadcasts has risen threefold in just five years, from an average of 270 a day in 2010 to well over 800 a day in 2015.

The common theme from the viewers that get in touch is that people across the MENA are crying out for worth, meaning and peace, according to SAT-7.

"SAT-7 is enabling the Church to be salt and light in society, to be a prophetic voice and show a different way forward. This is a prime time for us as a ministry and it comes at a time when political Islam has been discredited and people are looking for answers to man's inhumanity to man," said Ascott.

In a region of the world where 500 million people live, fewer than 10 per cent have ever met a Christian, yet over 90 per cent have access to satellite television.

SAT-7 reaches 15 million people on five channels from four Middle Eastern studios in three languages - Arabic, Farsi and Turkish.

The channel works with both isolated persecuted believers and introduces the Gospel to people who have not heard it before.

"It is a fantastic time for us to available in millions of homes that are totally inaccessible to other forms of witness, with a Gospel of love, peace, hope and reconciliation," said Ascott.
'Extremists' burn down church in Egypt

Extremists burned down a church in Minya, North Egypt, on Thursday according to a local Coptic Bishop.

"St Mary's Church in the village of Esmaelia al-Bahreia was burned down completely after an attack carried out by extremists," said Bishop Macarius of Minya.

Egyptian media, which reported the fire, has claimed an electric short-circuit caused the incident. However, the Bishop has claimed the fire was arson, according to World Watch Monitor.

St Mary's Church was a makeshift church made from wood, located six kilometres North of Minya City. It was used in lieu of a "proper church" due to government restrictions:

"The makeshift church has been used for worship for over a year... since a proper church is yet to be authorised by the government since 2009," the Bishop said on Facebook.

In 2013 there was an upsurge in attacks on churches in Egypt, and a number of Christians were killed.

According to a report by the Coptic rights group Maspero Youth Union, around 65 churches were destroyed, some dating back to the fourth century.

Islam is Egypt's state religion, but Christians make up around 10-15 per cent of the population.

Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army general, has made public statements advocating for religious tolerance and the 2014 constitution includes better religious freedom provisions, however they are yet to be implemented.

In February four teenage Copts and their teacher were found guilty of making a short video mocking ISIS and received prison sentences.
Friday the 13th: what the Bible has to say about superstition

You may have noticed that today is Friday the 13th. At the time of writing, #Fridaythe13th is the most popular trending topic on Twitter, with more than 50,000 tweets having been sent using the hashtag. It's believed that the superstition surrounding the date stems from at least the Medieval Ages, and yet, centuries later it's still a date which gets people talking (and avoiding black cats, ladders and opening umbrellas indoors).

Because of the Bible's clear instructions that as Christians we shouldn't succumb to a superstitious mindset, it may come as a surprise that some attach the significance of Friday the 13th as an unlucky day to a dark chapter in Christianity's history. It's a widely held belief that the date is associated with bad luck because of the thirteenth guest at the last supper, Judas, and his betrayal of Jesus.

Scared of slipping into a superstitious mindset? Here's what the Bible has to say about it all:

1 Timothy 4:7 - Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 - Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.

Leviticus 19:31 - Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

Colossians 2:18 - Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

Matthew 14:26-27 - When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

Deuteronomy 4:19 - And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the starsall the heavenly arraydo not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

Colossians 2:8 - See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

2 Kings 2:5-6 - In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practised divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
Iran: Christian pastor formerly on death row re-arrested

An Iranian pastor acquitted of apostasy in September 2012 has been re-arrested today in Iran, along with his wife and a fellow church member, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor in the Church of Iran, was first arrested in 2009 after he went to his children's school to question the Muslim monopoly on Iranian education, which he considered unconstitutional.

He was charged with apostasy and sentenced to death in 2010.

Despite being asked repeatedly in court hearings to renounce his faith in order to avoid the death penalty, Nadarkhani refused.

He was released from prison on 8 September 2012, following his acquittal on apostasy charges, though he was found guilty of evangelising to Muslims, for which he received three years.

Nadarkhani was arrested today in Iran alongside his wife, Tina Pasandide Nadarkhani, and a fellow church member, Yasser Mosayebzadeh.

"We are deeply concerned by these developments and await further clarification regarding the reasons for these arrests," said CSW's chief executive Mervyn Thomas.

This is not the first time Nadarkhani has been re-arrested. He was detained on Christmas day 2012 on the orders of the director of Lakan prison, where he had been held to serve the remainder of his three year sentence. He was released again on 7 January 2013.

"Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for Christians who have been arrested on account of their religious beliefs to be released and re-arrested time and again, in a tactic designed to foster a sense of insecurity within the community," Thomas said.

"We urge the authorities ensure Pastor Nadarkhani, Tina Nadarkhani and Yasser Mosayebzadeh receive due process, and once again call on Iran to fully respect its constitutional and international human rights obligations by ensuring that justice and equality before the law are guaranteed to all citizens, regardless of their religion or belief."
Is your church behaving like a cult?

Do you ever worry that your church is exhibiting strange behaviour? Asking for more commitment than seems sensible; encouraging an unusual amount of devotion to the leader? Requiring your life and all be given to them, rather than directly to God?

Mike Bickle, author of Passion for Jesus and founder of IHOP in Kansas, came up with a list of seven key 'tells' that suggest a church is behaving like a cult. Most churches could probably do better in one or two of these areas but for some, this checklist provides a dangerously accurate description of how things work. There are various 'cult watch' organisations which provide similar lists, but Bickle's is especially pertinent because it comes from within the church, and recognises some of the nuances and grey areas involved.

So here is the list, with some thoughts on how it might apply in practice, and what to watch out for. Because cult membership is dangerous, and can destroy your life; arguably the same could be true of a church which behaves just like one.

Sign #1: Opposing critical thinking

I remember a friend telling me that he'd finally become more comfortable at his charismatic church because he'd realised that he just needed to disengage his brain during the services and 'go with it.' To him this made sense because his intellectualism was making him overthink everything, but there's a fine line between resisting your cynicism and disabling your critical functions entirely. The Bible and God both stand up to intellectual scrutiny; so any church which tells you to switch off your brain is probably trying to lead you into dangerous new territory.

Sign #2: Isolating members and penalising them for leaving

Some of the more mainstream cults are well-known for this sort of behaviour, even turning family members against those who try to leave. While there aren't many churches which will go that far, there are examples of those which deliberately exclude those who appear to oppose or challenge the leaders from the rest of the community. This accusation was aimed at Mars Hill in Seattle by individuals who questioned the behaviour of the leaders and elders. If a church begins to close ranks against anyone, especially those who have previously been members of the community, they're behaving just like a cult.

Sign #3: Emphasising special doctrines outside scripture

This is especially prevalent among churches which preach a 'prosperity gospel'. Cults use extra-biblical ideas and wrap them up in biblical sounding language, in order to compel followers to practice certain behaviours which are usually nothing to do with the actual gospel. Infamously this often involves sexual or financial conduct, and while there hopefully aren't many churches which encourage the former, there are entire church movements which appear to have created special new doctrines around the latter. From the seed-of-faith evangelists to the megachurches which take several offerings in order to finance a 'professional quality' worship performance, this is one of the easiest and most transgressed pitfalls on the list.

Another key area here is around End Times prophecies, which Scripture does talk about, but in no way to the levels emphasised by some churches and individuals. This line of thinking is exactly what leads cults into tragic suicide pacts; an obsession with the coming apocalypse runs counter to Jesus' warning in Matthew 24:36 that only God knows the day and the hour of Judgment Day.

Sign #4: Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders

I wrote recently about the prevalent problem and of leader idolatry, and in particular the disgraced church leader who on returning from his prison sentence made every member of the church kneel at his feet and pledge devotion to him above the justice system. This might be an extreme case, but there are plenty of other churches which hold their leader in inappropriately high esteem, showering him with gifts (like the British church which bought its pastor an 80,000 Mercedes as a birthday present) and viewing him essentially as being above scrutiny. Unaccountable leaders, with devotees who love them perhaps even more than they love God, are a key feature of any cult... and some churches.

Sign #5: Dishonouring the family unit

God loves family: he's crazy about children, and he's not at all keen on family breakdown. So any church which encourages its members to put the church first, even ahead of their commitments at home, is behaving unbiblically. This is exactly how cults convince people to turn against their own non-believing parents, siblings or spouses; many churches also subtly request the same order of priorities, whether subconsciously or deliberately.

Sign #6: Crossing biblical boundaries of behaviour

Thankfully, this is an area where few churches will recognise themselves. But if your church starts encouraging lifestyle choices which don't tally up with scripture, then start to worry, and fast. Scary examples might involve Westboro Baptist-style affirmation of prejudice or even the use of violence to accomplish supposed 'kingdom' goals. More subtly though, this could be seen in a deliberately permissive attitude to sex or other behaviours. If your church is actually preaching against holiness, it's acting like a cult.

Sign #7: Separation from the rest of the church

Finally, and perhaps of most concern to the modern church, Bickle identifies that cults always promote the idea among their members that they're the only part of the 'church' that has truly understood God's plan for the world. For cults this often means not only cutting their community off from the rest of the church, but also wider society. Churches rarely speak with quite this level of arrogance, but they do often exhibit a related behaviour; claiming that God has given their particular church a specific mission and calling which means that it's unhelpful for them to work in unity with others. And forget what they say, if your church stream behaves as if it's the only true way, guess what: that's exactly what cults do.

Take another look down that list. Hopefully you only vaguely recognise your own church, and others that you know. Try not to use Bickle's helpful signposts as a means by which you can judge other churches though; but rather to note where yours needs to take care not to stray into cult-like territory. And if there's a real red flag among the seven, then pray about how you might be able to help your church get back on to a straight path. After all, it was for freedom that Christ has set us free; cults offer the very opposite. It should be of the utmost concern to us when our churches begin to resemble them in any way.

Martin Saunders is a Contributing Editor for Christian Today and the Deputy CEO of Youthscape. You can follow him on Twitter: @martinsaunders
ISIS plotting attacks on tourists at beach resorts across Europe this summer, intel sources warn

Intelligence sources have warned that the Islamic State (ISIS) is plotting to carry out terrorist attacks on tourists at beach resorts across Europe this summer, Fox News reports.

"They want to strike Italian, French and Spanish beaches," Seck Pouy, a police chief from Senegal, claimed.

"They will exploit certain radicalised vendors who travel regularly between Italy and Senegal," he added.

Italian security sources reportedly alerted the German newspaper Bild that terrorists loyal to ISIS and allied to Nigeria's Boko Haram are going to attack resorts, posing as "drink vendors and placing bombs under sun beds."

The paper said the terrorists will also be "detonating suicide bombs and gunning down tourists with automatic rifles."

The Mirror says it has received reports that the terrorists have formed "concrete plans" to launch the attacks.

However, the Italian Interior Ministry issued a statement saying said the claims were baseless, adding that Italy's beaches are safe for citizens and tourists.

A senior German security source, meanwhile, admitted that "holiday beaches cannot be protected," according to Bild.

Police earlier arrested a suspected ISIS collaborator during a raid in Palma, the capital of the Spanish holiday island of Majorca.

Majorca officers accused the manan unnamed suspect who was born in Morocco of promoting terror attacks in Europe.

He was also accused of having close links with ISIS leaders who are based in Syria and Iraq, the Mirror reports.

In June, terrorists gunned down 38 people, including 30 British citizens, on a beach resort in Tunisia.
Lone surviving nun in Yemen massacre still in shock as she recalls 'miraculous escape' from bloodbath

Two months since armed men massacred at least 16 people, including four nuns, at a home for the aged in Yemen, a Missionaries of Charity nun who survived the bloodbath is still struggling to come to terms with what happened as she recalled her "miraculous escape" from death.

Sister Mary Sally, now back in her hometown in India, said she is still dealing with the trauma and shock of what she witnessed, CBN News reports.

Sister Sally was one of the five nuns of the congregation who were tasked to oversee and manage the nursing home in the port city of Aden, Yemen at that time.

On March 4, a group of armed men barged into the home for the aged and gunned down all the nuns, except Sister Sally, who was inside the facility but in another part of the building hidden from the attackers when they stormed in.

"They shot at the security guard first and when other workers tried to warn us, they tied them to a tree and killed them," she recalled, according to UCANews.com.

"It was a miraculous escape as the gunmen didn't see me when they raided our home," she said.

"They shot at the security guard first and when other workers tried to warn us, they tied them to a tree and killed them," she said.

"We all worked together. We all went together after breakfast that day to the destitute home where 64 elderly persons live," said Sister Sally, who joined the Missionaries of Charity in 1978.

The nun said she can "only thank God" for saving her life, adding that she continues to pray for her "beloved sisters" who were killed. "They were all sweet people who served God with dedication. I miss them very much," Sister Sally said.

The nun said the gunmen also destroyed their chapel and abducted Indian Salesian Father Thomas Uzhunnalil, who was posted there to care for the pastoral needs of residents and workers at the home.

"They tied his hands and eyes with a black cloth. I can't relive those memories," she said.

She hopes and prays for the release of Father Uzhunnalil, who church officials and government sources confirm is still alive but whose whereabouts are still unknown.

"He is a gem of a person and a dedicated priest. I hope that God will protect him," the nun said.

She said she "cannot understand" why the home and the nuns and priest who worked there were attacked. "We have done only good for the poor and cared for the disabled and elderly people who have been abandoned," she said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but the gunmen were suspected to be members of the al-Qaeda or the Islamic State.

Sister Sally was moved to the Missionaries of Charity's regional house in Jordan following the attack with the help of some church officials and the Indian government.

She then returned to her ancestral home in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
National Church census abandoned after CofE pulls out

A national count of churchgoers in England has been abandoned after the Church of England pulled out.

The established church decided not to take part because of the additional "burden" that doing a count of worshippers would have placed on thousands of parishes across the country.

Jim Currin from Churches Together in England, the ecumenical group that was organising the census, said in a statement: "It has become clear that despite the commitment of denominations around the table and dedicated website to capture information electronically, national church leaders and the steering group recognise that there remains too much still to be done in too short a time, resulting in the issue that the data will not be either accurate or useful enough for the aims of a national census planned for October 2016. I am sorry to say that this means we will not now proceed with the Church Census 2016."

A Church of England spokesman told Christian Today that "conversations" had taken place at the admininstrative headquarters, Church House in Westminster, London, and also with the Bishop of Manchester, David Walker, who chairs the census steering group.

The spokesman said: "The census would have required churches to identify champions for distribution and collection of forms and data entry. We have concluded that the census would have put a burden on our parishes at a time when we are seeking to lighten the load. Our priority now is to improve the collection, reporting and analysis of existing data, rather than adding another data collection requirement. We remain committed to the use of data and statistics to inform decision making, with the annual Faith in Research conference due to take place next week in Birmingham on 18 May."

The Church Times reported that the census had been dropped due to growing concerns over the administrative workload and time constraints.

There have been three previous church censuses in England, taking in all denominations, but none in the last ten years. The United Reformed Church pulled out in March.

According to latest official Government Census in 2011, Christianity remains largest religion in England and Wales, but numbers are in decline. Muslims are the next biggest religious group and have grown, while those reporting no religion has reached a quarter of the population. In 2011 Christians made up 59.3 per cent of the population compared to 71.7 per cent a decade earlier.
New hope for Christians in Myanmar, says Cardinal

Myanmar is emerging from half a century of Calvary, into a period of Easter and Pentecost, the country's first cardinal has said.

According to the Catholic Herald, Cardinal Maung Bo said the upcoming season of hope is not limited to Myanmar. "This is an Easter season for the world," he said. "Despite the bad news in the Middle East, the world is waking up to a new Pentecost phase. This season culminates in Pentecost. Pentecost is the birth of Christianity."

Christians were targeted and persecuted in Myanmar under its previous intense military regime, but "God did not abandon our nation", the cardinal added. Despite suffocating conditions, the Catholic Church has continued to grow.

Speaking during a mass at Westminster Cathedral, Cardinal Bo described the recent democratic elections in Myanmar as signalling the start of a "season of hope" for the country.

"Our country was taken to five decades of Calvary by evil men. Everyone thought this was a country without an Easter. You have witnessed from afar the suffering of this nation. Those times many countries did undergo the way of the Cross. There was an iron curtain. But our country was under what was called a bamboo curtain."

The Church was singled out for persecution, he said.

"Our Calvary was marked by enforced starvation, denied education to the youth, arrest and incarceration of thousands for asking for basic rights, the death and disappearance of thousands.

"The country closed itself. The Catholic Church was singled out for persecution. Overnight the missionaries serving the poor and the vulnerable were expelled."

Although the situation was torturous, Cardinal Bo said: "Amidst one of the most suffocating oppressions, the Church grew."

"The Church was like a mustard seed but like the Biblical example it grow into a tree... From just three dioceses we grew into 16 dioceses. From 100,000 people we are now 700,000 faithful, from 160 priests we are now 700 priests, from 300 religious we are now more than 2,200 religious, 60 per cent of them below the age of 40.

"A young and vibrant Church is extending social support through 16 Caritas networks. God walked with us in our way of the Cross ensuring that our Easter was enriched in faith. We are a confident and growing Church in southeast Asia and recently started sending missionaries to other countries. We are not yet totally free but we have proved that we cannot be pruned from history."

Cardinal Bo celebrated that Myanmar's "Easter moment came in the most peaceful manner" through Aung San Suu Kyi, "whose belief in peace and non-violence stands in stark contrast to the violent conflicts in many parts of the world. It is a great inspiration that peace is possible and moral power still can overcome al lhuman suffering."

Nobel laureate and pro-democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi lived under house arrest for years, peacefully protesting the military rulers of Myanmar.
New mission guide advises British Christians how to reach out to Muslims

Churches across the UK are reaching out to Muslims who want to or who have already converted from Islam.

A new "Joining the Family" course is the second in a series of three produced by the missionary charity Interserve.



The first course is called Friendship First. The Interserve website states: "It enables Christians to approach their Muslim friends with confidence by equipping them with the skill and resources needed to be an effective witness to Jesus Christ.

"Growing from an initial response to the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks the Friendship First approach has grown into a successful course now running across Britain and beyond. It has transformed the way Christians relate the gospel to the Muslims they come into contact with."

About Joining the Family, the website continues: "Joining a church community is difficult for a believer from Muslim background. Joining the Family equips your church to welcome them so that they can be a significant and enriching part of the family."

Canon Phil Rawlings, interfaith officer for the Church of England in Oldham and one of the architects of the course, said at the launch of the resource this week: "People joining churches from such a background show us what family is really all about. They are way ahead of us. We have to change our churches if we are to see them grow in Christ."

Rawlings added: "Many converts have lost their families and face financial loss and physical threat. Our British reserve is often deemed as rejection. We are perceived to be more interested in services than community. 'See you next Sunday' simply isn't good enough. Building a relationship takes time and hospitality is very important.

"In the long term we are looking to develop a movement, a network of people available to Christian leaders to offer advice and help."

Iranian Christian Reza Jaffari, who converted after his mother became a Christian, said: "We are looking for family inside the church. When my mother became a pastor, all the young people from a Muslim background called her 'Mum'. They were missing their own families."

Also speaking at the launch, the leading evangelical writer and pastor Dr Michael Green said: "In current mission activity we are seeing a reluctance from British students in making a commitment to Christ. Many more are taking that step from other cultures, mainly Islam. Is the church ready to receive them? No. Will this resource help? Yes."

All three parts of the Trio course are made up of film clips, a participants' workbook, a facilitators' guide and accompanying book. Church groups can run the course themselves without outside help.

The project's core group is made up of church leaders, Christians from a Muslim background and members of different mission agencies. The teaching content includes 25 interviews with Christian believers of Muslim background and experienced mentors speaking from the heart.

Tim Green of Interserve and Mojdeh Hawkesley of Elam Ministries co-present the course. The production is by Interserve with Carfax Media in partnership with Elam Ministries and the Mahabba Network. The resources are published by Kitab.org.uk.
Nigeria has more promise, opportunity and potential than any other nation says Archbishop of Canterbury

Nigeria is a country with "more promise, more opportunity, more potential" than anywhere else in the world, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.

Justin Welby was speaking during a meeting with the President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari at Lambeth Palace, London.

Buhari has been in London for Prime Minister David Cameron's anti-corruption summit this week.

The Archbishop's words stood in sharp contrast to Cameron's own comments to the Queen, when he described Nigeria as "one of the most corrupt countries in the world", along with Afghanistan.

Welby, who was with him at the time, immediately corrected him, pointing out that Buhari is "not corrupt".

Buhari was applauded by Lambeth Palace staff as he entered for the hour-long private meeting with the Archbishop.

Welby said afterwards it was "a great honour" to welcome the leader of the largest country in Africa with "the very large Anglican Church in Nigeria."

He continued: "I think it would be fair to say that it is a rare day at this place when we do not pray for Nigeria. We pray for Nigeria, for you personally, for all those, both in government and in opposition, in Nigeria, for the poor in Nigeria and for those who have suffered over the last number of years from the violence that has plagued your country, which you have been tackling so determinedly since you first took office.

"Nigeria is a country which has more promise, more opportunity, more potential than anywhere else that I know in many continents, not just in Africa. Its people are so intelligent, so full of energy, so full of commitment, that when Nigerians work together, the world  not just Africa  is affected by that beneficially. And so we pray for the potential and future of this land, to be a place that has a profound effect for good on our world, and demonstrates what is possible to be achieved."
Pakistan party leader condemns 'inhuman' torture of Christians

The leader of the Pakistan People's Party has condemned the alleged "inhuman torture" of two Christians by police in Lahore.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, party chairman, said the human rights abuses against the Christians could not be tolerated.

"We are torchbearers of struggle for human rights in Pakistan and any inhuman treatment or torture to fellow citizens will be vehemently resisted," Zardari said in a statement.

The victims, Faraz Masih, aged 30 and Doya Masih, aged 40, were picked up by the investigation wing of the Lahore's Shalimar police and suffered "brutal" torture, according to the statement.

The Pakistan People's Party said: "While carrying out the investigations the Lahore police hung one of the men upside down with a bunk and tortured him inhumanely. The other was stripped naked and tortured."

Zardari, the only son of former president Asif Ali Zardari and the late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said those involved in this vicious form of torture should not go scot-free and strong action should follow to ensure such incidents do not happen again.

He said Christians, who are a small minority in Pakistan, are "equal citizens of the country" and any injustice or brutality to them or other citizens of the country could not be tolerated.

The Nation reported that the two victims are fighting for their lives in a private clinic.

They were picked up by police in connection with a mugging case last week. Four police officers were suspended after a relative of one of the victims released photographs.
Presumptive Philippine president Duterte to visit Vatican to apologise to Pope Francis for his foul language

In a remarkable change of tone, presumptive Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte said he plans to visit the Vatican to make a personal apology to Pope Francis for having called him a "son of a whore."

"The mayor repeatedly said he wants to visit the Vatican, win or lose, not only to pay homage to the Pope but he really needs to explain to the Pope and ask for forgiveness," Duterte's spokesman Peter Lavina told reporters in Davao City on Thursday, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports.

This developed as the United States, China and the European Union all extended a hand of friendship to the incoming Philippine president, saying they respect the will of the Filipino people and look forward to congratulating him upon his formal assumption of power, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer and other sources.

Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, is awaiting a formal declaration of his victory in the May 9 presidential election after unofficial vote count showed him winning the race by a landslide.

With 95.87 percent of polling precincts reporting as of Friday morning, Duterte leads the unofficial vote count with 15,915,762 votes (38.5 percent), way ahead of his closest rival Mar Roxas with 9,681,762 votes (23.5 percent), data from the Commission on Elections showed.

In a speech last year, Duterte lashed out at Pope Francis for causing traffic jams in Manila when the head of the Roman Catholic Church visited the predominantly Catholic nation.

"It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the pope. I wanted to call him: 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore'," Duterte was quoted as saying then.

Philippine Catholic leaders quickly condemned Duterte's comments and expressed their opposition to his candidacy.

However, the Catholic opposition and other controversies sparked by Duterte's incendiary campaign rhetoric had little effect on the candidate's mass appeal.

The controversies included Duterte's remark that he wanted to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary who was sexually assaulted and murdered in a 1989 prison riot in Davao.

He also called many of his opponents and critics, including current President Benigno Aquino III, as "son of a whore" in Tagalog, the main Philippine language.

Duterte also vowed repeatedly that he would kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals in an unprecedented law-and-order crackdown, boasting that he would feed their bodies to the fish in Manila Bay.

According to his aides, Duterte had already apologised to the Pope in a formal letter and that the Vatican had responded, offering "the assurance of prayers."

Duterte recently said he did not mean to offend the Pope, adding that the latter was just the victim of a "stray bullet" resulting from his gutter language and frustration with government incompetence.

No date has been set for Duterte's Vatican trip, although it was a top priority, his aides said.

Duterte is set to be sworn into office on June 30 and will serve as president for a term of six years.

Duterte will adopt a more moderate and presidential tone when he assumes office, his spokesman said, adding that his foul language was just part of a performance to attract voters' attention.
Red Cross aid convoy denied access to besieged Syrian city

A Red Cross aid convoy was denied access to a besieged Syrian town that has not received outside supplies for three years.

Daraya, a town on the outskirts of Damascus, has been held by rebels and subsequently besieged by government forces since November 2012. This delivery would have been the first since then.

"Sadly our aid convoy was reufsed entry to Daraya, despite being given prior clearnace from all sides," the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Twitter.

The five-truck convoy had planned to deliver baby milk, medical and school supplies.

The United Nations said this month that Syria's government was refusing UN demands to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of people.

"Despite having obtained prior clearance by all parties that it could proceed," the convoy was not allowed through, a statement from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UN said.

"Daraya has been the site of relentless fighting ... and we know the situation there is desperate", said Yacoub El Hillo, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria.

"Civilians trapped here are in need of humanitarian aid. We were hoping that today's delivery of life-saving assistance would have been a first step and lead to more aid being allowed in."

The ICRC's Syria head, Marianne Gasser, said it was "tragic that even the basics we were bringing today are being delayed". The supplies included medical aid, nutrition items for children and hygiene kits.

"We urge the responsible authorities to grant us access to Daraya, so we can return with desperately needed food and medicines," they said, according to AFP.

Government forces shelled parts of Daraya on Thursday, killing a civilian, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It is estimated that 4,000 civilians are trapped in the city, according to Senior UN official Jan Egeland, who spoke to reporters on Thursday in Geneva.

Meanwhile, a truce in Aleppo expired on Wednesday night.

The truce was made after a spike in violence that killed over 300 civilians last month.

There have been no deaths in the eastern rebel-held areas in the city since the truce ended, however two civilians were killed in sniper fire in the regime-controlled west, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Additional Reporting by Reuters
Thy Kingdom Come: Why the Lord's Prayer is so revolutionary

This Sunday, Christians in many UK churches will be praying the Lord's Prayer with special fervour. It's the culmination of a week of prayer leading up to Pentecost that has seen Church of England congregations focusing on the words "Thy Kingdom Come" as a prayer for renewal and empowerment.

In the traditional version still used in many churches, the whole sentence reads: "Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

What we call the Lord's Prayer was given by Jesus to his disciples as a pattern prayer for them in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9-13). It's usually said with the ancient addition: "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen." As Matthew tells it comes as part of Jesus' teaching to his disciples on prayer. In Luke 11:2-4 most of it is there again, this time in response to a request from the disciples that Jesus "teach us to pray".

There are huge advantages in saying it Sunday by Sunday. It works its way into our inmost spiritual life. It gives us words to say when we can't think of anything else. It provides a shape for our prayer life, and it's a spiritual resource to draw on when all else fails.

But its constant repetition can deafen us to its revolutionary force.

Properly understood, the Lord's Prayer is a world-changing statement. The words "your will be done, on earth as in heaven" are supremely radical. They commit Christians to working with God to see that the world reflects the fullness of God's grace and glory. It's to be a place where justice is done, where people are healed and restored, where everyone lives to their full potential, and where sin and suffering are no more.

That's what heaven is like, where God's will is done perfectly.

In the Lord's Prayer, Christians pray that this world will be the same. And we are not allowed to pray for something to happen without trying, as best we can, to help make it happen. So the Lord's Prayer isn't just a call for God to do something, it's a commitment for us to do something.

So when we pray that prayer, let's try to have these three things in mind.

1. Am I living it out in my own life? In our interactions with other people we can make life a heaven or a hell. The way we are in our family, how we treat our spouse or children, our colleagues or employees, can have an enormous effect on them. We can build up or we can tear down. If heaven is a place where God's will is done perfectly and earth is meant to reflect that, we will go through life trying as hard as we can to build people up.

2. Am I aware of how unlike heaven the world is? It's very easy for Christians to become very insular, concerned only for "church" issues. But conversion is about much more than going to heaven when we die  and Christian discipleship is about much more than just making new Christians. Part of that discipleship is being willing to be painfully aware of the dark side of life here on earth. We should know about poverty, illness and injustice, and care about it. It should make us stress the word "your": "Your kingdom come, your will be done." At the moment, in too many places, it isn't: it's a flawed and sinful human will, all too often driven by a demonic energy to do harm.

3. Am I willing to do something? The great questions of the day seem far too big for us. There's not much we can do about war in Syria or climate change or refugees. But we can do something, and it's not without significance: what someone has called "taking hold of the near edge" of the problem. We can't solve the refugee crisis, but we can challenge prejudice against immigrants. We can't stop the war in Syria, but we can give to charities working in the field. We can't stop climate change, but we can live more simply.

"Your will be done on earth as in heaven" isn't just verbal wallpaper, the comforting aural backdrop to just another service. It's a dangerous, frightening, demanding and inspiring description of another reality, that challenges apathetic collusion with the powers that be. It's a call to resist; it's a battle cry.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
Transgender bathroom wars: Conservative backlash begins against Obama administration

Conservative evangelicals have begun to hit back against an edict by the Obama administration directing every US public school district to allow transgender students to use lavatories that match their gender identity.

A letter signed by officials from the Education and Justice departments contains an implicit threat that schools which do not abide by the administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

According to Denny Burk, Professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, the undergraduate school of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the move "represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people".

Burk, a trenchant critic of liberalism, described the announcement on his blog as "jaw-dropping". He said: "This radical directive is a heavy-handed, unconstitutional overreach in order to force Americans to pretend that some boys are girls and some girls are boys. It is absurd and wrong."

He continued: "Transgenderism is a fiction that harms real people and undermines the common good. It is not good to treat boys as if they're girls nor to treat girls as if they're boys."

He warned the directive would "cause unrest and conflict all over the country. It is one thing for an individual to embrace a fictional identity. It is another thing for the federal government to coerce everyone else to embrace it too. This is far from over. Indeed the conflict has only just begun."

The Obama administration's announcement was made against the background of a bitter legal battle in North Carolina between the state legislature and the federal government.

Backers of the North Carolina law, which requires people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity, say it will protect women and girls from predators. Transgender advocates say that claim is unfounded and ignores a modern understanding of people who identify with a gender other than the one assigned at birth. Burk's position reflects that of many Christian conservatives, such as Franklin Graham, who posted on Facebook: "I'm thankful to North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory & other state legislators for standing up to the bullying and intimidation of the Obama Administration over HB2, NC's bathroom bill."
US set to arm Christian anti-extremist militias in Iraq

Christian anti-Islamic State forces in Iraq are set to benefit from a defence spending bill headed for authorisation by the US Congress and Senate.

A counter-IS provision in a previous bill had allocated money for local security forces in the Nineveh Plain. However, the current bill specifically refers to Christians as a group that should be supported. A report says: "The committee believes that the United States should support appropriately vetted, effective indigenous groups such as Iraqi Christian militias, with a national security mission."

Executive director of A Demand for Action, Steve Oshana, told Christian Today the move was a "huge step forward". "This is significant because Christian forces in Iraq and Syria have spent the past 18 months building capacity, and in Syria one group has already received support from the US," he said.

"It's significant because it shows a greater US commitment to supporting Christians and more importantly acknowledging their legitimacy as fighting forces in Iraq and Syria."

The move comes in the wake of a determination by US lawmakers that Islamic State's treatment of Christians and other minorities is genocide. The House of Representatives voted by 393 to zero that "the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide".

The increasing efficiency of Christian forces in Iraq contrasts with comments by Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad, who said in February last year that Christians there were "universally hopeless at fighting". Canon White said then: "Christians are no good at being soldiers. If going to join the new militia makes them feel good, great. But it will achieve absolutely nothing."

However, since then Islamic State has suffered a series of reverses, losing territory and facing increasing discontentment in areas it still controls. Tighter border controls are helping check the flow of recruits from Turkey and ISIS is under financial pressure as its revenue from oil dries up.
A demolition permit was issued for 801 Texas, the former Houston Chronicle building now owned by the Hines real estate firm.

Cherry Demolition acquired the permit Thursday, according to city of Houston records spotted by Swamplot.
An international group of journalists gathered earlier this month at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth to select the 2016 Car of Texas and Family Car of Texas.

It's a yearly affair for the Texas Auto Writers Association, an Austin-based group of automotive journalists founded in 1987. The Texas Auto Roundup, held each year at the Fort Worth-area track, allows writers to drive and evaluate the latest cars on the market.
George Lucas, the creator of "Star Wars," was born on May 14, 1944 in Modesto, Calif.

Today he is known as the creator of the third most successful movie franchise of all time.
A custom hilltop home in Leander  not too far from Round Rock  is under foreclosure and listed at $849,000.

Built in 2013, the 5,903-square-foot house has four bedrooms and six baths. The interior is modern, with a number of sleek finishes and large windows that let in natural light.
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The man who led police on a chase in southeast Houston Thursday will now face murder charges following the death of a 61-year-old man who was injured in one of the crashes.

Joshua Denagelo Myles, 27, was initially charged with evading arrest/detention in connection with the incident but those charges were upgrade around 2:30 p.m. according to a Houston Police Department spokeswoman.

Police said the incident began about 10:30 a.m Thursday in the 5800 block of Schroeder when officers spotted Myles driving a stolen silver GMC Envoy.

Police said Myles sped away from the officers, who followed him. During the chase, Myles ran a red light on Scott at Yellowstone and slammed into a white Nissan Versa that was traveling westbound on Yellowstone. Then he hit a black Kia Soul that was stopped at a red light on Scott.

Myles jumped out of his disabled Envoy and ran away, but offices captured him a short distance from the crash site.

A man and woman who were in the Nissan were injured and were rushed to a nearby hospitals. The man, whose name has not been released, later died. The woman was in critical condition.

The woman driving the Kia was not hurt.

Police continue to investigate the incident.

According to HPD guidelines, officers can engage in a vehicle pursuit if they believe catching a suspect is more important than any potential harm that could happen to the public.The seriousness of the crime and whether officers must act immediately to save lives are two factors officers weigh before heading into a pursuit.

Police vehicles must have working emergency lights. Brakes, steering and police radio have to be in working order.

The guidelines state officers cannot engage in pursuits by driving the wrong way of the freeway. Officers cannot shoot at a fleeing vehicle. Nor can they use privately owned vehicles to catch a suspect.
Dear Abby:

There is a guy that I kind of like at school, but he's really shy and doesn't really talk to anybody. I have talked to him a couple times, and he's really nice and has good manners. He sits with me and my group every day at lunch, and I see him around school. I say hi to him every time, but I'm not really getting any results. I would really love some guidance.

Shy Teen in California

Dear Shy Teen:

I think you are doing everything you can right now without scaring him off. On the plus side, this boy is comfortable with your group or he wouldn't be having lunch with you. If you all socialize beyond eating together (such as going to school dances or sporting events), make sure he knows he's welcome. If he takes you up on it, it will give you both a chance to get to know each other better, and it may help him to overcome some of his shyness.

Dear Abby:

My mother is 70. She lives alone and has been diagnosed with mild dementia and hydrocephalus. She has fallen numerous times and hurt herself, can no longer drive and needs help with household tasks.

The problem is, a relative keeps asking her to baby-sit her 5- and 7-year-old sons. The doctor has said in front of Mom that she shouldn't because the boys will distract her and she'll have a hard time focusing on her balance and getting up.

I have told this relative that Mom shouldn't be watching the kids, but she refuses to listen. (Other relatives say she will be fine if she does.) My mother loves watching these kids, and I understand that. But I'm more concerned about her well-being.

Not sure what to do about this. Can you help?

Concerned in Tennessee

Dear Concerned:

Speak to the doctor and see if he/she will put in writing what was said to you and your mom about not baby-sitting. If you get it in writing, you can share it with the mother of those children and the other relatives.

Frankly, as concerned as I am about your mother losing her balance because she is distracted, I am equally concerned about the welfare of the kids. If your mom should fall and hit her head or break a hip, would they know what to do to help her? And as she becomes more confused, if something like a fire should happen, would she be competent enough to get the children out and call the fire department?

What you have described could be a recipe for disaster, and I am shocked at the irresponsibility of that mother.

DearAbby.comDear AbbyP.O. Box 69440Los Angeles, CA 90069Universal Press Syndicate
Rome's Via dei Condotti was named for the channels that once brought water to the Baths of Agrippa. These days, it carries credit cards from the Spanish Steps to Gucci, Prada, Hermes and virtually every other luxury store you could possibly imagine.

So on a recent trip to the Eternal City, I walked down the street and treated myself to some window shopping.

That glittering diamond bracelet? Too flashy for my taste. Those shoes? Way more heel than I could handle. But when I arrived at Largo Carlo Goldoni, I looked up and found something I'd definitely want to take home: my husband and daughter.

They were up on the third floor of Palazzo Fendi, the fashion house's flashy new flagship, which features the brand's largest store in the world, a VIP area for big spenders and a Japanese restaurant imported from London. It's also home to Fendi Private Suites, a hotel with just seven rooms that began welcoming guests in December.

More Information If you go WHERE TO STAY Fendi Private Suites: Via di Fontanella Borghese, 48, Rome, 011-39-06-9779-8080; fendiprivatesuites.com. Luxury hotel of just seven designer suites located near the Spanish Steps in Rome; rooms begin at $460. Includes breakfast, nonalcoholic drinks and evening tea service. Portrait Florence: Lungarno degli Acciaiuoli 4, Florence, 011-39-055-2726-8000, lungarnocollection.com. The newest property in the Ferragamo family's hotel collection with a view overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and Arno River. All 37 suites feature retro photos of glam celebrities and Salvatore Ferragamo's Tuscan Soul bath products. Special services available for dogs. Rooms begin at about $415. Armani Hotel Milano: Via Manzoni, 31, Milan, 011-39-02-8883-8888; milan.armanihotels.com. Ninety-five guest rooms located in the heart of Milan's Brera district. Amenities include an indoor pool, a business center and meeting facilities. Rates start at about $460. See More Collapse

The hotel project is the latest evolution for Fendi, which got its start as a handbag and fur shop in Rome in 1925. The empire now dresses men, women and children from head to toe. (Extremely wealthy men, women and children.) It peddles timepieces, as well as a Casa line of home furnishings and accessories.

Like all of these pricey products, Fendi's expansion into the hospitality realm is very much on trend.

The fabulous fingerprints of French designer Christian Lacroix are all over three hotels in Paris. In London, you can crash at Claridge's in a Diane von Furstenberg-designed suite. Todd Oldham designed The Hotel of South Beach in Miami, which is where Tommy Hilfiger has plans for a membership-based boutique hotel of his own.

No fashion designers have gotten as gung ho about hotels, however, as the Italians, says Alice Dallabona, a teaching fellow at the University of Leeds. She studied the industry for her fashion marketing Ph.D. and discovered that brands from her home country are dominating the scene.

When the opulent Palazzo Versace debuted on Australia's Gold Coast in 2000, it was billed as "the world's first fashion-branded hotel." The Ferragamo family could dispute that claim: Their hotel business - the Lungarno Collection, which includes properties in Florence, Rome and the Tuscan countryside - celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.

But it's a series of newer ventures that have made the Italian fashion hotel craze impossible to miss. The Armani Hotel Dubai opened in 2010 in Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on the planet. A year later, Armani unveiled a Milan location that occupies an entire city block with the brand's trademark elegance. From there, it's just a quick Vespa ride to the first hotel developed by Bulgari, which opened in 2004. The Italian jeweler has since expanded to London and Bali and has plans to roll out three more properties in 2017: in Shanghai, Beijing and Dubai.

Dallabona's theory about what's driving this boom? "Italian luxury labels can capitalize on (the country's) reputation as a place with beauty, excellence and a desirable lifestyle," she says. So, although all designers can market aesthetics, Italians can also promise a taste of "la dolce vita" - and a nice Chianti.

It's a combination that doesn't always quite work. Dallabona focused her doctoral research on Hotel Missoni Edinburgh and Maison Moschino in Milan, which opened in 2009 and 2010, respectively. They closed in 2014 and 2015, respectively. She was a fan of both hotels, especially the way Moschino translated its ironic take on fashion into a hip hideaway. Her favorite detail: An "Alice in Wonderland"-themed room featured a table made from a giant cup. Apparently, not enough guests showed up for the tea party.

So, although there's a strong demand for luxury experiences, Dallabona says, a prestigious label on a hotel won't guarantee success.

That's probably one of the reasons Fendi is being relatively cautious with its first foray into the hospitality business. Rather than a stand-alone venture, Fendi Private Suites is part of the larger Palazzo Fendi project. And with just seven suites, it's probably not even large enough for your average celebrity entourage.

There's no question that the company knows how to make purses - such as the popular Baguette, so named because it can be tucked under one's arm as easily as a loaf of fresh bread. Running a hotel, however, comes with a different kind of baggage.

Or, rather, luggage.

When my family showed up with our stuff for check-in, we found ourselves gazing through a window at a mannequin in a $2,400 coat. It took a few moments for us to discover the discreet doorway marked "Fendi Private Suites," next to a side entrance to the store. Inside was just a small room with a beautiful woman standing behind a desk. She greeted us by name and then sent us on what seemed to be a secret mission.

We should leave our things here, she instructed. Our job was to ride the elevator up to the third floor, where we'd be met by another contact with further details on our stay.

As the doors opened on the lobby, I heard soft music thumping and caught a whiff of something pleasant. Perhaps a signature scent? (For Ferragamo's pair of Portrait hotels in Florence and Rome, that company developed a sweet fragrance called Vendemmia, which means "harvest.")

Beside the reception desk - a marble masterpiece uniting blocks of varying heights, shapes and shades - stood a row of employees who looked as if they'd been transported from "Downton Abbey," except in uniforms that belonged on a runway. On other occasions, I'd peeked into Florence's Portrait hotel and the Armani Hotel Milano and noticed that their staffs were impeccably turned out in designer threads. The Fendi look is undeniably edgier.

It was tough not to stare at the maid, whose bright-gold sleeve cuffs popped from her mostly black-and-white ensemble. And she wore clogs adorned with a quirky Fendi motif, a string of triangles resembling a row of chomping teeth. I somehow managed to turn my attention to a woman in a navy-blue jacket with white piping who seemed ready to command a chic spaceship. But first, she got us our room key.

Although there are just a few suites, the hotel sprawls across an entire floor of the palazzo, so we crossed through two communal lounge areas on the way to our room. One features a fireplace, a fuzzy gray couch made of connected blobs and a display case showing off a purse with red paint dripping from it. The other has lights dangling from the ceiling on leather straps, a trio of pointy black cones in lieu of an end table and an impressive art book collection.

I was prepared for something equally wacky, yet tasteful, inside our room. Instead, I was blown away by how tame the place was. The interior was dominated by calming neutral tones and appeared to be functional as much as fashionable. Fendi labels were on pretty much everything, and the available reading material would appeal only to true Fendi-philes. (I tried, and failed, to get into a coffee-table book of bag portraits called "Fendi Baguette" and a four-volume series, "Metamorphoses of an American," by legendary Fendi creative director Karl Lagerfeld.) Still, the place doesn't scream "showroom."

To my left was a bank of gray doors that floated off the floor and were surrounded by a soft glow. That's where we found the closet (with an empty Fendi shopping bag hanging inside, naturally), the safe and the marble-topped mini-bar.

Straight ahead was the bathroom, where that same brownish-red Lepanto marble graced the double vanity and the I-could-get-lost-in-here shower. The dark color provided a bold backdrop for the gleaming white of the soaking tub, the fluffy Fendi towels and the Diptyque toiletries.

We opted to head right, to take a rest on the leather couch and crimson velvet armchair in the seating area and to peruse the goodies that greeted us on the desk: a plate of candied dates, a bottle of water, a map of Rome and an iPad loaded with our room guide.

Here's what we learned: The lighting system is fully adjustable, so you can decide how bright or dim to make various fixtures. This includes the niche above the bed occupied by "the Fendi fur tablet," a framed collage of dyed pelt that's a reminder of the company's core business. The sheets are a "twisted and mercerized Mako cotton satin-feel fabric," although linen is available on request. And the "Menu Guanciali" (aka Pillows Menu) allows guests to choose from six styles offering various benefits. That's right - it's your call whether to go for "utmost comfort" or "one of a kind rest."

At that point, I noticed it wasn't only my head that was spinning. My husband had figured out that the flat-screen TV - which comes mounted in the middle of a glass room divider - can swivel to face either the couch or the bed.

We switched it on and were soon engrossed in the Fendi channel, which shows a mesmerizing cartoon on a loop. Set to a soundtrack of flowing water, a series of squiggly line drawings depict scenes from Rome, including Palazzo Fendi, cobblestone streets and various fountains.

That's a not-so-subtle way of reminding visitors that Fendi is also taking part in another Italian fashion trend: paying for monumental renovation projects. Prada and Versace collaborated to spruce up Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II before Expo 2015. In Rome, Bulgari is funding a fix of the Spanish Steps, while shoemaker Tod's is taking on the Colosseum.

Fendi's contribution was more than $2 million for a restoration of the Trevi Fountain, a 250-year-old landmark that had begun crumbling. It reopened in November, so it seemed like a fitting first stop for our family once we ventured out of the palazzo.

As we made our way back past the fuzzy blob couch, we had our only encounter with another guest. Her age was indeterminable, partially because she had sunglasses on indoors. But it was also because she sashayed way too quickly for me to get a look at anything other than the backs of her silver boots.

My guess? She had some very important shopping to do. Probably most of the folks booking rooms at Fendi Private Suites think a lot about their wardrobes. It's not a requirement, though. Even my husband immediately felt at ease, which I suspect is by design. There must be plenty of people who would never consider dropping $650 on a leather iPhone cover but would gladly accept that price for a memorable night at a hotel.
The search for Texas Southern University's next president, which heated up this week, may be over Monday.

The TSU board of regents spent nearly 12 hours behind closed doors in a small Marriott meeting room Thursday, interviewing two finalists for the job. They debated until 3 a.m. who would be the right pick to lead the school.

The board has scheduled another meeting Monday to make the final selection.

"We certainly do not take this decision lightly," Board Chairman Derrick Mitchell said in a statement Friday morning. "The board felt we needed a little more time to make such a critical move, given the gravity of the situation."

Regent Glenn Lewis said once the clock hit 3 in the morning, the board members "felt a wise decision could not be made at that time."

"We decided to take the weekend to absorb what we learned and heard from candidates," Lewis said.

By Texas law, whomever the regents select as sole finalist won't be able to take office for 21 days. They will follow Texas Southern President John Rudley, who has led the Houston college since 2008.

Rudley -- who raised admissions standards, found ways to fund construction including a new dorm despite cuts in state funding, and pushed for other improvements -- plans to step down in August. Despite those successes, Rudley has butted heads with regents in recent weeks and the faculty senate recently passed a vote of no confidence in him.

Rudley suggested at a recent regents meeting his upcoming departure was largely due to change on the board.

"I've been around this business for over 20 years," Rudley said during a contentious March meeting of the board. "I know how when boards change, the winds change, relationships change ... From a personal standpoint, I should be smart enough to know the table is laid out, and the table laid out was not conducive for me to stay at TSU any longer."
TRENTON, N.J. (AP)  A New Jersey man who works for a private security company cannot get a permit to carry a handgun because of his driving record.

An appeals court on Thursday upheld a lower court that found allowing Rahman Idlett to carry a weapon was "against the interest of the public health, safety and welfare" even though Perth Amboy police said he could.
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Eight names that have adorned Houston school buildings, uniforms and spirit items for decades will vanish next year after trustees came together Thursday to approve new ones without Confederate ties.

The renaming decisions followed months of controversy that had split the school board, heightened racial tensions, and fueled mixed reactions from parents, students and alumni.

Before the votes Thursday, however, the four trustees who initially opposed the renaming process, criticizing the lack of community input, said they would not continue their resistance; in some cases, they abstained.

POTENTIAL LAWSUIT: Group threatens to sue district over new names

"Let's come together and take this energy and really steer it toward our students," said trustee Greg Meyers, who previously opposed the renaming items. "We'll get past this. No matter what the name, it's what happens inside."

The new names will take effect in the fall. Reagan High School will become Heights High after the neighborhood. Davis High similarly will change to Northside High. Lee High will take the name of former longtime educator Margaret Long Wisdom.

Johnston Middle will become Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School. Jackson Middle will turn into Yolanda Black Navarro Middle School of Excellence, after the late East End civic leader.

Dowling Middle will take the name of Audrey H. Lawson, after the late charter school co-founder and first lady of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

Lanier Middle will swap only its first name to honor former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier instead of Sidney Lanier, a poet who had served as a private in the Confederate Army.

The board voted in March to change Grady Middle School to Tanglewood.




An Alief man suspected in a Houston slaying and the shooting of a state district judge in Austin will not face a murder charge in Harris County, officials confirmed.

The Harris County District Attorney's Office on Friday dismissed a murder charged against Chimene Hamilton Onyeri, 28, clearing the way for him to be transferred first to Austin for a probation violation and then to Calcasieu Parish in Louisiana, where he faces a raft of charges that could land him behind bars for decades.

If he is convicted in the Bayou State, his sentence may be lengthened because the allegations of a 2015 shooting in Harris County.

Onyeri was charged in the death of Jacobi Alexander at an apartment complex in the Alief area on May 18.

Houston police got a tip that Onyeri bragged about the shooting, saying he stood over Alexander's body as he shot him in the head. Police found Alexander's body lying on the ground in a courtyard near a swimming pool.

After that shooting, Onyeri was named as the primary suspect in the shooting of Austin Judge Julie Kocurek.

Kocurek was found in her car parked in front of her northwest Austin home on Nov. 6. She was seriously wounded by gunfire and had to be taken to the hospital for treatment, authorities said.

Onyeri has not been charged in the Travis County shooting case, but police searched Onyeri's home after the tipster alerted police that he may be involved. Court records show that Onyeri had a case before Kocurek in Austin, where prosecutors were seeking to revoke his probation in a fraud case, a move that could send him to prison for as long as 20 years.

In that case, he and a friend were arrested during a traffic stop in 2012 for possession of 17 fraudulent gift cards embedded with stolen credit card numbers.

Besides the case in Austin, Onyeri has long been in and out of trouble with the law. In 2013, he was acquitted by a jury during a trial on charges of armed robbery. He also was arrested and charged with murder in a 2008 shooting, but those charges were later dismissed. It was unclear Friday whether those allegations could also affect the charge in Louisiana.

He has also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor marijuana possession and fleeing police.

Brian.rogers@chron.com

Twitter.com/brianjrogers
Police are investigating a fatal shooting at an apartment complex in southwest Houston.

According to initial reports, a man was shot shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday at an apartment in the 7500 block of Corporate Drive.

The victim was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He has not been identified, Houston police said. The motive for the fatal shooting remains under investigation.

HPD detectives have not released information about a possible assailant.

Anyone with information is asked to contact HPD at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
WASHINGTON  Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

TEXAS DISPUTE: Texas' attorney general rebukes Fort Worth bathroom policy

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive, which is being sent to school districts Friday.

At the Republican Party of Texas convention in Dallas, state officials who have blasted such policies in Fort Worth schools and elsewhere immediately decried the federal move. As word spread late Thursday, convention delegates promised to make the decree an issue at Friday's sessions.

"This is truly a modern-day Come and Take It moment," said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. "Texans will not stand for this . . . This will create chaos in America and in its schools, and it's now going to be one of the key issues in the presidential election. Because she supports this policy, this may have cost Hillary Clinton the election."

CONVENTION SPOTLIGHT: Patrick urges party unity

Gov. Greg Abbott had no immediate comment, although on Thursday he had told GOP conventioneers that Texas would be working with North Carolina as that state challenges a federal mandate to drop its bathroom-use law.

In issuing the guidance, the Obama administration is wading anew into a socially divisive debate it has bluntly cast in terms of civil rights. The Justice Department on Monday sued North Carolina over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

The guidance does not impose any new legal requirements. But officials say it's meant to clarify expectations of school districts that receive funding from the federal government. Educators have been seeking guidance on how to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs and activities that receive federal funding, Education Secretary John B. King said in a statement.

"We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence," King said.

NORTH CAROLINA BATTLE: U.S. sues N.C. over transgender bathroom law

Under the guidance, schools are told that they must treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the district that that identity "differs from previous representations or records." There is no obligation for a student to present a specific medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect his or her gender identity, and equal access must be given to transgender students even in instances when it makes others uncomfortable, according to the directive.

"As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students," the guidance says.

The administration is also releasing a separate 25-page document of questions and answers about best practices, including ways schools can make transgender students comfortable in the classroom and protect the privacy rights of all students in restrooms or locker rooms.

The move was cheered by Human Rights Campaign, a gay, lesbian and transgender civil rights organization, which called the guidelines "groundbreaking."

"This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools," HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement.

The guidance comes days after the Justice Department and North Carolina filed dueling lawsuits over a new state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate. The administration has said the law violates the Civil Rights Act.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has argued that the state law is a "commonsense privacy policy" and that the Justice Department's position is "baseless and blatant overreach." His administration sued the federal government hours before the state itself was sued.
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The Houston Police Department arrested 26 men as part of a two month-long prostitution sting in southeast Houston.

The more than two dozen accused johns were apprehended mainly around the 2400 block of Gould near Stratton and and the 3200 block of Telephone Road.

Police say the 26 males attempted to buy sex in exchange for money and were taken into custody. Those areas were targeted as a response to citizen complaints about a high amount of prostitution in the area.

HPD's goal is to lower the demand for sex trafficking, which often involves under-age girls and women being abused and coerced into prostitution. By targeting johns, the hope is to reduce demand for these illegal activities and the exploited women forced into them.

Click through the gallery to see who was arrested in this latest sting.
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Shortly after the Obama administration announced that schools must allow transgender students to use the restrooms of their choice, phone calls from concerned parents came into the Fort Bend Independent School District on Friday morning.

"We know how polarizing this in our nation," said Nancy Porter, spokeswoman for the Houston area's third-largest district. "That's why we're trying to handle this with sensitivity for the best interest of all students."

Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

READ MORE: Abbott enters bathroom wars in convention speech

The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

"There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive, which is being sent to school districts Friday.

Houston ISD, the largest school district in the state, revised its policies in 2011 to specify that employees must not discriminate against their colleagues or students based on gender identity or gender expression.

READ MORE: US gives directive to schools on transgender bathroom access

"I hope we all can get beyond a political battle in the media and make sure we are taking care of all of our kids, so they have safe places to learn," said HISD trustee Anna Eastman, who advocated for the revised school district policy. "Transgender students who are more likely to be bullied, to be homeless, to commit suicide because they are misunderstood don't want to hurt others. They just want the same assumption of safety and comfort most of us already have."

In a statement Friday, HISD said that while its policy doesn't mention restrooms, administrators "are counseled to make accommodations that are aligned with the letter and spirit of the district's policy prohibiting student discrimination, harassment and retaliation."

Other area districts such as Cypress-Fairbanks and Klein said they similarly respond to students' requests on a case-by-case basis.

READ MORE: Debate over transgender bathroom access spreads nationwide

Porter, the Fort Bend ISD spokeswoman, said her district offered sensitivity training to administrators over the summer. The district's policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex and gender, though it does not specifically mention restrooms.

"Those situations are handled on a case-by-case basis, working with students' families," Porter said.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday in Dallas railed against the Obama administration's latest action on school district policies for transgender students.

Calling it "a come-and-take-it issue," Patrick said he does not think the White House's interpretation of Title IX on this issue will hold up in court. He said the new guidelines, which do not have the force of law, are going to cause a backlash from parents who are going to pull their children out of public schools if the Obama directive becomes mandatory.

"(Obama) did it sooner than I thought, but I said on Tuesday that this was a statewide and national issue," Patrick said. "I believe it is the biggest issue facing family and schools in American since prayer was taken out of schools."

Patrick accused the White House of trying to hurt the poorest school children in Texas, since the majority of federal education funds the state receives goes to feed students who need free or reduced lunches.

"(Obama) says he's going to withhold funding if school do not follow the policy. Well in Texas, he can keep his 30 pieces of silver," Patrick said. "We will not yield to blackmail from the president of the United States."

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton threatened a legal battle with the federal government over the guidelines.

"If President Obama thinks he can bully Texas schools into allowing men to have open access to girls in bathrooms, he better prepare for yet another legal fight," Paxton said in a statement.

This weekend, the delegates to the Texas Republican Convention in Dallas will vote on a plank to their party platform that urges lawmakers to enact "legislation addressing individuals' use of bathrooms, showers and locker rooms that correspond with their biologically determined sex." The proposal is expected to pass easily, as it has been a hot topic of conversation among delegates and speeches by party leaders who have expressed support for the language.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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DALLAS  U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Friday urged Texas Republicans to support presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, and endorsed colleague Ted Cruz for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Following his first meeting with Trump on Thursday, Cornyn said he came way impressed at the New York business tycoon's "willingness to listen" and that he intends to fully support Trump as the nominee.

"He was not the showman we've seen on the big stage," he said of the meeting between Trump and Senate leaders.

Cornyn said he invited Trump to attend the state Republican Party of Texas convention in Dallas, a possibility that touched off excitement overnight among conventioneers, many of whom are staunch supporters of Cruz and still are not happy that Trump bested him.

"Voters are always right," Cornyn said of Trump's fast rise to prominence in the Republican party, in his first run for political office.

Republicans "need to make sure that Barack Obama doesn't have a third term," he said, referring to Hillary Clinton's almost-certain selection as the Democratic Party nominee. "When you're divided, you default to the opposition," he said.

Asked about suggestions that Cruz could be a candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court seat vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Cornyn said he thinks his first-term colleague "would make a fantastic Supreme Court justice."

Cruz, who pulled out of the GOP presidential race after Trump pulled far ahead in his delegate count after the Indiana primary, has a chilly relationship with GOP leaders in the Senate over his repeated harsh criticism of them and the Washington political establishment.

While there have been suggestions that Cruz may look to a new opportunity, he has announced he will run for reelection to the Senate in two years.

In remarks to reporters before a morning speech to the full state GOP convention, Cornyn also blasted President Obama's mandate issued Friday that public schools must allow transgender students access to restrooms for the sex that they currently identify with.

"His involvement n this is unwelcome," Cornyn said of the president's order. "This is an issue for local voters at the local level.

"It's a parody of what we should be doing," Cornyn said, saying Obama should be addressing more important issues, such as defeating Islamic State terrorists and other threats to national security and improving the sagging American economy.
-- GET READY TO RUMBLE IN DALLAS >> Overnight: U.S. directs public schools to allow transgender access to restroom, by the NYTs Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Matt Apuzzo. The Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping directive telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

A letter to school districts will go out Friday, adding to a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administrations legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration  signed by Justice and Education department officials  will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against. It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administrations interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

-- Trump this hour on NBCs Today: I dont think its a federal issue. I see whats happening. Everybody has to be protected, but I would leave it up to the states.

>> Ill be at Dan Patricks 9:30 a.m. press conference, where hell address the media on Obamas upcoming transgender policy for all public schools.

-- HERE is the GOP platform delegates will be voting on. No secession in the report but watch the floor fight.  Also, since its in the news, heres what the platform says about the bathroom issue: Gender Identity- We urge the enactment of legislation addressing individuals use of bathrooms, showers and locker rooms that correspond with their biologically determined sex.

-- Delegates pin hopes on GOP unity in state on platform, by the Chrons Mike Ward and me. Several Trump supporters, whose numbers appeared to be growing on Thursday if public displays of the New York business tycoons campaign stickers were any indication, offered much the same view. Their emphasis was on coalescing the party behind Trump.

So, while so-called Cruz Crew backers were working regional caucuses and one-on-one buttonhole sessions in hallways to talk about the platform, Trump operatives were said to be meeting with Texas party officials and Cruz supporters to develop a plan to unify  or at least appear unified  by time the convention adjourns on Saturday.

>> Texas Take: Will Trump come to Dallas to win over Cruz country?

-- Abbott opens convention with a call for unity without naming Trump, by Mike Ward and Brian Rosenthal. His speech opening the convention here focused on two items: the 2016 presidential election and who should be able to use which public restroom, the so-called transgender bathroom issue. Abbott, who had endorsed Cruz, his onetime colleague in the Texas attorney general's office, never mentioned the name of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, but his message was clear: the party needs to unify to defeat Clinton.

-- Read James Russells take at Quorum Report: The 84th legislative session may have been one of the most conservative in history, as Gov. Greg Abbott likes to say, but the states top two statewide elected officials told a half-full auditorium of Republican true believers on Thursday that a lot more could be done. The only way to spread the gospel of firebrand Texas conservatism, both Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told the crowd, is to defeat presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in the fall.

SPEED READ

Patrick wont say if Paxton should resign, The Dallas Morning News

Ramsey: Regardless of 2016 results, Texas GOP still enthralled by Cruz, Texas Tribune

Houston man charged with threatening Paxton, Houston Chronicle

Time for the energy industry to pick up the prices, Houston Chronicle

Thompson declares her independence in District 120, San Antonio Express-News

Can the even-further-right stage a Trump-style takeover of the Texas GOP, Texas Observer

SBOE candidate gets questions, concerns after meeting with East Texas superintendents, Tyler Morning Telegraph

Miracle fades as Texas oil bust jeopardizes once surging surplus, Bloomberg

For oil drillers, Obama methane rule worse than proposed, Bloomberg

At this rate, it will take 150 years to enroll 75 percent of US kids into quality pre-school, The Washington Post

Never again with that plaid shirt, Patrick says, The Dallas Morning News

New area code to come in 2017, San Antonio Express-News

RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE

-- Fearing Trump, some Dems up pressure on Sanders to exit, by the APs Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas. The new concerns come after Sanders' recent wins over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party's nomination.

-- Never (Again) Trump sets sights on 2020, by Politicos Kyle Cheney. Conservatives, still reeling over the looming nomination of Donald Trump, are pushing new Republican primary rules that might have prevented the moguls victory in the first place: shutting out independents and Democrats from helping to pick the GOP nominee.

Now, Cruzs allies  hundreds of supportive convention delegates that he helped elect  hope to use the national convention in Cleveland to shove states toward closing their open primaries. And if theyre successful, it will not only go a long way toward warding off a Trump-like candidacy, it will tilt the primary toward conservative candidates in 2020 and beyond.

-- Trump: my tax rate is none of your business, by Politicos Nick Gass. Donald Trump went on the defensive Friday morning, ripping into ABC's George Stephanopoulos as the "Good Morning America" host queried the presumptive Republican nominee on when he would release his tax returns. Trump remarked that while every presidential candidate has released his tax returns since 1976, he would continue to wait until after the Internal Revenue Service's audit is completed.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
The death of Princelikely the result of prescription opioid abuseis the latest manifestation of what has been called a national opioid epidemic. Now an advisory panel has unanimously recommended that the FDA make mandatory a currently elective programRisk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies, or REMS designed to educate physicians about the risks of opioid misuse and abuse. The advisory panels recommendation is an example of regulatory overreachbased on little or no evidencethat the FDA should reject.

Without question, the United States has an opioid problem. The Centers for Disease Control report that 2 million Americans are currently abusing or dependent on prescription opioids such as Percocet, OxyContin, and Vicodin. Nearly 20,000 Americans die from overdoses of these medicines every year. A recent Health Affairs study found that hospitalizations related to opioid abuse have skyrocketed, along with the associated costs$15 billion in 2012 for opioid-related inpatient care. The medical research firm Castlight Health reports that workplace disruptions from opioid abuse cost employers $10 billion annually.

The problem has its roots in over 20 years of expert claims that physicians under-treat patients pain and that opioids pose little addiction or abuse risk. The studies purporting to back up the under-treatment claims were generally small, though, and only documented such under-treatment in cancer or terminally ill patients. Nevertheless, some generalized the results, spreading the notion that all patientsincluding those with chronic, non-cancer-related pain for which opioid efficacy has not been documentedwere being under-treated. In 1995, the American Pain Society published guidelines stating that doctors should routinely assess and record reports of pain along with a patients vital signs. In 1999, the Veterans Health Administration required physicians to ask patients to assess their pain on a scale of zero to ten during all clinical encounters. Pain was labeled the fifth vital sign, along with the traditional indicators of temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. By 2001, the Joint Commission, an independent nonprofit that accredits 21,000 U.S. health-care programs for Medicare and Medicaid certification, required documentation of pain assessment and treatment at patient visits. States required physicians to take pain-management courses, and providers faced legal liability for undertreating pain. And the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services included questions about pain in its patient-satisfaction surveys that determine hospital reimbursement rates.

Not surprisingly, physicians responded to this focus on pain by increasing opioid prescriptions, which jumped from approximately 76 million in 1991 to nearly 207 million in 2013. The new, liberal attitude toward opioid prescribing seemed to disinhibit patients, who increasingly complained ofand demanded treatment for chronic, non-cancer pain. Thirty-eight million people complain of back pain. Another 17 million have painful osteoarthritis. Fibromyalgiaa painful condition first recognized in 1987is estimated to afflict 2 percent to 8 percent of the population.

All these factors make the U.S. the worlds biggest consumer of opioids. The American market accounts for almost 100 percent of global consumption of hydrocodone (the ingredient in Vicodin) and 81 percent of oxycodone (the ingredient in Percocet and OxyContin). Overdoses have tripled since 2000.

Will an FDA-mandated physician-training program alleviate this problem? Most of the FDA panelists acknowledged that no evidence exists that REMS training curbs opioid misuseperhaps because REMS training targets the wrong audience. Physicians dont live in caves; most now understand the addiction and abuse potential of opioids. The CDC recently issued new guidelines on opioid prescribing and opioid alternatives that physicians and hospitals can implement without hours of mandated education. Some physicians knowingly over-prescribe opioids, but thats a matter for law enforcement, not education.

Physicians arent the problem here. Patients who knowingly or unwittingly divert opioids from legitimate use are responsible for the current epidemic. Most prescription opioid abusers dont obtain drugs directly from physicians. Castlight Health reports that only 4.5 percent of people receiving an opioid prescription are opioid abusers. Most abusers obtain drugs from friends and relatives, who got them legitimately from physicians. Education and resources should be directed toward patients so they can secure or discard their drugs before they are given toor stolen bytheir drug-abusing friends and family members. Other opioid abusers obtain prescriptions from multiple providers and then either abuse or sell the drugs. States have started to crack down on these schemes, with programs that enable physicians to check if their patient is obtaining opioids elsewhere.

The pain as the fifth vital sign movement should come to an end. Unlike traditional vital signsobjective measures assessed by medical personnelpain is a subjective symptom reported by patients. By equating a subjective indicator with objective information, policymakers created an environment where the people most likely to abuse painkillers were effectively put in control of their access to opioids. Patients and providers alike were misled into believing that any pain, no matter how minimal, tolerable, or transitory, must be eliminated. Some momentum for these changes already exists, as dozens of nonprofit groups and experts have urged the Joint Commission to change its pain-management requirements and asked CMS to remove pain-control questions from patient-satisfaction questionnaires.

Finally, insurance policies and government regulations that limit access to less easily abused pain medicines should be altered. Drug-reimbursement insurance policies must allow for greater coverage of abuse-deterrent formulation (ADF) drugs, which have been shown to decrease abuse. While nearly 60 percent of branded opioids contain ADF properties, only 2 percent of generic products do, writes former FDA commissioner Peter J. Pitts. The numbers are staggering 240,120,330 non-ADF generic opioids were prescribed in 2015 (nearly a quarter of a billion tablets) versus 5,068,398 branded opioids with ADF properties. The FDA should prioritize approval of generics with ADF properties.

Well-intentioned concern about patients pain helped create the opioid abuse problem. Well-intentioned public pressure to do something about it doesnt justify half-baked education mandates.

Photo by Roel Smart/iStock
One day in late January 2015, Bryan Lowry of the Wichita Eagle was at a Mexican restaurant in Topeka, Kansas, when he received an email forwarded from a source.* He immediately knew he was onto something big.

I said, Wow, this is a story, says Lowry, the Eagles statehouse correspondent.

He was right: Lowrys article, published by the Eagle the following day, revealed that the states budget director had used his personal email account to send two lobbyists a preview of Gov. Sam Brownbacks controversial budget in December of 2014, weeks before the legislature or the public had a chance to see it. The story shed light on the decision-making behind the budget battles that have rocked the state ever since Brownbacks massive tax cuts went into effect in 2013.

But the story also did something else, which Lowry couldnt have anticipated at the time: It set off a debate in the capitol over a public-records loophole that would extend for two legislative sessions, finally resulting in a major reform that was signed into law by Brownback himself this week. The bill makes clear that private e-mails sent by public officials are subject to disclosure under the open-records law if they pertain to public business.

We owe him a debt of gratitude for digging into this story, Doug Anstaett, the executive director of the Kansas Press Association, says of Lowry.

Lowrys original story wasnt just about a transparency crusade. The fact that lobbyists were involved at an early state in the budget process was pretty newsworthy in its own right.

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But the budget directors use of a private account pointed to a loophole in the state open-records act and opened up a fruitful line of inquiry. The scoops kept coming in the 2015 session, as Lowry debunked the budget directors claim that he hadnt had access to his state email account when he sent the private email, and revealed that Brownback himself had used private email to conduct public business for years.

State lawmakers, meanwhile, began calling for a legislative fix to the private-email loopholea push that gained bipartisan momentum that March when Hillary Clintons email scandal broke. In May 2015, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt put forth a proposal to close the loophole. Legislation was introduced a week later, at the tail end of the session, and in June, Senate leadership asked the Kansas Judicial Council, a state agency that advises the legislature and judiciary on legal matters, to study the issue. The resulting advisory committee report, released in December, provided much of the basis for the bill that was ultimately passed in this years session.

Whether its smoke signals or a smartphone

The thrust of the reform is to shift the focus from the location of a record to its content and purpose.

While the previous open-records law applied to records made or maintained by a public agency, the act will now apply, according to the bill summary, to any recorded information that is made, maintained, kept by, or in the possession of any officer or employee of a public agency pursuant to the officers or employees official duties, and is related to the functions, activities, programs, or operations of any public agency. And it will apply regardless of the location of the information.

Adam Marshall, a legal fellow with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the language was well crafted. Removing any potential location-based exemption, he said, is not something thats common in public-records statutes, but its terrific. Other states have codified that distinction only after court battles, Marshall added.

Anstaett of the Kansas Press Association, who served on the advisory committee that made recommendations for the legislation, said the location issue was the key to the groups deliberations.

Whether its smoke signals or a smartphone, he said, the committee determined that location is not the issue as much as, does the record involve the public business?

The reform, of course, doesnt mean that all is well on the transparency front. The loophole revealed by Lowrys reporting was just one of many reasons cited by the Center for Public Integrity last year for the failing grade it gave Kansas for public access to information. Anstaett says he remains concerned about the high costs that state agencies sometimes charge for access to records. Marshall points out that mechanisms must be put in place to make sure public business conducted on private accounts is stored and searchable. And Lowry says there are still seemingly a million exemptions in KORA, the open-records law. In the very same bill that closed the email loophole, the legislature also moved to block media and general-public access to police body-cam footage.

Even as Anstaetts organization continues to lobby the state on these other fronts, he says, at least for now the new reform sends a message that you have to do the public business in the light of day, and not try to hide.

As for Lowry, his reporting over the last 18 months has drawn awards and recognition. But, he said on Wednesday night, hours after Brownback signed the new bill: Today was really when it hit me hard. Because you think, Something I wrote actually changed the law in Kansas.

Correction: This sentence has been revised to correct the time of day Lowry received an email.

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Deron Lee is CJRs correspondent for Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska. A writer and copy editor who has spent nine years with the National Journal Group, he has also contributed to The Hotline and the Lawrence Journal-World. He lives in the Kansas City area. Follow him on Twitter at @deron_lee.
Andrew J. Heymsfield has an affinity for thunderstorms, particularly those nasty spring-born storms that darken the plains and drop hailstones similar to millions of tiny ice bombs, leaving crushed crops, car hood dings and dimples, and billions of dollars of damage in their wake.

Visit the senior scientists offices at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and youll find one of his prized possessions is a cast replica of the largest hailstone ever recorded  a nearly 2-pound monster measuring 18.5 inches that fell July 23, 2010, in the small central South Dakota town of Vivian. The real one resides in a laboratory freezer down the hall, the Rapid City Journal reported.

Im interested in all aspects of ice phases, snow, precipitation, and hail just happens to be one of them, says Heymsfield, who first began studying the icy phenomenon in 1978.

For the past few years, his research center has been working in tandem with the Insurance Institute of Business & Home Safety, a consortium of insurers seeking ways to strengthen homes, businesses and communities and reduce the estimated 9 million claims for hail losses totaling more than $54 billion they received from 2000 to 2013.

And, thanks to studies by the insurance institute and armored airplanes that have penetrated hailstorms for more than 30 years collecting data for studies conducted by the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, scientists are gaining a greater understanding of how hail is produced, and what can be done to mitigate the billions of dollars in damages it does to crops and property.

At the outset, Heymsfield says he was astonished that previous studies used outdated mathematical models to determine the characteristics of hail and to forecast thunderstorms that might produce hail. One such study widely used to calculate the relationship between the size of hail and the speed at which it falls was conducted in the 1960s using data collected in the 1920s, he said.

The thing that really surprised me was that there was a kind of disconnect between the insurance industry and the science from standpoint they perhaps took things from some very old results, but not things we had learned more recently, Heymsfield explained. Now we are starting to look at the properties of hail in a more realistic way.

Ian Giammanco, a meteorologist and Heymsfields counterpart at the institutes state-of-the-art research facilities in Richburg, South Carolina, 45 minutes south of Charlotte, said the studies are intended to not only identify the properties of hail, but to replicate storm conditions with the goal of improving the resiliency of products used in construction that might reduce damage from the icy projectiles.

Its an exciting time in hail research, said Giammanco, whose wife, Tanya, is a fellow scientist working on the project. The goal is to make measurements of hail, multiple dimensions, evaluate shape, weigh hail and understand how size and mass change as hailstone shapes change, which plays an important role in aerodynamics.

That makes a difference in how fast hail falls and subsequently, the damage inflicted when it hits roofs, Giammanco added.

Working in institute laboratories that include 3-D scanners and printers, as well as a massive hail-making machine, Giammanco and his associates this month for the first time replicated individual hailstones, then measured strength and density in their effort to develop stronger building materials more resistant to hail damage.

The scientist said the studies had found that, while hailstones smaller than 1 inch in diameter tended to be more spherical, larger hailstones became less round as they got bigger, and larger hailstones can even feature spikes and other unusual shapes.

On the strength side, small stones typically are the strongest, Giammanco added. The strongest took 3,000 psi (pounds per square inch) to fracture it, which is somewhat amazing when you consider the typical car tire is inflated to 38-40 psi.

While smaller hailstones might take 10 minutes to be produced in a thunderstorm, larger hailstones take an arcing path to the ground, collecting super-cooled water and other bits of atmospheric ice and even colliding with other hailstones on their journey earthward, he said.

Its mind-blowing to consider the size of some hailstones a thunderstorm can produce, getting bigger and bigger, and the fact that 100 mph winds are needed to suspend those giant hailstones in the atmosphere for the 20 to 30 minutes they might be up there, Giammanco added.

Andy Detwiler, a research scientist associated with the School of Mines for nearly 30 years, said he is proud the Rapid City institutions work is now playing such an instrumental role in studies designed to understand hail and reduce damages from thunderstorms.

Noting South Dakota is one of five states most prone to hail storms, Detwiler said the Mines studies using an armor-plated T-28 with a bullet-proof canopy for more than 30 years, and a modified Air Force A-10 more recently, have led to a greater understanding of what actually occurs inside a hailstorm.

Our work began with a grant from the National Science Foundation in 1968, said Detwiler, whose doctorate is in atmospheric sciences. At that time, there was no way to get measurements of storms and this was an attempt to do that.

Praising Heymsfields hail studies and subsequent scientific papers as groundbreaking, Detwiler said aircraft used by the School of Mines and the data they helped produce were just two tools in the arsenal scientists are using to understand our natural environment.

Were trying to deal with the environment as effectively as we can and preserve and protect our standard of living, he said. The airplane is just one tool. It takes airplanes, scientists, data and computer modeling to make the big picture understandable.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
As the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma exploded into the hundreds in the last few years, nearly a dozen insurance companies moved to limit their exposure, often at the expense of homeowners, a Reuters examination has found.

Nearly 3,000 pages of documents from the Oklahoma Insurance Commission reviewed by Reuters show that insurers and the reinsurers who cover them grew increasingly concerned about exposure to earthquake risks because of heightened frequency of seismic activity, which scientists link to disposal of saltwater that is a byproduct of oil and gas production.

Even as they insured more and more properties against earthquakes in the past two years, six insurers hiked premiums by as much as 260 percent and three increased deductibles. Three companies stopped writing new earthquake insurance altogether, state regulatory filings obtained by Reuters show. Several insurers took more than one of those steps.

In addition, the insurers would consider suing oil and gas companies for reimbursement in instances where they would have to pay damages to homeowners, according to several sources, including two insurance company officials.

So far Oklahomas biggest earthquake was a 5.6 magnitude temblor in Prague in 2011 that buckled road pavement and damaged dozens of homes.

However, the push to limit earthquake exposure reflects insurers fear that the surge in small quakes is a portent of a big one in coming years, given the relationship between the magnitude and a total number of earthquakes in a certain area.

The filings show many insurers explicitly stated they were concerned about exposure to earthquake risk. In late March, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) warned that 7 million Americans were at risk of so-called induced seismicity. The warning further heightened insurers and reinsurers concerns, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said.

Because earthquakes were rare in Oklahoma before shale oil and gas production soared in the past decade, very few residents carried earthquake insurance back then.

OIL, WATER AND QUAKES

That has changed as the number of quakes of magnitude 3.0 and higher recorded in the state soared from a handful in 2008 to 103 in 2013 and 890 last year, according to USGS. The value of coverage, usually offered as an add-on to standard homeowners policy, also spiked to $19 million in 2015 from less than $5 million in 2009, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group.

Scientists link the quakes to the injection of wastewater generated from the oil and gas production process deep underground. Volumes of so-called produced water have ballooned as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, boosted output in Oklahoma.

Monthly injection volumes in Oklahoma doubled between 1997 and 2013, according to a 2015 Stanford University study.

The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association has said state regulators efforts to work with producers to limit the amount of wastewater injected would reduce seismicity.

So far, relatively few homeowners have filed claims, in part because the damages were not big enough to exceed the deductibles. Some who did say they had trouble getting compensation.

Julie Allison said the cumulative effects of the 39 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and above that had struck within two miles of her home in Edmond, Oklahoma, had caused $70,000-80,000 in damages, but Farmers Insurance denied her claim in April.

They did not deny that we had damage, Allison said. The insurance company, however, blamed it on ground erosion and settlement, she said.

Farmers said it relied on outside engineering experts for the assessment and that the Allisons have accepted the companys offer to pay for a second opinion by an expert of their choice.

HIGHER EXPOSURE

For some insurers and reinsurers the risks have proven too big. Responding to the pull-back and premium hikes Oklahomas Insurance Commission has scheduled a fact-finding hearing in late May, Doak said.

Travelers Insurance Company, the sixth-largest provider of earthquake insurance in the state, stopped allowing existing policyholders to add earthquake coverage in November 2014. In a filing, it said it was making the change to manage our exposure to earthquake in the state.

The Hartford stopped writing earthquake insurance in Oklahoma in late 2014. Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company removed earthquake coverage from their existing homeowner policies in February 2011, filings show.

The Oklahoma Farm Bureau said it made a business decision to remove coverage in 2010. Travelers declined to comment beyond its filing. Hartford declined to comment.

Other companies raised deductibles or premiums. Andrew Walter, manager of underwriting research and development at Country Mutual Insurance Company, which raised its deductible last year, said the step aimed to protect our financial strength in case of a large scale earthquake in the state.

Others that hiked premiums include Chubb Ltd, which said it kept providing coverage to existing and new customers, but would not discuss premium rates, and EMCASCO Insurance Company, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Risk modelers fear that insurers are too exposed in the event of a big one, even though claims have been few thus far.

If they do end up with substantial claims for a large quake, insurers could sue the oil companies for reimbursement. At the Oklahoma insurance regulators request, several insurance companies clarified last fall that they did cover man-made quakes, which provided an incentive to try to recoup payouts from oil and gas companies.

Two insurers  the United Servicemembers Automobile Association and Palomar Specialty  said they could consider such action.

(Additional reporting by Liz Hampton and Terry Wade in Houston; Editing by David Gaffen and Tomasz Janowski)
A fire at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in West, Texas, in April 2013 was intentionally set, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives said on Wednesday.

A $50,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of persons responsible for the explosion that killed 15 people, destroyed 500 homes and left a crater 93 feet wide (28 meters) and 12 feet across, the Houston field division of the bureau said Wednesday in a statement on its website.

The agency announced its findings following more than 400 interviews, a fire-scene examination and a review of witness photos and videos. All viable accidental and natural fire scenarios were hypothesized, tested and eliminated, according to the statement.

The explosion damaged buildings over a 37-block area and left the high school and the intermediate school ablaze. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded an earthquake measuring 2.1 on the Richter scale.

National regulations on the handling and storage of ammonium nitrate fertilizer are needed to avoid this type of massive explosion from occurring, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board said in April 2014. The explosion was preventable, and the 40 tons to 60 tons of ammonium nitrate that ignited were stored in wooden buildings and bins, rather than concrete, with no modern fire-suppression equipment, according to the boards chairman.

CF Industries Holdings Inc., the largest U.S. producer of nitrogen fertilizer, was sued by the city of West for the deadly explosion in a plant that the company supplied with ammonium nitrate. The company is not commenting on the U.S. bureaus findings, spokesman Chris Close said in a telephone interview.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.
Professor Longhair is 'Live In Chicago' From 1976 on New Orleans Records Release [REVIEW]

Professor Longhair is 'Live in Chicago' from 1975. (Photo : courtesy Orleans Records)

On Feb. 1, 1976, a living legend performed at the University of Chicago Folk Festival. His name was Henry Roeland "Roy" Byrd and he played the piano and sang. Most of the folks in the crowd knew him as Professor Longhair. He was 57 at the time. Live In Chicago (Orleans Records) documents the short seven-song set. Still at the height of his powers, this architect of New Orleans rhumba and R'n'B who could shout a blues or rock the "Mess Around" should be a staple of every American record collection.

As with other blues legends who had to tend bar, sing on the street for chump change or flip burgers to make a living, Fess, as he was also known, wound up sweeping floors in the 1960s until rediscovered. Painter Hudson Marquez is the hero who searched far and wide until he found Fess dealing cards, living in poverty and quite ill. Marquez got him up and running, and soon Fess was knockin' 'em dead in the Ninth Ward of the Crescent City. Dizzy Gillespie caught his act and wouldn't stop talking about him. When Atlantic Records released a retrospective of all those failed singles recorded under a dozen different names (New Orleans Piano), it was hailed as a masterpiece and soon Fess was performing all over the world including at one of Paul McCartney's private parties (documented on record as Live on the Queen Mary).

With a three-guitar and drum attack here, Professor Longhair pulls out all the stops for the students, performing Earl King's "Big Chief," Peter Chatman's "Every Day I Have the Blues," three originals ("Doin' It," "Mardi Gras in New Orleans." "Fess's Boogie") and hits by Ray Charles ("Mess Around") and Muddy Waters ("Got My Mojo Working").

He's in good voice. His piano-playing is eccentric yet divine. The man is a force of nature. Less than four years later, he'd be dead of a heart attack on Jan. 30, 1980 at the age of 61. In 1985, as the flip side to his "Spies Like Us" single, McCartney recorded "My Carnival" in honor of the great Professor Longhair.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsProfessor Longhair, REVIEW, Orleans Records, Paul Mccartney
Ain't 'No B!' in Jane Lee Hooker: These Gals are Dangerous on New Ruf Records Release [REVIEW]

Jane Lee Hooker (l-r): Danger Athens, Hail Mary Z, Tracy High Top, Cool Whip Houston and T-bone Gorin. (Photo : Jim Belmont)

When Muddy Waters claimed his manhood on "Mannish Boy" in 1955 by shouting "No B," he was talkin' 'bout how boyhood left him long ago. The Brooklyn ladies in Jane Lee Hooker also say No B! Their Ruf Records debut of the same name is revelatory.

Think '70s Classic Rock. Think punk. You can even think Metal Lite if you want. The point is that this quintet is like Led Zeppelin without penises. The other difference is that they didn't steal any songs. The 11 ball-busters here all have proper attribution. And guess what? This band is so wild, tough, ornery, loud, heavy, sexy, hard and crazy-sick with proper rock'n'roll angst, their renditions hold up remarkably well in contrast to each song's original.

They have the temerity to tackle Johnny Winter's "Mean Town Blues" and lead screamer Danger Athens nails it as do guitarists High Top and T-Bone Gorin. They're even bolder to cover "I Believe to My Soul" by Ray Charles and make it into a hard rock vehicle for the JLH sledgehammer rhythm section of ballsy drummer Cool Whip Houston and thunder-bassist Hail Mary Z. After Kansas Joe McCoy's "Bumble Bee," complete with piercing staccato electric stings, they even assault Otis Redding's "Free Me." Albert King's 1967 "The Hunter" is more akin with the 1969 Ike & Tina Turner version. Plus, these gals like their "Champagne and Reefer," playing up the slut card on this Muddy classic. And, yeah, they did give Willie Dixon credit for writing Howling Wolf's "Shake for Me."

Comprised of former members of Nashville Pussy, The Wives and Bad Wizard, Jane Lee Hooker is one provocative rock'n'roll band that will knock your socks off. In taking no prisoners, they use the blues to get their point across. They are not to be trifled with.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsJane Lee Hooker, REVIEW, Ruf Records, Muddy Waters
New Zion Swims 'Sunshine Seas' on Eclectic Dub Masterpiece From RareNoise Records [REVIEW]

(l-r) Cyro Baptista and Jamie Saft of New Zion invite you to swim their 'Sunshine Seas.' (Photo : Eleonora Albert)

Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista adds his snap, crackle and pop to this heavy underground dub CD of slinky beats called Sunshine Seas by New Zion on RareNoise Records. Jamie Saft -- composer, producer, keyboards, guitars, electric bass -- leads this quilt of a quintet through a patchwork of ancient yet futuristic sounds, glued together by electronics. It's a bumpy trip smoothed out by the blips and bleeps of what used to be known as microtonal dance music.

It's reggae, man. But it's also drum'n'bass music. It's hiphop without the raps. And, most of all, it's rub-a-dub-dub all the way.

Lee "Scratch" Perry, now 80, would love this. So do I. But it's not for everyone.

Opener "BrazilJah" is just a hypnotic groove that sets the scene. Baptista plays the cuica on "Chalice Pipe," the samba drum that sounds like the screech of a monkey. Saft softens his animalistic urges by playing some sweetly swaying bossa-nova acoustic guitar. The juxtaposition of such adds to the surrealistic nature of this project.

The two were in avant-garde composer John Zorn's band together. On "Ranking," Baptista plays a Jew's Harp like no one I've ever heard. This ancient instrument, said to be one of the oldest instruments in the world, has nothing to do with any one religion or ethnic group. It's the weird sound that Garth Hudson of The Band achieved throughout "Up On Cripple Creek." Here, it acts like a Greek chorus commenting upon the action.

Saft admits to being fascinated early on with the sounds that King Tubby [1941-1989] achieved who, for years, used the recording studio as his own personal instrument to crank out dozens of dub masterpieces in the '60s and '70s. Saft knows his way around those studio tricks like delays, reverbs, modulation devices, compression and saturation devices, handy dub tools to get just the right sound. You can hear it all on "Sunshine Seas." Take a dip.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsNew Zion, REVIEW, Cyro Baptista, Jamie Saft
Georgie's Girls Akron

Akron police are investigating an armed robbery and several other burglaries at Georgie's Girls strip club.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron strip club robbed at gunpoint on Wednesday has been targeted by thieves nine times in five months.

George Jumbert, owner of Georgie's Girls strip club, said he hopes the thieves will eventually be caught. He said he's increased security and installed new locks for the doors on the club and his adjacent bar, Georgie's Pub.

"We've done our best," Jumbert said. "The problem is that it's a bar and robbers know there's money involved. They need money they come there and we can't catch them."

A masked man with a gun robbed the strip club about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. He ordered a 23-year-old bartender to the ground and stole about $265 before running off.

The latest string of burglaries began Dec. 12. Someone got into the building in the 1300 block of Brittain Road through a back door. The thieves stole $622 worth of high-end liquor, police reports say.

On Christmas, someone shattered a window with a rock and stole more liquor. On New Year's Eve, robbers got in through the back door and stole 12 more bottles of top-shelf liquor after the business closed.

Similar thefts occurred on Jan. 15, Jan. 16, March 19 and April 8.

Last Friday, two men walked into the store through a backdoor and stole an ATM. They dragged a second ATM to the front door but left it there, Jumbert said.

Jumbert said he gave police security footage from every incident and has cooperated with investigators. He said one officer told him after Wednesday's robberies that they plan to increase patrols around the club.

Jumbert said he thinks the thieves in some of the cases got into the store by placing a small piece of cardboard between the lock on the backdoor of the club.

The thefts are part of 26 calls to police at the club since the beginning of the year. There were 33 total calls in 2015, including an armed carjacking and a stabbing.

Akron City Councilman Bruce Kilby, whose ward encompasses the strip club, said he plans to work with police and prosecutors to see if they should pursue a nuisance abatement and close the club.

Kilby said that legal action must first be approved by the entire council and said it could be difficult to convince a judge to grant the abatement.

"I am concerned but we've tried stuff like that in the past and it's difficult to be successful," Kilby said. "But it's something we can look into."

Jumbert defended his business. He said he's done everything he can to ensure his customers and employees are safe.

"If we are doing something wrong, we want to correct it," Jumbert said. "That's all we have. Are we a nuisance because call police? What should we do? Tell me and I'll do it."

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CLEVELAND, Ohio - It's too soon for a final evaluation of the nearly finished, $50 million, 15-month renovation of Public Square.

But a visit inside the perimeter construction fence earlier this week was deeply encouraging.

It looks like the square, which is on schedule and on budget for completion in June, in time for the Republican National Convention in July, is going to be knockout beautiful and unlike any other public space in the city.

The nonprofit city-county Group Plan Commission, the civic body that has overseen the project, isn't yet ready to announce precisely when the square will open to the public, or when a formal dedication will occur.

But Jeremy Paris, the commission's executive director, said on Wednesday that more information will be in the offing soon.

This much is known:

- The Cleveland Orchestra has scheduled a July 29 concert in the square.

- The Group Plan Commission has hired Sanaa Julien of Cleveland Metroparks as a loaned executive to manage public events and branding for the square.

- The commission has raised at least $3.8 million of the $6.8 million it hopes to have for programming and maintenance.

- LAND Studio, the nonprofit landscape and public art agency that managed the renovation, will launch a temporary outdoor installation, created by the group Cracking Art of Milan, Italy.

- The National Endowment for the Arts just awarded Cuyahoga Arts and Culture a $50,000 matching grant for arts programming in the square.

As of Wednesday, the square's new concrete benches and paved walks were finished. Workers from the contracting firm of Donley's were installing the paving blocks in the square's splash zone, which can be programmed as a placid reflecting pool or as a fountain with arcing jets of water.

Elsewhere, workers were finishing the square's outdoor cafe, a one-story pavilion designed by nArchitects of New York with the Cleveland firm of Westlake Reed Leskosky.

The freshly conserved bronze statues of city founder Moses Cleaveland and early 20th-century mayor Tom Johnson gleamed from their new respective locations at the south and north sides of the square.

Wiping away a dowdy past

As the square's future comes into focus, what's clear now is that the project should wipe from memory the previous state of the space as a collection of four crumbling traffic islands marooned amid the wide lanes of Superior Avenue and Ontario Street, the latter of which has been removed to create two large rectangular spaces divided across the middle by the now-narrower Superior Avenue.

The first impression created by the project is stunning.

Freshly planted dogwood and eastern redbud trees were in full bloom this week. All other trees, including gingkos, homestead elms, lindens, and "dura heat" birches, were planted and greening up.

The tower that might have been: In the early 1990s, plans by the New York architecture firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox for the Ameritrust Tower on the northwest side of Public Square were nixed after the bank merged with Society Bank. The nearly finished renovation of the square highlights the need for a new building on the site to complete the sense of enclosure on all four sides of what is now a vastly improved civic space.

The big event lawn on the north side of the square, which culminates in two hills at the northeast and northwest corners, was planted with a lush, swooping carpet of rich, green Kentucky bluegrass.

The views from the hilltops looking down onto the lawn are breathtaking, and they highlight just how radical an act it was to remove the two-block section of Ontario Street that used to cut north-south across the space.

The new Public Square symbolizes an age in which cities are reshaping urban spaces for people, not automobiles.

Unifying the square

The redesign, led by the nationally renowned landscape architecture firm of James Corner Field Operations, co-designer of the celebrated High Line Park in New York, looks as if it will accomplish much of what it set out to do for the historic, 6-acre civic space in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

The biggest impression is that the square, once dominated by traffic and carved into meaningless, unattractive quadrants, now feels like a single, unified space.

Whether it will continue to feel that way once buses start cruising east and west on Superior Avenue is open to question.

But it's clear that the northern and southern halves of the reconfigured square create a palpable sense of flow across the bisecting avenue.

One key to the unification is that the concrete pebble aggregate paving of the avenue and its flanking sidewalks and plazas match each other, reducing the interruption created by the avenue.

Perimeter walk

The same effect is achieved by the square's perimeter walk, which is shaped in plan like the wings of a butterfly, and which appears to flow across the avenue at the narrow waist of the design.

The walk, paved with granite blocks laid in a beautiful "running arc" pattern, resembles a mosaic made of overlapping fans.

As you walk the sinuous pathway, named for KeyBank Foundation, one of the principal private donors to the project, you're enveloped by spaces both intimate and grand.

At points, the pathway narrows and is embraced by beds that have yet to be planted with floral varieties such as fox tail lily, Siberian iris, coral reef bee balm, white wild indigo and prairie dropseed.

Even though the beds have yet to be planted, the feel of the walkway in its narrower sections is cozy and embracing. At other points, the perimeter walk opens up to create a sense of grandeur and spaciousness.

All along the way, the walk is framed by precast concrete benches designed by Corner's firm with sweeping, space-age curves that mark the square as very much a 21st-century design concept.

New vistas of architecture

Also terrific is that the square frames new perspectives on surrounding buildings, some of the tallest, most important and most beautiful in the city, including the Terminal Tower and Key Tower.

The unification of the square as an urban space accentuates the reality that the open space on the northwest side of the square, where the late developer Richard Jacobs had once hoped to build the Ameritrust skyscraper, looks like a terrible gash in the city fabric.

Of course, the creation of a spectacular new outdoor space in the heart of downtown should raise property values and encourage additional development, perhaps even something that would fill the ugly gap created by the old Ameritrust site, now a surface parking lot.

At the very least, the completion of the square raises a question over whether the Starbucks in the Key Tower lobby should move from its dark inside corner south to the side of the building facing the square, where outdoor seating could spill onto the sidewalk.

Other buildings around the square may wish to consider similar moves.

Of the $50 million spent on the square's makeover, $37 million came from public sources, private foundations and corporations for design and construction of the surface landscape, and $13 million came from public and private sources for underground utility work.

If managed well by the city-county Group Plan Commission, and if programmed with events year-round and patrolled to keep it safe, the square has a chance to become a true central park for the city and a key connection between and among the downtown districts around it.

That's something that could create a deeply positive impression as Cleveland gets ready to host the Republican convention.

More important, the new square has the potential to improve life in the city for all residents, downtown workers and visitors for decades to come.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- The family of a Garfield Heights woman found dead inside a Beachwood Jail is looking for answers as to how she died.

Emma Pearson, 51, of Garfield Heights was found unresponsive in her cell Tuesday night.

Pearson was undergoing treatment for diabetes, heart failure and substance abuse, and her family is waiting for jail officials to answer questions about whether she was receiving her medications, Emma's brother Gerald Pearson told cleveland.com.

"We still can't wrap our minds around it," Gerald Pearson said Thursday. "We need to find out what's going on."

Officers found her about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. She was taken to University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center where she was pronounced dead.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy to determine her cause of death.

Beachwood Police Chief Keith Winebrenner would not say when officers last saw Emma Pearson alive or answer any questions about her death. He said the investigation is ongoing Thursday in an email to cleveland.com.

Winebrenner also did not respond to questions about how often jail staff checks on inmates, and procedures for giving prescription medications to inmates.

Gerald Pearson said Beachwood police had not answered the family's questions either.

The family last talked to Emma Pearson Monday when she asked someone to bring her medications to the jail, Gerald Pearson said.

Beachwood police arrested Emma Pearson and Kimberly L. Leius , 54, of Chagrin Falls about 7 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of Giant Eagle in the 24000 block of Chagrin Boulevard. The two women were in the same car with a heroin kit and a crack pipe, according to a police report.

Emma Pearson was arrested on a warrant out of Shaker Heights Municipal Court, Winebrenner said. Court records did not show a case pending Thursday.

According to the police report, the driver of the car had an active warrant out of South Euclid and also was charged with drug paraphernalia possession and receiving stolen property. The passenger had a warrant out of Beachwood for theft, the report states.

The report did not indicate who was the driver and who was the passenger.

Emma Pearson had 15 theft-related and four drug convictions dating back to 1989, court records show.

But her family said she was seeing a doctor three times a week for her heart condition, and was undergoing drug treatment.

"She decided to get treatment to help get herself together and turn things around to prolong her life and make her life better," Gerald Pearson said. "She cared about living."

Emma Pearson leaves behind two adult children, her mother and four siblings.

"We had been hoping and praying for her to turn her life around, and when she decided to do that, we were so happy for her," Gerald Pearson said. "She was just starting to try and get herself together and make that change and this happens."

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Operating a vehicle under the influence, North Rocky River Drive: A North Ridgeville man was arrested May 8 after he hit another vehicle with his Jeep Grand Cherokee and passed out behind the steering wheel. No one was hurt.

The accident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. The man, heading southbound in the northbound lane of North Rocky River, ran a red light at Sheldon Road. His Jeep coasted slowly toward a car stopped on the other side of the intersection, in the northbound lane.

The other driver honked her horn frantically. She saw the man raise his head from the Jeeps' steering wheel. The Jeep rolled into the car, but neither vehicle was damaged.

A witness, seeing the man passed out in the Jeep, reached into the vehicle and removed the keys from the ignition. When police questioned the man, he babbled nonsense, including, "I just want to make sure, uh, that this sticks to point."

The man finally told police he was addicted to opiates. They took him to Southwest General Health Center.

Operating a vehicle under the influence, Tressel Street: A Bedford Heights man, 19, was arrested at about 1 a.m. May 6.

The man was driving a Mazda3 with its high beams activated eastbound on West Bagley Road. A police officer flashed his lights at the Mazda several times but the man didn't dim his headlights. The car also weaved out of its lane.

After stopping the man on Tressel, the officer smelled marijuana in his car. The officer found a container with marijuana, rolling papers, lighter and a roach clip holding a marijuana cigarette in the vehicle.

Criminal mischief, Front Street: The owner of Pick Wick Food Mart, 450 Front, called police at about 1 a.m. May 7 after he saw a male push the store's garbage can into the middle of Third Avenue. The male then ran eastbound on Third.

Animal bite, Third Avenue: A Berea man, 42, said a dog from an apartment across the hallway bit him in the leg at about 3 p.m. May 6.

The man said he arrived home from work and noticed the door to a neighboring apartment cracked open. As the man opened his own apartment door, a dog pushed open the neighboring apartment door and bit the back of his thigh.

The man kicked the dog's face, and the dog ran back into its own apartment. But the dog then turned around, and was preparing to attack again, when the man closed the neighboring door.

The bite left a scratch but not a deep wound, and the man didn't want to file charges. He said the dog had bitten other people in the past but no one reported it.

Vandalism, North Rocky River Drive: Someone flooded the first floor of the Berea Eagles Club, 612 North Rocky River, between 12:30 a.m. May 8 and 10 a.m. May 9.

Club members found that someone had unhooked a hose from a faucet and turned on the water, leaving water on the floor about 1-inch deep.

There were no signs of forced entry. A club worker had lost her keys to the building several weeks earlier.

Marijuana possession-curfew violation, Barrett Road: Two Berea boys, both 16, face drug charges after police caught them with marijuana.

An officer patrolling the rear lot of Tower in the Park Apartments saw a parked Jeep sport-utility vehicle. The engine was running but the Jeep's headlights were off.

The two Berea boys inside the Jeep told the officer they were waiting for a friend to exit the apartment building. The officer smelled marijuana, and noticed the boys' eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

After initially denying they had marijuana, the boys handed over a plastic bag containing marijuana to the officer.

Marijuana possession, Front Street: A Berea man, 28, was arrested at about midnight May 8 after police found marijuana in his Honda Pilot. Police had stopped the Pilot because its rear license plate was not illuminated.

Marijuana possession-curfew violation, West Bagley Road: An Olmsted Township boy, 17, was arrested at about 2 a.m. May 9.

A Ford Escape the boy was driving drifted in and out of its lane. Officers found marijuana and a smoking pipe in the car.

Heroin overdose, Waverly Street: A Berea man, 23, was taken to Southwest General Health Center after he overdosed on heroin in his home. The man's mother said she heard him fall in his bedroom. When she checked on him, he was unconscious on the floor.

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BENTLEYVILLE, Ohio -- Speeding, driving under suspension, Solon Road: A Miami Beach woman, 32, was stopped May 9 going 50 mph in a 35-mph zone and found to be driving on a license suspension issued in Florida. The car was turned over to a valid driver.

Driving under suspension, Solon Road: A Chagrin Falls woman, 52, was stopped May 11 for driving on a suspended license for failure to comply with the Ohio Financial Responsibility Act.

Driving under suspension, Liberty Road: A Richmond Heights man, 47, was stopped by way of random selection on May 6 and found to have suspended driving privileges, for which he was cited and released.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Two East Cleveland brothers face murder and other charges in the death of a 32-year-old woman killed during a robbery in East Cleveland last month.

Melvin Deramus, 23, and Lawrence Deramus, 18 are charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and felonious assault.

Chavon Smith was shot during an April 30 robbery while visiting her brother's house on Euclid Avenue near Eddy Road, according to police and court records.

Several men attempted to rob Smith about 5:30 p.m., forcing their way into the house with Smith and her Brother. A struggle culminated when one of the robber's guns went off, striking Smith, police said.

She died the next day at University Hospital.

The Deramus brothers are scheduled for arraignment Monday morning on 11 felony counts.
vector logo 2

(Courtesy of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- "Louder Than Words: Rock, Power and Politics,'' the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's exhibit timed to take advantage of this election season and in particular the Republican National Convention's return to Cleveland, opens Friday, May 20.

Twisted Sister's Dee Snider, who appeared before the U.S. Senate in 1985 after former Vice President Al Gore's wife, Tipper, and her Parents Resource Music Center began a push for a voluntary ratings system, will help open the exhibit. Snider was involved because of the band's hit, "We're Not Gonna Take It.''

The exhibit apparently will be a strong representation of the Rock Hall's push to go beyond mere static displays. It features exclusive video interviews with Bono, David Byrne, Snider, Tom Morello, Lars Ulrich, Gloria Estefan, Gregg Allman and even former President Jimmy Carter.

According to a release from the Rock Hall, the exhibit will use interviews and interactive tools, photography and artifacts that focus on eight primary topics: civil rights, LGBT issues, feminism, war and peace, censorship, political campaigns, political causes and international politics.

Among the items that will be on view are Neil Young's handwritten lyrics for "Ohio,'' spawned by the May 4, 1970, student shootings at Kent State University.

More than 50 artists and political figures play a role in the exhibit, which will run through Nov. 27, and then will head to the Newseum in Washington, D.C., to open on Jan. 13, 2017, just in time for the presidential inauguration.
University Hospitals reports 10.6 percent increase in operating income in 2015

University Hospitals Chief Executive Thomas Zenty III said the health system is focused on improving the convenience of care for patients across the region. Last year, UH recorded a 10.6 percent increase in operating income after adding three new hospitals. 1420 East 31st Street Cleveland Ohio 44114 216.566.7950 www.keithberr.com All Rights Reserved

(Keith Berr)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- University Hospitals' operating income increased 10.6 percent last year following the addition of three new medical centers that boosted its patient volume to more than 1 million, according to a new report by the hospital network.

The numbers in UH's annual report show how the health system has benefited from the rapid consolidation of the region's health care market, expanding its network with hospitals in Portage and Ashland counties, as well as in Westlake at St. John Medical Center.

In 2015, UH's operating income jumped to $93.6 million on $3.29 billion in revenue, the report shows. The hospital system also recorded increases in traffic at emergency departments and urgent care centers, as well as an uptick in physician visits.

UH released the report in advance of its 150th anniversary celebration this week, which will mark its growth from a single wood-frame building in Cleveland to a regional health system with 18 hospitals and more than 40 health centers.

"We believe health care ought to be practiced as close to home as possible," University Hospitals chief executive Thomas Zenty III said in an interview with The Plain Dealer. He added that the expansion has made UH a more convenient option for patients and increased the health system's market share.

The impact of hospital consolidation on the prices paid for health care services in the region is unclear. Generally, such consolidation has increased prices in markets across the country. But the Cleveland area, in particular, still has robust competition between UH, Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth, among others.

University Hospitals has focused on making its care more convenient for patients by opening more hospitals and outpatient centers. Late last year, it began operating Cleveland's second Level 1 adult trauma center at UH Case Medical Center in University Circle.

It has also expanded telehealth services to allow more patients to get care in their homes. Zenty said that effort will only accelerate in coming months and years. Telehealth refers to the use of telephone and Internet-based technologies to provide real-time medical services to patients in their homes or other remote locations.

"The whole concept of virtual health is critically important for us," he said. "We're moving into that platform in a very ambitious way. We really believe the wave of the future is here today."

Last year, UH launched a partnership with ZocDoc, an online appointment booking system that operates in cities nationwide. Zenty said the company has 300 doctors on ZocDoc, and has made over 5,000 appointments through the new system.

UH and other providers are trying to find ways to compete at a time when the underlying business of health care is in a period of rapid change. For example, with many patients facing higher deductibles and out-of-pocket costs, hospital executives are required to be more transparent about how much medical services cost.

Zenty dubbed it the "rise of consumerism" in health care, a vast change from an environment in which patients rarely shopped around for the best deal when it came to accessing medical services. Today, he said, patients not only are shopping more, they are seeking out more convenient ways to get care.

"Everything we're doing is focused on patient convenience and patient access," Zenty said. "If that means an in-person visit, we're there for people. If it means a virtual visit, we're there for people."

In 2015, visits to UH's emergency departments rose to more than 458,000, an increase of about 2.9 percent from the prior year. Zenty said the uptick is a reminder of the need to ensure people are getting better access to primary and preventive care services before they end up in the emergency room.

The health system has begun employing patient navigators to ensure that people who are coming to the emergency department have a relationship with a primary care physician.

UH has also sought to expand membership in its accountable care organizations, which are groups of doctors and other providers who work together to coordinate the delivery of health services, hopefully at a lower cost.

At the end of 2015, UH had more than 300,000 people participating in its accountable care organizations, including its own employees. Membership allows patients to get financial incentives for healthy behaviors, such as participating in fitness programs and getting annual physicals.

At UH, he said, the accountable care organization has slowed the growth of employee health cost to less than 1 percent annually for each of the past five years.

But Zenty noted that UH, like other hospital systems, is still facing broader financial pressures due to overhead costs that are rising much faster and more substantially than government reimbursements for health services.

For example, he said, Medicare will probably provide a .9 percent increase in payment next year. Meanwhile, costs for pharmaceuticals are expected to increase by 10 to 12 percent, wages by 3 percent, and technology and equipment by 5 to 7 percent.

"It's forcing us to be more efficient than we've ever been before," Zenty said, adding that the system has reduced expenses by about $300 million between 2011 and 2014. "We need to make certain we are providing the best care for the best value."
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke at the Cleveland school board.JPG

Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke addresses the Cleveland school board about his opposition to the fact-finder's proposal earlier this week.

(Patrick O'Donnell/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland teachers have rejected a contract proposal recommended by a neutral fact-finder and have voted to authorize union leaders to call a strike in the fall if negotiations fail.

The Cleveland Teachers Union's three year contract with the district expires at the end of June and the two sides have been trying to seek a new deal for several months. After the district pulled out of negotiations in February, the dispute went to a fact-finder, who issued her recommendations last Friday.

The school board rejected the three-year proposal Tuesday while teachers voted all week. The union announced this afternoon that 96.8 percent of teachers that voted opposed the proposal.

The no votes amounted to 87 percent of the more than 4,000 union members, including those that did not vote. That total matters since fact-finders' proposals need to be turned down by at least 60 percent of members, regardless of whether they vote, or else the findings automatically take effect.

The union and district will return to negotiations. Each side said the fact-finder helped resolve some issues that make reaching an agreement more likely. The two sides disagree about pay increases, teacher evaluations, use of the district's unique "differentiated compensation" system, and bonuses for working in the district's most struggling schools.

"With this vote, the members of the Cleveland Teachers Union have shown the district that they want more talks that will lead to fair evaluations for all, a living wage for paraprofessionals, elective classes, libraries, and less testing for students among other things," said union President David Quolke.

Of the teachers that voted, 97.3 percent also agreed to let union leaders issue a 10-day strike notice to the district and call a strike in the fall if negotiations do not lead to a contract.

"A strike is an option only if the district refuses to provide a better way forward," Quolke said. " Our members and the kids of Cleveland deserve the best learning conditions possible. This vote shows that members are ready to do what it takes to make that a reality."

Here's the fact-finder's report:
Tanisha Perry Michael Stewart

Tanisha Perry and Michael Stewart are each wanted on attempted murder charges after police said Perry lured her ex-boyfriend to her apartment, where Stewart beat the man unconscious with a nightstick.

(Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A man and woman are wanted on attempted murder charges after luring the woman's ex-boyfriend to her Cleveland apartment where the man beat him unconscious with a nightstick, according to court records.

Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority police obtained arrest warrants Thursday charging Michael Stewart and Tanisha Perry in the April 23 attack at her apartment in a complex near East 55th Street and Quincy Avenue.

The relationship between Stewart, 34, and Perry, 30, is unclear, but court records show Perry was a victim in a 2015 domestic violence case against 22-year-old Shaquille Palmer.

Perry lured Palmer inside her apartment, according to court records. Stewart came in through another door with a nightstick, and "brutally assaulted" Palmer, police said.

Palmer tried to escape, but Perry grabbed him by the hair and pulled him back into the apartment, police said.

Stewart continued to pummel Palmer, and told him "you will die," according to court records.

Palmer eventually lost consciousness from the beating, police said.

Palmer has been wanted since February when police said he violated his probation on a domestic violence conviction against Perry.

Palmer and Perry lived together in March 2015 in the same East 55th Street apartment as the April 23 attack, according to court records. Palmer accused Perry of cheating on him, and they got into an argument that quickly escalated, according to court records.

Palmer followed Perry to a neighbor's apartment, where he attacked her, police said. He grabbed her throat, threw her to the floor and choked her, according to police.

Palmer was charged with abduction, kidnapping and domestic violence, but eventually pleaded guilty to domestic violence.

If you would like to comment on this story, please go to our crime and courts comments section.
scottshawdredge.jpeg

A U.S. Senate bill passed Thursday would prevent the Army Corps of Engineers from dumping polluted sediment dredged from Cleveland Harbor directly into Lake Erie.

(Scott Shaw/Plain Dealer file photo)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed an energy and water appropriations bill that included a provision inserted by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman that prevents the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from dumping polluted dredged sediment directly into Lake Erie.

Over the past year, the Army Corps has been engaged in a federal lawsuit against the Ohio EPA and the Port of Cleveland seeking permission for open-lake dumping. The agency contends the sediment is clean enough to dispose directly into the lake.

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Nugent blocked the Army Corps' request last year, and ordered the agency to dump the dredged sediment into a confined containment dike as it has for the past 40 years.

"It's essential to the Port of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio businesses that the navigation channel of the Cuyahoga River is maintained," Brown said in a news release. "While dredging is critical for the region's economy, it shouldn't compromise efforts to improve water quality and restore the health of the lake."

Portman said: "The Cleveland Harbor project is vital to all of Ohio and we must ensure that the dredged material is not inappropriately disposed of by dumping it in Lake Erie without approval by the Ohio EPA. I will continue use every tool available to make sure both the City of Cleveland's water supply and Lake Erie's ecosystem is protected."

Brown's and Portman's language in the bill ensures that open-lake dumping can occur only if strict environmental standards set by the Ohio EPA are met.

Earlier this year, the Ohio EPA declined to grant the Army Corps a permit for open-lake dumping, citing tests that found the sediment in the shipping channel too polluted with PCBs to dispose of in the lake.

Meanwhile, Portman is a heading a Senate subcommittee that is investigating allegations that the Army Corps deliberately cut more than $3 million budgeted for dredging Cleveland harbor from its 2016 federal appropriation. Afterward, the Corps claimed it didn't have enough money to dispose of the sediment in containment dikes.

Port of Cleveland President and CEO Will Friedman told Portman that the Cleveland Harbor dredging project was the only example where the Army Corps asked Congress for a cut in funding in the lower 48 states last year.
City to pay $5,000 to man jailed after protest

Cleveland is taking a slow approach to sorting out requests to march and demonstrate on city property during the Republican National Convention July 18-21. Philadelphia, which is hosting the Democratic National Convention a week later, has approved one request to demonstrate. City officials there said the requested route of the march was a reasonable distance from the convention site. In this May 23, 2015, photo, police and demonstrators face off downtown. (Joshua Gunter/cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland didn't release - or even confirm that the city has received -- any new permit applications this week from groups and individuals seeking to use city streets and parks during the Republican National Convention July 18-21.

Yet, a spokesman for the "Coalition to Stop Trump and March on the RNC" said in an email to cleveland.com reporter Andrew Tobias that the group recently filed an application with Cleveland City Hall to demonstrate.

City spokesman Dan Williams offered no explanation for the city not releasing the latest round of applications. He said he would check again with the city's Law Department, which handles the release of the records.

Each week, cleveland.com and other media outlets have been requesting copies of any new applications. Ohio law requires that the city make the applications available to the public.

So far, the city has made public applications from a half-dozen groups that filed in March and April. You can read about them here and here.

But city officials have said they can't evaluate any of the requests until the U.S. Secret Service identifies the security perimeter around the Quicken Loans Arena, the site of the convention. City officials said they don't expect to have the information until two to three weeks before the convention.

By comparison, the city of Philadelphia, which is hosting the Democratic National Convention one week after the GOP holds its convention in Cleveland, has given the green light to Food and Water Watch, an advocacy group that plans to demonstrate during the political event. The name of the demonstration is "March for a Clean Energy Revolution."

The U.S. Secret Service also hasn't identified the security permit in Philadelphia. But Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, told me in an email that the city signed off on Food and Water Watch's request to march from City Hall to Independence Park because the route is likely well outside any security perimeter that would be set around the Wells Fargo Center, the site of the Democratic event. Hitt says the city has received nine applications for demonstrations on city property. Separately, The U.S. Park Service also has approved a demonstration on its property downtown.

In Cleveland, at least one group has requested to use Voinovich Park at North Coast Harbor, which is one mile from the Quicken Loans Arena. Numerous other groups have requested to march in the streets downtown and use outlying parks. The city has not offered any alternative routes or parks to groups requesting space that might be within in a security perimeter.

Several groups, including Organize Ohio, a Cleveland-based grassroots organizing group, have threatened to sue if the city continues to delay evaluating applications or sorting out the requests for the same space.
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Singapore's government cannot create a Smart Nation alone, the head of the country's innovation agency told CNBC - it needed individuals, businesses and investors to throw themselves into the project. Singapore's Smart Nation initiative, introduced in November 2014, aims to use technology to improve quality of life for its residents. Steve Leonard, executive deputy chairman of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), which oversees the Smart Nation program, told CNBC that Singapore needed to find new ways of using technology to deal with an aging population and increasing urban density, because of their outsize impact on health care, transportation and resources. "Smart Nation is the framework that brings together scientists, engineers, artists, investors, academics, entrepreneurs and many others to tackle the big challenges we  and every country  face in improving the lives of people of all ages," he said. Singapore has already made big strides toward creating an environment in which innovation could flourish. Dell released a study in April that identified 50 global cities that used technology to provide tools for their people and business sectors to access in order to deliver improved performances. The Dell study evaluated these "future-ready economies" on three criteria: having the right people with the right skill sets, having infrastructure that can support new technologies and providing opportunities for businesses to innovate and grow. Singapore ranked third in the list of 50, behind the Californian cities of San Jose and San Francisco, but above the likes of London, Sydney and New York.

Creating a smart city-state

Amit Midha, president of Asia Pacific and Japan at Dell, told CNBC Singapore's number-three position was "a very proud moment." He said that as it moved to a more digital-based economy, the city-state was ensuring it had the necessary skilled labor, technological infrastructure and commerce needed to become a future-ready city.

But Leonard said that for a country to successfully use technology to chart its future, the private sector's continued enthusiastic participation was vital. "Government cannot - and does not intend to - attempt to solve all these [problems facing Singapore] alone," he said. While government could ensure there are laws and regulations in place to support innovation, "we need engaged industry, investors and individuals to use these ingredients to drive positive change," he added. Leonard added that Singapore also wanted to ultimately "play an important role in creating some technologies for the future, not just purchase what was created somewhere else."

From smoking sensors to ultra-fast broadband

Singapore has already ensured that 95 percent of homes and businesses have access to the ultra-fast Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network, widespread access to Wi-Fi in public places and nationwide access to mobile payment systems.

Meanwhile, so-called Aggregation Gateway (AG) boxes are part of the more futuristic tech infrastructure that is being put in place as part of the Smart Nation project. The AG boxes - which are currently being built by the government in collaboration with the private sector and don't yet have a formal launch date - will provide connectivity to various sensors the country plans to deploy to measure everything from temperature and humidity to detecting people smoking in prohibited areas, as well as providing a single infrastructure to be used by multiple government agencies. For example, at present if an agency such as the Land Transport Authority (LTA) needs to install cameras on a stretch of road, it must dig into the ground to access power cables. The whole process takes time, costs money and delays traffic. Once the AG boxes are in place, the LTA could connect to a power source and mount the cameras in a single step. Another Smart Nation development is the virtual, 3D model of Singapore being built by the National Research Foundation, the Singapore Land Authority and IDA; it is expected to be ready by 2017 and will be used as a test-bed for city planning and service-provision by government agencies. Meanwhile, the technology giant IBM has said it was working with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's Institute for Infocomm Research to create tools for big data and analytics, cyber security and urban mobility for the Smart Nation initiative.

The search for talent

Having people who possess the right skills to use technology was also of vital importance, the experts said. It's no accident that some cities do better than others in helping companies become successful, said Dell's Midha. "You see most of the unicorns and extremely successful companies are within a 200-mile radius of a great university." A unicorn usually refers to a start-up that is valued at $1 billion or more. Stanford Unveristy, for example, was considered a feeder school for Silicon Valley's tech industry due to Stanford's record of creating entrepreneurial graduates, he noted. In Singapore, universities were key to developing people and technological knowledge, according to Dr. Lily Chan, CEO at NUS Enterprise. She said National University of Singapore (NUS) had many programs designed to support entrepreneurship and research into future-proofing projects. "NUS has seen more than 300 industry collaborations and partnerships, spun off more than 60 companies from the university's research and commercialized more than 350 technologies," said Chan, adding these spin-offs raised more than 200 million Singapore dollars ($145.65 million) in equity funding in 2015.

Huge potential for digital economies
Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a labor day campaign rally on May 1, 2016 in Manila, Philippines. Dondi Tawatao | Getty Images

The police force in Manila is so underfunded that officers say they have to buy their own bullets and it is not uncommon for funeral service cars to give cops a lift along to murder scenes because they have no vehicles of their own. Enter Rodrigo Duterte, who won this week's presidential election in the Philippines on a single-issue campaign of crushing crime, corruption and drug abuse. He has pledged to raise policing standards to the level of Davao, the once-lawless city in southern Mindanao, where he has been mayor for 22 years and the only one in the country that runs its own 911 emergency call service. Duterte's message, unpolished and peppered with profanities, tapped into popular alarm over a drug-fuelled jump in crime. In 2012 the United Nations said the Philippines had the highest rate of methamphetamine, or "shabu", use in East Asia. The U.S. State Department said 2.1 percent of Flipinos aged 16 to 64 were using shabu, the main drug threat in the Philippines along with marijuana. Reported crimes in the Philippines more than doubled from 319,441 cases in 2010, when President Benigno Aquino took office, to 675,816 last year, according to national police data. Roughly half of those were serious crimes, and rape cases jumped 120 percent over this period.



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Police officials say the figures overstate the problem because reporting of crimes has risen with the introduction of closed-circuit TV cameras in many urban areas and SMS messaging for filing complaints.

Still, Duterte says he intends to be a 'dictator' against forces of evil. He told Reuters on the campaign trail that five criminals should be killed a week and promised if he became president the fish in Manila Bay would grow fat on the bodies of all the "pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings" dumped there. Rights group say death squads have operated with impunity in Davao, killing some 1,500 people since 1998. "Duterte Harry", as he is known, denies ordering extrajudicial killings, but he doesn't condemn them. Stretched police force If the police station Reuters visited this week in the capital, Manila, is any measure, then Duterte has much to fix.

Captain Rommel Anicete, chief of the Manila police district's homicide division, told Reuters he and his men have been buying their own bullets since the 1990s.

They split the cost of getting two air-conditioners serviced and, while they do share a couple of ageing computers, they are always short of paper for their printer and have no photocopier. There aren't enough police cars to go around and Anicete, said one colleague, who uses a motorbike to do his policing duties, paying for fuel and repairs out of his own pocket. The Philippines had one police officer for every 651 people in 2012, according to official data. Its force is far more stretched across an archipelago than neighboring Thailand with a 1:302 ratio and Malaysia with 1:267 in the same year.



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The government budgeted 88.1 billion pesos ($1.89 billion) for the police this year, up around 13 percent from 2015. A senior police official said it was still too little for the force of about 160,000 officers.

"We lack patrol cars and secure radios," said the official, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "We want to issue a gun for every police officer but those recruited after 2012 will have to wait a bit." Like other police officers questioned for this story, he declined to say who he had voted for, but added: "Of course we like what we have heard so far from him." "Criminals will be afraid" Duterte has promised to double police pay, which for some officers is as low as 18,000 Pesos ($390) a month. Asked on Wednesday how the government will fund this, Duterte spokesman Peter Lavina said: "We will find a way."
Sharp , one of Japan's oldest consumer brands, "needs a miracle" to recover from its current struggles, global investment banking firm Jefferies said on Friday.



Operating losses more than tripled to $1.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended in March, the Osaka-based firm reported on Thursday, blaming sliding demand for its liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, with sales of LCD televisions slumping an annual 23 percent during the year.

Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision or Foxconn , which paid $3.5 billion for a 66 percent stake in Sharp earlier this month, said job losses were on the cards in order to bolster efficiency and turn around the ailing firm. Sharp shares rallied 6 percent in early Friday trade following the news, while Foxconn shares rose more than 2 percent.

But Atul Goyal, senior analyst at Jefferies, said investors shouldn't get too carried away.

"I'm not too optimistic about Sharp. It's not just about their LCD panels, the problem is they have a lot of other consumer electronics businesses where Sharp is seeing 20-30 percent declines," he told CNBC.

Indeed, every main consumer product excluding camera models, recorded annual sales declines during the past fiscal year, with mobile phones down 24 percent, reflecting the saturated state of the global smartphone market.
As brick-and-mortar retailers flounder amid weak earnings, the "Fast Money" traders found some hidden value in the sector.

Department stores suffered in a rocky week of revenue reports, with a fund that tracks the industry falling almost 5 percent for the week. Nordstrom , Kohl's and Macy's all saw shares slide.
As the number of reported data breaches continues to blitz U.S. companies  over 6 million records exposed already this year, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center  IT budgets are ballooning to combat what corporations see as their greatest threat: faceless, sophisticated hackers from an outside entity. But in reality, a bigger danger to many companies and to customers' sensitive data comes from seemingly benign faces inside the same companies that are trying to keep hackers out: a loan officer tasked with handling customers' e-mail, an attendant at a nursing home, a unit coordinator for the main operating room at a well-regarded city hospital.



Walter Hodges | Getty Images

According to Verizon 's 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, about 50 percent of all security incidents  any event that compromises the confidentiality, integrity or availability of an information asset  are caused by people inside an organization. And while 30 percent of all cases are due to worker negligence like delivering sensitive information to the wrong recipient or the insecure disposal of personal and medical data, roughly 20 percent are considered insider misuse events, where employees could be stealing and/or profiting from company-owned or protected information. Often, that translates to employees on the front lines stealing patient medical data or client social security numbers, which can then be sold on the black market or used to commit fraud like collecting someone else's social security benefits, opening new credit card accounts in another's name, or applying for health insurance by assuming the identity of someone else. "The Insider Misuse pattern shines a light on those in whom an organization has already placed trust," Verizon said in the report. "They are inside the perimeter defenses and given access to sensitive and valuable data, with the expectation that they will use it only for the intended purpose. Sadly, that's not always the way things work."



For the first time since 2011, Verizon found that it's not cashiers involved with most insider attacks, but many "insider" end users  essentially anyone at a company other than an executive, manager, finance worker, developer or system administrator  carrying out the majority of such acts. Most are motivated by greed. "Criminals have a different motivating factor," said Eva Velasquez, CEO and president of Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit charity that supports victims of identity theft. "There are a number of jobs that pay minimum wage where individuals have access to this type of information, and so the incentive may be 'this isn't a job that is paying me enough to support myself.'" Velasquez cites workers in an assisted living facility tasked with caring for patients, a job in close proximity to medical records that can be accessed by a few keyboard taps. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, such healthcare support occupations see mean annual wages hovering around $25,000, a salary that might make workers more vulnerable to stealing for self gain. Or, maybe worse, they fall prey to acting as a conduit for some type of organized crime ring looking to make big money by selling or manipulating stolen personal data.



There are a number of jobs that pay minimum wage where individuals have access to this type of information, and so the incentive may be 'this isn't a job that is paying me enough to support myself. Eva Velasquez CEO and president of Identity Theft Resource Center

According to the Verizon report, the public sector, health care and financial services  like credit card companies, banks, and mortgage and lending firms  were the industries hit hardest by insider incidents in 2015. In one recent cases a Baltimore man is facing federal charges of identity theft and bank fraud after he used personal information of at least three nursing home residents to open multiple credit card accounts without their permission. A former employee of Tufts Health Plan pleaded guilty to stealing names, birth dates and social security numbers that were eventually used to collect social security benefits and fraudulent income tax refunds. A former assistant clerk at Montefiore Medical Center in New York who was indicted in June 2015 for printing thousands of patients' records daily and selling them. The information in the records was eventually used to open department store credit cards at places like Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman; the alleged actions are estimated to have caused more than $50,000 in fraud, according to the New York County District Attorney's Office.

While the number of breaches and hacks by outsiders has skyrocketed since 2007 in tandem with the surging digitization of information, the occurrence of insider jobs can be a read on the overall economy. It tends to peak during recessions and drop off when times are good, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center. In 2009, the percentage of insider attacks hit a high of roughly 17 percent; after a three-year slide, the amount today (about 10 percent) is slowly creeping back up.

"When the economy isn't doing well, you'll see people that are feeling stressed and taking advantage of opportunities they might not take advantage of otherwise," said attorney James Goodnow from the Lamber Goodnow team at law firm Fennemore Craig. With the defining characteristic of an internal breach being privilege abuse  employees exploiting the access to data that they've been entrusted with  the best way to mitigate such attacks is to limit the amount of information allotted to workers.

"As business processes have started to rely more on information and IT, the temptation, the desire is to give people access to everything [because] we don't want to create any friction for users to do their jobs," said Robert Sadowski, director of marketing and technology solutions at security firm RSA.

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Terry Kurzynski, senior partner at security firm Halock Security Labs, said that smart entities perform enterprise-wide risk assessments to find where their systems are most vulnerable and to spot aberrations in user behavior. But sophisticated analytics does little to assuage situations where employees are using low-tech methods to capture information. "Most systems will not handle the single bank employee just writing down on paper all the bank numbers they see that day  that's difficult to track," said Guy Peer, a co-founder of security firm Dyadic Security. Clay Calvert, director of cybersecurity at IT firm MetroStar Systems, said communication with employees in a position to turn rogue is key. "That's a big deterrent in identity theft cases; if an employee feels like the company cares for them, they're less likely to take advantage of the situation."

Hackers hiding in plain sight
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Big spenders paying record-breaking prices are offsetting lighter volume for upscale-art auction houses, experts from Sotheby's and Christie's told CNBC Friday. "I think the market has found its feet," Christie's auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "I think we're in a situation where the market was very hot last year. It was slightly [inflated] in some areas. Having said that, we've seen world records this week."

Amy Cappellazzo of Sotheby's also said the art market had hit a floor, and that she was looking forward to a "robust" June season. Indeed, at a recent Wednesday evening sale, Sotheby's saw the highest number of bidders from Asia since 2004, Cappellazzo said.

"While there's an appearance the market may have thinned, we see those who are players coming on very strong, and that's pan Asia," Cappellazzo said.

A Jean-Michel Basquiat portrait sold Tuesday for $57.3 million to a young Japanese businessman, setting a record for the artist.

"This is a prime example of a picture that really resonated with him and he's really open about that," Pylkkanen said. "The reason he bought it was it meant something to him personally. That's when you get record prices  when people are not just engaged in the artwork, but they're seeing it as a reflection of themselves."
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Julia Chatterley and Carles Puigdemont, President of Catalonia



JC: You suggested that the lack of Government in Spain is a concern for Europe. How concerned are people and do you see it as eventually putting the economy at risk?

CP: The political situation in Spain is very surprising and generates worries not only in Spain but in Europe. And I believe that incapacity to govern the complexity and find smart solutions creates many worries and I don't see it as good news for the economy or for the politics in Europe.

JC: Do you think fresh elections at the national level will change anything because the polls look very similar and inconclusive?

CP: The reality, and that's my impression - is that all will remain the same. When it comes to Catalonia, things will be exactly the same and so as a consequence there will be a government that won't be able to make any proposal for a solution in Catalonia. I spoke to the different Spanish political leaders, and none of them gave me the impression that they wanted to move forward.

JC: We'll come back to the question of Catalonia which has clearly been a stumbling block in the coalition forming but do you think acting PM Mariano Rajoy should step down, should he let the PP's have a new leader, fresh perspectives?

CP: I am not going to speak about what the Popular Party should or shouldn't do because in reality, in this moment, Catalan politics already take decisions in a sovereign way, independently from what happens in the central government or Spanish parties. Undoubtedly, Mariano Rajoy has been a problem. But let's see what the voters will decide in Spain. And what role Mariano Rajoy will play if he has to continue or has to step aside in favour of a coalition. But I don't see political parties ready to make big sacrifices to move forward with the government.

JC: Do you think you have greater leverage at this moment because actually some kind of solution, whether it's greater autonomy, or eventually a promise of a future referendum is the only way a coalition will be formed in Spain today.

CP: I don't know because the only political party in Spain that proposes a referendum or a frame that could be useful for an agreement is Podemos. No other party even in a coalition goes beyond just announcing a simple constitutional reform. But when I ask what will the constitutional reform consist of? And with what majority will we produce it, no one can give me a clear answer. And in any case, any constitutional reform, which is what a coalition government could propose, requires the participation of every single political party in Spain. And I insist, I don't see any true wish to offer an agreement that would respect the wishes of the people of Catalonia.

JC: You say you are in a sovereign mindset. But in actual fact would you accept greater autonomy? Yes or No?

CP: The greatest autonomy that we are ready to accept is the right to decide. That would be greatest act of autonomy. And what the people of Catalonia would decide. If the Spanish state want Catalans to be consulted also on a proposal of more autonomy  or devomax  alongside an independence proposal we agree with that. But we want to be able to choose between the two options. And if the Catalan people chose more autonomy, of course we will respect that. But there would have to be this proposal on the table, and for the moment it doesn't exist. And I doubt very much that it will ever exist.

JC: So if you doubt very much it will ever happen, and we're on around a year in the timeline of your 18 months proposal to I guess some kind of a declaration of unilateral independence?

CP: No. we are not anticipating for a unilateral declaration of independence. This is not our plan. Our plan is what the Scottish government had with the UK. It's an agreement to consult over the independence of Catalonia. And we will NOT abandon this plan until the end. And we will always invite the Spanish government to seat at the table to negotiate to reach that agreement because it benefits everybody. A unilateral declaration of independence is NOT the best solution, obviously. We keep hoping that we will be able to reach a solution.

JC: Let's move and talk about the UK referendum. What do you think of the prospect of the UK leaving Europe?



CP: The British people have the right to decide have the right to decide whether or not they want to be part of the EU. And I shouldn't interfere in this. I express Catalonia's wish of being in the EU. We'll see what happens. But I notice a paradox: the EU makes huge efforts to avoid the UK leaving while it threatens Catalonia with kicking us out if we declare ourselves independent. To be honest, I am very worried about the possibility of the UK leaving the EU. But of course, like in the case of Catalonia, we have to respect the right to decide of the British people on a relationship that part of the Brits consider is not satisfying enough. We will see what happens. And one final remark: the brexit vote is just 3 days before the Spanish elections and we will see what impact it can have.

JC: There's greater damage done to Europe if the UK leaves. Or greater damage done to the UK by leaving?



CP: For Europe, it would be an important loss. I don't know enough the internal situation of the UK to know what exact impact it would have, but it would also be serious. But without a doubt for Europe it would be very bad news if the UK leaves. But I insist, even if the decision of the British people is to leave the union, it will be in everybody's interest to reach an agreement that in practice can put in action a better relationship for both and lose what the UK considers the bad aspects of the relationship. I hope in practice we will be able to find a balance whatever the decision is.





Note to Editors

Contact:

Sarah Whiteacre

CNBC

+44 (0) 20 3618 7121

Sarah.Whiteacre@cnbc.com

About CNBC

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It's no secret that raising the minimum wage is a policy that's widely popular with Democratic and Republican voters alike. Even a large majority of businesses support raising the minimum wage, contrary to what business lobbyists like the Chamber of Commerce peddle in the halls of Congress.

That's because Americans understand it's not right when people put in long hours at work, sometimes at two or more jobs, but still can barely afford to get by. The public also doesn't fall for the myth of job loss that's always prophesied by big business lobbyists but that never comes true when the minimum wage goes up.

Faced with the reality of popular opinion, real-world economics, and sheer human decency, what are GOP politicians opposed to raising the federal minimum wage to do? They trot out one of their "greatest hits" talking points, of coursethat this should be a matter for the states to decide. And look, they say, the states are taking care of it, pointing to successful campaigns in places like New York, California, and Oregon.
A June 2011 photograph of Chang Yung-fa, who founded the Evergreen Group, one of Taiwan's largest conglomerates. Chang's death in January 2016 ignited a fight between the three sons from his first marriage and the son from his second marriage. STR | AFP | Getty Images

Gunshots were heard in the offices of the Mayfull Food Corporation in Taipei, Taiwan. In a seventh-floor conference room, two men lay dead or dying, after being shot at close range in the head. Minutes later, as police arrived in investigate, the body of a third man fell onto the street from the building's rooftop, apparently after firing a shot into his own head. The bloody scene just this last November was the culmination of a bitter family dispute. Following the death of Mayfull's founder, Huang Jung-tu, his six surviving sons had disagreed over how to divide the business empire that included meat importing and hotels and was valued at around $3 billion. When an argument erupted in the boardroom, Huang Ming-te, the fourth son in the family, pulled out a gun, shooting two of his brothers dead before ultimately pulling the trigger on himself. Although violent incidents like the one at Mayfull are rare, disagreements and disputes within family business are common and can cause serious or even terminal damage to the firm.

Pillars of the community?

Across Asia, from Korea to Indonesia, firms owned and managed by family members dominate the corporate landscape. They are pillars of Asian economies, driving growth, providing jobs and are often active players in corporate social responsibility. Yet too often family firms suffer from short life expectancies. In many cases they fall apart as power struggles and family conflicts erupt over inheritance and disagreements over business management. When Chang Yung-fa, the founder of Evergreen Group, one of Taiwan's biggest family-owned conglomerates, died in January a dispute between his sons from his first wife and another, younger son from his second wife quickly erupted over control of the multi-billion dollar business. Even though Chang had left a will and designated his younger son to take up the position of president of the Evergreen Group, which includes multiple public and private firms; his older children did not agree and began law suits to challenge the will.

Cases like Mayfull, Evergreen and a myriad of other examples of family businesses in dispute share some important characteristics. Chung Chi-Nien Assistant Professor, NUS

Disputes are almost always centered on ownership and control of the family firm, often due to traditional equal inheritance patterns practiced in Chinese culture. While this gives a fair share to each descendant, it also dilutes firm ownership over generations, leading to fragmentation and instability.

Family firms also suffer from a lack of institutionalized mechanisms for conflict resolution. This can lead to family members resorting to external bodies such as the courts, shareholder votes and mass media, while refusing to talk directly with each other. In extreme cases, such as at Mayfull, this can have explosive and tragic consequences.

Ensuring a healthy business
Uncertainty about Greece paying its debts may move markets again this summer. But a top Greek official said Friday he is not worried about the cash-strapped nation's ability to meet its demands.

Greece will need additional aid to cover 3.5 billion euros ($3.96 billion) in debt payments due in July, according to the Financial Times. Greek Minister of State Nikos Pappas told CNBC he is "confident" Greece will reach an agreement at a May 24 meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

"We are very close to concluding the agreement with our partners," Pappas told CNBC's "Power Lunch."
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To all you department store critics who argue these "dinosaurs" are all the same, boring shops that give you no reason to get off the couch: J.C. Penney hears you loud and clear. On a call with analysts following its mixed first-quarter results, which sent the company's shares lower, CEO Marvin Ellison outlined how the retailer is positioning itself to connect with a new era of shoppers, whom many argue are no longer interested in visiting department stores. That strategy includes lessening the company's dependence on weather-sensitive categories such as apparel, and beefing up its offerings in areas that can't easily be replicated online or duplicated by others in the space. Namely, Penney is expanding its Sephora shop-in-shops, accelerating its InStyle beauty salon rollout, and pushing forward with its tiptoe into appliances. Beauty products are a key initiative for driving store traffic because cosmetics can't be tested online, not to mention that it's impossible for a computer to give you a hair cut. Beauty items also require frequent replenishment. As for appliances, Ellison argues consumers don't care what the thermometer reads when it comes time to purchase a new stove or refrigerator, which will help protect the company from wild weather-related swings.

Customers browse the make-up area at a Sephora USA store inside a J.C. Penney store in Brooklyn, New York. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Penney's changes come as sales at department stores dropped off 3 percent during the first four months of 2016, as consumers choose to spend a greater share of their wallet on home improvement, beauty and experiences. Meanwhile, Sears  the longtime department store leader in appliances  continues to bleed sales. "We're listening. We're addressing those customer needs," Ellison told analysts. Last year, women's apparel accounted for 25 percent of J.C. Penney's sales, with men's apparel and accessories chipping in 22 percent, and children's apparel 10 percent. Home, a category that has been a particular focus for Penney's management, only accounted for 12 percent. Back in the mid-2000s, before the company's failed reinvention strategy, home accounted for more than 20 percent of Penney's business.
"Right from the start with 'Make America Great Again,'" the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's campaign slogan was on the mark, he said. "We love winning."

Trump has tapped into a "deep vein," the desire of the United States to win, said Sternlicht.

"Obama basically apologized for us" on the world stage, and Americans are "tired of apologizing," Sternlicht told CNBC's " Squawk Box ."

The rise of Donald Trump has been the product of the failed presidency of Barack Obama , global investor Barry Sternlicht said Friday.

The chairman and CEO of the $53 billion investment firm Starwood Capital Group said Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton are both capable leaders.

Sternlicht, who said he knows both candidates, said he could support either of them if they move to the center.

"[But] the standard deviation on both candidates is pretty high," said Sternlicht, acknowledging that Trump has been pushed way right and Clinton way left. Sternlicht said the general election will be won by the candidate who is able to capture middle-of-the- road voters.

Trump was able to be "all over the place" during the Republican primaries and caucuses, but he must now define himself, said Sternlicht, who describes himself as a fiscally conservative and socially liberal independent voter.

How Trump may evolve has been a major theme among GOP leaders who have been reticent of supporting him.

After Trump met on Thursday with House Speaker Paul Ryan, a joint statement read: "We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there's a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall."

Ryan, who said last week he was "not ready" to support Trump, said following the 45-minute meeting with the billionaire real estate mogul was "very warm and genuine." But Ryan did not endorse Trump.
Speculator bets on higher reached record highs in April, OPEC said in a report on Friday, but the oil cartel warned that fundamentally, oversupply still persisted in the market.



A worker walks at Nahr Bin Umar oil field, north of Basra, Iraq. Essam Al-Sudani | Reuters

Oil futures surged by more than 8 percent to above $40 per barrel in April, as market sentiment turned more upbeat amid signs that a persistent global supply glut may be easing, OPEC said.

It comes just a day after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said global oil markets were heading towards a long-awaited equilibrium. OPEC left its 2016 world oil demand growth forecast unchanged at 1.20 million barrels per day.

All eyes are on the next move by OPEC when it meets on June 2. So far, it has shown no signs of backing down from its decision in November 2014 to produce at full-tilt in a bid to defend its market share against non-OPEC rivals, particularly shale oil producers in the U.S. Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Saudi Aramco indicated on Tuesday that that its production will trend slightly higher this year. The country drew attention to itself last weekend when a cabinet reshuffle led to Saudi Oil Minister Ali-al-Naimi being replaced by Khalid al-Falih, the former president of Saudi Aramco. The new minister in charge of the Kingdom's oil policy signaled no dramatic change in policy from the Saudis.

"Strong gasoline consumption in the United States, declining production around the world and oilfield outages underpinned a return to investment in the sector," OPEC said in its monthly report on Friday.

"Not much has fundamentally changed as the oversupply remains and global oil inventories are at record highs. But investors hope strong demand, particularly for gasoline, ahead of the U.S. driving season and weaker non-OPEC production will help work down excess supply," it added.

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Oracle and Google are back in court debating a 6-year-old case tied to the Android operating system. The stakes extend well beyond the walls of the two Silicon Valley giants. Developers are paying close attention because the ruling may determine how they can continue to use tools they've always relied upon for free. Android, which powers over 80 percent of global smartphones, utilizes Oracle's Java programming language. Oracle's infringement lawsuit claims that certain ways Google uses Java are unauthorized, while Google argues that everything in its operating system falls within "fair use."

Oracle is suing for upwards of $9 billion, a number that Google calls "astronomical." But more important than the money, which at the high end amounts to more than half of Google parent Alphabet's 2015 net income, is the precedent. Oracle claims that Google "cherry-picked" 37 application program interfaces (APIs), in essence bastardizing Java and its ability to work properly across platforms. As one of the world's most popular programming languages, Java is the basis for applications written by millions of developers, who have never had to worry about how and when they use related APIs. Furthermore, APIs have become the way that websites and apps easily communicate, integrate and share data. They're fundamental to the modern-day web.

Thus, the trial isn't just about Oracle and Google, even though a Google loss could result in a substantial payment and some technical changes to Android. "What about everybody else who is going to be in the same situation when Java comes knocking on their door or anybody else who owns APIs?" said Christopher Carani, a partner at Chicago-based IP law firm McAndrews, Held & Malloy and a faculty member at Northwestern University School of Law. "Everybody has been going on with a gentlemen's agreement that they're not copyrightable so we can all borrow freely." The case has been kicking around the courts for a half decade, ultimately ending up in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, where the latest trial began this week. Android creator Andy Rubin, who left Google in 2014, took the stand for about four hours of cross-examination on Thursday.

Should the jury side with Google and determine that Android's reliance on Java amounted to nothing more than fair use, the internet company will be victorious pending further appeal. However, if it's decided that Google infringed, the case will move to the damages phase. Google's defense has been that Sun, before it was acquired by Oracle, was an enthusiastic supporter of Android and that both Sun and Android considered developing Java-based phones before abandoning their efforts. Also, the APIs in question make up a tiny portion of the overall Android code.
HMS Vengeance departs for Devonport prior to re-fit on Ferbruary 27, 2012 off the coast of Largs, Scotland.

Replacing Trident, the U.K.'s nuclear weapons system, will cost "at least" 205 billion ($295 billion), according to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).



In an announcement on Thursday, the CND said that the cost had doubled since 2014. The Trident system is in the Royal Navy's Vanguard Class submarines, which are set to be replaced by four new "Successor" class submarines.

"For too long the pro-Trident lobby has been in denial about the real cost to our economy of Trident replacement," Kate Hudson, general secretary of the CND, said in a statement.

"These new calculations, drawn from actual government figures, show that the bill has spiralled beyond all expectations," Hudson added.

The government describes the replacement plan as equal in scale to huge infrastructure projects such as railway scheme Crossrail, which is projected to cost 14.8 billion.
Russia is unlikely to part in an OPEC meeting in Vienna scheduled for June 2, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Friday.

He added that Russia, the world's top oil producer but not an OPEC member, was ready to meet separately with the oil-producing cartel if such an offer was made. Novak also said he certainly planned to meet Saudi Arabia's new Energy Minister Khaled al-Falih.
The global financial messaging network Swift is critically important to the world's financial system and the recent cyberattacks on the institution are "worthy of freaking out" about, former Treasury Department official Tony Fratto said Friday.

Swift warned Thursday of a second malware attack similar to the one that led to February's $81 million cyberheist from a Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

"You don't usually hear about $81 million bank heists," he said in an interview with CNBC's "Power Lunch."

"Those are big numbers any way you cut it and it would be a significant hole for lots of banks."
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India's central bank governor has said there is no chance of a "Lehman moment" in India. Speaking to CNBC, Raghuram Rajan, the governor of Reserve Bank of India said while there is no banking crisis in India, it is important that banks clean up bad assets. "There is absolutely no chance we will have a 'Lehman' moment," Rajan said, referring to the collapse of the U.S. bank that triggered a chain reaction which led to the 2008 financial crisis. "It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he added. He said the Indian economy is a recovering economy and while there are bad news, overall the country is getting stronger. "I think we are a recovering economy and when you talk about structural reforms, we have seen a playout in the past few days. For example we have a bankruptcy bill that was legislated last week and we also have a monetary policy committee that lays the framework that was also legislated last week. I think structural reforms are happening, are on their way and you see more green shoots." India has taken a crucial first step to speeding up its insolvency regime by passing the country's first national bankruptcy law. The breakthrough is expected to help India tackle its mounting bad debt problem after two of the country's largest lenders provided unprecedented guidance on non-performing loans last month.



The country's bad loans problems have been estimated to be much bigger than New Zealand's $170 billion economy. Earlier this week an analyst from India Ratings and Research, a credit ratings agency and a unit of Fitch Ratings told Reuters that about Rs 13 lakh crore ($195 billion) of bad loans are already stressed. In their first-ever report, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank revealed the depth of the problem. According to Axis Bank, 225 billion rupees of its loans is on a 'watch list.' The bank expects to put 60 percent of those to default in two years. ICICI Bank, one of India's top private lenders said about 525 billion rupees of its loans has been put on watch. These loans were made to sectors such as steel and power. The true extent of these bad loans was laid to rest after data from Axis Bank and ICICI hit the wires but the long-term impact of this continues to baffle both investors and analysts who compare the mounting loans problem to that of the U.S. subprime crisis. But Rajan thinks they are different. "Ours is not a retail problem. It is a wholesale problem. There are big projectsand it is not because of corrupted lending or corruption. It was because the world changed." He explained that these projects were set up with fairly high levels of leverage when things looked good, but then the economy slowed. "What we need to do is restructure the debt for some of these projects, put them back on track. It is not that there are acres of real estate that are unoccupiable. It's actually a power plant that can produce power and India is a growing economy that needs power. We just need to make sure the debt levels are appropriate."



RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan. Hindustan Times | Getty Images

Rajan has given the banks a deadline of March 2017 to fully disclose and provide for bad debt. However, investors are concerned that the central bank governor won't be around to see the end of this. With his tenure coming to an end in September this year, there is speculation if he will run for the second time. Rajan assumed office in September 2013 in the midst of a crisis for the Indian economy. An allegedly corrupt government, high levels of current account deficit and over dependence on external factors such as the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy had been plaguing the economy. Rajan told CNBC that extending the country's debt maturities, implementing sound policies and building up foreign exchange reserves were the best way to "firewall" the economy. "I think the real way we are trying to firewall the economy is, on the first hand, with good policies, including as I said, the moves on reforms that have been enacted recently." The second he said is by trying to increase the maturity of debt. "We have substantially increased the maturity of debt, external debt that we owe. The third is we built-up reserves." India was one of the countries to be grouped under the notorious "Fragile Five" along with Indonesia, Turkey, Russia and Brazil after the Fed's decision to roll back its bond-buying program hit emerging markets. However, analysts have pointed out that Rajan's economic reforms and optimism surrounding the election of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled India out of the weak emerging economies to one of the fastest growing today. "We have accomplished a lot. There is always more to do," Rajan said.
Uber hasn't officially responded to the news that Apple has invested $1 billion in its Chinese rival, but a jokey tweet by the U.S. taxi app's boss about his girlfriend shows he is at least ready to make light of the situation.

Travis Kalanick, the chief executive of Uber, explained that his girlfriend owns Apple shares, which makes her an investor in Didi Chuxing, Uber's rival in China, which Apple took a stake in on Friday. Kalanick used #smh, which stands for "shaking my head."

TWEET



The investment will most likely not be welcome news for Uber, which has been struggling in China. In February, the ride-hailing app said it's losing more than $1 billion a year in the world's second-largest economy. Didi claims to have an 87 percent market share and is backed by some of China's biggest internet giants including Alibaba and Tencent. The company is reportedly valued at $25 billion, below Uber's $62 billion valuation.

There are a number of reasons behind Apple's investment. In a press release, chief executive Tim Cook said it would give the Cupertino, CAbased technology giant the chance to gain local knowledge.
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Uber's chief rival in China is increasingly turning into a machine sponsored by some of the world's biggest and most powerful tech companies. Following investments from Chinese Internet giants Alibaba and Tencent as well as Japan's Softbank , ride-sharing service Didi Chuxing (formerly Did Kuaidi) announced Friday in China a $1 billion financing from Apple. Didi is reportedly being valued at $25 billion, which is less than half of Uber's valuation but several times the price tag that investors have ascribed to Lyft, the company's biggest U.S. competitor. Incidentally, Didi pumped $100 million into Lyft last year.

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick refuses to accept defeat in China. He said in February that the San Francisco-based company is losing over $1 billion a year there trying to grab market share. For what it's worth, Didi claims it controls 87 percent of the domestic market. "We are extremely impressed by the business they've built and their excellent leadership team," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a joint press release. "We look forward to supporting them as they grow."

Apple's rationale isn't totally clear, but with over $200 billion in cash and marketable securities, it doesn't so much matter. In the statement, Cook lauded Didi's position in China's innovative iOS developer community.

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Also, we know Apple is taking a multipronged approach to the connected car, so it makes sense to team up with a company in the world's most-populated country that's using technology to link riders and drivers 11 million times a day. And, of course, Apple's latest quarterly sales declineits first in 13 yearswas largely attributable to China.

While Didi is lining its coffers with cash from massive tech companies, Uber has its own Chinese allies. Baidu , the country's dominant search engine, participated in a $1.2 billion funding round in Uber China last year and also invested the prior year. Uber set up its China unit as a separate entity.
The dispute between Twitter and the U.S. intelligence industry that broke into public view this week actually began as long ago as last fall, sources familiar with the matter tell CNBC. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Twitter has cut off U.S. intelligence agencies from a service that sifts through the entire output of Twitter's social media postings. That comes as Silicon Valley and the U.S. government have been engaged in a heated dispute over the degree to which American tech companies should cooperate with U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, such as the FBI and CIA.

It has not been clear exactly which entity in the vast U.S. intelligence apparatus was involved in the dispute with Twitter, but sources tell CNBC that it was a division of the CIA known as Open Source Enterprise. According to the CIA's website, that unit is a part of the CIA's directorate of digital innovation. It was created in the wake of recommendations by both the 9-11 Commission and the Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission that CIA focus more effort on gathering "open source" information  data that is available to anyone in the public, as opposed to information that can only be gathered through covert means.

Jack Dorsey Justin Tallis | AFP | Getty Images

Twitter used a veto clause in its contract with a separate firm to block the U.S. intelligence community from buying access to a Twitter data feed. The issue arose as early as September, when the private company Dataminr began work to transition a free pilot program for U.S. intelligence into a paying contract, according to a source in the technology industry. Dataminr is a New York-based firm founded in 2009 that has a contract with Twitter to purchase the raw feed of all Twitter data, known as the Twitter "firehose."

Dataminr has received investments from both Twitter, which reportedly owns a 5 percent stake in the company, and In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital fund that exists to spur innovative technologies of interest to the intelligence community.

Among the many details of the saga that have not been made clear is exactly what information Dataminr contemplated selling to the CIA. A technology industry source, however, tells CNBC the data did not include direct messages, protected tweets, or geo-location information on where Twitter users are located, unless those users posted that information publicly. Tweets by their nature are public information  Twitter users broadcast their information to a wide array of followers, some of whom they know personally and some they do not. CNBC is among the news organizations that use Dataminr, which deploys algorithms to locate public tweets that may be an indication of breaking news anywhere in the world.

The Dataminr service has been particularly useful recently in spotting early tweets indicating that ISIS-related terrorist attacks were underway in Paris, Brussels, and San Bernardino, California, source said. Twitter's decision not to cooperate with U.S. intelligence is especially personal, given that ISIS threatened in a video released in February to kill Twitter's CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
SENECA FALLS, N.Y.  Generations Bank announced it has hired Larry Ledgerwood as assistant VP and business development officer at its Seneca Falls headquarters.

Ledgerwood brings more than 35 years of banking experience and is an expert in agricultural, commercial, and mortgage lending, as well as a state-certified appraiser, according to a Generations Bank news release.

Ledgerwood holds a management degree from the University of Michigan as well as a bachelors degree in economics from Cornell University. He has held leadership positions at various financial institutions in the Finger Lakes region throughout his career, the release stated.

Founded in 1870, Generations Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seneca-Cayuga Bancorp, Inc.

It has nine branches, including Seneca Falls, Auburn (2), Union Springs, Waterloo (2), Geneva, Phelps, and Farmington, according to its website.

Generations Bank also has an insurance business, called Generations Agency (formerly Royce & Rosenkrans), and financial planning and brokerage services offered by Generations Investment Services.

Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com
Collectible bottle advertises Houck's medicinal product that used to be contained inside.

1832 Capped Bust half dollar is counterstamped with the advertisement for Houck's Panacea in Baltimore.

Jacob Houck from Baltimore marketed his patented panacea assisted by counterstamped coins like this 1832 Capped Bust half dollar advertising the product.

Designs of the Times column from May 30, 2016, Weekly issue of Coin World:

Sometimes coins can double as an advertising medium through the use of counterstamps  messages punched into one or two sides of a coin.

This practice was extremely popular in the United States in the 19th century. One of the more famous counterstamps found on coins from this era promotes the use of Houcks Panacea.

Jacob Houck (1822 to 1888) was born in Frederick, Md., and moved to Baltimore in 1828 to attend the Maryland University School of Medicine.

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After graduation he developed his panacea and received a patent in 1833.

The panacea was made from only vegetable matter, but included the following items; rye whiskey, gum gualacum, sugar, oil of juniper and oil of lemon.

If you count the rye, corn and barley contained in the whiskey, I guess you can call it vegetable matter.

Houck sold his wonder drug to the public for the then high price of $1.50 per bottle, but who would quibble on the price for a drug that would cure almost all of mans afflictions? It was claimed that it would cure more maladies than I can list, including indigestion, diarrhea, piles, fevers of all kinds, smallpox, coughs, gout, hysterics and even venereal disease!

Houck sold the panacea from his dry goods store on Market Street in Baltimore across from the Peales Museum. He moved a number of times during his career and even sold the rights to duplicate his medicine.

You can find listings on the counterstamped coins in Russell Rulaus Standard Catalog of United States Tokens 1700-1900 book listing them as HT-140 to -145.

The most common host coin is the Capped Bust half dollar, followed by the Spanish Colonial 2-real coin as the second most frequently used coin.

The counterstamp found on other coins and denominations is much scarcer.

The bottle illustrated with the article is No. 373 in the Baltimore Bottle Book, now in its fourth edition, and published by the Baltimore Antique Bottle Club Inc.

You can also find contemporary advertising concerning the panacea to supplement your collection.

You do not have to rely solely on coins to have fun in this hobby. Expand your horizons, and enjoy your collection even more!
Royal Canadian Mint President and CEO Sandra Hanington and actor William Shatner unveil the first coin in a new collection celebrating the 50th anniversary of "Star Trek: The Original Series" at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario on May 12, 2016.

The Royal Canadian Mint shared on its Twitter page some cool things happening around the #StarTrek50 anniversary.

William Shatner, the well-known Canadian actor who played Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek television series, was on hand at the RCM on Thursday, May 12, to strike his own collector's edition silver coin.

Shatner, who's no stranger to numismatics, can be seen in the tweet below completing the striking process, and having a great time doing so.

This is not the first time Star Trek and the numismatic hobby have crossed paths:

Here's a look at the Captain at the RCM.
The Perth Mint has struck coins marking the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor and that will raise money for a Lone Sailor statue in Honolulu.

The Perth Mint has struck some commemorative coins honoring one of the United States most hallowed memorials.

The United States Navy Memorial organization and partner U.S. Money Reserve commissioned the private mint in Australia to issue silver and gold commemorative Pearl Harbor anniversary coins (in the name of Tuvalu) to help raise money for a statue to be placed in Honolulu. A donation of $5 per coin sold is being made toward the statue funding, according to U.S. Money Reserve.

The Honolulu statue is to be a replica of the Lone Sailor statue that appears in Washington, D.C., at the U.S. Navy Memorial. Several other examples of the statue are placed throughout the United States.

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The bronze statue was created by Stanley Bleifeld, the U.S. Navy Memorials official sculptor. It has two pieces, a sailor standing 7 feet tall and his sea bag at his feet.

According to U.S. Money Reserve, the statue in Honolulu will include steel from the USS Arizona, one of the ships that was sunk by the Japanese on the Dec. 7, 1941, attack, on the day that will live in infamy.

Three gold coins and one silver coin share a similar design to mark the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The reverses depict three U.S. Navy ships set against a backdrop of Pacific waves and Hawaiis mountainous landscape, with two Imperial Japanese Zero fighter planes flying overhead as the first wave of the assault began at 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time. In all, more than 15 U.S. naval ships and 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed and 2,403 American military and civilians were killed, while 1,178 others were wounded.

The obverses feature the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Proof 2016 .999 fine tenth-ounce gold $25, quarter-ounce gold $50 and 1-ounce gold $100 coins are joined by a 1-ounce silver bullion coin.

In total, 700 sets of all three gold coins were made, with an additional 300 coins available individually for each gold denomination.

There is no mintage limit on the silver dollar.

Pricing varies depending on quantity purchased and method of payment.

The sets are sold out, but individual coins remain available, with the tenth-ounce gold coin price starting at $189 and the 1-ounce gold coin beginning at $1,789. Pricing for the quarter-ounce coin was unavailable at press time. The silver coin is priced as low as $29.99 each.

To learn more, or to order the coins, visit a special page at the distributor website.
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Attorneys in Fiji case given until December to suggest trial date

Judge gives defense and prosecuting attorneys until Dec. 19 to suggest trial date and duration.
A code violation case against 100 North Main won another delay on Thursday. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)



By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

Code violation charges against 100 North Main's owner were continued again Thursday after a lawyer said financing for redevelopment should be nailed down by late June.

Environmental Court Judge Larry Potter scheduled an informal status hearing in chambers June 9 to meet with representatives of owner IMH Memphis, the Downtown Memphis Commission, building inspectors and others.

The latest in a series of delays came after owner IMH's attorney, Larry Weissman, and anti-blight attorney Steve Barlow met with Potter in chambers. Barlow said Weissman presented the judge information about the owner's financial resources.

The vacant, deteriorating building landed in court last year because of problems including inoperable elevators and fire safety systems and crumbling exterior concrete panels. IMH bought the city's tallest building from a previous owner who had planned to convert its office space to apartments, a hotel and retail.
Southwest Airlines relocated its ticket counter to Memphis International Airport's B Terminal on Thursday.

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By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis International Airport has closed one of three security checkpoints and relocated Southwest Airlines' ticket counter to the centermost lobby.

Southwest, which accounts for 18 percent of Memphis passengers, opened Thursday morning in Terminal B ticket lobby, next to the airport's largest and busiest security checkpoint.

Officials cited Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staffing limits and an upcoming revamp of airport concourses for closure of Checkpoint A. Southwest's ticket counter had been in the A lobby since the carrier expanded to Memphis in 2013.

Airport president Scott Brockman said Checkpoint A was the smallest and least efficient operated by TSA, which had been asking for the closure so it could concentrate employees in checkpoints B and C.

Airport officials expect waiting times at the remaining two checkpoints to be the same or shorter, because of the addition of TSA personnel from the closed checkpoint, said Terry Blue, vice president of operations.

The federal agency's personnel level at the airport is based on last year's passenger volume and hasn't kept pace with growth in local traffic due to falling airfares, Brockman said.

The airport estimates local traffic -- people traveling to or from Memphis and not merely connecting -- will be up 196,000 in the budget year ending June 30, airport chief financial officer Forrest Artz said.

A concourse modernization program that's under design will eventually put all carriers in Concourse B. But airlines, concessions and other facilities will be shuffled around while the modernization is under construction.

As part of that shuffling, Neely's Interstate BBQ is scheduled to relocate from Concourse B to Concourse C, probably within two months, Artz said.

Relocation of Southwest's counter leaves low-cost leisure carrier Allegiant Air in the A ticket lobby.

Southwest joins American and Delta in the B lobby. Brockman said the airport hopes to move Frontier there eventually.

TSA spokesman Mark Howell said agency and airport officials had talked about Checkpoint A for awhile. With Southwest virtually the only airline using it, there was a lot of downtime for personnel, and it didnt have a full-time lane for PreCheck program participants who get expedited screening, Howell said.

We should have better efficiency on (Checkpoint) B, Howell said.

A construction crew is building a wall to seal off Checkpoint A's inbound lanes leading toward the gates. Outbound lanes will remain open during hours that Southwest flights arrive at gates in Concourse A, so passengers can exit into the ticket lobby and baggage claim area without coming through Concourse B.

Brockman said the airport will have the ability to reopen the checkpoint if it's needed in the future.

Brockman said a moving sidewalk between concourses B and A has been repaired, to help Southwest passengers make the trek from ticket counter to gates.
Tyrone Tibbs of West Memphis Fence & Construction helps erect more than a half-mile of fence around the part of Raleigh Springs Mall being demolished by the City of Memphis. (By Thomas Bailey/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal

The City of Memphis has started demolishing the parts of Raleigh Springs Mall it already owns to make room for a $28 million civic redevelopment.

"The demolition was just to show that this project is moving forward, that we are committed to this project,'' Paul Young said Friday. He is the director of Housing and Community Development.

The meat of the demolition had not started by Friday afternoon even though city officials hosted a demolition ceremony a week ago.

Crews from West Memphis Fence and Construction worked Friday to erect more than a half-mile of chain-link fence around the south end of the property that includes the former Sears automotive service building and Sears department store.

That's a portion of the old mall that the city now owns.

"We're just making sure it's secure (to) keep people from getting hurt and also keeping people's property from getting taken away from them,'' Sam Miller said as he worked with fellow West Memphis Fence crew members Antonio Miller and Tyrone Tibbs.

"... It's just to let you know this is a boundary,'' Sam Miller said.

The city plans to build there a Raleigh civic center that includes police services, library and community center. The development also will offer space for retailers or institutions as well as trails and green space.

The vast Raleigh Springs Mall building and grounds comprised several parcels and different owners. The city has succeeded in purchasing some of the parcels but is still battling Raleigh Mall RPS LLC in court. The company owns the main mall building.

On the surface, the issue before Shelby Count Circuit Court is whether the city properly gave public notice in the process required for the seizure of property through eminent domain.

Judge James F. Russell has handed down two separate rulings - in August and last month - that the city's first two attempts at public notice were flawed. The city is preparing for a third round of notifying the public about a public hearing on the project.

But the heart of the issue is a dispute over how much money the city is offering Raleigh Mall RPS LLC for its property.

Asked how far apart the city and property owner are, Young said Friday, "There have been so many iterations of offers and counter-offers, I honestly don't know the number at this point. We were far enough apart that we couldn't get a deal worked out before this last hearing.''

Still, Young said he hopes that construction can start this fall, ''relying upon the court rulings and getting a favorable ruling or an agreement with the owner.''

Asked if the city is now negotiating a price with the mall owner, Young said, "Right now we're working it through the court process. If there's an opportunity... we'd definitely enteretain conversations with the owner.''
A Grenada Railroad train set painted in Illinois Central colors will carry passengers from Horn Lake to Grenada in a June 5 excursion ride.

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By Wayne Risher of The Commercial Appeal

A North Mississippi short-line rail operator will offer a day trip from Horn Lake to Grenada on June 5.

It's part of an effort by Premier Rail Collection and Grenada Railroad to expand the line's leisure market offering beyond holiday season Polar Express rides.

The train ride will operate on the former Illinois Central Railroad mainline. It will feature rail cars painted in Illinois Central colors and include an Illinois Central round-end observation car, the Paducah, built in 1916; and the vista-domed Jackson Square, built in 1955 for the Great Northern Railroad.

Iowa Pacific Holdings, parent company of Grenada Railroad, will have the train on display in Memphis the day before the North Mississippi ride.

It will be part of a larger display, including equipment from Canadian National and R.J. Corman, during Train Day Memphis from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 4 at Central Station. More details about Train Day can be found at the Memphis Railroad and Trolley Museum website, mrtm.org.

The Grenada Railroad excursion will leave from trackside at 6780 Center Street East in Horn Lake at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 5, and arrive in Grenada at 4 p.m. Charter buses will return passengers to Horn Lake. Sandwiches and refreshments will be sold during the train ride.

Tickets are on sale for $75 for adults and $50 for children 2-12. Information can be found at www.grenadarail.com or by calling 1-877-726-7245.

More than 58,000 people rode the Polar Express on the Grenada Railroad out of Batesville, Mississippi last holiday season. The second season is scheduled for select dates Nov. 20 through Dec. 27.

The Iowa Pacific Railroad, parent company of Grenada Railroad, will have the train on display
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By Ted Evanoff of The Commercial Appeal

HealthLink Europe & International has opened a temperature-controlled warehouse in Memphis.

The company, part of Dutch-based HealthLink Europe BV, serves more than 100 medical device clients.

The Greater Memphis Chamber said a ceremony has been scheduled 10 a.m. Friday by HealthLink to commemorate the new business. It is located at 3655 Knight Road.

The company specializes in logistics, freight management, multilingual customer service, financial services and European tax management.

HealthLike said the warehouse contains 32,000 square feet of space and there is option to expand by 118,000 square feet.
May 12, 2016 -- A representative of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presents a case study during the Memphis Joint Criminal-Epidemiological Investigations Workshop at the University of Tennessee Health Sciece Center.

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By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal

The law enforcement, public health, emergency responders and others who might play a role in combatting bioterrorism listened Thursday to a case study at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

In 2006, a New York City man with a dance troupe fell ill in Pennsylvania and was discovered to have inhaled anthrax.

It took the FBI, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, health departments in Pennsylvania and New York as well as New York City police and fire departments working together to determine whether bioterrorism played a role, a CDC representative told the gathering.

It turned out that the man, originally from the Ivory Coast in Africa, contracted anthrax from scraping animal hides he used to make drums.

Training people from different fields and organizations for their roles when biological threats appear drew about 80 participants to the two-day Joint Criminal-Epidemiological Investigations Workshop.

The university is home to a Regional Biocontainment Laboratory where experts develop vaccines, treatments and diagnostics techniques that can be used against biological threats, said Jennifer Stabenow, facility manager.

The lab works closely with the FBI, Stabenow said, and FBI and UTHSC hosted the workshop
The controversial proposal to create a commercial, surface parking lot of 63 spaces at Front and Pontotoc was held by the Land Use Control Board on Thursday. (By Thomas Bailey Jr./The Commercial Appeal)

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By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal

A controversial proposal to create a commercial parking lot in the South Main area was held from review Thursday by the Land Use Control Board until its June meeting.

Staff planners said the applicant Henry Ellis wants to make some changes to his plan for 63 parking spaces on the half-acre lot at the northwest corner of Front and Pontotoc.

Zoning for the site does not allow surface parking lots as a principal use.

Ellis, seeking approval for a planned development, says the area's businesses and apartment buildings would benefit from the extra parking.

But the Downtown Memphis Commission has expressed its opposition, stating that such surface lots degrade the appeal and walking environment of the neighbrhood.

The staff of the Office of Planning and Development was poised to recommend that the planning board reject the applicant's request.
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By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

A 28-year-old Memphis flight attendant was indicted on charges of stealing more than 1,000 mini liquor bottles and posting them for sale on Craigslist, the office of the Shelby County District Attorney General said Friday.

Rachel Trevor is accused of selling the bottles for $1 each, while airlines usually sell them for $8, according to a news release.

She was charged with theft of property over $10,000, unlawful sale of alcohol, unauthorized storage of liquor for sale and unauthorized transportation of alcohol.

The case was investigated by the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal

Memphis police are investigating after a man was shot and killed in South Memphis early Friday morning.

Shortly before 7 a.m. police responded to a shooting call in the 900 block of Barton Street.

A man was pronounced dead on the scene. Police were searching for five suspects who fled the scene in a gold 2000 Nissan Altima. The car was last seen headed north on Barton toward E.H. Crump.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-2274.
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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  A Memphis police officer killed when he interrupted a drug deal last year will be honored Friday night at a candlelight vigil on the National Mall.

Officer Sean Bolton, 33, is one of 252 fallen police officers who will be remembered during a series of events this weekend in Washington. The events include a memorial service to be held Sunday on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

The vigil is sponsored by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, which is adding the officers' names to its blue-gray, marble-walled monument recognizing more than 20,000 officers killed in the line of duty throughout U.S. history.

Bolton was shot and killed last August when he interrupted a drug deal on Summerlane Avenue in Parkway Village. The officer was approaching an illegally parked Mercedes-Benz when one of the occupants shot him several times and then fled the scene.

Tremaine Wilbourn, 30, was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury in January on a charge of first-degree murder in Bolton's death.
April 14, 2016 - Dabney Ring (standing) addresses the CLERB board during its first meeting since the City Council expanded its powers. The board has several vacancies to be filled upon approval by the City COuncil. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal

Reopening a heated discussion that dragged on for months last year, the Memphis City Council will on Tuesday consider revising the ordinance that revived the civilian board that reviews police misconduct complaints.

Council member Worth Morgan, who is representing the council on the board, said he's sponsoring the substitute ordinance to clarify that the board doesn't have subpoena authority, that the board can't bypass state open meetings law by closing its meetings to the public, and that the council member assigned to the board doesn't have a vote.

Morgan proposed the changes after The Commercial Appeal objected to the Civilian Law Enforcement Review Board (CLERB) closing its April 14 meeting to the public for deliberations on the board's first case. CLERB members were following their ordinance, but council attorney Allan Wade said closing the meeting was a "clear" contradiction of the state's open meetings law.

"The two most important things for the board's success is an open process and a fair process," said Morgan, who joined the council in January, after the council approved the ordinance.

Pending action by the council, CLERB is waiting for City Attorney Bruce McMullen to issue an opinion on whether the City Council can issue subpoenas on the board's behalf and whether CLERB can close its meetings to deliberate on cases.

CLERB chairman Ralph White said the board would be "a fish out of water" if it can't subpoena police officers and witnesses.

"That was the 'tooth' we were trying to put into the ordinance  and without that, we're back to square one," he told board members at their meeting Thursday in City Hall.

At its meeting, the board voted unanimously to side with a police officer over a citizen, Larry Brown, who had accused the officer of using excessive force when Brown wouldn't let the officer speak to his wife, who was sleeping, to let her know their son needed to be picked up from Juvenile Court. The officers didn't have Brown listed as a parent.

The board also recommended that interim Police Director Mike Rallings discuss policy changes to avoid similar incidents.
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By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal

Shelby County Trustee David Lenoir has received the Trustee of the Year award from the Tennessee County Trustee's Association.

The award was presented Thursday during a banquet at the association's annual meeting in Memphis.

Each year the state organization chooses a trustee of the year for each of the state's grand divisions, West, Middle and East, and the trustee of the year is selected from those honorees.

Lenoir has been active in the association since his election in 2010 and received the West Tennessee Trustee of the Year award in 2012. He was president of the association in 2015.

Lenoir was recognized this year for increasing delinquent collections, meeting or surpassing tax collections goals, the efficiency goals instituted under his leadership and his community outreach initiatives.
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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais knew U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. was on the fence about Donald Trump, so he extended an invitation to his fellow Tennessee Republican.

Come meet Trump in person, DesJarlais suggested, and then join a select group of invited guests to hear the presumptive GOP presidential nominee deliver his first major foreign policy address.

Three days after that meeting and speech at the ritzy Mayflower Hotel in Washington, Duncan made a public announcement: He was endorsing Trump for president.

"I was impressed with the things he said in that speech," the Knoxville Republican recalled Friday.

Duncan's endorsement was a coup not only for Trump, but for DesJarlais, a three-term congressman from South Pittsburg, Tennessee who has been working behind the scenes for weeks to get other congressional Republicans on board with Trump.

In the two months since he became one of the first sitting members of Congress to back Trump, DesJarlais has assumed the informal  but important  role of selling the candidate to other House Republicans.

DesJarlais is acting as a liaison between Trump's campaign and the House Freedom Caucus, a small group of hard-line conservatives.

Trump has expressed an interest in meeting with the group's members, many of whom were early supporters of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul before they dropped out of the presidential race. They're still skeptical of the New York real-estate mogul.

DesJarlais approached the Freedom Caucus' board early this week  and again on Friday  to broach the topic of a face-to-face dialogue with Trump.

"The word I'm getting is the majority of the Freedom Caucus is going to support our nominee, and they are indeed interested in sitting down with Mr. Trump," DesJarlais said. "There is a mutual interest in meeting, so I do think it will happen."

DesJarlais predicted the meeting could occur in the next two or three weeks, depending on the candidate's schedule.

Besides his outreach to the Freedom Caucus, DesJarlais said he and five other early Trump supporters have met weekly with the campaign to discuss strategy. He estimates he's given a dozen television interviews to promote Trump since formally endorsing him in early March.

He's also worked to win over House Republicans who aren't Freedom Caucus members, including Duncan.

"Scott knew that many of my views were pretty close to Trump's views on some of the major issues," Duncan said, citing foreign policy, trade and immigration. "He talked to me two or three times, I suppose, in the weeks leading up to my endorsement."

Selling Trump to still-undecided Republicans is a lot easier now that Trump has effectively clinched the GOP nomination, DesJarlais said.

DesJarlais' role as Trump's pitchman grew out of an invitation-only luncheon he and a small group of Republicans had with the candidate in late March, just three weeks after DesJarlais formally backed him. The purpose of that meeting was to talk about building party unity, and DesJarlais said he offered to reach out to the Freedom Caucus on Trump's behalf.

He said he's seeing signs the party ultimately will unite behind Trump.

On Wednesday, a day before meeting with Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan called a meeting with DesJarlais and eight other Trump backers to hear them out. DesJarlais said he had an informal meeting with Ryan again on Friday.

Ryan has said he isn't ready to endorse Trump, and that didn't change after the two met Thursday. DesJarlais said that when he talked to Ryan Wednesday, "I was a little concerned about whether he would warm up to Trump as quickly as I would like him to."

But DesJarlais noted Ryan's comments on Friday describing Trump as "very genuine" during their meeting the day before.

"He said he was very cordial, and he could not believe how different he was in person," DesJarlais said.

DesJarlais said he understands the GOP must undergo a "natural healing process" after a brutal primary. But he's convinced that Ryan, and others, will eventually get on board with Trump.

"I like the position the Republican Party is in right now," he said. "It's much better than the Democrats. That party has yet to select their nominee."
SHARE The Commercial Appeal files Miss Ruth Gilliam is congratulated by Public Safety Commissioner Cliff Davis after being named Miss Memphis for 1938 on May 13.

May 13

25 years ago: 1991

County Mayor Bill Morris will travel to San Diego today in hopes of persuading Ducks Unlimited to move its headquarters to Memphis. The wetlands conservation organization is considering relocation of its crowded Chicago-area headquarters to Shelby County. The organization would move into a proposed 100,000-square-foot building that would be constructed next to Agricenter International on county land donated or leased at a nominal fee. About 160 people would be employed initially, and 60-75 are expected to transfer here.

50 years ago: 1966

Memphis' world-famed Beale Street achieved national landmark status yesterday with a bow to W.C. Handy, who created his Memphis Blues there more than 50 years ago. An announcement by Interior Secretary Stewart Udall in Washington means Beale will be listed in his department's annual registry of national historic landmarks. Representative George W. Grider (D, Tenn.), who wrote a letter to Mr. Udall asking him to name the street a landmark, said Mr. Udall may come here in a few months for the dedication of a bronze plaque.

75 years ago: 1941

Ethel Taylor, prima donna for the Memphis Open Air Theatre and now scheduled to join the St. Louis Municipal Opera for the coming outdoor musical season, will make one of her few Memphis appearances when she sings for The Commercial Appeal's luncheon honoring visiting mayors of the Mid-South at noon Friday at the Peabody.

100 years ago: 1916

In the name of peace, brotherly love to all mankind and with a caustic arraignment of the ungodliness of man that permits the raging of the European War and the greed of American munitions manufacturers, the Poplar Avenue Temple was dedicated last night by Rabbi Henry Berkowitz of Philadelphia.

125 years ago: 1891

Jessamine Street is a short thoroughfare that runs east from Lauderdale, one block south from Beale. That is a very nice neighborhood indeed, and it deserves to be well lighted, but like the remainder of the city the gas service out there is very uncertain, except in the respect that the jets are certain to be invisible when most needed.
Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal April 10, 2014  Whitney Achievement Elementary third grader Destiny Washington, 8, works out math problems with a calculator while taking a TCAP practice exam during class Thursday afternoon.

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By Sydney Neely, sydney.neely@commercialappeal.com

Members of the Frayser Exchange Club plan to petition against a proposal to expand the landfill in Frayser closer to Whitney Achievement Elementary School.

Beside the elementary school at 1219 Whitney Avenue and Memphis Park, sits a 34-acre empty field that could soon be the site for piles of debris from demolished houses and buildings.

"Imagine a 7-year-old looking out the window and seeing junk and trash. So tell me what kind of dreams are they going to have?" said Stephanie Love, the District 3 board member for the Shelby County Board of Education.

More than 30 people came to the Frayser Exchange Club meeting urging others to write comments to the Office of Planning and Development before the meeting June 9 at 10 a.m.

The proposal was put forth by the Memphis Wrecking Company, owned by Carol and Steve Williamson, but was pulled from the agenda of the Memphis and Shelby County Land Use Control Board's meeting last year.

However, the landfill proposal was recently reintroduced, but Love and Lisa Moore, CEO of Girls Incorporated and Frayser Exchange Club member, plan to "defeat this once and for all."

Love intends to submit a resolution at the Shelby County School Board and draw support from everyone in the community.

"I want every principal in the community to say no, not just the ones by Whitney. I want every principal, school, and charter operation in the community to say absolutely not," Love said.

There are no restrictions prohibiting landfills from being built next to schools. However, Shelby County development codes state that "landfill excavation or filling shall not be located within a minimum of 500 feet of any building used for residential purposes"  a restriction that does not appear to conflict with the Memphis Wrecking Company's landfill proposal.

The Williamsons own a 24-acre landfill site behind the proposed new site, but expect it to fill up in the next few years, prompting their search for a new site.

The company has faced serious opposition from the community since they purchased the land for $350,000 in 2014 and applied to develop a Class III landfill for debris that eventually would stand more than 100 feet tall at its peak.

Although the landfill proposal has been reintroduced, it will still have to go through a tedious process before the Memphis City Council makes the final decision.
Collierville schools superintendent John S. Aitken waves during the groundbreaking for the school system's new high school on Friday, May 13, 2016. (Daniel Connolly/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE Collierville schools chief of staff Russell Dyer talks with members of the Collierville High choir shortly before they performed the national anthem at the groundbreaking for the new Collierville High School on Friday, May 13, 2016. (Daniel Connolly/The Commercial Appeal)

By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal

Sage Harris, a small blonde girl, went to stand in front of a big crowd at Friday's groundbreaking for the new Collierville High School.

She would say later she felt nervous. She was the last in a long line of speakers at the event and the only one who is likely to attend the new school as a student when it opens in 2018. At 15, the freshman class president was also the youngest person to speak.

She read from her prepared remarks: "Now being faced with a rapidly growing student population, we can make Collierville High School suitable to enhance the lives of more students than ever before," she said. "Of course, it will take time, which living in the age of instant gratification, feels like a major inconvenience.

"In addition, the town of Collierville could have taken the easy way out, by building portables or pushing the limit to how many students classes can hold. By choosing the alternative, Collierville proved how much the town cares about giving its students the best there is."

Afterward, she rejoined her family and friends. "It's hard to see the future," she said. "But I think it's very exciting to see what they have for us."

Collierville's Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted last year to raise taxes and issue more than $90 million in bonds for construction of the high school and related costs. Construction has begun on the school, which will accommodate 3,000 students and even more if it's reconfigured. It's expected to have plenty of modern touches, including space to teach subjects such as robotics.

Collierville leaders aim to use the massive new school as a tangible demonstration of the town's commitment to providing a high-quality education, a commitment they hope will continue to draw new businesses and new residents. Between 2000 and 2014, the Census estimates the population of the suburb jumped from about 32,000 to about 49,000, an increase of 53 percent.

Friday's event drew many dignitaries, including State Rep. Curry Todd and State Sen. Mark Norris, Collierville Republicans who fought in the state Legislature to allow creation of municipal school districts. Collierville was one of six suburbs that formed public school districts, separating from Shelby County Schools and launching their own classes in 2014.

"The economic impact on our community has been overwhelming because of the municipal schools we have now," Todd said, referring to the new residents and increased interest from businesses.

A crude gravel road cut between pine trees led visitors to a white tent and a podium set up in the field off Sycamore Road. From the podium, school board Chairman Mark Hansen said schools shouldn't just impart knowledge, but create good people. "I would ask students to contemplate and embrace the values that lead to wisdom and good citizenship, such as honor, initiative, perseverance, humility, empathy, loyalty, respect, duty, compassion and generosity," he said.

The groundbreaking featured photo ops with Collierville High alumni, but the focus was very much on the future. Robert Bear, who facilitates the high school's video program, added to the futuristic vibe by using a remote control to fly a small, buzzing drone above the ceremony area. "Next year, we want to start a drone club and get kids into it," he said. "Because it's a rising technology. It's here to stay."

The drone hovered high in the blue sky, its video camera looking down on the empty field where students will one day go to school.
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We're not worried  not too worried, anyway  about Tennessee's junior senator allowing himself to be tarred with the stain of a place on the Republican presidential campaign ticket with Donald Trump.

Speculation about Bob Corker's chances of being paired with the all-but-certain GOP nominee were fueled by Corker's agreement to school Trump on foreign policy.

But that was the honorable thing to do. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has much to offer in Trump's struggle to develop a coherent foreign policy platform, and he has not, like so many other high-ranking members of the GOP, harshly criticized the ill-informed and impulsive reality TV star and business mogul.

God forbid, but Trump, as commander in chief of the U.S. military and leader of the free world, might actually wind up in a position to need Corker's help.

But we like Corker and choose to assume the gesture was not in his own interest, but in the interest of his party and his country.

This is not to say Corker wouldn't make a fine candidate for higher office some day. It's not to say that his service in the executive branch would not be splendid.

We agree with Sen. Lamar Alexander's assessment that Corker "would be great for our country in whatever capacity he chooses to serve."

But we are heartened by, and truly want to believe, the response he gave to The Commercial Appeal columnist Otis Sanford this week when he was asked about suggestions that he could wind up on the GOP ticket:

"I have no reason to believe," he said, "that that is even being considered."

Yes, Corker's future may be bright. But how much would it be dimmed by close association with a candidate who shows callous disrespect for women, minorities, American prisoners of war and people with disabilities, who endorses torturing terrorism suspects and murdering their family members, who encourages his followers to assault protesters, who bullies politicians who don't immediately step onto his bandwagon and whose positions on various cultural and economic issues are in a constant state of flux?

We endorse the selection of a running mate who might be able to offset some of Trump's excesses, someone with political acumen and an understanding of international affairs.

Should Trump win in November, it would be somewhat reassuring to have a reasonable, rational, knowledgeable consultant at his side  if Trump chose to tap that resource.

But at this point there is no reason to assume that Trump will be our next president, and Bob Corker would be risking too much to hit the campaign trail with Trump.

He would be forced to defend the indefensible. His credibility would be in shambles. His future service to the people of Tennessee would be in jeopardy, and that's too high a price to pay.
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By John Crisp

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 last month. His poise and charm were on full display, and his comedic timing was impeccable.

Still, his best joke made me cringe: 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 that of 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 for 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 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 Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Contact him at jcrisp@delmar.edu.
Select Commodity All Ajwan Alasande Gram Almond(Badam) Alsandikai Amaranthus Ambada Seed Amla(Nelli Kai) Amphophalus Antawala Anthorium Apple Apricot(Jardalu/Khumani) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arecanut(Betelnut/Supari) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar (Tur/Red Gram)(Whole) Arhar Dal(Tur Dal) Ashgourd Astera Avare Dal Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Bajra(Pearl Millet/Cumbu) Balekai Bamboo Banana Banana - Green Barley (Jau) Bay leaf (Tejpatta) Beans Beaten Rice Beetroot Bengal Gram Dal (Chana Dal) Bengal Gram(Gram)(Whole) Ber(Zizyphus/Borehannu) Ber(Zizyphus/Borehannu) Betal Leaves Bhindi(Ladies Finger) Bitter gourd Black Gram (Urd Beans)(Whole) Black Gram Dal (Urd Dal) Black pepper BOP Bottle gourd Bran Brinjal Broken Rice Broomstick(Flower Broom) Bull Bunch Beans Cabbage Calf Capsicum Cardamoms Carnation Carrot Cashewnuts Castor Seed Cauliflower Chapparad Avare Chennangi Dal Cherry Chikoos(Sapota) Chili Red Chilly Capsicum Chow Chow Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum(Loose) Cinamon(Dalchini) Cloves Cluster beans Cock Cocoa Coconut Coconut Oil Coconut Seed Coffee Colacasia Copra Coriander(Leaves) Corriander seed Cotton Cotton Seed Cow Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea (Lobia/Karamani) Cowpea(Veg) Cucumbar(Kheera) Cummin Seed(Jeera) Custard Apple (Sharifa) Dalda Dhaincha Drumstick Dry Chillies Dry Fodder Dry Grapes Duck Duster Beans Egg Elephant Yam (Suran) Field Pea Firewood Fish Foxtail Millet(Navane) French Beans (Frasbean) Galgal(Lemon) Garlic Ghee Gingelly Oil Ginger(Dry) Ginger(Green) Gladiolus Cut Flower Goat Gram Raw(Chholia) Gramflour Grapes Green Avare (W) Green Chilli Green Fodder Green Gram (Moong)(Whole) Green Gram Dal (Moong Dal) Green Peas Ground Nut Oil Ground Nut Seed Groundnut Groundnut (Split) Groundnut pods (raw) Guar Guar Seed(Cluster Beans Seed) Guava Gur(Jaggery) He Buffalo Hen Hippe Seed Honge seed Hybrid Cumbu Indian Beans (Seam) Indian Colza(Sarson) Isabgul (Psyllium) Jack Fruit Jaffri Jamun(Narale Hannu) Jarbara Jasmine Jowar(Sorghum) Jute Kabuli Chana(Chickpeas-White) Kacholam Kakada Kankambra Karamani Karbuja(Musk Melon) Kartali (Kantola) Khoya Kinnow Knool Khol Kodo Millet(Varagu) Kulthi(Horse Gram) Lak(Teora) Leafy Vegetable Lemon Lentil (Masur)(Whole) Lilly Lime Linseed Lint Litchi Little gourd (Kundru) Long Melon(Kakri) Lotus Lotus Sticks Lukad Mahedi Mahua Mahua Seed(Hippe seed) Maida Atta Maize Mango Mango (Raw-Ripe) Marasebu Marget Marigold(Calcutta) Marigold(loose) Mashrooms Masur Dal Mataki Methi Seeds Methi(Leaves) Millets Mint(Pudina) Moath Dal Mousambi(Sweet Lime) Mustard Mustard Oil Myrobolan(Harad) Neem Seed Niger Seed (Ramtil) Nutmeg Onion Onion Green Orange Orchid Ox Paddy(Dhan)(Basmati) Paddy(Dhan)(Common) Papaya Papaya (Raw) Patti Calcutta Peach Pear(Marasebu) Peas cod Peas Wet Peas(Dry) Pegeon Pea (Arhar Fali) Pepper garbled Pepper ungarbled Persimon(Japani Fal) Pigs Pineapple Plum Pointed gourd (Parval) Pomegranate Potato Pumpkin Raddish Ragi (Finger Millet) Raibel Rajgir Ram Rat Tail Radish (Mogari) Raya Resinwood Rice Ridge gourd(Tori) Ridgeguard(Tori) Rose(Local) Rose(Loose) Rose(Loose)) Round gourd Rubber Sabu Dan Sabu Dana Safflower Sajje Same/Savi Season Leaves Seemebadnekai Seetafal Seetapal Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) Sesamum(Sesame,Gingelly,Til) She Buffalo She Goat Sheep Snake gourd Snakeguard Soanf Soapnut(Antawala/Retha) Soapnut(Antawala/Retha) Soji Soyabean Spinach Sponge gourd Squash(Chappal Kadoo) Sugar Sugarcane Sunflower Sunhemp Suram Surat Beans (Papadi) Suva (Dill Seed) Suvarna Gadde Sweet Potato Sweet Pumpkin T.V. Cumbu T.V. Cumbu Tamarind Fruit Tamarind Seed Tapioca Taramira Tender Coconut Thinai (Italian Millet) Thogrikai Thondekai Tinda Tobacco Tomato Toria Tube Rose(Double) Tube Rose(Loose) Tube Rose(Single) Turmeric Turmeric (raw) Turnip Walnut Water Melon Wheat Wheat Atta White Peas White Pumpkin Wood Yam Yam (Ratalu)

Select State

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Every morning you reach out for your iPhone to cheerily check your social media messages. This morning things were different  your iPhone display is black and nothing seems to be working. What are you going to do?

Dont panic

Take a deep breath and lets see if we cant solve your problem before the coffee pot boils, but before we do anything at all please plug your iPhone into its charger for a few minutes  perhaps you didnt plug it in properly last time you charged it? If this doesnt seem to work then try using a different cable and/or plugging it into a different power supply  perhaps even your Mac?

NB: When you plug your cable into your iPhone it should fit tight and securely into the aperture. If it doesnt, or if it wiggles a little bit its possible some pocket lint has gathered in the power in port. Try blowing on the port to dislodge it first, and follow these good instructions from MacObserver. Whatever you do dont try forcing it out using anything metallic, as doing so is likely to break your smartphone. When youve cleaned the port try plugging your iPhone in once again  is it recharging now?

Restart

Having checked power you should also try restarting the device. Press down on the Hold button (the single button at the top right or right hand side of your iPhone) for a few seconds. Does your iPhone start up?

It didnt start up? Sorry about that. Lets try a hard reset: Hold down the on/off button and Home button at the same time for 10-30-seconds. Dont let go of them until the Apple logo appears (if it does). What should happen is that your iPhone will start itself up again, but if nothing has happened after holding the buttons for 30-seconds youll need to try something new.

Restore

You may need to restore your iPhone. Youll need the latest version of iTunes installed on your Mac or Windows machine and youll need to connect your iPhone using its cable. Its icon should appear in iTunes, beside the ones that live just under the Play button. Click on it and then select Restore from the options available there. I do hope youve been backing up your iPhone, but if you have not and if the smartphone does startup youll be able to back it up now. Once youve done so you can continue with the Restore operation.

Recovery Mode

If nothings worked, then you might want to put your iPhone into Recovery Mode. The bad news is that doing so erases everything  all the data  on your iPhone. Hopefully you have a recent backup in iCloud or on your computer. To enter Recovery Mode you must switch your iPhone off and connect it to your computer.

While it is connected you must force restart it. Press and hold both the Sleep/Wake and Home button for at least 10 seconds, don't release them when you see the Apple logo, keep holding the buttons down until you see the recovery mode screen. You should be asked if you want to Restore or Update your iPhone. Choose Update and iTunes will try to reinstall iOS without devouring all your data. Over to Apple who says: Wait while iTunes downloads the software for your device.

If the download takes more than 15 minutes and your device exits recovery mode, you'll need to repeat these steps and choose Restore instead of Update when you get back to this step. Youll need to set your device up again once this is all over.

What next?

If youve tried all these steps and nothing works then Im afraid your iPhone will need to go for repair, contact Apple Support or your local repair shop. Good luck.

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Financial transaction network SWIFT has renewed its warning to customers to be on their guard following the discovery of malware at another bank using its services.

The bank first asked customers to take steps to secure their systems in the wake of an attempt to steal US$951 million from Bangladesh Bank in February. Attackers there appear to have used custom malware installed on computers at the bank to send fraudulent messages over the SWIFT network seeking to transfer money from the bank's account with the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

That attack appears not to have been an isolated incident, as SWIFT said Friday it has now learnt more about a second instance in which malware was used.

While SWIFT did not name the target, a report from security researchers at BAE Systems, also published Friday, pointed to a commercial bank in Vietnam as the latest victim.

The malware attacks were not directly on the transaction network or core messaging system, but instead were targeted at customer banks' secondary security controls, SWIFT said.

With its ability to transfer billions of dollars to accounts around the world in a few keystrokes, the SWIFT financial transaction network is increasingly being instrumentalized in cyber attacks on financial institutions.

While the number of cases of fraud at its customers is so far small, forensic experts believe the new discovery is part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks, SWIFT said.

Posting on the BAE Systems threat research blog, researchers Sergei Shevchenko and Adrian Nish said what ties together the cases discovered so far is the use of an unusual file wipe function the malware uses to make deleted files unrecoverable. The function first fills the file with random characters to ensure nothing can be recovered from the sectors it occupies on disk, then changes its name to a random string before deleting it.

In both cases, SWIFT said in its latest warning, the attackers have exploited vulnerabilities in the systems banks use to initiate fund transfers, stealing banks' credentials and using them to send irrevocable fund transfer orders over the SWIFT network.

In addition, the attackers have tampered with secondary controls such as records of statements and confirmations that the banks use to recognize fraud. For example, SWIFT said, in the latest case the attackers targeted the bank's PDF reader, using malices software to modify it so as to hide traces of the fraudulent transactions in PDF reports of payment confirmations.

SWIFT asked its customers to review security controls across all their payment systems, from employee checks to cyber defenses. Banks using PDF reader applications to review confirmation messages should take particular care, it said. The asked banks to help track down the fraudsters by advising it if any incidents were discovered.
Adobe Systems has released a security update for Flash Player in order to fix a publicly known vulnerability, as well as 24 privately reported security flaws.

The company issued a warning about the zero-day -- previously unknown and unpatched -- vulnerability on Tuesday, saying that it is aware of an exploit available in the wild. The flaw, tracked as CVE-2016-4117, was reported by security researchers from FireEye.

However, while an exploit for CVE-2016-4117 is known to exist in the public domain, the company is not aware of any active attacks using it, an Adobe spokeswoman clarified Thursday via email.

This doesn't mean that hackers won't be quick to adopt it, as Flash Player is one of their favourite targets. According to the 2016 Global Security Report from security firm Trustwave, almost 40 percent of the zero-day vulnerabilities identified last year were in Flash Player and 80 percent of the new exploits added to widely used Web-based exploit kits were for Flash Player flaws.

In addition to patching CVE-2016-4117, the new Flash Player update fixes 24 other vulnerabilities. All of them can lead to arbitrary code execution and can allow attackers to take control of affected systems.

Users of Adobe Flash Player on Windows and Mac should update to version 21.0.0.242, while Flash Player users on Linux should install version 11.2.202.621. The Flash Player Extended Support Release was also updated to version 18.0.0.352.

The Flash Player builds bundled with Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge will be upgraded automatically through those browsers' update mechanisms.

In addition to Flash Player, Adobe also released version 21.0.0.215 of the AIR desktop runtime, AIR SDK and AIR SDK & Compiler. Adobe AIR is a framework for rich Internet applications and bundles the Flash Player code.
Apple has invested $1 billion in China's largest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, in a move that could give it an opportunity to participate in the local company's bid to build a data-driven ride-share platform.

Didi, which is already backed by big local players like Tencent and Alibaba, said it has raised the Apple investment as a part of its latest funding round. The investment by Apple is the largest single investment Didi has ever received, it added.

Apple has been indicating that such an investment was coming for some time now, said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. The company has already said that it plans to increase its services revenue and that the Chinese market is a key component of its overall strategy going forward, Moorhead said.

China is already the second largest market by revenue for Apple, though revenue fell 11 percent from this market in the last quarter.

CEO Tim Cook said recently the company would invest in mergers and acquisitions to boost its various businesses, including services.

The Chinese company has teamed with other players to form an alliance to counter the growing influence of Uber Technologies. Didi announced in September last year a $100 million investment in Lyft, which would allow Lyft users visiting China to access Didi services from their native apps. Didi has also invested in regional players like India's Ola and Malaysia's GrabTaxi.

The company is a big player in China, and completes over 11 million rides a day on its platform, serving close to 300 million users across over 400 Chinese cities, with a wide range of mobile technology-based transportation options.

There has been speculation previously that Apple would get into self-driving cars. A partnership with Didi could give Apple an opportunity to sell its technology in 5 to 10 years to the ride-hailing company, as it and its rivals like Uber transition to autonomous cars, Moorhead said.

The investment, which would use the large amount of funds Apple holds overseas, would also give it a prominent place on the table in China's transportation industry, he added.
A U.S. senator will introduce legislation to roll back new court rules that allow judges to give law enforcement agencies the authority to remotely hack computers.

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, will introduce a bill that would reverse a court procedure rules change, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court last month, that would allow lower judges to issue remote hacking warrants.

The rules change, requested by the Department of Justice, expands the geographical reach of police hacking powers beyond local court jurisdictions now allowed through court-ordered warrants. Previously, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibited a federal judge from issuing a search warrant outside his or her district.

The changes go into effect on Dec. 1 unless Congress moves to reverse them.

Several digital rights and civil liberties groups, along with some tech companies, have opposed the changes. The new rule "creates new avenues for government hacking that were never approved by Congress," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a blog post in April.

The new rule, allowing warrants targeting data "concealed through technological means, would give police permission to target users of VPNs or the Tor anonymous browser, the EFF said. "If this rule change is not stopped, anyone who is using any technological means to safeguard their location privacy could find themselves suddenly in the jurisdiction of a prosecutor-friendly or technically-naive judge, anywhere in the country," the group added.

Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, will sign on as a co-sponsor of the legislation, scheduled to be introduced next week, said a spokeswoman for Wyden. The proposal has generated bipartisan interest in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, she said.

The bill may be difficult to pass in a national election year, when controversial legislation usually stalls. But Wyden "certainly is going to put this at the top of the priority list," his spokeswoman said.
House Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation intended to bolster the scrutiny of people entering this country. Its impetus is last year's terrorist attack by a married couple who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif. and wounded 22. But the bill's provisions will affect all visas, including the H-1B.

The legislation, submitted Thursday and led by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, specifically requires analytics software "to ensure proactive detection of fraud" in the immigration process.

The software analysis requires the government "to utilize social media and other publicly available information" to determine whether an applicant is a security threat. One of the San Bernardino attackers, Tashfeen Malik, had allegedly posted allegiance to ISIL on Facebook, something which wasn't revealed until after the attack. She and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, were killed by police in a shootout.

House bill 5203, titled "The Visa Integrity and Security Act," doesn't single out any visa specifically for enforcement, but emphasizes the need to reduce fraud generally and increase security.

To pay for the new technology and enforcement provisions, the bill authorizes $60 million for each of the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years. The costs will be paid through surcharges on passports and visas. The specific prices of those surcharges was not detailed.

"Visa security is critical to national security and we must address gaping holes in our immigration system that allow those who wish Americans harm and fraudsters to game the system," Goodlatte said in a statement.

But the proposed law may complicate the use of temporary work visas for employers.

The bill, for instance, requires immigration officials to interview a visa holder every time there is a change of status in their visa, such as an H-1B renewal or change of jobs. Right now, interviews are required to enter the country but not after the visa holder is established here.

Enforcing this provision might require hiring hundreds more immigration workers, said William Stock, the president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and founding partner at Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer LLP.

The bill also raises the standard of proof, and may require more documents, affidavits and other forms of evidence to support the visa. "The potential is certainly there for the process to become much more expensive and much more burdensome for employers," said Stock.

The U.S. has brought a number of H-1B visa fraud cases, including one that involved a $20 million H-1B fraud scheme. In 2008, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) reported that a review of 246 randomly selected petitions filed in 2005 and 2006 revealed a fraud rate of just over 13%.

But Stock said the USCIS has been increasing its scrutiny of work petitions, particularly the L-1 visa, used in intracompany transfers.

Rejection rates have risen from about 6% to above 30% over the last 10 years.
The U.S. military is supporting research for a mind-controlled prosthetic arm that is surgically implanted into the user's body.

"This is the most advanced arm in the world," Johnny Matheny, who lost his left arm to cancer in 2008 and demonstrated the robotic arm for DARPA, said in a statement. "This one can do anything your natural arm can do, with the exception of the Vulcan V. But unless I meet a Vulcan, I won't need it."

Matheny showed the arm during Demo Day for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the military's research unit, which was held Wednesday at the Pentagon. The device was developed at the Research and Exploratory Development Department at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

The robotic arm is attached to a piece of metal that is surgically implanted into the bone of the user's arm in technique called osseointegration. Matheny is the first person in the U.S. to have undergone the procedure, according to the U.S. Army.

The Army called the system a "true man/machine interface."

The mind-controlled aspect of the arm comes into play via the nerves and muscles in what remains of the user's arm. Those tissues send signals to the robotic arm, which responds to them as a real arm would.

"This is part of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program, where we set out to restore near-natural upper extremity control to our military service members who have lost limbs in service of our country," said Dr. Justin C. Sanchez, director of the Biological Technologies Office at DARPA, in a statement. "The goal is to control the arm as naturally as possible."

The robotic arm, according to Sanchez, has the same size, weight, shape and grip strength as an adult biological arm.

The army said Matheny had to undergo procedures to "re-map" the nerves in his arm so he could better control the robotic limb. The military did not say what those procedures were or how invasive.

"So far this thing works great," said Matheny. "It's the arm of the future. This arm here, it can do 45 pounds. I can take on any one of these big old burley soldiers around here. We'll get a 45-pound weight and keep going. I can keep going till the battery wears down. And when I feel it starting to go down, I say swap me out. They take it out, pop another battery in, and I keep going. I never miss a beat."

Sanchez noted that researchers are continuing to push to develop more complex and powerful mind-control solutions for prosthetics and are looking into direct neural interfaces.

That kind of control would require implants in the brain. However, the implants would be able to send and receive signals so users' would gain "feeling" in their robotic arm.

"If you really want to get to natural control, you have to do this -- where we have human subjects have direct neural interfaces in their brain," Sanchez said. "They can think about moving their robotic arm and the signals come directly out of their brain, process in the arm, and can actually move the arm."
Lewis Baston is author of Reggie: The Life of Reginald Maudling and several books about British general elections. He is a consultant on politics, elections and constituencies.

While it is tempting to see the history of the Scottish Conservatives as being one of decline and fall since the gilded day in 1955 when the party won a majority of votes and seats, it is inaccurate. The Conservative ascendancy was a relatively short period in Scottish political history, and the product of the particular alignment of political forces in the mid-twentieth century. But the longer history is more interesting than the simple tale of decline would suggest. It is a cyclical story of periodic reconstruction and revival punctuated by long periods of decline.

Scotlands history as stony ground for the Tories does not start in 1997, or 1987, or even in 1959. It is essentially the default state of politics north of the border. From the Great Reform Act of 1832 until the present day, with the exception of the confused period of party politics in the inter-war period, the Conservatives have only won majorities in Scotland twice in general elections: 1900 and 1955. Neither time was it by a comfortable margin  two seats in 1900; one seat in 1955.

Political conservatism is most likely to attract popular support where the pattern of land ownership has an element of legitimacy and consent. This manifestly did not exist in Ireland under the Union, and was weaker in the Scotland of the clearances and absentee landlords than in rural England. In Ireland and Scotland, as soon as the franchise was widened and intimidation became less easy, the feelings of the tenants about their Tory, Anglophile landlords surged through into politics. Scotlands towns were also shaped by long years as fortified outposts in a turbulent country and were often overcrowded and squalid, in need of reforming energetic government.

Scotlands different religious history (the 1707 Act of Union maintained the Presbyterian Church of Scotland) also meant that the identification with the Church of England that was part of the Tory identity in England was not present in Scotland. The Liberals commanded the Scottish political landscape. From 1832 until 1841, the number of Scottish Conservative MPs increased from 10 to 22, but it then declined in every subsequent election until the Third Reform Act, with the sole exception of 1874; in 1880 the Tories were reduced to six seats in the face of Gladstones Midlothian Campaign.

The upheaval of 1885-86 brought a transfusion of energy to the right of Scottish politics. The Liberal Unionists, who split with Gladstone over Home Rule for Ireland, gave an instant boost to numbers, electing 27 Unionists out of 70 seats in 1886. They built a bridge to the small town, respectable Presbyterian Liberal vote. With Ireland in the background, the Liberals in disarray, the Unionists making some progress on land and religious issues, and many Scots serving in the war in South Africa, the Scottish Unionists won their elusive victory in 1900.

As the politics of Irish Home Rule sharpened and the political identity of Ulster Unionism emerged, the conflict was brought to the west of Scotland because of the intimate social and economic links between Belfast and Glasgow. But an infusion of orange could only help in a limited number of seats. The downward trend resumed. Scotland participated in the Liberal landslide of 1906 and, in contrast to England, the Conservatives and Liberal Unionists continued to lose seats in Scotland in 1910, and were back to single figures. In 1912, they merged officially.

Just as the Scottish Conservatives were dwindling again, the political realignment around the First World War gave the party a new lease of life. The Tories did well in the (second) khaki election of 1918, and their National Liberal allies were strong in Scotland as well. Even in 1922, the spirit of coalitionism was still strong in Scotland, and the electoral pact was maintained between the Unionists and the National Liberals, while it usually lapsed in England. A new threat was emerging from Labour, which made big electoral inroads in the west of Scotland in 1922, winning 10 out of 15 seats in Glasgow. Clydeside Labour was more militant than the cautious union bureaucrats and Fabians of the English party, and once again the Conservatives and the centre-right Liberals were thrust together in the face of a common enemy; Labour v Tory politics began earlier in Scotland than it did at Westminster.

Many of the rural seats gained from the Liberals in 1924 remained Conservative until the 1970s, such as Aberdeenshire East, where Bob Boothby held the seat until his peerage in 1958. The accession of another group of National Liberals in 1931 set the seal on the realignment, and allowed the Unionists to expand into the Highlands. Scottish and English voting behaviour converged, which was a tribute to the breadth of the Scottish Unionist appeal, because Scotlands industrial structure and religious heritage were nowhere near as supportive as in England.

This was maintained with an eye for working class interests on the part of successive Secretaries of State who were drawn from the left of the Tory spectrum, a tradition maintained until the arrival of Michael Forsyth in 1995. If anything, the Tories were more sympathetic to devolution than Labour at the high point of Unionist ascendancy; they moved the Scottish Office to Edinburgh in 1939, and countenanced legislative devolution of some sort several times, notably with Heaths Declaration of Perth in 1968.

Mid-century politics pushed centralisation as far as it would go. Labours reforms after 1945 operated at a British level, with Scotland treated as a region  the NHS, nationalised coal and railways and the welfare state were all centralising measures. There was the occasional twinge of nationalist irritation in Scotland, apparent around events such as the disappearance of the Stone of Destiny. But the Conservatives in power after 1951 did little to deliver on their hints about decentralisation. Even on the eve of Unionist triumph, the Liberals were creeping back, with a strong swing in the Inverness by-election of 1954 that presaged the recapture of the Highlands in 1964.

British heavy industry maintained an artificially large share of the world market after 1945 but, by the mid-1950s, war-devastated competitors had rebuilt their capacity and mining and heavy industry and the west of Scotland were struggling economically. The Tory governments encouraged new investment such as Ravenscraig steel works (started 1954) and the car factory at Linwood (1961), but deprived areas started to swing towards Labour in 1959, and the Glasgow Orange vote collapsed.

From 1955 to 1966, the Scottish Unionists (Conservative and Unionist as they became after 1965) dropped from 36 seats to 20. A feeble recovery in 1970 only brought them back to 23 seats  after 1966, the second worst result since 1929. The sense of Scottish distinctiveness increased in the early 1970s with the start of the oil industry and the Upper Clyde shipbuilders work-in. In the 1974 elections, the Tories lost seats that had been safe since the 1920s to the SNP, including the Moray & Nairn seat held by Gordon Campbell, the Scottish Secretary. The Scottish Tories were clearly in deep trouble even before Margaret Thatcher became leader.

Revival in 1979 and 1983 was temporary, based on the aftermath of the devolution referendum of 1979 and a split anti-Conservative vote, and the declining trend resumed with a vengeance. The divergence between Scotland and England widened to unprecedented levels in 1987: while the Scottish Tories slumped from 21 seats to 10, the huge English Conservative majority of 1983 survived almost intact (358 MPs  a loss of only four seats). The decline halted only briefly in 1992 on the way down to the dead-in-the-water level of support the party had in every election between 1994 and 2016.

By 1987, the key divide in Scottish politics was between the embattled Conservative minority and the anti-Tory majority, a chunk of which was loyally Labour, but a lot of whom would switch between Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP depending on the circumstances and who was best placed to keep the Tories out. The SNP majority government and the referendum changed this pattern. There was a huge realignment from Labour to SNP, and a corresponding sense that Yes or No on independence was the real litmus test. The 2015 Westminster election, and the 2016 Scottish election, both showed signs that voters were now switching more freely between the three unionist parties rather than among the centre-left parties. The Tories were now not an isolated and despised minority but a part of a  narrow  majority, and were better placed to deliver an effective opposition to the SNP at Holyrood than the alternatives. They also recaptured some of their centre-right vote from the SNP in Moray, Aberdeenshire and Perthshire for the first time since 1992, consolidating the advances that had been apparent for some years in the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway.

Ruth Davidsons success in 2016 was real but relative. With 22-23 per cent of the vote, it was the Scottish Tories best result since 1992, but that is not a very high target. But it would be churlish to deny her personal achievement; Edinburgh Central is surely the most intellectual, liberal constituency to have a Tory representative. Detoxifying the party was partly down to her common sense, good-humoured and modern approach to leadership, and the end of the whiff of arrogance that came from an ancestral memory of the 1931-1959 ascendancy, but was also enabled by the change in the frame of Scottish politics from left/ right to Yes/ No.

The Scottish Conservatives have been capable of periodic upticks in their support without any outside assistance, as in 1874, 1970 and 1983, but it has always taken a realignment incorporating Liberals to break out of a declining trend  as it did after 1886, 1918 and 1931.

Some argue that this historical pattern has prevented the growth of an authentically Scottish, authentically conservative party, but it is more tempting to think of it as a symptom rather than a cause of the weakness of centre-right politics in Scotland. There is the possibility that some creative politics from Davidson and her colleagues could engineer a similar feat over the next few years, involving a more explicitly detached status from the Westminster Conservative Party, and some concessions to social democratic and liberal politics. In exchange, the Unionists could again receive the benefits of a realignment.

The Conservative Party in Scotland is a fragile plant, exotic to its environment but surviving because it has been strengthened by periodic grafts of hardier rootstock from other compatible native varieties, as the Scottish Conservatives managed in the 1880s, 1920s and 1930s. A further graft from the remnants of Labour and the LibDems might be the best way of preserving the Union, providing an alternative government to the SNP, and returning perhaps to 1970s levels of support  and it would be entirely in line with the partys history.

Further reading: David Torrance (ed)  Whatever happened to Tory Scotland? Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012. No doubt the industrious Mr Torrance will have an updated edition for us before long.
The big EU referendum story of the last couple of days has been the revelation, if thats the word, that migration from the Union to the UK appears substantially higher than was previously admitted.

After being pressed on why the number of National Insurance numbers being issued to new arrivals was much higher than the number of officially recorded immigrants, the ONS has claimed that short-term visitors (who stay less than one year) account for most of the shortfall.

The result has been predictable enough: pro-Leave outlets have seized upon a conspiracy of silence, and pro-Remain papers are maintaining that people who go home after 12 months are unlikely to be a burden on the UK.

Immigration is obviously a subject which has been increasingly important in British politics for some time, with debate raging over whether its undoubted economic benefits outweigh the cost to low-skilled Britons, who are said to face stiffer competition, over-worked public services, and depressed wages.

Yet for all the noise, we may be about to see just how important immigration actually is to the electorate.

For better or worse, Remain clearly feel that they are winning on the economic front. The best of the Leave campaign might have ambitious and outward-looking messages about deregulation and global trade, such as those set out in Martin Durkins Brexit: The Movie.

But Remain can wheel out any number of big businesses, economists, and now the Governor of the Bank of England to warn that leaving the EU spells doom and gloom. With a cautious electorate and the normal dynamics of a plebiscite weighted towards the status quo, that seems (tactically, at least) the stronger hand.

As constitutional matters like sovereignty, whilst important subjects of debate, scarcely energise the electorate, that does leave immigration has one of the main pillars of the Leave case.

That fact alone doesnt necessarily prescribe a certain type of campaign: Vote Leave were probably right to eschew Nigel Farages base-friendly campaign in exchange for a model which engaged with  and wouldnt put off  swing voters.

EU membership does mean that we cant stop citizens of other EU countries from moving to the UK  and that includes those millions whom Angela Merkel has invited in and who will in time, presumably, be offered German citizenship. Meanwhile our renegotiation has shown that we cant stop them claiming welfare.

(Whether or not you believe that many of them actually claim welfare matters no more than whether you genuinely believe quitting the EU risks World War Three).

The public regularly express their deep dissatisfaction with this to pollsters and politicians, and rank it as one of, if not the, most important political issues. This is their best chance in a very long time to do something about it.

Regardless of the campaign we might like to have seen, between now and polling day most voters will likely be weighing Remains gloomy economic prediction with Leaves case for border control. Then well find out how important the British public think immigration really is.
A Social Justice Queens Speech would give local councils more incentive to build more homes for sale, take powers from some of them if necessary to improve failing schools, and back family stability through the tax system and targeted intervention  for example, by reforming SureStart.

Even a glance at this programme should be enough to help settle the debate that still persists among some Conservatives about the role of the state.

To aid social justice, the state must sometimes advance. When the economy goes through a downturn, companies retrench their spending. But the state should increase its capital spending, precisely to try to shorten the downturn. Government spending is the best part of 800 billion this year. In a modern country, that total will always run to hundreds of billions (which is why how it is distributed matters, which in turn is why this Government should end ring-fencing). Private housebuilding will turn down when that downturn inevitably comes, but state housebuilding can keep going, and keep the supply chain going into the bargain.

The state must sometimes retreat, too, if social justice is to be furthered. It should strip those same local authorities of the responsibility for managing schools if they are consistently failing children. But the example helps to show how limited that retreat must necessarily be. Some of those schools will be given to other local authorities to manage  as has happened on the Isle of Wight, where Hampshire is in charge, and elsewhere. Even when they are not, and the voluntary or independent or private sectors move in, it is the state that must assess the bidders, set the terms, make a decision and keep it under review.

Family policy is the ultimate proof of the role of the state in policy-making. As we have seen, a rising tide does not lift all boats. If a man is addicted to drugs or alcohol, or lacks the skills that school should have given him, or has been unemployed for so long that his skills are outdated, that rising tide of growth wont sail his boat. Cutting back the size of the state wont help him. It wont somehow lift him off his crack dependency, or suddenly gift him with the skills he has lost or never had, or magic away the debt under whose weight he is bowed. Nor, certainly, will growing the size of the state. But it is the state that must help organise on a mass scale the interventions that will help him.

Too many Tories simply see the state as Big Brother when they would better view it as Little Brother  thats to say, we shouldnt hate the state: it has claims on us, even those of affection. (What Conservative does not revere the monarchy and the armed forces?) In the same way, too many simply defend the system under which we and the bulk of people worldwide live  the system that we call capitalism  without looking at how that system can sometimes act as a barrier to social justice rather than boost it.

Our own capitalism isnt quite like anyone elses. The size of our welfare state has sometimes led it to be viewed as a halfway house between American capitalism, with its tradition of individual freedom (though the United States can be much more interventionist when protecting its own industries is concerned) and German capitalism, with its stress on social co-operation drawn from Catholic social teaching. But however you view it, our system throws up its own offences against social justice.

There are the marginal tax rates that hit poorer workers harder than they hit higher-rate taxpayers  and the taxes that fall disproportionately on them; the pay gap between some companies poorest employees and their Chief Executives, whose pay themselves and their families well but somehow fail to safeguard their workers pensions funds. (Thats you, Philip Green.) The markets that help preserve a closed circle of providers  the electricity industry is often cited as a classic illustration; the state that deliberately targets taxpayers cash on richer retired people.

Them there are the lobby groups which lobby government which are paid by the taxpayer to lobby government. The relatively narrow interests which get a very big say in public policy, because of the way party funding funding works. The drawing of the people who run Britain from a relatively narrow social band. The best Universities are always likely and doubtless should provide many of the people who govern and shape the country. But what about access to them? Why do the private schools still have so entrenched a position?

Some of these problems are a direct result of Government, rather than the market, getting public policy wrong. Some of them are symbols of a wider, deeper, cultural malaise. Many of them can be tackled by Government legislation or by regulation or tax cutting (or raising) or by other incentives. But the old lesson of the law of unintended consequences always applies. It is easy to look at the BHS pension fund debacle and call for more legislation. But as David Willetts has pointed out, it was tighter regulation that helped to kill private pensions in the first place.

None the less, it simply wont do to say that nothing can be done, bar the relatively narrow interventions in housing, schools, family policy and ending ring-fencing which this site recommends. The Government now publishes measures of General Well-Being. (Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday? those who help to conduct it ask respondents.) Thats a legacy of the happy Steve Hilton days before the crash  with its taxpayer-funded bailing out of the banks, the biggest and most problematic recent social justice issue of all.

People sometimes complain that all politicians do is talk. Actually, talk has an important function in politics. Talk can change public attitudes. Talk can shift policy. Public attitudes to smoking, child abuse, same-sex marriage, the police, housebuildingall these have arguably changed more because of what we say rather than because of what governments has done. Housebuilding is a classic example. Part of Nick Boless function as Planning Minister was precisely to risk harm to his political reputation by playing his part in shifting public attitudes to building more homes.

So just as there is a General Well-Being survey, so there should be a Crony Capitalism Register  or, more accurately, a Social Justice Register. It would measure the distribution and strength of those goods which this site has taken an interest in: family stability, good schools, adequate homes. It would assess who is taxed most, how much that taxation props up the lobby and interest groups, name and shame the worst corporate pay offenders, put in one place the details of how Labour is funded by the unions and the Conservatives by a small (though widening) number of donors.

The Commons would debate it. A Select Committee could launch an enquiry and call witnesses. Deliberately and carefully, which is the right way, proposals for Government action would emerge.

Yes, the state should be smaller. And, yes, Little Brother must not get too big for his boots. (If the sibling comparison works at all, then there should be a healthy bit of sibling rivalry.) But reducing the size of the state isnt everything and capitalism isnt perfect  not by a long chalk. A Social Justice Register is right up Camerons One Nation street.
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Abortion is a recourse done by women for varied reasons and may largely depend on the type of world they reside in. A paper that was published recently shows a remarkable drop on women who resorted to abortion for the period 2010 to 2014 but even that is up for debate.

The paper which was published via the Lancet journal shows an average of 56 million abortions that took place annually from 2010 to 2014. Whittling it down, that meant only 3.5% of women having abortions.

Compared to the numbers shown back in 1990 to 1994 where 40 abortions per 1,000 women annually was reported, the latest crunched numbers do show improvement and should draw cheers for people against it. However, principal research scientist Gilda Sedgh cautions that while the numbers are astounding, it may not necessarily cover the differences likely between developed and developing countries.

Developed countries such as the United States may see a noteworthy decline but sadly the same drops may not be that significant on other developing countries. Among the reasons singled out for the difference include modern methods of contraception which are known to help out people in reducing unwanted pregnancies.

"We think this is because the desire for small families and precisely timed births has outpaced the uptake of contraceptive use," Sedgh said.

The study was based on statistics collected from various sources such as national surveys, official government statistics and studies which was also supported by various countries.

Aside from the drop in abortion cases, it was also found that about three-fourths of abortions happened among married women which comes a bit of a surprise considering there are those who were expecting it to cover unwed teenagers.

"The obvious interpretation is that criminalizing abortion does not prevent it but, rather, drives women to seek illegal services or methods. But this simple story overlooks the many women who, in the absence of safe legal services, carry unwanted pregnancies to term," said associate professor Diana Greene Foster of the University of California at San Francisco.

With that said, it all boils down to making modern ways to provide women with the right kind of contraceptive innovations such as long-lasting, low-risk implantable and injectable alternatives to daily pills, particularly for the developing regions.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Five Men In A Tinnie: Australia, Terror And The Islamic State Arrests

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark

13 May, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Terror is very much an induced state of mind. It compresses realities while inflating fantasies. States and regimes administer such inducements in moderate doses to keep the hounded citizenry on their toes. Sometimes, they become absurdly generous, usually around the time when elections loom.

Distant, inconsequential as it is, Australia, through such questionable motifs as the lone wolf terrorist, has been thrust into the global maelstrom of mass Islamic radicalisation.

A neatly convenient way of selling a message without substance, the security establishment tried to make a case in 2014 that a confused, mentally unhinged man with more identities than sense, was one such terrorist when he held those in a Sydney coffee shop hostage.

Not wanting to be left out of another by product of this, Australian policy makers have also insisted on another, more profoundly sinister form of thought policing: the targeting and punishing of individuals for the mere suggestion that they might visit (no fight!) in designated foreign theatres.

The Tuesday arrests of five Australian men in the northern Queensland tropical city of Cairns suspected of wanting to join the Islamic State campaign in Syria by the Australian Federal Police seemed to be more farce than substance. It resembled, superficially, a revamped variant of Jerome K. Jeromes 1889 Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).

In Jeromes telling, a boat journey unfolds along the River Thames as a form of pleasurable therapy for the participants, a travel account criticised by the high-brows as being far too low brow. In Cairns, we see a modern Australian farce, five men, travelling over land with a boat that would have taken them to Indonesia from Bamaga. (Childish maps have been drafted by the Australian press for gleeful consumption.) From there, they would supposedly make their way to Syria (bicycle, plane or camel?) where the joy of jihad would consume them.

This should immediately strike the local punditry as ironic. The Australian government has been engaged in a militarised campaign against refugees and asylum seekers seeking naval routes to Australia in a turn back boat policy. Indonesia has tended to be the first recipient.

In this case, the men were intending to leave Australia by boat to get to Indonesia, a gesture so ludicrously amusing it should have brought smiles to the police forces. But alas, that would have been heretical.

The police have been scant on detail, though there is enough to go on that cleric Musa Cerantonio, deemed by the local press a notorious Islamic preacher (when are they ever not?) is among them (ABC News, May 11). The men were being held, claimed an AFP spokesman, to assist with inquiries, though charges were also being considered. As this activity remains ongoing, further comment will be provided when it is appropriate to do so (AAP, May 11).

The police and customs authorities have been vested with vast powers in responding to a certain breed of modern foreign fighter. In truth, the fighter who goes off to wage other peoples wars and causes is an ancient as civilization itself, a product as much of opportunity as ideology.

The previous legislation from 1978 was repealed with foreign incursion and recruitment offences moved to the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth). It is not merely an offence to enter a foreign country with an intention to engage in a hostile activity, but anything deemed preparatory to such incursions is also caught by the legislation.

The legislative regime is supplemented by the Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (Foreign Fighters) Act 2014, introduced by the Australian Attorney-General, Senator George Brandis, with the purpose of addressing the emerging and unique domestic security threats posed by the return of Australians who have participated in foreign conflicts, trained with extremist groups, or people in Australia who provide support to those who may seek to do us harm.

That unpleasant bit of statutory wizardry reduces thresholds of proof and the grounds upon which you can be held for seeking to participate in a foreign theatre of conflict. What it effectively amounts to is a form of thought surveillance, anticipating wickedness before it transpires.

The very idea of travelling to Syria suggests mischief and crime as the Minister for Foreign Affairs has deemed it a declared area. Done with executive abandon, this designation is purely based on the idea that a listed terrorist organisation is engaging in a hostile activity in that area.

The onus of proof is not on the authorities to show that going to a prohibited conflict zone (a declared area) was undertaken with an illegal purpose. Rather, it is the person travelling to such a prohibited area to show that all is above board, that the person was not reckless to the fact that the area is a declared area. Not doing so may lead to a ten year prison sentence, a true Star Chamber provision.

Absurd if adventurous acts that involved extensive travelling, a tinnie, and an Australian road trip seem to surprise members of the federal police. AFP Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan has made valiant efforts to squeeze blood from a stone, finding it extraordinary that such men had gone all the way from Melbourne, all the way to the far north Queensland. The followers of Islam can indeed be intrepid.

Victorian Police Deputy Commissioner was similarly attempting to put clothes back onto the emperor of doubt. 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.

The only material the police have to play with here are scattered thoughts and foolish premises  nothing has actually taken place. Having never eventuated, anything to the contrary is speculative and, in this case, fantastic. That will not trouble those who believe that carefree thoughts, in addition to substantive acts, deserve institutional punishment.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. Email: bkampmark@gmail.com








Forced Eviction And Demolition Drive In Indore

By National Alliance of Peoples Movements

13 May, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The Smart Cities flagship modernization programme of the Modi government is huge in its scale and vicious in the way it has acquired land for the development of cities. This programme aspires to transform nearly 100 cities in India into Smart Cities and has a huge budgetary allowance of Rs. 7,060 crores. The reality of this transformation is however destructive and dangerous for people of lower middle and middle income groups in the urban areas. Indore, one of the cities selected for this programme has been bearing witness to the violent way in which the State has been acquiring land for this programme during the last 2 months.

Residents of the Biyabani and Loharpatti areas in the old part of the Indore city; have borne the brunt of the reality of Smart City. In the last couple of months, the demolition of 100-150 year old houses in the aforementioned areas signifies the abolition of simple and self-reliant communities to make way for the plans to take effect under the Smart City programme. The demolition drive has however been forceful and is completely devoid of transparency and democratic processes. More than 100 families have been left homeless with their shops/livelihood also in jeopardy. More than 18 roads in Indore are set to undergo a transformation and await similar the similar fate of demolition.

Committed social workers Ashok Dube, Tapan and Bela Bhatia, SK Dube, Vijay Dalal, Pramod Bagnani and social activist Medha Patkar, today joined the Pad Yatra organized by the local Nagrik Seva Samiti and were led across the entire distance of the affected areas. The residents joined the Pad Yatra as well and narrated their horrific experiences with the local Municipal Corporation or Nagar Nigam. The residents stressed on the fact that the authorities used force to evict them and carry on with their demolition drive; often also employing bouncers clad in the Corporations uniform to fulfill their objectives. A few of them were also subject to physical violence and assault in what is an unprecedented abuse of power and authority. Durgashankar, a resident of the area witnessed his 65 year old house demolished along with his shop Bahaniya Arts; while another resident Kesarbai Rajendra Chauhan of Bhagat Singh Marg has lost 2 shops and his house. Shyamabai Rathod, a widow who has been living on her own is now rendered homeless while Kaliram Vaidyas family after whom one of the roads in the area is named after did not find any relief, neither from the in-laws of the states ex-Chief Minister nor from Mr. Pandey an active BJP worker whose house has also been partly damaged. Many other residents have similarly witnessed the destruction of their 100 year old homes, shops and the emotions attached to these places.

Some of the residents approached higher authorities and also sought judicial recourse in response to the initial notification regarding the demolition only to find their pleas fall on deaf ears. In some cases, the Court issued a stay order on the demolition only for a period of 8 days while in other cases; it turned its back on the residents and directed them to the Corporation again! The BJP MLA from the area who is surprisingly also reported to be the Mayor Smt. Malini Gaur, whose proposed multi-storeyed construction site is also in the area has not only turned back on her poll promises to the residents but has also conveniently made sure that her project is affected only by an extension of the road by 4ft while residents properties opposite her mall site are earmarked to be completely demolished by an extension of 26 ft of the road. Gowtam Kumar Jains shop opposite Smt. Gaurs proposed multi storeyed shopping and residential complex lies currently partly demolished and is set to be fully demolished in the coming months.

The area also suffers from an open sewer and drain problem. This sewer, the residents claim is at least 15 ft deep and in some places around 12 ft wide from the road to the homes. The authorities who exposed the open sewer during their demolition drive remain complacent to the potential dangers of it as a physical threat in addition to being the root cause of a malarial epidemic are being severely underestimated by the local authorities. The huge uncovered pits also run the risk of contaminating the water supply line in already difficult circumstances the residents find themselves in complicated also with the lack of running water facilities and the absence of taps in the area. Sharp objects and rubbles from the demolition drive lie unattended to heightening concerns over children safety in the area. The residents have taken it to themselves to form a Nagrik Seva Samiti and fight the authorities politically by organizing similar events such as the Pad Yatra and making vigorous demands for fair compensation on the basis of their rights.

This is indeed appalling and deserves quick national attention. The true nature of the transformation to Smart Cities has preliminarily shown that the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution is being restricted merely to big industrialist close to the Central Government while the promise of Acche Din still waits unfulfilled and in fact unattended to. It is pathetic that Mr. Modi is scheduled to visit the Ujjain Simhastha Mela while turning a blind eye to the plight of these residents in Indore. He has neither taken cognizance of these brutalities nor does his government (and affiliated BJP ruled state governments) seem concerned about the distorted vision of vikaas and paradigm of development which is jeopardizing the lives of people as well as causing significant environmental damage.

Tapan Bhattacharjee, SK Dube, Ashok Dube, Mr. Bagdi, Medha Patkar












PUDR Condemns The Deplaning Of Gladson Dungdung

By Peoples Union for Democratic Rights

13 May, 2016

Countercurrents.org

I started travelling to the Red Corridor in order to collect evidence that this is not a war against terrorism, the so-called Naxalite insurgency by the CPI-Maoists but a war against the Adivasis. The hidden goal is to snatch their resources i.e. their lands, their forests, their water and hills. I believe that my mission to Saranda Forest proves this to be the case. I have taken great care in my researches and I am convinced that the war is actually, fundamentally, a war for control over mineral resource and that it threatens the security of all the common people in the Red Corridor and is wrecking their peaceful existence, their good governance, development and prosperity. -Gladson Dungdung cited in Felix Padals review of Mission Saranda: A War for Natural Resources in India

PUDR strongly condemns the deplaning of Ranchi based human rights activist, journalist and writer Gladson Dungdung from his flight to London on 10th May, when he was travelling to participate in a workshop on environmental politics and history of South Asia at the University of Sussex's Centre for World Environmental History. Dungdungs views couldnt be clearer; nor the motive behind his deplaning more transparent, than from the passage cited above.

Gladson Dungdung has for a long time been a very vocal critic of the governments development and land acquisition policies in Jharkhand, of multinational corporations, and the attack on Adivasi peoples rights. He was actively involved in the struggles against Arcelor Mittal, and the Nagri (Jharkhand) protest movement against acquisition of agricultural land in a fifth schedule area for a law University and IIM, in connection with which Dayamani Barla too had been arrested.

It should therefore come as no surprise that this is not the first time that Gladson has attracted the ire of the government. His passport had been impounded in January 2014 as well, after he had spoken against the governments land acquisition policy in tribal areas, at conferences in Germany and Thailand in 2013. The airport authorities have cited the 2013 withdrawal of his passport as the reason behind the deplaning, which is absurd as he has travelled to Denmark and London in 2014 and 2015, the last to release his book Mission Saranda. His passport had been returned in July 2014.

The restrictions on travel are clearly directed at preventing the exposing at international fora, the ugly side of the Indian governments mining policies, and its genocidal war against Adivasis in the name of fighting Maoism, especially at a time when India Inc is going all out to attract foreign capital. The present instance is of a piece with Greenpeace activist Priya Pillais offloading in January 2015 when she was going to address British legislators about rights violations in the coal producing area of Mahan in MP.

The present incident assumes added significance in the immediate context where the government has been advocating the watering down of the Forest Rights Act in tribal areas, with the Chattisgarh government having already summarily set aside some of its provisions. The restriction on travel in Gladsons case is part and parcel of preventing the dissemination of uncomfortable truths through restrictions on freedoms of speech expression and movement, and must be resisted at all costs.

Moushumi Basu, Deepika Tandon

Secretaries, PUDR














When Gods Are Threatened

By Surabhi Singh

13 May, 2016

Countercurrents.org

A phenomenal opening chapter in the much acclaimed novel Roots by Alex Haley, describes the birth of protagonist Kunta Kinte in the thickets of a glorious African Gambia Forest and his father takes the new born to the highest peak of a mountain. He holds the new born high and says to Allah, Behold, the only thing more magnificent than you. That was before the young man thus born to magnificence is chained and thrown into a boat, made to sit on his own shit and vomit for three months and sold into a slave market like a circus animal. The sheer tragedy of his life, should have been a lesson for generations to come in the continent of Africa- where today- millions are dying of fratricide and genocide on one hand, and starvation on the other.

Why after nearly a decade of reading the novel, this particular scene has remained inside my mind, like a gnawing pain, is because I have come across several such magnificence shrewn to bestial shreds of indignity right in my hometown Raipur. Across roads, in the by lanes, in front of temples, in the darkened alleys leading to illustrious malls, in front of schools, hospitals, eateries- they are there. Hollowed eyes, vacant faces, slugging shoulders and soiled hands. Their personalities emptied of the past magnificience, taking one day at a time of struggle for survival. Among all the things that are stripped from these children, is their God, who had witnessed their births as a glorious thing. In here, in this cage of metal, alluminium, steel, plastic, copper and iron, their God, like their mountain, river, forests and homeland- has ceased to exist. These migrant flailing children are Adivasis who were evicted from their forests in Bastar, Jashpur and Rajnandgaon districts, leaving their homes, farms, land back. Although the Gods had remained there- being plummeted, blasted, dug, exploded or simply hammered to dust to make way for rich minerals, excavated from the depth of their hearts.

In this day of Ultra Nationalism, Hindutva fascism and Cultural hegemony- the Adivasi gods have paid the price of being too liberal and progressive. After all, a society that can shed tears for a woman raped, brutalized and killed in her house before celebrating Mothers Day with emphatic zeal; or for a society that can easily celebrate festivities worshipping a Mother Goddess while burning, raping, molesting and acid raining its mothers, sisters and daughters everyday- it is imperative that there exists a more conservative God- that can actually draw a clear line of distinction between sinners and saints. The same society also needs its God to prescribe some real easy ways to define ways of absolving ones sins. Like for example put a man in the loop of rebirths, atonements, confessions, kumbh snans or donations in the temples- to absolve him of any weight on his conscience. Better still, divide the entire society based on hatred and make sure women and those who are most hardworking people- are thrown in at the bottom of the food chain. You see, religion, the Aryan way, is meant to scare the shit out of us, leave us confused and numbed at the core.

If the Hindutva brigade has to win in India, the animism of the Adivasis, has to lose. Thats because Adivasi Gods do not preach fear and cast its believer with its wrath at the drop of a hat. But mostly, the Sangh denies adivasis the status of the original dwellers, their very own stake into the survival, because the latters existence runs counter to its own claim that the Aryans, who brought vedic civilization to the country, are the original inhabitants of the land.

For the past seven decades and more, these Adivasi communities are being systematically denied their fundamental rights of existence through vehement corporate, political and social exploitation. The triage of greed, violent orstracisation and mass sexual deprivation has resulted in their shrinking from the original dwellers of the land, to just a few thousand inhabitants now hobbled deep inside the pockets of thick jungles on one hand, while the rest are scattered across the cities and towns, forgotten and forbidden.

One of the cruellest tactics of annihilating these Adivasis, have been through imposed religious divisions, first by large scale Christian missionary activity and more recently by the Sangh Parivar, that has somehow arrogated to itself the authority to control them. In Raipur itself there are several hundred schools and tribal hostels, that are engaged in a massive drive to bring back the tribals into the fold of Hinduism. Their tactics are often viciously violent and explicitly misogynist to say the least.

The Bastar Adivasis are predominantly animistic (the belief that non-human objects have spirits, that animals, birds and tree possess souls) and although their beliefs vary from tribe to tribe, it usually centres around animal worship, tree worship, belief in the Rain God, the Hill God, and the Earth Spirit. The Dhurwa tribe, for example, call upon a spirit of rain or river water to bless them with good catches of fish and abundant crops.

Gond Adivasis have the trees form the focal point of their cosmos. They believe that trees are hard at work during the day, providing shade, shelter and nourishment for all; but at night, when all the daytime visitors have left, the spirits of the trees reveal themselves. Each of the clans have a Mother Goddess. The people of Bastar worship Earth as their Mother. Most interesting factor is that most of the Adivasis have centred their religion around female deities, often called matas, or mothers. Some of the clans invoke deities to get rid of diseases and natural calamities and also to provide them with good harvest and bountiful forest produce. The various Totempoles reveal their Men, horses, elephants and birds as the symbols of belief.

The fact that their stories, their deities and their mythology never found a place in the popular curriculum in our nation, is because, they believe in universal synchronization with nature. Even worse, their kings and queens ended up becoming modern day Rakshashas and Mahishasuras. Moreover, the Hindu mythologies, based on which most of our popular religious stories are centred, have all somehow managed to make demons out of the aboriginal tribes of our nation, who are dark skinned, fat lipped and generally muscular. Is it just a co incidence that all Asuras during Durga Pooja are carved like the Dravidian males, bearing uncany resemblance to African race?

The Adivasi idea of a religion that worships the mountains, trees and Sun and does not cast a lowly born Shudra to eternal hell or prevents a widow from having carnal desires, goes against the interest of a Brahiminal society. Its evil twin, the Corporate world demands that Nature be exploited as only a raw material for its business model. From Bastar in Chhattisgarh, to Mahaan Forests in Madhya Pradesh, to Sunderban in West Bengal, time and again the mainstream people have wielded a dagger deep into the heart of these Adivasis, to create a turf of their own, the machinated mechanized version of proselytization, that requires nature to be exploited, and not worshipped.

The cropping up of millions of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams, Ekal Vidyalayas, Sewa Bharati Kendras, Vivekananda Kendras, Bharat Kalyan Pratishthans and Friends of Tribal Society Centes- are no natural phenomenon. They are all part of a definite corporate social political structural design, and all have received the IDRF funding. The primary focus is on Hinduizing the Adivasis and also halting the proselytisation of Christian Missionaries. Preaching them, Ram, Krishna, Geeta and Gayatri Mantras has slowly and surely stripped them off their glorious traditions. This mainstreaming of their education, negates the primary roles played by women in the Adivasi society, and thus infuses it with all the evils of patriarchy. This then, helps the mainstream into intertwining the thought process for its electoral gains. Most often than not, these have also successfully engineered communal tensions, as and when the political diaspora dictated. Some of the most sordid examples being the 2015 Nun Rape case in Raipur, and the brutal killings of Adivasis in Kandhamal, Odisha, all of which remained at the headlines long enough to polarise the electoral tadpoles.

Beyond the flames of a burning church and the wails of survivors of atrocities, lies the fact that with the mainstreaming of the Adivasis, the society has turned towards an immoral, corrupt, patriarchal sledgefest that now is simply another moneryroller for the modern day billionaires. The Adivasis find themselves at the mercy of a Brahminised Manuvaadi society in the cities and a brutish para military, and corrupt Corporate regime inside the forests. In the slugfest of immediate identity- their God, has lost to our Gods.

The Author is an independent journalist, writer and Intersectional Feminist. I have worked with development sector for some time, and have contributed articles as an Assistant News Editor for The Hitavada News Editor, a Regional English Daily for 10 years. After working with media for more than a decade I have come to understand, stories ought to be told from the voice of the deliberately silenced echos, and those that are preferably unheard. For Dalits, Bahujan, Adivasis and Women, this world is a battlefield, their stories- are what we need.








Once Again In Chhattisgarh, The Nightmare Of Rape, Loot And Physical Violence Repeats Itself

By Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression

13 May, 2016

Wssnet.org

A team of activists from Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) and independent women activists and reporters visited villages in Bijapur following a series of recent reports of mass sexual violence and assault on adivasi women by security forces and police in the area.

The team visited a few villages in the Gangalur thana area, following reports of violence during a search and combing operation carried out by police and security forces.

The team found that there has been a history of rampant looting and violence in these villages. Villagers reported several instances of loot, plunder, arrests and violence over the last couple of years. In two recent such operations, one young man was shot dead and then falsely declared a Naxal. Two young women were stripped and abducted, and a young mother was raped. Details of these instances are given below.

Abduction and sexual assault: In late November 2015, a large search and combing operation was carried out in the area. A few hundred troops entered village Itaavar from the surrounding hills where they camped at the house of Sukku Kunjam. They took the fish and chickens and 1 quintal of rice stored at the house and started cooking there. On the 23rd of November the forces picked Sukki Kunjam, one of Sukkus sisters, and dragged her away. Her sister Jamli followed to save her, and was taken by the forces as well. The women were dragged into the surrounding forests  they were stripped and beaten. For two days, they were kept in the jungle and later dropped off at the neighbouring village of Dowal Nendra.

Fake encounter: Sukku Kunjam was also forcibly picked up by the forces as a guide. He was taken to Korcholi from where he tried to flee along with other men of the village. However he was shot and killed. His body was wrapped and taken to Bijapur Thana where he was falsely declared a Naxal. Women of Itaavar traveled to Bijapur to recover his body. They were accompanied by Sukkus 13-year old nephew Lakku Kunjam who was beaten badly at the thana when they demanded Sukkuss body. Sukkus body was finally released and his funeral was held on the 27th of November, 2015.

While in Korcholi, some of the troops tried to seize Mangli Pottam of Gaytapara while she was coming down the hill. Other women from the village intervened till they had to let her go.

In a separate incident in Korcholi, the police came to the house of Roni Pottam, smashed the utensils, burnt her school books and her new clothes which had been bought for an upcoming wedding. Her sister Muni, was then visiting their grandmother. Accusing her of being a Naxal, the police and security forces picked up a photo of Muni and left with it.

Sexual Assault and Rape: In January 2016, another search and combing operation was carried out in the area. The same young girl, Mangli Pottam, who was out grazing cattle with her sister and friend, was attacked once again. Manglis clothes were torn and they threatened to kill her. They also threatened to kill Tulsi, her friend. Manglis sister, Somlis blouse was ripped off. She was dragged by the hair and flung to the ground. They hit her on the stomach with a rifle butt. While they were dragging her away, an older woman, also Mangli Pottam by name, came to her rescue and prevented the troops from assaulting her further.

During the same operation, the troops also attacked a young mother from Korcholi while she was on her way to fetch fire wood. They dragged her into a forested patch and hurled her to the ground. She repeatedly asked them to let go of her since her young child was crying. Instead, one member of the police and security forces dragged her. She was held down and raped by two men in uniform.

Apart from these incidents, there was much looting and plunder  rations, poultry, money were taken. New clothes were torn and burnt, property such as vessels were broken and destroyed.

The fact-finding team met with the survivors of physical and sexual violence and recorded several of their testimonies. We also recorded statements about incidents in villages surrounding Korcholi.

On the 7th of May, 2016, over a hundred villagers from Korcholi, Doval Nendra and Saonar traveled to testify. While some had to return, around 70 villagers made their way to the district headquaters of Bijapur. They testified in front of a three-member team comprising of former D.G, Border Security Force (BSF) Mr. Ram Mohan, Director of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Guwahati, Dr. Virginius Xaxa and Sunil Kuksal of HRD Alerts. They also held a press conference. Following this, villagers went to Kotwali thana, Bijapur to register an FIR. The three-member team accompanied them to the thana and were assured that an FIR would be registered. However, despite this assurance, after a complaint was drafted, Mr. Nitin Upadhyay, thana-in-charge at Kotwali thana, Bijapur finally refused to lodge an FIR, saying that since the incidents were from November 2015 and January 2016, the matter seemed suspect and they would therefore need to investigate the claims before registering and FIR. Section 154 of the CrPC, however, makes it mandatory for a police officer to file an FIR on receipt of any information of a cognizable offense such as rape, molestation, or disrobing. Further, no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a case. By refusing to file an FIR, any public servant, is himself culpable under the IPC.

Despite citing the law to the police, an FIR was not registered. Mr. Upadhyay finally admitted that he himself was in a difficult position as the order to refuse an FIR had come from his superiors. Finally, a complaint letter was submitted which was accepted as received by the police, but there was no FIR.

Together with this pattern of loot and sexual violence that seems to recur in search and combing operations carried out by the police and security forces in South Chhattisgarh, the police also continues to blatantly violate the law by repeatedly refusing to file FIRs. The villagers for Korcholi and around strongly argued with the police and are determined to fight for justice. As Mr. Ram Mohan stated in their press conference held in Raipur on the 8th of May, 2016, the State is comlicit in this blatant disregard for the law and the consistent violations of the rights of its citizens. We demand an end to this impunity  the State must be accountable to its own people. In addition, we also demand the following:

1.Villagers from Korcholi, Itaavar, Doval Nendra and surrounding villages be adequately compensated for the loss they suffered by the loot and plunder carried out by the police and security forces. 2.An independent inquiry into the fake encounter of Sukku Kunjam 3.A swift and independent inquiry into the rape of the young woman at Korcholi with stringent action to be taken immediately 4.Immediate action to be taken on those who sexually assaulted the three young girls in Korcholi. 5.Swift and immediate action on members of the police and security forces in all such cases that have been reported and filed before this  including the case of Peddagellur and surrounding villages and Bellam Nendra. 6.A withdrawal of security forces in South Chhattisgarh and the repeal of the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA)

WSS  Women Against Sexual Violence and State Repression (WSS) is a non funded network of womens rights, dalit rights, human rights and civil liberties organizations and individuals across India.














Why Sanders Continues Campaigning

By Eric Zuesse

13 May, 2016

Countercurrents.org

There are two realistic scenarios for Bernie Sanders to win the U.S. Presidency.

One depends upon his receiving the Democratic Partys nomination. The other doesnt, but both are realistic.

HE STILL MIGHT WIN THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION

He still can win the Democratic Partys nomination, under not just one but two possible scenarios:

(1): Clinton could be indicted for her having privatized her State Department emails.

As I have documented, there are at least three federal criminal statutes that Hillary Clinton unquestionably did violate by privatizing her State Department emails:

THE FIRST: 18 U.S. Code  1519  Destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy:

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

THE SECOND: 18 U.S.C. Section 641. Public money, property or records: Whoever embezzles, steals, purloins, or knowingly converts to his use, or the use of another, or without authority, sells, conveys or disposes of any record, voucher, money, or thing of value of the United States or of any department or agency thereof, or any property made or being made under contract for the United States or any department or agency thereof,  Shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years or both. 

Section 793. Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information  (f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer  Shall be fined not more than $10, 000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both. (g) If two or more persons conspire to violate any of the foregoing provisions of this section, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each of the parties to such conspiracy, shall be subject to the punishment provided for the offense which is the object of such conspiracy.

THE THIRD: 18 U.S. Code  2071  Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally: (a)Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both. (b)Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term office does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States.

I have no sources inside the FBIs investigation, but the libertarian legal commentator and retired U.S. judge Andrew P. Napolitano does, and he has continually reported that FBI agents who are working on the case have threatened to resign if the Administration blocks them, and he also has reported, on May 12th, that they are closing in on Hillary Clinton now and are pursuing a case against her, negotiating for testimony from her aides (potentially to testify against her), and that last week:

a federal judge ordered the same five persons to give videotaped testimony in a civil lawsuit against the State Department which once employed them in order to determine if there was a "conspiracy"  thats the word used by the judge  in Mrs. Clintons office to evade federal transparency laws. Stated differently, the purpose of these interrogations is to seek evidence of an agreement to avoid the Freedom of Information Act requirements of storage and transparency of records, and whether such an agreement, if it existed, was also an agreement to commit espionage  the removal of state secrets from a secure place to a non-secure place.

Although the U.S. President could instruct his Attorney General to drop the investigation into Clintons email operation, an FBI agent who would go public about that obstruction of justice would sink not only Clintons chances but that Presidents historical legacy.

Though an indictment after Clintons receiving the Partys endorsement wouldnt change the fact of her still being (in that scenario) the Democratic Partys nominee for the U.S. Presidency, it would cause a split amongst congressional Democrats, some continuing to support her but others not, and a Republican-controlled Congress would be almost certain to result under that circumstance.

The 719 Democratic Party superdelegates at the National Convention are there mainly in order to be able to block a person from receiving the Partys nomination if that person as the nominee would clearly harm the Partys chances of winning (controlling) congress and other elective offices throughout the nation; and, so, if Hillary Clinton stands a serious chance of indictment, theyll oppose her; and, if she has actually been indicted prior to the July 25th start of the National Convention, theyll definitely vote against her.

(2) Sanders has far higher likelihood of beating Trump than Clinton does.

Nationally polled matchups between Clinton versus Trump, and between Sanders versus Trump, have consistently shown Sanders performing far better than Clinton does. (The trend you see there in those numbers gets worse and worse for Clinton.)

With national polls like that, the superdelegates could possibly, if not perhaps even likely, swing so strongly to Sanders as to hand him the Democratic nomination.

WHAT ABOUT IF CLINTON RECEIVES THE NOMINATION?

As I noted at that last link, theres "the possibility that Sanders would run a campaign whose message will be 'Write in "Bernie Sanders"'  that he will be campaigning for the votes of everyone who wants him to become the President, to simply write his name in on the Presidential ballot. And he realistically might win, even under that scenario.

This outcome could provide a U.S. President who is beholden to no Party, and who very possibly (if he wishes to do it) will transform the Democratic Party so that its no longer the anti-FDR, anti-Kennedy, anti-LBJ, Party, that eliminated FDRs Glass-Steagall Act and deregulated banking, and eliminated Aid to Dependent Children, and weakened protections of labor union organizers. He might transform it into, instead, a rebirth and extension of FDRs progressive Democratic Party, and he thus could restore American politics to its constructive direction, which pertained generally during the period 1932-1980, the period that was dominated by FDRs Democracy  Americas boom-years, when the U.S. truly did lead the world in democracy.

For Sanders to instead campaign for Clinton, would be for him to endorse her record (not her words but her actual policies in public office), which would make a mockery of not only Sanderss words, but of his extensive entire record of actions in public office. It would be for him to renounce himself, renounce his most cherished stated and acted-upon beliefs.

Under circumstances such as Sanders is facing, his quitting the Presidential contest would be folly  not to mention a failure by him to live up to what that majority of Americans who want Sanders to be the next President fervently hope and expect from him: to continue to represent their demands for a more progressive America.

We didnt get to the point of having the one person that more Americans, in all matchup-polls, show to be preferred more than any other individual to become the next U.S. President, by expecting him to back down from his democratic commitment, under such circumstances as have here been documented to pertain. Not at all.

Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of Theyre Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRISTS VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.








Celebrating the milestone of the 500th insulated truck body delivered to Smithfield Foods dba Armour-Eckrich Meats LLC, Hercules Mfg. Co. CEO/Owner Jeffrey A. Caddick presents the keys to the truck to Armour-Eckrich Meats LLC Operations Manager James E. Michael, along with Hercules Production Control Manager Johnny Jones, Hercules Drive-away Service Manager Ethan Evans, and Hercules Plant Supervisors Dave Fitzgerrel & Tim Moore.

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Hercules Manufacturing Co., America's oldest family owned and operated truck body manufacturer, delivered the 500th insulated truck body purchased by Smithfield Foods (Armour-Eckrich Meats LLC).

Headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, Armour-Eckrich Meats LLC is engaged in processing and marketing meat products for foodservice operators and consumers in the United States. The company offers lunch meats, franks, smoked sausages, bacon, pepperoni, turkey breast, ham, roast beef, beef franks, and meat balls; and refrigerated breakfast products.

Hercules is based in Henderson, Kentucky, and has been a provider for Smithfield Foods for seven years.
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By Mark Wilson of the Courier and Press

A federal Court of Appeals ruling Thursday said that an Evansville Police Department officer used unreasonable force when he allowed a police dog to continue biting a man who had surrendered in a 2011 arrest.

As a result, Officer Zachary Elfreich is not immune from a lawsuit alleging that he violated the man's Fourth Amendment constitutional rights by using excessive force, according to the appeals court.

According to the decision by Judges Joel Flaum, Daniel Manion and Diane Sykes, force is considered reasonable only when exercised in proportion to the threat posed and " ... under the totality of the circumstances, we conclude that a jury could find that Officer Elfreich used excessive force."

"What happened to this guy should not have happened. This is a guy who was trying to surrender, coming down the steps with his hands above his head," said attorney Steven Whitehead, who represents Jamie Ray Becker.

Police were serving an arrest warrant on Becker, 31, at his mother's house on March 11, 2011. The warrant alleged Becker had held a knife to his brother-in-law's neck and threatened to kill him several weeks earlier.

Elfreich and his police dog Axel, a German Shepherd, were dispatched with other officers to arrest Becker.

According to the appeals court decision, Becker's mother yelled upstairs to tell him police were there to arrest him. Becker testified that he was sleeping but that within two minutes he had dressed and was coming down the stairs with his girlfriend behind him.

Elfreich released the dog as they descended the stairs, according to Becker. It bit his ankle as he reached a landing on the stairs three steps from the bottom, according to the appeals decision.

The court said Elfreich saw Becker with his hands on his head and he did not command the dog to release the suspect, instead ordering Becker to get on the floor. When Becker did not immediately comply, Elfreich pulled Becker down the stairs and onto the floor, where he put his knee on his back and handcuffed him while the dog continued to bite.

"It tore his entire calf muscle off," Whitehead said Thursday.

The Court of Appeals wrote in its decision: "Under the facts as a whole, it was unreasonable for Officer Elfreich to pull Becker down three steps and place a knee in his back while allowing Axel to violently bite his leg."

In addition, the court wrote that when Becker was arrested in 2011, it already had been well-established that police officers cannot continue to use force once a suspect is subdued  and that only minimal force is warranted when a person is passively resisting.

"The force was clearly at the more severe end of the force spectrum," the court decision said.

Becker pleaded guilty to battery with a deadly weapon in the case in October 2011 and was sentenced to two years in prison, according to court records. He was released in 2013.

At the time that the battery warrant was served, Becker was on bond for a pending 2010 felony intimidation charge. He pleaded guilty to that charge in October 2011 and was sentenced to a year of electronic monitoring and year of probation to be served consecutively with the battery sentence.

Becker filed the lawsuit in November 2012. A federal magistrate dismissed some of Becker's claims in a January 2015 ruling but said the lawsuit could go forward on the excessive force issue.

Robert Burkart, an attorney representing the city, confirmed the lawsuit is set for a Sept. 26 trial in U.S. District Court. Whitehead said he expected that date might need to be changed because the appeal had been pending so long.

Attorneys for the city had argued that Elfreich was protected from lawsuit by qualified immunity  the legal principle protecting officials from civil liability as long as their actions don't violate a person's statutory or constitutional rights.
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By Max Roll of the Courier and Press

A Kentucky man was arrested early Friday in Gibson County after a deputy clocked him driving in excess of 110 mph on Interstate 69, according to the county's sheriff's office.

David Barnes, 25, of Morganfield, was stopped around 1 a.m. on I-69 just south of Indiana 64 in a black 2014 Dodge Challenger.

Barnes is lodged in Gibson County jail on $900 bond and faces a reckless driving charge.
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By Shannon Hall of the Courier and Press

Police believe one of the three people found dead in the waters of the Ohio River this week died as a result of homicide.

Friday night, Indiana State Police identified the woman pulled from the waters on Wednesday as Sarah Lindsay Ipock, 30. Police suspect foul play in Ipock's death, according to an ISP news release.

Ipock was found by a barge operator near Troy, Indiana. An autopsy was performed in Evansville on Friday night by the Perry County coroner's office. Further details into the autopsy, including why police suspected homicide, weren't immediately available.

Police believe Ipock had been living near Louisville. Anyone with information is asked to call the Jasper post at 812-482-1441.

Ipock was one of three bodies found in the river in less than 24 hours. Darcy L. Hess, 51, of Cannelton, was identified earlier Friday after being found in Hancock County, Kentucky, on Thursday. Foul play is not suspected in her death, according to a Kentucky State Police news release.

The third body  that of a 5'7 male  hadn't been identified as of Friday night. He was also found on Wednesday, near Owensboro  about 30 miles from where Ipock was found, according to KSP. The autopsy reports in that case show the man had a gunshot wound to his right temple as well as ligature marks around his neck.

Both his and Ipock's bodies were badly decomposed, police have said.

KSP Trooper Corey King said he wouldn't be surprised if the two bodies found Wednesday were connected.

"Then again, we thought this one (Hess) would have been (connected to the other two) as well, and it's not," King said.

Hess' death is likely a suicide, according to King.

"There's not one thing that's not pointing toward that," King said.

Hess went missing about 8 p.m. Wednesday. King said her vehicle was found in Hancock County, Kentucky, near the Bob Cummins Trail Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Cannelton and Hawesville, Kentucky.

"She hadn't been in the water for a full day," King said.
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By Shannon Hall of the Courier and Press

OWENSBORO, Ky.  One of the three bodies found in the Ohio River in less than 24 hours was shot in the head and had ligature marks, according to Daviess County, Kentucky officials.

The man, who was white and 5-feet-7-inches tall, has not been identified. As of Thursday, the weight and age of the man has not been determined, according to a news release.

"We also have no information on the length of time that the body was in the water," the release stated.

On Thursday, Daviess County firefighters recovered the body of a white woman between the ages of 30 and 50 near the Little Hurricane Boat Ramp west of Owensboro city limits, according to Kentucky State Police. A barge worker discovered the woman about 9:30 a.m. and notified authorities.

An autopsy is scheduled for Friday morning in Louisville, Kentucky.

The discovery came less than 24 hours after two other bodies were found in the waterway  one in Indiana and one in Kentucky.

Indiana State Police recovered a woman's body near Troy in Perry County. Two hours later, an unidentified man was found 30 miles away, near Owensboro.

The woman has an autopsy scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The bodies found Wednesday were badly decomposed, but Kentucky State Police said the body found Thursday appeared to have been in the water no more than a day or two, the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reported.

Indiana State Police and Daviess County officials are investigating to determine if the discoveries Wednesday are related, according to a release from Daviess County Sheriff's Office.
George Clooney at Cannes

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By Bryan Alexander, USA TODAY

CANNES, France  is not going to be elected to the White House in November, actor is very confident.

"There's not going to be a President Donald Trump," Clooney said at a Cannes Film Festival media conference Thursday for his film Money Monster.

The comment brought applause from the international journalists assembled.

"That's not going to happen," said Clooney. "Fear is not going to be something that drives our country. We're not going to be scared of Muslims or immigrants or women. We're not actually afraid of anything. We're not going to use fear. So that's not going to be an issue."

Clooney, and director are in the South of France with their financial-themed thriller Money Monster, which opens Friday in the USA. The film will have its world premiere Thursday, the second night of the Cannes festival.

Clooney, who plays a brash TV personality in Money Monster, has his theories on Trump's popularity.

"Trump is the result of the news programs not asking follow-up questions. It's really easy because the cable news numbers go up," said Clooney. "24-hour news doesn't mean you get more news. It just means you get the same news more."

Clooney said TV news today is a "great disaster in the way we inform ourselves."
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash., May 7, 2016.

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By Lexi Gross, Courier-Journal / USA TODAY Network

An Indiana man has been arrested and charged with felony intimidation for allegedly posting a video threatening presidential candidate Donald Trump and members of his family.

Richard Deville Jr., 26, of Clarksville is accused of making threats against Trump, his wife and daughter in a video. Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson said the suspect in the video talks about his disagreements with Trump on issues such as "immigration and minorities," among others. The suspect appears to be holding loaded firearms.

"Thats not political speech, its not free speech, thats criminal speech because hes threatening someones life," Henderson said during a press conference Thursday.

Deville is currently in the Floyd County Jail, and Henderson said in that he is expected to be arraigned Friday.

Deville was charged with level five felony intimidation and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious, violent felon - a level four felony in Indiana. The prosecutor's office also has filed a petition to revoke Deville's current probation on a 2009 Class B felony burglary charge.

Henderson said the U.S. Secret Service contacted the prosecutor's office about a potential threat against Trump. According to the probable cause affidavit, the threat was posted on a YouTube video and investigators were able to track it to a New Albany address.

Trump's campaign could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday. But the news came as the Trump campaign disavowed a former butler Thursday for declaring in a Facebook post that President Barack Obama should be killed. The Secret Service said it is investigating that claim.

In the Indiana case, Henderson said that "it was more of a general threat" and didn't include specific information about where or when a threat could be carried out. Trump is expected to attend the National Rifle Association's convention in Louisville this month.

The affidavit says a Secret Service agent talked to Deville about the threat when he was detained by New Albany police for a domestic violence situation. He asked for Deville's phone number, which the investigator said matched the IP address associated with the YouTube video. After the agent showed Deville the four-minute YouTube clip, he admitted it was him in the video.

"Deville told me that he produced the video and posted it to YouTube because he thought it would make him look cool," the affidavit states.

Henderson said, and the affidavit states, that neither handgun in the video is believed to be owned by Deville.

Henderson said Thursday the video was found by an Atlanta, Ga., resident who contacted the Secret Service. He said there are no other suspects involved at this time, and it appears Deville made the video on his own.

"Our country stands for freedom of speech, but it absolutely cannot tolerate someones life being threatened because they run for office and have a difference of views on issues," Henderson said.

If convicted, Deville could face between two and 12 years for the weapons charge and from one to six years for the intimidation charge. If his probation is revoked, he could be sentenced to additional time.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle shakes hands with supporters at Huntington High School in Huntington, Ind., April 14, 1999, after announcing he would seek the presidency for the 2000 election.

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By Maureen Groppe, IndyStar / USA TODAY Network

WASHINGTON  Former Vice President Dan Quayle, whose own qualifications were questioned when he was chosen for the national ticket in 1988, was asked Thursday whether Donald Trump has the experience, knowledge and temperament to be president.

Were going to find out, Quayle told NBC Today host Matt Lauer.

Quayle added Trump has the capability to be president and is entering a different phase as the GOP presumptive nominee, which is more difficult than running in the primary.

Hes got to articulate a vision that the American people say, `Yes, he is qualified, Quayle said. I dont know what the answer is to that to most of the American people, but clearly hes got good political instincts.

Trump may be a first-time candidate, Quayle said, but hes been around this a long time.

Quayle was referring to the fact that Trump wanted to be George H. W. Bushs running mate in 1988 when Quayle was chosen, according to a biography of Bush by Jon Meacham published last year. Bush, however, thought Trumps overtures to adviser Lee Atwater were strange and unbelievable, according to the book.

Asked by Lauer if Trump is as qualified to be president as Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Quayle said Clinton is more qualified on paper.

But hes more qualified in the sense that the American people want an outsider, Quayle said. She is not an outsider.

Asked by CNN whether he would be comfortable serving as Trump's running mate, Quayle said that would've been a good choice when he was young and conservative.

"I'm now much older and, quite frankly," Quayle said, "I'm not sure how conservative I am these days compared to where the party might be today."
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By Shannon Hall of the Courier and Press

A Vincennes, Indiana, student is accused of beating a female teacher semiconscious Wednesday, and that educator has been brought to Evansville for medical treatment.

Police officers were dispatched to the Lincoln High School at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday for a teacher who was reportedly assaulted and needed medical attention, according to a Vincennes Police Department news release.

The teacher was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital and later transferred to an undisclosed hospital in Evansville. As of Thursday afternoon, the teacher was still in the trauma intensive care unit.

The student, a 16-year-old boy, was taken to the Vincennes Police Department for questioning and processing, then later transported to the Southwest Indiana Regional Youth Village, a treatment center for at-risk youth in Vincennes.

"I would take this opportunity to ask for thoughts and prayers to be with the teacher injured in the attack as well as Vincennes Community School staff members and students who are shaken by it," the police news release reads. "There were school staff members who acted quickly and are deserving of praise for their actions as well."

The investigation is ongoing. But according to the Vincennes Police Department news release, the police department is requesting the following charges for the student: attempted murder, robbery, battery with serious bodily injury, criminal confinement and strangulation.

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further until this investigation is complete," a statement from the Vincennes Community School Corp. states. "We continue to keep the teacher involved in this incident in our thoughts and prayers and ask that you do the same."
With the opening of the new Billings forensic crime lab, Eastern Montana can expect faster turn-around times when it comes to drug evidence identification in smaller drug cases, officials said Thursday.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox, Montana Crime Lab Administrative Director Phil Kinsey and Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito announced the crime lab's grand opening at Billings Clinic on Thursday afternoon.

The lab, which was anticipated to open in January, has already begun processing some evidence, Kinsey said. Fox congratulated both the state and local law enforcement agencies in their work to serve justice better and quicker in Montana. He thanked legislators for making the lab a priority and for pushing for its inception.

Kinsey said the new lab is projected to process about 700 cases a year and will serve 27 Eastern Montana counties. A majority of those cases will come from Yellowstone County, which sent more than 500 cases to the Missoula crime lab last year.

The new lab will only test and identify drugs. Cases that have drugs in addition to other types of evidence will continue to be processed at the Missoula Crime Lab, which is much larger. The full crime lab in Missoula will continue to process the majority of forensic testing, including breath alcohol; firearms and tool marks; latent prints and impressions; pathology; serology; DNA; toxicology; and trace evidence.

The request for a second crime lab was made by Twito after the 2014 election, when the county attorney told Reps. Dale Mortensen, R-Billings, and Kelly McCarthy, D-Billings the one thing he really needed was a lab. Twito's request was echoed by other Eastern Montana county attorneys, who said the spike of drug-related cases coming through their offices could be dealt with faster if the prosecutors had access to a closer crime lab.

"We're on track to see the same number of possession cases as last year, maybe more," Twito said Thursday.

With drug possession charges making up a third of the criminal cases filed in 2015, Twito said speeding up the case will help to get drug users into treatment programs quicker. At least 20 percent of the Yellowstone County jail population was arrested on some type of drug charge, not including those incarcerated for either a supervision or probation violation, according to the detention facilitys jail roster.

Felony drug possession charges have increased in Yellowstone County from 171 in 2011, to at least 540 last year, with most not even being busts for large amounts of drugs. One third of the drug cases sent from Yellowstone County for analysis in 2015 were for "trace" or what's called "no weight" amounts. Drug evidence cases being processed at the lab has increased from 1,960 in 2008 to over 2,500 in 2015.

Sending evidence from Eastern Montana and back for those cases or sending an evidence technician to testify somewhere in Eastern Montana takes too much time. The Eastern Montana Crime Lab will help with many backlogged cases, Kinsey said.

The Billings lab will have three employees  an analyst who moved from Missoula, a chemist from North Carolina, who completed her training at the Missoula Lab on Thursday, and evidence technician Gaye Gauthier, a former Billings Police detective. The lab will also have three forensic instruments, valued at more than $120,000 each.

Within the 1,553-square-foot space, lab evidence will be stored in a room secured by proximity cards. The cards will record who enters the evidence locker and when they enter. This information will also be relayed to the Missoula crime lab. The Missoula lab, a 30,000-square-foot facility, will be able to observe the inside of the Billings lab using four security cameras, some placed in the evidence lab and some in the main entrance of the lab.

The walls of the new lab were also built up to prevent anyone accessing the evidence through a false ceiling, Kinsey said. Security doors and locks and motion detectors were also added. Evidence will only be stored at the lab while it is being analyzed. It will be sent back to the requesting agency as soon as it is processed, Kinsey said.

Kinsey did not go into specifics regarding security breaches at the Missoula crime lab, where former Missoula police officer Steve Brester is being investigated for stealing drug evidence from the lab when he was employed as an evidence technician. Charges have still not been filed against Brester, despite the breach affecting more than 50 cases in Montana, 15 of which were in Yellowstone County. It is alleged Brester stole drug evidence for over 9 months while employed with the lab.

The breach has also prompted defense attorneys in Yellowstone County to accuse prosecutors of hiding information regarding the ongoing investigation at the Montana State Crime Lab.

Jim Duncan, president of the Billings Clinic Foundation, said the hospital was able to accommodate the security needs of the lab just as it does all areas of its campus. Duncan said the hospital has different security levels throughout the separate wings depending on what type of work is being done there. The forensic lab will be no different, he said.

The state is leasing the space from Billings Clinic in what used to hold the Deaconess Research Institute, at 1045 N. 30th St. Medical director of the Billings Clinic Cancer Center, Randall Gibb said research for the clinic was already being moved to other areas of the hospital when the state approached the hospital about the space in August.

The lease on the space will cost the state $45,720 a year and will last until June 30, 2019.

The Legislature authorized the DOJ to spend as much as $310,000 to secure a two-year lease and $476,000 to pay employees, with anything left over going into the DOJ's general fund. The money wasn't budgeted during the Legislature and will come out of the DOJ's budget, which it will ask the 2017 Legislature to supplement.

An additional $140,000 was spent to update the space, including the cost of design fees, construction documents and programming, construction costs and specialty systems such as the security systems.

The deputy state medical examiner is also leasing space in Billings at St. Vincent's Healthcare. Kinsey said the state is open to continuing to expand forensic services in Billings, but the Missoula Crime Lab will remain the forensic science hub in the state.
A Bar Nunn man accused of raping a 16-year-old girl he had hired as a babysitter pleaded not guilty Thursday in court.

Benjamin Marquez is charged with first-degree sexual assault and third-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

Marquez, 28, has been released from jail on $15,000 bond pending trial.

According to court documents, Marquez and his girlfriend invited the alleged victim to their home in December to watch their baby while they attended a Christmas party.

When the couple returned, Marquez set up an air mattress in the babys bedroom for the babysitter to sleep on, the documents state. The couple had invited friends over and Marquez told the alleged victim to lock the bedroom door behind her so no one at the party did anything to her while she slept, according to the documents. The girl locked the door.

She woke later that night to a man on top of her having sex with her, the documents state. She told the man no several times and pushed him off her. The man left the room.

A nurse examined the girl at Wyoming Medical Center and collected a rape kit, according to the documents.

A Natrona County Sheriffs investigator interviewed Marquez, who said he and his girlfriend were the only people in the home who knew where the keys to the babys bedroom were located, the documents state. Marquez said he had blacked out during the night in question from drinking so much alcohol.

Marquez became teary-eyed during the interview and said he did not think he went into the babys room, but said, It could have been me. I could have done it, I dont remember, according to the documents.

The investigator collected a DNA sample from Marquez, which matched semen found inside the alleged victims panties, the documents state.
Montana and five other states say President Barack Obama overstepped his power by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline, whose developers are now suing four presidential cabinet members.

The states along the pipelines route filed a friend-of-the-court brief this week arguing that Congress, not the executive branch, has the right to regulate interstate and international commerce. The pipeline, which would have crossed the Canadian border, was being developed by TransCanada, which is now suing the government.

Because of the presidents representations to the rest of the world that America would lead in reducing its carbon footprint, that that was the sole reason for denying the permit, said Fox, a Republican. Thats ludicrous because its outside the authority granted to the president, and its the first time in history of these trans-border applications that one was denied for any reason.

Secretary of State John Kerry announced last November that the U.S. would be best served by denying Keystone XL a permit. And Kerry did, according the Secretary of State's documents, reference a need for the U.S. to practice what it preaches about climate change to other countries.

The United States cannot ask other nations to make tough choices to address climate change if we are unwilling to make them ourselves, Kerry said. Denying the Keystone XL pipeline is one of those choices.

However, leading by example wasnt the only reason given. Kerry also concluded that the Keystone XL pipeline would have insignificant impact on U.S. security. He said that the pipeline wouldnt lead to lower U.S. gas prices, and that Keystones long-term contribution to the U.S. economy would be marginal. The State Department concluded the Keystone XL pipeline raised concerns about water supplies in communities along its route and the preservation of cultural heritage sites. The department also objected to importing Canadian tar sands oil, a particularly dirty source of fuel.

The TransCanada lawsuit argues that by blocking Keystones pipeline construction, the United States violated the North American Free Trade Agreement. The company demands $15 billion in compensation.

Last month, the Obama Administration asked the Texas federal court, in which the lawsuit was filed, to dismiss the case. The administrations argument is that President Obama has the right to set foreign policy, the policy in this case being Obamas fight against climate change.

The attorneys general are advising the court that the Presidents decision does pose significant harm to the six states along the pipelines path. Jobs and tax revenue were lost when the pipeline was rejected, they argue. Approving the pipeline was a foreign commerce issue, they say. Congress calls the shots on foreign commerce, not the President.

There are over a 100 trans-border oil pipelines, gas pipelines and transmission lines, either over the Mexico-U.S. border of the Canadian-U.S. border, Fox said. All have been approved over the years, none of which have received the scrutiny the Keystone XL pipeline received and none of which were denied.

State attorneys general have proven they can influence a judicial debate, Fox said. Attorneys general have for now halted a federal government attempt to extend federal control on streams, ponds and tributaries feeding U.S. waterways. States have for now halted the Clean Power Plan, as well. The interest in both cases is states rights.

Its an extraordinary time to live in, Fox said. Weve never seen this amount, if you will, and level of federal overreach.

Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and South Dakota are the other states involved in the amicus brief. The attorneys general are all Republican.

However in Montana, support for the Keystone XL pipeline has been bipartisan. Gov. Steve Bullock and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, both supported Keystone XL. Schweitzer secured an onramp at Baker for loading Bakken oil into the pipeline. U.S. Sens. Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester both supported Keystone XL. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican, joined the senators in opposing the State Department's decision last November.
Channel programs News

Canadian MSP Beefs Up Geographic, Deployment Muscle With Acquisition

Michael Novinson

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Two Canadian solution providers have come together to create a powerhouse with expertise in everything from cloud to managed services to product rollouts.

Montreal-based Groupe Access' acquisition of Toronto-based Tenet Computer Group creates a 110-employee titan with annual sales of more than $30 million and 110 employees across Ontario and Quebec.

"We're one big powerhouse now," said Rick Jordan, Tenet's director of sales and strategic alliances. "This is a great marriage."

[Related: NexTI 2012: Solution Providers In Search Of the Next Big Thing]

Tenet, which employs 15 and does $5 million in sales each year, will retain its own branding for now and operate as a standalone company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As a result of the deal, Jordan said, Tenet's existing customers will have access to more expertise around vendors such as Veeam Software and Microsoft. Groupe Access is a Microsoft Gold cloud solution provider and owns its own data center and network operations center (NOC), Jordan said.

The combined company plans to go after new corporate clients in both large enterprise and small business, Jordan said. Jordan said Tenet has a strong health-care practice, serving many hospitals in the Toronto area.

"We plan on growing the company very aggressively," Jordan said. "We're willing, we're able and we're ready to do great business."

Tenet is a traditional VAR more focused on traditional rollouts and technical resources around Tier 1 vendors such as HPE, Lenovo and Cisco, Jordan said.

Tenet and Groupe Access met through Ingram Micro's Trust X Alliance when Groupe Access was looking for a solution provider with ConnectWise experience. That led to broader conversations between Group Access President Doug Elie -- who was looking to expand his company into Ontario -- and Tenet CEO Carlos Paz-Soldan, who was looking for an exit strategy.

"After a year, the deal finally transpired," Jordan said. "There's no [geographic] overlap, so no one lost their jobs."

Tenet retained all of its accounting, sales and business development staff as the companies operate in different provinces. The vast majority of Tenets clients are within 100 miles of Toronto, Jordan said.

Kitty Atkinson, formerly Tenet's vice president of sales and marketing, is spearheading Tenet's operations as its executive director. Paz-Soldan spun off Tenet's ISV software mobile application business into a separate company called Techmien, which he now runs.
Billings Police had cleared the scene of a South Side shooting by 9:30 a.m. on Friday. There was no police presence at the building, and the police tape had been removed.

Officers responded to a home in the 300 block of South 35th Street at about 1:20 a.m. after shots were fired through a window, striking a woman, said Lt. Shawn Mayo.

Clete Jerome, who lives in the basement unit of the building, said that he hadn't slept since the shots rang out. At first, he thought they were fireworks.

He and his wife were instructed by police to stay in their apartment until they left.

"We weren't expecting something like this," he said. "They're really nice people."

There are four apartment units in the building. He said that extended family members of the victim, including children, live in an adjoining unit.

"It's a sad situation," Jerome said. "I hope the lady makes it."

Mayo said the woman, who's in her 40s, was taken to St. Vincent Healthcare, where she is in stable condition. He couldnt confirm the severity of her injuries.

Police placed several evidence markers on the sidewalk in front of the residence, which has three apartments, and bullet holes were visible in one window and its frame.

Detectives executed a search warrant at the residence at about 6:30 a.m. and continued collecting evidence at the scene.

No suspects have been arrested, and the investigation is continuing, police said.

No other injuries were reported.
Security News

Optiv Security Acquires Third-Party Risk Application Company Evantix

Sarah Kuranda

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Optiv Security has made its second acquisition in less than a month, this time diving further into the market for third-party risk services.

The security solution provider, which was formed last year from the merger of Accuvant and FishNet Security, revealed Thursday that it had acquired Evantix, a company that produces a Software-as-a-Service application for managing third-party risk.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

[Related: Security Solution Provider Superstars: How Do The Biggest Partners Stack Up?]

The acquisition marks an important expansion for Optiv into one of the most common security challenges for clients, according to James Christiansen, vice president of information risk management.

"This is the No. 1 problem [for businesses]: How do I not only secure my environment  but also the hundreds of thousands of companies we do business with, either directly or by sending data to?" Christiansen said. "This is a major pain point," he said.

The application from Newport Beach, Calif.-based Evantix will bring an added dimension to Optiv's existing third-party risk services, which already included a third-party risk maturity assessment, third-party risk management program development, third-party risk discovery and analysis, and third-party risk assessment. Christiansen said the Evantix application, which will be rebranded as a new Optiv service, "completes that suite" by adding a managed service offering for third-party risk reports.

That offering is key for customers, Christiansen said, because the current process for security assessment of third-party vendors is manual and time-intensive. The reports are similar to a credit report, providing insight into a third-party vendor's security posture. Being able to buy a subscription for a cloud-based managed services offering is a "huge, huge burden off their shoulders," Christiansen said.

For Optiv, the Evantix acquisition will allow the solution provider to ramp up its practice around third-party security risk, Christiansen said. The application will provide a secure delivery platform for its third-party risk practice, allowing it to accelerate more consistent services, he said. That's a platform that Optiv can continue to build on down the road, Christiansen said.

Optiv said Evantix's employees will become part of Optiv as part of the acquisition.

The acquisition is the Denver-based company's second in the past few weeks, following Optiv's purchase of identity and access management consultancy Advancive in April. The moves show Optiv's commitment to building its international and national footprint through acquisition, a goal the company set forth earlier this year, Christiansen said.

The acquisitions, in particular, are targeted at transforming Optiv from the two tactical solution providers it was before its merger into a much more strategic security partner.

"We're very much focused on providing a whole solution for a particular area like threat management, or in this case risk management, where we can serve clients from beginning to end," Christiansen said. "We're very focused on solving these problems for our clients and determining how we can become more valuable as a partner to them."
Columbia Cruise Service (CCS) has announced that it has taken over the full technical management of the TUI Discovery, formerly the Splendour of the Seas, for Thomson Cruises.

The ship is presently on blocks in the drydock of the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz. She will stay there for the next six weeks to undergo extensive refurbishment and rebranding.

When she starts service as the TUI Discovery in June, sailing roundtrip from Palma, she will be the biggest vessel in the Thomson fleet.

We welcome the new vessel in the CCS fleet. stated Olaf Groeger, director of CCS. To support Thomsons with their newest and most modern addition is a challenging prospect we are looking forward to manage with our experts.

Columbia enhanced its tailor-made service structures within the cruise industry by founding CCS in 2014.

Looking back on more than 30 years of experience in the cruise business it was the right time to set up a specialized cruise service, Groeger said. CCS started operating out of Hamburg in January 2015 dedicated exclusively to passenger ships, expedition cruise vessels and luxury yacht markets. CCS offers a broad scope of customized cruise and hotel services.
Go look in your attic or garage. If you have anything old and interesting, it could be your ticket to get on TV.

History Channel show American Pickers is filming in Connecticut this summer, and is looking for local people to feature.
Jesse Laslovich, candidate for Montana state auditor, recently suggested (April 30 guest opinion) that 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.

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 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 regulates Montanas insurance and financial-services industry. 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 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. Laslovich needs to be transparent about his agenda and motivation to overlook insurance company financial responsibilities when lives hang in the balance.
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ANSONIA  It seemed that Matt Macero wanted nothing more than to be a cop.

His father was a police officer, and in the 1980s Macero interned in the departments record room.

In 2001, Macero got his wish  the city of Ansonia hired the hometown boy as a new officer.

For more than a decade, he served honorably, with commendations, awards and even a thank-you from the U.S. Justice Department.

But all that came to a crashing end when Macero pleaded guilty Wednesday to three misdemeanors, including stealing a narcotic painkiller from his department.

Macero, who is represented by Hamden lawyer Daniel Esposito, admitted committing fourth-degree larceny by stealing an oxycontin pill from the department in 2013, making a false statement to police and falsely reporting an incident both on June 3, 2013, and July 15, 2013. The latter two pleas stemmed from his telling his superiors he was exposed to cocaine during an investigation and as a result he would test positively.

Macero waived his right to a pre-sentence report. As a result, New London Superior Court Judge Hillary Barger Strackbein, sentenced him to three concurrent one-year prison terms with execution suspended to three years probation on each of the charges.

The scourge that synthetic opiates have spawned knows no boundaries, Esposito said Thursday. Matt was seriously injured on the job and was naive to the seduction that his prescribed medications carried. In pleading guilty to the misdemeanors, Matt took responsibility for his actions.

Conditions of the sentence

As part of Maceros probation, the judge said he must not work in law enforcement and must file an affidavit with the Police Academy advising them he is waiving his right to re-certification. Additionally, Macero must perform 200 hours of community service with the State Police DARE program, seek intensive drug treatment with random urinalysis and write an explanation of his actions to a local newspaper within 30 days.

Senior Assistant States Attorney Kevin Shay, who is assigned to the Chief States Attorneys Office, and Esposito agreed Thursday that the document would be supplied to Hearst Connecticut Media and to the online Valley Independent Sentinel.

The whole purpose of that is to begin the healing process, not only for the defendant, but for the community, Shay said Thursday. I asked for that because I felt the community needed to hear an apology. Every police officer in Ansonia needs to have that black cloud lifted from over them.

As an Ansonia Police officer, Macero helped build drug cases while working for the Valley Street Crime Unit. He was commended by the U.S. Justice Department for his work on a 2009 weapons case and he assisted Derby Police in building a murder case against Cordaryl Silva, an Ansonia man later convicted of murdering Javon Zimmerman in a drug turf beef.

But in 2013, things started going awry for Macero.

On Sept. 26, 2013, it all blew up.

Thats when Ansonia Police Chief Kevin Hale had Macero walked out of the department and called in the State Police to begin an intensive investigation. For days, a crime van was parked in the departments lot, and a tent was set up as state police detectives combed through boxes of evidence and hours of surveillance-camera tapes.

Meanwhile, Macero retired from the department in November 2013, while the investigation was ongoing.

Two years later, State Police detectives uncovered nearly 48 incidents in which evidence was tampered with, narcotics removed from the departments burn box  where evidence is deposited for destruction  and from their unwanted prescription drop box, where residents could deposit unneeded pharmaceuticals.

Could not resist

He apparently could not resist the temptation to feed his addiction, Shay said. But as long as I have been involved in this case, both he and his counsel worked very hard with me to make a positive out of what is very tragic.

Hale said Thursday that the department has moved on. He has put new procedures in place, including assigning a sergeant to oversee the evidence room.

Im glad its over, said Mayor David Cassetti. Chief Hale did the right thing and handled it professionally. I wish Matt well.

Both Shay and Esposito say Maceros work with the State Police DARE program will be a positive. Shay said it could even lead to a career as a substance abuse counselor.

As an addicted former police officer, he might be able to reach people who otherwise are unreachable, the prosecutor said. But for him this, (battling addiction) is going to be a lifelong struggle.

But Esposito said Matt is a phoenix  he will rise again.
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DERBY  Police have arrested the former director of the Derby Senior Center on a larceny charge for allegedly using center funds to buy paint and furnishings and pay utility bills for her Milford home.

Sarah Muoio, 30, turned herself in Friday morning after being notified of the warrant charging her with one count of first-degree larceny, a class B felony. She was released after posting a $10,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned at state Superior Court in Derby on May 25.

Muoio is represented by Derby attorney Domenick Thomas.

Im not going to comment, Thomas said Friday afternoon. Were going to handle this through the court procedure.

According to four search warrant applications, police confiscated furniture, carpeting, bed frames, a yoga ball, house paint, dining sets, quilts and a number of other personal items, including Muoios iPhone, iPad and Mac computer, pawn tickets and safe deposit box keys from her home.

The court papers put the amount of the alleged theft at nearly $22,000, and said it was taken from the centers three accounts at Webster Bank. The papers indicated some of the money was used by Muoio to pay her home electric and cable bills.

Mayor Anita Dugatto had fired Muoio without explanation on Jan. 21, and was criticized at the time because the center director was mourning the recent death of her father, a retired Ansonia educator. But the warrant applications by Detectives Edward Sullivan and Gino DiMauro indicate that an audit had found discrepancies in the senior center accounts.

The mayor had been alerted by Suzanne Foster, the longtime Derby Senior Center secretary, that Muoio had asked her to destroy three file folders of bank statements. Foster later told the detectives that Muoio had asked for $110 in cash from a fundraiser and refused to give Foster a receipt for her records.

When she pressed the issue, the director snapped at her, Just do your job, Foster told police. The women had also tangled over Muoios apparent reluctance to have her name replace former director Mary Labranchs on the centers debit card, police said.

When Foster asked her boss if shed ever transferred money between the centers three accounts, or used the debit card at an ATM to withdraw cash, Muoio said she could not without a PIN code, and I have no idea what it is, according to police.

But Sullivan and DiMauro said auditors found five questionable ATM transactions totaling $3,287, and a total of $22,000 transferred among the three center accounts, spanning the 50 months that Muoio had been on the job.

Investigators interviewed Labranch, who they said maintained she never had to transfer money or use the debit card during her 10-year tenure, and member Howard Jack, the centers treasurer. Jack told police he never saw bank statements or touched any cash; he only entered figures Muoio gave him into bookkeeping software.

Receipts from Overstock.com indicate that Muoio had bought items including a dining table and chairs made of eucalyptus wood, a sun bed with canopy, chairs covered in fake fur and other items with center funds, the investigators said.

Those items were found in her Milford home, they said.
STRATFORD  The state Freedom of Information Commission has ordered the town police department to disclose whether the department has ever purchased or used drones, cell phone eavesdropping or tracking technology, or cell phone forensics devices.

The commission upheld the hearing officers findings at its meeting Wednesday. The police department can appeal to Superior Court.
The rate of denials by the states largest managed care insurers of requests for mental health services rose nearly 70 percent between 2013 and 2014, with an average of about one in 12 requests for prescribed treatment initially rejected, a new state report shows.

At the same time, the proportion of enrollees in the largest managed care companies who received outpatient or emergency department care for mental health doubled, from an average of 9.4 percent in 2013 to 20.8 percent in 2014, according to an analysis of the 2015 Consumer Report Card on Health Insurance Carriers in Connecticut, issued by the state Insurance Department. The percentage of members who received inpatient mental health care also doubled, although it remained low, with most companies providing inpatient services for less than .5 percent of all enrollees.

The rise in rejections by the states 10 largest indemnity managed care companies - private health insurers, not including Medicare or Medicaid  came as state officials focused on improving mental health outreach and treatment, in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting in December 2012. The managed care organizations include companies such as Aetna Life Insurance Co., Anthem Health Plans, CIGNA Health and Life Insurance Co., and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Co.

The Insurance Department report shows that the 10 largest insurers rejected an average of 8.5 percent of behavioral health claims in 2014  up from 5 percent in 2013. Some of those rejections were appealed and ultimately reversed, the data show.

While behavioral health rejections rose, the percentage of denials of all health services requests to the major insurers dropped slightly over the two years, the data show.

Not a surprise

Daniela Giordano, public policy director for the Connecticut chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the data showing a rise in rejections for behavioral health services is not a surprise. We hear it from families on a weekly basis.

Although Connecticut has a mental health parity law, which requires health insurers to ensure that financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health or substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than those applied to medical or surgical benefits, That doesnt mean the law is being implemented the way it should be, Giordano said.

Requests for treatment are often denied because insurers say they lack medical necessity, she added, but its not clear what medical necessity means, or what criteria theyre using to justify denying a service.

Keith Stover, a spokesman for the Connecticut Association of Health Plans, said the good news in the state report is that the number of people accessing mental health services is increasing. I think everyone from the (insurance) industry to providers to advocacy groups views that as a positive.

Of the rise in rejections, he said, I would be cautious about generalizing about this kind of a blip, adding that the data are an imperfect snapshot that do not explain reasons for rejections. The annual reporting on behavioral health is being expanded this year, to include additional information on authorization and denials of coverage by type and level of treatment, state Insurance Department officials said.

Stover said managed care plans have been actively involved in improving behavioral health access and reporting.

There will always be some hot spots (in coverage decisions), he said. The payers are very much in a place now where, if there are hot spots, they want to know about them, he said.

Victoria Veltri, the states health care advocate, said It is always a concern for me when the overall aggregate denial rate increases. But she added that the reasons for the jump in behavioral health denials remains unclear without more detailed data, noting that 2014 was the first year of operation of Access Health CT, the states health insurance marketplace.

Many people on open enrollment experienced some challenges with eligibility for services, she said. Given the changes, we would need to dig deeper to explain the increase reported . . . There were many variables at play.

Veltri said the increase in utilization in both inpatient and Emergency Department mental health services was not surprising, given increased access to coverage, awareness, and challenges with finding community-based providers.

Analyzing the data

Donna Tommelleo, a spokeswoman for the state Insurance Department, said the agency collects the data annually so that it can be shared with consumers and analyzed by the department for any irregularities.

This is a tool we have to look at trends. If we find any troubling practices, our market conduct division will review it and take action, if needed, she said.

The 2015 report shows that, on average, more than 70 percent of patients in managed care plans who were discharged from an inpatient facility had a follow-up visit with a mental health practitioner within 30 days, in both 2013 and 2014. The average length of a mental health stay in a hospital or treatment facility fell slightly, from eight days in 2013 to six days in 2014.

The report also shows that a larger proportion of enrollees in the top managed care plans received treatment for alcohol and drugs in 2014 than in 2013. While an average of .44 percent of enrollees had received inpatient chemical-dependency treatment in 2013, that nearly tripled to 1.2 percent in 2014. The proportion receiving outpatient or emergency department treatment for drugs or alcohol also increased, from 1.16 percent in 2013 to more than 3 percent in 2014, the data show.

Two plans, Golden Rule Insurance Co. and HealthyCT, had the highest percentage of their members receiving outpatient or emergency department drug and alcohol treatment, while Golden Rule and UnitedHealth had the highest percentage receiving inpatient care.

The report also ranks the largest managed care insurers on a number of quality measures, such as cancer screening and preventive care. CIGNA, Connecticut General and ConnectiCare had the highest percentages of enrolled women, ages 52 to 74, who received mammograms between October 2012 and December 2014 - all above 76 percent, compared to an average of 60 percent. UnitedHealth, Connecticut General and CIGNA had the highest percentages of members, ages 51 to 75, who received screenings for colorectal cancer. ConnectiCare, CIGNA and Connecticut General had the highest proportion of members diagnosed with hypertension whose blood pressure was adequately controlled during 2014.

In the area of preventive care, Connecticut General, CIGNA and Anthem had the highest percentage of enrollees, ages 45 to 64, who had at least one preventive care visit with a health plan provider between 2012 and 2014 - all above 96 percent. The average for all managed care plans was 75 percent.

The report also includes member surveys, which have enrollees rating the managed care organizations on how well they meet needs. For the question, How often did you get an appointment with a specialist as soon as you needed? Aetna and Anthem received the highest percentage of always and usually responses, while Golden Rule and Time Insurance Co. received the lowest. For How often was it easy to get care, tests or treatment you needed through your health plan? Aetna, CIGNA and HealthyCT got the highest percentage of always and usually responses, while Golden Rule and Time got the least.

The survey found that about a quarter to a third of consumers in most plans were not satisfied with their prescription drug coverage, for reasons ranging from high co-payments, to drugs not included in a plans formulary.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org).
Jay Friedman, COO of the Goodway Group, manages a 300-person entirely virtual workforce.

The average office worker commute time for professionals in the U.S. is just over 25 minutes, or nearly an hour a day. Add to that the time spent getting ready at home, plus more time settling in at the office before work even begins. What a waste! This is a lot of excess time that could be spent doing productive and cost-effective tasks. In addition to time, there are more hidden costs involved like the upkeep of commuting (car maintenance) and keeping a professional wardrobe (dry cleaning).

Many companies and organizations have begun tallying a figure on the toll taken for commuting to traditional office environments -- and its effect on productivity benchmarks. In the past decade alone, there has been a 103 percent spike in virtual workforces, and 44 percent of U.S. companies report that they are looking to increase their remote staff. Remote workforces are becoming a trend, as employers are beginning to see the positive impact virtual employees can have on a company and its bottom line.

Related: Getting the Most From Your Remote Workforce

While the outcomes sound desirable, the execution of the process is where questions arise. Many CEOs and company leaders want to know how to assemble and manage a virtual workforce. Here are four key points that address how to strike a delicate virtual workforce balance:

1. Workplace culture.

Culture may be the single most important key to achieving business success. The difference is insignificant when establishing a remote workforce, but there are two specific keys to building the right remote culture.

First, the CEO needs to work remotely themselves from time-to-time. They must also encourage others to do so and appear to reward the behavior. If the CEO is always present at his or her desk, the staff will likely follow suit. Leadership behavior begins at the top and filters down.

Second, certain notations of achievement in an organization can no longer be related to the workplace. If promotions or rewards in traditional office settings mean such things as better parking spaces or bigger offices, remote workers are going to feel left out in the cold. Remote workforces are difficult to reward with perks, but this is outweighed by the benefit of a flatter, more democratized organization. A remote-based company needs to have perks and rewards that are equally desirable and beneficial to all employees, whether remote and physical.

Related: How to Build a Culture Across Your Virtual Workforce

2. Enforcing rules.

Establishing basic work presence rules is obviously much easier in a physical workplace. But its equally important, if not more so, with a virtual workforce. For instance, working remotely is not the same as having a flex-time schedule, nor is it a substitute for childcare. Working without interruption or distraction is vitally important for virtual employees and ensures productivity. In addition, working remotely cant be seen as an exception or a unique case for special employees.

3. Selecting the right tools.

Providing employees with the right tools for success is of the utmost importance, especially when a company has remote workers. There are many software suites that allow virtual workforces to maintain, and even exceed, typical productivity benchmarks. Popular examples include Yammer, Skype for Business and Atlassians Confluence.

A great human resources information system (HRIS) and shared drives become invaluable with remote employees. Finding software suite products that allow simultaneous, multi-user editing and collaboration is critical when choosing remote workforce tools.

Related: Lessons From Companies Thriving With 100 Percent Remote Teams

4. Optimizing the virtual process.

Heres a try-it-before-you-buy-it scenario. A good test to determine if a remote workforce is right for a particular business is to have a handful of employees work virtually for a week. Evaluate their output to find gaps in the process that only showed up when employees were out of the office. Testing, fixing and repeating this test is a sure-fire way to improve those processes and close business productivity gaps, even if an organization never adopts a full virtual workforce mindset.

Other considerations.

Instead of competing for ideal-priced office locations (and space) in major cities, many companies are finding a new and inventive way of lowering overhead costs. Another added plus is the success in building a best-in-class recruitment operation for hiring top-line employees from across the country with virtual companies. Remote-based companies are finding talent far superior to what is available in a crowded and competitive hyper-local field.

The benefit of remote workforce setups are becoming a common theme, but bear in mind that the protocols involved must first be a good fit for the particular organization.

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Customer reviews need not be the preserve of established businesses. Startups often have the most to gain here. Our company, a community of online business reviewers, analyzed the reviews of 57,000 businesses and spoke to thousands of entrepreneurs.

Related: 8 Creative Ways to Rustle Up Online Reviews

Below are six of the most useful ways we found for startups to use customer reviews to grow their business.

1. Be ready for your investors' due diligence.

Whether your reviewer is an associate doing basic due diligence or a general partner checking product/market fit, you want to make sure you put your best foot forward. That means being certain that when investors Google your brand, they see how much your customers love you.

This entails seeing as many happy, genuine reviews (because they can certainly spot the fake ones) as possible. And if you do have bad reviews, be sure to write professional public responses, so investors know you understand what it means to provide excellent customer service. Also worth noting: A lack of reviews, absent other data, may signal investors that you have lack traction.

2. Drive conversions by looking like a big business.

You might have only 50 customers, but if you can convince all 50 of them to review your business, you are going to look much larger and more established than you actually are. Image is everything: It can persuade more prospective customers to buy and make you big, for real. Indeed, customer reviews can boost your conversion rates by up to 105 percent.

3. Ensure that any press is good press.

Press can be a huge asset to startups, creating customer awareness, investor buzz and excitement among potential recruits. However, the tech puff pieces of old are being replaced by the work of real journalists looking for the inside scoop on your company.

That means that when you get the call from a reporter at Buzzfeed, Entrepreneur magazine, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, you can be sure they are going to be reading every review of your start-up. And the difference between that reporter's glowing write-up versus a scathing one may reflect the tenor of just a handful of your online reviews.

Related: 5 Ways to Embrace Online Reviews -- Good or Bad -- and Win New Customers

4. Amplify your 'social proof' on social media.

Tweeting, sharing and otherwise posting positive reviews on social media -- a benefit underutilized by large companies and startups alike -- can pay dividends. Happy customers who write reviews feel rewarded with the additional recognition. Fans and followers are reminded about the quality of your products or services. And prospective customers viewing your social media assets are further persuaded to buy. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ can all be great platforms for this "social proof."

5. Identify your brand advocates.

Brand advocates can bring tremendous value to a startup, providing free marketing when cash is scarce. And reviews can be a great way to identify and activate these people. How to connect? Try reaching out to your most enthusiastic reviewers to thank them.

Reward them with special offers, and build a relationship. And dont forget to tweet and share their content -- you never know when someone with thousands of followers or friends may retweet or re-share it.

6. Reach at least a basic level of product/market fit.

A major milestone in the early life of a startup is reaching some basic level of product/market fit. Entrepreneurs who achieve this can start looking to scale their business and raise more capital. And here, customer reviews can play an important role.

Reviews help elucidate product strengths as well as weaknesses. Customer surveys can also help with this process, but often reviews can surface additional areas for improvement. To use customer reviews most effectively in this process, look for trends in reviews instead of relying on one-off comments (i.e., avoid making changes based on single or limited data points).

Related: When Customers Call Your Baby Ugly: Handling Negative Online Reviews

Then, track changes in customer ratings over time to measure progress.

Related:



Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The upcoming Legislature will focus again on infrastructure. Passage of a bill is even more important this time, particularly for Eastern Montana which could really use a shot in the arm. The last two attempts have consumed hours and hours of legislative consideration only to die. The governor himself vetoed the first effort. The second effort failed partially because of a thorough misrepresentation of bonding.

Here are a few suggestions to move forward:

Focus on real infrastructure. There are so many deferred maintenance projects which need immediate action. The need to repair water systems, sewers, jails, roads and streets has been clearly demonstrated to the governor and the Legislature. The inclusion of two large projects, MSUs Romney Hall and the Montana Historical Society Center consumed nearly a third of the bill and created real animosity from local government.

These two projects should be separated from local projects. The MSU gymnasium should be handled by the Board of Regents. The Historical Society project, which I could support, should be part of a normal long-range building legislation. They should not compete with real infrastructure needs. The pork-barrel approach of last session should be changed before once again lawmakers and voters start again holding their nose. An assessment should be started now with help from League of Cities and Towns and the Montana Association of Counties.

Talk straight about the cost of bonding. During the last session there was as much confusion about the proposed financing as there was about the nature of the projects in the proposal. The president of the Montana State Senate last session asked me to analyze the Bullock Administrations bonding proposal. I was stunned to read the following two statements made by the governor and his budget director about the financing;

Villa (Bullocks Budget Director) said cash could be more expensive than bonds because keeping cash in investments would generate more money than the state would have to pay in bond interest. (Associated Press Jan. 14, 2015)

Keeping that cash in investments, he (Bullock) argued, would generate more money than the state would have to pay in interest on bonds. (AP story in Billings Gazette Nov. 18, 2014)

These statements, of course, never were true and never will be true. Many in the Legislature were keen enough to understand state law around the allowable investments for state cash. By state law, state cash is only allowed to be invested in very short-term investments managed by the Montana Board of Investments. At the time of these statements the return on cash was around 0.25 percent, today it is close to 0.5 percent.

Regarding the cost of bonding; the Legislature, through its debt service estimate, estimated that the state would pay 4.2 percent in bonding. Although the use of bonds could be part of the solution, bonding is never cheaper than using cash and shouldnt be misrepresented as such.

If we hope to see the state successfully fund a comprehensive infrastructure plan this coming session, we should focus on real infrastructure needs and talk straight with the Legislature about the costs of using cash versus bonding.
A Lame Deer man will spend two years on federal probation for assaulting a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer during a scuffle in 2014.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters on Thursday sentenced Cameron Charles Backer, 27, after his guilty plea in January to misdemeanor assault. Backer initially was charged with a felony before the crime was reduced.

Backer and co-defendant Adrian Reno Spang Jr., 22, scuffled with a BIA officer as law enforcement officers were trying to serve a search warrant at a Lame Deer residence on Aug. 18, 2014.

The person U.S. Marshals Service deputies were trying to arrest ran out the back door, the prosecution said. Deputies searched the back of the house while a BIA officer remained in the front area.

Individuals were yelling profanities at the BIA officer and one approached him, the prosecution said. The officer warned the person to step back and then tried to arrest the person. Spang began wrestling with the officer and Backer joined the fight.

One of the deputies pulled Spang off the officer, who was treated for bruises and scratches.

Watters sentenced Spang last week to three years of probation.
SHERIDAN  No charges will be filed against Sheridan County Attorney Matt Redle, who was accused of kicking at another person and throwing a coffee cup at her.

In a review of the incident, Albany County Attorney Peggy Trent concluded there was insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.

But Trent noted that Redle's conduct could result in a civil suit against the county or could constitute a violation of the Wyoming State Bar rules of conduct.

The case stems from a Dec. 11, 2015, incident that occurred after a sexual assault services meeting.

Surveillance video shows Redle throwing a coffee cup at Bonnie Young, executive director of a victim services organization. Young also said Redle kicked at her. She was not hurt in either incident.
Pa. is about to vote. Here's what to know about voting and ballot access in 2022

Elections
Takeaways from the DeSantis-Crist debate

Democrat Charlie Crist came out swinging against Republican incumbent Ron DeSantis in the only televised debate in the Florida gubernatorial race.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  The Wyoming Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a Laramie man's attempted rape conviction in a cold case dating from 1972.

A jury last year acquitted Lance David Bean, of Laramie, of charges of rape and murder in the death of 20-year-old Sharon Reher. Jurors convicted Bean of attempted rape, and a judge sentenced him to five years of probation.

Prosecutors said Bean was at a party at Reher's Laramie residence the night before she was found dead from a stab wound. Investigators testified during Bean's trial that recent testing showed DNA from Bean's skin on Reher's clothing.

Bean appealed his conviction to the Wyoming Supreme Court. His lawyer Galen Woelk argued on appeal there was no proof Bean was involved in any crimes.

"We're disappointed," Woelk said Thursday.

Woelk said the case highlights a legal issue of growing national importance: that criminal defendants can be convicted only on "touch DNA evidence," meaning the few cells that may be left behind when a person touches an object.

Investigators talked to Bean and others who had attended Reher's party during their initial investigation. Woelk said the recent discovery of Bean's DNA only confirmed what investigators already knew, that Bean had been present in the victim's home.

Woelk said the state Supreme Court ruling showed the court was not willing to undertake an analysis of whether the presence of "touch DNA" alone is sufficient support a conviction, particularly when the defendant had an innocent explanation for having been at the crime scene previously. "That's the underlying concern and disappointment with the case," he said.

Woelk said the jury in Bean's case had been instructed that they had to find that Reher was in imminent fear of being raped by Bean to find him guilty of the attempted rape charge. However, Woelk said the jury reached its guilty verdict despite a complete lack of such evidence.

The Wyoming attorney general's office argued in favor of upholding Bean's conviction. Attorney General Peter Michael said Thursday the jury was entitled to rely on circumstantial evidence in finding Bean guilty.

"A lesson we learn frequently in the criminal practice is that we let juries use their sense based on what they know about the facts they have to draw inferences," Michael told The Associated Press. "That's as it should be. It works sometimes against the prosecution, sometimes in favor. It depends on the case."




First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain.





Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that.





And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details.





If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The power suit has moved out of the office and onto the street in a variety of colours with the celebrity support of Julia Roberts and Cate Blanchett.

by Damien Woolnough
Retired aviation engineer Ian Taylor lost his footing on a steep grass bank at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight and took a tumble into the dry moat.

He fell 12ft over a bastion wall while attempting to take photographs and was propelled backwards, suffering head injuries. Fortunately, he survived. But instead of putting his mishap down to experience he decided to sue for com-pen-say-shun.

This week, the Appeal Court found that English Heritage, the charity which operates the 1,000-year-old castle, was 50 per cent responsible for his injuries because it hadnt erected a suitable warning sign.

Scroll down for video

This week, the Appeal Court found that English Heritage, the charity which operates Carisbrooke Caste, pictured, was 50 per cent responsible for a visitor's injuries because it hadnt erected a suitable warning sign.

Im not trying to diminish Mr Taylors ordeal, but what the hell did he expect? Its a castle, built to repel invaders. Thats why it has a moat in the first place.

Hes 69 years old, not six, and used to be a school teacher, so you would expect him to have some basic knowledge of history. Presumably, thats why he went to visit the castle in the first place.

At least Mr Taylor came away better off than Charles I, who was held at Carisbrooke before his execution in 1649. Mr Taylor suffered head injuries, King Charles lost his head. He should think himself lucky the moat had been drained, otherwise he might have drowned.

Im sorry if this doesnt sound sympathetic, but its not supposed to be. Mr Taylor is an intelligent man, who has been round the block a few times and worked on the development of the Tornado fighter jet. He must know that castles have moats.

OK, it was an accident, but as the court acknowledged when reducing his claim by half, it was partly his own stupid fault.

That didnt stop Judge David Blunt deciding last year that the sheer drop from the bastion wall into the moat would not have been visible from some angles and ruling that English Heritage should have put up a suitable warning notice on the path and a nearby artillery platform.

Appealing against that verdict, Derek OSullivan QC, for English Heritage, argued that any sensible adult could assess for themselves the risks posed by historic sites, without the need to litter them with hideous danger signs. He said the path in question was so steep that the only safe way of tackling it was going down on ones bottom  which is exactly what Mr Taylors wife did.

Mr OSullivan said that if the ruling was upheld, it would lead to an unwelcome proliferation of unsightly warning signs telling visitors about obvious risks.

That could have wide-ranging consequences for Engish Heritage, which is responsible for managing 380 historic sites and monuments across the country.

The Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, disagreed. He said there was nothing obvious about the vertical drop into the moat and English Heritage had not taken reasonable steps to keep visitors safe.

Lord Dyson added: The decision in this case should not be interpreted as requiring occupiers like English Heritage to place unsightly warning signs in prominent positions all over sensitive historic sites.

Begging His Lordships pardon, but he couldnt be more wrong. Once the insurers and the risk-assessment professionals get involved, castles such as Carisbrooke will be covered in more signs than Piccadilly Circus, probably flashing in neon. It wont be long before all visitors are required to wear hi-viz jackets and hard hats and will only be allowed to explore historic monuments if they are roped together, like mountaineers.

Think Im kidding? We live in a soft society which insists that fish fingers carry Contains fish warnings on the packet and wont sell knitting needles to middle-aged women without proof of identity.

Just as well these rules werent around when Carisbrooke Castle was built, otherwise the warning notices would be carved in stone on the battlements.

Beware ye flying arrows; wear ye protective goggles at all time. Danger: Boiling oil may be hot. Management accepteth no responsibilitye for burns. Ye Moat: May contain water. Beware risk of being drownded.

Once Magna Carta was introduced, the courts would have been clogged up with claims for compensation.

If it pleases Your Worship, I appear for the plaintiff, Master Robin Hood, also known as Robin of Loxley.

Mlearned friend, Master Horace Rumpole of Ye Olde Gloucester Road, appears for the defendant, Ye Sheriff of Nottingham.

My client was riding through the glen with his Merry Men, when they were ambushed without warning by Kings men, led by Sir Guy of Gisbourne. Master Hood is a respected member of the community, feared by the bad, loved by the good. Master Hood and his Merry Men were heading to the tavern on the green when they were caught unawares and captured, before being taken to Nottingham Castle.

His associate, Friar Tuck, a clerical gentleman, slipped on the wet drawbridge, tripped over his cassock and sustained a sprained ankle.

It is our contention, Mlord, that ye Sheriff of Nottingham failed in his duty of care towards Master Hood and his Merry Men, in neglecting to erect hazard warning notices on the drawbridge and in Sherwood Forest, advising that Sir Guy and his men were carrying a number of sharp objects, such as swords and arrows, which could cause serious injury.

Another of the Merry Men, Little John, suffered a blow on the head from which he still hasnt recovered.

Right, luv, you're knickered

Todays edition of Mind How You Go was going to feature Thames Valley Police, which has been forced to admit it doesnt have a specialist diving unit. Thames Valley, the clues in the name. Its flooded every other year when the river is allowed to burst its banks to protect the Depressed River Mussel.

Then I read that Cambridgeshire Police is handing out free underwear, toiletries and sanitary products to young offenders. The project is called Sues Essentials and is the brainchild of crime reduction officer Sue Loaker, who figures if you give them free knickers they wont have to resort to crime. This is another one of those stories I dont know whether to file under Mind How You Go, You Couldnt Make It Up or Here We Go Looby Loo.

Remain's secret weapon: Gordon Brown

Remain unveiled its secret weapon this week: Gordon Brown, the Man Who Stole Your Old Age, let in millions of immigrants, bankrupted Britain and signed the Lisbon Treaty after sneaking in through the back door to avoid the cameras. Meanwhile, the Brexiteers have enlisted Who frontman Roger Daltrey. He correctly accuses the politicians of deliberately deceiving us for decades about the true intentions of the EU project.

We wont get fooled again.

Mr Bun the jailbird

A bakery worker has won 650 compensation for unfair dismissal, even though he was in prison when he was sacked.

Joseph Carter, from Greenock, Inverclyde, was fired when he didnt turn up for work for two months  because he had been jailed for dangerous driving and breach of the peace.

But a tribunal in Glasgow ruled that he was entitled to a pay-off because his employers hadnt followed proper procedures when they sacked him.

Sometimes words fail me.

My spirits lifted when I read the headline: Watson uses offshore trust to buy home.

Got him!

Sadly, the story referred to actress Emma Watson, from Harry Potter, not her namesake, Nonce Finder General Tommy Two Pizzas Watson. Drat!

It's the end of the world as we know it

Whats missing from the great Brexit debate is a decent soundtrack. In America, no political campaign is complete without a thumping rock anthem.

Over here, the hustings are a little more sedate. Tony Blair gave us Things Can Only Get Better, but look how that worked out.

Now Richard Hudson, who co-wrote the wonderful (You Dont Get Me Im) Part Of The Union for his old group The Strawbs, has come up with a song called Just Say No by B-rex for the Leave campaign.

You can find it on YouTube, iTunes and other social media sites. Its a delightful folky number, evoking the best of an independent Britain. He could have called it You Wont Catch Me As Part Of The (European) Union.

So where does that leave Remain? Project Fear has been so relentlessly negative, theres only one song which could do it justice: R.E.Ms apocalyptic hit, Its The End Of The World As We Know It.

To save Remain the trouble, Ive adapted it for them. So heres C.M.D. (Conservative Manoeuvres In The Dark). Take it away, Dave . . .

Thats great, it starts with an earthquake

Poison snakes and hurricanes

Call Me Dave says Be Afraid.

Into the unknown, we cant survive alone

World is a scary place, Boris is a disgrace.

Crank it up a notch, pour yourself a large scotch,

Drink it up while you can, soon itll be banned,

World war, genocide, Vote Leave, suicide

Listen to your Government, Vote Remain.

Isolation, desolation, end of the British nation

Were all doomed.

Instant slump, Donald Trump, economy goes down the dump,

Look, you wanna die? Fine, then.

Uh, oh, here we go, never make it on our own

Dont panic, save yourselves, save the world,

Think of the farmers, President Obama,

Four million jobs lost, right, right?

Patriotic? Idiotic, back of the queue, you

Stupid Ukip peasants . . .

Its the end of the world as we know it

Its the end of the world as we know it

Its the end of the world as we know it
When you're slathering moisturiser on your face, it's all too easy to forget to give your hands some TLC too.

Many women are guilty of it and plenty of celebrities are also victim of dry skin, weak nails or even veiny hands as they grow older.

FEMAIL challenged celebrity nail technician Lucy Tucker, who has worked with the likes of Olivia Wilde and Kimberley Walsh, to work out how old these celebrities are from their hands - and the results will surprise you.

AMANDA HOLDEN

Celebrity nail technician Lucy Tucker worked out how old celebrities were from their hands, she placed Britain's Got Talent judge's hands as 35, pictured at BGT auditions in February

Amanda is actually 10 years older than Lucy put her hands at, but advised her to keep using a good hand cream, pictured last week at the BAFTAs

HAND AGE: 35 REAL AGE: 45

Amanda Holden always looks polished on the red carpet and it seems like she pays attention to all aspects of her beauty regime.

Lucy was impressed with the Britain's Got Talent judge's hands and thought they belonged to a 35-year-old.

But she did advise making sure Amanda looks after them with a good hand cream for the future.

Lucy said: 'They look a little dry so I would definitely recommend using a good anti-ageing hand cream.

'Although its labelled as a hand cream, Ive found its amazing for nails too and works wonders on strengthening the surface of the nail too.

'This lady has a lovely nail shape and length, so clearly looks after her hands. Its so important to look after the nail cuticles as theyre protecting your nails  keeping them safe from any nasties.'

JENNIFER ANISTON

Jennifer Aniston always looks radiant and healthy and her hands are just the same, with Lucy putting them at the age of 38

Jenifer, 47, has looked after her hands well and has healthy nail beds as well as keeping her nails at a flattering length

HAND AGE: 38 REAL AGE: 47

Jennifer Aniston always looks radiant and healthy and her hands are just the same, with Lucy putting them at the age of 38.

Looking nine years younger than the actress's real age, Lucy said: 'She has nice short and square looking nails which complement her long fingers. Although her nails look in good condition, they may not be that strong so keeping them short means theres no risk of breakages on the red carpet.

'I would recommend her keeping them at that length as her nail beds are lovely and healthy-looking cuticles often mean healthy nails.'

Although Jennifer is clearly looking after her digits, if she wanted to anti-age them further Lucy suggested: 'She could try wearing brighter jewellery with her darker coloured outfits.

'Ive found bolder rings or bracelets can really brighten up the look of hands and detract from any lines or wrinkles you dont want people to see.'

KATE MOSS

Kate Moss' lifestyle involves smoking, plenty of sun and partying-hard with Lucy putting her hands at 52, pictured in September at London Fashion Week

Kate's hands were put at 10 years older than she is by Lucy, who advised she take a supplement to strengthen and protect pictured in 2011 in Paris

HAND AGE: 52 REAL AGE: 42

Kate Moss's lifestyle involves smoking, plenty of sun and partying-hard so it's no surprise the supermodel's hands look significantly older than she is.

Lucy said: 'The hands look they are in need of moisture. Ive found that dry or brittle skin on the hands can be a lot to do with genes unfortunately

'Some of us have a thin skin barrier so even from washing your hands more often, the skin can become dry and sensitive really easily.'

Although Lucy placed Kate's hands as ten years older than she actually is, Lucy advised that Kate could repair some damage by taking a supplement for skin and nails which 'can help strengthen and protect hands and nails.'

MADONNA

Lucy ranked Madonna's hands as being a 72-year-olds - 15 years older than Madonna actually is

HAND AGE: 72 REAL AGE: 57

The original Material Girl is still definitely young at heart with her outlandish red carpet outfits.

But Lucy ranked her hands as being a 72-year-olds - 15 years older than Madonna actually is.

Lucy said: 'Time and the elements have really taken their toll on this ladies hand.

'Most people dont recognise the signs of ageing until their 30s or 40s, but as you can see these hands have the tell-tale signs of thinning skin which look bony, veined and aged.

'She has clearly focused on jewellery for her hands and outfit rather than using her nails as an accessory. I think the chunky and dark jewellery really draws attention to the age of her hands and a polish such as a lovely pink nude or deep red would complement her short nails and brings a splash of colour to this outfit. '

Lucy recommended a 'nourishing fish oil supplement or even a coconut oil hand mask would help to anti-age these tired hands.'

SARAH JESSICA PARKER

Lucy reckoned Sarah Jessica Parker's hands looked they belonged to a 60-year-old, nine years older than the Sex And The City star's real age, pictured at the 2015 New York City Ballet Fall Gala

Lucy said: 'Your hands are the part of the body that are exposed to the outside the most, so as we age, fat begins to break down in the hands causing this veiny appearance,' pictured at the CLIO image awards 2014

HAND AGE: 60 REAL AGE: 51

Hands are most susceptible to ageing and Sarah Jessica Parker has fallen victim to this.

Lucy reckoned these hands looked like they belonged to a 60-year-old, nine years older than the Sex And The City star's real age.

Lucy said: 'Your hands are the part of the body that are exposed to the outside the most, so as we age, fat begins to break down in the hands causing this veiny appearance.

'Id recommend a nourishing moisturiser here that contains ingredients such as olive oil or vitamin E  great for protecting the skin from the environment and UV radiation.'

FEARNE COTTON

Fearne Cotton's youthful hands were put at 24 by Lucy, eight years younger than her age, pictured at the 2016 BRIT awards

Lucy also applauded Fearne's interesting nail polish choices and liked her 'fun and youthful personality,' pictured at the 2014 BAFTAs

HAND AGE: 26 REAL AGE: 34

Fearne Cotton's eclectic style dazzles on the red carpet and she doesn't forget her hands with bold jewellery and bright nails.

Lucy placed the mum of two's hands as being 26, eight years younger than Fearne's real age.

Lucy said: 'I'm a fan of this lady's bright fashion-forward orange nails against her black dress.

'Nails are our complementary accessory so its great to make the most of the them. Although some of the celebrities I work with like a subtle nail colour for events, its always fun to add some bright colour to an outfit.

'Im always a fan of mixing up nail colours as well  lime green and red candy are a great example of this. This ladys nails are the perfect length for this colour and dont detract from the elegant outfit shes wearing. This celeb is definitely up for showing her youthful and fun personality.'

KATE HUDSON

Lucy put actress Kate Hudson's hands at 30, seven years younger than her age, thanks to her youthful appearance as well as daring nail style

HAND AGE: 30 REAL AGE: 37

Lucy put actress Kate Hudson's hands at 30, seven years younger than her age, thanks to her youthful appearance as well as daring nail style.

Lucy said: 'Amazing nail art -iIt proves that you dont have to be a certain age to experiment with styles. The pattern and nude hue set off her gold dress and accessories brilliantly.

'The only thing Id change is the length of her nails. Theyre a little too long and the square edge is out-dated. I would have preferred to see her with an almond shape or oval if she wanted to keep the length and be on trend at the same time.'

HOLLY WILLOUGHBY

Holly Willoughby's hands were placed at 40 by Lucy, five years older than her real age, pictured at the NTA awards 2016

HAND AGE: 40 REAL AGE: 35

This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby's hands were placed at 40 by Lucy, five years older than her real age.

Lucy said: 'These hands look a little dry and in need of some hand cream! Damaged skin is also more vulnerable to the environment which can accelerate dryness.'

She advised Holly to use bright polish to distract: 'This lady should opt for a deep read or bright pink polish as I think her hands look older than she really is.'

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

Lucy was certainly impressed by how Keira Knightley's cared for her hands and thought they belonged to a 22-year-old, pictured at Erdem x Selfridges London Fashion Week afterparty in February

Lucy advised Keira to take supplements to keep her skin 'supple,' pictured at the 2015 BAFTAs

HAND AGE: 22 REAL AGE: 31

Keira Knightley's short nails might be a sign of her hectic life since having her baby Edie in May last year.

But Lucy was certainly impressed by how she's cared for her hands and thought they belonged to a 22-year-old.

Lucy said: 'Its so important to look after your hands from a young age. Shes lucky to have nice and supple looking skin, but to keep it like this should think about anti-ageing from within with the right vitamins.'

HELEN MIRREN

Dame Helen Mirren looks absolutely fabulous from head to toe but her hands are putting her at older than her 70 years, according to Lucy, Helen pictured at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in January

Lucy said: 'Over time hands can lose fat or volume and the skin becomes slack,' which causes enlarged veins, pictured Dame Helen in September 2014

HAND AGE: 75 REAL AGE: 70

Dame Helen Mirren looks absolutely fabulous from head to toe but her hands are putting her at older than her 70 years, according to Lucy.

The nail technician put the Oscar-winning actress' hands at 75. Lucy said: 'Over time hands can lose fat or volume and the skin becomes slack. This gives way to more obvious wrinkling, joints and enlarged veins which you can see in this ladys hands.

'Groomed nails means she still takes care of herself, but is a victim of age  something which we will all succumb to.'

LUCY TUCKER'S HANDCARE TIPS Invest in a good hand cream, a personal favourite is Sisley Global Anti-Ageing Hand Cream. Massaging hands not only help you to relax but it will also boost your circulation, encourage nail growth and keep hands looking younger for longer. Lucy Tucker is a celebrity nail technician Fingernails grow about an eighth of an inch per month, so adding oils high in fatty acids, anti-oxidants and nutrients will help with nail growth. Its best to apply oil to clean nails before sleep so you can allow the oils to soak into the tissue overnight. Seven Seas Perfect7 Woman is a good beauty all-rounder. We dont always get enough vitamins and minerals from our food so for that extra beauty boost. For healthy looking skin we need to be thinking about moisturising our cells from within, marine oils are an excellent way of doing this. Omega-3s hydrate cells, which in turn plumps up skin. Zinc is so important for both nails and skin as well. Advertisement
Churches are meant to be holy places, somewhere to find peace and quiet and escape the troubles of everyday life.

But when places of worship are attempting to lure in followers with signs like these, churchgoers would not be judged for having second thoughts about entering.

FEMAIL has put together a list of some of the world's most offensive, sexist - and often utterly hilarious - church signs around.

There can't be many women in high positions working for the North Buncombe church, which advises: 'Face powder may get a man, it takes baking powder to keep him'

That's true love: If God loves you more than Kanye loves Kanye, as the Lutheran Church of the Messiah writes, then he must love you an awful lot

It's unclear whether or not the sign writer of the Zion Lutheran Church understood the irony in writing that 'The class on prophecy has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances'

There can't be many women in high positions working for the North Buncombe church, which advises the public: 'Face powder may get a man, it takes baking powder to keep him'.

The Lutheran Church of the Messiah has used an equally unconventional method to lure in churchgoers - the sign reading: 'God loves you more than Kanye loves Kanye'.

And it's unclear whether or not the Zion Lutheran Church understood the irony in writing that 'The class on prophecy has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances'.

Surely this must be a typo? 'I am making all things ew' is a quote the Rosalie Baptist Church attributes to God - but presumably they meant to write 'new'

The Grace Lutheran Church has taken a light-hearted approach to promoting their Sunday worship and school, writing: 'Jesus is risen! (But not a zombie)'. It's unclear what devout Christians would make of this joke

The First United Methodist Church seems to think that church signs are the original Twitter

The Rosalie Baptist Church has made an unfortunate typo when attempting to write 'I am making all things new - God'.

Instead, the person who put together the sign wrote: 'I am making all things ew - God.'

And the Grace Lutheran Church has taken a light-hearted approach when promoting their Sunday worship and school, writing: 'Jesus is risen! (But not a zombie)'.

It's unclear what devout Christians would make of this joke.

Face palm: The Kerwin Baptist Church sign may have good, biblical intentions but one can't help but laugh at the sexual connotations of the message 'A tongue, being in a wet place, is apt to slip'

The poor pianist of St. Mark's Episcopal Church might have a bit of a shoddy turnout to this performance

The Waleska United Methodist Church's way of luring in churchgoers is by tempting them with 'Free beer' before announcing 'Just kidding'

The poor pianist of St. Mark's Episcopal Church might have had a bit of a shoddy turnout to this performance, as the church sign reads 'What is hell?' and straight underneath says 'Come hear our pianist!'.

And the Voluntown Baptist Church makes a Star Wars joke in its sign, writing: 'A long time ago, in a Galilee far, far away'.

Perhaps Church of the Nazarene has made the biggest error.

When attempting to write 'God doesn't make mistakes', this church has instead written 'God doesn't make misteaks'.

Very punny: This church plays on the famous Star Wars quote, swapping 'galaxy' with 'Galilee', the region in northern Israel

It's not very clear what the Mount Hope Free Will Baptist Church means by 'Eat the Devils' corn, you will choke on his cob'

That's unfortunate: When attempting to write 'God doesn't make mistakes', this church has written 'God doesn't make misteaks'
Last year, 35 students with disabilities participated in a statewide summer work experience program. This summer, 80 students, more than double last year, are expected.

The North Dakota Department of Human Services Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has been offering job search assistance and workplace support to high school students with disabilities who want work experience.

Most of these students have limited work experience. Division Director Russ Cusack said the program helps by developing a work ethic and skills, like communication and teamwork.

"We want young individuals with disabilities to have opportunities to succeed in the workplace," helping them transition to successful careers as adults, Cusack said in a statement.

The vocational rehabilitation counselors help students search job openings, complete a resume and job applications, and go through the interview process. Students are taught how to dress for an interview and how best to reveal their disability to a prospective employer should they choose to, said senior counselor Angie Parr.

They try to match students with their area of interest or, for those planning to attend college, their area of study. For example, a student who wants to be a nurse may work for the summer in a nursing home.

For those who dont know what they want to do, there is interest testing or situational assessments, which are like 2 to 4-hour internships where the students perform a job and get to ask questions, helping them decide if it is a job they would like to have. The students can add these mini-internships to their resumes, Parr said.

Cusack said participants typically work in hospitality industry jobs that are common for first-time job seekers. This general employment is beneficial to students in generating work experience and skills.

Any kind of work experience is good for kids because it increases their level of success post-secondary, said Program Administrator Barbara Burghart, adding that the program is helpful to employers, too, as many are looking for seasonal employees and students help fill that void.

Parr said the students also enjoy receiving their own paycheck. With that, counselors are able to teach them further lessons like budgeting and saving.

They begin to realize that bills come first and not spend it all on wants, she said.

Counselors follow up throughout the summer with the students, especially at the beginning of their employment, helping them with basic skills, such as punching in and out or getting along with coworkers. The state spends $515 for 15 hours of pre-vocational training for each student. Then it costs $515 per month for follow up assistance.

Ideally, the students work 20 hours per week from the end of May through the end of August.

By the end of the summer, Parr said she often sees an improvement in students self confidence. She said she worked with an autistic student who struggled with social skills. When he first started he was more concerned with what other workers were doing and spent more time reporting their actions to the supervisor than focusing on his own work.

With guidance he improved and really became a team player at work, Parr said. The student developed a much better relation with his coworkers and was ultimately hired on as a permanent employee.

Students must qualify for vocational rehabilitation services in order to participate in the summer work program, a collaboration between the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Public Instruction, Job Service North Dakota, secondary school transition teachers, community rehabilitation providers, parents, students and employers.

Parr said she thinks the program can help any student, no matter their disability.

After they graduate from high school theyre going to have to do something, she said. Its amazing honestly to see the sense of pride students get after getting that first paycheck. They can tell their friends at school about their job  Its an opportunity they may not have had without a program like this because they do need support.

Parr said, as students continue to learn these workforce skills while theyre still in school and their success shows after they graduate, she expects the program to grow in popularity and enrollment to increase.

Those interested should contact the vocational rehabilitation office in their region. www.nd.gov/dhs/dvr/about/regional-contact.html. The Bismarck regional Vocational Rehabilitation Office is located at 1237 W. Divide Ave., and can be reached at 701-328-8800.
Deaf Dancing With the Stars contestant Nyle DiMarco said he does not wish he was able to hear because he is happy as he is.

The 27-year-old model and actor, who was born deaf, said he has never considered getting an cochlear implant or hearing aid because he is 'comfortable, confident and independent' as he is.

Nyle, who was born in Queens, New York, told People: 'I've never wanted to hear, because that's never existed in my life. I'm happy.'

Content: Nyle DiMarco, 27, pictured with his dancing partner Peta Murgatroyd on DWTS, said he has never sought a cochlear implant or hearing aid

Skilled: The model and actor, who is in the final five on Dancing With the Stars, has more than 25 family members who are also deaf

Normal: Nyle, who was born in Queens, New York, said growing up around other deaf people and going to a deaf school stopped him from feeling 'isolated'

More than 25 people in Nyle's family are deaf - including his twin brother Nico, older brother Neal Jr, his parents, four grandparents and eight great-grandparents.

He was raised by his mother Donna in Frederick, Maryland, after she separated from his father in 2000.

Nyle went to a school for deaf children and communicated using American Sign Language but at home he would play with non-deaf children who lived nearby.

Because he was so used to spending time with adults and children who were also deaf, he said hearing to him was 'just as different as me being deaf'.

He said his upbringing, largely around deaf people, made his interactions with hearing people easier because he did not feel 'isolated'.

Family: His twin brother, older brother, parents, four grandparents and eight great-grandparents are also deaf

Self-assured: Nyle said he is 'comfortable, confident and independent' as he is

Spotlight: Nyle, pictured on the show, said he has known his 'deaf identity' since birth

If he had gone to a public school or had a hearing family he said 'being deaf would have become my identity'.

Nyle went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the only deaf university in the US, where he studied mathematics, and went on solo trips to Europe and Columbia.

He said traveling on his own was easier for him than for a hearing person because rather than trying to communicate verbally he used gestures.

He added: 'Since I knew my deaf identity since birth, it wasn't hard for me to be comfortable, confident and independent in the hearing world.'

He moved to Florida where he planned to get a job teaching but he was soon contacted by the makers of drama Switched At Birth.

Headhunted: Last year Nyle was contacted by producers of America's Next Top Model who had spotted his Instagram account

Recognition: They invited him to audition for the show and he went on to win

Multi-talented: Nyle, pictured far left with fellow models, had never danced before appearing on DWTS but he has been praised by judges as 'America's next top dancer' and 'terrific'

Last year he was contacted by producers of America's Next Top Model who had spotted his Instagram account and invited him to audition and he went on to win.

Nyle had never danced before appearing on the show but he has been praised by judges as 'America's next top dancer' and 'terrific'.

He said he did not want to give anybody an excuse to say that 'deaf people can't dance' so he embraced the challenge.

Nyle, who is one of five remaining contestants on the show, is given signals by his partner, professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd to guide him through the dances, but often he does not need them.
The 19-year-old is the first I

For the first time in the competition's history, and Indigenous model has been selected to represent the Northern Territory at the Miss World Australia national finals.

Maminydjama Maymuru, a 19-year-old Yolgnu woman, has won the NT state final of Miss World and advanced to the national final, which will be held in July.

Ms Maymuru, who goes by the name Magnolia when modelling, is from the remote community of Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land.

Breaking through: Maminydjama Maymuru (right) is the first indigenous model to make the finals of Miss World Australia

Model looks: 19-year-old Ms Maymuru (second from right) is a Yolgnu woman from the remote community of Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land

Ms Maymuru told the ABC that she had never considered an career in the fashion industry before now.

'I don't read magazines or go onto E! News. I'm more of an outdoorsy girl. I like to hunt and go camping and go netting with my family,' she said.

She became a model only recently, after being spotted by the director of NT Fashion Week, Mehali Tsangaris.

Little diversity: There are not many indigenous models in the Australian fashion industry, with women like Samantha Harris (above) one of the only successful Aboriginal models

Kickstart: Many Miss World Australia winners like 2015's Tess Alexander (above) go on to have successful modelling careers

The 19-year-old was seen by Mr Tsangaris taking money out of an ATM in Darwin in 2014, and offered her a job on the spot to be model under his management.

Ms Maymuru rejected the offer because she had to finish Year 12. But then Mr Tsangaris saw her again last year and convinced her to take up his offer.

Her first modelling show was at NT Fashion week in October that year, and she has since done other work, including entering Miss World.

'The girl that could spark a revolution': Mr Tsangaris said that he hopes Ms Maymuru's story and the success of other indigenous models like Samantha Harris encourages the industry to look to the NT for talent

Face of the nation: The winner of Miss World Australia goes on to represent the country at the Miss World international final (above)

Mr Tsangaris said that he is surprised more agencies aren't working with indigenous women and women from remote communities, but that Ms Maymuru could change that.

'I think Magnolia is the girl that could spark a revolution,' he said.

Indigenous models are still rare in the Australian industry, but women like Samantha Harris and Ms Maymuru are hoping to change that.
Crown Princess Mary is the latest Scandinavian princess to step out in a gown from discount label H&M.

Following in her close friend Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit's as well as Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria's fashionable footsteps, the Danish royal has been pictured in a black dress from the chain's Exclusive Conscious Collection.

Mary wore the full skirted design, which features floral brocade, to host a Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2016 on Thursday night, at their home in the Amalienborg Palace.

A pop of colour: Crown Princess Mary wears a black gown from H&M's Exclusive Conscious Collection

Copycats: The dress has been worn previously by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (centre) and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway (right)

Fashion forward: Mary hosted a Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2016 on Thursday night alongside her husband Frederik

Supermodel Miranda Kerr and actress Emmy Rossum have also worn the dress to events in the past few months.

The stylish royal added a pop of colour with bright yellow heels.

Crown Princess Mary, 44, and her husband Crown Princes Frederik, 47, greeted operators in sustainable fashion ahead of the dinner.

Earlier in the day, the Australian royal wore another design from the H&M Conscious collection to make the opening speech of the Fashion Summit.

Regal: The royal couple greeted operators in sustainable fashion ahead of the dinner at their home in the Amalienborg Palace

Popular: The dress is also popular with celebrities, With Miranda Kerr (left) and Emmy Rossum (right) also wearing it before

Mary looked radiant in a white lace midi skirt, over a crisp white shirt, which she rolled up at the sleeves.

Completing the chic ensemble were understated nude stilettos and a bouncy ponytail.

Mary's classic look was perfect for the event: the Copenhagen Fashion Summit 2016, for which the Crown Princess is Patron.

She arrived at the opening day in a chauffeured car, being greeted by a little girl who presented the royal with a bouquet.

Spring in her step: Earlier in the day, Mary looked summery and crisp in yet another ensemble from the H&M Collection to make a speech at the Fashion Summit opening

Chic and classic: Mary, 44, wore a white shirt and lace midi skirt, and was greeted by a little girl with a bouquet as she arrived at the event

The Australian royal gave the opening speech at the Fashion Summit event.

It has been a jam-packed week for the busy princess, who on Tuesday attended the official opening of the European Conference IDAHO Forum at Admiral Hotel in Copenhagen.

She delivered her speech for LGBT rights wearing a tasteful knee-length navy blue dress and brooch with camel-coloured heels and purse.
A Doctor Who actress at the centre of a high heels 'sexism' row has now said that women also shouldn't be forced to wear make-up to work if they don't want to.

Nicola Thorp, 27, who is originally from Blackpool, revealed earlier this week that she was sent home from her temping receptionist job at accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers for not adhering to the heeled footwear policy.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, she says it's now her aim to overhaul the way 'women are treated at work as opposed to men'.

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Fury: Nicola Thorp was told she could not work as a receptionist while wearing flat shoes

Debate: Nicola Thorp, 27, (speaking on ITV above) an actress at the center of a high heels 'sexism' row has now said that women also shouldn't be forced to wear make-up to work if they don't want to

The brunette stated that Portico, the London-based temping agency she was employed through, 'should be reviewing their policy on insisting that female receptionists wear make-up to work if they don't want to.'

She added: 'I also think other companies should also be reviewing the way in which they treat women at work in terms of their appearance as opposed to the way they treat men.'

Discussing the issue in the studio with presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby were broadcasters Angela Epstein and Kate Smurthwaite.

Kate said: 'There are legitimate reasons to tell someone what to wear to work; I dont want my sandwiches made by someone whose hair is falling out in to the sandwiches, so hair up.

'But theres absolutely no reason why enforcing those standards has to say men have to look smart and women have to look glamorous and gorgeous all day.'

Miss Thorp was sent home on her first day at PwC after turning up in black flat shoes.

When she protested, her temping agency bosses allegedly told her it was the 'female grooming policy' that all women should wear heels measuring at least 2in.

Looking the part: The brunette was told by her temping agency that she had to wear make-up that fitted on to a colour chart of 'acceptable shades'

Recalling the chain of events, Miss Thorp said: 'They said they had a policy that all women had to wear high heels at reception.

'They said I could go out and buy a pair of two to four inch heels or go home.

'I was expected to do a nine-hour shift meeting and greeting clients, but I wasn't prepared to be on my feet all day in heels and I wasn't going to do that.

'When I refused to wear them they laughed at me. I pointed out that I felt discriminated against and I left feeling upset and confused.

'Portico told me that I could wear trousers, but that the client prefers it if you wear a skirt.'

A petition that she set up to make it illegal for companies to force women to wear heels has now reached 100,000 signatures meaning the Government will be forced to consider debating the issue in Parliament

Outraged by the situation, the actress went about setting up a petition on the Government's official website calling for the 'sexist' dress code to be banned.

I was expected to do a nine-hour shift meeting and greeting clients, but I wasn't prepared to be on my feet all day in heels

The call for action currently has more than 120,000 signatures and the issue is on track to be debated in Parliament.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Miss Thorp said she has been thrilled with the support she's received.

'I am pleased that the battle over high heels I have had has highlighted the problem and made a difference, but there is so much more to do, it is just one battle.

'How can wearing high heels make you better at your job?

'The same goes for make-up - women should not feel pressure to wear make up at work. Why should women have to paint their faces to please their bosses?'

In response to the issue, Portico released a statement stating that it 'has changed its dress code policy with immediate effect.'

Meanwhile the accountancy giant PwC insists that its staff are free to wear what they want.

A spokesman for the firm said: 'PwC outsources its front of house/reception services to a third party supplier.

Petition: The budding actress is lobbying the Government to change the law on dress codes

'The dress code referenced in the article is not a PwC policy. PwC staff are not expected to wear heels, it is very much dependent on the scenario.

'Women are expected to dress smartly and we do not have a dress code policy. For us it's down to the individual for what they want to wear.'

The UK's equality watchdog described the requirement to wear heels as 'outdated sexism' and said it would consider taking action against Miss Thorp's agency.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, added: '45 years on since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, it's baffling that there are still some companies that are practising this sort of outdated sexism.

'In our view, unless equally stringent requirements are applied to male workers, it is likely that a requirement to wear two inch heels would constitute unlawful discrimination, and we will look into whether action needs to be taken.'

Contrast: Miss Thorp was told she had to wear heels of at least 2in, rather than flats

Sexism: Miss Thorp claimed that the policy was a form of discrimination against women

Investigation: PricewaterhouseCoopers is now reviewing the policy after Miss Thorp's complaint

Legal experts warned that firms had to be 'even-handed' in applying male and female dress codes - Nicholas Le Riche of Bircham Dyson Bell said: 'You would have to question why Ms Thorp had to wear high heels in particular, if her overall appearance was smart.'

In addition to high heels, Miss Thorp was told by Portico that she had to wear make-up that fitted on to a colour chart of 'acceptable shades'.

She added: 'I defy anyone to give me a reason as to why it's beneficial to wear high heels. I don't think it affects my job or how smart I was looking.

Star: Miss Thorp pictured in an episode of Doctor Who alongside Matt Smith, who played The Doctor

Appearance: The actress starred in two episodes as the mother of The Doctor's companion Clara Oswald

'These dress codes are in place because of old fashioned stereotypes of women. People say that heels are just more feminine, but why should I need to express my gender at work?

'People have said to me before that they just need someone pretty for people to look at in reception. Lots of my friends have had the same thing happen with them.

'Things need to change. I think this is a small step in terms of equality and women's rights. It's opened up questions about being a woman and what's expected of you.'

'I believe that women deserve equality with men and our feelings should not just be disregarded.'
Queen Letizia's go-to hairstyle has been smooth and sleek in recent months, however the royal opted for a bouncier new do for her engagement last night.

The Spanish queen showcased her brunette locks in tight ringlets during her visit to the Callao Cinema in Madrid on Thursday night.

The monarch looked well groomed with not a curl out of place and a flawless natural beauty look as she stepped out in the Spanish capital.

Queen Letizia looked groomed to perfection today as she showcased cascading ringlets during a visit to the Callao Cinema in Madrid

The mother-of-two looked elegant in a ruched navy sleeveless top and a matching skirt, showcasing a flash of leg as the weather warms up.

Letizia, 43, added a little quirk to her outfit carrying an unusual geometric perspex clutch and finishing her outfit with a pair of classic stilettos.

The queen seemed in good spirits as she greeted Research, Development and Innovation state secretary Carmen Vela, planting a kiss on her cheek as they met.

The former journalist joined Vela and others for the scientific monologue contest final 'Famelab EspaOa 2016' at the Callao Cinema.

The mother-of-two looked elegant in a ruched navy sleeveless top and a matching skirt, showcasing a flash of leg as the weather warms up

Letizia greets Research, Development and Innovation state secretary Carmen Vela with a friendly kiss

Letizia conducted her engagement solo and was not joined by her husband King Felipe VI during last night's presentation.

However, the pair were seen together just days earlier when they visited Seville for another scientific engagement.

The pair attended the inauguration of an aerospace technology transfer incubator at the Aerospace Technology Park of Andalusia on Tuesday.

The Queen conducted her engagement last night alone attending the scientific monologue contest final 'Famelab EspaOa 2016'

Letizia added a little quirk to her outfit carrying an unusual geometric perspex clutch

Luckily the weather was kinder to the monarch last night as she escaped the downpour she was caught in earlier this week.

Despite the damp weather the Spanish monarch was all smiles as she braved the rain with a giant umbrella and with a Hugo Boss mac draped over her shoulders on Tuesday.

Letizia appeared unfazed by the showers as she greeted the crowds who had lined the street in in the La Rinconada area of the city to catch a glimpse of her.

Luckily the queen was able to take some refuge indoors during the inauguration of an aerospace technology transfer incubator at the Aerospace Technology Park of Andalusia.

Although it appeared to have been raining the rain stayed away as the queen made her entrance

The park was created in 2010 in an effort to boost industry in Andalusia. The complex now plays hosts 538 companies and over 14,000 employees

Although the royal was not tasked with meeting all 14,000 employees she was glad to meet some involved in Andalusia's growing industry.

Setting her umbrella aside Letizia and the king were lead on a tour of the park greeting workers in white coats this afternoon.

Crowds were able to catch a glimpse of the queen sans umbrella later today when she took to the balcony of the Municipality of La Rinconada in Andalusia.

She smiled down adoringly at the crowds as the rain gave off enough for her to remove her rain mac.

On Tuesday Queen Letizia of Spain braved the unusual downpour in Seville while attending an aerospace event

Despite the downpour Letizia seemed undeterred by the rain, flashing her pearly white smile this morning
A heartbroken couple have spent 15,000 on giving their two baby daughters a proper send off after they died just 15 months apart.

Matthew and Jodie McAtamney-Greenwood from Chessington, Surrey, were expecting their first daughter, Serenity, in the spring of 2014, but at 38 weeks her heart stopped beating and she was stillborn.

A year later, Jodie, now 25, was pregnant with the couple's second daughter, Trinity, but a scan showed she had a heart defect and she died aged just five months old.

Matthew and Jodie McAtamney-Greenwood from Chessington, Surrey, were left bereft after they lost both their young daughters. The devastated couple were determined to make sure their baby girls got the best possible send off. Pictured at their graves

Software engineer Matthew and his wife Jodie (pictured at Trinity's funeral) were determined to give both their girls a proper send off and spent thousands of pounds

The doting parents from were so devastated after the death of their first daughter they decided to have a hugely lavish funeral, to give her the send off she deserved.

Software engineer Matthew, 33, said: 'For our first daughter, the pregnancy was textbook according to nurses, but at 38 weeks her heart stopped beating and she was stillborn.

'It was devastating. Serenity wasn't a planned pregnancy, but we found out Jodie was pregnant just before we got married and spent nine months making plans.

'We discussed what to do and where to take her, and we bought everything you need to buy.

Matthew and Jodie lost their first daughter to a stillbirth, while their second daughter, Trinity, died of a heart defect at just five months old (pictured)

The couple chose a horse and carriage for both funerals - white for Serenity and black for Trinity (pictured)

'But then not having a baby to take home, it's just unfathomable. It was like one minute we had a baby and the next we didn't.'

Matthew and Jodie wanted to shower Serenity in gifts just as they would have done if she were alive.

Matthew said: 'Most parents will spend thousands of pounds on their babies over the course of the years and ultimately we thought why don't we do the same, she is still our daughter.'

The grieving parents ordered a white horse and carriage - because she was their 'little princess' and they wanted to give her the best possible send off.

Serenity's headstone was custom made, with a hand-carved butterfly and black marble stone

Jodie pictured at their daughter Serenity's grave. Matthew said: 'Most parents will spend thousands of pounds on their babies over the course of the years and ultimately we thought why don't we do the same, she is still our daughter'

They had a headstone custom made, with a butterfly carved into the top, and a place to put letters and cards where they wouldn't get wet.

The black marble headstone was also covered in heart-wrenching poems and messages of love from the tot's parents and grandparents.

Not long after Serenity's death, Jodie was pregnant again and although the couple were very cautious, everything seemed to be going to plan.

The parents (pictured at Serenity's grave) were given a 50/50 chance of their second daughter, Trinity, surviving but her heart condition was so severe that they lost her after just five months

However, at 20 weeks, the scans showed that Trinity had pulmonary atresia with a ventricular septal defect, meaning her heart was missing the artery which goes to the lungs.

Matthew said: 'We were given a 50/50 chance of her making it, but sadly with her condition there wasn't much they could do before the birth, and we knew that after she was born there could be lots of complications.

'When she was born, in March last year, it was a perfectly normal birth and she seemed absolutely fine.'

But sadly, their tiny daughter's health didn't hold out and, despite being sent home from hospital, she fell ill while heading to Wales on a family holiday in August last year.

Since the death of her second child, Jodie has decided to give up her former job as a Lifeguard and instead spent her days helping bereaved parents through her own charity

Jodie rushed her to the hospital, but sadly little Trinity suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away.

Jodie, pictured with Trinity, is now planning her memorial with Matthew

Matthew said: 'I just crumbled, it was like what you see in films, I just crumbled and fell to the floor.

'I was crying, having lost all of that, having lost another child.

'It's another future that we have planned for and that, again, wasn't going to happen.'

The grieving dad started channelling his grief into planning another funeral, which he wanted to be every bit as beautiful and lavish as Serenity's.

He said: 'The only difference in the funeral was that everything Serenity had was white, white horses and carriage,

'But for Trinity, we decided on black - she always looked good in darker colours.

'We got her a black horse and carriage and because she had lived we got poems and letters and pictures together and make gifts for everything.

'We made little charm bracelets for everyone.

'Trinity always stretched her neck out when she wanted to feed, so we used to call her Giraffe, so we made everyone a little giraffe charm.'

Friends and family members chipped in to help with the costs, which built up to almost 8,000.

Jodie and Matthew are now currently planning for her memorial.

Matthew said: 'It's our way of giving them the same as what we would have done anyway.

'Now they have their own little plots and we spend about 100 a month on those, adding things to them.'

Jodi now runs her own charity, named 'The Pink Mile' in memory of the hospital corridor that the couple paced up and down when their little girl Trinity was taken ill

The couple, pictured with Trinity, have thrown themselves into charity work. Matthew also wrote a poem in memory of his daughters

After the death of Serenity, Jodie stopped working as a lifeguard and is now throwing her energy into starting up a charity, offering help and advice for bereaved parents.

The charity is called 'The Pink Mile' - after the long, pink hospital corridor that Matthew remembers walking up and down when the couple lost Serenity.

He said: 'The first poem I wrote when Serenity died was based on the fact that we were down this long corridor.
A YouTube experiment featuring two men and two women posing as interfaith Muslim and Jewish couples shows the shockingly hostile response they received as they walked hand-in-hand around New York.

The two 'couples' - one posing as a Jewish man and a Muslim woman and the other dressed as a Muslim man and a Jewish woman - walked around the city wearing clothing to indicate their respective faiths.

While some welcomed their open-mindedness, many met the statement with aggression and hostility - staring, swearing, shouting and chucking bottles, captured on camera for a video entitled Muslim/Jewish Marriage Experiment.

Test: The video, called Muslim/Jewish Marriage Experiment, shows two men and two women posing as a Muslim woman and a Jewish man, pictured left, and a Muslim man and a Jewish woman, pictured right

Reaction: As they walk around the streets of Brooklyn, some people stared, pictured, some shouted abuse and some even chucked objects at them

Intimidation: One man, pictured, followed one couple around for 25 minutes while appearing to film them

The video, presented by Karim Metwaly, of YouTube channel Are We Famous Now, has become an online hit and has been watched on YouTube more than 1.2 million times.

Karim, 28, who lives in New York, said he was amazed by the huge response the video has got but said they were terrified by the abuse they received.

He said: 'I feel very surprised and did not expect that, but was really happy when there were those few who ran to us to say what we were doing was great or who we came to and asked about how they felt.'

But said the participants were 'really scared', adding: 'We didn't feel like we ever want to do it again.'

It features Al, who is dressed to appear Jewish, and Moe, who wears clothing to give the impression he is Muslim, from YouTube channel MoeLaddin.

Explaining the concept, Karim says at the beginning of the video: 'We're going to have the Jewish man walk with the Muslim lady and the Muslim man walk with the Jewish lady. Let's see how the public reacts.'

It does not start positively when first the man posing as Jewish and the woman posing as Muslim walk through a 'Muslim/Arab neighborhood' holding hands and people in the street visibly turn to stare at them.

Hostile: A minority of people they encounter in the video are supportive of them while others, pictured, stared and some shouted abuse

Abuse: One person shouted at the couple posing as a Muslim woman and a Jewish man: 'How'd you find her?'

When Moe asks a policeman: 'What do you think of a Muslim guy and a Jewish girl walking together?' He answers: 'No comment.'

A woman swears at them with her hands and shouts 'F***k you' at Al and the woman he is holding hands with. It then says they were 'stopped by a mob'.

One man says: 'This is so wrong on so many levels. What do you mean hand in hand?...That's a war. Try this in Brooklyn.' Another person in the group says to the woman: 'You're making Islam look bad'.

They then move on to Brooklyn where the response is even more aggressive as the two couples walk hand in hand through a Jewish neighborhood.

One person shouts to the person posing as a Jewish man: 'How'd you find her?'

Another man is heard saying'A f****t. You don't see a f****t?' after Moe and the woman walk past. Then a voice is heard saying: 'He's a f*****t and another f*****t and another stupid Muslim.'

A man shouts after them: 'Yeah that's what you are. A terrorist...That's what you are, a terrorist.' When the cameraman says: 'Say that again.' The man repeats to his face: 'You're a terrorist'.

Violent: Coffee and bottles were thrown at the couple posing as a Muslim man and Jewish woman, pictured, text in the video claims

Attacking: One woman, pictured, shouts 'f**k you' as the couple posing as a Jewish man and Muslim woman walks past

Persistent: Moe, pictured, waves as someone shouts 'hi stupid' at him and his female companion

Coffee and bottles were thrown at the couple posing as a Muslim man and Jewish woman, text in the video claims.

Moe waves at somebody who shouts 'hi stupid'.'You heard that?' says Moe. 'Somebody threw a water bottle right?'

They are then followed by a man who walked behind them filming them on his phone for 25 minutes.

The man following is heard saying: 'Social experiment...I like that...You do your thing, I'll do my thing.'

Writing on the screen says: 'Sadly the responses on both sides weren't pleasant. Is this the peace we were striving for? We continued to push through because this wasn't representative of all people.'

They find some positive responses from people who praise them for walking hand-in-hand.

Al and the Muslim woman talk to two young men. One says: 'I think Jews and Arabs can be friends, everybody can be friends.'

Harassed: People were open in their hostility to the two couples

'Liberating': Others were more positive and praised the couples for their openness

Peaceful: Some people shook hands with them as they walked the streets of Brooklyn

Al says: 'So what do you think of Jewish and Arab, do you think we should become peace, not fighting?' One of the men says: 'I think we should make peace. I think everyone should make peace.'

Moe asks a man: 'What do you think of a Muslim guy and a Jewish girl walking together?' He says: 'I see it [as] highly liberating.'

He stops outside a restaurant and asks a group of three men what they think and one says: 'Sick man, what's up' and shakes his hand.

Another man when he is asked a similar question says: 'It's good...As long as you don't fight and you get along.'

Moe says in response: 'Of course, the best thing is peace in the world you know. At the same time, we're all family, we're all one.'

Another man they stop in the street says: 'We're cousins for a long time, right? So we have to live our lives. We believe in God. We believe in Moses, we believe in Jesus, before they were Muslims they were Jewish and Christian. What's the difference now?'

Unity: The video has attracted thousands of comments in response to the experiment, pictured

High five: This woman, pictured, approached the couple and thanked them for inspiring her

Support: These young men showed their support for Moe and the woman he was holding hands with

One of two men sitting outside a restaurant says: 'I'm Jewish and he's Muslim.'

When Moe asks him: 'What do you think of a Muslim guy and a Jewish girl walking together?' He says: 'Marhaba [welcome].' The other man, who is Muslim, says: 'My wife is Jewish.'

Someone in the street says to Al and his female companion: 'Our peace, very very proud of you.'

A woman runs up to them and says: 'Are you a Muslim and a Jew? Nice to meet you. I saw you pass by and this is really inspiring just to see you walk hand in hand. I wanted to know if you had positive feedback or has it been? What's the feedback? You're in New York.'

Al says: 'Whether we're Jewish, Muslim or Christian I don't see why we can't love each other.'

The woman who stopped them says: 'I'm a Muslim myself and to see this is amazing. Hands down to you. High five.' Text on the video then reads: 'We need love before peace.'
He says he uses the sitting room to plan his

Steve has lived in his 'light and airy' loft by the Thames for two years with his fiancee, rower Helen Glover

1 KUNG FU FIGHTING

Ive lived in this light and airy house by the Thames  which I now share with my fiancee, Olympic rower Helen Glover  for about two years and this sitting room is where I plan my expeditions.

Its a far cry from the old-fashioned dojo  a traditional Japanese house  I lived in for a year in Japan in 1997 studying martial arts for hours every day. Id been doing it since childhood but I wanted to learn more from the experts. At the end I got the ultimate accolade  this black belt.

2 SAVE THE SHARK

Sharks are one of my great passions. Im an ambassador for The Shark Trust and Bite-Back  both campaign to protect these creatures, which are among the most endangered animals on the planet.

Steve got this mask while he was in West Timor

This fossilised tooth, given to me by my producer on the BBCs Lost Land series, reminds me that sharks have been around for 400 million years  yet we could lose them in our lifetime. We must stop killing them for things like shark fin soup.

3 TROPHY WARS

Essentially my house is now full of Helens medals and trophies. She not only won a 2012 Olympic rowing gold, but shes also European and World champion and Olympic and World record holder.

Shes pretty much got the lot! This BAFTA for Best Childrens Presenter is my only trophy of note. I got it in 2011 for my show Deadly 60 and we also won Best Childrens Factual Series too. Unfortunately its still battling for space among Helens MBE and gold medals...

4 CROC STAR

Ive had this Black Caiman crocodiles skull from South America on loan from the Royal Veterinary College for about three years and I use it in talks to explain to kids how awesome these animals are.

I know how good spending my life outdoors makes me feel, so I try to get the message across to kids. It was my parents Pat and Dave  thats them in the photo on the coffee table with my sister Jo  who inspired my love of nature. They worked for BA and took us to India and Africa as children.

5 FAB FOSSIL

I was exploring the far reaches of a cave system on an island off the coast of Papua New Guinea that had never been explored before when my head torch fell upon this perfect marine fossil  probably from an extinct species of giant snail thats millions of years old.

It was just sitting there  loose on the surface in a corner of the cave. Its really heavy and everyone thought I was crazy to carry it in my rucksack for a day as we came out  but now it sits in my house.

6 MASK OF DEATH

I got this mask from West Timor  the Indonesian half of the island of Timor  in 1991. It was used by young men who would wear it as a disguise when they went into a nearby village, killed someone, and took away their head  a task that was an essential rite of passage into adulthood in their culture.

I picked it up in a remote village  its very rare, hundreds of years old and theres something spooky about it. Not surprisingly it has a strange aura.
My new film, Golden Years, is about a group of pensioners in Bristol who are so outraged by the erosion of their nest-eggs  thanks to the dubious manipulations of their various financial advisers  they decide to get their money back by robbing a few banks.

Its Bonnie And Clyde meets The Wild Bunch meets Robin Hood, but all done with bad hips and wonky knees. Its a charming, funny story, filled with amusing and touching characters.

The only question is, what am I doing in it? The film is about old people. Im not old. Im just about to be 67. Gosh, 67!

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Simon Callow is frank about growing old as is his new film, Golden Years which centres around a group of bank robbing pensioners

Thats nothing these days. Is it? Of course, I belong to a profession for whom the word retirement is meaningless, if not actually offensive. Age is just an opportunity for a whole new range of parts. Well, for some men, anyway. But still: how can this have happened? Me, old? There have been a few external changes: over the years my hair, into which the odd grey tuft had crept before I was 20, changed at a leisurely pace from brunette to salt-and-pepper to grey (Distingue! they all cried). Now it is prophet white, edging back from my brow and vacating a pink clearing on the back of my skull, but still copious.

The occasional stray hair emerges from my nostrils and theres a persistent outcrop on my ears. But my face is still my face, for better or for worse, just as it always was. Something strange has happened to my eyebrows, and there has been a general thickening, but no wrinkles, no blotches.

One thing that is in good shape is my bare bottom, which I flash briefly in the film. Its not the first time Ive shown it  in 1985 I skinny-dipped in A Room With A View with Rupert Graves and Julian Sands. Some 31 years on, my bottom is in better shape, thanks to cutting down on my 50-a-day smoking habit, drinking less and working out at the gym.

Growing older:'I had to run for a bus on my way to the theatre. I was not a pretty sight, left winded and sweating, red-faced and wheezy.'

As for the rest of me, my knees, its true, grind away but theyre perfectly manageable. I mean, kneeling isnt easy, but since Im not religious and the prospect of a knighthood seems remote, thats a minor inconvenience.

When cast as pensioner 'Royston' in The Golden Years, actor Simon Callow was initially shocked to be 'officially regarded as old'.

I bumped into the conductor Simon Rattle the other day  Ive known him for over 30 years and hes six years younger than me. Were just teenagers with bad knees, really, arent we? he said. Aint it the truth?! Just catch a glimpse of me in the gym: yoga, weights, running on the spot. Fitter than ever. A stone lighter than a year ago.

But the other day I had to run for a bus on my way to the theatre. I was not a pretty sight, left winded and sweating, red-faced and wheezy. What happened to the gymnast, the slim-nast, of what seems like only a week ago?

When I arrived at the theatre I looked moodily at myself in the dressing room mirror and thought: Youve turned into that man  that stocky, red-faced, bespectacled, white-haired old fellow that is a familiar feature of any crowd  rentacodger.

Its me. Or rather  and heres the rub  its my father. He died on the day I started my first job as an actor, and he is, by some terrible and inexorable law of nature, the person I have become. This is deeply puzzling. If I look back at the photos of my young self  even my middle-aged self  there seems no danger of it happening. There I am, with curly brown locks and beard, or clean-shaven and sharp-eyed, or with a dashing moustache  nothing like my father. And now look at me: I am him, Neil Francis Callow, come back from the dead. And I realise that all those earlier manifestations were simply a series of disguises, a pathetic attempt to evade my genetic destiny.

The casting directors, with their X-ray gaze, have been waiting for this moment, and now, like some horrendous senile version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs Child Catcher  the Senior Catcher, perhaps  are waiting to ensnare me.

Theyve already ensnared me, not once but twice: in July Ill appear in a new comedy series called The Rebel, in which I play a very angry almost 70-year-old ex-Mod (I know  ridiculous!) who goes on the rampage in Brighton.

And now Im playing Royston in Golden Years. Once Id recovered from the shock of being officially regarded as old, I was overjoyed to be asked. Royston is a leading light of the local drama group, a wit and a fantasist, and the centre of his world is his wife, Shirley. Like the other main characters in the film, hes been ripped off by his so-called financial advisers and conned by a succession of governments clawing back his pension entitlements.

According to Shakespearean actor, Simon Callow, the success of a film depends on getting exactly the right chemistry between the actors

Hes outraged and embittered, but he hasnt the slightest idea of what to do about it. His mind doesnt work that way  his ideas of revenge are all theatrical. It takes a deeper intellect than his to come up with a master plan. But once the plan is in place, no one gives himself to it more whole-heartedly than Royston  too whole-heartedly, as it turns out.

Like Four Weddings And A Funeral or A Room With A View, the films success depends on getting exactly the right chemistry between the actors; just as with those other films, the director has triumphed: its as if each part had been written with that actor in mind. (One problem: How would the sublime Una Stubbs, who plays my wife Shirley, take the sight of my bare bottom? We thought it best to unleash the spectacle on her without rehearsal; being a consummate pro, she reacted with delight.)

The read-through was a shock because, with the exception of Una and the glorious Virginia McKenna, the other actors are essentially my contemporaries, and looking round the table it was as if some kind of spell had been cast on us, as if wed suddenly, collectively experienced what the French call un coup de vieux  overnight ageing.

'It was a conversation between equals  not so much equals in talent, as equals in experience', Simon says of working with those of a similar age group to himself

Take Bernard Hill, playing Arthur Goode in the film, the brains of the outfit. Over the years Ive seen him in one definitive role after another  Yosser Hughes in Boys From The Blackstuff, Eddie Carbone in A View From The Bridge, King Theoden in The Lord Of The Rings, Hilary Mantels Duke of Norfolk  but to me hes still the cocky young geezer I met in 1975 when he was playing John Lennon in Willy Russells great play John, Paul, George, Ringo And Bert in the West End. Seeing him playing old Arthur so marvellously in Golden Years was just unnerving.

In the same way, my sense of Alun Armstrong, who plays a veteran police inspector, is based on the wonderful work he did at the Royal Court Theatre in London in the early 70s. He had astonishing presence for a twentysomething: that magnificent mug, that gravel voice, that physicality declared him right at the beginning of his career to be one of the great character actors: and now hes nearly 70? Ludicrous.

Callow's new film, Golden Years is in cinemas now, starring Una Stubbs, Bernard Hill and Sue Johnston and is directed by John Miller

Even more baffling was seeing Phil Davis  veteran of fantastic Mike Leigh films, of Quadrophenia and The Wall  here among the OAPs, playing a local businessman: the actor I first saw in the 1970s giving what I still think is one of the greatest performances Ive seen in a theatre in Barrie Keeffes Gotcha. He was playing a schoolboy and in some part of my mind I always think of him as that schoolboy. I know Phil has a grown-up son, and is now in his 60s, but I only took it on board when we sat round that table and found that, beyond being actors, we all had something in common: the experience of getting old.

Is it that which made this movie one of the most effortlessly enjoyable Ive done? There was no fuss, no difficulty: none of us had anything to prove to each other, or to anyone else. If anything went wrong, which it almost never did, that was fine: wed do it again until we got it right.

Those few weeks making the film in Bristol last year were like playing chamber music: it was a conversation between equals  not so much equals in talent, as equals in experience. We all knew whereof the characters spoke, what had happened to them physically, emotionally, financially. We knew their militancy, their frustration, their kindness, their comedy. And part of the truthfulness of the film comes from that.

So I suppose there is something, after all, to be said for getting older.
No doubt it would make Mr Carson blush and Mrs Hughes reach for the smelling salts. MyAnna Buring  who played feisty maid Edna Braithwaite in Downton Abbey  behaves very badly in her new British movie Hot Property, an edgy comedy-drama set against the backdrop of Londons ruthless housing market and greedy estate agents.

Downton was the show that put MyAnna on the TV map after her breakthrough role as brothel keeper Long Susan in Ripper Street.

Edna was one of the more devious characters in Julian Fellowess period drama, a woman seemingly devoid of morals and with her antennae tuned very keenly to the charms of grieving former chauffeur Tom Branson, whose wife Lady Sybil had died in childbirth.

MyAnna Buring  who played feisty maid Edna Braithwaite in Downton Abbey, above  behaves very badly in her new British movie Hot Property

Initially fired by Mrs Hughes for her pursuit of Branson in the 2012 Christmas special, she came back the next series as a ladys maid to Cora and soon returned to her wicked ways. After she slipped into Bransons room one night, it was implied that she seduced him. But when she claimed she might be pregnant, he enlisted the help of Mrs Hughes and Edna was drummed out a second time.

Although maybe she could make a comeback if theres a Downton movie, laughs MyAnna. This time she could be a lady whos married an old lord having been his nurse. Edna was desperate to do better for herself, so I wouldnt rule it out!

In her latest film MyAnna plays Melody Munro who works as a corporate spy, going undercover to find information about rival firms

Her new film Hot Property is a world away from Downton. MyAnnas character Melody Munro works as a corporate spy, going undercover to find information about rival firms, while enjoying a lavish lifestyle of drugs and lots of cavorting with her younger boyfriend. But when she gets caught embezzling money from her company shes fired on the spot. She loses her company car and credit cards, and when her landlord tries to evict her from her swanky apartment its the final blow. Increasingly desperate, she vows to keep her home at all costs.

According to MyAnna its not as raunchy as it might at first seem. I was never naked during filming, says the 36-year-old as we chat over tea in London. I always had pants or shorts on and had my top half covered. I feel very strongly about nudity on screen. Its rare I read anything that warrants nudity and I dont think the scenes in this film did. You can make a scene very sexy  and I think we do in this movie  without naked bodies. Its amazing what you can do with clever acting and camera angles.

That hasnt always been the case during MyAnnas career. Born in Sweden to Swedish parents, she moved to the Middle East aged two when her father, an orthopaedic surgeon, took a job in Kuwait. She came to Britain in her mid-teens for schooling and went on to study drama at Bristol university and LAMDA. Today she admits there were some awkward moments in those early days. If not quite the proverbial Hollywood casting couch, it wasnt far off. There was a pressure to go topless or even naked, and if you said you were uncomfortable about it you were considered difficult. Its outrageous that anyone would make a 20-year-old feel that way. Im glad attitudes have changed.

Interestingly, in the wake of Aidan Turners topless scenes in Poldark and Tom Hiddlestons racy antics in The Night Manager, MyAnna reckons its now male actors who are being objectified. I hear about guys who feel slightly compromised by what theyre having to do, when theyre required to get their shirts off when they didnt expect to be. Making anyone feel objectified is terrible. Just because its happened more to women doesnt make it right when it happens to men. If I had children Id want them to be treated the same, whether they were male or female.

MyAnnas association with Downton was a whirlwind affair. She landed the role of Edna within days of first hearing about it. Id worked with the Downton casting agent on another job and she was up against it when it came to casting the part of Edna, time was running out. She suggested me and it happened quickly: I finished Ripper Street on a Saturday, auditioned for Downton on the Sunday and had a costume fitting on the Monday! It was such an easy process and within a day Downton felt like home, everybody was so friendly.

She didnt get such a warm welcome on social media, finding herself a target after Ednas advances towards Branson. There were people on Twitter saying I should leave him alone, there was confusion between fact and fiction  I was being blamed for what Edna did! Her trying to seduce him when he was grieving for his wife was terrible but I wasnt responsible! says MyAnna, who politely tells me to mind my own business when I ask about her personal circumstances.

Downton was the show that put MyAnna on the TV map after her breakthrough role as brothel keeper Long Susan in Ripper Street (pictured)

Since Downton she has barely stopped working, and reckons that a rant she had three years ago when discussing future projects with Hot Property director Max McGill and producer Campbell Beaton helped her land the part of Melody.

I was tired of reading scripts where Id play the sexy girlfriend alongside the male lead whod go on a journey and was going to be played by the writer or directors best friend, says MyAnna, whos no shrinking violet when it comes to expressing her opinions. I wanted to play the lead, I wanted to go on a journey and I told Max and Campbell this. So they changed the gender of the lead character in Hot Property for me.

MyAnna has just started filming the main role in BBC1s new four-part drama In The Dark. Written by BAFTA-winning Danny Brocklehurst, its adapted from the books by Mark Billingham and centres on Helen Weeks, a feisty yet fragile detective who must solve a child abduction case while pregnant herself. Can she overcome her own childhood secrets to make the world a better place for her unborn child?

Its the biggest break of her career and a far cry from her early years as a struggling actress. I was 2,000 in debt on my credit card at one point, and couldnt pay the rent. One of the themes of Hot Property is spiralling debt and Melody has to use a dodgy loan company to pay her rent. Its morally wrong. Ive got actor friends whove got horribly into debt. I dont want to go there again and thats why I work so hard.
Undeterred by cold winds and snow flurries, more than 100 people gathered at the state Capitol on Friday to remember North Dakota law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty and to honor those who serve today.

Sixty-two North Dakota officers have been killed in the line of duty, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said. Their names are inscribed on the stone memorial that stands outside the judicial wing of the Capitol building.

"These officers did not know the terrible price they might have to pay, but we know that it would not have mattered to them even if they had. They would not have hesitated to do their duty," Stenehjem said. "We must never forget their sacrifice."

Fargo Police Officer Jason Moszer is the most recent name on the wall, and his memory was a focus of the ceremony.

Moszer was fatally shot while responding to a domestic disturbance in February. He was one of seven North Dakota officers to die while responding to such incidents, Stenehjem said, reminding the audience of how dangerous they can be.

Moszer was "a son, a grandson, a brother, a brother in arms, a combat veteran and a police officer," Stenehjem said. "He dedicated his life to serving his country, the state and his community."

Law enforcement held a similar ceremony in Fargo on Friday, remembering officers who were killed across America in 2015, as well as Moszer and Fargo Police Lt. Jeff Skuza, the Fargo Forum reported.

Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle said the country is becoming more polarized and the job of a police officer more confrontational. Not all officers uphold professional standards, and those officers should be promptly and proportionally disciplined, he said, but we should fully support the officers who do uphold them.

"I ask then that each of us examine our conscience and actions to determine if we are supporting and advancing the rule of law, or whether we are part of the problem, the problem that puts our police officers' lives in danger. Indeed, if each of us accept that responsibility, perhaps next year we will not be adding to the memorial names of peace officers who lost their lives in a violent manner," VandeWalle said.

A police chaplain read aloud each of the 62 names, and members of the honor guard rang a bell 62 times in their honor.

Officers from all over North Dakota, including Fargo, Dickinson and Ellendale, came to Bismarck to attend the event and to participate in a law enforcement conference, which was scheduled to coincide with it.

Cass County Chief Deputy Sheriff Rick Majerus drove from Fargo to attend the conference and the service, which he expected to have more of an impact on him this year given Moszer's recent death. For him, the memorial is not only a chance to remember how they died, but to "celebrate what they did for the public," he said.

The Bismarck-Mandan area has lost several officers in its history. In 2011, Burleigh County Deputy Sheriff Bryan Sleeper died of a heart attack after an altercation with a subject, and Bismarck Police Sgt. Steven Kenner was fatally shot while responding to a domestic disturbance. Two Mandan officers were killed in the 1920s, and a Burleigh County Deputy Sheriff died in the 1930s.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden continue to welcome their son Prince Alexander into the world by posing for a series of stunning family portraits that even include their dog.

The proud parents are beaming with joy in the series of five photos that see each of them cradling Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil, who was born on April 19 at Danderyds Hospital in Stockholm.

And while his parents couldn't look any happier, the newest addition to the Swedish royal family appears to have been sound asleep throughout the regal photoshoot.

Proud parents: Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden posed with their son Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil and dog Siri for five new family portraits

In one portrait, Prince Carl Philip, 37, is pictured holding his sleeping son as he and Princess Sofia, 31, pose for the camera while sitting on a stately pink, patterned sofa at their family home in Drottningholm Palace.

Their family dog, Siri, is perched on the carpetand even she is looking at the camera.

Prince Carl Philip looks dapper in a gray suit and white button down that was left open at the collar, while Princess Sofia donned an elegant short-sleeved cream dress and matching cream heels.

The stylish royal left her golden-brown hair in soft waves around her shoulders and wore natural-looking make-up to highlight her innate beauty.

Another photo sees Princess Sophia holding their son as they stand in front of a fireplace.

Stylish royal: Princess Sofia wore an elegant cream dress and matching heels while she cradled her newborn son

Stunning background: The royal couple posed with their son on a pink sofa at their family home in Drottningholm Palace

The first-time parents, who wed in June 2015, lovingly stare at the newborn while Prince Carl Philip caresses the baby's head.

For their third family portrait, the royal couple took their son and Siri and headed to an outside bench surrounded by trees.

While Prince Carl Philip stuck to his gray suit, Princess Sofia changed into a ruffled cream blouse, cream pants, and matching heels.

The doting dad can be seen holding sleeping Prince Alexander as his wife lovingly pets Siri, showing off her wedding rings.

In addition to the family photos, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia also posed with the prince individually for two breathtaking black and white images.

Doting dad: The pictures were released on Thursday in celebration of Prince Carl Philip's 37th birthday

Loving mom: 'We would in this way like to convey our sincere gratitude for all the congratulations we received in connection with our son, Prince Alexander's, birth,' the couple said of the portraits

The official images of Prince Alexander were released on Thursday, just in time for Prince Carl Philip's 37th birthday.

'We would in this way like to convey our sincere gratitude for all the congratulations we received in connection with our son, Prince Alexander's, birth. We genuinely appreciate your kindness and considerations,' the couple wrote on social media when sharing the images.

The world first caught a glimpse of Prince Alexander when left hospital with his parents Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sophia in April, the day after his birth.

Less than a week later, the royal family released their son's first official portrait.

Following in the footsteps of the Duchess of Cambridge, who has got behind the camera to take official portraits of her own children in the past, the image of the sleeping Prince was taken by the proud father Prince Carl Philip himself.

Hands on father: The first official portrait of Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil of Sweden was taken by his father Prince Carl Philip in April

Happy family: Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden were all smiles as they leave the hospital with their newborn son in April

It shows Prince Alexander, who was five days old at the time, dressed in a white romper suit, covered with a delicate cable knit blanket - his tiny hands clasped alongside his ears.

It's not the first time Prince Carl Philip has turned royal photographer.

He took the first official portrait of his niece Princess Estelle, daughter of Crown Princess Victoria, back in 2012.

Just a few days before his first portrait was released, the Swedish royal family attended a Te Deum service of thanksgiving for the new Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil.

Earlier generation: The royal family also took to social medial to share images of Prince Carl Philip's baby portraits. He is pictured with his parents King Carl and Queen Silvia and his sister Crown Princess Victoria

Throwback: Queen Silvia and Princess Victoria looked at Prince Carl Philip with love and adoration in the portraits

Prince Carl Philip was joined by his parents King Carl and Queen Silvia, his sister Crown Princess Victoria and members of Princess Sofia's family.

The besotted new father couldn't stop smiling throughout the service, and was showing no hint of sleepless nights, looking handsome in a dark grey suit with a waistcoat and tie.

New mother Sofia, 31, did not attend the service, opting to stay at home to bond with her new baby.

The new Duke of Sodermanland's title was officially announced on April 22 at a cabinet meeting by his grandfather King Carl XVI Gustaf .

First, an official document announcing the baby's name was signed at Drottningholm Palace, which traditionally takes place at a royal birth.

Royal family: Prince Carl Philip was joined by his father King Carl (left), mother Queen Silvia (second left), sister Princess Victoria (second right) and brother-in-law Prince Daniel at the Te Deum service for the newly born Prince Alexander in the Church of the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden, in April

Missing out: Members of Princess Sofia's family joined Prince Carl Philp (right) but the new mother stayed at home to bond with her new arrival

Speaker Urban Ahlin, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Marshal of the Realm Svante Lindqvist, stateswoman Anna Hamilton, Chief Sophia Brismar Wendel and midwife Anna Stahl were witnesses.

Prince Alexander was born on Tuesday, April 19 at 6:25 p.m weighing at 7lbs 9oz. and measuring 19.3 inches long.

Hours after the birth, Carl Philip held a press conference at the hospital to announce the new arrival.

'When asked if he had cried during the birth, the prince replied, according to People magazine: 'Yes, actually. Of course. Couldn't stop.

'For me and my wife, this is obviously a great day with a lot of emotion. Words cannot describe.'

Full of love: Hours after his son's birth on April 19, Prince Carl Philip spoke to reporters in a press conference to announce the new arrival and admitted he'd cried during the the special moment

Members of the royal family have offered official messages of congratulations to the couple on the birth of their first child, who is fifth in line to the throne.

In a statement, King Carl and Queen Queen Silvia said: 'We are extremely happy for Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and are delighted to have become grandparents again.

'We hope the new parents enjoy a time of peace and quiet together with their son.'

Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel added: 'We hope Carl Philip and Sofia enjoy these wonderful first few days with their new-born son, and we share the new parents' joy.'

A message from Princess Madeleine and her husband Christopher O'Neill said they were 'delighted to welcome a new member of the family'.

Motherly glow: Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip are pictured when she was still pregnant with the prince

Sofia's parents Marie and Erik Hellqvist also sent a special message to the royal couple.

'We are so pleased that Prince Carl Philip and our daughter Sofia have had their first child.

'We have longed for a grandchild for a long time, and we are both extremely proud and happy.

'We wish them great happiness together with the new member of the family, and we will provide help and support as grandparents.'

And of course the Prince's proud aunts Lina Hellqvist and Sara Hellqvist, Princess Sofia's sisters, were keen to offer their congratulations.

'We welcome this tiny new member of the family with great joy and love,' they said. 'We have been looking forward to becoming aunts, and we will enjoy getting to know our nephew.

Growing: The couple's baby comes at an exciting time for the Swedish royal family who have recently welcomed a new baby, Prince Oscar Carl Olof. Pregnant Sofia and Carl Philip are pictured in March

Modern royals: The happy couple, who married last June in the royal palace's chapel (pictured), first announced their pregnancy in a Facebook status in October last year

'We wish the new family the very best of luck!'

Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia shared the happy news of the pregnancy last year via an official statement released on Facebook.

'We are so happy and excited to announce that we are expecting our first child. We are very much looking forward to it,' it read.

The birth of the couple's baby comes at an exciting time for the Swedish royal family who have recently welcomed a new baby, Prince Oscar Carl Olof.

SWEDISH ROYAL FAMILY TREE King Carl XVI Gustaf, 69, who has reigned since 1973, is married to Queen Silvia, 66. Crown Princess Victoria is their elder daughter. She married Prince Daniel in 2010 and the couple have two children, four-year-old Princess Estelle and new arrival Prince Oscar. The King and Queen's only son is Prince Carl Philip, who is married to Princess Sofia - a former model and reality TV contestant. Princess Madeleine is their youngest daughter and is wed to Christopher O'Neill, an American stockbroker. The pair have two children Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas. Advertisement

Sofia's sister-in-law Crown Princess Victoria, sister of Prince Carl Philip, gave birth to her second child in March.

Former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist married the prince last June. The elegant brunette is known for her infectious gap-toothed smile and easygoing ways.

They dated for five years before walking down the aisle and now live together in the upmarket Djurgarden district of Stockholm.

They married in the royal palace's chapel, with the bride wearing a lace wedding dress created by local designer Ida Sjostedt.

But thanks to Princess Sofia's reality TV and glamour modeling past, Carl Philip's choice of wife initially proved controversial.

The now Duchess of Varmland's first shoot aged 20 saw her posing topless in a pair of camouflage print bikini bottoms and clutching a snake to preserve her modesty.

Unsurprisingly, when news of Carl Philip's new relationship emerged in 2010, the Swedish Royal Family were initially put 'on the defensive' as sources revealed at the time.

Since then, however, Sofia has gone out of her way to tone down her image.
Klara said she loves the photo and those who take issue with it just have a problem with female sexuality.

Calvin Klein has come under fire for its racy new campaign, which sees models in various provocative poses  but the shot that seems to have caused the most stir is one of Danish actress Klara Kristin.

Shot by photographer Harley Weir, the photo features an upskirt angle, spotlighting Klara's thighs, backside, and underwear. Many people have called the ad 'disgusting' and 'unnecessary', with some going so far as to say the young-looking model's hyper-sexualized image is 'fodder for pedophiles'.

Klara, though, sees nothing wrong with the revealing shot, and insists that the problem actually likes in people who don't like it.

Uh-oh: Calvin Klein's latest underwear ad featuring an upskirt shot of actress Klara Kristin has caused controversy after being posted to Instagram, with followers branding it 'creepy' and sexist

Hitting back: Klara said she loves the image and people don't like it just have a problem with female sexuality

Standing up: She said girls should love themselves and their sexuality

'I LOVE this photo @harleyweir took of me,' she wrote on Instagram today. 'All this discussion about it makes me think about how alienated and scared some people are to the female human body... Be and love yourself and your sexuality.'

She signed off with the hashtag #girlpower.

Several of her followers showed their support, with one writing: 'I agree. God forbid people should see underwear in an underwear ad.'

'Our pious hypocritical society needs to chill the F out. If you were wearing a bikini, no one would care,' wrote another.

But as several objectors to the image have pointed out, it's not about the presence of underwear or even the sexual nature of the shot that's problematic  it's the angle of the image, which promotes harassment and rape culture.

'Up-skirting is a growing trend of sexual harassment where pictures are taken up a womans skirt without her knowledge, or without her consent,' Haley Halverson, a spokesperson for The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, told the Daily News.

A lot of people have pointed out that Klara looks younger than her 22 years in the ad

Not impressed: They've said the ad is fodder for pedophiles and 'misogynistic rubbish'

Hybridsymphony posted a long rant in response to another user who didn't understand what the problem with the ad was

Grxcelefeuvre replied to support Hybridsymphony's point saying she felt sickened by the photo shoot

Not terribly prolific: Klara only has one IMDB credit: A 2015 film called Love

And, although Klara is in her twenties, internet commenters have argued that the ad makes her look a lot younger.

X_reloved_x commented: 'This is really off. What is Calvin Klein advertising in this her spotty undies?? She looks more like a 12-year-old. Good picture for pedophiles.'

Hybridsymphony agreed with their argument, saying: 'Misogynistic rubbish bordering on pedophilia. Gross. Some disturbed old guys wet dream. I'm so sick of advertisers doing this. Parading teenage girls as sex symbols and advertising women's stuff in overtly sexualised ways.'

In response to another user who didn't understand what she problem with the ad was, she explained: 'It's making out that she's a young teen girl. That's THE POINT.

'The message is one of misogyny, disrespect and patriarchal pseudo-pedophillia. I object to that. It weakens society and panders to mental illness. This brand can do better so there's no excuse.'

Provacative: Her last Calvin Klein add came under fire too, but Klara seems to like to get people talking

The ad was branded 'unnecessary' by several followers who felt it showed too much

Grxcelefeuvre replied to support Hybridsymphony's point.

'I feel the same as you. It's quite sickening that companies do photo shoots like this,' she said.

Xxsighhalexa, however, was a dissenting voice in the argument.

'No girl, you're slut shaming,' she said. 'This grown ass woman consented to this photo shoot and has every right to do it.'

Erila_laI'm was not impressed however, saying they were no prude but the ad is 'ridiculous', while Nicolalondon said it was 'disgusting and unnecessary', adding she would be unfollowing Calvin Klein.

Truu_lover1219 agreed that the ad was a 'little too much' and that it showed more than people wanted to see.

Meanwhile Anna_marie_94 wrote: 'Wtf? This is a really strange and unnecessary advertisement.'

Cutecurlycat had strong words, saying the ad was 'so wrong' and 'so creepy'.

'This isn't cutting edge, or innovative or directional or anything else you're trying to tell yourselves in the marketing department,' she said. 'It smacks of desperation.'

Larsonmark branded the racy ad 'distasteful' and Eishamarie89 added: 'Way to make everyone following CK a sexual predator.'
They are the latest health craze believed by many to be an alternative way to help treat cancer.

But now scientists have warned that apricot kernels contain high levels of the toxic chemical cyanide and could in fact kill.

The government has issued an official warning urging people to avoid eating the nutritious apricot seeds for fears consumption in extreme cases could be fatal.

According to the Food Standards Agency, apricot kernels produce high levels of the cyanide, a deadly poison, when they are eaten.

Deadly: The government has issued a warning about consumption of apricot kernels because they contain high levels of the poison cyanide

It warned that consumption of 10 to 15 stones can lead to worrying side effects, such as fingers going numb, while a dose of 30 stones is enough to kill someone.

Until now, packets of ground apricot stones have been marketed to cancer patients as a way of treating the disease.

Websites for alternative cancer treatments, such as anticancerinfo.co.uk, suggest that nutrients found in apricot kernels, such as vitamin B17, can help to prevent tumours spreading.

It also claims that the consumption of 10 to 12 apricot kernels a day  almost half of the fatal dose  is likely to prevent cancer.

The new warning by the EFSA follows a study by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which outlined the health risks from the seeds.

According to the EFSA, adults could exceed the safe level of cyanide by eating less than half of a large kernel.
Negotiations were due to end today but will now continue until next week

Talks aimed at resolving a dispute over a new contract for junior doctors will continue into next week with hopes a 'successful conclusion' will be reached

Talks aimed at resolving a dispute over a new contract for junior doctors will continue into next week with hopes a 'successful conclusion' will be reached.

Leaders from the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Government have been meeting all week to try to break the deadlock and prevent a fresh round of strikes.

The talks were due to end today - but in a statement, Acas - the conciliation service mediating the negotiations - extended the 'constructive and positive' discussions so a new deal can be thrashed out.

There are hopes on both sides that a final agreement addressing the crucial sticking points of Saturday pay and unsocial hours can be reached.

The BMA has said any deal would need to be put before junior doctors in a ballot, though that is expected to take several weeks.

The issue is sure to be debated at this weekend's junior doctors' committee conference, held by the BMA in central London.

Talks will resume at 9am on Monday and are set to continue until Wednesday.

In a statement, Dr Brendan Barber, chairman of Acas, who has chaired the discussions, said: 'The talks have been conducted in a constructive and positive atmosphere.

'In my judgement some real progress has been made to address outstanding issues.

'I reached the view, however, in the last 24 hours that a limited amount of additional time would be needed to give the process a chance of reaching a successful conclusion.

'I proposed to the Secretary of State, and to the BMA that the talks should be continued up until next Wednesday, and to allow this to happen, that each side should renew the commitments they made for this process to start.'

The Government agreed to pause the introduction of the new contract - due to come into force in August - so the negotiations could continue, he said.

And the BMA said it would continue to suspend any further industrial action.

Dr Barber said he asked both parties to keep the talks confidential and refrain from making 'hostile or negative' comments about the other party.

Junior doctors stopped providing emergency care for the first time in NHS history during their most recent walkout.

More than 125,000 appointments and operations were cancelled and will need to be rearranged, on top of almost 25,000 procedures cancelled during previous action.

The British Medical Association (BMA) and the Department of Health are trying to resolve sticking points in the new deal, including Saturday pay and unsocial hours - and have made progress after five days of talks

The BMA and the Department of Health had been negotiating the new contract for three years.

Around 90 per cent of the contract had previously been agreed, but the main bone of contention was over whether Saturdays should attract extra 'unsocial' payments, among other issues.

Before the talks began, Mr Hunt demanded a 'written agreement' from the BMA's junior doctors committee that discussions over unsocial hours and Saturday pay would be held in 'good faith'.

The views of NHS Employers and the Government are being represented by Sir David Dalton, who was involved in the original talks and heads up Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust.

The BMA is being represented by Dr Johann Malawana, chairman of the junior doctors committee.

Dr Malawana has said that any contract - whether agreed or not - should be put to a referendum of junior doctors.

The BMA has said any deal would need to be put before junior doctors in a ballot, though that is expected to take several weeks. Pictured are doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas' Hospital, Westminster, London

Medics will be convening in London this weekend for the BMA's junior doctor conference.

The resumption of negotiations has been brokered by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges in an effort to end the dispute.

It began when the Government took steps to introduce its manifesto commitment of a seven-day NHS.

Mr Hunt wants to change what constitutes 'unsocial' hours for which junior doctors can claim extra pay, turning 7am to 5pm on Saturday into a normal working day.

Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attract a premium rate of pay for junior doctors.

The Government proposed to offset this change with a hike in basic pay of 13.5 per cent, but the BMA rejected these plans.
A coroner has slammed healthcare professionals, teachers and police - or failing to protect an 'outstandingly talented' schoolboy who died after overdosing on heroin he bought on the internet.

Tragic Joe Southam, 15, died on July 31, 2014, after his mother Barbara, 53, found him collapsed in bed.

Speaking at the conclusion of his inquest, Dr Robert Hunter said he was 'sick to death' of claims the deaths of vulnerable youngsters like could not have been prevented.

The coroner criticised medics, teachers and uniformed officers who all knew about the teenager's substance abuse and mental health problems.

Despite taking a form of LSD into school, police were not alerted about his increased drug use - and six months later he was dead.

In a damning verdict, Mr Hunter said the teenager was failed by a 'disjointed and dysfunctional system'.

Joe Southam, 15, pictured with a cosmonaut on a trip to Russia shortly before his death, died following a heroin overdose in July, 2014. Coroner Dr Robert Hunter criticised medics, teachers and uniformed officers who all knew about the teenager's substance abuse and mental health problems

He gave a narrative conclusion, where the circumstances of a death are recorded without attributing the cause to a named individual.

Explaining his verdict, he said: 'Joseph William Southam, who suffered from low mood and anxiety, died as a consequence of risk-taking behaviour in which he would experiment with known drugs and other chemicals he had researched and acquired from the internet.'

'His death was in part contributed to by a number of agencies he was in contact with, not appreciating that he was a child at risk and consequently, despite a significant number of opportunities to do so, no safeguarding referral was made.

'As a result no effective measures were put in place to protect him from harm.'

Joe, was found unconscious on his bed by his mother Barbara at home in Wirksworth, Derbyshire.

She called the emergency services and the teenager was airlifted to the Royal Derby Hospital where he was declared dead later the same morning.

The inquest in Derby heard the teenager had spent around 1,000 on drugs he bought on the so-called dark web - an unpoliced area of the internet synonymous with crime and drug dealing.

The hearing was also told how he would interact with other drugs users on internet forums.

Dr Hunter, senior coroner for Derby and Derbyshire, was handed a damning report which concluded there was 'a lack of child protection and a lack of information sharing' between medical professionals seeing Joe before his death.

The report, commissioned by Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Derbyshire, was described as 'uncomfortable reading' by Dr Hunter.

Its author Joanne Kennedy, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, said agencies were 'working in isolation' in their treatment of Joe.

Dr Robert Hunter said Joe's death was in part contributed to by a number of agencies he was in contact with, not appreciating that he was a child at risk and consequently failing to safeguard him

In the months before he died he was attending on-off voluntary appointments with CAMHS and his drug taking was well known to his GP and family.

He had also been temporarily excluded from school after he sold an LSD-style 'legal high' to a friend that led to him being rushed to hospital. Crucially police were not informed of his involvement.

But Dr Hunter hit out at the report's conclusion that claimed despite the missed opportunities no one could have foreseen the tragic outcome.

I am sick to death of hearing that deaths cannot be prevented or predicted Coroner Dr Robert Hunter

Dr Hunter said to Ms Kennedy: 'How can you conclude his death could not have been predicted when he was being managed in a disjointed and dysfunctional system?

'All the people that saw Joe explained to him the serious risks he was putting himself under by buying drugs and taking them. It was pointed out to him that he could die and that's exactly what happened.

'I am sick to death of hearing that deaths cannot be prevented or predicted. But in this case there have been serious failings in the clinical acumen or those involved were wilfully blind to the facts. This was crying out for (the involvement of) social services.'

Ms Kennedy replied: 'Yes, I would agree.'

Dr Hunter said: 'I have found a number of failures in the way he was managed by a number of agencies and it is lamentable these failings were so extensive.'

He said mental health services 'failed to appreciate' Joseph was a child at risk- 'not just of harm in what he was known to be doing but a risk of death'.

'Staff were isolated with no clinical support or supervision and communication was inadequate and positively dangerous,' added Dr Hunter.

'Their support for his drug use and anxiety was treated separately saw them absolve themselves when both conditions should have been treated concurrently.

Derby coroner's court where the inquest into 15-year-old Joe Southam was held after a heroin overdose

'They had multiple opportunities during their contact with him to refer him to social services for safeguarding. Overall I would say that children's mental health service was disjointed and dysfunctional.'

He also criticised staff at the children's emergency ward at the Royal Derby Hospital where Joe was admitted months before he died after taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

'They explored his physical condition, but they failed to recognise his obvious mental health issues,' he said.

Staff at Joe's school Anthony Gell failed to follow their own rules by not reporting Joe to social services as a safeguarding issue or to the police. He accused the school's former head David Baker of 'damage limitation'.

Joe's GP Dr Penny Blackwood admitted she should have referred him to social services, while local police should have made CID or the child protection unit aware of the situation.

'Having considered all of the evidence and the magnitude of the failings I find it as fact that had there been a developed and focused care plan in place then, on the balance of probability, Joseph would not have died when he did,' said Dr Hunter.

After the inquest John Sykes, medical director of Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: 'The safety and wellbeing of the people who use our services is of paramount importance, and we are sorry that the care we provided to Joe fell short of the standards expected.

'As outlined at the inquest, we have put in place a number of improvements since Joe's death in 2014 and will continue to do so to ensure that lessons are learned throughout the organisation.'
A 29-year-old prisoner was rushed to A&E vomiting after swallowing his mobile phone. An initial X-ray showed it was resting above his stomach (pictured)

Doctors have described the incredible case of a man who swallowed his mobile phone  and had to have it surgically removed.

The 29-year-old prisoner was rushed to A&E in Dublin after vomiting for four hours.

Known to have psychiatric and social issues, he told staff he had swallowed his mobile phone six hours earlier.

After being admitted, he was put on strict 'nil by mouth' orders.

At first, a chest X-ray showed the device was resting in the part of the abdomen just above the stomach.

Eight hours later, scans revealed the phone had moved to his stomach but had not progressed into his bowel.

As a result, doctors at The Adelaide and Meath Hospital decided to operate, according to a write-up in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.

First, surgeons inserted an endoscope - a long, thin, flexible tube with a light and a video camera at the end  so they could locate the phone and drag it out of the patient's stomach via his oesophagus.

But when this failed, they were forced to perform a laparotomy - where a large incision is made in the abdomen - and the device was successfully retrieved.

When the device was measured it, it was found to be 6.8  2.3  1.1 cm.

As the patient was a prisoner, the mobile phone had to be sent as a specimen for forensic examination, the doctors wrote in the journal.

Four months later, they saw him again and noted he had recovered well.

Surgery such as a laparotomy is required in less than 1 per cent of cases where people ingest foreign bodies, the doctors noted.

Around 10 - 20 per cent of patients undergo an endoscopy, which is the preferred procedure as it is less invasive and does not result in scarring.

Another paper in the journal BMJ Case reports said swallowing foreign objects in mostly reported in children younger than three years of age.

Coins and bones are the objects most commonly ingested.

Normally, the objects are passed naturally, but there is a high risk thin, sharp objects can perforate parts of the body.

Surgeons tried to remove the device by putting a long, thin, tube with a camera on one end down his throat. But when they were unable to drag the mobile out safely, surgery was the only option

In January this year a woman who used a comb to push tablets down her throat needed emergency surgery after it ended up in her stomach.

The unidentified Turkish patient is said to have swallowed the 20cm (8in) comb after using it to get medication down her gullet.

The woman, who unsurprisingly fainted following the incident, was rushed into surgery at the Akdeniz University Hospital, Antalya.

A doctor at the hospital said: 'The woman later said she used the comb because the tablet had become lodged in her throat and she wanted to free it.

'However, due to a sudden involuntary gag reflex the plastic comb passed through her throat and ended up in her stomach.'

An emergency team of specialist doctors and nurses performed the surgery, which lasted for 45 minutes.

She remained in hospital overnight and was discharged the the next day.
Opting to eat 'light' versions of your favourite foods will not help you lose weight, experts have warned.

Light varieties of sweets, soft drinks or snacks only lead to over-consumption of the low-calorie alternatives, in the long-term.

And, as such they do not contribute to the reduction of obesity in the population.

This was demonstrated in a new study by experts at the Wageningen University, led by marketing professor Joost Pennings.

Light varieties of sweets, soft drinks or snacks only lead to over-consumption of the low-calorie alternatives, in the long-term, a new study has warned

Past research has already shown people eat more light crisps once they have switched to them.

However, the new findings show this behaviour persists even a full year later.

In fact, next to the 'light' versions, they also once again consume the familiar varieties of their favourite sweets.

On average, people buy 13 per cent more calories the year after their first 'light' purchases, compared to the previous year.

Curbing the lifestyle disease of obesity has been a concern of the government for decades.

The food industry is seeking to benefit from this development and therefore offers light versions of crisps, candy and soda, for example.

Experts warned because people eat more of 'light' versions they do nothing to help combat obesity

The health claim that these products contain fewer calories per 100 grams may be true, but because more is consumed this claim is counterproductive.

Professor Pennings said: 'People feel guilty when they eat something that makes them fat, but if they switch to light, they seem to immediately eat more of the product.

'This then becomes a habit, where they not only eat the light version, but to a certain extent often also return to the regular variety.'

It is the first time that this long-term effect has been scientifically established after one year.

The study focused on the consumption of light crisps, but according to Professor Pennings the claims extend to all 'hedonistic' products, including sweets and soda, which mostly have a pleasure function.

The researchers relied on information from market researcher GfK, which followed the purchases of a sampling of households.

The researchers chose households that had just switched to light crisps and counted the corresponding amount of calories.

According to Professor Pennings, the results also apply to other Western European countries and the United States.

Due to these findings, Professor Pennings and his colleagues believe that the government should be careful in its promotion of light products.

He added: 'Light is not bad but we must be aware of the psychological impact of the claim. If we want overweight people to actually consume fewer calories, we need to educate them better.'
IN GRATITUDE

by Jenny Diski

(Bloomsbury 16.99)

The expression 'Happiness writes white' means, roughly, that technicolor stories of misery are more interesting than tales of vanilla contentment.

If so, it might explain Jenny Diski's passionate love of the non-colour of snow, clouds and blank pages, and her success as a writer of disturbing novels and scarcely less troubling non-fiction.

Jenny Diski, pictured, who died two weeks ago, had a childhood and adolescence of vivid unhappiness

Diski, who died two weeks ago, had a childhood and adolescence of vivid unhappiness.

Her father left when she was 11 and did not send any money to support his wife and child. Social workers decided Jenny should go to boarding school, but when she was expelled, neither parent would take care of her. Aged 15, she took an overdose and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Eventually she was offered a home by the mother of one of her classmates. Her memoir, In Gratitude, published shortly before her death, reveals it was the novelist Doris Lessing.

While they were both alive, Jenny and Doris had a pact not to write about each other, but Lessing's death in 2013 released Jenny.

In 2014 she was diagnosed with lung cancer and told that she had only two to three years to live ('Will the battery on the TV remote run out first?' she wondered).

Her final book looks back to the teenage years she spent living with Doris.

In Gratitude begins with Diski's oncologist diagnosing her cancer.

As a child, she suffered from what her parents called 'moods' and what doctors would now call depression. Her anxiety about what would become of her if Doris no longer wanted her to live with her soon became overwhelming

Her reaction - 'So, we'd better get cooking the meth' - failed to raise a laugh. Possibly the doctor wasn't a fan of TV's Breaking Bad. Or perhaps he was startled by Diski's talent for finding the absurd in the grimmest of situations.

She'd had plenty of practice. By the time Doris offered Jenny a home, she had lived with an assortment of foster families, been expelled from school, been raped as a 14-year-old and spent four months in a psychiatric hospital.

In spring 1963, Jenny arrived at the North London house where Doris lived with her son Peter. Doris's novel, The Golden Notebook, had been published the previous year and writers, poets and theatre people, including Alan Sillitoe, Ted Hughes and Arnold Wesker, were regular visitors.

For Jenny, who wanted to be a writer, their conversation was inspiring - and baffling.

As a child, she suffered from what her parents called 'moods' and what doctors would now call depression. Her anxiety about what would become of her if Doris no longer wanted her to live with her soon became overwhelming.

But when she tried to explain it, Doris left the house without a word, then wrote Jenny a letter accusing her of unforgivable emotional blackmail.

Three years later, Doris did tell Jenny to leave. She continued to support her financially, and they remained in touch until Doris's death.

Jenny's pain and fury are still hot in this fascinating, but uncomfortable read.

Jenny's chemotherapy was intended only to prolong her life, so that she could spend as much time as possible with her partner, daughter and grandchildren. To miss watching the latter grow up is 'the unbearable loss. Everything else can be made sense of'.
WALKING THROUGH SPRING

by Graham Hoyland

(William Collins 16.99)

Does anyone just go for a walk any more? I only ask because the last time I was stomping through the New Forest, I noticed lots of people taking notes, speaking into tape recorders or rather pointedly starting up conversations with random passers-by.

And I thought: youre not just walking in the New Forest. Youre all writing books about walking in the New Forest.

Graham Hoyland may have been one of these people, though his book is more ambitious than that and, it turns out, much more fun to read.

Graham Hoyland and his girlfriend Gina wander along canal towpaths, wade through fields of bluebells, hear birdsong, accidentally kneel in dog poo, gaze up at the night sky and occasionally walk with old friends

The English spring, he discovered, appears in the southern counties in late March and then moves north, travelling at much the same speed as a walking man.

So he decided he would be that walking man. With his girlfriend Gina he set out from the South Coast, sticking to ancient footpaths where possible, and walked north to Gretna Green on the Scottish border.

Along the way he marked each mile by planting an acorn in a hedgerow, intending to draw a line of oak trees stretching across the countryside.

One day he intends to go back to see if any of those trees took root.

In his own words, Walking Through Spring is a book in the English pastoral tradition.

Richard Jefferies, Edward Thomas and the current doyen of poetic nature writing, Robert Macfarlane, are his touchstones.

He and Gina wander along canal towpaths, wade through fields of bluebells, hear birdsong, accidentally kneel in dog poo, gaze up at the night sky, occasionally walk with old friends and avoid motorways and towns wherever possible.

The outer journey inspires a parallel inner journey. They think and talk about things that set off other trains of thought, which lead to other conversations, some of them with rural characters they bump into almost too conveniently.

50 Water in gallons that an oak tree needs every day

Like the walk, the book is more about travelling than arriving. Its best read slowly, possibly even at walking pace.

So - and this is by way of a taster - as they walk the Cotswold Way, Hoyland contemplates the distinct golden-brown of Cotswold stone.

J. B. Priestley was fascinated by the colour. Even when the sun is obscured and the light is cold, these walls are still faintly warm and luminous, as if they knew the trick of keeping the lost sunlight of centuries glimmering about them.

To Hoyland they look like crust on a Stilton cheese. I wish I could just walk up to one of these houses, cut a slab off and eat it.

On that day, April 13, they wander through a wood and see their first big display of bluebells. They wonder about the myth that in Roman times England was just one great wildwood. This whole island is one horrible forest, Julius Caesar is supposed to have said.

A squirrel could have travelled from shore to shore without touching the ground.

Except that this isnt true. By the time Caesar arrived, more than half the wildwood had been cut down. By the time of the Domesday Book, only 15 per cent of it was left. Theres only 2 per cent now.

Like the walk, the book is more about travelling than arriving. Its best read slowly, possibly even at walking pace

They see a pair of magpies. The collective noun for magpies is a tidings. Magpies have been seen grieving for their dead, laying wreaths of grass. They are among the most intelligent of birds.

Contrary to folk wisdom, magpies are not attracted to shiny things, but they can recognise themselves in a mirror.

In one experiment, coloured marks were made on the necks of magpies and they were observed looking in the mirror and trying to scratch off the mark.

Hoyland and Gina stay the night with a mountaineering friend, who is excited because he has recently spotted Yeti tracks on Bhutans highest mountain.

We gaze at his images of indisputably bipedal tracks in the snow. Explorers use smartphones, too, of course.

If this all seems a little disconnected, thats because it is, but not in a bad way. As you read, though, certain themes become apparent. Hoyland and Gina not only feel healthier for their walk, they feel saner.

The villainy of the agrichemical concerns that some farms have become is contrasted with the heroism of volunteers who sustain the few wild places that remain. For nature, Hoyland says, is not just under threat, its under siege.
After Henry makes his older brothers Spanish widow, Katherine, his queen in 1509, the royal couple appear to have a propitious future - until it is obvious that Katherine will never produce a living male heir

KATHERINE OF ARAGON by Alison Weir

KATHERINE OF ARAGON

by Alison Weir

(Headline Review 18.99)

Reading this is to be reminded of how powerless most royal women in history were - especially if you were one of the six wives of Henry VIII.

After Henry makes his older brothers Spanish widow, Katherine, his queen in 1509, the royal couple appear to have a propitious future - until it is obvious that Katherine will never produce a living male heir.

How could I have offended You?, she keeps asking God, searching for an explanation.

To no avail. When the sophisticated and strategic Anne Boleyn dangles the possibility of both sexual delights and fecundity, Katherine is finished.

Henrys first queen emerges as an intelligent, resilient woman who demonstrates considerable political ability even while she agonises over her diminishing attractiveness to Henry.

Known for bestselling historical biographies, Alison Weir is in command of her detail and, while there are no surprises, her handling of Katherines misery and dignified response to her predicament is very touching.

This is the first in a series of six novels, each taking one of Henrys queens as its subject.

CONSPIRACY by S. J. Parris

CONSPIRACY

by S. J. Parris

(Harper Collins 14.99)

Ex-priest-turned-spy Giordano Brunos heretical writings have resulted in his excommunication and put a stop to his advancement.

Having had dealings in England with Queen Elizabeth Is spymaster, Francis Walsingham, he arrives in Paris and is pitchforked into the hunt for the murderer of an old acquaintance, Pere Paul Lefevere.

In 1585, religious division is becoming increasingly vicious and complicated - the fallout from the St Bartholomews Day massacre of the Hugenots 13 years previously is still fresh.

The last of Catherine de Medicis sons, Henry III, is on the throne, but - rightly - suspicious of the Duc de Guise and his powerful Catholic league.

Fifth in the Bruno series, a tight plot combines with subtly-realised characters and an omnipresent sense of danger. Will Bruno negotiate his way through the quagmire of religious fanaticism, factionalism, treason and murder?

My pleasure in the vividly textured backdrop and a cracking story was accompanied by an uneasy shudder.

RAVENSPUR: RISE OF THE TUDORS by Conn Iggulden

RAVENSPUR: RISE OF THE TUDORS

by Conn Iggulden

(Michael Joseph 18.99)

Peace is where the money is . . . observes the Lancastrian Derry Brewster to the Kingmaker, the Earl of Warwick. However, in the England of 1470 where this novel begins, nobles and peasantry alike would be hard put to agree. The war between Yorkists and Lancastrians has raged for decades and looks set to continue as the pitiful Lancastrian Henry VI struggles to defend his recently resumed kingship against the exiled, ambitious Yorkist, Edward IV.

The later Yorkist triumph comes at a price - not least Edwards failure to keep off the drink or to keep family division in check. Keenly watching Edwards decline is his brother, Richard of Gloucester, and over in France so, too, is Henry Tudor.
It was a pivotal moment for Harold Bruschwein, an engineering graduate fresh out of North Dakota State Agricultural College in 1939, now North Dakota State University. He was looking at earning $90 a month working for the state Highway Department or $125 per month joining the Army.

Bruschwein chose to be commissioned as an officer through the Thomason Act. Little did he know it would lead to meeting two future presidents and witnessing the tragic bombing at Pearl Harbor.

Capt. Harold Bruschwein turned 100 in April.

After graduating college, Bruschwein started his more formal, albeit rudimentary, military training in 1939 at Fort Lincoln, now the site of United Tribes Technical College. For six months, he found military equipment more suited to World War I tactics  horses were common and mules pulled machine gun carts.

Bruschwein advanced to Fort Lewis in Washington state, where he became the adjutant to Dwight D. Eisenhower through 1940. Eisenhower was a very busy man but empathetic to the soldiers, according to Bruschwein, who fondly recalls a chilly night in Fort Lewis where Eisenhower pulled a jacket off a general and placed it around his shoulder, teasing it would likely be the only time he would wear a general's jacket.

It was also customary for junior officers to dance with their commanding officers' escorts and wives. This proved challenging for Bruschwein, whose strictly religious parents didn't believe in dancing. He never learned how. One night at a military ball, he made his best effort to dance with other officers' wives and late into the night managed the nerve to ask his senior commander's wife, Mamie Eisenhower.

"I thought I would at least try. When I did my approach to dance with her. She must have seen my dancing wasn't very good. She said 'I'm tired; would you mind if we just sit this one out?'

"We just had small talk," he said.

In 1940, Bruschwein was stationed as a lieutenant at Oahu, Hawaii, where he commanded men to guard important infrastructure on the island and protect against sabotage.

The atmosphere grew more intense on Nov. 27, 1941, when a military alert was issued and Bruschwein was ordered to give men live ammunition at each location.

Dec. 7, 1941, Bruschwein, a first lieutentant and company commander, was running a routine inspection of men on Waikiki Beach, about 5 to 8 miles away from Pearl Harbor.

"It was time to wake up. The bugler blows a bugle. We were in tents .... We were walking down and checking. I heard these loud explosions down from Pearl Harbor .... I suggested they must be doing some practicing with the shore batteries," he said.

But he found it unusual to witness barrel guns shooting toward a diving plane. He had not been alerted there would be any training exercises that day.

"I saw it hit the tail," he said. "The plane swerved, dodged and swung over and here was this Japanese insignia.

"First sergeant, that's not our airplane. Oh, by the way, end of inspection," he recalled saying.

The Japanese planes would come down, drop their bombs and come up again, according to Brushwein, who said only a couple of American aircraft made it to Pearl Harbor and the rest were destroyed on the ground.

After the air attack, it was tense times on the island as Bruschwein and his unit waited for Hawaii to be invaded.

"Everything was all blackouts except for the fires burning," he said. "That first night was quite a night because, during the day, they have shore patrol. The troops took their positions along the beaches .... The biggest problem was controlling traffic."

His command functioned as an anti-sabotage unit then physical training was increased so the men were "hard as nails so they could be a soldier" for their next mission, he said. In late 1942, he was reassigned to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands of the South Pacific.

"We tried to take over spaces that the enemy had. We wanted the same space," said Bruschwein, adding that his infantry division worked to rid the island of the Japanese and stayed three or four more months. There, Bruschwein earned a Silver Star.

At a nearby island of Soloman Islands, Bruschwein, by then a captain, was alerted that Japan planned an attack similar to Pearl Harbor at an American Naval base. This time America was ready, he said.

"We knew they were coming. People were watching from the same islands as the Japanese were and they would call it in. American fighters were then ready to meet the Japanese. We got them," he said.

At the end of one long day, a pal invited him to come to a Naval officers club to have a beer and embellish their war stories.

"They were brand new sailors. They had a little tent with some beers in it. My friend said that fella you just had a drink with his father is the ambassador to Great Britain. That didn't mean much to me unless you're a historian. Who was the ambassador to Great Britian? Joe Kennedy is. That's the guy I was drinking beer with."

After the war, Bruschwein said he was surprised to find the same man, John Kennedy, was running for president.

Bruschwein was airlifted out of the Solomon Islands after becoming very ill with malaria, lupus and sunburn and was hospitalized for more than a year in several locations. He was released from the Army in November of 1944.

Once a civilian, Bruschwein taught high school math and science for 40 years throughout Driscoll, Pettibone, Milnor Lehr, often doubling as an administrator or principal. The past 23 years, he taught surveying at the Wahpeton State School of Science.

Bruschwein and his wife of 66 years, Natalie, have three grown children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Recently-arrested ISIS recruits have revealed that the jihadi groups global headhunters, including women from Argentina, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines, are on the prowl for Indian youths who show any radical leanings on social media.

Counter-terror agencies are closely monitoring nearly 25 terror recruiters, mostly from outside India, who are looking for potential candidates and then indoctrinating them on social media.

Sources said the three women who are on a hiring spree for the Sunni terror group identify themselves as Karen from Philippines, Fatima from Argentina, and Eje from Sri Lanka. Investigators say these are probably pseudonyms.

The three women who are on a hiring spree for the Sunni terror group identify themselves as Karen from the Philippines, Fatima from Argentina, and Eje from Sri Lanka. (Picture for representation).

Indians targeted by the women have given details of their activities to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which recently made several arrests after busting a module of potential recruits.

There have been a total of 49 arrests linked to ISIS. While 25 were arrested by the NIA, states like Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu account for the other 24.

Sources say the suspects explained during interrogation how these motivators operate through social media and WhatsApp to look for talent - then carry out their indoctrination by sending links to videos of atrocities against Muslims, the speeches of Islamic extremists, and write-ups that lure them towards violent ideology.

There is a three tier WhatsApp group that some of them were part of. Members of the first group are radicalised. Then in the second group they are inspired to carry out terror activities, and those who are ready move to the third group where planning and logistics are discussed, said an officer.

Investigators believe foreign motivators looking for Indian recruits appear to be a new trend. Most of the young people targeted by ISIS previously were in touch with Shafi Armar, the brother of Maulana Abdul Qadir Sultan Armar, a former IM member who joined ISIS.

Shafi Armar was identified as a handler for the group who was indoctrinating young Indians and convincing them to be part of ISIS before he was reportedly killed in the battlefields of Syria.

The NIA busted a terror module earlier this year called 'Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind' or the Army of the Caliph in India, carrying out countrywide arrests.

Investigations have also revealed the group was making efforts to establish a channel of procurement for explosives and weapons. It was trying to identify locations to organize terror training camps, and motivate new recruits to target police officers and foreigners in India, or to carry out terrorist activities in various parts of India.

The NIA claimed those arrested were found to be in communication with some active members through chatting applications in order to motivate them to join ISIS.

Indian agencies have been tracking several youths lured by ISIS, but arrests have only come when someone crosses a threshold.

With the threat of ISIS lurking, the government had put in place a counter-radicalisation strategy focusing on bringing youths lured by Islamic State back to the mainstream.
Delhi University's image is taking a hit due to the row over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree, Manish Sisodia said on Thursday.

The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi suggested a joint inspection of documents with the varsitys Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi would be the best solution.

In a letter to Tyagi, Sisodia accused the DU authorities of hiding facts and said the Delhi government wants to see an end to the controversy, which is sending a bad message and sowing seeds of doubt among students and teachers.

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia has written to the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University, Yogesh Tyagi

Sisodia urged Tyagi to write to Modi and seek his permission to make his BA degree public, saying he did not believe the PM would object.

In his letter, Sisodia implores the Vice-Chancellor to take time out next week, and meet him along with the Education Minister of Delhi. He asks Tyagi to bring the documents related to the PM's degree to his chamber, so they can inspect them.

He then says they could share the conclusions in a joint press conference and upload the documents online.
Dwayne Johnson announced Kevin Hart and Jack Black will join the upcoming project Jumanji

Dwayne Johnson is set for double the fun on the upcoming Jumanji movie after signing Kevin Hart and Jack Black up for the blockbuster.

The wrestler-turned-actor, 44, recently confirmed reports he would be starring in the latest version of the beloved 1995 film, about a boy who becomes trapped in a magical board game, and now Johnson, aka The Rock, has announced funnymen Black and Hart will be joining him for the comedy adventure.

In a new Instagram post on Wednesday, the action man wrote: In our re-imagining of the story of JUMANJI, Jack brings that rare balance of cool with funny and edge with childlike joy.

He also confirmed his Central Intelligence star Hart would be joining the Jumanji Breakfast Club.

In a post on social media earlier this week, Johnson added: In the original movie there were three big roles. In our new story theres now FIVE. Been so damn cool to see all my actor buddies push their projects aside so hopefully they can come play in our world.

Raving about the project, he stated: Excellent meeting with our director Jake Kasdan, producer Matt Tolmach...

-contactmusic.com

Kim Kardashian to get 'Break the Internet Award'

Kim Kardashian set out to break the Internet with her naked Paper magazine cover, unveiled in November of 2014.

According to the Webby Awards, she's done just that.

Kardashian will receive the first-ever Break the Internet Award at the 20th annual Webbys on May 16.

The honour recognizes her success online and the bold, creative ways she's used the Internet, social media, apps and videos to connect with an audience around the world.

Kardashian joins her husband, Kanye West, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner, Jessica Alba and The Onion as recipients of the awards.

-hollywoodreporter.com

Human DNA fossil found in birds?

In rare instances, DNA is known to have jumped from one species to another.

If a parasites DNA jumps to its hosts genome, it could leave evidence of that parasitic interaction that could be found millions of years later - a DNA fossil of sorts.

An international research team led from Uppsala University has discovered a new type of so-called Transposable Element (TE) that occurred in the genomes of certain birds and nematodes.

Dr Alexander Suh is an expert on the small stretches of DNA that tend to jump from one place to another, called transposable elements.
Being powerless when something terrible happens to your child is every parents worst nightmare.

Very recently, a 3-year-old's thumb had to be amputated after an accident that took place at the Cherub Angel daycare in Gurgaon.

In a post on Facebook, the child's mother Shivani P Sharma wrote about the incident and elevated the issue of unregulated daycare into the public domain.

Daycares, creches and even playschools in India are not regulated - so essentially anyone can open one

It seems the little girls finger was caught in a door which another child shut by mistake.

The mother accuses the Cherub Angel daycare of extreme neglect and has filed an FIR, hoping to create awareness so that no other child has to suffer this fate.

The scary fact of the matter is that daycares, creches and even playschools in India are not regulated.

Unlike schools, they are not required to have an affiliation to a board, and no mandatory or regular checks are conducted on them. In short - they have no license to lose, because they dont even have a license in the first place.

A casual search on the internet shows just how easy it is to open a daycare centre in India.

It is often touted as a good business opportunity thanks to the growing trend of working parents and the demand for caregivers.

One website I went to (startadaycare.in) states: This is turning out to be a good investment if you are looking at a business perspective. If you have a space on your own, it is desired to spruce it up with low investment teaching aids, a good radiant ambience and an interior that is 'child friendly'. Most often, no or few permissions are required to open a daycare in India.

Babycenter.in, while mentioning an exhaustive check-list of what parents should look for, also rues the fact that there is little or no monitoring.

Ideally all creches must be registered. Unfortunately this is usually not the case. Do speak to the manager of the creche to clarify this issue.

I spoke to the owner of a reputed daycare in Gurgaon which has been operational for 7 years, and she confirmed that there is no regulatory body that encompasses daycares.

However, she was also skeptical about regulation and wondered if it was an ideal solution, because most of the officials she had dealt with for No Objection Certificates and other clearances in the past were only looking to make a quick buck.

So, will regulation only mean more bribes?

Plus, she said, the tougher it becomes, the fewer the options, which poses a genuine problem for working mothers.

Her solution was to have a body that genuinely cares about childrens safety and which includes various members of society including parents, so checks are not mere hogwash.

She may have a point. In the past few years, schools, which are regulated, have also witnessed horrific incidents.

From the six-year-old who was raped by a skating teacher in a school in Bangalore in 2014, to the six-year-old who was found dead in a water tank in Ryan International School, Delhi, in January this year, its not as if schools are safe havens.

For parents, the only thing they can do is research, research, research.

They must opt for a daycare that someone they trust can vouch for, and ensure that safety checks are in place.

And lastly, pray for some professionals to enter the daycare space, and a regulatory authority to monitor the sector.

If women have to get back into the workforce, this has to be the first step in that direction.

'Mum Lit' is the big new thing

Remember the time chick-lit was the next big thing in publishing?

Well, that audience has grown up now, and I can see 'mum-lit' becoming the new buzzword.

On my table are two parenting books, while the third is being launched this month.

Two parenting books have recently been released, while the third is being launched this month

Theres What I Didnt Expect When I was Expecting by Tina Trikha, and I Made a Booboo by Shivangi Sharma (both published by Rupa), and the soon-to-come Babies and Bylines - Parenting on the move by Pallavi Aiyar (published by HarperCollins).

Ive had the chance to read the first, the one whose headline plays on the iconic baby book with a very similar name - and I have to say, it is a fair account of what a mum goes through vis-a-vis children, careers, changing family dynamics, day-to-day struggles like breastfeeding, and larger issues like how to stay sober during those dreaded birthday parties.

As a mum to three kids, Trikha has lived in the US and India, been a working mum and a stay-at-home mum, and she divides her book into the biggest issues that plagued her.

In an easy, flowing style that's not chronological, she doesnt go into the details of every childs growing up but highlights her key takeaways in chapters.

Whats interesting is that this genre is finally waking up and women are finding the confidence to talk about the issues that hitherto belonged in the never-to-be-discussed category.

Can you imagine our mothers talking about postpartum depression and openly acknowledging that they cant stand birthday parties?

Delhi's first milk bank

Just a few days ago, Fortis La Femme and the Breast Milk Foundation (a non-profit organisation) launched Amaara, the first pasteurised human milk bank in Delhi-NCR.

The initiative, in line with the WHOs goal to reduce the infant mortality rate, is an attempt to get breast milk to those babies who dont have access to it - and are thus deprived of its benefits.

Public milk banks rely on donations, which go to needy babies with no access to breast milk

In India, however, the concept of donating milk hasnt really taken off. La Femme says that only 14 such banks exist in India, according to the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

At Amaara, donated milk will be tested, pasteurised and frozen (for a period of six months), and made available to needy newborns.

It is a public milk bank and accessible to all mothers who need it.

In my view, the only way to get people to donate breast milk will be to mount a campaign on the lines of blood donation drives and to generate awareness that breast milk could potentially save many lives (India has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the region: 40 per 1,000 live births, according to the Annual Report, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, GOI).
After Britain turned down Indias request to deport Vijay Mallya, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached Interpol seeking an arrest warrant against the liquor baron.

Officials said the ED has written to the CBI to obtain a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Mallya.

The CBI acts as the nodal office for the execution of Interpol warrants in India.

The King of Good Times: Vijay Mallya could be brought back to India by Interpol after the UK said that he cannot be deported

An RCN is issued to seek the location and arrest of wanted individuals with a view to extraditing them, or initiating similar lawful action in a criminal case.

Once the notice is issued, Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world. In effect, it functions as an international arrest warrant.

Vijay Mallya has lost possession of his Rs 90 crore home in Goa

The Enforcement Directorate has been trying to make Mallya join investigations into the Rs 900-crore IDBI loan deal, in which it had registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) earlier this year.

It has virtually exhausted the legal options to make Mallya join the probe, including issuing a non-bailable warrant against him from a Mumbai court.

Though the ED requested the revocation of Mallya's passport and his subsequent deportation from the UK, Britain made it clear that the businessman could not be deported and asked India to seek his extradition instead.

The British government said it acknowledges the seriousness of allegations against Mallya and is keen to assist the Indian government in this case.

The ED is also mulling attaching domestic assets and shares worth around Rs 9,000 crore owned by Mallya in this case.

Revenue officials in Goa have allowed the lenders of Kingfisher Airlines to take physical possession of Kingfisher Villa in Candolim.

The North Goa Collector has given an order permitting the banks to take physical possession of the Villa, which is valued at Rs 90 crore and was previously Mallyas base in Goa.
While the infuriated Kerala government claimed to be mulling legal action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his remarks comparing the state to Somalia, another war of words broke out on Thursday between Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj.

The two sparred over who should take credit for the evacuation of 29 Indians from war-torn Libya.

While the state goes to polls on May 16, the run-up to the elections is becoming increasingly charged.

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy (left) and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj sparred over who should take the credit for the evacuation of 29 Indians from war-torn Libya

A total of 29 Indians have been evacuated from Libya, 16 of whom are from Kerala. They reached Kochi on Thursday morning.

At the centre of the latest controversy is Modis claim that his government had saved six families and evacuated 29 people.

The Indian government is committed to working for people who go abroad to work; we have always tried to help them.

"It gives me immense pleasure and happiness to tell you that they are coming back and will be united with their families soon, Modi had said.

The claim was contended by Kerala CM Oommen Chandy, who said the state government was bearing the travel expenses of the families, suggesting that the Centre had not extended financial assistance for their travel.

Sushma Swaraj paid for the earlier evacuations. This time we are paying for their travel, Chandy said.

Swaraj jumped into the fray via a series of tweets.

Mr. Chandy - we evacuated thousands of Indians from Kerala (sic) from Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Who paid for them?

"Mr.Chandy - you said Kerala paid for 29 Indians evacuated from Libya, Swaraj said on Twitter.

The External Affairs Minister, who is recuperating in AIIMS where she was admitted on April 25, blamed Chandy for triggering the debate.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Narad Samman award

The RSS will honour journalists at the 2016 'Narad Samman' to commemorate Sage Narad.

The programme will be held on May 20 at the Constitution Club and the awards will be given by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Many of the right-wing groups, including the RSS, consider sage Narad, known for his roving attendance at the gods' court of the Hindu pantheon, to be the first journalist.

Supreme Court to get four new judges

The Supreme Court will get four new judges on Friday.

President Pranab Mukherjee has approved the appointment of Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice Ajay Manik Rao Khanwilkar, Allahabad Chief Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Kerala Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan, and Senior Supreme Court Advocate L Nageswara Rao as judges of the Supreme Court.

According to sources, the four will be sworn in at 10.30am on Friday.

Tharoor gives Twitter tips to Congress

Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, who was an early adopter on the micro blogging site Twitter, will now pass on some of his skills to other politicians and party volunteers at a seminar in Pune on May 17.

Tharoor uses Twitter to update voters in his constituency, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.

BJP and Nitish lock horns in UP

On the day JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar launched his party's campaign in Uttar Pradesh from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi, the central leadership of the BJP swung into action to negate the impact.

The BJP leaders said that the Bihar chief minister and his MLAs were drunk on power and claimed that Nitish Kumar had brought 'Jungle Raj' back in the state.

'Bhuvan must get better than Google'

BJP MP Tarun Vijay feels that the passing of the Geospatial Bill, which will penalise misrepresentation of Indias boundaries, will end internet colonialism.
With an astounding three crore legal cases waiting to be heard, Chief Justice of India TS Thakur has issued a notice to the Centre seeking to double the number of judges in the country.

The recommendation comes from the Law Commission in its 245th report.

A fortnight after his impassioned appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the shortage of judges, made during the state Chief Justices and Chief Ministers conference, Thakur said the courts now require more than 70,000 judges to clear the pending cases.

Moved to tears: Chief Justice of India TS Thakur made an impassioned appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the shortage of judges

While we (the judiciary) remain keen to ensure that judges appointments are made quickly, the machinery involved with the appointment of judges continues to grind very slowly. The confidence of people on the judiciary has, over the years, multiplied. Over three crore cases are pending in various courts across the country, he said.

The petitioner, a Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, said in his plea: Judicial reform is not only necessary to secure fundamental right of fair trial and speedy justice to every citizen under Article 21 of the Constitution, but also essential to control the prevailing corruption, crime, casteism and communalism.

The Union government and State Governments had agreed to double the number of judges in Chief Justices and Chief Ministers conference 2013, the petition said.

Upadhyay also pleaded for the speedy implementation of the long-pending judicial reform recommended by the Law Commission in its various reports since 1986.

The Law Commission submitted its 245th Report to the Union Government on 7 July 2014 on the topic of Arrears and Backlog: Creating Additional Judicial Manpower, and recommended doubling the number of judges to ensure fair trials and speedy justice.

On April 24, the Chief Justice, known to be level-headed, broke down several times in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing a national judicial conference.

The emotional CJI was in fact launching an unprecedented attack on the present and earlier governments for blaming the judiciary for the mounting backlog of cases, which has hit an alarming 3.14 crore.

At the same time, the Governments did nothing to improve the judge: population ratio, or increase the number of courts despite repeated pleas from the judiciary.

The ratio at present is 10 judges for 1 million people, while the Law Commission had recommended increasing it to 40 way back in 1987.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who completed three years in office on Thursday, plans to axe seven ministers as part of a major cabinet reshuffle aimed at promoting young talent.

Film star-turned-politician and Housing Minister MH Ambarish, Primary & Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakara, Transport Minister R Ramalinga Reddy and Infrastructure Minister R Roshan Baig are among the prominent names that are likely to be dropped from the Cabinet.

But Siddaramaiah has not yet taken the final call on who to sack.

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says the reshuffle will be complete by the end of the month

In Mysuru, Siddaramaiah announced that the Cabinet reshuffle would be completed by month-end.

At the same time, he said that he intended to provide an opportunity for youngsters in the Cabinet.

The reshuffle is long overdue, and the delay had led to unrest among the party leaders.

Siddaramaiah is accused of giving powerful ministerial portfolios to his followers, overlooking the traditional Congress leaders.

A section of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had already complained to the high command about this issue, so a Cabinet reshuffle appeared inevitable.

According to Congress sources, Ambarish, Ratnakara, Baig and Reddy are likely to be replaced because of their poor performance.

Last year, Siddaramaiah went on record on the floor of the House to declare that the Housing Ministry had not met its target.

The second PU examination question papers were leaked twice earlier this year, endangering the students futures, while the Education Department failed to plug the loopholes.

In addition to accommodating youngsters, there is pressure on Siddaramaiah to induct senior party leaders like Kagodu Thimmappa (Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker), and former minister Dr AB Maalakaraddy into the Cabinet.

The CM has a tough job on his hands, as the Cabinet reshuffle could intensify rebellion within the party if not done properly.

Other Congress legislators such as NA Haris, ST Somashekar, and KN Rajanna are vehemently demanding ministerial berths.

They met Siddaramaiah on several occasions and made it clear that their support was essential to the government.
China has raised the rank and status of its western Tibet Military Command to widen its scope for missions and combat preparedness, in a move that analysts in Beijing say is aimed at fortifying the border with India.

The move to raise the Tibet Military Commands authority would put it directly under the command of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) ground forces, the Party-run Global Times reported on Friday, and allow it to shoulder more combat assignments.

This suggests the command may undertake some kind of military combat mission in future, the newspaper quoted an unnamed source as saying. A military expert in Beijing told the newspaper that the command bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, but is currently facing difficulties to secure all the military resources they need.

China has raised the rank and status of its western Tibet Military Command to widen its scope for missions and combat preparedness

The move would raise its authority, including the designation of troops, but also expand their function and mission, the deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Tibet Military Command, Zhao Zhong, was quoted as saying.

This would also boost their combat readiness, a military expert said.

China announced sweeping military reforms in January and February, aimed at creating a more nimble fighting force and unified military command.

Following the reform, provincial military commands were placed under the control of a newly set up National Defence Mobilisation Department under the Central Military Commission, which is headed by President Xi Jinping. The Tibet Military Command, however, will be directly under under the PLA Ground Force, headed by General Li Zuocheng, who sits on the CMC.

The Tibet Military Commands political rank will be elevated to a level higher than its counterpart provincial-level military commands, and will come under the leadership of the PLA Army, the newspaper quoting a report from the China Youth Daily, said.

China announced sweeping military reforms in January and February, aimed at creating a more nimble fighting force and unified military command

The promotion shows China is paying great attention to the Tibet Military Command, which will significantly improve the commands ability to manage and control the regions military resources, as well as provide better preparation for combat, Beijing- based military expert Song Zhongping said.

Song was quoted saying: The Tibet Military Command bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, and at present it is difficult to secure all the military resources they need.
The 2016 presidential election will arrive in North Dakota today. North Dakotans have been following the Republican and Democratic campaigns over the last few months, but this is the first time we will see one of the leading players in person.

Bernie Sanders plans stops in Fargo and Bismarck today as he barnstorms the region. Sanders, sort of the Don Quixote of the race, has been battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Many dont think he can catch her in the delegate battle, but he keeps winning enough primaries to keep his hopes alive.

A Democratic candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. At the moment, according to the Associated Press, Clinton has 1,716 delegates to Sanders' 1,433. When adding in the unpledged party leaders from each state known as superdelegates, Clintons lead increases to 2,240-1,473.

How delegates are selected to the national conventions is controlled by the parties. The Democrats will hold a caucus on June 7 and elect delegates in each legislative district to attend a state delegate selection meeting June 18 in Bismarck. At that meeting 23 delegates and two alternates will be chosen to represent the state at the national convention July 25-28 in Philadelphia.

The North Dakota Republican convention in April selected 25 delegates along with the party's chairman, national committeeman and national committeewoman, who are automatic delegates, to attend the national convention July 18-21 in Cleveland. The states delegates are unbound because the state party chose not to hold a caucus this year.

So North Dakotans dont have an opportunity to cast a ballot for their favorite presidential candidate in the June primary. But we do have a chance to see them and hear their pitches. Along with Sanders, former President Bill Clinton will stop in Fargo on May 20 to campaign for his wife. Donald Trump, the expected Republican Party nominee, will visit Bismarck on May 26. Hell speak at 1 p.m. at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference being held at the Bismarck Event Center.

The Sanders and Trump visits reflect their campaign styles. In Bismarck, Sanders will be at the Bismarck Depot, 401 E. Main Ave., a smaller, more intimate, location. Trump will be at the Event Center that can hold a much bigger crowd. It will be much louder.

Both events will give those attending an up-close look at two men who could be leading this nation in 2017. Seeing someone in person is much different from watching them on television. You can see how they react to people, their expressions and overall demeanor. It can help someone decide if this is the person they want to support.

We wont argue that North Dakota is a major player in the national campaigns. The visits by Sanders, Trump and Bill Clinton do show the candidates value the state. They want our delegates and, down the road, our votes in November. The electoral process improves every time a candidate becomes available to the public. Voters remember the time they saw John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. They may not have liked them, but they got a chance to see history play out.

Doors open at 6 tonight at the Bismarck Depot; its first come, first served. Sanders will speak around 8 p.m.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a prominent face of alleged Hindu terror, has been crippled by repeated torture in custody and cancer, her sister told Mail Today hours after the NIA dropped charges on Friday against the religious activist in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

Thakurs family said the previous Congress-led government framed her for the attack in the Muslim-majority Maharashtra town that killed seven people and set off an everswirling debate in India on the potential threat from Hindu extremists.

She was tortured by security agencies to such an extent that her spine gave way and she cannot even walk to the bathroom, Upama Singh, her sister, alleged.

The NIA has cleared Sadhvi Pragya of all charges related to the 2008 Malegaon blast

Thakur also developed breast cancer during her incarceration.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) let off Thakur and five others, citing lack of evidence.

The agency also said it had submitted in its charge sheet that the prosecution against them was not maintainable.

Thakur has been in judicial custody since October 2008. She was arrested on charges of being a key conspirator and is one of the 14 accused named in a Maharashtra ATS charge sheet.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases of alleged Hindu terror. She had been put through unspeakable torture after she was arrested on false charges and since then her health has been deteriorating.

Due to the excruciating torture, she has developed complications in her spine, which is a cause of grave concern for us, said Singh.

Following the arrests, while some analysts said the case pointed to a growing militant network that felt Muslims and an avowedly secular government were threatening the nations Hindu majority, others maintained quick conclusions should not be drawn amid reports of inconsistencies in the case.

Among those held were a serving lieutenant colonel in the army, a retired major and a saffron-robed seer. The NIA has also dropped charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

The case made headlines last year when the then special prosecutor Rohini Salian alleged that she was asked to go soft against the alleged perpetrators after the Narendra Modi government came to power.

Investigators had earlier alleged that Thakur provided the motorcycle that was used in an explosion, but she rejected the claim, saying she sold off the bike two years before the attack.

Doctors say Pragya needs extensive surgery apart from rehabilitation and physiotherapy due to the damage that has been inflicted to her, mentally as well physically, said her sister.

Singh, who was at Ujjain Kumbh when Mail Today spoke to her, said despite the life-threatening condition afflicting Thakur, she was not getting essential medical attention. While Pragya kept enduring the torture from agencies, she also developed breast cancer, she said.

"We had even filed an application requesting surgery for her, but there has been no word on it yet. Lets see what the view the court takes. Singh also alleged that the entire family, and not just Thakur, was mentally harassed and psychologically tortured.

The Congress government had put all of us under roundthe- clock surveillance.

One person from the security apparatus was always tailing each family member, she claimed. Pragya was threatened that her family would face dire consequences.

The government kept a keen eye on all the movements of the family members  who they met, who they talked to and where they went  Singh said.

That Pragya was tortured does not require proof. The biggest proof is that she has become a physical cripple, she added. First, the agencies broke her daily schedule which is the one central part of the life of a sage.

Such a physically fit girl as Pragya, who has taken so many degrees in health management must have been tortured, one can easily imagine, to a great extent that she is now a vegetable. Singh accused the Congress government of having hatched the so-called saffron terror, or Hindu terror, plot.

The Congress launched upon a project called saffron terror so that it could corner the votes of non-Hindus as they realised that they were now devoid of such issues as development and also lacked the commitment towards the nation, she said.
The Modi government is about to complete two years in office

High-profile political accusations and high decibel controversies are welcome as they add masala to the public discourse.

For more than 300 news channels, it has been all about raising TRP ratings, the very sustenance of expensive telecasts.

But what about some serious issues that affect the lives of millions, particularly when the Narendra Modi government is about to complete two years in office?

Take the black money issue, for instance. Where is all that wealth stuffed in the vaults of those isolated islands like Canary Isles or Jamaica or Seychelles that you promised to bring back in 2014, they taunt the PM.

Prosecution

A statement by the finance ministry claims that as much as Rs 50,000 crore of indirect tax evasion and Rs 21,000 crore of undisclosed income have been unearthed in two years.

For the first time the regulars with secret vaults know it is becoming increasingly difficult to ply their trade from India.

Over 1,400 cases are facing prosecution within two years of the Modi government being sworn in.

A special investigation team is at work over this hidden wealth. But one does not hear a word about all this!

Very little of the discourse in the media is focusing on this new approach that is yielding results.

The Modi governments appeal to the well-off to voluntarily give up subsidies on the cooking gas has done wonders. Over one crore users have voluntarily given up the subsidy, so more is available for the needy.

Never in the past has such an appeal from the government for voluntary giving up of entitlement received such overwhelming response from the public.

Surely, this level of response is an index of peoples confidence in the prime minister who made the appeal.

His sincerity alone has been responsible for such an incredible result. Here is something more and that too will ease the lives of millions, who unfortunately have fallen victim to a host of health problems.

Medicine

On May 10, the drug price regulator  National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA)  slashed prices of 54 essential medicines by up to 55 per cent, including commonly used drugs for cancer (brain and breast), hypertension, diabetes, and several heart disorders. This was the second price revision in the past three weeks.

On April 28, the NPPA had fixed prices of another 54 drugs. This bold move, on the part of the Modi government, will surely benefit countless Indians; irrespective of whether TRP-starved news channels bring it into the public discourse or not.

Did anyone find a mention of it in the news channels?

The prime minister has received commendations even from his academic critics for keeping his government clean and transparent in the past two years.

No small achievement where temptations fly fast and fine, and pitfalls are many and unseen.

That also brings us to a silent revolution going on in this government at the level where it counts. A complete understanding between what the government at the political level wants and what the bureaucratic level can deliver.

Document

Only the other day, this was demonstrated when several groups of secretaries under the leadership of Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant produced for the prime minister a document  Creating a movement for change.

The entire approach reflected a government that wants a firm connection between what is projected and what is achievable.

There is apparently no place for targets that are a pie in the sky, numbers projected merely for an applause from the gallery.

The document was unusual in every way. Normally such a document with a target of taking the economy from about $2 trillion to $10 trillion  a fivetime jump  would run into a huge roll of paper.

It, incidentally, was just a bunch of power-point deck that could be grasped in a few minutes. With the bulk of the government business going online, the corridors of power get lighted up.

A sign that the Modi government is really transforming both India and Bharat.

That is not welcome for a section that wants both the government and the public sector business behind the bamboo curtain.

No wonder the vested interests are hurt.

And shifting the public discourse from the real to the mundane is a part of their strategy to hit back.
The right to free speech does not mean defaming one another, the Supreme Court told Congress President Rahul Gandhi (pictured), Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy

It is always better to mind your language; right to free speech does not mean defaming another, the Supreme Court told Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday, rejecting their plea to decriminalise criminal defamation law.

The three bitter foes, slapped with defamation cases by their political adversaries, had approached the apex court in July last year challenging the validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC and Section 199 of the Criminal Procedure Code that made defamation punishable with two years in jail.

They argued that rather than protecting individual reputation, these sections have a stringent effect on free speech.

The penal provisions conceived in the British era are now outmoded and inconsistent with the right to freedom of speech and expression, the trio contended.

But rejecting the argument, a Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said in its 268 page judgment: We uphold the constitutional validity of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 199 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Once we have held that reputation of an individual is a basic element of Article 21 of the Constitution and balancing of fundamental rights is a constitutional necessity and further the legislature in its wisdom has kept the penal provision alive, it is extremely difficult to subscribe to the view that criminal defamation has a stringent effect on the freedom of speech and expression.

One cannot be unmindful that right to freedom of speech and expression is a highly valued and cherished right but the Constitution has reasonable restriction.

In that context, criminal defamation  which is in existence in the form of Sections 499 and 500, IPC  is not a restriction on free speech that can be characterised as disproportionate. Right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame the other.

Protection of reputation is a fundamental right. It is also a human right.

Cumulatively it serves the social interest, the judges said adding, Notwithstanding the expansive and sweeping ambit of freedom of speech, as all rights, right to freedom of speech and expression is not absolute. It is subject to imposition of reasonable restrictions.

Justifying the penal provisions, Centre had said there will be anarchy in the society and everyone will think he has a right to hurl abuses if the criminal defamation is repealed as a penal offence.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the provisions are more relevant in modern times in view of the influence of Internet and social media, through which any statement can reach out to millions of people.

Rahul faced defamation proceedings in a Maharashtra court for allegedly allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Kejriwal is facing prosecution after being summoned as an accused on a complaint by Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari for including his name in the partys list of Indias most corrupt.
It was eyes down for investors as Rank Groups update reported a full house of revenue growth.

The firm behind Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo said like-for-like revenue for the 19 weeks to May 8 was up 3 per cent.

But punters are migrating from the bingo halls to casinos, according to the figures.

Revenues for Grosvenors digital business were up 35 per cent. Rank said that while the number of customers was broadly stable, customer spending per visit had increased.

Meanwhile, total revenue for the Mecca brand fell 1 per cent, hit by a round of closures last year.

Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group said like-for-like revenue for the 19 weeks to May 8 was up 3 per cent. But punters are migrating from the bingo halls to casinos, according to the figures

The online bingo business is being rolled out with new content and changes to the way it works, which management hopes will give it a boost.

The firm is predicting profits for the year will be flat at 78million, disappointing analysts at Shore Capital who said we see this as too low given the uniqueness of the groups casino offering, bingo stabilising and the opportunity to build a multi-channel gaming operation.

Rank shares marched up 4.5 per cent, or 10.6p, to 248p.

Challenger bank Aldermore presented its first quarter update yesterday, following hot on the heels of rival One Savings Bank (up 3.4 per cent, or 9.4p, to 282.9p) the day before.

The lender, which was founded in 2009, is involved in residential and commercial mortgages, and asset and invoice finance.

Extra demand for buy-to-let mortgages ahead of the new stamp duty levy for landlords helped boost lending at the firm, though experts are concerned this may tail off now the surcharge is in force.

Net lending is up 6 per cent since the start of the year, with 327million of buy-to-let loans made in that time. Aldermore now has about 74,000 buy-to-let customers.

Peel Hunt has a buy rating on the stock with a target price of 235p. Aldermore advanced 3 per cent, or 5.5p, to 190.5p.

Packaging and paper producer Mondi wrapped up the results for the first three months of the year.

The firm said strong performance in consumer packaging, uncoated fine paper and its South Africa division had offset lower selling prices and margin pressure in other areas of the business.

It also warned that planned maintenance closures could hit profits for 2016 by around 55million.

Mondi acquired a corrugated plant in Poland last month which is set to be upgraded.

Shares wrapped up 0.7 per cent, or 9p, to 1358p.

The FTSE 100 fell back just shy of 1 per cent, or 58.3 points, to 6104.19.

Catering firm Compass was among the highest climbers of the day, as hungry investors drove the price up 1.6 per cent, or 20p, to 1271p. The business provides food and support services in various industries including healthcare, education and leisure.

The firms profits climbed 9.6 per cent to 461million in the six months to the end of March, egged on by strong performance in North America, where more than half of its business is.

Meanwhile, Burberry was out of fashion after Bernstein cut its target price for the stock. Shares retreated 2.5 per cent, or 29p, or 1140p.

On the alternative market, life sciences company Horizon Discovery revealed two agreements with an undisclosed provider of market leading next- generation sequencing, which is a rapidly growing area of cancer treatment. Its concerned with editing your genes so your body can recognise abnormal cells.

Horizon is providing a reference standard, which is basically a benchmark or toolkit for firms which make the tests that diagnose diseases such as cancer. Horizons toolkit lets labs check their tests are working.

It has not disclosed the finances of the deal or who it is with  although some experts believe it is with Illumina, a market leader in the field.

Analysts at Numis were positive on the news, because as this type of treatment becomes more accurate and affordable, the broker said up to 30 per cent of the millions of people across the world who are diagnosed with cancer could be treated in this way.

Horizons share price gained 1.5 per cent, or 2.5p, to 172.5p.

Website ads dont appear by accident  its because you searched for something, or a site you visited. Advertisers pay for the spots and software that put them there.

Taptica provides the technology that makes sure relevant ads appear and it works with big names such as Amazon, Disney, Facebook and Expedia.
It may have become famous for its trucks, but it was woodchips, plane rentals and airports that boosted sales for Stobart Group.

After being founded with one lorry in the 1960s, it is now involved with aviation and rail, and is the UKs number one supplier of biomass.

The firm, which also owns London Southend Airport, was back in the black to the tune of 10million for the year to February 29, from a 9.4million loss last year.

Sales grew from 116.6million to 126.7million and it proposed a final dividend of 4p a share.

Chief executive Andrew Tinkler said he planned to return 300million to shareholders from the sale of 12 assets, ranging from properties to financial investments.
Do you have what it takes to be Lord Sugar's business partner? While many remember the most recent series of The Apprentice for an alleged fight between candidates Charleine Wane and Selina Waterman-Smith, Joseph Valente stealthily made it to the final with his pragmatic approach to business.

Although fellow finalist Vana Koutsomitis' dating app spoke to Lord Sugar's tech expertise, he ultimately decided that his 250,000 investment would make more of an impact on Joseph's Impra-Gas venture.

The entrepreneur has used the cash to expand his business, which maintains and installs plumbing, heating and electrical products.

The Apprentice family: Show winners Mark Wright, Joseph Valente, Leah Totton and Ricky Martin with Lord Sugar (centre)

He hopes to bring the Peterborough-based business to London in the next five years and take on the likes of British Gas and Pimlico plumbers.

In this week's edition of Start-Up Secrets, Joseph reveals the 'horrible' side of The Apprentice, and his regrets over getting expelled at 15.

Who or what has most inspired you?

One of my biggest inspirations growing up was my uncle. He's very successful and I got to see two different lifestyles. My family didn't have much money - my dad didn't work and my uncle showed me the life you could have.

He was the managing director of a finance company and would come down three or four times a year from Birmingham in a Mercedes or BMW, and would have all the latest technology.

Alan Sugar was my second inspiration, and he was the reason I started the business. When I was 22 I read his book What You See Is What You Get and saw how someone could build an empire just through hard work, so he was a real inspiration.

CV: Joseph Valente 1989: Born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire 2005: Expelled from school at 15 and started working for free with a local plumber 2006: Did a two-year plumbing apprenticeship course at Peterborough College 2008: Quit plumbing to train as a qualified gas engineer in London 2011: Took a career break and went travelling to Australia 2012: Inspired by reading Lord Sugar's autobiography, launched Impra-Gas 2013: Impra-Gas grew to five employees 2015: Beat Vana Koutsomities to win 250,000 on The Apprentice, becoming business partners with Lord Sugar

What is the one piece of advice you would go back and tell your younger self?

I would go back and tell myself to work harder at school and to not get expelled!

And to put more time and effort into learning about business and technology, because that is the future and it's a lot harder to teach yourself out of school.

But then the path that I have gone down has made me quite successful so far...

How did you manage to secure funding?

When I started Impra-Gas I got 20,000 through Tesco Bank personal loan. Going down the business funding route required a lot more detail and I wanted it now, so I applied and got a loan within a few days.

Then obviously my second round of funding was winning The Apprentice, which not everyone can do.

I have mainly invested The Apprentice money in our set up, bringing in a jobs booking and management system. We also have bought four new offices and purchased new vans and uniforms. We are expanding county by county - Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire and we are hoping to move to London in the next five years.

Fireworks: The 2015 series, which saw Valente win, hit the headlines for a fight between candidates

What advice would you give to someone pitching for investment?

Not to run before you can walk. I started without a plan and you need to put the time in at the beginning to build a solid foundation and have a process that you can build on.

It's a lot harder the way we did it - it would have been better to build a solid foundation before expanding too quickly. You can find yourself with a system for a one-man band but then you expand to 15 people and it's not suitable.

Worthy winner: Joseph with Lord Sugar

You need to pitch confidently and show you will work ridiculously hard and do whatever it takes to get there. Whatever you sell, you have to show passion, determination, and honesty.

The thing with [Apprentice finalist] Vana's idea is that it had potential but it was not something 250,000 could get off the ground - it needed millions. My company was a good solid business and it had a proven track record.

What makes a good business idea? How did you convince investors and business partners that yours would work?

I think what makes a good business idea is keeping it simple. People try to reinvent the wheel but you don't have to come up with a great invention.

Know your business, know your market. There is no point going in to something on a whim - you have to have some experience in that industry, that is very important

Show that you can innovate and pioneer, whether it's with a new system or new technology.

They need to like you and that comes from showing you're a real person. A lot of the people on The Apprentice act like idiots and they think it will make them stand out - but it just makes them look like idiots.

People were not very nice in there, it's a competition and people are very egotistic. It was a great experience but it's not a nice environment. It's not nice to live it for 11 weeks - it was horrible really.

'Vana's idea needed millions': Joseph on fellow finalist Vana Koutsomitis (second from left)

What is the most important quality you look for in a business partner or employee?

For me, it's all about trust.The second that trust is broken I lose all faith in someone and I can't work with them. They also have to be reliable, independent thinkers but trust is the main thing.

Lord Sugar has been in touch as much as I have required. I call on him from time to time but not that often. I have experience in this industry, and he has experience in business so I will ask him for help if I need him to look at a contract but I have a strong team around me, and we are working very hard.

What one change to legislation or policy would help your business the most?

A reduction in employers' national insurance contributions. In this industry, people find a a lot of reasons to use sub-contractors because they don't want to pay national insurance.

With a small business, it squeezes the life out of you. My workers are not self-employed but the industry pushes you to go for sub-contractors, as then you don't have to pay that additional 13 per cent on wages - which works out at a lot of money.




out of Raqqa in the 'dead of night' and taken to safety

A British mother and her five children have escaped the Islamic State in a daring rescue operation organised by a brigade of Syrian fighters working inside Raqqa, the terror group's headquarters.

The family were ferried out of the city in the dead of night and driven to a safe territory close to Turkish border, MailOnline can reveal.

Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa (Raqqa Revolutionaries' Brigades), the group who carried out the rescue, declined to name the woman, but there are at least two possibilities, both from Bradford and both of whom have fled with their families in the last year.

Scroll down for video

Saviours: Fighters working with the rebel group Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa (pictured) have been smuggling people out of ISIS' capital city, including a British mother of five who escaped in the dead of night

Destruction: The citizens of Raqqa have been living under the twin terrors of ISIS and the coalition bombs. Pictured: Bazaar is destroyed during an air strike by Syrian army warplanes in 2014

'The woman was British and she had five children,' a fighter for Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa told MailOnline in an interview on Facebook.

The fighter said he had driven the family to an area controlled by the Free Syrian Army.

But this family is far from the only group Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa, which has built up forces in the villages and countryside around Raqqa, have rescued: a relieved Frenchwoman was also taken to safety by the group in recent weeks, expressing her gratitude by appearing on YouTube.

The 25-year-old woman, who has a young boy, had been living in Raqqa under the twin terrors of ISIS and the Coalition bombings for one year before she was rescued.

'In the last few weeks we have saved many people from Daesh [the local name for ISIS], including a number of foreign fighters,' acknowledged the spokesman.

He said that the majority of the Thuwar al-Raqqa fighters were Syrian, but there were several British jihadis who made up their numbers.

And it seems likely they were behind the rescue of Abu Ali, 38, who crept into Syria under a fence in order to fight for ISIS, only to realise he made a grave mistake after being forced to watch a video of the terrorists burning his fellow countryman, pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, to death.

He described how he made contact with the group over Whatsapp, and spent a tense evening waiting in a cafe in Raqqa before two motorcycles pulled up and shouted through the door: 'The food's ready, sorry we're late.'

He was rushed through the streets of the city, and hidden in a house until he could be taken back to another hole in the fence in May last year.

Local knowledge: The group know the city because many of their members come from Raqqa. They were the last brigade forced out after ISIS militants arrived in 2013 to begin their reign of terror

Success: In recent weeks, it has been able to rescue more people, and It has also seen growing numbers of ISIS fighters defecting to Liwa Thuwar, including a single group of 35. Pictured: ISIS celebrate in Raqqa in 2013

Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa are better placed than most to carry out these dangerous - and often successful - rescue attempts.

They were one of the last brigades to defend Raqqa against IS before Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's forces overran the city in 2013.

Since 2013 its fighters, many members of the Raqqa population, have opposed IS in the region outside the city and scored some successes.

The brigade later allied with the Al Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, but has since forged alliances with a umbrella group of more moderate brigades under the banners of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

In recent weeks the Raqqa Revolutionaries' Brigades have been able to mount a number of rescue operations involving Western families. It has also seen growing numbers of ISIS fighters defecting to Liwa Thuwar, including a single group of 35.

'We now just want to free Raqqa from IS and save as many as we can,' the Liwa Thuwar spokesman said.

But the group is frustrated. Last month the group's commander Abu Issa told the Middle East al Monitor that the West had failed to support their efforts to reclaim Raqqa from IS.

Issa said: 'The establishment of the Syrian Democratic Forces was predicated on them receiving adequate support to combat IS and terrorism.

'But, the truth of the matter is that the world has let us down in this fight and failed to provide us with enough support.

'Even American support was lax, with very few shipments sent to the Syrian Democratic Forces.'

Six weeks ago Issa met with local Rebel commanders to seek more support from the Coalition.

He added: 'Of course, I cannot deny the role played by the international coalitions air forces, which flew sorties in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

Hope: 'We now just want to free Raqqa from IS and save as many as we can,' the Liwa Thuwar spokesman said

Anger: But the group have been critical of the West for not doing more to help them liberate the city

'But, a lot of the talk about support is untrue, and we have seen no serious efforts to support the liberation of Raqqa.

'We would have been informed if any entities wanted to offer support, and liberation would have been led by Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa.
Vladimir Putin has made a sinister hint about 'ending threats' after the US activated a Nato missile shield in Romania, which Moscow considers a threat to itsnational security.

The $800million (554million) Aegis Ashore missile shield was switched on at Deveselu, a former air base in Romania, on Thursday but the US has denied it is aimed at Russia.

Work was due to begin on Friday on a second site at Redzikowo in Poland.

US officers at a ceremony (pictured) to mark the switching on of the Aegis Ashore missile system in Romania. It was originally designed to protect Europe from missiles fired by rogue states such as Iran

President Putin said today: 'This is not a defence system. This is part of US nuclear strategic potential brought onto a periphery. In this case, Eastern Europe is such periphery.

This is not a defence system Vladimir Putin

'Until now, those taking such decisions have lived in calm, fairly well-off and in safety. Now, as these elements of ballistic missile defence are deployed, we are forced to think how to neutralise emerging threats to the Russian Federation.'

But he insisted Russia would not be involved in a new arms race.

Earlier Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said: 'Without doubt the deployment of (this) system reallyis a threat to the security of the Russian Federation.

'Measures are being taken to ensure the necessary level ofsecurity for Russia. The president himself, letme remind you, has repeatedly asked who the system will workagainst?'

The technology was first suggested in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan trumpeted what was known as 'Son of Star Wars' as a way of defending Europe against missiles from the Soviet Union.

But it was later developed by Lockheed Martin as a way of protecting Europe against the possibility of missiles being fired by rogue states, such as Iran, or even groups such as ISIS.

The Aegis Ashore shield at Deveselu in Romania was switched on yesterday and work begins today on the base in Poland but Russia may retaliate by placing missiles in the Kaliningrad enclave

At the opening ceremony US Deputy Defence Secretary Robert Work said: 'As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend Nato.'

Asked whether the system could be deployed against Russia, he said: 'There are no plans at all to do that.'

The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Frank Rose, warned that Iran's ballistic missiles can hit parts of Europe, including Romania.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg (pictured, centre) officially opens the missile shield at Deveselu with Romania's prime minister Dacian Ciolos (right) and foreign minister Lazar Comanescu

When complete, the defensive umbrella will stretch from Greenland to the Azores.

Today work begins on another site in Poland, where the missile shield will be deployed in 2018.

The comments by US officials regarding Iran come despite last year's deal with Iran, which was supposed to defuse growing tensions about Tehran's nuclear warfare capabilities.

A US serviceman walks by the radar building of the Aegis Ashore missile defence shield in Deveselu, Romania

Mr Peskov said: 'The situation with Iran has changed dramatically' and suggested he believed Russia, rather than Iran, was Nato's real enemy.

'It is part of the military and political containment of Russia Andrey Kelin

The full Aegis Ashore shield, including ships and radar stations across Europe, will be handed over to Nato but be run from a US air base in Germany.

Russia is furious at what it sees as US empire-building and belligerence in former Warsaw Pact countries.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Andrey Kelin said: 'It is part of the military and political containment of Russia.

'These decisions by Nato can only exacerbate an already difficult situation.'

Russia is in the process of replacing its ageing SS-18 nuclear missiles with a new generation, Sarmat, which would be faster and more sophisticated.

Igor Sutyagin, an expert on Russian nuclear weapons at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told Mail Online that Aegis Ashore was incapable of shooting down SS-18s or the Sarmat missile.

A Romanian honour guard march during the official inauguration ceremony for the Aegis Ashore missile defence shield at Deveselu. Romania was once a close ally of the Soviet Union

He said it was only capable of shooting down less sophisticated missiles fired by countries such as Iran and North Korea.

US nuclear expert Joe Cirincione, from the Ploughshares Fund, told the New York Times: 'It was designed to protect Europe from a missile from, well, the only country we were afraid of was Iran.

'The system was designed to protect against an Iranian nuclear missile. There is not going to be an Iranian nuclear missile for at least 20 years. There is no reason to continue with that programme.'

If Nato goes ahead with the Aegis Ashore base in Poland it is thought that President Putin may retaliate by deploying nuclear weapons in Russia's neighbouring enclave of Kaliningrad
Caitlyn Jenner's transition from Bruce has been the most high-profile the world has ever seen.

From the dramatic television interview with Diane Sawyer in which Jenner revealed herself for the first time, to the series of appearances in which she has been hailed as an inspirational figure, billions now know that Bruce Jenner has become Caitlyn.

But behind the scenes, I can reveal, is a far more subtle process - and one, multiple sources have told me, with which Caitlyn is struggling.

Her doubts center not on her identity as a woman, but her devout Christian beliefs about sexuality.

Caitlyn remains attracted to women but as a Christian believes same-sex relationships are sinful.

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Inner struggle: Caitlyn Jenner, seen earlier this week in Malibu, is dealing with the conflict between being a woman, being attracted to women, and believing as a Christian that same-sex relationships are sinful

Open about faith: Caitlyn is a devout Christian who has made no secret of her faith. In December last year she prayed at the Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas

Prayer: Caitlyn Jenner's Christian beliefs and desire to find love as a woman are not in harmony, reveals author Ian Halperin

It is that struggle, I can disclose, which has prompted her to confide in friends - and the reason why they have told me that she may detransition in the future.

Despite her representative's denial yesterday of my first revelation that she may detransition as 'idiotic', the truth is that Jenner has confided her doubts to friends - and that the Kardashian family are well aware of those doubts.

My book Kardashian Dynasty has already made a series of revelations about the latest state of the world's most high-profile family.

I revealed that Blac Chyna was trying to become pregnant by Rob Kardashian - and of course now, she has succeeded, a development which has sent shockwaves through the family.

And I revealed how Kris Jenner was integral to Kim Kardashian's sex tape becoming a sensation.

But there is no doubt what has been the biggest storyline ever for the Kardashian clan: the transition of Bruce to Caitlyn.

My sources tell me that the family are keen for the final stages of the transition to take place. It is worth remembering that Caitlyn retains male genitalia.

It is that operation which is at the center of her struggle.

One friend of the family told me: 'She should have the final surgery or go back to being Bruce.'

Another of my Kardashian sources used language which hints at the increasing tensions about the transition and said bluntly: 'P*** or get off the pot.'

That level of concern, however, needs to be understood in the complexity of Caitlyn's own beliefs.

There is no doubt that she is proud of what she has achieved since her dramatic public disclosure that Bruce Jenner was no more.

'She's thrilled she has raised awareness about how transgender people have long been discriminated against,' a longtime friend told me.

But the same friend said: 'It hasn't been easy for Caitlyn; it's been very hard. It has been much harder than she anticipated.

'I think there's a chance she'll detransition in the next couple years. I don't think it would surprise anybody in her inner circle.'

What has made it hard is that Caitlyn is a devout Christian who believes that if she were to have same-sex relationships, it would be sinful.

She has been crystal clear that she is not gay, which means that reconciling her new gender with her religious views, and with her desire to find love, is a struggle - and one which friends believe could lead to detransition.

Transition stopped: Jenner told how early in his relationship with the then Kris Kardashian he had to tell her about his moves towards being a woman, and had breasts removed.

Precipitate? Friends say that they believe Jenner may have rushed the transition to Caitlyn after involvement in this fatal car crash in Malibu in February 2015

And there is no doubt that Jenner does not want to be alone.

'She's still into women and wants to meet the right one,' one friend said.

Jenner, of course, has taken no active steps to detransition, which explains how Jenner's representative could say: 'Not worth commenting on such an idiotic report. Of course it's not true.'

What the representative didn't say either was that Jenner has been here before - and has discussed it herself.

As Bruce, she attempted to transition 30 years ago, taking hormones for almost five years and growing 36B breasts.

Caitlyn told Diane Sawyer how she embarked on hormone therapy and electrolysis to remove her beard and the hairs on her chest within 10 years of becoming an Olympic champion in 1976.

DETRANSITIONING The process of detransitioning varies drastically from person to person based on the hormones they have taken and surgeries they have undergone, if any. In the case of a person who has transitioned from male to female a doctor would most likely take them off of estrogen and put them on testosterone. The individual would also be encouraged to receive therapy during this time to work through any possible trauma or mental health problems caused by the switch in hormones. A MtF individual can reverse their breast augmentation by having their implants removed. If a person wants to reverse a vaginoplasty their pelvic space would be closed and a neo-phallus created. Advertisement

At one point she considered fleeing to Denmark for reassignment surgery, before returning to America as her children's Aunt Heather.

However, fear drove her to stop the process and continue giving motivational speeches as a man, Jenner said.

'I felt like a liar,' she told Sawyer, reflecting that as Bruce, he told people to 'find the champion inside you' while wearing a suit.

Jenner told Us Weekly that dating Kris in the 1990s led her to reverse the transitions she had previously made to her body.

'We hit it off from day one,' Caitlyn said. 'I was very honest with her - I had to be, I was a 36B!

'Everything was heading in the right direction. I made this decision to kind of move on in my life - Kris and I together, and this family. OK, Ive got to get rid of these gender things and get off hormones and this and that.'

I actually had my boobs removed, she added. I never told anybody that.

Public transition: The dramatic revelation by Jenner of becoming Caitlyn is in stark contrast to when Bruce secretly moved towards being a woman in the late 1980s

There is no suggestion, of course, that Jenner now feels 'like a liar' - but what she said about how love reversed Bruce's first journey towards transition offers some insight into the struggle she is feeling inside.

Certainly, she, been 'miserable' in the last couple of months.

Those months have coincided with her being lauded for her public transition and her courage. But at the same time some of her friends believe that she rushed the transition from Bruce to Caitlyn as a result of the fatal car crash in which Bruce was involved.

It is the presence of those friends, however, which suggest a happier outcome than the last transition-detransition.

Unlike the secret life of Bruce, Jenner's journey could hardly be more visible to the world.

Whether that strengthens her resolve to fully become a woman - the outcome the Kardashian family, my sources say, want - or has the opposite effect is unclear.

But this time she will have friends on her side.

As one told me: 'My heart goes out to her and I know her true friends will be there to support her on whatever path she chooses.'
A tradesman has described the moment he found a 14-year-old girl lying in the street after she was stabbed by in the back by a robber who grabbed her backpack.

Billy Bray lives in the complex where the teenager was attacked while entering her boyfriend's home in Blacktown, western Sydney, on Thursday night.

The 22-year-old followed her attacker, chasing him down the street while the girl lay on the pavement.

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Billy Bray (above) saw a 14-year-old girl after she had been stabbed in the street and left for dead by an attacker demanding she give him her backpack

Recalling the incident, he told The Daily Telegraph on Friday how he thought she'd been killed. The teenager remains at Sydney's Children's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

'I thought she was dead when I first saw her,' said Mr Bray, who was at home when he saw the attack from his unit.

'He had a big kitchen knife and was waving it around so I just chased him. I was so close to grabbing him by the hair on his head but he got away,' he said.

The girl was on her way in to her boyfriend's home when the attacker 'threatened them' and demanded her backpack, police said on Friday.

'An altercation took place, before the man stabbed the girl and fled with her backpack,' NSW Police said in a statement.

The man, who is described as being of Pacific Islander or Maori appearance, remains on the run.

He has a thick black beard and is of large build and was last seen wearing dark clothing.

The mother of the girl's boyfriend shared her relief on Friday that the pair had survived the attack.

A teenage girl, 14, was stabbed in the back when a man stole her backpack in Blacktown in Sydney's west

Police are hunting a man described as Pacific Islander or Maori appearance with a thick black build

The teenager was treated by paramedics before being taken to The Childrens Hospital at Westmead (pictured) with non-life-threatening injuries




Delusional Donald! He says his 10.7 million votes in the primaries gave him landslide margins in almost every state. Facts  there have been 29 primary states; Trump won seven with Indiana (53 percent) and Rhode Island (63 percent). He led in 16 of the other states, with nine of those getting less then 40 percent of the vote. The anti-Trump vote has been 15.9 million divided among 11 candidates. If the delegates had been awarded on a proportional basis, Trump earned 40 percent and has received 77 percent. So much for a rigged system.

He says he will make New York competitive. Delusional! In the primary Trump got 60 percent of the 868,000 Republican votes; there were 1.8 million Democrat votes.

It does appear that Republicans are about to nominate an unelectable (65 percent unfavorable) candidate. It certainly looks like the Libertarian party has a great opportunity at its May convention to nominate a Libertarian Republican like Jon Huntsman as its candidate.

A Republican-Libertarian ticket would have a strong chance against the unfavorability ratings of Hillary Clinton (55 percent) and Trump (65 percent) in the general election. Remember March 15 exit polls where Republican primary voters said, In a November election of Trump vs. Clinton, they would look to a third party candidate by margins of 29 percent in Florida to 45 percent in Ohio."
After a long day of campaigning, Julie Bishop hit the red carpet with her partner David Panton at a fashion event in Sydney.

The pair were snapped as they arrived on the red carpet at the InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards at The Star on Thursday night.

The Foreign Affairs Minister gazed adoringly at her 55-year-old beau as she wowed in a chic and sophisticated black pant suit paired with a metallic grey jacket, silver earrings and clutch to match.

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Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop gazed adoringly at her 55-year-old beau David Panton

Bishop visited the Patritti Wines in Adelaide, South Australia on Tuesday before flying down to Sydney

Melbourne property developer Mr Panton donned a traditional monochrome suit as they stared adoringly at each other on the red carpet.

Ms Bishop had spent the entire day campaigning in Campbelltown, in Sydney's far west, for the upcoming Federal Election on behalf of candidate Russell Matheson before she stepped out to hit the glamorous awards event that evening.

Talking about her time at the event, the Foreign Affairs Minister said: 'The awards reflected the achievements of 27 leading Australian women and each in their own way is stylish, ambitious and committed.

'They represented the very high achieving women in the fields of business, arts, culture, science, fashion, and lifestyle. And, I was very impressed with the work they had done and their achievements.

'So I was pleased to be there first to support achieving women and female role models. And, secondly to support our creative industries.'

The pair arrived at the InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards at The Star in Pyrmont on Thursday night

The Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party also revealed who were her style icons.

'In Australia there are many style icons from Carla Zampatti to sass & bide,' she said.

'I think Australian fashion designers are among the best in the world.

'The Australian fashion industry employs about 220,000 people. Its worth about $12 billion to the Australian economy. So it's a very important part of our economic success story.

'And, Australian fashion designers are taking the world by storm.'

On Tuesday she visited the southern Adelaide seat of Boothby with Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint, who is facing a three-way contest against Labor and the Nick Xenophon team.

The 55-year-old divorced father of three left behind a successful Italian-wine producing vineyard in Victoria who relocated to Sydney's northern beaches to become a wealthy property investor.

Like the Foreign Minister, he is also a fitness fanatic who actually prefers swimming and surfing to running.

Ms Bishop had spent the entire day campaigning in Campbelltown, in Sydney's far west, for the upcoming Federal Election on behalf of candidate Russell Matheson before she stepped out to hit the glamorous awards event that night

The pair posed for photos in the Liberty Belle marquee at Portsea Polo in Melbourne in January, 2016

Ms Bishop divorced Perth property developer Neil Gillon in 1988, later dating former Lord Mayor of Perth Dr Peter Nattrass for at least 12 years before publicly stepping out with Mr Panton in November, 2014.

Mr Panton moved to the beachside Sydney suburb of Manly from the Melbourne suburb of Shoreham.

The couple travelled together to New York for the UN General Assembly late last year.

The minister and her partner were also recently seen at a New Year reception with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy.

It hasn't been all plain sailing however.

They were embroiled in controversy last October when claims surfaced of a flight on an empty VIP plane.

It was reported that the eight-seater Challenger jet was flown from Canberra to pick up the couple from a charity dinner in Perth, costing taxpayers at least $30,000.

The Minister responded that the fight back to the nation's capital for early morning meetings was within guidelines.

The Foreign Minister wowed in a chic and sophisticated black pant suit paired with a metallic grey jacket, silver earrings and clutch to match while her partner sported a traditional monochrome suit

Ms Bishop divorced Perth property developer Neil Gillon in 1988, later dating former Lord Mayor of Perth Dr Peter Nattrass for at least 12 years before publicly stepping out with Mr Panton (left) in November, 2014

The glamorous pair arrive for the Mid Winter Ball at Parliament House in Canberra in June, 2015

Talking to voters: On Tuesday she visited the southern Adelaide seat of Boothby with Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint, who is facing a three-way contest against Labor and the Nick Xenophon team

Bishop and Panton arrive at the launch of Collette Dinnigan : Unlaced, at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney in September, 2015

The couple travelled together to New York for the UN General Assembly late last year

Foreign Affairs Minister and her beau in the Birdcage on Melbourne Cup Day in Flemington in November, 2015

Bishop visited the Adelaide Central Markets while campaigning for the Federal Election and shares a conversation with local food celebrity and personality Poh Ling Yeow on Tuesday
Angus McCormack, 20, was told this outfit was 'inappropriate' by staff at his former school when attending an event last week

A former pupil of an elite private school has spoken out after arriving to an event it was holding at a Catholic church to be told his leather trousers and black blazer were 'inappropriate' by staff.

Angus McCormack, 20, claims he was told to leave a Foundation Day Service held by Girton Grammar School in Bendigo, Victoria, last week by teachers who disapproved of his outfit.

The former student, who describes himself as 'openly gay', had been looking forward to attending the service at Sacred Heart Cathedral three years after leaving the school where he was named school captain in his final year.

His father Christopher, a member of the board, had invited him to the event to celebrate the school's 133rd birthday and the pair were asked to wear suits.

They were due to sit in the front pew with other board members in front of 2,000 others.

Angus, who is studying fashion and design, arrived in black leather trousers, a shirt and bow tie and had 'toned down' his make-up.

Staff said the outfit did not meet requirements and he left, claiming to have been thrown out.

His father, who has since resigned from his position, has slammed the incident as 'inexplicable'.

'The question that hasn't been answered is what was so offensive or inappropriate about it?

'In my mind it fit the requirements they had provided,' Mr McCormack told Daily Mail Australia.

He explained how he had been excited to bring Angus as his guest to the service.

After informing the school that Angus would be joining him, they were both told to arrive in suits to follow the school's strict dress code.

Angus 'toned down' his make-up 'out of respect' for the school's request and believed his outfit was acceptable as a suit in 'non-commercial fabrics'.

The school admitted telling him it did not meet requirements at the event but denied ever asking him to leave, claiming he left of his own accord.

Rather than stay to fulfill his board-member duties, Mr McCormack left the event with his son.

'If he's not good enough for that event, neither am I. He was thinking it was because of his sexuality. How is it that somebody can be turned away in this day and age in our society because of what he chose to wear?' he said.

He has since resigned from his position on the board. 'I can't be a part of a group of people who can't see that this was a case of exclusivity,' he said, explaining the decision.

'Angus, as a student at the school, complied with their rules. He wore the uniform with pride.

'But he's not a student now. He's a 20-year-old adult who has learned to express himself and I'm very proud of that.'

Mr McCormack, whose other son is still studying at the school, said while there were 'fantastic' teachers there, it was 'disappointing' it appeared not to follow the very values of inclusion it promotes.

Girton Grammar School said while the incident was 'regrettable', it maintained Angus's outfit was 'inappropriate'.

'Angus was informed that his choice of attire was inappropriate for a guest of a member of the official party.

Angus, who is studying fashion and design at Melbourne's RMIT University, was 'distraught' by the treatment, his father said

Christopher McCormack (left) has resigned from his position on the school board. He said he was 'very proud' that his son (right) had learned to express himself through fashion

The 20-year-old was school captain in his final year at Girton Grammar. He is now studying fashion and design at RMIT University

'At no time, past or present, has Angus been discriminated against on grounds of sexuality in any way by Girton Grammar School.

'We are deeply saddened if Angus feels this way and welcome the opportunity to meet and talk this through with him,' a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

Dismissing his claim that he was told to leave the event, they added: 'Angus immediately made his own decision to leave the event.

He has learned to express himself and I'm very proud of that Christopher McCormack

'His quick departure left no opportunity for an alternative outcome to be achieved.'

The school would not clarify why his outfit was considered inappropriate, but said that as a former student, he should have known beforehand that the clothes were unsuitable for the event.

Girton Grammar School, which costs $13,108 a year, claims to encourage students to 'afford the greatest respect and decency to others'.

'They must take the gift of a first-rate education and use it to enact positive social change.

'Or, put another way, they must act for the good when the prevailing culture gives them every reason not to,' its website states.

A post on Angus's Facebook page describing the incident has been viewed more than 10,000 times, with social media users rushing to share their support of his style.

His father said he had been 'encouraged' by responses to his comments, thousands of which congratulated him for speaking out on the issue.

The 20-year-old claims he was told to leave the Foundation Day Service held at Sacred Heart Church in Bendigo, Melbourne (above) last Friday

Girton Grammar School (above) costs more than $13,000 a year. It said that while the incident was 'regrettable', it maintained Angus's outfit was 'inappropriate'

Writing the post on Thursday, Angus said: 'I am not only seeking fair treatment for myself, but I also want to fight for all those people out there who don't have a voice, who don't know who they are and who can't openly express themselves. It's 2016!

'I have attached a photo of my outfit from the evening below if you wish to make your own judgment on what you think is 'appropriate or inappropriate'.

'Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy lives to read this, it truly means a lot to me.'

Thousands of responses have been left beneath the photograph, the majority of which approved of his look.

'You looked fabulous in your suit, I can't see any inappropriateness and I'm in my sixties. What's wrong with those people?' said one user.
A 200,000-a-year NHS boss is facing calls to be sacked following a damning report into the treatment of a female employee who accused his hospital trust of 'fixing' death rates.

David Loughton, who runs The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, has spent more than 10million of taxpayers' money over the past two decades fighting whistleblowers.

Manager Sandra Haynes Kirkbright was suspended after raising concerns that his hospital trust had mis-recorded deaths, making it look like fewer patients had died needlessly.

David Loughton, who runs The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, has spent more than 10million of taxpayers' money over the past two decades fighting whistleblowers

In claims first made to the Daily Mail three years ago, the 52-year-old grandmother also said the trust had fraudulently made money by charging for treatments it had not performed. She was suspended and threatened with disciplinary action for speaking to the Mail.

Yesterday, an independent review into her case ordered by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned the trust's management for its 'significantly flawed' and 'unfair' treatment. In particular, it detailed the extraordinary behaviour of Mr Loughton, who was accused of making sure Mrs Haynes Kirkbright was 'out of the way' before a visit by hospital inspectors, telling staff to 'kick this into the long grass'.

Mr Loughton told the report's authors: 'No one cares. If I'm fiddling money and stuff like that, it wouldn't even get printed. Some people would probably give me a pat on the back and say: 'If you are fiddling to try and get more money for the hospital, good on you'.'

Yesterday, regulator the NHS Trust Development Authority ordered a full review into the management of Mr Loughton's hospital trust. But NHS whistleblowers called for him to be sacked or suspended.

Mr Loughton, 62, earns just over 210,000 per year as chief executive of Royal Wolverhampton. In 2013, the Mail revealed how Mrs Haynes Kirkbright faced ruin after being suspended by him. The hospital administrator blew the whistle after she was hired to oversee record keeping at the trust in 2011.

She said that when she arrived, others at the trust were 'breaking every rule in the book'. Deaths had mistakenly been recorded in a way that made it look like fewer people were dying needlessly.

She also accused bosses of 'fraud'  which they strenuously deny. She said the trust had been charging the local primary care trust for more expensive procedures or treatments than the ones they had actually provided. The grandmother was suspended on allegations of bullying. After she spoke to the Mail, she was sent a threatening letter by Royal Wolverhampton saying she had breached her contract and faced disciplinary action.

Mr Hunt subsequently intervened, demanding an investigation and that all action against Mrs Haynes Kirkbright be frozen.

The independent investigation was overseen by top lawyer Lucy Scott-Moncrieff. The report, published yesterday, detailed how Mr Loughton allegedly ordered the removal of Mrs Haynes Kirkbright from the trust after she made her claims because it was due to be inspected by watchdog Monitor.

Manager Sandra Haynes Kirkbright was suspended after raising concerns that his hospital trust had mis-recorded deaths, making it look like fewer patients had died needlessly

The report was particularly critical that allegations of fraud did not appear to have been investigated thoroughly. Mrs Haynes Kirkbright told the authors that after she used the word 'fraud' in an email, she was told 'you can never put anything like that in an email because the Press can get hold of it through the Freedom of Information Act'.

The report found the trust's whistleblowing policy 'is not up to date and does not appear fit for purpose'.

Mr Loughton has worked as an NHS chief executive for 27 years and was appointed CBE in 2010 for services to healthcare.

When he ran Coventry's Walsgrave Hospital for 17 years, it was named the worst in the country.

During this time, Mr Loughton suspended leading heart surgeon Dr Raj Mattu after he exposed that two patients had died in dangerously overcrowded bays.

Dr Mattu was wrongly accused of fraud, sexual impropriety and assault. He was cleared at a tribunal and in February was awarded 1.2million damages. Last year, Mr Loughton outed Professor David Ferry who had wished to remain anonymous while revealing 55 cancer patients were needlessly put through the agony of chemotherapy.

Mrs Haynes Kirkbright last night told the Mail: 'I want the allegations I whistleblew about to actually be investigated properly. And I want my reputation back.'

Dr Mattu said: 'It is time for Mr Loughton to be held to account and investigated fully. This man is not fit to hold senior public office.'

Professor Ferry said: 'Loughton represents a generation of dinosaurs in the NHS. Central to his modus operandi is persecution of whistleblowers.'
Bill Clinton's family charity foundation oversaw an unusual $2 million financial commitment to a private company whose ownership is stocked with close Clinton pals including 'family friend' Julie Tauber McMahon, a new bombshell report has revealed.

The financial commitment came at the 2010 conference of the Clinton Global Initiative, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a document from the time and people familiar with the matter.

The pledged cash commitment went to Energy Pioneer Solutions, a private company that insulates private homes and allows people to pay for costs on their energy bills.

In another boost for the firm, Clinton personally intervened with then Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, the paper reported. The feds gave the company an $812,000 grant, the Energy Department said on its web site.

McMahon, 56, has a a 29 percent stake in the company.

She lives, like the Clintons, in Chappaqua. She has denied being romantically involved with the former president.

She described herself to the Journal in the story posted Thursday afternoon as 'a family friend.'

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The Clinton Global Initiative oversaw a grant to a private company doing energy projects owned by several people who are close to Bill Clinton

Julie Tauber McMahon is a 29 percent owner, and calls herself a Clinton 'family friend'

Other owners are also have close Clinton ties.

'President Clinton counts many CGI participants as friends,' his spokesman, Angel Urena, told DailyMail.com.

The commitment came as part of CGI's annual meeting and gab-fest, where honchos in government and industry commit to various projects meant to improve causes ranging from good governance to the environment. It differs from a flat-out contribution from the charity, which links donors to causes and investments.

Canadian philanthropist Kim Samuel made the $2 million commitment, although her spokesman told the paper at the end of the day she kicked in just $500,000.

Craig Minassian, a Clinton Foundation spokesman, said there was nothing improper about people who know President Clinton making such commitments.

'If president Clinton knows people can they not make a CGI commitment? He's not telling them what to do. There are 3,400 of these things,' he told DailyMail.com, using a figure from the 2010 conference.

He added: 'A CGI member makes a commitment either to partner with other people or to invest. That is not a foundation commitment. The whole idea of CGI is a marketplace. We put forward hundreds of commitments a year.'

Bundle up: the U.S. Energy Department gave the firm a grant

Energizer: Energy Pioneer Solutions hailed the grant as a way to help families cut utility costs

Among the other owners of the company is Scott Kleeb, a Democrat who ran for Congress in Nebraska. Kleeb hailed the federal grant after it was awarded, saying it would allow the company to audit and retrofit 250 homes as part of an energy-saving weatherization program.

He said it would help families in Hastings, Nebraska to retrofit, 'saving the city energy while decreasing families' utility costs.' He isn't thought to be particularly close to Clinton.

A third owner is Jane Eckert, an art gallery owner in Pine Plains, New York.

Minority owners include longtime treasurer to the Democratic National Committee Andrew Tobias and Mark Weiner, who has a company that makes souvenir equipment for political campaigns. Both have been Clinton Foundation donors.

The National Enquirer published McMahon's identity in 2014, and claimed she and Clinton had had 'year's worth' of trysts, citing an anonymous family member. It noted that she has denied having a sexual relationship with Clinton, although it quoted a 'family member' who claimed the rumors were true.

'It became a running joke in the family,' the tabloid reported, citing an insider from a 2011 interview. 'If Clinton traveled to London, we'd learn Julie was also visiting London. When Clinton went to France, we'd discover Julie was also in France.'

Ronald Kessler had alleged in his book, 'The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents,' that Clinton was carrying on with a 'buxom blonde mistress' who Secret Service agents dubbed the 'Energizer,' without identifying her.

McMahon didn't immediately return a call from DailyMail.com seeking comment Thursday.

The Clinton Global Initiative says the commitment was made available on CGI's web site and can be viewed on Youtube footage of the 2010 event.

In it together: Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton all have had roles in the Clinton foundation, and in Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign

The Journal reported that the commitment was taken down later. 'The reason was to avoid calling attention to Mr. Clintons friendship with one company co-owner, Ms. McMahon, and to protect the integrity of Mr. Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative, according to people familiar with the matter,' the paper wrote, without further explanation.

The Clinton Foundation provided a detailed response to the Journal story.

'President Clinton has established many friendships and professional connections throughout his career in public service. It is not surprising that many of the same people who have worked with him to make a difference and improve the world would continue their work through CGI. President Clinton is not involved in this company,' according to the response. 'No CGI or Clinton Foundation funding goes into commitments.'
Two hundred foreign fighters a year will be able to join Britain's Armed Forces in a desperate bid to make up for 'perilous' manpower shortages.

Defence officials have relaxed the rules for Commonwealth recruits wanting to serve as part of the Army, Navy and RAF as new figures show a drastic drop in numbers.

Under current rules they can only join the military if they had lived in the UK for five years.

Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt has waived the residency requirements to allow 200 Commonwealth citizens to fill roles in regular forces every year

Defence Minister Penny Mordaunt has waived the residency requirements to allow 200 Commonwealth citizens to fill roles in regular forces every year.

They will fill the gap in troops with specialist skills, such as engineering.

The u-turn comes as staggering statistics published yesterday revealed there had been a drop in the regular armed forces of 3,680 troops since April last year.

In a written statement today, Miss Mordaunt said there was a 'long tradition' of soldiers from Commonwealth nations serving in the British military.

She said: 'We continue to value their service which provides an important contribution in defending the UK at home and abroad.

'The current Commonwealth recruitment rules which require five years UK residency have therefore been reviewed, and the residency requirements will be waived to allow for 200 Commonwealth citizens per annum to be recruited to fill a limited number of roles in the Regular Armed Forces which require specialist skills.'

She said the decision had been made in consultation with the Home Office and would be subjected to regular review.

She said this would not apply to those who wanted to join the reserves  unless in exceptional circumstances.

Last night Sir Michael Graydon, former head of the RAF, said: 'It suggests recruiting is not going as well as they hoped at the moment.'

Defence officials have relaxed the rules for Commonwealth recruits wanting to serve as part of the Army, Navy and RAF as new figures show a drastic drop in numbers

Baroness Judith Jolly said: 'We fully support the long tradition of Commonwealth citizens serving in the British Armed Forces, but if we are relying on foreign recruits to meet shortfalls at home that is of serious concern.

The Lib Dem defence spokesperson added: 'The Ministry of Defence needs to clarify which specialist positions are part of these 200 new recruits per year, offer an explanation as to why we are failing to recruit from within the UK, and explain what their long term plan is to upskill our own workforce to fill these positions in the future.'

Former military top brass have warned how the Navy, Army and RAF had been hit with massive manpower shortages after devastating cuts to Britain's Armed Forces.

Defence chiefs have even asked countries across the world to loan Britain troops in a desperate bid to make up the numbers.

The embarrassing scramble to re-recruit servicemen to man the UK's warplanes and new aircraft carriers comes after the Government heavily slashed the forces during its last defence review in 2010.

A shortage in personnel has resulted in both the RAF and Royal Navy looking to recruit foreign fighters in order to fill a gap in manpower.

In 2013, soldiers from Commonwealth countries were banned from joining the Armed Forces unless they had lived here for five years.
A third of Australian women feel unsafe in public spaces after dark, with a quarter believing it is dangerous to travel on public transport alone.

A report called A Right To The Night commissioned by Plan International Australia and Our Watch found 30 per cent of young Australian women aged 15-19 avoided public places after dark.

Out of the 600 young women questioned in the report, about 23 per cent believed it was unsafe to travel alone on public transport.

A report called A Right To The Night commissioned by Plan International Australia and Our Watch found 30 per cent of young Australian women aged 15-19 avoided public places after dark

While survey respondents believed sexual harassment is never justified, 17 per cent believe girls' clothing choices make them at least partly responsible for harassment.

'That really resonated with me that girls felt the need to modify their clothing just to feel safe going out at night,' Plan International Australia Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Susanne Legena told Daily Mail Australia.

'This is Australia in 2016 and when a girl is attacked people ask, 'Why was she out after dark? What was she wearing? Was she drinking? The victim blaming culture is really not okay and needs to change.'

After seeing the findings, Mary Barry, the CEO of Our Watch told Daily Mail Australia what she thought needed to change in Australia's society and culture

'Women and girls should not have to modify their behaviour to avoid being targets of harassment and abuse. Perpetrators must learn that aggressive and disrespectful behaviour and harassment against women is unacceptable.

'To stop this from happening in the first place we need to focus on addressing the drivers of gender-based violence through promoting positive, equal and respectful relationships.'

A third of Australian women feel unsafe in public spaces after dark, with a quarter believing it's dangerous to travel on public transport alone

Data showed that 17 per cent of survey respondents believed girls' clothing choices make them at least partly responsible for harassment (stock image)

Ms Barry added that media, law enforcement and community leaders need to be educated on the importance of avoiding victim-blaming when reporting incidents of violence against women in public and private spaces.

'It also comprises working with schools on whole-school respectful relationships education, including online bullying, harassment and the impact of pornography. This is because schools play an important and critical role in the safety and well-being of students; naturally this also extends outside the classroom and school grounds into the wider community.

The report also suggests city planners take women's safety concerns more into account with improved lighting at night and a higher priority placed on personal security on public transport.

According to Ms Barry, the media, law enforcement and community leaders need to be educated on the importance of avoiding victim-blaming when reporting incidents of violence against women (stock image)

'A Right to the Night' suggests city planners take women's safety concerns more into account with improved lighting at night and a higher priority placed on personal security on public transport (stock image)

'There's this in-built kind of fear that you all acknowledge that you shouldn't go out at night if you're a girl,' Kea Tokley-Higgs,18, told the ABC.

Lana Rice, 18, agreed, adding that women have the right to feel safe out in public after dark.

'Women are as much a part of the society as men are, so we should have every right to the public space.'

Grady-Mae Dixon, also 18, believes victim blaming is firmly entrenched in Australian culture.
A Navy mission aimed at stopping the flow of migrants to Europe is not just failing  it is actually helping people smugglers, a damning report will say today.

The 9.3million European Union mission to tackle people smuggling operations had not had any meaningful impact, a cross-party group of peers found.

Instead, it had become a search and rescue mission and a magnet to migrants, easing the task of the gangs.

A report into the 9.3million plan by EU found search and rescue policy had not had any meaningful impact'

Just some 50 smugglers have been arrested since the mission codenamed Operation Sophia began last June, despite six EU ships patrolling the waters at any one time, including one British vessel.

The arrests were of low-level targets, and not the key figures within the smuggling networks, because it was mainly migrants on the boats being intercepted.

Figures showed 80 smuggling vessels were destroyed  but this resulted in the smugglers simply changing tactics, it was said in the European Union Committee report.

They instead shifted from wooden boats, to bulk buying dinghies from China, which can easily deflate and are much less safe.

The report on one of the key EU plans to tackle the crisis will be a blow to the Government after David Cameron promised to smash the gangs last year.

The inquiry heard that some 9,000 people had been rescued by the EU vessels since the mission was launched.

By operating beyond European coastal waters, the mission was assisting the job of smugglers, who now only need their boats to reach the high seas, rather than EU waters, it was noted in the report.

Of the 9,000 figure it is understood Royal Navy ships rescued 7,767 of the people  with nearly 5,000 rescued by HMS Bulwark during its 60 day deployment alone.

Committee Chairman, Lord Tugendhat, said: A naval mission cannot disrupt the business model of people smuggling, and in this sense it is failing.

In fact, it was now acting as a magnet for smugglers and migrants trying to make it to Europe

The smuggling networks operate from Libya, and they extend through Africa.

Without support from a stable Libyan Government, the operation is unable to gather the intelligence it needs or tackle the smugglers onshore.

The report by the Lord EU External Affairs Sub-Committee commended the success of rescuing so many migrants.

But said claims that the search and rescue operation would act as a magnet to migrants and ease the task of smugglers, who would only need their vessels to reach the high seas had some validity.

Migrants setting off in the boats are calling for help once they leave Libyan waters and EU ships have to rescue them under their international obligations.

The mission does not... in any meaningful way deter the flow of migrants, disrupt the smugglers networks, or impede the business of people smuggling on the central Mediterranean route.

The report found that significant gaps remain in Operation Sophias understanding of the smugglers networks, in particular how they operate on Libyan territory.

The report concluded that a mission acting only on the high seas was not able to disrupt effectively the smuggling networks, as it set out to do.

The report said: The mission does not... in any meaningful way deter the flow of migrants, disrupt the smugglers networks, or impede the business of people smuggling on the central Mediterranean route.

The arrests that Operation Sophia has made to date have been of low-level targets, while the destruction of vessels has simply caused the smugglers to shift from using wooden boats to rubber dinghies, which are even more unsafe.

There are also significant limits to the intelligence that can be collected about onshore smuggling networks from the high seas.

It added: There is therefore little prospect of Operation Sophia overturning the business model of people smuggling.

It said the weakness of the Libyan state had been a key factor underlying the exceptional rate of irregular migration on the central Mediterranean route in recent years.

Just some 50 smugglers have been arrested since the mission codenamed Operation Sophia began last June, despite six EU ships patrolling the waters at any one time, including one British vessel

Lord Tugendhat, added: The EU naval mission in the central Mediterranean, Operation Sophia, patrols an area thats around six times larger than Italy and this was always going to present an enormous challenge.

He said its aim was to disrupt the business model of the smugglers, through intelligence gathering and intercepting and destroying vessels used by smugglers.

He added: While there are plans for further phases of the mission which would see Operation Sophia acting in Libyan territorial waters and onshore, we are not confident that the new Libyan Government of National Accord will be in a position to work closely with the EU and its Member States any time soon.

He said the destruction of the vessels had so far been insignificant to the scale of the smuggling industry, and we have heard that the smugglers are simply changing their tactics in response.

He added: By the time the boats are in the open sea, the smugglers are no longer on board, and so only low level targets have been arrested.

The report said that the EU should urgently put in place a strategy which can tackle the root causes of mass irregular migration.
Peta Credlin has slammed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and labelled him 'Mr Harbourside Mansion' after he cancelled a street walk in western Sydney on Wednesday.

The former chief of staff to ex-prime minister Tony Abbott accused Mr Turnbull of being elitist and said cancelling the walk through a shopping precinct 'sent a bad message to voters', reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

'I was surprised that they were flat-footed,' said Ms Credlin of Mr Turnbull's campaign team.

Former chief of staff to former prime minister Tony Abbott appeared on Sky News labelling Mr Turnbull as elitist and referring to him as 'Mr Harbour-side Mansion'

Ms Credlin criticised Mr Turnbull's campaign team and said by cancelling the walk in western Sydney he 'sent a bad message to voters'

'If it's known that you were going to do a street walk in Penrith, the last thing you want to do, 'Mr Harbour-side Mansion', is look like you don't know and you're not welcome in western Sydney.'

Mr Turnbull was in Penrith on Wednesday with Lindsay member Fiona Scott at a community event for business owners and mothers at a local gallery.

He was due to walk through a local shopping precinct but the appearance was cancelled after journalists reportedly questioned Ms Scott on whether she had changed her support from Mr Abbott to Mr Turnbull in the September 14 leadership ballot.

Ms Scott refused to answer the question.

Ms Credlin said Mr Turnbull's campaign team should have known the questions on the leadership were coming and said they should have either not gone to the Lindsay electorate, or stuck to their planned schedule.

Member for Lindsay Fiona Scott (left) and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull (right) pictured at an appearance in western Sydney on Wednesday

'I would've thought, particularly with the prime minister there, that they might have been a bit more agile, a bit more nimble ... if she's not pump-primed and ready to go with an answer they should have just moved that visit because that's the key of a campaign team, she said.

Mr Turnbull was confronted by a single mother, Melinda, while he was campaigning in Moorabbin in Melbourne's south east on Thursday about family tax benefits being removed.

Commenting on the confrontation, Ms Credlin said getting a hostile reaction from a voter was inevitable at some point and it was how the leader responded that mattered the most.

Mr Turnbull was scheduled to walk through a shopping precinct in western Sydney on Wednesday after meeting with business owners at a local gallery but cancelled the appearance

Mr Turnbull pictured exiting the gate to his house overlooking the harbour in Point Piper in Sydney's eastern suburbs
A teenager has been rushed to hospital after falling from a third-floor balcony and impaling herself on a fence in the early hours of Friday morning.

The woman, aged in her late teens, plunged from the balcony of an apartment in the RMIT Village student accommodation on Flemington Street in North Melbourne about 5am and landed on a wrought iron fence below.

A piece of the fence pierced her abdomen and snapped off inside her, an ambulance spokesperson said.

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The teenager fell from the balcony of an RMIT University student accommodation building on Flemington Street in North Melbourne and landed on the wrought iron fence below

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said officers were called to the scene at 4.55am on Friday morning

The girl, pictured, was rushed to Royal Melbourne Hospital with the piece of fence still inside her and injuries to her pelvis, legs and hip

The Ambulance Victoria spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the teenager was rushed to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition.

She still had a piece of the fence still inside her and has injuries to her pelvis, legs and hip.

A Royal Melbourne Hospital spokesperson said the teenager was currently in a serious but stable condition.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor and president Martin Bean said in a statement that the university contacted the student's family as soon as they were aware of the incident.

'As a father of young daughters myself, I feel deeply for the student and her family and wish her a full and speedy recovery,' Mr Bean said.

Counselling has been offered to other students living in the village, and to other students and staff.

Mr Bean said RMIT is assisting emergency services with their investigation into the accident.

A Royal Melbourne Hospital spokesperson said the teenager was currently in a serious but stable condition

RMIT Vice chancellor and president Martin Bean said the girl's family have been informed of the incident

Mr Bean said RMIT is assisting emergency services with their investigation into the accident which took place at the student house (pictured)
Tony the Tiger and other cartoon mascots could disappear from promotions under new junk food advertising rules.

Firms may be banned from putting posters for sugary food and drinks near schools in a bid to tackle childhood obesity.

Using celebrities in junk food adverts, such as Gary Lineker for Walkers Crisps, could also be curbed. And under the proposals, food firms may no longer be allowed to use cartoon characters including the Honey Monster and Tony the Tiger  who has appeared with his Theyre Grrreat! catchphrase on Kelloggs Frosties cereal since 1951.

Tony the Tiger  who has appeared with his Theyre Grrreat! catchphrase on Kelloggs Frosties cereal since 1951 - could be banned under restrictions put out for consultation by the advertising regulator

Advertising regulator the Committee on Advertising Practice (CAP) is today announcing a consultation on non-broadcast advertising, which covers posters, cinema and online adverts but not TV. There is already a ban on featuring these cartoon characters in TV commercials broadcast around programmes popular with children.

The regulator has no powers to ban their use on packaging. But the CAP is under pressure from health campaigners and the Government to toughen controls on marketing junk food to children as obesity rates rise.

The CAP said they also need to ensure the rules reflect changing media habits among young people.

Restrictions are already in place on putting posters promoting alcohol or using sexual imagery near schools, but this could be extended to fast food, confectionary and drinks firms, such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola. Advertising these products could also be blocked in cinemas showing films expected to have a large child audience. Tie-ups between superhero films and products high in fat, salt and sugar are also under scrutiny.

Another option is to encourage companies to use cartoon characters to promote healthy food and drinks.

The CAP said evidence shows advertising has a modest effect on childrens eating habits and that parental influence, physical exercise and education play a greater role in fighting obesity. But it believes even a small impact from new restrictions could make a meaningful contribution to tackling this important health issue.

Banning Tony and celebrities like Gary Lineker from advertising junk food is one way of curbing the childhood obesity, campaigners believe

A third of children are overweight or obese and are more likely to be obese as adults, putting them at a higher risk of illness and early death.

The British Heart Foundation said the review was long overdue, adding: The current rules are weak, vague and inconsistent and do not protect children from aggressive marketing of unhealthy products. Malcolm Clark, of the Childrens Food Campaign, said there should be limits on using celebrities and cartoons because children identify with them and are more likely to follow their lead.
Campaigns for the office of governor of North Dakota have brought in more than $1.5 million in campaign contributions, according to finance reports.

Candidates for North Dakota offices had until end of business Friday to file pre-primary campaign finance reports.

Wayne Stenehjem, the state attorney general, is the Republican Partys endorsed candidate for governor. Doug Burgum, of Fargo, and Paul Sorum, of Bismarck, are challenging him in the June 14 GOP primary.

Stenehjems and Burgums campaign finance reports show very different types of donations made to their campaigns.

Stenehjem has received about a fifth of his campaign contributions from political action committees, while Burgum has received no money from such organizations. Burgum has received more than 60 percent of his contributions from out-of-state donors, compared with less than 10 percent for Stenehjem.

Stenehjem has reported $539,896 in contributions, according to a pre-primary report filed Friday and a 48-hour statement. Most of that  $513,733  came from donors contributing more than $200 each. Stenehjem got a big boost from political action committees, which gave him $111,700. He received $53,700 from out-of-state donors and organizations.

Stenehjems largest donation was $20,000 from CoalPac, the political action committee of the National Mining Association.

Stenehjems pre-primary filing showed he had $368,780 in cash on hand.

Burgums pre-primary report, filed Wednesdsay, and several subsequent 48-hour reports show he has brought in $966,534. Of that, $933,332 has come from donors contributing more than $200. None of Burgums contributions have come from political action committees, and $624,272 came from out-of-state donors. Burgums campaign said 76 percent of the individual donors are from North Dakota.

Burgums largest donors reflect his business background. Robert Kagle, founder and general manager of Benchmark, and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, each gave $100,000.

Burgum joined Great Plains Software in 1983. The company grew with his serving as chairman and chief executive officer, and it sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum served as a senior vice president of Microsoft until 2007. In 2006, he founded the Kilbourne Group which works to redevelop downtown Fargo.

Burgums pre-primary filing showed he had $175,475.51 in cash on hand.

Sorum filed his pre-primary report on Friday. It showed he had $64.52 on hand and had received $100 in contributions.

Marvin Nelson, the North Dakota Dem-NPL candidate, on Thursday reported receiving contributions totaling $5,259 from contributors giving less than $200 each, and $11,150 from those giving more than $200 each. All of his contributors were North Dakotans. He had $9,299.59 on hand as of May 12.

Libertarian candidate Marty Riske on May 9 reported receiving $100 in contributions and having $100 on hand.
Model Samantha Harris has travelled interstate for a modelling job just one day after her fiance Luke Hunt was released from jail.

The pair were spotted at Sydney Airport on Thursday before she departed for Queensland.

But a representative for the model told Daily Mail Australia Hunt did not go with her as he is restricted to leave the state under his parole conditions.

The 25-year-old supermodel, who has been keeping herself out of the spotlight, previously spoke of her devastation following the fatal crash that claimed the life of grandfather Kenneth Lay, 78.

The couple were reunited on Wednesday when Hunt was picked up from St Heliers Correctional Centre in Muswellbrook of NSW after serving two years behind bars.

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Model Samantha Harris has travelled interstate for a modelling job just one day after her fiance Luke Hunt was released from jail

The pair, joined by Hunt's mother (far right) were reunited on Wednesday after he was picked up from prison

The couple were pictured on Wednesday morning getting into a car after meeting him outside of prison

But the granddaughter of Mr Lay who died after his vehicle collided with Hunt's car in 2012, has spoken of her anguish over the lenient sentence given to the 30-year-old.

'He got off lightly, he could do it again, he's not going to take it very seriously if he can get out of it,' Jess Freudenstein told The Daily Telegraph.

She said her mother had been distraught over the lack of remorse shown by Hunt, who was speeding at 95km/h in a 60km/h zone when he hit her grandfather's car.

'He was a family man, a loving father and grandfather,' Ms Freudenstein said.

He served two years of his four year sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death over the horrific car crash.

Hunt and Ms Harris 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.

Mr Lay died in hospital after the car Hunt and Ms Harris (pictured) were travelling in collided with his vehicle

The couple were on the way to the gym in Sydney's northern suburbs when they were involved in the car crash

On Wednesday morning, Hunt was met with his fiance and mother outside of prison before they stopped off during the drive back to Sydney.

The trio were seen strolling through the autumn sunshine and 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.
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale (pictured) launched a White Paper that secured the corporations future for the next 11 years

The death knell was sounded for the licence fee yesterday as sweeping changes to the BBC were announced.

Batting off hysterical speculation, Culture Secretary John Whittingdale launched a White Paper that secured the corporations future for the next 11 years.

Marking a step towards subscription funding, viewers will now have to pay for some content and there will be a trial of new top-up services to existing programmes.

But Mr Whittingdale faced immediate allegations from long-term critics of the BBC that his much-vaunted reforms were a ducked opportunity.

David Elstein, a former Channel 5 and BSkyB executive who is now chairman of Open Democracy, said the White Paper felt like a big victory for the BBC because it largely maintained the status quo.

He said: It feels like they got everything they might have wanted. I cant see why people were so anxious about it.

Lord Grade, the former ITV and BBC chairman, said there would be disappointment in the private sector that the BBC hadnt been reduced in scope and size.

The Culture Secretary also came under fire from BBC bosses and stars over plans for ministers to appoint six out of 14 members of a new governing board to replace the discredited BBC Trust. BBC director general Lord Hall said the balance of appointments could threaten the corporations independence. The moves outlined yesterday include:

The licence fee rising by inflation to around 160.50  up 15  by 2021.

A demand for more distinctive content instead of ratings chasing, especially on BBC1, and Radio 1 and 2.

Major cuts to bloated BBC staffing numbers including excessive management jobs.

Pay restraint for talent and the publication of salary details of those earning more than 450,000.

Access to iPlayer for licence fee payers on holiday in Europe and charges for foreigners to access BBC content. Accessing iPlayer without a licence will be criminalised.

Diversity quotas including half of all lead roles for women, 15 per cent ethnic minority, and a gender balanced management by 2020.

Ofcom becoming the corporations first external regulator with the power to issue fines and The National Audit Office given full access to the BBCs books for the first time.

Mr Whittingdale dismissed many of his critics as Left-wing luvvies who had based their complaints on ill-founded, hysterical speculation. He said the changes would make the BBC stronger, more independent, and more distinctive while ensuring it is also more transparent and accountable to the public.

At the heart of the proposals is a demand that the BBC becomes more distinctive and produce innovative, ambitious, inspirational and bold shows.

TV bosses come under fire for continuing to broadcast long-running daytime shows such as Homes Under the Hammer, now in its 20th series, and Bargain Hunt, now in its 43rd.

The creation of subscription content marks a watershed moment for the BBC. It is likely to involve, initially, paid-for access to the BBCs vast archive.

Although a first, tentative step towards subscription funding, the document explicitly states that subscription marks a move towards a more sustainable funding model in the longer term.

It adds: Changes in the viewing habits of audiences and the proliferation of devices, platforms and services mean that it is increasingly difficult for the licence fee to remain fit-for-purpose in the modern media age.

The BBC board, and regulation by Ofcom, will replace the BBC Trust which was savaged over its handling of payoffs to managers and a series of scandals.

But Lord Hall said it was vital to preserve the BBCs independence and called for the chairman and deputy chairman to be selected via an independent public appointments process.

Asked on the BBCs Six OClock News last night if the corporation had escaped tougher measures in the reforms, Lord Hall denied the BBC had got away with it.

Ofcom will have wide powers to investigate any aspect of BBC services, and will deal with any complaints not resolved by the BBC itself. It will also monitor accuracy and impartiality and will be able to issue fines or stop the BBC making changes it opposes.

The powerful National Audit Office will scrutinise how licence fee payers money is spent.

Jonathan Isaby, of the TaxPayers Alliance, said: It is regrettable that the Government has ducked the opportunity for substantial reform of the regressive and arcane TV licence fee.

He called the charge a throwback , saying the time had come for a fairer funding model fit for the 21st century. Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins accused ministers of trying to turn the BBC into its own private megaphone.

NOW WATCH THE iPLAYER ABROAD Licence fee payers will be able to access the BBCs iPlayer service when they are on holiday, under plans announced yesterday. Currently they are barred from watching BBC content abroad. But ministers want British viewers who are travelling to be able to use a portable login. They also want the BBC to start selling access to iPlayer to foreign viewers overseas, amid concerns that tens of millions of people are simply using straightforward hacks to access the service for free. The loophole which means anyone in the UK can watch catch-up TV on iPlayer without paying the licence fee is also going to close, making anyone accessing the programmes online subject to the same rules as traditional television viewers.

MAKE BRITISH MUSIC THE NO1 Radio 1 and 2 have been told to be more distinctive than their commercial rivals  with a mix of genres and more British music. The warning comes after Radio 1 was found to have played one song, Cake By the Ocean by American band DNCE, 100 times over 30 days. The White Paper said that much of the talk time on Radio 1 during peak hours was similar to that found on commercial stations, and called for more ambition to enrich the market and maximise the public value offered. A survey found that more than 40 per cent of Radio 1 listeners under 25 said output was quite similar to pop stations like Capital and Absolute, with nearly one in three saying the same about Radio 2. The report also said that public service requirements are being pushed to the margins of the schedule, with Radio 1 documentaries often aired late in the evening.

She wrote on Twitter: Id happily hog-tie and paddle Mr Whittingdale for what he has done - only I suspect hed rather enjoy it. Former BBC Trust boss Michael Lyons even claimed the BBC had lost impartiality as a result of the review and journalists had carried out some quite extraordinary attacks on Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to Charter review.

But Thick of It writer Armando Iannucci praised the proposals: No cuts to BBC budget, no interference in schedules, and majority on Board not appointed by government. This is good to hear.

BBC sources rejected the suggestion shows lacked distinctiveness and pointed out making original programming was difficult with constrained budgets.

Top Gear host Chris Evans: Stars are paid too much money

Shortly before it emerged that top presenters pay will be revealed, Chris Evans admitted that he and his fellow stars earn too much money.

The new Top Gear host and Radio 2 presenter is reported to be paid 2million a year by the corporation, but claimed he thought the BBC should pay him less.

BBC stars who earn more than 450,000 will have details of their wages made public, it was announced yesterday.

One of the highest earners: Newsreader Fiona Bruce (pictured left). Chris Evans (right) admitted that he and his fellow stars earn too much money

And when asked about the issue of taxpayer-funded salaries yesterday morning, Evans said: People who do what I do for a living compared to people in the real world get paid too much money.

He added: Weve got jobs that people would pay to do  if they could afford it  and sometimes those things arent even available to buy.

Most of us work part-time anyway, so just pay us less.

Yesterday Mr Whittingdale announced that the BBC must publish the salaries of all its talent paid over 450,000  the salary of Director-General Lord Hall.

It is thought that nine stars, including 34-year-old Evans, are currently paid more than this figure, with Eurovision host Graham Norton, Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker and news anchor Fiona Bruce all thought to qualify.

Chat show: It is thought Eurovision host Graham Norton (pictured left), Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker (right) and news anchor Fiona Bruce all get paid over 450,000

In recent weeks it had been suggested that the public would soon learn the salaries of anyone earning more than 150,000  which would include around 100 stars.

However, the white paper stated that the new Charter will only require the BBC to go further regarding the transparency of what it pays its talent and publish the names of all of its employees and its freelancers who earn above 450,000 in broad bands agreed with the BBC.

The BBC currently publishes the pay of all of its senior management staff who are earning more than 150,000, as part of an attempt to increase transparency over salaries.

The wage bill for BBC television presenters earning more than 1million went up by 22 per cent in 2014, while spending and staff numbers both rose despite years of cost-cutting at the corporation.

LONG-RUNNING DAYTIME TV SHOWS FACE BEING DUMPED Fans of daytime television shows such as Homes Under the Hammer should savour forthcoming episodes, as they could soon be axed. Yesterdays White Paper recommends that the static daytime TV schedule is shaken up, with long-running shows replaced by fresh content. It said: There is evidence that BBC 1 could have greater levels of creative ambition in its programming. Going, going, gone? The hosts of Homes Under the Hammer Martin Roberts, Lucy Alexander and Dion Dublin It then appeared to sound the death knell of some shows in particular, when highlighting how long some series had been running, namely: Homes Under the Hammer in its 20th series, Bargain Hunt in its 43rd series, and Escape to the Country in its 16th series. This echoes a report by the BBC Trust in 2014, which found that nearly two-thirds of the pre-watershed weekday schedule is composed of a small number of long-established programmes. A review last year suggested the BBC could deliver more arts, religion, current affairs and childrens programming in daytime slots.

Discredited BBC Trust axed to make way for new governing board

By Laura Lambert for the Daily Mail

The new BBC board will be fully responsible for governing the Corporation and the delivery of its services.

MORE WOMEN, GAYS AND ETHNIC MINORITIES Women will make up half of the BBCs on-air roles and half its workforce by 2020. The Government yesterday backed the BBCs diversity strategy, which includes targets for on-screen ethnic minority, gay and disabled actors. Diversity will be part of the corporations mission statement for the first time, in a bid to make the BBC the leading broadcaster promoting diversity. The BBC published its strategy last month. And Mr Whittingdale showed his support for this in his White paper, saying the BBC should accurately and authentically represent and portray the lives of people across the UK while raising awareness of the different cultures and the alternative viewpoints that make up its society. The new targets mean that 15 per cent of lead roles on television and radio will go to minority actors by 2020. They include a target for 8 per cent of staff to be disabled and 10 per cent to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. The BBC will issue guidelines to commissioning editors to ensure that diversity is a priority in the creative process and recruitment practices are set to be changed to enhance diversity, for example by monitoring the socio-economic background of BBC staff. Managers and recruiters are also to receive special training to reduce bias in the hiring process.

It replaces the widely-criticised BBC Trust, established in 2007 with the remit of controlling and regulating the corporation, and the BBC Executive.

Culture Secretary John Whittingdale yesterday said the old system, where responsibilities were split between the two, was confusing and ineffective  leading to problems including excessive severance payments.

He added that the BBC would no long self-regulate, appointing media watchdog Ofcom as its external independent regulator.

The new board is intended to enhance independence of the BBC and help it fulfil its reviewed mission statement, namely: To act in the public interest, serving all audiences with impartial, high-quality and distinctive media content and services that inform, educate and entertain.

It will be the first time the Corporation is able to appoint the majority of members to its board  consisting of 12 to 14 members  as appointments to the BBC Trust were recommended by Government ministers.

The Government will appoint six members to the board, including BBC Trust chairman Rona Fairhead, who will remain in her role until 2018.

She will be joined by a deputy chairman and four non-executive directors  one to represent each of the home nations.

The BBC will then decide how many non-executive and executive directors it appoints to make up the remainder.
Arson detectives are investigating a suspicious fire at the 130-year-old Premier Hotel in Western Australia.

The hotel on York Street in Albany caught fire just after 12.40am, shortly after closing time, causing extensive damage to the building, located 418 kilometres south-east of Perth.

Police and firefighters were called five minutes later to the building, where it took about four hours to bring the fire under control.

The 130-year-old Premier Hotel caught fire just after 12.40am on Friday in Albany, 418kms south-east of Perth

Four people who were in the hotel at the time were evacuated.

The hotel manager was taken to Albany Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A dark grey mini-van with two men was seen in the area around the time of the incident, and police would like to speak with them.

Police would like to speak to anyone who was in the area from midnight to 1am who may have seen any suspicious people or vehicles.

Albany detectives, with the assistance of the Arson Squad, are investigating the cause of the fire.

A dark grey mini-van with two male occupants was seen in the area around the time of the incident, and police would like to speak with them
As a blockbuster feature film, it had everything  beautiful women, heroic men, high drama on the high seas and scheming Nazis. Only the Nazis in this particular picture were behind the camera.

Sadly for them, however, their grandiose attempt to humiliate wartime Britain over our worst maritime tragedy turned into one of the most epic cinematic disasters of all time.

In summer 1940, as Hitler visited occupied Paris and considered how to deal with Britain, German screenwriter Harald Bratt went to see Joseph Goebbels in his Berlin office. He had a script for a film that immediately appealed to the Nazi propaganda chief.

Desperate panic: A scene from the Nazi Titanic, the Nazis' most ambitious - and unsuccessful - film venture

Not only could it establish Goebbelss dream  and that of his fellow film buff, Adolf Hitler  of establishing Nazi Germany as a rival to Hollywood, but it could also deliver a devastating blow to Britains reputation.

The subject of Bratts screenplay was the first and last voyage of the Titanic, the 1912 disaster in which the liner sank in three hours, with the loss of 1,500 passengers and crew, after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic.

Bratt, Goebbels and, ultimately, Hitler saw in the story not just a terrible human tragedy, but, with a little tweaking of the facts, a damning indictment of British greed, stupidity and cowardice.

The fate of the hugely expensive film, so blighted by adversity that its director ended up being hanged in a Gestapo prison cell, is the subject of a new book, The Nazi Titanic.

Robert P. Watson, the American author, details the tragicomic catastrophe of the Nazis most ambitious film venture and the terrible fate of the cruise liner that stood in for the Titanic. Packed with 5,000 concentration camp prisoners, it was bombed by the RAF just days before Germany surrendered.

Hitler and Goebbels not only adored feature films (Goebbelss favourite was Gone With The Wind, Hitler loved The Charge of the Light Brigade), but saw them as a crucial propaganda tool in winning over Germans and the populations of occupied countries.

Big screen dreaming: Goebbles wanted Nazi Germany to challenge Hollywood filmmaking

Goebbels, who dreamt of establishing a Hollywood on the Rhine, had discovered with his virulently anti-Jewish films that fictional dramas could be more effective propaganda tools than documentaries.

Desperate to produce a film that would impress Hitler and establish himself as one of the worlds great producers, Goebbels assigned the film a budget of four million Reichsmarks  the equivalent of 120 million today. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ever made.

While, most of Germanys best directors  who were mainly Jewish  had fled the country, Goebbels was still able to find a talented and ambitious professional to take the helm of the Nazi Titanic.

Herbert Selpin had just made a film about a heroic German explorer taking on unscrupulous British colonialists in Africa  just the sort of theme the Nazis were looking for.

Production started in September 1941, with a cast including some of Germanys finest actors. Selpin recruited his screenwriter friend Walter Zerlett-Olfenius to inject more drama, romance and anti-British prejudice into the script.

Zerlett, a World War I hero and fanatical Nazi, didnt disappoint.

From the opening scene in the boardroom of the Titanics owner, White Star Line, the main villains of the story are the immoral British capitalists who ignore safety risks to race the vessel across the Atlantic in a record time, to push up the struggling companys share price.

After the ship starts sinking, these greedy cowards try to buy their way on to one of the handful of lifeboats. There was no evidence to suggest any of this actually happened, but that hardly mattered.

J. Bruce Ismay, president of the holding company that owned White Star, did, indeed, get into one of the last lifeboats and his reputation never recovered, though an inquiry found he only took a spare seat in the boat as it would otherwise have been wasted.

In the Nazi film, however, he bribes the Titanics captain to go faster and ignores repeated warnings about icebergs. From whom did those warnings come?

A German, naturlich.

Stars: Monika Burg and Hermann Brix in a scene from the film, which was finally shown to Goebbles in 1942

Even though there was no such man on the real ship, Zerlett introduced a heroic German First Officer called Petersen.

He alone sees the disaster looming, works tirelessly to save passengers and  after carrying a little girl deserted by her callous British mother to safety  takes a place in a lifeboat only so he can give evidence against Ismay.

Though the film lacks any obvious anti-Semitism, the only characters who really acquit themselves nobly are Aryan.

They include a Scandinavian couple who behave stoically as British and French passengers run around in panic, and Petersens lover, a Baltic aristocrat who gives up her lifeboat seat.

Naturally, being British, a board of inquiry absolves Ismay of blame.

The film closes with a postscript that reads: The death of 1,500 passengers remains unatoned for, an eternal condemnation of Englands quest for profit.

Roaring drunk servicemen kept bursting on to the set during filming, wrecking the expensive decor and molesting the actresses, demanding kisses

The Nazis efforts to twist the truth over the Titanic proved almost as calamitous as the disaster they were depicting.

Selpin, the demanding and perfectionist director, taxed the regimes patience from the off. He requested that nine enormous sets be built to recreate the ships interior.

To film the sinking, he initially commissioned a small model, later demanding a more realistic 30ft replica, which was set up on a lake.

Despite the risk of British bombers seeing the spotlights, he insisted on filming at night, as the Titanic had gone down in darkness.

Selpins most outrageous demand was for a real ocean liner that could be used for the films exterior shots.

Goebbels even supplied this  Cap Arcona, a luxury vessel that had been Germanys attempt to emulate the Titanic and was only slightly smaller.

It was rusting away in a Polish naval base, in use only for training U-boat crews.

Filming was already months behind schedule when the director moved everyone up to the Baltic and took over a nearby five-star hotel as his base.

The subject of Bratts screenplay was the first and last voyage of the Titanic, the 1912 disaster in which the liner sank in three hours, with the loss of 1,500 passengers and crew, after hitting an iceberg in the Atlantic

Hundreds of soldiers and sailors were diverted from the war effort to act as extras, but their presence only added to the films problems.

As the rest of Germany hunkered down to rationing and daily bombing, the pampered cast, extras and crew partied every night with unlimited food, alcohol and women.

A film that tried to mock the imagined depraved behaviour of the Titanics wealthy British passengers was succumbing to even worse debauchery.

Roaring drunk servicemen kept bursting on to the set during filming, wrecking the expensive decor and molesting the actresses, demanding kisses. Actors were so hung over that they had trouble remembering their lines. It took days just to film a short scene.

When an alcohol-fuelled crisis summit was held, Selpin lost his temper, cursing the German military and mocking the war effort. It was a huge mistake. His supposed friend and colleague, Zerlett, was a Nazi informant who contacted Berlin.

The sinking scenes filmed on the lake were so well done that some shots were used in the 1958 British version of the tragedy, A Night To Remember

In July 1942, the director was taken before Goebbels, who erupted in fury when Selpin refused to retract his treasonous remarks.

His end was brutal. Selpin was imprisoned in Berlins police headquarters. Around midnight, two guards went to his cell and tied his braces to the bars of a high window.

They brought in a bench and told Selpin to stand on it and grasp the bars, before tying the braces around his neck.

The bench was removed from under his feet and, when he could no longer hold on to the bars, he was strangled to death. Goebbels claimed that Selpin committed suicide  but he could never have reached the window unaided.

An unknown director was ordered to finish the film, which Goebbels finally saw in his private cinema in December 1942.

He realised instantly the project had been a terrible mistake. In the two years since the film was commissioned, the Nazis had lost their reputation for invincibility and were fighting for survival.

Not only would scenes of a ship sinking and passengers drowning prove too close to home for war-battered Germans, but the theme of a deluded leader  Ismay  blindly leading his company and ship to disaster might remind many of their beloved Fuhrer.

Some believe that was Selpins intention all along. Goebbels banned the film from being shown in Germany  though it was released in occupied countries, where it was a big hit.

The Nazi Titanic story was to have one last tragic chapter.

In 1945, the Nazis decided they needed to clear out concentration camps to erase evidence of their terrible crimes. About 5,000 prisoners  Jews, Russians, resistance fighters and some British prisoners  were marched up to the Baltic and packed, in appalling conditions, on to the Cap Arcona, which was lying off the port of Lubeck.

Then, five days before Germany surrendered in May, the ship was sunk by RAF Typhoon fighter bombers. Fire swept through it and those who escaped into the freezing sea faced machine-gun fire from the RAF planes and SS guards. Fewer than 500 people survived.

Swedish and Swiss Red Cross officials insist they warned the British about the prisoners on the ship, but it seems the message didnt reach the RAF squadrons.

Goebbelss Titanic film wasnt shown in Germany until the Fifties, after much of its anti-British bias had been cut.

However, the sinking scenes filmed on the lake were so well done that some shots were used in the 1958 British version of the tragedy, A Night To Remember.
A man has been crushed to death after he tried to stop a car with his wife and two children in the back seat rolling down a driveway in western Sydney.

The 40-year-old was killed by his own Toyota Camry when he tried to stop it from moving forward, police said.

His wife and two children were in the back seat at the time.

A 40-year-old was crushed to death after he tried to stop a car rolling down a driveway in western Sydney

Emergency services were called to Rupertswood Rd in Rooty Hill about 8.45pm on Thursday following reports a man had been runover.

Neighbours desperately attempted to lift the vehicle off the man, but he was dead by the time paramedics arrived. The family were visiting someone at the time of the accident.

A crime scene was established, but police are not treating the death as suspicious.

Police could not confirm if the incident was at a private residence or workplace.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.
Commander was reassigned and Navy said others may face

The Navy has fired a commander whose blunder caused Navy boats to stray into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, prompting a diplomatic standoff that led to the capture of 10 American sailors.

Cmdr. Eric Rasch was the executive officer of the squadron when they 'misnavigated' into the Islamic republic's territory last January.

The nine men and a woman were detained by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Farsi Island - a top secret Iranian government facility - for 16 hours before they were released.

The diplomatic debacle that ensued had almost scuttled the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal at the 11th hour.

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Cmdr. Eric Rasch (left and right) was the executive officer of the squadron when they 'misnavigated' into the Islamic republic's territory last January

The nine men and a woman were detained at gun point - and images of their embarrassing surrender was released on Iranian television (pictured)

In a statement Thursday, the Navy said it had lost confidence in Rasch, who was responsible for the training and readiness of the more than 400 sailors in the unit.

A Navy official said Rasch failed to provide effective leadership, leading to a lack of oversight, complacency and failure to maintain standards in the unit.

The official was not authorized to discuss the details publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Rasch has been relieved of his command duties and reassigned, the Navy said.

Although this is the first firing by the Navy regarding the incident, several other sailors received administrative reprimands. The investigation is expected to be finished by the end of the month, and others are likely to be disciplined.

Rasch was promoted to commander of the unit in April - after the Iran incident occurred, but before the preliminary investigation was done.

The sailors, were detained after their boat drifted into Iranian waters off Farsi Island, an outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf that has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats since the 1980s.

Iranian soldiers held the nine American men and one woman (pictured) at gunpoint and had a 'verbal exchange' before they were released, according to the account released by U.S. Central Command

Iran captured these two Riverine patrol boats near Farsi Island after accusing them of trying to spy on their operations, though the U.S. maintain they were there in error

The sailors were on two small armed vessels, known as riverine command boats, on a 300-mile journey from Kuwait to Bahrain, where the Navy's 5th Fleet is located.

The incident, while brief, raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran because of images Iran published of the soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads.

The humiliating images of the crew surrendering to the IRGC were broadcast on Iran's state TV and then sent around the world.

They were then seen huddled in bare room, while the female soldier was forced to wear a head scarf while she was detained.

It caused political uproar at home, coming on the day of President Barack Obama's final State of the Union address and months after the signing of a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from financial penalties.

John Kerry said he was 'furious' about footage of the American sailors on their knees which was screened on Iranian television.

Speaking to Fox News in January, the Secretary of State said 'I was furious about it, and I immediately contacted my counterpart. And we indicated our disgust.'

He added: 'It was very, very unfortunate, inappropriate. And as a former sailor, and member of the military, I was infuriated by it and I expressed that very directly to my counterpart.'

Navy Capt. Gary Leigh, commander of Riverine Group 1, decided to fire Rasch after Leigh reviewed the initial investigation. A Navy official said no action has been taken, at least so far, against Cmdr. Greg Meyer, who was serving as commander of the squadron when the incident happened. He is no longer in a command job.

The Navy has fired Rasch after his blunder caused the Navy boats to stray into Iranian waters in the Persian Gulf, prompting a diplomatic standoff that led to the capture of 10 American sailors (pictured)

The only items missing from their recovered boats were SIM cards for two satellite phones, the account said

Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters the crew had 'misnavigated' into the Islamic republic's territory and were trying to fix the problem when the revolutionary guard took them into custody.

An initial account said the 'planned transit path for the mission was down the middle of the Gulf and not through the territorial waters of any country other than Kuwait and Bahrain.'

That account said the crew stopped when a diesel engine in one of the boats appeared to have a mechanical issue. The second boat also stopped.

At this point they were in Iranian territorial waters, 'although it's not clear the crew was aware of their exact location,' the report said.

While the boats were stopped and the crew was trying to assess the mechanical problem, two small Iranian craft carrying armed personnel approached. Soon after, they were joined by two more Iranian military vessels. A verbal exchange ensued between the Iranians and Americans, but there was no gunfire.

The sailors had been scheduled to meet up with a U.S. Coast Guard ship, the Monomoy, in international waters to refuel. But about 10 minutes before the refueling was supposed to take place, the Navy headquarters in Bahrain got a report that Iranians were questioning the crew members.

Soon afterward, the Navy lost communications with the boats.

The Navy launched a large-scale search-and-rescue mission, but it is not clear whether the Americans had already been taken ashore on Farsi Island. The Iranians eventually told the U.S. that the 10 sailors were safe and healthy.
Fewer than two EU prisoners a month are being deported from UK jails after a transfer deal descended into farce.

Just 73 have been sent home in the past four years  despite David Cameron pledging to intervene to end the scandal of EU convicts clogging up our prisons.

There are currently 4,171 European criminals locked up in this country, which costs the taxpayer an estimated 169million every year.

There are currently 4,171 European criminals locked up in this country, which costs the taxpayer an estimated 169million every year. File image

Critics said the figures proved the much-heralded deal with Brussels  introduced in December 2011  was broken. Those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU said it showed we no longer have control over borders.

Under the prisoner transfer agreement, Britain is supposed to be able to compulsorily deport European nationals who are jailed by the UK courts. The idea is that they will serve their sentences back home  with the UK taxpayer no longer picking up the bill. But the system has been hit by problems and has only this year been ratified by all 28 EU countries.

The result is that only 73 have been returned under the agreement  around one every three weeks.

In total, only 402 EU prisoners have been sent home since 2007, mainly under bilateral agreements between Britain and individual countries.

'Making a mockery': Keith Vaz

The figures were obtained using Parliamentary questions and will heap new pressure on the Government to fix the shambles. Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee, said: The failure of the Government to remove sufficient numbers of EU prisoners makes a mockery of the claim that our partners are working together to alleviate these problems.

The 402 removed represent just 5 per cent of the total number of foreign offenders, and 73 removed under the agreement with the EU is laughable.

Tory backbencher Anne Main, a key Eurosceptic, said: The EU prisoner transfer agreement is not fit for purpose. These figures show what weve suspected for a long time  that the scheme is broken.

Why wont Europe take back their prisoners? Our prisons are fit to burst, suicide rates have skyrocketed  our government is wasting money housing Europes criminals when they should be on the first plane back.

Last week Mr Cameron said his government should have done better in tackling the EU prisoner scandal.

The Prime Minister told a panel of senior MPs that it was fantastically difficult to remove foreign offenders  but claimed it will be even harder if the UK votes to leave the EU next month. Ministers said that 3,310 EU criminals were deported last year after finishing their sentences  up from 933 in 2010.

A Government spokesman said: Clearly we want to see the numbers removed under the [EU prisoner transfer] scheme to increase, and that will happen as more countries implement the agreement.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shared photographs of the state's first medicinal cannabis crop in a controversial move to help treat sick children next year.

Daniel Andrews said the crop was planted in April after being tested and sampled and would be ready for harvest in just two months.

'In 2017, we'll make this life-saving treatment available to the sick kids who need it most,' Mr Andrews wrote in the Facebook post on Friday.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shared photographs of the state's first medicinal cannabis crop

Daniel Andrews (pictured) said the crop, which was planted in April, will help treat sick children next year

The post has been met with hundreds of comments, shares and 'likes', with many praising Mr Andrews' plan

The social media post has been met with hundreds of comments, shares and 'likes', with many praising Mr Andrews' efforts on helping sick children.

James Bishop wrote: 'Good job Daniel, Hope this helps the sick kids.'

Vicki Hine said: 'Now that's progress, looking forward to seeing the benefits of the oil and results being published some time in the future.'

Nick Ritchie Effiz posted: 'What you doing is really amazing. We need to be an exemplary state. I hope this benefits those who needed.'

And Andrew Cruickshank joked: 'Do the testing staff get a huge meal allowance for shifts?' in which Mr Andrews responded: 'Nice try - but the only testing happening to this crop is DNA sampling.'

Mr Andrews said the life-saving treatment will be available next year in a move to help treat sick children

Victoria became the first state in Australia to legalise marijuana use for medicinal purposes

The news comes after Victoria became the first state in Australia to legalise marijuana use for medicinal purposes in an unprecedented move.

The state government passed the Access to Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2015 in parliament last month to give patients access to the drug in exceptional circumstances.

The drug will be strictly cultivated and controlled by the government and be available early 2017, with children living with severe epilepsy granted first access.

Last month, Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the cultivation program was underway.

'It's absolutely heartbreaking to see families having to choose between breaking the law and watching their children suffer - and now ... they won't have to,' Ms Hennessy said.
Hundreds of students at Sylmar High School walked out of class Thursday morning to attend a 'peace rally' days after a video emerged of a mass brawl on campus.

Students chanted 'we'll never be divided, Sylmar united' and 'its not about race' during the demonstration that lasted from 8.15am and 10am.

The march comes a day after Mexican-American actor Danny Trejo told a safety meeting that 'there is a race problem' on campus and accused officials of having 'your heads in the sand'.

While no official explanation has been given for the 20-minute fight that broke out at Sylmar, reports had linked it to race and gang issues between black and Hispanic students.

Hundreds of students at Sylmar High School marched out of class on Thursday morning in order to hold a 'peace rally' after a mass brawl between students was caught on film

Pupils chanted 'we'll never be divided, Sylmar united' and 'it's not about race' after reports linked the violence to tensions between black and Hispanic students

Principal James Lee lent his backing to the demonstrators on Thursday, telling students they are 'handling this very well', adding: 'You are acting better than adults on this'

Speaking about the rally, senior Luis Abundez told the LA Times: 'We're not doing this out of defiance. We're doing this out of unity.

'We want everybody to know that this little incident that happened at our school doesn't define Sylmar High School.'

Sebastian Cooks, another senior, added: 'It was no race war, nothing like that. It was a typical fight. Sylmar is a good school.'

Principal James Lee also backed pupils taking part in the rally, telling the demonstrators: 'You guys are handling this very well. You are acting better than adults on this.'

However, not everyone was so supportive of the students' actions. Parent Susan Galan told KABC that she decided to pull her child out of school after hearing about the protest.

She said: 'I don't know what's going on. I just got a text from my kids that they don't feel say no more, and I said you know what, I don't feel that they're safe. I don't want them here anymore.'

The demonstration comes a day after Mexican-American actor Danny Trejo told a safety meeting at the school there 'there is a race problem' among students

Caring: Trejo does not have children who attend the school but he is a concerned member of the community

Mexican-American Actor Danny Trejo (pictured Wednesday) attended the meeting two days after a 'race fueled' massive lunchtime brawl broke out a day before

Gratitude: He was thanked by students for attending and later told them he was happy to be involved

That view is apparently shared by Trejo, known for his character Machete, originally made for the Spy Kids movies, but later expanded into Trejo's own series of films.

'There IS a race problem. Your heads are in the sand,' Trejo told a meeting yesterday, according to Beverly White of NBCLA, who tweeted a photo of the actor as he spoke with passion.

Trejo has two children thought they are not students at the school. He decided to attend the meeting because he is a member of the community, according to Fox 11.

Trejo urged students at the school to speak at the meeting and several stood up to talk about how much they love their school and how they were disappointed about the amount of negative media attention the school was getting.

The mass brawl involving about 40 people broke out on the campus of a Los Angeles high school, in a fight that officials believe was started at prom over the weekend.

A team of 12 officers and a supervisor dispatched by LA Unified School Police tried to break up the brawl as it happened.

According to reports, the fight lasted for 20 minutes, with numerous videos taken at the scene since uploaded to YouTube.

Witnesses said everyone walked away and that no one was taken to hospital, but several students were bloodied and bruised with black eyes.

Major brawl: A team of 12 officers and a supervisor dispatched by LA Unified School Police tried to break up the brawl as it happened at Sylmar High School in San Fernandino Valley at lunchtime on Monday

An officer can be seen here in his video trying to restrain a student was kicking another on the ground

According to reports, the fight lasted for 20 minutes, with numerous videos taken at the scene since uploaded to YouTube

A mass brawl involving about 40 people broke out on the campus of Sylmar high school on Monday, in a fight that officials believe was started at prom over the weekend

Scene: Footage posted to YouTube showed a number of teens involved in a physical altercation

KTLA 5 News reported that the reason behind the brawl was race and gang-related.

It is said that tensions flared between some black and Hispanic students at the prom at the weekend, and that school officials were worried the problem would come to a head Monday.

The videos show punches and kicks being through around, as other students fled for cover.

Officers can be seen jumping in to break up the fights, as others begin happening around them.

'It was just uncontrollable,' said one student,

The principal sent out a letter to parents Monday to inform them of the fight and that students involved are receiving disciplinary actions. But there were no known arrests.

James Lee, the school's principal, said in a statement to parents that 'multiple students participated in a conflict during lunch on campus'.
A Florida man recently woke up from a coma and immediately asked for Taco Bell, his brother said.

Jake Booth, 35, a former sheriff's deputy and an Army veteran, ended up in a coma after a bout of bronchitis led him to fall sick with pneumonia. After being hospitalized, he had a heart attack and became comatose, USA Today reported.

When he woke up at Tampa General Hospital, the first sentence Booth uttered was 'I want Taco Bell,' his brother Jason Schwartz said.

Jake Booth, 35, had the munchies when he woke up from a 48-day coma in April and immediately asked for fast food, his brother said

'That was the very first thing he said... When he starts getting into a full sentence, he can't do it. But when he does one or two words at a time, you can definitely understand him,' said Schwartz.

Booth, an Estero resident who is married with two kids, woke up April 3, but couldn't eat solid food until 22 days later, according to USA Today and an online fundraiser.

Among his first meals after waking up was 8 1/2 tacos from the fast food chain.

A photo of a smiling Booth surrounded by food from the restaurant chain went viral on Reddit.

Booth's brother said the family is hoping to raise $50,000 through the online fundraiser to pay for medical expenses.

Schwartz said the restaurant chain sent his brother a T-shirt, but that it had not yet donated any money.

Estero, Florida resident Jake Booth is pictured left prior to his illness with children Eva, 6, and Aiden, 10 months. Right, in a hospital bed in Florida
With challenger Bernie Sanders still nipping at her heels, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton is ramping up her campaigns presence in North Dakota ahead of the state partys June 7 caucuses to elect delegates to the national convention.

The Hillary for North Dakota campaign on Thursday named Marcella Jewell as its state director. Jewell also has organized Clintons campaign in New Hampshire, Maine and Indiana.

A spokesperson speaking on background said the campaign also will open an office in Fargo within the next week and is working to secure office space in two other unspecified cities.

Former President Bill Clinton will stump for Hillary Clinton on May 20 in Fargo, the campaign announced Wednesday. Sanders will speak at stops in Fargo and Bismarck on Friday.

The spokesperson said the Clinton campaign feels the former U.S. secretary of state has the Democratic nomination all but locked up, but they want to make it clear to North Dakotans that shes not taking their votes for granted.

We are excited for the campaign to be in the North Dakota as Hillary Clinton fights for every vote in this primary, Lily Adams, director of state press for the campaign, said in an emailed statement. While she leads her opponent by more than 3 million votes, the primary is an opportunity for voters in the state to hear about how Hillary Clinton will fight for them and break down the barriers that are holding North Dakotan families back.

A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. As of Thursday, Clinton had 2,240 delegates, including 1,716 pledged delegates and 524 unpledged superdelegates, while Sanders had 1,473 delegates, 40 of those being superdelegates, according to Associated Press figures.

North Dakota Democrats will send 23 delegates -- including five superdelegates -- and two alternates to the national convention July 25-28 in Philadelphia. Caucuses will be held in legislative districts on June 7 to select delegates and alternates who will attend a meeting June 18 in Bismarck where the national delegates will be selected.

Vinod Seth, a physician and member of the Bismarck for Bernie Facebook group, said volunteers learned this week that the Sanders campaign will have two staffers in North Dakota drumming up support for the Vermont senator through June 7. Diane May, North Dakota press secretary for the campaign, said it will open a Fargo office soon and has named Jacob Sanders as state coordinator.

Seth sees the Clinton campaigns decision to open offices in North Dakota as evidence that Sanders momentum is making her nervous about a contested national convention.

If Ive already won the jackpot, why am I going to work? he said.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trumps campaign hasnt opened a North Dakota office yet but they are in talks to make it happen, state GOP Executive Director Roz Leighton said.

As for Clintons new presence in the state, With oil and gas and the energy industry being a leader in North Dakota, I dont think theres much appetite for Hillary, Leighton said.

North Dakota hasnt voted for a Democrat for president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Where do women stand on high heels? On tiptoe, in pain, with bunions throbbing like a colliery brass band and heels shaved raw by the constrictive grip of a vicious slingback?

Or in the comfy embrace of a pair of slip-ons shaped like suede pasties as they flap down the High Street, penguin-style?

Nicola Thorp knows which side of the pain divide she favours. The 27-year-old actress was banned from a temp job as a receptionist with top City firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) this week for refusing to wear high heels.

Teetering: Jennifer Lawrence at a Global Fan Screening of 'X-Men Apocalypse' in London, where she took a tumble

PWC's outsourcing firm, Portico, took one look at Nicola's serviceable flats and flatly informed her that she could not work there without donning 'more feminine' attire. When she protested, agency bosses told her it was the company's 'female grooming policy' that all women should wear heels measuring at least two inches.

Nicola was outraged at the sexism, even though she must have been familiar with the policy before agreeing to work for the company. However, she did what any self-respecting, incensed feminist does these days: hit social media, start a petition and get a groove going with the sisterhood.

I saw her making her case on the news and thought: she's a very confident and polished young woman, but I suppose that's the legacy of appearing in two episodes of Doctor Who.

Her campaign to make it illegal for high heels to be compulsory in the workplace gets my vote, but I think we should be honest about what's really going on here.

DOES SEXISM GO BOTH WAYS? Men have been quick to point out that it is not only women who suffer from sexist workplace rules about uniforms. That may be so, but I don't think that anyone who hasn't been to a wedding and stood around for five hours in agony shoes has the right to complain. Still, one male employee moaned about having to wear a 'restrictive' bow tie when his female colleagues did not. Meanwhile, a Mr S. Claus with a seasonal job in a department store grumbled about sweating in a heavy red suit while being forced to suffer the 'indignity' of a false beard. 'Women don't have to do this. Why should I?' he fumed. What? At least his boots are flat. Advertisement

High heels aren't more 'feminine', as Portico coyly insists  but they certainly are much sexier. Women's legs just look nicer in high heels, which is why they exist in the first place and why some companies want female staff to wear them.

And, by coincidence, it is also the reason why millions of women squash their poor tootsies into strappy prisons of pain, enduring levels of discomfort men can only have nightmares about. Women want to look good, too.

The real issue is not about forcing women into the kind of high heels that might give them postural problems  it's why they insist on wearing them in the first place.

For women have a complex relationship with shoes. No other item in our armoury is so fetishised and adored by us, so hated and revered, all at the same time.

Nothing else we put on in the morning could possibly send out a more powerful message about who we are, how we think, what we do and why we might be prepared to be crippled for life and look like a total fool along the way.

On the red carpet, the Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence is always falling off her impossibly high heels. Like some beautiful blonde tree, she crashes to the forest floor as if someone had taken a buzzsaw to her perfect, milky ankles.

At Cannes Film Festival this week, rebellious Twilight actress Kristen Stewart walked barefoot, unable to endure the podiatric stricture of her Manolos.

Helen Mirren and Julia Roberts have done the same thing, while at an awards ceremony two years ago, Emma Thompson walked onstage carrying her towering Christian Louboutins in one hand and a strong martini in the other  to ease the foot pain she was suffering. Why the hell do we do it?

And if these big stars  with their tiny, slim feet buffed to pedi perfection and slipped into the most expensive shoes on the planet  cannot walk in their heels, what hope is there for ordinary women?

Especially now that heels are higher than they've ever been. In 2009, Yves Saint Laurent launched its iconic Tribute sandal, a much-copied strappy platform with a 5.3 in dagger heel.

It was a pole dancer's dream, a shoe that was adored by the fash pack and became a design classic  it's included in the V&A collection in London.

WHOSE TURN IS IT TO DO THE WASHING? Some women have a weekend cottage, one husband named George Clooney, two cars, three holidays abroad each year, myriad good fortunes and blessings, all of which they are welcome to. However, Marina Fogle, wife of TV presenter Ben, is the only woman I know who has four dishwashers. Four! Ooh, I've got deep cleanse, rinse aid envy. Advertisement

The Tribute cast a long shadow on the High Street, where 5 in and 6 in heels still dominate the glamorous end of the market. I see young girls battering around in these monstrosities all the time and think: 'How on earth can you walk in those?' I know. I sound like my mother.

For back in the mists of time, I remember clattering around London in my pink skyscraper heels, up and down the Tube escalators without a care, clacking along to Peppermint Park for a refreshing Moscow Mule or two.

These days, I am deep in suede pasties land and, like every woman I know, go to work in flat shoes and change into modest heels in the office.

The last time I tried on a pair of serious heels, I lumbered across the shop carpet like Frankenstein in diving boots. I just can't do it any more.

Young women can and do, but only on their own terms. After Nicola Thorp went public, Portico swiftly backed down, which was hardly surprising. Surely a five-minute phone call with any lawyer (that'll be 5,400 please) would have informed them their policy was sexist, unenforceable and possibly illegal.

It is 2016 after all. Surely no employer, with the possible exception of the Playboy Club, can tell a woman to wear high heels just because they find them aesthetically pleasing. Which they damn well are.

High heels lengthen the leg, tighten the calf muscle, throw the pelvis back and make women look taller, sexier and more desirable. They exist in the first instance because they are man pleasers, though  in an inexplicable way  they please women just as much.

It's complicated. This weekend, like every weekend, millions of women will hobble home from nightclubs and parties, slipping off their torturers once they get inside the taxi, their heels and toes bleeding silently into the carpet as they breathe a sigh of relief.

It is bad enough that they do this of their own accord. Just don't try to make them do it during working hours.

Lecturing the rest of us is a bit rich, Emma

In modern life it's not what you do that matters, it's who you are. The actress Emma Watson has been named in the Panama Papers for buying her house through an offshore company.

The feminist campaigner and former Harry Potter star says she didn't receive any tax advantage for this, and that it was only used as a way of maintaining her privacy.

A great number of trendy supporters, including the usual Left-wing writers and news-papers, have eagerly rushed to her defence.

Emma Watson has been named in the Panama Papers for buying her house through an offshore company

Imagine if it had been, for instance, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. He would have been ripped to shreds.

Instead, the gang stuck up for Emma because she is a Leftie goody-two-shoes who is using her 'global influence to talk about the position of women in the world' and everyone should lay off because she is not a tax justice campaigner.

Maybe not, but she looks like another millionaire celebrity lecturing everyone else on how we should live our lives.

Her current campaign, to have a statue of a suffragette put up in Parliament Square, strikes me as the very worst kind of vain- glorious, privileged, bourgeois feminism.

Who is going to pay the enormous cost of creating such a monument? Not Emma, who is worth more than 35 million.

If she has her way, it will be the public purse, which means you and me. Of course.

Will Ben police find anything by Pizza?

Ben Needham's family have been through so much  and now this.

The 21-month-old disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991 and has never been found. In the latest move in the investigation, a 12-strong team of police from the scandal-hit South Yorkshire force are in disgrace after being caught drinking for hours on their first night back on Kos.

After holding a press conference, carrying out 'house-to-house visits' and distributing leaflets and posters, they settled down in a bar and a pizzeria.

Ben Needham disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991, aged 21-months, and has never been found

Never mind them drinking until after midnight, though that was bad enough. Just what are a dozen cops doing there? Is this a real investigation or just PR?

Earlier this year, the South Yorkshire police secured another 450,000 funding from the Home Office to help in the search for Ben, in an investigation that has lurched from bad to worse.

In 2012, a police operation focused on a mound of earth close to where the toddler was last seen  you'd hope they might have noticed it before, but in the absence of a sign saying 'Dig Here', no one did. The next year, a man in Cyprus was DNA-tested to establish if he could be Ben, but the result proved negative.

I hope something good comes of this latest effort, but it's not looking likely.

And it hardly seems fair on the parents of other missing children, whose cases don't get the same resources.

Sisters are so stylish... but oh so patronising

The Hemsley sisters began their new healthy cooking show on Channel 4 this week. Those of a delicate disposition should prepare to be annoyed.

Glamorous cooks Melissa and Jasmine, pictured right, may be much loved by the Vogue set, but they make Jamie Oliver and the Muppets Swedish Chef sound witty and learned.

This week, one of their recipes featured  are you ready for this  an avocado.

The Hemsley sisters began their new healthy cooking show on Channel 4 this week

An avocado is one of those fruits eaten all the time in Mexico, explained Jasmine.

It is super buttery, it is creamy, it has a slight nutty taste, almost like a fresh almond.
Britain and the West do not care about corruption when they are doling out millions in aid, Afghanistan said yesterday.

In a stinging rebuke, a senior Afghan official hit back at David Camerons overheard comment to the Queen that his country and Nigeria are fantastically corrupt.

The unidentified official told Mr Camerons anti-corruption summit in London yesterday: We inherited, and I quote, a fantastically corrupt system.

A senior Afghan official hit back at a comment David Cameron made to the Queen that Afghanistan and Nigeria are fantastically corrupt (pictured greeting Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday)

In my country for the past decade there have been enthusiastic international community partnerships willing to pour in billions into a country without thinking about the safeguards that were needed in order to ensure that money would be spent transparently and effectively.

The intervention will fuel fears that much of the 198million a year in aid that Britain gives to Afghanistan ends up being stolen or wasted.

Mr Cameron remained upbeat yesterday, saying a new coalition of the committed was coming together to cut out the cancer of corruption.

He said Britain would reveal the true ownership of thousands of London mansions registered to foreign shell companies. What we are talking about is stopping the corrupt hiding their loot from the authorities, he said.

The unidentified official claimed Britain and the West do not care about corruption when they are doling out millions in aid

But he faced a further blow when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani challenged him over the Wests failure to crack down on money from the countrys drugs trade  96 per cent of which he said was laundered in Europe.

And corruption expert Sarah Chayes told the Prime Minister he should consider curbing aid to countries unless the quality of governance the country delivers is on a par with the changes you are trying to reinforce.

The PM defended giving aid to corrupt countries, provided care was taken over how it is spent. He told Miss Chayes: We might end up knocking ourselves back if every time we saw aid misused we decided to cancel our entire aid programme.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT Of course, its welcome that the true owners of properties held by foreign firms in the UK will have to be publicly declared. But isnt there a pronounced whiff of PR about this anti-corruption summit? The reality is that with Russian oligarchs, Kazakh wheeler-dealers, Chinese billionaires, Nigerian fraudsters and Middle Eastern potentates piling into London, the city is awash with sleazy money. And a serious effort to clean that up would be worth any number of fine words at international talking-shops staged by the great and the good.

Mr Cameron also came under fire over his failure to persuade all of Britains overseas territories to sign up to new transparency rules.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) rejected Mr Camerons call automatically to share information about the real ownership of companies in the secretive tax haven. Orlando Smith, its premier and finance minister, said some privacy was needed, or else the gears of international finance will start to grind more slowly.

The BVIs stance meant it was not invited to yesterdays corruption summit in London.

Mr Cameron insisted that most overseas territories were gradually embracing transparency, adding: We should thank them for the work they have done.

In a further embarrassing development, both Afghanistan and Nigeria signed up to publish registers setting out the true ownership of companies  something Britains overseas territories have refused to do.
Britain is being flooded with dangerous fake Viagra pills as criminal gangs exploit a growing market for cheap online drugs.

Officials seized more than 11 million of counterfeit and unlicensed erectile dysfunction treatments in the past 12 months  three times the value seized the year before.

Some pills are imitations of Viagra, which costs up to 6 a tablet, while fakes are 2 to 3.

Warning: Britain is being flooded with dangerous fake Viagra pills as criminal gangs exploit a growing market for cheap online drugs (file photo)

Many others are illegal, unlicensed generic erectile drugs from India, where they have been made in unhygienic labs that would not meet British safety standards.

More than 90 per cent of illegal unlicensed medication seized last year was for erectile problems, according to officials.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned last night that drugs bought over the internet can be fatal.

Danny Lee-Frost, MHRA head of operations, said: Medicines are not ordinary consumer products  they are potent substances.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned last night that drugs bought over the internet can be fatal (file photo)

'They have the potential to cause harm and consequently their sale and supply is tightly controlled.

Dr Tommy Dolan, of Viagra manufacturers Pfizer, said it is hard to tell fake pills from the genuine item, as they are often branded with the firms logo and made with the same blue diamond shape.

He said fake versions of 82 Pfizer medicines have been found in 111 countries, with Viagra targeted most.

Dr Hamed Khan, a London GP, told the BBC some of his patients had suffered side effects such as vision problems from fake pills.

Ive had a number of people whove had very serious side effects like visual problems, people could potentially faint, you could have dangerous reductions in blood pressure or even potentially heart problems, he said.

Increasingly younger people have been trying to obtain Viagra as they see it as a sort of recreational drug almost and it boosts them psychologically, which it absolutely doesnt, its a drug that only has physical effects and that misconception is leading to younger people trying it even if they dont need it.

It is also believed people who could obtain Viagra on prescription are turning to the black market due to embarrassment or because they are only provided with a limited number of pills on the NHS - four at a time.
There are few ministers more robotic than the Home Offices James Brokenshire  or so I used to think before seeing Mr Brokenshire yesterday as he tried to explain why immigration from the EU has been so much vaster than previously reported.

But the thing about robots is that, for all that lack of human emotion as their lights blink and their inner fusings whirr, they at least deal with fact. Unlike Mr Brokenshire, they tell the truth.

He was summoned to the Commons to answer an urgent question from John Redwood (Con, Wokingham).

For years the Government has hushed up its statistics about National Insurance numbers. Finally their publication became unavoidable. And so a good day was found to bury bad news and the numbers were published yesterday.

There are few ministers more robotic than the Home Offices James Brokenshire  or so I used to think before seeing Mr Brokenshire yesterday as he tried to explain why immigration from the EU has been so much vaster than previously reported, writes QUENTIN LETTS

And they were big. Some 1.2million more EU citizens have been working here than was earlier admitted. The bespectacled Brokenshire approached the despatch box with antiseptic composure. A nurse in a Sierra Leone ebola anti-contagion suit might have been more in touch with the outside world. He adopted an expression of bland innocence allied to an avowed neutrality about the subject.

He did not think the figures to be of much concern. No. He was in favour of immigration  he wanted to attract the skilled and the talented and the brightest and the best. Any minister arriving at the Home Office is schooled in this cliched liturgy.

Officialdom knows that brightest and the best is one of those cotton-wool undeniables. It conveys an idea of migrant selection where no such selection exists.

A short little man, Brokenshire is slender in the physical sense as well as others. He wears his hair so close-cut, it is as though he has been run-over by a Dennis lawnmower. Mr Brokenshire did not rise to his current eminence  if eminence be the word  without knowing which boots to lick. And so he said that it was important to stress the achievements of the Prime Minister.

John Baron (pictured) (Con, Basildon and Billericay) argued that new immigration numbers showed how powerless the Government was to keep our public services running

Many of you may have been under the impression that the Cameron renegotiation on our EU membership was a non-event.

Mr Brokenshire assured us that it had really important elements regarding border controls.

Mr Redwood, a serious and restrained parliamentarian, sat listening with a look of resignation as Mr Brokenshire insisted that short-term immigration was not real immigration.

The Lib Dems accused Eurosceptic MPs of playing dog-whistle politics in looking at these new statistics. Ken Clarke (Con, Rushcliffe) also attacked critics of the EU.

Labour frontbencher Rob Marris said that unlike my notorious predecessor (he meant Enoch Powell, who like Mr Marris was a Wolverhampton MP) he thought immigration was a good thing. Liam Fox (Con, N Somerset) said the new figures just showed there was no chance of getting immigration down unless we leave the European Union. Mr Brokenshire said he was still determined to get the numbers down.

That reminded me of a remark by my son when he was 16 and he told us he was determined to make it to 6ft. When we pointed out to him that determination had nothing to do with how tall you become, he looked slightly puzzled.

Dennis Skinner (Lab, Bolsover) said that the immigration numbers showed how important it was to have stronger trade union rights to stop employers ripping off the low-paid. That sounded like a good leave the EU argument to me.

John Baron (Con, Basildon and Billericay) argued that these new numbers showed how powerless the Government was to keep our public services running.

Marcus Fysh (Con, Yeovil) made a similar point about housing, jobs and hospitals. Mr Fysh is a decent man not given to hyperbole but he struggled to keep his temper as he asked does the Government not care?

Mr Brokenshire blandly said he did care. This was uttered with all the conviction of a Post Office machine telling you to go to cashier number three please.

What a dreadful performance. No doubt he will be promoted.




A school cleaner who was found with 16 pairs of girls' underwear walked out of a Gold Coast court a free man on Thursday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography.

Darryl Huntley told the Southport District Court that the underwear, sized three to six, were his souvenirs from one-night stands and denied using them to masturbate, according to The Gold Coast Bulletin.

Huntley, a cleaner at Arundel State School and Miami State High School, was also found to possess 506 images of 'young girls with their legs spread open' and additional photos of a more explicit nature.

A high school cleaner, Darryl Huntley, who was found with 16 pairs of girls' underwear, walked free from a Gold Coast court (pictured) on Thursday after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography

Police discovered the pictures, which featured girls around the age of five and 14 to 15, on his computer after searching him home in March 2015.

During the hearing, Huntley pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material, receiving tainted property and stealing.

Despite Judge Paul Smith's comments about the serious nature of the crime, Huntley received a four-month suspended sentence for the pornographic photos and 18 months of probation for the additional charges.

Huntley, a cleaner at Arundel State School and Miami State High School (pictured), was found to possess 506 images of 'young girls with their legs spread open' and additional photos of a more explicit nature

Police also found items from the schools he worked for at his home, including sporting equipment and tissues.

It is unlikely the underwear found was used in sexual acts and once pair still had the tag attached, the court was told on Thursday.

The court was also told that Huntley admitted to having an 'inappropriate sexual fetish' and he claimed to have been sexually abused by a male relative at the age of 12.

He has since been fired from his cleaner job and is supported by his parents.
Huma Abedin was apparently left carrying Hillary Clinton's shopping bags on Thursday after her millionaire boss stopped in at Ralph Lauren to pick up some designer clothes.

Clinton's top aide looked less than pleased to be carrying expensive shopping and was spotted walking 10 paces behind the presidential front runner after the excursion to the upmarket store in New York.

Another assistant was holding a blue garment bag, which could also have been from the designer store.

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Huma Abedin was left carrying Hillary Clinton's shopping bags on Thursday after her millionaire boss stopped in at Ralph Lauren to pick up some designer clothes

Retail therapy: Hillary was wearing one of her trademark pantsuits as she stopped in at Ralph Lauren on Manhattan's Upper East Side

Hillary was wearing one of her trademark pantsuits, opting for a navy blue outfit with a yellow blouse and black, studded heels

Clinton and her team made a stop at a Ralph Lauren store on Manhattan's Upper East Side on Thursday afternoon before heading to her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn.

The store she visited is the nearest one to her home and there is another Ralph Lauren not far from her office in Brooklyn Heights.

Hillary was wearing one of her trademark pantsuits, opting for a navy blue outfit with a yellow blouse and black, studded heels.

Mrs Abedin was sporting a black knee-length dress, heels and a statement necklace.

Clinton is known to be a fan of Ralph Lauren's clothing line and wore an all-blue pantsuit made by the designer at her campaign opening rally on Roosevelt Island in June last year.

She presented Mr Lauren himself with the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 2014 - and again wore one his fashion line's pantsuits.

Clinton was on her way to a meeting with 20 HIV and Aids activists, where she vowed to continue fighting to eradicate the disease if she becomes president

Clinton is known to be a fan of Ralph Lauren's clothing line and presented the man himself with the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal in 2014

On that occasion, she also had a white Ralph Lauren Soft Ricky handbag, which costs $2,500.

Clinton and Mrs Abedin were on Thursday on their way to a meeting with 20 HIV and Aids activists, where she vowed to continue fighting to eradicate the disease if she becomes president.

'We do have the tools to end this epidemic once and for all, but we need to re-dedicate ourselves to fighting HIV and Aids and leaving no one behind,' she said.

'That means continuing to increase research and expanding the use of medications. That means capping out-of-pocket expenses and drug costs and building on President Obama's national HIV and Aids strategy to increase the number of people in HIV treatment worldwide.'
A taxi that caught alight outside the Brisbane Airport's domestic terminal went up in flames in a matter of minutes, a witness says.

The parked maxi taxi caught fire shortly after 9am on Friday, sending flames several metres into the air.

Brisbane Airport tweeted there could be delays for some people leaving the terminal by taxi or bus but flights won't be impacted.

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Pictured: The parked maxi taxi caught fire shortly after 9am, sending flames several metres into the air outside Brisbane Airport

Isaac Irvin had stepped off a flight from Sydney and was walking towards the cab rank when he noticed smoke coming from the car's engine.

'In about a minute after that it had caught alight,' he told AAP.

'The whole thing only took about two and a half minutes and then it was gone.' Mr Irvin, a social media account executive, said everyone kept their distance once they saw the smoke.

No one was injured by the fire which left the taxi a blackened shell.

The blaze is being treated as non-suspicious and is being managed by firefighters and the Australian Federal Police.

Witnesses noticed smoke coming from the car's engine before it burst into flames outside the domestic terminal

'The whole thing only took about two and a half minutes and then it was gone,' a witness said
President Obama has ordered all public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The sweeping decree sent to all school districts is not be legally binding but those that do not abide by the new ruling could face lawsuits or lose federal aid.

The Obama administration made the announcement on Friday in a move that could anger members of the Republican Party.

President Obama ordered all public schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity

'There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex,' Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.

'This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies,' she added.

Education Secretary John King Jr said: 'No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus.

'We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence,' he added.

The Obama administration letter - signed by education and justice officials - says schools may notrequire transgender students to have a medical diagnosis,undergo any medical treatment, or produce a birth certificate orother document before treating them according to their genderidentity.

Schools will be allowed to offer bathrooms for students who wish to have 'additional privacy' but transgender children should not be forced to use them, ABC News reported.

Donald Trump said he would welcome transgender people such as Caitlyn Jenner to use female restrooms at his Trump Tower in New York, but said it was up to states to decide the law, not the government

While schools are permitted to offer single-use restrooms to students seeking "additional privacy," they should not require transgender students to use single-use facilities if their classmates are not required to do the same, the edict adds.

The move comes as the Obama administration and NorthCarolina battle in federal court over a state law passed inMarch that limits public bathroom access for transgender people.

By passing the law, North Carolina became the first state inthe country to ban people from using multiple occupancyrestrooms or changing rooms in public buildings and schools thatdo not match the sex on their birth certificate.

The controversial topic has split the Republican Party, with its presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump sitting on the fence.

He has previously said that he would welcome transgender people such as Caitlyn Jenner to use female restrooms at his Trump Tower in New York.

However, he said states should make the decision on the matter - not the government.

After hearing Trump's words, Jenner went to Trump Tower and used the women's bathroom.

Before pulling out of the race for the White House, Ted Cruz said such a move 'opens the door for predators'.

'This is not a matter of right or left, or Democrat or Republican. This is common sense,' he said.

'It doesn't make sense for grown adult men, strangers, to be alone in a restroom with a little girl.'
U.S. immigration officials are planning a month-long series of raids in May and June to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children found to have entered the country illegally, according to sources and an internal document seen by Reuters.

The operation would likely be the largest deportation sweep targeting immigrant families by the administration of President Barack Obama this year after a similar drive over two days in January that focused on Georgia, Texas, and North Carolina.

Those raids, which resulted in the detention of 121 people, mostly women and children, sparked an outcry from immigration advocates and criticism from some Democrats, including the party's presidential election frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

U.S. immigration officials are planning a month-long series of raids in May and June to deport hundreds of Central American mothers and children. Pictured here is an ICE handout released on May 11

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now told field offices nationwide to launch a 30-day "surge" of arrests focused on mothers and children who have already been told to leave the United States, the document seen by Reuters said.

The operation would also cover minors who have entered the country without a guardian and since turned 18 years of age, the document said. Two sources confirmed the details of the plan.

The exact dates of the latest series of raids were not known and the details of the operation could change.

The operation in January marked a departure for ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, from one-off deportations to high-profile raids meant to deter migrants from coming to the United States.

An ICE spokeswoman said the agency does not 'confirm or deny the existence of specific ongoing or future law enforcement actions.'

The spokeswoman said immigrants who arrived illegally after January 1, 2014 are priorities for removal.

Federal resources were strained in 2014 under a wave of illegal migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, especially women and children fleeing violence in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

The planned new raids are in response to a renewed surge of illegal entries by Central American women traveling with their children.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has now told field offices nationwide to launch a 30-day 'surge' of arrests focused on mothers and children who have already been told to leave the United States

From October 2015 through March 2016, the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended more than 32,000 family 'units', defined as mothers and children traveling together, for crossing illegally into the United States. Over the same period in 2014-2015, there were about 14,000 such apprehensions; in 2013-2014, about 19,800.

Many of those apprehended for unlawful entry are put into deportation proceedings in court but do not show up for their scheduled appearance before a judge or ignore court orders to leave the country.

The surge in illegal border crossings has put Obama in a tough spot in a presidential election year in which he wants to see a fellow Democrat elected as his successor.

Obama has said criminal immigrants and those who have recently entered the country are priorities for deportation. He is regularly hammered by Republicans over the presence of more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

But Hispanic-Americans tend to vote for Democrats, who are more sympathetic to the plight of the undocumented.

Clinton raised concerns about the January raids at the time, saying they had 'sown fear and division in immigrant communities.'

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has pledged to build a wall along the Mexican border to prevent illegal immigration.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a U.S. Senate panel in March that the January raids had helped to deter Central Americans from migrating illegally.

Border Patrol reported fewer illegal entries between January and March 2016 compared to October and December 2015, but there were more apprehended than over the same time period in early 2015.

A separate document seen by Reuters said Johnson was concerned about the most recent uptick in border crossings.

Immigration advocates say they have asked Johnson to abandon plans for future raids.

'Raids are not the answer,' said Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, a legal aide and advocacy group for migrants.
Lord Howell revealed the Chinese were actively discussing a Plan B if the proposed 21bn joint deal with EDF fell through

The Chinese government has secret plans to build two nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point if a joint deal for a new nuclear power station with French company EDF falls through, it has been claimed.

Lord Howell of Guildford, George Osborne's father-in-law, told the House of Lords that the Chinese were actively discussing a 'plan B' if the existing 21 billion plan fails.

Addressing a fellow peer, Lord Howell, the Conservative energy secretary under Margaret Thatcher, said: 'Is my noble friend aware that the Chinese also have a plan B, which is to bypass EDF altogether and to build two smaller reactors on the Hinkley C site, and to do it rather quicker than the present Hinkley C plans?'

He later told The Times that he had previously had private meetings with Chinese delegations, and said: 'This is the view of informed think tanks and a deduction of the way they must be thinking.'

His warning will put greater pressure on the Hinkley C project, which is planned to provide about seven per cent of the country's electricity.

Yesterday, EDF announced a 16 per cent increase on the cost of the project since October, from 18 billion to 21 billion.

The French energy giant also admitted that the project would not be finished before 2027, which is a decade later than was originally proposed.

There have been repeated delays with designing and construction of the plant, which will take at least nine and a half years to build once it has been signed off. This is not now due to happen until September.

American credit agency Moody's last night said it was downgrading the energy firm's rating to 'negative' due to 'incremental risks' linked to the project. If the project goes ahead, Moody's could further downgrade EDF's rating.

It said: 'The outlook could be returned to stable provided that EDF decides not to proceed.'

There has been speculation by industry figures that EDF could hand over the Hinkley site to another nuclear developer if it collapses under the financial pressure.

The report was denied today by the China General Nuclear Power Corporation.

A spokesman said: 'China General Nuclear Power Corporation has no plans to build nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point C.

'Our intention is to obtain regulatory approval to build our reactor design at Bradwell in Essex.'

Lord Howell suggested that the second plan would involve building two smaller nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point 'rather quicker' (artist's impression above)

Senior intelligence and military figures warned that national security could be threatened by Chinese nuclear reactors after fears that technological 'trapdoors or backdoors' might be put into computer systems. This would allow China to bypass Britain's security measures.

Lisa Nandy, the shadow energy secretary, told The Times: 'If there is a secret Chinese plan B for Hinkley, ministers should tell us precisely what that is.

'With uncertainty over both the timetable and the cost of this project, it is now imperative that the government offer reassurance that British jobs will be protected, costs on households will be kept under control and that binding pollution targets will not be put at risk.'
The North Dakota Supreme Court will review changes intended to make the process by which lawyers are investigated and disciplined for professional misconduct more efficient, transparent and just.

The lawyer discipline system is the way by which attorneys in the state are held responsible for professional misconduct. Anyone can file a complaint against a lawyer. Complaints are reviewed by a regional inquiry committee comprised of lawyers and lay people and may be prosecuted before the state disciplinary board. People file complaints about anything from an attorney not calling them back to stealing their money. Punishments range from simple admonitions to disbarment.

The chief justice asked the American Bar Association to examine the state's lawyer discipline system in 2013 and make recommendations on how to improve it. It was the first outside review of the procedures since 1983.

The Joint Committee on Attorney Standards, a group of lawyers and citizens who discuss qualifications and professional conduct for the profession, met six times over the past year and a half to discuss the ABA's findings and recommendations. They presented a number of substantive and procedural changes to the high court this week.

The most significant changes are to transfer responsibility for investigating cases from three volunteer regional inquiry committees to the Bismarck-based disciplinary counsel and give the disciplinary counsel more power to dismiss cases.

The changes would address some of the ABA's concerns about consistency across the state, as well as speed up cases that don't implicate the rules, Disciplinary Counsel Kara Johnson said in an interview. Frustrated criminal defendants sometimes write in for help with an appeal and witnesses complain about a rude attorney. These types of complaints, which even if true would not be grounds for a discipline, can take more than three months to resolve with the current process, Johnson said.

James Ganje, staff counsel for the joint committee, noted that the inquiry committees are staffed by volunteers, who juggle their work with the complaints, which often lead to slow processing, a bad situation for lawyers and complainants.

These recommendations represent a compromise with ABA recommendations. The ABA wanted the state to consolidate all three inquiry committees into a statewide one, to reduce inconsistencies in how cases are handled in different regions and reduce perceptions of bias, which may originate from the fact that the people investigating the cases come from the same region as the people being investigated.

Another change the joint committee proposed was that a lawyer who loses a license to practice law, whether temporarily or permanently, should be prohibited from working as a paralegal or law clerk.

"If a suspended lawyer can identify as a paralegal or law clerk, it could pose a possibility of confusion in the mind of the public and potential clients of the status of the person," Ganje said in an interview.

The state bar association, represented by Joseph Wetch, argued in court that this provision was unnecessary and harmful, citing three examples of lawyers who had worked as paralegal or law clerks while their licenses were suspended and successfully regained their lawyer status.

Working such jobs gives lawyers an opportunity to provide for their families, rehabilitate themselves and stay within the legal field, he said. Lawyers are disciplined twice when they are prohibited from using their college degree as well as their law license, he argued. A supervising lawyer would be responsible for disclosing the former lawyer's conduct and ensuring that they do not practice the law.

Some of the justices appeared skeptical of Wetch's proposition. Justice Dale Sandstrom suggested that the lawyer's conduct might be relevant to whether he or she should be allowed to work in the legal field, like if a person had been disbarred for embezzling from a client or misusing a client's information.

"Hire them at your own risk," Justice Lisa McEvers said.

Joint committee members also proposed making the discipline process more open and transparent. They suggested creating a dedicated site for lawyer discipline and posting vacancies to the discipline board, which reviews serious cases and handles appeals, online. They also suggested posting a standard complaint form online, which people could fill out and mail, instead of writing a free-form letter.

Ways to handle less serious complaints also were presented. The committee suggested sending "advisory letters" to lawyers who barely violated the rules or whose conduct was questionable but didn't quite amount to a rule violation. These letters would essentially tell the lawyer to pay attention to what he or she is doing.

They also recommended a set of guidelines for violations that are appropriate for diversion. For example, the new rules spell out drug abuse and poor practice skills as appropriate for diversion to resources such as counseling, addiction treatment and continuing legal education. Stealing money from a client's trust account, on the other hand, would not.
A survivor of a 2013 limousine fire that killed five California women has spoken out in court about the horrifying ordeal.

Amalia Loyola, 51, and seven other friends were celebrating her friend Neriza Fojas's wedding when the group's limo caught on fire on the San Mateo Bridge on May 5, 2013.

Fojas and four other women died in the flames, which investigators said were sparked by a mechanical failure that caused the vehicle's drive shaft to rub against its undercarriage. Loyola was one of four survivors.

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This frame grab taken from a video shows the limo on fire on the San Mateo Bridge in California in 2013. A widower of one of the five victims of the fatal blaze has brought a wrongful death suit against the Ford Motor Company

Officials investigate at the scene of the deadly limo fire. Five women died, and four passengers survived

Neriza Fojas, 31, was newlywed and out to celebrate with her friends on the night her limousine caught on fire

Michelle Estrera (left), Jennifer Balon, Neriza Fojas and Anna Alcantara all perished when the limousine they were riding in caught fire on the San Mateo Bridge

Jennifer Balon, left, and Michelle Estrera, right, also died in the May 5, 2013 fire on the San Mateo Bridge in California

When Loyola first felt the car bump, she 'thought it was just part of the ride,' she told a jury in San Mateo Thursday during her testimony in a wrongful death suit against the Ford Motor Company, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

A lawyer for the widower of one of the victims, who brought the wrongful death suit, alleges Ford knew there was a potential fire risk but did nothing about it, the Mercury News reported.

Loyola only realized something was wrong when black smoke started rising from the floor, she said.

Driver Orville Brown has said it took him up to 45 seconds to react to the women's screams for help

As the passenger compartment started to fill up with smoke, she crawled behind the three other survivors toward the only escape, a narrow opening to the driver's seat.

'I couldn't see my friends. I couldn't open my mouth,' Loyola said, according to the Mercury News.

Loyola was the last to escape. But before she could do so, one of the other survivors, Jasmin De Guia, got stuck in front of her.

'She got stuck on her hip,' Loyola said. If De Guia were unable to move, Loyola remembered thinking, 'I am gong to die.'

As Loyola finally squeezed through the opening head-first, her ankles were burned so severely she later required a skin graft, the Mercury News reported.

Inside the compartment, five of Loyola's friends remained trapped and would later be found dead.

Along with the newlywed Fojas, Felomina Geronga, Jennifer Balon, 39, Michelle Estrera, 35, and Anna Alcantara, 46, died inside the limo.

Investigators later found at least one of the back doors was secured with a child lock.

The limo driver, Orville Brown, has previously said that when he heard one of the passengers yelled 'smoke,' he thought she was asking if she could smoke a cigarette. It took him up to 45 seconds to react.

The fire was ruled an accident in August 2013 and no criminal charges were filed.

The state Public Utilities Commission issued a $1,500 citation to the company that owned the limo, Limo Stop Inc., for having more passengers than seat belts. Though there were nine passengers in the back, the car was made to carry only eight.

The survivors and the families of the four victims previously reached out-of-court settlements with Accubuilt, which built the limousine out of a 1999 Lincoln Town Car, the Ford Motor Company, and Limo Stop Inc., the Mercury News reported.
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Australia's most disgusting hotel has been demolished to the delight of the neighbours let alone the people who stayed there.

The Herald Sun reports that the Elwood Sands budget accommodation in Melbourne was described on tourism review site TripAdvisor as 'the most disgusting, putrid, dive of a place' and 'one step away from hell'.

That was one of the better reviews by travellers who stayed in the ramshackle hotel where soggy carpet, mouldy bathrooms, and trash everywhere were the highlights.

Elwood Sands budget accommodation in Melbourne was described on tourism review site TripAdvisor as 'the most disgusting, putrid, dive of a place'

Shockingly it was still open for business in February and the Trip Adviser website was awash with posts describing the many horrors that lay within its walls (pictured)

But it wasn't just those staying there who had reason to complain as the neighbours claimed that it was also a home for drug users and sex workers.

Shockingly it was still open for business in February and the Trip Adviser website was awash with posts describing the many horrors that lay within its walls.

One female UK visitor said sleeping on the street 'probably would have been the better option' her stay was so bad there.

'The windows were broken and held together by odd blocks of wood. The shower did not work. There were damp patches on the carpet alongside burn marks from cigarettes,' she said.

Neighbours claimed that the horrible hotel was also a home for drug users and sex workers

Mouldly shower curtains and dirty carpets were all the rage at the Elwood Sands budget accommodation

One female UK visitor said sleeping on the street 'probably would have been the better option' her stay was so bad there

One visitor said it would have been 'safer to sleep on the street' than to sleep at the Elwood Sands budget accommodation in Melbourne

The Elwood Sands budget accommodation in Melbourne was described on tourism review site TripAdvisor as 'a health hazard'

Filthy Towers- Another visitor was not happy with their stay and said there was 'filth everywhere, inside and outside'

Another terrified tourist on TripAdvisor also detailed how even after he had gotten out of the hell hole his nightmare was still not over.

'Next morning during my dash to the car to get the hell outta there, I was cornered by a filthy old man holding a small knife asking if I knew where 'irene and gary' were staying as they'd stolen his phone the night before,' posted Slinde01.

'As he came closer he told me about his viral conjunctivitis which was weeping from his eyes.

'I'm glad to be alive but not convinced I haven't contracted SOMETHING from the place or people it attracts.'

Travellers and neighbours were delighted when the hotel from hell was finally bulldozed, months after it was sold to developers

'The windows were broken and held together by odd blocks of wood. The shower did not work,' one traveller said who stayed there

But good news was at hand for travellers and neighbours alike as the hotel from hell was finally bulldozed, months after it was sold to developers.

The Port Phillip Council confirmed its health department had inspected the 900sq metre property and made it suitable for registration.

Developers were then granted planning permission for the construction of a four-storey building, consisting of 23 apartments and a basement level on the site.

But after all the site has been through, let's hope it's not haunted as well.

Now that the site is rid of the eyesore with its filthy air-conditioning units, a new a four-storey building will be constructed




A second website has pulled a listing for the gun used to kill unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin after critics branded the sale 'disgusting.'

The Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm, used by acquitted killer George Zimmerman in the 2013 shooting, was due to be auctioned off on Thursday morning with bids starting at $5,000 on GunBroker.com.

But the website swiftly removed the ad, stating that: 'We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving.'

Within hours of the listing being removed, a second website - UnitedGunGroup.com - tweeted that their website was now hosting the auction of the gun.

But it appears that, once again, the listing has been taken down after critics branded the sale 'disgusting' and accused Zimmerman and the website of trying to profit from the death of a teenage boy.

George Zimmerman, left, was auctioning off the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin (right) with in 2012

The former neighborhood watch captain said the gun had only recently been returned to him by the Department of Justice following his murder trial

Zimmerman explained that he planned to lock it in a safe to eventually give to his grandchildren if the Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm didn't sell

The former neighborhood watchman said the US Justice Department returned the pistol, which took it after Zimmerman was acquitted in Martin's 2012 shooting death.

In his first listing, Zimmerman wrote: 'Prospective bidders, I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon. '

'The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012.'

GunBroker.com took the listing down minutes after the sale was to have started at 11am.

The message, 'Sorry, but the item you have requested is no longer in the system' appeared on the page instead.

In a statement released Thursday afternoon, officials with GunBroker.com said it reserves the right to reject listings, and has done so with Zimmerman's.

Within hours of the listing being removed, a second website - UnitedGunGroup.com - tweeted that their website was now hosting the auction of the gun

Now, Zimmerman is selling the murder weapon on UnitedGunGroup.com (above) for the same starting bid as he did on the first site

GunBroker.com took down Zimmerman's listing, citing that they didn't want any part of the publicity it was receiving. The message above is what appears on the page where his listing was

'Mr. Zimmerman never contacted anyone at GunBroker.com prior to or after the listing was created and no one at GunBroker.com has any relationship with Zimmerman,' the statement said.

'Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing.'

However, Zimmerman told the Orlando Sentinel that GunBroker.com was not 'prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm. It has now been placed with another auction house.'

In his listing on United Gun Group, Zimmerman's said a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting what he claimed was violence by the Black Lives Matter movement against law enforcement officers and combating anti-gun rhetoric of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

He also pledged to use the money towards ending the career of state attorney Angela Corey, who led Zimmerman's prosecution.

The listing ended with a Latin phrase that translates as 'if you want peace, prepare for war.'

'United Gun Group offers a free platform for law-abiding citizens to buy, sell, trade and discuss firearms and related products,' a statement on their Facebook page reads announcing the gun auction.

'United Gun Group's stance is that as long as Mr. Zimmerman (or any other UGG member) is obeying the letter of the law, his personal firearm sale will be permitted on our network.

'UGG reminded Mr. Zimmerman to ensure the gun is shipped from one FFL to another FFL. He appears to be following all applicable laws.'

Zimmerman (pictured in court in 2013) made headlines after shooting the unarmed 17-year-old on February 26, 2012, during a neighborhood patrol in Sanford, Florida

George Zimmerman's listing was taken off the both auction websites after he tried to sell the gun yesterday

The site apparently went down a few minutes after the auction listing was posted.

In both listings of the weapon, he has claimed that the 'many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.'

However, the museum said in a statement it had not done so and had no plans to display it.

Lucy McBath, the mother of another black teenager shot by a white man during an argument at a Jacksonville convenience store in 2012, said the auction reflected a 'deplorable lack of value for human life.'

'I am deeply disappointed that the man who killed Trayvon Martin is trying to sell the very gun he used to cut that precious life short to raise money,' McBath said in a written statement.

The slaying of her son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, by Michael Dunn drew parallels at the time to the Zimmerman-Martin case. Dunn told police he had felt threatened by Davis. Unlike Zimmerman, Dunn was convicted of murder.

When first challenged on his decision to sell the gun which robbed a 17-year-old boy of his life, Zimmerman told Fox News 51 he was a 'free American' and so 'can do what I like with my possessions.'

The former neighborhood watch captain said the gun had only recently been returned to him by the Department of Justice following his murder trial.

The 32-year-old was acquitted of the charges after the fatal shooting of Martin in 2012.

He made headlines after shooting the unarmed 17-year-old on February 26, 2012, during a neighborhood patrol inside a gated community in Sanford, Florida.

The case shocked the nation, sparking protests across the country with demonstrators demanding Zimmerman's arrest and a full investigation.

On July 13 the following year, he was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

The former neighborhood watch captain had planned to open the auction for the Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm (pictured during the trial in June 2013) on Thursday morning on GunBrokers.com before they took the listing down

Amy Siewert, from FDLE, showed the jury how George Zimmerman's gun can be fired during his trial in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Florida in July 2013

Zimmerman relisted the gun on UnitedGunGroup.com Thursday afternoon and described it on the auction as the 'firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012'

Zimmerman told investigators he had fired because he feared for his life after he confronted Martin, who was returning from a store while visiting his father at the same townhome complex where Zimmerman lived.

The former neighborhood watched captain claimed he acted in self-defense during the fight where he claims he was punched by the teen.

Martin's parents have always insisted that Zimmerman initiated the fight.

Since his acquittal, he has had a series of run-ins with the law and courted online controversy a number of times by bragging about killing the African-American teenager on social media.

He was arrested on charges of aggravated assault, battery and criminal mischief after his then-girlfriend said he pointed a gun at her face during an argument.

Zimmerman was accused by his estranged wife Shellie of smashing an iPad during an argument at the home they had shared. However, no charges were ever filed due to a lack of evidence.

And following his third arrest for domestic violence allegations earlier this year, Zimmerman's lawyer admitted his client 'has not been lucky with the ladies.'

Thousands of demonstrators marched along the streets in Sanford, Florida, during a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) rally demanding for justice in the shooting of Trayvon Martin

The shooting of the unarmed teen by Zimmerman sparked protests across the state and country (pictured at the Orange County Courthouse is Orlando, Florida, Wednesday, July 17, 2013)

Thousands took to the streets across America after Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin

Last year, Zimmerman referenced Martin's death when someone sent him the message: 'It's slap-an-idiot Wednesday.'

He replied: 'We all know how it ended for the last moron that hit me. Give it a whirl cupcake.'

Hours later, he posted numerous racial slurs in a series of tweets as well as a selfie he took as he smoked a cigar in a swimming pool.

He posted pictures of Michael Brown and Vester Flanagan with the caption: 'If @BarackObama had two sons'.

Zimmerman also branded President Obama an 'ignorant baboon' for his statements about the high number of gun-related deaths in America after the on-air shooting of WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward.

Using a number of homophobic slurs, he wrote: 'Pansy Fester [sic] lee Flanagan, too much of a daisy to deal w/racism. Murders 2 whites. Hate crime, 100%. Racist Obama says nothing condeming [sic].'

Zimmerman also cashed on on his notoriety to sell a painting on eBay for more than $100,000.

He sparked fury on Twitter yet again last September after retweeting a picture of Trayvon Martin's dead body.

Since Zimmerman's, left, acquittal, he has courted online controversy a number of times by bragging about killing Martin (right)

A fan had posted the shocking image on the social network alongside a message to Zimmerman saying: 'Z-Man is a one man army.'

Zimmerman then retweeted the image to more than 10,000 followers on his account, which he often uses to troll people online.

In the latest headline-grabbing move, he posted the first ad for the gun online which he billed to potential buyers as the 'opportunity to own a piece of American history.'

And he claimed he 'couldn't care less' if many people found the move in bad taste although he admitted that he had received more death threats than usual after posting the ad online.

The 32-year-old insisted that 'going into hiding' was not going to keep him safe from what he described as 'radicals.' 'It won't help,' he added.

Zimmerman planned to lock the gun in a safe to eventually give to his grandchildren if it didn't sell on the auction site. 'If I sell it, and it sells, I move past it,' he explained prior to the listing being removed on GunBroker.com.

Martin's family declined to comment on the sale of the weapon but said that the The Trayvon Martin Foundation, set up in his name, was continuing its mission to 'end senseless gun violence.'
The family of Lynette Daley, the mother-of seven who died from severe genital trauma after a night with two men, said the men were well known in the northern NSW town of Maclean for spending a lot of time with homeless Aboriginal girls.

Ms Daley was found naked, bloodied and bruised on Ten Mile Beach, in northern NSW, on January 2011 and the two men allegedly present when she was injured, Adrian Attwater and Paul Maris, were never prosecuted.

The 33-year-old mother 'trusted' Attwater because 'she had known him most of her life' and he was a school friend of one of her cousins.

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Lynette Daley (pictured) was an alcoholic who was sleeping outdoors and the two men who were camping with her were known for buying homeless Aboriginal girls alcohol, her family has claimed

Adrian Attwater, 42, had known Ms Daley for most of her life and she 'trusted' him but when she accompanied him and another man on an Australia Day camping holiday, the 33-year-old mother died from blood loss after severe blunt force genital trauma

Pauline Daley said her younger sister was sleeping rough at the time in 2011 when she died because of her addiction to alcohol.

'Lynette was living in the bush, living anywhere she could, on the riverbank and she used to come up home on the weekends or on Mondays to freshen herself up and have a feed,' Ms Daley told Daily Mail Australia.

Lynette, who was also known to her family as 'Norma', had sufficiently recognised her alcohol problem to admit she could not look after her seven children, and relinquished them into the care of her mother, Thelma Davis.

But Pauline said Lynette visited her children, who now range from 21 years old down to eight years old.

She said Lynette's children and her siblings, including her twin brother Hector, had all suffered in the five years since the death of the 33-year-old who used to go home once a week.

'She used to come come up to Mum's and have a shower and borrowed bras and pants and the last time she said, "Oh babe, I love you, I'm going camping", and when she didn't turn up the next time for her girls' stuff. I said, "That's strange that Norma isn't here."

The sister of Lynette Daley said her family didn't like the look of Paul Maris, 46, because 'he looked freaky' ahead of the incident in which Lynette died after a night in his and Adrian Attwater's company

The interior of Paul Maris' 4WD after police were called to the scene where Lynette Daley died in 2011, but Maris had already removed a blood-soaked mattress and Ms Daley's underwear

Police photographs show the blood in the car where a heavily intoxicated Lynette Daley underwent severe genital trauma and then bled to death, but her male companions have never been prosecuted

'Then the cops came and they said, "We have some bad news", and I said, "Is she alive or dead?", and they said, "She's dead", and we just screamed down Maclean.

'We just all grabbed each other and were screaming and shaking. I knew who she was with and that she trusted them.

'She was very feisty, she wouldn't let no-one touch her.

'I always thought that bloke [Maris] looked freaky and when Lynette said she was going with him. I couldn't stand the both of them.'

Billy Macleay, Lynette Daley's cousin, said that that Adrian Attwater, 42, who he went to school with, and Paul Maris, 46, 'who was a bit of an outsider' were well known for spending a lot of time with indigenous female park drinkers.

Lynette Daley told her older sister Pauline 'Babe I love you, I'm going camping' before going off on a trip with two men,one of whom she had known her whole life, and ending up bleeding to death from sever genital trauma

Pauline Daley says her sister Lynette (pictured) was an alcoholic who 'was living in the bush, living anywhere she could, on the riverbank and she used to come up home on the weekends or on Mondays to freshen herself up and have a feed'

'They have been doing it for years, hanging around Aboriginal girls, all parkies together. Norma was an alcoholic, but she's known Adrian most of her life. There was a sense of trust.

'This is a small town. Everyone knows each other. I knew Adrian at school, he was alright then but just to look at him, what drink has done to him. He's got old real quick.'

Lynette Daley died from blunt force genital tract trauma allegedly caused by Mr Attwater in the back of Mr Maris's four-wheel drive while she was heavily intoxicated, ABC's Four Corners reported.

Mr Attwater and his friend, Mr Maris, took Ms Daley to Ten Mile Beach for a camping and fishing trip the day before she was allegedly assaulted.

The two men, who were known to police at the time.

Ten Mile Beach in northern NSW where Ms Daley allegedly bled to death in 2011 following an Australia Day camping trip on which she became heavily intoxicated and then suffered severe genital trauma

Lynette Daley's mother Thelma Davis (above, left) and stepfather Gordon David (above, right) were shocked by the 'very confronting' evidence they saw on Four Corners about their daughter's death but remain sceptical about whether justice will ever be done

Forensic investigators later found her alcohol concentration to be 0.352, in the potentially lethal range.

Lynette Daley's death is now under review because Adrian Attwater and Paul Maris, who were charged respectively with manslaughter and with manslaughter accessory after the fact, were never prosecuted.

This was despite a 2014 inquest by NSW coroner Michael Barnes finding there may be a case to answer.

Following an ABC-TV Four Corners programme on Monday, which aired footage never before seen by Ms Daley's distraught family, NSW Director of Public Prosecutions, Lloyd Babb, SC, has appointed barristers from outside his office to review the decision.

Mother-of-seven Lynette Daley, 33, (above) died on a northern New South Wales beach in 2011 as a result of blunt force genital tract trauma after going on a camping trip with two local men, one of whom she had known most of her life

A younger Lynette Daley (pictured) before she became an alcoholic

Lynette Daley's stepfather, Gordon Davis said he and his wife Thelma were 'still in shock' at the 'very confronting' evidence aired by Four Corners which his family had never seen before.

The programme revealed that Paul Maris had told police that he destroyed key pieces of evidence such as a blood-soaked mattress and Ms Daley's underwear before law enforcement arrived at the scene.

While on the phone to the emergency services, Mr Attwater was recorded saying that the motionless Ms Daley was a 'f**kin' b***h', while he believed he was on hold.

The parebts of Lynette Daley (pictured) said they found the evidence of what happened to her 'very confronting' and damning of the two men in whose company she allegedly was when she died

'C'mon, wake up babe where are ya? Hey ya? You f**kin' b***h,' he can be heard saying while being recorded by NSW Ambulance.

'What a good f**kin' Australia Day, f**k's sake...f**king hell you bloody b***h.'

After announcing the review of the case, Mr Babb told the ABC that 'given the importance of maintaining public confidence in the administration of justice, I have taken the unusual step of seeking advice from independent counsel'.

But Ms Daley's family remains sceptical about the chances of achieving justice for her.

'They are just covering their a**ses,' he said. 'We've been stuffed round and lied to and then we watch this programme and se there's all these other witnesses who were on the beach when it happened.

'The Coroners' report was a scathing attack on these two men. But she was just a statistic with the DPP and with them.

'You know, it was just another Indigenous girl, we'll sweep it under the carpet. You know, they're a dime a dozen, this happens all the time, we'll let it go.'

NSW coroner Michael Barnes said Mr Attwater and Mr Maris' accounts of what they subjected Ms Daley to were 'inconceivable and dishonest' following an inquest in 2014.

It has been revealed that police sought apprehended violence orders against Mr Maris on four occasions in the past 11 years.

Gordon Davis said his family had never seen much of the evidence presented on Four Corners, which recreated the scenes at Ten Mile Beach (above) which showed there were witnesses to the events which led to Lynette Daley's death

On four occasions between 2005-2015 police sought AVOs against Maris to protect four different women, not including Ms Daley, according to The Daily Telegraph

After Mr Attwater was charged with manslaughter and Mr Maris with manslaughter accessory after the fact, the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to prosecute either man despite pressure from the police and NSW coroner.

Gordon Davis told Four Corners the system did not care about his stepdaughter.

Ms Daley's sister, Pauline, told Four Corners that her life felt empty since her death in 2011.
A store owner was forced to defend his 15-year-old deaf cat after a customer made a complaint to authorities in an attempt to shut down the shop.

New Zealand-based store Vinyl Destination - which sells records, comics, toys and coffee - has been the home to Callaway the cat, the much-loved mascot to customers.

Owner Luke Wormald has spoken of his frustration at the complaint after an 'anonymous' customer called the council claiming the store was 'very unprofessional' for having a cat on its premises.

The customer claimed the 'cat was in a place where you sell food - it's disgusting'.

A New Zealand store owner was forced to defend his 15-year-old deaf cat after a customer complaint was made to authorities in an attempt to shut down the shop

Owner Luke Wormald has spoken of his frustration at the complaint on social media to explain the rules

But Mr Wormald has since hit back in an open letter on social media, saying Callaway did not pose a risk as the store has been abiding by the rules.

'Here's a few things you might want to know... 1. Legally all Cafes are allowed to have a cat on the premises for the purpose of rodent control,' Mr Wormald said on Facebook.

'2. We don't sell food and our coffee is takeaway only, pretty hard for him to sneeze on your flat white that way.

'3. Everyone else loves Callaway.'

Callaway the cat has been known as the much-loved mascot to customers at Vinyl Destination store

To move on from the dispute, Mr Wormald said he will give a free coffee to the customer who complained on the condition he apologises to Callaway the cat

The 15-year-old deaf cat has been a popular mascot at the New Zealand-based music store

But despite the customer's efforts to close the store's doors, the owner said he has been bombarded with a significant amount of support from the public.

'We have tried bringing something new and exciting to Tauranga and the response has been wonderful,' Mr Wormald said.

'I'm sorry you don't feel the same way but please don't ruin it for the others who enjoy what we do.'

And to move pass the bitter dispute, Mr Wormald said the store will kindly provide the customer with a free coffee on the condition he apologises to Callaway.

'Finally just to make sure there's no animosity, you have a free coffee waiting for you anytime here,' he said.

'All we ask is that you apologise to Callaway first, he's still pretty dark and his feelings have been hurt badly through this ordeal.'

After a visit from the council on Thursday, Mr Wormald said he was told that the store did not break any regulations for having Callaway at the premises.

The customer had initially complained about Callaway being near food but Mr Wormald said the cat did not pose a risk at the store

New Zealand-based store Vinyl Destination sells records, comic books, toys and takeaway coffee

All he wants is an apology: The store owner has kindly asked for the customer to come forward and apologise to Callaway

Tauranga City Council environmental monitoring manager Andrew McMath said the store in question sells coffee and is classified under NZ food rules as National Programme Level 1, which is a 'low risk food business'.

'Low risk food businesses includes those making and selling hot drinks,' Mr McMath told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.

Other low risk food businesses includes growing or packing produce, extracting and packing honey, making sugar or products like syrup, transporting or distributing food and selling pre-packaged ice cream as well as other pre-packaged food that doesn't need to be kept cold or frozen (known as shelf-stable foods).
This photo shows Gen. Lori Robinson, the new commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado

The Air Force has just two female four-star generals, and one is about to become the first woman to head a top-tier U.S. warfighting command.

Gen. Lori J. Robinson takes over the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S.

Northern Command in Colorado on Friday. People who know Robinson describe her as the personification of a new generation of leaders, someone who understands the Air Force has a broad role in space, cyber security and drones, not just flying and fighting.

'Gen. Robinson reflects that change as much as anything else,' said Maria Carl, a retired Air Force colonel who serves on the Military Affairs Council of the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce. Carl didn't serve under Robinson but worked with her in her Chamber of Commerce role, when the general headed the Pacific Air Forces at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

'She has an ability to take all the different pieces of the picture and pull it together strategically,' Carl said.

Robinson wasn't available for an interview before she officially started her new assignment at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.

Her family has deep roots in the Air Force. Her husband, retired two-star Gen. David Robinson, was a pilot in the Thunderbirds demonstration team. David Robinson's daughter, 2nd Lt. Taryn Ashley Robinson, graduated from the Air Force Academy in June 2005 but was fatally injured in a pilot-training crash that autumn. She died in January 2006, four weeks before her 23rd birthday.

Lori Robinson's father, George Howard of Jackson, New Hampshire, was a 30-year Air Force veteran and a pilot in the Vietnam War.

'I have looked up to my father my entire life,' Robinson told senators at a confirmation hearing for her new job last month. He accompanied her to the hearing.

Robinson, the incoming commander, salutes during her arrival at the change of command ceremony, at Peterson Air Force Base on Friday

Navy Admiral William E. Gortney, the outgoing commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, hugs Robinson during the ceremony

Gen. J.H. Vance, Canadian Army Chief of Staff, left, Gortney, center, and Robinson, right, laugh together during the change of command ceremony

Gortney, right, shakes hands with U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr. on Friday

One of her new commands, the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD, is a joint U.S.-Canada operation that defends the skies over both nations and monitors sea approaches.

It's best known for its Cold War-era control room deep inside Cheyenne Mountain  now used only as a backup  and for its wildly popular NORAD Tracks Santa operation on Christmas Eve, fielding calls from children asking for Santa's whereabouts.

People who know Robinson (seen in June 2015) describe her as the personification of a new generation of leaders, someone who understands the Air Force and has a broad role in space, cyber security and drones, not just flying and fighting

Robinson joined the Air Force in 1982 through the ROTC program at the University of New Hampshire

Her other command, Northern Command, is responsible for defending U.S. territory from attack and helping civilian authorities in emergencies. It was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Northern Command is one of nine warfighting centers the Pentagon calls unified combatant commands.

They combine elements of all the military services and have responsibility for geographic areas of the globe or specialized roles, such as special forces.

All the other combatant commands are led by men.

Robinson has an extensive background in command and control, the science of orchestrating military operations across a broad area. In her previous job, commander of Pacific Air Forces, her area of responsibility spanned more than half the globe.

One of her new commands, the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD, is a joint U.S.-Canada operation that defends the skies over both nations and monitors sea approaches. Headquarters for the Northcom Joint Operations Center and NORAD are located in this building (file photo)

NORAD is best known for its Cold War-era control room deep inside Cheyenne Mountain  now used only as a backup (file photo)

'You're dealing with a lot of countries, a lot of the air forces in the Pacific, China being one of them,' said Darryll Wong, a retired Air Force major general and Hawaii's former adjutant general. 'She had to be a fast learner.'

Wong said Robinson showed she has a compassionate side as well.

'I think it's very reassuring that you have a strong leader and a compassionate leader,' he said. 'It says a lot to the enlisted (personnel).'

Robinson joined the Air Force in 1982 through the ROTC program at the University of New Hampshire. She has been an air battle manager and tactics chief, and her commands have included an operations and training groups. She was also an Air Force fellow at the Brookings Institute.
This is the bloodied and swollen face of Richard Simone, 50, in his arrest mugshot released the day after he was filmed being beaten by cops

This is the blooded and swollen face of a suspect who was filmed being savagely beaten by police in New Hampshire following a high-speed chase.

Richard Simone, 50, appears with a badly swollen jaw, blood coming from his left ear, and marks on his right cheek and lip in the booking photo issued a day after he was filmed being beaten.

Meanwhile one New Hampshire Trooper and one Massachusetts trooper have been suspended after Democrat governor Maggie Hassan announced an investigation into the disturbing film.

In the footage a New Hampshire trooper, in green, can be seen hitting Simone in the head at least seven times, including several uppercuts to the face.

A Massachusetts trooper, wearing a blue shirt, can be seen landing at least four punches on Simone. Neither of the officers have been identified.

In an earlier statement, Hassan said: I have been in contact with the attorney general and the Commissioner of Safety.

'It is important and appropriate that the attorney general's office has opened an investigation into the incident.'

Meanwhile Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, added: 'I thought the video was incredibly disturbing and I'm anxious to work with the folks in New Hampshire to get moving on the investigation and to figure out what's what as quickly as possible and take the appropriate action.'

The chase began when Simone refused to stop for local police in Holden, Massachusetts.

Simone's face was still swollen and bruised even as he showed up in court for his arraignment on Thursday after he led police on a 100mph 50-mile chase

Cops say Simone was wanted on multiple arrest warrants and failed to stop for officers on Wednesday before he was filmed being savagely beaten after surrendering

He was wanted on multiple warrants for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, larceny and failure to stop for police, Procopio said in a statement.

Holden police chased him, and a Massachusetts State Police cruiser followed.

'We saw about 15 out of state cops, state police and some from Holden, Massachusetts, chasing a pickup,' witness Monty Hays told WMUR-TV.

The chase went through several towns at speeds exceeding 100 mph, with the pickup truck 'making abrupt lane changes as the (suspect) continued to try to evade capture' and crashing at least once, Procopio said.

But spike strips laid out by police eventually took their toll.

In Nashua, where the chase ended in a residential neighborhood, witnesses said the truck was barely pushing the speed limit.

A New Hamshire state trooper (believed to be on the left, in green) and a Massachusetts trooper (thought to be on the right, in blue) have been suspended amid an investigation into the film

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker branded the video, which shows Simone dropping to his knees with his hands behind his head before officers start punching him, as 'extremely disturbing'

'Its tires they just were exploded,' Hays told the television station. 'They were on rims. Rubber was flying everywhere.'

The pursuit lasted about an hour, ending about 50 miles northeast of where it began.

Helicopter video showed the pickup truck stopped next to a utility pole on a dead-end street before police officers surrounded it with their weapons drawn.

The driver stepped from the truck, got onto the ground and was on all fours and lowering himself when the officers set upon him, throwing punches.

Simone was taken into custody by Nashua police, who haven't returned phone calls seeking comment on the chase and Simone's treatment.

Simone couldn't be reached for comment while in custody Wednesday night.

A phone number listed for him has been disconnected.

This still from the video shows multiple police officers holding Simone down as at least two of them rain repeated blows down on his head

Full investigation: New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan ordered an investigation into the incident on Thursday. The Massachusetts State Police will conduct a separate investigation

In custody: Police arrested Simone and took him away after the take down. He was arraigned Thursday

Massachusetts State Police said Simone will face new charges related to the chase.

It's unclear where and when he'll be arraigned, but it will likely be in New Hampshire first.

The Massachusetts State Police will conduct two separate reviews of this incident, spokesperson David Procopio said in a statement to CBS News.

'The pursuit, like all pursuits that involve Massachusetts State Police, will be reviewed by the department's pursuit committee. Additionally, MSP will also review the apprehension of the suspect, to determine whether the level of force deployed during the arrest was appropriate,' Procopio said.

'We will conduct a separate departmental review of the actual apprehension, as the video captured by news helicopters shows a use of force against the suspect,' he continued.
Hundreds of Hezbollah members and supporters today lined the streets to carry the coffin of the militant group's top commander after he was killed in an explosion while commanding his troops in the Syrian war.

The Lebanese group announced Mustafa Badreddine was killed in Damascus but it did not specify whether the explosion was the result of an air raid, missile attack or artillery shelling.

Hundreds of the group's supporters, many waving the yellow Hezbollah flag, made their way to the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut, Lebanon, to attend his funeral.

Hezbollah fighters carried the coffin - which was covered in a huge flag - along a red carpet and some supporters standing in the crowd also managed to hold it up.

Hezbollah members and supporters today lined the streets to carry the coffin of the militant group's top commander Mustafa Badreddine

Hezbollah has played a significant role in the conflict next door, and along with Iran, has been one of President Bashar al-Assad's key backers.

Media in Lebanon and Israel quickly reported the explosion may actually have been an Israeli airstrike.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV that is close to the group earlier said the Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later removed the report.

Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Members and supporters of militant group Hezbollah carry the coffin of Mustafa Badreddine, a top Hezbollah commander who was killed in an attack in Syria

Hezbollah Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan (left) comforts the brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in Syria

The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle East's most dramatic political assassinations and the trial is ongoing near The Hague, Netherlands.

A billionaire businessman, Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin of their slain commander Mustafa Badreddine during his funeral in southern Beirut

After that, Badreddine, known among the group's ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollah's top military commander.

'Early information from the investigation shows that a strong explosion targeted one of our centers near the Damascus International Airport leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounded several others,' Hezbollah said in a statement issued Friday.

Hezbollah said Badreddine was a 'great jihadi leader' that he had joined 'the convoy of martyrs on top of them his comrade and close friend Mughniyeh'.

Hundreds of the group's supporters, many waving the yellow Hezbollah flag, came out to the streets in the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut, Lebanon, to attend his funeral

The group said it will be receiving condolences starting Friday morning in their stronghold south of Beirut

Slain military commander Mustafa Badreddine (pictured) was in Damascus overseeing Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian war

The group said it will be receiving condolences starting Friday morning in their stronghold south of Beirut.

Badreddine was the brother-in-law of Mughniyeh and was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

He was detained in Kuwait and imprisoned for years until he fled jail in 1990 after Iraq's Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait.

Over the past 30 years, Israel has killed some of the group's top leaders. In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Sayyed Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife, 5-year-old son and four bodyguards. Eight years earlier Hezbollah leader Sheik Ragheb Harb was gunned down in south Lebanon.

Some of the supporters standing in the crowd managed to touch the coffin as it was held aloft during his funeral

Hezbollah fighters carry the coffin along a red carpet during his funeral in the Ghobeiry area of southern Beirut, Lebanon

Badreddine, pictured in a handout photo released while he was being hunted for the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

Hezbollah has paid a very steep price for its public and bloody foray into Syria's civil war. Once lauded in Lebanon and the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, it has seen its popularity plummet, even among its Lebanese base, because of its staunch support for Assad.

The Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in March. A month earlier, Saudi Arabia cut $4 billion in aid to Lebanese security forces after Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil declined to join Arab and Islamic league resolutions critical of Iran and Hezbollah.

The predominantly Sunni Gulf Arab states, led by the kingdom, have taken other punitive measures.

They have warned their citizens against traveling to Lebanon as well as cut Lebanese satellite broadcasts, and closed a Saudi-backed broadcaster in Lebanon. The Gulf countries are also expelling Lebanese expatriates they say have ties to Hezbollah.
The 27-year-old suspected gang member has convictions for domestic violence and drugs

Lobos was arrested on Tuesday and charged with rape, forced sodomy and other offences

He had been released the night before 33 days into his 90-day jail term for a drug-related parole breach

raped his vicitm at gunpoint in a public restroom in Lincoln Heights, LA at noon on Monday

A suspected Los Angeles gang member has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman within 12 hours of being released early from jail.

Edgar Alexander Lobos, 27, attacked and raped his vicitm at gunpoint in a public restroom near a playground in Lincoln Heights, at around midday on Monday, police say.

Lobos, who has a lengthy criminal record which includes domestic violence and drugs offences, had only been released from Los Angeles County jail - following a narcotics-related parole violation - at just after midnight on Sunday evening.

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Edgar Alexander Lobos has been arrested for allegedly raping a woman within 12 hours of being released early from jail (pictured police at the scene of the crime)

Edgar Alexander Lobos, 27, attacked and raped his vicitm at gunpoint in a public restroom (pictured) near a playground in Lincoln Heights, at around midday on Monday, police say

When he was arrested at 6.30am on Tuesday morning, police found he was carrying a loaded handgun.

Lobos is charged with rape, forcible sodomy and several other charges. If convicted, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Authorities say that Lobos had approached his victim as she walked through Lincoln Park on Monday lunchtime.

She tried to ignore the suspect, who had then walked up behind her, held a gun to her head and forced her into a public restroom, where he raped her, police said.

'At the time he was taken into custody, he had a small caliber handgun in his possession that we believe was used in the course of the sexual assault,' LAPD Capt. William Hayes told reporters at an afternoon press conference.

Authorities say that Lobos had approached his victim as she walked through Lincoln Park (pictured) on Monday lunchtime

She tried to ignore the suspect, who had then walked up behind her, held a gun to her head and forced her into a public restroom, where he raped her, police said

The 31-year-old woman called 911 after the incident and taken to hospital where she was treated for her injuries.

Instigators say they were able to quickly identify Lobos as the alleged rapist after the victim was able to describe his distinctive facial tattoos.

Lobos, a suspected gang member, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2011 after pleading no contest to domestic abuse.

In 2014 he was jailed for two years after pleading no contest to being a felon in possession of a gun.

Then last month, he received a 90-day jail term for breaching his parole with drug offences.

But records show that he was released just a third way into that sentence.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department were unable to explain the criminal's early release.
A fairytale lottery win has been thrown into disarray with one member of the syndicate that scooped $40 million claiming he has been 'excluded' by colleagues he shared the winning ticket with.

It was first reported that all 14 factory workers, from Campbelltown in Sydney, had each scooped $2.6 million of the division one Powerball jackpot prize drawn on May 5 - but that is now in doubt.

On Friday Shine Lawyers released a statement to say they are representing one of the syndicate members who has been 'wrongfully excluded' from collecting his cut.

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Fourteen Sydney factory workers won $40 million Powerball prize on Thursday night (stock image)

'We are requesting that Oz Lotteries doesn't pay any of the winnings to the registered holder of the winning ticket, while it is unclear who was a part of the syndicate and who wasn't,' Shine Lawyers said.

'If the registered holder of the winning ticket does receive the money from Oz Lotteries, we will require that they do not make a decision on their own as to how that money is paid out.

'The winnings need to be frozen until the dispute is resolved.'

The group have until May 19 before the winnings are released.

It is setback for the 14 factory workers from Sydney who believed they were multi-millionaires after their shared entry on May 5 saw them winning the $40 million Powerball draw after they scooped the entire division one jackpot prize.

The lucky 14 winners from Sydney scooped the entire $40 million that was on offer

The workers, who said they regularly put in long hours at work to earn extra money, chose to remain anonymous, while the winning entry was purchased in a news agency at The Mall in Campbelltown.

At the time the syndicate's leader said the news was still sinking in and they still couldn't believe their luck.

'I got a phone call last night after the draw from one of the syndicate members who asked me to check our ticket because he was sure we'd just won Powerball,' the syndicate leader said.

'After I checked our ticket and saw that we had all the winning numbers, the phone calls were flying around  my phone was ringing like mad. Everyone was calling everyone about the win  it was crazy.

Lotto players will now try their luck in Saturday night's $21 million Mother's Day draw (stock image)

'Some of the syndicate members were shaking, others told me they had goose bumps. One of the guys even said his hair was standing on end and his face was tingling from the shock of it all.

'I'm just so glad I've had the opportunity to share this unbelievable win with my work colleagues. We're all hard workers and we all put in long shifts at work to earn some extra money for our families.'

The stoush comes after a similar dispute erupted last year when a group of people sued a Melbourne co-worker after he allegedly failed to distribute the winnings of a $16.6 million syndicate lottery ticket.

Gary Baron was sued by 16 of his former colleagues at Toll Group in Geelong, Victoria, with claims that his winning lottery ticket of $16.6 million was bought from a syndicate ticket in October 2014.

Gary Baron (pictured right) was sued by 16 of his former colleagues at Toll Group in Geelong, Victoria, with claims that his winning lottery ticket of $16.6 million was bought from a syndicate ticket in October 2014

Suspicions were raised after the Mr Baron, 49, (pictured right) resigned from his job and Tattersalls hired a courier from their company to deliver a bottle of champagne to Mr Baron to congratulate him on his win

Suspicions were raised after the 49-year-old resigned from his job and Tattersalls hired a courier from their company to deliver a bottle of champagne to Mr Baron to congratulate him on his win.

Mr Baron is understood to have purchased a number of properties for himself and a family member, as well as a $200,000 convertible BMW M4 since he won the money.

The group struck an agreement with Mr Baron for an undisclosed amount after legal action was launched.

Last month an unemployed FIFO worker in Western Australia who was struggling to pay off his debts also had a huge change of luck after winning $1 million in the Lotto.
The house where former prime minister Gough Whitlam was born has been demolished.

Pictures show the three-bedroom home in the affluent suburb of Kew, in east Melbourne, has been turned to rubble.

A neighbour that lives opposite the house said it was knocked over this morning.

Former prime minister Gough Whitlam's house was demolished (pictured) on Friday

Pictures show the three-bedroom home in the affluent suburb of Kew, in east Melbourne, has been turned to rubble

Planning Minister Richard Wynne said on Friday that Mr Whitlam's (pictured) legacy was his social reform, including introducing Medicare and supporting education

'This morning I heard some noise and went out and found the house was being destroyed,' the woman told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

She added, 'They've just destroyed a piece of Australian political history.'

Mr Whitlam's parents took out a mortgage at the beginning of 1915 and the home was built by May that same year.

The house, which is more than a century old and known as 'Ngara', was saved from the wrecking ball in November last year when the Boroondara Council gave it interim heritage protection.

But Victorian Minister for Planning Richard Wynne removed the interim protection on April 27.

A neighbour that lives opposite the house said it was knocked over this morning (pictured)

The Heritage Council of Victoria and an independent planning panel deemed the house unworthy of protection

Mr Whitlam was born at the house, known as 'Ngara', in 1916, but his family later relocated to Sydney

Both the Heritage Council of Victoria and an independent planning panel previously deemed the house unworthy of heritage protection.

'The decision to remove the heritage controls from Ngara reflects the findings of the independent panel that the association between Gough Whitlam and Ngara did not meet the threshold to warrant inclusion in an individual Heritage Overlay for identified places of local significance,' said a spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).

'Mr Whitlam was born in and lived at the property for approximately the first 18 months of his life before leaving Victoria permanently.'

Mr Wynne said on Twitter on Friday that Mr Whitlam's legacy was his social reform, including introducing Medicare and supporting education. He called him a 'true progressive leader'.

Victorian Minister for Planning Richard Wynne removed interim heritage protection from the house on April 27

Julianne Bell, the secretary of community group Protector of Public Lands, said she was appalled with the house's destruction (pictured)

Boroondara Council Mayor Jim Parke said in a statement the council valued its heritage and was 'disappointed' with the minister's decision.

The house was sold to a Chinese businessman for $3.3 million in 2013, domain.com.au reported.

The new owner won approval soon after to build a new mansion on the 1155 square metre block.

Julianne Bell, the secretary of community group Protector of Public Lands, said she was appalled with the house's destruction.

'This is an absolute disgrace,' Ms Bell told the Progress Leader.

Mr Whitlam was born in Ngara on July 11, 1916.

However, two years after his birth, the family uprooted to Sydney after his father, Fred Whitlam, was promoted to deputy Crown solicitor.

The home in the affluent Melbourne suburb of Kew was sold for $3.3 million in 2013

The new owner won approval to demolish the house and build a new mansion on the 1155 square metre block

Mr Whitlam's parents took out a mortgage at the beginning of 1915 and the home was built by May that year
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Sydneysiders have been treated to a week of spectacular sunrises and sunsets as hazard reduction burnoffs continue across the city.

A combination of low-lying clouds and lingering smoke clouds from hazard reduction burns in the Blue Mountains have seen saw the sky turn into a stunning light show.

Social media users have captured the striking spectacle and uploaded a flood of images showing the skies lit up with an swathes of pink, red and purple hues.

A swimmer goes for an early morning dip in eastern Sydney's Bronte beach against the backdrop of a stunning golden sunrise

Sydneysiders have been treated to a week of spectacular sunrises and sunsets as hazard reduction burnoffs continue across the city

A combination of low-lying clouds and lingering smoke clouds from hazard reduction burns in the Blue Mountains have set the skies alight

The NSW Rural Fire Service is continuing with plans to burn more than 30 hazard reduction burns on Friday and across the weekend, so the striking skies are expected to carry on into next week.

A spokesperson for the NSW Rural Fire Service told Daily Mail Australia fires will continue but not of the same degree as what was held in the Blue Mountains last weekend.

Areas that may be effected by smoke as burnoffs continue include Hornsby, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Lithgow, Hawkesbury, The Hills, Wyong, Warringah, Ku-ring-gai and Penrith.

If there is a cloud on the horizon, the chances are it will be smoky as conditions favour a ramping up of hazard-reduction burning by fire authorities in regions around Sydney.

Social media users have captured the striking spectacle and uploaded a flood of images showing the skies lit up with an swathes of pink, red and purple hues

The NSW Rural Fire Service told Daily Mail Australia fires will continue but not of the same degree as what was held in the Blue Mountains last weekend

Areas that may be effected by smoke as burnoffs continue include Hornsby, Lake Macquarie, Port Stephens, Lithgow, Hawkesbury, The Hills, Wyong, Warringah, Ku-ring-gai and Penrith

Sydney's Anzac Bridge (left) and a spectacular sunrise this week (right) are among the breathtaking images that have emerged on social media

On Sunday there were a deluge of complaints from concerned Sydnersiders after after 20 planned hazard reduction burns around the Blue Mountains blanketed the city in smoke

The jaw-dropping skies are expected to carry onto next week as the hazard reduction blazes continue

'We have a lot of smoke particles in the atmosphere so during sunset and sunrise times we will often see the light bending and reflecting off those particles which is creating those nice colours we're seeing,' Olenka Duma from the Bureau of Meteorology told ABC.

'As long as there are hazard reduction burns around the Sydney area then we can expect to see these nice sunsets.'
A huge fire has broken out at a fireworks shop in Southampton, setting off hundreds of the explosives above the scene.

Residents from around the area have been evacuated while ten fire crews tackle the blaze.

Scores of residents were woken up to loud bangs, pops and crackling shortly after 6am - and opened their curtains to find 20ft flames engulfing the shop.

Dozens of rockets with names such as 'Galactic Destroyer', 'Shock Wave' and 'Atomic Gold' priced from up to 200 illuminated the early morning sky.

Over 50 firefighters are tackling a blaze at a fireworks factory in Southampton which was reported this morning

The huge fire has caused dozens of fireworks to explode over the Bitterne area of the city

The fire happened at The Firework Factory shop, which is part of The Flower Shop

No one is believed to have been inside the building at the time of the blaze and there are no reported injuries.

Footage shows a huge amount of fireworks exploding above The Fireworks Factory, which is in the Bitterne area of the city.

The store is part of The Flower Factory store which sits near residential streets and crews had to wake up neighbours and take them away from the area in case the fire spread.

Fire crews believed the blaze started at a storage area at the back of the store before spreading.

The sky became a cacophony of pops and bangs as the explosives, which include rockets, went off.

And the area has now been covered by a huge black cloud, prompting the fire services to ask motorists to avoid driving through.

The area has been evacuated due to the blaze and motorists have been warned not to drive through

Residents in Bitterne could see the rockets exploding over their homes this morning

One resident said: 'There were all sorts of colours like white and red fireworks and lots of bangs which went on for at least an hour'

A spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue said they got the first call at 5.06am this morning saying a large warehouse used for firework storage was on fire.

He said: 'We got called out at 5.09am and properties within 100m of the fire were evacuated. Nobody has been injured.

'The fire is at a garden and flower shop that sells fireworks, it's called The Flower Factory.

'The fire was contained within the business and we managed to protect other businesses in the area.

Firefighters said that the blaze was contained in the Fireworks Factory and no other businesses have been affected

'Bitterne Road West is likely to be closed until around lunchtime.'

The fire has now been contained but the battle to tackle it is ongoing.

Residents Jennifer and Geoff Prouton, who were evacuated from their flat, said burning tiles from the shop were thrown against their block.

Jennifer said: 'The windows were broken, there was liquid colour pouring out of the front, fireworks going into the sky, black smoke and enormous flames.'

One resident, Peter Burton, said he was woken at 5am by the blaze. He said: 'About five fire engines were in attendance already and we watched from our window. At about 5.45 am we were told we were to be evacuated.'

The road leading up the shop has now been closed while firefighters tackle the blaze

Another resident added: 'I heard the most awful almighty bang and it appears the shop at the end of the street is on fire.

'There were all sorts of colours like white and red fireworks and lots of bangs which went on for at least an hour.'

It is currently unknown how many fireworks were set off by the fire, but they can be worth hundreds of pounds each.

The blaze has now been brought under control but the factory shop has been completely destroyed

Local resident Ian Sainsbury said: 'I was woken soon after five this morning by the sounds of multiple explosions. I looked out the window and saw thick black rancid smoke billowing across the sky out on to the River Itchen.

'Fireworks were shooting out in all directions into the air. It's lucky it doesn't seem to have caught alight the tyre firm that's almost next door or it could have been much worse.

Southampton residents reacted to the blaze on Twitter

One, known as Grundy, made a joke about the fire

Firefighters survey the damage of the blaze, which broke out at around 5am this morning

'Fire and police were quickly on the scene.

'My son's school is nearby and that has been closed for the day because of the smoke that was billowing across it.'

Bitterne Manor Primary School confirmed it has been forced to close for the day.

A statement posted on the school's website says: 'We have been advised to close the school today due to a serious fire in the local area that emergency services are dealing with. We hope that everyone in the community is safe and well.'

An area of around 100m has been cordoned off around The Firework Factory, which has been gutted by the blaze

Witness Indy Almroth-Wright said: 'Every time you think the smoke is dying down a huge plume of thick black smoke billows back out of the firework factory across the city.

'Fireworks went up in the sky literally as you would see in a firework display, sparkles and everything.

'The fire service are pouring gallons and gallons of water into the centre of the fireworks factory from an aerial ladder platform.

'It really is quite a relentless fire. People are just quite shocked really and watching the smoke plume across the city.'

A police officer surveys the damage at The Fireworks Factory in Southampton

Emergency services working to bring the fire under control

And Debbie Slater, who was evacuated from her home, added: 'I was woken by my dog barking at 5.30am and saw flames when I looked out of the window..

'The fireworks started at 6.15am - it was crazy, like something out of a film.

'The noise sounded like bombs going off.

'The police evacuated us at 6.45am and we have no idea when we will be allowed back.

'The firework shop has been there for many years and I'm not aware of any previous incidents. It's never given me cause for concern.'

Richard Yates, who saw the smoke as he was travelling to work in the city centre on a train from Portchester, said: 'As soon as I saw the smoke I knew it was the fireworks shop.
A female judge has slammed men who view rape as 'lad's banter' after she jailed a former shop supervisor who attacked a woman as she lay asleep during a childish prank to 'c***-block' his friend.

Judge Hilary Manley hit out at Daniel Dennis, 27, after hearing how he had raped the woman simply to 'get one over' on his friend Craig Flash, who just had sex with her in a rented apartment.

Dennis, from Wolverhampton, had sneaked into the room while the 23-year old woman was with Mr Flash and then hid behind a curtain before locking his pal in the bathroom when he went to the toilet.

Judge Hilary Manley (right) has condemned men who view rape as 'lad's banter' after she jailed a Daniel Dennis, 27, (left) who had sex with a woman as she lay asleep during a childish prank

Although Mr Flash was allowed back out, Dennis then waited for him to nod off before raping the woman as she lay asleep next to him. He fled in a change of clothing when she woke up to find him having intercourse with her.

Dennis, who had worked as a supervisor at Primark until 2011, later claimed he was simply playing a game known as 'c***-blocking' a slang term for an action intended to prevent someone else from having sex with a woman.

He claimed Mr Flash had stopped him having sex with a different woman on a previous occasion by walking in on them as they were getting intimate.

Dennis had denied rape but was convicted after a trial at Manchester Crown Court and jailed for six years.

Judge Manley told him: 'You and friends came to Manchester that night and acted in a way that was shameful. You displayed a blatant disregard for women with little regards for their feelings.

'The fact you engaged in behaviour that you describe as c***-blocking to disturb your friend in his private business with this woman. Your response was "he did it to me and the girl left". That particular girl got upset and you clearly learnt nothing from it.

Dennis later claimed he was simply playing a game known as 'c*** blocking' a slang term for an action intended to prevent someone else from having sex with a woman

'It's sometimes said by men who behave like you and your friends did that night, that it's just banter and being lads together, but it reflects a deeper and more worrying attitude towards women. You are not 16, you are in your 20s.

'You appeared in the room after your victim had consented to sex with Craig Flash. You locked him in the bathroom and said you wanted to f*** her.

'You specifically targeted her whether due to your need for sex or to get one over on your friend. She woke up and screamed at you to get off her. It must have been a traumatic frightening and embarrassing experience for her. You then tried to front it out by claiming she welcomed you to have sexual intercourse with her.

'She no longer feels safe, she feels vulnerable and suffers mood swings. She can't discuss what happened with her family, she's isolated. She had nightmares and suffers financially. It was clear in the trial that this victim still suffers.'

'This happened while she slept in bed next to the man she hoped would protect her.'

The incident occurred on September 6, 2014 when Dennis was visiting Manchester a his friend's 25th birthday party. They met in Entourage bar before he, four other men and three women including the victim went back to the Place Aparthotel in the city centre.

One of the women arranged to meet Mr Flash after speaking to him online and were in bed together when Dennis suddenly came in the room. The court heard the woman though she was being filmed because she could see a flash similar to that on a mobile phone but she fell asleep and thought nothing more of it.

She then woke up to find Dennis having sex with her and she fled the apartment. During the trial Dennis explained he and one of his friend were playing a game of 'c***-blocking' with Mr Flash. He claimed he being intimate with a woman in a bathroom when Mr Flash came in and she fled in tears. He said he was trying to get his own back on him.

It's sometimes said by men who behave like you and your friends did that night, that it's just banter and being lads together, but it reflects a deeper and more worrying attitude towards women. You are not 16, you are in your 20s Judge Hilary Manley

Parveen Mansoor, mitigating, said Dennis's girlfriend of three years was standing by him.

Miss Mansoor added: 'This incident was out of character for him. The behaviour described in the night in question was childish and naive.

'The victim said that when she asked the defendant to get off he did get off immediately. The evidence from the defendant himself is that sexual intercourse lasted up to a minute but no more than that. She said she felt some thrusting movements when she woke up but it all happened so quickly.

'His girlfriend had been very supportive in relation this matter and she will stand by Mr Dennis come what may because she believes she knows the true character. She says he doesn't socialise anymore. It's had an efffect on him too. It's a sad state of affairs, all round there's no winners. It happened quite rapidly that evening.'

But in a victim impact statement the woman said: 'Since what happened, my whole life has changed. I no longer feel safe and in aware of any man who tries to talk to me.

'I find it hard to speak to any man. I don't go out with my friends anymore I stay in because I know I'm safe there. I've lost contact with friends and keep myself to myself. What happened to me has affected my mum and dad they have had to take time off work. I can't speak to them about the rape because I don't want to upset them.

As Dennis was being sentenced his sister Rachel (right) flew into a rage shouting: 'He didn't do it, he didn't do it. That's my brother you're talking about' then told the judge (left): 'You're a b****'. She was sent to the cells but freed after the judge accepted an apology

'I've tried counselling but I don't think I was ready. I've been prescribed anti depressants and have anxiety and panic attacks.

'I have nightmares which include me being raped and him chasing me. I've lost out from pay at work and lost pay on having to get tablets and paying for prescriptions every month.

'If that night had never happened I would still be my bubbly self. I will not let him ruin my life but that's easier said than done.'
Australia's highest court will hear an appeal against the downgraded conviction of Brisbane wife killer Gerard Baden-Clay in July.

Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was on Thursday granted special leave in the High Court to contest a controversial Court of Appeal decision to replace his murder conviction with the lesser charge of manslaughter.

On Friday the court set down the appeal for a hearing before a full bench on July 26 in Brisbane.

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The High Court of Australia has decided that the Queensland Department of Prosecution will be allowed to appeal to have Gerard Baden-Clay's (left) murder charge reinstated over the death of his wife Allison (right)

Allison was found on a creek bank 10 days after her husband reported her missing

A jury in 2014 convicted Baden-Clay of murdering his wife, Allison, but the conviction was changed to manslaughter by the Queensland Court of Appeal in December 2015.

The appeal court ruled it could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt that Baden-Clay intended to kill Allison in April 2012 - a decision that prompted community outrage.

The DPP sought an appeal hearing partly on the grounds the Court of Appeal decision endorsed a "piecemeal" approach to circumstantial evidence instead of considering the case as a whole.

Last year Baden-Clay (pictured) has his murder conviction downgraded to manslaughter

Questions about the issue of motive, as it relates to proving intent in a murder case, are also expected to be raised and debated at the July hearing.

Baden-Clay denied killing his wife during his 2014 trial, before his legal team last year argued she may have been unintentionally killed during a violent argument.

Legal figures have said while High Court decisions are usually reserved, there should be a resolution to the matter by the end of the year.
Bill Shorten has scored a slim victory in an evenly-fought first leaders debate where neither participant landed a knockout blow.

Opposition leader Mr Shorten was the victor according to post-debate votes cast by the 100-strong live audience  gaining 42 votes compared with 29 for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Twenty nine audience members could not pick a winner.

Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten squared off in the wide-ranging debate in Windsor, western Sydney, on Friday, pitching starkly contrasting policies on topics such as education, healthcare, banking and housing.

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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) and Opposition leader Bill Shorten (right) squared off in the debate on Friday

Malcolm Turnbull spoke first at the debate, using his two minute address to plug his partys policy to create more jobs and an environment for business growth.

He said: What we are setting out in this campaign is an economic plan for jobs and growth.

We live in an extraordinary time of opportunity and we need a plan to serve these opportunities.

Our plan is based on an innovation and science agenda. Its based on opening up those big markets in Asia with our trade export deals.

Its based on making our tax system support businesses.

Malcolm Turnbull spoke first at the debate, plugging his party's policy to create more jobs and business growth

Bill Shorten replied by stressing his partys people-first policy and emphasising the need for action on education.

He said: Im looking forward to explaining Labors positive plans for Australia. We have positive plans for education, so that every child in every school can get a quality education.

I also hope to get the chance to talk about fair taxation and housing affordability.

If the government puts people first, nothing can hold us back.

Bill Shorten stressed his people-first approach and highlighted his party's policies on healthcare and education

An audience member grilled the two about economic projections and the need for the government to escape its mounting pile of debt.

Malcolm Turnbull outlined his plan to raise prosperity through business growth.

He said: If we drive economic growth faster than spending, then revenues grow and that enables us to bring the budget back into balance and then debt comes down.

I want to make sure that my grandchildren are not left with a mountain of debt.

Mr Turnbull said his government would make Australia prosperous by focusing on science and innovation

Bill Shorten said: Im deeply conscious of the obligation to reduce the deficit. I will not do that by giving multinationals a tax cut.

'What I wont do is reduce debt by shoving all the problems of the budget onto the sick and the pensioners and other people in society.

Mr Shorten used a question on the funding of small regional hospitals to make a point about wasteful government expenditure and same-sex marriage.

He said: Malcolm Turnbull made a throwaway remark about wanting to spend more money on hospitals and schools.

Yes we will spend more on schools and hospitals. And we will do that by cutting out wasteful government expenditure.

He used the example of the governments plan to spend $160m on a plebiscite  or referendum  on the legality of same-sex marriage.

In response to a jibe from Mr Turnbull about a Labor's spending spree, Mr Shorten said: 'Yes, we will spend more on schools and hospitals'

The leaders were asked about their plans to reduce the cost of childcare.

Mr Turnbull emphasised the importance of female participation in the workforce and said his government would support people on lower incomes.

He said: We are very focused on making sure that there is more support, and we will deliver more support. Your concerns are our concerns.

Mr Shorten said the issue was a matter of priorities  helping struggling people over successful big business.

Mr Turnbull warned that rent prices would drastically increase under Labors policy of negative gearing

He said: Its all about priorities. We wont be delaying our childcare package. We think people getting back to work need more encouragement and multimillionaires dont need big tax cuts.

Mr Shorten used a question on the banking sector to call for a Royal Commission of Enquiry into a lack of competition while also saying he would reduce fees charged at ATMs.

He said: I think these banks dont feel enough competitive pressure. I think one solution will be a Royal Commission into the banking sector.

Im not saying banks are not criminals. But what I am saying is that how many scandals does it take for a Liberal government to give them a telling off.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten talks to students at Domremy College on Friday ahead of the first leader's debate

Mr Turnbull ridiculed his stance, saying Mr Shorten wanted banks lined up in the dock as if they had committed a crime.

He said: What Bill is proposing is that its time to put the banks in the dock. Thats where the criminal stands on trial. He wants the banks lined up as if they are accused of a crime.

There was strong disagreement between the two on the topic of housing affordability.

A woman in the audience asked why the government was talking about jobs and growth when it should be focused on putting more people into houses.

Mr Turnbull warned that rent prices would drastically increase under Labors policy of negative gearing, while Mr Shorten branded budget measures to curb the housing crisis a joke.

Answering the question first, Mr Turnbull said: You talked about rent  within 30-minutes drive from Windsor there are 69,000 families renting their home. Every single one will see their rent increase if Bill becomes Prime Minister.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten looked relaxed as he arrived at the leader's debate in western Sydney

Mr Shorten replied that his party would not be dropping the policy of negative gearing, and that negative gearing would not push house prices up.

He said: Labor has no claims to allow people to use their superannuation for a housing deposit. That is the question youre asking.

You made another point about housing affordability. Its a joke. Someone who earns a million dollars will pay 17 per cent less tax next year under this government.

One woman - already struggling to pay her doctors bills  asked the leaders whether the cost of healthcare would go up under their respective governments.

The debate is being held in the marginal seat of Macquarie - which is expected to be fiercely contested by both parties in the election

Mr Turnbull assured the woman that the cost of healthcare was an important focus for him.

He said: You are right to be concerned about the cost of medicine. In terms of GPs, the rate of bulk billing has increased and is now 85 per cent.

I can assure you that health care is a key focus of our government.

He also used his reply to settle a long-running dispute with the country's pathologists over bulk-billing for blood tests.

Mr Turnbull said: 'Our Health Minister has reached an agreement with the pathologists, Pathology Australia, and they will be continuing to bulk-bill.

'The concern that has been expressed about patients who go to have their blood tests done and being charged extra - not being bulk-billed - that concern is gone.'

Mr Shorten said his party would fight tooth and nail to keep the cost of a doctors visit down.

He said: For people who live on the pension, healthcare costs are a giant issue.

We will do better at funding the Medicare system, because we believe in Medicare full stop.

Protesters assemble at the Windsor RSL ahead of the Leaders' People's Forum in Sydney on Friday

Both leaders had a busy day on the hustings in the lead up to the debate.

Mr Turnbull was campaigning in the marginal seat of Hindmarsh, in South Australia, where he announced plans to contribute $43m for a cross-city train in Adelaide.

The Coalition expects the project could create 2,000 jobs and attract $800m worth of investment into the state, reported Adelaide Now.

Mr Shorten was campaigning in the Sydney electorate of Reid, his first Sydney stop of the campaign.

He used his time to talk about his party's $400m policy to provide 25,000 new scholarships for science, technology, engineering and mathematics students.
Llyra Chambers, 21, said she was 'appalled' by the actions of Gianni Mercuri (pictured), 38, of Recovery Racing Ferrari Maserati in Plainview, Long Island

A former receptionist at a Maserati dealership in Long Island claimed she was treated like an escort by the head sales manager, who often made inappropriate remarks to her such as, 'You're looking sexy today'.

Llyra Chambers, 21, said she was 'appalled' by the actions of Gianni Mercuri of Recovery Racing Ferrari Maserati in Plainview, who fired her after she spurned his advances - just four months after she was hired.

Chambers filed a sex-harassment suit against Italian-born Mercuri, 38, and her former employer on Thursday at Brooklyn Federal Court, according to the New York Post.

At one point, Mercuri left her an envelope containing hundred-dollar bills with the message, 'This is $1,200 for a plane ticket for Miami and buy yourself something nice to wear' - expecting a rendezvous, according to the court documents.

Chambers was 'appalled having been treated like an escort for pay' and slammed the money on his desk, saying 'she would never accept something like this', her suit says.

Although she went to human resources to complain, nothing was done.

However, she never filed a formal complaint with them.

Chambers, who was fired on January 28 last year due to her 'lack of experience', is suing for unspecified damages.

She has called the company's actions 'a blatant retaliation against her for turning down [Mercuris] sexual advances'.

Elias Schwartz, the dealership's lawyer, said there was no truth to Chambers' allegations.

Friends: Gianni Mercuri, Inside the Actors Studio's James Lipton and Denise Bertolotti attend a Memorial Day party in 2010 in Southampton, New York
Penalty: Jane Park, 21, who won 1million aged 17, asked for a month to pay a fine for assault

As Britains youngest ever EuroMillions winner, she might be expected to have a bit of spare cash.

But when Jane Park admitted assaulting a nightclub bouncer, the 110 fine she received was, she claimed, a little more than she could afford.

Park, 21, who won 1million aged 17, asked for a month to pay when she was handed down a fiscal penalty for slapping a man during a drunken night out.

When she scooped the cash in 2013, Park vowed to spend it on a customised white Range Rover with pink interior, a season ticket for her beloved Hibernian and a holiday in Ibiza with her friends.

She has since returned to working in a chip shop, stating that she preferred a working routine to a life of leisure, while her love life has made the pages of tabloid newspapers.

Park has also appeared on TV talking about her wealth, including ITVs This Morning where she told Philip Schofield and Amanda Holden she preferred High Street fashion to designer brands.

She also said that she preferred holidays in Magaluf and Benidorm to hanging out in first-class resorts in exclusive locations.

Yesterday, however, Park found herself in the less salubrious surroundings of Edinburgh Sheriff Court, where she pleaded guilty to assaulting door steward Lee Rutherford at the capitals City nightclub on February 1, 2015.

Park has returned to working in a chip shop, stating that she preferred a working routine to a life of leisure

Park has appeared on TV talking about her wealth, saying she preferred High Street fashion to designer brands

Meanwhile, her friend Jordan Archibald, 25, admitted struggling with police sergeant Kevin Smith. He attempted to headbutt Sergeant Smith and swore at him.

The pair, both of Edinburgh, changed their not guilty pleas and admitted their involvement shortly before their trial was due to begin.

Archibald, from Leith, pleaded guilty to struggling with Sergeant Smith and attempting to headbutt him. Park, of Niddrie, pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Rutherford by slapping him on the head.

Depute procurator fiscal Kirsty Lyons told the court that the pair got involved in an argument while on a night out at the club.

Big win: Park, pictured at her 18th birthday party in the BBC documentary Teenage Millionaire: The Year I Won The Lottery, became Britains youngest ever EuroMillions winner when she was handed 1million aged 17

Lifestyle: She has previously said that she preferred holidays in Magaluf (pictured, in the same BBC documentary) and Benidorm to hanging out in first-class resorts in exclusive locations

Bouncers phoned the police after the pairs behaviour became unacceptable. Officers arrived at the nightclub and attempted to take Archibald into custody.

Winner: When she scooped the cash in 2013, Park vowed to spend it on a Range Rover, a season ticket for Hibernian and a holiday in Ibiza with her friends

Miss Lyons said: The accused struggled with the police sergeant named in the complaint. He was handcuffed and he began to struggle with the policeman.

The court was told Archibald tried to headbutt the officer and swore at him. Meanwhile, the court heard that Park got herself into a confrontation with Mr Rutherford.

Miss Lyons added: The complainer Lee Rutherford and the accused were arguing with each other. She slapped him.

The court heard that the pair were then taken into custody by police officers.

Archibalds solicitor David Patterson told the court that his client had been drinking and was sorry for what he had done. Mr Patterson said: He realises that his behaviour was completely unacceptable.

Parks solicitor Stephen Mannifeld said: She reached forward and slapped him. She also regrets her involvement in the matter.

Sheriff Peter Braid fined Archibald 180 and fined Park 110. The Sheriff told Park: Your conduct was unacceptable. You assaulted a gentleman who was doing his job.

Sheriff Braid then asked the defence solicitors whether their clients wanted time to pay their fines.
Harriet Harman has accused Brexit supporters of wanting women 'back in the home' as she warned that leaving the EU would damage gender equality.

Labour's former deputy leader said Brussels had been a 'strong friend' to women and a vote to quit the union would be a 'major step back' in the fight against sexism.

But the remarks were mocked by ex-Ukip deputy chairman Suzanne Evans, who said it was 'utterly laughable' to claim 'we need a bunch of former communist men in the EU commission to fight for women's rights'.

Harriet Harman, Labour's former deputy leader, is making a speech on the EU referendum today

In an interview with the Guardian ahead of a speech on the EU referendum in London later, Ms Harman argued that 'EU muscle' had been the key to forcing through reforms on equal pay, maternity rights and paternity leave despite opposition in Britain.

'When we put forward these demands, they said that they were women whingeing, that it was a burden on business, that women wanted special treatment,' she said.

'Time off to go to an antenatal appointment was treated as if women were going off to get their nails done.

'We were totally opposed, totally patronised, totally condescended and actually vilified, really.'

Ms Harman complained that she had been branded 'Harriet Harperson' and 'hapless Harriet' over her championing of gender equality causes.

She said critics had dismissed her campaigns as 'unreasonable and hysterical' but the EU had been a 'strong friend to women in this country'.

The MP and former minister warned against assuming the EU was no longer needed because 'all the men are now modernised and somehow liberated'.

'We are not stupid. We are not in a state of nirvana on women's rights at any stretch of the imagination,' she said.

EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker

'With women, it is two steps forward, one step back. We have to be careful this isn't a major step back.'

Ms Harman pointed to comments by Brexit supporters such as Ukip leader Nigel Farage's suggestion that women were 'worth less' to employers after taking maternity leave.

'We still see occasionally the veil slips,' she said. 'And actually there is quite a good match between the people who want to leave the EU and the people who actually want women to be back in the home.

'Why would we want them to be in charge of our rights? Why would we trust our rights to them?'

Ms Harman admitted that there was a 'paradox' with the EU because it was 'every bit as woefully male-dominated as our own politics here'.

However, it had played a key role in moves towards equality.

'Europe was an incredible strength to our elbow, because someone was agreeing with us. Because we couldn't just be brushed aside,' she added.

Ms Harman admitted no-one liked 'directives from abroad' but said they should be welcomed if they protected women at work.

But Ms Evans, a Vote Leave supporter, said Ms Harman was effectively branding British MPs 'incompetent'.

It is utter nonsense  she is playing the man and not the ball. Ive never been the kind of woman who wants to stay at home,' she told the newspaper.

'Is she saying if Labour came into power they would kick out the rights? If you want to be dictated to by an unelected foreign elite, vote to remain. If you want freedom, democracy and accountability via the ballot box, vote out.'
A teenage boy attacked a pensioner outside his home by punching him in the head in a 'knockout game'.

The victim, 66-year-old Wilbert Prud, was standing on a Hartford sidewalk, Connecticut, when he was attacked from behind.

He was punched once to the head and again to the chest before he stumbled and fell into the street in this Hartford Police Department footage.

The victim, 66-year-old Wilbert Prud (pictured left and right), was standing on a Hartford sidewalk, Connecticut, when he was attacked from behind

As the teenager, who has not been named, punches Wilbert, his friends can be seen whooping and encouraging him

Police said the assault was another 'knockout game' - where an innocent bystander is attacked, usually from behind, with the aim to make them fall over.

As the teenager, who has not been named, punches Wilbert, his friends can be seen whooping and encouraging him.

Speaking to WFSB, Wilbert said he didn't need hospital treatment. He said: 'I feel pretty good and glad to know I'm still alive and I thank the good lord for that.'

The video of the assault, which happened in late April, was posted on social media in a high school.

After the second punch, a blow to the chest, the pensioner is turned round by the force (pictured)

A school administrator found the video and then identified the suspect to police.

The Hartford Courant newspaper reports the teenager was charged with third-degree assault on an elderly person, second-degree reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct in connection with the incident.

He was also recently arrested for a fight at his high school, police said. He is due in court to face charges at the end of the month.
A delivery driver who planned to attack US servicemen outside a British airbase has been jailed for life today.

Junead Khan, from Luton, wanted to attack US airmen in East Anglia with a knife like that used by Jihadi John after plotting with an ISIS fighter in Syria.

He was also convicted of a second charge, jointly with his uncle, Shazib Khan, 23, of preparing to go to Syria to join ISIS. Shazib was given an extended sentence of 13 years.

Junead Khan (pictured, left, after his arrest and, right posing with an ISIS flag) has been jailed for plotting an attack on US servicemen outside a British airbase

Khan got the idea of the attack when he drove past RAF Mildenhall, near Newmarket, Suffolk

Khan was exchanging messages with an ISIS fighter believed to be Junaid Hussain (left). Khan's uncle, Shazib Khan, was also jailed today for preparing to go to Syria to join ISIS

Sentencing the pair at Kingston Crown Court today, Mr Justice Andrew Edis said: 'They have both received education in this country at public expense. They have lived as citizens of a free country which is committed to equality under the law.

'They both believe that shariah law is the only legitimate law and both reject democracy because it involves law being made by people and not by God.

'They have rejected the protection of the law of this country and the education they have received by becoming committed supporters of ISIS, an organisation which wishes to control the world and which will stop short of no barbarity in order to do so.'

The judge added:'It is quite plain that this was a joint plan by both the defendants. They would have done their best to help ISIS and the whole world knows where that can end.'

Khan used his agency job with a pharmaceutical firm as cover to scout United States Air Force bases in East Anglia.

Detectives discovered the 25-year-old had been exchanging chilling online messages with an ISIS fighter in Syria calling himself Abu Hussain.

One message described an attack on military personnel which they compared to the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.

Junead Khan had looked into buying a hunting knife like this one because he wanted to look like Jihadi John during the attack

Khan had got hold of this ISIS flag which it is thought was to be unfurled at the scene of an atrocity

Prosecutors claimed Hussain was British-born fanatic Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US drone strike in the IS stronghold of Raqqa just weeks after his link with the planned UK attack was discovered.

After Khan's arrest, police found pictures on his phone of him posing in his bedroom with an Islamic State-style black flag later found in the attic. His computer was found to contain an al Qaida bomb manual and Amazon searches for a large combat knife.

Police officers had visited Khan as part of the national anti extremism programme Prevent, but he mocked the initiative in a series of WhatsApp messages.

Speaking after the conviction last month, Commander Dean Haydon, the head of Scotland Yard's SO15 counter-terrorism unit, said: 'Junead Khan faces years in prison for the atrocious acts he planned.

'Around a year before his arrest, local officers reached out to him. They offered to help him follow a positive life path. Junead Khan's refusal spiralled into extremism and plotting acts of terrorism.'

Khan will be sentenced on Friday at London's Kingston Crown Court after being found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts between May and July last year.

Khan and his uncle posted a chilling video on YouTube called 'ISIS in Westminster' with a jihadi chant

He was also convicted of a second charge, jointly with his uncle, Shazib Khan, 23, of preparing to go to Syria to join ISIS.

Khan had refused to engage with the Prevent counter-extremism programme and was investigated because he was attending radical talks in Luton.

He delivered medical supplies to Boots, Superdrug, Morrisons Supermarket and Co-Op along with hospitals and surgeries on behalf of Alliance Healthcare. He worked for a firm called TRG Logistics, which was based in Luton.

His routes took him to East Anglia and to two Lloyd's pharmacies in the village of Mildenhall, Suffolk, close to two US airbases.

RAF Mildenhall and neighbouring RAF Lakenheath were re-opened after the second World War to host B-29 Superfortresses and have hosted US airmen ever since.

Lakenheath is currently home to the 48th 'Liberty' Fighter Wing and Mildenhall to the 100th Air Refueling Wing.

Khan and his uncle's trial revealed they had also posted a video on Youtube called 'ISIS drives around Westminster', which featured music praising ISIS.

The video was made by pair in September 2014 and featured an extremist chant praising Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS.
These are the amazing scenes as a woman fought off two men, one of whom was armed with a gun as they attempted to steal her car outside a gas station in Georgia.

Jasmine Warren had pressed the remote control as she approached her car when two young men wearing white hoodies approached and attempted to grab the keys from her hand.

One of the men pointed a black handgun into her face.

Merciful: Jasmine Warren, (pictured), said she forgives the two men who attempted to steal her car outside a gas station

Payment: Warren, (bottom right) had just filled her car with gas and paid for it when she approached the vehicle

Advance: As she walked towards her car, two men approached with hoods pulled tightly over the faces

Confronted: One of the men confronted Warren with a gun in his left hand and ordered her to hand over her keys

The incident happened at the Exxon gas station in Atlanta near Interstate 20 and Hamilton Holmes.

Warren tried to run back to the safety of the shop but the men stopped her and wrenched the keys from her hand.

The men raced back to the car and tried to drive off. Before they could start the vehicle, Warren opened the drivers door and attempted to pull out the young criminal.

The youngster punched the determined car owner. After a few seconds, the drivers accomplice leaves the car and attempts to drag Warren away from his friend.

After one minute, the driver manages to start the car and puts into reverse, with Warren standing by the open door getting pulled along.

Luckily another car blocks the exit to the gas station, but after a few seconds it drives off.

Struggle: The men attacked Warren in a bid to force her to drop her keys and allow them to take off in her car

Release: After struggling for more than a minute, the men eventually give up when Warren retrieves her keys

The incident happened at the Exxon gas station on Interstate 20 in Hamilton Holmes in Atlanta, Georgia

Eventually, Warren takes back the keys from the ignition and runs back towards the shop, pulling desperately at the handle until she is allowed safely inside.

Without the keys, the pair of criminals ran off.

Warren told 11 Alive in Atlanta: 'This young man came up to me with a gun in my face, and in that very instant, I knew I wanted to do something about it. I wasnt going to let him try to take my stuff from me

'They were just as scared as I was. When I looked at that little boys eyes he was just as scared as me. Honestly he was fumbling. It was a lot.'

Warren said she was not sure if the gun was loaded but the young man warned her repeatedly that he was 'going to do it.'

Showing amazing compassion, Warren said she forgives the two suspects.

Addressing the men directly she said: 'Youre wrong for trying to rob from me. Its not the end of the world for you. It doesnt mean that you cant change and make changes in your life. It's up to you and Im willing to help you make those changes. It doesnt make you a bad person. Youve done something bad but you can always be forgiven for it.'
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Thousands of commuters faced rush hour chaos today after a key London Underground route was shut when a man was struck by a train at a station.

Passengers were turned away from stations to prevent overcrowding and forced to find other routes to work after the incident at Kennington.

The Northern line was out of action in South London for two-and-a-half hours from 6.30am to 9am between Morden and Moorgate.

The section of track between Waterloo and Kennington was also out of action as emergency services helped the man under a train.

Paramedics arrived in seven minutes and treated the man before taking him to a major trauma centre with a doctor from Londons Air Ambulance.

Queuing outside Balham: The Northern line was suspended for two-and-a-half hours between 6.30am to 9am from Morden to Moorgate

Emergency: Passengers were turned away from stations to prevent overcrowding after the incident at Kennington in South London

Delays: Photographs posted on social media showed huge queues forming in South London at Balham train station (pictured)

Waiting game: Huge queues formed outside Balham train station on the Southern Railway network today

Photographs posted online showed huge queues forming outside stations including Balham and Clapham South as commuters struggled to get to work.

Commuter Guy Armitage, 34, told the Evening Standard: The station was shut with a motorcade of ambulances, fire trucks and police in attendance.

'Just outside the station they had erected a blue tarp under which medics were working. Whoever was under it was then loaded into an ambulance.'

A Transport for London spokesman said: We were made aware of a person under a train at around 6.30 this morning at Kennington station.

'The station was closed and emergency services attended. We have been working to get the line up and running as quickly as possible.'

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said it was 'called at around 6.31am this morning to reports of a person under a train at Kennington station.

Frustration: Commuters took to Twitter this morning to share what was happening on the Northern line

Trying to get to work: This was the scene at Balham station as commuters faced a long wait to get on a train

Walking inside: Commuters looked on their phones for travel updates as they faced a difficult commute

'We sent a number of resources including ambulance crews, an incident response officer and Londons Air Ambulance, arriving within seven minutes.

We treated a man at the scene and took him to a major trauma centre accompanied by a doctor from Londons Air Ambulance.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: We were called to Kennington London Underground station [to] reports of a person being struck by a train.

Colleagues from London Ambulance Service also attended and a man was treated for injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital.'

The spokesman added that the incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Chaotic scenes: Balham train station crosses the Underground line, and is situated between Wandsworth Common and Streatham Hill

Response: Commuters said just outside Kennington station the emergency services erected a blue tarp under which medics were working

Elsewhere: Commuters also faced queues getting into Victoria London Underground station this morning

Journeys: Commuters told of their difficulties in getting to work on social media today following the incident

The Northern line was known as the Misery Line in the 1990s because of its poor reputation for reliability and overcrowding.

Problems at the time were thanks to frequent equipment failure and dated train stock that led to regular delays for commuters into London.

But things have improved and TfL is now carrying out a huge investment programme to extend the Northern line to Nine Elms and Battersea by 2020.

The organisation says it is aiming to turn the line - which is in parts 200ft deep and more than 120 years old - into the 'black diamond'.

The 36-mile line, which opened in 1890, connects Barnet and Edgware in North London, and Morden in South London, with central parts of the capital.
A British tourist has been found dead in his hotel room in Magaluf.

The 25-year-old man, who has been named locally as Joe Robinson, was on holiday with his friends on Majorca and police say he had been out drinking the night before.

His body was discovered yesterday in the apartment where he was staying.

The dead man was named locally as Joe Robinson, pictured, who worked as a doorman

Magaluf is notorious for its wild parties and heavy drinking. The resort is extremely popular with young British tourists. Mr Robinson's body was found in this apartment block

The Civil Guard has launched an investigation and has conducted a search of his hotel room.

Earlier this month Samantha Johnson (pictured above on a different holiday) died during a trip to Magaluf

Details of his death were only revealed in the early hours of this morning.

Mr Robinson is believed to have been a doorman.

The holiday season has only just got under way in Majorca and this death will be another blow to tourism chiefs who want to clean up the image of the island and Magaluf in particular.

This summer there is to be a major crackdown on drinking in the streets and other public places and the police have warned of heavy fines.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: 'We believe this young man had been out drinking the night before with a group of friends.'

The death comes after 23-year-old Samantha Johnson was found dead in the bath in her hotel room in Magaluf following a night out drinking.
Bidding in an online auction for the pistol former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin appeared to have been hijacked by fake accounts posting astronomically high bids.

At one point early Friday, the bidding surpassed $65 million with the leading bidder using the screen name 'Racist McShootFace' on UnitedGunGroup.com. The site later showed that account had been deleted.

Other screen names of bidders on the site included 'Donald Trump,' 'shaniqua bonifa' and 'Tamir Rice,' the name of a black 12-year-old who was shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014 while playing with a pellet gun.

The website for United Gun Group began hosting the auction Thursday after another website, GunBroker.com, took down the auction saying it wanted 'no part in the listing on our website or in any of the publicity it is receiving.'

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Bidding in an online auction for the gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin appeared to have been hijacked by fake accounts posting high bids early Friday

Early Friday, the bidding surpassed $65 million with the leading bidder using the screen name 'Racist McShootFace' before a person named Craig Bryant overtook the bidding on UnitedGunGroup.com (above)

Other screen names of bidders (above) on the site included 'Donald Trump,' 'shaniqua bonifa' and 'Tamir Rice,' the name of a black 12-year-old who was shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014

The former neighborhood watch captain said the gun had only recently been returned to him by the Department of Justice following his murder trial and initial bidding started at $5,000

Hours later, United Gun Group tweeted and wrote in a statement on Facebook that it would post Zimmerman's ad.

'United Gun Group offers a free platform for law-abiding citizens to buy, sell, trade and discuss firearms and related products,' a statement on their Facebook page reads announcing the gun auction.

'United Gun Group's stance is that as long as Mr. Zimmerman (or any other UGG member) is obeying the letter of the law, his personal firearm sale will be permitted on our network.

'UGG reminded Mr. Zimmerman to ensure the gun is shipped from one FFL to another FFL. He appears to be following all applicable laws.'

The new link was posted, along with a statement from Zimmerman. The site calls itself a 'social market place for the firearms community.'

In the listing, Zimmerman wrote: 'Prospective bidders, I am honored and humbled to announce the sale of an American Firearm Icon.

'The firearm for sale is the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin on 2/26/2012.'

Zimmerman explained that he planned to lock it in a safe to eventually give to his grandchildren if the Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm didn't sell

He tried to first sell it on GunBroker.com before they pulled the auction Thursday morning before it started

GunBroker.com took down Zimmerman's listing, citing that they didn't want any part of the publicity it was receiving. The message above is what appears on the page where his listing was

Within hours of the listing being removed, a second website - UnitedGunGroup.com - tweeted that their website was now hosting the auction of the gun

Bidding on the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol began at $5,000 on Thursday afternoon, but by 9.30am on Friday the highest bid was $65,039,000.

Critics called the auction an insensitive move to profit from the slaying.

Zimmerman said the pistol was returned to him by the US Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martin's 2012 shooting death.

His listing said a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting what Zimmerman calls violence by the Black Lives Matter movement against law enforcement officers, combating anti-gun rhetoric of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and ending the career of state attorney Angela Corey, who led Zimmerman's prosecution.

The listing ended with a Latin phrase that translates as 'if you want peace, prepare for war.'

In both listings of the weapon, he has claimed that the 'many have expressed interest in owning and displaying the firearm including The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.'

However, the museum said in a statement it had not done so and had no plans to display it.

Zimmerman, now 32, has said he was defending himself when he killed Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, in a gated community near Orlando.

Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.

Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic, was acquitted in Martin's February 2012 shooting death. The case sparked protests and a national debate about race relations.

The former neighborhood watchman was acquitted in Martin's February 2012 shooting death. The Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm is pictured above during the trial in June 2013

Amy Siewert, from FDLE, showed the jury how George Zimmerman's gun can be fired during his trial in Seminole circuit court, in Sanford, Florida in July 2013

The Justice Department later decided not to prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges.

Lucy McBath, the mother of another black teenager shot by a white man during an argument at a Jacksonville convenience store in 2012, said the auction reflected a 'deplorable lack of value for human life.'

'I am deeply disappointed that the man who killed Trayvon Martin is trying to sell the very gun he used to cut that precious life short to raise money,' McBath said in a written statement.

The slaying of her son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, by Michael Dunn drew parallels at the time to the Zimmerman-Martin case.

Dunn told police he had felt threatened by Davis. Unlike Zimmerman, Dunn was convicted of murder.

Since Zimmerman was acquitted, he has been charged with assault based on complaints from two girlfriends.

Both women later refused to press charges and Zimmerman wasn't prosecuted. His estranged wife, Shellie Zimmerman, also accused him of smashing her iPad during an argument days after she filed divorce papers.

No charges were filed because of lack of evidence. They were divorced in January.

Orlando-based attorney Mark O'Mara has previously represented Zimmerman. A receptionist in O'Mara's office said Thursday that he no longer represents Zimmerman and had no comment.

Martin's parents declined to address Zimmerman's actions in statements made through representatives.

Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said through an attorney that she would rather focus on her work with the Trayvon Martin Foundation than respond to 'Zimmerman's actions.'

Daryl Parks, whose firm represented the Martin family during the trial, is now chairman of Fulton's foundation. He says Fulton is pushing for policies that protect youth and address gun violence.

Fulton also founded the Circle of Mothers conference, a three-day event to help mothers who have 'lost children or family members' to gun violence.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be keynote speaker at the event in Fort Lauderdale starting May 20.
Hillary Clinton did not use a secure phone line during her term as Secretary of State, it has been revealed.

The documents, obtained by US watchdog Judicial Watch, detailed an email from February 22, 2009, between Clinton and her then Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills trying to talk over a secure line.

When they were technical glitches with setting up a secure communication, Clinton wrote to Mills: 'I called ops and they gave me your 'secure' cells but only got a high-pitched whining sound.'

Mills then advised Clinton to try the secure line again, but the Democratic nominee wrote back: 'I give up. Call me on my home #.'

Hillary Clinton did not use a secure phone line during her term as Secretary of State, it has been revealed. Pictured: Hillary with her then Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills (left)

Hillary Clinton did not use a secure phone line during her term as Secretary of State and is accused of not caring less about the security of her communications by a US Watchdog

It is not clear from the emails whether Clinton and Mills ever did speak and if they did, whether they talked about classified information.

In another email, five days later,Clinton apologized to health care activist Mark Hyman for failing to respond to a message because, 'no blackberry contact permitted in my office'.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents following a court order.

Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog, said: 'This drip, drip of new Clinton emails show Hillary Clinton could not care less about the security of her communications.

'How many other smoking gun emails are Hillary Clinton and her co-conspirators in the Obama administration hiding from the American people?'
A former Arsenal youth team player is one of four men who have been charged with gang-raping a woman during a booze-cruise on a Swedish ferry.

Jamaal Raage, a Swedish national of Somali origin, joined the Gunners in the summer of 2013 and spent nine months at the Emirates Stadium before being released.

Raage is a midfielder who was at one point described as a 'wonderkid' and who compared himself to Dutch winger Arjen Robben. He was also given a trial by Manchester United in 2011.

Jamaal Raage (pictured left, in an Arsenal kit, and right, with a friend) has been indicted for aggravated rape, along with three other men

This picture was taken on board the ferry on the night that the woman was allegedly attacked. But none of the people pictured here were involved in the incident

The alleged rape took place on the ferry Galaxy (pictured) which had been hired by Fun Cruises for a boozy cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki. Around 1,500 were on board

Raage, who currently plays for Vasteras IK, a team in central Sweden, has been charged with aggravated rape.

On the night of March 30 a girl was lured into a cabin on board the ferry Galaxy during a 'party cruise' from Stockholm to Helsinki and attacked by several men.

The woman, who was apparently very drunk, was one of 1,500 mainly young people on board the ferry, which is owned by the Silja Line but was hired by Fun Cruises.

She has told police her ordeal lasted for several hours and her attackers swapped over while one of them kept eye on the door to make sure they were not disturbed.

She was found in the cabin by a friend after the men had left and she then contacted the police.

The alleged incident happend on board the Galaxy (pictured) during a party cruise to Finland organised by Fun Cruises

Fun Cruises run party cruises between Sweden and Finland. This picture was taken on the night of the alleged rape although nobody in the picture was involved in the incident

The ferry Galaxy was hired for the overnight cruise from Stockholm to Helsinki. This picture was taken on the night but none of those in the photograph were involved in the incident

The Aftonbladet newspaper said police were waiting for the ship when it arrived back in Stockholm and the girl was asked to identify the perpetrators as they disembarked.

Police have now charged Raage, along with Hywa Azemi, 19, Zoran Milic, 19, and Marko Tanackovic, 19.

The four were indicted in Stockholm District Court yesterday morning.

Raage is said to be something of a local celebrity in Vasteras.
A rancher has shot dead the first wolverine spotted in North Dakota in 150 years because he thought the animal was going to attack his cattle.

Jared Hatter spotted the 30-pound animal south of Alexander in McKenzie county, late last month when he opened fire.

He posted photographs of the animal on his Facebook account which prompted the North Dakota Game and Fish Department to investigate.

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The wolverine was shot dead by rancher Jared Hatter, pictured, who thought the animal was threatening his cattle. The North Dakota Game and Fish Department said his actions were legal following an investigation

The wolverine, file photo, was shot after travelling more than 1,300 from Yellowstone to North Dakota

For several years the wolverine was tracked after it was fitted with an electronic tag. The device was fitted to the animal south of the Yellowstone National Park in 2008.

It was last detected in Colorado in 2012. After which, the animal travelled north to McKenzie County in North Dakota where it was shot dead.

In total, the animal prowled more than 1,300 miles before it was killed by the rancher.

According to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the shooting was in accordance of the state's law.

Landowners or their agents in North Dakota can catch or kill any 'wild furbearing animal' - apart from bears - as long as they are a danger to stock or crops.

The wolverine travelled from Yellowstone National Park, to Colorado and then to its death in North Dakota

According to officials: 'The eight-to-nine-year-old male appeared to be healthy, and was found with a radio tracking device in its abdomen.

'Records indicated the device was inserted in 2008, when the wolverine was captured south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Internal radio tracking devices are often used in mammals that frequently crawl in and out of burrows, or those that live in water.

'This wolverines last known location was Colorado in 2012. After which, the battery in its radio tracking device was likely depleted.

'The last confirmed record of a wolverine in North Dakota was from the fur trading era during the mid-1800s.

'The closest population of wolverines occurs in the mountains of Montana, and the forests of northern Canada. However, male wolverines are known to travel great distances in search of habitat, food and/or other wolverines.'

Officials confirmed the dead animal will be stuffed and put in an exhibit at the Department's headquarters in Bismark.
A woman who went to a local cafe for a drink after a row with her boyfriend claims she was then raped by the bar manager.

The alleged victim said she woke up 'naked from the waist down' in Ostara in the affluent Southfields area of south-west London.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has a receipt for a drink bought just before closing time on May 2 but has no clear memory after that.

She claims she woke at around 5am and a man 'lying beside her' then 'began to touch her intimately'.

Council review: Ostara in Southfields had its licence temporarily revoked after a woman claimed she was raped there after a row with her boyfriend

Her rape allegation appears in Wandsworth Council papers because its licensing committee placed an interim suspension on the cafe's license ahead of a full hearing in the coming weeks.

Officers took action when the cafe's owner said its CCTV was not working on the date of the alleged rape.

The committee paper states: 'The female alleges she went to Ostara alone following an argument with her boyfriend on May 2, 2016.

'She did have a receipt for a drink purchased there timed at 10.30pm.

'However, her recollection of her time after this in Ostara is not clear, she remembers waking up sometime later, naked from the waist down and alleges that the bar manager was lying beside her. She alleges that he then began to touch her intimately.'

The woman says she went home at around 5am and then contacted the police at around midday.

Scotland Yard has confirmed they made an arrest in connection with the alleged rape.

A spokesman said: 'The victim was taken to the Havens (rape crisis centre) for assessment, and is now being supported by specially trained officers.

'A 59-year-old man in the Southfields area was subsequently arrested on suspicion of rape and has been bailed until a date in late July.'

Account: This section of a council licensing report reveals the allegation made by the customer

Wandsworth Council says is now back trading but will consider its alcohol licence at a full hearing in around ten days time.

A council spokesman said: 'The police have requested a review of this establishment's licence and a full hearing will be heard later this month.

'An interim suspension of the license was put in place pending the owner complying with a number of conditions to the satisfaction of the police.'

Ostara's owner Marek Nahmmacher, 49, was called to the cafe when the alleged rape was reported, giving the officers keys and helping them find the suspect.

He told the Evening Standard: 'Police and the council are fully satisfied that the premises are safe and fulfil all licensing conditions. Ostara is also delighted with the huge amount of local support.

'The allegation is vehemently denied and will be strongly defended in court.
More than 40,000 was spent doing up George Osborne's grace-and-favour flat in Downing Street as the Chancellor imposed tough austerity measures on the country.

The scale of the spending on the residence during the last parliament has been revealed following a Freedom of Information request by MailOnline.

The outlay on improvements and maintenance emerged after Mr Osborne admitted last month that he and his wife have been raking in around 60,000 a year renting out their London home while they live in the flat above Number 10.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson said the spending represented 'shocking hypocrisy' at a time when the public sector was being slashed.

Chancellor George Osborne in Downing Street today. He lives in the flat above Number 10 with wife Frances and their two children

David Cameron previously came under fire over the 64,000 refit to his Downing Street residence carried out after he became Prime Minister.

The 'Notting Hill style' overhaul included renovation of the kitchen and bathroom and installation of a second kitchen.

Some 30,000 of the costs were met from public funds, while the Camerons footed the rest of the bill themselves.

The Treasury initially responded to the FOI request about spending on the Osbornes' flat - where the Chancellor lives with wife Frances and their two children - by insisting it did not hold the details.

But after the Cabinet Office confirmed it had charged the Treasury for work on the residence, the department finally produced figures.

Some 39,880 was spent in 2011-12 on 'maintenance and refurbishment' of the flat, according to the response.

The previous year 32,651 went on works - but the Treasury insisted that sum covered the state rooms and offices at Number 11 as well as the residence and refused to break it down further.

There were another 300 of costs for repairs and improvements up to 2015.

Aides to the Chancellor refused to provide any more details of the works, or even deny that a new kitchen or bathroom had been installed.

'No. 11 Downing Street is a Grade I-listed building and as such the Government is obliged to ensure that it is maintained to an appropriate standard,' a Treasury spokeswoman said.

'By long-standing arrangement, the Treasury pays a contribution to the Cabinet Office for the space used by HM Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer within the Downing Street estate, including maintenance of the No 11 state rooms and offices, and the No 10 flat.'

Samantha Cameron and Michelle Obama in the Prime Minister's residence above Downing Street

CAMERONS HAD WORK DONE TOO David and Samantha Cameron live above No11 David and Samantha Cameron came under fire for carrying out a 64,000 refit of their Downing Street residence before moving in. Like the Blairs and the Browns, who had young children, the Camerons moved into the larger four-bedroom flat above Number 11. But the couple, whose home in nearby Notting Hill was decorated in a light modern style and full of designer furniture, were not satisfied with the existing condition. Some 30,000 of the costs were footed by the taxpayer, with the Camerons meeting the rest of the bill. The work included the renovation of the small 1970s kitchen, which was done before the family moved in, along with the installation of a second kitchen. After the Information Commissioner ordered the disclosure of details, bathroom notes showed that the couple ordered an extensive refit and stripped out everything, apart from a towel rail. Among the items removed were a cast iron bath, two basins, a vanity unit, WC and cistern, and marble and timber panels. A wall was also demolished to allow for cupboard 'modifications'. They installed a new basin, taps, WC suite, bath and natural slate floor tiles. Although the Camerons do not reveal the cost and make of the new items, they are likely to have been top-of-the-range. A suspended floating ceiling was fitted in the centre of the room so six low-voltage downlights could be installed. The notes between Mrs Cameron and the architects show that she asked for the 'removal of existing fixtures and furnishing' from the flat. Her specifications included the removal of 'all existing curtains, curtain poles and curtain fittings and store if in good condition  eg sitting room damask curtains, dining room floral curtains, family room floral curtains'.

Both Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne pay a tax charge for their residences, thought to be a few thousand pounds a year.

Although 10 Downing Street is the Prime Minister's official residence, David Cameron chose to move his family into the four-bedroom flat in Number 11 - where both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown lived during their Premierships.

The flat is more spacious and all three Prime Ministers had young children when they moved in.

Mr Osborne was given the flat about Number 10 - with offices in Number 11.

However, he did not move into Downing Street straight after the election but instead broke with convention and stayed living with his family in Notting Hill, west London.

However, in August 2010 he decided to move into the flat above Number 10.

Mr Watson said: 'George Osborne has implemented huge spending cuts that have hit the poorest hardest and warned there is stormy economic weather ahead.

'He should be setting an example by reigning in his own spending, but the millionaire Chancellor has instead splashed out tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers money on home improvements.

'It is a shocking display of hypocrisy and another example of his terrible political judgement. He may have a flat at number 10 but he doesn't deserve to be handed the keys to the front door.'

In the wake of the Panama Papers row Mr Osborne released details of his income and tax for 2014-15 last week.

It showed his share of the income from renting out the family's London home was 33,562, with his wife believed to be receiving the same amount.

Mr Cameron revealed that he was getting around 45,000 a year from renting out the family's home in Notting Hill - suggesting the total could be 90,000.

The work the PM had done at Downing Street included the renovation of the small 1970s kitchen, which was done before the family moved in, along with the installation of a second kitchen.

After the Information Commissioner ordered the disclosure of details, bathroom notes showed that the couple ordered an extensive refit and stripped out everything, apart from a towel rail.

Among the items removed were a cast iron bath, two basins, a vanity unit, WC and cistern, and marble and timber panels. A wall was also demolished to allow for cupboard 'modifications'.

They installed a new basin, taps, WC suite, bath and natural slate floor tiles.

Although the Camerons do not reveal the cost and make of the new items, they are likely to have been top-of-the-range.

A suspended floating ceiling was fitted in the centre of the room so six low-voltage downlights could be installed.

The notes between Mrs Cameron and the architects show that she asked for the 'removal of existing fixtures and furnishing' from the flat. Her specifications included the removal of 'all existing curtains, curtain poles and curtain fittings and store if in good condition  eg sitting room damask curtains, dining room floral curtains, family room floral curtains'.

Samantha Cameron at a charity breakfast in the kitchen of the Downing Street flat above Number 11 last year
Nurse Jill Pirrie was struck by car in Edinburgh at 8pm on Thursday

Jill Pirrie was walking home from work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary when she was struck by the car

Two people have been arrested after a mother of one died from being mowed down by a car in a high-speed police chase.

Nurse Jill Pirrie, 33, was walking home from work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary when she was struck by the Ford Ka on Old Dalkeith Road in Edinburgh, at around 8pm on Thursday.

Ms Pirrie, who is understood to have a young son, was treated at the scene but sadly later died in hospital.

Police Scotland said a force vehicle was following a silver Ka after it failed to stop for officers.

The police car's blue lights and siren were being used in the pursuit, the force said.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) is also reviewing the circumstances that led to the death.

A spokeswoman said: 'A police vehicle was following a silver Ford Ka when the Ka was involved in a collision which resulted in the death of a 33-year-old woman in Edinburgh.

'The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has instructed the Pirc to carry out an independent investigation into the circumstances leading up to the incident.

'Pirc investigators attended the scene in the early hours of the morning and a report will be submitted to the COPFS in due course.'

Anyone with information can contact police on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Ms Pirrie died after she was hit by the silver Ka while it was pursued by police in Edinburgh (pictured)
An aspiring actress has walked free from court despite viral footage emerging of her allegedly punching a police officer in the face.

Claire Helen was captured on CCTV in December 2014 allegedly punching a female officer in the face before she was forcibly arrested in Sydney's Kings Cross.

But the 33-year-old aspiring model was set free on a technicality because the officer forgot to ask her what her name was during the arrest, reports Yahoo News.

Claire Helen was captured on CCTV allegedly punching a female officer in the face (left) before she was forcibly arrested (right)

Ms Helen denied ever hitting the policewoman, instead accusing her and the other officers in the footage of police brutality.

'It's been a long time coming, so it's a really nice relief,' she said outside court. 'I didn't strike anybody.'

Ms Helen was with a group suspected of assaulting a taxi driver when they were approached by a group of police in the inner east Sydney suburb, with CCTV footage capturing the dramatic scenes.

Magistrate Graeme Curran dismissed the charges against Ms Helen because the officer did not ask Ms Helen what her name was before asking for her physical ID, which is police protocol.

The aspiring model and actress was set free on a technicality because the officer forgot to ask her what her name was during the arrest

Ms Helen denied ever hitting the policewoman, instead accusing her and the other officers in the footage of police brutality

The magistrate found it 'must' have been Ms Helen who struck the officer but said the prosecution had not been able to prove the police were in proper execution of their duties when the act occurred.

He read evidence from witnesses who described a 'rigorous' struggle between Ms Helen and police.
An NHS doctor who said divorce judges condemned him to working a seven-day week so he can meet maintenance payments to his buy-to-let tycoon ex-wife, has told the Appeal Court he was treated unfairly.

Hospital obstetrician Mark Tattersall, 39, claimed he was forced to work a 56-hour week after he was ordered to pay his ex Amanda Tattersall 1,070-a-month in personal maintenance and almost 600-a-month in child maintenance.

When the pair split up in 2011, after more a decade of marriage, Oxford University academic Mrs Tattersall was handed 70 per cent of the family fortune, the bulk of which was invested in a string of buy to let properties stretching from London to Liverpool.

Doctor Mark Tattersall, 39, (left) says divorce judges condemned him to working a seven-day week so he can meet maintenance payments to his ex-wife Amanda (right)

Dr Tattersall who is from Bolton and works at Liverpool Women's Hospital, says he has no choice but to work the equivalent as seven eight-hour days in order to meet his own basic needs and keep up the payments to his former wife.

He claimed divorce judges were 'wrong to expect him to work more than a normal 40-hour week' and has now told London's Appeal Court he feels he has been the victim of 'unfair' treatment.

The court heard that Dr Tattersall met his wife whilst they were both students and the pair married in 2000.

Mrs Tattersall, studied physiological sciences at St Hilda's College Oxford, and worked at Cambridge University as a researcher before taking up her current position at Oxford University.

The couple had a child together but separated in 2011, after accumulating properties in Loughborough Park, Brixton, and St Aldates, Oxford, as well as Cambridge, Birmingham and Liverpool during their marriage, the equity in which was worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The wife was handed 70 per cent of the marital assets, along with the maintenance order, which Dr Tattersall claimed left him chained to the grindstone.

NHS hospital doctors routinely put in much longer hours on the job than the average 35 hour nine-to-five working week.

The European Working Hours Directive has now limited compulsory working time for UK hospital doctors to 48 hours, but it is legal for medics to work overtime through choice.

When the pair split up in 2011, after more a decade of marriage, Oxford University academic Mrs Tattersall was handed 70 per cent of the family fortune, the bulk of which was invested in a string of buy to let properties stretching from London to Liverpool. Pictured is a property owned by the couple in Brixton

Dr Tattersall, who was earning 75,000 annually and working 56 hours, including weekends, before the separation, told judges he wanted to cut back his hours to 40 per week so that he had weekends free to potentially spend time with his young daughter.

The divorce court ruling on maintenance had left him unable to do that, he insisted.

He complained that 'the judge had erred in dividing the capital unequally and in ordering him to pay too much for too long by way of periodical payments (maintenance) to his wife.'

The judge had 'overestimated his income' and 'should have based herself on his current salary, without overtime,' he argued.

He also claimed that what was left in his pay packet after making the payments to his wife 'will not cover his income needs.'

The judge had been 'over-generous in assessing the wife's needs,' he added.

An initial challenge to the maintenance award was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2013.

Judges found that he had not put forward sufficient evidence to support his claims about the number of hours or days he would need to work.

Dr Tattersall who is from Bolton and works at Liverpool Women's Hospital (pictured), says he has no choice but to work the equivalent as seven eight-hour days in order to meet his own basic needs and keep up the payments to his former wife

However he has continued to protest and has been hit with further court orders over his failure to keep up the maintenance payments.

Future payments were ordered to be rolled up into a lump sum and paid all at once by a family judge in March 2014.

And the doctor was also hit with an enforcement order in relation to the arrears, which could potentially lead to him being jailed if he still fails to pay up.

He is now fighting those orders, claiming to have suffered 'procedural unfairness' and that his ex-wife 'has manipulated judges' in order to get the result she wants.

'The way my former wife has conducted this litigation has manipulated judges,' he told Lady Justice King.

He also accused the judge who made the orders of dealing with the case 'in an intemperate manner.'

Dr Tattersall now faces an anxious wait whilst his case is decided after Lady Justice King reserved her decision following an hour-long hearing.
The Russian embassy was subjected to inventive abuse online after it tweeted a picture from a computer war game to illustrate the situation in Syria.

A screenshot was used on the tweet showing three trucks with the accompanying tweet 'Extremists near Aleppo receive several truckloads of chemical ammo'.

Gaming site eurogamer identified the picture as being from real-time strategy game Command & Conquer: Generals.

The Russian embassy used an image from Command & Conquer: Generals to illustrate developments in Aleppo

Though the Russian embassy account added later that the image had been used 'for illustration purposes only' eurogamer discovered that it is the first image which comes up when 'bomb truck' is put through Google.

Command & Conquer: Generals, is published by EA and players can join in on the US and China joining forces to launch nuclear war against a terrorist organisation.

Syria has been in the middle of a devastating civil war since 2012 and has suffered the onslaught of the growth of ISIS.

Twitter users spotted the unusual post and quickly began mocking the embassy.

A barrage of screenshots from computer games followed, along with a range of news situations they are supposed to illustrate.

A barrage of screenshots from computer games followed, along with a range of news situations they are supposed to illustrate

Images from Star Wars were a popular choice to make Russian army comparisons with

Pictures of sci-fi space craft were picked by some creative users, this one is captioned 'IS/extremist have built spatial war vessel and want to invade earth'

Some show nuclear missiles from computer games - perhaps a layered jibe at Russia's nuclear grandstanding.

Images from Star Wars were also used, as were pictures of sci-fi space craft. One had the caption 'IS/extremist have built spatial war vessel and want to invade earth'.

Others took a more retro approach and used pictures from the popular game Tetris.

Others took a more retro approach and used pictures from the popular game Tetris

'Folks this tweet is not legitimate': this user decided to make it clear his tweet was a joke

More creative Twitter users diverted from the computer game route to use old paintings to further the joke.

Some chose to mock the Russian army while others poked fun at the country's stereotypes, such as a fondness for vodka.

There were also a few photographs of what users imaged the Russian embassy would illustrate it's female soldiers as - scantily clad and wielding guns.

Lego and animals also made an appearance, largely with the small yellow figures dressed as extremist fighters.

Lego and animals also made an appearance, largely with the small yellow figures dressed as extremist fighters

Some chose to mock the Russian army while others poked fun at the country's stereotypes, such as a fondness for vodka

There were also a few photographs of what users imaged the Russian embassy would illustrate it's female soldiers as - scantily clad and wielding guns

Some tweets mocked the idea of military weapons. These two pictures are in contrast with each other, in terms of computer graphics

Traditional games like Mario also made the cut, with references to Italian terrorists

Most recently in Russia, hundreds of soldiers gathered at the military base of Vaziani in Georgia, very near to the Russian border.

Last week, Putin's government 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'.

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

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.

Some users let their pictures do the talking, choosing no caption. In this one, blimps with communist symbols and shark mouths can be seen flying into New York

More retro POV computer games were also used - like this one which appears to show a British spy




The University of Sydney and Wesley College are embroiled in a bitter battle over student privacy as Vice Chancellor Michael Spence demands the names of students involved in this weeks scandals.

After reports emerged regarding a 'slut shaming' journal which named and divulged intimate details about female students, it was then revealed that Wesley College, at Sydney University, had used a massage parlour as part of an initiation activity, causing distress to employees and members of the community.

Despite the outrage from the university, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that master of the college, Lisa Sutherland, would not co-operate and release the names.

Producers of the Wesley College journal were 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

'Wesley College has informed the vice-chancellor at the University of Sydney that the college is not in a position to provide the names because of its adherence to its policy on privacy,' she said.

'Wesley College is a privately operated institution that provides a residential community for adult students, and part of the development of students through their university years is to have the opportunity to lead and self-govern within the supportive and values-driven environment that Wesley provides.'

The university is said to be 'frustrated' at Ms Sutherland's response, as it has brought a halt to the institution's investigation.

Female students from Wesley College have spoken out about the shocking case of 'slut shaming'

Producers of the Wesley College journal were 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'.

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 colleges 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.
In 2014 she abandoned her campaign after an avalanche killed 16 sherpas

This will be the Queenslander's

Teenager Alyssa Azar hopes to become the youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest, as she begins her final ascent to the summit this weekend.

This will be the 19-year-old's third attempt after devastating avalanches and earthquakes derailed her 2014 and 2015 campaigns respectively.

Earlier this week, clear weather allowed climbers in the Queenslander's team to reach Everest's peak.

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Teenager Alyssa Azar (pictured) hopes to become the youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest, as she begins her final ascent to the summit this weekend

This will be the 19-year-old's (pictured) third attempt after devastating avalanches and earthquakes derailed her 2014 and 2015 campaigns respectively

Ms Azar is hoping to join them when she sets off on Saturday or Sunday.

'It's been many years in the making and a lot of work, but it all comes down to this one week,' Ms Azar's father Glenn Azar said.

In 2014 Ms Azar abandoned her first attempt after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas.

In 2014 Ms Azar abandoned her first attempt (pictured) after an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas

Earlier this week, clear weather allowed climbers in the Queenslander's team to reach Everest's peak- This picture was taken on her 2015 campaign

In her second attempt at climbing the world's highest peak she was at the Mount Everest base camp when Nepal was hit with an earthquake which killed over 3000 people

In her second attempt at climbing the world's highest peak the following year, she was at the Mount Everest base camp when Nepal was hit with an earthquake which killed over 3000 people.

Her current campaign saw the the teenager and her team of Sherpas arrive at base camp four on Tuesday.

A one-week ascent will have her reaching the summit next Thursday or Friday.

She has been training hard, with her own equipment in her backyard (right) in Toowoomba in Queensland's south east- She is pictured here prior to her 2015 campaign

Ms Azar has been climbing since she was five, mainly because her father is a Kokoda Track instructor.

At just eight years old, she successfully completed the iconic trail in Papua New Guinea with his help.

She has gone on to climb Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro, the 10 highest peaks in Australia, South America's Mount Aconcagua in the Andes, and Nepal's Ama Dablam and Manaslu.

'I started doing training when I was five or six,' Ms Azar told Daily Mail Australia prior to her 2015 campaign.

'As I got older I got onto the higher altitudes.'

'After Kilimanjaro in 2011, I decided I wanted to be a professional mountaineer... and put myself against the best.'

Since climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2011, the teenager has been training to summit the Nepal mountain

Ms Azar is pictured here at eight-years-old when she climbed the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea with her father

Mr Azar's nerves have been settled by glowing reviews of his daughters ability from seasoned Sherpas.

'They told me she was very strong and very fast - and they don't mince their words,' he said.

'If you're not up to it, they'll tell you to go home.'

'But she's doing what she loves, and as a parent you can't want any more than that.'

As an adventurer himself, Mr Azar will be hiking the Kokoda trail with a tour group in Papua New Guinea when Ms Azar is expected to reach the peak.

Ms Azar is planning to take a photo of her 12-year-old brother Christian, who has autism and an intellectual disability, to the summit to pose for a picture.

Her route, the southeast ridge, was first climbed by New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Her route, the southeast ridge, was first climbed by New Zealand's Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953

Ms Azar's father's nerves have been settled by glowing reviews of his daughters ability from seasoned Sherpas
Venezuela's left-wing government has called the impeachment of Brazil's President, Dilma Rousseff, a mockery of justice and popular will.

President Nicolas Maduro's Socialist Party has always been ideologically close to Rousseff's Workers Party, especially during the rule of their predecessors, Hugo Chavez and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

'Venezuela categorically rejects the parliamentary coup d'etat under way in Brazil, which, via judicial farces from the oligarchy and imperial forces, seeks to topple the president and overturn popular sovereignty,' said a statement from the government in Caracas.

President Dilma Rousseff is pictured kissing President Nicolas Maduro during a summit in Costa Rica last year. Maduro's government has reacted angrily to her impeachment

Even though relations have been cooler during Maduro's three-year rule, Rouseff's departure is another big disappointment to Venezuela's leaders, who lost another major ally in South America last year when conservative Mauricio Macri defeated Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in Argentina's presidential elections.

Venezuela's government said: 'The legitimate president, Dilma Rousseff, first female head of state in Brazil, faces an assault motivated by vengeance from those factors who lost elections and are incapable of taking power by any way other than force.'

But the conservative blog Caracas Chronicles welcomed Rousseff's fall as another blow to the 'pink tide' which saw left-wing governments come to power across Latin America.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (pictured after the Senate vote) condemned the move to impeach her as a 'coup' and a 'farce', urging her supporters to mobilise after denying she has committed any crimes

Vice President Michel Temer has taken over as interim Brazilian president until Rousseff faces a trial before the Senate, a process which could take up to six months.

She is accused of disguising the size of the budget deficit to make the economy look healthier in the run-up to her re-election in 2014, charges she has denied.

It means he will be Brazil's president when they host the Olympics later this year.

Vice President Michael Temer was heavily criticised for appointing a Cabinet of 21 white men, like himself, to replace a government of an ethnically diverse country led by a woman

One of Temer's first acts as interim president was to have a ministerial reshuffle and he was heavily criticised an all-white and all-male Cabinet in a country which is ethnically diverse.

Temer, 75, said: 'Its urgent to seek the unity of Brazil. We urgently need a government of national salvation.'

He is thought to be moving the government to the right after years of socialist ideology under Lula and Rousseff.

Silas Malafaia, a TV evangelist, told the New York Times: 'Temers government is starting out well. Hell be able to sweep away the ideology of pathological leftists.'

Demonstrators shout slogans during a vigil in support of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff in Sao Paulo
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has launched an investigation following an incident at Melbourne Airport earlier this week, which saw a Jetstar aircraft grounded after its tail hit the ground during take-off.

The Wednesday Melbourne to Hobart flight turned around and returned to Melbourne shortly after the plane became airborne, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The investigation has been launched to get the facts behind what happened and try to prevent it from happening again, said Melanie Todd, manager of Aviation Safety Investigation.

The tail of the Airbus A320 was grounded after its tail hit the ground during take-off

In this case it wasnt a particularly major event, she said to Daily Mail Australia.

There was no significant damage to the aircraft and there were no injuries to anyone on board.

In general, tail strikes can be symptomatic of deeper issues, and we have had some in Australia before that have caused far greater damage. This one isnt like that though.

During the investigation, it is standard practice for the pilot of a plane to be stood down, however the aircraft was found to be in fine structural condition and was returned to service on Friday.

Passengers on the plane were transferred to a later flight and arrived in Hobart on Wednesday evening.

The results of the report are due out later in the year, though Ms Todd says it could be much earlier if the investigation becomes merely a fact-finding mission.
A pretty brunette with a top advertising job in glitzy Miami quit to devote her life to saving endangered animals.

Daniela Moreno, 32, worked for six years at Turner Broadcasting, but left and moved to Japan after watching a shocking documentary on dolphin killings.

Now she works as an activist for the Cove Monitor Program, dedicated to the protection of dolphins worldwide.

The project - led by Ric O'Barry - aims to prevent slaughter of dolphins and rehabilitate captive dolphins.

The brunette quit her advertising job in Miami to devote her life to protecting endangered animals

Miss Moreno worked at an African lion conservation in Zimbabwe (pictured) earlier this year

The 32-year-old said: 'I believe we should always live our lives as if it was our last day on Earth'

Earlier this year, Miss Moreno flew to India where she volunteered with Wildlife SOS to protect elephants, leopards, reptiles, bears and other wild animals.

She then worked at an African lion conservation in Zimbabwe.

The 32-year-old, originally from Santa Barbara, in Bolivia, said: 'I feel I gave up part of that world because it wasn't for me anymore. It didn't matter if they offered me a counter offer or a promotion.

'When I finally quit my job, it was because I'd come to the realization that my life had to continue somewhere and someplace else.

'I'm not sure where my adventurous side from. My parents are always a bit worried about my trips and crazy adventures, so definitely not from them.

'I believe we should always live our lives as if it was our last day on Earth.'

After quitting her advertising job, Miss Moreno said 'I know this will become the job I always dreamed of having'

Daniela Moreno, 32, worked for six years at Turner Broadcasting, but quit and now devotes her life to animals

The ravishing brunette feels at one with nature and shares her adventures of her glamorous lifestyle online

While working to help endangered animals, Miss Moreno is also studying for an MBA in Global Communications from The American University of Paris.

She added: 'Most of my travel is funded by my savings.

'I worked very hard for seven years and was able to save some money, and for me the best way to spend money is by traveling, exploring and helping others.'

The animal activist shares her adventures online on Instagram and hopes to turn it into a full-time business.

She said: 'I decided to document my work as an activist.

'Recently a couple of brands approached me. They liked my message, my content and my pictures and they wanted to work with me.

'That's when it all changed for me. I was so happy and excited. I can finally say I'm an animal and environmental activist.
Donald Trump lost his patience with a morning TV host on Friday who asked him what his personal income tax rate is each year, snapping that 'it's none of your business.'

Trump, a multibillionaire who will become the Republican Party's presidential nominee in July, has come under fire for insisting that he won't release his tax returns until after the Obama administration concludes a 'routine audit' stretching back over a decade or more.

On 'Good Morning America' on Friday, he sparred with co-host George Stephanopoulos about his decision and when voters might get a look inside an IRS filing that consumes several cases of printer paper.

America's wealthiest people typically try to limit their tax exposure through the creative use of legal loopholes and deductions, employing teams of accountants to maximize their savings and drive down their effective tax rate.

Trump said Friday that he's no different, but the end result is a private matter.

'It's none of your business,' he said. 'You'll see it when I release. But I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.'

'NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS': Donald Trump told 'Good Morning America' co-host George Stephanopoulos that he didn't have a right to know what percentage of the billionaire's income goes to Uncle Sam each year

MORE SCRUTINY: As weeks tick by without Trump releasing his tax returns, interviews are getting testier with The Donald

'This country wastes our money. They take our tax money and they throw it down the drain,' he complained. 'They spent $4 trillion in the Middle East and we can't fix a road or a bridge. And I fight very hard  I consider it an expense  because frankly our country doesn't know what they're doing with our money, or our tax money. And that's part of the problem.'

Trump insisted, as he has in past weeks, that he won't publish his tax returns until the audit is over.

Asked it he thinks voters 'have a right' to see how much he earns and how much he pays to Uncle Sam, Trump said: 'I don't think they do, but I do say this: I will really gladly give them  they're not gonna learn anything  but it's under routine audit. When the audit ends I'm gonna present them.'

'That should be before the election. I hope it's before the election,' Trump clarified.

Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has criticized Trump for holding back, saying on Wednesday that she and former President Bill Clinton have put all their tax returns in the public domain.

'When you run for president, especially when you become the nominee that is kind of expected," Mrs. Clinton said during a rally in Blackwood, New Jersey.

'My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns  we've got eight years on our website right now. So you have got to ask yourself, why does he not release them?'

E-FILE TO THE RESCUE: Trump tweeted a photo in February showing him signing a tax return that stretches thousands of pages

Trump fired back on Friday, calling her a 'very, very great hypocrite.'

'I sorta had to laugh when Clinton said it,' he told Stephanopoulos, who was a senior aide in Bill Clinton's White House before working at ABC.

'Mrs. Clinton says that I should give my tax returns. What about all the missing emails that she's got? When is she gonna give the missing emails or her Goldman Sachs speeches? When is she gonna give that?'

Stephanopoulos declared that Clinton has turned over every email 'in her possession,' ignoring that she famously deleted tens of thousands before sharing the remainder with the State Department.

'She didn't turn over all. There are plenty missing,' Trump corrected him.

'Don't tell me  I know she's a good friend of yours, and I know you worked for them and you didn't reveal it, but you know, she did not turn over her emails. There are a lot of emails missing,' an agitated Trump jabbed.

'There are emails missing all over the place. The whole thing is a scam.'

Even when the time comes for him to show the public his tax returns, he said, 'people are going to learn nothing' from them.

His July 2015 financial disclosure document, he claimed, was more instructive.

'You know, I put in financials, 100 pages worth of financials, that show that I've built a company that's worth more than 10 billion dollars. It shows cash, it shows cash flows. It shows everything,' he said.

'You learn very little from tax returns. but nevertheless, when the audit is complete I will release. I have no problem with it.'

Stephanopoulos grilled him about past business dealings  applications for casino licenses in two states  where he was required to submit his tax returns for review even though they were under audit.

In those cases the public never had access to the documents.

Trump said he provided his returns to state regulators 'because at the time it didn't make any difference to me. Now it does.'

He also said he has no foreign sources of income, 'and I don't have Swiss bank accounts. I don't have offshore.'
American rapper has often compared himself to both God and Jesus Christ

He considers himself the 21st century's answer to not only Jesus, but God too.

But surely even Kanye West would be somewhat astonished to discover that some of his most famous phrases have actually replaced the words of Christ at one London church.

Rev Barry Hobson of St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch has ditched lines from the Bible in favour of Kanye quotes in the hope of pulling in a larger congregation.

He now uses huge blackboards outside the church to spread the word of Yeezy and, in turn, promote the teachings of Christianity.

St Andrew's Church in Hornchurch has ditched lines from the Bible on its outside noticeboard in favour of Kanye West quotes in the hope of pulling in a larger congregation

Since installing the blackboards two years ago, the popular minster has roped in the help of local woman Terry Keens, 63, to write more than 285 inspiring quotes on the boards.

Not all of them belong to Mr Kim Kardashian: other contributors include Winnie the Pooh, Winston Churchill, Gandhi and Spongebob Squarepants.

However, as is often the case with the multi-millionaire rapper, it is his words that have caused the biggest stir - especially the vicar's favourite: 'Jesus had two dads and he turned out just fine'.

Rev Hobson said: 'I am amazed by the response we have received, we just wanted to be a bit controversial.

'We wanted people to stop and have a bit of fun and a bit of a think about it and for it to then stick in their minds.

'It has definitely got more people talking about the church as we use quotes from Spongebob to Gandhi.'

Rev Barry Hobson (left) uses huge blackboards (left) outside the church to spread the word of Yeezy and, in turn, promote the teachings of Christianity

Writer Terry is first to admit that she isn't too 'in the know' about Kanye West's music.

But after chalking a fair few of his famous quotes on to the board, she is quickly becoming a convert.

The volunteer said: 'The vicar had a go at writing on them but he struggled so I gave it a bash and I have been doing it ever since.

'We have had such a good response to it. I have tried to keep up with the times as if you just have church bible quotes it puts people off.

Writer Terry Keens (pictured) is first to admit that she isn't too 'in the know' about Kanye West's music. But after chalking a fair few of his famous quotes on to the board, she is quickly becoming a convert

'I like to get quotes from other people which hold church values like love and peace - so this church has quotes from Kanye West.

'At Christmas we did the Jesus had two dads one which did upset some churches, but people take things differently.

'We just wanted to mix it up a bit - but I have got into trouble before for misquoting but it's a bit difficult with the internet sometimes.'

Another Kanye one-liner to have appeared on the board was the immortal quip: 'You're not perfect but you're not your mistakes.'

Not all of the quotes on the boards belong to Mr West. However, as is often the case with the multi-millionaire rapper, it is his words that have caused the biggest stir - especially the vicar's favourite: 'Jesus had two dads and he turned out just fine' (pictured)

Another Kanye quip to have appeared on the board read: 'Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be you'

There was also: 'Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be you.'

Away from the Grammy Award winning artist, Terry's favourite phrase to grace the sign so far comes from A.A Milne's Winnie the Pooh.

It reads: '"How do you spell love", said Piglet, "You don't spell it, you feel it", said Pooh.'

Terry added: 'That is something that children will see and ask their mum about it so it just makes the church a bit of a conversation point and something for them to think about.

'It is a beautiful building, hopefully people might walk past and want to visit our church because we don't seem stuffy.

'Our vicar is a laugh, the things he comes out with he's hilarious, and we like to show that we have a sense of humour.'
An ISIS gang who were hatching a 'dangerous' plot to attack tourists and Western diplomats in Morocco have been thwarted.

Morocco 's Interior Ministry says authorities have arrested a Chadian national who was plotting to attack Western diplomatic buildings and tourist sites.

The Chadian, who has not been named, was arrested on Friday in a safe house in the northern city of Tangiers.

The suspected was arrested when he arrived in Morocco last week. In 2003 an attack killed 33 tourists in Casablanca (pictured) but the country has been largely free of terrorism

The suspect flew to Morocco from Chad on May 4, landing at Casablanca airport.

It said he ISIS wanted him to join up with a terror cell comprised of Moroccans and Algerians before launching the attacks.
Bill Shorten won the first leaders debate in the lead-up to the federal election because he understood the politics of people power, according to a political expert.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten faced Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday night and managed to win 42 percent of the audience, compared to 29 per cent for Mr Turnbull.

Political expert Dr David Burchell of the University of Western Sydney told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Shorten was successful because he better understood the audience.

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Opposition leader Bill Shorten was voted the winner in Friday's leadership debate against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

Dr Burchell said Mr Shorten managed to tap into the feelings of those who felt abandoned by politics and added: There seems to be a movement in politics at the moment against the sensible establishment.

Candidates who can grasp the politics of people power, tap into the feelings of those who are feeling excluded, seem to do a little better.

We can see that in America with Trump.

Dr David Burchell said Mr Turnbull used his speech to emphasise his plan to create more jobs and business growth

In his opening speech to the 100-strong crowd in Western Sydney, Mr Shorten stressed the importance of putting people first, saying: If the government puts people first, nothing can hold us back.

In contrast, Mr Turnbull used his speech to emphasise his plan to create more jobs and business growth.

But Dr Burchell said that Mr Turnbull's details-focused approach did not resonate with the western Sydney audience.

Dr Burchell said that Mr Shorten's 'people first' strategy was better tailored to the western Sydney audience

Dr Burchell said: While I think Shorten is quite a weak candidate for Prime Minister, he seems to have grasped this a bit better.

Turnbull has been looking a bit uncertain and a bit unstable.'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (left) and Opposition leader Bill Shorten (right) squared off in the first debate of the election campaign in Windsor on Friday

The people in Western Sydney dont seem to like smarta**** that much. They do have a problem with people who are a bit too clever for them.

Dr Burchell believes that Mr Turnbull will eventually win the election, but the result from his first leaders debate could leave some scars that might take a while to heal.
German police were left looking for a car after their speed traps went off, and there was no sign of a vehicle.

The officers in the town of Zweibrucken, in the south west, stared at the pictures taken by their mobile speed camera in disbelief - there was no car.

Despite the photos being taken at 10am, it took them a while to make out the shape of a parrot zooming across the screen.

Zweibrucken police were left scratching their heads when this photo turned up on their speed camera. In closer inspection they saw it was a parrot which had broken the speed limit

The bird, which Speigel said was a ring-necked parakeet had broken the speed limit of just over 18mph (30kmp), managing to cruise past at an impressive 26.7mph.

'After close visual inspection of the photo taken at the scene we solved the puzzle' said a statement put out by the Rhineland Palatinate police on Thursday.

Parrots are often spotted in the town, as a group of them have settled in the central rosengarten park.

The birds, which include ring-necked parakeets do not normally get caught on speeding cameras, however.

Officers said they were not yet sure who would have to pay the customary 15 warning fine

Officers added that normally, breaking the speed limit in that area would incur a fine.

'It is not been decided who will have to pay the 15 (11) warning fine' the statement said.

The same breed of parakeets have made London their home in recent years, and can be seen in huge flocks in parks such as Hampstead Heath and Hyde Park.

The UK's only naturalised parrot - it is large, long-tailed and green with a red beak and a pink and black ring around its face and neck
The Vatican has released details of Pope Francis's highly contentious trip to Armenia in June.

The pontiff's trip will include a visit to the genocide memorial complex, a monastery stop in the city of Gyumeri and a meeting with the president.

The announcement comes after the pope last year labelled the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians genocide, sparking a diplomatic row with Turkey.

It is thought the visit could fuel more tension and strain the Vatican's diplomatic relations with Turkey.

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Pope Francis talks with Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo during a private audience in the pontiff's studio at the Vatican

The Vatican released details of the June 24-25 trip today.

The three-day visit comes a year after the pope sparked a diplomatic incident with Turkey when he described the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians as a 'genocide'.

The Turkish government denies any genocide of Armenians took place, insisting those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

His new plan to visit the genocide memorial on his second day is also likely to stoke tensions with Turkey.

In April last year, Pope Francis angered the Turkish government by describing the mass-murders of up to 1.5million Armenians in 1915 as 'the firstgenocide of the 20th century'.

The pontiff made the comments at a 100th anniversary Mass, prompting Turkey to summon the Holy See's ambassador inAnkara in protest.

The pope's schedule in June will include a visit to the Khor Virap Monastery in Armenia (pictured)

The pontiff's visit is likely to fuel the tensions which arose following his remarks about the genocide of Armenian people

Turkey told the Vatican ambassador it was 'deeply sorry and disappointed' in Pope Francis, adding that his comments had caused a 'problem of trust'.

It was the first time a pope had publicly used 'genocide' to describe the massacre, although it is a term used by many European and South American governments.

In June, Francis also plans to visit the Armenian Apostolic Church's seat in Echmiadzin and will conduct a liturgy with Armenian Apostolic Church leader Catholicos Garegin II.

Both are significant signs of cooperation with the overwhelmingly dominant local Oriental Orthodox Church.
The EU has boasted the number of migrants arriving in Greece has dropped by 90 percent but is ignoring the fact vast numbers are now pouring into Italy.

Claiming the reduction was due to its agreement with Turkey, the EU said the 'dramatic' change showed asylum seeker numbers last month were much lower than last year.

However, this may be due to the Greek borders with the Balkan states are closed - forcing many to turn to Italy as their proxy state to enter Europe.

The EU claims the number of migrants arriving in Greece has reduced but thousands are still trying to reach Europe by boat. Pictured is an inflatable boat of asylum seekers on a sinking ship in April

The UN says more than 9,000 asylum seekers arrived in Italy last month - almost three times that which reached Greece. Pictured here is a group of migrants arriving in the Sicilian port of Palermo

The UN says more than 9,000 arrived in Italy last month, compared with just 3,600 in Greece - the first time this has happened since May 2015.

Frontex, the EU's border agency, said today that fewer than 2,700 people had entered Greece in April.

It put the drop down to the effect of the EU's migrant agreement with Turkey and tight border controls at the Greek Macedonia border.

Fabrice Leggeri, the Frontex chief, said 'the drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic'.

He said April's total was well below the daily figure arriving on the island of Lesbos alone during the peak months last year.

The agency said the number of migrants traveling along the Balkans route from Greece north toward preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia had also dropped as a result.

Meanwhile, Italy's coastguard said it helped rescue 801 migrants from two boats off western Sicily yesterday, including many Syrians, amid signs that refugees from the Middle East are increasingly shunning the Greek route into Europe.

More than a million migrants, many from Syria, have entered Europe via Turkey and Greece in the past year but the number has fallen sharply since March, when Ankara agreed with the European Union to take back refugees landing on the Greek islands.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said the two boats, which were also carrying some Iraqis, represented the largest such attempted mass migration from Syria and Iraq to Italy for at least a year.

An Italian coastguard statement said 515 people had been plucked from one boat and a further 286 people rescued in another operation involving a Finnish naval vessel.

The EU claims its new agreement with Turkey is the reason why fewer migrants are entering Greece

However, the borders to Macedonia have been closed since March, causing a blockage among those arriving in Greece and hoping to travel the Balkan route

Other security measures in the Balkans involve extra fencing between countries, such as this imposing barbed wire barrier between Greece and Macedonia

A coastguard spokesman said most of those taken to safety in the first operation were Syrian, while he was unable to give the nationalities of those saved from the second boat.

Another coastguard spokesman had previously said the second operation had rescued around 380 people.

UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said the Syrians and Iraqis had set sail from Egypt rather than Libya, the launchpad for most migrants heading to Italy.

As of May 10, 31,250 migrants had reached Italy by boat this year, a 14 percent decline from the same period last year, according to the Interior Ministry.

The vast majority came from African countries, led by Nigeria, Gambia, Somalia and the African Coast.
Child rapists could soon be microchipped in Indonesia, after calls for tougher punishment were sparked by the brutal rape and murder of a schoolgirl.

The 14-year-old girl was attacked by a gang of drunken men and boys as she walked home from school on the western island of Sumatra.

Her battered body was found three days later in woods, tied up and naked. Seven teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were jailed this week over the assault, while five men have been arrested and are awaiting trial.

A schoolgirl's murder has sparked protests calling for tougher punishments for child rapists. Pictured are women gathered Presidential Palace in Jakarta last week

The attack happened in April but came to public attention this month when activists started posting about it on social media, and has sparked a national debate on sexual violence.

President Joko Widodo has pledged to swiftly push through a decree introducing tougher laws, and a justice ministry spokesman confirmed that one of the measures under consideration was for microchips.

Local media reported that the microchip could be implanted in rapists' ankles.

'The microchip will be fitted before the criminals are released from prison, and is needed to monitor and locate them after they are freed,' said Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of government-backed rights group the National Commission for Child Protection, who has been involved in discussions on the new laws.

Following the protests, Indonesia has said it was considering microchipping convicted child rapists

The microchip will be fitted before the criminals are released from prison, and is needed to monitor and locate them after they are freed, according to a government spokesman

The decree could be signed in the coming days, he added.

Chemical castration and heavier jail terms for child rapists are also among new measures that could be introduced.

The government announced last year it would begin chemically castrating child sex offenders after a string of high-profile attacks, but introduction of the punishment had been delayed.

President Joko Widodo has pledged to swiftly push through a decree introducing tougher laws following the 14-year-old's death in April

Chemical castration and heavier jail terms for child rapists are also among new measures that could be introduced

A presidential decree allows the government to quickly bring in new laws without first getting parliament's agreement.
A former high end raw food restaurateur has finally been arrested after being on the run for nearly a year, in the midst of unpaid wage lawsuits.

Sarma Melngailis, 43, who once ran Manhattan celebrity hang out Pure Food and Wine was tracked to a Holiday Inn in Sevierville, Tennessee after she and husband Anthony Strangis, 35, ordered Domino's Pizza.

The pair were arrested without incident Tuesday and are being held at Sevier County Jail.

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Sarma Melngailis, 43, (left) who once ran Manhattan celebrity hang out Pure Food and Wine was tracked to a Holiday Inn in Sevierville, Tennessee after she and Anthony Strangis, 35, (right) ordered Domino's Pizza

Trouble began in January 2015 when 60 staff members said they weren't being paid and subsequently staged multiple walk outs and protests. Melngailis hadn't been seen since July 2015

The restaurant was popular with celebrities, but had financial difficulties before the owner vanished. Above, Melngailis (second from left) with chef Matthew Kenney, actor Woody Harrelson (left) and actor Jason Lewis

Melngailis is wanted in New York for grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, scheme to defraud, and violation of labor law, Sevierville Police officials told WBIR.

While Strangis is also wanted for grand larceny, scheme to defraud, and violation of labor law.

From January 2014 to January 2015, Melngailis transferred over $1.6 million from the business accounts to her personal bank account, reported New York Daily News.

Melngailis - who also authored several raw food cookbooks - and Strangis took money from investors, didn't pay $400,000 in taxes and spent $2 million at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun Casinos, luxury jewelry, trips to Europe and Uber rides, it is alleged.

The Gramercy restaurant, once popular with celebrities such as Woody Harrelson and Jason Lewis opened in 2004 and was one of the city's first raw vegan eateries.

It was also the venue where Alec Baldwin picked up his wife-to-be Hilaria Thomas in 2011.

The yoga instructor told US Magazine: 'I was standing near the door [of Pure Food and Wine restaurant] with my friends when he walked up and took my hand and said, 'I must know you.''

But despite the high caliber patronage, trouble began at the restaurant in January 2015 when 60 staff members said they weren't being paid and subsequently staged multiple walk outs and protests.

Pure Food closed that same month. All the while Melngailis was nowhere to be found.

Pure Food and Wine was also the venue where Alec Baldwin (left) met his wife-to-be Hilaria Thomas (right) in 2011

Workers protested the restaurant in Gramercy (pictured) after it closed in July, the third time it had been shuttered since January, when the owner also went missing

From January 2014 to January 2015, Melngailis transferred over $1.6 million from the business accounts to her personal bank account, it has been reported. Above, the patio at Pure Food and Wine

Melngailis (left)- who also authored several raw food cookbooks (right)- and Strangis took money from investors, didn't pay $400,000 in taxes and spent $2 million at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun Casinos, luxury jewelry, trips to Europe and Uber rides, it is claimed

She later resurfaced, telling Well and Good in February that the restaurant had a 'complicated history' and had suffered under debt since its founding.

'People from the outside see a busy restaurant, and they assume I must live in a huge penthouseand it could not be more opposite. There are plenty of times I have not been paying my own rent to make payroll,' Melngailis said.

The chef blamed part of the debt on the expense of her ingredients and said she wishes she was more 'communicative'.

'I have a tendency, when I'm feeling bad and down, to really hide and work on my computer and try to fix things,' she said.

The restaurant reopened in April with new investment, though trouble struck again and it closed in June.

After reopening for several days in July, it has not operated again since, with Melngailis continuing to stay out of sight.

One of the restaurant's investors also filed a lawsuit against Melngailis, claiming that she took $280,000 from the restaurant's account, reported New York Eater.

When reappearing from her January disappearance and giving an interview, she said that she would miss paying her rent to pay employees. Above, Kenny Melngailis and Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan in 2005

Staff had initially planned to reopen the restaurant without her, but The New York Post reported that the landlord of the restaurant property would not support the plan.

One Lucky Duck, a connected business that sold mail-order snacks, also closed.

Speaking after the news of the arrest, Ron Levine, who says he was an investor wrote on Facebook: 'She stole about $1 million from investors, including me, and disappeared last year.

'The FBI was looking for her and she's got a pile of lawsuits waiting for her in NY.'

He added: 'I visited her restaurant every year and was happy to help her business, which I loved.

'It was a sad and shocking betrayal. She hurt a LOT of people.'

Meanwhile, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson told the Daily News: 'They were finally caught and we intend to now hold them accountable for this outrageous thievery and fraud.'
Discgraced ex-Tory Neil Hamilton today accused Nigel Farage of being 'ageist' in a new escalation of infighting in Ukip less than six weeks before the EU referendum.

The leader of the party in the Welsh Assembly slammed the suggestion from Mr Farage that he was too old at 67 for a return to front line politics.

Mr Farage made the jibe earlier today in a radio interview that made clear his dissatisfaction at Mr Hamilton's victory in the race to lead the party's first ever Assembly Members in Cardiff Bay.

Mr Hamilton - whose first political career ended mired in the 1990s cash for questions scandal - defeated Mr Farage's chosen candidate Nathan Gill by four votes to three earlier this week.

Nigel Farage, left, today claimed Neil Hamilton would find a return to the frontline 'difficult' after 20 years but the Welsh Assembly leader accused the Ukip leader of being ageist

Speaking to LBC, Mr Farage claimed: 'I think it is difficult to return to frontline politics after a 20-year gap when you are getting on a bit in years.

'But there you are, perhaps he'll surprise me.'

Mr Hamilton hit back: 'Churchill was 72 when he led us to victory against the Nazis.

'Ronald Reagan was 77 when he brought about the collapse of the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War.

'Is Nigel suggesting he could have done a better job than any of them, because he is 15 years younger than me?'

The row between the pair exploded earlier this week.

Mr Farage appointed Mr Gill to run the party's Welsh wing last year and blasted the 'unjust' move to sideline him in the Welsh Assembly after he led the party to its first ever seats.

The bitter row gripped the party just as the main EU referendum campaign began six weeks before polling day on June 23.

Mr Hamilton won the leadership contest by four votes to three and will now be in charge of Mr Gill's activities in the Senedd. Mr Hamilton secured a 20,000 pay rise for winning the job.

The row with Mr Hamilton is just one front for Mr Farage in his battle for control of Ukip.

He repeatedly fell out with Suzanne Evans, one of the party's most high profile faces, before ordering her suspension for six months over accusations of disloyalty.

Douglas Carswell, Ukip's only MP, has also questioned Mr Farage's leadership on several occasions.
This has to be animal cruelty at its most gruesome - but for once it's at the hands (or paws) of the fauna themselves.

Incredible - yet disgusting - footage from South Africa shows a lion pulling an unborn foetus out of the buffalo it has just killed... and eating it.

Three male lions had taken down the female buffalo right next to a roadside watering hole.

What do we have here? Three male lions had taken down the female buffalo right next to a roadside watering hole.

Prize! One lion's appetite in particular cannot be satiated however and he continues feasting after the others leave. As it burrows its head in the bloody cavities of the dead animal it can be seen pulling out a fleshy object

The trio then proceeded to eat the chest of the buffalo - the chewed carcass of which can be seen lying on its back in the footage taken by a horrified couple at Kruger National Park.

One lion's appetite in particular cannot be satiated however and he continues feasting after the others leave.

As it burrows its head in the bloody cavities of the dead animal it can be seen pulling out a fleshy object.

'What is it?' the man watching wonders, 'It looks like a bit of stomach.'

Then suddenly, as the big cat makes off with its find, the woman gasps in shock, 'It's a baby!' she cries.

Disgusting: 'What is it?' the man watching wonders, 'It looks like a bit of stomach.' Then suddenly, as the big cat makes off with its find, the woman gasps in shock, 'It's a baby!' she cries

Lucky find: Unfazed by his own table manners the lion stalks towards its fellow feline resting in the shade of a tree. The baby swings from his mouth as he moves, its legs dragging along the ground

'That was pregnant, it got the baby out,' she says in disgust, 'Oh my goodness, gross.'

Unfazed by his own table manners the lion stalks towards its fellow feline resting in the shade of a tree.

The baby swings from his mouth as he moves, its legs dragging along the ground.

The lion then drops it under the tree - as its friend looks on with interest - and settles down for hearty lunch.

Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa and became South Africa's first national park in 1926.

Horrified: 'That was pregnant, it got the baby out,' she says in disgust, 'Oh my goodness, gross'
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Many top of the range cars come fitted with a host of extras  but not many include an arsenal of weapons including a machine gun.

And this 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost also comes with features such as a picnic hamper, a full silver set and champagne flutes.

The car will be taking part in a rally with nine other Rollers worth millions of pounds at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey tomorrow.

Owner Andrew Courtney, who has had the guns deactivated, said the rich used to take the weapons to protect themselves while touring.

Mr Courtneys Thompson submachine gun and Webley revolver are neatly concealed beneath the running board of his vintage model.

The retired engineer, who helped design Margaret Thatchers nuclear bunker at Whitehall, bought the Silver Ghost in 2000 for 100,000.

It was originally owned by a woman from Maidenhead before travelling to Australia and later back to Britain. It is now worth 300,000.

Mr Courtney, 60, joked that the weapons 'would have come in any handy in any verbal dust-up with overzealous traffic wardens'.

His metallic grey motor carries five passengers in comfort but it is an expensive hobby because the 70mph car manages only 6 to 8mpg.

Pride and joy: Andrew Courtney 60, of Hampton Wick, South-West London, stands next to his open-tipped Rolls Royce Silver Ghost

Unusual added feature: The vintage 1924 Rolls Royce Ghost has a built in Thompson submachine gun in the running board

Built in tools: The vehicle was originally owned by a woman from Maidenhead before travelling to Australia and later back to Britain

Motor: The stunning car will be taking part in a rally with nine other Rollers worth millions of pounds at Hampton Court Palace tomorrow

Driveable picnic: An attachment on the boot opens down to reveal a full picnic set, complete with champagne flutes and a full silver set

High value: If Mr Courtney ever sold his vintage model - which features a built-in tool kit - it would fetch a conservative 300,000

Steering: The metallic grey motor carries five passengers in comfort but it is an expensive hobby as the car manages only 6 to 8mpg

Deactivated guns: Mr Courtney said the rich used to take the weapons to protect themselves and their money while touring

Tools: The vehicle was bought by Mr Courtney, who helped design Margaret Thatchers deep underground nuclear bunker at Whitehall

Handily placed for action: Mr Courtney said he could understand how 'comforting' the guns would have been for a driver and passengers

Arsenal: Mr Courtney said that the automatic weapon and pistol were 'ready to be fired' at first, before he had them deactivated

Luxurious: In the era when the rich toured Europe in their Silver Ghosts, they had to take their money with them, Mr Courtney said

Armed: Mr Courtney said when he bought the car with guns, 'it looked as if it had just been driven off the set of an old Elliot Ness episode'

Ideas: Mr Courtney joked that the weapons 'would have come in any handy in any verbal dust-up with overzealous traffic wardens'

Top of the range: The vehicle built by Rolls Royce was viewed as the best touring car in the world at the time

Pull over and pop open the bubbly: The luxurious accessory can store wine bottles, condiments, plates and a host of picnic food
Mr Sunak he must now also choose a Cabinet to tackle a plethora of issues facing the UK, having earlier vowed to run No10 with 'integrity and humility' before warning of the 'profound challenges' to come. He faces a 40bn black hole in the public finances amid speculation he could delay the Halloween Budget, while his new Cabinet must also deal with skyrocketing energy bills and soaring inflation that has left families struggling amid a cost-of-living crisis. The new PM has vowed to appoint a Cabinet of 'all the talents' as he tries to foster party unity. He told MPs yesterday that he wanted his government to represent the 'views and opinions' from across the Conservative Party. It comes after his predecessor Liz Truss was accused of failing to appoint MPs from across the Tory spectrum when she entered office last month. She is now expected to take a break from politics after her turbulent premiership, friends believe. Mr Sunak is expected to bring back some Johnson loyalists, keep members of Ms Truss's team - and promote his allies. And there could yet be another return to frontline politics for Michael Gove. It was also reported last night that Dominic Raab could get the Home Secretary role.
A judge told a man 'if you're innocent you'll go to heaven' after he was sentenced to death for a crime he denied committing.

Reza Hosseini, 34, was among four prisoners hanged to death on Tuesday May 3 at Ghezel Hesar Prison of Karaj in northern Iran.

The judge sentenced him to be hanged for drug related offenses despite him protesting his innocence.

Reza Hosseini, 34, was among four prisoners hanged to death on May 3, despite him insisting he was innocent

Hosseini, from Kuhdasht in west Iran, was first detained in Fashafaviye, Tehran's central prison.

His wife said he had been arrested because he got into a 'physical altercation' with the authorities in the parking lot of their house.

She insisted the drugs were found by authorities in their neighbour's home who they did not know.

In the first 70 days of his imprisonment, Hosseini was subjected to beatings and interrogations before being transferred to Ghezel.

Hosseini was sentenced to death by hanging at Ghezel Hesar Prison (prison), the largest state jail in Iran

His wife, Azadeh Geravand, told human rights news site HRANA: 'We were not allowed to visit him until he was transferred to Ghezel Hesar Prison. But, even then, we weren't granted our first visit with him until after 11 months of imprisonment.

'When we realized his death sentence was to be carried out, Reza's mother and I somehow managed to drive 840 kilometres to Ghezel Hesar Prison to see him for the last time.

'But, once we arrived, the authorities did not allow us to visit him. Instead, they hurled insults at us.'

According to Geravand, the prosecutor in her husband's case file had assured the family he would be exonerated.

But, in the trial lasting only two minutes, Judge Tayerani sentenced him to death.

The judge had encouraged him to plead guilty but Hosseini replied saying: 'Why should I plead guilty if I am innocent?'
An underage sex scandal at Oakland Police Department is being investigated after several officers were accused of having sex with the same teenage girl.

The internal affairs investigation revolves around Celeste Guap, who allegedly had sex with more than a dozen police officers starting when she was 16, sources told KPIX5.

Guap, who is now 18 or 19 and lives in Richmond, California, started revealing details on Facebook suggesting she had illicit encounters with officers  calling the relationships harmless but insisted that she did not snitch on anyone.

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An underage sex scandal at Oakland Police Department is being investigated after several officers were accused of having sex with the Celeste Guap (left) starting when she was 16. Officer Brendan OBrien (right) is reportedly one of the officers and left a suicide note that sparked an investigation

Guap has written on Facebook that the only officer she 'messed with' while underage is now 'gone'. She also shared a memory from a year ago (above) that hinted at an inappropriate relationship

This week, she posted on Facebook: The only officer I ever messed with underage is sadly gone now, so I don't know why this is still being brought up.'

This is a reference to Oakland police officer Brendan OBrien, 30, who committed suicide in September last year  around a year after his wife's death was also ruled a suicide, according to KPIX5.

OBrien had left a note before his death that sparked an internal affairs investigation, the station reports.

His wife Irma Huerta Lopez died in June 2014 and her death was briefly classified by homicide detectives, according to the East Bay Express.

Her family believe O'Brien shot her and a coroner's report seen by the newspaper said her death was 'suspicious'.

The investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct was only opened after O'Brien's death on September 25, 2015, the Express reports.

But sources say sexual misconduct had been ongoing since 2014 and alleged that investigators may have failed to properly look into the allegations.

Guap, who is now 18 or 19, started revealing details on Facebook suggesting she had illicit encounters with officers  calling the relationships harmless'

Just a few weeks ago, Guap shared a picture suggesting an Oakland police officer had dropped her off near her home in Richmond, California

Another investigation was later ordered by a federal judge, in which many officers admitted they had lied during the first one about their relationships with Guap.

One officer has reportedly now admitted having sex with Guap while knowing she was underage.

The officer, who has not been named, is facing a statutory rape charge in the criminal investigation that is also underway.

The current investigation involves three officers, police spokesman Johnna Watson said.

We are entrusted by the community to protect it, to serve them and to uphold the law, she told KPIX. So we take the allegations very seriously.

Daily Mail Online has contacted the department for further comment.

Guap has another connection to the department  her mother works as a dispatcher there. She has a tattoo on her decolletage that read 'Dios, Patria, Libertad' - which means 'God, Homeland, Liberty.'

Just a few weeks ago, the teenager posted a picture of an Oakland PD vehicle after claiming to have been dropped her off near her home, writing: Took me back to Richmond in style.
A mistrial was declared on Friday morning in the case of a man accused of murdering sex worker Ting Fang at an Adelaide hotel on New Year's Eve.

Justice David Lovell told the Supreme Court jury they had been discharged and a new jury will take their place at the commencement of Piao's retrial, on Monday morning.

Chungaung Piao, 28, stands accused of attacking Ting Fang, 25, with her stiletto before slitting her throat with a razor blade.

The married father denies the charges.

Ting Fang's lifeless body was found wrapped in a bed sheet in the Hotel Grand Chancellor in Adelaide

Chungaung Piao, a 28-year-old married father from Adelaide, denies the charges

Prosecutors allege Ms Fang was found in the Hotel Grand Chancellor after water flooded from the room she was working out of.

South Australia police arrived to find the young womans body wrapped in bedsheets.

The reasons for the mistrial have been suppressed until Justice Lovell reaches a verdict in the retrial.

The alarm was raised after her room began to flood on New Years Day 2015
A mother and her lesbian lover accused of murdering a toddler searched 'how long can you live with a broken hip?' on Google, days before he was found dead, a jury heard today.

Mobile phones belonging to Nyomi Fee and Rachel Trelfa were used to run sick searches just three days before Fee's two-year-old son Liam was found dead at a house in Fife, Scotland, a murder trial was told.

Trelfa's phone was also used to ask the search engine on another occasion: 'Can wives be in prison together?,' the jury heard.

Nyomi Fee and Rachel Trelfa ran the sick searches just three days before Fee's two-year-old son Liam (left and right) was found dead at a house in Fife

A message from Fee's phone to Trelfa's mobile also stated: 'Kids should be drowned at birth to save problems, lol.'

The searches and messages were read out to the court by prosecutor Alex Prentice QC during the evidence of Evita O'Malley, a major crime analyst with Police Scotland.

She was the final witness to give evidence for the Crown in the case against Trelfa, 31, and Fee, 28, at the High Court in Livingston.

The civil partners deny murdering Liam - who died on March 22, 2014 - and falsely blaming his death on another young boy.

The pair - originally from Ryton, Tyne and Wear - also plead not guilty to a string of allegations of wilfully ill-treating and neglecting two other boys over a period of more than two years.

Ms O'Malley, 38, told how she analysed the phones after they were surrendered to police by the accused.

Trial: Fee, 28, and her civil partner Trelfa, 31 - who can be identified by name but not pictured for legal reasons - face a catalogue of assault, cruelty and neglect charges

The court heard how Fee's phone had been used to search for the term 'broken leg' on March 17, 2014.

Two days later, searches were made on the mobile for terms such as 'how do you die of a broken hip?', 'how to prevent blood clots', and 'broken hip in baby'.

Internet searches were also made under the terms 'will a hip fracture heal on its own' and 'hip brace for toddlers,' jurors were told.

On March 20 and 21 2014, questions asked during internet searches on the same phone included 'can you refuse to be treated by a certain doctor?' and 'can social services gain access to my house?', jurors were told.

The messages were found just three days before toddler Liam (pictured) was found dead

Analysis of Trelfa's phone showed it was used to carry out a Google search on March 18 that year for: 'How long can a broken leg take to heal?'

The following day, it searched online for: 'How long can you live with a broken bone?' This internet search returned a web page entitled 'Can you die from a broken bone?', jurors heard.

By March 21, the day before Liam died, a search was carried out on the device for 'Can wives be in prison together?', while another asked: 'Can lesbians who are married hot (sic) to jail together?'

The murder trial also heard about messages sent between the two devices.

One from Fee's phone to Trelfa's stated: 'Another few days and he'll crack without sleep and we'll be able to make progress.'

Another stated: 'Bit lip, scratched eye, a bruise while he walked in door yesterday when I was on phone to you, lol. We knew it would bruise, it had to, lol. It's Liam now, graze on forehead and nose looks mighty fine, ha ha.'

Questioned by defence QC Brian McConnachie, for Trelfa, the witness agreed that the pair had handed over the phones to the police at the first opportunity when they were questioned as witnesses.

The Crown has now formally closed its case.

Mark Stewart QC, defending Fee, told the court some legal matters now require to be discussed.
Najim Laachraoui was part of the terrorist cell in Syria which held the two men

One of the terrorists behind the Brussels bombings tortured the British ISIS hostages Alan Henning and David Haines before their executions.

Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up at Belgium capital's airport on March 22, as part of a day of deadly attacks in the city which killed 32 people, was part of the terrorist cell in Syria which held the two men.

The Moroccan-born, Belgian national, 24, tortured and played disgusting mind games with them.

He would threaten them with 'death tomorrow' and stage mock executions.

He was identified by French hostages who knew Mr Haines and Mr Henning but were released.

Laachraoui was known as 'Abou Idriss', knew Mohammed Emwazi, the terrorist 'Jihadi John', who was gunned down by US Forces last year.

Nicolas Henin, a French journalist held by ISIS in 2013, managed to identify Laachraoui as a prison guard, his lawyer said.

He was called 'Baldy' by Emwazi and revealed the hostages were starved for up to four days.

Mock executions were carried out with a gun to a head or with an antique sword or chloroform.

Mr Haines, 44, who was a Scottish humanitarian worker, was murdered in September 2014 by Emwazi, 27. Mr Henning, a Manchester aid driver, was executed a month later.

Laachraoui worked at Brussels Airport for five years until 2012 when he headed to Syria to join ISIS.

He never finished an engineering science university course and is believed to have created the bombs for the Brussels and Paris attacks.

In November 130 people died in atrocities across the French capital.

Mr Haines, 44, who was a Scottish humanitarian worker, was murdered in September 2014 by Emwazi, 27

Alan Henning, an aid driver, was executed a month later by Emwazi, who was killed himself last year

Nicolas Henin, a French journalist held by ISIS in 2013, managed to identify Laachraoui as a prison guard

Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, set off suicide bombs in Zaventem terminal in March, killing 16 innocent people. An hour later a further 16 were murdered on the Brussels Metro.

Laachraoui's uncle Mohamed Laachraoui, 59, told The Sun how he has 'brought shame to all our family'.
The family of a white Chicago police officer who shot a black teenager 16 times has spoken out publicly for the first time since he was charged with murder, defending him as dedicated officer, husband and father who didn't set out to kill anyone.

The wife, father and other relatives of Jason Van Dyke spoke to the Chicago Tribune with the officer's approval for a story published Thursday. Van Dyke, following his attorney's advice, declined to be interviewed.

They described the 38-year-old Van Dyke as a caring father who dotes on his two daughters.

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The wife, father and other relatives of Jason Van Dyke has spoken out publicly for the first time since he was charged with murder

Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke (right) arrived at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago in 2015 to be charged with murder in the shooting death of Laquan McDonald (left)

Officer Van Dyke is pictured here in riot gear during protests that erupted in Chicago in 2012 during a NATO summit

A brother-in-law who is black said it's unfair to assume 17-year-old Laquan McDonald's race influenced Van Dyke's decision to use deadly force in the October 2014 encounter.

His wife, Tiffany, said Van Dyke became an officer because he hoped to make a difference. But she said years working in high-crime areas sapped his optimism and left him emotionally closed-off.

'When you start out and you're so optimistic about helping others ... but unfortunately, people don't want the help any longer or they don't trust you to be able to help them, it does change you,' she said. 'It doesn't make him a bad person ... but it does take a toll and does make a person different.'

Police dashcam video of the shooting was released in November on a judge's order after the city fought to keep it from public view.

What happened is a terrible tragedy, but our son is not a murderer Owen Van Dyke, father of Jason

It contradicted accounts by Van Dyke and other officers on the scene that McDonald, who was holding a knife, lunged at officers. Hours before the images became public, prosecutors charged Van Dyke with first-degree murder. He has been suspended with pay since.

Tiffany Van Dyke said she has not watched the video, but acknowledged that she would have to as the trial nears. She said, though, that it won't change her belief that her husband is innocent.

The shooting was the first time Van Dyke fired his weapon in the line of duty during 12 years on patrol.

He has 53 commendations, but also 20 formal complaints against him, the Tribune reported, citing department records.

McDonald's great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter (pictured) said he feels compassion for Van Dyke's family but little sympathy for the officer, who he says acted as 'judge, jury and executioner.'

Riddled with bullets: This autopsy diagram provided by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office shows the location of the gunshot wounds on McDonald's body, including at least two on his back and one on his head

McDonald's great-uncle, the Rev. Marvin Hunter, said he feels compassion for Van Dyke's family but little sympathy for the officer, who he says acted as 'judge, jury and executioner.'

Van Dyke's attorney, Daniel Herbert, has said Van Dyke feared for his life and acted properly in the McDonald case.

While responding to a deadly police shooting in 2005, Van Dyke described in a deposition having 'tunnel vision' while rushing to a scene after hearing an officer might have been injured. He said his mind went into 'fight or flight' mode.

Tiffany, a 35-year-old fitness instructor, said she hopes that speaking out will help people see her husband's human side.

She described him as a loving father and a 'kind and gentle soul'. She added that he is 'not the monster the world now sees him as.'

Van Dyke's attorney, Daniel Herbert, (pictured) has said Van Dyke feared for his life and acted properly in the McDonald case

Tiffany Van Dyke, a 35-year-old fitness instructor, said she hopes that speaking out will help people see her husband's human side. Pictured: Van Dyke appears in court March 2016

Rev. Jackson, right, hugs Fred Hampton Jr., left. Hampton's father Fred Hampton Sr. was the Illinois chapter President of the Black Panther Party and was shot and killed in 1969

'His favorite thing, he used to say, was he loved to drive through a neighborhood and see someone wave to him and he'd wave back,' she said of his early years in policing.

One of his proudest moments, she said, was helping secure the parade route for President Barack Obama's January 2013 inauguration.

Van Dyke's father, Owen Van Dyke, said his only son loved the outdoors and rode his bike from dawn to dusk while growing up in the suburbs.

'What happened is a terrible tragedy, but our son is not a murderer,' he wrote in a statement to the Tribune.
A transgender mafia boss has been found tortured and killed near Naples, three days after vanishing.

Giovanni Arrivoli was born a female and was known as Giovanna as a child but the 41-year-old underwent gender reassignment surgery to become a man.

He owned a local cafe bar, the Blue Moon, rumoured to be a stronghold of the local Pagato Amato crime family.

Giovanni Arrivoli (pictured, right) was born female but had gender reassignment surgery several years ago. His fiancee reported him missing three days ago

Police had been looking for Arrivoli since his fiancee reported him missing three days ago.

Arrivoli, who was reportedly a high-ranking boss within the family, had been forced to kneel and was shot three times, twice in the head.

His body was found partially buried in a ditch in the countryside near Melito di Napoli, in Italy's Campania region, an area dominated by the mafia, known locally as the Camorra.

A forensics officer removes evidence from the site where Arrivoli's body was found. The Camorra remain a powerful force in the Naples region despite years of police efforts to undermine them

Giovanni was unusual in the macho world of the mafia in that he was born female but was accepted as a man.

He had surgery to have his breasts removed and dressed and acted as a man.

Giovanni was released from jail for drug dealing in 2012 and was planning to marry his girlfriend.

Reports say Arrivoli had been forced to kneel and was shot three times. It is not known what he had done to offend them but he was said to have been accepted as a man

Local media reported the Pagato Amato family regularly met at the Blue Moon to discuss their business but it is not known what Giovanni had done to offend them.

Speculation in the local papers about his death included an unpaid drug debt and an attack by a rival mob.
He attacked Appleton in a busy park in Islington, London, last June

Reporting restrictions on his identity were lifted as

A 17-year-old has been jailed for life after hacking a fellow teenager to death with a 'Zombie Killer' machete.

Blaise Lewinson stabbed Stefan Appleton, 17, with the 25in serrated blade in the leg and chest last year in a north London park.

Lewinson can be named after Judge Richard Hone QC lifted reporting restrictions, saying he should be identified as a deterrent to others and because of the public interest.

A jury deliberated for 14-and-a-half hours to convict the defendant of manslaughter but clear him of murder.

Blaise Lewinson, left, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey for the manslaughter of Stefan Appleton, right, 17

Lewinson, 17, stabbed Mr Appleton with this 25in 'Zombie killer' knife and Judge Richard Hone ruled he should be named as a deterrent to other potential offenders

Sentencing Lewinson, who appeared in court at the Old Bailey in a white shirt and tie, Judge Hone said he regarded the killing as 'very close to murder'.

He told him: 'You were in the middle of your GCSE examinations but you preferred to commit serious knife crime in a busy London park filled with young families.'

The judge called him a 'dangerous offender' who had a 'fascination with illegal knives', and said he had shown 'no true remorse'.

He said: 'The use of this utterly ferocious weapon, even with the reduced intent, caused the loss of Stefan Appleton's young life.

'He plainly was unarmed and you stabbed him on the ground while he was defending himself.'

Judge Hone added: 'What you did that evening and in the aftermath, coupled with your history of previous offending and non-compliance with court orders, justifies my conclusion that this is one of those rare cases where the court should pass a discretionary life sentence.'

Lewinson was told he must serve a minimum of nine years before he can be considered for release on licence.

His conviction last month came just days after Home Secretary Theresa May announced plans to ban the sale, manufacture and importation of Zombie Killer knives, which she said 'glamorise violence and are clearly targeted at young people'.

The trial had heard how student Stefan had been with friends at Nightingale Park in Islington on Wednesday June 10 last year, while children nearby enjoyed the summer evening on swings and slides.

Lewinson jumped off the back of a stolen scooter, pulled out the machete-like blade and chased after Stefan and his friends, the court heard.

When Stefan tripped and fell, he was stabbed on the ground, once in the leg and once in the chest. He died later in hospital.

The court heard that as he rode off on the moped Lewinson allegedly shouted 'RP', standing for Red Pitch, a rival to another gang in the area.

He fled to Bristol and tried to book a flight to Spain, before returning to London to hide out but was arrested a few days later.

Lewinson claimed he had found the blade stashed in bushes and that he came under attack when he went to get back his stolen bicycle.

The court heard Lewinson left the scene of the stabbing in Islington, pictured, on a stolen moped

But prosecutor Simon Denison QC said he had gone there armed with the knife and 'expecting serious violence', there was no evidence of self-defence and that his account of being attacked was 'plainly untrue'.

Around six months before the killing he had been caught with a lock knife at a McDonald's restaurant, which he claimed to have bought at an antiques shop, despite having completed a knife crime prevention programme.

The court heard Lewinson instigated the moped robbery and, after the killing, arranged for a friend to burn it while he destroyed clothing, got rid of the knife and persuaded a 15-year-old girl to conceal a crash helmet.

Judge Hone said he had displayed 'cunning and careful planning', lying to police and even making phone calls from prison to associates to make sure the helmet would not be found and get the teenage girl to lie in evidence.

Defending, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC stressed Lewinson had only been 16 at the time, said he had trouble 'verbalising his feelings' and had no significant history of violence, even winning an award while in custody for his commitment to education.

But the court heard that while on remand Lewinson had fights with other inmates, threw liquid at prison staff and was caught carrying makeshift weapons and a mobile phone.
The man Italian police branded an international terrorist today boasted how easily he had smuggled himself into - and out of - Britain.

Hakim Nasiri hid aboard a lorry at Calais to get into the UK, and even claimed French police were 'helpful'.

He said: 'The first two or three times I tried, I got caught by the French police but they told me: 'Try again tomorrow night. Keep trying and you will get there soon.' They told me this every time. They seemed happy to help me.'

Hakim Nasiri, who was born in Afghanistan, has spoken of how he smuggled himself in and out of Britain in a truck

The former supermarket worker boasted that it was easy to enter the country and that police in Calais were even helpful about how to make the illegal crossing

Having lived illegally in the UK for two-and-a-half years, using fake names and working for cash on the black market, he sneaked out of the country when he heard his asylum claim might succeed in Italy.

His testimony makes chilling reading for security forces trying to keep the UK's borders secure.

And though he denies being one himself, it reveals the ease with which potential terrorists can exploit people traffickers and refugee routes to move around Europe undetected and unchallenged.

Earlier this week, Nasiri was arrested by anti-terror police in Bari, southern Italy, after they found images on his phone of him brandishing an assault rifle in a British supermarket, which he said was a toy.

Police boasted they had smashed an Islamic State cell.

On Thursday, a judge said there was insufficient evidence to keep Nasiri in prison, and last night the 23-year-old Afghan migrant told the Mail in a cafe in Bari: 'I am a Muslim, but I am not a terrorist. I never fight, I just want to work.'

The picture of Nasiri clutching what appeared to be an M16 American military assault rifle were snapped in the Food World supermarket in Birmingham, where he was living as an illegal immigrant from 2012 to last year.

Nasiri, who said he left Afghanistan in 2011 for a better life in the UK, said: 'My boss in the supermarket told me to hold the toy gun and he took a picture on my phone. It was just a joke, for fun.'

Italian police swooped on Tuesday on Nasiri and two alleged accomplices, fellow Afghan Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, and Zulfiqar Amjad, a 24-year-old Pakistani. The alleged terror cell had photos of landmarks and hotels in London and Rome which police suspected were possible targets.

Nasiri is pictured here being interviewed in Bari after being freed by a judge on Thursday

His testimony makes chilling reading for security forces trying to keep the UK's borders secure

Nasiri had photos of Kalishnikov assault rifles on his phone, prompting fears of a Paris-style marauding gun attack.

He said the terror claims were all nonsense. But the ease with which he smuggled himself through Europe and into Britain highlights how jihadis posing as migrants can make the same journey.

Nasiri, who was born in Lowgar, near the Afghanistan capital Kabul, in 1993, said: 'Everybody told me, even from when I was small, to get to the UK, it is the best life. There are many jobs, they give you [official] papers.'

Earlier this week, Nasiri was arrested by anti-terror police in Bari, southern Italy, after they found images on his phone of him brandishing an assault rifle in a Birmingham supermarket

His family paid traffickers to smuggle him from Afghanistan through Iran, Turkey, and Greece, but he was caught by the police in Italy and forced to make his asylum claim there before reaching the UK. That claim failed, so he carried on to the UK anyway, via Paris and Calais.

He said: 'At Calais, if you get in a truck it's no problem. I was in the truck with four people. When we got to England, nobody caught us. We drove for about three hours then the driver stopped for petrol and we got out.

'I was an illegal immigrant in Britain for two and a half years. I had everything I needed. In Birmingham, I was working in a supermarket six days a week from 9am to 8pm for 220 a week.'

He paid no tax, did not have a bank account and lived in a house paying his rent in cash.

He said: 'There are many people living in the UK without papers. You can get a job and if you are a good boy, the police won't touch you.

At Calais, if you get in a truck it's no problem. I was in the truck with four people. When we got to England, nobody caught us Hakim Nasiri

'There was only one time, when I needed to see a doctor because I cut my leg, and I couldn't because I was illegal, but a friend brought me some cream and some tablets.'

He lived in Britain and Italy under different names, saying on his Facebook he worked as a manager of a Dixy Chicken fast food shop in Birmingham and studied at Birmingham City University. He admitted neither of these was true, but wanted to impress friends.

Last year Nasiri decided to smuggle himself back to Italy, because a lawyer there said his asylum claim was progressing.

He took a 35 bus from Birmingham to London, then a train to Kent. At Dover port, he sneaked aboard a lorry across the Channel to Calais, where he knocked on the driver's cab and was let out.

He then spent the past seven months living at an asylum centre in Bari.

He said: 'I love England. In two and a half years there, life was very relaxed. I had money, good clothes. But in Italy, they treat me like a dog.'

Nasiri was finally granted refugee status in Italy last week, on May 5, but was then arrested.

He said the picture on his phone showing some Kalashnikov rifles was sent to him by a friend.

And a further picture, showing him making a rude gesture to a poster of Malala Yousafzai, the schoolgirl shot by the Taliban, was another joke, he claimed.

He was caught by the police in Italy and forced to make his asylum claim there before reaching the UK. His claim was unsuccessful and he carried on to the UK

'I am a Muslim, but I am not a terrorist. I never fight, I just want to work,' said Nasiri, whom Italian police could not find enough evidence against to keep in prison

Nasiri's co-accused were alleged migrant smugglers. Ahmadzai and Amjad were allegedly recorded trying to buy firearms to defend their turf in Calais from rival gangs sending illegal immigrants to the UK. The judge also released Amjad, but remanded Ahmadzai in custody.

Nasiri claimed he 'didn't know' his co-accused, or whether they were involved in people smuggling. He also denied any link to a people-trafficking gang who used the same passport forger as Paris terrorist Salah Abdeslam.

Italian prosecutors are to appeal the decision to free the men, and police say the investigation continues.

Friends of Nasiri said there was 'no hint of malice' about him, and he had got engaged last summer to a bride chosen by his parents back in Afghanistan. The owner of a car wash in Birmingham where he worked said Nasiri 'was not extreme at all, in fact he would despair at some of the actions of radical Islam'.
According to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton is crooked, Bernie Sanders is crazy and George Clooney just isn't a good actor.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee took aim at the movie star in an interview on Fox & Friends Friday morning.

Trump called into the morning show and insulted Clooney's acting ability when asked about the Money Monster star's comment that 'there's not going to be a President Donald Trump'.

'As far as George Clooney is concerned, let's put it this way - he's no Cary Grant,' Trump said.

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Donald Trump said George Clooney (left) is 'no Cary Grant' (right) in an interview Friday on Fox & Friends

The comment was made after Clooney spoke out against Trump at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday

Trump also addressed Clooney's criticism of the media for relishing the ratings Trump's candidacy has caused, while failing to challenge him on policy.

'Well at least he's right about the ratings - that's the good news,' Trump said. 'I think I get asked the toughest questions on Earth. I will tell you, nobody asks tougher questions than they do to me. It's all "gotcha."'

Clooney, a steadfast Democrat who has helped raise millions for Hillary Clinton's campaign, spoke out against Donald Trump during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, where he is promoting his new film Money Monster.

'There's not going to be a President Donald Trump,' said Clooney, who held a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton last month in Los Angeles where tickets reportedly went for $353,400 per couple.

'That's not going to happen. Fear is not going to be something that drives our country. We're not going to be scared of Muslims or immigrants or women. We're not actually afraid of anything.'

Clooney went on to say: 'Trump is actually a result in many ways of the fact that much of the news programs didn't follow up and ask tough questions.

'Twenty-four-hour news doesn't mean you get more news, it means you get the same news more. More and more and more you hear these guys, their ratings go up because they can show an empty podium saying "Donald Trump is about to speak," as opposed to taking those 30 seconds and saying, "Well, let's talk about refugees,' which is the biggest crisis going on in the world right now."'

Clooney then tied things back to the film he is promoting by saying: 'This movie is talking about one of the things that I think is a great disaster in the way we inform ourselves right now.

'We've lost the ability to get to and tell the truth and get to the facts.'

Clooney previously spoke out against Trump at the Toronto Film Festival last September, and his comments about Mexicans, saying: 'Anyone who says intolerant words should be laughed at, and I think that's what history will do.'

Cast: Clooney is at Cannes to promote his new film Money Monster (l to r: Julia Roberts, Clooney, Caitriona Balfe and Dominic West)

Money Monster, which is getting mixed reviews, opens this Friday.

The film, which was directed by Jodie Foster and also stars Julia Roberts, Catriona Balfe, Dominic West and Jack O'Connell, was made for $27million and is projected to make a little over $10million in its opening weekend according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Critic Todd McCarthy wrote in his review that the movie 'emerges as a pretty ordinary film about an extraordinary predicament, one in which the writers contrived to bring all the principals together down on Wall Street.

'The wrap-up, and the way it too easily employs both comeuppance and tragedy, is rather too neat for real life, and there's a feel-good aspect to it as well in the way the sneaky, morals-free culprit is forced to be held to account in the most public and embarrassing way possible.
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A huge waste ground near Madrid where millions of tyres have been dumped was on fire on Friday, releasing a black cloud of toxic fumes that officials worry could harm nearby residents.

The government of the Castilla-La Mancha region where the dump is located, dozens of kilometres south of the Spanish capital, said it has activated an emergency action plan as it believes the fire may last for days.

Firefighters and helicopters were working to extinguish the blaze, which produced a 'toxic cloud... that could affect part of the (nearby) town of Sesena,' with its 20,000 residents, the regional government added in a statement.

Picture taken from the Almudena cathedral in Madrid shows a huge smoke column caused by a fire in an uncontrolled dump near Sesena

Flames rage through a pile of tyres at the dump of Sesena in Toledo, Spain, earlier today - the blaze is set to last for days

A helicopter tries to extinguish the fire which broke out at the tyre dump of Sesena in Toledo, Spain

Tyres burn in an uncontrolled dump near the town of Sesena, after a fire brokeout earlier today

The government of the Castilla-La Mancha region where the dump is located, dozens of kilometres south of the Spanish capital, said it has activated an emergency action plan as it believes the fire may last for days

According to local authorities, the fire was apparently deliberately started because rain had hit the area in the past few days

Firefighters and helicopters were working to extinguish the blaze, which produced a 'toxic cloud... that could affect part of the (nearby) town of Sesena,' with its 20,000 residents, the regional government said

The massive pile of tyres started to form in the 1990s when a company began using the site as a temporary depot for old tyres

The dump stretches over some 10 hectares (25 acres), the equivalent of 10 rugby fields, straddling the Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions.

By late morning, three-quarters of the site had burnt, the Spanish capital's emergency services said on their Twitter account.

Authorities have urged residents nearby to close their doors and windows, and to try and stay away from the smoke, but no evacuations have been deemed necessary.

'No problem has been detected in any (air quality) measuring station,' the emergency services said in a bid to ease health concerns, adding there were no injuries.

Sesena Mayor, Carlos Velazquez, pointed out the it had rained in the area for several days, which makes an accidental ignition unlikely.

She said: 'Everything points to the fact that this disaster was deliberate.'

The massive pile of tyres started to form in the 1990s when a company began using the site as a temporary depot for old tyres due to be recycled.

But over the years these started to accumulate, resulting in three-metre (10-feet) high piles.

Environmentalists have for years warned that the dump poses a health hazard, and the town of Sesena has lived in fear of the rubber heap catching fire.

Dump stretches over some 10 hectares (25 acres), the equivalent of 10 rugby fields, straddling the Castilla-La Mancha and Madrid regions

A massive fire is raging at a sprawling tyre dump in a town near Madrid, sending a spectacular cloud of thick black smoke into the air that's visible for at least 30 kilometers (20 miles)

Ten teams of firefighters are trying to put out the blaze at the tyre dump in the town of Sesena, still raging more than 10 hours

A huge waste ground near Madrid where millions of tyres have been dumped was on fire today, releasing a thick black cloud of toxic fumes that officials worry could harm residents nearby

Toxic smoke rises over the housing estate of Nueva Sesena near Madrid after an illegal tyre dump

These types of blazes are notoriously difficult to put out and have been known to go on for months and even years, as tyres often continue to burn inside even if they are extinguished from the outside, and easily reignite

A seaplane discharges water over the tyres burning in an uncontrolled dump near the town of Sesena

These types of blazes are notoriously difficult to put out and have been known to go on for months and even years, as tyres often continue to burn inside even if they are extinguished from the outside, and easily reignite.

Emiliano Garcia-Page, President of Castilla-La Mancha, warned that the fire could last 'for several days.'

In a video posted on Twitter by the emergency services, Luis Villarroel, an official at Madrid's firefighting department who is on site, said it was gradually coming under control.

'It's confined to a few zones,' he said, adding the smoke was less intense than it had been.

The cloud emanating from the blaze appeared to be moving south over the day, sparing Madrid and its international airport, according to Vicente Garcia, a spokesman for environmental group Ecologists in Action.

But he criticised authorities in Madrid and Castilla-La Mancha for years of inaction.
Casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson made his endorsement of Donald Trump official on Friday, calling the alternative  Hillary Clinton in the White House  'frightening.'

' Republicans must join together to make sure he wins,' Adelson wrote in a Washington Post opinion essay.

'I am endorsing Trumps bid for president and strongly encourage my fellow Republicans  especially our Republican elected officials, party loyalists and operatives, and those who provide important financial backing  to do the same,' he wrote.

'As Republicans, we know that getting a person in the White House with an "R" behind his name is the only way things will get better. That opportunity still exists. We must not cut off our noses to spite our faces.'

Casino magnate and Republican donor Sheldon Adelson (left) has backed Donald Trump (right) in the race for the White House

'If Republicans do not come together in support of Trump, Obama will essentially be granted something the Constitution does not allow  a third term in the name of Hillary Clinton,' Adelson grimaced through his text.

'Ive spent time talking to Donald Trump. Do I agree with him on every issue? No. But its unlikely that any American agrees with his or her preferred candidate on every issue.'

Adelson, who dropped put of college but went on to amass a $28 billion fortune from the hotel, newspaper and gambling industries, told The New York Times last week that Trump 'won fair and square'.

'Yes, I'm a Republican, he's a Republican,' Adelson said then.

'He's our nominee. Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17  he was one of the 17. He won fair and square.'

Trump and Adelson have had a tumultuous relationship in recent months, with the Republican presumptive nominee slamming the businessman on Twitter in October.

The Donald said the influential Republican donor wanted to make Florida Sen. Marco Rubio  who later dropped out of the race for the nomination  'his perfect little puppet'.

But the pair reconciled in December after a meeting in which they chatted about Israel, with Adelson later calling Trump 'very charming'.

Adelson has previously donated to President George W. Bush, 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney and former White House hopeful Newt Gingrich.

Trump's near-cementing of the party's nomination has split the party, with prominent figures such as House Speaker Paul Ryan and both former presidents named Bush refusing to back him.

Trump's near-cementing of the party's nomination has split the party, with prominent figures such as House Speaker Paul Ryan refusing to back him

Asked if he could support Trump, Ryan told CNN: 'I am not there right now. I hope to and want to.'

Trump responded, saying: 'I am not ready to support Speaker Ryan's agenda.'

Last week both Bushes refused to back Trump.

Former President George W. Bush, whose brother Jeb pulled out of the race in February after a string of dismal results, will not be taking part in the campaign whatsoever and won't attend July's Republican National Convention.

Former President George H. W. Bush's spokesman Jim McGrath said: 'At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics.'

Republican senator Ben Sasse, of Nebraska, reiterated statements that he would not back Trump and said he would look for an alternative candidate if Trump became the nominee.

Tim Miller, a former spokesman for Jeb Bush, tweeted: 'Never ever ever Trump. Simple as that.'

Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush (pictured in 2013) will not endorse Donald Trump

Republican Senator Deb Fischer madeclear in an interview with Nebraska Radio Network that she wouldsupport the party's nominee but was not comfortable with Trump.

'Mr Trump is going to have to work hard to bring the partytogether,' she said.

South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, issued a statement saying she would support the Republican nominee but was 'not interested' in being the party's vice presidential running mate after there were rumors Trump might call on her.

Texas governor Rick Perry told CNN that he would try to help Trump and was open to being his vice-presidential nominee.

But Oklahoma Republican Governor Mary Fallin endorsed Trump enthusiastically and welcomed talk of her as his possible Number Two on a November ticket.
A Florida family who rescued a homeless dog were repaid a thousand times over when he protected their seven-year-old girl from a rattlesnake attack, but was bitten in the process.

Seven-year-old Molly DeLuca was in the back yard of the family's Tampa home with her grandma and two-year-old German Shepherd Haus on Wednesday when they were cornered by the deadly Eastern Diamondback - the largest venomous snake in North America.

'Just based on temperament, he was standing up for my daughter,' Molly's mom Donya told Fox 13. 'He was standing between [her and the snake], he didn't budge. He kept taking hits.'

Wounded: Haus (pictured), a two-year-old German Shepherd owned by the DeLuca family of Tampa, Florida, was bitten by a deadly Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake while protecting seven-year-old Molly DeLuca

Pained: The dog was bitten three times, and injected with so much venom he's still on a drip, two days later. The family says his condition has improved after $10,000 of medical bills, but he's not safe yet

Family: The DeLucas - from left to right Molly, Donya, Joey and Adam - adopted Haus recently, after their previous dog of 12 years died

She added that the dog would 'jump back, and go forward, and jump back and go forward - he was just, kind of, holding his ground.'

It was only after they saw him jumping that Donya realized he was staring down the venomous snake.

'Next thing we know is, there's blood and he was limping and crying,' she said.

The 68-pound German Shepherd, described by family friend Cherissa Vandergriff as 'loving, loyal and... very protective of the children,' was felled by three snakebites that left him on the verge of death.

He'd been injected with so much venom, Fox reported, that vets couldn't give him the usual two shots of antivenom, and instead had to be put on a drip that will introduce it slowly into his system.

But the poor pup has a long way to go before he is safely back with the family.

Loyal: Haus bonded quickly with Joey and Molly, Donya said, and became very protective of the kids. She described their bond as 'unbelievable'

A GoFundMe page to raise money for the vet bills, which have already cost $10,000, said his organs are stable, but that he is still not rid of all the venom, his platelet count is low enough to be at risk and he must remain on the drip.

Haus was only recently rescued by the DeLuca family after their previous dog Bailey, who they had owned for 12 years, had passed away. But he quickly grew protective over the kids.

'The bond that they have created in a short time has been unbelievable,' Donya told Fox News.

Rattlesnake bites contain a 'potent hemotoxin' that kills red blood cells and damages tissue, according to National Geographic. It can be fatal to humans.

However, rattlesnakes themselves are usually scared of humans and don't generally attack unless they feel threatened or cornered, the site said.
Two teenagers have been sentenced to a combined 20 years in prison for abducting one of their great-grandmothers and driving with her in the trunk of her car for 200 miles before she escaped.

Dylan Martin, 17, was sentenced on Thursday to nine and a half years for his role in kidnapping his 87-year-old great-grandmother, Hazel Abel, in November 2015, The Tri-City Herald reported.

In court, the teen apologized, saying it was the worst decision he has ever made.

Billy Underwood, 16, who admitted to executing most of the plot to gag, bind and kidnap the woman, was sentenced to 10 and a half years. He also apologized during the sentencing.

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Dylan Martin, 17, (pictured) wipes his eye after he was sentenced on Thursday to nine and a half years for his role in kidnapping his 87-year-old great-grandmother, Hazel Abel, in November 2015

Billy Underwood, 16, (pictured as he leaves court) who admitted to executing most of the plot to gag, bind and kidnap the woman, was sentenced to 10 and a half years

Abel (pictured), was thrown in the trunk of her car by her own great-grandson, Underwood and a third co-defendant, KateLynn Kenfield, on November 2, 2015

Both boys pleaded guilty to kidnapping, burglary and theft of a motor vehicle charges, and they were both charged as adults.

Underwood's mother, Kandi Jaramillo, said in court on Thursday that her son is not a 'bad boy' and that he would never hurt an elderly person, according to the Tri-City Herald.

A statement by the great-grandmother was read in court on Thursday telling the teens she is sorry for what they have been through in the recent months and that they should behave in prison.

'Maybe some day you will have a good life,' she said in her statement.

A third co-defendant, 15-year-old KateLynn Kenfield, was ordered to serve up to two and a half years in a state juvenile institution. She is appealing.

Kenfield, who was 14 at the time of the abduction and was charged in juvenile court, was found guilty of first-degree kidnapping and second-degree theft of a vehicle.

She was the first of the teens to be tried and convicted in the abduction.

In court, Martin (left) apologized, saying it was the worst decision he has ever made. Underwood also apologized during the sentencing

Kenfield (right), 15, was the first teen charged earlier this year in the kidnapping of Abel last November

Abel, of Kennewick, Washington, did not know who her kidnappers were during her six-hour ordeal after she was grabbed from her doorstep on November 2, 2015.

The teens are believed to have discussed killing Abel and using her vehicle as a getaway car, police and prosecutors allege.

During the abduction, the teens used one of Abel's aprons to cover her head before shoving her  and her dog Tessa  into the trunk of her car and drove to the Portland area.

Abel previously spoke out to say she does not know if she will ever be able to forgive her great-grandson.

I dont know how he could that to me, she previously told KPTV. This is family.

She added: I had told Dylan that I love him and things but I guess that doesnt matter.

At the time, Abel said she had been praying her assailants would run out of gas because she was convinced they were plotting to kill her.

A statement by the great-grandmother was read in court on Thursday telling the teens she is sorry for what they have been through in the recent months and that they should behave in prison

During the abduction, Abel said she had been praying her assailants would run out of gas because she was convinced they were plotting to kill her

The great-grandmother was stuffed into the trunk of her own car along with her dog Tessa (pictured)

I had no idea where I was, where they were going to take me and what they were going to do once they got me there, because I felt they would kill me, she recalled.

Chillingly, the teenagers had taken a butcher knife from her own kitchen with them.

According to authorities, they drove her all the way to Wood Village, near Portland, Oregon.

But she was able to escape when they stopped at a Walmart  at which point, Abel managed to untie her hands, pull a cord to pop the trunk and ran inside for help.

She was not physically injured in the incident and she has said she is not sure why she was targeted, but told KOIN: I just cannot understand why and the only reason I can give for it that they wanted money and they wanted my car.

Investigators had heard chilling confessions from Martin and Underwood who said they had even considered killing Abel and setting fire to the car with her body still inside.

According to authorities, the teens drove Abel all the way to Wood Village, near Portland, Oregon, but she was able to escape when they stopped at a Walmart

She was kidnapped from her own Kennewick, Washington home (pictured) on November 2, 2015 at 8pm

An affidavit revealed they had also considered releasing her three miles into a canyon or knocking her unconscious, before she was able to free herself and escape.

Kenfield told police the friends had wanted to run away to Portland so Martin had suggested they steal his great-grandmother's car.

She claimed the boys had kidnapped Abel while she waited outside. She added that she had opened the trunk slightly during the trip to check she was still breathing.

Underwood - then Kenfield's boyfriend - later claimed he had helped put the apron over their victim's head and tied her hands after Martin threw dirt in her face.

They then put her in the trunk so there would not be witnesses.

Martin said he had stolen $60 of cash from his great-grandmother the week before.

The great-grandmother was walked out to her own car in her garage before she was lifted up and forced into the trunk and driven for more than five hours

Abels ordeal began around 8pm on November 2, when she heard a knock at the door of her home as she was getting ready to watch Dancing with the Stars.

Court documents state that as soon as she opened the door, someone threw dirt in her face, covered her eyes and mouth with their hands and pushed her to the ground.

She felt her hands being taped together and something being stuffed in her mouth before her head was covered with an apron.

The great-grandmother was walked out to her own car in her garage before she was lifted up and forced into the trunk and driven for more than five hours.

She said she had not recognized the voices of her kidnappers.

The 87-year-old said she was only able to escape after the three teens stopped at a Walmart in Portland (pictured) where the quick-thinking retiree managed to untie her hands, pull a cord to pop the trunk and ran inside for help

When she escaped, she ran into the Walmart store in Wood Village, near Portland - 200 miles away - and told staff to call the police. There, she was given clothes and food by employees.

The teenagers, who were buying toiletries in the store, fled when they saw Abel had escaped and was talking to a store employee.

But police recognized them from the store's surveillance footage and they were tracked down at a garage across the street.

Abel's neighbors said later they had become concerned about her after they noticed her garage door was open and her car was missing.
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

This is the mother who recorded her own murder at the hands of her abusive boyfriend, according to police.

Wesley Webb, 40, was allegedly shot dead by Keith Smith at the home they shared in Schuylkill Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, on May 2 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.

Wesley Webb (right, with her children) recorded her own murder at the hands of her abusive boyfriend, according to police

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 her children. Three children under 14 were at the home at the time.

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 said.

'You want to record it now, b****?' he is heard saying. 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.

KevinSmith faces charges of first degree murder, third degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime, and endangering the welfare of children

'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.'

Detectives say Smith had shot the victim at around 11.30pm 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.

Smith faces charges of first degree murder, third degree murder, possessing an instrument of crime, and endangering the welfare of children.

According to the DA, Webbs recording will be admissible in court.

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe set up to raise funds for the care of Webbs two children Madison and Matthew by their aunt and uncle has raised more than $30,000 in less than a week.

On the page, Webbs brother-in-law Lee Fleishman wrote that he and his wife Wendy McFadden have taken the children into their home.

As their aunt and uncle, we were the ones that Wesley wanted to care for her children in such a tragic event, he wrote.

Webb was shot in the chest at the home the couple shared in Schuylkill Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, while her children were still inside, on May 2

We are more than willing to take them in and will do everything in our power to provide them with a life that Wesley would approve of.

Wendy and I both have stable jobs with decent pay, but we are wholly unprepared for such an event.

We need some funds for both immediate needs of the children as well as wanting to start a college fund.

It is truly heartwarming to see the outpouring of support from the communities that Wesley and the children belonged to, he added.
An Australian academic who teaches a course called Eurovisions says she will be watching the music contest.

Professor Alison Lewis launched the Melbourne University course in 2015 with the catchy title to draw students into the course that looks at the inner workings of European politics.

She is planning to live tweet this year's contest from the an official Twitter account linked to the course, reports ABC.

Australia's Dami Im and her team celebrate in the Green Room during the Eurovision Song Contest, which is being taught as a subject at Melbourne University

'The voting is always quite political,' said Ms Lewis, who will pay close attention to the voting in her live tweets.

Prof Lewis said it took a while for students to warm to the subject but now it has proved a popular.

'It took a while for people to realise it was a serious subject.'

The subject does not focus on music but instead explores the language and shifting dynamics of Europe.

It focuses on major European nations like Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Russia, but the students were able to explore cultures from other countries.

Ms Lewis said it would be interesting to see how Australia voted.

Professor Alison Lewis launched the subject because she believes the program illustrates the inner-workings of European politics (pictured: Samra of Azerbaijan)
Michael Gove should be 'embarrassed and ashamed' about claims Britain's borders will be opened to 88 million more people if voters do not back Brexit, Sir John Major claimed tonight.

In a fierce attack on the Justice Secretary, Sir John blasted 'mischief making' over warnings about the future expansion of the EU.

Mr Gove has warned new countries entering the EU will heap an unbearable strain on schools, the NHS and housing.

In a major speech to the Oxford Union, Sir John also called on Mr Gove, Boris Johnson and Iain Duncan Smith to apologise for 'peddling' false figures about the cost to Britain of being in the EU.

He warned the senior Tories against playing their 'trump card' on immigration - insisting careless language was 'dangerous' and could do long term damage to society.

Sir John Major will warn leading Brexit campaigners to 'take care' as they pivot their case to the 'dangerous territory' of immigration in the referendum debate

Sir John told the Union: 'I assume this distortion of reality was intended to lead the British people into believing that almost the entire population of possible new entrants will wish to relocate to the UK.

'If so, this is pure demagoguery. I hope that - when the heat of the Referendum is behind us - the proponents of such mischief making will be embarrassed and ashamed at how they have misused this issue.'

The former Prime Minister claimed that Brexit campaigners were morphing into Ukip and were 'fuelling prejudice' with dangerous falsehoods on immigration.

He claimed the Leave campaigns was attributing motives to migrants that were 'frankly offensive'.

'As the Leave arguments implode one by one, some of the Brexit leaders morph into Ukip, and turn to their default position - immigration,' he said. 'This is their trump card. I urge them to take care, this is dangerous territory that - if handled carelessly - can open up long-term divisions in our society.'

Sir John blasted Justice Secretary Michael Gove for claiming 88 million people would get access to Britain without Brexit

Highlighting figures quoted by Mr Gove, the former London mayor, and the former work and pensions secretary about the cost of the EU, Sir John said campaigners who made false claims 'need to apologise that they've got their figures badly wrong - and stop peddling a demonstrable untruth'.

In an article for the Daily Mail last month, Mr Gove wrote: 'When Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey join the EU, another 88 million people will soon be eligible for NHS care and school places for their children.'

Sir John's intervention comes a day after the Office for National Statistics suggested the number of immigrant workers from the European Union could be three times higher than official estimates.

The ONS said main migration data did not included people who were in the country for less than a year but who still worked and got a national insurance number as a result.

The Government had resisted the release of the data on national insurance numbers.

In his speech, Sir John added: 'We must not let emotions be stirred by false fear: nor allow that false fear to impair our judgement on the future of our country.

'If we were to leave Europe, we could exclude more EU citizens  such as the 54,000 EU migrants now working as Doctors, or Nurses or Ancilliaries in our Health Service, or the nearly 80,000 working in Social Care.

'We could exclude skilled workers like builders and plumbers  or unskilled labour that takes jobs that are unappealing to the British.

'In short, the people we could most easily keep out are the very people we most need.'

The ONS has used a new method to estimate combined long term and short term immigration from the EU for last year. The 'headline' long-term figure for 2015 was 260,000

Tory former leadership candidate David Davis said it was 'grossly unfair' to dismiss concerns as 'Ukip'.

He said: 'Sir John is right to warn that debates on immigration must not slip into xenophobia. But there are also great dangers from ignoring the very real concerns of the voters, and dismissing them as divisive and prejudiced.

'There are even greater dangers from letting immigration run completely out of control, with all the adverse consequences for families across the country. Ignoring voters' concerns will cause far greater damage to social cohesion and political participation in the long term, and Sir John is wrong to criticise those who try to contribute to this debate in good faith.'

He added: 'As ever, Sir John is making a thoughtful and considered contribution to the debate, and his warning comes from genuine concerns about how the referendum debate may be conducted. But to dismiss people's concerns as 'Ukip' is grossly unfair, and I am afraid that on the substance of his warning Sir John is wrong.'

Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said: 'The only person creating false fear today is John Major with his ludicrous claims about the leave argument.

'Not surprising from a prime minister who gave away huge amounts of power when he was in charge and presided over the disaster that was the ERM [exchange rate mechanism].'
They were a dancing power couple. He toured with Ricky Martin while she shimmied on stage with Pitbull.

But now both Sherhan Rodriguez and Magdielle Bracoviche are alleging horrific physical abuse that has torn the romantic image to shreds.

Rodriguez, 31, was arrested on Wednesday on domestic violence charges related to the night of November 26, in which he allegedly slapped Bracoviche repeatedly in the face with an open hand.

Ricky Martin backup dancer Sherhan Rodriguez, 31, has been arrested for domestic violence after he allegedly slapped former girlfriend Magdielle Bracoviche (pictured right on night of alleged attack)

Bracoviche (pictured left of Pitbull) has been a dancer for the singer. Both she and Rodriguez live in Miami

Rodriguez (pictured second from right) danced with Ricky Martin on his recent M.A.S tour

The couple were at a bar in Miami when Rodriguez became angry after he saw pictures and text messages on his girlfriend's phone, according to the police report.

As they got into Bracoviche's car, Rodriguez allegedly began slapping her over and over and, at one point, hit her so hard in the face she almost crashed her car, police said.

Two witnesses told officers they saw Rodriguez hit Bracoviche in her car and caused her nose to bleed.

Surveillance footage captured the couple driving into the parking garage of Bracoviche's apartment building and shows him diving through the open passenger-side window after exiting the vehicle.

Rodriguez allegedly continued to beat his girlfriend after he got back into the car. Authorities said the surveillance camera captured the attack, according to WPLG.

Bracoviche posted a picture that showed her injuries from the night of the alleged attack. Blood is running from both of her nostrils and there is a visible bump, with what looks to be blood, on her head.

Accompanying the photo was a long message to her followers about her experience with domestic violence.

'Today, Dec 6, 2015, Im taking the courage to confess: Unfortunately I, Magga Bracoviche, was the victim of domestic violence on Nov 26,' she begins.

'Ironically, Nov 25 (the day prior) was Anti-Gender Violence or Domestic Violence Day. Now I am in better health, thank God there was no serious damage.'

The domestic violence allegations stem from a November 26, 2015 incident where Rodriguez allegedly slapped Bracoviche repeatedly with an open hand

The couple were at a bar in Miami when Rodriguez became angry after he saw pictures and text messages on his girlfriend's phone, according to the police report

'But I do have difficulty breathing through my nose, which has affected me a great deal as I try to start dancing again, because the inflammation has not completely cleared.'

Bracoviche said that 'violence, lies, betrayals and suffering' had consumed her for a 'long time'.

'But for some reason I endured it,' she wrote. 'Now I intend to bring justice, because I am a woman and no man has the right to abuse, physically or verbally, a lady.'

'My physical integrity is not negotiable.'

Bracoviche wrote that she would not face her history of abuse with 'shame or embarrassment' and asked that all women do the same.

'Ladies, you are strong,' she writes. Do all you can to get out and get help. Dont waste your life.

'It is important to remember that the attacks will only become more frequent, more intense, more dangerous. A man who mistreats and abuses will never stop. Its time to tell them goodbye.'

She then tells women to look in the mirror and 'see how beautiful you are'.

'Put on the most beautiful dress you have and go outside with your head held high because you, woman, are blessed by the universe and you deserve to be happy,' she writes.

Roriguez has been charged with battery, burglary and criminal mischief.

A one-year restraining order has also been issued against him, allowing him only to return to Bracoviche's apartment once, with a police officer, to collect his things.

Bracoviche has since spoken out about her experience, writing that she would not face her history of abuse with 'shame or embarrassment' and asked that all women do the same

Roriguez has been charged with battery, burglary and criminal mischief. A one-year restraining order has also been issued against him, allowing him only to get within 25 feet of her if they are in a place of work

He has since hired Jose Baez, who represented Casey Anthony, and claims that it is his client who is really the victim of domestic violence.

'The November 26 incident was not the first time that things had gotten physical,' Baez told PEOPLE magazine.

'Ms. Bracoviche has hit my client many times before. She was often the aggressor; that was the nature of their relationship.'

A police report from a separate September incident claims that Bracoviche 'kept slapping Rodriguez on his head and face'.

Alex Strassman, Bracoviche's attorney, said his client has never been charged with domestic violence.

'Nothing ever happened that approached the violence of November 26, 2015,' he told the magazine.

Bracoviche has since become active in Amnesty International's campaigns against domestic violence.

She posted a photograph from the organization's recent campaign with the phrase, 'Get out there, do not be afraid,' to mark the first day of her court case against Rodriguez.

'I intend on justice, not a battle,' she wrote. 'I do not need to play dirty or to affect the work of others.'




Nurten Taycur, 28, from Hackney in London, offered to pay a contract killer 5,000 to murder he husband

A cheating wife has been jailed today after trying to recruit a hitman to murder her husband and make it look like an ISIS attack - only to be caught out by an undercover policeman.

Nurten Taycur, 28, from Hackney in London, offered to pay a contract killer her 5,000 life savings to slash the throat of Kurdish Uber driver Ercan Akan and spray ISIS on the roof of his car.

Unaware that she was talking to an undercover officer, she also said she would help track her husband using the Find My iPhone app.

Taycur, who confessed she had been having an affair with another man, was arrested after handing over a 1,000 deposit to the bogus hitman, who she knew as 'John'.

She first met the undercover policeman near Victoria Park in Hackney on November 13, last year.

She told the officer: 'In our culture you cannot have a boyfriend but I can say yeah well I cheated on my husband. 'I want him to die. I want him to get out of my life.'

Taycur told 'John' not to use a gun and suggested a stabbing during a robbery while her husband was working for Uber at night.

She added: 'If you stab him in the car park you need to guarantee me if you stab him he needs to be dead.'

When the officer suggested they could take his body to a farm so he could be eaten by pigs, she replied: 'No I don't want that to happen.

'I want his body to be found so I can take him to Turkey so I can cry to see I'm very sad.'

A week later Taycur contacted John by phone and agreed to help track her husband by iPhone.

Then during a meeting in Hackney on December 4, 2015 she provided a passport photo of her husband and wrote the registration of his Toyota Prius on the back.

Four days later she texted the 'hitman' to confirm the murder with the words: 'The order is ready.'

In another text she added: 'I'm so excited.'

At a meeting on December 11, she handed over a 1,000 deposit and told the undercover officer of her plan for an 'ISIS-inspired' killing.

She said: 'What I am thinking, I got this thing in my head, you know this ISIS thing that's going around, like if your friend gets a spray and writes ISIS on top of the car.'

Taycur claimed her husband was part of the Kurdish PKK group and asked for his throat to be slit during a 'graphic description' of the method of killing.

Following her arrest police recovered the remaining 4,000 at her home.

Sentencing her to six years in jail, Judge Peter Rook QC told Taycur: 'You actively sought the assistance of a hitman in order to arrange the contract killing of your husband.

'Unbeknown to you your arrangements were covertly recorded by an undercover officer.

'It may well be that you were encouraged by another to embark on this course but you willingly entered into these arrangements.

'I accept you were feeling unhappy... however nothing could justify the dreadful plan you wanted to carry out.

'It was clearly your idea that the killing should be made to look like it was ISIS inspired.

'Quite apart from the risk of spreading fear of terrorist attacks, it could only have had significant repercussions in the Kurdish community.'

Taycur came to the UK with her family as a child and was only 16 when she married her husband, who came from the same Kurdish village in Turkey, the Old Bailey heard.

The couple lived together in Hackney and went on holiday to Turkey a few months before the murder plot was hatched.

Prosecutor Mark Gadsden told the court: 'She indicated she had a budget of 5,000.

'She did say she was currently involved in a relationship with another man, her boyfriend with whom she had had a relationship for two years.

'We suggest that was the reason why she wanted the husband murdered.'

Mr Gadsden said: 'The fact that his wife was planning to have him murdered obviously came as a complete shock to him.'

At the Old Bailey (file photo), Taycur pleaded guilty to soliciting to murder.

Taycur made no comment in police interview but told police that she did not want her husband to know about the plan.

She later claimed that he would not let her get a divorce because of his stricter cultural beliefs and insisted she was not motivated by her affair.

Her barrister John Femiola told the court that Taycur was 'vulnerable' and added: 'This is a woman who considered, rightly or wrongly, that she was in a living prison.'

At the Old Bailey, Taycur pleaded guilty to soliciting to murder.
Two teenage girls from a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, school live streamed sex acts with a teenage boy while their classmates watched through Facebook at school, authorities said.

Milwaukee Police have asked Facebook to hand over information from the account of a 14-year-old girl after saying two juvenile girls in the video could be charged with 'exposing a child to harmful material'.

The 15-year-old boy was not listed as a suspect on the police warrant.

An investigation into the incident was prompted in January after staff at Barack Obama School - which houses students in grades kindergarten through 12th - became of aware of the video and alerted authorities.

Three teens allegedly posted a video performing sex acts on Facebook and students at Barack Obama School watched while in class

Police say that on January 14, four juvenile students viewed a live stream on Facebook during their health class

Students said that in the video, a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy were seen engaging in sex acts.

The video was filmed outside of school and the two girls skipped school after first period, school principal Nicole Mcdowell told CBS 58.

The boy involved int he video did not attend the same school.

Milwaukee Public Schools released a statement to CBS 58 following the incident.

The statement said: In January, staff became aware of a video depicting inappropriate conduct that took place outside of school and off campus.
The nanny who decapitated a girl, four, and paraded her severed head in the streets of Moscow will never face trial, say sources close to the criminal investigation.

Gyulchehra Bobokulova, 38, claimed she was inspired to kill the helpless child in a copycat of gruesome jihadist beheadings which she watched online.

She was trusted nanny to the girl she confessed to decapitating in north west Moscow - Anastasia Meshcheryakova - in a brutal act which caused shock around the world.

Insane: Gyulchehra Bobokulova, 38, beheaded four-year-old Anastasia Meshcheryakova while was in her cot in a brutal act which caused shock around the world

Horror: In extraordinary scenes, Bobokulova held the child's head aloft and shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before she was arrested on February 29

Innocence: Four-year-old Anastasia (Nastya) Meshcheryakova was decapitated as she lay in her cot at her parents' home

Earlier, the burka-clad babysitter had claimed that she killed the child on February 29 in revenge for Putin's aerial bombardment of Muslims in Syria. She claimed she ordered by Allah to cut off the girl's head.

Now the native Uzbek and mother of three - who is the subject of a murder charge - will be ruled 'insane', a source with knowledge of the situation told Interfax news agency.

Experts of the Serbsky State Scientific Centre for Social and Forensic Psychiatry have found that the nanny is not fully responsible for her actions, and committed the crime in a bout of insanity.

Their report is to be formally handed to state investigators next week, reported Interfax.

As such, Bobokulova 'is not liable for criminal prosecution and the investigation will have to specify the necessity of administering compulsory measures of a medical nature to her in the indictment', reported Interfax.

In other words, she is likely to be committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Bobokulova was moved from the Serbsky Centre to the psychiatric hospital at Butyrka detention facility in Moscow, following the conclusion of her psychiatric assessment, said the press service of the Moscow Department of the Federal Penitentiary Service.

Pending the psychiatric analysis, a court in Moscow this week extended her custody until 29 May.

Investigators demanded her continued detention as she sat stern-faced in a metal cage in the court room.

Confession: 'I saw how they cut off heads and I did it. The voices - I killed the girl, yes. But I don't need treatment. Let me go back to the normal jail,' Bobokulova revealed

Deranged: Bobokulova added: 'There was a voice in my head: 'Do it to the girl'. 'I feel sorry a bit for her. I feel sorry for myself. I have no home, I have nothing. She was a good girl. But I don't have a home. Hatred.'

Psychosis: But psychologists have ruled Bobokulova will not face a murder trial because she is insane and therefore is not responsible for the killing

'Bobokulova may pose a threat to society if she is released,' Judge Tereza Zhrebets was warned.

The nanny admitted to setting fire to the flat after killing the girl.

She was later detained near Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station.

Bobokulova was walking around with the girl's head in her hand, shouting 'Allahu Akbar' (Arabic for God is Great) and threatening to blow herself up.

She later confessed to the crime and was taken back to the crime scene by police.

She told one journalist: 'I saw online how they were cutting off heads. This hatred. There was a voice in my head: 'Do it to the girl'. '

She said: 'I saw how they cut off heads and I did it. The voices - I killed the girl, yes. But I don't need treatment.'

Grief: The little girl's mother Ekaterina (left) and father Vladimir Meshcheryakov (left) have been left devastated by the loss of their cherished daughter

Torched: Bobokulova, a Muslim, from Uzbekistan where the majority of the population is Muslim, set fire to the Moscow flat after she decapitated the girl

Discovery: Nastya Meshcheryakova's decapitated body was discovered in the cot by firefighters called in to tackle a fire in the flat

A Russian lawyer Lyudmila Aivar said: 'If the experts call her insane and declare that she did not control her actions, court action will still follow.

'If Bobokulova can take part, she will. If the doctors see that she reacts inadequately, the trial can go on without her.
A teacher who came out as a transgender man at a Catholic high school in San Francisco has been allowed to keep his job by the order of the nuns that runs the school.

An order of the Sisters of Mercy announced its support for Gabriel Bodenheimer, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

'This is significant for us; we did not take this lightly,' said Sister Laura Reicks, president of the 16-state region of the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community.

'We feel because of our values, the choice was this, but that didn't mean it was easy.'

Gabriel Bodenheimer (pictured), a teacher and the English Department chair, came out as a transgender man at Mercy High School for girls in San Francisco. He has been allowed to keep his job by the order of the nuns that runs the school

The San Francisco Chronicle reports an order of the Sisters of Mercy announced its support for Bodenheimer (pictured) on Wednesday

Sister Laura Reicks, president of the 16-state region of the Sisters of Mercy West Midwest Community, said: 'This is significant for us; we did not take this lightly. Above Bodenheimer is pictured teaching English

Supporting the dignity of each person  regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identification  aligned with the order's values, Reicks said Wednesday.

The decision reflects policy within the West Midwest Community, which sponsors or co-sponsors six high schools.

It comes amid a growing national debate on transgender rights, including access to gender-specific facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms.

On Friday, the Obama administration issued a directive telling public schools that they must allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

While there is no official Catholic policy or doctrine regarding transgender people, church leaders, including Pope Benedict, have addressed the issue, noting God created males and females and that anatomy defines identity.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone neither condemned nor fully endorsed the sisters' decision.

Bodenheimer (pictured) had been teaching English at Mercy High School, a college preparatory school for girls, for four years before he came out as transgender

Bodenheimer (pictured) said: 'It was very important to speak, and name myself, and not be silent. The response I got was tremendously positive'

'Often in such situations a balance must be struck in a way that distinct values are upheld, such as mercy and truth, or institutional integrity and respect for personal decisions affecting one's life,' he said in a statement.

He emphasized that such decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis, 'allowing for prudential judgment.'

Bodenheimer had been teaching English at Mercy High School, a college preparatory school for girls, for four years before he came out as transgender.

'It was very important to speak, and name myself, and not be silent,' he said. 'The response I got was tremendously positive.'

The school's board chairwoman says there have been no complaints from the school community so far.
Kids are especially at risk but are usually affected by hot cars, not houses

A 17-month-old Texas toddler was killed in her sleep when her bedroom's heating system malfunctioned overnight, heating the room up to 100 degrees.

Larry and Keri Volmert discovered the deadly fault the following morning, when they headed up to their daughter Sammie's room from their ground-floor master bedroom.

'As soon as I got to the top of the stairs, it was very warm - I mean, hot,' Volmert, of Fort Worth, Texas, told KHOU.com. 'I ran to her room, opened her door, and found her passed away.'

Bereaved: Larry (left) and Keri (right) Volmert lost 17-month-old Sammie (pictured) after her room's faulty HVAC raised the temp to 100 degrees. Their heating system is seperate so they didn't know until the next day

The couple tried to resuscitate the child, but could not revive her.

The Volmerts didn't know until it was too late because their home's second floor has a separate HVAC system to the ground floor.

And it seems the child passed away in her sleep, because they heard nothing from her in the night.

'She did not make a noise at all,' Keri said. 'We always heard her if she cried.'

Sammie's death was ruled to be due to hyperthermia - an increase in body temperature caused by external sources.

Children are known to die of hyperthermia each year, experts told KHOU, but not usually at home - most children claimed by it have been left in a hot car.

Dr. Corwin Warmink, medical director for Cook Children's Emergency Department, told the station that young children and infants are particularly at risk of heat-related injury.

That's because because their small size makes it easier for their bodies to heat up and harder for them to cool off.

Unusual: Experts say children are more at risk from high temperatures than adults because they can't regulate heat well and their small bodies absorb heat quickly - but deaths usually occur in hot cars, not houses

But while experts say Sammie's death is rare, Keri Volmert says that she has received similar stories from bereaved parents after posting her tale on Facebook - and now she wants to spread the word.

'I want people who have two-story homes to realize the danger, because we had never heard of this,' she said.

She recommended all parents get a baby monitor capable of checking a room's temperature, something she had never considered until she experienced the tragedy.

The Volmerts are now considering legal action against the HVAC company. But they know nothing will bring back their daughter, who is survived by her three-year-old brother Jackson.

'We miss her every second of the day,' Keri Volmert told KHOU. 'There's a very large hole in our family without her here.'
A woman scarred a model for life in an unprovoked bar attack after smashing a wine glass into her face leaving her needing 50 stitches.

Kelly Watterson, 37, viciously assaulted Gemma Hilton, 34, during a boozy night out in Liverpool in February.

Mother-of-three Miss Hilton was left with wounds so horrific her children hid from her and refused to believe she was their mother after the attack in Woody's Bar at 1.15am.

Before and after: Model and care assistant Gemma Hilton, 34, needed a three-hour operation and is now unable to smile properly, gets shooting pains through her head and has a numb left side of her face

The model and care assistant needed a three-hour operation and is now unable to smile properly, gets shooting pains through her head and has a numb left side of her face.

She also suffers from nightmares, anxiety and breathing problems and struggles to leave the house alone.

Watterson, of Widnes, Cheshire, was handed a six-year prison sentence at Liverpool Crown Court today after pleading guilty to section 18 wounding.

The court was shown CCTV footage which showed Watterson drunkenly hugging and kissing Miss Hilton, who was a complete stranger to her, and repeatedly invading her personal space.

After Miss Hilton pushed Watterson away, she retaliated by throwing her glass of wine over the model and dancer before brutally smashing her wine glass into her face.

The court heard how Watterson, who has a seven-year-old daughter, had been unable to persuade friends or family to come drinking with her on the night of the attack and was suffering from negative body image.

Kelly Watterson, 37, (left) viciously assaulted Miss Hilton (right) during a boozy night out in Liverpool in February

But the prosecution told the court how Miss Hilton, who Watterson also hit on the back and pulled to the ground by her hair in the attack, was now afraid to leave home alone after the ordeal.

Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, said: 'After splitting from the father of her three children in 2011 Miss Hilton suffered a serious blow to her self-confidence.

'Her life is for her children and she tries to do everything for them whenever she can.

'She managed to get some work dancing and modelling and buy her own house - she was making progress and that progress repaired her confidence.

'All the progress she made has been totally wiped away due to this incident, which will stay with her for the rest of her life.

'As well as coming to terms with the attack Miss Hilton has had to come to terms with being permanently scarred.

'She is conscious of her scars and feels any woman would feel the same.

50 stitches: Miss Hilton suffers from nightmares, anxiety and breathing problems and struggles to leave the house alone

Scarred: Mother-of-three Miss Hilton was left with wounds so horrific her children hid from her and refused to believe she was their mother after the attack in Woody's Bar (pictured) at 1.15am

'She is a young woman who one day would like to have a relationship but feels her scars may put off any prospective partner.

'Even if the scars are covered she knows they will never be covered completely and they will affect her career dancing and modelling.

'She has suffered sleepless nights and nightmares. She suffers anxiety and breathing problems but tried to hide them from her children because she knows they will be scared.

'When she first came home from hospital her children ran away because they said she looked scary.

'Once she managed to convince them to come over they have not left her alone since.'

Miss Hilton, pictured before the attack, now suffers from low confidence

Miss Hilton underwent a three-hour operation at the maxillofacial unit at Aintree University Hospital after the attack and spent three days in hospital.

The court heard this means liquid embarrassingly drips out of her mouth when she drinks.

Miss Hilton, who is mum to 15-year-old Ella, Shea, 8, and seven-year-old Chloe, has been told she may need further surgery.

Carmel Wilde, defending, said: 'The defendant has shown extreme remorse and is trying to organise with the police chaplain to meet up with Miss Hilton to tell her how sorry she is.

'She feels awful about what she has done and thinks she deserves to be punished, but the biggest punishment for this defendant would be missing out on her daughter growing up.'

Sentencing Watterson, Judge Steven Everett said: 'What you did was a terrible thing and it may be a Jekyll and Hyde situation for all I know.

'You can see on the CCTV how you were pestering your victim, how you would not let her go.

'It is quite obvious to me she was patient with you while you were poring over her, invading her space, putting your face in hers.

'You were looking for something and you would not let it go.

'You did not give your daughter any thought while you were whacking this complainant with a glass, and that is something you need to ponder long and hard.

'Your family have shown sympathy and they have asked me to show mercy but mercy is not an appropriate word in this case. I will show justice.'

Speaking after the sentencing Miss Hilton, from Roby, Liverpool, said: 'I am still shocked but I feel so relieved. I am really happy with the result..

'I can't even contemplate meeting Watterson now but maybe in a few months' time.

'It has closed the book and my children and I can finally move on.'

After her attack Miss Hilton launched an appeal for bars and clubs in Liverpool city centre to only use plastic glasses after 12am and her friends and family set up a petition.
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Migrants have lived on a retail park for almost a decade  using dumped cars as their makeshift homes.

Their car park camp comprises at least ten vehicles, most of which are untaxed and clearly unroadworthy.

Stationed on a road between branches of B&Q, Halfords, Pets At Home and Asda, the camp is home to around 20 Romanians who relentlessly pester shoppers for work  with some boasting they can make 250 a day on disreputable building sites.

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The Romanians sleep in 10 cars next to a busy retail park on Old Kent Road, which includes Pets at Home, B&Q and Halfords. Inside the cars, bed sheets and duvets are visible

A migrant emerges from a car which has been parked next to B&Q, near a retail park on Old Kent Road in south-east London

Next to the car park where the Eastern European migrants live is a McDonald's on Old Kent Road in south-east London

Children's bikes chained to railings next to the cars being used by homeless Eastern European migrants on Olmar Street behind the McDonalds on London's Old Kent Roa

The cars, including Citroens, Fords and Vauxhalls, mainly have British number plates and are stuffed with filthy blankets and duvets.

Front seats are wrenched backwards to form makeshift beds and there are blacked-out windows designed to block out the sun. Bottles of aftershave and rolls of toilet paper are an unsavoury reminder of the deeply unhygienic situation.

But despite frequent complaints from residents, the camp has existed in the retail park in the Old Kent Road area of South London for at least eight years  with little intrusion from the authorities.

Only a small group of security guards are on hand to protect shoppers from unwanted approaches from the migrants, who patrol the nearby retail centre car park asking for work.

The guards told the Daily Mail how they are frequently forced to step in to protect unaccompanied women, and face frequent threats of violence themselves. One migrant will normally engage a potential target in conversation, before a host of others move in to mob the vulnerable shopper and pester them for work, they said.

The Mail observed two female police officers arrive to speak to the gang after one unsavoury incident. The migrants refused to move and the police left, powerless because the group are on private property.

One guard explained: We are only employed because members of the public have made numerous complaints about Romanians harassing them, saying job, job, job.

We dont have the power to kick them out of the car park, until they are drinking or smoking or being abusive. Then we can call the police. He added: They drink all the time, mostly on the weekends.

The Londoner explained how the migrants now dominate one half of the car park at Peckhams Cantium Retail Park. It is basically a stand-off, he said. One 36-year-old woman shopper added: Its quite intimidating. They offer to carry your stuff but you dont know who they are and they are quite persistent.

Andre, a 29-year-old migrant, has lived in one of the battered cars for eight years. He told The Sun: Living in a car is not a great life, but we dont have any choice. And its still better than Romania.

Father-of-three Ioan Canalos, 44, added: I do as much work as I can and send money home. Id rather do that and sleep in a car than pay rent. Almost 20 per cent of rough sleepers in London are from Romania, figures reveal.

Today, police were called after a woman claimed that the group were acting aggressively. Many people in the area have also accused them of anti-social behaviour

Pictured are various toys, newspapers and food on the dashboard of one of the cars which is used as a home by the migrants

Slippers and plimsole trainers were visible from underneath one of the cars at the Old Kent Road retail park in south-east London

Cars used by homeless Eastern European migrants filled with bedding and children's toys parked on Olmar Street behind the McDonalds on London's Old Kent Road

Some of the cars, which are used by the migrants as makeshift homes, have the windows covered to block the light while they sleep

Aviva, which owns the car park, said efforts continued to resolve the issue. Southwark councillor Michael Situ said residents had complained about noise and antisocial behaviour.

However, this is a fluid situation with different people arriving and departing each week, and wont be solved overnight, he added.

A B&Q spokesman said: This ongoing situation needs resolution by all parties  the landlord and local authorities.

Migrants at the B&Q car park today. The group have been reportedly living there for more than 10 years, according to locals in the area

A group of men hanging around a car park used by homeless Eastern European migrants behind the McDonalds on London's Old Kent Road

A group of men hanging around a car park used by homeless Eastern European migrants t behind the McDonalds on London's Old Kent Road

The owners of the stores at the retail park on Old Kent Road have reportedly tried to move them on, but it has never been fully successful

At the end of each day the migrants go into their untaxed and unlicensed cars for the night and cover up the windows to shut out the light

A homeless Eastern European migrant sits in one of the cars being used as a makeshift home parked on Olmar Street in London

Cars used by homeless Eastern European migrants filled with bedding and children's toys parked on Olmar Street behind the McDonald's on London's Old Kent Road
The mother of James Holmes has broken her silence nearly four years after he killed 12 and injured dozens more in a Colorado movie theater shooting.

'I can't erase the day, but I wish I could,' Arlene Holmes told KGTV in her first interview since her son went on a shooting rampage during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises in July of 2012.

Holmes is serving 12 consecutive life sentences without parole, in addition to 3,318 years in prison in the Colorado State Penitentiary in Canon City after he was convicted last year.

In the interview, his mother condemned his crimes, said she wants there to be an open dialogue about mental health issues and is calling for better treatment options.

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It's been nearly four years since James Holmes (pictured in 2012) killed 12 people and injured dozens more in a Colorado movie theater shooting and now his mother is breaking her silence about what her son did

Arlene Holmes (pictured) told KGTV in her first interview since her son went on a shooting rampage during the screening of The Dark Knight Rises in July of 2012 that she wishes she could erase the day

She said that she had no idea that her son was schizophrenic until it was announced during his trial for the horrific shooting

Currently James Holmes is serving 12 consecutive life sentences without parole, in addition to 3,318 years in prison after he was convicted last year for the 2012 shooting (crime scene pictured)

She said that she had no idea that her son was schizophrenic until it was announced during his trial for the horrific shooting.

'It's a big concern to me, I want to show respect for the victims and to let people know that the reason why I'm giving you an interview is because May is Mental Health Awareness Month,' she told KGTV.

'I talked to other people about signs and symptoms of people who have problems with mental health and they told me it's been helpful, so I want to share the lessons that I've learned.

'At the same time, I want to acknowledge that my son did indeed do something very terrible, and it was a great tragedy.

'Many people were killed, many people were harmed, and I want to focus not on him, but on education.'

Arlene Holmes said: '...I want to acknowledge that my son did indeed do something very terrible, and it was a great tragedy. Many people were killed, many people were harmed, and I want to focus not on him, but on education'

In the interview, his mother condemned his crimes, said she wants there to be an open dialogue about mental health issues and is calling for better treatment options. Arlene is pictured with her husband Robert in 2014

Arlene Holmes, who is a registered nurse, explained that she wants to honor the victims' injuries and 'their distress' by trying to help prevent something like what her son did from happening again.

She added that she thinks about the victims and prays for them every day.

James Holmes' mother said growing up he was a 'happy' child but changed in his teen years

'They're on my mind every day, it's the first thought when I wake up in the morning,' the 28-year-old's mother said.

'I'm very cognizant of how bad this all was, and I'm praying for their healing; mentally, physically, emotionally.

'I can't erase the day but I wish I could. The way that I want to honor their injuries and their distress is to try and help prevent something this bad from happening again.'

She explained that James was a 'happy' child growing up and that she and her husband, who is a statistician, would take the family to the zoo, fair and church.

'Through elementary school he was a happy kid, had lots of kids over to the house,' she told the television station.

But during his teenage years, she said that he became withdrawn and irritable so they took him to a therapist who suggested that his mood change might have been prompted by their move to San Diego from northern California.

'He was chattier when he was younger, and over the course of a decade he got quieter and quieter,' she said.

James Holmes' mother urged people who noticed changes with their loved one's behavior to help them get professional help. He is pictured above in 2015

Arlene Holmes explained that she hoped he would grow out of the moodiness, but that didn't happen.

In her interview, she urged people who noticed changes with their loved one's behavior to help them get professional help.

'Don't try to do like he did and like I did, which is try and just keep going or solve everything yourself,' she said.

'Get some help, some professional help. This is what I have to offer, I failed to be educated and I want to offer up that failure as advice to other people.

'Maybe they can't tell you in words, so look at their actions, look at what's different, ask them to write you a letter even.'
A German court trying a 94-year-old ex-SS sergeant who served as an Auschwitz death camp guard has declined to hear evidence from a Holocaust survivor who traveled from the U.S.

Joshua Kaufman, 88, who lives in Los Angeles, hadn't been invited to testify at the trial of Reinhold Hanning at Detmold state court.

However, some of the Holocaust survivors and relatives who joined the trial as co-plaintiffs hoped he could tell the court about how he had to remove corpses from gas chambers.

But the court has already heard evidence about how victims died, news agency dpa reported.

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A German court denied Joshua Kaufman (right) the chance to testify at the trial of Reinhold Hanning (left), an SS guard who worked at Auschwitz

Holocaust survivor Joshua Kaufman, with his daughters Rachel, left and Alexandra, right, sits in the courtroom during the trial against defendant Reinhold Hanning in Detmold, Germany, on Friday

On Friday, presiding judge Anke Grudda said: 'No further evidence is needed. The court has no doubts on this aspect.'

Hanning is charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder over allegations that as a guard, he helped Auschwitz function.

Other survivors have testified at his trial.

Hanning broke his silence for the first time since the war in April, telling victims he is 'truly sorry'.

'I have been silent all my life,' Reinhold Hanning told the Detmold state court. He said he had never told anyone about his wartime service in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944.

'I want to say that it disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization,' he said as he sat in a wheelchair, talking with a weak voice into a microphone.

Hanning (center) faces trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder over allegations that as a guard, he helped Auschwitz function

Joshua Kaufman, 88, hadn't been invited to testify at the trial of Reinhold Hanning at Detmold state court

However, it was hoped he could tell the court about how he had to remove corpses from gas chambers

'I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry,' he said.

Leon Schwarzbaum was one of some 40 Holocaust survivors who joined the trial as co-plaintiff as allowed under German law.

He and only one other was in court to hear Hanning speak. Afterward, Schwarzbaum said he was happy Hanning apologized but that it wasn't enough.

'I lost 35 family members, how can you apologize for that?' the 95-year-old said. 'I am not angry, I don't want him to go to prison but he should say more for the sake of the young generation today because the historical truth is important.'

Prosecutor Andreas Brendel said in April there was good evidence already that Hanning served in the camp, but that his admission Friday could help win a conviction.

'WHEN THE AMERICANS SMASHED THE DOOR, MY HEART DID SOMERSAULTS': JOSHUA KAUFMAN'S STORY Joshua Kaufman (left, last year, and right, as young man) was liberated from Dachau in April 1945 Joshua Kaufman was liberated from Dachau concentration camp near Munich on April 29, 1945. Kaufman, a Hungarian Jew, was a walking corpse that day and was hiding in the latrines with his fellow prisoners, unsure if the soldiers who arrived were there to rescue them or were a Nazi death squad sent to liquidate the camp. 'We were confined to barracks by the guards, Kaufman has said. This meant most of us were marked for death. 'Then I saw the white flag flying from the watchtower and I realised then that the torture was at an end. When the Americans smashed in the door, my heart did somersaults.' By then, more than 35,000 people had been murdered at the charnel house, which was the first camp built by the Nazis to house its enemies in 1933. They died in executions, cruel experiments or were starved, worked or beaten to death. Kaufman, who had lost most of his family in the Holocaust, made it to Israel, where he became a soldier and fought in the Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War. He later emigrated to America where he married, fathered three daughters and became a self-employed plumber. Then, almost 70 years after being freed from the camp, Kaufman was reunited with his savior. Last year, Kaufman (left) had an emotional reunion with Daniel Gillespie, the soldier who was his savior Daniel Gillespie was the soldier who marched with his comrades to free the prisoners  and the first he found was Kaufman. Gillespie helped an emaciated Kaufman out into the daylight and back into the land of the living. They parted with tears in their eyes, believing they would never see one another again. For decades, neither knew that they lives within an hours drive of each other  until a German documentary crew arranged their poignant reunion in Huntingdon Beach, California, last year. When he saw the man who saved him, Kaufman kissed his hand and fell to his feet, saying: 'I have wanted to do this for 70 years. I love you, I love you so much. Kaufman added: 'I came out of hell into the light. For that, and to him, I am eternally grateful.' Gillespie, who had fought with his comrades as a machine gunner through Europe to reach the gates of the Dachau camp, said: 'It was the most profound shock of my life. Its liberation changed my life forever. 'We could not understand it. I grew up in California where we had everything in abundance. 'We didn't get how people could let other people starve. They murdered them or just let them die. Again and again the questions moved through my head. And at the same time I was just incredibly angry.'

Pleas are not entered in the German system and such statements to the court are not uncommon, and frequently help mitigate the length of a sentence.

Hanning faces a possible 15 years in prison if convicted but at his age it is unlikely he will ever spend time behind bars given the length of the appeals process.

Ahead of the short statement he made himself, Hanning's attorney Johannes Salmen read a 22-page statement from Hanning detailing how his client had joined the Hitler Youth with his class in 1935 at age 13, then volunteered at 18 for the Waffen SS in 1940 at the urging of his stepmother.

He fought in several battles in World War II before being hit by grenade splinters in his head and leg during close combat in Kiev in 1941.

Hanning spoke fondly of his time at the front and said as he was recovering from his wounds he asked to be sent back but his commander decided he was no longer fit for front-line duty, so sent him to Auschwitz.

Reinhold Hanning broke his silence for the first time since the war in April, telling victims he is 'truly sorry'

Leon Schwarzbaum (pictured) was one of some 40 Holocaust survivors who joined the trial as co-plaintiff as allowed under German law

'I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT AUSCHWITZ WAS': REINHOLD HANNING SPEAKS Reinhold Hanning (pictured in his SS uniform) broke his silence on working in Auschwitz for the first time since the war at his trial in April Excerpts from a 22-page typed statement by defendant Reinhold Hanning, a guard at the Auschwitz death camp, which was read out at his trial in Detmold state court in April: Recovering from wounds suffered in combat in 1941: 'In this time I thought frequently about my comrades with whom I'd fought at the front... I always got along well with my comrades at the front; one helped the other out there. That really appealed to me as a young man.' On being sent to Auschwitz: 'I didn't give it any thought. I didn't know what Auschwitz was. I only knew I was being assigned to some kind of internal duty.' Working in Auschwitz: 'Nobody talked to us about it in the first days there, but if someone, like me, was there for a long time then one learned what was going on. People were shot, gassed and burned. I could see how corpses were taken back and forth or moved out. I could smell the burning bodies; I knew corpses were being burned.' 'An atmosphere prevailed there that I can't describe today. One saw what was going on, but couldn't really talk with one's comrades about it. The situation was totally different than at the front. There you could talk with your comrades about anything. One never had to worry that if you told a comrade something he'd pass it along. In Auschwitz it was different. I didn't ever trust anyone there.' 'I'm of the opinion that every member of the guard battalion knew what was going on. This didn't depend upon one's own particular service. Naturally some comrades were closer to it and others less close. With close to it, I mean close to the killing.' On manning a guard tower: 'During my service in the interior cordon area, I never experienced a prisoner trying to flee from the camp. In my opinion that would have been impossible because of the electric fence. The prisoners were also told that they shouldn't touch the fence. They were told that they'd immediately go up in flames.' On keeping silent about his past to his wife, children and grandchildren: 'Nobody in my family knew I'd served in Auschwitz. I just couldn't talk about it. I was ashamed. I always said I was involved in the Russian campaign and ended up as a prisoner of war.' On guilt: 'I want to say that it disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization. I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry.' Source: AP

He said he didn't know what Auschwitz was at that time, but quickly found out, though he said his initial responsibility was to register patrols and work details coming and going through the front gate, far away from where the killings were taking place.

'Nobody talked to us about it in the first days there, but if someone, like me, was there for a long time then one learned what was going on,' he told the court in the statement, looking down at the table in front of him as it was read aloud.

'People were shot, gassed and burned. I could see how corpses were taken back and forth or moved out. I could smell the burning bodies; I knew corpses were being burned.'

He was later assigned to a guard tower and said all guards had orders to shoot prisoners trying to escape, but he did not say whether he ever shot anyone himself and did not mention any specific involvement in the killings in Auschwitz, where nearly a million Jews and tens of thousands of others were slaughtered.

'I've tried my whole life to forget about this time,' he said. 'Auschwitz was a nightmare.'

Hanning said he didn't know what Auschwitz was at that time, claiming he was in charge of the patrol rota

About one million Jews were killed at the concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II
A mother-of-two has been told she may face deportation despite living in Britain for more than 50 years.

Eve Woods, 57, left South Africa when she was four years old but could be forced to return after a job application revealed she was not a British citizen.

Ms Wood was asked to show she had the right to work in the UK so contacted government officials who told her she did not have 'settled status' in the country.

Eve Woods, 57, came to Britain when she was four years old - but could potentially face deportation

The mother-of-two, pictured with her partner Dave Gregory, had applied for a new job as a carer when background checks revealed she did not have 'settled status' in the UK

Ms Woods also looks after her elderly father who lives in a care home in Rochester, and said there would be no one to help him if she was forced to leave the country.

Ms Woods, who lives in Medway, Kent, came to the UK from South Africa in 1962 with her mother and two siblings, travelling on her mother's passport.

She said she was 'made to feel like a criminal' - and all she wanted to do was get a job.

Ms Woods said: 'All I wanted to do was get a job and earn some money for myself.

'I didn't want to get citizenship as I don't see why I need to take a citizenship test when I've lived here all my life. I've never known anything different.

'I don't know anyone in South Africa. I don't have any family there. I'm devastated.'

Ms Woods has been educated in the UK, worked, has been married twice, and brought up two sons in the UK. One of her sons, James, died in 2003.

Ms Woods cares for her elderly father and has raised two children in Britain - but has received a letter warning she could face deportation

She decided it was time to go back to work when her youngest son, Shane, turned 18.

But despite providing a National Insurance number, marriage certificates, and her sons' birth certificates, the government department told her she was unable to demonstrate that she had settled status in the UK.

She was then sent a letter from Capita, on behalf of the Home Office, warning she could face deportation.

It read: 'We are contacting you because the Home Office has informed us that you do not have permission to be in the United Kingdom. Whilst you remain in the UK without leave you are liable to be removed.'

She has contacted Kelly Tolhurst, MP for Rochester and Strood, who is now investigating Eve's case with the Home Office.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We have been in touch with Ms Woods via her MP, to explain the options available to her, which includes the option of making another application.
Two severely injured toddlers were found tied up with a chain and a dog leash in a San Antonio yard (pictured) are now in a good foster home, lawyer said

Two severely injured toddlers found tied up with a chain and a dog leash in a San Antonio backyard are in an excellent foster home and are eating 'like they have never seen food before', their attorney said.

The four-year-old boy and three-year-old girl were rescued along with six other children, who were left alone inside a rent house on April 29, where they were living in squalor.

Sally Justice, the court-appointed attorney ad litem for the eight children, noted that the two toddlers are non-verbal and still wear diapers, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Meanwhile the six children who are siblings and were found inside the rent home are in two different shelters.

'The two little ones found outside are in an excellent foster home,' Justice told the Chron on Tuesday in an email.

'All eight kiddos' needs are being met.'

Officers had found the boy with a chain tied around one ankle with the other end secured to the ground, while the girl was secured to the frame of the back door by a leash.

Authorities said the two children had been left outside in the rain, possibly for days, and had been physically abused for at least two weeks, according to the Houston Chronicle.

On Wednesday, a judge ruled that the Department of Family and Protective Services will keep temporary custody of the eight children.

The toddlers' mother Cheryl Reed, 30, has since been arrested and charged with two counts of injury to a child.

Police said Reed had left her children in the care of Porucha Phillips, 34, the pregnant mother of the sibling group of six, back in February before going to Sacramento, California, and had not returned since.

The four-year-old boy and three-year-old girl were found on April 29. Their mother, 30-year-old Cheryl Reed (pictured) has been arrested after Texas police say her children were found covered in 'hundreds' of wounds

Reed is accused of leaving her children in the care of Porucha Phillips before they were discovered tied up in the backyard of her San Antonio home last week (pictured). Pictured: Children (not those taken into custody)

Last week, investigators revealed that the toddlers were covered in hundreds of old and fresh wounds on their backs, heads, legs and arms.

Initially, Reed's son and daughter were reported to be two and three years old, but officers now think they may be three and four. Phillips' children are aged between 10 months and 10 years old.

Detectives had also issued a warrant for Deandre Dorch, 36, the father of Phillips' three youngest children.

He turned himself in at the county jail late on Tuesday and was charged with two counts of serious bodily injury to a child by omission, sheriff's spokesman James Keith said.

Keith also said Reed's son and daughter 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 is 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.

Phillips (left), who is pregnant, is already in custody charged with abuse. Detectives had also issued a warrant for Deandre Dorch (right), 36, the father of Phillips' three youngest children. He turned himself in at the county jail late on Tuesday

'He told investigators it was not 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.

Police knocked at the front door but found nobody was home, before going around the back and discovering the two children tied up.

The boy and girl, who also had a fractured arm, were initially hospitalized but have now been released.

Police said Phillips' children, who are aged between 10 months and 10 years old, also showed signs of abuse and were dehydrated and exhausted when they were found

Investigators then discovered another six children who had been left alone inside the property.

Police said the children inside, who were ranged in age from 10 months to 10 years old, were dehydrated and there was evidence they were also abused.

Neither Dorch nor Phillips were at the San Antonio property when police arrived, but were taken for questioning after returning the following morning.
Anti-terrorist police wearing balaclavas and bullet-proof vests have been spotted patrolling the sea just yards from A-list celebrities who are attending the glamorous Cannes Film Festival.

The six French officers were also wearing helmets as one steered the vessel near the five-star Eden Roc Hotel in Antibes, France.

Hollywood actor George Clooney, 55, was photographed standing outside the luxury hotel with his wife Amal, 38, just three days ago.

It comes as Cannes was placed on high alert after the world's stars descended on the city for the well-known 12-day film festival.

Anti-terrorist police wearing balaclavas have been spotted patrolling the sea just yards from A-list celebrities who are attending the glamorous Cannes Film Festival

Hundreds of soldiers, police and security agents have been deployed as the city braces itself against any potential terror attack.

Last month, elite police forces staged a simulated terror attack at the Palais des Festivals, the venue for the main screenings.

Meanwhile, air and sea exclusion zones have also been declared, as well as a ban on drones, and Mayor David Lisnard has said random searches will be conducted in the streets of Cannes.

But Mayor Lisnard dismissed concerns that the tight security will throw a wet blanket over the parties, glitter and glamour of the event.

He said: 'Do you think an attack brings merriment? We have succeeded in preserving the festival atmosphere.

'The public will be at the foot of the (red-carpeted) steps. All the parties will be authorised but security must be taken care of.'

One of the officers steered the boat as the anti-terrorist police patrolled the sea close to a five-star hotel

They wore helmets, balaclavas and bullet-proof vests as they kept watch close to the Cannes Film Festival

The extra measures have been put in place following the Paris terror attacks, which left 130 people dead in November. France has been in a state of emergency ever since.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the festival was at high risk of attack, but they had put in place 400 security agents to guard the Palais des Festivals, not to mention hundreds of extra police officers and security forces ready to act if needed.

Cannes already has 500 CCTV cameras, making it the most closely monitored town in France.

But this is not the first time organisers have been on high alert. In 1978, French authorities thwarted an attack on the film festival when they discovered a bomb on the Palais des Festivals stage.

The six anti-terrorist officers patrolled the French Riviera and circled huge yachts near the shore

The boat approached one of the hotels on the coast near the Cannes Film Festival

The boat, being steered by one of the officers, came close to one of the large yachts in the French Riviera

Their prescence comes as Cannes was placed on high alert after the world's stars descended on the city for the well-known 12-day film festival

Some 45,000 people are expected to visit the event, with nearly 90 feature films set to be shown in this year's official selection, 21 of which are in the running for the Palme d'Or.

Hollywood stars like Blake Lively, Jessica Chastain, Eva Longoria and Kirsten Dunst have already been spotted arriving.

The six French officers were also helmets as one steered the vessel near the five-star Eden Roc Hotel in Antibes, France

The vessel approached a number of expensive yachts near the Cannes Film Festival

French actress Vanessa Paradis, Johnny Depp's ex-wife, and Susan Sarandon were pictured arriving at their hotels.

Several billionaires have parked their superyachts along the Riviera for the festival - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's 'Octopus' was in Nice and Spielberg's 'Seven Seas' in Antibes, according to Forbes.com.

Cannes has drafted in hundreds of extra security guards, soldiers and police officers to guard the city during the festival

The whole of France has been on high alert since the November terror attacks in Paris, which left 130 dead

George Clooney and his wife Amal Alamuddin arrive at the Eden Roc Hotel in Cap d'Antibes ahead of the start of the festival
More than 50,000 was raised by Britons  including an apparent group of police  in support of a Portuguese detective who claimed Madeleine McCann's parents covered up her death.

The group, some of whom admit they are internet trolls, gave cash to a web fund for Goncalo Amaral, 57.

Judges had ordered Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann 395,000 in libel damages after he wrote a book claiming that Madeleine died in an accident and the parents covered it up.

More than 50,000 was raised by Britons in support of Portuguese detective Goncalo Amaral (left with his book entitled Maddie: The Truth about the Lie), 57, who claimed Madeleine McCann's (right) death was covered up

But a student from Birmingham launched a GoFundMe page to pay for an appeal by the retired officer, who was sacked as head of the investigation after he launched an outspoken attack on British police.

Last month Portuguese judges decided to overturn the payout but the McCanns will now take the case to the countrys supreme court.

One of the biggest payments to the detectives appeal fund was 1,000 claimed to be from a very large group of unnamed Met police officers who said they were outraged at the way the officer had been treated.

The post accompanying the donation, which cannot be verified, added: This strikes at the very basis of the way investigations should be conducted, without fear or favour, malice or ill will. The world can clearly see where the malice and ill will are in this case.

Other donors included Tony Bennett, 67, of Harlow, Essex, who has previously been convicted of breaking court undertakings not to publish allegations linking Madeleines parents to her disappearance.

Many of those who donated gave regular payments and made abusive or sarcastic comments about the McCanns. One made a reference to a sponsored cycle ride done by Mrs McCann to raise funds to support families with a missing loved one.

Judges had ordered Amaral to pay Kate and Gerry McCann (pictured) 395,000 in libel damages after he wrote a book accusing them of covering up their three-year-old daughter's death

Jo Petteford gave 50 to the Amaral fund and posted: My pledge for Kate completing her bike ride. I am pleased she has helped fund GAs [Goncalo Amarals] legal fees by her efforts. Way to go Kate!

Hard questions that need to be answered

After the donors were accused of being trolls, some were furious, insisting they were truth-seekers. Others adopted the term as a badge of honour, with one even using the name Honourable Troll.

Many of those giving cash accused the Government, lawyers and national newspapers of a cover-up and of lacking the decency and courage to tell the truth.

The fundraising page was started by psychology student Leanne Baulch in April last year. She told the Daily Mail: I set up the page to help him [Amaral] with his appeal because I felt he had suffered an injustice. His assets had been frozen so he had no way to defend himself.

HOW DONORS JUSTIFIED GIFTS Leanne Baulch set up the funding web page Student Leanne Baulch set up the funding web page because she wanted to help an honourable man. The mother of one, from Birmingham, who describes herself as a freelance journalist who loves crime stories, said the fund was part of a quest for justice backed by supporters in solidarity, friendship and above all, in the interest of furthering the investigation... She said she had to remove her name as organiser after receiving threats from McCann supporters Grandmother Ann-Kristine Westwood, from Nuneaton, Warwickshire, said she was delighted to have helped Amaral. She donated 100 to his legal fees after raising the money by giving up smoking. She said: I think its a marvellous result that he won his appeal. I think it was an outrage the case was ever brought  We dont live in the 14th century or under the Stasi. Retired solicitor Tony Bennett donated 100 to the fund last year, saying: I think he has the right to publish his record of what he was doing in his investigation. Of the trolls, he said: Some of those who have contributed have expressed nasty and hateful views. I do not support that in any shape or form. Administration officer Karen Laverick, 50, gave about 200. The mother of three, from Langley Park near Durham, said her interest in the case stemmed from taking holidays in Praia da Luz. She said Amaral was a policeman doing his job and was persecuted for giving his opinion Ann-Kristine Westwood (left) raised 100 after giving up smoking and Karen Laverick (right) gave about 200

Im not anti-Kate and Gerry McCann. I dont know what happened and I dont claim to know. But I do believe there are hard questions that need to be answered.

She said she was happy after the latest ruling in the detectives favour. The people who donated are very passionate and are pro-truth and justice, not against the McCanns, she added.

Madeleine vanished from her familys holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve on May 3, 2007, as her parents dined at a nearby tapas restaurant with friends.

Amarals book, The Truth Of The Lie, was published three days after the Portuguese authorities formally closed the inquiry in 2008 and cleared the couple of any wrongdoing.

Madeleines parents said the detective had sparked a massive tidal wave of lies against them in his book. In an online post thanking his supporters after he won his appeal, Amaral said he felt extremely humble. He added: None of this would have been possible without you.
A 44-year-old Missouri woman has been arrested for allegedly abducting the child she babysits - but she claims she was trying to take the boy away from his abusive mother.

Bobbie Goolsby was arrested Thursday in Grain Valley for allegedly refusing to give five-month-old Jackson back to his mother, Ashley Laykovich. She has been charged with child kidnapping.

However Goolsby said she was trying to protect the little boy from Laykovich, who she suspected was abusive, Fox 4 reported.

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In custody: Bobbie Goolsby was arrested Thursday in Grain Valley, Missouri, for allegedly refusing to give five-month-old Jackson back to his mother, Ashley Laykovich

Mother and son: Goolsby claims that Ashley Laykovich is abusive to Jackson, but she denies this

Goolsby claims that little Jackson had scratches and marks on his body after he had been with his mom

Goolsby said she started noticing marks and scratches on the baby when she was babysitting.

She said she told Laykovich to either give her custody or she'd call the Department of Family Services. Laykovich then called police.

Goolsby gave the child to the officers that arrived to her house, and he was returned to Laykovich.

However Goolsby's daughter, Ashley Monroe, said her mother is the one who has been raising Jackson, and that Laykovich has only cared for him 'two or three nights' since he was born.

'My family loves him to death,' Monroe told Fox 4. 'We've all taken part in trying to take care of him, provided for him, formula, diapers, anything he may have needed.

'My mom was the main caregiver for him 24/7, I know she deeply cares for him and we're all deeply frustrated with the situation.'

Signs of abuse? Goolsby said that she noticed strange marks on the baby's body and then refused to give him back to his mother

Goolsby took photos of what she claimed were signs of abuse. However she was arrested for kidnapping Jackson

However Laykovich said this is not true and is happy to have her son back

'My plan is find another babysitter and do a really good background check this time, even if I have to pay for it because that was, it was frightening when you go for several hours not knowing where your son is,' she said.

Jackson was taken to hospital for a checkup after he was taken from Goolsby.

Court records show that some 'small scratches' were found on his body.

Goolsby remains in custody, with a bond set at $50,000.
Lawmakers took another step toward requiring women to register for the military draft this week.

The Senate Armed Services Committee OK'd legislation that would give women 30 days to sign up after they turn 18 beginning in January of 2018.

The proposal has already been approved by the committee's counterpart in the House.

Women have never been drafted and the provision working its way through the legislative branch has it staunch opponents and defenders.

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Lawmakers took another step toward requiring women to register for the military draft this week. The Senate Armed Services Committee OK'd legislation that would give women 30 days to sign up after they turn 18 beginning in January of 2018

It's tacked onto the annual defense appropriations bill that legislators will soon take up in the House and the Senate.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah was one of three Senate Armed Services Committee members who voted against the policy.

'This is a highly consequential  and, for many American families, a deeply controversial  decision that deserves to be resolved by Congress after a robust and transparent debate in front of the American people, instead of buried in an embargoed document that is passed every year to fund military pay and benefits,' he told AP.

The debate comes a few months after the Defense Department lifted all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units.

In a twist that presages how contentious further debate may be, the author of the House's amendment, Republican Representative Duncan Hunter voted against his own measure at the end of April.

Hunter had hoped his effort would have the opposite effect and lawmakers would reject the push to coerce women ages 18-26 into joining the military. Instead it passed the committee by a narrow vote of 32-30.

'Right now the draft is sexist,' said Hunter, a former marine who opposes the Obama administration's decision to change combat restrictions, according to the Washington Post.

President Barack Obama has not taken a position on the proposed change.

America stopped drafting young men into service in 1972. Though the Selective Service System is inactive, it remains in place in case of emergency.

Hunter, the congressman who proposed the amendment, served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and doesn't support drafting women into combat. He's also opposed to opening infantry and special operations positions to women.

He said he offered the measure to trigger a discussion about how the Pentagon's decision in December to rescind the gender restrictions on military service failed to consider whether the exclusion on drafting women also should be lifted.

That's a call for Congress to make, Hunter said, not the executive branch.

'I think we should make this decision,' he said. 'It's the families that we represent who are affected by this.'

At times, Hunter evoked graphic images of combat in an apparent attempt to convince committee members that drafting women would lead to them being sent directly into harm's way.

'A draft is there to put bodies on the front lines to take the hill,' Hunter said. 'The draft is there to get more people to rip the enemies' throats out and kill them.'

But if Hunter was trying to sway people against his amendment, his plan didn't work.

All but one Democrat voted for the measure.

Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier said she supported Hunter's measure.

'I actually think if we want equality in this country, if we want women to be treated precisely like men are treated and that they should not be discriminated against, we should be willing to support a universal conscription,' she said.

Martha McSally a retired Air Force fighter pilot, said draftees aren't exclusively sent to the front lines.

There are plenty of other useful, noncombat positions for them to fill, the Republican representative said.

Republican Congressman Mike Coffman sided with Hunter, however, and said, 'The bar would have to be dramatically lowered if we were to return to conscription again.'

BOTH SIDES: Republican Representative Duncan Hunter voted against his own measure in the House. Hunter had hoped his effort would have the opposite effect. Democratic Congresswoman Jackie Speier said, 'I actually think if we want equality in this country...we should be willing to support a universal conscription'

Coffman predicted that most young people wouldn't be eligible anyway because of disqualifying drug addictions and obesity issues.

Even if the House and Senate fail to adopt the measure, it could still become policy down the line if the Supreme Court takes up any one of the ongoing court cases that deal with the discriminatory nature of the ban.

The president's spokesman, Josh Earnest, was won't to get into the details when he was asked about it at the end of April when the House version passed, noting that it is the subject of litigation.
Where you live affects how likely you are to feel lonely, a survey shows.

For while nearly 90 per cent of over-55s in London say they have felt lonely at some time in the past year, the figure fell to 66 per cent for those living in Wales.

The survey of 2,000 people aged over 55 showed a clear link between loneliness and a lack of local community cohesion.

While nearly 90 per cent of over-55s in London say they have felt lonely at some time in the past year, the figure fell to 66 per cent for those living in Wales (file photo)

A quarter of respondents in the South West and in Yorkshire and the Humber said they never felt alone. Yorkshire also scored consistently highly for having plenty of social events and a sense of community.

Both the North West and London scored poorly. Two in five over-55s in the North West said they would consider moving closer to friends and family because of this.

Only one in three in London and the East of England said there were enough events in their area for people their age, while less than half of Londoners felt there was a sense of community in their neighbourhood.

The Scots and the Welsh felt the strongest links to their areas, says the Building Companionship report by think tank Demos and retirement housebuilder McCarthy and Stone.

The survey of 2,000 people aged over 55 showed a clear link between loneliness and a lack of local community cohesion (file photo)

Demos chief executive Claudia Wood said: This report is a wake-up call to an emerging crisis of loneliness and isolation amongst older people in the UK.

She added: As our population ages, there is no doubt that we need to urgently consider new approaches to the design of both public and private spaces, to ensure they are inclusive to older people, and encourage healthy, active and sociable lives.
At a time when police brutality and excessive use of force are repeatedly being placed under the microscope, the sight of a cop acting in a sensitive and gentle way is not only surprising, but welcomed.

Case in point: This week in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Officer Tim Purdy was dispatched to a job involving an autistic high school who had a history of violent behavior.

The boy was reportedly suicidal, and so officer Purdy decided to sit down on the ground and talk to him about what was wrong.

'Theres more to policing than making arrests and enforcing the law': Officer Tim Purdy was dispatched to a job involving an autistic high school who had a history of violent behavior and decided to sit down with him

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department posted a picture of the touching moment to their Facebook page, with people quickly reacting to the kindness of the situation.

'In order to build a connection with the young man, Officer Purdy sat next to him on the ground, talked things through and even got him laughing,' the Facebook post said.

'Officer Purdy established trust and a relationship that allowed officers to get this young man the help that he so desperately needed.'

The department stated that because of Purdy's compassionate approach, the student was able to get proper assistance as opposed to the situation becoming escalated.

'Theres more to policing than making arrests and enforcing the law,' the post said.

'Sometimes taking those extra little steps makes the biggest difference in someones life.'
An ISIS fighter pleaded with his Kurdish captors to kill him, so he could make a 'religious ceremony' in heaven at 4pm.

The jihadi was taken prisoner by the Peshmerga, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, on the day of the Muslim festival of Isra and Mi'iraj.

The celebration marks the night when Allah took Muhammed on a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven.

The man was taken prisoner by the Peshmerga, near Mosul, in northern Iraq, on the day of the Muslim festival of Isra and Mi'iraj (file photo)

The prisoner said the commemoration even in heaven was starting at 4pm.

A lieutenant-colonel in Peshmerga, Salim al-Surji, told Clarion Project: 'While I was bandaging his wound I asked him where he was from and he said he's from Samarra (a city in Iraq) and that he came to fight here with 50 other armed men.

'They were supposed to commit suicide using their suicide belts because today is the anniversary of the Isra and Mi'iraj celebration. He told me "all of us must be in heaven by 4pm, kill me".'

An ISIS fighter pleaded with his Kurdish captors to kill him, so he could make a 'religious ceremony' in heaven at 4pm (file photo)

The ISIS fighter branded the Peshmerga chief an 'ifidel' while he was held captive, after a battle in which many Kurdish fighters were killed.

Al-Surji added: 'His explosive belt had not detonated and he was hurt in his ankle due to the explosion of one of his comrades. He was unable to walk. He told me "you are infidels, kill me".'
An inmate at the Clark County Jail in Washington state has escaped after posing as another inmate who was scheduled to be released and is still on the loose, authorities say.

The Clark County's Sheriff's Office said 30-year-old Michael Diontae Johnson of Portland, Oregon escaped the jail on Thursday morning after working with another inmate to switch identities.

While authorities did not say how they switched identities, the switch took place at about 8.30am when Johnson escaped and when 19-year-old LaQuon Carson Boggs, the other inmate, was scheduled to be released.

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The Clark County's Sheriff's Office said 30-year-old Michael Diontae Johnson (pictured left and right) of Portland, Oregon escaped the jail on Thursday morning after working with another inmate to switch identities

'I can't comment on the manner in which Johnson switched identities with the other inmate,' Undersheriff Mike Cooke told KGW.

'I can say, however, that this escape required prior planning and the active cooperation of the second inmate.'

Investigators allege in court records that Johnson switched ID wristbands with his fellow inmate, put on his clothes, traded cells and signed the other inmate's name on the paperwork before walking out, according to OregonLive.

Jail workers did not learn of his escape until three hours after he was released during a scheduled meal and headcount, when they realized Boggs was still in custody and Johnson was missing, KGW reported.

At the time, he was one of three inmates who left private cells to prepare for release around 8.15am, a probable cause affidavit indicates.

A jail officer then asked the inmates their dates of birth, checked their wristbands and sent them to another officer who questioned them about their identities, according to OregonLive.

Johnson is alleged to have switched IDs, clothes and traded cells with 19-year-old fellow inmate LaQuon Carson Boggs (pictured)

After signing Boggs' name, he received the property and money that was confiscated from Boggs when he entered the jail, and was then released at 8.30am, according to the affidavit.

The sheriff's office said Johnson was in jail facing charges of harassment, assault, intimidating a witness and bail jumping.

He has kidnapping and assault convictions in Arizona and was in the midst of serving a 24-year prison sentence on those charges when he was brought to Clark County to stand trial for local charges on April 26.

Boggs was sentenced in March to five months for second-degree robbery for stealing alcohol froma Walmart store in Vancouver, Washington last October, according to court records.

He has since been released and is under investigation in the escape, according to Clark County Jail Cheif Ric Bishop.

Authorities said Johnson, accused of second-degree escape, is African American, 5 feet 4 inches tall, 140 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes.

Local and federal authorities are searching for him and advise that people should not approach him, but if anyone sees Johnson they should immediately call 911.

The jail is now in the process of setting up a biometric screening tool that will collect fingerprint when an inmate is booked and then will match the fingerprint when the inmate is released, KGW reported.
A pensioner who lost his empty house to a squatter branded the law an ass yesterday after a judge dealt a final blow to his hopes of seizing back control.

Colin Curtis, 80, also now faces losing the modest one-bedroom flat he lives in because he could have to pay both parties legal costs.

The decision upholds a landmark ruling in favour of Keith Best, who took over the house, which was seen as a victory for squatters rights.

Its not fair. The law is an ass, Mr Curtis said. Its like someone getting in your car then saying its theirs because theyre sitting in it.

Colin Curtis (pictured), 80, who lost his empty house to a squatter branded the law an ass yesterday after a judge dealt a final blow to his hopes of seizing back control

The saga began when builder Mr Best, 47, quietly began renovating the three-bedroom, semi-detached house in 1997.

It had been left empty after Mr Curtis moved out a year earlier, when he inherited another property from an aunt.

Mr Best then moved into the 400,000 house in 2012, and later that year submitted an application for adverse possession  under which a trespasser can win rights to somewhere they do not legally own.

He was initially turned down by the Chief Land Registrar as his claim came just a few weeks after squatting was criminalised under Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act.

However this was overruled by the High Court in 2014, with the judge saying previous legislation which treated squatting as a civil matter should apply.

Mr Curtis, who had been unable to visit the property, had no idea what had happened until the Daily Mail approached him at the time.

Squatter Keith Best (right), 47, won rights to Mr Curtis' three-bedroom semi-detached house (left) in Newbury Park, North-East London

Mr Curtis admitted he may be forced to sell his flat in this Romford complex to settle the legal bills

He then launched a counter-claim for the property in Newbury Park, North-East London, but this has now been dismissed on a technicality.

People cant believe it when I tell them, Mr Curtis said. They dont understand how anyone could get away with it.

Mr Curtis  who lives in sheltered accommodation in Romford  is now waiting to see if he will have to pay Mr Bests legal costs of 37,000, as well as his own.

I could lose my home if I have to pay his costs, he said. Id need to sell it.

HOW THE LAW FAILED MR CURTIS Squatting was made a criminal offence in England and Wales in September 2012. To do it in a residential building can lead to six months in prison, as well as a 5,000 fine. However before it was criminalised, squatters could claim ownership of a property by living in it for a certain period of time. If the land was unregistered, a trespasser could claim rights to it after 12 years of so-called adverse possession. If registered, they could apply to be owner after occupying it for ten years. The original owner had up to two years to obtain possession  but if this did not happen, the squatter remained in possession. Keith Bests attempt to register ownership of Colin Curtis house was initially blocked because it was made a few weeks after the law was changed. However he was then granted ownership in a High Court ruling in 2014. The judge said previous legislation  which treated squatting as a civil matter  should apply. Advertisement

The house in Newbury originally belonged to widow Doris Curtis, who died in the late 1980s aged 88. Her divorced son Colin then stayed there until the mid-Nineties.

Despite moving out, the former Tube station kiosk owner continued paying council tax until six years ago, when he received a letter from Redbridge Council saying it was no longer necessary.

Mr Curtis, who suffers from heart problems, assumed it was to do with the state of the property and was never able to visit.

His son and daughter were dead by then and he had no other family close by.

After learning of Mr Bests claim, he lodged a complaint with the Property Chamber at the Land Registration First-Tier Tribunal.

But Judge Elizabeth Cooke denied his application to take back control of the property on the basis that he was not a registered administrator of his mothers estate.

Mrs Curtis had died without a will and her son had not realised he had to apply to become an administrator.

Mullis & Peake, the solicitors for Mr Curtis, said the outcome was very disappointing. Mr Best declined to comment.

Ilford South Labour MP Mike Gapes said: There is law and there is justice and they are, unfortunately, sometimes very different things.

Mr Curtis receives just 261 each week from his state pension and benefits and has no private pension.
This is the face of the 'obsessed' uncle who kidnapped his nine-year-old niece and hid her away in a remote part of Tennessee for more than a week before they were discovered yesterday.

Police say they are continuing to question Gary Simpson, 57, today in an attempt to find out why he took Carlie Trent from school on May 4 and what happened during the abduction.

Simpson, who is being held at Hawkins County Jail on a $1million bond, is due in court tomorrow on a charge of especially aggravated kidnapping, but investigators say more charges could be added.

Meanwhile Carlie is still in hospital today more than 24 hours after she was discovered wandering around holding a teddy bear by four friends searching an isolated tract of land on ATVs.

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Police are questioning Gary Simpson, 57, to try and establish why he kidnapped his nine-year-old niece Carlie Trent from school on May 4 before taking her to a rural property in Tennessee

Meanwhile Carlie (left and right) remains in hospital today undergoing medical exams a day after she was discovered alive as investigators say more charges could be leveled against Simpson

While police and family members have said the girl 'appears fine', medical exams are still being carried out to determine the extent of Simpson's crimes.

District Attorney Dan Armstrong told the New York Daily News: 'We have some concerns obviously as to what when on.'

Carlie went missing after Simpson checked her out of Hawkins High School under false pretenses, telling staff her father had been in a car wreck, before going on the run with her.

After an intense eight-day search the pair were discovered yesterday afternoon by friends Roger Carpenter, Donnie Lawson, Stuart Franklin and Larry Hamblen.

Carpenter, a Baptist minister, was reported to have held Simpson at gunpoint while another called police who took him into custody.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Director Mark Gwyn said: 'I think this is just heroes that went on to the property just to see, by chance, could they be there, and they were.

Simpson was discovered hiding on an isolated tract of land yesterday, just hours after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation added him to their ten most wanted people list

Roger Carpenter, a Baptist minister, discovered Simpson along with three friends and held a gun on him while another man called police who came to arrest him

'Carlie is safe tonight because of an entire community pulling together and working with law enforcement to bring her home.

'Any time someone is taken like this - kidnapped - we know time is not on our side, and we have to act and react very quickly. Thank God she was rescued safe.'

Earlier Thursday, the TBI had added Simpson to its Top 10 Most Wanted list and warned that Carlie was in imminent danger.

Simpson is Carlie's uncle by marriage and lives close to her parental home in the town of Rogersville, in a rural area of Tennessee.

He was previously granted custody over Carlie while her father, James Trent, served time in prison but custody was recently transferred back to Trent.
Signs advising people not to swim are being erected this weekend for the first time at some of Britains best-loved beaches under EU health rules.

Ten beaches in England will have them from tomorrow and 17 more in Scotland will get them by next month because of poor water quality measured over a four-year period.

Locations include parts of Clacton, Margate, East Looe, Ilfracombe and Burnham along with Cleveleys, north of Blackpool, Allonby and Silloth in Cumbria, and Spittal, Northumberland.

East Looe: It is described as a perfect location for swimming but will have to put up an advisory sign

Golden Cove beach near Ifracombe and Combe Martin on the North Devon coast - which will also be receiving warning sign

Water rated of poor quality is likely to contain risky levels of bugs such as E.coli and intestinal enterococci, which can cause stomach upsets, eye infections and, in rare cases, more severe illnesses.

This may be due to human sewage or because of animal waste and other pollutants being washed into rivers and the sea by heavy rain.

The signs are advisory and do not amount to a ban. But they will inevitably put some visitors off, which will be a blow to the local economy.

Bathing waters were graded in the past, but the new regime involves tougher standards coupled with warnings against swimming for the first time.

The signs are advisory and do not amount to a ban - but will inevitably put some visitors off, which will be a blow to the local economy

The move is based on an EU bathing water directive and testing by the Environment Agency.

The EA stresses that the UK has seen enormous improvements in bathing water quality over the past 30 years.

While 27 beaches are poor, more than 600 are rated safe or excellent.

The requirement to put up warning signs is a particular worry in East Looe, which relies on tourism. The Visit Cornwall website boasts it is a perfect location for swimming.

Martello Bay in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex: The popular beach next to the historic pier is also on the warning list. The resort is due to host two major events this summer, for windsurfing and stand-up paddle boarding

In Clacton, the popular beach next to the historic pier is also on the warning list.

The resort is due to host two major events this summer, for windsurfing and stand-up paddle boarding.

In Burnham, the authorities have had to cancel an annual swimming event because the water is considered poor.
A Navy SEAL trainee who died during a pool drill last week was held underwater by an instructor until he drowned, sources have claimed.

Seaman James 'Derek' Lovelace, 21, drowned during training on May 6 at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California, while undergoing 'drown-proofing' tests.

The drill involves recruits treading water while they are handcuffed, but several people involved with SEAL training told NBC News that an instructor was also grabbing at Lovelace from below.

The sources said Lovelace was held underwater until he passed out by an instructor who then blamed the drowning on the trainee's 'inability to perform'.

Drowned: Seaman James 'Derek' Lovelace, 21, died during Navy SEAL training

The swimming drill came during Lovelace's first week of training and was brought to an abrupt end when an official spotted him 'having a hard time', a Navy spokesman said.

The official account is that the young man was taken to the edge of the pool where instructors tried to revive him, but were unable to.

Navy SEAL officials have suggested that Lovelace may have had an underlying health condition which flared up during the exercise, but more than six sources connected to SEAL training claim the recruit's death was far more sinister.

None of the sources who spoke to NBC News were at the pool when Lovelace drowned, but some of them are family members of people who were there and one is a former SEAL who is connected to a trainee on the program.

Sources said Lovelace was held underwater until he passed out by an instructor who then blamed the drowning on the trainee's 'inability to perform'

They all said Lovelace was held underwater by an instructor before he lost consciousness.

The SEAL trainees were doing a 'combat tread' drill in the pool last week, three of the sources said, which sees them tread water in camouflage uniforms while instructors grab at them from below.

'This instructor took advantage of the student instructor relationship, held the student underwater until he drowned, then blamed it on the student's inability to perform,' a source said.

They added that a number of recruits saw the incident, which was captured on video.

'[Lovelace] was hands on with the instructor,' another source said. 'He passed out first and was sent back in. The instructor kept physically and verbally harassing him.'

Lynsi Price, Lovelace's sister, said her family felt they have not been told the 'true story' of how her brother died.

'My brother shouldn't have died and I feel like it's being covered up,' she said.

However Lovelace's father, Jimmy, said his son did not drown and may have had fluid in his lungs, leading to a heart attack.

The Navy did not comment.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has launched an investigation into Lovelace's death.

'Every individual who may have information pertinent to this investigation will be interviewed and every available bit of evidence will be analyzed,' spokesman Ed Buice said.

Lovelace was the third SEAL trainee to die in six months.

Dead: Petty Officer 2nd Class Caplen Weare (left), 24, died while drunk-driving after being dropped from the program. Seaman Daniel DelBianco (right), 23, killed himself after five nights without sleep during 'Hell Week'

Dream: Weare (pictured) had dreamed about being a Navy SEAL since he was eight, and blamed himself for failing the program. Some are asking if men like him are supported enough if they fail the test

Four weeks earlier, Seaman Daniel DelBianco, 23, killed himself while in the middle of 'Hell Week' - a grueling test in which cadets go for seven days with little sleep.

His father said DelBianco had not slept for five days when he threw himself from the 22nd floor of a San Diego hotel.

And in November, Petty Officer 2nd Class Caplen 'Cap' Weare, 24, died when his pickup truck crashed off the I-5 in San Diego.

He had not been wearing a seat belt and his blood alcohol level was just under twice the legal limit.

All three men died during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S, which is designed to push cadets to their limits to make sure they can handle the stress of combat as an elite Navy SEAL.

Weare's mom told The Washington Post that her son had wanted to be a Navy SEAL since he was eight and that he took it badly when his commanding officer told him he had failed a pool test.

'He told me he didn't blame the chief, he said he actually liked him,' his mother recalled. 'He always took responsibility for himself.'

She added: 'I should have been there and he shouldn't have been out by himself that night.'

Before his suicide, DelBianco had said of his SEAL application: 'My life won't feel complete unless I do this. Every time I read about or see pictures of SEALs, I feel motivated. The experience will shape and define the rest of my life.'

For confidential help, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or visit http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/

For confidential support on suicide matters in the UK, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or visit http://www.samaritans.org/
Travel experts predicted last night that the High Court ruling could be a double-edged sword.

If families can take children out of school without fear of fines, the surges in demand which allow travel firms to increase their prices during school holidays will level out.

This could lead to holidays becoming cheaper during peak periods but could also push up prices during off-peak, term time.

FairFX found that family package holidays to popular destinations currently cost as much as double their normal price if taken during school break

A recent survey by travel money firm FairFX found that family package holidays to popular destinations currently cost as much as double their normal price if taken after schools break up for summer. Only yesterday its figures showed that prices rocket by more than 100 per cent in Spanish and Portuguese resorts.

Air fares, in particular, can more than triple during school holiday periods leaving a family of four facing a bill of around 2,000 just for flights to Spain, Greece or Italy on a budget airline.

In the UK, dedicated family holiday operators such as Center Parcs have been criticised for charging 700 for just three nights during half term. But airlines and tour operators insist they have always used complex and sophisticated technology to ensure prices reflect demand. The systems are likely to increase off-peak fares to meet growing demand at these times.

Ian-Strafford-Taylor, chief executive of FairFX, said: Now weve had the High Court say its essentially not lawful for parents to be fined for taking their kids out of school during term time  provided they secure regular attendance on the whole  we could see cheaper family holidays all year round, not just during term time.

Its a case of supply and demand and if parents are prepared to take their children out of school then demand for holidays could be spread more evenly across the year.

A spokesman for ABTA, the UKs largest travel association, said it had been campaigning for the education system to stagger school holiday dates by area or region.

She said: This system already works well on the continent. This would help to flatten out the extreme spikes caused by increases in demand, particularly in July and August.

The court ruling comes at a difficult time for the travel industry amid a slowdown in tourists caused by fears about terrorism.
Two teenagers are suspected of stealing a distinctive Mystery Machine van in St Paul, Minnesota - only to crash into a home.

The van, painted blue and green with yellow flowers and 'The Mystery Machine' in red letters, went through a fence and into the house's wooden steps around 3am on Friday.

Officers later identified and located two teenage suspects, Fox 10 wrote. No injuries have been reported.

Meanwhile Guy Frechette, the owner of the van, woke up to the sound of police knocking on his door to tell him his hand-painted vehicle had been stolen.

A van painted like Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine (pictured) crashed into a house in St Paul, Minnesota early on Friday after getting stolen

'When the police knock on your door that early in the morning, it can never be good news,' Frechette told the St Paul Pioneer Press.

'I thought, who would steal that? It's so high-profile, it would be caught in, like, five minutes,' he added.

The family has owned three Mystery Machine vans so far - included the one that got stolen and damaged in Friday's accident.

It all began when Frechette's son, Avery, who is now 21 and has just graduated from mechanic school, found a Mystery Machine toy in his McDonald's Happy Meal.

Their old rusty van needed to be painted again and the Frechettes had told Avery, who was about three or four years old, that he could pick whatever pattern he wanted.

Avery told his dad: 'I want to paint it like this!' once he found the Mystery Machine toy, the St Paul Pioneer Press reported.

Since then, the Frechettes have had three vans in total - and each time one of them has needed a fresh coat of paint, they have created a new Mystery Machine.

Their three vans have required about seven makeovers, during the family has alternated between the cartoon version and the movie version of the vehicle.

They have owned their current van, which has a bathroom, a kitchen and a furnace, for about seven years.

Frechette and his wife have set out to visit all of Minnesota's states parks and recreation areas - 76 locations in total according to the Department Of Natural Resources - and were going to go camping in the van this summer.

But now, Frechette told the St Paul Pioneer Press, the van might be too damaged from the crash.

He hadn't seen the van yet because the police have kept to to collect evidence, but it has suffered damage in the front.

St Paul police tweeted a photo of the crashed van on Friday, with the caption: 'Zoinks! They would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling house in the way. Suspects located.'

A 911 caller said they had seen two males running away and a police dog found two males in a garage less than a block away from the house, the St Paul Pioneer Press reported.

But they weren't able to arrested them due to lack of proof, Sergeant Mike Ernster told the newspaper.
A woman in Jinjiang, south east China, has been hailed a 'beauty in the rain' after bravely guarding uncovered manholes on a flooded road.

The covers had been dislodged by floodwaters, leaving the manhole partially uncovered.

Xiao Shi, who works nearby, rushed to the scene to highlight the danger to passing vehicles, almost falling in herself, according to People's Daily Online.

Beauty in the rain: Xiao Shi was spotted guarding two manholes in Jinjiang, China, after they were shifted by flood water

Danger: She almost fell into one when she was setting up the safety barrier (pictured) but escaped injury thanks to a safety net inside

According to reports, the city had seen heavy rain over the last couple of days, which caused flooding in the area.

Two of the manhole covers had been lifted onto the road by the flood water, becoming potential hazards to passing vehicles.

Xiao Shi, who works at a pharmacy nearby, ventured out in the pouring rain to stick an orange umbrella into one of the manhole covers.

The second cover didn't have any holes where she could put a second umbrella so Xiao Shi had to borrow a warning placard from a nearby cleaner.

In the process of putting up the placard, she almost slipped into the manhole and was only saved thanks to the safety netting placed inside.

Her selfless act was captured by a passerby who posted the images online, after which she as dubbed 'beauty in the rain' according to HX News.

Kind: The area had seen heavy rain for the last few days and when she saw potential danger, she went to help
Neighbours claim he had been a victim of forced home demolitions

killed a truck driver and three others, said the local police

A SWAT team in China gunned down a villager this week despite desperate pleas from onlookers for them to stop .

A police statement said the villager, surnamed Fan, had killed a truck driver before killing three others on May 10 in the Huiji area of Zhengzhou City, reports the People's Daily Online.

However, Fan's family and neighbours claimed forced home demolitions from the authority had led to his drastic behaviour and they had hoped to persuade him to yield.

Shooting at the car: The SWAT team fired at the vehicle in Huiji area of Zhengzhou,China

Heartbreaking ordeal: Members of the SWAT team waved their weapons at the man's family members

Video footage of the standoff has emerged on Chinese media showing villagers repeatedly begging the SWAT team to stop while they continue to fire at the car in which Fan was sitting.

Their voices can be heard asking police to give the man a chance to surrender and help them with the case.

They are heard screaming: 'Don't shoot please, we can persuade him to yield!'

They are understood to be Fan's family and neighbours.

But as shown in the video, police gesture at them with their rifles, making them back away.

In a statement from Zhengzhou City Police on their Weibo account, they say that Fan had killed four and injured one with a knife.

They said that Fan was behind the wheel of a vehicle and drove recklessly while yelling out abusive words.

The statement said that this was the moment when the man was shot dead as he had continuously ignored warnings issued by police.

Pleading for help: They started getting aggressive with the family members who begged them to stop

Sad case: It's thought that the incident broke out over the possible demolition of the man's home

However when reporters spoke with villagers, another story emerged.

The villagers said that Fan saw a tow truck driver outside of his home and he believed that the driver was part of a demolition crew and he was coming to evict the villagers.

In a quarrel, Fan killed the driver with a knife.

He then went to the demolition office and killed its deputy manager Chen Shan.

On his way home he saw two handymen who he believed were there to demolish his home's air conditioning. He got into a fight with them stabbing them, resulting in one death and one injury.

According to the villagers, Fan was outside of the van when police arrived and no warning was issued from the police's side.

Fan had reportedly left behind his hospitalised father, mother, wife and seven year old daughter. Fan's seven storey house has built up a debt of 700,000 (74,000) to 800,000 yuan (850,000).

The reimbursement he received from the government for demolition was not enough to pay off the debts.

According to villagers, the area of Huiji has seen a large scale of forced demolition.

One unnamed villager told reporters: 'They slam whoever fights back and snatch phones that they found have recordings of their conduct.

'There are people jumping off the building and all sorts of things.'

Fan's funeral was held on May 11 with over a thousand villagers attending.

They ordered wreaths and flowers for the man.

Fight: The man had reportedly killed four people and injured one more after altercations over demolition
Showed when a particular sex was bred for increased same sex sexual behaviour, siblings of opposite sex enjoyed increase in reproduction

From birds and the bees and lions to giraffes, scientists say it's natural for animals to be 'gay'.

But why this behaviour is common in animals is an evolutionary mystery because it doesn't have the benefits of mating and producing offspring.

Now experts have shed light on the pervasiveness of same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) in the animal kingdom, claiming there are genetic benefits.

Experts have shed light the pervasiveness of same-sex sexual behaviour (shown in male seed beetles) in the animal kingdom, claiming there are genetic benefits

According to Charles Darwin, the sexual impulses of animals are designed to cause reproduction, and are therefore necessarily straight.

But a growing body of research suggests gay animals - previously dismissed by biologists as the exceptions that prove the rule  are more common than previously thought.

Some biologists claim gay animal behaviour has been spotted in 1,500 different species, and reliably recorded in a third of these cases.

Animals that have displayed this behaviour include emus, chickens, koalas, salmon, cats, owls and dolphins.

GAY LOVE BIRDS In 2010, a biologist studying a 120-strong albatross colony at the University of Hawaii ruffled a few feathers withwhen she discovered many of the albatrosses appeared to be gay. Lindsay Young said a third of the pairs at Kaena Point consisted of two female birds. The albatrosses had previously pulled the wool over conservationists' eyes with their cosy cuddling - as the two sexes look identical. According to Young, who used DNA analysis to genetically test the birds' gender, some of the female pairs had been together for up to 19 years - as far back as biologists' data extends. In that time, these same-sex partnerships raised dozens of chicks. It seems the females chose a male to father their chicks, but then returned to their nests to incubate them with their 'wives'.

Researchers from the Department of Ecology and Genetics at Uppsala University hypothesised that because males and females share most of their genes, SSB may occur in one sex because its underlying genes carry benefits when expressed in the other.

They tested their idea using seed beetles when both males and females expressed low levels of SSB.

Using artificial breeding on either of the sexes, they created genetic strains with a tendency to display SSB.

Using these strains, the researchers showed that when a particular sex had been bred for increased SSB, siblings of the opposite sex enjoyed an increase in reproductive performance.

'For example, we noted males that had been bred for increased same-sex mounting behaviour were less discriminating when given a choice between courting a male or a female in later tests,' said David Berger, Assistant Professor at the Department of Ecology and Genetics at the university.

'Meanwhile, their sisters laid more eggs and produced more offspring than before.'

The findings, published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology, support the idea that SSB may be prevalent in one sex because the genes regulating the behaviour are preserved by natural selection through their benefits in the opposite sex.

This points to a general mechanism maintaining differing forms of SSB across a wide variety of animals.

Researchers from the Department of Ecology and Genetics at Uppsala University hypothesised that because males and females share most of their genes, SSB may occur in one sex because its underlying genes carry benefits when expressed in the other. Gay beetles are shown

Zoologist Petter Bockman of the University of Oslo,has previously told The New York Times that animals can be gay, although the word homosexual is more accurate despite the fact they're not members of the Homo species.

'Sexuality is not just about making babies, it is also about making the flock work. For some animals, homosexuality is normal flock behaviour,' he said.

He believes the issue has long been taboo for researchers who are 'fearful of being ridiculed by their colleagues'.

In tribal animals, this behaviour sometimes takes on a social role - occupying unwanted males or bonding male members of the pack.

But in other species, the reasons are less clear.

'Birds are really complicated,' he said. 'What goes on in birds' brains is anyone's guess.'

Male black swans will often bring up cygnets together - involving females only in the initial breeding process. This could be because males are better able to protect the young.
Advertisement

The image of the atomic bomb and accompanying devastation in Hiroshima is seared into many people's minds.

Now there's a collection of maps that show what the terrible effects of nuclear fallout might look it if a similar bomb was to be dropped on cities in Europe.

The researchers used data from a declassified list of US nuclear targets compiled in 1956 in the midst of the Cold War, while a second map shows what would happen if all 1,100 of the US' targets  across China, Europe, Russia and North Korea - were hit by nuclear bombs at once.

To use the interactive tool visit the Future of Life Institute's website

This map drives the point home that unprediatable local weather patterns cause the impact of a nuclear blast to be felt elsewhere. For example, a bomb dropped in Russia affects Kazakhstan in the graphic above.

The terrifying maps, showing a potential nuclear exchange between the US and Russia, were created by the Future of Life Institute (FLI) and

Stevens Institute of Technology researcher Alex Wellerstein, who previously created the 'NukeMap'

The two superpowers are thought to possess 93 per cent of the world's nuclear arsenal, with Europe potentially caught in the crossfire.

The map allows users to simulate the effects of a nuclear bomb blast by taking weather conditions and the size of a bomb into account.

You can use it on the Future of Life Institute's website.

The map uses data from a declassified list of US nuclear targets compiled in 1956 in the midst of the Cold War. This screenshot, showing an imaginary attack on Moscow, suggests 611,190 people could be killed by a nuclear blast

A map (pictured) shows what the terrible effects of nuclear fallout might look it if a bomb was to be dropped on popular cities in Europe. This screenshot of the interactive tool shows Berlin as the target

Russia and the US are thought to possess 93 per cent of the world's nuclear arsenal, with Europe potentially caught in the crossfire. This photograph shows the terrible effects of atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August, 1945

A second map depicts a fortunately unlikely scenario that would see all 1,000 targets hit by nuclear bombs between 50kt (simulation pictured) and 10,000kt in size on a certain day, showing how local weather patterns push the fallout away from its target

For example, it shows detonating a 1,200 kiloton (kt) bomb in the centre of Berlin would probably result in 160,830 fatalities and 1,354,400 injuries, as well as flattening iconic landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and the Fernsehturm.

Similarly, if France's largest warhead  a 300kt bomb was dropped on Moskva, Russia, it would result in 611,190 fatalities and 1,861,240 injuries.

The Institute notes volatile weather could cause devastation in a neighbouring country to that of the target.

A second map depicts a fortunately unlikely scenario that would see all 1,000 targets hit by nuclear bombs between 50kt and 10,000kt in size on a certain day, showing how local weather patterns push the fallout away from its target.

The Institute explained volatile weather could cause devastation in a neighbouring country to that of the target. This image shows the detonation of a nuclear bomb at a test site, with the distinctive mushroom cloud visible

A third set of maps show the impact of a bombs being dropped on three consecutive days in April this year.

A third map shows the impact of a bombs being dropped on three consecutive days in April this year. This one shows the impact of an imaginary strike on 29 April 2016, with much of Eastern Europe wiped out

The aim of the maps is to remind of the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons and whether it is a good idea for powerful countries to stockpile nukes, when others will be caught in the crossfire if they are ever used.

Alarmingly, the FLI says today's target list probably don't look too different to the one compiled in the Cold War, when people feared nuclear fallout daily.

The aim of the maps is to remind users of the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons and whether it is a good idea for powerful countries to stockpile nukes, when others will be caught in the crossfire if they are ever used. This shot shows the second day of a strike

The FLI said today's target list probably doesn't look too different to the one compiled in the Cold War, when people feared nuclear fallout daily. This map shows the third day of a nuclear strike, highlighting differences in the weather when compared with previous days

It said the US has around 1,900 nuclear warheads deployed on missiles and bombers, with thousands in reserve, which could be launched at a moment's notice to hit targets within 30 minutes.

'This unstable situation is extremely risky and has repeatedly come close to triggering nuclear war by accident,' the Institute explained.

And today's bombs would have even more catastrophic consequences than Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The FLI said that enough bombs were dropped and a 'nuclear winter' sparked, most of the Earth's seven billion people would die as winds spread soot across the sky to block the sun.

Today's bombs would have even more catastrophic consequences than Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. This image shows a haunting, bombed-out memorial in Hiroshima
Divination, bearing false witness and pantheism are three no-nos of Christianity. You could look it up. I know from personal experience that many of my fellow pewsitters in the Catholic tradition fail in their attempts to obey the strictures of the faith by seeking out tarot cards, Ouija boards, horoscopes and the like. Many of us are guilty also of spreading deceit, bald-faced lies or even incomplete and unsettled facts as ontological truths. This has been a problem for some time with Christians and you could look that up too.

Whats more, while were obligated to act as environmental stewards, were also called to worship God before we bow down to nature. We acknowledge the need to better ourselves by avoiding fortune telling, lying and Gaia-worship among other sins proscribed by Church doctrine.

That said, its distressing to witness members of Catholic religious orders engage openly in manners all of us are instructed to shun. My distress was caused by an essay penned by Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment Executive Director Sister Patricia Daly over at Responsible-Investor.com. Trust me, its a doozy.

It seems the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, N.J., of which Sr. Daly is a member, are active participants in the progressive environmentalism advocated by shareholder activists the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Sr. Daly pledged her fealty to ICCRs mission by reads in part: encouraging readers to support a proxy resolution directed at ExxonMobil Corporation, which states:

Resolved: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors adopt a policy acknowledging the imperative to limit global average temperature increases to 2C above pre-industrial levels, which includes committing the Company to support the goal of limiting warming to less than 2C.



Supporting Statement

We believe that ExxonMobil should assert moral leadership with respect to climate change. This policy would supplement ExxonMobils existing positions on climate policy.

Heres Sr. Daly from her R-I essay linked above:

Amid this new moment, with Pope Francis encyclical Laudato Si presenting a framework for our coexistence with the planet, stating that the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all, and the Paris Agreement providing a goal of limiting warming to 2C or less for the global community to work toward, ExxonMobil investors put the question before the company  must you acknowledge the moral imperative to limit warming to 2C? Must you recognize this global goal to protect our planet and the people living on it? On May 25th, shareholders of ExxonMobil will have the opportunity to call on their company to join the rest of the world in acknowledging the imperative to keep warming to safe levels by supporting Item 11 on the proxy.

All of this predicated on Sr. Dalys Cassandra-like divination of a world inexorably destined to havoc wrought by human-caused climate change unless human activity stalls or reverses it. Your writer will leave it to readers to unpack themselves all the scientifically unsubstantiated assertions put forth by Sr. Daly.

But, in Sr. Dalys view, should ExxonMobil pass the resolution, the company will receive absolution from what she perceives are the sins of its past:

This resolution has striking applicability to ExxonMobil. This is even more appropriate this year amid questions of Exxons liability, or at least poor integrity, related to its knowledge about the climate impacts of its core business practices. ExxonMobil is the subject of investigations from multiple state Attorneys General for poor disclosure to investors and the public on what it knew about climate change, and is facing intense public scrutiny for its role in interfering with climate action.

What it knew? News flash for you, Sister: Nobody knew then and nobody knows with absolute certainty today other than climate-change zealots that 1) catastrophic climate-change is imminent; 2) climate change is manmade; 3) humans can stall or reverse it by reducing its carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions. As for the allegations in the rest of the paragraph, they remain exactly that  alleged. To conclude much less report actual wrongdoing was committed by the company and its staff before the Attorneys General wrap-up what has been characterized elsewhere as McCarthyism, witch hunts and equal to the Soviet show trials of the 1930s is to bear false witness. But Sr. Daly continues:

This is not only historic action: even in 2015, ExxonMobil spent $27 million on staff, communications, lobbying, and trade associations to undermine policy action on climate change. This strategy has succeeded in keeping the policy agenda on climate change stalled for decades.

Oh my! How dare ExxonMobil defend itself and its shareholders against inconclusive science?

All this before Sr. Daly flies off to Gaia-land:

My Congregation, the Sisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, NJ and 34 co-filers representing a cross-section of faith-based investors, health systems, socially responsible asset management firms and indigenous and community groups, with over half of a million ExxonMobil shares, filed this resolution urging ExxonMobil to acknowledge the untold suffering that climate change will cause and take steps to work towards solutions. After surviving a vigorous challenge at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), this unique resolution presents a moral challenge that is hardly a high bar given the stakes: simply join in agreement with the primary goal of the Paris Agreement. ExxonMobil positions itself as fulfilling a moral imperative to deliver energy to the worlds population as a way to lift people out of poverty. Proponents contend that the moral imperative to limit warming to 2C is a parallel, and equally important, goal that ExxonMobil must acknowledge. It is time we put an end to the concept that there are no alternatives to fossil fuels capable of lifting people out of poverty or providing energy. Alternative energy sources like solar and wind are already providing light and power to those that coal and gas have been unable to help, without contributing to extreme weather, drought, rising sea levels, crop failure, and accelerated species loss. If ExxonMobil is serious about addressing energy poverty, it also needs to consider the impacts of these climate events on the worlds most vulnerable.

So, the empirical facts that inexpensive and plentiful fossil fuels have lifted billions out of abject poverty are outweighed by the presumption that solar and wind energy can realistically replace them immediately without tragic disruptions? Is that a moral choice she really wants to force on the company in which she and her fellow nuns invest?
It was a public engagement exercise that turned into a national row after a public poll to name a new British research vessel saw the name Boaty McBoatface get the most support.

But Google has had a cheeky dig at the humourless officials in the British government who objected to the name by calling its latest artificial intelligence software Parsey McParseface.

The technology firm, which has just become the world's largest company, has released software that uses sophisticated machine learning to analyse the linguistic structure of language.

Parsey McParseface uses sophisticated machine learning algorithms to analyse linguistic structure of sentences to help computers to understand how human languages are constructed. An example of of how the software decodes the sentence 'I booked a ticket to Google' is pictured

It forms part of an open-source neural network aimed at training computers to understand how human languages are put together so they can be processed.

It announced the English version of this system is called Parsey McParseface in a blog that outlined how it hopes the software will transform artificial intelligence.

The company said the algorithms would allowed computers to deal with ambiguity in language.

HOW THE NEW SOFTWARE WORKS Parsey McParseface uses machine learning algorithms to analyse the structure of human language. First it identifies the words, processing the sentences left to right. It then determines the dependencies of each word so they are added incrementally and gives scores based on the plausibility. These scores are used to work out what the interpretation of a sentence is.

It said: 'Humans do a remarkable job of dealing with ambiguity, almost to the point where the problem is unnoticeable.

'The challenge is for computers to do the same.

'Parsey McParseface recovers individual dependencies between words with over 94 per cent accuracy, beating our own previous state-of-the-art results, which were already better than any previous approach.

'While there are no explicit studies in the literature about human performance, we know from our in-house annotation projects that linguists trained for this task agree in 96 to 97 per cent of the cases.

'This suggests we are approaching human performance - but only on well-formed text.

'Sentences drawn from the web are a lot harder to analyse, as we learned from the Google WebTreebank, released in 2011.

'Parsey McParseface achieves just over 90 per cent of parse accuracy on this dataset.'

The Parsey McParseface AI model is part of a larger system called SyntaxNet which parses the functional role of each word in a sentence.

Parsey McParseface was able to easily identify the meaning of this sentence above by identifying that Alice was the subject of the verb saw and Bob is its direct object

In a simple example given by Google, the sentence Alice saw Bob contains two nouns and a verb, where Alice is the subject of saw and Bob is its direct object.

When presented with this sentence, Parsey McParseface was able to analyse this correctly.

But in more complex examples, where sentences can be 20 to 30 words in length, there can be hundreds or even thousands of possible syntactic structures.

The sentence: 'Alice drove down the street in her car' has at least two possible dependency parses.

The correct interpretation is that Alice is driving in her car, but it can also be interpreted as the street is in Alice's car.

For humans unravelling this is a relatively simple task as one is far more plausible than the other, but for a computer, it is less obvious.

For more complex sentences there can be several possible interpretations. In the example above there are at least two. The one above shows that Alice is driving her car

In the second, rather implausible interpretation (pictured) of the sentence above, the street is in Alice's car

SyntaxNet and Parsey McParseface processes sentences left to right so dependencies are added incrementally and given scores based on the plausibility.

It then uses this to work out what the correct interpretation of a sentence is.

Google has not explicitly said why it chose the name Parsey McParseface but it comes just days after MPs at the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee held an inquiry into the naming of a new research vessel by the National Environment Research Council.

A public vote was held to decide on the name with Boaty McBoatface coming top.

However, government ministers and officials were not impressed and instead the vessel was named after the broadcaster Sir David Attenborough with a submersible being called Boaty McBoatface.

Google said the key to helping AI deal with human language is getting it to cope with ambiguity. This is something humans do well but machines are less good at (analysis of a complex sentence is pictured)
For the past few months, Google has been feeding erotic novels into a neural network with the hope of improving its conversation abilities and personality.

Ignited, Fatal Desire and Jacked Up were just a few of the steamy romance novels on the AI's reading list.

Now a selection of strange poems, or 'homotopies', the AI has 'written' after reading the novels has been published.

The researchers presented the system with two sentences from the books and asked it to generate sentences that could create a meaningful progression between the two, example pictured

The search giant's research team has witnessed the AI transcribe sentences that resembles those in the books, which will help the program inform and humanise the company's products.

In a research paper, published on ArXiv and discovered by Quartz, the team describe some of the methods they have used to try and make the bot more conversational.

A (THREATENING) GOOGLE POEM 'there is no one else in the world. 'there is no one else in sight. 'they were the only ones who mattered. 'they were the only ones left. 'he had to be with me. 'she had to be with him. 'i had to do this. 'i wanted to kill him. 'i started to cry. i turned to him.'

It shows how the team of linguists and computer scientists poured 11,000 yet unpublished books, including nearly 3,000 romance and 1,500 fantasy novels, into the neural network model, which is meant to mimic how the human brain works.

Then, the researchers presented the system with two sentences from the books and asked it to generate sentences that could create a meaningful progression between the two.

The point was to mimic the variations in human speech, but what came out sounds more like a teenager's poor attempt at poetry.

The result was a selection of 'homotopies' which show the transition between the two sentences, and the progression between the two was not proper English.

'In the Google app, the responses are very factual,' Andrew Dai, the Google software engineer who led the project, told BuzzFeed News.

'Hopefully with this work, and future work, it can be more conversational, or can have a more varied tone, or style, or register.'

Dai also said this technology could be used in other areas such as Google Inbox's 'Smart Reply', which is a system that learns to generate appropriate replies by analyzing email conversations from across Google's Gmail service.

The point was to mimic the variations in human speech, but what came out sounds more like a teenager's poor attempt at poetry. The result was a selection of 'homotopies' which show the transition between the two sentences, and the progression between the two was not proper English

The responses of uses are fed into a neural network that works in a similar way to the human brain in order to 'learn' a particular task.

Google said 10 per cent of replies in Inbox's mobile app use smart replies.

In order for to retain the information it learns, the AI needed to 'read' about 2,865 romance novels to build its intelligence.

Enhancing a robot's personality to deliver its own products, also falls in line with Google's boss prediction about the future of smartphones.

Sundar Pichai has predicted the concept of the 'device' will fade away and the computer will soon be replaced by intelligent assistants.

In order for to retain the information it learns, the AI needs to be 'read' about 2,865 romance novels to build its intelligence. After being ingesting the text, Google's AI writes sentence on its own using what it learned, then compares them to the original text

Ignited, Fatal Desire and Jacked Up are just a few of the steamy romance novels on an AI's reading list. The reason steamy romance novels were chosen for this project is because they all fundamentally use the same plot to tell similar stories, making it easier for the AI to learn and understand the language

WHY ROMANCE NOVELS? The reason steamy romance novels were chosen is because they fundamentally all use the same plot to tell similar stories  girl meets boy, falls in love with boy, boy falls in love with another girl. Because the stories are almost indistinguishable, the AI can understand sentences that contain similar meanings and learn the language. And even though the engine is artificial intelligence, it needs Google's researchers to feed it text from the book, like reading a child a bedtime story. In order for it to retain this information, the AI requires about 2,865 romance novels to build its intelligence. After being fed the text, Google's AI writes sentence on its own using what it learned, then compares them to the original text. It does this multiple times as it self-calibrates, which is how it learns to compose better sentences Google has been feeding cheeky, erotic pages from romance novels, like Bond By Desire, to an AI with the hopes of improving its conversation skills and personality. The team witnessed the AI transcribe sentences that resembles those in the books, which will help the program inform and humanize the company's products

He made the comments in the firm's annual Founder's Letter in which he discussed the firm's Cloud Platform and its plans for AI.

Every year, the founders of Google's parent company Alphabet - Larry Page and Sergey Brin - write a Founders' Letter to stockholders updating them with recent highlights.

Pichai's letter continues: 'Just a decade ago, computing was still synonymous with big computers that sat on our desks.

'Then, over just a few years, the keys to powerful computing - processors and sensors -became so small and cheap that they allowed for the proliferation of supercomputers that fit into our pockets: mobile phones.'

He added that looking to the future, the next big step will be for the very concept of the 'device' to fade away.

'Over time, the computer itself - whatever its form factor - will be an intelligent assistant helping you through your day. We will move from mobile first to an AI first world,' Pichai said.
Fears that the humble hedgehog is becoming less common across Western Europe sadly seem to be founded.

Experts say there has been a moderate decline in the little woodland animals and populations are feeling the squeeze.

While conservationists are not worried about the West European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) becoming extinct any time soon, there is a possibility of a pattern of long-term decline.

Researchers studied two sets of data collected by members of the public to find hedgehog populations have declined by up to 7.4% in areas where they were once plentiful - including the UK. Conservationists aren't worried about the West European hedgehog (pictured) becoming extinct but they are under threat

The hedgehog is a common species found across the western part of Europe that feeds on large insects as well as slugs and earthworms.

It is classified by the IUCN as one of the species of 'least concern' on its Red List of Threatened Species.

However, anecdotal evidence suggests numbers have dipped in Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison re-examined two sets of data collected by members of the public to find hedgehog populations have declined by up to 7.4 per cent in areas where they were once plentiful, over 55 years - including the UK.

Numbers also fell across Sweden and Belgium. But, the results of the duo's analysis found hedgehogs are relatively widespread in England, with the creatures found in 91% of the areas surveyed by HogWatch volunteers. This map shows hedgehog sightings in the 1960-75 survey (a) and 2000-2015 survey (right)

HALF OF US HAVE NEVER SEEN A HEDGEHOG IN THE WILD Almost half of Britons have never spotted a hedgehog in their garden, and only 11 per cent see them regularly. Just 29% of 2,348 people questioned in the annual wildlife survey for BBC Gardeners World magazine saw one in their garden in the past 12 months, down from 32% the previous year. The hedgehog has suffered serious long=term declines and continues to see its numbers drop. Populations are thought to have fallen by 30 per cent since 2003 to less than a million in the UK - down from estimated populations of 36 million in the 1950s. Lucy Hall, BBC Gardener's World editor, said: 'The much-loved, humble hog is among gardeners' most appealing natural allies, but they're disappearing on our watch. 'And yet a few simple steps, from leaving out the right food, to opening up gaps in fences and creating secluded areas for nesting and hibernation, will help make our gardens the havens that hedgehogs have long enjoyed.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison re-examined two sets of data collected by members of the public to find hedgehog populations have declined by up to 7.4 per cent in areas where they were once plentiful, over 55 years.

One was collected between 1960 and 1975, while the other was from the 'HogWatch' survey conducted throughout England between 2000 and 2015.

The results of the duo's analysis found hedgehogs are still widespread in England, with the creatures found in 91 per cent of the areas surveyed by HogWatch volunteers.

But comparison with older data revealed a five to 7.4 per cent decline since the 1960s.

'This suggests that the decline of the relative abundance of West European hedgehogs is moderate in England,' said Anouschka Hof.

While the decline may not warrant urgent measures, the experts believe the species may serve as an indicator of how the countryside is deteriorating.

'Possible constraints faced by West European hedgehogs might be more severe for less mobile taxa that have to cope with an increasingly fragmented landscape in both rural and urban areas,' Paul Bright said.
They were the original American pioneers, crossing an icy land bridge between Asia and Alaska before spreading across the continent.

But stone tools found submerged in a sinkhole on a river Florida suggest humans were living in America up to 1,500 years than previously believed - and hunted mastadon and may even have have pet dogs.

Radiocarbon dating has revealed the tools, including a knife used to butcher prey, and a series of extinct animal bones found alongside them date to around 14,550 years ago.

Stone tools, including a sharp biface knife (pictured) have been found in a sink hole beneath a river in Florida. Radiocarbon dating has indicated they are 14,550 years old, meaning humans had already spread across America long before they were originally thought to have crossed into the continent from Asia

It was thought the first people to arrive in America were hunters, known as the Clovis people who crossed a land bridge over the Baring Strait 13,000 years ago.

The new study suggests humans must have crossed into America far longer than previously believed and were living in the southwest of the United States at least 14,500 years ago.

WHO WERE THE FIRST AMERICANS? It was a time when much of North and South America were blanketed in thick sheets of ice, yet it seems the first human settlers were able to survive in the harsh Ice Age conditions. The study, using DNA from South American mummies and skeletons, suggests these individuals were from an isolated group who lived in an area called eastern Beringia, a land bridge across the Bering Strait. Around 16,000 years ago they appear to have then entered North America and rapidly spread down the coast. However, archaeologists recently found evidence that suggests early settlers were living in the Americas up to 19,000 years ago. Stone tools, fire pits, the remains of cooked animals and plants have been discovered at a site in southern Chile which suggest humans have been living there for some time. For 40 years it has been assumed that the first people to arrive in the Americas were hunters who crossed a land bridge from Asia to North America around 12,500 years ago. These early humans are known as the Clovis culture and were distinguished by the fine fluted stone points they made for weapons. However, at Monte Verde, close to Puerto Montt in Southern Chile an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee, discovered a completely different type of a much older stone tool technology he believes may be up to 19,000 years old.

Researchers also examined a mastodon tusk found at the same site, known as Page-Ladson a sinkhole in the Aucilla River near Tallahasse, in Florida, and found it bore cut marks.

They said the deep parallel grooves on the surface were made by humans using stone tools as they attempted to remove the tusk from the skull.

A dogs jawbone found at the site suggests the humans may have also been living alongside the animals.

Archaeologists added that this suggests humans were hunting mastodons in the United States for far longer than had been believed too, and did not kill off the giant animals as quickly as believed.

Dr Daniel Fisher, an archaeologist at the University of Michigan who was one of the research team, said: 'These grooves are clearly the result of human activity and, together with new radiocarbon dates, they indicate that humans were processing a mastodon carcass in what is now the southeastern United States much earlier than was generally accepted.

'In addition, our work provides strong evidence that early human hunters did not hunt mastodons to extinction as quickly as supporters of the so-called 'Blitzkrieg' hypothesis have argued.

'Instead, the evidence from this site shows that humans and megafauna coexisted for at least 2,000 years.

'Each tusk this size would have had more than 15 pounds of tender, nutritious tissue in its pulp cavity, and that would certainly have been of value.'

Eight stone tools were found alongside the mastodon tusk by archaeologists James Dunbar and David Webb between 1987 and 1997.

A group of deep parallel marks across the tusk (pictured) indicate it had been cut with a stone tool. Researchers said the findings could rewrite the history of the American continents

Archaeologists examined a tusk found at the site (pictured left) - which is thought to be from a large male mastodon - and found cut marks on it which had been made by stone tools as human hunters attempted to remove it from the skull

The stone tools were found in an underwater sinkhole on the Aucilla River near Tallahasse, in Florida (shown on the map above)

However, their discovery at the time was dismissed as they were considered too old to be real and there were questions over the date of the sediment they were found in as it was underwater.

But Professor Michael Waters, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University, and his colleagues took another look at the site between 2012 and 2014.

They excavated more stone tools along with the bones of extinct animals.

Among the tools was a biface, a knife with sharp edges on both sides used for cutting.

The results of their study are published in the journal Science Advances.

'The new discoveries at Page-Ladson show that people were living in the Gulf Coast area much earlier than believed,' said Professor Waters.

'The stone tools and faunal remains at the site show that at 14,550 years ago, people knew how to find game, fresh water and material for making tools.

'These people were well-adapted to this environment.

'The site is a slam-dunk pre-Clovis site with unequivocal artifacts, clear stratigraphy and thorough dating.'

The stone tools were found alongside the bones of extinct animals in sediment in a sinkhole under the Aucilla River near Tallahasse, in Florida. Divers had previously excavated eight stone tools and a mastodon tusk from the same site

Dr Jessi Halligan, an anthropologist at Florida State University, said the findings have the potential to transform the ancient history of the Americas.

Radiocarbon dating of the artifacts to 14,550 years ago help to provide support for another recent study that suggested people were living in South America up to 19,000 years ago.

It found stone tools from a site at Puerto Montt in Southern Chile and could mean that humans had already spread across the American continents long before the Clovis were thought to have arrived.

Dr Halligan said: 'This is a big deal. There were people here. So how did they live?

'This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas.

'It's pretty exciting. We thought we knew the answers to how and when we got here, but now the story is changing.'
Stepson resented her power and got revenge by removing her from history

It may not have been an easy job but the royal butlers of ancient Egypt's powerful pharaohs certainly earned an impressive burial and were laid to rest in style.

Four tombs belonging to the royal butlers of Queen Hatshepsut and King Ramses II have opened to the public.

They contain richly decorated walls showing ancient Egyptian gods including Osiris and Anubis, who was associated with mummification and the afterlife.

Four tombs belonging to the royal butlers of Queen Hatshepsut and King Ramses II have opened to the public. The decoration of one is shown above, including the god Hathor, shown as a cow above the archway. The Egyotian goddess personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood

Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Dr Khaled El-Enany opened the tombs, which date from the 18th and 19th Dynasties around 3,500 years ago and have been been lovingly restored.

Tomb number TT 110 belongs to 'the Chief Royal Butler of Queen Hatshepsut, Djehuty' and is located at the Sheikh Abdel Qurna Area, on Luxor's west bank.

Queen Hatshepsut had herself crowned in around 1,473BC, changing her name from the female version Hatshepsut - which means Foremost of the Noble Ladies - to the male version, Hatshepsu.

Born into the most advanced civilisation in the ancient world, Hatshepsut commandeered the throne of Egypt from her young stepson, Thutmosis III, and, in an unprecedented move, declared herself pharaoh.

Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Dr Khaled El-Enany opened the tombs, which date from the 18th and 19th Dynasties and have been restored. This one appears to show scenes of daily life in Luxor

Tomb number TT 110 belongs to 'the Chief Royal Butler of Queen Hatshepsut, Djehuty' and is located at the Sheikh Abdel Qurna Area, on Luxor's west bank. This decoration shows Anubis bent over a mummy

THE WRITING ON THE WALL The hieroglyphs on the wall include the names of the butlers buried in the tombs. Anubis is seen bending over a sarcophagus. The jackal-headed god is associated with mummification as the underworld. Hathor, displayed as a cow is also seen in the tombs. The goddess personified the principles of joy, feminine love, and motherhood and was one of the most important and popular deities. Set is pictured in one of the tombs. He was god of the desert, storms, disorder, violence and foreigners in ancient Egyptian religion. Horus is shown as a falcon. Since Horus was said to be the sky and was also said to control the sun and moon. Advertisement

To cement her position as the first female ruler, she donned the traditional clothes, head-dress and even the false beard traditionally worn by male pharaohs of Egypt.

The tomb of her butler is T-shaped, which is typical of the the 18th Dynasty and has a pillared hall and a burial shaft.

Restoration began in 2012 and required a lot of work because the tomb was found in poor condition.

The other three tombs belong to Imn Nakht, Nebenmaat and Kha'Emteri who held the same title of 'Servant in the Place of Truth' during the reign of king Ramesses II.

He reigned between 1,279 and 1,213BC and is often regarded as the greatest, most celebrated, and most powerful pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire.

He led successful military campaigns into Canaan and Nubia and built many cities, temples and monuments.

All the butlers belong to the same family. Imn Nakht, was the father of Nebenmaat  his eldest son  and Kha'Emteri, the youngest.

The tombs share the same entrance, corridor and ante-chamber which are branched out into three burial chambers with a mud brick chapel in each.

While Imn Nakht's tomb is multi-coloured, like most of the Deir El-Medina tombs those of his sons are painted in one colour.

Archaeologists have discovered a number of carved blocks that probably belonged to an unknown building of Queen Hatshepsut that show her female form. A re-purposed pillar from the building is shown

Last month, archaeologists discovered a number of carved blocks that likely belonged to an unknown building of Queen Hatshepsut that show how her image was changed.

Many monuments of Hatshepsut, who was considered 'both king and queen,' were destroyed, so images of her represented as a woman are extremely rare.

They were discovered by the German Archaeological Institute on the Island of Elephantine, Aswan.

One block shows how the woman's form was changed to that of a male and another, how her cartouche - a lozenge bearing her name - was scratched away.

Ancient Egyptian Antiquities expert Dr Mahmoud Afify said the building from which the blocks came must have been erected during the early years of her reign, before she began to be represented as a male king.

Dr Mahmoud Afify said the building from which the blocks came must have been erected during the early years of her reign, before she began to be represented as a male king. This image shows a female representation of Hatshepsut (highlighted by red lines) that was later replaced by the image of a male king

All mentions of Hatshepsut's (illustrated left) name were erased by Thutmosis on taking power (an erased cartouche that would have held her name is shown left) and all representations of her female figure were replaced by images of a male king

Queen Hatshepsut is thought to have reigned with little opposition for more than two decades before dying in around 1458 BC.

But all mentions of Hatshepsut's name were erased by Thutmosis on taking power and all representations of her female figure were replaced by images of a male king - her deceased husband Thutmosis II.

Only very few buildings from this early stage of her career have been discovered so far, with the only other examples having been found at Karnak, making the 'new' blocks extremely rare.

The Egyptian Antiquities Authority said the newly discovered building sheds light on the early reign of the queen and that of Thutmosis III who is now known as the 'Napoleon of Egypt' so successful was he during his military campaign.

Dr Felix Arnold, the field director of the mission, said the building from which the blocks came probably served as a waystation for the festival barque of the god Khnum  the potter god of creation.

The mysterious blocks were discovered by the German Archaeological Institute on the Island of Elephantine (marked on the map above) in Aswan, Egypt

Born into the most advanced civilisation in the ancient world, Hatshepsut (shown) commandeered the throne of Egypt from her young stepson, Thutmosis III, and, in an unprecedented move, declared herself pharaoh

The building was later dismantled and about 30 of its blocks have now been found in the foundations of the Khnum temple of Nectanebo II  a pharaoh who ruled between 360 and 342 BC.

Some of the blocks were discovered in previous excavation seasons by members of the Swiss Institute, but the meaning of the blocks has only now become clear, showing the queen as a woman early in her reign.

Thanks to the discovery of the blocks, the original appearance of the building can be reconstructed and experts believe it comprised a chamber for the barque of the god Khnum, which was surrounded on all four sides by pillars.

The pillars bear representations of several versions of the god, as well as others such as Imi-peref 'He-who-is-in-his-house', Nebet-menit 'Lady-of-the-mooring-post' and Min-Amun of Nubia.

'The building thus not only adds to our knowledge of the history of Queen Hatshepsut but also to our understanding of the religious beliefs current on the Island of Elephantine during her reign,' the authority said.
Nasa has announced a new round of funding for a series of futuristic projects to get humans into deep space.

Many sound like they come straight from the pages of a science fiction novel.

From 'magnetoshells' that can give probes a soft landing to a space habitat that puts astronauts in a deep sleep, the projects aim to increase the space agency's ability to fly farther and faster.

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Nasa has announced a new round of funding for a series of futuristic projects to get humans into deep space. From 'magnetoshells' that can give probes a soft landing to a spacecraft that puts astronauts in a deep sleep, the projects aim to increase the space agency's ability to fly farther and faster

The eight technology projects are part of Nasa's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program, with each receiving as much as $500,000 for a two-year study.

'The NIAC program is one of the ways Nasa engages the U.S. scientific and engineering communities,' said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of Nasa's Space Technology Mission Directorate in Washington.

'[This] including agency civil servants, by challenging them to come up with some of the most visionary aerospace concepts,' said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator at Nasa.

'This year's Phase II fellows have clearly met this challenge.'

Included as part of the portfolio is an interplanetary habitat configured to induce deep sleep for astronauts on long-duration missions.

Engineers are developing a dual aircraft platform that may be able to stay aloft for weeks or even months at a time. The work is being led by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and consists of two glider-like unmanned aircraft which are connected via a thin, ultra-strong cable

A separate group is working on parachute made of plasma that can be trapped in a magnetic field to help probes glide safely back to Earth. Aerospace firm MSNW of Redmond, Washington, won a Nasa grant to demonstrate the technique on a CubeSat

SpaceWorks says it will use the funding to better understand the effects of prolonged hypothermia, and consider the technology's impact on alternate exploration missions.

Engineers are also developing a dual aircraft platform that may be able to stay aloft for weeks or even months at a time.

THE FINAL EIGHT PROJECTS Spaceworks Engineering - Advancing sleep inducing habitats for humans on deep space missions Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Flight demonstration of novel atmospheric Satellite Concept MSNW - Magnetoshell aerocapture for manned missions and planetary deep space orbiters University of California, Santa Barbara -Directed Energy for interstellar study University of Missouri -Experimental demonstration for plasmonic force propulsion Texas Engineering Experiment - Approaches to creating a growable habitat Northwestern University - Development of an aperture for an 'extremely large reflective telescope' Robert Youngquist - Cryogenic selective surfaces

The work is being led by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and consists of two glider-like unmanned aircraft which are connected via a thin, ultra-strong cable.

Long duration flight simulations have shown the platform could literally sail without propulsion, using levels of wind shear persistently found near 60,000ft.

A separate group is working on parachute made of plasma that can be trapped in a magnetic field to help probes glide safely back to Earth.

Aerospace firm MSNW of Redmond, Washington, won a Nasa grant to demonstrate the technique on a CubeSat.

Another proposal is a method to produce 'solar white' coatings for scattering sunlight.

This could cool fuel tanks in space down to 300F below zero, with no energy input needed.

Meanwhile, Texas Engineering Experiment is working on the design of a rotating habitat with a robotic system that constructs the structure allowing to 'grow' while in space.

Nasa says it selected these projects for their 'innovativeness and technical viability.'

'Phase II decisions are always challenging, but we were especially challenged this year with so many successful Phase I studies applying to move forward with their cutting-edge technologies,' said Jason Derleth, the NIAC program executive at Nasa Headquarters in Washington.

'Whether it's tensegrity habitats in space, new ways to get humans to Mars, delicate photonic propulsion, or any one of the other amazing Phase II studies NIAC is funding, I'm thrilled to welcome these innovations and their innovators back to the program.

'Hopefully, they will all go on to do what NIAC does best - change the possible.'

All projects are still in the early stages of development, most requiring 10 or more years of concept maturation and technology development before use on a Nasa mission.

Texas Engineering Experiment is working on the design of a rotating habitat with a robotic system that constructs the structure allowing to 'grow' while in space
Botox injections temporarily paralyze the muscles in your face, sometimes causing it to appear frozen in one expression.

Not only can this be confusing to others, but researchers in Italy now say it affects your own perception as well.

Botox makes a person unable to replicate some of the expressions they observe, and researchers say blocking this often imperceptible response can make it difficult to understand the emotional meaning.

Botox injections temporarily paralyze the muscles in your face, sometimes causing it to appear frozen in one expression. Not only can this be confusing to others, but researchers in Italy now say it affects your own perception as well

EMBODIED COGNITION Humans reproduce the emotions they observe from others on their own body, the researchers say. If a person sees a smile, they too will smile  but this reaction is often automatic and imperceptible. If subtle replication helps people to make sense of the emotions they see, the facial paralysis of Botox blocks this process, thus making it more difficult to understand the expressions of others, the study suggests.

For years, people around the world have turned to injections of Botulin toxin Type A, also known as Botox, for cosmetic procedures.

Roughly 250,000 procedures were done in Italy alone in 2014, but researchers now warn that this popular treatment may be affecting the way you see the world.

According to a study from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste, Italy, the temporary paralysis of the face can block a person's 'proprioceptive feedback.'

This process helps us to understand the emotions we observe by reproducing them on our own bodies, they explain.

'The thankfully temporary paralysis of facial muscles that this toxin causes impairs our ability to capture the meaning of other people's facial expressions,' said Jenny Baumeister, research scientist at SISSA.

The researchers analysed the emotional understanding of participants immediately after a Botox-based cosmetic procedure, and two weeks later.

This was compared with measurements from subjects that had no treatment.

'The negative effect is very clear when the expressions observed are subtle,' said Francesco Foroni, SISSA researcher who coordinated the study.

'For very intense stimuli, although there was a definite tendency to perform worse, the difference was not significant.

'On the other hand, for 'equivocal' stimuli that are more difficult to pick up, the effect of the paralysis was very strong.'

If a person sees a smile, they too will smile  but this reaction is often automatic and imperceptible, the researchers explain. If subtle replication helps people to make sense of the emotions they see, the facial paralysis of Botox blocks this process, thus making it more difficult to understand the expressions of others

This research taps into the concept of 'embodied cognition.'

By this train of thought, humans reproduce the emotions they observe from others on their own body.

So, if a person sees a smile, they too will smile  but this reaction is often automatic and imperceptible, the researchers explain.

If subtle replication helps people to make sense of the emotions they see, the facial paralysis of Botox blocks this process, thus making it more difficult to understand the expressions of others.

The researchers say this could lead to unintentional miscommunication, through failure to pick up on another person's emotional intentions.

'Our study was devised to investigate embodied cognition,' said Foroni.
Google is gunning for its rivals in the battle for virtual reality, according to the latest rumours.

The California-based firm is reportedly working on an update to its current entry-level VR headset called Cardboard, and is expected to release the high-end gadget later this year.

The rumours also claim Google is bolstering its Android support for VR and will create a headset that doesn't require a phone.

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Confirmation of the new system leaked on Google's own developer centre. On the right an icon for Android VR can be seen.

One expert claims the headset will be less powerful that the Oculus rift or HTC Vive - but won't require a $1500 PC to run as they both do.

'Android VR will definitely be announced next week, and from what Ive heard will be less powerful than the Vive or Rift,' according to Peter Rojas of betaworks.

However, he claims the system will be more powerful that the Samsung and Oculus Gear VR.

According to Recode, the search giant is also forming its own dedicated division for virtual reality computing.

It will be headed by Clay Bavor, currently a VP for product management.

He oversaw Google Cardboard, a low cost phone holder which launched in 2014.

The rumours were first reported in the Financial Times earlier this year.

The site explained that 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.

California-based tech giant Google is 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

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.

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 have 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.

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. Head of Google's Cardboard development team said in a recent interview that the entry level device is 'not the end of the line' and hinted that Google are working on bigger and better iterations of VR devices

'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.'
Volcanoes have spewed out material created within the first 50 million years of the solar system's creation.

The material - found in Canada's Baffin Island and in a region near the Solomon Islands - is about 4.5 billion years old, dating back to shortly after Earth formed.

The fact that these materials have survived billions of years hints at the limited of motion in Earth's interior and could shed more light on the birth of our planet.

Volcanoes have spewed out material created within the first 50 million years of the solar system's creation. The material - found in Canada's Baffin Island and in a region near the Solomon Islands - is about 4.5 billion years old, dating back to shortly after Earth formed

Scientists say the discovery could help researchers understand the processes that shaped our planet's birth.

Earth formed from the accretion of matter surrounding the young sun.

The heat of its formation caused extensive melting of the planet, leading Earth to separate into two layers when the denser iron metal sank inward toward the center.

This created the core, leaving the silicate-rich mantle floating above.

Over the subsequent 4.5 billion years of Earth's evolution, convection in Earth's interior - like water boiling on a stove - caused deep portions of the mantle to rise upwards.

This motion caused the mantle to separate once by density.

Pictured is Baffin Island, where a research team was able find a geochemical signature of material left over from the early melting events that accompanied Earth's formation

The mantle residues of crust formation were previously believed to have mixed back into the mantle so thoroughly that evidence of the planet's oldest events was lost completely. Pictured is a diagram of Earth's interior showing the crust (aluminium, silicate), the mantle (magnesium, silicate) and the core (iron, nickel)

EARTH'S FORMATION Earth is believed to have formed from the accretion of matter surrounding the young sun. The heat of its formation caused extensive melting of the planet, leading Earth to separate into two layers when the denser iron metal sank inward toward the center. This created the core, leaving the silicate-rich mantle floating above. Over the subsequent 4.5 billion years of Earth's evolution, convection in Earth's interior - like water boiling on a stove - caused deep portions of the mantle to rise upwards. This motion caused the mantle to separate once by density. The melts, since they were less dense than the unmelted rock, rose to form Earth's crust, while the denser residues of the melting sank back downward, altering the mantle's chemical composition.

The melts, since they were less dense than the unmelted rock, rose to form Earth's crust, while the denser residues of the melting sank back downward, altering the mantle's chemical composition.

The mantle residues of crust formation were previously believed to have mixed back into the mantle so thoroughly that evidence of the planet's oldest geochemical events was lost completely.

However, the research team, which included scientists from Carnegie Melon University and the University of Maryland, was able find a geochemical signature of material left over from the early melting events that accompanied Earth's formation.

They found it in relatively young rocks both from Baffin Island, off the coast of northern Canada, and from the Ontong-Java Plateau in the Pacific Ocean, north of the Solomon Islands.

These rock formations are called flood basalts because they were created by massive eruptions of lava.

The solidified lava itself is only between 60 and 120 million years old, depending on its location.

But the team discovered that the molten material from inside the Earth that long ago erupted to create these plains of basaltic rock owes its chemical composition to events that occurred over 4.5 billion years in the past.

Rock formations, such as the one pictured, are called flood basalts because they were created by massive eruptions of lava. Pictured is Baffin Island

The research team found the material in relatively young rocks both from Baffin Island, off the coast of northern Canada, and from the Ontong-Java Plateau in the Pacific Ocean, north of the Solomon Islands

They made the discovery by measuring variations in these rocks to see the abundance of an isotope of tungstenthe same element used to make filaments of incandescent light bulbs.

Isotopes are versions of an element in which the number of neutrons in each atom differs from the number of protons.

These differing neutron numbers mean that each isotope has a slightly different mass.

The team's discovery offers new insight into the chemistry and dynamics that shaped our planet's formative processes

Tungsten contains one isotope of mass 182 that is created when an isotope of the element hafnium undergoes radioactive decay, meaning its elemental composition changes as it gives off radiation. The time it takes for half of any quantity of hafnium-182 to decay into tungsten-182 is 9 million years.

This may sound like a very long time, but is quite rapid when it comes to planetary formation timescales. Rocky planets like Earth or Mars took about 100 million years to form.

The team determined that the basalts from Baffin Island, formed by a 60-million-year-old eruption from the mantle hot-spot currently located beneath Iceland, and the Ontong-Java Plateau, which was formed by an enormous volcanic event about 120 million years ago, contain slightly more tungsten-182 than other young volcanic rocks.

Because all the hafnium-182 decayed to tungsten-182 during the first 50 million years of solar system history, these findings indicate that the mantle material that melted to form the flood basalt rocks that the team studied originally had more hafnium than the rest of the mantle.

The likely explanation for this is that the portion of Earth's mantle from which the lava came had experienced a different history of iron separation than other portions of the mantle, since tungsten is normally removed to the core along with the iron.)

It was a surprise to the team that such material still exists in Earth's interior.

'This demonstrates that some remnants of the early Earth's interior, the composition of which was determined by the planet's formation processes, still exist today,' explained lead author Hanika Rizo, now at Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

'The survival of this material would not be expected given the degree to which plate tectonics has mixed and homogenized the planet's interior over the past 4.5 billion years, so these findings are a wonderful surprise,' added Richard Carlson, Director of Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism.

The team's discovery offers new insight into the chemistry and dynamics that shaped our planet's formative processes.

Going forward, scientists will have to hunt for other areas showing outsized amounts of tungsten-182 with the hope of illuminating both the earliest portion of Earth's history as well as the place in Earth's interior where this ancient material is stored.
Earlier this week, roughly 150 scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs met in secrecy to discuss the possibility of creating an entirely synthetic human genome.

This means scientists would chemically recreate the genetic material thats naturally passed from parents to children.

While this could mean major advancements for biological science and public health, some experts have raised concerns over the ethics of the idea, and say something so significant should not be discussed behind closed doors.

Earlier this week, roughly 150 scientists, lawyers, and entrepreneurs met in secrecy to discuss the possibility of creating an entirely synthetic human genome. This means scientists would recreate the genetic material thats naturally passed from parents to children. In the stock image above, a scientist views DNA sequencing

DEMAND FOR THE HUMAN GENOME The human genome consists of roughly 3 billion DNA base pairs. There are four nucleotides bases found in DNA: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). Critics of the synthesized human genome argue that advocates of this concept are presenting a challenge to scientists in order to drive demand, and reduce the cost of printing DNA fragments. Currently, it would cost $90 million to build the human genome, which is made up of three billion base pairs. With the right demand, they say this could drop to just $100,000. Advertisement

The invite-only meeting was held at Harvard Medical School in Boston on Tuesday, the New York Times reports, and attendees were told not to contact the media or tweet about it.

Called HGP-Write: Testing Large Synthetic Genomes in Cells, the project aims to synthesize a complete human genome in a cell line within a period of ten years.

Organizers included George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, Jef Boeke, director of the institute for systems genetics at NYU Langone Medical Center, Andrew Hessel, a futurist in the bio/nano research group at Autodesk, and Nancy J. Kelley.

In an interview with NYT, Dr. Church explained that the project, which is not yet funded, mainly aims to improve the ability to synthesize long strands of DNA, for use in animals, plants, and microbes.

Scientists are currently able to manipulate the DNA in cells for various purposes, including the manufacturing of insulin for diabetes.

Synthesizing the entire genome would allow for much more significant changes.

But, some aspects of the concept have already been met with criticism.

In an essay published to Cosmos, Drew Endy, an associate professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University, and Laurie Zoloth, a professor of medical ethics and humanities at Northwestern University, Chicago, explain that synthesizing the human genome is an enormous moral gesture.

If the synthetic genome was created, it would be tested in the lab by implanting it in a human cell in place of the existing one.

While this doesnt mean theyd be able to create a synthetic human at that point, the researchers question what could be done if scientists were able to change the human genome.

For example, could scientists synthesise a modified human genome that is resistant to all natural viruses? they write.

They likely could, for purely beneficial purposes, but what if others then sought to synthesise modified viruses that overcame such resistance? Might doing so start a genome-engineering arms race?

While this could mean major advancements for biological science and public health, some experts have raised concerns over the ethics of the idea, and say something so significant should not be discussed behind closed doors. A stock image of human DNA is pictured

And, what of even greater changes that can be imagined?

The authors also argue the example that scientists could then synthesize the genome of specific people, like Einstein, and ask how many genomes should be made, and who would get to make them.

As synthesizing the human genome would have huge implications for science, the researchers argue that discussions regarding the concept should be pluralistic, public, and deliberative.

They also argue that advocates of this concept are presenting a challenge to scientists in order to drive demand, and reduce the cost of printing DNA fragments.

Currently, it would cost $90 million to build the human genome, which is made up of three billion base pairs.

With the right demand, they say this could drop to just $100,000.

But, the authors suggest that the human genome may not be an appropriate demand driver, and argue that researchers should instead be working to synthesize more immediately useful genomes.

Along with this, they say it would be necessary to include the advice of a diverse set of perspectives, from lawyers and regulators, to theologians, philosophers, and ethicists.

The creation of new human life is one of the last human-associated processes that has not yet been industrialised or fully commoditized, Endy and Zoloth write.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville's Joint Munitions Disposal -- Afghanistan (JMD-A) team has wrapped up its mission disposing of more than 5,629 tons of U.S. and coalition forces NATO Condition Code H unserviceable and "do-not-return" munitions, as well as captured enemy munitions and explosive remnants of war (ERW).

"It's been awesome to work on this program," said Chase Hamley, JMD-A project manager in Huntsville Center's Ordnance and Explosives Directorate (OE) International Operations Division, who has been on the program since it began. "It was a very easy thing to get out of the Army and move into a job that deployed me to support Soldiers. I wouldn't have it any other way."

In support of U.S. Forces - Afghanistan, Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade and 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), the JMD-A team coordinated disposal efforts with the military units leaving country and managed the munitions disposal contract with Sterling Global Operations Inc., headquartered in Lenoir City, Tennessee, which specializes in demining, ERW clearance and management of ammunition physical security and stockpiles.

Hamley summed up the biggest challenge with one word: logistics. Security and safety were top concerns every step of the way, as there were a lot of moving pieces and a high level of risk.

"Being in multiple locations throughout Afghanistan, having to build the [demolition] shots within the ammunition supply point into shot boxes, then having to transport them out to a demolition area off post, and keeping civilians away from the area when we are setting up and detonating the shots - and the security and coordination that go along with that."

Huntsville Center OE teams were first involved in captured enemy ammunition disposal in Iraq from 2003 to 2006. They transitioned their expertise to coalition munitions clearance and disposal programs destroying more than 400,000 tons of ammunition in Iraq through 2011.

Joint munitions disposal efforts in Afghanistan began in 2012. With demolition completed in April, all that remains are a few administrative and logistical functions that should be closed out by July, Hamley said.
Parents are being held to ransom by holiday companies with research showing that some breaks double in price after the schools break up.

A study of 79 holidays offered this summer by the likes of Thomas Cook, Thomson and First Choice found huge price hikes.

The average increase was 35 per cent, potentially adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of a family holiday for four.

A study of 79 holidays offered this summer by the likes of Thomas Cook, Thomson and First Choice found huge price hikes

However, some holidays more than double in price once the schools break up at the end of July  adding 2,400 to the bill.

Details emerged on Friday as parent Jon Platt from the Isle of Wight is expecting a High Court ruling on whether he has to pay a fine after taking his daughter out of her primary school during term time.

The test case will clear up the rules on whether the government, councils and schools can and should fine parents 60 for taking children out of classes for a holiday.

Mr Platt, a solicitor, argues the law is unclear and does not allow for automatic fines.

He said his own daughter had an exemplary attendance record, other than for two short family holidays.

Mr Platt has been issued with two fines by his local council, one in relation to a holiday to Disneyland, Florida, last year and a second to Lapland earlier this year.

He pointed out that children at private schools, who spend fewer days in the classroom because they have much shorter terms, are exempt from the fines regime.

The holiday price investigation compared 79 package holidays based on a one week break for a family of four at a four star hotel in Tenerife, Majorca, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve.

It found the biggest price jump was for people flying out of Birmingham, with a mark-up of 43 per cent, ahead of Bristol at 40 per cent and Leeds at 34 per cent.

Researchers revealed an increase of 115 per cent in the cost of a Thomas Cook package holiday to Majorca

However, researchers found an increase of 115 per cent in the cost of a Thomas Cook package holiday to Majorca.

The figure for a family of four taking a half-board one week break, flying from any London airport, came in at 4,028 when flying out on July 23.

That is some 2,152 more expensive than the same holiday taken in term time on July 9, which would cost 1,876.

An all-inclusive holiday with First Choice to the Costa del Sol, flying from Birmingham, was 104 per cent more expensive.

The price after the schools break up comes in at 4,702. That is an increase of 2,392 compared to the same break in term time.

The study was carried out by the currency exchange firm FairFXs which said: The research shows how travel companies exploit parents by hiking up prices as soon as schools in England and Wales break up for the holidays.

Its chief executive, Ian Strafford-Taylor, said: With a father potentially facing a fine for taking his daughter on holiday during term time, it seems parents are being held to ransom by travel operators when it comes to summer holidays.

A week in the sun allows families to spend precious time together but when parents face paying double the original price, this experience comes under threat.

The regional differences exposed by our investigation are shocking. In some cases, the price increases are so high that holidaymakers may need to avoid their local airport in order to get a better deal.

Regional differences: The study found the biggest price jump for holidays was for people flying out of Birmingham, with a mark-up of 43 per cent

Holidaymakers need to do what they can to maximise their money such as buying currency when rates are good to off-set the rip-off being imposed by holiday firms.

Pressure to put an end to automatic fines has been fuelled by a petition that has won more than 120,000 signatories in just two days.

The online petition was set up Nottinghamshire father-of-three Dave Hedley, whose wife, Jules, has breast cancer.

The family were fined for taking their children, including Dominic, aged 10, and Laila, nine, out of school for a trip to the Lincolnshire coast in the week after the Easter break.

Mrs Hedley said: The children attend regularly and under the circumstances, I was going through a really hard time. To me it felt like the children were being denied the days to forget about everything.

Holiday companies said the price variation is simply a result of market forces.

Thomas Cook said: Customer demand is always really high during the school holidays, which can unfortunately lead to an increase in costs for families. This is particularly true for a destination like Majorca which is more popular than ever this year.
An offer of 'free hugs' from a street performer came with an unexpected cost for a Canadian tourist in New York's Times Square when the man punched her because she refused to give him a tip.

Jermaine Himmelstein, allegedly punched 22-year-old Sophie Violene Dauvois, of Ottowa, in the face Thursday afternoon after she refused to tip him cash for his hug and a photo.

Himmelstein appeared in court Friday on robbery and fraudulent accosting charges shortly after the Thursday afternoon incident. And this wasn't the first time he'd faced such charges, NBC New York reported.

Custody: Jermaine Himmelstein (pictured in court Friday) was arrested Thursday afternoon after allegedly striking Sophie Violene Dauvois, 22, a tourist from Ottawa, Canada, when she refused to tip him for a 'free hug'

History: Himmelstein was also charged Thursday with the assault of a woman who was hit while waiting for a train on April 29. He reportedly has a long history of violence against young women

Swelling: Dauvois, 22, is pictured here holding a bag to her eye as she walks into the Midtown North Precinct in Manhattan

Injury: The Canadian tourist appears to have a swollen right eye which she claims she suffered after being punched in the face by a Times Square entertainer, who was also charged with a second assault Thursday

Dauvois was left with a black eye, cuts and bruises after the incident, which took place at about 11am outside the T-Mobile store in Times Square, according to the NY Daily News.

Her eye was so badly injured that it was completely swollen shut. She was taken to hospital.

After the incident, Himmelstein fled the scene, but was spotted four hours later in Union Square by a cop who had been given his mugshot.

As well as the charges related to Dauvois, Himmelstein was also charged with the assault of a woman on April 29, whom he allegedly punched while she was waiting for a train in the 49th Street subway station.

While Himmelstein was led out of a police station later on Thursday, he told reporters that he 'was aggressively asking for tips.'

Himmelstein has a long history of assaulting women dating back to 2013, NBC said.

In April of that year he was arrested and charged with assault after digging a can out of the trash, filling it with water and throwing it in the face of an NYU student who refused his offer of a hug, The New York Times reported.

He was arrested twice more that month - first for sending threatening text messages and again for allegedly assaulting a woman in Washington Square Park.

In that assault he is said to have told the woman: 'You're pissing me off, and I assault people when I'm mad.'

Arrested: Jermaine Himmelstein was arrested on robbery and a fraudulent accosting charges. He later told reporters he was 'aggressively asking for tips'

Popular: Times Square is popular with tourists and attracts street entertainers from across the city - including Himmelstein. He has also been reported offering hugs in Washinton Square Park and Greenwich Village

In August 2015 he allegedly followed a 26-year-old woman and punched her in the head near University Place and 13th Street, and in October that year he is reported to have punched a woman in the face, knocking her to the ground.

His most recent reported incidents were both last month: on April 17 he received a criminal mischief charge for allegedly smashing up a woman's food platter.

And on April 29 he allegedly assaulted a woman waiting for a train at the 49th Street subway station.

He was charged with the subway assault by police after being arrested for his Times Square dust-up.

His parents, Denise and Tyrone Himmelstein, told the NY Times in 2013 that their son is autistic, and that he comes from a home where they give him hugs.

History: Himmelstein's history of violence stretches back to 2013, when he threw a full drinks can at a woman who had refused his advances. His parents claim that he acts out because he is autistic

'Please tell every woman in America, I apologize,' his mom said at the time.

And his father said he was helpless to control his son, 'If I follow him down there and say, "Jermaine, what are you doing?" hell get all upset.'

'He needs to get out of that park,' Ms. Himmelstein said. 'If I could only put his mind in another direction. He needs something to do.'

According to NY Daily News, Himmelstein makes up to $30 an hour on an average day.

He is said to have begun giving embraces in Washington Square Park and Greenwich Village in 2013, where he originally charged a dollar.

However now he reportedly charges up to $5 for a hug.

The incident is the latest in a series of flare-ups in recent years among workers who roam Times Square, seeking money to pose for photos with passers-by.

Some characters have been accused of assaulting tourists, harassing people, groping women and punching a police officer.

In one recent incident in Times Square, a man dressed as Spider-Man, punched a police officer.

He had previously cursed at a woman who declined to tip him after posing with her children for a photo.

Tipping isn't mandatory, but tourists have complained that the costumed characters aggressively demand money for photos.

The New York Police Department have a Times Square Unit in force following numerous complaints over the years of tourists being hassled for money.

As well as the colourful cartoon and film characters, the addition of the 'naked ladies,' with women parading around with their breasts painted, has stoked debate as to what should be allowed in the tourist hotspot.

New York is now planning to force all Times Square performers to stay in designated areas, The Gothamist reported, and will make them register with the city and wear special tags.
A graduate student in China has been arrested by customs police after she doused an official with a cup of contact lens solution.

She reportedly got angry when she was told that the bottle of liquid exceeded the regulated legal amount allowed on flights, which made her lash out at the authorities.

Surveillance cameras from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport captured the moment at the security checkpoint where the student from Beijing, identified only by her surname, Li, was prevented from going through.

Li reportedly got angry when she was told that the bottle of liquid exceeded the regulated legal amount allowed on flights

Reports said that Li, 28, was carrying a large bottle of contact lens solution, which she was told could only be brought aboard her flight if the container did not exceed 100 millilitres (3.4 ounces).

Unable to find a suitable container, Li is said to have poured the contents of the bottle into a paper cup - but she was told that the cup would not do as it did not have a cover with which to seal it.

Angered and agitated, the student then threw the cup of liquid at a security officer.

Li was detained by customs authorities and prevented from boarding the flight back to her hometown in the capital for violating civil aviation laws.

Reports said Li had been in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province, for an interview with an e-commerce company.

It is unclear how long she was detained and if she will be prosecuted.

Similar acts of poor behaviour have been noted at airports across China, with officials given the right the hit unruly passengers with flying bans if their offence is severe.

Angered and agitated, the student threw the cup of contact lens liquid at a security officer

Earlier this week MailOnline Travel reported on the moment a stag party decided to play a prank on a first time flyer in their group by hiding a sex toy in his bag, just before he went through airport security.

By strapping the sex toy to a water bottle exceeding the 100ml restriction, it was inevitable that the man's luggage would be searched. And the hilarious moment that a TSA officer at Akron-Canton Airport in Ohio discovers the planted item was filmed and uploaded to YouTube by the victim's friend, TV and radio personality Will Burge.
While the Disney theme parks may be the most visited in the world, holidaymakers looking for something altogether quirkier won't be disappointed with the alternative offerings out there.

From an Australian cove where daredevils can dive with crocodiles to a South Korean park centred around sex, at destinations across the world there is a theme park to satisfy most tastes, a surprising infographic has revealed.

Whether you fancy stepping inside a Soviet bunker next time you're in Lithuania or experiencing what it's like to cross the US/ Mexican border, read on for the world's wackiest amusement parks to add to your itineraries.

Scroll down for video

An infographic reveals some of the wackiest amusement parks to visit on your next break, including the South Korean park centred around sex

In Florida, guests can visit a large fantasy land with themed attractions and performances - however theres no Mickey Mouse in sight.

The Holy Land Experience, featured on the guide by Fly Abu Dhabi, transports visitors back to the time of Jesus, featuring scenery based on Jerusalem in the first century.

With history at the heart of many of the world's most unusual theme parks, if you're holidaying in Lithuania, you can experience a day in the life of a USSR citizen in a Soviet bunker where visitors are given a gas mask, are interrogated and made to sing the national anthem.

Meanwhile in China, there is an attraction called the Kingdom of the Little People, which employs 100 people with dwarfism to entertain crowds with shows such as ballet and hip-hop.

One of the offerings is Crocosaurus Cove, which opened in 2008, and offers plucky tourists the chance to swim in a 'cage of death,' coming within inches of their huge jaws

Australia is known for its exotic creatures, and adrenaline junkies can not only witness crocodiles, but take a dip in infested waters, at one nail-biting theme park.

Crocosaurus Cove opened in 2008, and give plucky tourists the opportunity to swim in a 'cage of death,' coming within inches of their huge jaws.

Adventurous holidaymakers could also try Parque EcoAlberto in Mexico, which instead of offering rides, provides the chance to experience what it would be like to illegally cross the border into the US from Mexico.

Across the pond, the UK has an unusual offering in the form of Diggerland, where adults and children can operate construction machinery.

And if that doesn't suit, Thorpe Park opened a section two years ago that has rides and statues based on Angry Birds.

Dubailand in the United Arab Emirates is expected to open its doors in 2020, and will be a whopping six-zone resort that is said to cost an estimated $64.3billion (44.6billion) to construct

Some of the theme parks in the infographic have yet to be completed, but boast features that are sure to make them stand out when they do.

Dubailand in the United Arab Emirates is expected to open its doors in 2020, and will be a whopping six-zone resort that is said to cost an estimated $64.3billion (44.6billion) to construct.

Another pending venture is Napoleonland in France, which is tipped to open in 2017.

If finished, the theme park will feature rides, shops, a hotel and re-enactments such as the Battle of Waterloo, with a ski-run going through one of the battlefields.
A couple from Wales are taking legal action against holiday company First Choice after a 'nightmare holiday ruined by illness' in Turkey saw their 10-month old daughter hospitalised and put on an IV drip.

Jeffrey and Nikki Williams, from Port Talbot, booked a luxury trip to the all-inclusive Holiday Village resort in Sarigerme, Turkey, with their daughter Lily, who was 10 months old at the time of the holiday, in June 2013.

Just days into the week-long holiday Lily began to suffer from diarrhoea at the four-star resort and was then referred to the local hospital, where she was admitted as she was losing weight and was dehydrated.

Lily Williams, now three years old, fell so ill aged ten-months on a family holiday to Turkey that she was hospitalised and placed on a drip (pictured with father Jeffrey Williams)

She was placed on an IV drip in the hospital and was discharged the following day. Her symptoms continued on her return to the UK and she was taken to her GP for further treatment.

Nikki, a care assistant, claims that the food at the buffet was sometimes left uncovered and food was on occasions served undercooked and did not feel hot enough.

She also told her legal team that on one occasion officials were 'wearing laboratory coats and taking samples of the food' during one sitting at Holiday Village.

She also claims the swimming pool was closed on one occasion and that she saw 'faeces in the pool' on two occasions.

The 36-year-old mother said: 'Our holiday at the Holiday Village was a nightmare and ruined by the illness Lily suffered. We put our trust in First Choice when we booked the holiday but we feel let down.

'It was absolutely terrifying for us to see Lily fall so ill and heartbreaking to see her hooked up to a drip in hospital. It is the last thing you expect when you book an all-inclusive holiday at a luxury resort and we have been left regretting going on the holiday as the illness has really affected Lily and she is scared of eating food because she fears being ill again.

'The standards at the Holiday Village were not at all what we were expected and we hope by taking legal action we will get the answers we need from First Choice as to what caused Lily to fall so ill.'

The family from Wales had booked a week-long stay at the four-star Holiday Village resort in Sarigerme, Turkey (pictured)

Nikki also says that there were other holidaymakers suffering similar symptoms to Lily.

The family instructed specialist travel lawyers at Irwin Mitchell, who have represented holidaymakers affected by similar problems at the Holiday Village resort in the past, including in 2009, when 595 people affected by illness received 1.7 million.

Now the expert travel lawyers have launched court proceedings against First Choice after hearing first-hand about the problems suffered by the Williams family.

Nichola Blackburn, the expert in Irwin Mitchell's International Personal Injury team, who is representing the family, said: 'It is very worrying to learn of Lily's illness and of the problems the family encountered at the Holiday Village in Sarigerme.

'Gastric illnesses can be particularly dangerous for vulnerable people, such as young children, and it is extremely worrying that Lily became so ill she required hospital treatment in Turkey. These conditions can cause long-lasting health problems for those unfortunate to suffer from it.

'First Choice has admitted liability subject to causation of illness. Settlement has been reached for Mr Williams but unfortunately not for Nikki and Lily and therefore we have now forwarded papers to Court for legal proceedings to be issued against First Choice.'

A spokesperson for First Choice told MailOnline Travel: 'First Choice is sorry to hear of the Williams family's experience. As this is now subject to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.
Investigators have blamed a software glitch after easyJet pilots unknowingly used take-off data for the wrong runway, putting them at risk of overshooting it.

The error meant that the Airbus A319 did not have enough stopping distance to abort take-off as it travelled along the runway at 132mph, an investigation found. It took off with 656 feet to spare, which it would have covered in about three seconds.

The incident occurred as the plane, with 156 passengers and six crew, flew from Belfast International Airport to London Luton Airport on 25 June 2015.

The incident involved in easyJet Airbus A319 carrying 156 passengers and six crew members (file photo)

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch report stated the 33-year-old captain calculated take-off data for a shorter runway with wet conditions, as there were rain showers nearby, requiring a full power thrust setting.

The runway was dry before the plane pushed back from its gate, so the crew changed the condition for a reduced thrust setting.

However, a glitch in the electronic flight bag (a touchscreen tablet computer) produced data for a longer runway when the crew changed the condition from wet to dry.

Neither the co-pilot, who was in control of the plane, nor the captain, who was monitoring, were aware they were using incorrect figures on the shorter runway.

The crew used data for a longer runway at Belfast International Airport due to a software glitch, a report said

During take-off the end of the runway became visible as the plane travelled at 115 knots (132mph), and the captain felt that the plane would overshoot it if they tried to stop the plane, so he became go minded, the report stated.

The plane had enough runway space to take off and safely became airborne with around 200 metres (656ft) of runway remaining. There was no further incident and the plane landed safely in Luton.

The report stated: The commander recognised the limited stopping distance available  but the potential seriousness of the event is highlighted by the theoretical result of a runway overrun at 75 knots [86mph] if the take-off had been rejected at that stage.

After departure, the crew realised that the dry runway performance figures were calculated using the wrong runway, thus giving them erroneous information for take-off.

An investigation later revealed the likely reason was an anomaly on the electronic flight bag, and neither easyJet nor Airbus was aware of the glitch in Airbus FlySmart software.

Airbus corrected the glitch in a software update, the AAIB stated.

EasyJet, meanwhile, undertook a number of measures, including a review of procedures and the software.

A spokeswoman for the airline said: EasyJet is aware of the report and fully cooperated with the AAIB.

As soon as we were informed by the operating pilot easyJet immediately launched a safety investigation to understand what happened and ensure that the airline could learn any lessons from the incident.
Two Chinese pilots almost crashed a plane full of passengers when they reportedly botched their landing and damaged the tail of an aircraft, leading Chinese aviation officials to revoke their licences and suspend a third pilot.

The domestic China Eastern Airlines aircraft was flying in poor weather conditions, when the two captains decided to abort an attempted landing after they failed to touch down instead reportedly clipping lights on the runway which became embedded in the tail.

Flight MU5443, carrying over a hundred passengers, had left the city of Chengdu, capital of Chinas Sichuan Province and was due to land in Kangding City, also in Sichuan, when the incident happened.

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The two captains decided to abort the landing in Kangding and ended up flying back to Chengdu airport, where damage assessment was done on the aircraft

One of the lights pierced through the tail's right hand stabiliser and remained wedged there until landing

Severe weather conditions created poor visibility which resulted in the aircraft missing the runway altogether, damaging its tail, tyres and the green hydraulic system as it reportedly hit six lights on the edge of the runway.

One of the lights pierced through the tails right hand stabiliser and remained wedged there until the plane landed on May 1.

A video reconstruction was also created by China's Civil Aviation Authority Accident Investigation following the incident.

The two captains decided to abort the landing in Kangding and ended up flying back to Chengdu airport, where damage assessment was done on the craft.

No passengers were injured during the scare, but following an investigation officials at the Civil Aviation Administration of China determined that the two captains endangered the lives of those on board by violating aviation safety regulations.

Reports said the pair had attempted to land too fast and had hit the ground too hard, almost causing a serious plane crash in the process.

According to the Aviation Herald, one passenger reported that there was a lot of cloud when trying to land and the plane appeared to be approaching faster than normal. The flyer then stated that there was a 'violent impact' and the plane climbed up again.

Severe weather conditions leading to poor visibility resulted in the craft missing the runway altogether, damaging its tail, tyres and the green hydraulic system as it reportedly hit six lights on the edge of the runway

The passenger also added that after disembarking there was 'yellow pieces' stuck in the tail that hadn't been there on take off.

China's Civil Aviation Authority, Southwest Branch, added that the outcome was 'sheer luck' as the incident has significant similarities to a Henan Airlines crash in 2010 which killed more than 40 people.

The two captains have since had their licences revoked for life, while the assistant captain has also been suspended for negligence for six months.

China Eastern Airlines has also been fined 5,300 over the incident, and has also been suspended from opening new flight routes.

MailOnline Travel has approached China Eastern Airlines for comment.
This is the moment a tourist was rescued from Venice's Grand Canal after she jumped in to rescue her smartphone.

Goggle-eyed visitors watched the woman strip to her black bra and plunge into the 20-foot-deep waters after dropping her phone while taking a selfie from a gondola.

She emerged after several dives, apparently empty-handed.

Italian police crouch down to give the woman a helping hand after she jumped into Venice's Grand Canal after dropping her smartphone in it while taking a selfie from a gondola

Uniformed Italian police had to hoist her back to the canal's bank after she gave up the rescue bid.

A video of her rescue - shot by a passer-by - has become a huge social media hit across Italy.

As the tourist reaches the bank, two officers haul her ashore and return her top so she can get dressed again.

Locals never swim in any of Venice's canals.

As she holds onto the policeman for support, she manages to re-dress herself after her canal plunge

Raw sewage from the surrounding homes and palazzos is pumped directly into the city's canals, making them among the most polluted in Europe.

An estimated 90 per cent of Venice's human waste is flushed directly into the city's canals.

A recent public health study detected the Hepatitis A virus and common human viruses in 78 per cent of the canals tested over a two-year period.
At least three airline passengers have been caught smuggling bars of gold in their rectums in recent days, say authorities in Bangladesh.

One man had eight gold bars concealed inside his body, while an X-ray revealed four bars inside a man who was in a great deal of pain, said customs officials.

In a fourth incident, officers found nearly 500,000 worth of gold bars in a planes toilet.

The Bangladesh Customs Intelligence services Facebook page displayed X-ray images of the bundled bars

Earlier this week a passenger confessed to smuggling four gold bars, weighing 400g, inside his body

The latest arrest occurred today when customs officials detained a person who had eight gold bars hidden inside his body at Dhakas Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the Daily Star reported.

The man had just stepped off a flight from Dubai and admitted to carrying the bars after being challenged at border control.

Later, at the airport toilet, he pushed out eight bars worth nearly 40,000.

In a separate incident on Tuesday, a man confessed to having four gold bars, weighing 400g, inside his body, Bangladeshi media reported.

On May 2, six bars of gold, weighing 600g and worth 26,500, were recovered from a passenger's rectum

The 32-year-old man who smuggled the six gold bars told customs officials he was paid 265

The Bangladesh Customs Intelligence services Facebook page displayed X-ray images which showed the bundled gold bars inside the man.

On May 2, six bars of gold, weighing 600g and worth 26,500, were recovered from a 32-year-old mans rectum at Dhakas airport.

The man, who flew in from Kuala Lumpur, emerged from the toilet with the smuggled gold in three separate plastic bags, officials told the Daily Star.

He told officials he was paid 265 to smuggle the bars.

Acting on a tip, customs officials found approximately 15kg of gold in the toilet of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane that flew from Bangkok to Dhaka on Thursday.
Jodie Foster has slammed out of touch Hollywood writers who use rape to explain the motivation of a female character on film.

The 53-year-old actress and filmmaker was presenting her first mainstream film as a director during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, when she made her statement while discussing the changing perceptions regarding females in the industry.

During a talk at the prestigious movie event, which saw her promoting her new big-screen effort Money Monster, she also said that many studio bosses still dismissed female filmmakers as 'too great a risk to take'.

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'It was ridiculous': Jodie Foster has slammed out of touch Hollywood writers who use rape to explain the motivation of a female character on film (pictured, in Cannes during the Film Festival on Thursday)

The two-time Oscar-winning actress, who began her career at the age of three and is one of a handful of females in Hollywood to carve out a successful directing career, highlighted the challenges women face.

Foster said she was able to see herself in all of her characters, even the men, something that was harder for male directors to do.

'One of my biggest pet peeves as an actor, whenever a male writer was searching for motivation for a woman they would always just go to rape. It was ridiculous.'

She also noted 'drastic changes' on film sets from her years as a child actor, when the only women on set were the make-up artists and the person playing her mother.

Speaking out: The two-time Oscar-winning actress, who began her career at the age of three and is one of a handful of females in Hollywood to carve out a successful directing career, highlighted the challenges women face in the industry

The 53-year-old said: 'One of my biggest pet peeves as an actor, whenever a male writer was searching for motivation for a woman they would always just go to rape. It was ridiculous'

But 'the one arena where it hasn't really changed at all is directing for mainstream studio movies,' she observed.

The multi-talented star said the turbulent economy and changing technologies had left studio bosses more risk-averse than ever.

'I think studio executives are scared, period, (and) for some reason women are lumped into that category of 'too great a risk to take'.'

However Foster, who won Oscars for her roles in Silence of the Lambs and The Accused, admits that having grown up in the industry, it was easier for her to become part of the boys' club.

But even as she encouraged other women to take a seat in the director's chair, the star of her first big-budget genre movie Money Monster - Julia Roberts - admitted she was not cut out for it.

Working together: Julia Roberts - the star of Jodie's new film Money Monster - said she does not want to be a director because 'I know my intellectual limitations'

'I consider it hugely complimentary that people ask me if I want to be a director. But I do not,' Roberts told reporters.

'Because I know my intellectual limitations and I know the limitations of my patience and I can't have more than four people in an hour ask me a question that needs an answer,' said the married mother of three, drawing a laugh.

Roberts, 48, said taking the helm of a film was 'something like playing the cello or painting that I envy and hope in another lifetime I might be drawn to'.

'But I think in this life I just want to admire it from a small distance and be glad when my capabilities come into the orbit of a director that I just live to serve and impress,' she said with a smile for Foster.

In the United States, only nine percent of directors are women, according to a 2016 study from the University of San Diego.

Not for her: Roberts, 48, said taking the helm of a film was 'something like playing the cello or painting that I envy and hope in another lifetime I might be drawn to'

Women in the industry: Jodie and Julia appeared at the official photocall for their new film Money Monster during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival on Thursday

Another study released this month by the European Women's Audiovisual Network found that only one film in five in Europe was made by a female director.

Foster has directed several movies, as well as episodes of television series Orange is the New Black and House of Cards.

She said she did not think there was 'some big plot' by men trying to put women down in the film business, but it was more about being stuck in traditional models.

Foster described the difficulty in placing trust in a first-time director, and placing the vision of a multi-million-dollar film in their hands.

'I was once in a movie where a director -- who was a really smart guy -- spent the entire movie in his bathroom calling his wife.

'You're looking for the best bet and it is hard to look at a face that is 100 percent different to yours and that you carry traditional perceptions about and you worry you are going to make a bad choice.'

Foster was asked about the perception that audiences don't want to see movies about women.

'I don't know who those people are. I want to look at human lives. I don't know anyone who would be disinterested in half of the human race.'
 The Money Trail Behind Jewish Voice for Peace | Main | On 'Nakba Day,' a Beersheva 'Refugee' & AFP Time Warp 

May 13, 2016

Michigan Public Radio Considers It Controversial to Acknowledge Israel's Birthday

Deadline Detroit asks whether Michigan Public Radio was right to reject a donor's request to wish Israel a happy birthday?

According to the publication, Michigan Radio, an NPR affiliate, offered one of their donors the opportunity to have a message of her choice read on air, but when it turned out she wanted to wish Israel a Happy Birthday in honour of Yom Ha'atzmaut, Michigan Radio demurred, arguing that such a message

would compromise the station's commitment to impartiality and that it crosses over into advocacy, or could imply advocacy.

Donor Lisa Lis was upset and explained why:

Why would Public Radio need to be impartial about a legally recognized country other than the fact, many want her wiped from the face of the earth. Would it be a problem if it were the birthday of England, Norway or South Sudan? Israel is a hot button country that the world has accepted as questionable and debatable and the major infraction Israel has committed is purely her existence. By the way, I truly look forward to expressing my same salutation when Palestine can celebrate her birthday.

Do you agree?

Posted by RH at May 13, 2016 02:01 PM

NPR has a history of bringing stories about Israel in the most unflattering manner. Its narratives about Israel fit NPR's liberal agenda which is not very supportive of the Jewish state of Israel.

Posted by: Steve Wenick at May 15, 2016 07:56 AM

I assume that NPR will have a similar response to anyone who wanted to celebrate Canada Day on July 1st or American Independence Day on July 4th. I'll keep listening to see if anyone is allowed to wish a happy birthday to either of these two countries. I'm sure that they won't be allowed to do so because, after all, wishing America a happy birthday "would compromise the station's commitment to impartiality".

Posted by: Nigel Blumenthal at May 15, 2016 05:32 PM

Guidelines for posting

This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material.

Post a comment
She is currently in Cannes to support her daughter Kendall Jenners new partnership with Magnum.

But Kris Jenner attempted to upstage her second youngest child, 20, when they both attended an exclusive soiree for Magnum on Thursday evening.

The 60-year-old momager put her ample assets on display in a very short plunging black and gold mini dress as they were pictured leaving the venue.

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All eyes on her: Momager Kris Jenner, 60, attempted to upstage her daughter Kendall, 20, on Thursday evening when they attended an exclusive Magnum party together in Cannes

Timeless: She showed off her legs in her super short mini dress which she teamed with a pair of strappy sandals

The show-stopping mini dress showcased her shapely legs in the ensemble while she added height to her look with black strappy heels.

She accessorised with a small black clutch and diamond stud earrings, while she went for glamorous make-up which featured a sultry smokey eye.

Meanwhile Kendall wowed in a gorgeous patterned gown with a plunging neckline as she kept the party going at the evening event during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival.

Team work makes the dream work: Kendall stayed close to her mother and kept her hand on her shoulder as they left the venue later that evening

Move over, mum: Kris blocked Kendall's look from the cameras as she stole the show in her glitzy number

Working it: She put her ample assets on display in plunging black and gold mini dress as she made her way from her car to the venue earlier that evening

Keeping up with the kids: The mini dress showcased her shapely legs in the ensemble while she added height to her look with black strappy heels

The 20-year-old showed off some serious skin in the daring dress, which was cut to under the bust and featured a thigh-skimming hemline.

Kendall's striking dress featured a colourful overlay in flattering shades of orange, purple and brown.

Earlier in the day Kris Jenner proved she's the ultimate momager as she left the Magnum Party and effortlessly managed to promote her youngest child Kylie, 18, at the same time.

Look at her go: Meanwhile Kendall wowed in a gorgeous patterned gown with a plunging neckline as she kept the party going at the evening event during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival

Leggy lady: The 20-year-old showed off some serious skin in the daring dress, which was cut to under the bust and featured a thigh-skimming hemline

Like mother, like daughter: Kendall's striking dress featured a colourful overlay in flattering shades of orange, purple and brown

Crafty Kris left the bash with the May issue of Glamour magazine in one hand, giving onlookers a not-so-subtle look at her daughter's face on the cover.

The savvy star is certainly no stranger to promoting her offspring, regularly sharing their latest ventures on her social media accounts.

Kris was on top form following the Magnum boat party, where she mingled with a host of famous faces who have descended upon the French Riviera for the annual film festival.

See Kylie Jenner upates as mom Kris promotes daughter's Glamour cover at Cannes

Not-so-subtle product placement: Kris Jenner managed to show off her youngest child Kylie's latest magazine cover while supporting her daughter Kendall at the Magnum Party

Momager duties: Crafty Kris left the bash with Kylie's May Glamour cover in one hand, giving onlookers a good look at the magazine

The mother and daughter duo were there to 'Release The Beast' with the ice cream brand as they simultaneously run the Kendall x Magnum campaign.

Magnum have recently gone high fashion, recruiting the likes of British beauty Suki Waterhouse to work with them.

Kris embraced the nautical theme of the yacht party by donning stripy separates, pairing a loose top with cropped trousers.

Ahoy there! Kris embraced the nautical theme of the yacht party by donning stripy separates, pairing a loose top with cropped trousers

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians matriarch set off her ensemble with a white satchel, statement earrings and a pair of funky strappy heels.

Kris previously revealed that while she loves how close her family unit is, she's pleased everyone has their own houses so they can retain a sense of privacy.

'Kourtney and Khloe and Rob and Kylie live about a mile away  all in the same gated community, all down the street from each other', she said during a press conference earlier this year.

'Then Kim and I are on the other side of that  so we're all super close. Kendall is the smart one  she moved across town!'

Proud mama: The savvy star is certainly no stranger to promoting her offspring, regularly sharing their latest ventures on her social media accounts
She's best known for having played girl next door Miranda Beaumont on Wonderland.

But on Thursday, Anna Bamford looked far from ordinary at the InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards.

The Sydney-born actress hit the red carpet in an elegant black ankle-length dress that showed off her glowing complexion and stunning physique.

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Turning heads: Anna hit the red carpet in a fitted black gown which showcased her stunning physique

Her look was paired with strappy black heels and smoldering makeup to compliment her effortlessly chic look.

The 26-year-old oozed confidence and sex appeal as her tousled blond locks neatly framed her camera ready face.

On Instagram, Anna revealed that she had prepared for the red carpet event by undergoing a blueberry peel procedure at The Clinic, which is known to revive dull skin.

'#redcarpetready thanks to @theclinicau for making my skin feel so fresh and bright for tonight's @instylemag #womenofstyle awards and of course the very talented @stuartbanehair and @sophpagett for the H&M you guys are the best! #theclinic #blueberryfacial,' she wrote alongside a selfie.

Radiant: Anna showed off her healthy glow and silky tresses while posing for photos

Anna, a 2012 graduate of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), joined the likes of former bikini model, Lara Worthington, and David Jones Ambassador, Jessica Gomes, at the prestigious event, which was held at The Star Event Centre in Sydney.

The InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards honours notable women across nine categories including Fashion, Beauty and Arts & Culture.

The Aussie actress, who was once nominated for a Logie Award for most outstanding newcomer, is no doubt an inspiration to her fans.

Last year, the bubbly starlet gushed about working alongside two-time Academy Awwrd-winning actress Cate Blanchett, after starring in the Sydney Theatre Company's production of the Anton Chekhov play The Present.

She hailed the Carol star as being among women whom she is most inspired by.

'Cate Blanchett, as an actress but also as a person. She is a phenomenal, kind, loving, generous woman,' Anna told The Sydney Morning Herald when asked whom she admires.

She added that working with Cate was 'a dream come true.'
The last show David Bowie worked on before he died - a sequel of sorts to The Man Who Fell To Earth - will land in London before long.

The show, Lazarus, was playing off Broadway when the Starman passed away in early January.

It was co-written by Bowie and dramatist Enda Walsh and starred Michael C. Hall as Thomas Jerome Newton - the character Bowie played in Nicolas Roegs 1976 classic film The Man Who Fell To Earth, which was itself based on a novel by Walter Tevis.

The last show David Bowie worked on before he died - a sequel of sorts called Lazarus to The Man Who Fell To Earth - will land in London before long

Except that Newtons now known as just Newton. And hes a wealthy dude. And because hes an extra-terrestrial, he hasnt aged a day. Directed by Ivo van Hove at the New York Theatre Workshop, the entire run was sold out.

There was talk of Lazarus heading to London last year, with Bowie closely involved in conversations with producer Robert Fox. And now, I understand an 800-seat temporary theatre will be built as part of the Kings Cross Theatre complex (where The Railway Children is running) to house it.

Fox wouldnt comment, but the shows creative team want Hall to play Newton in London  if hes available.

No start date has been set, but talk is of a late autumn 2016 or early spring 2017 opening.

Lazarus, which has a surreal vibe about it, will likely undergo tweaking and fine-tuning before it opens in London.

Several of Bowies most famous songs are included in the show, among them Changes, Absolute Beginners and The Man Who Sold The World. It will be huge.

Andrew Lloyd Webber could not comprehend why the musical Showboat, which garnered five star notices, would sail out of one of his theatres early. Its a bloody good show, he said, with genuine hurt in his voice. I just dont get it.

Showboat steamed down from Sheffield and into the New London, but closes on August 27, so please go to see it before then!

Meanwhile, the composers hit Broadway musical School Of Rock, based on the Jack Black film, was due to open at the New London next May. Were looking into whether we can get into the theatre in November. But were by no means confirmed, he said.

Andrew Lloyd Webber could not comprehend why the musical Showboat, which garnered five star notices, would sail out of one of his theatres early

He, director Laurence Connor and writer Julian Fellowes are still auditioning for kids who can play an instrument, sing, dance and act  and a leading man.

I would say theres a 40 per cent chance of it happening this autumn, Lloyd Webber (whos a bit of an air guitar rock god on the quiet) told me.

School Of Rock took four Tony nominations in New York last week.

Jones brothers are aiming to shock

Toby Jones is discussing what appears to be bathroom etiquette with Anne Reid.

The pair play mother and son in a domestic thriller film called Kaleidoscope thats been written and directed by Rupert Jones, Tobys younger brother.

Im at a studio in Stratford, East London, and on a monitor I can see Reids character standing in a bathroom doorway, discussing something with her screen offspring.

Later, Ms Reid, in a towelling bathrobe, flops next to me as Jones is filmed doing scenes on his own.

Ive driven him totally bonkers, Reid tells me, as she nods towards Jones on a screen.

Kaleidoscope is a good title because his minds messed up. Theyve got this very dark past, she says, and then stops.

Can someone tell me what Im supposed to reveal? And what Im not?! she asks, and when no reply is forthcoming, says: Its a drawing-room comedy, darling!

Toby Jones opens up on starring in a domestic thriller film called Kaleidoscope thats been written and directed by Rupert Jones, Tobys younger brother

Later I meet Jones in a dressing room. There are a lot of spoilers in this because the whole film is about unlocking the back story, he says, cautiously. Joness character, Carl, has succeeded in getting his life back together after some upheaval. Then an aspect of his past, in the shape of his mother, returns and that is the thing that triggers all the chaos.

What is it about his mother, exactly? Shes overbearing.

Jones tells me he is playing Carl as normal, but slightly off.

He and his sibling studied early Roman Polanski movies such as Repulsion and thought a lot about Hitchcock before making the movie.

They worked together on a short film a decade ago called The Sickie, but this is their first feature together. I think he did write it with me in mind, but he wasnt always sure I was going to do it because these things dont always coincide, says the actor.

But by the time Jones had been asked to look over the script, he found the three weeks needed to make the shocking thriller.
Betrayed, & He's Going To Pay

Rating:

What Would Be Your Miracle?

Rating:

Pamela from Sheffield was painted as a heroine in the documentary Betrayed, & He's Going To Pay despite going around her former partner's flat smashing it up with a hammer

Public violence has become the norm in this country. It is the automatic response to any slight or argument.

The British mode of disapproval used to be a stern look and a 'tut-tut'. Try that now and you'll find a fist in the middle of your face.

Half a dozen times in the past year, I've been threatened in the street or suffered a torrent of foul-mouthed abuse, always for non-offences  for instance, saying 'Excuse me' to a man who stood blocking the pavement while engrossed by his phone.

The scariest was the bus driver who bellowed at me for waiting at a red light and then, when I still didn't pull forward, leapt from his cab and hammered our car windows with his fists.

For many people, violence isn't merely acceptable  it is applauded. It's celebrated and glorified, and that makes more people eager to emulate it.

Betrayed, & He's Going To Pay (C5) was a sordid example, a nasty little documentary that treated violence as a virtue.

It made a heroine of Pamela from Sheffield, who took revenge when her partner left her, by going round to his flat with a hammer and wrecking everything he owned  smashing the windows, slashing the furniture, shattering the pictures, trashing the television.

When police were called, one officer was nearly brained by a stereo speaker hurled from a window.

For this, Pamela was held up by the programme as a freedom fighter, striking a blow for everyone who couldn't get what they wanted by peaceful means.

Even her ex reckoned her rampage had been the right thing to do . . . though when he said it, she was sitting next to him, and he was sweating nervously.

If we all behaved like Pamela, this would be a gangster state. But the show's panel of unknown comedians and has-been celebs seemed to think every divorce should be settled with a hammer.

'There's something amazing about beautiful, angry people,' said pundit Gail Porter.

Wronged toff Lady Sarah was lauded as a champion after she slashed the sleeves of her husband's suits and distributed the contents of his wine cellar to her neighbours

A wronged toff called Lady Sarah was lauded as even more of a champion, after she slashed the sleeves of her husband's suits and distributed the contents of his wine cellar to her neighbours.

Lady Sarah and Sir Graham were separated, but apparently her spree of destruction was justified, because his new girlfriend was 'flat-chested'.

Her favourite act of vandalism was to pour paint over his car. 'I thought: 'I haven't had an orgasm for God knows how long, but this is lovely.' '

There you have it: in Britain today, violence is as good as sex.

Oddly, we can still meet really shattering problems head on, with courage and calm. When the stressed-out parents of little Charlotte from a Gloucestershire village were told the NHS would not fund an operation to enable her to walk for the first time, they didn't go Rambo.

UNCOOL NOTE OF THE NIGHT 'It sounds like Dire Straits!' wailed choirmaster Gareth Malone as his disabled servicemen and women tried to write a song on Gareth's Invictus Choir (BBC1). Poor old Mark Knopfler  his band were once No 1, and now they're a punchline. Will they ever be popular again?

Anyone would understand if they'd opted to take a pot of paint-stripper to the Health Minister's personal limo. Instead, James and Kate Bottger set about raising the tens of thousands of pounds they needed to pay for their daughter's treatment in America.

Emma Willis followed their progress in What Would Be Your Miracle? (ITV), accompanying the family to the States.

More than a year later, after Charlotte had benefited from constant, intense physiotherapy, the show made the little girl's dream come true . . . by treating her to a dancing lesson at the Royal Opera House in London.

The little girl's shout of 'I'm a ballerina!' would melt an iron heart.

This three-part series has followed an unchanging format: it shows us the moment of a medical breakthrough, then winds back to reveal the story leading up to that triumph.

It's formulaic, but that doesn't matter  the producers aren't trying to win awards for original TV.
She has been impressing fashion-goers alike at the 69th Cannes Film Festival with her impressive wardrobe glamour.

And Thursday night was no exception for Naomi Watts as she dazzled crowds once again while making her way towards the lavish Tetou Restaurant for the Vanity Fair party.

Preened to perfection, the 47-year-old looked sensational in a chic off-white two-piece, consisting of a plunging number with jewelled accents and a tailored satin blazer.

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A class act! Naomi Watts dazzled crowds once again as she made her way towards the lavish Tetou Restaurant for the Vanity Fair party on Thursday night

The Hollywood beauty displayed her slender limbs in the dress, setting off her glamorous evening attire with gold strappy heels and simple designer clutch.

Her blonde tresses were swept towards the side in luscious waves, and her pretty complexion was made up of a bright pink lip and well-defined eyes.

She rounded off the proceedings with a statement ring and drop-down crystal earrings, while her talons were painted in a bold grey shade.

Preened to perfection: The 47-year-old looked sensational in a chic off-white two-piece, consisting of a plunging number with jewelled accents and a tailored satin blazer

Standing tall: The Hollywood beauty displayed her slender limbs in the dress, setting off her glamorous evening attire with gold strappy heels and simple designer clutch

Just hours before, Naomi was at her elegant best in a slimline silver gown adorned with glistening jewels as she headed to the special screening of Money Monster.

The Allegient actress hit the red-carpet with gal pal and fellow L'Oreal cosmetics ambassador Susan Sarandon, who she has spent most of the film festival with.

The A-list friends let their hair down as they playfully hugged in front of the cameras with Naomi planting a kiss on Susan's cheek before resuming their hug.

Finishing touches: Her blonde tresses were swept towards the side in luscious waves, and her pretty complexion was made up of a bright pink lip and well-defined eyes

Stunning display: Just hours before, Naomi was at her elegant best in a slimline silver gown adorned with glistening jewels as she headed to the special screening of Money Monster

Both Susan and Naomi have been hitting the film circuit together over the past few days, and the Australian star took to Instagram to cement their sisterhood.

My L'Orealista sister. We got this,' she wrote in the caption of the picture.

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.

Not alone:The Allegient actress hit the red-carpet with gal pal and fellow L'Oreal cosmetics ambassador Susan Sarandon, who she has spent most of the film festival with

Close pals: The A-list friends let their hair down as they playfully hugged in front of the cameras with Naomi planting a kiss on Susan's cheek before resuming their hug
She's been taking the Cannes Film Festival by storm, with a dizzying array of stunning, super-feminine outfits.

But for Eva Longoria on Thursday, as the evening wore on, it was time for a change, with the star opting for a seriously chic and sexy suited look for the Vanity Fair party.

The 41-year-old actress joined a litany of other stars at Tetou restaurant in Cannes for the magazine's party, wowing in an elegant black jumpsuit with just the right amount of skin on show.

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She's a super-chic! Eva Longoria rocked a sexy ensemble with an androgynous vibe as she attended the Vanity Fair party during the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday

She covered her petite curvy figure in the chic all-in-one, complete with a tuxedo-style top half and slim-fitting trousers with slashes at the bottom.

The jacket-effect top included long sleeves and a very low plunging neckline, her ample chest almost spilling out from underneath the shiny lapels, and her trim waistline was cinched in with a wide black belt.

The classy ensemble was completed with a pair of pointed heels and a glamorous clutch bag with a dainty embellishment on the top, and a round necklace sat on her collarbone.

Hello there! The top of the jumpsuit had a very low plunging neckline, her ample chest almost spilling out from underneath the shiny lapels, and her trim waistline was cinched in with a wide black belt

Stunning: The 41-year-old actress covered her petite curvy figure in the chic all-in-one, complete with a tuxedo-style top half and slim-fitting trousers with slashes at the bottom

Her brunette mane was swept up into a half-up style with long, wavy tendrils of her hair framing her face.

The Latino beauty certainly looked beautiful and not the tiniest bit fatigued, despite her hectic few days in Cannes: prior to her appearance at the iconic film festival, she was in Paris on Monday to host a Global Gift Gala event.

Eva will also host another of her charity ceremonies in Cannes on Friday, and it is expected to draw a huge roll-call of celebrities, including her best pal Victoria Beckham.

The mane event: Her brunette tresses were swept up into a half-up style with long, wavy tendrils of her hair framing her face

Well-heeled: Eva added some extra inches to her height with a pair of sky high court shoes

Earlier in the evening, Eva graced the red carpet at the star-studded Money Monster premiere, along with the likes of the film's stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as well as George's wife Amal and acting icons Julianne Moore, Jessica Chastain and Susan Sarandon, among others.

And she had truly dazzled in another all-black ensemble, cutting a sublime and typically sexy figure as she flaunted her petite curves in a classic black dress with a long fishtail hemline.

The strapless Pamella Roland-designed garment worked wonders on her hourglass frame, slightly cinching in at her nipped-in waistline before falling over her curvy hips, the fabric on the skirt pooling at her feet.

Back in black: Earlier in the evening, Eva looked a vision in a classic strapless black gown as she walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival premiere of Money Monster

Sticking to her style guns: The actress cut a sublime and typically sexy figure as she flaunted her petite curves in a classic black dress with a long fishtail hemline, from designer Pamella Roland

Someone's having fun! Having been in Cannes for much of the week, Eva didn't appear to be tiring of the fun

Its top half, a corset-style design, included a curved neckline, slightly obscuring her ample cleavage - giving just a hint away - and was covered in shimmering geometric crystal embroidery down the front and all the way down to her knees.

With just the right amount of skin on show, her bare decolletage and toned arms and shoulders, Eva oozed elegant sex appeal as she posed up a storm for the hundreds of tuxedo-clad photographers lining the crimson runway.

And, as someone who knows their best angles, the buxom babe made sure to flaunt her stunning physique to those behind her (and above) before she made her way into the star-studded screening for the film.

The Latino beauty wore her brunette mane in the glossiest of styles, falling like a curled waterfall down her bare back and preened away from her pretty face, which was kept natural with a light covering of make-up, her eyes merely accentuated with some liner and lashings of mascara.

A dainty circular necklace sat at the top of her collarbone to finish her dazzling aesthetic, a simple touch for the big night.
She was expected to make a 'huge announcement' on Friday morning, believed to be about her rumoured second pregnancy.

But Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) has certainly kept mum on any baby news, telling KIIS 106.5 FM's Kyle And Jackie O show on Friday that any any news of a second pregnancy would be kept between her and husband Sam, and she probably won't have as many as four children.

'I think being pregnant is such a personal thing for a woman. I just find it weird even talking to you about it,' the 28-year-old model and mother-of-one said.

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Keeping mum on those rumours: Appearing on KIIS 106.5 FM's Kyle and Jackie O show on Friday morning, model Lara Bingle said if she was pregnant, no one would know except her husband and close family

'Sam and I, it should just be between us and close family,' she continued, before revealing she probably won't have as many as four children, after previously expressing her desire to have a larger family.

'I think since having rocket, ... maybe not four,' she laughed, referring to the couple's first son they welcomed 13 months ago.

But she admitted her 39-year-old husband 'would have many' children if it were up to him.

'It's just life changing but the most rewarding thing,' she said of new-found life as a mother.

Between them: 'Sam and I, it should just be between us and close family,' she said, before revealing she probably won't have as many as four children, after previously expressing her desire to have a larger family

'Some of my friends don't have children and they just don't [get it].'

Earlier this week it was reported that the model was hyped to either categorically confirm or deny the fact that she's expecting when speaking to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson.

The blonde beauty was also incredibly tight-lipped about the rumours on Thursday, refusing to talk to any media as she stepped out at the InStyle Women of Style Awards in Sydney.

Speculation: The model, who already shares 13-month-old son Rocket with Sam, recently encouraged rumours when she shared this snap to Instagram concealing her stomach

Recently 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 her husband Sam Worthington are expecting a sibling for their first-born, Rocket Zot, 13 months..

Last week, Lara opened up about the possibility of expanding her brood during an appearance on Today Extra, saying: I would love to have more children, definitely.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Lara's management for comment.

Back with friends: Lara took the seat next to KIISFM 's Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson
Billie Piper will explore the strains on a woman unable to have a baby in a modern adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorcas Yerma

Billie Piper will explore the strains on a woman unable to have a baby and how infertility can damage a relationship in a new version of a classic play.

The actress, a mother of two sons, will star in a modern adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorcas Yerma.

Australian playwright Simon Stone has shifted Lorcas drama from a rural Spanish setting to contemporary London.

In the original, Yerma is a married peasant woman who endures unbearable psychological and cultural challenges when she finds that shes infertile.Scroll down for video

Piper told me, in a statement, that she believes the play is hugely relevant in our modern world of female pressure, expectations, and love lost as a result. She called it another sad yet beautiful observation of men and women, and the stuff that sets us apart.

Piper, who was last seen on stage in Richard Beans satire Great Britain at the National Theatre two years ago, was eager to point out that the piece would not be all tragedy.

Stone, who is also directing, is thought a bit of a wunderkind in his native Australia; and a brilliant adaptation of Ibsens The Wild Duck a couple of years ago at the Barbican proved that it wasnt just idle chat.

His directorial film debut, The Daughter, starring Geoffrey Rush and Miranda Otto (so good as treacherous Allison in the last Homeland series), opens here on May 27.

Pipers eclectic choices are just as exciting. On TV she went from Dr Who to Jane Austen to Penny Dreadful, the smart horror series on Sky Atlantic in which she plays Lily, the supposed Bride of Frankenstein.

in the theatre she has collaborated with the best directors in the land, including Nick Hytner, Rupert Goold, Michael Attenborough and Laurence Boswell.

Yerma has its first performance at the Young Vic on July 28 and runs till September 24.

Watch out for...

Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford, who will star in the musical Side Show as real-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton at the Southwark Playhouse. The show has a score by Henry Krieger (who did Dreamgirls) and book and lyrics by Bill Russell.

This version, originally staged in New York in 1997, will include additional material written by Bill Condon when he directed a revival on Broadway in 2014.

Louise Dearman (right) and Laura Pitt-Pulford, will star in the musical Side Show as real-life conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton at the Southwark Playhouse

The Hilton sisters used their physical appearance as the hook for their music hall act, which toured the U.S. in the Thirties.

Its a great show about the dark side of showbusiness and Ive always felt it would work best in a small venue like Southwark. Hannah Chissick will direct, with Matthew Cole choreographing. Producer Paul Taylor Mills said Krieger and Russell may come to London to revise some of their work before previews start on October 21.
Mia Wasikowska left the demure side of her character in Wonderland on Thursday.

The 26-year-old beauty stepped onto the red carpet of the Madrid premiere of Alice Through The Looking Glass, wearing an elegant red gown that featured a very plunging neckline.

The Canberra-born actress showcased her svelte figure in the stunning ensemble that also contrasted against her porcelain skin.

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Lady in red: Mia Wasikowska stunned in a red plunging dress as she attended the Madrid premiere of Alice Through The Looking Glass on Thursday

Mia's floor-length red gown was cinched in at the waist and panels of fabric draped across to accentuate her slender figure.

A plunging neckline and delicate straps revealed a generous amount of her bare decolletage as she gracefully posed on the red carpet.

The actress wore her cropped blonde locks slicked back and styled into a chic middle part.

Stunning: Mia's floor-length red gown was cinched in at the waist and panels of fabric draped across to accentuate her slender figure

Simplicity: The Canberra-born actress highlighted her eyes with a delicate swipe of mascara paired with a muted red lip

For makeup, the beauty opted for a minimal look, highlighting her eyes with a delicate swipe of mascara paired with a muted red lip.

For a final touch the Australian actress wore a pair of simple stud earrings.

The Hollywood beauty exuded style and glamour as she posed up a storm with the film's director, James Bobin, who looked dapper with a hint of whimsy in his patterned tie.

Dapper duo: The Hollywood beauty exuded style and glamour as she posed up a storm on the red carpet with the film's director, James Bobin

Sleek: The actress wore her cropped blonde locks slicked back and styled into a chic middle part

Red carpet ready: The beauty posed alongside acclaimed director James Bobin (R) and the United States ambassador to Spain and Andorra James Costos (L)

Earlier in the day, the beauty attended a photo call for the film, cutting a demure figure in an all black ensemble at the Santo Mauro Hotel in Madrid.

Mia showed off her individual style in a black T-shirt tucked into a pair of culottes that were belted tight at the waist.

Adding some height to her look, the actress finished her outfit with a pair of chunky black high heels.

Classic: Earlier in the day, Mia beauty attended a photo call for the film, cutting a demure figure in an all black ensemble at the Santo Mauro Hotel in Madrid

The Hollywood star wore her locks styled with more volume, however went with even less makeup for the event and showed off her naturally striking features.

She again cosied up for a snap with James, who layered a blazer over a knit and button-up shirt.

The whimsical fun side of his personality was once again seen in a polka-dotted pocket square, matched with shoes that featured a geometric red and black pattern.

Smile: Mia again posted up for a snap with James

Busy: Mia is currently on the promotional trail for Tim Burton original fairytale fantasy, in which she plays the lead role

Mia is currently on the promotional trail for Tim Burton original fairytale fantasy, in which she plays the lead role.

The sequel, based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, picks up with Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) three years after viewers 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.

The film is set for release in Australia in July.
She has made it through to the finals of the Eurovision 2016 Song Contest.

And during a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday, Australia's Dami Im was understandably overcome with emotions after learning of the great news.

Thanking her dedicated fans for their support, the 27-year-old went on to admit she cried straight after her captivating performance hit song, The Sound Of Silence at Globe Arena.

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She made it: During a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday, Australia's Dami Im was understandably overcome with emotions after learning she was through to the Eurovision Song Contest final

'I was so looking forward to today. My fans, the Dami Army, are the best. I was just blown away by the amazing crowd of Eurovision fans tonight,' she began.

'My family were all getting up at 5 am in Australia to watch me. I really don't cry often, but after my performance I burst into tears because everybody was just so supportive,' she added.

Dami slipped out of her shimmering silver performance gown worn during the performance, and sported a sleek black outfit for the press conference.

She wore an off-the-shoulder number which showcased her petite upper frame, the stylish ensemble teamed with a pair of delicate drop earrings.

Emotional: As she addressed the press, the singing sensation placed her hands against her chest and mouth while expressing her gratitude and heartfelt emotion

Stylish: She wore an off-the-shoulder number which showcased her petite upper frame, the stylish ensemble teamed with a pair of delicate drop earrings

As she addressed the press, the singing sensation placed her hands against her chest while expressing her gratitude and heartfelt emotion.

At one stage she was also seen covering her mouth at one stage, before holding onto a colourful ribbon that indicated she was through to the first half of the Eurovision final as a representative for Australia.

During the press conference she also added: 'I am quite a shy and quiet person.

'But when I go on stage, I am like a different person. I am empowered. Especially when the standard is so high, it pushes me hard to be even stronger.

Bring on the next round: She held onto a colourful ribbon that indicated she was through to the first half of the Eurovision final as a representative for Australia

Admission: Thanking her dedicated fans for their support, the 27-year-old went on to admit she cried straight after her captivating performance hit song, The Sound Of Silence at Globe Arena

'Australia has been a big fan of Eurovision since the 1980's, we love watching Eurovision.

'We just love the concept of coming together and playing music. I am personally just very grateful to be able to be part of this.'

On Friday the Australian songstress was selected to move forward after her stellar performance of her hit song, The Sound Of Silence.

Selfie time: Dami was seen taking a quick snap at the press conference

As it was announced that the talented Korean-Australian beauty had progressed through to the grand final she broke into an excited celebration.

Dami proudly held up an Australian flag in her arms as her team of supporters gathered around her cheering her on.

The songstress appeared overjoyed when her name was announced and threw her head back in elation while sitting in the crowd.

The beauty is now up against 25 contestants from around the globe including, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Israel, Russia, Croatia, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, The Netherlands and United Kingdom.

She did it! On Friday the Australian songstress was selected to move forward after her stellar performance of her hit song, The Sound Of Silence
 A Shell Game: Washington Post Report on Anxious French Jews | Main | Michigan Public Radio Considers It Controversial to Acknowledge Israel's Birthday 

May 13, 2016

The Money Trail Behind Jewish Voice for Peace

Jewish Voice for Peace is a fanatical anti-Israel group and a leading proponent of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign to toxify Israel. As CAMERA has documented, the group disseminates the most vicious smears against the Jewish state, including blood libels. For example, in a guest editorial in the Detroit Free Press in 2008, Jewish Voice for Peace repeated a libelous charge that Israeli troops had committed a massacre in the village of Tantara during the 1948 war for Israeli independence. The individual who had fabricated the story, a graduate student under the tutelage of anti-Zionist professor Ilan Pappe, had admitted under oath in a libel suit brought against him that there was no evidence to support the charge of a massacre. Yet the guest editorial writers continued to promote the libelous smear.

Despite ample evidence of Jewish Voice for Peace's mendacity, there is an ongoing effort by Israel's detractors in both the media and academia to portray the cultish group as a legitimate participant in the discussion about Israel and the Palestinians.

On May 12, 2016, CAMERA received information about a course claiming to be affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Global Studies Department that utilized Jewish Voice for Peace as its main information source to teach high school students about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the media, Jewish Voice for Peace is cited by journalists and commentators who share the same far left orientation. The New York Times' columnist Nicholas Kristof cited Jewish Voice for Peace in a column on Aug. 3, 2011 in which he discussed Jewish groups "seeking balance" in the United States' involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Kristof depicted the group in benign terms as one that "supports divestment campaigns against companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories."

J Street, a group funded by radical billionaire currrency speculator George Soros and an obscure Asian businesswoman named Consolacion Esdicul, also has engaged with the group. While officially not endorsing Jewish Voice for Peace, J Street has welcomed its representatives to its conferences and co-sponsored various letters promoting the Iran deal and other activities with negative repercussions for Israel.



A recent report by the Israel-based NGO Monitor illuminates those who fund the anti-Israel agitation of Jewish Voice for Peace. They include familiar anti-Israel money sources as well as some surprising additions.

In the 2014-5 period, the largest visible donations were provided by:

Rockefeller Brothers Fund- ($140,000 in 2015)

Tides Foundation- ($49,477 in 2014)

Firedoll Foundation- ($25,000 in 2014)

Schwab Charitable Foundation- ($158,800 in 2014)

Jewish Communal Fund- ($25,100 in 2015)

Most other grants were below $30,000.

The Rockefeller Foundation, along with several other foundation donors found on the list contribute to a variety of anti-Israel pressure groups.

The single largest source was the Schwab Charitable Foundation, but it's important to note that this is a donor-advised fund. Using such a fund individuals make tax-deductible contributions into a special account, and only later direct money from that account to non-profit organizations. Contributions from a donor-advised fund are decided by the donor and not by the company managing the fund, in this case Schwab.



According to NGO Monitor, $448,000 went to Jewish Voice for Peace through such Schwab donor-advised funds between the years 2012-2014.

The NGO Monitor report provides documentation of a money trail that funds an emotion-driven public relations war against Israel. It also exposes the duplicity of those in the media, academia and even the Jewish community who portray Jewish Voice for Peace as a legitimate voice within the Jewish community.

Update: This post has been modified to clarify that contributions from a Schwab donor-advised fund are decided by the donor and not by Schwab.

Posted by SS at May 13, 2016 10:57 AM

Your comments guidelines say you won't publish "factually inaccurate material." (meaning anything you don't agree with? Because my comments are all factual, while this article is NOT. I am a Jewish Israeli-American and a proud member of JVP.

We are not fanatical, we are passionate about peace, justice, and democracy.

We are NOT anti-Israel, we take issue with the Israeli government's treatment of the Palestinians under its control.

We are Jewish, we're not anti_semitic nor do we hate ourselves or our religion!

BDS, like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, is a legitimate and powerful form of protest. It is peaceful, but you treat it like a form of terrorism. BDS kills no one, it's aimed at ensuring peace, justice, and democracy.Why is peaceful protest against corporations inciting such anger in you? How is it an evil?

Libel? It's no secret that these massacres happened: Look at Israeli documents (no longer classified) for "proof" if you believe these falsehoods.

Who is smearing whom? Who is slandering whom here?

Vilifying the very mainstream Jewish (Zionist) organization JStreet?

And listing the ONLY 5 large donors to JVP as "proof" that we are "anti-Israel"? and calling these 5 mainstream organizations "anti-Israel"? If this article is the best you can come up with against BDS and JVP, you prove my point.

Posted by: Eti Levi at May 14, 2016 02:28 PM

A copy of the letter I just sent to Schwab: Its come to my attention that the Charles Schwab Charitable Foundation has been supporting "Jewish Voice for Peace" with substantial financial donations since at least 2014 ($158,800 in 2014). "Jewish Voice for Peace? is a highly partisan political organization that supports the boycott, divestment and sanctioning of Jewish-owned companies and institutions that engage in commercial and educational activities in Jerusalem and adjacent territories, the sovereign disposition of which remains to be negotiated between parties with competing claims. As such, Jewish Voice for Peace is a racist organization and implicitly supports the destruction of one of the United States closest and most important allies in the Middle East. Perhaps you (Schwab) have already received communications about this matter from other clients but I need to advise that given my personal ethical convictions, I will not do business with a company that funds racist and antisemitic organizations. Thus, failing a reply from Schwab that ALL financial donations to Jewish Voice for Peace have or will cease immediately, I will shortly be terminating my account with Schwab.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 17, 2016 09:35 AM

Eli Levy: You have aligned yourself with people who defend and proudly proclaim to 'Finish what Hitler started'and God in Heaven, Hitler on earth'. Examples of these and legions of other similar sentiments are easy to find (print, video and audio). These are the people you choose to associate with. These are the people you believe are moral voices. Indeed, your associations and assertions say more about you than it does about the Palestinian leaders you find so worthy. Thus, any of the (specious) merits of your arguments are irrelevant. To be clear, criticism of Israel is not verboten or even discouraged. The internet is exhibit A of that truth. What you really object to is being called out for being exactly what you are- and trying to cloak your broken values and the truth with deceit. You want your voice to be sacred and never challenged. Lastly, let me remind you of a simple truth The minute the first innocent dies in a war or conflict that war or conflict becomes immoral. Hence, all wars and conflicts are immoral. That said, wares can be just wars. Determining which side is just is fairly straightforward. Just listen to what their leaders, media and school curricula have to say. The number of causalities sustained does not bestow moral superiority no matter how asymmetrical. The number of causalities does not mute the deafening thunder of promised calls to genocide.



Posted by: MAH at May 19, 2016 11:03 AM



@Eti Levi I am a Christian US military officer who has worked with the militaries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. I have worked with the Palestinians on health and economic development. I have also been involved with the Lebanese. Originally, I was hopeful of peace but discovered that there was a profound hatred of Jews, all Jews ,within most of the Arab populations with whom I was involved. You claim your comments on factual. Let me deal with the Jewish right given by the international community for "close settlement" of the entire mandate of Palestine. That means that every settler on the West Bank has international right to be there. Let us dwell on "Israeli control of the Palestinians". First, the Palestinian "refugees" resident in Syria, Lebanon, etc. are under the strict control of the various Arab governments. In many cases they are given no right of employment and certainly no political rights. Secondly, Palestinians in Gaza are under the control of Hamas. On the west bank, the overwhelming percentage of Palestinians are under the direct control of the Palestinian Authority. In the Israeli administered areas the Palestinians numbers are highly inflated for political purposes. But even by the most biased UN and Palestinian Authority inflated estimates the numbers are relatively small. Also my experience has been that whenever employment is offered which would substantially benefit the daily life of the Palestinians, Jewish voice for peace joins with the groups that are hostile to productive efforts such as soda stream. I will be glad to continue my discussion with you. But in the meantime let me assure you that your efforts, although you may feel they are well-meaning,are destructive to the Palestinian population and to the "peace process" which I'm sure that you claim to wholeheartedly support.

Posted by: JOHN TRAIN at May 19, 2016 04:51 PM

Its very clear that JVP is indeed comprised of

fuzzy-minded, uninformed and somewhat fanatical far-left people, many unfortunately, who belong to the accomplished tribe that's resisted hate, stupidity, and genocide for several thousand years. Sorry, the JVP-BDS axis and their stooges will do real harm given the opportunity. Schwab's support is a reliable litmus test of closeted (?) ani-semittism - no surprise for all who chose to ignore history's painful lessons.

Posted by: orlovitz at February 22, 2018 05:37 PM

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King Lear (Richmond Theatre, and touring)

Rating:

Actors always speak of King Lear as the Everest of theatrical roles. I have, however, yet to see a really great Lear. Perhaps its because the power of the play lies less in the role itself than in the story. The great strength of Michael Penningtons performance in this soundly-crafted new production is, therefore, less about his doing a star turn and more about him proving a terrific team player.

Pennington certainly gives a high-powered performance as the cranky and capricious monarch, abandoning himself to flamboyant self-pity after banishing one daughter and falling out with the other two. His Lear cuts a truculent but wily figure and he captures all the pathos, comedy and exasperation that runs through old age. Its a hugely intelligent performance that consorts with the full range of Lears demons: he whispers, declaims and booms, but nuances every line with pride, fear, tenderness, rage or confusion.

Impressive: Michael Pennington gives a performance of great strength in King Lear and also manages to inspire the rest of a strong cast

But most impressive is the way Pennington coordinates Max Websters three-hour, but nonetheless brisk production. Adrian Linfords design evokes an Edwardian age gone to seed with weeds sprouting from gloomy masonry. Its not a startling interpretation and there are no great discoveries, but Shakespeares language is made clear and accessible. With Penningtons steely focus, the play becomes a proper epic, marching through a turbulent landscape.

Pennington inspires equally well-wrought performances from the rest of a strong cast. Scott Karim is a dark and lanky deceiver as the trouble-making Edmund. Maybe he could do with more of the rock star sex appeal needed to drive Catherine Bailey and Sally Scott, as Lears manipulative, high-maintenance daughters, crazy with desire. And maybe Pip Donaghy is a little too cheerfully resilient as Lears loyal friend Gloucester. But Tom McGovern helps keep the show well anchored with a spiky, sardonic and tersely truth-telling Kent.

Not everyone will warm to Joshua Elliott as Lears beloved Fool who is a barrel-shaped queen, singing his lines with a squeeze box. For me, though, he made a nice, melancholy, loose-screw counterpoint to Penningtons headlong self-destruction.
She was embroiled in a vicious war of words with Geordie Shore's Gaz Beadle earlier this month after she weighed in on his romantic life.

But Chloe Sims brushed off the incident as she stepped out in West London on Thursday night, slipping into a flesh-coloured bodycon dress.

The TOWIE beauty ensured all eyes were on her in the figure-hugging number, which drew attention to her ample cleavage.

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Coordinating to perfection: TOWIE star Chloe Sims opted for a muted ensemble as she enjoyed a night out in London on Thursday

Chloe, 33, set off her ruched, sand-coloured dress with a soft taupe duster jacket for extra warmth.

She completed her muted attire with a metallic clutch bag and a pair of strappy sandals.

The outspoken blonde was heavy-handed with her make-up, matching her beige lipstick to her outfit's neutral colour palette.

Eye-popping: Chloe nearly popped out of her skintight dress which could barely contain her ample chest

Working it: Chloe, 33, set off her ruched, sand-coloured dress with a soft taupe duster jacket for extra warmth

Matching: The outspoken blonde was heavy-handed with her make-up, matching her beige lipstick to her outfit's neutral colour palette

Chloe styled her platinum locks in bouncy curls, tossing them over one shoulder for touch of glamour.

Her outing comes after fellow reality star Gaz lost his cool on social media, lashing out at Chloe in an aggressive tweet.

The social media spat kicked-off because Chloe addressed Gary's threeway romp with two of his Ex On the Beach co-stars, Les Dawson's daughter Charlotte and former Ex On The Beach star Olivia Walsh.

Glamorous as ever: Chloe styled her platinum locks in bouncy curls, tossing them over one shoulder for touch of glamour

Bouncing back: Chloe's outing comes after her social media spat with Gary 'Gaz' Beadle

Heading out: Chloe left with a male companion as she headed onto a club after dinner

Taking to social media on Wednesday to vent his fury, the 28-year-old MTV star slammed Chloe for siding with his on/off girlfriend in her latest column, calling her a 'dirty little a***'.

After hearing Chloe had written about the latest twist in their rollercoaster romance in her new Star Column, Gaz launched a foul-mouthed tirade in the 34-year-old's direction.

Venting his fury, Gary wrote: '... @Chloe_Sims what you sticking your big gums in for you little dirty a**** (sic).'

Not happy: The social media spat kicked-off because Chloe addressed Gary's threeway romp with two of his Ex On the Beach co-stars, Les Dawson's daughter Charlotte and reality star Olivia Walsh

'Sticking your big gums in': After hearing Chloe had written about the latest twist in their rollercoaster romance in her new Star Column, Gaz launched a foul-mouthed tirade in the 34-year-old's direction

'Pipe down': But never one to back down over an point of principle, Chloe responded to Gary in two terse and concise messages

Not a care in the world: Meanwhile, Gary was living it up in Manchester with Ibiza Weekeneder star Jordan Davies

But never one to back down over a point of principle, Chloe responded to Gary, coolly replying: 'I was asked about it for my column, as its in the press, I didn't say anything nasty? Pipe down little boy (sic).'

And distancing herself from any other comments, she tweeted a message to her followers to clarify the situation.

She simply wrote: 'Not getting sucked into this drama, didn't say anything nasty to begin with, I have to talk about current press in my column #simple.'
There are clearly no mens jobs chez film director Guy Ritchie.

His 34-year-old wife, Jacqui, shared this picture of herself doing some decorating at their Holland Park home as Guy slumbered in the sun on his faux grass-covered roof.

The model and mother-of-three, who married the Swept Away director last summer in Wiltshire, painted their parapet wall blue while wearing a bikini and socks to save herself a pedicure.

Guy Ritchie's wife Jacqui shared a pictured of her doing some decorating while her husband relaxed (left)

You relax, dear, I got this, she joked online. Pictured: The couple together in February

You relax, dear, I got this, she joked online.

Fellow film director Arthur Landon, who is also a close friend of Prince Harry, felt compelled to note: Wheres all his podge gone?! You two are both lean beans!

Jamie gets his knickers in a twist over Jools' pants

Jamie Oliver has discovered a flaw in his wife Joolss new range of childrens underpants, which she has designed for Mothercare.

The 40-year-old restaurateur posted this picture of them and wrote: Super Cool Monday to Friday pants! Designed by my wife... so a question what about the dads!!!??? And what about Saturday and Sunday, do we go commando at the weekend?

Hes not known as The Naked Chef for nothing.

Jamie Oliver quickly noticed a problem with his wife Jools' new range of underwear - that they don't stretch to a Saturday and Sunday pair, leading him to muse where 'we go commando at the weekend?'

Jamie and Jools (pictured together) announced they were expecting a fifth baby earlier this year

Is Daisy moving in on her man?

Two years after Peaches Geldof was found dead of a heroin overdose, is her widower, Thomas Cohen, ready to buy a home with the new woman in his life, model Daisy Lowe?

For I hear that Daisy, 27, who has been going out with rock musician Tom since January, has put her maisonette in North London on the market for 1.5million.

Tom, 25, who has two children by Peaches, has been living with his parents since his wifes death. Daisy said of her parents: They want to see me get married and they want to have grandchildren.

Daisy, 27, who has been going out with rock musician Tom, her friend Peaches' widower, since January, has put her maisonette in North London on the market for 1.5million

Her hedonistic lifestyle has hardly made Kate Moss the picture of rude health, but after years of smoking and hard partying, the 42-year-old is at last taking precautions.

I dont sunbathe anymore, she says. Before it was like: Lets just get as brown as we can! Now, well, Id look ridiculous anyway.

Moss says she was advised against sun exposure many years ago by make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury.

She told me not to go out in the sun . . . I kind of ignored her, but now Im taking no risks.

The Croydon-born supermodel reveals she wears SPF 50 when outdoors.

On my face, she adds. And like SPF 4 on my legs. Im kidding! Oil everywhere else!

Natasha Barnes (pictured) has stepped up to the starring role in Funny Girl after Sheridan Smith pulled out citing 'stress and exhaustion'

Natasha Barnes has found stage stardom unexpectedly thrust upon her after Sheridan Smith  for whom she was understudying in Funny Girl in the West End  pulled out citing stress and exhaustion.

Whether the stardom sticks to 25-year-old Miss Barnes remains to be seen, but the precedents are not too great.
Melissa Doyle certainly had heads turning on Thursday night while attending the InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards.

There's no doubt the 46-year-old has never looked better after losing and keeping off an impressive 10kgs from her frame since leaving Sunrise in 2013.

Arriving at The Star in Sydney, the Channel Seven newsreader and Sunday night host stunned in a specially made navy gown designed by Australia's own Carla Zampatti.

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Looking better than ever: Melissa Doyle certainly had heads turning on Thursday night while attending the InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards in Sydney

She effortlessly exuded confidence as she posed in the one-shoulder floor-length dress with a long sleeve slit.

Wearing her long locks out in curls over her covered shoulder, the blonde beauty left her left shoulder bare, giving her a sexy yet stylish silhouette.

Keeping her make-up minimal, Melissa opted for dramatic eyeliner with some false lashes, while adding peach bronzer with matching coloured lipstick to maintain the glamorous look.

Stunning: Arriving at The Star in Sydney, the Channel Seven newsreader and Sunday night host stunned in a specially made navy gown designed by Australia's own Carla Zampatti

Very stylish: She effortlessly exuded confidence as she posed in the one-shoulder floor-length dress with a long sleeve slit

As the emcee of the night, Melissa spoke to Daily Mail Australia about finding her confidence in fashion as she's aged, admitting: 'I've become a lot more aware of what I like and I can have more confidence in picking what I like, not necessarily what might be in fashion and in the magazines'.

Revealing she is one for 'simplicity' in style and design, the popular personality named Victoria Beckham and Roland Mouret among her favourite designers and style icons.

The mother-of-two also added that she kept her fashion simple on-air so as to not take away from the news of the day or stories she was presenting across her shows.

Fashionista: Melissa has been nailing it in the style stakes as of late, pictured at the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards in Melbourne last week (L) and at the Crown Resorts Ladies Lunch in March (R)

'I think if I was wearing something ghastly it would take away from my job,' Melissa said.

'But first and foremost you flip on a show like Sunday Night to see the stories and be informed and hopefully I dress accordingly to do the program justice,' she added.

Wearing a range of silver bangles along her bare forearm and a number of silver rings across her fingers, the TV presenter also told Daily Mail Australia what she thinks makes a woman stylish.

'Knowing who you are and what you love, what you're passionate about, what you stand for, what you believe in and how you hold yourself, which is then reflected in the things you wear,' she said.

Photo time: Also attending the event was current Sunrise host Samantha Armytage

'I feel like that's almost an extension of all those other things,' Melissa admitted.

Meanwhile also attending the event was current Sunrise host Samantha Armytage.

The 39-year-old opted to buck the cocktail dress trend on the night, instead sporting black cropped culottes and a crisp white shirt.

The flared trousers swirled around the television presenter's legs as she made her way down the red carpet in suede pointed-toe pumps.

Understated glamour: The 39-year-old's masculine styled ensemble was about an understated look in addition to being comfortable

'You want to be comfortable': The Sunrise co-host revealed she styled the ensemble herself for the evening, wanting to feel both comfortable and stylish at the annual event

Posing for photographers, the blonde beauty sported a huge grin as she placed a hand inside her hip pocket to accentuate the masculine look.

Sam revealed to Daily Mail Australia on the red carpet at the event that she had styled the ensemble herself for the evening and appreciated the understated elegance of it.

'It's a little bit casual,' she said, adding: 'When you get up at 3am, you want to be comfortable and I do like a Carla Zampatti pant'.

Best foot forward: The blonde beauty sported luminous makeup and a large grin as she posed for photographers with her hand in a hip pocket and one foot forward in pointed-toe suede pumps

The TV presenter tucked a Jack + Jack partially unbuttoned shirt into her Carla Zampatti trousers and added sparkle with George Jensen jewels, while carrying a monogrammed clutch.

Speaking about what makes a woman stylish, the starlet admitted she believed humour and honesty were the key.

'Being unique, true to yourself, little bit of fun, Self-deprecating - self deprecation is honesty,' Sam told Daily Mail Australia.

Glowing with a luminous make-up look, the blonde beauty styled her shoulder-length hair sleek with a slight curl at the ends.
She's usually quite lighthearted.

And Paris Jackson demonstrated that inclination again on Thursday as she posted a photo of her latest body piercing to Instagram.

The 18-year-old's picture showed her sticking her tongue out next to a bowl of soup featuring ring-shaped pasta.

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Ready to play: The 18-year-old's picture showed her sticking her tongue out next to a bowl of soup featuring ring-shaped pasta

Though the piercing itself is barely visible, a ring noodle is clearly visible on her tongue.

Her caption read 'almost like ring-toss. but with noodles and needles.'

She didn't appear to have dressed up for the snap, as she was wearing a simple olive green tank top with a dark pattern eagle on the front.

Still popular: However, the somewhat controversial act still managed to garner almost 10,000 likes after just one day

Comments on the post were unsurprisingly mixed, with some supporters defending her playfulness, while others condemned her latest body modification as 'stupid.'

However, the somewhat controversial act still managed to garner almost 10,000 likes after just one day.

Meanwhile, the daughter of pop great Michael Jackson has been dealing with some familial issues.

Trouble: Meanwhile, the daughter of pop great Michael Jackson has been dealing with some familial issues

Apparently, the young socialite has completely severed ties with her mother Debbie Rowe.

The digitally savvy youngster recently unfollowed her mom on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Rowe responded on Facebook: One of the saddest things in this world is to see a child grow up hating one of their parents because they only got one side of the story.
She often takes to her social media sites to express herself freely.

And on Friday, Caitlin Stasey once again made another statement as she drew attention to her hairy underarms in a bold Instagram post.

Stripped down to a skimpy silver bikini, the former Neighbours star happily flashed her unkempt undergrowth while topping up her tan in the glorious sunshine.

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Got hair, don't care! Caitlin Stasey once again made another statement as she drew attention to her hairy underarms in a bold Instagram post, which she shared on Friday

She simply posted an emoji of a cactus alongside the image before sharing more pictures, one including a close up of her pubic hair.

In June last year, Caitlin debuted the beginnings of her unshaven pits in a shot she captioned: 'Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.'

The controversial actress is the creator of feminist website Herself which aims to empower women in areas of sex, gender roles and body image.

Bold: The controversial actress is the creator of feminist website Herself which aims to empower women in areas of sex, gender roles and body image

Kicking back: Stripped down to a skimpy silver bikini, the former Neighbours star happily flashed her unkempt undergrowth while topping up her tan in the glorious sunshine

Earlier this week, the 26-year-old - who is a proud supporter of the 'Free the Nipple' campaign - posed topless on Instagram - ignoring the social media platform's 'no nipple policy' when it comes to women's breasts.

In the image, posted to her 146,000 followers, Caitlyn pulled her pink top up to reveal her uncensored chest for all to see.

The photo was taken outdoors against a natural backdrop of an earthy, sun-kissed desert landscape.

'God's Country,' wrote the social justice advocate next to the spirited picture.

Daring to bare! In winter last year, Caitlin debuted the beginnings of her unshaven pits in various social media snaps

Free the nipple! Earlier this week, the 26-year-old posed topless on Instagram - ignoring the social media platform's 'no nipple policy' when it comes to women's breasts

Meanwhile, at the start of the year, the Australian beauty strongly hinted that she had tied the knot with Raising Hope actor Lucas, 30.

In January, she posted several images which show the Chicago native carrying her over the threshold and the pair punching the pair with glee.

Their close pal, actor Echo Kellum, took to Twitter to congratulate them, writing: 'Congrats to Lucas Neff and Caitlin Stasey on their marriage! They are the cutest!!! Proud to be y'all friend!'

Caitlin and Lucus have yet to address their rumoured marriage.
Sylvia Jeffreys was recently named as a DFO Insider and attended the South Wharf launch in Melbourne on Thursday.

The Today Show news presenter looked stylish for the event and donned a sophisticated trouser suit combination for the proceedings.

Beaming brightly as she arrived, the 30-year-old looked delighted to be a part of the event as she worked the media wall like a professional.

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Sophisticated style: Sylvia Jeffreys was recently named as a DFO Insider and attended the South Wharf launch in Melbourne on Thursday

Sylvia flaunted her seemingly endless legs in a pair of wide legged trousers, paired with a khaki silk vest top that she wore tucked in.

Layered over the top was a smart blazer jacket with the sleeves bunched to sit at her elbows.

The television personality finished off her look with a stylish neck tie in the same shade has her top, which was paired with sky high stilettos.

Suit's her: The 30-year-old flaunted her seemingly endless legs in a pair of wide legged trousers, paired with a khaki silk vest top that she wore tucked in

For makeup, the beauty showed off her naturally pretty features and appeared glowing, with a subtle pink gloss on her lips and mascara to highlight her eyes.

Her blonde tresses were effortlessly styled with plenty of volume and a sweeping side fringe.

At the launch event, she took to the stage with fellow Channel Nine presenter Lauren Phillips as they officially launched DFO Insider.

Beaming: The television personality finished her look with a stylish neck tie in the same shade has her top, paired with sky high stilettos and a natural makeup look

In good company: At the launch event, she took to the stage with fellow Channel Nine presenter Lauren Phillips as they officially launched DFO Insider

Earlier in the day, she took to Instagram to share a snap as she along with members of the Melbourne Today Show crew went on an 'excursion' to the factory outlet centre.

Sylvia proudly announced that she had 'great fun launching DFO Insider' on Thursday.

DFO Insider offers shoppers exclusive offers and events, and the blonde beauty appears to be delighted to be on board with the brand and spoke about it to The Daily Telegraph.

She told the publication: 'Im a big bargain hunter. I have an aversion to paying full price, I'm always on the hunt for a deal,' she said
She's a newlywed and just celebrated her second Mother's Day.

And Nicole Trunfio certainly had a spring in her step while shopping on West Hollywood's trendy Melrose Avenue on Thursday.

The 30-year-old looked chic in a floral, off-the-shoulder dress, which featured billowy three-quarter sleeves and ruffled detailing on the bottom.

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Boho babe! Nicole Trunfio certainly had a spring in her step as she was seen shopping on West Hollywood's trendy Melrose Avenue on Thursday

Nicole complimented her bohemian style with brown suede cowboy booties and a white and black purse, which was slung over her arm.

The model wore her long brunette tresses out in loose curls and hid her clear complexion behind on trend gold-rimmed sunglasses and accessorised with large hoop earrings.

She was seen texting on her phone while strolling along the famous street, showing off her impressive three-carat pear sharped engagement ring, given to her by husband Gary Clarke Jr.

Nicole then jumped into her luxury vehicle after her relaxed shopping outing.

Spring inspired: The 30-year-old looked chic in a floral, off-the-shoulder dress, which featured billowy three-quarter sleeves and ruffled detailing on the bottom

Shopping day: Nicole complimented her bohemian style with brown suede cowboy booties and a white and black purse which was slung over her arm

Walk and text: The model wore her long brunette tresses out in a loose curls and hid her clear complexion behind on trend gold-rimmed sunglasses and accessorized with large hoop earrings

The West-Australian native married her American musician beau three weeks ago in a star-studded ceremony in California.

For the nuptials, Nicole stunned in a white Steven Khalil wedding dress and had celebrity guests in attendance, including fellow Australian models Gemma Ward and Jessica Gomes as her bridesmaids.

The couple also have a one-year-old son Zion, who they welcomed in January 2015.

Bling! She was seen texting on her phone while strolling along the famous street, showing off her impressive three-carat pear sharped engagement ring given to her by husband Gary Clarke Jr

Shopping day: Following her outing Nicole was seen getting into her luxury vehicle

Over the weekend, Nicole took to social media to gush about her little man, penning a sweet tribute to him on Instagram.

Sharing a picture of herself holding onto the adorable tot, the pair have their backs to the camera as they stare up at a Lemur, presumably during an outing to the zoo.

'My dear son. How blessed I am to have a child as magical as you?' Nicole began in the caption.

Windswept: The mother-of-one looked effortlessly glam as her lock became wind blown during her stroll

Solo: The Perth-born beauty enjoyed a day shopping alone, with husband Gary and son Zion no where to be seen

Proud mother: Over the weekend Nicole took to social media to gush about her son, penning a sweet tribute to him on Instagram for Mother's Day

'How honored I am you chose me, how inspired I am by your spirit and intellect, how joyful you make me with your humour, how thankful I am that your father gave you to me, how humbled I am to be your mother,' she continued.

Gushing about her role in her son's life, Nicole wrote, 'Motherhood is the most profound thing to experience as a women, I cherish every moment.

'I hope I can guide you and teach you everything you desire and give you the tools to have a wonderful long life. I love you young little #Zion #mothersday,' she concluded.

Cutie! Nicole and Gary have a one-year-old son Zion (pictured) who they welcomed in January 2015

Newlyweds: The West-Australian native married her American musician beau, Gary Clarke Jr (L) three weeks ago in a star-studded ceremony in California
Toni Garrn looked every inch the chic supermodel as she made an appearance on the red carpet for the Under The Gun premiere event on Thursday evening in New York.

The leggy blonde supermodel looked sensational in her all white outfit.

She wore a pair of chic white cigarette trousers which she paired with a semi-sheer flowing blouse.

Runway ready: Toni Garrn looked every inch the chic supermodel as the made an appearance on the red carpet for the Under The Gun premiere event on Thursday evening in New York

The German born beauty went for a minimal make-up look as she showed off her natural beauty.

Her blonde tresses were styled in a natural straight style as she posed up a storm on the red carpet with other A listers.

Among the other guests were Brooke Shields Jemima Kirke Katie Couric and Meryl Streep.

She's a natural! The German born beauty went for a minimal make-up look as she showed off her natural beauty

The narrator: Katie Couric - who actually narrates the documentary Under The Gun - is seen here with Jemima Kirke (L) and Stephanie Soechtig (R)

Towering over her! The leggy blonde supermodel looked sensational in her all white outfit

The main event: Katie Couric looked pretty in a conservative white dress with floral detail

Smart look: Meryl Streep who posed alongside the journalist and author went for an androgynous look in a black suit and pale shirt

Katie Couric - who actually narrates the documentary Under The Gun - looked pretty in a conservative white dress with floral detail.

She teamed her outfit with a long pastel pink coat as she accessorized with a pair of strappy crimson stilettos.

Meryl Streep who posed alongside the journalist and author went for an androgynous look in a black suit and pale shirt.

Simple but chic: Brooke Shields also made an appearance at the premiere event wearing a floaty black dress and black leather jacket

Happily married: Brooke posed alongside her husband Chris Henchy for the New York premiere

Supporting: The star-studded women joined forces at the event for the upcoming documentary which will be released on Friday 13th May

Brooke Shields also made an appearance at the premiere event wearing a floaty black dress and black leather jacket.

Jemima Kirke put on quite the sartorial display in a denim blue jumpsuit with red detailing and a pair of canary yellow heels.

The star-studded women joined forces at the event for the upcoming documentary which will be released on Friday 13th May.

Creative professional: Katie Couric was seen posing with the very talented filmmaker Lee Daniels

The documentary gives a candid look at the aftermath of the Sandy Hook massacre.

The tragic event took place on December 14, 2012 where 20 children were murdered at their school by a resentful, gun-obsessed shooter.

The terrible incident was the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history.

It was also the second-deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

The shooting prompted renewed debate about gun control in the United States but still no changes in American federal gun laws have been made.

The couple that dresses together: John Slattery and Talia Balsam looked in sync for the premiere

Pretty in blue: Stephanie Soechtig - who directed the documentary - was seen with musician Michael Stipe

Retro glamour: Karolina Kurkova was also in attendance, looking glamorous in a red leather coat

Dressed up: She robed her jacket over her shoulders with a ladylike ensemble underneath
As a Victoria's Secret model, she's known for showing off her enviable figure in skimpy lingerie.

And Josephine Skriver put on quite the show as she attended a New York screening of The Nice Guys on Thursday night.

The 23-year-old 'Angel' exposed her bra and underwear in a sheer cropped top ensemble which left little to the imagination.

Eye-popping! Josephine Skriver, 23, exposed her bra and underwear in sheer cropped top ensemble at The Nice Guys screening in New York City on Thursday

The Danish model donned a skintight two-piece number that revealed her rock hard abs and long, bronzed stems.

Her see-through wardrobe was a satin, olive green striped duo with pencil skirt and halter style sleeveless top.

She styled her sandy blonde tresses pin straight and parted them down the middle for a dramatic look.

Leaving little to the imagination! The Victoria's Secret Angel donned the skintight sheer number that revealed her rock hard abs... and undergarments

The 5ft 11in statuesque beauty rounded out her look with strappy nude stilettos and opted for minimal makeup as to not draw attention away from the main attraction.

Hollywood hunks and the film's stars - Ryan Gosling, 35, and Russell Crowe, 52 - caught up on the red carpet for a photo opportunity.

They also posed with co-star and Golden Globe winner Matt Bomer, who plays John Boy in the movie.

The Gorgeous Guys! Ryan Gosling, 35, and Russell Crowe, 52 star in the 1970s set comedy

Father of two: It was revealed this week that Gosling and his longtime girlfriend, Eva Mendes, 42, welcomed baby Amada Lee last month after keeping the pregnancy secret

Gosling plays detective Holland March in the comedy, while Angourie Rice plays his daughter, Holly March.

It was revealed this week that the Drive star and his longtime girlfriend, Eva Mendes, welcomed baby Amada Lee last month after keeping the pregnancy secret.

Their second child arrived just two weeks after the first reports the couple were expecting again.

Hollywood hunks! The Nice Guys all-star lineup with A-listers (L-R) Matt Bomer, Gosling and Crowe

Gosling and Mendes, 42, also share 20-month-old daughter Esmeralda.

The couple have been together since 2011 after meeting on the set of their movie The Place Beyond The Pines.

Crowe plays a contract killer to Gosling's private investigator, with the pair working together to solve the mysterious disappearance of a porn star in 1970s Los Angeles.

The Shane Black directed comedy is released on May 20.

Coordinated couple! Emmy Award-nominated film producer Joel Silver and his wife Karyn matched their looks in satin floral garbs
Her legion of fans think she is simply the best.

And Emma Roberts certainly went someway to proving them right when she wore a skimpy vest as she went on a coffee run in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Scream Queens starlet looked in fine form indeed as she headed out for a refreshing cup of frozen java in the sweltering Californian spring sunshine.

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Vested interest: Emma Roberts caused a stir when she went on a coffee run in this tight tank top in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The 25-year-old sexpot showcased her superlative figure in her tight striped tank top, impressively tight high-waisted jeans and Converse trainers.

She completed her look with a pair of trendy brown-rimmed sunglasses, which complimented her ginger locks

Of course it should be no surprise Emma is such a stunning specimen - she is the niece of famously Pretty Woman Julia Roberts.

Her father is the famed thespian Eric Roberts, who has starred in such cinematic gems as The Coca-Cola Kid, By The Sword and Best Of The Best 2. More recently he appeared in The Dark Knight and the slightly less high profile Shannon's Rainbow.

That's torn it: Emma looked showcased her perfect pins in an extremely tight pair of ripped jeans

What a Pretty Woman: Emma certainly seems to have inherited plenty of her aunt Julia Roberts' genes

Emma recently teased her supporters by giving her opinion on how she thinks her breakout character Chanel Oberlin will be doing in the eagerly awaited second season of Scream Queens.

She said: 'Chanel's gonna be back, as bitchy as ever, looking fabulous, hopefully.

'I feel like she's gonna get a makeover, but I'm not really sure what that's gonna be.'

The new season, which will also feature old favourites Jamie Lee Curtis and Lea Michele, will air on Fox but has yet to be given a premiere date.

Rearly impressive: She managed to cram her mobile phone into the back pocket of her tight trousers

It's all in the jeans: Emma has certainly been doing her bit to remind everyone of the qualities of high-waisted denims
Kristen Stewart split from Soko just a few weeks ago.

And while the wounds may still be fresh there was no avoiding each other at the Vanity Fair magazine party at Tetou Restaurant during the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday evening.

The former lovers were pictured arriving separately to the celeb-studded bash, but tensions were most certainly a palpable reality for the two.

They got the memo: Kristen Stewart split from Soko just a few weeks ago and while the wounds may still be fresh there was no avoiding each other at the Vanity Fair magazine party at Tetou Restaurant during the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday evening

According to UsWeekly, Kristen and Soko - real name Stephanie Sokolinski - ended their relationship a few weeks ago after 'a few months' of dating.

While neither of the girls confirmed the relationship, they were often pictured holding hands and kissing in public.

But despite their split, a source further added to the publication that Kristen and Soko could get back together 'in the future.'

Twilight vibes? Kristen looked lovely - if not a little vampire-like - in her choice of attire

A bit vampish herself! Soko looked eerily similar to her former lover as they both chose Gothic attire

Their French jaunt could bring back some romantic memories given that the pair were first seen getting intimate in the French capital.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Twilight actress looked as though she could have stepped out of a classic vampire film in her striking black and white attire for the soiree.

She covered her petite frame with a pair of oversized billowing black trousers, that almost appeared to look like a skirt, her pointy heel-clad feet poking out from underneath the ostentatious hemline.

Keeping it monochrome, the Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal.

But there was more: the Hollywood beauty wore a cropped black bolero-style jacket over the top of the blouse, keeping her warm against the chilly French Riviera evening.

Black and white: The 26-year-old Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal

Dramatic look: She covered her petite frame with a pair of oversized billowing black trousers, that almost appeared to look like a skirt, her pointy heel-clad feet poking out from underneath the ostentatious hemline

Layers of fun: The Hollywood beauty wore a cropped black bolero-style jacket over the top of the blouse, keeping her warm against the chilly French Riviera evening

A couple of layered necklaces added some stylish additions to her look, as did the ravishing deep blood red lips and heavy smokey eye, adding definition to her already striking features.

Kristen's cropped platinum blonde mane was teased into messy curls, but done on purpose to give her a real bed-head appearance.

It was altogether a fitting style for the star, who is in Cannes to promote her new film Cafe Society, directed by Woody Allen and also starring the likes of Blake Lively and Jesse Eisenberg.

She spent much of the first day of the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival - Wednesday - with her cast mates as they took part in the photocall and later walked the red carpet at the premiere: the film was selected to be shown at the offical opening ceremony gala.

Striking look: A couple of layered necklaces added some stylish additions to her look, as did the ravishing deep blood red lips and heavy smokey eye, adding definition to her already striking features

It suits her! The start monochrome look was just another flawless example of unique style from the actress, who is in Cannes to promote her new film, Woody Allen's Cafe Society

Careful! As she stepped out of her car, Kristen seemed a little unsteady on her towering heels

Kristen's outfits while at the film festival thus far have been as wildly unexpected as ever: for the premiere she sported a sheer black shirt with a beautiful full skirt, and later in the evening she changed into a very casual t-shirt, skirt and trainers for the official Cannes opening night dinner.

The newly-single star - who recently split from her French girlfriend Soko - was in excellent spirits as she helped present award-winning filmmaker Woody's new project on Wednesday.

Cafe Society is the third time a film by Allen, who does not enter them for competition, has opened the festival, following Hollywood Ending in 2002 and Midnight in Paris in 2011.

The romantic comedy brings Kristen and Jesse Eisenberg together on screen for the third time, after 2009's Adventureland and last year's American Ultra.

Eisenberg's character leaves New York City for Hollywood, hoping his impresario uncle, Steve Carrell, will give him a break.

His eye is taken by Stewart, but he has to settle for friendship until she comes to tell him her lover has left her.

Making a sartorial statement: Kristen stole the show at the Cafe Society premiere as the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival got underway in the South of France on Wednesday evening

Sheer perfection: The screen siren opted for a daring shirt dress with strategically placed pockets preserving her modesty
After constant battles with sickness she chose an alternative route to attempt to solve her problems.

And model Maddy King found success with a happiness program and even brought her boyfriend Kris Smith along, she explained in an interview with The Daily Telegraph on Friday.

The 26-year-old said: 'I didn't think the breathing technique would help because I breathe all the time but after the first session, I suddenly felt this huge burst of energy and wanted to run home.'

Seeing things clearly: Maddy King found success with a happiness program and even brought her boyfriend Kris Smith along she revealed in an interview, published on Friday

The model revealed that she felt as though she was trapped in a fog and battled with her weight, although doctors were unable to determine a cause.

Since completing the six-day course she was full of praise for how it has changed her life and gushed: 'It was amazing. I'm back to the old me and I see the world differently.'

Maddy encouraged her boyfriend Kris to participate in the course and while he did take something out of it, she said: 'Hes more of a gym and lifting weights kinds guy.'

Struggling: The 26-year-old model revealed that she felt as though she was trapped in a fog and battled with her weight, although doctors were unable to determine a cause

The brunette beauty is busy juggling her thriving modelling career alongside her commitments to studying nutrition and iridology, which is six years total of study and she is currently at half way.

Maddy's busy life has been made easier after the nearly week long program, and finds she can handle things better with the increased energy.

Last month she and Kris sparked engagement rumours after they were spotted out togther wearing identical rings on their engagement fingers.

The pair quashed the rumours after only a week when Kris was seen out without his ring on as he strolled along Bondi Beach.

Couples time: Maddy encouraged her boyfriend Kris to participate in the course and while he did take something out of it, she said 'Hes more of a gym and lifting weights kinds guy'

Something to share? Last month she and Kris sparked engagement rumours after they were spotted out togther wearing identical rings on their engagement fingers but later quashed the rumours

Kris and Maddy have been dating for over three years and he previously told Daily Mail Australia an engagement isn't off the table for the couple.

Speaking at the Magic Millions races in the Gold Coast in January, Kris said: 'She's a good chick, a great girl. I'm never going to say no.'

The loved-up pair were faced with breakup rumours in July last year after Kris was spotted with former FHM model Siobhan Parekh in Sydney's Double Bay.

But the pair quickly put an end to the speculation, emerging publicly for a morning walk together.
He is caught in the middle of a storm over whether he cheated on girlfriend Katy Perry with rival popstrel Selena Gomez.

But Orlando Bloom was looking as innocent as a lamb as he attended screening of the biblical film Last Days In The Desert in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Lord Of The Rings hunk certainly did not seem a man under pressure as he paraded down the red carpet at the event, which was ironically celebrating a film which is about the temptation of Christ in the Judaean Desert.

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Butter wouldn't melt: Orlando Bloom looked angelic at a screening of biblical epic Last Days In The Desert in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The 39-year-old was looking good for his age in a blue denim jacket, which the fashion forward bounder wore buttoned at the top, jeans and chunky boots

And it seems Orlando managed to resist any temptation himself on the evening he was pictured getting very cosy with rumoured former flame Selena, 24, at a Mandalay Bay Casino's Light nightclub on Friday.

For Katy decided to let out a Roar by slamming all the gossip surrounding her man's evening out with the Latina lovely.

The 31-year-old appeared to call rumours he cheated on her with Selena a 'dumb conspiracy' on Thursday.

He looks elfy: The Lord Of The Rings star certainly did not seem to be feeling the strain

Tex-mex fan: Orlando looked like he was having a great time cuddling up to the Latina lovely at a Las Vegas nightclub at the weekend

His steady: But it seems California Gurls are his real preference as he has been dating Katy Perry since they were spotted getting cosy at a post Golden Globes party in January

The development seemed to delight Selena, who jumped on the bandwagon by retweeting Katy's statement and going on to write: '#killemwithkindness -one day they'll get it lol'.

Meanwhile Scottish oatcake Ewan McGregor, who juggles the difficult duel roles of Jesus and the Devil himself in the forthcoming film, was also in attendance.

The 45-year-old A-lister looked relaxed in an all-black ensemble of suit jacket, pullover, jeans and chunky boots.

Perthshire hunk Ewan certainly did not appear in the least bit worried about potentially being overshadowed at his own event as he cuddled up to co-star Ayelet Zurer and director Rodrigo Garcia at the exciting event.

The star of the show: Ewan McGregor did not look worried about being overshadowed at his own screening

What a jock: The handsome Scots hunk certainly seems to have been eating his porridge

And why should he, for his film, which follows Jesus in a newly-invented chapter near the end of his 40 days of fasting and praying in the desert, has already won strong reviews and a strong 77 per cent fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Indeed New York Times critic Stephen Holden called it, 'A quietly compelling portrait of the human side of Jesus, wrestling with his doubts while wandering through the Judean desert.'

The film has been given a limited release across the United States, which starts on Friday.

The three amigos: He then cuddled up to his co-star Ayelet Zurer and director Rodrigo Garcia

Hell bent for leather: Ayleet certainly stole the show with this visually stimulating dress
Gabi Grecko is known for her weird and raunchy photo shoots.

But it looks like her girlfriend, Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan, is even more outrageous than Gabi, with the former porn star participating in a very bizarre photo shoot that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination.

In the shocking photos, the 40-year-old bombshell can be seen posing in a pink bikini with an identically-dressed Barbie doll before stripping down completely naked.

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She's a Barbie girl! Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan posed completely nude next to a look-a-like Barbie doll in a shocking shoot on Thursday

To add to the abnormal nature of the images, Frenchy appears to have contorted the plastic doll into the same poses that she herself is striking.

The ghastly pictures are taken on what looks like a patio of somebody's house, with the dirt from the outdoors leaving marks on Frenchy's UV-kissed tan.

At one point the soles of the One Night with Angelique star's feet are black and filthy from the dirt.

Pretty in pink? Before going naked, the 40-year-old posed in a ruffled pink bikini

Twins! The former porn star made sure that the Barbie matched each and every pose she did

No shame: Frenchy flashed her silicone assets as she posed completely nude next to the naked doll

Frenchy proved that she certainly isn't afraid of getting down and dirty as she rolled around on the wooden patio, allowing her completely naked frame to come into contact with the grubby ground.

In some images, the blonde bombshell, who used to make $5,000 USD a week as a stripper, showed off some of the moves from her exotic dancing days by doing the splits - fortunately while wearing bikini bottoms.

Last year, the free-spirited star opened up about her love of nudity in an interview with the Review Journal.

Filthy: The One Night In Angelique star's feet were black and dirty from posing outside barefoot

Not a care in the world! Rather than be worried about the dirt and grime outside, Frenchy happily allowed her naked body to press against the grubby ground

'My mom and dad would take me to a beach that was nude or topless,' she said.

'I got very comfortable with nudity and myself  and I just like the attention I get when I'm half-naked!'

'I would always get in trouble, because my skirt would always be too short,' Frenchy continued. 'I was, like, 'Oh my God, why do I have to wear so many clothes? This is ridiculous!'

The artificial blonde is already a big reality TV star in both Europe and America, having appeared in a string of VH1 dating shows and Celebrity Big Brother UK, but it wasn't until recently that she became a name in Australia thanks to her relationship with Gabi Grecko.

She's still got it! The former Vegas stripper proved that she still has her money-making moves by doing the splits

Who let the dogs out? As Frenchy spread her legs, a dog could be seen sitting in the background, seemingly unaware of the outrageous display taking place nearby

The uninhibited stars, who are both signed to the same management agency, have been making headlines Down Under since going public with their romance early last month.

Since then they've appeared in a string of shocking shoots together, and also appeared on each other's social media pages,

At one point, they even recreated Kim Kardashian's iconic nude mirror selfie.

Happy couple: The raunchy reality star became known in Australia after dating controversial model Gabi Grecko
Australian actress Miranda Tapsell was left looking visibly uncomfortable on Sunday night when presenting the award for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress at the Logies alongside actor Craig McLachlan.

And the 27-year-old Love Child actress has admitted she hasn't communicated with 50-year-old former Neighbours star Craig since.

'No I didn't,' Miranda confirmed on Thursday when asked by Daily Mail Australia if she had spoken to Craig following their time on stage together.

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No contact: Love Child actress Miranda Tapsell has admitted she hasn't communicated with former Neighbours star Craig McLachlan since the Logie Awards, when he arguably got quite close to her on stage

Walking the red carpet at the InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards in Sydney, the actress said she was keen to move on from the incident and not talk about it further.

It was on Sunday night when Miranda took to the stage alongside Craig to present the award for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress at the TV Week Logie Awards.

Screen veteran Craig kicked off their stage appearance by reminding Miranda of his numerous achievements - amongst them the 1990 Gold Logie he won for his role as Henry Ramsay in Neighbours.

'Wow, I was like three,' she told him.

Everybody needs good Neighbours! A playful exchange ended with actress Miranda ooking visibly uncomfortable as she co-presented the Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress with Craig at Melbourne's Crown Casino last Sunday

With their age difference proving to be a theme throughout the skit, Craig endeavoured to show Love Child star Miranda some 'VHS ' footage of himself as a young actor accepting the prestigious award from Hollywood star John Travolta.

'I like your curls,' she joked, referring to his famous mullet hairstyle. ''Did you have them rolled beforehand?'

'That ain't your salon perm that's my own mullet - natural,' he responded before reminiscing about his Silver Logies for Most Popular Actor - again won for playing the affable Neighbours character in 1989 and 1990.

Getting close: But it was as the exchange drew to a close and the acting pair prepared to announce the winner that led to Miranda - herself a former Logie winner - looking visibly uncomfortable

Playful: Screen veteran Craig, 50, kicked off their stage appearance by reminding Miranda, 27, of his numerous achievements

Past winner: With their age difference proving to be a theme throughout the skit, Craig endeavoured to show Love Child star Miranda some 'VHS ' footage of himself as a young actor

'It's not your moment, Craig,' replied Miranda.

'Yes, I know - of course,' responded Craig, undeterred. 'But you know there was in 1991 the Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor. Do we have footage on that?'

But it was as the exchange drew to a close and the acting pair prepared to announce the winner that led to Miranda - herself a former Logie winner - looking visibly uncomfortable as he placed an arm on her shoulder.

Big announcement: 'Listen, one of these extraordinary five women each of whom have delivered magnificent moving performances's this past year is about to join a very exclusive club of Logie winners,' Craig told the audience

It's all yours: The award for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress would eventually go to Celia Ireland, for her role in prison drama Wentworth

'Listen, one of these extraordinary five women each of whom have delivered magnificent moving performances's this past year is about to join a very exclusive club of Logie winners, Craig announced.

'Winners like our beautiful Miranda. And albeit a long, long, long time ago, me.'

The award would eventually go to Celia Ireland, for her role in prison drama Wentworth.

Meanwhile, when speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards on Thursday, Miranda said one Logies speech she was particularly touched by was The Project host Waleed Aly's when he won the coveted Gold Logie.

Praise: Meanwhile when speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the InStyle & Audi Women Of Style Awards on Thursday, Miranda said one Logies speech she was particularly touched by was The Project host Waleed Aly's when he won the coveted Gold Logie

'He made such a moving speech,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'That's what's so great about Waleed - he always invites you, he never presses an opinion on you, he always invites you to think about it and he sounds very open to other people's opinions.'

She continued: 'I just love hearing Waleed speak. He's a very intriguing and very passionate and interesting person to hear and I can't wait to hear more from him'.

Miranda herself made headlines last year at the Logie Awards when she used her own acceptance speech as an opportunity to highlight the lack of racial diversity on Australian TV screens.

'Put more beautiful people of colour on TV and connect viewers in ways which transcend race and unite us,' she said from the stage.

Speaking out: Miranda herself made headlines last year at the Logie Awards when she used her own acceptance speech as an opportunity to highlight the lack of racial diversity on Australian TV screens
She only just exchanged 'I dos' three weeks ago.

But there is clearly no honeymoon period for Australian model Nicole Trunfio who is on her way back to her native country with her 15-month-old son Zion.

Taking to Instagram on Friday, the 30-year-old shared two pictures as the pair made themselves comfortable on a plane, ahead of the long flight.

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Coming home: Nicole Trunfio took to social media on Friday to share pictures of herself and her 15-month-old son Zion as they pair made their way to Australia

In one snap, Zion is seen sitting up in his seat, looking cool in a knitted beanie and denim jacket, as he munches on two pretzels.

'With this guy.... Next stop #Sydney,' Nicole captioned the picture of her son.

In the next shot, the Perth-born beauty snaps of a selfie of the pair as they both show off how photogenic they are, as eyes pierce the lens.

Nicole added an angel and devil emoji in the caption, while doing a shout out to all mother's who travel on long-haul flights with babies.

Too cute! In one snap, Zion sits up in his plane seat, looking cool in a knitted beanie and denim jacket, as he munches on two pretzels

'Looks like an [angel] acts like a [devil],' the mother-of-one wrote before adding, 'Anyone who knows, knows. #wishmeluck.'

While there was no reason mentioned in the posts for her trip Down Under, it would no doubt to have some involvement during Sydney Fashion Week which begins on Sunday.

The West-Australian native married American musician Gary Clarke Jr. three weeks ago in a star-studded ceremony in California.

Newlyweds! The West-Australian native married American musician Gary Clarke Jr. three weeks ago in a star-studded ceremony in California

For the nuptials, Nicole wowed in a white Steven Khalil wedding dress and had plenty of celebrity guests in attendance, including her fellow Australian models Gemma Ward and Jessica Gomes, who served as bridesmaids on the big day.

The couple welcomed Zion in January 2015.

Clearly enjoying being a hands-on mother, Nicole took to social media to gush about her little man, penning a sweet tribute to him on Instagram on Mother's Day.

Proud parents: The loved up couple welcomed Zion in January 2015

Sharing a picture of herself holding onto the adorable tot, the pair have their backs to the camera as they stare up at a Lemur, presumably during an outing at a zoo.

'My dear son. How blessed I am to have a child as magical as you?' Nicole began in the caption.

'How honored I am you chose me, how inspired I am by your spirit and intellect,

Proud mother: Over the weekend Nicole took to social media to gush about her son, penning a sweet tribute to him on Instagram for Mother's Day

'How joyful you make me with your humour, how thankful I am that your father gave you to me, how humbled I am to be your mother,' she continued.

Gushing about her role in her son's life, Nicole wrote, 'Motherhood is the most profound thing to experience as a women, I cherish every moment.

'I hope I can guide you and teach you everything you desire and give you the tools to have a wonderful long life. I love you young little #Zion #mothersday,' she concluded.
She rubbed shoulders with the political elite at the Federal Budget launch last week.

Now Real Housewives of Melbourne star Gamble Breaux is hitting the campaign trail with Treasurer Scott Morison as he hunts for votes in her home city.

The blonde beauty was on Wednesday spotted having lunch with Morrison and her favourite MP Jason Wood at Slippery Jacks Italian restaurant in Beaconsfield.

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On the campaign trail: RHOM star Gamble Breaux enjoyed lunch with Treasurer Scott Morrison (right) and her favourite MP Jason Wood (left) at Slippery Jacks Italian restaurant in Melbourne on Wednesday

Lunch attire: The reality TV starlet wore a tight knee-length dress in a bright orange hue, which was paired with leopard print stilettos and matching purse for the power lunch

She wore a tight knee-length orange dress with a statement necklace adding some glitter to the brightly coloured dress.

The power lunch ensemble was completed with leopard print stilettos and matching purse.

When outside, Gamble kept warm in a dark fur coat that matched her dark eye shadow.

The reality stars colourful ensemble was in stark contrast to her politician friends dark suits and purple or blue ties.

A dash of colour: The reality stars bright outfit was in stark contrast to Mr Morrison's dark suit and purple tie

She also shared a photo of the trio on her social media, along with another two of their staff.

Excited to catch Scott Morrison campaign trail La Trobe with favourite MP Jason Wood, she wrote on Twitter and Instagram.

The post drew the ire of some Twitter users, with one calling her out for supporting the Liberal Party, saying: Gamble, youre political views are f***ed.

With all due respect I don't think you know what they are, Gamble shot back soon after, to which her critic said it was obvious who she supported since she was taking selfies with Liberals.

Out and about: Gamble shared a photo of the trio on her social media, along with another two of their staff. Excited to catch Scott Morrison campaign trail La Trobe with favourite MP Jason Wood, she wrote

Unsurprisingly, given how vocal she has been in her support of the government recently, she replied: Indeed! I respect your political views, at least you have them.

Gamble posted numerous photos of herself online from her trip to Canberra for the budget last Tuesday.

She was in the capital attending a function at Parliament House for Mr Wood, who is the local member for La Trobe near her home in Melbourne.

Say cheese: Gamble rubbed shoulders with the Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, whom she said had a lot of charisma and a great energy

'My favourite': Gamble was in the Canberra last week attending a function at Parliament House for Mr Wood, who is the local member for La Trobe near her home in Melbourne

Before the event she slipped her slender frame into a black knee-length skirt and a low-cut lace top.

The television personality covered her bare shoulders with a simple black suit jacket and wore her two-toned locks out and styled with a curl.

The art consultant later hit the Budget Ball and posted selfies with Tony Abbott, Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton, and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

She later told the Herald Sun she was a fan of Mr Turnbull after meeting him and was very proud to be a Liberal Party supporter.

Posing: She also snapped a photo with Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Julia Bishop (R) and her partner David Panton (L)

'The Prime Minister had a lot of charisma, he had a great energy and was really focused and so personable, I was really impressed, she said.

It was one of those moments you will never forget, meeting so many key people of our country.

Gamble also confessed to the Canberra Times that she has parliamentary question time on in the background when she is doing the housework.
She returned to Albert Square in January and revealed the crushing blow that she was dying from terminal cancer.

And in emotional scenes to air on EastEnders on Friday night, Peggy Mitchell's son Phil is struggling to come to terms with the news that she has stopped treatment and arranges a special day to remind her of everything she has to fight for.

But in true Peggy (Dame Barbara Windsor) style, the popular matriarch takes the reigns and whisks him away on a trip down memory lane.

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Memories: Peggy Mitchell (Dame Barbara Windsor) takes her son Phil (Steve McFadden) down memory lane with a lovely boat trip on London's River Thames on Friday night's EastEnders

Phil (Steve McFadden) is treated to a scenic boat trip on London's River Thames and with only months to live, Peggy tries to ease her son in to the reality of her destiny.

Only time will tell if he accepts the devastating fate of his mother.

Scenes for the funeral have already been filmed this week which saw the cast gathering up to give Peggy the send-off she deserves.

Most importantly, two of her children reunited to bid farewell in the emotional scenes.

Mother and son bond: Phil originally planned to treat his mother to show her everything worth fighting for after he learned that she had stopped cancer treatment to accept her fate

Emotional: Phil (Steve McFadden) was seen in new images carrying his mother's coffin alongside her nephew Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and Phil's son Ben (Matthew Silver)

Along with Phil, who carried the coffin, Sam Mitchell (Danniella Westbrook) made her return to the BBC One soap with her on-screen son Sam as she couldn't hold back her tears.

Noticeably absent from the proceedings was Ross Kemp, who plays Peggy's younger son Grant Mitchell.

Peggy's death scenes have been in the works for months, and saw her return at the start of the year to reveal she was dying, after Barbara told bosses she wanted her character to be killed off because she was leaving the show permanently.

Feeling low: Looking in total agony, the family teamed together to act as pallbearers while Sam Mitchell (Danniella Westbrook) comforted her son Sam

Tearful: Danniella's character was later spotted breaking down in to tears

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.

This episode airs on Friday 13th May at 8pm.

What would she say about that? Peggy's gravestone will be located next to her arch rival Pat Evans'




Kerry Washington admitted she's expecting her second child to chat show host Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday.

The 39-year-old pulled a mock 'shocked face' and laughed when then ABC host congratulated her on her happy news live on his show.

She wore all black which went some way to disguising the baby bump as she joined Shonda Rhimes for a chat about their hit show Scandal.

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She's pregnant! Kerry Washington pulled a mock 'shocked face' and laughed when congratulated on her happy news on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday

Challenged by the host as to who she revealed the news to first - her parents or Scandal creator Rhimes, Kerry laughed: 'My parents don't want me to answer that...I will not answer that'.

Jimmy asked the star how she was planning on dealing with the pregnancy during filming, as he displayed numerous pictures of her during her first pregnancy where producers had inventively used props to cover her bump on screen.

'Is Olivia Pope going to be pregnant on the show next season?' demanded the funnyman, after Rhimes refused to tell him how they will deal with the conspicuous addition.

Covered: She wore all black and kept her arms across her lap, which went some way to disguising the baby bump as she joined Shonda Rhimes for a chat about their hit show Scandal

Happy news! Kerry Washington admitted she's expecting her second child

It's Washington's second child with husband Nnamdi Asomugha.

The beauty wore a tight scoop neck top and matching mini-skirt as she walked into the theater for the afternoon taping.

Completing the actress' attire was a pair of oversize sunglasses and strappy Louboutins as she rocked some retro looking bangs.

Disguised: Jimmy displayed numerous pictures of her during her first pregnancy where producers had inventively covered her bump on screen

Spinning around: During her first pregnancy, they disguised it during her scenes using props

Plot inclusion? 'Is Olivia Pope going to be pregnant on the show next season?' demanded the funnyman, after Rhimes refused to tell him how they will deal with the conspicuous addition

Kerry already shares two-year-old daughter Isabelle with Nnamdi, with whom she secretly tied the knot in Hailey, Idaho back in June of 2013.

Motherhood seems to agree with the TV icon.

Last year she told the Los Angeles Times: 'I will say I feel really, really blessed. I just feel really blessed that I'm kind of living extraordinary dreams come true in my work life and in my personal life.'

Popping: Kerry Washington showed signs of her baby bump on Thursday as she arrived to the Jimmy Kimmel Live studios in Los Angeles

Not hiding: The 39-year-old wore a tight scoop neck top and matching mini-skirt as she walked into the theater

Chic: Completing the actress' attire was a pair of oversize sunglasses and strappy heels

Baby joy! The Scandal star, 39, is expecting her second child with husband Nnamdi Asomugha

Lucky lady: Last year she told the Los Angeles Times: 'I will say I feel really, really blessed. I just feel really blessed that I'm kind of living extraordinary dreams come true in my work life and in my personal life'

Kerry likes to keep her family life private.

She secretly married the San Francisco 49ers cornerback in 2013 and has stayed away from Twitter.

'Well...I still won't talk about my personal life on here,' she said last year. 'But...I see your tweets. And I am filled with gratitude! XO #HappyMothersDay.'

Discreet: She secretly married the San Francisco 49ers cornerback in 2013 and has stayed away from Twitter




She recently confirmed her split from long-term boyfriend James Argent and former TOWIE star Lydia Bright has talked about the 'tough decision' for the first time on Lorraine on Friday.

The 26-year-old, who has been dating her co-star on and off since they were teens said she didn't want to go into too much detail but told Lorraine the decision was out of her hands.

'Me and James broke up nearly seven weeks ago,' she told the host.

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Sad times: She recently confirmed her split from long-term boyfriend James Argent and former TOWIE star Lydia Bright has talked about the 'tough decision' for the first time on Lorraine on Friday

She said: 'It was a tough decision to make but I felt like I didn't have a choice. I'm stronger and happier now'

'It was a tough decision to make but I felt like I didn't have a choice. I'm stronger and happier now.

'I've just been away to Indonesia and I've come back a lot more positive and strong and looking forward to the future.'

Lorraine chimed: ' You'll always love him, though. You'll always be friends. I want to shake him sometimes.'

Lydia replied: You and me both, Lorraine.'

All over: The 26-year-old TOWIE star reportedly split from her co-star boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent after he relapsed into his alleged cocaine habit

The reality star seemed to be showing him exactly what he's missing as she headed to the ITV studios the day before.

Clad in a pretty floral frock, she was a vision of beauty on the outing and seemed in good spirits despite the break-up.

Cinched in at her tiny waist, the cream dress highlighted her slender curves whilst the pink floral print kept the dress looking flirty and fun.

Showing off her tanned and toned thighs, the empire line dress skimmed past her thighs, blowing behind her in the breeze.

Slinging a large nude handbag over her shoulder, she matched the accessory to a pair of patent nude heels which added some extra height to her frame.

See updates on the TOWIE stars as Lydia Bright dazzles in a flirty floral dress after Arg split

Pretty as a petal: Clad in a pretty floral frock, the 26-year-old TOWIE star was a vision of beauty on the outing and seemed in good spirits despite the break-up, sensibly changing her nude heels into ballet flats

Leggy lady! Showing off her tanned and toned thighs, the empire line dress skimmed past her thighs, blowing behind her in the breeze whilst she accessorised with a large nude handbag slung over her shoulder

Wearing her golden locks in cascading curls, her glossy tresses were styled in a side parting, framing her pretty face.

Painting her plump pout with a slick of pink lipstick, she drew attention to her sparkling blue eyes by lining her lashes with several sweeps of mascara.

Keeping her accessories to a minimum, she rounded off her ensemble with a chunky gold bracelet and a myriad of rings on her fingers.

Natural beauty: Painting her plump pout with a slick of pink lipstick, she drew attention to her sparkling blue eyes by lining her lashes with several sweeps of mascara whilst she painted her nails periwinkle

Tan-tastic: Bronzed and beaming, the reality starlet appeared to be still sporting a tan from her healing jaunt to Indonesia, after which she revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday she is officially single

Bronzed and beaming, the reality starlet appeared to be still sporting a tan from her healing jaunt to Indonesia, after which she revealed in an Instagram post on Wednesday she is officially single.

Clearly having had time to think things over, the 26-year-old reality starlet attached a lengthy caption to an image from her holiday - as she insisted that 'some things just aren't meant to be'.

It was reported earlier this month that Lydia finished things with her long-term boyfriend after he allegedly relapsed into his cocaine habit.

Onwards and upwards: Lydia Bright has broken her silence over her split from James Argent

She soon jetted away to Bali, seemingly determined to forget her troubles, when she spied a sign reading: 'I'm single and happy' - much to her delight.

The boutique owner added a caption on the image: 'Just returned from the most spontaneous, magical trip to Indonesia. I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to travel the world and experience such beauty.

'I saw this sign at the Tagenungan waterfall in Bali and it made me smile. Life threw a massive curveball at me over six weeks ago. But I can now say I have healed and I am happy. Some things in life just aren't meant to be. #Indonesia #Traveling #SEAsia #Closure #NoRegrets'.

See TOWIE updates as Lydia Bright breaks her silence over split from James Argent

Seemingly embracing fresh starts and new beginnings, Lydia got inked up with her first ever tattoo during the trip inspired by her recent turn on Bear Grylls' survival show.

Adorned with a fish hook on her index finger, she revealed she went under the needle after an incident while fishing left her scarred.

She said: 'So here it is my ever tattoo. A fish hook. In February, I took part in the biggest challenge of my life 'Bear Grylls The Island.' I got a nasty, extremely painful fish hook stuck in my finger that left me my proud scar.

Tatted up: Seemingly embracing fresh starts and new beginnings, Lydia got inked up with her first ever tattoo during the trip inspired by her recent turn on Bear Grylls' survival show

'I got this tattoo in Bali to represent my wonderful world travels and incredible experiences'.

Last week Lydia made vague references to her love split in Instagram posts before finally speaking out on Wednesday.

'Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations,' she wrote as she delivered a broad, carefree smile in front of the most serene of backdrops.

Paradise: Lydia thanked her 'difficult road' for bringing her to Indonesian paradise on Wednesday as she posted a serene snap

With wet, salted curls, the gorgeous blonde posed in a super-plunging swimsuit, swinging from a sea swing.

Thanking a 'difficult road' for bringing her to such a paradise, she appeared to reference the news that she has endured yet another tumultuous split from Arg, thanks to his alleged cocaine habit.

'Good morning from Bali,' she said. 'The most magical place in the world,' she continued as she alerted fans to her sudden getaway.

And while she's yet to reference her newly-single status directly, she welcomed the addition of 'new friends' to her trip and sipped on Pina Colada cocktails in her latest holiday pictures.

Sipping Pina Coladas: After jetting to Bali to take her mind off things, things appear to be blissful for Lydia

'New friends, old friends': She posted a group snap on Wednesday to let fans know she's 'making friends in Paradise. Cocktails and sunset.'

Lydia's impromptu trip came just one day after the revelation that on-again, off-again sweethearts James and Lydia had gone their separate ways again.

She reportedly split from her co-star after he relapsed into his alleged cocaine habit, and while she has jetted off to the sun, he has headed to bootcamp.

Looking a beacon of relaxation and zen, Lydia shared a host of defiant snaps with her 751,000 Instagram followers in which she looked a world away from her troubles.

One snap saw Lydia sat in a meditative pose while sporting traditional dress with the faintest trace of a smile at the corner of her lips.

The only way is up... Lydia has made a bid to escape her love woes by heading somewhere cleansing

She added the caption: 'Good morning from Bali, the most magical place in the world Add me on snapchat to watch my journey lydiabrightsnap'.

Lydia appeared to shun the typical Essex glam in favour of a simple look, with her blonde tresses tied in a loose bun with curly tendrils framing her face.

Another image saw Lydia in the same ensemble bathing under a water fountain, where she seemed to hint about her relationship status as she wrote 'Freedom'.

She wrote beneath the snap: 'Cleansing our mind, body and souls at the Tirta Empul #Bali #Dreams #Freedom'.

Freedom: Another image saw Lydia in the same ensemble bathing under a water fountain, where she seemed to hint about her relationship status as she wrote 'Freedom'

The blonde beauty took a picture of a glass of wine, penning the caption: 'I have arrived in Paradise. #Bali #SEAsia'.

Taking a moment out, Lydia also showed images of her dining experiences and a relaxing moment in which she applied a face mask.

James, 28, spent a stint in rehab facility The Priory in December 2014 yet sources tell The Sun that he has slipped back into his old ways.

Paradise: The blonde beauty took a picture of a glass of wine while penning the caption: 'I have arrived in Paradise. #Bali #SEAsia'

Boutique owner Lydia is said to have discovered her boyfriend 'a bit out of it' after which she became enraged due to her passionate hatred of narcotics.

While James' representation refused to comment when approached, Lydia's have remained unreachable, yet the blonde beauty seems to be in a carefree state.

See TOWIE updates as Lydia Bright jets away from her troubles as she enjoys girls' trip

Both Arg and Lydia have been at the forefront of TOWIE since its 2010 inauguration, where viewers have watched their love story play out - yet it appears the end is in sight.
Ireland Baldwin certainly knows how to turn on the glamour when it comes to red carpet events.

Having showed off her glowing, natural complexion for a trip to Disney Anaheim, CA with her father on Tuesday, the model looked remarkably different with the magic of a little contouring on Thursday.

Alec Baldwin's daughter, 20, looked like a completely different woman when she stepped out for NYLON and BCBGeneration's Annual Young Hollywood May Issue Event later that week.

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Made up: Ireland Baldwin looked very different from her make-up free appearance on Tuesday (right) when she arrived at NYLON and BCBGeneration's Annual Young Hollywood May Issue Event on Thursday (left)

With a fuller shiny pout and defined cheekbones, the stunner appeared to have streamlined her face using make-up.

She wore her hair long, sleek and straight with a sharp side parting, unlike the low-fuss up style she'd worn for the family day out this week.

In a spaghetti strap dress, the rock chick also displayed an array of arm tattoos, including what's thought to be a new dedication to surfer Noah Schweizer on her inner, upper arm.

All the glamour: The stunner wore a spaghetti strap dress with dainty white heels and a coral pedicure

Red carpet moment: She put her model figure on show with lace panels that showcased her shape

She teased her model figure with lingerie-style lace panels and elongated her tall proportions with dainty white sandals and played up to her kooky image with an Edie Parker slogan clutch.

For a summer vibe, the blonde further brightened her image with a coral-coloured manicure and pedicure.

Earlier this week, Ireland poked fun at her own miserable appearance during a day out with Alec at the amusement park.

Tall proportions: The star towered over her companions in four-inch heels for the Young Hollywood party

Who's that girl: Her appearance was distinctly different from her make-up free look

She shared a shot of her biting on her bottom lip with her arms folded on her Twitter account, poking fun at her bored expression.

Ireland wrote: 'if only you knew what happened in this moment... @Noah_schweizer wouldn't buy me a Big Hero 6 balloon'

The young model had joined Noah and father Alec for a day spent entertaining her half-sister Carmen.

Ireland was looking distinctly different in a gym leggings and a hooded top with a bomber jacket layered over the top.

Joker: She poked fun at a shot of her looking miserable during a day out at Disneyland earlier this week
It's a reality show packed with gorgeous girls trying to make it in fashion.

But there's no risk that the finalists of Germany's Next Topmodel will be stealing the show from catwalk queen Heidi Klum anytime soon.

The glamorous head judge, 42, looked every inch the supermodel dressed in a sheer black mini-dress, adorned with sparkling silver, gold, pink and blue stars.

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Star quality: There was no risk that the finalists of Germany's Next Topmodel would be stealing the show from veteran model Heidi Klum who sparkled in a star embellished dress and killer silver heels

Showing off her long, toned legs, the German born beauty added further inches to her already statuesque frame in gold and silver platform heels.

With large hooped silver earrings and her long blonde locks pulled up into a high ponytail, the star began the show wearing a black feathered coat, which she then removed to reveal her stunning outfit.

Despite it being a German show, the final was filmed in the Spanish resort of Palma de Mallorca, at Coliseo Balear - a large coliseum worthy of all the drama.

Alongside fellow judges Thomas Hayo and Michael Michalsky - who complemented each other in contrasting black and white suits - Heidi led the way in deciding who would be crowned this year's winner.

Wave for the fans: The glamorous judge looked every inch the superstar dressed in a sheer black mini-dress, adorned with sparkling silver, gold, pink and blue stars

Quick mic check: Despite the show being German, the final was filmed in the Spanish resort of Palma de Mallorca, in Coliseo Balear - a large coliseum worthy of all the drama

Stunning girls: It was a close run competition, with each of the stunning finalists modeling a range of outfits and stylish underwear

Taking centre stage: Heidi has been dating New York art dealer Vito Schnabel since 2014

Having an amazing time: Part of the Top Model franchise, the show has been a big hit in Germany, with Heidi at the helm as lead judge for every one of its eleven seasons

The three judges: Alongside Thomas Hayo and Michael Michalsky, who complemented each other in contrasting black and white suits, Heidi led the way in deciding who would be crowned as this year's top model

The only way is up: Heidi proved herself as a host as she excitedly spoke to the audience

Part of the Top Model franchise, the show has been a huge hit in Germany, with Heidi at the helm as lead judge for every one of its eleven seasons.

The winner of this year's show, elfin blonde Kim Hnizdo, beat out stiff competition from fellow contestants Fata, Jasmin, Taynara and Elena, who finished as runners up.

The 19-year-old student, who says she likes to ride, travel and take photographs in her spare time has bagged herself a modeling contract, cosmetics campaign and a spread with a fashion magazine.

It's rude to point: Showing off her long, toned legs the German born 42-year-old added further inches to her already statuesque frame in silver platform heels, worthy of Eurovision favourites Abba

Too much beauty for one room: Winner Kim Hnizdo (far left) shone on her winning night in a gold embellished floor-length gown

Consolation kiss: Heidi congratulated the runners-up, including contestants Fata (centre wearing pink), Jasmin, Taynara and Elena

With the highlight of her career so far being an evening spent alongside Heidi at amfAR-Gala in New York, the young starlet shone on her winning night in a gold embellished floor-length gown.

After the show had wrapped, Heidi returned back to her hotel to find a massive bunch of roses waiting for her on her bed.

Hinting that they were from her beau, she posted a snap on Instagram, captioning it 'You are the best ..... Love you sooooo much [sic]'.

Heidi has been dating New York art dealer Vito Schnabel since 2014.

Downtime: Taking a break during the filming, Heidi resisted the temptation to tuck into the popcorn on set

Shining star: With large hooped silver earrings, and her long blonde locks pulled up into a high ponytail, the star began the show wearing a black feathered coat, which she then removed to reveal her stunning outfit
She's the Australian model and ambassador known for her flawless bikini body.

And Elyse Knowles proved just why she's earned such a glowing reputation on Friday by posting an Instagram selfie from her latest fashion shoot in Sydney.

The 23-year-old beauty flaunted her ample cleavage in a skimpy black two-piece, and captioned the snap: 'Ripper day shooting in Bronte Beach!'

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Model beahviour: Elyse Knowles flaunted her ample cleavage in a skimpy black two-piece from a bikini photo shoot on location in Sydney's Bronte Beach on Friday

She stripped down in the scorching 26C temperatures as she posed for Vogue Australia fashion photographer Emily Abay.

Elyse opted for subtle make-up and slightly smoky eyes as she pouted for a selfie while on location in the sunny beach-side suburb.

Meanwhile, earlier that day, she shared a behind-the-scenes snap taken during an April photo shoot, in which she was photo-bombed by her pet dog Isla.

A ruff day at the office? Earlier in the week Elyse also shared a racy behind-the-scenes snap from a recent glamour photo shoot in April, in which she was amusingly photo-bombed by her dog Isla

Elyse displayed her 32B breasts in a plunging singlet - but in an amusing twist, her pet pooch walked on-camera at just the wrong moment.

Referencing her canine companion, Elyse captioned the image: 'When Isla gets caught in the moment'.

Last month, Elyse shared an Instagram video from the same racy photo shoot, which quickly attracted over 7,000 Instagram 'likes'.

Busting out: Model and ambassador Elyse previously shared a behind-the-scenes Instagram video of the photo shoot staged at home

Blonde bombshell: The 23-year-old flaunted her gravity-defying breasts in a plunging beige singlet

In the 11-second clip, Elyse casts a sultry glance at the camera as her blonde hair falls loosely over her chest.

The Billabong model proudly shows off her flawless cleavage in a beige singlet, which she pulls down to display even more of her ample assets.

She also flaunts her well-toned, bronzed legs in a pair of skimpy black knickers - and opts for simple make-up and nude lipstick.

Flawless curves: Elyse put on a delightfully leggy display in just a pair of skimpy black knickers

In-between provocative poses, the curvy model is shown making a quick readjustment to her low-cut ensemble.

It would seem Elyse was afforded the luxury of shooting in her own home, as she boasted on social media: 'When the crew comes to you!'

Elyse and the team appeared to have set up a makeshift glamour studio, featuring lighting and a black backdrop.

Striking a pose: Elyse cast a sultry glance at the camera as her blonde hair fell loosely across her chest

An Apple laptop was also hooked up on a side table, perhaps to preview the day's snaps before their release.

It is not known which campaign or publication the risque photo shoot is for but she recently used her high-profile to help a charitable cause.

Earlier this year, Elyse made her debut as a Style For Life ambassador for Hagar Australia - an agency helping women and children who have survived trafficking.

Hands-on approach: In-between provocative poses, Elyse made a quick readjustment to her low-cut ensemble

Elyse is joined by AFL star Travis Cloke, celebrity hairdresser Joey Scandizzo and Muriel's Wedding star Rachel Griffiths.

Meanwhile, the Aussie beauty has developed a huge online following by flaunting her remarkably fit physique on Instagram.

But as she previously told Daily Mail Australia, her enviable figure is the product of long hours in the gym and keeping up her fitness regimen while travelling.

She's got plenty of front! The Billabong model proudly showed off her flawless cleavage in a beige singlet, which she pulled down to display even more of her ample assets

'I make sure that I can train at least once a day, but things happen,' said the globetrotting model.

'When you travel you can't take your whole fitness regimen with you, so I literally have my stop watch on my phone and I skip and I jump on things, or I do push-ups and burpees.

'I use whatever I have in my hotel room,' she concluded.

'Start the day with the smile and a little Metallica': Elyse flaunted her washboard abs and well-toned legs in this Instagram photo posted earlier this year

The fashion designer just returned from shooting with surf brand Billabong and promises that she has several other projects in the pipeline that she can't wait to reveal.

'I have a lot of goals but I'm slowly ticking them off but I'm happy where I'm at,' she stated.

'I'd love to be the face of upcoming big labels in Australia, or an ambassador for a department store.'
She's been busy sharing snaps of her romantic getaway in Dubai with Pete Wicks.

But Megan McKenna, 23, was temporarily separated from her beau on Friday as she got to work shooting her new line for Miss Pap.

Still soaking up the sun in the luxury resort, she couldn't resist snapping a steamy selfie from behind the scenes before she prepared to model her clothing.

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Eye-popping: Megan McKenna shared a steamy selfie with her Instagram followers on Friday as she snapped a picture of her ample cleavage whilst shooting her new clothing line in Dubai

Looking down at the lens with her mouth parted in a glossy seductive pout, the TOWIE star was a vision of beauty in the picture, which she captioned: 'Day 3 #meganxmisspap.'

Clad in a plunging black bodysuit, Megan showed off her ample cleavage in the sizzling snap, barely containing her chest in the skimpy fabric.

Wearing her chestnut locks loose and in waves, she framed her pretty face with the voluminous curls, which shrouded a pair of large hooped earrings.

Hot stuff: Megan McKenna revealed that her romantic getaway with Pete Wicks will contain even more tanning sessions as she shared another bikini selfie with her Instagram fans on Friday

Megan also shared another bikini selfie with her Instagram fans on Friday.

The reality starlet showcased her enviable six pack in a lime green bikini as she reclined on a sun lounger in the blazing heat.

The brunette beauty had to shield her eyes with her left hand while Pete took the snap which perfectly highlighted her deep tan.

Soaking up the sun: The TOWIE star showcased her enviable six pack in a lime green bikini as she reclined on a sun lounger in the blazing heat

Megan hasn't wasted any chance to show off her bronzed glow as she shared a sultry snap of herself soaking up the rays while in the sea on Thursday.

The 23-year-old reality flaunted her incredible figure in the skimpy two-piece, which offsets her tan to perfect with its vibrant red hue.

The reality star once again proved that her glamorous sense of style even extends to her swimwear as she posed in the remarkably clear waters in the alluring bikini.

When in Dubai: Megan couldn't stop herself from sharing multiple snaps as the pair lounged around through the day

The halter-neck design comprises of thick straps, each of which feature gold buckle detailing and sizable pink gems, while her bottoms are just about visible through the transparent sea.

The typically heavily made-up star looks to have stripped back on the make-up in favour of a more natural look for her day at the beach, her hair swept into an easy up-do.

Meanwhile, it looks like Megan and Pete's holiday isn't short of romance as the couple continue to gush over one another on social media.

Pete, 27, appeared to be admiring his girlfriend's body as they spent the day lounging on the beach on Wednesday.

Life's a beach! Megan hasn't wasted any chance to show off her bronzed glow as she shared a sultry snap of herself soaking up the rays while in the sea on Thursday

'I love Dubai': The TOWIE star then shared another snap of herself standing in the clear water

Copycat: Pete was sure to share his own snap from the same spot writing, 'The sun life...#Dubai'

Sharing a snap of Megan's pert posterior as she lay on her front in nothing but a stringy patterned bikini, the reality star couldn't help but boast.

'Best view in Dubai...' he captioned the shot, which depicted the former Celebrity Big Brother star viewing her phone as she continued to top up her already golden tan.

But the snap is just the latest in a string of doting pictures Pete has shared during their loved-up getaway.

Smitten kittens: It looks like Megan McKenna and Pete Wicks' Dubai getaway isn't short of romance as the couple continue to gush over one another on social media.

The look of love! Pete, 27, also shared a sweet selfie in which Megan appeared to be embracing the natural look as her freckles were clearly visible along her nose and across her cheeks

On Tuesday, the Essex heartthrob posted a sweet selfie of the pair, in which Megan looked to be embracing her natural beauty by wearing minimal make-up, allowing her freckles to shine through.

Her voluminous brunette locks were swept into a heavy side-part and were left to cascade along one side of her face as her boyfriend tenderly nuzzled his head into hers for the snap.

What a beaut... @megan_mckenna_ ,' he wrote alongside the amorous image.

Drinks o'clock: The couple spent their Monday night sipping on cocktails at one of the city's many nightspots

Taking in the sights! Megan shared a snap of the loved-up duo posing in front of the Burj Al Arab hotel on Tuesday

The snap saw Megan wearing the same sequinned green bikini that she sported earlier in the week, with the beauty and her new man manipulating the embellishments so that is spelled out Pete's initials 'PW'.

She added a caption on the shot reading: 'When your bikini top can make your Bfs initials #owned #PW' - marking one of few public proclamations that the long-haired hunk as her boyfriend.

The trip marks the first holiday the couple have enjoyed together, though it isn't the first bit of sun they've seen in recent weeks.

Megan recently soaked up the rays in Miami as part of a girls' holiday, while Pete enjoyed a trip to the Mexican Riviera resort of Cancun with his male pals.
She is known for making all the right fashion choices and is a bona fide queen of the catwalk.

And Lily Aldridge certainly didn't disappoint as she hit the streets of Rome, Italy, with handsome male pal Emerson Barth on Thursday afternoon.

Looking polished to perfection, the 30-year-old model wore a pared back outfit of light skinny jeans and a white ribbed top.

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Queen of the catwalk: Lily Aldridge certainly didn't disappoint in the fashion stakes as she stepped out with handsome male pal Emerson Barth on Thursday afternoon in Rome, Italy

Keeping things comfortable in a pair of tan leather pumps, the Victoria's Secret model accessorised with oversized black sunglasses and a tan suede handbag - to match her shoes.

Lily's dark brown tresses were worn pulled back in a tight bun, highlighting her flawless complexion and small gold drop earrings.

Her male companion Emerson Barth, who works as a manager for her model agency IMG Worldwide, wore a contrasting sportswear inspired look.

He paired navy velour tracksuit bottoms with a grey sweatshirt and finished off the outfit with matching grey trainers.

Polished: The 30-year-old model wore a pared back outfit of light skinny jeans, a white ribbed top teamed with tan flats as the pair snapped selfies around the city

The pair looked to be in high spirits as they laughed and chatted while walking around the historic streets of the Italian capital.

At one point the duo stopped among a throng on tourists in front of the Trevi Fountain to take a selfie in their matching black sunglasses.

The Victoria's Secret model, who is married to Caleb Followill, posted the selfie to her 3.9 million followers on Instagram.

Say cheese! Her male companion Emerson Barth wore a contrasting sportswear inspired look as the duo took a selfie in front of the Trevi Fountain

Enjoying the attractions of Rome, the model was taking some time out from her busy schedule to soak up the sun in the Eternal City.

On the same day as she uploaded her selfie snap, Lily celebrated her fourth wedding anniversary with the Kings of Leon frontman by posting a picture from their wedding to her Instagram page.

A year after their union the pair celebrated the birth of their daughter, Dixie Pearl.

But Lily revealed her husband did not want their child to follow her on to the runway.

In love: On the same day as her selfie snap, Lily celebrated her fourth wedding anniversary to Kings of Leon frontman by posting a picture from their wedding to her Instagram page

'I dont think my husband would want her anywhere near the runway,' she told People. 'But I would be proud of her no matter what she does.'

Though any potential modeling career would be years away for the adorable blonde tot, Dixie is clearly already enamored with her mother's glamorous job and all of her stunning colleagues.

According to Hello!, the little girl has watched Lily work before, and Lily even said that while watching her model, Dixie like to mimic her, and will also point out all of the familiar faces of mum's friends on the catwalk.
She was recently photographed on-set of Australia's Next Top Model in Sydney.

And it seems Elle Macpherson is enjoying spending time with her fashionable friends while filming the guest role, as she smiled backstage alongside fellow mentor Cheyenne Tozzi this week.

The glamourous pals posed for a photo on Friday afternoon, which Cheyenne later posted to her Instagram account with the caption: 'Always a pleasure'.

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Model behaviour! Elle Macpherson (right) seems to be enjoying spending time with her fashionable friends while filming on Australia's Next Top Model alongside fellow mentor Cheyenne Tozzi (left) on Friday

In the black-and-white snap, 52-year-old supermodel Elle put on an age-defying display with her flowing blonde hair and chic leather jacket.

Known for her nickname 'The Body', the Sydney-born beauty showed off her remarkably wrinkle-free features as she smiled off-camera.

Meanwhile, Vogue Mexico cover girl Cheyenne opted for a pair of thigh-high leather boots and a black jacket.

The 27-year-old rested her chin on her hand while striking a casual pose, and wore her long brunette locks in a simple ponytail.

Getting along: On Thursday, Cheyenne, 27, shared another Instagram snap of the pair enjoying a 'girls night out' at the Caffe Roma restaurant in Sydney's Potts Point

If their social media accounts are anything to go by, Elle and Cheyenne have developed a close friendship while shooting Top Model this week.

Because on Thursday, Cheyenne shared another Instagram snap of the pair enjoying a 'girls night out' at the Caffe Roma restaurant in Potts Point.

In the photo, both women are wearing matching black ensembles and have styled their hair in similar scruffy up-dos while putting on their best Zoolander-esq pouts.

Supermodel: Since her heyday in the 1980s and 1990s, Elle Macpherson has earned the nickname 'The Body'

Red carpet regulars: Cheyenne appeared at the 2016 TV Week Logie Awards in Melbourne on Sunday in a stunning red gown, and Elle was recently snapped at a New York event hosted by high street brand H&M

The younger model captioned the image: 'Hair raising stories! @ellemacphersonofficial geisha and the goofball.'

Meanwhile, on Friday afternoon Elle was both photographed filming in her guest role on Australia's Next Top Model at Royal Randwick.

She is perhaps best known for hosting the UK version of the reality TV franchise, Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model, between 2010 and 2013.
She is undoubtedly one of the most stylish women to have graced the red carpet at the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival.

And pregnant Blake Lively, 28, enjoyed yet another day of reigning supreme in the sartorial stakes as she promoted her movie, The Shallows, at the French Riviera town's Majestic Beach on Friday afternoon.

The actress - who is expecting her second child with actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 39 - turned heads as she put on a leggy display in an unusual white minidress before changing into a blue cut-out number to greet her fans.

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The queen of Cannes! Pregnant Blake Lively enjoyed yet another day of reigning supreme in the sartorial stakes as she promoted her movie, The Shallows, at Majestic Beach on Friday afternoon

Two for the price of one: She was later pictured wearing a stunning blue cut-out dress which highlighted her bump as she met her fans outside the Martinez hotel in Cannes

Her first outfit consisted of a delicate oyster-coloured silk top with gold embellished detailing, the former Gossip Girl star's dress was capped off with a quirky cape with a black clasp.

Blake added height to her frame with a pair of monochrome pointed stilettos, which served to accentuate her toned and tanned legs.

The mother-of-one toted a small black box clutch bag with pearl detailing and wore her flowing blonde locks swept into a chic up-do.

Bumping along: The actress, 28 - who is expecting her second child with actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 39 - turned heads as she put on a leggy display in an unusual white minidress

Pretty as a picture: Featuring a delicate oyster-coloured silk top with gold embellished detailing, the former Gossip Girl star's dress was capped off with a quirky cape with a black clasp

Leggy lady: Blake added height to her frame with a pair of monochrome pointed stilettos, which served to accentuate her toned and tanned legs

Scary stuff: In The Shallows, Blake plays Nancy, a young pro surfer named, who is surfing at a secluded beach when she becomes stranded on a giant rock 200 yards away from shore after a great white shark attacks her

Grinning away as she discussed her latest movie offering The Shallows, Blake completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking looks.

Shot in late 2015 in New South Wales, Australia, the horror drama is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Anthony Jaswinski.

In The Shallows, Blake plays Nancy, a young pro surfer named, who is surfing at a secluded beach when she becomes stranded on a giant rock 200 yards away from shore after a great white shark attacks her.

Talented: Shot in late 2015 in New South Wales, Australia, the horror drama is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Anthony Jaswinski

Chatty lady: Grinning away as she discussed her latest movie offering The Shallows, Blake completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking looks

Natural beauty: The mother-of-one toted a small black box clutch bag with pearl detailing and wore her flowing blonde locks swept into a chic up-do

Terrifying scenes: Blake's latest role is a departure from her usual work

Although Blake is pregnant with her second child, that doesn't mean she's taking it easy at the Cannes Film Festival.

Later that day, she changed into a blue form-fitting midi dress which had cut-out sections running throughout.

She teamed them with a pair of metallic green strappy sandals, wearing her blonde locks up in an elegant chignon.

On Thursday night, she made her way to the star-studded Vanity Fair bash alongside the likes of screen stars Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Chastain.

The actress put on a leggy display as she made her way into Tetou restaurant in a vibrant ensemble.

Happier than ever: Blake appeared in perfect spirits as she headed out into the sunshine

Nice look: She wore her caramel locks in an elegant up do as she made her way out of the revolving door

Into the throng: Blake took the time to sign countless autographs for those who waited to catch a glimpse of her

Doubling up: Her dress was made up of two layers, a green one with a blue overlay

Hey there: She waved to the crowds who had turned up to see her

The 28-year-old actress put her toned legs on display in a striped mini dress.

But it was her bright orange jacket that really stole the show thanks to its vibrant hue and the 3D floral hem detailing.

She added height to her look with glittery red heels while she held onto a round blue clutch bag.

A sight for sore eyes: Pregnant Blake put on another striking sartorial display on Thursday night as she made her way to the star-studded Vanity Fair bash held during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival

Pretty as a petal: The blonde actress put on a leggy display as she made her way into Tetou restaurant in a vibrant ensemble

Flower power: The 28-year-old actress, who is pregnant with her second child, put her toned legs on display in a striped mini dress

Turning heads: But it was her bright orange jacket that really stole the show thanks to its vibrant hue and the 3D floral hem detailing

The blonde beauty wore her locks in a simple half up-do while she kept her make-up simple with fluttering lashed and a dark pink lip.

Blake arrived once again with famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who cut a dapper figure in his red suit and spotty bow tie.

Meanwhile her Cafe Society co-star Kristen Stewart opted for a completed different style of attire as she cut a very Gothic figure for the star-studded bash.

Picture perfect: She added height to her look with glittery red heels while she held onto a round blue clutch bag

Her date: Blake arrived once again with famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who cut a dapper figure in his red suit

Gothic glam: Meanwhile her Cafe Society co-star Kristen Stewart opted for a completed different style of attire as she cut a very Gothic figure for the star-studded bash

Here she comes: The 26-year-old Twilight actress looked as though she could have stepped out of a classic vampire film in her striking black and white attire for the soiree

Working it: Keeping it monochrome, the Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal

The 26-year-old Twilight actress looked as though she could have stepped out of a classic vampire film in her striking black and white attire for the soiree.

She covered her petite frame with a pair of oversized billowing black trousers, that almost appeared to look like a skirt, her pointy heel-clad feet poking out from underneath the ostentatious hemline.

Keeping it monochrome, the Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal.

But there was more: the Hollywood beauty wore a cropped black bolero-style jacket over the top of the blouse, keeping her warm against the chilly French Riviera evening.

Black to basics: Former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria put on a busty display in a black trouser suit which was cinched at the waist with a black belt

Because she's worth it: Eva's make-up look included plenty of pink blush, bronze eyeshadow and a lipgloss

Having a ball: She added height to her ensemble with black heels while she accessorised with a bejewelled black clutch

Former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria put on a busty display in a black trouser suit which was cinched at the waist with a black belt.

She added height to her ensemble with black heels while she accessorised with a bejewelled black clutch.

Susan Sarandon let her ample cleavage steal the limelight as she flashed the flesh in an low-cut tuxedo look dress.

Timeless beauty: Susan Sarandon let her ample cleavage steal the limelight as she flashed the flesh in an low-cut tuxedo look dress

Old school look: Jessica Chastain turned heads as she arrived at the bash, which followed the premiere of George Clooney's new film Money Monster

The 69-year-old also gave glimpse of her shapely legs thanks to the thigh-high split of the ensemble.

Jessica Chastain turned heads as she arrived at the bash, which followed the premiere of George Clooney's new film Money Monster.

Typically classy in her choice of attire, the 39 year-old was on fabulous form in her retro-inspired tea dress, which was both glam and under-stated.

Style success: Typically classy in her choice of attire, the 39 year-old was on fabulous form in her retro-inspired tea dress, which was both glam and under-stated

Strike a pose: Consisting of a nude base panel with an embellished top layer, which was sexed up with a sheer backless panel

Consisting of a nude base panel with an embellished top layer, which was sexed up with a sheer backless panel.

She capped the outfit with a pair of white, strappy heels which anchored the look perfectly.

Adding a flash of colour through her distinctive hairstyle, Jessica maintained the retrospective theme by parting her mane to the side and allowing it to curl for a soft, volumous finish.
She's the Australian actress currently taking Hollywood by storm.

And Margot Robbie has climbed another rung further up the ladder of success, starring on the front cover of the June issue of US Vogue.

The stunner is flashing her famously wide smile and her bronzed skin is positively glowing.

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Sleek and sexy: Actress Margot Robbie sizzles on the front cover of the latest issue of US Vogue in a shoot believed to be inspired by her role in The Legend of Tarzan

The sun shines nicely on her: The 25-year-old actress glowed in this brown belted swimsuit

Her trademark blonde locks, which are slicked back away from her face in a wet-look hairstyle, appear slightly darker for the cover-shoot, adding to the glowing neutral tones.

Her make-up also matches the muted and warm colouring, only complimenting the blonde's natural beauty and complexion.

The 25-year-old's envy-inducing curves are on show thanks to the very sexy and slinky one-piece swimsuit the star is donning.

Vision in white: The Australian actress, who hails from the Gold Coast, stunned on the red carpet at the 2016 Met Gala in a simple white gown

The leopard-print number features thin brown leather straps which double as a belt, accentuating Margot's trim waist, as well as a plunging neckline.

The accompanying photo shoot inside the magazine sees Margot and her The Legend of Tarzan co-star, Alexander Skarsgard, in a series of steamy jungle-themed photographs.

The film is set in the years since the man once known as Tarzan (Skarsgard) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Robbie) by his side.

On the rise: The actress has enjoyed a string of successes since her big break in 2013 opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. Pictured at the 2016 Academy Awards

Margot, who hails from the Gold Coast, found her big break in 2013 opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street as Naomi.

She told US Vogue that she was hesitant at first about playing the feisty and seductive character.

'When I first read it, I thought, I have nothing in common with her. I hate her,' she said.

Versatile: The former Neighbours starlet will soon be seen in Suicide Squad, where Margot plays Harley Quinn

'It was a really tricky one to get my head around. But her motivation was "You guys are doing itwhy shouldnt I? Its this mans world, and Im going to get mine." And I understand that.'

As well as The Legend of Tarzan, the actress has various other projects in the pipeline, including Suicide Squad, in which she plays Harley Quinn.

Her movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, in which she stars opposite Tina Fey, was released in Australia on Thursday.
He's travelled through war-zones and no-go areas around the world.

But for EastEnders actor and investigative journalist, Ross Kemp, fitting in visits to Walford in-between high-risk filming nearly proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Chatting to This Morning's Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes ahead of his return to EastEnders on Friday, Kemp admitted that juggling his documentaries alongside the long-running soap had been massively stressful.

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It's a scary place: For Eastenders actor and investigative journalist, Ross Kemp, fitting in visits to Walford in-between his high-risk filming nearly proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back

'I started off in Colombia then went to Iraq and Syria, then went to Mozambique, just come back from Mongolia and I'm off on my travels again very soon.'

To sandwich that between Walford I thought was a bridge too far and I haven't finished it yet cause I've got to go back for another three weeks to finish off the story line after Barbara [Windsor] leaves.'

The star, who is 51-years-old, has certainly been packing in the travel and the filming, telling viewers 'it's been an interesting year - I think I'll be in therapy by the summer!'

Book up The Priory: The actor and journalist, who is 51-years-old, has certainly been packing in the travel and the filming, telling viewers 'it's been an interesting year - I think I'll be in therapy by the summer!'

It's all about the family: The Eastenders veteran was persuaded to return to the popular soap by his on-screen mother Barbara Windsor who plays the ill-fated Peggy Mitchell in EastEnders

Back again: Nine years after he originally starred in the soap, Ross returns to the Square playing bad boy Grant Mitchell, working with Steve McFadden, who plays his brother Phil - pictured at Peggy's upcoming funeral

Lay to rest: Peggy Mitchell is laid to rest next to her arch rival Pat Evans (Butcher), amidst a colourful array of flowers and wreaths

The Eastenders veteran was persuaded to return to the popular soap by his on-screen mother Barbara Windsor, who plays the ill-fated Peggy Mitchell.

He said: 'I got ambushed by Barbara. I was away on the family holiday I get, and then all of a sudden -[Barbara said] 'darling you're going to be there this weekend are you? Oh we might just drop in?'

'I said 'Majorca? You might just drop into Marjorca?' Anyway we had a very nice lunch, it was nice to see Barbara and her husband Scott.'

'She put it to me that she wanted to leave the show. She's been a loyal servant for many years and started going back and forth and I think she wanted to do a service to the fans and the people who love the show as she loves it, to leave with a good story-line.'

'Who can say no to Dame Barbara Windsor? Not me.'

On the sofa: Chatting to This Morning's Ruth and Eamonn ahead of his return to EastEnders on Friday, Kemp admitted that juggling his documentaries alongside the long-running soap had been massively stressful

Jet set lifestyle: 'I started off in Columbia then went to Iraq and Syria, then went to Mozambique, just come back from Mongolia and I'm off on my travels again very soon'

So nine years after he originally starred in the BBC drama, Ross returns to the Square playing bad boy Grant Mitchell, working with Steve McFadden, who plays his brother Phil, and Letitia Dean, who plays Sharon.

'First scene, first morning, three days in after coming straight back from Mozambique, jet lagged, I was really scared, really nervous.'

'I didn't want to let people down, particularly Barbara. It was emotional in many ways going back to that square where I spent 10 years of my life.'

Talking about his career as an investigative journalist Ross explained, 'I'm really proud of a Syria and Iraq special that will go out in July. We pushed the envelope to tell a story about what's really going on in terms of the fight against ISIS.'

'I think because we're not a big organisation, we managed to get exceptional access that I don't think many people have seen in this country. I interview an ISIS prisoner, absolutely, I don't think many people have seen that.'

Raising the bar: Ross explained, 'I'm really proud of a Syria and Iraq special that will go out in July. We pushed the envelope to tell a story about what's really going on in terms of the fight against ISIS'

And when Ruth asked if Ross ever feared being taken hostage in the war zone areas, he said: 'Of course that worry is there, I've got a family and everything, but also it's my job now and I absolutely adore it, I love it.'

'It's something that gives me an element of freedom to my life as well, which I probably never had when I was acting. So to be able to mix them both, it's been a very interesting year so far!'

And it looks like his two very different career paths of acting and investigative journalism finally came together on a visit to Pakistan.

'I was interviewing a guy...in a no-go area in Karachi he was a well wanted villain at the time...but on the way out I went past a tuk tuk...and woman in full headgear, you couldn't see her face at all, in the brightest Brummie accent [said] 'Are you Grant Mitchell?' Out of nowhere, which made us all laugh a bit, kind of lightened the effect of the sniper round!'

Ross will be appearing on Eastenders Friday at 8pm, and his Extreme World specials will return later in the summer.

This Morning is on weekdays, 10.30am on ITV
Sarah Stinson, a long-serving Seven Network staff member, has pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving.

The 36-year-old executive producer of The Morning Show and The Daily Edition admitted to the charge at Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Thursday.

She recorded a positive breath test on Friday April 15 after being pulled over by police while driving home in her black Audi, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Court: Sarah Stinson (R), executive producer of Network Seven's The Morning Show and The Daily Edition, has pleaded guilty to high-range drink-driving. Pictured here with boyfriend Sam Fay, a Seven sales representative

Sarah recorded a 0.173 blood alcohol level, which is over three times the legal limit according to Transport for New South Wales. (Under 0.05 is the limit for most drivers).

She told officers at Surry Hills Police Station at the time she drank three cups of white wine at work before driving.

According to a police report, her breath smelled of alcohol and her eyes appeared bloodshot, glazed and pupils enlarged during her interview.

Remorse: The 36-year-old executive - pictured with Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage (R) and talent manager Nick Fordham (C) - recorded a 0.173 blood alcohol level, which is over three times the legal limit according to Transport for New South Wales

She also admitted to last drinking alcohol about 20 minutes before being pulled over, but was co-operative and remorseful with police.

Deputy chief magistrate Chris OBrien disqualified Sarah for driving for seven months and she was also given an 18-month good behaviour bond.

Furthermore, in order to work her vehicle Sarah must provide a breath sample to a device fitted to her car  which means it will not start if alcohol is detected.

Daily Mail Australia has approached Seven Network for comment.

New role? Recently, it was speculated that Sarah could be poised to take the helm at Sunrise - presented by Samantha Armytage (L) and David Koch (R) - after the breakfast show fell behind rivals Today in the ratings

It was not known if Sarah would be replacing current Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell (L). Both Sarah and Michael are close friends of the current co-host Samantha (R)

Meanwhile, Sarah did not attend the InStyle & Audi Women of Style Awards at Sydneys The Star on Thursday after her court appearance.

In recent months, it was speculated that Sarah could be poised to take the helm at Sunrise after the breakfast show fell behind their Channel Nine rivals, the Today Show, in the ratings.

It was not known if Sarah, who is currently dating Seven sales rep Sam Fay, would be replacing current Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell, or be installed above him as Director of Morning Television.
She split from beau Tyga earlier this week and is now ready to enter the single scene.

Kylie Jenner made that obvious on Thursday when the 18-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star not only partied the night away with bad boy Scott Disick at Hyde Sunset, but also posted a racy photo to Instagram.

The sexy image the teen dream shared was taken by photographer and director Sasha Samsonova. This comes just after she shared an image by the same shutterbug where she was wearing a tight leather mini dress.

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The sister of Kendall, Kim, Khloe and Kourtney was pulling at a very tight black dress that had a plunging neckline, showing off her ample cleavage.

Her waist was impossibly tiny and her hips generous. The E! beauty had on a full face of makeup and her hair was wet, as if she had been caught in a rainstorm. She was posing in a backyard.

There was no caption.

Peace: This also comes after Tyga told E! News he was 'good' following his split from the reality star. 'Just another day and working hard and trying to get to that next level and achieve big things and evolve,' he said; here he is seen in NYC on Thursday

@sashasamsonova A photo posted by King Kylie (@kyliejenner) on May 10, 2016 at 3:10pm PDT

This also comes after Tyga told E! News he was 'good' following his split from the reality star.

'I'm good, you know? Just another day and working hard and trying to get to that next level and achieve big things and evolve,' he said.

Kylie has yet to comment publicly but shared a number of Snapchat videos from her mother Kris Jenner's house and wrote: ;Do any of you OGs remember my old bedroom? I think I'm gonna be in here for a few days.'

Getting each other through it: Newly single Kylie Jenner leans her head on Scott Disick on Thursday, who recently split from her sister Kourtney - as she's pictured for the first time since breaking up with rapper Tyga

This isn't the first time the pair have split, with Kylie's older sister Khloe Kardashian, 31, previously admitting she found it hard to keep up with them.

She said: 'I ask Kylie...I think you were just somewhere for New Year's with him and then like one day, they're not together. That's the life of an 18-year-old...So I stopped asking her, because it's confusing and I hate telling people, "Oh, they broke up" and then all of a sudden, someone pulls in my driveway and I'm like, "Oh, I thought we were done with this one."'

Sad: Kylie looked sombre as she left the Nylon And BCBGeneration's Annual Young Hollywood May Issue Party at Hyde Sunset, on her own

However, they are believed to have ended the romance for good just a few days before the Met Gala was held on May 2 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Both Kylie and Tyga attended the star-studded event but did not walk the red carpet together at the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star's insistence, however, there were seen hanging out at the Balmain after-party.

After the 'acrimonious' break-up, Kylie is said to have been angry that Tyga still took up his invitation to the Met Gala, something he only received because of his association with her.

Even if this split is final, Tyga will still be connected to the Kardashian/Jenner clan because he has three-year-old son King Cairo with his ex-fiancee Blac Chyna who is now engaged to Kylie's half-brother Rob Kardashian. The loved-up couple are also expecting a baby together.

At Hyde Sunset on Thursday night Kylie looked happy as she attended the Nylon And BCBGeneration's Annual Young Hollywood May Issue Party.

Low-key look: Kylie adopted a less than typical casual ensemble for her night out, wearing a white jumper with form-fitting leather trousers and lace ankle boots

Kylie adopted a less than typical casual ensemble for her night out, wearing a white jumper with form-fitting leather trousers and lace ankle boots.

She was guided out of the venue back to her car following the bash, soon after telling her fans via Snapchat that she's planning to stay in her old bedroom for a few days at her mother Kris' house.

Sources told TMZ that Kylie recently realised that she wants to live the single life and enjoy her lifestyle and that's the main reason the couple parted ways.

Thinking about him? Kylie failed to raise a smile as she headed back to her car

They said: 'That frequently means flying all over the world for appearances, and that didn't sit well with Tyga ... who's focusing on his music.

'She wants to jet set, he wants to chill in a studio -- and they both knew it wouldn't work.There's been constant drama over "dumb stuff" -- what to eat, what they say on social media, and so on.'

Hey there: She has been busy posting Snapchat videos as she keeps close to her fans

Breaking his silence: Kylie and boyfriend Tyga have reportedly split after more than two years together - the outing comes as Tyga finally broke his silence on the split to E! News , merely telling them, 'I'm good you know'

Flying solo: The brunette was solo on the red carpet for last week's Met Gala

Alone: She was reportedly annoyed that Tyga had attended the Met Gala because he was only invited because of her but they split in the days leading up to the red carpet event, according to reports

Blac dated Tyga from November 2011 to late 2014, and the two were engaged for less than two years.

KYLIE AND TYGA'S RELATIONSHIP: A TIMELINE August 2014: Tyga splits with Blac Chyna, the mother of his child King Cairo Stevenson November 2014: Kylie and Tyga volunteer together at LA Missions annual pre-Thanksgiving holiday dinner and he spends Thanksgiving with the Kardashians December 2014: The 17-year-old is forced to address rumours she's pregnant February 2015: Tyga posts his first picture of Kylie on Instagram as Kim's husband Kanye West tells a radio show that they 'love each other' April 2015: Tyga reveals a 'Kylie' tattoo on the inside of his elbow August 2015: Kylie and Tyga go public with their relationship as she celebrates her 18th birthday November 2015: The couple split over something 'he did' but then he spends Thanksgiving with the K ardashians for a second year in a row January 2016: It's revealed that Chyna is dating Kylie's older half brother Rob Kardashian January 2016: Tyga makes a magazine front page when a 14-year-old claims they were messaging April 2016: Rob and Blac announce their engagement and Tyga sends his blessing March 2016: Chyna reveals she's pregnant with their first child April 2016: The couple party hand-in-hand at Coachella Music Festival May 2016: Kylie and Tyga attend Met Gala 2016 separately and she walks red carpet alone

Tyga's relationship with Kylie has caused a lot of tension between Blac, Tyga - real name Micheal Ray Stevenson - and Kylie, extending even to her older sisters.

Kylie and Blac Chyna - real name Angela Renee White - had been involved in a feud for months, with the pair regularly lashing out at each other on social media.

They seemed to call it a truce last month though, claiming 'We've been best friends the whole time...' in a Snapchat in which they posed together.

Tension: Tyga is the father of Blac Chyna's (here together in February 2014) three-year-old son King Cairo after their two-year engagement

Expecting their first child: Now, Blac is expecting her first child with Kylie's older half brother Rob Kardashian

Deserves to be happy: He gave Rob and Chyna his blessing when it was revealed that they were engaged
In the 1988 romantic comedy Working Girl, she told Harrison Ford that she had 'a head for business and a bod for sin.'

Nearly three decades later, Melanie Griffith proved there's still nothing wrong with that as she enjoyed a retail splurge at All Saints store in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The 58-year-old actress struck a sinfully sexy pose in black leggings and clingy black top emerging from the store with a very large shopping bag.

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Strike a pose: Melanie Griffith showed off her famous limbs in black leggings as she visited All Saints clothing store in Beverly Hills on Thursday

Melanie was toned and fit in all the right places while stepping down the sidewalk.

Even opening her car door made her look like a model as it enabled her to flaunt more of those slender limbs in Lycra.

Melanie's light blonde hair was styled straight with bangs reaching the tops of her chic cat-eye sunglasses.

Satisfied: The 58-year-old emerged from the store with a satisfied grin and a large shopping bag

Fashionable touches: Melanie dressed up her clingy leggings and top with a designer bag and peep-toe heels

Getting organized: The star held on to a lit cigarette while placing items into her handbag

Necklaces decorated her modest decolletage while low-heeled, peep-toe shoes gave her outfit a dressy feel.

Late last month, Melanie took a trip to Vancouver, Canada to visit daughter Dakota Johnson on the set of her film Fifty Shades Darker.

Melanie was a proud mom as she gave her actress daughter a big hug right before the young brunette shot an emotional scene with co-star Jamie Dornan.

Onwards: One has to guess that Melanie found something she liked at the high-end fashion shop

Cat's meow: Melanie kept her eyes shaded behind tip-tilted sunglasses

That was a success: The actress flashed a little smile while slipping into her sporty white car

Perhaps Melanie even had some acting tips for Dakota, her daughter with former husband and actor Don Johnson.

Melanie definitely approved of Dakota, and was seen giving the 26-year-old smiling glances.

Then on May 6, Melanie struck a glamorously understated pose in black mini-dress and sheer black stockings as she attended Goldie's Love In For Kids in Beverly Hills, California.

Melanie has been single since splitting from husband Antonio Banderas in 2014.
Dancing the Can Can might have seemed like a suitable way to celebrate the glamour of France's 69th Cannes Film Festival on Thursday night.

Though in hindsight, it was not such a good idea for French actress Laure Calamy, who appeared to forgo underwear in her thigh-split silver gown.

Delivering high kicks arm-in-arm with her co-stars, Laure flashed a little too much on the red carpet in her excitement at the release of their new drama Staying Vertical.

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Cannes you not? Actress Laure Calamy did the Can Can without underwear on Thursday night as she got swept up in the excitement of the Staying Vertical premiere at Cannes Film Festival

The 41-year-old was balanced on chunky retro heels, eclipsing her counterparts with her limbre display.

With the film's director Alain Guiraudie to her right, she was linked up to actors Raphael Thiery, India Hair, Damien Bonnard and Sebastien Novac.

Like her fellow actress India, who kept her Can Can to a modest low leg flick, the brunette wore a Bardot-style gown that brushed the red carpet elegantly at just the right length.

The group were had reached a half-way point on the ascent to the Palais des Festivals on the second night of the annual event.

Going for it: Arm-in-arm with the film's director Alain Guiraudie (to her right) she was linked up to actors Raphael Thiery, India Hair, Damien Bonnard and Sebastien Novac

Flashing: She flashed a little more than she bargained for on Thursday with her limbre display

Staying Vertical is a movie about a film maker who has to raise a child by himself whilst looking for an inspiration for his new film.

It wasn't the only wardrobe malfunction involving thigh-split dresses from this year's film festival because George Clooney's glamorous wife Amal had a very near-miss the same night.

The elegant Human Rights lawyer experienced the perils of a dangerously high side split in the coastal wind at Cannes.

High kicks: Her fellow female counterpart stuck to modest low kicks on the red carpet

Cos we Cannes: The group of French men and women were celebrating their 1840s music hall dance

Lovely in lemon, Amal dealt with her wardrobe malfunction with dignity when she supported her Hollywood actor husband at the premiere of Money Monster.

The wind also caused some unfortunate problems for Caitriona Balfe when she stepped out for the photocall of the film earlier that day.

She was dressed in a cute floral dress that skimmed off high on the thigh but it was blown up to reveal her modest, flesh-coloured underwear.

More demure: They were excited about the release of the French film, which is about a filmmaker forced to raise his child while he writes another masterpiece

Wardrobe malfunction: Laure wasn't the only one with a perilously high thigh split, because Amal Clooney was also close to a wardobe malfunction

Careful! Standing beside her husband George Clooney at the premiere of Money Monster, the layer was busy adjusting her dress

Oops: The film's actress Caitriona Balfe suffered at the hands of the wind at the photocall earlier that day

Yikes: The wind caused her some unfortunate issues on the French Riviera on Thursday

Either the actress didn't notice her slip-up or she was keen to maintain her poise, she kept her composure and continued to pose instead of patting down the skirt to hide her embarrassment.

With a similar approach to Laure, exquisite actress Julia Roberts also threw caution the wind on the Cannes rule book and took of her shoes.

She made her ascent to the viewing theatre barefoot, as she discarded her heels with comfort in mind.

Easy does it: George supported his wife through her perilous red carpet moment
Cynthia Nixon and her wife Christine Marinoni took a casual, make-up free stroll through Manhattan's NoHo district on Thursday.

The downtown power couple - who are parents of five-year-old son Max - will celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary on May 27.

And while the 50-year-old actress rocked a black T-shirt and flared dark rinse jeans, the 49-year-old education adviser for Mayor Bill de Blasio opted for a mini-skirt with her lavender top.

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Out and about: Cynthia Nixon and her wife Christine Marinoni took a casual, make-up free stroll through Manhattan's NoHo district on Thursday

Provincetown International Film Festival will honour Cynthia with an Excellence in Acting Award in a special ceremony June 18 at the historic Town Hall.

The two-time Emmy winner is also mother to two children - daughter Samantha, 19, and son Charles, 13 - with ex-partner Danny Mozes.

Nixon will shoot her role as former First Lady Nancy Reagan later this month in National Geographic's adaptation of Bill O'Reilly's Killing Reagan, which airs in October.

'A Mash-up: SEX IN THE -- WEST WING,' her co-star Tim Matheson - playing Ronald - tweeted last week.

Still going strong! The downtown power couple - who are parents of five-year-old son Max - will celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary on May 27

Fuss-free: And while the 50-year-old actress rocked a black T-shirt and flared dark rinse jeans, the 49-year-old education adviser for Mayor Bill de Blasio opted for a mini-skirt with her lavender top

Soon: Provincetown International Film Festival will honour Cynthia with an Excellence in Acting Award in a special ceremony June 18 at the historic Town Hall

Blended brood: The two-time Emmy winner is also mother to two children - daughter Samantha, 19, and son Charles, 13 - with ex-partner Danny Mozes

'What a challenge and adventure! Excited to work with Cynthia Nixon as Nancy!'

Even the 66-year-old Fox News host has a small role in the TV movie, gushing on his show Monday: 'You'll be surprised who I'm playing!'

But first, the Tony winner will take on reclusive poet Emily Dickinson in the biopic A Quiet Passion - hitting UK theaters in September - with Jennifer Ehle and Keith Carradine.

Presidential project: Nixon will shoot her role as former First Lady Nancy Reagan later this month in National Geographic's adaption of Bill O'Reilly's Killing Reagan, which airs in October (pictured in 1980)

Her co-star Tim Matheson - playing Ronald - tweeted last week: 'A Mash-up: SEX IN THE -- WEST WING! What a challenge and adventure! Excited to work with Cynthia Nixon as Nancy!'
Stardust was sprinkled over rural Ireland as Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley arrived in the country to begin filming the latest instalment of the Star Wars series - Episode VIII - on Friday.

The duo touched down at Belfast Airport from where they were whisked to the remote Malin Head - the most northerly point in Ireland - which will be home to the stars while they film over the next few days.

The force was clearly with Hamill, 64, who plays Luke Skywalker, and he seemed in high spirits as he posed in front of the cameras and waved to waiting fans.

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Excitment: Stardust was sprinkled over rural Ireland as Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley arrived in the country to begin filming for the latest instalment of the Star Wars series - Episode VIII - on Friday

While Ridley - in contrast - dashed through the airport with sunglasses on and her hood up trying to avoid photographers.

The 24-year-old actress - who portrays the character Rey - wore a casual sportswear-inspired ensemble and teamed navy leggings with a blue hoody pulled tight over her head and a long navy coat.

Also at the airport was Adam Driver, 32, who plays the villain Kylo Ren, famed for his unconventional red lightsaber.

Dashing through! Ridley - in contrast to Hamill - rushed through the airport with sunglasses on and her hood up trying to avoid photographers.

Sportswear chic: The actress - who portrays the character Rey - wore a casual ensemble and teamed navy leggings with a blue hoody pulled tight over her head and a long navy coat

He rocked a laid back look pairing an on trend brown leather jacket over a white T-shirt and black jeans.

Driver's presence on set is likely to cause a stir among devotees of the science fiction movie series - as his presence on screen will be seen as a spoiler by many.

Leading actor Hamill channelled his trademark quirky style wearing an all black ensemble with a grey beanie and scarf to keep out the chill.

The 42-year-old American director Rian Johnson also joined the cast at the airport as he left to begin filming in the rural Irish location.

Kooky style: The force was clearly with Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker, as he seemed in high spirits while he posed in front of the cameras and waved to waiting fans

Relaxed: Leading actor Hamill channelled his trademark quirky style wearing an all black ensemble with a grey beanie and scarf to keep out the chill

Breathaking: The film will shoot on Ireland's most northerly shores before returning to the southern tip, close to where scenes for Star Wars: The Force Awakens were shot

Getting ready: Jedi Temple sets have been constructed on a mountain headland, Ceann Sibeal in Co Kerry, with the filming expected to take place later this month

The actors and crew were driven away in a large SUV to be taken to the remote set a couple of hours' drive to the north.

Sci-fi fans are eagerly awaiting the follow-up to 2015's blockbuster The Force Awakens due to be released in December next year.

And the latest images of the set for the new movie looks set to spark massive debate among devotees of the space saga.

A huge structure was built over the last few days on Ireland's most northerly point - the dramatic and windswept Malin Head - with locals quick to predict it is a replica of the famous Millennium Falcon.

Space age construction: What is thought to be the Millennium Falcon in Malin Head, Co Donegal, Ireland, has been erected prior to filming of the next Star Wars movie

Confidential: The entire shoot is top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way

Place of natural beauty: The rugged coastline is one of County Donegal's most breathtaking sights

Going global: The film has also shot scenes in Croatia

Tired: Adam Driver rocked a laid back look pairing an on trend brown leather jacket over a white T-shirt and black jeans

Ready to start filming: American director Rian Johnson joined the cast as he left the airport to begin filming in the rural location

Travelling: The actors and crew were driven away in a large SUV to be taken to the remote set a couple of hours' drive to the north

A piece of the action: JJ McGettigan from the Emerald Garrison, a Star Wars costuming club, patrols along Malin Head, Co Donegal Ireland, as it's revealed filming for the next Star Wars movie will take place there

Historical: Malin Head 'Eire' sign, with lookout post number '80' from World War 2

Controversial: The latest images of the set for the new movie looks set to spark massive debate among devotees of the space saga

Top secret: Access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days as the arrival of Hollywood actors is eagerly awaited

But the entire shoot is top secret, with locals and landowners sworn to keep it that way, and access to the beauty spot is closed for the next three days as the arrival of Hollywood actors is eagerly awaited.

The space age construction - at least 50 feet (15m) across and 10 feet (3m) high - is balanced precariously on cliffs a mile from Bamba's Crown, a headland known for producing dramatic photographs of the Northern Lights.

John Joe McGettigan, from Carrigart, Co Donegal, turned up to the set in full Stormtrooper regalia, introducing himself with his rank in the Emerald Garrison of EG 1826.

The space age construction - at least 50 feet (15m) across and 10 feet (3m) high - is balanced precariously on cliffs a mile from Bamba's Crown

Bamba's Crown is a headland known for producing dramatic photographs of the Northern Lights

Space age construction: What is thought to be the Millennium Falcon in Malin Head, Co Donegal, Ireland, has been erected prior to filming of the next Star Wars movie

Mingling with the locals: A Stormtrooper was seen playing pool in Farrens Bar in Malin Head, Co Donegal

'It's absolutely fantastic ... to have Star Wars in Donegal, it's not a galaxy far, far away at all,' he said.

'Everybody has their own way of going mad, this is ours.'

Not even the father-of-two's fanatical devotion to the films could get him closer than a mile to the supposed set of Han Solo's spaceship.

'The shoot is top secret and I'd say the only way of getting into the set is on the Millennium Falcon itself,' he said.

Making himself at home: A Stormtrooper poses near the site of the Star Wars set

Law and order: Another makes sure the rules in the Farrens Bar in Malin Head are being followed

The space ship construction was also shielded by nets, with rescue boats deployed offshore as work intensified in the hours before filming.

Allie Farren, a local campaigner for the tourist centre at Malin Head, said the spin-offs will be huge for the remote area.

'It will help put Malin Head once again on the map,' he said. 'This will be bigger than the likes of Game of Thrones like we've seen in the north attracting loads of tourists. Hopefully this will really benefit the area.

Scenic: The space age construction - at least 50 feet (15m) across and 10 feet (3m) high - is balanced precariously on cliffs a mile from Bamba's Crown, a headland known for producing dramatic photographs of the Northern Lights

'Everybody in this location is tied into the secrecy. It's been a great talking point. Star Wars is one of the biggest movies of all time and for them to be in Malin Head it's top class.'

Hugh Farren, owner of Farren's pub in Malin Head, where film crews are being fed and watered, marked the excitement with a mural of Yoda on the gable wall of the bar.

'It's a great occasion to shout from the rooftops how good an this area is,' he said.

'It's huge potential. We have got quite a lot of people coming in who have not been here for years, people coming that have never been here before and they are just coming to see and take in the beautiful scenery we have here and loving the area.'

On patrol: He probably won't find the droids he is looking for in that vehicle

When is Rome... A Stormtrooper pours himself a pint of the black stuff

The film will shoot on Ireland's most northerly shores before returning to the southern tip, close to where scenes for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was shot on Skellig Michael's monastic hermitage in the Atlantic.

Jedi Temple sets have been constructed on a mountain headland, Ceann Sibeal in Co Kerry, with the filming expected to take place later this month.

Security is tight in Donegal, with only one country road leading to the location and access for eager fans closely guarded by teams of security.

Donegal County Council is overseeing road closures on the Malin Head loop from 8am each morning until 9pm at night from tomorrow until Sunday.

On location: The film will shoot on Ireland's most northerly shores before returning to the southern tip, close to where scenes for The Force Awakens was shot on Skellig Michael's monastic hermitage in the Atlantic
She's packed up her bikini collection and waved goodbye to London.

And Made In Chelsea star Tiffany Watson was making sure her swimwear got plenty of use, as she soaked up the sun in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo on Friday.

The gym-honed reality TV personality, 22, was yet to venture into the water, as she showed off her svelte figure in the pretty scallop edged strapless bikini in am envy-inducing Instagram snap.

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Infinate paradise: Made in Chelsea star Tiffany Watson was making sure her swimwear got plenty of use, as she soaked up the sun in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo on Friday

With a large pair of black sunglasses to block out the bright rays, she looked like she was enjoying the serene setting, a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of King's Road.

Wearing her blonde hair loose around her shoulders, the reality show star was already looking tanned from an earlier break to the Maldives with MIC pal Nicola Hughes, which aired on E4 on Monday.

The pretty pair shared snaps of their getaway on social media, with Nicola in a vibrant pink two-piece, the perfect shade to offset her bronzed skin, while also exposing her seriously taut abs.

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

The girlfriend of Alex Mytton later shared a pose against an idyllic ocean backdrop as she wrapped her arms around Tiffany.

Her trademark blonde locks cascaded in a voluminous, yet sleek, style around her make-up free face, 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.

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 friend Tiffany

'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
It's been a year and a half since Joan Rivers died.

And a lot of changes have taken place since then, changes daughter Melissa told Closer Weekly were 'bittersweet.' This includes the sale of the comedienne's $28m Manhattan apartment as well as the Christie's auction of Joan's art, jewelry and clothes that will take place from June 16 until the 23rd.

This interview comes on the heels of the Rivers family reportedly being awarded 'eight figures' during a settlement from the lawsuit against doctors blamed for the star's death. Joan was having a routine throat procedure at a New York clinic when she died.

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Still hard: Melissa Rivers told Closer Weekly that the death of her mother Joan has been 'bittersweet'; here they are seen at the Golden Globe Awards in 2005

'There's been a lot of change, it's very bittersweet,' said the LA resident. 'The most important thing that I've taken away is a bit more faith in my own strength.'

The Fashion Police star was plugging her memoir The Book Of Joan, which is now out in paperback.

Melissa - who dates talent agent Mark Rousso - also said the hardest part about losing her mother is the 'true acceptance that she is gone.'

They were so close: Melissa also said the hardest part about losing her mother is the 'true acceptance that she is gone.'; here they are pictured in 1970

A struggle: Learning to live with the loss of the larger-than-life celebrity is more challenging than she thought. 'I often say you can't wish the past away, so how do you make it something that becomes a part of you and takes you to a better place?'; here they are seen in 1978

She added: 'It catches up with you when you least expect it.'

Learning to live with the loss of the larger-than-life celebrity is more challenging than she thought.

'I often say you can't wish the past away, so how do you make it something that becomes a part of you and takes you to a better place?'

As far as the Christie's sale, Melissa said it would be 'big.'

On Christie's website it is stated the upcoming auction in New York 'will encompass the breadth of the late entertainers exceptional and eclectic taste, including decorative arts, paintings, fine French furniture and Faberge.'

Bye Bye: As far as the Christie's sale, Melissa said it would be 'big'; here is a look at the star's New York City apartment which sold to a Saudi family for $28m

Up for grabs: On Christie's website it is stated the upcoming auction in New York 'will encompass the breadth of the late entertainers exceptional and eclectic taste, including decorative arts, paintings, fine French furniture and Faberge'

Costumes by Bob Mackie, jewelry from Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston and the Edouard Vuillard painting Dans L'Atelier are included.

And the loss has also touched her son Cooper, 15, hard.

'Last year he said, "Nothing will ever be good again." I said 'You're wrong!" Things will never be the same, but that doesn't mean they can't be great.'

She added: 'The most important thing I can do is be a good parent, raising a person who has the values that our family believed in. A lot of it was philanthropy and giving back, and instilling in [Cooper] that no one is really entitled to anything.'

An event: The Christie's auction of Joan's art, jewelry and clothes that will take place from June 16 until the 23rd

Rivers sued Yorkville Endoscopy after her mother lost consciousness at the clinic in August 2014. She never awoke and died a week later at the age of 81.

Melissa - Rivers' only child - said the settlement would ensure those to blame for her mother's death 'have accepted responsibility for their actions'.

The case was filed in January 2015 and attorneys for the Rivers family confirmed it had been settled on Thursday.

Her exclusive: Melissa talked to Closer Weekly

A source told TMZ that an eight-figure settlement had been reached, but was not specific on the sum and this has not been confirmed.

The legendary comedienne died of brain damage due to a lack of oxygen after she stopped breathing during an endoscopy at the clinic, a medical examiner found.

Rivers was rushed to nearby Mount Sinai hospital in a coma, where she was put on life support. However, she never regained consciousness and passed away a week later.

Her death was classified as a therapeutic complication.

A federal investigation found that the clinic made several errors, including failing to keep proper medication records and snapping cell phone photos of Rivers while she was unconscious in the operating room.

The probe into the clinic also discovered that it failed to get informed consent for every procedure performed on Rivers and failed to record her weight before sedating her.

In the lawsuit, Melissa said 'the level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behavior' at the clinic was 'shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible'.

She also claimed doctors conducted an unauthorized exam of her mother's vocal chords and windpipe, leading to a laryngospasm.

During the spasm, Rivers' throat seized up and deprived her brain of oxygen, the suit said.

Work pals: Rivers sued Yorkville Endoscopy after her mother lost consciousness at the clinic in August 2014. She never awoke and died a week later at the age of 81; here they are pictured with Padma Lakshmi and Kelly Osbourne

But despite the star's vital signs showing clear symptoms of distress, doctors decided to continue with the laryngoscopy, causing Rivers to ultimately suffer a heart attack and irreversible brain damage, the court documents stated.

Melissa's attorneys said on Thursday that the family want people to focus on Rivers' legacy, not her death and the subsequent lawsuit.

A spokesman for Yorkville Endoscopy clinic said: 'Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family.

'We remain committed to providing quality, compassionate healthcare services that meet the needs of our patients, their families and the community.'
Sarah Jessica Parker went make-up free and casual to escort her twins Marion & Tabitha to school in Manhattan on Friday.

The 51-year-old actress sweetly held hands with her darling daughters - who turn 7 next month - as they hit the bustling streets.

At one point, the four-time Golden Globe winner helped fasten her little princess' tiny purse strap.

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Doting parent: Sarah Jessica Parker went make-up free and casual to escort her twins Marion & Tabitha to school in Manhattan on Friday

The All Roads Lead to Rome star - who relies on stylist Erin Walsh - was dressed down in a green sweatshirt, black cropped sweatpants, and matching Nike trainers.

Not seen with SJP was her 13-year-old son James and husband Matthew Broderick, with whom she'll celebrate 19 years of marriage on May 19.

The 54-year-old Tony winner begins previews next Tuesday for the haunted play Shining City at the newly-renovated Irish Repertory Theatre.

Ohio-born blonde: The 51-year-old actress sweetly held hands with her darling daughters - who turn 7 next month - as they hit the bustling streets

Cute: At one point, the four-time Golden Globe winner helped fasten her little princess' tiny purse strap

Rolled out of bed: The All Roads Lead to Rome star - who relies on stylist Erin Walsh - was dressed down in a green sweatshirt, black cropped sweatpants, and matching Nike trainers

On Monday, Sarah revealed the slippery source of many of her ideas on The Rachael Ray Show.

'The greatest place that I get my most productive thinking done, is in the shower. Is it the quiet?' the Sex and the City alum explained.

'Actually, when [Mikhail] Baryshnikov came [to play Aleksandr Petrovsky] on Sex and the City. It was in the shower, literally, because we were looking for someone bigger than Big. And I had danced with him years ago, and I was like, "Baryshnikov!" But it wouldn't have happened had I not been in the shower. I'm convinced.'

Family-of-five: Not seen with SJP was her 13-year-old son James and husband Matthew Broderick, with whom she'll celebrate 19 years of marriage on May 19 (pictured Sunday)

Off-Broadway gig: The 54-year-old Tony winner begins previews next Tuesday for the haunted play Shining City at the newly-renovated Irish Repertory Theatre

'The greatest place that I get my most productive thinking done, is in the shower!' On Monday, Sarah revealed the slippery source of many of her ideas on The Rachael Ray Show

The Sex and the City alum explained: 'When [Mikhail] Baryshnikov came on [to play Aleksandr Petrovsky]. It was in the shower, literally, because we were looking for someone bigger than Big. And I had danced with him years ago, and I was like, "Baryshnikov!" But it wouldn't have happened had I not been in the shower. I'm convinced'

Parker will next play Francis, a woman whose affair ends her marriage, on the series Divorce, which premieres this summer/fall on HBO.

The drama was created by Sharon Horgan (The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, Catastrophe) and also features Molly Shannon and Robert Forster.

The diminutive shoe designer also continues to sell her Italian-made heels at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Zappos Couture.

More sex and the city: Parker will next play Francis, a woman whose affair ends her marriage, on the series Divorce, which premieres this summer/fall on HBO
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She rarely puts a fashion foot wrong and always makes an effort for the red carpet.

But Blake Lively surpassed herself when she stepped out at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening, where she dazzled at the annual event's latest A-list gathering.

The actress - who is expecting her second child with actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 39 - dazzled fans as she attended the Slack Bay premiere in a truly stunning dress.

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Glam: Blake Lively surpassed herself when she stepped out at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday afternoon, where she dazzled at the annual event's latest A-list gathering

Now that's a dress! The blonde beauty was on fabulous form in the ruffled number, which skimmed the floor and oozed class

Sophisticated: Cutting a classy figure, the pregnant star showed so sign of her maternal figure as she navigated the red carpet

The statement number, which boasted a scooped neckline, was made of duck egg-blue silk and featured a ruffled design in the lower half.

Belted at the waist, the choice of design was effortlessly feminine and flattered her lithe shape - offering a sophisticated and classy aesthetic.

Adding some texture, the gown was emblazoned with floral sequins across the chest and midriff for a slightly fairy tale-inspired vibe. Together, it certainly made an impression on fellow attendees.

Beautiful: The actress - who is expecting her second child with actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 39 - dazzled fans as she attended the Slack Bay premiere in a truly stunning dress

The statement number, which boasted a scooped neckline, was made of duck egg-blue silk and featured a ruffled design in the lower half

Belted at the waist, the choice of design was effortlessly feminine and flattered her shape - offering a sophisticated and classy aesthetic

Scooping her hair up into a fashionably messy bun, the new mother-to-be even sported a subtle diamond-encrusted tiara and some matching earrings.

Showcasing a healthy, golden tan and some nude make-up, she was every inch the natural beauty and commanded attention in her near-regal wardrobe selection.

Possessing a keen eye for detail, she capped the look with a pair of matching shoes with metallic enhancements.

How to make an entrance! The star was the focus of attention as she made her way into the screening of new movie Slack Bay

Adding some texture, the gown was emblazoned with floral sequins across the chest and midriff for a slightly fairy tale-inspired vibe

Give us a wave! The star even boasted metallic nail polish for a fully-co-ordinated outfit which showed total planning

No wonder they're all taking photos! Blake poses for photographers upon arrival at the screening of the film Ma Loute

Loving the attention: Basking in the glow of both the French sunshine and the attention, she was clearly on fine form

Dress to impress: Showcasing a healthy, golden tan and some nude make-up, she was every inch the natural beauty and commanded attention in her near-regal wardrobe selection

Fit for a princess: Scooping her hair up into a fashionably messy bun, the new mother-to-be even sported a subtle diamond-encrusted tiara and some matching earrings

They are under there! Possessing a keen eye for detail, she capped the look with a pair of matching shoes with metallic enhancements

The film she was celebrating - originally entitled Ma Loute - stars Juliette Binoche and is a French-language comedy.

According to IMDB, it tells the tale of 'several tourists [who've] have vanished while relaxing on the beautiful beaches of the Channel Coast. Infamous inspectors Machin and Malfoy soon gather that the epicenter of these mysterious disappearances must be Slack Bay, a unique site where the Slack river and the sea join only at high tide.

'There lives a small community of fishermen and other oyster farmers. Among them evolves a curious family, the Brefort, renowned ferrymen of the Slack Bay, lead by the father nick-named "The Eternal", who rules as best as he can on his prankster bunch of sons, especially the impetuous Ma Loute, aged 18.

'Over the course of five days, as starts a peculiar love story between Ma Loute and the young and mischievous Billie Van Peteghem, confusion and mystification will descend on both families, shaking their convictions, foundations and way of life.'

Pivotal: Stood at the epicentre of all the festivities, Blake was every inch the Hollywood star as she headed-up the arrivals

Blake poses as she arrives for the screening of the film "Ma Loute (Slack Bay)" at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes

Stunning: Adding even more glamour, the acclaimed screen star also wore some dazzling jewellery, including a ring and bracelet

Helping hand: The star is guided up a flight of stairs on the arms of a dapper gentleman who also carried her clutch purse

Vision: The actress - who is known for Gossip Girl and The Age of Adaline - certainly pulled out all the stops for her big moment

At least she'll have a laugh! The film she was celebrating - entitled Ma Loute - stars Juliette Binoche and is a French-language comedy

Moving up: Ascending the venue's carpeted staircase, Mrs Ryan Reynolds dazzled film and fashion fans alike

The latest sighting comes just a few hours after she promoted her movie, The Shallows, at the French Riviera town's Majestic Beach on Friday afternoon.

Putting on a leggy display in an unusual white minidress before changing into a blue cut-out number to greet her fans, she looked fantastic.

Her first outfit consisted of a delicate oyster-coloured silk top with gold embellished detailing, the former Gossip Girl star's dress was capped off with a quirky cape with a black clasp.

Blake added height to her frame with a pair of monochrome pointed stilettos, which served to accentuate her toned and tanned legs. The mother-of-one toted a small black box clutch bag with pearl detailing and wore her flowing blonde locks swept into a chic up-do.

Gothic: The main star of the show, Juliette Binoche, made an appearance in a rather gothic-inspired black dress which will surely divide opinion as to whether it flattered of faltered

Pretty as a picture: Cheryl styled her brunette tresses in a classy side-parting which ran into a neat ponytail down the centre of her back

Style queen: Cheryl accessorised with a dangly pair of earrings and matching bracelet as well as a huge statement ring for a suitably glamorous finish

Not that Blake was the only glam celebrity there, of course.

The main star of the show, Juliette Binoche, made an appearance in a rather gothic-inspired black dress which will surely divide opinion as to whether it flattered of faltered.

Amd, of course, Cheryl was also there to mop-up the limelight. The singer couldn't be missed in the couture garment with its vivid pinks, yellows and assortment of summery tones ensuring she stood out from the crowd.

Independent woman: Cheryl's glamorous make-up perfectly complemented the tones in her dress, with a slick of shocking pink lipstick enhancing her plump pout and lashings of mascara and eye-liner decorating her perfect peepers

Doing her thing: The beauty knew how to work the camera as she posed with her hands on her hips while glancing over her shoulder

Her svelte form was emphasised in the garment which clinched slightly at the waist before billowing down into a small train.

Cheryl's glamorous make-up perfectly complemented the tones in her dress, with a slick of shocking pink lipstick enhancing her plump pout and lashings of mascara and eye-liner decorating her perfect peepers.

She accessorised with a dangly pair of earrings and matching bracelet as well as a huge statement ring for a suitably glamorous finish.

Sparkly: Indian Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai poses as she arrives on May 13, 2016 for the screening of the film Ma Loute

Ladylike: Lady Victoria Hervey opted for maximum glamour in a champagne-coloured floor-length number with a corset body

Victoria Silvstedt attends the Slack Bay (Ma Loute) premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals

Blonde ambition: The peroxide star almost exuded a Pamela Anderson vibe circa Baywatch in the mid-1990s

Pretty in pink: Diala Makki attends the "Slack Bay (Ma Loute)" premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival

Grinning away as she discussed her latest movie offering The Shallows, Blake completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking looks.

Shot in late 2015 in New South Wales, Australia, the horror drama is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Anthony Jaswinski.

In The Shallows, Blake plays Nancy, a young pro surfer named, who is surfing at a secluded beach when she becomes stranded on a giant rock 200 yards away from shore after a great white shark attacks her.

The queen of Cannes! Pregnant Blake Lively enjoyed yet another day of reigning supreme in the sartorial stakes as she promoted her movie, The Shallows, at Majestic Beach on Friday afternoon

Two for the price of one: She was later pictured wearing a stunning blue cut-out dress which highlighted her bump as she met her fans outside the Martinez hotel in Cannes

Bumping along: The actress, 28 - who is expecting her second child with actor husband Ryan Reynolds, 39 - turned heads as she put on a leggy display in an unusual white minidress

Pretty as a picture: Featuring a delicate oyster-coloured silk top with gold embellished detailing, the former Gossip Girl star's dress was capped off with a quirky cape with a black clasp

Leggy lady: Blake added height to her frame with a pair of monochrome pointed stilettos, which served to accentuate her toned and tanned legs

Scary stuff: In The Shallows, Blake plays Nancy, a young pro surfer named, who is surfing at a secluded beach when she becomes stranded on a giant rock 200 yards away from shore after a great white shark attacks her

Talented: Shot in late 2015 in New South Wales, Australia, the horror drama is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and written by Anthony Jaswinski

Chatty lady: Grinning away as she discussed her latest movie offering The Shallows, Blake completed her look with natural make-up to showcase her striking looks

Natural beauty: The mother-of-one toted a small black box clutch bag with pearl detailing and wore her flowing blonde locks swept into a chic up-do

Terrifying scenes: Blake's latest role is a departure from her usual work

Although Blake is pregnant with her second child, that doesn't mean she's taking it easy at the Cannes Film Festival.

Later that day, she changed into a blue form-fitting midi dress which had cut-out sections running throughout.

She teamed them with a pair of metallic green strappy sandals, wearing her blonde locks up in an elegant chignon.

On Thursday night, she made her way to the star-studded Vanity Fair bash alongside the likes of screen stars Naomi Watts, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Chastain.

The actress put on a leggy display as she made her way into Tetou restaurant in a vibrant ensemble.

Happier than ever: Blake appeared in perfect spirits as she headed out into the sunshine

Nice look: She wore her caramel locks in an elegant up do as she made her way out of the revolving door

Into the throng: Blake took the time to sign countless autographs for those who waited to catch a glimpse of her

Doubling up: Her dress was made up of two layers, a green one with a blue overlay

Hey there: She waved to the crowds who had turned up to see her

The 28-year-old actress put her toned legs on display in a striped mini dress.

But it was her bright orange jacket that really stole the show thanks to its vibrant hue and the 3D floral hem detailing.

She added height to her look with glittery red heels while she held onto a round blue clutch bag.

A sight for sore eyes: Pregnant Blake put on another striking sartorial display on Thursday night as she made her way to the star-studded Vanity Fair bash held during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival

Pretty as a petal: The blonde actress put on a leggy display as she made her way into Tetou restaurant in a vibrant ensemble

Flower power: The 28-year-old actress, who is pregnant with her second child, put her toned legs on display in a striped mini dress

Turning heads: But it was her bright orange jacket that really stole the show thanks to its vibrant hue and the 3D floral hem detailing

The blonde beauty wore her locks in a simple half up-do while she kept her make-up simple with fluttering lashed and a dark pink lip.

Blake arrived once again with famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who cut a dapper figure in his red suit and spotty bow tie.

Meanwhile her Cafe Society co-star Kristen Stewart opted for a completed different style of attire as she cut a very Gothic figure for the star-studded bash.

Picture perfect: She added height to her look with glittery red heels while she held onto a round blue clutch bag

Her date: Blake arrived once again with famous shoe designer Christian Louboutin, who cut a dapper figure in his red suit

Gothic glam: Meanwhile her Cafe Society co-star Kristen Stewart opted for a completed different style of attire as she cut a very Gothic figure for the star-studded bash

Here she comes: The 26-year-old Twilight actress looked as though she could have stepped out of a classic vampire film in her striking black and white attire for the soiree

Working it: Keeping it monochrome, the Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal

The 26-year-old Twilight actress looked as though she could have stepped out of a classic vampire film in her striking black and white attire for the soiree.

She covered her petite frame with a pair of oversized billowing black trousers, that almost appeared to look like a skirt, her pointy heel-clad feet poking out from underneath the ostentatious hemline.

Keeping it monochrome, the Chanel muse donned a lovely white sheer lace blouse with black buttons and a large collar, undone over her decolletage to add a hint of sex appeal.

But there was more: the Hollywood beauty wore a cropped black bolero-style jacket over the top of the blouse, keeping her warm against the chilly French Riviera evening.

Black to basics: Former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria put on a busty display in a black trouser suit which was cinched at the waist with a black belt

Because she's worth it: Eva's make-up look included plenty of pink blush, bronze eyeshadow and a lipgloss

Having a ball: She added height to her ensemble with black heels while she accessorised with a bejewelled black clutch

Former Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria put on a busty display in a black trouser suit which was cinched at the waist with a black belt.

She added height to her ensemble with black heels while she accessorised with a bejewelled black clutch.

Susan Sarandon let her ample cleavage steal the limelight as she flashed the flesh in an low-cut tuxedo look dress.

Timeless beauty: Susan Sarandon let her ample cleavage steal the limelight as she flashed the flesh in an low-cut tuxedo look dress

Old school look: Jessica Chastain turned heads as she arrived at the bash, which followed the premiere of George Clooney's new film Money Monster

The 69-year-old also gave glimpse of her shapely legs thanks to the thigh-high split of the ensemble.

Jessica Chastain turned heads as she arrived at the bash, which followed the premiere of George Clooney's new film Money Monster.

Typically classy in her choice of attire, the 39 year-old was on fabulous form in her retro-inspired tea dress, which was both glam and under-stated.

Style success: Typically classy in her choice of attire, the 39 year-old was on fabulous form in her retro-inspired tea dress, which was both glam and under-stated

Strike a pose: Consisting of a nude base panel with an embellished top layer, which was sexed up with a sheer backless panel

Consisting of a nude base panel with an embellished top layer, which was sexed up with a sheer backless panel.

She capped the outfit with a pair of white, strappy heels which anchored the look perfectly.

Adding a flash of colour through her distinctive hairstyle, Jessica maintained the retrospective theme by parting her mane to the side and allowing it to curl for a soft, volumous finish.
Pregnant Keri Russell rocked matching jeans jackets with her babydaddy and co-star in The Americans, Matthew Rhys, in Brooklyn on Friday.

The expecting 40-year-old - who's said to be eight months along - munched on a protein bar in her white top, red bandana, denim trousers, and silver sandals.

The acting couple reluctantly confirmed their relationship less than a year after the Golden Globe winner separated from her husband Shane Deary in the summer of 2013 after seven years.

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Twinning! Pregnant Keri Russell rocked matching jeans jackets with her babydaddy and co-star in The Americans, Matthew Rhys, in Brooklyn on Friday

Former Mouseketeer: The expecting 40-year-old - who's said to be eight months along - munched on a protein bar in her white top, red bandana, denim trousers, and silver sandals

Sneaky: The acting couple reluctantly confirmed their relationship less than a year after the Golden Globe winner separated from her husband Shane Deary in the summer of 2013 after seven years

Not seen Friday were Russell's two adorable children - daughter Willa, 4, and son River, turning 9 next month - with the tall carpenter.

Meanwhile, the 41-year-old Welshman - who plays Philip Jennings (aka Mischa) - directed the May 4th episode of their FX series.

'I hate wearing wigs. They're desperately uncomfortable,' Matthew lamented to Assignment X last week.

Soon-to-be birthday boy! Not seen Friday were Russell's two adorable children - daughter Willa, 4, and son River, turning 9 next month - with the tall carpenter (pictured January 22)

'I don't know if you know this, but Keri and I often swap wigs. We do, and they restyle them. Our hair department is amazing with what they do. However, if I'm wearing one of Keri's wigs, it's incredibly tight on my head.'

Catch more of the pair as Soviet KGB agents in the 13-episode fourth season of spy series The Americans, which airs Wednesdays on FX.

At the helm! Meanwhile, the 41-year-old Welshman - who plays Philip Jennings (aka Mischa) - directed the May 4th episode of their FX series

Matthew lamented to Assignment X: 'I hate wearing wigs. They're desperately uncomfortable. Keri and I often swap wigs. We do, and they restyle them. Our hair department is amazing with what they do. However, if I'm wearing one of Keri's wigs, it's incredibly tight on my head'
Michelle Williams' daughter Matilda is looking more like her late father Heath Ledger every day.

The 10-year-old was seen heading to school with her actress mother on Friday, and it's clear that she is fast becoming the spitting image of her dad.

Michelle, 35, chatted away with the youngster as they strolled through New York City early in the morning.

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She's a great mom: Michelle Williams was seen taking daughter Matilda Ledger to school in New York City on Friday

The actress was looking stylish in a black and pink floral print midi-dress, along with a denim jacket and dark grey suede ankle boots with wedged heels.

Michelle, who recently got a fringe, had a black handbag slung over one shoulder and sported sunglasses over her make-up free face.

Meanwhile Matilda was clad in a pink T-shirt with the words 'everything is a choice' printed across it, matching trousers and sheepskin boots.

The little girl also wore a yellow raincoat and was carrying a book which she appeared to be in the middle of reading.

Spitting image: The 10-year-old is looking more and more like late father Heath every day

Deep in conversation: The 35-year-old actress, who looked stylish in a floral dress, chatted away with the youngster

Matilda is the only child of Michelle and Heath, who fell in love while working together on their film Brokeback Mountain.

The pair started dating in 2004 and welcomed their daughter in October of the following year.

Michelle and Heath ended their relationship in September 2007, four months before he died at the age of 28 from cardiac arrest brought on by prescription drug intoxication.

Tragic loss: Michelle and Heath dated from 2004 until September 2007 - four months before he tragically died at the age of 28. They are pictured together here at the Academy Awards in 2006

After Heath's death, Michelle said in a statement: 'My heart is broken. I am the mother of the most tender-hearted, high-spirited, beautiful little girl who is the spitting image of her father. All that I can cling to is his presence inside her that reveals itself every day.

'His family and I watch Matilda as she whispers to trees, hugs animals, and takes steps two at a time, and we know that he is with us still. She will be brought up in the best memories of him.'

At an event in his native Australia on Wednesday, Heath's mother Sally told The Daily Telegraph that Matilda is 'such a reminder of her dad'.

His father Kim added of his granddaughter: 'Matilda is exactly like her dad, she looks just like him.'
She rose to fame playing Ygritte in Game Of Thrones.

And Rose Leslie was spotted paying a visit to the BBC Radio 2 studios in central London on Friday.

The 29-year-old cut a casual figure for the radio appearance as she sported a loose fitting cream camisole and black jeans.

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Off-duty chic: Rose Leslie cut a casual figure as she paid a visit to the BBC Radio 2 studios in central London on Friday, sporting a loose fitting cream camisole and black jeans

The actress rounded off her ensemble with a relaxed white blazer that shielded her from the spring breeze and kept things comfortable in the footwear department as she stepped out in a pair of padded trainers and cosy patterned socks.

Looking effortlessly glamorous, the flame-haired beauty opted for minimal accessories apart from an eye-catching gold pendant and some oversized tortoiseshell shades.

She also let her auburn mane fall in loose natural waves, which cascaded down past her chest.

Angelic: The actress rounded off her ensemble with a relaxed white blazer that shielded her from the spring breeze

The Downton Abbey star looked excited to be at the studios in London as she clasped her hands and smiled for the cameras.

And Rose couldn't resist taking some time out of her schedule to sign autographs for her adoring fans.

Speaking to Patrick Kielty on the BBC show, she said: 'I left Game Of Thrones a couple of years ago, so I'm now with everyone else sat watching it like an audience member.'

She added that she was 'completely enthralled' by the new season.

However, she made it clear that when she featured on Game Of Thrones, she wasn't such a fan of watching it, as she sarcastically joked: 'I'm so narcissistic it's insane. I love watching myself.'

Sports luxe: Rose kept things comfortable in the footwear department as she stepped out in a pair of padded trainers and cosy patterned socks

Ready for her close-up: Looking effortlessly glamorous, the flame-haired beauty opted for minimal accessories apart from an eye-catching gold pendant and some oversized tortoiseshell shades

Rose is currently dating Game Of Thrones co-star Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow in the series.

Recently the actor was forced to apologise after his character was miraculously resurrected in the new season.

Harington has spent the last year repeatedly denying that Jon Snow would be making a comeback, after devastated fans watched the character be stabbed repeatedly and left for dead in the dramatic season five finale of the hit HBO snow.

The show's producer had asked the actor to keep the show's secret with a stellar off-camera performance.

Timely death: Rose left Game Of Thrones in 2014 after her character, Ygritte, (right) was shot through the chest

Off-screen lovers: Rose is currently dating Game Of Thrones co-star Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow in the series

'Id like to say sorry for lying to everyone. Im glad that people were upset that he died,' Kit said in the newly-released video, which preceded a mass reaction from fans of the fantasy drama.

'I think my biggest fear was that people were not going to care. Or it would just be, ''Fine, Jon Snow's dead,"' he added.

It was reported that the series may have as little as two seasons after the current one - and that those seasons may even be shorter than their normal ten episodes.

In an exclusive interview with Variety, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss revealed that season seven may have just seven episodes, while the eighth - and potentially last - season could have only six.

'I think were down to our final 13 episodes after this season. Were heading into the final lap,' Benioff said. 'Thats the guess, though nothing is yet set in stone, but thats what were looking at.'

HBOs programming president Michael Lombardo reluctantly confirmed there may be just two years of life left in the show, but insisted nothing was set in stone.

'Thats my understanding from them right now, those have been the conversations weve had,' he said. 'Because where these narratives go, it feels like another two years to them.'

He added: 'As a television executive, as a fan, do I wish they said another six years? I do.'
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She is just weeks away from celebrating her 17th birthday.

But Lily-Rose Depp proved style has no age limit when she attended The Dancer premiere at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening.

The Planetarium actress showcased her already impeccable dress sense in a black bardot gown with a difference as she sashayed down the red carpet alongside Kristen Stewart's actress ex, Soko.

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She is just weeks away from celebrating her 17th birthday but Lily-Rose Depp proved style has no age limit when she attended The Dancer premiere at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening

The daughter of Johnny Depp and French songstress Vanessa Paradis rocked an off-the-shoulder frock that possessed ornate gold detailing.

The garment also featured a small cut-out around the waist, though her tummy was partly concealed beneath an array of intricate beads that criss-crossed around her waist.

The gown then billowed into a sheer fabric around the calves, before conceding at the ankle to allow for a peep of Lily's gold stilettos that were a perfect match with the embellishments on the dress.

The daughter of Johnny Depp and French songstress Vanessa Paradis rocked an off-the-shoulder frock that possessed ornate gold detailing

The Planetarium actress showcased her already impeccable dress sense in a black bardot gown with a difference as she sashayed down the red carpet alongside Kristen Stewart's actress ex, Soko

She kept her accessories simple with an elegant gold necklace and matching earrings.

Her honey blonde locks were swept into a sophisticated chignon hairstyle with the beauty her front bangs to fall in delicate curls around her pretty face.

Also pulling out the stops was Soko who channeled a slightly Victorian look in a floor-length gown that possessed a myriad of quirky frills and elaborate blossom detailing along the torso.

Meanwhile, it wasn't the first time that Lily had commanded eyes that day.

Effortless: With her natural beauty, it's no surprise Lily-Rose is quickly establishing herself in the modelling world as well as movies

Trademark pose: The actress softly pursed her lips as she dazzled the masses

The co-stars showcased their bond as they laughed together before pulling serious expressions for photographers

(From L) French actor Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, French-US actress Lily-Rose Depp, French actress and singer Stephanie Sokolinski aka Soko, French director Stephanie Di Giusto, French actor Gaspard Ulliel and French actress Melanie Thierry and French producer Alain Attal

Lily's featured a small cut-out around the waist, though her tummy was partly concealed beneath an array of intricate beads that criss-crossed around her waist

The gown then billowed into a sheer fabric around the calves, before conceding at the ankle to allow for a peep of Lily's gold stilettos that were a perfect match with the embellishments on the dress

Her honey blonde locks were swept into a sophisticated chignon hairstyle with the beauty her front bangs to fall in delicate curls around her pretty face.

The actress modelled a dramatic make-up look with a shimmering gold eyeshadow and a dewy nude lipstick

The teen also made sure all eyes were on her when she arrived at the photocall for her new movie The Dancer.

The star once again looked incredibly fashion forward as the muse of Karl Lagerfeld wore head-to-toe Chanel for the event.

She teamed a sporty hooded top and matching shorts from the latest collection which had a blue, red and white colourway, synonymous with the latest collection.

Lily is keen to follow in her talented parents' footsteps and pursue a career on the big screen

The youngster appeared in high spirits as she giggled while posing up a storm for snaps

Also pulling out the stops was Soko who channeled a slightly Victorian look in a floor-length gown that possessed a myriad of quirky frills and elaborate blossom detailing along the torso

Soko didn't hesitate to show off the beauty of her gown as she pulled out her skirt before ascending up the stairs

The cast stopped to pose for one more picture before heading into the event

The rising star added some extra colour to her look with a pair of red statement sandals which had the label's iconic camellia flower stitched around the ankles of her shoes.

Wearing her brunette locks in loose curls, Lily-Rose looked just like her famous mother as she walked along the red carpet, sporting a ring on her forefinger.

The Dancer, slated for release on September 28 tells the story of Loie Fuller, who was the toast of the Folies Bergeres at the turn of the 20th century and an inspiration for Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumiere Brothers.

The rising star proved her style prowess is already coming along fast

Lily looked the picture of grace as she scaled the steps of the venue

Lily is fast becoming one to watch in the acting world having already established herself in the modelling field

The film revolves around her complicated relationship with protege and rival Isadora Duncan, who is played by Lily.

Also set to star in new movie, Yoga Hosers with her father, Lily-Rose arrived at Nice airport on Thursday, along with her mother's father, Andre.

She told V magazine: 'The most fun part of making the movie was being able to learn and experience everything for the first time with people I love and admire. I learned so much working on this movie.'

Lily's upcoming movie The Dancer tells the story of Loie Fuller, who was the toast of the Folies Bergeres at the turn of the 20th century and an inspiration for Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumiere Brothers

The cast were out in force for the star-studded premiere

She has dropped out of high school to focus on her career and she recently told Vanity Fair her parents had nothing to do with her decision, saying: 'They were in no position to tell me, "Get your diploma first,"'. The star noted that both her parents had already left school by her age.

It's been a full on day in Cannes for the third day of the iconic festival. Elsewhere, Rebecca Hall was pictured attending the ribbon cutting to open the American Pavilion during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival.

She looked incredible in a white summery dress which had an interesting cut-out neckline and a belt which cinched her in at the waist.

Completing her look with a pair of golden sandals, she brandished a giant pair of scissors in order to snip the ribbon.
She recently admitted to having lip fillers every five months.

And Charlotte Crosby's pout was looking more plump than ever as she greeted fans at the signing of her latest book in Liverpool.

The 25-year-old Geordie Shore star put on a leggy display for the event in an extremely short white dress from her In The Style fashion range.

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Perfect pins: Charlotte Crosby put on a leggy display for the event in an extremely short white dress from her In The Style fashion range

The less than angelic ensemble was detailed with short sleeves and showed off the reality TV star's golden glow with mesh detailing around the arms and chest.

The hem of Charlotte's dress was embellished with intricate fringing for added effect.

The reality star rounded off her look with a pair of sky-scraper silver sandals, that embraced her dainty ankles with two fine straps.

Getting lippy: Charlotte's pout was looking more plump than ever as she greeted fans at the signing of her latest book in Liverpool

Meanwhile, the blonde beauty maintained her glamorous party-girl look as she let her luxuriously long hair fall in a bouncy blow dry that cascaded down over her chest.

And she kept her makeup clean and fresh with just a dash of peach blush and a coordinating lipstick, to complement her luscious pout.

But she couldn't cover up a painful looking bruise at the top of her thigh.

Charlotte was promoting her new book, Charlotte Crosby Live Fast Lose Weight, at the Waterstone's store and could be seen posing and even taking selfies with fans who had queued up for hours to see her.

Pure white? Charlotte's less than angelic ensemble was detailed with short sleeves and showed off the reality TV star's golden glow with mesh detailing around the arms and chest

High spirits: The Geordie Shore star rounded off her look with a pair of sky-scraper silver sandals, that embraced her dainty ankles with two fine straps

Hair she is! The blonde beauty maintained her glamorous party-girl look as she let her luxuriously long hair fall in a bouncy blow dry that cascaded down over her chest

What a bruiser! Charlotte couldn't cover up a painful looking bruise at the top of her thigh

But despite promoting her book on weight loss, Charlotte couldn't help tucking into an iced frappuccino.

Last month, Charlotte announced that her one regret was being fat in the early seasons of Geordie Shore.

In an interview with The Sun, she explained: 'My biggest regret is being fat. I look back at pictures and think, "I was young and on TV but I was so fat."'

Weight loss wonder! Charlotte was promoting her new book, Charlotte Crosby Live Fast Lose Weight, at the Waterstone's store

Keeping cool: Despite promoting her book on weight loss, Charlotte couldn't help tucking into an iced frappuccino

Crowd pleaser: Charlotte could be seen posing and even taking selfies with fans who had queued up for hours to see her

Selfie time: Charlotte showed off her well-honed selfie taking skills with a young fan

While her appearance has drastically changed over Geordie Shore's 12 series, Charlotte's fast-living approach to life has remained very much the same.

Past exploits have seen her wet the bed, share a raunchy nude post on social media and most recently engage in a lesbian sex act in front of the Geordie Shore cameras.

But for Charlotte, all of that pales in comparison to her former appearance.

Life in the fast lane! While her appearance has drastically changed over Geordie Shore's 12 series, Charlotte's fast-living approach to life has remained very much the same

Book worm: Charlotte's new book features 80 recipes to encourage a healthy lifestyle

Inspiration! The former Celebrity Big Brother winner broke records last year when her debut DVD stormed the charts and became the fastest-selling one ever

'I didn't take any pride in my appearance and I feel sad that I didn't care about myself at all,' she explained. 'I'd wear no make-up, awful clothes, eat McDonald's every day, drink tons of alcohol and let my body down.'

'As a person, you have to care about yourself and love yourself and who you are. For a while I didn't, and I don't know why I let myself get like that.'

The former Celebrity Big Brother winner broke records last year when her debut DVD stormed the charts and became the fastest-selling one ever.
Rob Kardashian cutely air-kissed his sister Kim at his housewarming party in a preview for this Sunday's Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

The nesting 29-year-old's momager Kris Jenner reportedly bought him the $2.2M Calabasas home back in February, but she insisted he 'had the money for the down payment.'

'Kourtney and I, we want to see Rob's new place and help him feel welcomed,' 35-year-old Kim explained.

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Ending his three-year absence: Rob Kardashian cutely air-kissed his sister Kim at his housewarming party in a preview for this Sunday's Keeping Up with the Kardashians

'It makes me happy that he's just feeling better about himself. He hasn't been this happy in so long it's, like, so refreshing.'

This, after the Selfish author claimed he 'has no loyalty' in the same episode for being engaged to his pregnant fiancee Blac Chyna - whose ex-fiance used to date half-sister Kylie Jenner.

And while sister Kourtney and his 60-year-old momager's toyboy Corey Gamble made an appearance, Rob's resentful sister Khloe claimed he hasn't spoken to her in months.

The In the Kitchen With Kris author said she was practically up for two days straight making preparations for her only son to 'get settled in.'

Socks are selling? The nesting 29-year-old's momager Kris Jenner reportedly bought him the $2.2M Calabasas home back in February, but she insisted he 'had the money for the down payment'

35-year-old Kim explained: 'Kourtney and I, we want to see Rob's new place and help him feel welcomed. It makes me happy that he's just feeling better about himself. He hasn't been this happy in so long it's, like, so refreshing'

Two-faced: This, after the Selfish author claimed he 'has no loyalty' in the same episode for being engaged to his pregnant fiancee Blac Chyna - whose ex-fiance used to date half-sister Kylie Jenner (pictured April 26)

'I love the chairs!' And while sister Kourtney and his 60-year-old momager's toyboy Corey Gamble made an appearance, Rob's resentful sister Khloe claimed he hasn't spoken to her in months

'Welcome home! Do you love it?' Jenner asked, jumping into the Arthur George sock entrepreneur's lap.

'It's been a labor of love for sure, and I'm so excited to get his house all set up!'

Helping the twice-divorced grandmother-of-four just so happened to be 'one of her best friends' Faye Resnick, who's 'an amazing interior designer.'

The 58-year-old former manicurist famously scored a $60K advance to co-author a tell-all about her friend Nicole Brown Simpson just three months after her 1994 murder.

'Welcome home! Do you love it?' The In the Kitchen With Kris author said she was practically up for two days straight making preparations for her only son to 'get settled in'

Jenner said: 'It's been a labor of love for sure, and I'm so excited to get his house all set up!'

'Project Rob': Helping the twice-divorced grandmother-of-four just so happened to be 'one of her best friends' Faye Resnick, who's 'an amazing interior designer'

Longtime pals: The 58-year-old former manicurist famously scored a $60K advance to co-author a tell-all about her friend Nicole Brown Simpson just three months after her 1994 murder

Thick as thieves: And when Faye walked down the aisle for the fourth time with Everett Jack Jr. on October 10, Kris hosted the ceremony at her Hidden Hills mansion

Based on the 'trial of the century': Connie Britton portrayed Resnick in FX's hit series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson - which concluded April 5 - alongside Selma Blair as Jenner

And when Faye walked down the aisle for the fourth time with Everett Jack Jr. on October 10, Kris hosted the ceremony at her Hidden Hills mansion.

Connie Britton portrayed Resnick in FX's hit series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson - which concluded April 5 - alongside Selma Blair as Jenner.

Kim and Rob have been bonding over their shared quest to battle the bulge this year.

Winning! Kim and Rob have been bonding over their shared quest to battle the bulge this year

'Yaaaasss Atkins!' The mother-of-two returned to her pre-baby weight (135lbs) this week, and the USC business grad shed 50lbs and got down to 248lbs last month

Kimye still going strong! The former sex tape star and her husband Kanye West - who are parents to North, 2, and Saint, 5 months - will celebrate their second wedding anniversary on May 24

The mother-of-two returned to her pre-baby weight (135lbs) this week, and the USC business grad shed 50lbs and got down to 248lbs last month.

The former sex tape star and her husband Kanye West - who are parents to North, 2, and Saint, 5 months - will celebrate their second wedding anniversary on May 24.

Meanwhile, Kardashian and the expecting 28-year-old - who has a son King, 3, with rapper Tyga - will co-host a Memorial Day poolside bash May 28 at the Sky Beach Club inside the Tropicana Las Vegas.

'Join us!' Meanwhile, Kardashian and the expecting 28-year-old - who has a son King, 3, with rapper Tyga - will co-host a Memorial Day poolside bash May 28 at the Sky Beach Club inside the Tropicana Las Vegas
It may have been her 30th birthday on Friday but it was just another work day for Girls star Lena Dunham.

The actress and writer was seen directing co-star Allison Williams in a scene shot on location in New York City.

Lena was in costume, too, wearing the same outfit of jeans and a flower-patterned blouse she was seen in on Tuesday as she shot scenes for the hit HBO series.

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Hard at work: Lena Dunham was seen pouring through the day's script pages on the location set of her HBO series Girls on Friday

The star wore her short hair tied up into a top knot and was make-up free as she looked through the script pages for the upcoming scenes.

The series is in its sixth and final season and the storylines of the main protagonists are being wound up.

Allison, 28, who stars as Marnie on the show, was on set to shoot an emotional scene with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays her on-screen husband Desi.

Juggled roles: The actress and writer wore her director's hat as she rehearsed a scene between co-stars Allison Williams who plays Marnie and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Desi

Drama: The actors, whose characters have had a volatile relationship, appeared to be having a heated discussion outside a general store

She's the boss: The newly-minted 30-year-old was handed a pair of headphones by a crew member so she could hear the dialogue when cameras were rolling

Calling the shots: Lena, dressed in jeans and a colorful floral blouse with tied waist, was also seen checking everything on the location set was in place for the upcoming take

The scenes featuring Alison and Ebon are clearly climactic ones for the series that's almost finished filming.

Allison is seen becoming very emotional and on the point of tears as she and her co-star exchange words.

The actress is wearing skinny jeans with a cotton short and neckerchief and at one point seems to be trying to push away Ebon, who is kitted out in a dark red beanie with striped top and dark denims.

Emotional: As they shoot the scene, Allison appears upset and on the verge of tears as she tried to push away her co-star in what is clearly a climactic storyline for the series

Sorted then: But by the end of the scene, the two are kissing passionately

Back on? Friday's shoot could mean fans of Girls get to see Marnie and Desi reunited before the show goes dark for the final time

Lena started her special day in the early hours after returning home late from filming to find several bunches of colorful flowers waiting for her from boyfriend Jack Antonoff.

'I already love being 30 (and I love my boyfriend. A lot a lot a lot.),' she wrote alongside a photo of the bouquets and handwritten sign that she posted to Instagram.

She went on: 'UPDATE: Asked sleeping Jack if he made me the birthday sign. He mumbled sarcastically 'no, I ordered it.''

The couple have been together since 2012.

Happy birthday! The Girls star returned home late Thursday after a day of filming to find colorful flowers and a homemade sign from boyfriend Jack Antonoff

Going steady: Lena and musician Jack, pictured at an event in New York last December, have been together since 2012

Musician Jack, 32, has been Lena's rock through a tumultuous year that saw the cancellation of Girls after six seasons and a brush with serious illness.

In March, she underwent emergency surgery following an ovarian cyst rupture caused by endometriosis and was sidelines for several weeks.
Brad Pitt will wave the flag at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours race on June 18 in France.

The announcement was made on Friday in a tweet from Phillip Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which organizes the race.

The 52-year-old Oscar winner has been in England this spring shooting his new WWII film Allied. He next will shoot World War Z II in the same country.

Reved up: Brad Pitt will wave the flag at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours race on June 18 it was announced on Friday; here he is seen in November

Happy to have him: The announcement was made on Friday in a tweet from Phillip Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which organizes the race

'I'm proud and happy that the start of #LeMans24 will be given by #BradPitt! We look forward to share this legendary race with him,' wrote Fillon.

Interestingly, Brad has been mentioned for a role in the film version of Go Like Hell!, based on a book recounting the 1966 Le Mans rivalry between the Ford and Ferrari racing teams. Tom Cruise was also named for a part.

Pitt is the first actor to be asked to wave the race's starting flag in 20 years. The last was French icon Alain Delon.

On set in the UK: The 52-year-old Oscar winner has been in England this spring shooting his new WWII film Allied with Lizzy Caplan

With his better half: The Oklahoma native with Angelina Jolie in November

But Brad is not the first actor connected to the race. Paul Newman competed in a trial while driving a Porsche 935. He came in second in his category.

Patrick Dempsey was on the winner's podium in 2015 finishing second in his category.

Cars run non-stop with three-man teams for Le Mans 24. Most of the time the drivers go at top speeds as they lap around a 8.5-mile circuit after dark.
As one of Hollywood's most beautiful stars, she rarely puts a fashion foot wrong.

So it's perhaps no surprise that American actress Eva Longoria turned heads when she stepped out in Cannes on Friday, where she hosted the latest Global Gift Gala event.

The brunette beauty, 41, was spotted at the Grand Hyatt Martinez Hote where she was the top VIP guest and wowed with her choice of attire.

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Gorgeous as ever: Actress Eva Longoria turned heads when she stepped out in Cannes on Friday, where she hosted the latest Global Gift Gala event

Keeping it sophisticated for the occasion, the former Desperate Housewives star looked sensational in her peach-coloured floor-length number, worn with Messika diamond earrings.

Sleeveless in design and boasting a scooped neckline, it also boasted a thigh-high slit which teased attendees with a modest glimpse of her fantastically tanned - and toned - legs.

Simple and sophisticated, the dramatic dress was certainly a piece of statement style.

Chic: Keeping it sophisticated, the former Desperate Housewives star looked sensational in her peach-coloured floor-length number

Striking: The beauty, 41, was spotted at the Grand Hyatt Martinez Hote where she was the top VIP guest and wowed with her choice of attire

Wearing her hair up in a taut bun,the film and TV actress turned heads as she navigated the red carpet while sporting a pair of attention-grabbing diamond earrings.

However, eagle-eyed fans will have noticed that she was also sporting another jewel - in the form of her engagement ring. The latest sighting will no doubt reassure fans that her latest romance is on-track.

She was recently seen with out her engagement ring on her hand, sparking reports that something was amiss with her relatoinship with Jose Antonio Baston, but later reassured fans with a proud display.

Looking good: Wearing her hair up in a taut bun,the film and TV actress turned heads as she navigated the red carpet while sporting a pair of attention-grabbing diamond earrings

Back on: However, eagle-eyed fans will have noticed that she was also sporting another jewel - in the form of her engagement ring. The latest sighting will no doubt reassure fans that her latest romance is on-track

The Global Gift Initiative is supporting three bodies this year including the Eva Longoria Foundation that provides education and entrepreneurship opportunities for women.

It is also backing the Ricky Martin Foundation that advocates for the wellbeing of children around the globe in critical areas such as education, health, social justice and education.

The Global Gift Foundation USA's mission is to create positive change in the development, welfare, health and social inclusion of society's most vulnerable members.

Regal wave: The Global Gift Foundation USA's mission is to create positive change in the development, welfare, health and social inclusion of society's most vulnerable members

Dressed to impress! Sleeveless in design and boasting a scooped neckline, it also boasted a thigh-high slit which teased attendees with a modest glimpse of her fantastically tanned - and toned - legs

Good cause: The Global Gift Initiative is supporting three bodies this year including the Eva Longoria Foundation that provides education and entrepreneurship opportunities for women

Group shot: Eva joined (from left) Hugue Lechanoine, and Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and his wife Claiborne

All that glitters: Carly Steel was glitzy in a sequined number for the event

Handsome couple: Robert Pires and his wife Jessica made a handsome couple

A goddess: Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva looked exquisite in white

Floating train: She was followed along the red carpet by a glamorous satin train
After ten years travelling to some of the most dangerous, depraved, places in the world, Ross Kemp had finally plucked up the courage to go somewhere really depressing - Walford. Yes, he had brought Grant Mitchell back to EastEnders.

Its all very well making BAFTA-winning documentaries about British troops in Afghanistan, guerrilla warfare in the Congo, or gangs of violent, ruthless, Neo-Nazis, sex traffickers, and Somalia pirates. Where we really want to see him was Albert Square, confronting his most notorious subject yet  the figure he had been running away from for a decade.

Even after so long, it only needed Grant Mitchells silhouette to announce that he was back in EastEnders - an entrance that confirmed he remains one of the great icons in modern television.

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Back where he belongs: After ten years travelling to some of the most dangerous, depraved, places in the world, Ross Kemp had finally plucked up the courage to return to EastEnders on Friday

After that, we were treated to a single glimpse of the man himself, a tantalising taste of what we can look forward to in next weeks episodes, Grant in all his glory: his trademark furrowed frown and quizzical human bulldog expression; his persistent penchant for wearing vests; his gigantic pumped up shoulders

Grants reappearance came when, prompted by Peggys illness, Sharon decided to call him and suggest he should come home. A crazy concept admittedly

Frankly it had taken long enough. His friends and family had been mentioning him all evening without anyone seemingly thinking perhaps he should be told that his mothers cancer had spread to her brain and that she was facing her final days back in Walford.

We had seen Peggy fondly holding a photo of Phil and Grant in the old days  when they had hair, albeit shaved so that they resembled a pair of cartoon skinheads advertising Weetabix.

The good old days: We had seen Peggy fondly holding a photo of Phil and Grant in the old days  when they had hair, albeit shaved so that they resembled a pair of cartoon skinheads advertising Weetabix

Kathy then recalled the first time Peggy had found out she had cancer.

Phil and Grant, they were inches away from losing it. But not Peggy.

Peggy reminisced to Phil about reading you and Grant your bedtime stories and bringing you cocoa when you were poorly.

Grant got the cocoa, I never liked it, growled Phil cheerfully. Well as cheerfully as he does anything these days. He confessed he used to give his cocoa to his brother.

Now you tell me ! Peggy giggled.

Eventually, even they had to face the elephant in the room (or the human bulldog): telling him about the doctors diagnosis that she was approaching the end?

Tick it off the bucket list: Peggy made an impressive entrance herself, riding into Albert Square on the back of a milk float  the Walford equivalent of Khaleesi returning to her kingdom

After all this issue is a common dilemma in Walford. Once relatives have left the series, they never come back for visits  for birthdays, Christmases, or crises like people being ill. Look at Sonia. Despite her recent breast cancer scare there was no prospect of her mother Carol interrupting jaunting round Europe on her motorbike to support her, even though shed been through it too.

Why Grant has never visited Phil, or come over during various dramas involving Ben (Grants nephew) or his cousin Ronnie (even when she got married, had a baby, and was in a coma) has never been made clear because it cant be explained away.

After all, once he moved from Brazil he only lived in Portugal. He hadnt seen Peggy in years either  even though she was living in Portugal too for a while.

Still, such is life (in soaps anyway).

Apart from Grants imminent return, the good news was there were no more japes about wife-swapping or stolen toilets to distract us from the serious business of Peggys long goodbye.

Spending quality time together: She eschewed Phils plans to take her for afternoon tea at The Ritz and the London Eye, opting for a corny trip up the river to the strains of Frank Sinatras Moon River

She made an impressive entrance herself, riding into Albert Square on the back of a milk float  the Walford equivalent of Khaleesi returning to her kingdom.

Ive been dying to do that ever since I was a kid! she cried.

How long are you going to be here for? asked the milkman. A delicate question

She only had time for a short bucket list.

The doctor had given her a few months at most but Phil knew better apparently.

What if she suddenly takes a turn for the worse? Then anything could happen couldnt it? he demanded, almost as if he had read next weeks script.

What was almost certainly the last scene between Barbara Windsor and June Brown as Dot Branning was truly touching.

Is everything alright with you Peggy? Count Dot-ula asked, the vampiric antennae sensing death as reliably as ever.

Things have been better, Peggy said. You know, Ive always admired you. Youve always been so certain about things. Whatevers happened, its never blown you off course.

I suppose its because I believe that theres always a reason for everything that happens, said Dot. Theres got to be. Otherwise how could I have borne it - saying goodbye to all those people over the years?

There was a horrible finality to the way she said her simple farewell: Goodbye Peggy.

End of an era: Apart from Grants imminent return, the good news was there were no more japes about wife-swapping or stolen toilets to distract us from the serious business of Peggys long goodbye

Goodbye Dot, said Peggy. Thank you for coming.

Gulp.

She eschewed Phils plans to take her for afternoon tea at The Ritz and the London Eye, opting for a corny trip up the river to the strains of Frank Sinatras Moon River  the only way to really see London (the boat that is, not Frank Sinatra).

Phil chuckled about how, when he and Grant were kids, she had told them if you chucked a body anywhere in the river from Tower Bridge down to the Prospect of Whitby, it would end up at Dead Mans Hole.

I think I only said it to frighten you! she laughed. Happy days!

They strolled arm in arm down their old street, like two extras from a Krays movie, with Barbara Windsor making a cheeky joke about knockers and the old bangers Phil had when he was young.

We are talking about cars arent we? she tittered.

Soap stalwarts: What was almost certainly the last scene between Barbara Windsor and June Brown as Dot Branning was truly touching

Eventually, over pie and mash, he said they had to tell his bruvver.

No. I cant. I cant deal with Grant as well ! she complained, looking horribly bereft.

Neither of them knew that Sharon had made the decision for them and left him the message on his phone Somethings happened. Your family needs you. You really should be here.

The sight of a sun-lounger by a pool and some fruit on a tiled table told us that she had called abroad.

Grants silhouette appeared seconds later, looking like dramatic historic footage of Neolithic man picking up a mobile phone.

His only dialogue was a single sigh - like the grunt of a caveman who was on holiday.

Ross Kemps dangerous adventures seemed to have taken a terrible effect on his features. His face looked as if it was made of putty, like the comic book character, The Thing, if hed had dodgy plastic surgery in Latin America.

As moving as Peggys storyline may be, it was hard not to feel that having Grant back in EastEnders made it worth it.
Alexander Skarsgard showed just why he was the perfect pick to play Tarzan on the big screen in a new portrait for Vogue.

The 39-year-old hunk showed off his incredible physique while posing in a soaking wet shirt for the fashion magazine.

The cotton fabric clings to his skin showing every bulge and sculpted tone as the actor stares straight into the camera.

Scroll down for video

The call of the jungle: Alexander Skarsgard showed just why he was the perfect choice to star as Tarzan on the big screen as he showed off his perfect physique in a soaking wet shirt in a potrait for Vogue

The new photo is part of a feature in the June issue of Vogue to promote the action adventure flick that co-stars Margot Robbie as Jane.

The True Blood star recalled in an interview how he'd first met the blonde bombshell in LA just before The Wolf Of Wall Street came out in 2013.

'She lived in this tiny studio apartment in Hollywood. We were supposed to just have coffee and talk about the project, but we spent the entire day together,' he said.

'I remember being blown away by how cool and down-to-earth she was. And then Wolf came out, and she went from relative obscurity to being the hottest actress in Hollywood.'

The Legend Of Tarzan, coming out on July 1, is a modern re-telling of the classic story about a boy raised by apes in the jungle.

The movie opens with Tarzan now living in London as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and married to Jane.

He is invited to return to the Congo as a British government trade emissary.

But he finds himself at the heart of a murderous plot driven by greed and revenge and in danger of becoming a pawn in a high stakes game being played by a Belgian Mastermind, played by Christoph Waltz.

Directed by David Yates, who helmed several of the Harry Potter films, the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Russell Beale and John Hurt.

Wild: The True Blood hunk returns to the jungle and battles o preserve his former homeland as he takes on a corrupt and murderous plot in the Congo. The action-packed movie is slated for a July 1 release
She's the successful globe-trotting bikini blogger.

But Natasha Oakley has taken time out from work commitments to relax as she continues to enjoy the delights of Jamaica.

The 25-year-old shared an enviable holiday snap, flaunting her ample assets and her toned body as she lay outstretched by the crystal clear ocean.

Scroll down for video

Relaxed: Natasha Oakley has taken time out from work commitments to relax as she continues to enjoy the delights of Jamaica

Natasha donned a blue and white floral two-piece which highlighted her deep tan while her blonde tresses were slicked back after a dip in the sea.

'Reasons not to like Jamaica: there are none,' the Sydney-born bikini lover captioned the picturesque shot.

In another image uploaded by the Australian beauty, Natasha gives a glimpse of her posterior as she sits in the same location with her back turned to the camera as she looks out onto the vast sea.

Natasha and best friend Devin Burgman have spent the last week on the Caribbean island nation, after flying in to promote the Revolve's new collection 5x5 Swim Project.

Reflecting: The 25-year-old donned a blue and white floral two-piece which highlighted her deep tan while her blonde tresses were slicked back after a dip in the sea

The business partners have been documenting their trip to the tropical location, sharing numerous photos to social media.

Earlier in the week, the pair were joined by a group of model friends as they all jumped on board a luxury catamaran to flash their pert derrieres in skimpy Brazilian-cut swimwear.

As the genetically-blessed gang reclined on the ship's netting, Natasha uploaded the image to social media and wrote: 'Greetings from Jamaica.'

Enjoying the sights: The Monday Swimwear founder has been sharing enviables holiday snap and flaunting her ample assets and toned body at picturesque locations on the Caribbean island nation

She and Devin were joined by fellow Aussie model Rocky Barnes, American model Hailey Clauson, Brazilian model Ludi Delfino and model Alexis Ren.

The blonde stunner donned a cream two-piece for the day, which amplified her deep bronze tan.

In another fun snap she is seen at the helm of the boat with Rocky, appearing makeup free, as she grins at the camera and runs a hand through her blonde hair.

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

Meanwhile her pal Rocky pulls on a rope in a cream tasseled bikini.

'Welcome aboard the dream boat,' Natasha wrote alongside the image.

It's been a busy time for the Monday Swimwear owners, who last month unveiled their six-week fitness programme called Body Love, which includes a total of ten workouts with strength and cardio training.
Corinne Bailey Rae new album is a funky, finger clicking delight

Corinne Bailey Rae: The Heart Speaks In Whispers (Good Grove)

Rating:

Corinne Bailey Rae created quite a stir with her first album ten years ago. That self-titled debut topped the UK charts, sold four million and presaged the U.S. success of fellow British soul queens Amy Winehouse and Adele.

But the husky-voiced Yorkshire lasss rock-oriented second album, The Sea, alienated fans of her pretty, poppy debut.

It arrived just two years after the tragic 2008 death of her husband Jason Rae, a jazz saxophonist, and the rawness of tracks such as I Would Like To Call It Beauty were a very public testimony to her grief.

Now 37, shes back, and The Heart Speaks In Whispers rekindles all the natural elegance that made her debut such a delight.

At her best, she can put a homegrown slant on the jazzy R&B of American divas like Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, and she does just that on the bruised but hopeful Hey, I Wont Break Your Heart.

Green Aphrodisiac is similarly intoxicating. A celebration of new love (Corinne recently married her producer Steve Brown), it combines clicking fingers and woozy electric piano with the funky bass of jazz maestro Marcus Miller, a former Miles Davis sideman.

With moving ballads such as Walk On reiterating her desire to forge ahead without overlooking the tough times, Corinne Bailey Rae is poised for a welcome return.

The Heart Speaks In Whispers rekindles all Bailey Rae's natural elegance, while Meghan Trainor second effort Thank You has mixed results early on but improves when she returns to her traditional influences

Meghan Trainor: Thank You (Epic)

Rating:

Meghan Trainors frothy mix of retro-flavoured pop and Fifties doo-wop was a breath of fresh air when the American topped charts with All About That Bass in 2014.

The former cheerleader, 22, who celebrated curves and railed against pops obsession with silicone Barbie dolls, was an unlikely star, and fame has only fortified her feisty streak: this week she vetoed a video because her figure had been made to appear thinner.

This second album begins, with mixed results, by adding strains of Nineties hip-hop and synthetic pop to an eclectic mix, but scores more points when Trainor returns to her traditional influences.

The reggae-flavoured Woman Up extols the virtues of Madonnas redder than wine lipstick, while Sixties-inspired No delivers the kiss-off to an unwanted admirer. Hopeless Romantic yearns for men who hold open the door.

With enough zany humour to camouflage her limited vocal range, Thank You is also quirky enough to suggest her success is no flash in the pan.
US Navy officer in charge of sailors held by Iran reassigned

The officer in charge of 10 US sailors who were briefly captured by Iran in the Persian Gulf was relieved of his command, the Navy announced.

Commander Eric Rasch "was relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement, adding he has been temporarily reassigned to a new role.

The decision is the first time a sailor has been held publicly accountable after two US riverine patrol boats veered off course into Iranian territorial waters off Farsi Island in the Gulf.

The US Navy said Commander Eric Rasch, who commanded the sailors briefly captured by Iran in January (pictured), had been relieved of command and reassigned HO (IRAN'S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS WEBSITE/AFP/File)

Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Tim Hawkins said other sailors have also been held accountable, but he would not say who these were because the incident remains under investigation.

"The commander of US Fifth Fleet took administrative action involving personnel assigned under his authority," Hawkins told AFP.

"Administrative action can range from verbal counseling to a formal letter of reprimand."

The Navy probe is expected to be wrapped up by the end of the month and will be released publicly soon after.

Though the sailors were held for less than 24 hours, the incident was a major embarrassment for the US Navy and President Barack Obama.

The United States carefully avoided escalating the situation, maintaining a conciliatory tone with Tehran days ahead of the implementation of a historic international deal over Iran's nuclear program.

Iranian media broadcast humiliating images of the American sailors during their detention, showing them kneeling on their boats at gunpoint with their hands on their heads.
Fallen hero: How the tide turned for Taiwan's Ma

He won Taiwan's largest ever landslide victory, a safe pair of hands promising prosperity and stability -- but president Ma Ying-jeou leaves office this month caricatured as incompetent, aloof and wildly out of step with public sentiment.

Coolly coiffed with a sweep of jet-black hair, urbane Ma was seen as a reliable "Mr Clean" when he stormed to victory for the Kuomintang party in 2008, replacing an outgoing opposition government mired in corruption.

However, as he prepares to hand the reins of power to opposition leader Tsai Ing-wen on May 20, Ma faces possible court action and leaves a legacy fraught with division.

He won Taiwan's largest ever landslide victory to become president in 2008, but Ma Ying-jeou leaves office later this month labelled a 'lame duck' leader after his rapprochement with China turned the public against him Sam Yeh (AFP/File)

Relations with Beijing had sunk to a low under Ma's predecessor President Chen Shui-bian of the Democratic Progressive Party.

Ma banked on friendlier ties for Taiwan to thrive. A rapprochement and a slew of trade deals followed, culminating with a historic handshake with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.

But while Ma may have fulfilled a personal ambition, the public felt short-changed and increasingly saw him as a mainland puppet jeopardising Taiwan's sovereignty. China still views self-ruling Taiwan as part of its territory, with reunification as its ultimate aim.

During student-led protests against a China trade pact in 2014, rally posters portrayed Ma with a Hitler moustache.

Other banners showed him with antlers growing out of his ears -- a pointed jibe after Ma had mistakenly said that deer antlers used for Chinese medicine were actually hair from the animal's ears.

At their worst, his popularity faded to nine percent -- earning him the nickname "nine-percent president" among opponents.

Ma was "unable to reach out to the local Taiwanese", said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, instead making relations with Beijing his priority.

He also failed to bridge divisions within his own party.

"He lacks leadership and charisma," said Cabestan.

"He was unable to lead and control the KMT, his ministers, and gave the impression of being soft with China and hard with the opposition."

- Faded hopes -

After his presidential immunity lapses, Ma will face possible lawsuits from political rivals relating to the alleged leaking of political secrets and failing to declare assets.

It is an ignominious sign-off for the Harvard-educated former justice minister and Taipei mayor, and son of a senior KMT official.

Beleaguered Ma has admitted his government could have done better to meet the demands of a public stretched by high rents and low salaries -- but he staunchly defends his China policy as having brought peace to the region.

"Ma's policies have painted him as for the one percent and China, at a time when society at large is fed up with both," said Jonathan Sullivan, associate professor at the University of Nottingham's School of Contemporary Chinese Studies in Britain.

"Adding to these policy outcomes is Ma's personal reputation for aloofness, indecisiveness -- but paradoxically with an authoritarian streak -- incompetence and inability to balance the interests of his party, Taiwan and his own personal objectives," added Sullivan.

Even staunch KMT supporters have turned their backs, with the party in tatters having lost its majority in parliament for the first time under Ma.

"We had high hopes, but we saw our faith in him fading away," said Sun Chieh-yi, 59, a retired watch shop owner who comes from a traditionally pro-KMT family.

"People do not feel their lives are any better than before."

However, observers say history may look back more kindly on Ma as China relations are set to cool once more under Tsai and the traditionally pro-independence DPP, with concerns cross-strait friction may surge.

"At least he showed disputes between the two former rivals could be solved in a peaceful manner," said Liao Da-chi, political science professor at Taiwan's National Sun Yat-sen University.

In some ways, said Sullivan, Ma could never win.

"He was caught between two stalls: China calls him weak for failing to push rapprochement further. The majority of Taiwanese feel he went too far too quickly, and against their wishes."

While Ma Ying-jeou's (L) handshake with Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2015 may have fulfilled a personal ambition, Taiwanese public felt short-changed and increasingly saw him as a mainland puppet jeopardising the island's sovereignty Roslan Rahman (AFP/File)

A protester displays a placard of Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou mocked up to look like former German chancellor Adolf Hitler, during a demonstration in Taipei, in 2013 Sam Yeh (AFP/File)
US ready to loosen Libya arms embargo

The US government is ready to loosen a ban on arms exports to Libya, in a bid to help the country's fledgling unity government fight the Islamic State group, officials and diplomats have told AFP.

Under White House-backed plans, the United Nations would carve out exemptions to an embargo introduced by the Security Council in 2011, during Moamer Kadhafi's failed attempt to suppress a popular uprising.

"If the Libyan government prepares a detailed and coherent list of things that it wants to use to fight ISIL and responds to all the requirements of the exemption, I think that Council members are going to look very seriously at that request," a senior administration official told AFP.

Libyans demonstrate in Benghazi calling for military forces to re-capture the southern city of Sirte from the Islamic State group without foreign intervention Abdullah Doma (AFP/File)

"There is a very healthy desire inside of Libya to rid themselves of ISIL, and I think that is something we should be supporting and responding to," the official said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Kadhafi's regime was deposed with the help of NATO airpower in 2011 and he was ultimately killed in October of that year, but the country has been in turmoil since.

Dozens of militia groups have carved up the country into virtual fiefdoms, and two rival governments have been formed.

Western nations and many Libyans have watched in horror as the jihadist IS group has emerged from the chaos to control a swathe of central Libya around Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

With its port and airport, there are fears the jihadists could use the Mediterranean city as a staging post for attacks on Europe.

They have already hit nearby oil installations, choking much-needed oil revenues.

The Pentagon earlier this year estimated that as many as 6,000 Islamic State fighters were in the country, with a standing call for foreigners to join them.

US President Barack Obama's administration and its European allies have been eager to help the government establish itself and take on the jihadists.

When asked earlier this year about his greatest mistake in office, Obama cited Libya: "Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya."

But the West has had to avoid the risk of appearing to interfere and, in so doing, undermining the fragile government.

- 'What are your needs?' -

Officials in Washington, Rome and elsewhere have recently toned down talk of sending a contingent of troops to the country to train and assist Libyan fighters, instead waiting for the government to request help.

"All the talk about what we might do, or could do, it responds to the needs of the Libyan government. When we talk about training or we talk about equipment, we are having a conversation about 'what are your needs?'" said the US official.

US actions in Libya have been limited to strikes against a suspected Islamic State training camp and a suspect believed to be involved in deadly attacks in neighboring Tunisia.

The US has also covertly sent a small group of special forces to Libya to gather intelligence and liaise with some militias, according to The Washington Post.

Loosening the arms embargo will be discussed when US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with his counterparts from regional powers in Vienna on Monday.

But it is not yet clear what weapons Libya might request and diplomats warn the government may struggle to come to that meeting with a concrete request amid factional fighting.

The UN-backed Government of National Accord is still very much a work in progress, struggling to extend its writ across Tripoli and the country.

Many militias refuse to come under government control, including those under the command of powerful renegade general Khalifa Haftar.

Officials and independent observers say that Haftar has received substantial military support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, calling the strength and utility of the embargo into serious question.

Other militias have been linked to Al-Qaeda.

If the arms embargo is to be eased, officials and diplomats say Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj will have to find a force both willing to fall under government control and battle jihadists who have shown they will fight to the death.

IS fighters, including two suicide bombers, on Thursday killed four Libyan fighters and wounded 24 in their latest foray into territory controlled by the government.

Sensing an attack may come soon, jihadists have begun pushing toward the coastal town of Misrata.

Sarraj's government will also have to address concerns about foreign arms falling into the wrong hands or fueling militia rivalries.

"There is no unified chain of command, there are still factional armed forces that are still more focused on fighting each other than on fighting ISIS," said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The real danger is that these factional militias would use the arms against each other."

Meanwhile the government has taken small steps to take control of ministries and begin to eke out a truly national military.

Earlier this week the government announced the creation of a "Presidential Guard" to protect government buildings, border posts, vital installations and VIPs.

"It's incremental progress, but it is tangible," said the US official.

Displaced children who fled the eastern Libyan cities of Abu Grein and Sirte following attacks by the Islamic State group, look out window at a school in Bani Walid, south of Tripoli Hosam Turkia (AFP)

Engineers from the Libyan air force repair a MIG-23bn fighter jet at a military air base in the eastern coastal city of Benghazi Abdullah Doma (AFP/File)
Humble tofu powering Indonesian homes with clean energy

In a dark and steamy room in Indonesia's tofu heartland three men sweat over bubbling cauldrons, churning creamy beancurd with wooden paddles before draining it by hand and slicing it into silky cubes.

Tofu has been cooked this way for generations but today, innovative villagers on Java island are producing something extra from the simple soybean -- cheap, renewable energy, piped directly into their homes.

Around 150 small tofu businesses in Kalisari village, many run from the family home, are benefiting from a pioneering green scheme that converts wastewater from their production floors into a clean-burning biogas.

Around 150 small tofu businesses in Indonesia's Kalisari village, many run from the family home, are benefiting from a pioneering green scheme that converts wastewater from their production floors into a clean-burning biogas Adek Berry (AFP)

Where families once relied on sporadic deliveries of tanked gas or wood for stoves, tofu producers like Waroh can access this cleaner fuel anytime with the flick of a switch.

"The advantages are huge, because we produce the gas with waste," Waroh, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP as he boiled tea over a steady blue flame coming from his kitchen stove.

Experts say harnessing power from unconventional sources like tofu holds enormous potential in Indonesia, a vast energy-hungry nation heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Renewable energy accounts for just a fraction of the power generated across Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands with around 250 million people.

But the government has committed to curbing Indonesia's greenhouse gases -- it is one of the world's top emitters -- and wants a quarter of the country's energy to be derived from renewables by 2025.

Small-scale projects alone won't meet this target, but they are making a contribution.

While most renewable energy projects use traditional sources of power such as solar or wind, the Kalisari initiative is among a handful taking a more original approach. Other projects include generating energy from sorghum production, and also from pig waste.

- Huge potential -

In Kalisari, villagers sometimes wait weeks for LPG gas tanks to arrive. Delays due to poor logistics and bad roads are common in Indonesia, especially on overcrowded Java.

"One month you had it, another one you didn't. Thanks to this biogas, things are a lot easier for people here," Waroh said, as he ground soybeans through an ancient, spluttering machine.

An enormous amount of water is required to make tofu -- roughly 33 litres (eight gallons) for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of spongy beancurd. Sour-smelling acetic acid is added to make the tofu clump together and when drained, it's this liquid wastewater that's treated with bacteria in tanks to produce biogas.

The gas is piped directly to household stoves, which have been modified to handle the renewable fuel. Long term, the local government hopes the gas will power lights across the village.

It also cuts costs - it is three times cheaper for villagers to pay for unlimited biogas than to purchase refillable LPG tanks.

The government's technology agency, which spearheaded the Kalisari pilot project, predicted that if rolled out across the country, more than 56,000 tonnes of fossil fuels could be substituted every year by biogas created from tofu waste water.

The optimism is shared by Dutch development organisation Hivos, which has set up around 20,000 "digesters" across Indonesia that convert waste products like animal manure into biogas.

"There are thousands and thousands of tofu producers throughout the country. There's a lot of potential there," Robert de Groot, Hivos's program development manager, told AFP.

- Green village -

The Kalisari project has also helped to reduce damage caused to the local environment from tofu production.

Thousands of litres of waste water drained from raw tofu was once pumped daily from factories around the village into nearby rivers, befouling waterways and contaminating rice fields downstream.

"The environment here was very polluted," Kalisari local government head Aziz Masruri told AFP, gesturing to a river fringed by wooden tofu workshops.

"It stank, and it was affecting our agriculture."

Things have steadily improved since the cloudy, foul-smelling liquid was diverted from rivers to large blue tanks, where it's transformed into biogas.

Farmers have reported better rice yields, while the river is clearer and less smelly, Masruri said.

As the benefits materialised, the project rapidly expanded. What started as one digester in Kalisari expanded to five, with later models boasting far greater capacity and producing enough gas to power nearly 100 homes.

This innovation hasn't gone unnoticed. The small village hosts a steady stream of officials from nearby regions keen to imitate the model, and similar projects have already sprung up, Masruri said. Researchers are also considering other applications for the technology, including Indonesia's tapioca sector.

Kalisari's experiment with green energy has been so successful the scheme is operating at maximum capacity. Villagers wanting to sign up must wait for a new digester to be installed, something Masruri hopes will transform Kalisari into a 100 percent "green village".

"We hope next year we can become an energy efficient village, free of pollution" he said.

An Indonesian woman fries tofu in the village of Kalisari, Banyumas, in Central Java Adek Berry (AFP)

Experts say harnessing power from unconventional sources like tofu holds enormous potential in Indonesia, a vast energy-hungry nation heavily reliant on fossil fuels Adek Berry (AFP)
Blast kills Hezbollah military chief in Syria

Lebanon's Hezbollah announced Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria where the Shiite militant group has deployed thousands of fighters backing the Damascus regime.

Hezbollah said it was investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commander's predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollah's intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad's regime, came with a fragile truce in Syria's five-year war on the brink of collapse.

Mustafa Badreddine had led Hezbollah's intervention in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime since the start of the five-year war

A six-day-old ceasefire in second city Aleppo expired early Thursday, and rebel snipers killed two civilians in the city's government-held sector, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in Idlib province in the northwest, killing 16 fighters including a commander.

Badreddine, in his mid-50s, was a key player in Hezbollah's military wing.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and was "most wanted" by Israel.

The Iran-backed Hezbollah did not say which of Badreddine's many enemies it held responsible for his death.

But second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem told mourners at the funeral he was killed in a "huge blast" at a Hezbollah position near Damascus airport.

He said a probe was under way, but "because there are many possibilities, we don't want to anticipate the investigation."

"I assure you however that within hours, no later than Saturday morning, we will give a detailed account about what caused the blast and who was behind it," Qassem said.

Hezbollah has a "clear indication" on who was responsible and how it happened, "but we need some more time to be one hundred percent sure", he added.

Baghdad-based US military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said it was unclear who carried out the strike, but the United States was not involved.

- 'Enemies are known' -

Qassem spoke at Badreddine's funeral in Hezbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif sent condolences to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, saying Badreddine's death "will further strengthen the determination of the forces of resistance against the Zionist regime and terrorism".

Huge crowds thronged the streets as Badreddine's coffin, draped in Hezbollah's yellow flag, was carried by uniformed young men.

Badreddine's predecessor Imad Mughniyeh -- his cousin and brother-in-law -- was killed in Damascus in a 2008 bombing that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddine's death.

Israel made no comment, as was also the case in 2008, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollah's failure to apportion blame.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said: "The enemies of our great martyrs are known, the Zionists (Israel), the Americans or the takfiris (Sunni Muslim extremists who consider Shiites heretics)."

Badreddine's death comes months after another Hezbollah figure, Samir Kantar, was killed in an December 2015 air strike near Damascus which the group blamed on Israel.

- Key Assad prop -

In its 2012 terror blacklisting of Badreddine, Washington charged that he was the key pointman for Hezbollah's operations in Syria alongside Assad's major foreign backer Iran.

"Badreddine is assessed to be responsible for Hezbollah's military operations in Syria since 2011," the US Treasury Department said, adding that he liaised personally with Assad.

The pro-Hezbollah Al-Akhbar newspaper said Badreddine was killed on Thursday night.

Damascus airport is east of the capital in an area where various rebel groups have a strong presence, although pro-government forces control the highway to it.

Hezbollah's intervention was vital in 2013 in shoring up Assad's regime at its lowest point in the war against rebels backed by Gulf Arab and Western countries.

Its fighters secured most of the Lebanese border region, cutting vital rebel supply lines, and reasserted government control in most of the southern suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayyida Zeinab Shiite shrine district.

In Beirut, Hezbollah expert Waddah Charara said Badreddine had also been responsible for training Shiite militiamen in Iraq and had a direct link with Iran.

Moscow's intervention last September in support of its ally greatly expanded the military coalition backing Assad.

Russian officials have vowed to work closely with their US counterparts to salvage a February ceasefire between pro-government forces and non-jihadist rebels that was teetering on the brink Friday after the Aleppo truce collapsed.

That deal sharply reduced a surge in fighting in Syria's pre-war commercial capital that had killed more than 300 civilians.

Supporters of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah carry the coffin of top commander Mustafa Badreddine during his funeral in Beirut Anwar Amro (AFP)

Lebanese press report the death of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine on May 13, 2016 Anwar Amro (AFP)

Ali Badreddine (C), the son of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine who was killed in an attack in Syria, is comforted by people in Beirut on May 13, 2016 Anwar Amro (AFP)
A dance to the music of Mao: China's Cultural Revolution art

When the critical eye of Mao Zedong's wife fell upon a non-conforming artist during China's Cultural Revolution the assessment could be devastating.

The consequences may be less brutal now, but China's Communist authorities still impose strict controls and censorship.

Jiang Zuhui, now 81, choreographed one of the most emblematic works of the Cultural Revolution era -- the "Red Detachment of Women" ballet.

Performers dancing and singing during a Chinese national opera of the "Red Detachment of Women" in Haikou, south China's Hainan province STR (AFP)

When she fell out with Mao's powerful wife Jiang Qing and was labelled "counter-revolutionary", she was detained in a rehearsal room at her theatre for nearly three years, before being "sent down" to the countryside for more than half a decade.

Many other artists faced a similar fate, while others were persecuted, tortured, even killed.

"Artists lost 10 years," Jiang said of the Cultural Revolution, which was proclaimed 50 years ago on Monday.

"Everything stopped. It was a waste."

Mao's wife, a former actress declared a patron of culture, launched a campaign to cleanse the arts: all plays, films, operas, ballets and music considered "feudalistic and bourgeois" were banned.

Her ex-colleagues in the Shanghai film industry -- along with previous lovers -- were said to be among her first victims.

The "Red Detachment of Women" -- which tells the story of a 1930s Chinese woman who escapes a cruel master and joins a female battalion of the then underground Communist Red Army -- was one of eight "model performances".

Chosen by Mao's wife, they were the only artistic works allowed to be mounted during the period and she took close control over the few troops authorised to produce them.

"Once she came to attend one of our rehearsals," recalled Jiang Zuhui.

"At the end, I invited her to go on stage to join the artists. She refused. I insisted politely, and she took it for insolence."

Now retired and living in Beijing, she told AFP: "To oppose Jiang Qing was to oppose the revolution."

It was the beginning of her nightmare, which ended only with her tormentor's fall following Mao's death in 1976.

- Cultural disaster -

The Cultural Revolution was "a disaster for the arts and literature", said art critic Zhu Dake.

Art became a "political tool", he said. "In total, maybe 1 in 10,000 (artists) were allowed to continue to work, but only on model plays."

Today the risk of artistic banishment has receded -- although dissident artist Ai Weiwei was denied a passport for years -- but current President Xi Jinping has declared that culture must serve the ruling Communist Party.

The "Red Detachment of Women" remains part of the repertoire of China's National Ballet, along with once-banned foreign works such as Carmen and Don Quixote.

But in general "red shows" glorifying the Communist Party aren't very popular.

State-owned enterprises regularly offer their employees free tickets to such performances, but employee Xiao Deng said that "only a few older people are nostalgic" for them.

"Young people do not feel concerned by these stories, which are so different from their aspirations and their lives today."

Even so, Xi -- in a speech that drew comparisons to a 1942 address by Mao -- recently urged China's artists not to chase popularity with "vulgar" works but promote socialism instead.

Xi's speech has been published as a book -- with chapter titles including "Strengthening and improving the Party's leadership over artistic practice" -- and local authorities have been encouraged to organise seminars to disseminate its contents, state media reported.

"Art and culture will emit the greatest positive energy when the Marxist view of art and culture is firmly established and the people are their focus," Xi said, according to a transcript released by the official news agency Xinhua.

In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution there was a "rebirth" of novels, painting, theatre and fine arts, critic Zhu told AFP, but it "ended in 1989" -- the year of the Tiananmen square crackdown.

Artists were freer now than in the extremes of the late 1960s, he said, but added: "Today there is no space for creation. Under the twin pressures of commerce and politics, artists have no real room to grow.

The "Red Detachment of Women" was one of eight "model performances" as May 16 marks the 50th anniversary of China's Cultural Revolution STR (AFP)
Rural midwives on front line of Sierra Leone maternity crisis

It is final exams season at Masuba midwifery school in rural Sierra Leone, and 70 more students are about to begin working life at the sharp end of the country's maternal health crisis.

Established in 2010, the school is only the second dedicated midwife training unit for a country of seven million people, located at the end of a bone-shaking series of dirt tracks several hours from the capital by car.

Keeping women and babies alive is an extreme challenge in the remote communities the graduates will serve, where suspicion of medical professionals is entrenched and family planning near non-existent.

Students at the Masuba Midwifery School in Sierra Leone practice cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a dummy Marco Longari (AFP)

"My first placement where I was sent in Kabala (a northern town)... people don't believe in the hospital facility," said Aminata Kanu, sitting in her classroom with dozens of others in identical blue uniforms and white hats.

Ebola severely strained the already limited resources of a crumbling health system when the 2014 epidemic erupted, and many women are reticent to seek professional medical care.

"We counsel them, tell them the importance of being in the hospital," 23-year old Kanu said, expressing frustration that some women "still refuse" to give birth outside the home in the presence of a traditional birth attendant.

The trainees will work exclusively in the villages and small towns that represent the greatest challenges for reversing Sierra Leone's sad distinction of holding the world's worst maternal mortality rate -- 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births.

School places are oversubscribed even though training salaries are low by local standards -- 590,000 leones ($150) a month plus a 200,000 leone monthly grant from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) -- and hours long. Jobs in this area are scarce.

- Feathers and string -

The Masuba school in central Sierra Leone emphasises culturally sensitive training and works to shift what tutor Cecelia Lausana said was a sometimes unconstructive attitude to communication with patients.

Gesturing towards a board of examples of traditional birth control used in rural communities, such as feathers worn in the hair and plaited cotton bracelets, Lausana said women would not be persuaded to abandon such methods.

"If we don't support the traditional methods we can't get them to use the modern one. We encourage them to use the traditional methods as a 'back-up'," she said, smiling.

Senior instructor Halima Shyllon said a cultural gaffe involving just one woman could alienate entire villages.

"I went to do supervision (in) a Muslim-dominated community. And they have sent a male midwife! He has to work with the traditional birth attendant so he is standing at the door and giving instructions."

Getting the traditional attendants in rural areas on board was key, the midwives agreed. Some jealously guarded their privileged role, they said, even if more women died as a result.

One town under her supervision "has a beautiful facility but ... only a few people come," said Shyllon.

"Students were sent on outreach... They discovered that it was this traditional birth attendant that was conducting all the deliveries at home."

- FGM complications -

Some communities are taking firm action. The village of Makali north of Masuba has passed a punitive by-law on any women delivering at home: a 50,000 leone fine per child, and double for twins.

Another practice complicates the lives of the midwives: female genital mutilation (FGM).

Nine in 10 women have undergone FGM in Sierra Leone, according to a report released this year by UNICEF, and nearly 70 percent of women support its continuation.

Women who are "cut" experience increased complications during caesarian sections, greater risk of haemorrhage and prolonged labour, according to the World Health Organization.

Showing off a life-size pregnant model donated by the Netherlands and named Jessica -- after the school's principal -- students were shown how the whole vaginal area became extremely tight during birth for FGM-affected patients, usually requiring an extra surgical cut to aid delivery.

Jessica arrived four years ago and replaced the previous training tool: a pair of leggings through which a soft toy was pushed at an opening in the front of the garment. Models and props remain in short supply.

There are other threats to the school's work: support for equipment had increased in the last couple of years, according to the tutors, but the full funding of tuition by UNFPA was at risk for next year's intake due to budget cuts at the UN agency.

Transportation was another serious problem, both for students and patients, Shyllon said.

"There are some districts where the population is so sparse that you meet one community and you have to go a very far distance before you can meet another," often taking huge chunks from small salaries.

The ambulance system in this country still has a "long way" to go, Shyllon added.

For fellow tutor Lausana, the key was to train many more rural midwives, as 40 percent currently work in Freetown, the capital serving just 15 percent of the population.

"I believe if they train more midwives, and midwives are attending to every birth in this country, it will help greatly," she said.

Cecilia Lausara, a trainer at the Masuba Midwifery School, simulates a birth using a special dummy during a demonstration in central Sierra Leone Marco Longari (AFP)
Frida Kahlo painting sells at auction for record $8 mn

A painting by Frida Kahlo depicting two nude women sold in New York for a record $8 million, the highest price yet for any work by the iconic Mexican artist, Christie's said.

The 1939 painting "Two Nudes in the Forest (The Earth Itself)" was estimated to be worth $8 to $12 million. Despite selling at the bottom of that range, it surpassed the previous auction record for Kahlo.

In 2006, her painting "Roots" sold for $5.6 million during a Sotheby's auction in New York.

A painting by Frida Kahlo, 'Two Nudes in the Forest (The Earth Itself)', has been sold in New York for a record $8 million, the highest price yet for any work by the iconic Mexican artist Kena Betancur (AFP/File)

Kahlo (1907-1954) was the first Latin-American artist to cross the million-dollar threshold when her painting "Diego y Yo" went for $1.4 million in 1990.

Her personality, style and relatively small number of works have made her one of the most sought-after Latin American artists for decades.

The price of sale Thursday, $8.005 million to be exact, is also a record for any Latin American artist at auction, Christie's said.

The painting is slated to appear in the exposition "Paint the Revolution: Mexican Modernism, 1910-1950," which opens in October at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The same exposition is set to be shipped in 2017 to the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, where visitors will be able to view the painting.

Thursday's sale was the last big event of spring auction week in New York.
Marcos fighting for future in Philippines' vice president race

The son and namesake of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos was fighting for his political future Friday after a cliffhanger vice presidential election contest against a novice politician.

A win for Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, 58, would have been the family's biggest political victory since its humiliating downfall in 1986 after a "People Power" uprising ended 20 years of human rights abuses, election fraud and the plunder of state coffers.

It was also widely seen as part of a long-term strategy to become president.

Vice presidential candidate and son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, speaks at a press conference in Manila, on May 9, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File)

But the count for Monday's vote has dragged and on Friday Marcos was 217,000 votes behind Leni Robredo, a widow thrust into politics after her well-regarded interior-minister husband died in a 2012 plane crash.

With a million votes left to count Marcos Jnr has refused to concede defeat, while accusing President Benigno Aquino's government of manipulating the results for Robredo.

"If you add up all the votes that had not been transmitted, it would show that I won by a large margin," Marcos, an incumbent senator, said this week as his near-one-million lead early in the count evaporated.

Late Thursday he urged the state election body Commission on Elections to investigate the alleged "tampering" of a computer software that received data for the count in Manila.

However the poll body rejected allegations of cheating, saying the fix did not in any way change the result and was meant to add a Spanish letter for some candidates' names.

Alan Cayetano, who was running third in the race, also dismissed the allegations on Thursday as he conceded victory to Robredo.

Nearly 96 percent of the votes have been counted.

The remaining one more million have not been counted yet because of a delay in tallying those votes or because some polling booths did not operate on Monday because of violence or technical glitches. Those 2,000 precincts will re-stage their elections on Saturday.

Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential vote by a landslide.

The Marcos family fled to US exile after the "People Power" revolution ended the dictator's one-man rule, in which thousands of critics were thrown in prison.

But his family has made a surprising political comeback, rebuilding its base in his northern bailiwick of Ilocos Norte province.

In Monday's vote the dictator's widow, Imelda Marcos, swept to a third term at the House of Representatives representing Ilocos Norte.

Her daughter, Imee Marcos, was also elected as provincial governor there for the third time.

Marcos Jnr was elected to the Senate in 2010 and his term runs out on June 30.
Syria Qaeda kills 19 civilians from Assad's Alawite sect

Al-Qaeda fighters and their allies shot dead 19 civilians from President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority in their own homes after seizing their village in central Syria, a monitor said Friday.

Other villagers were kidnapped following the assault in which eight pro-regime militiamen were killed trying to defend Al-Zara in Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

"During the attack, they entered houses and opened fire on families, killing at least 19 civilians, including six women," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The five-year civil war in Syria has enflamed sectarian resentment between the country's Sunni majority and the Alawite minority that is the main prop of the Assad regime Louai Beshara (AFP/File)

State news agency SANA condemned the "massacre" of villagers in Hama, which like neighbouring Homs province is mainly Sunni but has a significant Alawite minority.

"Terrorist groups infiltrated Al-Zara and carried out a massacre as well as destruction and pillage," it reported.

The five-year civil war in Syria has enflamed sectarian resentment between the country's Sunni majority and the Alawite minority that is the main prop of the Assad regime.
Verdicts loom for Hong Kong student leader Wong

Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong was in court Friday for the last day of a trial over pro-democracy protests, as he faces two imminent verdicts and a possible prison sentence.

Teenage Wong was at the forefront of mass rallies in 2014 which brought parts of the semi-autonomous city to a standstill as residents called on Beijing to allow fully free elections for future leaders.

He has been in and out of court hearings for the past year after being charged with multiple offences linked to protests leading up to what became known as the "Umbrella Movement".

Pro-democracy student protester Joshua Wong was one of the leading figures in the mass rallies in 2014 that brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill Anthony Wallace (AFP/File)

Wong, now 19, has always argued that the cases against him are political persecution.

Friday saw final arguments in a case where Wong and two other young protest leaders were charged over climbing into a Hong Kong government complex forecourt known as Civic Square on September 26, 2014.

That protest triggered wider rallies that exploded two days later when police fired tear gas to disperse crowds.

Wong faces charges of taking part in an unlawful assembly and inciting others to do so, which carry a jail term of up to five years.

Defence lawyers argued that authorities should not have fenced off Civic Square -- previously a popular protest site open to the public -- in the febrile months before the Umbrella Movement.

"The reason why this problem has arisen is because there are people that are not allowing them to go in," said Michael Chai, a lawyer defending Wong's fellow protester Nathan Law.

"There was no damage to Civic Square...the force used was the mildest possible," added Wong's defence lawyer Randy Shek said.

The prosecution argued the fact they climbed into the square was unlawful and that the protest was pre-planned.

Wong did not comment Friday but has previously said he was preparing for a possible jail sentence.

The verdict will be handed down on June 29.

He will also face a verdict on May 23 in another case over an anti-China protest in the build-up to the pro-democracy rallies.

Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being returned to China by Britain in 1997, with much greater freedoms than seen on the mainland.

But there are fears those freedoms are being eroded by increasing interference from Beijing.
Former Chinese presidential top aide charged with bribery

An ex-aide of former Chinese president Hu Jintao has been charged with accepting bribes and illegally obtaining state secrets, prosecutors said on Friday, suggesting he will face jail after a trial.

The ruling Communist Party last year accused Ling Jihua -- once Hu's chief of staff -- of bribery and "trading power for sex", after expelling him the previous year.

Ling's son died in a notorious Ferrari crash in Beijing which disrupted a once-in-a-decade party leadership change in 2012.

Ling Jihua at the closing of the 18th Communist Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on November 14, 2012 Goh Chai Hin (AFP/File)

The accusations against Ling are "extremely serious", the country's senior prosecutor said on its website, suggesting a lengthy sentence is likely.

He "abused his power" as director of the General Office of the Communist Party's Central Committee, where he worked under Hu, it cited prosecutors in the northern port city of Tianjin as saying.

While in several party leadership posts he "illegally received large amounts of property and obtained state secrets," it added.

His prosecution is likely to be followed by a tightly choreographed trial, with a guilty verdict and jail term almost guaranteed.

It comes as part of a high-profile crackdown on graft by current President Xi Jinping that has deposed several senior officials, notably former security chief Zhou Yongkang, who was jailed for life last year.

Critics say that a lack of transparency around the crackdown means it has been an opportunity for Xi to eliminate political enemies.

The 2012 car crash involving Ling's son scandalised China despite a mainland media blackout -- partly because two young women, one nude and one partially clothed, were also injured in the crash, with one reportedly dying months later.

Internet users questioned how the son of a party official could afford a car worth a reported five million yuan (around $800,000).

- Graft-buster -

The Communist Party said in July that an internal probe found Ling "violated political discipline and rules".

Graft is endemic in China's authoritarian system, and Xi has acknowledged it as a threat to the ruling party's survival.

Ling, 59, is among the highest ranking officials charged in recent years, after Zhou and former Politburo member Bo Xilai who was jailed for life in 2013.

Ling was "clearly" affiliated with the Communist Party's Youth League, an alternative power-base which has been under attack by Xi and allies in recent months, Steve Tsang, the head of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham, said.

A delay of more than a year between the party's probe and prosecution reflects caution on Xi's part, he said, adding the president "can't fight all sides at the same time".

The announcement comes after months of negative indicators have increased doubt about the party's economic management.

This is a good opportunity for Xi Jinping to re-establish his authority as the incorruptible graft-buster," China expert Willy Lam of the Chinese University of Hong Kong told AFP.

"This will promote his stature within the party".

The charges against Ling suggest he will receive "a very severe sentence  a suspended death sentence, perhaps," Lam added.

Such sentences are usually commuted to life in prison.

Ling's brother, Ling Wancheng has fled to the United States, a Chinese anti-graft official confirmed in January, adding Beijing was "in touch" with Washington about his case.

"It will be interesting to see whether his younger brother Ling Wancheng, under US government protection, would do anything to affect the case," Lam added.
US presidential TV ad campaign spending soars since 2012

This year's US presidential election campaigns are breaking new ground not only for the tone of their messages but for how hard they're trying to get Americans to listen to them.

The volume of television advertising since January 2015 is up 122 percent from the same period four years ago, according to a new study by the Wesleyan Media Project released Thursday.

Presidential campaigns and outside groups have spent a total of $408 million on 480,000 ad airings compared with $120 million on fewer than 220,000 advertisements by this point in 2012.

A campaign ad paid for by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders' campaign on TV in a hotel breakfast room in Des Moines, Iowa on November 16, 2015 Alex Wong (Getty/AFP/File)

Republicans are outspending Democrats, having shelled out two-thirds of the total amount so far from January 1, 2015 through May 8.

Republican campaigns are airing ads at a volume of 80 percent more than four years ago, the report says.

The Democratic campaigns are airing ads at a frequency of 1,500 percent more than in 2012 only because incumbent President Barack Obama faced no primary opponent then.

This time, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has been promoted by the highest number of ads, nearly 125,000.

The Vermont senator is followed by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, with 105,000 ads supporting her White House bid.

While more than 98 percent of Democratic Party spending was by the campaigns themselves, some 76 percent in the GOP race has come from outside groups, many of them so-called super PACs supporting single candidates, the study said.

More advertising hasn't necessarily translated into more votes, however.

"One remarkable aspect of this campaign is that the candidates who benefited from the most advertising did not necessarily fare well in the race," Wesleyan Media Project co-director Travis Ridout said in a statement. "Trump managed to become the presumptive Republican nominee in spite of being out-advertised. One reason for this is his amazing ability to attract free media."

While former Republican front-runner Jeb Bush has been ridiculed for spending some $130 million on his campaign before withdrawing from the race under relentless attack from Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, Trump has used social media to amplify controversial messages analysts say are aimed at dominating coverage on national news media.

Trump -- whose campaign has paid for all advertising promoting him -- was sixth, behind both Democrats and former presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Bush.

Some 33,000 ads have backed the real estate tycoon on air.
Gruelling tales behind South African miners' class action

Dangerous working conditions, scant safety standards, inhumane living quarters and violent racism -- South African gold miners endured decades of hardship underground.

Their stories were laid bare on Friday when a court ruled that up to 500,000 miners and their families could pursue a class-action suit against their employers over silicosis, a fatal respiratory disease contracted from breathing in dust underground.

Here are four first-person testimonies contained in the ruling:

A miners' supporter films a protest outside the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on May 13, 2016 after the judge allowed a class action against mining companies over the respiratory disease silicosis Mujahid Safodien (AFP)

-- BONGANI NKALA led the legal battle to allow the class-action suit. He was diagnosed with silicosis in June 2012.

"Blasting underground created a lot of dust and much of it remained in the workplace, even after the walls were sprayed with water, as we could still see it, as well as taste and smell it.

"I was never provided with any respiratory equipment. I inhaled all the dust I was exposed to.

"I had to walk eight kilometres (five miles) through the tunnels underground to get to my workspace.

"The dust would settle in our hair, face and clothes while we worked."

-- BANGUMZI BENNET BALAKAZI started working in the mines in 1974 aged 21 and stopped in 1999. He has tuberculosis and silicosis.

"It was very painful for me to leave my village to work on a mine far away from home. However I wanted to provide for me and my family.

"I cannot remember anything being said about dust and the need at all times to protect oneself against it.

"My daily routine started at 3:00 am in the morning, when we were woken up by a siren.

"Once down underground, it was hot and humid.

"The heat made it impractical to wear masks all the time. The hot conditions underground also made it very difficult for me to breathe with the mask on. Over time, the mask became so dusty that I could no longer use it.

"Soon after the blasting had finished, miners returned to the blasted area almost immediately, whilst the area was still full of dust.

"The white miners only returned to the blast area after most of the dust had settled.

"I was treated very badly by the white miners and supervisors.

"They often kicked or beat us with their fists. I was constantly being referred to as a 'kaffir'."

-- WATU LIVINGSTONE DALA lived in a dormitory with 15 other miners. He was made unemployed in 2007 at the age of 45, and suffers from silicosis.

"I became a winch driver. I was responsible for cleaning rocks from underground slopes and gullies, after rock blasts. As a result, my job constantly put me in direct contact with dust and heat.

"Sometimes, you could barely see in front of you. The dust was also suffocating and got stuck in our noses and ears.

"I remember being told by our supervisors that we should only make sure to wear the masks when there were... safety representatives inspecting the mine.

"Mine management was only concerned with us having to work all the time. We worked like slaves."

-- MALEBURU REGINA LEBITSA'S husband died in 2010 aged 55. He worked in the gold mines from 1972 to 1998.

"My late husband left work on the mines when his former employer found that he was medically incapacitated and that he was no longer able to perform his duties.

"When he returned home from the mines his health deteriorated and, as he became weaker, his ability to support his family was severely undermined.

"Along with thousands of other mineworkers, (he) had contracted silicosis as a result of their employment."

Miners' supporters listen at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on May 13, 2016 as the judge allowed a class action against mining companies over the respiratory disease silicosis Mujahid Safodien (AFP)

A lawyer representing miners (C) speaks to journalists outside the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on May 13, 2016, after the judge allowed a class action against mining companies over the respiratory disease silicosis Mujahid Safodien (AFP)

South Africa is one of the world's leading gold-producing countries, and lax labour health and labour practices during the apartheid-era have contributed to the spread of work-related diseases John Wessels (AFP/File)
European stocks mostly rise on bright data

European equity markets mostly rose on Friday, cheered by a raft of upbeat economic data, but London was hit by the IMF's latest Brexit warning, dealers said.

In afternoon trade, Frankfurt stocks won 0.6 percent as data showed that the German economy grew by a better-than-expected 0.7 percent in the first quarter of this year.

Paris advanced by 0.6 percent in value, aided also by separate figures showing the 19-member eurozone economy grew 0.5 percent in the same period.

The International Monetary Fund warned of "significant downside risks" from Britain's potential EU exit Emmanuel Dunand (AFP/File)

On the downside, London dipped 0.2 percent on poor British construction data, and after the International Monetary Fund warned again of "significant downside risks" from Britain's potential EU exit.

Markets in Europe had flatlined for most of the day but won a partial boost in afternoon deals from bright economic data in the United States.

"European investors seemed willing to indulge in cheer wherever they can find it, even if that comes into the form of a surprisingly strong set of US retail sales figures," noted Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

US consumers came back to stores in April, spending more than expected to reverse a worrisome stall in the first quarter of the year, Commerce Department data showed Friday.

But with April's gains mostly in auto sales and gasoline -- the latter due to rising prices -- the data in other categories was still not as robust as hoped.

Retail sales, including food services, jumped 1.3 percent from March, to $453.4 billion, and were up 3.0 percent from a year ago. Analysts had expected a 0.8 percent rebound from March.

"The overall market sentiment has slightly changed towards positive since the release of the latest US economic data," said Markus Huber, trader at City of London Markets.

"Somewhat lower producer prices and much better than expected retail sales are pretty much what the market needed."

Wall Street fell at the open, however, with the Dow slipping 0.2 percent, as earnings from two major retailers were disappointing.

"US stocks are lower in early action, though they have pared losses in the wake of a stronger-than-expected April domestic retail sales report, which is partially offsetting a decline in crude oil prices and more lackluster results from the retail sector, courtesy of results from J.C. Penney and Nordstrom," said analysts at brokerage Charles Schwab.

Nordstrom reported a 64 percent drop in first-quarter earnings to $46 million, while Penney saw comparable sales fall 0.4 percent during the period. Nordstrom shares plunged 14.9 percent and Penney lost 5.1 percent, sustaining a trend of weak retail earnings resulting in investor punishment.

London slipped into the red as the IMF warned that Britain's potential departure from the European Union posed a "significant downside risk" to the outlook.

IMF boss Christine Lagarde, unveiling the global lender's latest health check on the British economy just six weeks before Britain votes on whether to remain in the EU, added that Brexit could push the country into recession, echoing comments from Bank of England (BoE) chief Mark Carney.

The latest warning comes as Prime Minister David Cameron campaigns fervently to keep Britain in the 28-nation EU in a referendum on June 23.

British share prices were also dented by official data showing a surprise contraction in construction, in a sign that building projects are slowing down before the key referendum, dealers said.

Construction activity fell 3.6 in March, compared with the month before, the Office for National Statistics revealed.

Asia stocks ended a choppy week with more losses Friday following a negative lead from elsewhere, with Apple suppliers taking a hit after the tech giant's shares tumbled in US trade.

- Key figures around 1340 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,093.64 points

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 9,921.18

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.7 percent at 4,321.00

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 2,946.66

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 17,690.23

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,061.88

New York - Nasdaq: FLAT at 4,737.51

Tokyo: Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.4 percent at 16,412.21 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,827.11 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 1.4 percent at 19,633.77

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1324 from $1.1377 Thursday
Jerusalem SlutWalk marchers say police forced cover-up

The global SlutWalk movement is known for its topless protests demanding respect for women's rights, but a row broke out on Friday in Israel over the right to bare all.

The annual protest in Jerusalem took place on Friday, with a few hundred largely young women marching through the centre of the conservative city.

In previous years a few went topless during the march, organisers said, but this year police tried to force them to cover up.

Israeli activists chant slogans strip down for the fifth annual SlutWalk through central Jerusalem on May 13, 2016 Gali Tibbon (AFP)

"The police authorised the protest but they put a lot of new restrictions on us," Tamar Ben David, one of the organisers, said.

"They said it is illegal (to go topless) and we don't want to provoke anyone."

"They wanted us to check no one is naked."

In marked contrast to liberal Tel Aviv, Jerusalem is a conservative city, with large numbers of religious communities ranging from Orthodox Jews to Muslims.

Ben David said that was the point of holding the march.

"The message of the day is our bodies belong to us and we can do whatever we want with them."

The organisers appealed to the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, which challenged the police over the matter and eventually forced them to back down, spokesman Yaron Kelner said.

"There is no law that says you can't walk topless in the street," he said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld declined to comment on the case.

But despite the fight over the ban, no women went topless at Friday's march.

Orr Hod, 18, was the closest it came, wearing just raunchy underwear along with bright blue hair.

She said she was tired of sexual harassment and said too often women are still blamed for being raped.

SlutWalk was first held in Canada in 2011 after a police officer caused outrage during a speech to university students by stating that "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised".

Six people were stabbed -- and one teenager was killed -- by an ultra-Orthodox Jew at a Gay Pride parade in Israel last summer.

The Jerusalem march started on the edge of an Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood -- where men wear long black suits, hats and white shirts and women wear long dresses and cover their hair, sometimes shaving their heads and wearing wigs.

Inbal Flier, a 25-year-old wearing small shorts, a low-cut top and a red head band, handed out leaflets proclaiming the value of the SlutWalk to Orthodox Jewish men and women.

Some stopped and talked, while others pushed back the outstretched hand in disgust.

"Many of the (Orthodox) agree with me when I explain what we are here for, even the women," she said.

"But then they say 'you should wear more clothes'."

A few hundred largely young women marched through the centre of Jerusalem, a usually conservative city Gali Tibbon (AFP)
Hosting Nordic leaders, Obama takes swipe at Russia

US President Barack Obama welcomed leaders from five Nordic countries to the White House Friday, using the occasion to take a thinly veiled swipe at Vladimir Putin's Russia.

As tensions with Moscow spike over military deployments in Eastern Europe, Obama hailed the US partnership with Russia's near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto (L) and US President Barack Obama arrive for a welcome ceremony for the US-Nordic Leaders Summit, at the White House on May 13, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP)

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."

"Around the world, America's closest partners are democracies and we only need to look at the Nordic countries to see why -- we share the same interests and we share the same values."

As Obama was speaking, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.

Tensions with Russia have reached levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine to annex Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

Meanwhile, Russia and the West have clashed over Moscow's military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.

Russia has darkly warned against Sweden and Finland joining NATO, an issue that is being debated in both countries.

Putin did not specify which actions he will take, but according to Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, they are likely moves that would have come anyway.

"The Russians will make their displeasure known. The West should anticipate irate declarations of military countermeasures," he said.

"Categorizing its military programs as countermeasures to Western military deployments has a long tradition with the Kremlin."

NATO leaders -- including Obama -- will meet in Warsaw next month.

US President Barack Obama speaks during an arrival ceremony for Nordic countries including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, at the White House in Washington, DC on May 13, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP)
Nigeria holds security summit on Boko Haram

Nigeria hosts a security summit Saturday on ending the threat from Boko Haram, with increasing signs of closer military cooperation between regional powers and international support.

French President Francois Hollande, US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Britain's top diplomat Philip Hammond are among the senior foreign dignitaries expected in Abuja.

The leaders of Nigeria's neighbours Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger are also invited, along with delegations from the European Union and the West African and Central African blocs.

Nigeria's military maintains that its fight-back since early 2015 has Boko Haram Islamists in disarray Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)

Nigeria said this week "the successful conclusion of ongoing military operations" and "the speedy resolution of the humanitarian crises" would dominate the talks.

Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world" in 2014. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since 2009.

But Nigeria's military maintains its fight-back since early 2015 has the Islamists in disarray and recently announced the launch of operations inside the rebels' Sambisa Forest stronghold.

"The idea is to be able to announce (at the summit)... that this sanctuary no longer exists," a source close to Chadian President Idriss Deby told AFP earlier this month.

"That is a military and also a political imperative."

Yet there are mounting concerns for the future of more than 2.6 million people displaced by the violence, with many living in host communities or camps and affected by chronic food shortages.

Borno -- the Nigerian state worst-hit by the violence -- last month said there was a "food crisis" and it needed $5.9 billion (5.1 billion euros) to rebuild shattered homes and infrastructure.

- Regional force -

The election of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's president has given fresh impetus to the military counter-insurgency.

Buhari, who last December said the militants were "technically" defeated despite repeated suicide attacks, has pushed hard for a new regional force, which was supposed to have deployed last July.

The status of the African Union-backed force, comprising some 8,500 troops from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger, is likely to figure prominently in Saturday's talks.

Plugging gaps and improving coordination between armies operating largely independently is seen as vital, with Boko Haram now thought to be in remote border areas on and around Lake Chad.

The Multi-National Joint Task Force commander, General Lamidi Adeosun, has requested flat-bottomed boats to help soldiers fight on Lake Chad, where Nigeria borders Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and Nigerians have been reported fighting in lawless Libya, as well as having ties with Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the wider Sahel.

The International Crisis Group has warned about premature declarations of victory and suggested Boko Haram could yet transform into a "terror group with a longer reach".

The summit -- two years after the first one in Paris -- should go beyond closer military support to address causes of the conflict, its effects and prevent similar, future threats, it added.

- International support -

Recent weeks have seen indications of greater Western support for Nigeria and a flurry of diplomatic visits.

Nigeria has struggled under previous administrations to acquire military hardware because of concerns about its army's poor human rights record as well as endemic corruption in procurement.

US officials said last week Washington was considering selling Nigeria a dozen A-29 Super Tucano ground attack planes of the type supplied to Afghanistan to fight Taliban guerrillas.

Drones are already being flown over northeast Nigeria from a US base in northern Cameroon, while President Barack Obama has promised specialist troops to assist training.

Britain has sent special forces trainers to northeast Nigeria.

France, which has a military base in Chad's capital, N'Djamena for anti-Islamist operations in the Sahel, has promised more intelligence sharing.

French troops are seen as key to liaise between English-speaking Nigeria and its francophone neighbours, whose relations have long been tense.

Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world" in 2014

The election of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's president has given fresh impetus to the military counter-insurgency Dan Kitwood (Pool/AFP/File)
Kerry heads to Saudi ahead of Syria, Libya talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry was to leave for Saudi Arabia on Friday to launch a week of efforts to try to end the crises in Libya and Syria.

From Jeddah, where he will meet senior Saudi leaders, Kerry will fly on Monday to Vienna where he will co-host international meetings on the two conflicts.

Then on Wednesday, he will fly on to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting and talks on the full range of challenges facing the Western allies.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet senior Saudi leaders before flying to Vienna to co-host international meetings on the Libya and Syria conflicts Philippe Lopez (AFP/File)

Kerry's spokesman John Kirby said the secretary of state and Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni would jointly host the Libya crisis meeting.

Attendees will "discuss international support for the new Government of National Accord, with a focus on security," Kirby said.

Libya's new UN-backed government has been set up to unite the fractured country and fight the Islamic State group, but it is still a work in progress.

Officials say the fledgling regime is drawing up a list of requests for Western partners to assist its forces with arms, training and intelligence.

After the Libya meeting, Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will lead a meeting of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group.

Kirby said the goal was to "ensure humanitarian access throughout the country, and to expedite a negotiated political transition in Syria."

The ISSG, under the odd couple of Kerry and Lavrov, is pushing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime and a coalition of opposition groups to respect a shaky truce.

Officials hope next week's meeting will inject new life into the peace process and -- if the ceasefire holds -- secure talks on forming a unity government.
Rights group calls for release of Omani journalist

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday urged Omani authorities to release a journalist held in solitary confinement since his arrest more than two week ago on unknown charges.

RSF "is very concerned about the arbitrary detention of Omani journalist and writer Sulaiman al-Moamari, who has been held in solitary confinement ever since his arrest by intelligence officials on 28 April without any official reason being given", a statement said.

It quoted local media as saying the 42-year-old heads the cultural department at Omani state radio and is popular due to "his writings and pro-democracy views".

A view of the the Matrah neighborhood of the Omani capital Muscat on July 18, 2012 Mohammed Mahjoub (AFP/File)

On the evening of April 28, Moamari was summoned for questioning by the intelligence service.

"The authorities must give their reasons for arresting Sulaiman al-Moamari and must say where they are holding him," said RSF's Alexandra El-Khazen.

"We urge the Omani authorities to either bring charges against him, so that he has the right to a fair trial, or free him at once," she added.

According to RSF, several Omani and other Arab journalists and writers "have voiced outrage at his detention, which is seen as tantamount to enforced disappearance."

It said that a petition demanding his release has been posted online.
Britain mulls EU sanctions on DR Congo 'repression': envoy

Britain may seek EU sanctions against those to blame for "acts of repression" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a British envoy said on Friday.

She was speaking after DR Congo's Constitutional Court ruled that President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, can stay in office beyond 2016 without being re-elected. The ruling Wednesday sparked fierce protests from the country's main opposition party.

"We are talking to our European colleagues about targeted sanctions against those responsible for actions or decisions involving violence against citizens and intimidation of the opposition," said Danae Dholakia, Britain's special envoy to Africa's Great Lakes region.

Police forces patrol the streets of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo on February 16, 2016 Junior Kannah (AFP/File)

"The position of the United Kingdom is that the people responsible for acts of repression or violence will take responsibility for their actions or decisions," said Dholakia.

The British envoy referred to the legal woes of Moise Katumbi, an opposition candidate for elections in theory due before the end of the year, who was investigated for some 10 days about the alleged recruitment of mercenaries.

"I sincerely hope that recent accusations made against Moise Katumbi ... are not an extension of political restrictions" in DRC, which western countries and the UN have condemned for several months, she added.

Tension has been growing for months in the DRC because of what the opposition alleges are Kabila's efforts to cling on to power.

In office 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.

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court, responding to a request for clarification by the ruling party, said Kabila could stay in office if presidential elections this year fail to be held on schedule, as is widely expected.

The opposition has called on Kabila to ensure that the ballot is are held on time, although no date has yet been announced for the polls, which look increasingly likely to be delayed.
Hezbollah's crucial role in Syria conflict

Lebanon's powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah has played a crucial role on the side of the Damascus regime in the war in Syria.

The organisation, which on Friday announced the death in Syria of its military commander, has sent thousands of combattants -- between 5,000 and 8,000 according to experts -- since 2013 to help the regime against rebels and jihadists.

Syria is a majority Sunni Muslim country, but the regime is in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite clan, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Hezbollah has sent thousands of combattants -- between 5,000 and 8,000 according to experts -- since 2013 to help the Syria regime against rebels and jihadists Anwar Amro (AFP)

- Solidarity and logistical support -

- April 18, 2011: Hezbollah expresses firm support for Assad's regime, just over a month after the start of unprecedented anti-regime protests in Syria.

- December 6: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vows to stand by Assad to the end, lashing out at Syria's opposition for allegedly serving US and Israeli interests.

- August 10, 2012: The US Treasury Department denounces Hezbollah -- linked to Iran and listed by Washington as a terrorist group -- for backing Assad and adds it to a list of organisations under sanctions for their ties to the Syrian regime, pointing to its "integral role" in the violence.

- Battle for Qusayr -

- April 30, 2013: Hezbollah fighters are aiding troops in Syria to combat the revolt, Nasrallah reveals, adding that Hezbollah and Iran could intervene on the ground.

- June 5: the Syrian army recaptures the key town of Qusayr, in a mountainous rebel stronghold along the Lebanese border, following an assault led by Hezbollah.

- Attacks on Hezbollah strongholds -

- August 15, 2013: A powerful car bomb kills at least 27 people in a Beirut Hezbollah stronghold. A day later, Nasrallah says he is ready to fight in Syria and accuses Sunni Islamist radicals for the bombing.

- November 19, 2013 : A double suicide attack claimed by an Al-Qaeda-linked group targets the Iranian embassy in Beirut, killing 25 people.

- February 19, 2014: Two suicide car bombs target an Iranian cultural centre in Beirut, killing 11 people. It was the ninth attack in a Hezbollah stronghold since July 2013.

- November 12, 2015: Twin blasts claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group kill at least 44 people on a busy shopping street in southern Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold.

- In Syria, the Sayeda Zeinab mausoleum, where Hezbollah says it is fighting "takfiris" (Sunni Muslim extremists who consider Shiites heretics), has been attacked on several occasions by jihadists, including a triple explosion in January 2016 in which at least 70 were killed and a double suicide attack in February that killed 134.

- Military chief killed -

- March 21, 2016: Nasrallah vows Hezbollah will keep fighting in Syria alongside Assad's forces until the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda jihadists are defeated, speaking a week after a key Assad backer, Russia's President Vladimir Putin, announced the partial withdrawal of Moscow's forces.

- May 13: Hezbollah announces the death of its military commander in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, in a blast near Damascus airport, saying it was still investigating the attack.

A bulldozer clears debris from the site of a reported Israeli air raid that killed , Samir Kantar of Hezbollah in Damascus on December 20, 2015 Louai Beshara (AFP/File)
Obama denounces Russia's 'aggressive' military stance in Europe

US President Barack Obama warned Russia about its military build-up in northern Europe Friday as he hosted leaders from five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said at the end of the meeting.

As tensions with Moscow spike over a plethora of issues from aerial military interceptions to Ukraine, Obama looked to make common cause with Russia's near neighbors in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

US President Barack Obama speaks during an arrival ceremony for Nordic countries including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, at the White House in Washington, DC on May 13, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP)

Earlier, Obama said the six nations agreed on the need for a European order not based on might.

"We believe that our citizens have the right to live in freedom and security, free from terrorism, and a Europe where smaller nations are not bullied by larger nations."

Obama put Vladmir Putin's government on notice that, while willing to deescalate tensions, the White House would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea region -- "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."

But as Obama hosted the meeting, Putin warned he will consider measures to "end threats" from US anti-missile systems that were recently activated in Romania.

- 'Illegal occupation' -

Tensions with Russia are currently at levels not seen since the Cold War.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea prompted biting sanctions against the Russian economy. Russian-backed militants have also taken control of swaths of the eastern part of the country.

In the joint statement, the group said they would only lift all sanctions on Russia once Crimea is returned to Ukrainian control.

"Russia's illegal occupation and attempted annexation of Crimea, which we do not accept, its aggression in Donbas, and its attempts to destabilize Ukraine are inconsistent with international law and violate the established European security order," the statement read.

Russia and the West have also clashed over Moscow's military intervention in Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

And Russian aircraft now routinely harass NATO and Nordic military assets near the border and beyond.

Russia has darkly warned against Sweden and Finland joining NATO, an issue that is being debated in both countries.

But the joint statement showed Russia's strong-arm tactics may backfire by propelling them closer to the alliance.

"NATO remains key to transatlantic and European security, and the contributions of Sweden and Finland, including those they make as NATO enhanced opportunity partners, are highly valuable," it said.

Putin did not specify which actions he will take in response to the activation of the missile defense program but according to Steven Pifer of the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, likely moves to upgrade weapons in Kaliningrad would have come anyway.

"The Russians will make their displeasure known. The West should anticipate irate declarations of military countermeasures," he said.

"Categorizing its military programs as countermeasures to Western military deployments has a long tradition with the Kremlin."

NATO leaders -- including Obama -- will meet in Warsaw next month.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto (L) and US President Barack Obama arrive for a welcome ceremony for the US-Nordic Leaders Summit, at the White House on May 13, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP)

US President Barack Obama (R) laughs with Prime Minister Erna Solberg (C) of Norway and Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (L) of Sweden, at the White House in Washington, DC on May 13, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin Pavel Golovkin (Pool/AFP/File)
Hunger spike in conflict-hit Near East, North Africa: UN

The UN food agency said Friday that conflicts in the Near East and North Africa were having a devastating effect on food security in the region, with children particularly vulnerable to chronic hunger.

"The food security situation is deteriorating in a dramatic way in the region," said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization's assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for North Africa and the Near East.

"The number of people suffering hunger has increased from 16 million in 1990 to 33 million today, and it is the only region in the world where poverty and hunger are on the increase," he told AFP.

UN food agency said that conflicts in the Near East and North Africa were having a devastating effect on food security in the region Tony Karumba (AFP/File)

His warning came as 25 countries from the Near East and North Africa signed a declaration which acknowledged "the need for stability and peace for any development effort to bear fruits in the short, medium and long term".

They expressed deep concern over the lack of food and the nutrition situation "particularly among children in the Near East and North Africa Region, as a consequence of conflict and protracted crisis".

Ould Ahmed said one of FAO's main roles in the region was providing assistance to farmers so they can remain on their land when it is safe to do so -- a move critical to preventing mass displacement and which also lays the foundations for rebuilding.

The food agency released a statement saying rural areas and their populations continue to be the most affected in conflict situations.

"The destruction of crops, livestock and markets undermines rural livelihoods and displaces people from their homes," FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva was quoted as saying.
Cashew king Ivory Coast sees taxes crack exports

Ivory Coast's cashew harvest is already running in record territory, but exports have slumped as high taxes and low prices have pushed farmers to sell their output in neighbouring countries, a trade body said Friday.

At 725,000 tonnes at the start of the harvest season, Ivory Coast's cashew output is already up three percent from the record it set last year, and once again the top player of the nut for which global production totals nearly three million tonnes.

However, "at this stage, 200,000 tonnes of nuts have been exported, against 330,000 tonnes... at the same point in 2015, or a drop of 40 percent," said Malamine Sanogo, director of the Cotton-Cashew Council, which manages the sector.

Cashew nuts are prepared for sale at a warehouse on May 12, 2016 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

The drop in exports to India, which is a major processor of cashews as well as a consumer, is running around 60 percent.

"Export taxes are too high in Ivory Coast, producers close to the border don't hesitate to sell their harvests in Ghana, Mali or in Burkina Faso" said Fousseni Adama, an exporter.

Ivory Coast has helped push its cashew production higher in recent years by offering farmers a fixed price.

But a farmer said the current price of 350 CFA francs per kilo (0.53 euros, $0.60) was now "low" compared to that in neighbouring countries.

Officials minimised the impact of unofficial exports, and judged the purchase price fair.

Ivory Coast has also been been encouraging more processing of cashews at home to gain more of the added value, with plans to increase subsidies to processors from five percent to 30 percent or even 40 percent in the coming years.
Hollande vows French help in restive Central African Republic

French President Francois Hollande paid a lightning visit to restive Central African Republic on Friday for talks with its leaders while drawing down France's military presence.

Hollande's visit to the former French colony is sensitive because of accusations that French peacekeepers sexually abused children in the country.

There are currently three investigations under way into the accusations against the French troops.

Central African President Faustin Touadera (L) and French President Francois Hollande (L) review an honour guard upon his arrival in Bangui on May 13, 2016 Stephane de Sakutin (Pool/AFP)

"Today, Operation Sangaris comes to an end," Hollande said after meeting President Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in a peaceful vote in February seen as a step toward reconciliation after years of sectarian violence.

"I decided (to launch Sangaris) in December 2013 because chaos had unfortunately engulfed the Central African Republic and because massacres were being committed," he said.

The Sangaris military operation, launched to help quell inter-communal violence, is due to end in December this year, after a progressive draw-down.

From a peak of 2,000 troops at the height of the crisis, their number is down to 650, a French aide said. In due course the remaining French forces will join the UN's Minusca peacekeeping operation.

"Our troops are being called to other fronts," he said. "France still faces the threat of terrorism."

However, the leader vowed continued support for Bangui.

"France will always be there," said Hollande, who last visited the country -- one of the poorest on the planet -- in December 2013 and February 2014.

"I have returned now that the transition has succeeded, and stability restored," he said, pledging to ensure international support for the country's development.

Touadera meanwhile said his government would "rise to today's challenges, which are peace, security, national reconciliation and cleaning up the state's finances" in a country rife with corruption.

Hollande visited the flashpoint majority Muslim neighbourhood of PK-5, which was at the epicentre of the deadly fighting that pitted the mainly Christian anti-balaka militia against the Muslim Seleka rebels.

- 'No impunity' -

Hollande said that any French or UN soldiers in Central Africa found guilty of sexual abuse of minors would be held accountable.

"If anyone is found responsible, there will be no impunity," he said.

Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the mother of French photographer Camille Lepage -- who was killed in the Central African Republic in 2014 -- meanwhile urged Hollande to help uncover the circumstances of her death.

"We have agreed that justice must be had, we need to know," he responded.

Hollande is due to travel late Friday to Nigeria for a regional summit focused on fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram.

The summit will also be attended by the United States, Britain and the three neighbouring countries which have also been the target of attacks from the jihadists -- Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people since 2009, according to World Bank figures.

A French soldier from the Sangaris contingent at a checkpoint in the PK12 district of Bangui on June 4, 2014 Marco Longari (AFP/File)
Uganda opposition leader charged with treason: lawyer

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye was charged with treason Friday at a court in the north-eastern Karamoja region where he was taken after his latest arrest, his lawyers said.

Besigye has disputed President Yoweri Museveni's victory in February's election and has been under house arrest for much of the time since.

He was arrested in the capital Kampala on Wednesday after staging his own swearing-in ceremony and whisked to Moroto, a town in the remote Karamoja region of the country.

Uganda opposition leader Kizza Besigye arrives at a polling station to vote in his home town of Rukungiri on February 18, 2016

"We have been informed by police today that Besigye appeared in court in Moroto and was charged with treason," lawyer Erias Lukwago told AFP.

Lukwago said his client was denied legal representation when charged with treason, and was remanded in custody until his next court appearance due on 25 May.

"It's absurd because none of us was there to represent him," he said.

Treason is a capital offence in Uganda but the death penalty has not been carried out for years. Besigye was previously charged with treason in 2005 but the case against him was eventually dropped

Police spokesman Fred Enanga confirmed the latest case against Besigye but was unable to provide any further details of the charges.

A long-standing opponent of Museveni, Besigye has been frequently jailed, placed under house arrest, accused of both treason and rape, tear-gassed, beaten and hospitalised over the years.

Museveni, 71, who has been in power for three decades, was declared winner of the February poll with 61 percent of the vote.

He has rejected claims his victory was won through cheating and fraud.

Museveni was sworn-in for a fifth term in office on Thursday at an event attended by foreign heads of state and diplomats.
Trump meets his match -- on social media, anyway

Donald Trump has dominated the Twitter battle for the White House by insulting and belittling his rivals, but he has found a formidable social media opponent in the fiery senator and potential Democratic vice presidential pick Elizabeth Warren.

While Hillary Clinton prefers to ignore the attacks of her Republican adversary Trump, who blasts the former secretary of state as "crooked," Warren has no qualms about wading into the fray.

The first-term lawmaker from Massachusetts and former Harvard law professor has successfully harnessed social media, in particular Twitter, as a medium for punching out at The Donald.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is proving to be a formidable social media opponent for Donald Trump Saul Loeb (AFP/File)

He parries, or counterpunches with 140-character-or-less blows of his own. She jabs him with bursts of ruthless tweets.

The mud-slinging began in earnest on May 3, when Trump's rivals quit the race and he emerged as the Republican Party's presumptive nominee.

"I'm going to fight my heart out to make sure @realDonaldTrump's toxic stew of hatred & insecurity never reaches the White House," the senator tweeted a few hours later.

Warren is a liberal Democrat with a passionate following. Many supporters have urged her since 2014 to run for president, although she declined to enter this year's contest.

In her anti-Trump Twitter storm she denounced the candidate as one who "incites supporters to violence, praises Putin," says he is "cool with being called an authoritarian," and "puts our servicemembers at risk by cheerleading illegal torture."

"What happens next will test the character for all of us -- Republican, Democrat, and Independent," she added.

"It will determine whether we move forward as one nation or splinter at the hands of one man's narcissism and divisiveness."

Trump, whose belligerent bluster has earned him 8.1 million Twitter followers -- Warren has a million -- has taken to branding his rivals with pithy but obnoxious labels like "Little Marco" Rubio and "Lyin' Ted" Cruz.

He now trains his fire on the Democrats, labeling the White House contenders "Crooked Hillary" Clinton and "Crazy Bernie" Sanders. Recently he piled criticism on Warren, unveiling a new nickname.

"I hope corrupt Hillary Clinton chooses goofy Elizabeth Warren as her running mate. I will defeat them both," Trump tweeted.

Warren shot back with Trump-like swagger, and the war of words was on.

"'Goofy,' @realDonaldTrump? For a guy with 'the best words' that's a pretty lame nickname. Weak!" she wrote.

Trump then dug up a tiff about Warren's ancestry, repeating conservative accusations that she does not have Native American blood as she has claimed, a controversy that arose during her successful 2012 Senate campaign.

Warren retorted by calling the New York real estate tycoon "a bully who has a single play in his playbook -- offensive lies thrown at anyone who calls him out."

- TV celebrity or president? -

Trump "spews insults and lies" in order to avoid honest discussion about issues that are important to Americans, she said.

"Whatever @realDonaldTrump says, we won't shut up. We won't back down. This election is too important, & he won't step foot in White House."

"Goofy Elizabeth Warren is weak and ineffective. Does nothing. All talk, no action -- maybe her Native American name?" Trump tweeted back.

After a days-long truce, the attacks resumed before the bemused eyes of millions -- in a showdown resembling a reality show more than a presidential campaign.

On Wednesday Trump struck first, unloading a string of crude tweets including one that assailed Warren's "phony Native American heritage" and said she "didn't have the guts" to run for president.

Warren, who has yet to announce her support of either Clinton or Sanders, and has declined to say whether she would accept an offer to be Clinton's running mate, refused to let up.

"We get it, @realDonaldTrump: When a woman stands up to you, you're going to call her a basket case. Hormonal. Ugly," she responded.

Warren has launched pointed, specific criticism of the billionaire's past business deals, his stance on Wall Street or the minimum wage, and accused him of "scamming students" who enrolled in his now-defunct Trump University.

"@realDonaldTrump: Your policies are dangerous," she tweeted. "Your words are reckless. Your record is embarrassing. And your free ride is over."
North Korea supplied pistols to DR Congo: UN report

North Korea has supplied pistols to the Democratic Republic of Congo that ended up in the hands of Congolese peacekeepers serving in the UN mission in the Central African Republic, according to a UN report.

A panel of experts "found that pistols with characteristics similar to those produced in DPRK were issued to certain members of the FARDC (armed forces), as well as to Congolese national police that were deployed to MINUSCA," the UN mission in the Central African Republic, said the report seen by AFP Friday.

Congolese soldiers and police said the arms were delivered in 2014 as part of a training program of the presidential guard and special police units carried out by some 30 North Korean instructors.

A Congolese soldier of the African-led International Support Mission to the Central African Republic stands guard after clashes in Bangui on February 19, 2014 Fred Dufour (AFP/File)

The same type of pistol is sold on the black market in Kinshasa, said the report.

North Korea is banned from selling weapons under UN sanctions.

The report also said Rwanda continues to train Burundian refugees with the goal of overthrowing President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Despite denials from Kigali, the support to Burundian insurgents continued in 2016, it said.

The experts confirmed allegations of involvement by Rwanda that were outlined in a previous report in February.

"Similar outside support continued through 2016," said the report. "This took the form of training, financing, and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC."

The experts met Rwandan nationals who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DR Congo to help support the armed Burundian opposition.

Contacted by the panel, the Rwandan government denied the allegations of involvement and said it was not aware of the recruitment of Burundian refugees in a Rwandan camp.

Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win.
Badreddine: a Hezbollah chief mysterious in life and death

The killing of the enigmatic military chief of Lebanon's Hezbollah remained shrouded in mystery Friday, with his powerful Shiite militant movement giving out no information.

- What we know so far -

Mustafa Badreddine was in a warehouse near Damascus airport when it was rocked by a blast on Thursday night, a Syrian security source said.

Members and supporters of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah, carry the coffin of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine who was killed in an attack in Syria at the martyrs' cemetery in Beirut on May 13, 2016 Stringer (AFP)

No aircraft was heard before the explosion and no one knew he was there, the source said.

The airport and its surroundings adjoin an area of fighting around the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, which is revered by Shiites around the world.

The Syrian army controls the area, and Iranian and Hezbollah fighters are also present in force.

The closest rebel positions are seven kilometres (four miles) away in the Eastern Ghouta area.

- Who is Mustafa Badreddine? -

The military commander was aged around 50 and hailed from the south of Lebanon, bordering Israel.

His military career started in the ranks of the PLO's Fatah movement. Following Israel's invasion in 1982, he joined the Hezbollah movement newly created by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

He was jailed in Kuwait for attacks on the French and US embassies in 1983.

Shiite activists highjacked a plane in Kuwait in 1984 and a TWA aircraft to Beirut the following year to demand his release, before he finally escaped from jail during Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

He has been on trial in absentia before a special tribunal in The Hague accused of masterminding the 2005 bombing that killed Lebanon's former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Badreddine replaced his mentor and brother-in-law Imad Mughniyeh as Hezbollah's security chief after the latter was killed in a February 2008 attack in Damascus.

And when the Shiite movement intervened in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war, he became head of military operations.

- Will Hezbollah be affected? -

Most experts agree that his death will have only a limited impact on Hezbollah.

"Despite the importance of Badreddine, Hezbollah's highest ranking secret operative and the man considered responsible for battlefield strategy, I doubt this will impact their operations in Syria," said Maha Yahya, acting director of the Carnegie Center for the Middle East.

"Hezbollah is not a one-man operation, and it is part of a larger entity that is also connected to the Iranian command," she said.

Nicolas Pouillard, a researcher at the French Near East Institute, said the impact of his death would have "symbolic and psychological" consequences.

"He was a Hezbollah veteran -- one of its main military leaders," he said.

- Who did it? -

Hezbollah has not immediately accused its sworn enemy Israel of carrying out the attack, unlike in previous instances.

Pouillard said: "For the moment, Hezbollah is not accusing any party."

But "Israel and factions of the (Syrian) opposition could ... be involved in this assassination," he said.

It "occurred on the outskirts of Damascus, near the airport area, which is held by the regime", he said.

"There was therefore some intelligence gathering beforehand, which could implicate several Syrian and regional parties."

Lebanese academic Waddah Charara, who has written a book on Hezbollah, said the Shiite group finds itself in a difficult position.

"To accuse Israel of having carried out an aerial campaign is throwing into doubt Russia's efficiency in protecting Syria's air space," he said.

Assad's longterm ally Russia has since September carried out air strikes in Syria in support of regime troops.

"One should not rule out that this assassination could be the result of tensions between the regime, Russia and Iran -- or even rebel shelling," he said.

Hezbollah's number two Naim Qassem has said the results of an investigation into the killing would be announced at the latest on Saturday morning.

- Syria conflict -

Badreddine's death is unlikely to affect Hezbollah's involvement on the side of the regime in Syria's brutal five-year conflict.

Hezbollah has sent thousands of combattants -- between 5,000 and 6,000, according to Charara -- since 2013 to help fight both rebels and jihadists.

They send 2,000 fighters at a time in rotation, he said.

Experts say Hezbollah has lost 1,000 to 2,000 fighters.

"It remains to be seen if and when Hezbollah will reach a tipping point where the losses in Syria begin to outweigh the benefits of direct military involvement," said the Carnegie Center's Yahya.

Lebanese press report from outside where family members are receiving condolences for the death of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine in a southern suburb of Beirut on May 13, 2016 Anwar Amro (AFP)
UN alarmed about Boko Haram ties to IS

The UN Security Council on Friday said it was alarmed by Boko Haram's ties to the Islamic State Group and threw its support behind a Nigerian-led regional summit to confront the threat.

The 15-member council said in a statement that it welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari's "crucial initiative" to hold the summit on Saturday, which will be attended by regional leaders and French President Francois Hollande.

The council statement was drafted by the United States as a show of support for Buhari on the eve of the meeting.

Boko Haram was named in the latest Global Terrorism Index as "the most deadly terrorist group in the world" in 2014

The summit should help develop "a comprehensive strategy to address the governance, security, development, socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis," said a council statement.

The council expressed "alarm at Boko Haram's linkages with the Islamic State" and voiced "deep concern that the activities of Boko Haram continue to undermine the peace and stability of the West and Central African region."

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to IS last year and Nigerians have been reportedly fighting in lawless Libya, as well as having ties with Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the wider Sahel.

US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond are among the senior foreign dignitaries expected in Abuja on Saturday.

The council renewed its call for regional countries Cameroon, Chad and Niger in a multinational joint task force to "further enhance regional military cooperation and coordination" to root out Boko Haram.

It demanded that Boko Haram "immediately and unequivocally cease all violence and all abuses of human rights" and "release all those abducted" including the 219 schoolgirls abducted in Chibok, Nigeria in April 2014.
IS snipers prevent civilians leaving Fallujah: US official

Islamic State snipers are targeting humanitarian corridors established by Iraqi security forces to relieve suffering in the IS-held city of Fallujah, a Pentagon official said Friday.

Baghdad-based military spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the shooters were preventing residents from escaping Fallujah, which is only about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Baghdad and is facing major shortages of basic supplies including medicine.

"We know that the Iraqis have attempted on several occasions to open up humanitarian corridors to allow some of those civilians to come out," Warren told Pentagon reporters in a video call.

Members of the Iraqi security forces drive holding their national flag as their comrades line up during a training in a camp near Fallujah, Iraq on April 25, 2016 Moadh al-Dulaimi (AFP/File)

"Those have met with generally not much success. ISIL has done things like set up snipers to cover down on those corridors, to kill people as they're trying to get out. So that has really discouraged their use," he added, using an acronym for the IS group.

Warren later said Iraqi forces had tried to set up three corridors, but these have been all but abandoned because of the snipers.

"Word must have spread because no civilians have tried to use the corridors in the last few weeks," he said.

Anti-government fighters took control of Fallujah in early 2014 during unrest that broke out after security forces demolished a protest camp farther west, and it later became an IS stronghold.

Warren said Iraqi security forces now "generally" surround Fallujah and have begun to slowly "chip away" at it.

"This is the very first city that ISIL gained control of," he said.

"ISIL's been there for more than two years, so they are dug in and dug in deep. This is a tough nut for us to crack here. This is a tough nut for the Iraqis to crack."

US forces are training and advising Iraqi partners as they try to repel IS jihadists from the country.

The Pentagon says the IS group is losing ground, and the jihadists have suffered major defeats in Iraq, including the loss of the cities of Heet and Ramadi.

But they remain in control of Iraq's second-largest city Mosul and it is not clear when Iraqi troops will mount an assault to retake it.

Warren said there was no "no military reason" for Iraqi forces to liberate Fallujah before they could tackle Mosul.

About half of Iraq's security forces are focused on protecting Baghdad, where IS fighters claimed responsibility for a string of suicide attacks this week.
China using 'coercive tactics' in maritime claims: Pentagon

China is using "coercive tactics" and fostering regional tensions as it expands its maritime presence in the South China Sea and elsewhere, but is avoiding triggering an armed conflict, the Pentagon said Friday.

In an annual report to Congress, the Defense Department outlined China's rapid military growth and described how it is assertively defending sovereignty claims across the contested East China Sea and South China Sea.

Last year for instance, China deployed coast guard and PLA Navy ships in the South China Sea to maintain a "near-continuous" presence there.

Chinese surveillance ships are seen off Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea Philippine navy (DFA/AFP/File)

And in the East China Sea, Beijing deployed planes and maritime law-enforcement ships to patrol near a chain of islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

"China is using coercive tactics... to advance their interests in ways that are calculated to fall below the threshold of provoking conflict," the report states.

When asked to describe China's coercive tactics, Abraham Denmark, a deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, told reporters that Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels sometimes act in an "unprofessional" manner.

They do so "in the vicinity of the military forces or fishing vessels of other countries in a way that's designed to attempt to establish a degree of control around disputed features," Denmark told reporters.

"These activities are designed to stay below the threshold of conflict, but gradually demonstrate and assert claims that other countries dispute," he added.

China claims nearly all of the strategically vital South China Sea, even waters close to Southeast Asian neighbors including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, which have competing claims.

- 3,200 acres of new land -

Central to China's claims are its land-reclamation efforts that have seen tiny islets, reefs and other maritime features built into military facilities.

The Pentagon report included dramatic photos of these contentious islands, including the Fiery Cross Reef Outpost, located between the Philippines and Vietnam.

Since 2014, China has turned a sandy blip in the ocean into an island stretching more than two miles (three kilometers,) complete with a lengthy runway.

China's land reclamation efforts in an area known as the Spratly Islands have added 3,200 acres (1,295 hectares) of land to the seven features it occupies, the report states.

Beijing last year paused land-reclamation efforts and began focusing on "infrastructure development" of the islets.

The United States insists China's claims have no basis under international law, and the US military has conducted several "freedom of navigation" operations, where ships and planes pass close to the sites claimed by China.

Such missions have drawn howls of anger from Beijing, which accuses the United States of provocation and of increasing the risk of a military mishap.

The US Navy maintains a strong presence in the South China Sea, and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has twice in recent months pointedly visited US aircraft carriers deployed in the waterway.

"Recent land reclamation activity has little legal effect, but will support China's ability to sustain longer patrols in the South China Sea," the report notes.

- Rapidly evolving military -

China's ambitions extend far beyond its immediate region. In November, Beijing announced it was establishing a military facility in Djibouti.

This "likely reflects (a) more global outlook, as it will be utilized to sustain the PLA Navy's operations at greater distances from China," the report notes.

Additionally, China is "expanding its access to foreign ports to pre-position the necessary logistics support to regularize and sustain deployments in the 'far seas.'"

China has the second-largest military budget after the United States, and over the past two decades has increased spending annually.

In 2015, its official military budget was $144 billion, though the true number is thought to be even higher. The Pentagon's 2016 budget is about $585 billion.

Much of China's military money is going towards the development of its conventionally armed missile capability, "as well as ground- and air-launched land-attack cruise missiles, special operations forces, and cyber warfare capabilities to hold targets at risk throughout the region," the report states.

While critical of some of China's military tactics, the Pentagon said it hopes to continue building a "sustained and substantive" military-to-military relationship with China.

The United States "will continue to focus on enhancing risk-reduction measures that diminish the potential for incidents or miscalculation, and encourage China to contribute constructively to efforts to maintain peace and stability."

Chinese fishing vessels anchored at Fiery Cross Reef (Kagitingan) on the disputed Spratly islands on July 17, 2012 WESTCOM (WESTCOM/AFP/File)
UN ready to take measures to overcome Guinea-Bissau crisis

The UN Security Council on Friday it was ready to take "necessary measures" to overcome the crisis in Guinea-Bissau after the president sacked the government and demanded that the ruling party choose a new cabinet.

The 15-member council said in a unanimous statement that the military must not intervene and called for dialogue.

President Jose Mario Vaz sacked his entire government on Thursday and said he was asking the ruling party to piece together a government able to pull the country out of crisis.

Guinea-Bissau's President Jose Mario Vaz takes questions during a joint press conference with his Ivorian counterpart in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on June 11, 2014 Sia Kambou (AFP/File)

The council expressed "its readiness to take necessary measures to overcome the current situation," said Egyptian Ambassador Amr Aboulatta, the council's president this month.

Council members "reaffirm the importance of the continued non-interference of the defense and security forces in the political situation," said Aboulatta.

Guinea-Bissau has suffered multiple military coups since independence in 1974 and the army continues to play a heavy role in politics.
US retail giants feel pain as online shopping hits

Iconic American stores Macy's and Gap are facing tough questions about their future following dreary earnings announcements this week that highlighted the growing market share taken by online retailers.

Conventional retailer profits are falling as fewer shoppers head to malls in favor of click-and-buy options offered by Amazon and a trove of emerging online fashion vendors. The trend is all the more striking because retailers see good conditions in the economy for consumers, including strong employment levels.

"We're frankly scratching our heads," Macy's chief financial officer Karen Hoguet, told an analyst conference call. "We see the same economic data you all see and it would point to a customer that would be spending more."

Conventional retailer profits are falling as fewer shoppers head to malls in favor of click-and-buy options offered by Amazon and a trove of emerging online fashion vendors Saul Loeb (AFP/File)

- Trading malls for smartphones -

In the first four months of 2016, all online retail sales rose 8.1 percent over a year ago, compared with just 1.9 percent growth in clothing stores, according to the Commerce Department.

"We're seeing a fundamental reorganization of retail from an automobile-centered model to a smartphone-centered model," said Andy Dunn, chief executive of Bonobos, a nine-year old men's apparel store that does most of its sales online.

"We're seeing a tremendous shakeout as we see online grow and offline contract," Dunn said.

Still, he added, "I don't think we're moving to an online-only world."

In women's apparel, rising online players include websites like Wanelo, which "curates" products from 550,000 vendors and doubles as a social network for shoppers.

There are specialty sites for plus-sized women, such as Eloquii, and for consumers focused on sustainable manufacturing, such as Reformation.

There are also fashion websites that combine editorial and selling functions, such as WhoWhatWear, part of the Clique Media Group, which boasts 12 million unique monthly visitors.

"People are now realizing they have more options," said Chris Morran, deputy executive editor Consumerist.com. "I don't see any of the (newer) companies replacing Gap, but I see them all chiseling way."

Shoppers say the online experience is greatly improved from just a few years ago, with sellers permitting returns and sometimes paying for the shipping of items that don't fit. More online vendors lets shoppers easily compare items and prices as well.

"It's not only that you don't have to leave your house, it's that you don't have to walk around," said one forty-something professional mother of two. "It's very efficient."

Men's fashion too is experiencing seismic shifts. Gone are the days when department stores could rely on a captive audience to buy button-down shirts for the office. Boutique stores like Thomas Pink and Charles Tyrwhitt boast a multitude of fits for different body types that can be bought online once a consumer knows his size.

Bonobos, which began as an online-only men's store in 2007, began adding small showrooms in 2011 to display product and let customers get fitted.

"The store piece of what we do is really profitable," Dunn told AFP. "But you want the right sized store footprint and you want to be fully integrated with online."

- Shrinking store count -

But online earnings remain constrained by factors that include high shipping cost and bruising competition. Profit margins in brick-and-mortar stores remain about 10 percent compared with seven percent online, said Credit Suisse.

However, as shipping costs decline and rent and other infrastructure weigh on traditional stories, "brick-and-mortar" stores will be the ones to suffer, Credit Suisse said. That means more retail stores are likely to close.

Nordstrom, which reported earnings Thursday that badly lagged analyst expectations, said it will emphasize a buyer loyalty program and exclusive merchandise. It is also beefing up e-commerce.

"We're seeing a transformation in our business model," said chief financial officer Mike Koppel. "We continue to see traffic falling off in malls, and how we think about our store base asset will probably require some level of adjustment."

Macy's, which announced in January plans to close 40 stores, is emphasizing store-within-store ventures intended to appeal to millennials, such as the off-price Backstage and the beauty-and-spa Blue Mercury stores.

Macy's Hoguet said the 186-year-old retailer is "always evaluating" its fleet of 870 stores for potential closures.

Gap, which a year ago announced plans to cut 175 namesake stores in North America, pledged renewed focus to streamline its operations and whittle its presence internationally to the most promising markets.

People walk in a Manhattan shopping mall on March 15, 2016 in New York City Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

Founder & CEO of Bonobos Andy Dunn attends Bonobos Michigan Avenue Launch Party at Bonobos Guideshop on April 20, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois Daniel Boczarski (Getty/AFP/File)
PICTURED: Highlights of Donald Trump's day in Washington

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump came to Washington to meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders in Congress. Here's a look at Trump's day on Capitol Hill, as seen in images made by Associated Press photographers.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager Michael Glassner, center, arrives in the motorcade with Trump for a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., at Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Archive: Top photo highlights from previous weeks: http://apne.ws/13QUFKJ

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he arrives for a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., at the Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Trump and Ryan are sitting down face-to-face for the first time, a week after Ryan stunned Republicans by refusing to back the mercurial billionaire for president. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Members of CodePink are escorted by law enforcement officer across the street after the arrival of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) building in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Trump is scheduled to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., and other Senate GOP leadership. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, following his meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Capitol Police move a demonstrator to outside the Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, during a meeting between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Police stand in front of media and demonstrators outside the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, during a meeting between Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and members of the Republican leadership. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Demonstrators gather next to a paper machete mask of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside the Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, where Trump was meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., center, arrives as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump meets with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., at Republican National Committee Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Donald Trump's Campaign Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller gets into a vehicle at the Republican National Committee (RNC) Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, as Trump met with House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
BC indigenous leaders seek UN support against gas project

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  First Nations leaders from British Columbia brought their fight against a proposed liquefied natural gas project in the province to the U.N. on Thursday, saying it could threaten the wild salmon habitat on their ancestral lands.

The group sought the support of United Nations members for its demand that the Canadian government reject the $36-billion Pacific Northwest LNG project, which is being advanced by Malaysia's state oil company, Petronas.

The B.C. government believes the project could generate more than 18,000 jobs and produce billions in revenue.

In a statement, Murray Smith, a leader of the Gitwilgyoots Tribe  one of the Nine Allied Tribes of Lax Kw'alaams  expressed deep concerns about the threat the project poses to the wild salmon habitat.

The project is proposed for just south of Prince Rupert on Lelu Island at the mouth of the Skeena River. Opponents say it threatens wild salmon habitat on what is the second largest salmon bearing river in B.C.

"We will not sell our salmon future for any price," Smith said. "We are not against development, but we are against this dangerous, irresponsible, foreign-owned and illegal intrusion into our sacred homelands. "

The First Nations leaders' appearance at the U.N. came just two days after the Canadian government earned cheers at the 15th session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, where Canada pledged to abide fully with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Senate panel calls for women to sign up for military draft

WASHINGTON (AP)  The GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee has seconded a call by its counterpart in the House to require women to register for a military draft, setting the stage for a significant cultural change triggered by the Pentagon's decision to lift all gender-based restrictions on front-line combat units.

Any justification for barring women from draft registration was erased last year when the Pentagon announced all military jobs would be open to women, the committee said late Thursday in a summary of its annual defense policy bill. Women must begin to sign up with the Selective Service beginning in January 2018, according to the committee's measure.

The committee added that the top officers in each of the military branches also expressed their support for including women in a potential draft during testimony before Congress.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., left, speaks with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, as the Senate winds up its week . The Armed Services panel is moving to complete work on the military's budget, the National Defense Authorization Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The United States has not had a military draft since 1973, in the Vietnam War era, but all men must register with the Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18. Women have never been required to register and have never been part of a wide-scale draft.

Prospects for a draft are dim. Military leaders maintain that the all-volunteer force is working and do not want to return to conscription.

Despite agreement by both committees, a provocative debate is expected when the legislation is considered in the full Senate and House. There's already been a preview.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he believes most Americans don't want women to be drafted. Despite his objections, Hunter proposed  and then voted against  an amendment requiring women to register that was narrowly adopted by the House Armed Services Committee in late April.

Hunter said he offered the measure to force a discussion about how the Pentagon's decision to void gender restrictions on military service failed to consider whether the exclusion on drafting women also should be lifted. He argued the call should be made by Congress.

The White House has declined to say whether President Barack Obama would sign into law legislation that expands the draft to include women.

Overall, the Senate committee provides $602 billion in fiscal year 2017 for the Defense Department and for nuclear weapons programs managed by Energy Department.

The Senate committee did not follow the House panel's lead and shift $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for additional weapons and troops to reverse what Republicans and a number of Democrats have called a crisis in the U.S. military's combat readiness. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Armed Services Committee chairman, is planning to propose a strategy for securing additional money for the military when the full Senate takes up the bill. That could happen as early as next week.

The committee did identify $3 billion in savings from the defense budget proposed by the Obama administration "and redirected those funds toward critical needs of our warfighters," according to the summary. The committee also added $2 billion for additional training, depot maintenance and weapons sustainment.

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4 US citizens sentenced for attempted Gambian coup

MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Four U.S. citizens were sentenced in federal court for their roles in a failed attempt to overthrow the government in the West African nation of Gambia, the U.S. attorney's office said Thursday.

The men were sentenced for conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act, which makes it illegal to take military action against a country with which the United States is "at peace." The charges stemmed from a Dec. 30, 2014, coup attempt in the former British colony, which came as longtime President Yahya Jammeh was away.

"These defendants conspired to overthrow a foreign government," U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement. "Regardless of the legitimacy of their personal and emotional connections to The Gambia, these men placed countless innocents in harm's way when they engaged in a brazen and fatally flawed attempt at regime change."

Cherno Njie, 58, of Lakeway, Texas, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. Prosecutors say Njie was a financier and would have served as the interim leader of Gambia had the coup succeeded.

Alagie Barrow, 43, of Lavergne, Tennessee, and Banke Manneh, 43, of Jonesboro, Georgia, were each sentenced to six months in prison. Papa Faal, 47, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a former member of the U.S. military, was sentenced to time served.

Faal, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Gambia, admitted in court that he participated in the attack on Gambia's State House. Three other members of the conspiracy were killed, the U.S. attorney's office said.

According to the defendants' guilty pleas and court documents, the coup plotting began in at least 2013. Prosecutors say Njie, Manneh and Barrow led the effort to research, plan, supply and execute the coup.

The defendants planned the coup by phone, email or face-to-face at Njie's home in Texas, court documents said. According to an FBI affidavit, a search of Njie's home revealed a spreadsheet that suggested Barrow, a former member of the Tennessee Army National Guard, may have received more than $125,000 to support the operation. At Barrow's home, authorities found a book about planning a coup.

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Plane carrying 17 skydivers crashes in California vineyard

FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  A small plane carrying 17 skydivers clipped a pickup then landed upside-down in a vineyard, officials said Thursday, but the worst injuries were minor cuts and scrapes.

The single-engine plane experienced trouble shortly after taking off from the Parachute Center skydiving school north of Lodi, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said in a statement.

The pilot tried returning the Cessna 208 to the airport, Gregor said.

A single-engine Cessna Caravan from the Lodi Parachute Center sits flipped over after an emergency landing in a vineyard near a home in rural San Joaquin County near Lodi, Calif., on Thursday, May 12, 2016. Authorities say a small plane taking 17 passengers skydiving in Northern California made a hard landing and ended upside-down in a vineyard, leaving only the pilot with minor injuries. (Jason Anderson/The Record via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

The plane crashed less than a mile from the airport on the opposite side of Highway 99, a major route in California, said Lt. Dan Schmierer of the Woodbridge Rural Fire District. Nobody on the ground was hurt.

Schmierer said he expected the worst when he heard about the crash. Pulling up to the scene, however, the pilot and his passengers were all standing around in a group.

"I think some of them were in shock," Schmierer said. "They were all happy to be walking away from the crash."

Schmierer credited the pilot, who also sustained minor injuries, for apparently flying the plane under power lines and away from a house about 75 feet from the crash scene.

One skydiver praised the pilot for the way the crash landing was handled, and that everybody survived, Schmierer said.

The Parachute Center's website claims to be "one of the largest and oldest drop zones in the United States," in operation since 1964. It says that experienced skydivers can jump from 13,000 feet.
Former lab director offers help on tests of tampered samples

MONTREAL (AP)  The former Moscow lab director who revealed Russia's plans to tamper with urine samples to guarantee clean drug tests at the Sochi Olympics is calling on Olympic officials to test the stored samples with his assistance.

Grigory Rodchenkov and the filmmaker he's working with on a documentary sent a letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, to the presidents of the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency, urging them to test the samples while the moviemaker films the action.

The Russian scheme, as Rodchenkov told The New York Times, involved taking clean urine from athletes before the Olympics and using soda containers and baby bottles to transport that urine and swap it with dirty samples. It allowed "Russian athletes who most likely were doping to go undetected in arguably the largest sporting fraud of all time," the letter said.

Rodchenkov said that, as the mastermind of the plot, he's the only person who can identify which samples were tampered with, and thus must oversee the testing. He suggests everything be filmed to "ensure the integrity of the examination in an open and transparent way to the public."

The letter states that the Russian plot undercuts the entire anti-doping system.

It says the documentary has quotes from several anti-doping experts, including WADA officials, who all agree "that if urine swapping and tampering of this nature ever occurred, the entire testing system would need to be scrapped."

In an interview before the letter went public Thursday, WADA's incoming director general Olivier Niggli said the bottles needed to be looked at.
Australian couple whose 3 children died on MH17 welcome baby

SYDNEY (AP)  An Australian couple whose three children were killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine two years ago has welcomed a new baby, saying the birth has given them faith that love trumps hate.

Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris, of the western Australian city of Perth, said the arrival of their daughter Violet May Maslin on Tuesday had brought them "love and light, hope and joy" after enduring two years of grief over the loss of their three children.

Mo, 12, Evie, 10, and Otis, 8, died along with their grandfather, Nick Norris, when Flight 17 was shot down by a missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014. At the time, the couple said they were living in an "ongoing hell," with the pain they felt unfathomable.

In this undated family handout photo distributed by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, baby Violet May Maslin is photographed shortly after her birth, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in Perth, Australia. An Australian couple whose three children were killed in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 two years ago has welcomed baby Violet. (Maslin Family/Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

In a statement released Thursday by the Australian foreign affairs department, the couple said they believe Violet is a gift sent by Evie, Mo, Otis and Nick.

"Violet's birth is a testament to our belief that love is stronger than hate," the couple wrote. "We still live with pain, but Violet, and the knowledge that all four kids are with us always, brings light to our darkness. As Martin Luther King said, 'Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'"

A Dutch civil investigation concluded that the plane was downed by a Soviet-designed Buk surface-to-air missile. All 298 people on board perished.

Maslin and Norris said they would continue to love all four of their children equally.
Top Hezbollah military commander killed in Syria

BEIRUT (AP)  Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an explosion in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a major blow to the militant group.

Badreddine, 55, had been supervising the group's involvement in Syria's civil war since Hezbollah fighters joined the battles along with President Bashar Assad's forces against militant groups trying to remove him from power, according to pro-Hezbollah media.

Hezbollah said several others were wounded in the blast. It said it was investigating the nature of the explosion and whether it was the result of an air raid, missile attack or artillery shelling. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV that is close to the group earlier said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later removed the report.

This undated handout image released on Friday, May 13, 2016, by Hezbollah Media Department, shows slain top military commander Mustafa Badreddine smiling during a meeting. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in Syria. (Hezbollah Media Department via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES

Badreddine ("Ba-dre-deen") was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle East's most dramatic political assassinations.

Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus. After that, Badreddine, known among the group's ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollah's top military commander.

"Early information from the investigation shows that a strong explosion targeted one of our centers near the Damascus International Airport leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounded several others," Hezbollah said in a statement issued Friday.

Hezbollah said Badreddine was a "great jihadi leader" that he had joined "the convoy of martyrs on top of them his comrade and close friend Mughniyeh.

The group said it will be receiving condolences starting Friday morning in their stronghold south of Beirut.

Badreddine was the brother-in-law of Mughniyeh and was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people. He was detained in Kuwait and imprisoned for years until he fled jail in 1990 after Iraq's Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait.
Dominican Republic president seems destined for re-election

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP)  President Danilo Medina squeaked into his first term in a close election in 2012, and soon faced violent protests over his party's handling of the economy. He was barred by the Dominican Republic's constitution from running for s second straight term.

Four years later, a lot has changed. The country's GDP growth of 7 percent is the best in Latin America and the Caribbean. The opposition that almost triumphed in 2012 against his Dominican Liberation Party is now divided. And Medina's supporters in Congress amended the constitution to allow successive presidential terms.

Polls indicate the president is cruising toward re-election, and he may even win more than 50 percent in Sunday's vote and avoid a runoff.

CORRECTS BYLINE - In this April 25, 2016 photo, women walk in front of a campaign billboard for incumbent President Danilo Medinas re-election campaign, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Dominicans will vote in a general election on May 15. Polls show the president cruising toward re-election, and he may even win more than 50 percent in Sundays vote and avoid a runoff. (AP Photo/Ezequiel Lopez)

It was enough for Medina to declare his coalition "invincible" while addressing supporters at a recent rally.

"We have gone far, but we know that we can go much farther," he told voters in recorded messages that went out in what are apparently the first robo-calls, or recorded phone messages, used in the country during a presidential election.

Anger over higher sales taxes and university fees to help close a budget deficit when he came into office has largely faded. Many say they are pleased with public spending that has included the construction of about 2,500 new schools as well as improvements to roads and drainage in the flood-prone nation. The government also draws praise for expanding the school day and providing two free meals a day for students.

Altagracia Santana, a mother of four, praised the government's spending on education, including a program that allowed her to take free courses to be a tailor at a government institute. "There are a lot of places where Danilo has fixed things," she said.

Medina faced one of the most significant challenges of his administration when the Constitutional Court, ruling on a long-simmering controversy, decreed in September 2013 that Dominican-born descendants of people considered to have entered the country illegally, most of whom were of Haitian descent, were not entitled to citizenship. The decision prompted outrage among other Caribbean nations and human rights groups and prompted fears of mass deportations. The government responded with a residency program that granted about 250,000 people legal status. An estimated 300,000 didn't apply or didn't qualify and thousands have moved across the border to impoverished Haiti.

The president was embarrassed in February when one of his main campaign advisers, Joao Santana, was taken back to his native Brazil along with his wife to face corruption charges in a widening political scandal there. He was not, however, accused of wrongdoing in the Dominican Republic.

Medina, a 64-year-old economist by training and career technocrat, is also personally popular for a Dominican politician, said Eduardo Gamarra, a political scientist at Florida International University who has done polling for Fernandez and is writing the former president's biography. "People see Medina as an engaged guy," Gamarra said. "He does surprise visits, is hands on and doesn't travel with a large entourage."

Medina faces seven opponents in the first round. The leading challenger is Luis Abinader, a businessman who has never held elective office but ran for the vice presidency in 2012 as part of a different opposition coalition that came close to victory.

Abinader, 48, has said he would double payments for a system of social programs that provide payments to nearly a million poor families. He also says he would raise wages for the National Police and armed forces as well as the minimum wage for the whole country and reduce crime, a principal concern in the country.

While all that has some appeal, it hasn't been enough to knock out support for the incumbent, Gamarra said. "Is there dissatisfaction with the government? Yes, of course there is. Is there a sense of 'Let's throw the rascals out?' No. People want continuity."

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Associated Press writer Ben Fox in Miami contributed to this report.

CORRECTS BYLINE - In this April 25, 2016 photo, the front page of Dominican newspaper shows the results of a recent Gallup opinion poll with incumbent, President Danilo Medina ahead in the polls, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Anger over higher sales taxes and university fees to help close a budget deficit when Medina came into office has largely faded. Many say they are pleased with public spending that has included the construction of about 2,500 new schools, as well as improvements to roads and drainage in the flood-prone nation. The government also draws praise for expanding the school day and providing two free meals per day for students. (AP Photo/Ezequiel Lopez)

CORRECTS BYLINE - In this April 25, 2016 photo, a man walks on a pedestrian bridge where a Danilo Medina campaign billboard hangs in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Medina, a 64-year-old economist by training and career technocrat, is facing seven opponents in the first electoral round. (AP Photo/Ezequiel Lopez)
The Latest: Solar plane lands in Oklahoma along global trip

TULSA, Okla. (AP)  The Latest on a solar-powered airplane making an around-the-world journey (all times local):

12 a.m.

A solar-powered airplane has landed in Oklahoma after completing the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.

The Tulsa World reports (http://bit.ly/1VVjvse ) the aircraft touched down at Tulsa International Airport around 11:15 p.m. Thursday. The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport about 3 a.m.

The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.

After Oklahoma, the plane is expected to make at least one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa.

The newspaper reports the crew likely will have to stay in Tulsa a few days to wait out the weather.

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5 a.m.

A solar-powered airplane that landed in Arizona last week is headed to Oklahoma on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey.

The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 took off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport about 3 a.m. Thursday with a destination of Tulsa International Airport.

It departed from northern California in the early hours of May 2 and landed at the airport southwest of Phoenix 16 hours later. Last month, it flew from Hawaii to California.

The globe-circling voyage began in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.
first ladies.jpg

Some of America'a first ladies of the modern era, from left, Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama.

( myithings.com photo)

In a newly-published book, "First Women," author Kate Andersen Brower tells the story of 10 of America's Modern First Ladies.

It is another of recent books giving inside looks at the world's most famous residence, the White House.

It begins with Jackie Kennedy and ends with Michelle Obama and is based on the stories of White House employees and on never before published letters between the first ladies.

Some excerpts:

"Lady Bird Johnson knew her husband desperately wanted a son, and she went through four miscarriages in an attempt to give him one (the Johnsons had two daughters: Lynda, born in 1944; and Luci, born in 1947)...

"The first ladies turned to each other in times of joy and in times of sorrow. From Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama, each of these women has carved out her own path, all while raising her children, serving as her husband's greatest protector and confidant...

"Jacqueline Kennedy lived in the White House for a little more than a thousand days....until shortly after her husband's assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. At thirty-one, Jackie was the third-youngest first lady in U.S. history and the first first lady to be the mother of a baby since the turn of the century. She transformed the role of first lady and became a global superstar...

"Pat Nixon was prepared to be a first lady in 1960, when her husband ran against Jack Kennedy and lost, but she had absolutely no desire for him to run again in 1968...In the White House she was nicknamed 'Plastic Pat' because she was simply exhausted playing the role of political wife...

"Rosalynn Carter was a shrewd politician whose syrupy southern drawl belied her personal ambition. During her four years in the White House, she sat in on Cabinet meetings and was a crucial player in the Camp David Accords, the first peace treaty between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors ...

"Hillary Clinton is the only first lady to run for office...Hillary greatly admires Eleanor Roosevelt, and in the White House she had imaginary conversations with her 'to try to figure out what she would do in my shoes,' she said...

"After the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, Laura (Bush) had the grim task of talking to victims' families and serving as a symbol of hope in in the wake of devastation. She found a new voice after 9/11 and turned her attention to the treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan and other parts of the world...

"Michelle (Obama) had more closely followed in the footsteps of Laura Bush than of Hillary Clinton. She came into the White House describing herself as a J.Crew-wearing mom-in-chief, and her devotion to the Obamas' two daughters has remained her top priority."

"First Women" is published by Harper-Collins and has 380 pages. It retails for $28.99 in hardback. It is also available from HarperAudio and HarperCollins ebooks.

Brower is the author of the New York Times number one bestseller "The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House." She spent four years covering the Obama White House for Bloomberg News and is former CBS news staffer and Fox News producer.
TSA baggage screening system back online at Phoenix airport

PHOENIX (AP)  A screening system problem that caused more than 3,000 checked bags to miss their outbound flights in Phoenix has been fixed, officials with Transportation Security Administration said.

The baggage-screening systems at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will be tested throughout the night in preparation for Friday's scheduled operations, according to TSA spokesman Nico Melendez.

"We are cautiously optimistic that it will be fully operational in the morning," Melendez said. Additional canine units from other airports and network specialists will be on hand in case any problems arise, he added.

Baggage sits in the special events parking lot, Thursday, May 12, 2016, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. More than 3,000 checked bags missed their outbound flights in Phoenix because of a problem with a screening system at Sky Harbor International Airport, officials with Transportation Security Administration said. (Mark Henle/The Republic via AP) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT, NO SALES

The problem began at about 6:45 a.m. and only affected Sky Harbor.

Julie Rodriguez, a Sky Harbor spokeswoman, said the problem existed in all three of the airport's terminals.

It wasn't immediately known how many of the airport's 16 airlines were affected but Melendez said Southwest was significantly impacted.

"We are not seeing widespread flight delays, but many checked bags are missing flights," Rodriguez said.

According to the TSA, the inline baggage systems handle the bulk of checked luggage. When everything is working properly only about 10 percent of all checked bags are hand-searched by TSA officers.

Workers loaded hundreds of bags onto semi-trailers Thursday evening. Rodriguez said those bags were slated for ground transportation to airports in Tucson and San Diego and then would be screened and flown to their destinations.

Cody Desjadon, 22, of Prescott, Arizona, arrived at the airport shortly after 5 p.m. and knew something was off when he saw a parking lot full of police, dogs, and suitcases. He and his girlfriend, Hannah Brinser, 19, then learned at a Southwest ticket counter that her large suitcase would take two to three days to get to their destination in Missouri.

"Our trip is three days," Desjadon said.

The couple's main concern was trying to stuff several wrapped gifts for aunts, grandparents and cousins into their two carry-ons.

"It's definitely unfortunate because we're going for a graduation and there's lots of gifts for the graduation. I don't know if we can fit them all," Desjadon said.

Desjadon said a lot of other passengers were more frustrated than he was.

"I've heard every swear word known to man in the last 15 minutes," he said.

Nearly 4.3 million passengers traveled through Sky Harbor in March, making it the airport's busiest month ever.

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Associated Press writers Anna Johnson and Michelle A. Monroe contributed to this report.
Anti-counterfeiting group suspends Alibaba

SHANGHAI (AP)  An anti-counterfeiting group said Friday it was suspending Alibaba's membership following an uproar by some companies that view the Chinese e-commerce giant as the world's largest marketplace for fakes.

The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition told members that it had failed to inform the board of directors about conflicts of interest involving the group's president, Robert Barchiesi.

Earlier Friday, The Associated Press reported that Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba, had close ties to an Alibaba executive and had used family members to help run the coalition.

This image from file video, taken April 14, 2015, International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition Robert Barchiesi is seen during an interview in Washington. (Associated Press Television News Video/AP)

The coalition, in a letter to members sent after the AP report came out, said conflicts weren't disclosed to the board "because of a weakness in our corporate governance procedures." It said the failure was not because of "inaction on Bob's part," referring to Barchiesi.

The coalition said that it is hiring an independent firm to review its corporate governance policies.

In its letter, the board said that as a result of members' concerns, it was suspending a new class of membership under which Alibaba had recently joined. The move would affect two other companies that signed up under the new rules.

Jennifer Kuperman, Alibaba's head of international corporate affairs, said companies like Alibaba were important for solving the problem of counterfeiting.

"Whether or not we are a member of the IACC, we will continue our productive and results-oriented relationships with brands, governments and all industry partners," she said.

At issue is the independence of a small but influential coalition that lobbies U.S. officials and testifies before Congress.

Alibaba's membership could help shape the global fight against counterfeits. Fakes damage companies' bottom lines, can harm consumers who unknowingly buy such products, and feed a vast underground money-laundering industry that supports criminal syndicates.

In recent weeks Gucci America, Michael Kors and Tiffany have quit the Washington D.C.-based coalition, which has more than 250 members.

The AP found several ties between the group's president and Alibaba:

Barchiesi has owned Alibaba stock since its 2014 listing in New York. The IACC said in a statement that the holdings represent "a small percentage of his investment portfolio."

Matthew Bassiur, who took over as vice president of global intellectual property enforcement at Alibaba in January, hired Barchiesi's son, Robert Barchiesi II, to work at Apple back in 2011. Alibaba said that hire was made on merit. Apple declined to comment.

Bassiur is a founding board member of the ICE Foundation, which supports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees. Since 2013, the foundation has been run by Barchiesi's other son, James Barchiesi. That same year, the foundation's board voted to award a contract for "fiscal and operational management" to a private company, also run by James Barchiesi. The foundation has received grants of $10,000 from the anti-counterfeiting coalition every year since 2012, tax filings show.

Kuperman, of Alibaba, said Bassiur's expertise would help the company "further instill trust in our marketplaces."

"We are highly confident in his abilities and proud to have him at Alibaba in this critical global role," she said.

Robert Barchiesi had also come under fire for his stewardship of the coalition and allegations of conflicts of interest on the move to include Alibaba.

"It's crossed the line ethically," said Deborah Greaves, a partner at Brutzkus Gubner law firm and a coalition board member from 2011 to 2013. She said she didn't know that IACC chief Robert Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba until informed by the AP. "Really problematic," she said.

"Everything the IACC does that makes Alibaba look better potentially drives up the price of the stock," said Greaves, whose firm is a coalition member. "As a board member, I would never have bought stock in Alibaba."

The storm has laid bare the loathing that some feel for a company heralded as one of communist China's greatest capitalist success stories.

Critics had feared Alibaba would use IACC membership to gain legitimacy while papering over fundamental flaws in how it does business. Gucci and other brands owned by France's Kering Group allege in U.S. court filings that Alibaba knowingly profits from the sale of fakes. Alibaba has dismissed the case as "wasteful litigation."

Michael Kors' general counsel has called Alibaba "our most dangerous and damaging adversary."

The coalition's tax filings show that, in addition to the ties to Alibaba, Robert Barchiesi runs his organization like a family business. The coalition paid companies founded and run by one of Barchiesi's sons nearly $150,000 from 2012 to 2014 for rental costs, accounting, IT support and advertising. It employs the son's wife, Kathryn Barchiesi, as a program manager.

Though the coalition attests that its financial statements were reviewed by an independent accountant, tax filings show the accounting firm was owned by Barchiesi's son.

In a statement, the coalition said the family connections had been disclosed and the contracts were fairly valued. "The board of directors of the IACC believes that Mr. Barchiesi's performance as president has been exemplary, and he has the board's full confidence and support," the statement said. The group told its members the same in its letter, which it said was a response to an anonymous letter sent to board members Wednesday that detailed a list of concerns about governance. The letter threatened a mass walkout unless Alibaba was pushed out. The writer claimed to represent a group of concerned members, but that could not be verified.

"What you have allowed this organization to become is utterly disgusting and changes must be made immediately," the email says.

The move to suspend Alibaba comes ahead of the IACC's spring conference in Orlando next week, where the Chinese company's founder Jack Ma was scheduled to speak.

___

Butler reported from Washington. AP news researchers Jennifer Farrar in New York and Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Kinetz on Twitter http://twitter.com/ekinetz and Butler at http://twitter.com/desmondbutler

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2015 file photo, Alibaba founder Jack Ma speaks at the CEO Summit, attended by 800 business leaders from around the region representing U.S. and Asia-Pacific companies, in Manila, Philippines, ahead of the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. An investigation by The Associated Press has found that the president of an influential anti-counterfeiting group owns Alibaba stock, has close ties to a key Alibaba vice president and uses family members to run his coalition. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, smiles during the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. The head of a respected global anti-counterfeiting coalition in Washington DC owns stock in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has battled to fight its reputation as the world's largest marketplace for fakes. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

In this April 29, 2015 photo, staff members hand out brochures to visitors at the Alibaba booth at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in Beijing. The head of a respected global anti-counterfeiting coalition in Washington DC owns stock in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has battled to fight its reputation as the world's largest marketplace for fakes. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Lebanon's Hezbollah most senior commander killed in Syria

BEIRUT (AP)  The top military commander of Lebanon's Hezbollah was killed in an explosion near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shiite guerrilla group said Friday, the highest-level casualty yet in its intervention in the raging civil war next door.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine strikes a heavy blow to the militant group and underscores how its deployment in Syria backing President Bashar Assad has widened its circle of enemies beyond traditional foe Israel to include Sunni extremists and conservative Gulf monarchies.

The 55-year-old Badreddine had directed Hezbollah's operations in Syria since its fighters joined Assad's forces in 2012, the group's biggest ever military intervention outside of Lebanon. Thousands of guerrillas fighting alongside Syria's military were crucial to tipping the battlefield in the government's favor on multiple fronts, from the suburbs of Damascus to the northern province of Aleppo.

Adnan Badreddine, brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, grieves at his brother's picture in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. Words in Arabic say "The martyr commander Mustafa Badreddine". (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

But it has come at a heavy price, with more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters killed. Sounding a tone of defiance Friday, the group's deputy leader said they were undeterred.

"By killing you, they gave a new push to our drive that produces one martyr after another, as well as one commander after another," Naim Kassem said as the slain military chief was buried in a cemetery in southern Beirut.

Still, the slaying was unlikely to lead Hezbollah to reduce its role in Syria.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has touted the war as necessary to protect Shiites  including in Lebanon  from Sunni extremists who have been at the forefront of the opposition, and Hezbollah's patron Iran has shown itself determined to keep its ally, Assad, in power.

"I do think it will affect their morale. This is not just their commander in Syria. This is one of the most elite and uniquely pedigreed Hezbollah personalities," said Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Counterterrorism Program at the Washington Institute. But "I don't think they are going to waiver in their commitment" to fighting the Sunni extremists arrayed against Assad.

Those behind the explosion that killed Badreddine remained a mystery. The blast occurred near the Damascus airport, which is close to the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, where Hezbollah has a strong presence and several military positions. The area was once a heavy battle zone, and although Hezbollah's fighters have largely succeeded in pushing the insurgents out, bombings have occurred there as recently as last month.

Hezbollah's traditional enemy, Israel, has assassinated its leaders in the past. But Sunni opposition forces, including militants like the Islamic State group or al-Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, could also be behind the blast.

Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the blast, which also wounded several others, was from an air raid, missile attack, artillery shelling or other cause. Kassem later hinted the group knew who was behind the killing, saying investigation results could be released Saturday.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, initially said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later took down the report. Israeli officials refused to comment.

With Badreddine's death, Hezbollah is likely to rely on a younger generation of commanders, moving away from the veterans who came of age during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war or during Hezbollah's 18-year war against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon, which ended in 2000.

One possible successor, Ibrahim Aqil, is among the last major figures from that generation. A member of Hezbollah's highest military body, the Jihad Council, Aqil has been involved in the Syria fighting and is suspected in hostage-takings in the 1980s and a bombing campaign in Paris in 1986.

"By default, we are witnessing the evolution of Hezbollah from a military unit dominated by soldiers who took part in the armed struggle against Israel to one that increasingly relies on younger recruits who weren't even alive during the Israeli occupation," said Bilal Saab, a resident senior fellow for Middle East security at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Atlantic Council.

Badreddine, like many of Hezbollah's top military operatives, was a shadowy figure. The only public image of him was a decades-old black-and-white photograph of a smiling young man wearing a suit until Hezbollah released a new image of him in military uniform Friday.

Accused of being the mastermind behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, he was one of five people on trial in absentia at an international court in the Netherlands over the killing. Hezbollah has denied any role in Hariri's death.

Badreddine was a student of Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's previous military chief who was considered one of the world's most-wanted terrorists by Israel and the United States. Mughniyeh, who is Badreddine's brother-in-law, was killed in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

An explosives expert, Badreddine was accused in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people. Sentenced to death in Kuwait in the 1980s, he fled in a dramatic escape after Saddam Hussein's forces invaded the oil-rich Gulf country in 1990.

His nom de guerre, Zulfiqar, referred to the double-headed sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and the Shiite sect's most sacred martyr, symbolizing a skilled fighter who killed many infidels during the early days of Islam.

The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions twice on Badreddine for his involvement in the Syrian war, in 2011 and in 2015.

"This is a prince of Hezbollah, second only to the late Mughniyeh," said Levitt. Still, he said, Badreddine was a hot-headed, impetuous commander, making him unpopular in some quarters of the group, in contrast to Mughaniyeh, a "cold, calculating experienced operator."

Hezbollah has paid a steep price for its bloody foray into Syria's civil war, beyond its casualties. Once lauded in the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, its staunch support for Assad has been criticized at home, even among its Lebanese support base.

Perhaps in response, Nasrallah and other Hezbollah officials have increasingly depicted Israel and its opponents in Syria  whether jihadi extremists or Saudi Arabia, the Sunni powerhouse that backs the Syrian opposition  as one and the same.

At Badreddine's funeral, chants by the thousands of mourners marching behind the coffin in the group's stronghold of southern Beirut reflected the expanding circle of the guerrilla group's foes. "Death to Israel!" ''Death to America!" and "Death to Al Saud!" they shouted  referring to the Saudi royal family.

Hezbollah fighters carried the coffin, draped with the group's yellow flag, as women on balconies tossed flowers and rice. It was nearly toppled at times by the jostling crowd as it was taken for burial near Badredinne's mentor, Mughniyeh.

"We will continue to confront Israel and we will continue to confront the Takfiris," Kassem declared, using a term for Sunni extremists.

"For us, there is only one enemy, which is Israel and those siding with it."

Family of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, and Hezbollah senior officials receive condolences in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Adnan Badreddine, center, brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, cries as he receives condolences from Hezbollah senior officials in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

This undated handout image released on Friday, May 13, 2016, by Hezbollah Media Department, shows slain top military commander Mustafa Badreddine smiling during a meeting. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in Syria. (Hezbollah Media Department via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT, NO SALES

Adnan Badreddine, brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, grieves next to his brother's picture in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

The deputy chief of Hezbollah, Sheik Naim Kassem, left, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, head of Hezbollah's executive council, second left, Adnan Badreddine, second right, and Hassan Badreddine, right, brothers of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, receive condolences in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ali Badreddine, center, son of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, receives condolences from Hezbollah senior officials in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hassan Badreddine, center, brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, grieves next to his brother's picture in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Ali Badreddine, right, son of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, mourns as he receives condolences in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Adnan Badreddine, left, brother of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, grieves at his brother's picture in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. Words in Arabic say "The martyr commander Mustafa Badreddine". (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hezbollah senior officials mourn as the family of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, receive condolences in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday that its top military commander who was supervising its military operations in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine, was killed in an explosion in Damascus, a major blow to the Shiite group which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hezbollah fighters hold flags during the funeral procession of commander Mustafa Badreddine during his funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Badreddine died in an explosion in Damascus, a death that is a major blow to the Shiite group, which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Hezbollah supporters carry the picture of their slain commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in Syria, during his funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Badreddine died in an explosion in Damascus, a death that is a major blow to the Shiite group, which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Arrest of Tennessee children exposes flawed juvenile justice

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee police officer tried to prevent the arrests that would embroil his department in a national furor over policing in schools, but his colleagues and supervisors refused to change course.

They insisted on arresting children as young as 9 years old at their elementary school and took them away two in handcuffs  in view of waiting parents to a juvenile detention center as the school day came to an end.

What followed in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville, was an unusually public examination of how police handle children suspected of wrongdoing. Amid protests from parents and community leaders, the incident put the new police chief, Karl Durr  who had come from Oregon less than two weeks earlier  in a tough spot.

The chief formed a committee with a mandate to examine the situation. It found a series of internal conflicts and miscommunications between police and school authorities leading up to the arrests on April 15. The committee's report, though partially redacted, lays bare a reality that frustrates many parents in communities across the nation: Officers assigned to schools often have wide leeway when handling juveniles, and the interests of children don't always come first.

Ten children, all African-Americans 9 to 12 years old, were taken to the juvenile detention center that day. Their alleged crime: taking part in some off-campus neighborhood bullying weeks earlier. Some kids had recorded the bullying on their smartphones. An excerpt posted online shows a group of kids following and taunting a boy who shakes off some punches from smaller children.

The report says Officer Chris Williams wasn't aware of the planned arrests at Hobgood Elementary when he arrived. He later was told the students would be pulled out of class just before the afternoon bell. Bad idea, he thought.

The school's principal, Tammy Garrett, also tried to intervene, texting another officer to ask why the children couldn't be arrested at their homes, to avoid a spectacle during the school's afternoon dismissal.

But the text went unanswered, and two other officers who had concerns remained silent. And as Williams went up the chain of command, he was told to follow orders.

The bullying episode took place off school grounds, and was posted on YouTube on March 20. It's not clear exactly when it happened, and why officers waited for weeks to make the arrests at school. Murfreesboro Police spokesman Kyle Evans said in an email that state law prohibits him from answering these questions. Juvenile court petitions show 10 children  mostly boys  were charged with "criminal responsibility for the actions of another."

The report recommends 16 areas for improvement, including "establish protocol for juvenile operations in schools," and seeing that police supervisors are "proactively and fully addressing concerns of other officers." A group of local ministers is involved, recommending firmer standards and lines that shouldn't be crossed.

The officer who obtained the petition against the children has since been transferred, and a supervisor is on paid leave while under investigation.

The report places no blame on Williams, who did not respond to a request from The Associated Press for comment. But he apologized to his congregation and others during a public meeting at the First Baptist Church of Murfreesboro, with Chief Durr in the audience.

Williams told the crowd his wife had only seen him cry twice: when his grandfather died and after the children were arrested, according to a report from WKRN.

"The principal shed tears, the vice principal shed tears, and the office staff shed tears," Williams added.

His pastor, the Rev. James McCarroll, said he thinks the new chief and other local officials want juvenile justice reforms that could create "a model for the rest of the country."

This goes way beyond Rutherford County, he said: "The school-to-prison pipeline is a problem around the country."

Lawyers and juvenile justice experts say it shows what can go awry when adults don't consider what's best for the children.

Nationwide, their treatment in criminal justice situations varies widely. Some states, counties and cities allow even young children to be arrested; others don't. Some bar the shackling and handcuffing of kids; others make no exceptions. Some allow police to issue citations to juveniles rather than arrest them. Some require parents to be present when children are interrogated.

Whether to arrest a child at school for a minor offense committed off campus is a decision that varies by police agency, said Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers. The organization's guidelines for restraining or arresting kids is focused on children with special needs, he added.

Unlike some other states, Tennessee doesn't have a minimum age for when a child can be arrested. And under Rutherford County's rules, children must be brought to the juvenile detention center for even the most minor infractions, unless an officer decides to issue a verbal warning.

"I can't understand why we would treat a juvenile more harshly then we are treating adults who are accused of a crime," said Tom Castelli, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee.

There is no clear national data showing how often children are handcuffed like adult criminals for relatively minor offenses, said Terry Maroney, a law professor at Vanderbilt University.

"It's safe to think this happens less frequently than you fear, but more than what you would like," Maroney said.

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Democrats fear Sanders is undermining efforts to beat Trump

WASHINGTON (AP)  Democratic Party leaders are upping the pressure on Bernie Sanders to drop his presidential campaign, alarmed that his continued presence is undermining efforts to beat the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and again win the White House.

"I don't think they think of the downside of this," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a supporter of front-runner Hillary Clinton and broker of the post-primary peace between Clinton and then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2008.

"It's actually harmful because she can't make that general-election pivot the way she should," Feinstein said. "Trump has made that pivot."

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders pauses while speaking during a campaign stop in Rapid City, S.D., on Thursday, May 12, 2016. Sanders spoke to hundreds of people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and thousands of people in Rapid City Thursday during a campaign swing through South Dakota. (AP Photo/Kristina Barker)

The new concerns come after Sanders' recent wins over Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party's nomination.

Still Sanders soldiers on, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.

"Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems," Sanders said in a recent interview with MSNBC. "It is a steep hill to climb, but we're going to fight for every last vote."

Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid against Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders' decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.

"I would just hope that he would understand that we need to begin consolidating our vote sooner rather than later," said Rep. Steve Israel, D-N.Y., a Clinton backer and former chief of efforts to elect Democrats to the House. "Democrats cannot wait too long."

Though Clinton has for the past few weeks largely focused her rhetoric on Trump, campaign aides say the two-front effort hampers their ability to target both Sanders supporters and Republican-leaning independents that may be open to her candidacy. It also means she's spending time in primary states, rather than battlegrounds that will decide the general election.

Clinton will return to Kentucky on Sunday, two days before the state's primary. She's sending high-level advocates to the state this weekend to rally voters, among them Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Hakeem Jeffries and Joe Crowley of New York.

While they can talk up Clinton, Sanders' determination to contest every state remaining has kept Obama and Vice President Joe Biden largely on the sidelines, benching two of her most powerful advocates.

"It all sort of slows the takeoff of her general-election campaign," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a member of the party's liberal wing from a perennial battleground.

Sanders' campaign saw its fundraising drop by about 40 percent last month and he's laid off hundreds of staffers. Biden said this week he "feels confident" that Clinton will be the nominee. Even Obama is pointing out the realities of the delegate math, which puts Clinton on track to capture the nomination early next month.

Clinton has won 23 states to Sanders' 19, capturing 3 million more votes than her rival along the way. She has 94 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination, which means she could lose all the remaining states and still emerge as the nominee  as long as all her supporters among the party insiders known as superdelegates continue to back her.

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook wrote in a memo to donors this week that there is "no doubt" Clinton will be the Democratic nominee, describing her lead as "insurmountable."

White House officials believe Obama has the ability to coax some die-hard Sanders' fans into the Clinton camp, particularly young people and liberals. But if he moves before Clinton officially captures the nomination, he risks angering those voters and undermining that effort.

Clinton faces a similar calculus. While her international expertise could attract foreign policy-focused Republicans and suburban women, highlighting her record on those issues now might encourage Sanders to resurrect attacks on her vote in favor of the Iraq war.

"When his rhetoric takes a sharper tone against her, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I know that can be used as ammunition."

Clinton backers say there's plenty for Sanders to do in his old job  and a lot of good reasons for him to join forces. If Democrats regain the majority in the Senate, he'd likely become chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.

"We are looking forward to welcoming him back to the Senate," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Others note that Clinton has gone through this before and the party was able to unite after a tough primary in 2008.

"She knows this is a long process. It's a marathon you run to the end," said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. "On the Democratic side, we're attacking issues, not each other."

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Follow Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/llerer and http://twitter.com/kthomasdc
Obama to world: Be more like the Nordics

WASHINGTON (AP)  Democrats may argue over whether places like Denmark and Norway are model societies. President Barack Obama is sure.

Apparently well beyond concerns about being branded a socialist, Obama on Friday celebrated the five Nordic nations as examples of reliability, equality, generosity, responsibility, even personal happiness.

As he welcomed the Nordic leaders to the White House, he owned up to thinking perhaps the small havens of social liberalism should take the reins every now and then.

From left, President Barack Obama, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Iceland Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, and Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, walk along the Colonnade to the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 13, 2016. Nordic leaders are at the White House for a U.S.-Nordic Summit on security and economic issues followed by a State Dinner. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

He joked: "Why don't we just put all these small countries in charge for a while?"

The remark in some ways encapsulated a White House summit with the leaders of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. The discussions covered a slate of issues weighing heavily on the region  including concerns about Russian aggression, managing refugee flows in Europe and fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria  but little disagreement among nations that largely see eye-to-eye.

From the State Dining Room, Obama said the leaders spoke about augmenting special operations forces fighting IS in the Middle East. He also hailed Denmark for almost doubling its troop commitment toward the multinational forces assisting Afghanistan.

Three of the five nations are NATO members, including Denmark and Norway, which each have contributed nearly as many troops on the ground in Iraq as Germany. Sweden and Finland are neutral but are participating in the U.S.-led campaign against IS and are, as Obama asserted, helping ensure that sanctions on nearby Russia stay in place until it stops occupying and destabilizing parts of Ukraine.

The White House cast the rare multilateral summit as something of a diplomatic walk in the park compared to recent, more contentious sit-downs in the Middle East, or even in Europe. Where Obama often is tasked with nudging reluctant partners to contribute more to international partnerships, the Nordic leaders, he said, are willing partners who "punch above their weight."

After the meeting, Obama joked there was perhaps "probably too much agreement" to make for much excitement.

Obama praised the region's "enormously generous" efforts to alleviate the migrant crisis plaguing Europe, even as it has severely tested the limits of traditional refugee havens Denmark and Sweden.

Sweden, a nation of almost 10 million people, tightened its borders after receiving 160,000 asylum requests last year alone. In the U.S., that would equate to some 5 million prospective immigrants, many from war-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. is struggling to meet a target of admitting 10,000 Syrian refugees this year.

"It is important for the world to carry this burden alongside them," Obama said.

Friday's meetings and state dinner come during a U.S. political season in which the Nordic countries have made surprising cameos.

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have publicly debated whether Denmark, Sweden and Norway should be models for U.S. policy on worker's rights and paid family leave. Clinton notably dismissed the notion in a debate last year, declaring, "We are not Denmark."

Yet despite their deep-rooted socialist traditions, four of the five Nordic countries are currently run by center-right governments, and Obama noted their commitment to free trade and free markets.

On the Republicans side, standard-bearer Donald Trump has suggested the U.S. should untangle itself from the sort of international partnerships Obama and Nordic allies readily embrace.

Obama's position Friday was unequivocal.

"The world would be more secure and more prosperous if we just had more partners like our Nordic partners," he said, standing alongside President Sauli Niinisto of Finland and Prime Ministers Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson of Iceland; Lars Loekke Rasmussen of Denmark; Stefan Lofven of Sweden; and Erna Solberg of Norway.

Making light with his five guests, Obama referenced a series of Nordic cliches. He noted how Americans of Nordic descent took with them their woolly sweaters and the lye-cured fish Lutefisk, while children across the United States read Hans Christian Andersen's tales and Astrid Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking," summarizing Nordic-U.S. interaction from the explorations of Leif Erikson to the pop music of Abba.

True to form, the Nordics agreed to share the role of speaker throughout the day of festivities.

Following Obama opening remarks in the White House's Grand Foyer, Finland's Niinisto called his region as a whole a "superpower." It would amount to the 12th biggest economy, and one that leads on pressing problems like climate change, which he called "the most existential threat in the world today."

As the only woman leader present, Norway's Solberg thanked first lady Michelle Obama for improving access to girls' education, an objective she said they shared "as women, as mothers and leaders."

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This story has been corrected to change the spelling of the name of Denmark's prime minister.

President Barack Obama, joined by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, left, and Secretary of State John Kerry, right, speaks to media during a multilateral meeting with Nordic leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 13, 2016. Nordic leaders are at the White house for a U.S.-Nordic Summit on security and economic issues followed by a State Dinner. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama enters the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 13, 2016, for the arrival ceremony for the Nordic summit . Nordic leaders are at the White house for a U.S.-Nordic Summit on security and economic issues followed by a State Dinner. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

From left, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, Iceland Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and President Barack Obama arrive for a ceremony in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington, Friday, May 13, 2016. Nordic leaders are at the White House for a U.S.-Nordic Summit on security and economic issues followed by a State Dinner.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

White House Executive Pastry Chef Susan Morrison shows the dessert during a press preview in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, for the state dinner in honor of the official visit of Nordic leaders. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

President Barack Obama, stands with, from left, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, Denmark's Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto during the arrival ceremony for the Nordic summit, Friday, May 13, 2016, at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

National Security Adviser Susan Rice, left, and Secretary of State John Kerry, right, share a laugh with delegation members during the arrival ceremony for the Nordic summit, Friday, May 13, 2016, in the Grand Foyer of the White House in Washington. Nordic leaders are at the White house for a U.S.-Nordic Summit on security and economic issues followed by a State Dinner. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Migrant arrivals to Greece drop amid EU-Turkey pact tensions

BRUSSELS (AP)  The number of migrants arriving in Greece has plummeted thanks in part to the European Union's pact with Turkey, the EU border agency said Friday, amid signs that the widely-criticized agreement to stop people heading to Europe could unravel.

The Frontex border agency said fewer than 2,700 people had entered Greece in April, a 90 percent drop from the previous month. It attributed the decline to the effect of the EU-Turkey deal and tight border controls at the Greek Macedonia border, which has been shut to migrants since early March.

"The drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic," Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said, adding that April's total was well below the daily figure arriving on the island of Lesbos alone during the peak months last year.

Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir addresses the media after a meeting with Belgium Foreign Minister Didier Reynders at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Officials say the agreement for Turkey to stop migrants heading to European shores and take back thousands who have arrived since March 20 is working, but the government in Ankara is opposing an EU demand that Turkey's anti-terror law be modified.

The demand is part of EU requirements to secure visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens. The visa 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 reaching Europe and take back thousands more.

But given the recent spate of suicide attacks, Turkey refuses to change the law.

"If there is a difficulty in this particular element then perhaps all of the elements of the package we have discussed and decided in the last months will be at stake," Turkish European Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said Thursday.

The aim of the deal, agreed on in March, was to stop the flow of hundreds of thousands of people from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, which had become by far the most popular route for refugees and migrants into Europe.

Under the agreement, those arriving on Greek islands on or after March 20 faced deportation back to Turkey unless they successfully applied for asylum in Greece  something the vast majority are reluctant to do in a financially stricken country where about a quarter of the workforce is unemployed.

On Friday, 118 people reached the islands of Chios and Kos, Greek government figures showed.

The EU-Turkey deal and Balkan land border closures have left more than 54,700 people stranded in Greece, with the country scrambling to build enough refugee camps to house them all. More than 9,300 remain at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, in a makeshift unofficial camp, with most living in small donated tents pitched in fields and along railway tracks.

According to Frontex, most new arrivals on the Greek islands were from Syria, with far fewer numbers from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The agency said the number of migrants along the Balkans route from Greece north toward preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia had also dropped as a result of the border closures.

It also said that the number of people entering Italy from across the Mediterranean surpassed those arriving in Greece for the first time in almost a year.

Officials have been keeping a watchful eye on smugglers' boats traveling toward Italy to see if there has been a shift in routes since the closure of the Balkans route. International Organization for Migration spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said Friday that so far there has been no impact on Italy.

The Italian Coast Guard said some 800 migrants rescued Thursday and 231 rescued Wednesday were brought to four Sicilian ports. They were initially reported by the Coast Guard to be mostly Syrians, but Di Giacomo said the first group arriving at Augusta included Egyptians, Somalis, Sudanese and just one Syrian, and that a ship heading to Catania was transporting mostly Eritreans and Somalis.

A pregnant Somali woman was evacuated separately by helicopter to a hospital in Catania. The two boats loaded with 515 and 286 migrants that were rescued on Thursday had departed Egypt, which Di Giacomo said indicated that the long route from Egypt was opening earlier than usual.

Arrivals this year are on pace with last year. According to IOM data, 27,926 migrants had arrived in Italy through April this year, compared with 26,221 in the same period last year. Just 26 were Syrians.

Meanwhile, German lawmakers have approved a plan to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia "safe countries of origin," a move aimed at making it easier to send migrants from the three North African nations home quickly and deter others from coming.

It still requires approval from the upper house.

Germany last year declared several Balkan nations whose citizens are barely ever granted asylum safe countries. That effectively reverses the burden of proof, with a country assumed to be safe unless an asylum applicant can prove persecution in his or her case.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015 and is keen to see far lower numbers this year.

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Elena Becatoros from Athens, Suzan Fraser from Ankara, Turkey, Colleen Barry from Rome, Italy and Geir Moulson from Berlin contributed.

Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir addresses the media after a meeting with Belgium Foreign Minister Didier Reynders at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Migrant children help volunteers to hang a tarpaulin between containers at the Athens port of Piraeus on Friday, May 13, 2016. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continue to move everyday at government-built shelters and less than 1,500 people remain at Piraeus. The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A Syrian refugee girl reacts as she tries to hold a plastic bowl with water at the Athens port of Piraeus on Friday, May 13, 2016. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continue to move everyday to government-built shelters and less than 1,500 people remain at Piraeus. The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

A car passes the tents of migrants and refugees at the Athens port of Piraeus on Friday, May 13, 2016. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continue to move everyday to government-built shelters and less than 1,500 people remain at Piraeus. The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

An Afghan migrant sits on a bollard in front of a docked ferry at the Athens port of Piraeus on Friday, May 13, 2016. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continue to move everyday to government-built shelters and less than 1,500 people remain at Piraeus. The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Register for draft: It's what a man's got to do, and women?

WASHINGTON (AP)  Congress is on the verge of ordering young women to register for a military draft for the first time in history, touching off outrage among social conservatives who fear the move is another step toward blurring gender lines.

The female draft requirement, approved late Thursday by the Senate Armed Services Committee, could be as heated as the divisive debate over what public lavatories and locker rooms transgender people should use.

Opponents of expanding the draft may be unable to halt the momentum in favor of lifting the exclusion, which was triggered by the Pentagon's decision late last year to open all front-line combat jobs to women. After gender restrictions to military service were erased, the top uniformed officers in each of the military branches expressed support during congressional testimony for including women in a potential draft.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., left, speaks with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, May 12, 2016, as the Senate winds up its week . The Armed Services panel is moving to complete work on the military's budget, the National Defense Authorization Act. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Senate Armed Services Committee added a provision to its version of the annual defense policy bill that calls for women to sign up with the Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18  just as men are  beginning in January 2018, according to a summary of the legislation released by the committee.

The House Armed Services Committee narrowly adopted a provision to its bill late last month to include women in Selective Service.

"This is a highly consequential  and, for many American families, a deeply controversial  decision that deserves to be resolved by Congress after a robust and transparent debate in front of the American people, instead of buried in an embargoed document that is passed every year to fund military pay and benefits," said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, one of three Senate Armed Services Committee members who voted against the policy bill.

Conservative columnist Daniel Horowitz wrote of the "consequences of completely eradicating the self-evident truth and science of the two sexes."

The full House is expected to take up its version of the legislation as early as next week. The Senate will consider its bill later this month.

While the subject is contentious, a return to forcing people to join the armed forces seems unlikely. Military leaders maintain the all-volunteer force is working and do not want a return to conscription. The U.S. has not had a military draft since 1973, in the waning years of the Vietnam War era. Still, all men between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to register.

"It's what a man's got to do," says the Selective Service website.

Women were nearly drafted during World War II due to a shortage of military nurses. But a surge of volunteers made it unnecessary, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he believes most Americans don't want women to be drafted. Despite his objections, Hunter proposed  and then voted against  the amendment requiring women to register that the House Armed Services Committee approved in April.

Hunter said he offered the measure to force a discussion about how the Pentagon's decision to void gender restrictions on military service failed to consider whether the exclusion on drafting women also should be lifted. Like Lee, he argued that the call should be made by Congress.

The White House has declined to say whether President Barack Obama would sign into law legislation that expands the draft to include women.

A longstanding congressional ban on moving prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility to the United States also is included in the policy bill. The prohibition, which the White House opposes, has kept Obama from fulfilling a campaign pledge to shutter the facility.

The legislation also proposes to help shrink the remaining population at Guantanamo by allowing detainees to plead guilty to criminal charges in federal civilian courts via video teleconference. Those detainees could then be transferred to other countries to serve their sentences.

But the Center for Constitutional Rights, an advocacy group, opposed the change and said allowing pleas by remote video is an attempt to change the rules "in order to stymie the defense and afford the prosecution a greater chance to win these cases."

Overall, the defense policy bill provides $602 billion in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 for the Defense Department and nuclear weapons programs managed by the Energy Department.

The Senate committee did not follow the lead of its House counterpart, which shifted $18 billion in wartime spending to pay for additional weapons and troops to reverse what Republicans and a number of Democrats have called a crisis in the military's combat readiness.

The committee did identify $3 billion in savings from the defense budget proposed by the Obama administration "and redirected those funds toward critical needs of our warfighters," according to the summary. The committee also added $2 billion for additional training, depot maintenance and weapons sustainment.

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The Latest: Report says EU anti-smuggler force ineffective

BRUSSELS (AP)  The Latest on the flow of migrants into Europe (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

A British parliamentary report says the European Union's operation in the Mediterranean Sea is having no real impact on combatting migrant smuggling.

A woman carries a washbowl as she walks among railway tracks at the makeshift refugee camp of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Friday, May 13, 2016. More than 9000 people are camped in Idomeni as about 54,000 people are currently stranded in Greece, 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 report by the House of Lords EU Committee said Friday that Operation Sophia has only made a few low-level arrests, although it praised the naval mission for saving some 9,000 lives at sea.

Committee chairman Christopher Tugendhat said that "a naval mission cannot disrupt the business model of people smuggling, and in this sense it is failing."

He said smugglers operate from Libya and that "without support from a stable Libyan government, the operation is unable to gather the intelligence it needs or tackle the smugglers onshore."

The EU announced on Friday that the operation launched a year ago is set to be extended for 12 months.

___

4:00 p.m.

Austria and Italy say that plans to impose controls on the main crossing between their countries have been put on ice for now due to the small number of migrants using it.

Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka and Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano announced the decision Friday after meeting at the Brenner border point separating their countries.

Austria began construction at the crossing last month in anticipation of a possible flood of migrants from Italy via the Mediterranean Sea. It expected an increase to the number of migrants arriving in Italy after the closure of the West Balkans route leading from Greece.

But Sobotka says Italy was successful in reducing migrant entries over the past few weeks, making such controls unnecessary, for now.

Italy and the EU both strongly oppose controls at the Brenner crossing.

___

2:30 p.m.

Turkish European Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir says he is not "hopeful" over the prospects of overcoming a deadlock on part of the country's migrant deal with the European Union.

Bozkir was speaking in Brussels on Friday following talks with the EU's enlargement commissioner and foreign policy chief amid a standoff over whether Turkey should amend its anti-terrorism laws to secure visa-free travel in Europe for its citizens.

The issue of visa-free travel threatens to derail a wider EU-Turkey accord under which Ankara has agreed to stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

The minister said Brussels had not responded positively to a Turkish request for new "political consultations" over the five remaining criteria  including the anti-terror legislation  which Turkey has to achieve for the visa waiver. Bozkir said the Turkish suggestion would have helped overcome an impasse within the European Parliament.

Bozkir reiterated that Turkey was in "no political position" to modify its anti-terror laws at a time when its security forces were battling Kurdish militants and Islamic State extremists who have carried out a series of deadly attacks in the country since July.

___

1:40 p.m.

The International Organization for Migration has dismissed earlier reports that the 800 migrants rescued off Italy on Thursday were mostly Syrians.

IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said Friday the first group of rescued who arrived to Sicily included Egyptians, Somalis, Sudanese and only one Syrian. Another ship heading to the island was transporting mostly Eritreans and Somalis.

Officials have been keeping a watchful eye on smugglers' boats traveling toward Italy to see if there has been a shift in routes since the closure of the Balkans to migrant traffic. But Di Giacomo said Friday that so far there has been no impact on Italy of the closure of the Balkans route.

The Italian Coast Guard says some 800 migrants rescued Thursday and 231 rescued Wednesday have been brought to four Sicilian ports. They were initially reported by the Coast Guard to be mostly Syrians.

Di Giacomo said there is often confusion about nationalities on the rescue ships, which officials sort out at the landing point.

A pregnant Somali woman was evacuated separately by helicopter to a hospital in Catania. The two boats loaded with 515 and 286 migrants that were rescued on Thursday had departed from Egypt, which Di Giacomo said indicated that the long route from Egypt was opening earlier than usual.

___

11:25 a.m.

The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month.

Frontex said Friday that fewer than 2,700 people had entered in April. It put the drop down to the effect of the EU's migrant agreement with Turkey and tight border controls at the Greek Macedonia border.

Frontex chief Fabrice Leggeri said that "the drop in the number of arrivals on the Greek islands was dramatic." He said April's total was well below the daily figure arriving on the island of Lesbos alone during the peak months last year.

The agency said the number of migrants traveling along the Balkans route from Greece north toward preferred destinations in Austria, Germany and Scandinavia had also dropped as a result.

___

10:30 a.m.

German lawmakers have approved a plan to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia "safe countries of origin," a move aimed at making it easier to send asylum-seekers from the three North African nations home quickly and deterring others from coming.

Parliament's lower house voted 424-143 Friday to back the measure, with three lawmakers abstaining. It still requires approval from the upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states.

Germany last year declared several Balkan nations whose citizens are barely ever granted asylum safe countries. That effectively reverses the burden of proof, with a country assumed to be safe unless an asylum applicant can prove persecution in his or her case.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015 and is keen to see far lower numbers this year.

___

10 a.m.

Turkish European Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir is holding talks with senior European Union officials to try to end an impasse over part of the EU's migrant deal with Turkey.

Bozkir meets Friday with the EU's enlargement commissioner and foreign policy chief amid a standoff over whether Turkey should modify its anti-terror laws to secure visa-free travel in Europe for its citizens.

Bozkir said Thursday that "if there is a difficulty in this particular element then perhaps all of the elements of the package we have discussed and decided in the last months will be at stake."

The visa 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 reaching Europe and take back thousands more.

A Syrian child plays on a swing at a makeshift refugee camp of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Friday, May 13, 2016. More than 9000 people are camped in Idomeni as about 54,000 people are currently stranded in Greece, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

An Afghan migrant sits on a bollard in front of a docked ferry at the Athens port of Piraeus on Friday, May 13, 2016. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continue to move everyday to government-built shelters and less than 1,500 people remain at Piraeus. The European Union's border agency says that the number of migrants arriving in the Greek islands dropped by 90 percent in April compared to the previous month. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, right, and Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir address the media after a meeting at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, right, and Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir address the media after a meeting at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

A man walk among railway tracks at a makeshift refugee camp of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Thursday, May 12, 2016. About 54,000 people are currently stranded in Greece, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Migrants and refugees who were camped in Idomeni walk through fields in their attempt to cross the Greek- Macedonian border near the village of Evzoni, on Thursday, May 12, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and other migrants are stuck in Greece, through which more than a million people passed since early 2015. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir addresses the media after a meeting with Belgium Foreign Minister Didier Reynders at the Egmont Palace in Brussels on Thursday May 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure.

WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more.
Flying fish and a movie help save 4 people lost at sea

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)  A Spanish couple, a Malaysian woman and a man from Hong Kong who spent 10 days adrift at sea together say they survived by eating flying fish that landed in their small boat and distilling seawater using a technique one of them saw in a movie.

The Spaniards were with the Hong Kong-born owner of a Malaysian resort and a resort employee when a freak wave capsized their boat just off the Malaysian coast on May 2. They managed to right the boat and bail it out but they were unable to restart the motor. The food and water they had aboard were lost.

Marta Miguel, who was with her partner David Hernandez, told Spain's COPE radio station Friday that three flying fish landed in the boat on the third night.

Marta Miguel is stretchered away upon her arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia, Friday, May 13, 2016. Miguel was among the four who were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (AP Photo/Saradik Babuca)

"Up to the sixth or seventh day, we didn't have anything else to eat," she said.

One of the survivors had the idea of eating clams stuck to the bottom of the boat and mussels encrusted on a passing piece of flotsam, which provided more nourishment, she said.

They got drinking water thanks to her recollection from a movie.

"I recalled seeing something about a castaway who had to do this thing to drink water. I wasn't certain whether it was from evaporation or the water, but seeing as we had so much time on our hands we made it up as we went along," Miguel said.

They used a cellphone screen and a plastic bag to catch evaporating water, according to Miguel. "Doing it every 15 minutes, we were each able to have a drink once an hour," she told COPE.

The two Spaniards were weakened but in relatively good health, Miguel's father, Luis Miguel, told Spanish National Radio.

Ali Hassan Mohamad Dusi said his daughter Armelia, the resort employee, told him she was in good health apart from being sunburnt. Tommy Lam Wai Yin was the resort owner.

Hernandez told COPE the four never lost hope, even though many vessels and an airplane passed close by, apparently without seeing them or realizing they were in trouble.

He said they felt "fear and frustration" that their families had no news of them. "We were more afraid of that than for ourselves," he said.

TV images showed them smiling Friday as they got off a plane and met family members in the Malaysian city of Kota Kinabalu after being rescued by two Vietnamese fishing boats off Borneo island.

____

This version corrects that that the Spaniards got off the plane Friday, not Tuesday.

____

Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal contributed to this report.

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo released by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Marta Miguel, left, thumbs up after receiving medical aid at a resort in Sabah, Malaysia. Miguel and three other people were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency via AP)

David Hernandez, bottom, thumbs up as he is stretchered away upon his arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia, Friday, May 13, 2016. Hernandez was among the four who were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (AP Photo/Saradik Babuca)

David Hernandez, center, is hugged by family members upon his arrival at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia, Friday, May 13, 2016. Hernandez was among the four who were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (AP Photo/Saradik Babuca)

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo released by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, David Hernandez, left, thumbs up after receiving medical treatment at a resort in Sabah, Malaysia. Hernandez and three other people were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency via AP)

David Hernandez, top center, and Marta Miguel, center right, arrive at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Sabah, Malaysia, Friday, May 13, 2016. Hernandez and Miguel were among the four who were rescued after their boat capsized off the northern coast of the island of Borneo, the Malaysian coast guard said Thursday. (AP Photo/Saradik Babuca)
China indicts former president's top aide

BEIJING (AP)  Chinese prosecutors have indicted the former top aide to ex-President Hu Jintao on charges of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power, state media reported Friday, in the latest high-profile blow in President Xi Jinping's sweeping crackdown on corruption.

State broadcaster CCTV said prosecutors in the northern port city of Tianjin have filed the charges against Ling Jihua, who once served as head of the Communist Party's General Office, a position comparable to the U.S. president's chief of staff.

Ling was placed under investigation in late 2014 and was formally arrested in July 2015.

FILE - In this March 14, 2012, file photo, Ling Jihua, a loyal aide and confidante to President Hu Jintao, is seen as Chinese President Hu Jintao signs a document after attending the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Chinese prosecutors have indicted the former top aide to ex-President Hu Jintao on charges of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power, state media reported Friday, May 13, 2016 in the latest high-profile blow in President Xi Jinping's sweeping crackdown on corruption. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

A consummate political insider, Ling became a household name in China in 2012 when his son reportedly died at the wheel of a crashed Ferrari with two nude or half-dressed women as passengers. Ling was accused in unconfirmed overseas media reports of covering up the affair, which came amid a larger scandal surrounding the removal of one of the country's highest-profile politicians, Bo Xilai.

In September of that year, shortly before Xi replaced Hu as party chief, Ling was transferred to the party's United Front Work Department in what was widely seen as a demotion.

Soon afterward, Ling lost his remaining positions within the party's upper echelon and in 2013 was made a vice chairman of the powerless advisory body to China's ceremonial parliament, in addition to his role as head of the United Front Work Department.

Ling might have quietly served out his career far from the center of power, but reports on his indictment stated he was accused of committing abuses even while in those relatively obscure positions.

Friday's reports made no mention of Ling's brother, Ling Wancheng, who is believed to live in the United States and is being sought by China's top anti-corruption agency. A number of other Ling relatives and associates have also been detained over various accusations.

Ling Wancheng is believed to hold sensitive information about China's leadership and could deliver an intelligence windfall should he defect. Speculation has been rife over whether Ling Jihua's fate might be tied to his brother's possible cooperation with Chinese authorities, although no connection has ever been established.

The New York Times reported that the Obama administration has rebuffed Chinese requests for Ling's repatriation and has warned China about covert agents seeking his whereabouts on U.S. soil.
New cyberattack made on bank, financial supervisor warns

BRUSSELS (AP)  A new cyberattack has been made against an unnamed bank, part of a coordinated campaign that follows February's theft of $101 million from the Bangladesh central bank, the international money transfer supervisor Swift said Friday.

Belgium-based Swift said Friday that attackers had used malware to target a PDF reader at a bank, which it did not name, allowing them to transfer money and tamper with bank documents.

It did not say whether any money was taken but urged clients to urgently review their security systems.

Swift said forensic experts believe the use of the malware is "not a single occurrence, but part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks."

It underlined that the Swift system, which connects more than 11,000 banking and securities organizations as well as other clients moving billions each year, had not been compromised by the malware.

Swift said "the attackers clearly exhibit a deep and sophisticated knowledge of specific operational controls within the targeted banks."

It said that know-how "may have been gained from malicious insiders or cyberattacks, or a combination of both."

In February, cyberattackers stole $101 million from the Bangladesh central bank's account in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Markets Right Now: Indexes little changed on Wall Street

NEW YORK (AP)  The Latest on financial developments in financial markets (all times local):

9:35 a.m.

Stock indexes are little changed in early trading as the market is held back by more negative news from retailers.

High-end department store chain Nordstrom plunged 15 percent in early trading Friday after releasing disappointing quarterly results. J.C. Penney also dropped 5 percent after its results came up short of forecasts.

They were the latest retailers to turn in poor results for the quarter. Earlier in the week Macy's slashed its forecast for sales, saying that consumer spending was weak.

The Dow Jones industrial average inched up five points to 17,725. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up a point at 2,065. The Nasdaq composite index picked up 13 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,751.

Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.74 percent.

___

10:15 a.m

European stock markets have tracked their Asian counterparts lower amid concerns over the global economy.

U.S. retail sales figures will be in the spotlight later following a batch of disappointing earnings reports in the sector. A raft of Chinese figures, including retail sales and industrial production, over the weekend are also keeping investors on edge at the end of a volatile week.

Figures showing the eurozone economy grew slower than initially thought in the first three months of the year also weighed on sentiment. Eurostat, the European Union's statistics agency, said the 19-country bloc grew by a quarterly rate of 0.5 percent in the first quarter against its previous estimate of 0.6 percent.
German lawmakers declare 3 North African countries safe

BERLIN (AP)  German lawmakers on Friday approved a plan to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia "safe countries of origin," a move aimed at making it easier to quickly return failed asylum-seekers from the three North African nations and to deter others from coming.

The government drew up the plan in January following a spike in new arrivals from the three countries and the New Year's Eve robberies and sexual assaults in Cologne, in which many suspects were of North African origin.

Parliament's lower house voted 424-143 Friday to back the measure, with three lawmakers abstaining. It still requires approval from the upper house, which represents Germany's 16 states.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere delivers speech during a session of the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Friday, May 13, 2016 when the parliament declared Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria as a safe countries of origin. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)

The country last year declared several Balkan nations, whose citizens are barely ever granted asylum, safe countries. That effectively reverses the burden of proof, with a country assumed to be safe unless an asylum applicant can prove persecution in his or her case.

Germany registered nearly 1.1 million people as asylum-seekers in 2015 and is keen to see far lower numbers this year. Nearly 26,000 people from the three North African countries were registered.

"Applicants from these countries are, as a rule, not politically persecuted," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told lawmakers, even as he acknowledged concerns over the human rights situation.

In 2015, only 2.1 percent of applicants from the three countries were granted asylum. In this year's first quarter, that figure dropped to 0.7 percent, de Maiziere said  adding that many people don't even apply for asylum.

Declaring the countries safe will allow German authorities to reduce the time spent processing applications, he said. "We are also doing this in order to reduce the incentives to make an unsuccessful asylum application here," he added.

Opposition lawmakers argued that the government's move is unnecessary and irresponsible. "This has the disadvantage that the governments in North Africa will be given the feeling that human rights violations ... are OK," the Green party's Luise Amtsberg said.

The government will need at least some support from Amtsberg's party to get the measure through the upper house. Germany's only Green state governor looks set to back it.
Poland awaits Moody's report amid concern over new policies

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Poland is bracing for a possible credit downgrade by ratings agency Moody's on Friday amid international concerns over the new government's move to erode the independence of key institutions and increase spending.

Poland has been one of Europe's most dynamic economies for years, with growth expected at around 3.5 percent this year despite a slight contraction in the first quarter. But investor confidence has been shaken by the government's new policies.

Standard & Poor's already downgraded Poland by one notch earlier this year, something the government slammed as unfair considering the nation's relatively high growth, and investors are bracing for either a downgrade by Moody's or a change in the country's outlook.

FILE - This is a Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 file photo of the Prime Minister of Poland, Beata Szydlo, as she speaks during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany. Poland's conservative prime minister Beata Szydlo on Wednesday May 11, 2016 accused the previous government of "egoism, wastefulness and contempt" toward citizens and hinted those responsible could be prosecuted. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)

From 2007 to 2015 the country was run by a pro-market party, Civic Platform, which oversaw eight years of strong economic expansion. It lost elections last year amid frustration that too many Poles were left out of that success story, with many still struggling on very low wages.

The new ruling party, Law and Justice, won power promising to help the poor and families and has already begun paying child benefits. It has promised other measures that aim to help struggling Poles, but which investors fear will unbalance state finances. Among those measures are plans to lower the retirement age and to convert Swiss franc loans into zlotys to the benefit of the mortgage holders.

Marcin Mrowiec, economist at Bank Pekao SA, said investors are mostly nervous about the Swiss franc conversion plan since it has the potential to destabilize some banks, perhaps even the whole banking system, if the costs to the banks are great.

Piotr Buras, head of the Warsaw office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, argues, however, that investors are above all spooked by legal instability in the country due to an ongoing crisis concerning the Constitutional Tribunal.

"The institutional revolution we are experiencing these days has tremendous consequences for how the Polish economy and its prospects are seen in the world," Buras said.

The Central Statistical Office said the economy contracted 0.1 percent quarter-on-quarter and that yearly growth was at 3 percent.

Mrowiec said that several factors contributed to the slowdown: uncertainty over the government's fiscal plans; changes in management at state-run enterprises, which resulted in a temporary slowdown in investments; and a gap between two spending periods by the European Union, whose cash infusions have been a key source of Poland's growth over the past 12 years.
Airstrikes, intel failed to stop Paris attacks

PARIS (AP)  France changed its military strategy and started airstrikes in Syria last year because of concerns months before the attacks on Paris that ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud was plotting to target a concert and take hostages, according to a French newspaper report.

The report in Friday's Le Parisien, citing French and Belgian intelligence material and police recordings, lists repeated occasions when authorities allegedly failed to catch Abaaoud, even though he had been considered a major threat by several European intelligence services before the Nov. 13 attacks that left 130 dead in the French capital.

U.S. intelligence was also onto Abaaoud. President Barack Obama's envoy for the anti-Islamic State coalition, Brett McGuirk, said Friday that at as soon as he heard about the Paris attacks "we all assumed this was probably something that was planned by Abaaoud" from the Syrian IS stronghold of Raqqa. Speaking to reporters in Brussels, McGuirk described the Paris attacks as unusually sophisticated.

Abaaoud was killed in a police raid five days after the attacks by IS suicide bombers on a concert, stadium and cafes. Most of those killed in the Paris attacks were hostages in the Bataclan concert hall.

The French president's office and the Interior Ministry, which oversees intelligence services, did not respond to requests for comment on Friday's report.

The news came as survivors and families of victims marked six months since the attacks, which shook the nation and prompted a state of emergency that is still in place.

French authorities came under criticism immediately after the attacks for intelligence missteps that failed to prevent the bloodshed. France had been under high alert since deadly shootings at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper and a Paris kosher market in January 2015.

By September 2015, Le Parisien reported, authorities had identified links between Abaaoud and thwarted attacks on a high-speed train and a church, and suspected he was plotting a big attack. The report quotes a witness as saying Abaaoud asked him to find a concert or other easy target with a lot of people, with the goal of seizing hostages and dying while fighting police.

France joined the U.S.-led coalition against IS in Iraq in 2014 but stayed out of Syria. President Francois Hollande changed that tack in September 2015, launching Syria airstrikes. Le Parisien said the decision was prompted by intelligence about Abaaoud, and that a Sept. 27 French airstrike on Deir ez-Zor in Syria was aimed at Abaaoud's training camp.

McGuirk argued that intelligence among Western countries has improved since the Paris attacks, as governments share more information about what he said are an estimated 40,000 IS fighters from 100 countries.

"I think it is much harder for them now to plan these types of things than it was before," he said. The fight is far from over, however, he added. "We can't take our eye off this ball for the next decade."

---
Spain: Bullfight tensions rise with new political landscape

MADRID (AP)  As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs down cobblestoned streets, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders, who have launched Spain's first pro-bullfight lobbying group.

At least 17 Spanish cities and towns have slashed municipal funding for bullfights and bull runs or passed measures condemning or banning them since the new leftist Podemos party won its first seats in local and regional elections a year ago.

The Podemos party finished third in an inconclusive December national election that splintered the country's traditional two-party system into four. It will be repeated June 26, when Podemos could overtake the No. 2 center-left Socialists.

In this photo taken on Thursday, May 12, 2016, Spanish bullfighter Gonzalo Caballero is gored in his left thigh by an El Ventorillo's ranch fighting bull during a bullfighting at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Bull spectacles are expected to be banned this summer on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca by the regional Balearic Islands parliament ruled by a coalition including Podemos  six years after northeastern Catalonia prohibited bullfights but enshrined as cultural heritage bull runs and events featuring bulls running around with flaming balls of wax or fireworks affixed to their horns.

Animal rights activists say the gory fights are among the planet's most blatant forms of animal cruelty, with bulls lanced and finally stabbed through the heart. Matadors are praised for killing with a single stab, though some don't succeed in finishing off the animal with repeated thrusts. Foreign tourists attending fights for the first time often leave stunned.

"Now that the political scenery has changed, there is a window of opportunity at the local level to promote the anti-bullfighting agenda," said Antonio Barroso, an analyst with the Teneo Intelligence political risk consulting firm. "The far left has gained political power and this tends to be an issue leftist voters care about."

But the new Fighting Bull Foundation of breeders, matadors, ring workers, groups of aficionados with thousands of members and event organizers is pushing back with a prominent Madrid law firm that has filed five challenges so far this year to decisions against bullfighting by four Spanish municipal governments and one provincial administration.

It's also pressing for criminal charges in five municipalities against animal rights protesters who disrupted bullfights, mostly by jumping into the rings.

An appeal is planned for the Mallorca ban after its anticipated approval in June or July. The foundation also has requested that Spain's Constitutional Court act quickly on an appeal against the Catalonia ban filed in 2010.

Fighting Bull Foundation co-founder Juan Pedro Domecq, a famed breeder from a family renowned for producing wine, sherry and top-grade Spanish ham, said the bullfighting community had felt under attack with no one to defend it. Besides the legal effort, the foundation is promoting bullfighting as an essential part of Mediterranean culture plus the economic benefits it generates in a country with 20 percent unemployment.

"Now you are not going to be able to attack bullfighting for free," Domecq said. "It will have consequences. Before the foundation existed, there were no consequences."

Shouting matches often erupt between bullfight supporters and protesters at bull events. A May 2 confrontation captured on video at a small Catalonian town turned ugly when two animal rights activists taking video were beaten up by three men and a woman. The crowd cheered and applauded after one attacker grabbed an activist's camera and hurled it into the bullring, shattering it.

The assailants were arrested, and the AnimaNaturalis animal rights group called this week for Catalan regional police to boost security to protect activists planning to video a weeklong bull event starting Saturday.

"We think a minority of the pro-bull sector uses violence to defend their ideas," said AnimaNaturalis director Aida Gascon. "But it's very common for the hardcore fans to try to prevent us from recording."

Jose Miguel Soriano, a partner with the Cremado & Calvo-Sotelo law firm representing the foundation, condemned the assault as "a repulsive act" by people "who don't represent the bullfighting sector."

Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Podemos, has said he would cut off government funding for bull spectacles, but wouldn't ban bullfights. None of the leaders of Spain's other three main political parties are against bullfights.

Madrid's leftist mayor Manuela Carmena has said she won't ban bull events but did eliminate a 61,000 euro ($70,000) annual subsidy for the city's only bullfighter school and ordered all bull promotional material taken off the city's tourism website. She's not letting anyone use a 30-seat VIP section reserved for city officials and guests at the famed Las Ventas bullring, currently celebrating the weekslong San Isidro round of bullfights.

Opponents of bull events say they are elated at the political momentum.

"Society has clearly said 'No to bullfights.' It's an unstoppable movement and it's only a matter of time until we see bullfights disappear in our country," said Silvia Barquero, president of Spain's Pacma animal rights political party. It didn't win parliamentary seats in the most recent election but boosted its vote to 220,369 from 102,114 in 2011 in the country of 46 million.

While the activists hone in on bull events, the beasts roam free and virtually undisturbed at the 3,000-hectare (7,400-acre) western Spain farm of Victorino Martin, grazing in groups of four or five on verdant hills and napping in the shade of cork trees.

Those selected to fight leave for the ring when they are between 4 and 5 years old after a life of ease, said Martin, a legendary bull breeder who blames globalization "increasingly imposed by Anglo-Saxon culture" for the political fervor over bullfights.

"There's an attempt to politicize the bulls, but the bulls have been the culture of the Spanish people for millennia," Martin said.

Spain's deep tradition with bullfights was named part of the country's cultural heritage in a law passed in 2013. And Martin says it's only fair for towns that regularly fund street parties that include live music and fireworks to help pay for the featured bull events.

"We don't want privileges, we just don't like being discriminated against," he said.

At a protest last weekend of about 150 people against municipal financial support for bullfights in Madrid's suburb of Fuenlabrada, Podemos member Luisa Barrios said some in her party don't think taking on bullfights should be a priority but said she knows no party members who support them.

Bullfight fan Francisco Valero paused to watch the activists, covered in fake blood, put on a show. He supported their right to protest but disagreed that the bulls are tortured.

"Fighting bulls were born to die in the ring," said Valero. "This is Spanish culture."

___

Associated Press writer Elsa Fraile in Madrid contributed to this report.

In this photo taken on Thursday, May 12, 2016, bullfighters and assistants walk along the ring during the "paseillo" or ritual entrance to the arena prior a bullfight at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 24, 2016, a bullfighter performs with a Los Rodeos ranch's fighting bull during a bullfight at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Saturday, May 7, 2016, people hold a banner that reads in Spanish: "No blood festivities" during a protest against bullfighting in Fuenlabrada, near Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Saturday, May 7, 2016, a bullfighting cape, hat and a knife lie on the ground as pro animal activists covered with fake blood perform during a protest against bullfighting in Fuenlabrada, near Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Saturday, May 7, 2016, pro-animal activists covered with fake blood lie on the ground during a protest against bullfighting in Fuenlabrada, near Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Sunday, May 1, 2016, bullfighters and assistants walk along the ring during the "paseillo" or ritual entrance to the arena prior a bullfight at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this Thursday, April 28, 2016 photo, bullfighting businessman Victorino Martin poses for a photograph next to a painting of his father Victorino at his family Las Tiesas ranch near Portezuelo, Caceres, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken on Thursday, May 12, 2016, a bullfighting supporter wears a cap with stickers reading in Spanish: "Bulls, Yes" during a bullfight at the Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

In this photo taken Thursday, April 28, 2016, bulls belonging to bullfighting businessman Victorino Martin's cattle stand at the Las Tiesas ranch near Portezuelo, Caceres, Spain. As matadors face half-ton bulls this month during Madrid's most important annual series of bullfights and Pamplona gears up for its chaotic July bull runs, tensions are building between anti-bullfighting forces and the traditions' defenders. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Police in Manchester, New Hampshire have called off the search for an 'armed and dangerous' person responsible for shooting to cops early Friday morning.

Schools was cancelled and neighborhoods ordered to shelter in place after two cops were shot around 2am.

Police then said they were looking for a white man with long hair and wearing a green trench coat and black backpack.

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Police have called off the search for an 'armed and dangerous' person who shot two cops early Friday morning in Manchester, New Hampshire. Above, the scene on Friday

Police described the suspect as having long hair and wearing a trench coat. They have not said whether that person has been taken into custody

Both of the police officers who were shot are being treated for their injuries, and are expected to survive

But by 10:15am, police had canceled the shelter-in-place alerts and said the manhunt was off.

'Given the facts and circumstances that are known to me, I am very confident that the city is safe,' Manchester Police Chief Willard told WMUR-TV.

They did not say whether a suspect had been taken into custody.

'The word "custody" is being thrown out a lot. We are no longer looking for the individual we believe is responsible for shooting our two officers,' Willard told WMUR-TV. 'What that means -- it's a fluid investigation and to protect the integrity of the investigation, I can't actually say whether or not that individual is in custody, or if that individual is being questioned or anything of that nature.'

The two officers who were shot in the incident were being treated for their injuries on Friday and both are expected to recover.

Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas says the officers 'seem to be fine'.

The motive for the shooting is still not known. Above, an officer walks in the area of one of the shootings early Friday morning

Manhunt underway in New Hampshire for man in a trench coat who 'shot two police officers'Two police officers in Manchester, New Hampshire were shot early Friday morning; both are expected to survive

A crime scene investigator works at the scene of a police shooting in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday

'I saw a man kind of stagger a little bit,' a witness told WCVB. 'He staggered a few steps and then he called in that he had been shot. That's when I realized he was a cop.'

No details about the shootings have been released.

A number of schools on Manchester's west side have been closed Friday, as well as day care centers.

Principals were being asked to report to their schools so they can protect any children that miss the warning and show up for classes.
Mayor Bill de Blasios non-lethal deer management plan for Staten Island provides an active, workable approach that can save the deer and not court any public safety problems associated with public hunting or sharpshooting. Photo by iStockphoto

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This week, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced an innovative and humane deer management program for the borough of Staten Island. Its a humane response to the conflicts that some citizens on the island are having with more than 700 deer, and Mayor de Blasios plan provides a workable, non-lethal approach that can save the deer and steer the community away from any public safety problems associated with public hunting or sharpshooting.

Staten Islands multifaceted approach will include sterilization, education, and the protection of natural resources, and is smart, effective, and humane, Mayor de Blasio said in a press release. Were confident this is the best plan to ensure the safety and happiness of Staten Islanders who have been affected by the growing deer population, he added. The city hopes to reduce deer vehicle collisions, vegetation and habitat loss, and personal property damage. The public education component of the plan will include outreach on topics, including public health issues such as tick-borne disease transmission. The deer population itself will be addressed with surgical intervention, by giving vasectomies to males in the herd.

Last year, as part of my research for my book, The Humane Economy, I traveled around the United States  from the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson in New York to remote federal lands in northwest Colorado  to observe how HSUS biologists and field researchers are collaborating with scientists, federal agencies, local municipalities, and other NGOs to revolutionize the way we manage wildlife.

The fertility control program in Hastings-on-Hudson focused on deer, while the Colorado program targeted wild horses. In both cases, we worked with our partners to put fertility control programs to work to stabilize and reduce wildlife populations over time without the need for cruel, ineffective, and unsustainable culls. Several communities across the United States, including California, Maryland, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia, are exploring the use of such non-lethal programs to manage deer populations.

The HSUS has really pushed for this kind of forward thinking, so we applaud Mayor de Blasio and New York City for this unprecedented program that, if successful, could become a model for other communities.
Bosnian police arrest 5 suspected arms smugglers, seek more

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP)  Bosnian Serb police say they arrested five people as part of a Swedish police operation targeting arms smugglers and are still searching for two others.

Spokeswoman Mirna Miljanovic said Friday the arrests made a day earlier were part of a Swedish-run operation in which Swedish authorities have previously arrested one person.

During a raid in two northern Bosnian towns, Laktasi and Gradiska, police seized a significant amount of arms and ammunition and were still searching for the missing suspects.
The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on political donors now wants their money  and lots of it.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters.

His money-raising begins right away.

The still-forming finance team is planning a dialing-for-dollars event on the fifth floor of Trump Tower in New York, and the campaign is at work on a fundraising website focused on small donations.

In addition to a May 25 fundraiser at the Los Angeles home of real estate developer Tom Barrack, he'll hold another soon thereafter in New York.

in the Republican primary, Donald Trump prided himself on paying his own way and bashed his competitors for their reliance on political donors  but now he needs their money

The political newcomer faces a gargantuan task: A general election campaign can easily run up a $1 billion tab.

For the primary race, Trump spent a tiny fraction of that amount  he's estimated $50 million of his own money, plus about $12 million from donors who sought his campaign out on their own.

He dismissed charges today that he didn't actually self fund his campaign because the money came in the form of a loan.

'I have absolutely no intention of paying myself back for the nearly $50 million dollars I have loaned to the campaign,' he told MSNBC today after it aired a report noting that he could use the funds he's raising now to line his own pockets.

Trump said this afternoon that he would not do that.

'This money is a contribution made in order to "Make America Great Again," ' he told the network.

The funds he spent on the primary will be a drop in the bucket compared to what it will cost him to compete in the general.

Trump told The Associated Press in an interview this week that he will spend minimally on a data operation that can help identify and turn out voters. And he's betting that the media's coverage of his rallies and celebrity personality will reduce his need for pricey television advertising.

Still, he acknowledged that the general-election campaign may cost 'a lot.'

To help raise the needed money, he tapped Steven Mnuchin, a New York investor with ties in Hollywood and Las Vegas but no political fundraising experience.

'To me this is no different than building a business, and this is a business with a fabulous product: Donald Trump,' Mnuchin said in an interview at a financial industry conference in Las Vegas.

Trump's new national finance chairman said prospective donors are 'coming out of the woodwork' and he's been fielding emails and phone calls from people he hasn't heard from in 20 years.

More experienced fundraisers are coming aboard, too, such as Eli Miller of Washington, Anthony Scaramucci of New York and Ray Washburn of Dallas. All three helped raise money for candidates Trump defeated in the primary.

To convey the amount of work needed to vacuum up money, Scaramucci, part of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's finance team, recently shared Romney's old fundraising calendar with Trump.

He said Trump was receptive to a schedule that has 50 to 100 fundraisers over the summer.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired Steven Mnuchin (right, with Heather Mnuchin) as his national finance chairman, and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters

Scaramucci said he didn't expect Trump to grovel for donors. 'But is he going to say thank you and be appreciative? Of course. He's very good one-on-one. He's a hard guy not to like.'

Trump's dilemma: By asking for money, he could anger supporters who love his assertion that he's different from most politicians because he isn't beholden to donors.

He's tried to navigate these tricky waters by saying he wants only to raise money to benefit the party and help elect other Republicans.

But his planned joint fundraising agreement with Republican officials also provides a direct route to his own campaign coffers.

Such an arrangement could work like this: For each large contribution, the first $2,700 or $5,400 goes to Trump's campaign, the next $33,400 goes to the Republican National Committee, similar amounts could go to national party accounts and the rest is divided evenly among various state parties the candidate selects.

Democrat Hillary Clinton set up such a victory committee in September, and it had collected $61 million by the end of March.

She also counts on several super PACs. They've landed million-dollar checks from her friends and supporters and already scheduled $130 million in TV, radio and internet ads leading up to Election Day.

Trump is only now beginning to turn his attention to this kind of big money. A decision on how fully to embrace outside groups is fraught with possible charges of hypocrisy, since he has called them 'corrupt.'

Still, wealthy Trump supporters have several options.

Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital II LLC, is among Trump's picks for fundraising heavyweights to help him win in November

On Thursday, Doug Watts, former communications director for Ben Carson's 2016 bid, said he'd started a group called the Committee for American Sovereignty.

Its advisers include former Trump resorts executive Nicholas Ribis Sr. and longtime GOP donor Kenneth Abramowitz. The group aims to raise $20 million before the GOP convention in July.

Another entity, Great America PAC, has struggled to get off the ground but hopes to raise $15 million to $20 million in the next few months, said its chief fundraiser, Eric Beach.

That group recently brought on Ronald Reagan's campaign manager Ed Rollins, whom Trump has praised.

The super PAC raised more than $450,000 last month, its fundraising reports due next week to the Federal Election Commission will show. But it had not yet generated enough cash to cover the more than $1 million in satellite TV ads it has booked.

In June, Rollins will go to the Texas ranch of billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens, who said Wednesday he intends to help finance Trump's effort.

While that meeting is not a fundraiser, it's an opportunity for the super PAC to make a pitch to Pickens and his wealthy friends.

One Trump emissary to the world of major donors is billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who made calls to Pickens and others to gauge their interest in Trump.

Some are biting, either because of support for Trump or a desire to keep Clinton out of office. Among the latter group is Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcast billionaire who spent money trying to 'stop Trump.'
Danish newspaper to pay damages to 2 kidnapped seamen

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  A Danish court has ordered the tabloid Ekstra Bladet to pay 300,000 kroner ($46,000) each in damages to two seamen who were taken hostage in Somalia.

Copenhagen's city court said Friday that Ekstra Bladet violated the privacy of Eddy Lopez and Soeren Lyngbjoern by reporting about them during their captivity.

They were taken hostage when pirates hijacked the ship MV Leopard off Somalia on Jan. 12, 2011. Lopez, of Chile, was the captain and Lyngbjoern, a Dane, was the first mate.

Four Filipino crewmembers  who didn't sue  were also captured. All were released 838 days later.
The Latest: Student accidentally shoots self at SC school

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP)  The Latest on the shooting of a student at a South Carolina high school (all times local):

3 p.m.

Authorities say two students are facing charges in connection with a shooting at a South Carolina high school, including a teen who was shot when a gun fired accidentally.

Greenville County Sheriff's Lt. James Beaver says a 17-year-old student at Southside High School has been charged as an adult with unlawful carrying of a pistol, disturbing schools and carrying weapons on school property.

Greenville County School District Superintendent W. Burke Royster says the student was in possession of the gun but did not fire it on Friday morning in the school's cafeteria. Officials do not know if he brought the gun to school.

Beaver says another student who was shot when the gun went off will face the same charges as a juvenile when he's released from the hospital after treatment for injuries that were not life-threatening.

Authorities say the shooting was accidental and happened just before 8:30 a.m. Friday. The school was placed on lockdown but students were allowed to come back in after deputies determined they were not looking for an at-large shooter.

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11:35 a.m.

Deputies say a student brought a gun to a South Carolina high school and suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Greenville County Sheriff's Office spokesman Drew Pinciaro said in a news release that investigators are still trying to figure out what happened Friday morning in the cafeteria at Southside High School.

No other students were injured.

School district officials were starting to dismiss students to buses, drive home or be picked up by their parents.

Details about the student and how the gun got into the school have not been released.

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11 a.m.

School district officials say students are being allowed back into a Greenville, South Carolina, high school where one student was wounded in a shooting.

Greenville County School District spokeswoman Beth Brotherton says each student is being search before being allowed to re-enter Southside High School Friday morning.

Authorities say they received a 911 call just after 8:30 a.m. that someone had been shot in the school cafeteria. Brotherton says the student was conscious and talking and was taken to a local hospital.

Greenville County Sheriff's Department spokesman Drew Pinciaro told local media outlets the situation at Southside High School was under control and that authorities were not searching for a shooter.

Brotherton would not answer questions about if the shot was self-inflicted or how the gun got into the school. Brotherton says parents will soon be allowed to pick up children if they want to.

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10 a.m.

Authorities say they are investigating the shooting of a student at a high school in Greenville, South Carolina, but are not actively seeking a shooter.

Greenville County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Drew Pinciaro told local media outlets the situation at Southside High School was under control and that authorities were not searching for a shooter.

Pinciaro said no arrests had been made.

School district spokeswoman Beth Brotherton says a student was shot Friday morning in the school cafeteria. She says the student was conscious and talking and was taken to a local hospital.

Southside and several other schools in the area were put on lockdown.

___

9:40 a.m.

Officials say a student wounded in a shooting at a high school in Greenville, South Carolina, has been taken to the hospital.

District officials say in a statement the student is still conscious and talking. Officials say the shooting happened Friday morning in the cafeteria at Southside High School.

Several schools in the area have been placed on lockdown, and district officials say they've set up a perimeter around the school. They say they'll tell parents shortly when they can pick up students.

Deputies did not immediately return a message seeking information on a possible shooter. Dispatchers have told local media outlets the shooting appears to be isolated.

___

9:20 a.m.

Officials say a student has been wounded in a shooting at a high school in Greenville, South Carolina.

Greenville County School District spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said in a statement Friday that a student at Southside High School had been shot. Brotherton says the student is conscious and is with the principal and school nurse.

Local news outlet reported dispatchers as saying the shooting happened on campus and appeared to be an isolated incident.

Southside and a nearby elementary school were put on lockdown and emergency and school district officials were on their way to the scene.
Trump denies he posed as his spokesman during tabloid days

WASHINGTON (AP)  Back when Donald Trump's love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessman's personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once.

The spokesman identified himself as John Miller. But The Washington Post says it was actually Trump, posing as his own publicist on the phone with a reporter who wondered why Miller's voice sounded so familiar.

The Post has unearthed a recording of that 1991 phone call. The voice on the phone describes Trump as irresistible to women.

FILE - In this April 9, 1991 file photo, Donald Trump is seen in New York. Back when Trumps love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessmans personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once. (AP Photo/Luiz Ribeiro, File)

"He gets called by everybody in the book, in terms of women," says the voice. "He's got a whole open field, really."

On NBC's "Today" show Friday, Trump denied being the voice on the phone. "I don't know anything about it," he said.

But he owned up to it at the time, describing the Miller call as a "joke gone awry," said the Post.

Trump also testified in a 1990 court case that he occasionally used the name John Miller and disclosed that his favorite alias was John Baron.

In the call with People magazine reporter Sue Carswell, the "spokesman" said "actresses just call to see if they can go out with him and things."

He said Madonna "wanted to go out with him" and "came in a beautiful evening gown and combat boots" to hang out with Trump at the Plaza Hotel, which he owned. "He's got zero interest that night," said the man known as Miller, apparently meaning they did not have sex.

Trump's marriage to Ivana Trump was ending that year and he was with Marla Maples, who would become his second wife. He was also seeing three other women, said the "spokesman," including model Carla Bruni.

Carswell, now at Vanity Fair, told the Post she played the recording to Maples, who confirmed the call was from Trump himself and cried upon hearing him say that a ring he had given her was not meant to imply an engagement  although their engagement was announced weeks later.

Carswell says Maples persuaded Trump to invite her out with the two of them to make up for the trickery.

A Trump supporter in Congress, GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, said what happened back then "has no bearing on who he is today."
Putin warns Russia will respond to NATO missile shield

MOSCOW (AP)  President Vladimir Putin on Friday described the development of NATO's U.S.-led missile defense program as a threat to global security and vowed that Russia will take the necessary steps to maintain a strategic parity.

Putin, speaking at a meeting with military officials, scoffed at U.S. claims that the shield isn't aimed against Russia but instead intended to fend off a missile threat from Iran. The system includes a site in Romania that became operational Thursday and a site in northern Poland where U.S. and Polish officials broke ground Friday for a facility due to be ready in 2018.

"Just a few years ago, our partners in the West, in Europe and the United States, were all speaking in one voice, telling us that they need a missile defense system to protect from missile and nuclear threats from Iran," Putin said, adding that such a threat has ceased to exist after last year's nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. "The threat is gone, but the creation of the missile defense system is continuing."

Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, holds a meeting with military officials in the Bocharov Ruchei residence in Sochi, Russia, Friday, May 13, 2016. President Vladimir Putin has described the development of NATO's U.S.-led missile defense program as a threat to global security and vowed that Russia will take the necessary steps to maintain a strategic parity. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin said Russia "will do everything needed to ensure and preserve the strategic balance, which is the most reliable guarantee from large-scale military conflicts," but will not get drawn into an arms race.

Earlier this week, Col. Gen. Sergei Karakayev, chief of the Russian military's Strategic Missile Forces, said new types of Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles accelerate faster and are equipped with maneuverable warheads, making them more difficult to intercept.

In another potential response, the military has talked about stationing its state-of-the art Iskander missiles to Russia's westernmost Baltic outpost of Kaliningrad, which borders NATO members Poland and Lithuania. Last year, the missiles were airlifted there during military maneuvers in a demonstration of their swift deployment capability, but were pulled back to their permanent base after the drills.

The Iskander missiles, which have a range of up to 500 kilometers (300 miles), would put most of Poland in reach if deployed from the Kaliningrad region.

Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister in charge of military industries, said after the meeting with Putin that Russia will use technologies that would allow it to "neutralize any threat with minimal resources." He didn't elaborate.

Russia has long described the U.S.-led missile shield as a top security challenge. Russian military officials have said while the current system doesn't pose a threat to Russia's massive nuclear missile force, it could erode the nation's nuclear deterrent when it grows more powerful in the future.

"They aren't defensive systems, they are part of the U.S. strategic nuclear potential deployed on the periphery, in eastern Europe," Putin said. "Now, after the deployment of those missile defense elements, we will have to think about how we can fend off the threats to the Russian Federation's security."
General is 1st woman to lead top-tier US combat command

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP)  Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson on Friday became the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. warfighting command when she took charge of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in Colorado.

Robinson  one of just two female four-star generals in the Air Force  was "the clear and obvious choice," said Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who attended the change of command ceremony in a vast hangar at Peterson Air Force Base. Outside, a row of cannons fired a 19-gun salute.

Carter praised Robinson's extensive experience and her skill as a strategic thinker capable of making split-second, life-and-death decisions. Her promotion shows the U.S. has female officers qualified for the most senior positions, he said.

Navy Admiral William E. Gortney, the outgoing commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, hugs the incoming commander, Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, also giving her his Denver Broncos mug, during the change of command ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

"I do hope  well, I know  there are more in her wake, more female officers in her wake," Carter said.

Robinson is an inspiration to female cadets at the nearby Air Force Academy, said Academy Superintendent Michelle Johnson, a three-star general and the first woman to head the school. "They appreciate seeing somebody that they can aspire to," Johnson said after the ceremony.

Robinson's family has deep roots in the Air Force. Her husband, David Robinson, is a retired two-star general and was a pilot in the Thunderbirds demonstration team. A daughter, 2nd Lt. Taryn Ashley Robinson, was fatally injured in a pilot training crash months after graduating from the Air Force Academy. She died in January 2006, four weeks before her 23rd birthday.

"I knew she was peeking over the clouds, and I knew that she was saying, 'You go, Mom,' " Robinson said after the ceremony.

People who know Robinson describe her as the personification of a new generation of leaders, someone who understands that the Air Force has a broad role in space, cybersecurity and drones, not just flying and fighting.

That's what sets Robinson apart, not her gender, said Maria Carl, a retired Air Force colonel who worked with her when the general headed the Pacific Air Forces at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

"Gen. Robinson reflects that change as much as anything else," said Carl, who serves on the Military Affairs Council of the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce. "She has an ability to take all the different pieces of the picture and pull it together strategically."

One of her new commands, the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD, is a joint U.S.-Canada operation that defends the skies over both nations and monitors sea approaches. It's best known for its Cold War-era control room deep inside Cheyenne Mountain  now used only as a backup  and for its wildly popular NORAD Tracks Santa operation on Christmas Eve, fielding calls from children asking for Santa's whereabouts.

Her other command, Northern Command, is responsible for defending U.S. territory from attack and helping civilian authorities in emergencies. It was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Robinson has an extensive background in command and control, the science of orchestrating military operations across a broad area. In her previous job, commander of Pacific Air Forces, her area of responsibility spanned more than half the globe.

"You're dealing with a lot of countries, a lot of the air forces in the Pacific, China being one of them," said Darryll Wong, a retired Air Force major general and Hawaii's former adjutant general. "She had to be a fast learner."

___

Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/dan-elliott.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, left, hands the U.S. Northern Command flag to Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, the incoming commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, during the change of command ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

This undated U.S. Air Force photo shows Gen. Lori Robinson, the new commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force via AP)

Members of Fort Carsons 4th Infantry Division Salute Battery fire a volley for the arrival of Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter during a change of command for the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command during a ceremony Friday, May 13, 2016, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. At the ceremony Gen. Lori J. Robinson became the first woman to head a top-tier U.S. war fighting command by taking over the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command. (Mark Reis/The Gazette via AP) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Navy Adm. William E. Gortney, right, the outgoing commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, shakes hands with U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr., during the change of command ceremony for incoming commander, Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Gen. J.H. Vance, Canadian Army Chief of Staff, left, Navy Admiral William E. Gortney, center, who is the outgoing commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and incoming commander, Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, laugh together during the change of command ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrives for the change of command ceremony for Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, the incoming commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, the incoming commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, salutes during her arrival at the change of command ceremony, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Defense Secretary Ash Carter speaks during the change of command ceremony for Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, the incoming commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson, the incoming commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, speaks during the change of command ceremony, at Peterson Air Force Base, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, May 13, 2016. Gen. Robinson is the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. military command after taking charge Friday at NORAD and USNORTHCOM. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
Afghan-Pakistani border point reopens after 3-day closure

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  Pakistan and Afghanistan have reopened a major border crossing that was closed for three days over Pakistan's construction of a fence near the disputed frontier.

A Pakistani army statement says the two sides agreed to reopen the Torkham crossing after a meeting between Afghan Ambassador Omer Zakhilwal and Pakistan's military chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif. The crossing was reopened Friday evening.

Rahim Khan, an official in the Khyber tribal region, says the crossing was closed three days ago, leaving traffic backed up for several miles (kilometers) on both sides.
Phoenix airport mulling use of contractor instead of TSA

PHOENIX (AP)  Phoenix's busiest airport could cut ties with the TSA in the wake of a baggage-screening system breakdown that caused travelers a massive luggage delay, city officials said Friday.

Deborah Ostreicher, the city's assistant aviation director, said Thursday's chaos at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was the latest in a growing list of frustrations with the Transportation Security Administration.

She also cited long wait times and a lack of a TSA PreCheck process. That allows passengers who are approved to pass through screening more quickly, without having to take off shoes, belts or jackets or remove laptops and liquids from carry-on bags.

Baggage sits in the special events parking lot, Thursday, May 12, 2016, at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. More than 3,000 checked bags missed their outbound flights in Phoenix because of a problem with a screening system at Sky Harbor International Airport, officials with Transportation Security Administration said. (Mark Henle/The Republic via AP) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT, NO SALES

Calling the current level of service "unacceptable," Ostreicher said officials are reviewing several options to improve things for travelers.

"One of those options is to utilize a contractor to provide security as some other airports have done," Ostreicher said in a statement.

Phoenix is not alone. The world's busiest airport in Atlanta and the New York/New Jersey region's airports are also scrutinizing their relationship with TSA.

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez declined to comment on the matter.

"Significant, unprecedented" technical issues with a computer server on Thursday led to more than 3,000 checked bags being left behind at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Melendez said.

By Friday, screening systems were working normally, and the bags that had been delayed were on their way to passengers, Melendez said. But tests were continuing because it was not clear what caused the malfunction.

A network switch failed and caused the software system that scans luggage for explosives to go into a continual reboot cycle, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger told reporters Friday at National Airport in Washington, D.C. He said the system breakdown in Phoenix was an isolated incident.

The agency has been facing growing backlash over long lines at airports across the U.S.

An outage also hit the system for screening checked bags in one of the five terminals at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Thursday night. American Airlines asked customers on flights leaving from that terminal to check luggage at another terminal.

In Phoenix, the problem with the screening systems began around 6:45 a.m. and affected all three of the airport's terminals. It was not immediately known how many of the airport's 16 airlines faced bag delays, but Southwest was significantly affected, Melendez said.

The airline decided to send more than 1,000 bags to the Las Vegas airport for screening since it wasn't clear when the system would be fixed, Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said.

"Our folks were just trying to come up with some creative solutions to try and expedite the bags and reunite them with their owners as soon as possible," Mainz said.

Luggage that had crowded the terminals was moved to a parking lot Thursday evening, where workers loaded hundreds of bags onto semitrailers in triple-digit temperatures. Those bags went to airports in Tucson and San Diego for screening and then were flown to their destinations, said Julie Rodriguez, a Sky Harbor spokeswoman.

Greg Puriski, president of TWU Local 555 which represents 11,000 airport ground crew workers employed by Southwest, said baggage handlers at Sky Harbor would be working overtime again Friday to help push through delayed luggage.

Puriski could not recall a recent equipment breakdown that caused a delay of such magnitude. TSA scanners frequently break down at airports but are usually fixed within a couple of hours. The ordeal demonstrated TSA's need for a sufficient backup system and more manpower, he said.

"It seems like the responsibility of relieving the situation is more on the airlines and the workers to fix it," Puriski said. "It seems like there is no plan B."

According to the TSA, the baggage systems handle the bulk of checked luggage.

Major airports such as Sky Harbor use an in-line screening process. After being placed on a conveyor belt, checked luggage goes through a high-tech scanning machine programmed to look for explosives or other prohibited items. An alarm sounds if a suspicious object is detected. That sends the luggage to a conveyor belt that leads to TSA agents for manual inspection.

When everything is working properly, TSA officers hand search only about 10 percent of all checked bags.

___

Associated Press airlines writers David Koenig in Dallas, Scott Mayerowitz in New York, Marcy Gordon in Washington and writers Anna Johnson, Paul Davenport, Michelle A. Monroe and Walter Berry in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Police ID woman killed in metro Atlanta road rampage

MARIETTA, Ga. (AP)  Police say the pedestrian killed in a hit-and-run crash  part of a road rampage that included two carjackings in metro Atlanta  is 71-year-old Luci James Yarborough Turner of Marietta, Georgia.

Marietta police released Yarborough's identify Friday after notifying her relatives of the death.

Police say Kristie Renee Nesby of Fresno, Texas, drove onto a sidewalk and collided with Turner in Cobb County on Wednesday.

Police say Nesby first robbed a dry cleaning business and then drove into Turner. Police say Nesby then carjacked two drivers as she fled 25 miles into the heart of Atlanta.

Nesby is charged with murder and other crimes.
PPL CENTER ART.jpeg

The new PPL Center arena at the corner of Seventh and Hamilton Streets in Allentown (PennLive photo by John L. Micek)

Good Friday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

Just because former Rendell administration aide

John Estey

has pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge doesn't mean federal investigators are done poking around in Pennsylvania politics.

One of the more active - and more interesting cases - is unfolding about 90 minutes to our northeast in Allentown, Pa., where city Mayor Ed Pawlowski has been at the center of an FBI pay-to-play probe for well nigh on a year now.

If you haven't been paying attention - and who could blame you if you haven't - our pal Emily Opilo at The Morning Call has put together a handy digest of the case so far.

The full story is definitely worth a read, but we've boiled it down to these five points. Clip it, save it, post it on your fridge.

1. This week, Matthew McTish, 57, the president of an engineering firm that was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for work in the city, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe officials in Allentown and Reading - which is also involved in the probe, Opilo reported. McTish is the president of Allentown-based McTish Kunkel & Associates. If his name sounds familiar, that's because he testified in 2013 in the Pennsylvania Turnpike pay-to-play case.

2. Public Official No. 3: That's a name that pops up quite a bit in court documents pertaining to the investigation. The official in question is "identified in court documents as an elected Allentown official with authority to award contracts and who ran for state office in 2013 and federal office in 2015." It's a description that matches only one person: Pawlowski. As Opilo reports, Public Official No. 3's escapades include allegedly "directing the awarding of a city contract for delinquent tax collection that led to charges against former finance director Garret Strathearn and former assistant solicitor Dale Wiles." So far, Pawlowski has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

3. Mike Fleck: He's Pawlowski's former political consultant, mastermind of his successful mayoral re-election campaigns and entirely unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign. Fleck pleaded guilty in April to a single count of of conspiracy to commit extortion and bribery offenses and a count of tax evasion, Opilo reported. His more colorful offenses include browbeating "unnamed lawyers and others to contribute to [Public Official No. 3's] official's campaigns, even threatening to "beat the crap" out of a lawyer whose firm refused to donate. It allegedly came under that official's direction, Opilo reported.

4. Mary Ellen Koval: She's Allentown's former city controller. She pleaded guilty Jan. 14 to a a lone felony count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, Opilo reported.

5. Ramzi Haddad: He's an Allentown developer who pleaded guilty last Sept. 10 "to conspiracy to commit bribery of Public Official No. 3. Haddad provided food, drinks and campaign donations in hopes of getting preferential treatment for his business interests in Allentown, court documents say," Opilo reported.

The rest of the day's news starts now.

Will the Estey case prompt a more serious look at campaign finance and lobbying reform? The Tribune-Review examines the question.

Pennsylvania has rolled out its strategy to fight the Zika virus, The Post-Gazette reports.

They're holding something called PoliticalFest to celebrate American political history during the DNC in Philly this July. Could be cool - could be awful (via PhillyMag).

Deadpsin would like to know why Penn State and Temple are fighting open records law reforms.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty has replaced her campaign manager, The Inky reports, citing "sources."

Good news, tourists: 57 Pa. counties can now raise their hotel taxes, Keystone Crossroads reports.

NewsWorks looks at whether Philly is doing enough to help its homeless population.

In Bucks County's 8th CD, they're fighting over ... civility ... ahhhh ... politics.

Heavy Rotation.

Here's the new one from

The Stone Roses

- it's their first new music since the mid-90s. We're pretty psyched, not gonna lie.

Friday's Gratuitous Baseball Link.

Baltimore came roaring back from a 5-0 deficit to beat Detroit 7-5 on Thursday night, courtesy of a five-run, seventh inning. What a game.

And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit.
Lawyer: 48-year fugitive in poor health, to seek commutation

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP)  A Connecticut man who spent 48 years on the lam after escaping from a work camp in Georgia is in poor health and will ask officials to commute the rest of his 17-year sentence because returning him to prison would amount to a death sentence, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Friday.

Robert Stackowitz, 71, was arrested Monday at his home in rural Sherman, after officials processing his Social Security application discovered a warrant for his arrest.

Imprisoned on a robbery conviction, he escaped in 1968 from a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia. He's now detained on $75,000 bail pending an extradition hearing June 6.

This 1966 photo released by the Georgia Department of Corrections shows Robert Stackowitz, arrested Monday, May 9, 2016 by U.S. Marshals and Connecticut State Police in Sherman, Conn., 48 years after escaping from a Georgia prison work camp. (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)

Stackowitz's lawyer, Norman Pattis, said his client suffers from heart failure, bladder cancer, diabetes and other ailments.

"He's in poor health and this is effectively a death sentence," Pattis said.

Pattis said he will ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles next week to commute Stackowitz's sentence, as well as pardon him for any crimes related to his escape. Pattis' arguments include that Stackowitz has spent the past 48 years living a law-abiding life in Connecticut and is fully rehabilitated.

"After 50 years of lawful behavior and living as a good citizen, we'd like to think he's paid his debt to society," Pattis said. "Frankly, why law enforcement would care about this man at this point is a mystery to me."

The Pardons and Paroles Board will review Stackowitz's case upon his return to Georgia, board spokesman Steve Hayes wrote in an email to the AP on Friday.

"The board will consider all information, including the circumstances of his arrest, conviction, escape and his conduct in the 48 years since his escape," Hayes wrote.

Pattis also provided previously undisclosed details of Stackowitz's life before the robbery and on the lam, including stints as a high school auto shop teacher, Ford dealership mechanic and boat repairman.

Pattis gave the following account:

Stackowitz grew up in Bridgeport and did modeling as a child. He later got married and had a daughter. He divorced at age 22, which broke his heart and prompted him to hit the road traveling for a while.

Stackowitz ended up in Georgia in 1966, where he met two other men who asked him to be the getaway driver for a home burglary in Henry County, Pattis said, but the homeowner was there, and the burglary turned into a home invasion robbery. Pattis said no one was injured.

All three men were arrested and sentenced to prison.

While in prison, officials learned of Stackowitz's mechanic skills and allowed him to tune up the warden's car and work on school buses at a facility next to the prison camp, Pattis said. It was at the bus facility where he escaped from custody.

Stackowitz, apparently with enough cash to buy a plane ticket, went straight to an airport and flew back to Connecticut. He went on to teach automotive class at Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury and worked at a few Ford dealerships, Pattis said.

He eventually settled in Sherman, a small town in western Connecticut along the New York border where he repaired boats at his home. In Sherman, he went by the alias Bob Gordon, but some people also knew him as Bob Stackowitz, Pattis said.

Stackowitz never remarried, but lived for several years with a woman who later died of cancer, Pattis said.

"This is a great guy who made horrible mistakes as a young man," Pattis said. "He would freely admit that what he did was wrong. My hope is that Georgia officials will be inspired by a realistic view of justice."

____

Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

This undated photo released by the Georgia Department of Corrections shows Robert Stackowitz, 71, arrested Monday, May 9, 2016 by U.S. Marshals and Connecticut State Police in Sherman, Conn., 48 years after escaping from a Georgia prison work camp. (Georgia Department of Corrections via AP)
The Latest: Network switch failure stopped bag check system

PHOENIX (AP)  The Latest on problems with the baggage-screening system at Phoenix's airport (all times local):

11:15 a.m.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration says a network switch failure led to the breakdown of the baggage-screening system at the Phoenix airport.

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo workers put passenger luggage on a semi truck at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. More than 3,000 checked bags missed their outbound flights in Phoenix because of a problem with a screening system at The airport officials with Transportation Security Administration said. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)

TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger said Friday that the failure caused the software system that scans for explosives to go into a continual reboot cycle.

The screening system's technical problems at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport caused more than 3,000 checked bags to miss their flights Thursday.

Neffenger was speaking to media in Washington, D.C., in the wake of backlash over long lines at airports across the U.S.

___

7:55 a.m.

The TSA says it is screening checked bags normally again at the Phoenix airport after fixing a computer problem and testing the system overnight.

The technical problems caused more than 3,000 checked bags to miss their flights out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Thursday. At least one airline chose to send bags to other airports for screening.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Nico Melendez says it's "not clear at this time what the problem was" with the screening system and that testing is continuing Friday.

Melendez says bags that were delayed a day earlier have since been screened and are heading to passengers.

The agency says the problems only affected Sky Harbor.
UN elects Norway's Solheim to head UN environment agency

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  The U.N. General Assembly elected Norway's former environment minister Erik Solheim on Friday to head the U.N. environment agency.

Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft banged his gavel, signifying the 193-member world body's approval by consensus of Solheim's nomination for a four-year term starting June 15 to lead the agency known as UNEP.

Solheim succeeds Achim Steiner who holds dual German-Brazilian citizenship.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "gratitude and appreciation" to Steiner for his 10-year tenure and lauded his achievements in coordinating U.N. environment efforts, Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Solheim, 61, currently heads the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's committee on development assistance based in Paris, and serves as UNEP's special envoy for environment, conflict and disaster.

Dujarric said Solheim, known as "the green politician," has focused on the challenge of integrating environmental and developmental issues. He also "initiated the process leading to the global coalition to conserve and promote sustainable use of the world's rainforests," the U.N. spokesman said.

Nairobi-based UNEP calls itself "the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda" and advocates for environmental protection.
Tinder reminds users to be 'vigilant' amid kidnapping report

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP)  Tinder says "people with bad intentions exist everywhere" and the online dating app is reminding users to be vigilant about safety amid allegations that a Kansas man held a woman he met on Tinder against her will and beat her.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that court documents allege 30-year-old Shane Allen picked up the woman at her Lawrence, Kansas, sorority house last month after meeting her on the app. An affidavit said Allen brought her back to the sorority after he held her for six days and beat her.

In a statement, Tinder said it's "shocked and saddened" by the case. It said Allen has been removed from the platform.

This photo provided by Douglas County Sheriffs Office in Kansas shows Shane Steven Allen. Court documents allege that Allen held a Lawrence college student against her will and beat her before returning her to her sorority six days later. He faces one felony charge of kidnapping and four felony charges of battery in the attack April 2016 on a 20-year-old woman whom he met through a mobile dating app. (Douglas County Sheriffs Office in Kansas via AP)
Puerto Rico reports 1st Zika-related microcephaly case

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  The first Zika-related microcephaly case acquired on U.S. soil was reported Friday in Puerto Rico as concerns grow over an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus in the U.S. territory.

Ana Rius, the island's health secretary, said a fetus turned over by an unidentified Puerto Rican woman to U.S. health officials had severe microcephaly and tested positive for Zika. Rius declined to say whether the woman had an abortion or miscarried, but said the microcephaly was diagnosed through a sonogram. She declined to provide other details.

"We were waiting for this news at some point," she said. "I want to urge any pregnant women with even the slightest concern of infection to go see a doctor."

FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2016 file photo, Aedes aegypti mosquitos are bred for Zika related testing at the dengue lab run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico on Friday, May 13, 2016 announced its first Zika-related microcephaly case as concerns grow over an outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus in the U.S. territory. (AP Photo/Danica Coto, File)

Zika can cause severe birth defects, such as babies being born with abnormally small heads and brain damage. The World Health Organization declared Zika a global emergency in February, and the virus has spread quickly throughout the Americas.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it conducted the laboratory test that confirmed the microcephaly diagnosis.

"This case of Zika virus disease in a pregnancy saddens and concerns us as it highlights the potential for additional cases and associated adverse pregnancy outcomes," the agency said in a statement.

Puerto Rico has counted 925 cases of Zika, including 128 pregnant women. At least 14 pregnant women infected with Zika have given birth to healthy babies. Rius said the unidentified woman who donated her fetus did not test positive for Zika or present symptoms but she clearly was infected at one point. The health secretary noted that there is only a short period when people with Zika test positive for the virus, and after that it no longer shows up.

So far, 27 people with Zika have been hospitalized in Puerto Rico, and one Zika-related death has been reported. At least five people have developed a temporary paralysis condition known as Guillain-Barre because of Zika.

The announcement comes as Rius called for restraint over concerns about the spread of Zika in Puerto Rico, which has scared off tourists and prompted Major League Baseball to scrap a series scheduled for the end of May.

"This is creating an unnecessary chaos," she said. "If I'm telling you that there are 925 cases of more than 14,000 analyzed tests, we obviously don't have that big of a chaos that they want to pretend exists."

CDC officials declined to comment on Rius' statement.

The virus has been yet another blow to a debt-ridden island struggling to generate revenue amid a decade-long economic crisis that is worsening.

Rius stressed that health authorities are working with the CDC and noted that the island has a robust vigilance program.

"We are working hard to prevent this sickness," she said.

Meanwhile, Puerto Rico health authorities are trying to create a database of microcephaly cases. Dr. Miguel Valencia, a pediatrician who is working with the island's health department to fight Zika, said authorities are analyzing data from 2013 to 2015 and have found so far that there are five microcephaly cases per 10,000 births in Puerto Rico. He said the birth defect can be caused in part by women who drink or have severe diabetes.

U.S. President Barack Obama has requested $1.9 billion to help fight Zika, although senators are expected to approve $1.1 billion as part of an emergency funding measure.

___
German police searching for missing Chinese woman find body

BERLIN (AP)  German police searching for a missing Chinese student say they have found the body of a woman with severe head injuries.

The body was discovered Friday in the eastern town of Dessau-Rosslau, where the woman from China had been studying. Friends reported the unnamed 25-year-old missing Thursday, a day after she had last been seen going out for a jog.

Chief Prosecutor Folker Bittmann said a homicide investigation has been launched, but that the victim's identity hadn't been established yet because of the severity of her injuries.

Policemen looking for evidence in Dessau-Rosslau, Germany, Friday May 13, 2016. German police searching for a missing Chinese student say they have found the body of a woman with several facial and head injuries. The body was discovered Friday in the eastern town of Dessau-Rosslau, where the woman from China had been studying. Friends reported the unnamed 25-year-old missing Thursday, a day after she had last been seen going out for a jog. (Sebasstian Willnow/dpa via AP)

German news agency DPA quoted local police saying they are working on the assumption that the body is that of the missing student.

Daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported that the body was discovered less than 100 meters (109 yards) from the Chinese woman's home.
Irish trainer will run 2 horses in Iroquois Steeplechase

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins will start two horses in Saturday's $200,000 (Grade 1) Calvin Houghland Iroquois Steeplechase in search of a $500,000 bonus.

That sum will be paid to the owner of the horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March.

Mullins shipped Andrea and Graham Wylie's Nichols Canyon and Shaneshill to Nashville to run in the 3-mile race over 18 national fences against six American opponents, all proven runners over the jumps.

A horse is ridden to the stable after a morning workout Friday, May 13, 2016, in preparation for the Iroquois Steeplechase that is scheduled to be run Saturday, May 14, in Nashville, Tenn. A $500,000 bonus will be paid to the owner of a horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March.(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Shaneshill and Nichols Canyon arrived at Percy Warner Park on Tuesday and have been galloping and schooling in preparation. Mullins' assistants said both horses responded well to the travel and new environment.

"It's been so far, so good for the both of them," Mullins said. "It's been tough on them, 15 hours flying and then quarantine."

Champion jockey Ruby Walsh will ride Nichols Canyon with Mullins' nephew, Danny Mullins, on Shaneshill. All horses carry 158 pounds.

Demonstrative, a two-time Iroquois winner and the 2014 steeplechaser of the year, will be ridden by Darren Nagle. Pierrot Lunaire, the 2009 Iroquois winner and that year's champion, will be ridden by Bernie Dalton.

Maryland-based trainer Jack Fisher has named Connor Hankin to ride Scorpiancer with Sean McDermott aboard Syros.

Jack Doyle will handle the reins of Rawnaq, a recent stakes winner at Middleburg, Virginia. Gerald Gallagan will ride Italian Wedding for Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard.

The seven-race card run by the Volunteer State Horsemen's Association starts Saturday afternoon and benefits Monroe Carell Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt University.

Ruby Walsh rides Nichols Canyon, left, and Danny Mullins rides Shaneshill during a morning workout Friday, May 13, 2016, in preparation for the Iroquois Steeplechase scheduled to be run Saturday, May 14, in Nashville, Tenn. Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins has shipped the two horses to Nashville to run in the 3-mile race over 18 national fences against six American opponents, all proven runners over the jumps. A $500,000 bonus will be paid to the owner of a horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Danny Mullins rides Shaneshill, left, and Ruby Walsh rides Nichols Canyon as they look over the course during a morning workout Friday, May 13, 2016, in preparation for the Iroquois Steeplechase scheduled to be run Saturday, May 14, in Nashville, Tenn. Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins has shipped the two horses to Nashville to run in the 3-mile race over 18 national fences against six American opponents, all proven runners over the jumps. A $500,000 bonus will be paid to the owner of a horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Danny Mullins rides Shaneshill, left, and Ruby Walsh rides Nichols Canyon during a morning workout Friday, May 13, 2016, in preparation for the Iroquois Steeplechase scheduled to be run Saturday, May 14, in Nashville, Tenn. Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins has shipped the two horses to Nashville to run in the 3-mile race over 18 national fences against six American opponents, all proven runners over the jumps. A $500,000 bonus will be paid to the owner of a horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Lionel Tinoco, left, and Ronnie Raymond bathe One Lucky Lady after a morning workout Friday, May 13, 2016, in preparation for the Iroquois Steeplechase that is scheduled to be run Saturday, May 14, in Nashville, Tenn. A $500,000 bonus will be paid to the owner of a horse that wins both the Iroquois and the Ryan Air World Hurdle at Britain's Cheltenham Festival next March.(AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Buyers line up for 400 homes wrecked by Superstorm Sandy

BABYLON, N.Y. (AP)  Matt Price and his wife, Carla, are gambling that the devastation inflicted by Superstorm Sandy will be their key to the American dream of home ownership.

The couple was among the successful bidders at an auction Wednesday that sold off the last of more than 400 flood-damaged houses that were purchased by New York state after the superstorm devastated shoreline communities in 2012.

Their prize was a modest, four-bedroom cape in Babylon that sits across from a boatyard and a canal that spilled over its bulkheads during the historic storm.

A house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

As part of a program to bail out distressed homeowners in the most flood-prone neighborhoods, the state paid $435,000 for the property, based on an estimate of what it was worth before the storm. Matt Price, a 30-year-old real estate broker, got it at auction for $145,000.

While the building was salvageable and partly repaired after the flood, he plans to tear it down and spend as much as $200,000 to build higher and sturdier to protect his investment.

"Sandy was a very unique situation," he said, standing outside the Babylon home Friday. "Not to say that I don't think it would happen again. I think it's going to be a very rare occurrence if it ever did. The goal is to make it as resistant or stormproof as possible so that's not an issue."

This week, the state completed a series of auctions that began a year ago, selling 417 homes for $66 million. The state purchased the homes for $140.5 million, using funding provided by federal disaster relief after Sandy and Hurricane Irene, which struck in 2011.

State officials say there is an advantage to selling the homes for deep discounts to restore neighborhoods devastated by Sandy, which damaged thousands of homes, killed 182 people and caused about $65 billion in damage.

The houses "are properties we want to see on the tax rolls," said Lisa Bova-Hiatt, executive director of the Governor's Office of Storm Recovery.

The state demands all redevelopment of the properties be consistent with local zoning regulations, many of which have been strengthened after Sandy to require fortification against storm damage, including requirements to raise the living areas of rebuilt houses above the flood plain. Many shoreline neighborhoods have been filled with construction workers lifting structures higher.

Besides the homes in the auction program, the state also bought out more than 550 property owners in Staten Island and eastern Long Island for nearly $63 million. Those houses were deemed too vulnerable to future storms and have been permanently abandoned.

At Wednesday's auction, at a Long Island hotel, potential bidders were greeted in the parking lot by representatives from demolition companies, general contractors, architects, asbestos abatement and other home improvement businesses.

Inside, a standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 filled a ballroom, where bidders gobbled up about 50 properties located on Long Island's south shore. Bids went as high as $600,000 on the first property, but the prices soon plummeted into the mid-100-thousands.

James Normile bought a four-bedroom colonial on a canal in Lindenhurst for $185,000. Before Sandy, it was valued at $470,000.

"We're flippers," he said as he waited to sign a contract sealing the sale. "We're investors, and we think it's a good deal. If you don't mind working and put sweat equity into it, you can make some decent money."

He acknowledged that he was buying in a waterfront neighborhood that still floods during modest storms. "There are concerns, but people have been living there for 100 years. People will adapt for the pleasure of living on the water."

Price, too, said he was willing to take the risk.

"You have to take a chance that you can get it done," he said. "We had been looking in Babylon and there was very little quality in Babylon, so we decided to kind of make our own luck with this."

___

Follow Eltman on Twitter at @feltman41.

In this photo taken Friday, May 13, 2016, in Babylon, N.Y., Matt Price stands outside a homed damaged after Superstorm Sandy that he bought this week at an auction. More than 400 damaged houses that were purchased by New York state after Superstorm Sandy devastated shoreline communities in 2012 have been sold during auctions that wrapped up this week in New York City and Long Island. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman)

A house up for auction, right, sits next to a rebuilt and raised home in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

An empty lot that used to have a house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In this May 11, 2016 photo, more than 300 bidders attended an auction of homes wrecked in Superstorm Sandy at a hotel in Hauppauge, N.Y. More than 400 damaged houses that were purchased by New York state after Superstorm Sandy devastated shoreline communities in 2012 have been sold during auctions that wrapped up this week in New York City and Long Island. (AP Photo/Frank Eltman).

A house up for auction, right, sits next to a raised house under construction in the New Dorp Beach section of Staten Island in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in Babylon, N.Y., Wednesday, May 11, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A house damaged by Superstorm Sandy is up for auction in Amityville, N.Y., Wednesday, May 11, 2016. New York has auctioned off more than 400 wrecked houses that it bought after Superstorm Sandy. The state's goal is to make neighborhoods affected by the 2012 storm stronger and more resilient. The storm caused $65 billion in damage along the Atlantic coast.. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
The Latest: 1st woman takes over top US command

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AP)  The Latest on the installation of the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. warfighting command. (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson has become the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. warfighting command.

This undated U.S. Air Force photo shows Gen. Lori Robinson, the new commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. (U.S. Air Force via AP)

She took over Friday as leader of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in Colorado,

Robinson was installed during a ceremony attended by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.

Carter praised Robinson as a strategic thinker capable of making split-second life-and-death decisions.

He also said Robinson and her husband, David Robinson, understand the difficulties military families face, alluding to the death of David Robinson's daughter following a pilot training accident.

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10:20 a.m.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, are in Colorado for the installation of the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. warfighting command.

Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson will take charge of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado at the conclusion of Friday's ceremony at Peterson Air Force Base. It included a 19-gun salute from cannons outside a hangar where officials are gathered.

People who know Robinson describe her as the personification of a new generation of leaders, someone who understands that the Air Force has a broad role in space, cyber security and drones, not just flying and fighting.

She is one of just two female four-star generals in the Air Force.

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11:08 p.m.

Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson becomes the first woman to head a top-tier U.S. warfighting center when she takes charge of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD in Colorado.

Robinson assumes command in a ceremony Friday at Peterson Air Force Base.

People who know Robinson describe her as the personification of a new generation of leaders, someone who understands the Air Force has a broad role in space, cyber security and drones, not just flying and fighting.

Her family has deep roots in the Air Force. Her husband is a retired two-star general who was a pilot in the Thunderbirds demonstration team. Her father was a 30-year Air Force veteran and a pilot in the Vietnam War.
Red Bull chief criticizes new F1 deal on engines

BARCELONA, Spain (AP)  Formula One's new deal to make engines cheaper and more standardized is "underwhelming" and "weak," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said on Friday.

Horner said at the Spanish Grand Prix that it was a "shame" more could not be done between manufacturers and the FIA on the agreement for power units that will take effect beginning next season.

Team bosses for Mercedes, Ferrari, and Renault said they were pleased with the deal that was confirmed by FIA before the Russian GP two weeks ago. Force India deputy team principal Robert Fernley didn't want to comment.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands steers his car during a first free practice at the Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, just outside Barcelona, Spain, Friday, May 13, 2016. The Formula One race will be held on Sunday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The agreement on the power units  the combination of turbocharged engines and a hybrid energy recovery system  was intended to cut costs and help the smaller teams, which would pay 1 million euros ($1.14 million) less for next season and 3 million euros ($3.43 million) less in 2018 when buying from the four manufacturers; Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault and Honda.

It contained an "obligation to supply," although that provision would not appear to apply in cases such as that of Red Bull last year, when the team tried to leave a contract with Renault but was unable to find an alternative.

"It is a little underwhelming," Horner said. "It's a very soft agreement between the manufacturers and the FIA. It tickles the price, deals a little bit with convergence, the obligation to supply doesn't really apply, so it's a very weak agreement. Unfortunately it's a shame more couldn't be done, but I suppose if you look on the bright side, it's better than nothing."

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff disagreed.

"We achieved a major price reduction over two years, we have opened up development scope for others to catch up, we have designed an obligation to supply so no team runs out of an engine contract, we have found a mechanism how performance convergence could be trigged," he said. "Lots of good things, many months of hard work in trying to get everybody on the same page, I think it's a good step forward."

FIA said a package of measures aimed at achieving performance convergence will mean the scrapping of the controversial token system allowing each supplier a certain number of power unit updates each season, plus new restrictions on turbo boost and various engine parts.

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said he had "no doubt that this decision is going to help the sport, while Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul said the deal comes as a "relief" because now teams "can make plans for the future."

When Horner was asked which single change to the regulations he would make for next year, he said, with a smile, "Mercedes engines for everybody free of charge."

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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/tales-azzoni
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's always good news when charitable funds pour in for a charity.

No greater words were spoken than when The JAR of Hope was selected as a charity (to which to contribute) by students and faculty of College of Staten Island High School (CSI) High School in New Springville.

For those who are unaware, The JAR of Hope was founded by James Raffone to raise awareness and support research for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the hope of eliminating the disease.

Sadly, his son, 7-year-old James, was diagnosed with Duchenne, a condition in which there's an absence of dystrophin, a protein that strengthens muscle fibers and protects them from injury. And the progressive neuromuscular disorder results in degeneration of all voluntary muscles.

To lend support to the cause, this week was "Spirit Week" at CSI High School, where students participated in various events that helped raise funds for JAR of Hope.

A total of 489 kids participated in events and did push-ups -- an important part of JAR of Hope's fund-raising and communications efforts -- because boys with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy will never be able to do them. And each of these 489 kids recruited others to sponsor them doing the exercises.

Students did 10 push-ups for $10.

"One ninth grader, Joseph Hancock raised $200 on his own and another, Tyler Campione, raised over $100," said Rosario Miano, an English teacher at the school.

"In the years that we've done this event, this has been the best so far, not just financially, but because of the spirit and enthusiasm demonstrated by the students for JAR of Hope," Miano added. "This was a record breaking year both in participation and funds raised and it's a relationship that will continue going forward," he continues.

Miano was assisted by Kim Madden and Annette Lentine.



Earlier this week, these civic-minded kids raised a total of $9,445 for JAR of Hope, and presented a check to the foundation at the conclusion of the activities.

In so doing, they helped set a new record for the number of high school kids doing push-ups at the same time.

FYI: The College of Staten Island High School also challenged Tottenville High School and New Dorp High School to do push-ups, and they also participated.

Those interested in learning more about the organization or in donating should visit the JAR of Hope (aka Team Jamesy) Facebook page or JARofHope.org.



MISS STATEN ISLAND

It's no secret that Heather Wolf, Miss Staten Island 2016, will compete for the title of Miss New York Sunday, May 29, at the St. George Theatre.

Along with four other young woman from S.I., their goal is to bring the Miss New York crown to an Island woman and give her the opportunity to compete in the Miss America Pageant this September in Atlantic city.

The Miss America Pageant has adopted Children's Miracle Network as their national platform. Each contestant competing is asked to raise funds for children being cared for in a Children's Miracle Network Hospital.

Miss Staten Island will host a fundraiser Monday, May 16, at Ho'Brah Tacos, 412 Forest Ave. in West Brighton; HoBrahTacos.com.

Heather will be there from 6 to 9 p.m. to welcome those participating and will be happy to pose for a photo opp.

The restaurant will donate 20 percent of its proceeds to the Children's Miracle Network in Heather's name.

To find out more about her google Heather Wolf, Staten Island. Her page includes her commencement address to her classmates at Wagner College, last year.

For more information, email MissSIPageant@aol.com.

CELEBRATIONS: MAY 15 & 16

Happy birthday Sunday to Marian Lucas, Grace Motola, Shannon Nielsen, Joseph Nicholas Bacchi who turns 17, Frank Bennetti and Michael DelPriore.

Sunday is wedding anniversary time for Elvira and Steven Noss and Michele Sherry DeMizio and Joseph DeMizio

Monday is birthday time for former Assemblyman Lou Tobacco, twins Terri Boyle and Susan Pedersen, Arthur Silva, Frank Cianciotta, Adien Schnell, Robyn Cammaroto, Erik Jensen, Erica Karg, Michael Paul Grillo, Kristine Flagello and Jim Barclay.

Monday is wedding anniversary time for Kathy and Sean Davis.
Wal-Mart shareholder suit over bribery allegations dismissed

DOVER, Del. (AP)  A judge has dismissed a shareholder lawsuit over alleged bribery involving Wal-Mart's operations in Mexico.

The judge ruled Friday that a shareholder lawsuit in Delaware must be dismissed because an Arkansas judge had previously dismissed a similar complaint. Chancellor Andre Bouchard said the Arkansas ruling precluded shareholders from pursuing the Delaware lawsuit.

The lawsuits were prompted by allegations that Wal-Mart's Mexican unit paid millions of dollars in bribes to speed building permits and gain other favors. The allegations spurred federal investigations in the U.S. and Mexico, and a global anti-corruption compliance review by Wal-Mart.
New York diocese sues to rescind insurer abortion mandate

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has sued state insurance regulators over requirements that workplace health plans cover employee abortions.

The Department of Financial Services lacks legislative authority to impose the requirements, and the mandate is unconstitutional, because it forces employers with religious and conscientious objections to abortion to help pay for them, according to the lawsuit filed in state court.

"As a result of the clear and unequivocal religious moral teaching against abortion, the notion of a church institution providing its employees, regardless of their particular religious affiliation, with health insurance coverage for abortion, is morally unacceptable as a matter of religious and moral conviction," the lawsuit says.

The complaint specifically faults the department's "model language" to insurers in 2015 and 2016 requiring individual and small group health plans to include coverage of both "therapeutic" abortions and "non-therapeutic" abortions in cases of rape, incest or fetal malformation. The suit also says that abortion coverage "is encrypted in health insurance contracts under the rubric of 'medically necessary' surgery."

Department spokesman Richard Loconte said Friday they are reviewing the complaint.

"We simply cannot live with this policy, and unfortunately have been left with no choice but to bring this action," Albany Bishop Edward Scharfenberger said.
Governor warns of deficits as California tax campaign begins

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday raised the specter of steep budget deficits if his voter-approved, temporary tax increases on the wealthy are allowed to expire  a warning that added political overtones to his proposed $122.2 billion state budget.

Brown used the release of his spending plan to warn of a $4 billion budget shortfall by 2019, when the tax increases fully expire.

The Democratic governor refused to take a position on extending the tax hikes, but he warned that without the added revenue, "we will have cuts, no question about that."

California Gov. Jerry Brown gestures to a chart showing the state economic recovery has gone on two years longer than past recoveries after a downturn in the economy, as he discusses his revised 2016-17 state budget plan released Friday, May 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Brown proposed a $122.2 billion spending plan for California, down slightly from his January proposal as tax revenues are expected to fall below expectations. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Brown regularly cautions about the perils of a looming recession, but his warning about steep deficits tied to the expiring taxes was unusual and came as union groups ramp up a campaign to retain the higher levies.

The budget packet provided to reporters was nearly identical to one distributed in January but contained a new graph depicting growing deficits in the years ahead.

"It seemed to be an implicit endorsement" of the tax extension, said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which opposes continuing the Proposition 30 increases passed in 2012.

Brown's "wink and nod" was ironic in the face of his complaints about the volatility in California's revenue due to reliance on wealthy taxpayers, Coupal said.

Left-leaning interest groups quickly pounced on Brown's warning to make their case for maintaining the higher taxes.

"California students, schools and colleges can't afford to go back to the days of teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, and cuts to programs," Jennifer Wonnacott, a spokeswoman for the campaign supporting the tax extension, said in a statement.

Proposition 30 raised tax rates for incomes above $250,000 by one to three percentage points through 2019.

Supporters announced Wednesday that they're turning in nearly 1 million signatures in support of asking voters in November to retain the income tax hikes for an additional 12 years.

A temporary quarter-cent sales tax increase would expire as scheduled at the end of this year.

Brown's spending plan for the 2016-17 fiscal year was down slightly from his January proposal after he projected tax revenues falling $1.9 billion below earlier expectations because of stock market fluctuations.

By law, about half the state's spending goes to K-12 education and higher education. Brown's budget plan also calls for adding $2 billion more than required to the state's rainy day fund to prepare for the next recession.

"The surging tide of revenue is beginning to turn, as it always does," he said. "That's why it's prudent and best that we prepare for a time of necessity."

In recent months, Brown has approved raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and signaled he was open to liberal priorities. But his budget proposal left fellow Democrats mostly disappointed as he continued to favor savings, debt payments and deferred maintenance over increases to social service programs.

"Given the unacceptably high number of Californians living in poverty, we must make targeted reinvestments in education, health and social service programs that help lift up the most vulnerable residents of our state," said Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, chairman of the Senate budget committee.

The governor did embrace a demand from Senate Democrats to divert $2 billion in voter-approved mental health funding for housing for the homeless, a growing problem in California. Brown noted it had a dedicated funding source outside the general fund.

Republican leaders generally backed the governor in his call for fiscal restraint, asserting that new spending should be reserved for one-time critical needs such as water, school and transportation infrastructure.

"This is the largest budget, the largest spending we've had ever, so this is the time to make everything work well that we have," said Senate Minority Leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield.

Friday's release opens up a monthlong debate with lawmakers, who will have until June 15 to hash out their own version of the spending plan and send it to the governor. Brown said it will be difficult to push back against lawmakers clamoring for more money but he intends to stand firm.

Democrats want $800 million to increase rates paid to subsidized daycare providers and to provide care to more children. They're also looking to eliminate a condition in CalWorks that prevents families from getting additional welfare benefits if they have another child while receiving state assistance.

Brown has also called for tax and fee increases to begin paying for a $59 billion backlog in road repairs.

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AP writer Alison Noon contributed to this report.

California Gov. Jerry Brown gestures to a chart showing possible future deficit spending as he discusses his revised 2016-17 state budget plan released Friday, May 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Brown proposed a $122.2 billion spending plan for California, down slightly from his January proposal as tax revenues are expected to fall below expectations. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Gov. Jerry Brown answers a reporters question concerning his revised 2016-17 state budget plan released Friday, May 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Brown proposed a $122.2 billion spending plan for California, down slightly from his January proposal as tax revenues are expected to fall below expectations. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Gov. Jerry Brown discusses his revised 2016-17 state budget plan released Friday, May 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. Brown proposed a $122.2 billion spending plan for California, down slightly from his January proposal as tax revenues are expected to fall below expectations. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Senate Minority Leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield, talks to reporters about Gov. Jerry Brown's revised 2016-17 state budget plan released Friday, May 13, 2016, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Fight over GMO labeling law moves to Vermont

DOVER, Del. (AP)  A federal judge in Delaware says a legal battle between the Dupont Co. and Vermont officials over genetically modified foods should play out in Vermont.

The judge on Friday granted a request by Vermont officials to transfer the case to their state, where trade groups representing food producers are fighting a new law requiring the labeling of foods containing genetically modified ingredients. The first-in-the-nation law is to take effect July 1. The Grocery Manufacturer's Association is leading a court challenge claiming, among other things, that the labeling law violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutionally vague.
'Self-funded' Donald Trump preparing to seek big-donor money

LAS VEGAS (AP)  The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on political donors now wants their money  and lots of it.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters.

His money-raising begins right away.

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at Trump Tower, in New York. The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competitors for their reliance on political donors now wants their money - and lots of it. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

The still-forming finance team is planning a dialing-for-dollars event on the fifth floor of Trump Tower in New York, and the campaign is at work on a fundraising website focused on small donations. In addition to a May 25 fundraiser at the Los Angeles home of real estate developer Tom Barrack, he'll hold another soon thereafter in New York.

The political newcomer faces a gargantuan task: A general election campaign can easily run up a $1 billion tab. For the primary race, Trump spent a tiny fraction of that amount  he's estimated $50 million of his own money, plus about $12 million from donors who sought his campaign out on their own.

Trump told The Associated Press in an interview this week that he will spend minimally on a data operation that can help identify and turn out voters. And he's betting that the media's coverage of his rallies and celebrity personality will reduce his need for pricey television advertising.

Yet he acknowledged that the general-election campaign may cost "a lot." To help raise the needed money, he tapped Steven Mnuchin, a New York investor with ties in Hollywood and Las Vegas but no political fundraising experience.

"To me this is no different than building a business, and this is a business with a fabulous product: Donald Trump," Mnuchin said in an interview at a financial industry conference in Las Vegas. Trump's new national finance chairman said prospective donors are "coming out of the woodwork" and he's been fielding emails and phone calls from people he hasn't heard from in 20 years.

More experienced fundraisers are coming aboard, too, such as Eli Miller of Washington, Anthony Scaramucci of New York and Ray Washburn of Dallas. All three helped raise money for candidates Trump defeated in the primary.

To convey the amount of work needed to vacuum up money, Scaramucci, part of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's finance team, recently shared Romney's old fundraising calendar with Trump. He said Trump was receptive to a schedule that has 50 to 100 fundraisers over the summer.

Scaramucci said he didn't expect Trump to grovel for donors. "But is he going to say thank you and be appreciative? Of course. He's very good one-on-one. He's a hard guy not to like."

Trump's dilemma: By asking for money, he could anger supporters who love his assertion that he's different from most politicians because he isn't beholden to donors.

He's tried to navigate these tricky waters by saying he wants only to raise money to benefit the party and help elect other Republicans. But his planned joint fundraising agreement with Republican officials also provides a direct route to his own campaign coffers.

Such an arrangement could work like this: For each large contribution, the first $2,700 or $5,400 goes to Trump's campaign, the next $33,400 goes to the Republican National Committee, similar amounts could go to national party accounts and the rest is divided evenly among various state parties the candidate selects.

Democrat Hillary Clinton set up such a victory committee in September, and it had collected $61 million by the end of March.

She also counts on several super PACs. They've landed million-dollar checks from her friends and supporters and already scheduled $130 million in TV, radio and internet ads leading up to Election Day.

Trump is only now beginning to turn his attention to this kind of big money. A decision on how fully to embrace outside groups is fraught with possible charges of hypocrisy, since he has called them "corrupt."

Still, wealthy Trump supporters have several options  and megadonors are beginning to line up.

Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire Las Vegas casino owner who was the largest donor of the 2012 presidential race, wrote in a Washington Post editorial this week that he endorses Trump and is urging "those who provide important financial backing" to do the same.

Libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and pumped millions of dollars into Ron Paul's presidential bid four years ago, recently signed on as a California delegate for Trump. And billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens said this week he intends to help finance Trump's effort. He's invited officials from one of the pro-Trump super PACs to his Texas ranch next month.

That entity, Great America PAC, has struggled to get off the ground but hopes to raise $15 million to $20 million in the next few months, said its chief fundraiser, Eric Beach. The group recently brought on Ronald Reagan's campaign manager Ed Rollins, whom Trump has praised.

On Thursday, another pro-Trump super PAC emerged. Doug Watts, former communications director for Ben Carson's 2016 bid, started a group called the Committee for American Sovereignty with an advisory board that include former Trump resorts executive Nicholas Ribis Sr. and longtime GOP donor Kenneth Abramowitz. The group aims to raise $20 million before the GOP convention in July.

One Trump emissary to the world of major donors is billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who made calls to Pickens and others to gauge their interest in Trump.

Some are biting, either because of support for Trump or a desire to keep Clinton out of office. Among the latter group is Stanley Hubbard, a Minnesota broadcast billionaire who spent money trying to "stop Trump."

Having failed in that quest, he said he's prepared to write a check to stop Clinton.

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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Bykowicz on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/bykowicz
Early snowbirds? Florida sinkhole yields ancient artifacts

NEW YORK (AP)  Scientists say a stone knife and other artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago.

That makes the ancient sinkhole the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said.

The findings confirm claims made more than a decade ago about the site, some 30 miles southeast of Tallahassee. At that time, researchers reported evidence that humans were there some 14,400 years ago. But in an era when such an old date was widely considered impossible, other experts disputed the evidence, said Mike Waters of Texas A&M University in College Station.

In this 2015 photo provided by Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, divers investigate the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. Scientists say artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago. That makes it the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said. (S. Joy/CSFA via AP)

The sinkhole was "just politely ignored," he said.

Waters was among a new team of scientists who excavated there from 2012 to 2014. They report finding the knife and stone flakes in a paper released Friday by the journal Science Advances. The new work offers "far better" evidence for early humans than the earlier research did, he said.

The sinkhole is nearly 200 feet wide. In ancient times, it had a shallow pond at the bottom. That offered fresh water and a gathering point for animals, which "probably would have been easy pickings" for hunters who saw them trapped in the deep depression, Waters said.

Today, the sinkhole is filled with about 30 feet of water, and it took divers equipped with head-mounted lights to look for artifacts. It was "as dark as the inside of a cow, literally no light at all," said Jessi Halligan, the lead diving scientist and an assistant professor of anthropology at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

They found the knife while digging with a trowel. It's a couple of inches long and about an inch wide, sharpened on both sides.

To determine its age, the researchers used nearby mastodon dung, which contained twigs that could be analyzed. The twigs, and therefore the knife, were found to be about 14,550 years old.

Man-made stone flakes were found to be about the same age. The scientists also examined a mastodon tusk recovered in 1993, and confirmed that its long, deep grooves were made by people, probably as they worked to remove the tusk from a skull.

The first people in North America are thought to have crossed a now-submerged land bridge from Siberia to Alaska. From there, people spread southward. Waters said the age of the sinkhole artifacts adds to evidence that people may have migrated south from Alaska as early as 16,000 years ago by boat along the coast, because inland Canada was blocked by ice sheets until 2,000 years later.

Halligan said the ancient visitors to the sinkhole could have been the Southeast's first snowbirds, moving south for the winter and north for the summer. They could have followed mastodons, whose remains have been found as far north as Kentucky, she said.

"They were very smart about local plants and local animals and migration patterns," she said.

In American archaeology, sites showing signs of human presence more than about 13,000 years are called "pre-Clovis," since they predate the Clovis era of widespread human occupation.

Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History said that he ranked the sinkhole with two locations in Pennsylvania and Virginia as "the best-dated and oldest pre-Clovis sites yet found in North America."

While the other two sites are older, "the Florida site has a major role to play in learning the story of the peopling of the Americas," said Stanford, who didn't participate in the research.

Another expert, James Adovasio of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton agreed, saying it promises to shed light on "early Native American lifestyle in an environment where these lifestyles are very poorly defined."

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Science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

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Online:

Texas A&M video of sinkhole exploration: http://bit.ly/1rVAYEe

Science Advances: http://advances.sciencemag.org

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Follow Malcolm Ritter at http://twitter.com/malcolmritter His recent work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/malcolm-ritter

In this 2013 photo provided by Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, co-principal investigator Michael R. Waters and CSFA student Morgan Smith examine a stone tool after its discovery at the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. In American archaeology, sites showing signs of human presence more than about 13,000 years are called pre-Clovis, since they predate the Clovis era of widespread human occupation. (A. Burke/CSFA via AP)

This 2015 photo provided by Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans, shows researchers at the Page-Ladson archaeological site in Florida. Scientists say artifacts found deep underwater in a Florida sinkhole show people lived in that area some 14,500 years ago. That makes it the earliest well-documented site for human presence in the southeastern U.S., and important for understanding the settling of the Americas, experts said. (CSFA via AP)
Erdogan to West: Care about Syrians as much as gay weddings

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed Western countries, saying they care more about gay and animal rights than the fate of conflict-stricken Syrians.

Addressing a large crowd Friday in northwest Turkey, Erdogan also accused the West of possessing a mindset "remnant of slavery and colonialism."

His latest anti-Western outburst came amid a standoff with the European Union over its demand that Turkey amend its anti-terrorism laws to secure visa-free travel in Europe for Turks.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Erdogan says his country is gearing up to "clear" the Syrian side of its frontier in response to cross-border fire from the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Erdogan said: "Shame on those who don't show sensitivity ... to the women and children who reach out to them for help."

He added: "Shame on those who deny the sensitivity they show to ... the whales, the seals and the turtles in the sea to 23 million Syrians."

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Erdogan says his country is gearing up to "clear" the Syrian side of its frontier in response to cross-border fire from the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses his supporters in Ankara, Turkey, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Erdogan says his country is gearing up to "clear" the Syrian side of its frontier in response to cross-border fire from the Islamic State group. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
The Latest: GOP chief hopes Trump will meet more lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times local):

3 p.m.

The chairman of the Republican Party says Donald Trump has been trying hard to be presidential and doing that well lately.

FILE - In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at Trump Tower, in New York. The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competitors for their reliance on political donors now wants their money - and lots of it. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

In a brief interview Friday with The Associated Press, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus also said the party's presumptive presidential nominee should keep having conversations with GOP leaders. Trump met Thursday with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP leaders.

A Trump supporter, California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter, says he's heard that Trump plans to meet rank-and-file GOP lawmakers in coming weeks.

Priebus says it's up to Trump and the public whether the billionaire should release his tax returns. Trump says he won't do that until IRS audits are complete.

Priebus also said he didn't know what to make of a report in The Washington Post that Trump posed as his own spokesman more than two decades ago when speaking to a reporter about his personal relationships.

___

2:50 p.m.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson says he's "sympathetic with someone like Mr. Trump" and wants to give him time to get up to speed on policy issues before pressing fellow Republicans to endorse him.

Johnson tells The Associated Press he identifies with Trump because they both entered politics from the business world. Johnson says he wants to give the billionaire "a chance to get the briefings" to see where he can agree with Republicans.

Johnson has endorsed Trump. The senator is running for re-election against Democrat Russ Feingold.

___

2 p.m.

A congressional supporter of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says the candidate expects to meet rank-and-file House members in the next few weeks.

California GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter says two Trump operatives told him of the plans Friday morning at a meeting of about 30 House supporters of Trump.

Hunter said the two are Rick Dearborn, chief of staff to Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, another Trump supporter, and Scott Mason, who is Trump's liaison to Congress.

Hunter and another Trump backer  Pennsylvania GOP Rep. Tom Marino  said that in a mark of how Trump's backing in Congress is growing, only a small number of Republican lawmakers attended a previous meeting of Trump's House supporters just a few weeks ago.

Trump met Thursday with Senate and House GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has yet to endorse the billionaire's candidacy.

___

10:15 a.m.

Back when Donald Trump's love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessman's personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once.

The spokesman identified himself as John Miller. But The Washington Post says it was actually Trump, posing as his own spokesman on the phone with a reporter who wondered why Miller's voice sounded so familiar.

The Post has unearthed a recording of that 1991 phone call.

On NBC's "Today" show Friday, Trump denied being the voice on the phone. He says: "I don't know anything about it."

The Post says Trump was known in those days for posing as public relations men to advocate for himself, under several alter egos.

___

9 a.m.

Donald Trump's plan to fund what could be a $1 billion general-election bid is coming into focus.

The presumptive Republican nominee has hired a finance team and scheduled fundraisers, including one in Los Angeles. His finance team plans a telethon at Trump Tower to raise cash.

Trump's campaign also is completing a deal with Republican officials that will enable him to solicit six-figure checks from donors.

And super PACs are forming to help him. One that was announced Thursday aims to raise $20 million by the Republican convention in July. Former Ronald Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins was recently hired and will meet next month with billionaire Texas oil investor T. Boone Pickens.

Asking for financial help is a major change for Trump, who largely self-funded his primary bid.

___

8:15 a.m.

Donald Trump says he doesn't keep money in Swiss banks or offshore accounts and his tax rate is no one's business.

In interviews televised Friday, the Republican presidential candidate was defending his refusal to release his tax returns until an IRS audit is complete.

Trump says he doesn't think the public has a right to review his tax returns before people vote in November. Still, Trump says he will "gladly" do so if the audit is finished by then.

He told ABC's "Good Morning America" ''I've built a massive business. I want to make sure everything is perfect."

When asked his tax rate, Trump said: "It's none of your business. You'll see it when it's released."

___

8:10 a.m.

Donald Trump says Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is using his newspaper to help the online retailer avoid taxes.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee tells Fox News that Bezos is "using The Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed."

The comments came after the newspaper's associate editor, Bob Woodward, was quoted as saying the Post has "20 people working on Trump." The newspaper has also announced plans to publish a book on Trump.

In a statement, Post executive editor Martin Baron says he's "received no instructions from Jeff Bezos" regarding campaign coverage, and the decision to write a book came from the newsroom. Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

___

3:40 a.m.

Pressure is mounting on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign for president. Democratic Party leaders are raising alarms that his continued presence in the race is undermining efforts to beat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump this fall.

The new concerns come after Sanders' recent wins over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia.

While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party's nomination.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein says Clinton hasn't been able to focus on the general election in the way she should.

___

This story corrects the Post editor's name.

FILE - In this April 9, 1991 file photo, Donald Trump is seen in New York. Back when Trumps love life was tabloid heaven, a Trump spokesman with intimate knowledge of the businessmans personal relationships offered juicy stories about a failing marriage, a new live-in paramour and three other girlfriends he was juggling at once. (AP Photo/Luiz Ribeiro, File)
The Latest: Wrestler Superfly's hearing continues next week

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP)  The latest on a competency hearing for former professional wrestling star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, accused of killing his girlfriend in 1983 (all times local):

7 p.m.

A Pennsylvania hearing to determine whether professional wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is mentally competent to stand trial in the death of his girlfriend has been adjourned until next week.

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2015 file photo, former professional wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, right, leaves the Lehigh County Courthouse in Allentown, Pa. A Pennsylvania judge is set to hear testimony Friday, May 13, 2016, on whether Snuka is mentally competent to stand trial in the death of his mistress more than three decades ago. Snuka is charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 1983 death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino of New York. (Michael Kubel/The Morning Call via AP, File) THE EXPRESS-TIMES OUT; WFMZ OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

A prosecution expert will testify Wednesday.

Prosecutors are trying to show Snuka is fit for trial. On Friday they played a video showing the 72-year-old Snuka giving an interview in which he appears lucid and in character.

Snuka is a Fiji native and lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey. He attended Friday's hearing.

He's charged with murder in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino, who was from New York. He has pleaded not guilty.

A defense psychologist says Snuka took many blows to the head in his career and suffers from dementia.

___

5 p.m.

Prosecutors are trying to show former professional wrestling star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is mentally competent to stand trial in Pennsylvania in the death of his girlfriend more than three decades ago.

Lehigh County prosecutors played a video showing the 72-year-old Snuka in the wrestling ring as recently as last year. Another video shows him giving an interview in which he appears lucid and in character.

The videos were played Friday during cross-examination of a defense psychologist who says Snuka suffers from dementia and is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Snuka is a Fiji native and lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey. He's attending the court hearing.

He's charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino, who was from New York. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has called Argentino's death an "unfortunate accident."

___

3:20 p.m.

A psychologist says former professional wrestling star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka suffers from dementia and is mentally incompetent to stand trial in Pennsylvania in the death of his girlfriend more than three decades ago.

Dr. Frank Dattilio (dah-TIL'-ee-oh) testified for the defense at Snuka's competency hearing in Allentown on Friday.

He says Snuka suffered numerous blows to the head during his long professional wrestling career, including getting a coconut smashed on his head. He also says Snuka has a history of alcohol and drug abuse. He says Snuka has permanent brain damage and his condition is deteriorating rapidly.

Snuka is a Fiji native and lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey. He's attending the court hearing.

Snuka is charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 1983 death of Nancy Argentino, who was from New York. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has called Argentino's death an "unfortunate accident."

___

2:30 p.m.

A Pennsylvania judge is hearing testimony on whether former professional wrestling star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is mentally competent to stand trial in the death of his girlfriend more than three decades ago.

Snuka is charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 1983 death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino, who was from New York. Snuka has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer has called Argentino's death an "unfortunate accident."

Defense attorney Robert Kirwan II says the 72-year-old Snuka has early onset dementia and post-concussion syndrome. He says the former WWE star doesn't understand the charges or even know he was arrested.

Snuka is in the courtroom for Friday's hearing in Allentown. He lives in Camden County, New Jersey.

Argentino was found dead after authorities were called to the hotel room she was sharing with Snuka. An autopsy determined she died of brain trauma.

___

12:10 a.m.

A Pennsylvania judge is set to hear testimony Friday on whether former professional wrestling star Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka is mentally competent to stand trial in the death of his mistress more than three decades ago.

Snuka is charged with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the 1983 death of 23-year-old Nancy Argentino of New York. Snuka has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer has called Argentino's death an "unfortunate accident."

Defense attorney Robert Kirwan II says Snuka, now 72 and living in Camden County, New Jersey, has early onset dementia and post-concussion syndrome, and the former WWE star doesn't understand the charges or even knows that he was arrested.
Trump got too much headache with all these requirements and obligations. He fed up with, so he'll drop out - happened in 2011.

Donald J. Trump said Friday that he doesnt believe voters have a right to see his tax returns, and insisted its none of your business when pressed on what tax rate he himself pays  a question that tripped up Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race.

Mr. Trump has given different explanations for why he wouldnt release his taxes over the years. In 2011, when he contemplated running for president, Mr. Trump said he would release his tax returns when President Obama released his birth certificate. Mr. Obama made the birth certificate public in April 2011, and Mr. Trump announced a few weeks later that he would not run for president.

~~

ET

Photo

Donald J. Trump said Friday that he doesnt believe voters have a right to see his tax returns, and insisted its none of your business when pressed on what tax rate he himself pays  a question that tripped up Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential race.

Mr. Trump made the comments in an interview on ABCs Good Morning America, as he continued to try to answer questions about his change in explanations over the last year about why he wont release the taxes.

When the interviewer, George Stephanopoulos, asked Mr. Trump directly if he thought voters had a right to see his returns, something that presidential nominees have provided for roughly 40 years, the candidate replied, I dont think they do.

Mr. Trump added: But I do say this, I will really gladly give them  not going to learn anything but its under routine audit. When the audit ends Ill present them. That should be before the election. I hope its before the election.

When asked what effective tax rate he pays, Mr. Trump said: Its none of your business. Youll see it when I release, but I fight very hard to pay as little tax as possible.

Mr. Romney, who is also a businessman, delayed releasing many of his returns until September 2012 , at which point they showed an effective tax rate that was much lower than most Americans pay. Mr. Trump has said in the last few years that Mr. Romney erred in waiting so long and should have done it sooner.

Also during the interview, Mr. Stephanopoulos pointed out that the Internal Revenue Service has said being audited is not prohibitive in terms of individual choice to make tax returns public, and that President Richard M. Nixon did so when he was being audited.

But he insisted that people will learn nothing.

I put in financials, 100 pages worth of financials, that show that I built a company thats worth more than $10 billion, Mr. Trump said. It shows cash. It shows cash flows. It shows everything. You learn very little from tax returns but nevertheless, when the audit is complete, I will release. I have no problem with it.

He said he has no offshore accounts that would be discovered.

Mr. Trump conceded that he released tax returns under audit over a decade ago when he was seeking a casino license, but said, At the time it didnt make any difference to me, now it does.

Democrats have treaded lightly on the issue of Mr. Trumps tax returns in the last week, as Hillary Clinton faces pressure to release transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs. Mr. Trump pointed to her refusal to release the transcripts of her speeches in his interview with Mr. Stephanopoulos.

But there is no tradition for releasing transcripts of paid speeches, whereas the tradition of presidential candidates releasing tax returns stretches back decades. And Mr. Trump has faced questions repeatedly about whether he is worth what he claims to be.

So youve got to ask yourself, why doesnt he want to release them? Mrs. Clinton said at a campaign event on Wednesday. Yeah, well, were going to find out.

She and her husband have released their taxes going back to 1977, when he first entered political life.

At minimum for Mr. Trump, the returns would help establish his level of liquidity. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee claims to have enough money to keep lending his campaign funds if he chooses to. Mr. Trumps allies insist that comparing his taxes to Mrs. Clintons is unfair, since he has a private business. But he is not the first businessman ever to run for public office, and most have found ways to make their tax information available, even in redacted form.

The good government group Common Cause put out a statement calling on Mr. Trump to release the taxes, pointing out that he released under-audit versions in the early 2000s to gaming commissions in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Mr. Trump has given different explanations for why he wouldnt release his taxes over the years. In 2011, when he contemplated running for president, Mr. Trump said he would release his tax returns when President Obama released his birth certificate. Mr. Obama made the birth certificate public in April 2011, and Mr. Trump announced a few weeks later that he would not run for president.

Last year, Mr. Trump said he was still considering whether to release the returns, but he made no mention of the audits until this year.

The I.R.S. has said when Mr. Trump first used audits as his rationale for not releasing his taxes that there was nothing in government regulations prohibiting him from doing so if he wanted to.

The Democratic National Committee released a clip of Mr. Trump discussing the release of tax returns in 2012, just before Mr. Romney released his.

You know if youre running at a minimum probably youre going to have to show your returns not always, Mr. Trump said on Fox News back then, before noting that Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who also ran in that presidential cycle, refused to release his own tax returns.

Find out what you need to know about the 2016 presidential race today, and get politics news updates via Facebook , Twitter and the First Draft newsletter .

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New Mexico jail inmate recaptured after escaping from clinic

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP)  A jail inmate who escaped from a New Mexico medical clinic after being arrested in a carjacking and two police chases has been recaptured.

Authorities said 24-year-old Michael Derby was apprehended Friday on a street corner in Las Cruces, the city where he escaped. A passer-by called 911 to report seeing a man stumbling and falling down.

Police spokesman Dan Trujillo said responding officers recognized Derby and that he was taken to a hospital.

Derby's medical condition wasn't available and further information about why he was hospitalized likely won't be released due to medical privacy reasons, Trujillo said.

Derby escaped Wednesday night from a medical clinic where he was taken for an examination. He ran down a hallway and out the front door after the examination and then stole a pickup and drove off, police said.

Authorities said Derby was arrested Sunday in Las Cruces after fleeing a traffic stop in the city earlier that day, leading to a chase and then a carjacking in El Paso, Texas. That led to another chase back in New Mexico and to Derby's arrest.
Storing babies' blood samples pits privacy versus science

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Two-day-old Ellie Bailey squirms in a hospital bassinet and cries as her tiny left heel is squeezed and then pricked with a needle to draw a blood sample. An Indianapolis hospital technician quickly saturates six circles on a special filter card with the child's blood.

Ellie is among some 4 million newborns in the United States who will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases such as sickle cell anemia, which can cause organ damage, and the metabolic disease phenylketonuria, or PKU, which can lead to mental disabilities.

Newborn screening saves or improves the lives of about 12,000 newborns each year by swiftly identifying therapies they might need, said Jelili Ojodu, director of newborn screening and genetics with the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo, Jessica Bailey holds her newborn daughter Ellie Bailey after blood was collected at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis. Ellie is among some 4 million newborns in the United States who will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

But what happens to the dried blood samples on those cards after the testing that's mandatory in all 50 states is completed has sparked legal battles in some states. Minnesota and Texas have destroyed some 6.4 million samples following lawsuits. And in Indiana, the parents of a 9-year-old suburban Indianapolis girl are seeking the same for up to 2.5 million samples collected over two decades and stored in 600 boxes at a state warehouse.

"Her parents' main concern is that down the road who knows what could happen with these samples?" said Jonathan Little, an attorney for parents of the girl, identified in court documents only as A.B. Doe.

The case poses a dilemma: How can society balance the right to privacy with the needs of science and medical research?

The Indiana lawsuit was dismissed by a trial court last year and in April by the Indiana Court of Appeals. Both courts found the girl was in no imminent danger of suffering harm from the state holding onto her sample. Her attorneys plan to appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court next week.

In an era of increasingly sophisticated genetic analysis, some privacy advocates fear insurance companies could access blood samples and charge higher premiums for people found to have a genetic predisposition to diseases such as Alzheimer's.

"The question is, 'These cards are being collected for a very specific purpose, and once they have met that purpose what's the necessity for keeping these blood stains?" said Sheldon Krimsky, acting executive director of the Cambridge-Massachusetts-based Council for Responsible Genetics.

He said law enforcement could also potentially access states' newborn blood stores to use them to create DNA databases of law-abiding citizens.

Such worries are "really a far stretch" and not based on actual threats to a person's genetic privacy, said Natasha Bonhomme, vice president of strategic development for the Genetic Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit health advocacy group.

Scott Kelly, an attorney who represented some of the families who sued Minnesota over its blood-retention policies, said more than 50,000 of Minnesota's dried blood samples and test results were used for research, including third-party research by drug companies and manufacturers. That suit led Minnesota in 2014 to destroy 1.1 million newborn blood samples and another 900,000 test results.

In 2009, Texas destroyed some 5.3 million newborn blood samples as part of a settlement of a similar lawsuit, and Texas lawmakers also set into law an opt-out policy for parents who object to the state using their child's blood for research.

Attorneys for Indiana say the 2.5 million blood samples at the heart of the pending lawsuit won't be used for medical research, but argue the state has an interest in holding onto them, such as for evidence in missing persons or medical malpractice cases.

Starting in June 2013, Indiana tried to solve the dilemma by asking the parents of newborns for permission to use their infant's blood for medical research. The parents of just over 63,000 infants  about a quarter of the babies born in Indiana in the past three years  have consented to that, said Jennifer O'Malley, an Indiana State Department of Health spokeswoman.

Those now include 27-year-old Jessica Bailey  the mother of Ellie. She checked the "yes" box on Indiana's consent form and signed it Thursday, authorizing the state to use her daughter's blood for medical research.

She and her husband, Mark, said they don't share concerns about the blood's possible misuse and believe there's great potential in allowing its use for medical research.

"I personally feel the benefits with the research outweigh the risks," Jessica Bailey said as she and Mark prepared to leave Community Hospital North in Indianapolis with their second child. "For us, It was kind of an easy decision because it might help somebody in the future."

Indiana has posted a form on the state health department's website allowing parents to request that their child's blood sample be destroyed, no matter when it was collected. That's not enough for the father of the 9-year-old girl who sued the state. He asked The Associated Press not to use his name because it would identify his daughter.

He said he supports disease-screening for newborns, and said his daughter has even taken part in a medical research project for stomach ailments. But he believes it's time for the state to dispose of the blood samples collected between 1991 and May 2013 that it held onto without alerting parents.

"Somebody obviously has some kind of plans for it, if they've gone to the expense of storing it and keeping it," he said.

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016, Community Hospital North obstetrician technician Sherron Harris collects a blood sample from newborn Ellie Bailey in the nursery at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis. Ellie is among some 4 million newborns in the United States who will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo, Mark and Jessica Bailey hold their newborn daughter Ellie Bailey after blood was collected at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis. Ellie is among some 4 million newborns in the United States who will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

In this Thursday, May 12, 2016 photo, the blood samples collected from a newborn at Community Hospital North are shown in the nursery at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Some 4 million newborns in the United States will have blood drawn this year to screen them for serious inherited diseases such as sickle cell anemia, which can cause organ damage, and the metabolic disease phenylketonuria, or PKU, which can lead to mental disabilities. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
A look at past killings of Hezbollah figures

BEIRUT (AP)  Top military commander Mustafa Badreddine, who died in an explosion in Damascus, is the latest of a number of senior figures from the Lebanese Shiite guerrilla group to be killed in past years.

In the past, Israel was the prime suspect in any assassinations, but since Hezbollah joined Syria's civil war in 2012 to support President Bashar Assad, it has lost several prominent members in combat and has gained a broader range of enemies. More than 1,000 of its foot soldiers have been killed in the Syria war, which began in 2011, compared to the 1,276 fighters killed during its 18-year guerrilla war with Israeli forces that occupied southern Lebanon until 2000.

Here's a look at possible culprits in Badreddine's killing as well as a glance of previous senior members killed.

Hezbollah fighters hold flags during the funeral procession of commander Mustafa Badreddine during his funeral procession in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 13, 2016. Badreddine died in an explosion in Damascus, a death that is a major blow to the Shiite group, which has played a significant role in the conflict next door. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

SUPSPECTS:

 ISRAEL: Enmity runs deep between Israel and Hezbollah. The militant group touts itself as Lebanon's defender against Israel after the long fight against the Israeli occupation, and Israel as well as the United States considers the group a terrorist group bent on its destruction. Since the Israeli withdrawal, the two sides have come to blows several times, most disastrously in 2006, when weeks of fighting and Israeli bombardment devastated much of the south.

Experts say Israel may seize the opportunity while Hezbollah is deeply involved in Syria to take out senior group members. A Lebanese TV station close to Hezbollah initially reported an Israeli airstrike killed Badreddine but it withdrew the report. Israel has not commented.

 EXTREMIST GROUPS: Sunni extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group dominate the Syrian battlefield and are staunch opponents of Hezbollah. Though rivals on the ground, IS and al-Qaida's Syria branch, called the Nusra Front, consider Shiites to be apostates whose blood may be shed. Both have claimed responsibility for most of the suicide bombings in the war and attacks in Lebanon, including one against a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut in 2015 that killed nearly 50 people. They have killed Hezbollah officers during combat in Syria, but neither group is known to have carried out targeted assassinations against Hezbollah.

 SYRIAN REBELS: Syrian rebels have been threatening Hezbollah since the group sent fighters to Syria. They have hit its positions in Syria with rockets and car bombings and battled Hezbollah forces directly on the ground.

 SAUDI ARABIA: The kingdom does not have a known history of sponsoring assassinations or of targeting Hezbollah directly, but tensions between it and the Lebanese Shiite group are at an all-time high. Saudi Arabia backs Syria's rebels and is a bitter opponent of Iran, Hezbollah's patron. Saudi Arabia suspended a $3 billion program funding Lebanon's security forces because of Hezbollah's power there and it backed an Arab League decision to label the group a terrorist organization. Saudi Arabia has also taken a more aggressive stance around the region, fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen that it says are a proxy for Iran and calling for the creation of a Muslim military force.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah regularly lashes out at Saudi Arabia in his public speeches, recently likening it to Israel, saying both are fueling Sunni-Shiite hatreds in the region. "There is a history, there is a tension," said Matthew Levitt, a Washington Institute expert of Hezbollah, though he underlined that any talk of a culprit in Badreddine's death is speculation at the point.

PAST SENIOR HEZBOLLAH FIGURES KILLED

2016:

 Mustafa Badreddine, Hezbollah's top military commander, was killed in a blast in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Hezbollah, which announced his death on May 13, says it is investigating whether he was killed in an airstrike, missile, or artillery shelling.

 Ali Fayyadh, better known as Abu Alaa Bosna, who led some of Hezbollah's military operations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Bosnia was killed in February during battles with the Islamic State group near the town of Khanaser in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo.

2015

 Samir Kantar, who spent 30 years in an Israeli prison for the 1979 killing of an Israel man his daughter and a policeman, was killed in December along with eight others in a suspected Israeli airstrike on a residential building in Jaramana, a Damascus suburb.

 Hassan Hussein al-Haj, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed in October while fighting al-Qaida-linked fighters in the northwestern province of Idlib. A week later, his replacement, Mahdi Hassan Obeid, was killed during fighting in the same province.

 An Israeli airstrike in southern Syria killed Jihad Mughniyeh and five other Hezbollah fighters in January. Mughniyeh, the son of slain Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyeh, was apparently in charge of operations in the Golan Heights.

2014

 A senior military officer, Fawzi Ayoub, a dual Lebanese-Canadian citizen who was wanted by the FBI on charges of trying to use a forged U.S. passport to enter Israel, was killed in May in Syria's northern province of Aleppo, reportedly in an ambush by Western-backed rebels.

2013

 Senior Hezbollah commander Hassan al-Laqis was assassinated by gunmen in southern Beirut in December. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the killing.

2008

 Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's military chief, was killed when a bomb planted in his car exploded in Damascus. Mughniyeh was one of the world's most elusive militants, accused of engineering suicide bombings during Lebanon's civil war and of planning the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. He had vanished from public view for 15 years before his death but had become one of the most powerful figures within Hezbollah during that time. Hezbollah blamed his killing on Israel. Mughniyeh was the brother-in-law and mentor of Badreddine, who replaced him after his death.

1992
Ken Loach, back in Cannes, again plumbs pain of inequality

CANNES, France (AP)  Cannes, with yachts moored off the French coast and luxury boutiques lining its famous seafront, is an odd place for a proud socialist to call home.

But Ken Loach, the 79-year-old British director, has had 12 films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival over the years, including his Palme d'Or-winning "The Wind That Shakes the Barley." He's more a regular at Cannes than almost any filmmaker.

On Friday, Loach premiered "I, Daniel Blake," a warmly realistic drama about a middle-aged widower (Dave Johns) in northern England who after a heart attack can neither work nor get government benefits. The film chronicles his sometimes comic, frequently painful frustrations as he winds his way through a byzantine system that seems designed to crush him.

Actor Dave Johns, director Ken Loach and actress Hayley Squires, from left, pose for photographers, during a photo call for the film I, Daniel Blake at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Like many of Loach's films, the politics of "I, Daniel Blake" are unmistakable. It's an ardent polemic, straightforwardly and movingly told.

"There is a conscious cruelty in the way that we are organizing our lives now, where the most vulnerable people are told that their poverty is their own fault," Loach told reporters. "If you have no work it's your fault you haven't got a job. Never mind in Britain, there is mass unemployment throughout Europe."

Loach, like the Belgian brother duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, has long brought his distinct style of social realism to Cannes. This year, "I, Daniel Blake" follows another film that delves into the economic divide, albeit in a much different style of production.

Jodie Foster's "Money Monster," playing out of competition, is about a disgruntled, bankrupted investor (Jack O'Connell) who takes a TV finance pundit (George Clooney) hostage on live TV. The thriller is the rare Hollywood release to pulse with the fury of the Occupy movement, even though it comes about five years after protesters camped out near Wall Street.

While "Money Monster" has the sheen of a starry, big-budget production (Julia Roberts co-stars), Loach favors unknown faces and a less adorned approach. He quoted Bertolt Brecht on Friday as a filmmaking motto: "I always thought the simplest of words will suffice. When I say what things are like, it will break the hearts of all."

"I think that's what we tried to do because it not only breaks your heart ... it should make you angry," added Loach.

Loach also voiced hesitant support for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union in the country's June 23 vote.

"The EU, as it stands, is a neo-liberal project how do we fight it best, within or without," said Loach. "On balance, I think we fight it better within and we make alliances with other European left movements. But it's a dangerous, dangerous moment."

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
Prosecutor rules fatal Washington police shooting justified

TACOMA, Wash. (AP)  Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist says an officer's fatal shooting of a 32-year-old woman was justified.

In a decision announced Friday, Lindquist said two officers were trying to arrest a man who was in the passenger seat of a parked car before the shooting occurred Jan. 28.

The woman, Jacqueline Salyers, was in the driver's seat. Lindquist said when the police order the pair to show their hands, Salyers started the car and accelerated toward Officer Scott Campbell.

Campbell fired, striking Salyers four times. Lindquist says the car missed him by inches. A stolen handgun was found in the vehicle.

The man they were trying to arrest, Kenneth Wright, fled and was later arrested at a home in Tacoma.
French president marks end to C. African Republic mission

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP)  French President Francois Hollande says the country's mission is formally over in Central African Republic after the former colonizer's military spent more than two years trying to stabilize the highly volatile country.

Hollande made the announcement Friday on a brief visit to the capital of Bangui before heading on to Nigeria.

France has long had a military presence in Central African Republic, and French forces upped their presence after major sectarian violence erupted in late 2013.

While Operation Sangaris is credited with saving countless lives, the French mission also has been tarnished by horrific allegations of sexual violence against children.
AP National News Calendar

Eds: Major scheduled events for the week of May 15 - May 21. Note that many events are subject to change at the last minute.

The following economic reports will be issued in Washington (all times EDT) unless otherwise noted:

SUNDAY: No events of note.

MONDAY: National Association of Home Builders releases housing market index for May, 10 a.m.; Treasury releases international money flows data for March, 4 p.m.

TUESDAY: Labor Department releases Consumer Price Index for April, 8:30 a.m.; Commerce Department releases housing starts for April, 8:30 a.m.; Federal Reserve releases industrial production for April, 9:15 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Federal Reserve releases minutes from April interest-rate meeting.

THURSDAY: Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m.; Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, releases weekly mortgage rates, 10 a.m.

FRIDAY: National Association of Realtors releases existing home sales for April, 10 a.m.

SATURDAY: No events of note.

____

SUNDAY, MAY 15

No events of note.

____

MONDAY, MAY 16

Secretary of State John Kerry visits Austria, Belgium, Myanmar and Vietnam, through May 26.

Washington  Supreme Court issues orders.

____

TUESDAY, MAY 17

Washington  National Transportation Safety Board on the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia in May 2015.

Washington  Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria.

Washington  Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the public's demand for drugs, and the federal response.

Washington  House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on synthetic drugs.

Washington  Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing on resuming U.S. commercial air service to Cuba.

The Home Depot Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

____

WEDNESDAY, MAY 18

Washington  Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on ransomware.

Washington  House Science, Space and Technology subcommittee hearing on the next steps to Mars, and deep space habitats.

TOKYO  Japan reports preliminary first-quarter GDP data.

Lowe's Companies Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

Target Corp. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

____

THURSDAY, MAY 19

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens.

The Gap Inc. reports quarterly financial results after the market closes.

____

FRIDAY, MAY 20

No events of note.

____

SATURDAY, MAY 21
Jury convicts 2 men of plotting cartel leader's slaying

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP)  A jury on Friday convicted a Mexican man and his cousin of plotting to kill a lawyer in Texas who had been the acting head of a Mexican drug cartel and who died in a hail of bullets in a Dallas-area shopping center parking lot.

Jurors deliberated about 6 hours over two days before convicting Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Cepeda and Jose Luis Cepeda-Cortes of interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit murder for hire in the 2013 shooting death of Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 22 and both men could face up to life in prison.

The cousins were accused of using video cameras and a GPS device to track Chapa to the Southlake Town Square in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, where his sport utility vehicle was fired upon by a hooded figure who still hasn't been captured.

Over a three-week trial, jurors were presented with lurid, sometimes graphic testimony and evidence of the brutality employed by Mexican drug cartels to exert the will of their leaders.

Chapa was a lawyer for Gulf cartel boss Osiel Cardenas Guillen and helped negotiate leniency for Cardenas when he agreed to plead guilty to U.S. charges and cooperate with U.S. authorities. Cardenas was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2010 under his plea deal. Chapa fled Mexico for what he thought to be the safety of the North Texas suburbs, where he continued to work with U.S. authorities.

Prosecutors say the men tracked Chapa on the orders of Rodolfo Villarreal Hernandez, a Beltran Leyva cartel member known as "El Gato" who had blamed Chapa for the slaying of his father years before.

Defense attorneys argued that Ledezma-Cepeda, a private investigator who worked for Villarreal, had been forced by his client to track Chapa. Ledezma-Cepeda testified that he or members of his family would be killed if he balked. Attorneys for Cepeda-Cortes argued that their client  a retired South Texas phone company worker  was tricked by his cousin into helping trace Chapa.

Ledezma-Cepeda's son, 32-year-old Jesus Gerardo Ledezma-Campano, pleaded guilty before the trial to stalking and testified against his father. He said he and his father became involved in a group called "Grupo Rudo," which was associated with the Beltran Leyva cartel, and that his father enlisted his help with the technical aspects of the surveillance of Chapa.
'Sharknado' meets 'Walking Dead' at Motor City Comic Con

NOVI, Mich. (AP)  The stars of "The Walking Dead" and "Sharknado" have done battle with zombies and, well, sharks. They're facing a different kind of horde this weekend.

Tens of thousands of fans are expected at the 27th annual Motor City Comic Con, which got underway Friday in suburban Detroit. The three-day pop-culture extravaganza welcomes dozens of celebrities from TV and film as well as hundreds of comic book creators, writers and artists.

Michael Goldman, owner of Motor City Comic Con, predicted this would be the biggest event yet with more than 55,000 attendees expected at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, up from last year's record of 50,000.

Jordan Davis, who came dressed as "Batman" villain Harley Quinn, said she was stopped 15 times to pose for pictures within the first 20 minutes of the Motor City Comic Con, Friday, May 13, 2016 in Novi, Mich. Tens of thousands of fans are expected at the 27th annual convention which got underway Friday. The three-day pop-culture extravaganza welcomes dozens of celebrities from TV and film as well as hundreds of comic book creators, writers and artists. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

"If you'd have told me 10 years ago" that the attendance would be this high, "I would have told you that you were crazy," said Goldman, who added, "the marketplace for comic cons has grown everywhere."

It's a place where fans' "inner geek can come out," he said.

Jordan Davis, who came dressed as "Batman" villain Harley Quinn, said she was stopped 15 times to pose for pictures within the first 20 minutes of the show on Friday.

"People go all out. . It's amazing to see some of the artistry that people put into these costumes," said Davis, a 29-year-old from Troy, Michigan, who was attending her second Motor City Comic Con.

Davis wasn't the only person being asked for photos.

Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, who star in July's fourth installment of the campy smash "Sharknado" franchise on SyFy, were among the celebrities who mingled with fans.

"It's Comic Con. They're always fun," said Reid, also known for her roles in "American Pie" and "The Big Lebowski." ''You have so many different actors and people and vendors. It's just a fun thing to be a part of. It's kind of like a carnival."

Ziering set up shop next to Reid, and nearby were Alexandra Breckenridge and Michael Cudlitz, two of the stars of AMC's zombie apocalypse thriller "The Walking Dead." And over the weekend, visitors can expect to see Adam West and Burt Ward, who will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the "Batman" TV show.

Motor City Comic Con also offers plenty of pop-culture merchandise, including comics, art, T-shirts, movie memorabilia and posters.

___

Online:

http://www.motorcitycomiccon.com

Kevin Feber, left, and Zach Pope as Buzz Lightyear talk on the floor of the Motor City Comic Con, Friday, May 13, 2016 in Novi, Mich. Tens of thousands of fans are expected at the 27th annual convention which got underway Friday. The three-day pop-culture extravaganza welcomes dozens of celebrities from TV and film as well as hundreds of comic book creators, writers and artists. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Dave Gwin, left, dressed as Iron Man meets with Ely at the Motor City Comic Con, Friday, May 13, 2016 in Novi, Mich. Tens of thousands of fans are expected at the 27th annual convention which got underway Friday. The three-day pop-culture extravaganza welcomes dozens of celebrities from TV and film as well as hundreds of comic book creators, writers and artists. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

From left, Sean Baumgartner as Cornelius and Rhonda Payne as Caesar from Planet of the Apes, and Katey Griffin as Thor, take a break outside the Motor City Comic Con, Friday, May 13, 2016 in Novi, Mich. Tens of thousands of fans are expected at the 27th annual convention which got underway Friday. The three-day pop-culture extravaganza welcomes dozens of celebrities from TV and film as well as hundreds of comic book creators, writers and artists. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Low-level tremors may signal Alaska volcano eruption

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  A remote Alaska Volcano that erupted in March is again showing signs of life.

Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory on Friday morning detected seismic activity beneath Pavlof Volcano that can signal a low-level eruption. Instruments detected tremors typically related to the movement of fluids.

"In this case, lava is considered a fluid," geophysicist Dave Schneider said. "It can also be the hydrothermic systems, or hot water, percolating through the volcano."

The observatory upgraded the Pavlof's status from normal to a volcano watch. The observatory could not tell whether the volcano has sent up an ash cloud because the 8,261-foot summit is obscured by clouds.

"We're continuing to watch carefully and see how this develops," Schneider said.

By early afternoon, satellite sensors had not detected heat associated with lava flowing from vents on the mountain, Schneider said.

That wasn't the case March 27. Pavlof that day sent an ash cloud soaring to 37,000 feet, and the observatory almost immediately detected thermal readings indicating lava coming out.

Weather in late March also was uncharacteristically clear, and the ash cloud was spotted by pilots. The cloud drifted across interior Alaska to northern Canada.

Volcanic ash is sharp and abrasive and can cause jet engines to shut down. Alaska Airlines canceled nearly 70 flights to Fairbanks and Alaska communities over two days

Pavlof is conical and about 4.4 miles in diameter. The volcano has erupted more than 40 times since record-keeping began in the late 1700s.
If they hit him he is going to hit back? That is the mentality of a man child. This statement right there definitely shows that Trump is not mature enough to be POTUS. He needs to go back to the drawing board... Grow up.. Realize that he is a grown man not a child and try again.

As the POTUS.. He cannot just "hit back" at any and everyone who attacks him. This is ludicrous????
Eurovision Song Contest finally gets a US TV home at Logo

LOS ANGELES (AP)  America's trade deficit will rise Saturday, but it's a good thing: After 60 years, the Eurovision Song Contest finally is being imported for U.S. viewers.

It's mind-boggling that a contest that gave the world ABBA and Julio Iglesias took so long to get an American home  almost as startling as the glitzy event itself.

"It's hard to believe, right?" said Chris McCarthy, the Logo general manager who eagerly sought the telecast deal. The show will air live and commercial-free at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday and stream on LogoTV.com and the Logo TV app.

FILE - In this April 6, 1974 file photo, members of Swedish group ABBA and close associates celebrate the victory of their song "Waterloo" in the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England. The four members of ABBA, Benny Andersson, left, Annifrid Lyngstad, third left, Agnetha Faltskog, second right, and Bjorn Ulvaeus, right, , second right, were the most successful winners of the Eurovision Song Contest, enjoying unprecedented success after their victory. The final of this year's competition takes place on Saturday, May 14 in the Swedish capital Stockholm. (AP Photo/File)

Viewing parties are planned in New York and other major cities, Logo said.

With the channel's roots in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender culture, it was a perfect fit for the contest because of shared attitudes, McCarthy said.

"First and foremost, Logo and the LGBT community's gay sensibility is about pushing the boundaries, being your true self and letting your personality come to life," he said. "What this show is, above everything, is about people really putting it out there and being their true self."

The contest's strong following in the gay community helped Conchita Wurst, a bearded Austrian drag queen, win in 2014.

With an expected audience of about 200 million viewers, mostly in Europe but also China and Australia, the contest clearly has broad appeal with its mix of power ballads, bubblegum pop and over-the-top staging and costumes. (There are detractors, such as Brits who sneer at the excess  and haven't won since 1997.)

Mans Zelmerlow of Sweden took the crown in 2015, so the country is playing host to the event from its capital, Stockholm. Zelmerlow is co-hosting this year's show with Petra Mede, a Swedish comedian, and Justin Timberlake is scheduled to perform.

Contestants sing live, accompanied by recorded music tracks, and professional juries and TV voters awarding points separately to each performance.

The contest was launched in 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union, an alliance of public service broadcasters in 56 countries, with the lofty goals of creating closer ties between nations and advancing TV technology.

At minimum, Eurovision can take credit as the launching pad to fame for ABBA and Iglesias and for giving Celine Dion and Olivia Newton-John, among others, a career stepping stone.

Logo's McCarthy, who along with other fans has searched out satellite feeds of past contests in bars or elsewhere, is delighted Logo is its official U.S. host this time around  and, he hopes, for contests to come.

"We're thrilled we got it," he said. "It's a cultural gem that has exploded the last couple years across the world and outside of Europe."

___

AP Writers Karl Ritter in Stockholm and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.logotv.com
Scottish-born jazz baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley dies

NEW YORK (AP)  Scottish-born baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley, a former member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and a founding member of Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, has died at age 86.

Temperley died Wednesday in New York City after battling cancer, said JALC public relations director Zooey T. Jones.

"For someone from another country and culture to exhibit the depth of belief that animated his sound was, and still is, truly miraculous," Marsalis said in a JALC statement announcing Temperley's death.

"From the coal mines of Scotland, to clubs and concert halls all over the world. Joe's journey was epochal, and he did it with integrity, style, piss and vinegar. We will miss him deeply and his spirit will forever live on in the sound of our orchestra," Marsalis said.

Born in 1929 in the Scottish mining town of Lochgelly, in Fife, Temperley moved to London when he was not quite 20 after successfully auditioning to play tenor sax in Tommy Sampson's popular band. He gained prominence in Britain after switching to baritone sax when he joined Humphrey Lyttelton's band in 1958.

In 1965, he moved to New York where he became the first Scottish musician to make a big impact on the American jazz scene, performing and/or recording with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson and the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. He was invited to join the Ellington band in 1974 after he played at the funeral of the band's long-time baritone saxophonist Harry Carney.

Temperley spent nearly a decade in the Ellington band, run by son Mercer Ellington. In 1988, Marsalis invited several Ellington alumni, including Temperley, to perform in an all-star big band for an Ellington tribute. That band evolved into the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Temperley recorded several albums under his own name, including "Sunbeam and Thundercloud" with pianist Dave McKenna (1996) and "Double Duke" (1999).
Hawaiian Airlines to fly from Tokyo to Kailua-Kona

HONOLULU (AP)  Hawaiian Airlines on Friday secured the right to begin flying nonstop between Tokyo and Kailua-Kona, bringing a regularly scheduled direct flight from Japan to the Big Island for the first time since 2010.

The news came as the U.S. Department of Transportation said it awarded a new nighttime departure slot at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport to Hawaiian.

Hawaiian plans to use the slot to fly to Kona three times a week and to Honolulu the other four times. The airline already flies between Haneda and Honolulu.

FILE - In this April 21, 2014 file photo, a Hawaiian Airlines flight arrives from San Jose, Calif., in Kahului Airport in Kahului, Hawaii. Hawaiian Airlines has won the right to operate a direct flight from Tokyo to Kailua-Kona on the Big Island. U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz in a statement Friday, May 13, 2016, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx shared the news. (AP Photo/Oskar Garcia, File)

Big Island business leaders immediately welcomed the news.

"This is a huge deal for our community. We're just elated," said Kirstin Kahaloa, executive director of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

She predicted gains for the visitor industry, retail stores, restaurants and ocean recreation businesses, among others. Tourism is the biggest industry on the west side of the island so industry growth supports everybody, she said.

Kahaloa said the community has been hurting since Japan Airlines stopped flying from Tokyo's Narita airport to Kailua-Kona in 2010. Japan Airlines had maintained the route for 14 years but stopped it amid a round of corporate restructuring.

Hawaiian Airlines spokesman Alex Da Silva said the company anticipates launching service between late October and late January.

Hawaiian estimates the Kona route will generate $35 million a year in visitor spending and $12.5 million in wages and benefits.

Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi said he was thrilled by the announcement. He said local agriculture and aquaculture would also benefit as the Hawaiian plane will carry cargo as well as passengers, allowing farmers to send goods to Japan more quickly.

"These products no longer have to be sent to Honolulu before being flown to Japan," Kenoi said in a statement. "This increases freshness and reduces cost."

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said the announcement was the result of a recently finalized agreement between the U.S. and Japan expanding the number of flights between Haneda and the U.S. to six from four.
Ex-Argentine leader tells court son was killed by Hezbollah

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  Former Argentine President Carlos Menem said Friday he believes his son was killed by the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah, which prosecutors also suspect was behind two 1990s bombings in Buenos Aires.

In testimony to a judge overseeing the investigation of his son's death 21 years ago, Menem said that then-Foreign Minister Guido Di Tella had told him he heard through foreign embassies of Hezbollah's alleged involvement.

But Menem, who was president from 1989-1999 and is currently a senator, did not give further details or any evidence for the claim.

CORRECTS LOCATION WHERE MENEM'S FATHER TESTIFIED - FILE - In this Jan. 1995 file photo, Carlos Facundo Menem, the son of Argentina's former President Carlos Menem, sits in a helicopter in an unknown location in Argentina. Menem's father testified before a judge in his Senate office on Friday, May 13, 2016 that he believes his son was killed by Lebanons militant group Hezbollah. Carlos Facundo Menem died at age 26 when the helicopter he was piloting crashed on March 15, 1995 on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. (AP Photo, File)

Carlos Facundo Menem was 26 when the helicopter he was piloting crashed on March 15, 1995. Menem and his ex-wife have long said they believed their son was slain, but had not previously specified who they thought killed him.

Argentine prosecutors believe Hezbollah and Iran were responsible for the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people in the worst terrorist attack on the nation.

Both bombings occurred while Menem was president of Argentina, which has the largest Jewish population of any country in Latin America.

Many Argentines believe the bombings were triggered by Menem's decision to bolster the country's relations with the United States while withdrawing support for Iran's ambitions to develop nuclear technology.
Fish and Wildlife drops legal challenge to eagle killings

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP)  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday dropped its legal challenge to an American Indian tribe killing bald eagles for religious purposes on its Wyoming reservation  a move that could clear the way for issuing a federal permit in coming months.

The agency filed notice with a federal appeals court in Denver that it won't continue to appeal a lower court decision allowing the killing.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson in Cheyenne previously ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service violated the Northern Arapaho Tribe's religious freedoms by denying permission to kill bald eagles  the national bird  on the Wind River Indian Reservation for its annual Sun Dance.

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2010, file photo, an American bald eagle casts looks out, at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Ore. The head of the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish says his agency is considering whether it believes the Northern Arapaho Tribe would have to get state permission to kill bald eagles off the Wind River Reservation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is dropping its appeal of a judge's decision to allow members of an American Indian tribe to kill bald eagles for religious purposes on its reservation in central Wyoming. The federal agency on Friday, May 13, 2016, filed notice with a federal appeals court in Denver that it won't continue its appeal of last year's decision by U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

The Northern Arapaho share the reservation with the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, which opposes killing eagles. Johnson stated the First Amendment prohibited the federal government from burdening one American Indian tribe's exercise of religious rights to benefit another tribe.

In a prepared statement Friday, the Northern Arapaho Tribe said it expects to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service over the next couple of months to get a permit in place for the killing.

"We would like to thank our tribal elders who have taken the lead on this case to protect our most sacred ceremonies and the importance of the eagle to those ceremonies and our way of life," said Dean Goggles, chairman of the Northern Arapaho Business Council.

Attempts to reach Fish and Wildlife Service officials for comment weren't immediately successful.

A Fish and Wildlife Service official said in 2012 that a permit it issued to the Northern Arapaho Tribe that year was the first in the nation allowing the killing of bald eagles for religious reasons. That permit allowed the Northern Arapaho to kill up to two eagles, but specified they couldn't be taken on the Wind River Reservation.

At that point, the agency had issued permits allowing individual American Indians and tribes, including the Hopi in Arizona, to kill golden eagles.

The bald eagle was removed from the federal list of threatened species in 2007. The birds remain protected under the federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Federal law prohibits non-Indians from killing or possessing any part of bald eagles.

The government keeps eagle feathers and body parts in a federal repository in Colorado that tribal members may seek to use in religious ceremonies.

Northern Arapaho Tribe members have said it's unacceptable for them to use an eagle carcass from the federal repository for the Sun Dance. They have emphasized that tribal religious leaders strictly regulate and limit the killing.

Northern Arapaho officials have said the tribe's decision to seek the permit was closely related to the federal prosecution of Winslow Friday, a tribal member. Friday killed a bald eagle without a permit on the Wind River Indian Reservation in 2005 for use in the Sun Dance.

Former U.S. District Judge William Downes of Casper initially dismissed the federal charges against Friday, ruling it would have been pointless for him to apply for a permit because the Fish and Wildlife Service wouldn't have given it to him.

"Although the government professes respect and accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its own actions show callous indifference to such practices," Downes wrote in 2006. The federal appeals court later reinstated the charges against Friday.

After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Friday pleaded guilty in tribal court and was ordered to pay a fine.

The Eastern Shoshone Tribe had filed a friend of the court brief in the federal appeals court supporting the Fish and Wildlife Service's appeal of Johnson's ruling.

An attempt to reach Darwin St. Clair Jr., chairman of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council, wasn't immediately successful.

Robert Hitchcock, a lawyer for the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, said he couldn't comment on the federal agency's decision to drop its appeal.

In this March 25, 2013, file photo, Len Carlman, right, releases an adult male bald eagle with Teton Raptor Center program director Jason Jones in Wilson, Wyo. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is dropping its appeal of a judge's decision to allow members of an American Indian tribe to kill bald eagles for religious purposes on its reservation in central Wyoming. The federal agency on Friday, May 13, 2016, filed notice with a federal appeals court in Denver that it won't continue its appeal of last year's decision by U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne. (Price Chambers/Jackson Hole News & Guide, via AP, File)
UN report: Congolese officers got pistols from North Koreans

UNITED NATIONS (AP)  U.N. experts say Congolese army officers and police reported receiving pistols from a group of 30 North Korean instructors training their presidential guard and special police forces, which would appear to be a violation of U.N. sanctions banning Pyongyang from exporting weapons or providing military training.

The panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against Congo said they found that pistols similar to those produced in North Korea were issued to some members of the Congolese army and national police serving in the U.N. peacekeeping mission.

"The group also found that the same type of pistol was available for sale on the black market in Kinshasa," the Congolese capital, the panel said in excerpts from the report seen by The Associated Press on Friday.

On another issue, the experts said Rwanda is continuing to train and finance Burundian refugees in Congo with the ultimate goal of removing Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza from power.

The Rwandan government "denied any involvement," the experts said.

In a report in February, the experts said about 400 Burundian refugees in Congo were recruited and trained by Rwandan military personnel last year in military tactics, small arms such as assault rifles and machine guns, and hand grenades and mortars, among other weaponry, with the aim of overthrowing Nkurunziza.

"Similar outside support continued through 2016," the new report said. "This took the form of training, financing, and logistical support for Burundan combatants crossing from Rwanda" to Congo.

The experts said they also met Rwandans who told them they had been involved in training Burundian combatants or had been sent to Congo to help support the Burundian opposition.

Burundi has been wracked by violence since April 2015 when Nkurunziza declared his bid for a third term, which he eventually won in July, despite protests that it violates the constitution.

More than 400 people have been killed and an upsurge of violence, including tortures and increased disappearances, has created a climate of fear and led more than 250,000 people to flee to neighboring countries.
Feds push for opening of road in Idaho grizzly bear habitat

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Citing national security needs, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it wants to reopen an Idaho road that was closed to protect grizzly bear habitat near the Canadian border.

The 6-mile section of Bog Creek Road in Idaho Panhandle National Forests would be used by officials, not the public, to provide east-west access in the Selkirk Mountains.

The road cuts through the Selkirk Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone and was closed at both ends in the late 1980s to protect the animals.

Officials say it has deteriorated and needs significant repairs.

The federal agency says its personnel must now make a 180-mile detour through Washington state to patrol the area for illegal border crossings.

"The whole point is to make sure the Department of Homeland Security has what it needs and the grizzly bears have what they need," said Shanda Dekome, acting deputy forest supervisor.

Questions submitted by email on Thursday to Border Protection weren't answered.

The 2,200-square-mile Selkirk Mountain Ecosystem includes portions of Idaho, Washington state and British Columbia.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the grizzly bear population at about 80 bears listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Dekome said guidelines require 55 percent of the habitat area to have no motorized travel, and it is now about 5 percent short of that mark, with a 2019 deadline to comply.

Along with grizzly bears, other federally protected species in the area include caribou, Canada lynx and bull trout.

Boundary County Commissioner LeAlan Pinkerton, a former border protection agent, testified before a U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee last month about the road, contending it should be opened.

The Forest Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "have placed the recovery of grizzly bear, caribou, lynx and other wildlife species as a priority above our nation's security," he told lawmakers.

He told The Associated Press on Friday that he's traveled Bog Creek Road many times, having grown up in the area and later worked as a supervisory border protection agent.

"The agents that work that area absolutely have arrested people coming through and using that avenue," he said. "It still goes on today."

Mike Garrity, executive director of Alliance for the Wild Rockies, said his group planned to participate in a public review process on the proposal.

"Most grizzly bears that are killed are killed near roads, so it's something that would definitely be harmful to grizzly bears," he said.
Fracking on fields near the North York Moors National Park has been given the green light for approval by a crucial report, despite fierce opposition.

A UK firm has applied for permission under the Government's new fast-tracking scheme to explore for shale gas around the village of Kirby Misperton.

It has provoked angry protests from environmental campaigners and locals with concerns over the controversial technique.

A UK firm has applied for permission under the Government's new fast-tracking scheme to explore for shale gas around the village of Kirby Misperton on the North York Moors National Park (pictured)

Work on the site moved a step closer after a report by North Yorkshire County Council recommended permission is granted for testing on deposits first identified in the area by Third Energy in 2013.

The report admitted many of the 4,000 representations it had received in consultation were in objection to the plans, with concerns raised over impacts on climate change, water quality, air pollution and the possibility drilling would trigger earthquakes.

Environmentalists accused planning officers of dismissing 'serious risks' associated with fracking in the area despite there being 'clear evidence' it could harm wildlife, people's health and local businesses.

FRACKING AND EARTHQUAKES A spate of quakes in California's Central Valley was 'almost certainly' triggered by oil and gas activity in the area, a study found. Scientists made the discovery after studying a local surge in injection of wastewater underground, peaking in 2005. The US Geological Survey recently announced Oklahoma's risk of being hit by earthquakes has been increased by human activity. Fracking is thought to trigger earthquakes because of the way fluid is forced through pores in the rock to eject oil and gas. Earthquakes can be caused by injecting fluid into the subsurface or by extracting fluids at a rate that causes subsidence and slippage along planes of weakness in the Earth. Injecting fluids into the subsurface can increase the pressure of fluid in the pores and fractures of the rock, causing faults and fractures to 'fail' more easily. If pore pressures increase, then it would take less of an imbalance of in situ stresses to cause an earthquake.

Campaigners from across the country have pledged to stage a protest against the plans when North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee meets on May 20, with Dame Vivienne Westwood expected to attend.

Fracking is a technique used to drill for deposits of fossil fuels that cannot be extracted by conventional means.

It involves pumping fluids into rocks at such high pressures they fracture, releasing the gas or oil locked inside.

Critics say the process is disastrous for the environment, leading to pollution of ground water and even triggering earthquakes, although Britain is thought to have large deposits of shale gas that can be exploited by using the method.

In August the Government announced new measures to speed up the process by which companies can apply for planning permission at drill sites.

Energy ministers said the plans would both ensure local people have a 'strong say' over the development of shale exploration in their area and benefit communities and firms by speeding up the planning process.

North Yorkshire County Council's report recommended the project should go ahead as it would help to provide for the nation's energy needs and said there would be sufficient safeguarding measures put in place to protect the environment.

The plans have provoked angry protests from environmental campaigners and locals with concerns over the controversial technique. A similar recent protest is pictured

Simon Bowens, Friends of the Earth's Yorkshire campaigner, said the council should listen to the thousands of residents who had objected to fracking at the site.

He said: 'While it is disappointing that planning officers have dismissed the serious risks of fracking in Ryedale, Third Energy shouldn't be popping champagne corks yet.

'North Yorkshire Councillors have been presented with clear evidence that Third Energy's application could harm local wildlife, local business, people's health and the environment.'
Islamic extremist jailed for life over terror attack plan

A British Islamic extremist who idolised Jihadi John has been jailed for life for planning a terror attack on American military personnel in Britain.

Delivery driver Junead Khan, 25, was a "committed supporter" of Islamic State (IS) and plotted to kill a soldier using a "Jihadi John"-style knife.

He used his agency job with a pharmaceutical firm as cover to scout United States Air Force (Usaf) bases in East Anglia for potential victims.

Delivery driver Junead Khan, 25, used his agency job with a pharmaceutical firm as cover to scout United States Air Force bases in East Anglia

Detectives discovered he had been exchanging chilling online messages with an Islamic State (IS) fighter in Syria calling himself Abu Hussain.

Prosecutors claimed Hussain was British-born fanatic Junaid Hussain, who was killed in a US drone strike in the IS stronghold of Raqqa just weeks after his link with the planned UK attack was discovered.

One message described an attack on military personnel which they compared with the brutal murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.

Sentencing him today at London's Kingston Crown Court, Mr Justice Edis said: "Junead Khan was not far from the commission of the murder to be committed by horrifying method in the street in order to create terror and terrorist propaganda in this country.

"His offence was so serious that a life sentence must be imposed."

Khan, from Luton, stared straight ahead as he was handed the sentence after being found guilty of preparing terrorist acts between May and July last year.

He will have to serve a minimum of 12 years.

He had also been found guilty of, jointly with his uncle, Shazib Khan, 23, preparing to go to Syria to join IS.

Shazib Khan was given an extended sentence of 13 years in prison. He will have to serve eight years in custody.

Police arrested Khan last July and discovered pictures on his phone of him posing in his bedroom with an IS-style black flag later found in the attic.

His computer was found to contain an al Qaida bomb manual and Amazon searches for a large combat knife.

Police officers had visited Khan as part of the national anti-extremism programme Prevent.

But the terror plotter had poured scorn on their attempts to speak to him and mocked the programme in a series of scathing WhatsApp messages.

Mr Justice Edis said the two men, who are of Bangladeshi backgrounds, have rejected the values and opportunities Britain gave them.

He said: "They have both received education in this country at the public expense. They have lived as citizens of a free country which is committed to equality under the law.

"They both believe that Sharia law is the only legitimate law and both reject democracy because it involves law being made by people and not by God.

"They have rejected the protection of the law of this country and education they have received by becoming committed supporters of Isis (IS) - an organisation which wishes to control the world and which will stop short of no barbarity in order to do so."

The judge said that both men knew of the sickening attacks IS, also known as Isis, had committed on civilians but were determined to fight for the so-called caliphate anyway.

He said: "They were aware of the beheadings by Jihadi John very early in their adherence to Isis and also of the burning alive of a Jordanian pilot."

The judge said the pair had been radicalised by the banned terror group Al-Muhajiroun.

Junead Khan plotted to kill American personnel with a large knife, and at one stage planned to build a pressure cooker bomb which he would detonate as a suicide device if anyone tried to arrest him.

Outlining the plot, Mr Justice Edis said Junead Khan planned to ram his victim with his delivery car and then butcher them to death in a plot chillingly reminiscent of the murder of Fusilier Rigby.

He said: "He could use his van to crash into them and then attack them with a large knife.

"He particularly wanted to have a knife like that used by Jihadi John to behead defenceless prisoners for propaganda purposes.

"The delivery time for that knife was too long so he would have to improvise with one of his father's butcher's knives if he wanted to carry out his attack during Ramadan 2015."

Highlighting how determined he was to kill, the judge added: "All Junead Khan needed was a vehicle, a knife and a target. He had all those."

He said Shazib Khan was the "more intelligent" of the two and is "thoroughly dishonest and manipulative".

The judge added: "He genuinely intends to do harm and he has the talent to succeed."

During his lengthy sentencing remarks, the judge said the pair rejected the covenant of security, which prohibits Muslims from setting out acts of violence in countries where their lives are protected.

The judge said: "The rejection of the covenant against security is a significant first step along the way to Paris, Brussels and the 7th July 2005.

"It takes his intended terror away from the battlefield."
Hinkley Point 'Plan B' denied by Chinese state-owned energy giant

An energy giant owned by the Chinese state has denied it plans to step in with a "Plan B" at Hinkley Point should a 21 billion deal with the French collapse.

China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) issued the denial after former energy secretary Lord Howell told the Lords the Chinese were prepared to "bypass EDF altogether" at the Hinkley C project in Somerset.

Decisions on the scheme's future have been delayed and concerns have been raised over the French state-owned firm to take on the huge cost of building the plant.

Artist's impression of plans for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station (EDF / PA)

The French energy company recently revealed the price of building the reactors could rocket to 21 billion, 3 billion more than it said last year.

EDF said it plans to provide up to 13.8 billion for the project, while CGN would contribute 6.9 billion financing for the French to build two reactors at the site.

The original switch-on date for the plant has already been delayed three years to 2026, with building expected to take nine-and-a-half years.

In its most recent statement EDF, which is 85% owned by the French state, pushed a final decision on investment for the project back to September.

CGN said a report in The Times that the Chinese had drawn up a plan to take over the site completely in the event the EDF pulls out was "without foundation".

The Chinese are currently seeking approval for their reactor technology from British regulators, whereas French designs have passed.

A CGN spokesman said: "China General Nuclear Power Corporation has no plans to build nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point C.
Judo star Stephanie Inglis in coma after Vietnam motorbike crash

The sister of a Scottish Commonwealth Games medallist seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in Vietnam has revealed she is in a "critical" condition in hospital.

Judo star Stephanie Inglis suffered severe head injuries when her skirt caught in a wheel and pulled her off the bike as she made her way to the school where she has been teaching English to underprivileged children for the last four months.

The 27-year-old, who won silver at Glasgow 2014, is now being treated in a hospital intensive care unit in Hanoi where she is in a coma.

Judo athlete Stephanie Inglis is fighting for her life in hospital in Vietnam after a motorcycle accident

Her parents have flown from their home in Inverness to be at her bedside.

An online fundraising campaign launched to help pay for her medical costs has raised more than 75,000 within hours of being set up.

Her sister Stacey told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme: "She's in a very critical state, she's in a coma.

"There is a lot of bleeding to the brain and swelling, and we are just not sure what is going to happen."

A tearful Stacey added: " She is my big sister - I look up to her so much. She's one of the nicest people, the best sister you could probably have.

"She's so supportive to me, to my mum and my dad. She's got the best advice ever, not that I always take it.

"I just want her home, I just want her home."

She described the support the family are receiving as "amazing".

Fellow judo athlete Khalid Gehlan created the GoFundMe page after a problem emerged with travel insurance in covering the medical bills.

He said: "We set up the fund initially just to get some money together in the hope that some people would come together and give some money towards the cost to help Stephanie.

"But I didn't expect to get the response that we did and it's overwhelming, but it's testament to the kind of person Stephanie is."

Writing on the fundraising page, he said Inglis was being taxied on a motorbike to the school when the accident happened.

"Somewhere along this journey her dress was caught in the wheel and she was dragged off from her seat at high speeds and received severe injuries to her brain.

"If anyone can pull through this it's Stephanie.

"She has been a fighter her whole life, following in her father's footsteps and becoming an international athlete, competing for Great Britain all over the world, beating adversity, competing and winning a silver medal in Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, fighting for her country and her dreams.

"Now she is fighting for her life."

A statement from JudoScotland said the organisation is "obviously shocked and saddened".

It added: "Steph was a valued member of the JudoScotland Performance Squad prior to her retirement and a leading member of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games team, adding to Scotland's medal count with a silver medal (under 57kg).

"The thoughts and prayers of everyone at JudoScotland are with Steph and her family at this difficult time."

The Foreign Office said: ''We are in contact with the family of a British national who has been hospitalised in Vietnam, and will continue to offer support at this difficult time.''

Paul Bush, chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland, said news of the accident had come as a "great shock".

He added: "Stephanie, a 2014 silver medallist, was a popular and valued member of Team Scotland during the Glasgow 2014 Games.
Med people-smuggling mission 'hampered by lack of stable Libyan government'

An EU operation targeting people smugglers in the central Mediterranean is having no meaningful impact, a Lords report has found.

The House of Lords EU Committee said Operation Sophia, the naval mission charged with disrupting the people smuggling market in the wake of the migration crisis, is responsible for only low-level arrests.

The report, titled Operation Sophia: An Impossible Challenge, blames a lack of a stable Libyan government as a crucial factor in hampering the mission's success.

HMS Richmond, which has been involved in rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean (Ministry of Defence/PA)

It also criticises the operation for failing to properly understand the smuggling networks, particularly in Libya.

However, the report praises the search and rescue efforts of the mission, responsible for saving 9,000 lives at sea.

Committee chairman Lord Tugendhat said: "Our report stresses that the operation is succeeding in carrying out its separate search and rescue obligations, which is to be commended. This is a humanitarian obligation that should be maintained.

"However, a naval mission cannot disrupt the business model of people smuggling, and in this sense it is failing. The smuggling networks operate from Libya, and they extend through Africa. Without support from a stable Libyan government, the operation is unable to gather the intelligence it needs or tackle the smugglers onshore."

He said the committee is not confident that the new Libyan Government of National Accord will be in a position to work closely with the EU and its member states any time soon.

Lord Tugendhat added: "And when it comes to disrupting the smugglers' business model, the report finds that the destruction of vessels has so far been insignificant to the scale of the smuggling industry, and we have heard that the smugglers are simply changing their tactics in response.

"By the time the boats are in the open sea, the smugglers are no longer on board, and so only low-level targets have been arrested."

Peers concluded that a mission acting only on the high seas is not able to effectively disrupt the smuggling networks.

The EU must also focus on tackling root causes, including helping source countries overcome security and development challenges.
2.9m bonus for Tesco chief Dave Lewis as supermarket returns to the black

Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis has been awarded an annual bonus of 2.9 million, taking his total pay for the year to 4.6 million.

The figures, revealed in the supermarket's annual report, also show that the supermarket's chief financial officer, Alan Stewart, pocketed 2.5 million, which includes a bonus of 1.6 million.

Tesco's remuneration report said the payouts were awarded after "financial targets for sales and operating profit ... were met almost fully".

Tesco said the payouts were awarded after 'financial targets ... were met almost fully'

Tesco swung back into the black in February, notching up a pre-tax profit of 162 million compared with a 6.4 billion loss a year earlier.

Mr Lewis said the grocer had made "significant progress" since last year, adding: "We have taken decisive, immediate action on the challenges we faced. In a very deliberate way we have made the changes needed to re-energise the operation.

"We have stabilised the business and we are on track with where we expected to be."

Mr Lewis has been hailed for turning the ailing giant around after the disastrous reign of his predecessor, Philip Clarke, which saw profits slide, market share eroded and an accounting scandal dog the firm.

Mr Lewis joined Tesco in 2014 from Unilever and has moved to make the company more competitive in the midst of a bitter supermarket price war and the rise of German rivals Aldi and Lidl.
Father wins landmark ruling over school term-time holiday

A father who refused to pay a fine for taking his six-year-old daughter out of school for a family trip to Florida has won a landmark High Court ruling which looks set to force education chiefs to consider changing the law.

Jon Platt said later he had won a victory which would benefit hundreds of other parents facing similar penalties.

But a Department for Education source said children's attendance at school was "non-negotiable" and " we shall now look to change the law and strengthen statutory guidance".

Jon Platt, 44, was fined 120 for taking his daughter on a family holiday without permission from her school

Mr Platt was fined by Isle of Wight Council after he took his family on the holiday, which included a visit to Walt Disney World, without permission from his child's school.

He was originally fined 60. This was then doubled because of his refusal to pay.

The dispute went before Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court in October when Mr Platt won the case.

But the local authority appealed against the decision at the High Court in London.

On Friday, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not "erred in law" when reaching their decision.

The magistrates decided Mr Platt had "no case to answer" because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter - who is now aged seven and can only be referred to as M for legal reasons - had failed to attend school "regularly".

The two High Court judges ruled that the magistrates were entitled to take into account the "wider picture" of the child's attendance record during the school year - M had an attendance rate of 92.3%.

They ruled the magistrates were not restricted, as the local authority had argued, to just considering her "0% attendance" when she was absent on the unauthorised holiday.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones said: "I do not consider it is open to an authority to criminalise every unauthorised holiday by the simple device of alleging that there has been no regular attendance in a period limited to the absence on holiday."

After the ruling, Mr Platt said outside court: "I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me, but for hundreds of other parents."

But the Department for Education source said: "We will look at the judgment in detail, but we are clear that children's attendance at school is non-negotiable and we shall now look to change the law.

"We will plan to strengthen the statutory guidance to schools and local authorities."

Jonathan Bacon, leader of Isle of Wight Council, said the Platt ruling had " cast a shadow of doubt over the policies of schools and local authorities across the country".

He said: "We will be pressing the Department for Education to urgently consider creating clear legislation on this matter for the benefit of parents, schools and local authorities alike."

Motivation for parents to take term-time holidays is revealed by a new survey which shows that families face paying more than double the price for a package holiday as soon as school holidays begin.

A Local Government Association (LGA) spokesman said c hildren's education had to be treated "with the utmost seriousness", but it was clear that the current system "does not always favour families, especially those that are struggling to meet the demands of modern life or have unconventional work commitments".

The spokesman suggested there were occasions "when parental requests should be given individual consideration and a common sense approach applied".

Daniel Jackson, a solicitor with law firm Slater and Gordon, who has been involved in similar cases, warned that the Platt ruling could encourage other parents to challenge the fines they have received, and clarification was needed on what constitutes "regular" school attendance.

Earlier, Mr Platt, 44, said the case had cost him 13,000, which he described as "money well spent". Following his High Court success, the local authority was ordered to contribute 14,631 towards his legal costs.

Taking his daughter out of school was not about the cost but rather the principle that he should not be criminalised for doing so, he said.

A survey by travel money provider FairFX of package holidays for a family of four at a four- star hotel in Tenerife, Majorca, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve found that prices increase by up to 115% compared with the same trip taken two weeks before schools close for the summer.

Mark Jackson, appearing for the local authority, had argued that parents "cannot simply take their children out of school to take them on holiday, or for any other unauthorised reason".

He argued section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 stated that if a child failed to attend school regularly the parent was guilty of an offence, subject to certain statutory exceptions which did not include holidays.

The policy of M's school made it clear that holidays in term time "would not be authorised", said Mr Jackson.

He argued the magistrates should not simply have asked themselves "had the child attended school regularly" but whether she had attended regularly "during the period identified in the summons - 13-21 April 2015".

That was the period when she had been on holiday with her family and her attendance rate was "0%".

Rejecting the submission, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones said t he school's attendance register showed that M had an attendance rate of 92.35%, adding: "I consider the magistrates correctly had regard to the wider picture".
Fracking on fields near the North York Moors National Park has been given the green light for approval by a crucial report despite fierce opposition.

A UK firm has applied for permission under the Government's new fast-tracking scheme to explore for shale gas around the North Yorkshire village of Kirby Misperton, provoking angry protests from environmental campaigners and locals with concerns over the controversial technique.

Work on the site moved a step closer after a report by North Yorkshire County Council recommended permission is granted for testing on deposits first identified in the area by Third Energy in 2013.

Fracking on fields near the North York Moors National Park (pictured) has been given the green light for approval by a crucial report despite fierce opposition

The report admitted that many of the 4,000 representations it had received in consultation were in objection to the plans, with concerns raised over impacts on climate change, water quality, air pollution and the possibility drilling would trigger earthquakes.

Environmentalists accused planning officers of dismissing "serious risks" associated with fracking in the area despite there being "clear evidence" it could harm wildlife, people's health and local businesses.

Campaigners from across the country have pledged to stage a protest against the plans when North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee meets on May 20, with Dame Vivienne Westwood expected to attend.

Fracking is a technique used to drill for deposits of fossil fuels that cannot be extracted by conventional means. It involves pumping fluids into rocks at such high pressures they fracture, releasing the gas or oil locked inside.

Critics say the process is disastrous for the environment, leading to pollution of ground water and even triggering earthquakes, although Britain is thought to have large deposits of shale gas that can be exploited by using the method.

In August the Government announced new measures to speed up the process by which companies can apply for planning permission at drill sites.

Energy ministers said the plans would both ensure local people have a "strong say" over the development of shale exploration in their area and benefit communities and firms by speeding up the planning process.

North Yorkshire County Council's report recommended the project should go ahead as it would help to provide for the nation's energy needs and said there would be sufficient safeguarding measures put in place to protect the environment.

Simon Bowens, Friends of the Earth's Yorkshire campaigner, said the council should listen to the thousands of residents who had objected to fracking at the site.

He said: "While it is disappointing that planning officers have dismissed the serious risks of fracking in Ryedale, Third Energy shouldn't be popping champagne corks yet.

"North Yorkshire Councillors have been presented with clear evidence that Third Energy's application could harm local wildlife, local business, people's health and the environment."

Third Energy said it has taken "every possible step" to ensure the plan will not impact the environment.

Rasik Valand, chief executive of Third Energy, said: " We are pleased that the planning officer has recommended that North Yorkshire County Council approve our application.

"Within our application, and throughout North Yorkshire County Council's thorough assessment of it, including various stages of consultation, and through all the additional information provided, we have addressed the wide range of questions, concerns and comments raised by NYCC, statutory consultees and others.

"This work is reflected in the planning officer's report ,together with the planning conditions proposed. We believe that this thorough report will enable North Yorkshire County Council to reach a positive determination on our application.

"Third Energy has been drilling wells and producing gas safely and discreetly from this site in Kirby Misperton for over 20 years and we will continue to maintain the same standards in the future."

UKOOG, the onshore oil and gas industry body, welcomed the planning officer's recommendation.

Chief executive Ken Cronin said: " It is good news that the North Yorkshire County Council planning officer is recommending that the planning application at Kirby Misperton is approved, reflecting the hard work NYCC officers and Third Energy have done to address concerns that have been raised following extensive consultations. We will look forward to the council's decision on that application in due course.

"This recommendation should not be seen by anyone as a surprise, considering the well at Kirby Misperton has already been approved by the council, Health and Safety Executive and an independent well examiner and subsequently drilled.
Louis van Gaal not mentioned as Manchester United publish new financial results

Louis van Gaal's name was conspicuous by its absence as investors and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward sidestepped the subject of the Manchester United manager's position.

United announced their third quarter financial results on Friday which showed they were on course to become the first British club to earn more than half a billion pounds in a single year.

The club announced record revenues for the quarter of 123.4million, up 29.9 per cent on the same quarter last year, with commercial, broadcasting and matchday revenues all increasing.

Manchester United shareholders did not ask about Louis van Gaal's future

However, things on the field remain shaky as a topsy-turvy season comes to a close, with United facing an uphill battle to secure Champions League football next season.

A 3-2 loss at West Ham on Tuesday meant Van Gaal's men wasted the chance to go into the season finale against Bournemouth in control of their own destiny. They now require three points at home to the Cherries and to hope that Manchester City lose at Swansea.

It looks a tough ask and, while they have the FA Cup final to look forward to against Crystal Palace on May 21, missing out on the top four will only increase the pressure on Van Gaal, especially with Jose Mourinho edging closer to a return to management.

Speculation that the Dutchman could soon be leaving Old Trafford was fuelled on Friday, when he was not mentioned in the statement from Woodward confirming the third-quarter results or the conference call with investors which followed.

The nine-minute question-and-answer session did not once touch on Van Gaal, nor did executive vice-chairman Woodward mention the United boss during his opening remarks.

"This Premier League season has demonstrated once again why this league is the most compelling competition for sports fans all over the world," Woodward said.

"As we look back on our season, I am delighted by the emergence of our young players.

"In the last two seasons alone, some 15 players from our under-21s squad have appeared 130 times in our first team.

"Marcus Rashford made an immediate impact, scoring goals on his debut in Europe and then two more on his Premier League debut against Arsenal.

"Three of our regular first-team players - Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard, (Cameron) Borthwick-Jackson - are locally-born academy players, who have been with the club since they were eight years old."

Woodward was keen to point to the success of United's young players, saying the new structure of that part of the club "signals significant enhanced investment in the vital areas of our academy and support team".

There was no mention of the man who gave United's young players that chance, but the executive vice-chairman made United's desire to win silverware clear.

When asked about capital expenditure on players, Woodward said: "I think there have been two effects in recent years.

"There has been a continued inflation in player transfers, given the increase in money flowing around the industry.

"But also the second, perhaps greater, effect is the re-tooling that we've been undertaking in terms of the squad.

"I do think that things will stabilise lower in the coming few years, but probably continue to be lumpy thereafter. I can't guide on what that is.

"You know as a club, we will always invest in the squad to the extent that we feel we need to so that we're challenging for titles.
Labour must reach beyond core support to win elections - Sadiq Khan

New London mayor Sadiq Khan has said Labour must reach out beyond its core supporters if it is to get back into the "habit of winning" elections.

In a clear message to Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Khan called for the party to return to the successful strategy of John Smith and Tony Blair.

He said the Labour leader had failed to "score enough goals" against a Conservative Government torn apart by infighting over Europe.

London mayor Sadiq Khan has said Labour must reach out beyond its core voters if it is to return to the "habit of winning" elections.

"We need to understand that Cameron's government is as bad as John Major's," he told The Guardian.

"If you compare and contrast what John Smith and Tony Blair did during that period, compared to now. That is the trajectory we need to be on if we want to win in 2020."

Mr Khan, who barely mentioned Mr Corbyn during his successful campaign to take back City Hall for Labour after eight years under Boris Johnson, said he hoped his victory would provide a "template" for the national party.

"My challenge is over the next few months and years to hopefully show the rest of the country that Labour administrations can be pro-business, Labour administrations can be competent, Labour administrations can provide value for money."
Flying Scotsman's Borders trip cancelled by Network Rail

A visit to Scotland by the famous steam locomotive the Flying Scotsman will not go ahead as planned after a last-minute decision by Network Rail.

The track operator said it had not been able to carry out assessment work on some lines in time for the tour, which organisers say has been in the planning for more than a year.

The Flying Scotsman will operate between York and Edinburgh Waverley on Saturday as scheduled, but a vintage diesel engine is expected to take over for Sunday's trip, which was to see it run on the new Borders Railway to Tweedbank and across the Forth Bridge.

The Flying Scotsman will not be making its trip to the Borders on Sunday

The decision will disappoint hundreds of rail enthusiasts expected to turn out to see the recently refurbished steam engine.

Excursion operators Steam Dreams said: "Network Rail has known about these trips for months and they have left this gauging until the last minute.

"It means there is absolutely no time to plan anything else for the locomotive so we can give passengers in Scotland a trip behind this icon."

Built in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, in 1923, the Flying Scotsman pulled the first train to break the 100mph barrier in 1934.

The National Railway Museum in York bought the locomotive for 2.3 million in 2004 before work got under way on its decade-long restoration two years later.

Network Rail was forced to pay out almost 60,000 in compensation when dozens of train services were delayed by people encroaching on the track during the refurbished train's inaugural run from London to York on February 2 this year.

A spokesman for the operator said: "The routes the Scotsman had planned to cover this weekend are new ones for the locomotive and have to be individually assessed by our engineers in advance.

"Unfortunately we have been unable to carry out the work in time and cannot allow the engine to run when we are unsure if the unique design of the Flying Scotsman is compatible with the current railway infrastructure across the Fife and Borders routes.

"We understand the disappointment this will cause all those who had been looking forward to the iconic engine returning to these parts of Scotland and a full investigation will be undertaken into why these issues were not identified sooner."

A spokeswoman for the National Railway Museum said: "We are sorry to hear that our locomotive Flying Scotsman will be unable to haul the May 15 Steam Dreams The Borders Scotsman and Fife Evening Circular tours, due to an administrative issue.

"We can confirm there is nothing mechanically wrong with the engine which makes its triumphant return to Scotland post-restoration on Saturday May 14 with the York-Edinburgh leg of the Cathedral's Express service.

"We share the disappointment of the people of Scotland who were hoping to catch a glimpse of Flying Scotsman on its travels through Fife and the Borders."
Anglo coal assets may gain allure after early progress

BRUSSELS, May 12 (Reuters) - Anglo American has delivered its first coal from a longwall operation at its Grosvenor mine in Australia seven months ahead of schedule, it said on Thursday, news that could raise its chances of selling the asset.

Anglo American is aiming to cut its debt to $10 billion by selling $3-4 billion of assets in 2016, including its iron ore, coal and nickel units.

The Grosvenor metallurgical coal mine in the Bowen Basin of Queensland is regarded as among the best of Anglo American's Australian coal operations and the firm is counting on it to push its asset sale programme forward, analysts say.

"While Grosvenor may not fit Anglo American's strategic portfolio choices, its long-term commercial attractiveness is beyond question," Seamus French, CEO of Bulk Commodities for Anglo American, said in a statement.

It said the project was delivered for $100 million below budget and in line with environmental obligations. Anglo will now step up production at Grosvenor and ship the coal to steel consumers across Asia.

At full capacity, the Grosvenor longwall mine is expected to produce 7.5 million tonnes that can be sold every year, with 3.2 million tonnes expected to be produced in 2016.

At full tilt, Grosvenor is expected to operate at an all-in sustaining unit cost of 110 Australian dollars ($81) per tonne.

Sources have previously said the firm's metallurgical coal assets in Australia could be valued at about $1.5 billion.

Steel companies, including as Taiwan's China Steel and India's JSW Steel, have been mentioned by analysts as potential parties interested in buying Grosvenor assets.
Badminton-Malaysian Lee's smash recognised as fastest

May 12 (Reuters) - Former world number Lee Chong Wei's 408 kilometers per hour missile at last year's Hong Kong Open has been recognised as the most powerful smash in badminton since September, close to the top speed clocked by the fastest production car in the world.

Currently ranked number two in the world, Lee's smash topped the list, according to data supplied by Hawk-Eye Innovations, which provides instant-review services at major tournaments.

Denmark's Jan O Jorgensen was marginally behind Lee with a 407 kph missile in the semi-finals of the Malaysia Open this year.

Thailand's Ratchanok Intanon, the second-ranked in women's badminton, is not too far behind and clocked 372kph in the semi-finals of the same tournament in Malaysia.
U.S. courts delay execution of killer of Alabama policeman

By David Beasley

ATLANTA, May 12 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court put on hold Thursday's scheduled execution of a 65-year-old man convicted of murdering a police officer in 1985, ordering a review of his mental competency after his lawyers said he suffers from dementia.

Vernon Madison, one of Alabama's longest-serving death row inmates, had been scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. (2300 GMT) at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore.

The stay of execution issued by Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put off what would have been the 15th execution in the United States this year and the second in Alabama.

The state then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and allow the execution to go forward. The court narrowly denied that request, though the four conservative justices would have granted the motion to lift the stay of execution, the order said.

Madison's lawyers said that as a result of multiple strokes over the past year and other complications, Madison suffers from a condition called vascular dementia that has left him unable to understand why Alabama is seeking to execute him.

"Mr. Madison now speaks in (a) slurred manner, is legally blind, and can no longer walk independently as a consequence of damage to his brain," they said in a statement.

"It is unconstitutional to execute an individual who is mentally incompetent."

A federal court had earlier rejected the argument that Madison was not mentally competent to be executed. The appellate court said it will hear arguments in the case on June 23.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on the stay.

Madison was convicted in the fatal shooting of police officer Julius Schulte in Mobile, Alabama. He shot the officer, who was responding to a domestic call, in the head.

He faced three trials. Madison's convictions in the first two were overturned on appeal. In the third trial, he was convicted and the jury, in an 8-4 vote, recommended life in prison. The judge sentenced Madison to death.

State officials had wanted to proceed with the execution despite a May 2 U.S. Supreme Court order directing the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider death sentences in light of a Jan. 12 high court ruling striking down a similar statute in Florida.

The Supreme Court found that Florida's law had given judges powers that juries should wield in determining a defendant's eligibility for execution, violating the right to an impartial jury guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution's Sixth Amendment.
North Dakota oil output dips by 10,000 bpd in March -state

By Catherine Ngai

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - North Dakota's oil output fell for a fourth consecutive month in March, dropping about 10,000 barrels per day, the state's energy regulator said on Thursday, as weak oil prices continued to curb output.

Output slipped to 1.109 million bpd in the month from 1.119 million bpd in February, data from the North Dakota Industrial Commission showed. The decrease was far less than the dips of roughly 30,000 bpd in both December and January.

Still, it was a bigger cut than the 4,000-bpd decline in February.

Oil production in North Dakota has been hurt by the sharp drop in oil prices, which are about 60 percent lower than in June 2014. They recently rallied to about $47 a barrel after sinking below $30 in February.
Four killed, 15 wounded in blast in southeast Turkey - sources

DIYABAKIR, Turkey, May 12 (Reuters) - Four people were killed and 15 wounded, including four critically, when an explosion ripped through a village in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, security sources said.
Walkout over court comments mars Uganda president's inauguration

KAMPALA, May 12 (Reuters) - Uganda's veteran president vowed to fight corruption and inefficient bureaucracy on Thursday as he was sworn in to a fifth term in office, but some Western officials walked out of the ceremony when he mocked the International Criminal Court.

In his inaugural address, President Yoweri Museveni, 71, told heads of state, diplomats and other guests he planned to fight corruption and impose discipline on inefficient bureaucrats during his next five-year term of office, which will extend his rule to 35 years.

But Museveni offended U.S., European Union and Canadian officials in attendance when he criticized the International Criminal Court in his welcoming remarks as "a bunch of useless people."

Among guests at the inauguration was Sudan's President Omar Hassan al Bashir, who attended despite international warrants from the ICC seeking his arrest for crimes against humanity.

"In response to President Bashir's presence and President Museveni's remarks, the United States delegation, along with representatives of the European Union countries and Canada, departed the inauguration ceremonies to demonstrate our objection," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told a briefing in Washington.

"We believe that walking out in protest is an appropriate reaction to a head of state mocking efforts to ensure accountability for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity," Trudeau said.

Museveni was re-elected to a fifth term in February after a disputed vote and protests against his rule. Authorities blocked Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and other social media, citing security concerns ahead of the inauguration ceremony in Kampala.

The president officially won 60 percent of the votes in the February election, which the opposition said was rigged. Protests erupted, leading to clashes with police and dozens of arrests. Officials say the vote was free and fair.

Since coming to power in 1986, Museveni is credited with restoring order after years of chaos. But experts say the growing economy has not kept up with a rising population, while critics complain about corruption and a clampdown on dissent.

"These two mistakes, corruption and delays in decision making, irritate the public and frustrate the investors," Museveni told visiting African presidents and other dignitaries.

"This time I will act directly so as to discipline the public service as we discipline the army," the rebel-turned-statesman said, adding that he would work to boost agricultural output in the coffee and tea exporting nation.

Police arrested opposition leader Kizza Besigye after a street protest on Wednesday. Besigye, who heads the Forum for Democratic Change party, won 35 percent of the vote. He has been under house arrest on and off since then.

The head of Uganda's telecommunications regulator Godfrey Mutabazi said security agencies had asked that access to social media websites be blocked "to limit the possibility of terrorists taking advantage" of visits by dignitaries.

In the days leading up to Museveni's swearing-in, authorities also placed more security patrols on the streets of Kampala and residents said there was a strong presence of military and police on Thursday.

The government also banned live television or radio coverage of protests in the wake of the election, which EU monitors said was held in an intimidating atmosphere. The EU also said the electoral body lacked independence and transparency.
Ebola, commodity price fall cost Guinea $500 mln in lost revenue

CONAKRY, May 12 (Reuters) - Guinea lost around $500 million in revenue in 2015 after an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus and the drop in global commodity prices slowed growth and hurt the mining sector in the West African country, Prime Minister Mamady Youla said on Thursday.

The country was one of three West African states at the centre of the outbreak, with more than 2,500 people in Guinea dying of the virus in 2014 and 2015.

"Growth was zero in 2015," Youla told a press conference. "We recorded a 2.9 trillion Guinean francs (around $350 million) shortfall in our revenue and $150 million shortfall in our foreign exchange earnings".

Mining is the main source of foreign exchange in Guinea, which holds nearly a third of the world's reserves of bauxite, the metal used to make aluminium.

"In February 2011, the price of iron was $187 per ton", Youla said. "In December 2015 it was $39 per ton. We have seen a collapse that hasn't encouraged the development of projects in this sector".

Hoping for a rebound, the country has set its economic growth target at nearly 4 percent for 2016, the prime minister said, and is seeking double-digit growth by 2020. It banks on the Simandou iron ore project, worth an estimated $21 billion.
Burkina Faso plans to bring troops home amid security threats

OUAGADOUGOU, May 12 (Reuters) - Burkina Faso plans to withdraw its troops deployed in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur and to bring them home against a backdrop of growing security threats in the Sahel-Saharan region, the Burkinabe army's chief of staff said on Thursday.

The West African country was rocked in January by an attack on a hotel and restaurant in its capital, Ouagadougou, claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, that killed 30 people.

The group has been targeting since November civilians at locations frequented by Westerners. It carried out attacks in Mali's capital Bamako and in a beach resort town in Ivory Coast, leaving dozens of people dead.

"When Burkina Faso decided eight years ago to deploy its first battalion in Darfur, we were in an environment without threats at our borders," General Pingrenoma Zagre told reporters in Ouagadougou. "We had a security situation in the Sahel-Saharan region that was overall satisfactory."

But the current circumstances and the logistical costs "led us to a reassessment of the means deployed to support peace keeping theatres and consider the prospect of a withdrawal of one of our three battalions," he added.

Burkina Faso, which is the eleventh-largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, has one battalion of 850 soldiers in Darfur and two battalions in Mali. A military source said the battalion to be withdrawn would be the one in Darfur.
Amnesty says Syrian rebels maybe guilty of war crimes in Aleppo

By John Davison

BEIRUT, May 13 (Reuters) - Amnesty International said on Friday that Syrian insurgent groups might have committed war crimes in their heavy bombardment of a Kurdish-controlled area of the northern city of Aleppo.

The rights watchdog said it had collected evidence of the killing of dozens of civilians by indiscriminate shellfire on the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in Syria's former commercial hub, which is mostly split between government and rebel control.

The violence is part of intense fighting pitting the Kurdish YPG militia - which is backed by Washington in the fight against Islamic State militants - against rebel groups, some of them backed by foreign countries via Turkey.

Both sides have accused each other of killing civilians.

"Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud district ... have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate attacks that have struck civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques, killing and injuring civilians and displaying a shameful disregard for human life," Amnesty said in a statement.

The attacks "may amount to war crimes," its deputy Middle East director Magdalena Mughrabi said.

"By firing imprecise explosive weapons into civilian neighbourhoods the armed groups attacking Sheikh Maqsoud are flagrantly flouting the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets, a cardinal rule of international humanitarian law."

Amnesty drew on eyewitness testimony and videos, and said at least 83 civilians including 30 children had been killed in the area between February and April.

The YPG and its allies have for several months been battling insurgents including some Islamist groups in northern Aleppo province, which borders Turkey. Shellings of Sheikh Maqsoud, which has a large Kurdish population, have intensified since February.

Rebels say the YPG wants to take a road which provides access from Turkey to Aleppo's rebel-held western approaches.

They say the YPG is working with the Syrian government. The YPG denies it is coordinating attacks with Damascus.

Fighting farther north, including near the town of Azaz, continues as the YPG and insurgents compete for control in the area.

Turkey, which is fighting its own insurgency against Kurdish militants in its southeast, views with concern any expansion of control by the YPG, which already holds an uninterrupted 400 km (250 mile) stretch along the Syrian-Turkish frontier. Its forces have shelled Kurdish positions across the border.
Rwanda aids Burundi rebels, N.Korea arms Congo -U.N. experts

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, May 12 (Reuters) - A confidential report to the United Nations Security Council accuses Rwanda of providing training, financing and logistical support through early 2016 for Burundian rebels seeking to oust Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza.

A panel of six independent experts, appointed by the United Nations to monitor Security Council sanctions on Democratic Republic of Congo, had confidentially reported in February that 18 Burundian combatants in eastern Congo said they had been recruited in a refugee camp in Rwanda in mid-2015 and trained by instructors, who included Rwandan military personnel. Rwanda has repeatedly denied the claims.

In the experts latest report, seen by Reuters on Thursday and due to be discussed by the Security Council sanctions committee on Friday, they said "similar outside support continued through early 2016."

"This took the form of training, financing and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC," the group of experts wrote in the report.

"The group met with Rwandan nationals, as well, who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DRC to help support the Burundian opposition," they said.

The findings contradict suggestions from Western officials in recent months who said any Rwandan support for Burundian rebels appeared to have ceased last year. The United States said it had raised concerns with Rwanda over reports it was meddling in Burundi.

Political violence has simmered in Burundi for a year after Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. The crisis has sparked concerns it could spiral into an ethnic conflict in a region where memories of neighboring Rwanda's 1994 genocide are fresh.

Burundi has an ethnic Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the same split as in neighbouring Rwanda.

The U.N. experts said they had presented their findings to the Rwandan government "which denied any involvement, noting it was 'unaware of recruitment of Burundian refugees in Mahama (refugee) camp.'" Rwanda's U.N. mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some Security Council members want to deploy U.N. police to Burundi to help quell the violence and monitor the border between Burundi and Rwanda.

The U.N. experts also reported that several Congolese officers told them North Korea has supplied Congolese troops and police with pistols and sent 30 instructors to provide training for the presidential guard and special forces.

There is a U.N. arms embargo on North Korea that prevents Pyongyang from importing or exporting weapons and training. An arms embargo on Congo requires states to notify the Security Council sanctions committee of any arms sales or training.

The experts said they found that several Congolese army officers, as well as several police deployed abroad in a U.N. mission, appeared to have North Korean pistols.

The Congolese officers said the pistols were delivered by North Korea to the Congolese port of Matadi in early 2014. "The group also found that the same type of pistols was available for sale on the black market in Kinshasa," the report said.

The experts said they had asked Pyongyang and Congo for information but had not yet received a response. Congolese and North Korean officials had no immediate comment.
Tharman takes over as Singapore finance minister after Heng suffers stroke

By Lee Chyen Yee and Anshuman Daga

SINGAPORE, May 12 (Reuters) - Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat suffered a stroke and collapsed during a cabinet meeting on Thursday and Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was named to cover his duties.

Heng, 54, who had been tipped as a potential successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, was recovering in hospital after surgery, the prime minister's office said.

"Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will be covering the duties of the minister for finance with immediate effect," it said in a statement.

Tharman, 59, stepped down from his role as finance minister in October after Lee inducted younger people in key ministries as part of preparations for a leadership transition.

Tharman was named the coordinating minister for economic and social policies and also continued as the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank.

"Heng Swee Keat had a sudden stroke due to an aneurysm, which is a localised weakening of a blood vessel. He underwent initial neurosurgery to relieve pressure in his brain due to the bleeding," the statement from the prime minister's office said.

It said the aneurysm was successfully closed and Heng will remain under close monitoring in an intensive care unit.

Heng, a former managing director of the central bank, collapsed at 5.34 pm on Thursday and was rushed to hospital.

The other potential candidates to succeed Lee, who has said he will hand over power by 2020, are Chan Chun Sing, a minister in the prime minister's office and Tan Chuan-Jin, the minister for social and family development.

Heng, a former education minister, won praise from Singapore's first prime minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, as being the best principal private secretary he ever had.

In his maiden budget in March, Heng announced support for the Southeast Asian nation's battered offshore marine sector and small businesses, but made no big stimulus moves for the $290-billion economy slowing from a global downturn.
Colombian government, rebels agree peace deal to be constitutionally binding

By Sarah Marsh

HAVANA, May 12 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels agreed on Thursday on a series of legal mechanisms to ensure any peace deal agreed at negotiations will be constitutionally binding if approved by Colombians in a proposed referendum.

The two sides have been in peace talks in Havana, Cuba, since late 2012 to end Latin America's longest war that has displaced millions and killed hundreds of thousands.

"We have arrived at a deal to give the final deal juridical security and stability," the two sides announced in a joint statement read in Havana, the site of peace talks for the past three years.

A deadline for a final accord was missed in March, but Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday his government hoped to conclude a peace deal with the FARC rebels "in the very near future".

The government's top negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, reiterated Bogota's position that any deal would be submitted to a referendum. He said the FARC, long wary of a referendum given that many Colombians harbor deeply anti-rebel sentiments, was warming to the idea.

"The head of the FARC delegation opened the door to a popular referendum a few days ago," de la Calle said. "We see this as positive."

Many proponents of a peace deal say the referendum is key because without popular backing, the political opposition might try to stall its implementation in the courts.

De la Calle added that both sides were continuing to work on a deal for a bilateral ceasefire and rebel disarmament.

The Colombian government has been addressing the FARC's concerns about their safety in the even of a disarmament in recent weeks.

Bogota is stepping up its offensive against crime gangs which formed after a 2006 peace accord with right-wing paramilitaries failed to absorb many into society.

In the 1980s hundreds of former FARC soldiers were killed by paramilitary groups when they laid down their weapons to join democratic politics. Fears of a repeat have hardened the guerrillas' resolve not to disarm until they feel sure of their safety.

Colombia's defense minister said last week armed forces will launch air raids on crime gangs involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Texas businessman gets year in prison for failed Gambia coup

By Steve Gorman

May 12 (Reuters) - A Texas businessman convicted of plotting to violate the U.S. Neutrality Act in a failed 2014 bid to overthrow the government of Gambia and install himself as president of the tiny African nation was sentenced on Thursday to a year in prison.

Two other U.S. citizens of Gambian descent who pleaded guilty with the coup plot leader, Cherno Njie, 58, received six-month prison terms, and a third was sentenced to time already served, federal prosecutors said.

The below-guideline sentences, more lenient than those recommended by federal prosecutors, were handed down by U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle in Minnesota, where the case originated.

Ben Petok, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for Minnesota, declined to comment on the rationale for the relatively light punishment leveled against the four men.

But prosecutors' sentencing memoranda stated the defendants "were motivated by a fervent desire to overthrow a regime (they) believed to be inhumane and oppressive," noting the U.S. government "has long been critical" of Gambia's human rights record.

The previous U.S. military service of Njie's co-conspirators - Papa Faal, 47, of Minnesota, Alagie Barrow, 43, of Tennessee, and Banke Manneh, 43, of Georgia - also were factors in their sentencing, Petok said. Faal, who saw combat in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, received the lightest sentence.

Nevertheless, the four men "violated U.S. laws that exist to protect the foreign policy of our country and all Americans both at home and abroad," U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said.

The current leader of Gambia, President Yahya Jammeh, seized power in a coup 20 years ago and wields tight control over the impoverished West African country of 1.8 million people.

Njie, a Texas housing developer, was the mastermind and chief financial backer of plotters who attacked the presidential palace on Dec. 30, 2014, hoping to topple Jammeh's government while he was out of the country. They had planned to install Njie as interim president, court documents say.

According to court records, the coup bid failed when palace guards opened fire on the attackers, killing three of them, and the remaining raiders fled. Njie and Faal escaped to neighboring Senegal before returning to the United States.
BOK holds policy rate for 11th month, analysts see June cut

By Christine Kim

SEOUL, May 13 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank kept its policy rate at a record low 1.50 percent on Friday for an 11th straight month as expected, believing economic recovery could continue at the current level without a cut, although many analysts expect a move in June.

Many market participants believe the Bank of Korea (BOK) should cut rates to support economic activity, given weak exports and an ongoing restructuring of South Korea's massive shipping and shipbuilding industries.

"The governor showed he is willing to coordinate with the government on future policy. I think he kept the door open today to another cut - the only issue is when," said Kim Jina, fixed-income analyst at IBK Securities.

"Just because there was a unanimous vote to hold rates today doesn't change the fact that the new board members will change their tendencies."

Four new board members who made their monetary policy debut on Friday were widely perceived as doves by investors and analysts, and therefore likely to favour rate cuts.

Kim said the BOK is likely to cut in June, unchanged from her previous view.

All but two of the 26 analysts surveyed by Reuters this week had forecast the Bank of Korea would leave its base rate unchanged at Friday's meeting but a majority of respondents did see the bank cutting soon.

The won had dropped nearly 1 percent early in the session before the rate decision on broad dollar strength and expectations of a future BOK rate cut, but those losses had evaporated by the time Governor Lee Ju-yeol was finished speaking at his news conference, with traders jolted by the unanimous vote.

The won was down 0.4 percent versus the greenback as of 0308 GMT.

Lee offered no sign of what assistance the Bank of Korea might provide to the two state-run banks most exposed to the troubled shipping and shipbuilding industries, although the governor said the board was watching the situation very closely.

"We are currently in discussions on how the Bank of Korea can support the corporate restructuring process. I will refrain from commenting further on the subject at this time," said Lee, despite being pressed repeatedly to address the issue.

A joint taskforce consisting of the government, central bank, and other institutions such as the financial regulator are currently in talks to ensure the state-run banks do not hit a credit crunch in the corporate overhaul of the sector.

The taskforce said it will announce its shipping industry restructuring plans by end-June.
China, US should manage Sth China Sea differences constructively - Chinese general

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said.

Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

Fang and Dunford discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said.

The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States, which have traded accusations of militarising the South China Sea as China implements large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Tuesday, China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. navy guided missile destroyer sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea and denounced the patrol as an illegal threat to peace.

The U.S. defence department said the latest "freedom of navigation" operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam that were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea.

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.

Fang said China was not to blame for tensions with the United States in the South China Sea and urged the two sides "to bear the overall situation in mind and manage their differences in a constructive way", Xinhua reported early on Friday.
0-Top Hezbollah commander killed in Damascus blast

By Tom Perry and Laila Bassam

BEIRUT, May 13 (Reuters) - Hezbollah's top military commander Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in a blast at a base near Damascus airport, the Lebanese Shi'ite group said on Friday, one of the biggest blows to its leadership the Iranian-backed organisation has ever sustained.

Hezbollah did not immediately say on Friday who it blamed for the attack, but its deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said there were clear indications of who was behind it, and the group would announce the outcome of its investigation within hours. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

At least one Hezbollah figure blamed the group's age-old enemy Israel, which has struck Hezbollah targets in Syria several times in the past since civil war started there in 2011. Israel declined to comment, but a former Israeli official said his country would be glad Badreddine was dead.

Hezbollah also has many other foes in Syria, where it fights in support of the government of President Bashar al-Assad against a range of Sunni Muslim groups including Islamic State.

Thousands of Hezbollah fighters and leaders gathered at a mosque in Hezbollah's stronghold in southern Beirut and gave Badreddine a military funeral, waving Hezbollah flags. They chanted Shi'ite religious slogans, as well as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel".

Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the "path" of Badreddine.

In a letter, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif extended condolences "for the martyrdom of this great jihadist ... who embodied devotion and vigor and was legendary in his defense of high Islamic goals and his defense of the Lebanese people who resist oppression and terrorism."

The U.S. government believed Badreddine, 55, was in charge of Hezbollah's military operations in Syria.

He is the most senior Hezbollah official killed since 2008 when his brother-in-law, long-serving military commander Imad Moughniyah, was blown up by a bomb planted in his car in Damascus that Hezbollah blamed on Israel.

The latest killing follows other recent losses for Hezbollah and Iran in Syria, despite Russian military intervention in support of Assad and his allies in a five year multi-sided civil war that has drawn in neighbouring states and world powers.

At least four prominent figures in Hezbollah have been killed since January 2015. A number of high-ranking Iranian officers have also been killed, either fighting Syrian insurgents or in Israeli attacks.

Hezbollah said it was investigating whether the explosion at the base was caused by an air strike, a missile attack or artillery bombardment. It did not say when he was killed.

"This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," said Nawar al-Saheli, a Hezbollah member of Lebanon's parliament, hinting at the prospect of retaliation: "The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time."

Israel never confirms or denies allegations of targetted killings of individuals abroad. When asked by an interviewer on Israel Radio about possible Israeli involvement, cabinet minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, declined to comment.

Hezbollah is Lebanon's most powerful political and military group, having grown stronger since forcing Israel to end its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. The sides fought a 34-day war in 2006, their last major conflict.

Israel deems Hezbollah its most potent enemy and worries that it is becoming entrenched on its Syrian front and acquiring more advanced weaponry.

"We don't know if Israel is responsible for this," Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, told Israel's Army Radio. "Remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters without Israel."

"But from Israel's view, the more people with experience, like Badreddine, who disappear from the wanted list, the better," he said.

A U.S. Department of the Treasury statement detailing sanctions against Badreddine last year said he was assessed to be responsible for the group's military operations in Syria since 2011, and he had accompanied Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah during strategic coordination meetings with Assad in Damascus.

U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, a Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition effort against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, said it was too soon to assess what impact Badreddine's death might have on Hezbollah but noted that it had suffered heavy casualties in Syria.

"But with regards to this specific strike, who took it and what the downstream impact is going to be of losing this leader - it's simply too soon to tell," he said.

HIJACKERS SOUGHT HIS RELEASE

Announcing his death, Hezbollah quoted Badreddine as saying he would return from Syria victorious or as a martyr. A photo released by the group showed him before his death, smiling and wearing a camouflage baseball cap.

Badreddine's death sparked wide condemnation from Lebanese political allies. "His martyrdom is a big loss for the Lebanese in their fight against Israeli-Zionist aggression and Takfiri terrorism," Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, in reference to Israel and Sunni miliant groups.

"His loss will leave a vacuum but the lesson is to continue on the path that he chose -- resistance and Jihad until victory is achieved."

Badreddine was sentenced to death in Kuwait for his role in bomb attacks there in 1983. He escaped from prison in Kuwait after Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, invaded the country in 1990.

His release from jail in Kuwait was one of the demands made by the hijackers of a TWA flight in 1985, and of the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988.

For years, Badreddine masterminded military operations against Israel from Lebanon and overseas and managed to escape capture by Arab and Western governments.

Badreddine was also one of five Hezbollah members indicted by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, one of Lebanon's most prominent Sunni Muslim figures. Hezbollah denied any involvement and said the charges were politically motivated.

Around 1,200 Hezbollah fighters are estimated to have been killed in the Syrian conflict. These include prominent figures Samir Qantar and Jihad Moughniyah, the son of Imad Moughniyah, who were killed in separate Israeli attacks last year.
China environment ministry given powers to inspect provinces - paper

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China's environment ministry has been given powers to send inspection teams to provinces and regions across the country as part of its efforts to root out local polluters, the official China Daily newspaper reported on Friday.

The paper said the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) would become only the second national authority, after the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's corruption watchdog, to have the power to send inspection teams and hold discussions with provincial leaders.

Citing Liu Changgen, the head of the National Environmental Protection Inspection Office, China Daily said another 14 provinces would be subject to a central government-led probe following the completion of inspections in heavy industrial Hebei in northern China earlier this year.

China has been trying to strengthen its environmental powers as part of a "war on pollution" launched in 2014 to try to reverse the damage done by decades of untrammelled growth.

A new environmental protection law in force from the beginning of last year gave authorities more powers to punish firms and individuals that persistently break the rules, including the ability to impose unlimited fines and imprison violators.

China has also set up dozens of special environmental tribunals at local courts as well as dedicated regional inspection forces to help implement its laws.

But the MEP has acknowledged that enforcement remains a major challenge, with minister Chen Jining saying in February that Beijing still needed more clout to crack down on polluting firms and the local governments that protect them.

The ministry said last week that Hebei, which has been on the frontline of the war on pollution, had failed to put enough pressure on city-level governments to meet standards.

The ministry said the inspections had revealed that a number of firms in Hebei, home to seven of China's 10 smoggiest cities, had illegally expanded production capacity and engaged in "fraudulent practices".

According to figures published on Thursday, the MEP imposed total fines of 115.97 million yuan ($17.78 million) in the first quarter of this year, up 153 percent on the year, and had closed or suspended production at 301 polluting projects.

"Some regions still have not achieved effective improvements to their environmental quality, and the power of environmental enforcement still needs to be strengthened," the ministry added in a statement on its website (http://www.mep.gov.cn).
New Myanmar government proposes keeping some junta curbs on protests

By Antoni Slodkowski

YANGON, May 13 (Reuters) - Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is facing criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain restrictions on free speech once wielded against it by the country's former junta.

Since taking power in April, former political prisoner Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has released scores of detainees and is making a big push to revise some of the most repressive measures from the long years of military rule.

But its new version of the law governing public demonstrations has prompted alarm since the proposals were submitted to parliament last week.

The draft bill would punish protesters for spreading "wrong" information and make straying away from pre-registered chants an offence. It bars non-citizens - a category that includes the largely stateless Muslim Rohingya minority - from protesting and lists criminal penalties for "disturbing" or "annoying" people.

The NLD says the new bill would introduce substantial changes to the military era legislation and was aimed at protecting peaceful protesters rather than penalizing them.

But worries over the proposed Peaceful Assembly Law are compounded by concerns over the government's recent request to the U.S. ambassador to refrain from using the term "Rohingya" and Suu Kyi's refusal to speak out in support of a community that faces continuing persecution in Myanmar.

The issue is being closely watched by Suu Kyi's supporters in the West. The NLD faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad, but the Nobel peace prize winner's autocratic decision-making style makes the government's intentions hard to read.

"We are concerned that the NLD is rushing this," said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at the Human Rights Watch based in Yangon.

"The bill should guarantee the right to protest, and there's no reason why it should include penalties against protesters," said Mathieson.

He said there were other laws, like the penal code, that regulated potential violations by the protesters and that in its current form the bill gave the authorities latitude to crack down on peaceful demonstrators.

These concerns emerge just as the U.S. prepares its annual decision on whether to extend its sanctions on Myanmar. The newly-appointed U.S. ambassador to the country, Scot Marciel, said this week respect for human rights was an important factor.

WATERED DOWN

The draft bill does remove or water down some restrictions from existing legislation, such as the article that meant activists could be hit with multiple counts of the same charge - increasing the length of the sentences that could be meted out.

It was used last year against students taking part in an unsanctioned march on Yangon, some of whom faced more than 50 charges because offences were counted in each township - Myanmar's smallest administrative unit - they passed through.

The draft also cuts the notice required for a demonstration to 48 hours and removes the need to get police consent.

Still, students say the changes don't go far enough.

"I think the laws which restrict people's right to demonstrate for what they want should not exist," said Zayar Lwin, a leader of one of Myanmar's largest students' unions.

He said that as long as there were restrictions in the laws "it would be difficult for us to accept that."

The NLD's upper house bill committee member Aung Thein, formerly an activist lawyer, rejected that notion.

"In the past, they had to seek prior permission at least five days in advance. Now, they have to notify the authorities only two days ahead," said Aung Thein.

There was also a time limit on taking action against the protesters, he said. "Action must be taken within 15 days after the protest. No action can be taken against them after 15 days."

But Laura Haigh, of Amnesty International, warned that, if enacted in its current form, the bill could create more prisoners of conscience.

"Swift amendment should not come at the price of ensuring full respect and protection of peaceful assembly," said Haigh.

The bill has been tabled in the upper house and lawmakers have until May 16 to submit questions. After the debate in the upper house, the bill will be passed to the lower house. The NLD has a majority in both chambers.

The NLD has put some 142 existing laws - more than a quarter of the total - under the microscope, said the chairman of the lower house bill committee Tun Tun Hein.

This revision includes the most draconian laws of the junta era, such as the Law Protecting the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements and the Emergency Provisions Act.

The two laws were the main legal instruments to crack down on dissent and put pro-democracy activists behind bars.
Canberra probes death of Australian contractor at Iraq embassy

SYDNEY, May 13 (Reuters) - Australia said on Friday it was investigating the death of an Australian security contractor at its embassy in the Iraqi capital, following reports of a shootout.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said security was being maintained at a high level at the embassy after the killing of the 34-year-old man.

Media reports said there was a shooting outside the embassy on Wednesday. A Foreign Office spokeswoman declined to comment.

"I am advised the high level of security is being maintained at the embassy," Bishop said in an emailed statement.

"In light of the ongoing investigation, and out of respect for the man's family, the Australian government will not provide further comment at this time."
China, US should manage Sth China Sea differences constructively - Chinese general

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China and the United States should manage their differences over disputed waters in the South China Sea constructively, one of China's top military officials has said.

Fang Fenghui, a member of China's Central Military Commission, told General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the two sides should "refrain from actions detrimental to the relations between the two countries and the two militaries", state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

Fang and Dunford discussed the South China Sea in a video link-up on Thursday, it said.

The discussion comes at a time of heightened tension between China and the United States, which have traded accusations of militarising the South China Sea as China implements large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises.

On Tuesday, China scrambled fighter jets as a U.S. navy guided missile destroyer sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea and denounced the patrol as an illegal threat to peace.

The U.S. defence department said the latest "freedom of navigation" operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam that were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea.

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.

Fang said China was not to blame for tensions with the United States in the South China Sea and urged the two sides "to bear the overall situation in mind and manage their differences in a constructive way", Xinhua reported early on Friday.

Xinhua quoted Dunford as calling for restraint in the South China Sea, and saying the United States was willing to work with China to establish "an effective mechanism on risk control so as to maintain stability in the South China Sea by peaceful means".

The South China Sea was also discussed at a separate meeting between Sun Jianguo, an admiral and deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, and Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull backed the United States on Thursday in its latest South China Sea patrol. Australia has consistently supported U.S.-led freedom of navigation activities there.
China stocks head for 4th week of decline; Hong Kong reaches 2-mth low

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China stocks were little changed on Friday morning, but the benchmark index is heading towards its fourth week of declines amid increasing doubts over the strength of the country's economic recovery.

Hong Kong shares dropped to a fresh two-month low, dragged lower by energy and tech shares.

As a bearish week for China stocks approached its end, both the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index stabilized, ending the morning session flat, at 3,088.78 points and 2,837.01 points, respectively.

The Shanghai Composite is down 2.6 percent so far for the week.

Investor confidence had been hit by a People's Daily article published on Monday, which warned of economic recession if China continues to use rapid credit expansion to stimulate growth.

The story, which also judged that China's economic trend is "L-shaped", is widely seen as signalling a shift away from Beijing's stimulus efforts via credit expansion policies.

This apparent shift was backed by data showing China's fiscal expenditures rose 4.5 percent in April from a year earlier, slowing sharply from a 20.1 percent jump in March, official data showed on Friday.

Investors will also be watching closely a spate of economic data to be released over the weekend.

Sector performance was mixed on Friday morning. Banking and industrial sectors were slightly up, but transportation and infrastructure shares dipped.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 1.0 percent, to 19,726.40 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 1.1 percent, to 8,321.58.

Hong Kong's economy probably grew at its weakest annual pace in four years in the first quarter, hurt by China's slowdown, weak retail sales and falling asset prices, according to four economists surveyed by Reuters.

Most sectors in Hong Kong dropped, with energy and tech shares leading the decline.
Mexico says unhappy with Egypt's response to 2015 attack on tourists

MEXICO CITY, May 13 (Reuters) - Mexico said Thursday that it was not satisfied with the Egyptian government's response to an aerial bombing in Egypt last year in which eight Mexican tourists wee killed.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website that it had sent a letter to the Egyptian embassy to express its "surprise and dissatisfaction" with the government's failure to thoroughly investigate the case, penalize the perpetrators and compensate victims.

Last September, an Egyptian army aircraft fired on a group parked for a barbecue near a tourist site, thinking they were militants. In addition to the eight Mexicans, four Egyptians were killed. Six Mexicans were wounded.

The ministry said that although media outlets had reported on negotiations with one of the victim's families, Mexico did not have any knowledge of the case.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Egyptian tourism federation would compensate families of three Mexican victims and it was also negotiating with families of the other Mexican victims.
ISIS gunmen shot dead at least 14 Real Madrid fans at a supporters club in Iraq - because they 'don't like football'.

Three terrorists stormed the cafe hosting the meeting around midnight and opened fire at the fans who had gathered to watch old recordings of the Spanish football club.

Armed with AK-47s, they left bodies strewn across floor in the northern Shi'ite Muslim town of Balad.

Gruesome pictures from the scene show the floor covered in broken glass and soaked in blood under posters of Real Madrid players and coach Zinedine Zidane.

President of the Madrid supporters club, Ziad Subhan, said: 'A group of Islamic terrorists, from ISIS, came into the cafe, armed with AK-47s, shooting at random at everyone who was inside'.

When asked about the motive for the attack, the president replied: 'They don't like football, they think it's anti-Muslim. They just carry out attacks like this. This is a terrible tragedy'.

Blood stains are seen on the floor of the Real Madrid supporters cafe, where a picture of coach Zinedine Zidane can be seen hanging on the wall (left)

People gather at the cafe following the slaughter by ISIS - the floor is visibly soaked with blood

Members of the supporters club met to watch old footage of Real Madrid football matches at the cafe

The scorched body of a suspected assailant (pictured) hanging upside down from a pole outside the cafe

Alongside the dead, another 20 people were injured, some of them badly.

Javier Tebas Medrano, president of La Liga, said: 'Dismayed by the attack against a sentence of Real Madrid [fans] in Iraq. Terrorism attacks the football. We are with the victims and their families.'

Police said one of the gunmen set off his explosive vest at a nearby vegetable market hours later after police and residents cornered him in a disused building.

Four people were killed and two were critically wounded in the shoot-out.

The scorched body of a suspected gunman was found hanging upside down from a post outside the cafe yesterday.

Residents said they had seized a man who confessed to the attack from a nearby house and burned him alive.

ISIS said the attack was the latest in a campaign to honour Abdel Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, the group's second-in-command, who was killed in a coalition strike in March.

Gruesome scenes show broken glass and blood stains on the ground following the horrific incident

The aftermath of the massacre that left the floors smeared in blood and bullet holes in the armchairs

Three gunmen armed with machine guns opened fire into the crowded Balad cafe packed with Madrid fans

The floors of the cafe were covered in blood after ISIS gunmen stormed it and fired at the football fans

Blood stains are left by a pole outside the cafe following the slaughter that left 14 football fans dead

The storming of the cafe was a shift in tactic from the suicide car bombings ISIS has used to inflict maximum casualties in Shi'ite towns and cities.

ISIS nearly overran Balad, 80 km (50 miles) northof Baghdad, in 2014 and maintains a frontline around 40 km away.

Police were on high alert as it emerged the gunmen had passed three checkpointsbefore reaching their target.

Following the attack, security forces were deployed throughout the town.

The attack took place in Balad, about 50 miles north of Baghdad at a Real Madrid supporters club

It comes after at least 93 people were killed in three car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad yesterday.

The deadliest killed 64 people and wounded 87 in a market in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Sadr City.

Police and witnesses said the explosives were hidden under fruit and vegetables loaded on a pick-up trick.

Later two suicide bombers targeted police checkpoints in the northern district of Kadhimiya and in Jamia, in the west, leaving 29 dead.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks in what was the worst day of violence in Baghdad so far this year.

The Sunni jihadist group, which controls large swathes of northern and western Iraq, has frequently targeted Shia, whom it considers apostates.
For Deutsche Bank's Cryan, profit can wait

By Arno Schuetze, Edward Taylor and John O'Donnell

FRANKFURT, May 13 (Reuters) - Almost one year into his tenure as Deutsche Bank's chief executive, John Cryan says he has ushered in a new culture of openness, rooted out bad behaviour and set about untangling the bank's technology.

Profit, says the 55-year-old Briton, can wait.

"If we had wanted to be profitable this year, then it's a done deal. We can stop investing in IT. We can put off litigation," he said, in reference to lawsuits against the bank.

Cryan, earlier at Switzerland's UBS, has been tasked with cleaning up a business which in three years declined from a potent force on Wall Street to posting a record loss in 2015. It share price has fallen 35 percent so far this year.

While its neighbour on New York's Park Avenue, JP Morgan, made a record profit of more than $24 billion last year, Deutsche lodged a loss of $7.7 billion.

One of the main reasons for Deutsche's woes is a litigation bill since 2012 that has already hit 12.6 billion euros.

Claims filed by individuals, companies and regulators against Deutsche, outlined in the bank's 2015 annual report, relate to misselling of subprime loans and manipulation of foreign exchange rates or gold and silver prices.

Other law suits are for the rigging of borrowing benchmarks Libor and Euribor, used to set the price of mortgages and derivatives. Deutsche paid more than $3 billion in fines after regulators' probes into manipulation of such interbank rates.

Cryan has said he hopes to put many of the bank's legal issues behind it this year.

But his clean-up has exposed weaknesses that he believes need to be dealt with before the bank rebuilds its bottom line.

Deutsche, for example, had a messy and outdated computer system that used 4,400 different software applications - since pared back to 3,900 by getting rid of duplicates.

"We could kick the can down the road but won't do it," Cryan said in conversation at Deutsche's offices in Frankfurt.

He faces a difficult challenge. Interviews with one dozen present and former Deutsche staff and managers describe an organisation still dominated by fiefdoms and bureaucracy.

The European Central Bank, which supervises Deutsche, is concerned about such fiefdoms as well as the group's financial prospects and is urging an acceleration of Cryan's clean-up, according to one person with knowledge of the matter.

The ECB declined to comment, while Deutsche rejects any doubts over its financial health, which Cryan described as "rock solid" in an email to staff in February.

Some investors are alarmed by the bank's falling returns.

Lenders now believe Deutsche's subordinated debt is riskier than almost all European rivals.

"The big question is ... how deep is the collapse in income," said Helmut Hipper of Union Investment, a shareholder.

'BUMPY RIDE'

Cryan guided UBS through the debt crisis as finance chief. Unlike UBS, however, which shifted its focus from investment banking to private banking, Deutsche has no such alternative to fall back on.

Some of the bank's employees criticised Deutsche for being bureaucratic and disjointed. They traced some problems back to Deutsche's drive to take on Wall Street in the 2000s.

Managers had created their own fiefdoms, one senior trader said, adding that Cryan was limited in what he could do because the inefficiencies were profound. Ross Taylor, a managing director at the bank between 1999 and 2004, said Deutsche was characterised by rivalries during his time there.

"If you came up with ideas that made money, it was passed on ... and you ended up competing with people five metres from you for the same trades," he said.

Cryan, through his changes, wants to address such complaints. He is engaging with customers and staff. When he spoke with Reuters he was just returned from a trip to Singapore, China and California. He meets at least one client every day and on some, more than a dozen.

He is scaling back risk-taking, reducing Deutsche's outstanding derivative positions from 52 trillion euros to less than 42 trillion.

But the bank's global markets division, its biggest revenue generator, is still trying to find its feet in a world where traders have shifted to dealing in low margin products.

Cryan wants to trim risky long-life securities. Equally unpopular with Cryan are the 'plain vanilla' products that bet on the value of a currency in, say, five years, because they earn little profit. He prefers securities of medium complexity.

Corporate finance in the United States and Germany, in his eyes, hold promise, as does equity trading. Trading in London, on the other hand, faces cuts.

"Deutsche is trying to pull many levers at once," said Peter Nerby of rating agency Moody's.

"Their capital and liquidity position remains quite solid but Deutsche has a profitability problem. They are going in the right direction but it's going to be a bumpy ride."

Deutsche has an important ally in the German government. Earlier this year, when Deutsche's stock price dived, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble took the unusual step of giving public support.

A German official close to chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would stand by the bank although there is no indication that any financial support for Deutsche would be necessary.

BITTEN SANDWICHES

A United States Senate investigation found Deutsche had placed a $128 billion bet on subprime-linked securities in 2007 despite one of its traders warning they were "crap". Some investors question whether real change at Deutsche is possible.

"It was one of the more toxic environments I have ever worked in," said Taylor, the former head of U.S. illiquid credit trading, recalling one manager who "used to walk down the trading aisles and eat people's lunch while they weren't looking".

"You would hide trades, say the profit was from something else, manipulate pricing to disguise where it came from, all so you didn't have to give up the idea to the boss," Taylor said.

Deutsche declined to comment.

Cryan has taken a tough approach to bad behaviour. His influence has already been noticed by staff. Arrogance and disrespectful behaviour had become barriers to promotion, said one employee.

"We changed the people," said Cryan. "We changed the incentives. We summarily dismissed people who did something wrong and told people about it. There was a glasnost at the bank."

Perhaps more than cleaning up old problems, Cryan's biggest task may be in ending uncertainty over the bank's future course, such as in the paring back of branches in Germany.
China's Fosun among bidders for Singapore-based reinsurer ACR -sources

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG, May 13 (Reuters) - China's Fosun International is among suitors bidding for ACR Capital Holdings Pte Ltd which owns Singapore's biggest reinsurance firm in a deal valued at around $1 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Fosun, one of China's most globally recognised conglomerates, and several other suitors are preparing to submit second round bids for the holding company of Asia Capital Reinsurance Group which has operations in the Middle East, China and Japan, they said.

The names of other bidders could not be immediately ascertained.

The holding company said its owners are examining the interest of a number of strategic buyers.

"We are however not at liberty to discuss the identities of these potential investors," it said in a statement.

Its owners include London-based private equity firm 3i, Malaysian state investor Khazanah Nasional, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp.

Fosun declined to comment. Sources declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential.
World's oldest person dies in New York City, aged 116

By Brendan O'Brien

May 13 (Reuters) - The world's oldest living person, 116-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones, died on Thursday in New York City, a research group said.

Jones' death makes Emma Morano-Martinuzzi, a 116-year-old woman in Italy, the oldest living person, according to the Gerontology Research Group.

Jones, who was born in the southern U.S. state of Alabama in 1899, was the daughter of sharecroppers and granddaughter of slaves.

After graduating from high school she moved north in 1922 to New Jersey and then New York, where she worked as a housekeeper and childcare provider, according to Guinness World Records and the Vandalia Senior Center in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where she lived.

Jones, who retired in 1965, had said that lots of sleep is the secret to her longevity and that she had never smoked or drank alcohol.
Lawyers for Manus Island refugees file compensation claims

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY, May 13 (Reuters) - Lawyers acting for 900 people held in Papua New Guinea on behalf of Australia asked a court on Friday to hasten compensation claims for their illegal detention, kicking off the first stage of legal action that could see the refugees return to Australia.

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 the hard-line immigration policy, anyone intercepted trying to reach Australia by boat is sent for processing to camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or on Nauru. They are never eligible to be resettled in Australia.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ruled the detention of refugees on Manus Island was illegal, forcing the government to announce it would close the camp.

The fate of the detainees remains uncertain, with Papua New Guinea and Australia each arguing the other is responsible for resettling them.

Lawyers for 898 Manus Island detainees have asked the Supreme Court of the tiny Pacific Ocean nation for compensation of 1,500 kina ($462.75) for every day they were held illegally.

"When you consider that some of the men have been held in detention for 1,000 days, the total compensation package will be worth A$1 billion," said Ben Lomai, a lawyer for most of the detainees. The figure is equivalent to about $728 million.

It was not immediately clear if the Supreme Court decision could apply retrospectively.

Lomai said once the matter of compensation had been resolved, the refugees' lawyers would file motions for their immediate return to Australia.

Should the detainees be successful, they could arrive in Australia in the middle of one of the longest poll campaigns in its history, putting the spotlight on the tough immigration policy.

Papua New Guinea says it has ended detention of the asylum seekers by relaxing restrictions to allow them to leave the detention centre during the day.

But few detainees benefit, refugee advocates have said, as other restrictions make their exit prohibitively difficult.

For instance, a detainee wishing to leave must sign up for one of three bus services to a nearby town and return to the camp in the evening.

A 22-year-old Somali mother and her newborn baby were transferred to Australia from a detention centre on Nauru after the woman gave birth prematurely, Australia's Department of Immigration confirmed.
Eight Turkish soldiers, 22 militants killed as violence widens in southeast

By Seyhmus Cakan and Seda Sezer

DIYARBAKIR/ISTANBUL, Turkey, May 13 (Reuters) - Eight Turkish soldiers and 22 Kurdish militants have been killed in clashes over the last two days, authorities said on Friday, as violence widened in the largely Kurdish southeast following two bombings.

After the collapse of a ceasefire between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the government last July, Turkey's southeast has seen some of its worst fighting since the height of the Kurdish insurgency in the 1990s.

President Tayyip Erdogan has said the violence, and a concurrent threat from Islamic State militants, justifies Turkey's broad anti-terror laws, which have become a sticking point with the EU in talks about a landmark deal to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe.

"The fight by our security forces in coordination and in harmony with soldiers, police, village guards and all units against terror will continue with determination," Erdogan said in a statement.

Erdogan, who had spearheaded the peace process between the state and the PKK, has ruled out any return to negotiations and has vowed to crush the militant group. Thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians, have been killed in the renewed violence.

More than 40,000 people, most of them militants, have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984. The group wants autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

IRAQ BORDER

Six soldiers were killed and eight were wounded in clashes with militants in the southeastern Hakkari province near the border with Iraq on Friday, the military said.

Two more were killed in a separate incident when a helicopter crashed in Hakkari due to a technical fault, the military said. Six PKK militants were also killed in an operation in that region.

In the nearby Siirt province, one militant was killed when security forces pursued vehicles attempting to flee a security check, the local governor's office said. They found 200 kilogrammes of explosives in one of the vehicles.

On Thursday, 15 militants were killed in clashes in Sirnak province, the military said.

The military has also carried out regular air strikes against PKK camps in mountainous northern Iraq. A total of 140 militants have been killed in such attacks between April 29 and May 10, broadcaster NTV said, citing the military.

The widening violence follows two bombings on Thursday.
South African court gives go ahead to silicosis class action suit against gold mining companies

JOHANNESBURG, May 13 (Reuters) - South Africa's High Court on Friday gave the green light for a class action suit seeking damages from the gold mining sector on behalf of thousands of miners who contracted the fatal lung disease silicosis while working underground.

The court also allowed a class action to go ahead on behalf of miners who contracted tuberculosis in the mines.
Ireland's 10-year bond yield hits 1-month low, seen set for ratings upgrade

By Dhara Ranasinghe

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Irish 10-year bond yields hit their lowest level in almost a month on Friday, outpacing euro zone peers before a Moody's ratings review that may end with an upgrade for Europe's fastest growing economy.

Most euro zone bond yields were lower, with benchmark German Bund yields heading back towards Thursday's one-month low even as data showed stronger-than-expected German economic growth in the first quarter.

Ratings were in focus with Moody's expected to report on Ireland and Standard & Poor's scheduled to give an update on Italy later in the day.

Commerzbank and Rabobank said there was a likelihood that Moody's could upgrade Ireland's Baa1 rating, which has a positive outlook.

A fall in the debt-to-GDP ratio, a commitment to improving Ireland's fiscal position and progress in strengthening the banking sector all bode well for a ratings upgrade, analysts said.

Ireland has rebounded quickly from a 2010 international bailout and its economy benefited in 2015 from further falls in unemployment, a bumper year for retail sales and a weak euro that boosted the large export sector.

The Irish economy grew by 7.8 percent last year, making it the fastest growing economy in the European Union for a second straight year.

Political uncertainty has also eased a little after Enda Kenny was re-elected Ireland's prime minister a week ago, ending 10 weeks of political deadlock.

"A stronger economy is helping bring down Ireland's debt-to-GDP ratio at a fast pace and the new government, while in a minority, remains committed to fiscal consolidation," said Lyn Graham-Taylor, a fixed income strategist at Rabobank.

"We're confident about a one-notch upgrade."

Ireland's 10-year bond yield fell three basis points to 0.83 percent, the lowest level in almost a month, outperforming German and French yields that shed 1.6 and 1.9 bps respectively .

The outperformance helped to narrow the yield gap between Irish and German bonds to about 70 bps - down from 79 bps a week ago when the spread was at its widest since late February.

The Irish/French 10-year yield spread has narrowed about 6 bps over the past week, with Commerzbank analysts expecting Irish bonds to keep a bullish momentum against French bonds even with Britain's referendum on EU membership looming in June.

Britain is one of Ireland's biggest trading partners and a vote to leave the European Union -- or Brexit -- is a risk for the Irish economy.

Cantor Fitzgerald analysts estimate that the average daily volume in Irish government bonds has fallen 40 percent since 2016 began as investors withdraw ahead of the British vote.
South Africa allows silicosis class action against gold firms

By TJ Strydom and Zimasa Mpemnyama

JOHANNESBURG, May 13 (Reuters) - South Africa gave the green light on Friday for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis.

The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings covering cases dating back decades in the largest class action suits yet in Africa's most industrialised country.

In their 1980s heyday, South Africa's gold mines employed half a million men and High Court Judge Phineas Mojapelo judge said anywhere from 17,000 to 500,000 miners had been affected.

"We hold the view that in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," Mojapelo said in a unanimous ruling by three judges.

"Mining companies will be held liable or responsible for their own actions for unlawful emissions," he said.

A paper by researchers at University of the Witswatersrand in Johannesburg and University College London estimated there were 288,000 cases of compensable silicosis in South Africa.

The 2009 paper put the industry's unpaid compensation liability at 10 billion rand ($660 million) on 1998 values.

Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis.

SOME CLOSURE

Activists sang and danced outside the courthouse after the ruling while miners walked out triumphantly with fists raised.

"This will make a difference in our lives, because we have been struggling for so long," said Vuyani Dwadube, 74, a former rock driller at Harmony Gold who has tuberculosis (TB).

Judge Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages.

While most of the miners are South Africans thousands also came from neighbours such as Lesotho, Malawi and Swaziland.

Mantso Mokwena, 53, a former worker at Sibanye Gold's Beatrix mine, owned by Gold Fields until 2013, said the outcome gave miners some closure.

"I contracted TB in 2007 but I was terminated from my job in 2009. Since then, I still don't have a job," he said.

The defendants include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, who have already been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labour unrest among miners.

Anglo American , Africa's top gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold, Sibanye Gold and African Rainbow Minerals have formed the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) group to deal with such issues.

Shares in the companies were mixed, with some tracking a stronger gold price. Anglo and ARM no longer operate gold mines but have been named in claims dating back to when they did.

"Certainly it will have an effect on their reserves. Most of them probably made provisions," Gryphon Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Abri du Plessis said.

"It's still too early to say what it will be (the damages) but it does create a lot of uncertainty and that is never good for share prices," he said.

DIGNITY LOST

Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD working group said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgment and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court decision.

"Either way, it should be noted that the finding does not represent a view on the merits of the cases brought by claimants," Fine said.

There have been some class action suits in South Africa but none compare with that mining cases that stem from a landmark 2011 ruling by the Constitutional Court that allowed miners with lung disease to sue employers for the first time.

Friday's ruling is separate from a $30 million silicosis settlement with 4,400 miners reached in March by Anglo American and AngloGold.

Peter Bailey, the head of the health and safety division at the National Union of Mineworkers, the biggest union in the gold sector, welcomed the court's decision.

"As you know black South African mineworkers who suffered from silicosis have lost their dignity because they cannot even put food on the table," he said.
Hezbollah MP accuses Israel in Badreddine killing

BEIRUT, May 13 (Reuters) - A Hezbollah member of parliament said on Friday Israel was behind the killing of one of its top commanders, indicating that the Lebanese group would respond "at the appropriate time".

"This is an open war and we should not preempt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," Nawar al-Saheli said told the Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar TV station.

"The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time," he said.
Bangladesh Bank remains compromised months after heist-forensics report

By Sanjeev Miglani and Serajul Quadir

DHAKA, May 13 (Reuters) - Three hacking groups "are still lurking" in the network of Bangladesh's central bank, putting the bank at risk of further attacks about three months after it lost $81 million in a cyber heist, according to a report by U.S. computer security firms investigating the theft.

"There are some residual risks that the governor and board should understand, namely that Bangladesh Bank network is still not secure, and there exists a possibility of malicious acts by hackers," said the report from the experts hired by Bangladesh Bank, parts of which were seen by Reuters.

The source who shared the document declined to provide access to its full contents, saying that the release of some details could hamper a multinational effort to catch the criminals and recover funds stolen in the February cyber attack.

Bangladesh Bank has declined comment on pending investigations into the heist. Asked about the report, a spokesman said: "We have engaged forensic experts to investigate the whole thing, including this." He did not elaborate.

Investigators have determined that one team of hackers, dubbed Group Zero in the report, was responsible for the heist and remained inside the network, the report stated. Group Zero may be seeking to monitor the ongoing cyber investigations or cause other damage, but is unlikely to be able to order fraudulent fund transfers, the investigators wrote.

Two other groups are also inside the bank's network, which is linked to the SWIFT international transaction system, the report found. One of the two is a "nation-state actor" engaged in stealing information in attacks that are stealthy but "not known to be destructive", the report said.

The report, which was submitted earlier this month, did not further identify any of the groups.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT said she was unable to comment on the report.

SWIFT warned on Thursday of a malware attack on a commercial bank it did not name, similar to the hack at Bangladesh Bank.

In February, hackers ordered fraudulent fund transfers from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Federal Reserve via the SWIFT system, but the cooperative, owned by member banks and used by 11,000 financial institutions globally, has maintained that the messaging system it controls has not been compromised.

"Group Zero is the identified hacker group that has conducted the cyber attack" against Bangladesh Bank, the investigators said in the report, which they said was based on primary findings.

U.S.-based cyber-security firms World Informatix and FireEye Inc. have been hired by Bangladesh's central bank to investigate the theft.

A spokesman for FireEye said the firm will not comment on the ongoing investigation. World Informatix could not immediately be reached for comment.

In the attack, the hackers sought to transfer $951 million from Bangladesh Bank's account at the New York Fed.

Most of the transfers were blocked, but $81 million was sent to bank accounts in the Philippines in one of the largest cyber-heists in history. The money was quickly transferred through a remittance firm to casinos and casino agents and most remains missing.

In the report, the investigators said Group Zero mounted attacks on other banks, but did not elaborate.

The report said investigators knew little about a third group of hackers found inside the network, referred to as Group Two, except that they were using mostly commodity, or off-the-shelf hacking tools.

"Their motivations and activities are unknown, but could be unpredictable with media spotlight," the report said, without elaborating further.
China says hopes U.S., Vietnam ties benefit regional peace

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China is happy to see Vietnam normalising relations with the United States and hopes it benefits regional peace, China said on Friday as the United States considers lifting a three-decade-old arms embargo on Vietnam.

A debate within the U.S. administration on lifting the arms embargo is coming to a head amid preparations for President Barack Obama to visit Vietnam this month. The former enemies are increasingly partners against China's growing territorial assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Vietnam says it would welcome the United States "accelerating" the lifting of a lethal arms embargo, which would reflect trust between the two countries and recognition of its needs to defend itself. The ban was eased in late 2014.

"From the Chinese government's point of view, we are happy to see Vietnam develop normal relations with the relevant country," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing, when asked about the possible lifting.

"We also hope this relationship can benefit regional peace, stability and prosperity," he added, without elaborating.

The arms embargo is one of the last major vestiges of the Vietnam War era. The United States has not indicated publicly it would remove the embargo and has long said such a move would depend on Vietnam showing progress on human rights.

Lifting the embargo would mark a major step forward in ties 21 years after normalisation began.

U.S. engagement with Vietnam was stepped up rapidly during 2014, in what experts say was a calibrated move by the United States to seize on deteriorating ties between Vietnam and communist neighbour China over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.
China says hopes for stability in Brazil after president impeached

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China is paying close attention to the situation in Brazil after its Senate voted to suspend and put on trial its president for breaking budget laws, and hopes the country can maintain stability, China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Brazil's president, Dilma Rousseff, 68, has vowed to fight the charges. A former member of a leftist guerrilla group during Brazil's military dictatorship, Rousseff has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

"We are certainly paying close attention to developments in Brazil. We hope that all sides in Brazil can appropriately handle the present situation and maintain the country's political stability and socio-economic development," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

"We pay great attention to developing relations with Brazil. We believe that the good ties between the two countries and mutually beneficial cooperation will continue to develop," Lu told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

China and Brazil have close business and trade links, especially in the commodities and energy sector.
China says some in U.S. trying to "disturb" Hong Kong

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry on Friday accused unidentified people in the United States of trying to "disturb" social order in Hong Kong, after the U.S. State Department expressed further concern the territory's autonomy was being eroded.

The State Department made the comments in its latest report on the former British colony, released on Wednesday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said that as Hong Kong was a part of China, no other country had a right to interfere in its internal affairs.

"We also remind the United States that certain people on the U.S. side have always wanted to disturb Hong Kong, disturb its socio-economic development, disturb the normal order of its residents' lives, and even use the Hong Kong issue to interfere in China's internal affairs," he told a daily news briefing.

"This can only be futile. The only effect it will have is to cause Chinese people to go on alert and have a bad reaction."

Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997 under agreements that its broad freedoms, way of life and legal system would remain unchanged for 50 years.

Beijing's refusal to grant the former British colony full democracy has embittered a younger generation of activists who launched big protests in 2014.

Political tension has simmered amid occasional incidents of unrest. A riot erupted in the city in February after a dispute between authorities and street vendors.
Canada's Trudeau to tour Alberta oil town ravaged by wildfire

By Ernest Scheyder

WANDERING RIVER, Alberta, May 13 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will on Friday see the devastation caused by a wildfire that tore through the Alberta town of Fort McMurray and forced several oil sands operations to shut down.

The inferno is the first natural disaster to confront Trudeau, whose Liberals took power last November. He promises the federal government will do everything it can to help in a rebuilding effort likely to take years.

After touring the most damaged areas, Trudeau will hold a news conference with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at 5:15 p.m. ET (2115 GMT) in the provincial capital of Edmonton.

The 88,000 people who were evacuated hurriedly as the town caught fire are living in temporary accommodation across the province while authorities work to restore power, gas, water and communications.

Local officials say it will be 10 days before they can even produce a plan for resettlement, much less allow people to return to a place where small fires are still erupting.

"I know how stressful it is to leave everything behind," said Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee.

"But your safety is very important to us and your community is not yet safe and until it is people cannot go home," she told a news conference on Thursday.

A Reuters eyewitness saw a steady stream of trucks carrying drinking water head north on Thursday towards the large camps that house workers employed by oil sands projects.

The wildfire knocked out nearly half, or 1.07 million barrels per day (bpd) of Alberta's oil sands capacity. The effort to restart projects is progressing slowly.

Four major oil firms operating in the area around Fort McMurray have now declared force majeure, a contract clause to remove liability for unavoidable catastrophes.

The fire spans 241,000 hectares (596,000 acres), growing much more slowly than before. The Canadian military, which had provided transport planes and helicopters, said on Thursday the aircraft would start returning home.

Around 350 soldiers though will remain on a state of heightened readiness.

"This fight is not over," said Brigadier General Wayne Eyre, involved with military aid effort.
China securities regulator says will continue to support M&As by listed companies

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China's securities regulator said it would continue to support secondary offerings and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by qualified listed companies.

The China Securities Commission (CSRC) made the comments in response to recent media reports that regulators had suspended additional fundraising and M&As in four industries, including online finance, gaming, film and virtual reality.
Bangladesh Bank heist similar to Sony hack; second bank hit by malware

By Jim Finkle and Sanjeev Miglani

NEW YORK/DHAKA, May 13 (Reuters) - Investigators probing the cyber heist of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank connected it on Friday to the hack at Sony Corp's film studio in 2014, while global financial network SWIFT disclosed a previously unreported attack on a commercial bank.

SWIFT did not say which commercial bank it was or whether it had lost money, but cyber-security firm BAE Systems said a Vietnamese bank, which it did not name, had been a target. It was not clear if they were referring to the same attack and there was no immediate comment from authorities in Hanoi.

SWIFT, the linchpin of the global financial system, said forensic experts believed the second case showed that the Bangladesh heist was not a single occurrence, but part of a wider campaign targeting banks.

In both cases, SWIFT said, insiders or cyber attackers had succeeded in penetrating the targeted banks' systems, obtaining user credentials and submitting fraudulent SWIFT messages that correspond with transfers of money.

The cooperative has maintained that its core messaging service has not been compromised. But confirmation of a second attack on a bank will likely increase scrutiny on the security of a network used by 11,000 financial institutions globally.

In Bangladesh, cyber-security experts hired by the central bank said in a report that hackers were still inside the bank's network, monitoring the investigation into one of the biggest cyber heists in the world. Reuters reviewed parts of the report, but the source who shared the document declined to provide access to its full contents, saying the release of some details could hamper a multinational effort to catch the criminals.

Asked about the report, a Bangladesh Bank spokesman said: "We have engaged forensic experts to investigate the whole thing, including this." He did not elaborate.

Investigators have determined that one team of hackers, dubbed Group Zero in the report, was responsible for the heist and remained inside the network. Group Zero may be seeking to monitor the ongoing cyber investigations or cause other damage, but is unlikely to be able to order fraudulent fund transfers, the investigators wrote.

"NATION-STATE ACTOR"

Two other groups are also inside the bank's network, which is linked to the SWIFT international transaction system, the report found. One of the two is a "nation-state actor" engaged in stealing information in attacks that are stealthy but "not known to be destructive", it said.

A spokeswoman for SWIFT said she was unable to comment.

The report said investigators knew little about a third group of hackers found inside the network, referred to as Group Two, except that they were using mostly commodity, or off-the-shelf, hacking tools.

The report, which was submitted earlier this month, did not further identify any of the groups.

BAE Systems, Europe's largest weapons maker, which also has a large cyber-security business, said it had uncovered evidence linking malicious software used in the Bangladesh heist to the high-profile attack on Sony's Hollywood studio in 2014 and other cases.

"What initially looked to be an isolated incident at one Asian bank turned out to be part of a wider campaign," BAE's cyber-security team said in a report it released on Friday.

BAE also said it uncovered malware that was recently used to target a Vietnamese commercial bank using fraudulent messages on the SWIFT money-transfer network. The malware operated "in a similar fashion" to the Bangladesh Bank hack, BAE said.

SWIFT also did not name the victim, and neither firm said whether any funds had been stolen.

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the findings of BAE's determination about similarities between the Bangladesh and Sony attacks. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony's film studio, a charge Pyongyang has rejected.

BAE's head of threat intelligence, Adrian Nish, told Reuters that the company was only focused on the technical evidence that links the attacks, not determining who was behind them.

The report said the malware used against Bangladesh Bank exhibits "the same unique characteristics" as software used in "Operation Blockbuster", a campaign documented by a coalition of security firms that dates back to at least 2009 and includes the Sony hack.

BAE asserted the Operation Blockbuster connection after analyzing tens of millions of malicious file samples, but the report acknowledged there could be alternate explanations for the similarities.
Shanghai-Hong Kong stock link draws more institutions

By Saikat Chatterjee

HONG KONG, May 13 (Reuters) - A landmark scheme connecting Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets is finally starting to attract more global institutional investors, as a lag in trading and settlements that posed a risk to investors has been ironed out.

More institutional activity on the platform will likely speed up reforms and the rollout of another scheme linking the southern city of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, market participants say.

"I dismiss the thought that it is only a retail product," Kevin Rideout, head of business development at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said at the FIX conference on Thursday.

"What I can see is that the recent top 10 overall stock connect volumes are made up from the international firms and that probably tells me that it's largely institutional."

Launched in November 2014, the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect had promised to open up China's capital markets to foreign investors, heralding bolder stock market reforms with the ultimate goal of full capital account convertibility. Instead, it was criticised for being used by retail investors and hedge funds to dabble in mainland markets.

Quotas inbound and outbound have not been fully used up, aggravated by a mid-year stock market crash in 2015 and volatility in the renminbi that spooked investors.

The failure of the scheme to draw institutions, such as insurance companies and funds, forced Beijing to postpone the launch of the Shenzhen project and also from expanding the scope of the existing programme.

Recent reforms, however, particularly in stock delivery and settlement services, have removed some uncertainty for investors.

KINKS IRONED OUT

Connect brokers were hopeful of more institutional participation since last year but problems around settlement issues were only resolved in April.

China follows a unique T+0 settlement model - shares are exchanged on the day they are traded but funds are transferred the following day. In most markets, including Hong Kong, a T+2 model is followed. A lag in settlement gives rise to broker counterparty risks.

This last setback was ironed out in April when a "delivery versus payment (DVP)" model was introduced.

"We are seeing more institutional flows on our platform going into the northbound leg with more participation from the European funds," said the head of electronic trading at a U.S. bank in Hong Kong.

While overall aggregate quota utilisation on the Shanghai leg of the scheme remains low at 42 percent, below a peak of 57 percent last June, there are signs of a pick-up.

Greater institutional participation bodes well for China's stock markets at a time when turnover on the Shanghai bourse is near its lowest point this year.

The share of the top-ranked broker category, which services institutional clients, has grown recently and accounts for nearly 70 percent of turnover on the China-bound leg, Hong Kong stock exchange data shows.
See for yourselves, Taiwan tells panel over disputed South China Sea island

TAIPEI, May 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan on Friday called on an international tribunal not to make a ruling on a disputed South China Sea island if the judges don't visit first to see for themselves it can sustain life.

Taiwan wants to prove Itu Aba is not just a rock, but a real island that can qualify for a maritime economic zone.

China refuses to recognise a case lodged by the Philippines with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague over the South China Sea and says such disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks.

The panel does not rule on sovereignty but it does outline a system of economic zones that can be claimed from features such as islands.

"The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan's formal name) once again solemnly invites the five arbitrators (in the Philippine case) to conduct a field study on Taiping Island," Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"If the tribunal decides not to respond to our kind invitation, then it should not rule on the legal status of Taiping Island."

Last month, the panel allowed written evidence from a government-linked Taiwanese group pressing Taipei's position that Itu Aba is not a rock and is entitled to part of the disputed waterway as an economic zone.

China, which claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan, also claims almost the entire South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to the waters.

Taiwan has just finished a $100 million port upgrade on Itu Aba, known as Taiping in Taiwan, in the disputed Spratly islands. The island has an airstrip, a hospital and fresh water.

Itu Aba is the biggest natural island in the Spratlys and is the only one claimed by Taiwan.

Manila is challenging the legality of China's claim, in part by arguing that no land mass in the Spratly archipelago can legally be considered a life-sustaining island, and therefore, cannot hold rights to a 200 nautical mile (370 km) exclusive economic zone.

China has appeared unruffled by Taiwan's upgrading work on Itu Aba. Military strategists say that is because Itu Aba could fall into China's hands should it ever take over Taiwan.
China, Thailand set to hold joint military exercises

BEIJING, May 13 (Reuters) - China and Thailand will hold joint exercises beginning this month, China's Ministry of Defence said on Friday, in another sign of improving relations since the Thai military seized power in 2014.

Thailand's military has sought to counterbalance traditionally close ties with the United States by engaging more with China since the May 2014 coup that the United States and other Western countries objected to.

The May 19-June 10 exercises will involve land and sea operations, the ministry said, as well as training in humanitarian relief and maritime transport.

China has rattled nerves in Southeast Asia with its increasingly assertive action in the South China Sea, where it rejects rival claims over parts of the sea by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Thailand does not have claims in those disputed waters.

Thailand's relations with the United States have cooled since the military overthrew an elected government two years ago.

The United States has downgraded its military exercises and training with Thailand saying the programmes would be restored after a general election. The military government says an election will be held next year.
Rail chief will be Austria's next chancellor, president says

By Shadia Nasralla and Kirsti Knolle

VIENNA, May 13 (Reuters) - Rail boss Christian Kern will become Austria's next chancellor, the country's president confirmed on Friday, after the Social Democratic Party (SPO) united behind him as its choice to lead the embattled coalition government.

Werner Faymann stepped down as chancellor on Monday, bowing to a party revolt that erupted after the SPO's candidate in Austria's presidential election crashed out in the first round, far behind the winner from the anti-immigration Freedom Party (FPO). A second round will be held on May 22.

Kern, widely admired for his skills as a manager who oversaw the mass transit of asylum seekers to Germany at the height of the migration crisis last autumn, has been keeping a low public profile and has given few clues as to his policy preferences.

A party leadership meeting on Tuesday will formally propose Kern as chancellor, after which he must be sworn in by President Heinz Fischer.

Fischer's office ended any remnant of suspense on Friday by saying the swearing-in ceremony would also be held on Tuesday.

"Dr Kern will be proposed unanimously next Tuesday for the posts of party leader and chancellor," acting SPO leader Michael Haeupl told a news conference after a meeting of senior party figures in Vienna.

"The party unanimously stands behind the future party leader," Haeupl added, shortly before Fischer's statement.

The SPO and its coalition partner, the conservative People's Party, have suffered a series of electoral losses in recent years. They must either work together in government until 2018 or face an early parliamentary election that the FPO would most likely win.

Kern faces a difficult task in keeping the coalition alive while rallying a party divided over how to reverse its electoral fortunes without abandoning its liberal principles.

Some within the SPO are pushing for it to abandon a self-imposed ban on national coalitions with the Freedom Party.

This has been undermined by the SPO's governor in one of Austria's nine provinces forming an alliance with the FPO.

Others oppose a clampdown on immigration and asylum overseen by Faymann, but the head of the People's Party (OVP), Reinhold Mitterlehner, has said that stance must be maintained or it will pull out of the coalition.

Having this week questioned whether a manager like Kern was qualified to run a government, Mitterlehner, who is also acting chancellor, seemed to have softened his stance on Friday.
New wave of migrants to Italy were not mainly Syrians -officials

ROME, May 13 (Reuters) - Hundreds of migrants were brought to Italy on Friday having been rescued from the sea over the past day, however the majority were not Syrian, as previously reported, but came from a variety of countries, officials said.

The Italian coast guard, which orchestrated various rescue missions on Thursday, initially said most of the new arrivals appeared to be from Syria -- a sign that Middle East refugees were shifting their route into Europe away from Greece.

However, further checks showed that while there probably were Syrians and Iraqis on board two rescued boats, there were also a large number of Egyptians, Somalis and Eritrean. In all, there were just over 800 people aboard the two vessels.

"The majority are not from Syria," said Carlotta Sami, a spokeswoman with the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, after a first group of 340 people were brought ashore.

She confirmed initial reports that the two boats had set sail from Egypt rather than Libya, which is the usual staging post used by people smugglers looking to move migrants into Europe from north Africa.

"What is sure is that the (Egypt) route is very long, it is very risky and these people including many families with babies have been adrift at sea for many days, up to a week," she told Reuters TV. "We know also that there are a lot of unaccompanied minors, from 12 to 16, 17 years old."
Bosnia police arrest five, seize arms intended for Islamists in Sweden

SARAJEVO, May 13 (Reuters) - Police in Bosnia have arrested five people suspected of trafficking arms to Islamists in Sweden and seized large amounts of weapons and military equipment, officials said on Friday, after a sixth person was held earlier in Sweden.

The arrests were made on Thursday during raids on seven locations in northwestern Bosnia by a police counter-terrorism unit in Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, said Mirna Miljanovic, head spokeswoman at the region's interior ministry.

Miljanovic said the action was in cooperation with Swedish police as part of an international operation codenamed "Wolf RS". All five arrested on Thursday were Bosnian Serbs, and the person detained last week in Sweden was of Bosnian origin, she said. Two others were on the run.

Miljanovic declined to give more details of those arrested, but a police source told Reuters the weapons were attended for the Swedish branch of Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

Swedish police and security officials declined to comment.
Polish group seeks to help the blind with free smart glasses

WARSAW, May 13 (Reuters) - A Polish non-profit organisation is hoping to help the blind and visually impaired with plans to make and give away what it says will be the world's first free smart glasses.

Parsee has developed a prototype of the battery-powered glasses which have a 3D printed frame, internet protocol camera and earphone.

Pushing a button on the frame, users take pictures of an object in front of them, which the camera sends to a mobile phone app. The app identifies shapes, colours, text as well as faces and sends details about the image via audio to the earphone.

"It helps (the blind and visually impaired) in their everyday living like reading newspapers, drinking juice," Parsee project manager Bartosz Trzcinski said.

Parsee, which began as a family project to help a relative, has begun fundraising and has a $25,000 goal to complete research and development of a sleeker model of the glasses.

The project is still in the early stages of its longer-term goals of mass production and free distribution.

The current cost of producing one pair of glasses is $300 -- a figure Parsee aims to reduce once it has funds, demand and production in place.
Turkey says Europe needs 'new formula' to solve visa-free dispute

By Robert-Jan Bartunek

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) - Turkey said on Friday talks with the European Union on a deal providing visa-free travel in return for stopping a flow of illegal migrants into Europe had reached an impasse and the bloc must find a "new formula" to salvage the agreement.

EU Minister Volkan Bozkir told Reuters that a dispute over Turkey's anti-terrorism laws had become the "Achilles heel" of the migrant deal, in comments likely to further heighten concerns in Brussels about its future.

While the EU is desperate for the deal to succeed, it also insists that Turkey meet 72 criteria, including reining in its broad anti-terror laws. The EU and rights groups say Turkey uses the laws to stifle dissent, while Ankara says it needs sweeping legislation to fight Kurdish insurgents and Islamic State.

"This is the Achilles heel," Bozkir said in an interview with Reuters in Brussels, where he has been trying to persuade European leaders to change their position.

"Only today we lost eight soldiers in a terrorist attack, yesterday there was another suicide attack ... Under these circumstances it is not possible politically to make changes to the anti-terror law," he said, describing Turkey's legislation as "no worse than many other countries".

Eight soldiers and 22 Kurdish militants have been killed in clashes in the largely Kurdish southeast over the last two days, while on Thursday a car laden with explosives blew up near a military base in Istanbul.

BOMBINGS

President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to crush the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union as well as Ankara, militarily and has ruled out changing anti-terrorism laws.

Turkey has suffered a series of bombings this year, including two suicide attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Islamic State and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by a PKK offshoot.

Erdogan has ratcheted up pressure on Europe over the migrant deal, accusing the bloc of setting new hurdles for visa-free travel and threatening that Turkey may go its own way if Europe failed to agree.

"I am not very optimistic about the outcome of the talks we held in Brussels today. It's essential that the European Commission find a new formula," Bozkir told reporters.

European leaders seeking to keep relations with Turkey on track face push-back from both the political right, sceptical about closer integration with a Muslim nation, and the left, who accuse the EU of compromising its principles by negotiating with Erdogan, whose authoritarian tendencies they abhor.
Brumbies grind down Rebels to stay top in Australia

MELBOURNE, May 13 (Reuters) - The ACT Brumbies got away with one dubious try but were disallowed another as they beat the Melbourne Rebels 30-22 to remain top of the Australian conference in Super Rugby on Friday.

Christian Lealiifano was awarded a controversial try late in the first half from what appeared to be a forward pass, while replacement prop Allan Alaalatoa had his second half try cancelled out after a knock-on was discovered in the build-up.

Lealiifano's try was allowed to stand because, facing a barrage of boos from the crowd who saw a replay of the final pass from James Dargaville, the flyhalf took a drop kick for the conversion to ensure that referee Rohan Hoffmann could not ask for the try to be reviewed.

But he did not act as quickly when Alaalatoa took a pass from fellow front rower Ruan Smith and produced a lovely left-foot step around the final defender with about 15 minutes remaining.

Hoffmann this time asked for the build-up to be reviewed and decided that blindside flanker Scott Fardy had lost the ball forward in a tackle, ruling out the prop's spectacular try.

Fardy's fellow loose forward David Pocock, lock Rory Arnold and winger Nigel Ah Wong also scored tries for the visitors.

Lealiifano's normally reliable goal kicking was off target as he slotted just a penalty and conversion for the Brumbies, who moved to 29 points on the table, four ahead of the New South Wales Waratahs who play on Saturday.

Rebels winger Cam Crawford had scored his side's opening try, while Jack Debreczeni added a conversion and penalty as the home side went into the break trailing 20-10.

Rebels inside centre Reece Hodge also scored a try following a sustained period of attack. Debreczeni's conversion narrowed the gap to three points.

Melbourne winger Sefa Naivalu was the beneficiary of a poor read by the Brumbies defence and he went over untouched following an attacking lineout.
Congo opposition leader in hospital after police fire tear gas

By Kenny Katombe

LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 13 (Reuters) - C ongolese opposition figure Moise Katumbi was treated in hospital on Friday after police fired tear gas at him and his supporters outside the prosecutor's office in the southern mining hub of Lubumbashi, his lawyer said.

The former governor of Democratic Republic of Congo's main copper-mining region had been summoned for questioning over allegations he had hired mercenaries, including former U.S. soldiers, as part of a plot against the republic.

Katumbi denies the accusations, which he says are aimed at derailing his campaign to succeed President Joseph Kabila, who has ruled since 2001 but is barred from standing for a third term in an election set for November.

Shortly after Katumbi's arrival, police fired tear gas at thousands of his backers, who had gathered outside the prosecutor's office to show their support, and the two sides pelted each other with stones.

"He is sick. He was attacked. So it's normal that the doctor would want to keep him under observation," said Georges Kapiamba, who told Reuters Katumbi had inhaled tear gas and was manhandled by police upon his arrival.

The hearing was almost immediately suspended after Katumbi said he felt unwell, Kapiamba added.

Friday's violence was the third time in five days that police have dispersed Katumbi's supporters amid questioning by the prosecutor that began on Monday.

"It's sad that there is not a state of law - police officers who throw stones and wound my older brother," Katumbi said before finally entering the building.

Political tensions are high in Congo, where dozens were killed in January 2015 in protests over a proposed revision of the electoral law that critics said was a ploy to keep Kabila in power beyond the end of his mandate.

Kabila's critics accuse him of trying to delay the November election to cling to power. The government has said that it is unlikely to be able to organise the poll in time due to budgetary and logistical constraints.

The country's highest court ruled on Wednesday that Kabila would stay in power beyond the end of his mandate this year if the election does not take place.

In a statement on Friday, leading opposition parties accused the court of supporting a "constitutional coup d'etat" and called for marches across the country on May 26 to demand that Kabila step down this year.
Shrimp, lipstick and toys sales face scrutiny by anti-slavery activists

By Tashny Sukumaran

KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With millions of people globally working in slave-like conditions to produce the goods found in our supermarkets and local shops, anti-slavery campaigners admit it may seem near impossible to ensure the items we buy are ethical.

From cosmetics and clothes to shrimp and smartphones, the supply chain is often complex with multiple layers - whether in sourcing the raw materials or creating the final product - making it hard to identify exploitation and abuses.

But campaigners trying to combat forced and child labour and poor working conditions have unveiled a variety of approaches they follow to ensure the goods they buy are ethical.

Some activists have taken to boycotting certain products, others only buy brands that have been approved ethically. Some source alternative goods locally, while others have chosen simply to reduce their overall consumption.

For example, after an investigation last year found that migrants were being trafficked into slavery to catch shrimp for Thailand's multi-billion dollar seafood export industry, some campaigners said they decided to avoid the product.

"Shrimp sourced from outside Vietnam makes me very uncomfortable. I'm very, very careful about that," Mimi Vu, advocacy director of the Pacific Links Foundation, a Vietnamese charity, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"I tend to look and see which companies are sourcing from where. Companies that are opaque about their supply chain, I try not to buy from them as much as possible."

PRODUCTS OF SLAVERY

Nearly 21 million people globally are victims of forced labour, an industry which generates $150 billion a year in illegal profits, according to the United Nation's International Labour Organization (ILO).

The British charity Anti-Slavery International on its website documents 122 products made by child labourers across 58 countries ranging from Latin America to Asia.

These children might be employed at the start of the supply chain, forced into mines to extract gold, mica, diamonds and coal or made to toil in farms to produce commodities such as cotton, sugar, tea, coffee and cocoa.

Children are also found working further down the supply chain, such as in the stitching of garments, manufacturing of footwear, weaving of carpets or in the assembly of fireworks.

Archana Kotecha, legal head of Liberty Asia, said she was more cautious when buying certain products.

"When I buy children's toys, I'm a lot more careful in investigating if the companies have been engaged in any kind of mistreatment of workers," she said.

"Another one is cosmetics. I wear make-up every day, and make-up contains mica. Some of the biggest mica mines come from where my family is originally from in India."

Andrew Goledzinowski, Australia's Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking, said he opted for coffee which is produced under the "Fair Trade" brand.

"I also look at labels on tins of fish and there are some brands I've decided not to buy," he said, adding such gestures might seem meaningless, but showed people were becoming more aware of modern-day slavery.

DO THE RESEARCH

Some experts disagree with boycotts, however, saying this could worsen the situation for exploited workers as it could stop demand for those goods and mean they lose jobs.

For example, forcing a company to shut down its sweatshops might not be the best option if it leaves workers unemployed.

Others have another solution - buy local or scale down.

"It's my money, and I can decide whom it goes to," said Peck Hoon Tam from the Singapore-based Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, who prefers to buy from local businesses.

"We can use that money to say what we want to say and leverage off this - the consumer must know that they have money to effect change."

Andy Hall, international adviser for the Migrant Worker Rights Network in Thailand, has a simpler solution.

"As well as being vegetarian, I also limit consumer tendencies, cutting down on things you don't really need for your everyday life. This whole consumption trend is what pulls people into slavery. Reducing is good," he said.

Yet, despite their different opinions, campaigners do agree on one thing - research the products that you purchase.

There are numerous websites, although largely aimed at western shoppers, where ethically sourced and manufactured goods from clothes to coffee to cosmetics can be purchased.

Consumers can also check if companies are part of the Ethical Trade Initiative, an alliance of companies, charities and trade unions that promotes respect for workers' rights.

"It's incumbent on me to do the research," said human rights lawyer Deborah Papworth, who is based in Cambodia with the charity, Hagar International.
EU border agency says migrant arrivals in Greece drop 90 pct

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) - The number of migrants arriving in Greece dropped 90 percent in April, the European Union border agency said on Friday, a sign that an agreement with Turkey to control traffic between the two countries is working.

The agency, Frontex, said 2,700 people arrived in Greece from Turkey in April, most of them from Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, a 90 percent decline from March.

Under the EU's agreement with Turkey, all migrants and refugees, including Syrians, who cross to Greece illegally across the sea are sent back.

In return, the EU will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and faster progress in EU membership talks.

In Italy, 8,370 migrants arrived through the longer and more dangerous route from northern Africa, Frontex said. Eritreans, Egyptians and Nigerians accounted for the largest share.

There was no sign migrants were shifting from the route to Greece to the central Mediterranean route, Frontex said. The number of people arriving in Italy in April was down 13 percent from March and down by half from April 2015.

That particular statement was contested by the Norwegian Refugee Council, an Oslo-based humanitarian agency. It cited Thursday's announcement by Italian coastguards that they had helped rescue 801 people, including many Syrians, from two boats heading from Northern Africa to Italy.

"This might be a first sign of Syrian refugees now choosing the much more dangerous route across the Mediterranean from Northern Africa to Italy, in search of protection in Europe," said Edouard Rodier, Europe director at the council.
Rwanda dismisses U.N. experts' charge that it aided Burundi rebels

KIGALI, May 13 (Reuters) - Rwanda dismissed charges levelled in a report by U.N.-appointed experts that it supported rebels in neighbouring Burundi up until early 2016, saying the authors were trying to stir up trouble in the region.

"People who write these could be mobilized to be useful to address rather than exacerbate countries problems," Rwandan President Paul Kagame told a news conference, according to the presidency's Twitter account.
Danish government says wind power became two expensive

COPENHAGEN, May 13 (Reuters) - The Danish government said on Friday it wanted to scrap plans to build five offshore wind farms as their output would become too expensive for consumers.

The government estimates it would cost consumers 70 billion Danish crowns ($10.63 billion) to buy electricity from the plants with a total combined capacity of 350-megawatts.

"Since 2012 when we reached the political agreement, the cost of our renewable policy has increased dramatically," said Lars Christian Lilleholt, energy minister in Denmark's Liberal party government.

"We can't accept this, as the private sector and households are paying far too much. Denmark's renewable policy has turned out to be too expensive," he said.

Denmark produced more than 40 percent of its electricity from wind power last year, a world record, and it has a goal of increasing this share to 50 percent by 2020.

Subsidies for wind power producers had to increase as power prices fell sharply since 2012, and producers had to get more money to make production profitable.
Armenia's biggest bank signs $20 mln loan pact with German investment concern DEG

YEREVAN, May 13 (Reuters) - Ameriabank, Armenia's biggest bank by assets, has signed a $20 million loan deal with German investment corporation DEG to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the ex-Soviet republic, the bank said on Friday.

The loan term facilities provided by DEG will foster business growth in Armenia by easing access to finance for local SMEs, which represent around 40 percent of the country's gross domestic product and most of its workforce.

"This credit facility will help the bank further strengthen its position in the SME lending segment, contributing to the economic growth of the country," Ameriabank CEO Artak Hanesyan said in a statement.

Ameriabank, which has total capital of $182 million and about $1 billion in total assets, said in January it was making plans for a potential stock market listing in London in the next two to three years. It is pursuing domestic expansion after a $40 million investment by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD took a 20 percent stake in Ameriabank to help support its growth by providing funds for lending to small business, big local companies and retail customers.

In addition to the EBRD investment, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation provided a $50 million loan to help Ameriabank boost lending to local businesses and bolster economic growth in Armenia.
WIDER IMAGE-Portugal haunted house show seeks shivers and shrieks in freaky tour

BELAS, Portugal, May 13 (Reuters) - At the Quinta Nova da Assuncao mansion near Lisbon, all is not quite right.

During a tour of the empty house, there are apparitions, shadows and the sound of doors randomly shutting. All accompanied by the terrified shrieks from the group of visitors.

Portuguese theatre company Reflexo is terrifying audiences with its "Casa Assombrada" (haunted house) project, an immersive show where small groups of visitors walk through the 25-room house with just an audio guide -- and each other -- for company.

Facing some scary scenes as well as riddles to get from one room to the other, there are plenty of screams as well as tears. Some do not even make it to the end of the show, fleeing through the front door.

The project has been running since last June at the house, which has stood empty for several years, drawing visitors from all over the country for the freaky experience in the village of Belas, near the town of Sintra.

"Normally what you see is the scary actor running through corridors ... It's not like this. You don't see the things, you are not sure if you are seeing things," director Michel Simeao told Reuters. "It's a very intense experience."
U.S. Treasury sanctions Libyan official for 'stalling' progress

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday sanctioned Aguila Saleh, the president of Libya's internationally recognized parliament in Tobruk, over what U.S. officials say is his blocking of the formation of a U.N.-backed government of national accord.

Saleh "is responsible for stalling political progress in Libya. Today's action sends a clear message that the U.S. Government will continue to target those who undermine the peace, security, and stability of Libya," said John E. Smith, Acting OFAC Director.

The Treasury Department's action means that "all property and interests in property of Issa that are within the jurisdiction of the United States or in the control of U.S. persons are blocked". It added Americans were "generally prohibited" from carrying out transactions with him.

The statement said Saleh had repeatedly blocked votes by Libya's House of Representatives to support the North African country's political transition.

Libya has been in turmoil since the Western-backed uprising that overthrew Muammar Gaddafi five years ago.

Two competing governments, one in Tripoli and the one in Tobruk, backed by armed factions, have struggled for control of the OPEC state since 2014.

A U.N.-backed unity government, designed to replace the rival administrations, arrived in Tripoli earlier this year and is attempting to assert authority over the whole country.

The Treasury Department move follows a similar taken by the European Union in April against Saleh.

Along with Saleh, the EU in April sanctioned Nouri Abusahmain, president of Libya's General National Congress in Tripoli and Khalifa al-Ghwell, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Tripoli government.
Bank of England should ready FX swap lines for Brexit tension -IMF

By David Milliken and Patrick Graham

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - The Bank of England may need to call on other central banks for foreign currency if Britain's referendum on European Union membership hits the world's biggest currency trading centre, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday.

The IMF's call for the BoE to be ready to activate swap facilities suggested preparations for intervening, if necessary, to prevent excessive volatility in sterling after the vote on June 23, senior banking industry figures told Reuters.

They said banks in London were discussing with the BoE how to deal with the consequences of the referendum. Some analysts have warned the vote could lead to gyrations by the pound similar to moves by the Swiss franc in January 2015.

The IMF, which published an annual report on Britain's economy on Friday, welcomed a promise by the BoE to provide more sterling funds if needed, and warned that the referendum could lead to currency market tension.

"The Bank of England has appropriately announced plans to hold additional liquidity auctions in the weeks around the referendum," the IMF said. "There may also be a need to activate swap facilities with other major central banks in the event of a shortfall of foreign exchange liquidity."

The BoE said on Thursday that possible "heightened uncertainty" due to June's vote may make it harder for banks to tap their usual sources of foreign currency, and that it would keep its operations, including swap lines, under review.

The BoE holds weekly auctions of U.S. dollars and has agreements with the central banks of the United States, the euro zone, China, Japan, Canada and Switzerland to provide each other foreign currency in case of market tensions.

The foreign currency can then be lent temporarily to private financial institutions in exchange for collateral, to reduce volatile swings in sterling caused by shortages of the currency.

That differs from intervention to support sterling against other currencies over the medium term. That last occurred sterling was part of the EU's Exchange Rate Mechanism in the early 1990s. Authorisation from Britain's finance ministry would be required for that.

"Clearly, they need to get their market intelligence and supervision prepared for any extreme volatility," said one senior currency industry figure with close ties to the BoE.

Results of the referendum are likely to come in stages during the early hours of June 24, with the final result not necessarily being clear until later in the morning.

"Do (the BoE) therefore provide pricing overnight for a Brexit event in the middle of the night? I think they would be very reluctant," the source said.

"The reason why they have opened those swap lines is in order to intervene, in order to supply the sterling that's being bought by those central banks across the world," he added.

Major currency trading banks, learning from the turmoil caused when the Swiss central bank removed its cap on the franc's value in January 2015, would also send letters to clients warning of sharp moves in the currency, he said.

None of the top three trading banks by volume - Citi, Deutsche Bank and Barclays - had any immediate comment.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven, the leading advanced economies, are due to meet in Japan next week.
Iraq oil projects face delays as companies resist spending cuts

By Ahmed Rasheed

BAGHDAD, May 13 (Reuters) - International oil firms have warned Iraq that projects to increase its crude output will be delayed if the government insists on drastic spending cuts this year, a senior Iraqi oil official said on Friday.

Oil companies helping Iraq develop its massive oil fields effectively perform a role similar to oil service firms in that they have to clear spending with the government each year. They are then repaid with crude oil produced from existing fields.

The arrangement worked smoothly when oil prices were above $100 a barrel but since crude has collapsed to $40 a barrel, Iraq has been struggling to find enough oil to repay the companies for their investment.

Iraq relies on oil for nearly all its revenues and is spending heavily to fight Islamic State in its northern and western provinces.

With its finances stretched, Iraq has asked foreign oil companies to rein in their budgets for developing the country's oil resources for a second year in a row but the two sides have failed so far to agree on spending levels.

The Iraqi government request was contained in Oil Ministry letters, seen by Reuters, to BP, Royal Dutch Shell , Exxon Mobil, Eni, Lukoil and Petronas.

"There has been no agreement so far with the foreign companies on the proposed budgets, and that is causing delays in all key oil field projects," said the Iraqi official, adding that the talks were continuing.

The government has also argued that prices for goods and services have fallen steeply during the market downturn so oil companies should be getting less.

Some companies, however, have complained that the proposed budgets may prevent them from continuing operations in Iraq, the official said, giving no details. He said BP, Shell and Lukoil have already objected to the proposed investment budgets.

Iraq's outgoing Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi had said in February that the budget for foreign oil company development costs had been revised down to just over $9 billion in 2016 from $23 billion, following complex negotiations.

Among OPEC members, Iraq's supply rose last year and output reached a record 4.775 million barrels per day in January 2016.

SPENDING AND PRODUCTION TARGETS

According to a summary of Iraq's proposals seen by Reuters:

* BP has been asked to cut its 2016 budget to $2.48 billion and target output of 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) at the Rumaila field it operates. BP proposed a budget of $3.25 billion for 2015, though the amount agreed with Iraq may have differed.

* Lukoil is expected to cut spending to $1.26 billion and aim for a production of 400,000 bpd at the West Qurna 2 project. The Russian company proposed a 2015 budget of $2.1 billion.

* Eni should cut spending to $1.62 billion and aim for production of 351,000 bpd at the Zubair field. The Italian firm said in February it would cut spending by 20 percent across the board this year, without specifying the size of cuts in Iraq.

* ExxonMobil was asked to slash spending to $878 million and aim for output of 379,000 bpd at the West Qurna 1 project. Last year, the U.S. company insisted on spending $1.8 billion.

* Shell should cut spending to $855 million and aim for a 200,000 bpd from the Majnoon field. Last year, it proposed a budget of $1.5 billion.

* Petronas should reduce costs to $712 million and target production of 100,000 bpd from the Garraf field.
W.House: No US, coalition aircraft near where Hezbollah leader reportedly died

WASHINGTON, May 13 (Reuters) - No aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition were in the area of Damascus where Hezbollah's top military commander was reportedly killed in a blast, the White House said on Friday.
Norway helicopter crash investigation focuses on rotor blade mounting

OSLO, May 13 (Reuters) - An investigation into the cause of a fatal North Sea helicopter crash is focusing on the parts of the aircraft that connected the rotor blades to the main body of the helicopter, investigators said on Friday.

An Airbus H225 Super Puma helicopter ferrying passengers from a Norwegian oil platform operated by Statoil crashed on April 29, killing all 13 people on board.

Since then the helicopter model, a workhorse of the oil industry, has been grounded for commercial flights in Norway and Britain. Investigators have ruled out human error, saying that the crash was caused by a technical fault.

On Friday a preliminary report by the Norwegian Accident Investigation Board said it was focusing on a specific section of the aircraft.

"The (investigation board) is currently focusing on the examination of the MRH (main rotor head) suspension bar assembly, the main gearbox and the main rotor head," it said.

The report did not say whether the problem was attributable to design, production or maintenance issues. Design and production are the responsibility of Airbus Helicopters, while maintenance is handled by the operator, CHC Helicopter.

On May 4 European safety regulators ordered checks on all H225 Super Pumas, including three metal struts that help to connect the rotor assembly to the helicopter.

The Super Puma has been in operation since the 1970s and there are 800 in operation worldwide.

Any conclusion over the cause of the crash would be premature at this stage, investigators said.

"It is very complicated work and we have a lot of work ahead of us," investigation leader Kaare Halvorsen told a news conference.

The accident happened suddenly, Friday's report said. "Everything appeared to be normal until a sudden, catastrophic failure developed in 1-2 seconds," it said.

The helicopter was cruising at 2,000 feet when the main rotor head and mast suddenly detached, it said.

"The helicopter impacted on a small island and caught fire. The main wreckage thereafter ended in the sea where it came to rest at a depth of 1-9 metres. The accident was not survivable."
U.S. concerned about Boko Haram sending fighters to IS in Libya

ABUJA, May 13 (Reuters) - The United States is concerned about indications that Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists are sending fighters to join Islamic State in Libya in increased cooperation between the two groups, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

Boko Haram, which has been waging a seven-year insurgency in northern Nigeria, last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, which has seized parts of Libya, Syria and Iraq. But little has emerged about the extent of a cooperation.

"What we've seen are reports of more cooperation between them," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on a visit to Nigeria.

"We've seen that Boko Haram's ability to communicate has become more effective. They seem to have benefited from assistance from Daesh," he said, using a derogatory Arab name for Islamic State.

"There are reports of material and logistical assistance," Blinken added.

He said there were "reports" that Boko Haram fighters were going to Libya, where Islamic State has a large presence in Sirte, exploiting a security vacuum as competing governments and armed groups fight for power.

"So these are all elements that suggests that there are more contacts and more cooperation and this is again something that we are looking at very carefully because we want to cut it off and we want to prevent it from going any further."

On Thursday, militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they were behind a suicide bombing in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing five people, according to a statement published in Arabic in the name of Islamic State West Africa.
For Iran and Hezbollah, a costly week in Syria

By Tom Perry and Babak Dehghanpisheh

BEIRUT, May 13 (Reuters) - A rebel onslaught on the town of Khan Touman near Aleppo last week delivered one of the biggest battlefield setbacks yet to the coalition of foreign Shi'ite fighters waging war on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.

Reports put the death toll among the Iranian, Afghani and Lebanese militiamen as high as 80 in the attack spearheaded by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. At least 17 of the dead were Iranians, seemingly the highest toll in a battle outside the Islamic Republic's borders since the Iran-Iraq war.

"Pray for us, we can't move. There are 83 of us in one room. We're waiting for artillery backup so we can pull back," an Iranian fighter wrote in a WhatsApp message, quoted by state-run Iranian website Jaam-e-Jam. "God willing, we are martyred rather than taken prisoner."

Events in Khan Touman were followed by an even bigger blow to Iran and its allies: news emerged early Friday of the killing of Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who had been overseeing the Lebanese group's military operations in Syria.

It is unclear how such reversals will affect the course of a war that grew out of Arab spring-inspired protests in 2011 calling for democratic change. Before Iran, Hezbollah and Russia came to Assad's aid, his grip on power appeared to be failing. The commitment of these allies to support him is seen by diplomats and Middle East experts as key to Assad's survival.

Such blows are evidence of the price being paid by Iran and Hezbollah in Syria, and the wide range of adversaries they face in a multi-sided war that has escalated again in recent weeks as U.N.-led diplomacy has foundered.

Israel has not missed the chance to pick off top Iranian and Hezbollah commanders in Syria over the past year or more.

Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group established by Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said Badreddine had been killed in an explosion near Damascus airport. One Hezbollah official blamed Israel. The Israeli government has not commented.

Other enemies in the predominantly Sunni insurgency are meanwhile celebrating what they see as Iran's defeat in Khan Touman, which followed the loss of the nearby town of al-Eis.

One security expert close to Damascus described low morale on the government side because hard-won territory had been lost.

One explanation of the reversal could be that there is less Russian air support. Russia has been mounting air strikes in support of Assad for seven months, but it has also been involved in U.S.-backed diplomatic efforts and supported ceasefires.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a rebel fighting in the area said the intensity of recent Russian air strikes had diminished. That could be a source of friction between the alliance supporting Assad, analysts of the conflict say.

SHOCK IN IRAN

The attack by Nusra and its allies on Khan Touman created shockwaves in Iran. Sites linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps published the names and photos of 13 Iranians killed in Khan Touman. Most of them were from a unit of the Guard in Mazandaran province in northern Iran.

But there were concerns among some Iranian officials and military leaders that the report of heavy casualties could sway public opinion against Iran's involvement in Syria.

A press release from the Revolutionary Guard office in Mazandaran, the province where most of the Iranians killed were based, reflected these concerns.

In order to "preserve calm in society" only information released by their office should be trusted, it said.

Among the Iranians killed was Shafie Shafiee, a commander of the elite Quds force, according to the Tasnim news site, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards. His body was seized by Syrian rebels, according to the another site, ABNA.

Pictures posted by rebels and reprinted by Iranian news sites show closeups of individual fighters killed in the battle. One photo shows what appears to be at least a dozen bloodied corpses lined up in the hallway of a building.

Another set of photos posted by the Syrian opposition show two prisoners of indeterminate nationality, bound and bloodied, being led behind a vehicle.

Mohammad Saleh Jokar, a member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy committee, said there were not any precise numbers on how many Iranians had been killed or taken prisoner in the Khan Touman "disaster".

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani called it a crime carried out by "cowardly terrorists" during a ceasefire - an apparent reference to a cessation of hostilities agreement to which the Nusra Front and other jihadist groups are not a party.

"This incident will not go unanswered," Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council said in an interview with the Young Journalists Club news site this week.

Footage shot from a drone by rebels shows a complex assault on Khan Touman that began with a barrage of rockets or mortars and involved armored vehicles and a tank. A mushroom cloud, apparently caused by a car bomb, is seen erupting near a building.

HEZBOLLAH VOWS TO FIGHT ON

Iran has announced the death of half a dozen generals in Syria, and a much larger number of less senior officers since 2012.

Hezbollah has meanwhile lost four prominent fighters, including Badreddine, a brother-in-law of the group's late military commander Imad Moughniyah.

Badreddine was the most senior Hezbollah figure to be killed since Moughniyah was assassinated in 2008, also in Damascus.

Hezbollah is estimated to have lost a total of around 1,200 fighters in Syria, where its highly trained guerrillas have provided crucial support to the Syrian military.

The group depicts its war in Syria as an existential struggle against ultra-radical jihadists such as the Nusra Front and Islamic State, groups it refers to as "takfiris".
Boko Haram may be sending fighters to Islamic State in Libya - US officials

By Ulf Laessing

ABUJA, May 13 (Reuters) - There are signs that Nigeria's Boko Haram jihadists are sending fighters to join Islamic State in Libya, and of increased cooperation between the two groups, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

Nigeria has asked the United States to sell it aircraft to fight Boko Haram, which has been waging a seven-year insurgency in the north and last year pledged loyalty to Islamic State, which is active in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

Little is known about the extent of cooperation between the two radical Islamist groups. But Western governments worry that Islamic State's growing presence in north Africa and ties with Boko Haram could herald a push south into the vast, lawless Sahel region and create a springboard for wider attacks.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there were "reports" that Boko Haram fighters were going to Libya, where Islamic State has established a large presence, taking advantage of security chaos.

"We've seen that Boko Haram's ability to communicate has become more effective. They seem to have benefited from assistance from Daesh," he said, using a derogatory name for Islamic State. There were also reports of material and logistical aid.

"So these are all elements that suggests that there are more contacts and more cooperation, and this is again something that we are looking at very carefully because we want to cut it off," Blinken told reporters in Nigeria.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Blinken said the United States was helping Nigeria in its fight against Boko Haram with armoured vehicles. But he declined to comment on a request by the West African nation to sell it aircraft.

U.S. officials told Reuters this month Washington wants to sell up to 12 A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft to Nigeria in recognition of President Muhammadu Buhari's army reforms. Congress needs to approve the deal.

Under Buhari's predecessor Goodluck Jonathan, the United States had blocked arms sales, partly due to human rights concerns.

Blinken said Nigeria had made several requests for military hardware. "We are looking very actively at these requests," he said.

Nigeria's Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama earlier said the government had set up reporting mechanisms inside the military to monitor human rights which should convince Congress to approve the sale.

Blinken said the military under Buhari had made "important efforts" to address human rights but the U.S. was "troubled" by an Amnesty International report from this week that children were dying in military detention.

The army had rejected the report.

Blinken said Washington was also concerned about an alleged army massacre of Shi'ites in northern Nigeria in December, during which hundreds were killed, according to residents.
Apple, Chinese rideshare deal heats up race for tech-smart cars

By Alexandria Sage and Julia Love

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's $1 billion investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing intensifies a race to acquire technology, talent and market access in a rapidly evolving global personal transportation market.

Apple's investment comes as auto and technology industry executives and investors are placing bets that self-driving car systems, electric vehicles and ride sharing will eventually converge to allow companies to sell rides in self-driving vehicles, generating revenue day and night.

For Apple, Chief Executive Tim Cook said to Reuters that investing in the leading Chinese ride sharing service could expand its presence in that "very, very important" market, and serve other ends as well.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market, and we also see lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies. Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well," Cook said in an interview Thursday.

Analysts said Apple's investment also could bolster relations with the Chinese government, and put a roadblock in the way of rivals Alphabet Inc and Uber Technologies, among others looking to profit from re-making the personal transportation market.

"(Apple is) going to learn a ton about what driving a car is like in China," said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

Apple's ride-sharing investment highlights a surge in automotive technology deals, which have increased by 58 percent in 2015, with a 154 percent jump in funding, according to CBInsights, a venture capital database. In 51 deals, investors put $409M into auto tech companies in 2015.

"It's a reflection of fact there are very few industries in the world ... that are going to go through as much disruptive transformation as transportation," said Michael Linse of Linse Capital - which last week invested another $50 million in electric vehicle charging company Chargepoint.

DIPPING INTO THE MONEY CHEST

The ride-sharing investment barely dents Apple's war chest, which stood at $232.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of its most recent earnings. The investment is something of a departure for the iPhone maker, which has made few large deals in its history, with the exception of its roughly $3 billion acquisition of headphone maker Beats in 2014.

Pressure is mounting for Apple to untap new sources of growth as sales of the iPhone, which accounts for about two-thirds of its revenue, declined for the first time last quarter. Investments and acquisitions could be a short cut for Apple to return to the kind of growth that Wall Street has come to expect, said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research.

"It's clearly time for Apple to dip into their money chest," he said. "Just moving forward with what they've got is not going to really cut it."

Estimates of the size of the market for transportation services vary, but industry executives agree it is big.

Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Mark Fields tells investors the market for transportation services could grow to $5.4 trillion a year - which is why Ford earlier this year set up a new business unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, to develop ventures and alliances in the sector.

Yoav Leitersdorf, managing partner of California and Israel-based YL Ventures, said self-driving car technology is "the Holy Grail" of investors right now.

"Anything leading to that is very hot right now," said Leitersdorf, who invests in Israeli technology firms, most recently cybersecurity company Karamba Security.

General Motors Co on Friday said it had closed its acquisition of San Francisco autonomous driving startup Cruise Automation. That deal is one of a series of moves by global automakers to expand beyond traditional manufacturing. Automakers are under pressure from investors to demonstrate they can fend off disruption of their traditional profit engines.

GM earlier this year invested $500 million to buy a stake in Lyft, which also has an alliance with Didi. GM executives have outlined plans to use Cruise technology to deliver autonomous, electric vehicles that Lyft could use in its fleets. A GM spokesman on Friday said the automaker has ridesharing pilot projects in China, but not in connection with Didi.

Apple's alignment with Didi may deliver a blow to Uber, which is fiercely competing for market share in China, one of its most critical and intense markets. The company is losing more than $1 billion a year there, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Reuters earlier this year.

German automakers BMW AG and Daimler AG have invested in car-sharing services, and also with Volkswagen AG have acquired stakes in HERE, a European digital mapping company. The German automakers have said HERE will be integral to their efforts to develop self-driving cars.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV earlier this month struck a deal with Alphabet Inc's Google autonomous car operation to supply 100 Pacifica minivans that Google will outfit with its self-driving vehicle technology. Both companies have portrayed this as a limited agreement - Google will not share its technology with Fiat Chrysler. The deal is the first direct collaboration on autonomous vehicle production between an automaker and Google.
Nigeria faces oil output slump as Exxon shuts flows

By Florence Tan and Simon Falush

SINGAPORE/LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S. oil major Exxon Mobil Corp said on Friday it has suspended exports from Nigeria's top crude stream, adding to economic strains from unrest and violence that have cut production to its lowest in decades.

Exxon Mobil said it had declared a force majeure - a suspension of deliveries because of events beyond its control - on Nigeria's Qua Iboe crude oil grade , and that a portion of production had been curtailed after a drilling rig damaged a pipeline.

In a separate incident on Friday, an explosion rocked Chevron Corp's oil well at the Marakaba pipeline in Warri in Nigeria's Delta region, a security source said, the second blast at a facility of the U.S. oil major within a week, feeding concern over a revived militant campaign in the area.

Chevron had no immediate comment, while Nigeria's army, which has stepped up its presence in the region, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Last week, Chevron said its platform in the Delta was attacked by militants.

The outages adds to production problems at two of the other largest crude streams, Bonny Light and Forcados, which have already taken Nigeria's output to a 22-year low.

Royal Dutch Shell shut a major pipeline earlier this week and declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude exports on Wednesday, while an attack in February on a pipeline also caused it to shut the 250,000 bpd Forcados export terminal.

Nigeria's oil production has fallen to 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd) due to militant attacks, Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said on Friday, from 2.2 million bpd.

If outages at Qua Iboe and other streams are prolonged, Nigerian output could fall to around 1.2 million bpd, according to Reuters calculations. This would be the lowest output since 1970, according to BP's statistical review.

Nigeria had been Africa's largest crude exporter with its economy heavily reliant on oil up until this year, when rampant oil theft and corruption has kept production well below capacity.

As a result, Angola has overtaken Nigeria as the continent's largest producer since March, according to OPEC figures.

Oil prices have jumped around 20 percent so far this quarter, their biggest such rise since 2011.

Brent crude has surged to $47 per barrel from $27 in January, in part because of production problems in Africa's former largest producer as well as a decline in U.S. output.

Nigeria was due to export 337,000 bpd in May, according to initial loading programmes released in March.
Puerto Rico reports first case of Zika-related microcephaly

By Daniel Bases

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's health ministry confirmed on Friday its first case of Zika-related microcephaly in a fetus, increasing concerns of the virus' spread by mosquitoes and the financially strapped U.S. commonwealth's ability to address the growing health crisis.

"This is the first case of congenital and developmental Zika in the product of a pregnancy that are detected or reported in Puerto Rico," Dr. Brenda Rivera, the island's chief epidemiologist told Reuters in a telephone interview.

U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies.

The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.

Rivera said the fetus was donated by a family that did not have any recent travel history. Details about the pregnancy were kept to a minimum at the family's request.

An ultrasound examination by a primary care physician several weeks ago detected the fetus had abnormalities. Confirmation that Zika was present in the brain tissue of the fetus came this week from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rivera said.

"The product of this pregnancy was donated by the family to the department of health. This fetus was determined to have severe microcephaly and intracranial calcifications, which is what you tend to see with these cases," Rivera said.

Puerto Rico's social services have been severely hampered over the last few years by an increasingly dire fiscal crisis that has resulted in hospitals closing wards to save money and doctors emigrating to the mainland for better paying jobs.

The government, which is struggling with a 45 percent poverty rate, has said it cannot pay back all of the roughly $70 billion in debt it owes to creditors.

On Monday the White House said it was concerned the debt crisis could hamper the ability of Puerto Rico to address the potential public health crisis caused by the spread of Zika which has sickened nearly 700 people on the island.

President Barack Obama has requested $1.9 billion in funding to battle Zika on the island.

Attempts by the U.S. Congress to present and pass legislation to address Puerto Rico's financial crisis have so far failed to materialize, leading to speculation that what will eventually be needed is humanitarian aid relief rather than simply a financial fix.

Lawmakers next week could take up both the financial as well as Zika-related bills.

The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,100 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.
Apple, Chinese rideshare deal heats up race for tech-smart cars

By Alexandria Sage and Julia Love

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's $1 billion investment in Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing intensifies a race to acquire technology, talent and market access in a rapidly evolving global personal transportation market.

Apple's investment comes as auto and technology industry executives and investors are placing bets that self-driving car systems, electric vehicles and ride sharing will eventually converge to allow companies to sell rides in self-driving vehicles, generating revenue day and night.

For Apple, Chief Executive Tim Cook said to Reuters that investing in the leading Chinese ride sharing service could expand its presence in that "very, very important" market, and serve other ends as well.

"We are making the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including a chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market, and we also see lots of opportunities for closer cooperation between the two companies. Of course, we believe it will deliver a strong return for our invested capital over time as well," Cook said in an interview Thursday.

Analysts said Apple's investment also could bolster relations with the Chinese government, and put a roadblock in the way of rivals Alphabet Inc and Uber Technologies, among others looking to profit from re-making the personal transportation market.

"(Apple is) going to learn a ton about what driving a car is like in China," said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research.

Apple's ride-sharing investment highlights a surge in automotive technology deals, which have increased by 58 percent in 2015, with a 154 percent jump in funding, according to CBInsights, a venture capital database. In 51 deals, investors put $409M into auto tech companies in 2015.

"It's a reflection of fact there are very few industries in the world ... that are going to go through as much disruptive transformation as transportation," said Michael Linse of Linse Capital - which last week invested another $50 million in electric vehicle charging company Chargepoint.

DIPPING INTO THE MONEY CHEST

The ride-sharing investment barely dents Apple's war chest, which stood at $232.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of its most recent earnings. The investment is something of a departure for the iPhone maker, which has made few large deals in its history, with the exception of its roughly $3 billion acquisition of headphone maker Beats in 2014.

Pressure is mounting for Apple to untap new sources of growth as sales of the iPhone, which accounts for about two-thirds of its revenue, declined for the first time last quarter. Investments and acquisitions could be a short cut for Apple to return to the kind of growth that Wall Street has come to expect, said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research.

"It's clearly time for Apple to dip into their money chest," he said. "Just moving forward with what they've got is not going to really cut it."

Estimates of the size of the market for transportation services vary, but industry executives agree it is big.

Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Mark Fields tells investors the market for transportation services could grow to $5.4 trillion a year - which is why Ford earlier this year set up a new business unit, Ford Smart Mobility LLC, to develop ventures and alliances in the sector.

Yoav Leitersdorf, managing partner of California and Israel-based YL Ventures, said self-driving car technology is "the Holy Grail" of investors right now.

"Anything leading to that is very hot right now," said Leitersdorf, who invests in Israeli technology firms, most recently cybersecurity company Karamba Security.

General Motors Co on Friday said it had closed its acquisition of San Francisco autonomous driving startup Cruise Automation. That deal is one of a series of moves by global automakers to expand beyond traditional manufacturing. Automakers are under pressure from investors to demonstrate they can fend off disruption of their traditional profit engines.

GM earlier this year invested $500 million to buy a stake in Lyft, which also has an alliance with Didi. GM executives have outlined plans to use Cruise technology to deliver autonomous, electric vehicles that Lyft could use in its fleets. A GM spokesman on Friday said the automaker has ridesharing pilot projects in China, but not in connection with Didi.

The investment offers tremendous new resources for the collaborative work Didi does with Lyft, said Lyft spokeswoman Sheila Bryson, adding that the executive teams and technical teams of both companies work closely together.

"It's really exciting for Lyft, too," said Bryson.

Apple's alignment with Didi may deliver a blow to Uber, which is fiercely competing for market share in China, one of its most critical and intense markets. The company is losing more than $1 billion a year there, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Reuters earlier this year.

German automakers BMW AG and Daimler AG have invested in car-sharing services, and also with Volkswagen AG have acquired stakes in HERE, a European digital mapping company. The German automakers have said HERE will be integral to their efforts to develop self-driving cars.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV earlier this month struck a deal with Alphabet Inc's Google autonomous car operation to supply 100 Pacifica minivans that Google will outfit with its self-driving vehicle technology. Both companies have portrayed this as a limited agreement - Google will not share its technology with Fiat Chrysler. The deal is the first direct collaboration on autonomous vehicle production between an automaker and Google.
Chile to examine possible link between salmon industry, red tide

By Fabian Cambero and Gram Slattery

SANTIAGO, May 13 (Reuters) - A team of scientists will determine if salmon producers dumping tons of dead fish into the Pacific contributed to a massive "red tide" that is wreaking havoc among fishermen in southern Chile, the government said on Friday.

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, though the extent of the current outbreak is unprecedented.

After starting in the Los Lagos region, the bloom has steadily spread outward, depriving many coastal communities of their livelihood. That in turn has led to massive protests and a network of roadblocks set up by fishermen who consider the government's efforts to mitigate the economic fallout from to bloom to be inadequate.

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. Along with Chile's SERNAPESCA fisheries body, they have widely rejected a link between salmon dumping and the recent outbreak.

Many fishermen and communities in southern Chile, however, are blaming the country's salmon industry, the world's second largest, for exacerbating the problem by dumping tons of dead salmon into the ocean after a separate algal bloom killed off an estimated 100,000 tonnes of fish.

"A team of five excellent professionals has been formed that will be working on the task of examining the link between the dumping of salmon and the red tide phenomenon," Economy Minister Luis Felipe Cespedes said in a statement.

Fishermen have blockaded the principal access point to the island of Chiloe for the past three weeks, largely isolating its population of around 140,000 and stranding some tourists.

In recent days, protests have spread to the capital Santiago, resulting in some violent, though sporadic altercations with police.

Many salmon producers operating in Chile - most of which have facilities on or near Chiloe - are reporting heavy daily losses due to transport disruptions.

Chile's National Fish Society, an industry group, said in a statement that 20 plants processing a variety of seafood, including the nation's heavily cultivated mussels, are "totally paralyzed."
The evolution of human civilisation had begun from the acute idea of having the privilege to dissent. The definition, in simple terms, is the sentiment or philosophy of disagreement and opposing the ideas and policies of the government.

The history of dissent in Nepal, however, hasn't been a bright one. Even after ten years of democracy, dissent in Nepal has been often abused and dissenters are killed and prosecuted at times. On the other hand, I do not entirely support dissenters nor do I support corruption. It is high time that we need a discourse in dissent.

The arrest of noted journalist, writer, defender of human rights and the chairman of the state-run transportation company Sajha Yatayat, Kanak Mani Dixit, on April 22 took everyone by surprise. The press fraternity and international media were quick to defy such a move by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). There were others who believed that Dixit had accumulated a huge amount of wealth illegally and should be punished for what he had done.

I see blind spots in both arguments. Firstly, we don't know clearly on what grounds the CIAA arrested Dixit. Secondly, no one knows so far what corruption the writer-businessman has been involved in so far. Moreover, it is absurd to blindly support either party as we clearly lack evidence.

The CIAA's move was entirely wrong and against the provisions of the constitution. And others supporting Dixit solely was wrong too as we were unsure whether the charges against him were true or not.

The problem here is: how will the CIAA protect its image if Dixit is found clean and what will its supporters do if the writer isn't found guilty? That's why, at times, dissenting blindly leads to a biased interpretation when no facts are available.

It is said that in the present century, there are no truths but only interpretations. And when interpretations fail, the problem can be solved on the basis of evidence. That's the last resort to solve a problem practically and even if it is distorted or manipulated, we can only question the integrity of the government bodies.

I highly suspect, though, that there are any agencies in Nepal which are not corruption-free.

Thinkers have long argued that a constructive society needs dissent and dissenters as they will oppose what is wrong in the society and bring a change ultimately. They also discourage the government to implement whatever policies it wishes to.

Karl Marx had once famously written: "If constructing the future and settling everything for all times are not our affair, it is all the clearer what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be."

Let us remind all that no one is above the law. Not even the prime minister of Nepal. Democracy has long struggled with corruption and the effects of power that corrupts and corrupts absolutely. Therefore, the Nepali government and CIAA should acknowledge that the nation no longer lives in the shadows of civil war, monarchy or autocratic regime.

Why have the leaders and those occupying high positions forgotten their chant about Nepal's constitution being the best? The constitution clearly gives protection to Dixit in Article (20)(2) which states that "any person who is arrested shall have the right to consult a legal practitioner of his or her choice from the time of such arrest and to be defended by such legal practitioner. Any consultation made by such person with, and advice is given by, his or her legal practitioner shall be confidential".

The sub-clauses 5-10 clearly says that the writer won't be presumed innocent until guilty and won't be tried in the same court twice and will have the right to an independent, impartial judicial body. So the CIAA should keep in mind that it cannot act mighty by arresting the writer according to the CIAA Act 2048 (1991) Section 19.1 (c) for showing defiance and non-cooperation in its investigation despite repeated notice to appear before it. The CIAA should be made transparent and accountable and it should be checked if the commission is corruption-free or not.

A special court allowed the CIAA to remand Dixit to a ten-day custody and allowed him to meet legal advisors and get medical treatment. The media fraternity, both national and international, was embroiled in this saga.

In May 2, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the release of Dixit. Media personnel were barred from entering the courtroom to do any reporting. With his immediate release, Kunda Dixit, the brother of the accused journalist tweeted that he was heading back to ICU because of hypertension. No further reports or actions have surfaced after his release. Dixit is active on Twitter once again and for now it seems he's out of danger both health-wise and politically.

As our judiciary, anti-corruption institution and democracy are evolving, we need to understand that the society will always have dissenters. The question remains on how the government and institutions will treat them and if people will support those who are arrested until they are proven guilty.
Much to Islamabad's chagrin, the message coming out from Washington is loud and clear. Pakistan is now being asked to pay for F-16 jets from of its own pocket.

The message that the US is sending to Pakistan after it threatened to yank financing for F-16 jets ordered by the country cannot be more categorical.

Purchase

Pakistan can still purchase the fighter jets, but Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman senator Bob Corker has promised to block any US funding for the deal in a reflection of congressional anger at the Pakistani government for what many say are its close relationships with anti-American Islamist militants. The jets, along with other military equipment, approved for sale to Pakistan will cost around $700 million to the US exchequer.

Earlier this year, the Obama administration had approved the sale of up to eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

But Bob Corker announced earlier this week that Pakistan will have to pay full price for its purchase of eight F-16 fighter jets from the United States. Senator Corker commented, "Given congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose."

Some members of the US Congress, led by Sen Corker, had objected to the use of US funds to subsidise the sale of the F-16s to Pakistan based on what they see as the Pakistani government's support of militant groups that have targeted Americans and Afghans and their inadequate support of the Afghan peace process.

Senator Bob Sen Corker. (AP)

Pakistan is now reportedly exploring alternative options, such as the Russian SU35 and the Chinese J10 and J20 stealth fighters.

Sartaj Aziz, the Pakistani prime minister's adviser on foreign affairs, said that Pakistan will "opt for jets from some other place" if US funding is not arranged. It is clear that even if this immediate matter of F-16 sale is resolved, The US-Pakistan relations are only going to go downhill.

And this has been clear for quite some time now. In many ways, this was bound to happen. Pakistan could not have expected to play China and the US against each other for this long. Moreover, Pakistan's dubious role in Afghanistan is creating a strong backlash in the US.

In his address to a joint session of Afghanistan's two houses of Parliament last month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani threatened to lodge a formal complaint against Pakistan at the UN.

In a departure from his earlier stand, Ghani called on Pakistan to forego attempts to bring the Taliban to negotiations and take military action against the militant group.

Diplomatic

The Afghan president threatened, "If we do not see a change, despite our hopes and efforts for regional cooperation, we will be forced to turn to the UN Security Council and launch serious diplomatic efforts." Despite Pakistan's repeated assertions that it would go after Taliban leaders who refused to engage in the peace process involving Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, and China, negotiations have stalled and deadly attacks in Afghanistan have increased as the Taliban carries out its spring offensive.

On April 19, Afghan Taliban-claimed attack against a security agency responsible for protecting senior government officials and VIPs, which killed 64 people and injured 347 others. Afghanistan has alleged that this deadly attack in Kabul was planned by the Haqqani Network in Pakistan.

Rather than engaging Pakistan, Kabul is now talking of isolating Pakistan in response. Deputy spokesperson for Afghan president Dawa Khan Meenpal recently suggested that "Pakistan is in the state of isolation. We want to use diplomatic initiative to isolate Pakistan at regional and international levels and to tell the world community where terrorists are and which country and intelligence (agency) support them." Washington's anger is reflective of this growing divide in Afghanistan-Pakistan relations.

Sale

When the Obama administration had decided to go ahead with the sale of F-16s to Pakistan, India's reaction was strong.

It had openly disagreed with the US stand that this sale would help in the fight against terrorism and instead has argued that it would be used against India. US ambassador to India, Richard Verma was summoned to underscore India's displeasure. Delhi is seriously concerned about the changing balance of air power in the region as Pakistan today has four squadrons of F-16 fighters, all built with the US assistance.

But India-US ties today are at a completely different level. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets ready to address the US Congress next month, both Washington and Delhi need to find a better way of managing Pakistan, so as not to impact the positive trajectory of their bilateral ties. There is a larger strategic reality that confronts India and the US beyond Pakistan.

This is clear from recent attempts by the two states to swap anti-submarine warfare technology in order to counter the threat from Chinese submarines. It is likely that a joint US-India exercise on anti-submarine warfare will take place in the Philippine Sea and include Japan as the two navies gear up to hedge against patrols by Chinese nuclear-armed submarines.

Pakistan is being sent a message from the US polity that it cannot forever blackmail America. India should remain alive to such changes in the US and leverage them accordingly.
I cant say I envy teachers this year as they try to address the national election in their classroomespecially the debate on the issue of immigration. But my colleague Apoorvaa Joshi, Executive Associate, Education at Asia Society, provides resources and strategies to approach this issue in a fair and factual way. Most of these suggestions are aimed at middle or high-school level students.

In the United States, demographic shifts due to conflict, economic hardship, climate change, and other major events have historically triggered a debate on ideas of belonging, often reinforcing an us versus them mentality. This mentality, in turn, is an easy wedge tactic for politicians to exploit while seeking power or to influence policy.

Sometimes these tactics result in political violence, and usually they succeed in dividing people along group identities, eventually reinforcing privilege of a more powerful group over another. The current election cycle for President of the United States, as well as the refugee crisis resulting from the Syrian civil war, have highlighted how these tensions are being played out on the campaign trail and in the media.

There have been numerous pieces written recently on introducing children to the coded (and explicit) racism and prejudice in the stump speeches of Donald Trump and other candidates. And the messaging from some of the presidential candidates is having a powerful, negative impact on the children of immigrants, or children who are immigrants themselves.

Given the rampant misinformation and high emotional tensions that run through this topic, we may instinctually keep quiet on the issues, wanting to maintain a safe and orderly space for young people, or to avoid giving more attention to vitriolic speech. But as educators, there are some important ways in which you can empower students to use the current rise of xenophobia and intolerance in the US and abroad to inspire global competence. Doing this will, in turn, help develop your students into young leaders who can engage with the current political discourse in a way that is meaningful and authentic to their own lives and contexts. Indeed, the four domains of global competence can act as a guide for you to help students to investigate their world, weigh perspectives, communicate across audiences, and finally take action on issues of global significance like immigration and xenophobia.

Investigate the world

It may be helpful to take a step back from the emotions that run through topics like immigration and reframe them as a research project, acknowledging that there are some objective facts (as well as subjective truths) that are at least recoverable by students. For example, have students start by researching statistics about immigration and addressing some key questions: How do these facts support or dismantle current rhetoric around the issues? What are the actual laws surrounding immigration? Ask your students to reflect on what it takes to immigrate to another country and what sorts of punishments are doled out for illegal immigration. What exactly grants someone status as a refugee? What is the history of immigration to (and emigration from) your country? What are current political and economic factors that influence immigration?

Some online resources on immigration and migration research:

Part of investigating our world may be to also acknowledge personal experiences. There is value in referencing personal experience when discussing politics; it can be an important and useful form of argumentation, but students should be aware that their own experiences, while personal and valid, constitute anecdotal evidence and do not necessarily represent an averageor even anything more than a singularexperience.

Its important to acknowledge experience as a specific type of information that can inform a persons stance on a topic. A student in your classroom who deals with the struggles of being undocumented, for example, could bring up facts that the general public, including researchers, may not recognize at first. The personal backgrounds of immigrant students, however, need to be handled with sensitivity. Students may be hesitant to share their views out of fear of endangering or drawing unwanted attention themselves and their family members, especially in the case of students who may be undocumented. For instance, a teacher at Fort Vancouver International High School, a very diverse school in Washington state, encourages her students to tell their storieswhen they are ready:

I had a couple of students from the Congo, and they [shared] how their parents were hiding them under the floorboards as these people were coming in to kidnap [children]... Stories do have a huge impact on our students, especially the US-born citizens, because theyve never really had to even think about that, let alone imagine that scenario.

Celebrating experience is another way of allowing students to investigate issues, and leads to the appreciation of diverse perspectivesthe next component of global competence.

Related resources

Weigh perspectives accurately

Have students posit some hypotheses about immigration, including who they think an immigrant is, what drives immigration, and what its like to be an immigrant. You could have them journal what they think when they hear the word immigrant"where do they picture a person coming from? You can also have them share these entries in a safe environment where students can air their (mis)conceptions, and be gently challenged by other members of the classroom.

In order to inform different perspectives on immigration, or any other topic, we need to study and reflect on the philosophical underpinnings of why people believe certain things. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has an article dedicated to the philosophical roots of differing stances on immigration that could serve as a guide for students. Have students reflect on what they believe in regards to this issue, and whyare the reasons cultural, religious, or based on personal experience? Do their beliefs stem from one of the philosophies they came across in their research?

Some more resources on the ideas of morality, philosophy, and immigration:

It is imperative for students to develop the skills necessary to be critical consumers of media. An effective way to work on this could be to have them pick a recent speech by a political figure on immigration and fact-check it. One such example is Donald Trumps speech that included the now-infamous caricature of most immigrants as criminals and rapists. (In fact, the Washington Post has already done this.) It is important to consider the idea of tone and historical context when looking at speeches and have students reflect on how that impacts their interpretation of certain media. How do politicians create a sense of urgency in their speeches, and why do they think that is happening? For example, how did this anti-immigrant speech by Woodrow Wilson affect the history of immigration in the USand how does the context compare or contrast from the current political climate?

Communicate across different audiences

After having had time to delve into the facts and arguments for immigration, a formal debate is an example of a classroom activity that can help students hone their skills at writing and reciting persuasive oral arguments. Debates are part of the Common Core and other state standards and they are a powerful way to sharpen formal argumentation. The practice of asking students to bring both sides of an argument to the table in a structured way is important today, given the ever-decreasing diversity of political opinions in the public arena.

There are a number of resources online that can help structure classroom debates and establish clear guidelines that keep the focus on the merits of each argument and away from demagoguery.

A few resources on classroom debates:

One of the most difficult things to do when discussing political issues is to challenge the viewpoints of those with whom we disagree, or to do so without getting emotionally involved to the point that we lose the argument, or more importantly, a relationship. At the same time, standing up against colleagues, friends, or family members misusing statistics, quotes, or conflating opinions (and anecdotal evidence) with facts is an important part of being globally competent.

To that end, educators need to encourage students to stand by their arguments, so long as they remain well-formed and grounded in good research and reflection. In fact, the classroom can be a crucial safe space in which students can work on challenging peers stances in an effective and structured way. Improving these skills and arguments is good practice for the final component of global competence.

Take action

There is a tendency to shy away from teaching activism in the classroom, due to beliefs that activism is too radical for a space like a school. The ultimate goal of developing global competence, though, is to grow students who can take action to improve their world. Educators should address the importance of disruptive protests to social movements throughout history, such as the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. Help students navigate the complexity of viewpoints on organizing tactics, talking through the utility and potential consequences of differing approaches. As a possible resource, The Chicago History Museum has developed a lesson plan around protest in American history .

For example, what are the pros and cons of staging a counter-protest at a political rally for a politician who has been vocally anti-immigrant? Perhaps even help students understand what is involved in planning an action like this this, ensuring students are aware of the legal requirements (e.g., permits, types of allowed speech), and how to deal with counter-protestors, including safety issues in light of the recent violence against protestors at Donald Trump rallies.

Additionally, you can suggest students write essays, blogs, pen letters to editors, and other types of advocacy that allow them to voice their opinions on immigration.

Some resources for teaching about activism in the classroom:

Being able to take action on an issue of significance, such as immigration, is an important link to developing a love of civic engagement. As this election cycle continues to heat up, encourage students to look into candidates positions on various topics. Do they find their opinions on a particular issue would lead them to vote for one candidate over another, if/when they are old enough to vote? Encourage them to get involved with the campaign process if it is appealing to them or even encourage them to run for office one day. By educating todays students for global competence, we are helping ensure that the next generation of politicians will be able to tackle important issues like immigration with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of a true global leader.

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Photo credit: No Human Being is Illegal, Los Angeles, 2006  Jonathan McIntosh | Wikimedia Commons
On Thursday afternoon, Gov. Terry McAuliffe visited the plant in Orange County's Lee Industrial Park to present a check for an $85,000 grant from the Commonwealth's Opportunity Fund to help Orange County facilitate the plant's roughly 25,000 square-feet expansion.

According to its website, Lohmann "is one of the pioneering forces in adhesive tape technology and is now active on a global scale. The Adhesive Tape Group is headquartered in Neuwied, Germany. The company now has over 1,500 employees worldwide, 29 international sites, and exclusive sales partners in over 50 countries all around the world."

The company's USA division has plants in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.

Lohmann President Steve De Jong said Thursday the new building at the Orange facility will create 56 new jobs, many of which will be high-paying.

"We hope to break ground by the middle of this year and have it completed by March, 2017," De Jong said following a brief check presentation ceremony with the governor, Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones and Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Lee Frame.

The Orange facility, which manufactures adhesive bonding materials for custom coating of double-sided tapes and precision die-cutting, will use the new building for fabricating and specialty converting of their materials for use in auto manufacturing, De Jong said.

De Jong said the new plant will cut and fabricate parts to be sold to domestic and international auto manufacturers, rather than making the adhesive materials in their existing plant and selling them to other companies for the fabrication of parts.

"This gives us much better vertical integration," De Jong said. "Now we will make the parts ourselves rather than selling them to a middle man, who then sells them to the auto manufactures."

McAuliffe said Lohmann is an important part of the commonwealth's advanced manufacturing sector, and congratulated Lohmann and Orange County on the proposed expansion.

"Advanced manufacturing is clearly alive and well in the commonwealth, and growing this sector is a vital part of our ongoing success in building a new Virginia economy," McAuliffe said. "I am thrilled that Lohmann Specialty Coatings will expand manufacturing capacity and add new jobs to its workforce.

"I am all about economic development and I love advanced manufacturing," McAuliffe told the crowd assembled outside Lohmann. "We are bringing jobs back from around the globe, and we are bringing jobs back from China."

De Jong said Lohmann's other U.S. plants and Mexico were under serious consideration for the new facility, but the company selected its Virginia site as part of its 2020 strategy to "upgrade our technology to support the automotive industry."

One concern De Jong said the company has is finding enough qualified tech applicants to staff the new facility.

"We have a vision of a three-shift, seven-day-a-week operation," De Jong said of the facility, which currently runs three shifts five-day-a-week. "We decided to remain here in Virginia and to remain here in Orange County."

Jones said Lohmann's expansion is a testament to the talent and the excellent business climate in this area of Virginia.

"We congratulate the company and the region, and we look forward to the continued growth of this great corporate citizen."
Yee Wan has some simple advice for teachers who struggle to pronounce the names of their students: Start a conversation.

The best way for teachers to learn how to pronounce the name is to talk to the student, to connect with the student and with the parents, said Wan, the president of the National Association for Bilingual Education. That personal connection makes the student and their family feel welcome in the school.

Wan, who is also director of multilingual education services at the Santa Clara County Office of Education in California, helped launched the My Name, My Identity campaign, an initiative that aims to raise awareness about the importance of respecting names and identities in schools. She was featured prominently in an Education Week story this week about the campaign.

For those who want to take a practice run on name pronunciation before meeting a student, Wan recommends several online guides, including Forvo , How to Pronounce , Inogolo , and Pronounce by VOA News , that provide pronunciation in multiple languages. But Wan strongly recommends a face-to-face conversation, even if you use the guides.

Angel Gustavo Silva Moreno agrees. The 15-year-old freshman at Downtown College Prep Alum Rock High School in San Jose, Calif., said he always corrects people when they mispronounce his name.

It represents where Im from, my culture, my ethnicity, my ancestry, Moreno, the son of Mexico immigrants, said in an interview with Education Week.

But not all students correct teachers, principals, or staff members who consistently mispronounce their names. Via social media, a few educators offered tips on learning how to properly pronounce student names. Unsurprisingly, the suggestions call for conversation.

@RusulAlrubail @C_C_Mitchell @educationweek some Ss dont correct Ts. My friend asks Ss How does ur mom say your name? =correct pron.  mmeRfsl (@MmeRFSL) May 12, 2016

I have always told students to insist that I, and all their teachers, pronounce their name correctly. https://t.co/Jdp5bk66Pc #powerupepisd  Brian Grenier (@briangrenier) May 12, 2016

Photo Credit: James Tensuan for Education Week
Public schools must allow transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity , the Obama administration announced Friday in a letter to the nations school districts.

Amid an escalating legal battle with the state of North Carolina that has thrust that states schools into the center of a fight over transgender rights, the letter to the nations roughly 14,000 school districts made clear the administrations position that restricting transgender students access to restrooms and locker rooms is discriminatory and could put federal funding at risk.

The dear colleague letter from the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education also spelled out out other obligations schools have to transgender students.

No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus, said U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. in a statement. This guidance further clarifies what weve said repeatedly that gender identity is protected under Title IX. Educators want to do the right thing for students, and many have reached out to us for guidance on how to follow the law. We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.

Civil rights guidance from the agencies does not carry the force of law, school law experts have said, but it serves as a warning of possible enforcement actions, including loss of federal funding, for schools that run afoul of the agencies interpretation.

Among the directions included in the guidance:

Educators must respond quickly to harassment, including harassment based on a students actual or perceived gender identity, transgender status, or gender transition;"

Schools should honor students gender identity, even if it differs from the biological sex listed on their educational records;

Schools must allow transgender students to participate in and access sex-segregated activities, facilities, and classes consistent with their gender identity; and

Educators must keep students transgender status private unless they chose to disclose it to their peers.

The Departments interpret Title IX to require that when a student or the students parent or guardian, as appropriate, notifies the school administration that the student will assert a gender identity that differs from previous representations or records, the school will begin treating the student consistent with the students gender identity, the guidance says. Under Title IX, there is no medical diagnosis or treatment requirement that students must meet as a prerequisite to being treated consistent with their gender identity. Because transgender students often are unable to obtain identification documents that reflect their gender identity (e.g., due to restrictions imposed by state or local law in their place of birth or residence), requiring students to produce such identification documents in order to treat them consistent with their gender identity may violate Title IX when doing so has the practical effect of limiting or denying students equal access to an educational program or activity.

Restroom Access

The Education and Justice Departments have increasingly asserted in recent years that, under Title IX, restroom access at public schools, colleges, and universities that receive federal funding should be determined by gender identity, not sex at birth.

That position has faced some pushback from conservative groups, policy makers, and local districts at the center of civil rights disputes. It is at issue in several ongoing court cases.

Though the Obama administration has outlined its position in federal court filings and public statements, advocates for transgender students have long pushed for clear, specific civil rights guidance about how public schools are legally obligated to accommodate students whose gender identity does not match their biological sex at birth.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals praised the guidance.

Transgender students are already at high risk for suicide and other destructive behaviors, NASSP President Michael Allison said in a statement. While some statehouses see a political issue, we see the faces of our kids who are hurt by those policies every day. Principals and others in schools look for ways to embrace these marginalized students, but policies in some states push them further to the margins. We find that unacceptable and were glad the Department of Ed is taking a stand.

The departments position on Title IX was recently upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Richmond, Va., which ruled in a 2-1 decision that a lower court judge erred when he did not defer to the Education Departments interpretation of the law .

The federal appellate panel sent the original case back to the lower court to reconsider its denial of a preliminary injunction that would allow a transgender male high school student in Gloucester County, Va., to use the boys restroom at school.

Its clear that not everyone views the departments position as settled law. The Gloucester County school board, for example, voted unanimously to appeal the three-judge panels decision en banc to the full 4th Circuit.

In North Carolina, four lawsuits have been filed over the Justice Departments assertion that a new state law that includes provisions that restrict restroom access in public schools by biological sex violates civil rights law. Two of those lawsuitsone by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, and one by a group of students and parentsargue that the Obama administrations interpretation of the law is invalid.

In Illinois, where a suburban Chicago district agreed to grant a transgender girl unrestricted access to the girls locker room following a dispute with the U.S. Department of Educations office for civil rights, a group of parents and students filed suit last week, arguing that the decision compromised female students right to privacy.

As a direct result of Defendants Policies and actions, every day these girls go to school, they experience embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, fear, apprehension, stress, degradation, and loss of dignity because they will have to use the locker room and restroom with a biological male, the lawsuit says.

Reactions to Transgender Guidance

As news of the guidance spread Thursday night, groups on all sides of the issue were quick to respond.

It is too easy to lose sight of the actual students in the eye of the current political storm, GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said. This guidance serves to re-center their rights and the need to support them in overcoming the severe challenges they can face in the school environment, including harassment, violence and discrimination. Tonight they know that they are not alone in facing those challenges. Indeed, the United States government itself has their backs.

Calling it blackmail, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged superintendents in the Lone Star State not to obey the guidance , even if that means losing the roughly $10 billion in federal education funds the state receives annually.

Were not going to be blackmailed by the president, and were not going to sell out our school children for 30 pieces of silver, he told reporters.

Others responded on Twitter.

Huge moment for trans youth and our country. Message is clear: Discrimination will not stand in Americas schools. //t.co/tS9rvZySxq -- Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) May 13, 2016

.@repbobbyscott praises new @usedgov #transgender guidance: The timing of this guidance can help to quell the unfounded fears -- Politics K-12 (@PoliticsK12) May 13, 2016

Biology--not feelings--is the only sensible basis for ensuring privacy & safety in bathrooms, locker rooms, etc. //t.co/JhMBCJuOCL -- AllianceDefends (@AllianceDefends) May 13, 2016

Is there any issue the Obama Administration believes can be left to state and local government? -- Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) May 13, 2016

I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama cant rewrite the Civil Rights Act. Hes not a King. #tcot //t.co/vDgfQPZXjR -- Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 13, 2016

Related reading:
Calling new federal guidance on the rights of transgender students blackmail, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick urged superintendents in the Lone Star State not to obey the Obama administrations instructions to school districts.

Patrick, a Republican, said Friday that Texas is prepared to lose the roughly $10 billion in education funding it receives annually from federal agencies as a consequence of not complying with their interpretation of Title IX, the Associated Press reports .

Were not going to be blackmailed by the president, and were not going to sell out our school children for 30 pieces of silver, he told reporters.

The guidance, issued by the U.S. departments of Education and Justice this morning, puts schools on notice that failing to recognize a transgender students gender identity is a violation of the federal sex-discrimination law. Among other things, the guidance says schools are required to let transgender students access the sex-segregated classes, teams, restrooms, and locker rooms that match their gender identity, even if it differs from their sex at birth.

Texas Lt. Gov. @DanPatrick on Obama administration guidance on transgender bathrooms: "We will not be blackmailed" //t.co/28tFsicoo8 -- CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) May 13, 2016

The Obama administration calls its guidance an interpretation of existing federal law but some, including other Texas officials, have said it is trying to use a backdoor to force a new policy on school districts without going through the necessary legislative process.

This is the kind of issue that parents, schools boards, communities, students and teachers should be allowed to work out in a practical way with a maximum amount of respect for the individual rights of all students, Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said in a statement. Insofar as the federal government goes, its up to Congress to write the law, not the executive departments. And guidance issued by the departments does not amount to federal law and should not be treated as such.

Others took to Twitter.

Is there any issue the Obama Administration believes can be left to state and local government? -- Ben Sasse (@BenSasse) May 13, 2016

I announced today that Texas is fighting this. Obama cant rewrite the Civil Rights Act. Hes not a King. #tcot //t.co/vDgfQPZXjR -- Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 13, 2016

This isnt over. The federal interpretation of Title IX is the subject of four separate lawsuits in North Carolina alone, and several others are pending in other states.

This isnt the first time Patrick has been in the news over this issue. He recently called for the resignation of Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Paredes Scribner after that district adopted transgender student guidelines.

Photo: The doors to public restrooms are propped open at a office complex in Anaheim, Calif. --Chris Carlson/AP

Related reading:

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Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill Wednesday that resolves a dispute between the states Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, according to the Associated Press .

Douglas, an anti-common-core activist who was elected in 2014, started her relationship with the board on the wrong foot when she fired two staff members who worked for the board. After board members complained, Ducey reversed the firings, and Douglas, also a Republican, sued the board, arguing that the superintendent manages employees, not the board. A judge later ruled against her. Douglas had appealed that ruling.

Soon, the board moved its staff a few blocks away, setting off a fight over who had access to the departments teacher files, which sat at the departments headquarters. The board sued Douglas to get access to the files.

Since then, Douglas says the board has rejected her offer of mediation, an accusation the board denies.

The new law, SB 1416 , allows the board to retain its employees and Douglas to assume oversight of the departments teacher files. Both the board and Douglas have agreed to drop their lawsuits.

Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
Texas Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday that while the states funding formula may not be perfect, it meets minimal state constitutional requirements. In addition, the justices added, its not the courts role to dictate to the legislature and governor how to fund schools.

Our judicial responsibility is not to second-guess or micromanage Texas education policy or to issue edicts from on high increasing financial inputs in hopes of increasing educational outputs, said Justice Don Willett in the ruling .

The challenge to the formula was brought by 600 school districts and the states charter schools. They argued that the states legislature had failed to meet its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education to Texas 5 million students. Lawyers representing the districts during the hearings in September pointed out that just half of the students were college-ready.

Weve had this ramping up of standards and weve had these growing demographics of students who are more expensive to educate, said Marisa Bono, an attorney representing Edgewood ISD plaintiffs, according to Houston Public Media .

But the state argued that money is not pixie dust that would magically fix schools and that the state outperforms neighboring states. The Texas legislature added $1.5 billion to its education budget over the five years that the case coursed its way through the states courts.

In Fridays ruling, the judges conceded that improvements need to be made to the states public school system.

Imperfection, however, does not mean imperfectible, Willett said. Texas more than 5 million schoolchildren ... deserve transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid.

Dont miss another State EdWatch post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox. And make sure to follow @StateEdWatch on Twitter for the latest news from state K-12 policy and politics.
You are capable of anything, is a message Zoshia Fraser broadcasts proudly.

Growing up on a small, family-run dairy farm in Belnan, Nova Scotia, Zoshia is no stranger to hard work.



In grade one I was diagnosed with a learning disability, Zoshia explains. My parents were told I wouldnt be able to go into academia and to prepare me for the working world. Ive had to work twice as hard as other students to get the same mark but I knew I could do it.



Upon entering the Faculty of Agriculture she was awarded one of the Facultys top renewable scholarships, the Atlantic Scholar Award. The scholarship recognizes academic excellence and a commitment to community through extracurricular activities. She is now graduating with a Bachelor of Science (Agriculture), with a major in Animal Science and has come this far through a lot of hard work and determination.



The campus community has become Zoshias second family over the years. I finally found my place. I never really fit in before, then I came here and I fit right in. I met friends I know Ill have for the rest of my life.



For the last four years, Zoshia has been co-chair of the Agricultural Campus chapter of World University Services Canada (WUSC) a non-profit organization that helps bring refugees to Canada to attend university.



You get to see the difference youve made in someones life every day, says Zoshia. You get to hear the refugees story and know the effect youve had and that you were a part of the opportunity they have been given. Without the WUSC team they wouldnt have the opportunity.



Following convocation, Zoshia will be heading to Saint Marys University to begin her masters degree in Applied Science, where she will be researching red clover isoflavones.

The article is part of a series of profiles on members of the Class of 2016. Read all of our grad profiles. Spring Convocation takes place May 13 in Truro and from May 30 to June 4 in Halifax.
Heres a quick quiz. Rate the following statements on a scale from one to five, with one meaning you totally disagree and five meaning you wholeheartedly agree:



Beginners and experts essentially think in the same way.



Most people are either left-brained or right-brained.



Students learn more when information is tailored to their unique learning styles.

Cognitive psychologists and neuroscientists would resoundingly give all three of those claims a rating of one.

Did you bomb that test? Heres a small piece of solacemany professional educators wouldnt pass either, said Benjamin Riley, the founder and executive director of Deans for Impact, a coalition of education school directors looking to transform how teachers are prepared.

Riley spoke last week on an Education Writers Association panel in Boston that examined ways to teach educators the science of how students learn. He was joined by Nora Newcombe, who directs a federally-funded Science of Learning Center at Temple University and Mayme Hostetter, the dean of the Relay Graduate School of Education. Relay is a teacher preparation program founded in 2011 by three high-achieving charter school networks that were concerned about the quality of teachers coming out of traditional degree programs.

Many education experts and alumni of traditional teacher-preparation institutions have long panned such programs for doing a poor job of readying future teachers for the classroom. Under President Obama, the U.S. Department of Education has focused intensively on improving the quality of the nations teacher-preparation programs, including several efforts to require states to rate schools of education and use those ratings to shift funds away from poor performers and into effective programs.

During the May 2 discussion, Riley, Newcombe, and Hostetter agreed that one of the keys to refining teacher-preparation programs is improving how they teach teachers the science of learning . Education schools need to get better at both getting scientific research into the hands of future educators and providing those teachers with guidance for turning that research into practice, they said.

My background is not in education, its in cognitive development and cognitive science, said Newcombe, the Temple University scholar. When my kids got to elementary school, I quickly became aware that what their teachers were saying didnt match what I knew about cognitive development.

She added: There is a crisis in this country. Teachers are being taught outmoded and often incorrect information.

Much of that inaccurate knowledge has become gospel in schools and society writ large, Newcombe said. For example, she contended that while people have strong intuitions about how they learn best, research has unequivocally shown that there are no benefits to trying to match teaching styles to learning styles. Shes also found that teachers dont tend to appreciate the value of having their students work through wrong answers in addition to correct ones.

Research also shows that using analogies in teaching pays big dividends, Newcombe said, and that teachers tend to underestimate the teachability of whats known as spatial thinking. (This concept refers to the ability to visualize and work with imagined objects, a skill that is often linked to success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Tests to measure spatial thinking include completing geometric patterns, imagining the full motion of a mechanical tool, and viewing a two-dimensional diagram and predicting how it would look like assembled in a three-dimensional space, such as assembling a flat box with added features).

Even at education schools with courses on cognitive development, students are often left wanting, said Riley, the Deans for Impact founder.

Say you take a course called educational psychology, maybe its good, maybe it sucks, he said. Usually you learn some things about cognitive science, but you never get to make the connection to how that should inform your practice, what instructional moves you should and shouldnt make.

Hostetter of the Relay graduate school said teacher-preparation programs need four elements in place to help future educators make the leap from theory to teaching.

First you need research that is basic and has been tried and tested in classrooms, she said. You need faculty that actually know the basic science and how to implement it. You need materials like a video to reinforce how it would happen in a real middle school math classroom. And lastly, you need structures that let teachers practice and get feedback in a low-stakes setting.

Hostetter argued that preparation programs need to be the place where future teachers learn the ins and outs of, say, how to use analogies successfully in a biology class. At the same time, she conceded that upstart programs like hers havent completely solved the problem either. While many traditional schools of education have been criticized for being too theoretical, Relay has the opposite problemmost of her instructors have long track records in the classroom, but lack the deep well of research knowledge vested in the faculty of education schools.The problem doesnt stop when teachers graduate from schools of education.

There is a more immediate threat, said Newcombe. The quality of the professional development teachers are receiving is a really, really big deal. There is no Good Housekeeping system, theres no way to get the word out on whos an impostor. Whats going on in some of those sessions is far worse than whats happening in schools of education.
Dayton Ohio - Celtic Crush at Slyder's Tavern

Past Event - Tuesday, May 28, 2019

This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Enjoy some great eats and a few pints with friends, and a portion of your tab will be donated to support the Dayton Celtic Festival.

Celtic Crush at Slyder's Tavern





Enjoy some great eats and a few pints with friends, and a portion of your tab will be donated to support the Dayton Celtic Festival. All you have to do is bring along your co-workers, neighbors and family, and either wear your Dayton Celtic Festival t-shirt or mention Dayton Celtic Festival to your wait staff, and most importantly, write Celtic Crush on your bill.

RELATED EVENTS
Students in Boston will have a lot more summer learning opportunities this year thanks to the expansion of a program that brings city, school, and community leaders together to find new ways to serve kids.

Nearly 12,000 Boston students are expected to participate in 120 programs this year through the Boston Summer Learning Community . Thats more than double the number of students who took part in the initiative last year.

This expansion follows a challenge issued last summer to program leaders by Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang . They wanted to see 10,000 kids enrolled in 100 summer learning programs by 2017.

The overwhelming response to our challenge proves that our community sees the need and shares our vision for high-quality learning opportunities for all young people, said Walsh in a press release. I thank all of the organizations that have stepped up this year to meet our ambitious goals.

Chris Smith is the executive director of Boston After School & Beyond .

By working with so many more programs and, by extension, reaching so many more kids, were able to improve the performance of the programs and outcomes for kids, said Smith.

He hopes to see the programs improve through the collection of data. All of the programs have agreed to use what Smith deems a common suite of evaluation tools, so each one will be measuring the same factors, such as structure, design, and student engagement. That information is expected to provide feedback that the organizations can use to improve their offerings year round.

Smith says everything is measured from the perspective of outside external evaluators and from the perspective of kids who participate in the programs.

The 5th Quarter

Eighteen programs in the Boston Summer Learning Community will be part of an initiative started by Superintendent Chang. Through the 5th Quarter Initiative, certified teachers and program instructors attend joint sessions of professional development. The teachers also work with the summer programs to develop content that links academics, enrichment, and the skills necessary to succeed in college. About 1,000 students are expected to take part in this initiative, which runs Monday through Friday for five weeks.

We worked with the Boston Public Schools to create this model, so that kids didnt simply have to choose between going to traditional summer school and going to a great program, said Smith. Programs will collaborate with schools and teachers so the education and enrichment are part and parcel of the same effort.

This program targets students from disadvantaged backgrounds who may not seek out a summer learning opportunity on their own.

Summer is a ready-made opportunity to address both the achievement and the opportunity gaps, said Smith. This model has shown us that you can focus on academics and social-emotional skills simultaneously. Theyre intertwined. When you align your training, your evaluation and your capacity building, you can make a measurable difference on these outcomes.

Diversity

Among the community partners participating in the 5th Quarter Initiative are the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology , the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston, and Zoo New England .

The wide variety of organizations taking part in the 5th Quarter continues through the Boston Summer Learning Community at large. Partners as diverse as the Berklee College of Music and the Hale Reservation are involved.

The guiding principle is that each of these programs should play to its strengths, and theres flexibility in implementation based on the specific needs and interests of the kids and the resources of the program, but thats coupled with consistency in evaluation so that we can learn whats working within individual programs and across the network of programs, said Smith.

Photo: Students take part in a summer learning activity at Hale Reservation in Westwood, Mass. (Tiffany Knight)
Is It a Crime to Impersonate a Lawyer?

You're not a lawyer and you don't even play one on TV, but sometimes you pretend to be one to get things done. Is impersonating a lawyer a crime?

Yes, most likely, although context is everything. You won't end up in jail if you strongly insinuate that you are an attorney to influence a store clerk to serve you (and it's unlikely to help anyway considering how little people care for lawyers). But if you actually practice law without a license and misrepresent yourself to clients, you face criminal and civil liability.

Faking It

Just this month, a man in West Palm Beach was sued civilly by two people who say he falsely represented himself as an attorney. In that case, the man actually went to court, signed documents, and allegedly told a judge that he was licensed. This is misrepresentation, and every state has a way to punish this type of fraud.

Even if a state does not have a specific statute to address the false practice of law, there are general deceptive trade practice statutes that can serve as a basis for criminal cases. The precise charge that would be applicable to a person claiming to be a lawyer would depend on the details of what they did, how much money was obtained through the fraud, and the extent to which others were injured by the misrepresentation.

Professional Liars

Someone who opens an office, advertises, hangs false diplomas on the wall, and goes to court for clients commits a massive fraud. The consequences for this will be much more severe than signing a letter with the word "esquire." Still, both are intentional misrepresentations, or frauds.

Pretending to be a lawyer is not a good idea but it has worked for some. Last year, The New York Times reported that the news organization Al Jazeera was represented by an unlicensed attorney serving as General Counsel. David W. Harleton was not admitted to practice law in any jurisdiction in the US but was working on major cases for a major organization, taking "fake it until you make it" to a whole new level.

Check with the state bar association to ensure your lawyer is licensed if you have any cause for concern. A lawyer's licensing is a matter of public record.

Accused?

If you are accused of a crime, speak to a lawyer. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case.

Related Resources:
Is It Illegal to Track People With an App?

Every move you make and every picture you take is posted online, so do you mind if people are tracking you? There are more than a dozen smartphone applications on the market that allow people to spy on you surreptitiously and many more with various tracking abilities requiring your consent.

The Government Accountability Office just reviewed 40 such tracking apps at the request of the Senate Judiciary Committee, finding possible violations of federal wiretapping laws and stalking statutes when the apps are used as suggested. The authorities also discovered a sneaky way companies get around liability for the fact that their apps facilitate illegal activities, reports Consumerist. But that doesn't mean you can break the law.

Watching You

The GAO's report does not name the apps it reviewed, noting only that it covered a range of trackers intended for parents, employers, jealous lovers, and others. Of the 40 apps reviewed, they found that about a third, or 13 apps, had surreptitious uses. These allowed people to track another without the person knowing.

This is particularly problematic because some of these apps facilitate activities that are illegal under federal law, like recording a conversation without the consent of at least one person involved. Some of the apps allowed people to secretly read mail or text messages that another person receives, also a violation of federal law.

It should perhaps not be surprising that the makers of deceptive applications use a sneaky way to get around the fact that they are promoting illegality. It's very simple but it reportedly works.

Two-Faced Marketing Materials

The app makers are blatantly two-faced, reports Consumerist. By warning against law breaking in one portion of their product literature and suggesting ways to illegally spy in other portions, the companies can disclaim liability for crimes committed with the apps.

Authorities have prosecuted tracking application makers successfully but there are also cases in which courts have found some tracking to be non-invasive, for example, ruling that location data is not "content" and tracking it does not violate the law.

Still, if you are using an app to surreptitiously track someone, seriously think about what you are doing. You could be violating stalking, wiretapping, and other federal statutes, not to mention state law. Don't assume that because you were able to buy the app, anything you do on it is ok.

Accused?

If you are accused of a crime, don't delay, speak to a lawyer today. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case.

Related Resources:
New Delhi: The Cabinet has approved the national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy with a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The aim is to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said while briefing reporters about yesterday's Cabinet decisions.

The minister also let out that by 2017, the window for trademark registration will be brought down to one month. "The policy aims to create and exploit synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), statutes concerned and agencies," he said. According to Jaitley, there are seven objectives that guided the policy mechanism, which include IPR public awareness, stimulation of generation of IPRs, need for strong and effective laws and strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat infringements.

The policy also puts a premium on enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection. It is expected to lay the future road map for intellectual property in India, besides putting in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review. The idea is to incorporate global best practices in the Indian context and adapt to the same.

This policy shall weave in strengths of the government, research and development organisations, educational institutions, corporate entities, including MSMEs, start-ups and other stakeholders towards creation of an innovation-conducive environment, an official statement read.

The end product stimulates creativity and innovation across sectors as also facilitates a stable, transparent and service-oriented IPR administration in the country, it stressed. Giving due recognition to the growing criticality of IPR

in the global arena, the blueprint makes out a case for increasing its awareness in India, whether it is owned by oneself or according respect to others.

"The importance of IPRs as a marketable financial asset and economic tool also needs to be recognised. For this, domestic IP filings as also commercialisation of patents granted need to increase. Innovation and sub-optimal spending on R&D too are issues to be addressed," the statement said further.
The DoT clarified that the buyer of spectrum will be given two years or balance period for rolling out network.

New Delhi: The Department of Telecom has informed operators that it will only indicate pending dues of a seller in a spectrum trading deal, putting the onus on the buyer to perform due diligence in the transaction. The clarification has come after telecom operators asked the DoT whether it would issue any 'no-dues certificate' for an operator in a spectrum trading deal.

However, DoT has said it is the responsibility of a seller to clear all dues such as one-time spectrum charges and usage charges before concluding any sale agreement. Under spectrum trading rules, the obligation regarding radiowaves of a company gets transferred to the buyer.

"In case where entire spectrum holding of the telecom service provider in all LSAs (licenced service areas) is intended to be traded, the seller will have to clear all its pending dues...DoT will indicate status of dues.

However, the buyer may perform due diligence," the DoT said in a clarification issued yesterday. The department in October last issued guidelines on spectrum trading to allow operators to procure frequencies from other players.

Recently Bharti Airtel bought entire spectrum of Videocon in six circles, broadband wireless access spectrum of Aircel and Augere. Reliance Jio too has entered into trading agreement with Reliance Communications.

RCom will trade CDMA grade spectrum in 800 MHz band in nine service areas where Jio doesn't have radiowaves. Telecom operators had also sought clarification over liability of dues in cases which are under litigation.

The DoT said seller need to comply with in respect of pending one-time spectrum charges (OSTC) and spectrum usage charges under litigation at the time of applying for spectrum trading.

DoT at present takes bank guarantee equal to an amount of OSTC and SUC dues which are under litigation and stayed by the court of law shall be submitted by the buyer or seller to secure the interest of the licensor. Initial bank guarantee shall be for a period of two years and later be renewed on annual basis one month prior to expiry of the validity of bank guarantee, the DoT said.

"Further, the government shall, at its discretion, be entitled to recover the amount, if any, found recoverable subsequent to the effective date of the trade, which was not known to the parties at the time of the effective date of trade, from the buyer or seller, jointly or severally," the DoT said.

Telecom operators had also sought clarification on time period for rolling out network by the buyer. The spectrum trading guidelines only said that if a company is buying spectrum that it will be responsible to for rolling out network in balance stipulated time period subject to a minimum period of two years.

The DoT clarified that the buyer of spectrum will be given two years or balance period for rolling out network, whichever is later. "...buyer shall be given entire time duration to fulfil the roll -out obligations, in case buyer acquires part of the spectrum,"
London: Confident of clearing up the bad-loan mess, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on May 13 said there is "absolutely no chance of a Lehman moment" in India and a three-cornered firewall was being created to safeguard the economy from external shocks.

He also rejected calls for any immediate privatisation of public sector banks and said the urgent need was to clean up their balance sheets and no private investor would anyway come without a cleaner balance sheet. Rajan, who has often been criticised for being too economical with rate cuts, indicated that rate cuts were not the only instrument to boost growth.

"I think the real way we are trying to firewall the economy is, on the first hand, with good policies, including as I said, the moves on reforms that have been enacted recently. The second is by trying to increase the maturity of our debt. We have substantially increased the maturity of debt, external debt that we owe. The third is we built-up reserves," he told CNBC news channel in an interview here.

Asked about bad loan problem in India being bigger than the size of New Zealand's USD 170 billion economy and whether there was risk of a banking crisis, Rajan said, "I do not think it's that big. Second, many of bad assets are in public sector banks and the government fully guarantees them.

"So, there is absolutely no chance they will fail. There is also absolutely no chance there will be a Lehman moment."

It was the collapse of Lehman Brothers, once a giant banking institution, that began a severe financial crisis in the US in 2008.

"It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he said.

On whether he should privatise some banks and can that reduce some of the inefficiencies, Rajan said, "I think, over time as we improve the governance in the banking system, that question can be addressed. At this point, the real issue is for most of these banks clean up their balance sheets without it is hard to imagine a private investor coming in without clean balance sheet.

"Also, many of them have the capacity to sustain the existence as public sector entities provided we improve the governance. Now, we have a Banks Board Bureau which has been set up primarily to distance itself from the government and to make a number of governance decisions including for appointments for the banks. "My sense is we can do a lot without actually going to the point of privatisation. That's a decision the government will have to take down the line," he said.

Admitting that the banking sector is under stress in India, Rajan said, "Ours is not a retail problem. It is a wholesale problem. There are big projects...and it is not because of connected lending or corruption. It was because the world changed."

He was replying to a question on whether there are problems because of some public sector banks granting loans to influential persons because of their connections.

"What we need to do is restructure the debt for some of these projects, put them back on track. It is not that there are acres of real estate that are unoccupiable. It's actually a power plant that can produce power and India is a growing economy that needs power. We just need to make sure the debt levels are appropriate," he added.

The banking sector problem, he said, is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank. "...and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he added.

Answering questions on the economy, Rajan said lot of structural reforms have taken place and the nation's economy is on the path of recovery. Rajan said there are some bad news, but the Indian economy was getting stronger.

"I think we are a recovering economy and when you talk about structural reforms, we have seen a playout in the past few days. For example, we have a bankruptcy bill which was legislated last week. We also have a monetary policy committee that lays the framework that was also legislated last week. I think structural reforms are happening, are on their way and growth steadily is ... you see more green shoots. "Of course there is some bad news also every once in a while," he said.
New Delhi: Acting upon recommendations of the Special Investigation Team on black money, market watchdog SEBI plans to tighten due diligence requirements for issuance and transfer of controversy-ridden P-Notes and put the onus on investors to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering law.

While SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has been of the view that the regulations have already been strengthened to check any misuse of this route for money laundering like activities, it has decided to put in place additional safeguards as suggested by the SIT.

The regulator plans to put in place six specific changes to the KYC (Know Your Client) norms and transferability of Offshore Derivative Instruments (ODIs) -- commonly known as Participatory Notes or P-Notes -- in this regard.

The proposed changes have been finalised after discussing with concerned stakeholders including some major issuers of P-Notes and they have broadly agreed to the suggested measures in the interest of the markets, a senior official said.

These include mandating the issuers of P-Notes to file Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), if any, with the Indian Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in relation to the ODIs issued by them.

On the KYC norms, while current regulations also mandate that ODIs can be issued only after compliance to the KYC requirements, the issuer entities have been adopting either the Indian AML (Anti Money Laundering) norms, norms in the jurisdiction of the issuer or the norms in the jurisdiction of the end beneficial owner or the ODI subscriber.

As per the proposal, Indian AML norms would need to be followed by issuer entities for carrying out customer due diligence of the ODI subscribers. Officials said the regulations have been very robust to check any misuse of P-Notes and the proposed changes might not affect the flow of funds in a big way as they are mostly procedural in nature and do not drastically change the regulatory framework.

P-Notes are typically instruments issued by registered foreign institutional investors to overseas investors, who wish to invest in the domestic stock markets without registering themselves directly in India, but still need to go through a proper due diligence process.

P-Notes make up for about 10-12 per cent of the total FII inflows, as against over 50 per cent at the peak of stock market bull run in 2007. Rules have been tightened several times in recent years to check any misuse of this route, but P-Notes have still continued to court controversies.

The Supreme Court appointed SIT on black money last year had suggested that SEBI should further strengthen its norms to keep a tab on beneficial ownership of P-Notes as they were widely used by foreign investors and could be prone to misuse.

The slew of measures that have now been proposed by SEBI in this regard would require the ODI issuers to identify and verify the persons with exposure in excess of a pre-defined threshold in the subscriber entities -- which could be 25 per cent in case of a company and 15 per cent in case of partnership firms, trusts or unincorporated bodies.

The KYC review would need to be carried out as per the risk profile of the subscribers. The issuer would also need to do reconfirmation of the ODI positions on a semi-annual basis, while such reconfirmation reports, along with any breaches and the remedial actions, would need to be reported to SEBI.

In current norms, there is also a lack of uniformity amongst the issuer entities when it comes to identifying the persons controlling the operations of the subscriber entities. This gap would be taken care of through periodic reporting to SEBI, as per the risk classification of the subscriber.

On transfer of ODIs, the current regulations state that any further issue of transfer of any ODI is made only to persons regulated by an appropriate regulatory authority. It has been proposed now the issuer entities would ensure that the transfer of OFIs is done to only such entities that are eligible to invest in ODIs and have been pre-approved by the issuer entities.

However, the transfers are as such very rare as such and are mostly related to the rebalancing of portfolios. Recently, SEBI Chairman U K Sinha had said strong measures have been put in place to check any misdemeanors including misuse of P-Notes, as he sought to put to rest concerns that these instruments were misused to bring back black money into the country.

He had said sufficient safeguards have been put in place to check any possible gaps and Sebi is now in a position to identify and check details of beneficiary owners of such funds to the second, third and even fourth levels. In case of any irregularities, SEBI can take penal action and also share the details with the tax department and other authorities for further action on their part.

Earlier it was difficult to identify the end-users of such instruments, but since 2014 SEBI has limited the rights for who can subscribe to these instruments to only two of the three classes of Foreign Portfolio Investors. These are sovereign funds and regulated entities, while others are already debarred others from using P-Notes.

"It has been said that PNs are a big source for bringing black money into the country. Prior to 2011, we did not know who were subscribers of P-Notes and who were the subsequent beneficiary owners. Now, by regulations, every month SEBI is getting the information who are the latest beneficiary owners of the P-Notes," Sinha had said in an interaction.
This will be Sonam Kapoor's first appearance at the prestigious 'Cinema Against AIDS' fundraiser.

Mumbai: Actress Sonam Kapoor is set to attendthe amfAR GALA at the Cannes Film Festival. This will be the 30-year-old 'Neerja' actress' first appearance at the prestigious 'Cinema Against AIDS' fundraiser.

In a statement, Sonam said, "It's an honor to be a part of the esteemed amfAR gala. I cannot stress enough the importance of AIDS research in our time. This foundation is doing such incredible work dedicated towards raising funds for life-saving research programs that help the fight against AIDS. I am looking forward to meeting the wonderful team that chairs amfAR and hope to contribute to this cause in every way possible."

Other prominent names to attend the gala event are Helen Mirren, Sharon Stone, Katy Perry, Kenneth Cole, Lewis Hamilton, Isabeli Fontana, Barbara Palvin and Irina Shayk.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who has been a regular at the fundraiser, will be giving it a miss this year due to her professional commitments. In her sixth visit to the Cannes, Sonam will attend various parties, film premieres and charity dinners.
Preity posted a picture and wrote, "Wah Taj  Shot outside the Taj for a movie previously but this time actually went in & was spell bound by its beauty, symmetry & history. #family #tourist #tajmahal #agra #everlastinglove #memories"

Mumbai: Preity Zinta, who is gearing up for a lavish, star-studded reception on May 13, headed to Taj Mahal in Agra with husband Gene Goodenough and his parents.

Read: Preity Zinta plans to introduce Gene Goodenough to her Bollywood gang

Preity being the doting daughter-in-law that she is, has been spending a lot of time with Gene and his parents. Preity posted a picture and wrote, "Wah Taj  Shot outside the Taj for a movie previously but this time actually went in & was spell bound by its beauty, symmetry & history. #family #tourist #tajmahal #agra #everlastinglove #memories"

#NewsAlert: Uttar Pradesh: Preity Zinta visits Taj Mahal in Agra. pic.twitter.com/250pg1PBbM  Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) May 12, 2016

The entire family was spotted at the Mumbai airport last evening.

Preity Zinta married her long time boyfriend Gene Goodenough on February 29 in Los Angeles. Her marriage was a low key affair with only close friends and family in attendance.

On work front, Preity who made her comeback with 2013's 'Ishkq in Paris', is currently shooting for 'Bhaiyyaji Superhitt' with Sunny Deol.
Mumbai: Julia Roberts broke all the red carpet rules at Cannes Film Festival on Thursday (May 12) when she attended the event barefoot. Looking breathtakingly gorgeous in her long black Armani gown, the actress had everyones attention when she lifted her dress up to ascend the stairs, revealing that she was barefoot.

Julias this act did not only earn her a lot of praise from bystanders but people from different corners of the world are praising the actress for her bold move. Walking the red carpet barefoot, Julia laughed in the face of absurd fashion rules.

Not only wearing heels is a strict rule at the event but Cannes was in the midst of controversy last year when it was reported that the event banned flats on the red carpet. Reportedly, several women were stopped for not wearing heels at Cannes last year.

With her this act, Julia Roberts totally slayed such absurd rules.

Julia Roberts with George Clooney at Cannes Film Festival. (Photo: AFP)

Julia Roberts walks the Cannes red carpet barefoot. (Photo: AFP)

The Cannes Film Festival will end on May 22.
From the heart of potato country, Lingle has put together a lighthearted look at the origins of the side staple and the culture of fries around the globe. (Photo: AP)

New York: Fried or baked, sprinkled with truffle oil or flavored with crumbled herbs, french fries are an enduring dish, fancied up or served the simple way around the globe.

But what do we REALLY know about the history of the lowly sliced potato, or in a broader sense, the lowly sliced yam, okra or just about any vegetable that can be, well, sliced and fried, sauteed or roasted, coated or battered. Blogs, books and recipes abound. Add to the record a kitschy, new book, "Fries! An Illustrated Guide to the World's Favorite Food," by a restaurateur from the heart of potato country, Boise, Idaho.

Blake Lingle, co-founder and co-owner of the Boise Fry Company, with four locations there and one in Portland, Oregon, has some fun with his bite-size guide, written not for the hardcore foodie or food historian but the rest of us - just regular old potato lovers.

Lingle makes clear that he's no food scholar. To sum up the history of fries, he broadened their definition beyond sliced potatoes, to include yams, sweet potatoes and other vegetables prepared in different ways. Therein lies some interesting conjecture.

For instance, one of the earlier references to frying is the Bible's Leviticus, 2:7 to be exact: "If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it is to be made of the finest flour and some olive oil." Is it possible that a vegetable made its way into the pan, Lingle wonders. The book of Numbers references cucumbers and leeks, among other things, in 11:5.

Some historians claim that Egyptians were frying foods as early as 2500 BC. Lingle is betting that vegetables were among them.

But the Romans wrote stuff down, including what is considered the world's oldest cookbook, the Apicius, likely compiled between the late fourth and early fifth centuries AD. It includes a recipe for fried chicken with fried vegetables. Lingle found no evidence, however, that vegetables were sliced.

More to the point and elsewhere in the world, it's probable that sliced potatoes were included in an Andean dish called Pachamanca during the Inca Empire. If so, the Andean fry predated the European fry by a few hundred years. The Spanish stole the potato, and possibly the sweet potato, from the Incas and brought it to Europe, Lingle said.

But it was a Belgian journalist, Jo Gerard, who claimed sliced potatoes were being fried alongside fish in his country in the late 1600s, predating the same claim by the French by three quarters to a full century, Lingle said.

The Belgians blame the Americans for mistakenly giving french fries the name when they confused French-speaking Belgian soldiers in possession of some sort of fried esculents with French-speaking French soldiers during World War I.

Regardless, Belgium does appear to consume more fries per capita than any other country, Lingle said.

"There seems to be a certain amount of conflicting information out there," he added in a recent interview. "I don't know what the true answer is."

Fries remain all over the map, as a default side in the Americas and Europe, and often considered among the national dishes of Britain and Belgium when served with fish and mussels, respectively, Lingle said.

So where are most potatoes grown?

Fifty years ago, China was the world's fifth-largest producer behind the USSR, Germany, Poland and the United States. Today, China is the largest producer, Lingle writes. But in per-capita terms, when it comes to potato and fry consumption, Americans eat twice as many potatoes as the Chinese.

Next to no research exists on fry consumption by country, beyond the frozen-fry market, Lingle writes. Most fries are initially cooked in factories and cooked again in homes, restaurants and "friteries."

One thing is sure: chefs are having a fry field day, Lingle said. Many are hand-cutting, inventing signature coatings and dips and experimenting with techniques often reserved for other foods, such as dehydration and sous vide, the method of sealing food in plastic bags then placing them in water baths or steam.

And then there's the hash brown question. Are they fries?

"Yeah I think hash browns are fries," Lingle laughed. "If it's been sliced and then cooked some way it's, in my opinion, a fry."
Car windows don't protect against harmful sun exposure, so it might be a good idea to wear sunglasses and sun block even while driving, a new study suggests.

While windshields blocked the vast majority of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, car door windows offered varying levels of protection from the rays that are tied to cataracts and skin aging. "Some cars were as low as 50 percent blockage," said researcher Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler of the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute in Beverly Hill, California.

"Even cars that came with factory tint, there was no guarantee that would protect against UV rays," he told Reuters Health. UV rays account for a small portion of the suns rays but are the most damaging to human skin. UV-A rays are the most common and penetrate most deeply, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Because drivers in the U.S. have their left side exposed to sunlight, UV rays have been blamed for the increased number of cataracts and skin cancers that occur on the left side, Boxer Wachler writes in JAMA Ophthalmology. UV rays can pass through clouds and glass. To see whether car windows are protective, Boxer Wachler took a UV-A light meter to a number of Los Angeles car dealers on a cloudless May day in 2014.

He tested 29 cars from 15 different manufacturers, made between 1990 and 2014. On average, car windshields blocked about 96 percent of UV-A rays. The protection afforded by individual cars ranged from 95 to 98 percent.

But side door windows were far less dependable. The percentage of UV-A rays blocked varied from 44 percent to 96 percent. Only four of the 29 cars had windows that blocked more than 90 percent of UV-A rays. "It had no correlation at all with the cost of the car, high-end car or low-end car," said Boxer Wachler.

Windshields are more protective than car door windows because they must be made of laminated glass to prevent shattering, writes Dr. Jayne Weiss in a commentary published with the study. Car door windows, however, are usually just tempered glass. "Dont assume because you are in an automobile and the window is closed that you're protected from UV light," she told Reuters Health.

"For the eyes, your best bet is to get sunglasses that block UV-A and UV-B light and wraparound the face," said Weiss, who directs the Louisiana State University Eye Center of Excellence in New Orleans. Some of the car windows in this study let in enough UV-A rays to affect skin health, said Dr. Paul Nghiem, who heads the division of dermatology at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"Wearing long sleeve clothing, or sunscreen that is 'broad spectrum' would be extremely effective and seems indicated on long drives on sunny days," Nghiem, who was not involved with the new study, told Reuters Health by email. People can also get clear UV filters added to their car windows to protect from the damaging rays, said Boxer Wachler.
A Brazilian man who was born with an upside-down head and severely deformed limbs and defied all odds to become successful and independent in life has now written a book about his lifes challenging journey. Claudio Viera de Oliveria

, 40, was born with arthrogryposis which caused his head to be upside-down and facing the wrong way. People with this rare condition have their body joints fused together.

Despite his physical deformities, Oliveria came up with ways of overcoming lifes challenges. He not only learned to use a pen with his mouth to type words but can also use a computer mouse or a phone with the help of his lips. He has also successfully completed his education and is an accountant. Now Oliveria often gives inspirational speeches at special events.

Claudio Oliveria has managed to live an independent and successful life despite his physical deformity. (Credit: YouTube)

His first book called 'El mundo esta a contramano' (The world is the wrong way around) was launched at the Art Museum of the city of Sao Paulo in south-east Brazil. Shockingly when Oliveria was born, doctors had told his mother, Maria Jose Vieira Martins, that she should starve him to death. People started to tell me that my baby was going to die because he could hardly breathe when he was born. Some told me not to feed him, she told Daily Mail.

Fortunately she ignored their advice and with time Oliveria grew up to be independent. He says that he has learned how to turn on the TV, pick up the cell phone, turn on the radio and use the computer all by himself. He even does a bit of accounting, research for clients and consulting after qualifying as an accountant from the State University of Feira de Santana.

Although Oliveria cannot use a wheel chair because of his unusual shape and walks on his knees, he always tries to adapt his body to different situations and feels like a normal person. Nowadays it's much easier to deal with the public, I'm not afraid of it anymore and I can say that I am a professional, international public speaker and that I receive invitations from all over the world, he signs off.

Know more about his life by clicking on the video below
They made the demands after the company, Fiber Optic Communication Network Co. Ltd, dug trenches on farmland in front of houses without informing the residents.



Trench for Fibre Optic Cable Trench for Fibre Optic Cable

Saw A Naing, a Naung Ka Myaing resident said to KIC News on 9 May: They didnt come and consult with the local residents about the digging. They only informed us through the [local] administrator. The administrator didnt explain to us. We couldnt stand it so we complained. Only then [after we complained] did they come to explain it, but the farmers didnt accept [the explanation]. They should explain to us transparently [what they will be doing] before doing it. Now, they are digging in front of local residents homes and farms. [The trenches have been dug] in the area of farms and yards instead of in the road area.

Residents of Naung Ka Myaing Village met with the companys planner for the project, Bo Myint Htwe, some of his associates and the Naung Ka Myaing administrator, Saw Maung Tu, on 8 May to try and resolve the issue.

Residents said that when they asked Bo Myint Htwe why the company had dug on their farms without asking for permission and who had ordered the company to do so he failed to give a clear-cut response.

On 26 February 2015 the Fiber Optic Communication Network Co. submitted a letter to the Hpa-an District General Administration Department saying they were going to to lay down fibre-optic cables. The letter said that the fibre optic cables would be laid next to the road, but in reality, according to residents, trenches have been dug on farmland and next to peoples homes.

Saw Maung Tu said: Officials from the company told us to inform the local residents. I was busy so I couldnt inform everyone. Farmlands and homes of 42 people will be affected in our village. They are also digging in another village. I think it would be inappropriate for only our village to oppose it.

He also said that the company told him that it would dig fibre optic cable trenches from Hpa-An to Mae Tha Wa in Hlaingbwe Township and that no one else had complained about their farmlands being affected.

Fiber Optic Communication Network Co. has been given permission to install fibre optic cables from Taungoo to Hpasaung, Hpapun, and Hpa-an for MPT and Telenor.

Translated by Thida Linn

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
The soap is designed to repel mosquitoes up to six hours after being applied. (Photo: AP)

Dakar: Two former students from Burkina Faso have designed a mosquito-repellent soap, which they hope could be a simple and affordable solution in the fight to end malaria, but more funds are needed to test the idea, according to the startup behind it.

Moctar Dembele and Gerard Niyondiko, the brains behind Faso Soap, were awarded a $25,000 prize for their invention in 2013 when they became the first African winners of the Global Social Venture Competition at the University of California Berkeley.

Yet Faso Soap must be tested to ensure it is safe for human use and effective at preventing malaria before it can be mass produced by soap manufacturers in Africa, said Franck Langevin, campaigns director for the Ouagadougou-based startup.

The soap, created from natural oils and plants, could prove successful in preventing malaria as it would be cheap and rely on existing habits of African households, Langevin said.

"People in Africa are very reluctant to change their habits, but soap is present in most homes, and is used for bathing, cleaning the house and washing clothes," he said.

The soap is designed to repel mosquitoes up to six hours after being applied, and once soapy water is thrown away on the street, hinder the insects from breeding in stagnant water.

"It is a simple and affordable weapon in the fight against malaria," Langevin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Last month, Faso Soap launched a crowdfunding appeal for $113,000 to finalise the development of the soap with the aim of distributing it in six African countries hardest-hit by malaria by 2018, working with soap manufacturers and aid agencies.

Last year, there were 214 million cases of malaria worldwide with the mosquito-borne disease killing 438,000 people, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

Jo Lines, reader of malaria control and vector biology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, praised the idea behind the soap, but said it would be dangerous to rely on an untested product to protect against malaria.

As a social startup, Langevin said Faso Soap has struggled to attract funding from donors, including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations children's agency (UNICEF), prompting the inventors to turn to crowdfunding.

World leaders committed to ending malaria by 2030 when they adopted the Sustainable Development Goals last year.

Europe last month became the first region to be declared malaria-free after reporting no indigenous cases in 2015, and a former WHO official said the world can eliminate the disease soon, but only with more investment to end and keep it at bay.
It is not stress that is driving someone's way of thinking, but rather a threat to their sense of control.

London: People with stressful lives are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories such as the Apollo Moon landings being staged in a Hollywood film studio, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.

The research shows that people who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely to be suffering from stress, or have experienced stressful events, than non-believers.

The study by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK is the first to assess the relationship between psychological stress and belief in conspiracies.

Researchers surveyed 420 adults (225 women and 195 men) aged between 20 and 78, and 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, researchers said.

The findings showed that 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, they said.

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, researchers 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," said Viren Swami from Anglia Ruskin University.

"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 do not exist," said Swami.

"Therefore stressful life events may sometimes lead to a tendency to adopt a conspiracist mind-set. Once this worldview has become entrenched, other conspiracy theories are more easily taken on board," he added.

According to him, it is not stress that is driving someone's way of thinking, but rather a threat to their sense of control.

"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," said Swami. The findings were published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
The shorter treatment regimen also costs significantly less - at just under $1,000 per patient in developing countries. (Photo: Representative image)

London: The World Health Organization recommended a speedier, cheaper treatment plan for patients with superbug forms of tuberculosis (TB) - a change that should help cure thousands of the killer disease.

In what the WHO's leading TB expert said was a critical step forward in tackling the "public health crisis" of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), the Geneva-based health agency said the new treatment plan could now be completed in 9-12 months rather than the two years previously recommended.

The shorter treatment regimen also costs significantly less - at just under $1,000 per patient in developing countries, said Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO's global TB programme.

"The new WHO recommendations offer hope to hundreds of thousands of MDR-TB patients who can now benefit from a test that quickly identifies eligibility for the shorter regimen, and then complete treatment in half the time and at nearly half the cost," he said in a statement.

Multidrug-resistant TB is caused by TB bacteria that are resistant to at least the two most effective drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin, and possibly others too.

Based on figures from 2014, the latest year for which data are available, the WHO estimates that 5 percent of TB cases have multidrug-resistant disease. This translates into 480,000 cases, and 190,000 deaths each year.

Conventional treatment regimens for MDR-TB can take up to two years and have low cure rates - with 50 percent of patients failing to get better. Experts say this is largely because patients find it very hard to stick with the required months and months of taking powerful medicines, which can have some unpleasant side-effects, so often give up their treatment.

Raviglione said the shorter regimen is designed for patients with so-called "uncomplicated" MDR-TB -- in other words people whose MDR-TB is not resistant to the most important second-line drugs, fluoroquinolones and injectables.

FASTER TEST, SPEEDIER TREATMENT

The most reliable way to rule out resistance to second-line drugs is a newly recommended diagnostic test - called MTBDRsl - that can identify genetic mutations in MDR-TB strains.

This test, which the WHO said should be used as part of its new guidelines, can give a result within 48 hours, far more quickly than the 3 months or longer currently needed to find out which drugs a patient's TB is resistant to.

"We hope that the faster diagnosis and shorter treatment will accelerate the much-needed global MDR-TB response," said Karin Weyer, a WHO TB testing and diagnostics expert.

TB is one of the world biggest infectious disease killers and claimed 1.5 million lives in 2014 - more than HIV/AIDS and almost three times as many as malaria. Some 95 percent of TB deaths are in poorer countries.

Superbug, or drug-resistant, forms of the disease have spread worldwide, fuelled by patients getting inadequate treatment. Like regular TB, superbug strains can spread from person to person through the air.
The new calf and Ratu, whose name means "Queen" in Indonesian, were both in good health although the mother looked "exhausted", the government said. (Photo: pysc.org)

Jakarta, Indonesia: A Sumatran rhino gave birth to a female calf at a sanctuary in Indonesia on Thursday, taking the critically endangered species a step further away from extinction.

The baby was born at 5:40 am on western Sumatra island, and within hours was walking around and feeding from its mother, authorities said.

It was the second baby born to rhino Ratu. Her previous birth four years ago marked the first time a Sumatran rhino had been born in an Asian breeding facility for more than 140 years.

The new calf and Ratu, whose name means "Queen" in Indonesian, were both in good health although the mother looked "exhausted", the government said.

"We are very thankful for this birth, as Sumatran rhinos are rare animals," said environment ministry spokesman Novrizal Tahar..

Ratu was observed stretching in her maternity pen in recent days, a signal her long-anticipated delivery was nearing.

The birth took around two hours. Just two hours after being born, the calf which has not yet been named began walking and feeding, according a statement from the forestry ministry.

The birth "demonstrates the government of Indonesia's commitment, in cooperation with the Indonesian Rhino Foundation, towards rhino conservation efforts in Indonesia," it added.

Under threat

Sumatran rhinos are extremely rare, with just 100 believed to exist in the world. The birth is a major boon for the species, which last year was declared extinct in Malaysia.

Ratu, a wild rhino who wandered out of the rainforest and into the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park a decade ago, had become pregnant after meeting with Andalas, a male rhino at the park.

Ratu's first baby, Andatu, was born at the sanctuary in 2012.

Births of Sumatran rhinos in captivity are rare. Thursday's birth was only the fifth of a Sumatran rhino in a breeding facility.

Despite being the smallest of the five remaining rhino species, Sumatran rhinos have very long pregnancies that last about 16 months.

Harapan the brother of Andalas was transferred from the United States to the Sumatran sanctuary last November in the hope he would find a mate.

In March, environmentalists made physical contact with a Sumatran rhino on the Indonesian part of Borneo island for the first time in 40 years, but it died a month later.

Covered in woolly hair ranging from reddish brown to black in colour, Sumatran rhinos are the only Asian rhinoceroses with two horns.

While Javan rhinos are considered the world's rarest, Sumatran rhinos are under increasing threat.

They are targeted by poachers as their horns and other body parts fetch high prices on the black market for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

In addition, their rainforest habitat on Sumatra island is being destroyed due to the rapid expansion of palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.
Mumbai: Sex can be a lot of things  passionate, lusty, hot, kinky and not to forget, at times embarrassing. When it comes to some awkward and hilarious stories, nothing can beat the mishaps that happened between the sheets. Everyone has had at least one sex slip-up that they will remember forever.

Our readers revealed some cringe-worthy but totally true stories and some of them are unbelievable.

Stains on sheet:

I have had sex in my flatmates' room many times and he still wonders how there are stains on his sheets and I pretend to be surprised as well, laughs Dhruv.

Sister caught me using vibrator:

My sister caught me using vibrator twice and later at dinner told me which one she uses, giggles Pariddhi.

Naked friend:

My friend and his girlfriend came over to my place over night. Late at night, I came out of my room for a glass of water and I saw my friend standing butt naked. We saw each other and moved back to our respective rooms. I still tease him about it, recalls Ansh Thaker (name changed).

Really awkward:

Me and my guy were having sex in his apartment, his younger sister walked in and started asking, Bhai what are you doing, dont sit on her, shares Namita (name changed).

People know:

This is funny, when I was in hostel, my roommate used to masturbate believing I was asleep, exclaims Kevin.

Roommate sucks:

Walked into my room and found my flatmate having sex on my bed, fumes Pratik.

It happened in movie theatre:

Me and my boyfriend went for a movie and booked the corner seats in the top row. We were making out, when an attendent walked over with the popcorn we had ordered and was left horrified. He was stunned and stood a few steps away from us. It took him 10 seconds to decide his next move. The poor guy said sorry and walked away. I laughed out loud, while my boyfriend was embarrassed and we left the movie midway, says Akira (name changed)

Makeout session:

I used to stay with a live-in couple, when I moved to Mumbai. I had occupied the living room and eventually we became close buddies. One fine day, I returned home from college and barged into their room to share some news and found them making out. We three stared at each other and died laughing, shares Rohit.

Sexually active neighbours:

My neighbours enjoy an active sex life, all thanks to Mood condoms. I know this because after their rocking night, the couple would just fling their used condoms out of their window, and it would wind up decorating the neighbouring building's walls and shades. As a kid, I didn't know what a condom looked like and remembered asking my brother 'why balloons were stuck on the walls'. That's when he told me that those weren't balloons but condoms, shares Karen.

She fell on her face:

We were playing badminton at a friends terrace and the shuttle went to neighbours rooftop. We jumped over to pick it, when we spotted a couple making out. The couple got so embarrassed that the girl took a sprint and ended up falling on her face, recalls Apoorva.
Within no time she became an internet sensation after the picture was shared more than 11,000 times on Facebook.

A photo of womans bleeding feet has gone viral all over the Internet. The image was shared by a waitress who claims that she had to work her entire shift wearing heels.

Nicola Gavins, from Alberta, Canada, shared the image of her friends feet and described that she was 'bleeding to the point she lost a toe nail'.

Within no time she became an internet sensation after the picture was shared more than 11,000 times on Facebook. Recently the subject of compulsory high heels at work has become an international talking point.

In her post Gavin criticised Joey Restaurants in Edmonton, Canada for literally forcing their female employees to wear footwear with at least a one inch heel.

Gavin, who is a freelance artist, said that her waitress pal was even scolded by the shift manager for wearing flats and was asked to wear heel the next day.

Also read: Woman sent home from office for not wearing heels

Gavin also pointed out that male could chose their own black clothing while females were supposed to pay $30 to buy a black dress uniform.

The original post read:

To anyone I know who eats at Joey Restaurants (Jasper Ave, Edmonton location specifically). Their policy is still that female staff wear heels unless medically restricted, my friends feet were bleeding to the point she lost a toe nail and she was still discouraged and berated by the shift manager for changing into flats (specifically told that heels would be required on her next shift the following day). In addition, the female staff have to purchase a uniform/dress at the cost of 30$ while male staff can dress themselves in black clothing from their own closets (and are not required to wear heels). Sexist, archaic requirements and totally disgusting policy. I have many friends in the service industry and know loads of ladies who still earn great tips without having to sacrifice their comfort while serving. I'll choose to continue supporting those establishments. #joeyrestaurants #yegfood Update may 5th, 2016 - Joey's also has unpaid training shifts which is illegal under the Alberta Labour Laws (signed waiver or not). Seedy shit!

One person comment on her post, Absolutely disgusting and sexist to force women to wear high heels. They are bad for your feet, bad for your back, bad for your tendons and calf muscles.

"My daughter used to work there and her toe was broken three separate times by girls in heels at the restaurant. Her toes have never recovered and she used to have blisters all the time. Sure, they are going to say on here that you can wear flats if you really have to but you will end up paying for it with the less desirable work shifts if you don't dress to their ridiculously high standards and just put up with the heels," commented another person.

The restaurant said that they were upset to see the post and have talked to the employee in question.

There is no minimum height when it comes to our shoe policy. Shoes range from black dress flats, wedges and heels. For those employees wearing heels, we require the heel height to be no higher than 2.5," the company told The Independent.UK.

This post went viral the same month when Nicola Thorp, a London-based temp worker was sent home from PwC office for not wearing heels.

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, Thorp told The BBC.

She also filed a petition to make it illegal for a company to require women to wear high heels at work and it has got more than 100,000 signatories on Thursday and will be considered for debate in parliament.

Also read: UK high heels at work petition hits parliament

Footwear also became subject of controversy when women were turned away from red-carpet screening at the Cannes Film Festival for not wearing high heels.

Multiple guests, some older with medical conditions, were denied access to the anticipated world-premiere screening for wearing rhinestone flats, Screen Daily reported in May 2015.

This year, actress Julia Roberts walked the red carpet barefoot. Many actresses this year are taking a stand against the unequal wardrobe guidelines at the festival.
Although not all women practice chau, it is reinforced through myth and storytelling. (Photo: Screen grab)

In Simikot, a region in the far north west of Nepal, women are banished from their homes and are made to live in jungles. They are also made to live in the animal sheds or goth for 20 days after childbirth as well. This practice is called chaupadi.

Humla is one of the most inaccessible locations in the world. People in this region are dependent on minimal trade with Tibet and subsistence farming.

Alice Carfrae writes for Broadly and narrates about chaupadi and also explains how the condition is far more horrifying than one can imagine.

"The geographic remoteness means that traditions in this place remain strongly intact" writes Carfrae. She talks about 12 teenagers who have been banished from their homes for the duration.

Goth is shared by who ever is menstruating but the risk of rape is serious during this time. When practicing chau many women sleep alone. Also during mensuration women are not allowed inside the house, so they take up hard labor.

"These conditions take their toll: they make women more vulnerable to health problems such as respiratory diseases, prolapses, and bent spines due to the heavy loads," Carfrae points out.

The normal life expectancy of women in this region is 53 years. Many women give birth in the goth, which leads to high infant mortality rate. However all this is changing inform midwife Gita Lama.

New government scheme now pays women roughly Rs 1,000 if they give birth in a clinic. But women fear breaking the community tradition and still go back to goth after being released from the clinic.

If you give birth to a girl you have to stay longer in the goth. Boys are more important so you can go back to the house earlier. I gave birth to a boy so I'm happy," said Laxmi, a 22-year-old woman, who had just given birth in the local clinic.

Laxmis husband didnt wanted them to sleep in the goth but she wanted to practice chau. If we do not practice religion, the gods will bring us trouble. I have no choice but to worship.

When we talk about infant mortality in the world, Nepal tops the chart.

Two to three women used to die every year during or shortly after childbirth. We advise women to stay in the hospital. But there are those who still choose to stay in the goth. If we ignore the doctors' advice we will still survive, but if we disobey God, God will punish us. God is more powerful than man " Gita Lama said.

Although not all women practice chau, it is reinforced through myth and storytelling, says Carfrae.

Click here to watch the video:
Gaya: Suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi, whose son had allegedly shot dead a youth for overtaking his vehicle, on Friday filed an anticipatory bail petition in the district court in connection with recovery of liquor bottles from her house during a search.

On behalf of Manorama Devi, advocate Qaiser Sarfuddin filed the bail petition in the court of (in-charge) District Judge S N Singh who posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

While talking to reporters here after filing the petition, Sarfuddin said that Manorama Devi, who has been absconding ever since the liquor bottles were found from her Gaya residence, will not surrender before the court. Manorama Devi's counsel further claimed that she has been "implicated" in the case as the allegations levelled against her are false.

The counsel said that she was not named accused in the FIR in connection with liquor bottle recovery case. A day after her suspension from JD(U), the Excise department on May 11 sealed residence of the MLC in connection with recovery of liquor bottles as police stepped up search for the legislator who could not be traced.

Officials of Excise department with the help of police sealed the residence of Manorama Devi in posh Anugrah Puri colony, Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik had said.

The Gaya police acquired a warrant of arrest against her on Wednesday in the liquor case.

The house was sealed in the wake of a case registered against the MLC with Rampur Police Station in connection with recovery of 6 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) from her house during Monday's search for her son Rocky Yadav who allegedly shot dead a youth in Gaya on Saturday night.

Wife of RJD strongman Bindi Yadav, Manorama Devi became MLC from JD(U) in 2015. Earlier, she was member of Legislative Council from RJD from 2003 to 2009.

Earlier, a case was registered against her husband Bindi Yadav and son Rocky Yadav in connection with seizure of liquor bottles. But, her name was included in the FIR on May 10 in this connection.
Relatives of the deceased, engage in a scuffle with cops on Wednesday night on the premises of a private hospital where those injured in the mishap were admitted.  dc

Chennai: Kancheepuram police on Thursday arrested Jose Punnoose, 58, the proprietor of Kishkinta theme park and D. Sakthivelan, 43, HR manager, in connection with the joyride crash in the amusement park on Wednesday in which one employee was killed and nine others injured.

Jose is son of M. Chacko Punnoose, also known as Navodaya Appachan, a well-known film producer in Kerala, who had made many hit movies including Indias first 3D movie My dear kuttichathan.

Police had registered case under IPC section dealing with death due to negligence. Kishkinta employee S. Mani had died of injuries he suffered when a new ride named Disco rider joy ride crashed during a trial run inside the amusement park located near Tambaram on Wednesday.

While the police has booked a case, the district administration had also ordered an inquiry by Sriperumbadur tashildar into the fatal mishap.

Based on an order from the district collector, I went to the theme park and inspected the scene of accident. I could not interact with the owner and HR manager because police were questioning them. I could not trace the site engineer also. I was told that he was missing since the accident happened. I will file a report to the district collector, said the tashildar, when this newspaper contacted him.

Meanwhile relatives of the deceased employee created ruckus in a private hospital where all the injured were admitted. When the hospital staff told them that body of Mani was not in the hospital, the relatives started to create ruckus and two glass panels were damaged in the melee.

Read: Chennai: Trial amusement ride at theme park kills employee, injures nine others

Later a police team reached the spot to tell the agitated crowd that the body has been sent to Chromepet GH. The relatives on Thursday received the body and took it home.

Sources said the amusement park management representative had a few rounds of talks with the family of the deceased and both sides had reached financial settlement after which the family accepted the body and took it home.
Chatra (Jharkhand): A journalist was shot dead by unidentified people in Chatra district, police said on Friday.

The deceased, 35-year-old Akhilesh Pratap Singh, who worked for a news channel, was gunned down near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night, a police official said, adding that a bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked Director General of Police D K Pandey to arrest the culprits at the earliest.

A delegation of local journalists met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha and demanded adequate compensation to the family of the victim.
The social media post further said that the ambassador used the term Rohingya not because of indifference and opposition to the opinion and attitude of Myanmar people but he had to use this term as no other alternative words were available to him.

The US ambassador met the lower house Legal Affairs and Special Cases Study and Review Committee Chairman Thura Shwe Mann at parliament building no. I-1 in Napyitaw at 10 a.m. on May 11.

Shwe Mann said in his social media post that he told the US ambassador at the meeting that the usage of the term Rohingya was a sensitive subject as it was unacceptable for Myanmar people.

News media reported last week that responsible officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi had requested the US ambassador not to use the term Rohingya as it was controversial and sensitive in the country.
Though the toddlers mother feared that she would be killed, the Dindoshi police found her in less than 24 hours. (Photo: Representational Image)

Mumbai: In a shocking incident, a man allegedly kidnapped his own one-year-old daughter in Dindoshi. Though the toddlers mother feared that she would be killed, the Dindoshi police found her in less than 24 hours.

The girl was handed over to her mother on Thursday morning. No FIR was registered, so no arrest was made, said a police official. According to police officials, the man used to beat his wife often so she moved to her mothers house in Mumbai. The alleged kidnapping was an act of revenge.

According to the police, Renuka (22), the daughter of a domestic help Laxmi Devi (45), was married to Moham Tedullu (24), a resident of Tandur in Andhra Pradesh two years ago. Last June, Renuka delivered a girl and since then her mother-in-law had been torturing her for not giving birth to a boy. After repeatedly being assaulted by her mother-in-law and husband, Renuka moved to her mothers house in Malad (east) on May 6.

Tedullu visited Mumbai on May 9 and stayed in Laxmis house, asking her to send Renuka back, but instead the latter demanded a divorce.

On May 10, when Renuka woke up she found her daughter missing and started searching for her everywhere. Later, she realised that Tedullu was also missing and chances are that he might have kidnapped her. Following this she went to the Dindoshi police station. We kept Andhra Pradesh police officials in the loop, and dispatched our team from here immediately to rescue the girl, said a police official.

On Wednesday, Hyderabad police inspector Sharif Khan intercepted Tedullu and handed over the girl to the Mumbai police. The next morning, officials reached the city and handed over the girl to her mother. I am thankful to the police for saving my girl, Renuka said.

(THIS STORY ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE ASIAN AGE AS MAY THE CASE BE)
Mumbai: A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here on Friday rejected the bail petition of former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal who is facing charges of money laundering in connection with the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

69-year-old Bhujbal had sought bail on health grounds saying he had multiple problems, including diabetes, blood pressure, chronic asthama and blockages in heart.

The senior NCP leader pleaded that he was in custody for nearly two months and was suffering from multiple health problems for which he needed to undergo treatment. Hence, he sought bail.

Designated Judge of PMLA court P R Bhavake, however, rejected the bail petition of Bhujbal after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) objected saying investigations were still on and he was getting proper treatment in government hospital.

Bhujbal was arrested on March 14 by ED on the charge of money laundering in the Maharashtra Sadan scam.

Anti-Corruption Bureau had filed an FIR against Bhujbal after it found irregularities in construction of Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi which was built at a cost of Rs 100 crore. It is alleged that the contractor has given kickbacks to Bhujbal.

Another FIR was also filed by ACB against Bhujbal in which it is alleged that he had received kickbacks in awarding the contract of state central library in Kalina campus of Mumbai University.

ED lawyer Purnima Kantharia opposed Bhujbal's bail saying the diseases cited by Bhujbal in the bail petition are not new and he has been living with them for the last 15 years. He has been given proper medical treatment and the prosecution would provide the best medical doctors to treat him, she said.

Bhujbal is currently lodged in Central prison at Arthur Road here along with his nephew and former MP, Sameer who was also arrested in the same case on similar charges.
BENGALURU: Actress Mythriya Gowda, her sister and two relatives were pronounced guilty for assaulting a traffic police constable in July 2011. The actress was sentenced to two-years simple imprisonment, while three others were given one year each.

Mythriyas sister Supriya, relatives Roopa and Rekha are the others convicted. The Fifth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court pronounced the order on Friday. The actress has also been levied a penalty of Rs 3,000, while the rest were levied a fine of Rs 1,000 each.

They were charged under Sections 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC.

The Basaveshwaranagar police investigated the case and filed the chargesheet, while Assistant Public Prosecutor Nagaraj argued on behalf of the government. All four were granted bail and will approach the High Court contesting the order.

Background

On July 23, 2011, the four women were driving a Santro to a wedding at Channakeshava Wedding Hall on West of Chord Road. Mythriya, who was driving, jumped a signal at the National School junction near Kabaadi Choultry. M. Shivakumar, then attached to Vijayanagar traffic police station was on duty and stopped the car.

Mythriya engaged in an argument with him, asked him to fine her and moved the car. As Shivakumar tried to photograph the registration number plate with his mobile phone, Mythriya stopped the vehicle and slapped him. The other women also manhandled and hurled abuses at him. A police sub-inspector in the vicinity, rushed to the cops help and took the four into custody.

Case against DVSs son

Mythriya Gowda had filed a rape case against Union Minister Sadananda Gowdas son Karthik Gowda in 2014. However, the police had dropped the charges against Karthik Gowda citing lack of evidence.
New Delhi: The indefinite hunger strike by JNU students entered ninth day today even as the health condition of the Student's Union President Kanhaiya Kumar, who was admitted to AIIMS, has improved.

While five students on Thursday withdrew from the hunger strike against the punishment by the university in connection with the February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, 15 others continued with their fast.

Kanhaiya, who is out on bail after his arrest in a sedition case, was on Thursday admitted to AIIMS in a semi-conscious state. He was treated for mild dehydration and ketosis.

"Doctors have advised that Kanhaiya be kept under observation. His health is better," a statement from the JNU Students Union said.

"Kanhaiya has appealed to the students to continue with the agitation in his absence from the campus," it said. On day nine of the hunger strike, the students called for a protest against the JNU administration which has termed the fast as "unlawful" activity.

The key tone level of the fasting students is high and the blood pressure is low, according to the test reports from the health centre.

25 students had gone on hunger strike last week. While five members of ABVP called off their fast on Wednesday claiming they have an assurance from the JNU administration that their demands will be considered, five members of the Left-affiliated groups withdrew from the stir yesterday citing deteriorating health.

JNU VC Jagadesh Kumar had appealed to students to put forward their demands using constitutional" means and asked them to come for a "dialogue" to resolve the matter.

Two other students -- Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya -- were arrested along with Kanhaiya in the sedition case.

While Kanhaiya has been slapped with a penalty of Rs 10,000 on grounds of "indiscipline and misconduct", 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.

Saurabh, who is the lone ABVP member in JNU Students Union, has also been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 for blocking traffic.
New Delhi: A Delhi court has reserved it sorder on whether to summon Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by a police constable for allegedly using a slang "thulla" to describe policemen.

Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg, after hearing the arguments of a constable posted at Govindpuri police station here on the issue of summoning the chief minister, fixed May 20 for pronouncement of order.

"Arguments on summoning heard. Put up for clarifications, if any, order on May 20, 2016," the magistrate said.

This is another complaint against the Chief Minister, who has already been summoned for July 14 on a similar plea of a constable of Lajpat Nagar police station by a court here which held that prima facie he committed the offence of defamation.

The court reserved the order on the present complaint lodged by constable Harvinder on July 22, 2015, which had claimed he was insulted by Kejriwal's remark in a TV interview in which the CM had referred to police as "thulla".

The policeman had sought summoning of Kejriwal in the case for the alleged offence under section 500 (defamation) and 504 (insult intended to provoke breach of peace) of IPC contending that the word used by him had demoralised the entire police agency.

The plea, filed through lawyer L N Rao, had contended that "using a derogatory and demeaning term like 'thulla' to refer to police personnel is equivalent to referring to all Delhi Police officials as lethargic and unproductive."

"This word has, therefore, harmed the reputation of the complainant in the eyes of general public including his family, relative and friends," it had said.
Transgenders protest in front of the Secretariat demanding the arrest of culprits in the case relating to the rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Perumbavur on Wednesday. (Photo: A.V. MUZAFAR)

Kochi: The police finally recorded the crucial statement of Perumbavur rape victims mother on Wednesday as the focus of the probe turned on people known to the family with the cops believing the attacker had gained a friendly entry into the house before murdering the law student.

So far they could not take the statement of Rajeshwari as she was undergoing treatment at the Perumbavur Taluk Hospital since the night of April 28 when her younger daughter was raped and murdered.

She was questioned by a team led by Womens Cell CI Radhamani who called on her at the hospital at 9 am. According to sources, she was basically asked who all had free access to the house and whet-her she suspects anyone.

The cops asked her the exact time she returned home on the fateful day. They also tried to verify statements given earlier by the victims sister Deepa.

Four neighbours had told the police about seeing a person coming out of the victims house at 6 pm on the day of murder and walking away after washing clothes in the nearby canal. One of them also told the police she heard the victim speaking to someone half an hour earlier.

The Special Investigation Team continued the massive exercise of collecting fingerprints of male adults in the locality of the victims house on Wednesday too. They also began collecting information on the victims social friends.

Meanwhile, Perumbavur MLA Saju Paul of CPM accused rivals of taking political mileage out of the issue. While stating that he would approach the Election Commission against this, Saju Paul affirmed that he had helped the victims family in getting land and also provided tuition fees on two occasions.

We will launch a protest, including indefinite fast, it the cops fail to nab the perpetrator by May 16, he said.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday said the AAP government appeared "more interested" in advertisements on buses as they would bring more revenue rather than focusing on a policy for ads on autos where the money would go to owner of the vehicles.

A bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru made the observation after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government told the court that it was reconsidering the entire policy of outdoor advertisements and handed over minutes of a meeting held regarding ads on buses.

"Why don't you (Delhi government) answer the three questions raised by us?" asked the court.

"It appears you are more interested in buses as then you can display full body wrap advertisements and the revenue comes to you, unlike autos where the revenue goes to the owners," the court said and directed the government to "focus" on the three questions raised by the bench in its order of September 2014.

The bench gave the government time till July 22 to file an affidavit indicating its "clear stand" with regard to policy for advertisements on autorickshaws.

In its order of September 19, 2014, the court had focused on three issues  whether political advertisement should be allowed on public service vehicles, their pre-censorship, and whether advertisements ought to be allowed only for vehicles having GPS and GPRS systems.

The court was hearing two PILs filed on behalf of some auto unions challenging the government's policy on display of advertisements on public service vehicles and in which the court has already reserved its verdict.

The court has taken up the matter now as it wanted to know whether the government on its own would address the issues raised by the petitioners.

During the hearing, advocate Govind Jee, appearing for the petitioners, said the current government "was also insensitive like the previous ones" as it has not yet taken a decision and keeps asking for more time.

He contended that reconsideration of the three aspects should not take so much time.
Vijayawada: In an assertion that could possibly strain its relationship with the ruling Telugu Desam Party, the BJP on Friday virtually confirmed Andhra Pradesh would not be accorded 'special category' state status.

The BJP, however, maintained Andhra would remain a "special" state and continue to get "special assistance" from the Centre. The saffron party is part of the TDP-led state government.

Read: BJP, TD at loggerheads over AP special status

Indications that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was in no mood to grant special category status to AP have been coming in over the last few days with some Union Ministers making statements in Parliament on the issue.

Today, a rather categorical remark on the issue was made on behalf of the party for the first time, days ahead of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

With the special category status turning into a hot political issue in the state, Naidu was expected to press the case once again with the PM at their May 17 meeting.

Read: Andhra Pradesh Cabinet to write to PM on special status

"I have visited New Delhi 20-30 times in the last two years and every time I take up the issue with the Prime Minister and other Union Ministers," he said recently.

"Special category status bothers everybody. It's an emotional issue. But a state like AP cannot be categorised in terms of numbers. We want to only say Andhra Pradesh is special, not the category in terms of 1, 2, 3, 4.

Read: Centre must grant special category status to AP: Chandrababu Naidu

"I don't want Andhra to be the 12th category (in addition to the 11 states that already enjoy special category status)," BJP National Secretary and AP in-charge Siddharth Nath Singh said.

"AP is a `special state' for the BJP and the Prime Minister, and the Centre is doing everything to help the state post-bifurcation," he told news persons after the BJP State Core Committee meeting here this afternoon.

Read: Special status for AP: Cat-and-mouse game starts in TD, BJP camps

The Centre was looking at "alternative ways" to address "something which constitutionally we can't give till constitutional amendments happen", Singh noted, referring to the special category status which entails a slew of incentives.

Naidu, "who is a respected coalition leader", only wanted the Centre to implement the AP Reorganisation Act-2014 in letter and spirit, Singh pointed out, implying that the former never sought special category status to the state.

Read: Special Status issue takes TD-BJP ties to new low

"That's what we are precisely doing," he said. The BJP leader said AP had been sanctioned projects, including premier national institutes, worth Rs 1.43 lakh crore. Besides, the Centre would extend a "revenue deficit grant" of Rs 22,112 crore in four years.

"Of this, the Centre has released Rs 7,020 crore. This is outside the 14th Finance Commission grants, the special assistance and Reorganisation Act," the BJP leader added.
Patna: In a counter-attack at the Centre, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Friday demanded to know how Rocky Yadav got a license for his pistol without proper verification in Delhi, and called for a thorough probe into it.

"They (NDA) should first explain as to how he (Rocky Yadav) got license for his pistol in Delhi without verification," he told reporters at Patna Airport while returning from Delhi.

Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the RJD leader said.

"We demand a probe into the license issued to Rocky Yadav without proper procedure of verification," he said in a strong counter-offensive against BJP which had gone hammer and tongs against the Bihar government over the murder of Aditya Sachdeva on Saturday last by Rocky in a road rage incident. The Gaya police maintained that the pistol license to Rocky Yadav had been issued from Vasant Kunj area of Delhi.

The Bihar Deputy CM also said the fugitive MLC and mother of the accused would be arrested. He said RJD workers met the aggrieved family of class XIIth student Aditya Sachdeva who died after being allegedly shot at by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav for overtaking his SUV.

Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had commented two days back in Delhi as to why the term "jungle raj" was not referred to incidents like Pathankot attack, large number of road rage cases in Delhi and killing of an officer in Jharkhand. The comment drew sharp reaction from his political rivals who took exception of him bringing up the Pathankot terror attack issue while referring to the audacious Gaya road rage case.

In another broadside at BJP, Tejaswi also wondered "why the BJP is not talking about 'jungle raj' (regarding) what they did in Uttarakhand?"
New Delhi: Defending Prime Minister Narendra Modis remarks where he compared infant mortality rate in the poll-bound state of Kerala to Somalia, the BJP on Thursday said the PM had done so in the context of a particular tribe in a region of the state and blamed the Opposition for distorting his remarks.

However, the Congress which is currently leading the ruling alliance in the state, hit back, alleging that the PM is known to make outrageous and blatantly false statements.

As Mr Modi faced flak over his remarks, including on the social media, BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said: Modi said the child mortality rate in the tribe is very high. The situation is more dangerous than Somalia.

He accused the Opposition parties of distorting Mr Modis comments for scoring political points.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: He (the PM) makes statements that are blatantly false, he lies with a straight face and he lies because it is in his nature, and comparing Kerala with Somalia is an insult not only to Kerala but also to all of India. Mr Ramesh said everyone knows that Kerala is Number 1 in the country when it comes to social development indicators.
2015 report, Advisory Group of Experts for reviewing the UN Peace building Architecture

Representatives from EU, UN, World Bank and the Swiss embassy are coming to grace the event. Others include representatives from EAOs and political parties plus busybodies like myself.

The first speaker is Ulrike, reportedly one of the most published researchers on the concept of infrastructures for peace.

As usual, my old brain doesnt catch much of what she has tell to us. Not only hers but also those of the others, as all of them are trying to give us as much as they can within the little time allowed to them.

But as always, I manage to absorb a bit from each. Some may of course say, a little knowledge is dangerous, but theyll find others who see quite differently, saying a little is better than nothing.

Which reminds me of what I read in a book. It goes like this:

Have you heard about the Devil quoting Scriptures for his own ends?

The Devil survives, I replied.

(The Walking Drum, Louis LAmour)

Well, I dont know if Im a Devil, but I wish Ill be able to learn more so I can share what Ive learned with others.

All in all, the following are things I think Ive gleaned from them.

Peace infrastructuresforms of engagement between conflict parties and other stakeholdersare important. They are symbols of commitment to peace, eg. JICM, JMC, UPDJC, etc. (Ulrike)

Likewise, manifestations also matter: size of buildings, shapes of meeting room tables, flags, statues etc (Ulrike) (In this respect, do the three kingly statues in Naypyitaw manifest the governments commitment to peace?)

Colombia



Map of Colombia (Photo: www.world-map

With Colombia, which I have written one article in December, a few more things are noteworthy, like the formation of several offices like Office of the High Commissioner for Peace, Agency for Re-integration of Ex-combatants and Victims Unit. Moreover, all the functions of each government ministry must converge on the peace process

Colombia is also one country where 90% of the money spent on peace building comes from government coffers (Alejandro)

Three countries: Colombia, Nepal and Aceh (Indonesia) share one common feature: DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration) comes first or earlier

(Need to find out why they did it and we wont)



Map of Aceh (Phot: www.mapsofworld.com

The Aceh peace process is certainly notable:

Like Burma, the condition was: no secession.

The rest was negotiable.

But unlike Burma, the Aceh rebels must turn over/destroy their weapons in exchange for the reduction of government forces in Aceh

Seven months of hard negotiations brought them into agreement. Here are the reasons given by Dr Kuntoro:



Political will

Effective precision peace negotiations

Committed government and armed forces (government control over armed forces)

Speedy legislation and implementation

Public acceptance

Economic facilitation and welfare

The tsunami that devastated the island on 26 December 2004

Strong facilitation by Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari

Nepal



Map of Nepal (Photo: www.infoplease.com

Indian cooperation was crucial in bringing the peace process to success. Arguably an India-led process, one researcher had written. However, (Indian) engagement was subtle, invisible and did not have, direct intervention and participation, says D.B Subedi. At the same time, it must be remembered that another Nepalese researcher I met in Penang in March had said otherwise.

Sri Lanka



Map of Sri Lanka

(Photo: homagama.wordpress.com)

The process there, apart from the breakdown of negotiations by both the government and the Tamil Tigers, have been heavily criticized for over-internationalization. Involvement of superpowers, especially China and India are mentioned but not elaborated. Peace can mean a big change for everyone, says Karin, summing up quite clearly. It will happen when they feel comfortable about it.

The afternoon session is spent discussing the need to find a new center of gravity to replace the now defunct Myanmar Peace Center (MPC).

The MPC, for all its faults, had been a master key that had opened doors both to the government and the military. But now, with its DDR without an on time replacement, the peace process appears to be at a standstill, says one discussant.

Another points out to a significant development following the signing of the NCA in October.

Before it was just between the NCCT (Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team formed the EAOs) and the government. But now, its different.

On the EAO side, we have the signatories and non-signatories. (On the government side, we now have different entities: government and military.)

The signatories no longer focus on the process but substance. However, the non-signatories are still focusing on the process.

It took U Thein Sein more than 4 months after he came into office to extend his invitation to the EAOs. The new government is only a little more than a month old.

We should therefore make allowance for that.

The seminar concludes at 18:30.

Still no news from Dr Tin Myo Win.
New Delhi: A special court on Friday reserved for May 20 its order on whether a Jindal Group's chartered accountant, who is an accused and has sought to turn approver in a coal scam case involving industrialist Naveen Jindal and others, would be allowed to be questioned by CBI.

Special Judge Bharat Parashar reserved the order after CBI submitted that Suresh Singhal, also a director of New Delhi Exim Pvt Ltd, was required to join the probe to decide whether his assistance can strengthen the case.

"Singhal is required to make full length disclosure. We request the court to allow him to join the probe. There are documents which are to be verified. We must know the nature of testimony of this person (Singhal) and for that we need him to join the probe," special public prosecutor R S Cheema said.

"In order to answer the question (on whether to make him approver in the case and if he could be pardoned), we need his assistance in the probe," Cheema said, adding that Singhal was in possession of certain documents which could be useful for the prosecution.

He further said, "The testimony is likely to strengthen the prosecution case. However, no such document is produced by Singhal till date. The person seeking permission to turn approver must make full and true disclosure."

Meanwhile, advocate Asim Ali, who appeared for Singhal as amicus curiae, told the court that Singhal was in possession of various documents and could produce them as and when required.

The lawyers appearing for other accused told the court that, "what is required to dispose off this application is already with the court."

The court then reserved its order for May 20.

Earlier on May 11, the court had said that Singhal's statement be supplied to the CBI for rendering assistance on the issue. Following this, the documents were supplied to the probe agency.

The court had, however, clarified that issue of supplying the copy of Singhal's statement to the counsel representing other accused would be decided after hearing the arguments advanced by the probe agency.

While seeking pardon, Singhal had sought to make a disclosure statement in the case which was later recorded by a magistrate and was placed before the special judge in a sealed cover.
Puducherry: A day after AINRC leader and Chief Minister N Rangasamy said there was no scope for total prohibition in the Union Territory as a major chunk of revenue was from liquor sales, Congress also ruled out a ban on the sale of alcohol, saying it was not "feasible".

Congress leader and former Union Minister V Narayanasamy on Friday said, "There is absolutely no scope for introduction of total prohibition in Puducherry in view of its unique culture".

"Prohibition is absolutely not feasible in Puducherry," he said after PCC leader A Namassivayam released the Congress manifesto.

Rangasamy had on Thursday said there was no scope for prohibition in Puducherry as excise collected from liquor trade forms a major chunk of the revenue.

Narayanasamy said if the Congress-DMK combine was voted to power in the May 16 assembly polls, efforts would be made for special category statehood status to Puducherry with fiscal benefits from the Centre.

The manifesto also promised waiver of loans borrowed by farmers from banks, holding of civic polls with 50 per cent reservation for women in decision-making posts in local bodies and hike in monthly pension to freedom fighters from the present Rs 7,000 to Rs 10,000.

It also promised implementation of 'Goondas Act' and assured a peaceful environment, especially for industrialists, and free set-top boxes for each television connection.

Namassivayam said a new industrial policy would be introduced and steps would be taken to attract foreign investors in industrial sector.

The manifesto also assured 50 per cent subsidy to power consumers and steps for the welfare of fishermen, minorities, scheduled castes and backward classes.

Namassivayam said his party was against offering freebies in the manifesto as "we will promise only that which we can implement", referring to the promises made by ruling AINRC.
JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar along with other students carried torch parade at JNU campus in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday asked JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar to immediately bring to an end the indefinite hunger strike by students and said it would hear their writ petitions challenging the varsitys disciplinary action only if they end the agitation.

The court also sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the University to function properly and there will be no agitation.

Justice Manmohan said, "You (Kanhaiya) can 'articulate' to the students sitting on hunger strike from past 16 days to end the agitation, allowing the university to 'function properly'.

"They (JNU students) will have to end their agitations/strike. You will have to withdraw the strike immediately. No one should be on hunger strike."

Read: JNU decision to fine and rusticate students unacceptable: Kanhaiya Kumar

It further asked senior advocate Rebecca John, who was representing Kanhaiya, to ask him to speak to the students to end their strike. "You (Kanhaiya) are a ranger and if you speak to the students, they will abide by you and will end their strike. You withdraw this agitation as you can do it," the court said, adding, "if you abide by our directions only then I will hear the petitions before me."

"Have faith in judiciary. You will have to give an undertaking that you are going to end the strike and allow the college to function properly. You have to ensure that there is no agitation," the judge observed.

The court further asked Kanhaiya's counsel to pursue with them to end their strike.

The counsel present in court on behalf of JNUSU president and others said they will coordinate with the students and will get back to the court.

Read: JNU hunger strike enters 9th day, Kanhaiya's condition better

The court has adjourned the matter till further communication is received from the students' leader. The court gave the directions during hearing of pleas by Kanhaiya and others challenging the university's disciplinary action.

Apart from Kanhaiya, Ashwati A Nair, Aishwariya Adhikari, Komal Mohite, Chintu Kumari, Anwesha Chakraborty and two others had challenged the order of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) against them.

Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya moved the court earlier this week against their rustication. Umar had also been slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000, while Anirban had been barred from JNU campus for five years from July 23.

Kanhaiya who, along with Anirban and Umar, was accused of sedition for the controversial event of February 9, was slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 by the varsity.

Varying actions, ranging from rustication, debarment from the varsity and fines, were taken against them and several other students based on a high-level enquiry committee's (HLEC) report regarding the controversial incident that had occurred on February 9 at JNU.

The petitioners, who have moved the court now, have challenged the fines imposed on them by the varsity.

Students later said they were "agreeable" to call off the agitation subject to assurance that they will be protected against any action by the University.

Just before lunch, the lawyers for the students told the court that they were agreeable to withdraw their strike only if they are protected till the next date of hearing, May 30.

The bench said the students should have some "faith" in the judiciary and asked them to maintain "this position" (the current situation) and to "withdraw the strike". "Once we are settled down, things will improve," the court said.

The counsel for JNU students said she will take instructions on the issues raised by the students and inform the court.

All of them have challenged the fines imposed on them by the varsity apart from withdrawal of hostel facilities in the case of two students, one of them a girl.
New Delhi: Ahead of the onset of monsoon, the government has convened a meeting to discuss preparedness for rains and any natural disaster.

The conference of relief commissioners and secretaries of state governments will be held on May 18 here to review the status of preparedness for southwest monsoon and discuss other disaster management related issues.

The meeting, to be inaugurated by Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, will be attended by representatives of central ministries concerned and organisations rendering emergency support functions, scientific organisations associated with forecasting officers of the armed forces and Central Armed Police Forces.

The Home Ministry, India Metrological Department, Indian Space Research Organisation, Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), Central Water Commission, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Geological Survey of India, Ministry of Defence and National Disaster Response Force will make presentations sharing their efforts towards preparedness in dealing with disaster situations.
Michel has claimed that Italy will reveal a private meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart Matteo Renzi, in which Modi supposedly asked Renzi for information against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in exchange for releasing the marine (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the multi-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal, has claimed that Italy might do something unpleasant if India does not release an Italian marine held in connection with the death of fishermen in 2012.

In an interview to NDTV, Michel has claimed that Italy will reveal a private meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart Matteo Renzi, in which Modi supposedly asked Renzi for information against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in exchange for releasing the marine.

Read: AgustaWestland deal: Modi did not meet Italian PM in New York, says MEA

Both governments have emphatically denied that Modi met with his Italian counterpart in New York on the sidelines of a UN conference. Michel insisted that the meeting did happen, arguing that the governments had only denied a formal bilateral.

"Under the auspices of the UN bilateral discussions there was no meeting. I am talking about a casual brush-by meeting which has plausible deniability attached to it," he said, claiming that an Italian embassy official in Delhi briefed Agusta's parent company Finmeccanica about the meeting, which in turn informed him. But he refused to reveal the name of the embassy official.

Read: Agusta deal: Have to protect Gandhis to save myself, says Christian Michel

Stating that Italy was very upset with the Congress for not backing it in the marines case, Michel said that the new government under Modi was stuck in a bad position  because if the PM let the marines go, he would be accused of a deal, and if he didnt, Italy may do something unpleasant.

Michel had said on Thursday that he had not personally met either Congress president Sonia Gandhi or her son Rahul Gandhi. I have to protect the Gandhis to protect myself. I have to prove they are innocent to prove my innocence, said Michel in an interview to a TV news channel in Dubai.

But Michel confirmed that in 2008 he did describe Gandhi in a letter as the driving force behind the decision to acquire new helicopters for use by VVIPs when her party was in power.

Read: Marines case: India, Italy to soon approach Supreme Court

He said that he did not personally know either Mrs Gandhi or Mr Rahul Gandhi, and stressed that his written suggestion that diplomats lobby with them did not mean that they had been bribed.

The scandal over kickbacks allegedly paid by Agusta middlemen in India resurfaced last month after an Italian court verdict. The BJP alleged that documents attached to the verdict are proof that Congress leaders helped Agusta swing the deal to provide a dozen choppers for VVIPs in India.
Maharashtra is the first state to take stern steps against social boycott imposed by khap panchayats. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to ban village councils from imposing social boycotts that ostracise individuals or families for defying tradition.

Women and lower caste Dalits often bear the brunt of such judgments, passed as punishment for perceived misdeeds such as marrying between castes or dressing immodestly.

The state last month passed the law against a decades-old practice of village panchayats, or councils, ordering social boycotts.

The Act was required against the backdrop of atrocities inflicted on people in the name of tradition, caste and community, said Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. It is necessary to prohibit social boycotts as a matter of social reform in the interest of public welfare, he said.

Maharashtras new law declares social boycotts a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison, a fine of Rs five lakhs, or both.

Under village council orders, individuals and families have been banished from the community, and denied access to temples, wells, markets and celebrations.

In some cases, panchayats have even branded women as witches, and ordered gang rapes or killings as punishment.

Human rights campaigners called for other states to follow Maharashtras example.

The law will help check caste crimes to some extent. It empowers lower-caste people and it empowers human rights organisations, as it gives us a tool with which to fight against village panchayats, said Irfan Engineer, director of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai.

We need a similar law in the rest of the country, particularly in states where (unelected) khap panchayats are strong, he said.

Khap panchayats are unelected village councils comprising men of a particular clan or caste. While their power has diminished since 1992, when elected village councils were made mandatory, they remain powerful in states like Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and parts of Uttar Pradesh.

The Supreme Court in 2011 described khap panchayats as kangaroo courts that are entirely illegal.
Mumbai: The Congress on Thursday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur got a clean chit in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) in its report said that 'sufficient evidences' had not been found against Pragya Singh Thakur and five others. The case, in which seven people were killed in twin blasts when people were coming out of prayers during Ramzan in September 29, 2008, was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai's ATS Hemant Karkare who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

"This is my accusation on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Central Cabinet who are trying to save the people belonging to Sangha involved in terror activities by putting pressure on police officers and the NIA," Congress leader Digvijay Singh said.

Read: Malegaon blasts: NIA gives clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya

"I have been telling this from the very beginning that the people from the RSS and those influenced by its deology are involved in terror activities," he added.

Stating the chargesheet mentions that the investigation conducted by former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare was flawed, the Congress leader expressed his disappointment over the fact that even martyrs are under suspicion during the rule of the NDA regime.

"The person, who gave his life fighting for the glory of the nation, is now being framed as a person who tried to falsely implicate the accused," he added.

Read: Pragya Thakur was framed in Malegaon blast case : BJP

Singh also said that the Centre wants to protect the Malegaon convicts. "We also know that you have been in contacts with all who have been involved in the terror attack, but my appeal to the Center is please don't accuse Hemnat Karkare of wrongly implicating the Malegaon convicts," he added.

Training his guns at the Home Minister, Singh wondered whether this was the reason for extension given to the NIA director. "This a matter of pity that the National Investigative Agency, which was formed to probe matters of terrorism, is now saving the perpetrators involved in terrorism," he said. "This is highly regrettable that Hemant Karkare's deeds in the case is being criticised," he added.

Read: Malegaon blast case: Rijiju defends NIA's move to drop charges against Pragya

Meanwhile, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegations, saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. We allow agencies to work independently,

The Congress leader's remark came after the NIA filed a chargesheet before the Mumbai Special Court in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

The Malegaon 2008 blast case was a first case in which Hindu extremists, including Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur were chargesheeted in 2009 by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.

Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people but filed charge sheets on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court. Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before Bombay High Court and Supreme Court challenging the charge sheet and applicability of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The BJP and Shiv Sena welcomed the NIA decision to drop all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others and alleged that Sadhvi and another accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit were "framed" in the case at the behest of Congress.

Terming Pragya Thakur and Purohit as two "respectable people", Shiv Sena demanded a monetary compensation for Sadhvi for her "false implication" by the previous government.

"We have always been saying that these two (Sadhvi and Lt Col Purohit) have been framed wrongly. The word saffron terror was first coined by (former Finance minister) P Chidambaram and stressed upon by (NCP chief) Sharad Pawar. Who is to be held responsible for almost 10 years that she (sadhvi) spent behind bars? Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said.

"These two are respectable people. The Congress has been exposed today on how they used investigation agencies to defame Hindu religion. The government needs to provide monetary compensation to Sadhvi for the troubles she has gone through," she said.

BJP spokesperson Shaina N C said her party has nothing to do with the decision of NIA.

"When Sadhvi first went to jail, there was no concrete evidence against her. She was arrested despite not having substantial proof. If the NIA has something to suggest, we have to have faith in the judiciary. Judiciary works on evidence and not on hearsay or what political parties have to say. Allegations that the BJP has to do something with the NIA's decision are absolutely false and untrue," she said.
The decision to drop MCOCA charges against the accused was taken since the application itself was flawed and only one accused was eligible to be book under the act. Everyone else was charged for association.

New Delhi: In a complete U-turn, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case while charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) law have been given up against all the other 10 accused including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

During investigation, "sufficient evidences have not been found against" Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet "that the prosecution against them is not maintainable".

Friday's development in the case, in which seven people were killed in twin blasts when people were coming out of prayers during Ramzan in September 29, 2008.

Congress leader Digvijay Singh slammed the BJP government for the exoneration of Sadhvi Pragya.

"Want to tell Centre that we know you want to save Malegaon accused and you have connections with them," said Congress leader Digvijay Singh. "But don't malign the name of Shaheed Hemant Karkare," he said, adding, "Centre including Prime Minister wants to save the people involved in terror activities."

BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi expressed satisfaction at the turn of events. "I had been saying from long that there was no case against Pragya Thaku," said Meenakshi Lekhi.

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the probe into the Malegaon blast which was described as a handiwork of people associated with Hindu right wing groups.

Read: Malegaon charges due to UPA's prejudice, says BJP

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai's ATS Hemant Karkare who was killed during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people but filed charge sheets on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011 against 14 accused in a Mumbai court.

Purohit and Pragya had moved several applications before the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court challenging the charge sheet and applicability of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case.

Read: Rohini Salian names NIA officer who 'pressurised' her in Malegaon blast case

Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the other five accused against whom charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.

The agency also said during investigation that it has been established that no offence is attracted in this case under the MCOCA, in which any statement given before a SP level officer is admissible as an evidence.

"In furtherance of same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOC Act by ATS Mumbai have not been relied up on by the NIA in submitting the present Final report," the agency said in its chargesheet.

All witness statements have been recorded under MCOCA before a DCP (deputy commissioner of police). Once MCOCA charges are dropped, these statements have no evidentiary value. There are just as many statements saying Sadhvi Pragya was not part of the meetings, an official was quoted as saying.

On the other hand, the NIA evidence against Purohit is significant. He is said to have been an integral part of Abhinav Bharat, which plotted the blasts, and used the organisations money to buy plots in Nashik. In phone intercepts, Purohit is heard telling another accused to flee and destroy the evidence since the police had got wind of the conspiracy.

The decision to drop MCOCA charges against the accused was taken since the application itself was flawed and only one accused was eligible to be book under the act. Everyone else was charged for association.

The NIA had earlier sought the opinion of the Law Ministry whether MCOCA charges could be dropped. The ministry had reportedly told the NIA to decide for itself. The NIA took over the case from the Maharashtra ATS and re-examined all the accused, witnesses and evidence presented in the ATS chargesheet. It also recorded fresh statements, many of which exonerated the accused.

Lt Col Purohit and nine others will now be tried for charges including murder and conspiracy under the provisions of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and Explosives Substance Act.

Director General of NIA Sharad Kumar told reporters on Friday there was no dilution in the case.

Asked about the stand taken by the agency in the past when it had opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi and others even in the Supreme Court, he said "till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet)".

The chargesheet was on Friday submitted by public prosecutor Geeta Godambe before Special Judge SD Tekale. Special Public Prosecutor in the case Avinash Rasal said he was not informed about the filing of the chargesheet (by the NIA). "I am hurt and I may resign from the case", Rasal said.
New Delhi: Amid the charges and counter-charges over the AgustaWestland issue, Congress on Friday accused the Modi government of "working overtime", tapping the phones of opposition, civil servants and judges.

Party's senior spokesman Anand Sharma said, "there is a dirty tricks dept in the BJP Government, which is working overtime tapping phone of Opposition, civil servants and judges".

He alleged that the government is putting senior leaders and bureaucrats under surveillance, manufacturing documents, using state agencies and "pliable" sections of media.

Cautioning the government to stop this game of political blackmailing, he said it was "spreading canards" and making attempts to "defame".

Wondering as to how classified documents of Ministry of Defence, of CBI, of ED, have been selectively leaked to few channels and agencies, he said this created an "incomplete picture".

"The selective leaking and distribution of classified documents creates an incomplete picture. The whole picture is brought out by Opposition in Parliament", he said.

He said the government instead of targeting the opposition, should focus on delivering on its promises. "They have failed miserably when you look at the state of economy, job growth, falling exports and falling investment rate".

Turning to the just concluded session, he said budget Session has passed 24 laws. It is a record in itself.

Noting that since 2014 when the Modi government assumed office, more than 80 Bills have been passed, he said adding that this is "testimony of a mature Opposition".

"This is also a rejection of the canard spread by PM Modi that Opposition was hindering passage of Bills", he said.

Seeking to turn tables on the BJP, he said that many of the bills passed were held hostage by BJP while in the opposition.

At the outset, Sharma targeted the government over the Uttarakhand issue.

"The second half of Budget Session became a fresh session because of the wrong decision of this Government to justify the unconstitutional destabilisation of the Uttarakhand Government, by encouraging defection and promoting an environment where money power and the Union's power were abused," he said.
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi,who was in the Union Cabinet then, had written a letter to Prime Minister Narasimha Rao after the Babri mosque demolition saying he should not have allowed this to happen but got no response.

Gogoi mentions this in his autobiography "Turnaround: Leading Assam from the Front", which chronicles his life in politics.

Gogoi, who was the Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Food and then the Minister of State (independent charge) for Food Processing Industry in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet from 1991, describes Rao as a modern man who initiated several reforms during his tenure.

"However, Rao did not have a hold over his party. I feel the way he handled the Babri mosque demolition was not appropriate. Breaking all conventions as a minister, I even wrote a letter telling him that he should not have allowed this to happen. He should have taken the leaders of the minority community into confidence. I was very critical as the demolition alienated the minorities from us. However, he did not respond to my letter," he writes in the book, published by Harper Collins India.

Seeking a fourth consecutive term, Gogoi says he is no magician and has no magic wand but he can look back with satisfaction to his 15 years of governance though he does not claim to have scored a ten on ten.

In his memoir, the veteran Congressman says he wants history to judge these years.

"Can I look back in satisfaction today? In a sense, I would say yes. I do not claim to have score a ten on ten. All I say that a lot of ground has been covered. Records will substantiate the fact that I have not made any tall claims," he writes in the book.

He goes on to say, "I am no magician and have no magic wand. I do not have solutions to change things overnight. Nor do I claim to have superior abilities. History has produced statesmen and visionaries who have steered nations and written their destinies for generations to learn from."

"In the big picture, I am but a dwarf and my efforts are Lilliputian. That they have made a difference is because the people have supported me and the electorate has reposed faith in me," he added.

Gogoi first became the chief minister in 2001. Insurgency was at its peak, and brutal killings dominated headlines.

Government employees were not paid salaries for months together.

He claims his three consecutive terms have changed the Assam story.

He says when the history of Assam is penned, his three-term tenure will show up both positives as well as negatives. "There will be bouquets and brickbats, criticism and acclaim. But I will leave history to judge these years."

According to 81-year-old Gogoi, his greatest regret in life is "not meeting Mahatma Gandhi in person, although he was and will always be an integral part of my life, as in the case with millions of other Indians".

Having worked closely with Indira Gandhi and her sons, he says Rajiv was exactly the opposite of his brother Sanjay.

"Sanjay Gandhi liked to micromanage. He made it a point to always say why and how he wanted things done. Rajivji, on the other hand, gave freedom and did not spoon feed. He encouraged those who worked with him to take decisions. He believed in their ability to lead," writes Gogoi.

He says he belongs to that breed to politicians who dare to decide, who do not dither and who often take firm and hard decisions. "I am among those who are willing to bear the brunt of consequences. Therefore, even though I inherited a crown of thorns, I was willing to wear it and walk, with the words 'no problem' ringing loud and clear in my mind."
I lived in Gunbarrel, Colorado for about six years when I was a kid. True to its name, people like guns in Gunbarrel. I was once shot by fellow who objected to my trespassing on his property (my friends and I were exploring the caves). Fortunately he was far enough away that it only stung. We probably went back the next day.

Here's a story about a Gunbarrel gentleman who got into a fight with his neighbor over squirrel-feeding and shot him in the buttocks with his pistol. Jon Marc Barbour, 59, was arrested for second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.
Outlining his priorities, the FTII director said a revision of the three-year syllabus was underway and he would ensure that the students completed their three year course without spilling over the prescribed timeline (Photo: PTI)

Pune: After witnessing prolonged unrest, Film And Television Institute of India may be revamped as its new director Bhupendra Kainthola on Friday hinted towards a crackdown on ragging and alcoholism on the campus.

Spelling out his measures to improve atmosphere on the campus after the scene of 139-day-long strike on the issue of chairmanship of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan drew nought, Kainthola said he would have a "zero tolerance" policy for rampant ragging and alcoholism in the premier institute.

"Although I have not received official complaints of ragging, during my interaction with students, particularly females, I have perceived it is happening and they are scared to go on record to say it. Actually, it has resulted in a decline in the number of female students seeking admission to FTII," he told PTI in Pune.

Read: FTII gets warning letter, a detonator against Kanhaiya Kumar's visit

Kainthola, who succeeded Prashant Pathrabe recently, said alcoholism too was taking toll on the health of the students and that he had also "heard" of instances of drug abuse on the campus. "We are going to have a zero tolerance policy for all this. If necessary we will rope in institutions such as Alcoholics Anonymous and de-addiction therapists," he said.

Outlining his priorities, the FTII director said a revision of the three-year syllabus was underway and he would ensure that the students completed their three year course without spilling over the prescribed timeline.

Read: Chargesheet filed against 35 FTII students for illegally confining institute director

"We are recruiting new faculty members and we shall also approach famous film industry personalities to interact with the students as visiting faculty in order to impart practical experience for the would-be industry professionals being trained at the FTII," he added.

Asked whether the FTII management had any plans to withdraw the cases filed against a group of students booked in connection with the gherao of former director Pathrabe during the heated atmosphere of the strike against Chauhan's appointment, Kainthola said any decision in the matter would be taken after due deliberations.

During the strike, some students had barged into his office of Pathrabe in August last year, objecting to his decision on assessment of 2008 batch projects. "The matter at present is sub-judice," he added.

He said the FTII management was committed to making the institute a centre of academic excellence and there would be no budgetary constraints in procuring necessary equipment and providing necessary facilities to the students to pursue their goals.
SC directed the Kerala government to constitute a special team of police officers headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday while cautioning the High Courts from ordering CBI probe mechanically, rejected the plea of Sujatha Ravi Kiran of Kochi seeking a CBI probe into the charges of wife swapping and sexual abuse against her husband, Ravi Kiran and others.

A Bench of Chief Justice T.S. Thakur and Justices R. Banumathi and Uday Lalit also dismissed her plea to transfer the pending criminal case from a Kochi court to a court in Delhi. The Bench, however, directed the Kerala government to constitute a special team of police officers headed by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police to investigate the matter. The petitioner Sujatha in her complaint had made allegations of wife-swapping and also implicated few names.

The Bench said that before parting with the case, we deem it necessary to emphasise that despite wide powers conferred by Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution, while passing any order, the Courts must bear in mind certain self-imposed limitations on the exercise of these constitutional powers.

The very plenitude of the power under the said Articles requires great caution in its exercise. Insofar as the question of issuing a direction to CBI to conduct investigation in a case is concerned, although no inflexible guidelines can be laid down to decide whether or not such power should be exercised but time and again it has been reiterated that such an order is not to be passed as a matter of routine or merely because a party has levelled some allegations.
The court delivered the first part of the judgment on Wednesday, where it laid down new principles for the declaration of drought. (Representational image)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre and state governments not to hide behind the smokescreen of lack of funds and give wide-ranging relief for drought-affected people in 12 states.

These include mid-day meals in the summer vacation, addition of egg or milk to the mid-day meal menu, to universalisation of foodgrain rations and ensure an adequate and timely release of NREGA funds. It ordered implementation of crop loss compensation, agricultural loan restructuring and provision for cattle fodder.

These orders were passed on a petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan. The court delivered the first part of the judgment on Wednesday, where it laid down new principles for the declaration of drought. The court will monitor the implementation of its orders and review it on August 1.

A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and N.V. Ramana, while taking food security a step forward, accepted the plea by Swaraj Abhiyan that all those living in drought-affected areas should be entitled to the benefits under the National Food Security Act. This means every household in a drought-hit area will be entitled to 5 kg foodgrain per person per month. The existing distinction of eligible and non-eligible households will remain suspended.
Around 8.49 lakh students have appeared for the exam at 3,082 centres across the state. (Photo: DC)

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board announced the Senior School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) class 10th exam result today.

Students can check their results on the official website: kseeb.kar.nic.in; karresults.nic.in.

The exam was held between March and April this year. Around 8.49 lakh students have appeared for the exam at 3,082 centres across the state.

The Karnataka SSLC results helps students decide their future streams like Arts, Commerce or Science to pursue the higher secondary education in schools across the state.
A relative prompts one-and-a-half-year old Joanna to speak on a mobile phone at the Kochi International airport on Thursday. Joanna and her parents were among the 29 stranded Indians who have returned to Kerala. (Photo: Sunoj Ninan Mathew)

Kochi/New Delhi: When the returnees landed at the Nedumbassery airport, a large number of relatives had gathered there.

They, including six children, came back via Istanbul and Dubai after a wait of 47 days. Most of those who returned are nurses working at the Savio Hospital in Tripoli. In the shell attack on the hospital, one Malayali nurse and her child were killed. A total of 11 people returned to their native places in Tamil Nadu.

The returnees said that the hospital authorities did not care for the safety of the staff.

Abraham Samuel from Kozhenchery, who was among the 29 Indians rescued from the conflict zones in Libya, said that the Indian embassy did not do things properly. If it had constructively intervened, their return would have happened much early. He said that they took tickets on their own for returning to Kochi.

Joseph Chacko from Perumpaikadu, Kottayam, said that he and a few others escaped from the place with the help of a Libyan national who was working with them. He took them to another safe place in Libya and lodged them in a cottage for a month. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had tried to intervene but the response from the Indian embassy was not that encouraging, he said.

NORKA opened a special help desk at the airport to help the returnees reach their destinations. All those above the age of 10 were given Rs 2,000 apart from vehicle facility to reach home. They said that the warring tribal factions in Libya do not give much hope for their return to the workplace in the near future.

Mr Chandy said in Kochi that the allegations that the state government didnt do anything to help the nurses stranded in Libya were baseless. Weve been coordinating with the Indian embassy and other authorities to safely bring them back. The government will bear the complete expense for their travel, including the air fare. However, due to some technical issues in currency exchange, we couldnt pay the airfare before their journey, he said at a press conference.

They have agreed to buy the ticket on their own for which the government will reimburse it soon. When they reached Nedum-bassery, each person was given Rs 2,000 as an initial assistance and vehicles were also arranged to take them to their native place. We were monitoring the situation when they started from their workplaces as journey up to Tripoli is very dangerous.

The government was ready to bring them back when the first group of persons returned. But they were not ready to return citing financial problems, he said.

Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said in Kochi that Mr Modi and Ms Sushma Swaraj had brought back the nurses stranded in Libya. Mr Chandy had no role in this. The only contribution of Mr Chandy was receiving the nurses at the airport after they landed safely in Kerala, he said.

The political fight erupted a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government had evacuated the families from Libya and that the Centre was committed to work for the welfare of Indians living abroad. Mr Modi is already under mounting attack from the Opposition parties for his controversial comment in an election rally comparing Kerala and Somalia while talking about the infant mortality rate among tribals in the state.
New Delhi: JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya on Monday said the decision to rusticate them from the varsity was "unacceptable" and termed as "farce" the inquiry by a high-level committee even as the students' union threatened a countrywide campaign on the matter.

In his reaction, JNU students' union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been slapped with a fine of Rs 10,000 by the varsity administration, said the punitive action handed down on the basis of a "farcical" probe was "simply unacceptable" and that the Union rejects it.

"JNUSU rejects the punishment handed down by the administration on the basis of a farcical committee!" Kanhaiya tweeted.

JNUSU rejects the punishment handed down by the administration on the basis of a farcical committee! #NoMoreRohiths #FreedomofSpeechLongLive  Kanhaiya Kumar (@kanhaiyajnusu) April 25, 2016

Terming the decision against them as "unacceptable", Anirban and Umar alleged the authority's action amounted to a "witch-hunt" under the "diktats" of RSS.

"The JNU administration declares its allegiance to RSS, once again! After allowing police to enter campus to unleash the worst repression...now the JNU admin has come down with its own list of punishments.

"A farce is what this inquiry has been from day one, made to witch-hunt and punish students by hook or crook. Do we need to remind you, Mr Jagdish Kumar (JNU VC) that unlike you the students and teachers of this campus are not pliant stooges of the RSS," Umar posted on Facebook.

He said Hyderabad Central University's deceased Dalit student Rohith Vemula was their "inspiration", urging the students for a "fight back".

JNUSU vice president Shehla Rashid Shora said, "We will launch a countrywide campaign to expose this governments anti-student, anti-Dalit character."

Shehla said the action against the students was based on "sheer vendetta and a biased inquiry" and "one-sided" statements from ABVP members.

"The VC is taking directions from the Central govt. He should have acted first as an academician and then as an RSS loyalist. Rakesh Bhatnagar, the head of the committee, is the treasurer of anti-reservationist Youth for Equality, and most students who have been punished belong to Dalit, Muslim and backward castes," she said.

On Monday, JNU slapped a fine of Rs 10,000 on JNUSU president Kumar and rusticated PhD scholars Umar and Anirban for varying duration in connection with the controversial February 9 event for which they were charged with sedition, an action which had triggered widespread outrage and protests.

Based on the findings of a committee, Umar has been rusticated for one semester and slapped with a fine of Rs 20,000, Anirban has been rusticated till July 15.
Hyderabad: A cat and mouse game has started in the Telugu Desam-Bharatiya Janata Party camp in Andhra Pradesh. While the ruling Telugu Desam is trying to blame the BJP by raking up key issues like non-release of promised central funds and special category status, the BJP at a meeting in Kadapa on Sunday decided to take up agitations against the state government, particularly on Rayalaseema issues.

BJP leaders said they would visit the Srisailam dam backwaters on May 5. They also plan to take the state government to task for locating all projects and schemes in the coastal districts while neglecting Rayalaseema, BJP youth wing president Vishnuvar-dhana Reddy said.

Read: Centre must grant special category status to AP: Chandrababu Naidu

TD national president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been expressing his displeasure over the Centre not heeding to his several requests to implement the various provisions in the AP Reorganisation Act.

TD leaders have started targeting the BJP in the state for the Centre rejecting special category status for the state. Mr Naidu has reportedly commented recently that the Supreme Court had come to the rescue of AP and did justice on the contentious sharing of assets and liabilities of state institutions listed in the Ninth and Tenth Schedules of the AP Reorganisation Act but not the Centre though he has requested it to intervene for the last few months. He has said in public that he has visited Delhi 30 times and represented APs matters but nothing has happened.

Read: Special Status issue takes TD-BJP ties to new low

Mr Naidu's plan is to blame the Centre for not kee-ping its promises and choking the flow of funds to the state. His intention is to target and weaken the BJP.

Against this background, the Niti Aayog will be holding a day-long meeting on May 4 in Delhi to review the implementation of provisions in the AP Reorgani-sation Act.

There are speculations that knowing the mind of Mr Naidu, the BJP may try to move away from the alliance with TD and start reaching out to YSRC by the time of the 2019 elections.

The BJP expects that YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy who is facing a crisis within the party, with many legislators and leaders defecting to the TD, and is fighting many cases in courts will yield more Lok Sabha seats while he stays confined to the AP Assembly. However, it is still too soon to see a picture since the elections are three years away.

If the reports that the TD wants to move away from us is true, it is unfortunate. We never tried to weaken the TD. In fact we have pumped a lot of funds to AP and we never betrayed mitra dharma. We are not for moving out of the alliance, we know that the Central funds that have been sanctioned have not been spent for the intended purpose, AP State BJP president and Visakhapatnam MP K. Haribabu said on Sunday.

But Mr Vishnuvardhan Reddy said, So far, we have been a bit hesitant in attacking TD, but we will not tolerate the manner in which the ruling party has been going at us. We know how to expose the state government.

As part of it at the meeting at Kadapa to-day, we decided to take up agitations against the state government for the injustice it is doing to Rayalaseema.
Chennai: In wake of the upcoming Tamil Nadu assembly polls, both AIADMK and DMK have been making fervent efforts to woo voters  be it ad campaigns or lucrative sops  the parties have left no stone unturned. However, one person who has actually reaped the maximum benefit out of this political hullabaloo is 67-year-old GT Kasturi. Both the political arch rivals have approached the grey-haired for ad campaigns.

The teary-eyed woman is seen praising AIADMK for the help rendered by the latter during her hard times, as witnessed in the partys ad campaign. "When nobody was there to help me, the government extended its support," said Kasturi paati in the video. Whereas, in DMKs ad campaign she is seen saying that political parties should judiciously look after the needs of people and act accordingly. Further, she added that the ones who are corrupt shouldnt come to power.

According to reports, Kasturi Paati is apolitical. However, she supports DMK supremo Karunanidhi's honest attempts to form the next government and is impressed by Chief Minister Jayalalithaas social welfare schemes.

When the 67-year-old was approached for the ad campaigns, she wasnt aware what it exactly was for. This isnt her first onscreen stint as she has earlier appeared in videos, ad campaigns and short films.

Kasturi paati in an attempt to make both ends meet often takes up small projects. Though she is not in a capacity to lead a lavish life, she makes enough money to suffice her needs.
Asked about his comments on Mulayam Singh on the issue of Babri mosque demolition, he said, "The time which has gone never comes back. I am not denying anything. For a new start, old things have to be forgotten. Now my objective is to make Akhilesh Chief Minister again."

Lucknow: Former Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Friday quit Congress and rejoined Samajwadi Party, a move which is likely to shore up the SP's prospects in the 2017 Assembly polls.

The return of 75-year-old Kurmi leader in Uttar Pradesh to the SP fold assumes significance ahead of the Assembly polls as another Kurmi leader -- Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar -- is trying to make a dent in the SP votebank. Kurmi community is the second most dominant OBC caste and

a major force to reckon with in the upcoming elections.

Beni, who met SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence in Lucknow this morning, made the announcement at a hurriedly convened press conference where Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was present along with some other senior party leaders.

"I was feeling suffocated in the Congress for the past two years. I thank Sonia and Rahulji, but I could not adjust myself in the party in the present scenario. I rejoined the party as I could not oppose Akhilesh Yadav in the coming assembly polls. This party (SP) has been formed by me also and I had named it as Samajwadi Party," Beni said.

Asked about his comments on Mulayam Singh on the issue of Babri mosque demolition, he said, "The time which has gone never comes back. I am not denying anything. For a new start, old things have to be forgotten. Now my objective is to make Akhilesh Chief Minister again."

Earlier, while in Congress, Beni had blamed Mulayam Singh for the demolition. Welcoming him to the party fold, Mulayam said he did not feel good when Beni left the party. "His joining the party will strengthen it and boost morale of party workers. We have formed the party together," Mulayam noted.

The Chief Minister said old friends and old wine are always welcomed. "We will again come to power in 2017 with his (Beni) returning to party fold," he said.

Speculation is rife within the party that Beni might be SP's candidate for Rajya Sabha elections in July when 11 members of the Upper House are retiring and on the basis of SP's strength in the state assembly Samajwadi party can return six members.

Azam Khan, who was present on the occasion, said when Beni left SP, it caused a lot of pain among party leaders. "His rejoining will give a good message to party workers and will help in strengthening the party before the Assembly elections," he said.

Once a bitter critic of Mulayam, the former Union Steel Minister, had been meeting the SP supremo quite often of late.

His association with Mulayam spans over four decades but he had parted ways with him before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

His 'Ghar Wapsi' to Samajwadi Party is likely to have an impact on the electoral fortunes of the ruling party in at least 10 districts of east and central UP and also in Bundelkhand where the Kurmis are in sizeable numbers.

Samajwadi party is also desperate to shore up its electoral support base among Kurmi and other OBCs ahead of the 2017 state assembly elections.

In 2007 UP assembly elections, Verma had floated his own political party, but it failed to open account. In 2009, Verma formally joined Congress and contested the Lok Sabha election from Gonda Lok Sabha seat, but lost.

He was said to be feeling "marginalized" in Congress after losing the May 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Reacting to Beni's return to the Samajwadi Party, Congress said the former minister is one of those who cannot survive without power.

"Politics today is like trade..there is a dearth of people having principles and ideology in political parties", chairman of communications department of the UPCC, Satyadev Tripathi said.

"Beni Verma who had been using foul language for the Samajwadi Party president in newspapers has today bowed before him (Yadav) for a Rajya Sabha seat," Tripathi alleged.
New Delhi: Reinstated Harish Rawat-led Uttarakhand government on Friday gave an assurance in the Supreme Court that it will not evict nine disqualified Congress MLAs from official homes provided to them.

The apex court, which also took on record the May 11 Gazette notification of the Centre revoking President's rule in the hill state, recorded the statement made on behalf of state Parliamentary Affair Minister Indira Hridayesh that the rebels will not be evicted from their official houses.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh also asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Hridayesh, that "no facilities in the accommodations will be taken away" and posted the plea of disqualified rebels for further hearing on July 12.

Rebel MLAs including Subodh Uniyal and Umesh Sharma, represented by senior advocate C A Sundaram, said that they be not evicted from their official residences till their pleas against disqualification are decided.

They also agreed to the suggestion of the bench that they will not take their salary.

At the outset, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, submitted the copy of the Gazette notification, revoking the President's rule in the state.

The bench, which has kept pending the plea of Centre that it rightly invoked the President's rule, then fixed the petition for further hearing on July 12.

The bench, meanwhile, issued notice on a separate appeal of rebel Congress MLA Shaila Rani Rawat that she was wrongly disqualified by the Speaker after imposition of President's rule. She has filed plea through lawyer M L Sharma.

Rawat was reinstated as Chief Minister after the Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on the floor test in the Assembly.

"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," the apex court had said.
What do you do if you're a giant corporation devoted to selling people huge, $100/month bundles of TV channels they don't want anymore, but you also have a monopoly on selling high-speed Internet access, which they want very badly?

You take away unlimited Internet access from your Internet-only customers, and tell them they have to buy that TV package if they want it back!

Back in January, AT&T announced that the company would be happy to remove usage caps on its wireless network, but only if you subscribe to DirecTV or U-verse TV service. Then last month, AT&T carried this idea over to its fixed-line broadband network, announcing that it would be imposing new usage caps on its broadband users starting May 23. While AT&T says it will generously allow users to pay $30 more per month to avoid usage caps entirely, it also announced that users who subscribe to its TV services will be able to avoid usage caps entirely. This month, an Oregon company by the name of Bend Broadband followed suit, informing its users that it would be happy to remove its usage caps (ranging from 150 GB to 500 GB), but only if users subscribe to television service.

ISPs Are Now Forcing Cord Cutters To Subscribe To TV If They Want To Avoid Usage Caps

[Karl Bode/Techdirt]



(Image: Att-co-houston, Bill Bradford, CC-BY)
New Delhi: Congress on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comparison of Kerala with Somalia and said it was not only an insult to people of the state but also has invited wrath abroad for dragging a poverty-stricken country into domestic political discourse.

Addressing political rallies in Kollam district, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghaulam Nabi Azad expressed his dismay over the Prime Minister's "unpalatable" remark and unbecoming of a prime minister.

"By making such comments, the Prime Minister has denigrated the nation and its shining achievements. He has not only insulted the highly erudite and world renowned people of Kerala state but has invited international wrath for dragging in a poverty-hit country, thus creating an embarrassment for the country," he said.

He said there was all respect for Somalians but comparing people of Kerala which has a literacy rate of 100 per cent with them is "regrettable".

"Prime Minister and his ilk should immediately offer unconditional apology in unequivocal words to the people of Kerala and desist from such utterances in future," he said. He said such a comment from the Prime Minister only reflected Modi's ignorance about the pace of development of Kerala state.

"If Modi had a little knowledge of what Keralites have been contributing in the nation building, he would have not equated Kerala with poverty stricken Somalia," he said. He also drew a comparison between Kerala and home state of the Prime Minister -- Gujarat -- and said Kerala has infant mortality rate of just 12 deaths for thousand, the lowest in the country, and Gujarat has the infant mortality rate of 36 much closer to National average of 40.

"Prime Minister should bother to talk about the development of Kerala under UDF Govt rather than making wild utterances. His statement is not only condemnable but it has been an insult to Karalite pride which people of Kerala reject vehemently," he said.
New Delhi: Unperturbed by a privilege motion being moved against him, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy on Friday dared the Congress to do their worst and that he will teach them the meaning of law.

Talking over Congress moving a privilege motion claiming that documents authenticated by Swamy on the AgustaWestland chopper deal were "bogus", Swamy said that the grand-old party has lost it completely.

"They are irritated of me because I have cornered them in the National Herald case and I exposed them in Parliament. When the privilege motion comes, I will give them the documents," he said.

"First they said the document I didn't authenticate the documents and today they are saying that the documents aren't true," he added.

Read: AICC guns for Subramanian Swamy, Manohar Parrikar

Swamy further said that he will teach the Congressmen law because they don't know the mechanism.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had said that his party will move a privilege motion against Subramanian Swamy and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar claiming that the documents authenticated and tabled by them during the debate on the AgustaWestland chopper deal was "bogus".

The Congress leader said that among the 13 pages Swamy had tabled and authenticated, there was a two-page email that Swamy had sent to himself, nine pages taken from a website.

He further said that Congress will file a defamation case against a US-based website, www.pguru.com, whose material was used by Swamy in the Rajya Sabha debate.

It alleged that the website is linked to the Sangh Parivar.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi on Thursday. PWD minister Dr H.C. Mahadevappa was also present.

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who will complete three years in office on Friday, will hold Janamana (interaction with the public) to gauge public opinion on his policies and programmes particularly Anna Bhagya, a scheme for supply of subsidised grains to the poor.

A 2000 strong audience will attend the event at GKVK auditorium in the city including cabinet ministers. The CM has also invited over 600 beneficiaries from the districts for the programme. Beneficiaries of different schemes will interact with the CM and give their feedback on various Bhagyas.

Sources said the main purpose of holding Janamana is to evaluate three years of governance and the ambitious Anna Bhagya scheme.

Along with beneficiaries of schemes launched by the Congress government in the past three years, intellectuals will also participate in the programme. Cabinet ministers will provide a feedback regarding schemes of their respective departments at the event.

The Janamana concept has already been started at the district level to educate people about the schemes and programmes of the Siddaramaiah government. The Information and Public Relations department is conducting Janamana programmes in the districts. The CM had first inaugurated Janamana programme in Mysuru, his hometown. He will also release a booklet on three years of achievements while in power.

Dum Biryani, natikoli curry! what else do our MPs need?

The severe drought in 137 taluks in Karnataka did not prevent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from hosting an extravagant dinner for state MPs from all parties at Delhi on Wednesday evening. Ironically, the dinner was hosted to discuss the drought and state government initiatives to fight it!

Deccan Chronicle has the menu card of the dinner held at Karnataka Bhavan, which was approved by the senior manager at the Bhavan. It had vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes besides 12 starters, fresh fruit juice and sweets. Moong Dal Vada, Paneer Tikka, Shammi Kabab, Chicken 65 and Mint Chutney were served to the MPs while in the non-vegetarian category, the spread included Mutton Biryani, (Dum), Fish Fry, Chicken Curry (Natikoli) and Butter Chicken. Vegetarian dishes included Shimla Mirch Paneer Shahi Style, Mudda with Bassar, Bhendi Kurkuri and Stuffed Brinjal.

In fact the CM had recently asked some Cabinet ministers to cancel a dinner hosted for the media.

Several MPs including former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, BJP state president B.S.Yeddyurappa, Union minister representing Karnataka, Venkaiah Naidu, Union minister G.M. Siddeshwar and Congress senior leader Oscar Fernandes skipped the dinner.
KOCHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi owes apology to Keralites for his controversial Kerala - Somalia comparison, said Prof K.V. Thomas. The BJP state leaders should correct the Prime Minister or else they will be portrayed as Somalia people. Kerala with high rating of social indicators is far ahead of Gujarat, which was ruled by Modi for 15 years.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan should make it clear whether he shares the same remarks on Kerala, he asked while addressing a press conference here on Friday. Prof. Thomas also accused Modi of trying to divide people on the basis of political ideologies.

The Assembly elections in five states will result in a political polarisation in the country against the BJP. The saffron party can't come to power in any of the states, as there is strong anti-incumbency against the Modi government. NDA is staring a big defeat in all the states due to the anti-people and communalist policies followed by the NDA government, Prof. Thomas said.

Modi is trying to divert attention from basic issues like price rise, drought, and problems in agriculture sector by making controversial remarks. BDJS allying with BJP will turn to be a big loss for Vellappally Natesan, he said. Voters in Kerala will support the UDF Government for its welfare and development schemes and the front will get more seats than the 2011 elections, he added.
Chennai: DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has declared total asserts worth Rs 13.42 crore, while his first wife Dayalu Ammal has over Rs 15 crore and second wife Rajathi Ammal has about Rs 42 crore.

The DMK leader does not have any immoveable property, not even a car, the affidavit filed with the Election Commission said. He has moveable assets of around Rs 13.42 crore as bank deposits and cash on hand.

He doesn't own a car and has no agricultural land and or house, it said.

The premises where he is residing in has been donated to Anjugam Trust, to start a hospital after his life time.

Dayalu Ammal has a share of Rs 6 crore in Kalaignar TV while Rajathi Ammal has a share of Rs 2.5 crore in West Gate Logistics Pvt Limited. According to the affidavit, Dayalu Ammal has jewels worth Rs 17 lakh and Rajathi Ammal has jewels worth about `14 lakh. Dayalu Ammal owns a housing site at Thiruvarur and Rajathi Ammal, a house in CIT Colony in Chennai.

The DMK chief has an annual income of Rs 1.21 crore in 2014-15, Rajathi Ammal has earned Rs 1.16 crore in the same year, while Dayalu Ammal's income in that year is 9.21 lakhs.

In 2011, Karunanidhi has submitted his asserts as Rs 4.93 crore. The DMK patriarch had declared moveable assets of Rs 15.34 crore for his first wife, Dayalu Ammal and `20.83 crore for his second wife Rajathi Ammal.
By taking the lead in rejecting the Pakistani application along with that of India, China would like to project its position as neutral when in reality it is working in tandem with Pakistan to stall Indias application. (Photo: AFP)

Washington: China and Pakistan are closely coordinating moves to block Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Beijing is using Pakistans Non Starter position with the NSG to block Indias application in the name of parity, stating that it would either support NSG entry for both India and Pakistan, or none of them.

Talking about the China-Pakistan grand strategy to stall Indias admission into the NSG, US sources who work with the NSG said from all counts it does appear that China and Pakistan are coordinating to stop the Indian entry.

Sources pointed to the fact that when India sought an information session with the NSG Participating Governments (PGs) at the recent NSG Consultative Group meeting on April 25 and 26, where it would have made a formal presentation to the NSG Group in support of its membership, Pakistan requested for a similar discussion slot with the NSG PGs.

Sources said that even though Pakistan was fully aware that its request would be rejected, it made its application at the cue of China, in order for Beijing to look even-handed when it sought the rejection of both requests on grounds of parity. Providing an insight into the China-Pakistan plan to stall India, sources say that Pakistan is now going to write to all the NSG PGs about its wish to join the NSG.

The Pakistani application, added sources, is just a decoy for China to reject both applications on grounds of parity. China knows that Pakistan does not stand a chance at the NSG, and most of the NSG states will reject Islamabads application.

By taking the lead in rejecting the Pakistani application along with that of India, China would like to project its position as neutral when in reality it is working in tandem with Pakistan to stall Indias application.

US sources are disappointed with the Chinese tactics of using Pakistans non credentials with the NSG to settle scores with India. Sources say that this strategy is not a secret and during Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussains visit to China in November 2015, China revealed its hand when it told President Hussain that if India is allowed to get NSG membership, China would ensure that Pakistan also joins the group.

The Chinese government told President Hussain that if India is allowed to join the NSG and Pakistan is deprived of NSG membership, Beijing will veto the move and block the Indian entry.

US sources have seen through Chinas game of either both or none in the NSG. They say that Indias non-proliferation credentials can never be compared with Pakistans, as Pakistan has a history of selling nuclear technology to rogue states such as Libya. They point to the father of Pakistans nuclear bomb, Dr AQ Khan, and his global nuclear trade.

Also the West fears that Pakistans nuclear weapons, especially the tactical version that it is now in the process of developing, can easily find their way into the hands of terrorists, as Pakistans nuclear command is extremely vulnerable to penetration by Islamic hardliners.

Sources say that China is aware of this situation, and is mindful of the fact that Pakistan can never be considered for membership in any global nuclear club, but that wont stop China from using Pakistan as a parity token to stop India which is fast emerging as Chinas competitor.

US sources added, China would be naive to expect that there wont be an Indian reaction, and especially a commercial one, as China is mindful that India is fully qualified to join the NSG, and by playing the parity card, China is only hurting its own interests with India.
Sanders' determination to contest every state remaining has kept Obama and Vice President Joe Biden largely on the sidelines, benching two of her most powerful advocates. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Pressure is mounting on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign for president, with Democratic Party leaders raising alarms that his continued presence in the race is undermining efforts to beat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump this fall.

The new concerns come after Sanders' recent wins over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party's nomination.

"I don't think they think of the downside of this," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a Clinton supporter who hosted the 2008 meeting that brokered post-primary peace between Clinton and then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.

"It's actually harmful because she can't make that general-election pivot the way she should," Feinstein said. "Trump has made that pivot."

Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid again Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders' decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.

"I would just hope that he would understand that we need to begin consolidating our vote sooner rather than later," said New York Rep. Steve Israel, a Clinton backer and former chief of efforts to elect Democrats to the House. "Democrats cannot wait too long."

Though Clinton has for the past few weeks largely focused her rhetoric on Trump, campaign aides say the two-front effort hampers their ability to target both Sanders supporters and Republican-leaning independents that may be open to her candidacy. It also means she's spending time in primary states, rather than battlegrounds that will decide the general election.

This weekend, for example, Clinton will campaign in Kentucky ahead of the state's Tuesday primary. She's also dispatched several high-level advocates to the state, including Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Hakeem Jeffries and Joe Crowley of New York.

While they can talk up Clinton, Sanders' determination to contest every state remaining has kept Obama and Vice President Joe Biden largely on the sidelines, benching two of her most powerful advocates.

"It all sort of slows the takeoff of her general-election campaign," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a member of the party's liberal wing from a perennial battleground.

Sanders is having none of it, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.

"Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems," Sanders said in a recent interview with MSNBC. "It is a steep hill to climb, but we're going to fight for every last vote."

Yet there is no question his campaign is on its last legs. His fundraising dropped by about 40 percent last month and he's laid off hundreds of staffers. Biden said this week he "feels confident" that Clinton will be the nominee. Even Obama is pointing out the realities of the delegate math, which puts Clinton on track to capture the nomination early next month.

By every measure, Clinton is handily winning the Democratic contest. She has won 23 states to Sanders' 19, capturing 3 million more votes than her rival along the way. She has 94 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination, which means she could lose all the states left to vote by a landslide and still emerge as the nominee - so long as all her supporters among the party insiders known as superdelegates continue to back her.

White House officials believe Obama has the ability to coax some die-hard Sanders' fans into the Clinton camp, particularly young people and liberals. But if he moves before Clinton officially captures the nomination, he risks angering those voters and undermining that effort.

Clinton faces a similar calculus. While her international expertise could attract foreign policy-focused Republicans and suburban women, highlighting her record on those issues now might encourage Sanders to resurrect attacks on her vote in favor of the Iraq war.

"When his rhetoric takes a sharper tone against her, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I know that can be used as ammunition."

Clinton supporter Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, pointed to the results in West Virginia, where 4 in 10 voters said in exit polls that they considered themselves independents or Republicans. That's a sign the late state primaries - particularly the open contests - were doing little to help Clinton.

"There's a lot of cross-over voters that are more about hurting a nominee as opposed to helping a potential nominee," she said.

Clinton backers say there's plenty for Sanders to do in his old job - and a lot of good reasons for him to join forces. If Democrats regain the majority in the Senate, he'd likely become chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.

"We are looking forward to welcoming him back to the Senate," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
US lawmakers barred the use of American aid to underwrite Pakistan's purchase of eight F-16s. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Key American lawmakers are not prepared to support US giving military aid to Pakistan without "some specific actions" by that country in combating terrorism, the Obama administration has said.

"Key members of Congress have been clear they're not prepared to support US military aid to Pakistan absent some specific actions," State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters.

Trudeau, however, would not say what specific actions US lawmakers want Pakistan to take before they can support the military aid.

"I would direct you to Congress, those specific members, for anything further on their position. As always, we are committed to working with Congress to deliver security assistance to our partners and allies. It furthers US goals by building capacity to meet shared security challenges," she said.

Asked if the State Department is willing to certify that Islamabad is taking enough action against the Haqqani network, Trudeau said, "We've spoken about our views on Haqqani quite a bit as well as what we view Pakistan needs to do."

She said Pakistan has said they would not discriminate against militant groups. "We could encourage them to continue to live up to that," she said.

Meanwhile The New York Times in an editorial praised Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for putting a hold on the sale of eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan with American taxpayers' money.

"Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has wisely barred the use of American aid to underwrite Pakistan's purchase of eight F-16s. Pakistan will still be allowed to purchase the planes, but at a cost of USD 700 million instead of about the USD 380 million," The Times' Editorial Board said.

"Mr Corker told The Times he would lift the hold on the aid if Pakistan cracks down on the Haqqani network, which he called the 'No 1 threat' to Afghanistan and American troops there," it said, adding that "it is time to put the squeeze on Pakistan."

"Pakistan's double game has long frustrated American officials, and it has grown worse. There are now efforts in Washington to exert more pressure on Pakistan Army," it said.

Responding to the damning editorial, Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said allegations of duplicity and double game are extremely painful especially when his country has suffered the most due to war in Afghanistan.

"Instead of putting the entire blame on Pakistan, it would have been better had the editorial also commented on the protracted Afghan refugee issue and lack of border management among the underlying reasons for regional instability.

Omitting such fundamental questions, that impede a long term solution to the Afghan problem, smack partisanship on part of the New York Times," Jilani wrote.
Parker, 27, is accused of assaulting a 58-year-old Indian grandfather who was taking a stroll around his son's home when he was brutally assaulted by him in February last year. (Photo: File)

Washington: An American police officer, who brutally assaulted an Indian grandfather and left him partially paralysed, is no longer facing state criminal charges in Alabama, a case that had sparked outrage among the Indian community in the US, forcing the Governor to apologise.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said the state no longer wishes to pursue a criminal case against Madison police officer Eric Parker in Limestone County Circuit Court.

"After a careful review of the witness testimony included in 2,000 pages of federal trial transcripts and a re-evaluation of the evidence, we are seeking to dismiss State charges against Parker," Strange said in a release on Friday.

Parker, 27, is accused of assaulting a 58-year-old Indian grandfather who was taking a stroll around his son's home when he was brutally assaulted by him in February last year.

He was fired six days later and police arrested him for misdemeanour assault. Parker was cleared of federal civil rights charges in January, after two mistrials.

Following the back-to-back mistrials, US District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala in January granted a motion to acquit, saying there would not be a third federal trial.

With the federal case concluded, Parker had been scheduled to face a bench trial in district court in Limestone County starting on June 7. That was for the misdemeanor assault charge, which carries up to a year in jail.

Strange on Friday filed the motion to dismiss the misdemeanour charge. "Without a doubt this is an unfortunate case and we agree with US District Judge Madeline Haikala that 'The result in this case is by no means satisfying. Hindsight brings clarity to a calamity...," wrote Strange.

"After a review of the federal trial testimony, it does not appear that there would be sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, we have a duty to move to dismiss the charge," he added.

Newly-appointed District Judge Douglas "Doug" Lee Patterson, who had said he was ready to move forward with the trial since it is a?misdemeanour and there was no need to prolong the case, approved the request to drop the charge.

"The State of Alabama having filed a motion to dismiss this action and the Court having considered the same it is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that this case is dismissed," he ruled. The former Alabama police officer also faces a lawsuit filed against him by Patel.

The assault had sparked outrage in the Indian community and India had raised the issue with the US, demanding expeditious investigation into the matter. The Governor of Alabama had apologised for the brutal police assault on Patel.
President Joko Widodo has pledged to swiftly push through a decree introducing tougher laws, and a justice ministry spokesman confirmed that one of the measures under consideration was for microchips (Photo: Representational Image)

Jakarta: Indonesia is considering microchipping convicted child rapists after the brutal gang rape and murder of a schoolgirl sparked demands for tougher punishments, authorities said Friday.

The 14-year-old girl was set upon by a gang of drunken men and boys as she walked home from school on the western island of Sumatra.

Her battered body was found three days later in woods, tied up and naked. Seven teenagers, aged 16 and 17, were jailed this week over the assault, while five men have been arrested and are awaiting trial.

The attack happened in April but came to public attention this month when activists started posting about it on social media, and has sparked a national debate on sexual violence.

President Joko Widodo has pledged to swiftly push through a decree introducing tougher laws, and a justice ministry spokesman confirmed that one of the measures under consideration was for microchips.

Local media reported that the microchip could be implanted in rapists' ankles.

"The microchip will be fitted before the criminals are released from prison, and is needed to monitor and locate them after they are freed," said Asrorun Niam Sholeh, head of government-backed rights group the National Commission for Child Protection, who has been involved in discussions on the new laws.

The decree could be signed in the coming days, he added. Chemical castration and heavier jail terms for child rapists are also among new measures that could be introduced.

The government announced last year it would begin chemically castrating child sex offenders after a string of high-profile attacks, but introduction of the punishment had been delayed.

A presidential decree allows the government to quickly bring in new laws without first getting parliament's agreement.

The schoolgirl case in Indonesia has drawn comparisons with the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012, which sparked mass protests and led to an overhaul of India's rape laws.
The officials say the attack in the town of Balad started with three gunmen, armed with machine guns, shooting into the crowd in the cafe. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests (Photo: Representational Image/ AP)

Baghdad: Iraqi officials say gunmen and a suicide bomber have attacked a coffee shop north of Baghdad, leaving at least 13 people dead and 15 wounded.

The officials say the attack in the town of Balad started with three gunmen, armed with machine guns, shooting into the crowd in the cafe. Once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests.

Read: 94 dead in triple Baghdad car bombings claimed by ISIS

Balad is 80 kilometers north of Baghdad. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

The attack comes on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in the Iraqi capital that killed nearly 100 people.
Brand was denied permission to visit China purely because of his position on Tibet, not for his comments on the human rights situation in China, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. (Photo: AFP)

Beijing: China has denied visa to a German legislator heading the human rights panel for his remarks backing "Tibetan independence", saying his position is against Germany's one-China policy, state media reported.

Michael Brand, Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid of the German Bundestag, is not welcome to China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, defending Beijing's move to deny him a visa.

Brand's position of backing "Tibetan independence" is against Germany's one-China policy, Lu said on Thursday.

Brand was denied permission to visit China purely because of his position on Tibet, not for his comments on the human rights situation in China, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Brand, who reportedly criticised China's human rights record, sought a clear response from the German Foreign Ministry about the denial of visa to him.

Lu said the Chinese Embassy in Germany and relevant departments have done a lot of work preparing for the visit of the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament.

"The German government knows that very well. The remarks by the specific person you mentioned are calling white black," Lu said in his comments posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website.

"We don't invite him to China, not because of what he said about China's human rights, since you know that he is not the only one that has something to say about China's human rights. But a lot of people still made their visits to China.

"He cannot come because he blatantly breached the commitment of the German government to the "one China" policy and stuck his heels in advocating "Tibet independence" which is so wrong," he said.

"I can say for sure that China will not welcome such a man. I have to say that the Human Rights Committee of the Federal German Parliament is very unwise in issuing the statement and hurling accusations at China," Lu added.
Islamabad: The Indian lobby has been making "untiring efforts" to reverse the US decision and block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has told the Senate.

Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion moved by Mohsin Khan Leghari and others over the withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16s fighter jets to Pakistan by the US, Aziz said the government is pursuing the issue of sale of F-16s with the country at different levels and forums.

"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself," Aziz was quoted as saying by an official statement.

"The move was however defeated proving the strong merit of our arguments, and the effectiveness of our outreach to the US at various levels, particularly to the US Congressional leaders," he said.

Congress opposed funding of these eight aircraft through foreign military funding of the United States, he pointed out.

Aziz said Pakistan Defence Minister has written a letter to his American counterpart highlighting the importance of F-16s in the war against terror. He said Defence Consultative Group of the two countries would meet at the end of next month where this issue would also be substantially discussed.
Islamabad: In a setback to Pakistan government, Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Friday refused to set up a judicial commission to probe Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and others in the Panama Paper leak, saying a "toothless" probe panel would not serve any purpose. Sharif last month formally wrote to Jamali to set up and lead a commission to probe those who have been named in Panama leaks.

Panama Papers, a massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents that reportedly exposed the secret offshore dealings of around 140 political figures globally, named three of Sharif's four children -- Maryam, Hasan and Hussain  listing them as owners of offshore companies.

Jamali in his reply to the government said that the proposed probe commission would not serve any purpose unless its scope and powers were clearly known.

He asked the government to legislate a special law in parliament.

"Formation of Commission of Inquiry under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 1956 (Act VI of 1956), looking to its limited scope, will result in the constitution of a toothless commission, which will serve no useful purpose, except giving bad name to it," Jamali wrote in the letter.

He further added that a judicial commission cannot be formed until the issue of terms of references (ToRs) is resolved between the government and opposition parties.

"The terms of reference incorporated in the attached notification (of government) are so wide and open-ended that, prima facie, it may take years together for the commission to conclude its proceedings," he said.

Presently, opposition and government have prepared separate TORs for probe and there is little chance that the two sides agree on a single draft.

The main hurdle is that opposition wants the probe to target Sharif while the government wants to probe everyone mentioned in the Panama leaks.

Apart from the government and opposition, last month, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) also issued its draft of ToRs for the proposed probe.

Meanwhile, Sharif is expected to address the parliament on Monday on the issue of Panama papers and probe.

It will be for the first time that he will face the opposition in the parliament.

Opposition parties this week boycotted the parliamentary session to force Sharif come to the house and issue a formal statement.
The Indian lobby has been making "untiring efforts" to reverse the US decision and block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has told the Senate.





Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion moved by Mohsin Khan Leghari and others over the withdrawal of proposed subsidy on sale of F-16s fighter jets to Pakistan by the US, Aziz said the government is pursuing the issue of sale of F-16s with the country at different levels and forums.



"The Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision, and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself," Aziz was quoted as saying by an official statement.



"The move was however defeated proving the strong merit of our arguments, and the effectiveness of our outreach to the US at various levels, particularly to the US Congressional leaders," he said.



Congress opposed funding of these eight aircraft through foreign military funding of the United States, he pointed out.



Aziz said Pakistan Defence Minister has written a letter to his American counterpart highlighting the importance of F-16s in the war against terror. He said Defence Consultative Group of the two countries would meet at the end of next month where this issue would also be substantially discussed.



The Advisor said that Pakistan-US relationship was on positive trajectory during the last three years with significant progress in the realms of political, economic and defence ties.


The Supreme Court today upheld the constitutional validity of penal provisions on defamation law, observing that the right to freedom of speech is "not an absolute right".





The bench passed the judgement on a batch of petitions filed by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and others.



"We have held that penal provisions are constitutionally valid," a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said.



"The right to freedom of speech and expression is not an absolute right," the court said.

The bench directed magistrates across the country to be extremely careful in issuing summons on private complaints on defamation.



Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC, dealing with the criminal defamation, and section 119 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are constitutionally valid, the court ruled.



Section 500 deals with the provision of punishment for defamation which entails upto two years imprisonment or fine or both.



The bench said the stay of criminal proceedings granted by it in the trial court on the batch of petitions challenging the issue of summons will continue for eight weeks, during which the petitioners can file their appeal before respective High Courts for seeking reliefs in terms of today's judgement.



The bench said the interim protection given to them will continue for eight weeks.

After the verdict was pronounced, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Rahul, said the Congress leader has to appear before trial court on July 19 and the order granting stay of proceedings for eight weeks will not cover him.



Sibal wanted the stay to be extended till July 19 but the bench said he can seek the relief by mentioning the matter in the month of July.



The constitutional validity of penal laws on defamation was challenged on the ground that they are "outmoded" and inconsistent with right to freedom of speech and expression.



The pleas had sought setting aside of sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the IPC and suggested that there is a need to decriminalise penal provision for offence of defamation.

Pitching for their retention in the statute book, the Centre had strongly batted for the laws on grounds including that they have stood the test of time.



The bench observed, "Difficult to perceive that provision on criminal defamation has chilling effect on right to freedom of speech and expression."



It also observed, "A person's right to freedom of speech has to be balanced with the other person's right to reputation."



Rahul and Swamy have been charged with criminal defamation under sections 499 and 500 of the IPC for their political speeches made in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra respectively, while Kejriwal is facing cases under the same provisions lodged by BJP's Nitin Gadkari and others.



Like Rahul and Swamy, the Delhi CM suggested that the penal provisions conceived in the British era are now "outmoded" and "over protective" of public servants and inconsistent with democratic discourse.



Earlier, Kejriwal had told the court that there was a need to decriminalise penal provisions for offence of defamation as there have been "inevitable abuse" of the colonial law which needs to be re-examined rigorously.



The Aam Aadmi Party leader had told the bench that there are several grounds to scrap them as the two provisions are violative of fundamental rights under Articles 14, 19(1)(a)(g) and 21 of the Constitution..
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav today sought to clarify his remark that Pathankot attack is also "jungle raj", saying he did not compare the terrorist attack to the killing of Aditya Sachdeva in Gaya.



Tejaswi drew support from his father and RJD president Lalu Prasad who hit out at BJP for "misinterpreting" the comment.



Tejaswi told reporters here he knew the difference between the both the incidents.



"I also talked about a large number of cases of road rage in Delhi, killing in Madhya Pradesh in the wake of Vyapam and murder in Jharkhand to highlight why the comment 'jungle raj' is made in the context of Bihar whenever some criminal activity takes place here," Tejaswi said in a bid to clarify his reaction in Delhi over the Gaya killing and opposition going hammer and tongs against the coalition government.



"We strongly condemn the killing of Aditya Sachdeva in which our government is taking stern action," he said.



"The Deputy CM did not speak anything wrong...He put his views strongly (over the Gaya incident)," Lalu Prasad told reporters in Patna.



BJP was spreading canards against Tejaswi by "misinterpreting" his comments that he compared Pathankot with the Gaya incident, the RJD chief said.



Lalu described the Gaya event as "dardanak" (very painful) and patted the grand secular alliance for prompt action in the incident.



Launching a counter-offensive against BJP for its "return of jungle raj" remark, Tejaswi had yesterday said if the killing of a youth in a road rage incident symbolised that, then even in the national capital, where such incidents happen in greater numbers, 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 murders take place, an 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'," the Bihar deputy chief minister had said.


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The Cabinet has approved the national intellectual property rights (IPR) policy with a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship.



The aim is to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among all sections of society, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said while briefing reporters about yesterday's Cabinet decisions.

The minister also let out that by 2017, the window for trademark registration will be brought down to one month.



"The policy aims to create and exploit synergies between all forms of intellectual property (IP), statutes concerned and agencies," he said.



According to Jaitley, there are seven objectives that guided the policy mechanism, which include IPR public awareness, stimulation of generation of IPRs, need for strong and effective laws and strengthening enforcement and adjudicatory mechanisms to combat infringements.



The policy also puts a premium on enhancing access to healthcare, food security and environmental protection.



It is expected to lay the future road map for intellectual property in India, besides putting in place an institutional mechanism for implementation, monitoring and review.



The idea is to incorporate global best practices in the Indian context and adapt to the same.



This policy shall weave in strengths of the government, research and development organisations, educational institutions, corporate entities, including MSMEs, start-ups and other stakeholders towards creation of an innovation-conducive environment, an official statement read.



The end product stimulates creativity and innovation across sectors as also facilitates a stable, transparent and service-oriented IPR administration in the country, it stressed.



Giving due recognition to the growing criticality of IPR in the global arena, the blueprint makes out a case for increasing its awareness in India, whether it is owned by oneself or according respect to others.



"The importance of IPRs as a marketable financial asset and economic tool also needs to be recognised. For this, domestic IP filings as also commercialisation of patents granted need to increase. Innovation and sub-optimal spending on R&D too are issues to be addressed," the statement said further.
To deal with the problem of overcrowding in the government schools in Delhis North East district, which have recently seen mass failures and subsequent protests, the education department has decided to deny admission to students from outside the boundary of Delhi.





The schools in the district have a peculiar problem. The district shares border with Uttar Pradesh and many students from places outside the Delhis border such as Ghaziabad get admission in the schools located in areas such as Karawal Nagar, Yamuna Vihar, Gokalpur, Dayalpur, Shahdara and Sonia Vihar.



The department, since so many years has not been denying admission to anyone but this has created a problem of over-population in schools and it has reached to a point where there are not enough classrooms for everyone and students are studying are forced to study in the outdoors, resulting in poor results, followed by protests by students.



There is already a problem of no detention policy due to which a lot of students fail. But in these school specially, the problem is worsened, said a teacher of the school in Karawal Nagar.



An official of the Education department told DH, From next academic year, we will be giving admission only to students coming from within Delhis boundary.



Till now we were admitting student from outside Delhi on humanitarian grounds and also because there are almost no schools by the Uttar Pradesh government in these areas, but the situation is getting out of hand now.



Sample this: Government Girls/Boys Senior Secondary School in Karawal Nagar, known as the Delhis most crowded government school, has 13,000 students  6,500 girls and 6,500 boys accommodated in four shifts of three hours each. Girls study in two shifts from 7 am  12:30 pm and boys in the next two shifts from 12:30 pm-6 pm.



Can you even imagine this situation? It gets difficult for us manage the school operations. We will be checking address proofs of the parents and those residing outside Delhi wont be given admission, the official said, adding, that there is a similar problem in other districts like East but the plan currently is confined to North East area of Delhi.

We will get the approval from the government soon, the official added.



Where the government schools in other parts of the city have an average of 1,000-1,500 in terms of students, in this district, the average number is around 6,000.


The 1979 Soviet intervention in Afghanistan was a "tragic mistake", Russia's Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Y Dedov has said, but claimed that its not similar to Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.





Addressing a seminar on 'Russia's position on Afghanistan and Syria' at the Area Study Centre at Peshawar University in Peshawar, Deodov said Russian military support to Damascus was aimed at targeting violent jihadists, including the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda-linked Jabha Al Nusra.



Describing the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan as a "tragic mistake", Dedov said that there was no parallel between the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and Russia's support for the "legitimate regime" of Bashar al Assad.



In 1979, the Soviet Union intervened in Afghanistan to back the Marxist government of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan to fight Mujahideens who were jointly backed by American CIA and Pakistan.



He said Russia considered ISIS a threat to its national security since around three thousands of its citizens had joined it, causing problems in the Russian region of Dagestan and other places.



Dedov acknowledged that his county was in contacts with the Afghan Taliban to promote reconciliation in Afghanistan.



"There have been limited contacts with the Afghan Taliban," he told the participants.



The Russian envoy said that he was not aware of the level of engagements with the Afghan Taliban or whether his country had sought their help in countering the threat from the ISIS.



"It's a delicate matter. I really don't know the level of these engagements, but they have been there", he said.



The Russian ambassador laughed off reports that President Vladimir Putin had met Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour.



"Were there reports that President Putin had met Mullah Omar too?" he asked.



He said that his country viewed the presence of ISIS in northern Afghanistan with concern. He also said that ISIS, which was present in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province, had relocated to northern Afghanistan due to military operation.



It was a matter of concern due to its proximity with Central Asian Republics and Russia, he added.



Speaking about Russia-Pakistan relations, he said that it was positive and positions of both the countries coincided on 80 per cent of issues. On President Putin's much-speculated visit to Pakistan, he argued that there would have to be something substantive for the Russian head of state to come to Islamabad.
Away from the controversy over authenticity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BA degree, Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, who assumed office on March 10, is thinking about bringing more diversity in university classrooms.





With the opening of entrance test centres outside Delhi, he says the university will get a fair share of talented students from across the country.



Delhi University holds entrance test for postgraduate courses, while a cut-off based admission formula is used for undergraduate courses.



Tyagi spoke to Pratik Kumar about his long-term plans as the new vice-chancellor. Edited excerpts:



What is the roadmap for the next five years?



There is an unlimited scope for expansion. And there is no limit to what all can be achieved. DU has a good work culture. I plan to take suggestions and help from all my colleagues.



There is no limit to what an institution can achieve. New challenges will come along the way, and you will have to create some challenges for yourself in order to achieve newer goals. We will have to work positively.



Undergraduate admissions will begin soon. Are there any changes this time?



A committee is looking at issues related to undergraduate admissions.

Our priority is to prevent students from hassles.



DU is conducting entrance tests at six centres outside Delhi. Do you think this will bring more diversity in classrooms?



Yes. Our priority is to conduct fair exams. Im studying the admission-related data on a daily basis. If all goes well, we will take it other cities in future. The idea is to have diversity. There will be diversity when people from different places come to study here. It will benefit both the university and the students.



So far, we have received good response from Kolkata and Varanasi. Hundreds of students have applied.



How do you plan to address shortage of hostels?



There is an attempt to think of a solution beyond constructing of hostels by the university. Look at how many students take admission in DU every year.



However hard you may try, you will have a large number of students not getting accommodation. So you are likely to face a situation where even the best of efforts will not help achieve the full accommodation target.



It will be premature to announce now. But shortage of hostels can be solved with the involvement of government agencies and charities in large-scale housing projects in Metro-connected areas like Dwarka, Najafgarh, Noida and Gurgaon.



Probably, we will have to encourage more and more people to live at places having connectivity to Metro.



How will you make DU degrees more marketable?



I dont think degrees should be linked with jobs. We should look at the real purpose of education.



It is not that people will not study Sanskrit because there will be fewer jobs available for them. The subject offers Bharat darshan and much more. Some subjects will always have more demand than others.


The issues of alleged "encroachment" by judiciary on the rights of legislature and media accountability were today highlighted by MPs in Rajya Sabha as it bid an emotional farewell to 53 retiring members.





Samajwadi party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said Parliament members are concerned over "encroachment" on legislature's rights by judiciary.



Constitution, he said, has given Parliament the right to legislate laws and make budget.



"If the judiciary does it what is our relevance," he said asking the government to discuss the issue during the monsoon session of Parliament.



Parliamentary honour, strength and supremacy has to be maintained, he said. "Constitution has drawn clear lines."



Yadav found support from BSP Chief Mayawati who said "we should act unitedly, especially on important issues" and rise above political affiliations.



"We would have to look within" why judiciary is taking advantage, she said.



"We should act unitedly and especially on important issues we should rise above political affiliations," the BSP leader said.



Just two days back, Finance Minister and Leader of the House Arun Jaitley had voiced concern over the issue, saying judiciary was "step by step, brick by brick" encroaching upon the legislature.



"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 had said while asking the Congress to "reconsider" its stance on GST in his reply to a debate on Finance Bill.



"Can't you see, step up step, brick by brick, the edifice of India's legislature is being destroyed. And outside the Appropriation Bill, we are being told to create this levy this fund," he had said.



The members including Congress leader Anand Sharma today stressed on the important role played by the Upper House in raising the level of debate and correcting "flaws" in key legislations.



Sharma said a wrong image was created outside that no work is transacted in Rajya Sabha, adding obstructions are part of democracy and are used to put across reservations on policies and programmes.



Yadav said while some people have mocked Rajya Sabha as "second-grade" house of unelected, the Upper House has its importance.



Legislations passed by Lok Sabha in a rush are debated and discussed at length in Rajya Sabha to correct any flaws, Yadavsaid.



Referring to the media, senior leader of JD(U) Sharad Yadav, who is among the retiring members, stressed on striking a balance on the issue of freedom of speech

"Only politicians are accountable...but others must also have some accountability," he said, adding the maximum hiring and firing is in the media sector.



"Owners have become editors," he said.



Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) said the fourth estate plays an important role, but cautioned against the ill effect of "paid news or match fixing".



J D Seelam (Congress) expressed concern over "commercialisation" of politics and incidents where public representatives are lured by money.



He said that while it is said that courts should not interfere but the legislature should also examine what it is doing.



The issue of disruption of proceedings was also raised by members. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD) said in the democracy one should "discuss, debate and decide".



Without referring to any one in particular, he said when members rush to Well of the House, smaller parties do not get time to raise their issues.



He also made a case for special session of parliament to discuss judicial reforms.

Tapen Sen (CPI-M) said in a democracy, it is the numbers which decide, but efforts should be made to reach consensus on different issues.



He said members may argue or even quarrel in the House, but things never go to "personal level".



Kanaklata Singh (SP) gave an emotional farewell speech in which she said people in politics should realise that it is means to serve people.



She lamented the frequent disruptions especially during Question Hour and Zero Hour that prevented many a MP like her from raising issues even after a lot of preparation.



Singh, daughter of former Parliamentarian Mohan Singh, called for upgradation of Gorakhpur Medical College to a super speciality hospital and Gorakhpur University to a Central University.



V P Singh Badnore (BJP) raised the issue of disruptions of the House and demanded that members creating ruckus and stalling the proceedings be penalised.



"It is a matter of shame and we hang our heads in shame when we disturb the House. We should evolve a system whereby if members come to the Well and disturb, they should not be allowed to come to the House for the next two days," he said urging Chairman Hamid Ansari to act against such members.



Chairman Hamid Ansari merely remarked, "the rules are made by the members."



Ansari said parting is painful and more so when it involves a colleague and friend. He said every member retiring has "contributed significantly".



Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said politicians don't retire and end of term in Rajya Sabha does not mean retirement from public life. While some may come back, others may change positions.



"All members have significantly contributed in enriching the House," he said.



On a lighter note, Kurien said in his sincerity of running the House, he may have been harsh on some members but it was in spur of moment and he continues to be good friends will all of them outside.



Sharad Yadav, a parliamentarian for almost four decades, said "members in large numbers are retiring today and my number has also come" but added that in politics there is no such thing as "farewell".



He said a large number of members have contributed towards nation building, but the country is yet to reach the place where it should have been. The level of development is not uniform across the country.



In a brief speech, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC) quoted the first stanza of a 'Bombay Ka Babu' song by Mukesh to convey his wishes to the retiring members. 'O janewale ho sake toh laut ke aana ' (You are going, if possible do come back).



Mayawati said political parties asked the retiring members not to feel saddened today and said that it is their responsibility to use this experience to work for their parties and the country.



Vishambhar Pradad Nisad (SP) said he belongs to a poor family and had come to know from TV that his party had selected him for Rajya Sabha.



The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill also figured with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ruing that Rajya Sabha did not approve the biggest indirect tax reform measure since independence in this session.



The MPs lost out on an opportunity to be part of a historic move that would have immensely benefited the states, he said.



In his speech, Congress leader Anand Sharma blamed the ideological differences for the delay in passage of some bills saying these had led to stalling of the GST bill for years when the UPA was in power.



UPA had piloted the GST bill but BJP-ruled states like Gujarat had opposed the draft.

BSP Chief Mayawati said the government should bring the GST Bill during the next session and assured support of her party.



Chandan Mitra (BJP) said the Rajya Sabha, with the vast experience and knowledge of its members, can act as a "intellectual fountainhead" to Lok Sabha and state assemblies.



"There should be some scope for debating key issues," he said, adding that the Upper House should have had debates on the meaning of nationalism as well as prominent issues like wildlife and environment.



The BJP leader said he has learnt a lot ever since he first became a member of the Upper House in 2003 and is retiring after two terms. He concluded his speech with a poem written by Urdu poet Faiz.



K P Ramalingam (DMK) said he represented the farmers and called for having a separate budget for the agriculture sector.



V Hanumantha Rao (Cong) thanked his leadership for providing an opportunity to represent the backward classes. He also raised issues pertaining to development of Andhra Pradesh and sought their early resolution.



Several members like Ashk Ali Tak (Cong), Ishwar Lal Jain, Arvind Kumar Singh (SP) spoke about their tenure in the Upper House where they raised on various issues.

Baishnab Parida (BJD) said that corruption is the biggest enemy of the country and also emphasised on the importance of promoting regional languages.



Tarun Vijay (BJP) in his farewell speech expressed concern over poverty, discrimination against dalits and also emphasised that soldiers should be given due honour. He also said that issues related to dyslexic children should be discussed in the House.



Mohisina Kidwai (Cong) said that university in diversity is the country's strength and it should be ensured that the atmosphere in the country is not vitiated. She also said that Mahatama Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have left a rich legacy which should not be forgotten.



K C Tyagi (JD-U) in a lighter vein remarked that he would now be able to make long duration speeches, which were not allowed in the House by the chair and may even use unparliamentary words.



Pyarimohan Mohapatra (Ind) expressed "frustration" that when he raised issues related to interests of states like Odisha, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, the support he expected was missing.



The Upper House, he said, is the council of states and this support should be there for legitimate claims.
While giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and dropping all charges against her in the Malegaon bomb blast case, the NIA says Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit had organised several meetings with the other accused and had collected money for procuring weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.





"He is one of the key members of criminal conspiracy. Accused Purohit had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned officer of armed forces of India which is against the service rules," the NIA said in its supplementary charge sheet filed before a Special Court here.



The NIA alleged that on January 25-26 "in a secret meeting held at Faridabad, Purohoit proposed for a separate Constitution for Hindu rashtra with separate saffron flag.



"He read over the Constitution of Abhinav Bharat which he had prepared, discussed about the formation of central Hindu government (Aryawrat) against the Indian government and put forth the idea of forming this government in exile in Israel and Thailand," the NIA said.



Purohit also discussed about taking revenge for the "atrocities" committed by the Muslims on Hindus.



About the RDX recovered from Purhoit's residence, the NIA quoted a Court of Inquiry report of the Army which had claimed that the explosives were planted at his residence by ATS officials who had entered his residence forcibly.



They said the Army has also given a "breakup" of about 70 kg of RDX, suspected to have been proposed to be used for the blasts.



The army has accounted for it by way of controlled destruction or handing over to Jammu and Kashmir Police, the NIA said.



The NIA also alleged that he along with other accused had collected huge funds for the Abhinav Bharat organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities.



On Sadhvi's role, the NIA said in its charge sheet that it does not have sufficient evidence against her and five others.



Analysing the evidence against six accused persons, the NIA said that motorcycle used in the blast was used by accused Sadhvi.



However, the agency said that evidence recorded by ATS and reassessed by NIA shows those four witnesses have all stated that absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra was in possession of the motorcycle and using it.



"The register of garage also shows that Kalsangra was in possession of the bike," the NIA said.



Purohit had also participated in the meeting of Abhinav Bharat which was held on September 15/16 2008 at Bhosla Military School, Nashik in which accused Ramesh Upadhayay was elected as working president of Abhinav Bharat.



"In this meeting it was decided that the power to take back the weapons acquired for Abhinav Bharat from accused Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi would vest with Upadhayay," the NIA said.



It alleged that Purohit collected huge amount of funds for himself and for this Abhinav Bharat organisation out of which Rs 2.5 lakhs were paid to one builder in Nashik through accused Ajay Rahirkar for house booked for himself.



During investigation, the FSL report was received with regard to the data retrieved from the laptop of accused Dwivedi.



The voice samples of accused Purohit, Dwivedi, Upadhayay are also available, which are positive as per FSL.



"The authorised intercepted conversation between Purohit and Upadhayay and others reveal that they were also in the process of creating their defence in case," the NIA said, adding Purohit had even suggested to Upadhyay to procure another SIM for himself.



He even alerted him by saying that they should be very meticulous thereafter. "The post conduct of the accused persons shows the guilt in their minds and their active participation in the crime", NIA said in its document.



On October 24, 2008, after the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit had messaged accused Sameer Kulkarni saying that ATS has entered his house in Pune and also directed him (Kulkarni) to delete numbers from telephone and to leave for Bhopal immediately.



"This act of the accused confirms his complicity in the present crime," NIA said.



The agency said that, "notwithstanding the shortcoming in the evidence, at this stage there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Purohit under various statutes and sections of law and the value of the evidence placed on record shall be assessed at the trial stage."



In the charge sheet NIA also said that the confession statement of another accused, Sudhakar Dwivedi, said that in July 2008 when he was at Indore circuit house, Sadhvi came with two men and introduced them as Ramji and Sandeep Dange. In the confession, Dwivedi said that they were her reliable men and later on he met Kalsangra and Dange and discussed Indore riots.



He said that during this period Thakur called Dwivedi saying that she had requested the accused LT Col Prasad Purohit to provide explosives for the safety of Hindus but he (Purhoit) was not responding and he (Dwivedi) should talk to Purohit and tell him to provide explosives to Kalsangra and Dange.



According to Dwivedi's confession he called Purhoit but the latter told him not to talk about such things over the phone and asked him to come to meet him at Ujjain.



"It is evident that accused Dwivedi retracted from his confessional statement. Since the provisions of MCOCA are not being invoked in this charge sheet, this confessional statement does not have any evidentially value," the NIA said.



The NIA also said that prosecution witness (PW) 79, in his statement before the magistrate, said that in Bhopal meeting, Purhoit discussed taking revenge on Muslims by carrying out blasts in Muslim areas, especially Malegoan. According to the statement of PW 79, Sadhvi offered to provide men for this purpose.



"When PW 79 was re-examined he deposed that he did not attend any meeting of Abhinav Bharat held in Bhopal. He never visited Bhopal until ATS took him to a Ram Mandir at Bhopal in May 2012," said NIA in the charge sheet.



The NIA also said in the statement of PW 22 recorded before the magistrate, he spoke about a meeting between Sadhvi and Kalsangra at Ujjain on October 8, 2008 (after Malegoan blast). In the meeting Kalsangra confessed that he carried out the blast at Malegoan by using Sadhvi's motorcycle and also told her to inform the police.



"It is pertinent to mention that this witness has lodged a complaint with the judicial magistrate stating that he was illegally detained and tortured by ATS and they forced him to depose the statement. His confessional statement recorded by ATS is also in question and there is every possibility that he may also retract from his earlier statement," said NIA in its charge sheet.



The agency also said that two witnesses earlier said that they attended Abhinav Bharat meeting held at Bhopal and in the meeting Purohit explained about the Jihadi activities in Aurangabad and Malegoan in detail and appealed to others to do something for its prevention and he also said that "preparation of Gorilla (sic) war was on".



"While re-examination one of the witnesses did not support his claim and said that none of the participants said anything about committing bomb blast while another died," said NIA chargesheet.



The NIA also said that in his earlier statement PW 55 said that Purohit once told him that he, Kalsangra and another accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi fitted IED to the motorcycle provided by Sadhvi.



The agency said that the witness has already lodged a complaint against ATS with the State Human rights commission that his statements were recorded under duress by Mumbai ATS.



Evidence against Sadhvi was not sufficient to prosecute her, the NIA said.



"On evaluation of above evidence against Sadhvi it is submitted that the evidences on record against her are not sufficient to prosecute her as all the witnesses have already retracted from their statements. Thus no case is made out against her," NIA said in the charge sheet.
Brazil's new interim president, Michel Temer, held his first official Cabinet meeting today after vowing the new team would try to rescue the country's plunging economy at a moment of profound political confrontation.





The gathering at the government headquarters followed a chaotic day that saw the Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government, a move she branded "a coup."



Temer moved quickly to announce his new team, whose star appears to be Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, widely respected for serving as Central Bank chief during the boom years from 2003 to 2010.



"Our biggest challenge is to staunch the process of freefall of our economy," Temer said at a swearing-in ceremony on Thursday for his 22 Cabinet ministers.



"First of all, we need to balance our public spending. The sooner we are able to balance our books, the sooner we'll be able to restart growth."



He also promised to support the widening investigation into corruption at the state oil company that has already ensnared leading politicians from a variety of parties and even implicated Temer himself as well as several members of the new Cabinet.



His choice of ministers also raised criticism for its makeup: All its members are middle-aged or elderly white men a a particularly sore point in this majority non-white country. Six women, including one black, were included in the 39 members of Rousseff's Cabinet when she began her second term last year.



Temer made a bid for peace with Rousseff, offering his "institutional respect" for the suspended leader, who continues to live in the presidential residence even as her replacement holds down the government offices.



"This is not a moment for celebrations, but one of profound reflection," he said. "It's urgent to pacify the nation and unify the country. It's urgent for us to form a government of national salvation to pull this country out of the serious crisis in which we find ourselves."



Rousseff, however, vowed to fight her ouster, calling it "a coup" led by a social and economic elite that had been alarmed by the policies of her leftist Workers' Party, which had held power for 13 years.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Friday said that it is working on a 2.7-litre petrol engine to be mounted on the companys newly launched multi-performance vehicle Innova Crysta, with the variant likely to hit the Indian market towards the last quarter of this year.





Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the diesel variants of Innova Crysta in Bengaluru, TKM Senior Vice President and Director (Sales Division) N Raja said, This is not the first time that we have had a petrol version of the Innova in India. We did have a version until 2014, when we were prompted to phase the lot, owing to lesser sales. In recent times though, we have found that customers have begun showing newfound interest in a petrol Innova, and we want to cater to that.



Currently, work is happening on the tuning and transmission of the petrol engine, which is likely to be imported from Japan or Thailand. Raja said that the company is not presently contemplating local assembly of the petrol engine, since it is to be seen how the market will react on beholding the petrol Innova Crysta, when it is launched later this year.



The petrol Innova Crysta will have an all-new powertrain, and would offer manual and automatic variants, Raja said, adding that the high 2.7-litre engine capacity is in order to offer customers a sense of power, lest they feel a power lag when compared with the just launched diesel variants (with 2.4- and 2.8-litre engines).



The lower and upper MPV market in India is to the tune of 35,000 cars a month, translating to 3.5-4 lakh cars sold a year. The Innova created its own segment, since it first arrived on Indian shores 10 years ago. We have sold 6 lakh units of the car in India till date (1.6 million units globally), and hope to keep the momentum going, he said, adding that the new Innova will be completely replacing the existing model in the next 6 months.



The new diesel Innova Crysta, which was launched in Bengaluru on Friday, is priced between Rs 14,17,740 and Rs 21,12,311 (all prices ex-showroom Bengaluru).




There is no doubt that 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 signed between India and Mauritius on May 10 is a significant milestone for Indias tax treaties as well as its Foreign Direct Investment policy (FDI). This protocol did not happen overnight and was signed after years of talks and negotiations.



From April 2000 to June 2015, India received a total FDI of Rs 12,93,835.81 crore from more than 149 countries. Of this, Rs 4,38,892.83 crore (around 35% of the total FDI) came from Mauritius. Singapore was a distant second at Rs 1,90,477.19 crore (13.90% of total) and all the countries contribute less than 10% individually.



Surely there must be something about Mauritius that attracts such investments. That something is to get a Cat 1 Global Business Licence in Mauritius by paying a minimal fee of around $2,500. Companies holding Cat 1 Global Business Licence are resident in Mauritius for tax purposes and are not subject to capital gains taxation, there are no withholding taxes on the payment of dividends, interest or royalties nor are there stamp duties or capital taxes.



A logical question that crops up is why India cant tax capital gains arising from sale of shares from Mauritius-based entities. Till now, India could not tax such capital gains because Clause 4 of Article 13 of the Double Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed between India and Mauritius in 1982 which makes it clear that such capital gains can be taxed only in Mauritius (which does not have capital gains in its tax dictionary). Vodafone in the UK acquired Hutchinson Essar in India through an entity in Mauritius called CGP Holdings (there is an unpr-oved theory that CGP expands to Capital Gains Prevention). The protocol that has been signed makes this tax bonanza history by giving India the power to tax capital gains commencing from next year.



With this Protocol, India gets taxation rights on capital gains arising from alienation of shares acquired on or after April 1, 2017 in a company resident in India with effect from financial year 2017-18, while simultaneously protection to investments in shares acquired before April 1, 2017 has also been provided.



Further, in respect of such capital gains arising during the transition period from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 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( LOB) 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 April 1, 2017 to March 31, 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 27 lakh 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% in respect of debt claims or loans made after March 31, 2017. However, interest income of Mauritian resident banks in respect of debt-claims existing on or before March 31, 2017 shall be exempt from tax in India.



The billion-dollar question is Will the protocol reduce FDI investment into India through the Mauritius route? It should not be forgotten that only short term capital gains are taxed in India while long term capital gains are exempt even in India.



Hence, entities based in Mauritius would need to change their investment strategies to avail of the zero tax regime that they were used to earlier. However, the grandfathering provisions in the protocol give them ample time to rethink their investment strategies from April 1, 2017. Hence, the protocol is expected to have a limited impact on genuine FDI investments.



Impact of the protocol



The protocol would certainly have some impact on round tripping. Round tripping is an Indian jugaad innovation wherein entities based in India who want to invest in Indian markets choose to send their money on a trip abroad and finally make the investment through a Mauritius-based entity to avoid Indian taxes.



Since round tripping is only a tax avoidance measure and not a strategic investment, these round trippers may now begin to think that this route doesn't make tax sense now and paying up the securities transaction tax and short-term capital gains in India may be easier.



Would the protocol move inbound investments from Mauritius to say, the Cayman Islands? Cayman Islands contributed only 0.47% of the FDI investments in the 200-2015 period. A significant shift in this is not expected due to the fact that the Cayman Islands is not as tax friendly as Mauritius. Also, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is only a global mission through their Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project to ensure that individual countries do not miss out on their quota of taxes.



The only issue with the protocol could be that it has come too late, protects current investments and gives a window of 11 months for tax-savvy entities to plan their next moves. There has been talk in the air for a few years now (the Vodafone effect) about the tax treaty with Mauritius being altered to tax capital gains in India. May be this is the reason why the share of Mauritius in the FDI pie has come down from 40% in 2012 to 35% in 2015.



The tax department should take comfort in the fact that in the world of cross-border taxation, it is always better late than never.



(The writer is a Bengaluru-based tax expert)




At the Audiology Now! convention visitors stood next to blowing electric fans to experience how a new hearing aid could screen out wind noise. They donned goggles to attend a virtual reality dinner party to learn how new technology made it easier to hear conversations around them.



But the elephant in the room, as it were, was what was happening outside the convention hall. The consumer electronics industry is encroaching on the hearing aid business, offering products that are far less expensive and available without the involvement of audiologists or other professionals. That is forcing a re-examination of the entire system for providing hearing aids, which critics say is too costly and cumbersome, hindering access to devices vital for the growing legions of older Americans.



The audiology profession is obviously scared right now, for good reason, said Abram Bailey, an audiologist and chief executive of Hearing Tracker, a consumer website.



A White House advisory group has already recommended that regulations on hearing aids should be relaxed in an effort to lower costs. The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine is expected to issue its own report in June. We are willing to evolve and change, if that is appropriate, Dr William H Maisel, acting director of the Office of Device Evaluation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said in an interview.



Hearing aid manufacturers say that diagnosing and treating hearing loss are too complex for consumers to do using consumer devices, without the aid of a professional.



Hearing is just one realm in which new technology is clashing with traditional medical practice and regulations. There have been debates over genetic tests ordered by consumers rather than doctors, and over medical diagnoses using smartphone apps.



Recently, the American Optometric Association complained to the FDA about Opternative, a startup that offers eyeglass prescriptions based on a self-administered online test, without the need to visit an eye doctor.



But the opportunity in hearing aids appears particularly striking. Nearly 30 million Americans, including 2/3 of those over 70, are said to have hearing loss. But only 15-30% of those who could benefit from hearing aids use them.



The archaic service delivery is one of the reasons the adoption rate hasnt increased, said Amyn M Amlani, associate professor of audiology at the University of North Texas.



Hearing aids are regulated as medical devices by the FDA. Under federal and state rules they generally must be provided by an audiologist, a licenced dispenser or a doctor. Consumers are supposed to get a medical evaluation first, to make sure they do not have a serious ear disease, though most consumers waive this requirement. Hearing aids cost an average of nearly $2,400 each, or close to $5,000 a pair, according to the White House advisory group. Medicare (insurance programme) does not pay for them, nor do most insurers. By contrast, the consumer devices are not regulated and sell for a few hundred dollars apiece, at most.



About 3.1 million hearing aids were sold in the US in 2014, with a wholesale value of $1.7 billion and a retail value of $5.2 billion, according to estimates by Lisa Bedell Clive, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein & Co. More than 90% of the business is controlled by 6 large manufacturers: Sonova, Sivantos, William Demant, GN Store Nord, Widex and the lone US company, Starkey Hearing Technologies.



Pressures are already lowering costs. Costco sells hearing aids at a far lower price than most audiologists charge. Hearing aids are being sold online or through the mail, despite efforts by some states to block that. The Academy of Doctors of Audiology, a trade association, has contracted with a manufacturer for basic hearing aids that its members can sell them at low prices.



Still, the White House advisory group, the Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, said in a blistering report in October 2015, that industry concentration and overregulation meant that hearing aids had not experienced the dramatic reductions in price and increases in features that have been routinely seen across consumer electronics.



When compared in complexity to todays smartphones costing a few hundred dollars each, the report said, even premium-model hearing aids are simple devices but can cost several thousand dollars.



Sophisticated aid



It recommended that some hearing aids for mild to moderate age-related hearing loss be available over the counter, just as reading glasses are. That is where the consumer products are trying to step in. Some sound amplifiers have been around for years but they are growing in sophistication, taking advantage of signal processing chips developed for phones, Bluetooth headsets and computers.



The devices include the Smart Listening System from Soundhawk, which sells at $400 for a single ear; the Bean from Etymotic Research, at $300; the CS50+ from Sound World Solutions at $350; and the Crystal Ear from NeutronicEar, at $545.



Others, like the phone giant Samsung, are rumored to be entering the field. In some cases hearing assistance will be added to multipurpose products, sometimes called hearables, that consumers already wear on their ears to listen to music, talk on the phone and even track physical activity.



The consumer devices are not regulated because they are not, strictly speaking, hearing aids but instead are personal sound amplification products, or PSAPs.



What sets them apart legally is their intended use. They cannot be marketed for hearing loss, a medical condition. Rather, according to a draft guidance issued by the FDA in 2013, PSAPs are for people with normal hearing who need an extra boost in certain situations, like bird-watching, hunting or listening to a lecture from a distant speaker. But it is almost farcical to pretend that PSAPs are being used only by bird-watchers. The FDA is now re-evaluating the guidance.



Hearing aid manufacturers and many audiologists say consumers lack the ability to diagnose and treat hearing loss themselves, and might miss serious diseases. They say that hearing aids are tailored for an individual, amplifying various frequencies by different amounts, a precision not typically available in PSAPs. Amplifying sound is not correcting hearing loss, said Jeffrey Geigel, president of the American division of Widex.




Heavy rain and gusty winds have destroyed arecanut trees and banana plantations at Koila, Valakadama in Uppinangady on Thursday night.





More than 2,000 arecanut trees and over 500 banana plants, coconut trees and cocoa plants have been damaged. The houses have also been damaged. The roof tiles of houses and asbestos sheets of the houses have bore the brunt of the rain.



The gusty wind has also uprooted electric poles and disrupted the supply of power in Valakadama. The electric wires at Gundije have been damaged. Meanwhile, several arecanut and coconut trees have been uprooted at Kunthoor and Perabe.



The disruption in power supply also affected the supply of water in rural areas. Houses in Badagakajekaru, Kavalamoodooru, Balthila, Panemangaluru, Punacha, Mani, Arala, Panjikallu, Tenkakajekaru, Navooru, Moodupadukodi were damaged when lightning struck.



Udupi report



Meanwhile, Udupi district received 21.3 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. Karkala taluk received the highest 26.5 mm rainfall followed by Kundapur (19.5 mm) and Udupi (18 mm) taluks respectively. The plantation crops at Mala village in Karkala taluk belonging to Gulabi Hegde and Padhbhanabha Nayak have been damaged.



The house of Narayana Poojary in Kavradi village and Sanjeev Sherigar in Woderhobli in Kundapur were partially damaged when the trees fell on their houses.



In Karkala taluk, two houses --- one in Kananjaru village belonging to Ashok Shetty and the other in Neere village of one Asha Shetty --- were partially damaged following the lightning.
Senior journalist and bureau chief of leading Hindi daily Hindustan was shot dead in Siwan on Friday evening.





The journalist, Rajdeo Ranjan, was returning home on his two-wheeler around 8pm when some unidentified miscreants fired at him. Ranjan sustained bullet injuries in his head and died while he was being rushed to the hospital.



The Superintendent of Police said the motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained.



Ranjan has been writing for a long time against law-breakers of the area.Reacting to the murder, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussaion said while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is touring Varanasi, the fourth estate is "in danger" in his state.



"This is not jungle raj. This is maha jungle raj...sad to know about his killing, Rajdeo was a fearless journalist," he tweeted.



Expressing shock over the incident, Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey said: We have been saying all along that criminals in Bihar are having a field day. Unfortunately, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, instead of focusing on law and order in the state, has been busy spreading his tentacles outside Bihar. We demand immediate identification of culprits and their arrest.



This is the second such murder incident in Bihar in less than a week. On Saturday last, 19-year-old Aditya was shot dead in Gaya by Rocky Yadav, son of JD(U) MLC Manorma Devi, for overtaking his car.



Another killed in Jkhand



A journalist was shot dead by miscreants in Dewaria, the police said on Friday, reports PTI from Chatra, Jharkhand.



Akhilesh Pratap Singh (35), who worked for a news channel, was gunned down near panchayat secretariat on Thursday night, a police officer said, adding that a bandh was observed in Chatra in protest.



Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked DGP D K Pandey to arrest the culprits at the earliest.
The Indian Navy on Friday admitted development of minor cracks in the superstructure of fleet tanker INS Deepak, two years after the ship was commissioned.





The admission follows reports of wrongdoings in the Rs 936-crore deal to purchase a fleet tanker from the Italian firm Fincantieri, which has supposedly used inferior quality of steel  a fact, which was also highlighted by the CAG in 2010.



Defence sources said few cracks were discovered on the superstructure when the ship was coming back from Russia with the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, because of which the ship was pulled into the Lisbon port where necessary repairing was carried out by the company.



A subsequent board of inquiry could not find any material failure. The cracks probably occurred due to a combination of factors ranging from sub-zero temperature in the region, heavy seas and stormy conditions, sources said.



The defence ministry has not ordered any inquiry into the allegation as yet. The issues related to material quality which was red-flagged by the CAG in a 2010 report that pulled up the UPA government for accepting inferior quality steel to manufacture the tanker though the request for proposal asked for a different type of steel, on the basis of which the price was fixed.



The report clearly stated that in the deal between Indian Navy and Fincantieri, undue favour was shown to the foreign vendor while purchasing the fleet tankers. The first commercial contract was followed by a second deal in 2009 to buy another tanker from Fincantieri.
As many as 90 officials have been found guilty of negligence during the Jat quota stir that led to large scale violence and arson in Haryana in February.





The Parkash Singh Committee instituted to pinpoint accountability and negligence on part of officials, recommend action against such erring officials, presented its nearly 450 pages report in 2 volumes to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday. Most of the erring officials indicted in the report were posted in Rohtak district, which was the epicentre of the Jat agitation.



It now remains to be seen what action does the government take against all the erring officials. The Opposition Lok Dal, which has been demanding a fair probe by a retired judge of the high court, has discounted the report. The violence during the agitation had claimed 31 lives.



The Haryana DGP incharge during the quota stir was earlier replaced by a new DGP. The committee has indicted officers of various ranks, from sub-inspector, revenue officials, to police heads and deputy commissioners.



The report said certain policemen deliberately allowed protesters to go berserk leading to large-scale violence and arson. The second volume of the report, Parkash Singh said, is confidential as it deals with issues of intelligence in the run up to the protests.



The lack of precise intelligence input also resulted in the administrative machinerys failure to deal with the situation. Role of officials in riot-hit districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Sonepat and Panipat were placed under scanner by the committee.



Chief Minister Khattar said: The government would examine the report and would take appropriate action at the earliest. The committee heard 2,217 persons from different walks of life.
A group of senior doctors has appealed to the central government not to give in to the pressure of the medical mafia with regards to common entrance test for under-graduate medical courses.





Private medical education has become a big business. By deferring NEET for one year will give sufficient time to the medical mafia to manipulate, the doctors said in a statement.



Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled only a single common examination  the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)  would enable students for admission to MBBS and BDS courses in medical colleges across the country in the current academic year.



The government is now understood to be thinking about steps like approaching the Supreme Court once again or coming out with an ordinance to bypass the SC order for 2016-17.



Several lawmakers also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha asking the government to come out with an ordinance. They argued that NEET would not be beneficial to the students as they received too little time to prepare for the national level examination.



Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu informed the House that the government would convey the members views on children requiring more time to the apex court.



There are nearly 80 members of Parliament who have direct interest in private medical education. Instead of naming these members, the minister is succumbing to their pressure tactics.



It will be sad day for deserving and hard working students if any change is made, said the doctors who formed National Coalition for Reforms and Restructuring of Medical Council of India.



This is a pressure tactic by the private medical colleges and other interested parties who want the capitation fee to continue, they said.



Huge money



The opposition is mainly because of the involvement of Rs 12,000 crore, which is in circulation for pre-admission procedures. If the government comes out with an ordinance, we will seek an appointment with the President and request him not to sign the ordinance, coalition president G S Grewal from Punjab Medical Council told DH.



India has 421 medical colleges, majority of them are in the private sector. Aspiring students not only have to sit in a number of entrance tests, but also have to pay hefty capitation fee to get admission in these colleges. The Supreme Court made it clear that it preferred a single entrance examination from which the states can draw their own merit lists.
The sensitive situation in Arunachal Pradeshs Tawang took a new twist on Friday. Guru Tuklu Rinpoche, aide of Dalai Lama and the Abbot of the famous 400-year-old Galden Namgey Lhatse, has tendered his resignation to the 14th Dalai Lama, after a section of monks led by Lama Lobsang Gyasto accused him of trying to derail the anti-big dam movement at the behest of hydropower developers.





Rinpoche has tendered his resignation to the 14th Dalai Lama, sources from the monastery said. Rinpoche has been heading the monastery since 2008. His resignation comes after two anti-big dam protesters were killed in police firing in Tawang on May 2.



One of them was a Buddhist monk. The Save Mon Region Federation led by Gyasto has been spearheading a massive anti-big dam movement in Tawang bordering China.



Rinpoche was known to have soft stand against hydropower dams and had earlier spoken against Gyasto. A section of the monks also supported Gyasto.
Congress in Gujarat has said it would consider 20% reservation for the economically weaker sections among the upper castes if voted to power in 2017 Assembly polls.





Responding to an appeal by Hardik Patel that the 10 % reservation for the upper castes announced by the BJP government is inadequate, former chief minister and leader of the opposition in state Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela said he agreed with the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti convener on the issue.



Vaghela said a decision on the quota issue will be taken by the Congress government within 100 days of taking charge. The Anandiben Patel government has granted 10 % reservation in educational institutions and government jobs for families with income less than Rs 600,000 per annum.
Upset at Prime Minister Narendra Modis comparison of Kerala with Somalia, Congress on Friday moved the Election Commission seeking strictures against him for distorting facts and making unverified allegations.





Senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Digvijaya Singh, Motilal Vora and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and also asked him to prohibit Modi from campaigning in Kerala during the ongoing assembly elections.The Congress delegation met the Election Commision at 5 pm.



The campaigning for the Kerala assembly elections ends on Saturday at 5 pm. The Congress leaders said Modi had violated Clause 2 of the Model Code of Conduct by criticising other parties and their workers by making unverified allegations.



The Prime Ministers statement comparing the state of Kerala to another country, Somalia, is sheer distortion of facts and rather tantamount to an unverified allegation completely devoid of any merit and hence, in violation of Clause 2 of MCC, the Congress memorandum said.



The Congress demanded appropriate action against Modi for violating the model code of conduct. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had written a hard-hitting letter to the prime minister and requested him to show some political decency by withdrawing the statement as they were baseless and contrary to ground realities.



Addressing an election rally in Kerala, Modi had compared the state with Somalia.The situation with the child death ratio among Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is scarier than even Somalia. Recently, one came across a tragic picture in the media. In Peravoor, which is seen as a stronghold of the Communist party, where it has always won, there, Scheduled Tribe children were seen foraging for food in a garbage dump, the prime minister had said.
Ayush doctors in the state have launched an indefinite protest here demanding the ouster of Karnataka State Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners' Board (KAUPB) registrar Dr Thimmappa Shettigar.





Hundreds of Ayurveda and Unani doctors participated in the protest on Friday at the Directorate of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) demanding the cleansing of KAUPB, which according to them is mired in widespread corruption. Doctors from across the state joined the protest, organised by the Karnataka State Ayush Associations' Joint Action Committee.



The doctors sat in a dharna demanding that the state government take immediate action against Dr Shettigar.



Dr Bhusanurmath, president, National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA), Karnataka chapter alleged that Dr Shettigar was involved in corrupt practices and had refused to vacate his post though he was transferred on April 21.



He said an FIR has been lodged against Dr Shettigar in Bhadravati police station in connection with the death of district Ayush officer Dr Mohammed Hussain. He is also using political influence to stall the transfer, he said.



The doctors have demanded a CBI inquiry into the episode, and have warned of intensifying their protest if the government fails to take any action.




India has firmly stood with Bangladesh, with Pakistan mobilizing Muslim nations against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas government in Dhaka over recent execution of a radical Islamist.





Indias message of strong support for the Hasina government in Bangladesh was conveyed by Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, who visited Dhaka on Wednesday and Thursday. Jaishankar in fact landed in Dhaka just hours after Motiur Rahman Nizami, chief of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged in Dhaka Central Jail early Wednesday.



Jaishankar called on Prime Minister of Bangladesh on Wednesday. He conveyed to Hasina a firm message of support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also called on Foreign Minister of Bangladesh A H Mahmood Ali.



Nizami was accused of helping the Pakistan Army during the 1971 Liberation War that led to the birth of Bangladesh. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a special tribunal for orchestrating killing of several intellectuals with the help of his pro-Pakistan militia Al- Badr 45 years ago.



He was also convicted of aiding and abetting Pakistani Army personnel in killing of over 500 people and the raping of 30 to 40 women in what was till then known as East Pakistan. He was executed after the Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld his conviction and the sentence awarded to him.



A senior official in New Delhi told DH that Indias full support to the Hasina government in Bangladesh had been clearly indicated by the foreign secretarys timely visit to Dhaka, particularly as it had taken place at a time when radical Jamaat-e-Islami had resorted to violence to impose a shutdown to protest the execution of its leader.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday discussed ways to bring a permanent solution to frequent arrests of Indian fishermen by the island nations navy.





Sirisena, who is on his second visit to India, called on Modi late in the evening. They discussed all issues of bilateral interest, in particular the problems being faced by Indian fishermen, the status of various economic projects being implemented by India and efforts to further increase trade and investment, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup.



Modi and Sirisena appreciated the meeting of the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission led by foreign ministers of the two nations. The joint commission met after the gap of three years.



Modi also stressed on the need to develop a mechanism and find a permanent solution to the issue of fishermen straying into each other waters, said Swarup. He appreciated Sirisenas efforts to promote reconciliation in Sri Lanka.
The Harish Rawat-led government on Friday gave an assurance in the Supreme Court that it will not evict the 9 disqualified Congress MLAs from their official homes.





The court, which also took on record the May 11 Gazette notification of the Centre revoking President's Rule in the hill state, recorded the statement made on behalf of state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hridayesh that the rebels will not be evicted from their official houses.



Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Rawat, also asserted no such action would be taken against the disqualified MLAs.



A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Hridayesh, that "no facilities in the accommodations will be taken away" and posted the plea of disqualified rebels for further hearing on July 12.


The Hublot wristwatch of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is back in the news with one more complaint being filed with the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB).





The complainant T J Abraham stated that the watch was gifted by L Raghu, Executive Engineer PWD who was posted to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) by Siddaramaiah on the first day in office as chief minister.



The complaint said that Raghu also gifted a watch to PWD Minister H C

Mahadevappa.



One more Hublot watch is worn by Raghu himself, complaint alleged. According to the complaint, the watches were gifted to ensure that the Prosecution Sanction Order (PSO) request against Raghu, placed by the Lokayukta police, is rejected. Raghu was raided in November 2012 when he was posted at National Highway division. The PSO sent in October 2014 and the same is still pending before the PWD minister.



Raghu is from the same community as Chief Minister Siddaramaih. Despite disproportionate assets case, Siddaramaiah posted Raghu to BDA on the very first day of his office as chief minister.



Raghu was posted to BDA as executive engineer and was also given additional charge of Kempegowda Layout, the current cash cow for the government. I have obtained the document reflecting the movement of the file which indicates that since November 2015 it is pending before the PWD Minister, Abraham said.



Some time after the breakout of the imported wristwatch issue, Siddaramaiah had clarified that it was gifted to him by his long time friend from Kerala Dr Girish Chandra Verma. Abraham said that Dr Verma in fact was a friend of Mahadevappa.



Dr Girish Chandra Verma completed his MBBS from JJM Medical College in Davangere, where at the same time Mahadevappa also studied MBBS. The affidavit filed by Dr Verma is a fabricated document containing false information, Abraham said. Dr Verma is a consultant cardiac surgeon at MNC Speciality Hospital in Dubai.



The complaint also stated that the government has not taken any action on the report by Upalokayukta recommending enquiry against Raghu in a case of misconduct during his earlier tenure. The complaint said the gifting of watches to chief minister and the PWD minister was part of bribe to ensure both the requests, for sanction and enquiry, is rejected. The complaint has been filed against chief minister, PWD minister, Raghu and Dr Verma.


State BJP President B S Yeddyurappa has said going by the poor governance of the Congress government, it looks Siddaramaiah would be the last chief minister of his party in Karnataka.





Addressing mediapersons in the city, Yeddyurappa said the Congress government has turned into anti-people. There is lack of co-ordination among the ministers. The government is so helpless that it has not been able to use even the Centres allocated funds for developments works.



He said 1,500 farmers committed suicide in the recent years due to poverty, and the Siddarmaiah government could not even distribute compensation to the family members of the deceased farmers. People are in large numbers migrating from the drought-affected taluks. Still the government claims itself as a people-friendly government.



Yeddyurappa said the prime minister has more than an hour to listen to Siddaramaiah to understand the prevailing drought in Karnataka. The Centre also sanctioned Rs 1,240 crore to the state, but the utilisation is hardly 62%. Look at the capacity of Karnataka. It is not in a position even to use the money sanctioned by the Centre. Still, it is criticisng and finding fault with the Centre.



He said the Anti-Corruption Bureau has been set up to protect corrupt ministers. The greatest achievement of Siddramaiah seems to be appointing 11 parliamentary secreataries. Corruption in the RDPR department has touched its peak, he criticised.


The Supreme Court on Friday declined to de-criminalise defamation, an offence punishable with two years in jail apart from fine, saying the right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame others.





A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant upheld the constitutional validity of Sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. The court said that an individuals fundamental right to live with dignity and reputation cannot be sullied solely because another individual can have its freedom.



Protection of reputation is a fundamental right. It is also a human right. Cumulatively it serves the social interest...it is not a restriction that has an inevitable consequence which impairs circulation of thought and ideas, the bench said.



With its judgment approving the validity of the penal provisions, the court also cleared the decks for prosecution of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others, who sought direction to de-criminalise defamation.



On summons issued to them on complaints for making defamatory statements, the petitioners approached the apex court, claiming the law unreasonably constricted the freedom of speech.



The court vacated its restraint order and gave 8 weeks time to the leaders to challenge the summons in accordance with the law. Rejecting their argument that criminal defamation provision had a chilling effect on their right to free speech, the bench said that reputation of a person could not be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the others right of free speech which is subject to reasonable restrictions.



Holding that criticism was not defamation, the bench, however, accepted their plea that a trial court must be very careful in scrutinising a complaint before issuing summons in such cases.



One is bound to tolerate criticism, dissent and discordance but not expected to tolerate defamatory attack...liberty to have a discordant note does not confer a right to defame the others. The dignity of an individual is extremely important, said the court.
Mriya (dream in Ukrarian), the largest aircraft in the world, landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here at Shamshabad in the early hours of Friday.





The deafening roar of 6 mighty engines of the Antonov An-225 shattered the midnight silence on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The 640-tonne, maximum take-off weight, behemoth arrived from Turkmenbashi in Central Asia and will proceed to Jakarta.



The aircraft is destined for Perth, Australia. The aircraft is carrying a 133-tonne generator for a Western Australian mining company along with a crew of 21. The total journey involves a flying time of about 26 hours spread over 3 days. The Mriya will be taking rest at the RGIA for 20 hours for refuelling.



According to Rishabh Birla, MD, Air Shagoon (network) Pvt Ltd, upto 50,000 people are expected at the Perth airport next Sunday to watch the gigantic aircraft in Australia. According to a statement, Hyderabad was chosen as it had the required the infrastructure to handle such aircraft. Narinder Nath, chief operations officer of Air Shagoon, the company handling the ground operations, said that it took 25 days to secure permission from the DGCA.



Agreement with Antonov



According to press release, Reliance Defence has signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement with Antonov of Ukraine for assembly, manufacture and MRO of Antonov platforms in India, both for the commercial and military market. Reliance Defense and Antonov would jointly address various requirements, including 50-80 seat passenger aircraft program of the HAL.



Air Marshal M Matheswaran (Retd), president, Aerospace Business of Reliance Defense Ltd said, "Reliance and Antonov have ventured out to create Indias Aerospace major in the private sector. Their technical expertise with Reliances business innovation is sure to translate Make in India a huge success."



Sergey Semovonik, vice-president, Antonov-Ukraine, said "Yesterday, Antonov with Reliance Group have submitted the joint proposal for creating of passengers regional aircraft. Today, we brought the largest aircraft to India to make the Indian side confident that Antonov is a reliable partner."



Ukraine Ambassador to India Dr Igor Polikha said, "We are hopeful that the Indian public and Indian specialists will see with their own eyes the unique potential of Ukraine aviation industry."



An (Antonov) class of aircraft have long served the IAF and Navy for over 5 decades. Currently, the IAF has more than 100 An-32 aircraft on its inventory, having completed its last life cycle upgrade they will be due for replacements soon.



India has requirement of over 200 medium lift turbofan aircraft valued at Rs 35,000 crore for its armed forces. The programme will be located at Indias first integrated Aerospace Park i.e. Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park at MIHAN, Nagpur.
Women and Child Development Minister Umashree and Agriculture Minister Krishna Byre Gowda faced embarrassment when beneficiaries of the government schemes complained against them to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.





Deepa, from Gadag district, said cases of sexual abuse against women were increasing. Steps should be taken to prevent them and the perpetrators punished. I wanted to draw the attention of Umashree madam in this regard. But she has left, she stated, evoking laughter.



She said though the government had introduced schemes like Vidya Siri, its benefit was not reaching the needy. Middlemen have become a menace. The government should understand the problem and take steps, she said.



Many beneficiaries of Krishi Bhagya scheme (construction of small ponds) complained that polythene sheets were of substandard quality. The Agriculture department used to provide good quality sheets initially. The toll-free number is not working property, they complained.

The chief minister later said he would direct the agriculture minister to look into the problem and take appropriate measures. The beneficiaries were selected from across the state to share their views on the schemes.




The middleman in the AgustaWestland deal, Christian Michel, has claimed that Italy may release details of a private conversation on the issue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Matteo Renzi if India does not release marines.





Michel had earlier claimed that Modi met Renzi on the sidelines of a UN conference in New York and offered to release two Italian marines facing trial in India on murder charges if the Italian leader could provide information about the chopper deal that could embarrass or implicate Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.



Both governments had denied any such meeting or conversation. According to NDTV, Michel has suggested that the Italian government may do something unpleasant if a marine charged with murder is not released by India.



The unpleasant move would be to admit to a meeting between Modi and Renzi, the NDTV quoted him as saying.



Though both governments denied the meeting, Michel had repeatedly insisted that the meeting did happen in more than one interview. Michel said he was talking about a brush-by meeting, which could be denied.



Michel said the Italian embassy in New Delhi briefed Agustas parent company Finmeccanica about the meeting. It was Finmeccanica which informed him, he said, refusing to identify the embassy official.



The honourable prime minister (Modi) is in a horrible position. If he lets the marine go, he will be accused of a deal. If he doesnt let him go, the Italians may do something unpleasant - admit to a meeting, Michel said.



The scandal over kickbacks paid by Agusta middlemen in India resurfaced after a court verdict in Milan last month.
History-sheeter Yashaswini dramatically escaped from hospital a day after the Subramanyapura police registered a case against her for threatening and assaulting a woman who had borrowed money from her.





Police said that as soon as the complaint was registered, Yashaswini (in pic) complained of chest pain and got herself admitted to a private hospital. Following this, two policemen were deployed at the hospital to keep an eye on her.



On late Thursday night, while the policemen were seeking the doctors permission to take her to the police station, Yashaswini fled from the hospital. The incident came to light when the hospital staff found her missing from her room. They also found that she had changed the hospital clothes she was wearing.



A senior police officer said, There is no clarity on the time she fled the hospital. The hospital authorities informed the police that it is not possible to jump from the window. She may have escaped through the main entrance.



Three teams have been formed to nab her and gather information about her whereabouts, said the officer.



Yashaswini, a resident of Hulimavu, was into moneylending business and charged high rate of interest. On Wednesday night, she went to Tayammas house on Kothanur main road and demanded repayment of the loan. When Tayamma asked for time to repay the loan, Yashaswini abused and assaulted her.



Tayamma told the police that a few months ago, she had borrowed Rs 1 lakh from Yashaswini to meet her medical expenses and found it difficult to repay. But Yashashwini started charging Meter Baddi and Tayamma could not afford to pay it.
The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is studying the passenger load factor in its buses on the routes between Mysuru Road and Baiyappanahalli. The bus service on this route has seen a slight reduction in revenue ever since the East-West corridor of Namma Metro opened.





An official in the operations wing of the BMTC told Deccan Herald that a group of staff headed by traffic controllers was studying the impact of Metro on the BMTCs revenue collection. The team was formed soon after the Metro started its service.



Though officials agree that revenue collection of buses plying on these routes decreased slightly, they are reluctant to give more information. Depots in eastern and western parts of Bengaluru have informed the top management about the dip in the revenue, said an official in the BMTC.



The team is studying the passenger load factor in Vijayanagar, Baiyappanahalli, Swami Vivekananda Road, Cubbon Park and Deepanjali Nagar as it is learnt that revenue collection from these areas is on the decline. A comprehensive report will be submitted to the BMTC soon. The corporation will explore options to increase the revenue based on the report.



The BMTC plans to offer increased Metro feeder service at points where its revenue has come down. Buses from depots like Deepanjali Nagar, Chandra Layout, Kengeri and Indiranagar will be utilised for the feeder service.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended increasing the monetary compensation for rescued bonded labourers. An ordinary bonded labourer should get Rs one lakh up from Rs 20,000, woman or child labourer Rs two lakh and disabled labourer Rs 4.5 lakh, it said.





Speaking at a workshop on Elimination of bonded labour at the Vikasa Soudha here on Friday, Justice D Murugesan, a member of the commission, suggested collection of labour cess from employers and giving it to the released labourers.



Justice Murugesan emphasised the need to set up special courts to deal with cases of human rights violations. He said non-release of certificates was the reason for long delay in paying compensation to the sufferers.



He also pointed to a flaw in the rules that the Central and state governments share the compensation of Rs 20,000.



The Centre does not release its share unless prosecution and conviction happen. This provision will defeat the purpose. We had objected to it. We should have faith in the district collectors or deputy commissioners. Why want proof of rescuing bonded labourers, Justice Murugesan said. Many applications for compensation are pending across India, he said and suggested that districts have a corpus of Rs five lakh for the purpose.



Ktaka shows the way



Justice Murugesan hailed Karnataka for its interest in abolishing the practice of bonded labourers. We had six such workshops in different states but Karnataka is the only state where the minister, the chief secretary, principal secretaries, deputy commissioners and a large number of officials turned up, he said.



Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav said that since 2001, as many as 2,774 bonded labourers had been rescued in Karnataka, with about 2,000 labourers being rescued during 2001-02 alone. Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, H K Patil, said the government had set up a Bonded Labour Review Committee, which worked for eight months and gave 22 recommendations.



The government is examining them and will implement them. He directed officials to dispose of 7,000 applications for compensation before July 30 this year.
In a drunken brawl, a 28-year-old labourer was hacked to death in Nagawarapalya in Byappanahalli on Thursday night. According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Shankar, a resident of Nagwarapalya.





The police have arrested 5 accused persons Chikkatayappa, Doddatayappa, Mallesh, Mallappa and Jagadish all residents of Nagawarapalya and are natives of Kalaburagi. All the accused came to Bengaluru in search of work a year ago.



On Thursday noon, Shankar along with his friends went to a bar in Nagawarapalya for a drink. Chikkatayappa and his friends too came to the same bar. While Chikkatayappa pulled up a chair to sit, Shankar got furious and an heated argument ensued. The employees of the bar intervened and asked them to leave.



Later in the night, Chikkatayappa along with his friends went to Shankar's house and assaulted him with some weapons and fled the spot. The neighbours and family members rushed Shankar to a nearby hospital and the doctor declared him brought dead.



The police, who were informed about the murder investigated the crime and arrested the accused persons. A case has been registered in Byappanahalli police station.Earlier a case was registered aganist Shankar regarding an eve teasing case.


The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) is the only gateway to MBBS and BDS admissions across India but students remain confused about the implications of the new exam.





Their biggest concern is the second option in case they dont get MBBS or BDS admission through the NEET. Students who fail to get MBBS or BDS seats usually opt for engineering, architecture and pharmacy courses. They also end up paying the fees while waiting for a medical seat. The counselling for these courses usually ends by July.



Since the NEET results will be declared only in August, students fear the counselling schedule will mean they lose a lot of money and dont even get a seat.



Vaishnavi, a student who took NEET-1, said: I am not sure if I will get a medical seat. I want to have a second option. Securing engineering or a pharmacy seat will cost over 1 lakh and thats not a small amount.



Yet to decide



An official in the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) said the government was yet to decide the fate of such students.



The difficulty level of the NEET is another concern. Srinivas G V, a physics lecturer at the Government PU College, Gauribidanur, said, Students need to adapt to a new syllabus and questions in just two months.



There is also the concern how a student from Karnataka will get admission in a state college once the all-India rank list is prepared, he said.



A medical education official had earlier hinted that the state rank list would be drawn from the all India list, as is done in postgraduate medical admissions. There is, however, no official confirmation of such a process.



Several students who took NEET-I still dont know that they can appear for NEET-II if they give up the score of the first test  as stipulated by the Supreme Court.

To clear students confusion, a consultative meeting of government officials was held here on Friday and it discussed the role of private colleges, fee structure, state merit list and counselling schedule. But no final decisions were taken as some officials were not present. Another round of consultation will be held on Monday.



Many issues pending



There are many issues in the Supreme Court ruling on the NEET that have not been touched upon. We are discussing their interpretation and seeking more information to take a final decision. More such meetings will be held. The matter is certainly urgent and we will ensure that students interests are protected, said Dr S S Harsoor, director, Medical Education.
Jon Keysers bid for U.S. Senate ran away from him Thursday after the Republican candidate dodged repeated questions about forged signatures used to qualify for the ballot and gave a cringe-worthy interview that included a menacing comment toward a reporter about his Great Dane, Duke.

The dog-bites-candidate moment came at a debate hosted by a Foothills Republican club just days after a local television station uncovered problems with Keysers petitions for the June primary ballot.

The debates first four questions involved the petition issue, and Keyser refused to answer all of them.

Heres the important thing. Im on the ballot, and Im going to beat Michael Bennet, Keyser said in a line he repeated five times in two minutes.

The response drew groans from the crowd and a shot from GOP rival Darryl Glenn who said the issue is important to the candidates integrity.

If you are going to stand for the rule of law, if you are going to raise your hand and support the constitution, then you need to follow the law, Glenn said to applause. Thats the issue.

In an interview with The Denver Post and Denver7 during a break, Keyser dodged eight more questions on the issue.

He took the issue a step further when he criticized the local TV reporter for creeping around my house after the reporter knocked on the door at his home to request an interview.

You woke up my kids, Keyser told the reporter. Yeah, you woke up my kids. My baby cried for an hour after that. Did you get to meet my dog?

I met your dog and your nanny. She was very kind, Denver7s Marshall Zelinger responded.

My dog, hes a great dog. Hes bigger than you are. Hes huge, Keyser said. Hes huge. Hes a big guy. Very protective.

What did you mean by his size? Zelinger responded.

Did you see him? Hes a Great Dane. Hes 165 pounds, Keyser continued.

The exchange  and the candidates continual refusal to address the signature  made headlines in national political circles, and Democrats pounced, calling it a painful meltdown. His repetitious answers drew comparisons to Marco Rubio, who drew ridicule in presidential debates for his robotic answers.

Keyser made the ballot only after winning a legal challenge involving his petitions. The Colorado secretary of states office said he finished 86 signatures short of the 1,500 needed in the 3rd Congressional District. But he presented new evidence in court to legitimize the signatures, and a judge put him back on the ballot.

Keysers refusal to discuss the forged-signature issue disappointed Ray Warren, a Jefferson County Republican who attended the forum.

If somebody forged the signature on there, shame on them, but its not necessarily his fault, the 69-year-old retiree said. If we want to be honest and we want politicians who are honest, just face the facts and say it like it is.

Another Republican candidate, Ryan Frazier, is still fighting to join the four other candidates after he didnt submit enough valid voter signatures to qualify.

Fraziers campaign is challenging the ruling, and the Colorado Supreme Court agreed Thursday to hear the case.

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
Strong gains in population, jobs and home prices coming out of the recession werent enough to shield metro Denver from an erosion in its middle class.

Middle-income households in metro Denver shrank from 58 percent of the population in 2000 to 53 percent in 2014, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

That shrinkage didnt come primarily from households moving into higher income brackets, but rather from more households moving into lower-income ones.

We still have a lot of people who are middle income. But I can understand the reason for concern, said Gary Horvath, a Broomfield economist. The recovery, in terms of income, hasnt been strong.

Metro Denvers share of upper-income households increased 1 percentage point to 25 percent, while lower-income households rose 4 percentage points to 22 percent, according to Pew.

The trend toward a smaller middle class is a national one and has been underway for four decades, but sluggish economic growth has exacerbated it.

Between 2000 and 2014, the middle class shrank in nine out of 10 metro areas. In a quarter of metros, middle-class households no longer made up a majority, up from a 10th of metro areas in 2000, Pew found.

Nationally, 51 percent of households are middle-income, 20 percent are upper-income and 29 percent lower-income.

All five Colorado metros in the study saw a drop in the share of middle-class families. Besides Denver, that included:

 6 percentage point decrease in Colorado Springs to 51 percent

 3 point decrease in Fort Collins to 56 percent

 6 point decrease in Pueblo to 51 percent

 7 point decrease in Grand Junction to 52 percent

In most metros, the gain in the lower-income tier outpaced the rise in the upper-income tier.

Grand Junction was an exception, earning it a mention in the report. The share of upper-income households doubled from 10 percent of the total in 2000 to 20 percent of the total in 2014.

Grand Junction got to the national norm by nearly doubling the share of its upper-income population from 2000 to 2014, making it one of the big winners, Pew researchers said.

Horvath attributes that to a surge in natural gas and oil activity last decade, although that trend has since reversed. Denver, by contrast, was coming off a tech and telecom boom in 2000 that contributed to elevated wages and low unemployment.

Pew defined a lower-income household as one earning 66 percent or less of the median income in a given metro area. Upper-income households made double the median, which is the middle point where half of households make more and half make less.

By Pews definition, a three-person household was middle class in 2014 if its annual income fell between just under $42,000 and about $125,000. Pew offers a calculator on its website so people can see what class they fit into based on household size, income and location.

One of the most disturbing findings in the study is even though the bar needed to enter the middle class dropped from $45,115 in 1999 to $41,641 in 2014, a smaller share of the population was able to cross it.

Peter Morici, an economist at the University of Maryland, notes that the U.S. economy has grown an average of only 1.7 percent a year since 2000, just half the pace seen under the Reagan and Clinton administrations.

The middle class is shrinking, suicides and drug abuse are up, fertility has dropped precipitously, millions of college graduates are stuck at places like Starbucks, and homeownership is at a 48-year low, he said in a commentary.

Presidential candidates in both parties  Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders  have tapped into that deep discontent with surprising success in the primaries.

Aside from political turmoil, experts warn that widening income inequality might slow economic growth and make social mobility more difficult. Children raised in predominantly lower-income neighborhoods are less likely to reach the middle class than those from more economically mixed communities.

Middle-class adults now make up less than half the population in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Houston.

The shrinking of the American middle class is a pervasive phenomenon, said Rakesh Kochhar, associate research director for Pew and the lead author of the report. It has increased the polarization in incomes.

But Horvath said there are more benign reasons to explain some of the middle-class decline. When a high-paying job is created in an area like Denver, an even larger number of lower-paying service jobs tend to follow.

Sectors like hospitality, food service and health care have seen some of the strongest growth in the state in recent years, he said.

Also, between 2000 and 2014, more and more baby boomers have shifted from pocketing peak wages to collecting a Social Security check in retirement, pushing down household incomes.

The report documents several other key trends:

 Income for the typical household fell in 190 of the 229 metro areas studied, even in wealthier cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.

 Income inequality is lifting some Americans closer to the top even as people in the middle fall farther. Median incomes fell 8 percent nationwide from 1999 to 2014. Yet the share of adults in upper-income homes rose to 20 percent from 17 percent. Middle-income households declined to 51 percent from 55 percent.

Wendell Nolen, 52, is among those who experienced the slide from middle-class status. Eight years ago, he was earning $28 an hour as a factory worker for Detroits American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings, assembling axles for pickup trucks and SUVs.

But early in 2008, things unraveled. After a three-month strike, Nolen took a buyout rather than a pay cut. Less than a year later, the plant was closed and American Axle shipped much of its work to Mexico.

Now Nolen makes $17 an hour in the shipping department of a Detroit steel fabricator, about 40 percent less than he made at the axle plant.

America is losing jobs because of the free trade stuff, Nolen said. Theyre selling America out.

Overall, cities with the largest share of the middle class are more likely to be in the middle of the country, while those with the highest share of low-income household are concentrated in the Southwest.

Metro areas with the highest share of upper-income households are more likely to be found in the Northeast or along the West Coast.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Colorado cities

According to the pew research center study, between 2000 and 2014:

 Denver metros middle class shrank by 5 percentage points to 53 percent of the population, while the upper class increased 1 point to 25 percent, and the lower class increased 4 points to 22 percent.

 Colorado Springs saw a 6 percentage point decrease the middle class to 55 percent, with 4 of those percentage points moving into the upper income bracket (at 22 percent) and 3 points moving into the lower bracket (at 24 percent).

 Fort Collins middle class decreased 3 percentage points (to 51 percent) and its upper class decreased 2 points (to 12 percent), resulting in a 5 point increase in the lower income bracket (to 37 percent).

 In Pueblo, the middle class dropped 6 percentage points to 51 percent, the upper income group increased 2 point to 12 percent and the lower income group increased 4 points to 37 percent.

 Grand Junctions middle class dropped 7 percentage points to 52 percent, the upper income bracket increase 9 points to 20 percent, and the lowest income bracket dropped 2 points to 28 percent.

In some instances, the numbers are rounded.
Denver will see its first ever Sikh parade later this month as a way to celebrate the culture of a population that is growing in the area.

About 1,000 people are expected to attend the parade and celebration from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 22 at Denver East High School. Free vegetarian food will be available throughout the day.

The parade will start at 1:15 p.m. and run along 16th Avenue from Esplanade Place to Emerson Street and then back down 16th Avenue after a one-block detour onto 17th Avenue. The morning will consist of prayers and music.

Organizers Paul and Gurpreet Juneja said they have explored ways to celebrate their religion and culture. They want to bring more awareness in the community since they said their kids started being bullied at school for their appearance for resembling Muslims.

Gurpreet Juneja said she is against the mocking and dislike of all other religions and wanted to take the opportunity to educate others on the Sikh faith.

We hope it will bring more awareness and be well received, Gurpeet Juneja said. Our kids dont feel different than other kids until they are treated badly at school.

The Sikh faith is a monotheistic religion with most of its adherents residing in India. Paul Juneja estimated there are about 500 Sikh families in the Denver area. The religion is known for the men wearing colorful turbans and the fact that Sikhs dont cut their hair.

Gurpreet Juneja is the only member of her family who immigrated to the United States. Paul Juneja and their two children were born in the United States, yet she said she and her family have had several instances where they were told by some to leave the country amid other insults.

The family attends the Colorado Singh Sabha temple in Commerce City  which is sponsoring the parade  and they will be joined by a seven other Sikh groups from Colorado Springs, Boulder, New Mexico, California and Utah. Pastors from both the Jewish and Christian faiths also will attend.

This whole thing is being done because of our kids, Paul Juneja said. Were through being a victim and want to take the lead.

Gurpeet and Paul Juneja approached Denver about holding an event, and a parade was the best suggestion.

Grace Ramirez, spokeswoman for the citys office of special events, said: We work closely with city agencies to promote events that bring greater awareness to cultures in our communities.

Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or @joe_vacc

If you go

What: Denvers first Sikh parade

When: 9:30 a.m.  4 p.m. Sunday, May 22

Where: Denver East High School, 1600 City Park Esplanade
If you spin a globe and drop your index finger anywhere within 40 degrees of the equator, chances are you will find a country  or at least a continent  whose foods are represented at Ambli.

This spot in an unassuming shopping center at the corner of South Holly Street and Leetsdale Drive wanders across the international map. If countries issued culinary passports, Ambli would be the Jason Bourne of restaurants.

Just consider the evening menu at this lunch-dinner-brunch place housed in a lively, contemporary room with views into an open kitchen and its gas-fired oven.

Wasabi fish and chips with a habanero-mango tartar sauce, Portuguese garlic shrimp, chicken tikka masala, Mexico City brisket, chimichurri flatbread, beef samosas. You get the picture.

Even the all-American burger is topped with brie.

Dishes by and large pleased, helped along by a thoughtfully selected  and priced  wine list.

A starter plate featuring a trio of lamb kebabs was a good example of how Ambli is willing to mix cuisines within a single dish. The spiced lamb was served atop a poblano-pepper hummus with a side of savory naan. So thats a touch of Mexico, the Mediterranean and the Asian subcontinent on one plate.

The quesadilla was a similar mash-up: A flour tortilla filled with saag, Indias answer to creamed spinach, with cheddar cheese, chicken, masala and cilantro sauce.

Amid all the globe-trotting, India does seem to enjoy favored-nation status. A vegetarian platter that featured three dipping sauces: chana dhal, red bean coconut curry and thinly sliced potatoes in masala. These were flavors with both brightness and depth, served with naan (more, please!) and fluffy jasmine rice.

Less impressive were the lobster shooters. The lobster dumplings were fried and served in ceramic sake glasses then covered in red coconut curry. But the dumplings were overcooked, and not a trace of the lobster came through. Shrimp or chicken might have had a fighting chance, but the lobster was lost.

Ambli travels to Central America with its beef samosas, three thin, fried pastries stuffed with a savory cilantro chutney.

A green curry mahi mahi featured fresh-tasting, moist fish filets, seared and paired with a creamy coconut curry spiked with lemongrass. Rice on the side, and a sauteed veggie slaw.

Two flatbreads stood out, although a habanero and fig flatbread with goat cheese and mozzarella beckoned for a try on a later visit.

A steak chimichurri flatbread  think Argentine pizza  featured sliced tenderloin, mushrooms, mozzarella and caramelized onions, with the leavening flavor of avocados.

The mushroom flatbread was the knockout, though. Chopped portobellos, criminis and shiitake mushshrooms with pecorino and mozzarella cheese, asparagus and pickled jalapenos. It arrived with a touch of truffle oil, an ingredient I usually frown on. Here, it wasnt nearly as intrusive as it often is.

In the two years since its launch, Ambli has developed a well-earned following and a cohort of loyalists in the Virginia Vale neighborhood that enjoys wandering the culinary map.

William Porter: 303-954-1877, wporter@denverpost.com or @williamporterdp

AMBLI

Global shared plates

600 S. Holly St. 303-355-9463 amblidenver.com

**

Very Good

Atmosphere: Lively lunch and dinner spot. Fills up fast at happy hour.

Service: Friendly and well-timed.

Beverages: Beer, wine, cocktails

Plates: Tapas, $9-$13; soups/salads/flatbreads, $5-$12; entrees, $14-$18

Hours: Lunch: Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner: Tuesday-Thursday, 4:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 4:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday, 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Closed Monday.

Details: Parking lot in a strip shopping center.

Two visits

Our star system:

****: Exceptional

***: Great

**: Very Good

*: Good

Stars reflect the dining reviewers overall reaction to the restaurants food, service and atmosphere.
Colorados top prosecutors and police officials want a two-year moratorium on new marijuana laws to give officers time to catch up.

In a letter dated last week and sent to lawmakers, leaders of the states three main groups of law enforcement officials said local police cannot keep up with the quantity and speed of constantly changing marijuana law.

There have been 81 marijuana-related bills introduced in the Colorado legislature in just the past four years, according to the letter.

Regulation seems to change on a daily basis, and this process must be slowed down, the groups wrote.

The solution, the groups propose, is a two-year moratorium on any changes to current law with regard to marijuana legalization, unless a strong public safety nexus is established.

The letter was sent by the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, the County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado District Attorneys Council. It was written, specifically, to help set the agenda for an offseason legislative committee conducting a cost-benefit analysis of marijuana legalization.

In addition to the moratorium, the letter asks lawmakers to fund two law enforcement work groups that the organizations formed to keep track of legalizations impacts and to train police officers. The letter also asks the legislature to create a state marijuana liaison to law enforcement.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or @johningold
Donna Lynne was sworn in as Colorados lieutenant governor Thursday and promptly provided a newly minted politicians promise: to serve the citizens.

Thats my pledge to you, to give back, the 62-year-old former Kaiser Permanente executive told the assemblage of politicos, public servants, business executives and her family at the state Capitol.

Hickenlooper said he set a high standard to replace Joe Garcia,who announced his resignation in November to become president of the Boulder-based Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne is going to be a powerful addition to an already talented team, the governor said later in the afternoon, referring to his cabinet.

Lynne will serve in a dual role as the states chief operating officer. She sailed through the confirmation process in the Democratic-led House, as well as the Senate, which has a Republican majority. Republicans said they appreciated her business background and viewpoint that government should and could be more efficient through technology.

From everything weve seen so far she has a private-sector background and shes done a lot of stuff in her career, and in her new role we look forward to working with her, House Republican leader Brian DelGrosso of Loveland said after the swearing-in. I think she can do a lot of positive things to move Colorado forward.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch
Gov. John Hickenlooper and top legislative leaders gave lobbyists credit Thursday for passing a bill to allow expanded alcohol sales in Colorado grocery stores.

Hickenlooper said he hasnt decided whether he will veto it. He said he would talk to craft brewers and owners of small liquor stores before making a decision.

The bill passed the General Assembly on the last day of the four-month session, Wednesday, after it was crafted last Friday. It would allow major chains to phase in as many as 20 stores that sell liquor, wine and full-strength beer over the next 20 years.

To be honest, I dont understand it, said Hickenlooper, the former brewpub owner who has previously said he supports keeping liquor laws as they are now, which limits nearly all wine, liquor and full-strength beer to liquor and specialty wine stores.

I talked to several legislators this morning, and they couldnt explain it to me, either. Im not sure who does understand it yet, other than the small army of lobbyists who were able to push this through in the last five days.

Opponents of expanded sales, with their own battalion of influence peddlers, claim expanded sales would shutter many of the states approximately 1,700 package stores and craft breweries if grocery stores and major retailers are allowed to sell more than the 3.2 percent beer.

The legislation was aimed at averting a ballot initiative in November that would allow grocers to add wine and full-strength beer. King Soopers and Safeway said this week they still intend to get on the ballot.

Earlier Thursday, House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst of Boulder said outside influences affected several pieces of legislation, citing the liquor bill.

You have a situation where theres an issue that comes up, and if you have a lot of money you just throw it at a lot of lobbyists, she said. And we saw that, quite frankly, with the whole liquor issue to the point I said, If Im going to get anything done in the rest of the session I cant see you folks anymore. Nearly everybody in the lobbyist corps was hired to work on that issue by the time they were done.

I dont think that serves the state of Colorado very well.

The bill passed the Colorado Senate on Monday, 34-1, with only Democratic Sen. Andy Kerr of Lakewood in opposition. It passed the House on Wednesday, 57-7. Hullinghorst voted in favor of it, even as Democratic House Speaker Pro Tempore Dan Pabon of Denver argued it was a rushed solution that would be bad for small business without averting the ballot initiative.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, jbunch@denverpost.com or @joeybunch
Qualcomm, Micron, and SK Hynix registered 25% drops, with total top-20 sales off by 6%.

May 13, 2016 -- IC Insights will release its May Update to the 2016 McClean Report later this month. This Update includes a discussion of the 1Q16 semiconductor industry market results, an update of the capital spending forecast by company, a review of the IC market by electronic system type, and a look at the top-25 1Q16 semiconductor suppliers (the top 20 1Q16 semiconductor suppliers are covered in this research bulletin).



The top-20 worldwide semiconductor (IC and O S Doptoelectronic, sensor, and discrete) sales ranking for 1Q16 is shown in Figure 1. It includes eight suppliers headquartered in the U.S., three in Japan, three in Taiwan, three in Europe, two in South Korea, and one in Singapore, a relatively broad representation of geographic regions.



The top-20 ranking includes three pure-play foundries (TSMC, GlobalFoundries, and UMC) and six fabless companies. If the three pure-play foundries were excluded from the top-20 ranking, U.S.-based IDM ON Semiconductor ($817 million), China-based fabless supplier HiSilicon ($810 million), and Japan-based IDM Sharp ($800 million) would have been ranked in the 18th, 19th, and 20th positions, respectively.



IC Insights includes foundries in the top-20 semiconductor supplier ranking since it has always viewed the ranking as a top supplier list, not a marketshare ranking, and realizes that in some cases the semiconductor sales are double counted. With many of our clients being vendors to the semiconductor industry (supplying equipment, chemicals, gases, etc.), excluding large IC manufacturers like the foundries would leave significant holes in the list of top semiconductor suppliers. As shown in the listing, the foundries and fabless companies are identified. In the April Update to The McClean Report, marketshare rankings of IC suppliers by product type were presented and foundries were excluded from these listings.



Overall, the top-20 list shown in Figure 1 is provided as a guideline to identify which companies are the leading semiconductor suppliers, whether they are IDMs, fabless companies, or foundries.





Figure 1

In total, the top-20 semiconductor companies sales declined by 6% in 1Q16/1Q15, one point less than the total worldwide semiconductor industry decline of 7%. Although, in total, the top-20 1Q16 semiconductor companies registered a moderate 6% drop, there were seven companies that displayed a double-digit 1Q16/1Q15 decline and three that registered a 25% fall (with memory giants Micron and SK Hynix posting the worst results). Half of the top-20 companies had sales of at least $2.0 billion in 1Q16. As shown, it took $832 million in quarterly sales just to make it into the 1Q16 top-20 semiconductor supplier list.



There was one new entrant into the top-20 ranking in 1Q16U.S.-based fabless supplier AMD. AMD had a particularly rough 1Q16 and saw its sales drop 19% year-over-year to $832 million, which was about half the $1,589 million in sales the company logged just over two years ago in 4Q13. Although AMD did not have a good 1Q16, Japan-based Sharp, the only company that fell from the top-20 ranking, faired even worse with its 1Q16/1Q15 sales plunging by 30%!



In order to allow for more useful year-over-year comparisons, acquired/merged semiconductor company sales results were combined for both 1Q15 and 1Q16, regardless of when the acquisition or merger occurred. For example, although Intels acquisition of Altera did not close until late December of 2015, Alteras 1Q15 sales ($435 million) were added to Intels 1Q15 sales ($11,632 million) to come up with the $12,067 million shown in Figure 1 for Intels 1Q15 sales. The same method was used to calculate the 1Q15 sales for Broadcom Ltd. (Avago/Broadcom), NXP (NXP/Freescale), and GlobalFoundries (GlobalFoundries/IBM).



Apple is an anomaly in the top-20 ranking with regards to major semiconductor suppliers. The company designs and uses its processors only in its own productsthere are no sales of the companys MPUs to other system makers. Apples custom ARM-based SoC processors had a sales value of $1,390 million in 1Q16, up 10% from $1,260 million in 1Q15. Apples MPUs have been used in 13 iPhone handset designs since 2007 and a dozen iPad tablet models since 2010 as well as in iPod portable media players, smartwatches, and Apple TV units. Apples custom processorssuch as the 64-bit A9 used in iPhone 6s and 6s Plus handsets introduced in September 2015 and the new iPhone 6SE launched in March 2016are made by pure-play foundry TSMC and IDM foundry Samsung.



Intel remained firmly in control of the number one spot in 1Q16. In fact, it increased its lead over Samsungs semiconductor sales from 29% in 1Q15 to 40% in 1Q16. The biggest moves in the ranking were made by the new Broadcom Ltd. (Avago/Broadcom) and Nvidia, each of which jumped up three positions in 1Q16 as compared to 1Q15.



As would be expected, given the possible acquisitions and mergers that could/will occur this year (e.g., Microchip/Atmel), as well as any new ones that may develop, the top-20 semiconductor ranking is likely to undergo a significant amount of upheaval over the next few years as the semiconductor industry continues along its path to maturity.

Report Details: The 2016 McClean Report 2016

Additional details on semiconductor sales rankings are included in the 2016 edition of IC Insights flagship report, The McClean ReportA Complete Analysis and Forecast of the Integrated Circuit Industry. A subscription to The McClean Report includes free monthly updates from March through November (including a 250+ page Mid-Year Update), and free access to subscriber-only webinars throughout the year. An individual-user license to the 2016 edition of The McClean Report is priced at $3,890 and includes an Internet access password. A multi-user worldwide corporate license is available for $6,890.

To review additional information about IC Insights new and existing market research reports and services please visit our website: www.icinsights.com.






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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!
Maps have become an integral part of our lives these days. From mapping routes to an unknown destination, to sending and receiving location alerts, and even something as simple as checking in on Facebook, all these activites use what is called Geospatial data.

Geospatial Data can be accumulated from a number of sources such as crowd sourcing, information relayed from the cloud, location data of individual users and businesses and data accumulated by our GPS enabled smart devices. The ease of using map technology has created a generation of users who depend on geospatial data from apps like Google Maps, to navigate their daily journeys. But, all that may change if the archaic draft Geospatial Information Regulation Bill is not amended.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Home Affairs released this draft bill, which looks to regulate Geospatial data and recommends vetting this data before users can get access to it. The draft bill found its footing after the January 2 terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force base, post which a petition was filed before the courts to "restrain Google from providing and making available, maps and images of sensitive installations and de fence establishments."

Now, according to the stringent regulations proposed in the draft Geospatial bill, prior licensing of locational data will also be required before it can be used in apps such as Google Maps, WhatsApp, Apple Maps, Facebook, Instagram, etc. It is also proposed that those found in violation of these rules could be subject to a fine of upto 100 crores or imprisonment upto 7 years! How will this happen? Well, consider these few guidelines given in the draft Geospatial Bill:

1. According to the Draft regulations, it will be illegal for Google or any other platform to use location data from Indian users, third party providers or collection of data about Indian territories in any form. All these activities will require the map provider to get a license for acquisition of geospatial data.

2. Secondly, any such data acquired by and individual or a map provider in the past will also need a license. So, essentially you and I, and everyone who has ever used any kind of map related data will have to score retrospective authoristation from the Government.

3. Storing Geospatial locations or being found in possession of this data is also punishable by these draft policy rules. For example, if you have someone's location stored on WhatsApp, or If you have the 'Nearby' feature enabled of Facebook, which gives you the location of your friends in the vicinity, or even if you have Google Maps stored offline, you could be liable for fines and punishment.

4. Of course, with all these retrogressive regulations, how could they let you share location data. If the draft Geospatial Regulation Bill comes in effect, forget about sharing and receiving location data. You will no longer be able to send your location to a friend or an app, as it will be outlawed by the bill, and will require you to have a license.

5. Moreover, Google Maps will also have to keep a keen eye on updating Indian maps. Any incorrect borders or state boundaries, or location names, can be liable for a penalty by Indian authorities.

These anachronistic laws have managed to gather widespread criticism from netizens across the country. Owing to its ludicrous propositions, word is that officials in the Home Ministry are considering all suggestions in the improvement of the bill. The draft of the bill has also been public to gather opinion on the same. We truly hope that the Government finds a middle path in securing classified locational data, rather than having netizens in the whole country suffer the consequences.
Deutsche Bank (DB) cut its target price to 185p from 200p and reiterated a sell rating for ITV after the broadcaster reported its first quarter results.

The bank said ITVs first quarter results were even worse than lowered expectations.

ITV reported flat advertising revenue in the first three months of the year. The company expects it will continued to be flat the first half, blaming uncertainty ahead of Britains referendum on European Union membership on 23 June.

This is not a temporary Brexit blip, DB said.

On a day when Facebook is reported to be set to overtake Channel 4 in ad revenues in the UK, and we estimate has already overtaken ITV in online video (consensus forecast +3%), consensus ad growth from 2017 needs to be cut too.

Overall, however, revenue rose 14% to 755m in the first quarter, as non-advertising revenue was increased 34% to 428m.

ITV studios revenues jumped 44% jumped to 322m, driven by the acquisition of other production houses .

Chief executive Adam Crozier said ITV has a healthy pipeline of new and returning programmes, including Victoria, Cold Feet, The Voice and Alone, which gives us confidence for the full year and into 2017.

DB said ITV faces reinvestment risk as it needs to respond in programming and digital acquisitions.

The stock is cheap versus history, but the world has changed, the bank said, adding that there are higher quality US peers with better content.

Acacia Minings shares rose as

(CS) raised its target price to 380p from 300p and reiterated an outperform rating on the stock.

CS said Acacia is trading at a low multiple and a discount to the brokers net present value.

We think this is an opportunity to buy a cash generative gold stock with a strong balance sheet and rerating catalysts in 2016, CS analysts said.

What we think the market has underappreciated is the cost reductions delivered to date and resultant margin improvement set for 2016.

The companys all-in sustaining costs is below $1,000 per ounces, the analysts noted.

As a result CS raised its forecast on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margins to rise to 38% from 20%. The broker also expects peer leading free cash flow (FCF) yields over the next two years of 12% and a net cash balance of more than 20% of the current market capitalisation by the end of next year.

In a blue sky scenario where the company delivers on its targets and Acacia rerates towards its global peers we see an upside valuation of 4.50 (implied 2017 FCF yield of around 8.5% versus 12% currently).

A profit-warning from satellite-operator Eutelsat led analysts at Berenberg to question the explanations given by London-based Inmarsat to explain its own recently lowered near-term guidance.

Critically, Eutelsat cited pricing pressure and lack of growth in data and a much weaker-than-anticipated renewal rate of 65% with the US government.

Inmarsat was a 100% data outfit and Washington was its biggest customer, analysts Laura Jenssens, Sarah Simon and Robert Berg explained in a research note snet to clients.

Eutelsat referenced pricing pressure after large amounts of high-throughput satellites (HTS) launches and said its mobility business was "stable" according to the analysts.

"With [Inmarsat's] Global Xpress being an HTS data constellation, we think it cannot be immune to the pricing and growth pressures seen at Eutelsat and SES, albeit the magnitude of which is questionable. We note, however, the recent guidance cut may not be a coincidence," they explained.

Eutelsat also said renewals with the US administration were running at 65%, so since volumes were at a 'normal' 85% rate that meant pricing had seen "huge cuts" in recent months, Berenberg concluded.

"With Inmarsat discussing slower ramp of GX government revenues (ie timing, rather than structural), this raises questions as to whether the revenues are delayed to 2017/18 or in fact pricing pressure and competition is eroding this opportunity," the analysts added.

The London-listed outfit had suggested a slower ramp, but that revenues will come through at the same level next year and reiterated medium-term guidance.

"Inmarsats reasoning may not be realistic," Jenssens, Simon and berg said.

All told, the analysts said they still saw downside risks to its medium-term estimates for Inmarsat and even more so now.

They kept their 'hold' recommendation in place as wel las their target price of 880p.

However, they added that: "on our current estimates the stock still looks far from cheap [...] To justify our DCF-based GBp880 valuation, Inmarsat needs to start winning contracts to prove it can meet these expectations, particularly as competitors such as Gogo seem to be winning share."
A profit-warning from satellite-operator Eutelsat led analysts at Berenberg to question the explanations given by London-based Inmarsat to explain its own recently lowered near-term guidance.

Critically, Eutelsat cited pricing pressure and lack of growth in data and a much weaker-than-anticipated renewal rate of 65% with the US government.

Inmarsat was a 100% data outfit and Washington was its biggest customer, analysts Laura Jenssens, Sarah Simon and Robert Berg explained in a research note snet to clients.

Eutelsat referenced pricing pressure after large amounts of high-throughput satellites (HTS) launches and said its mobility business was "stable" according to the analysts.

"With [Inmarsat's] Global Xpress being an HTS data constellation, we think it cannot be immune to the pricing and growth pressures seen at Eutelsat and SES, albeit the magnitude of which is questionable. We note, however, the recent guidance cut may not be a coincidence," they explained.

Eutelsat also said renewals with the US administration were running at 65%, so since volumes were at a 'normal' 85% rate that meant pricing had seen "huge cuts" in recent months, Berenberg concluded.

"With Inmarsat discussing slower ramp of GX government revenues (ie timing, rather than structural), this raises questions as to whether the revenues are delayed to 2017/18 or in fact pricing pressure and competition is eroding this opportunity," the analysts added.

The London-listed outfit had suggested a slower ramp, but that revenues will come through at the same level next year and reiterated medium-term guidance.

"Inmarsats reasoning may not be realistic," Jenssens, Simon and berg said.

All told, the analysts said they still saw downside risks to its medium-term estimates for Inmarsat and even more so now.

They kept their 'hold' recommendation in place as wel las their target price of 880p.

However, they added that: "on our current estimates the stock still looks far from cheap [...] To justify our DCF-based GBp880 valuation, Inmarsat needs to start winning contracts to prove it can meet these expectations, particularly as competitors such as Gogo seem to be winning share."
Megabrewers Anheuser-Busch InBev and FTSE 100-traded SABMiller did some asset-shuffling with Brazilian brewer Ambev this week, ahead of the proposed combination of the British and Belgian companies

AB InBev confirmed it has entered into an agreement with Ambev, in which it will transfer SABMillers Panamanian business to Ambev in exchange for Ambevs Colombian, Peruvian and Ecuadorian businesses.

The board of AB InBev said this will allow it to focus on countries where the SABMiller business it acquires and combines with are well-established, and allow Ambev to initiate operations in Panama through the established SABMiller business and further expand in Central America.

The transaction is conditional on the successful closing of the proposed business combination between AB InBev and SABMiller as announced on 11 November 2015, in addition to other customary closing conditions, AB InBevs board said in a statement.

AB InBev was currently going through the regulatory motions with the European Commission over its proposed acquisition of and combination with SABMiller, which it expects to complete in the second half of 2016.

Its understood the Belgium-based brewing giant is paying 71bn for Londons SABMiller.
Miners and grocers led gains on the market as the selling pressure on two of the past week's worst performers eased a bit.

Gains in the former were particularly noteworthy, coming as they did in the face of an across-the-board retreat in commodity prices, in part as the US dollar index strengthened.

Three-month copper futures on the LME ended the Friday session with losses of 1.9% to $4,617.00 per metric tonne and iron ore and rebar futures closed with sharp losses overnight on the Dalian Commodities Exchange.

On the demand side of the equation, Friday's loan and credit data out of the People's Republic of China, referencing the month of April, revealed a slowdown in total social financing from 2.34trn yuan in March to 751bn yuan in April (consensus: 1.3trn yuan).

For some observers, that reflected Beijing's decision to heed warnings that it might have gone over the top with its recent credit easing.

However, Julian Evans-Pritchard at Capital Economics pointed out how government borrowing had also surged, which was not apparent in the TSF measure.

"Growth in our measure of outstanding broad credit which combines TSF and government bonds  and is therefore more directly comparable with the TSF data prior to the debt swap programme starting  rose to a 26-month high in April," Evans-Pritchard said.

"Given the usual lag of around six months between credit growth and economic activity, this should sustain the current cyclical upturn until the end of the year but probably not much longer  with further policy easing now looking unlikely, credit growth is likely to begin slowing again next quarter," he added.

Data on Chinese retail sales, industrial production and investment trends were scheduled for release over the coming weekend.

To take note of perhaps, as of 20:16 BST shares of US miners were the best performers on Wall Street against the backdrop of a falling market.

Stock in Asia-focused lender StanChart was also among the top performers on the top flight index on Friday.

The largest banking groups all clocked in with some of the largest percentage gains, despite warnings from IMF managing director Christine Lagarde regarding the risks that Brexit might entail for the UK economy.

Coincidentally, IGs Brexit binary was only attaching a 29% probability to such a scenario as of the close of trading.

Shares of retailers also figured prominently near the top of the leaderboard on Friday, with markets apparently keying off of Tescos latest annual report according to some analysts.

The sector was also the best performer at the pan-European level, with the DJ Stoxx 600 sector gauge rising by 1.10% to 307.06.

Going the other way were shares of Media stocks as French telecommunications services provider Eutelsat decided to "adjust" its targets for 2016 and 2017 to "reflect tougher industry conditions" and adapt to a lower-growth environment.

"Eutelsat is adapting to slowing industry-wide momentum, undertaking a wide-ranging review of its organization and priorities with an emphasis on cash-flow generation and margin support. A detailed update will be provided in July," the company said in a statement.

The news led some analysts to wonder aloud about just how realistic, or not, London-listed rival Inmarsat's own recent guidance had been.

Weakness in Media stocks was the main drag on the pan-European Stoxx 600.

ITV, for its part, fell afoul of downward price target revisions from multiple brokers, including Deutsche Bank.

On 12 May the broadcaster cut its guidance for advertising revenues, saying clients were holding back on ad spend ahead of the EU referendum.

Top performing sectors so far today

Industrial Metals & Mining 1,134.57 +3.88%

Food & Drug Retailers 2,626.44 +1.97%

Banks 3,139.62 +1.81%

Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,134.83 +1.40%

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 12,294.62 +1.28%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Insurance (non-life) 2,464.72 -0.92%

Forestry & Paper 14,509.02 -0.81%

Oil Equipment, Services & Distribution 13,308.09 -0.69%

Software & Computer Services 1,642.64 -0.54%

Industrial Transportation 2,784.97 -0.50%
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Franklin County officials slam Ohio election security mandate

Franklin County commissioners, all Democrats, criticized GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose's election security mandates and their $375,000 cost.
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Business people are usually associated with Republicans, but many owners are Democrats. The issues that concern them can vary by industry, size and location.



By JOYCE M. ROSENBERG

AP Business Writer

NEW YORK  Small business owners say it's time the presidential candidates provide concrete details on how they'll tackle key issues including taxes, health care costs and government regulations.

They haven't been getting to the meat of issues about how they're going to help small businesses and entrepreneurs in America, says Craig Bloem, owner of FreeLogoServices.com, a website based in Boston that lets companies design advertising logos.





. . .
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)  The state has been threatened with a lawsuit by a bank handling a $28.6 million loan to finance renovations of a legislative office building in Anchorage. Lawyers for the bank say the state must honor its lease agreement for the building, despite a judge's ruling that found the lease invalid.

In a letter sent to the state's Legislative Affairs Agency on Tuesday, attorneys representing EverBank said they plan to seek damages of up to $27.5 million if lawmakers abandon the lease or plans to purchase the building, The Alaska Public Radio Network reported.





. . .
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JOHANNESBURG (AP)  Tourists will soon be barred from petting lion cubs at a suburban wildlife park in South Africa, a move that reflects growing concern about the treatment of lions in captivity.

Tourist interaction with lions, including petting cubs and walking with the predators, has attracted negative publicity and is going out of fashion, said Scott Simpson, spokesman for the 80-hectare (200-acre) Lion Park in Johannesburg.





. . .
Fairbanks wants to demo tallest building

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP)  The city of Fairbanks has moved forward with plans to acquire the condemned 11-story Polaris Building by appropriating the first portion of the $130,000 needed to buy the deed of trust.

The City Council approved a resolution Monday to spend $15,000 to enter into an agreement with current deed holder James Baum. Under the agreement, the city will have two years to come up with the additional $115,000, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.

Marc Marlow, the building's owner, still owes Baum $225,000 on the bank note. The resolution gives the city the option of buying Marlow's debt from Baum at a discounted rate.

We're serious now. Will you buy the note, Mr. Marlow? Councilman David Pruhs asked an absent Marlow at Monday's meeting. I don't think you will.

Pruhs said the council's action starts the process toward demolition. If the city owns the property, he said, it will be much easier to get federal funding for redevelopment.

Demolishing the property would cost Fairbanks between $4 million and $6 million.

The 64-year-old building has been left to deteriorate over the last 15 years, as multiple attempts at renovating it have failed. Previous plans for the structure included turning it into office space, apartments, an indoor garden and a halfway house.

Fairbanks's tallest structure was finally condemned in 2012. The city had found the building was a dangerous building unfit for human occupancy, Pruhs said.




D-M Airmen rise to the occasion

Three Airmen from D-M AFB are championing the summit of Mount Humphreys in Flagstaff, Arizona, 29 May, 2016.



We are looking for as many individuals as possible to join. This is an all call to Airmen; Guardsmen, Reservist, Active Duty members and veterans looking for a challenge.



This memorial weekend event will mark one more summit to be checked off on the list of Mountain peaks in the USAF 50 Summits Challenge. This is an enduring effort focused on helping U.S. Airmen to proudly fly the Air Force flag from the highest point in each of our 50 states.



This challenge is about getting outside, having fun, and expanding personal boundaries. It's also a unique way to combine the four domains of resiliency: physical, mental, social and spiritual, while exploring America's great outdoors, according to www.usaf50summits.com.



In 2005, an unofficial team of motivated Airmen set out to put the U.S. Air Force into the history books by making America the first military to have its members stand on top of the famed 7 Summits, the highest peak on each continent.



This goal was accomplished In May 2013, by reaching the summit of Mount Everest and flying the Air Force flag from the top of the world.

With that epic mountaineering challenge complete, the founders looked for a new project that would encourage military members to get into mountains, or at least into the outdoors.



Rather than travel to remote and expensive locations around the world, they decided to focus on the amazing mountains right here in our American backyard that were accessible to all Airmen; from a little 300 foot hill in Florida to the massive 20,320 foot undertaking of Alaska's Mount McKinley.



Reaching the highest point in each state offers an enormous variety of experiences that will encourage camaraderie and physical fitness.

Each trip is led by an Airman and comprised of Airmen, veterans, and their families and will try to include wounded warriors and Airmen overcoming personal challenges.



For more information on the 29 May hike up Mt. Humphreys or for Airmen/veterans to sign up, visit: www.usaf50summits.com/arizona.html.


The Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, is making a difference, and it will help to put new technologies into the hands of warfighters, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in Mountain View, California, May 11.



Carter announced the formation of another technology hub to be built in Boston and introduced Raj Shah as the managing partner of DIUx.



The unit stood up last year as a way to get ideas and products from Silicon Valley into the Defense Department quickly.



Shah spoke about the need for this in ways his fellow warfighters would relate to.



Software Issues



Shah, an Air National Guard F-16 pilot and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, spoke about flying an F-16 near the border of Iraq and Iran. Unfortunately, while our aircraft had GPS systems, the software did not allow for moving maps with outlines of those borders, he said. As a pilot flying over unfriendly territory often at 500 mph at night, knowing whether we were on the Iranian or the Iraqi side of the border was a really big deal to us.





He will be joined by Vishaal Hariprasad, an Air Force Reserve captain, combat veteran and Bronze Star recipient, who co-founded a successful cybersecurity start-up and served as head of threat intelligence at a large public company.

Raj Shah, director of the Defense Department's innovation hub and an Air National Guardsman, talks about his experience as a pilot in Mountain View, Calif., during a visit by Defense Secretary Ash Carter, May 11, 2016.

While the F-16s didnt have the software, he said, private pilots flying Cessnas at home could load an app on their iPads and have no problems.



Transitioning that capability from the civilian world to the military would end up costing many millions of dollars and take multiple years to deploy, Shah said.



That is an example of what the DIUx is committed to overcoming, he said.



Technology is worthless without people who understand it and who can find ways to make it adapt to new requirements, Carter said. Another way we're investing in innovation is through people, the secretary said.



Two-Way Talent Flow



The program has built on-ramps and off-ramps for technical talent to flow between DoD and the tech sector in both directions, Carter said. The new Defense Digital Service brings in technologists for a tour of duty with the department, the secretary said.



These are talented people who are coming into DoD just for a year or two, maybe one project, Carter said. But they make a lasting contribution to us and our mission, and also experience being part of something bigger than themselves.



Already, these experts have helped DoD share information with the Department of Veterans Affairs. They're working with a team that's developing a better and more secure next-generation GPS to be used by billions of people around the world, military and civilian alike, Carter said.



Another team, he said, is improving the departments systems for tracking sexual assaults to better understand these crimes and eliminate them.



Later this month, they will work with a team to pilot one of the largest deployments of a commercial cloud computing platform -- largest ever -- to help streamline how we manage travel orders and reservations for DoDs nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, making it easier to use and more efficient of taxpayer dollars, Carter said.



Hack the Pentagon Project



They were also part of the Hack the Pentagon project, which already has found 80 bugs in the system that needed to be fixed, the secretary said.



The department has learned from DIUx and will learn more, Carter said. He then announced DIUx 2.0. Were not just iterating, were scaling, he said. Since creating DIUx, its become even clearer to me how valuable  this concept is of DIUx. And because America has many geographic centers of technical excellence, we already intend to open a second DIUx office to be located in the innovation hub of Boston, and there will be more.



Defense Secretary Ash Carter talks about the future of the Defense Departments innovation hub, Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., May 11, 2016.



The secretary said funding will be increased for the effort. In our budget for the coming year, we've requested $30 million in new funding to direct towards nontraditional companies with emerging commercially based technologies that meet our militarys needs, he said. With co-investment from the military services, this number is really just a starting point.



These resources will mean capabilities that will ensure U.S. service members will maintain their advantage, the secretary said.



DIUx will report directly to me, Carter added. I cant afford to have everybody do that, but this is to signify the importance I attach to this mission, and also the importance of speedy decision-making.

"This impressive team partner will be joined by an equally impressive team of reservists who will serve at the DIUx in a first-of-its-kind reserve unit. America's reservists, our part-time soldiers can provide unique value here as they do in so many areas given the fact that many of these citizen-patriots are tech industry leaders when they are not on duty for DOD," Carter stated in his blog "The 'X' is for Experimental."





(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)
Modi's comparison of Kerala with Somalia backfires

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have scored an own goal by comparing Kerala to Somalia as one of the worst states in terms of development and law and order during his campaign in the state.

His comparison of Kerala with Somalia in terms of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) while addressing an election rally in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, has created ripples in the social media with people mocking and satirising his poor knowledge of the state and his lack of sensitivity towards the achievements it has made in human development in the last 60 years.

Modi has questioned the very achievements that have made Keralites proud all over the world. He has compared Kerala, which has the lowest IMR of 12 in India, with Somalia, which has a very high IMR of 137. His comments are based on an image carried by the media in which a couple of boys belonging to a scheduled tribe were shown eating out of a waste dump in Kannur district.

The state government had already clarified that the boys were among a group of a students in a school at Peravoor who were in the habit of skipping classes and collecting scraps to get food of their liking from hotels.

Chief minister Oommen Chandy said there was no need for anybody in the state to eat stale food since his government has been providing rice at Rs1 per kg to people living below the poverty line and mid-day meals, which include egg and milk, to more than 25 lakh students.

He termed Modi's remark as an insult to Kerala and asked him to withdraw the statement.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury termed Modi's comparison of Kerala with Somalia outrageous. He said even school children know that Kerala tops the country in human development indicators.

Kapil Sibal, All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesman, said tongue in cheek that Modi had compared Kerala with Somalia as he had not visited the sub-Saharan country so far. He urged the external affairs ministry to arrange a visit of the Prime Minister to Somalia to get a clear view of the situation in the country.

The Prime Minister did not make any attempt even to clarify his controversial statement in his last election meeting in the state on Wednesday. On the contrary, Modi questioned the wisdom of the educated Keralites in electing the Left front and the Congress to power alternately while addressing his last election meeting at Tripunithura.

Earlier, Malayalis from across the world trolled Modi on Twitter under #PoMoneModi, which is a popular movie reference that literally means ''go back, son''. The Twitteratti predicted doom for the BJP in the election on 16 May for hurting the Malayali pride.
With temperatures slightly over 20 degrees at times, Donegal fried on Friday the 13th with weather experts suggesting that temperatures tomorrow and through to Monday will drop slightly to between 16 and 17 degrees with lots of sunshine.

Over the last week we have all been blessed in Donegal with temperatures touching the mid twenties and non-stop sunshine - however, those temperatures have not been repeated in all areas in the country or indeed abroad.

Earlier this week many parts in the south of the country experienced quite cloudy conditions and several outbursts of heavy rain. In traditional family resorts like Benalmadena, Malaga and Mallorca, conditions have been described as cloudy with scattered showers - a phrase we are quite used to here in Ireland.

Back in Donegal, from Fahan stretching across to Maghery and all the way down to Muckross, Fintra, Murvagh. Rossnowlagh and Bundoran, sun worshippers have made the most of the continuing balmy conditions.

The hottest place to be on Saturday morning is down at the fishing port of Killybegs when, for the first time, two large cruise ships will arrive in the port within an hour of each, other bringing massive numbers to the south and west of the county.

As large queues form in most of the service stations (not for petrol I might add) for that indispensable 99 or chilled soft drinks,, retailers are hoping that this could be the start of a truly great summer.

Pictured earlier this week: Enjoying the great weather Mullinasole men Darragh Quinn and his young son Sean along with Eamonn McGowan and his trusted cannine friend Alfie. INDD 1205 FP Possible 1 MVB
Dun na NGall , the ancient name for Donegal translates into the very apt Fort of the Strangers. It is a town that has welcomed many through the years, some as simple tourists, others who have blended into the local community and made their lives here.

This week I met up with one of the most pleasant but also an extremely formidable person in her own right.

Rajni Singh Carney is a native of the Philippines of both Filipino/Indian descent but spent considerable time in the United States where she became a citizen.

Married to Sean Carney the General Manager at Lough Eske Castle Rajni is very much her own person and is carving out her own niche in Donegal.

Rajni spoke of her earlier days before coming to Donegal, I studied Hotel Management in Switzerland and after a spell there I went on to gain experience in the United States and thats where I first met Sean  we were both working together in management positions.

It wasnt love at first sight, she joked We matured well together like a good wine and after a year we started going out with each other.

The couple travelled and worked in some of the most prestigious locations in the world  St John in the Caribbean, Alabama, St. Lucia and New York .

The life of an hotel manager is a nomadic one  one that can bring you to many parts of the globe but Rajni said Sean is an Irishman deep at heart  he really was more Irish than the Irish here at home. In New York he was deeply involved in everything Irish  the GAA in Gaelic Park, rugby, if it was Irish, Sean was there. Deep down I alway knew that we would end up back here in Ireland.

Rajni continued, I had been to Cork and Dublin but as for Donegal, I knew absolutely nothing about it. An opportunity arose within the company at Lough Eske Castle and without too much consideration we jumped at it and theres been no looking back since.

What were Rajnis initial impressions of Donegal? You want me to be honest ? I was freezing for the first few weeks  the Caribbean to Donegal Bay is a rather dramatic move but in a very short time, I learned to love it.

The air is just so clean and fresh and the land and seascapes are just so invigorating  around every corner you come across something different, it is a very inspirational country. I know it sounds like a cliche but the warmth of the people makes up for those wet and windy days  people are just so genuinely friendly.

Your son Kieran goes to the local Gaelscoil in Donegal, what inspired that choice? Simple  he is Irish but we also loved the openness that the Gaelscoil demonstrates. Even with the limited resources that the school has you can really see the dedication and genuine care for the children's development from the teachers. The children learn a second language which is great for their development and again because Kieran is Irish we only thought it appropriate that he learn his native language.

At this stage I feel I have become part of the community- being involved with the Gaelscoil and being part of the Parents' Association has really made me feel part of Donegal. Of course through the hotel, which has also a good local clientele I have also made many friends.

 I really can identify with a slogan I have heard about Donegal  Only once a stranger, forever a friend.

Like many here in Ireland cancer has impacted on Rajnis life but has also played a major part in shaping her future.

She said, You see, my mom is a cancer survivor; a warrior like no other who continues to fight the disease since being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 1994.

Everyday since, in her opinion, has been a gift that she has taken advantage of, vowing to live life to the fullest and do good wherever possible. When one is diagnosed with a seemingly terminal illness, in reality theyve got two options  give up or press on. My mom has always chosen the latter, in spite of everything this disease has taken from her, shes never let it take her hope.

Rajni, along with her business partner Christine, established a company which now operates out of the US and has partnerships in four countries and exports to both the USA and Canada and also has a number of outlets in Ireland in The Front Porch in Killybegs and Havana in Dublin but this is a company with a very different ethos.

Since we established Une Echarpe Une Vie, (One Scarf, One life) my mothers enthusiasm has been contagious and her hope has become our hope.

For me, Im so happy to be part of this because I see the impact that happens at the local level when a scarf is sold. A living income is given to the weavers and a chain reaction of amazing things occur stimulating, at times, an entire village. I have added income myself because I make the pretty pouches that these scarves come in! What may seem like a small impact to most is actually quite huge when you see it through the weavers eyes.

Continuing, We exist as a company because we are driven by a desire to improve lives, not just days. We work with people not machines.

These women have managed to turn their ashes into beautyand the beautiful garments they make is a testament to that. We like to say all the time that its more than a scarf , because our scarves are made by women who previously had no hope--written off as being uneducated and deemed unable to effectively contribute to society.

Whether coming out of situations of debilitating sickness, sexual abuse, extreme poverty or rescued from human trafficking these women are heroes, they refused to give up.

I suppose to a degree there are certain similarities to life in Donegal many years ago where Magee were famous for their hand woven tweeds and hand knits. This offered many local women the opportunity to work at home and gain a sense of independence and self esteem.

This inspiring woman, only sees a problem as a challenge adds: When I walk around the lake here, or take to the hill and see so many colours and shades I know that we will soon be bringing an Irish flavour to many of our scarves. For those who would like to view these unique creations you can check them out at uneecharpeunevie.com

Pictured: Main photo, Rajni Singh Carney and (inset) Rajni's mother, Mercedita, who goes by the name Nene and provided great inspiration for Rajni.
Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, Joe McHugh, has said that he will be disappointed if he fails to secure a ministerial position in the coming days.

It was expected that the Cabinet would approve the full complement of 15 second-tier ministers yesterday, or at the Cabinet meeting which precedes the next sitting of the Dail on May 17th. Their names will then be announced in the Dail.

Deputy Joe McHugh told the Democrat: I will be disappointed to be honest, not only for myself, but for the entire county.

Going on previous make-ups, a geographical spread is always a factor in ministerial appointments.

Deputy McHugh said that his current appointment had spurred huge controversy but that he had worked to the very best of his ability and that the work is ongoing.

I put my heart and soul into it, he said.

Deputy McHugh chose to conduct the interview with the Donegal Democrat entirely through the medium of Irish.

Deputy McHugh, who was elected as Chairperson of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in July 2011, said that the decision to hand out the roles lies entirely with the Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

The decision will be made by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the former teacher said.

Of the remaining 12 positions left to be filled, it is expected that at least three, or possibly four, will be women.

It had been reported that of the backbenchers the two most widely tipped for promotion are Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South) and Sean Kyne (Galway West), both of whom formed part of the Fine Gael negotiations team.

Mr. Kyne is a fluent Irish speaker and may be considered for the Gaeltacht position  the senior minister in the department, Heather Humphreys, is not a fluent Irish speaker.

Deputy McHugh said that he has received very positive feedback regarding his role as Gaeltacht minister.

I feel that I did a good job as Gaeltacht minister. I have been receiving very positive feedback in relation to how I did, and you have to remember that I had a large portfolio, he said.

Deputy McHugh is the current Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources with special responsibility for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources.
Halloween creatures  owls, crows and bats  all live at Crossroads, and that makes us very happy, for these scary animals make a positive contribution to the habitats of the preserve. We don't even mind black cats, IF they are kept indoors. Feral and outdoor cats are exceedingly harmful to wildlife ... and that's not a superstition! But to tamp down superstitions, we at Crossroads will spend the week demystifying Halloween creatures.

On October 28, 2022, at 6 p.m. will be our Evening with Owls. The Open Door Bird Sanctuary will be at Crossroads, offering a one-hour presentation followed by the opportunity to meet and greet live birds. Learn all about owls and the other incredible birds in the care of the Sanctuary!

Down through the centuries, in many cultures throughout the world, owls have been associated with evil and death. Truth is, owls probably are not smart enough to be evil. But researchers agree that owls are about as dim as the nighttime forests in which they hunt.

Owls don't need to be smart. They have everything else going for them. They are muscular. They fly silently. Their huge eyes enable them to see in the dark. Their beaks and talons are strong and wickedly sharp. But their sensitive ears are what make owls extraordinary hunters.

Most people assume that the plumicorns (a.k.a. "horns) of an owl are its ears. Not so.

The actual ears lie under feathers on the sides of the head, and they aren't symmetrical. Because one ear is higher than the other and the ears are unequal in size, sound is different from different directions, helping owls locate prey, which they do almost unfailingly, even in total darkness.

Owls do not smell their prey. As with most birds, the sense of smell is insignificant, if it exists are all. Great Horned Owls frequently prey on skunks. Enough said.

But well-developed intelligence? Researchers have observed owls beating their wings on bushes to try to flush out little birds. Is this learned behavior? Is it problem-solving?

Maybe.

For the most part, owls do not have a lot of problems to solve. They appropriate abandoned nests of other birds, so they don't need building skills. They are stealthy by nature, and they pounce on and usually catch anything they hear, so they don't need hunting techniques.

In spite of ghost stories, legends of American First People, and superstitions from Europe and India, hooting owls do not foretell impending death, although their nocturnal calls are spooky. We hear them now and then this time of year, but we will regularly hear those eerie calls at Crossroads in January or February.

In contrast to owls, crows are noisy all year round and they are amazingly intelligent. They can learn. They can remember. They can solve problems. They can even identify individual humans. And they detest owls, though whether this is innate or learned behavior is not clear.

Those curious about crows will want to attend the Crossroads Book Club on Wednesday, October 26, at 10:00 a.m. This month, the book Crow Planet, Essential Wisdom for the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt will explore the fascinating world of these remarkable birds. The program is free and open to all, whether or not they have read the book.

So bring the family to our program on owls, learn about crows at the Crossroads Book Club, or learn about bats at our pre-school Junior Nature Club on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. or our Family Science Saturday program at 2:00 p.m. Costumes are encouraged but not required at Junior Nature Club and Science Saturday, and adult visitors are welcome.
An Ozark man received 10-year split sentence, with three years to serve in prison, after he pleaded guilty to molesting a 7-year-old girl.

Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams said Michael Glenn Pinkerton, 19, of Ozark, pleaded guilty to a felony first-degree sex abuse charge in front of Dale County Circuit Court Judge William Filmore.

Adams said as part of Pinkertons guilty plea a felony first-degree rape charge was reduced to felony first-degree sex abuse. The court ordered Pinkerton to serve a 10-year prison sentence, and then split the sentence with three years to serve in the Department of Corrections. Adams said Pinkerton will have to serve the entire three years in prison with no early release because of the split sentence.

Dale County Sheriffs deputies took Pinkerton into custody earlier this week at the conclusion of the hearing to serve out his sentence in prison.

Part of the agreement was he goes to prison, Adams said. He was sentenced and immediately remanded for execution of sentence.

Upon the completion of the three years in prison, Pinkerton was ordered to complete 60 months of supervised probation. A first-degree sodomy charge was dismissed as part of the guilty plea agreement.

Dale County Sheriffs investigators arrested Pinkerton in November 2014, and charged him with felony first-degree rape and felony first-degree sodomy. The first-degree sodomy charge was dismissed.

Court records show the victim was around 7 years old when the offense occurred between September 2012 and January 30, 2013.

He was 16 years old when this occurred, and was charged as an adult even though it wasnt brought to light until he was 18, Adams said. The defendant was interviewed by Ozark police and confessed to sexually abusing the young victim.

Adams said the victim moved to Florida after the offense happened, and had some interviews with officials at the Florida equivalent of the Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center. Adams said prosecutors offered a plea agreement with a reduced charge after it became difficult to get the Florida officials to testify in a trial in Dale County.

In the end hes going to prison, and hell be a sex offender for the rest of his life, Adams said.
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The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties.
Home Four wheelers Super Sedan Honda Civic Likely Return To India oi-Kennedy

Choosing between a hatchback, sedan or an SUV could be a task in itself. Well, here is the Honda Civic, a Coupe in design might make up your mind.

The Honda Civic is an icon in India and sought after by one and all in India, be it the youth or even if you are not and you have the motoring adrenalin in you, the Honda Civic is likely to make its way to India.

When the Honda Civic was launched in India, the most exciting part was it was the only car with paddle shifters, which was usually seen in a Formula Cars. It drove many to own the uniquely featured car.































Honda has moved slowly towards mass market oriented cars like the Amaze or the Mobilio, they moved away from performance cars only due to customers preference started to change and wanted a car which is more to do with the pricing and features.

Yoichiro Ueno, president and CEO, Honda Cars India Ltd said, "For a while, the current City can accommodate customers who own the previous models." When the time comes for the upgrade from the City, the Civic will be in India.

The New Honda Civic in the USA is powered by 2.0-litre, 4-cyclinder i-VTEC and a 1.5-litre i-VTEC turbo petrol engines, the 2.0-litre churns out 158bhp and 187Nm of torque; the 1.5-litre turbocharged engine develops 174bhp and 220Nm of torque. This will be mated to a 6-speed manual or CVT gearbox.

For India, there could be the option of the diesel engine of 1.6-litre i-DTEC that will produce 118bhp and 300Nm of torque.

Honda's premium segment took a beating and only the Honda City is still the best car around which takes care of performance and economical too.

What Honda thinks is that once the owners of the Honda City looks to upgrade and move up the scale, the Honda Civic is the best go-to-car. They feel that the Civic is now ready for its India entry by 2017 or even 2017, when customers will be more accepting of the current generation Honda Civic.

As of now, Honda has the 10th generation Civic and that could make its way to India in a couple of years. Honda will launch the Accord Hybrid in September, 2016 and they will need to plug the gap between the City and the Accord and gain the premium segment leadership in the market.

The 8th generation Honda Civic which was sold in India between 2006 to 2013 sold nearly 2500 units a month, however, the margin started to shrink for the Japanese automobile manufacturer. This led to the discontinuing of the Civic in India.
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Republicans may have prevailed in their latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act, but its nothing but another political stunt.

Its the same old story from Republicans: Do everything possible to make government look dysfunctional in an effort to dismantle it.

On Thursday, a federal judge struck down a portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), ruling that President Obama overstepped his authority in funding a provision of the law that sent billions of dollars in subsidies to health insurers.

The same judge put the ruling on hold, pending an appeal from the Obama administration, which is certain to come. So there will be no immediate effect, despite Twitter trolls proclaiming with complete ignorance that the ACA, or Obamacare, has been defunded.

Obamacare has not been defunded, and tax subsidies that help consumers pay for insurance remain in place despite the ruling. What is in jeopardy are payments to insurers that help them keep out-of-pocket costs low for consumers. Insurance industry experts have voiced concerns that taking away these payments to insurers  the very corporations Republicans usually support  will ultimately drive up insurance rates. Despite some insurers claiming that they are losing money by being in the ACA marketplace, none of them are going under. Many others have reaffirmed their commitment to selling policies through the marketplace.

Experts agree the ruling is almost certainly not enough to bring down the law. But the ruling, even if its overturned, will create short-term uncertainty in the marketplace, just when insurers are setting rates for 2017. If Republicans want to claim that the cost of insurance plans are still to high under Obamacare during the 2016 election cycle, they only have themselves to blame. (Well, along with insurance companies who still arent doing enough to lower rates, but thats another story.)

Not only are House Republicans creating havoc in the free market they typically fall all over themselves to endorse by meddling with insurers, they may also drive up Obamacares cost to government, which will have to pick up the financial slack if the ruling is upheld.

This is all a familiar strategy from Republicans: Take outrageous steps to obstruct or cripple government programs, then scream bloody murder that government is broken. Even though theyre the ones creating the dysfunction, theyll then try to convince Americans that they are the only ones who can come to the rescue. This, despite the fact that Republicans have not put forward a single reasonable proposal to replace Obamacare if it were repealed that doesnt put undue financial and health risks on the people who need insurance the most, such as those with chronic conditions and low-income people.

Oh, and by the way: Taxpayers are footing the bill for this lawsuit  which is unprecedented. Congress has never tried to sue the Executive Branch in the history of this country.

For House Speaker Paul Ryan to claim that this ruling is an historic win for the Constitution and the American people because the court ruled that the administration overreached by spending taxpayer money without approval from the peoples representatives is ludicrous.

The American people  including the 20 million Americans now covered under the ACA, most at lower costs  never asked the U.S. House of Representatives to put forward a lawsuit at our expense. But instead of working together to find ways to improve on Obamacare, House Republicans would much rather try to find a way to burn it down, without any concern for the cost to Americans finances and lives.

[Photo credit: Chris Savage | Eclectablog]
In 1990, Gov. Jim Blanchard signed Public Act 319 of 1990 in to law. The law prohibits local units of government from passing laws that restrict the ownership, registration, purchase, sale, transfer, transportation, or possession of pistols, other firearms, or pneumatic guns, ammunition for pistols or other firearms, or components of pistols or other firearms. Its a pretty unambiguous law and has caused some municipalities to repeal local gun ordinances.

However, this was not enough for gun fetishists who want the ability to carry guns wherever and whenever they please, despite the wishes of the citizens in their community. In Ann Arbor, for example, the public school system passed policies that prohibit the carrying of guns on school property whether its allowed by state law or not. They were sued in court and, last September, Judge Carol Kuhnke ruled against the plaintiffs and sided with the school district. In her decision Kuhnke pointed out that schools are not considered local units of government and had the right, even the obligation under state law, to protect the students, teachers, administrators, parents in their schools.

Kuhnkes decision seems well-founded. PA 319 specifically defines a local unit of government as a city, village, township, or county. Nonetheless, her ruling is now under appeal and is expected to be litigated for months, maybe years to come.

In response to this and sincere desire to ensure that local governments dont do anything that patriarchal Republicans in the state legislature havent give them permission to do, Republican Lee Chatfield introduced House Bill 4795 in August of last year. In its current form, the bill imposes a number of highly punitive measures on local units of government who attempt to disobey PA 319, something that is, of course, already illegal. According to the House Fiscal Agencys analysis, HB 4795 does the following with regards to local ordinances:

If the court finds that the measure violates this act, it would issue an injunction restraining the local unit of government from enforcing the measure, order it to repeal the measure, and award actual damages, costs, and reasonable attorney fees to the individual or organization challenging the measure. Further, if the court finds that an elected or appointed official, or the council, commission, or board of the local unit of government, knowingly and willfully violated the act, the elective or highest appointive executive official must notify by mail all registered electors in the local unit of government. The notice may not include the name of the individual or organization that brought the action, and must include both of the following : The circuit courts finding that the local unit of government knowingly and willfully violated this act; and

The aggregate cost incurred by defending the action brought under this act, including, but not limited to, the amount of actual damages, costs, and reasonable attorney fees that were awarded to the party bringing the action.

Its worth noting that local units of government would be forced to pay plaintiffs legal fees even if they amend or repeal their local law.

Believe it or not, this bill to make an already illegal act MORE illegal is actually a softened version of the original bill. The original bill would have imposed a fine of up to $5,000 against local officials and they would not have been permitted to use public funds to defend or reimburse themselves.

The bill has been voted out favorably from the House Judiciary Committee and, on May 4th, the Committee on Local Government sent it to the full House.

Normally I dont get too outraged by these making something already illegal MORE illegal pieces of legislation. However, this one will have a chilling effect. East Lansing City Attorney Tom Yeadon, for example, told the City Council that they would have to repeal any local ordinances just to be safe:

Yeadon explained at last nights meeting, as well as in a memo submitted in conjunction with the meeting, that if the bill passes, the City will have no real option other than to repeal any existing ordinances that might set off the penalties described in the bill, and to not attempt to pass any new ones. The way the bill is designed was described as consisting of super-preemption, meaning it attempts to stop local governments from even considering doing anything against the will of those in power at the State level, in this case, pro-gun-rights Republicans. Linda Brundage, Executive Director of the Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, spoke in total opposition to the bill during Public Comments last night. Brundage warned Council that if this bill passes, any kind of regulation involving firearms, even the most mundane, would become too risky.

The Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence spells it out further:

The outcomes of HB 4795 would be stark: Local governments could spend thousands, even millions of dollars defending themselves against an onslaught of lawsuits brought to take advantage of the monetary awards provided by HB 4795.

Local governments who decide to repeal or amend challenged ordinances would still be forced to pay the attorney fees and legal costs for the plaintiff in lawsuits. []

Enacting or enforcing any type of local regulation involving firearms, even the most mundane such as where a firearm may be discharged, would become too risky. Local governments and officials would be forced to stay away from any such regulations altogether and put residents in danger.

In other words: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED for the NRA, the gun industry, and their gun fetishist supporters. And thats the real fear here, that the NRA and other gun industry lobbyists will exert their significant financial and political power to challenge each and every local ordinance in Michigan pertaining to firearms because, if they are successful, the financial payoff will be huge for them. They arent afraid to say it either. The NRAs lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action, a group that spent over $11 million buying votes in the 2014 election cycle, is very clear in their intent and isnt above using insulting, patriarchal language in doing so:

While Public Act 319 of 1990 was largely successful in accomplishing the intended goal, certain obstinate local units of government and local politicians in Michigan continue to egregiously violate Michigan law through the enactment of unlawful regulations and ordinances intended to target, intimidate, and sometimes unlawfully detain law-abiding gun owners. This conduct, which only impacts responsible gun owners while doing nothing to address violent crime, cannot continue. If the government can seek recourse when its citizens break the law (i.e. tickets, fines and imprisonment), then it is only right that the citizens be allowed to seek recourse when a local unit of government breaks the law. House Bill 4795 is simply intended to deter insubordinate local units of government and local politicians from knowingly breaking the law.

Please make your voice known on this legislation by contacting your legislatures as soon as possible. Its time the gun lobbys inordinate power to set policy and enact laws was stopped and that power returned to the citizens of our state.
Today, The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released a joint guidance to help provide educators the information they need to provide all students, including transgender students, a school environment that is safe and welcoming. The guidance is not legally binding but it makes clear that the Obama administration sees anti-transgender rules, regulations, and laws in violation of federal law including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

Here are some of the comments from members of the Obama administration connected to this historic letter:

U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr.:

No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus. This guidance further clarifies what weve said repeatedly  that gender identity is protected under Title IX. Educators want to do the right thing for students, and many have reached out to us for guidance on how to follow the law. We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.

Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch:

There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex. This guidance gives administrators, teachers, and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies. I look forward to continuing our work with the Department of Education  and with schools across the country  to create classroom environments that are safe, nurturing, and inclusive for all of our young people.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta (head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division):

Every child deserves to attend school in a safe, supportive environment that allows them to thrive and grow. And we know that teachers and administrators care deeply about all of their students and want them to succeed in school and life. Our guidance sends a clear message to transgender students across the country: here in America, you are safe, you are protected and you belong  just as you are. We look forward to working with school officials to make the promise of equal opportunity a reality for all of our children

The blowback from this is likely to be vigorous. However, it is misplaced. Media Matters reports that schools where measures to protect transgender students have had exactly ZERO problems:

The collective experience of 17 U.S. school districts has shattered the right-wing myth that says prohibiting discrimination against transgender students causes confusion and inappropriate behavior. Years after implementing their own anti-discrimination policies, none of the schools have experienced any problems.

Here in Michigan, a similar guidance is being proposed and the main proponent of its creation, State Board of Education Chair John Austin has been repeatedly attacked for it.

Stephanie White, Executive Director of Equality Michigan, spells out more of the impacts in Michigan:

Todays action will also have a significant impact on the anti-trans bathroom inspection bill that has been proposed here in Michigan by State Senator Tom Casperson. Todays federal guidance underscores what Equality Michigan has been saying from day one: Caspersons proposal violates Title IX and would endanger transgender students across Michigan. As youve heard from us in recent days, while Casperson has yet to introduce his bill, opposition has been mounting rapidly and includes: over 150 faith leaders, parents, leading Michigan businesses, including Kellogg, Herman Miller, Dow, and Whirlpool, the National Association of Social Workers  Michigan, Michigan Association of School Social Workers, Mental Health Association in Michigan, Michigan School Health Coordinators Association, Association for Childrens Mental Health, and many others. Frankly, this growing chorus of opposition comes as no surprise at a time when both everyday Michiganders and a growing majority of reasonable policymakers in Lansing realize the value of building a state that is welcoming to all and that values both diversity and inclusion. In Michigan and across the United States anti-LGBT bills, like Caspersons, have become the pet project of extremists, not the stuff of serious leaders who are working to move our state and country forward. From every corner of our state, Michiganders have spoken out strongly in opposition to Senator Caspersons bathroom inspection bill. Todays action by the Obama administration makes it crystal clear that Senator Caspersons bill would put Michigan on a collision course with federal civil rights authorities and force our schools into the impossible position of having to choose between complying with the Casperson bathroom policing law or with their legal obligations under Title IX. In North Carolina, where a similar bill was passed into law, a federal civil rights lawsuit has already been filed against the state by the U.S. Department of Justice. Thats the last thing Michigan needs.

While some presidents phone in the last year of their presidencies, its clear that President Obama has not intention of doing that. So grab some popcorn and get ready for the anti-LGBTQ, bigoted conservatives heads to explode. And, while youre at it, celebrate. This is truly a BFD.

Also, if you havent already, watch this short speech by AG Lynch on this topic (and bring yer hankies, its powerful and profound):
Google has rehired former executive Rick Osterloh to lead its hardware businesses, which it plans to consolidate under a single division, according to news reports published last week.

Osterloh, who recently stepped down as president of Motorola, reportedly will head up Googles Nexus business, which will include a suite of products dubbed the living room.

It looks like Google is trying to develop a coherent hardware product strategy and fix the hodgepodge collection of hardware products scattered all over Google, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

With a centralized group, Google can share development expertise and costs. It should lead to better products and products that work together, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Unified Devices

Google reportedly had planned to reshuffle its hardware businesses following the departure of Regina Dugan, advanced technology and project chief, who left to join Facebook. It was developing technologies such as artificial intelligence and upgrading its existing product line, including Chromebooks, to better compete against a number of startups.

In addition to Nexus, the new division reportedly will include Googles OnHub home router, Chromecast, ATAP and Google Glass, the wearable headgear that is being redeveloped under Project Aura.

Nest CEO Tony Fadell will remain as an adviser to the Glass team. Hiroshi Lockheimer will continue to work on Nexus, but he will move over to work on software and platform development.

Most people figured that Osterloh wouldnt be unemployed for long after leaving Motorola, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

Along with being highly experienced and skilled, hes well-liked and respected across the industry, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Motorola Moves

Google agreed tosell its Motorola Mobility smartphone business to Lenovo in 2014 for US$2.91 billion, a move designed to increase Lenovos presence in the U.S. and Latin American smartphone business. The deal made Lenovo the worlds third largest maker of smartphones at the time.

In one of his first major moves after the sale closed, Osterloh last year led the re-entry of Motorola into the Chinese market with the Moto G and Moto X, two years after the company withdrew from that market. The Chinese market had been a difficult environment to compete in, as rivals such as Xiaomi and Huawei were growing at a rapid pace and pushed Motorola on price.

The China re-entry was one of his proudest moments at the company, he said last year.

International device makers that cant make themselves relevant to Chinese consumers are dead, Osterloh said. Meanwhile, savvy homegrown companies are taking advantage of this landscape to use China as a launchpad for their own global ambitions.

The American market was still important but mature and in some ways stodgy, he said, adding that the most interesting opportunities in mobile was on the frontiers of the business.

Wait and See

During the fiscal third quarter, which ended in December, Lenovo reported that global smartphone volume was down 18.1 percent year over year, with 20.2 million units sold.

Little-known Chinese mobile phone companiesOPPO andVivo pushed Lenovo and Xiaomi out of the worlds top five smartphone market share rankings, IDC reported last week.

Motorola earlier this year announced plans to restructure its businesses by focusing on two product subbrands, Moto and Vibe.

Lenovo last month announced plans to restructure its global business, which included naming Xudong Chen and Aymar de Lencquesaing, the former head of Lenovo North America, as co-presidents of its Mobile Business Group.

Osterloh is well regarded, but Googles hardware business has gone nowhere and the question, is can anyone make it work? said analyst Jeff Kagan.

Its not like at Motorola he has transformed the business into a hot growing handset opportunity under Lenovo, he told the E-Commerce Times.

So while there is great opportunity with Google, I would rather withhold judgment and see if he can get the hardware business off the ground, Kagan added.

If he fails, I wouldnt blame him. Google has not been successful with Nexus or other hardware to date, Kagan said. So I just consider this another shot for Google.
Google on Wednesday announced that it would ban advertising for payday loans in its ad systems.

Starting July 13, the company will prohibit ads for payday loans and related products where funds are due within 60 days of the date of issue, as well as ads for loans with an APR of 36 percent, said David Graff, Googles director of global product policy.

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, he said.

The company has an extensive set of policies to keep bad advertising out of its system, Graff said, adding that it disabled more than 780 million ads in 2015 to keep them off its search engine and other systems.

The change will not impact other financial services, such as mortgages, car loans, student loans, commercial loans and credit cards, he noted.

Questionable Impact

Google is addressing many of the longstanding concerns of the civil rights community regarding predatory lending policies, said Wade Henderson, CEO ofThe Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

These companies have long used slick advertising and aggressive marketing to trap consumers into outrageously high interest loans, which many consumers could not afford, he said.

It does cut off one of the ways that online payday borrowers have targeted borrowers, said Alan Horowitz, senior officer with the small-dollar loan project atThe Pew Charitable Trusts.

However, the overall impact will be modest at best, he told the E-Commerce Times.

About a third of overall payday lending is online, while the remaining two-thirds involve 16,000 payday lenders operating in 36 states, according to Pews research.

The top five payday advertisers spent US$277 million in ads from June 2012 to May 2013. MoneyMutual, the biggest, spent $212 million during that period, according to data Pew purchased from Nielsen.

In 2015, MoneyMutual agreed to end its payday loan lead-generation activities in New York and pay a $2.1 million penalty, according to the states Department of Financial Services. Former talk show host Montel Williams agreed to withdraw from TV ads shown in New York.

The company loaned money at rates of up to 1,300 percent, the department said.

Blanket Assessment

The policies are discriminatory and a form of censorship, theCommunity Financial Services Association said in a statement provided to the E-Commerce Times by spokesperson Amy Cantu.

Google is making a blanket assessment about the payday lending industry rather than discerning the good actors from the bad actors, the association said. The policy is unfair to those payday lenders that are legal, licensed and uphold best business practices.

TheConsumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed rule changes and enforcement activities. The bureau shares oversight authority with the Federal Trade Commission.

The proposed sending rules, expected to be completed this spring, would allow banks and credit unions to make short-term loans with a minimum of 45 days and maximum of six months for repayment, the bureau said. The rules would cap interest at 28 percent and fees at $20.

Many-Headed Beast

Online payday lenders use lead generators to bring in about 75 percent of their business, according to a 2015 report byUpturn.

For example, the CFPB in 2014 sued the Hydra Group, accusing it of making more than $97 million in loans through an illegal cash grab scheme in which it used online lead generators to make loans to people without their consent, depositing money into their bank accounts, and falsifying loan documents to make it seem as though the consumer had consented.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Manhattan announced an indictment against company owner Richard Moseley Sr.

Affiliates often pay $10 per click to have an ad next to a payday search term, according to Upturn, and the information is later sold for up to $200 at auction to other lead generators or payday lenders.
Facebook on Wednesday announced its board of directors is proposing a new class of shares that will allow its founder to pursue a number of different initiatives while maintaining long-term control over the company.

The news came on the heels of a blockbuster first quarter earnings report.

The plan calls for Facebook to offer non-voting Class C capital stock, which will allow CEO Mark Zuckerberg to pursue his long-term vision, as well as outside philanthropic work, while protecting Facebook from a dilution of voting stock and mitigating risk of a succession plan.

Zuckerberg is committed to the long-term success of the company, he wrote in a note posted Wednesday, and he intends to stay focused on initiatives like growing the use of video, increasing the availability of high-speed Internet around the world, and developing artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

He and his wife Priscilla have pledged to give away the vast majority of their Facebook shares through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, he noted, in an effort to better society at large.

While helping to connect the world will always be the most important thing I do, there are more global challenges that I feel a responsibility to help solve, Zuckerberg said. Like helping to cure all diseases by the end of this century, upgrading our educational system so its personalized for each student and protecting our environment from climate change.

The companys quarterly earnings report didnt hurt his case. Facebook announced an 87 percent in adjusted first-quarter earnings to more than US$2.2 billion, or 77 cents a share, beating Wall Street estimates.

Shares hit an all-time high of $120.79 on Thursday, before closing at $116.73, an increase of more than 7 percent above Wednesdays close. Shares closed Friday at $117.58.

Believe in Mark

Facebooks board believes that a large part of the companys success is thanks to Zuckerbergs leadership and that the company will need that leadership to ensure its long term success, wrote General Counsel Colin Stretch in a Wednesday post.

When the company was created, a dual class structure was set up in part to avoid some of the short-term pressures that can be placed on a startup, he explained.

Under the new plan, for every Class A and Class B share owned by an investor, Facebook plans to give out two new Class C shares. The shares will have the same economic rights as Class A and Class B, but the Class C shares will have no voting rights.

The plan will be subject to shareholder approval at the companys annual meeting on June 20; however the actual record date for the payment will be set by the board at a later date, Stretch said.

Class A shares will continue to trade under the FB stock symbol, but Class C shares will trade under a different symbol, following payment of the dividend. Stockholders will be able to continue to trade the Class C shares.

Investors should feel comfortable that Zuckerberg has guided the company on the right path with his pursuit of video and research and development, remarked Brian Blau, research vice president at Gartner.

Best for Everyone?

However, the new stock structure might not be the best long-term move for the company, according to Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Everything goes through lifecycles, including companies and industries, and what you often find is that the management that excels in one phase of the company or the industry life cycle, does not excel in others, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Is Zuckerberg one of the very few people that can lead the company through multiple cycles like Steve Jobs? he wondered. Is he an entrepreneur genius that should be focused on his next startup? Or is he a lucky one-hit wonder?
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Viking Profile

Viking Highlights Major/Minor:

Communications Classification:

Junior Hometown:

Bronx, New York Dream Job:

My dream job is to own my own radio or news station Your words to live by:

It is in herself, she will find the strength she needs- Tyler Knott Gregson Favorite place on campus

My favorite place on campus is my room. That is my favorite place because it is my own room where I can sleep, rest, chill do my homework, study and come as I please without having to worry about anyone else coming in without my consent. It is also my favorite place because the things in there express my personality and who I am. Professors that influence you the most

Professor Washington, public speaking; Professor Antonio Rook, mathematics and computer science

Bethany Eley

As Elizabeth City State University celebrates the 30th anniversary of its radio station, WRVS 89.9 FM, its important to remember that its the students who help make this station great. Thats where junior Bethany Eley comes into the picture.

Bethany is an on-air personality who hosts a show every Monday, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. A communications major, she is also a member of the Mass Media Club.

Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Bethany moved to Lexington, North Carolina when she was 14. Thats where she completed high school before making the decision to attend ECSU.

While Bethany is a very active in extracurricular activities as a member of the Viking family, she also recognizes the importance of her academic career here.

Over the past three years I have been heavily involved on the Elizabeth City State University campus, she says. However, as I became an upperclassman and got further into my major courses I realized academics was first and only stayed in things that contributed toward my major.

Bethany says if she were to impart her experience on other students, she would recommend taking advantage of all of the benefits found here at ECSU.

My advice for other students would be to take advantage of the small class sizes and really get to know your professors, go to office hours and really open up and talk to them, she says.

Bethany says these simple things really make the difference between a B and an A.

And you really have to remember that college is about networking and these professors have been where we are trying to go, she says.

She recognizes that the wisdom and experience her professors provide will assist her in pursuing her dreams.

Bethany says professors that have influenced her have provided support inside and outside of the classroom. These professors, she says, have gone the extra mile to make certain that she, and other students, have what they need in order to succeed here at ECSU and out in the world.

Professor (Antonio) Rook, who was both my algebra and computer applications professor, also stood out to me. He made me earn my grades, but was always willing to teach and help when needed, said Bethany.

She went on to explain that his influence has illustrated to her that if you want something, you must work for it.

Even though I am no longer taking any of Professor Rooks classes, he still keeps his doors and office open to help me prepare for graduate school and my life beyond Elizabeth City State University.
Tower of Refuge lit up for Red Cross week

The Tower of Refuge has gone red in support of international Red Cross week.

Local businesses are also backing the cause by asking their staff to donate money to wear red.

Money raised will go towards supporting the charity's projects as well as helping to raise awareness.

The Red Cross has been going for more than 150 years - Natalie Radford is the chairman for the Isle of Man fundraising committee:

Media

Natalie Radford
Visiting cruise ships are a 'big boost' for the economy

28 cruise ships will visit the Isle of Man in 2017 - the highest number ever recorded.

That's in addition to the 19 which will visit Manx waters this year.

Hundreds of passengers will have the chance to explore the Island as a result - spending their money on excursions, food and drink, and local products.

Cruise consultant Peter van Toor says it's vital the Island continues to make the effort to attract cruise business because it's a massive boost to our economy:

Media

Peter Van Toor
The frequent occurrence of same-sex behaviors in beetles of one sex could be explained by genes that are favored by natural selection when expressed in the opposite sex, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

The study by researchers from Uppsala University, Sweden sheds new light on same-sex sexual behavior in the animal kingdom through examination of the seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, a common beetle found in bean stores across the world.

Same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) is defined as a behavior usually displayed towards the opposite sex during mating and courtship, but which is instead displayed towards individuals of the same sex. Traditionally SSB has been explained in males as misidentification of their own sex for females, coupled with the low cost of promiscuity versus the high cost of missing an opportunity to mate. The same costs and benefits of mating with multiple partners do not apply to females which generally benefit less from this behavior. SSB in females has been suggested to be the mimicking of male behavior, or to be the result of the incomplete 'switching off' of genes that code for male mating behavior and which are shared by both sexes

In this study the scientists looked for evidence to support the theory that genetic links exist between SSB and other characteristics which carry benefits in one sex but not the other. Thus, SSB in one sex could occur because genetically linked traits are favored by natural selection in the opposite sex - the genetic tug of war.

The scientists based their hypothesis on the fact that most genes are expressed in both males and females and often code for more than one characteristic. For example, previous studies have reported that the same genes that code for SSB are also the genes that code for mobility. Mobility is known to be costly to female seed beetles as they do not need to range as far as males to mate.

To test their hypothesis, the team of scientists selectively bred male and female beetles to display increased SSB, studying how this affected their mobility and reproductive success compared to beetles that had been bred to display decreased SSB. The scientists showed that when a particular sex had been bred for increased SSB, siblings of the opposite sex enjoyed an increase in reproductive performance. They also showed changes in traits such as mobility and sex recognition after selective breeding on SSB, providing evidence for genetic links between SSB and these traits across the sexes, according to the researchers.

Dr David Berger, lead author of the research paper, said: "Our findings show that studying the genetic links between different characteristics in males and females can hold major clues to how genetic conflicts between the sexes shape the evolution of traits, and same-sex sexual behaviors are just one example of this. The genetic mechanism explaining the occurrence of SSB that we demonstrate in these beetles could apply equally well in very different animals."

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Media Contact

Anne Korn

Press Officer

BioMed Central

T: +44 (0)20 3192 2744

E: anne.korn@biomedcentral.com

Notes to editors:

1. Images are available from Anne Korn at BioMed Central. Ivain Martinossi-Allibert must be credited in any image re-use.

2. Sexually antagonistic selection on genetic variation underlying both male and female same-sex sexual behavior, David Berger, Tao You, Mara Ruiz Minano, Karl Grieshop, Martin Lind, Goran Arnqvist & Alexei A. Maklakov, BMC Evolutionary Biology 2016, DOI: 10.1186/s12862-016-0658-4

For an embargoed copy of the research article please contact Anne Korn at BioMed Central.

After the embargo lifts, the article will be available at the journal website here: http://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-016-0658-4

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

BMC Evolutionary Biology is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of molecular and non-molecular evolution of all organisms, as well as phylogenetics and palaeontology.

3. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Nature, a major new force in scientific, scholarly, professional and educational publishing, created in May 2015 through the combination of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media. http://www.biomedcentral.com
The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign has been awarded initial accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to offer a psychiatry residency training program beginning in 2017, Dr. Michele Mariscalco, dean of the College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign announced today. The ACGME is the national body responsible for post-M.D. training programs in the United States.

"The community of mid-central Illinois has identified that increased access to mental and behavior health services are one of their top health priorities. In particular, access to mental health professionals, mainly psychiatrists, is limited. This is especially problematic outside major metropolitan areas, such as Urbana-Champaign and Danville," shared Dean Mariscalco.

In response to the need for more psychiatrists who practice in East Central and Southern Illinois, the College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, along with their clinical partners Carle Foundation Hospital, Presence Health System, and the VA Illiana Health Care System will begin recruiting for the new residency program in the fall of 2016, for candidates who will begin in summer of 2017, through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), also known as "The Match."

The residency program's interim director, Dr. Suzanna Kitten, explains the program's focus. "The program will offer opportunities for in-depth training during the four-year general psychiatry program; including training in child psychiatry, integrated care, work with the veterans' population, and innovative research opportunities. Interdisciplinary training will be provided in conjunction with psychology interns (both PhD and Masters level), physician assistant students, psychiatric nurse practitioners, residents from other specialties, and medical students. Emphasis will be on evidence based approaches, as well as therapeutic interventions; thereby, providing the basis for a larger educational mission which will advance the quality of healthcare in the region."

In addition, "the residency program is already building strong relationships with the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to augment research opportunities for our future residents as well as U of I faculty. These relationships will be very fruitful for the further understanding and treatment of mental illness in the future," stated Dr. Gerald Welch, head of the college's Department of Psychiatry.

Dean Mariscalco highlights, "without the active engagement of all the clinical partners this residency program would not be possible. For over 35 years, the College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign and its clinical partners have partnered to provide an Internal Medicine Residency program. There are many practicing internists who are graduates of that program in East Central Illinois. Our experience in internal medicine, along with experience at the national level, suggests that a residency program is the quickest and surest way to attract and retain psychiatrists to the area."

Dr. Matthew Gibb, Executive Vice President and System Chief Medical Officer of Carle Foundation Hospital stated, "The approval from ACGME for a local psychiatry residency is a fantastic achievement and a testament to our collaboration. Access to behavioral healthcare is a challenge nationally and in our community. Many physicians choose to enter practice in the area they complete their residency which will mean more practicing psychiatrists in our community over time. Also, the addition of psychiatry to existing local graduate medical education programs in internal medicine, family medicine, general surgery, and oral maxillofacial surgery will bring more opportunity for local medical school graduates to continue specialty medical training in our community."

Community healthcare providers are equally excited about the addition of the new residency program. "Access to psychiatry services is essential in providing quality community based mental health services. The needs are great and having this residency program here provides hope for the future and opportunities for treatment, meaningful partnerships, and research aimed at recovery, improving, and saving lives," remarked Sheila Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer at Community Elements, Inc.

Nancy Greenwalt, Promise Healthcare Executive Director, stated, "It is a huge victory to have this psychiatry residency as part of our community. It is an opportunity to expand access to care and build future depth in our capacity to care for the underserved. Many of the University of Illinois College of Medicine Psychiatry Residency Program leaders care deeply about being able to serve all in our community--including those who are poor, uninsured, and underinsured. We look forward to working with them and the residents."

Dr. Jared Rogers, Regional President and Chief Executive Officer of Presence Health System, Central State Region sums up the impact of the residency program in this way, "There is currently a tremendous unmet need for mental care throughout our region as well as throughout the entire country. By developing this new psychiatry residency program for training more psychiatrists, we can have an impact on fulfilling this need in our region. The collaborative efforts in making this program a reality by the college and its clinical partners reflects the will of the healthcare community in seeking out new ways in which we can bring healing and hope to those we serve."

###

For more information on the new residency program, please visit: go.med.illinois.edu/psychiatryresidency.

The College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign is one of four campuses that comprise one of the largest public medical schools in the U.S. It has served the Urbana-Champaign area for over 40 years, educating more than 250 students annually, nearly 20 with NIH fellowships, and 45 residents at its 14 hospital affiliates. The University of Illinois College of Medicine has over 26,000 alumni across the United States.
The Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) will participate in a new National Microbiome Initiative launched today by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The initiative, announced at an event in Washington, D.C., will advance the understanding of microbiome behavior and enable the protection of healthy microbiomes, which are communities of microorganisms that live on and in people, plants, soil, oceans, and the atmosphere. Microbiomes maintain the healthy function of diverse ecosystems, and they influence human health, climate change, and food security.

The National Microbiome Initiative brings together scientists from more than 100 universities, companies, research institutions, and federal agencies. The goal is to investigate fundamental principles that govern microbiomes across ecosystems, and develop new tools to study microbiomes.

Berkeley Lab is well positioned to contribute to the national effort thanks to Microbes to Biomes, a Lab-wide initiative designed to understand, predict, and harness critical microbiomes for energy, food, environment, and health. The initiative involves scientists across Berkeley Lab in biology, environmental sciences, genomics, systems biology, computation, advanced imaging, material sciences, and engineering.

"It's exciting to see this coordinated National Microbiome Initiative launched. It is very much in line with our interdisciplinary vision for Microbes-to-Biomes and our goals of building a functional understanding of Earth's microbiomes," says Eoin Brodie, deputy director of Berkeley Lab's Climate and Ecosystem Sciences Division.

In addition, Brodie is the corresponding author of an editorial published [link when available] today in the journal mBio that calls for a predictive understanding of Earth's microbiomes to address some the most significant challenges of the 21st century. These challenges include maintaining our food, energy, and water supplies while improving the health of our population and Earth's ecosystems. Trent Northen, director of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division, and Mary Maxon, Biosciences Area principal deputy, are co-authors of the editorial.

More about Berkeley Lab's Microbes to Biomes Initiative

Microbes to Biomes brings together teams of Berkeley Lab scientists to discover causal mechanisms governing microbiomes and accurately predict responses. The goal is to harness beneficial microbiomes in natural and managed environments for a range of applications, including terrestrial carbon sequestration, sustainable growth of bioenergy and food crops, and environmental remediation.

The initiative, which aims to bridge the gap from microbe-scale to biome-scale science, takes advantage of Berkeley Lab's capabilities, ranging from biology, environmental sciences, genomics, systems biology, computation, advanced imaging, materials sciences, and engineering.

Berkeley Lab scientists are developing new approaches to monitor, simulate, and manipulate microbe-through-biome interactions and feedbacks. They're also creating controlled laboratory "ecosystems," which will ultimately be virtually linked to ecosystem field observatories. The initial goal is to build a mechanistic and predictive understanding of the soil-microbe-plant biome.

More about the mBio editorial

The mBio paper makes the case that given the extensive influence of microorganisms across our biosphere--they've shaped our planet and its inhabitants for over 3.5 billion years--and new scientific capabilities, the time is ripe for a cross-disciplinary effort to understand, predict, and harness microbiome function to help address the big challenges of today.

This effort could draw on rapidly improving advances in gene function testing as well as precision manipulation of genes, communities, and model ecosystems. Recently developed analytical and simulation approaches could also be utilized.

The goal is to improve prediction of ecosystem response and enable the development of new, responsible, microbiome-based solutions to significant energy, health, and environmental problems.

The mBio editorial was authored by eleven scientists from several institutions. The Berkeley Lab co-authors were supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

###

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
Florence, Italy - 13 May 2016: Myocardial fibrosis could be a future therapeutic target after researchers found it correlated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) referred for cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). The study was presented today at EuroCMR 2016 by Dr Yaron Fridman, a cardiology fellow at the Heart and Vascular Institute, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US.1

Dr Fridman said: "Fibrosis in the heart disrupts its normal architecture and function ultimately leading to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Patients with cardiovascular disease are at two to three times higher risk of having OSA. We hypothesised that quantifying myocardial fibrosis in patients with OSA could help identify those at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes."

The study included 1 094 patients who had been referred for CMR because of known or suspected heart disease. Of these, 324 had OSA and 770 did not have OSA. Sixteen healthy patients were included as a control group. Increased myocardial fibrosis was defined as an extracellular volume fraction (measured by CMR) of 30% or greater.

The investigators found that 30% of patients with OSA had a high degree of myocardial fibrosis. This was higher than healthy controls but similar to patients referred to CMR with known or suspected heart disease. After a median follow up of 2.3 years, there was no difference in the rates of heart failure hospitalisation or death between the OSA and non-OSA groups. However, in patients with OSA, myocardial fibrosis was significantly associated with increased event rates, even after adjusting for age, kidney function, myocardial infarction size, and ejection fraction. In fact, each 5% increase in extracellular volume fraction was associated with a 1.6 times higher risk of heart failure hospitalisation or death.

Dr Fridman said: "Myocardial fibrosis was prevalent in patients with OSA. We found that we could quantify the amount of myocardial fibrosis and stratify patients' risk of poor outcomes. This is a powerful and robust way of identifying OSA patients who may be at higher risk for adverse cardiovascular events."

"The findings are particularly exciting because they identify a potential imaging biomarker for a pathological process occurring in the myocardium itself," continued Dr Fridman. "When there is myocardial fibrosis and the extracellular matrix is abnormal, the myocardium is less able to tolerate the vascular, ischaemic and haemodynamic insults seen in patients with OSA."

Dr Fridman said the findings point the way towards a personalised approach to treating cardiovascular disease based on the patient's amount of myocardial fibrosis. "We need to go beyond the traditional way of classifying and treating patients," he said. "For example, no two patients with OSA are alike, and yet we treat them the same. We assume that OSA always has the same effect on the heart, but that may not be true."

Dr Fridman continued: "Our research suggests that we should characterise patients with OSA, and other conditions, in more detail by assessing their amount of myocardial fibrosis. That may help us to be more precise in our treatment."

Dr Fridman concluded: "Large clinical trials are needed to determine if using anti-fibrotic medications in patients with myocardial fibrosis identified by CMR improves cardiovascular outcomes. Ultimately, this is about better defining each patient's true risk and providing tailored treatment."

###

Authors: ESC Press Office

Tel: +33 (0) 4 92 94 86 27

Email: press@escardio.org

Notes to editor

SOURCES OF FUNDING: Dr Schelbert was supported by a grant from The Pittsburgh Foundation, Grant M2009-0068, and an American Heart Association Scientist Development grant (09SDG2180083) including a T. Franklin Williams Scholarship Award; funding provided by: Atlantic Philanthropies, Inc., the John A. Hartford Foundation, the Association of Specialty Professors, and the AHA. Dr. Wong was supported by a grant K12 HS19461-01 from the AHRQ.

DISCLOSURES: Dr Fridman has no disclosures. Dr Schelbert has accepted contrast material from Bracco Diagnostics for research purposes beyond the scope of this work.

Notes

1Dr Fridman will present the abstract 'Myocardial Fibrosis is Prevalent in Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Associated with Hospitalization for Heart Failure or Death' during the session BEST Oral Abstracts which takes place on 13 May from 9:45 to 10:45 in the Main Auditorium.

About EuroCMR

EuroCMR is the annual CMR conference of the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI). The EuroCMR meeting has become the largest and most important CMR meeting in Europe with an increasing number of attendees, faculty and exhibitors from all over the world. http://www.escardio.org/Congresses-&-Events/Upcoming-congresses/EuroCMR/EuroCMR

About the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging

The European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (formerly EAE) is a registered branch of the ESC. Its aim is to promote excellence in clinical diagnosis, research, technical development, and education in cardiovascular imaging in Europe. http://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Communities/European-Association-of-Cardiovascular-Imaging-EACVI/Welcome-to-EACVI

About the European Society of Cardiology

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) represents more than 95 000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe. http://www.escardio.org/

Information for journalists attending EuroCMR 2016

EuroCMR 2016 takes place 12 to 14 May in Florence, Italy, at the Palazzo dei Congressi.

The full scientific programme is available here

http://eurocmr2016.medconvent.at/scientific.html

Journalists wishing to attend EuroCMR should email eurocmr@medconvent.at
The Puerta de Alcala, the Prado Museum and the monastery of El Escorial are some of the monuments built with berroquena stone, the traditional name of the high-quality Madrid granites which are also used in airports, for example Athens, and modern shopping centres around the world such as China. As with renowned wines and cheeses Spanish geologists now propose to the International Union of Geological Sciences that these granites should become part of the list of natural stones with designation of origin because of their cultural and economic importance.

The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has created the Global Heritage Stone Province distinction to recognize those provinces or regions of the world where stones of great historical and economic importance are extracted. This international geological recognition is similar to the designations of origin for food and drinks.

One of the first candidate regions for the award is the extraction area of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, producer of the traditionally named 'berroquena stone', the stone material most used historically in Madrid (Spain). Monuments such as as the monastery of El Escorial, the Royal Palace, Puerta de Alcala, the National Library, the Almudena Cathedral, the Bank of Spain, the Puerta del Sol square and the Reina Sofia Museum are built with this granite.

In addition, in recent years berroquena stone has crossed borders. Examples include the airport terminals in Athens (Greece) and Cork (Ireland), the British consulate in Hong Kong, various shopping malls in China and modern buildings in Israel, which have been built with berroquena stone.

"The aim of the candidacy is to achieve international recognition of the granite quarries of the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range, so important in cultural heritage, to enhance their production and export," states David M. Freire-Lista, researcher at the Institute of Geosciences (a joint centre of the CSIC and Complutense University of Madrid) and promoter of the project. The details are published in the journal, Geoscience Canada.

The Alpedrete, Zarzalejo and Colmenar Viejo quarries are the ones that have traditionally provided this stone, although in recent years they have been joined by Cadalso de los Vidrios and La Cabrera. Production increased steadily from the 1980s until 2008 when an economic crisis that has adversely affected the sector began.

"Achieving the Global Heritage Stone Province accreditation for this region would promote trade in this historically important and sought-after material, promoting employment in rural areas of the Sierra de Madrid mountains, where the supply is guaranteed by the extensive reserves of high quality and durable granite. I hope that after this candidacy, this region will be nominated for this distinction, said Freire-Lista. In 2016, the Spanish region nominated as GHSP is the Iberian Roofing Slate Province.

For the drafting of this candidacy the authors have compiled historical documentation and have characterized the granites from different quarries. The samples were subjected to artificial ageing accelerated by freeze-thaw and heat shock processes. Petrographic and petrophysical analyses were also performed to determine their response to deterioration.

"The variation in density, porosity, speed of propagation of ultrasound waves and colour of the artificially aged granites have served to demonstrate their high quality, certifying their excellent characteristics, strength and durability," said the geologist, who concludes: "These granites are suitable for use in architectural heritage restoration and new construction in any climate."

Alpedrete granite is a candidate for Global Heritage Stone Resource

In addition to the Global Heritage Stone Province, the IUGS has also created another category called Global Heritage Stone Resource (GHSR), which recognizes specific building stones used in heritage and which have a potential to be marketed internationally.

In 2015 the stone from Portland (England), which was used to build Buckingham Palace in London and the United Nations building in New York, became the first stone to be declared a Global Heritage Stone Resource.

Alpedrete granite from Sierra de Guadarrama is nominated for the upcoming 2016 GHSR designation together with other national nominated, such as Villamayor stone from Salamanca, Verde Granada serpentine, and others international candidates, such as Pietra Mar del Plata (Argentina); Sydney sandstone (Australia); marble from Carrara, Pietra Serena and Rosa Beta granite (Italy); Dala (?lavaen) porphyries, Hallandia gneiss and Kolmarden Serpentine marble (Sweden); Larvikete (Norway); Lede stone and Petit granit (Belgium); Steatite and Schist from Minas Gerais State (Brazil); Estremoz marble and Oporto granite (Portugal) and Podpec limestone from Slovenia.

Granite represents 20.8% of the total volume of ornamental rock exported from Spain. In addition to Madrid, the most important producing areas are in Galicia, Extremadura and Avila. According to the Spanish Federation of Natural Stone, its trade in 2009 gave employment to about 24,300 people in Spain.

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References:

D. M. Freire-Lista, R. Fort. "The Piedra Berroquena Region: Candidacy for Global Heritage Stone Province Status". Geoscience Canada 43: 43-52, 2016.

D. M. Freire-Lista, R. Fort, M. J. Varas-Muriel. "Alpedrete Granite (Spain). A Nomination for the "Global Heritage Stone Resource" Designation". Episodes-Journal of International Geoscience 38(2): 106-113, 2015.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The discovery of stone tools alongside mastodon bones in a Florida river shows that humans settled the southeastern United States as much as 1,500 years earlier than scientists previously believed, according to a research team led by a Florida State University professor.

This site on the Aucilla River -- about 45 minutes from Tallahassee -- is now the oldest known site of human life in the southeastern United States. It dates back 14,550 years.

"This is a big deal," said Florida State University Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessi Halligan. "There were people here. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas."

There is a cluster of sites all over North America that date to around 13,200 years old, but there are only about five in all of North and South America that are older.

Halligan's research was published today (May 13) in the academic journal Science Advances.

Halligan and her colleagues, including Michael Waters from Texas A&M University and Daniel Fisher from University of Michigan, excavated what's called the Page-Ladson site, which is located about 30 feet underwater in a sinkhole in the Aucilla River. The site was named after Buddy Page, a diver who first brought the site to the attention of archaeologists in the 1980s, and the Ladson family, which owns the property.

In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers James Dunbar and David Webb investigated the site and retrieved several stone tools and a mastodon tusk with cut marks from a tool in a layer more than 14,000 years old. However, the findings received little attention because they were considered too old to be real and questionable because they were found underwater.

Waters and Halligan, who is a diver, had maintained an interest in the site and believed that it was worth another look. Between 2012 and 2014, divers, including Dunbar, excavated stone tools and bones of extinct animals.

They found a biface -- a knife with sharp edges on both sides that is used for cutting and butchering animals -- as well as other tools. Daniel Fisher, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Michigan also took another look at the mastodon tusk that Dunbar had retrieved during the earlier excavations and found it displayed obvious signs of cutting created to remove the tusk from the skull.

The tusk may have been removed to gain access to edible tissue at its base, Fisher said.

"Each tusk this size would have had more than 15 pounds of tender, nutritious tissue in its pulp cavity, and that would certainly have been of value," he said.

Another possible reason to extract a tusk is that ancient humans who lived in this same area are known to have used ivory to make weapons, he added.

Using the latest radiocarbon dating techniques, researchers found all artifacts dated about 14,550 years ago. Prior to this discovery, scientists believed a group of people called Clovis -- considered among the first inhabitants of the Americas --settled the area about 13,200 years ago.

"The new discoveries at Page-Ladson show that people were living in the Gulf Coast area much earlier than believed," said Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Added Halligan: "It's pretty exciting. We thought we knew the answers to how and when we got here, but now the story is changing."

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Other researchers on the study are Angelina Perrotti and David Carlson from Texas A&M, Ivy Owens from the University of Cambridge, Joshua Feinberg and Mark Bourne from the University of Minnesota, Brendan Fenerty from the University of Arizona, Barbara Winsborough with the Texas State Museum, and Thomas Stafford Jr. from Stafford Research Laboratories in Colorado.

The research was funded by the Elfrieda Frank Foundation, the National Geographic Society and the North Star Archaeological Research Program and Chair in First American Studies of Texas A&M. It was also supported by the Ladson family, which allowed researchers to perform multiple excavations on their property over the past several years.
Recently, scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) discovered a new learning rule for a specific type of excitatory synaptic connection in the hippocampus. Their study was now published in the renowned journal Nature Communications on May 13. These synapses are located in the so-called CA3 region of the hippocampus, which plays a critical role for storage and recall of spatial information in the brain. One of its hallmark properties is that memory recall can even be triggered by incomplete cues. This enables the network to complete neuronal activity patterns, a phenomenon termed pattern completion.

Professor Peter Jonas and his team, including postdoc Jose Guzman and PhD student Rajiv Mishra, investigated how the strength of connections between neurons is adjusted, taking into account the relative timing of firing neurons. In neuroscience, this is known as spike-timing-dependent plasticity or STDP. According to the STDP rule, neuron A has to fire just before neuron B so that the synaptic connection becomes stronger with time. In the case of a reverse order--neuron B fires before neuron A--the connection between the neurons may become weaker.

Yet in apparent contrast to this rule, the team of Professor Jonas discovered in their experiments that a reverse order also leads to stronger connections between the investigated synapses (CA3-CA3 recurrent excitatory synapses). Surprisingly, a potentiation takes place independent of the order of firing. So if the sequence is not important at these particular synapses, why is this the case?

To address this question, the authors performed various cutting-edge measurements with extremely high precision. These included patch-clamp recordings to control which neurons fire at what time, imaging of calcium molecules, which play a critical role in synaptic plasticity, and subcellular recordings of electrical signals in dendrites. All data resulted in the same symmetric summation curves. Thus, the unusual induction curve of potentiation is generated by the properties of calcium signaling, which is in turn explained by the characteristics of electrical signaling in dendrites.

The scientists subsequently investigated what happens if a huge number of neurons is being connected via excitatory synapses in a network model. To this end, they ran computer simulations after incorporating different plasticity induction rules. They compared the results of simulations with the new symmetric plasticity induction rule with those of a conventional rule. The outcome clearly demonstrated that patterns could be better restored from partial cues when the new symmetric rule was applied. Professor Jonas: "The new plasticity induction rule may explain why learning in vivo occurs robustly under a variety of behavioral conditions. For example, it may explain storage and recall of cell assembly patterns of freely moving animals in open fields, as previously found by the systems neuroscience groups of IST Austria (O'Neill et al., 2008)".

The new data seem to be in contrast to classical STDP induction rules at other glutamatergic synapses. Do they violate the Hebb rule? Professor Jonas: "If you read the classical Hebb text carefully, it states: 'If the axon of a cell A is near enough to excite cell B [...], A's efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased'. However, there is no mentioning of depression. So the new data do not violate Hebb's postulate, but may confirm it in the literal sense".

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RUSTON, La. - Senior class students from Louisiana Tech University's College of Engineering and Science showcased their research and innovative solutions to real-world problems at the College of Engineering and Science Senior Projects Conference held recently on the Louisiana Tech campus.

The students presented studies and designs as well as simulations illustrating solutions that could aid in international research and regional industrial applications. The nearly 100 projects presented included aerial unmanned vehicle prototypes, studies of hydronic jets at the Large Hadron Collider, plans for construction and solutions to save time and money in industry and health care.

The Senior Projects Conference is the culmination of the College of Engineering and Science senior capstone experience - a yearlong project in which student teams work to solve problems, develop new products and perform leading edge research.

"The Senior Projects Conference is a great display of the innovative solutions that our students develop for real-world problems," Dr. Hisham Hegab, dean of the College of Engineering and Science said. "It represents many long hours of hard work that students and faculty advisers devote during the year. We are extremely proud of their work and the impact it has on many local industries which sponsor the projects."

Dr. Heath Tims, associate dean for undergraduate studies with the College of Engineering and Science adds that the conference is a chance for students to exhibit the work they have put in with research as well as the final product.

"The Senior Projects Conference is really a celebration of the great work that our students have done throughout the year. Most of the projects are sponsored by industry in our region, and our students are tackling these real problems that ultimately result in a major economic impact for our state's economy," he said.

Along with the real-world learning experiences gained by the students, the 2016 senior projects saved industrial partners a substantial amount of money.

In addition to individuals, professors and programs, Senior Projects Conference sponsors included Central Louisiana Surgical Hospital, Holy Angels Residential Facility, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Louisiana Tech Chemistry Program, the National Science Foundation, Bar J Ranch, WestRock Paper Mill, Louisiana Purchase Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Aldea Services LLC, Anvil Attachments, Vacant Property Security LLC, Mojo Outdoors, A.J. Weller Corporation, Cameron Corporation, NASA LA-Space Program, Bill Lewis Outdoors, American Ingenuity, LLC, SWEPCO Power Plan, Con-Fab Engineering and Welding, T.L. James Cub World Lake Pedestrian Bridge, Haynes International, ConAgra Foods, Manitowoc, Frymaster, Weyerhauser and Mojo Outdoors.

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The University of Chicago, the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory announced today a new partnership called The Microbiome Center that will combine the three institutions' efforts to understand the identity and function of microbes across environments.

These microbial communities--bacteria, viruses and fungi--affect every ecosystem on earth, including human bodies, oceans, our homes, and the land around us.

The new center dovetails with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's National Microbiome Initiative, launched today with the goal of bringing together public and private entities to advance the understanding of microbiome behavior and enable protection and restoration of healthy microbiome function. [More info at http://ow.ly/l7rS300aoKF].

"In the past few years we've seen a state change in understanding the roles bacteria play in our world," said Jack Gilbert who will serve as the Center's faculty director. Gilbert, a professor in UChicago's Department of Surgery, has research affiliations at both MBL and Argonne. "This is a unique opportunity to take that knowledge and help drive the next generation of microbiome research forward."

The Microbiome Center aims to support the research community across the three institutions building on a long tradition of research excellence and collaboration. It will also enable rapid translation to private and clinical sectors, and train a new generation of scientists able to take on fundamental questions about the microbiome, Gilbert said.

"The University of Chicago, MBL and Argonne have already conducted some of the most influential research aimed at understanding and characterizing microorganisms," said Argonne Director Peter B. Littlewood. "We want to capitalize on this history and expertise in order to advance our capabilities and explore problems that are critical for modern society."

"This will let us run faster, jump higher, think bigger, and tackle the most important questions facing the field, particular as they impact life in our oceans," said Marine Biological Laboratory President and Director Huntington Willard.

In the last decade, new techniques--many pioneered at the participating institutions--have allowed researchers to peek at the hidden communities of microbes that populate our world by the trillions.

These studies revealed that microorganisms have complex relationships that affect plants, crops and buildings, and are major players in moving carbon and other elements through massive global cycles. And they live on and in animals and humans, where they both cause and prevent disease--and also regulate some of our most essential functions.

"A greater understanding of microbial communities could affect everything from medicine to agriculture to marine systems and urban development," Gilbert said.

Microbiome research pulls from many disciplines, including microbiology, immunology, genomics, ecology and evolution, surgery, computation, bioengineering and many more; each institution brings its own expertise to the mix. Argonne has deep expertise in environmental microbiology and sequencing techniques. The Marine Biological Laboratory has extensively studied microbial populations living in oceans, in coastal waterways, and in organisms ranging from marine animals to humans. The University of Chicago is a leader in ecological research, and its medical center has increased its focus on human microbiology and its relation to human health.

Eugene Chang, a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Chicago who sits on the steering committee for the new Center, highlighted the importance of collaboration to facilitate his research into the role of the microbiome in human health problems, such as obesity and metabolism.

"It really wouldn't have been possible to answer any of these questions from a single laboratory," he said. "You could see how each of us look at the same question and each take a different approach. You really needed this multidisciplinary expertise to make discoveries about fundamental principles."

"It's really a human need," said Cathy Pfister, another steering committee member who is a professor in the University of Chicago's department of ecology and evolution studying ocean microbes. "We're talking about how ecosystems will manage changes caused by humans--and that will help us understand how we can continue to reap the benefits of the oceans, such as seafood, oxygen and water filtering."

"The new Center will broaden the look we have at the microbiome," Willard said. "By asking the same questions on different settings and scales, my guess is that we will discover similar principles at work from people studying inner city microbes and those in deep oceans--and that's where we can say something fundamental about how life works."

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One of the world's premier academic and research institutions, the University of Chicago has pioneered new ways of thinking since its founding in 1890. With a commitment to free, rigorous and open inquiry into the world's toughest problems, UChicago scholars take an interdisciplinary approach to research that spans arts to engineering, medicine to education and have worked around the world to help create new fields of study. With preeminent undergraduate and graduate programs, 157,000 alumni and numerous permanent centers around the world, the impact of the University of Chicago today is greater than ever.

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery - exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit the Office of Science website.
A team led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reported a research trifecta. They discovered a new vulnerable site on HIV for a vaccine to target, a broadly neutralizing antibody that binds to that target site, and how the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell. The study was led by scientists at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of NIH.

The new target is a part of HIV called the fusion peptide, a string of eight amino acids that helps the virus fuse with a cell to infect it. The fusion peptide has a much simpler structure than other sites on the virus that HIV vaccine scientists have studied.

The scientists first examined the blood of an HIV-infected person to explore its ability to stop the virus from infecting cells. The blood was good at neutralizing HIV but did not target any of the vulnerable spots on the virus where broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies (bnAbs) were known to bind.

The researchers isolated a powerful bnAb in the blood that they named VRC34.01, and found that it binds to the fusion peptide and a sugar molecule. The scientists then crystallized the antibody while it was bound to the virus. This allowed them to characterize in atomic-level detail how VRC34.01 attaches to HIV and revealed that the antibody stops the virus from infecting a cell by binding to a key cell-surface molecule.

The scientists also report that it is not unusual for the immune system to try to stop HIV from infecting a cell by attacking the fusion peptide. When they screened the blood of 24 HIV-infected volunteers, they found that blood samples from 10 people targeted a similar binding site as VRC34.01.

The researchers are now working to create a vaccine designed to elicit antibodies similar to the VRC34.01 antibody.

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ARTICLE:

R Kong, et al. Fusion peptide of HIV-1 as a site of vulnerability to neutralizing antibody. Science DOI: 10.1126/science.aae0474 (2016).

WHO:

NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., VRC Director John R. Mascola, M.D., and Peter D. Kwong, Ph.D., chief of the VRC Structural Biology Section, are available for comment.

CONTACT:

To schedule interviews, please contact Laura S. Leifman, (301) 402-1663, laura.sivitz@nih.gov.

NIAID conducts and supports research--at NIH, throughout the United States, and worldwide--to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID website.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.

NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health
Earthworms are the engineers behind the 75,000 km2, densely packed, regularly spaced, and mound-patterned landscapes, called surales, in the South American seasonal tropical wetlands, according to a study published May 11, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Anne Zangerle from Technische Universitat Braunschweig, Germany, Delphine Renard from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues.

A seasonal wetland in Colombia and Venezuela is dotted with mounds that can reach as large as 2 meters tall and 5 meters across. However, despite this unusual vegetation pattern, the ecology of the mounds is little known, and some researchers have proposed that these patterned arrays result from erosion. The authors of this study investigated the origin and extent of the surales landscapes by comparing earthworms and soil properties at sites with and without mounds, as well as analyzing aerial images obtained from drones and Google Earth.

The researchers found that the mounds were dominated by the earthworm Andiorrhinus sp., which is also the largest earthworm in the study area at lengths up to 1 m. This earthworm feeds in shallowly flooded soil and deposits casts to build a small "tower" of dry habitat, where it breathes. The tower may eventually become a mound surrounded by a moat. The researchers propose that as neighboring mounds grow, they fill the intervening basins and form larger mounds, creating the surales pattern. By building mounds in this seasonal wetland, these worms "engineer" the ecosystem and create dry habitat also used by plants and other earthworms. The authors suggest that further research is needed to investigate the microtopography of the floodplains where surales occur, as well as whether worm behavior has driven the development of similarly patterned landscapes elsewhere in the tropics.

Anne Zangerle adds: "We were really impressed not only by the regularity in the size and spacing of mounds in surales landscapes, but also by their spatial extent. We showed that they occur throughout much of the Orinoco Llanos, in both Colombia and Venezuela, but they have hardly been noticed by ecologists. We were surprised to find that the main driver of these earth-mound landscapes appears to be a single very large earthworm species."

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In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available paper: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154269

Citation: Zangerle A, Renard D, Iriarte J, Suarez Jimenez LE, Adame Montoya KL, Juilleret J, et al. (2016) The Surales, Self-Organized Earth-Mound Landscapes Made by Earthworms in a Seasonal Tropical Wetland. PLoS ONE 11(5): e0154269. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0154269

Funding: Funding for field missions was supported by a grant to Doyle McKey from the Institut Universitaire de France, http://www.iufrance.fr/. Additional funding was supplied by a grant to Doyle McKey from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Mission pour l'Interdisciplinarite, http://www.cnrs.fr/mi/. FNR/AFR of the CNRS; Anne Zangerle benefited from a grant for post-doctoral study by the National Research Fund Luxembourg (FNR), co-funded under the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission (FP7-COFUND), Grant number (4886121), http://www.fnr.lu/. Work in Colombia was supported by a grant from the program ECOS/COLCIENCIAS to Anne Zangerle, Grant number (M101PR03F2), http://www.colciencias.gov.co/. And by a grant to Doyle McKey from the TOSCA committee ("Terre Solide, Ocean, Surfaces Continentales, Atmosphere") of the CNES (French National Center for Space Research). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
WASHINGTON, DC -- Assessing whether a fluffy bunny or a giant spider poses a threat to our safety happens automatically. New research suggests the same brain areas may be involved in both detecting threats posed by animals and evaluating other humans' intentions. The study, published in the May 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, offers insight into a basic feature of human cognition: how we understand and evaluate other creatures.

"The idea that animals may be processed in a similar way [to humans] and may piggyback on regions of the brain that have been implicated in social cognition suggests that those regions ... are multipurpose," said study author Andrew Connolly of Dartmouth College.

Previously Connolly's research group found that hierarchical classes of animals (say, bugs vs. mammals) are represented in an area of the brain called the lateral occipital complex, a region involved in object perception and recognition. What was not known, however, was which brain regions process information about an animal's "dangerousness."

To investigate this, the researchers scanned volunteers' brains while they viewed pictures of bugs, reptiles, and mammals. Half of the animals depicted were classified as "low threat," such as butterflies and rabbits, and half were "high threat," such as snakes and cougars. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers determined which areas of the brain were active when participants viewed bugs, reptiles, and mammals, and when they viewed low- and high-threat animals. Researchers used these activity patterns to map how two kinds of information -- taxonomic class and threat -- are encoded in the brain.

As before, they found taxonomic class was represented in the lateral occipital complex. Surprisingly, a different area of the brain represented threat. This area, called the superior temporal sulcus, is a fold in brain tissue running just above the ear, and previous research has implicated the region in understanding facial expressions and deciphering others' intentions. The researchers speculate that evaluating other humans and evaluating threats posed by animals may be related functions.

Nikolaus Kriegeskorte, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge who studies visual object recognition and was not involved in the study, said this is interesting basic science. "Knowing what parts of the brain are involved in social cognition and how information processing works is relevant to our understanding of human brains, minds, and cultures."

The researchers are planning future studies to examine how activity in these brain networks changes over time. The present study used fMRI, which measures changes in blood flow as a proxy of neural activity, a measure that is slow and inadequate for understanding temporal relationships. To address this, the researchers plan to incorporate electrical recordings of brain activity in their studies.

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The Journal of Neuroscience is published by the Society for Neuroscience, an organization of nearly 38,000 basic scientists and clinicians who study the brain and nervous system. Study author Andrew Connolly can be reached at andrew.c.connolly@dartmouth.edu. More information on visual perception and social cognition can be found on BrainFacts.org.
MISSOULA - University of Montana forestry Professor Beth Dodson is the project director of a grant recently funded for $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Energy's Biomass Research and Development Initiative.

Researchers will use the grant to identify and overcome the barriers to using biomass from fuels-reduction and forest-restoration treatments. Dodson and her team will look at the logistics, economics and sustainability of using an otherwise disposed resource as fuel for bioenergy operations.

"This research will substantially improve our ability to sustainably use forest-based feedstocks to offset fossil fuels for the benefit of society and the forest resource," Dodson said. "We will do this by improving the treatment design, harvest and handling of forest biomass to maximize environmental sustainability and human health while minimizing costs."

Dodson will lead the operations team for the grant. John Goodburn, a UM forestry professor, will co-lead the silviculture team along with Michael Battaglia from the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Ching-Hsun Huang, a forest economist from Northern Arizona University, will co-lead the economics team along with Nathaniel Anderson from the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

"Research of this type demonstrates our forward-thinking faculty and their appreciation of the role forest resources, including woody biomass, play in meeting our increasing energy and product needs," said UM College of Forestry and Conservation Interim Dean Wayne Freimund.

The agencies funded a total of $10 million to invest in green energy research, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill and supported by U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.

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(TORONTO, Canada - May 13, 2016) - Cancer researchers have identified a marker that shows up in a blood test that determines which patients with colorectal cancer that has spread would benefit from receiving the drug cetuximab.

The research, published online today in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, solves one of the mysteries of why receiving cetuximab was futile for up to half of incurable colorectal cancer patients who did not respond to treatment, says principal investigator Dr. Geoffrey Liu, clinician-scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network, in collaboration with the Canadian Cancer Trials Group and the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group.

Dr. Liu holds the Alan B. Brown Chair in Molecular Genomics and is Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical Biophysics, and Epidemiology, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto. He talks about his research at https://youtu.be/jyntlRqqizQ.

"Our research discovered that the blood marker FCGR2A identifies a new group of patients that will benefit from taking cetuximab. With this finding, we believe we are now on the way to move it into the clinical setting to provide patients targeted, effective treatment," says Dr. Liu.

The new research builds on an international clinical trial of about 10 years ago led by Canadians, in which the Princess Margaret participated (DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa071834)

"In a group of metastatic colorectal cancer patients who were running out of treatment options, the previous clinical trial determined that cetuximab was most effective in a certain group of patients with tumours carrying a RAS mutation. But it certainly didn't work for everyone and so the race was on to find out how to better identify which patients would benefit from this drug," says Dr. Liu.

"Our finding, which resulted from analyzing archived tumor and normal tissue samples from some of the 572 patients enrolled in that trial, further refines this quest and defines another subset of patients who will respond to the drug.

"We need to find other ways to personalize cancer medicine for people with colorectal disease, keeping in mind that cetuximab is an expensive drug and can have side effects."

"So instead of looking at aspects in the tumour, which is where RAS mutations show up, we looked at certain things in the blood and normal tissues that we could measure for heritable genetic variations."

Dr. Liu, a medical oncologist who specializes in lung cancer, describes the pathway to today's discovery as an ideal example of what can happen when you follow the drug and wherever the research may lead.

"When we followed the drug, first in lung cancer and then in other cancers, it led us to colorectal cancer where the drug was also being used, and directly onto this new finding."

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Dr. Liu's research was funded by the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, the Alan B. Brown Chair in Molecular Genomics, the Cancer Care Ontario Chair in Experimental Therapeutics and Population Studies, the Canadian Cancer Society, and The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.

About Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health Network

The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has achieved an international reputation as a global leader in the fight against cancer and delivering personalized cancer medicine. The Princess Margaret, one of the top five international cancer research centres, is a member of the University Health Network, which also includes Toronto General Hospital, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute and the Michener Institute for Education; all affiliated with the University of Toronto. For more information, go to http://www.theprincessmargaret.ca or http://www.uhn.ca .

Media contact: Jane Finlayson, Public Affairs, (416) 946-2846 jane.finlayson@uhn.ca
On May 13, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced a new National Microbiome Initiative , a coordinated effort to better understand microbiomes -- communities of microorganisms that live on and in people, plants, soil, oceans and the atmosphere -- and to develop tools to protect and restore healthy microbiome function. OSTP is launching the initiative with a combined federal agency investment of more than $121 million. The University of California San Diego is a key participant in this effort, investing $12 million in its own microbiome research efforts.

The National Microbiome Initiative puts the spotlight on UC San Diego's Microbiome and Microbial Sciences Initiative, a concerted research and education effort initiated in October 2015 by Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla to leverage the university's strengths in science, medicine, engineering and the humanities. The campus-wide undertaking encompasses a research-focused Center for Microbiome Innovation and a student-centered Microbial Sciences Graduate Research Initiative.

Three UC San Diego leaders in the microbiome field were invited to attend the May 13 event in Washington, D.C.: Rob Knight, PhD, director of the UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation, professor of pediatrics in the School of Medicine and professor of computer science and engineering in the Jacobs School of Engineering; Pieter Dorrestein, PhD, professor of pharmacy in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and professor of pharmacology and pediatrics in the School of Medicine; and Embriette Hyde, PhD, assistant project scientist and project manager of the American Gut Project in the School of Medicine.

The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation has also received letters of support from a number of companies committed to innovation in this field, including GE, Illumina, Janssen R&D, MO BIO Laboratories, Biota, Sirenas, GALT and ChuckAlek. Participation in the White House's National Microbiome Initiative and this network will help the Center for Microbiome Innovation target the human microbiome as a means to better manage diseases such as asthma, diabetes, obesity and psychiatric illnesses -- and explore the microbiome as a source for new drugs and potential tool for precision medicine. UC San Diego researchers will also collaborate to advance research on soil, aquatic and other environmental microbiomes, and help other scientists use that information to address global challenges to agricultural sustainability, biofuel development and climate change mitigation.

"This ambitious undertaking cannot be accomplished by individual laboratories working in isolation --developing advanced microbiome tools and treatments requires new collaborations among many disciplines. Advancing this relatively new field also depends on attracting and training multidisciplinary networks of scientists and engineers," Chancellor Khosla said.

"We are very fortunate that the White House and OSTP recognize the importance of microbiome research and supports these needs, and we're grateful that they recognize the leadership of UC San Diego faculty in this field. We look forward to working with the White House and scientific leaders around the country on this initiative, which we expect will rapidly lead to a variety of new scientific insights, technological advances and economic opportunities that will benefit society, human health and the environment for decades."

UC San Diego's leadership in the microbiome field

UC San Diego became a part of the driving force behind the National Microbiome Initiative after Knight helped organize a July 2013 scientific meeting in Washington, D.C., that focused on the future of human microbiome science. That meeting led to invitations to testify before Congress on the importance of the field and to meet with new leaders in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy. In October 2015, Knight and Dorrestein joined a group of top scientists to co-author a Science paper that specifically called for a national initiative to coordinate and accelerate microbiome research across the U.S.

More than 100 UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation faculty -- spanning disciplines from engineering to medicine to ecology -- are involved in standards efforts, such as Microbiome Quality Control and the Genomic Standards Consortium; large-scale crowdsourced projects, such as the Earth Microbiome Project, American Gut, Global Natural Products; and a collaborative network spanning thousands of investigators at other institutions. Participation in the National Microbiome Initiative will allow these researchers to further these efforts, building new bridges between technology developers and end-users in fields ranging from pharmaceuticals to agriculture.

The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation is already advancing the three main goals of the White House OSTP National Microbiome Initiative:

Support interdisciplinary microbiome research

"Microbes pervade all kinds of processes -- from our bodies to our planet to industrial fermentation and drug synthesis. Working closely with other researchers in the White House's National Microbiome Initiative will help us unravel the fundamental science so we can understand how microbes do all these things, and help us improve the speed and accuracy in which we can 'read out' microbes," said Knight, who is known for developing a genetic sequencing technique that allows researchers to differentiate unknown microbes in hundreds of samples at once.

In one example project that takes advantage of interdisciplinary expertise provided by the Center for Microbiome Innovation, UC San Diego physicians, microbiome researchers, chemists, genomics experts and bioinformaticians are collaborating to build a 3D map of the chemistry associated with cystic fibrosis and how it shapes the lung microbiome. Their goal is to develop more effective, highly personalized treatments for potentially fatal lung infections that frequently affect people with this disease.

In another multidisciplinary project, UC San Diego researchers are sequencing the gut microbiomes of people with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn's disease, and comparing them to healthy gut microbiomes. The team aims to use this information to subtype Crohn's disease patients into distinct populations, going beyond classifications based on disease site such as ileal and colonic Crohn's. Here, the goal is to instead identify microbiomarkers associated with response to different treatments. This approach may allow for more specific diagnoses, prognoses, and perhaps more personalized treatments for IBD. This project brings together UC San Diego clinical gastroenterologists and genetic sequencing experts, as well as computer scientists who are developing the high-performance computing, metagenomic assembly and data visualization infrastructure needed to read out microbiomes and analyze the results.

Develop platform technologies -- with academic-industry partnerships

The UC San Diego Center for Microbiome Innovation serves as a platform for industry-university collaborations on the most pressing microbiome challenges.

"I am extremely excited about the many ways that leading-edge microbiome science can be translated to the real world," said Knight. "Health, animal care, agriculture, personal care products, industrial processes and environmental remediation are just a few of the applications that are ripe for disruption. Improving microbiome technologies is another area where academic-industry partnerships will yield extraordinary advances."

Through their microbiome center, Dorrestein and Knight are leading a UC San Diego-wide effort to provide government agencies, health care providers, industry partners and others with a rapid response system for microbiome sample readout and analysis that streamlines the process into a matter of days or even hours -- a more clinically useful timeframe than the weeks or months it can typically take to obtain this type of data.

"UC San Diego is fast becoming the go-to place to read out microbes -- mapping which species live where and in what quantities -- and understand what they are doing," said Dorrestein, who is a leader in metabolomics and data visualization, two technologies that are being increasingly applied to study the chemical environments surrounding microbiomes and to enable rapid interpretation of the results.

Expand the microbiome workforce

Developing a disruptive microbiome workforce is another key UC San Diego effort. In the second branch of the UC San Diego Microbiome and Microbial Sciences Initiative, Kit Pogliano, PhD, professor in the Division of Biological Sciences, directs a student-centered Microbial Sciences Graduate Research Initiative. The graduate program is campus-wide, meaning students can work with any affiliated faculty member in any department.

"We aim to train the next generation of cross-disciplinary researchers with strong quantitative skills that can be applied to microbiome studies, and encourage innovative ideas that will disrupt almost every industry, most notably food, energy and medicine," Pogliano said.

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CINCINNATI--A new $1.7 million National Institutes of Health grant will help University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers continue their investigation of the protein Human Antigen R (HuR) and its possible role in cardiovascular disease, with the ultimate goal of translating this research to improve human health.

Using animal models of heart disease, researchers are able to surgically restrict the amount of blood flowing through the aorta resulting in an increase in the pressure the heart must pump against, causing cardiac muscle to enlarge, called hypertrophy. Cardiac hypertrophy often progresses to heart failure, and there are currently no treatments for the underlying cause of hypertrophy at the level of the myocyte, or cardiac muscle cell.

"What we have found is when we delete this protein in the myocytes, normal cardiac function is unaffected, but the mice lacking HuR are protected from hypertrophy and heart failure," explains Michael Tranter, assistant professor in the UC College of Medicine's Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease. "All of our evidence so far suggests that activation of HuR in the adult heart is only affecting the pathology, making it an ideal target."

Tranter, a researcher at the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute, received a five-year grant (R01HL132111) from the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, to determine why and how the HuR protein is activated and how to duplicate the process. The grant's principal investigator Tranter is also collaborating with co-investigator, Jack Rubinstein, MD, assistant professor in the UC College of Medicine and UC Health cardiologist.

Rubinstein says Tranter's research will be very helpful in understanding how the heart reacts when subjected to high blood pressure.

"This line of research is particularly important as hundreds of thousands of people, especially older patients, develop heart problems, including heart failure as a result of suffering from high blood pressure," says Rubinstein. The American Heart Association estimates that roughly one in four Americans currently suffers from high blood pressure.

Tranter and Rubinstein, along with colleagues Phillip Owens, PhD, and Kevin Haworth, PhD, both also assistant professors in UC College of Medicine's Division of Cardiovascular Health and Disease, are part of a recent investment in young investigators by the College of Medicine. While their average age is only 36, they have together already been awarded over $4 million in external research funding from sources such as the NIH and the American Heart Association. At age 34, Tranter is nearly a decade younger than the average first-time R01 recipient.

"Dr. Tranter has distinguished himself in a highly competitive area of cardiovascular research," says Richard Becker, MD, director and physician-in-chief of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute. "His personal achievements and those of his collaborative group are laudable and represent in most tangible terms the Institute's mission to serve through impactful science".

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New research from Denmark reveals the gene that explains one quarter of all familial hypercholesterolemia with very high blood cholesterol. Familial hypercholesterolemia is the most common genetic disorder leading to premature death, found in 1 in 200 people.

A research group lead by Clinical Professor Borge G. Nordestgaard has found that cholesterol-containing lipoprotein(a) is the cause of one quarter of all diagnoses of familial hypercholesterolemia. High levels of this genetically determined lipoprotein in the blood is already known to cause heart attacks.

"Among 46,200 individuals in the general population, individuals with a diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia have higher levels of lipoprotein(a) in their blood than individuals without the diagnosis," says principal investigator Dr. Anne Langsted, Herlev Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark.

The research has just been published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

High risk of heart attack

The study also reveals that high levels of lipoprotein(a) in the blood adds to the already very high risk of suffering a heart attack for people with familial hypercholesterolemia. "We find that individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia and high levels of lipoprotein(a) are five times more likely to suffer a heart attack than individuals without these two conditions," adds Anne Langsted.

"Our results suggest that all individuals with familial hypercholesterolemia should have their lipoprotein(a) concentrations measured in order to identify those with the highest concentrations and therefore also the highest risk of suffering a heart attack," says senior author Borge G. Nordestgaard, University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen University Hospital.

"Worldwide, familial hypercholesterolemia as well as high lipoprotein(a) levels are grossly underdiagnosed and undertreated. Our findings will help identify the individuals with the highest risk of suffering a heart attack and hopefully facilitate better preventive treatment for these extremely high risk individuals," adds Nordestgaard.

The diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia is based on different clinical signs such as elevated cholesterol, relatives with early heart attack and a personal history of heart attack. Genetic testing can also confirm the diagnosis.

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Melanomas in patients from New Zealand's South Island are significantly more likely than those of North Islanders to carry a gene mutation that has implications for mutation-targeted drug therapies and for patient outcomes, new University of Otago-led research suggests.

The study, which is the first comprehensive genetic analysis of melanoma in New Zealand, sought to analyse mutation frequencies of 20 recurrently mutated genes in samples from 529 patients with metastatic melanoma.

Five years ago, Angela Jones and Dr Peter Ferguson at the University of Otago Wellington started the study. Since then melanoma researchers from all around New Zealand have joined the study adding patients.

The findings, which emerge from one of the largest groups of melanoma patients to have the genetics of their cancer studied, appear in the international journal Oncotarget.

Study co-leader Professor Mike Eccles of the Department of Pathology, Dunedin School of Medicine, says that in line with overseas findings, the most common mutation was to an oncogene called BRAF, with one-third of the melanomas in the study showing changes to this gene, which may be targeted by the drug Zelboraf.

"We found similar BRAF mutation rates in both the North and South Island, but when it came to another particular gene, some stark differences emerged," Professor Eccles says.

Mutations to a gene known as NRAS were found in 38 per cent of South Island melanomas, but only in 21 per cent of North Island ones, he says.

"The North Island rate is about the same as that found in other countries, so the South Island rate really sticks out like a sore thumb," he says.

As there were similarly low numbers of Maori or Asian patients in both the North and South Island groups studied, ethnic differences in population make-up could not explain the higher rate of NRAS mutations in the South, he says.

In their paper the authors raise the possibility that sunburn or strong exposure to UV-radiation -- especially during the spring months in the South Island when vitamin D levels are lowest -- could be a factor leading to high rates of NRAS mutations versus other mutation types.

The researchers also found that NRAS mutations were linked to a higher likelihood that the melanoma would be nodular and thus more deadly. However, while new treatments targeting NRAS mutations are under intense investigation, so far none have yet been developed.

A preliminary 2015 US study has found that in a small number of patients, melanomas with NRAS mutations had higher response rates to immunotherapy treatments such as the drugs Keytruda and Opdivo, Professor Eccles says.

"Our findings suggest that South Island melanoma patients could potentially benefit more often from the use of such therapies, should the US findings be confirmed by further research," he says.

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The research was funded by the Wellington Medical Research Foundation, Capital and Coast DHB, Lottery Health, Cancer Society, and the Maurice Wilkins Centre.
In the quest to harvest light for electronics, the focal point is the moment when photons -- light particles -- encounter electrons, those negatively-charged subatomic particles that form the basis of our modern electronic lives. If conditions are right when electrons and photons meet, an exchange of energy can occur. Maximizing that transfer of energy is the key to making efficient light-captured energetics possible.

"This is the ideal, but finding high efficiency is very difficult," said University of Washington physics doctoral student Sanfeng Wu. "Researchers have been looking for materials that will let them do this -- one way is to make each absorbed photon transfer all of its energy to many electrons, instead of just one electron in traditional devices."

In traditional light-harvesting methods, energy from one photon only excites one electron or none depending on the absorber's energy gap, transferring just a small portion of light energy into electricity. The remaining energy is lost as heat. But in a paper released May 13 in Science Advances, Wu, UW associate professor Xiaodong Xu and colleagues at four other institutions describe one promising approach to coax photons into stimulating multiple electrons. Their method exploits some surprising quantum-level interactions to give one photon multiple potential electron partners. Wu and Xu, who has appointments in the UW's Department of Materials Science & Engineering and the Department of Physics, made this surprising discovery using graphene.

"Graphene is a substance with many exciting properties," said Wu, the paper's lead author. "For our purposes, it shows a very efficient interaction with light."

Graphene is a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms bonded to one another, and electrons are able to move easily within graphene. The researchers took a single layer of graphene -- just one sheet of carbon atoms thick -- and sandwiched it between two thin layers of a material called boron-nitride.

"Boron-nitride has a lattice structure that is very similar to graphene, but has very different chemical properties," said Wu. "Electrons do not flow easily within boron-nitride; it essentially acts as an insulator."

Xu and Wu discovered that when the graphene layer's lattice is aligned with the layers of boron-nitride, a type of "superlattice" is created with properties allowing efficient optoelectronics that researchers had sought. These properties rely on quantum mechanics, the occasionally baffling rules that govern interactions between all known particles of matter. Wu and Xu detected unique quantum regions within the superlattice known as Van Hove singularities.

"These are regions of huge electron density of states, and they were not accessed in either the graphene or boron-nitride alone," said Wu. "We only created these high electron density regions in an accessible way when both layers were aligned together."

When Xu and Wu directed energetic photons toward the superlattice, they discovered that those Van Hove singularities were sites where one energized photon could transfer its energy to multiple electrons that are subsequently collected by electrodes -- not just one electron or none with the remaining energy lost as heat. By a conservative estimate, Xu and Wu report that within this superlattice one photon could "kick" as many as five electrons to flow as current.

With the discovery of collecting multiple electrons upon the absorption of one photon, researchers may be able to create highly efficient devices that could harvest light with a large energy profit. Future work would need to uncover how to organize the excited electrons into electrical current for optimizing the energy-converting efficiency and remove some of the more cumbersome properties of their superlattice, such as the need for a magnetic field. But they believe this efficient process between photons and electrons represents major progress.

"Graphene is a tiger with great potential for optoelectronics, but locked in a cage," said Wu. "The singularities in this superlattice are a key to unlocking that cage and releasing graphene's potential for light harvesting application."

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Co-authors were Lei Wang, Xian Zhang, Cory Dean and James Hone at Columbia University; You Lai and Zhiqiang Li at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Florida; Wen-Yu Shan and Di Xiao at Carnegie Mellon University; former UW graduate student Grant Aivazian; and Takashi Taniguchi and Kenji Watanabe at the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. The work at the UW was funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Xu acknowledges the support from the Boeing Distinguished Professorship and Washington's state-funded Clean Energy Institute.

For more information, contact Xu at 206-543-8444 or xuxd@uw.edu and Wu at 206-543-2887 or swu02@uw.edu.

Grant numbers: DMR-1150719, FA9550-14-1-0277
In a Veterans Affairs study of more than 300 enlisted Army National Guard and Army Reserve members who had deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, a majority reported symptoms consistent with a condition known as chronic multisymptom illness (CMI). The data were collected a year after the soldiers returned home.

The results suggest that deployment to these conflicts could trigger symptoms consistent with CMI.

The ailment presents as a combination of medically unexplained chronic symptoms, such as fatigue, headache, joint pain, indigestion, insomnia, dizziness, breathing problems, and memory problems.

The study, by researchers with VA's War-Related Illness and Injury Study Center (WRIISC) in New Jersey, appeared online Feb. 22, 2016, in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development.

"As a whole, CMI can be challenging to evaluate and manage," said lead author Dr. Lisa McAndrew. "CMI is distinct from PTSD or depression. It contributes to significant disability."

McAndrew is also with the University at Albany.

In the veteran community, chronic multisymptom illness has previously been associated mainly with service during the Persian Gulf War in the early 1990s. At least a quarter of those veterans are affected.

Experts aren't sure, though, if that condition is the same one that has emerged among more recent veterans, as documented in the newest WRIISC study and one or two earlier ones. Last year, for example, researchers with the Millennium Cohort Study reported that about a third of combat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan had CMI symptoms.

"This condition appears to be similar to that experienced by many Gulf War veterans, in terms of the symptoms, but we don't really know if it's the same condition," says McAndrew. "That still requires study."

McAndrew and her colleagues surveyed 319 soldiers about their overall health before they deployed and one year after they returned. The VA team found there were 150 soldiers who did not report many symptoms before they deployed but who reported symptoms of CMI one year after deployment, suggesting a link between deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan and CMI.

In total, nearly 50 percent of the overall group met the criteria for mild to moderate CMI, and about 11 percent met the criteria for severe CMI, one year after deployment.

The most common symptoms reported were trouble sleeping, moodiness or irritability, joint pain, fatigue, difficulty remembering or concentrating, headaches, and sinus congestion.

Not surprisingly, the researchers found that veterans who screened positive for CMI scored significantly lower on measures of physical and mental health function.

Of the 319 veterans in the study, 166 had chronic pain, lasting more than three months. Almost all of those with chronic pain--90 percent--also met the criteria for CMI. Similarly, 82 percent of those with CMI reported chronic pain.

The finding underscores the strong link between chronic pain and CMI, say the researchers.

The study also found that almost all veterans with PTSD symptoms also showed signs of CMI--about 98 percent. Only seven patients had PTSD and did not meet the criteria for CMI. In contrast, though, about 44 percent of the veterans with CMI did not have PTSD. In other words, the link between PTSD and CMI was not as robust as that between chronic pain and CMI.

The authors caution that the study looked only at pain and PTSD as factors tied in with CMI. It did not document other conditions that could possibly account for the symptoms of CMI, such as depression, traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse. At the same time, they say these other conditions are unlikely to completely account for the frequency of symptoms seen in the study.

By the same token, other conditions not examined in the study, such as arthritis or multiple sclerosis, could cause symptoms similar to those of CMI. More research is needed to tease out those variables.

Another limitation of the study: The research team used a definition of CMI, established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that is based on Gulf War Veterans. They say it might not exactly fit the symptoms of veterans of the more recent conflicts.

Also, it's unclear whether the Guard and Reserve members surveyed in the study are representative of the larger veteran or military cohort who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

All in all, the research team advises that the results be interpreted with caution.

"We're taking the approach that an abundance of caution is necessary in the clinical implications of the findings," says McAndrew. "Respondents self-reported symptoms on pen and paper surveys. The symptoms were not confirmed or evaluated by a clinician. While the CDC case definition is fairly clear-cut, in clinical practice there is a lot of gray area around applying the label of CMI. We used the term 'symptoms consistent with CMI' to indicate the uncertainty due to the self-reported, clinician-unverified nature of the classification."

Pending further research on the topic, McAndrew's group says clinicians in VA or other settings should consider CMI when evaluating Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, especially those with chronic pain. Once the condition is identified, clinicians in VA and the Department of Defense do have a clinical practice guideline for managing the condition.

"Acknowledging the presence of multiple symptoms and taking a holistic approach to achieving patient goals is critical in managing CMI," says McAndrew. For example, pain management may need to be tailored to account for other symptoms of CMI.

The WRIISC study notwithstanding, McAndrew says not enough attention has been focused on the issue to date.

"There have been few studies of CMI among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Our findings suggest this could be an overlooked problem."

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Senior researcher on the WRIISC study was Dr. Karen Quigley, now at the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital and Northeastern University.
The EYE (European Youth Event) brings together at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and online thousands of young people from all over the European Union and the world, to share and shape their ideas on Europes future.

It is a unique opportunity for 16 to 30 year olds to interact, inspire each other and exchange their views with experts, activists, influencers and decision-makers, right in the heart of European democracy.

EYE2023, the fifth edition of the event, will take place on 9 and 10 June and will feature both in-person and hybrid activities in Strasbourg.

During the event, participants will take part in activities co-created with institutions, international organisations, civil society and youth organisations, and participants themselves, offering space for discussions and networking.

In light of the European and global context and ahead of the European elections 2024, part of the programme will focus on the role of democracy and youth engagement.

Following the event, the ideas, expectations and concerns from young people will be collected in the EYE Report distributed to all Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Some participants will be able to further develop the most inspiring ideas and present these directly to the MEPs during the EYE Hearings.

The EYE strives to promote equality, inclusiveness and sustainability with a strong commitment to accessibility for everyone. Our aim is to accommodate the needs of all participants and to implement solutions that make the event sustainable and environmentally friendly. In 2021, the EYE obtained the ISO 20121 certification for sustainable event management, which will be renewed for EYE2023.

The EYE is closely following the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and consequences of the war in Ukraine, and will respect and implement all appropriate safety and security measures
The fact that you have been to immigration and they gave you a list is a good sign - assuming you explained your situation to them of course.



That said, you are correct that it IS a risk to leave the country at this point. You could do it and nothing may happen - or something could happen. My wife and I have been through a variation of this ourselves albeit in reverse in our case (i.e. me staying in the US) and we've decided we need to wait it out here in Cyprus whilst I get my green card for the US sorted out, so believe me, I can understand how you feel in terms of that "trapped" feeling.



Regarding your work situation - are you registered as self employed with the social insurance office? If you are NOT, then you would need to do this as part of getting a visa here. Once registered, you will have to make quarterly social insurance (aka social security) payments. The amount you pay is calculated based on your earnings but typically its not going to be less than around 400 euros per quarter.



Anyway once registered, you get a certificate of income from the social insurance office which proves your income for immigration purposes.



Would be happy to discuss in more detail with you face to face at some point. Send me a Private Message if you want.
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For three days last March, Texas A&M University-San Antonio led by President Cynthia Teniente-Matson did something that does not happen nearly often enough.

University staff met with business and community leaders in a series of focus groups to help the relatively young university shape its degree programs to better prepare its students for the workforce.

We were looking for industries that would be the most likely to grow, Teniente-Matson said.

To help with this, the university also has conferred with the staffs of the long-term citywide plan known as SA2020, Workforce Solutions Alamo and the regional Alamo Area Council of Governments.

We want to be responsive to the needs, Teniente-Matson said. We currently are revising our academic plans.

When Teniente-Matson addressed a San Antonio Chamber of Commerce luncheon this week, she presented a list of existing and planned degrees. They were:

water resources management

health care management

community and public health

bio information

supply chain management

project management

multidisciplinary engineering

criminology

hospitality management.

But the process for adjusting the degree lineup continues at the university that started in 2009 in South San Antonio and currently enrolls about 4,600 students.

Our focus is one of teaching and learning to be workforce ready, Teniente-Matson said. For decades, two-year community colleges were the higher-education institutions with the reputation for most nimble responses to the evolving needs of employers. Alamo Colleges, especially, is widely known for turning on a dime to help a new or expanding company with training needs.

But Teniente-Matson intends TAMUSA to respond better than most four-year universities. We will move through (the) internal process to respond quickly with new curriculum, she said. It wont take years and years.

Although still small in enrollment, TAMUSA will grow and likely will improve a statistic that has long made San Antonio look bad to outside companies looking to expand or relocate somewhere. Only 27.1 percent of the citys population between the ages of 25 and 34 hold bachelors degrees. The national average is 35.3 percent.

On the other hand, many employers do not necessarily seek workers with bachelors degrees or higher, said David Marquez, Bexar County economic development executive director.

They mainly look for workers with something more than a high-school diploma but not necessarily a bachelors degree. People with skill certificates, associate degrees or who have received advanced retraining are needed. Marquez said companies usually can find people for entry-level positions and have sufficient top-level staffers, but often lack candidates for in between, at the middle levels. Thats where people with some degree beyond high school can squeeze in, when companies can find them, Marquez said.

Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot.

The long-observed disconnect continues between university degrees and employer needs, Marquez said. People will hold (university) degrees with little or no job value. They say they cant find jobs. They would have wrong degrees, he said.

Universities would be able to graduate more students with marketable skills if students knew which careers have the most promise for gainful employment.

They need to be told that if you do this, you can have a job at Rackspace or USAA, Marquez said. Teniente-Matson of Texas A&M University-San Antonio has held lots of meetings with companies, her and her staff to obtain that kind of information, Marquez said.

Employers still can assert themselves better into the process. That has happened in the San Antonio area to some extent during the past two decades.

One example has been the companies that in clusters such as aerospace, information technology/security, manufacturing and heavy equipment have created high-school-to-career programs at Alamo Colleges and many of the school districts under an organization called the Alamo Academies. The companies organized the curricula and have hired the students in the job pipeline program.

Some companies, too, have joined the SA Works program funded by H-E-B to provide more internships.

These are both effective programs. But in such a large city with less-than-average education attainment, San Antonio needs its companies and industry groups to make the effort to tell the education system what they will need in skills and degrees. For their part, universities are willing to listen more than they may have in the past.

It falls to the industries and the companies to pull in what they need, Marquez said.

dhendricks@express-news.net
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When Joseph Stellas Battle of Lights, Coney Island, Mardi Gras first was exhibited at New Yorks Montross Gallery in 1914, the colossal painting caused a sensation.

A kaleidoscopic paean to sensory overload, it was the Italian immigrant artists attempt to convey in a hectic mood the surging crowd and the revolving machines generating for the first time, not anguish and pain, but violent, dangerous pleasures.

Robin Jaffe Frank encountered Stellas masterwork when she was a curator at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Ive always been fascinated by that painting, said Frank, now chief curator at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut. Who wouldnt be?

That fascination sparked Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008. Now on view at the McNay Art Museum, the traveling exhibit comprises a dizzying array of objects  more than 140 total  including paintings, photographs, documentary and popular film clips, side show banners and carousel animals. While the show celebrates the granddaddy of all amusement parks, some of the works also expose its seamier side.

Its such a fascinating show, said William J. Chiego, director of the McNay. It covers more than a hundred years, and it really shows that interplay between commercial art and design and painting and the vernacular arts.

Organized chronologically, Coney Island starts with the Civil War era, when access to affordable transportation spurred the transformation of the island into the Peoples Paradise. It continues through its heyday at the turn of the 20th century when people thronged to Luna Park, Steeplechase and Dreamland  the major amusement parks  and on to its ultimate decline.

Initially, Coney Island is a place to visualize the future  about Americas ingenuity and innovation, especially in building these extraordinary mechanical amusements, Frank said. And later, (its) a place to recall the past.

Artworks range from early depictions of Coney Island by impressionists William Merritt Chase and John Henry Twachtman to modern and contemporary images by Reginald Marsh, Weegee, Walker Evans, George Tooker and Red Grooms.

What I found in looking at the images is that although Im from Brooklyn and have a great deal of affection for the real place, most of these artists were viewing Coney Island, in the words of the San Francisco beat poet (Lawrence) Ferlinghetti, as a Coney Island of the mind  Coney Island as an idea, Frank said. What was that idea? It was a place for artists to kind of have a microcosm of America.

Many of the works in the exhibit show a mix of ethnic groups and social classes pressed together on the beach or teeming around the attractions. Declaring that well-bred people are no fun to paint, Marsh, who came from a wealthy background himself, turned to the human smorgasbord of Coney Island.

He was fascinated by baroque and Renaissance painting and the human body, and Coney Island was this amazing place where you could see people on the beach so he could paint bodies, Chiego said. He just had this whole cast of models that he could see any day he went there, and then people on the rides in all kinds of crazy positions.

Deeper into the exhibition, photographs document the masses, including Weegees famed image of a sea of people taken from Steeplechase Pier on July 21, 1940.

The battered head of Cy the Cyclops, which once adorned the Spook-A-Rama ticket booth, presides over the final section of the exhibition. It is titled Requiem for a Dream after director Darren Aronofskys Coney Island-set film about about drug addiction from 2000, but the vision presented in the artworks isnt altogether bleak.

Although Arnold Meshes nightmarish monumental paintings Anomie 1991: Winged Victory and Anomie 2001: Coney present a dreamland gone wrong, Grooms offers more hopeful images. The artist pays homage to Weegees black and white image of a sea of smiling, waving beach-goers by transforming it into a colorful large-scale painting with Weegee 1940 spelled out in relief elements. Meanwhile The Funny Place, also by Grooms, presents a cartoonish utopia of people of different ethnicities and sexual orientations basking under the banana-shaped grin of the Steeplechase Funny Face insignia.

Even if you have never set foot on the beach, you dont need that to understand this show, because its about who we are and who we want to be, Frank said.

Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861-2008 continues through Sept. 11 at the McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels Ave., 210-824-5368, mcnayart.org

lsilva@express-news.net
Arts consultant Bruce Marks, whose long careers include stints dancing with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and American Ballet Theatre and heading Ballet West and the Boston Ballet, sees a lot of potential in Ballet San Antonio.

Usually, its a good ballet company in search of a theater; now weve got a theater in search of a great ballet company, Marks said. And were going to fill that void.

Marks, who has advised dance companies around the world, spent part of last week meeting with the companys leadership to offer advice on how to grow the company.

He advised the board and staff of the company, which is in residence at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, on ways to expand its board; use volunteers to staff a telemarketing campaign; raise its profile in the community, partly by expanding its outreach in schools; expand its donor and subscription base; open a ballet school; and find a high-profile person to serve as a champion.

In addition, he said, there needs to be a long-range plan. There isnt one now. But they feel theres enough stability in the company to create a long-range plan, and thats exciting.

His suggestions jibe with the ideas that Willy Shives and Jenniann Colon brought with them when they came onboard in December as the companys artistic and executive director, respectively.

All of this that were doing and why Bruce is here is solidifying what were doing and what we need to do, Shives said. So its been great having him here. He has had such a wealth of information about what we can do in leading Ballet San Antonio into the next level.

Marks wasnt aware of the company until he happened to spend a few days last month giving a workshop at Saint Marys Hall at the invitation of one of his former students, who teaches there. A ballet board member whose children go to the school suggested that Shives and Colon arrange a meeting with him. After chatting with them, he agreed to return to share his advice for growing the company with the board.

I told them this is the right place at the right time for a great ballet company, he said. You have everything. You have the theater now. You have the population  (the city is) growing faster than almost any city in the country. Why could you not have a great company here? Lets do it.

Helping companies build a sturdy foundation and expand is one of his favorite things to do these days, he said.

The part of a ballet company that is exciting for me is not officiating as the director of the great royal hoo-hah, but building a company, he said.

He noted that he had spent his career as a dancer working with the leading choreographers of the time, including Antony Tudor and Robert Joffrey, and now I have that information and my job is spreading that, giving that information to the next generation.

Not only that, Ive learned how to run ballet companies. And my job is giving that information to other people to show how to do this successfully and have a good time while youre doing it.

dlmartin@express-news.net

Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN
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Bar food is an underappreciated genre of cuisine, caught between lame frozen pizzas thawed out in toaster ovens and fussy gastropub fare. But when done well, good bar food fills the stomach and heart with happiness.

Thats the kind of food that comes from Einstein's Kitchen and chef/owner Doug Wallen.

Einsteins Kitchen is a culinary operation inside Doc Brown's, a neighborhood bar in the Alamo Ranch area that serves lots of Bud Light and Michelob Ultra and makes pretty decent old fashioneds, Moscow mules and bloody marys.

The bar Doc Browns, of course, is named after the scientist from the Back to the Future movies, while the restaurant, Einstein, takes the name of Doc Browns dog. Meanwhile, the classic rock soundtrack and some of the decor leans toward the 1980s and early 1990s, complete with a wall of upright classic video games. Donkey Kong, anyone?

The attraction for food lovers, though, is the bar food. Its not fancy or trendy  no kale salads here  but Wallen coaxes fun and satisfying flavors by cooking as if he truly cares, even when hes working with onion rings, fries and beer cheese. Hes working with completely different ingredients than he did in the days when he was executive chef at Ruths Chris Steakhouse at the now-closed Sunset Station location.

More Information Einstein's Kitchen at Doc Brown's bar *  6511 W. Loop 1604 North, near Culebra Road, 210-973-7090, docbrowns1985.com Quick bite: Not even spotty service can get in the way of enjoying some good bar food. Hit: Bloody mary buffalo wings, Pub Burger, duck hash Miss: Indifferent service Hours: Lunch/dinner: 2 p.m.-midnight Tuesday-Saturday; Sunday brunch 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Sunday dinner 2-10 p.m. Price range: Dinner: small plates, $8-$9; main dishes, $10-$14. Brunch: $10-$14. ****Superior. Can compete nationally. ***Excellent. One of the best restaurants in the city. ** Very good. A standout restaurant of its kind. * Good. A restaurant that we recommend. (no stars) We cannot recommend this restaurant at this time. See More Collapse

The fanciest ingredient here is duck thighs, made into a confit. During brunch, the confit became a meaty duck hash, which went great with shredded potatoes and a pair of eggs.

Also at brunch, the very good blueberry pancakes deserve praise. The base is Pioneer brand pancake mix, but Wallen cooked them slowly in ring molds with clarified butter. The resulting pancake had a cake-like texture and tasted great. A topping of housemade blueberry compote completed the pancakes. An order also included two eggs and a choice of either bacon or sausage.

At dinner, you can't miss with the Pub Burger, juicy from house-ground brisket and short rib meat and melty beer cheese; fried onion strings and sliced jalapenos add crunch. The bourbon honey drizzle seemed subtle and tasted more like barbecue sauce. Thats fine, because this burger succeeded just fine. Even one more topping would have rendered the glorious overload into a mess. Sometimes, even excess has a limit.

In the Doc Brown Sandwich, the take on a classic cheesesteak combined shaved garlic-roasted pork covered by provolone, crumbled bacon and a drizzle of that good beer cheese. Like the burger, it piled on a lot of ingredients but stayed under control. Just know the sandwich is huge. With the accompanying fries, it easily can feed two.

But if you want to test the size of your appetite, try the pork fries, a pile of crisp fries covered with roasted pork, beer cheese, bacon and grilled jalapenos. Cheese fries with pork, bacon and jalapenos  whats not to love? Next time, I'm coming back for the duck fries, a take on Canadian poutine that uses duck confit, cheese and pan gravy.

If theres a must-have dish here, its the Bloody Mary Buffalo Wings. Like the bourbon honey and the pineapple habanero wings, these were grilled, and the touch of char from the grill melded nicely with the tang and slight heat from the spice rub.

Service is about right for a beer bar  but it has a ways go to hit the mark as a dining spot.

On a weekday evening when I sat at a full bar, several bartenders and a couple of managers walked by and didnt look up to ask any of us if we needed anything. When serving food, thats really uncool. The thing is, with a little more interaction, the staff probably could sell more drinks and food. Wallens food deserved better service.

In terms of awarding stars, the food would merit two stars as a standout performance of its kind, but the service takes away at least half a star.

Still, this is a place definitely worth recommending, and Wallen is a chef worth watching.

etijerina@express-news.net

@etij
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When Karla Silva was in the hospital being evaluated for a life-threatening heart condition, she noticed other patients  often children  in other rooms, all alone.

It was heartbreaking seeing them going through that and not having somebody, Silva said.

The experience inspired Silva to become a nurse, but she was already in debt from a medical assistant training program at a for-profit career institute and had no money for tuition.

Through the Health Profession Opportunity Grant program, Silva is now on her way to earning a vocational nurses license, tuition-free. As she took her final classes this week, Alamo Colleges announced that it has received $15 million  the community college districts largest-ever workforce grant  to more than double the amount of low-income students it can train for high-demand health careers through the HPOG program.

This grant will allow the Alamo Colleges, together with our highly regarded partners, to address critical shortages of skilled workers in the health care area, said Bruce Leslie, chancellor of the Alamo Colleges, in a prepared statement.

The grant will pay tuition for 800 students over the next five years to receive certifications in the LVN, certified nurses aide, patient care technician, medical assistant, phlebotomist, pharmacy technician and medical front office worker programs.

Training through HPOG includes career exploration clinical rotations and remedial courses as needed. Through partnerships with area social service agencies, HPOG students can access support services including case management, housing incentives, child care, and assistance with transportation, utilities or rent.

The grants are given by the U.S. Health and Human Services Departments Office of Family Assistance. Six years ago, Alamo Colleges received $6 million from the same program to train more than 450 students in health careers, 380 of whom went on to get health care jobs.

Silva was one of those students. She first went through the HPOG program in 2013 to obtain a pharmacy technician certification. Her subsequent job distributing medications in a nursing home increased her desire to work in direct patient care.

Silva grew up in Monterrey, Mexico. Her heart condition, which causes a narrowing of the aorta, was discovered in infancy when her heart began to fail. The family came briefly to San Antonio when Silva was 2 years old so she could undergo open-heart surgery at Christus Santa Rosa, where doctors installed a stent.

She came to San Antonio permanently at 22 for frequent evaluations at the same hospital that had done her surgery. She had attended college for more than two years in Mexico but had no degree. She worked in her aunts restaurant before she began training to work in the medical field. She now also has a part-time job doing clerical work for the HPOG director at Alamo Colleges, and she will start in two weeks as an assistant instructor. Her ultimate goal is to be a nurse practitioner.

Silva lives in Schertz with her husband and two children, an 8-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. Sometimes Silvas son asks when she will take her last test. She says, In two more years, when Mommy becomes a BSN with the certificate and license.

HPOG has changed not just my life, but my entire familys life, Silva said

amalik@express-news.net
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As part of a yearlong course with San Antonios International School of the Americas, Avery Coltharp traveled to McAllen to see the Rio Grande, the wide, slow-moving river that divides the U.S. from Mexico.

I think one of most significant experience was getting to see the border, the 17-year-old junior said. Because to me, its like staring this really political issue right in the face.

It helps, because when someone starts talking about the border as a political issue, I can say I have a visual memory of what that looks like. If someone talks about what conditions undocumented migrants face while crossing the border, I have a visual memory of what those conditions are.

During a two-semester course this school year, Coltharp and 34 other students at the North East Independent School District magnet school took part in a collaboration with the Borderland Collective, a social art project, to learn about the border and immigration.

During the class, they met with activists, lawyers, artists, elected officials, immigrants and Border Patrol agents. They will present their final projects, which include photos, artwork and writings, Saturday night at the AP Art Lab and SMART Art Project Space on South Flores Street.

More Information Border presentation What: The International School of the Americas and the Borderland Collective present projects from a year-long course about the border When: 7-10 p.m. Saturday Where: AP Art Lab and SMART Art Project Space, 1906 S. Flores St. See More Collapse

The final projects are an important part of the class, said Ryan Sprott, the NEISD advanced placement history teacher who taught the course. He and Jason Reed, a photography professor at Texas State University and coordinator of the Borderland Collective, tried to expose students to speakers who hold diverse opinions about the border, Sprott said.

The other part is creating art as a way to process the information they are learning and then to share it with a wider audience, he said. I think that since they are such complex topics and were gathering new information all the time, especially on some of these trips  it takes time to work through that information. And so part of the dialogue is giving the students space to make sense of this information and synthesize it in different ways.

Part of Samantha Lozanos final project was to write a short story set in the future about two kids who go exploring along the border and find an impenetrable wall.

I think you can get a lot out of kind of imagining the border in kind of a science fiction way, or one of many possible futures, because it opens up this fictional world for you to explore what could be real-life consequences, said Lozano, also a 17-year-old junior. Everyone jokes about Donald Trump and the wall, but hes the Republican nominee. Its always a possibility. Through fiction you can explore the impacts of those possibilities.

jbuch@express-news.net

Twitter: @jlbuch
DALLAS  As delegates loyal to Sen. Ted Cruz worked behind the scenes Thursday to ensure the state GOP platform reflects conservative principles, as a signal to the national party to do the same, supporters of presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump seemed to show little interest in weighing in.

The party platform is something that delegates load up with all kinds of stuff that they feel good about right now, but go home and mostly forget about, said Chuck Ray, a Trump supporter who said he wanted to be elected as a national delegate, but gave up on that shortly after the convention began. The Cruz folks want to control the platform, and I dont think we really care. For my two cents, big whoop for nothing.

Cruz supporters, though, had another view.

This is about building a solid, conservative foundation for our state party, and getting as many (Cruz) delegates to Cleveland as possible so we can represent Texas principles, said Crystal McKnight of Dallas. We started Teds campaign standing on principle, and thats where we intend to end it.

Others said that while some issues are important, dozens of others expected to be argued Friday probably are not.

The platform has big-picture principles that we agree on, but theres also a lot of other stuff I cant even tell you what it is or why I care, laughed one delegate from Austin, refusing to give her name because Im tired of the arguing.

Several Trump supporters, whose numbers appeared to be growing on Thursday if public displays of the New York business tycoons campaign stickers were any indication, offered much the same view. Their emphasis was on coalescing the party behind Trump.

So, while so-called Cruz Crew backers were working regional caucuses and one-on-one buttonhole sessions in hallways to talk about the platform, Trump operatives were said to be meeting with Texas party officials and Cruz supporters to develop a plan to unify  or at least appear unified  by time the convention adjourns on Saturday.

I was with Ted from the start, and still wish he was the nominee, but thats not going to happen at this point, so Im getting behind Donald Trump, said K.D. Baldwin of Houston. Theres only one choice, and thats not to allow Hillary Clinton to get elected.

As for the platform planks, he and other Cruz supporters acknowledged they were staying all in with the drafting process, to influence the final document to their satisfaction. Earlier in the week, reports indicated Cruz and top allies has urged supporters not to cede control of their slots on the partys rules and platform committees at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July, a strategy that would allow Cruz people key input to help shape the outcome for the race in November.

It was much the same plan for the Texas convention, an easy goal since Cruz supporters controlled most key committee slots already.

It is unclear how much time the delegates will require to consider and approve the final platform, since the party has instituted a new system this year by which each delegate will get to cast a vote on each plank in a caucus setting. In previous years, delegates approved the platform in a single large voice vote, but party officials said the new method gives the delegates more power to shape the final platform, which will include goals for the 2017 session of the Texas Legislature.

By late Thursday, the planks delegates are to consider will printed and posted on the partys website so voting can begin in breakout sessions on Friday.

One of the most watched planks will call for Texas to secede from the nation, a longtime goal of the Texas Nationalist Movement that is not expected to win approval.

Among the big topics that several delegates said will bring unity to the state party are such things as overturning the U.S. Supreme Courts controversial Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion, stronger border security and curbing illegal immigration. Even support for Gov. Greg Abbotts call for a Convention of the States to consider changes to the U.S. Constitution and a ban on the sale of fetal tissue are expected to get the OK.

Smaller issues include reversing the partys previous support for gay reparative therapy, and a push by some delegates for a more open internet.

While the final language is an important win in the Byzantine world of platform drafting, several delegates acknowledged that it will mean little since most GOP politicians pay it little mind, except on big hot-button issues.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was Cruz Texas state campaign director but has now endorsed Trump, said that while he does get into helping write the platform, he views the convention as an opportunity to unify the state party behind Trump by the time everyone goes home on Sunday.

The convention will focus on honing Texas values and on developing boldness and courage to stand our ground on every issue, Patrick said.

The world depends on a strong American, and America depends on a strong Texas, he said. They see Texas as the America that all America used to be.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronicleMike

roberto.cervantes@chron.com

twitter.com/BobbyCervantes
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For Melissa and Carlos Rodriguez, the new Loop 1604 lanes on the Northwest Side couldnt open soon enough.

When the southbound lanes were under construction, traffic backups on the access road made traveling to and from home a chore for the couple, who live in the Bridgewood subdivision on Loop 1604 between Culebra and Shaenfield roads.

We had trouble even getting out of our own neighborhood, Melissa Rodriguez said.

The major highway project wrapped up Thursday, easing the daily commute for drivers there and increasing the number of freeway lanes on the citys outermost loop.

The Texas Department of Transportation opened the northbound lanes of Loop 1604 between Culebra and Bandera roads early in the afternoon, allowing drivers to enjoy the long-awaited results of a construction project that began in 2014. The southbound lanes opened late last month.

The $82 million project involved changing that section of the highway, once a four-lane divided highway, into a four-lane freeway with overpasses at the intersections of Braun, New Gilbeau and Shaenfield roads. TxDOT built new access roads beside the main lanes to allow drivers to get to intersections below the overpasses.

This was a sorely needed project, said Texas Transportation Commissioner Bruce Bugg, an appointee from San Antonio. Its my understanding this will cut travel time in half for residents in this area.

Now, with both sides of the highway open, Carlos Rodriguez said commuting between his two jobs will take far less time. He has been using the southbound lanes since they opened.

Its awesome, he said. Its so easy.

For other residents who have been living in the midst of the construction, the new lanes will bring much-anticipated relief from the delays it caused them.

Juan Luna, a resident who lives near Culebra and uses Texas 151 to get to work, said the backups added 15-20 minutes to his commute.

Its going to make it a lot faster, he said, referring to the new lanes.

The project isnt completely finished yet. TxDOT still has a few small tasks to complete on the main lanes, and it hopes to complete a flyover between southbound Loop 1604 and eastbound Texas 151 and a direct connector between Texas 151 and Alamo Ranch Parkway later this year.

The project is part of a larger effort to make Loop 1604 faster for drivers. With the new lanes, about a third of the 95-mile loop is a freeway, and the remainder is either four-lane divided highway or two-lane highway.

By the end of the year, TxDOT expects to start converting the section of highway between Texas 151 and U.S. 90 into a four-lane freeway with overpasses at Wiseman Boulevard, Military Drive and Potranco and Marbach roads.

It also plans to build a bridge over the freeway between Dove Canyon Boulevard and Falcon Wolf.

City Councilman Ray Lopez, who chairs the Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and represents a district that encompasses part of the new lanes, praised those responsible for planning and funding major congestion-relief efforts in one of the citys fastest-growing areas.

But he emphasized the need to develop transit, rail and other mass transportation options to prepare for an influx of people.

While building more roads is certainly in our future, we will not be able to build our way out of the congestion thats ahead of us, he said.

kblunt@express-news.net

Twitter: @katherineblunt
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KERRVILLE  Political jostling around City Hall didnt end with the election Saturday of Councilwoman Bonnie White to succeed Mayor Jack Pratt and the re-election of two councilmen.

Once the new council is sworn in May 17, it has 30 days to appoint someone to serve in the Place 2 seat being vacated by White. Would-be appointees already are making their interest known.

Also pending are ethics complaints exchanged during the hard-fought mayoral race by the contenders respective campaign treasurers. White beat Glenn Andrew 1,696 votes to 1,509.

Pratt, who backed Andrew, is a target of the most recent complaint, about a political email endorsing Andrew and addressing myths and truths about the proposed Gateway shopping center, which was an issue in the campaign. It was sent May 4 to hundreds of members of the Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Recipients say the message  also in support of council members Gene Allen and Gary Stork, who were re-elected Saturday  purported to be from Kerrville Citizens for Truth. When forwarded, it listed its sponsors as Pratt and Greg Shrader, Andrews treasurer.

The complaint filed against Pratt and Shrader with the Texas Ethics Commission on Thursday claims that the email constituted an improper corporate political contribution whose senders misrepresented their identities and failed to include required disclosures.

Andrew denied any link to the message Monday. Shrader, who couldnt be reached, has publicly disclaimed sponsoring the missive.

The email initially featured a return address and post office box associated with Summit Advisors, Pratts consulting company, as well as Pratts photo, recipients say. The mayor has sidestepped questions about the message and did not respond to a request for comment.

Attorney Richard Ellison, who filed the complaint on behalf of Whites treasurer, Bill Morgan, said Kerrville Citizens for Truth is not registered locally or with the state as a political action committee or special purpose committee, as required. Use of the Summit Advisors Inc. server to send a political message constitutes improper political donation by a corporation, he said.

Morgan is convinced that Pratt improperly utilized the chambers mailing list for political advocacy.

After he was called on it, the message was changed to try to obscure his role in it, Morgan said. He was covering his trail.

After getting a flood of inquiries from members who mistook the email as chamber correspondence, chamber President Terry Cook sent out a message disclaiming any link to it. Hes unsure if the chamber email list was used, but said that all of our passwords have been changed.

We dont take a stand on political candidates, Cook said.

Shrader filed his own ethics complaint in April, over yard signs used by Whites campaign on which the word FOR was not at least half as large as the font used for MAYOR, as required by election law.

If you stand back 100 feet, all you see is Mayor White, Shrader said at the time, accusing White of trying to mislead voters into thinking she was the incumbent mayor.

White said her printing company altered the sign template and that she asked her supporters to add 3/16 of an inch to the word FOR to bring the signs into compliance.

I had no reason to believe they werent legal, said White, who reported telling the ethics commission that she would make the necessary changes.

That doesnt satisfy the law, Pratt said last month of the hand-made corrections. Shes supposed to either have those signs redone or to pull them.

David Vinyard, spokesman for the company behind the Gateway center, said the email likely helped White among voters.

I think this backfired against them, just like it did when they complained the letters on Bonnies signs were too small, he said Monday.

He said Schrader told him Pratt acted alone in sending the email.

I dont think hes going to get out easy on this ethics thing, Vinyard said of Pratt. I think its going to be painful before its over.

zeke@express-news.net




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DALLAS  Tamara Freeman listened with a smile on her face Thursday as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bashed Hillary Clinton and Democratic Party policies, called for securing the border with Mexico and promised to ban so-called sanctuary cities and the donation of the organs of aborted fetuses.

The smile disappeared, though, when Abbott repeated his call for a Convention of the States to recommend changes to the U.S. Constitution to give states more power over the federal government, a move she fears also could endanger personal freedoms.

Hes my guy on most things, said the 50-something mother of four from Dallas. Notice I said, most things.

At a time when many party regulars, particularly here in Ted Cruz Country, are struggling with the idea of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee and the need to unify behind him, there appears to be at least one person they all can all get behind: Abbott.

Hes the rock, said Leroy Chase of Garland. His putting in with Trump told everyone that we needed to get on board, however we have to.

Like Freeman, most delegates to the three-day Texas Republican Convention here give Abbott high marks on almost every issue 16 months into his first term, even if the tea-party supporters still cannot understand why he supported an expansion of state-backed pre-K programs.

Consistent conservative principles go a long way with me, said Freeman, a retired Houston baker who said she has been active in party politics for 20 years, most recently with tea party groups. And as far as Im concerned, hes done what he said he would, with that one exception.

Dozens of other delegates and conventioneers echoed the sentiment, cheering red-meat speeches from Abbott and authentic conservative Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, even as they continued to mourn Cruzs decision to drop out of the presidential race last week, a development many said has left the convention more subdued than in previous years.

For Abbott, who released a book Thursday focusing on his experience becoming paralyzed in a freak accident and building a political career that landed him in the governors mansion, this years gathering is as much a celebration of his place as titular head of Texas Republican party as it marks a shift back to state issues rather than the intense Washington-bashing of years past.

His speech opening the convention here focused on two items: the 2016 presidential election and who should be able to use which public restroom, the so-called transgender bathroom issue.

Abbott, who had endorsed Cruz, his onetime colleague in the Texas attorney generals office, never mentioned the name of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, but his message was clear: the party needs to unify to defeat Clinton.

Ted may have come up short, but that does not end the war. America does not have the luxury to get this election wrong, Abbott told the crowd.

He said the election would determine the fate of such issues as gun rights, energy production and the balance of the U.S. Supreme Court before adding, We need to come to grips with the reality.

Abbott also promised to fight during the 2017 legislative session to prohibit the transfer of fetal tissue from abortions, and to stop some cities from adopting so-called sanctuary policies for dealing undocumented immigrants.

Acknowledging fears among conservatives over a Convention of the States, Abbott told the crowd it takes just 13 states to block any radical idea. Judging from the murmers in the crowd and discussions after the session, it appeared many remained unconvinced.

Just as Abbotts speech brought light applause at some points and standing ovations at others, his punchy rhetoric soon was matched by Patrick.

Patrick, too, got high marks from the crowd as he pledged to support a strong conservative agenda in the Legislature with no retreat on lowering taxes, improving education, ramping up border security beyond a whopping $800 million expenditure last year and stopping men from using womens restrooms, even if they are transgender.

We will fight to keep Texas the leader of the free world in conservative values, he said, joking about the transgender bathroom issue. It is great to be at the largest Republican convention on the planet. And not one man wants to use the ladies room.

For all the GOP chest-beating offered by Abbott and Patrick on Thursday, Deena Carter, a tea party activist from San Antonio, said Texas top leaders need to focus on keeping united a party that nationally is a mess.

We need to focus on getting a Republican elected in November, and then on keeping Texas moving ahead with some fresh new Republican ideas that I dont quite hear yet, she said. I fear that some Republicans are growing complacent and thatll mean trouble ahead, especially if we lose the White House.

Abbott repeatedly has said that he is pushing to ensure that a new version of the so-called Texas Miracle - the economic boom times the state enjoyed in the early 2000s - will be realized during his tenure.

Patrick, who said Thursday he intends to run for reelection and does not plan to ever challenge Abbott, as some of the governors supporters consistently have wondered, said party unity in the presidential race is a first priority.

Both he and Abbott have endorsed Trump.

The unity theme seemed to get a slightly subdued reception from some Cruz delegates, though the message seemed to get through.

Even though I dont like Donald Trump - his orange hair, his big mouth, his liberal past, none of it - but I understand why we need to get together and support him, and Ill do it, said Carolyn Cunningham of Cleburne. We have a good run of officials now here in Texas, starting with Gov. Abbott, and Texas Republicans know how to get it together.

mike.ward@chron.com

twitter.com/ChronicleMike

brian.rosenthal@chron.com

twitter.com/brianmrosenthal
If youre not using speed dial, it may soon be time to start.

Whether you consider it progress or growth pains, San Antonio is set to gain another area code in less than 18 months, forcing telephone customers to use 10-digit dialing for local calls.

San Antonios the last large city in Texas to go through this process, after Austin, Dallas and Houston, said Jason Haas, attorney for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, at a local meeting Thursday to explain the change.

It was a big deal when San Antonio lost its 512 area code, still used today in the Austin area, as the Alamo City was assigned the 210 code in 1992, under what the PUC calls a geographic split. In 1997, another regional split set the 210 code exclusively for the San Antonio area  most of Bexar County and adjacent slivers of Medina, Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson and Atascosa counties. That prompted more reorders of business cards, and it gave the city its 210 brand.

This time around, because of increasing use of cellphones, fax machines, modems, alarm systems and other communications devices, San Antonio will receive a new area code to be added to 210, in an overlay that affects the same geographic area.

If you have a 210 number, you will keep that number, Haas explained.

Speaking of numbers, San Antonio is expected to run out of them for the 210 area code in early 2018. An area code typically has 792 usable prefixes, with each prefix containing 10,000 numbers, for a possible total of 7,920,000 numbers. The 210 code only has 57 usable prefixes left, Haas said.

Under a five-year contract with the Federal Communications Commission that began in 2012, the U.S. technology company Neustar serves as the North American Numbering Plan Administration, to oversee a number plan in coordination with regulatory officials in 20 countries.

The administration is expected to decide this summer which three-digit code will be added for new customers, pending approval by the PUC. Mandatory 10-digit dialing is set to begin in October 2017, with activation of a new area code the next month.

Terry Hadley, PUC spokesman, said he did not know why a digit-specific code has not been proposed. Austin got a new 737 area code a few years ago that drew little feedback from residents.

Haas said the communications industry, alarm companies and emergency dispatchers are used to the overlay changes.

The phone companies deal with this regularly. Not just in Texas, but around the country, he said.

shuddleston@express-news.net

Twitter: @shuddlestonSA
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DALLAS  Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday sought to have his indictment thrown out, arguing that the criminal securities fraud case against him may be flawed because of the way the grand jury was chosen.

Paxtons attorney asked Texas 5th Court of Appeals to dismiss the felony charges because a judge included volunteers on the grand jury, instead of randomly quizzing potential jurors. He also argued that the law under which Paxton was indicted is preempted by a federal law and effectively has been repealed.

Quite simply, the court did not follow the rules, Bill Mateja, Paxtons attorney, told the nine justices present to hear arguments in an expedited hearing requested by the attorney general. Normally, three justices hear such appeals.

Justice Molly Francis, who noted that she had selected many juries as a state district judge, questioned why using volunteers would be reason to toss the indictments.

Isnt this just an effective use of a judges time? she asked.

Special Prosecutor Brian Wice insisted the grand jury selection did not violate any laws or procedures.

This was as random a grand jury (selection) as Ive seen in 35 years of practice, he said.

And while other judges also quizzed Mateja and Wice about the way the grand jurors were selected, questioning whether it caused Paxton any real legal harm, Chief Justice Carolyn Wright expressed concern that thousands of other criminal cases may have to be tossed if the court were to agree with Paxtons argument.

Every case decided by that grand jury would have to be dismissed ... and any case in this state where a judge selected jurors in the same manner could be affected, as well, she said.

Mateja agreed, but said the Legislature has mandated specific selection methods for grand jurors that were not followed in Paxtons case.

It is better to nip it in the bud now rather than to let it fester, he told the court.

Paxton, who was elected in November 2014 and indicted in July 2015, is accused of recruiting customers for a friends investment firm without being registered with the State Securities Board as an investment adviser representative, a third-degree felony. He admitted to the violation and paid a $1,000 fine to the State Securities Board in 2014.

Mateja, however, argued that state law has been invalidated by a federal law under which the firm Paxton was representing was registered. Wice countered that the state law is separate and enforceable.

Paxton also faces two first-degree felony fraud charges for allegedly encouraging investors, including a fellow lawmaker, to buy stock in a Collin County technology start-up in 2011 without disclosing he was being compensated by the company.

Separately, Paxton is being sued over the same allegations in federal court by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which says Paxton acknowledged receiving 100,000 shares in the technology company known as Servergy as a gift from the CEO, who had offered to pay him for recruiting investors.

Last year, Paxtons attorneys unsuccessfully tried to convince the district court judge presiding over the state case to throw out the indictments. No date has been set for a ruling by the appeals court, but attorneys suggested it could come by late summer.

This is not about the criminalization of politics, its about the criminalization of securities fraud, Wice said before the hearing, apparently in response to suggestions that the prosecution is politically motivated.

Paxton, in his first detailed public comments about the case, late Wednesday posted a video online proclaiming his innocence and asserting that he will be vindicated if the case gets to trial. He also suggested he was being targeted because of his Christian conservative beliefs.

Im not going anywhere, he said.

On Thursday, Paxton, dressed in a dark suit, powder blue shirt and Republican-red tie, remained stoic on the front row of the courtroom as his attorney argued to dismiss the charges. Afterward, speaking to reporters in a hall, he complained the case involves false charges and predicted, We will prevail.

mike.ward@chron.com
Robert Almonte, U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Texas, resigned Thursday in the face of allegations that he improperly used agency resources and violated the agencys rules and policies.

His interim replacement was once accused of nepotism in a broad investigation of the U.S. Marshals Service by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Almonte, who has run the federal law enforcement agency for the sprawling San Antonio-based district since 2010, faced mounting pressure to resign amid an internal investigation and an unfavorable climate survey of his agency operations conducted in September, according to several sources with knowledge of his departure. Federal judges in the Western District had circulated an e-mail informing recipients that Almonte would be put on paid administrative leave starting Thursday, pending his removal.

When he came under investigation in 2014, Almonte, 58, said he was cooperating. He did not respond to calls or text messages Thursday to his cell phone seeking comment.

His lawyer, Enrique Moreno of El Paso, issued a statement saying Almonte was proud of his exemplary record and had resigned in the best interest of the service, characterizing his ouster as unfair.

He asked for and was denied the opportunity to see the survey and to address its contents, the statement said. He is grateful for the expressions of support he has received from the community, most especially the law enforcement community.  He is weighing his options moving forward.

Almonte spent a career in narcotics investigations with the El Paso Police Department and retired as a deputy chief there. President Barrack Obama appointed him in June 2010 to the Marshals Service, an agency within the Justice Department whose duties include judicial and courthouse security, fugitive apprehensions and asset forfeiture.

The Western District of Texas is one of the busiest in the country. Besides San Antonio, it includes Austin, Waco, Del Rio, Alpine, Midland/Odessa and El Paso. Almontes statement said that under his leadership, it was the top district in the country for the arrests of both violent gang members and sex offenders.

As far as I saw, he did a good job, said U.S. District Judge Fred Biery, who was chief judge of the Western District during most of the time Almonte was its chief marshal. Obviously, there was something else going on that I wasnt fully aware of.

Anonymous complaints in 2014 about Almontes management started an investigation by the Justice Departments Office of Inspector General. In January, the department issued a partial report that said Almonte violated several Marshals Service rules, instructions and policies for using a subordinate as a personal driver for nongovernment business, not getting ethics approval for presentations made to law enforcement, failing to follow management directives on the number and location of the presentations and asking employees to contribute money for various work-related events.

Almonte often traveled to give lectures to various audiences on border area drug smugglers devotions to spiritual folk idols like Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde.

Taylor Foy, a spokesman for Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said the judiciary committees investigation is the result of more than 80 whistleblower complaints received since 2015 alleging different instances of misconduct in the agency.

It seems like theres a broader culture, a lack of regard for policy, but its hard to connect the dots, Foy said.

Foy said Grassley did not receive any complaints about Almonte, but he did receive whistleblower complaints on Almontes temporary replacement, David Sligh, who rose through the ranks after serving in the San Antonio office of the Marshals Service.

Grassleys office said Thursday that several whistleblowers alleged Sligh, while chief inspector of the Judiciary Security Division, and William Snelson, who was director of the Tactical Operations Division, agreed to hire each others wives. Grassley forwarded the complaints to the Inspector General.

Sligh met with judges Thursday in San Antonio and told the Express-News afterward that he is a stopgap to replace Almonte. He was then whisked away by another senior Justice Department manager and not permitted to answer further questions about the Grassley investigation. The Justice Department did not respond to the questions Thursday.

gcontreras@express-news.net

Twitter: @gmaninfedland
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It wasnt easy to get excited about last Saturdays special election in District 120.

After all, the whole exercise looked pretty meaningless: a contest to select a lame-duck representative whose tenure will last for a few months while the Texas Legislature is not in session. The race featured two candidates who had finished fifth and sixth in the March 1 District 120 Democratic primary (a meaningful election, because a two-year term was at stake), and two others who hadnt bothered to compete in a primary.

In a district with a population of more than 175,000, only 2,047 people bothered to vote. One candidate, insurance agent Lou Miller, did no real campaigning and still made it into a runoff.

But there was some intriguing political action buried beneath the apparent pointlessness of this special election.

While three of the four candidates were Democrats  no surprise in this reliably Democratic East Side district  the first-place finisher was Laura Thompson, 58, a self-described empowerment connector and networking mastermind who filed for the election as an independent.

If Thompson beats Miller in the upcoming special-election runoff, she will be the first independent in the Texas Legislature in nearly 60 years, since actor Ethan Hawkes grandfather Howard Green served a term in the House without party affiliation. (Before and after that term, Green identified as a Democrat.)

Beyond that bit of trivia, Thompsons performance in the special-election runoff is important because she also plans to run the November general election as an independent. Given that there will be no Republican candidate on the general-election ballot, Thompson will be the only November opponent for the District 120 Democratic nominee.

That nominee will be either Gervin Academy founder Barbara Gervin-Hawkins or former City Councilman Mario Salas. They are locked in a Democratic primary runoff which will be settled on May 24, a date which will settle some of the election confusion that has cursed District 120 since Ruth Jones McClendon announced her resignation in January.

If Miller wins the runoff with Thompson, hell keep the seat warm for the rest of the year, and nothing more. On the other hand, if Thompson wins, she will bring the power of incumbency to the November election. Granted, four months in the House during an off year wont give her any kind of record to run on, but itll afford her the title and a chance to build some constituent-service good will.

So if youre Gervin-Hawkins or Salas, youve got to be rooting for Miller to win the special-election runoff.

To get on the ballot in November, Thompson needs to gather at least 500 petition signatures by June 23, a task thats harder than it sounds, because she cant include any signatures from people who voted in a party primary/runoff this year.

By pure coincidence, Thompsons independent move comes during an election cycle when voters seem to be rebelling against the traditions of party affiliation. The two presidential candidates who have stirred the most excitement and attracted the biggest crowds  Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump  are political independents who simply chose, for convenience sake, to run as major-party candidates this year.

Initially, I wasnt going to run as an independent, Thompson said. I called a few friends and told them I was interested in running. One of them said, I pray that you run as an independent. So I looked into it, and I decided to go out on a limb. And it was a real crowded race in the Democratic primary, so I wanted to stand out.

Thompson described her strong special-election performance  in which she garnered 33 percent of the vote, to 28 percent for Miller  as a surprise. Half the battle was convincing voters that the special election amounted to something more than just a lame-duck trophy.

In November, she wont have that problem. Her challenge then will be to make the case that independence can serve District 120 better than partisanship.

I have friends that are Republicans and friends that are Democrats, Thompson said. Im always that person that comes in the middle and tries to find a happy medium, as opposed to sticking with one particular side. Ive always been the one to tell a family member, Hey, you werent right either.

That phrase could come in handy at the State Capitol.

ggarcia@express-news.net

Twitter: @gilgamesh470
BALTIMORE  After months of delays, the prosecution of the police officers charged over their encounter with Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury while in police custody, resumed Thursday, with prosecutors alleging that crimes against Gray began well before he was injured.

He needlessly risked Mr. Grays life, said Michael Schatzow, the chief deputy states attorney for this city, laying out the states opening argument against Officer Edward Nero, one of three officers present when Gray was first arrested in April last year.

He deprived Mr. Gray of his liberty and of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, Schatzow added.

The death of Gray, about a week later, set off violent protests in Baltimore and catapulted the citys long-simmering tensions between police and residents to the forefront of a national debate over how officers use force against minorities.

The indictments against six police officers in connection with the events surrounding Grays death were welcomed by demonstrators demanding police accountability. But so far, legal arguments against the officers have been deeply complex, and the first trial, of Officer William Porter, ended with a mistrial in December.

Nero, 30, is charged with second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and two counts of misconduct, all misdemeanors. He is not charged with Grays death or even with directly injuring Gray. Instead, prosecutors are seeking to prove that police exceeded the scope of what they were allowed to do when they detained Gray, and so any physical contact they made while searching and holding him amounted to assault.

But Marc Zayon, a defense lawyer for Nero, said the officers had reasonable suspicion to pursue and arrest Gray after he fled from officers for no apparent reason.

Theres no question that this is a high-crime area, Zayon said. There is no question that this is unprovoked flight.

Zayon denied that his client made physical contact with Gray during the first moments of his arrest, which Zayon said was primarily carried out by another officer, Garrett Miller.

The only time he touches Freddie Gray is when he asks for his inhaler, and Officer Nero helps him, Zayon said.

Nero faces the reckless endangerment charge for not fastening Grays seat belt when he placed him in a police wagon that had arrived to transport him to a nearby police station. Zayon said Gray was actively and passively resisting arrest and that it would have been too dangerous to do so.

Prosecutor Schatzow said Nero ignored department procedure requiring seat belt use and created a grave risk to Grays safety.

He leaves him facedown on that filthy floor with Grays hands behind his back and his legs shackled, Schatzow said.

The issue, Schatzow added, was not one of danger.

This issue is of not caring.
Shropshire

A Full-Time position is available for an assistant herdsperson on a family dairy farm in mid Shropshire. We have a 250 dairy herd rearing own replacements together with a b...
Prince Charles has revealed to a gathering of scientists and government officials in London that he treats his own cows and sheep with homeopathy to help reduce reliance on antibiotics.

Speaking at a summit, he said: "It was one of the reasons I converted my farming operation to an organic, or agro-ecological, system over 30 years ago, and why incidentally we have been successfully using homeopathic - yes, homeopathic - treatments for my cattle and sheep as part of a programme to reduce the use of antibiotics."

One of the delegates in attendance was the government's own chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies, who once said homeopathy in humans was 'rubbish'.

Homeopathy is a 'treatment' based on the use of highly diluted substances, which practitioners claim can cause the body to heal itself.

'Incredibly frustrating' to see antibiotics in farming

Charles said it must be 'incredibly frustrating' to witness the fact that antibiotics have too often acted as a substitute for basic hygiene.

"I find it difficult to understand how we can continue to allow most of the antibiotics in farming, many of which are also used in human medicine, to be administered to healthy animals."

In November last year, 20 senior representatives from health and medical organisations co-signed a letter calling on the the government and European Commission to put an end to routine, purely preventative antibiotic use in groups of healthy animals - referred to as inconsistent with all responsible-use guidance.

Farm animals account for almost two thirds of all antibiotics used in 26 European countries.

Selective antibiotic administration

Babulal Sethia, President of the Royal Society of Medicine said: "While GPs strive to curb prescribing practices, the farming sector also needs to move towards more selective antibiotic administration.

"The preventative treatment of groups of healthy animals when no disease has been diagnosed is not responsible use."

Medical experts have now set out their wish for the current revision of the EU Veterinary Medicinal Products legislation to introduce a ban on the purely preventative treatment of groups of animals where no disease has been diagnosed in any of the animals being treated.

According to Defra, there are 500 farmers trained in homeopathy and 38 homeopathic vets.

A spokesperson for Defra said the remedies must be registered in accordance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations to ensure they are safe and labelled appropriately before they can be sold in the UK.

But Charles funds Homeopathy at Wellie Level (HAWL), a group that trains farmers to use homeopathy on animals that feel stress from separation, transportation, weaning, and similar situations.
An UK exit from the European Union could cause the farming industry to disappear like coal mining did in the 1980s, according to transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin.

Speaking at the Cambridge University Conservative Association, he said: "I hear the Brexiteers make the same case about car manufacturing and farming today.

"Just as the under-educated and least well-off suffered worst from Labours great recession after 2008. So they would be first to feel the pain of our departure from the EU," he said.

Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin MP

"Its the poorest in our society who will feel the chilling effect of uncertainty first."

Prime Minister David Cameron also made similar warnings in March when he warned Britain's farmers could lose 330m a year to export their goods abroad.

"If we left this single market and, as some suggest, relied on World Trade Organisation rules, the extra costs of exporting British beef would be 240m a year. An extra 90m would be added to the cost of British lamb exports.

"British agriculture, British farmers and British jobs could suffer enormously if we were to leave the single market."

"It gives them access to 500 million consumers, to whom they can sell their goods on an open, unrestricted basis. No tariffs, no barriers, no bogus health and safety rules designed to keep our products out."

UK will give more to farmers if Britain exited EU

However Defra minister George Eustice said the UK government would give more to farmers than they do now.

Eustice drew attention to non-EU nations like Switzerland and Norway and how their governments gave more to farmers than the UK does.

"Where power has been ceded to the EU, we see inertia, inconsistency and indecision," the Farm minister said.

"The achievements we cherish most of all are those where we have secured opt-outs from EU initiatives."

Eustice said the UK gives money to the EU, which they convert into foreign currency creating unnecessary exchange rate risks.

"The system has been through various changes over the years but remains a centralised and bureaucratic policy. In its current form, it attempts to codify and regulate almost every conceivable feature of our landscape and almost every conceivable thing a farmer might want to do with their land."

He said some 80% of legislation affecting DEFRA comes directly from the EU.
The National Sheep Association (NSA) have this week met with Food and Farming Minister George Eustice, with what was described as a "strong and progressive" meeting.

A representative of NSA office holders took the opportunity to meet Mr Eustice in London to discuss a number of issues and concerns affecting sheep farmers across the UK.

With talks focussed around the pending EU referendum, BPS payment delays and TSEs, the association says it was 'encouraging' to hear a number of 'constructive and clear' responses throughout.

The NSA said it was 'interesting' to hear about the structures Mr Eustice suggested would be put in place in the event of a UK exit from the EU.

'Plethora of opportunities for Brexit'

Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, says: "As an open and firm supporter of the UK leaving the EU, Mr Eustice made clear a plethora of opportunities he felt it had to offer, while suggesting it would essentially be a blank canvass for future financial support and trade activity.

"He outlined a number of practical options for alternative support payment structures, and was particularly keen to abolish the chaos of an annual application as he described current protocol.

"Mr Eustice was also optimistic that a mutual reliance on imports and exports between the UK and other European countries would allow trade to continue."

NSA took the opportunity to seek clarity on the impending decision surrounding TSEs and carcase splitting, making the case that the Ministers own suggestion for an end of May cut of date, prior to which there would be no toothing and no splitting but with the ability to tooth after this date, was what the industry wanted.

'No one is prepared to stand up to Scrapie'

Mr Stocker continues: "Through this process we have been pushed back from an end of June to an end of May date, on the basis that we could revert to toothing after the end of May cut-off.

"However, if this is the only offer on the table, after which all old season lambs would need to be spilt, we strongly feel wed be better off remaining with the current rules.

"What is unforgiveable is a unanimous agreement among Ministers, Government and even the Food Standards Agency that there is no risk to human health from Scrapie, yet no one is prepared to stand up and do anything about it, not to mention the wasted time and effort weve gone to so far during this process.

"It was encouraging to hear Mr Eustice echo NSAs frustrations on the increasing amount of red tape and regulation farmers are up against, and his promise appears to be that if we exit the EU we can drastically reduce this while still demonstrating equivalence with EU regulations for trade.

Frustrations over Basic Payment Scheme delays and confusion over 2016 Single Farm Payment applications were also brought to the table, and Mr Eustice sympathised with the lack of confidence many producers are currently feeling towards the RPA.

He also confirmed there is a degree of leeway in place for farmers who submit an incorrect claim due to an absence of confirmation of eligibility for a post 16th May payment, encouraging farmers to submit their applications on time, based on the information they have available.
Farmer-owned Arla has taken the decision to start to incentivise more farmers to convert to GM free feed.

The market is increasingly willing to pay a price premium and Arla is in a favourable position to capture this new opportunity.

The decision to incentivise the use of GM free feed has been made by Arlas Board of Directors on the back of recent developments in Germany, where retailers are increasingly demanding dairy products from cows which have been fed GM free feed and are willing to pay a price premium.

The trend is likely to spread to other markets and Arla wants to capture this opportunity immediately to add value to its farmers milk.

According Chairman Ake Hantoft, Arla is well-prepared to meet the growing demand from the trans-European retailers for GM free feed.

"We own the biggest organic milk pool in the world, for which the feed is by default GM free. Our Swedish farmers have always used GM free feed.

"This means that around 20 per cent of Arlas milk pool already meets this market demand.

"There is commercial potential in this that we can capture and build on immediately by attracting more farmers who are willing to convert to GM free feed," says Ake Hantoft.

He underlines that the decision is based on the commercial opportunity and does not indicate that Arlas owners are taking a new stand on GM.

"We welcome innovative solutions and new technology, which can improve farming and help feed the worlds growing population in a sustainable manner.

"We are not closing a door on GM and we will continue to monitor the scientific research into the pros and cons of GM going for-ward."

Compensation could be 1 eurocent per kg milk

Converting to GM free feed will be a cost for the farmers.

However, following the price premium that the retailers and the consumers will be willing to pay, Arla will compensate the farmers as they convert.

This model driven by market demand is also used for organic milk, for which the farmers are already compensated for the extra feed cost.

"Our immediate demand is up to 1 bn kg extra milk during the next 12 months and we expect to be able to pay an extra 1 eurocent per kg milk.

"The market driven compensation will also be paid to all our Swedish farmers, who already use GM free feed.

"We do not know exactly from when, but we are working fast to unfold the details," says CEO Peder Tuborgh.

The practical challenges in the company and on the farm are still to be investigated.

"Currently, the demand comes from Germany, where we will immediately look into the practical issues such as logistics, separated productions etc.

"As the commercial opportunities arise in other markets, we will invite farmers to participate and gradually take on more farmers. But we still need to explore exactly how we can make this happen and how fast," says Peder Tuborgh.

The genetically modified feeds currently used are in most cases limited to soy, which on Arla farms covers between 0 and 10 per cent of the total feed volume.

All soy currently used at Arla farms is covered by certificates to support responsible soy production.

Despite the fact that the cows are fed with these limited amounts of genetically modified soy feed, their milk is per definition GM free as the GM cant be traced to the milk.
The forthcoming referendum on the United Kingdoms membership of the European Union was the subject of intense argument at this years Pig and Poultry Fair, with farming figures from both sides of the divide taking part in a staged debate.

Sir Peter Kendall and James Hook of P D Hook spoke in favour of EU membership, whilst free range egg producer and UKIP MEP Stuart Agnew outlined the benefits he felt would result from voting for independence. He was joined by Berkshire arable farmer Colin Rayner.

Following the debate, Sir Peter and Stuart Agnew spoke to FarmingUK TV.

The former NFU president warned that leading Leave campaigners were telling voters that leaving the EU would lead to cheaper food prices. That would inevitably impact on farmers, he said.

Stuart Agnew said that the UK would be financially better off outside the EU.

He said that legislation governing free range egg production was currently being created by other EU member countries which had very few free range hens. The rest of the EU was predominantly cage, he said.

Leaving the single market 'wouldn't be a disaster'

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."
Germany is set to abstain in an EU Council vote next week, as the countrys farming and environment ministers have disagreed over the correct course of action to take on controversial herbicide glyphosate.

The two ministries are run by different political parties, which are at odds over the glyphosate issue.

Glyphosate is used in many herbicides, despite a dispute between EU and U.N. agencies over whether it causes cancer.

Experts from the EU's 28 member states will hold a closed-door meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels to discuss a draft proposal to extend by nine years approval of the herbicide.

Last month, European politicians advised that glyphosate should only be approved for another seven years, rather than the 15 proposed by the EU executive, and should not be used by the general public.

The European Commission said the new draft takes into account the opposition and maintains the proposal to ban some products because of the substances they combine with glyphosate, which could add to risks.

It said the banned "list of co-formulants" includes POE-tallowamine from glyphosate-containing pesticides.
A group of Innovative Farmers in Herefordshire have found that Shropshire sheep did not damage apple trees when grazed in an orchard.

Sheep would normally devastate the apple trees but this breed has been found instead to bring many benefits.

Through the field lab at Broome Farm, Peterstow in Hereford, a group of farmers found that sheep can help with tree management, weed control and soil health.

Sheep Field Lab - Orchard Broome Farm

Mike Johnson of Broome Farm, who grows apples for cider production, said: "Through the field lab I wanted to find out what sheep can do to keep lower branches pruned without causing major damage to the trees.

"We struggle to prune the suckers growing at the base of trees (and its expensive!), but it seems that the sheep nibble these shoots down, meaning our workload is reduced and we save money!"

Innovative Farmers is a national network run by farmers for farmers, to investigate solutions to every day practical farming problems.

Through the network, orchard owner Mike Johnson linked up with other farmers in the Hereford area.

Sheep grazing in the orchard

The Soil Association, a partner in Innovative Farmers, helped find experts and advisors to lead the group, including researcher Emily Durrant from the Bulmer Foundation and Liz Bowles from the Soil Association, enabling Mike and the other local farmers conduct a more structured observation as part of the field lab in his orchard.

Liz Bowles, head of farming at the Soil Association is co-ordinating the field lab. She said: "Sheep are excellent natural lawnmowers, keeping grass and weeds down and providing fertiliser at the same time.

"Using sheep to reduce competition from grass instead of spraying or mowing helps orchard owners reduce the work required in the orchard, improve the soil health and reduce soil compaction."

As well as showing that the Shropshire sheep did not harm the trees, the group were able to monitor other benefits of grazing sheep in the orchard.

The importance of minimising soil compaction due to reduced passing of machinery in the orchard and building soil fertility by grazing sheep in the area was noted.

Beneficial soil organisms, such as mycorrhiza which are important to plant health and growth, should also be present where soil is not disturbed for significant periods  such as in the apple orchard.

The field lab will continue and these effects will be further investigated. The group have applied for additional funding from the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) to explore the long term effects of grazing in orchards.

Innovative Farmers is a not-for-profit network giving farmers research support and funding on their own terms.

Many of the best ideas in farming come from farmers. But most research happens off-farm. Innovative Farmers changes that.

It helps farmers find lasting solutions to practical problems, from managing weeds and pests with fewer chemicals to testing more sustainable animal feeds through on-farm field labs.

Together farmers are finding new ways to grow better food, cut waste and pollution, and protect their farm from volatility.
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and NFU Mutual have both signed a mutual agreement to fund a ewe hostelling initiative which helps farmers look after suspected stolen sheep while the police investigate.

The brainchild of Lancaster based sheep farmer John Taylor during his two year stint as NFU Lancashire County Chairman, the scheme is already successfully operating in his home county of Lancashire with farmers, the constabulary, livestock auction marts and insurance companies working well together.

Chief Constable Simon Prince, Matthew Scott and livestock farmer John Taylor

In order for the scheme to be adapted or adopted in other counties successfully, it was imperative that a signed and sealed memorandum of understanding between the National Police Chiefs Council and the NFU Mutual was in place.

Witnessed by NFU representatives at the 2016 National Rural Crime Seminar earlier this week, the memorandum of understanding was signed by Chief Constable Simon Prince of Dyfed Powys Police (who is the national policing lead for rural and wildlife crime) and NFU Mutuals chief claims manager Matthew Scott.

Former NFU Lancashire County Chairman John Taylor said: "This initiative began its life as a favour for a mate, became a project and is now a useful asset which will hopefully evolve.

"The initiatives success in Lancashire resulted in livestock crime being pushed out of the county, sadly into our neighbouring ones.

"My hope is that every constabulary adopts this approach so that eventually livestock crime is eradicated completely."

Under the agreement of the scheme NFU Mutual agrees to provide funding for the costs of housing livestock in certain situations which will allow police forces participating in the scheme to carry out thorough investigations in livestock theft cases. This is known as lairage.

Following the signing of the document, Chief Constable Simon Prince said: "I think theft of livestock has a very serious impact on the rural economy and those businesses within it.

"The memorandum of understanding will assist officers in tackling this crime. We are delighted to be working with the NFU and NFU Mutual to protect farmers."

NFU Mutuals chief claims manager Matthew Scott added: "Thanks to the work of the NFU and its former county chairman in Lancashire John Taylor, there is a scheme in place where police are trained in handling sheep, how to identify them and the fitting of police evidence tags.

"Auctions and farmers also make up a network which assists the police in their duties. As a proud Lancastrian myself, I am pleased to say this scheme originated there and has so far resulted in two prosecutions with custodial sentences."

History of the NFU and Lancashire Livestock Theft Prevention

The initiative was launched when almost 60 sheep were stolen from a Lancashire farm back in February 2014.

The farming community identified a possible suspect but it became clear the local police officers were out of their depth with no knowledge of the agricultural industry.

John Taylor, who farms at Lots House in Lancaster, ended up housing the stolen sheep while investigations were carried out.

It was then that John decided things had to change. He gathered together members of the NFU, Trading Standards, the NFU Mutual and representatives from the livestock auction marts and met with local police officers to see what could be done to tackle the problem.
The Wensleydale Creamery is celebrating the start of Summer with the launch of a Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake ice cream, to be sold at the Creamerys popular Visitor Centre.

The Creamery, based at Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, has partnered with fellow Wensleydale dairy manufacturer, Brymor Ice Cream, to create a unique flavour of their Real Dairy Ice Cream; Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake.

Inspired by the famous signature dish; Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake, served at The Wensleydale Creamerys Visitor Centre, the ice cream is made with whole milk from Brymors own herd of pedigree Guernsey cows, and double cream, which is combined with Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger cheese and a biscuit crumble.

The result; an indulgent creamy delight with the subtle flavour of Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger cheese, and a note of buttery biscuit.

To coincide with the launch, The Wensleydale Creamery has opened a bespoke ice cream shop area at its Visitor Centre, exclusively selling a range of Brymors Guernsey ice cream flavours, alongside the Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake ice cream.

A tempting Brymor ice cream sundae menu has also been added to the food offer in its Visitor Centre 1897 Coffee Shop & Calverts Restaurant.

Sandra Bell, Marketing Manager of The Wensleydale Creamery, said: "Our home-made Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake has always been a hit in our Visitor Centre, here at The Wensleydale Creamery in Hawes.

"Many people request our recipe, and so we thought what better way to embrace the Summer than to create an indulgent ice cream with this flavour."

"Were delighted to be linking up with another proud Yorkshire dairy producer, Brymor, to create this unique flavoured ice cream.

"Were looking forward to welcoming visitors to The Wensleydale Creamery and delighting them with a real taste of Yorkshire!"

Nicola Moore, Operations Director of Brymor said: "We are thrilled to be working in partnership with The Wensleydale Creamery on this unique and innovative flavour.

"Brymor is known for its great taste and choice of flavours, and we are looking forward to helping bring the great taste of Yorkshire Wensleydale & Ginger Cheesecake ice cream to customers at The Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre, and at our Brymor Ice Cream Parlour at High Jervaulx too."
The NFU has said it will persist in applying for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments on behalf of farmers facing pressure from cabbage stem flea beetle.

This follows Defras announcement yesterday afternoon that Farming Minister George Eustice has decided not to accept the NFUs most recent applications.

The NFUs application was for a limited proportion of the oilseed rape crop in England and was meant to be specifically targeted to the fields at greatest risk from CSFB.

The types of neonicotinoids that were applied for are thiamethoxam (Cruiser OSR) and clothianidin (Modesto).

The application was reviewed last week by the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides (ECP).

The ECP said: "There is insufficient information to ensure that use will be limited only to those areas where there is a danger or threat to plant protection.

"And the stewardship arrangements proposed by the applicant do not offer adequate assurance that the use will be controlled in an appropriate fashion."

'Blow for arable farmers'

NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: "This is a blow for arable farmers across the country whose oilseed rape crops are under heavy threat from cabbage stem flea beetle.

"We are disappointed with the Ministers decision; we strongly argued the case on behalf of our members.

"We remain committed to obtaining approval for the emergency use of neonicotinoid seed treatments for this planting season.

"These plant protection products are absolutely vital in protecting Englands oilseed rape crop from pests.

"We are currently looking into making further applications."
With the global population estimated to be over 7 billion, the importance of food and farming has never been greater.

That is the message that will be promoted throughout the annual Essex Schools Food and Farming Day hosted at Writtle College, in conjunction with Essex Agriculture Society and Essex County Council.

Now in its 9th year, more than 60 schools from across Essex will be attending this years Food and Farming day on Wednesday 8th June to discover where their food comes from and the importance of creating a sustainable future for our planet.

Agricultural-specialists Writtle College will play host to more than 3,000 primary schoolchildren as they all aim to learn more about food, farming and the countryside.

For many school children, it will be their first experience of farm life, giving them an opportunity to see livestock up close, hear the thunderous roar of a combine harvester and taste farm produce after learning of its journey from field to fork.

From tractors to sausage-making, to turkey-rearing, and lots of food tasting, the event will feature five zones where the children can find out more about how food is produced, take part in activities and watch demonstrations.

Vital educators do their part to teach children farming

Rosemary Padfield, chair of the events steering group, said: "Every year, this event becomes more and more important as future generations need to be provided with a sound understanding of the food chain.

"The level of interest in the event is always great as schools recognise the role the day plays in allowing young children to interact with food and farming in a fun way.

"Industry leaders say it is vital that educators do their part in ensuring youngsters understand and appreciate how agriculture works.

"I am so proud that fellow farmers and allied industries rally around us to help with this day volunteering to either exhibit or act as a steward to help the children make the best of their visit.

"They are all so passionate about our industry that they are keen to help the children learn and think about the environment they live in, encouraging them to ask questions about what they see.

"We need to inspire the next generation of farmers, and those working in our allied industries  I cannot think of a better way to encourage this!"

Hard work farmers do to put food on our plates

Karen Watson, Essex Agricultural Society, Organiser and School Liaison Officer, said: "We aim to improve children's understanding of where their food comes from, and the hard work farmers do to put food on all our plates.

"These children are our future consumers and countryside users and it is important to explain to them how and why we, as farmers, go about looking after the Essex countryside so that it is productive, bio-diverse and beautiful.

"We hope they all leave with a greater appreciation for the great outdoors, gaining an understanding of the importance of farming, both in supplying food and protecting wildlife within its natural habitat."

Writtle College Principal Dr Stephen Waite added: "Every year, it impresses me more and more how engaged and excited the future generation is about food and farming.

"We obviously hope a lot of these school children will end up wanting to pursue a career in the land-based sector and we would be delighted to see them return to study with us in years to come."
Scottish police have launched a new data security system which aims to deter rising thefts of agricultural vehicles.

CESAR (Construction and Agricultural Equipment Security Register) is a system of fitting vehicles with identification plates and datatag transponders concealed in the machine.

Statistics released show CESAR registered vehicles are 4 times less likely to be stolen and six times more likely to be recovered if stolen.

Police Scotland ran installation courses for around 20 mechanics and officers.

Quad bike and All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) theft is one of the key priorities identified SPARC (Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime) group.

More than 80% of quad bikes stolen in Scotland are snatched in Lanarkshire, Lothians and Scottish Borders, Ayrshire and Fife.

Local policing teams are working with partners in prevention, intelligence gathering and enforcement.

A number of arrests have already been made and several vehicles recovered. By working together, officers have already seen a reduction in the number of thefts and the CESAR scheme is providing even more peace of mind for owners.

'Very encouraged by reductions in theft'

Chief Supt Gavin Robertson, Chair of SPARC, said: "Police Scotland is pleased to have delivered these training events in collaboration with the CESAR Scheme and Datatag.

"SPARC members have been very encouraged by the reductions in the theft of quad bikes and all terrain vehicles achieved so far but we are determined to do more to prevent this type of crime and further reduce its impact on farming, forestry and rural communities.

"Our vision is that, in the future, all new quads / ATVs sold in Scotland will be fitted with CESAR as a first line of defence to deter thieves and reduce the desirability of stolen vehicles on the illicit market.

Dave Luscombe is Strategic Alliance Manager for Datatag ID Ltd, which operates CESAR in the UK. He said: "Datatag is delighted to be able to support Police Scotland in their efforts to tackle rural crime through the roll out of the official CESAR Scheme in Scotland.

"We are confident that, as a result of this training and increased awareness of CESAR, Police Scotland officers will be able to make a real and significant impact on rural crime."

More CESAR registered machinery needed

NFU Mutual Rural Affairs Specialist Tim Price said: "As the insurer of more than two-thirds of Scotlands farmers, we have found CESAR marking is an effective security measure to both deter thieves and help police and customs officers detect and recover stolen vehicles.

"To help farmers cover the cost of fitting CESAR and other approved security devices to tractors, NFU Mutual offers substantial premium discounts to policyholders - so its well worth attending a security event.

Andrew Midgley from Scottish Land & Estates said: "Scottish Land & Estates is very supportive of this initiative.

"The loss of equipment can cause large problems for land managers and lead to the loss of working time, delays in harvesting or other operations, expense of hiring in alternative equipment and increased insurance premiums.

"If we can get more farm and forestry machinery CESAR registered we will be able to reduce the risk of thefts and so reduce the costs to the rural economy."
EU biggest customer of Scottish red meat as trade rebounds to 80m
House of Prayer Christian Church has GI Bill eligibility revoked

House of Prayer Christian Church on Hodge Street in Fayetteville remains open despite having its GI Bill eligibility revoked.
The first formal act of Brazils interim president has been a Provisional Measure that completely dissolves Brazils main anti-corruption enforcement agency, the Comptroller General (CGU).

Michel Temer, pictured left, who assumed office yesterday following Dilma Rousseffs removal to stand trial for impeachment, approved the Provisional Measure No. 726 of May 12, 2016, which was published today in the Brazilian Official Gazette.

This Provisional Measure dissolved and/or merged a series of Ministries of the Brazilian Federal Executive Power, changing the entire structure of the Federal Government.

The CGU authored Brazils watershed 2014 anti-corruption law, the Clean Company Act, and was charged with principal enforcement authority over corporations.

Temer has replaced the CGU with a new Ministry of Transparency, Monitoring and Control. His motives for doing so remain unclear, as do the composition and powers of the new Ministry. It appears to be an effort to streamline federal agencies, cutting costs in a time of recession and spiraling deficits.

The measure may change the CGU in name only while preserving important enforcement authority. But it may not. The impact on anti-corruption enforcement remains unclear.

We are of course following the story closely and will post updates on the FCPA Blog.

___

Luiz Phillip Guarani Moreira is an Associate Attorney in the Compliance and Anti-corruption practice of Souza, Cescon, Barrieu & Flesch Advogados in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show on Thursday afternoon (12.05.16).

Queen Elizabeth

The 89-year-old monarch was full of smiles as she stepped out at the event, held on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, with her husband Prince Philip after the competition was called off the day before due to poor weather.

However, the queen had more than one thing to smile about as she also managed to bag herself a free 50 supermarket voucher after her horse won at the show.

Elizabeth, who was dressed in a gilet, a baby blue blouse, a skirt, wellington boots and a floral headscarf, was seen inspecting her prize as she walked away.

The royal couple arrived at the competitive event bright and early as they rushed to the Copper Horse Ring to watch a class take place.

The show will run until May 15 and is held in celebration of the queen's love of horses and tells the story of her life - from her birth in 1926 to her reign.

Over the course of the next two days, the monarch - who regularly rides her own horses - will be treated to something special as a parade of 900 ponies will be staged in celebration of her 90th birthday next month.

Meanwhile, a member of the royal family will attend the event every evening and Elizabeth will be the guest of honour on the last night, which will broadcast on TV.
Nicky Byrne has failed to make it to the 'Eurovision Song Contest' final.

Nicky Byrne

The former Westlife star was hoping to fly the flag for Ireland at the annual competition being held in Stockholm, Sweden, with his new single 'Sunlight'.

He performed the track at the second semi-final on Thursday (12.05.16) as one of 18 acts vying for one of the last 10 spots in Saturday's grand final.

However, Nicky, 37, failed to secure enough votes for a spot in the final on Saturday (14.05.16) meaning Ireland - which holds the record as being the most successful Eurovision country ever with seven wins in the show's 61-year history - will not be represented.

Speaking after his elimination, Nicky said: "Obviously I'm disappointed. I really would have loved to represent Ireland at the final on Saturday, but sometimes things just don't work out the way you want them to."

The UK's act Joe and Jake will sing their song 'You're Not Alone' - which is being tipped as a potential winner - in the final as the country qualifies automatically due to Britain's status as one of the founding nation's of the competition in 1956.

The other automatic entrants are France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Sweden was also given a pass directly to the final after winning the contest last year.

Those six countries will be joined by the qualifying nations; Israel, Belgium, Australia, Latvia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia, Poland and Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Russia, Hungary, The Netherlands, Armenia, Croatia, Malta, Austria, Czech Republic and Cyprus.

Nicky was desperate to get to the final to represent his home country Ireland in what he described as the "Olympics of music".

The pop star - whose debut solo album 'Sunlight' was released last week - told BANG Showbiz: "To be out there flying the flag for Ireland is as big as it gets. This event is massive and I'm desperate to win for Ireland."

The 'Eurovision' final airs at 8pm on BBC One on Saturday May 14.
Supergirl will officially be finding its place on The CW when it returns for a second season it's been confirmed, with the series leaving CBS after its first outing.

Credit: CBS

Rumours suggest that the move comes alongside a cut to the show's budget after a costly first season and it's being said that the production of the show will now also move entirely, from Los Angeles in California, to Vancouver in Canada.

The superhero series will now sit alongside hugely successful DC shows Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, all of which have been on The CW since their conception and all of which have been renewed by the network.

Producer Ali Adler told The Hollywood Reporter that a second season of the show had already been planned and that the first season would end as if it were to return.

She explained: "Season two is going to be more reflective of their past and how they're going to change their future as a result of it in a really emotional way. We definitely want to continue making more of this show."

Meanwhile, another DC show - Powerless - has been picked up by NBC.

As the first comedy series set in the universe of DC Comics, we'll meet Emily (Vanessa Hudgens), who's described as "a spunky young insurance adjuster specialising in regular-people coverage against damage caused by the crime-fighting superheroes."

Teased as becoming a "cult 'hero' in her own right... Even if it's just to her group of lovably quirky co-workers", she'll be forced to navigate "her normal, everyday life against an explosive backdrop", whilst she "might just discover that being a hero doesn't always require superpowers."

Danny Pudi, Alan Tudyk and Christina Kirk will all also star in the series.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Ross Kemp was shocked to be recognised for playing 'EastEnders' character Grant Mitchell while shooting a documentary in Pakistan.

Ross Kemp

The 51-year-old actor was last seen as the Walford hardman in the BBC One soap in 2006.

Since his departure 10 years ago, Ross has worked as an investigative journalist filming hard-hitting documentaries on topics such as gang warfare, the Afghanistan conflict and modern day piracy, plus the 'Extreme World' series which took him to Karachi in Pakistan for one episode.

It was while he was in the city that a woman spotted him for his famous TV alter ego.

Speaking on 'This Morning' ahead of his return to 'EastEnders' on Friday (13.05.16), Ross said: "The strangest time I was recognised happened when I was interviewing a guy ... in a no-go area in Karachi. He was a well wanted villain at the time ... but on the way out I went past a tuk tuk ... and woman in full headgear, you couldn't see her face at all, in the brightest Brummie accent said, 'Are you Grant Mitchell?' Out of nowhere, which made us all laugh a bit, it kind of lightened the effect of the sniper round that was fired (at us)!"

Ross' hectic schedule doesn't end with his return to Albert Square to be part of the cancer storyline of his on-screen mum Peggy Mitchell (Dame Barbara Windsor).

Once he's done with his final scenes, the actor will be jetting off again to finish off filming for another documentary before heading back to 'EastEnders' for a storyline in the summer.

Speaking about his mega-busy schedule, he said: "I've had a tough year, started off in Columbia then went to Iraq and Syria, then went to Mozambique, just come back from Mongolia and I'm off on my travels again very soon. To sandwich that between Walford I thought was a bridge too far and I haven't finished it yet cause I've got to go back for another three weeks to finish off the storyline after Barbara leaves. So it's been an interesting year - I think I'll be in therapy by the summer!"
Preity Zinta's cocktail party tonight is going to be a star-studded affair. But you wouldn't get to see any pictures of the do. Here's why:

After a day trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra yesterday, newlyweds Preity Zinta and Gene Goodenough are set to host their friends and family at an intimate cocktail dinner party at The St. Regis in Mumbai tonight. The 37th floor of the hotel has been blocked for the party where over 500 guests, including Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, are going to meet the newlyweds for the first time after their March wedding in Los Angeles. "They just wanted to celebrate with their friends in an informal setting," says a close friend of Preity. While there is no theme or dress code for the party, the venue will display signs that request guests to avoid taking selfies with the newlyweds. American stock photo agency Getty Images will be documenting the party and proceeds from the photo sales (once released) will be donated to several charities that Preity and Gene support. "They feel strongly education about education for underprivileged women," adds another friend of the actor.
Global e-commerce major Amazon.com is on course to become the top American apparel retailer next year, according to investment bank Cowen.John Blackledge, the bank's analyst, said recent earnings reports by Amazon and Macy's painted a clear picture.In light of Amazon and Macy's recent results, we feel more confident that Amazon will displace Macy's as the No. 1 US apparel retailer by 2017, Blackledge said in a research report . Amazon's Apparel & Accessories business is one of the key drivers of Amazon's EGM (electronics and general merchandise) segment.Blackledge had also predicted in a report last July about Amazon overtaking Macy's in apparel sales.Amazon's success in the apparel category is being driven by a dramatically larger selection, ramping brand relationships, superior fulfillment and technology innovations.Amazon is growing in the clothing business, while traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are in decline, Blackledge said.

In the first quarter of 2016, the number of Amazon apparel purchasers increased 19 per cent year over year, while apparel buyers at Wal-Mart and Target fell 1 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, he said.



The longer-term trend also reflects a share shift in apparel purchasers, with Amazon apparel purchaser growth of 28 per cent each quarter (on average) since 2014, while apparel purchasers fell 4 per cent and 3 per cent at Wal-Mart and Target, he said. In Q1, Amazon had 15 per cent more apparel purchasers than Wal-Mart (vs. 24 per cent fewer in Q1 2014) and 37 per cent more apparel purchasers than Target (vs. 4 per cent more in Q1 2014).



This week, Macy's reported soft Q1 sales and slashed its full-year forecast that sent its stock to a four-year low on Wednesday.

Macy's said its Q1 sales fell 7.4 per cent year over year to $5.77 billion. Analysts on average were looking for $5.93 billion in sales.



For 2016, Macy's now expects same-store sales to fall 3 per cent to 4 per cent, compared with its prior guidance for a 1 per cent decline.



On April 28, Amazon reported its highest sales growth in nearly four years. Its Q1 revenue jumped 28 per cent to $29.1 billion, overtaking a forecast of $28 billion.



Blackledge noted that for the past three years, Cowen's monthly survey of 2,500 US consumers has consistently shown that Amazon is adding shoppers, while the number of Macy's shoppers hasn't changed. Amazon also doesn't have the problem of physical stores, which present Macy's and other retailers with a host of complex issues, like real estate value, maintenance, upkeep, marketing and human interactions. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Sri Lanka's apparel industry would be safeguarded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which can potentially trigger trade diversion from the island nation, its Minister of Commerce and Industry Rishad Bathiudeen has said."We need to be able to carefully address the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. We in the government understand that TPP is a trade challenge in the future and are currently studying it," the Minister said.

Sri Lanka's apparel industry would be safeguarded from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement which can potentially trigger trade diversion from the island nation, its Minister of Commerce and Industry Rishad Bathiudeen has said. "We need to be able to carefully address the new Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. We in the government#

"Under the TPP tax free garment export opportunities are made available to our competitor countries in the South East Asian region. Since no detailed information is available on TPP for us to understand its impact in a clear way we need to continuously watch for latest developments in this regard," he said.At the launch of the Ransalu Pranama Combo Card jointly by Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) Sri Lanka, Channel 17, Mobitel and Commercial Bank in Colombo earlier this week, Bathiudeen said the TPP is not a trade challenge only for Sri Lanka but it even affects trading systems of its own 12 member countries .The Minister said Sri Lanka however, can generally expect some major aspects that could change and advised the apparel manufacturers to safeguard their designs."For example at present it appears that copyright and trademark could become a key aspect in TPP. Therefore it would be advisable for Lankan apparel designers to consider international copyright protection requirements for their designs in the future," he said adding that the government is willing to support the Lankan apparel sector to safeguard its international copyrights and to sustain its competitiveness if necessary.Despite adopting a combative stance vis-a-vis the TPP, Bathiudeen also sought to play down any suggestion of a looming threat by the world's biggest trading bloc. He even suggested that a rash of new Free Trade Agreements by Sri Lanka could neutralise any potential threat of the TPP."More importantly as we get closer to various new FTAs such as the China FTA, Singapore FTA etc. under the economic vision of the government, the TPP may not be such a big worry or a challenge. Once the FTAs are implemented and when we start collecting their trade benefits, today's challenges from TPP may not be as strong as we expected them to be. Also given the competitive and dynamic nature of our apparel manufacturers I am confident that we could overcome TPP effects especially in the medium to long term," he said. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Education New Zealand and Fashion Design Council of India announced the winners of their fashion event 'Runway to New Zealand ', which was held in New Delhi today.

The event showcased the 'Think New' collection by 12 students from New Zealand's Massey University and AUT University and India's National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Pearl Academy. The students used indigenous sustainable fabrics to craft new-age garments based on the theme 'Future World Connection'.

The fashion show featured engaging concepts by 6 student pairs, covering themes such as creative uniform, ambitious girls in a dystopian global environment, boundary less world, among others. The competition was judged by ace designers Amit Aggarwal, Rina Dhaka, Rohit Bal and Varun Bahl.

Education New Zealand and Fashion Design Council of India announced the winners of their fashion event 'Runway to New Zealand ', which was held in New Delhi today. The event showcased the 'Think New' collection by 12 students from New Zealand's Massey University and AUT University and India's National Institute of Fashion Technology and the Pearl Academy. #

Yoshino Maruyama from Massey University and Megha Sharma from Pearl Academy won the first place followed by Claire Nicholson from AUT University and Aishwarya Jain from Pearl Academy. The winners received a two-week internship at the participating New Zealand fashion school.

Sunil Sethi, president, FDCI, said, It is captivating for the FDCI to be associated with a cross-cultural fashion event of this magnitude. The charged minds from the two countries, New Zealand and India, have worked meticulously to showcase their individualistic take on fashion. This event proves that style is truly seamless and this could not have been achieved without the unflinching support of the Education New Zealand. (HO)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
We were all wondering why Nargis Fakhri was missing from Azhar promotions, and now we know the reason! And trust us it is indeed very shocking. Reportedly, Uday Chopra promised to marry her but changed his decision later, forcing her to quit Bollywood and leave for New York.

An insider told Bollywood Life,"Nargis was all set to announce her wedding to Uday Chopra, but he'd changed his mind about getting hitched and this came as a shock to her. There was a time when he was very keen to marry her and had proposed to her, but she wanted to focus on her career and Hollywood films. Now, the tables have turned. She had a huge fight with him, suffered a nervous breakdown and left almost overnight."

Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Uday & Nargis's Pictures



Another source said, ''The Azhar team was stumped when Nargis told them she was suffering from an injury and couldn't promote the film. But a friend of the actress says that she has had a nervous breakdown and she had packed her bags and left for her hometown (New York City)! She told her close friends that she was not in the state of mind to work and needed to get out of the country.''

Also Read: These Pictures Of Jhanvi Kapoor Will Make Other Star Kids Burn With Jealousy!

The source further added, ''She also told the producers of Banjo that she would adjust the dates and will shoot when she's back. With 97 per cent of the film complete and just some patchwork left, the producers are scratching their heads about what to do."
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has finally made her first appearance at the Cannes Film Festival and she is looking drop dead gorgeous people!

And we must say, the Sarbjit actor picked the perfect star shimmied down the Croisette in a metallic sheath overlaid by a sparkly floor-length cape. Aishwarya is representing her brand L'Oreal at the festival. Check out the stunning pictures of Aishwarya by clicking on VIEW PHOTOS.



This year, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will not attend the amfAR Gala at Cannes, which is scheduled for May 19. Her new movie, Sarbjit is slated to release on May 20 and Aishwarya will be giving the glamorous charity event a miss, as her commitments towards promoting Sarbjit will bring her back to India.amfAR Gala has been established to generate funds to raise awareness for AIDS.

Also Read: Cutest Airport Pictures Ever! Aishwarya Rai Spotted Leaving For Cannes With Aaradhya Bachchan

Talking about Cannes, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan told IE, ''Every year occasions have been different for me. The first time I was there was for the screening of Devdas. Later, I was there in my capacity as a member of the jury which was a first for the Indian film industry and a matter of pride for me. I once announced and declared the festival open.''

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan further added, ''There have also been times when I got to share my movies there as well on a couple of screenings be it Provoked or Ravan or taking Jazbaa last year. Sharing our own work has always meant a lot. There are so many venues there and many different platforms. It's great to meet so many people and share whatever we have to offer."
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has finally left for Cannes. We recently spotted Aishwarya with her adorable daughter Aaradhya Bachchan at the airport. And as usual Aaradhya was looking super cute in a white top and black pants.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was looking gorgeous in black top and jacket. Click On View Photos To See The Cutest Airport Pictures Of Aishwarya & Aaradhya.



The actress was spotted at the Mumbai airport on the night of May 12, flying to Nice airport just a day before her first scheduled red carpet appearance. Her delayed departure has been in aid of her new film Sarbjit, which she has been busy promoting in India.

Talking about Cannes Film Festival, Aishwarya told IE, "Every year the experience is different. I am happy that I have been getting to attend the festival for 15 years now. When you go there, you know everyone who meets you belong to the same world of cinema.''

She added, ''You share similar experiences with them and listen to their own. Anybody around you is someone from the film world and you can sit down for an exchange of something that needs to materialise professionally if you so wish, or just exchanging experiences of different worlds of our media.''

''And it's just a buzzing energy that you experience when you are there. Every year occasions have been different for me. The first time I was there was for the screening of Devdas. Later, I was there in my capacity as a member of the jury which was a first for the Indian film industry and a matter of pride for me. It's great to meet so many people and share whatever we have to offer,'' Aishwarya said.
Katrina Kaif and her ex-boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor was spotted in Morocco recently. Reportedly, the two were shooting for a song for their upcoming film Jagga Jasoos.

In the pictures, Katrina Kaif is looking super cute in her yellow top and glasses. You can see their latest pictures by clicking on VIEW PHOTOS.



Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif were in a relationship for over six years. The couple parted ways in January. And their break-up has affected the shooting of Jagga Jasoos.

Recently, it was reported that Ranbir Kapoor has said 'no' to kissing Katrina Kaif on-screen. The Kapoor lad even told the producers that he will not travel with Katrina in the same flight to Morocco.

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. And Katrina Kaif too, has moved on in life as she has shifted to a new house after waiting for Ranbir Kapoor for four months.

Industry insiders says that the crack in Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif's relationship came when Ranbir got too close to ex girlfriend Deepika Padukone during the promotions of Tamasha. Some people also say that Ranbir did not like Katrina's friendship with Salman and that she went to promote her film on his show Bigg Boss.

On the work front, apart from Jagga Jasoos, Ranbir Kapoor would soon be seen in Karan Johar's Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. The movie also stars Aishwarya Rai and Anushka Sharma.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/12/16 -- Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX: TMM)(NYSE MKT: TGD) ("Timmins Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1 2016"). The comparative period is the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 ("Q1 2015"). All results are presented in United States dollars ("US Dollars") unless otherwise stated. Readers should refer to the Q1 2016 management discussion and analysis and condensed interim consolidated financial statements for complete information.

"Q1 was a solid start to the year in terms of operations" stated Interim CEO Mark Backens. "We are seeing the benefits of the mine plan adopted in Q4 2015. Our cash costs for the quarter ($761/oz) and all-in sustaining cash costs ($848/oz) were particularly strong and were respectively 18% and 12% lower compared to Q1 2015. We were able to generate significant cash from operations and this allowed us to materially reduce our mine-level payables during the quarter. Based on this strong start to the year we remain on track to achieve our 2016 guidance of 75,000 to 85,000 gold ounces with cash costs of approximately $750 to $850 per gold ounce sold."

Q1 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

-- The Company entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Caballo Blanco Property for cash consideration of $12.5 million and the assumption of the $5.0 million contingent payment. The cash consideration will be used to settle secured debt, improving the Company's balance sheet and working capital position. An impairment charge of $12.8 million was incurred to reduce the carrying value of the asset from $29.9 million to its fair value of $17.1 million. The sale of the Caballo Blanco asset will be realized in Q2 2016 and the March 31, 2016 cash and cash equivalents ($9.7 million) does not include any funds received from the sale of Caballo Blanco. -- The Company's cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis was $761 (all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis - $848), compared to $925 (all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis - $1,055) during Q1 2015. This decrease in cash costs over the prior year was primarily driven by a decreased strip ratio and by more ounces being produced during Q1 2016. -- Metal revenues were $28.6 million, compared to $29.5 million during Q1 2015. This represents a 3.0% decrease from the prior year. The average London PM Fix price was $1,183 per gold ounce, compared to $1,218 per gold ounce during Q1 2015. This represents a 2.9% decrease over the prior year and was a contributing factor to the decrease in metal revenues over Q1 2015. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in gold ounces sold of 24,667 ounces during Q1 2016 from 24,155 ounces during Q1 2015. -- Earnings from mine operations were $6.3 million, compared to $2.7 million during Q1 2015. -- Loss from operations was $8.6 million, compared to $0.2 million during Q1 2015. The difference was primarily due to the impairment of $12.8 million on the Caballo Blanco asset, partially offset by a reduction in cost of sales which were $22.3 million, compared to $26.8 million in Q1 2015. Excluding the Caballo Blanco impairment, adjusted earnings from operations were $4.2 million for Q1 2016. -- Loss and total comprehensive loss were $10.7 million or $(0.03) per share, compared to $0.7 million or $(0.00) per share during Q1 2015. -- Cash provided by operating activities was $2.4 million or $0.01 per share, compared to $7.5 million or $0.04 per share during Q1 2015. This represents a 68.4% and 75.0% decrease, respectively, from the prior period and was primarily due to a $5.8 million decrease in trade payables and accrued liabilities and a $3.5 million reduction in deferred revenue. -- Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at March 31, 2016 were $9.7 million and $1.0 million, respectively, after investing $0.1 million on exploration, $0.2 million on sustaining capital, and $2.7 million on the Ana Paula property. Subsequent to March 31, 2016, the Company received $3.2 million of the $7.6 million VAT receivable.

Operating performance

-- The Company produced and sold, 25,120 and 24,667 ounces of gold, respectively, compared to 24,155 and 24,155 ounces of gold, respectively, during Q1 2015. The change from prior year is primarily due to an increase in average processing grade to 0.62 g/t Au, compared to the Q1 2015 average of 0.53 g/t Au, which resulted in more ounces of gold available for processing. More specifically, 40,038 ounces of gold were loaded to the leach pads, compared to 35,469 ounces of gold during Q1 2015. This increase was in accordance with the Company's mine plan.

Key developments

-- On January 26, 2016, the Company finalized an agreement with Sprott Resource Lending Partnership and Goldcorp Inc. (the "Lenders") to refinance the $10.2 million loan. The new credit facility has a maturity date of June 30, 2016. Interest is payable monthly at a rate of 12.0% per annum, and the principal amount outstanding is payable on the maturity date. In consideration of the refinancing, the Company will pay a bonus to the Lenders under the credit facility of $0.4 million on the earlier of the repayment of the loan and June 30, 2016. The bonus is payable in cash or in common shares of the Company at the option of each Lender, in relation to its proportion of the credit facility. Any shares issued in connection with the bonus payment shall be issued at a deemed price equal to the volume weighted average price per share on the TSX for the ten days immediately preceding issuance, less 10.0%.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

-- On May 11, 2016, the Company entered into a definitive agreement with Candelaria Mining Corp. to sell the Caballo Blanco Property. Total consideration to be paid is $12.5 million in cash and the assumption of the $5.0 million (present value - $4.6 million) contingent liability payable to Goldgroup Mining Inc. The transaction is expected to close on June 24, 2016 ("closing date"). The cash payments are to be paid in the following installments: -- $0.25 million non-refundable payment was received on March 18, 2016; -- $1.0 million up-front execution payment received on signing, which is non-refundable if the counterparty fails to close; -- $2.25 million up-front execution payment to be received 15 days post signing, which is non-refundable if the counterparty fails to close; -- $6.5 million on or before the closing date; and, -- $2.5 million at the earlier occurrence of Candelaria Mining Corp. receiving permits or one year following the closing date.

The cash proceeds from this sale will be used to settle secured debt.

SUMMARIZED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND OPERATING RESULTS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- First Quarter First Quarter Ended Ended March 31, March 31, US dollars (thousands) except where noted 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gold ounces sold 24,667 24,155 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver ounces sold 14,671 15,309 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Metal revenues $ 28,609 $ 29,492 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Production costs, excluding depreciation and depletion $ 18,993 $ 22,599 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loss from operations $ (8,585) $ (222) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loss $ (10,720) $ (710) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Loss per share, basic and diluted $ (0.03) $ (0.00) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash flows from operating activities $ 2,373 $ 7,500 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total cash and cash equivalents, end of period (including restricted cash) $ 10,668 $ 24,994 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total assets, end of period $ 138,741 $ 312,411 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total cash costs per gold ounce on a by-product basis $ 761 $ 925 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All-in sustaining cash cost per ounce gold $ 848 $ 1,055 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average realized gold price per gold ounce $ 1,160 $ 1,221 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Management Change:

On May 12, 2016, Mr. Darren Prins, CFO, announced his resignation to pursue a career in the financial services industry. Although we are disappointed by this, we wish Darren continued success and congratulate him on this new opportunity.

Reminder of Q1 2016 results conference call:

The Company's senior management will host a conference call Friday May 13, 2016 at 11am (ET) to discuss fiscal 2015. Participants may join the call by dialing 416-340-2216 or 866-225-0198 (Canada and U.S. toll-free number) or via webcast on link: www.gowebcasting.com/7516.

A replay of the call will be available until May 18, 2016, by dialing 905-694-9451 or 800-408-3053 (Canada and U.S.). The passcode is 8924192. A live and archived audio webcast will also be available at www.timminsgold.com.

Technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Taj Singh, P.Eng., a Vice President of the Company who is recognized as a QP under NI 43-101.

About Timmins Gold

The Company owns and operates the San Francisco open pit, heap leach gold mine in Sonora, which provides a base of operations, allowing the Company to develop the Ana Paula gold project.

Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) nor the New York Stock Exchange MKT accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements which relate to future events including projected production (and estimated cash costs). Such statements include estimates, forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, receipt of the requisite approvals for business and financial prospects, financial multiples and accretion estimates, future trends, plans, strategies, objectives and expectations, including with respect to liquidity, working capital management and to production, possible capital savings and estimates of pre-production capital at Ana Paula, exploration drilling, reserves and resources, exploitation activities and events or future operations. Information inferred from the interpretation of drilling results and information concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to be forward-looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when, and if, a project is actually developed.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans, "anticipates", believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Contacts:

Timmins Gold Corp.

Mark Backens

Interim CEO and Director

604-682-4002

604-682-4003 (FAX)

mark.backens@timminsgold.com

www.timminsgold.com




HONG KONG, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/12/16 -- The inaugural HR Summit & Expo HK opened its doors yesterday in Hall 1A of Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Organised by Diversified Communications Hong Kong and supported by the strategic partner HRM Asia, the Asia's signature HR event features business leaders and HR practitioners on sharing their unique workforce strategies, and HR suppliers showcasing their finest talent management solutions and related services.

This year's summit commenced with an opening speech by Stuart Bailey, Managing Director of Diversified Communications Hong Kong & Singapore who heartily welcomed the delegates. He said that the summit would offer high-quality programmes focusing on the important topics of HR, and would benefit the industry after all.

He then recalled the theme of this year's summit and expo: People, Culture, Strategy. "People with different characteristics should be taken care of in different approaches in order to optimize their performance," he said. "Besides, every organisation needs to have their own culture which embraces and nurtures talent for achieving business growth."

Stuart added that as good strategies were essential in effective talent management, he truly hoped that what the delegates gained in the two-day summit would help them formulate their own strategies and lead them to success.

The summit continues with the keynote speaker Rob Lilwall, Adventurer, Author and Motivational Speaker, and the plenary speaker Tom Mehrmann, Chief Executive of Ocean Park, sharing their insights into empowering people in the workplace and motivating employees to reach the peak of their performance.

Treat Toughness as a Challenge: The Way to Overcome Obstacles

Rob Lilwall drew parallels between the challenges of an adventure and the challenges of the workplace. He said the bad days we came across at work were just like the tough situations that happened on an expedition -- which makes us feel frustrated and tired with the thought of giving up. He advised us that when we are facing obstacles in life, we should treat toughness as a challenge but not a problem.

"We should try to come up with the effective solutions to tackle the challenges or even think of the best ways to prevent difficulties. We need to have a sense of humor for cultivating a positive mind," said Rob. "We also have to take good care of ourselves and focus on the goals, which are always the motivation for us to move on. And, if necessary, we should ask for help from the people around us, and this is a required skill to succeed."

Change & Innovate: The Secret Behind Ocean Park's Success

Tom Mehrmann then shared his experience of leading Ocean Park to launch the Master Redevelopment Plan which eventually turned the Park into a world-class family travel destination with huge increase in visitors and revenues. He said achieving aspirational goals was no easy task, yet staying competitive was even harder.

"Once we achieved the success we had desired, we should no longer hope for achieving better but think of the possible ways to maintain existing advantages and competitiveness, as it is what we all need to do," said Tom. He added that being constantly hungry for change and innovate beyond customers' imagination were always their golden rules.

Other influential business leaders and HR professionals also shared their success stories. The insightful topics include: Women in Leadership, Rewired Conversations, Corporate Culture, Corporate Social Responsibilities, Employer Branding, Talent Development and Retention, etc. The first day summit finished after a big debate with the summit speakers gathered together and discussing the ROI for investing in the HR of a company.

Free Expo: Top HR Solutions and Practices Showcase

In the expo hall next door, advanced HR suppliers showcased their leading HR technologies, innovative talent management and development solutions including employee wellness services; training and development; recruitment; performance and psychological assessment tools; HR management outsourcing services; HR technology; and legal and tax services, etc.

At the same time, actionable talent strategies and the very best professional development programmes were also introduced in the free seminars and workshops. The insightful topics include the use of HR technology; motivating generation Y employees, talent strategy in change management, energising employees to achieve better results and leadership development, etc.

Ms. Bianca Wong, Group Human Resources & Corporate Communications Director, Jebsen & Co. Ltd, said the HR Summit & Expo Hong Kong was impressive.

"The summit and expo is great in terms of diversity. Here I can meet with many HR industry peers from across Asia to discuss new challenges and share the best practices," said Bianca. "At the same time, I was also able to talk to a lot of high-quality vendors with different kinds of expertise. We shared new ideas and they inspired me on how to prepare for the future." She added that she would definitely recommend her peers to visit the summit and expo.

Best Places to Work in Hong Kong Awards: Recognising the Best Employers

The first day of the HR Summit & Expo Hong Kong concluded with the exciting celebrations happening at The Best Places to Work in Hong Kong Awards Presentation Ceremony. Enterprises who had been dedicated in employees' wellness by establishing an ideal workplace were honoured. And for those achieving the highest number of votes in each category, they were further recognised by receiving the Best of the Best Awards.

The enterprises include:

Adidas Hong Kong Limited (Retail category)

AIA Group (Banking, Finance, Insurance category)

Hong Kong Airlines Limited (Transportation, Logistics, Public Utilities category)

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (Amusement, Recreational, Entertainment Services category)

Lan Kwai Fong Group (Food & Beverages category)

New World Development Company Limited (Construction/Real Estate category)

The Peninsula Hong Kong (Hospitality Category)

Stanley Yau, Director of Human Resources & Administration of Hong Kong Airlines, said the company was honoured to receive the award.

"It is definitely a recognition to our management, HR department and all employees. It affirms our dedication in fostering a better career development for our young and passionate talent by providing a clear career path and with lots of promotion opportunities," said Stanley.

The HR Summit & Expo HK 2016 continues today from 10am to 6pm (the summit will commence at 9am) in Hall 1A of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Expo is free for business personnel and HR professionals; the paid summit will be held next to Hall 1A in the N100 conference rooms. Summit tickets will also be available on-site. For more information of the HR Summit & Expo HK, please visit www.hrsummit.com.hk or contact us.

HR Summit Agenda: http://www.hrsummit.com.hk/expo/conference-agenda

HR Expo Exhibitor List: http://www.hrsummit.com.hk/expo/exhibitor-list

HR Expo Free Seminars Timetable: http://www.hrsummit.com.hk/expo/hr-solutions-theatre/

HR Expo Free Workshops Timetable: http://www.hrsummit.com.hk/expo/hr-learning-theatre/

Logo

http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/4622

About HR Summit & Expo HK

HR Summit & Expo HK is organised by Diversified Communications with strategic partner HRM Asia. It is designed to bring together C-suite business executives, chief HR directors and other HR professionals from a broad spectrum of industries for the two-day conference and exhibition. At the summit, delegates can discuss challenges and best practices not only within the field of HR, but also with regards to overall company strategy, culture and direction, and how it will play a pivotal role in their future business. While on the expo floor, they will be able to speak to solutions providers and find services that fulfil the needs of their organisation to realise the potential of their people.

About Diversified Communications

Diversified Communications is a fast-growing international communications company headquartered in the United States. With 16 offices across 7 countries and 9 divisions, the company spans businesses across broadcasting, digital products, software, publishing and the production of market-leading events, with a product portfolio serving 16 industries in 14 countries and counting. In Hong Kong, Diversified Communications organises a growing portfolio of trade exhibitions and conferences, including Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong, Seafood Expo Asia, Natural & Organic Products Asia, Retail Asia Expo, Omni-Channel Retailing Conference, HR Summit & Expo HK, Learning & Teaching Expo, and Asia-Pacific International Conference. All the events embrace an established relationship with key suppliers and buyers in different industries.

About HRM Asia

HRM Asia is a private limited company registered in Singapore since 2002. They specialise in dedicated HR magazines and world-class events, providing an array of thought-leading HR discussion and information to HR professionals in Singapore and across Asia. Since their inception, HRM Asia has played an important part in connecting HR professionals across all sectors. HRM Asia concentrates on the issues and challenges facing the HR industry, with in-depth features and analysis of what really matters to HR professionals.

Media Enquiries

Andy Ng

Diversified Communications Hong Kong

Tel: +852 3958 0537

Email: Email Contact



Roney Chan

Diversified Communications Hong Kong

Tel: +852 3958 0522

Email: Email Contact



Delegate and Programme Enquiries:

Niann Lai

Diversified Communications Hong Kong

Tel: +852 3958 0531

Email: Email Contact




CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday. The Australian dollar fell to a 6-month low of 0.9374 against the Canadian dollar and more than a 2-month low of 0.7286 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9409 and 0.7325, respectively. The aussie dropped to a 3-day low of 79.30 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 79.83. Against the euro and the NZ dollar, the aussie slid to near 3-month lows of 1.5604 and 1.0717 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5528 and 1.0733, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.92 against the loonie, 0.71 against the greenback, 78.00 against the yen, 1.60 against the euro and 1.05 against the kiwi. 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.
Fujitsu Limited Public and Investor Relations Tel: +81-3-3215-5259 URL: www.fujitsu.com/global/news/contacts/ Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. ICT Systems Laboratories Server Technologies Lab E-mail: Retimer_ISSCC2015@ml.labs.fujitsu.com

KAWASAKI, Japan, May 13, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced the development of new technology that, in response to targeted cyber-attacks on specific organizations, rapidly analyzes damage status after an attack has been detected.In the event of malware attacks, which infect organizations to cause a great deal of damage, including information leaks, it was previously necessary to analyze a range of logs on networks and devices to clarify attack status. However, in order to grasp the whole picture of the attack, analysis by an expert over the course of many hours was required.Now, by automating and improving the efficiency of the information collection components necessary for attack status analysis via network communications analysis, Fujitsu Laboratories has developed forensics technology to analyze the status of a targeted cyber-attack in a short period of time and show the whole picture at a glance.This means that it has become possible to do security incident analysis, which previously required an expert and took a great deal of time, in a short period without an expert, and come up with rapid and comprehensive countermeasures before the damage spreads.This technology will be exhibited at Fujitsu Forum 2016, to be held on May 19 and 20 at Tokyo International Forum.BackgroundIn recent years there has been a sharp rise in increasingly ingenious targeted cyber-attacks that aim to steal particular information from specific organizations or individuals. After having infected an organization, attackers can remotely control their malware, causing important information to be leaked outside the organization. This results in huge damage, not only to the organization attacked but also to its partners and customers.As this sort of malware attack is extremely difficult to completely prevent, there is a pressing need for countermeasures predicated on malware intrusion.IssuesAt present, the usual method to assess the damage of a malware attack that has infected an organization is to analyze all sorts of logs on networks and PCs. Because only fragmentary information can be gained from each log, however, grasping the whole picture of the damage required an expert to spend a great deal of time analyzing it. There is also a method in which network communications are collected and analyzed constantly, but because the volume of network communications is so enormous, collecting everything has its own costs. Moreover, even with communications analysis, not only is it not possible-just through this analysis-to determine if an attack communication through malware remote control is an attack or just ordinary communications, efficiently analyzing only those communications related to an attack is extremely difficult as they are hidden in the huge volume of communications from ordinary tasks, such as email and web browsing.About the TechnologyBy automatically analyzing massive volumes of network communications for the information collection components necessary for attack damage analysis, Fujitsu Laboratories has now developed technology to quickly analyze the status of a targeted cyber-attack and show the whole picture at a glance.Key features of the technology are as follows:1. Trace collection technologyThis technology collects communications data flowing through the network, and then, by inferring from the communications data the commands carried out on the PC, it abstracts the huge volume of communications data at the operation level and compresses it. Furthermore, by efficiently connecting command operations with specified user information, it can identify who executed what type of remote control and collect trace information about command operations. This enables communications data flowing through a network to be compressed to about 1/10,000th the scale for storage.2. Attack progress status extraction technologyAnalyzing the trace information collected with the above technology by distinguishing between communications generated by ordinary tasks and communications with a high probability of being attacks on the basis of defined actions characteristic of targeted cyber-attacks, this technology can extract the state of progress of an attack in a short period of time.By installing an analysis system incorporating these technologies into an internal network with a high volume of communications, it becomes possible to extract a series of command operations from a specific PC from amongst a day's worth of communication trace logs in a few seconds or a few tens of seconds, for example. In this way, users of this newly developed analysis system can constantly collect and investigate these traces, so when a targeted cyber-attack is detected, PCs related to the attack can be extracted one after another, and because the attack status is automatically drawn as a bird's-eye view, it is possible to grasp the whole picture of the attack at a glance.EffectsWith this newly developed technology, security incident analysis, which previously had to be entrusted to an expert and which took a great deal of time, can now be done in a short period, even by non-experts. As a result, when suffering a targeted cyber-attack, it has become possible to rapidly and comprehensively take countermeasures before the damage spreads.Future PlansFujitsu Laboratories will continue to improve this technology's functions, including improving operability, aiming for a practical implementation in fiscal 2016 and incorporation into services provided by Fujitsu Limited after fiscal 2016.About Fujitsu LtdFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company, offering a full range of technology products, solutions, and services. Approximately 159,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702; ADR:FJTSY) reported consolidated revenues of 4.7 trillion yen (US$41 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2016. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.* Please see this press release, with images, at:http://www.fujitsu.com/global/about/resources/news/press-releases/Source: Fujitsu LtdContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian dollar continued to be weak against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as investor sentiment deteriorated due to falling oil and iron ore prices.



Crude oil for June delivery are currently down $0.33 at $46.37 a barrel. Oil prices fell after Russia, a major oil producing country, signaled that excess global crude supply will last until the next year.



Thursday, the Australian dollar fell 0.66 percent against the U.S. dollar, 0.12 percent against the yen, 0.43 percent against the euro, 0.71 percent against the Canadian dollar and 0.70 percent against the NZ dollar.



In the Asian trading, the Australian dollar fell to a 6-month low of 0.9374 against the Canadian dollar and more than a 2-month low of 0.7286 against the U.S. dollar, from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.9409 and 0.7325, respectively. If the aussie extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 0.92 against the loonie and 0.71 against the greenback.



The aussie dropped to a 3-day low of 79.30 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 79.83. On the downside, 78.00 is seen as the next support level for the aussie.



Against the euro and the NZ dollar, the aussie slid to near 3-month lows of 1.5604 and 1.0717 from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.5528 and 1.0733, respectively. The aussie is likely to find support around 1.60 against the euro and 1.05 against the kiwi.



Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen rose against its major rivals amid rising risk aversion.



In economic news, the Bank of Japan said that the M2 money stock in Japan was up 3.3 percent on year in April, coming in at 934.8 trillion yen. That exceeded expectations for 3.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the March reading. The M3 money stock added an annual 2.7 percent to 1,252.8 trillion yen. That topped forecasts for 2.6 percent, which also would have been unchanged.



The yen rose to a 2-day high of 123.65 against the euro, from yesterday's closing value of 123.98. On the downside, 121.00 is seen as the next resistance level for the yen.



Against the pound and the Swiss franc, the yen edged up to 156.93 and 111.95 from yesterday's closing quotes of 157.47 and 112.27, respectively. If the yen extends its uptrend, it is likely to find resistance around 153.00 against the pound and 109.00 against the franc.



Against the U.S., the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the yen advanced to 108.71, 73.92 and 84.55 from yesterday's closing quotes of 108.98, 74.28 and 84.84, respectively. The yen may test resistance near 106.00 against the greenback, 72.00 against the kiwi and 81.00 against the loonie.



Looking ahead, final German CPI data for April and flash GDP data for the first quarter are due to be released in the pre-European session at 2:00 am ET.



Preliminary Eurozone GDP data for the first quarter and U.K. construction output for March are slated for release later in the day.



At 5:00 am ET, Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane is expected to speak at the Scottish Business Friends Dinner in Edinburgh.



In the New York session, U.S. PPI and retail sales data, both for April, U.S. business inventories data for March and the University of Michigan's preliminary U.S. consumer sentiment index for May are set to be published.



At 8:30 am ET, Bank of England MPC Member Martin Weale is scheduled to speak at the University of Liverpool.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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For immediate release 13 May 2016



Serabi Gold plc ('Serabi' or the 'Company') Notice of Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting((1))



The Company announces that its Annual General Meeting will be held on 16 June 2016, at the offices of Farrer & Co. LLP, 20/23 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A 3LH England at 11.00 am. The Company has published the formal notice of the meeting (the 'Notice') on its website at http://www.serabigold.com/investor- centre/public-filings-regulatory-documents. Proxy voting forms are being posted to all shareholders providing details of how to access the Notice and instructions for voting. A copy of the Notice together with proxy voting forms and a copy of the 2015 Annual Report is being posted to all shareholders who are required to receive or have formally requested to receive these documents.



Copies of the 2015 Annual Report are available from the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.



The Notice contains a letter from the Chairman of the Company, Mr Sean Harvey, which is set out below in the Appendix.



(1) Certain resolutions to be proposed at the meeting will be special resolutions requiring approval of more than 75% of the votes cast. Under Canadian National Instrument 54-101, the meeting therefore also constitutes a Special Meeting.



Enquiries:



Serabi Gold plc



Michael Hodgson Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830



Chief Executive Mobile: +44 (0)7799 473621



Clive Line Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830



Finance Director Mobile: +44 (0)7710 151692



Email: contact@serabigold.com



Website: www.serabigold.com



Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated Adviser



Roland Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396



Michael Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396



Peel Hunt LLP UK Broker



Matthew Armitt Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 9000



Ross Allister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 9000



Blytheweigh Public Relations



Tim Blythe Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204



Camilla Horsfall Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3224



Copies of this announcement are available from the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.



Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents of this announcement.



Appendix The letter from the Chairman of the Company included in the Notice is reproduced below (without material adjustment):



Dear Shareholder



This document provides the formal notice (the 'Notice') of the 2016 Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting of the Company to be held at the offices of Farrer & Co LLP, 20/23 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LH, England on 16 June 2016 at 11.00 am (London time) (the 'Meeting'). This document also includes additional information that the Company as a 'reporting issuer' in Canada is required to make available pursuant to the requirements of National Instrument 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations ('NI 51-102') of the Canadian Securities Administrators.



Background The matters being considered at the 2016 Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting set out in the Notice are for the most part, items that are routinely considered at such meetings. The Company now has both the Palito and Sao Chico Gold Mines in commercial production and is actively seeking opportunities for further expansion of its gold production through selective acquisition and organic growth. The Board believes that opportunities to develop the Company may arise over the next twelve months and for this reason is requesting Shareholders to authorise the Board to issue new shares to allow the Company to pursue and commit to these opportunities quickly as and when they arise.



Recommendation The Directors consider that the resolutions set out in the Notice being put to the Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting are in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders and are most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of the Shareholders as a whole.



Accordingly, the Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in favour of the proposed resolutions as they intend to do in respect of their own holdings, where relevant, amounting to an aggregate of 25,246,920 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 3.85 per cent. of the Company's Ordinary Shares.



Yours faithfully



T Sean Harvey Non-executive Chairman ENDS



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: Serabi Gold plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2012365]



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THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, CANADA, ITALY, DENMARK, JAPAN, THE UNITED STATES, OR TO ANY NATIONAL OF SUCH JURISDICTIONS



13 May 2016



NB Private Equity Partners Limited ('NBPE' or the 'Company'), a closed-end private equity investment company, today releases its Quarterly Report for the period ended 31 March 2016 as well as its Net Asset Value ('NAV') for the period ended 30 April 2016. NBPE also announces that an investor conference call will be held on Tuesday 17 May 2016 in order to discuss the Company's recent financial performance and Company developments.



Key Highlights



* 31 March 2016 NAV per Share of $14.00, down from $14.35 per Share at 31 December 2015.



* $0.25 per Share dividend paid on 29 February 2016 * NAV per Share total return of 0.0% * NAV per Share change was driven by realised investment gains and portfolio yield income offset by dividends, unrealised investment depreciation and expenses



* NBPE's NAV decrease of $17.3 million during the first quarter of 2016 included:



* $12.2 million of dividends paid, or $0.25 per Share * $24.0 million of realised gains, or $0.49 per Share, net of tax expense * $31.5 million of unrealised losses, or ($0.65) per Share, net of tax expense * $8.3 million of yield income and dividends, or $0.17 per Share * $2.2 million of financing costs, or ($0.05) per share * $3.7 million of management fees, operating expenses and other expenses, or ($0.08) per Share



* 30 April 2016 NAV per Share was $14.07. During April, NBPE's NAV increased by $3.8 million, principally driven by yield income, gains on public securities and write-ups attributable to the receipt of additional valuation information



* NAV development during 2016 to date has been as follows:



31 March 30 April 30 April 2016 Month 2016 LTM 2016 YTD



Total return NAV development per 2.2% 0.5% 0.6% Share[1]



NAV development per Share (2.4%) (1.9%) 0.6%



Portfolio Commentary



* Strong cash flow: $62.3 million of distributions received during the first quarter of 2016. An additional $15.0 million of distributions were received during the month of April 2016, bringing 2016 YTD distributions to $77.3 million.



* New investments: Five new equity investments and four new income investments completed in the first quarter of 2016 totalling $43.6 million. Two new equity investments and one new income investment funded in April 2016.



* Direct investment focus: 79% of fair value invested in direct equity and income investments at 30 April 2016.



Portfolio Valuation



The value of NBPE's private equity portfolio as at 31 March 2016 was based on the following information[2]:



* 95% of the private equity fair value was valued as of 31 March 2016



* 87% in private direct investments and fund investments * 6% in public securities * 2% in credit-related fund investments



* 5% of the private equity fair value was valued as of 31 December 2015



The value of NBPE's private equity portfolio as of 30 April 2016 was based on the following information[3]:



* 45% of the private equity fair value was valued as of 30 April 2016



* 38% in private direct investments * 5% in public securities * 2% in credit-related fund investments



* 50% of the private equity fair value was valued as of 31 March 2016



* 38% in private direct investments * 12% in fund investments



* 5% of the private equity fair value was valued as of 31 December 2015



* 5% in fund investments



Outlook



NBPE continues to benefit from the full resources of the Manager's integrated private equity platform for superior deal flow, due diligence and execution capabilities. The Manager believes that while many segments of the market remain competitive, there are a number of near-term opportunities that may be attractive investments for the portfolio and that the current investment pipeline remains strong.



Investor Call NB Private Equity Partners Limited ('NBPE' or the 'Company') today announced that an investor conference call will be held on Tuesday 17 May 2016 in order to discuss the Company's recent financial performance and Company developments.



The conference call will take place at 14.00 BST / 15.00 CEST / 9.00 EDT and can be accessed by dialling +1-866-919-8155 (U.S.) or +1-706-634-9866 (International) with the access code 12162219. Please ask for 'the NBPE investor call.'



A playback facility will be available two hours after the conference call concludes. This facility can be accessed for the following two weeks by dialling +1-855-859-2056 (U.S.) or +1-404-537-3406 (International). The code to access the playback facility is 12162219. A recording of the investor call will also be available on NBPE's website within several days after the call.



An updated investor presentation will be available prior to the call on NBPE's website at http://www.nbprivateequitypartners.com/.



For further information, please contact:



NBPE Investor Relations +1 214 647 9593



Neustria Partners +44 20 3021 2580 Nick Henderson Nick.Henderson@neustriapartners.com Robert Bailhache Robert.Bailhache@neustriapartners.com Charles Gorman Charles.Gorman@neustriapartners.com



ABOUT NB PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNERS LIMITED NBPE is a closed-end private equity investment company with class A ordinary shares admitted to trading on Euronext Amsterdam and the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange. NBPE has ZDP shares admitted to trading on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange and the Daily Official List of The Channel Islands Securities Exchange Authority Limited. NBPE holds a diversified portfolio of direct income investments, equity investments and fund investments selected by the NB Alternatives group of Neuberger Berman, diversified across private equity asset class, geography, industry, vintage year, and sponsor.



ABOUT NEUBERGER BERMAN Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages equities, fixed income, private equity and hedge fund portfolios for institutions and advisors worldwide. With offices in 19 countries, Neuberger Berman's team is more than 2,100 professionals and the company was named by Pensions & Investments as a Best Place to Work in Money Management for three consecutive years. Tenured, stable and long-term in focus, the firm fosters an investment culture of fundamental research and independent thinking. It manages $243 billion in client assets as of March 31, 2016. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.



This statement is made pursuant to article 5:25e of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht) which requirement stems from the EU Transparency Directive. Pursuant to article 5:25e and article 5:25m of the Dutch Financial Supervision Act this Interim Management Statement has been made generally available by means of a press release and by publication on NBPE's website (www.nbprivateequitypartners.com) and has been filed with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten).



This press release appears as a matter of record only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security.



NBPE is established as a closed-end investment company domiciled in Guernsey. NBPE has received the necessary consent of the Guernsey Financial Services Commission and the States of Guernsey Policy Council. NBPE is registered with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets as a collective investment scheme which may offer participations in The Netherlands pursuant to article 2:66 of the Financial Markets Supervision Act (Wet op het financial toezicht). All investments are subject to risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. The value of investments may fluctuate. Results achieved in the past are no guarantee of future results. This document is not intended to constitute legal, tax or accounting advice or investment recommendations. Prospective investors are advised to seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision. Statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are based on current expectations, estimates, projections, opinions and beliefs of NBPE's investment manager. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. Additionally, this document contains 'forward-looking statements.' Actual events or results or the actual performance of NBPE may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such targets or forward-looking statements.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



[1] Assumes reinvestment of dividends on the ex-dividend date at the closing share price and reflects cumulative returns over time period shown. [2] Please refer to the valuation methodology section of the Quarterly Report for a description of the Manager's valuation policy. While some valuation data is as of 31 December 2015, the Manager's analysis and historical experience lead the Manager to believe that this approximates fair value at 31 March 2016. [3] Please refer to the valuation methodology section of the Quarterly Report for a description of the Manager's valuation policy. While some valuation data is as of 31 December 2015 and 31 March 2016, the Manager's analysis and historical experience lead the Manager to believe that this approximates fair value at 30 April 2016.



NBPE Q1 2016 Quarterly Report: http://hugin.info/137843/R/2012440/745449.pdf



NBPE April 2016 Monthly NAV: http://hugin.info/137843/R/2012440/745448.pdf



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: NB Private Equity Partners Limited via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2012440]



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LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Keller Group plc (KLR.L) announced it has acquired the freehold of a processing and warehousing facility at Avonmouth, near Bristol, for 62 million pounds from GJ3 Limited and GJ4 Limited, pursuant to a settlement agreement in connection with the previously announced contract dispute arising on a project completed in 2008. The Group said the facility is fully operational, has a tenant on a long term lease and the acquisition price represents an annual rental yield of 6.8%. Keller expects to recoup most, if not all, of the purchase price on sale. 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.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - The Unite Group plc (UTG.L) announced the launch and pricing of 125 million pounds of bonds issued by the Unite UK Student Accommodation Fund under its existing debt funding platform established in June 2013. USAF is the largest specialist student accommodation fund in the UK, currently holding a portfolio of 78 properties. Unite is the largest investor in USAF with a holding of 23%. Joe Lister, CFO of the Unite Group plc, said: 'The launch and pricing of the new bond builds on USAF's robust financing platform at attractive pricing levels. Maintaining a strong investment grade rating provides continued benefits in giving access to longer term finance, at competitive rates from a range of capital sources.' 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.
LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc. (SMT.L) reported Friday that its fiscal 2016 net return on ordinary activities before taxation was a loss of 13.92 million pounds, compared to profit of 723.17 million pounds last year. Net return on ordinary activities after taxation was loss of 14.78 million pounds, compared to profit of 722.07 million pounds a year ago. Net return per ordinary share was 1.15 pence loss, compared to 58.74 pence profit last year. Income declined to 32.91 million pounds from 38.96 million pounds a year ago. The company said its Annual General Meeting will be held in Edinburgh at the Merchants' Hall on June 30. 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.
The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in NIBE Industrier AB took place on Thursday 12 May 2016 in Markaryd, Sweden, where the parent company is headquartered.Markaryd, Sweden, 2016-05-13 09:05 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just over 600 people attended the AGM at NIBE's Marketing Centre in Markaryd, which was packed with a lively audience. As usual, the meeting was opened and closed with music and the presentation of the NIBE Entrepreneur Award scholarship.Gerteric Lindquist, MD and Group CEO, gave a speech in which he commented on performance in 2015 and the start of 2016. His presentation covered both the Group and its three business areas. Gerteric Lindquist described NIBE's increasingly extensive internationalisation, explained the importance of continual product development and emphasised the need to maintain the factors that have formed the basis of the Group's success so far.The decisions reached by the AGM included the following:Dividend The AGM approved the Board's proposal to pay a dividend of SEK 3.35 per share. The record date for the payment of the dividend is 16 May 2016.Members of the Board Re-elected to the board were Georg Brunstam, Gerteric Lindquist, Hans Linnarson, Eva-Lotta Kraft, Anders Palsson and Helene Richmond. Hans Linnarson was re-elected as the Chairman of the Board.Auditors KPMG AB was elected as the company's auditor for the period until the 2017 AGM, with authorised public accountant Dan Kjellqvist appointed as principal auditor.Amendment of the Articles of Association due to share splitThe AGM approved the Board's proposal to reduce the quotient value of the shares through a split, which will entail a reduction from 62.5 ore to 15.625 ore, while the number of shares in the company increases four-fold. The record date for the share split is expected to be 30 May 2016. This means that section 5 of the Articles of Association will be changed to state the following: The number of shares shall be no less than two hundred fifty-six million (256,000,000) and no more than five hundred twelve million (512,000,000).Mandate for the Board to decide on a new share issue in conjunction with corporate acquisitions The AGM approved the Board's proposal to authorise the Board to decide on the issue of new class B shares in conjunction with the company's acquisition of other companies or business operations. This mandate does not include the right for the Board to decide on a cash issue without regard to the shareholders' preferential rights. This mandate is restricted to a maximum of 10% of the number of shares issued at the time of the AGM.Guidelines on remuneration and other terms of employment for senior executives The AGM approved the Board's proposal that, in addition to generally accepted employment terms, senior executives shall, as an incentive, be entitled to a variable salary component that is payable if set targets are achieved. The variable component will be restricted to three months' salary. The possibility also exists to receive an additional month's salary on condition that this additional payment plus another monthly salary paid as a variable bonus is used to purchase NIBE shares. A further condition for entitlement to receive this additional month's remuneration is that the shares thus purchased are retained for at least three years. Under normal circumstances, shares acquired in this way shall be purchased on one occasion each year in February/March and the purchase shall be subject to the relevant insider trading regulations. No incentive programme is offered to the CEO.Benny Torstensson CIO: +46 433-73 70Christel Fritiofsson Investor Relations: +46 433-73 078Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=571692
Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 13 May 2016 at 10:50 CET+1Nordea Bank Danmark A/S (the "Offeror") today announces that it invites the holders of the EUR 400 million 5.00% notes due March 2017 (ISIN: XS0759680860) (the "Notes") issued by Sanoma to sell the Notes for cash on the terms and conditions set out in the Tender Offer Memorandum dated 13 May 2016 (the "Offer").At the same time, Sanoma also announces its intention to issue new euro-denominated fixed rate notes (the "New Notes"). Pursuant to the Offer, the Offeror proposes to accept for purchase an aggregate principal amount of the Notes up to the amount of the aggregate principal amount of the New Notes, although the Offeror reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to accept more than or less than such an amount (or not to accept any Notes).Whether the Offeror will accept for purchase any Notes validly tendered is subject to, without limitation, the pricing of the issue of the New Notes and the signing by the Joint Lead Managers and the Company of an issuance agreement.The purpose of the arrangement is to proactively manage upcoming debt redemptions and to extend the average debt maturity profile for the Company.The purchase price of the Notes is EUR 1,041.00 per EUR 1,000.00 in principal amount of the Notes. Accrued and unpaid interest will be paid in respect of all Notes validly tendered and delivered and accepted for purchase.The Offer period begins on 13 May 2016 and closes at 17:00 CET+1 on 23 May 2016. The Offer results will be announced on or around 24 May 2016, and no later than 26 May 2016. The expected settlement date is on or around 26 May 2016, and no later than 30 May 2016.Nordea Bank Danmark A/S and OP Corporate Bank plc act as Dealer Managers for the Offer and Lucid Issuer Services Limited as Tender Agent. Information in respect of the Offer may be obtained from your sales contacts at one of the Dealer Managers or from the Tender Agent, tel. +44 207 704 0880 or e-mail sanoma@lucid-is.com.Nordea Bank Finland Plc, OP Corporate Bank plc and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB (publ) act as Joint Coordinators and Joint Lead Managers for the issue of the New Notes.Additional information Sanoma's Investor Relations, Pekka Rouhiainen, tel. +358 40 739 5897About SanomaSanoma is an inspiring, relevant and trusted consumer media and learning company. Ever since its formation in 1889, the company has held creativity and independent thinking at its core in order to deliver high-quality content in new and different ways.Sanoma's consumer media business provides consumers with engaging and personalised content through cross-media brands that touch their lives. Sanoma's close relationships with its consumers enable the company to offer unique value-added marketing solutions to its business partners.Sanoma Learning's learning solutions enable teachers to excel at developing the talents of every child, creating opportunities for children to advance their prospects in life.With operating companies in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and Sweden, Sanoma realised net sales of more than EUR 1.7 billion in 2015. The company employed over 6,000 employees.DisclaimerThe information contained herein shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of the securities referred to herein in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration, exemption from registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.The information contained herein is not for publication or distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa or Japan. These written materials do not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor may the securities be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration as provided in the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations thereunder. There is no intention to register any portion of the offering in the United States or to conduct a public offering of securities in the United States.This communication is directed only at (i) persons who are outside the United Kingdom or (ii) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments falling within Article 19(5) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order") and (iii) high net worth entities, and other persons to whom it may lawfully be communicated, falling within Article 49(2) of the Order (all such persons together being referred to as "relevant persons"). Any investment activity to which this communication relates will only be available to and will only be engaged with, relevant persons. Any person who is not a relevant person should not act or rely on this announcement or any of its contents.
French Senate Shows Solidarity With Africans, By Rejecting Government Palm Oil Tax

LAGOS, Nigeria, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IMANI Center for Policy and Education, sub-Saharan Africa's second most influential think tank, and the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), the leading Nigerian think-tank, call on the French Government to withdraw its planned palm oil tax, due to the major negative impact on African farmers and communities.

The French Senate, on May 11th, voted to reject the tax - but it is likely to be resurrected by the Government and the National Assembly.

Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President and CEO of IMANI Center for Policy and Education, said -

"The French Government's palm oil tax is a direct attack on the livelihoods of African farmers. Across Africa, including in Ghana, farmers cultivate oil palm as a means to improve their lives and escape from poverty. President Hollande's tax puts at risk farming communities across sub-Saharan Africa. For that reason alone, it must be dropped.

"French Senators have realized that France's commitment to Africa cannot be measured in words - but only in actions. The action of rejecting the palm oil tax shows that the French Senate supports African development.

"It is unacceptable that French President Hollande is determined to inflict pain on Africa by advocating a harmful palm oil tax."

Thompson Ayodele, Director of IPPA, said:

"Instead of imposing a damaging palm oil tax, President Hollande should stick to his promise made in 2012 that he would not interfere in Africa's development. This is one more broken promise by Hollande to the people of Africa.

The French Government must drop this tax immediately"

The French Government's planned differential palm oil tax is a clear barrier to trade that would block market access for palm oil, a critical commodity across sub-Saharan Africa. The tax is clearly advocated to support uncompetitive domestic French interests. In doing so, President Hollande is raising food prices for his own people, and hitting some of the world's poorest communities at the same time.

Over 30,000 Ghanaians are engaged in the palm oil industry - and 80 per cent of Ghana's palm oil production comes from small farmers. The Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) - the French overseas aid agency - has even financed small farmer oil palm schemes in Ghana, illustrating the benefits brought by palm oil. Worldwide, there are over 4 million palm oil small farmers. Small farmers produce 80 per cent of Nigeria's palm oil, and they rely on it to feed their families and improve their living conditions.

French taxpayers support the AFD's work, successfully utilizing palm oil as a tool to build agricultural success in Africa. Now, Hollande wants to impose taxes on the palm oil that results from that African success. Giving to Africa with one hand, and taking away, through a palm oil tax, with the other hand. This is an age-old colonial strategy for keeping the developing world poor.

French taxpayers also have every right to be confused: their taxes are used to help Africa, and then their Government imposes punitive taxes on the people they are supposed to help. Those taxes, too, raise prices for French consumers...ensuring that Hollande's palm oil tax really will hurt everyone, even his own voters.

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.

IMANI Center for Policy and Education is one of Africa's leading think-tanks, recently ranked the second most influential think tank in sub-Saharan Africa that produces high-quality, relevant research. IMANI Center focuses on working with governments, businesses and civil society to shape the national, regional and global agenda.
Europe's leading Internet of Things event; the IoT Tech Expo will arrive in Berlin on the 13-14th June for 2 days of top level content and networking. In collaboration with leading sponsor, Samsung, there will be an exclusive hands-on workshop covering IoT from module to cloud with ARTIK as the centrepiece. It will use tools including ARTIK API, Arduino, Temboo and Node-RED.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005261/en/

Exclusive Samsung Workshop to be held within the IoT Tech Expo in Berlin on the 13th June 2016 (Photo: Business Wire)

Find out more about the Samsung Artik Workshop, and apply for your place. Limited places available.

In addition to the Artik Workshop, industry leading speakers will be sharing their unparalleled knowledge and experience of IoT within the 5 conferences across the two day event, namely, Developing & IoT Technologies, Data & Security, Smart Cities, Connected Industry andConnecting Living.

Speakers include:

Luc Julia, Vice President of Innovation, Samsung

Joerg Liebe, CIO, Lufthansa Systems AG

Peder Arvidsson, Managing Director, Sandvik Teeness AS

Jurgen Bilo, Vice President, Head of Strategy, Business Development and Marketing, Corporate Systems Technology, Continental

Frank Harder, Vice President, IoT Strategy and Business Development, Samsung

Einar Landre, Head of Drilling and Well Solutions, Statoil ASA

Stefan Hoppe, Vice President, OPC Foundation

David White, Business Solutions Systems, Strategy Architecture, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co

Petra Sundstrom, Director Group Connectivity, Husqvarna Group

Till Schicke, Head of Business Development, Tado

You can also register for a free expo pass for access to the 'Developing & IoT Technologies' conference and exhibition which will feature the likes of Samsung, Ubuntu, Vodafone, Ford, Beckhoff, Relayr, Copa-Data, Kii, EBV Elektronik, The Qt Company, OPC Foundation and more.

To learn more about the IoT Tech Expo and register your pass, visit the corresponding sites:

IoT Tech Expo Central Europe: 13-14th June, Berlin Congress Center bcc, Germany

IoT Tech Expo North America: 20-21st October, Santa Clara Convention Center, San Francisco, CA

IoT Tech Expo Global: 23-24th January 2017, Olympia, London

For speaking, sponsorship and exhibitor enquiries please contact the team at enquiries@iottechexpo.com or call on +44 (0) 117 980 9023.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About IoT Tech Expo

The IoT Tech Expo World Series (www.iottechexpo.com) hosts top level content and discussion, introducing and exploring the latest innovations in the Internet of Things arena. It bringstogether key industries including Manufacturing, Transport, Health, Logistics, Government, Energy and Automotive.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005261/en/

Contacts:

IoT Tech Expo

Sarah Wheeler

Events Marketing Conference Executive

sarah@iottechexpo.com

+44 (0) 117 980 9023
High growth rate continues at Copenhagen AirportThe number of travellers at Copenhagen Airport continued to grow in April. Traffic numbers topped the two million mark, improving by 7.6% year-on-year.The number of travellers at Copenhagen Airport continued to grow in April. A total of 2,291,246 passengers travelled through the airport, which was 7.6% higher than in April 2015."Both our domestic and international traffic is growing strongly. In April, intercontinental traffic was up by 8.5%, while European traffic grew by 7.3%. In other words, we have continued the trend of high growth rates from the early months of the year, thanks, not least, to our new routes and the greater capacity on existing routes," explained Thomas Woldbye, CEO of Copenhagen Airports A/S. He points to easyJet's new route to Lyon, France, which opened in April, and to the new routes to Boston opened by SAS and Norwegian.Much of the growth is based on inbound passengers arriving in Denmark for leisure or business purposes. New routes, larger aircraft and more frequencies are key factors to growth:"Denmark is an attractive tourist destination, and the number of tourists visiting Denmark is growing strongly. Especially airlines such as Ryanair and Norwegian carry a lot of holiday-makers travelling in and out of Denmark, but travellers coming to Denmark on business also account for a big part of the traffic increase. In the first quarter of 2016, the volume of business travellers inbound to Copenhagen grew by 16%. Our large route network and high frequency of service makes it easy to come to Denmark, and for many companies that it an important factor when deciding where to place their business and investments," explains Woldbye.Year-to-date traffic at Copenhagen Airport was up by 11.7%, and a total of 8,397,443 million passengers travelled through the airport in the first four months of the year. London remains the most popular destination. Traffic to Britain's capital city rose by 22.2% over April 2015.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=571713
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - SiriusXM (SIRI) announced it and Sirius XM Radio Inc., its operating subsidiary, have entered into agreements with Sirius Canada Holdings Inc. to recapitalize Sirius XM Canada (XSR.TO). SiriusXM and certain Canadian shareholders will form a new company to acquire shares of Sirius XM Canada not already owned by them pursuant to a plan of arrangement. Sirius XM Canada's shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive, for each share of Sirius XM Canada held, consideration of C$4.50 in cash, shares of SiriusXM common stock, a security exchangeable for shares of SiriusXM common stock, or a combination thereof. Following the closing of the recapitalization, Slaight Communications and Obelysk Media will, on a combined basis, own 67% of the voting shares of Sirius XM Canada and 30% of the economic interest in the recapitalized business. SiriusXM will increase its economic ownership of Sirius XM Canada from 37% to 70% and own 33% of the voting shares. 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) -- 05/13/16 -- Orbite Technologies Inc. (TSX: ORT)(OTCQX: EORBF) ("Orbite", or the "Company") filed yesterday its financial statements for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The Company reported a loss before net finance expense (income) and taxes of $2.6 million for the quarter, up from $2.4 million for the comparable period in the prior year.

As at March 31, 2016, the Company had an aggregate cash and short-term investments balance of $2.6 million, and positive working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $0.9 million. Subsequent to quarter's end, the Company raised capital and secured a short term loan, strengthening its working capital position. Following the April 27, May 5 and May 6, 2016 announcements, the Company has, on a pro-forma basis, a cash and short-term investments balance of $18.5 million and pro-forma working capital of $11.9 million.

All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless stated otherwise.

First Quarter and Subsequent Highlights

Operational

-- During the quarter, the Company continued with its commissioning activities on the various equipment systems of its high purity alumina ("HPA") facility in Cap-Chat. -- On March 7, 2016, the Company confirmed the installation of critical calcination system components, which had been withheld by a supplier in breach of the contract between the two companies. The Company also confirmed successful commissioning and operation of several equipment systems, including the feed system for delivering aluminum chloride hexahydrate crystals, and completion of the cold start-up of the decomposer and calciner and associated air and steam supply system. -- On March 15, 2016, the Company announced that due to the complexity of the piping to be installed at its HPA plant, piping installation advanced at one third of the budgeted installation rate. A comprehensive review of installation costs incurred to that date and still required to complete installation of specialty piping, led to an increase of the capital budget by approximately 9.9M$. To preserve working capital, pending the completion of additional financing, the Company reduced the number of external contractors on site. -- On April 27, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a letter of intent with Investissement Quebec ("IQ"), acting as mandatory of the Government of Quebec, whereby IQ agreed to provide the Company with an aggregate financing of $15 million. -- The Company anticipates completing the financings in the coming weeks, enabling Orbite to re-engage construction work towards completion. As a consequence of the extra time necessary to complete the required financings, management anticipates commencement of commercial production in Q3 2016. -- On May 12, 2016, the Company announced the appointment of Charles Taschereau as the Company's Chief Operating Officer.

Management commentary

"While we were able to agree on terms for the $15 million financing in an exceptionally short time frame thanks to the co-operation and continued support from IQ, the timeline to complete the financings is such that the commencement of commercial production at our HPA plant will be in Q3 2016," stated Glenn Kelly, CEO of Orbite. "We made good use of our time while in financing mode, and continued our commissioning activities at the plant, predominantly on the calcination system. The time has also enabled us to issue calls for tender for certain aspects of the work to be done towards completion, which we anticipate will reduce project costs."

Mr. Kelly concluded, "With the addition of Charles to the management team, we have been able to attract someone with exceptionally strong project, budget and operations management skills. This will be of great help during the start-up of our commercial activities, as well as with the execution of our waste monetization strategy going forward."

Continued highlights

Financing

-- On February 3, 2016, the Company completed the first portion of a public offering of units in the amount of $8.5 million, comprised of $4.0 million raised on a bought deal basis, $1.5 million raised pursuant to the Underwriter's option with Euro Pacific, and $2.9 million in outstanding supplier invoices. Euro Pacific purchased an additional $1.1 million of units pursuant to a second exercise of its option on February 23, 2016. -- On April 7, 2016, the Company forced the conversion into shares of all the outstanding 5% unsecured convertible debentures due April 6, 2020, of which, approximately $0.2 million of principal remained outstanding at such time. -- On April 27, 2016, the Company announced that it had entered into a letter of intent with Investissement Quebec, acting as mandatory of the Government of Quebec, whereby Investissement Quebec agreed to provide the Company with an aggregate financing of $15 million, to be comprised of the purchase of 10% convertible non-secured debentures in the principal amount of $5 million, the purchase of class A shares of the Company in the amount of $5 million, together with the grant of a $4.9 million bridge loan secured by the Company's 2016 refundable investment tax credits ("ITCs"). -- On May 5, 2016, the Company received a first installment of $2.3 million of the $4.9 million ITC bridge loan, while the balance of the loan will be disbursed as the capital expenditures underlying the ITCs are expended by the Company. -- On May 6, 2016, the Company announced that it had closed a first $1.0 million tranche of a private placement with US based investors independent of IQ. -- On May 11, 2016, Orbite announced that it received a first payment in the amount of $3.2 million from Quebec tax authorities for its 2014 ITCs. This ITC payment represents approximately 80% of the $4.0 million of ITCs expected to be received for 2014. The sums received will be used to pay down a portion of the Company's 2015 credit facility.

Samples

-- To date the Company has shipped 26 samples to 20 prospective customers, entering the Company into the supplier qualification programmes with these organizations. Following positive feedback from test results on previously shipped samples, the Company received several requests for additional and larger samples for the production of end-products using Orbite's HPA for qualification further down the supply chain. Two of these additional requests are commercial sample orders in the 50-100 kg range. -- The Company has also committed to sending samples to a further 17 prospective customers who have indicated an interest in testing Orbite's HPA. In addition, the Company recently hosted a booth at a ceramics trade fair, which to date resulted in four new sample requests.

Board of Directors

-- On February 23, 2016, Orbite announced the appointment of Mr. Pierre Gignac to the Board of Directors. Mr. Gignac was subsequently appointed member and Chair of the Audit Committee by the Board.

Patents & technology development

-- On January 14, 2016, the Company announced that it was advised by the Federal Service for Intellectual Property (ROSPATENT) that its Russian patent application No. 2014131946 pertaining to its red mud monetization technology and titled "Processes for Treating Red Mud", was deemed allowable. Patent No. 2,862,307 titled "Processes for Treating Fly Ash" was also granted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO"). Additionally, the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") advised the Company that its patent application No. 14/413,940 titled "Processes for Preparing Titanium Oxide and Various Other Products" was found allowable. Furthermore, Australian patent No. 2012231686 titled "Processes for Recovering Rare Earth Elements from Aluminum-bearing Materials" was issued by IP Australia.

Summary of Q1 2016 Financial Results

Revenues and earnings

The Company is a development stage company and has no revenues.

Net loss for Q1 2016 decreased by $1.0 million to $1.7 million, as compared to the same period in the prior year. The decrease in net loss during the quarter is principally due to net finance expense (income) of $0.9 million.

HPA plant operations

HPA plant operations include administration, operating and maintenance costs for the HPA plant in Cap-Chat. HPA plant operation expenses increased marginally by $0.1 million during the quarter ended March 31, 2016 compared to the first quarter in 2015. The increase is due mainly to an increase in salaries and in headcount, partially offset by a decrease in consulting fees.

General and administrative charges

General and administration charges consist mostly of personnel related costs (salaries and benefits), share-based payment expenses, consulting, accounting, business development, legal, and investor relation costs relating to head office activities. General and administrative charges increased by $0.3 million during the quarter compared to the same period in 2015. This increase is due mainly to an increase in share-based payments (consulting fees), salaries, professional and recruiting fees.

Financial position

Cash and short-term investments and working capital

As at March 31, 2016, the Company had aggregate cash and short-term investments balance of $2.6 million, and positive working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $0.9 million.

Subsequent to the quarter, the Company raised capital and secured a short term loan, strengthening its working capital position. Following the April 27, May 5 and May 6 announcements, the Company has, on a pro-forma basis, a cash and short-term investments balance of $18.5 million and pro-forma working capital of $11.9 million.

Financing activities

A more comprehensive description of the Company's financing activities is provided in the Company's MD&A and other filings available on http://www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.orbitetech.com.

On February 3, 2016, the Company completed the first portion of a public offering of units in the amount of $8.5 million under the short form base shelf prospectus and prospectus supplement dated March 18, 2015 and January 28, 2016 respectively. The gross proceeds were comprised of $4.0 million raised on a bought deal basis, $1.5 million raised pursuant to the partial exercise by Euro Pacific Canada Inc., the sole underwriter of the offering (the "Underwriter"), of its Underwriter's option, together with $2.9 million in outstanding supplier invoices which were converted into 2,938 units. The Underwriter purchased an additional $1.1 million pursuant to a second exercise of its option on February 23, 2016. For its services, the underwriter received 1,155,700 non-transferable broker warrants. Each broker warrant is exercisable into one share for a period of 36 months at a price of $0.40 per share.

On February 29, 2016, the Company filed a Notice of intent to force the conversion of all outstanding 5% unsecured convertible debentures due April 6, 2020, of which, approximately $0.2 million of principal remained outstanding at such time. The conversion occurred on April 7, 2016.

On April 27, 2016 the Company announced that it had entered into a letter of intent with Investissement Quebec, acting as mandatory of the Government of Quebec, whereby Investissement Quebec agreed to provide the Company with an aggregate financing of $15 million (the "Financing").

The Financing comprised of the purchase of 10% convertible non-secured debentures (the "Debentures") in the principal amount of $5 million, the purchase of class A shares of the Company in the amount of $5 million, together with the grant of a $4.9 million bridge loan secured by the Company's 2016 refundable ITCs.

As part of the Financing, the Company agreed to amend the terms of the 17,857,143 outstanding warrants issued to Ressources Quebec inc., a subsidiary of Investissement Quebec, in May 2014. The warrants will now be exercisable into shares of the Company at a price of $0.241 per share (instead of $0.33) and will expire on May 2, 2019 (instead of May 27, 2017).

On May 5, 2016, the Company received a first installment of $2.3 million of the $4.9 million bridge loan, while the balance of the loan will be disbursed as the capital expenditures underlying the ITCs are expended by the Company. The bridge loan bears interest at a rate of 3.5% over the prevailing prime lending rate payable monthly, is collateralized against the Company's ITC receivables for the 2016 financial year and is repayable upon receipt by the Company of the 2016 ITC payments from tax authorities, but not later than July 23, 2018. The loan is also subject to other customary terms and conditions.

On May 6, the Company announced that it had closed a $1.0 million private placement with US based investors. Common shares were issued at a price of $0.241 per common share.

On May 11, 2016, Orbite announced that it received a first payment in the amount of $3.2 million from Quebec tax authorities for its 2014 ITCs. This ITC payment represents approximately 80% of the $4.0 million of ITCs expected to be received for 2014. The sums received will be used to pay down a portion of the Company's 2015 credit facility.

Property, plant, and equipment

The Company recorded a net increase in Property, plant, and equipment ("PP&E") of $9.2 million, mainly attributable to investment in the HPA plant (which includes capitalized interest of $0.7 million), partially offset by the $3.4 million of ITCs accrued during the quarter.

Cash Flow Statement

Cash Flows from Operating Activities

Cash flows used in operating activities decreased by $1.7 million during the quarter, compared to the same period of 2015 mainly due to the increase in cash flows from non-cash working capital items of $1.6 million during the quarter. This increase is the result of increases in accounts payable and accrued liabilities and ITCs recognized during the period and a decrease in sales taxes and other receivables.

Cash Flows from Financing Activities

Cash flows from financing activities increased by $3.4 million during the quarter, as compared to the same period in 2015. The increase for the quarter is due mainly to the net proceeds received from the issuance of the 2016 Convertible Debentures and the proceeds from the exercise of warrants, partially offset by less proceeds received from short-term debt from Investissement Quebec.

Cash Flows used in Investing Activities

Cash flows used in investing activities increased by $4.0 million, due mainly to higher investment in the Company's HPA plant.

Conference call

Orbite management will hold a conference call and provide a live audio webcast today, May 13, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. to discuss the Company's financials and provide an update on the Company's HPA plant.

The call will be held in English. The Q&A session will be in English and French.

CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS:

Date: May 13, 2016 Time: 10:00 a.m. (ET) Dial in number: +1 888 231-8191 +1 647 427-7450 Webcast: http://bit.ly/23pyOIT Taped replay: +1 855 859-2056 +1 514 807-9274 +1 416 849-0833 Encore password: 6414681 Available until: 12:00 midnight (EDT), Friday, May 20 2016

Notice to Reader

The information provided in this press release is entirely qualified by the disclosures in the Company's Consolidated Interim Financial Statements and Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, which are available at www.orbitetech.com and under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

About Orbite

Orbite Technologies Inc. is a Canadian cleantech company whose innovative and proprietary processes are expected to produce alumina and other high-value products, such as rare earth and rare metal oxides, at one of the lowest costs in the industry, and in a sustainable fashion, using feedstocks that include aluminous clay, kaolin, nepheline, bauxite, red mud, fly ash as well as serpentine residues from chrysotile processing sites. Orbite is currently in the process of finalizing its first commercial high-purity alumina (HPA) production plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec and has completed the basic engineering for a proposed smelter-grade alumina (SGA) production plant, which would use clay mined from its Grande-Vallee deposit. The Company's portfolio contains 16 intellectual property families, including 32 patents and 101 pending patent applications in 11 different countries and regions. The first intellectual property family is patented in Canada, USA, Australia, China, Japan and Russia. The Company also operates a state of the art technology development center in Laval, Quebec, where its technologies are developed and validated.

Forward-looking statements

Certain information contained in this document may include "forward-looking information". Without limiting the foregoing, the information and any forward-looking information may include statements regarding projects, costs, objectives and future returns of the Company or hypotheses underlying these items. In this document, words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "estimate" and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are based on information available at the time and/or the Company management's good-faith beliefs with respect to future events and are subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. These risks uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those described in the section of the Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) entitled "Risk and Uncertainties" as filed on March 30, 2016 on SEDAR, including those under the headings "Recent increase in budgeted capital costs will require additional financing and may adversely impact our prospects", "We will need to raise capital to continue our growth" and "Development Goals and Time Frames".

The Company does not intend, nor does it undertake, any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements contained in this document to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

Contacts:

NATIONAL Equicom

Marc Lakmaaker, External Investor Relations Consultant

416-848-1397

mlakmaaker@national.ca



For Media Inquiries:

NATIONAL Equicom

Scott Anderson, External Media Relations Consultant

416-586-1954

sanderson@national.ca




Jordan's Al-Hussein Bin Talal University and the Jordanian FB Group have signed an agreement to develop a 3 MW net metering system located in the university campus, about 9 km from the southern city of Ma'am and 210 km from the capital city, Amman. That news would not be considered groundbreaking, given the country's academic institutions tested leadership to install solar PV in their rooftops and lands. pv magazine has published a detailed list of ongoing university PV projects in Jordan. However, the Al-Hussein Bin Talal University net metering system is the first of its kind in the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region that is based on the design, build, operate and transfer (DBOT) model. In practice, this means the 3 MW PV installation will be developed and owned by the FB GROUP, with the ownership being transferred to the university only after 10 years. Dr Firas Balasmeh, president ...

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.
World Economic Forum, Kigali, Rwanda , May 13, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - In keeping with the concept of 'Connecting Africa's Resources through Digital Transformation' at today's World Economic Forum on Africa event in Kigali, Rwanda, Patrick Ngabonziza the Chairman and Founder of MobiCash announced a game-changing approach to financial inclusion in Africa.MobiCash and Boloro are launching their 'ground breaking' mobile payments ecosystem in the townships of South Africa with Big Save Group, one of the largest wholesalers operating within South African townships and servicing tens of thousands of small scale spaza shops. The MobiCash cashless platform brings ease of access for banking services and electronic payments to the South African population at large.MobiCash's partnership with Boloro, a fast-growing mobile payments network brand, allows small scale retail businesses to offer secure, consumer friendly, handset agnostic, merchant initiated payments using MobiCash multi-factor biometric authentication together with Boloro's secure pin authentication that uses Network Initiated USSD messaging. This ground-breaking project is a first of its kind in South Africa."We are proud to collaborate with our partners to bring a holistic ecosystem that not only has the potential to boost small business but also has the potential to impact entire communities as we have seen in our home country Rwanda." said Patrick Ngabonziza.Big Save is rolling out MobiCash & Boloro across its thousands of spaza community members, accelerating financial inclusion and financial interoperability to formerly disenfranchised businesses and communities."Our challenge has always been cash replacement in a cost-effective way, and I am happy to see that Boloro South Africa with MobiCash have been able to devise a financial model and present an ecosystem network that we will be rolling out across our entire spaza member community," said Johnny Jardim, Financial Director of the Big Save Group, "which I believe will positively impact not only the small business owner and their family but also the community that they serve."Boloro's retail acceptance application of MobiCash's digital money is the first step in the strategy to boost financial inclusion. Other acceptance applications such as conveniently paying for taxi fares and secure online payments will boost the payments ecosystem even faster."Delivering financial dignity to every human being is a personal goal," said Ann Camarillo, co-founder, President & CEO of Boloro Global, "and I believe, with our partners, we can democratize financial access for disenfranchised communities, offer secure payments and resolve the pain-points associated with carrying cash."First roll-outs are expected this quarter with aggressive plans to ramp-up reach and impact over the next several months as more stakeholders join the ecosystem to offer financial services for the population at large.About MobiCashMobiCash, headquartered in Hong Kong, is a cashless financial platform committed to bringing innovation, convenience and easy access to banking and payment services to everyone. This includes those not served by financial institutions regardless of their financial situation; thus, deepening the financial sector.MobiCash has made tremendous effort in the financial digital space through offering its robust and dynamic mobile banking platform in 13 African countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameroon, DRC, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. The MobiCash mobile banking platform is engineered and developed to harness and sustain the various economic elements that play a role in the supply chain delivery within key sectors such as education, agriculture, retail and commerce, travel and tourism, construction as well as fiscus focused solutions for tax collections.MobiCash solution uses multi-factor authentication mechanisms such as; fingerprint, Near Field Communication (NFC) Cards and Voice biometric technology prior to authorizing any funds transfer. For more information, visit www.mobicashonline.com.About BoloroBoloro is a next-generation mobile payments network offering consumers the ability to securely pay for goods and services using any kind of mobile phone and any source of funds. Boloro replaces cash and offers financial services to the many unbanked in emerging markets thus accelerating financial inclusion and access. Boloro delivers financial dignity to the population at large.Boloro South Africa is headquartered in Centurion, Gauteng and is extending the reach of consumer friendly mobile payments services in larger cities, townships and rural communities and onto the continent of Africa.Boloro Global Limited is headquartered in New York City, Boloro operates in South Asia, Middle East and Africa and soon launching in Latin America, Caribbean and East Asia. For more information, visit www.boloro.com.Media Contacts:Donald Mudengedonaldm@mobicash.co.zaBrian Matherbrian.mather@boloro.comSource: BoloroMobiCashCopyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Scorpio Gold Corporation ("Scorpio Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: SGN) is pleased to announce its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1"). This press release should be read in conjunction with the Company's condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three-month period ended March 31, 2016 and its related Management Discussion & Analysis for the same period, available on the Company's website at www.scorpiogold.com and under the Company's name on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All monetary amounts are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise specified.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q1 2016 Q1 2015 ---------------------------- $ Revenue ($000's) 9,428 12,343 Mine operating earnings ($000's) 1,865 2,055 Net earnings ($000's) 1,079 755 Basic and diluted earnings per share 0.00 0.00 Adjusted net earnings(1) ($000's) 1,041 979 Adjusted basic and diluted net earnings per share(1) 0.00 0.00 Adjusted EBITDA(1) ($000's) 1,569 1,871 Adjusted basic and diluted EBITDA per share(1) 0.01 0.01 Cash flow (used by) from operating activities ($000's) (366) 4,344 Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold(1) 801 797 Gold ounces produced 8,508 11,952 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) This is a non-IFRS measure; refer to Non-IFRS Measures section of this press release and the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis for Q1 of 2016 for a complete definition and reconciliation to the IFRS results reported in the Company's financial statements for Q1 of 2016.

Peter Hawley, President & CEO, comments, "We are pleased to report another strong quarter of production at Mineral Ridge, wherein total ore mined increased 16.4%, processed material increased 15.2% and the head grade increased 17%, compared to Q1 2015. The decreased metal production in Q1 of 2016 is attributed to slower leach pad recoveries while equipment was being relocated in order to utilize new areas of the pad for leaching. Both gold and silver recoveries from the leach pad are expected to increase in Q2 2016.

As always the Company remains focused on being cost effective for 2016, and the Company anticipates another full year of strong production at Mineral Ridge from the Mary LC, Bluelite and Solberry pits with additional development commencing in Q2 of 2016 from the Phase Three LC pit.

Production guidance for the Mineral Ridge mine for 2016 remains at 30,000-35,000 ounces of gold produced at a total cost of $850-$900 per ounce gold sold. The Company has completed its drill program for 2016 with approximately 19,000 meters of RC drilling completed in 148 holes with the main focus on the 2015 exploration successes. Infill and development drilling has focused on delineating and expanding the Custer and Oromonte areas of known mineralization proximal to existing production pits and satellite deposits. In addition, the exploration drilling was designed to quickly identify and delineate new open pit targets for potential development within the existing Plan of Operation permit boundary such as the Paris target.

Mining at Mineral Ridge remains scheduled to end in mid-2017. An initial presentation was made in March, 2016 to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) with respect to permitting the Custer, Oromonte, and Paris claims for additional mining which would extend the mining schedule. There can be no assurance that any applications made for permitting will be successful."

Highlights for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2016:

-- 8,508 ounces of gold were produced at the Mineral Ridge mine during Q1 of 2016, compared to 11,952 ounces during Q1 of 2015. -- Revenue of $9.4 million, compared to $12.3 million during Q1 of 2015. -- Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold(1) of $801 compared to $797 during Q1 of 2015. -- Mine operating earnings of $1.9 million compared to $2.1 million during Q1 of 2015. -- Net earnings of $1.1 million ($0.00 basic and diluted per share), compared to $0.8 million ($0.00 basic and diluted per share) during Q1 of 2015. -- Adjusted net earnings(1) of $1.0 million ($0.00 basic and diluted per share) similar to Q1 of 2015. -- Adjusted EBITDA (1) of $1.6 million ($0.01 basic and diluted per share) compared to $1.9 million ($0.01 basic and diluted per share) during Q1 of 2015. (1) This is a non-IFRS measure; please see Non-IFRS performance measures section.

Non-IFRS Measures

The discussion of financial results in this press release includes reference to Adjusted EBITDA, Total cash cost per ounce of gold sold and Adjusted Net Earnings, which are non-IFRS measures. The Company provides these measures as additional information regarding the Company's financial results and performance. Please refer to the Company's MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2016 for definitions of these terms and a reconciliation of these measures to reported International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") results.

About Scorpio Gold Corporation

Scorpio Gold holds a 70% interest in the producing Mineral Ridge gold mining operation located in Esmeralda County, Nevada with joint venture partner Elevon, LLC (30%). Mineral Ridge is a conventional open pit mining and heap leach operation. The Mineral Ridge property is host to multiple gold-bearing structures, veins and lenses at exploration, development and production stages. Scorpio Gold also holds a 100% interest in the advanced exploration-stage Goldwedge property in Manhattan, Nevada with a fully permitted underground mine and 400 ton per day mill facility. The Goldwedge mill facility has been placed on a care and maintenance basis and can be restarted immediately when needed.

Scorpio Gold's President and CEO, Peter J. Hawley, P.Geo., is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD SCORPIO GOLD CORPORATION

Peter J. Hawley, 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 release.

The Company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements. This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the exploration, development and exploitation of its Mineral Ridge project, including any forecasts regarding future production or costs related thereto. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in such forward-looking statements, including risks relating to operation of a gold mine, including unanticipated changes in the mineral content of materials being mined; unanticipated changes in recovery rates; changes in project parameters; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; availability of skilled labour and the impact of labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; changes in metals prices; the availability of cash flows or financing to meet the Company's ongoing financial obligations; unanticipated changes in key management personnel; changes in general economic conditions; obtaining the required permits to expand and extend mining activities; other risks of the mining industry and those risk factors outlined in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis as filed on SEDAR. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty thereof.

Contacts:

Scorpio Gold Corporation

Peter J. Hawley

President & CEO

(819) 825-7618

phawley@scorpiogold.com

www.scorpiogold.com




Aldridge Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: AGM) ("Aldridge" or the "Company") announced today the filing of its unaudited consolidated financial statements as at and for the three months ending March 31, 2016 (the "Q1 2016 Financials"), and the Management's Discussion Analysis related thereto (the "Q1 2016 MD&A"), which are available on SEDAR and at www.aldridgeminerals.ca.

Han Ilhan, President CEO, commented, "Our focus during the first quarter of 2016 was the advancement of the land acquisition within the fully permitted Yenipazar Project fence line. We remain committed to our strategy of maintaining an ongoing dialogue with the landowners and acquiring as much land as possible on a voluntary basis. In parallel, the State's compulsory land acquisition process that started in June 2015 continued to progress. As at April 30, 2016, Aldridge had purchased private land representing approximately 35.1% of the total project area at a cost of approximately US$8,800,000. Aldridge also receives the legal right to access the State's Treasury land (including meadow land upon reclassification to Treasury land), which represents 13% of the required land within the project area. As a result, I am pleased to report that the Company presently has access to approximately 48% of the required land."

In closing, Mr. Ilhan added, "As we advance towards completion of the land acquisition, we will continue project financing discussions that have been initiated with multiple financial institutions that have expressed interest in the Yenipazar Project. Aldridge is also analyzing all the alternatives for a refinancing of the bridge loan facility with Orion Mine Finance prior to its maturity date of August 29, 2016."

Strategy and Outlook

The Company's most important objectives of 2016 include advancing the land acquisition, refinancing the bridge loan (the "Loan"), and positioning the Company to obtain project financing. The Company's engineering and exploration initiatives will also continue in 2016.

Upon completion of project financing the Company expects a project development period of approximately 24 months involving construction, commissioning and leading to commercial production. As a result, the Company's focus in 2016 is on advancing the following initiatives already underway:

Loan Refinancing The Company ended the first quarter with US$6,047,309 in cash and negative working capital of US$12,990,670. As at March 31, 2016 the Company had drawn down US$17,500,000 of its US$35,000,000 Loan, which matures August 29, 2016. Aldridge is analyzing alternatives and is in advanced staged discussions for refinancing the Loan prior to its maturity date. There can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to a successful refinancing of the Loan prior to its maturity date.

The Company ended the first quarter with US$6,047,309 in cash and negative working capital of US$12,990,670. As at March 31, 2016 the Company had drawn down US$17,500,000 of its US$35,000,000 Loan, which matures August 29, 2016. Aldridge is analyzing alternatives and is in advanced staged discussions for refinancing the Loan prior to its maturity date. There can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to a successful refinancing of the Loan prior to its maturity date. Land Acquisition - The land acquisition process includes two components that are continuing in parallel, namely the Company's voluntary purchase process and the State-led Compulsory Land Acquisition Process ("LAP"). As of April 30, 2016, more than 120 court cases had been opened by the State to establish the price to be paid for the land and funded by Aldridge. There is a risk that the price to be determined by the court could exceed the Company's offer price, thereby increasing total land costs. Depending on the outcome of the initial court cases currently in progress, the Company may consider alternative offers to facilitate a more timely acquisition period and maintain goodwill in the community. Aldridge is working towards completing the LAP by the end of 2016.

As at April 30, 2016, the status of the LAP for the Yenipazar Project is summarized as follows:

Approximate Area Square Metres Purchased to Date 3,330,000 35.1% Court Cases Initiated 4,907,000 51.7% Private Land Required 8,237,000 86.7% Treasury Pasture Land 1,259,000 13.3% Yenipazar Project Area 9,496,000 100.0%

Engineering - The Company expects to complete negotiations in the next few months for certain basic engineering packages and letters of intent related to the supply of long lead-time process equipment and other services. As a result, basic engineering may begin in the second half of 2016, with continuation in 2017. Aldridge will continue to refine its basic engineering schedule and execution to ensure the focus is on critical path items while considering the variability of the timing of land acquisition and project financing. Basic engineering, detailed engineering, equipment procurement, construction and commissioning will be executed in compliance with project financing requirements.

- The Company expects to complete negotiations in the next few months for certain basic engineering packages and letters of intent related to the supply of long lead-time process equipment and other services. As a result, basic engineering may begin in the second half of 2016, with continuation in 2017. Aldridge will continue to refine its basic engineering schedule and execution to ensure the focus is on critical path items while considering the variability of the timing of land acquisition and project financing. Basic engineering, detailed engineering, equipment procurement, construction and commissioning will be executed in compliance with project financing requirements. Exploration The Company is developing plans for a small infill-drilling program that would support the mine plan in the first three years of operations, along with investigating the licence area immediately adjacent to the existing ore body. Drilling activity may be scheduled in Q4 2016, subject to the status of the LAP and access to the target land area. Other early-stage, low cost exploration activities will be used to develop alternative exploration plans for other sections within the 100 square kilometre Yenipazar licence area, where encouraging ground survey results, geophysical and geochemical anomalies, and outcrops indicate potential for further upside.

The Company is developing plans for a small infill-drilling program that would support the mine plan in the first three years of operations, along with investigating the licence area immediately adjacent to the existing ore body. Drilling activity may be scheduled in Q4 2016, subject to the status of the LAP and access to the target land area. Other early-stage, low cost exploration activities will be used to develop alternative exploration plans for other sections within the 100 square kilometre Yenipazar licence area, where encouraging ground survey results, geophysical and geochemical anomalies, and outcrops indicate potential for further upside. Project Financing The Company will actively consider various project financing alternatives, which may include senior and subordinated debt, equity, metal streams, off-take agreements and strategic investments. The timing of progress towards completion of the land acquisition is anticipated to affect the timing of further project evaluation by prospective financing organizations. Consequently, the Company plans to increase its project financing efforts in the second half of 2016 as the land acquisition process continues. The Company's ability to close the project financing following completion of the LAP will be affected by general market conditions at the time.

Selected Financial Information

The following table provides selected consolidated financial information that should be read in conjunction with the Q1 2016 Financials.

United States Dollars THREE MONTHS

ENDED AND AS AT

MARCH 31,

2016 THREE MONTHS

ENDED AND AS AT

MARCH 31,

2015 YEAR

ENDED AND AS AT

DECEMBER 31, 2014 Loss before income tax $(736,705) $(1,504,981) $(3,191,177) Net loss (736,705) (1,504,981) (3,191,177) Net loss per share (0.007) (0.01) (0.04) Cash and cash equivalents 6,047,309 10,561,573 14,331,409 Working capital (i) 12,990,670 10,371,509 14,103,639 Total assets 30,711,621 24,827,014 25,829,329 Total non-current financial liabilities 120,767 9,056,661 8,445,579

(i) Working capital equals current assets less current liabilities, and is a non-GAAP measure used by management.

About Aldridge

Aldridge is a development stage mining company focused on its wholly owned Yenipazar polymetallic Massive Sulfide Project (Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc) in Turkey, a country that is committed to developing its natural resources. Aldridge completed the Yenipazar Optimization Study and filed the related technical report in May 2014, which updated the original May 2013 Feasibility Study. The Company is currently advancing the Yenipazar Project on key aspects including land acquisition, project financing, and engineering.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities laws, including, but are not limited to the ability to accomplish remaining milestones, completing the Yenipazar land acquisition, refinancing the Company's existing Loan, securing project financing, advancing the Yenipazar Project to production, economic performance, future plans and objectives of the Company.

Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors including meeting conditions for advances under the Loan and the other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2015 and in other continuous disclosure filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. Any number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results.

Forward-looking information is based on a number of factors and assumptions which have been used to develop such information but which may prove to be incorrect, including, but not limited to, assumptions in connection with the continuance of Aldridge and its subsidiaries as a going concern, general economic and market conditions, mineral prices, the accuracy of mineral resource estimates. Although Aldridge believes that the assumptions and factors used in making the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Aldridge disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by 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 news release.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005148/en/

Contacts:

Aldridge Minerals Inc.

Han Ilhan, 416-477-6988

President & CEO

or

David Carew, 416-477-6984

Director of Corporate Development
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Secret Service is investigating a hate message posted on Facebook by former butler of Donald Trump, Anthony Senecal, calling to kill US President Barack Obama. It was the 84-year-old Senecal's online statement, Obama 'should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term,' that put him in trouble. Senecal confirmed its authenticity to Liberal magazine Mother Jones. The Trump campaign distanced itself from what it described as a horrible statement made by the longtime former butler at Trump's estate, the Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Senecal worked for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee for 17 years. The US Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said in an email Thursday that it is aware of the hate message, and will conduct an appropriate investigation into the matter. 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) -- 05/13/16 -- China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. (TSX: CGG)(HKSE: 2099) (the "Company" or "China Gold International Resources") is pleased to report financial and operational results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1", "first quarter" or "first quarter of 2016").

First Quarter 2016 Financial Highlights

-- Consolidated revenue of US$65.6 million for the first quarter of 2016 decreased by US$11.8 million or 15%, from US$77.4 million for the same period in 2015. -- Revenue from the Chang Shan Hao Gold Mine (the "CSH Mine", the "CSH Gold Mine" or "CSH") was US$41.6 million, a decrease of US$10.5 million compared to US$52.1 million for the same period in 2015 due to a 17% decrease in gold sales volume. -- Revenue from the Jiama Copper-Gold Polymetallic Mine (the "Jiama Mine" or "Jiama") was US$23.9 million compared to US$25.3 million for the same period in 2015. -- Cost of sales amounted to US$58 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, an increase of US$1.8 million or 3% from US$56.2 million for the same period in 2015. Cost of sales as a percentage of revenue for the Company increased to 88% from 73% for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. -- Mine operating earnings were US$7.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, a decrease of 65% or US$13.7 million, from US$21.2 million for the same period in 2015. Mine operating earnings as a percentage of revenue decreased from 27% to 12% for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2016, respectively. The decrease in mine operating earnings as a percentage of revenue can be attributed to a 15% decrease in the realized average price of copper per pound and a 3% decrease in the realized average price of gold per ounce. -- General and administrative expenses decreased from US$6 million to US$5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2016, respectively. The 17% decrease is consistent with the Company's implementation of cost reductions programs. -- Loss on Available for Sale Investment of US$3.8 million was recognized in relation to the equity securities investment listed in Hong Kong during the three months ended March 31, 2016. The fair market value adjustments were recognized as equity reserve in the comparative period in 2015. The loss was recorded due to a 25% decline in the share price of the security as of the December 31, 2015. -- Foreign exchange gain (loss) increased to a gain of US$1.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 from a loss of US$0.8 million for the same period in 2015. The 2016 gain is related to the revaluation of monetary items held in Chinese RMB and Hong Kong Dollars, which was based on changes in the RMB/HKD/USD exchange rates. -- Net loss/profit of the Company decreased by US$9.7 million from a profit of US$6.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 to a net loss of US$3.5 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016.

Mr. Bing Liu, CEO of the Company, commented, "I am proud of the work of our team. This quarter we have faced several challenges related to production, grade and the loss on Available for Sale Investment. Our team is working on solutions for those challenges. We have managed to reduce our general and administrative costs and continue with expansion at Jiama, which is progressing well. Given the early signs of improvements in the gold market, we are confident about achieving success in 2016 and fulfilling our guidance."

First Quarter 2016 Production and Operating Highlights

-- Gold production at the CSH Mine decreased by 11% to 36,703 ounces for the three months ended March 31, 2016 from 41,033 ounces for the three months ended March 31, 2015. The decrease in gold production is attributed to lower volumes and grades of ore mined during the current period. -- The cash production cost and total production cost of gold for the three months ended March 31, 2016 both increased compared with the same period in 2015. The increase is due to higher waste rock removal costs due to higher stripping ratio during the current period and lower grade of ore. Three months ended March CSH Mine 31, 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total production cost(i) (US$) of gold per ounce 1,034 848 Cash production cost(i) (US$) of gold per ounce 800 653 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Non-IFRS measure -- During the three months ended March 31, 2016, the Jiama Mine produced 4,106 tonnes (approximately 9.05 million pounds) of copper in concentrate, compared with the 4,089 tonnes (approximately 9.01 million pounds) for the three months ended March 31, 2015. Consistent levels of production were maintained during the comparative periods. -- The Cash production cost of copper per pound decreased by 6% and total production cost of copper per pound decreased by 8% for the three months ended March 31, 2016 compared to the same period in 2015. The decreases are primarily due to a 12% increase in sales volumes of copper during the three months ended March 31, 2016. Cash production cost of copper per pound after by-products credits decreased by 15% due to a higher volume of by product gold sold in copper concentrate during the current period. Three months ended March Jiama Mine 31, 2016 2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total production cost(i) (US$) of copper per pound 2.50 2.72 Cash production cost(ii) (US$) per pound of copper 2.09 2.22 Cash production cost(ii) (US$) of copper per poundafter by-products credits 1.19 1.37 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Production costs include expenditures incurred at the mine sites for the activities related to production including mining, processing, mine site G&A and royalties etc. (ii) Non-IFRS measure

2016 Outlook

-- Projected gold production of 235,000 ounces in 2016. -- Projected copper production of approximately 38.6 million pounds (18,000 tonnes) in 2016. -- The Jiama Mine's processing plant Phase II expansion is being executed in two stages. Stage I has been completed and is now in the commissioning process. The throughput capacity will be 28,000 tpd, up from the previous capacity of 6,000 tpd after completing the commissioning process. Stage II of the project is under way and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2016. The total processing capacity will increase to 50,000 tpd upon completion of the two-stage expansion program. -- The Company will continue to leverage the technical and operating experience of the Company's controlling shareholder, China National Gold Group Corporation ("CNG"), to improve operations at its mines. In addition, the Company continues to focus its efforts on increasing production while minimizing costs at both mines. -- To fulfill its growth strategy, the Company is continually working with CNG and other interested parties to identify potential international mining acquisition opportunities, namely projects outside of China, which can be readily and quickly brought into production with the possibility of further expansion through continued exploration.

For a detailed look at the financial statements and MD&A for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, please visit the Company's website at www.chinagoldintl.com, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited's website at www.hkex.com.hk or SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About China Gold International Resources

China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd. is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada and operates both profitable and growing mines, the CSH Gold Mine in Inner Mongolia, and the Jiama Copper-Gold Polymetallic Mine in Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The Company's objective is to continue to build shareholder value by growing production at its current mining operations, expanding its resource base, and aggressively acquiring and developing new projects internationally. The Company is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CGG) and the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKSE: 2099).

Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information regarding China Gold International Resources contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although China Gold International Resources believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. China Gold International Resources cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what China Gold International Resources currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and subject to change after that date.

Contacts:

China Gold International Resources Corp. Ltd.

Elena M. Kazimirova

Investor Relations Manager and Financial Analyst

+1.604.695 5031

info@chinagoldintl.com

www.chinagoldintl.com




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Alexander Nubia International Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAN) (the "Company" or "Alexander Nubia") is very pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Anthony Clements and Mr. David Laing to its Board of Directors. These new appointments greatly increase the depth of operational and project development, financing and corporate experience at the Company and is a very timely addition as the Company advances its Egyptian projects, including the flagship Hamama deposit.

Mr. Laing

Mr. Laing was most recently the COO of True Gold Mining Inc., which developed a gold heap leaching operating in Burkina Faso and was acquired by Endeavour Mining Corporation in April 2016. Prior to joining True Gold, Mr. Laing was the COO and led the origination and execution of stream financing transactions of Quintana Resources, a base metals streaming company. He was also one of the original executives of Endeavour as the group grew from one mine in Burkina Faso to a 500,000 ounce gold producer in West Africa. He was an integral part of the acquisition and integration by Endeavour of three junior gold producers and led the feasibility of a fourth project in Burkina Faso.

Prior to these recent roles, Mr. Laing held senior positions in mining investment banking at Standard Bank in New York, technical consulting at MRDI in California, the Refugio project at Bema Gold Corp. and various roles at Billiton, Royal Dutch Shell's mining business. He is currently a non-executive director of Sandspring Resources Ltd.

Mr. Clements

Anthony Clements is a former investment banker with Fox Davies Capital Limited, a London-based firm specializing in mining and oil & gas corporations. He began his career specializing in natural resources, having gained a B.Sc. in Economics followed by a post-graduate course in accountancy. He joined the Electricity Pension Fund in 1970 as Senior Investment Analyst before moving on in 1973 to the Post Office Pension Fund, latterly renamed Postel and then Hermes. Mr. Clements spent several years managing Postel's resource portfolio before moving on to manage a billion dollar North American portfolio. In 1987 Mr. Clements moved over to the sales side of the investment industry, becoming involved with corporate finance and North American resource issuers in particular. Mr. Clements was formerly Head of Corporate Finance at ODL Securities, and prior to taking up his position with ODL Securities, he worked with several firms, including T. Hoare and Co. and Yorkton Securities Inc.

Mr. Clements and Mr. Laing join the Company at a key time in its development, as the exploration work continues to expand the strike and scope of the Hamama Project VMS system.

Mark Campbell, President and Chief Executive Officer stated: "We are very pleased to welcome Anthony and David to our Board, and they bring significant experience in financing, structuring and developing new projects which we are excited to use in advancing the Hamama Project. We are currently drilling the Hamama oxide and primary sulphides to a true vertical depth of 150 meters and to generate our maiden resource at Hamama West. We are working closely with the Egyptian Mineral Resource Authority (EMRA) to discuss the application of the updated mining law that came into effect towards the end of 2015."

About Alexander Nubia International Inc.:

Alexander Nubia (TSX VENTURE: AAN) is in the business of exploring for and developing potentially economic gold deposits in the Central Eastern Desert of Egypt in the Arabian Nubian Shield ("ANS"). The Company's 100%- owned concessions, Abu Marawat and Fatiri, between them cover 2,772 km of underexplored ground. Evidence of gold and copper mining in the concessions dates the many surface workings to pre-historic (Bronze Age) and Old Kingdom (Pharaonic), through Ptolemaic, Roman, Early Arab times and into the European Era of the early to mid 20th Century. Three historic gold mines occur within the two concessions: British miners produced gold at Sir Bakis, Semna and Abu Zawal into the 1950s.

Much of the gold-vein mineralization in the ANS is of the orogenic, quartz-carbonate-type and is associated with major north-northwest and northeast trending shear-zones. Centamin's Sukari gold mine is located 400 km to the south of Abu Marawat, in the same mountain belt.

The Abu Marawat and Fatiri Concessions are underlain by the Proterozoic-aged Pan-African greenstone belt of the ANS. The ANS also underlies the Red Sea and large parts of Saudi Arabia, The Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Significant VMS deposits in the ANS include Barrick's and Ma'aden 50:50% JV of Jabal Sayid in Saudi Arabia; Nevsun's Bisha Main and Harena in Eritrea; La Mancha's Hassai and Hadal Awatib in the Sudan and Sunridge Emba Derho, Debarwa and Adi Nefas in Eritrea. The Company's Hamama gold-rich VMS shares key geological similarities with these major VMS deposits.

Similar geological settings to the ANS include the greenstone belts of the Yilgarn of Western Australia, the Birimian of West Africa and the Abitibi in Quebec, Canada. The ANS is most similar in age to the Birimian.

The Company's land package, located 350-400 km southeast of Cairo, includes excellent infrastructure; Hamama has direct access to two four-lane highways, a zero-gradient railway bed that runs through Abu Marawat concession to a Red Sea port, multiple high-voltage (capacity 220kV) power lines that cross between the two concessions, a water pipeline and nearby major cities: Qena, on the Nile River, 70 km to the west, and Port of Safaga, on the Red Sea, 50 km to the east. The city of Luxor, ancient Thebes, is a two-hour drive from Hamama and has an international airport.

Qualified Person:

Rick Cavaney is Alexander Nubia's Exploration Manager. As a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (Aus.I.M.M) is a competent person under the Joint Ore Resources committee (JORC) Code and is a Qualified Person, as such term is defined in NI 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Mr, Cavaney has reviewed and approved this release.

For more information on Alexander Nubia, visit us at www.alexandernubia.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. 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.

Contacts:

Alexander Nubia International Inc.

Mark W. Campbell

President and Chief Executive Officer

mc@alexandernubia.com



Alexander Nubia International Inc.

General Information

+1 (604) 727-1813

info@alexandernubia.com

www.alexandernubia.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Alberta-based Edo Japan (Edo) is opening the doors to its 26th Calgary location in CF Market Mall today, Friday, May 13. Edo made its first appearance on the Canadian food scene over 35 years ago and remains a national favourite amongst customers by serving healthy, fresh and nutritious meals.

The popular Teppan-style restaurant continues to celebrate success in the Calgary market with the opening of its newest restaurant, which will showcase a brand new storefront design. Opening day will also treat customers to a selection of free meals during regular mall hours, from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Known for its signature dishes, including Teriyaki Chicken and Sukiyaki Beef, Edo is dedicated to providing delicious, affordable and 'Simply Better' meals to customers. The new CF Market Mall location will continue to cater to the appetites of Edo lovers with a growing list of satisfying menu items, from classic Edo dishes, to limited edition customizable Bento Box combos, to Edo's most recent addition of Edamame beans - flavoured with sea salt or sesame chili and steamed to perfection.

"We consider ourselves very fortunate as Edo continues to see opportunities for growth in the Alberta market, despite the current economic climate in our home province," said Tom Donaldson, Edo Japan. "We are thrilled to be expanding our business and look forward to offering Simply Better, quality meals and personalized customer service to our fans at the new Market Mall location."

The new restaurant is located in the food court at CF Market Mall, 3625 Shaganappi Trail NW. For more information please visit http://www.edojapan.com.

About Edo Japan

Established in 1979 in Calgary, Alberta, Edo Japan was designed to bring the freshness of hot Japanese Teppan-style cooking to suburban shopping centres and food courts across Canada. Offering the highest quality, freshly prepared food in the quick service restaurant industry, Edo Japan has quickly become a popular alternative with more than 114 locations across Canada, serving more than eight million meals annually. For more information please visit www.edojapan.com.

Contacts:

Brookline Public Relations for Edo Japan

Erica Morgan

403-538-5641 ext. 106

emorgan@brooklinepr.com



Twitter: @edo_japan

Facebook: www.facebook.com/edojapan

YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/edojapaninc




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Atlantic Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: AGB) ("Atlantic" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that pursuant to the terms of its hedging facility of up to 215,000 ounces, the Company has entered into additional gold price hedging contracts (the "Contracts") covering 25,000 ounces of production from the Company's Moose River Consolidated Project,

The Contracts were executed on a spot basis of CAD$1,627 per ounce, and will be scheduled out for delivery over the term of the Company's project loan facility.

The Company was advised on the execution of this program by its debt and hedge advisors, Noah's Rule.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Steven Dean, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this press release, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding discussions of future plans, guidance, projections, objectives, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the activities contemplated in this news release and the timing and receipt of requisite regulatory, and shareholder approvals in respect thereof.

Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements related to proposed exploration and development programs, grade and tonnage of material and resource estimates. These forward looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results may vary. Important factors that may cause actual results to vary include without limitation, the timing and receipt of certain approvals, changes in commodity and power prices, changes in interest and currency exchange rates, risks inherent in exploration estimates and results, timing and success, inaccurate geological and metallurgical assumptions (including with respect to the size, grade and recoverability of mineral reserves and resources), changes in development or mining plans due to changes in logistical, technical or other factors, unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications, cost escalation, unavailability of materials, equipment and third party contractors, delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters), political risk, social unrest, and changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets. In making the forward-looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, the assumptions that: (1) market fundamentals will result in sustained gold demand and prices; (2) the receipt of any necessary approvals and consents in connection with the development of any properties; (3) the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of any mineral properties; and (4) sustained commodity prices such that any properties put into operation remain economically viable. Information concerning mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates also may be considered forward-looking statements, as such information constitutes a prediction of what mineralization might be found to be present if and when a project is actually developed.

Certain of the risks and assumptions are described in more detail in the Company's audited financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2015 on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. The actual results or performance by the Company could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements relating to those matters. Accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what impact they will have on the results of operations or financial condition of the Company. Except as required by law, the Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update, alter or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Atlantic Gold Corporation

Chris Batalha

CFO and Corporate Secretary

+1 604 689-5564




1. Reports of Management Board, Supervisory Board, Audit Committee and statement of Sworn auditor, approval of Annual report for the year 2015.1) To take notice of the Reports of Management Board, Supervisory Board, Audit Committee and statement of Sworn auditor for the year 2015 of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA".2) To approve the Annual Report of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" for the year 2015 prepared by the Management Board of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" and revised by the Supervisory Board of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA".2. Distribution of the profit for the year 2015.1) To approve the net profit of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" for the year 2015 in the amount of 5 485 542 EUR.2) To distribute the net profit for the year 2015 of 5 485 542 EUR as follows:a. To pay 1 645 663 EUR or 0,06884696 EUR per one share to shareholders in dividends, setting October 13, 2016 as the date of calculation of dividends and October 20, 2016 as the date of payment of dividends.b. To leave undistributed and use 3 839 879 EUR for the development of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" with the aim to increase joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" competitiveness.3. Election of the auditor for the audit of Annual Report for the year 2016 and determination of the remuneration for the auditor.1) To elect audit company "Deloitte Audits Latvia" SIA (commercial company license No. 43) as auditor of the Annual Report of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" for the year 2016.2) To determine that the remuneration of the auditor for the audit of Annual report for the year 2016 shall be set according to the agreement signed between the auditor and joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" on the audit of the Annual Report 2016.3) To determine that for the duties during the year 2016, each member of the Audit Committee of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" shall receive a remuneration in the amount of 1850,- EUR (one thousand eight hundred fifty euros) for each attended Audit Committee meeting.4. Determination of the remuneration for Supervisory Board for the results of the year 2015.1) For the results of the year 2015 of the joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" to pay additional remuneration in the amount of 1% of the net profit for the year 2015 to each member of the Supervisory Board.2) To determine that for the duties during the year 2016, each member of the Supervisory Board of joint stock company "VALMIERAS STIKLA SKIEDRA" shall receive a remuneration in the amount of 3000,- EUR (three thousand euro) for each attended Supervisory Board meeting.Valmiera, May 13, 2016Chairman of the Management Board A.H.SchwiontekMember of the Management Board D.SenbergsContacts: Marika Nimante JSC "Valmieras stikla skiedra" marketing project manager Phone: +371 64202276, +371 26635509 Fax: +371 64281216 E-mail: Marika.Nimante@valmiera-glass.com More information about company: www.valmiera-glass.com
Tatsuo Yasunaga, CEO of Mitsui Co., Ltd. (TOKYO:8031) hosted an analyst conference on Wednesday May 11, 2016 to announce financial results for the year ended March 31, 2016. An audio webcast of this conference is now available at: http://www.mitsui.com/jp/en/ir/meeting/account/index.html

About Mitsui Co., Ltd.

Mitsui Co., Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, is one of the largest general trading companies in Japan. With approximately 45,000 employees worldwide, Mitsui is engaged in trading of commodities and provision of services in the area of iron and steel, mineral and metal resources, machinery and infrastructure, chemicals, energy, lifestyle innovation corporate development. Mitsui's diversified activities also include development of natural resources, coordination of infrastructure projects, development of consumer-related businesses, and much more.

For more information, visit Mitsui's website at http://www.mitsui.com/jp/en/index.html

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005174/en/

Contacts:

Mitsui Co., Ltd.

Investor Relations Division

Telephone: +81-3-3285-7910

Facsimile: +81-3-3285-9821

E-mail: infoTKADZ@mitsui.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 13, 2016) -HELLO PAL INTERNATIONAL INC. (CSE: HP) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it completed its acquisitions (the "Transaction") of the Hello Pal Software Application (the "HPI Platform") pursuant to the terms of an asset purchase agreement dated February 29, 2016 (the "Definitive Agreement") with Hello Pal International, Inc. ("HPI"). The Company also completed a private placement financing by issuing a total of 12,000,000 post-consolidation shares at a price of $0.15 per share for gross proceeds of $1,800,000. As part of the Transaction, the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") accepted the listing of common shares of the Company under the symbol "HP".

Acquisition of the HPI Platform

Under the Definitive Agreement, the Company acquired the HPI Platform from HPI for 25,000,000 post-consolidation common shares of the Company (the "Transaction Shares").

Immediately prior to closing the Transaction, the Company consolidated its common shares on the basis of one post-consolidation common share of the Company for every 1.5 pre-consolidation common share of the Company (the "Consolidation"). Following the Consolidation and prior to closing the Transaction and Financing (as defined below), the Company had 25,373,977 post-Consolidation common shares issued and outstanding. As a result of closing the Transaction and Financing, the Company now has 64,373,977 common shares issued and outstanding.

On closing of the Transaction, the Company changed its name to "Hello Pal International Inc."

Directors, Officers and Stock Options

As a result of closing of the Transaction, KL Wong became the Chief Executive Officer, President and a director of the Company. Gunther Roehlig and Robert McMorran will continue to serve as directors of the Company and Natasha Tsai will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer of the Company. In conjunction with closing of the Transaction, Stephen Pearce resigned as a director of the Company.

The Company also granted stock options to purchase 6,400,000 common shares of the Company to its directors, officers and consultants. Each stock option is exercisable at a price of $0.15 per share and expires five years from the listing date.

Escrow Shares

A total of 13,725,000 post-Consolidation common shares will be subject to the escrow requirements set forth in National Policy 46-201 whereby 10% of the escrowed shares will be released on the initial listing date and 15% of the escrowed shares will be released each six month period thereafter.

About the Company's HPI Platform

The Company develops, markets and operates a live interactive social and language exchange platform. The Company's HPI Platform provides language tools including phrasebooks and real-time translation, allowing people from all around the world to interact with each other in completely foreign languages without prior learning. The HPI Platform is available on mobile platforms, such as Android and iOS, and the Company's website, www.hellopal.com.

For further information please contact:

Hello Pal International Inc.

Gunther Roehlig, Director

(604) 683-0911

Forward Looking Information

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties described in the Company's Listing Statement dated May 10, 2016 available on www.cnsx.ca. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISSEMINATION DIRECTLY, OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES.
Following the launch of 4.5G on April 1st, Turkcell (NYSE:TKC)(BIST:TCELL) added a new smartphone to its own-branded smartphone family T-Series. T70, Turkcell's brand new, LTE-compatible smartphone, was unveiled with a press conference held in Istanbul.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005449/en/

Turkcell unveiled the newest additions to Turkcell's own-branded T-Series: T70 and T Tablet. (Photo: Business Wire)

The Category 4 device supports LTE speeds of up to 150 Mbps while Turkcell network offers the fastest LTE speeds available on commercial devices on the back of LTE Advanced Pro and carrier aggregation technologies. T70 comes with preloaded Turkcell applications and advantages. Customers will receive

5 GB of mobile data per month for use on Turkcell's IP-based communication platform BiP

3 months of free membership for Turkcell's music app Fizy

50 GB of free storage on Turkcell's personal Smart Cloud throughout their contact period

5 GB of mobile data for use on Turkcell's TV platform Turkcell TV+ for the first 6 months

Along with its announcement of T70, Turkcell also unveiled its "T Tablet", a 8in HD Tablet in Turkcell's T-series. The 4.5G compatible tablet comes with Miravision which enables higher picture quality in HD.

Turkcell subscribers who purchase T Tablet will benefit from

1 GB 4.5G mobile internet every month for the first 6 months

5 GB per month for Turkcell TV+ for the first 6 months

50 GB of free storage on Turkcell's personal Smart Cloud throughout their contact period

Speaking at the press conference, Turkcell's Executive Vice President for Sales Murat Erkan underlined the role of T-series in increasing smartphone penetration and introducing users to mobile internet at affordable price ranges. "We have built one of the strongest 4.5G networks in the world and have expanded the scope of our mobile services to meet the demands and the needs of our customers." said Erkan. "With T70 and T Tablet, we are taking the final step in enabling our customers to benefit from this new world of opportunities at affordable prices."

Customers will be able to purchase T70 either for 649 Turkish Liras (roughly 230 USD) or else opt for installment plans of up to 36 months with monthly payments that start from 25 Turkish Liras (roughly 9 USD). The T Tablet will be available either for 349 Turkish Liras (roughly 125 USD) or with installment plans of up to 36 months with monthly fees that start from 19 Turkish Liras (roughly 7 USD).

Both products will be available for consumers as of June 1st at Turkcell stores and via www.turkcell.com.tr.

Turkcell T70 Specs:

Supports 4.5G

Screen: 5.2'' HD; resolution: 720x1280px

Qualcomm 1.3 GHz quad-core processor

2 GB RAM

16 GB internal memory (supports 32 GB external memory)

Cameras : 8MP Back 5MP Front 720p HD Video recording Auto focus and flash

: Operating system: Android 6.0 Marshmallow

T Tablet Specs:

Supports 4.5G

Screen: 8'' HD; resolution: 1280x800px; higher picture quality with Miravision

Mediatek 1Ghz quad-core processsor

2 GB RAM

16 GB internal memory (supports 32 GB external memory)

Cameras : 5MP Back 2MP Front 1080p full HD Video recording Auto focus and flash

: Operating system: Android 5.1 Lollipop

ABOUT TURKCELL: Turkcell is a converged telecommunication and technology services provider, founded and headquartered in Turkey. It serves its customers with voice, data, TV and value-added consumer and enterprise services on mobile and fixed networks. Turkcell launched LTE services in its home country on April 1st, 2016, employing LTE-Advanced and 3 carrier aggregation technologies in 81 cities. In 2G and 3G, Turkcell's population coverage is at 99.85% and 95.05%, respectively, as of March 2016. It offers up to 1 Gbps fiber internet speed with its FTTH services. Turkcell Group companies serve 67.6 million subscribers in 9 countries Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Northern Cyprus, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Moldova as of March 31, 2016. Turkcell Group reported a TRY3.2 billion revenue with total assets of TRY26.2 billion as of March 31, 2016. It has been listed on the NYSE and the BIST since July 2000, and is the only NYSE-listed company in Turkey. Read more at www.turkcell.com.tr

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005449/en/

Contacts:

Hande Asik, +90-532 210 6471

Turkcell Corporate Communications International Media

hande.asik@turkcell.com.tr
PUNE, India, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The report"Composites Marketby Type (Carbon Fiber Composites, Glass Fiber Composites and Others), by Resin Type (Thermoplastic Composites and Thermosetting Composites), by Manufacturing Process, by Application and by Region - Global Trends and Forecasts to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, The global market size is projected to grow from USD 69.50 Billion in 2015 to USD 105.26 Billion by 2021 at a CAGR of 7.04% between 2016 and 2021.



(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )



Browse 86 market data Tables and 68 Figures spread through 202 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Composites Market"

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/composite-market-200051282.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

The composites market is mainly dominated by the aerospace & defense, wind energy, and transportation applications due to their excellent properties such as stiffness, strength, tenacity, density, thermal & electrical conductivity, fatigue, and corrosion resistance. Also, because of their low weight, composites have witnessed an enormous demand, especially from aerospace and transportation applications.

Rising use of composites in aerospace & defense industryto drive the composites market

The use of composite materials and related core materials in the aerospace & defense industry has gained momentum in the past few decades. The latest Airbus now boasts a 53% usage of composite materials among its long list of new features. This shows the increase in the use of composites, which was hardly 2%-5% in the past few years. One of the main reasons for the rising use of composites in aircraft is the advantages offered by them such as reduction in weight and corrosion resistance. These properties of composites result in low emissions and maintenance costs in comparison to the traditional materials used for manufacturing aircrafts.

Glass fiber composites market, in terms of value, dominates the global composites market

Glass fiber accounts for over 90% of the reinforcements used in composite consumption, globally. Due to their light weight, inherent strength, weather-resistant finish, and variety of surface textures, the glass fiber composites have a huge demand from the aerospace, automotive, wind energy, construction, and other applications. To meet this huge demand, many companies have invested in manufacturing glass fiber composites, especially in China and other emerging countries such as India and Brazil. A major composites manufacturing company, Owens Corning (U.S.), has signed a strategic alliance with two Chinese fiberglass manufacturing companies (Xingtai Jinniu and Taishan Fiberglass) to enhance the supply of customized glass fiber reinforcements in this region. Thus, the growth of fiber glass composites in China is the major driver of glass fiber composites in the global composites market.

For More Info Make Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=200051282



Asia-Pacific is the largest market for composites

Asia-Pacific is the biggest and the fastest-growing Composites Market. The growing aerospace industry, wind energy development, and transportation industry in the region are the major factors driving the composites market in Asia-Pacific. Besides this, the presence of major carbon fiber manufacturers, growing economy, and rapid urbanization in Asia-Pacific are driving the use of composites in construction and pipe & tank industries. Also, the market for PCB (printed circuited board), one of the key users of glass composites, is growing at a good pace in the region.

The major players in the composites market include:

Hexcel Corporation (U.S.)

Huntsman Corporation (U.S.)

Owens Corning (U.S.)

Toray Industries ( Japan )

) Teijin Limited ( Japan )

MarketsandMarkets broadly segments the composites market on the basis of fiber type, resin type, manufacturing process, application, and region. The study covers more than 25 countries of the five main regions, namely, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa.

Browse Related Reports:

Carbon Fiber (CF) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) Market by Raw Material & Tow Size, CFRP Market by Resin Type, by Manufacturing Process, by Application, and by Region - Trends and Forecasts to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/carbon-fiber-composites-market-416.html

Composite Resin Market by Resin Type (Thermoset and Thermoplastic), by Manufacturing Process (Layup, Injection Molding, Filament Winding, Pultrusion, Compression Molding, RTM, and Others), by Application & by Region - Global Forecasts to 2020

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/composites-resin-market-66717271.html

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors.

M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers.

We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository.

Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical

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NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Darla Stuckey, President and CEO of the Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, will moderate a panel at the Compliance Week Conference to be held from May 23 - 25 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The three-day conference will bring together compliance, risk, and audit executives from corporations around the world. Included will be keynote speakers, concurrent panel discussions and presentations, plus small-room "conversation" sessions to deliver high-quality content.

Stuckey will moderate the panel "Directors and Conflicts of Interest: A Governance Update" on May 25, 2016 from 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM.

The panelists include:

Joseph Amsbary, Assistant Secretary and Securities Counsel - United Parcel Service

Keir Gumbs, Vice Chair, Securities and Capital Markets Practice Group - Covington and Burling

"With more transparency being demanded by institutional shareholders and the increase in activist campaigns for board seats, effective governance is a critical factor. But the changing dynamics in the boardroom can create unique challenges including conflicts of interest," Stuckey said. "How can boards continue to serve all stakeholders of the corporation? This session will cover all this and more: from golden leashes to pay-ratio rules, activist directors and individual director accountability. Come prepared for a robust discussion!"

About The Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals:

Founded in 1946, The Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals, Inc., is dedicated to providing members the knowledge, skills and tools to promote effective governance for the benefit of boards, management and shareholders. To learn more visit www.governanceprofessionals.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Adam Friedman

917-675-6250

Email Contact




OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Giant Tiger is excited to announce the opening of a new store in Bathurst, New Brunswick, scheduled to open on July 17, 2017.

The new Giant Tiger will be located at 700 Peter Avenue and will occupy approximately 23,625 square feet.

"We are excited to bring our outstanding value and fun shopping experience to Bathurst," said Thomas Haig, President and COO, Giant Tiger Stores Limited. "Residents of Bathurst have been asking for a Giant Tiger for some time now and we are happy to finally break ground here and are looking forward to being part of the community."

To celebrate the grand opening on July 17, 2017, there will be community events and programming planned throughout the day. To keep up to date on the new store developments, follow us on Facebook. facebook.com/GTbathurst

About Giant Tiger

Giant Tiger is the leading Canadian owned family discount store, committed to providing on-trend family fashions, groceries and everyday needs. Established in 1961 in Ottawa's ByWard Market, the privately held company has over 200 locations across Canada and employs over 7,000 team members. All Giant Tiger locations are locally owned or operated by a team member who knows the community. In 2001, the North West Company entered into a franchise agreement with Giant Tiger Stores Limited to open and operate Giant Tiger stores in Western Canada. The friendly local stores with the iconic yellow tiger logo are not only where Canadians shop more and spend less, but they help bring communities together.

For more information on the company, please visit www.gianttiger.com or join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gianttiger and follow us on Twitter @GTboutique.

Giant Tiger, a proud Canadian company since... FOREVER!

Contacts:

For media inquiries:

Alison Scarlett

Manager, Public Relations,

Social Media and Community Activation

Giant Tiger Stores Limited

ascarlett@gianttiger.com




WUZHEN, China, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wuzhen International Contemporary Art Exhibition (Art Wuzhen), is taking place from March 28 to June 26, 2016 in the ancient Chinese water town of Wuzhen.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160513/367273

The first contemporary art exhibition in the town, this year's theme is "Utopias and Heterotopias", and aims to discuss how contemporary culture can run counter to urbanization.

Organized by Culture Wuzhen Co., Ltd., about 130 works from 40 artists and groups from 15 countries are on display, including paintings, sculptures, installments and videos from famous names such as Choe U-Ram, Ann Hamilton, Florentijn Hofam, John Koormeling, Olafur Eliasson and Martin Parr.

One of the most notable pieces is Hamilton'sAgain Still Yet, a large loom made from the seats and stage of Wuzhen's iconic Guole traditional Chinese Theatre, which inspires the re-understanding of the relationship between seats, stage and theatre and the re-imagining of the structural value of work in life.

"Utopia is directly related but also contrary to social reality," explained Feng Boyi, the exhibition's curator. "Heterotopiais a representation of varied phenomena and results on a real level in the process of imagining, pursuing, and practicing utopia.

"While China is the place that most embodies some characteristics of heterotopia, Wuzhen, a 1,000 year-old water town, is a good example of China's urbanization and its progress of social transformation. And while preserving traditional cultural resources is imperative, it is equally important that their redevelopment be adapted to fit the special environment of China and to satisfy people's living conditions and needs for a modern life."

Art Wuzhen is held in the West Scenic District, the part of Wuzhen that perhaps best typifies a Southeastern Chinese water town, and the North Silk Factory, a renovation of an abandoned 1970s factory. The two sites embody Wuzhen's traditional rural and industrial past as well as its creative present.

Besides the exhibitions, more than 20 additional events, including artist lectures and workshops, have also been set up to help bringvisitors deeper into the contemporary art world.

For more information, visit:

Website:http://en.artwuzhen.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artwuzhen

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artwuzhen

About Wuzhen

Wuzhen is an ancienttraditional Chinese water town located a one-hour drive from Shanghai. It combines more than 10 cultural landscapes including folk museums and celebrity residences with contemporary art elements and modern resort facilities to offer visitors an unparalleled leisure experience.
BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 10:00 am ET Friday, the University of Michigan is due to release its preliminary consumer sentiment index for May. The index is expected to edge up to 89.5 from 89 in April. Ahead of the data, the greenback extended rally against its major rivals. The greenback was worth 1.1311 against the euro, 109.21 against the yen, 0.9755 against the franc and 1.4366 against the pound as of 9:55 am ET. 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.
Press-release

Krasnodar

May 13, 2016

PJSC "Magnit" Announces the 2nd Coupon Yield Payment and the Advanced Redemption of the Nominal Value of Bonds

Krasnodar, May 13, 2016: PJSC "Magnit", Russia's largest food retailer (the "Company"; MOEX and LSE: MGNT), announces the 2nd coupon yield payment against bonds and the advanced redemption of the nominal value of bonds.

Please be informed that on May 13, 2016 PJSC "Magnit" fulfilled its obligation of the second coupon redemption against bonds of the 02, 03 series in the amount of 301,650,000 rubles / 301,650,000 rubles correspondingly and the redemption of the nominal value of bonds.

Parameters of the bond issue:

Type of securities: Non-convertible interest-bearing certified bonds to the bearer with the obligatory centralized custody of the 02, 03 series, International Stock Identification Number (ISIN) RU000A0JVE99 / RU000A0JVE81 Identification numbers of the securities issues and the date of their assignment: 4-02-60525-P / 4-03-60525-P as of 27.12.2012 Reporting (coupon) period which the yield is paid for: The second coupon period (13.11.2015 - 13.05.2016) The total amount of the interest to be paid against bonds: 301,650,000 rubles / 301,650,000 rubles correspondingly excluding tax and other deductions The amount of the interest to be paid against one bond: 60.33 rubles / 60.33 rubles correspondingly The total number of bonds against which the yield is paid: 5,000,000 bonds / 5,000,000 bonds correspondingly The method of payment: Monetary funds in the currency of the Russian Federation by means of non-cash settlement The record date: May 12, 2016 The date on which the obligation for payment of the yield against the issuer's securities shall be fulfilled: May 13, 2016 The total amount of the interest paid against bonds following the reporting period: Following the 2nd coupon period the amount of 301,650,000 rubles / 301,650,000 rubles correspondingly was paid excluding tax and other deductions; 301,650,000 rubles / 301,650,000 rubles correspondingly - adjusted for taxation. Obligation has been fulfilled. Basis for advanced bonds redemption: redemption of the nominal value of bonds according to the Decision on the issuance of PJSC "Magnit" securities approved by the Board of Directors on October 29, 2012, and the Decisionof the CEO on the advanced redemption of the bonds w/o No. as of April 26, 2016 The date of advanced redemption of bonds: May 13, 2016

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) -- 05/13/16 -- The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) signed a Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA), on May 11, 2016, with the Tax Administration of the United Mexican States (SAT) that allows both countries to recognize each other's Trusted Trader members and facilitate border processes. The signing aligns with the World Customs Organization's SAFE Framework of Standards which establishes standards for globally integrated supply chain security and facilitation for all modes of transport. The MRA was signed at the World Customs Organization 3rd Global Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) Conference in Cancun, Mexico.

This MRA signifies that both administrations will provide reciprocal benefits to members of the CBSA's Partners in Protection and SAT's Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas programs. As the third and final bilateral arrangement regarding AEOs to be signed between Canada, the United States and Mexico, it also provides North American-wide mutual recognition of trusted trader programs.

Following this signing, the CBSA and the SAT will continue to work towards implementation and a monitoring plan will be established to ensure the integrity of the MRA.

Quick Facts

-- Canada and Mexico are each other's third-largest trading partners, and bilateral trade between the two countries continues to grow annually. -- In August 2014, the CBSA and the SAT signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to improve the efficiency of trade between both countries by strengthening collaboration on customs and border enforcement. -- MRAs strengthen relationships between countries while contributing to the CBSA's mandates to support national security and public safety, and facilitate the movement of goods. The CBSA has now signed five MRAs with other customs administrations, including the United States, Japan, Singapore and the Republic of Korea.

Quote

"Our Trusted Trader programs enhance the security and integrity of the supply chain, streamline border processing for our members and keep Canadians safe by allowing the Canada Border Services Agency to focus resources on areas of higher or unknown risk."

Linda Lizotte-MacPherson, President, CBSA

Associated Links

Canada Border Services Agency

Follow us on Twitter (@CanBorder), join us on Facebook or visit our YouTube channel.

Contacts:

Canada Border Services Agency

Media Line

613-957-6500 or 1-877-761-5945




Technavio research analysts are expecting positive growth for the global European industrial roboticsmarket over the next four years. Between 2016 and 2020, many application segments of the market including material handling, welding,assembly/ disassembly, and painting, will see an increase in revenue during the forecast period.

With close to 16.2 million trucks, vans, cars, and buses entering the European market on a yearly basis, vehicle manufacturing is considered to be the backbone of the European economy. The automotive industry is the largest contributor of the European industrial robotics market and is predicted to reach USD 1.55 billion in 2020. Under the CARS Action Plan, the European Commission is planning to invest USD 2.2 billion to support and strengthen the automotive sector. In addition, low oil prices and monetary and investment policies of European Countries will prompt many automakers to incorporate industrial robots in their manufacturing units.

Apart from the automotive segment, the second most sought after end-user of industrial robotics in Europe is the food and beverage industry. The market is expected to reach around USD 1.17 million by the end of 2020. The large manufacturers of Europe are using automation and robotics technology into their production system to improve the quality and remain at par with other competitors from non-European countries.

"Manufacturers of industrial machinery for industries such as agriculture, construction, and infrastructure development constitute a key end-user segment for the European market. Industrial robots find extensive use in shaping individual pieces of equipment such as forging, stamping, bending, stamping, welding, forming, and machining. The equipment ranges from agricultural and food machinery, construction machinery, industrial process machinery to oil and gas equipment, and power transmission equipment," said Brijesh Kumar Choubey, a lead analyst at Technavio for robotics research.

View Technavio's entire robotics report library

Germany represents 20% of the industrial machinery equipment manufacturing in Europe. Its proximity to key supplying vendors from robotics, software, and electronics contributes to the growth of the market in the country. Germany is also among Europe's top FDI destinations for agricultural, construction, and mining machinery due to innovative business environments. These factors may contribute to the growth of industrial robotics, thereby prompting the overall European market to grow at a CAGR of over 8% until 2020.

Some of the key vendors in the European industrial robotics market include, ABB for welding, assembly, and cleaning; Comau for press shop for press-shop automation; FANUC for medical goods handling, food packing, error proofing, polishing, washing, and painting; KUKA for metalworking, foundry, consumer electronics; and Yaskawa Electric for the transfer of LCD panels and semiconductor wafers

Browse related reports:

Global Industrial Robotics Market in Electronic and Electrical Industry 2015-2019

Global Mobile Robotics Market 2015-2019

Global Industrial Robotics Market in the Automotive Industry 2015-2019

Global Robotic Surgery Market 2015-2019

Purchase any three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005004/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com

media@technavio.com
Sadly, as we get set to cross the threshold of $20.0 trillion in official U.S. national debt, there's been very little talk about it in the media or from politicians. Truth be told, if not controlled, it could be the factor that breaks the back of the U.S. dollar and results in a U.S. economic collapse.Donald Trump has a history of racking up debt in his business dealings. With promises of tax cuts for the middle class and major beefing up of our military (so we are No. 1 again), I see our debt rising quickly under a possible Trump Administration.Under Hillary.

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.
COMPANY REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENT 13 May 2016 Result of Annual General Meeting At the Annual General Meeting of Irish Continental Group plc ('ICG' or the 'Company') held today, Friday 13 May 2016, all resolutions proposed were passed on a show of hands. The full text of each resolution was included in the notice of the Annual General Meeting circulated to shareholders on 12 April 2016. Details of valid proxy appointments held by the Board are available on the Company's website www.icg.ie. Copies of the above documents will be submitted to the Irish Stock Exchange and the UK National Storage Mechanism. These documents will therefore shortly be available for inspection at www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/NSM and at the following address: Companies Announcement Office The Irish Stock Exchange plc 28 Anglesea Street Dublin 2 Tom Corcoran Company Secretary 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: Irish Continental Group plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2012735] BLP59W1R48 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.
MACON, Ga., 2016-05-13 17:51 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KaMin received the 2015 Safety Achievement Award for the Large Company Category at the spring meeting of the Industrial Minerals Association - North America in Washington, DC. The IMA-NA Safety Achievement Award recognizes the best reportable injury rate for an individual IMA-NA member company in this category, which is comprised of 14 peer companies. In this case, KaMin employees worked more than 700,000 hours during 2015, with an incident rate of 0.76 per 200,000 employee work hours. The industry average rate for the period was 2.49.



"We are proud of our employees and their dedication to working safely," said Rankin Hobbs, CEO of KaMin. "Safety is one of our core values, and integral to the strength of our business. We work diligently to ensure that safety is the top priority of every employee when they come to work each day."



Rankin Hobbs, CEO of KaMin, receives award from Edward Flynn, Vice Chairman of IMA-NA.



About KaMin LLC and CADAM S.A. - With 90 years of experience in mining and processing kaolin clay, KaMin delivers value to customers worldwide with high quality kaolin solutions for the most demanding applications. KaMin mines and produces its kaolin in the US at three Georgia plants - Macon, Sandersville and Wrens - and at its CADAM S.A. subsidiary in Brazil. KaMin has been recognized not only as a leader in product quality and export volumes, but also in its safe mining practices for many consecutive years.



Contact: Maureen Halstead askus@kaminllc.com

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 13, 2016) - On Thursday during an official visit to Beijing, Morocco's King Mohammed VI presided over the signing of 15 public-private partnership agreements between Morocco and the People's Republic of China. The King also announced that, in the interest of improving the two countries' relationship, Chinese citizens will no longer require a visa to visit Morocco.

The agreements covered a range of areas, from housing development to energy to logistics and shipping and more. They included agreements between:

Morocco and China's HAITE group to construct logistical and residential zones in the Tangiers region;

Morocco's office for electricity and drinking water (ONEE) and China's SEPCO III Electric Power Construction to conduct studies on extending and maintaining Morocco's Jerada power plant;

Morocco's National Tourism Office and China International Travel Service to increase tourism between the two countries;

Linuo Ritter, SIE, Cap Holding and Attijariwafa Bank for the creation of an industrial production unit for solar water-heaters in Morocco;

China Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) and Attijariwafa Bank to open new prospects for Moroccan-Chinese investment opportunities in Africa;

Haite Group, Morocco-China International and BMCE Bank of Africa to set up a Chinese-Moroccan industrial park in Morocco and a Chinese-Moroccan investment fund targeting the aeronautics, finances, industrial parks and infrastructure sectors; and more.

Over the last two decades, Morocco has taken steps to become a business hub in Africa, investing in infrastructure and sector-specific education, expanding business relationships throughout the continent while courting foreign investment. And the work has paid off. In April, French automaker Renault announced a major new expansion of existing investments in the country, expanding operations alongside other big names like Bombardier and Boeing who also have a presence there.

Earlier this year, Morocco was named among the 50 most innovative economies in the world and one of just two such economies in Africa by the 2016 Bloomberg Innovation Index. The World Bank's Doing Business 2016 report ranked Morocco first out of 20 MENA countries in terms of "ease of starting a business" and placed it sixth overall in the region for "ease of doing business." In 2014, the Wall Street Journal's Frontiers/FSG Frontier Markets Sentiment Index reported that Morocco is among the top ten frontier markets -- and the only one in the Maghreb -- most favored by foreign corporations. KPMG International and Oxford Economics' 2015 Change Readiness Index (CRI) ranked Morocco as the most "change-ready" country in the Maghreb, with particularly positive results in the category of "enterprise capability."

"Thanks to forward thinking reforms under King Mohammed VI, Morocco today boasts a business-friendly, innovative economy, skilled workforce, political stability, and ever-strengthening ties in Africa," said former US Ambassador to Morocco Edward Gabriel. "All of this makes Morocco the ideal partner for world powers like China seeking to expand commercial and security relationships in the Maghreb region."

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/2016/5/13/11G098211/Images/King_with_Pres-82ae8ca8c1d3a6ec92eb24a5b36a5644.jpg

CONTACT:

Jordana Merran

202.470.2049

jmerran@moroccanamericancenter.com
Shell International Finance B.V. and Royal Dutch Shell plc

13 May 2016

Publication of Final Terms

The following Final Terms are available for viewing:

Final Terms dated 11 May 2016 (the "2024 Notes Final Terms") relating to the issue by Shell International Finance B.V. of 750,000,000 0.750 per cent. Guaranteed Notes due 12 May 2024 (the "2024 Notes") pursuant to the Multi-Currency Debt Securities Programme

Final Terms dated 11 May 2016 (the "2028 Notes Final Terms") relating to the issue by Shell International Finance B.V. of 1,000,000,000 1.250 per cent. Guaranteed Notes due 12 May 2028 (the "2028 Notes") pursuant to the Multi-Currency Debt Securities Programme

The 2024 Notes Final Terms contain the final terms of the 2024 Notes and the 2028 Notes Final Terms contain the final terms of the 2028 Notes. Each Final Terms must be read in conjunction with the Information Memorandum dated 11 August 2015 relating to the Programme, as supplemented by the supplements to the Information Memorandum dated 24 August 2015, 29 October 2015, 15 February 2016, 10 March 2016, 3 May 2016 and 4 May 2016 (as so supplemented, the "Information Memorandum"). The Information Memorandum constitutes a base prospectus for the purposes of Article 5.4 of Directive 2003/71/EC as amended. Full information on Shell International Finance B.V. (as Issuer) and Royal Dutch Shell plc (as Guarantor) and the offer of the 2024 Notes and the 2028 Notes is only available on the basis of the combination of the Information Memorandum and the relevant Final Terms.

The Final Terms have been filed with the UK Listing Authority. To view the Final Terms, please paste the following URL into the address bar of your browser.

2024 Notes Final Terms

http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/euro-medium-term-note-programme.html

2028 Notes Final Terms

http://www.shell.com/investors/financial-reporting/euro-medium-term-note-programme.html

The Final Terms have also been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm.

Enquiries:

Shell Media Relations

International, UK, European Press: +44 (0)207 934 5550

Shell Investor Relations

Europe: + 31 70 377 3996

United States: +1 713 241 1042

DISCLAIMER - INTENDED ADDRESSEES

Please note that the information contained in the Information Memorandum may be addressed to and/or targeted at persons who are residents of particular countries (specified in the Information Memorandum) only and is not intended for use and should not be relied upon by any person outside these countries and/or to whom the offer contained in the Information Memorandum is not addressed. Prior to relying on the information contained in the Information Memorandum, you must ascertain from the Information Memorandum whether or not you are part of the intended addressees of the information contained therein.

This publication does not constitute an offering of the securities described in the Information Memorandum for sale in the United States. This is not for distribution 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 "Securities Act") or under any relevant securities laws of any state of the United States and are subject to U.S. tax law requirements. Subject to certain exceptions, the securities may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of U.S. persons, as such terms are defined in Regulation S under the Securities Act. There will be no public offering of the securities in the United States.

Your right to access this service is conditional upon complying with the above requirement.
Technavio research analysts are expecting positive growth for the global food market over the next four years. Between 2016 and 2020, many segments of the food products market including halal food, meat snacks, fresh fish and seafood, fish oil products, crustacean food and soy desserts will see an increase in revenue.

Technavio's market research analysts estimate the market for halal food in Europe to grow at a CAGR of around 14% during the forecast period. Since the market for halal food products is expanding, their demand and range of new varieties will also increase with time. Also, the recent rise in the demand for healthy and fresh food among the non-Muslim population will aid in the growth of this during the forecast period.

Furthermore, with the introduction and the high popularity of halal processed foods like ravioli and lasagna, it is estimated that the demand for processed halal food will rise steadily during the forecast period.

Aside from the halal food market, the second most sought after food market is meat snacks. The global meat snacks market is expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of approximately 10% during the forecast period. The introduction of new products and flavors is the primary growth driver of this market. Manufacturers are coming up with meat snacks in new and spicy flavors such as teriyaki, jalapeno, and habanero.

"Apart from major regions such as the US and South Africa, most of the markets have not yet matured, and this provides a significant opportunity for companies to tap into the potential of the market," says Vijay Sarathi, a lead analyst at Technavio for food research

In recent times, it has been observed that consumers are significantly shifting toward fresh seafood as it is an excellent source of protein. The prospects for growth in this market will be propelled by factors such as the widespread availability of different fish species, increasing population, growing health consciousness, and rising disposable income. Also, the growing preference for food products that are rich in proteins and other nutrients coupled with the populace's growing concerns about processed fish and seafood and additives used in such food products will bolster the prospects for growth of the fresh seafood market.

Technavio's market research analyst estimate factors like the high nutritional value and health benefits of fish and seafood products to impel market growth during the predicted period. Seafood contains substantial amounts of protein, minerals, and vitamins. The ability of such food products to provide essential nutrients to infants and children, and to serve as a rich source of minerals like selenium, zinc, iodine, and iron will result in its augmented preference during the estimated period.

Some of the key vendors for food products include Tahira Foods, Tariq Halal, and Carrefour for halal food, ConAgra and Hormel Foods, and Jack Link's for meat snacks, and Grupo Freiremar, HIRO, and Lee Fishing Company for fresh fish and seafood

Browse Related Reports:

Global Fresh Baked Products Market 2016-2020

Global Meal Replacement Market 2016-2020

Global Sweet Spreads Market 2016-2020

Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform.

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies.

Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005010/en/

Contacts:

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.technavio.com
Q1 2016 consolidated revenues grew 8x compared to Q1 2015 to 1.1 million

Solid orders backlog increasing to 2.4 million, with flagship projects in East Africa, Asia Pacific and Italy

New agreement in partnership with Toshiba to provide 1MW storage system for a Hybrid Power Plant to a mining site in Australia

Strong credentials and unique positioning:framework agreement with Enel and new HyESS projects in progress leveraging a track record of 44.3MWh energy storage in 5 continents and a leading technology now compliant with the latest standards CEI 016

Regulatory News:

The Board of Directors of Electro Power Systems S.A. (Paris:EPS) ("EPS" or the "Group", listed on Euronext Paris EPS:PA) technology pioneer of clean energy storage systems, chaired by Massimo Prelz Oltramonti, has examined and approved today the group results for the first quarter of 2016 (unaudited).

"We are very satisfied with the results posted for the first quarter of 2016, which show the strategic role of the Elvi Energy acquisition and the soundness of our two-step business strategy to accelerate the growth, starting from micro grid storage systems to hydrogen enabled systems. A major contribution to this performance came from the expansion of our off-grid installations, such as those in East Africa and Asia-Pacific, which boast abundant renewable resources. Thanks to our strategy of geographical and technological diversification and with financial discipline and strong execution we accelerated our development and strengthened the foundations for future growth". commentedCarlalberto Guglielminotti, Chief Executive Officer ofthe Group.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

In the first quarter of 2016 consolidated revenues amounts to 1,050,253 euros, representing 8x the revenues of the Q1 2015. Growth came from the Group's activities related to the off-grid hybrid power plants in Asia-Pacific and East Africa and from a grid support project in Sardinia within the Terna network.

The current Group's orders backlog1 increased to 2.4 million euros. Theconversion of the pipeline, built with the business strategy effort carried out in 2015 and led by Giuseppe Artizzu, Executive Director of the Group, has already started, as proven by the agreement just signed for a 1MW storage system for a Hybrid Power Plant in Australia in partnership with Toshiba, whose construction will start in Q3 2016.

At the Group level, and compared to the previous year, the current 2016 backlog has a deeper diversification in terms of customer base and confirms the effectiveness of the business strategy carried out and the effort made in 2015 to focus on the energy sector, i.e. utilities, grid operators and commercial and industrial users

In terms of geography, after a 2015 mainly focused on Italy, the current backlog and the pipeline have a global and far broader reach than the year before, namely in 17 countries and in all continents

At the end of the first quarter of 2016, the Group had a Net Financial Position at 5.4 million with Pro-forma Net-Cash2 at 7.6 million, as a result of the significant investments in R&D to support the expansion strategy and the cash outlay for the MCM Energy Lab acquisition.

EPS Group at the same time reduced net trade working capital exposure in the first quarter of 2016 to 0.2 million from 1.0 million at the end of FY2015.

OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS

In the first quarter of 2016 major success was achieved in the off-grid markets with flagship projects in East Africa and in the Maldives, where the Group put the first pillar of its rollout plan.

Leveraging a track record of 44.3MWh energy storage in 5 continents, the Group has achieved a unique positioning: its leading technology, now compliant with the latest standards CEI 016 All. N-bis, adds a further competitive advantage.

In June 2016 the Group is expected to finalize the commissioning of the Hybrid Power Plant in Tasmania and a 2MW Hybrid Power Plant for a luxury resort in the Maldives.

The credibility established with fully-commercial hybrid energy solutions already in operation in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia makes EPS a concrete technology leader in emerging countries, with a growing pipeline of projects across South America, Africa and South-East Asia, where the Group positions as turnkey supplier for utilities, final users and infrastructure investment funds.

Effective January 1st, 2015, the French Law n2014-1662 dated December 30th, 2014, transposing the European Directive 2013/50/EU, has removed for French-listed companies the reporting obligation to disclose quarterly financial results. Therefore, this press release has been prepared on a voluntary basis in line with EPS' policy to provide the market and investors with regular information about the Group's financial and operating performances and business prospects considering the disclosure policy followed by energy peers.

Results are presented for the first quarter of 2016 and for the first quarter of 2015. Information on liquidity and capital resources relates to end of the periods as of March 31, 2016, and December 31, 2015.

Accounts set forth herein have been prepared in accordance with the evaluation and recognition criteria set by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and adopted by the European Commission according to the procedure set forth in Article 6 of the European Regulation (CE) No. 1606/2002 of the European Parliament and European Council of July 19, 2002. These criteria are unchanged from the 2015 Annual Financial Report filed to the AMF on April 29, 2016, which investors are urged to read. The financial information of Electro Power Systems SA for the first quarter 2016 consists of this press release. All legally required disclosures, including the FY2015 annual financial report is available on the Group website (www.electropowersystems.com) under "Financial Information" and is published by Electro Power Systems SA pursuant to the provisions of Article L. 451-1-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code and to the article 222-1 and following of the General Regulation of the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF).

About Electro Power Systems

Electro Power Systems (EPS) is the pioneer of technology-neutral, integrated hybrid energy storage solutions for grid support in developed economies and off-grid power generation in emerging countries. The Group's mission is to unlock the energy transition, by mastering the intermittency of renewable energy sources. Through the seamless integration of the world best battery technologies to provide flexibility, and the Group's unique hydrogen and oxygen storage platform suitable for longer autonomy without resorting to diesel or gas-fueled generators, the group's technologies enable renewable energies to power 24/7 communities in a completely cleaner and less expensive solution.

EPS is today listed on the French regulated market of Euronext, and part of the CAC Mid Small and CAC All-Tradable indices: with headquarters in Paris, R&D and manufacturing in Italy.

The Group has installed in aggregate 3MW of hydrogen systems, 8.7MW of Hybrid Power Plants, and 44.3MWh of energy storage capacity, for a total power output of 21.1MW deployed in 21 countries worldwide, including Europe, USA, Australia, China, Asia and Africa.

For more information www.electropowersystems.com

Forward looking statements

This announcement includes statements that are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. These forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, including the verbs or terms "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "intends", "may", "plans", "build-up", "under discussion" or "potential customer", "should" or "will", "projects", "backlog" or "pipeline" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These forward looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear throughout this announcement and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Group's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Group's results of business development, operations, financial position, prospects, financing strategies, expectations for product design and development, regulatory applications and approvals, reimbursement arrangements, costs of sales and market penetration.

By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the actual results of the Group's operations, and the development of the markets and the industry in which the Groups operates, may differ materially from those described in, or suggested by, the forward looking statements contained in this announcement. In addition, even if the Group's results of operations, financial position and growth, and the development of the markets and the industry in which the Group operates, are consistent with the forward looking statements contained in this announcement, those results or developments may not be indicative of results or developments in subsequent periods. A number of factors could cause results and developments of the Group to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements including, without limitation, general economic and business conditions, the global energy market conditions, industry trends, competition, changes in law or regulation, changes in taxation regimes, the availability and cost of capital, the time required to commence and complete sell cycles, currency fluctuations, changes in its business strategy, political and economic uncertainty. The forward-looking statements herein speak only at the date of this announcement.

1 Backlog means (i) invoices already issued in 2016 but not yet recorded as "Revenues" in Q1, plus (ii) purchase orders received as at the date hereof, plus (iii) revenues already contracted or expected to be generated in 2016 based on current arrangements with customers.

2 The bridge from the 5.4 million Net Financial Position as at 31 March 2016, to the 7.6 million Pro-forma Net Cash results from (i) the addition of the 1.4 million capital increase reserved to the former Elvi Energy shareholders and current management, which will take place in 2016 and will be financed by the portion of the proceeds of the Elvi Energy acquisition which has been put in escrow for this purpose, and (ii) the addition of 0.82 millions of VAT receivables that will be set-off during the first half of 2016.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005773/en/

Contacts:

For Electro Power Systems S.A.

Media Relations

Alessia Di Domenico

Head of Global Media Relations

+39 02 45435516

Mobile +39 337 1645567

add@eps-mail.com

or

Investor Relations

Francesca Cocco

Vice President Investor Relations

+33 (0) 970 467 135 -

Mobile +39 347 7056719

fc@eps-mail.com

or

Press & Media France

Caroline Lesage

clesage@actus.fr

Alexandra Prisa

+33 1 53673679 /+ 33 1 53673690

aprisa@actus.fr
BATH, England, May 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Transcriptogen Ltd is a drug Discovery Company pioneering effective treatment for Pancreatic Cancer with minimal side effects using an approach never used before. The research has been spun out of Kings College and the company is based in Bath and London. Pancreatic Cancer treatment is an unmet need: 8,500 die in the UK and the chance of surviving 5 years is 5%.

Dr Savvas Neophytou, Partner and Head of Life Sciences at Deepbridge Capital, commented:

"We are delighted to be providing funding and support to Transcriptogen. From an investment perspective, cancer treatments are not only satisfying a growing international need but for many also evoke an emotional connection. The proposition and team at Transcriptogen represents an appealing investment opportunity."

Richard Turner, CEO of Transcriptogen, commented:

"We are pleased to have secured this funding via Deepbridge. It builds on funding of over 2.5m from research organizations to get us to where we are. Deepbridge join Astra Zeneca and Kings College as our other major shareholders. The next step for Transcriptogen is to take our lead molecule into the clinic and begin human trials."

For further information please contact:

Richard J Turner: Telephone 07879 423828. Rjt@catvp.com

Paragon House, Lyncombe Vale Road, Bath, BA24LS

Notes for Editors

Transcriptogen's drugs inhibit the transcription factors that control the function of all genes. These transcription factors are often found to excess in cancer cells. Core intellectual property and know how is based on five years of research within University College London, funded by organizations including Cancer Research UK and the Commonwealth Fund.

This research has revealed that control of the transcription factors allows the possibility of successfully treating cancer with a dramatic reduction in side effects. The agents patented by Transcriptogen Limited - which selectively bind to the human genome to control transcriptions factors - are active at very low concentrations. They therefore have lower toxicity than conventional cancer chemotherapies.

Transcriptogen Limited has a portfolio of molecules derived from its lead generation platform technology. The initial focus is on pancreatic and breast cancer but the pipeline of drugs to be developed by Transcriptogen Limited are potentially effective in treating all forms of cancer.

This release was issued through WebWire(R). For more information visit http://www.webwire.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/transcriptogen-ltd-raises-key-early-stage-investment-from-deepbridge-capital-300268500.html
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

The Government of Canada believes that pay equity is a fundamental human right and that every working Canadian woman should be compensated in an equitable manner.

Today, the Government of Canada announced that it has settled a long-standing human rights complaint affecting up to 25,000 current and former employees who worked at Statistical Survey Operations from 1985 to 2013. The employees interviewed people and collected data used by Statistics Canada. Most of the employees were women, many of whom worked part-time.

As a result of the settlement, Statistics Canada will begin to make payments to eligible employees in early 2017.

Quotes

"The Government has made a commitment towards gender equality, and while there is still a lot of work to do, we are making concrete progress towards achieving pay equity. As Canada's largest employer, the federal government should lead by example."

The Honourable Scott Brison, President of the Treasury Board

"Statistics Canada is committed to implementing the terms of the settlement. It is establishing a dedicated team of people who will use all the tools at their disposal to reach eligible employees and ensure they are paid in a timely way."

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

In 1999, the Government of Canada settled a large pay equity complaint with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) involving employees occupying positions in the female predominant Clerical and Regulatory (CR) occupational group, among other groups, in the core public administration.

In 2002, a human rights complaint was launched against Treasury Board and seven separate agencies, including Statistical Survey Operations (SSO), for failing to extend the pay equity settlement to employees of these separate agencies. Six of the seven agencies negotiated settlements with the complainant in 2013.

In April 2016, the PSAC, SSO and Treasury Board reached an agreement to settle the long-standing human rights complaint.

Funding for the settlement was recently approved by the Treasury Board. Once Parliament has approved the funds, Statistics Canada will begin implementing the settlement.

Eligible employees will receive a payment averaging between $1,500 and $2,000.

Follow us on Twitter: @TBS_Canada.

Contacts:

Jean-Luc Ferland

Press Secretary

Office of the President of the Treasury Board

613-369-3163



Media Relations

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

613-369-3163



TTY (telecommunications device for the hearing impaired) -

613-369-9371




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Callinex Mines Inc. (the "Company" or "Callinex") (TSX VENTURE: CNX)(OTCQX: CLLXF) is pleased to announce that it has closed an oversubscribed $4.2 million non-brokered private placement financing (the "Financing"). The Financing was increased in size from an initial $1.0 million to $2.75 million before ultimately closing at $4.2 million based on strong investor demand (See news releases dated April 25, April 26, May 4 and May 12 2016). Closing of the Financing occurred in two tranches with $3.489 million of the Financing closing on May 11, 2016 and $710,675 of the Financing closing on May 13, 2016. The proceeds from the Financing will be used to facilitate exploration and for general corporate purposes.

Max Porterfield, President and CEO, stated, "We are pleased with the strong support from existing and new shareholders for this oversubscribed private placement. The proceeds of this financing will enable Callinex to complete significant exploration and accelerate our growth strategy."

The Financing consisted of 7,000,000 non-flow through units ("Units") and 7,000,000 flow through shares ("Share") for aggregate gross proceeds of $4,200,000. Each non-flow through Unit consists of one (1) non-flow through common share and one-half of one share purchase warrant (each whole warrant a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one non-flow through common share at a price of $0.45 for a period of two years from the date of issue. The Company will have the right to accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants if, at any time, the volume weighted average price exceeds $0.60 over any 15 day trading period. In the event of acceleration, the expiry date will be accelerated to a date that is 20 days after the Company issues a news release announcing that it has elected to exercise this acceleration right.

The securities are subject to a hold period expiring September 12, 2016, in respect to 7,000,000 Units and 4,631,084 flow through shares, and September 14, 2015, in respect of 2,368,916 flow-through shares. In connection with the Placement, the Company paid a 7% cash commission totaling $47,087.50 to finders.

About Callinex Mines Inc.

Callinex Mines Inc., a Canadian mineral exploration company, is focused on discovering the next copper-zinc rich VMS mine within Manitoba's prolific Flin Flon mining district. The Company's flagship project is the Pine Bay Project which hosts significant historic VMS deposits that are within close proximity to a processing facility. The Flin Flon district has yielded more than 145 million tonnes of production from 32 mines.

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.

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete contemplated work programs, the timing and amount of expenditures and completion of any or all of the proposed Offering. Callinex does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

Contacts:

Callinex Mines Inc.

Max Porterfield

President and Chief Executive Officer

(604) 605-0885

info@callinex.ca




A subsidiary of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) is ready to finance 100 MW of solar PV project in Jujuy Province, Argentina, according to a press release by the provincial government. Jujuy Governor Gerardo Ruben Morales agreed to this financing with the Interamerican Investment Corporation (CII) General Manager James Scriven during a meeting this week, according to the release. These PV projects will be approved through an auction process. "CII is prepared to provide a portion of the capital for solar energy projects which JEMSE approves in the auction for 100 ...

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.
GREENVILLE, SC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) has awarded Effex Management Solutions with the Employer Community Award for their partnership with the Division of Young Offender Parole & Reentry Service (YOPRS). Effex received their award at a ceremony held May 9th at the SCDC Academy Auditorium with a special guest visit from South Carolina Governor, Nikki Hailey.

In February 2015, Country Fresh Inc., located in South Carolina, partnered with onsite staffing agency, Effex Management Solutions to support YOPRS (a division of the SCDC) by hiring young, non-violent offenders who are in need of their first employment opportunity.

"Both Country Fresh and Effex employees strongly believe in giving back to local communities through volunteer work and contributions. By offering young offenders a second chance despite their history record, we help them re-build their lives, the lives of their families and their financial future," explained Walter Rivera, Program Manager at Effex.

Since the beginning of their partnership, Effex and Country Fresh have helped many young offenders integrate themselves into a labor force to be a better part of the community and assist in preventing crime. Lane Layman, Plant Manager for Country Fresh Inc., and Walter Rivera, Program Manager for Effex, were instrumental in the approval, integration and support of the YOPRS.

Effex is actively involved with several non-profit organizations including Augie's Quest, Humble Charity Events, American Cancer Society, Andy Roddick Foundation, Autism Society of America, Caring Critters Animal Therapy, Habitat for Humanity, Houston Food Bank, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, People First Society, Special Olympics and local food banks across the nation. In South Carolina, Effex partners with several organizations that act as a bridge for second chance individuals. Some of these include the YOPRS, Turning Point, Sheppard's Gates, Bannum Place, Solutions Recovery Center and many more.

About Effex

Effex Management Solutions is a national large volume contingent workforce management solutions firm headquartered in Kingwood, Texas. They specialize in human capital solutions for clients in manufacturing, warehouse and distribution markets. By implementing customized programs, including their Strategic Alliance and Flex Force programs, Effex dramatically improves productivity, lowers overhead cost and guarantees 100% staffing for every shift, every day.

To learn more about Effex, please visit them on the web at effexms.com.

About SCDC and YOPRS

The South Carolina Department of Corrections is a corrections agency in the U.S. state of South Carolina that also provides rehabilitative and self-improvement opportunities to prepare inmates for their re-integration into society.

The Division of Young Offender Parole and Reentry Services (YOPRS) encompasses both institution and community-based services for male and female offenders sentenced under the Youthful Offender Act (YOA).

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3007759



Contact:

Karen Franco

832.350.4161

Email Contact




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- Peyto Exploration & Development Corp. (TSX: PEY) ("Peyto") confirms that the monthly dividend with respect to May 2016 of $0.11 per common share is to be paid on June 15, 2016, for shareholders of record on May 31, 2016. The ex-dividend date is May 27, 2016.

Dividends paid by Peyto to Canadian residents are eligible dividends for Canadian income tax purposes.

Shareholders and interested investors are encouraged to visit the Peyto website at www.peyto.com to learn more about what makes Peyto one of North America's most exciting energy companies. The website also includes the President's monthly report, which discusses various topics chosen by the President and includes estimates of monthly capital expenditures and production. For further information please contact:

Certain information set forth in this document, including management's assessment of Peyto's future plans and operations, contains forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond these parties' control, including the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, volatility of commodity prices, currency fluctuations, imprecision of reserve estimates, environmental risks, competition from other industry participants, the lack of availability of qualified personnel or management, stock market volatility and ability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Peyto's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that Peyto will derive therefrom. The Toronto Stock Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.

Contacts:

Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.

Darren Gee

President and Chief Executive Officer

(403) 237-8911

(403) 451-4100 (FAX)

www.peyto.com




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. ("Birchcliff") (TSX: BIR) is pleased to announce the director election results from the 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders held on May 12, 2016 (the "Meeting"). At the Meeting, shareholders elected each of the nominees proposed by management as set forth in the information circular of Birchcliff dated March 16, 2016. The results of the voting on the election of directors is set forth below.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nominees for Method Result Election ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Acclaimed (Results of ballots submitted are shown below) --------------------------------------------- Votes Cast Percentage ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kenneth N. Cullen Ballot Votes For 90,990,687 99.92% --------------------------------------------- Votes Withheld 74,675 0.08% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis A. Dawson Ballot Votes For 90,973,901 99.90% --------------------------------------------- Votes Withheld 91,461 0.10% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Larry A. Shaw Ballot Votes For 86,051,334 94.49% --------------------------------------------- Votes Withheld 5,014,028 5.51% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A. Jeffery Tonken Ballot Votes For 80,916,056 88.85% --------------------------------------------- Votes Withheld 10,149,306 11.15% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Each of the directors elected at the Meeting will hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders of Birchcliff. Detailed voting results for all resolutions considered by shareholders at the Meeting will be set forth in the Report of Voting Results which will be filed on SEDAR under Birchcliff's profile at www.sedar.com.

About Birchcliff:

Birchcliff is a Calgary, Alberta based intermediate oil and gas company with operations concentrated within its one core area, the Peace River Arch of Alberta. Birchcliff's common shares and cumulative redeemable preferred shares, Series A and Series C are listed for trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "BIR", "BIR.PR.A" and "BIR.PR.C", respectively.

Contacts:

Birchcliff Energy Ltd.

Jeff Tonken

President and Chief Executive Officer



Birchcliff Energy Ltd.

Bruno Geremia

Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer



Birchcliff Energy Ltd.

Jim Surbey

Vice-President, Corporate Development



Birchcliff Energy Ltd.

Suite 500, 630 - 4th Avenue S.W.

Calgary, AB T2P 0J9

(403) 261-6401 (TEL)

(403) 261-6424 (FAX)

info@birchcliffenergy.com

www.birchcliffenergy.com




Results as of Acceptance Period close on 13 May 2016

Offeror will announce no later than 19 May 2016 whether it declares the Offer unconditional

This is a joint press release by FedEx Corporation, FedEx Acquisition B.V. and TNT Express N.V. pursuant to the provisions of Article 5:25i paragraph 2 of the Dutch Act on Financial Supervision (Wet op het Financieel Toezicht) and Article 4 paragraph 3 of the Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit Openbare Biedingen Wft, the Decree) in connection with the recommended public offer by FedEx Acquisition B.V. for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the share capital of TNT Express N.V., including all American depositary shares representing ordinary shares (the Offer). This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in TNT Express N.V. The Offer is made solely pursuant to the offer document, dated August 21, 2015 (the Offer Document), approved by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten) (the AFM). Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Document.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005902/en/

FedEx Corporation (FedEx) (NYSE: FDX), FedEx Acquisition B.V. (the Offeror) and TNT Express N.V. (TNT Express) jointly announce that after the expiry today at 17:40 hours Amsterdam time of the Acceptance Period and after the expiry of the period for tendering book-entry ADSs at 17:00 hours New York Time of the Offeror's recommended all-cash public offer for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of TNT Express (the Shares), 88.4% of the total number of shares have been tendered for acceptance.

In accordance with Section 16, paragraph 1 of the Decree and Section 5.5 of the Offer Document, the Offeror will announce whether it declares the Offer unconditional no later than Thursday, 19 May 2016.

Further information

This announcement contains selected, condensed information regarding the Offer and does not replace the Offer Document and/or the Position Statement. The information in this announcement is not complete and additional information is contained in the Offer Document and the Position Statement.

Digital copies of the Offer Document are available on the website of TNT Express at http://www.tnt.com/corporate/en/site/home/investors/fedex_offer.html and on the website of FedEx at http://investors.fedex.com. Such websites do not constitute a part of, and are not included or referred to in, the Offer Document. Copies of the Offer Document are also available free of charge from TNT Express, the Settlement Agent, ADS Tender Agent and the Information Agent at the addresses mentioned below.

TNT Express: TNT EXPRESS N.V. Address: Taurusavenue 111, 2132 LS Hoofddorp, P.O. box 13000, 1100 KG Amsterdam, The Netherlands Telephone: +31 88 393 9500 Fax: +31 88 393 3000 E-mail: investor.relations@tnt.com The Settlement Agent: ING BANK N.V. Address: Foppingadreef 7, 1102 BD Amsterdam, The Netherlands Telephone: 31 20 563 6619 and +31 20 563 6546 Fax: 31 20 563 6959 E-mail: iss.pas@ing.nl The ADS Tender Agent: CITIBANK, N.A. Address: c/o Voluntary Corporate Actions, P.O. Box 43011, Providence, RI 02940-3011, United States of America Telephone: +1 800 308 7887 The Information Agent: GEORGESON EUROPE Address: Westplein 11, 3016 BM Rotterdam, The Netherlands Telephone: European Toll Free Helpline: 00800-3915-3915 American Toll Free Helpline: +1 800 561 2871 Email: tnt@georgeson.com

About FedEx Corp.

FedEx provides customers and businesses worldwide with a broad portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services. With annual revenues of $49 billion, the company offers integrated business applications through operating companies competing collectively and managed collaboratively, under the respected FedEx brand. Consistently ranked among the world's most admired and trusted employers, FedEx inspires its more than 340,000 team members to remain "absolutely, positively" focused on safety, the highest ethical and professional standards and the needs of their customers and communities. For more information, please visit www.fedex.com.

About TNT Express

TNT Express is one of the world's largest express delivery companies. On a daily basis, TNT Express delivers close to one million consignments ranging from documents and parcels to palletised freight. The company operates road and air transportation networks in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas. TNT Express made 6.9 billion in revenue in 2015. For more information, please visit www.tnt.com/corporate.

Notice to US holders of TNT Express Shares

The Offer is being made for the securities of TNT Express, a public limited liability company incorporated under Dutch Law, and is subject to Dutch disclosure and procedural requirements, which are different from those of the United States. The Offer is being made in the United States in compliance with Section 14(e) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the U.S. Exchange Act), and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, including Regulation 14E, and is subject to the exemptions provided by Rule 14d-1(d) under the U.S. Exchange Act and otherwise in accordance with the requirements of Dutch law. Accordingly, the Offer is subject to certain disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to the Offer timetable and settlement procedures that are different from those applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and laws.

The receipt of cash pursuant to the Offer by a U.S. holder of TNT Express shares may be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and under applicable state and local, as well as foreign and other, tax laws. Each holder of TNT Express shares is urged to consult his independent professional advisor immediately regarding the tax consequences of acceptance of the Offer.

It may be difficult for U.S. holders of TNT Express shares to enforce their rights and claims arising out of the U.S. federal securities laws, since TNT Express is located in a country other the United States, and some or all of its officers and directors may be residents of a country other than the United States. U.S. holders of TNT Express shares may not be able to sue a non-U.S. company or its officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel a non-U.S. company and its affiliates to subject themselves to a U.S. court's judgment.

To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, including Rule 14e-5 of the U.S. Exchange Act, in accordance with normal Dutch practice, FedEx and its affiliates or broker (acting as agent for FedEx or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time after the date hereof, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirect purchase, or arrange to purchase, ordinary shares of TNT Express that are the subject of the Offer or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such shares. These purchases may occur either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices. In no event will any such purchases be made for a price per share that is greater than the Offer price. To the extent information about such purchases or arrangements to purchase is made public in The Netherlands, such information will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform U.S. shareholders of TNT Express of such information. No purchases will be made outside the Offer in the United States by or on behalf of FedEx. In addition, the financial advisors to FedEx may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of TNT Express, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities.

Restrictions

The distribution of this press release may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, FedEx and TNT Express disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of any such restrictions by any person. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Neither FedEx, nor TNT Express, nor any of their advisors assumes any responsibility for any violation by any of these restrictions. Any TNT Express shareholder who is in any doubt as to his or her position should consult an appropriate professional advisor without delay.

The information in this press release is not intended to be complete, for further information reference is made to the Offer Document. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice or an inducement to enter into investment activity. In addition, the Offer made pursuant to the Offer Document is not being made in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities or other laws or regulations of such jurisdiction or would require any registration, approval or filing with any regulatory authority not expressly contemplated by the terms of the Offer Document.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may be considered "forward-looking statements," such as statements relating to the impact of this transaction on FedEx and TNT Express. Forward-looking statements include those preceded by, followed by or that include the words "anticipated," "will," "expected" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although FedEx and TNT Express believe that the assumptions upon which their respective financial information and their respective forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, they can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, FedEx's ability to successfully operate TNT Express without disruption to its other business activities, FedEx's ability to achieve the anticipated results from the acquisition of TNT Express, the effects of competition (in particular the response to the transaction in the marketplace), economic conditions in the global markets in which FedEx and TNT Express operate, and other factors that can be found in FedEx's and its subsidiaries' and TNT Express' press releases and public filings.

Neither FedEx, nor any of its advisors, accepts any responsibility for any financial information contained in this press release relating to the business, results of operations or financial condition of FedEx or any of its groups. FedEx expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160513005902/en/

Contacts:

FedEx Corporation

Media:

Patrick Fitzgerald, 901-818-7300

patrick.fitzgerald@fedex.com

or

Media Contact Europe:

Burson-Marsteller

Michelle Fresco, +31 (0)70 3021191

michelle.fresco@bm.com

or

Investor Relations:

Mickey Foster, 901-818-7468

mickey.foster@fedex.com

or

TNT Express

Media:

Cyrille Gibot, +31 88 393 9390

Mobile: +31 65 113 3104

cyrille.gibot@tnt.com

or

Investor Relations:

Gerard Wichers, +31 88 393 9500

gerard.wichers@tnt.com
VANCOUVER, CANADA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/13/16 -- GoviEx Uranium Inc. (CSE: GXU) ("GoviEx") and Denison Mines Corp. (TSX: DML)(NYSE MKT: DNN) ("Denison") would like to update their respective shareholders on the status of the previously announced transaction whereby GoviEx will acquire Denison's wholly owned subsidiary, Rockgate Capital Corp., which holds all of Denison's Africa-based uranium interests (the "Transaction") announced on March 30, 2016.

The companies are proceeding diligently towards closing the Transaction and with the satisfaction of the conditions precedent.

GoviEx has been notified that due to scheduling changes, the Zambian Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (the "Competition Commission") meeting at which, among other things, the Transaction was to be reviewed for approval has been re-scheduled with a tentative date of May 27, 2016. Due to this change in the schedule, the previously anticipated closing date of the Transaction of on, or about, May 17, 2016 will be delayed until after the Competition Commission has concluded its meeting at which the Transaction will be considered. The companies have received no indications and have no reason to believe that the requisite approval from the Competition Commission will not be received.

Expected closing

Based on the tentative scheduling of the review of the Competition Commission at a meeting which is scheduled to be held on May 27, 2016, the companies now expect the closing of the Transaction to occur in late May or early June 2016, subject to the receipt of all other required consents and approvals, as well as the satisfaction of other conditions customary for a transaction of this nature.

About the Transaction

As outlined in the news releases, issued by GoviEx and Denison on March 30, 2016, the Transaction is expected to create a leading Africa-focused uranium development company. Following completion of the Transaction, GoviEx will control one of the largest uranium resource bases among publicly listed development companies, with combined Measured & Indicated resources of 124.29 Mlbs U3O8, plus Inferred resources of 73.11 Mlbs U3O8.

The asset portfolio of the combined company will include two permitted uranium development projects - including GoviEx's Madaouela project in Niger and Denison's Mutanga project in Zambia. It will also include Denison's Falea project, an advanced exploration-stage project in Mali, and the exploration-stage Dome project in Namibia.

Under the terms of the Transaction, GoviEx will acquire Denison's wholly owned subsidiary, Rockgate Capital Corp., which holds all of Denison's Africa-based uranium interests in exchange for approximately 56.1 million shares of GoviEx plus approximately 22.4 million common share purchase warrants of GoviEx. Upon completion of the Transaction, Denison will hold 25% of GoviEx shares outstanding and 28% of GoviEx shares on a fully diluted basis.

About GoviEx

GoviEx is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of uranium properties. GoviEx's principal objective is to become a significant uranium producer through the continued exploration and development of its Mine Permitted Madaouela Project and its other uranium properties in Niger.

About Denison

Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan. Including its 60% owned Wheeler River project, which hosts the high grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, Denison's exploration portfolio consists of numerous projects covering over 350,000 hectares in the eastern Athabasca Basin. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture, which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest deposit and a 61.55% interest in the J Zone deposit on the Waterbury Lake property. Both the Midwest and J Zone deposits are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. Internationally, Denison owns 100% of the Mutanga project in Zambia, 100% of the uranium/copper/silver Falea project in Mali, and a 90% interest in the Dome project in Namibia.

Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Denison Environmental Services division and is the manager of Uranium Participation Corp., a publicly traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride.

Cautionary statement regarding forward looking statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All information and statements other than statements of current or historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in both GoviEx's and Denison's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will", "could", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "intend", "may", "potential", "should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Information provided in this document is necessarily summarized and may not contain all available material information.

Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding completion of the Transaction and other statements that are not facts. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management based on the business and markets in which GoviEx and Denison operate, are inherently subject to significant operational, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies.

Assumptions upon which forward looking statements relating to the Transaction have been made include that GoviEx and Denison will be able to satisfy the conditions in the Agreement; that all required third party, regulatory, stock exchange, and government approvals will be obtained; and that the Transaction will be successfully concluded. In addition, the factors described or referred to in the section entitled "Financial Risks and Management Objectives" in the MD&A of GoviEx and "Risk Factors" in the MD&A of Denison, which are each available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, should be reviewed in conjunction with the information found in this news release.

Although GoviEx and Denison have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the Transaction could be modified, restricted or not completed, and the results or events predicted in these forward looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and GoviEx and Denison disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and neither GoviEx nor Denison assume any liability for disclosure relating to the other company herein.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources: This press release may use the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" mineral resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.

Contacts:

For GoviEx Uranium Inc.

Govind Friedland

Executive Chairman

+1 604-681-5529



Daniel Major

Chief Executive Officer

+1 604-681-5529



Bill Trenaman

Investor Relations

+1 604-681-5529

info@goviex.com

www.goviex.com



For Denison Mines Corp.

David Cates

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1 416-979-1991 x 362



Sophia Shane

Investor Relations

+1 604-689-7842

www.denisonmines.com

Follow Denison on Twitter: @DenisonMinesCo




iBondis, a London, UK-based online p2p leinding platform for SMEs, closed a venture capital funding round of undisclosed amount.

The round was led by Run Capital, with participation from an unnamed institutional investor and an international angel.

The company intends to use the funds to expand the service in Europe, mainly in Italy and Germany, grow the team, continue to develop the platform.

Led by Christian Nothacker, CEO, and Alex Riesenkampff, CCO, iBondis operates a p2p lending platform dedicated to serve the needs of European SMEs, which features an automated rating system to assess the risk of borrowers and allows investors to lend small amounts to many companies in order to achieve diversification.

The company was recently authorized to operate by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

FinSMEs

13/05/2016
Tandem Bank, a London, UK-based mobile first digital retail bank for millenials, raised 22m in series B venture capital funding round.

As we anticipated some weeks ago, backers included Route66 Ventures, eVentures and Omidyar Network.

The round valued the company at $65m.

Led by CEO Ricky Knox, Tandem is now launching a 1m crowdfunding campaign via Seedrs (live on May 20).

Already authorized by the FCA and PRA, the bank plans to launch operations in late 2016.

FinSMEs

13/05/2016
Welcome back to Europe again, WRC, for your first mainland European event since Monte Carlo, the fifth round of this year's series. This is the second year that the event has returned to the North of Portugal, perceived as the spiritual home of the event. All except 1.77% of the route is the same as 2015, the major change being the street stage in downtown Porto which will be run twice on the Friday evening in daylight. Certain other changes will be evident notably that the WRC and WRC2 teams will be located this year in the grounds of the...
Her annual appearance at Cannes is among the most highly anticipated events. And Aishwarya Rai Bachchan set off for the French Riviera on Friday from Mumbai International Airport. The gorgeous actress was accompanied by her mother Vrinda Rai and little daughter Aaradhya.

While Aishwarya dealt with the fan frenzy at the airport with her usual elan, Aaradhya did seem a little apprehensive about all the furore. We imagine the noise and crowds might have overcome the tot a bit. In any case, she was holding on to mommy and seemed to calm down after Aishwarya held her in her arms.

This will mark the 15th year of Aishwarya's appearances on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival. Her look for her appearances has been kept under wraps for now.
After Britain declined India's request to deport Vijay Mallya, ED has now sought an Interpol arrest warrant against the liquor baron to make him join investigations in connection with a money laundering probe case.

Officials said the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has written to CBI to obtain a Red Corder Notice (RCN) against Mallya from the global police body. CBI acts as the nodal office for execution of Interpol warrants in India.

An RCN is issued "to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action" in a criminal case probe.

Once the said notice is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end.

However, there are doubts whether this will indeed be of any help for the ED. According to a report in The Indian Express, experts are of the opinion that it may not be easy for the ED to extradite Mallya by issuing an RCN. For one, issuing such a notice is in itself a time-consuming process, they told the newspaper citing Lalit Modi's case.

Secondly, Mallya still appeal against the notice with Interpol, in which case the agency will have to hear out the business man before issuing the notice, the report says.

Moreover, extraditing from the UK is difficult because Mallya can still go to court there against any such move.

The agency has been wanting to make Mallya join investigations "in person" in the over Rs 900 crore IDBI loan fraud case in which it registered a criminal case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) early this year.

It has virtually exhausted most of the legal options to make Mallya join the probe including issuance of a non-bailable warrant against him from a Mumbai court based on which it made the requests for the revocation of his passport and subsequent deportation bid to bring back the businessman from the UK.

However, Britain has made it clear that Mallya cannot be deported and asked India to seek his extradition instead.

The British government said it acknowledges "the seriousness of allegations" against Mallya and was "keen to assist" the Indian government in this case.

ED is also mulling attaching domestic assets and shares worth about Rs 9,000 crore owned by Mallya in this case.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had on Wednesday said in Parliament that India will now have to initiate extradition process after a charge sheet 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," Jaitley had said.
Lucknow: At least 16 people were killed and over a dozen injured when a bus in which they were travelling rammed into a truck and caught fire in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich district, police said Saturday.

The bus, carrying 60 pilgrims, was returning from the Ghazi Miyan ki Dargah in Bahraich after a religious congregation when it collided with the truck at Tilwarai on the town's outskirts late Friday. The pilgrims were on their way to Ajmer.

Bahraich is about 130 km from in Lucknow.

Sixteen people were confirmed dead, and it is being ascertained if more charred bodies were in the bus that was gutted, said Bahraich superintendent of police GP Kanaujia.

Many passengers managed to save their lives by jumping out of the bus as fire broke out after the collision.

Of the injured, two have been referred to Lucknow as their condition deteriorated, police said.

IANS
That our politicians would seek shelter under Article 19 of the Constitution, which allows freedom of speech and expression to Indian citizens, to protect their right to defame others is curious indeed. By upholding the validity of sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalise defamation, Supreme Court has done a great service not only to the nation but also to the cause of truth. The political class wont be happy. But for now they will have to live with it.

The court pointed that the right to freedom of speech was not absolute and it had to be balanced with the right to dignity and life. The right to speech did not mean the license to tarnish the reputation of others, it maintained. The moral principle involved in the matter is clear. Its surprising that political parties and media houses would have objection to it and claim it had a chilling effect on free speech.

Can we have a right to defame? Lets put the question in a different way. Can we let liars have a free run? Obviously not. A society has to be criminal in character which allows people to go on making slanderous allegations against others and just get away with it. It would be in conflict with the peoples right to know the truth, a principle not explicitly stated anywhere but which permeates the entire spectrum of our civilisational existence. It is not without reason that liars are treated with disdain in all societies.

Free speech is a wonderful concept in itself, it means a lot of power for the citizens. But, it also comes with the responsibility to maintain restraint. Once the restraint goes, free speech becomes meaningless, free-for-all exercise. Politicians in India and section of the media, some were petitioners in the case, have been particularly irresponsible in the last many years. What we have seen is well-orchestrated vilification campaigns against rivals spread through lies and half-truths. The media in many cases have been a willing partner in disseminating lies.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been making serious allegations all political rivals. Not long ago he accused Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of being complicit in cases of financial irregularity in DDCA. Right now, he is busy trying to prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modis degree certificates are forged. The BJP, on its part, has been raking up cases of alleged corruption against Congress leaders. Adversarial politics has gone so deep in the India that no political party is averse to throwing muck at others with little care for consequences. It would still be acceptable if the allegations led to court cases and convictions. But no one seems serious on that. Truth it seems is nobodys business.

The shoot and scoot tactic has become a convenient political tool. The big problem here is it tantamounts to conning the public at large. As politicians in cahoots with the media go on playing the perception manipulation game, its the ordinary people who end up feeling duped. They tend to treat the leaders and the media with some respect and dont expect them to be frivolous with facts and in their allegations. As a welter of allegations and counter allegations fly thick and fast, they have a reason to feel that they are being taken for a ride. They have a right to know the truth, but the leaders are busy conspiring to keep them away from it.

Politicians can keep fighting each other, but they have no right to manipulate public opinion through lies. The atmosphere of suspicion and acrimony they create through their antics is abominable. That is the reason why defamation must be treated with iron hands. Free speech is no joke. Its better everyone realised that.
Malnutrition is usually not a subject that grabs the attention of politicians.

On those rare occasions when the subject does nudge its way into mainstream national discourse, it is often meant to be used only as an expedient electoral weapon. Recently, we found fresh evidence of this when Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched off a row by making factually flawed comparisons in the infant mortality rates of Kerala and Somalia. Targeting the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) at an election rally in Thiruvananthapuram last Sunday, Modi claimed Keralas infant mortality rate (IMR) among Scheduled Tribes was worse than that of Somalia.

Since the rally, social media has been awash with statistics showing how Modi, in his zeal to paint the Congress into a corner, had got his statistics wrong.

According to a report in the Business Standard for example, the 2015-16 Economic Survey pegged Keralas IMR at 12 deaths per 1,000  the lowest in India. It's not just that: Keralas IMR of 60 deaths per 1,000 among Scheduled Tribes was way lower than Somalias IMR of 85 deaths among 1,000.

Beyond the immediate political brouhaha, the ongoing row is symptomatic of larger political and governmental distortions as well. The inaccurate data cited by the prime minister reveals the political classs faltering interest in a critical subject like malnourishment, even when it affects societys most vulnerable sections. And its not just any one political party that is in the dock  the entire political class is bound by this shared apathy towards issues of public health and education.

Even a state like West Bengal, ruled by a Marxist government for over three decades, had done little to improve the lot of the poorest of the poor.

The 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data revealed over 50 percent children, below five years of age, to be anaemic in West Bengal. A PTI report in January quoted Atindra Nath Das, regional director (East) of Child Rights and You, as saying: In West Bengal, though the number of children under five years of age suffering from anaemia decreased by seven percent points over the last decade (from 61 percent in 2005-06 to 54.2 percent in 2015-16), one in every two children is still anaemic.

By making malnourishment a talking point in his electoral speech, Modi seems to have unwittingly revived an earlier controversy over the model of economic development over which he presided during his 15-year tenure as Gujarats chief minister. One of the main criticisms levelled against the Modi model of governance was his indifference towards the social sector. Its interesting in this context, to recall that in an interview to The Wall Street Journal in 2012, Modi had attributed Gujarat's poor malnutrition figures to its largely vegetarian population and a middle class "more beauty-conscious than health-conscious.

If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they will have a fight. She will tell her mother, I won't drink milk, Ill get fat. They have money but shes beauty-conscious, not health-conscious, Modi explained. The Gujarat economic model was criticised for its skewed priorities that contributed to high malnutrition and flawed public health delivery systems.

With Modi now heading the Central government, coupled with the slashing of funds for social welfare schemes, there is talk of replicating the Gujarat model at the Centre. Last year, the Central government found itself in the eye of a storm when  despite repeated prodding by civil society and media  it refused to make public the data gathered by a massive study conducted by the United Nations childrens agency, Unicef, between 2013-14. The study known as the Rapid Survey on Children (RSOC) revealed Gujarats failed public health system, particularly its failure to reach the tribal population.

In an article for The Wire, Adam Roberts, The Economists Delhi bureau chief, wrote: Gujarat did poorly on immunising children despite being a relatively wealthy state, which hardly looks good for its former chief minister, Narendra Modi, given his talk of Gujarat as a model for India. Data showed that while around 56 percent of Gujaratis have access to immunisation, the figure in neighbouring Maharashtra stood at a much higher 80 percent. A telling difference is how vulnerable groups are targeted for help. In Maharashtra, over 66 percent of the adivasi population gets full immunisation. In Gujarat, only 44 percent of the tribal population is covered, wrote Roberts.

Even as the national immunisation coverage moved from 61 percent in 2009 to 65.2 percent, the numbers in Gujarat slipped from 56.6 percent to 56.2 percent. Gujarat was also found to be lagging against the national average of 42 percent for stunting (lower height for age), 18.5 percent for severe stunting, and 18.7 percent for wasting.

It can be argued that a government that is keen on tackling these daunting challenges and marking its difference from the previous Congress-led government would be in a hurry to put such valuable data in the public domain. Based on 2.1 lakh interviews across 29 states and Union Territories, and measuring and weighing over 90,000 children and 28,000 teenage girls, this veritable treasure trove of information would have been a valuable input in framing future policies and plugging loopholes in the existing ones. But the Central government appears to lack any such motivation.

At a broader level, the gaps perhaps could be explained by the Modi governments vision of economic development modelled on Gujarat. Notwithstanding the evidence that the Gujarat model, despite bringing prosperity to the state, did not sufficiently improve the quality of lives of those at the margins, the trickle down economy theory  backed by economists like Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya and contested by the likes of Joseph Stiglitz and Thomas Piketty  has held fast within the ruling BJP.

Hence, the social sector, particularly public health, continues to be denied the priority it deserved in the governance agenda.

In a report on malnutrition on LiveMint, Pramit Bhattacharya wrote: While there is a clear link between wealth and nutrition at the household level, the link is much weaker when one looks at countries or states. India, for instance, has higher malnutrition rates than many poorer countries, such as those in Africa. Within India, some of Indias richest states, such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, have higher proportions of underweight children than some of Indias poorer states such as Assam and Uttarakhand.

Unless malnutrition becomes a matter of serious concern for the issue itself and the political class engages with it, it will continue to be treated as fair game in political campaigns. Statistics be damned.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today ordered Kerala Police to set up an SIT to probe into allegations of wife-swapping lodged by the estranged wife of a naval officer.

The apex court, which ruled out CBI investigation into the FIR alleging that besides the husband of the woman, four other Navy officers and a spouse of one of them were indulged in wife-swapping in the force, directed the Kerala DGP to set up the SIT headed by a police officer not below the rank of a DIG and conclude the probe in the 2013 FIR "preferably" within

three months.

A bench of Chief Justice T S Thakur and justices R Banumathi and U U Lalit, while rejecting the plea for CBI probe, said, "It is well settled that the extraordinary power of the constitutional courts in directing CBI to conduct investigation in a case must be exercised rarely in exceptional circumstances, especially, when there is lack of confidence in the investigating agency or in the national interest and for doing complete justice in the matter."

Justice Banumathi, penning the verdict, said, "Considering the facts and circumstances of the case in hand, in the light of ...principles, we are of the view that the case in hand does not entail a direction for transferring the investigation from the state police/special team of state police officers to CBI. The facts and circumstances in which the offence is alleged to have been committed can be better investigated into by state police."

It also rejected the submission of the estranged wife of the navy officer that the cases, filed by accused including other naval officers in the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the FIR, be transferred to the Delhi High Court.

The apex court also said that it transfers a case from one state to another only if there is a "reasonable apprehension on the part of a party to a case that justice will not be done".

"Mere apprehension that the accused are influential may not be sufficient to transfer the case. Since a special team of state police officers is constituted for further investigation, we are not inclined to order the transfer of the criminal miscellaneous petitions from the High Court of Kerala to the High Court of Delhi," it said.
Siwan (Bihar)/Chatra (Jharkhand): A senior journalist in Bihar and a TV channel reporter in Jharkhand were shot dead by unidentified gunmen, sparking protests by mediapersons and triggering a shutdown in the areas.

Rajdeo Ranjan, Siwan district chief of Hindi daily Hindustan, was fired at in Siwan district late on Friday evening when he was going on his motorcycle near the fruit market on Station Road under Town police station at around 7.45 pm, Superintendent of Police Saurabh Kumar Sah said.

Ranjan, 45, died on the way to hospital, he added. The SP said the motive behind the murder was yet to be ascertained. Ranjan has been writing for a long time against law-breakers of the area.

The killing triggered a wave of protests by mediapersons in Bihar.

In Jharkhand, 35-year-old Akhilesh Pratap Singh, a journalist with a news channel, was gunned down by unidentified people at Dewaria in Chatra district, police said.

Singh was attacked near panchayat secretariat of the village on Thursday night, a police official said. A bandh was observed in Chatra town in protest against the killing.

Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the incident and asked Director General of Police DK Pandey to arrest the assailants at the earliest.

A delegation of local journalists met Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar and Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha and demanded adequate compensation to the family of the victim.

Reacting to the murder of the scribe in Siwan, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is touring Varanasi, the fourth estate is "in danger" in his state.

"This is not jungle raj. This is maha jungle raj...sad to know about his killing, Rajdeo was a fearless journalist," he tweeted.
Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, the president of All India United Democratic Front, the main Opposition party in the Assam Legislative Assembly, sees himself as a prospective kingmaker in Assam. The result of the big assembly election that took over the state last month is a coveted opportunity for him.

It was an election in which the two titanic political parties, Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, confronted each other with equal might, making the hung assembly a real possibility. In such a situation, Ajmal's support may emerge as a deciding factor in forming a government. But being a seasoned politician, Ajmal does not forget to be cautious. In an exclusive interview with Firstpost, he spoke about his belief that the Congress and the BJP may indulge in horse trading to form the government. He even revealed what he'll do in order to prevent the parties poaching his candidates once results are declared on 19 May. Edited excerpts:

Do you think that after 19 May, the counting day, you will at last emerge as the kingmaker ?

Certainly. None of the parties, however big it be, can emerge as the single largest party in the assembly. In a situation like that, any party having a good number of winning candidates may want to pull in MLAs of smaller parties like ours  either by legal means or illegal means such as horse trading to form the government.

So your party might find its integrity at risk?

Anjan Dutta, the president of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, has already threatened to destroy my party. It reflects an undemocratic mindset. So you can imagine the risk. Such a risk may emerge out of BJP also.

Have you planned any precautionary measures?

It is my responsibility. Soon after the election result is declared, my party will call a meeting to select a leader of the legislative party and a chief whip. After these formalities are over, we will fly the winning candidates out of India to keep them out of reach of horse traders. Most of the candidates we have fielded this time in election have passports. Those who do not have, they have applied for passports through tatkal service. But remember, need for such a measure will arise only if our party fails to secure more number of seats than what it has at present. We won 18 seats in the assembly election held in 2011. Two of our MLAs have lost party membership for voting for Congress candidate in a Rajya Sabha election. If we secure more than 18 seats, then I think the risk of horse trading will be substantially diminished.

And after that?

After we have taken all the precautionary measures our party will discuss which party to support.

Are you open to supporting the BJP, especially when the party has already declared you as its prime enemy stating that your politics is based on immigrant Muslims from Bangladesh?

The Congress has left no stone unturned to portray AIUDF as a B-team of BJP. People have already got accustomed to this wrong notion. I do not think that it will look odd even if we support BJP now.

So a Kashmir Model of government, where BJP and PDP have allied to hold reins of power, is possible in Assam also?

I cannot declare it here and now. Our core committee is to decide on it after the result of election is declared.
Ramu stands in front of a blank white wall, paint brush in hand, contemplating the words penciled in - AIADMK  Full. He then moves over to where his paints are kept, picks out the green paint and with a thin brush he expertly traces the outline of the AIADMKs (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) two-leaf symbol and proceeds with the detailing. It is the middle of the afternoon, the heat is blazing and he still has another five houses in the Melirippu village in Cuddalore before he moves on to the next village.

Like Ramu, a number of artists across Tamil Nadu have been finding work this election season painting houses with different party symbols. For the people of Tamil Nadu, their political ideology is a way of life. With very little work through the year, however, artists are forced to forget party preferences in their pursuit of a livelihood.

Ramu and his family are DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party members in Villupuram. Although he helped with the partys campaign for the past three elections, he still continues to go from village to village painting party symbols on walls across Tamil Nadu. This is the only work I get, and I am grateful. This is not the time to think of my political leanings, he says as he finishes up the AIADMK symbol, and starts on PMKs (Pattali Makkal Katchi) mango symbol on another wall in the same house.

I have been an artist for over 20 years now, but now the only work I find is during the elections, when the parties want me to paint their symbols on the walls, he says. He belongs to an artists association, which is how he gets contracts to paint party symbols during the elections.

In another part of the Cuddalore district, Jayakumar, who is a VCK (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi) block secretary has a similar job and echoes Ramus sentiment. He has been painting AIADMK, DMK and PMK symbols across the district. As a VCK cadre, it goes against the grain for me to paint the PMK symbol, but considering this is the only work I get, I cannot be fussy, he explains. Over the years, there have been several clashes between the cadres of the pro-Vanniyar PMK and those from the Dalit-centric VCK.

Until a decade ago, artists like Jayakumar and Ramu used to have flourishing businesses. Movie theatres would hire these artists to paint their posters and cutouts. Earlier, I used to paint posters of Rajinikanth, and Kamal Hassan. Everyone appreciated my art, and people would even offer prayers to these cutouts, said Mathimohan, another artist who also belongs to the VCK.

Now, there is very little work for artists throughout the year. Most people prefer digital banners to our artwork because it is cheaper, faster to make, and is less labour intensive. For us, this has meant taking up any job we get. Most artists now work as house painters, Masilamani, an artist from Cuddalore said.

Painters are not the only professionals who seem to only find work during the elections. Azhagu Sundari, from the Vetri Namathe troupe, has been a dancer all her life. Her parents, and even her grandparents, used to entertain people at temple festivals across the state. But with work now scarce, their troupe mainly performs only in political rallies.

Often Azhagu dresses up like MGR, and she says it is a hit with the crowd. Most people who are AIADMK followers are ardent fans of MGR, and so seeing someone like him on stage drives them crazy, she says.

Other members of her troupe also attend political rallies of other parties. They dress up like Kalaignar, or even PMKs Ramadoss, as a way to get the crowd warmed up before the speeches, Azhagu says.

In the past few years, political rallies have become the only steady income for the troupe. Before the Madras High Court banned record dances, deeming them obscene, many members of the troupe had a steady year-round income dancing in temple festivals and other public functions. Many temple officials are now wary of calling us for their festivals because they are not sure if our dancing will be obscene. This is our only livelihood, so we perform where we can, she said.

We have now formed an association to try and break the stereotype that dancers are prostitutes, and that our art form is obscene, she explains. There have been some instances where men who attend our shows during the temple festivals have attempted to sexually harass us. We are still trying to keep our profession pure, and if we hear of any dancers who are behaving in an obscene or vulgar manner, people from our association report them to the police, she adds.

While these artistes have found steady income in the past couple of months, once the election fever dies down they are unsure of their financial situation. Whichever party comes to power, we still will not have a livelihood. Until there is some way for us to find steady income, we will continue to live from election to election, Masilamani says.
SAO PAULO Brazilian police have arrested three people on charges of hacking the Internet account of the wife of Brazil's interim president and attempting to extort money after stealing intimate photographs, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said on Thursday.

The newspaper said that police had arrested the hacker, his wife and his sister-in-law on Wednesday. A police spokesman declined to comment, saying that the case was ongoing.

Marcela Temer, a 32-year-old former beauty queen, is the wife of Brazil Vice President Michel Temer, 75, who took the helm of Latin America's largest country on Thursday after President Dilma Rousseff was suspended from office for up to six months while the Senate tries her for breaking budgetary laws.

The alleged hacker, who worked as a roofer, gained access to Marcela's cell phone and Internet accounts 30 days ago, the newspaper said.

He, his wife and sister-in-law had attempted to extort money from the Temers, Folha reported. It did not name them.

(This version of the story fixes typo in headline)

(Reporting by Tatiana Ramil and Reese Ewing)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's highest appeals court on Friday upheld a decision that cleared former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a fraud and embezzlement case related to his private broadcaster Mediaset (MS.MI).

Milan magistrates who wanted Berlusconi to be indicted lodged an appeal after a judge ruled last October that there was not enough evidence for a trial for the former prime minister.

That judge did, however, order Berlusconi's son Pier Silvio and Fedele Confalonieri, respectively the deputy chairman and chairman of Mediaset, to stand trial in the same case, which has been dubbed the "Mediatrade" case.

Berlusconi still faces two separate corruption and tax fraud court cases linked to his business empire, and a third trial where he is accused of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and abusing his power to cover it up.

The 75-year-old billionaire media tycoon denies all charges and accuses Milan prosecutors of waging a politically-motivated campaign to oust him from power.

The Mediatrade case centres on accusations Mediaset acquired television rights at inflated prices in deals prosecutors allege resulted in embezzlement of 35 million euros and an 8 million euro tax fraud.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella)
Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday said it is ready for talks whenever India is ready and underlined that dialogue was the best option to resolve all outstanding issues.

"Pakistan's position has been stated a number of times. We are ready for dialogue whenever India is ready," Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said at the weekly press briefing.

He said dialogue was the best option to deal with all outstanding issues.

Zakaria said that in line with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's vision, "We pursue a policy of good neighbourly relations in the larger interest of regional security, progress and economic prosperity, for which dialogue to settle contentious issues is an imperative."

He said Pakistan believes in uninterrupted, sustainable and result-oriented dialogue in which all issues of mutual concern are discussed and resolved.

Talking about the alleged Indian "spy" arrested in Pakistan, Zakaria said he was apprehended in March and the Indian request for consular access was received in April.

He pointed out any consular access request is considered under Vienna convention on Consular Relations in general.

Kulbhushan Jadhav was reportedly arrested in Balochistan after he entered from Iran and was accused by Pakistan of planning "subversive activities" in the country.

Zakaria said India and Pakistan also have a bilateral agreement, the relevant clauses of which apply on such circumstances in which Jadhav was arrested.

"He was involved in terrorism and terror financing in Pakistan. To put it simply, the Indian request for consular access has indeed been received and shall be considered in keeping with the relevant clauses of the two agreements," Zakaria said.

The spokesperson also said that the next round of Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG)  Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and US  would be held this month to continue efforts for starting dialogue between the Taliban and Afghanistan.
Western Digital Corporation, popular manufacturer of storage solutions announced last October that it has singed a deal to acquire SanDisk Corporation, global leader in flash storage solutions. Today it has officially completed the acquisition for around $16 billion.

As the company previously announced, Steve Milligan will continue to serve as chief executive officer of Western Digital, which will remain headquartered in Irvine, California. Sanjay Mehrotra, co-founder, president and chief executive officer of SanDisk, will serve as a member of the Western Digital Board of Directors.

Steve Milligan, chief executive officer of Western Digital, said:

Today is a significant day in the history of Western Digital. We are delighted to welcome SanDisk into the Western Digital family. This transformational combination creates a media-agnostic leader in storage technology with a robust portfolio of products and solutions that will address a wide range of applications in almost all of the worlds computing and mobile devices. We are excited to now begin focusing on the many opportunities before us, from leading innovation to bringing the best of what we can offer as a combined company to our customers. In addition, we will begin the work to fully realize the value of this combination through executing on our synergies, generating significant cash flow, as well as rapidly deleveraging our balance sheet, and creating significant long-term value for our shareholders.

Sanjay Mehrotra, former president and chief executive officer, SanDisk, said:

As a combined company, we will be best positioned to address the demands for data storage, which is growing exponentially every year. Growth and change go hand in hand, and we couldnt be happier to grow and change together with Western Digital. I look forward to contributing to realizing the potential of this combination as a member of the board.
Xiaomi had applied for single brand retail store license in India in March this year. Now a new report from Economic Times is stating that the Government has put companys application on hold.

The government is asking the Chinese handset maker to submit additional supportive documents for its application. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion ( DIPP) will take Xiaomis application to a cutting edge panel following its submission of the necessary documents in order to be considered for exemption from the 30% sourcing norm. Last month, the DIPP panel recommended to exempt Apple from the same sourcing condition for retail stores. The iPhone and iPad maker had filed a proposal with DIPP at the beginning of this year following which the company resubmitted the proposal with necessary changes and additions in March.

At the time of applying for the license to open single brand retail store, Xiaomi had stated that it should be exempted from the 30% sourcing norm for a range of products, including Wi-Fi amplifiers, Bluetooth speakers and power banks. The company had applied under the category of state-of the art technology. According to the revised FDI norms, companies which bring cutting edge and state-of-the-art technology to India can open single brand stores in country without the need of manufacturing 30% of its goods in India. LeEco is another international company that has applied for single-brand retail licence in India.
Check out the new FoneArena Daily video that gives you a quick roundup of todays technology news.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boLFwHsGJ6Y

Analyst are suggesting that the Apple iPhone 7 Plus will come with single 5.5 inch version with dual cameras and will sport a 3GB RAM to meet the image processing requirement.

Google has released Gboard, a new keyboard app for iOS devices that lets you search and send information, GIFs, emojis and more. You can also use Glide Typing by sliding your finger from key to key instead of tapping.

Xiaomi has introduced YI 4K action camera with support for 4K video recording at 30 fps, including hyperlapse and has a 12MP Sony IMX377 sensor. It also has a 2.19-inch display.

Government has put Xiaomis application for single brand retail on hold and is asking the Chinese handset maker to submit additional supportive documents for its application.

Todays deal  Kingston Data Traveler MicroDuo 32 GB OTG drive.
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With the warmer months come sunglasses and travel plans. If youre trying to figure out your next getaway, you should know which places arent recommended for U.S. citizens.

According to the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, travel warnings are issued when Americans should strongly consider visiting a country at all. These warnings remain in place until the locations deemed safe, which in some cases may take several years.

Whether its because of violence, anti-American sentiment or for health reasons, the reasons the State Department issues travel warnings and travel alerts primarily boils down to safety, Christine Sarkis, Senior Editor of Smartertravel, told Credit.com. She recommends reading the travel alert to get a sense of the issue and avoiding areas of concern. Also, she adds, dont draw attention to yourself and take any health warnings seriously.

If youre hoping to leave the country, its a good idea to check any requirements for a location. (To stay on budget, you may also consider a rewards credit card to help fund your trip. You can check out the best rewards credit cards here.)

Each country has specific entry requirements for tourist and business travelers, the National Passport Information Center said via email. We recommend you check with the embassy or consulate of the country you plan to visit for the most up-to-date requirements.

Here are some countries you might want to think twice about before visiting.

1. Anywhere With Zika Virus Warnings

Zika, which can be spread through intercourse and mosquito bites, has prompted warnings for Americans heading to the Caribbean, Central America, the Pacific Islands and South America.

We recommend that travelers who are pregnant, or might become pregnant soon, take Zika warnings seriously, Sarkis said. The CDC has a list of Zika travel notices by country and has plenty of information about avoiding mosquito bites.

2. Mexico

While millions of U.S. citizens visit Mexico each year, the State Department issued a safety warning in January 2016. Americans should be aware of violent crime in parts of the country like La Paz and Coahuila. (For more info, see this assessment on the State Department website.)

3. The Philippines

Americans are cautioned against coming here due to concerns about kidnappings and other terrorist threats. The warning has been in place since October 2015.

4. North Korea

There are several concerns about traveling to North Korea, especially since the countrys criminal laws include arrest and long-term detention. The U.S. State Department says even visiting North Korea with organized tour groups has caused problems and isnt advised.

5. Chad

The U.S. Department state issued a warning against traveling here in November 2015 due to terrorist activity. Worse still, the U.S. Embassy cant provide consular services outside the capital area due to minefields, especially minefields near borders.

You can see more places Americans cant travel on Credit.com.

More from Credit.comRemoving Collection Accounts from Your Credit Reports5 Tips for Consolidating Credit Card DebtWhat is the Average Credit Score?

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

Brooke Niemeyer is a reporter and editor for Credit.com. She writes about a variety of personal finance topics, with work featured on CBS, TIME, The Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance, MSN, and others. She has a Masters degree in Journalism from New York University and was a reporter for NBC before joining the Credit.com team. More by Brooke Niemeyer
In the Millennium Edition of Peter Lynch's classic, One Up on Wall Street , the legendary investor highlights several stocks which turned an initial $10,000 investment into millions of dollars within a decade. Between 1989 and 1999, Dell -- which tops Lynch's list -- turned $10,000 into $8.9 million, while Clear Channel Communications turned a $10,000 investment into $8.1 million. The other eight stocks in the top ten also generated hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

Hindsight might seem 20/20 when looking back at case studies like this, but multibagger stocks such as these are more common than some investors think. Let's take a look at two more recent multibaggers -- Baidu and Netflix -- and see the massive returns that simply buying and holding both stocks would have produced over the past decade.

Image: Pixabay.

BaiduBaidu, the top search engine in China, went public in 2005 at $27 per share. $10,000 would have been enough to buy 370 shares of the stock. In 2010, Baidu did a 10 for 1 split, increasing your original position to 3,700 shares. Today, those shares would be worth nearly $630,000 -- giving you a 6,200% return on your initial investment.

But assuming that you weren't able to secure IPO shares, you could still have made a lot of money by waiting for the initial euphoria to fade. Baidu's stock ended its first day of trading at $122.54 -- a whopping 354% gain from its IPO price. But by February 2006, the stock had fallen to around $45 per share due to concerns about its valuation. Spending $10,000 at that low point would have given you 222 shares, which would have been split into 2,220 shares and be worth more than $377,000 today.

Over the past decade, Baidu's valuations have cooled and the stock is now actually undervalued relative to its growth potential. The stock has been under pressure due to concerns about the Chinese economy and the company's increased investments in O2O (online to offline) initiatives. But analysts still expect the company to grow its annual earnings by 32% over the next five years -- which givesit an undervalued 5-year PEG ratio of less than 1.

NetflixNetflix went public at $15 in 2002, and $10,000 would have been enough to buy 667 shares. The stock underwent a 2 for 1 split in 2004, which would give you 1,334 shares. The stock was then split 7 for 1 in 2015, which would give you 9,338 shares worth about $850,000 today for a whopping 8,400% return on your investment.

Image source: Netflix.

However, patient investors who waited for Netflix to drop below its IPO price in late 2002 were even more richly rewarded. During that year, the stock hit an all-time low around $5 due to concerns about its business model and valuation. $10,000 would have be enough to buy 2,000 shares, which would split into 28,000 shares with a value of $2.55 million.

But unlike Baidu, which now trades like a mature tech stock despite having high earnings growth, Netflix still trades with high multiples and faces tough questions about its long-term plans. Analysts currently expect Netflix's annual earnings to grow at a healthy clip of 22.5% over the next five years, but that growth rate doesn't justify its lofty P/E ratio of 314. Despite producing lots of original shows and movies, the company's biggest expenses are still streaming content obligations paid to TV and film studios. It also faces fresh competition from stand-alone streaming apps like HBO Now, as well as data-free video bundles from major telcos.

The key lessonsWhether or not Baidu and Netflix can still be multibaggers from current levels is debatable, but their past price performance teaches us two valuable lessons. First, buying and holding for over a decade can yield big gains, but only if you're not shaken out by a quarter of missed earnings or negative headlines. Second, big gains aren't just reserved for big investors who are allocated IPO shares. Investors would have done fine in both cases by waiting for the IPO hype to fade before picking up shares at lower prices.

In One Up On Wall Street, Peter Lynch recommends investing a small amount of "mad money" into a smaller stock with growth potential. If the stock drops to zero, the loss would only impact a small percentage of your overall portfolio. But if it turns out to be a multibagger like Baidu or Netflix, the gains could be life-changing.

The article 2 Stocks That Turned $10,000 Into Over Half A Million originally appeared on Fool.com.

Leo Sun has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Baidu and Netflix. 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.
bluebird bio released earnings last week.Without any meaningful revenue, or much to fill in about the company's pipeline, it was a sleepy first-quarter update for the Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech.

bluebird bio results: The raw numbers

Metric Q1 2016 Actuals Q1 2015 Actuals (Decline) YOY Revenue $1.5 million $6.3 million (76%) (Loss) from Operations ($57.4 million) ($24.9 million) N/A (Loss) Per Share ($1.52) ($0.76) N/A

Data source: Company press release.

What happened with bluebird bio this quarter?

bluebird bio's revenue comes from collaborations, which is often amortized over multiple quarters, so the decline is nothing to worry about.

It was a fairly sleepy first quarter for bluebird bio on the data-presentation front.

After the quarter ended, in April, bluebird bio presented data from itsStarbeam study of Lenti-D in CALD at AAN. The data suggests that the treatment could be as good as the current treatment, hematopoietic stem-cell transplant, with a better safety profile.

TheNorthstar study of LentiGlobin in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia is fully enrolled. That's one of the two trials from which EU regulators have said they want to see the results.

Outside of gene therapy, the company started a phase 1 trial for itsanti-BMCA CAR T therapy, bb2121,in relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma. Celgene exercised its license on the drug, resulting in a $10 million payment from Celgene.

exercised its license on the drug, resulting in a $10 million payment from Celgene. The company ended the quarter with $827 million in the bank.

What management had to say

As it often does when there's not much to update, management didn't hold a conference call associated with the earnings announcement. We did get a couple of quotes fromchief bluebird Nick Leschly:

It's interesting that Leschlyled off with bb2121, not the gene-therapy platform that's more advanced. Perhaps he's more excited about the new program, although maybe that's reading too much into the order of the quote. Of course, Celgene is interested in it, even though it has a much larger CAR T deal with Juno Therapeutics, which should give investors some confidence in bb2121's potential.

Looking forward

We knew this was going to be a slow year for data from bluebird bio, and it's living up to those expectations. The biggest data won't come until the American Society of Hematologymeeting in December.

Until then, investors can look forward to an update in the second half of the year on improving the production of LentiGlobin to hopefully make the treatment more effective. The company also plans to start theHGB-207 study in patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia with the non-beta0/beta0 genotype in the second half of the year. This is one of the studies required for approval in the U.S.

The article bluebird bio Inc: Catnapping in Cambridge originally appeared on Fool.com.

Brian Orelli has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Celgene. The Motley Fool recommends Bluebird Bio and Juno Therapeutics. 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: Monsanto.

Thursday's closing numbers from the Dow and S&P 500 might make it seem as though the day was a quiet one. But even though both indexes finished within 0.05% of a flat-line performance, the little-changed close belied a volatile day in which the Dow moved in a 150-point range.

Technology stocks weighed on the market, and concerns about the state of the retail industry also put pressure on investors. Yet many stocks climbed sharply, and among the best performers were Monsanto , Jack in the Box , and Weight Watchers International .

Monsanto grew 8% after reports surfaced speculating that the agricultural specialist might be a potential target in a takeover deal. After Monsanto has spent several years trying to find a partner that it could buy, some now believe that conglomerates like BASF or Bayer might be interested in making a bid for the company.

The reason that the agricultural chemicals and seeds industry has turned toward consolidation is, in part, that a downturn in the farming community has reduced demand for yield-enhancing products. A potential combination of Monsanto and one of the two competing German companies in the space could create a new leader in the global market, but many analysts are skeptical that a deal will ever get done.

Jack in the Box finished up 15% in the wake of the fast-food company's report of its fiscal second-quarter results Wednesday afternoon. The company's namesake stores had relatively tepid performance, with comparable-restaurant sales coming in flat compared to year-ago levels.

However, the Qdoba Mexican-food franchise likely benefited from the woes of one of its major competitors in the fast-casual space, and comps climbed 3.1% for company-owned Qdoba stores during the quarter. From a longer-term perspective, the fact that Jack in the Box has successfully worked to cut overhead costs and other expenses will have a lot of value in generating healthier growth down the road for the fast-food chain.

Finally, Weight Watchers International climbed 5%. Late Wednesday, the weight-loss specialist emerged victorious in a securities-fraud lawsuit.

The suit alleged that the company misled shareholders by downplaying or misstating the extent to which certain factors were putting pressure on its financial results, including the fact that its enrollment numbers were down, and that weight-loss apps on mobile devices were eating into its business. A federal judge said that the class-action plaintiffs hadn't proven that the company had taken deliberate action to exaggerate its potential for success, and the court accepted the idea that being optimistic was not, in itself, baseless given other considerations.

The article Why Monsanto, Jack in the Box, and Weight Watchers International Jumped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Caplinger 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.
Image source: U.S. Steel.

Major stock market benchmarks finished almost unchanged on Thursday, with the Dow closing up 9 points and the S&P 500 losing just a third of a point. Modest gains in crude oil prices helped lift the energy sector to a limited extent, but technology and retail companies were under pressure from questionable growth projections and lackluster consumer activity. Although those forces largely balanced each other out, some stocks moved significantly lower. Among the worst performers today were U.S. Steel , Sears Holdings , and Palo Alto Networks .

U.S. Steel fell more than 10% in the wake of more negative reports about the state of the global steel market. China is a major producer of steel for its own domestic consumption as well as for export, and prices for Chinese steel have been on the decline recently. To the extent that low prices fail to lead steel producers in China to curtail their activity, the prospect of greater steel export volumes could create gluts in other areas of the world and depress U.S. Steel's hopes for growth. Given that the raw materials for steel production, including metallurgical coal and iron ore, have seen their prices remain under siege, U.S. Steel runs the risk of having those factors roll over into the steel market as well.

Sears Holdings dropped almost 11% after results from some of the retail stalwart's closest department-store competitors became available. Using the results that rivals Macy's and Kohl's posted, it's fair to conclude that consumer appetites for typical goods in brick-and-mortar stores appear to be waning in favor of available e-commerce alternatives. In addition, CEO Eddie Lampert had on Wednesday compared the turnaround effort to make Sears Holdings successful and profitable again to the U.S. attempts to close military detention camps in Guantanamo Bay. Despite promises to stop losing money, Sears Holdings will likely remain under pressure until it can prove it's on the way back.

Finally, Palo Alto Networks declined 7%. The company was one of several targets of analysts at Piper Jaffray, arguing that earnings results and future guidance from some of Palo Alto's competitors in the cybersecurity industry could be a precursor of poor performance from the cybersecurity specialist's quarterly results. Palo Alto won't release its own financial report until later in May, and some investors are still holding out hope that the security company could avoid the fate of its industry peers. Nevertheless, shareholders were ready to sell first and ask questions later, and the possibility that some of Palo Alto's expected significant contracts might not come in as quickly as initially expected could stop the tech company from achieving the strong sales-growth projections that investors have of Palo Alto.

The article Why U.S. Steel, Sears Holdings, and Palo Alto Networks Slumped Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Palo Alto Networks. 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.
Fleet operators -- particularly ones with "green" goals -- continue to add natural gas vehicles to their mix.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. reported first-quarter earnings on May 5, and by some measures, including total fuel gallons delivered growth, they came in lower than many expected. But at the same time, by nearly every other measure, Clean Energy had what is very likely the best quarter it's ever had, and certainly a notable one for anyone who's followed the company for the past several years.

Here's a closer look at Clean Energy's results and three big takeaways from what looks like a quarter where the company started to turn a big corner to profitability.

The numbers

Metric Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Revenue $95.8 $85.8 EPS $0.03 $(0.34) Adjusted EPS $0.05 $(0.32) Adjusted EBITDA $29.8 -$5.6

Revenue and adjusted EBITDA in millions. Data source: Clean Energy Fuels.

A few key takeaways here. Not only did Clean Energy break a streak of revenue declines -- tied to lower fuel prices, not a shrinking business -- but the company also shifted from regular losses, both in GAAP profits and adjusted EBITDA results, to positive earnings in the quarter.

Performance in key metrics

Gallon-equivalents delivered increased 3%.

Adjusting for 2015 volume from the company's (now-sold) interest in a biomethane plant, volume grew 8%.

Selling, general, and administrative expense was $25.6 million, down 15% from last year.

The company reduced debt $43 million in the first quarter.

It has decreased debt by another $31.5 since the end of Q1.

It ended the quarter owing $85 million on convertible notes due in Aug. 2016, down from $150 million at the start of quarter.

This was a product of both paying down a portion and refinancing with revolving debt.

Cash and equivalents increased $16.3 million sequentially.

"Other receivables" fell $34 million.

Key takeaways

Volume growth of 8% when adjusting for last year's sale of the Dallas biomethane plant, is encouraging, particularly after initially seeing "only" 3% growth. The thing that makes it exciting is that the "lost" volume from that facility isn't fuel sold to transportation, but fuel that was being sold to utility customers. In other words, the sale of that asset didn't impact the core vehicle fuel business. Additionally, LNG volumes declined year over year. CFO Bob Vreeland said on the earnings call that this was primarily due to bulk LNG sales, not declining demand for transportation use.

Fuel gallon margins also went up sharply, coming in at $0.36, up from $0.29-$0.29 for much of the past several years. A key driver behind strong margin growth is the increased volume of Redeem, Clean Energy's brand name for renewable natural gas it produces and sources.

Costs are also continuing to fall. Not only did SG&A expense fall from last year, but it was also down more than $1 million sequentially. Furthermore, Vreeland and CEO Andrew Littlefair both said that they expect some sequential improvement as being possible. Efforts to improve profitability in the compression equipment business are also paying off. On the earnings call, management said that even with lower revenue as the global economic slowdown continues, the compression equipment business contributed more gross margin this quarter than in the year-ago period.

4 good things, 1 to keep watching

One of the challenges with Clean Energy is sifting through the noise and looking at the core business performance, as well as management's progress on key initiatives. Here are the things that management has said to watch and that they are working to improve:

Fuel gallons delivered

Debt reduction (particularly notes due in 2016)

Lowering expenses

Improved profitability

Cash flows bear watching

In the first quarter, Clean Energy delivered on all four of these key areas, increased core fuel deliveries by 8%, reduced 2016 debt by $60 million, reduced SG&A expense by 15%, and reported both a GAAP and adjusted profit for the quarter.

If there's one metric that bears close watching, it's cash flows. Going through the company's earnings release, we see the following:

Total revenue: $95.8 million

Total cash expenses (product/service cost of sales; SG&A; interest expense; income tax expense): $94,389

When we subtract those cash costs from the revenue, we have $1.4 million left over, which approximates the company's cash flows from its operations. Furthermore, even after reducing total debt by $43 million in the quarter and adding $53 million in cash to the balance sheet ($32 million from 2015 VETC tax credits actually received in Q1, and $21 million from stock sales), the company saw current assets -- which is essentially cash, equivalents, inventory, receivables, and prepaid expenses -- decline by $15 million.

In other words, we'll need to see several quarters of cash flows to get a better idea how close the company really is to being cash-flow positive.

Looking ahead

Over the past year or so, Clean Energy Fuels has managed to significantly lower expenses, continue to grow fuel sales, slash its capital spending, and more recently start taking big bites out of its long-term debt. Add it all up and the company has significantly cut its cash outflows.

In real dollar terms, SG&A expense is on track to be $16 million-$20 million less this year; interest expense is on track to be $10 million less; capital expenditures are expected to fall $25 million. That's a $50 million reversal in cash flows right there -- the vast majority of last year's $63 million negative free cash flow, just in expense reduction alone.

Will the company keep growing core fuel sales by 8% or better, and will per-gallon margins hold up at the recent levels? Only time will tell. Either way, there's been major operational improvement, and this quarter once again showed that management has made impressive strides to strengthen the company.

The article 3 Key Takeaways From Clean Energy Fuels Corp.'s Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com.

Jason Hall owns shares of Clean Energy Fuels. Jason Hall has the following options: long January 2017 $5 calls on Clean Energy Fuels, short January 2017 $5 puts on Clean Energy Fuels, and long January 2017 $3 calls on Clean Energy Fuels. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Clean Energy Fuels. 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.
Altria Group (NYSE: MO) has done an amazing job of dealing with the long-term decline in the popularity of cigarette smoking without letting it have adverse impacts on its revenue and profits.

In the third quarter, the Marlboro maker's profit grew despite unusually strong headwinds that sent revenue down very slightly from year-earlier figures. Altria has high hopes for its long-term future, and moves toward a potential strategic transformation are gaining momentum. After reporting its results, Altria executives shared their views about where the company is headed and what challenges it will face.

Below, you'll find five of the most important things Altria wants you to know about.

1. California's tax move is hitting Altria harder than its peers

Altria has had to deal with taxes from federal and state governments throughout most of its history, and as the financial health of state and local governments across the nation has deteriorated, lawmakers have looked to tobacco as a way to generate tax revenue. California passed a $2-per-pack addition to its excise tax in late 2016, taking effect earlier this year.

California's tax increase had negative impacts on tobacco companies across the industry, but Altria's impact was harder because of the exceptional success that Marlboro has had in appealing to customers in the Golden State. Altria expects the negative impacts to lessen through the end of 2017, but the threat of similar tax increases elsewhere is always a factor for the company.

2. Smokeless tobacco keeps climbing

Altria has almost completely recovered from its smokeless tobacco recall earlier this year, and the company is using a similar model to what has brought it success in the cigarette segment. Altria has chosen to emphasize Copenhagen as its premier brand in the space, choosing it over Skoal. Overall retail market share fell in the third quarter, but that didn't hold back the segment's bottom line. Smokeless products are responsible for a relatively small part of the company's total business, but solid results remain an important part of Altria's overall operations.

3. Altria looks at new packaging

Altria is still trying to keep customers happy by introducing new products. Marlboro Black Label is intended to be a "bold and robust non-menthol cigarette in a premium, contemporary and stylish pack," in the words of Philip Morris USA CEO K.C. Crosthwaite. Altria also intends to introduce a national expansion of menthol cigarette Marlboro Ice, with a resealable pack that will be the first of its kind in the U.S. market. By using the Marlboro brand more extensively, Altria hopes to remain connected to customers while offering them innovative new smoking experiences.

4. MarkTen keeps rising

E-cigarettes are a key growth driver for the industry, and Altria is working hard not to get left behind in the space. MarkTen has seen considerable success, reaching national retail share of about 13.5% in mainstream channels during the quarter. Moreover, Altria has plans to expand distribution of the company's MarkTen Bold product to 15,000 additional stores in the fourth quarter. That could give the brand even greater market penetration and support growth into 2018 and beyond.

5. Greater regulation looms

Altria has watched the U.S. Food and Drug Administration closely to see how it decides to address regulation of cigarette alternatives like the iQOS heated-tobacco system, which it hopes to distribute in the U.S. market. The company praised the FDA in adopting what it sees as an innovation-friendly decision-making process for future approvals. Although Altria will also potentially have to deal with restrictions on its traditional cigarettes with respect to nicotine content, it noted that the rule-making process will likely be long and complicated, giving it a chance to weigh in appropriately.

Altria has a lot on its plate, but its financial strength remains secure. For investors, its future prospects include plenty of positives to go with the ever-present challenges that it has to overcome regularly.

10 stocks we like better than Altria GroupWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*

David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Altria Group wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

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Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Up over 40% in just a little more than five months: That's the kind of year it's been so far for Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. stock. The clinical-stage biotech announced its first-quarter results on May 9. Investors were less interested in what happened in the last quarter than they were in what's in store for the company in the days ahead. Here are five things management highlighted in Inovio's earnings call.

1. The phase 3 study of VGX-3100 is on track

Inovio's lead candidate, cervical dysplasia vaccine VGX-3100, appears to be right on track to begin a pivotal phase 3 study later this year. CEO Joseph Kim said that Inovio had "constructive" meetings with both U.S. and European regulators related to the end of phase 2 testing for the immunotherapy. The biotech is now finishing the details for the phase 3 study.

Kim stated that Inovio has pre-qualified nearly 150 trial sites in 25 countries. The company's manufacturing partners are already preparing to be ready for the late-stage study. Inovio anticipates that between 350 and 400 patients will participate in phase 3 testing of VGX-3100.

2.Interim results are coming this year for phase 1 studies of INO-5150 and INO-1400

VGX-3100 might be the main story right now for Inovio, but the biotech has other potential cancer drugs waiting in the wings. Kim specifically pointed out INO-5150. The immunotherapy is currently in a phase 1 study focusing on treatment of prostate cancer. INO-5150 targets antigens associated with prostate cancer: prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

According to Kim, Inovio expects to complete enrollment for the phase 1 study by the end of June. He indicated that 60 patients will participate in the study. Inovio plans to announce interim results from the clinical trial by the end of 2016.

The company also expects to have interim results for the phase 1 study of INO-1400 by the end of the year. Inovio initially targeted pancreas, lung, and breast cancer in the INO-1400 study. Now, however, the focus has expanded to include head and neck squamous-cell, ovarian, colorectal, gastric, and hepatocellular and esophageal cancer.

Image source: Inovio Pharmaceuticals.

3. The MedImmune collaboration is going well

Inovio isn't going solo for all of its pipeline candidates. AstraZeneca's MedImmune subsidiary is funding development for INO-3112. The immunotherapy is a combination of VGX-3100 plusDNA-based immune activator encoded for interleukin 12 (IL-12).

Kim stated that Inovio expects additional immune response data from the phase 1 study of INO-3112 later this year. He also added that a study with MedImmune will be initiated before the end of 2016 "combining an Inovio immunotherapy product with another immuno-oncology technology."

AstraZeneca/MedImmune shelled out $27.5 million last year to Inovio for exclusive rights to INO-3112. Inovio stands to gain up to $700 million in milestone payments plus double-digit tiered royalties.

4. There's plenty of potential in the infectious-disease pipeline

A lot of buzz for Inovio lately has come from its infectious-disease pipeline. Inovio expects to become the first company to begin human testing of a potential vaccine for the Zika virus later this year. Kim thinks government funding could be available in the future for further Zika vaccine development.

Inovio also is working on an Ebola virus vaccine. The company received a $45 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop a preventive vaccine and treatment for Ebola. Inovio announced interim data from a phase 1 clinical trial of its potential Ebola vaccine in the first quarter. Kim said that the company will fully analyze the data from the study and release the findings in a publication when the final results are ready.

Kim expressed excitement over the potential for his company's infectious-disease program. While there's a lot of focus on VGX-3100 and the other cancer immunotherapies in Inovio's pipeline, the vaccines in development for Zika, Ebola, and other infectious diseases could be major successes for the company in the future.

5. It's in solid financial shape

Because Inovio still has no products on the market, its financial position to continue development of candidates in the pipeline is of paramount importance. The company's CFO, Peter Kies, reported good news on that front.

Inovio had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $146.8 million at the end of the first quarter. That amount should be sufficient to fund the phase 3 testing of VGX -3100 and development of other candidates in the pipeline.

The AstraZeneca/MedImmune partnership helps, since Inovio doesn't have to spend its own cash for INO-3112 development. And federal grants for the Ebola vaccine program (as well as potentially for the Zika vaccine development) will allow Inovio to stretch its funds out for a longer period as well.

The article 5 Things Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. Management Wants You to Know originally appeared on Fool.com.

Keith Speights 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.
Philip Morris International's (NYSE: PM) fourth-quarter financial report gave investors some good news, but it also showed the extent to which the company has embraced change in the industry. Company executives have been forthright in their views that traditional cigarettes aren't likely to be their dominant product in the long run, and Philip Morris in particular has worked toward making newer products a reality in the near term. Yet that doesn't mean that Philip Morris can afford to let its traditional cigarette business coast forward.

After Philip Morris reported its latest results in early February, CEO Andre Calantzopoulos and CFO Jacek Olczak gave their presentations on the quarterly conference call. Let's look more closely at what they said about Philip Morris and its prospects for the future.

Image source: Philip Morris International.

1. The iQOS system is a huge growth opportunity for 2017

The iQOS heat-not-burn system has been a huge success in Japan and elsewhere, and the biggest problem that Philip Morris is having is making sure that it has enough specialty HeatSticks tobacco to use in the devices. Philip Morris aggressively moved to boost production capacity last year, and the result should be a big jump in availability going forward. That should give a growing Japanese market the ability to move full speed ahead, and it will also help Philip Morris in expanding into new markets as well.

2. Negative currency impacts came back for Philip Morris

The U.S. dollar has been a big problem for Philip Morris, and the full-year results showed that currency effects cost the company 10 percentage points of earnings growth. Yet the worst news from the report was that negative currency effects came back in the fourth quarter. During that period, the strong dollar cost Philip Morris $0.13 per share in earnings, or about 11% of its currency-neutral bottom line. Although revenue impact was limited at just $90 million, some fear that signs of dollar strength could continue in 2017, especially if the Federal Reserve makes good on its plans to raise interest rates throughout the year. Philip Morris is only including $0.18 per share in annual currency impacts for 2017, leaving the potential for an adverse surprise on the table.

3. Favorable pricing power will keep helping Philip Morris

Philip Morris has to counteract falling shipment volumes by maintaining pricing power, and the company continues to do a good job on that. Strong pricing helped Philip Morris in most of its key markets, and the company expects another favorable pricing boost in 2017 to help its results going forward. Philip Morris has already implemented or announced more than 60% of its expected price increases, and that makes its guidance on earnings more reflective of what customers will pay for its products.

4. Don't expect reduced-risk approval from the FDA this year

Philip Morris sought approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for iQOS late last year, and investors are hopeful that a favorable outcome could bring credibility to the product across the globe. Yet executives are trying to urge patience in the process while still noting how important eventual approval is to worldwide perception of iQOS. As Calantzopoulos said, "The FDA cannot be applied to places [outside the U.S.], but obviously, it will add credibility to their entire scientific dossier." Whenever a decision comes, it could be instrumental to Philip Morris' future.

5. Earnings guidance was better than many had expected to see

Investors had expected Philip Morris to produce growth in the 8% to 10% range, which is the typical target for the company. But the boom in HeatSticks could help improve margins for iQOS, which have suffered because Philip Morris sells the actual iQOS devices at a discount in order to encourage greater adoption. Although cannibalization will be an issue between iQOS and traditional cigarettes, Philip Morris hopes it will gain more business from other brands and be an overall winner.

Philip Morris made investors happy with its recent results, and management is optimistic about its future. If these issues go well for Philip Morris, then the stock could push even further upward in 2017 and beyond.

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Shares of Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) jumped more than 15% last week after the Internet of Things pure-play handily beat expectations with its third-quarter 2016 results. Per usual, Sierra Wireless spent some time with analysts during its subsequent conference call to help shed light on not only what drove its business last quarter, but what to expect going forward.

Read on for five important topics Sierra Wireless management covered during this quarter's call.

Image source: Sierra Wireless, Inc.

1. On new customer acquisition

First, though Sierra Wireless' revenue exceeded expectations this quarter, it still declined 0.7% year over year, to $153.6 million. To blame for that decline, according to the company, was that expected softness from existing OEM Solutions segment customers, which was only partially offset by contributions from new customers and programs.

That's fair enough considering Sierra Wireless is still in the early stages ofits long-term growth story, which means any hiccups from its existing small base of customers can have an outsized effect on overall growth. But as the company continues to win new customers for its smaller Enterprise Solutions business (where revenue rose 6.8% to $18.9 million) and Cloud and Connectivity (where sales climbed 10.7%, to $6.9 million), the resulting diversification should help smooth out its revenue streams and bolster growth going forward.

2. On an important new business acquisition

Next, investors should be encouraged that Sierra Wireless isn't afraid to supplement its organic growth and market position with contributions from acquisitions. This quarter, Sierra Wireless acquired Blue Creation for $6.5 million (or $3 million, net of cash acquired, plus a $0.5 million net cash consideration), expanding its short-range wireless capabilities and improving its strategic positioning with OEMs. Though Blue Creation isn't expected to have a significant financial impact on Sierra Wireless' top or bottom lines in the near future, it should more than pay for itself down the road.

3. Help from telecoms progressing the Internet of Things

Recall I wrote about Sierra Wireless' new partnership with AT&T in September, noting the two companies had struck an agreement to pilot next-gen LTE-M network technologies. We now know Verizon and several yet-to-be-named OEMs will join this fold in piloting Sierra Wireless' latest LTE-M tech, which -- relative to tranditional LTE -- offers lower costs for gateway modules to the LTE network, longer battery life, and superior LTE coverage in hard-to-reach areas. As such, Sierra Wireless hopes its LTE-M products will play a central role in enabling better LTE coverage for telecom and OEM customers who use industrial, Smart Cities, and wearable internet-connected products.

4. On guidance

More specifically, for the current (fourth) quarter, Sierra Wireless told investors to expect revenue of $157 million to $166 million, the midpoint of which represents 11.5% year-over-year growth. On the bottom line, Sierra Wireless anticipates adjusted earnings per share of $0.13 to $0.19, compared to adjusted earnings of $0.08 per share in the same year-ago period.

According to McLennan above, that revenue growth will be driven by a healthy combination of a stable existing core OEM business, new customer programs, and improvements at Enterprise Solutions complemented by sales from in-vehicle cellular device specialist GenX. GenX, for its part, was acquired by Sierra Wireless in August and chipped in $2.7 million in revenue last quarter.

5. Progress on capital returns

For perspective, Sierra Wireless initially approved its normal course issuer bid -- which is essentially a kind of controlled share-repurchase authorization -- this past February, when macro-economic headwinds first began to negatively affect demand from certain OEM customers. Through that normal course issuer bid, Sierra Wireless had gained approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to purchase and retire up to 3,149,199 common shares of stock -- or roughly 10% of its public float and 9.7% of common shares outstanding at the time -- with a daily ceiling of 25% of its average daily trading volume over the previous six months, equating to 22,269 common shares per day.

Based on McLennan's comments, simple arithmetic tells us Sierra Wireless has a cost basis of roughly $11.19 per share on those shares it has repurchased and retired, well below today's trading price above $15 per share. But considering today's price includes last week's big pop, and with the company's stock still more than 25% below its 52-week high set in June, it remains to be seen whether Sierra Wireless will be as active with its buyback program as management indicated during the call.

If one thing is sure, though, it's that Sierra Wireless management believed the stock was significantly undervalued despite its recent headwinds. As such, assuming it can sustain its recent business momentum, I won't be surprised if shares continue to climb from here.

A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.

Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Sierra Wireless. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. 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.
There are a lot of similarities between U.K.-based ARM Holdings and Intel . Both are in the midst of sweeping changes to their respective businesses. ARM CEO Simon Segars recognizes that with the inevitable slowing of smartphone sales, the time has come to shift his company's focus to new, burgeoning markets including the Internet of Things, virtual reality, and networking infrastructure as data shifts to the cloud.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich is in a similar boat. Though Intel's mobile efforts didn't take hold (in contrast to ARM, where mobile is a mainstay of the business), its longtime dominant position in the PC market was like an albatross in a connected, on-the-go, data intensive world. The answer? Refocusing on cloud-based data centers and battling the likes of ARM for IoT-related market share -- both markets with limitless upside.

So, which is the better stock for you to buy now?

Image source: ARM Holdings.

The case for ARM Holdings

Unfortunately for ARM fans, it shares another trait with rival Intel: It can't seem to catch a break with investors. In its recent first-quarter release, ARM reported nearly across-the-board gains in revenue, earnings per share, and number of chips shipped by its royalty-paying partners -- despite a decline in smartphone sales. Yet its stock price has actually declined.

ARM's 11% year-to-date share price decline may scare off some investors, but it's actually made what was already a sound long-term growth investment that much more attractive. Revenue climbed 14% last quarter, EPS jumped 15%, and, despite Segars directing more investment into research and development to address new markets, expenses only increased 2%.

Those ARM bears who are still bemoaning the slowdown in smartphone sales should note that over half of its royalty payments last quarter -- and they grew by 15% -- were of the non-mobile variety. But Wall Street can't seem to shake off the notion that ARM is all about smartphones.

ARM also shared a couple more tidbits of interest to long-term investors in its report.

A whopping 4.1 billion ARM processor-based chips were shipped in Q1, up 10% year over year: not bad for a "smartphone-reliant" chip designer. As for ARM's VR ambitions, its Mali graphics processor is already making a dent in the fast-growing VR market; it inked deals topartner with 27 companies in Q1. As for IoT, big hitters including HP opted for ARM's IoT device platform during the quarter, among a laundry list of others.

Image source: Intel.

The case for Intel

It's been three years since Intel hired Brian Krzanich to replace longtime CEO Paul Otellini. When Krzanich took the top job, he made it clear that, in his view, Intel needed to transform itself from a PC dependent chip provider to one focused on cutting-edge new markets including IoT, the cloud, and mobile.

As last quarter demonstrated, Intel is beginning to make inroads in its key IoT and cloud data center chip sales. Total revenue climbed 7% to $13.7 billion in Q1, and it wasn't Intel's PC unit's meager 2% sales gain that drove the solid quarter; it was the 9% jump in data center results and the 22% improvement in its IoT unit. With each successive quarter, IoT and cloud-based data center revenues continue to make up larger portions of Intel's total sales. That's the good news.

The not-so-good news is that Intel has been making headlines for its plans to lay off as many as 12,000 employees, realign its management structure to better fit its new business direction, and give up its mobile ambitions. Those were all difficult, but necessary, decisions as Intel forges ahead into a cloud and IoT-driven future.

The real question is: What took so long? Krzanich had this transformation in mind for years, but apparently wasn't committed to doing what it took to make it happen until now -- including making tough choices about layoffs.

ARM, on the other hand, is well on its way to becoming a great deal more than the world's leading supplier of smartphone chip technologies. For that reason -- and despite the fact that its 1.5% dividend yield pales in comparison to Intel's 3.5% -- ARM edges out Intel as a better stock to buy now.

The article Better Buy: ARM Holdings PLC vs. Intel Corp. originally appeared on Fool.com.

Tim Brugger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. 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 credit: Apple.

A report in Nikkei claims that Taiwan-based components makers are going to get "significantly fewer orders from Apple in the second half of the year compared with a year ago." This report is likely the main driver behind the decline in Apple stock in the May 12 trading session, during which the shares hit a new 52-week low.

Although it may be tempting for investors to write this report off as rubbish (as many did when Nikkei first reported the significant cutbacks in iPhone 6s/6s Plus component orders), I would strongly suggest that this would be a bad idea. Here's why.

Apple doesn't want to end up overbuilding like it did with iPhone 6s/6s PlusIn hindsight, it's quite clear that Apple significantly overestimated demand for the iPhone 6s/6s Plus ahead of the launch. We know this because Apple wound up increasing channel inventory in its fiscal first quarter and is now "paying for it" by needing to bring down channel inventory levels during its fiscal third quarter.

Based on the demand that Apple saw with the iPhone 6s/6s Plus, I expect the company is going to try to play it safe with iPhone 7/7 Plus builds. This will keep Apple's own internal inventories fairly lean and inventory in the channel should also stay lean.

Unfortunately, this will likely mean that Apple will likely report a year-over-year decline in unit shipments during the first quarter of its next fiscal year (fiscal year 2017). However, if demand for the new phones turns out to be better than expected, then Apple can increase production and satisfy that demand in the following quarter.

There's a risk that potential customers might not want to wait and will choose an alternative device, but Apple seems to prefer keeping inventories (internal and in the channel) as lean as possible.

Performance beyond the second half of 2016 depends on the deviceThe Nikkei report specifically refers to Apple supplier performance in the second half of 2016, which is an indication of how many new iPhones the company expects to sell in the quarter or so after launch. If iPhone 7-series demand turns out strong, then the Apple suppliers might see a turnaround year-over-year during the first half of 2017.

At this point, there isn't much known about these phones aside from fairly strong rumors that there will be improved internals and better cameras housed in an industrial design that's largely the same as the one used for the iPhone 6s/6s Plus.

What should investors do?As somebody who doesn't already own Apple stock, my plan of action is simple: stay out for now and see how the response is to the iPhone 7-series. If it's nothing special, then I plan to stay out; Apple's once-per-year flagship iPhone launches mean that if a new set of iPhones isn't spectacular, shareholders will be stuck waiting an entire year for the next product to come out.

If it's a game-changing device that draws substantial pre-order activity, then that could be a sign to get back into the stock. However, if the rumors are correct, the next potentially "game changing" iPhone won't be this year's model, but next year's.

The article Dont Ignore the Bad Apple Inc. iPhone 7 News originally appeared on Fool.com.

Ashraf Eassa has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. 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.
Pfizer's back! OK, maybe it's not the Pfizer of the early 2000s, when it was growing hand over fist, but the first quarter marked the pharmaceutical giant's sixth consecutive quarter of operational growth. It also marked a major leap forward, with management boosting its full-year sales and profit forecast.

Pfizer's stellar quarter

For the quarter, Pfizer reported sales growth of 26% on an operating basis to $13 billion, though the addition of Hospira's legacy injectable business provided a good chunk of that boost. Pfizer's oncology segment was the other major standout, with operating sales growth of 95%, driven by advanced breast cancer drug Ibrance, whose sales totaled $429 million, compared with $38 million in Q1 2015 -- the first quarter it appeared on pharmacy shelves. Wall Street had been expecting Pfizer's Q1 sales to be a full $1 billion lower.

In terms of profit, Pfizer reported adjusted EPS of $0.67, a 32% improvement from the prior-year period. This, too, blew the lid off the Street's forecast, by $0.12 per share.

Based on these headline numbers, Pfizer lifted its full-year sales guidance to a fresh range of $51 billion to $53 billion (a $2 billion increase at the midpoint) and its adjusted EPS forecast to a range of $2.38-$2.48, from a prior projection of $2.20-$2.30.

CEO Ian Read. Image source: Pfizer.

Headline figures are great in that they give us a surface-scratching view of how a company performed during the quarter. But rarely do they tell us what we really want to know -- namely, the juicy details of a company's growth strategy. For that we turn to quarterly conference calls -- or, in the case of Pfizer, CEO Ian Read. During Pfizer's Q1 conference call with analysts, Read singlehandedly answered pretty much everything that's been on the minds of investors over the past three months.

On the derailing of the Allergan transaction

"As you are aware, in early April we decided not to move forward with that Allergan transaction due to actions of the U.S. Treasury department," he said. "Given these actions in the current political climate, we do not see any potential for a transaction involving inversions in the near term."

Image source: Flickr user Kurtis Garbutt.

Pretty much every investor knew that the U.S. Treasury wasn't pleased with Pfizer's and Allergan's proposed merger that was set to allow Pfizer to relocate its headquarters to Ireland, a country with a substantially lower corporate income tax than the United States. What caught both Allergan and Pfizer off guard was the U.S. Treasury's new set of tax-inversion regulations that seemed to target their deal specifically. The most damaging of those new regulations was that serial inverters like Allergan wouldn't have any deals completed within the past three years counted toward their deal value, meaning Allergan's total ownership in the company entity would have fallen well below the 40% threshold required by the Treasury.

Looking ahead, Pfizer's Read is pretty clear that any sort of tax inversion is off the table for the entire company, but as we'll see, the idea of netting tax advantages is still on his mind.

On future business development

Another key quote by Read:

So what's next for Pfizer? According to Read, it's businesses as usual. The drug giant will continue to develop its early-stage pipeline and look for ways to expand use for existing products, but it's also looking to enhance its existing operations through needle-moving acquisitions.

Historically speaking, Pfizer isn't the type of company to "dink and dunk" its way to more sales and profits. It's more than willing to take the plunge on huge deals, such as its $60 billion acquisition of Pharmacia in 2002 and its $68 billion buyout of Wyeth in 2009. What Read's comments do is clarify that Pfizer's looking for ways to boost business development within its innovative product portfolio. To me, this means Pfizer is probably looking at ways to boost its oncology offerings, or perhaps acquire drugmakers focused on certain types of chronic-condition therapeutics.

Image source: Pfizer.

On a possible GEP split

"As you know, we're also considering a potential separation of our innovative and established businesses," said Read. "No decision has been made at this point and as we recently announced we plan to make an assessment of the merits of a separation by the end of 2016."

Concerning the long-floating idea that Pfizer could spin off or sell its global established products (GEP) operations, Read affirms that a decision could be made by the end of this year, with a separation perhaps occurring as quickly as 2017 if that seems the most prudent course of action. Read and his management team have been suggesting for more than two years that a spinoff would occur only if the GEP could stand on its own, if value could be unlocked from a separation, and if the separation could be done in a tax-efficient way. With the Allergan deal now off the table, tax efficiencies have sort of been thrown out the window, too.

Or have they?

"There are many factors we'll take into account in whether we want to split or not, and one of them is of course the tax structure of the two companies if they are split," Read said. "And I think the Treasury action and the government's willingness to act in this area will make us think deeply about what are the alternatives to let part of this company, if possible, have a different tax jurisdiction."

Read's last comment here is really interesting. Rather than merging with a company near its size, of which they are few choices, Pfizer could tinker with the idea of merging its GEP with an overseas company, where corporate income tax rates are lower, and allow the new GEP to redomicile overseas, thus saving tax dollars on a slow-growth business in the process. This is something worth keeping an eye on going forward.

On Prevnar 13

"For the Prevnar 13 adult indication, while there was a year-over-year growth as expected, we saw a sequential quarterly decline in revenues, given the rapid penetration we achieved in the U.S. market during 2015," Read said. "The pediatric indication remains strong, and we anticipate that global revenues for the Prevnar 13 franchise in full-year 2016 will be comparable to 2015."

Image source: Pfizer.

Just in case you've forgotten, pneumococcal vaccine Prevnar 13 is the top-selling vaccine in the world and as such is one of Pfizer's most important products. Read wants his shareholders to understand that the record-pacing growth they saw last year should be considerably tamer in 2016 because of hitting the so-called "low hanging fruit," or people who'd been getting pneumococcal vaccines before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made it a recommended vaccine for seniors aged 65 and up in September 2014. Sales of the vaccine rose, nonetheless, by 19% globally on an operating basis in Q1.

Based on Read's commentary, we might expect a slowdown in Prevnar's growth beginning in Q2. However, I'd suggest not losing hope, since Pfizer's management has previously suggested that Europe offers an even larger patient opportunity for Prevnar than the U.S.

On cancer immunotherapies

"We continue to expect the key advances in IO [immunotherapy] will come from novel combinations," Read said, "both double- and triple-combination regimes and technologies that may have the potential to treat more patients with immunotherapy and ultimately transform the cancer treatment paradigm."

Image source: Pfizer.

Lastly, we're getting more confirmation from Read -- as we've seen from Pfizer's peers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck, which already have a cancer immunotherapy product on the market, that cancer immunotherapies are working best in combination therapies as opposed to monotherapies. This means the existing treatments we have today to treat solid tumors and certain blood cancers are likely to remain critical moving forward.

Pfizer pretty much bet the farm on avelumab, an immunotherapy that was being developed by Merck KGaA. In return for a piece of the pie, Pfizer wound up giving Merck KGaA $850 million up front, along with the opportunity to earn $2 billion in various development and commercial milestones, and also parted with part of its Xalkori sales stream. It's a steep price to pay, but avelumab has multibillion-dollar potential.

All told, Pfizer looks to be getting its swagger back. It remains to be seen how effective biosimilars will be at boosting sales and profitability, and it's still unclear if splitting off its GEP is the right answer. But even if Pfizer continues on its current path, it looks as if money can be made by patient long-term investors.

The article Everything You Need to Know About Pfizer's Growth Strategy, Summed Up by Its CEO originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The only things that seemed to matter in Frontier Communications' Q1 earnings report and call with analysts, were the statements relating to its purchase of Verizon's former wireline business in California, Texas, and Florida. This is unsurprising considering that the acquisition more than doubles Frontier's customer base, giving it 3.3 million new voice connections, 2.1 million new broadband connections, and 1.2 new million video subscribers.

CEO Daniel McCarthy has called the Verizon purchase "a transformative acquisition" that "significantly expands our presence in three high-growth, high-density states and improves our revenue mix by increasing the percentage of our revenues coming from segments with the most promising growth potential." It's certainly a game-changer for Frontier. Upon its April completion the company moved from a tiny niche player to a midsize competitor. That should, in theory, make it easier for the company to compete while also increasing its operating efficiency.

Frontier expects to grow

In his remarks in the earnings release, McCarthy laid out the expected benefits from closing the Verizon deal while noting the challenges ahead.

In light of the completion of the purchase, Frontier offered a new forecast for 2016. The company expects adjusted free cash flow in the range of $800 million to $925 million, which is impressive when you consider that interest charges relating (mostly) to the Verizon deal are forecast at $1.53 billion to $1.55 billion.

Image source: Frontier.

The Verizon cutover went about as well as could be expected

McCarthy explained during the earnings callthat the "cutover" -- the actual process of taking possession of the customers from Verizon -- was successful. He noted that it was the "most complex flash cut that has ever been executed in our industry" and explained that the company drew on its previous experiences.

The process, however, was not entirely without problems, but the CEO felt that any issues were quickly addressed.

"As with any transfer of this scale and complexity, there were some issues at the outset, but these affected less than 1% of our customers in total and much less than that at any point in time," he explained. "As we moved through the initial transition period, we identified and addressed a number of issues with imperfect data extracts and network complexities."

McCarthy added that Frontier has since conducted more employee training but noted that the small issues "delayed the rate of reaching a normal business cadence, and as a result we were slower in responding to customers and restoring service. This disappointed some customers and resulted in some negative publicity in the market."

That's not great news, but it's encouraging that the number of people affected was relatively low. Early mistakes will make those affected wary, but if Frontier can keep service up for the vast majority of its new customers, an early hiccup shouldn't be a big problem in the long term.

It's all about customer experience and subscriber growth

Going forward, McCarthy said that Frontier has staffed up its customer-service department, and is phasing out a vendor that had been helping in that area during the transition. He does expect some short-term problems, saying that the nearly 10,000 employees Frontier added with the purchase will need time to adjust to new systems, which will "will impact the gross additions in these new operations."

Image Source: Frontier.com

But once the new team gets fully integrated, McCarthy sees a big opportunity across the company to add video subscribers. Currently, Frontier can offer pay-television in only 30% of the 14.5 million homes in its new and old territories. By the end of 2016, the CEO expects that number to be closer to 50%.

The CEO sees big opportunities for improved results in two other key areas.

"We will continue expanding our capabilities for business customers, particularly in the newly acquired California, Texas, and Florida markets," he said. "This includes developing direct and indirect channels to service the opportunities we see in these markets, and we will continue to focus on improving customer retention."

Frontier now has the territory and the customer base to become a significant player in cable and broadband. It needs to demonstrate that it can keep the customers it just bought while also adding some new ones. For shareholders, the numbers to watch in the second half of the year and all of 2017 are new customers and churn rate.

It's easy enough, or at least possible, to bring in subscribers with great promo rates, which the company used extensively when it moved into Connecticut, but keeping them is another story. If people leave quickly despite paying very low rates, that's a very bad sign. If Frontier can show growth, and retain that growth after the promo pricing expires, then it will prove that buying its way to relevance made sense.

The article Frontier CEO Dan McCarthy Lays Out a Path for the Company's Future originally appeared on Fool.com.

Daniel Kline has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. 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: NVIDIA.

What: NVIDIA shares soared as much as 13.2% higher on Friday morning, lifted by a muscular first-quarter report. Share prices have now nearly doubled over the last 52 weeks.

So what: In the first quarter, NVIDIA saw sales rising 14% year over year to $1.31 billion. Adjusted earnings grew by 39%, landing at $0.46 per diluted share. Analysts would have settled for earnings of $0.32 per share and sales around $1.26 billion.

Management guided second-quarter revenue to roughly $1.35 billion, for a 17% boost over the year-ago period. Non-GAAP earnings should add up to approximately $0.35 per share, a large increase over the $0.05 earnings per share NVIDIA recorded a year earlier. These targets are also ahead of Wall Street's current estimates.

Revenue growth was particularly strong in the automotive and data center segments, where NVIDIA taps into the macro growth trend with compelling products.

Looking ahead, NVIDIA just announced brand-new chips based on the long-awaited Pascal processor architecture, promising large performance increases and lower energy usage -- all at a lower price point thanks to more efficient manufacturing processes. These chips are currently being produced at "full volume" and should start shipping in June.

Now what: Data center sales increased more than 62%, driven by rising global interest in so-called deep learning systems. NVIDIA chips originally designed for graphics processing happen to be fantastic at the kind of number-crunching these systems require, so this is a major growth driver for the company today.

Automotive sales jumped 46% higher, driven mostly by high demand from European car makers. That's not a bad place to start, and NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang sees plenty of room for geographic growth based on this Euro-centric platform:

"In the future we're going to see a lot more success with automotive here in the United States, here in Silicon Valley, in China," Huang said on an earnings call with analysts. "We're going to see a lot more global penetration because of our self-driving car platform."

The article Why NVIDIA Corporation Jumped 13% Today originally appeared on Fool.com.

Anders Bylund has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia. 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.
Former Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindal weighed in on a federal judge ruling Obamacare funding was unconstitutional.

I thought it was actually comical, if you listen to the court case, the Obama Administrations own attorneys, this wasnt Republicans, their own attorneys said, well this was just a poorly written law. the former Louisiana Governor told the FOX Business Networks Neil Cavuto.

Jindal raised concerns about how the Obama Administration initially handled funding for the Affordable Care Act.

The Administration again and again thinks theyre above the law. Any basic high school student, anybody thats taken a basic civics course understands that Congress has the power of the purse. They asked Congress for this money, Congress said no in 2014 and they spent it anyway, Jindal said.

Jindal then pointed to Obama Administration claims that Obamacare would reduce health care costs.

The president said he was going to bend down the cost curve when it comes to health care, they didnt do that. Neil, they are bad not just at constitutional law, they are bad at math. The reality is, the result of this case, if it is upheld, youre looking at 20%-30% premium increases for the majority of people who get their health care through the exchanges, who get their silver plans through the federal exchanges. Something like 57% are getting these subsidies, said Jindal.

And Jindal says that taxpayers and health insurance companies will be left dealing with the aftermath of these rising costs.

Now the reality is the taxpayers will end up paying for that. Its not going to hurt low-income people, it will hurt taxpayers and insurance companies, Jindal said.

Jindal then pointed out the potential impact on Obamacare of the next Supreme Court Justice appointment.

Its so important who the next president is, theyll be appointing a key person to the Supreme Court, you mentioned the Administration has won twice now at the Supreme Court and at very closely decided cases, and again, the next Justice could be the swing vote. Theres not a chance in the world Hillary Clinton is going to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who will follow the law, follow the constitution. She was herself the originator of the precursor to Obamacare, Hillarycare, she herself thinks shes above the law, said Jindal.

Jindal said Obamacare is adding to the economic pressures weighing on Americas middle class and their families.

But youre right, you made the most important point, its the middle class, theyre the ones that are going to end up, theyre the ones, they and their children will pay for this debt, theyre the ones whose premiums havent gone down, theyre premiums have gone up, theyre the ones who are facing fewer choices in the health insurance marketplace, Jindal said.
If youre a business owner and you are anything like me, you love an Office Depot (NYSE:ODP) or Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) store with all those supplies; arming yourself to go it alone and conquering the world of business is exciting. And these stores are your armory. When I started my business every trip to Staples was a shot in the arm of enthusiasm and hope. Well, we can thank a few people for making it happen, and one person for helping it to disappear.

In 1986, three guys had the same idea about a retail store dedicated to helping small business owners with everything from supplies to desks and computers. Leo Khan and Thomas Stemberg launched Staples in Brighton, Massachusetts, with the help of a financier named Mitt Romney who at the time was at a little known firm called Bain Capital. That same firm would later propel Romney into the world of the private equity elite.

Down in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, F. Patrick Sher was opening his first Office Depot in Lauderdale Lakes Mall. The next twenty years were golden with start-ups peaking at an all-time high in 2006, and then the tide began to turn as the Great Recession was bubbling up beneath the surface.

Perhaps not-so-coincidentally, 2006 saw shares of Staples and Office Depot reaching their apex. Afterwards, things began to change. Since then, both stocks have collapsed and they saw a merger as a way to buy time and stay alive.

President Obamas Federal Trade Commission (FTC) didnt agree with that assessment and blocked the merger, a decision inexplicably upheld in federal court. This administrations anti-success, anti-profit agenda has laid waste to entire industries and companies; and now, we can add Office Depot and Staples to that list.

Not only is there an economic buzz-saw facing the industry in the form of the Internet, demand in general is slower and U.S. economic growth remains under 2%.

The ways of ordering paper and office supplies has changed, and there werent enough dudes like me walking down the Sharpie aisle romanticizing about the rigors and excitement of owning your own business.

Hypocrisy

The great hope when the merger was announced last year was for these two rivals to buy time and merge in order to survive. The last thing anyone would have expected was governmental interference, but this administration is like a shark when it comes to anything that might make businesses more competitive or in this case provide them a lifeline. Its been a glorious month for Obamas anti-business agenda now that Haliburton (HAL) and Baker Hughes (BHI) have scuttled their attempt to merge.

President Obama understands the dynamics of retail and the impact of the Internet. This week its been reported the FTC is looking at the dominance of Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in search and as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) edges closer to be the number one retailer in the country it will come under scrutiny as well. Its obvious if the goal is to preserve competition then brick and mortar operations need to buy time and alter tactics.

The same is true with the oil market. How can someone with clear leanings toward a universal agenda that would mean one world and one government not take into consideration that oil is a global product and the largest driller Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) is a French company actively acquiring other companies. Halliburton and Baker Hughes arent looking to dominate American competition they were looking to survive a global catastrophe.

We can only hope the next President of the United States will unleash business big and small instead of collecting their scalps out of bitterness and disdain.
Season nine of The Big Bang Theory concluded with a most unlikely romantic twist.

It wasnt just Leonard and Penny feeling amorous at their vow renewal ceremony  Leonards single dad, Dr. Alfred Hofstadter (Judd Hirsch) and Sheldons holy and unattached mom, Mary Cooper (Laurie Metcalf), appeared to end up in the same hotel room before the final credits rolled.

Penny had promised Leonards mom, Beverly (Christine Baranski), that the couple would stage a do-over of their wedding since she wasnt invited the first time around.

Woo Hoo! Everyone is excited for the big day. Sheldon has already sent out invitations to Stephen Hawking, Robert Downey, Jr. and the guy who invented the Rubiks Cube.

And even though it not a real wedding, Amy insists on being the fake Maid of Honor.

When Leonard picks up his mother, she becomes furious at the news that he has invited Alfred without her permission. Apparently, he cheated on her, leading to their divorce.

Leonard deposits his mother at the frigid apartment, where she struggles to make small talk with Sheldons mom.

Meanwhile, Howard has just received an email from the United States Air Force requesting a meeting to talk about the new Quantum Vortex Apparatus he has created with Raj. He fears the military will try to take over the whole project.

You know what happens if we object? he asks. We disappear. Off the map. Like every American Idol winner since season four.

When Leonard and his dad finally arrive at the apartment, everyone is gathered on the couch in silence. Hello, my hateful shrew, he says to Beverly.

And with that, the gang all head out to the best restaurant in town for dinner.

Leonard, Penny and Beverly hop in one car while Sheldon, Amy, Alfred and Mary ride in the other.

Sparks quickly begin to fly as Alfred and Mary bond over talk of apocalyptic floods and the unerring word of God. Hes an agnostic but admits praying many times that God will "turn my ex-wife into a pillar of salt.

He came close, Mary jokes. He turned her into a giant block of ice.

Amy is the first to sense the connection. All Sheldon notices is that the pair are filling up on bread and ruining their meal.

Meanwhile, Howard and Raj continue to contemplate how to respond to the Air Force email, and are now growing nervous that the government may be monitoring them  or worse!

When Penny pulls up behind them in traffic, they dont recognize her and think they are being followed. Howard ends up getting pulled over by the cops while trying to move away.

Back at the restaurant, tempers begin to flare as Alfred and Beverly trade insults. He decides to leave early and offers to share a cab back to the hotel with Mary.

Whats going on?

I think it is obvious, Sheldon says. They dont want dessert because they filled up on bread!
Woody Allen will emerge unscathed again from accusations of child molestation  because he doesnt care what anyone thinks, a crisis management expert says.

At the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, Allen refused to comment on an op-ed published the day before in The Hollywood Reporter in which his estranged son, Ronan Farrow, accused him of sexually assaulting his adopted sister, Dylan, in 1992  when she was 7-years-old.

Woody Allen is 80-years-old and doesnt care about his reputation at all, said Hollywood PR crisis manager Jonathan Bernstein. His career is already what it is. He makes small films. He goes to Cannes and insults people. That is what he does.

Every now and then people bring up these charges, and then and there is an investigation. That just seems to be part of the whole Woody Allen gestalt. Most celebrities would be all over damage control here, and Woody Allen doesnt care.

In fact, Allen is currently filming a six-episode television series for Amazon Studios in which he stars alongside Elaine May, Joy Behar and Miley Cyrus.

The degree to which reputation is harmed is directly inverse to peoples expectations, said Bernstein, who predicts the four-time Oscar winner will not experience the industry backlash that has followed Bill Cosby since multiple women accused him of rape.

For Cosby, the king of family, the expectations were extremely high, Bernstein said. But for Allen, who has been accused of this sort of thing for decades, they are not.

Everyone would agree it is horrible if he actually got away with this, but this has been heard so many times that the court of public opinion is just burned out on the subject. Unless there is some meat and not just allegations, they are going to stay burned out. If he is taken to court again or some DA opens the case again, that is different.

The allegation that Allen abused Dylan was initially brought in August 1992, when he was going through a bitter breakup and custody battle with actress Mia Farrow, with whom he had a relationship for 12 years.

Dylan told her mother that Allen abused her in the attic of their Connecticut home.

An investigation failed to turn up credible evidence, and Allen wasnt charged.

But Dylan continues to insist she was raped, and she brought up the charges again in a 2014 blog post in The New York Times.

Allen has also faced public scrutiny for his longtime relationship and marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, Farrows other adopted daughter from a previous relationship.

Allen and Previn began dating in 1992, when she was 21. They married in 1997.

French comedian Laurent Lafitte opened this years Cannes Film Festival Wednesday night with a headline-grabbing jab at Allen.

Youve shot so many of your films here in Europe, and yet in the United States, you havent even been convicted of rape, he quipped, clearly referring to director Roman Polanski, who jumped bail and fled the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Allen brushed off the jab on Thursday, telling reporters at a media lunch: It would take a lot to offend me. I am completely in favor of comedians making any jokes they want.
An embryologist in India is defending his decision to help a 72-year-old woman give birth for the first time. Dr. Anurag Bishnoi tells the Guardian he was at first hesitant to perform the IVF procedure for Daljinder Kaur and her 79-year-old husband at his clinic in Hisar, but went ahead when tests showed Kaur was in good health.

She gave birth to a baby boy on April 19 using a donor egg and is believed to be the world's oldest mother, per the Telegraph.

"Reproduction is a fundamental right," says Bishnoi, who claims to have also helped a 70-year-old give birth. Others aren't so sure. IVF treatments are relatively inexpensive and largely unregulated in Indiathe Indian Council of Medical Registry recommends limiting the combined age of a couple receiving IVF to 100 years, per the Times of Indiabut doctors hope a bill will be passed within six months banning fertility treatment for women 50 and above.

Such legislation has actually been pending for seven years. The head of India's federation of gynecologists calls Bishnoi a "rogue doctor" who "needs to be banned"; the Telegraph notes Bishnoi's website features other elderly "success" stories.

"Just because we can do something doesnt mean we should do it, just to make world records, another doctor tells the Guardian. Kaur's sonborn 4.4 pounds"is going to be an orphan in a few years.

And there are serious risks for the mother" involving cardiac and bone issues. Bishnoi, however, says the couple "have relatives who are ready to help take care of the baby" when his parents die. "Everyone asked me to adopt a baby but I never wanted to.

Now I have my own child," Kaur says. "We will raise him and give him a proper education." (This 65-year-old set a record when she gave birth.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Doctor Defends Decision to Help 72-Year-Old Give Birth

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An Illinois woman accused of giving her severely disabled adult daughter a fatal dose of meds last year before trying to kill herself stood before a Cook County judge Wednesday, explaining that her love for her daughter was so strong that killing her seemed the most humane thing to do.

Per the Chicago Tribune, 56-year-old Bonnie Liltzwhose sentence for pleading guilty on involuntary manslaughter charges will be announced next weektold Judge Joel Greenblatt's courtroom that "every day was a privilege" caring for Courtney.

WLS notes the 28-year-old was "profoundly disabled" by cerebral palsy and couldn't "communicate, eat, or bathe herself." The single mother said the day she adopted 5-year-old Courtney had been "the happiest day of my life" and that it wasn't Courtney's disabilities or the stress of caring for Courtney that led her to do what authorities say she did: add powder from broken-up medicine capsules into Courtney's feeding tubes, then into her own wine.

Instead, it was the thought of Courtney suffering if Liltz, said to have recurring cancer and intestinal issues, died from her own illnesses. "I prayed to God, 'What's going to happen to Courtney?'" she told the court about the morning of May 27, 2015, when she woke up with pain so terrible she thought she was dying.

"I felt the only place she would be safe would be in heaven with me." She noted Courtney had been institutionalized in 2012 while she (Liltz) was hospitalized, and that Courtney had come back dirty and upset, per the Daily Herald.

Liltz's parents and sister, who found Liltz and Courtney unconscious that day in May, stand by her, with her dad calling her actions "an act of love." The judge could give Liltz, who had originally been charged with first-degree murder before the charges were lessened, anything from probation to 14 years in prison; prosecutors have recommended four years' probation.

Liltz, meanwhile, said she wished she could "turn back the clock and  care for [Courtney] again." (A British mom said she killed her adult son "with love.")

This article originally appeared on Newser: Mom Killed Disabled Daughter So She'd Be 'in Heaven With Me'

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"I am not a dictator, I am the president." -- President Obama

That statement has become inoperative in light of the Obama administration's diktat to the nation's public schools that they must accommodate transgendered students when it comes to restrooms, shower and changing areas. This follows the administration's attempt to force North Carolina to violate privacy and religious concerns, not to mention tradition and common sense by ordering that state to allow people who "identify" with a gender different from the one they were born with to use the rest room of their choice.

Standing on principle, not to mention common sense, is so rare these days that when someone does it they make headlines. That's because you can quickly be labeled a "bigot" if you oppose a lot of the sludge dumped on us by the secular left, and few can withstand the onslaught.

Last Friday, the Department of Justice sent North Carolina's Republican governor, Pat McCrory a letter warning that North Carolina's House Bill 2, also known as the bathroom bill, violated the Civil Rights Act. The bill, which requires that transgender people use public bathrooms that match their birth certificates, was swiftly labeled anti-LGBT, which was all DOJ needed to hear. The government gave McCrory until Monday to confirm that North Carolina would not comply with or implement HB2. McCrory pushed back. On Monday, he filed a lawsuit against the DOJ, targeting Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. The suit, according to ABC News, "accused the DOJ of a 'radical reinterpretation' of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and wrote that the federal government's position was 'a baseless and blatant overreach.'"

The government's letter, according to North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC's Jeff Tiberii, who obtained a copy, warned that "The State is engaging in a pattern or practice of discrimination against transgender state employees and both you, in your official capacity, and the state are engaging in a pattern or practice of resistance."

In a statement following the announcement of the lawsuit, Gov. McCrory said, "The Obama administration is bypassing Congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just North Carolina. This is now a national issue that applies to every state and it needs to be resolved at the federal level," meaning Congress and the courts.

McCrory added that Washington is "telling every government agency and every company that employs more than 15 people that men should be allowed to use a women's locker room, restroom or shower facility."

The push and pull continues.

If you are a woman reading this, how would you feel about showering with a naked man? If you are a man who has daughters, would you be OK with allowing them to use a women's restroom knowing that a man could be in there? Target is fine with it, apparently. In a blog last week, the company stated that it welcomes "transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity." Target stores are now the target of a boycott.

What about school gyms? Are you fine with having your daughter changing and showering with a boy who believes he's a girl? What happened to the right to privacy, so revered by the progressive left?

Does the fact that we are even having this debate say something about the state of our culture and the attempts by secularists to undermine what remains of its creaking foundations, traditions and what used to be known as common sense? Who gets to decide? And on what is that decision based?

Are morals and ethics now up for grabs, depending on which group makes the most noise and promises the most votes? Perhaps Loretta Lynch and her deputy should lead by example and shower with a transgender male. Even better, how about first lady Michelle Obama? Media coverage could be discreet. I'm betting that neither Lynch nor the first lady would go that far. In fact, I suspect that very few on the left would want to live under many of the laws and dictates they like to impose on the rest of us.

Have we gone mad? The question all but answers itself.

Gov. McCrory has already directed state agencies to make reasonable accommodations to transgender people by installing single-occupancy restrooms. North Carolina also allows private companies to set their own bathroom policies, but that is not what the Obama administration wants. It wants to "fundamentally transform the United States of America."

It's one of the few promises the president has managed to keep.
As Jews around the world and in Israel prepared to commemorate the Holocaust this month, a disturbing narrative was being broadcast at the United Nations.

Speaking to the press, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour invoked the resistance fighters of the Warsaw Uprising, equating the Israeli government to the genocidal Nazi regime.

The deafening silence of the UN Secretary General, the European Union, and US Ambassador Samantha Power, among others, evidently served to encourage the proliferation of more hateful statements, when, days later, Venezuelas U.N.'s Ambassador Rafael Ramirez suggested that Security Council members ask themselves whether Israel was planning a "Final Solution" against the Palestinian people.

After criticism by a few U.N. member states, Ambassador Ramirez released an apology for his libelous statements on May 11th that further inflamed tensions by invoking the ages-old meme of a "lobby" (code for Jewish lobby) that was "manipulating" his remarks.

Those Security Council members who did not publicly condemn these odious comparisons of Israel to the Nazi regime might want to recall that Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moons enlightened predecessor, said that the Holocaust of the Jews was unique in history--- unique, because the Nazis sought to exterminate all Jews from the face of the Earth. We Jews did not have the option of making peace with our enemies. We were slaughtered simply because we were Jews. In stark contrast, Israelis do not seek to destroy the Palestinians based on their religion, race or character. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a war over land and conflicts over real estate can, and should, be solved through compromise rather than incitement.

We Jews had no ambassador to plead our case as one third of the worlds Jews were systematically annihilated by those who refused to recognize our right to live, let alone in a sovereign state.

While the Nazis exterminated 6 million innocent Jews, including 1 million Jewish children, during the Holocaust, since the occupation, in Gaza alone, the population has increased 600 percent.

Conflating Gaza and the West Bank with the Nazi occupation of Warsaw and comparing the Israelis to Nazis, is a cynical manipulation of history that trivializes Jewish suffering and delegitimizes a UN member state. Such hate-filled invective has no place in an institution founded on the ashes of the Holocaust and funded by U.S. tax dollars.

Subsequent to Ambassador Mansour's remarks, UN member states might want to ask themselves the following:

Were the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto offered peace proposals by the Nazis as the Palestinians have been time and time again by successive Israeli Prime Ministers?

Did the Nazis unilaterally withdraw from any territories so Jews could achieve statehood as was done for the Palestinians in Gaza and proposed in the West Bank?

Did Jewish resistance fighters use their children and schools as human shields, as Palestinians do with impunity?

Comparing recent Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming terror attacks against Israeli civilians to the Jews who resisted the Nazis final solution (which included transporting what remained of the Warsaw Ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp) is an abuse of the UN platform and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.

A U.N. that prides itself on teaching the lessons of the Holocaust---and a Secretary General who visited Auschwitzshould know, and do, better

Arab attacks on Jews predate any occupation and it is the Hamas charter that reads like a modern-day Mein Kampf. Hamas declares repeatedly in its broadcasts, that "Jews and Christians should be exterminated to the last one of them.

Both the U.S. State Department and The European Parliamentary Working Group on Anti-Semitism include Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis in their definitions of anti-Semitism. As such, Ambassador Mansours press conference has no place being disseminated on the UN website and should be immediately removed.

At the January 22, 2015 historic meeting of the General Assembly, convened to address the rise in Antisemitism worldwide, more than 40 U.N. member states jointly called for the UN to hold a follow-up conference on anti-Semitism as part of the unlearning intolerance series started in 2004. To date, the Department of Public Information has failed to schedule the conference.

Rather than affording a platform for those who would defile the Holocaust, the UN would do well to recall the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who proclaimed (5:20):

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Rabbi Potasnik is Executive Director of the New York Board of Rabbis. He is a son of Holocaust survivors.
Even in the face of the FBI boss scoffing at Hillary Clintons description of the investigation into her email practices as a security inquiry, the head of the Democratic Party is now insisting the front-running Democratic presidential candidate isnt even a focus of the probe.

Secretary Clinton isnt even a target of this inquiry, investigation, whatever I word you want to use, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told Fox News on Friday.

Asked to back up her statement, Schultz said shes repeatedly been told that  though she did not say who might have told her.

But the claim that Clinton is not the focus would be appear to be challenged by recent developments in the case.

Senior aides to Hillary Clinton, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills, have been interviewed by FBI agents in recent weeks.

Bryan Pagliano, the Clinton aide who installed the personal server used while she was secretary of state, has received a grant of immunity.

The bureau even confirmed in court documents earlier this year that the former secretary of states use of a private e-mail server is the focus. And when asked by Fox News earlier this week about Clintons repeated description of the probe as a mere security inquiry, FBI Director James Comey said hes not familiar with that term.

Were conducting an investigation.  Thats what we do, Comey told Fox News.

Schultz was asked by Fox News whether she was hearing different information from the FBI that would lead her to claim Clinton is not the focus.

My understanding is that Secretary Clinton is not the target of this investigation. ... I am only repeating what my understanding is, she said.

Top administration officials have said they are not on a timeline for finishing the probe. Comey, speaking with reporters on Wednesday, said he prefers doing the investigation well over promptly and said hes not tethered to a schedule.

Meanwhile, Clinton has voiced confidence that no wrongdoing will be found.

Appearing on CBS News Face the Nation, Clinton downplayed the FBI criminal probe, saying it was simply a security inquiry and there was never any material marked classified that was sent or received -- by me.

I look forward to this being wrapped up, she said.

The FBI probe is proceeding as Clinton also 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.

Asked Friday about internal party calls for Sanders to drop out as well as concerns that his bid is preventing Clinton from being able to pivot to a general election battle against Donald Trump, Schultz brushed off the concerns.

We are able to walk and chew gum at the same time, she said.

Schultz, meanwhile, has made similar definitive statements before about the nature of the FBI investigation, telling Fox News Sunday last month that the idea Clinton could face any legal troubles over her private email server is ludicrous.

How do you know that? host Chris Wallace asked.

Im simply confident that  as the investigation continues, that Hillary Clinton has made it clear, and there are scores of individuals who are associated with the federal government that have indicated that  its clear that she conducted herself completely legally, she said.
A lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday challenges the FDAs new regulations for electronic cigarettes.

Its the return volley in what could be a legal battle for the survival of the electronic cigarette industry in America.

New regulations finalized last week by the Food and Drug Administration would make e-cigarettes subject to the same federal rules as traditional cigarettes, despite the obvious differences between the two products. Some in the industry worry that the new rules could ban 99 percent of all electronic cigarettes from the market.

The governments role is not to regulate for the sake of regulation, said Patricia Kovacevic, general counsel for Nicopure Labs, which filed the lawsuit against the FDA in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Regulation must be based on sound science and robust procedure, and it must accomplish certain public health goals, she said.

The lawsuit argues that during the rule-making process the FDA violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how the federal governments agencies can make regulations, and that the final rules violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The new rules from the FDA include a lengthy list of expensive changes, such as mandatory warning labels and limitations on advertising and sales similar to those already in place for tobacco products like cigarettes and cigars.

Click for more from Watchdog.org
Eight years after he was the Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain appears headed toward his toughest re-election fight yet, in no small part because of presumptive GOP presidential standard-bearer Donald Trump.

Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, the Democratic Senate candidate who is neck-and-neck with McCain in polls, has relentlessly gone after McCain for the senators support  no matter how tepid  of Trump.

McCain has hardly shown enthusiasm for Trump, only saying he would support the partys nominee (while planning to skip the GOP convention in Cleveland). And hes privately warned that Trump could hurt his own bid. Politico reported on audio from a fundraiser where McCain is heard saying, If Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket, here in Arizona, with over 30 percent of the vote being the Hispanic vote, no doubt that this may be the race of my life.

But Kirkpatricks campaign is hammering any connection it can between McCain and Trump, settling for nothing short of denunciation by the sitting senator.

John McCains supporting Donald Trump despite declaring Trump dangerous and characterizing Trump's supporters as crazies, Kirkpatrick campaign spokesman D.B. Mitchell told FoxNews.com. It's clear McCain's 'straight talk' days are over.

McCains campaign, meanwhile, has blasted Kirkpatrick as siding with the liberal establishment.

The race is a snapshot of the conflicted relationship high-profile Republican candidates across the country could have with the presumptive presidential nominee. The jury is out on whether, on balance, he would help or hurt congressional candidates.

But for McCain, Trumps impact is even being felt in the Republican primary.

One of his opponents, Alex Meluskey, a businessman and talk radio host, cited an internal campaign poll showing most respondents would be more likely to vote for a businessman who never ran for office over a career politician  and claimed the Trump phenomenon would be good for him.

Any time you have an outsider businessman, that absolutely favors us, Meluskey told FoxNews.com.

McCain also is facing opposition from Kelli Ward, a doctor who resigned her state Senate seat last year to run full time for the U.S. Senate. She is touting a resounding GOP straw poll victory over McCain earlier this month at the Arizona Republican State Convention and is pushing a campaign theme of bold, fresh and fearless, to contrast McCains status as a longtime Washington insider.

The Republican primary is Aug. 30, just one day after McCain turns 80.

But its the expected November race thats causing headaches for the senator this year. During his five decisive Senate victories, the relatively moderate McCain has rarely had a real challenge in the general election.

He usually has more concern in the state over who his primary challenger will be," Barbara Norrander, a political science professor at the University of Arizona, told FoxNews.com. Democrats have had a hard time recruiting someone viable to oppose him.

This year could be different. A Merrill Poll in March found McCain leading Kirkpatrick by just one point, while a Behavior Research Center poll in April showed the two tied at 42-42 percent.

Kirkpatrick, a former Arizona state legislator, was first elected to the House in 2008. She was voted out of office during the Republican wave of 2010, then ran again and won in 2012  and withstood another Republican wave in 2014 to keep her seat.

McCain has more than $5.5 million cash on hand, according to the Federal Election Commission. That overwhelms every other opponent, as Kirkpatrick has $1.3 million, Ward has $210,792 and Meluskey has $163,764, according to FEC reports as of March 31.

The McCain campaign is going after Kirkpatrick for her support of ObamaCare, and says Arizonans are facing a 21 percent increase in health insurance deductibles, while 59,000 Arizonans lost their insurance when the states co-op was removed from the federal marketplace.

Even as independent analysts predict a dramatic rise in health care costs and more insurers contemplate exiting a crumbling marketplace, Congresswoman Kirkpatrick offers no solutions for the people of Arizona, McCain campaign spokeswoman Lorna Romero said in a statement. Instead, she is siding with the liberal establishment and ducking questions about President Obamas failed health care law.

On the issue McCain fears could be troublesome because of Trump, he and Kirkpatrick both agree on a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States, but clash on the so-called Dream Act. Further, Kirkpatrick doesnt necessarily have an automatic advantage with Hispanic voters.

The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce endorsed McCain in April. Last year, the liberal group Emilys List, backing Kirkpatrick, criticized another Latino coalition endorsing McCain as a taco shop, and said McCain put on a sombrero to pander. The Arizona Republic editorial board denounced the Emilys List stereotypes.
Top congressional leaders have asked independent watchdogs to open an investigation into whether agencies deliberately gave them false information about a proposed $400 million-plus center for intelligence analysis overseas, according to a letter and documents reviewed by Fox News.

The April 27 letter was signed by House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.; Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas; Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; and Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla.

They asked Acting Defense Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine and intelligence community Inspector General I. Charles McCullough III to "initiate one or more inquiries into the allegations that inaccurate or misleading information was intentionally conveyed to Congress in connection to the selection of RAF Croughton, as the location for a Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex (JIAC)."

RAF Croughton is a base about 70 miles northwest of London that acts as a U.S. Air Force communications station. The Defense Department and intelligence community want to locate their proposed intelligence center for analysis at that base.

The central allegation  from lawmakers as well as documents citing whistle-blowers  is that government agencies gave Congress misleading information to support the selection of RAF Croughton, while downplaying other options that may have been more cost-efficient.

Nunes told Fox News that, considering military and intelligence-gathering funds have been cut, it makes no sense to build a new facility when other facilities are available across the NATO theater. He suggested the selection was fast-tracked.

"We've met with the deputy secretary of defense, we've met with the DNI director (James Clapper), and we've been very clear that they have not done a report, an analysis of alternatives that's real," Nunes said. "There's a lot of threats that are out all over the globe and no American thinks it's smart to build a new intelligence center right outside of London, which is one of the  most expensive areas in the world."

Nunes said when he and other congressional leaders began asking questions about why Croughton was the preferred location, government officials were not forthcoming.

"When Congress started asking questions, we didn't get straight answers and so myself and many others have asked the inspector general to come in and help us investigate because we believe that we've been misled," Nunes said. "When we finally figured out that they didn't look at multiple locations across the NATO theater, we knew at that point that there was something going on here that was turning into a fiasco."

The new intelligence center would be used by AFRICOM, which conducts intelligence analysis for the Africa Command as well as EUCOM -- which does the same for the European Command. There is no requirement for analysts to be located in the geographic area that they are assessing. For example, analysts who cover Iraq and Syria work at CENTCOM in Florida. And the AFRICOM headquarters is in Stuttgart, Germany.

The documents cited by lawmakers indicate "various whistleblowers have come forward alleging that the DOD has used faulty data in its analysis to achieve a preferred outcome, and has intentionally provided to Congress false information on housing and communication at Lajes Field, which was a competing site. The whistleblower claims could not be independently verified.

According to the documents, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Nunes in July 2015 that senior "civilians and contractors" would "quit rather than move" to Lajes Field in the Azores, a group of mid-Atlantic islands.

The California lawmaker, whose family emigrated from the Azores, said he wants the most cost-efficient operation and disputes claims that he favored the Azores location because his family came from the islands years ago.

"A half a billion dollars -- that's real money. Look at what that could do for our military, Nunes said. Look at what that could do for intelligence. I think if you look at what's happened across Europe and Africa, our intelligence -- we're not getting enough."

A spokeswoman for the intelligence community inspector general, Andrea Williams, said their office received the letter and is deferring to the Defense Department inspector general -- and "if DoD IG needs our support and asks, we will provide it."

DOD IG spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said they have the request and it is under review. A source familiar with the discussions said Clapper had met with Nunes and raised various concerns about alternate sites.

A spokeswoman for the deputy secretary of Defense said RAF Croughton "remains the optimal location" for the intelligence center, and disputed allegations that the required selection process was not followed.

"The Department evaluated a number of alternative locations and of those 14 locations, Croughton rated the highest overall," Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson said. "Lajes was not included as a candidate in the  analysis of alternatives because it did not meet the minimum operational requirements. For example, Lajes cannot cost-effectively provide the needed communications bandwidth. ... Lajes is not easily accessible, is not proximate to major transportation hubs, and its geographic remoteness does not provide the access we and all NATO members need.

On allegations Congress was misled, Hillston said at least two separate assessments were conducted: "While we share the view of the importance of Lajes, the Department assesses that is not the best location for the [Joint Intelligence Analysis Complex]. The Department has participated in numerous briefings with the Congress about the location of the JIAC and well as the viability of Lajes, and we look forward to continuing to work together."
Pressure is mounting on Bernie Sanders to end his campaign for president, with Democratic Party leaders raising alarms that his continued presence in the race is undermining efforts to beat presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump this fall.



The new concerns come after Sanders' recent wins over front-runner Hillary Clinton in Indiana and West Virginia. While those victories have provided his supporters a fresh sense of momentum heading into next week's primaries in Kentucky and Oregon, they did almost nothing to help Sanders cut into Clinton's nearly insurmountable lead in the delegates who will decide their party's nomination.



"I don't think they think of the downside of this," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a Clinton supporter who hosted the 2008 meeting that brokered post-primary peace between Clinton and then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.



"It's actually harmful because she can't make that general-election pivot the way she should," Feinstein said. "Trump has made that pivot."



Clinton, her aides and supporters have largely resisted calling on Sanders to drop out, noting that she fought her 2008 primary bid again Obama well into June. But now that Trump has locked up the Republican nomination, they fear the billionaire businessman is capitalizing on Sanders' decision to remain in the race by echoing his attacks and trying to appeal to the same independent, economically frustrated voters that back the Vermont senator.



"I would just hope that he would understand that we need to begin consolidating our vote sooner rather than later," said New York Rep. Steve Israel, a Clinton backer and former chief of efforts to elect Democrats to the House. "Democrats cannot wait too long."



Though Clinton has for the past few weeks largely focused her rhetoric on Trump, campaign aides say the two-front effort hampers their ability to target both Sanders supporters and Republican-leaning independents that may be open to her candidacy. It also means she's spending time in primary states, rather than battlegrounds that will decide the general election.



This weekend, for example, Clinton will campaign in Kentucky ahead of the state's Tuesday primary. She's also dispatched several high-level advocates to the state, including Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and Reps. James Clyburn of South Carolina, G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Hakeem Jeffries and Joe Crowley of New York.



While they can talk up Clinton, Sanders' determination to contest every state remaining has kept Obama and Vice President Joe Biden largely on the sidelines, benching two of her most powerful advocates.



"It all sort of slows the takeoff of her general-election campaign," said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a member of the party's liberal wing from a perennial battleground.



Sanders is having none of it, frequently telling the thousands of supporters who attend his rallies that he still has a narrow path to the nomination.



"Please do not moan to me about Hillary Clinton's problems," Sanders said in a recent interview with MSNBC. "It is a steep hill to climb, but we're going to fight for every last vote."



Yet there is no question his campaign is on its last legs. His fundraising dropped by about 40 percent last month and he's laid off hundreds of staffers. Biden said this week he "feels confident" that Clinton will be the nominee. Even Obama is pointing out the realities of the delegate math, which puts Clinton on track to capture the nomination early next month.



By every measure, Clinton is handily winning the Democratic contest. She has won 23 states to Sanders' 19, capturing 3 million more votes than her rival along the way. She has 94 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination, which means she could lose all the states left to vote by a landslide and still emerge as the nominee -- so long as all her supporters among the party insiders known as superdelegates continue to back her.



White House officials believe Obama has the ability to coax some die-hard Sanders' fans into the Clinton camp, particularly young people and liberals. But if he moves before Clinton officially captures the nomination, he risks angering those voters and undermining that effort.



Clinton faces a similar calculus. While her international expertise could attract foreign policy-focused Republicans and suburban women, highlighting her record on those issues now might encourage Sanders to resurrect attacks on her vote in favor of the Iraq war.



"When his rhetoric takes a sharper tone against her, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I know that can be used as ammunition."



Clinton supporter Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, pointed to the results in West Virginia, where 4 in 10 voters said in exit polls that they considered themselves independents or Republicans. That's a sign the late state primaries -- particularly the open contests -- were doing little to help Clinton.



"There's a lot of cross-over voters that are more about hurting a nominee as opposed to helping a potential nominee," she said.



Clinton backers say there's plenty for Sanders to do in his old job -- and a lot of good reasons for him to join forces. If Democrats regain the majority in the Senate, he'd likely become chairman of the powerful Senate Budget Committee.



"We are looking forward to welcoming him back to the Senate," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.
The scene on Capitol Hill yesterday morning gave new meaning to the term media circus.

Stakeouts. Live shots. Breathless commentary. Round-the-clock cable coverage. All for a little meeting between Donald Trump and Paul Ryan that lasted less than an hour.

I havent seen this much hype since the old U.S.-Soviet summits. Maybe since Nixon went to China. Or maybe since Diane Sawyer sat down with Caitlin Jenner.

The spectacle was particularly amusing because both men had deliberately lowered expectations in advance. Both said the House speaker, who has withheld his endorsement of the presumptive nominee, would not be offering his official blessing. Both sides said there would not be a point-by-point negotiation over their differences on policy. Ryan went so far as to say he barely knows the man and this was more of a get-acquainted session.

The press didnt care. The fate of the election hung in the balance, or so we were told.

Soon came the joint communique, as bland and upbeat as a State Department press release:

Republicans must be united around our shared principles. Great conversation. Honest about our few differences. Many important areas of common ground. Very positive step toward unification.

It sounded like the old road map negotiations for Mideast peace.

Still, can anyone doubt that Ryan will eventually get on board the Trump train?

The speaker didnt pretend that everything was peaches and cream, telling reporters: I was very encouraged with the meeting but this is a process. It takes a little time. You don't put it together in 45 minutes. Asked if he was endorsing Trump, Ryan said: The process of unifying the Republican party, which just finished a primary about a week ago, perhaps one of the most divisive primaries in memory, takes some time.

And Trump told Sean Hannity yesterday: "I dont mind going through a little bit of a slow process. Its a very big subject. I mean, we have a lot of things, and I think for the most part we agree on a lot of different items. And, we are getting there."

I think the media are far more interested than the voters in whether Trump and Ryan get along. This is driven in part by the high esteem with which the Beltway press corps holds Paul Ryan. He is viewed as a man of principle who cares deeply about his vision of shrinking government. Trump, until about 20 minutes ago, was viewed as the New York interloper who was supposed to be a sideshow, makes outrageous proclamations and doesnt know much about policy.

But Republican voters disagreed. They made Trump the nominee. And its his party now.

Putting aside the kabuki of yesterdays session at RNC headquarters, there is an important underlying reality here, and that has spawned some thoughtful journalism. Trump needs support from the Ryan wing, if not from the congressman himself, if only to maximize Republican turnout. He needs to decide how far to pivot on taxes, entitlements and immigration without seeming like a flip-flopper. He has, for instance, opened the door to softening the temporary ban on Muslim immigrants by saying hed appoint a study commission headed by Rudy Giuliani. Creating commissions is how politicians paper over their differences.

Trump and Ryan seem to have taken the first step toward papering over theirs.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lashed out at Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos Thursday, claiming that the founder of Amazon.com was using the newspaper as a tool to influence corporate tax policy.

"Every hour we're getting calls from reporters from The Washington Post asking ridiculous questions," Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "And I will tell you, this is owned as a toy by Jeff Bezos ... Amazon is getting away with murder, tax-wise. He's using The Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed."

Trump was responding to Post Associate Editor Bob Woodward's disclosure that the newspaper has assigned 20 reporters to investigate the real estate mogul's life.

"We're going to do a book, we're doing articles about every phase of his life," Woodward told the National Association of Realtors convention Wednesday. The veteran reporter, best known for investigating the Watergate break-in that led to Richard Nixon's resignation, said he had begun investigating Trump's real estate deals in New York, which he called "more complex than the CIA."

Bezos, who bought the Post in 2013 from longtime owners the Graham family, has donated to both Democratic and Republican elected officials. According to the website OpenSecrets, Bezos and his wife gave $4,800 each to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in 2009. The couple also gave $2.5 million to support a 2012 referendum legalizing gay marraige in Washington state.

More recently, however, Bezos donated $2,700 this past September to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.

"He thinks I'll go after him for antitrust," Trump said Thursday. "Because he's got a huge antitrust problem because he's controlling so much, Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing.

"He's using The Washington Post, which is peanuts, he's using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust."

Neither Bezos nor Amazon had any immediate comment in response to Trump's claims.

Woodward said Wendesday that Bezos had urged the Post to run as many stories as possible about all the presidential candidates so that voters can't say they were uninformed when they select the next president.

"He said, 'Look, the job at the Washington Post has to be tell us everything about who the eventual nominee will be in both parties,'" Woodward said. "'15-part, 16-part series, 20-part series, we want to look at every part of their lives. And we're never going to get the whole story, of course, but we can get the best attainable."
To suggest that the astronauts aboard the International Space Station have been "snap happy" would be an understatement of astronomical proportions.

The orbiting outpost's crew recently took the three millionth photograph since the space station's first residents began sending back images in November 2000.

"15 years, 3 million photos, and 1 beautiful planet," NASA flight engineer Jeff Williams wrote on Twitter.

More from Space.com:

Williams, who is the first American astronaut to embark on a third long-duration mission on the station, posed with his Expedition 47 crewmates to take the three-millionth shot.

"Excited to mark this photography milestone with my crew," he tweeted on May 5.

The photo, which was taken a few days earlier on April 30, shows Williams with his fellow NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, British astronaut Tim Peake of ESA (the European Space Agency), and Roscosmos cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko, Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin. The six crewmates were captured floating inside Zvezda, the station's Russian service module.

The image is similar to one taken in the same module on Dec. 4, 2000 by the first expedition crew. At that time, Zvezda was one of two modules that comprised the orbital laboratory.

Since then, more than a dozen rooms have expanded the size of the complex, adding numerous locations for photos to be taken. But the space station's increased volume has been the focus of only a fraction of the snapshots that the astronauts and cosmonauts took over the past 15 years.

"These [photographs] include shots of science, thousands of maintenance photos for engineers on the ground, views of life on board and tons of our beautiful planet," described NASA spokesman Dan Huot in a video segment about the three-millionth image.

In fact, a majority of the photos taken on the space station have been of Earth  including a prior milestone image.

"1 millionth ISS photo," wrote NASA astronaut Don Pettit in his caption for a March 2012 shot of the Earth blanketed by a green aurora.

That photo was one of hundreds in a time-lapse series, an imagery technique that Pettit was among the first to demo in space and that partially accounted for the increased rate at which photos have been recorded on the station.

It took 12 years for the astronauts and cosmonauts to take the first one million images, but only four years to take two million more.

If all three million of their photos were printed out as 4 by 6 inch snapshots and then laid out side by side, they would extend longer than the International Space Station is high above the Earth.

Copyright 2016 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
A cyber security firm said in a report Friday that the malicious software used in the Bangladesh Central Bank heist in February is linked to the 2014 Sony hack attack.

BAE Systems said in a report that the initial hack looked like to be an isolated incident, but further investigations revealed its part of a wide-scale campaign. The Bangladesh Central Bank hired BAE to help find out the root cause of the hack attack.

The security firm said similar malware was used to target a Vietnamese commercial bank with fake messages from the SWIFT money transfer system. The same malware was used in the Bangladesh bank hack. The code used to erase the tracks of the brazen hackers was similar to that used in the Sony attack.

Sony Pictures was hit with a massive hack attack in November 2014 with destructive malware. The attack followed online leaks of unreleased movies and emails between the head of company and several Hollywood celebrities.

Reuters reported that the BAE Systems report connecting the malware attack on the Bangladesh Central Bank to the Sony hack attack in 2014 is likely to come with scrutiny because the White House has pinned the Sony attack on North Korea.

The agency said that some of the similarities in the attacks include names of the programming elements and encryption keys used.

Adrian Nish, the head of BAEs threat intelligence, told Reuters that theyre still unsure who is conducting the attacks.

They have a very unique approach," he said. "The links come through the code, which bears the hallmarks of a single, consistent coder."

Its possible that multiple programmers could use the same types of code or they were recreated to confuse investigators.

Click for more from Reuters.
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied Thursday that the social network's editors suppress conservative news from its trending topics list.

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said he planned to talk with leading conservatives in coming weeks "about what Facebook stands for and how we can be sure our platform stays as open as possible."



However, the 31-year-old also said there was "no evidence" to support the suppression claim, which was made by unidentified former Facebook contractors to the tech blog Gizmodo earlier this week.

"If we find anything against our principles, you have my commitment that we will take additional steps to address it," Zuckerberg wrote.

Earlier Thursday, the company's Vice President of Global Operations, Justin Osofsky, published a blog post saying the company followed guidelines to ensure that stories in trending topics represent "the most important popular stories, regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum."

"The guidelines do not permit reviewers to add or suppress political perspectives," Osofsky said in a statement.

The blog post linked to a 28-page internal document Facebook uses to determine trending topics, after the Guardian published a similar document that was leaked to it.

Facebook hasn't said how many people are responsible for the trending topics team. The Guardian reported the team was as few as 12 people, citing leaked documents, but Facebook didn't comment on that number.

Trending topics were introduced in 2014 and appear in a separate section to the right of the Facebook newsfeed. According to Facebook, potential trending topics are first determined by a software formula, or algorithm, that identifies topics that have spiked in popularity on the site.

Next, a team of trending topic staffers review potential topics and confirm the topic is tied to a current news event; write a topic description with information corroborated by at least three of 1,000 news outlets ; apply a category label to the topic; and check to see whether the topic is covered by most or all of ten major media outlets (including The New York Times, Fox News, BuzzFeed and others). Stories covered by those outlets gain an importance level that may make them more likely to be seen.

(Facebook's list of 1,000 news outlets contains several popular conservative sites, including Fox, the Drudge Report, Glenn Beck's site The Blaze, the Daily Caller and the Washington Times.)

Each Facebook user's trending topics are then personalized via an algorithm that relies on information about the user such as "Likes" and their location.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The 9-year-old Tennessee girl allegedly abducted by her uncle was found safe Thursday after he was captured by two men who held him at gunpoint until law enforcement could arrive.

Carlie Marie Trent was found in Hawkins County, the rural part of East Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Her uncle, Gary Simpson, is in custody, officials said.

Simpson is accused of taking Carlie from her school in Rogersville, Tenn. on May 4.

"Carlie is safe tonight because of an entire community pulling together with law enforcement to bring her home," Mark Gwyn, Director of the TBI, told reporters at a press conference Thursday evening.

Gwyn said there are no indications that Carlie was harmed, but she is being taken to a hospital as a precaution to be examined.

Gwyn said her safe return came after two men, Donnie Lawson and Roger Carpenter, were checking property as the TBI had asked people to do, when they found Carlie and her uncle on a trail only accessible by four-wheeler vehicles.

Carpenter, a Baptist minister, held Simpson at gunpoint while Lawson called police, according to Gwyn.

This is a case of two heroes who went on their property to see if, by chance, if they were there, and they were," he said. "I think this is a clear message to the public that we need your help on these kind of cases.

Simpson has been arrested and charged with especially aggravated kidnapping.

Earlier Thursday, the TBI had added Simpson, 57, to its Top 10 Most Wanted list and warned that Carlie was in imminent danger.

On Tuesday, Trent's father said her alleged abductor was obsessed with her and wanted her all to himself.

James Trent told WVLT-TV that Gary Simpson, 57, was jealous over the girl. James Trent told the station that Simpson knew Carlie all her life and had married Trent's sister. James Trent also said that Simpson and his wife often took care of his daughter.

"He had access to her every day, he was obsessed with her, he wanted her, and he wanted her all to himself," Trent said. "That's a scary thing to think about."

James Trent said that he didn't think Simpson would hurt Carlie, but was worried what will happen if she returned home.

It would be a great moment, but then again it'll be a scary moment because I'm just wondering how she's going to be. Is she going to be as happy as she was? [Is] she going to be scared to death of everyone?" he explained. "That's what I worry about. She just won't be the same."

On Wednesday, the TBI said the case was not a simple custody dispute and stressed that Carlie 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, TBI spokesperson Josh DeVine said during an afternoon press conference. When we say this child is in danger we absolutely mean it.

DeVine said the custody battle narrative had developed in the week since Trent was picked up from her school by Simpson, her former guardian. Simpson 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.

On Tuesday, the TBI retracted an earlier report that Simpson was seen at a store buying camping supplies. Investigators told the Knoxville News Sentinel that Simpson actually purchased a pink and purple plush throw blanket, a green mens short-sleeve shirt, mens black pants, girls khaki pants, two shades of lipstick, two shades of nail polish, a pink folding lounge chair, a purple childs nightgown, a bikini and girls underwear on May 4.

Here are items Gary Simpson purchased, before taking Carlie from her school May 4th. #BringCarlieHome pic.twitter.com/fGuVw7LSsZ  TBI (@TBInvestigation) May 10, 2016

Investigators also said the two stopped at a Save-A-Lot grocery store on the same day to pick up nonperishable items.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from WLVT-TV.
Can a company from the bankrupt city of Detroit, best known as the Motor City, successfully re-train its sights from cars onto the world of financial technology, a.k.a. "fintech"? Detroit-based financial news and data company Benzinga is banking on it (pun intended).

Related: Fintech, The Wake Up Call For Banks

 The Benzinga Fintech Awards are where we celebrate innovation in financial technology. A whole new generation is starting to manage their money and wants to do that in ways finance has never thought of, explains Benzinga CEO Jason Raznick. Our goal with the awards is to impact peoples lives and change investing for the better.

Finalists for the Benzinga Fintech Awards have been recognized by their peers as innovators. To achieve that status, candidate companies needed 200 social mentions by their peers and colleagues during the awards entry process.

I spoke with five of the companies being honored May 24 in New York, to gain a front-row seat to whos who in fintech. Here are profiles of these five companies Benzinga believes will better America's investing future:

1. DriveWealth

Headquarters: Chatham, NJ

Leadership: Robert Cortright, CEO, and Michael Dugan, CFO

DriveWealth has created an investing ecosystem which allows people worldwide to invest in powerful U.S. financial products. As emerging market investors look for a safe place to invest, and as our society continues to rely more on technology, the company is giving people the means to fit investing into their lifestyles.

DriveWealth gives around-the-world access to U.S. stock markets through our B2B partnerships, as well as through our proprietary Passport investing app," explains CEO Robert Cortright. "We recently released real-time fractional-share portfolio-building, which allows individuals to invest in terms of dollars, not shares. Building long-term wealth by investing in terms of dollar amounts they can afford, investors can own the brands that matter to them.

DriveWealths goal this year is to reach three-quarters of a billion people through its global partnerships, providing these people access to the U.S. stock markets. Partnering with Benzinga aids customers in making informed investing decisions, Cortright says.

2. AlphaSense

Headquarters: San Francisco, Calif.

Leadership: Jack Kokko, co-founder and chief executive officer, and Raj Neervannan, co-founder and chief technical officer

AlphaSense is a financial search engine, known as the Google for financial services." It indexes millions of documents on global companies and helps clients find hidden information on any company in seconds.

AlphaSense provides intelligent search and alerting capabilities across a vast library of research documents, including company filings and transcripts, presentations, real-time news, press releases, Wall Street investment research, as well as clients internal content," says CEO Jack Kokko.

The result, he says, is an "information edge," which enables customers to "find what others miss." AlphaSense just raised $33 million in capital which, Kokko says, will be used to "further entrench AlphaSense as the de facto search engine for knowledge professionals within financial services."

Related: Five Fintech Startups To Watch

3. Credibly

Headquarters: New York City

Leadership: Glenn Goldman, chief executive officer

Credibly, founded in 2010, is an online lending platform that delivers a broad range of short- and long-term capital to satisfy the small and medium-sized business (SMB) credit spectrum.

Credibly is a best-in-class online small business lending platform leveraging data science and analytics to improve the speed, cost and choice of capital available to SMBs across the United States, says Credibly CEO Glenn Goldman. This year, he says, Credibly is seeing big milestones, including the announcement of a $70 million credit facility with SunTrust Bank and the launch of its first-term loan, with rates starting in the single digits for prime borrowers.

On the horizon are such offerings as an enhanced digital-user experience, additional funding products to address the entire small business credit-risk spectrum and exclusive bank and tech partnerships to reduce the cost of SMB capital and educate borrowers on their business credit health.

4. TD Ameritrade

Headquarters: Omaha, Neb.

Leadership: Fred Tomczyk, chief executive officer

TD Ameritrade is an online broker for stock, option, futures, forex trading, long-term investing and retirement planning.

TD Ameritrade is the U.S. leader in online trading and offers innovative mobile, desktop and web-based trading solutions to over six million retail investors," says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of trading at TD Ameritrade. Additionally, TD Ameritrade Institutional is helping independent registered investment advisors serve the best interests of its clients, Sherrod says. She adds: Our primary mandate is to level the playing field for the individual investor," via high-level technology and content.

5. PureFunds

Headquarters: New York City

Leadership: Andrew Chanin, chief executive officer

PureFunds recognizes the changes afoot in the financial industry, and as such was motivated to create the world's first Mobile Payments Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) (IPAY), focusing on mobile, electronic and digital payment and transaction companies, says Andrew Chanin, CEO.

PureFunds has a current suite of six ETFs, Chanin explains, adding: "We strive to grow our current suite of thematic technology focused ETFs while we continue to provide the market with exposure to in-demand industries."

Related: Going to the Bank Again? Say Goodbye to That.

Says Chanin: PureFunds is thrilled to participate at the Benzinga Fintech Awards, as we both share a passion for, and recognition of, the increasingly important and disruptive potential of the fintech industry.
The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday filed a civil rights complaint against a north Florida school district over a new transgender bathroom policy that limits restroom use to students based on their birth sex.

The ACLU filed the Title IX complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against Marion County Public Schools.

The complaint comes after the school board passed the resolution 4-1 last month after a parent claimed that his son's rights were being violated because he didn't like sharing the Vanguard High School bathroom with another student that was born female but now identifies as male.

The ACLU's complaint says a transgender student was suspended several days later for using the men's restroom at school, despite having done so for years.

"In case anyone doubts that the current ugly political rhetoric doesn't have an impact  in this case the student was suspended from school for using the bathroom he has been using for years!," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida, in an email.

The complaint calls for requiring the district to permit the student to use male restroom facilities, remove the suspension from his disciplinary record and revise relevant policies.

Marion County Public Schools spokesman Kevin Christian said he couldn't confirm the student's suspension and said the district's attorney would handle any legal action.

"We're not surprised a complaint was filed," Christian said. "The school board was warned litigation was likely when they passed it. It's obviously going to play out in the court system."

Attorneys for the Liberty Counsel are representing the family of the boy who complained, arguing that he is a devout Christian whose religious beliefs and right to privacy were violated when the district previously allowed transgender students to use the bathroom of the gender with which they identify.

In a posting about the case on its website, the counsel said the school board's policy "protects the privacy rights and safety of all Marion County students.
An Islamic State fighter captured in Iraq last week reportedly begged Kurdish troops to kill him right away because he didnt want to be late for a 4 p.m. religious ceremony in heaven.

Kurdish Peshmerga forces captured the militant after he and 49 others were sent out by ISIS for a suicide bombing attack in the Christian town of Tel Askuf coinciding with an Islamic holy day, according to The Clarion Project.

They were supposed to commit suicide using their suicide belts because today is the anniversary of the Isra and Miiraj celebration," Peshmerga Lt. Col. Salim ak-Surji reportedly told the Turkish News Agency Rudaw.

He told me all of us must be in heaven by 4 p.m., kill me, the officer said.

The day marks Prophet Muhammads ascension to heaven to receive instruction form Allah.

Surji told Rudaw he was recording the bodies of ISIS dead on video when he spotted one fighter moving his ankle, according to the Clarion Project.

I put my hand on his chest and found that he was breathing, Surji was quoted as saying. He was also conscious and talking. His explosive belt had not detonated and he was hurt in his ankle due to the explosion of one of his comrades. He was able to walk. He told me you are infidels, kill me.

U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Keating, 31, was shot and killed in Tel Askuf last week when he and other special operations forces went to the rescue of U.S. forces who were caught in a gun battle involving more than 100 ISIS fighters.
William Smith has been eating oatmeal every morning of his life, so when the 80-year-old Massachusetts man saw a Quaker Oats "best recipe" contest, he was quick to mail in his favorite: oats topped with brown sugar, pineapple and coconut flakes.

But Smith's "Hawaiian Special" recipe, which he wrote by hand on a piece of paper, was rejected and returned to him a few days later -- with a letter accompanying it.

"Please be advised that your letter, with attachment, does not constitute a valid entry into the Contest in accordance with the Official Rules available at www.bringyourbestbowl.com," wrote a representative for PepsiCo, which owns Quaker Oats Company.

"The submissions are accepted through either the contest application on Quaker's website, select retailer websites, Twitter, or Facebook during the submission period," the March 3 letter read. "We will not accept entries via alternative methods of entry."

Smith, who doesn't own a computer, called the letter "discouraging" and a form of age discrimination.

"When I see corporate America and how they can't take a paper

submission, I think it's ridiculous," Smith said Friday from his home in Sturbridge, Mass. "They don't realize where they came from."

Smith decided to send in his "Best Bowl" recipe in late February after seeing an advertisement for the contest and its prize: $250,000.

On a piece of paper, he jotted down four ingredients in legible handwriting and including the bowl's name, "Hawaiian Special."

"I have been using your product since 1946," he wrote. "I am 80 years old."

A PepsiCo spokeswoman Jody Menaker told FoxNews.com the company had apologized to Smith for the tone of the letter he received in response to his entry.

"For this specific contest, entries could only be accepted online," she said. "The intent behind that was not meant to make the promotion seem inaccessible, but rather to ensure a level playing field across all submissions."

Menaker added that PepsiCo greatly appreciated Smiths enthusiasm and support of the contest, as well as his love for Quaker.

Smith knew that winning the money was a longshot but said he never expected to receive a rejection letter for his failure to submit his recipe electronically.

"I realize times have changed but Im sure the man on the Quaker Oats box doesnt recognize a computer either," he quipped.

"I think its age discrimination but I would never force the issue," he said. "When you reach a certain age, you have to let things go."

When FoxNews.com asked Smith for the photo seen above, he readily agreed to submit it -- by "snail" mail. That's when his granddaughter, Jacklyn, with her newfangled computer, stepped in to help her grandpa.
Former President Bill Clinton was a much more frequent flyer on a registered sex offenders infamous jet than previously reported, with flight logs showing the former president taking at least 26 trips aboard the Lolita Express -- even apparently ditching his Secret Service detail for at least five of the flights, according to records obtained by FoxNews.com.

Clintons presence aboard Jeffrey Epsteins Boeing 727 on 11 occasions has been reported, but flight logs show the number is more than double that, and trips between 2001 and 2003 included extended junkets around the world with Epstein and fellow passengers identified on manifests by their initials or first names, including Tatiana. The tricked-out jet earned its Nabakov-inspired nickname because it was reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers had group sex with young girls.

Bill Clinton  associated with a man like Jeffrey Epstein, who everyone in New York, certainly within his inner circles, knew was a pedophile, said Conchita Sarnoff, of the Washington, D.C. based non-profit Alliance to Rescue Victims of Trafficking, and author of a book on the Epstein case called "TrafficKing." Why would a former president associate with a man like that?

Epstein, who counts among his pals royal figures, heads of state, celebrities and fellow billionaires, spent 13 months in prison and home detention for solicitation and procurement of minors for prostitution. He allegedly had a team of traffickers who procured girls as young as 12 to service his friends on Orgy Island, an estate on Epstein's 72-acre island, called Little St. James, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Virginia Roberts, 32, who claims she was pimped out by Epstein at age 15, has previously claimed she saw Clinton at Epsteins getaway in 2002, but logs do not show Clinton aboard any flights to St. Thomas, the nearest airport capable of accommodating Epstein's plane. They do show Clinton flying aboard Epsteins plane to such destinations as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, China, Brunei, London, New York, the Azores, Belgium, Norway, Russia and Africa.

Among those regularly traveling with Clinton were Epsteins associates, New York socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and Epsteins assistant, Sarah Kellen, both of whom were investigated by the FBI and Palm Beach Police for recruiting girls for Epstein and his friends.

Official flight logs filed with the Federal Aviation Administration show Clinton traveled on some of the trips with as many as 10 U.S. Secret Service agents. However, on a five-leg Asia trip between May 22 and May 25, 2002, not a single Secret Service agent is listed. The U.S. Secret Service has declined to answer multiple Freedom of Information Act requests filed by FoxNews.com seeking information on these trips. Clinton would have been required to file a form to dismiss the agent detail, a former Secret Service agent told FoxNews.com.

In response to a separate FOIA request from FoxNews.com, the U.S. Secret Service said it has no records showing agents were ever on the island with Clinton.

A Clinton spokesperson did not return emails requesting comment about the former presidents relationship and travels with Epstein. The Clinton Library said it had no relevant information and does not keep track of Clintons travel records.

Martin Weinberg, Epsteins current attorney, did not respond to multiple inquiries. Epstein said in a court filing said that he and his associates have been the subject of the most outlandish and offensive attacks, allegations, and plain inventions.

However, hundreds of pages of court records, including reports from police and FBI agents, reviewed by FoxNews.com, show Epstein was under law enforcement scrutiny for more than a year.

Police in Palm Beach, Fla., launched a year-long investigation in 2005 into Epstein after parents of a 14-year-old girl said their daughter was sexually abused by him. Police interviewed dozens of witnesses, confiscated his trash, performed surveillance and searched his Palm Beach mansion, ultimately identifying 20 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 who they said were sexually abused by Epstein.

In 2006, at the request of Palm Beach Police, the FBI launched a federal probe into allegations that Epstein and his personal assistants had used facilities of interstate commerce to induce girls between the ages of 14 and 17 to engage in illegal sexual activities.

According to court documents, police investigators found a clear indication that Epsteins staff was frequently working to schedule multiple young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years old literally every day, often two or three times per day.

One victim, in sworn deposition testimony, said Epstein began sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old and molested her on more than 50 occasions over the next three years. The girls testified they were lured to Epsteins home after being promised hundreds of dollars to be his model or masseuse, but when they arrived, he ordered them to take off their clothes and massage his naked body while he masturbated and used sex toys on them.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida prepared charging documents that accused Epstein of child sex abuse, witness tampering and money laundering, but Epstein took a plea deal before an indictment could be handed up.

On Sept. 24, 2007, in a deal shrouded in secrecy that left alleged victims shocked at its leniency, Epstein agreed to a 30-month sentence, including 18 months of jail time and 12 months of house arrest and the agreement to pay dozens of young girls under a federal statute providing for compensation to victims of child sexual abuse.

In exchange, the U.S. Attorneys Office promised not to pursue any federal charges against Epstein or his co-conspirators.

Florida attorney Brad Edwards, who represented some of Epsteins alleged victims, is suing the federal government over the secret non-prosecution agreement in hopes of having it overturned. Edwards claimed in court records that the government and Epstein concealed the deal from the victims to prevent them from voicing any objection, and to avoid the firestorm of controversy that would have arisen if it had become known that the Government was immunizing a politically-connected billionaire and all of his co-conspirators from prosecution of hundreds of federal sex crimes against minor girls.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida did not respond to a request for comment about the deal.

Other politicians, celebrities and businessmen, including presidential candidate Donald Trump, have been accused of fraternizing with Epstein. Trump lawyer Alan Garten told FoxNews.com in a statement Trump and Epstein are not pals.

There was no relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump, he said. They were not friends and they did not socialize together.
Police in New Hampshire caught the suspect accused of shooting and wounding two officers Friday in Manchester after a manhunt that stretched for hours.

Ian McPherson, 32, faced two counts of attempted capital murder, Associate Attorney General Jane Young told reporters. Officers had called the wanted suspect "extremely dangerous."

Officer Ryan Hardy, 27, had stopped McPherson early Friday after suspecting he was involved in a gas station robbery a day earlier, Police Chief Nick Willard said. The suspect allegedly fired at the officer, hitting him once in the face and once in the shoulder before escaping.

NEW: Photo of suspect in Manchester Police shooting from robbery evening before @fox25news pic.twitter.com/MU4RRjPr45  Kathryn Burcham (@KathrynBFOX25) May 13, 2016

Two additional officers spotted McPherson less than a half-hour later. The suspect shouted "I'm your man" and fired, hitting 28-year-old Officer Matthew O'Connor in the leg, Willard said.

Hardy was recovering in stable condition at a hospital in Boston near his family. Doctors released O'Connor earlier in the day.

Details of the suspect's capture were unclear. Police said they took him into custody around 5 a.m., but did not lift shelter-in-place orders until later in the morning when they could be sure the public was safe.

Police say Hardy is married with two children. O'Connor, also married, served a tour of duty in Afghanistan before joining Manchester Police.

Willard said Hardy had an strong will to survive. "He permeates that attitude."

Floyd Johnson lives near one of the shooting sites on Manchester's west side. He said he awoke to the sound of multiple gunshots at about 2:15 a.m. Seconds later, "all the police swarmed in," Johnson said.

He said he told his 13-year-old son to get on the floor. Police also told Johnson to stay put, away from the windows.

Johnson said he's lived on the west side all his life, and he's never seen anything like this before.

West High School, Gossler Park School, Northwest Elementary School, Parker-Varney School and Parkside Middle School all closed Friday during the search.

New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan thanked the officers for their "bravery and service."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox 25 Boston.
The U.S.-Mexico border is a hotbed for controversy regarding illegal immigration, but immigration officials have become equally as worried with the Canadian border.

CBS New York reported Thursday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials have expressed concerns about the amount of people trying to get into the U.S. through Canada as well as the amount of people and drug smuggling.

Border Control Division Chief Bradley Curtis spotted a horse that easily jumped a small fence that separates the Canadian border with upstate New York, and told the station that fence is the only thing separating the two countries for miles in parts of the state.

According to Border Patrol Operations Officer Brad Brandt, some spots can be a point of entry for potential terrorists. He said the agencys main mission is to stop a terrorist.

There are radicalized groups that are in Canada  that is a tremendous concern to us, Curtis told the station.

Officials also said they have growing concerns about Canadas open-door policy toward Syrian refugees.

Up here were encountering people from every single country, Curtis said. Theyre coming across on snowmobiles. Theyre coming across on ATVs. Of course, we have 95 miles of water boundaries, so people come across on boat, canoes, anything you can think of.

The area only has about 300 agents covering 300 miles, including an Indian reservation that has been an attractive route for smugglers. Curtis said theyve asked to double their manpower, but have been competing with the Mexico border.

Agents told the station they seized more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana and millions of dollars in smuggled currency coming into the U.S.

Click for more from CBS New York.
A woman killed by a shotgun blast during a domestic dispute last week recorded the sound of her own killing on her phone, authorities said.

Just before Wesley Webb was killed on May 2, prosecutors said she activated an audio recording program on her phone, capturing events from the shooting to the arrival of police officers at the home she shared with her killer. On the recording, they said, the sound of the gunshot can be heard and then Webb's killer's voice uttering an expletive followed by, "How's that? That's where we just went."

Prosecutors announced murder charges Wednesday against Keith Robert Smith in connection with Webb's slaying at their home in Phoenixville, near Philadelphia, where three children were present.

"This was a savage, selfish and cowardly murder," Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement.

Smith and Webb had gotten into a fight, and Webb had decided to leave and take two of the children, authorities said. While Webb was sitting on a living room couch, Smith grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun and shot her in the chest, killing her, and then tried unsuccessfully to kill himself, they said.

Smith, who was hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday, is charged with murder, criminal homicide, child endangerment, reckless endangerment and a weapons crime. He couldn't be reached for comment while hospitalized, and court documents don't list an attorney for him. A message left at a phone number listed in his name wasn't immediately returned.

The audio recording Webb made of her killing would have been inadmissible in court until very recently under the commonwealth's wiretap act, but the law was changed in 2012, Hogan said.
A police chief in Florida knew he had to follow the law like everybody else -- so when a Facebook post Tuesday showed his SUV parked on a sidewalk, he went ahead and ticketed himself.

"The sergeant brought it to my attention and I paid it. It's the right thing to do," Groveland Police Chief Melvin Tennyson told the Orlando Sentinel.

"We enforce our parking violations as well as all laws and city ordinances. I cannot therefore hold anyone accountable until I hold myself accountable and as I have always said it starts at the top," he added.

Tennyson claimed he was meeting with a city manager at the time, and parked on the sidewalk so he could rush into City Hall.

The police chief paid $45. His department posted a picture of the receipt online.

Groveland is a 40-minute drive west of Orlando.
Ask the average American  or good scientist  what the most pressing areas of scientific research are today, and your answers will be varied and passionate. Curing cancer and Alzheimer's disease. Advancing applications of synthetic biology. Developing more anti-retroviral drug therapies.

But you might as well toss all of that out the window when you talk to elite progressive educational forces intent on driving climate change to the top of the nation's science curriculum agenda. As far as they are concerned, global warming trumps all other scientific concerns.

Here's a case in point. Hugh Birdsall, teacher and adviser to the after-school club at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, Connecticut, said of climate change, "This is the most important science topic there is now," in an article on theday.com.

That school has aligned its science curriculum with the state's recently released Common Core science standards for elementary school  and they have already covered all the required material.

Greg Powell, director of Reforest the Tropics, a nonprofit in Mystic, Connecticut, told the same publication that carbon dioxide emissions and reforestation are going to be "one of the biggest issues in students' lives."

It is hard to imagine, what with soaring unemployment, a staggering national debt, the pressing threat of terrorism, and an increasingly tense and divided culture, that trees are going to even make the top five issues for tomorrow's adults. The Obama administration has been successful, however, at motivating educational forces in the U.S. to promote the idea that climate change is an imminent and urgent threat to civilization.

Our children, unfortunately, are hit right between the eyes on a regular basis by this climate agenda.

"We are actually told to distrust sources if they don't preach the climate-change gospel," one 16-year-old high school sophomore in the Boston area said. "And that's even if they're well-respected sources. Everything's moving to climate change  it's like they're obsessed with it. Even other classes not related to science try to work climate change into the lessons. When we were studying the Civil War, my teacher said, 'Imagine, the only transportation was wagon or horseback, so armies moved slower, but the air was cleaner.'"

Scientific researchers who once were above reproach are under attack now. Last year, Greenpeace and various media outlets, including The New York Times and The Boston Globe, teamed up to discredit and attack global warming skeptic Wei-Hock Soon, a widely respected astrophysicist with the Smithsonian Institution, over his research funding sources.

"It is a despicable, reprehensible attack on a man of great personal integrity," Myron Ebell, director of the Global Warming and International Environmental Policy for the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the National Review at the time. "If he had only mouthed Establishment platitudes, he could've been named to head a big university [research center], as Michael Mann was." Mann is a noted pro-warming scientist.

Alabama schools decided last year to require students to learn about climate change after a unanimous Board of Education vote on the matter. The new guidelines, according to PBS, support the fact that "climate change is happening."

In 2013, new nationwide science standards for grades K-12 were released that recommend that public school students learn about climate change.

Educators, however, say the politicization of climate change has led some teachers to avoid the topic altogether, according to NPR. There are those working to make sure that when it is taught in schools, proper scientific inquiry is respected.

"To the extent that these standards do paint a picture that I think runs counter to the scientific evidence, we're going to make sure that we point that out," former senior fellow of The Heartland Institute, James Taylor, told NPR. The Heartland Institute is a free-market global think tank that is developing its own curriculum and questioning the human role in climate change.

Tennessee and Alabama are currently the only two states where teachers are protected legally in the effort to explore "the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of evolution and climate change," according to the law.

Tennessee's law, passed in 2012, states that it is a protection for teachers who "help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught."

It is alarming that a state would need a law to protect rigorous and honest scientific inquiry  but even scientists are in the tank for climate hysteria.

Brenda Ekwurzel of the Union of Concerned Scientists told Reuters of the Tennessee law, "We need to keep kids' curiosity about science alive and not limit their ability to understand the world around them by exposing them to misinformation."

Twenty years ago, a comment like this would have been from someone in favor of the Tennessee and Alabama protections. Today  that statement questions them.

The indoctrination follows American students right into college. Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded North Carolina State University a $150,000 grant to essentially brainwash its agriculture students on climate issues.

The grant states, "Among the agricultural and natural resource sciences for climate change, education is vital as it can increase climate change knowledge and risk perception, precursors to climate change action," reports Collapsenews.com. The grant language continues: "Education is critical among the agricultural community because, although climate change threatens agricultural sustainability, skepticism of anthropogenic climate change runs high."

Burdensome federal regulations are already attacking this generation of American farmers. Instead of helping the next generation of farmers, the government adds insult to injury by asserting  with taxpayer dollars  that climate change education is paramount to their survival.

Said another Boston-area high-school senior of the current public school science curriculum, "My mom is so mad at the school over a lot of things  their idea of climate change education is just one of them. She kind of throws up her hands now that I'm almost through and says, 'When you want to hear the truth, come and ask me.'"
A student brought a gun to a South Carolina high school and accidentally shot himself in the cafeteria Friday, causing a brief lockdown, investigators revealed.

Greenville County Sheriff's Office spokesman Drew Pinciaro said investigators were still trying to figure out the circumstances behind the gunfire at Southside High School.

School district spokeswoman Beth Brotherton said the unnamed student was conscious and talking and was taken to a local hospital.

School district officials were starting to dismiss students to buses, drive home or be picked up by their parents.

Southside and several other schools in the area were put on lockdown earlier in the day as district officials set up a perimeter around the school.

"As soon as law enforcement reaches a point in their investigation that they can allow us to release students we will dismiss to parents or guardians with appropriate permission," school officials told Fox Carolina.

Dispatchers told local media outlets the shooting appeared to be isolated.

Click for more from Fox Carolina.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The husband of a woman whose car drove over an embankment in Southern California told authorities Thursday that she was trapped in her car for more than 14 hours.

The woman was driving in a remote area of Irvine and had fallen about 170 yards down to a dirt road off State Route 241. Orange County Fire Authority said officials have to extricate her from the vehicle and she was transported to a local hospital.

Sgt. Aaron Knarr of the California Highway Patrols Santa Ana office said the crash occurred sometime Wednesday night and the woman was stuck in her car overnight. He said the woman was coming home from a friends house when she took the wrong road.

The woman woke up at about 7 a.m. and left a voicemail on her husbands phone, Knarr said. The husband called Anaheim police, who then passed the information to Irvine police and then the California Highway Patrol, according to patrol officer Denise Quesada.

According to KTLA, the husband is a Riverside County Sheriffs deputy. He told Anaheim police that his wife was cutting in and out, but had heard something about Anaheim. Knarr said the last ping on the womans cellphone was used to track her down  though the search was delayed because of fog.

Quesada said the beaten up vehicle was found at 10:30 a.m. Fire rescue officials said she was airlifted to Orange County Global Medical Center in Santa Ana at about 11:20 a.m.

The woman nor her husband were identified.

Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz said the woman suffered non-life threatening injuries and was scheduled to have a CT scan.

Click for more from KTLA.
In a startling speech to German parliament Thursday, a lawmaker recited the controversial satirical poem that angered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying he felt that he needed to remind his colleagues how offensive it was.

Detlef Seif, a member of the Christian Democratic Union, repeated the poem and said Erdogan's honor was under attack, The New York Times reported. The poem suggested that the Turkish president was a pedophile who contracted a veneral disease from sex with goats.

German TV comedian Jan Boehmermann wrote the poem and read it for the first time on-air more than a month ago. He described it as an example of something the German government wouldn't allow over the airwaves.

Chancellor Angela Merkel last month granted a Turkish request for Boehmermann to be investigated on suspicion of insulting a foreign head of state.

"Put yourselves in the shoes of Erdogan and think about it: How would you feel about it yourself? Seif asked. German law protected Seif against potential prosecution, the Times added.

On Tuesday, a German court rejected Erdogan's bid for an injunction against the head of one of Germany's biggest publishing houses in a standoff over the poem. The chief executive of Axel Springer, Mathias Doepfner, had expressed solidarity with Boehmermann.

In an open letter last month, Doepfner wrote: "I want to associate myself wholly with all of your words and insults ... and make them legally mine."

The Cologne state court ruled Doepfner's letter didn't amount to him disseminating Boehmermann's comments himself and refused an injunction.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Islamic State terrorists recently used a series of tunnels to move in secret from Egypt to the Gaza Strip for training, an Israeli military leader revealed Friday.

Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai said a branch of Hamas, which rules Gaza, helped the fighters cross the border into the town of Rafah without initially getting detected, Haaretz reported.

Mordechai reportedly told the Saudi news site Elaph that Hamas' top leadership was aware of the tunnels. The U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization.

Last month, Hamas boosted security forces along the border with Egypt in response to Egyptian accusations that Hamas was aiding ISIS militants in the Sinai Peninsula.

On Wednesday, Hamas announced that Egypt temporarily reopened its border with the Gaza Strip, the first time the border was opened in three months. The Rafah crossing was Gaza's main gateway to the outside world.

Hamas said 30,000 people recently applied to travel for various reasons, including humanitarian cases.

Egypt has kept the crossing largely sealed since 2013, when ties with Hamas worsened after the ouster of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Bens Soft Pretzels Raises $30,000 for Military Personnel on National Pretzel Day

Amish-Inspired Pretzel Bakery Collected Donations for Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund in Exchange for Free Pretzels

May 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // GOSHEN, Ind.  On National Pretzel Day (Tuesday, April 26), pretzel lovers from across the country gathered at Bens Soft Pretzels, an Amish-inspired soft pretzel franchise, to redeem a free pretzel in exchange for a $1 donation to the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund (IFHF). With a goal to beat last years inaugural Pretzel Day donation of $15,000, the soft pretzel bakery rounded out the pretzel holiday with 20,000 free pretzels distributed and a grand donation total of $30,000 raised in one day.

As part of Bens Soft Pretzels dedication to working alongside IFHP, a non-profit organization that provides support to United States military personnel and their families, executives made a special trip to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City on National Pretzel Day to show their appreciation. Extending the life of the charitable program, Bens Soft Pretzels also raises funds for IFHF in October for National Pretzel Month.

We love celebrating National Pretzel Day every year and it makes the holiday that much more meaningful when we know we are contributing to a great cause, said Scott Jones, CEO and co-founder of Bens Soft Pretzels. The participation we saw this year from customers was astonishing. Every free pretzel provided that day allowed another person to say that they supported our veterans through Intrepid Fallen Heroes and thats a great feeling.

There are currently 62 Ben's Soft Pretzels bakery locations in six states including Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Alabama, and Florida. Ben's Soft Pretzels master lease and license agreement with retail giants, Wal-Mart and Meijer, allow for franchise partners to open bakeries in high-traffic areas. Looking ahead, more than 20 new Ben's Soft Pretzels locations are in development for 2016.

For more information on Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, visit www.fallenheroesfund.org and to find your nearest Bens Soft Pretzels location, visit www.benspretzels.com.

About Bens Soft Pretzels

Bens Soft Pretzels is the nations fastest growing soft pretzel franchise with 62 locations in six states offering Amish-inspired pretzels baked on-site daily. Founded in 2008 by local business man Brian Krider, pretzel fanatic Scott Jones, and Amish baker Ben Miller, Bens Soft Pretzels is a quick-serve franchise opportunity that offers a simple business model with prime real estate locations and a cost-effective distribution system. For more information about the franchise opportunity, please visit www.benspretzelsfranchising.com.

About Intrepid Fallen Heroes

The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund is a leader in supporting the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. Begun in 2000 and established as an independent not-for-profit organization in 2003, the Fund has provided nearly $200 million in support for the families of military personnel lost in service to our nation, and for severely wounded military personnel and veterans. These efforts are funded entirely with donations from the public, and hundreds of thousands of individuals have contributed to the Fund. For more information, please visit www.fallenheroesfund.org.

SOURCE Bens Soft Pretzels

Media Contact:

Matthew Gold

Fishman Public Relations

(847) 945-1300 ext. 247

mgold@fishmanpr.com

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Chicago Real Estate Resources Residential Group Joins Real Living Real Estate Brokerage Network

Chicago, IL-based brokerage to operate as Real Living City Residential

CHICAGO - May 12, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Real Living Real Estate, one of the nation's leading real estate franchisors and a member of the HSF Affiliates LLC family of real estate brokerage networks, today announced that Chicago Real Estate Resources Residential Group has joined the network operating as Real Living City Residential.

Eric Janssen, owner of Real Living City Residential, said Real Living Real Estate is an ideal match for his company. This brand is refreshing and entrepreneurial; it addresses the ever-changing needs of todays agents and consumers, he said about the network, which was recently named Real Estate Agency Brand of the Year and Most Loved real estate brand based on the 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend study. Real Livings values underscore the idea that you must be flexible enough to ensure your key business objectives are being met, and the latest Harris Poll EquiTrend results prove that these values resonate with consumers nationwide.

Jim Roth, principal broker at Real Living City Residential, added that the brand will help his firm grow and meet the goals theyve set for the coming year. Real Living Real Estate is part of a strong parent heritage in HomeServices of America, Inc. and we will leverage that expertise and leadership as we expand our brokerage, he said. In 2016, we plan to open a new office in the Lincoln Park area and, at minimum, double our agent count with quality professionals who share our vision.

With their affiliation, Real Living City Residential agents gain access to a comprehensive and integrated suite of resources aimed at helping sales professionals and their clients successfully navigate the home- buying and selling process. Were excited to bring better, updated systems and tools to our team members that will help them stay current with the opportunities and challenges of the Chicago real estate market, said Janssen. Some people talk historically about what used to be or reminisce on a time when the marketplace was easier to navigate, he said. But at City Residential, we know the future is in front of us, not behind us and we embrace technology, innovation and change in order to move forward.

Bob McAdams, president of Real Living Real Estate, welcomed Real Living City Residential to the network. Eric, Jim and the team are well respected throughout the Chicago area for their expertise and ingenuity, he said. Were proud theyve chosen to join the Real Living family and know theyve got a very bright future ahead.

Real Living City Residential bases operations at 932 West Grace St., Chicago, IL 60613; (773) 975-2000.

About Real Living City Residential

Real Living City Residential is a full-service real estate company, providing commercial and residential brokerage and management services. Visit rlcityresidential.com for details.

About Real Living Real Estate

Real Living Real Estate is a full-service real estate brokerage franchise company with a comprehensive and integrated suite of resources for franchisees and their sales professionals, as well as for consumers who work with them. In 2016, Real Living Real Estate was named Real Estate Agency Brand of the Year and Most Loved real estate brand in the 28th annual Harris Poll EquiTrend study. Additionally, the Real Living brand and its innovative concepts were recognized by Entrepreneur magazine; have won Inman Innovator Awards, and been named the Most Promising New National Brand by the Swanepoel TRENDS Report. Real Living Real Estate is a network brand of HSF Affiliates LLC, majority owned by HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. For more information, visit www.RealLiving.com.

About 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study

Real Living Real Estate received the highest numerical Equity Score and the highest numerical score relating to Love among real estate agency brands included in the 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study, which is based on opinions of 97,120 U.S. consumers ages 15 and over surveyed online between Dec. 22, 2015 and Feb. 1, 2016. Your opinion may differ. Highest Ranked and Most Loved are determined by a pure ranking of a sample of real estate agency brands.

SOURCE Real Living Real Estate

Contacts:

Kevin Ostler

For Real Living Real Estate

949-794-7980

kevinostler@hsfranchise.com

Matt Kaufman

For Real Living Real Estate

949-794-1538

mattkaufman@hsfranchise.com

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Fazolis Receives Prestigious Gold Stevie Award for Company of the Year

Americas Largest Fast-Casual Italian Chain Recognized As Food & Beverage Company of the Year Amidst Continued Franchisee Sales Growth

May 13, 2016 // Franchising.com // LEXINGTON, Kentucky - Fazolis, Americas largest fast-casual Italian chain, today announced that it has been named a Gold Stevie Award winner in the Company of the Year  Food and Beverage category in the 14th annual American Business Awards.

The American Business Awards are the premier business awards program in the U.S., with categories to recognize achievement in every facet of work life, including management, marketing, human resources, new products and websites. More than 3,400 nominations were submitted this year and judged by more than 250 professionals, whose average scores determined the winners.

Were honored to win this award and it proves that its an exciting time to be a part of the Fazolis franchise family, following our sixth consecutive year of positive comp-sales growth, said Carl Howard, president and chief executive officer of Fazolis. Winning the Gold Stevie Award in the Company of the Year Food and Beverage category further fuels our desire to expand Fazolis presence nationwide so our customers can enjoy our savory, always fresh Italian food and table service no matter where they are.

Fazolis strong performance, combined with an industry-leading new franchisee incentive program, continues to drive the brands expansion. With plans to open 12 new restaurants this year, Fazolis also recently opened in Montgomery, Alabama and Macon, Georgia, where the company set an all time sale record for an opening week. The company is targeting new franchise development in markets including Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Knoxville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and several other markets to grow and further catapult the brands development nationwide.

New Fazolis franchisees are eligible for discounts of up to $20,000 off the initial $30,000 franchise fee. Royalties have been cut to 2 percent from 4 percent for the first year, and to 3 percent for the second year. Vendor fees also will be discounted for the first 12 months. The incentives are available to franchisees who sign agreements now through July 31, 2016.

With nearly 220 restaurants in 26 states, Fazolis is Americas largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. Fazolis franchisees are experiencing record sales growth, and the company is currently seeking single- and multi-unit operators to join the brands rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, connect with Fazolis online at www.fazolis.com, www.ownafazolis.com, @Fazolis, and https://www.facebook.com/Fazolis.

About Fazolis

With approximately 220 restaurants, Fazolis is Americas largest Italian fast-casual chain, serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Posts five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a Fast Casual.com Brand of the Year, Fazolis franchisees are experiencing record sales growth. Visit www.ownafazolis.com for details on development opportunities, including new operator incentives.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in seven programs: the Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards, the German Stevie Awards, The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service, and the new Stevie Awards for Great Employers. Stevie Awards competitions receive more than 10,000 entries each year from organizations in more than 60 nations. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at http://www.StevieAwards.com.

SOURCE Fazolis

Media Contact:

Sloane Fistel

Account Executive

Fish Consulting, LLC

O: (954) 893-9150

C: (954) 789-0432

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Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries Springs into Spartanburg

All-American, Family-Friendly Diner Will Make its Sparkle City Debut On Monday, May 16

Spartanburg, SC - Sparkle City will welcome its newest shining star as the highly-lauded Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries readies for its Spartanburg opening on Monday, May 16.

Hwy 55 will open its doors in The Upstate at 205 Cedar Springs Road in Spartanburg. With South Carolina locations already in Rock Hill and Myrtle Beach, the Spartanburg restaurant adds to the brands statewide-profile. Approximately 50 new Hwy 55 locations are planned for South Carolina over the next 10 years.

"Spartanburg is home to nearly 300,000 people, but youd hardly know it considering how small the city feels," said JR Cottle, Hwy 55s master franchisee for South Carolina and Texas. The people here are polite and helpful so we know Hwy 55's family-friendly concept and dedication to authentic hospitality will fit right in."

Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries boasts a fresh, All-American diner experience with fresh, never-frozen burgers, premium sliced cheesesteaks piled high on steamed hoagies, and frozen custard made in-house every day. With its open-grill design, the kitchen's dedication and care when hand-crafting meals is front and center.

"Spartanburg is an energetic college community with the University of South Carolina Upstate, Wofford College, Converse College and Spartanburg Methodist all with excellent reputations," said Hwy 55 president and founder Kenney Moore. "This vibrant community celebrates a rich tradition, on and off campus, and pairs perfectly with Hwy 55's focus on retro values and always-fresh take on classics."

Hwy 55 Spartanburg will be open from 11 am to 9 pm Sunday through Thursday and from 11 am to 10 pm on Friday and Saturday.

About Hwy 55

Hwy 55, a retro-themed diner that features fresh, never-frozen hand-pattied burgers, house-made frozen custard, and other classic favorites in a unique open-kitchen setting, was founded in Goldsboro, North Carolina in 1991. Hwy 55 reflects founder Kenney Moore's commitment to authentic hospitality and fresh food. Widely known in the state for its fresh food and service that exceeds expectations, the chain won BurgerBusiness.com's "Best Burger" in 2012. It also was recently named a top 500 franchise in the United States by Entrepreneur magazine and a "Next 20" restaurant brand by Nation's Restaurant News. HWY 55 currently has 125 locations in 10 states, Denmark and the United Arab Emirates. Like HWY 55 on at https://www.facebook.com/Hwy55burgers or follow us at https://twitter.com/hwy55burgers. For more information, visit https://www.hwy55.com.

SOURCE Hwy 55

Media Contact:

Tom Beyer

150PR

480-722-1461

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The UPS Store Kicks Off National Small Business Week With Small Biz Salute

New Survey Finds That Small Business Owners Crave Connections and Marketing Advice; The UPS Store Offers Both With Networking Opportunities Throughout May

SAN DIEGO, CA - (Marketwired - May 12, 2016) - In celebration of National Small Business Week (May 1-7), The UPS Store is bringing together networking opportunities and marketing help through its annual Small Biz Salute, a month-long initiative providing entrepreneurs in several of the nation's top small business cities special opportunities to make meaningful connections in their communities and gain valuable marketing advice from business experts.

Throughout the month of May, The UPS Store will encourage people to "salute" their favorite local small business by giving them a shout out on social media with #SmallBizSalute. In four cities -- Minneapolis, Nashville, Houston and Phoenix -- The UPS Store will be hosting events to provide small business owners the opportunity to meet and network with other owners in their communities.

In addition to networking with peers, attendees will also have the opportunity to gain valuable business advice from experts like Marcus Lemonis, Host of CNBC's The Profit, who is teaming up with The UPS Store to help small business owners and will also be the keynote speaker at the Small Biz Salute event in Minneapolis on May 4 and Phoenix on May 24.

The UPS Store is also using National Small Business Week as an opportunity to help start or grow small businesses through its Small Biz Pitch Competition**. At the Small Biz Salute events, local residents can apply to pitch their business idea to a panel of judges for a chance to win $5,000 while also getting the invaluable feedback on their idea from hundreds of local small business owners. Those interested can apply online prior to the event or arrive early the day of the event for a chance to compete.

For more information about Small Biz Salute, visit theupsstore.com/smallbizsalute.

** Full contest rules available on The UPS Store Website. Small Biz Pitch Competition will not be held at the Phoenix event.

About The UPS Store

With more than 4,500 locations, The UPS Store network comprises the nation's largest franchise system of retail shipping, postal, print and business service centers. The UPS Store locations in the U.S. are independently owned and operated by licensed franchisees of The UPS Store, Inc., a subsidiary of UPS (NYSE: UPS).

SOURCE The UPS Store

Contact:

Carley Greiner

Producer

E: carleyg@dssimon.com

T: 212.736.2727

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The teacher crisis is real, and were not going to work our way out of it simply by making it easier to hire teachers.
Microsoft Phone Call Scam Exposed by G-Wiz Tech Support

The Microsoft phone call scam has been exposed, these scams are some of the most common in Australia. G-Wiz Tech Support is exposing this scam for what it is and is offering this advice.

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G-Wiz Tech Support announces that the Microsoft phone call scam is becoming a widespread problem in Adelaide.

Gavin Piliczky, the proprietor behind G-Wiz Tech Support a computer repair business in Adelaide has now made it a priority to offer help to victims of this common phone scam.

The phone scam works by the caller being convinced that they are receiving a call from Microsoft and that they have many errors on their computer that require fixing. The scammer proceeds to perform some minor unhelpful maintenance tasks on the computer remotely and then proceeds to debit the victims credit card, often for very large sums of money.

Gavin Piliczky from G-Wiz Tech Support stated:

"It's just terrible, these victims are being tricked in to losing huge amounts of money. I want to do what I can to inform people on this matter. I've watched an elderly couple lose all their savings over this scam. People need to know about this problem and should be confident in protecting themselves."

G-Wiz Tech Support is offering the following advice to victims of the Microsoft phone support scam:

"Never answer the phone to callers stating they are from Microsoft, they will never contact you via phone in this way. If you feel you have been scammed then call your bank or financial institution immediately for support. The banks can cancel credit cards and sometimes reverse transactions. It's also important to contact the authorities and provide them with as much information as possible. If people need further advice they are welcome to contact us."

G-Wiz Tech Support offers onsite computer repairs and services to both homes and businesses across Adelaide. They offer a wide range of services including virus removal, data recovery, networking and file sharing and much more.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.gwiztechsupport.com.au

Contact Info:

Name: Gavin Piliczky

Organization: G-Wiz Tech Support

Address: PO BOX 305 PARK HOLME SA 5043

Phone: 0422295057

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/microsoft-phone-call-scam-exposed-by-g-wiz-tech-support/100313

Release ID: 100313

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Wedding Day Coordinator Details Made Simple Celebrates Its 5th Anniversary

Details Made Simple is celebrating its 5 year anniversary and reveals some of its big wins and challenges it faced getting this far. More information on the business can be found at www.detailsmadesimple.com

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Details Made Simple is celebrating their 5th Anniversary, which commemorates 5 amazing years in business. This is a huge milestone for the New Jersey-based Wedding Day Coordination business, which has provided Wedding Day Management to over 200 Brides and Grooms since 2011.

Details Made Simple got it's start in 2011 when founder Carla Friday combined her belief in the power of love and her passion for helping others.

One of the earliest challenges Details Made Simple faced was letting the world know about this unique new company and growing the business to be bigger than just a one woman show..

While every business of course faces challenges, some, like Details Made Simple are fortunate enough to enjoy real successes, wins and victories too. Once such victory came when they won for the 4th year in a row The Knot's Best of Wedding Award 2016 which also landed them in The Knots Hall of Fame. Details Made Simple is also the 4th time winner of WeddingWire's Couples Choice Award 2016, both awards are based on reviews from their satisfied couples.

Carla Friday, Founder at Details Made Simple was also quoted when discussing another big win. "One of the high points of Details Made Simple 's success over the years is with over 200 weddings done to date, our growing business means we need a bigger team. I'm so proud to say that we have the best team in the wedding industry. We are now a family of 8 strong and driven woman who have this crazy obsession and undying passion for weddings and to me that is one of our greatest accomplishments."

Details Made Simple's Founder, Carla Friday says "We're delighted to be celebrating our 5 Year Anniversary. I believe the secret to getting this far in business today is that success is in the details! We truly listen to our couples and ensure that their wedding day is nothing short of perfect. We are always genuine, sincere and our happy selves and are always there for our couples when they need us. I truly believe that this personal touch and insane attention to detail goes a long way and sets us apart from other companies."

Details Made Simple currently consists of 8 day-of coordinators and has big plans for the upcoming year. One of their core objectives is to continue to grow the team and branch out to more service areas like DC, Maryland and Virginia.

Details Made Simple would also like to thank friends, customers and all its partners for their well wishes on this happy occasion.

More information on the business can be found at www.detailsmadesimple.com

For more information about us, please visit https://www.detailsmadesimple.com

Contact Info:

Name: Carla Friday

Organization: Details Made Simple ~ Wedding Day Coordinator

Address: 231 North Avenue West, Westfield, NJ 07090

Phone: 732-692-4259

Release ID: 114641

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Wine Lovers and Book Lovers Come Together at Grand Vin in Key West

Grand Vin, a popular wine bar for locals and tourists alike, will hold a combination wine tasting/book signing party to start Memorial Day weekend.

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Even in a tropical town like Key West, where every day might feel like the middle of summer, people still look forward to the unofficial start of the holiday season. This year the people at Grand Vin in Key West will make sure people start their Memorial Day weekend right by hosting a combination wine tasting/book signing event on Friday May 27th. The wines will be Italian, provided by Breakthru Beverage, and the book is "Talk Murder To Me" by former longtime resident Jack Terry.

"Obviously a lot of our patrons come here because of the great wine selection that we offer," said Sharon Wolfe Bohmfalk, one of the bartenders at Grand Vin who is also coordinating the wine tasting and book signing. "Many of those people also tend to be patrons of the arts as well. Literature has historically been a large part of the Key West identity, so I thought bringing wine and books together was a no-brainer."

The wines are being provided by James Braun and the Breakthru Beverage Group. One of the largest distributors in the nation for wine and spirits, James will be bringing a taste of Italy with him when he comes to Key West. There will be several different varietals for guests to sample and purchase, and they can decide which goes best with a tropical murder mystery.

"When I started writing this, I had in mind to create the perfect beach read, so it's great to be able to have the release party/book signing on the unofficial first day of summer." Jack Terry spent several years living in Key West Florida working as a bartender while earning recognition for his writing and performing as an actor. "As soon as Sharon heard that the book was coming out, she called me up and convinced me to spend Memorial Day weekend back on the rock. I couldn't be more excited."

"Talk Murder To Me" tells the story of Tricky Dick, a former government agent living on his sailboat in the Key West Bight. Finding a dead body one morning, he gets assigned to solve the case, hindered by the fact that seemingly everyone he talks to wanted the victim dead. The wine tasting/book signing event will happen Friday May 27th from 6 to 8 pm at Grand Vin, 1107 Duval Street, Key West, FL.

For more information on "Talk Murder To Me" contact the author at popcornjackson@yahoo.com or to order of the book a copy visit: www.createspace.com/6182871

**Robert Willis is a freelance writer who specializes in special events involving food and drink.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.breakthrubev.com/Florida

Contact Info:

Name: Robert Willis

Organization: Breakthru Beverage Group



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/wine-lovers-and-book-lovers-come-together-at-grand-vin-in-key-west/114739

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Europe Biologics Industry 2016 : Market Research Report By Radiant Insights,Inc

RadiantInsights.com includes new market research report on "Europe Biologics Industry Size, Share And Trends Report Up To 2016 : Radiant Insights" to its huge collection of research reports.

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Biologics can be created using proteins, nucleic acids, sugars, or some complex combination of these materials, or even living bodies for example tissues & cells. Biologics are isolated from a number of natural sources such as microorganisms, animals, humans, and may be created using biotechnology techniques and several other advanced technologies.

Access Full Report With TOC @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/europe-biologics-industry-2016

This market research report is a detailed and a specialized study of the present state of the Europe biologics industry. The report gives a basic idea of the biologics industry including its definitions, applications, classifications, as well as industry chain structure. The analysis of the biologics industry is provided for the European markets including the competitive landscape analysis, development trends, and the development statuses of the key areas of the region.

Moreover, the development plans & policies as well as Bill of Materials price structures & production methods are also covered in this report. The report also includes other details such as supply & demand statistics, export / import consumption, revenue, prices, and gross margins of the Europe biologics industry.

Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: www.radiantinsights.com/research/europe-biologics-industry-2016#tabs-4

It focuses on the key industry participants from the Europe region along with their details including company profile, pictures & specifications of the product, production, prices, capacity, revenue, as well as contact details. It covers the top companies including Pfizer, Amgen, Roche, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Ganlee, Merck, Changchun High Tech, Biotech Pharma, CP Guojian Pharmacy, United Laboratories, Novartis, Gelgen Biopharma, Tong Hua Dong Bao Group, Biotech Pharma, Innovent

The analysis of the upstream equipment & raw materials and downstream demands is also covered in this report. At last, the viability of new investment plans along with the overall market research conclusions is offered.

See More Reports of This Category by Radiant Insights: http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/pharmaceuticals-and-healthcare

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/europe-biologics-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/europe-biologics-industry-2016-market-research-report-by-radiant-insightsinc/114793

Release ID: 114793

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Attorney David Muncy Honored for Leadership Efforts by Maryland Association for Justice

David A. Muncy of Plaxen & Adler, P.A. was recently named to the Board of Governors for the Maryland Association of Justice. He was also honored for his leadership in the New Lawyers Section, which was named Section of the Year for 2016.

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Attorney David A. Muncy, of Plaxen & Adler, P.A., was honored for his leadership of the New Lawyers Section of the Maryland Association for Justice, which was awarded the Section of the Year in 2016. Mr. Muncy was also selected as a member of the MAJ's Board of Governors.

"It is an honor to be selected because MAJ does so much good work and all of the sections are outstanding," said attorney David Muncy. "MAJ's members represent some of the best legal minds in the state, and we all want to make a better, stronger civil justice system that truly protects people in Maryland."

David Muncy joined MAJ in 2012, and became the head of the New Lawyer's Section in 2015. This year, the New Lawyers Section hosted a series of breakfasts with leaders in the legal community as keynote speakers. The New Lawyers Section also partnered with other MAJ sections to put on a mock trial, where some of the area's finest attorneys tried an auto accident case from beginning to end, to much acclaim. A Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge presided over the case.

About the Maryland Association for Justice

The Maryland Association for Justice (MAJ) "represents over 1,300 trial attorneys throughout the state of Maryland. MAJ advocates for the preservation of the civil justice system, the protection of the rights of consumers and the education and professional development of its members." Founded in 1945 as the Maryland Plaintiff's Bar Association, the organization has spent the last 71 years serving attorneys throughout Maryland and their clients by offering ample opportunities to both.

The MAJ's Board of Governors is made up entirely of volunteers. They often work hand-in-hand with local and state legislators, as well as the judiciary, to ensure that the rights of victims are protected. They also ensure that all projects put forth by the MAJ run smoothly and efficiently.

Plaxen & Adler, P.A. is a premier personal injury law firm in Maryland. Based in Columbia, Maryland, the firm maintains nine different locations to better serve clients throughout the state. The attorneys primarily focus their practice on:

o Auto accidents

o Medical malpractice

o Defective product litigation

o Workers' compensation

o Social Security Disability

For more information about us, please visit http://www.plaxenadler.com

Contact Info:

Name: Bruce Plaxen

Organization: Plaxen & Adler, P.A.

Address: 10211 Wincopin Cir, Ste 620 Columbia, MD 21044

Phone: (410) 730-7737

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/attorney-david-muncy-honored-for-leadership-efforts-by-maryland-association-for-justice/114804

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GOMA Industries' New CanineLine Reflective Dog Leash Is Now Available Online

GOMA Industries releases enhanced-safety reflective dog leash named the GOMA CanineLine on Amazon.com

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For a limited time the Goma CanineLine can be bought for a discounted price on Amazon.com

GOMA Industries has just released the GOMA CanineLine, an ergonomic, anti-slip, shock absorbent, reflective dog leash geared towards medium and large dog breeds. It was carefully designed to be virtually unbreakable; the metal clip hook has been proven able to withstand over 300lbs. of force. The addition of a padded handle means the user can maintain a tight hold on your furry companion without the unpleasant side effect of rug burn. The brightly colored, reflective nylon surface allows the user to safely walk or run with their pup after dark. There is a short instructional video on youtube so that anyone can begin using the leash to its full potential immediately. GOMA Industries is offering the GOMA CanineLine for $12.99, including free shipping with Amazon Prime.

The GOMA CanineLine can be used as a training tool or a walking/running leash, both during daylight hours or at night. The Leash has proven to be a successful launch in the Amazon marketplace.

Contact GOMA industries with any questions or for information on their other products at cam.mendoza@gomaindustries.com.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.gomaindustries.com

Contact Info:

Name: Cam Mendoza

Email: cam.mendoza@gomaindustries.com

Organization: GOMA Industries



Video URL: https://youtu.be/zcMJZfwmwzM

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/goma-industries-new-canineline-reflective-dog-leash-is-now-available-online/114672

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Order Milestone Achieved By New Probiotics For Dogs From Wagglies

Wagglies' brand new Probiotics for Dogs, released on Amazon U.S. in April, have reached 300 orders.

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After achieving many order milestones since launching on Amazon U.S., Wagglies' Probiotics for Dogs have now reached 300 orders - a milestone that the brand are proud of.

Since launching their dog probiotics, the brand have quickly earned each order milestone. These milestones give the brand an accurate representation of whether customers will buy their product against others.

"This order milestone is the latest in a line of milestones that we have achieved with our new dog probiotics. We are really proud of the milestones that we have achieved so far." said Dan Clayton, Founder of Wagglies, "These milestones and the customer feedback that we have achieved so far allow us to see where we need to improve our product or our listing."

Wagglies' Probiotics for Dogs contain 5 strains of probiotic and 1 prebiotic. The prebiotic inside the custom formula is an added ingredient, designed to increase the effectiveness of the probiotics. The prebiotic encourages the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut and intestines, allowing the probiotics to begin working immediately, as well as ensuring the safe transport of the probiotics to the area of the body where they are needed - the digestive tract.

"All of the ingredients in our probiotics have been specifically chosen for their benefits and effectiveness." continued Dan, "Our custom powder mix allows us to be confident in our product and its abilities. Our probiotics contain 25 billion CFUs and 74 trace minerals and are easy to mix into both wet and dry dog food."

Before launching their Probiotics for Dogs onto Amazon U.S., Wagglies have also launched their Puppy Training Pads and Dog Nail Clippers onto both Amazon U.S. and Amazon UK. Wagglies' Dog Nail Clippers are still available to customers in both the U.S. and UK.

Wagglies Probiotics for Dogs are now available in a 6oz bag (~ 2+ months supply) from Amazon U.S.: http://www.amazon.com/Wagglies-Probiotics-Dogs-Pre...

For more information about us, please visit https://www.wagglies.com/us/

Contact Info:

Name: Dan Clayton

Organization: Wagglies



Release ID: 114568

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Key Trends Driving Europe Corn Seed Industry 2016 : Latest Market Report By Radiant Insights,Inc

RadiantInsights.com includes new market research report on "Europe Corn Seed Industry Size, Share And Trends Report Up To 2016 : Radiant Insights" to its huge collection of research reports.

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Seeds are primary input in agriculture crop production. The new developments in genetic engineering over the past few years has resulted in innovatory changes in the development of more effective seeds with desired traits in those seeds. In addition, rising adoption levels of genetically customized and technologically developed crops across the world has supported the seed market sales value in the past few years.

Browse Full Research Report With TOC on http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/europe-corn-seed-industry-2016

The Europe corn seed industry research report is a thorough and professional study of the present conditions of the corn seed industry. This report gives a basic idea about the industry including definitions, applications, classifications, as well as industry chain structure. The analysis of the corn seed market, including landscape analysis, development trends, and the development status of some major regions, is provided for the European markets.

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The report focuses on the top companies in the Europe corn seed industry and offers details such as company profiles, product specifications and pictures, production, capacity, prices, revenue, cost, and contact details. The top companies covered here are Dow, Kings Nower Seed, DuPont Pioneer, Pacific Seeds, Monsanto, China National Seed, Jiangsu Dahua, ICI Seeds, Syngenta, KWS, Denghai Seeds, Limagrain, Kenfeng Seed Limited, WanxiangDoneed, Dunhuang Seed, and Longping High-tech, and Goldoctor.

The analysis of the upstream equipment & raw materials and downstream demand is also provided. Moreover, the marketing channels and development trends of the corn seed industry are analyzed. Lastly, the viability of new plans is reviewed along with the overall research conclusions.

Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: www.radiantinsights.com/research/europe-corn-seed-industry-2016#tabs-4

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/europe-corn-seed-industry-2016

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Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036 San Francisco, CA

Phone: 1-415-349-0054

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/key-trends-driving-europe-corn-seed-industry-2016-latest-market-report-by-radiant-insightsinc/114926

Release ID: 114926

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Topipop Expands Business To Offer Worldwide Shipping

The Venezuela-based company is now shipping their items to worldwide locations, including the U.S., reports https://topipop.com.

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Topipop, a Venezuela-based online store featuring accessories from more than 40 Emerging Designers, has recently announced that they are now allowing customers to buy from all locations worldwide. This means that the company will be expanding their business to provide shipping to all countries, including the United States. Topipop is looking to expand their presence around the globe as they showcase the more than 1,000 design accessories they currently have on display in the online store.

Luis Carbonell and Nakarid Rico, co-founders of Topipop, commented "At Topipop, our mission is to connect Venezuelan designers with people who love, appreciate, and want to buy their unique, one-of-a-kind fashion accessory creations. We've been able to do that successfully over the last four years as the Topipop online store has grown to incorporate more than 40 local designers. Now, we are finally ready to make these items available to more than just the Venezuelan population. We're expanding our business so that customers all over the world can take advantage of these beautiful items that we have made available in the store."

Those who would like to purchase a Unique Design Necklace or other accessories from Topipop can visit their website to do so. There, they'll be able to browse the curated store through generalized categories or opt to see what's new from a specific designer. The store carries accessory items for both men and women that suit a variety of tastes and styles. Those who purchase from the website will be able to view prices in the currency of their own country, which makes the process of purchasing items from the online store much easier and more streamlined for everyone around the world.

As Carbonell goes on to say, "We want to embrace the fact that Venezuelan and Latin American designs are very unique and creative. We believe that the Handmade Jewerly that we have at Topipop is appealing to a vast worldwide audience and want to ensure that they are able to enjoy the beautiful, high-quality pieces that our emerging designers have created for them."

Shoppers who would like to see what Topipop has to offer and order items from their online store should visit https://topipop.com.

About Topipop:

Topipop is the online store of Venezuelan design with an exclusive selection of more than 40 designers. Their vision is to connect the emerging Venezuelan designers with those who love unique, creative, and state-of-the-art creations.

For more information about us, please visit https://topipop.com

Contact Info:

Name: Luis Carbonell

Organization: Topipop

Phone: +58 412 2304443

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/topipop-expands-business-to-offer-worldwide-shipping/114965

Release ID: 114965

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Faith Hope Consolo Announces Exclusive Listing of Mixed Use Building in Brooklyn

Faith Hope Consolo takes on Brooklyn with a new building for sale at 326-328 Graham Avenue between Metropolitan Avenue and Devoe Street.

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Faith Hope Consolo and Douglas Elliman announce a new exclusive listing in Brooklyn, Williamsburg area. The mixed used building is located between Graham Avenue and Devoe Street in the heart of a culturally rich neighborhood.

"Williamsburg is the future and I'm happy to be a part of it," says Consolo, chairman of retail for Prudential Douglas Elliman, known as the "queen of retail" and a powerful voice in the New York real estate scene. Retailers will want to be part of the area's vibe and the opportunities it offers.

Williamsburg is known as the fashionable epicenter of Brooklyn with a style of its own. A hip vibe pulses through its streets. A vibrant food scene boasts inventive restaurants and active nightlife where locally owned restaurants and shops mix seamlessly with retail chains like Urban Outfitters. Crowds flock to the waterfront festivals in the summer. Bars, gift shops and music stores draw people year round. Williamsburg's style draws from a broad and diverse mix of cultures.

Amazing frontage combines with a classic brick exterior that reflects the historic but hip style of the area. The building is ideally positioned to take full advantage of direct sunlight and provides natural lighting. Ample foot traffic on the street and its easily accessible location from train stops at Graham and Metropolitan, making it the perfect location.

Built in 1920, the corner property features two combined four-stories with nine free-market apartments and 50-by-100-foot lot. The ground level has an available 3,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. Overall space is a total of about 12,000 square feet. Parking is on located on property (to the rear) and will be delivered vacant.

Price available upon request.

About Faith Hope Consolo:

Faith Hope Consolo is responsible for the most successful commercial division of New York's largest residential real estate brokerage firm. She is recognized worldwide and is sought after for her expertise as a consult and retail broker. She has played a major role in revitalizing and sculpting retail corridors both nationally and internationally.

Her work has been showcased in leading publications such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She is a powerful voice in the New York real estate scene and has extensive experience working with iconic brands and fashion houses. To her, style knows no price point.

Before joining Elliman in 20015, she served as vice chairman of Garrick-Aug Worldwide for nearly 20 years, founding the firm's international division and opening the European office in Paris. Her expansive client base includes many world renowned fashion houses and brands including Cartier, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Giorgio Armani and Fendi.

For more information, visit https://thefaithconsoloteam.elliman.com/rentals

For more information about us, please visit https://thefaithconsoloteam.elliman.com/rentals

Contact Info:

Name: Faith Hope Consolo

Email: info@faith-consolo.com

Organization: Douglas Elliman Retail Leasing and Sales Division

Address: 575 Madison Avenue 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10022

Phone: (212) 418-2020

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/faith-hope-consolo-announces-exclusive-listing-of-mixed-use-building-in-brooklyn/114918

Release ID: 114918

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Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust warned the past financial year had not been as strong as recent years as it reported a decline of 0.1 per cent in its net asset value.

The investment trusts share price was 0.7 per cent lower in the year to March 31 2016 but it confirmed another increase in its dividend by just 1 per cent to bring total payouts to 2.96p per share.

Investments in private or unquoted companies in the portfolio, which Baillie Gifford managers James Anderson and Tom Slater had previously confirmed would be capped at 25 per cent , had reached 12 per cent of the portfolio by the end of March, up from 10 per cent in September 2015.

The trusts net asset value (Nav) fell to 259.2p from 262.4p in the previous year and when borrowings were taken into account Nav was 263.8p, down from 268p.

Its full-year results revealed a loss of 13.9m on its net return on ordinary activities before tax, compared to a 723.2m profit in the previous year to March 2015.

Income from investments came down from 38.7m in the 2014-15 financial year to 32.7m, the trust reported.

Chairman John Scott said: I am pleased to say that the Scottish Mortgage portfolio has continued to produce good long-term returns for shareholders. The past financial year, taken in isolation, has not been as strong as recent years, either in terms of the NAV performance or our own share price, but I hope that my earlier statements have been consistent in warning that not every year can be expected to produce the stellar results that we have been fortunate to see in the past.

Mr Scott also confirmed annual charges had come down again in the most recent financial year to 0.45 per cent, from 0.48 per cent, making them some of the lowest reported in the investment trust sector, he said.

The trusts chairman did not comment on the upcoming EU referendum, only to confirm the result would be known by the time of the trusts annual general meeting on June 30 in Edinburgh.

He added: We believe strongly in two things: first, that passive investing is no longer an adequate approach if investors wish to preserve capital in the medium term - there are simply too many competitive threats to established businesses, many of which will not survive. Secondly, that many of the companies in our portfolio offer the potential for growth based on structural rather than cyclical changes over the long term.
Property funds dealing with outflows from the sector have received a boost from the London commercial markets apparent ability to confound Brexit-based fears.

Both Henderson and M&G have switched their UK funds to bid pricing this week , a sign of the changing fortunes for the sector.

The underlying picture, however, appears better than some had expected. Figures from real estate adviser CBRE show 3.5bn was invested into Londons office market during the first three months of this year, on par with the first quarter of 2015.

Property portfolios have seen three consecutive months of net retail outflows at the start of 2016, concerning those who believe redemptions from the illiquid asset class have begun at the same time as a slowdown in areas that have previously driven returns.

Allocators such as Premiers David Hambidge told Investment Adviser earlier this year that the asset classs post-crisis recovery had run its course in areas such as London. The capitals reliance on foreign investment has been seen as a further headwind this year as buyers sit on their hands in the run up to Junes EU referendum.

But Jamie Pope, head of London capital markets at CBRE, said of the latest figures: Some investors are experiencing political and economic uncertainty at the moment, so its heartening to report this hasnt caused much in the way of turbulence in the London office market in the first quarter of the year. Yields are stable and, in some cases, the prevailing conditions are making investment at this time a more attractive prospect.

The firm forecasts that investment volumes may be more subdued during the second quarter of the year closer to the vote, but will rebound during the second half of the year as long as Britain decides to remain in the EU.

Nor have international investors been deterred by the uncertainty. Overseas investors accounted for more than 2.4bn of investment and were involved in 67 per cent of all transactions.

Neuberger Bermans Gillian Tiltman, manager of the firms Global Real Estate fund, said she was continuing to back London-centric names such as Shaftsbury and Great Portland.

Shaftsbury owns shops and restaurants in the West End concentrating on Carnaby Street, Chinatown, Seven Dials, the St Martins Courtyard area and Soho, so we are big fans of that company.

We also like Great Portland. Its just impossible to build new stock in the West End for offices and we think Great Portland is well positioned and the valuation was looking very interesting earlier this year.

Key numbers 166m  Outflows from property funds in first three months of 2016 3.5bn  Amount invested in London office market over same period

Canada Lifes head of property research Joanna Turner said that the recent demand for London office space has been driven mainly by business services and the technology, media and telecommunications sectors.
Companies with defined benefit (DB) schemes are prioritising dividend payments over pension contributions, resulting in increased deficits and a worsening outlook for the sector, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has said.

In its annual funding statement released today, the regulator said the average company was paying 10 times as much in dividends as it was in deficit recovery contributions (DRCs).

The figures mark a considerable decrease from 2010, when the DRC to dividend ratio was 17 per cent.

Such a fall in contributions had probably led to an increase in most schemes deficits, and would force them to reassess the recovery plans, TPR stated.

According to the regulator, 40 per cent of profitable companies would need to contribute more to their schemes, and could do so without harming the business. The remaining 60 per cent, meanwhile, could easily afford to pay 10 per cent of profits into their schemes.

TPR executive director of regulatory policy Andrew Warwick-Thompson urged scheme trustees to question their sponsoring businesss dividend policy.

Our data suggests that profits have increased for the majority of employers and that many are able to maintain or increase current DRCs. We understand that investing for growth in their business will mean some employers cannot increase DRCs.

We expect employers to discuss this openly with their trustees. It is important that employers treat their pension scheme fairly and we expect trustees to question employers dividend policies where DRCs are constrained.

Kevin Titmus, a financial planner with Future Planning Wealth Management, said underfunding of DB schemes should concern everybody.

From my clients point of view, if these schemes are underfunded its going to cause real problems in the future.

However, he said the Pension Protection Fund, which insures members against the failure of their scheme, means most DB schemes are much better value than defined contribution schemes.

james.fernyhough@ft.com
Arla has announced a bonus scheme for dairy farmers who switch to GM-free feed.

Producers will be paid 0.01/kg (0.79p/litre) to cover the extra costs.

The programme will start in Germany, where Arla wants to source a billion litres for retailers that have asked for the change.

See also: Arla milk price slides towards 20p/litre

The co-ops Swedish farmers already use GM-free feed and they will now receive a bonus too.

Soya is the most common possible source of GM material in cattle feed. But the limited amounts used mean European milk has always been classed as GM-free anyway.

Arla has said the bonus was based on a commercial opening and not a stance on GM. It said more of its 12,700 producers, spread across seven countries, would eventually be invited to join the scheme.

Currently, the demand is coming from Germany, where we will immediately look into the practical issues such as logistics and separated processing, said Arla CEO Peder Tuborgh.

As the commercial opportunities arise in other markets, we will invite farmers to participate and gradually take on more farmers. But we will need to explore exactly how we can make this happen and how fast.

GM-free encouragement from retailers

German retailers have steadily taken a stronger stance against GM material in animal feed.

In 2014, a group of supermarkets demanded the countrys poultry association start using GM-free feed for egg and meat production.

Two of Switzerlands biggest retailers have long had a complete ban on all GM food, including meat, poultry and dairy.

The US state of Vermont passed a law in 2014 that made labelling mandatory for all food containing such material. However, several lobby groups, many funded by food firms, have pushed the US Senate to keep GM labelling voluntary.

Processors chasing dairy premiums

Arlas move also reflects an effort by dairy processors to put new premiums on farmers milk, which could help during the current downturn.

The co-ops main European rival, FrieslandCampina, pays producers a 0.01 bonus for letting cows graze at least 120 days a year, six hours a day.

FrieslandCampina calls that product meadow milk, using it to brand a line of cheeses.
Defra minister and Brexit campaigner George Eustice has pledged to abolish automatic cross-compliance penalties for farmers if the UK leaves the European Union.

Mr Eustice made the pledge in a speech at the Balmoral Show in Northern Ireland.

The EUs cross-compliance penalty regime is an indefensible system of rough justice, which must be scrapped, he told listeners.

See also: Minister reveals post-Brexit plan for farming

It results in farmers receiving huge fines for the most trivial of errors and creates a spirit-crushing culture.

Farmers who were doing their best often ended up having their money automatically docked as a result of clunky EU regulations without so much as a hearing before a court and a vote to leave the EU in the UK referendum on 23 June would help bring clarity and consistency to enforcement, said Mr Eustice.

We would establish a clear distinction between regulatory requirements, which should be a matter for the courts, and payments to farmers for the environmental and other benefits they provide.

There would be no more automatic fines.

In future, agencies such as the Rural Payments Agency or the Environment Agency would have to take farmers to court and bring a prosecution for serious breaches, said Mr Eustice.

There would be far greater use of warnings and improvement notices.

It is not the first time that Mr Eustice has outlined his views on UK agricultural policy in the event that the country leaves the EU.

Earlier this year, he described cross-compliance as bureaucratic and unnecessary, saying it would be completely streamlined.

Mr Eustice said he would also like to see high levels of animal welfare on farms rewarded in the same way farmers are rewarded for undertaking environmental measures.

But pro-EU campaigners say such promises are worthless because there is no guarantee that the politicians who make them will be in power after the referendum.
Story Highlights Thirty-one percent of nonretirees plan to keep working past age 67

A quarter of seniors are still working or retired after 67

Four in 10 seniors retired early, before they turned 62

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Thirty-one percent of nonretired U.S. adults predict they will retire after age 67, the current minimum age for receiving full Social Security retirement benefits. Another 38% expect to retire between the ages of 62 and 67, spanning the existing Social Security age thresholds for benefits eligibility, while 23% expect to stop working before they turn 62 -- that is, before becoming eligible for any Social Security retirement benefits.

U.S. Nonretirees' Expected Retirement Age At what age do you expect to retire? U.S. nonretirees % Will retire before age 62 23 Will retire between ages 62 and 67 38 Will retire at age 68 or older 31 Unsure 8 Gallup, April 6-10, 2016

These findings are from Gallup's 2016 Economy and Personal Finance Poll, conducted April 6-10. The average age at which U.S. workers predict they will retire is 66, consistent with the 65 to 67 age range found since the 2007-2009 recession ended. The expected retirement age is up slightly from about 64 years of age spanning 2004 to 2008, and is up from 60 in 1995.

Lower-income workers plan to retire a bit later, on average, than those earning $75,000 or more annually. Young adults, those aged 18 to 29, plan to retire earlier than middle-aged and older adults, likely reflecting youthful optimism about their future income and savings.

U.S. Nonretirees' Expected Retirement Age At what age do you expect to retire? U.S. nonretirees average age Income Less than $30,000 70 $30,000 to less than $75,000 69 $75,000 or more 67 Age 18 to 29 64 30 to 49 70 50 to 64 69 65+ * * Sample size for 65+ nonretirees is insufficient for reporting Gallup, April 6-10, 2016

Four in 10 Current Retirees Retired Before 62

In contrast with current workers' expectations about retirement, retired Americans report they stopped working at an average 61 years of age, significantly lower than the average 66 years at which today's nonretired Americans intend to stop working. More specifically, 42% of retirees say they stopped working before age 62, while just 13% continued working until they were 67 or older. Of course, current retirees span an age range of more than 40 years, meaning that some retired decades ago, while others may have retired the day before they were interviewed, and their age at retirement no doubt reflects societal and economic patterns in force at that time.

This doesn't tell the entire generational story, as approximately one in seven seniors (defined for this analysis as those aged 67 and older) are still in the workforce -- working full time, working part time or unemployed. When these are factored into the equation, 26% of adults 67 and older are either still in the workforce (14%) or worked until they were 67 or older before retiring (12%). That is a bit less than the 31% of today's nonretirees who intend to work past 67. However, the greater discrepancy is in the percentage retiring before age 62: 36% of today's seniors say they did this, while just 23% of current workers intend to.

U.S. Retirees' Retirement Age At what age did you retire? Retirees % Retired before age 62 36 Retired at age 62 to 66 36 Retired at age 67 or older 12 Not yet retired (working or unemployed) 14 No opinion 3 Gallup, April 6-10, 2016

Bottom Line

Myriad factors go into determining the best time to retire, not all of which are within workers' control. Financial troubles, poor health, family needs or being let go at work can all disrupt the best-laid plans. At the same time, for those who depend on it, the Social Security system forces people to gamble on their life expectancy in deciding whether to retire early with partial benefits or later with full benefits.

Although many of these factors are constant, some have changed in recent decades. As a result, the age at which today's workers expect to retire is significantly older, on average, than the age current retirees say they already did retire: 66 vs. 61, respectively. Some of that difference undoubtedly reflects the gradual increase, which Congress mandated in 1983, in the Social Security system's age threshold for receiving full benefits -- from 65 to 67. However, that does not explain the higher percentage of nonretirees who plan to work beyond age 67 compared with current retirees who report having worked this long -- 31% vs. 26%, respectively.

One factor causing today's workers to think about delaying retirement could be their recognition that working may be healthier than staying home. A recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index survey found 67% of nonretired investors -- those with $10,000 or more in investments -- agreeing that they want to work as long as possible, given the benefits to their physical and mental health. At the same time, unexpected health problems could explain why some current retirees retired early.

In reality, however, many working Americans simply can't afford to retire. Fewer workers today than in the past say a pension will be a major income source in retirement, and many have been unable to save sufficiently during the economic slowdown of the past decade. Seven in 10 employed adults told Gallup in April that they are worried about not having enough savings for retirement. As a result, they now need to work as long as possible to build up their retirement nest eggs.

At the moment, most workers are forgoing any thought of retiring before 62, the minimum age to receive partial Social Security retirement benefits, while nearly a third are planning to hold off until after age 67. These figures already represent a departure from how today's seniors have handled retirement, and could easily change further if the economy or the Social Security Administration throws workers any more curve balls.

Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics.

Survey Methods

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted April 6-10, 2016, with a random sample of 1,015 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. For results based on the sample of 678 nonretirees, the margin of sampling error is 5 percentage points. For results based on the sample of 525 adults employed full or part time, the margin of sampling error is 5 percentage points. For results based on the sample of 337 retirees, the margin of sampling error is 7 percentage points. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.

View survey methodology, complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
Pokemon Go Guide, Release Date, News & Update: 3 Ways To Spawn Pokemons; Catching Not Combat Is Key

Several fans in Japan, New Zealand and Australia celebrated when the "Pokemon Go" beta version was released in their respective countries. However, despite signing a waiver that prohibits them from leaking details about the upcoming "Pokemon Go" game, some beta tester were not able to handle themselves that they have already shared some significant information players should expect in the upcoming game title.

Among the details that were leaked by "Pokemon Go" beta testers is some methods in spawning Pokemons. Below are some ways on how to deal with various types of Pokemon in different locations on the map:

1. Always determine the classification of the Pokemon in the "Pokemon Go" game.

As most players know, classifying the Pokemons plays a vital role in locating them. It is important to note that "Pokemon Go" players need to consider the Pokemon's type before hunting them. For instance, most Water Pokemon would likely be found in beaches, rivers and other bodies of water.

Unfortunately, "Pokemon Go" beta users failed to discuss how to locate Pokemons with complicated types like psychic, ghost and poison. These Pokemon types are just hard to find in common places.

2. Always consider the weather in the "Pokemon Go" game as it affects Pokemon encounters.

Players of the "Pokemon Go" must always consider the fact that weather plays a big role in hunting on a certain type of Pokemon. For example, Water Pokemons are going to be more active when it rains.

Also, Electric-type Pokemons in the "Pokemon Go" game are likely to be found when there are thunderstorms. For Fire-type Pokemons, players should expect to catch them often during sunny days.

3. Always note that specific areas in "Pokemon Go" player's region will spawn various rare types of Pokemon.

"Pokemon Go" gamers should also bear in mind that a specific area in your region will spawn uncommon Pokemons. As a matter of fact, a Reddit user shared that a patch of grass spawn Ninetails, a Hitmonchan, a Jolteon and a Porygon have appeared on his way to work.

What method do you think is the best in spawning Pokemons in the upcoming "Pokemon Go" game? What are the things you expect in the forthcoming "Pokemon Go" game? Share to us your thoughts in the comment section below.
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21.
A Corvallis company that helps fire departments determine the most efficient way to deploy personnel and equipment took the top prize at the 2016 Willamette Angels Conference on Thursday, a check for $300,000 in investment funding.

"It's predictive modeling software that helps communities save lives, property and money," Code3Simulator CEO Carl Niedner, a software developer and volunteer firefighter, explained during his 10-minute pitch at the conference.

In a break from past practice, the conference awarded another $100,000 in funding to a second firm, also from Corvallis.

Agility Robotics is developing walking robots for the emerging automated package delivery market. Using technology licensed from Oregon State University, the firm has designed a robot that can mimic a human gait and adjust to obstacles in its path.

Counting individual "sidecars" and other deals worked out during the event, this year's conference resulted in $1.2 million in total investment in participating companies, fund manager Marc Manley announced.

Lola's Fruit Shrubs, a Eugene startup that makes craft cocktail mixers using an Old World technique known as shrub, won the $2,500 cash prize as the top launch-stage company.

The Willamette Angels Conference, sponsored by the Corvallis and Eugene chambers of commerce, began in 2009 and alternates each year between the two communities. The event also receives support from the Corvallis-Benton County Economic Development Office and the Oregon Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network.

This year's conference was held in Eugene at the former Eugene Planing Mill, now an event space called Venue 252.

Funding comes primarily from the Willamette Angels, a group of accredited investors from around the Willamette Valley.

An investment committee evaluates the business plans of participating startups to determine which will receive funding. In return, investors get a stake in the company.

To date, the group has invested more than $3 million in promising Willamette Valley startups.

Last year's winner, Eugene data visualization company Moonshadow Mobile, took home $400,000 in investment funding, plus another $120,000 in follow-on investments. After sidecar investments in some of the other participating companies, the conference handed out more than $1 million in angel funding.

The other three finalists in this year's competition, all Portland companies, were Costanoan Biotechnologies, which has developed a customizable delivery platform for pharmaceuticals; Iotas, which sells smart apartment technology to real estate developers; and Yellow Scope, a maker of science kits for girls.

A record 44 companies applied to compete in this year's conference, which drew just over 300 attendees.

Ruby Receptionists CEO Jill Nelson gave the keynote address. The University of Oregon graduate launched her turnkey receptionist service in 2003 and built it into a company with more than 300 employees serving more than 5,000 small businesses.

Last year she sold a majority stake in Ruby Receptionists for $38.8 million.
 ROSE (roz) n. One of the most beautiful of all flowers, a symbol of fragrance and loveliness. Often given as a sign of appreciation.

 RASPBERRY (razbere) n. A sharp, scornful comment, criticism or rebuke; a derisive, splatting noise, often called the Bronx cheer.

We hereby deliver:

 ROSES to you, if you've returned your election ballot by now. But we haven't ordered a bunch of roses, because most of you have not yet returned your ballots.

In fact, as of this writing on Thursday afternoon, turnout in Benton County was about 24 percent.

Over in Linn County, by contrast, turnout as of Thursday afternoon was about ... 24 percent.

In other words, only about one in every four mid-valley voters has turned in a ballot thus far.

Now, more ballots certainly will flood into election offices between now and 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the deadline for the election, although "flood" may be too strong a word. "Trickle" might be a better bet, if recent turnouts during primary elections in presidential election years are any guide.

In 2012, turnout for the primary election was a fairly meager 39 percent. A better guide to this year, though, might be the primary election in 2008, the last time that the White House was open. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were slugging it out in the Democratic race and John McCain and Ron Paul were battling for the Republican nod. (Both Obama and McCain scored easy wins in Benton County.) Turnout that year was around 62 percent.

One reason we thought turnout might be higher this year is that this election features a compelling battle on the Democratic side between incumbent Jay Dixon and challenger Xan Augerot for a seat on the county commission. But the early buzz about how the Oregon primary could play a big role in the presidential campaigns has faded and with that, we suspect, many voters lost interest.

But it's not too late to vote. (It is too late, however, to mail your ballot to be sure it will arrive at the county's elections office in time. You'll need to use one of the county's ballot-drop boxes scattered around the county to be sure your vote counts.) You should make plans to do that this weekend. Don't wait until the last minute.

 Speaking of elections: ROSE-BERRIES to whoever redrew the boundaries for House District 23 during the last legislative reapportionment process. We've been curious about the district, since it features an interesting primary election this season between two Republicans, incumbent Rep. Mike Nearman and his opponent, Beth Jones. Jim Thompson, who used to hold the seat as a Republican but who filed in this election as an Independent, awaits the winner in November.

All that is well and good, but the district's boundaries still are curious. It covers a good portion of Benton County's northern and southern reaches, but it takes a very odd-shaped jag to the west so that it avoids Corvallis or Philomath. But if you live in Adair Village or Monroe or anywhere west of Philomath, you live in House District 23.

It's a big swath of real estate  although it's worth remembering that there's a representative out in eastern Oregon, Republican Cliff Bentz, whose House District 60 covers about a quarter of the entire state geographically. And, of course, each House district is meant to include the same number of people, an average of 64,000 residents.

One good thing about this odd bit of gerrymandering, though, is that it allows the district to cover a chunk of rural Oregon and a smattering of small towns; certainly Monroe and Adair have more in common with each other than with Corvallis. But the district still is an oddity on Oregon's electoral map.

 ROSES and good luck to da Vinci Days, the community festival celebrating science and the arts, as it re-emerges this weekend after a few years in hiatus.

It's tough to reinvent something as iconic as a beloved community festival, but da Vinci Days officials, facing financial challenges, had little choice but to put the event on ice after its 25th go-round in 2013. While one of the festival's signature events, the annual Graand Kinetic Challenge, has continued every July (and will be held this year on July 16 and 17), the remainder of the festival has been absent.

But on Sunday, da Vinci Days begins its return, albeit in a stripped-down form: "El Vecindario Creativo" ("The Creative Neighborhood") will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez and the Beth Ray Center for Academic Support on Southwest 26th Street on the Oregon State University campus. The event is billed as a celebration of food, music, art and technology, with a special focus on youth and the Latino community.

Next Friday, May 20, OSU's engineering expo, featuring student inventions and projects at the Kelley Engineering Center on campus, will take place under the da Vinci banner. And OSU experts will hold forth next week in a series of evening lectures on arts and science topics. (The da Vinci Days website, davincidays.org, features a full schedule.)

This won't be the summertime da Vinci Days blowout that many Corvallis residents knew and loved; that kind of party may not be sustainable. But next week's events represent an important first step in building a different festival that honors the spirit of the original.
Attack against 17-year-old : Bad Godesberg mourns the death of Niklas P.

Am Tatort wurden heute Blumen und Kerzen niedergelegt. Foto: Ayla Jacob

Bonn Bells were ringing at noon for 17-year-old Niklas P. The victim of a senseless attack, he succumbed to his injuries.

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17-year-old Niklas P. has died as a result of the injuries he sustained in a brutal beating last weekend in Bad Godesberg. Police reported on Friday morning that the youth from Bad Breisig had passed away overnight. He had been in critical condition since the attack.

As reported, Niklas P. was with some friends making their way home at about 12:20 a.m. (late Friday night into Saturday morning) when they came upon a group of four young men at the corner of Rheinallee and Rungsdorfer Strae. Three men from that group attacked the 17-year-old so savagely that he fell to the ground, where they kept beating and kicking him. Police are calling this a new dimension of violence.

The City Attorney has put out a reward for 3,000 euro for anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest of those responsible. Law enforcement authorities handed out 800 flyers near the crime scene, and at 500 schools and businesses. Flyers in the Arabic and Turkish languages were also printed and handed out.

On Friday at 12 noon, bells rang across churches in Bad Godesberg for Niklas P. This gesture will be repeated on Saturday. It is a way of showing solidarity and condolences for his family and friends, and to serve as a reminder that people need to live together without violence. In the afternoon, the church put up a cross with his name on it where the beating took place.
Historic City Hall : New damage despite renovations

Bonn Moisture seems to permeate the historic City Hall, causing problems inside and out.

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Although a renovation of the historic City Hall was completed five years ago, the facade is chipping away again. Despite the 5.5 million euro spent to make it fresh and new, patches of plaster are breaking off and damp walls remain a problem. In the office of the Burger Bund Bonn (BBB- Bonn citizen association), wallpaper literally fell off the wall. All of it had to be removed, along with plaster in areas where it was damp. All the walls had to be redone.

Only months after renovations ended in 2011, a public office on ground level had to be closed when workers complained about musty odors stemming from dampness. For weeks, a drying device was left running there. Marcel Schmitt, chair of the BBB says the renovations treated the symptoms of the City Hall but not the fundamental problems. When renovating such a building, he is convinced that the basics include creating a dry basement and a sealed roof.

Deputy spokesperson for the City, Marc Hoffman explained that a decision was made against a complete measure to isolate the moisture. A test showed that when the moisture was isolated on a part of the fundament, mold formed in the basement. It was decided that one would have to live with the smaller renovations every few years as needed in damp spots. Hoffman said The costs of this are marginal. As for the outside facade breaking off, there are different opinions as to why it is happening. Guido Knopp, formerly of the historical preservation bureau, believes it is from water pelting the building from the outside. Hoffman thinks it could be from work done in building stages outside the City Hall.
Reward to be raised : Police have first lead to Niklas P. attackers

Bonn Officials are working to increase the amount of the reward for information leading to the attackers of the 17-year-old youth. Police are following first leads.

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Police say they have first leads in the fatal beating of 17-year-old Niklas P. but cannot give any details while the search and criminal investigation is underway. They continue an intense search for the attackers.

A reward of 3,000 euro had been offered by the City Attorney for anyone who would come forward with information leading to the arrest of the attackers. Victim protection advocate, Klaus Schmitz said this sum should be raised. Because an official reward cannot be simply increased, police are now cooperating with the City Attorney to accept donations. The donations will be handled by an attorney who will see that they are added to the reward. If the reward is not used, the donations will go to the family of Niklas P. in Bad Breisig.

Anyone who wants to donate can write to Klaus Schmitz (Klaus.Schmitz@polizei.nrw.de) and the subject should be listed as Niklas. In the e-mail should be the donors name, address, city, telephone number and amount of donation. The mail will be forwarded to the attorney, who will get in touch with the donor.

For those who would like to donate directly to the family, they can do so through a Caritas account of the Catholic church of Bad Godesberg. IBAN: DE53 3816 0220 4704 6440 14, BIC: GENODED1HBO, Subject: Niklas
The 25th GIABA Technical Commission/Plenary Meeting Praia, Cabo Verde 2nd to 6th May, 2016

The 25th Plenary Meeting of the Technical Commission (TC)/Plenary of the Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) was held in Praia, Cabo Verde, from 2nd to 6th May 2016. The event brought together over one hundred participants from GIABA member States. Representatives from ECOWAS Institutions, GABAC, as well as international and sub-regional institutions and organizations also participated in the meeting.

Group photo on the occasion of the 25th Plenary Meeting of the GIABA Technical Commission

The following preliminary meetings were held: the Evaluation and Compliance Group (ECG), which discussed member States Follow-up Reports on their Mutual Evaluations; the Risks, Trends and Methods Group (RTMG), which discussed typologies and other studies; the Forum of Financial Intelligence Units (FFIU); and the Technical Assistance Forum with technical and financial partners.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Honourable Minister of Justice and Labour of the Republic of Cabo Verde, Cabo Verdean Authorities, the Diplomatic Corps and some development partners. The National Correspondent of Cabo Verde, Mrs. Fernandes, gave the welcome remarks whilst the Director General of GIABA, Mr. Adama Coulibaly, delivered the Opening Remarks. The Honourable Minister of Justice and Labour of the Republic of Cabo Verde, Dr. Janine Lenis, declared open Plenary meeting. The Vote of Thanks was given by the Deputy Director General of GIABA, Mr. Brian Sapati.

In his opening remarks, the DG of GIABA appealed to the authorities of member States for provision of adequate financial resources to FIUs in order to enable them fully accomplish their mandate. He also underscored the need for FIUs to be given the place they deserve in the national security apparatus as institutions designed to secure the financial systems, ensure economic stability and promote good governance in order to create an environment increasingly conducive to business.

The DG further urged technical and financial partners to step up and diversify their financial support to GIABA member States such that they are not left out in the international alliance against transnational crime in general, and against terrorism and its financing in particular.

Apart from decisions on the Follow-Up Reports of eleven (11) member States, other major highlights of the Plenary meeting included: review of the calendar for the Second Round of Mutual Evaluation slated to commence soon; reconstitution of the membership of the ECG and the RTMG; briefing on the global information gathering on Terrorist Financing; briefing on the domestication of the new UEMOA AML/CFT laws by UEMOA member States; and briefing on outcomes of FATF February 2016 Plenary.

At the end of the meeting, participants expressed their gratitude to the people and government of Cabo Verde, and to his Excellency M. Jorge Carlos FONSECA, President and Head of State of the Republic of Cabo Verde.
5 reasons to look forward to Google's rumored VR headset Features oi -Sachin

The net is abuzz with the news that Google is prepping itself to launch its own standalone VR headset. This takes the company's journey beyond Cardboard, and it can only be seen if the product will be just like the good old days when Google made phones for the people, just like the Nexus.

Here are more reasons why Google could have a successful VR launch

A VR headset for everyone

Google intends to launch its apps and products always keeping the general public in mind. And if the product is launched at a price point affordable for all, then history could repeat itself just as the success of the Nexus series.

Less bulky, Less to setup

Unlike the Vive or Oculus Rift, the Google VR is expected to be less bulky for users to handle.For the loads of hours it takes to set up the HTC Vive, Google may just help the users setup the new device in just a couple of minutes. After all, people do not like to wait too long.

Also read: Make full use of Google Cardboard with these 5 Offbeat Apps

Android....here, there, everywhere

Being a Google product, it will no doubt run a custom version of Android. You may get apps and content from various sources that are made especially with VR headsets in mind. Many VR contents have been trending since the launch of the Vive & Rift, and it won't be long before Google gets more content publisher to get on board.

Compatible with all

It would be great if Google's product will be compatible with all Android phones on the market. The operating system accounts for more than 80% of smartphones on the market, and that is a great potential for gaining sales.

Also read: 8 Interesting Facts about VR which you didn't know

VR ready to go

Virtual reality is a technology that will become a mainstream product in gaming as well as online content. Media conglomerates like National Geographic, among others have made many feature stories shot in 360 panoramic contents. Considering the lower hardware specs that the VR headset may come with, Google is getting ready to provide the experience to anyone so that all can get a look at the future.

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WhatsApp Desktop App For Windows and Mac: 4 Easy Steps For Quick Installation! Tips Tricks oi -Abhinaya

WhatsApp has introduced the desktop app that will support both Windows and Mac after 16 months of its acquisition by social networking giant Facebook. The desktop app is available for devices running on Windows 8 and above and Mac OS X 10.9 and above.

Similar to WhatsApp Web, the desktop app will be an extension of the phone. It will mirror the conversations from the mobile. All you need to do is just run the app on your phone close to the desktop or computer and it will work.

Even the shortcuts and features of the WhatsApp desktop app are similar to the ones that are a part of the WhatsApp for Web. The difference is that the new app will not reply on the mobile to communicate.

This desktop app has built-in desktop notifications and the users can pin a new Facebook Live Tile that will display the latest updates from friends and Pages. The Windows 10 app has stickers, GIFs, and group conversations as well.

Also Read: Facebook launches WhatsApp desktop app for Windows, Mac

Here, we have come up with a guide to install and set-up WhatsApp's desktop app on your Windows or Mac laptop or PC. Follow the same and enjoy WhatsApp on desktop.

Guide to Download and Install WhatsApp on Desktop

Step 1: To download the desktop app, you need to first visit the official WhatsApp website's download page https://www.whatsapp.com/download/ from the browser on your desktop.

Step 2: Select one of the listed options based on what desktop or laptop you are using. And, click on the download file button. The best part is this file is not too big in size (roughly around 50 MB for Windows).

Also Read: Say WhatsUp to WhatsApp! 5 Cool Features Coming in Next Update

Step 3: After downloading the WhatsApp app for desktop, you need to open the .exe file and Run it. This will install the app on your desktop.

Step 4: After installing WhatsApp for desktop, you need to open the desktop app and scan the QC code that is displayed using the WhatsApp app on your mobile device.

You need to look for the Settings under the WhatsApp Web menu to do the same.

That's it! You can enjoy using the WhatsApp app on your desktop just like WhatsApp Web. Start messaging your friends right from your desktop without taking your phone out of your pocket.

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No silver bullet to stop terrorist use of internet: Microsoft News oi -GizBot Bureau

Microsoft said on Wednesday that there is no silver bullet that will stop terrorist use of the internet.

Steven Crown, vice president of Microsoft Corporation, told the UN Security Council that for the internet industry, the challenge of terrorist propaganda and communication is daunting.

"If there were an elegant solution, industry would have adopted it," said Crown at a Security Council debate on counter-terrorism. "But there is no single answer; there is no silver bullet that will stop terrorist use of the internet."

Top 15 Best Android Marshmallow Smartphones to buy in India starts at 3,999

He said another unfortunate truth is that there is no universally accepted definition of terrorism or extremism, neither at the international level nor at the regional level, Xinhua reported.

According to statistics provided by Crown, within 15 minutes of the Paris attacks last year, there were 7,500 tweets; within two weeks, there were 1 million views of videos on the internet praising the attacks.

The Security Council requested on Wednesday a "comprehensive international framework" to counter propaganda by terrorist groups to motivate others to commit terrorist acts.

In a presidential statement adopted here, the Security Council noted the urgent need to understand how these groups, such as the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, recruit others and to develop a counter narrative campaign to amplify active denouncers of these groups.

The council asked its Counter-Terrorism Committee to present a proposal on the framework with recommended guidelines and good practices by April 30, 2017.

At the meeting, UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson also called for more of study and research on how violent extremists are using the internet and social media.

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He noted the need to listen to affected communities, engage at the grassroots level, partner with faith leaders, women and young people to respond to extremism at local level.

Source IANS

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Huawei Honor 5X vs LeEco Le 1S: Budget phone with more power wins the race! Features oi -GizBot Bureau

Chinese smartphone company, Huawei's online specific brand Honor recently launched the Honor 5X smartphone in India. The phone packs in impressive specifications for its price of Rs 12,999. With the launch of the Honor 5X, Huawei strengthened its portfolio of specs-heavy budget smartphones that have been doing well in India.

The Honor 5X is its take on the similar priced rivals like the LeEco Le 1S in India. Today we compare both these phones on the basis of their specifications to see which one gets an edge in the affordable segment of smartphones in the market.

SEE ALSO: Honor 5X Review: A Great Smartphone In A Budget

If you are planning to buy a budget 4G enabled smartphone, this comparison will help you decide the best in this price. Let's take a look at the key features of Huawei Honor 5X and LeEco Le 1S, and check which one brings better features on table.

Big and better display:

A big display with good resolution is a delight to user's eyes. Huawei Honor 5X flaunts a 5.5-inch screen with Full HD (1080p) resolution that promises a brilliant visual experience with good colour reproduction and viewing angles. LeEco's Le 1S also feature a 5.5-inch screen with Full HD resolution.

Processing power:

Huawei Honor 5X ensures that you get a power-packed performance with a 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 616 chipset that is paired with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB using microSD card. The LeEco Le 1S, on the other hand, runs Mediatek's 64-bit octa-core Helio X10 Turbo chipset. The Honor 5X gets extra points for featuring an expandable storage space.

Camera perfect:

Considering that camera specs of a phone can make a difference in consumer's purchase, Honor ensures to offer good optics on its smartphones. The Honor 5X features a 13MP rear camera with two-tone, dual-LED flash to work well in low light conditions. The LeEco Le 1S also has a 13MP rear camera but it comes with a simply LED flash. As far as the front camera is concerned you get 5MP snapper on Huawei Honor 5X as well as Le 1S.

SEE ALSO: Top 20 Smartphones with Great Battery life for long conversations and never ending Facebook chats!

Software goodness:



Huawei's Honor 5X is powered by Android 5.1.1 Lollipop wrapped under the company's own EMUI 3.1 which offers extra features to offer a better user-experience with customizations and interesting value additions. The LeEco Le 1S runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with their native UI on top.

Battery power:



Battery is another key area of concern for most smartphone users. Keeping in mind the demand of its consumers, the Huawei is offering a 3000mAh capacity battery in the Honor 5X. It is optimized to power up the device for longer on a single charge. The Le 1s packs in a 3000mAh battery.

Fingerprint scanner:



Huawei has used improved version of the fingerprint scanner on the Honor 5X, which makes the scanning process faster and smoother. It is quick and precise. LeEco Le 1S also offers Fingerprint sensor paced at the rear of the phone.

Connectivity options:



Speaking of connectivity options, Huawei Honor 5X gives users the power to access 4G network. The phone is dual-SIM with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, microUSB, and GPS/AGPS. LeEco Le 1S comes with 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and other standard options.

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'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable.
US, EU, Canadians Walk Out of Ugandan Inauguration Ceremony

by Lizabeth Paulat May 12, 2016

U.S., Canadian and European delegates walked out of the Ugandan presidential inauguration ceremony Thursday in response to the presence of an indicted war crimes suspect and remarks by President Yoweri Museveni disparaging the International Criminal Court.

The U.S. State Department said Thursday that the U.S. delegation walked out of the ceremony in Kampala, which was attended by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted by the international court in The Hague for genocide and crimes against humanity in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region.

State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. is "concerned that President Bashir has been able to travel to Uganda."

Uganda is a member of the ICC and is supposed to detain and turn over to the court any indicted suspects on its soil. But in his speech Thursday, Museveni openly voiced his disdain for the court.

Speaking to a number of African heads of state and delegations from other nations, Museveni said he no longer supports the court, calling it "a bunch of useless people." At those remarks, the U.S., European and Canadian officials left the ceremony.

Thursday was Museveni's fifth swearing-in. He has been in power since 1986.

Enthusiastic support

Supporters decked out in yellow  the color of the ruling party  gathered at Uganda's Kololo Airstrip to greet the president before the ceremony.

"We came on the bus, we are too excited," said one supporter, who traveled from Karamoja, nearly 500 kilometers away. "We are big supporters, and we shall need him again for the next term."

Museveni arrived amid a chorus of cheers, and within the hour he was sworn into office.

Underlying tension

But the celebration took place against a backdrop of tension.

The government cut all social media the day before the inauguration, and police were out in force in downtown Kampala, after unrest Wednesday.

Opposition leader Kizza Besiyge had managed to escape house arrest and make a surprise appearance in town. He vowed to continue his campaign of defiance as the "people's president." Supporters flocked to see him.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd and began beating civilians, according to witnesses and videos posted on social media.

"They [police] find us when we were closing the shop, they told us you close your shop and we go," said one shopkeeper who was beaten. He said people panicked and ran to nearby buildings.

"Then they started caning, seriously, without something to do ... men and women, anyone that entered into the building. Now what should we do?" he said.

Besigye finished second in the February vote, but has called for an independent audit of results that saw Museveni win 61 percent of the votes.

The opposition FDC party said it held its own inauguration for Besiyge, tweeting a video of the event Wednesday. Shortly after, the government cut social media access in the country.

This is the second time a social media blackout has been enforced. The first time was during the Feb. 18 poll, though many got around it using VPN, or virtual private network.

Before the inauguration, tech-savvy Ugandans began warning friends on social media to make sure their VPN apps were updated.

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U.S., Coalition Continue Strikes Against ISIL in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, May 13, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack, fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted seven strikes in Syria:

-- Near Shadaddi, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Manbij, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Mara, three strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Tamakh, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit, destroying an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL bunker and damaging a separate ISIL bunker.

-- Near Waleed, a strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.

Strikes in Iraq

Rocket artillery and bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 14 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Baghdadi, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Albu Hayat, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Bashir, a strike denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Fallujah, a strike destroyed four ISIL tunnel systems and an ISIL weapons cache.

-- Near Mosul, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Qayyarah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL vehicles and five ISIL rocket rails.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL tactical vehicles, two ISIL vehicle-borne bombs, five ISIL vehicles and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL rocket rail, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL mortar system.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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Manila declines Taipei invitation to visit disputed Spratlys island

ROC Central News Agency

2016/05/13 16:38:43

Taipei, May 13 (CNA) The Philippines has officially declined to an invitation from Taiwan to visit Taiping Island in the disputed South China Sea, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday, while rebutting Manila's argument that Taiping is a rock and not an island.

President Ma Ying-jeou () extended the invitation in March to the Philippines to send government representatives or lawyers to visit Taiping to see the place for themselves, as questions have been raised recently about whether the 0.51-square-kilometer Taiping, the largest of the Spratly Islands, can be defined as an island under international law.

Ma also invited the five arbitrators from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, who are dealing with a case brought by the Philippines against China, which has triggered interest in how the land formations in the South China Sea should be defined.

The Philippines sent a formal decline of Taiwan's invitation recently, while the court in the Hague has yet to respond to Taiwan's invitation, the ministry said in a statement.

The Philippines has continued to make statements about Taiping that Taiwan considers to be false, which has undermined peace in the region, the ministry said.

Manila is hoping that the court will rule that many of the formations claimed by Beijing in the South China Sea are reefs or rocks, entitled to no more than 12 nautical miles of territorial waters, rather than islands, which generate 200-nautical-mile economic zones.

Such a ruling would negate many of China's claims to fishing or resource rights in the region.

Taiwan has taken an interest in the case because a lawyer for the Philippines has argued that Taiping is not an island but rather a rock that cannot support human habitation.

As part of Taiwan's efforts to seek international support for its stance that Taiping meets the definition of an island, the country has arranged for international media representatives and experts over the past few months to visit the island to see it for themselves.

Ma also visited Taiping in January. The island lies about 1,600 kilometers southwest of Kaohsiung.

Taiping has its own sources of natural, abundant, potable fresh water, as well as naturally formed and fertile soil, while fruit, vegetables, chickens and goats are raised there, providing ample evidence that it is fit for human habitation and can support an economic life of its own, meeting the definition of an island under international law, according the ministry.

In the Friday statement, the ministry once again extended the invitation to the tribunal panel to visit Taiping so that it does not make a ruling based on only partial information.

"If the arbitration court does not respond to our invitation, it shouldn't make a ruling on the legal status of Taiping," the ministry said.

Should the final ruling undermine Taiwan's sovereignty over the South China Sea and maritime rights in the region, it will not be legally binding for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Republic of China government will not recognize or accept such a ruling, it added.

Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei claim all or part of the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, which is thought to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves.

(By Elaine Hou)

ENDITEM/J

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U.S. Department of Defense

Press Operations

News Transcript

Presenter: Colonel Steve Warren, Operation Inherent Resolve Spokesman; Captain Jeff Davis, Director, Defense Press Office May 13, 2016

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Colonel Warren via teleconference from Baghdad, Iraq

CAPTAIN JEFF DAVIS: Good morning, everybody. Happy Friday the 13th.

Steve, you're looking great. We're pleased to have you here with us today.

Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Warren, our OIR spokesman from Baghdad.

Over to you, sir.

COLONEL STEVE WARREN: Thanks, Jeff.

And good morning, Pentagon press corps. It's always good to be with you on a Friday.

Today, I'm going to provide you a short operational update across the battlefield, as well as some bigger-picture items.

So, first of all, we welcomed the Belgian announcement today that they will extend strikes into Syria. The additional combat power will help us more rapidly defeat our enemy.

ISIL's so-called caliphate relies on their ability to act like a state. The fact of the matter is they can't do it. One of the reasons they can't do it is that we have put a dent in their pocketbook. We have two operations targeting ISIL finances. One is called Operation Point Blank, which aims to destroy the Daesh cash piles that we find. The other is Tidal Wave II, which focuses on their oil revenue.

These operations have had an impact. We know that ISIL's total income has been reduced substantially, and we know that their income from oil specifically has we believe been reduced by about 50 percent. Their primary source of income is what they refer to now as taxation. In reality, we know that it's extortion. But even their ability to extort money from their own people continues to be reduced as our partner forces liberate more and more territory.

In addition to choking off their funding, we are now seeing a reduction in the flow of foreign fighters onto the battlefield. Over the last year, we assess that the number of foreign fighters entering the combat zone each month has decreased, possibly by as much as 75 percent.

ISIL has been unable to deliver on its promise to create a functioning state. That has diminished the appeal of the so-called caliphate as a destination spot for foreign fighters. As a result, we assess that ISIL is no longer able to replenish its ranks at the rate its fighters are dying on the ground. We attribute the reduction in foreign fighter flow to a range of factors, including our military gains on the ground, as well as active steps by governments to strengthen and enforce border security and also counter recruitment efforts.

Now let's talk about what our partners are doing on the ground. In Anbar, as part of Operation Desert Lynx, Iraqi security forces have advanced to the outskirts of the town of Juba, which is a town 25 miles north of Hit along the Euphrates River. In that action, the 7th Division, along with Sunni tribal fighters from the Ubaiti, Mahal and Jigethi tribes are conducting offensive operations to liberate that town.

Near Makhmur and the Tigris River Valley, Operation Valley Wolf saw some success this week as well. The 72nd Brigade seized the village of Kabruk. Coalition-trained Sunni tribal fighters from the Jabori, Lihibi and Sabawi tribes established a blocking position to the south, while the 72nd Brigade attacked from the north.

The coalition conducted multiple strikes and killed 52 enemy fighters during that operation.

Since then, operations there are focused on secondary clearance in and around Kabruk, and they continue to improve defensive positions.

In Syria, operations around Shaddadi have been static, and the Mara line remains contested, with opposition forces ceding two villages this week.

Near At Tanf, which is in the tri-border area, kind of in the south, by where Syria and Iraq and Jordan come together, opposition forces continue to improve their defenses, and they're preparing for future operations there.

We've conducted this week 40 strikes in that area against ISIL headquarters, staging facilities and fighting positions, and we're going to continue to apply pressure against ISIL's critical capabilities and functions. By keeping the pressure on in that southern region, it causes ISIL to have yet another problem that they've got to solve.

Well, this concludes my prepared comments. And without any further ado, we'll take your questions.

CAPT. DAVIS: Barbara Starr.

Q: Colonel Warren, a couple of things. Starting in Baghdad, what's -- you know, given now, we've -- you've had several days of attacks in Baghdad and around Baghdad. What's your assessment there of what ISIS is trying to accomplish, and the destabilization it could pose to the Iraqi government?

COL. WARREN: Well, certainly, our hearts are broken for the almost 100 Iraqi citizens who were killed or wounded -- severely wounded in these recent attacks. This is -- these are attacks that ISIL has claimed responsibility for.

We know that Baghdad is a huge city. It's a city of over six million people, and it is not a city that can simply be zipped up and completely sealed off.

So, tragically, the enemy is going to be able to get some truck bombs into the city from time-to-time.

You know, these were probably opportunity targets, I think. You know, certainly there has been some unrest, you know, some political churn, I think, here in Baghdad over the past several weeks.

And you know, ISIL, while we believe they're on the defensive and they are back on their heels, they still remain a legitimate threat. They're a dangerous enemy, and they're also smart.

And so, they've seen an opportunity here to create discord, to create disharmony. You know, these strikes went straight into, in many cases, heavily populated Shia areas. And really focused on civilian women, children -- complete civilians, not in any way, shape or form someone that could be considered a combatant or even a threat to ISIL in any way.

This was -- obviously, the purpose of this was to create discord. It was also an opportunity for this enemy, I think, to -- to gain some international attention.

You know, they -- they have lost ground almost continuously now for half a year. They've been really taking a beating, particularly in Iraq, where we've seen them lose city after city. We've seen them lose region after region. We've seen them lose their money. We've seen them lose their leaders. We've seen them lose their towns and villages and territory.

So I think they want to try and make a statement. And they know that these very high-visibility attacks gain -- get attention. And so I think that's also what they were -- what they were looking to do.

Q: If I may, two things. Can you bring us up to date on the status of additional U.S. forces that have been announced for deployment -- to -- for authorization to go into Iraq? And, you know, the status of the Apaches, the status of the additional trainers going in?

And your map talks about pressuring and isolating Raqqah. What do you see going on in Raqqah? You know, there's talk that ISIS has declared an emergency there. They're covering up things. They're moving people. What do you see happening in Raqqah? And bring us up to date on the status of U.S. forces.

COL. WARREN: All right. So, the secretary did announce an additional 217 personnel to come to Iraq and serve in various parts of different accelerants. Those personnel are still flowing. I don't have the exact number of how many have come in yet. None of them have -- none of those accelerants have begun to take place yet, though. So we're still conducting advise and assist at the division and operational center level.

And we have not yet employed the Apaches in an offensive role. So that's still -- that's still working. You know, it does take time to get personnel trained and equipped and packed and moved. So that's ongoing.

In Raqqah, we -- we have seen this declaration of emergency in Raqqah, whatever that means. We know this enemy feels threatened, as they should. We've -- we've, you know, I've detailed all the strikes that we've done there over time. They see the Syrian Democratic Forces along with the Syrian Arab Coalition maneuver both to their east and to their west -- you know, and to the west, at the Tishrin Dam, to the east, Shaddadi. Both of these areas becoming increasingly secure. And the Syrian Democratic Forces increasingly able to generate their own combat power in those areas.

So, certainly we are seeing some reactions to this. We've had reports of ISIL repositioning both their combat capabilities, I guess what they think may be coming next. And we've seen reports of them repositioning personnel to various other -- either within the city or even out of the city.

So, rightfully, ISIL understands that their days are increasingly numbered. We are going to continue to keep this pressure on them and -- and we expect to see them collapse eventually.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Did you have a quick follow up, Kevin?

Q: Yeah. I -- Colonel, Kevin Baron. How are you doing?

Just two follow ups.

One, if you -- is this a case of you being so focused on the north and the offensives to come that you guys didn't keep your eye on the back door with these massive attacks on Baghdad? I mean, because ISIS declared openly these are retaliatory actions that were for what they're feeling.

And what are you going to do about Baghdad? You describe the problem, but what's next? I mean, the American people remember U.S.-led forces patrolling every street in that town. I know you say you can't zipper it up, but surely there's more that could be done.

COL. WARREN: Well, you know, our -- our focus right now is really on, you know, training and equipping the Iraqi security forces and providing air power, you know, in the field. The Iraqi security forces, you know, have a plan to continue to secure Baghdad and they're going to execute that plan. You know, there were very good efforts around the green zone last week when they believed that there was going to be an increase in -- in protests.

Those efforts, you know -- what caused the demonstrations to not happen, you know, I don't know, but -- but they certainly snapped into action and created good security here. I think they're going to continue to do that. You know, the Iraqi security forces understand that they have to protect their people, and that's -- that's what they're trying to do.

You know, specifically what's the U.S. -- you know, the CJTF is not involved in the defense of Baghdad.

CAPT. DAVIS: Tara Copp

Q: Colonel Warren, has the political instability and the increase violence in Baghdad impacted U.S. plans to send in these additional operators and the Apaches? Are there any concerns that by increasing the U.S. footprint, it might actually insert -- incite further instability to kind of a long-standing unwillingness by some parties in Iraq to not have U.S. presence there?

COL. WARREN: No. Not at all, Tara. We -- we -- our plans to flow in the additional accelerants remain on track. We do not believe that any of this recent -- whether it be ISIL-initiated bombings or -- or the -- the political -- (inaudible) -- in the (inaudible) and place or the demonstrations that we've seen are going to impact our -- our ability to flow these additional forces and -- and get them into position to assist the Iraqi security forces in their efforts to prepare for and eventually liberate Mosul. So no impact.

Q: While it may not impact U.S. ability to flow in forces, have you seen any impact on the political will to have U.S. boots on the ground there?

COL. WARREN: Tara, say that again. Have we seen any impact on what, now?

Q: Iraq's political will to have additional U.S. forces there?

COL. WARREN: No, we have seen the current churn impact this government's desire to have U.S. and coalition support in their fight against ISIL. We haven't seen that at all. The prime minister welcomed the announcement that the secretary of defense made several weeks ago, and that remains.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next to Jim Miklaszewski?

Q: Steve, to follow up on that, what indication -- are there any indications or at least concerns on the part of the U.S. military in Baghdad that the Iraqi government, if these kinds of attacks, the suicide bombing attacks, continue in Baghdad, that the Iraqi government, the Iraqi military may lose its resolve and withdraws many of their troops from the fight against ISIS and bring them back into Baghdad for protection?

COL. WARREN: Well, right now, more than 50 percent of the Iraqi security forces are committed to the defense of Baghdad, and we have advised the Iraqis that that's enough.

So certainly, it's something we've got to watch out for. But right now, we've continued to advise them that their focus needs to remain on defeating this enemy once and for all, thereby eliminating the threat completely.

Q: And you said CJTF is not involved in the protection of Baghdad. But when these kinds of suicide attacks occurred, when the U.S. military was present, General Petraeus lined many of the streets in neighborhoods with those giant Texas T-walls and pretty much isolated the threat and reduced the threat significantly.

Is the U.S. at least working with the Iraqi government and military in an effort to provide or at least give them guidance on the kinds of defenses that may be needed there in Baghdad?

COL. WARREN: Well certainly we have advisers in the Baghdad Operations Center. And so these are the types of things that get discussed. But the Iraqis really do have, you know, their plan for how to -- how to secure their capital city. We are certainly available to provide them advice. We do interact with them in the Baghdad Operations Center every day.

I am not going to share with you what their plan is, obviously. But, you know, they do have a plan to continue the -- the security of Baghdad. And we'll continue to work with them and provide them whatever assistance that we can provide.

And it's notable that even when there were 150,000 American forces here and T-walls lined every street, we were never able to completely drive the threat to zero. Like I said, this is a big city, over 6 million population. And it's not even feasible to think that you could completely stop individuals who are determined to cause harm.

Q: Any indication of any growing pressure from the Shia elements, even Iran perhaps, that there has to be more focus now on protecting Baghdad against these attacks primarily against Shia neighborhoods?

COL. WARREN: I've seen no indication of that, Jim. Obviously, you know, the Iraqi government has its own discussions, but we have not yet seen any indication of that.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next is Phil Stewart.

Q: Hi, Steve.

A quick follow up on what Jim was asking, and then I have a question about the Manbij pocket in the north.

First on the defense of Baghdad, I mean, if the Iraqis keep about half of their forces in Baghdad because of this threat, because of the pressure to defend against this threat, will that slow your plans to go after Mosul?

And secondly, on the Manbij pocket, if you could give us an update on where that stands. ISIL had made some gains across a series of towns I think it was last week or the week before. Where does that stand now? What's the state of play? Thanks.

COL. WARREN: The -- the plan to move towards Mosul takes into account the fact that 50 percent of the Iraqi security forces are in Baghdad. So assuming this situation remains the same, there will be no impact. The Iraqi government, of course, can move units and forces around the battlefield as it sees fit. Should they decide to reposition forces into Baghdad, then you know, that's something we would have to, you know, that would cause a change. But as of now, the plan accounts for the Baghdad security effort.

Like I said in my opening remarks, the opposition forces did lose two small villages this week up in the -- along the Mara line, to an ISIL attack. And so that remains as I've described it previously, really a shoving match. What you see is a number of really small villages along, you know, that line, you know, that begins in Mara and moves up to the Turkish border there. And these villages are exchanging hands, you know, almost daily in some cases.

Some of these villages have exchanged hands a half a dozen times in the last few months. So, it really is a shoving match where one force will occupy a town, sometimes unopposed, sometimes with some opposition, sometimes in a larger fight. But it has truly become a continuous back and forth of these small villages, with neither side appearing to gain the upper hand or appearing to lose the upper hand.

So, we'll have to see how this develops.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay, next to Andrew -- oh, there you are. Andrew Tilghman.

Q: Colonel Warren, I'd like to ask a little bit about the troop levels, and you talked about troops flowing in.

But a couple of weeks ago, the secretary raised the cap from about 3,800 to more than 4,000. But it's my understanding that the actual official number of troops on the ground has been about 3,500 for most of that time.

Is that -- can you help us understand why it's continuing to come in so much under that cap, and does that reflect the fact that the Iraqis just don't really need those forces right now?

COL. WARREN: Well, you know, the cap is the maximum level. The commander will ensure that he's got the forces that he needs on the ground at the time. And that's what we have right now.

So, as we require additional forces, additional forces will flow in. If we don't require a capability, then we don't require the capability.

So, there's no -- there's no real trick to it. These are all -- you know, and you're talking about a number -- you're talking about, frankly, minuscule numbers, you know, plus or minus a 100 or two. Very small numbers.

But there's always -- this is why we hesitate to, you know, get into these numbers games with you guys, because the numbers change daily. They change every single day; somebody leaves, somebody comes. Somebody else comes, and tomorrow, two people leave.

This is a daily thing. So, you know, the commander has the forces that he requires for the operation that he's conducting. As we need more forces, more forces will come in.

The FML, the Force Management level, is simply the upper end. It's not a requirement. We're not required to keep 40 -- 4,082 or whatever the number is. We're not required to have that many. That's our upper limit of how many we're authorized to have.

So, it's our management level. So, if we don't need that many today, then we don't have that many today. Somebody's got to -- you know, if a unit has got to leave, we're rotating out, whatever the case, then those numbers are going to move a little bit.

But there's not a -- there's no trick to it, other than having what you need when you need it. And right now, that's the case.

CAPT. DAVIS: Next to Tolga Tanis.

Q: Hi, Colonel. I want to go back to Manbij question, to Phil's question.

What's the problem to defend Mara in terms of this -- the airstrikes that you intensify over the last month? Even though  why the opposition groups on the ground are losing ground against ISIL?

COL. WARREN: It's a tough fight in Mara. I think -- you broke up a little -- I mean, I think you asked me what's the problem in Mara, so that's the question I'm going to answer.

It's a tough fight there. You have a determined enemy that wants to continue to gain ground. And it doesn't want to give up any ground. And you have opposition forces arrayed along a fairly large front that also want to gain some ground.

And so, that's what you're seeing. You're seeing ground gained one day, and in some cases, lost the next day.

So, this is a continuing process. You know, this is a little bit of change from where it was six months ago.

Six months ago, what you had was a very static line with almost no movement at all. What you see now, probably in January, February timeframe, the opposition forces made a push and gained quite a bit of ground along the Mara line. We were talking about that a lot when it was happening.

But -- (inaudible) -- really was -- was (inaudible) -- hold forces. So they -- they have had -- they've struggled to hold the territory that -- that they were able to take back in the January, February timeframe. And so now what you've seen, now that that kind of static, sort of World War I, you know, line of the Mara line kind of became much more fluid after that initial push back in January, February timeframe. What you're seeing now is that line kind of continuing to -- to fluctuate as -- as the various forces there jockey for position.

Q: I have a more specific question, then. Do you have any difficulty to find the groups that you can cooperate with on the ground? Because there are two separate groups, as far as we know, on -- in Mara. One, the groups who are working with CIA under Article 50 and the other groups who are working with DOD on their Article 10. Are you able to contact with the groups who are working with CIA on their Article 50?

COL. WARREN: Well, it is difficult to -- to find groups on the Mara line because we don't have anyone there. But this is something that we're continuing to work and we will continue to work it.

Q: (Inaudible).

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. I'll get back to you. How about Nancy Yousef?

Q: Hi, Steve.

I wanted to ask you about Fallujah. We've seen reports recently of starvation of civilians there, and now with these attacks on Baghdad and a perception among some that some of these attackers are coming from Fallujah. Is there any increased talks amongst the Iraqi government and in their communications with the U.S. military about going into Fallujah before Mosul? Is that a realistic prospect? Can you give us a sense in terms of where operations against Fallujah fit into the broader picture?

COL. WARREN: All right, Fallujah. We've seen a lot of these reports too. I think some of the press reporting may be a -- indicate a situation that's worse than it is. The U.N. reporting that I've certainly indicates that there are growing problems, that -- that food is becoming scarce and that, you know, people want to leave can't. But you also see some -- some reporting here in the local press and other areas that indicate that it's -- it's a legitimate humanitarian crisis with starvation.

So it's difficult to know exactly where on that spectrum Fallujah falls, but regardless, certainly there is suffering there. And let's keep in mind that that suffering that's -- that's there because of ISIL, right? Let's not ever forget that point.

But on Fallujah specifically, we have seen the Iraqi security forces begin to chip away at Fallujah. In fact, Fallujah is now generally surrounded by Iraqi security forces. Elements of three different divisions, the first, the sixth and the seventh, are positioned to the north, you know, around -- all around Fallujah.

So -- and we have seen maneuver, but it's been in very small bites. Yesterday, I think it was 340 meters that Iraqi security forces were able to gain. That's a very small number, obviously. But this is -- this is a tough city. This is the very first city that ISIL gained control of, so they've -- ISIL's been there for more than two years, so they are dug in and dug in deep. So this is a tough nut for us to crack here. This is a tough nut for the Iraqis to crack.

I -- I think the Iraqis are aware. I am confident that the Iraqis are aware that they need to liberate Fallujah. Where it falls into the sequence -- Fallujah before Mosul; Fallujah after Mosul -- is unclear. But the Iraqis are working at Fallujah right now. Like I said, they've got it surrounded. They are pressuring it. But they haven't been able to make, you know, a real move in there to start clearing it yet.

So, this is going to continue to be something that we watch. We know that the Iraqis have attempted on several occasions to open up humanitarian corridors to allow some of those civilians to -- to come out. Those have met with generally not much success. ISIL has done things like set up snipers to cover down on those corridors, to, you know, kill people as they're trying to get out. So that has really discouraged their use.

So, it's a difficult problem. But I guess to come full circle, Nancy, and really answer your question, our sense is that the -- the Iraqis certainly understand that Fallujah does need to be liberated. You do see some reporting that the Iraqis are ignoring or whatever the case. I don't think that's the case. I think that they know that Fallujah has got to go, you know, has got to be liberated.

Q: Can you say why they wouldn't do Fallujah first, before Mosul? What's sort of the plus and minus of Fallujah first versus Mosul first? If they're already surrounding the city and it's closer to Baghdad and it's smaller, wouldn't it be natural or logical to do the Fallujah operation first?

COL. WARREN: Well, you know, from a military perspective, Fallujah doesn't have much impact on Mosul. So, you know, you don't need to liberate Fallujah in order to get to Mosul, unlike, say, Baiji. You have to get Baiji before you get to Mosul. It has to happen. Sinjar -- you've got to get Sinjar before you get to Mosul because that's the main line of communication.

So -- but Fallujah doesn't really have any tactical influence on Mosul. So then it becomes a political decision, right? This becomes a decision that, you know, is made at the political level. There is no military reason to liberate Fallujah now, to answer your question.

Now, that said, Fallujah clearly has some military influence on Baghdad, right? It is, you know, its close proximity to Baghdad. We don't know where these truck bombs came from. We don't know if they came out of Fallujah or not, but certainly that's something that has to be brought into the calculus as well.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Next to Richard Sisk.

Q: Yeah. Hi, Colonel.

Can you tell us what the situation is north and west of Ramadi, where there are reports that a major counterattack by ISIS killed a significant number of Iraqi troops. And how could this happen, given the progress reports we've gotten from you and others on the progress in Anbar province? How could this happen?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, hey, Jeff, can you signal to Tom and ask him maybe to turn the gain down a little bit? Because everybody's coming in really blown out, so I could -- I wasn't able to hear any of that question.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. We're -- (inaudible) -- the signal down. Tom, if you can do that -- (inaudible).

(CROSSTALK)

CAPT. DAVIS: Richard, try again.

Q: Okay. How do you catch me now, Steve?

(CROSSTALK)

Q: Now we can't hear him.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. No, we can't hear you either.

Q: Are you coming through?

COL. WARREN: It's clear now. I can hear you perfectly.

CAPT. DAVIS: Richard.

Q: Replay. What can you tell us about the situation north and west of Ramadi, reports of a major attack, killed a significant number of Iraqi troops?

And how can this happen, given all the reporting coming out from over there about ISIS being on the defensive, and especially the progress in Anbar province? How could this happen?

COL. WARREN: Right. There was an attack on Ramadi. It was a couple of truck bombs that came in. And it wasn't really in Ramadi city center; it was down off to the north. Well, there was one to the north and one to the south.

Anywhere it was around the city center. It was kind of out of the suburbs or even exurbs of Ramadi. You know, the Lake Tharthar region still -- there's still pockets, that's still kind of a little bit of a support zone for the enemy, and so, they are able to infiltrate, you know, (inaudible).

And this was a -- you call it an attack, I would call it a terrorist you know, event, terrorist attack. It was less a military attack and more of a terrorist attack.

It's almost similar to what we saw in Baghdad, right, it was -- it was truck bombs. In this case, it was truck bombs plus -- there were some -- it was truck bombs supported by some technicals. Some truck bombs supported by infantry.

Notable, you know, certainly, the attack caused casualties to the Iraqi military there, which is tragic. But all of the attackers are dead now. You know, it was an unsuccessful attack. And the Iraqi military didn't give up on an inch of ground.

So, this is still a war, and there are still -- there is still a legitimate enemy out there. Again, like I said, in this case, there's -- we know Lake Tharthar remains a support zone, from where they're able to generate small bits of combat power, and project it in this case into -- into the -- kind of Ramadi suburbs.

But it certainly is not really an indicator of anything, other than what I just said, that there is still an enemy out there.

So.

Q: Colonel, can you -- can you speak to the overall -- the overall impact to things like this?

However you want to characterize what happened in Ramadi, we had the attack last week in Tal Asqaf, the attacks going on in Baghdad. You had the unusual circumstance earlier this week of the White House almost rooting for the Russians and the Syrian regime to turn back ISIS from moving towards Palmyra again.

How does this -- how does this -- are they showing more resilience than you've expected?

COL. WARREN: No. They're not showing more resilience than we've expected. They are showing resilience, but resilience is to be expected.

We've never underestimated this enemy, not for one moment. And we know that they remain capable of these raids and limited attacks, mixed in with terrorist attacks.

But again, you know, from a military perspective, they have not been able to seize or gain a square inch of ground, and particularly in Iraq. You know, they have not gained an inch in Iraq.

They have conducted these raids. In almost every case, the raiders are wiped out -- or nearly wiped out.

So, yeah, you're going to see -- I mean, it's a war. So, they're going to fight. But this doesn't mean that they're gaining strength. It doesn't mean that something's gone wrong. What this means is there's an enemy in Iraq that's got to be defeated. And this is what the Iraqis are working on right now.

Q: Colonel, just one -- one, if I could, please. We went round and round with General Volesky the other day about the Apaches. But he said they've not yet -- not yet employed the Apaches in an offensive role. Is there such a thing as a defensive role? Basically, are the Apaches flying? Are they flying missions now?

COL. WARREN: Apache helicopters have been here since almost day one. They've been here for nearly two years. And they have flown missions, you know, escorting VIPs who come in, et cetera. So, I mean, that's not changed.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Phil Stewart.

Q: Steve, sorry -- I just want to ask a separate question. It's not exactly directly tied to the counter-ISIL fight, but the top Hezbollah commander in Syria was killed in an explosion. And I'm sort of trying to find out what your assessment is of that on Hezbollah, which is one of the many actors in Syria that you have to kind of factor in when you're going through your planning.

And then also, do you know anything about this strike?

COL. WARREN: Yeah, so, I am aware of it, Phil. It's really too soon for us to assess right now what impact this is going to have. You are correct that Hezbollah is an actor on this -- on this stage and has been for some time. We know that they've suffered very heavy casualties over the last two or three years fighting in Syria as part of their efforts to back Bashar al-Assad.

But in regards to this specific strike, who took it, what the impact, you know, what the downstream impact is going to be of losing this leader, it's simply too soon to tell.

Q: The United States did not carry out this strike, obviously.

COL. WARREN: That is correct.

CAPT. DAVIS: Barbara?

Q: Just cleaning up one detail. You've mentioned a couple of times the Iraqis have 50 percent of their forces dedicated to the defense of Baghdad. If you say 50 percent, can you tell us what the number is, how many troops?

COL. WARREN: Roughly half, maybe I should have said. And I don't have the troop numbers to hand. Probably inappropriate for me to give out Iraqi troop strengths anyway. So even if I did have it, I wouldn't give it to you.

Q: The Hezbollah guy -- target -- if he wasn't on your strike list, do you know whose strike list he was on?

COL. WARREN: I do not know whose strike list he was on. We are not striking Hezbollah.

Q: Okay.

CAPT. DAVIS: Okay. Anybody else?

All right, Steve. Thank you very much for your time. We wish you a pleasant weekend.

COL. WARREN: Thank you very much. It's good to see everyone. We'll see you next week.

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/759199/

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Hezbollah probing nature of assassination

Iran Press TV

Fri May 13, 2016 4:34AM

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement says it is investigating to find out whether a blast which claimed the life of a top military commander was caused by an airstrike, missile attack or artillery.

In a statement, the resistance movement said Friday that initial information indicates Mustafa Badreddine was killed in a big explosion at one of its bases near Damascus Airport.

Hezbollah is working to "define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an airstrike, or missile attack or artillery," the statement said.

Early reports had suggested that Badreddine was assassinated in an Israeli airstrike.

A Hezbollah member of parliament also said Israel is behind the assassination, indicating that the Lebanese movement would respond "at the appropriate time."

"This is an open war and we should not pre-empt the investigation but certainly Israel is behind this," Nawar al-Saheli said told al-Manar TV station.

"The resistance will carry out its duties at the appropriate time," he said.

The 55-year-old Badreddine was the commander of Hezbollah's military wing which is helping the Syrian government drive out foreign-backed Takfiri terrorists from the country.

In doing so, the movement says it is trying to prevent the Syrian conflict from spilling over to Lebanon and keep Takfiri terrorists at bay.

"He said a few months ago, 'I will not come back from Syria, unless a martyr or carrying the flag of victory,'" Hezbollah said in a statement carried by the Al-Manar TV channel.

"He is the top commander Mustafa Badreddine. And he came back today as a martyr," it added.

Badreddine also directed military operations against the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and was a frequent target of attempts by Tel Aviv, the US and its allies in the Middle East to assassinate or capture him.

He was the cousin and brother-in-law of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh who was assassinated by Israel in 2008.

Mossad killed Mughniyeh by remotely detonating a bomb planted in the spare tire of a parked SUV in the Syrian capital.

Mughniyah's son, Jihad, was also assassinated in an Israeli airstrike in Syria in January 2015.

Israel is widely known to have been supporting terrorists fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

According to Israel's Channel 2 television, Israeli medics have treated more than 2,100 militants injured in the war on Syria since 2011.

In December 2015, the British newspaper Daily Mail said Israel had saved the lives of more than 2,000 Takfiri militants since 2013.

The Syrian army has repeatedly claimed to have seized sizable quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from militants in the Arab country.

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'Russian Aggression' On Agenda As Obama Hosts Nordic Leaders

May 13, 2016

by RFE/RL

Russia's increased military assertiveness was high on the agenda as U.S. President Barack Obama hosted the leaders of five Nordic countries at the White House.

"We are united in our concern about Russia's growing, aggressive military presence and posture in the Baltic-Nordic region," Obama said on May 13 at the end of the meeting with the leaders of Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Sweden, and Norway.

Obama said the six countries agreed on the need to maintain sanctions against Russia.

Earlier, Obama said that while willing to deescalate tensions, Washington would also be prepared to counter any perceived Russian aggression.

"We will be maintaining ongoing dialogue and seek cooperation with Russia but we also want to make sure that we are prepared and strong and we want to encourage Russia to keep its military activities in full compliance with international obligations," he said.

In a joint statement, the six countries expressed concern about Russia's actions in the Baltic Sea region, including "its nuclear posturing, its undeclared exercises, and the provocative actions taken by Russian aircraft and naval vessels."

The meeting came hours after U.S. and Polish officials symbolically broke ground for a new U.S.-led facility as part of NATO's European missile-defense shield in northern Poland.

On May 12, the United States activated a first-of-its-kind, ground-based missile-interceptor site in Romania, despite Moscow's protests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on May 13 that U.S. antimissile systems in Europe will "force" Moscow "to consider putting an end to the threats emerging in relation to Russia's security."

Speaking at a meeting with military officials, Putin described NATO's missile-defense program as a threat to global security.

Putin said that Russia "will do everything needed to ensure and preserve the strategic balance, which is the most reliable guarantee from large-scale military conflicts."

However, Putin said that Russia would not get drawn into a new arms race.

Work on the site in Redzikowo in the north of Poland is to be completed at the end of 2018.

Situated some 250 kilometers from the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, it will host 24 land-based SM-3 missiles as well as antiaircraft systems.

The installation in Poland is the final site of the European missile shield, which will be handed over to NATO in July and run from a U.S. air base in Germany.

With reporting by AFP, AP, Reuters, and dpa

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/us-nordic-summit-russian-aggression/27733484.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Top Hizballah Commander Killed In Syria

May 13, 2016

by RFE/RL

A top Hizballah military commander has been killed in an explosion in Syria, dealing a blow to the Lebanese Shi'ite militant group and its support for the Syrian government.

Hizballah sources have blamed the death of Mustafa Badreddine in an explosion near Damascus airport on an Israeli air strike, although a deputy leader was later quoted as saying the group would announce its findings "within hours."

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has declined to comment on whether it was involved in Badreddine's death. But its forces have carried out targeted assassinations against Hizballah in the past.

Badreddine has been a key figure in the military activities of Hizballah, a sworn enemy of Israel whose military arm has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to help Russia and Iran prop up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against internal and external enemies.

"There is no question that Hizballah lost a very important commander, the Iranians lost a very important interloper, and the Assad regime lost a great supporter," Yaakov Amidror, who was national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2011-13, said of Badreddine's death. Amidror said it would have a deep impact in Syria.

Turkey and the United States have led efforts to put pressure on Assad to step down since his regime responded brutally to antigovernment unrest that began early in 2011, including by arming Syrian rebel groups.

Longtime Damascus ally Russia bolstered its military presence in Syria and launched a bombing campaign in late September that it said was aimed at keeping Assad in power and striking "international terrorist" targets.

Air strikes and other intense violence has continued in Syria despite a shaky "cessation of hostilities" agreed among international powers.

Amidror said rebels in Syria gained from Badreddine's death and that Israel also benefited.

Badreddine, who was on a U.S. terrorist blacklist, was one of four people being tried in absentia by a UN tribunal for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

Hizballah did not provide details of Badreddine's death. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to the group, initially said he was killed in an Israeli air strike -- though that report was later removed.

Hizballah lawmaker in Lebanon Nawar al-Saheli later on May 13 said he awaited the results of an investigation but added that "this is an open war" and "certainly Israel is behind this." He vowed that "the resistance will carry out its duties" in response.

Announcing Badreddine's death, Hizballah said in a statement, "He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982."

An unnamed deputy leader of the group was quoted as saying on May 13 that Hizballah would "continue in the path" of Badreddine.

Russian officials did not immediately comment on Badreddine's death.

But Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, praised Badreddine in a letter of condolence as having "dedicated his whole life to the fight against injustice and terrorism," according to news agency ISNA.

Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of Badreddine's brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, the chief of Hizballah's military wing who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

"Today Hizballah is very much involved in Syria, and all its focus is in Syria," former Israeli official Amidror said. "But behind the corner, a year from now or a month from now, we might have to face Hizballah on the battlefield. If Hizballah has to go to the battlefield without a commander like Badreddine, it's better for Israel."

Amidror declined to speculate on whether Israel assassinated the commander.

Israel has assassinated Hizballah leaders in the past, including a 1992 helicopter strike that killed Abbas Musawi, the previous secretary-general of the organization. In December, militant Samir Kantar, who was imprisoned in Israel for three decades, was killed in an air strike on a residential building in a suburb of Damascus. Israel has also targeted convoys of Hizballah weaponry on the Lebanon-Syria frontier.

With reporting by Daniella Cheslow and AP, AFP, ISNA, and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/syria-hizballah- commander-badreddine-killed/27732163.html

Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian Drones Repeatedly Violated Poland's Airspace - Defense Minister

Sputnik News

10:07 13.05.2016

Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that Russian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) had repeatedly violated country's airspace in the past.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  During the interview with Polish Television, Macierewicz was asked about the reported violations of Polish airspace. The question was asked in the context of reports of alleged dangerous actions of Russia's aviation over the Baltic Sea.

"These were drones. The incidents took place on the Polish-Russian border near Kaliningrad region. Fortunately, we have significantly strengthened the borders so during the last 2.5- 3 months such incidents were rare," Macierewicz said, as quoted by the website of the public broadcaster TVP.

He added that the number of such incidents could be classified as numerous and expressed hope that Russian Aerospace Forces would be cautious in the airspace of NATO member states.

In mid-April, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said all flights by airplanes from Russia's Aerospace Forces were completed in accordance with international norms.

 Sputnik

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Suspect in Hariri Killing Dies in Mysterious Damascus Blast

by Edward YeranianMay 13, 2016

The man reputed to be Hezbollah's top military commander and a top suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al Harri was killed in a blast near Damascus International Airport.

Nadim Shehadi, who heads the Fares Center at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, tells VOA that Badreddin and other suspects in the Hariri case have been dying off quickly.

"Everyone we know connected to the Hariri assassination is dying, so very soon you will have a (special) tribunal in the Hague that is not able to have a trial or that would have to innovate to have a trial, because Badreddin was the highest profile (in the case) and now he's gone," he said.

Other suspects who have been killed or died under mysterious circumstances in recent years include top Syrian intelligence officials Rustom Ghazaleh and Jamaa Jamaa, and Badreddin's brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyah, who was Hezbollah's former top military commander until he was assassinated in 2008.

"People like Badreddin and Mughniyah," argues Shehadi, "belong to the darker side of institutions and are not supposed to be well known." "Once they are known and become too exposed," he adds, "they become a liability to their own people."

Hezbollah said Badreddin had "become a martyr." The group indicated the cause of the fatal explosion near Damascus Airport is still being investigated, although several Hezbollah leaders directed suspicion at Israel.

There was no official reaction from Israel, which customarily declines to comment on such matters. Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Israeli Army Radio that Badreddin's passing was "good for Israel," but added that "those (fighting) in Syriahave a lot of (enemies other than) Israel."

Who was Badreddin

Took part in most Hezbollah operations since 1982

Accused of participating in 1983 attacks on U.S. Marine command center and embassy in Beirut

Suspected of attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996

Condemned to death in Kuwait in 1983 for assassination attempt on Kuwait's late Emir Sa'ad Jabbar al Sabah.

Shi'ite gunmen who hijacked a TWA plane in 1985 demanded his freedom

Escaped Kuwait after Iraqi troops invaded in 1990

A top suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al Hariri in 2005

Hezbollah reaction

Lebanon's Minister of Industry Hussein Hajj Hassan, who belongs to Hezbollah, told journalists at a funeral wake for Badreddin in Beirut that he will be missed.

He said another Hezbollah commander has been killed, joining many others, and that his death will add to the group's determination, patience and will to fight Israel.

Hezbollah's Al Manar TV said Badreddin had told his friends and family several months ago that he would return from Syria, where he was fighting Sunni militias opposed to President Bashar al Assad's government,"either as a victor or as a martyr."

"Badreddine was dually hated as head of an Islamic jihad organization terror wing and also as head of Hezbollah's Syrian command. Even several years ago he would accompany Nasrallah to weekly meetings with Assad in Damascus.Hezbollah will continue to fight on behalf of the Assad regime and against Sunni Syrians, but this is a significant loss for Hezbollah."

Rassoul Dez, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander who fled the country recently and found refuge in Washington, DC., said Hezbollah will be weakened inside and outside of Lebanon.

"Hezbollah's stance will shatter if they cannot replace him with another master mind," Dez said.

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US Missile Defense System in Poland Not Directed Against Russia - Warsaw

Sputnik News

18:18 13.05.2016(updated 18:21 13.05.2016)

The US Aegis Ashore missile defense system due to be built in the Polish village of Redzikowo is not directed against Russia, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Friday, Redzikowo is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system, which is part of an US-designed ballistic missile defense system in Europe.

"The initiative of the missile defense shield is not directed against Russia," Waszczykowski told the Polska Agencja Prasowa (PAP) news agency, adding that the military base would significantly change Poland's security status.

According to the minister, Poland has sought to change this status for years despite joining NATO in 1999.

Polish top diplomat stressed that US-designed ballistic missile defense system in Europe was directed against missile threats from the Middle East.

On Thursday, the US Aegis Ashore missile defense system was officially inaugurated at a military base in Romania.

"These two bases  in Romania and Poland  are located so that they will be practically unable to intercept missiles launched from Russia in direction of the United States, that is why Russia's criticism is unfounded," Waszczykowski said.

Russia has repeatedly expressed concern over the creation of the ballistic missile defense system in Europe, approved in 2010 during a NATO summit in Lisbon. A group of European countries, including Poland, Romania, Spain and Turkey, agreed to deploy elements of the system on their territories.

The facility in Redzikowo is expected to be fully operational by 2018. The military base is expected to be equipped with medium range SM-3 interceptor missiles as well as a radio guidance radar. About 300 US servicemen are supposed to serve the facility.

 Sputnik

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US Air Defense Shield Not Defense, But Nuclear Potential in Europe - Putin

Sputnik News

15:50 13.05.2016(updated 18:13 13.05.2016)

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that the US defense shield in Eastern Europe is not part of defense, but Washington's nuclear potential in Europe.

"This [US missile shied in Europe] is not a defense system, but a part of US strategic nuclear potential in east Europe."

The Russian president said that the unilateral deployment of US air defense systems in Romania is not taking into account Russia's concerns.

US air defense systems in Poland may be easily used for short-, mid-range missiles, Vladimir Putin said.

"This is a clear violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, because missile launchers, which will be deployed after the commissioning of the radar station in Romania, missile launchers that will be deployed in Poland, can easily be used for mid- and short-range missiles."

"And after the United States' unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty  which was clearly the first step to attempt changing the strategic balance of forces in the world  this is a second blow to the international security system, the creation of conditions to violate the INF treaty. This creates additional concern," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, the US Aegis Ashore missile defense system was officially inaugurated at a military base in Romania, and the construction of a similar complex will begin in Poland on Friday.

"The deployment of Aegis system in the Mediterranean, a radar in Romania and later a missile defense site in Poland  these are additional steps undermining the global security system and starting a new arms race," Putin said.

Moscow is forced to consider ways of tackling appearing threats after the deployment of US air defense systems near Russia's borders, Putin said.

Putin reminded that the air defense system in Romania was deployed under the pretext that a few years ago "all opponents said that our partners in the West and Europe needed the air defense system to prevent a nuclear threat from Iran."

"And where are these Iran's nuclear threats now? There are no threats. The US itself signed an agreement with Iran, [the US] was one of the initiators of the [Tehran nuclear agreement]. They did everything right and we supported this stance of the US administration. But there is no threat [from Iran], but the creation of the air defense system is still going on."

Putin emphasized that currently there is no nuclear threat from Iran. Moscow proposed Washington to cooperate on the issue, however, US authorities refused to do so, he said.

"All our proposals were rejected, we are invited not to jointly work, but to discuss this issue, nothing concrete. Everything is done unilaterally, without taking into account our concerns."

Russia will not be dragged into an arms race, Putin said, adding that Moscow is doing its best to maintain strategic balance of power and avoid large-scale military conflicts.

"Of course, we are doing everything needed from our side so as to provide for the maintenance of this strategic balance of power that is the most reliable guarantee against the appearance of large-scale military conflicts, which in their aftermath, undoubtedly, would be in no comparison to those conflicts in the hot spots on the planet that we know. We cannot allow this to happen and we won't," Putin said during a meeting with top military personnel.

"As we have said before we will not be dragged into this race, but will go our own way, we will work very accurately, without exceeding the plans on financing of the rearmament program, which we set several years ago," Putin said.

 Sputnik

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US boots take position in Libya ahead of ISIL battle

Iran Press TV

Fri May 13, 2016 7:45AM

The United States has reportedly stationed some two dozen special operations troops to Libya prior to a possible military campaign against Daesh (ISIL) terrorists in the North African state.

According to the Washington Post report citing unnamed US officials, the American troops have been positioned at two outposts in Libya since late last year.

The force is operating around the cities of Misrata and Benghazi to find potential allies and monitor possible threats, the Post said.

The United States is already engaged in anti-ISIL campaigns in Iraq and Syria. Washington has been criticized for its ineffective campaign against Daesh.

Last month, the US military said it had deployed spy drones to Libya where the Pentagon's latest shift over Daesh would reportedly see added air fire against militants there.

The US has conducted two airstrikes in Libya in recent months targeting purported Daesh militants and commanders.

Back in January, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the United States was considering possible "military options" against the growing presence of Daesh in Libya.

The Takfiri terrorist group's "metastasis" from Syria and Iraq to Libya and its increasing influence in the North African country is a "significant concern," noted Cook, adding, "We're looking at military options, a range of other options as... the situation in Libya unfolds."

Libya has been grappling with violence and political uncertainty since the oil-rich country's former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was deposed and later killed in 2011.

The terrorists have exploited the chaos in Libya and seized parts of Sirte, a city on the country's Mediterranean coast. They have also been launching attacks on oil facilities along the country's coast.

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Blame Game: Pakistan Accuses India of Lobbying to Block F-16 Sale

Sputnik News

17:40 13.05.2016(updated 17:42 13.05.2016)

In the latest war of words between India and Pakistan, the latter has now accused India of lobbying to block the sale of F-16 fighter aircraft to Islamabad by the US.

Sartaj Aziz, Advisor on Foreign Affairs to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the Senate of Pakistan that "the Indian lobby has been making untiring efforts to reverse the US decision and a strong attempt, through Senator Rand Paul's resolution, to block the sale itself."

He further added that "we have forcefully rejected Indian objections to the sale of 8 F-16 to Pakistan and drawn attention to the wide ranging defense deals concluded between India and US during US Defense Secretary's recent visit to India. We have also emphasized the importance of maintaining strategic stability in South Asia."

Earlier, India strongly expressed its displeasure to US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter during his recent visit to India. India has repeatedly voiced its concern with the US administration that the sale of F-16's to Pakistan will be used against India and not against terrorists.

"It is well known fact that Pakistan is trying hard to acquire the F-16 fighter planes to use against India. Although Pakistan is trying to convince US that the fighter jets will be used to eliminate terrorists. But the fact is that the F-16 is basically made for air warfare and not to strike terrorists. So India has impressed upon the US government what will be pitfalls of acquiring F-16s by Pakistan. It will have a negative impact on the security and stability of South Asia," Former Indian Ambassador to Yemen, Venezuela, Oman, Thailand and Spain, and former Member of the National Security Advisory Board, Ranjit Gupta told Sputnik.

In 2015, the US reached an understanding with Pakistan for the purchase of 8 F-16 fighter jets worth US $699 million. Under the deal Pakistan was required to pay about US $ 270 million whereas US was supposed to provide the rest from its Foreign Military Financing program.

But the US Congress turned down the Administration's proposal for use of the Foreign Military Financing facility on this count. Pakistan can still buy F-16 but will have to pay the full amount from its own treasury.

 Sputnik

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Russia Starts Flight Tests of 'Orion' Reconnaissance Drone

Sputnik News

18:32 13.05.2016(updated 18:33 13.05.2016)

Russia has started testing its "Orion" reconnaissance drone, a source in the military defense sector told RIA Novosti Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The expected flight endurance of the "Orion" is at least 24 hours, while the altitude  about five miles. The drone will also carry a pay load of up to 660 pounds.

"At the Gromov Flight Research Institute [in the Moscow Region] tests of the medium altitude long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle 'Orion' have started," the source said.

The Russian Defense Ministry signed a contract for the development of the drone with the Russian Kronshtadt company, formerly known as Transas, in October 2016.

Transas initially planned that the drone would weigh about a metric ton but at the MAKS-2015 air show the company's chairman, Nikolai Lebedev, announced the take-off weight had been increased by more than 400 pounds.

 Sputnik

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In Syria, head of UN agency for Palestine refugees calls for protection to be strengthened

13 May 2016  The head of the United Nations relief agency charged with the well-being of Palestinian refugees across the Middle East has just completed a two-day visit to Syria where he met with Palestine refugees and called for their protection to be strengthened.

"In the eyes of Rana and Isra, I saw the unspeakable trauma they have endured but also their determination to prevail," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), after meeting two young girls in a neighbourhood of Damascus, who were badly injured in a devastating double car-bomb in February.

A cross-line field trip to Yalda also allowed the Commissioner-General to meet with Palestine refugees from Yarmouk during distributions of food and hygiene materials, as well as medical consultations carried out by UNRWA. Many of the men, women and children present at the distribution live in Yarmouk camp itself and spoke of the ongoing extreme hardship and the many consequences of armed violence they are exposed to.

"UNRWA remains determined to resume direct distributions inside Yarmouk when the conditions permit. In the meantime, it is important that we are able to continue providing the life-saving support to Palestine refugees from Yarmouk in surrounding neighbourhoods," Mr. Krahenbuhl emphasized.

During his visit to Damascus, the Commissioner-General met with Dr. Faisal Miqdad, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates; Omar Ghalawangi, the Deputy Prime Minister; Mrs. Rima al-Qadiri, the Minister of Social Affairs; and Mr. Ali Mustafa, Director-General of the General Administration for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR).

In these meetings, Mr. Krahenbuhl noted the improvements in the facilitation of humanitarian access to certain Palestine refugee communities. He called for steps to be taken to strengthen the protection of Palestine refugees and enable UNRWA to reach those most in need. He was encouraged by the indications he received that access will become possible to Khan Eshieh and Qudsaya.

In the midst of ongoing suffering faced by Palestine refugees in Syria, UNRWA is underlining that there are remarkable stories of hope. The Commissioner-General met with some 100 Palestinian boys and girls who had just exited Yarmouk camp to take their national exams. In his discussions with the students, he heard how essential it was to have preserved forms of access to education inside the devastated landscape of Yarmouk.

In Sayyeda Zeinab, Mr. Krahenbuhl visited an UNRWA school being rebuilt in what was once an embattled neighbourhood of the Syrian capital.

"I am deeply proud of the efforts of my colleagues in Syria, who are so engaged to protect the right to education of Palestine refugee youth. I call on the world to join us in support of this formidable effort," he said.

"As steps are underway to try and resolve the wider Syria conflict, UNRWA staff in Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Latakia and Dera'a are doing their utmost to provide crucial assistance and services to Palestine refugees," he added. "It is essential that their destiny, their plight, as well as their needs and expectations are not forgotten. Addressing these should be a priority for all."

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Turkish president threatens unilateral actions against IS group in Syria

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 20:46, May 12, 2016

ANKARA, May 12-- Turkey is prepared to take unilateral actions against the Islamic State (IS) in Syriato protect its southern border town Kilis from IS attacks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

"We are making necessary preparations in order to clear across the border," he said.

Erdogan complained that the U.S.-led anti-IS coalition has not provided Turkey with the desired support.

"Turkey will not wait... while we have martyrs every day," Erdogan said. "I'd like to say that we will not hesitate to take unilateral steps on this issue."

The issue of Kilis would be "litmus paper" for revealing the sincerity of coalition partners in the fight against the IS group, Erdogan said.

Recalling that the jihadist group fires rocket projectiles at Kilis almost every day, Erdogan said some 130 people have been killed in IS attacks in Turkey.

He said the Turkish army has hit 3,000 IS targets in Syria and destroyed 1,300 of its positions there.

In recent weeks, Kilis has been repeatedly hit by rocket fire from IS-controlled territories inside Syria.

Rockets fired from Syria have be fallen in Kilis since mid-January, killing 20 people, including seven Syrians refugees, and injuring 66 others, including 17 Syrians, according to figures provided by the Turkish Armed Forces.

The IS has orchestrated a number of suicide bombings in Turkey's capital, Istanbul and other provinces, leaving hundreds killed.



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Turkish Minister Urges EU to Find 'New Formula' to Solve Visa Deal Impasse

Sputnik News

21:00 13.05.2016(updated 21:01 13.05.2016)

Brussels should seek a new approach to solve an impasse, emerged due to the lack of changes in the Turkish anti-terrorist legislation, Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  On Wednesday, the European Parliament suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the European bloc, citing Ankara's lack of progress in meeting all the criteria required for such a step.

The five important criteria in question include a revision of Turkey's national anti-terrorism laws, under which the notion of terrorism includes non-violent political activities  a pretext the authorities can exploit to arrest dissident journalists and academics.

"Our assessment is that Turkey has done its best and fulfilled enough requirements. It is not a mathematical problem, but a political one," Bozkir was quoted as saying by the Daily Sabah newspaper.

Turkey was officially recognized as a candidate for full EU membership in December 1999. Talks on the issue started in 2005, but remain virtually deadlocked, as the sides failed to agree on the implementation of technical points that Ankara must fulfill to meet the standards required for EU membership.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke out against the EU demands for the country to change its anti-terrorism legislation.

 Sputnik

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As two major national health insurance mergers loom, a new poll shows that many Virginians are concerned that the moves could decrease competition and increase premiums in the state.

Conducted by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling on behalf of Virginia Campaign for Consumer Choices, a survey of more than 1,300 state voters found that 87 percent are very or somewhat concerned about the impending Anthem-Cigna and Aetna-Humana mergers.

Anthem and Aetna announced their respective acquisitions of Cigna HealthCare for $54 billion and Humana Health Insurance for $35 billion last year. Federal and state regulators are examining the two mergers, which would reduce the number of top insurers nationwide from five companies to three. The remaining major insurer is United Healthcare.

Virginia Campaign for Consumer Choices was launched earlier this year by Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare, which was created in 2012 with the goal of expanding and improving health care in the state, according to its website.

It, along with other statewide groups such as Virginia Organizing, are pushing for more transparency as the Virginia State Corporation Commission scrutinizes the mergers.

The SCC can regulate how the acquisitions occur in Virginia, independent of how they transpire nationwide. The Bureau of Insurance scheduled a public hearing on the Anthem-Cigna merger for 10 a.m. May 25 at 1300 E. Main St. in downtown Richmond The bureau has already released a report finding that Aetnas Humana acquisition will not be harmful to Virginia consumers.

Conducted over three days and concluding Sunday, Public Policy Polling used automated telephone interviews to poll Virginia voters. Questions revolved around the mergers, such as whether the voter is aware they are happening and if they think there should be public input.

Only 20 percent of the respondents knew that the top five insurance companies in the country could be reduced to three, while only 30 percent knew that the SCC has the power to regulate if and how the mergers occur in Virginia.

Additionally, 86 percent said there should be an opportunity for the public to provide input, and 81 percent thought there should be multiple hearings across the state.

Its not very common for us to find such broad agreement on any issue in todays political environment, said Jim Williams of Public Policy Polling during a media call Thursday to review the poll results. These are very strong findings.

If left unchecked, Ray Scher of Virginia Organizing said Thursday, the mergers could threaten the competitive landscape, leading to higher costs, lower quality and fewer consumer choices.

From my point of view, this polling provides critical insight into public opinions on these mergers, said Sen. Scott A. Surovell, D-Fairfax, who has been pushing for more transparency from the SCC.

For advocates of greater public involvement in the mergers regulation process, the polls findings exhibit a need for the Bureau of Insurance to involve the public even more by encouraging input from Virginia residents and holding multiple hearings across the state.

Karen Cameron, director of Virginia Consumer Voices for Healthcare, pointed out Thursday that the public comment period, during which Virginians can submit their thoughts on the merger before the May 25 hearing, ended Wednesday.

And it currently has not been extended, she continued. This is unacceptable.

She added that the SCC also has yet to release a report reviewing the Anthem-Cigna merger and how it could impact Virginia, which is essential to providing consumers with the knowledge they need before the hearing.

Most of Virginias insurance markets are already highly concentrated, and Anthem is by far the largest insurer, Cameron said. These mergers can make it more difficult for companies to enter health insurance markets and compete.
LONDON, May 13, 2016 -- The Company announces that its Annual General Meeting will be held on 16 June 2016, at the offices of Farrer & Co. LLP, 20/23 Lincoln's Inn Fields London WC2A 3LH England at 11.00 am. The Company has published the formal notice of the meeting (the "Notice") on its website at http://www.serabigold.com/investor-centre/public-filings-regulatory-documents. Proxy voting forms are being posted to all shareholders providing details of how to access the Notice and instructions for voting. A copy of the Notice together with proxy voting forms and a copy of the 2015 Annual Report is being posted to all shareholders who are required to receive or have formally requested to receive these documents.

Copies of the 2015 Annual Report are available from the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.

The Notice contains a letter from the Chairman of the Company, Mr Sean Harvey, which is set out below in the Appendix.

(1) Certain resolutions to be proposed at the meeting will be special resolutions requiring approval of more than 75% of the votes cast. Under Canadian National Instrument 54-101, the meeting therefore also constitutes a Special Meeting.

Enquiries:

Serabi Gold plc Michael Hodgson Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Chief Executive Mobile: +44 (0)7799 473621 Clive Line Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Finance Director Mobile: +44 (0)7710 151692 Email: contact@serabigold.com Website: www.serabigold.com Beaumont Cornish Limited

Nominated Adviser Roland Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Michael Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Peel Hunt LLP

UK Broker Matthew Armitt Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 9000 Ross Allister Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 9000 Blytheweigh

Public Relations Tim Blythe Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204 Camilla Horsfall Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3224

Copies of this announcement are available from the Company's website at www.serabigold.com.

Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents of this announcement.

Appendix

The letter from the Chairman of the Company included in the Notice is reproduced below (without material adjustment):

Dear Shareholder

This document provides the formal notice (the "Notice") of the 2016 Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting of the Company to be held at the offices of Farrer & Co LLP, 20/23 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LH, England on 16 June 2016 at 11.00 am (London time) (the "Meeting"). This document also includes additional information that the Company as a "reporting issuer" in Canada is required to make available pursuant to the requirements of National Instrument 51-102  Continuous Disclosure Obligations ("NI 51-102") of the Canadian Securities Administrators.

Background

The matters being considered at the 2016 Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting set out in the Notice are for the most part, items that are routinely considered at such meetings. The Company now has both the Palito and Sao Chico Gold Mines in commercial production and is actively seeking opportunities for further expansion of its gold production through selective acquisition and organic growth. The Board believes that opportunities to develop the Company may arise over the next twelve months and for this reason is requesting Shareholders to authorise the Board to issue new shares to allow the Company to pursue and commit to these opportunities quickly as and when they arise.

Recommendation

The Directors consider that the resolutions set out in the Notice being put to the Annual General Meeting and Special Meeting are in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders and are most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of the Shareholders as a whole.

Accordingly, the Directors unanimously recommend that Shareholders vote in favour of the proposed resolutions as they intend to do in respect of their own holdings, where relevant, amounting to an aggregate of 25,246,920 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 3.85 per cent. of the Company's Ordinary Shares.

Yours faithfully

T Sean Harvey

Non-executive Chairman


Revenue amounted to 253,141 million rubles

Consolidated EBITDA(a)* amounted to 45,730 million rubles

Net loss attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO amounted to 115,163 million rubles

MOSCOW, May 13, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mechel PAO (MICEX:MTLR) (NYSE:MTL), a leading Russian mining and steel group, announces financial results for the full year 2015.

In accordance with legislation of the Russian Federation, starting from financial results for the year 2015 the Company will be reporting its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Presentation currency will be Russian ruble.

Mechel PAOs Chief Executive Officer Oleg Korzhov commented on the 2015 results:

2015 was a complicated year for our company, but nevertheless a vital one. Our key event was reaching agreement in principle with the majority of our lenders on restructuring our debt. Even though not all official documents were signed in 2015, our main efforts and talks on restructuring conditions were made in that period. As of now, the company has announced signing deals with major lender banks as well as reaching an agreement with Gazprombank with the bank acquiring a share in the Elga project. So we may consider that the restructurings pivot point has been passed.

In 2015, our revenue went up by 4% to reach 253,141 million rubles, with EBITDA up by 54% to reach 45,730 million rubles, as the EBITDA margin reached 18% and adjusted operating income up by 140% year-on-year. The 115,163 million ruble net loss was largely due to negative currency rate trends.

Mechels operational and financial results improved to a large extent due to the fact that our key projects whose implementation had caused our companys debt growth, are reaching target capacity utilization levels and increase returns on invested capital.

At Elga Coal Complex, four million tonnes of coal were mined last year, with coking coal accounting for two-thirds of that amount. Five million tonnes are planned to be mined in 2016. Starting in 2016, we began supplying rails produced by Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plants universal rolling mill to Russian Railways, which will enable us to fully utilize the mills potential for producing high-margin products. Rail supplies to Russian Railways may amount to from 150,000 to 250,000 tonnes this year, with the mills overall output totaling over 500,000 tonnes of products.

The strengthening of steelmaking commodity and steel markets which we currently observe enable us to confidently conduct our operations and sales with a view to the companys further development.

*Please find the calculation of the EBITDA(a) and other measures used here and hereafter in Attachment A

Consolidated Results For The Full Year 2015

Mln rubles FY 2015 FY 2014 % Revenue

from external customers 253,141 243,992 4 % Adjusted operating income 29,203 12,147 140 % EBITDA (a) 45,730 29,759 54 % EBITDA (a), margin 18 % 12 % Net loss

attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO (115,163 ) (132,704 ) -13 % Adjusted net (loss) / income (40,165 ) (7,609 ) 428 % Net debt 506,891 407,240 25 % Trade working capital (9,293 ) (12,603 ) -26 %

Mining Segment

Mechel Mining Management OOOs Chief Executive Officer Pavel Shtark noted:

In 2015 the trend in steelmaking commodity markets was mostly negative. Chinas demand for coal imports took a constant downturn as facilities producing semi-finished steel goods faced massive closure. Imports were pushed out by local Chinese producers with the help of measures consistently taken by Chinese authorities. With this in mind, major Australian producers persisted in the policy of tough price competition with other global suppliers for the share in the market. Spot prices for coking coal plummeted, widening the gap with contract prices. As a result, the price for coking coal concentrate on the global market fell by more than 30% from $117 FOB in 1Q2015 to $81 FOB in 1Q2016  further than it has been for many years.

In these conditions, our mining segment faced cuts in metallurgical coal sales. The chief decrease was in export sales, especially to China. At the same time the company increased coal supplies for internal use, for example, Elga coals replaced those coals that the Groups enterprises used to acquire from third parties. Meanwhile, the growth of ruble denominated prices for coal offered significant compensation for the decrease in sales due to ruble devaluation. As a result, the segments revenue from sales to third parties demonstrated positive dynamics, while inter-segment revenue went up by a third. With operational costs at a stable level, the segment demonstrated a significant growth of its operational income and EBITDA, while its EBITDA margin reached 25%.

In the first quarter 2016, we saw some positive trends on the steel raw materials markets which led to contract prices reaching $84 per tonne, with spot prices rising higher than contract prices in April-May  for the first time since mid-2013. Considering low production costs at our mining assets and the decrease in transport costs due to ruble devaluation, the companys products remain highly competitive both domestically and internationally, which will enable us to further demonstrate stable financial results.

Mln rubles FY 2015 FY 2014 % Revenue

from external customers 80,632 79,509 1 % Revenue

intersegment 28,091 21,049 33 % EBITDA(a) 26,831 13,359 101 % EBITDA (a), margin (4) 25 % 13 %

Steel Segment

Mechel-Steel Management Company OOOs Chief Executive Officer Andrey Ponomarev noted:

Throughout practically all of last year, we had to cope with weakened demand for steel products in the construction industry which is crucial for the segments sales structure. Russian long steel market in 2015 went down by 14% due to the decrease in construction volumes as the overall economic situation worsened, with effective demand going down and the state and business investment activity slowing down. Despite a significant decrease in visible consumption of construction-grade long steel in Russia, we maintained the volume of domestic sales at the level of the previous year, increasing our share at this strategically important market. We also optimized our sales portfolio for other types of long steel products, minimizing manufacture of low value-added products. We even managed to increase sales of some types of products, such as flat steel. Nevertheless, overall sales decreased tonnage-wise year-on-year. At the same time, ruble devaluation had a positive impact on domestic prices, which was the major cause of the growth of the segments revenue. Due to our efforts on optimizing our product range by increasing the share of high value-added products and cost control, the segment demonstrated a growth of operating income and EBITDA.

The increase of high value-added products share in our sales structure was largely thanks to the capacity utilization growth of the universal rolling mill. In 2015 the mill produced 175,000 tonnes and is due to more than double that volume this year. We consider Russian beam and rail markets to be among the most promising markets for the steel segment due to limited supply from domestic producers. Thus the mills contribution to the segments financial results will be more and more tangible each year.

Mln rubles FY 2015 FY 2014 % Revenue

from external customers 146,032 138,660 5 % Revenue

intersegment 6,972 8,207 -15 % EBITDA(a) 17,127 14,906 15 % EBITDA(a), margin 11 % 10 %

Power Segment

Mechel-Energo OOOs Chief Executive Officer Pyotr Pashnin noted:

Last year, our segment demonstrated, as usual, stable operational profit. Electricity generation and sales topped those of the previous year, while heat production and sales saw a moderate decrease primarily due to climatic factors. As a result, we demonstrated a small increase in revenue from sales to third parties, while our EBITDA(a) went up by nearly half.

Mln. rubles FY 2015 FY 2014 % Revenue

from external customers 26,477 25,823 3 % Revenue

intersegment 14,990 13,731 9 % EBITDA(a) 2,090 1,403 49 % EBITDA(a), margin (4) 5 % 3 %

The management of Mechel will host a conference call today at 18:00 p.m. Moscow time (4:00 p.m. London time, 11 a.m. New York time) to review Mechels financial results and comment on current operations. The call may be accessed via the Internet at http://www.mechel.com, under the Investor Relations section.

Mechel is one of the leading Russian companies. Its business includes three segments: mining, steel and power. Mechel unites producers of coal, iron ore concentrate, steel, rolled products, ferroalloys, hardware, heat and electric power. Mechel products are marketed domestically and internationally.

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Mechel, as defined in the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements. We refer you to the documents Mechel files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 20-F. These documents contain and identify important factors, including those contained in the section captioned Risk Factors and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in our Form 20-F, that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, the achievement of anticipated levels of profitability, growth, cost and synergy of our recent acquisitions, the impact of competitive pricing, the ability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals and licenses, the impact of developments in the Russian economic, political and legal environment, volatility in stock markets or in the price of our shares or ADRs, financial risk management and the impact of general business and global economic conditions.

Attachments to the FY 2015 Earnings Press Release

Attachment A

Non-IFRS financial measures. This press release includes financial information prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as well as other financial measures referred to as non-IFRS. The non-IFRS financial measures should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Adjusted EBITDA (EBITDA (a)) represents net income or loss before Depreciation, depletion and amortization, Foreign exchange loss (gain), Finance costs, Finance income, Net result on the disposal of non-current assets, Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets, Allowance for doubtful accounts, Write-offs of inventories to net realisable value, (Profit) loss after tax for the year from discontinued operations, net, Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries, Amount attributable to non-controlling interests, Income taxes, Loss (profit) from pension obligations, Fines and penalties, Gain from accounts payable write-off and Other one-off items. Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of our net revenues. Our adjusted EBITDA may not be similar to EBITDA measures of other companies. Adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement under IFRS and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our consolidated statement of operations. We believe that our adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors because it is an indicator of the strength and performance of our ongoing business operations, including our ability to fund discretionary spending such as capital expenditures, acquisitions and other investments and our ability to incur and service debt. While interest, depreciation and amortization are considered operating costs under IFRS, these expenses primarily represent the non-cash current period allocation of costs associated with non-current assets acquired or constructed in prior periods. Our adjusted EBITDA calculation is commonly used as one of the bases for investors, analysts and credit rating agencies to evaluate and compare the periodic and future operating performance and value of companies within the metals and mining industry.

Adjusted net income / (loss) represents net income / (loss) before Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets, Allowance for amounts due from related parties, (Profit) loss after tax for the year from discontinued operations, net, Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries, Effect on net profit (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests, Foreign exchange loss (gain), Loss (profit) from pension obligations, Fines and penalties, Gain from accounts payable write-off and Other one-off items. Our adjusted net income / (loss) may not be similar to adjusted net income / (loss) measures of other companies. Adjusted net income / (loss) is not a measurement under IFRS and should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information contained in our consolidated statement of operations. We believe that our adjusted net income / (loss) provides useful information to investors because it is an indicator of the strength and performance of our ongoing business operations. While impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets and allowance for amounts due from related parties are considered operating costs under IFRS, these expenses represent the non-cash current period allocation of costs associated with assets acquired or constructed in prior periods. Our adjusted net income / (loss) calculation is used as one of the bases for investors, analysts and credit rating agencies to evaluate and compare the periodic and future operating performance and value of companies within the metals and mining industry.

Our calculations of Net debt and trade working capital are presented below:

Mln RUB 31.12.2015 31.12.2014 01.01.2014 Short-term borrowings and current portion of long-term debt 444,199 371,903 265,026 Interest payable 27,269 13,093 2,052 Fines and penalties on overdue amounts 20,206 1,522 - Long-term debt 4,308 9,346 25,251 Derivative instruments - - 823 less Cash and cash equivalents (3,079 ) (3,983 ) (8,979 ) Net debt, excluding finance lease liabilities 492,903 391,881 284,173 Finance lease liabilities, current portion 13,507 15,213 10,809 Finance lease liabilities, non-current portion 481 146 2,973 Net debt 506,891 407,240 297,955 Mln RUB 31.12.2015 31.12.2014 01.01.2014 Trade and other receivables 15,981 19,808 22,477 Due from related parties, net of allowance 96 138 196 Inventories 35,189 36,337 46,629 Other current assets 8,127 8,750 7,225 Trade current assets 59,393 65,033 76,527 Trade and other payables 54,524 61,493 51,973 Advances received 3,492 4,286 4,290 Provisions and other current liabilities 2,558 2,166 1,560 Taxes and social charges payable 8,034 9,647 7,440 Due to related parties 78 44 1,024 Trade current liabilities 68,686 77,636 66,287 Trade working capital (9,293 ) (12,603 ) 10,240

 Calculations of Net debt could differ from indicators calculated in accordance with loan agreements upon dependence on definitions in such agreements.

Adjusted EBITDA can be reconciled to our consolidated statements of operations as follows:

Consolidated Results Mining Segment ** Steel Segment** Power Segment** Mln RUB 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 Net loss attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO (115,163 ) (132,704 ) (71,120 ) (86,787 ) (41,438 ) (45,356 ) (2,286 ) (651 ) Add: Depreciation, depletion and amortization 14,085 14,429 9,106 8,747 4,650 5,391 329 291 Foreign exchange loss (gain), net 71,106 103,176 49,872 70,553 21,122 32,910 111 (287 ) Finance costs 60,452 28,110 33,880 15,045 25,645 12,966 2,173 1,208 Finance income (183 ) (107 ) (1,030 ) (777 ) (344 ) (390 ) (55 ) (48 ) Net result on the disposal of non-current assets, impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets, allowance for doubtful accounts and write-offs of inventories to net realisable value 4,772 12,710 900 1,357 2,122 10,658 1,751 696 (Profit) loss after tax for the year from discontinued operations, net (932 ) 11,702 (764 ) 13,141 (168 ) (1,468 ) - 29 Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries 19 89 - - 19 89 - - Amount attributable to non-controlling interests 535 (1,263 ) (444 ) (971 ) 812 (408 ) 166 114 Income taxes 8,322 (8,822 ) 5,632 (8,435 ) 2,794 (374 ) (103 ) (13 ) Loss (profit) from pension obligations 50 (6 ) 125 (5 ) (81 ) (7 ) 6 7 Fines and penalties 1,598 915 707 755 890 189 - (29 ) Gain from accounts payable write-off (224 ) (38 ) (33 ) (2 ) (190 ) (35 ) (1 ) - Other one-off items 1,293 1,568 - 741 1,293 742 - 86 Adjusted EBITDA 45,730 29,759 26,831 13,359 17,127 14,906 2,090 1,403 Adjusted EBITDA, margin 18 % 12 % 25 % 13 % 11 % 10 % 5 % 3 % Mln RUB 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 12m 2015 12m 2014 Net loss attributable to shareholders of Mechel PAO (115,163 ) (132,704 ) (71,120 ) (86,787 ) (41,438 ) (45,356 ) (2,286 ) (651 ) Add: Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets 1,460 7,996 - (19 ) 16 8,015 1,444 - Allowance for amounts due from related parties 43 126 43 126 - - - - (Profit) loss after tax for the year from discontinued operations, net (932 ) 11,702 (764 ) 13,141 (168 ) (1,468 ) - 29 Net result on the disposal of subsidiaries 19 89 - - 19 89 - - Effect on profit (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests 585 (433 ) - - 560 (433 ) 25 - Foreign exchange loss (gain), net 71,106 103,176 49,872 70,553 21,122 32,910 111 (287 ) Loss (profit) from pension obligations 50 (6 ) 125 (5 ) (81 ) (7 ) 6 7 Fines and penalties 1,598 915 707 755 890 189 - (29 ) Gain from accounts payable write-off (224 ) (38 ) (33 ) (2 ) (190 ) (35 ) (1 ) - Other one-off items 1,293 1,568 - 741 1,293 742 - 85 Adjusted net (loss) income, net of income tax (40,165 ) (7,609 ) (21,170 ) (1,498 ) (17,978 ) (5,355 ) (701 ) (846 ) Operating profit (loss) 24,068 887 15,895 1,718 8,456 (1,347 ) 35 424 Add: Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets 1,460 7,996 - (19 ) 16 8,015 1,444 - Allowance for amounts due from related parties 43 126 43 126 - - - - Loss on write-off of property, plant and equipment 691 661 199 309 492 242 - 110 Loss (profit) from pension obligations 50 (6 ) 125 (5 ) (81 ) (7 ) 6 7 Fines and penalties 1,598 915 707 755 890 189 - (29 ) Other one-off items 1,293 1,568 - 741 1,293 742 - 85 Adjusted operating income 29,203 12,147 16,969 3,624 11,066 7,834 1,486 597 ** including intersegment operations

Attachment B

Consolidated statement of financial position

(All amounts are in millions of Russian rubles)

December 31,

2015 December 31,

2014 January 1,

2014 Assets Current assets Cash and cash equivalents 3,079 3,983 8,979 Trade and other receivables 15,981 19,809 22,477 Due from related parties, net of allowance 96 138 196 Inventories 35,189 36,337 46,629 Income tax receivables 603 578 2,936 Other current financial assets 45 186 360 Other current assets 8,127 8,750 7,225 Total current assets 63,120 69,781 88,802 Assets of disposal group classified as held for sale  8,696  Non-current assets Property, plant and equipment 215,844 224,299 226,253 Mineral licenses 38,517 40,122 51,727 Non-current financial assets 194 489 543 Investments in associates 284 274 251 Deferred tax assets 1,492 1,438 517 Goodwill 21,378 22,697 22,520 Other non-current assets 1,243 1,462 2,481 Total non-current assets 278,952 290,781 304,292 Total assets 342,072 369,258 393,094 Equity and liabilities Current liabilities Interest-bearing loans and borrowings, including Interest payable, fines and penalties on overdue amounts of RUB 47,475 million, RUB 14,615 million and RUB 2,052 million

as of December 31, 2015, 2014 and January 1, 2014 491,674 386,518 267,078 Trade and other payables 54,524 61,493 51,973 Advances received 3,492 4,286 4,290 Due to related parties 78 44 1,024 Provisions 2,532 2,130 1,531 Pension obligations 1,120 1,072 877 Finance lease liabilities 13,507 15,213 10,809 Income tax payable 5,549 3,033 3,173 Tax payable other than income tax 8,034 9,647 7,440 Other current liabilities 26 36 29 Total current liabilities 580,536 483,472 348,224 Liabilities of disposal group classified as held for sale  8,607  Non-current liabilities Interest-bearing loans and borrowings 4,308 9,346 25,251 Provisions 3,439 2,998 4,303 Pension obligations 3,746 3,445 4,903 Finance lease liabilities 481 146 2,973 Deferred tax liabilities 11,090 3,053 17,475 Other non-current liabilities 189 1,157 3,453 Income tax payable 137 3,447  Total non-current liabilities 23,390 23,592 58,358 Total liabilities 603,926 515,671 406,582 Equity Common shares 4,163 4,163 4,163 Preferred shares 833 833 833 Additional paid-in capital 28,322 25,592 25,591 Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) 445 1,018 (11 ) Accumulated deficit (301,565 ) (186,272 ) (53,564 ) Equity attributable to equity shareholders of Mechel PAO (267,802 ) (154,666 ) (22,988 ) Non-controlling interests 5,948 8,253 9,500 Total equity (261,854 ) (146,413 ) (13,488 ) Total equity and liabilities 342,072 369,258 393,094

Consolidated statement of profit (loss) and other comprehensive income (loss)

(All amounts are in millions of Russian rubles)

Year ended

December 31,

2015 Year ended

December 31,

2014 Continuing operations Revenue 253,141 243,992 Cost of goods sold (151,334 ) (153,057 ) Gross profit 101,807 90,935 Selling and distribution expenses (51,117 ) (55,661 ) Loss on write-off of property, plant and equipment (691 ) (661 ) Impairment of goodwill and other non-current assets (1,460 ) (7,996 ) Allowance for doubtful accounts (1,464 ) (3,671 ) Taxes other than income taxes (5,853 ) (6,469 ) Allowance for amounts due from related parties (43 ) (126 ) Administrative and other operating expenses (17,300 ) (16,315 ) Other operating income 189 851 Total selling, distribution and operating expenses, net (77,739 ) (90,048 ) Operating profit 24,068 887 Finance income 183 107 Finance costs (60,452 ) (28,110 ) Foreign exchange gain (loss), net (71,106 ) (103,176 ) Share of profit of associates  7 Other income 526 684 Other expenses (347 ) (1,486 ) Total other income and (expense), net (131,196 ) (131,974 ) Loss before tax from continuing operations (107,128 ) (131,087 ) Income tax (expense) benefit (8,322 ) 8,822 Loss for the year from continuing operations (115,450 ) (122,265 ) Discontinued operations Profit (loss) after tax for the year from discontinued operations, net 822 (11,702 ) Loss for the year (114,628 ) (133,967 ) Attributable to: Equity holders of the parent (115,163 ) (132,704 ) Non-controlling interests 535 (1,263 )





Other comprehensive income Other comprehensive income to be reclassified to profit or loss in subsequent periods, net of income tax: 295 1,170 Exchange differences on translation of foreign operations 287 1,168 Net gain on available for sale financial assets 8 2 Other comprehensive loss not to be reclassified to profit or loss in subsequent periods, net of income tax: (194 ) (127 ) Re-measurement losses on defined benefit plans (194 ) (127 ) Other comprehensive income for the year, net of tax 101 1,043 Total comprehensive loss for the year, net of tax (114,527 ) (132,924 ) Attributable to: Equity holders of the parent (115,064 ) (131,675 ) Non-controlling interests 537 (1,249 ) Earnings (loss) per share Weighted average number of common shares 416,270,745 416,270,745 Basic and diluted, loss for the year attributable to ordinary equity holders of the parent (276.65 ) (318.79 ) Loss per share from continuing operations (Russian rubles per share) basic and diluted (278.44 ) (289.96 ) Earnings (loss) per share from discontinued operations (Russian rubles per share) 1.79 (28.83 )

onsolidated statement of Cash Flows

(All amounts are in millions of Russian rubles, unless stated otherwise)

Year ended December 31, 2015 2014 Cash flows from operating activities Net loss (114,628 ) (133,967 ) (Profit) loss from discontinuing operations, net of income tax (822 ) 11,702 Net loss from continuing operations (115,450 ) (122,265 ) Adjustments to reconcile net loss from continuing operations to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation 12,397 12,639 Depletion and amortization 1,688 1,790 Foreign exchange loss 71,106 103,176 Deferred income taxes 7,946 (15,525 ) Allowance for doubtful accounts 1,464 3,671 Allowance for amounts due from related parties 43 126 Write-off of accounts receivable 247 185 Write-off of taxes receivable  1,605 Write-offs of inventories to net realisable value 1,003 394 Revision in estimated cash flows of rehabilitation provision (47 ) (236 ) Loss on write-off of property, plant and equipment 691 661 Impairment of goodwill and non-current assets 1,460 7,996 Loss (gain) on sale of property, plant and equipment 102 85 Gain on sale of investments  (483 ) Gain on accounts payable with expired legal term (222 ) (37 ) Pension benefit plan curtailment gain (142 ) (58 ) Pension service cost and actuarial loss, other expenses 192 52 Finance income (183 ) (107 ) Finance costs 60,452 28,110 Other 480 1,492 Changes in working capital items : Trade and other receivables 4,719 2,089 Inventories 1,873 14,565 Trade and other payables (7,972 ) (1,640 ) Advances received (664 ) 62 Taxes payable and other current liabilities (1,465 ) 8,771 Settlements with related parties (275 ) (29 ) Other current assets 997 (822 ) Interest received 25 22 Interest paid (28,910 ) (14,963 ) Income taxes paid (1,437 ) (2,509 ) Net operating cash flows of discontinued operations (136 ) (745 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 9,982 28,072 Cash flows from investing activities Monthly installments for acquisition of DEMP (4,819 ) (3,223 ) Proceeds from disposal of securities 143 538 Loans issued and other investments (6 ) (36 ) Proceeds from disposal of Bluestone 101  Proceeds from disposal of subsidiaries 76 632 Purchases avaliable for sale securities  (113 ) Proceeds from loans issued 15 151 Proceeds from disposals of property, plant and equipment 405 830 Purchases of property, plant and equipment (5,076 ) (11,365 ) Purchases of mineral licenses and other related payments (71 )  Interest paid, capitalized (830 ) (5,141 ) Net investing cash flows of discontinued operations  (12 ) Net cash used in investing activities (10,062 ) (17,739 ) Cash flows from financing activities Proceeds from borrowings 13,875 64,469 Repayment of borrowings (11,896 ) (77,761 ) Dividends paid (4 ) (4 ) Dividends paid to noncontrolling interest (1 ) (6 ) Acquisition of noncontrolling interest in subsidiaries (1 ) (1,425 ) Repayment of obligations under finance lease (2,677 ) (1,863 ) Sale leaseback proceeds  675 Net financing cash flows of discontinued operations  (105 ) Net cash used in financing activities (704 ) (16,020 ) Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 331 901 Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (453 ) (4,786 ) Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period 1,344 6,130 Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 891 1,344







Alexey Lukashov

Director of Investor Relations

Mechel PAO

Phone: 7-495-221-88-88

Fax: 7-495-221-88-00

alexey.lukashov@mechel.com


CZN-TSX

CZICF-OTCQB

VANCOUVER, May 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Canadian Zinc Corp. (TSX: CZN; OTCQB: CZICF) announces it has filed a new Technical Report on the Company's 100% owned Prairie Creek lead, zinc, silver mine in the Northwest Territories.

The Technical Report, entitled "Prairie Creek Property Prefeasibility Update NI 43-101 Technical Report", effective March 31, 2016, was prepared by AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd., ("AMC") with contributions from Tetra Tech Inc. and Canadian Zinc consultants and personnel (collectively "the Authors"), in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.canadianzinc.com.

The Technical Report provides results of the 2016 Prefeasibility Study ("PFS") Update that included optimization work completed over the past three years, including the 2015 underground exploration program at Prairie Creek. This program increased total Measured and Indicated Resource tonnages by 32% and increased total Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves by 46% from the previous 2012 Mineral Reserve and Resource estimates. The PFS indicates average annual production of approximately 60,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate and 55,000 tonnes of lead concentrate, containing approximately 86 million pounds of zinc (in both zinc and lead concentrates), 82 million pounds of lead (in both lead and zinc concentrates) and 1.7 million ounces of silver over an initial mine life of 17 years.

The 2016 PFS indicates average annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ("EBITDA") of $90 million per year and cumulative EBITDA earnings of $1.4 billion, using Base Case metal price forecasts of US$1.00 per pound for both zinc and lead and US$19.00 per ounce for silver. The Base Case pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") at 8% discount rate of $509 million, with an Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") of 32%; the post-tax NPV is $302 million, with a post-tax IRR of 26%. The Pre-production Capital Cost, including the new all season road, is estimated at $244 million, including contingency, with payback of three years from first year of revenue.

Conclusions

In its conclusions AMC considers the Prairie Creek Project to be viable based on the Mineral Reserves, mine plan, production and economic parameters set out in the PFS and recommends that Canadian Zinc proceeds with the development of the Prairie Creek Project.

The base case economic model indicates a robust project at consensus forecasts for the long term prices of lead and zinc and AMC considers that there is excellent potential for additional project optimization, enhanced economics and further extending the projected mine life.

AMC also concluded that the development of the Prairie Creek mine offers significant economic advantages. There is broad support for the Prairie Creek Mine among aboriginal organizations and communities in the Dehcho region for the direct benefit and economic stimulus that the mine would bring to this region of the Northwest Territories. Its envisaged operation presents a unique opportunity to enhance the social and economic well-being of the surrounding communities. There will be approximately 220 direct full time jobs. In addition, there will be many indirect business and employment opportunities, related to transport, supply of the mine site and environmental monitoring and management.

Recommendations

As part of its assessment in the Technical Report, AMC has recommended that a front-end engineering and design phase be undertaken to complete detailed engineering and Issued for Construction (IFC) drawings to definitive feasibility study levels to obtain fixed pricing from construction contractors along with some site preparation and early works programs.

A further recommendation is the creation of a composite bulk sample, collected from recent underground drilling, on which to carry out Locked Cycle Tests, for better definition of the milling process, recoveries and reagent consumption, together with a high-level assessment of substantially increasing the mill capacity with various scenarios of mining and milling, including possible mill expansion.

Tetra Tech recommends further metallurgical variability tests be carried out from different mineralization zones for better understanding of metallurgical performances.

AMC also recommends further bioleach studies, involving tank-scale mercury bioleaching of the zinc concentrate, to determine if the mercury content of the zinc concentrate can be substantially reduced and the associated capital and operating costs.

For the underground mine AMC recommends further hydrology studies to improve determination of water storage and conductivity through modelling techniques, which will influence the assessment of water storage requirements and the capacity of the water treatment plant on surface, and paste backfill binder selection trials to identify the best binder type to meet design strengths.

Another recommendation is to assemble cost information for LNG versus diesel power generation to complete an energy trade-off study.

Project Opportunities

As part of the Technical Report, the Authors identified a number of project opportunities that, if implemented, could yield economic, operational and environmental benefits.

The Prairie Creek Mineral Resource would support a substantial increase in mining/milling rates and a high-level assessment is envisaged of substantially increasing the mill capacity with various scenarios of mining and milling, including possible mill expansion, that could lead to improved economics with more metal being mined and milled per year.

In order to reduce the deleterious element content of the ore a number of possible methods are still to be tested that could reduce the quantity of penalty elements in the concentrate, which would enhance its value and marketability.

Recovering and selling the zinc oxide component of the mineral deposit could bring extra revenue to the mine, given sufficiently high zinc prices; further studies may lead to enhancement of the grade of the zinc oxide concentrate and reduction in reagent costs to enable the sale of those concentrates to benefit the mine economics.

Numerous base metal showings occur throughout the property with the potential to host significant deposits and additional exploration could extend the life of mine through expanding Mineral Reserves and increasing the scale of the operation.

Sensitivity to Metal Prices

The pre-tax and post-tax net present values, at 5% and 8% discount rates, and internal rates of return, are illustrated in the table below, all at a Canadian/US dollar exchange rate of 1.25:1 (except the Base Case which is also shown at an exchange rate of 1.375:1). The table also demonstrates the sensitivities of the Prairie Creek Project to zinc, lead and silver prices and to the Canadian/US dollar exchange rate.

Metal Prices Pre-Tax Post-Tax Zinc/Lead US$/lb Silver US$/oz Undiscounted $M NPV (5%) $M NPV (8%) $M IRR % Undiscounted $M NPV (5%) $M NPV (8%) $M IRR % 0.80 17.00 449 237 151 16.7 258 121 64 12.5 0.90 18.00 783 459 330 24.8 474 268 184 19.8 1.00 19.00 1,118 682 509 31.9 685 412 302 26.1 1.00 1 19.00 1 1,428 889 676 38.0 877 543 409 31.4 1.10 20.00 1,453 904 688 38.4 892 553 417 31.8 1.20 21.00 1,788 1,127 867 44.5 1,106 699 536 37.4 1.30 22.00 2,123 1,349 1,046 50.3 1,315 842 653 42.6 Note 1: Foreign Exchange assumed to be $1.375CAD:$1.00US on this line only

Qualified Persons and Technical Report

This News Release has been reviewed and approved by Alan Taylor, P.Geo. COO & VP Exploration, who participated in the preparation of the PFS and is a Non-Independent QP under National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for Canadian Zinc.

The following Qualified Persons, who also participated in the preparation of the Technical Report, have reviewed and approved the content of this News Release as it pertains to their areas of expertise and project responsibility.







G. Z. Mosher, P.Geo

AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd.





H. A. Smith, P.Eng.

AMC Mining Consultants (Canada) Ltd.





H. Ghaffari, P.Eng.

Tetra Tech Inc.





J. Huang, P.Eng.

Tetra Tech Inc.





T. A. Morrison, P.Eng.

Consulting Mining Engineer













Cautionary Statement  Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information, including, among other things, the expected completion of acquisitions and the advancement of mineral properties. This forward looking information includes, or may be based upon, estimates, forecasts, and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the completion of transactions, the issue of permits, the size and quality of mineral resources and reserves, future trends for the company, progress in development of mineral properties, future production and sales volumes, capital costs, mine production costs, demand and market outlook for metals, future metal prices and treatment and refining charges, the outcome of legal proceedings, the timing of exploration, development and mining activities, acquisition of shares in other companies and the financial results of the company. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. There is no certainty that mineral resources will be converted into mineral reserves.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") permits U.S. mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We use certain terms in this press release, such as "measured," "indicated," and "inferred" "resources," which the SEC guidelines prohibit U.S. registered companies from including in their filings with the SEC.

This Press Release includes resource and reserve information that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of United States securities laws. The terms "mineral reserve", "proven mineral reserve" and "probable mineral reserve" are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") - CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended. These definitions differ from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7 under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). Under SEC Industry Guide 7 standards, a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority.

Statements about the Company's planned/proposed Prairie Creek Mine operations, which includes future mine grades and recoveries; the Company's plans for further exploration at the Prairie Creek Mine and other exploration properties; future cost estimates pertaining to further development of the Prairie Creek Mine and items such as long-term environmental reclamation obligations; financings and the expected use of proceeds thereof; the completion of financings and other transactions; the outlook for future prices of zinc, lead and silver; the impact to the Company of future accounting standards and discussion of risks and uncertainties around the Company's business are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, the Company's actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

The Company cautions that the list of factors set forth above is not exhaustive. Some of the risks, uncertainties and other factors which negatively affect the reliability of forward-looking information are discussed in the Company's public filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities, including its most recent Annual Report, quarterly reports, material change reports and press releases, and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). In particular, your attention is directed to the risks detailed therein concerning some of the important risk factors that may affect its business, results of operations and financial conditions. You should carefully consider those risks, in addition to the other information in the Company's filings and the various public disclosures before making any business or investment decisions involving the Company and its securities.

The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or any other information contained or referenced in this Press Release to reflect future events and circumstances for any reason, except as required by law. In addition, any forecasts or guidance provided by the Company are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management as at the date of this Press Release and, accordingly, they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update such projections if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors should change

SOURCE Canadian Zinc Corp.
VANCOUVER, May 13, 2016 - Africo Resources Limited ("Africo" or the "Company") (TSX:ARL) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement (the "Arrangement Agreement") with Camrose Resources Limited ("Camrose") under which the Company would be taken private pursuant to a plan of arrangement (the "Plan of Arrangement"). Camrose currently owns 63.66% of the Africo common shares ("Common Shares").Under the Plan of Arrangement, Camrose would acquire all of the Common Shares that Camrose does not already own for cash consideration of $1.00 per share. The cash consideration represents an approximate 115% premium to the last closing price of $0.465 of the Common Shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.Holders of the Company's Common Shares and Options may also receive an additional aggregate amount of USD $7.5 million if certain transactions, in respect of the Company's main Kalukundi project, a development stage copper-cobalt deposit located in the Katanga Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), are completed within 14 months following the closing of the Plan of Arrangement with Camrose. The terms and conditions of this contingent payment will be set out in an information circular of the Company, as described below. The additional amount, if paid, would be equal to approximately USD $0.27 per share. However, there can be no assurance that the additional payment will be made because this is contingent.Both the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Africo, comprising of James Cook and George Ireland, and the Board of Directors of Africo unanimously (with Messrs. Cordero and Lauer abstaining) determined that the Plan of Arrangement is in the best interests of Africo and is fair to its shareholders.The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Africo has received a verbal opinion from Paradigm Capital Inc. to the effect that, as of the date of the opinion and based upon and subject to the limitations and qualifications therein, the consideration to be received for the Common Shares is fair, from a financial point of view, to the holders of the Common Shares (other than Camrose). Africo expects to receive a written opinion from Paradigm Capital Inc. prior to mailing the Management Information Circular to Africo shareholders.The implementation of the Plan of Arrangement will be subject to approval by the holders of the affected securities at a special meeting (the "Special Meeting") expected to be held on June 29, 2016. As the transaction will constitute a "business combination" for the purposes of Multilateral Instrument 61-101, the implementation of the Plan of Arrangement will be subject to approval by a majority of the votes cast by shareholders other than Camrose, in addition to approval by 66 2/3% of the votes cast by holders of Common Shares. The transaction also will be subject to applicable Court approvals and certain closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. The transaction is also subject to Camrose obtaining a waiver from the lenders of its parent company Eurasian Resources Group BV.Certain shareholders, holding as a group approximately 28% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Africo and 77% of the outstanding Common Shares held by the minority shareholders, have entered into voting agreements pursuant to which, among other things, they have agreed to vote their Common Shares in favour of the Plan of Arrangement.The terms and conditions of the proposed transaction will be disclosed in an information circular that will be mailed in late May 2016 to the shareholders of Africo that will be entitled to vote at the Special Meeting. It is anticipated that the transaction, if approved by Africo shareholders and the Court and if the requisite waiver and conditions are obtained and satisfied, will be completed in July of 2016.Stikeman Elliott LLP acted as legal counsel to the Special Committee of Africo and Goodmans LLP acted as legal counsel to Camrose.Copies of the Arrangement Agreement, the information circular for the Special Meeting and certain related documents will be filed with Canadian securities regulators and will be available at www.sedar.com.This press release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that are intended to be covered by the safe harbours created by those laws, including statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "anticipated", "may", "will", "expect", "could", "should", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential", or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements regarding the completion of the proposed transaction and other statements that are not historical facts. While such forward-looking statements are expressed by Africo, as stated in this release, in good faith and believed by Africo to have a reasonable basis, they are subject to important risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, approval of applicable governmental authorities, required Africo security holder approval and necessary Court approvals, the satisfaction or waiver of certain other conditions contemplated by the Arrangement Agreement, and changes in applicable laws or regulations, which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed, projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the proposed transaction could be modified, restructured or not be completed, and the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, given that they involve risks and uncertainties. Africo is not affirming or adopting any statements made by any other person in respect of the proposed transaction and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities or to comment on expectations of, or statements made by any other person in respect of the proposed transaction. Investors should not assume that any lack of update to a previously issued forward-looking statement constitutes a reaffirmation of that statement. Reliance on forward-looking statements is at investors' own risk. Africo Resources Ltd. is a Canadian mineral company engaged in developing, acquiring and exploring for base metal assets in Africa. The company's main project is Kalukundi, a development stage copper-cobalt deposit located in the Katanga Copperbelt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The development team has an operational base in the DRC, with the company corporate offices located in Vancouver, Canada.Chris Theodoropoulos, Chairman(604) 646-3225Larry Okada, Chief Financial Officer(604) 646-3225
A newer model of the Thermomix has locking mechanisms on each side of the lid to hold it down in place. Photo: Getty

Helen Kerry purchased a Thermomix last year to "make life easier".

Instead, the home kitchen device left her with superficial partial thickness burns to her arms and chest, making it almost impossible to breastfeed her newborn daughter for weeks.

Kerry is just one of 87 Thermomix customer experiences collated by consumer group CHOICE in Australia's first mass incident report, to be submitted to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Helen Kerry's is one of 87 Thermomix customers who have contacted CHOICE with safety concerns about the device. Photo: Supplied

The report calls for the regulator to issue a safety warning and investigate the $2000 device, canvassing 18 cases, like Kerry's, that required treatment from a medical professional.

"I was slowly turning the dial, to puree the vegetables and the cup at the top flew off and just drenched me and the kitchen in this 100 degree liquid," Kerry said of the accident which occurred at her home in Ellenbrook, Perth, in July last year.

In the weeks following, Kerry regularly attended the Fiona Stanley Hospital burns unit, meanwhile battling to breastfeed her two-and-a-half month old daughter.

"The top flew off and just drenched me and the kitchen in this one hundred degree liquid:" the aftermath. Photo: Supplied

"As soon as her head touched the area, it was just excruciating...I just couldn't bear it."

Customer comments in the report include descriptions of "100 degree hot soup" hitting a customer's "chin, neck, chest and both arms", a child who was burnt by hot sauce when a machine spilled open, and another customer who had minor facial, shoulder and chest scarring.

The CHOICE report alleges Thermomix was informed about the failure of its TM31 machine at least one year before the device was listed on the ACCC national recalls website in October 2014.

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"Under ACCC's mandatory reporting guidelines a supplier must provide written notice to the Commonwealth Minister for consumer affairs within two days of becoming aware that someone suffered a serious injury or illness that was caused (or may have been caused) by the use or foreseeable misuse of their product," said CHOICE spokesman Tom Godfrey.

"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."

In its October 2014 voluntary recall announcement, Thermomix noted an issue with some TM31 machines, where hot liquid could splash out if food was pureeing at speeds of four or above when the 'lid open" function was activated.

"I just couldn't bear it": Helen Kerry. Photo: Supplied

As a result Vorwerk, the manufacturer of Thermomix, replaced the sealing ring of the mixing bowl for all affected Australian customers, advising that it be replaced every two years.

However, according to CHOICE, consumers using the replacement green sealing ring were still harmed.

"Four of the serious burns cases documented in the mass incident report were from people already using the green sealing ring. Others have noticed ongoing problems," Mr Godfrey said.

"I was still breast feeding my little one...it was just excruciating."

"The ACCC needs to give Thermomix users a clear answer about whether the green sealing ring fixes major problems with some machines."

A spokesperson for Thermomix said the "safety, wellbeing and support" of its 300,000 Australian customers "[was] and always will be" the highest priority.

"Vorwerk, the manufacturer, is in contact with the relevant authorities regarding these matters. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."

CHOICE began investigating Thermomix safety issues after it was made aware of consumers who were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements by the company, before receiving any refund.

One non-disclosure agreement, seen by Fairfax Media, restricted the consumer from talking about their settlement with others and participating in any discussion that could damage Thermomix's or Vorwerk's reputation.

CHOICE is aware of 53 customers who complained to Thermomix Australia. Of these, only five said they were happy with the resolution or the quality of customer service.

A spokesperson for the ACCC said the regulator was engaging with Thermomix about reported safety concerns and reports of confidentiality requirements.



"We note the public interest in these matters, and will be seeking to reach a considered view as soon as possible."

Since her accident, Kerry said her Thermomix "scares the life out of her," but she still "loves it".

"I don't want it to disappear, just give me the confidence to be able to use it for cooking...I just want a product that is safe."
Beetroot, rhubarb and edamame at No.1 Bent St. Photo: Christopher Pearce

Mike McEnearney's long-awaited follow-up to his Rosebery hit Kitchen by Mike finally opens on Monday, and the one-time Rockpool head chef is already pulling all-nighters at the CBD restaurant.

"I sat here all night curing the wood oven. It gave me a great feel for the space which we've deliberately left pretty raw so we can grow into it," he says.

It's the start of a busy period for McEnearney, who opens a Kitchen by Mike at Sydney International Airport in September and is close to signing off on another site, believed to be in Surry Hills.

No.1 Bent Street is the long-awaited follow-up to the more casual Kitchen By Mike. Photo: Christopher Pearce

But right now the focus is on the opening of No. 1 Bent Street by Mike, which differs from McEnearney's pioneering of high-quality food with canteen-style delivery.



"There are lots of reasons why we have included waiters here. It gives me the ability to cook things I couldn't before, like fish pie. A fish pie straight out of the oven looks great, take a few spoons out of it at the counter and it looks terrible," he says.



"We also have a rotisserie this time. We'll cook fish on terracotta tiles in the wood fire oven."

McEnearney will also bake his own bread, a craft in which he schooled himself by working at Iggy's Bread after leaving Rockpool.

Open Mon-Fri 11.30am-3pm, 5.30pm-late; Sat 5.30pm-late.

1 Bent Street, Sydney, 02 9252 5550, onebentstreet.com.au
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Schneeman told she wasn't part of 'change'

By Monique Ching

The Tom Green County Water Control and Improvement District No. 1 has again lost its district and office manager.

At a tense meeting Wednesday morning, board members terminated Linda Schneeman, who was hired in October 2012 after Yantis Green resigned amid a federal embezzlement scandal relating to his role with the district.

"Things haven't been running as smoothly around here as I would like them to go," board President Bruce Gully said. "Therefore, I think we need to make a change around here. And that change does not include you, Linda."

The item had been slated for executive session, labeled as "personnel matters," but Schneeman objected to it being aired in closed session and asked for the board to discuss it in an open meeting.

"I knew they were going to fire me," Schneeman said after the meeting. "I've been threatened a lot."

Schneeman's termination passed on a 5-0 vote.

Schneeman said she will file charges against the board, including complaints under the Whistleblower Protection Act. She alleged the board has allowed water district employee Lynn Hatley to misuse district resources for personal uses.

She also alleged that Hatley has released more water to some users than they were allotted to receive.

"There's nothing to that," Gully said of Schneeman's allegations.

Gully declined to clarify the issues the board had with Schneeman and simply said, "We need to get things running better."

The board will try to hire a new office manager soon, Gully said.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Schneeman said. "All I did was object to what they were doing wrong."

At the time of her departure, Schneeman said, her salary was about $30,000 per year.

Mark TreviAo, area manager for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Oklahoma and Texas-area office, declined to comment on Schneeman's allegations.

The water district is responsible for delivering water to farmers through a federally funded canal and for managing the farmers' money to make the federal payments.

The water district has about $1.5 million in remaining payments to the Bureau of Reclamation, which funded the construction of Twin Buttes dam and reservoir and the irrigation canal.

The board is made up of five elected members, Gully said, but declined to comment on who they were elected by.

"It's my understanding that the board members are elected by the water users," TreviAo said.

According to the water district's website, the next election will be in 2015.

The 16-mile main canal delivers water to 10,000 to 15,000 acres of project lands east of San Angelo, according to the water district's website. The district covers 30,000 acres, and about half of that is being irrigated, the site states.

The water district also is contracted to receive treated wastewater from the city. When water is available in Twin Buttes Reservoir, the water district has rights to San Angelo's treated wastewater for irrigation, but the contract does not list a specific amount, according to the city.

The water district's office is in Veribest, and the board meets the second Wednesday of each month.
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Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Stone

50th Anniversary

Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Stone celebrated their golden wedding anniversary March 28, 2014, with a cruise to the Panama Canal.

The couple was married March 28, 1964, in Menard. They are the parents of Mike Stone of Waco, Jerry Stone of Bend, Ore., and Jimmy Stone. They also have four grandchildren.

The couple has lived in Vallejo, Calif., Anchorage, Alaska, Hawaii, Atsugi, Japan, and San Angelo since their wedding.

He is a U.S. Navy veteran and is retired from Shannon Hospital.

She was employed by West Texas Utilities and Tom Green County Elections Office.

---

Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Montez

50th Anniversary

Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Montez celebrated their golden wedding anniversary March 22, 2014, with a dinner.

Reuben Montez and Lucy Rodriguez were married March 21, 1964, in San Angelo. They are the parents of Patricia Garza of Highland Village, Reuben Montez Jr. and Cynthia Sosa. They also have nine grandchildren.

The couple has lived in Dimmitt, Fort Collins, Colo., and San Angelo since their wedding.

He was employed be the San Angelo Independent School District, the City of San Angelo and the Texas Dept. of Transportation.

She was employed by the San Angelo Independent School District, the Community Action Council and Howard College.

They are members of Alpha and Omega Hope of Glory Church.

Hosts for the dinner were the couple's children and their spouses.
Ancient drawings on rocks are seen at the Paint Rock pictographs at the Fred and Kay Campbell ranch during a ceremony celebrating the summer solstice.

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FACTS AT A GLANCE

CURRENT POPULATION: Over 560 when school is in session; 273 when not.

LOCATION: 32 miles east of San Angelo

PLACES OF INTEREST: Indian pictographs, Ingrids Handwoven Rug Factory, Concho River, Lake Ivie, Historic Concho County Court House (1887), Paint Rock ISDs famous 6-sided gym.

SPECIAL EVENTS: A multi-year PRISD School Reunion (every 2 years).

STOP FOR A BITE: Paint Rock Grocery & Lowake Inn.

CLAIM TO FAME: Ancient Indian Pictographs, PRISDs famous 6 sided gym.

HISTORY: According to most archeologists, there has been a regular Indian presence around the present town of Paint Rock since 10,000  8,000 B.C., and continuing up to modern times. It is currently impossible to date the earliest of the over 1,500 pictographs just East of Paint Rock, but many go back hundreds or thousands of years. Some document events prior and during the original settlement of the Spanish in Texas.

In March of 1846, 40 Texas Rangers and Tonkawa Indian scouts under the leadership of Legendary Texas Rangers, Major Jack Hays and William A.A. Bigfoot Wallace ambushed and defeated over 100 Comanche braves who had previously conducted raids on San Antonio and other early Texas settlements hundreds of miles to the South.

The Texas Legislature created Concho County out of Bexar County in 1858.

A legendary cattleman, John S. Chisum, established a series of cow camps along the Pecos River in 1862-63 near the present site of Paint Rock. In 1873, the camp near Paint Rock was still in existence when Chisum stated that Texas was getting too tame and moved his cattle operations to New Mexico. In New Mexico, he was business partners with an Englishman named John Tunstall, and also lawyer/shopkeeper, Alexander McSween, making him an ally of William H. Bonney (AKA, Billy the Kid).

In 1879, Paint Rock became the County seat of Concho County and opened the very first school in Concho County. Paint Rock Independent School District still exists today, and is thriving with record enrollment and a strong financial position. It currently is the largest school district in Concho County serving students from not just Paint Rock, but also students from San Angelo, Ballinger, Eden, Miles, Winters, Eola, Lowake, Lake Ivie, Mereta, Millersview, and other area towns.

MORE TO KNOW: By the mid-1880s, barbed wire and nearby railroad hubs in Ballinger, Miles and San Angelo, ended the cattle drives through Concho County. Overtime, the local economy moved from a focus on cattle to one of sheep, ranching and farming.

NEARBY: The Indian pictographs, Ingrids Handwoven Rug Factory, Concho River, Lake Ivie, Historic Concho County Court House (1887), The Paint Rock ISDs Famous 6-sided gym.

ON THE WEB: PaintRockISD.net
Photos by Cynthia Esparza/Standard-Times Aryna Williams, 7, feeds animals with her mother, Jaymie, before starting her lessons for the day. Aryna is home-schooled. In March, Aryna sent dozens of pairs of shoes, with the help of her mom, to an orphanage in Guatemala.

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San Angelo girl, 7,organizes aid for orphans

By Kate Smith Special To The Standard-Times

When some girls turn 7 years old, they want PlayStations or ponies.

Aryna Williams wanted shoes  lots and lots of shoes.

"For my birthday this year, I wanted to do something special," said Aryna, who had been inspired by her brother's decision to donate his birthday gifts to Toys for Tots earlier that year. "I wanted other people to have what I have."

So when the San Angelo girl learned that 161 boys and girls at an orphanage in Guatemala City were in dire need of shoes, she decided to help.

"Shoes are like gold to us," said Toni Steere, a social worker who has served as a live-in missionary at Casa Bernabe for the past decade. "It's not like the kids here have parents who can run down to Payless. The need is so desperate."

Steere said because of the high prices of shoes in Guatemala, many of the children's shoes wear out before the orphanage can replace them. Footwear that keeps the children safe and comfortable is a deep need that is difficult for the missionaries to meet.

"Shoes are one thing we can't afford," said Steere. "A lot of the pairs have holes."

Though she was only 6 at the time, Aryna decided to provide each child with a pair of shoes. She enlisted her mother, Jaymie Williams, for help.

"I told (Steere), 'I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're going to get all those shoes,'" Williams recalled, laughing.

The duo began by contacting Casa Bernabe to find all the orphans' names and shoe sizes. With help from her mother, Aryna developed a presentation that she gave at local organizations, explaining the orphans' plight and asking for donated shoes.

"I have a house, a mom and dad, and toys," began Aryna during her presentations. "I know some kids don't have this."

The aspiring fashion designer went on to describe the children's need in front of groups of more than 100 adults. Though ordinarily shy when meeting new people, speaking on behalf of the children at Casa Bernabe helped Aryna find her voice.

"She held that microphone and wouldn't share it with me at all!" Williams said, laughing as she recalled her daughter's response to that observation at one speaking engagement. "You didn't ask," retorted Aryna, smiling from ear to ear.

Aryna told the children's story at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at Wall, at the SALT home school co-op and at her home church, Northridge Baptist. For her 7th birthday party, she asked guests to bring shoes for the children instead of gifts for her.

"Aryna's desire to provide shoes for the kids was incredible," Steere said. "To be 6 years old and already have such a compassion for the world  she's not a normal child."

After weeks of shoe collecting, the young humanitarian was near her goal. Determined to let the children know how special they were, Aryna asked donors to include extras such as small gifts, pictures and notes in the shoes for the children to find.

"At the orphanage the kids get lots of secondhand items," said Williams, who helped Aryna write cards for each pair of shoes, including the child's name, shoe size and house name. "This wasn't just a pair of shoes. It was a present specifically for this child."

In March, 40 suitcases of shoes in every size and color flew from San Angelo to Guatemala City to sheathe the feet of ecstatic children.

"It was pure joy to watch the toddlers get the shoes," said Kim Stooner, a family friend of the Williamses who traveled with the suitcases of shoes to Casa Bernabe. She described the toddlers opening their packages with unbridled delight. "They savored it."

"When this little girl decided to provide them with shoes, she met a huge need," said Steere, recalling one 6-year-old girl named Rubian. "She was so excited that someone would send her a picture, a letter, new shoes.

"The impact this had on the children  I don't think we can gauge it, measure it."

For Aryna, sending the children this gift was her effort to express the value God places on them. She didn't want their circumstances to blind them to their own worth.

"God loves them," said Aryna, who is eager to travel to Casa Bernabe to meet the children when she's older. "This was something to make them feel loved."

Judging from the orphans' reactions, it did, Williams said.

And, she said, Aryna's determination to customize the children's gifts paid off. "Every single pair of shoes fit."
SHARE Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times Angelo State University's Air Force ROTC Detachment 847 graduated four cadets during its Spring Commencement Ceremony Friday. The cadets earned their commissions as second lieutenants into the Air Force.

By Michelle Gaitan of the San Angelo Standard-Times

Four graduating cadets received their commissions as second lieutenants in the Air Force during Angelo State University's Air Force ROTC Detachment 847 Spring Commissioning Ceremony Friday.

Graduates were Matthew Cornman of San Antonio, Hakeem Regis of East Hartford, Conn., Ruben Perez of Dripping Springs and Quinn Sokolnicki of Abilene.

Offering words of encouragement and congratulations was the ceremony's guest speaker retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr., a 1977 Angelo State graduate. Hawkins is a current visiting scholar at ASU teaching an interdisciplinary leadership course in the Department of Security Studies and Criminal Justice.

A well kept uniform, endurance and life long learning is important, Hawkins said.

"Just because you graduate today doesn't mean you can put your feet up," he said, stressing the significance of the oath the graduates are taking.

Life long learning is important for what you do whether its mental, physical or spiritual, he said.
"The Golden Moment" by Jason Sacran.

SHARE "Breakfast at Treva's" by Mary Pettis. Photos contributed by EnPleinAirTEXAS (ABOVE) "Breakfast at Treva's" by Mary Pettis, (LEFT) "Old Texas Theater" by Shelby Keefe and (BELOW) "The Golden Moment" by Jason Sacran.

By Staff Report

The third Annual EnPleinAirTEXAS, hosted by the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, will be held Oct. 23-30 and will bring in 35 award-winning artists from 18 states to the Concho Valley to paint West Texas.

Juror Roger Dale Brown selected the competition artists, including local plein-air artist, Tom Orsak, who will represent San Angelo. Brown is a signature member of Oil Painters of America, is regularly juried into national Oil Painters of America & American Impressionist Society exhibitions, and is juried or invited to compete in many of the top plein-air competitions in the country, according to Barbara Rallo, the competition's co-chair along with Treva Boyd.

Seventeen of the 35 competition artists are returning to San Angelo this year after participating in previous EnPleinAirTEXAS competitions, Rallo said.

Three "invited artists" Brown selected are:

Shelby Keefe, from Milwaukee, and the 2015 EnPleinAirTEXAS grand prize winner

Jason Sacran, from Magazine, Arkansas, and the 2015 second-place award winner and artists choice winner

Mary Pettis, from Taylors Falls, Minnesota, and the 2015 third-place award winner.

"En plein-air" is the French term for painting "in the open air," and has become an international movement of festivals after enjoying success in its first two years in San Angelo,

Community support for the competition has been strong, including an endowment for the event started by local arts patron Elta Joyce McAfee, said Howard Taylor, director of the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.

The grand prize is now the Elta Joyce Murphey Award to honor her parents.

Go to gosanangelo.com for the complete list of the 2016 EnPleinAirTEXAS competition artists.
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By Staff Report

Attorneys for Margaret Markovitz Howard, who was accused of fiduciary fraud, and Willis J. Johnson III have agreed to try resolving their issues through mediation.

Howard, 61, alongside her husband, Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard, and Johnson appeared before 340th District Judge Jay Weatherby Thursday for a motion hearing.

John E. Sutton, Howard's attorney, and Michael L. Holland, representing Johnson, announced to Weatherby that both parties have agreed to mediate.

Sutton told Weatherby that both sides have agreed to make their best efforts to resolve the matter through mediation before a trial date is set.

"The parties put the case on a fast track to mediation," Holland said. "If it doesn't work out, then the parties have access to come back to court."

Holland said if an agreement is made between the two parties by early June, then they will reach a settlement.

Holland told the court he knows a person who can act as a mediator and Sutton did not object to his recommendation in court Thursday.

The lawsuit, filed Jan. 12 in the 340th District Court, accuses Howard, of embezzling $98,553.58 from the private funds of Johnson, a resident of Tom Green County.

Howard worked for Johnson as a personal assistant between May 2013 and July 2015, according to court documents. Her responsibilities included handling Johnson's financial affairs, maintaining bank, checking and credit card accounts and paying bills as well as managing personal affairs, documents stated.

Howard "denies each and every allegation" in the lawsuit, according to court records.

Johnson's age is not specified in the petition, but it reads in part: "Because of age and health reasons, Johnson entrusted Howard with his estate believing that Howard would at all times act in the best interest of Johnson and his estate."

Sutton said the present goal is to find a resolution before the case is set for trial to avoid unnecessary expenses and exchanges of disclosure and depositions.

"In essence we agreed to attempt to mediate it within (a) time frame," Sutton said. "Their goal is to resolve this as quickly as possible."

Sutton said the mediator plays the devils advocates for both sides and helps arrive at a solution. The parties then go into a confidential agreement when a settlement is made, Sutton said, adding that information discussed during mediation is confidential and cannot be used in trial.
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. Associated Press FILE

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By Bradley Klapper And Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press

WASHINGTON  When President Barack Obama tours Hiroshima's haunting relics of nuclear warfare, he will be making a trip that past administrations weighed and avoided. For good reason: The hollowed core of the city's A-Bomb Dome and old photos of charred children are sure to rekindle questions of guilt and penitence for World War II's gruesome brutality.

Obama's visit later this month already is stirring debate on both sides of the Pacific about the motivations and justifications for the nuclear attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Anything he says will be sharply scrutinized in the U.S., Japan and beyond. Anything resembling an apology could become a wedge issue in the U.S. presidential campaign and plunge Obama into the complicated politics of victimhood among Japan and its Asian neighbors.

"I don't have any problem with him going, but there is nothing to apologize for," said Lester Tenney, a 95-year-old American survivor of the 1942 Bataan Death March, when the Japanese marched tens of thousands of Filipino and U.S. soldiers to prison camps, and hundreds to their deaths.

Forty-two years ago, a White House aide suggested President Gerald Ford visit the city where 140,000 people were killed in the inferno on Aug. 6, 1945. A senior adviser, Gen. Brent Scowcroft, vetoed the idea: "It could rekindle old animosities in Japan at a time when we are striving for new relationships."

Asked in 2008 if he might go, President George W. Bush was noncommittal. In the end, it took 65 years for a U.S. ambassador to attend the city's annual memorial service. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled there last month.

Obama won't say sorry, U.S. officials have emphasized repeatedly since announcing the trip. Instead of revisiting the fateful decision to drop the bombs, the president will "shine a spotlight on the tremendous and devastating human toll of war" and "honor the memory of all innocents who were lost," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

In some ways, Obama has it easier than his predecessors. Japanese survivors, known as "hibakusha," have long refrained from demanding an apology, seeking to mobilize Hiroshima's revered sites for the causes of pacifism and denuclearization. Even if Obama's effort to reduce America's arsenal has stalled, most Japanese support his much-recited preference for a nuclear-free world and last year's arms-control deal with Iran.

Nevertheless, Ian Buruma, a professor at Bard College and author of "Year Zero: A History of 1945," said visiting Hiroshima is risky because of the lack of consensus in the U.S. or Japan about the bombings.

Many Japanese see the attacks as atrocities; others view them as punishment for Japan's hostile acts, which included conquering much of Asia and launching the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, that led the U.S. into the war. And in the U.S., too, the debate rages 71 years after "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" fell from the sky.

A majority of Americans justify the bombings for hastening the war's end. Historians are split. Buruma said camps include those who believe President Harry Truman, barely sworn in, failed to stop "bureaucratic momentum" toward using a weapon that took so long to develop.
West Texas to see return of rain, cooler temperatures to start week
California's schools are going to have to answer for more than just test scores, by the year after next. The state may also judge them on suspension rates, graduation rates, attendance and the rate at which students who are still learning English are becoming proficient.Those are the measures the California State Board of Education voted on Wednesday to include in its new school ratings system. The vote came after more than 100 members of the public spoke about what they think a good school looks like. They pressed the board to include non-academic factors, such as surveys on school climate -- a measure of how safe a school feels -- parental engagement and suspension rates.Draquari McGhee, a Fresno high school student, told the board he could remember the moment he nearly gave up on school. It was earlier this year, when, he said, he was suspended for three days for being on his phone while walking to class. The vice principal told him he would be arrested for trespassing if he didn't leave class, he said, and the experience left him feeling like he couldn't excel."My engagement deteriorated overall," he said. "I felt like I was a bad student." That's why, he told the board, the state should use suspension rates as a key metric for schools.A teacher known as "Mama B" supported McGhee and helped him get back on track. But the suspension almost derailed him, he said, as it could other students.School discipline rates, and particularly the disproportionate numbers of students of color being punished at school, have faced recent scrutiny. Los Angeles Unified, for example, banned suspensions for defiance recently, but since then, teachers have reported struggling with the classroom management strategies devised to take their place.The changes come as California revamps its method for measuring schools, and how it intervenes in those deemed to be performing poorly. They follow years of reliance on the now-suspended Academic Performance Index, a measure that depended on test scores that, in the words of board member Bruce Holaday, "make real estate agents so happy" in its simplicity. The index, many say, was far too simplistic and did not provide a cumulative glimpse of what happens inside schools.To correct that problem, satisfy a new federal law and align state and local methods for measuring schools, the state is devising a new system for use in the 2017-18 school year. Late last year, President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, a bill that largely lets states devise their own ratings systems -- a replacement to the No Child Left Behind Act, which, similar to API, relied primarily on test scores. Under the new law, states must take into account at least one out-of-classroom factor in rating schools.Shortly after McGhee spoke, the board voted and approved the motion, which specified that the academic component will measure both raw test scores and student growth in reading, math and science, once the state has results from its upcoming new science test. It also includes chronic absenteeism, a metric of students who are absent for many days, when that information becomes available.In July, the board will revisit potentially adding school climate and a factor that measures how prepared for college California's students are. These ingredients will also be part of the Local Control Funding Formula, a new school funding system that has additional factors used in school district-level ratings.Any decisions the board makes at this point could be vulnerable to change, given that the U.S. Department of Education has yet to regulate the parts of ESSA that touch on the accountability question. The law requires that each state create a system that "meaningfully differentiates" using the new evaluation systems. Under the law, states must intervene in the lowest-performing 5% of schools, as well as schools with the lowest graduation rates and those where specific groups of students consistently underperform.One major question is whether the law means that states have to rank schools against one another. Board President Mike Kirst has said that California will not do that, since there is no research-backed way to boil down all the different factors that go into the evaluations down to one number.The desire to measure schools more holistically is butting up against another priority: creating a system that is clear and coherent to parents. Sue Burr, a board member and Gov. Jerry Brown advisor, reiterated the need for "a set of concise indicators, for purposes of state decision making." Many of the additional factors used by districts, she said, can't even be used by the state because they can't be standardized or proved to be statistically valid.Before the vote, a task force appointed by the state superintendent to look at accountability presented its recommendations, which included a focus on child health and wellness. Beyond the factors required to rate schools, the report recommended having the state report on things like the completion of A-G requirements, Advanced Placement completion statistics and physical fitness.
During a May 5 rally in Charleston, W.Va., Donald Trump said something no one was expecting. He told the audience not to bother showing up to the polls in the following weeks primary."What I want you to do is save your vote -- you know, you don't have to vote anymore, Trump told the crowd. Save your vote for the general election, OK? Forget this one. The primary is gone."It was an emblematic moment for Trumps candidacy -- and one that illuminates a pattern set by many of his predecessors who have run insurgent presidential campaigns. Far more often than not, such candidacies are focused on advancing the presidential ambitions of the candidate, with little attention to the nitty-gritty of building a political network of down-ballot officeholders. This is true even when doing so could help advance their agenda.In the case of West Virginia, Trump was correct that he didnt really need any more votes because he had effectively clinched the Republican nomination two days earlier when he won the Indiana primary. But in saying this, Trump overlooked the other primary contests further down the ballot, from state legislative seats to judicial races.Later that night, Trump did reverse himself, tweeting, Thank you West Virginia. Let's keep it going. Go out and vote on Tuesday -- we will win big. #Trump2016."Still, his oversight is telling, and it fits snugly with a centurys worth of American political history.The Trump phenomenon is all about Trump, so it's not surprising that he hasn't recruited candidates, said Ron Rapoport, a College of William and Mary government professor and author ofThe same can be said about Trumps Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, another insurgent who, for the most part, also hasnt prioritized assistance to down-ballot candidates. Sanders has endorsed just three congressional candidates -- Zephyr Teachout in New York, Pramila Jayapal in Washington state and Lucy Flores in Nevada.While Trump and Sanders are both running for the nominations of major parties, the more common path for insurgent candidates is to run under a third-party banner.These sorts of candidates -- I like to call them unconnected outsiders -- benefit from media and often demagogic appeals, but they tend not to be well-organized or interested in developing a serious structure, said Andrew E. Busch, director of Claremont McKenna Colleges Rose Institute of State and Local Government. A real party is bigger than its candidate, and many of these candidates are not interested in being overshadowed or constrained by any such structure. This gives them more freedom of action in the short run, but its a weakness in the long run.Referring to billionaires Trump and Ross Perot, who ran for president in 1992 and 1996, Purdue University political scientist James McCann said that its easier to make a billion dollars in business than it is to form a fresh, well-organized political movement with staying power.Historians point to a few insurgent presidential candidates who were able to operate in tandem with a broader network, but they usually sprung from an existing, organized movement -- such as socialists Norman Thomas and Eugene V. Debs -- or represented a breakaway bloc within a major party.The closest example of a candidate who was both a genuine insurgent and a party builder is Huey Long, the legendary populist governor and senator from Louisiana. Before his death from an assassins bullet, many expected him to run for president.Huey Long was an interesting blend of Donald Trump hucksterism and empire building, said Pearson Cross, a University of Louisiana-Lafayette political scientist. He was assiduous in promoting like-minded people down-ticket and was very successful in doing so. In fact, after his assassination, the Long versus anti-Long factions into which he had divided the state continued for 30 years. Long, unlike Trump, was a person who understood the idea of a political legacy and operation.By contrast, historians say another Southern populist politician -- Alabamas George C. Wallace -- was much less successful in crafting a lasting political infrastructure. Wallace ran for president in 1968 and 1972, courting white Southerners disaffected with the civil rights movement. But while Wallace nominally ran for president under the banner of the American Independent Party, it's widely considered merely a vehicle for Wallaces ambitions, said Jeff Frederick, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Pembroke.Rather than Wallace recruiting like-minded candidates, it was rather the like-minded candidates trying to latch onto the popularity of George Wallace, said William H. Stewart, an emeritus professor of political scientist at the University of Alabama.In more recent years, Perot has fared the best as an insurgent candidate, winning almost one-fifth of the popular vote for president in 1992. More than some of the others, Perot made an effort to institutionalize his success through the creation of the Reform Party.Reform Party Chairman Russ Verney toldin 1997 that the party had endorsed 69 congressional incumbents from major parties the previous campaign cycle, 65 of whom won. But Verney acknowledged that the endorsements drew little attention, largely because those candidates ran only on their Democratic or Republican ballot lines, not on parallel Reform Party ballot lines.The Reform Party never really escaped Perots shadow before fading out at the national level, said Busch of the Rose Institute. Pat Buchanan was its nominee in 2000, which few people remember.Other insurgent candidates have shown little interest in creating a lasting political movement.Its not my job to build the party -- its Rick McCluhans, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura toldin 2000, referring to a former Republican who was then serving as the state Independence Party chairman. My job first is to govern the state. If I have spare time and can lend some help, I can do that. But its not my job to be the party builder. Elected officials have to do what theyre paid to do.Ventura, beset by feuds with the legislature and the media and suffering from sinking approval ratings, declined to run for a second term in 2002. No subsequent Independence Party candidate for a major Minnesota office came close to the 37 percent of the vote Ventura won in his third-party bid in 1998."There were several forces that contributed to the collapse of the Independence Party in Minnesota, but one critical part was the failure of Ventura to assist in building the party and its organization, said David Schultz, a political scientist at Hamline University in St. Paul. He had many good people, a powerful grassroots movement, and a state public financing system to help sustain the party. But in the end, he did not translate his persona into a force to help keep the party going."Ventura was only interested in his own cult of personality, agreed Steven Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. The world will little note nor long remember his political legacy.Ralph Nader -- whose vote haul for the Green Party in the 2000 election is blamed by many for throwing the landmark election from Democrat Al Gore to Republican George W. Bush -- has reluctantly concluded that its better to work inside the two-party system than outside it.In an interview for the Princeton Alumni Weekly less than three weeks after Election Day 2000, Nader said he intended to recruit and field more candidates -- local, state and national for the Green Party during the succeeding few years. But 16 years later, Nader penned an op-ed for titled , "Why Bernie Sanders was right to run as a Democrat."If there is a silver lining for insurgent candidates, it's that their ideas can sometimes last longer than their party infrastructure. Insurgent candidates and movements have helped promote causes like child labor laws, womens suffrage and racial integration.It can be shortsighted to end the story there, said Nancy C. Unger, a Santa Clara University historian. If the third-party candidate has tapped into something powerful, that candidate's proposals may well be subsequently co-opted by more mainstream parties even in the wake of that candidate's defeat."Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz said the conditions are ripe for such longer-term impacts in 2016, regardless of what happens to the Trump and Sanders candidacies.The underlying forces that gave rise to Trump and Sanders will not be gone after this election, said Abramowitz. Trump has clearly tapped into a real divide within the GOP base that is not going away. On the Democratic side, there is evidence that the party base has been shifting to the left and that there is a large constituency for economic populism. We are likely to see more candidates seeking to appeal to [both those constituencies] in the future.Maybe, even, some of them in down-ballot offices.
State election officials ordered the results of Baltimore's primary election decertified Thursday and launched a precinct-level review of irregularities.State election administrator Linda H. Lamone said she became concerned when city officials -- who on Monday certified their primary election results -- later reported they had found 80 provisional ballots that had never been analyzed.Lamone said the state also is concerned about an unusually high discrepancy between the number of voters who checked in at polling places and the number of ballots cast. The number of ballots cast was higher than the number of check-ins, she said."Baltimore City was not able to investigate and resolve these issues to our satisfaction," Lamone said. "We are doing a precinct-level review. We are doing this in fairness to the candidates and the voters."The investigation is expected to stretch into next week. Lamone said state officials are working to determine the number of ballots that might be in question and the precincts where the discrepancies occurred.She declined to discuss possible outcomes of the probe.Baltimore's primary elections produced several close races. State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh defeated former Mayor Sheila Dixon in the Democratic primary for mayor by about 2,400 votes, and three City Council races were decided by a few hundred votes.For more than a week, a group of activists has been raising concerns about the integrity of the April 26 primary in Baltimore. Among the issues: Eight data files went missing for about a day after the election, and some polling precincts opened late. And 34 released felons -- eligible to vote under a new law --received a Board of Elections letter before the primary erroneously telling them they might not be able to vote.An activist group, which calls itself VOICE, held a news conference Thursday to call for the city's elections director, Armstead Jones Sr., to be held accountable."It gives us great pleasure to know the voters of the city of Baltimore's voices were heard all the way down in Annapolis," said VOICE member Hassan Giordano, who supported Dixon. "Unfortunately, however, it's another stain on the city of Baltimore because of the gross negligence that we've seen. ... At the end of the day somebody's head needs to roll, and that just happens to be the director."Gov. Larry Hogan, asked Thursday about the state election board's decision to decertify the city's results, noted that the panel by law is an independent body."We'll have to see what the results are of the investigation at the State Board of Elections," he said.Lamone said it's not unusual for the number of ballots counted to be slightly different from the number of voters recorded as checking into the polls. If the discrepancy is larger than five voters per jurisdiction, she said, the state asks the county or city to investigate and explain what happened. But the city failed to adequately explain the issue, she said.It is unusual for the state to intervene, Lamone said. She sent a message Thursday to all candidates in Baltimore's elections informing them of the decertification."Because of discrepancies in some of the data for Baltimore City, the State Administrator has decided that the election data for all precincts in the City will be reviewed," the emailed message said. "In light of that decision, the Baltimore City Board of Canvassers will be rescinding its certification of the election results pending completion of the State Board's review."Jones confirmed that the city found 80 provisional ballots that had not been analyzed and said city officials were aware of the discrepancy between the number of check-ins and the number of ballots cast. Asked where the 80 or so uncounted provisional ballots were found this week, Jones said he couldn't recall."We knew some things weren't tallying up," he said. "The plan was to resolve this and reconcile all the paperwork before the state took this action."Jones, who has been Baltimore's elections director for a decade, said he viewed the state's actions as extreme."They are supposedly the state agency that oversees 24 jurisdictions, but the first time I heard from her was yesterday," Jones said of Lamone. "They were changing all the rules and procedures. The manual they printed was outdated. I don't know what they expected people to do at the polls."Jones and Lamone have clashed before. In 2006, as a member of the city's election board, he accused her of playing the "blame game" after she ordered Baltimore to immediately craft plans to fix myriad problems that arose in that year's primary.Aviel Rubin, a computer science professor at the Johns Hopkins University and expert in electronic voting, said there are a number of explanations for why there could be discrepancies between the number of check-ins and the number of ballots cast, including faulty equipment, errors by elections judges and mistakes by voters. Rubin has worked as an election judge in Maryland."I've seen it all" as an election judge, Rubin said. "I can tell you when you have all those people coming with different educational levels, some may think they fill in the bubbles and think they voted and take the ballot home."Foul play, he said, should only be considered if election officials rule out all other possibilities or have evidence of wrongdoing."Without knowing what happened, you can't rule out anything," he said. "You can't rule out that there was some foul play. That's not the first conclusion you should draw."John T. Willis, a former Maryland secretary of state who has studied Maryland elections, said errors aren't unusual in large urban areas. The alleged problems in Baltimore's primary fall far short of the election debacle in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, he said."The administrative errors that occurred are not to the degree of severity that have happened in large urban jurisdictions around the country -- or happened in Miami-Dade County," Willis said. "It's nothing of the magnitude that is likely to have an impact on the outcome of the election."Willis also noted that the city, like the rest of Maryland, implemented a new voting system at the polls in April, and added that the entire state is suffering because of a nearly $1 million cut in voter education services."Baltimore City has not used a paper-based system since the 1930s," he said. "Our city judges had never used this kind of system before."Both leading mayoral campaigns said they were encouraged by the state review."I'm pleased that there will be additional investigation into this election because every Baltimore voter who cast a ballot deserves to have their vote counted which still has not happened," Dixon said in a statement. "I'm particularly bothered that there are provisional ballots that have not been counted even though the Board of Elections moved to certify the results. I am hopeful the state's review will provide answers to my questions about whether proper procedures were followed during this election."Dara Lindenbaum, a lawyer for the Pugh campaign, said it welcomed the state's actions."This review by the board will give the citizens full faith in the election, and we look forward to final certification," Lindenbaum said. She added that she did not believe the size of the discrepancy was large enough to affect the mayor's race."The larger story here has nothing to do with the mayor's race," she said. "This shows you how dedicated the state board is to making sure this process is fair and accurate. Unfortunately, no election is perfect, but the state board is making sure that we can rely on the results. As a Maryland voter, I appreciate that."Pugh said she "thinks every vote should be counted. There should be transparency in elections, and I look forward to the conclusion."The Democratic nominee for mayor will face Republican Alan Walden and Green Party nominee Joshua Harris in the general election. The heavily Democratic city has for decades chosen a Democrat for mayor.Baltimore Sun reporters Doug Donovan, Ian Duncan, Michael Dresser and Yvonne Wenger contributed to this article.
On Thursday, in the afternoon, at Parliament House, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC presided at a meeting of the Executive Council, and then met students from St Thomas Mores Catholic Primary School, Toowoomba, who were touring Parliament House.

In the evening, at Government House, the Governor and Mrs Kaye de Jersey hosted a reception for the Grand Priory of Australia of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem National Chapter.

Following, at the Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey attended the Opera Queensland Opening Night performance of Madama Butterfly.
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GIS  13 May 2016: The Environment Protection (Collection, Storage, Treatment, Use and Disposal of Waste Oil) Regulations 2006 will be amended as Government focuses on the status of waste oil management in Mauritius as well as of the measures that the Ministry of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management will take to render the system more effective, efficient and environment-friendly.

Waste oils may contain various contaminants and hazardous constituents, such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, that contribute to long term hazards including risks of cancer.

In order to maximise capture of waste oils, the following measures will be adopted: ban the use of waste oils unless they have been re-refined; make it mandatory for existing facilities carrying out basic treatment to upgrade the treatment processes of waste oil to re-refining; and waste oils generated in Mauritius be disposed of only by EIA licensees having a re-refining facility.
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GIS - 13 May, 2016: The President of the Republic, Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, in her address on the occasion of the International Nurses Day 2016 celebrated yesterday by the Nursing Association at the Octave Wiehe Auditorium in Reduit, called on nurses to be catalysts for change and to adapt to the changing needs of the healthcare system. The President of the Republic, Dr Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, in her address on the occasion of the International Nurses Day 2016 celebrated yesterday by the Nursing Association at the Octave Wiehe Auditorium in Reduit, called on nurses to be catalysts for change and to adapt to the changing needs of the healthcare system.

Developments in the field of medicine have further stress the need to reinvent yourself, to enhance your capacity to deal with technology, new equipment and to provide quality health care services to grapple with new problems and to be more resilient to emerging challenges of health imperatives, stated Dr Gurib-Fakim.

Stressing her belief in the capacity of nurses to be resilient and be a game changer, the President urged them, as professionals, to be flexible in deciding and thinking how things should be done with a view of better enhancing the quality of life of patients.  The fierce urgency of now is to change, to adapt, and to let go of the past mode of delivery of service, she said.

Recalling that the prosperity of the country depends substantively on the competencies of the population and their continued commitment to be the best, President Gurib-Fakim pointed out that it is incumbent upon the nurses to continue to develop and update their skills, and to see to it that their educational training and capacity building should never be ending.

Dr Gurib-Fakim also praised and lauded the nursing profession which, she said, represents the backbone and forms an integral part of the healthcare system. It is not given to anyone to embrace a nursing career: nursing is not only a career or a profession, it is first and foremost a call that transcends all imperative, underlined the President of the Republic, adding that to become a nurse requires strength, compassion, commitment, sincerity of purpose and above all a heart.

Deploring that the nurses not only have to face a lot of pressure but are also at time victims of aggression and molestation as well as unruly behaviour from both patients or members of the public, the President of the Republic affirmed that any kind of aggression, verbal or physical, against the nurses, still less against any member of the health profession, will not be tolerated. Cases of aggression against medical and paramedical staff should be dealt with firmly and appropriately to restore confidence in the profession, she averred.

Also present at the ceremony, the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Mr Anil Gayan, and the Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, and Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development, and Disaster and Beach Management, Mr Alain Wong, both highlighted the importance of the nursing profession in the provision of quality health care services to the public. While Mr Gayan appealed to nurses to keep maintaining the highest professional standards throughout their career, Mr Wong applauded the health professionals for their dedication, responsibility and great ability to provide services in challenging settings.

It is noted that the theme for this years International Day is: Nurses: A Force for Change: Improving health systems' resilience . The International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. Florence Nightingale, pioneering nurse and statistician, is considered to be the founder of modern nursing. She was devoted to health, education and research, worked tirelessly to raise health care standards and introduced sanitary concepts into hospitals.

Government Information Service, Prime Ministers Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email:

Website:
(TNS) -- Apple on Friday said it has invested 1 billion dollars in Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing, a move that comes as Apple's sales in its second-largest market are falling."We decided to make the investment for a number of strategic reasons, including the chance to learn more about certain segments of the China market," Apple chief executive Tim Cook told Xinhua news agency.Didi Chuxing, formerly known as Didi Kuaidi, said in a statement that this is the single largest investment the company has ever received.Didi Chuxing is also backed by Chinese internet giants Alibaba and Tencent.The company said it serves around 90 percent of China's car-hailing service market.Analysts said the investment would increase pressure on Uber, a San Francisco-based company that is pushing for more market share in China."This investment is a two-way mutual win," said Wang Qingrui, a Chinese technology analyst."Didi is more than happy to accept this investment. Not only will their brand awareness be exposed to the international market, they can better compete with Uber."For Apple, it is a strategic choice as Didi is related to the car business, and its market value is climbing, so it is good timing to invest in Didi. Apple may look to increase Didi's expansion in Chinese and international markets," Wang told dpa.
From his job as a program officer for a large philanthropic organization dedicated to improving the lives of Detroit children, David McGhee often sees the intersection of urban planning and public health firsthand.From his birthplace and current home  Flint, Mich.  he sees it personally.Unless youve been living under a rock, you know the challenges were dealing with, he said at a panel in Houston Thursday, referring to the citys ongoing tainted water crisis.The first criminal charges related to the case were filed in April against city and state employees accused of tampering with evidence to disguise lead contamination in the water system, a result of cuts to the system made in the name of cost-savings. Officials were also charged with violating the states Safe Drinking Water Act. More charges are expected as the investigation continues. Meanwhile, families and health providers are left on edge.People care when its convenient, McGhee continued, speaking on a panel about health and the built environment as part of Next Citys 2016 Vanguard Conference , hosted by Next City and the Kinder Institute for Urban Research in Houston.The crisis in Flint revealed more persistent neglect when it comes to investment in the urban environment. The most recent school building was built probably 45 (or) 50 years ago, said McGhee. Were experiencing this firsthand.Just because someone is electable, that in turn makes them accountable and responsible  but it doesnt make them capable, he added. He called on health professionals, design professionals and community members to unite to create more responsive, comprehensive design.You really have to create ways of making things happen, if you want to look beyond the one-on-one [model of healthcare] said Anjali Taneja, a doctor and the executive director of Casa de Salud , a clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We do a poor job [of that] as an industry.She argues that within the medical field, there isnt much focus on treating people beyond the doctors office. She urged medical professionals to think more comprehensively.At Casa de Salud, Taneja works with patients who are poorly served by traditional health insurance or not served at all by it. She said she draws on community members to help guide her practice, calling them content experts, and tries to challenge a medical system where patients only see their doctors for a few minutes each visit.But there are other ways of improving health outcomes, beyond the clinic.The field focuses on the individual, said Adele Houghton, an architect and green building consultant with Biositu, LLC . But, she warns, that approach may be short sighted. Analyses show that even doing a limited change of physical environment  can actually have a larger impact on health than doing these very intensive, expensive treatments focused on the individual, she said.In other words: you may be able to help individuals more if you focus on improving their environment.The challenge is getting researchers, designers, health professionals and policymakers to work together. Though limited, there has been some movement in that direction.Our public health sector has evolved to encapsulate a lot more factors you might traditionally think of as urban planning, said Casey Durand, a researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. His current project , a multi-year study of the effect of Houstons light-rail on the surrounding communities health, is an example of that growing overlap. The study will look at everything from how sidewalks, shade, weather and even other factors like the crime rate influences behaviors for residents living along the rail.Still, the connection between research and policy can be tough. Its extremely difficult to prove these work, he said of changes to the built environment like new sidewalks. You have to understand big picture data analysis, but you also have to understand the people on the ground who are implementing decisions.Such comprehensive projects are still rare. But, said Houghton, there are some examples out there in the world of evaluations of seeing that these interventions work. A study in Minnesota, for example, showed that making changes in a home like fixing leaks and improving weatherization led to the reduction or elimination of conditions such as chronic bronchitis, hay fever and asthma, according to Houghton.Engaging community members, following up and reaching out to decision-makers to assess how much they know about public health are keys to making research recommendations more effective. You have to go back to these people to implement any changes you might suggest, Durand said.
(TNS) -- An expert on the use of electronics for elections said that to date, no electronic voter registration and checklist system is ready for prime time.Legislation allowing Manchester, Hooksett and Durham to use electronic poll books during the September primary and November general elections will be decided Thursday by the Senate.Tuesday Andrew Schwarzmann, head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Connecticut and director of the Center for voting Technology Research said every poll book system his center has tested has faults that need to be addressed and are not ready for implementation.Schwarzmanns center is in the process of testing several systems for the Connecticut Secretary of State and expects to make its report later this month.While he said he could not be specific or talk about different brands, all have faults that would make their use problematic, he said.Just because a vendor believes their system is a fit, does not necessarily make it so, Schwarzmann said. We will never certify any system because that would give a false sense of security and all have security vulnerabilities.Schwarzmann has advised Secretary of State Bill Gardners office in the past, particularly on its optical voting machines. Gardner opposes the legislation, saying there is not enough time to properly test and customize the system to New Hampshire election laws before the primary and general election.Yesterday Schwarzmann said the electronic poll book systems have had problems as serious as complete failure to hacking a centralized server.Because of delays in the information recorded between devices, someone could vote twice, the software is easily manipulated and if a centralized service is used it is an easy target for a hacker or someone who seeks to influence an election, he said.Where the electronic systems have been used, there is a parallel paper system for redundancy Schwarzmann said.The three communities in the pilot project want to use an iPad-based system equipped with a reader for voters to swipe their drivers licenses to check in. The persons name, home address and age appear and if the information is correct, the voter receives a slip to give to an election worker to receive a ballot.The system would also be used to register voters under the states election-day registration law.A local vendor who services the states optical reader ballot machines will provide the iPad-based system for free for the two elections.The electronic poll book system is separate from the ballot system.The Senate was expected to vote on the plan Thursday, but as of press time, no news of a decision has been released.
Home  Motorcycles & Bikes  Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide Motorcycles & Bikes Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Of 2022 Reviews & Buying Guide

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Motorcycles are excellent vehicles for travel and adventure both on and off-road. It is an investment you need to keep safe from those who would love to take that treasure off your hands. Wheel-locking systems may not be enough for those with enough mechanical ability to hot-wire it, and in some cases, one or two people could simply load it onto a truck without unlocking anything.

You dont want to wait months for the police to try to get it back. You want to know where it is right now.

A GPS tracking system is the perfect security investment for your motorcycle, and we have reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers here for you.

Top 10 Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers You Should Buy Of 2022 Reviews

1 AMERICALOC GL300W Mini Portable Real-Time GPS Tracker. XW Series

Leta start with this Americaloc mini portable GPS tracker. This is a mid-range GPS tracker both regarding cost and ability. It comes in about the size of a heavy keychain, so if you are looking for something tiny, this is not it. It is detectable by someone who knew what they were looking for but depending on where you attached it to your motorcycle, it may take them a bit of time to identify it.

There are diverse opinions in the reviews about its battery life. It appears that it will last at least 3-4 days, but there are sometimes problems when recharging it. Make sure to follow the instruction guide that comes with this tracker.

You also need to recognize that this service is run by a tech that is not as widespread as most cellphone GPS trackers. While is advertises real-time the reality is that it updates once per minute, thirty, or ten seconds  depending on your setting. This setting will affect battery life, and depending on where it is, the updates may not be entirely accurate. It is not a bad tracker, but you need to have realistic expectations for it.

Pros GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets

GPS Tracker for vehicles, people, assets This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks.

This GPS tracker has the longest battery life version with extended multicarrier coverage. Battery life is measured in weeks. Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones

Alerts: movement, parked, speeding, device on/off, low battery, entering or leaving zones Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP.

Real-Time Tracking and 1 year of tracking history. Track from any computer, tablet or phone or just download our Android and iPhone APP. Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world

Works in the US, Canada, Europe and in almost every country in the world 1-minute location updates while moving. Can be configured for location updates every 60, 30 or 10 seconds with no additional cost. Cons Slightly bigger than something described as mini.

Slightly bigger than something described as mini. Sometimes faces battery charging issues

Sometimes faces battery charging issues Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking

Behind cellphone GPS technology and occasionally is off a block or so in tracking No mobile app and website can be buggy

2 Spy Tec STI GL300 Mini Portable Real-Time Personal and Vehicle GPS Tracker

Spy Tecs GL300 GPS is about the same size as the Americaloc, but about half the price. As with most GPS devices, there is a monthly subscription fee that can quickly add up over time. In practice, this GPS seems to function a little more smoothly than others, with many short-term satisfied customers.

For this GPS to work well for you, you need three things. First, you need to be using it in an area covered by T-mobile, or else you may have accuracy problems. Second, you need to be able to recharge it every few days. Finally, this is a short-term solution. The charging cable seems to break down over months, not years, and the customer and tech service can be a pain to deal with. If you are looking for a long-term GPS, you may want to take a pass on Spy Tec.

Pros Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets

Perfect for tracking vehicles, people, or assets Compact size can go anywhere

Compact size can go anywhere Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet

Tracks with Google Maps in real-time over the Internet Get text or email when a person leaves an area (geo-fencing) Cons Inconsistent customer service

Inconsistent customer service Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas

Works primarily in T-mobile coverage areas Problems with charging cable

Problems with charging cable Short life span

3 Amcrest AM-GL300 V3 Portable Mini Real-Time GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Here is another low-end GPS tracker for your motorcycle. What makes this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers is that it works with mobile apps from Google and Apple, so you can track your motorcycle from your phone and not just your computer or a webpage.

It comes with lots of tracking options as well. You can create zones and be alerted if your motorcycle moves outside of it. You can set speed alerts or other proximity alerts, which will be pushed to your phone via text and email. The Amcrest is a solid package for taking care of your needs, and there is no contract required to use it.

How you use it will determine the battery strength, and, like other devices in this low-cost range, the batteries are a weak point, particularly if not re-charged correctly. Also, it relies on 2G coverage and does not connect with all carriers. To get your moneys worth out of this motorcycle GPS tracker, make sure to inquire about coverage in your area and this tracker, and be sure to read the instructions about recharging your GPS.

Pros Works with apps from Google and Apple store

Works with apps from Google and Apple store This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs.

This GPS device allows you to create zones that you specifically want to monitor, such as your home to you know when your loved one leaves or returns. Set maximum speed alerts and proximity alerts for your vehicles to suit your needs. Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device.

Receive text, push and email notifications straight to your personal device. Long-lasting  Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge.

Long-lasting  Stay connected with a longer battery life of 10-14 days on a full charge. Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone.

Access the reports from your GPS device from your PC, Mac or smartphone. No contract required Cons GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage.

GPS Tracker is limited to 2G and will only work in areas where there is 2G coverage. Batteries can be faulty leading to short lifespan of the device

4 GPS Tracker  Optimus 2.0

This low-end tracker has a better performance record than some of the others, making it one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. This GPS has a monthly subscription fee but no contract required and it comes with apps you can use to track your motorcycle from your phone. There is no limit to how much data you can save on the secure databases, and so will update you every 30 seconds while your motorcycle is moving, or you can upgrade it to update you every 10 seconds.

Fortunately, there are only two reported issues from the reviews of this GPS tracker. It is slightly larger than some of the other models, making it a bit more challenging to hide securely. It also sends out false reports occasionally if the cell service is interrupted.

Pros No Contract

No Contract Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving.

Adjustable position report frequency from 30 Seconds while moving. iPhone and Android App

iPhone and Android App Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc.

Email and Text Message notifications for Movement, Speeding, Leaving or Entering Areas, etc. Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service

Unlimited Tracking Data Saved During Service SIM Card and Data Plan all Included

SIM Card and Data Plan all Included Easy to install and use Cons Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service

Will occasionally send out false reports if it loses cell service Slightly larger than other models

Which of the best motorcycle GPS trackers have the best batteries?

5 Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker for Vehicles

Unlike the previous models of the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the Trackmate does not rely on a rechargeable lithium battery. Instead, it is hardwired directly into the motorcycle battery itself. This has the benefit of preventing the GPS from turning off when the battery dies at inopportune times.

The downside of this setup is that installation is more difficult, and while the device is easily concealable, it also has wires running between it and the battery. This connection can cause your motorcycle battery to run down if you do not monitor it closely, causing both the device and motorcycle to fail to operate.

This is a 3G tracker and has better accuracy than the previous 2G GPS trackers, making this one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market.

Pros On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking.

On/Off Detection, Speed Indicator, and Live Map Tracking. Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available.

Numerous alerts such as low-battery, tampering and towing. Historical location reports available. All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof.

All-Weather Resistant and Waterproof. STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously.

STAY IN TUNE: Unique system Tracks via AT&T and T-Mobile networks, simultaneously. EASILY CONCEALABLE: 3.4 X 1.75 X 0.50 , 2oz. No visible external light. Cons Can drain the motorcycle battery

Can drain the motorcycle battery Challenging to install since it is hardwired to the motorcycle battery

6 MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 Wired 3G GPS Car Tracker

The MotoSafety Mwaas1P1 is another hardwired GPS tracker that you can use on your motorcycle. It also uses 3G service and, as long as you are in the United States, typically does an excellent job of tracking through mobile apps. It sends detailed reports, particularly useful for tracking teen drivers, such as speeding, hard braking, and curfew notices. You must subscribe to a monthly fee, but there are no contracts.

Overall, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers. There are about 10% of customers though who encounter significant issues trying to get this GPS to function properly. Many of these are being used in cars, rather than motorcycles. However, since this GPS is hardwired into the vehicle system, the fault seems to be a compatibility issue, between the GPS and the vehicle. There are no reports of which vehicles are incompatible or why.

You take a small risk with this GPS that it may not be compatible with your motorcycle. Otherwise, this is one of the best motorcycle GPS trackers.

Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps.

Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew.

Use GPS to review driving routes, set geofences around key locations and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. No contracts or cancellation fees.

No contracts or cancellation fees. Track anywhere with free GPS tracking mobile apps with real-time email & text message alerts. Cons Has some issues updating consistently

Has some issues updating consistently Only works in the United States

7 ATian Vehicle Car personal GPS/GSM/GPRS/SMS Tracker

The ATian GPS Tracker is one of the less expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers available. It comes with both a Lithium-ion battery and power supply to be installed to the motorcycle battery. Be warned though, that it will drain both rather quickly if you use it continuously. The lithium-ion battery, for example, is only rated up to 29 hours of continuous use, meaning you have to recharge it daily.

This GPS is not waterproof so some kind of external cover may be necessary to keep it working correctly. It comes with a remote control though, to turn it on and off without getting on the motorcycle yourself.

The biggest challenge with this GPS is that they do not provide a SIM card in it. Being foreign made, they have adapted to the global cellular service challenge by forcing you to get your own SIM card for it. This means that, although there is only a minimal service fee for using this GPS, you have to pay a cell service company to use it. With the frequent false alerts reported in the reviews on this GPS, that cell service bill can cost you a pretty penny.

Pros Single Locating

Single Locating Auto track continuously

Auto track continuously Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval

Track with limited times upon time interval, Smart track upon time and distance interval The tracker will update the positions automatically to web server once the vehicle changing driving direction over preset angle value to form a smooth trajectory consistent with the actual road, this function works only in GPRS /GSM mode Cons Drains motorcycle battery

Drains motorcycle battery May often send false alerts

May often send false alerts Requires a SIM card and the additional cost of that cellular service.

Looking for a higher end GPS for your motorcycle?

8 AES RGT90 GPS Tracker

The difference (besides the price) between the AES RGT90 and some of the other best motorcycle GPS trackers that operate with a lithium-ion battery, is that the folks over at AES implemented a sleep mode into their device. That saves you hours and hours of battery use wasted when your motorcycle is simply sitting in your garage. That is how they are able to get 90 days worth of use out of their battery.

The other reason that this GPS tracker costs so much is that it has the broadest range of the best motorcycle GPS trackers  extending all through North America and over 100 other countries as well. By comparison, most other trackers have difficulty even covering the USA alone.

Pros Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries

Works Anywhere in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, plus over 100 other countries Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger.

Internal battery Operates GPS tracker up to 90 days on a single charge. Recharges by Micro USB for better convenience. Charge using any USB Charger. Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case

Covert, Discrete, Waterproof Magnetic Case Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text.

Goes to sleep when the vehicle is parked for 5 minutes or more. Displays the last location before going into Sleep Mode. Access anytime via text. Track on your phone or on the website. You can also receive GPS coordinates via SMS Text. Cons Phone app is not the easiest to use

Phone app is not the easiest to use Relies on magnetic attachment

What is the best reviewed of the best motorcycle GPS trackers?

9 Goome 3G/WCDMA/GSM/GPS GM36W

The Goome has the least amount of negative reviews of the best motorcycle GPS trackers on the market. It also has the fewest reviews in total, so take that with a grain of salt. Many of the reviews commented that they got more value than they expected from this GPS. It is easy to install and very accurate, and the company offers global service.

The only problem the reviews have reported is that the app associated with this tracker is in Chinese and can be difficult to navigate. Even so, most customers were able to use this GPS quite well directly through SMS communication between their phones and devices.

Pros Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network

Support 3G/WCDMA/GSM/ Network Waterproof features, level  IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components.

Waterproof features, level  IP67 will prevent water damage the inter electric components. Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc.

Geo-fencing, playback history tracks, speeding alarm, low power &battery alerts, etc. OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft

OTA Upgrade Program, Anti-theft One year free trial for North America customers Cons App is Chinese and hard to navigate

App is Chinese and hard to navigate Can be difficult to find to purchase

What is the least expensive best motorcycle GPS tracker on the market?

10 MOTOsafety OBD GPS Tracker Device

Here is the least expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers you can find. This GPS, like several of the others reviewed, was made with teen drivers in mind. It gives comprehensive reports on driving stats, but it is not meant to be long-lasting.

If you are looking for a short-term GPS tracker, and you are living in the US, this is an inexpensive option for you. If you are looking for a GPS for security reasons, you may want to see another option.

Pros Monitor driving activity using Google Maps.

Monitor driving activity using Google Maps. Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits.

Get a complete driving report cards that score safe driving habits such as speeding, harsh braking, and rapid acceleration to improve driving habits. 3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico

3G vehicle tracking coverage that updates every minute in the US, Canada, and Mexico Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts.

Track anywhere with the free GPS tracking mobile apps and real-time email & text message alerts. Use the GPS tracking to review reports such as driving routes, set geofences around key locations (school, home, or friends house) and know when the vehicle is in use after curfew. Cons Inconsistent updating

Inconsistent updating Only works in the US

So, how do these reviews line up?

Best Motorcycle GPS Trackers Buying Guide

Best Value

The MOTOSafety OBD GPS Tracker is the least expensive option if you are looking for a short-term tracker for your motorcycle. It is made for tracking the driving habits of teenage drivers.

The Trackmate is a more expensive device, but it has a lower monthly subscription cost and is hardwired into your motorcycle, so you dont have to worry about recharging the battery.

The ATian GPS tracker is inexpensive as well, but you may end up paying more for your SIM card (not included) usage.

Accuracy

The AES is the most expensive of the best motorcycle GPS trackers but can provide you with some of the best accuracy across the greatest number of countries. The ATian is one of the least expensive devices but can offer service in any country you can get a SIM card to use in it. The Goome GPS also provides excellent service if you can navigate the Chinese app or use SMS to connect to the device.

Durability

How long do the best motorcycle GPS trackers last?

The most durable of these trackers are the ones that are hardwired into your motorcycle battery. The lithium-ion battery is one of the earliest failing points on these devices, and if it doesnt have one, it lasts that much longer. You also want one that is waterproof, to prevent moisture from damaging the electronics.

The Trackmate is a great hardwired GPS that is recommended for motorcycles and is waterproof. It is one of the more durable of the best motorcycle GPS trackers.

There is one exception to the battery rule, and that is the AES RGT90 GPS tracker. This tracker, because of its sleep mode, causes less wear on the battery and ends up lasting much longer than any other GPS with a lithium-ion battery.



Conclusion You can get inexpensive GPS trackers if you are only interested in short-term use. If you want something to last longer, you need to spend a little more money. You also need to be able to install it to your motorcycle battery. It is also important to watch for the subscription costs. The device may be inexpensive, but most subscriptions are around $20 each month. Some may require cell phone contracts (although most do not). Also, the more expensive GPS trackers have better service (3G instead of 2G) and a much wider area of coverage. If youre looking for the best motorcycle GPS trackers, the reviews suggest checking out the AES RGT90 and the Trackmate Mini 3G H GPS Tracker.
Felipe Massa says he does not support the FIA's forthcoming ban on discarding helmet visor tear-offs on the track.

Actually, the ban was originally intended for the start of the 2016 season but F1 will now enforce it as of Monaco later this month.

"I don't think there's a need for it (the ban)," said Williams driver and F1 veteran Massa.

"I have heard arguments that the strips can get into the brake ducts and cause them to overheat, but I've never seen that there were serious accidents because of that reason.

"Instead, the strips play an important role in improving the visibility for the drivers," added the Brazilian. "We should be able to throw them away, if necessary.

"Sometimes the visor gets dirty very quickly, and for safety it is important to be able to clean it straight away," said Massa.

(GMM)
The promoter of the Belgian grand prix has played down reports the Spa-Francorchamps race has lost its naming sponsor.

Oil giant Shell announced this week that it is pulling its trackside advertising deal with F1 as well as the naming rights to the Belgian race.

But Andre Maes told La Derniere Heure, a Belgian newspaper, that it is Bernie Ecclestone's FOM company that actually collected the sponsorship money.

"On the contrary," he said, "Shell bought from us 500 grandstand tickets.

"We sold out last year and we are 6-7 per cent ahead in pre-sales this year, so I'm not too worried," Maes added.

"The announcement of the promotion of Max Verstappen at Red Bull last week has boosted our sales even more," he said.

The Belgian grand prix takes place on 28 August.

(GMM)
Flux Power Holdings, a developer of advanced lithium batteries for industrial applications including electric forklifts, delivered a custom-developed, 72-volt battery pack to power electric aviation ground support equipment (GSE), initially baggage/cargo tractors. Averest, a leading distributor of industrial batteries and chargers for aviation ground support equipment organized the pilot opportunity for Flux.

The trial highlights the scalability of Flux Powers design and engineering capabilities as well as its proprietary battery management technology for a broad array of motive power applications. The performance and total cost of ownership benefits of lithium-ion technology over legacy lead-acid batteries, long the principal power source for electric aviation ground support equipment, was a principal motivator for the pilot.

The 8-week planned piloting period for Fluxs new Aviation Pack design will start this week at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Piloting is a necessary precursor to final design and feature considerations as well as the potential future larger scale deployment of Flux Aviation Packs by the airline customer. Immediately following this piloting period, the Aviation Pack will be piloted by a second national airline at their LAX location. Flux says it has also received an initial inquiry from a global aerospace company about pricing on Flux packs for ground support equipment.

Grand View Research, Inc. expects the global aircraft ground handling system market to reach annual sales of $526 million by 2022 up from $338 million in 2014. Growth over the forecast period is being driven by projected increases in global air traffic, and airlines are seeking ways to cost effectively scale their operations.

Flux Power develops and markets advanced lithium-ion energy storage systems based on its proprietary battery management system (BMS) and in-house engineering and product design. Products include advanced battery packs for motive power in the lift equipment, tug and tow and robotics markets, portable power for military applications and stationary power for grid storage.
Jackthe internal nickname for the Audi A7 piloted driving concept technology platform now passes trucks with a slightly wider lateral gap. It also signals upcoming lane changes by activating the turn signal and moving closer to the lane marking firstjust as human drivers would do to indicate their intentions.

Audis latest version of its piloted driving research car, the Audi A7 concept Jack, has not only learned how to autonomously perform all of its driving maneuvers on the expressway, it has also learned how to show consideration for other road users. Jack exhibits a driving style that is adaptive to the given situation, safe and especially interactive, Audi says.

Audi A7 piloted driving concept Jack on the A9. Source: Audi.

The cooperative attitude of Jack is especially apparent when other vehicles want to merge into the lane, such as on an expressway. Here the test car decidesbased on the selected driving profilewhether to accelerate or brake, depending on which is best suited to handling the traffic situation harmoniously for all road users. Another new feature: Upon request, the navigation system can compute a route with the largest proportion of piloted driving sections.

The brain of piloted driving is the central driver assistance domain controller, or zFAS. (Earlier post.) The information supplied by all sensorsincluding the signals from the 3D cameras, the laser scanner and the radar and ultrasonic sensorsis permanently fed into and processed by this module. With its tremendous computing power, the zFAS is capable of continuously comparing the data from the vehicle sensor systems with the model of the road space and its surroundings.

This model represents the prevailing traffic situation as accurately as possible. It lets the zFAS calculate upcoming maneuvers in advance, taking a look into the future, so to speak.

Audi developed zFAS in collaboration with TTTech, Mobileye, nVidia and Delphi; Delphi has been awarded the series production contract. The second-generation zFAS is much smaller than its predecessor, as well as more powerful.

Piloted driving offers greater safety, more efficient utilization of the transportation infrastructure and more relaxation time for the driver. Audi has already derived systems for assisted driving from the tested technologies. Audi is currently offering production car technologies such as the function for assisted driving in traffic jams in the Audi A4 and Audi Q7.

Infrastructure and communications. In the future, cars and the infrastructure will communicate with one another more intensively. Common information interfaces are an important condition for this, so that the benefits of piloted driving can be better utilized on expressways.

In the future, information on variable-message traffic signs, for example, will be digitally transmitted into the car in order to assist the traffic flow. In addition, Audi is defining and testing elements of the future communications standard 5G together with IT partners. Car-to-X communication immediately enables piloted driving cars to use paved road shoulders when these are temporarily opened.

Another step forward is Car-to-Car communication between automobiles that are traveling on the same routes. They can report on hazardous points and accidents in real time. The driving speeds of other road users operating with piloted driving are then automatically adjusted to the potential hazard.

The local infrastructure plays a special role for piloted driving on the expressway. In addition to sensors in the car, signals from the environment give the driver a precise preview of the road ahead. Audis partners for the digital test site on the A9 autobahnannounced by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructureare testing the internal composition and modified material structure of roadside posts.

These are to be designed to reflect the radar sensors of cars even from greater distances. In addition, project participants within the scope of the test parameters are studying special traffic signs that allow the test vehicles to localize their positions with high precision within the various driving lane markings.

For most customers, the complexity of traffic situations significantly intensifies again along the route segment from the expressway exit to city zones. Audi is researching and developing another test site for this so-called first mile near the redesigned autobahn exit Ingolstadt-Sud.

From 2017, Audi, together with the city of Ingolstadt, will be testing construction methods such as the use of different types of pavement as well as technical solutions such as the use of sensors in intersection zones. Piloted driving research cars from Audi are already being incorporated into the design of the new infrastructure. Test operation should begin in 2018.

Resources
I attended the 2002 dedication of the Guilford County Veterans Memorial because of the speaker, Major Gen. John H. Admire, USMC (retired). With Admires two stars, three combat tours of Vietnam, two legions of merit with valor devices and two bronze stars with valor devices, this was a dont miss for me.

That day, Sept. 14, 2002, was a good day for Guilford County and its veterans.

News & Record veterans columnist Ned Harrison had set the stage in these very pages: No local monument to their valor; no recognition of the services willingly given to our nation; no tribute has been erected in the 55 years since World War II  47 years since the Korean War  or 35 years since Vietnam.

Bill Craft led a group of other veterans to do something about this. In June 2000, Tom Ward wrote a proposal for the GCVM.

Tom Ward conceived the idea, and Bill Craft made it happen, but not without strong help from Walt Cockerham, Ned Harrison, Bill Black, Ed Carson, Carl Seager, Louis Godwin, Will Harris, Curtis Laughlin and Ed Deaton, said Al Stewart, a member of the organizing group.

I was the token young guy who happened to have Vietnam experience, he said. Sometimes it was like working with grumpy old men, but they got the job done!

The group included veterans from three wars, several highly decorated.

The 24-foot granite obelisk has a ring of walls with interpretive text and map panels depict how Guilfordians defended our liberty. Engraved bricks honor or memorialize veterans throughout the memorial.

A path leading from the obelisk area has six laminate panels reflecting quotes and thoughts from those who served from World War I through the Gulf War.

For me, the most representative GCVM quote is, When you go home, tell them of us and say: For your tomorrow, we gave our today. Benches are provided for rest, contemplation and prayer.

This was a grassroots veterans project  no professional fundraisers were used. Harrison spoke for the group when he wrote, The initial cost estimate of $400,000 was staggering.

With generous support from businesses and citizens, the funds were quickly raised. Over 360 commemorative bricks were pre-sold and 128 donors signed on as charter members at $1,000 each.

Brick sales continue. So far, 998 have been purchased.

Many of the GCVM organizers were charter members of the Steve Millikin Black Cap Veterans Group, also founded in 2002. This group has assumed logistical oversight of the memorial even though it is located on city property.

The Black Caps are known for patriotic events at 2 p.m. on the Sundays closest to Memorial Day and Veterans Day. May 29 is no exception  the public is invited to hear U.S. Army Col. (Retired) Jettaka Gammon speak of her experiences.

Admires talk was short, to the point, with one war story: A reporter told a Marine serving in Vietnam that he wouldnt do what Marines did for any amount of money in the world! A Marine sergeant replied, neither would we, sir, neither would we.

In closing, Admire reminded the standing-room only crowd, As long as there is a United States of America, there will always be veterans such as these here this morning or those memorialized herein.

Then he suggested there may be a greater truth in reversing the statement, As long as there are veterans such as these here this morning, or those memorialized herein, there will always be a United States of America!

To purchas a commemorative brick, visit www.gcveteransmemorial.org.
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Any visitor to the Lockwood-Mathews Museum Mansion in Norwalk is compelled to go back in time to the dawn of the Gilded Age.

LeGrand Lockwood, the original owner, was one of Americas richest men, an associate and rival of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, the steamship and railroad tycoon. The 62-room country house Lockwood built anticipated by decades the extravagance of the Vanderbilt familys Newport summer cottages.

But with the opening this month of a special exhibit marking the museums 50th anniversary, visitors can take a second, shorter journey back to the 1960s, when the Lockwood mansion was saved from demolition by Fairfield County pioneer preservationists.

Many were Junior League women led by Elsie Hill, a congressmans daughter and one-time suffragist, who set up her command post in the mansions three-story rotunda. Their story provides one of the main themes of the exhibit, Demolish or Preserve: The 1960s at the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion.

So early were they to the preservation cause that the exhibit, as curator Kathleen Motes Bennewitz notes, actually celebrates two 1966 watersheds. One is the formal establishment of the museum organization as occupant and caretaker of the mansion, while the other is the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act.

We want to put the saving of the mansion in the context of the era, Bennewitz explains recently, giving a preview of the exhibit, along with Executive Director Susan Gilgore and board chairwoman Patsy Brescia.

Gilgore says that when brainstorming for the anniversary began months ago, It became clear the 60s was the decade we should be highlighting.

She says the exhibit approaches history from a humanities perspective. The result is an exhibit that relies on cultural artifacts and leaves wiggle room for fun.

One example is the rack of 60s-era clothing that may end up on mannequins and was pulled from private closets. Brescia provided a gold-brocade black evening dress. Theres a salmon-colored mini-dress, so short it looks like a tunic, and a pants suit so flowery it might have been worn on the Beatles Yellow Submarine.

Spread out on a table were dozens of artifacts  newspaper and magazine articles, personal letters, legal documents  collected over months from local libraries and from Vassar College, where Hill donated her papers. Some finds were last minute.

Bennewitz picked up a copy of Life magazine from July 5, 1963, featuring a photographic essay by the famed Walker Evans on imperiled buildings.

This is something we just discovered, she says, carefully turning the pages. The opening image is of the old Penn Station, still lamented as one of New York Citys great losses. Several pages later, the Lockwood-Mathews makes its appearance. Everywhere a fight that never ends is one of the captions.

The Evans photo aside, the Life magazine by itself is evidence of a bygone era when printed mass media still held sway. The same goes for coverage of the fight to save the mansion in the Bridgeport Post (the Connecticut Posts predecessor) and in Norwalks The Hour.

The front page from the Hour of Feb. 16, 1961, is especially dramatic and telling. Its double-decked headline in large type shouting, Mayor Says Mansion Must Be Torn Down, speaks volumes about the sheer physical impact newspapers once had. Digital news is inevitably trapped inside small screens.

The full story of the mansions preservation is told in the exhibit. But the short version goes like this. LeGrand Lockwood suffered financial reversals, in part because he ran afoul of Vanderbilt. In 1876, the property passed to Charles Mathews, a New York merchant, whose family occupied it until 1938. In 1941, the city bought the mansion and its 30-acre grounds to use as a park.

Instead, greenhouses were razed in favor of a public works garage and 10 acres containing an arboretum and pond were sold to make way for what became Interstate 95. More land was later sacrificed to Route 7. It was a piecemeal destruction that would have been completed with the construction of a new city hall.

But preservationists organized themselves into what was called the Common Interest Group, and went to court claiming the city was violating its 1941 promise to use the property as a park. Meanwhile, the Junior League of Stamford expanded to include Norwalk and the combined group became custodians of the mansion museum.

Because the elevated highways of I-95 and Route 7 tower over the preserved building, it looks less grand than it once did. So the interior can be a surprise: enormous rooms, dark and heavy with drapes, carpets and woodwork. The best that money could buy.

By coincidence, the museums 50th anniversary year is also a presidential election year in which wealth is a campaign issue. In 2016, the original Lockwood house is newly relevant and worth a visit. Here is how one architectural survey, from 1978, described the importance of the house:

This 60-room mansion helped to establish  both in its sumptuous scale and rich materials  a new standard of opulence for the Gilded Age. Erected at an estimated cost of more than $1 million, the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion may also have been the most costly American residence of the period.

An opening reception for the Demolish or Preserve exhibit is scheduled for Thursday, May 12, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The cost is $5 for members, $10 for nonmembers. The exhibit will close Nov. 20.

Joel Lang is an award-winning Connecticut journalist.
Michael Duffy / Michael Duffy

Brookfield resident and Iraq War veteran Lt. Col. Michael Zacchea will talk about his experience as a combat Marine at the Brookfield Museum on May 2.

Zacchea deployed in Iraq in 2004 and served as a senior adviser to an Iraqi battalion. He was wounded in a second battle to overtake the rebel stronghold of Fallujah. He was awarded a purple heart and two bronze stars.
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HARTFORD - The Trumbull, Norwalk, and New Milford police departments are among those flagged for possible racial profiling in a report that examined nearly 600,000 traffic stops across the state.

The report, issued Thursday by the Connecticut Racial Profiling Prohibition Project, looks for disparities between the share of ethnic minorities among those stopped by police and the share in the municipal population as a whole.

The report noted that Trumbull police stopped minority drivers 38 percent of the time, although minorities represent just 10 percent of the town population, according to 2014 projections based on the 2010 U.S. Census.

It found that 15 percent of New Milford's stops involved minorities, a "statistically significant racial or ethnic disparity that may indicate the presence of racial and ethnic bias." According to 2014 census figures, blacks and Latinos account for 8 percent of New Milford's population.

It found that more than 42 percent of Norwalks traffic stops involved minorities, a statistically significant racial or ethnic disparity that may indicate the presence of racial and ethnic bias.

Blacks and Hispanics account for 37 percent of Norwalks population.

More Information Traffic stops by race Source: 'Traffic Stop Data Analysis and Findings, 2014-15' report, produced by the Racial Profiling Prohibition Project Number of traffic stops by race, 2015 Area % minority stops % Hispanic % black Bloomfield 64% 7.30% 54% New Milford 15.10% 4.10% 8.20% Norwalk 42% 21.10% 22.20% West Hartford 37% 17% 15% Wethersfield 47% 29% 18% State Police Troop H 42% 15% 22% Highest percentage of tickets issued after a stop Area % minority stops Danbury 76% Hartford 73% Derby 66% Bridgeport 64% Norwalk 61% Trumbull 60% Highest percentage of stops for speeding Area % minority stops Portland 69% Suffield 61% Newtown 53% New Milford 53% Ridgefield 52% Highest traffic stop rate per 1,000 residents Area % minority stops Connecticut State Police 208 Newtown 494 Lowest traffic stop rates Shelton 18 Note: Minority stops means, for example, 62 percent of cars pulled over by Bloomfield, were driven by a minority person, ie black or Hispanic. Source: 'Traffic Stop Data Analysis and Findings, 2014-15' report, produced by the Racial Profiling Prohibition Project See More Collapse

There should be a sense of urgency about the amount of racial profiling going on in the state, said Cato Laurencin, a member of the Connecticut Racial Profiling Advisory Board.

We know racial discrimination can cause health disparity, such as hypertension, Laurencin said. One area we can fight this is in area of racial profiling.

Statewide, 14 percent of the motorists stopped during the analysis period were black and 12.5 percent Hispanic.

The report highlighted other trends as well, including which departments issue the most tickets. Danbury police led the state, issuing a ticket after stopping a motorist 76 percent of the time.

The Connecticut State Police stopped motorists at a ratio of 208 stops for every 1,000 state residents over 16.

Stop rates vary widely among towns. Newtown ranked near the top with 494 stops for every 1,000 town residents over 16, and Shelton was the lowest, with just 18, the report said.

Michael Lawlor, the states undersecretary for criminal justice, said the report is a useful tool but stressed its not intended to punish departments.

The purpose is not to decide if anyone is being unfair, Lawlor said. Its to present real data so policy decisions are made on the basis of real data.

Flagged

The report found New Milford police stopped minorities 15 percent of the time, with 4 percent of those stops involving Latino drivers and 8 percent black.

Police Chief Shawn Boyne said he has scheduled a meeting with the committee drafting the report to discuss the findings and he will investigate the findings himself.

"If a problem is found, we will address it," Boyne said. "We operate under common sense, policy and law."

Mayor David Gronbach said the report doesn't take into consideration many people stopped were on Route 7, where most of the department's stops occur, so out-of-town drivers could affect the town's statistics.

"In the time that I've been here, I haven't heard of complaints of any profiling or targeting based on race," Gronbach said, adding he will examine the report further.

The report found that Norwalk police stopped minorities 42 percent of the time, with 21 percent of those Hispanic and 22 percent black.

Trumbull stopped minorities 38 percent of the time and 15 percent were Hispanic and 17 percent black.

Traffic stop data from Norwalk and Trumbull, along with eight other departments in the state, will be reviewed during an in-depth follow-up analysis by the profiling project, according to the report.

Stratford was flagged last year, but the report noted that a follow-up analysis is not warranted, although the reports authors said a limited review will be conducted to verify previous results.

The report is based on a years worth of traffic-stop data submitted by police departments between 2014 and 2015. The report marks the second full analysis of state data.

The authors applied nine measures or tests by to analyze the data, including the reasons police gave in stopping motorists and the proportion of day and night stops. A lower share of minority stops at night, when a drivers ethnicity would be harder to identify, might suggest a tendency toward racial profiling.

Lt. Leonard Pinto, Trumbull Police spokesman, said the department welcomes the opportunity to work with the Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy as they conduct their follow-up analysis.

We are not convinced that the percentages used as comparative data of our estimated driving population is accurately representative of the driving population in Trumbull, Pinto said. We look forward to working with the Institute to ensure continued fair and impartial policing.

Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said a variety of factors can skew the results of the study.

We need to be sure that all has been properly taken into account and the data interpreted properly, Kulhawik said. Obviously, we will not tolerate any officers profiling drivers, and would take appropriate actions if that were determined to be the case.

Still, Kulhawik said, based upon these preliminary benchmarks, no conclusions can be made. We will continue to cooperate in assisting in the review of our data and also reviewing our data on a local level as well.

The Norwalk chief added he has questions regarding a benchmark used to test profiling called the Veil of Darkness, which involves comparing night stops to day stops.

They have also asked for additional information to assist them in further analyzing the data, and we have provided them with the location of all our traffic stops, so they can overlay that data on top of the raw stop numbers, Kulhawik said.

We will be working with them in providing other local data they have requested to include in the analysis to determine whether the data should be concerning, the chief said.

Questioning the data

Lt Frank Eannotti, a spokesman for the Stratford Police Department, said his department has problems with some of the demographics used by the authors.

We continue to have concerns about the accuracy of the towns demographics, Eannotti said. This is not the fault of the (authors) as the only official documentation they have to work from is the 2010 Census, which is now more than six years old.

Eannotti said Stratfords minority population and driving population are now higher than those reflected by the Census.

Although it is not the only factor that is considered in the report, we strongly believe it is very significant, because many of the percentages in the report are based off of the Census and driving population, he said.

The reports authors cautioned that the raw data does not prove racial profiling. But the statistics offer insights into trends and point to departments that may need to review policies and practices, they said.

This report makes it clear that racial and ethnic disparities do not, by themselves, provide conclusive evidence of racial profiling, said Ken Barone, a research specialist with the Central Connecticut State Universitys Institute for Municipal and Regional Policy, which produced the report.

Statistical disparities do, however, provide significant evidence of the presence of data trends that warrant further analysis, Barone said. There was a slight uptick of overall minority stopped this year compared to last year.

The report also concluded minority stops were more likely to have occurred during daylight hours than at night.

Redding Police Chief Douglas Fuchs, speaking for the Connecticut State Police Chiefs Association, said officers do no target minorities.

Stopping someone based on what they look like is unacceptable and illegal, Fuchs said during a press conference Thursday. No chief has been informed they have an officer engaged in bias based policing.

Barone said last years report helped Hamden realize that its department was too focused on equipment violations such as tinted windows.

Ultimately they drastically decreased their reliance on equipment-related stops, Barone said. They focused on moving violations and the disparity all but disappeared. The rate at which finding illegal contraband went up.

Staff writers Frank Juliano and Katrina Koerting contributed to this report.
Photo: Saugatuck Brewing Company

Now this is the beer Donald Trump should be taking credit for inspiring: Saugatuck Brewing, a small American-owned microbrewery in Michigan (so basically the anti-Budweiser) saw the King of Beers shameless pandering by temporarily adopting the brand name America, and it responded with an announcement of its own for a new brew simply called Murica, an obvious patriotic improvement. Its brewed in a style Americas founders might describe as Freedom, and the process is naturally overseen by 1,776 bald eagles.

The saddest part is that people actually took this joke seriously, prompting Saugatuck to come back and re-explain, This beer, Murica, was and is a piece of satire meant to bring a few laughs. While the brewers there insist they love America, they cant make this super-patriotic brew because, for one, they do not have 1,776 Bald Eagles at the brewery. Although they do note: But how cool would that be?

[MLive.com]
Bushwick genderqueers flirt with Chelsea gallerists at Nowhere. Photo: Camilo Fuentealba

Gentrification and Grindr were said to have ruined nightlife, but the gay-bar scene in Manhattan is surprisingly vibrant and shows no signs of dwindling: You cant swing a murse these days without hitting a fun spot packed with go-go boys and a drag queen  even on a Tuesday. Below, the best gay bars in Manhattan.

The Absolute Best 1. Nowhere

322 E. 14th St., nr. Second Ave.; 212-477-4744 Part of the East Village gay-bar renaissance of the 90s and 00s, Nowhere has long been regarded as the less populated, forgotten sister to other joints like Eastern Bloc or the Cock  but the venerable basement bar has evolved to become the central watering hole of NYCs queer art, music, and performance scene. This is where artsy gay men, women, and anyone who doesnt care for labels converge (depending on the night  its still a man-based bar) to listen to DJs who play music that doesnt sound like Rihanna choking on a Red Bull. The video screen blinks weird porn and video art, Bushwick genderqueers flirt with Chelsea gallerists, and the long, deep space has plenty of alcoves and seating if youre seeking a bit of quiet. This is also where the alternative Joes Pub cabaret and comedy set come for postshow drinks, so bring your friend from Seattle or Berlin here first if they want to see the performance scene flirt and mingle without pretension. It also has an eclectic and dynamic roster of DJs and themed nights, including the long-running Double Headed Disco (last Saturday of the month), the ritualistic Witch Camp, and a night for ginger enthusiasts, Fire in the Hole.

2. The Cock

93 Second Ave., nr. 6th St.; no phone

This unashamedly punky, vital East Village gay bar relocated last summer, and the new address is a vast improvement. The Cock moved into the former Lit Lounge (where straight people used to make out like gays), so the sexy atmosphere is already built into the walls. Rough-edged, covered in band stickers, and carved with little weird nooks and dark corners, this place is like a filthy, seductive, alluring alleyway. Saturdays is Wack, with DJs Kindbud and Aaron Cobbett. The great Scott Ewalt DJs on Thursdays, and CVNT on Tuesday nights brings in a younger crowd.

3. The Monster

80 Grove St., at W. 4th St.; 212-924-3558

This fabulously decorated flatiron-shaped bar brings in a wonderfully diverse clientele. This is where you can find tourists and PATH train commuters mingling with theater queens who belt out songs at the upstairs piano bar. Best of all, older men feel comfortable here, because the bar crosses generations and color lines. It also has one of the best happy hours in town (serving mini-quiches, pigs in a blanket, and some kind of mystery tuna spread on Ritz crackers.) The dance floor downstairs is a hidden gem, including Sundays Disco Classic Tea Dance with Lady Bunny, Johnny Dynells Manster, and Sabor Latino.

4. Julius

159 W. 10th St., at Waverly Pl.; 877-746-0528

Covered with photos and vibrating with history, this bar  which opened in 1864  is a living, breathing gay museum. This spring, the New York State Board for Historic Preservation nominated Julius to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service, in part because of a 1966 civil-disobedience action by the Mattachine Society  a sip in by four gay men who declared they were gay and demanded a drink. But Julius isnt stuck in the past. Its had a rebirth of energy, in no small part due to Mattachine  a once-a-month dorky, fun, free-spirited dance bash DJed by John Cameron Mitchell, Angela DiCarlo, and Amber Martin on every third Thursday of the month. It also has food, including an unexpectedly delicious burger and fries.

5. Eagle Bar NYC

554 W. 28th St., nr. Eleventh Ave.; 646-473-1866

This multi-floored leather bar has seen its neighborhood transform over the past two years. Now its surrounded by luxury condos and the wealthy people who live there. But still, the harness-wearing, boot-licking locale remains intact, keeping kink alive and making its existence even more subversive, even though the bar is more friendly and inclusive than you might think. Nights include Foot Fetish Monday, Hanky Tuesday, and the popular Sunday Beer Blast.

6. Hardware

697 Tenth Ave., nr. 48th St.; 212-924-9885

Spend one night out in Hells Kitchen and you will not believe how many gay professionals in their 30s there are, all drinking and talking about their PR jobs. So its difficult to choose among the gay bars because there are so many of them. But Hardware may be the best in the area. Its roomy, but on the smaller side, and it has an unforced, fun, friendly vibe. This is the place you take your female friends first before you part ways because it works as a central location to the myriad of options in this area: Flaming Saddles, Atlas Social Club, Boxers, Fairytail, Dive Bar Lounge, Bottoms Up, the Ritz, Therapy, and Barrage, to name a few. It also has a wickedly fun liquid brunch on Sundays, musical Mondays (this is musical-theater ground zero), and drag nights hosted by Shequida (Thursdays).
Huawei has officially launched Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the P8 Lite. The release of the firmware update was announced on the company's Polish fan page.

Weighing at 1.5GB, the software update for the P8 Lite will come first to those with unlocked smartphones as carrier ones will have to wait for the firmware approval and testing.

In any case, the update is already seeding in Germany and Poland, but it should be available in the rest of Europe very soon.

Follow the source link below if you want to get to the nitty-gritty and download the firmware update and apply it manually.

Source | Via
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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
don receptionist, Nicola Thorp, was sent home on her first day at finance company PwC after refusing to wear high heels.Arriving at the office in December last year, she was told she had to wear shoes with a two to four inch heel. After complaining that the male employees were not required to do the same, she was told to go home.Thorp said she would have struggled to work the full day in heels and asked to wear flats instead.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 couldn't, she told BBC Radio London.I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just won't be able to do that in heels.When she was asked if the same would be expected of a male employee, she was laughed at, she claimed.She has since created an online petition calling for a change in law so employers cannot force women to wear high heels at work. The petition has garnered more than 10,000 signatures. If it reaches 100,000, the UK government will have to respond.I was a bit scared about speaking up about it in case there was a negative backlash, she said. But I realised I needed to put a voice to this as it is a much bigger issue.The BBC also reached out to PwC about the incident.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, a spokesperson said.This outsourced supplier was reception firm Portico. Both companies are now in discussions about improving the prescribed dress policies.Simon Pratt, managing director of Portico, told the BBC that it was common practice within the service sector to have appearance guidelines.These policies ensure customer-facing staff are consistently well presented and positively represent a client's brand and image.However, he added that Portico had taken all comments on board and was now reviewing its dress guidelines.I don't hold anything against the company, Thorp said. They are acting within their rights as employers to have a formal dress code, and as it stands, part of that for a woman is to wear high heels.I think dress codes should reflect society and nowadays women can be smart and formal and wear flat shoes, she added.
advent of the email undoubtedly changed the face of work forever  increasing global connectivity and freeing up employees to work where they wish  but has it gone too far?



France seems to think so  the nation is planning to push through a Bill which will regulate work emails and give employees a legal right to disconnect.



While global media guffawed at the proposal when it was first announced, President Francois Holland says his party is serious about the problem of permanent connection.



Under the legislation, companies of more than 50 people will be obliged to draw up a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours  normally in the evening and at the weekend  when staff are not supposed to send or answer emails.



"All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," Socialist MP Benoit Hamon told the BBC.



"Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work, she continued. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash - like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails - they colonise the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down."



While the vast majority have applauded the governments good intentions, critics have claimed the Bill could actually disadvantage organizations that are competing in an international marketplace.



"I think [the right to disconnect] is wonderful for improving the human condition but totally inapplicable," one software writer told the news outlet.



"In my company we compete with Indian, Chinese, American developers. We need to talk to people around the world late into the night. Our competitors don't have the same restrictions.



"If we obeyed this law we would just be shooting ourselves in the foot."


Logistics giant Toll Holdings has scored a win from the Fair Work Commission as a former employee has been ordered to pay the company $18,000 after falsifying drug test results to support an unfair dismissal claim.



The commissioner ordered the former Toll Holdings employee, who was fired in June 2015 after a positive drug test, to pay the company $18,000 in compensation, AFR reported.



The employee had tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine in his system after a workplace drug test, yet before his dismissal the worker told Toll urine sample tested by a doctor had showed up negative to the drugs.



But at subsequent proceedings to hear the worker's unfair dismissal claim, the doctor gave evidence that the test had been "manipulated", and the original test showed the former employee had tested positive.



The worker walked out on the hearing while the doctor was giving evidence and did not return to the commission, AFR reported.



Commission deputy president Val Gostencnik said the worker "knowingly and deliberately" submitted a false drug test and gave false evidence under oath.



Gostencnik said the former Toll Holdings employee's "whole case was founded upon a lie designed by him even before his employment was terminated".



"The [former employee] told his employer that he had obtained a test of a urine sample supplied by him to his medical practitioner, and that the test showed a negative result," he said. "This was a lie.



"This lie carried over into the unfair dismissal remedy application lodged by the [employee] in which he alleged that his dismissal was unfair because his employer did not take into account the clean result that he had obtained from an independent source prior to the dismissal, Gostencnik said.



This assertion was false and the [former employee] knew it to be false.



"The lie was so central to the unfair dismissal remedy application that when it was uncovered as a lie during the proceedings, the case crumbled and the [former employee], to use the colloquial, 'did a runner', leaving his representative to clean up the mess and discontinue the proceeding."



The Commissioner said it should have been obvious to the sacked employee that his application for unfair dismissal was unlikely to succeed.



"As the application was based almost exclusively on the lie and the fabricated drug test result, I also consider that making the application in those circumstances, was vexatious," he said.



"It seems to me that the application made was seriously and unfairly burdensome upon [Toll]. It was required to respond to an application that was wholly based on a lie and fabricated evidence."



The former employee has been ordered to reimburse Toll for the companys legal expenses and cost of submitting expert witnesses, to a sum of $18,618.






(Fortune) The son-in-law of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is reportedly closing a hedge fund he started that bet on a Greek economic revival but lost around 90% of its value. Two sources told the New York Times that Eaglevale Partners, the hedge fund firm founded by Marc Mezvinsky, husband to Clintons daughter Chelsea, will be closing the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity fund. The fund had raised around $25 million to buy stocks from Greek banks and government debt..

To read this article:
The majority state-owned airline announced yesterday that its comparable first-quarter operating result improved by 13 million euros from the previous year to -15.3 million euros as its turnover crept up by 2.9 per cent to 536.4 million euros.

Finnair has reported yet another loss-making first quarter despite recording a year-on-year improvement in its performance for already the sixth quarter in succession.

Pekka Vauramo, the chief executive of Finnair, reminds in a press release that the first three months of the year have traditionally been difficult for the airline.

We achieved a substantial improvement in our result for the first quarter, which is typically the weakest season of the year. While the result still shows a loss, the past quarter was the sixth consecutive quarter in which we achieved a year-on-year improvement in performance, he states.

Related posts: - Finnair is heading in the right direction (11 February, 2016)

He also expresses his delight with the fact that the profitability of the airline improved considerably on routes operated with the newly-unveiled Airbus A350s.

We had three new A350 aircraft in operation for practically the entire first quarter. While their roll-out has involved some of the typical growing pains, our overall experiences of the new aircraft type are unreservedly positive. We have seen substantial improvement in profitability on the routes we have operated with the new aircraft, highlights Vauramo.

Finnair pointed out that ancillary and retail revenue accounted for approximately 30 million euros of its first-quarter turnover after jumping by 17 per cent from the previous year to 11.87 euros per passenger.

Ancillary and retail revenue continued to see strong growth, says Vauramo.

Finnair also announced that it has maintained its outlook for the fiscal year and expects its turnover to continue to grow and its capacity, measured in available seat kilometres, to increase by roughly 8 per cent, despite the uncertainties associated with the demand for cargo and passenger traffic. It expects low jet fuel prices to be one of the major factors contributing to its financial performance in 2016.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Markku Ulander  Lehtikuva
The relationship never flows only in one direction. Compared to the increasing Chinese attention toward Finland, Finland has already begun to pay much more attention to China. Over the past ten years, China has transformed itself from the worlds factory into one of its biggest markets. As is the case with companies from all western countries, Finnish companies also want to gain a foothold in the market. However, entering the Chinese market can be challenging.

Chinese outbound investments have been increasing consistently for years. The main target countries have traditionally been and continue to be the USA, UK and Germany. However, Finland has received more attention in recent years. A few examples of Chinese investments into Finland include Huawei, ZTE, the Bank of China and the recent Kaidi biofuel factory in Kemi. Chinese high-technology companies are investing in Finland more each year.

I have lived in Nordic countries for around eight years. When I visited Finland for the first time, there were not many Chinese people living in the country. The biggest group was Chinese students, and the Chinese business community was very small. In most circumstances, the term Chinese companies referred to Chinese restaurants or Made in China factories far, far away. This is not the case anymore.

Many Finnish companies feel it is very costly and risky to enter the Chinese market. Due to the huge cultural differences between Finland and China, it can be difficult for a Finnish company to enter China and win over Chinese customers alone. Moreover, Finnish companies also have difficulties finding a good, strongly committed local partner.

The key to answering this problem is right outside  the Chinese companies in Finland.

Most Chinese firms located in Finland are strong ones, who have the capability and commitment to be the bridge between Finnish firms and the Chinese market. Chinese companies have two main reasons for investing outside of China: expanding their business into Europe and acquiring new technologies. Finland is a great choice for both reasons. Finland is a fairly small market but a great test place for market entry. This makes Finland a bridgehead for Chinese firms who are planning to enter the European market. More importantly, Finnish innovations are very attractive to those who are interested in new technologies or upgrading their own business in the Chinese market. Chinese companies are trying very actively to invest and cooperate with Finnish technology firms. This brings great opportunities to Finnish firms who would like to enter the Chinese market.

There are several ways for Finnish companies to go about achieving these goals. Growth capital from China is one viable option. In this case, Chinese investors not only provide financial support to Finnish startups but also valuable advice and other resources for entering the Chinese market, in order to maximize the value of their investment.

A strategic alliance or licensing agreement with Chinese companies in Finland is another option. Since the Chinese partner is located in Finland, the cost of communication is less. The Finns can concentrate on their core business, leaving the marketing and sales burden to their Chinese partners. After all, it is much easier for the Chinese to deal with marketing and sales in China. Faster expansion is also an advantage. With the help of their Chinese partners, Finnish startups can expand their business into China in their early days and really become global-born companies.

Finns should get excited about the opportunity to go global with the help of Chinese companies. By doing things smartly, Finnish growth companies can create valuable business cooperation with the Chinese, and the number of Chinese investments landing in Finland would multiply along the way.

www.helsinkibusinesshub.fi

Xin Wang is a Business Advisor at Helsinki Business Hub. Xin is a Chinese citizen who has found a home in Helsinki and believes that embracing Chinese cooperation is a great way to accelerate the growth of Finnish companies.
Mikko Karna (Centre) revealed in an interview on YLE Radio 1 on Thursday that the party is willing to consider certain measures in an attempt to reduce the personal imports of alcoholic beverages. The ruling parties have thereby edged closer to an agreement on the reform of the Alcohol Act, he added.

The Centre Party has suggested it is willing to consider raising the alcohol limit in beers sold in grocery shops as an apparent concession to the other members of the three-party coalition, the Finns Party and the National Coalition Party.

Both the Finns Party and the National Coalition have demanded that strong beers  and even wines  be added to the shelves of grocery shops, whereas the Centre has previously opposed such measures.

Matti Vanhanen, the chairperson of the Centre Parliamentary Group, similarly stated in an interview with Ilta-Sanomat that the party is willing to re-consider its position in regards to strong beers. We're weighing up bringing strong beers to grocery shops specifically because it could reduce [alcohol] imports from Estonia, he explained to the tabloid daily.

Antti Hakkanen (NCP) estimated in an interview on YLE Radio 1 that the time is right to introduce the culture of quality-oriented microbreweries to grocery shops particularly due to the booming interest in microbreweries. No dramatic risks are associated with people being able to get their hands on slightly stronger beers in an S-market, he said.

He also reminded that the reform does not have to be implemented overnight and that the de-regulation of beer sales would not necessarily pave the way for the introduction of wines to the shelves of grocery shops.

Sari Essayah, the chairperson of the Christian Democratic Party, opposes the proposal. She calls attention to an estimate released by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) that de-regulating the sales of strong beers alone would result in a 6 per cent increase in alcohol consumption and a direct increase of 150 alcohol-related deaths per year.

THL has based its estimate on the effects of previous changes in the availability of alcoholic beverages.

Essayah also argues that the addition of strong beers to the shelves of grocery shops would undermine the objective of the Government to encourage alcohol consumption in restaurants instead of private homes.

Beers with an alcohol content of over 4.7 per cent are currently retailed exclusively by Alko.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Markku Ulander  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Raymond Smith brought up his siblings after his mum died

A dad-of-three who got involved in drug dealing after falling into debt felt like a "hamster on a wheel", a court has heard.

Raymond Smith (28) also began paying off his drug debtors with counterfeit cash.

On February 18 last gardai searched a house in Lucan and found 2,658 worth of cannabis as well as 3,220 and digital weighing scales. There were also 1,060 worth of false 20 notes.

The defendant was a trained concrete pattern imprinter, his barrister Jennifer Jackson told Blanchardstown District Court.

He had a very good work history and had brought up his younger siblings after the death of his mother.

Social services became aware of the situation when he was 22 and by that stage he felt like "a hamster on a wheel", Ms Jackson said.

"He was trying his best to keep his head above water and he felt the only way to keep up with the debt was to sell on small amounts of drugs to his friends." Ms Jackson added that Smith was at the "lower end of the ladder".

Pressure

"He came under severe pressure to pay people and would add the false notes to bolster the payments to keep them off his back," Ms Jackson added.

Smith was now "run off his feet" with work at his own company and his references showed he was a "trustworthy, polite young man".

Judge David McHugh asked Ms Jackson where Smith had got the forged notes.

"He bought them off somebody," she replied.

"This experience has nipped it in the bud, he's never looked back, he's paying his taxes - could you deal with the case in any way other than a custodial sentence?" Ms Jackson asked.

Judge McHugh said Smith had been "deep into drug taking and he was also dealing in drugs".

"He had all the paraphernalia for that," the judge added.

Judge David McHugh said Smith could avoid a six-month jail sentence by carrying out 240 hours of community service. He adjourned the case to June for a community service suitability report.

The accused, of Lally Road, Ballyfermot pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale or supply at Tor An Ri Court, Balgaddy, Lucan.
NAMA is "scouring" its portfolio to find possible social housing units at the request of the new minister Simon Coveney.

The agency's chairman Frank Daly and chief executive Brendan McDonagh have been quizzed by TDs from the Dail's housing and homelessness committee about what they can do to help solve the current crisis.

"We had a meeting yesterday with the Minister for Housing [Mr Coveney] which was very useful. He has encouraged us to look again at our portfolio to see whether we can find more for social housing.

"We have said we will do that and we are confident that we can come up with several hundred additional units which we will offer to the local authorities as soon as we possibly can."

Nama has committed to providing 20,000 residential units by 2020. Mr Daly said that Nama has previously offered local authorities 6,700 units for social housing but said they have been asked for just 2,500 of these.

Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd pointed out that in a number of cases local authorities which declined the most units are those that have the greatest demand, including the councils in Dublin.

He said it "makes no sense" and asked why it was happening.

Mr McDonagh said that one of the biggest issues was rules limiting the number of social housing units in any one area.

"The local authorities have an overall policy of approximately 20pc social housing and they generally do not want to go above that," he added.

"That's not acceptable," Mr O'Dowd replied.

Forget

"I agree with the Deputy," Mr McDonagh said. He said Nama asks their debtors to hold units back while waiting for an answer from local authorities. He said when they are turned down the properties are "snapped up in 24 hours" in the private rental sector.

Sinn Fein's Eoin O Broin, a former councillor in South Dublin County Council, said that "people seem to forget" the constraints put on local authorities by central government.

He gave the example of 591 units Nama offered to his former council with almost 500 of them in one location.
A son of gangland feud murder victim Eddie Hutch Snr is among up to 20 prisoners seeking to benefit from the striking down of the laws governing the courts' powers to activate suspended sentences.

The proceedings by Alan Hutch (33), who is detained in the Medical Unit of Mountjoy Prison, were among almost 20 separate cases which came before the High Court yesterday.

All of the cases have been adjourned to various dates in the next law term - for reasons including that several are awaiting the outcome of another prisoner's case, on which judgment has been reserved by Mr Justice Paul McDermott.

Emergency

Alan Hutch's case was among five new cases initiated after Mr Justice Michael Moriarty made formal declarations that Section 99.9 and 99.10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as amended, are unconstitutional.

Those subsections govern the courts' powers to activate suspended sentences.

It is understood emergency laws to deal with the consequences of the court's declarations are in the final stages of drafting and may be ready to be put before the Oireachtas within two weeks.

The five cases, and another initiated yesterday, bring the number of cases involved since Mr Justice Moriarty delivered his judgment on April 19 to almost 20.

It was indicated to Mr Justice Seamus Noonan that the State disputes that several of the applicants are entitled to any benefit from the Section 99 decisions.

When the case of Alan Hutch was mentioned, his counsel, James B Dwyer BL, said it is among those affected by the ruling. Conor Power SC, for the Governor of Mountjoy Prison, said his position was Mr Hutch was not detained on foot of an activated sentence and this case should go back to await Mr Justice McDermott's decision.

Counsel added he had a certificate for the prisoner's detention and handed that into court.

The judge said he was adjourning the case to May 25, when the next law term opens. He also adjourned the other cases to dates in the first and second weeks of the new term.

Hutch, who is the nephew of crime boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, was jailed for eight years in May 2013 after he threatened to kill three gardai, claiming he had a grenade. At the time he was also serving a four-year suspended sentence for a 2009 robbery and assaulting a garda.

Bite

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery on Drumcondra Road, Dublin, on August 27, 2012, and to assaulting a garda sergeant during the same incident. He attempted to bite the garda after being arrested for the robbery of another man.

He also pleaded guilty to car theft, dangerous driving and damaging a garda car during a high-speed chase around north Dublin on October 1, 2012, and admitted escaping from lawful custody at the Mater Hospital on the same day.

Hutch, with 48 previous convictions, was arrested a week after escaping from the hospital and later committed an armed robbery with a knife in Dublin city centre.

During his detention, he has been described as a model prisoner. In court documents, it was stated he has been detained in the medical Unit in Mountjoy for his own protection since February, when his father was shot dead.
Halloween is coming! Here's when to trick or treat in your town
Belgians viewing tributes at Place De La Bourse in Brussels to the victims of the March 22 terrorist attack at the city's airport, March 23, 2016.

BRUSSELS (JTA)-I was feeling nervous about coming to Brussels for seder with my family.

Making the 130-mile trip there from my home in Amsterdam meant taking my 5-month-old son on a train that last year saw an attempted jihadist attack, and into a city that is still reeling and on alert from the March 22 Islamist bombings that killed 32 people.

I wasn't worried about terrorism, though. Having experienced, by the time I turned 19, two intifadas and the Gulf War missile attacks in my native Israel, I was pretty much immune to terrorism's psychological effects.

No, I fretted over my family's violent and scary rendition of "Echad Mi Yodea"-the cumulative-verse Passover song that they enjoy hollering, building up to an ecstatic crescendo. By the 13th and final verse, about 35 of them are shrieking, red-faced and hoarse, while pounding fists and cutlery on the table like some prison riot scene.

I have grown immune to this tradition's psychological effects, too, and on occasion had even used it to test the mental composure of unsuspecting dates. But I feared it would all be too much for little baby Ilai.

Yet as I waited for all hell to break loose last week, I saw my worries were unfounded. My family's "Echad Mi Yodea" this year was a shadow of its former self in what I suddenly realized was a vivid illustration of the absence of relatives from my age group who, like many Belgian Jews, have left their native country because of its anti-Semitism problem. With each passing year, there were fewer of us around the seder table.

My Belgian relatives have said goodbye to nine young seder rioters over the past 15 years. Six enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces and made aliyah. Two immigrated to the United States and one moved to London.

I came to Brussels this year because this seder was the sendoff for a second cousin and his wife, a physician and an architect, who are moving to Florida. His sister and her Belgian Jewish husband already live there.

"This is my last seder as a European," cousin Mark (not his real name) told me over the phone. We spoke in Hebrew, a language learned by all my Belgian relatives my age at the insistence of aunts and uncles who were born to Holocaust survivors and who always regarded aliyah as a contingency plan in case things went south in Belgium.

"I want you to be there to send me off from slavery to freedom," Mark said.

He feared for the future of his own two children in a country where Jewish schools are under heavy military guard and where Jewish students are being forced out of public schools because of anti-Semitic bullying.

"Things are bad here and I want a better future for my children," he told me.

I asked Joel Rubinfeld, the founder of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism and a former president of the CCOJB umbrella of group of French-speaking Belgian Jewish communities, whether my family was unusual when it came to its emigration agenda.

"I'm afraid not," he said. "There is the beginning of an expedited emigration process. Our only statistical view on it is through aliyah, which tells a very partial story in a community with highly educated members who can settle anywhere in Europe and have little trouble getting visas to the U.S., Canada and Australia."

In 2014, Rubinfeld warned Belgian Jewry was seeing an "exodus" because of anti-Semitism.

Last year, 287 Jews immigrated to Israel from Belgium, which has a Jewish population of about 40,000. It was the highest figure recorded in a decade. From 2010 to 2015, an average of 234 Belgian Jews made aliyah annually-a 56 percent increase over the annual average of 133 new arrivals from Belgium in 2005-2009, according to Israeli government data.

Unlike French Jews, who tend to speak only one native language, Belgian Jews speak two and often three languages fluently. This could mean Belgian Jews have an easier time than their French counterparts immigrating to destinations that are not Israel.

Linda, Mark's sister, moved to London and had two kids there with an Israel-born husband. She wants to leave Britain for Florida because she doesn't feel safe in the United Kingdom either.

"Europe is doomed. The bad guys won," she said. "I'm not going to raise my children in fear just to make a point."

Her father is a French-born lawyer who was raised Catholic by his mother, a Holocaust survivor, before reconnecting to his Jewish roots. He told me his feeling of personal safety in Brussels was irreversibly shattered when robbers invaded his home a few years ago, tied up him and his wife, and beat him before robbing the couple.

"We may have been singled out by the robbers because we're Jewish, but at this point, does it matter? It completely changes how you feel just walking down the street," he said. He and his wife are preparing to join their two children in Florida.

Catching up with other relatives between seder songs, I found myself chatting in Hebrew to Sylvia, an aunt whose three children are living in Israel with their spouses. It took a while before I realized that the last time we spoke Hebrew, she was limited to basic sentences like "I have a yellow pencil."

Unbeknownst to me, she and her husband have been attending ulpan, Hebrew-language school, preparing to join their children in Israel. They bought a penthouse apartment in Tel Aviv years ago.

Even before the eruption 15 years ago of anti-Semitic Islamism in Europe, Sylvia and her husband said they would leave Belgium if ever the National Front, the far-right party in neighboring France, would come to power.

Another uncle, I learned during the seder, had taken up Israeli citizenship last year like two of his four children, who are currently serving in the Israeli army, but is still living in Belgium.

"It hardly matters if I do it now or in a few years when we actually move to Israel, so I figured, why not?" he explained.

But I recalled the very different attitude of his late mother, my great-aunt and matriarch of my family's Belgian branch. A Polish-born, steel-willed woman who survived the Holocaust in hiding in Belgium, she was always proud of her adopted country, where she and her husband survived and later prospered.

Though she raised her three children to be very pro-Israel, she enrolled the first two in a public school and strongly encouraged all of them to stay in Belgium, where she mastered impeccable French and integrated seamlessly.

I asked her daughter, the one preparing to follow her two children to Florida, why she doesn't share her late mother's attachment to Belgium.

"My mother and her generation felt gratitude to Belgium after coming from Poland, where even before the Holocaust there were limits to a Jew's social advancement," said my aunt, a physician. "Belgium was her America. It welcomed her with open arms. We have had a different experience here."
(JTA)-"Rabin in his Own Words," which opened last Friday in New York, Los Angeles and South Florida, is more than a tribute to the two-time Israeli prime minister tragically gunned down in 1995. The aptly named cinematic autobiography, which uses archival footage going back to the statesman's childhood, is entirely narrated by Yitzhak Rabin himself.

Filmmaker Erez Laufer, 53, designed it that way because, he tells JTA, "I got tired of hearing people analyzing him, people talking about him, both from admirers and people who didn't. For me, the message of the film is you can kill someone, but his voice lives on."

Laufer, for the record, is squarely in the pro-Rabin camp. Speaking via FaceTime from his home in Tel Aviv-ironically just a block from Rabin Square-Laufer explains that he grew up near the Kadoorie Agricultural High School, the iconic institution in northern Israel where Rabin graduated.

"I always had, it's very hard for me to find the word"-he pauses to think of an appropriate English translation-a "fascination or [been a] political supporter of his vision," Laufer said.

From start to finish, the film took only a year, as Laufer wanted to screen it in Israel by November 2015, the 20th anniversary of Rabin's assassination.

It was rushed, but quality did not suffer in the process. The film eloquently captures the two sides of Rabin-the fierce warrior and the dedicated peacenik who fought for a two-state solution.

Rabin was born in Jerusalem in 1922. His father, who came to Israel from Ukraine via the United States, died when he was young. He was raised by his strict mother, Rose, from Belarus, who was a highly regarded labor leader. In 1941, Rabin joined the Palmach, the commando unit of the Haganah, the prestate defense force, and helped the British invade Lebanon during World War II. He then fought in the Israeli War of Independence in 1948.

Rabin stayed in the military, was named chief of staff in 1964, and three years later led the Israel Defense Forces to victory in the Six-Day War. From there he served in a variety of jobs, including ambassador to the U.S., several Cabinet posts and two stints as prime minister.

What's interesting to watch is how contentious Israeli politics are, especially when it comes to a figure as polarizing as Rabin. The film shows demonstration footage of crowds calling Rabin a savior for his efforts to bring peace, along with protests deeming him a murderer because Palestinian violence erupted after one of his initiatives.

Rabin remained true to his beliefs.

"You don't make peace with friends," he said. "You make it with very unsavory enemies."

In new film, Yitzhak Rabin narrates his autobiography.

As early as 1973 he worked to return the Sinai to Egypt, something he said "brought us much closer to peace." A few years later Rabin urged returning the West Bank to Jordan. And he consistently spoke out against settlements in the administered territories, which he considered "a grave mistake [that] did nothing but undermine peace efforts."

He was an architect of the Israel-Jordan peace treaty and of course shared the Nobel Peace Prize for his participation in the Oslo Accords. It was the latter that precipitated his assassination by an Orthodox Jew who objected to the agreement.

"Rabin" is a complete and reasonably balanced account of an important life. The only thing it can't offer is what the Middle East might be like if he were alive today.
In January 2016, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Manpower Directorate report revealed that 36 Israeli soldiers died in 2015, marking the lowest single-year death toll the Israeli military has experienced in a decade. But although no major military operations took place in Israel last year, the fall season saw the start of a months-long (and ongoing) wave of Palestinian terror attacks that has so far claimed the lives of 34 people and injured 411 others since Sept. 13, 2015. The attacks began in the vicinity of the Temple Mount and eastern Jerusalem before spreading to Judea and Samaria as well as central Israel. To date, there have been 211 Palestinian stabbing attacks (including 66 attempted stabbings), 83 shootings, and 42 car-rammings.

Israel's annual memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism, Yom Hazikaron, was marked this year on May 10. JNS.org assembled the following list from Israeli Foreign Ministry data and media reports on each fatal attack.

Alexander Levlovich - Sept. 13, 2015

Alexander Levlovich, 64, was on his way home to the Armon Hanetziv neighborhood in Jerusalem after a family Rosh Hashanah dinner when his car was pelted with rocks by Palestinian youths. Levlovich suffered a heart attack, lost control of his car, and was seriously injured. He died shortly after being evacuated to a hospital.

Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin - Oct. 1, 2015

Rabbi Eitam Henkin and Naama Henkin were driving in their car with four of their children when a terrorist shot at their vehicle, killing both parents. The children, including a 9-month-old baby, suffered minor injuries. Eitam Henkin was a dual Israeli-American citizen.

Rabbis Aharon Banita-Bennett, Nehemia Lavi - Oct. 3, 2015

Rabbis Aharon Banita-Bennet and Nehemia Lavi were stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist near the Lion's Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Lavi was a father to seven children. Bennett's wife and 2-year-old son were also wounded in the attack.

Chaim Haviv, Alon Govberg, Richard Lakin - Oct. 13, 2015

Chaim Haviv, 78, and Alon Govberg, 51, were killed in an attack by two Palestinian terrorists on Egged bus number 78 in the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in southern Jerusalem. Richard Lakin, 76, a dual Israeli-American citizen, was also wounded and eventually died in the hospital on Oct. 27.

Yeshayahu Krishevsky - Oct. 13, 2015

Rabbi Yeshayahu Krishevsky, 59, was killed when a Palestinian terrorist rammed his vehicle into a bus stop on Malkhei Yisrael Street in Jerusalem, wounding several other pedestrians. The terrorist exited the car and assaulted the wounded Israelis, including Krishevsky, with an ax.

Omri Levy, Habtom Weldemicheal Zerhom - Oct. 18, 2015

IDF Sgt. Omri Levy, 19, and Eritrean refugee Habtom Weldemicheal Zerhom, 29, were killed in a terror attack at the Beersheba Central Bus Station. Levy was killed by the terrorist, but Zerhom was errantly shot by Israeli security officers, who mistakenly thought he was the terrorist because he fled the scene.

Avraham Asher Hasno - Oct. 20, 2015

Avraham Asher Hasno, 54, of Kiryat Arba, was run over and killed by a truck after Palestinians blocked the highway with burning tires and then pelted his car with stones, forcing him to exit his vehicle. He was survived by his wife, seven children, and nine grandchildren.

Benjamin Yakubovich - Nov. 8, 2015

Israeli Border Police officer Staff Sgt. Binyamin Yakobovitch, 19, of Kiryat Ata, was one of three policemen wounded in a car-ramming attack at the Halhoul junction on Nov. 4. Yakubovich died of his wounds in the hospital on Nov. 8.

Netanel Litman, Ya'akov Litman - Nov. 13, 2015

Kiryat Arba resident Netanel Litman, 18, and his father Rabbi Ya'akov Litman, 40, were killed in a shooting attack while driving on Route 60 near Otniel, south of Hebron, on their way to a pre-wedding celebration for Netanel Litman's sister. Netanel's mother, three sisters, and younger brother were also wounded in the attack.

Reuven Aviram, Aharon Yesayev - Nov. 19, 2015

Rabbi Aharon Yesayev, 32, of Holon, and Reuven Aviram, 51, of Ramle, were killed in a stabbing attack during afternoon prayers in the Panorama building, a commercial center in southern Tel Aviv. Yesayev was killed as he went upstairs to complete a minyan of 10 Jewish worshippers for afternoon prayers. He was survived by his wife and five children. Aviram was survived by his wife, son, and brother.

Yaakov Don, Ezra Schwartz, Shadi Arafa - Nov. 19, 2015

Yaakov Don, 49, Ezra Schwartz, 18, and Shadi Arafa, 24, were killed when a Palestinian terrorist opened fire at cars that were stuck in a traffic jam south of Jerusalem. Schwartz was an American yeshiva student spending his gap year between high school and college in Israel. Don was a teacher and the son of Holocaust survivors. Arafa was a Palestinian who worked as a sales representative for a Palestinian mobile phone network operator. Although Israeli authorities said Arafa was killed by the Palestinian terrorist, sources within the Palestinian Authority proceeded to claim that he was killed by IDF forces.

Hadar Buchris - Nov. 22, 2015

Hadar Buchris, 21, was waiting for a ride in Gush Etzion when she was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist in the head, heart area, and chest. She died from her injuries in the hospital. Buchris had returned from a post-army service trip to India just weeks before her death. She was planning to study Torah at the Zohar College for Women in Bat Ayin.

Ziv Mizrahi - Nov. 23, 2015

IDF Cpl. Ziv Mizrahi, 18, of Givat Ze'ev, was killed in a stabbing attack at a gas station on Route 443, the highway between Jerusalem and Modi'in. Mizrahi was at the gas station on an assignment to activate an observatory balloon. After he was involved in a light accident near the gas station and was pulled over to exchange information with the other driver, a Palestinian terrorist fatally stabbed him. Mizrahi was posthumously promoted to the rank of corporal.

Ofer Ben Ari, Rabbi Reuven (Eduardo) Birmajer - Dec. 23, 2015

Ofer Ben Ari, 46, of Jerusalem, and Rabbi Reuven (Eduardo) Birmajer, 45, of Kiryat Ye'arim/Telz Stone, were killed in a stabbing attack outside the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Argentinean Rabbi Reuven (Eduardo) Birmajer taught at the Aish Hatorah yeshiva in the Old City. Ben Ari, who was known for helping troubled teenagers by giving them free access to his music recording studio, was accidentally killed by a stray bullet fired by two Israeli Border Police officers who were trying to subdue terrorists.

Gennady Kaufman - Dec. 30, 2015

Gennady Kaufman, 41, a maintenance worker at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, was attacked by a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist while waiting for a ride home on Dec. 7. He eventually died in the hospital from his wounds on Dec. 30. He was survived by his wife and two children.

Alon Bakal, Shimon (Shimi) Ruimi, Amin Shaaban - Jan. 1, 2016

Alon Bakal, 26, of Karmiel, and Shimon (Shimi) Ruimi, 30, of Ofakim, were shot when an Arab-Israeli terrorist opened fire in the Simta Pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv. Bakal was the pub's manager, and Ruimi was a former member of the IDF's Golani Brigade and civilian IDF employee who was in the pub celebrating a friend's birthday. After the terrorist escaped the pub, he entered the car of Bedouin-Israeli taxi driver Amin Shaaban, 42, of Lod, whom he also killed. Shaaban was survived by 12 children, and his wife was pregnant with another at the time of his death.

Dafna Meir - Jan. 17, 2016

Dafna Meir, 38, of Otniel, was stabbed by a Palestinian terrorist as she was painting the front door of her home. Meir tried to fight off the attacker, protecting three of her six children, who were home at the time. Meir died at the scene. Before her death, Meir, a nurse who was studying Arabic, told her colleague Dr. Ahmed Nasser that Arabs and Jews "are neighbors and should speak the same language."

Shlomit Krigman - Jan. 25, 2016

Shlomit Krigman, 24, of Shadmot Mehola in the Jordan Valley, was killed when two terrorists armed with knives infiltrated the community of Beit Horo, stabbing her and another woman. Krigman died of her wounds the next day. Krigman had just completed her bachelor's degree in industrial design at Ariel University.

Hadar Cohen - Feb. 3, 2016

Israeli Border Police Cpl. Hadar Cohen, 19, of Or Yehuda, was killed when three terrorists attacked police officers at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Cohen, who had just been recruited into the Border Police, requested identification from two suspicious individuals, after which point they launched an attack. Cohen shot dead one of the two terrorists, likely saving a fellow police officer's life. A third terrorist who emerged at the scene then shot Cohen. She died of her wounds in the hospital.

Tuvia Yanai Weissman - Feb. 18, 2016

Off-duty IDF Staff Sgt. Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, of Ma'ale Mikhmas, was killed while trying to stop two teenage Palestinian terrorists from stabbing shoppers at the Rami Levy supermarket in the Sha'ar Binyamin Industrial Zone, southeast of Ramallah. He was survived by his widow Yael and the couple's baby daughter. Weissman was a dual Israeli-American citizen.

Eliav Gelman - Feb. 24, 2016

Richard Lakin

IDF Maj. (res.) Eliav Gelman, 30, of Karmei Tzur, was attacked by a knife-wielding Palestinian terrorist at the Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem. He was accidentally shot with a bullet fired by IDF forces, who were trying to neutralize the terrorist. Gelman, who took part in 2014's Operation Protective Edge, was survived by two young children, and his wife Rinat was pregnant with a third at the time.

Taylor Force - Mar 8, 2016

American tourist Taylor Force, 29, of Lubbock, Texas, was killed in a Palestinian terror attack near the Jaffa port in which 11 other people were stabbed. Force had attended the West Point Military Academy and was a graduate student in business school at Vanderbilt University. He was visiting Israel as part of a school-sponsored trip for an elective course on global entrepreneurship, exploring the Jewish state's rich environment for start-ups.
Grace Nelson, second from right, is flanked by ACCoRD co-founders Es Cohen, Bonnie Friedman and Barbara Chasnov.

Grace means beauty or charm of form, movement, expression; a sense of what is right and proper, decency; thoughtfulness toward others; and it is the perfect description of Grace Nelson, wife of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.

Recently, The ACCoRD Project invited her to speak at an afternoon tea hosted by Burt and Barbara Chasnov.

"Thank you, for heaven's sake, for what you are trying to do," Nelson said to the ACCoRD members, who hope to bring Americans back to civility, respect and dignity.

Truly a Southern steel magnolia (she hails from Jacksonville, which she called Southern Georgia), Nelson spoke eloquently and honestly about her life as a senator's wife, her travels to Africa, the atmosphere in Congress today as compared to when she and Bill first went to Washington, and Bill's experiences in outer space. As she talked, it was immediately realized by all in attendance that there were no labels, no partisanship-just people talking with people.

After sharing how she and Bill met, (it was 45 years ago, she was dating his best friend who invited her to come hear Bill as he was giving the keynote speech to a group of Key Club high school students. Shortly after that, they began dating and have been together ever since) Nelson spoke about the project that consumed her heart-helping the women of Rwanda. In 1985, Nelson, with a group of senator's wives, traveled to Africa during a long famine and drought. She met many starving women and children-many who had no chance to live-and realized these could have been her children.

"We are every little girl's mother," she stated. The women returned home with a strong desire to build bridges and help these people. In only a few weeks, they raised $200,000 through walkathons and bake sales. Then she received a check for $100,000 in the mail from an anonymous donor. With the $300,000, they were able to provide food and supplies for the people.

After sharing a bit of history about the genocidal mass slaughter of Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda by members of the Hutu majority government, she wondered, how could this have happened? Studying Rwanda's history, she listed three things that helped bring about this tragedy:

 The people thought of themselves as Hutu and Tutsi, not as Rwandans.

 The government's approach was divide and conquer.

 Hatred was tolerated, not realizing what it leads to.

Nelson could see a similarity between America and Rwanda. "We kill with words, not machetes. It is a toxic environment."

Congress wasn't always like it is today. When Sen. Nelson first went to Washington, Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House. A gregarious fellow, O'Neill spoke his mind loudly and clearly, and no one was spared regardless of position. President Ronald Reagan wrote in his memoirs, they were friends "after 6 p.m." O'Neill in that same memoir when questioned by Reagan regarding a personal attack against the president that made the paper, explained "before 6 p.m. it's all politics."

Even though congressmen spoke their minds, there were still friendships among them all.

"Right relationships can solve our problems," Nelson said, noting that often it's a person's approach that causes division, hatred and disrespect.

Quoting Gandhi, Nelson encouraged the attendees to "be the change you want to see in the world."

When Bill was in space, Nelson said he was struck by the fact that as he looked at the Earth, he saw no borders. It wasn't like a map, where all the borders are drawn so that we can understand where each country is. However, there are no lines in the real world. "Could we ever think of ourselves without borders?" she asked.
WORCESTER, MA-Clark University announced that the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is curating a unique online Holocaust exhibit and teaching materials based on over 1,000 letters written between parents and their children who were separated during the Holocaust.

In the late 1930s, as anti-Semitism grew, many Jewish parents sent their children to other European countries to enhance their safety. When the war began and civilian mail between Axis and Allied countries ceased, one Swiss woman became the conduit for parents and children to transmit letters to each other. Elisabeth Luz received the letters, copied them, kept the originals and sent the copies on to the recipients, outmaneuvering the censors.

Copies of these letters are held at the Strassler Center at Clark University, which is in the process of scanning, sorting, transcribing and translating them. For the first time, the letters will be available for research and education on a website the Center is creating. The website will present the letters in a searchable format. In addition, letters by and about children in their adolescent and teenage years will be paired with curriculum for middle and high school students respectively. Students will read and learn from the letters of children who were their age-peers during the war.

"These letters open a window on conversations between Jewish parents and their children during the Nazi years. They provide vivid insights into the crises these families faced, and thus offer important historical materials for students today. These personal letters are a compelling way to teach aspects of the Holocaust because they relate how families dealt with the problems and pain they endured," said Deborah Dwork, Rose professor of Holocaust history and founding director of the Strassler Center. Dwork is writing a book about the letters as well.

Sarah Cushman, head of educational programming at the Strassler Center, will offer teachers early access to these letters during the Summer Holocaust Institute, to be held at the Center from July 25-29. Registration information also can be found at the Center's website: http://www2.clarku.edu/departments/holocaust/.

The Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University is the first and only institute of its kind. Since it was established in 1998, it has gained international standing as the sole program to train students for Ph.D. degrees in Holocaust history and genocide studies.

Founded in 1887 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Clark University is a liberal arts-based research university addressing social and human imperatives on a global scale. Clark's faculty and students work across boundaries to develop solutions to complex challenges in the natural sciences, psychology, geography, management, urban education, Holocaust and genocide studies, environmental studies, and international development and social change. The Clark educational experience embodies the University's motto: Challenge Convention. Change Our World. www.clarku.edu.
Jewish Pavilion Program Director Gloria Green saw a need among the residents of assisted living facilities she visits regularly.

I have an Independent Living facility on South OBT with four Jewish residents who ache for anything Jewish, she told the Heritage.

After wracking her brain about a program for them, she came up with the idea of a Koffee and Kibbitz session. The kibbitzing would be over articles in the most recent Heritage issue.

The first session is set up for Friday, May 20, at Plantation Oaks, 9309 South Orange Blossom Trail.

To get the ball rolling, Green plans to get copies of the Heritage from the Rosen JCC to give the four residents. But, the thought occurred to her that some residents at other senior facilities she visits would also enjoy reading the Heritage weekly. She wondered if some of the Heritage subscribers would be interested in donating a subscription to a few of these senior facilities or individual residents.

What do you think, subscribers? If you would like to donate a subscription to either an assisted living facility or an individual senior resident who would like to keep up with news in the Jewish community please contact the Heritage at 407-834-8787.
Israels security forces have captured a veteran Hamas terrorist who has been providing a treasure trove of information on Hamas terror tunnel network, the Shin Bet (Israels Security Agency) stated.

The Shin Bets statement came the same day as Israel announced it had exposed a second terror tunnel running from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

The terrorist, Mohammed Atownah, 29, was arrested at the beginning of April as he infiltrated into Israel from Gaza armed with two knives, on his way to murder IDF soldiers and Israeli civilians.

Atownah has been a member of Hamas Izzadin- Al-Qasam Brigades for the past 10 years and has participated in a wide array of actions against the IDF, including the placing of explosive devices and involvement in Hamas terror tunnel efforts.

He provided the Shin Bet investigators with diverse information on Hamas tunnel networklocations, routes, its modus operandi, the use of homes and institutions as a mode of concealment and the construction materials used to build them.

He shared that the tunnels, intended to be used by Hamas elite Nukhbah forces in an upcoming attack on Israel, are fitted with places to rest, eating spaces and showers.

He also provided names of key Hamas commanders involved in the tunnel program and in its military.

Atownah also gave away information on Hamas arm caches. Atownah stored a massive amount of military equipment in his house, which was meant to be distributed and used in an attack on Israel.

The Shin Bet also revealed that Atownah is one of several Hamas terrorists in custody, who together have provided Israels security forces with much-needed intelligence on Hamas activities and tunnel network.

Atownah will be indicted in a Beersheva court in the coming days.
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2016 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando on Aug. 17.

For almost 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award, said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage.

Last years recipient was Berny Raff. Former recipients have included Wolf Kahn (1999), Robert Petree (2007), and Loren London (2014).

According to Gaeser, Each recipient chose their own path, but made considerable and long-lasting contributions to the Jewish community. Nominees for the 2016 award are individuals who do not look for recognition, but perform tikun olanrepairing the worldout of internal motivation.

Nominations should be emailed to news@orlandoheritage.com with the subject Human Service Award, or typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and sent by mail to Heritage Florida Jewish News, Human Service Award, 207 OBrien Road, Suite 101, Fern Park, FL 32730. Included should be the name and phone number of the nominee, a documented list of his or her accomplishments, and the name and phone number of the nominator(s).

The Heritage is accepting nominations until Friday, June 3.
Valencia professor Paul Chapman will be one of the presenters at the 2016 Teachers Institute. He will be leading a discussion about pluralism in the modern world.

In May 1994 the Florida legislature passed a statute requiring all schools to provide specific Holocaust education to their students. The statute states that it should be taught "in a manner that leads to an investigation of human behavior, an understanding of the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping, and an examination of what it means to be a responsible and respectful person, for the purposes of encouraging tolerance of diversity in a pluralistic society and for nurturing and protecting democratic values and institutions."

Implementing this mandate has proved challenging. Tight school district budgets, an increasing emphasis on standardized tests, and other pressing concerns have made it difficult for classroom teachers to adequately fulfill this requirement.

The Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Florida helps address this need with a comprehensive Teachers Institute on Holocaust Studies each June. This year's institute will be held Monday through Friday, June 13 through 17, at the Holocaust Center in Maitland. The registration is $100, which covers the cost of materials and lunches for all four days. An early registration fee of $75. is offered until June 1; some scholarships and subsidies are available.

The goal of this Institute is to train educators to teach the Holocaust responsibly, and to use this history to teach about prejudice, racism and bigotry. Even experienced teachers benefit from the institute's information and material that provide both in-depth knowledge of Holocaust history and mastery of the most effective teaching strategies. Educators are able to share their knowledge with their students, and can use their expanded information to inspire students to think about the power of each person to create a more just community.

This year, the Institute's 21st year, attendees will have access to information, strategies and resources tailored for elementary, middle and high school curricula. Emphasis will be on providing educators with professional development so they can increase both their skill and their confidence in teaching about how the Holocaust developed over time in the heart of a civilized and cultured society, and the lessons that must be learned in order to make "never again" a continuing reality.

A particular focus will be on the state mandate and on strategies that not only meet the legislature's goals, but also help teachers to make sure that their Holocaust lessons will fulfill the requirements Florida's revised education standards and fit into the broadest range of course offerings.

Written evaluations from teachers attending the institute in the past show a very high level of satisfaction with their experience. Not only has it provided them with practical training and teaching strategies, it has also inspired new ways to have a lasting impact upon their students.
The Holocaust Center's series, I Remember: Eyewitnesses to the Holocaust, will continue on Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. The event will feature survivor Harry Lowenstein speaking at the Center in Maitland.

Lowenstein was born in Fuerstnau, Germany, in 1931, the younger of two children. At age 9, Harry, along with 20 family members, went to live in the Riga ghetto, where they were crowded into a two-room apartment. A year and a half later, he was taken to the concentration camp of Riga-Kaiser Walt. While they were there, Lowenstein 's father fell ill and was taken back to the Riga ghetto and then to Treblinka. Lowenstein, his mother and older sister were transferred to the Stutthoff concentration camp in Poland.

He was liberated on March 9, 1945 by the Red Army. He was 14 years old and the only survivor out of 21 family members.

Lowenstein often shares his first-person account of his life before and after the Nazis took control of the government. His story is particularly engaging to students, who find it difficult to picture what it might have been like to survive the brutality he faced in his childhood.

After the war ended, Lowenstein made his way to Paris. In early 1949 he was able to come to the United States. He arrived nearly penniless, but had relatives here who helped him begin his new life here.

Lowenstein and his wife, Carol, are founding members of Congregation Shalom Aleichem in Kissimmee, where they ran Goold's Department Store for many years.
NEW YORK (JTA)Democrats are more than four times as likely as Republicans to say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than with Israel, according to a survey published Thursday, and sympathy for the Palestinians among Americans overall is growing.

Sympathy for the Palestinians is up most sharply among the youngest American adults, growing threefold over the last decade, the new survey by the Pew Research Center shows. Some 27 percent of millennials say are more sympathetic to the Palestinians than Israel; in 2006 the figure was 9 percent. The share of those favoring Israel has held steady at about 43 percent.

On Israel, the survey also shows one of the widest-ever gaps between the two main political parties.

While self-identified Democrats are more likely to favor Israel over the Palestinians (43 percent to 29 percent), they are far less sympathetic toward Israel than either Republicans or Independents. Among self-identified Republicans, 75 percent say they sympathize more with Israel compared to 7 percent sympathizing more for the Palestinians. Among Independents, the sympathies are 52 percent with Israel and 19 percent with the Palestinians.

The new data is part of a telephone survey of more than 4,000 American adults between April 4 and 24 in which Pew surveyors asked respondents a range of questions about how they view the U.S. role in the world.

Among Americans overall, 54 percent say they sympathize more with Israel and 19 percent sympathize more with the Palestinians, with 13 percent saying with neither side and 3 percent with both. Compared to a similar survey conducted in July 2014, sympathy for Israel held steady while sympathy for the Palestinians jumped by one-third, to 19 percent today from 14 percent in the earlier survey.

Among liberal Democrats, the least pro-Israel grouping, more respondents say they are sympathetic toward the Palestinians than toward Israel: 40 percent vs. 33 percent. While the pro-Israel figure has held steady, the pro-Palestinian figure is the largest it has been in 15 years, suggesting that sympathy for the Palestinians is growing among these Americans who previously did not favor one side over the other.

Self-identified conservative Democrats and moderate Democrats favor Israel by a margin of 53 percent for Israel to 19 percent for the Palestinians.

Supporters of Hillary Clinton are more likely to favor Israel over the Palestinians (47 percent to 27 percent), while backers of Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent of Vermont, are more likely to favor the Palestinians (39 percent to 33 percent for Israel).

On the Republican side, conservative Republicans favor Israel somewhat more than moderate and liberal Republicans do (79 percent vs. 65 percent).

The survey shows older Americans overwhelmingly favoring Israel over the Palestinians by a 4-to-1 margin, and Gen-Xers sympathizing with Israel more by roughly a 3-to-1 margin.

There is more optimism among Americans that a two-state solution can be achieved by the Israelis and Palestinians than skepticism that it cannot: 50 percent compared to 42 percent. On this, Americans younger than 30 are more optimistic (60 percent believe in the two-state solution) than Americans over 65 (49 percent say its impossible). About 61 percent of Democrats say they believe a Palestinian state can coexist peacefully beside Israel, compared to 38 percent of Republicans.

Overall, Americans are more convinced now than they were in August 2014, in the wake of the last Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, that a two-state solution is possible.

On other issues in the survey, 57 percent of respondents say they want America to deal with its own problems and let other countries sort out their problems on their own, while 37 percent say America should help other countries. Respondents identified ISIS as the top global threat facing America, followed by cyberattacks from other countries, the rapid spread of infectious diseases and refugees from the Middle East.

The largest partisan gap on the threat matrix was on the issue of climate change: 77 percent of Democrats identified it as a leading global threat compared to 26 percent of Republicans.

There is a sharp partisan divide on the question of how best to defeat global terrorism: 70 percent of Republicans say overwhelming military force is the best approach, while 65 percent of Democrats say that just creates more hatred and terrorism.
Anne Franks copy of Grimms Fairy Tales sells for $50,000

(JTA)A Boston museum has acquired Anne Franks personal copy of Grimms Fairy Tales for $50,000 at auction.

The Museum of World War II was the highest bidder last Friday for the 1925 German edition of the book, which features the names of Anne and her sister, Margot, on the title page.

The book, which sold at Swann Auction Galleries in New York City, is accompanied by a 1977 letter from the girls father, Otto, giving it provenance.

It marked the first time in more than 20 years that something signed by Anne Frank has been up for sale, the museum said in a statement.

The book was left behind in the Franks Amsterdam apartment when the family went into hiding in the attic of another building in the Dutch capital. Eventually it was sold after World War II to a Dutch couple by a secondhand bookstore in Amsterdam.

In 1977, the couples children discovered the signature and wrote to Otto Frank to let him know of the discovery. In the letter, included with the purchase of the book, he expressed how deeply the discovery of the book affected him, as well as his wish for the family to keep the book for their own daughter, in memory of Anne Frank, according to the auction house.

Anne Frank is the human symbol of the Holocaust, said Kenneth Rendell, the founder and executive director of the Museum of World War II. Her diary is read by students everywhere throughout the world. Handwriting is the most direct connection we can have with someone, and seeing this book which belonged to her, with her handwriting on the title page, is as direct a personal connection we can have with her.

The book and letter are set to become a centerpiece of the museums collection of more than 7,500 World War II artifacts and a focus of its educational programs, according to the statement.

State Dept.: PA envoy likening Israeli soldiers to Nazis deeply concerning

WASHINGTON (JTA)The Palestinian Authority U.N. envoys likening of Israeli soldiers confronting stone throwers to Nazis putting down the Warsaw uprising was deeply concerning, the State Department spokesman said.

Mark Toner responded May 5 to a JTA query about an April 27 news conference by Riyadh Mansour.

Obviously we would condemn any anti-Semitic remarks very forcefully, Toner said, noting that he had not yet examined Mansours comments and was basing his assessment on remarks read to him by a JTA reporter. Its deeply concerning.

Mansour, who called the news conference to discuss U.N. actions on Israel and the Palestinians, attacked Israeli diplomats for their terming stone throwers terrorists.

All colonizers, all occupiers, including those who suppressed the Warsaw uprising, labeled those who were resisting them as terrorists, he said.

Steve Gutow named senior political adviser for J Street arm

(JTA)Rabbi Steve Gutow, a longtime Jewish communal activist who guided the Jewish Council for Public Affairs for a decade, will serve as a senior political adviser for the political arm of J Street.

In his newly announced position for the 2016 election cycle, Gutow will work with congressional candidates endorsed by JStreetPAC to guide them in outreach to the Jewish community and other like-minded constituencies, J Street announced May 5. He also will help the candidates tap into the backing that exists within the Jewish community for diplomacy-first policies toward the Middle East.

This will be an extremely important election cycle in determining the future direction of American foreign policy, Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Streets president and founder, said in a statement. Bringing decades of experience with progressive politics and the Jewish community, Rabbi Gutow will help JStreetPAC to demonstrate that support for American diplomatic leadership isnt just good policyits also a major political asset.

Gutow served as president and CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs from 2005 to 2015, during which time his work focused on fostering alliances among the organized Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. He was appointed recently to the Presidents Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Gutow has been chosen as one of the 50 most influential American rabbis three times by Newsweek and the 50 most influential American Jews by The Forward. He was a Democratic Party activist and the founding executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.

JStreetPAC has endorsed over 100 candidates for the House and Senate in the November elections and said it plans to raise over $3 million for them.

Mexican lawmaker uses expletive to describe president of Jewish community

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA)A Mexican congressman reportedly was captured on tape calling the head of the countrys Jewish umbrella organization a f---ing Jew.

The slur by Jorge Romero against Salomon Achar, the president of the Jewish Community Central Committee and a human rights activist, was recorded by the Grupo Imagen Multimedia radio news service, The Excelsior newspaper reported late last week.

Since 2003, our country has a law to prevent and stop discrimination, including anti-Semitism, the central committee said in a statement, which was distributed by the Israelite Tribune. Its unacceptable that in a pluralistic and democratic society, people keep on using demeaning expressions like the one congressman Romero did.

Romero has denied using the slur during the confirmation of Achar as an honorary adviser to the Human Rights Commission in Mexicos Congress, whose session rules Romeros PAN and other political parties attempted to change at the last minute. The commissions president, Jimeno Huanosta, confirmed the expletive used to describe Achar, according to the Excelsior.

In 2014, Romero was nicknamed El Fuhrer among senior officials at the Benito Juarez province, where he was a delegate, the news portal Libre en el Sur reported. Fuhrer, which means leader in German, is most associated with Adolf Hitler.

With a Jewish population of some 50,000, Mexico is Latin Americas third largest Jewish community after Argentina and Brazil.

Londons first Muslim mayor attends Yom Hashoah commemoration as initial public act

(JTA)The newly elected mayor of London, the first Muslim to hold the position, attended a community program commemorating the Holocaust as his first official public engagement.

Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party joined thousands of members of the Jewish community and its supporters for the Yom Hashoah program on Sunday in a local stadium three days after his election.

The Yom HaShoah UK event included 120 sponsoring religious and political organizations under a banner of Remember Together: We are one. Some 5,000 people reportedly attended the community event, the Jewish News website reported.

Speakers included Britains chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, and Israels ambassador to Britain, Mark Regev.

Khan said he was honored that my first public engagement will be such a poignant one, where I will meet and hear from Jewish survivors and refugees who went through unimaginable horrors in the Holocaust, the Guardian reported.

Khan defeated the Conservative candidate, Zac Goldsmith, winning 44 percent of the vote to 35 percent for his opponent, according to The Guardian.

A self-described moderate Muslim, Khanthe son of a Pakistan-born bus driveris the citys first Labour mayor in eight years. Accusations of anti-Semitism have roiled his party in recent months.

Khan, who campaigned hard in the Jewish community and has said he will be the Muslim mayor who will be tough on extremism, according to the Standard, has criticized his party for not doing enough to fight anti-Semitism.

Canadian Jewish groups mount effort to help Alberta fire evacuees

(JTA)Jewish groups in Canadas Alberta province have joined the efforts to support victims of the wildfires that have been raging in the area for a week and forced the evacuation of an entire city.

The Calgary Jewish Federation announced it will donate $25,000 from its emergency relief fund to assist the citizens of Fort McMurray, who were forced to flee their homes on May 4 after the Alberta provincial government declared a state of emergency. Some 90,000 people in the city were displaced in the wake of the fires, which have been burning and spreading for the past week.

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton also opened a PayPal account in order to collect donations for those affected by the fires.

Veahavta, a Toronto-based social service organization whose programs include international crisis response, also launched a Fort McMurray relief fund last week, according to the Canadian Jewish News. The group said it would funnel the donations to established groups in the area such as the Red Cross and United Way in keeping with its mandate, the Jewish News reported.

The Israeli humanitarian aid charity IsraAid told the Jewish News that it already had a volunteer on the ground in Alberta to assess evacuees needs and would be sending a team to Canada for the first time.

Local synagogues also reportedly are raising money to help assist the evacuees.

The fire continued to burn on Sunday, a week after it started near Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta a week earlier. The blaze reportedly is moving southeast toward the nearby province of Saskatchewan to an area that is less populated.

Fort McMurray is the center of Canadas oil sands region, which manufactures about 1 million barrels of crude oil a day. The production was taken offline as of Friday, according to Reuters.

The Alberta government estimated on Saturday night that the fire had so far consumed 500,000 acres, an area the size of Mexico City.

Insurance losses could go higher than $7 billion, Reuters reported.

Chabad rabbi building 1st mikvah in West Africa in Nigeria

(JTA)An Israeli firm and a Chabad rabbi working in Nigeria are preparing to open the first known Jewish ritual bath, or mikvah, in West Africa.

Yisroel Ozen, a prominent Chabad emissary based in Nigeria, is supervising the construction of a mikvah for women in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on land purchased for him by an Israeli firm operating in the country, the Israeli daily Maariv reported last week.

Ozen said the mikvah is the only known one in West Africa, a claim that is also stated on a Hebrew- and English-language sign announcing the project in front of the construction site.

Ozen said Nigeria has a thriving Israeli community that nonetheless lacks basic amenities. He said that from the point of view of the halacha, Jewish religious law, a community cannot exist without a mikvah because its the key to the continuity of the Jewish people. Some 1,200 Israelis live in Nigeria, according to the Maariv article.

Jewish law states that women should immerse themselves in the mikvah before marriage and at least once a month in a ceremony meant to purify them after menstruation.

Another mikvah is planned at a later stage for men, Maariv reported, and may be broadened after the opening this year to include a community center.

EMI Systems LTD, a security firm that is based in Abuja and is owned by the Israel-born businessman Eyal Mesika, ordered materials from Europe and the United States to build the mikvah. The article did not specify the cost of construction.

Sheldon Adelson backs Donald Trump, says hes good for Israel

(JTA)Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson said he will back Donald Trump now that Trump has locked up the Republican Partys presidential nomination.

I think that Donald Trump will be good for Israel, Adelson, who is Jewish, told the BBC on May 5, appearing at a gala in New York for the World Values Network.

What was unclear is if Adelson, one of the worlds richest men and a major pro-Israel giver, meant he would help fund Trumps campaign, and to what extent. Trump, a real estate magnate and reality TV star, is himself a billionaire and has mostly-self funded throughout the primaries. However, he has said he would reach out to major donors now that he is heading into a heated general election likely to cost billions of dollars.

Adelson, who donated more than $90 million to federal political races in 2012, is among the Republican Partys most heavily courted contributors.

Pressed if his thinking that Trump would be good for Israel meant Trump would receive his support, Adelson said, I plan to, yes I do. Yes, Im a Republican, hes a Republican. Hes our nominee. He was not asked whether that meant financial support.

In a departure from the 2012 race, when he spent heavily to boost Newt Gingrichs unsuccessful primary bid and then gave generously to nominee Mitt Romney, Adelson had until now remained neutral in the 2016 nomination battle. This time around, Adelson did not want to handicap the eventual nominee. The perception among Republicans in 2012 was that the money Romney spent to defeat Gingrich early in the campaign had hobbled his campaign against President Barack Obamas reelection.

Adelson nonetheless had hinted that he backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and the Israeli newspaper he owns, Israel Hayom, provided Rubio with favorable coverage. Adelsons wife, Miriam, favored Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Both candidates ultimately dropped out.

The question of whether Trump would be good for Israel surfaced in December, when Trump, addressing the Republican Jewish Coalitionanother major Adelson beneficiarysaid he would not pander to the group or ask for its members money. He also said he would remain neutral on Israeli-Palestinian talks and would not before being elected say whether he would recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. He has since walked back those remarks, most prominently in an appearance in March at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Adelson, quoted separately at the same event by The New York Times, suggested that supporting Trump was the right thing to do because he had bested his rivals.

Whoever the nominee would turn out to be, any one of the 17he was one of the 17. He won fair and square, said Adelson.

Polish town names square after Knesset deputy speakers family

(JTA)The deputy speaker of the Knesset, Hilik Bar, attended a ceremony in a Polish town that renamed its main square for his great-grandfather, who was murdered in the Holocaust.

The renaming ceremony held recently in Skulsk, 120 miles west of Warsaw, was in memory of Yitzhak Kotowski, a head of the local Jewish community who was murdered in the Majdanek concentration camp in 1942, the Israeli daily Maariv reported Wednesday.

The main square of Skulsk was renamed in the memory of Bars great-grandfather to the Kotowski Family Square a ceremony attended by Bar, a member of Israels Labor party, and 17 members of his family.

Bar, the head of the Israel-Poland Friendship parliamentary caucus, was received at a municipality building last year on land that he said his family had owned; it was built over their home, which had been destroyed.

The ceremony took place ahead of Yom Hashoah, the Jewish day of mourning for the victims of the Holocaust, which this year fell on May 5.

Before Kotowski, who is Bars maternal great-grandfather, was sent to Majdanek, his wife, Gitel, was killed with a group of Jews in a nearby forest by Nazi soldiers, who wiped out the local Jewish community of several hundred.

Bar said local authorities at first resisted his efforts to commemorate the Holocaust in town, but came around with help from Polish lawmakers and Jonny Daniels, founder of the From the Depths commemoration organization.

Bar said the ceremony on April 28 was a moving experience, in which several of his family members cried and sang Israels national anthem, Hatikvah.

Jewish philanthropist buys Argentine oil company for $900M

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (JTA)Argentine Jewish businessman and philanthropist Marcelo Marcos Mindlin purchased a 67.2 percent stake of Petrobras Argentina for $892 million.

Mindlin, 52, is the head of Pampa Energia, the largest fully integrated electricity company in Argentina. Following the purchase of the stake of the company, which is part of the Brazilian state-run oil giant Petrobras, Mindlin will control a network of 100 fuel stations nationwide and will became one of the main players in the oil and gas market in Argentina.

Mindlin is member of the board of the Jewish Tzedaka Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic institutions in Argentina. Through its diverse programs, the foundation provides direct assistance to 11,000 people in Argentina.

He was the president of the foundation between 2005 and 2007, a position that is now held by his brother Damian, who also is part of Pampa Energia company.

Dallas Holocaust Museum gets Monuments Men menorah

(JTA)A seven-branch menorah that a World War II veteran brought to the United States from Europe as a souvenir was donated to the Dallas Holocaust Museum.

The museum and education center made the announcement May 4 about the menorah and another item it received from the Monuments Men Foundation.

In having only seven branches, it resembles the one lit by kohanim (priests) at the Holy Temple during biblical times in Jerusalem. It is a symbol of the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

The Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art was established in 2007 to honor the hundreds of Monuments Men who saved more than 5 million artworks stolen by the Nazis. A 2009 book by foundation founder Robert Edsel about the Monuments Men was made into a 2014 movie starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett.

The other artifact donated to the museum is a handmade album containing 46 tipped-in photographs showing daily work activities of the Monuments Men at the Offenbach Archival Depot, one of three principal collecting points for cultural treasures and works of art looted by the Nazis during World War II.

The Monuments Men Foundation is pleased that after some 70 years, this menorah will now have a permanent and appropriate home at one of our citys most important cultural institutions, the Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance, Edsel, who is chairman of the foundation, said in a statement.

Now, after a very long journey, it will serve future generations as an ever present reminder of the horrors inflicted on humanity by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

The foundation continues to receive leads through its toll free tip line(866) WWII-ARTabout works of art and other cultural items, including objects that veterans may have brought home as souvenirs.

Spanish archaeologists unearth rare 13th-century portrait of a Jew

(JTA)Archaeologists in Spain identified a rare depiction of a Jewish man on a piece of pottery from the 13th century.

The fragment was unearthed in Teruel, 140 miles east of Madrid, in 2004 but catalogued only in 2011 and identified this year by the archaeologist Antonio Hernandez Pardos, who wrote about in this months edition of the Sefarad periodical on the history of Sephardic Jews, the Spanish news agency EFE reported last week.

Unusual for pottery decorations from that period, which mostly featured geometric shapes or depiction of flowers, the Teruel fragment shows the lower part of the face of a bearded man wearing a frilled gown that Pardos was able to trace back to Jewish iconography from the period.

The find is particularly noteworthy because researchers have very few depictions of Spanish Jews from the period, with the majority of illustrations being miniature sketches on prayer books, including ones used by Christians.

Tens of thousands Jews were expelled from Spain in the 15th century, when it was still a major hub for world Jewry, as part of the Spanish Inquisition campaign of persecution led by the Catholic Church and the Spanish royal house.

The research by Pardos suggests the fragment was part of a work performed by the earliest known potters of Teruel, who were possibly commissioned by a Jewish resident of the area.

Pardos said that the archaeological museum of Teruel contains many more boxes of unstudied ruins that were unearthed along with the fragment in rescue excavations that closely predated a massive plan of urban renovation in Teruel in the early 2000s.

There may be many more surprises in those boxes, he told EFE.
It is generally admitted that anti-Semitism is on the increase, that it has been greatly exacerbated by the war, and that humane and enlightened people are not immune to it. It does not take violent forms (English people are almost invariably gentle and law-abiding), but it is ill-natured enough, and in favourable circumstances it could have political results.

So wrote George Orwell in a 1945 article for the Contemporary Jewish Record journal titled, Anti-Semitism in Britain. In that short essay, Orwell related a series of personal encounters that demonstrated how seemingly rational people afflicted with the neurosis of anti-Semitism suddenly discovered an ability to believe stories that could not possibly be true. For example, one of the dark rumors that spread around wartime London held that a ghastly incident on the Underground in 1942, in which around 100 people fleeing a German bombing raid were crushed during a panic-stricken dash into the entrance of a train station, was the responsibility of the Jews.

As Orwell pointed out, such beliefs were anchored in emotions that, in the context of the fight against Hitler, found fewer opportunities for public expression, but were articulated privately. And significantly, many of those who confessed to anti-Semitic tendencies belonged to the left politically. There was, Orwell wrote, the young intellectual, Communist or near-Communist: No, I do not like Jews. Ive never made any secret of that. I cant stick them. Mind you, Im not anti-Semitic, of course. There was also the very eminent figure in the Labour PartyI wont name him, but he is one of the most respected people in England[who] said to me quite violently: We never asked these people to come to this country. If they choose to come here, let them take the consequences.

Sadly, not much has changed in the Labour Party of today; if anything, the habit of denying that anti-Semitism exists in the first place, or that its manifestations are somehow understandable in the light of the ongoing Palestinian conflict with Israel, has gotten more pronounced and much worse. Thats why, in examining the latest scandal involving Labour and the Jews, which resulted in the suspension from the party of one of its own members of parliament, Naz Shah, I found myself wondering whether there is a direct link between what Orwell witnessed at the wars end and what we are seeing now.

Shahs suspension followed the discovery of a post on her Facebook page two years ago in which she endorsed a proposal to relocate Israel into United States (sic) dreamed up by two pro-Palestinian activists. Responding to their claim that doing so would save American taxpayers $3 billion in annual aid to Israel, Shah gushed, Problem solved and save u bank charges for  3BILLION you transfer yearly! (Note well that 3 billion American dollars became 3 billion British pounds in her translation.)

In isolation, Shahs offense would not have been the huge story that it has become in the British press. It has been correctly presented, however, as belonging to a systemic pattern of anti-Semitism within a political party that has governed the U.K. for long periods of the postwar era. Just a day after Shahs suspension, fellow Labour member Ken Livingstone (the former mayor of London) was also suspended by the party for telling BBC Radio in Shahs defense, When Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing 6 million Jews.

Since the far-left MP Jeremy Corbyn was elected to the party leadership last year, it seems that some new revelation of Labour anti-Semitism, in all cases packaged as detestation of Israels sovereign existence, is perpetually out there lurking. Before Shah, there was the furore over the new president of the National Union of Students, a stalwart Corbyn supporter, describing one university as a Zionist outpost in British higher education and ranting about Zionist-led media outlets. Before that, there was the resignation of the head of Oxford Universitys Labour Club in order to highlight the fact that many of his ostensible comrades have some kind of problem with Jews. All within the last few weeks!

But rather than admitting that there is a problem, Corbyns Labour Party is actively denying it down instead. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the Naz Shah episode was that she had the courage to apologizeand that her apology was then censored by the unreconstructed Stalinists in the partys publicity department. As the U.K. newspaper The Jewish News reported, Shahs admission that there is a genuine problem on the left when it comes to spreading toxic conspiracy theories, group-blame and stereotyping about Jews was deliberately removed from the final version of her statement.

As long as Corbyn, a committed anti-Zionist, remains leader of the Labour Party, the problem of anti-Semitism will continue to fester. (Some observers might be tempted to quip that the biggest problem of all is Corbyns unelectability, but lets not tempt fate.) As the political commentator Alan Johnson argued in Prospect magazine, Its hard to imagine a worse person to sort all this out than Jeremy Corbyn, who in 2012 said to the Palestinian radical Islamist Raed Saleh: I look forward to giving you tea on the terrace because you deserve it! Many people pointed out that Salah incites violent anti-Semitism... But the problem is not that Corbyn agrees with what these people say. It is that he agrees with who they are: the resistance to empire. The apologies and the contortions begin there.

Here we come back to George Orwell. Toward the end of the essay I quoted above, Orwell suggested that anti-Semitism was part of the wider sin of nationalism that affects even its victims. His exact words were, Many Zionist Jews seem to me to be merely anti-Semites turned upside-down, just as many Indians and Negroes display the normal colour prejudices in an inverted form. Yet since 1945, British society has changed dramatically. Those who occupy the nationalist end of its political spectrumparticularly those urging withdrawal from the European Uniondo not, by and large, succumb to the temptations of Jew-baiting, though there are exceptions.

Rather, it is those who describe themselves as internationalists who are the most vulnerable. This is the direct consequence of a doctrinaire anti-imperialism that begins and ends with solidarity with one (and only one) peoplethe Palestiniansand which regards Jews as an integral component of the superstructure of white, colonial privilege.

Consider, therefore, the following irony. By being cast as the ultimate insiders, controlling everything from the global economy to U.S. foreign policy, Jews end up as the ultimate outsiders in the public imaginationtoo suspect to benefit even from the niceties of the Britains generally anti-racist political culture, especially once their emotional, familial, or other ties with the State of Israel are brought into play.

This is a problem that goes much deeper than just Jeremy Corbyn, and is certainly not restricted to the U.K. Thats why, even if his observations on the causes of anti-Semitism were sometimes wide of the mark, Orwell was absolutely correct when he counseled that antisemitism should be investigatedand I will not say by antisemites, but at any rate by people who know that they are not immune to that kind of emotion. (My emphasis.)

For the time being, the Labour Partys apparatchiks have made clear that this is the last thing they wanthence their rewrite of Naz Shahs apology. Even so, and whether they like it or not, the investigation recommended by Orwell at the midpoint of the last century has now begun.

Ben Cohen, senior editor of TheTower.org & The Tower Magazine, writes a weekly column for JNS.org on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. He is the author of Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism (Edition Critic, 2014).
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin are at opposite poles. One comes from a long tradition of idealism, speaking about great values, and usually ending up a long way from what was promised. The other represents the essence of realpolitik, or if I can take it, its mine.

Woodrow Wilson was an extremist of the American type, fighting a war to end all wars, demanding open diplomacy, and working to create a world parliament and free nations from their colonial masters.

Wilson couldnt convince his own Congress to join the League of Nations. He collapsed and ceased to function as chief executive while on a campaign to convince the nation to follow his lead. Historians write that he broke because he would not bend to accept deals he could have achieved with his American opponents.

Countries he helped to free from the Hapsburg Empire were enslaved even more cruelly by the Nazis, and later fell into the Soviet Empire.

James Monroe was an earlier American idealist. He created a doctrine that his piddling new country could not hope to enforce, opposing European colonial aspirations in the Western Hemisphere.

The Gettysburg address was Lincolns contribution to American idealism, but it also was part of a presidency that was at least as much pragmatic as idealistic. Freeing the slaves was a lower priority of Lincoln than keeping the Union together and winning the war. His early death keeps us from seeing how he would have maneuvered between human rights for the freed slaves, the political power of Southern States after Reconstruction, and Jim Crow.

John Kennedy was another president where early death gets in the way of seeing how he would juggle his idealized opposition to Communism against the realities of Vietnam. His complicity in the murder of Ngo Dinh Diem defines a limit to the ideals he claimed to pursue.

Its hard to find a worse example of misplaced idealism than George W. Bushs announced expectations for Iraq. As in the cases of Kennedy, Wilson, Lincoln, and even Monroe, one can find elements of pragmatism in the actions of GW Bush. One can also wonder how important was his aspiration for democracy in what he intended for Iraq. Yet speaking about democracy in the context of Iraq is enough to put GWB with the most extreme of the dreamers. His detachment from reality was stark, in seeking to apply western democratic ideals (that were a long time in coming from the predominantly Christian tradition) in an Islamic context where individual freedom is as far as imaginable from both doctrine and practice.

Barack Obama presents a confusing combination of idealism and pragmatism. His Cairo speech compares with the wildest and most dangerous of GW Bush, demanding freedom, equality, and democracy on the wrong side of the world. His speech about Syrian use of chemical weapons provided a caricature of idealism and pragmatism, i.e., damning Syrias use of poison gas, and saying that he wouldnt do anything about it. His repeated aversion to American boots on the ground can be read as an expressing the ideal of isolationism, or the pragmatism of a national leader whose people are tired of international involvement and failure.

If Vladimir Putin expresses anything like the idealism of American leaders, the message has been lost in translation. Realpolitik is prominent in his annexation of Crimea, hardly masked involvement with Russian Ukrainians to gain autonomy/independence/affiliation with Russia at the expense of Ukraine, and his standing against the U.S., Western Europe, and much of the Middle East in supporting the Assad regime in Syria, with a clear interest in maintaining bases for the Russian navy and air force.

Idealism is not absent from Russian culture. Several Russian-speaking friends express shrill criticism of the government they experienced, as well as the imperfections of Israel, but they also absorbed ideals of how a government should operate. Their belief in Communism appears to have been as strong as their ridicule of how it was implemented.

The contrast between expressed ideals and pragmatic practice may appear in every regime. We can wonder if we should express anything more than whimsy at the idealistic blather of American politicians, without taking account of the casualties that came along with what was actually done. And if we should appreciate what may be the greater honesty of Putins pursuit of his own interests and his view of national interest, while also reckoning with the dead, maimed, and homeless created as a result.

As is attributed to Alfred E. NeumanWhat, Me Worry?

Comments welcome

Ira Sharkansky (Emeritus), Department of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, irashark@gmai.com.
(JTA)They survived unimaginable horrors, yet went on to live productive lives, despite the haunting memories, the profound loss and physical scars from years of deprivation. Now many Holocaust survivors need our assistance so they may live their twilight years with dignity in their homes and communities.

Most Holocaust survivors are in their 80s and 90s, and an astounding 25 percent of them in the United States live in poverty, struggling to meet basic needs for food, housing, health care and transportation. Many live alone and have no extended family who survived the Holocaust. Spouses who used to provide support are no longer living. Each year, just as we lose many survivors, we also see others coming forward, identifying themselves as Holocaust survivors in desperate need of assistance.

As survivors age, they face challenges different from other older adults. Some suffer from delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder, making it more difficult to live in assisted living or nursing homes, where institutional life, with its uniformed staff, regimented schedules and rules can lead to flashbacks of concentration camps or other periods of confinement. Unfamiliar showers can be a frightening reminder of gas chambers.

Multiple studies have found that survivors are more likely than others to experience anxiety and nightmares.

We cannot let this happen.

For many survivors, social services are their lifeline. Home care, the most expensive of these vital services, costs an average of $20 per hour per survivor. With approximately 125,000 Holocaust survivors in the U.S., it will take extensive resources to serve even the neediest of survivors. The German government, through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, provides the majority of the funding for social services, but survivor needs are exceeding available funding.

Local communities have taken note, and were inspired by the philanthropic campaigns that are working to educate the community. Together weve raised more than $30 million over the past couple years.

Additionally, companies have stepped up to help. Were grateful for the partnership between the Alpha Omega dental fraternity and Henry Schein Cares to offer Holocaust survivors pro bono dental care, and the generosity of the Starkey Hearing Foundation to provide hearing aids free of charge to survivors in need.

Finally, government leaders are recognizing the specialized assistance that aging Holocaust survivors require. Vice President Joe Biden announced the White Houses initiative to help Holocaust survivors in 2013. This resulted in numerous avenues for assistance.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day earlier this year, President Barack Obama declared, Governments have an obligation to care for the survivors of the Shoah because no one who endured that horror should have to scrape by in their golden years.

In March, Jewish federations distributed $2.8 million in federal grants to assist programs for Holocaust survivors. Coupled with the required matching funds, the disbursement results in $4.5 million for survivor services. For the first time, the federal government will soon issue guidance to states on serving Holocaust survivors, as required by the Older Americans Act Reauthorization that cleared Congress in April.

A few states and local governments are providing assistance as well. In Florida, for example, local Jewish federations worked together to obtain a special state appropriation for Holocaust survivor services, while in New York City last year, the mayor and City Council approved a budget including $1.5 million to assist Holocaust survivors living in poverty. More states and local governments should follow these leads in pursuing special appropriations.

Perhaps more impactful is that we encourage Germany to continue to fulfill its moral responsibility by providing additional financial resources for social services for Holocaust survivors, as recently called for in bipartisan resolutions in the U.S. House and Senate.

Both of our families managed to overcome great odds and survive the Holocaust, fortunate to be able to re-establish their lives in America and prosper. Not every Holocaust survivor was so lucky. They are the survivors who need our help. We must volunteer our time, visit Holocaust survivors and engage them in their Jewish communities.

These survivors are our heroes, our teachers and our mentors. One day they will no longer be with us. Until that day comes, we are obligated to ensure that they live their remaining days and years in dignity.

When future generations ask if the Jewish community took care of its Holocaust survivors, let that answer be a resounding yes.

Mark Wilf is president and co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings and a board member of JTAs parent organization, 70 Faces Media. Todd Morgan is the founder and chairman of Bel Air Investment Advisors. Together they co-chair the Jewish Federations of North Americas Fund for Holocaust Survivors.
MONTREAL (JTA)Yom Hashoah arrived this year on the eve of two historic anniversaries: the 80th anniversary of the coming into effect of the Nuremberg Race Laws, which served as prologue and precursor to the Holocaust, and the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials, which served as the foundation for the development of contemporary international human rights and humanitarian law.

This historic juncture was the theme of an international legal symposium on May 3 at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. It was followed the next day by the March of the Living, when some 10,000 young people and survivors marched in remembrance and solidarity from the gates of Auschwitz to Birkenau.

We must ask ourselves two questions: What have we learned? What must we do?

The responsibility of remembrance

The first lesson is the importance of zachor, of remembrance of the victims defamed, demonized and dehumanized as prologue and justification for genocide, so that the mass murder of 6 million Jews, and of millions of non-Jews, is not a matter of abstract statistics.

The responsibility to prevent state-sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide

The Holocaust succeeded not only because of the industry of deathof which the crematoria are a cruel reminderbut because of the Nazis state-sanctioned ideology of hate. Genocide starts with teaching contempt for, and demonizing, the other. As the Canadian Supreme Court affirmed, The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambersit began with words.

The responsibility to combat old/new anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism is the oldest and most enduring of hatreds and the most lethal. If the Holocaust is a metaphor for radical evil, anti-Semitism is a metaphor for radical hatred.

From 1941 to 1944, 1.3 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, of whom 1.1 million were Jews, recalling Elie Wiesels dictum that the Holocaust was a war against the Jews in which not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.

Jews died at Auschwitz because of anti-Semitism, but anti-Semitism did not die there. As we have learned only too tragically, while it begins with Jews, it doesnt end with Jews.

The responsibility to repudiate false witness

The Holocaust denial movementthe cutting edge of anti-Semitism old and newis not just an assault on Jewish memory in its accusation that the Holocaust is a hoax and the Jews fabricated the hoax. Rather it constitutes an international criminal conspiracy to cover up the worst crimes in history. The Holocaust denial movement whitewashes the crimes of the Nazis, as it excoriates the crimes of the Jews. And now, in an inversion of the Holocaust, Israel is labeled as a genocidal state and the Jews are smeared as the new Nazis.

The danger of indifference and inaction in the face of mass atrocity

Holocaust crimes resulted not only from state-sanctioned incitement to hatred and genocide, but from crimes of indifference and from conspiracies of silencefrom the international community as bystander. What makes the Holocaust, and more recently the Rwandan genocide, so unspeakable, is not only the horror of the genocide itself but that these genocides were preventable.

Indifference and inaction always means coming down on the side of the victimizer, never on the side of the victim. In the face of evil, indifference is acquiescence, if not complicity in evil itself.

The responsibility to bring war criminals to justice

If the last century was the age of atrocity, it was also the age of impunity. Few of the perpetratorsdespite the Nuremberg Trialswere brought to justice. Just as there must be no sanctuary for hate, no refuge for bigotry, there must be no base or sanctuary for these enemies of humankind. Impunity only emboldens and encourages the war criminals and war crimes.

The responsibility to speak truth to power

The Holocaust was made possible not only because of the bureaucratization of genocide, as described by Robert Lifton and personified by Adolf Eichmann, but because of the trahison des clercs, the complicity of the elites, including physicians, church leaders, judges, lawyers, engineers, architects and educators.

It is our responsibility, then, to speak truth to power, to hold power accountable to truth.

The responsibility to intervene

It is revealing, as Henry Friedlander pointed out in his work The Origins of Nazi Genocide, that the first group targeted for killing were the Jewish disabled.

It is our responsibility to give voice to the voiceless and to empower the powerless, be they the disabled, poor, elderly, women victimized by violence or vulnerable childrenthe most vulnerable of the vulnerable.

The responsibility of rescue

Remembrance and tribute must be paid to the rescuers, the Righteous Among the Nations, like Raoul Wallenberg, who demonstrated that one person with the compassion to care and the courage to act can confront evil, resist and transform history. Tragically, the man who saved so many was not himself saved by those who could have. We have a responsibility to help discover the fate of this great hero of the Holocaust, whom the United Nations called the greatest humanitarian of the 20th century. (The Raoul Wallenberg International Roundtable, to be held May 20-21 at Budapests Holocaust Memorial Center, will attempt to do just that.)

The responsibility to remember the survivors

We must always rememberand celebratethe survivors of the Holocaust, the true heroes of humanity. They witnessed and endured the worst of inhumanity, but somehow found, in the depths of their own humanity, the courage to go on, to rebuild their lives as they helped build our communities.

Together with them, we must rememberand pledgethat never again will we be indifferent to incitement and hate; never again will we be silent in the face of evil; never again will we indulge racism and anti-Semitism; never again will we ignore the plight of the vulnerable, and never again will we be indifferent in the face of mass atrocity and impunity.

We will speak upand actagainst racism, against hate, against anti-Semitism, against mass atrocity, against injustice, and against the crime of crimes whose name we should shudder to mention: genocide.

Irwin Cotler is professor of law [emeritus] at McGill University and founding chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights. A former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada and longtime member of Parliament, Cotler is co-chair with Alan Dershowitz of the forthcoming international legal symposium The Double Entendre of Nuremberg: The Nuremberg of Hate and the Nuremberg of Justice.
Have you ever bought a slice of pizza in the Ramot neighborhood of Jerusalem? Have you visited friends at the Hebrew University dormitories in the citys French Hill section? Or taken the Jerusalem light rail train to the Neve Yaakov stop? Guess whatyou just might be a Zionist war criminal!

Ramot, French Hill, and Neve Yaakov are decades-old Jewish neighborhoods that are physically indistinguishable from other sections of Israels capital city. Ramot (population: 70,000), French Hill (23,000), and Neve Yaakov (40,000) technically are situated beyond the old pre-1967 armistice line, but you couldnt tell that by looking around and I doubt even the local residents know. In some parts of Ramot, one part of a street is in pre-1967 Jerusalem and one part is in the post-1967 part. Theyre inseparable.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), however, wants the world to believe that these major, urban sections of Jerusalem are settlements. The PAs news media and government publications and school textbooks call them the illegal Ramot settlement and the illegal French Hill settlement. They say that all these areas are part of occupied east Jerusalem.

As PA Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abdel Qader told the Jerusalem Post a few years ago, There is no difference between a settlement in the West Bank and a so-called neighborhood in east Jerusalem. In both cases we are talking about territories that were occupied in the 1967 war.

PA officials dont know much about geography. Ramot is actually primarily in the western part of Jerusalem, while French Hill and Neve Yaakov are in the northern part of the city. But for the PA, the term east Jerusalem is not really a geographic designationits a political weapon. The PA claims that any part of Jerusalem which was occupied by Jordan prior to 1967 is intrinsically Arab and Muslim territory, and therefore any Jewish neighborhood built there is automatically illegal.

The term settlement, too, is a political weapon for Palestinian propagandists. They know that the word settlement conjures up images of wild-eyed Jewish militants plunking down trailers and stockades in some Arab field like thieves in the night. Of course theres nothing about Ramot or French Hill or Neve Yaakov that resembles a settlement. They consist of modern apartment buildings, schools, stores, and hospitals. Jerusalems buses run there just as they run throughout the rest of the city.

But the Palestinians know that when Americans or other foreigners realize that Ramot and the other areas are parts of a major urban center, it will be obviously how absurd it is to demand that they be dismantled. So the PA brands them settlements and hopes nobody finds out what they really are.

Meanwhile, another senior Palestinian official, Saeb Erekat, recently ratcheted up this PA war of words. According to the Jerusalem Post (April 14), Erekat announced that not only are all existing settlements illegal, but any Israeli construction beyond the pre-1967 armistice line constitutes a war crime. Erekat for many years was the PAs chief negotiator and currently serves as secretary-general of the PLO. (Although these days we hear mostly about the PA rather than the PLO, they are both chaired by Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO remains a major force in the Palestinian political world.)

If Erekat and his colleagues succeed in convincing international bodies (such as United Nations agencies) or governments (such as their European allies) to go along with the designation of any post-1967 construction as war crimes, then any Israeli political party which supports the right of Jews to live in Ramot, and any tourist who patronizes restaurants in French Hill, could be branded war criminals.

It should be noted that the Palestinians demonization of the Jewish areas of Jerusalem could have some rather ironic consequences. Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of Israelis and American Jews, from left to right, totally support the existence of neighborhoods such as Ramot and French Hill and Neve Yaakov. In other words, the Palestinians are yelling War criminal! not just at Likudniks, but at all Jews who want to safeguard the integrity of the holiest city in Judaism.

Even the left-wing J Street lobbys official platform states that it supports an agreement on the status of Jerusalem in which Jewish areas of Jerusalem are secured as the capital of Israel and Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem become the capital of the future Palestinian state. Since Ramot and French Hill and Neve Yaakov are obviously Jewish areas of Jerusalem, that means the PA must regard J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami as a Zionist war criminal.

See the problem? We Jews may argue furiously among ourselves about whether to make this concession or that, but unless we are prepared to surrender to every single Arab demandand even J Street says it would not do thatthen the Palestinians, in the end, will never be appeased; they will always see all of us as a bunch of Zionist war criminals who deserve to be denounced, ostracized, and maybe worse.

Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in a Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995.
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In a jolt to Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy ahead of May 16 assembly polls, a local court on Friday dismissed his interim plea to restrain opposition leader V S Achuthanandan from levelling false allegations against him.

Second additional district and sessions judge A Badharudeen observed that an injunction would be an encroachment in the rights of the opposition leader to point out flaws in the administration.

Chandy had contended that Achuthanadnans statement that there were 31 corruption cases against him and 136 against his cabinet colleagues was baseless and defamatory.

The court said that if an injunction is granted, which would work as one restraining the opposition leader from pointing out flaws in the administration, it is an encroachment in the right of the opposition leader. In view of the matter, the court is not inclined to allow the petition, the judge said.

However, the judge made it clear that the allegations and proof pertaining to the case shall remain to be opened to be adjudicated by both parties by convincing evidences during trial and the court here observes that either the allegations are true or false.

The judge also said that this order shall not be read as one operating as a shield for adjudicating the suit of the petitioner (chief minister) on the merits and granting appropriate relief as per law.

Giving another reason for rejecting the plea, he said there was no prayer in the original suit for an injunction.

Chandy had contended that Achuthanandans defamatory statement was fabricated for the sole purpose of maligning him and the reputation he enjoys among the people of the state.

Chandy, who is contesting for the 12th time in a row from his home constituency Puthupally, also stated that the opposition leaderss statement was scandalous, libelous and showers sarcasm.

Chandy in his defamation suit filed on April 28 sought a compensation of Rs one lakh from Achuthanandan for levelling baseless allegations.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan left for Cannes on Thursday with daughter Aaradhya and mother Brinda Rai. The Bollywood actor would be making an appearance on the Cannes red carpet for the 15th successive year, on May 13 and 14.

Aishwarya with daughter Aaradhya and mother Brinda. (Yogen Shah/HT photo)

The actor, who is juggling a tight schedule this year, said before leaving that the Cannes appearances mean a lot to her. Even when it is not about my film, I so often end up speaking about whatever films of ours are getting showcased or represented there. I am very humbled and privileged that I am given that opportunity to speak for us (Indians) because we are not individuals when we stand on a global platform. You represent us Indians and our fraternity. That means a lot. So every such experience is humbling, precious and means the world, she told Indian Express.

Read: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan reveals how she prepares for Cannes red carpet

Aishwarya holds her daughters hand as they leave for Cannes. (Yogen Shah/HT photo)

Twinning with daughter Aaradhya in a black-and-white outfit, Aishwarya looked relaxed. That is the attitude she has adopted in regards to her Cannes dress as well. In a candid conversation with her fans earlier, the actress had shared that she was busy with the work of her forthcoming film Sarbjit, and hence could not pick out a dress. She said: Cannes Festival is two days away and I still dont know what I am wearing. You guys can troll me as much as you want but the fact is I have just been too busy.

Aishwarya and Aaradhya are twinning in matching black-and-white outfits. (Yogen Shah/HT photo)

The actor will not be attending AmfAR gala at Cannes this year because of her Sarbjit commitments. Sonam Kapoor will be representing cosmetic giant LOreal at the AIDS charity event instead.
Actor Purab Kohli is in Italy enjoying a vacation with his fiancee Lucy Payton and daughter Ianaya. The 10-day vacation is a break from the Indian summer for his British fiancee and their four-month-old baby. And he is hoping that the European countrys architectural wonders and natural beauty inspire him enough to write. Ive been longing for some time off to put some of my ideas together,he says.

Read: Purab Kohli to tie the knot with fiancee Lucy?

For a long time now, Purab had wanted to write a script. The 37-year-old actor says that he is being realistic about his writing dream. I dont know how far Ill get in 10 days, but I hope to, at least, formulate a concrete idea for a script. Fingers crossed, says the actor who has just wrapped up shooting for the American drama series - Sense8.

Read: Purab Kohli to play a war prisoner in a TV show

If Purab manages to write a script when he is back, he would add yet another title to his CV, besides being a model, an anchor and a VJ.

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Though Anubha Bhonsles stories of Manipur appeal to the heart, the author, like everybody else, seems clueless about solutions.

Notwithstanding the continuous gripe about neglect by the national media, images of political turmoil in Manipur have often hit the national headlines. The burning down of the state assembly and other state buildings in Imphal in the aftermath of the extension of the ceasefire agreement between the Indian Government and the NSCN (IM) without territorial limits in 2001, the prolonged agitations over the killing of Manorama Devi on 11 June, 2004 and naked protests by womenfolk in Imphal four days later, the images of burnt buildings and mammoth rallies by tribal women in Churachandpur after the passing of three land/identity-related bills in the Manipur Assembly on 31 August last year, etc. come to mind. And of course, there is Sharmila Chanu and her still-ongoing hunger strike in protest against AFSPA.

Read:Irom Sharmila continues fast in Imphal

Most people in India know of these problems through images or sterile incident-reports in newspapers. The picture of 12 elderly women standing naked behind banners proclaiming, Indian Army, rape us remains etched in our memory. Beyond that, there has been little serious work, scholarly or journalistic, that attempts to shed light on the personalities and stories behind these disturbing images.

Anubha Bhonsles, Mother, Wheres my country?: Looking for Light in the Darkness of Manipur is an attempt to fill this void. Presented in an engaging narrative style, Bhonsle weaves together a set of deeply researched stories, ranging from the Malom killings and Sharmila to Manorama Devi and the naked protests in front of the Kangla to the travails of the Naga rebel, and many others in between, which should help us reimagine Manipurs many tragedies from a human perspective. The author breaks down these tragedies and jettisons the general in favour of the specific to walk us through the individual experiences of those most affected. It is a story of suffering, resentment and state apathy. These stories appeal to the heart and help us find fellowship in loss and this probably is the books greatest strength.

As the title suggests, Irom Sharmila and her fast is the main story. But the story does not start with Sharmila but with Sinam Chandramani, who, as a four-year-old, had rescued another boy from drowning and was awarded the National Bravery Award in 1988 by prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Chandramani was among the 10 people killed when Assam Rifles personnel opened fire at Malom village near Imphal on 2 November, 2000 after their convoy was attacked. He was on his way to tuition class. Told through the perspective of his mother Chandrajini, who also lost another son and a sister, the story is both entrancing and haunting. A letter from the Child Welfare Department of the Government of India in Delhi would came every year enquiring about Chandramanis welfare and future study plans long after the tragedy. Apparently, nobody had notified them about the boys death. It was this tragedy that prompted Sharmila to quietly started her fast inside her own home the next day.

Read:JNU students not allowed to meet Irom Sharmila

The book offers a detailed account of Sharmilas not-quite life in hospital, how she was surreptitiously smuggled to Delhi in 2006, and her love story with Desmond Coutinho. Bhonsle poignantly captures Sharmilas travails of nose-feeding: There is an empty taste that hunger leaves in the mouth. For Sharmila hunger and eating had been detached, eating had become this scientific, precise, measured thing that involved assimilating nutrients and vitamins through beakers and tubes. An experiment where there was more vigilance than taste. Food was nostalgia; sometimes a memory and sometimes it came in her dreams: her mother Sakhi was feeding her rice with her hands (page 54).

Likewise, the killing of Manorama Devi, the naked protests by women, the Upendra Singh Commissions travails, and the eventual surrendering of the Kangla Fort by Assam Rifles, have been discussed in detail.

However, the book offers little by way of finding light in the darkness of Manipur. The author seemed as clueless as anybody else on how to break through multiple deadlocks. As she notes in the epilogue, AFSPA continues and Sharmila continues to survive through nose-feeding. The Manorama case too, still awaits closure. The rigmarole of peace talks and the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreements carry on. Manipur remains engulfed in resentment and victimhood. What if Sharmila says no to the nose-feeding? As of now, the ritual of release and re-arrest, the medical procedure of inserting 2000 kCal value of proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins in liquid form through a nasal pipe has become routine, the new normal to which everyone adapts. The state government is not complaining about spending Rs. 70,000 a month on Sharmilas medication and nose-fed food.

Irom Sharmila at the Patiala House court in 2014. (Arun Sharma/HT Photo)

Is Sharmila demanding the repeal of AFSPA from the statute book in its entirety as a matter of principle? Will she relent if the Act is withdrawn from Manipur? These questions remain unclear. As it is, the Act has already been withdrawn from seven Assembly constituency segments in the Imphal valley including the area to which she belongs. The issue of AFSPA is now enmeshed within a complex web of interests and it will take solid political will to repeal it.

There are some notable omissions too. Issues relating to Sharmila and Manorama have resonance only in the Imphal valley. The hill tribal people chose not to be a part of it. For them, these are valley issues. Bhonsle broached the issue once, when she asked, What if Sharmila was a Naga? (p. 136). The Naga response was that a Naga will never starve or fast to death or kill herself. We die with a bullet or get our heads cut off. I am not sure how representative this attitude is for the tribal people, but the disdain for what the tribal people perceive as symbolic modes of protest is widespread.

Read:Unrest in Manipur over three controversial bills refuses to die down

The passing of three anti-tribal bills in the Manipur Assembly on 31 August last year showed up the hill-valley divide beyond denial. Nine tribal people who were killed in the protests that followed the passing of these bills have not been buried till date as the tribal groups demand the withdrawal of the bills and stronger forms of constitutional safeguards for their identity and land. The protests continue not only in Churachandpur, but also at Jantar Mantar, Delhi. On the other side, as I write this, the valley people have again hit the streets to renew their demand that the bills, which are awaiting presidential assent, be implemented without delay. Analysing and addressing this divide, which is central to finding the path to light in the darkness of Manipur, will require more than another book.

(Thangkhanlal Ngaihte is an independent researcher based in New Delhi)
A day after French major Sanofi announced a recall of some batches of its popular painkiller Combiflam, Indias drug regulator said over102 medicines have been highlighted for quality concerns and withdrawal in the last five months. The list includes several popular painkillers.

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), the countrys apex drug regulation body, every month prepares an alert list of medicines that have some quality issues.

In the last five months, about 102 medicines have failed the tests and are under the category of spurious, substandard, adulterate, or misbranded medicines.

Some of the medicines that appear on the monthly alert list issued by the government includes Ciplas CIP-ZOX, Macleods Pharmaceuticals Orcerin, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltds Pantoprazole, Ipca Laboratories Zerodol-SP and Karnataka Anibiotics & Pharmaceutical Ltds Norfloxacin.

All drugs listed under the drug alert list should be recalled with immediate effect. We have found some serious problems with the making of the drug because of which we have highlighted quality concerns. Hence, recall is necessary for all companies, GN Singh, DCGI, told HT. All these companies do recall the problematic batches from the market, but they do it silently, simply to keep their brand image unhurt.

Both, Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Karnataka Anibiotics & Pharmaceutical Ltd, are run by the government to produce cheap generic drugs.

Ciplas drug CIP-ZOX, which is used to treat muscle spasm, has been highlighted due to its failure in disintegration test, similar to the failure of Combiflam, as per the drug alert list of February 2016.

Read | India may ban 400 more drugs after crackdown on Vicks 500, Corex

Disintegration tests are used to assess the time it takes for tablets and capsules to break down inside the body and are used as a quality-assurance measure, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Macleods Pharmaceuticals Orcerin, which is used to treat joint diseases such as osteoarthritis failed the test for related substances in April 2016. The test shows presence of impurities in the drug.

Ipca Laboratories Zerodol-SP tablets, used for relief of pain and moderate fever, failed the test for Identification and Assay in December 2015. The test measures the clinical impact and efficacy.

Mail sent to the companies are awaiting response.

Sanofi on Thursday announced that it is recalling some batches of Combiflam after the countrys drug regulator Central Drugs and Standards Control Authority (CDSCO) found the lots to be substandard.

The CDSCO said  in notices posted on its website in February and April  it found some batches of Combiflam to be not of standard quality as they failed disintegration tests.

The batches cited by CDSCO were manufactured in June 2015 and July 2015 and carried expiry dates of May 2018 and June 2018, according to the notices.

The Indian drug regulator has also raised concerns over the quality of the painkiller.

Read | Crocin Cold and Flu, D-cold Total, Dolo Cold also banned in India

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The Delhi high court on Friday asked JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar to articulate it to campus protesters that it will hear their petitions challenging disciplinary action against them only if they end their hunger strike.

You (Kanhaiya) can articulate to the students sitting on hunger strike from past 16 days to end the agitation, allowing the university to function properly, said justice Manmohan, who uses just one name.

They (JNU students) will have to end their agitations/ strike. You will have to withdraw the strike immediately. No one should be on hunger strike, said the court as it sought an undertaking from Kanhaiya that he will allow the university to function properly and there will be no agitation.

The Jawaharlal Nehru University in April fined Kumar, president of the students union, Rs 10,000 for a campus event to mark the death anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhhatacharya were suspended from the campus for the event during which police allege protesters shouted anti-national slogans.

The court asked senior lawyer Rebecca John, who represented Kanhaiya, to ask him to speak to the students to end their strike.

You (Kanhaiya) are a ranger and if you speak to the students, they will abide by you and will end their strike. You withdraw this agitation as you can do it, the court said, adding, if you abide by our directions only then I will hear the petitions before me.

Have faith in judiciary. You will have to give an undertaking that you are going to end the strike and allow the college to function properly. You have to ensure that there is no agitation.

The counsel present in court on behalf of JNUSU president and others said they will cordinate with the students and will get back to the court.

The court has adjourned the matter till further communication is received from the students leader.

The court gave the directions during hearing of pleas by Kanhaiya and others challenging the universitys disciplinary action.

Apart from Kanhaiya, Ashwati A Nair, Aishwariya Adhikari, Komal Mohite, Chintu Kumari, Anwesha Chakraborty and two others had challenged the JNUs punishment against them.
A 21-year-old who was arrested on May 3 on charges of raping a nine-year-old girl now faces accusations of being a serial rapist.

Johnny Ghosh was arrested after he allegedly raped his minor neighbour in a one-room tenement at a slum near the Nigerian embassy in Chanakyapuri Delhis high security diplomatic enclave. The name of the slum cluster is being withheld to protect the identity of the victims.

Two days after his arrest, families of five more girls turned up at the local police station to inform that the accused was a serial rapist. They accused Ghosh of sexually assaulting their daughters and claimed that it had been going on for the past two months.

The girls told the police officials that the accused used to lure them to his jhuggi with tea and snacks. They alleged that Ghosh touched them inappropriately before forcing himself on them.

The victims said Ghosh threatened them with a knife and drugged them before sexually assaulting them.

When the police confronted Ghosh with allegations made by other girls, aged between 7 and 12 years, he reportedly confessed to the crimes.

The families told the police that Ghosh had been living on rent in the neighbourhood for past seven years. Their children used to call him mama (maternal uncle). He was popular with the children because he would give them toys and chocolates.

The mothers of two girls, who he allegedly assaulted, said they used to leave their daughters at Ghoshs house when they worked late evenings.

A senior police officer said the crime came to light on May 3 when a girl in the neighbourhood saw Ghosh getting physical with a nine-year-old girl in his room while her mother, a widow, was out for work. When the girl came out, the other girl told her that she will tell her mother about it. The nine-year-old got scared.

She met her aunt on her way home.

Read | 12-yr-old opens up about her ordeal after rape of sister

When the aunt asked her why she was looking terrified, the girl broke into tears and told her what had happened. In the meantime, her mother also returned home. The family straightaway went to Ghoshs room. A fight broke out when he claimed that the girl was lying, said the officer.

The girls mother called the police control room and Ghosh was handed over to the Chanakyapuri police. A case under relevant sections of Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Indian Penal Code was registered and he was arrested.

On May 5, the girl shared her ordeal with her mother saying she was not the only one raped by Ghosh. The mother was shocked when the girl revealed that her elder sister was also raped a fortnight ago. The girl also revealed names of four more girls.

When questioned by the police, the girls elder sister and three others confirmed while one, a relative of the accused, denied it.
At sharp 10am, a large group of street children enter the police station at platform no 1 of Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. A teacher and a few policemen greet them in the courtyard. The children sit on a mattress facing a blackboard, open their books and start reading English alphabets. Most of them live in the slums near the railway station. Earlier, these children worked as ragpickers or vendors. They would sell newspapers and tea in trains. Some of them were beggars.

The lives of these street children have improved drastically ever since the classes began at GRP Police Station Hazrat Nizamuddin. In a joint initiative, Delhi Police along with NGO Childhood Enhancement Through Training And Action (CHETNA) started basic education classes in November 2014 with an aim to provide free education to street children.

Until two years ago, 13-yearold Sahajana Parveen had never been to school. Her life changed when she enrolled in these classes. Before these classes, I couldnt even spell my name. But I have learnt a lot in the last two years. Apart from learning English and Hindi alphabets, I also like to paint, dance and sing, said Shahjana.

There are two categories of programmes being run here. The first is Non-Formal Education under which illiterate children are taught reading and writing in English and Hindi. They are taught till nursery level. This includes basics like how to recognise animals, fruits, colours and vehicles. The second programme is called Open Basic Education Programme in which subjects are being taught till class 3, 5 and 8 level. Apart from English, Hindi, Math and Environmental Studies, children are also taught painting, dancing, clay modelling etc.

Currently, more than 30 children have enrolled in the programme. . (Tribhuwan Sharma/ HT Photos)

Classes run in two shifts from Monday to Saturday. The first shift starts at 10am and fiishes at 1pm and the evening shift takes place between 3pm and 5.30pm.

The idea behind organising these classes was to improve the lives of street children who otherwise would commit street crimes. After this programme started, the crime rate has decreased considerably, said SHO Sunil Kumar.

Cur rently, more than 30 children have enrolled in the programme. They are provided books and stationery items free of cost. Monthly tests are conducted to see their improvement.

Upon successful completion of the programme, certificates are provided by National Institute of Open Schooling, an autonomous organisation that comes under the ministry of human resource development. These certificates specify that the student has completed a course which is equivalent to the formal school format of either class 3, 5 or 8.

Volunteers from NGO Chetna teach these kids. They say that the biggest challenge they have faced till now is to build a rapport with the parents and making them understand that children need to quit working.

Initially, parents were not willing to send their children to us. They didnt want their kids to stop working. So we met the parents and helped them understand the importance of education in the long run, said Rekha Sharma, education coordinator at the NGO.

Sanjay Gupta, director of the NGO said that people not associated with the organisation too come to the school to teach the children. Volunteers keep coming to the school to teach dance and singing to them. More people should come forward to help us in this initiative, he said.

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southdelhi@hindustantimes.com

Countless vehicles whizzing on glistening city flyovers  this has been the most representative image of the Capital in the past decade. What many miss in this picture is the struggle for life in the underbelly of the flyovers. Over the years, these spaces have become a haven for the homeless and destitute such as rickshaw pullers, ice-cream vendors, beggars and hawkers. What is worrying is that at some locations, drug-addicts and vagabonds have also made home while at other spots debris and garbage has been dumped. As a result of poor civic planning, the areas under flyovers that could have been put to innovative use to meet citys needs now lie waste.

While flyovers at Modi Mill or AIIMS are green, most others in the city are examples of wasted community space due to lack of planning. RK Srivastava, a resident of Kalkaji Extension said, I have seen children smoking and consuming drugs late at night. I wonder why authorities have turned a blind eye towards this issue.

Professor PK Sarkar, head of transport planning department at School of Planning and Architecture, said people living in such a manner where they are not separated by four walls are vulnerable to crime.

Experts said people living under these flyovers should be rehabilitated and the space should be brought to better use so that it doesnt get encroached upon again.

A parking lot or market can be developed to utilise the space. But it should be done in a way that it does not obstruct the traffic. A small flaw in planning might lead to jams as the area under a flyover is also used for taking a U-turn, experts said.

However, a section of experts argue that since Delhi is already reeling under pollution, developing a parking space will promote use of cars. Amit Bhatt, director of Integrated Transport, WRI India, said, Instead of creating a parking space for cars, we should focus on developing these spaces as cycle zones. We need to promote all forms of non-motorised vehicles.

Many believe public space should not be given to greedy private players like it has been done in Defence Colony where a flyover market has been built. AK Jain, former commissioner of planning at DDA, said, it causes inconvenience to people living nearby due to the traffic jams from the inflow of vehicles. Instead, these spaces could be developed as green spaces, libraries or public toilets.

According to reports, the Public Works Department (PWD) now plans to make new flyovers look aesthetically appealing by giving them a colour theme instead of painting them with the grey non-corrosive paint. However, the area below has gone unnoticed till now and PWD has no plans to develop them. At one point of time, Delhi government deliberated to install kiosks at the unused and vacant pieces of land under flyovers and bridges. However, the concept was put on a back-burner.

Chetan Raj, PWD deputy project manager, said, We have no plans to utilise spaces under the flyovers. Right now our focus is on improving the strength of the structures. However, we would like to develop the spaces into community zones in future projects, he said.

RTR FLYOVER

The space under the RTR flyover is being used for construction of a three-lane flyover at Rao Tula Ram Marg on Outer Ring Road. The area is being used to park JCBs and other equipment. The flyover is infamous for jams caused due to its narrow carriageway. The PWD began work on adding another carriageway at the end of 2014. The deadline for the project is the end of 2016. According to reports, PWD has asked for permission from forest department for cutting 139 trees on RTR Marg and 177 on Benito Juarez Marg for construction. The ideal, way, therefore, to utilise the space is to make it a green area, said many environmentalists.

MUNIRKA

In 2010, to ensure space below the flyovers are not encroached and control on-road parking along Munirka market, PWD announced a plan to build parking lots under flyovers. Now, carefully decked up cars adorn the space under the flyover. Traffic personnel say that the parking has helped ease congestion. There is enough space under the flyovers and more such spaces can be developed as parking lots. This parking lot can accommodate more than 50 cars at a time, said a senior traffic official.

BER SARAI

Ber Sarai flyover looks like an ill-maintained, open-air shelter home. One can see children wandering around in the area while their parents are begging or selling toys at traffic signals to earn a livelihood. The place is also a home for those who do not get a bed in the nearby AIIMS hospital. The shopkeepers near the area said the flyover shelters more than 30 families. According to reports by several NGOs working for street children, kids when mixed with the adult population in such manner are exposed to drugs and various other ills of the society.

IIT

IIT flyover is probably the most ill- maintained flyovers in the city. The space is heavily encroached by squatters, mostly beggars at traffic junctions. Locals claim after sunset teenagers can be seen drinking in the open or consuming drugs here. Ravi Kumar, who sells balloons at the intersection, said, This flyover gives us protection from the rain and scorching heat and is a good home for the Delhi winters. He said, We cannot afford to pay rent. This is only place where we can afford to sleep. Experts say that government must rehabilitate people living under slums but at the same time reclaim its space.

AIIMS is one of the best examples in the city on how to use flyover space to introduce greenery. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photos)

AIIMS

AIIMS is one of the best examples in the city on how to use flyover space to introduce greenery. Though the beautification of the AIIMS flyover had come under fire from various quarters after a steel art installation was put up without clearance from Delhi Urban Arts Commission, the area now looks aesthetic, said Ram Dayal Sharma, a resident of Safdarjung Enclave. The flyover was inaugurated by Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government in 2003. Dixit had then claimed that the flyover was environment-friendly with extensively landscaped greens.

PANCHSHEEL

Looking at Panchsheel flyover, it seems PWD tried to give it a facelift but couldnt succeed in executing the programme. There are iron grills all round the space under the flyover. A raised platform is used by passersby for idle banter. Locals said that saplings were planted in the area but in absence of proper care all of them died.

MOOLCHAND

The grill barrier under the flyover leads to a small gateway that opens to abandoned mattresses, utensils, clothes and other articles that form the homes of the homeless. Locals say during the day, people living here beg and, at night, they come home to a disturbed stay under the flyover. A kilometer-long patch of barren land, this flyover is a well-guarded home to ragpickers and beggars. The grills were installed a few years ago to keep encroachments at bay but families living under the flyover say that they have nowhere to go.

DEFENCE COLONY

A stones throw from the famous Central Market, is an innovative market launched as a pilot project by DDA in 1979. Today, Defence Colony flyover market is one-of-its kind in the entire Asian subcontinent. Housing 353 shops under the flyover, the market has survived over the years as a success story for optimal utilisation of space under flyovers. It started as a garment hub, but this market has come to be known for take-away joints famous for tandoori momos, reshmi kebabs, chicken barra and traditional Arabic food.

NEHRU PLACE

The U-turn under the flyover is outlined by grills on both sides. Scores of clothes and plastic bags hooked on the grills are an eyesore for the commuters. In the absence of proper street lighting, the patch is vulnerable at night. Several huts with muddy bases and roofs made of plastic have come up over the years. For many children, aged 5-10 years, who live under the flyover, ragpicking runs in the family. The flyover also houses a few scrap collectors who put their wooden and metal possessions on display under the flyover.

MODI MILL

Amid the chaotic rush of vehicles, a Metro line under construction and a sea of auto-rickshaws, life under the flyover is a stark contrast. Boasting of a rich variety of flora the flyover stands out from others that have become an eyesore. The shed acts as a facilitator for plant growth. Bright summer blooms like Mandevilla and Crape Myrtle add to the overall serene appeal of the green patch. This half an acre of lushness arrests commuters attention and can be used as an archetype to fix other flyovers.

Okhla flyover is a fine example of a flyover being utilised. (Sanchit Khanna/ HT Photos)

OKHLA

Okhla flyover is a fine example of a flyover being utilised. The area under it houses the PWD office. While the flyover was built around 20 years ago, the office came up 10 years ago, said officials. Around half acre of land is used as an office and the rest of the land is used to store construction material or park vehicles.
JNU students called off a 16-day hunger strike on Friday hours after the Delhi high court put on hold all disciplinary actions against Kanhaiya Kumar and others on the condition they immediately end the protest.

Jawaharlal Nehru University had on April 25 fined student union president Kumar R10,000 and rusticated Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya for a semester after a panel found them guilty of giving wrong information in organising an event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly shouted. Bhattacharya was also banned from the campus for five years.

Following the court order, we have decided to call off the strike but our fight will continue till the vice-chancellor revokes the punishments, JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid Shora said.

Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya were arrested in a sedition case a few days after the February 9 function commemorated the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, which set off campus unrest and a political storm.

The three, who are out on bail, and others went on hunger strike on April 29 to protest the punishments handed out to at least 17 students.

Read | High Court stays disciplinary action against JNU students

Granting them relief, justice Manmohan told them earlier in the day, If you have confidence in us, you will withdraw everything (agitation).

Protection is conditional upon JNUSU complying with its undertaking that it will immediately withdraw the continuing strike and will not indulge in any further dharna, agitation or strike.

The university, said the court, should reasonably accommodate with the students and be alive to the students situation.

No action would be taken against the students till their appeal was decided by the appellate authority, which is the led by the vice-chancellor.

Read | Parliamentary panel criticises JNU for caste bias on campus

Offering further protection, the judge said in case of an adverse decision, no action would be taken against the students for two weeks, giving them enough time to challenge the decision in the court.

The court had squarely put the onus on Kumar to end the strike, as some of the lawyers said there were many student factions and it would be difficult to ensure that all of them agree to end the stir immediately.

He (Kanhaiya) is the president of JNUSU and he has a following. If he will say no strike, then there should not be any strike there. I find the gentleman is quiet articulate. He has to assert himself, the court said.

JNU should be a normal place with no journalists hanging around there. Let them (students) study. They should not be wasting their time. Exams are going on, said the court, disposing of a bunch of petitions filed by a group of students including Kanhaiya.

(With inputs from agencies)

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In 2011, a 19-year-old student at Ramjas college, Delhi University, allegedly committed suicide after his mark sheet was found to be forged. He had got the mark sheet from Naresh Kumars gang, which helped him secure admission to the college of his dreams.

The incident, however, did not seem to weigh on Kumars conscience or his gang members. They continued to fleece other students seeking to study at the Delhi University.

Their business was a hit till a mechanism to check the authenticity of mark sheets came into practice. Then the demand for fake degrees fell.

Since the business did not fetch enough money, Kumar began targeting engineering students. However, before he could find a new client, he was arrested in 2011 and 28 cases of cheating were registered against him.

At the university he was infamously addressed as Doctor and Tau. He became the one-point contact for all DU aspirants, who failed to secure good marks. With his popularity, the rates he charged for the fake mark sheets also rose. He, however, had to shut his business after cases of fake mark sheets started coming to the fore, a source said.

Read more: Former Ramjas student held in fake medical admission racket

In jail, Kumar met people arrested in cases of fraud, forgery and cheating. He learnt new tricks of the trade from them. Soon he realised the demand for medical seats was much more than any other profession and fetched the most money.

He was told that the rate for one medical seat was between Rs 40 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. In the jail, he chalked out a new plan. After he came out on bail, he did research on how to establish the business till 2014. He built his network of people and became well versed with the faculty and admission process in medical colleges. Later, he started targeting people who were willing to pay for these seats, a police source said.

He convinced the medical aspirants parents that he, along with his associates, could arrange the surrendered MBBS seats for their wards in reputed medical colleges.

After coming out of jail, while his trail was on, he started targeting people who had black money. The reason being that they would not approach the police even if they are duped. He, along with his two gang members, duped several persons. One of his associate, Shakti, has also been involved in the Vyapam scam, the police said.

The police are trying to ascertain the number of people the gang duped on the pretext of promising their wards medical seats.
Unable to operate its hospitals due to lack of funds, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation is now planning to merge four of its hospitals.

Sources said the north civic body had also proposed to hand over Balakram hospital, which is under construction, to the Delhi government once it became fully operational.

Officials said the corporation was planning to merge Rajan Babu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine & Tuberculosis with MVID hospital and Kasturba hospital with Girdhari Lal hospital to cut down on administrative and other recurring expenses.

Merging the hospitals will bring down annual expenses by at least `100 crore. This amount can be used to improve other services provided by the civic body, said a senior municipal official.

Read more: Move health from MCD to Delhi govt, MCD docs tell Kejriwal

The official, however, maintained that the Hindu Rao hospital would continue to operate as a single entity.

As per its estimates, the north corporation on average spends close to `400 crore on its five hospitals. The corporation charges `5 as receipt. However, since issuing the receipt is costlier than `5, it is incurring losses. Through the merger, we plan to cut down on our losses, said a top municipal official.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has been reeling under a large deficit, which is likely to top `2,700 crore for the current financial year.
Immediately after Independence, inspired by the Gosplan-aided industrialisation of Soviet Union, India adopted the five-year planned model of development. The dominant view at the time, drawn from Fabian socialism, backed the need for State-led planned industrialisation and development. For the first eight plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries. In recent years, however, the five-year plan model came under increased scrutiny, with experts questioning the systems role in a market-economy model where private enterprises are the primary growth engines. That is now set to change. From next year India will replace the six-decades-old five-year plan model with that of a 15-year roadmap.

Read | Niti Aayogs 15-year roadmap to roll out in 2017

Plans, by definition, should be a long-term exercise. Strategy documents of large transnational corporations set out milestones years in advance. Contemporary strategy-making in the corporate world is replete with examples where companies set out 20-year targets and the broad approach to achieve the goals. At a micro level, financial plans for most families have long-term targets. Short-termism, like band-aids, has limited use. It may be able to temporarily stop the bleeding, but may fail to heal a wound that requires surgery. Likewise, policymaking should not be a prisoner of short-term quick-fixes. There is no gainsaying the fact that flexibility and resilience must be deeply entrenched in long-term policy-making. A 15-year long-term vision to replace the five-year plan model was an idea that was long overdue. The new vision to be piloted by Niti Aayog  the replacement to the Planning Commission  is widely expected to set the stage for to deal with contemporary challenges, shunning the earlier one size fits all approach. A long-term approach allows the elasticity to iron out the rough-edges if they crop up along the way. Similarly, Indias annual budget has, over the years, become an instrument to announce policies rather than an annual accounting exercise.

Read | Modi has his task cut out on employment creation

A 15-year perspective plan, if executed well, can be a policy-making platform that will perfectly complement the annual budget. It would be fair to assume that the new plan model will be founded on the premise that the government should have a rather hands-off approach to foster the growth of private enterprises. Instead, the State should focus its energy and resources on being an enabler by enacting the appropriate legislations and building a robust regulatory architecture to aid development and allow private enterprise to prosper.
As a schoolboy, Ranjit P John was captivated by the magnificence of old traditionally constructed buildings in Kerala, which included old churches and his own alma mater, St Berchmans College. Later, making career plans, he decided there was nothing better in life than designing buildings..

Talking to engineer friends and family members about his passion, John was advised to pursue a full-fledged graduate course in architecture. After completing his pre-degree course (Class 12 equivalent) from St Berchmans High School, he moved to Delhi in 1974, joining Gandhi-Mehta and Associates, an architectural firm in the city, as a drafting assistant and simultaneously started preparing for the entrance exam of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), New Delhi.

John had also signed up for sketching classes to hone his skills in drawing, an important component of the entrance exam at SPA. We were, in the test, supposed to make free hand sketches of various objects in different shades of light. This was done to test the visualising skill of the applicants, says John. .

After he graduated from SPA with the gold medal for the highest scores in the history of the institute back then, John started assisting SPA professors Ranjit Sabikhi and Ajoy Choudhury with designing work.

In 1985, he started his own company and till date has worked on almost 1,000 projects, which include the YMCA Campus, Greater Noida; Jesus and Mary College, Chanakyapuri; Deepalaya School, Kalkaji; Trivandrum International School, Trivandrum  Junior School Park; Renaissance School, Mathura; St Michaels Church, Gurgaon; St Martins Church, Delhi Cantonment; Yusuf Sadan, Connaught Place; Mother Teresas Deepashram, Gurgaon and Shanthigiri Ashram, Saket.

From schools, colleges, spiritual homes to old age homes, orphanages, homes for tribal people, dispensaries in rural areas, churches and ashrams, he has done it all.

Read more: High demand for neurosurgeons in India

While working, John says architects create conceptual sketches based on their understanding of client requirements. They need to factor in the scale and nature of the site of construction, the direction of light and even the budget for the project.

The conceptual sketch is then presented to clients. Based on their inputs, architects might re-work or modify the same. Following this, detailed drawings of the project are made and approvals sought from local authorities, including the municipality, chief fire officer, Airports Authority of India (if the project is in the flight path).

While designing the project, an architect needs to keep in mind the local municipal laws, building bylaws and the national building code, says John.

It takes about six months from conceptualisation to starting of execution depending on the project and the city. After getting the requisite approvals architects start work on projects in coordination with consultants in diverse fields such as carpentry, plumbing, and air conditioning

Architects also need to float tenders for bigger projects, analyse proportions of materials required to complete the project and approve tender applications in consultation with project owners.It is one of the most promising sectors one can work for. If youre good, one project always leads to another, John says.

All you need to know about a career as an architect

Lowdown: Successful execution of a project helps you bag a new project. Your ability to replicate the design into real infrastructure adds to your credibility in the industry. You should be able to imagine every creation, even before you create it. Put yourself in the shoes of the people who are going to use that building to be able to address their requirements.

Institutes:

1. School for Planning and Architecture, New Delhi

2. CEPT, Ahmedabad

3. JJ School of Architecture, Mumbai

4. Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh

5. Department of Architecture, IIT Roorkee

Eligibility: Students who have completed Class 10 and plan to pursue a career in architecture need to apply for national aptitude test in architecture for admission to the top architecture colleges in the country.

Skills and traits:

1. Keen eye for detail, constant quest to improve and perfect

2. Good communication skills

3. Ability to understand what a client is looking for

4. Respect for end-users requirements and investments

5. Perseverance and hard work to hone skills

A slump may affect a builder, but a good architect will always have projects big or small keeping him afloat (HT Photo)

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Making a U-turn on his earlier statement, Allahabad University vice-chancellor RL Hangloo has written to Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari declaring that there has been no interference in the affairs of the university by the Centre.

This is to state that we are trying to reinforce the dignity of the Allahabad Central University with our thrust on high end research and development, and the honourable minister of human resource development Smriti Zubin Irani has always encouraged us with her rare flash of brilliance. There have been twisted statements by the press and media which should be ignored in totality, the VC said.

He added that neither the HRD minister nor any of her officers had ever interfered in the functioning of the university.

Earlier, Hangloo had termed the missive received from MHRD dated May 9, 2016, as interference in the functioning of an autonomous institution. Talking to a section of the media, he reportedly said that the ministrys step was a setback for the university.

The vice-chancellor had said he would be happy to return to his parent institution (Hyderabad University) and teach there if the Centre desired so. The Centre is free to close down the university or appoint an MP or an MLA as AU VC if this is what it wants, he had said.

Hangloo had even offered to resign after the university received a missive from MHRD stating that it had received a letter from AU noting that it had no objection to the offline option along with online applications for admissions in 2016-17 session.

Read: Allahabad varsity okays online, offline tests after VC offers to quit
Money is very important to be able to create a world-class university. You need money practically for everything - from paying competitive salaries to attracting and retaining good faculty members. Developing outstanding research facilities to ensure a healthy learning environment also requires adequate funding. However, while the source of funding is secondary, increasingly, institutes are working towards ensuring reduced dependence on any one source of funding.

At Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, for instance, the largest share of funding comes from tuition fee. The other sources of income include research consultancies, management development programmes and long duration programmes, says a source.

However, across most institutes, while public money continues to be the primary source of funds, they are also finding various ways to add more to their funds.

Having multiple sources of income, apart from the ministry funds make you economically flexible, thus allowing you to take extra steps to nurture your institutes. It allows toy get better guest lecturers from abroad, filing for patents, thereby enhancing the institutes global repute, says Professor Krishnan Balasubramanian, dean- industrial consultancy and sponsored research at the institute.

Read more: Global accreditations give IIM Calcutta an edge over others

At Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, for instance, funding from MHRD takes the biggest slice of the funding pie, followed by research grants, industry research contracts and tuition fee. Last year, MHRDs plan plus non-plan funding was approximately Rs 450 cr to Rs 500 cr, research grants accounted for approximately Rs 200 cr, industry research contracts brought them funds of approximately Rs 70 crore. About, Rs 30 cr to Rs 35 crore was collected from the tuition fee of students.

IIT Bombay too, receives a considerable amount of money through research and development (R & D) projects. The R&D revenues for 2014-15 are Rs 243 cr. External grants received for R&D activities in 2014-15 were Rs 249.182 cr. This includes grants received in the year for the new projects sanctioned and the ongoing projects, a spokesperson of the institute informed.

Across institutes, alumni and corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding is a good source of income, though the contributions keep varying, year-on-year. At IIT Madras, alumni and CSR funding contributed approximately Rs 55 cr last year. At IIT Bombay, Rs 48 crores was received by the institute through donations from alumni and corporations in 2014-15.

The source of funding is less important, as long as there is plenty of cash. Those funded by a high level of public funding can be victims of political change or changing national economic circumstances. In general, the leading public universities have worked hard to reduce their dependence on public money, and have become more entrepreneurial in their approach  more business-like. It protects them and secures a sustainable future, says Phil Baty, editor, Times Higher Education rankings says.

Some private universities in India too, are thinking beyond just tuition money. For instance, Ashoka University is being funded philanthropically by business leaders, corporates and professionals. In fact, the entire capital expense for making the university is funded through donations. The operational expense is funded by tuition fee and through scholarship donations made by corporates and individuals. The university also tapped into CSR funds to get scholarships for students. Scholarships have also been given by individual donors, says Vineet Gupta, founder and trustee, Ashoka University.

So, how do institutes abroad fund themselves? As Baty says, Private institutes like Stanford and Harvard, which have a large proportion of their income generated from private endowments, tuition fees and philanthropic donations, and great public institutions like UC Berkeley or Oxford and Cambridge, or LMU Munich, which tend to be more dependent on public funding from the general tax payer, and charge low, or in the case of Germany no tuition fees, stand shoulder to shoulder in this ranking of the worlds most prestigious universities. Some of the fastest rising universities in the list, notably in China, have been fuelled in their success by very powerful levels of financial support from government and the public purse.

Does self-sufficiency and reduced dependence on public funds or tuition money factor in the way an institute features in the global rankings? The world university rankings do look at the overall resources going into a university, adjusted for purchasing power parity, but we do not judge the source of that investment. This would make a fascinating additional analysis, as would an analysis of efficiency and return on investment, Baty adds.

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An English teacher of a private school in Gurgaon has been booked for allegedly injuring ear of a class 9 student by slapping him for misbehaving in the class.

Police have registered a case against the Reeta Panwar, who teaches English at Sharda International School in Shiv Nagar area on Pataudi road, following a complaint by the students father Rishi Pal, an employee with a private company.

Pal, who lives at Shivaji Park, alleged in his complaint that his 14-year-old son suffered from injury in the left eardrum when he was slapped by the teacher.

Pal came to know about the incident after his son returned home from school on April 26 and complained of pain in the ear. When his parents visited a doctor, they were informed that his eardrum has been damaged, police said.

Also read: NHRC seeks report on ragging at DPS Noida from UP government

The English teacher has been booked under section 325 of Indian Penal Code (for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) at the City police station based on the fathers complaint.

We have registered a case in the matter and are investigating it, said assistant sub inspector Rajinder Singh, the investigation officer.

School authorities, when contacted, feigned ignorance alleging the parent did not lodge any complaint against the teacher about the incident at the school.

We came to know about the incident from police. When we questioned the teacher, she denied any such incident. We will cooperate with police in the investigations, said Abha Raghav, the principal of the school.

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After 46 years of marriage, 72-year-old Daljinder Kaur finally gave birth to a healthy baby boy in April, after two years of fertility treatment in Haryana. She is one of oldest women to give birth in India. But some medical experts say she is too old.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), donated eggs and other fertility technologies might have opened up pregnancy to a lot of women, but their decision still attracts suspicion and controversy. For Dr Gunjan Kacker, senior IVF specialist at Aveya Fertility in Delhi, a late-in-life pregnancy is not a question of medical possibility but of unclear consequences. Hence she stresses there should be a cut-off age for women trying to be a mother.

Read: After IVF, in vitro gametogenesis the new way to have babies?

Women should have children before it is too late, she says, Mainly because it could increase the risk of health complications for the child, and it would be unfair on the child to have old parents, who may not live long enough to see them grow up.

Dr Laxmi Aggarwal, a gynaecologist from Kolkata, believes it was unnatural for women to have babies after a certain age. (Read menopause.)

Although, there is no legal age restriction for couples who want to have IVF treatment in India, the state-funded Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advises against implanting embryos in women over 50.

In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), donated eggs and other fertility technologies might have opened up pregnancy to a lot of women, but their decision still attracts suspicion and controversy. (iStockphoto)

As a clinician, lets be clear, I am not scare-mongering. It is a fact that a womans fertility potential declines rapidly after the age of 35 and drops even faster after the age of 40, she says.

Anita Singh, an IVF specialist from Delhi, agrees that 40, or even 38, was too old for women to have children, explaining: From the ovaries standpoint, the number of eggs decline and the egg quality is poor. As a result, it is difficult to conceive and the conception maybe associated with a high rate of chromosome abnormalities and increased chances of miscarriage.

Read: Mumbais first test tube baby, Harsha Shah, has a baby boy

From the mothers standpoint, there is a high risk of hypertension, pre-eclampsia (a pregnancy complication characterized by high blood) and caesarean section, adds Dr Singh.

Dr Kacker said the ideal age for women to become pregnant was in their twenties and early thirties. She even advises young women who may want to delay conception for any reason beyond the age of 35 to seriously consider egg freezing as their insurance policy.

Read: Commercial surrogacy, the half mothers of Anand

Indeed, successful egg freezing through vitrification has made it possible for women to postpone conception to later in life but as a society, we should be encouraging couples to have children at a younger age, in fact, I recommend that couples should aim to complete their families by the age of 35, adds Dr Kacker.

The author tweets as @SanyaHoon.

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A new study suggests that children of parents who suffer from depression tend to rebellious and disobedient. Mostly seen in teenagers, the study adds that such children get into trouble as they are prone to higher risk-taking and, more importantly, rule-breaking behaviour. According to researchers, parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk taking in adolescent children, leading to more rule-breaking behaviours.

This is the first evidence to show that parental depression influences childrens behaviour through the change in the adolescents brain, said lead study author Yang Qu from University Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read: 3 books on parenting teenagers every mother and father needs to read

Read: Young and miserable | Children as young as six are battling depression

Read: Social engagement reduces depression in older dementia patients

Read: Beware! Depression is a bigger deal than youd like to believe

There are a lot of changes happening in the teenage years, especially when we are thinking about risk-taking behaviours, added another researcher Eva Telzer. The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, analysed 23 adolescents aged 15 to 17, with cognitive testing and brain imaging at the beginning and end of the 18-month study.

To measure parental depression, the team collected data from the parents on their own depressive symptoms and who were not currently being treated for clinical depression. They also collected information on the adolescents rule-breaking behaviours, such as sneaking out without parental permission, substance abuse and partying.

According to researchers, parental depression contributes to greater brain activity in areas linked to risk taking in adolescent children. (iStock)

The findings indicated that adolescents whose parents had greater depressive symptoms increased their risk-taking over the course of the study. Even if you are not clinically depressed and seeking out help, your teenager is probably picking up on the negative emotions that you may be experiencing, Telzer noted.
Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg has offered to make a movie on the abduction and recovery of former Pakistani premier Yousaf Raza Gilanis son Ali Haider, who was rescued from Al Qaeda-linked abductors in Afghanistan this week.

Spielberg made the offer to make a movie during a telephone conversation with Ali Haider, Gilani was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper on Friday. Mr Spielberg telephoned Haider and made the offer on Thursday, Gilani said.

Read: Former Pak PM Yousaf Gilanis son rescued 3 years after abduction

Ali Haider was kidnapped in May 2013 in his home town of Multan while he was campaigning for Pakistans last general election. He was rescued after nearly three years in captivity during a joint operation by US and Afghan forces in Gaylan district of Afghanistan on Tuesday. Four Al Qaeda-linked operatives were killed during the raid.

Gialni also said his son plans to write a book and may accept the offer to work for the Hollywood film based on his captivity and miraculous release. Though the notes Ali Haider made during his captivity in Afghanistan have been lost, his painful memory of the period is very much alive in his mind, he said.

My son plans to write a book on the ordeal he had gone through in three years (of) captivity of militants, Gilani said. My son had written a manuscript for a book detailing his ordeal in captivity but it was burnt by his captors. But he intends to pen down what he had gone through during the period. PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also encouraged him to write a book about his ordeal, he said.

Gilani said US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had also telephoned him and congratulated him on the return of his son. I told her that militants kidnapped my son to punish me for launching a military operation in Malakand division. I also thanked her for US forces help in Haiders release. Clinton promised me she would invite me to the White House if she was elected president, he said.
Christian Michel, an accused in the VVIP chopper scam, said on Thursday that in a note he did describe Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the driving force behind the decision to buy helicopters for the use of politicians but clarified that his suggestion that she and other Congress leaders be lobbied by diplomats didnt mean bribes were paid.

I have to protect the Gandhis to protect myself, Michel said in an interview with NDTV. I have to prove they are innocent to prove my innocence.

This came on a day when the CBI rejected his offer to depose via video-conferencing from the Indian consulate in Dubai. The investigating agency said on Thursday that Michel would have to come to India for questioning.

In an interview with another news channel on Wednesday, Michel had offered to get interviewed from the Dubai consulate since he feared getting arrested on his arrival in India. The CBI will take its probe in the VVIP choppers deal case to its logical conclusion. Christian Michel should join the probe in India, an agency spokesperson said.

On Thursday, the British national told NDTV that he visited India 180 times as he loved the country. He also spoke of his fathers connections with Congress leaders in 1980s but clarified that he had inherited neither his wealth nor his Congress connections. The alleged British middleman said he did not personally know Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. He never met Sonia Gandhi or Ahmed Patel, he said.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur had claimed that a senior Congress leader had flown to Dubai to meet Michel. But Michel denied that.
In a counter-attack at the Centre, Bihar deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav on Friday demanded to know how Rocky Yadav got a license for his pistol without proper verification in Delhi, and called for a thorough probe into it.

They (NDA) should first explain as to how he (Rocky Yadav) got license for his pistol in Delhi without verification, he told reporters at Patna Airport while returning from Delhi.

Delhi police is under the Centre hence they need to explain about the issuance of license in violation of rules, the RJD leader said.

We demand a probe into the license issued to Rocky Yadav without proper procedure of verification, he said in a strong counter-offensive against BJP which had gone hammer and tongs against the Bihar government over the murder of Aditya Sachdeva on Saturday last by Rocky in a road rage incident.

The Gaya police maintained that the pistol license to Rocky Yadav had been issued from Vasant Kunj area of Delhi.

The Bihar Deputy CM also said the fugitive MLC and mother of the accused would be arrested.

He said RJD workers met the aggrieved family of class XIIth student Aditya Sachdeva who died after being allegedly shot at by Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav for overtaking his SUV.

Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, had commented two days back in Delhi as to why the term jungle raj was not referred to incidents like Pathankot attack, large number of road rage cases in Delhi and killing of an officer in Jharkhand. The comment drew sharp reaction from his political rivals who took exception of him bringing up the Pathankot terror attack issue while referring to the audacious Gaya road rage case.

In another broadside at BJP, Tejaswi also wondered why the BJP is not talking about jungle raj (regarding) what they did in Uttarakhand?
BJP MLA Bhawani Singh Rajawat on Friday accused the students from Bihar for spoiling the atmosphere of the city after a student was allegedly murdered by a group of students belonging from the state.

Students from Bihar are spoling the atmosphere of the city and they must be driven out of the city, he said. He alleged that many of them are indulging in unlawful activities.

Satyarth (19), a resident of Nabada district in Bihar, was allegedly attacked by a group of students on Thursday while Sandeep Kumar, also from Bihar, sustained injuries in the attack.

A case against 25 people has been lodged so far in the connection and no arrests has been made, police said. However they denied of the presence of any such gang operating in the area.

Read | Kota teen murdered during gang violence

Meanwhile, deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav today wrote a letter to Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje requesting her to take cognizance of the incident and make sure that the culprits responsible for this mindless atrocious act are nabbed soon.

Expressing concern over the incident, he termed the killing of student as a dastardly act.

I would like to believe that this incident would be last of its kind against students of Bihar and you with your administration there, would leave no stone unturned to make sure that students from all over the country feel safe and secure in the state of Rajasthan, he said.

Such incidents would not only lead to a sense of insecurity among the students residing in Kota but will send wrong signals to their parents in far off places across the nation, he added.
Union junior home minister Kiren Rijiju defended on Friday the National Investigation Agencys (NIAs) move to drop charges against several accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, saying there was no interference in the probe.

His remarks came after the Congress mounted an attack on the Narendra Modi government over the NIAs decision to let Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five bombing suspects off the hook. The opposition party alleged that the government is trying to save people belonging to the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ruling BJPs ideological mentor.

Justice should prevail. There should be no interference in handling such cases. Our government has allowed agencies to work independently, Rijiju said.

Read: Malegaon blasts: Charges against 6 accused dropped; Cong targets PM

The September 2008 blasts in the Muslim-majority Maharashtra town killed seven people. In 2009, the state anti-terrorism squad named 14 people in a chargesheet, including Thakur -who was arrested on charges of being a key conspirator. The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases related to Hindu outfits.

Rijiju said the NIA filed the chargesheet after completing the investigation into the twin blasts. He claimed the previous government led by the Congress had provoked certain sections by coining a phrase called Hindu terrorism.

UPA has pressurised agencies in their time. For their own benefits they have given another term to terrorism as Hindu terrorism, Rijiju said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too said there was a conspiracy over Malegaon and Samjhauta express blasts cases, in which Hindutva groups were prosecuted by investigation agencies, and some politicians worked against the countrys interests.

I was of the opinion from day one that Pragya Thakur and others have just been framed in these cases. All the atrocity a person like Pragya Thakur has undergone, I think had there been any other liberal, law-abiding country there would have been a counter-investigation against people involved in it, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh accused the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of pressuring officers of the NIA to save certain people.

I will like to tell the central government that we know that you want to save them (activists of Hindu right-wing groups). We know that your relations are with all these people involved in terrorism-related activities, Singh said.

He accused the Prime Minister, home minister and Union cabinet of trying to save people belonging to the Sangh and involved in terrorist activities by putting pressure on police officers and the NIA.

As I had predicted BJP and RSS have started the process of saving the Sangh activists involved in terror cases.

Read: NIA breather likely for Pragya Thakur in Malegaon blast case
The National Investigation Agency dropped all charges against religious leader Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, triggering Opposition allegations that the Hindu terror accused were freed because of government pressure.

The investigators also removed charges against all accused under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) - a move that is likely to weaken the prosecution case.

HT had reported on April 24 that the NIA was planning to let Thakur and others off the hook for lack of evidence.

During investigation, sufficient evidences have not been found against Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, the NIA said, adding it has submitted in the chargesheet that the prosecution against them is not maintainable.

The NIA move will strengthen opposition parties, who repeatedly accuse the NDA government of going slow in cases where Hindu terror suspects are involved.

READ: How Malegaons innocent terrorists lost 10 years of their lives

The central government wanted to save Malegaon (blast case) accused as they have connections with them, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told the media here.

Even Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) wants to save the people involved in terror activities.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegations, saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies. We allow agencies to work independently,

Another key accused, Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, was charged under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. Purohit was allegedly involved in the setting up of Abhinav Bharat and met some of its members to discuss terror plans.

NIA director general Sharad Kumar said there was no dilution in the case.

Till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the probe done by the ATS. Now that we have completed the investigations, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet).

The September 2008 blasts in the Muslim-majority Maharashtra town killed seven people. In 2009, the state anti-terrorism squad named 14 people in a chargesheet, including Thakur - who was arrested on charges of being a key conspirator.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases of alleged Hindu terror.

READ: Under pressure, police arrested and tortured us: Ex-Malegaon accused

Several such cases - such blasts in Malegaon (September 2006 and September 2008), Samjhauta Express (February 2007) and Mecca Masjid (May 2007) - have been dogged by slow prosecution and hostile witnesses.

HT reported in April that the NIA was planning to drop MCOCA provisions because of procedural lapses by the Maharashtra ATS. But dropping MCOCA will weaken the case as confessions of the accused made before a police officer will no longer be admissible as evidence in a court.

Of around a dozen witnesses in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, two retracted their statements five years back. One made a complaint before the Maharashtra human rights commission, alleging coercion. Two more witnesses, Yashpal Bhadana and Dr RP Singh, recently alleged the same in front of a magistrate.

Former NIA prosecutor in the case Rohini Salian had alleged that an officer of the agency asked her to go soft on the accused after the NDA came to power.
Defending its move to block Indias entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China claimed on Friday that several members of the 48-nation bloc shared its view that signing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was an important standard for the NSGs expansion.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said that not only China but also a lot of other NSG members are of the view that NPT is the cornerstone for safeguarding the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Asked about reports that China is pushing Pakistans entry into NSG linking it to Indias admission into the bloc, Lu said the NSG is an important part of NPT, which has been the consensus of the international community for long.

Read | China coordinating with Pakistan to block Indias entry into NSG

Although India is not part of the NSG, Indian side recognises this consensus, he claimed.

All the multilateral non-proliferation export control regime including the NSG has regarded NPT as an important standard for the expansion of the NSG, he said.

Read | Pakistan to maintain minimum nuclear deterrence: Aziz

Avoiding any references to Pakistan, Lu said Apart from India, lot of other countries expressed their willingness to join. Then it raised the question to the international community - Shall the non-NPT members also become part of the NSG? he said.

The international community believes that there should be a side discussion in the NSG on this issue and decision should be made in accordance with relevant rules. Chinas position is not directed against any specific country but applies to all the non-NPT members, he said.

India, Pakistan, Israel and South Sudan were among four UN member states which have not signed the NPT, the international pact aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Last month Pakistan Prime Ministers advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said that China has helped Pakistan to stall Indias bid to get NSG membership.
The Supreme Court addressed various national issues, including anti-defamation laws and the drought situation, on Friday.

Around noon, a two-member bench comprising justice Dipak Misra and justice Prafulla C Pant dismissed a batch of petitions filed by political leaders to challenge the validity of the criminal defamation laws. The petitioners  including BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal  said Sections 499 and 500 of the India Penal Code were outdated and inconsistent with a citizens right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution.

The following is a list of other significant cases that will be taken up by the court in the course of the day.

Permits for Mumbai dance bars

The Maharashtra government is required to submit a compliance report before the Supreme Court on providing permits to eight dance bars in the state.

A bench on Tuesday hauled up the government for not granting licences to commercial establishments despite an apex court order. However, it went on to say that the grants should be provided only after bar owners submitted an undertaking that they will not employ anybody with a criminal background.

The bar owners complained that the government provided licences only to three bars  and that too after saddling them with unrealistic rules designed to effect the cancellation of the permits. The government has threatened to cancel the licences unless the conditions were fulfilled within 60 days, the dance bar owners said, adding that they will lodge a protest in the apex court.

Taxi operators v/s green court

Also on the Supreme Courts agenda is a petition by taxi operators in Himachal Pradesh against a National Green Tribunal order to restrict diesel and petrol vehicles from entering Rohtang Pass and Manali  two tourist hotspots in the state. Under the green tribunals order, only 1,000 vehicles  400 diesel and 600 petrol  can drive up to Rohtang Pass.

The petitioners said the restriction has hit their means of livelihood, and the state government was yet to formulate a rehabilitation plan for them.

The green tribunal modified its order on May 9, increasing the number of petrol vehicles to 800. It also allowed tourism activities in the area, sparingly permitting leisure activities such as paragliding and snow scootering.

The fate of Rajiv Gandhis killers

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will determine at 2 pm whether the Tamil Nadu governments February 19, 2015 order to remit the sentences of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was justified. A bench headed by justice Ranjan Gogoi will hear the issue.

In December last year, a constitution bench had held that the state government has no authority to remit the sentences of people convicted under a central law, and cases investigated by a central agency such as the CBI. It said the Centre will have primacy in deciding such cases.

The bench, however, had not pronounced its verdict on the validity of the Tamil Nadu governments order. After laying down the law, it referred the matter to a three-judge bench.

The Tamil Nadu government had recently sought the home ministrys opinion on the matter. However, the Centre responded by saying that the matter was pending before the apex court.
The Supreme Court upheld on Friday the constitutional validity of criminal defamation law, saying the right to free speech was not an absolute right. This means individuals and media organisations, including social media platforms, can be prosecuted for defaming someone.

A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra dismissed petitions filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

They had challenged the validity of sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code that penalises defamation.

HT explains what is defamation, the SC verdict and its implications.

What is defamation? Defamation means harming someones reputation by making a false and derogatory statement against him/her without any lawful justification.

It can be by spoken words (slander) or written words (libel) or visual representation (posters/banners).

To constitute defamation, publication of the alleged statement is a must.

A single statement can give rise to both civil and criminal defamation.

Criminal defamation is codified in the Indian Penal Code sections 499 and punishment of up to two years in jail is prescribed in Section 500 IPC.

Intention to harm reputation is must for criminal defamation.

Even truth is not a complete defence. It is imperative to prove that the alleged defamatory statement was made for public good.

What did the SC rule?

The apex court said there was nothing wrong with sections 499 and 500 of the IPC that prescribe a maximum two-year jail term and fine. Defamation is a reasonable restriction on free speech prescribed under the Constitution.

Why did it rule so?

The top court reasoned: Right to free speech cannot mean that a citizen can defame the other. Protection of reputation is a fundamental right. It is also a human right. Cumulatively it serves the social interest.

The SC also said: One cannot be unmindful that right to freedom of speech and expression is a highly valued and cherished right but the Constitution conceives of reasonable restriction. In that context criminal defamation which is in existence in the form of Sections 499 and 500 IPC is not a restriction on free speech that can be characterized as disproportionate.

What does the verdict mean?

The verdict does not change the legal position in India. It means individuals and media organisations, including social media platforms, would continue to be vulnerable to criminal defamation law as they can be prosecuted.

If convicted a person can be sent to jail for a maximum term of two years and can also be ordered to pay a fine. Besides, a defamed person can always drag the person defaming her/him to civil courts for damages. People can be held liable for defamatory statements on social media platforms too.

Swamys reaction on Twitter:

This judgment though did not strike down criminal provisions serves our purpose to fight mad CMs and crazy politicians.
A day after flash floods hit hilly terrain of Jammu, the death toll has risen to five.

The rescue teams were able to trace the dead body of young missing school girl, Payal, who, along with two other classmates, was swept away while trying to cross the rivulet after returning from school on Thursday evening.

Flash flood kills 3 children returning from school in J-K

On Thursday, a father-son duo had also gone missing. While rescue teams have found the body of the father, 45-year-old Abdul Gani, operations to recover the body of the 15-year-old son are still on .

The flash floods on Thursday evening had caused devastation in three districts including Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur. Beside the loss of human life, major loss to property and other infrastructure has also been reported.

The district administration and police of all the three districts have launched rescue operations, which are likely to be completed by late evening.

Rakesh Kumar, DC, Reasi, told HT, The body of one victim has been found, while efforts are on to locate the other body. Besides this, there are no reports of major damage to life or property. However, teams have been sent to few locations where damage may have taken place.

Mohammed Ajaz, DC, Ramban, told HT, The rescue teams have recovered the dead body of the girl child.

As per our preliminary investigations, four houses (pucca) and a few link road have been damaged. The exact extent of damage will be known once our rescue teams return. After ascertaining the damage, a team will be constituted to provide compensations to the victims.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered compensation for delayed wages under a flagship rural job scheme and asked states to continue free meal for students in drought-hit areas, pulling up authorities for throwing social justice out of the window.

The top courts stinging criticism of both the Centre and states came on an NGOs petition seeking judicial intervention to tackle a severe rural distress triggered by back-to-back drought that has affected 33 crore people or 25% of Indias population in 10 states.

The crippling drought has forced water rationing in some states, armed guards at reservoirs and prompted the judiciary to throw cricket matches out of Maharashtra in unprecedented measures to tackle the situation.

A bench of justices MB Lokur and NV Ramana held the Centre guilty of failing its constitutional obligations by not paying timely wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNERGA) scheme.

This is extremely unfortunate and certainly does not behove a welfare State in any situation, more so in a drought, the bench said, asking the government to compensate workers whose wages are delayed beyond 15 days.

It also ordered the government to constitute the Central Employment Guarantee Council within 60 days and gave 45 days to the states to have similar panels to monitor and review the implementation of the scheme.

Holding that right to food was a constitutional right, the top court ordered all drought-affected states to continue the mid-day meal scheme in schools even during the summer vacations.

Around 1.2 crore students across the country are offered free lunch under the mid-day meal scheme, the worlds largest such programme, during school days.

Pulling up Haryana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh for not providing high-protein diet to children, the court said states must give egg or milk at least thrice a week.

This direction is being passed in the interest of children in drought-affected areas, the court said, noting its direction was a sad commentary on the state of affairs.

The court said that no household in drought areas shall be denied food grains, as required under the National Food Security Act, for not possessing a ration card.

Ordering changes in the public distribution system, the court ruled that the entire population in a drought-hit districts will be entitled to cheap food grain, regardless of whether they qualify for subsidised ration or not.

The apex court agreed to monitor implementation of its orders and asked the government to file a status report before July 25. It, however, declined to appoint court commissioners for the time being.

Yogendra Yadav of the NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, called the courts verdict historic and asked governments to act swiftly.

Great day for judiciary as it stood up for (the) last man. Sad that courts had to order what govts should have, he tweeted.

READ MORE: Revise drought rules as buck stops with you, SC directs govt

READ MORE: In parched Beed, relatives of dead forced to buy water for last rites
President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday laid emphasis on substantial investment in research and higher education so that Indian universities could also be among the top ones in the world.

We must substantially improve our research work quality of education. For that, we need to invest more in this sector. Currently, mere 0.26% of the total GDP of the country is invested in research in higher education. It is not adequate as compared to 3% investment in Japan, 2.8% in the USA and 2.2% in China, he said.

The President was delivering a lecture at the BHUs centennial year celebrations at the Swatantrata Bhavan here on Thursday. Mukherjee said the government must take measure in this regard.

We have more than 729 universities and 36,000 colleges. But how many of them are imparting quality education as per the world standards. I congratulate two of the Indian institutes which ranked amongst the top 200 universities in the world by international rating agencies, he said.

It doesnt mean that Indian students lack talent. We have seen some of Indians getting the coveted Nobel Prize. Subramanyan Chandrasekhar and Hargovind Khurana are among them who were awarded for their merit. After 1930 after CV Raman, not even a single research scholar from any Indian university got the prize, he said.

There was a time when India played a dominant role in the field of higher education. We had renowned seats of learning like Taxila, Nalanda and Vikramashila. However after them, we have not been able to find a place in world rankings commensurate with our size, culture and civilization, Mukherjee added.

He lauded Mahamana Madan Mohan Malaviya for founding the BHU. He wanted to develop scientific temperament among students while making them sensitive towards outer world and core civilization values which are always important. He didnt want students to turn robot, Mukherjee said.

Despite different languages, customs, and different dialects, we have one thing in common that we all are Indians, he averred.

India now has to work towards regaining its past glory. Being Visitor to 114 institutions of higher learning, I have been regularly stressing on how to improve ranking. I refuse to believe that not a single university can match to the standard required for being among the top two hundred universities in the world, Mukherjee shared.

It is my firm belief that there are many higher educational institutions in India that have the potential to become one of the best in the world, he hoped.

On the occasion, UP governor Ram Naik released Rs 10 and Rs 100 commemorative coins on the BHU and presented them to the first citizen of India. The President also garlanded the statue of Mahamana Malaviya.

Chancellor of the BHU Dr Karn Singh and vice chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi welcomed Mukerjee at the gate of the Swatantrata Bhavan.

Read: Presidents programme to attend Ganga Arti cancelled
A senior journalist and Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan was shot dead on Friday, the latest in a string of crimes that underline the deteriorating law and order situation in Bihar.

A group of five criminals on motorcycles shot two bullets at 42-year-old Rajdeo Ranjan when he was on his way home from office on a bike.

One of the bullets hit Ranjan on the head and another on the neck. He was taken to the hospital but was declared dead.

Ranjan worked for Hindustan -- a sister concern of Hindustan Times and one of Bihars largest circulating newspapers -- for 20 years. Police launched a manhunt to catch the killers. The motive behind the murder wasnt known.

We are investigating the matter, Siwan superintendent of police Saurav Kumar Sah said. The police recovered five empty cartridges from the spot.

The crime came a day after a Hindi television journalist was shot dead in Jharkhand. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad visited the TV journalists home on Friday.

India is considered one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world with political influence mixed with a nexus between criminals and industry causing a surge in crimes against reporters. A 2015 study by Reporters Without Borders said India was the deadliest for journalists in Asia, ahead of both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Nine journalists were killed in the country last year with only war-torn Syria and Iraq recording more deaths.

Siwan is the stronghold of former RJD parliamentarian Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of two people in 2004. He is still learnt to exert considerable influence in the area. The region is also near Prasads hometown of Gopalganj.

The murder is likely to further embarrass chief minister Nitish Kumar who is grappling with mounting crime and allegations of rape and murder against members of his party or coalition partners.

Last week, the son of a legislator from the ruling Janata Dal (United) shot dead a Gaya student after a tiff about overtaking on a narrow road.

Read: Pen or gun: Journos in Chhattisgarh stuck between cops and Maoists

Read: Journalist shot dead in Chatra

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Kashmiri separatists on Friday mounted an attack on Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government saying any plans to establish separate townships for Kashmiri Pandits, colony for ex-servicemen and providing land to non-state subjects wont be allowed.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yasin Malik said that his party would fight any attempt to establish separate colonies for Pandits and ex-servicemen of the state.

He said that Pandits have a right to live in the Kashmir Valley like others. They are like our brothers and sisters. But we wont allow the government to settle them behind the walls of hatred on the pattern of Israel, Malik said while addressing a press conference.

There are already about 10,000 Pandits living with their Muslim brethren in Kashmir. But composite colonies will be opposed tooth and nail, he said.

On Thursday, the government confirmed its plans to set-up townships for the Pandits who migrated from the Valley in early 1990s.

Government spokesperson and education minister Naeem Akhtar said that the government was keen to get Kashmiri Pandits back with respect and dignity.

Malik was also aghast over the governments new industrial policy and opposed establishment of any Sainik Colony in the state.

He said that his party would oppose any Sainik colony whether that was for army men from the state or outside. Even if we have to give our blood to stop these policies we will not hesitate to do so, he said.

New industrial policy of the state allows non-state subjects to get land on lease for establishing industries in the state.

Malik said that new industrial policy was similar to establishing East India Company which later subjugated the whole country.

While addressing people on Friday prayers at Jamia Masjid, moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq also came out criticizing the government for its anti-people policies.

He said that the people sitting in the state assembly were working for the interests of the Indian establishment.

Those who used to talk against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have now joined them to further the interests of India, Mirwaiz said.

He said that there were attempts from different quarters to usurp the land of the state. Either in the name of colonies for refugees or establishing the industries, conspiracies are being hatched to control the land of the state, he said.

The moderate leader said that any such policy which would compromise the special status of the state would be opposed.

Mirwaiz also called for a strike on May 21 to commemorate the death anniversary of his father Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq, who was assassinated on the day in 1990.
Investigators in Maharashtra tortured several accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case to extract confessions and invoke strict anti-terror law against them but the move didnt stand judicial scrutiny, the National Investigation Agency said on Friday.

The strong comments came after the agency dropped all charges against controversial religious leader Pragya Thakur and four others, triggering Opposition allegations that the Hindu terror accused were freed because of government pressure.

In a supplementary chargesheet filed in a special court, the NIA listed many shortcomings in the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad investigations and said courts did not believe the confession statements.

Read: Malegaon blasts: Charges against 6 accused dropped, Cong targets PM

The confession statements were used by the ATS to use provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) that allows confessions before police to be admitted as evidence.

When produced before a magistrate for confirmation of the confessional statement, accused Sudhakar Dwivedi said his confession was the outcome of torture, the NIA said.

The agency also said dubious methods adopted during investigation by ATS was clear from the disappearance of one of the main witness.

The CBI during its investigation in the disappearance of the witness has submitted findings against the officers of the ATS Mumbai, the agency said.

The way and circumstances in which the ATS invoked the provisions of MCOCA in this case becomes questionable, the NIA chargesheet said.

The September 2008 blasts in the Muslim-majority Maharashtra town killed seven people. In 2009, the state anti-terrorism squad named 14 people in a chargesheet, including Thakur  who was arrested on charges of being a key conspirator.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases of alleged Hindu terror.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju dismissed the Opposition allegations, saying there was no interference in the probe.

Justice should prevail. There should be no interference in handling such cases. Our government has allowed agencies to work independently, he told reporters.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) dropped all charges against religious leader Pragya Thakur and five others for lack of evidence in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, saying a shoddy probe by Maharashtra authorities forced the U-turn.

The investigators revoked provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case and alleged the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) planted explosives on one of the accused.

The September 2008 blasts in the Muslim-majority Malegaon town killed six people and injured 101. It was the most prominent in a string of alleged Hindu terror cases.

HT had reported on April 24 that the NIA was planning to let Thakur and others off the hook for lack of evidence.

When asked if errant ATS officials will be prosecuted, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis appeared non-committal. I am not aware of the details of what NIA has submitted, so I will not be able to comment on it at the moment.

Read: Maharashtra investigators tortured Malegaon accused: NIA chargesheet

The chargesheet said an assistant police inspector Shekhar Bagade went to the house of an accused, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, when he wasnt at home on November 3, 2008.

But the police officer kept the visit a secret, even asking one of the witnesses to not reveal anything about the visit.

Two weeks later on November 25, ATS officials searched Chaturvedis house and found a detonator and gunny bag, among other materials.

The samples on cotton swabs taken from his house --- sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Mumbai  revealed traces of RDX. FSL said the explosive ingredients recovered from the blast site at Malegaon were similar to the samples from Chaturvedis house.

The NIA later examined accused Prasad Purohit and Ramesh Upadhayay, who revealed Bagade visited Chaturvedis house  a fact that was corroborated by an army major and a subedar.

On considering the facts narrated by witnesses, the question arises why API Bagade visited the house of Sudharkar Chaturvedi in the absence of accused or witnesses, and why he requested one of the witnesses not to tell anything about his presence in the house, said the chargesheet.

This creates a doubt on this recovery of swabs of RDX keeping, stated the NIA chargesheet.

This recovery becomes suspect on the ground that the ATS Mumbai may have planted the RDX traces to implicate him, and the other accused persons in the case, read the NIA chargesheet.

Read: BJP, Congress take on each other over 2008 Malegaon blasts case

Bagade  now a senior police inspector with Navi Mumbai police station  dismissed the charges. These are wild allegations. How can somebody plant RDX? I had gone to check the address of Chaturvedi, and it is on record, he said.

The Opposition alleged the BJP government is going slow in prosecuting these incidents to shield the accused  many of whom are linked to Hindu groups.

The central government wanted to save Malegaon (blast case) accused as they have connections with them, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told the media.

Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju dismissed the allegations, saying government does not interfere in the investigation by the agencies.

Another key accused, Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, was charged under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. He and nine others were named in the chargesheet.

The case was handed over from the ATS to the NIA in 2011 along with six other cases of alleged Hindu terror.

The NIA chargesheet said MCOCA provisions were dropped because of procedural lapses and the ATS appeared to have filed chargesheets against one of the accused without sufficient evidence, only to fulfill conditions of the anti-terror act. Without the MCOCA, confessions by the accused to police officers wouldnt be admissible in court.

Read: Malegaon blasts: Charges against 6 accused dropped, Cong targets PM

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A protracted delay in handing over the 2008 Malegaon blasts probe from Maharashtra authorities to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) proved to be the biggest hurdle, a chargesheet in the case said on Friday.

The NIA dropped all charges against religious leader Pragya Thakur and five others in the chargesheet citing lack of evidence.

The agency also revoked provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all accused, which means their confessions before police wont be admissible in court.

On September 29, 2008, a blast in the Maharashtra textile town of Malegaon killed six people and injured 101 others.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) led by late IPS officer Hemant Karkare arrested Thakur and two others on October 10. A forensic laboratory said the engine number of the motorcycle used in the explosion was registered to Thakur.

But the probe ground to a halt after Karkares death in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. It was handed to the NIA three years later.

The delay led to a situation wherein no additional evidence could be collected from the scene of crime, and the veracity of the evidence collected by previous investigation agency could not be fully substantiated, the chargesheet said.

The delay made it impossible to obtain telephone or mobile records to substantiate the statements of the witness and accused, the NIA said.

The NIA had earlier said they could not interrogate any key accused -- including Lt Col Prasad Purohit or Major Ramesh Upadhayay -- because of legal hurdles created by them but supported their stand that MCOCA should be dropped.

The ATS invoked MCOCA in the case after the November 2008 arrest of Rakesh Dhawade, also the accused in blasts at Parbhani in 2003 and Jalna in 2004.

But the NIA questioned the ATS decision to file supplementary chargesheets in Parbhani and Jalna blasts after Dhawades arrest. An accused has to be named in two previous chargesheets before MCOCA can be applied.

On considering the date of Dhawades arrest and filing of chargesheet, it is apparent there was hardly any time available to ATS Mumbai to collect evidence. The said chargesheets were filed with sole purpose of fulfilling the condition of the MCOCA.

No evidence showed the accused knew of Dharwades alleged involvement in the Parbhani and Jalna blast cases, and MCOCA couldnt be applied as he retracted his confessions before a magistrate.

In the absence of MCOCA, the confessions of others couldnt be relied upon to prosecute Thakur as all witnesses retracted their statements, the NIA said.

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Reinstated Harish Rawat-led Uttarakhand government gave on Friday an assurance in the Supreme Court that it will not evict nine disqualified Congress MLAs from official homes provided to them.

The apex court, which also took on record the May 11 Gazette notification of the Centre revoking Presidents Rule in the hill state, recorded the statement made on behalf of state parliamentary affair minister Indira Hridayesh that the rebels will not be evicted from their official houses.

A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh also asked senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Hridayesh, that no facilities in the accommodations will be taken away and posted the plea of disqualified rebels for further hearing on July 12.

Rebel MLAs including Subodh Uniyal and Umesh Sharma, represented by senior advocate C A Sundaram, said that they be not evicted from their official residences till their pleas against disqualification are decided.

They also agreed to the suggestion of the bench that they will not take their salary.

At the outset, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, submitted the copy of the Gazette notification, revoking the Presidents Rule in the state.

The bench, which has kept pending the plea of Centre that it rightly invoked the Presidents Rule, then fixed the petition for further hearing on July 12.

The bench, meanwhile, issued notice on a separate appeal of rebel Congress MLA Shaila Rani Rawat that she was wrongly disqualified by the speaker after imposition of Presidents Rule. She has filed plea through lawyer M L Sharma.

Rawat was reinstated as chief minister after the Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on the floor test in the assembly.

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, the apex court said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a notice to the Centre on a petition seeking its intervention to address cruelty to animals and their exploitation in the pet shop industry.

A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra was hearing a writ petition filed by NGO Angel Trust that said the current Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has not been amended since 1960 and does not identify cruelty to animals as a penal offence. The maximum punishment the law prescribes is Rs 50 and no jail term.

The bench issued a notice to the ministry of environment, forests and climate change on the plea which also sought guidelines and regulations regarding punishment for animal abuse and administration of the pet shop industry.

The petitioners lawyer, Prashant Bhushan, told the bench the Law Commission has given a detailed report regarding animals being cruelly treated in pet shops. The panel said breeders and pet shops violate provisions of animal welfare law and recommended regulation of the practices.

The perpetrators take advantage of the toothless legislation and lackadaisical enforcement, the public interest litigation (PIL) read. It cited recent incidents of brutality to animals including the March 20, 2016, incident in which a man, caught on CCTV, was seen stabbing three stray dogs and a puppy to death outside Green Park Metro Station in south Delhi.

The facts that lead to the cause of action for the present petition is the alarming rise of instances of barbaric animal cruelty and inhuman exploitation in pet shop industry, which occur due to a vacuum in law with respect to animal abuse and exploitation, the petition said.

Read | Delhi dog killer arrested: Was sacked, lost his love and pet
The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the criminal defamation law on Friday.

The petitioners comprise prominent leaders cutting across party lines, such as BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal , among others. They have contended that Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which prescribe a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment for defamation, were outdated and inconsistent with the citizens right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

A bench of justice Dipak Misra and justice Prafulla C Pant, which reserved its verdict on the issue in August last year after hearing the matter for 18 days, is likely to pronounce the verdict at 10.30 am.

Read: Criminal defamation case against Sunny Leone

Many media organisations, including the Editors Guild of India, have also demanded that defamation be decriminalised because it has a chilling effect on free speech.

The court can either uphold the validity of the criminal defamation laws, declare them unconstitutional, or refer the issue to a constitution bench  as suggested by the Centre during the hearing.

Besides senior lawyers representing the political leaders and attorney general Mukul Rohatgi, two friends of the court (amicus curiae)  K Parasaran and TR Andhyarujina  also made extensive submissions on the issue.

The NDA government strongly defended the criminal defamation law and pitched for their retention in the statute book, stating that they have stood the test of time. Alternatively, it has asked for the petitions to be sent to a constitution bench.

Read: Kejriwal, 5 AAP leaders granted bail in criminal defamation case

The attorney general argued that quashing the penal defamation laws would lead to anarchy as no orderly society could have a situation where everybody can say anything against anybody.

Does freedom of speech and expression necessarily mean that one can say anything about anybody? Can any orderly society have this kind of behavioural norms? If yes, then you will have nothing but anarchy, Rohatgi told the top court.

There is no great point in striking down the penal provisions... nobody can be allowed to damage the reputation of others by saying something defamatory, he added.
Journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, the bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan in Bihar, was shot point dead on Friday evening.

He was attacked near the Siwan railway station and sustained injuries in head and neck.

Reporters Without Borders, in its report released in December last year, said India was among the three most dangerous countries for journalists in 2015, with nine reporters losing their lives during the year, according to the annual report of Reporters Without Borders released on Tuesday.

The media watchdog said these deaths confirmed Indias position as Asias deadliest country for media personnel, ahead of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Only war-torn Iraq and Syria recorded the deaths of more journalists than India. Four of the nine Indian journalists murdered in the past year were killed for still undetermined reasons, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said.

Indian journalists daring to cover organised crime and its links with politicians have been exposed to a surge in violence, especially violence of criminal origin, since the start of 2015, the report said.
Defamation will remain a criminal offence in India, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, rejecting pleas from top politicians and public intellectuals that the British-era provision was an outdated idea that undermined free speech.

The verdict deals a blow to advocates of free speech, who had hoped to nudge the courts to either abolish or water down the criminal defamation law which, they say, discourages dissent and forces people to hold back even fair criticism of powerful people.

The court said the right to speech was sacrosanct but not absolute, and that ones right to reputation was part of ones fundamental right to life.

When reputation is hurt, a man is half-dead. It cannot be crucified at the altar of ones right to free speech, a bench comprising justices Dipak Misra and Prafulla C Pant said.

(It is) difficult to perceive that (the) provision on criminal defamation has chilling effect on right to freedom of speech and expression, it said, adding the law served social interest.

The court ruling came in response to more than two dozen petitions, including from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal  all of whom face criminal defamation cases.

The court said they will have to stand trial in the cases against them.

The petitioners still have the option to ask the Supreme Court to review its verdict or refer the matter to a constitution bench.

In India, criminal defamation is punishable by two years in jail, a fine or both. Indians largely enjoy freedom of speech, but over the years cases have risen of dissenting voices being dragged to court or citizens being jailed for expressing their opinion, especially on social media.

World-over free-speech votaries are pushing to de-criminalise defamation, but many democracies, including Australia, South Africa and several European nations persist with the law. Several states in Mexico and the United States still criminalise defamation. Closer home, criminal defamation in Pakistan and Bangladesh criminal can land one in prison.

The top court, however, advised magistrates to be extremely careful in issuing summons to people accused of criminal defamation.

Swamy is facing three criminal defamation cases in Tamil Nadu filed by the J Jayalalithaa government for allegedly making defamatory comments against her, Rahul has a case in Bhiwandi in Maharashtra for allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Kejriwal too is facing a number of defamation cases, including those filed by union ministers and Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari.

The court gave them protection for eight weeks and said they could appeal in higher courts within this time to get the summonses quashed. Those who have already moved high court and did not succeed will have to face trial, it said.

Reacting to the verdict, Swamy tweeted: This judgment though did not strike down criminal provisions serves our purpose to fight mad CMs and crazy politicians.
Trinamool Congress leader Tapas Mallik, who is an accused in the lynching of a 24-year-old ITI student in West Bengals South 24 Parganas district, has been arrested, police said on Friday.

Mallik, a panchayat member representing the Trinamool, had been absconding since Monday when Koushik Purakait, an ITI student was lynched by a mob in Harindanga village near Diamond Harbour, accusing him of being a cattle thief.

Mallik was arrested late Thursday night near Duttapukur (in neighbouring North 24 Parganas district), said a police officer.

Purakaits family has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incident alleging the police to be biased

Meanwhile, the Diamond Harbour Bar Association said no advocate will represent Mallik who will be presented before a court on Friday.

As a mark of protest against this barbaric incident, the bar association has unanimously resolved that none of its members will defend Mallik. I am a Trinamool member and our MP Abhishek Banerjee has instructed that any party member indulging in any wrong doing should be dealt harshly, said Sudip Chakraborty of the association.

While the family has named 10 people in its complaint including Mallik alleged to have led the lynching, the police have arrested five people in this connection.

Purakait had come to visit a relatives place and was roaming around when a mob confronted him with stealing a buffalo and thrashed him.

Purakait was taken to the citys SSKM Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Purakaits murder led to widespread condemnation with opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party blaming the ruling Trinamool Congress for the lynching.
Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi on Thursday said uneducated women give birth to more kids as they stay at home and are not able to take their own decisions.

Research shows that uneducated women are giving birth to more kids. Not that they are doing any crime, but they have more time than educated women, who go out to work. Uneducated women stay back at home and are not able to take their own decision, she said at an event here.

Addressing college students, Bedi said, Weaker students come to engineering colleges due to reservation and are not ready for the course.

Shall we leave weaker students who have secured admission due to reservation and are not ready for the course like that only? They should be taught by deserving students, so that they do not stay undeserving, she added.

The former IPS officer attributed the problems arising in universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Hyderabad Central University to breakdown of communication between teachers and the administration.

Why are there problems in universities? The problem at JNU and HCU can be seen from the management perspective as it is a breakdown of communication between teachers and administrator, she said.

If there is no regular contact between teachers, Vice Chancellors, administration, then it causes problems. If there is a regular contact in a house, the problem does not go public and gets solved inside, Bedi said.

Exhorting students to pay education loans on time, she said, We have turned ungrateful. We tell parents that it is their job to give us shelter, food, and say that if (Vijay) Mallya (former liquor baron) did not pay his loan, then why should I? We should be grateful to the bank and repay loans on time, she said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is set to approach Interpol for the detention or arrest of middleman Christian Michel, an accused in the AgustaWestland choppers deal, from the UAE for his subsequent handover to India to face probe in the case, sources said.

An Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) is pending against Michel, who is one of the three key alleged middlemen of UK-based AgustaWestland and bribed influential Indians to swing the 2010 deal, since last December. He is suspected to be based in the United Arab Emirates.

Read | Agusta scam: Have to protect Gandhis to protect myself, says middleman

The notice was issued against Michel on the basis of prior non-bailable warrants issued by a Delhi court on the requests of ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which are both probing irregularities in the deal.

A Red Corner Notice warrants a persons immediate detention or arrest by authorities across the globe and handover to the country in whose criminal investigation they might be wanted, according to an ED source.

Instead of joining EDs money-laundering probe in the case since July 2014, Michel has been talking about the 2010 deal-related details with news channels while sitting in the UAE. He should be in India to join the probe and tell us what he needs to reveal, an ED source told HT.

The agency will ask Interpol to check with UAE authorities if they followed due process after the interviews were aired seemingly at a time they were conducted there, said the source.

He allegedly runs a Dubai-based firm, Global Services, FZE, that figures prominently in the alleged money trail of the bribes - worth Rs 360 crore - paid by Agusta to swing the deal in its favour.

It could be that Michel has been in the UAE from the time the RCN was issued against him last year since otherwise, any movement at an airport would have certainly alerted authorities about his presence there, he said.

Read | All norms followed in AgustaWestland chopper deal: Ex-defence secy

Michel, who is based either in Dubai or Abu Dhabi in the UAE, was interviewed by two Indian news channels on Wednesday and Thursday about his role in the deal and other aspects connected to the case.

In an interview with a news channel on Wednesday, Michel had offered to get interviewed from the Indian consulate in Dubai since he feared getting arrested on his arrival in India.

On Thursday, the CBI rejected Michels offer to depose via video-conferencing from Dubai. The investigating agency said Michel will have to come to India for questioning.

The CBI will take its probe in the VVIP choppers deal case to its logical conclusion. Christian Michel should join the probe in India, a CBI spokesperson said.
A middle-aged worker of a roadside eatery in central Kolkata, who was pushed into a vessel of steaming curry by an angry customer on Sunday, died at a city hospital on Thursday.

The 42-year-old Lalan Singh lived by himself in Kolkata and worked at the eatery located close to the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar. The police sent word of his death to his family members at Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

Mohammad Zakir, who flung Singh into the steaming gravy following a tiff, was arrested. A local and a real estate broker, Zakir used to frequent the eatery.

The incident took place on Sunday evening when Zakir, after having been served a meal, threw a fit over the quality of the fish curry. He soon got into a heated argument with Lalan, who served him the meal.

However, Zakir broke off after raging at the worker and sat down to dinner. After finishing his rice, he ordered rotis. However, Singh, who was upset over the brawl, refused saying that rotis would take a long time to make. Zakir flew off the handle again and got into a scuffle with the worker. Singh soon tipped over into the vessel in which the eatery owner was busy stirring steaming vegetable curry.

Lalan received severe burn injuries in his stomach, face and leg. He was admitted to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital. However, he succumbed to his injuries this morning. Weve informed his family members in Bihar, a police officer said. On Sunday, the Hare Street police booked Zakir for creating a ruckus and causing grievous injury. He was arrested on Monday and got bail later that day.

However, Lalans death on Thursday, the cops charged him with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and put him behind bars again. He was remanded to judicial custody for seven days.
The district police on Thursday morning arrested a man for rape and murder of a 6-year-old girl here.

According to senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mukhwinder Singh, accused Kala Singh, 40, a resident of Fatehabad district in Haryana, was a distant relative of the victim and had come to attend a marriage ceremony at her native village Alampur Mandra.

The family found the victim missing on Wednesday evening. They looked for her everywhere, but her whereabouts were not known. They informed the police about the disappearance of the girl.

The family was informed by some people on Thursday morning that the victim was last seen with the accused after which the cops arrested him from Boha.

After his arrest, he confessed that under the influence of alcohol he had taken the child to a nearby canal on Wednesday evening and raped her. She was later strangulated and buried near the canal. Then we recovered the body and sent it for postmortem to the civil hospital, said the SSP.

The accused has been booked under sections 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 376 (punishment for rape), 302 (murder) of IPC along with sections 3, 4, 5 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The cops had a tough time in controlling the family members of the victim as the entire village was tensed over the incident. They were demanding immediate arrest of the accused after which they would allow the body to be sent for postmortem. Later, our senior officers convinced the family and we managed to carry the body to the civil hospital, said a cop.
The robbers  two men and a woman  who actually carried out the Rs 14-crore dacoity-that-never-was at Forever Diamonds in Sector 17 on May 1 landed in the police net on Thursday. In a bizarre twist, they have told the police that Vinod Verma, the co-owner of the store, had asked them to play robbers that day for a movie shoot.

Police claimed that the men were convinced for the job by their relative Amit Kumar, owner of Jagdamba Jewellers, Sector 37, who was a customer of Forever Diamonds.

Diamonds are Forever, a lie isnt: Sec 17 heist was owners drama

A police source said Amit had absconded to Bangkok, and only his arrest would make clear what motivated him to ask his relatives to act as dacoits.

The accused have been identified as Amits brother-in-law Vaibhav Verma, 37, a resident of PGI Society, Sector 49; his brother-in-law Ankur Jolly, 22, a resident of Zirakpur; and Shivani, a resident of Maloya, who worked as a salesgirl at Jagdamba Jewellers.

They have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating); 467 (forgery of valuable security); 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

Staged robbery: Forever Diamonds owners planned to shut business

To add authenticity to their claim of dacoity, the jeweller brothers asked them to open the strong room and ransack empty boxes. But sensing something was wrong, the trio refused, after which the jewellers asked them to leave the showroom, a police source claimed.

The escape route

The trio then went towards the Sector 17-18 dividing road from where the woman hired an auto to her house in Maloya, whereas the men returned to the parking lots of Neelam Theatre, where they had parked their motorcycles.

Empty bags all along

The police said Verma had asked them to bring bags so that they could take away some jewellery from the showroom, as part of the scene. However, when asked to enter the strong room, they got scared.

While entering and also while exiting, they were carrying empty bags, said a police official, adding that the digital video recorder had been hidden by Vinod and they were yet to recover it.

Co-accused Rajneesh Verma still out of police reach

Co-owner of Forever Diamonds and Vinods brother Rajneesh Verma continues to be at large, three days after his brothers arrest. The police are searching for him with the help of his family members.
Finally tightening the noose around private schools, the district administration issued an order letter stating that no school can now take re-admission fee and annual charges along with donations during admissions and also ordered that the schools which have not abided by the guidelines of CBSE and Justice Amar Dutt committee would have to roll back or adjust their portion of hiked fees and funds from 2012-13.

This announcement was made by Amritsar deputy commissioner Varun Roojam on Thursday after parents and members of Punjab Parents Association met him and requested to take a call on the fee hike issue which has brought many parents on roads and left them agitated.

Finally their requests and efforts have paid to a certain extent as the DC said as demanded, the district education officer (DEO) (SE) would be drafting an order letter.

I have always been concerned about the parents and their demands and after the meeting today, I have assured them that DEO (SE) Satinder Bir Singh would be drafting an order letter which would be handed over to the school heads by the 11-member teams which would be visiting schools on Monday. Every school has to abide by the order issued, says Roojam.

Roojam also clarified that this letter wont be by DEO Elemantry as he is not authorised to issue one, thus DEO (SE) would be doing the job.

The order letter clearly states that the schools which have not abided by the CBSE guidelines and Justice Amar Dutt Committee guidelines while making fee hikes would have to roll back or adjust the extra fees from 2012-13 session. Also, schools should stop doing re-admissions by charging annual charges, asserts DC.

Roojam clearly stated that action would be taken on the schools who are fleecing parents on the name of development funds, annual charges and other funds.

A sigh of relief for parents

Representatives of Punjab Parents Association felt a sigh of relief after the DC assured that their demands are met and the administration would assure that private schools abide by the orders.

We have been struggling since long on this issue and we are thankful to the DC who has assured us that schools will be told not to do re-admissions every year as that is a way of earning money and parents are being looted.

Then he has asked DEO (SE) to issue us a letter immediately and also hand it over to the school heads. This letter would make them roll back hiked fees amounts, says MK Sharma who also took up the matter with the Punjab chief minister and asked him to form fee regulatory panel before polls.

DEO (SE) introduces principals representing teams

We met DEO (SE) and he introduced us to the ten principals who have been selected to be part of 11-member teams which would start their visits from Monday and these teams would be handing over the order letter too.

The process would start when the teams meet school heads and then later when reports are submitted, DC sir would bring the school heads and parents together in a meeting to announce final decision, said Gaurav Khanna and Dinesh Thukral, parents and members of the parents association.

There has been some positive development in the fee hike issue but the final decision is still pending and it will depend on the pace of the 11-member committees constituted to visit schools and also the DC taking a final call next week.

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Four days on, the National Disaster Response force is unable to locate the five missing persons, who were washed away in the flash flood triggered by cloudburst on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the NDRF used sensors to locate the missing people. After having failed, the administration decided to bring in sniffer dogs. On Friday, soon after the search operation resumed, two sniffer dogsDora and Tyra were deployed on the spot-left bank of Sutlej but could not smell the success.

Read: Cloudburst in HP: Nawanshahr villages in shock as no trace of 4 boys

In the sweltering heat, the search operation was going on in Loti Khad where 15ft layer of debris was deposited after the flashflood. Eight people, including seven from Rahenwal village of Nawanshahr in Punjab, had been washed away. Three people were rescued on the same day.

The police officer said sniffer dogs are able to smell objects even from a distance of 45 feet but here these have failed to smell anything.

The bodies are either buried deep in the debris or washed away in the river as sniffer dogs couldnt smell anything, he said.

Police, home guard and fire brigade were deployed in the rescue operation initially. Ill-equipped state machinery finally called the national disaster response force (NDRF).

On its second day NDRF, operating its standard operating procedures (SOPs) maintained that the possibility of retrieving bodies of missing person is very low.

So far we have not succeeded in finding anything, except a part of vehicles wreckage. There is thick layer of debris deposited in the Khad and it is not possible to engage some machine, incharge of 28-member NDRF team inspector Gobind Singh told Hindustan Times.

He said divers tried to search bodies in the river on Thursday but due to the strong river current it wasnt possible. We will continue our operation till the order of instant commanderADM protocol.

Family members of missing youth were also present on the spot. Disappointed relatives said its not that administration is not helping or working but circumstances are adverse. The layer of debris is about 10-15 feet thick and the pace of flow of eater in Sutlej river is high, Avtar Singh said.

Barring the wreckage of the Scorpio vehicle, nothing has been found, additional district magistrate (ADM) protocol Sunil Sharma said, who has been overseeing the search operation.

NDRF rafters were in river for long but did not dive in due to the pace of flow of water. The team also used modern technology to search the bodies in the debris. Shimla deputy commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur said the possibility of finding bodies is low and thats why the dog squad has been called for the operation. He said the operation will continue on Friday.

Rescued people have been identified as Fatah Singh, Sukhveer and Kamaljeet while the missing tourists are Sharanpreet, Hardeep, Evanjot and Aman Singh from Rahenwal village in Nawanshahr. The tourist guide is identified as Pinku from Sirmaur district who is also among those missing. The rescued youth had been discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.

Read: HP cloudburst: 4 Punjab tourists, guide washed away in Sutlej flash flood

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The news of death of the head of Sant Nirankari Mission Baba Hardev Singh came as a shock to people across Punjab. Not only the followers of the sect, every body expressed shock over the untimely death of the spiritual leader, who met with a car accident in Canadas Montreal at around 5am on Friday.

As efforts were being made to bring his mortal remains to the Nirankari headquarter in New Delhi, a large number of devotees thronged sects Punjab headquarter in Amritsar.

Assistant public relations officer (APRO) of Sant Nirankari Mandal branch in Amritsar Paramjit Moman said, We are extremely saddened that Hardev Singh has left us . It is a huge loss for the devotees. We all are shattered with the news.

He said as soon as the news broke, devotees started pouring in at the bhawan in Amritsar. Many were keen to leave for Delhi and were requested to stay back and pray for his soul, he said.

He requested the followers to stay back in their respective cities. Let us sit together at the local bhawans and pray for the departed soul, he said.

Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Capt Amarinder Singh also mourned the untimely death of Baba Hardev Singh. He said, I am deeply saddened and shocked to learn about the untimely demise of Sant Baba Hardev Singh Ji. It is a great loss not only to the Nirankari followers, but to the humanity as a whole as he was a great spiritual leader of our time. He further said the spiritual void created by this death would be very difficult to be filled. I personally share the grief of the family and followers over this great loss, he added. Earlier in the day, he had tweeted

Deeply saddened and shocked over the untimely demise of #BabaHardevSingh in a road accident in Canada.  Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) May 13, 2016

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to twitter saying, Baba Hardev Singhs demise is tragic and a great loss to the spiritual world. My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time.

Baba Hardev Singhs demise is tragic & a great loss to the spiritual world. My thoughts are with his countless followers in this sad time.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 13, 2016

Congress president Sonia Gandhi also expressed shock and grief over Babas death and offered condolences to all his followers. Spiritual values of equality and simplicity perpetuated by him and the Nirankari Samaj will forever remain relevant, she said.

Home minister Rajnath Singh said he was deeply pained to learn of the demise. He was a not only a spiritual leader but also a social reformer, Rajnath Singh said in a tweet.

Baba Hardev Singh's demise is a huge loss to the Nirankari Mission. May God give his followers the strength to bear the pain of this tragedy  Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) May 13, 2016

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu and BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain also condoled the death of the spiritual leader.

(With agency inputs)

Read: Nirankari spiritual head Hardev Singh dies in road accident in Canada
Taking cognisance of the complaint made by the Budha Dal School Parents Association regarding the alleged confinement of students inside the school library on April 12, Punjab governor Kaptan Singh Solanki has sought a reply regarding the incident from the authorities concerned.

Patiala school confines students, 3 land in hospital as fee row turns ugly

The parents association had raised the issue of fee hike and had moved court against the capitation fee being charged by the school. They also staged various protests against the school, due to which the school management targeted the students whose family members were involved in those protests and on the fateful day, the school authorities allegedly confined some students inside the school library.

Following the directions from the governor office, the principal secretary (education), Punjab, further marked the letter to the local administration and advised them to take necessary action after conducting the detailed inquiry. The principal secretary also directed the officials to submit the inquiry report within 10 days of receiving the letter.

The letter written to the principal secretary on April 29, states that the parents association of Budha Dal Public School had submitted a request to the governor for taking action against the school for that incident.

An official from the governors office, in the letter, stated that it was asked to him to write it to the principal secretary (education) about the appropriate action to be taken in this regard and submit the reply to the governors office and the parents association.

The local administration, on the directions of principal secretary, had formed a four-member committee headed by circle education officer (CEO) Nabha Harpal Kaur to inquire into the matter. The other members included Sangrur DEO (secondary) Sandeep Nagar, Fatehgarh Sahib deputy DEO Parveen Kumar and Tota Singh, principal, Government Multipurpose School, Patiala.

Meanwhile, the inquiry committee on Thursday visited the Budha Dal Public School to inquire into the matter and also met the parents at Government Senior Secondary School, Pheelkhana, Patiala. The team recorded the statements of parents and students and also watched the video recordings of the incident.

Parents submit clippings of HT

As evidence of the incident, the parents also handed over the clippings of Hindustan Times newspaper. The parents also informed the committee that mediapersons from newspapers were also present with them when they released the students from the library.

Lackadaisical attitude of police

Even after around a month of the incident, the police were still struggling to make out if any offence was committed by the school authorities.

Initially, the complaint was filed by the mother of a student at 181 helpline number, following which the local police filed a report with a clean chit to the school. But when HT highlighted the issue, the police again initiated the investigation into the matter. JS Sodhi, advisor of the parents association, informed that they had received a call from the SSP office on Thursday and the caller asked them to appear before the SSP on Friday. As the hearing in the court is scheduled on May 13, we will not be able to meet the SSP, said Sodhi.

The incident

The row over the capitation fee between parents and Budha Dal Public School management turned ugly on April 12 after the school authorities allegedly confined 40 students of various classes in the library. Three of them landed in Rajindra Government Hospital due to uneasiness and depression after the incident.
Even as 100s of illegal political religious hoardings continue to flood the citys landscape, information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has revealed that there are only 21 spots where hoardings and that too of religious nature can be installed legally. It has also been revealed under the information that the MC has not granted any permission to allow political hoardings.

This fact came to light on a petition filed by Rohit Sabharwal, president of the Council of RTI Activists. The reply to his petition revealed that religious hoardings can be installed at 21 places (two hoardings at each place) for seven days before any religious event without any charges. It was also made known that no income has been generated from illegal political and religious hoardings since April 2014. The decision of fixing spots for advertisements had been taken at a Finance and Contract Committee meeting in 2010.

Places where religious hoardings are allowed

In Zone A, hoardings can be installed near the Daresi ground, Basti Jodhewal, the New Civil Hospital, near Gurdwara Dukhniwaran Sahib and the under-bridge near the cremation ground on Gaushala Road.

In Zone B, hoardings can be installed at the Cheema Chowk, Soofia chowk, the Focal point near the Dhandari Bridge, Sherpur Chowk, Jeevan Nagar and Chandigarh Road.

In Zone C, the areas near Vishwakarma chowk, Arora palace, Partap chowk and Dholewal Chowk were selected for religious hoardings.

In Zone D, areas near Dandi Swami Chowk, Haibowal Chowk, Model Town Extension, Durga Mata Mandir, Ishmeet Chowk and Kitchlu Nagar are earmarked. In all other areas, hoardings are not allowed.

In spite of directions from the Punjab and Haryana high court, the MC has failed to ensure action against illegal hoardings. No document regarding this was provided in response to the RTI reply.

The council of RTI activists claimed that they will move the HC again if the MC authorities turned a blind eye over the violations. MCs advertisement wing superintendent Harvinder Singh claimed that all illegal religious and political hoardings had been removed.

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With the arrest of two persons on Wednesday, the Banur police claimed to have busted a gang that robbed people in the region. They also recovered two locally made pistols, a .315 bore rifle with three cartridges and a .12 bore pistol with two cartridges from their possession.

A Bolero jeep (HR 10 V 4580), which was stolen from the Bhiwani area, was also recovered from their possession. They were using it for the illegal activities by changing its registration number plate.

Both the accused were from Haryana and have been identified as Satish Kumar, a resident of Jind district and Manish, a resident of Shadipur near Julana town.

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, in a press conference on Thursday, said, after receiving a tip-off that the accused were coming towards the city in a car, the police set up a check point near Banur barrier to nab the culprits. When they saw the police, they tried to run away, but the police personal caught hold of them, he said.

The police officials recovered weapons and ammo from inside the jeep and arrested the culprits. The police registered a case under Sections 379, 392, 411, 472, 120-B of the IPC and 25/54/59-A of Arms Act against them at Banur police station.

The police said with the arrest of two robbers, several other cases would also be traced as the gang members were the part of multiple loot and robbery incidents.

Bought arms from UP

The police claimed that they had bought the arms and ammunition from Uttar Pradesh and wanted to target a youth named Jatinder Pehlwan, a resident of Julana. They were also using the pistols for loot and other incidents.
With local member of Parliament (MP) Kirron Kher reiterating her stand on non-viability of Metro link in Chandigarh, her statement has once again raised a question mark whether the project will see light of the day or not. The MP, during a media interaction on Wednesday, had clearly said that I dont think Chandigarh needs Metro link. It involves a huge budget. I dont want the city to be uprooted. However, UT officials say the final call on the project will be taken by the Centre government.

Stating its not a financially viable project, the MP had said the solution to the problem of increasing vehicles is a ring road. However, it is my personal opinion and I dont want to go against my partys stand, though I will fight for it.

Meanwhile, many UT bureaucrats also agreed to the MPs point of view that Metro is not a financially viable project and will put a huge financial burden on the exchequer.

A senior UT officer, seeking anonymity, said, The project can come up only if it is financially viable. Even if it gets started, it will not be easy to maintain it, as Metro involves huge investment on maintenance.

However, another officer said the Metro could be a white elephant if the administration fails to finds out ways to turn it into a profitable venture. A module needs to be worked out to turn the Metro project profitable. Expenses can be borne through advertisements and other means, he added.

Finance secretary Sarvjit Singh said, We have started the process. A Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be sent to the Centre soon. The final call on the feasibility of the Metro project will be taken by the Centre only.

The Union ministry of urban development will provide 50% funds for the project, while the rest will be borne by the UT. Sources say the estimated cost of the project has jumped from Rs 10,900 crore to Rs 13,600 crore in the past seven years. They add after the formation of the Greater Chandigarh Transport Corporation (GCTC) this year, the work will get started. The Punjab and Haryana high court had also given its nod for the project. Though the MP is not in its favour, UT administrator Kaptan Singh Solanki earlier this year had told HT that the Metro project was the only affordable solution to tackle traffic congestion.

Doubts over project

The total length of the Metro project covering Chandigarh, SAS Nagar and Panchkula is 37.57km. The major portion of the two corridors falls in Chandigarh. Doubts have been raised over financial viability and the relatively low population of the city since very beginning. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) had stated that the Metro project will not be commercially viable till 2051 due to poor Peak-Hour Peak-Direction Traffic (PHPDT). It meant that the facility needs to be used by 40,000-70,000 passengers at the peak hour in peak traffic to ensure viability, which is expected to be achieved only in 2051.

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With a view to rejuvenating party cadres as Punjab heads for a tough political battle in the coming assembly polls, the state BJP is working out a formula to reshuffle its ministerial berths, it is learnt.

The BJP, coalition partner of the SAD in the Punjab government, has four ministers in the cabinet. The reshuffle, which is being discussed behind closed doors for the past one week, is expected to take shape on Friday when state affairs incharge Prabhat Jha meets the party leadership in Chandigarh. The move is being seen as an effort to negate the anti-incumbency factor that the party faces.

The move follows Union minister Vijay Sampla taking over the reins of the state party unit. Sending Sampla, a Dalit leader from Doaba, to lead the saffron party in the state is a clear signal that the high command wants the party to be a tangible force, especially when the Aam Aadmi Party is emerging as a strong contender on the political scene.

Samplas elevation as the Union minister and recently as the state unit president shows that the party wants to take along Dalit vote bank, which is 32% of the state population. A reshuffle being done with Sampla at the centrestage is a signal to the cadres that the party wants to enter the poll fray with him as its face in the state.

I am convening a meeting of party leadership on Friday, Jha told HT on phone, refusing to comment further. As the political parleys in the state unit of saffron party got hectic with reports of a possible reshuffle, Sampla could not be contacted as his phone was switched off.

Sources in the party said Sampla had got approved a reshuffle formula from the central leadership and the incumbent ministers might be asked to tender resignations on Friday.

The party currently has four ministers--Chunni Lal Bhagat, who is also leader of partys legislature group, with forests and wildlife preservation and labour portfolios; Madan Mohan Mittal with industries and commerce; Surjit Kumar Jyani with health and family welfare, social security and development of women and children; and Anil Joshi with local government and medical education and research portfolios.

Those in the race to become ministers are Dinesh Babbu, Manoranjan Kalia and Som Parkash. Babbu being the deputy speaker, the party is expected to bring in a new face in his place. The contest is between Bhagat and Som Parkash, both Dalit leaders, as a section of the saffron party wants to replace the former with someone strong as the legislature group leader who can vociferously voice the partys concerns inside the government and at party fora.

The BJP has 12 MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha of which four are ministers and six are chief parliamentary secretaries. The party reportedly is pondering on the role of Pathankot MLA Ashwini Sharma, who seems to be left out in the reallocation process.

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The Panthic Punjab government of Parkash Singh Badal took almost a month to send its populist bill  advocating life sentence to the desecrators of Guru Granth Sahib  to governor Kaptan Singh Solanki for assent after the Vidhan Sabha passed the proposed legislation on March 21.

The governor has stamped it but this bill is still unlikely to become a law anytime soon. The Punjab home department will send it to the Union government for the Presidents assent; but before it gets to him, it will be routed through the Union Ministries of Home Affairs and Law and then the Prime Ministers Office  a long, time-consuming path.

To become a law, the bill requires Presidential assent, since it is in conflict with the central legislation (295-A) that prescribes three-year imprisonment for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the feelings of any class by insulting its religion and religious beliefs. Following a spate of sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and statewide violent protests last year, the poll-bound, nine-year-old Badal government had introduced this bill in the Vidhan Sabha budget session to punish those who defiled the Sikh holy book.

Government sources say that deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who also holds the portfolio of home affairs and justice, cleared the bill file on April 20 (Vidhan Sabha passed the bill on March 21) and the CM forwarded it to the governor on April 24. Solanki gave his assent within three days.

On April 28, the home department received the file from Punjab Raj Bhawan. Since then, no concrete step has been taken to send the bill to the Centre for Presidential assent, sources have said. It will be done shortly, said a government functionary. The Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2016, prescribed life imprisonment for sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib (by adding Section 295-AA) and enhancement of punishment (under Section 295 of the IPC) from two to 10 years for injuring or defiling a place of worship.

This bill was passed amid a demand from the opposition Congress for including the scriptures of other religions as well, which was, however, rejected by a voice vote. An amendment was also made to Section 295-A of the IPC to enhance the punishment for hurting religious sentiments. Proposing the amendments, Sukhbir had stated that the desecration incidents, if not curbed, could create a serious law-and-order problem in the state. The existing provisions in the IPC are insufficient to deal with these situations, he had said on the floor of the House.

Of at least 27 bills introduced in the Vidhan Sabha budget session, 25 were passed and two withdrawn.

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Congress poll strategist Prashant Kishor met expelled senior leaders Bir Devinder and Jagmeet Brar at the official residence of Punjab Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Charanjit Singh Channi last week fuelling speculations that the party was in a mood of wooing back the dissidents.

The meeting took place on May 5, two days after Jagmeet Brar held a press conference at the house of the former deputy speaker in Patiala and announced to expose the secret pact between families of ruling Badal and Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh and invited Bir Devinder to join him for his May 21 rally at Mohali. Channi and Kishor met Devinder first followed by a meeting with Brar.

Ready to join AAP, if invited: Expelled Cong leader Jagmeet Brar

Bir Devinder said, I had only expressed my feelings against the plight of party in Punjab and not praised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) like Brar. The decision of my expulsion can be reviewed if good sense prevails on the party. There are many constituencies where I wield good influence. I have not committed to attend Brars rally but only supported him as he too had shown solidarity with me.

However, Brar is in no mood to return to the Congress fold. His brother, former MLA Ripjit Brar, said they had not expected such huge response from people when they decided to hold the rally. We are not going back to the Congress. We are expecting a huge turnout for the rally, Ripjit said. Though he was keen on getting an invite from AAP, Brar is also looking at the possibility of being announced the face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) if his rally turns out to be successful, making it a four-cornered contest. The BSP has a considerable votebank in Doaba and all parties are trying to woo the over 32% population of Dalits in the state.

Channi has personal stakes in getting the two leaders back into the party fold. He was president of Kharar municipal body when Bir Devinder was Kharar MLA. Brar now has support of a key Channi aide, Amandeep Singh Mangat, who has five councillors of the civic body in his constituency, Chamkaur Sahib, to his side.

Channi said he had met the leaders earlier to request them not to give statements against party leaders.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has described the Pakistani Taliban as the greatest threat to the region and said his country is facing an undeclared war from Pakistan, which did not accept his offer of peace.

Delivering a well-received lecture on the theme Fifth Wave of Political Violence at the Royal United Services Institute on Thursday, Ghani expressed frustration at Afghanistan becoming a battleground for fighters from various countries, but mainly from Pakistan.

Who fights in my country? Chinese, Chechens, Uzbeks, Tajiks, but the greatest one of course is a huge movement from Pakistan. Then, of course all the rejects from the Arab world are sent on to us, he said.

Ghani added, Our fundamental issue is peace with Pakistan. There has been undeclared war against us and that I framed during my visit. I went to the (Pakistan Armys) GHQ. I invested enormous amount of political capital to make sure the road to peace was the proper road. Our extended hand was not shaken.

He asked the packed audience, Can anyone point out a historical precedent or a political framework where people who do not belong to a nation and do not have a quarrel internally (have) such a presence?

Ghani said, Who are we posing a threat to? Do you know of a single Afghan who has blown himself up? Why are so many being sent to us? The TTP (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan) is becoming the greatest threat to the region.

He rejected the impression that Afghanistan is becoming a safe haven for Al Qaeda but admitted the group is networking. There is also a displacement effect, he said, noting the displacement of people caused by the Pakistan Armys operations along the Durand line, largely in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

TTP is a displacement phenomenon due to the operations of the Pakistani army. We have gone after the leadership of TTP multiple times. If Mullah Fazlullah has seven lives, thats not our fault, he said.

But can the state of Pakistan point out a single operation against the Haqqanis or the Taliban leadership? Are their addresses not known? Where do they congregate, where do they meet, do they not meet openly, do they not recruit openly, do they not receive arms openly?

Mullah Fazlullah is a top Taliban commander who fled to Afghanistan after the army launched a drive against his fighters in northwest Pakistan.

Ghani told the audience his commander of Helmand province went to the Pakistani city of Quetta and told his counterpart, who was the former director of military intelligence: Would you like to take a tour, so we can point you to specific locations? He kindly refused the offer. We do not differentiate between good and bad terrorists, and consequently we face terrorism.

Setting out his analysis of the global state of political violence, Ghani said in his region, unfortunately states felt inclined to both sponsor malign state actors or even use some of their own organisations behaving as malign. This is a lose-lose proposition.

He said, Anyone who believes that terrorism could be classified as good or bad terrorism needs to rethink the fundamental assumptions. Daesh has taken all the oxygen, but what keeps me awake is Al Qaeda. Is it gone down dark and deep? Is it preparing another surprise? Which is going to be the more enduring phenomena: What is visible or the dog that did not bark?

According to Ghani, one of the characteristics of the current  or fifth  wave of political violence is the change in networking. Previously we used to have face-to-face or in small groups. Now the militants have become face-to-faceless or face-to-Facebook, which makes recruitment extraordinarily effective and replication does not depend on central authority.

Ghani went on to say: When Afghans face battles of survival, we aggregate, congregate and we defeat and we will defeat this wave. Dont have any doubt about it. Look at our history, but the price is unbelievably high.

The President calmly responded to noisy interruptions during the event by some demonstrators who protested against the decision to route a major transmission line in the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan electricity project through Salang, instead of Bamyan.

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Gunmen, including two suicide bombers, stormed a coffee shop in a town north of Baghdad early on Friday, killing at least 13 people and wounding 15 there, Iraqi officials said.

Within hours, the Islamic State group posted a statement online claiming responsibility for the attack, which took place shortly after midnight Thursday in Balad, 80 km north of the Iraqi capital.

The attack came on the heels of a two-day wave of bombings in Baghdad that killed nearly 100 people  attacks that have also been claimed by the Islamic State group. The deadliest struck the sprawling Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City in northeast Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 63 people.

According to Iraqi officials, three gunmen armed with machine guns opened fire into the crowded Balad cafe and once police arrived at the scene, two of the attackers detonated their suicide vests. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Later Friday, Iraqs top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemned the wave of attacks and said the government is ultimately responsible for such security breaches, accusing the countrys politicians of closing their ears to their advisers.

Al-Sistanis words were relayed by his aide Ahmed al-Safi in a televised speech from the holy city of Karbala following Friday prayers. Over three months ago, al-Sistani suspended his weekly political sermons after his repeated demands that the countrys politicians tackle corruption went unheeded.

The IS bombings this week exposed lingering gaps in Baghdads defences, which are manned by an array of security agencies and militias that dont always cooperate. They also point to the resilience of the extremist IS group, which has increasingly resorted to bombings in civilian areas far from the front lines as it has lost some territory to Iraqi forces backed by US-led airstrikes.

Raad Hadi comforts his brother Saad, a victim of bombing attacks as he receives treatment at a Hospital in Sadr City, Baghdad. In the deadliest violence in Baghdad this year, three car bombs killed and wounded dozens of civilians across the Iraqi capital Wednesday. (AP)

On Thursday evening, hundreds took to the streets in Baghdads Sadr City to demand government accountability for the security breaches. Protesters carried signs calling for the interior minister to resign while others called for the minister of defense and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to also step down.

Anti-government protests first erupted last summer as temperatures soared and millions were left without electricity. While al-Abadi proposed a series of government reforms in August 2015 that he claimed would combat corruption, very little has been implemented. Repeated delays in Iraqs parliament sparked another wave of protests this year, led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. In late April the clerics supporters stormed Baghdads heavily fortified Green Zone and the parliament building.

Since the unprecedented breach of the compound, which is home to many of Baghdads ministries and foreign embassies, the countrys government has been largely gridlocked as many lawmakers are boycotting parliament.

Iraqi officials and analysts warn that the deepening political crisis may be distracting Iraqs security forces from the fight against IS. The Iraqi government claims IS only occupies 14 percent of the countrys territory after a string of battlefield losses, but the extremist group still controls key border areas between Iraq and Syria as well as Iraqs second largest city of Mosul.
The gun used to kill unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in a 2012 case that triggered protests across the United States was put up for auction on Thursday.

Former neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman, who shot dead the 17-year-old, listed the weapon on the United Gun Groups website -- hours after it was removed from a previous site which said it wanted nothing to do with the sale.

Zimmerman advertised the weapon as the firearm that was used to defend my life and end the brutal attack from Trayvon Martin and called the sale your opportunity to own a piece of American history.

The Kel-Tec PF-9, a 9mm pistol, had a starting price of $5,000. Two hours after it was posted online, there were no bids, though it had been liked by two users. At times, the website appeared to be down.

Zimmerman had previously listed the gun on GunBroker.com, but it was swiftly removed by the auctioneers.

Mr Zimmerman never contacted anyone at GunBroker.com prior to or after the listing was created and no one at GunBroker.com has any relationship with Zimmerman, the website said in a statement.

Our site rules state that we reserve the right to reject listings at our sole discretion, and have done so with the Zimmerman listing, it added. We want no part in the listing on our website or in any of the publicity it is receiving.

Zimmerman had told the Orlando Sentinel that the first auction website was not prepared for the traffic and publicity surrounding the auction of my firearm.

Read | A million hoodies march to seek justice for Trayvon Martin

Martins killing was the first in a series of high-profile deaths of young black men in recent years, which have sparked a national debate on race in America.

A neighborhood watch volunteer in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, Zimmerman fatally shot the high school student as he was walking home with iced tea and candy in February 2012.

Zimmerman insisted he had been following Martin on suspicion the youth was involved in robbery, and that he shot him in an act of self-defense.

He was acquitted of second-degree murder the following year, setting off protests nationwide over Floridas stand your ground gun laws.

Fight Black Lives Matter

The weapons description on United Gun Group, which bills itself as a social marketplace for the firearms community, was accompanied by photographs of the gun taken when it was displayed as evidence in court.

Offers to purchase the firearm have been received; however, the offers were to use the gun in a fashion I did not feel comfortable with, Zimmerman wrote in a description accompanying the listing.

Many have expressed an interest in owning and displaying the firearm, including the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, he said.

The Smithsonian denied his claim, tweeting: We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmermans firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums.

We have never expressed interest in collecting George Zimmermans firearm, and have no plans to ever collect or display it in any museums  Smithsonian (@smithsonian) May 12, 2016

Zimmerman said a portion of the proceeds of the sale would be used to fight BLM (Black Lives Matter) violence against law enforcement officers, referring to the activist movement against police brutality against African Americans.

He also said it would be used to ensure the demise of Angela Correy, who prosecuted him, and Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clintons anti-firearm rhetoric.

The firearm is fully functional as the attempts by the Department of Justice on behalf of B. Hussein Obama to render the firearm inoperable were thwarted by my phenomenal defense attorney, he added, highlighting President Barack Obamas middle name as foes of the US leader have often done to question his origins and legitimacy.

The 32-year-old Zimmerman has made headlines repeatedly since his acquittal over Martins death, notably for selling paintings of the Confederate Flag -- which is viewed by many as a racist symbol -- in partnership with a Florida gun store.

He has also had several subsequent run-ins with the law.

Last year, he was accused of assault by his girlfriend, although she later withdrew the complaint.

In September 2014, he allegedly threatened a man during a road rage incident on a Florida highway, but police released him because the man did not want to press charges.

In 2013, his estranged wife Shellie Zimmerman called police to say he had threatened her with a gun, but she too failed to press charges.

Read | Protesters swarm in Times Square, chant Black lives matter!
China has elevated the status of its Tibet Military Command as part of preparations for a possible conflict with India, placing the formation under the control of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) so that it can take on more combat assignments, state media reported on Friday.

Placing the Tibet command directly under the PLA ground forces suggests the formation might undertake some kind of military combat mission in the future, a source told the Global Times, a tabloid closely linked to the Communist Party of Chinas mouthpiece, the Peoples Daily.

The Tibet Military Command bears great responsibility to prepare for possible conflicts between China and India, and currently it is difficult to secure all the military resources they need, Song Zhongping, a Beijing-based military expert, told the newspaper.

The Global Times noted that border disputes between China and India have not been completely resolved.

Read | China coordinating with Pakistan to block Indias entry into NSG

The elevation of the authority level is not only an improvement for the troops designation, but also an expansion of their function and mission, Zhao Zhong, deputy director of the Political Work Department of the Tibet Military Command, was quoted as saying by China Youth Daily.

The formation in Tibet is currently under Chinas Western Theatre Command, with its headquarters at Chengdu in Sichuan Province. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar visited the Western Theatre Command when he visited China last month.

After recent military reforms, most provincial military commands are under the control of the new National Defense Mobilisation Department of the Central Military Commission under the chairmanship of President Xi Jinping, and their importance will be diminished, the source said. But the Tibet Military Command still holds a very important position and its elevation will place it one level higher than its counterparts in other provinces, the state media reported.

The promotion shows China is paying great attention to the Tibet Military Command, which will significantly improve the commands ability to manage and control the regions military resources, as well as provide better preparation for combat, Song said.

Read | Chinas defence budget to cross $150 bn, four times that of Indias

Military action under the Tibet command requires specialist mountain skills and long-range capabilities, which need the deployment of special military resources, Song added.

The elevation of the command reflects the attention placed by China on defending its southwestern borders. The higher the authority level, the more military resources the command can mobilise, he said.

India and China share a nearly 4,000-km disputed border and fought a brief but bloody war in 1962 over it. The Line of Actual Control (LAC) has mostly been quiet since, though the two armies have been involved in stand-offs caused by differing perceptions of the LAC.

In April, defence minister Chang Wanquan said China had reacted positively to setting up a military hotline with India on border security after talks with Parrikar in Beijing.
A Christian man in Pakistans Punjab province, who allegedly watched anti-Islamic lectures on his mobile phone has been accused of blasphemy, forcing him and his family to flee from their village.

Imran Masih, a sweeper in a health centre in Mandi Bahauddin, some 250 kilometers from Lahore, and his family members fleed from their village to save their lives after being accused of blasphemy, Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra, a Christian leader and chairman of Human Liberation Commission Pakistan said.

Tension is rising in the area where some 25 Christian families are residing and they feeling vulnerable. We have requested police to provide security to the Christian families, he said.

Sahotra said Iftikhar, a colleague of Imran Masih, had watched a blasphemous video clip on his cell phone.

He said Iftikhar other Muslims who subjected Masih to severe torture.

The local cleric declared Masih a blasphemer, forcing which he had to flee along with his family members to save their lives, Sahotra said.

He said the other members of Christian community in the village are also facing threats.

Police chief of Mandi Bahauddin Raja Basharat said the situation in the area is under control.

Police personnel have been deployed in the village to stop any untoward incident, he said adding that the police had not registered a blasphemy case against Masih.

We have asked complainants to first present the cell phone of Masih. A case cannot be registered without examining the blasphemous clip, he said.

Blasphemy carries the death penalty and is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where people generally from the minority community have been targeted under the controversial law.
An aide to former Chinese president Hu Jintao has been charged with corruption and obtaining state secrets, and will face trial soon, state media reported on Friday.

Ling Jihua, the former vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Chinas top advisory body, and considered Hus right-hand man, was earlier expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) after the government levelled allegations of corruption against him.

The charges against him were formalised on Friday .

Former deputy head of China's national political advisory body Ling Jihua has been charged with taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power by the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), official news agency Xinhua said in a brief report.

He will soon be produced at the No. 1 branch of Tianjin Municipal People's Procuratorate court.

Ling was placed under investigation by the CPCs anti-graft watchdog on December 22, 2014 and was later removed from his position as head of the Party's United Front Work Department.

During the initial investigations, he was found to have seriously violated the CPCs disciplines on political and confidentiality grounds, seeking benefits for others in his position, receiving bribes for himself and his relatives, illegally soliciting sex and seeking illegitimate gains for his relatives and friends by taking advantage of his position.





According to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post , Lings brother Ling Wancheng is in the United States and Beijing has said talks were underway with Washington to repatriate the brother.

Ling Jihuas son, Ling Gu, died in 2012 when his Ferrari crashed on a highway in Beijing.

The crash triggered a huge controversy and discussion here about the lifestyle of children of Chinas powerful political elite. It also led to speculation that Ling had amassed wealth through corruption.
Germanys domestic secret service accused Russia on Friday of a series of international cyber attacks aimed at spying and sabotage, in hybrid warfare that also targeted the German parliament last year.

The operations cited by the BfV intelligence agency ranged from an aggressive attack called Sofacy or APT 28 that hit NATO members and knocked French TV station TV5Monde off air, to a hacking campaign called Sandstorm that brought down part of Ukraines power grid last year.

Cyberspace is a place for hybrid warfare. It opens a new space of operations for espionage and sabotage, said Hans-Georg Maassen, who heads the BfV agency.

The campaigns being monitored by the BfV are generally about obtaining information, that is spying, he said. However, Russian secret services have also shown a readiness to carry out sabotage.

Germany itself fell victim to one of these rogue operations, with the Sofacy attack last year hitting the German lower house of parliament.

Chancellor Angela Merkels CDU party confirmed it had been targeted in April, adding that we have adapted our IT infrastructure as a result.

The BfV said the cyber attacks carried out by Russian secret services are part of multi-year international operations that are aimed at obtaining strategic information.

Some of these operations can be traced back as far as seven to 11 years.

Government, military, media

IT experts believe that Sofacy or APT 28 is a so-called phishing tool of the broader Operation Pawn Storm, that has been blamed for targeting NATO and the US government and military as well as Ukrainian activists and Russian dissidents.

The operation included the attempted hacking of the Dutch Safety Boards computer systems by Russian spies seeking to access a sensitive final report into the July 2014 shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine, according to security experts Trend Micro.

It also hit Frances TV5Monde television channel last April, shutting down transmissions and placing jihadist propaganda messages on the stations website, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The station had initially focused investigations on the IS group, after the perpetrators claimed to be members of the jihadist organisation.

But in June, a French judicial source put the blame on Russian hackers.

Sandworm meanwhile refers to a group of hackers who deploy the malware known as Black Energy and KillDisk through phishing emails.

BfV said Sandworm targeted not just government posts, but was also aimed at telecommunications companies, energy providers as well as higher education facilities.

The West has been boosting resources and tightening cooperation to fight the mounting threat of international cyber attacks, with cyber defence designated as a core NATO task.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah announced on Friday that its top military commander had been killed in an attack in Syria in a major blow to the coalition supporting the Damascus regime.

The group said it was still investigating the cause of the blast near Damascus airport but it did not immediately point the finger at Israel as it did when the commanders predecessor was assassinated in the Syrian capital in 2008.

The death of Mustafa Badreddine, who had led Hezbollahs massive intervention in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assads regime, came as a fragile truce in the countrys five-year conflict teetered on the brink of collapse.

A six-day-old ceasefire in battleground second city Aleppo expired early Thursday without renewal and rebel sniper fire on the government-held sector of the city killed two civilians, one of them a woman, a monitoring group said.

Heavy air strikes pounded Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front in its Idlib province stronghold in the northwest, killing 16 of its fighters, including a senior commander.

Badreddine had been a key player in Hezbollahs military wing virtually since its inception.

He was on a US terror sanctions blacklist, was a key suspect in the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and was one of Israels most wanted men.

The Shia militant group, which now dominates Lebanons government, did not specify which of Badreddines many enemies it held responsible for his death.

According to preliminary reports, a large explosion targeted one of our positions near Damascus international airport killing brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding other people, it said in a statement.

We are going to pursue an inquiry to determine the nature and causes of the explosion and ascertain whether it was the result of an air strike, a missile or artillery fire.

Damascus airport lies to the east of the capital where various rebel groups have a strong presence in the countryside, although pro-government forces have secured the highway to it for the past two years or more.

Ali Badreddine, center, son of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, receives condolences from Hezbollah senior officials in a southern suburb of Beirut. (AP)

Badreddines predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, his cousin and brother-in-law, was killed in Damascus in 2008 in an attack that drew immediate threats by Hezbollah of heavy retaliation against Israel.

It made no such threats after Badreddines death.

Israel made no comment, as it did in 2008 too, but Israeli media underlined Hezbollahs failure to point the finger.

In its 2012 terror blacklisting of Badreddine, Washington charged that he was the key pointman for Hezbollahs operations in Syria alongside major foreign backer Iran in support of Assads regime.

Badreddine is assessed to be responsible for Hezbollahs military operations in Syria since 2011, including the movement of Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon to Syria, in support of the Syrian regime, the US Treasury Department said.

Since 2012, Badreddine coordinated Hezbollah military activities in Syria, it said, adding that he liaised personally with Assad.

His funeral was to be held in Hezbollahs stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut at 5:30 pm (1430 GMT), the movement announced.

Key prop for Assad

Hezbollahs intervention was vital in shoring up Assads regime at its lowest point in the war against rebels backed by Gulf Arab and Western countries.

Its fighters secured most of the Lebanese border region, cutting vital rebel supply lines, and reasserted government control in most of the southern suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayyida Zeinab Shiite shrine district, revered by Hezbollahs followers and by its Iranian backers.

The intervention of Moscow in September last year in support of its Damascus ally has sharply expanded the military coalition backing it.

Russian officials have vowed to work closely with their US counterparts to salvage a February ceasefire between pro-government forces and non-jihadist rebels but it was teetering on the brink on Friday after the collapse of the Aleppo truce.

That deal had sharply reduced a surge in the fighting in Syrias pre-war commercial capital that had killed more than 300 civilians.

Al-Qaeda, like the Islamic State group which controls much of eastern Syria, was never party to the truce and more than 60 air strikes on Thursday targeted the Abu Duhur airbase in an area of Idlib province it controls, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

It was unclear whether those strikes were carried out by the Syrian air force, Russian warplanes or aircraft of the US-led coalition, all of which have struck Al-Qaeda in Syria in the past.

Al-Qaeda fighters and their allies shot dead 19 civilians from Assads Alawite minority in their own homes
Parties representing the Madhesi and indigenous people that are seeking amendments in Nepals new Constitution decided on Friday to launch their first protests in the national capital over the weekend.

Leaders of the Federal Alliance, which comprises 27 parties representing Madhesis and various indigenous groups, will organise a rally in Kathmandu on Saturday.

This will be followed by an indefinite gherao (encirclement) of Singha Darbar, the official seat of the government, from Sunday.

The parties have been protesting against the statute in other regions since last year. This is the first time they have decided to organise protests in Kathmandu.

We dont want to start an agitation. But the regressive and divisive tactics of the government have forced us to start one. Our agitation will be peaceful and non-violent, said a statement issued by the alliance.

The parties and are seeking several changes in the Constitution adopted last September, including fresh demarcation of federal boundaries.

Violent protests, especially in the Terai belt of southern Nepal bordering India, claimed more than 50 lives last year. The government made two amendments to the statute, but the Madhesi parties rejected them as unsatisfactory and one-sided.

Four Madhesi parties under the banner of the United Democratic Madhesi Front organised a nearly five-month-long blockade of the border with India between September last year and February.

Despite nearly three dozen rounds of talks between the government and the parties, no resolution has been reached and both sides have accused each other of not being serious.

Earlier this week, the government sent another request to the parties for talks but it was rejected.

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The New York Times has joined a growing band of American individuals and entities to use the word duplicitous to describe Pakistan, an ally with an unhappy record on counterterrorism.



Pakistan remains a duplicitous and dangerous partner for the United States and Afghanistan, despite $33 billion in American aid and repeated attempts to reset relations on a more constructive course, the daily said in a stinging editorial on Thursday, headlined Time to put the squeeze on Pakistan.

The editorial said the Senate foreign affairs committee chairman Bob Corker had widely put a hold on American funding for subsidizing the sale of eight new F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan  it will have to pay the full amount of $700 million for them, instead of the $380 million it would have paid earlier.

Corker and several of his Senate colleagues cutting across party lines have also used the word duplicitous for Pakistan for its double game in dealing with terrorists.

While Pakistan has acted against some terrorists, it has allowed the Haqqani Network, which operates in Afghanistan from the safety of havens across the border, to prosper.

The Times said the conflict in Afghanistan can only be ended if the American government finds a way to convince Pakistan to stop fueling the war.
Afghanistan is hopeful an agreement with India and Iran on the Chabahar port will be inked by June, boosting Kabuls plans to use the harbour to drive economic development despite security concerns.

The three countries have engaged in protracted negotiations on the Chabahar Agreement since 2003 but the venture was helped by recent developments, including Indias renewed focus on the port in southeast Iran and the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions on Tehran in January.

After years of negotiations, we can definitely say its a done deal. This is a project not just for the development and prosperity of Afghanistan, but the whole region, Afghan ambassador Shaida Mohammad Abdali told Hindustan Times.

Abdali said Afghanistan is hopeful the agreement will be signed at the highest level possible, possibly in May but not later than June.

He acknowledged the lifting of sanctions had helped because companies that wanted to invest in Chabahar would no longer fear about being blacklisted. It was a big issue and it has made the atmosphere conducive, he said.

During a meeting in New Delhi last month, representatives of Afghanistan, India and Iran finalised and initialled the text of the agreement for establishing a transit-transport corridor with Chabahar port in Irans Sistan-Baluchistan province at its heart. They also agreed to set up a sub-committee to frame transit, port, customs and consular protocols within six months.

Sources said efforts are underway to arrange a ceremony in Iran for the signing of the agreement, possibly in Chabahar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modis planned visit to Iran from May 21 has given rise to speculation the Chabahar Agreement could be inked during the trip, though sources said this would also require the presence of a senior Afghan leader.

At the recent tripartite meeting, sources said the Afghan side warned India and Iran to be prepared for a possible attack on the Zaranj-Delaram highway  a crucial road built with Indian assistance to serve as a link to Chabahar  to send out a message that the project is not viable.

The sources said they feared elements backed by Pakistan, which is opposed to Indias presence in Afghanistan, could carry out such an attack. Pakistan also perceives the Chabahar project as a challenge to its efforts to develop the Gwadar port in Balochistan with Chinese assistance.

However, Abdali said Afghan security forces are fully prepared to secure the 218-km two-lane highway that runs from Delaram in Farah province to Zaranj in Nimruz province that borders Iran.

The Chabahar port, which will have special economic zones for India and Afghanistan, is being seen as a cheaper route that will give Indian goods direct access to Afghanistan while bypassing Pakistan. The new route could give a fillip to India-Afghanistan trade, which has stagnated in the range of $680 million in the last two fiscal years.

Under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement, Pakistan allows Afghan goods to be transported to India via the Wagah-Attari land border. However, Afghan trucks are barred from carrying back Indian goods via Pakistan  a condition that has become a sore point in ties between Islamabad and Kabul.

Besides extending a $150 million line of credit for making jetties and berths at Chabahar, India has outlined several measures during recent visits to Iran by petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for developing the port.

This includes the supply of steel rails worth $400 million and technical assistance for building a railway line connecting Chabahar and Zahedan, located near the Afghan border. Pradhan said India is prepared to invest up to $20 billion in the Chabahar port and economic zone.

Abdali said the Chabahar Agreement would also allow Afghanistan and India to access other markets in Central Asia. Afghanistan is going to witness major milestones in the months ahead, he said.

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Human rights organizations have slammed Nepal government for inking a deal which aims to grant amnesty to those accused of committing serious abuses during the countrys civil war.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and International Commission of Jurists issued a statement on Friday, accusing the government of bargaining away justice for victims in order to save itself.

Following a threat to topple the government, ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) reached a nine-point agreement earlier this month.

It agreed to withdraw all civil war cases and grant amnesty to perpetrators of crimes like murders and rapes.

The political deal by the ruling parties is a callous attempt to disregard Nepals international treaty obligations by violating victims right to an effective remedy, said Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW.

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North Korea may be the worlds most closely controlled society, but security during a week when thousands of Workers Party delegates were in town along with 128 foreign journalists was even tighter than usual.

North Koreas Guard Command, an elite corps charged with protecting leader Kim Jong Un, and members from the feared state security apparatus put journalists through layers of intensive checks to gain access to events at the rare party congress.

It was the first such congress to be held since 1980, before Kim was born, and an opportunity for the 33-year-old to cement his grip on power and project his authority to the outside world.

At the events journalists were allowed to attend, it took them between three and four hours from the time they left their hotel to getting in.

Even when Kim was not there, such as at an evening of performances where other top officials were in attendance, protection was extensive.

A guard with a portable radio detector scanned bodies, looking for concealed wireless devices. Another stood at the top of a staircase, his right arm bent around a Kalashnikov assault rifle bulking under his jacket.

Mobile phones, satellite and GPS devices were forbidden, and anything deemed a potential threat was taken, including a hand sanitizer.

By comparison, when Kim appeared at the opening of a military museum three years ago, foreign journalists in the North Korean capital were briefly able to get close enough to touch the leader of the reclusive country.

One even lobbed a question at Kim, who did not answer.

In this May 6, 2016 photo, foreign journalists photograph the April 25 House of Culture, the venue for the 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, in Pyongyang. (AP)

Young red guards

It was not immediately clear why security was stepped up this week compared with events three years ago to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean war, or last October at celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the ruling party.

Kim seems far more comfortable in public than his late father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, and often travels within the country in a private jet. But his tenure has also been marked by a series of purges and executions, including of his powerful uncle Jang Song Thaek in 2013.

The stricter checks may also have been part of the show, said Jang Jin-sung, a North Korean defector who previously worked in the propaganda unit of the Workers Party and wrote a 2014 memoir, Dear Leader: My Escape from North Korea.

The title refers the name by which Kim Jong Il is known.

While justifying it as a security measure, there may be an element of trying to show off the highest level of authority to the outside, Jang, who now lives in Seoul, told Reuters.

Jang said he would not be surprised if senior officials were forced to go through similar security procedures.

But itd be like, whereas they would check the contents of your pockets every time, they would check theirs may be five out of 10 times, he said.

The North Korean capital was locked down even before the congress, which bestowed the title of party chairman on Kim, who assumed power in 2011 after his fathers sudden death.

Members of the Young Red Guards, a student militia, stood watch at key intersections south of the city.

On parade day on Tuesday, every bridge across the Taedong River that flows through the city was closed, according to residents of the city.

Fear of flying - and more

Nuclear-armed North Koreas ruling ethos is based in large part on protecting the country from attack by enemies led by the United States, which state propaganda frequently characterises as imminent.

But the Norths security apparatus is geared to shielding the leader from internal threats, whether from a disgruntled senior bureaucrat or an unknown element in the public that might incite violence, a former bodyguard who defected from the North has said.

Kim Jong Il, who died in 2011 of a heart attack on a train while travelling to give field guidance, according to state media, was especially obsessed with his own safety, according to the bodyguard, Lee Yong-guk.

That fear may have been exacerbated by a huge 2004 explosion that destroyed a railway station hours after Kim Jong Ils special train passed while returning from China.

Kim Jong Il, who was famous for his fear of flying and almost never spoke at large public events, would obscure his movements by sending trains, ships and motorcades in different directions, Lee told Reuters in a 2006 interview.
An American police officer, who brutally assaulted an Indian grandfather and left him partially paralysed, is no longer facing state criminal charges in Alabama, a case that had sparked outrage among the Indian community in the US, forcing the Governor to apologise.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said the state no longer wishes to pursue a criminal case against Madison police officer Eric Parker in Limestone County Circuit Court.

After a careful review of the witness testimony included in 2,000 pages of federal trial transcripts and a re-evaluation of the evidence, we are seeking to dismiss State charges against Parker, Strange said in a release today.

Parker, 27, is accused of assaulting 58-year-old Indian grandfather who was taking a stroll around his sons home when he was brutally assaulted by him in February last year.

He was fired six days later and police arrested him for misdemeanor assault.

Parker was cleared of federal civil rights charges in January, after two mistrials.

Following the back-to-back mistrials, US District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala in January granted a motion to acquit, saying there would not be a third federal trial.

With the federal case concluded, Parker had been scheduled to face a bench trial in district court in Limestone County starting on June 7.

That was for the misdemeanor assault charge, which carries up to a year in jail.

Strange today filed the motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charge.

Without a doubt this is an unfortunate case and we agree with US District Judge Madeline Haikala that The result in this case is by no means satisfying. Hindsight brings clarity to a calamity..., wrote Strange.

After a review of the federal trial testimony, it does not appear that there would be sufficient evidence to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Thus, we have a duty to move to dismiss the charge, he added.

Newly-appointed District Judge Douglas Doug Lee Patterson, who had said he was ready to move forward with the trial since it is a misdemeanour and there was no need to prolong the case, approved the request to drop the charge.

The State of Alabama having filed a motion to dismiss this action and the Court having considered the same it is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed that this case is dismissed, he ruled.

The former Alabama police officer also faces a lawsuit filed against him by Sureshbhai Patel.

The assault had sparked outrage in the Indian community and India had raised the issue with the US, demanding expeditious investigation into the matter.

The Governor of the US state of Alabama had apologised for the brutal police assault on Patel.
Russia is being forced to look for ways to neutralise threats to its national security due to deployment of the NATO anti-missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said after the alliance launched a missile defence site in Romania.

Now, after the deployment of those anti-missile system elements, well be forced to think about neutralizing developing threats to Russias security, Putin was quoted by RT online as saying.

The US missile shield in Europe was a clear violation of Russian-American arms treaties, Putin said at a meeting with Russian military officials, adding that the anti-missile facilities can be easily repurposed for firing short and midrange missiles.

The US anti-missile shield in Europe was yet another step in increasing international tensions and launching a new arms race, he stressed.

Were not going to be dragged into this race. Well go our own way. Well work very accurately without exceeding the plans to finance the re-equipment of our Army and Navy, which have already been laid out for the next several years, Putin asserted.

Recent developments indicate that the situation isnt getting better. Unfortunately, its deteriorating. Im talking about the launch of the radar station in Romania as one of the elements of the up-and-coming US anti-missile defence programme, Putin said.

Russia was making every effort to maintain the strategic balance of power, in order to avoid the outbreak of large-scale conflicts, the president said.

NATO formally declared its missile defence base in Deveselu, Romania, operational on Thursday, bringing to fruition a plan to construct a shield in Eastern Europe first announced by George W Bush in 2007.
Bidding in an online auction for the pistol former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin appeared to have been hijacked by fake accounts posting astronomically high bids.

At one point early Friday, the bidding surpassed $65 million with the leading bidder using the screen name Racist McShootFace. The site later showed that account had been deleted.

Other screen names of bidders on the site included Donald Trump, shaniqua bonifa and Tamir Rice, the name of a black 12-year-old who was shot and killed by Cleveland police in 2014 while playing with a pellet gun.

The website for United Gun Group began hosting the auction Thursday after another website, GunBroker.com, took down the auction saying it wanted no part in the listing on our website or in any of the publicity it is receiving.

Hours later, United Gun Group tweeted that it would post Zimmermans ad. The new link was posted, along with a statement from Zimmerman. The site calls itself a social market place for the firearms community.



Bidding on the 9 mm Kel-Tec PF-9 pistol began at $5,000.

Read | Black teens killer puts gun up for auction

Critics called the auction an insensitive move to profit from the slaying.

Zimmerman had told Orlando, Florida, TV station WOFL that the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martins 2012 shooting death.

Zimmermans listing said a portion of the proceeds would go toward fighting what Zimmerman calls violence by the Black Lives Matter movement against law enforcement officers, combatting anti-gun rhetoric of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and ending the career of state attorney Angela Corey, who led Zimmermans prosecution.

The listing ended with a Latin phrase that translates as if you want peace, prepare for war.

Zimmerman, now 32, has said he was defending himself when he killed Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, in a gated community near Orlando. Martin, who lived in Miami with his mother, was visiting his father at the time.

Read | George Zimmerman shot at in Florida, not seriously injured

Zimmerman, who identifies as Hispanic, was acquitted in Martins February 2012 shooting death. The case sparked protests and a national debate about race relations. The Justice Department later decided not to prosecute Zimmerman on civil rights charges.

Lucy McBath, the mother of another black teenager shot by a white man during an argument at a Jacksonville convenience store in 2012, said the auction reflected a deplorable lack of value for human life.

I am deeply disappointed that the man who killed Trayvon Martin is trying to sell the very gun he used to cut that precious life short to raise money, McBath said in a written statement.

The slaying of her son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, by Michael Dunn drew parallels at the time to the Zimmerman-Martin case. Dunn told police he had felt threatened by Davis. Unlike Zimmerman, Dunn was convicted of murder.

Since Zimmerman was acquitted, he has been charged with assault based on complaints from two girlfriends. Both women later refused to press charges and Zimmerman wasnt prosecuted. His estranged wife, Shellie Zimmerman, also accused him of smashing her iPad during an argument days after she filed divorce papers. No charges were filed because of lack of evidence. They were divorced in January.

Read | Trayvon Martin shooter arrested after disturbance

Orlando-based attorney Mark OMara has previously represented Zimmerman. A receptionist in OMaras office said Thursday that he no longer represents Zimmerman and had no comment.

Martins parents declined to address Zimmermans actions in statements made through representatives.

Martins mother, Sybrina Fulton, said through an attorney that she would rather focus on her work with the Trayvon Martin Foundation than respond to Zimmermans actions.

Daryl Parks, whose firm represented the Martin family during the trial, is now chairman of Fultons foundation. He says Fulton is pushing for policies that protect youth and address gun violence.

Fulton also founded the Circle of Mothers conference, a three-day event to help mothers who have lost children or family members to gun violence. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will be keynote speaker at the event in Fort Lauderdale starting May 20.
A Tar Heels Tale

SUBMITTED BY LONNIE R. SPEER OF SWANNANOA, NORTH CAROLINA

NAME Charles Dock Jenkins

DATES May 16, 1829, to January 20, 1915

ALLEGIANCE Confederate

HIGHEST RANK Sergeant

UNIT 29th North Carolina Infantry, Company F

SERVICE RECORD Enlisted on August 31, 1861. Participated in skirmishes throughout eastern Tennessee. Wounded in the September 19-20, 1863, Battle of Chickamauga. Also fought in the June 27 Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the July 20 Battle of Peachtree Creek in 1864. Surrendered as part of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana on May 8, 1865.

North Carolina was a latecomer to the secessionist movement. Pro-Union feeling was strong in the state, and when the Confederate States government was organized in Montgomery, Alabama, in February 1861, the Tar Heel state did not take part. But when President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 Union volunteers in April, North Carolina defiantly joined the Confederacy.

Later that summer in the mountain country of western North Carolina, 32-year-old farmer Charles Dock Jenkins chose sides too, joining a military company forming in Jackson County. Jenkins agonized over leaving his wife and three children behind. He took some comfort, though, in the fact that his brother, half-brother, and several other relatives would be marching alongside him.

Jenkins was mustered into company F of the 29th North Carolina Infantry on August 31. The regiment marched off to Asheville for a month of training, then moved on to Raleigh, where the men received their arms, equipment, and uniforms. Company F elected Jenkins sergeant, the rank he would hold for the rest of the war.

Stationed in Tennessee, Jenkins company began the war detached from the regiment, on garrison duty. In February 1862 Company F rejoined the 29th at Cumberland Gap, a strategically important pass in the Appalachian Mountains near the Kentucky border. The next few months were difficult for Jenkins. In May he watched helplessly as his cousin, Mitchell, died of typhoid fever. A month later, Union Brigadier General George W. Morgan pushed the Confederates out of Cumberland Gap.

The 29th marched north in October in support of General Braxton Braggs invasion of Kentucky. But Bragg was beaten at Perryville on October 8 and abandoned the offensive before the regiment saw any action. More garrison duty followed. At last, the 29th was sent to Mississippi, where it remained until the fall of Vicksburg on July 4, 1863.

That fall, after two years of skirmishing and marching back and forth between tedious garrison assignments, Jenkins finally fought in his first major engagement: the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, on September 19 and 20. In those two days of heavy fighting, the 29th sustained 110 casualties. Among the injured was Jenkins, who suffered a severe leg wound that left him with a permanent limp.

The injury earned Jenkins a trip home and a warm reunion with his wife and children. He returned to the front in time for the 1864 Atlanta Campaign, in which he saw limited action in the Battles of Kennesaw Mountain and Peachtree Creek.

When the war finally came to a close, Jenkins was one of the fortunate men who were left standing. And if surviving was not enough to cheer him, happy news awaited him at home: his young family had grown. Nine months after his post-Chickamauga convalescence, his wife had given birth to a baby girl.
Yales Theodore Winthrop once rivaled Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., as the Ivy Leagues most prominent Civil War veteran.

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., by virtue of his long and distinguished legal career, may have been the most famous Harvard College graduate to take part in the Civil War, but his fame was eclipsed at the outset of the war by that of another Ivy League alumnusTheodore Winthrop of Yale, who fell in battle at Big Bethel, Virginia, on June 10, 1861.

Winthrop, like Holmes, came from a distinguished New England family. His father was a direct descendant of John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, and his mother was the great-granddaughter of the famous theologian Jonathan Edwards. Seven presidents of Yale were also in the family background. Winthrop himself was born and raised in New Haven, Conn., within sight of the Yale campus. He graduated from the college in 1848, ranked second in his class academically.

With the aid of a family inheritance, Winthrop traveled widely in the decade preceding the Civil War. Driven by a stern Puritan sense of duty, he was an intense devotee of the abolitionist cause, and in 1856 he took an active role in the presidential campaign of John C. Fremont, the first Republican, anti-slavery candidate.

Following Fremonts surprisingly close defeat, Winthrop withdrew to Long Island, where he wrote two travel books and three novels. None of the volumes found a publisher, but Winthrop did manage to sell a charming little short story, Love and Skates, to Atlantic Monthly in early 1861. His future as a writer seemed assured.

Before the story appeared, however, the war began, and Winthrop enlisted in the 7th New York Zouaves. He subsequently detailed the regiments hasty trip to Washington in two magazine articles, Our March to Washington and Washington as a Camp. When his initial enlistment expired, Winthrop secured a post on the staff of Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, who commanded the Union garrison at Fort Monroe, on the Virginia Peninsula.

Confederate troops were menacing Fort Monroe from all sides, and Butler was determined to destroy the enemy camps. With the help of Winthrop, a military neophyte, Butler devised an elaborate and ambitious plan to capture the main Rebel position at Big Bethel, a crossroads village 12 miles west of the fort.

On the morning of June 10, Butlers troops attacked the Confederate position in two columns. Lacking experience, the troops predictably failed to coordinate their attack. Winthrop, who did not need to be at the frontButler, in fact, had pointedly warned him to be carefulattempted to stem the growing tide of defeat by leaping onto a log and exhorting his retreating soldiers. One more charge and the day is ours! he yelled. A Confederate sharpshooter immediately sent a bullet crashing into Winthrops chest. He died instantly, a meaningless casualty of a day already lost. He was 33. Winthrops best friend, fellow writer George William Curtis, noted, Theodore Winthrop fell at Big Bethel on a summer morning and those who loved him learned that the war had begun.

Winthrop was widely mourned, and the coincidence of his articles and short story appearing in national publications immediately after his death created an enormous public demand for his writings. His sister Elizabeth found his earlier rejected manuscripts scattered on the desk of his old room at home, and all five of the books were published in the two years immediately following Winthrops death. Thousands of loyal Northern readers purchased copies of Life in the Open Air, The Canoe and the Saddle, Cecil Dreeme, John Brent and Edwin Brothertoft. Winthrops works remained constantly in print for 40 years, making him one of the best-sellingif now largely forgottenauthors of the late 19th century.

Winthrops literary merit has often been debated. Critics have found his work overly elaborate and sentimental, and it is undeniable that he died before he was able to fully develop his literary gifts. But he remains the only well-known (if posthumously) writer to have died in the Civil War. As one contemporary noted perceptively: Theodore Winthrop died in the bud of his promise. When men such as Winthrop die such a death as his, we seize the tools that fall from their dying grasp and complete the fragmentary structure. We attribute to them, not simply what they did, but all that they might have done.

Roy Morris, Jr., Editor, Americas Civil War
One imagines the soldiers hard-pressed, making a dismounted stand against the Indiansand then the welcome sound of the bugle as their comrades come charging to the rescue

The scene in Saving the Dispatch could be considered classic Frederic Remington: Dusty cavalry troopers fight off Indians on a desolate landscape while a buckskin-clad scout gallops away. Only Remington didnt paint the oil-on-canvas. In fact, he despised the artist, an Easterner inspired by William F. Buffalo Bill Codys Wild West exhibitions. Saving the Dispatch is classic Charles Schreyvogel.

One imagines the soldiers hard-pressed, making a dismounted stand against the Indiansand then the welcome sound of the bugle as their comrades come charging to the rescue, says historian Brian W. Dippie. It is, in short, pure Wild West theatrics, and I cant imagine a fan of Western art who wouldnt love to own it! No doubt. In 2006 Saving the Dispatch, which Schreyvogel completed in 1909, sold for $1.44 million, including the buyers premium, at a Cowans auction. The painting was from the collection of Marge Schott, the former Cincinnati Reds owner, who died in 2004. Although the auction raised $4.9 million for Schotts charitable foundation, the highlight was Saving the Dispatch, which Schreyvogel completed in 1909.

He [Schreyvogel] only produced 100 paintings or so, says Suzan Campbell, Gund curator of Western art, history and culture at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art [www.eiteljorg.org] in Indianapolis. When you talk about Remington and Charlie Russell, these are people who were on the scene for a very long time, and they produced not just hundreds of images, but they also wrote, and they illustrated their own work, and they illustrated the works of other people.

In the 1890s, Schreyvogel, the son of German immigrants and then a struggling artist in Hoboken, N.J., attended Codys Wild West extravaganza in New York and found a new calling. Deciding to paint the Indian-fighting Army, Schreyvogel headed west, visiting the Ute reservation in Colorado and an Arizona ranch. While there he interviewed soldiers, made sketches and collected artifacts. Returning home, he painted on the roof of his apartment building and often substituted the New Jersey Palisades in his backgrounds.

Though he made trips West to paint Indians, Schreyvogellearned most of his moves from rehearsals and performances of Buffalo Bills Wild West, Dippie says. He was Codys frequent guest and essentially adopted the shows theme as his own in a succession of paintings notable for their head-on, whoop-and-holler action. For me, his work is the ultimate artistic homage to the idea of the Wild West, with tons of heart-pounding excitement.

Schreyvogel soon gained national attentionand Remingtons animosity. Remington despised Schreyvogel, Dippie says. He was prickly when it came to critical recognition accorded other artists. In 1903 Remington criticized Schreyvogels historical oil, Custers Demand, through newspaper reporters. He charged Schreyvogel with dozens of errors, Dippie says, only to have his position undermined in the pursuant squabble when President Roosevelt, Libbie Custer and one of the officers actually present at the incident shown all sided with Schreyvogel. Remington simmered, butnursed his wounds in private. Schreyvogel stayed above the fray, expressing admiration for Remingtons achievement.

Other notable Schreyvogel paintings include In Hot Pursuit, On the Skirmish Line, Off for Town, Breaking Through the Line and Attack on the Herd (Close Call). Several museums feature his work, including the Eiteljorg; the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Okla.; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City; the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, N.Y.; and the Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Schreyvogel died of blood poisoning in 1912, yet his paintings continue to strike a chord, particularly with those interested in Western military history. By focusing on the Army, the U.S. Cavalry, Campbell says, he touched people, because of the strong sentiment he was able to express.I think there was a feeling of veracity in his work, even though he never did travel with the fighting Army.
In the years following the Civil War, the loss of outstanding young leaders in that fratricidal conflict had an immeasurable effect upon state and local affairs. The war had rapidly expanded to a point where the relatively small number of professionally trained military officers could not provide all the leadership needed for the armies of both North and South. This leadership vacuum was filled by community leaders from hundreds of towns and villages.

As the size and organizational demands of the armies increased, it was natural that West Pointtrained officers advanced rapidly to the rank of general. Thus, large numbers of company and regimental leadership positions came to be held by citizen-soldiers. In the military tradition of the day, company, regimental and brigade commanders were expected to lead from the front, resulting in extremely high casualty rates among field-grade officers.

In the postwar years, many small towns or cities suffered from a very real loss of leadership. Prospective governors, mayors, attorneys, businessmen and educators lay dead on the various fields of battle.

The problem was well typified in the small, central Virginia town of Lynchburg, which provided eight officers of general rank to the Confederate armies, only four of whom survived. A sad example was the life, career and death of Brig. Gen. Samuel Garland, Jr.

Garland was born into a well-known and prosperous Virginia family in Lynchburg on December 16, 1830. His father, Maurice H. Garland, was the youngest of four prominent brothers. Judge James Garland, the eldest, lived to be the oldest presiding judge in the state. Another brother, General John Garland, was a career U.S. Army officer whose daughter married future Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet. General Garlands sister-in-law became the wife of future Union commander U.S. Grant. Samuel Garland, Sr., the third brother and young Samuels namesake, was a partner in the law firm of which Maurice H. Garland was also a member. The elder Samuel accumulated considerable wealth from land speculation in Mississippi and constructed a large, Federal-style mansion on a hill in Lynchburg, which became known as Garlands Hill.

After the death of his father, young Samuel maintained a close relationship with his mother. While at boarding school, Garland kept a daily diary that he submitted to his mother for weekly review. At age 14, he enrolled as a student at Randolph Macon College. A maternal uncle was president of the school and could closely supervise his studies. One year later, when his uncle accepted the presidency of Vanderbilt University, Samuel persuaded his mother to allow him to attend Virginia Military Institute in Lexington.

As a cadet, young Garland compiled an outstanding record in both academic and military studies. He was the founder and first president of the VMI Literary So-

ciety. During his second year, Garland was ranked first in a class of 35 and was deemed outstanding in French. In his junior term he was appointed first sergeant of the cadet corps and seemed destined

for a responsible position his senior year. But when a new demerit system was instituted, Garland resigned his rank and, in a respectfully correct letter to the superintendent, forcefully explained that he was opposed to any system that required one cadet to assign demerits to another. Thus, Garland held no rank his senior year, but still graduated second in his class.

Upon graduation Garland considered a military career, but on the advice of his uncles he enrolled instead in law school at the University of Virginia. Two years later he received a bachelor of laws degree, having again achieved an outstanding academic record. At the age of 21, Garland returned home to Lynchburg to practice law with the firm of Garland and Slaughter, where his father had been a member and his uncle was a senior partner.

Garland courted Elizabeth Campbell Meem, the daughter of businessman John G. Meem, and married her on May 15, 1856. Their wedding was said to have been one of the most brilliant in Lynchburg memory. They purchased a house at 303 Madison Street on Garlands Hill, and the annual dress balls held there were a high point of Lynchburg society. During the first year of the war, tragedy struck when both Elizabeth and Sammie, their 4-year-old son, died in an influenza epidemic. Grief-stricken, the shattered Garland returned to Lynchburg for Elizabeths funeral. Although he found some solace in his strong religious beliefs, he seldom smiled after his crushing loss.

On April 23, 1861, Garland left Lynchburg as captain of the Lynchburg Home Guard. He led the company to Richmond, where the unit was mustered in as Company G of the 11th Virginia Infantry. The 11th Virginia included four Lynchburg militia companies and six units from the surrounding area. Colonel Jubal Early of Franklin County was appointed commanding officer. Four days after arrival, Early was promoted and, partially as a reflection of Company Gs high state of readiness, Garland was appointed colonel in his place.

Garland led the regiment to Manassas, where it was assigned to the brigade of Maj. Gen. James Longstreet. The regiment was delegated to guard Blackburns Ford, and three days before the First Battle of Manassas, the 11th was involved in heavy fighting to hold the crossing. Garland was commended by Longstreet for coolness and energy under fire. After the battle, Garland was given the responsibility of organizing and implementing the collection of weapons left behind on the battlefield. The 11th Virginia then marched north and was involved in a minor action at Dranesville. Following the Dranesville skirmish, the regiment distinguished itself in rear-guard service and repelled several Union cavalry charges. Again, Garland was cited for displaying great coolness, and in February 1862 General Joseph Johnston recommended Garland for promotion to brigadier general.

In the spring of 1862, the regiment was incorporated into the newly formed brigade of Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill. Hills brigade was detailed to Williamsburg in May and became heavily engaged in stabilizing the Confederate line on the peninsula. The 11th Virginia was a major part of the successful action there, and Garland was praised by Hill for refusing to leave the field and for continuing to lead his regiment after being wounded.

Brigadier General Jubal Early was seriously wounded during the Battle of Williamsburg and required several months to recuperate. As a result of Garlands three previous citations and his record of efficient administration, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and assigned command of Earlys brigade, which consisted of the 24th and 38th Virginia, the 5th and 23rd North Carolina, the 2nd Florida and the 24th Mississippi regiments.

After the retreat up the peninsula, Garland experienced his first major battle as a brigade commander at Seven Pines. Garlands brigade, in concert with that of Brig. Gen. George B. Anderson, was ordered to assault some earthworks adjacent to the Williamsburg Road. The two brigades advanced through heavy woods containing 3-foot-deep pools of water. The brigades were also halted by extensive abatis and became intermingled; but under the leadership of their commanders they lay down under the obstruction and returned such a heavy fire that the Union defenders evacuated the position. Such frontal assaults were costly, and Garlands brigade of about 2,200 men suffered 740 casualties. Garlands horse was killed under him, and he commandeered an artillery horse that was wounded twice.

After Robert E. Lee took command of the Army of Northern Virginia, Garland and his brigade were engaged in the Seven Days campaign east of Richmond as Lee attempted to drive the enemy away from the Confederate capital. At the Battle of Gaines Mill, Garland scouted the Union right flank and found it open. He felt the flank could be turned if the soldiers could advance through Union artillery fire. He returned to the lines and sought Hills permission to attack. Hill agreed, and assigned Andersons brigade to support Garland. The two brigades advanced rapidly through strong artillery fire and fell heavily on the open flank. The Union troops were forced to abandon the position with the loss of many prisoners and several guns. A few days later, at Malvern Hill, Garlands brigade took part in the hopeless charge on the Federal position. A mistake in command keyed a signal for a frontal assault by Hills entire division. Garland reported: We were returning to our old positions under the impression that the infantry assault had been canceled due to insufficient artillery support. Suddenly two of [Maj. Gen. John] Magruders brigades on our right charged out of the woods and up the slope. This was the signal to Harvey Hill who immediately sent in his whole division. All five of Hills brigades suffered heavily, with Garlands already weakened unit losing 844 additional casualties.

During and after the battles around Richmond, Lee evaluated his subordinates and found many lacking. Several were transferred; others left the army. But Garlands reputation was growing. He was considered outstanding in an army that was well known for the quality of its brigade commanders.

After Union General George McClellan retreated down the peninsula to Fort Monroe, Lee determined to carry the war north, away from the Confederate capital. During the Second Battle of Manassas, Garlands brigade was positioned in Fredericksburg to shield Richmond from Federal troops. Following Maj. Gen. John Popes defeat at Second Manassas, Hills division marched hard to join Lees army for the crossing of the Potomac into Maryland.

Lee determined to split the army into several parts. Several divisions were dispatched under Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry with its 11,000 garrison troops and abundant supplies. Hills division was sent to the small town of Boonesboro, near South Mountain. The mountain served as a shield between the widely scattered Confederate army and the Union army advancing from Washington. Hill was ordered to coordinate the defense of the passes on South Mountain in concert with Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuarts cavalry. There were two major openings in South Mountain, Turners Gap and Foxs Gap. Turners Gap presented a good defensive position, but Foxs Gap was wide and could be flanked by several avenues of approach. Hill assigned one brigade to Turners Gap and sent Garlands brigade to hold Foxs Gap.

Garland formed a line in Foxs Gap astride the old Sharpsburg Road with his brigade of about 1,200 men. Barely had he established his position when he was attacked by two brigades of the IX Union Corps under Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox. On the left, the newly arrived 13th North Carolina became involved in a heavy firefight with Union troops. As the North Carolina regiment began to waver under pressure, Garland rode up to the action. Colonel Thomas Ruffin of the 13th shouted, General, why are you here? Garland replied, I may as well be here as yourself. Ruffin answered, No, it is my duty, but you should lead your brigade from a safer position. At that moment Ruffin was hit in the hip, and as he went down Garland also fell, hit in the center of the back by a bullet that passed through his body and exited two inches above his right breast. Captain Don Halsey, his aide, rushed forward. Garlands last words to him were, I am killed. Send for the senior colonel.

Garlands remains were escorted home to Lynchburg by his cousin and aide-de-camp Lieutenant Maurice Garland. By order of the City Council, his body was to lie in state in the Lynchburg Courthouse for a period of 24 hours. On Friday, September 19, 1862, Garlands funeral was conducted at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, with interment following at Lynchburgs Presbyterian Cemetery. Garland was buried in the Meem family plot alongside his wife and young son. By resolution of the Lynchburg City Council, all business establishments were closed, all churches were ordered to toll their bells, and all soldiers then in the city were detailed to march in the procession. Almost the entire population of the city attended the ceremony for the much admired citizen who, in the words of The Lynchburg Virginian, hated war, but excelled at it.

This article was written by James K. Swisher and originally appeared in the May 96 issue of Americas Civil War magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today!
Primary Sources: Bloodletting at Burnside Bridge

September 17, 1862. Confederates defending the stone bridge on the lower end of the battlefield at Antietam were outnumbered nearly 4 to 1but held the high ground. Brig. Gen. Robert Toombs Brigade, which included the 2nd and 20th Georgia, fired into Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnsides Federals as they attempted to cross the span. Lt. Theodore Fogle of the 2nd Georgia told his family about it in a letter 10 days later.

At a bridge on the Antietam Creek our Regiment & the 20th Ga., in all amounting to not over 300 muskets held them in check for four hours & a half & then we fell back only because our ammunition was exhausted, but we suffered badly, eight cannon just five hundred yards off were pouring grape shot, shell and cannister into us & our artillery could not silence them. We held our post until Major Harris (Cousin William) ordered us to fall back. Our Col. (Col. Holmes of Burke County Ga) was killed about half an hour before. He was as brave a man as I ever saw. He was perfectly cool & calm & did not seem to know what the word danger meant, he had won the confidence of the regiment at the battle of Manassas, poor man he was pierced by three balls after he received his death wound. We could not bring his remains off the field. Three men tried it & two of them were shot down.

I wanted to go with them but I knew it was not right to expose myself in that way. Col. Holmes was dead & and it was not right for us to risk our lives simply to get his body off the field. Maj. Harris is a brave man but I dont think is quite cool enough. He was struck on the arm but the ball did not enter, only gave him a pretty bad bruise. We went into the fight with only 89 muskets & had eight officers & 35 men killed & wounded. So many of the men were shot that the officers filled their places & loaded & fired their guns. I fired only once & that was at a bunch of six or seven Yankees not more than 60 yards off. The musket was a smooth bore & loaded with a ball & three buckshot. I wont say whether I hit my mark or not. Mother, Ill give you the benefit of the doubt.

Lieutenant Theodore T. Fogle

2nd Georgia Infantry, Toombs Brigade,

Army of Northern Virginia, CSA

Bridge over Troubled Water:

The son of a Georgia dentist, Fogle had himself studied dentistry in Baltimore, though he had earlier received training at Georgia Military Institute in Marietta. He was still in Baltimore but quickly enlisted in April 1861.

As fighting heated up at the Sunken Road about 10 a.m., Burnside was ordered to attack the bridge. But Confederate resistance was so strong three separate attacks were required to finally capture it.

Once the Federals captured the bridge, worse fighting lay ahead. Five times as many casualties occurred in the final thrust toward Sharpsburg than at the bridge as A.P. Hills Confederates arrived and joined the fight.

This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Americas Civil War.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, Madame Chiang can talk about democracy, but she doesnt quite know how to live it.

Soong May-linga.k.a. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, Chinas wartime first ladywas, says biographer Hannah Pakula, Chinas face to the world. In 1943, she addressed the U.S. Congress to great acclaim. But she and her family were deeply entwined in the corruption within Chinas Nationalist regime. Pakula, the acclaimed author (An Uncommon Woman) and widow of director Alan Pakula (All the Presidents Men), spent 10 years researching The Last Empress: Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of Modern China, her rich portrait of Chinas wartime power couple and the culture that shaped them.

What drew you to Madame Chiang?

Alan told me this story: when Madame Chiang stayed at the White House, shed clap her hands for the servants to come. Imagine how that went over in the Roosevelt White House! I thought, Why would an obviously intelligent woman educated in the United States and trying to get money do anything so counterproductive? So I started reading. Her family was fascinating.

How so?

May-ling was sent to the States when she was 10. She went to Wesleyan in Macon, Georgia, then Wellesley. Her older sisters went to Wesleyan; her brother T. V. went to Harvard. When she graduated from Wellesley, shed been here half her life. When she went back, she was so Americanized she had to study all things Chinese, including the language.

Why did she marry Chiang?

Marriage in China was about family position. Ai-ling, her oldest, most manipulative sister, married H. H. Kung, the 75th lineal descendent of Confucius. This carried immense weight in China. Kung was an aristocrat but not terribly bright. Ai-ling ran their financial empire. The second sister, Ching-ling, married Sun Yat-sen, who cofounded the Nationalist Party. Ai-ling arranged May-lings marriage to Chiang, who was a military hero, because the Soong family had Confucius and Chinas George Washington already.

Was Chiang a good military leader?

He was a Chinese warlord. He manipulated people below him so nobody ever got too much power. Then he wouldnt have to worry about them. This had terrible effects on how he ran the country and the war. He was not particularly efficient. He took care of people in favor whether or not they were talented, so promotions never had much to do with merit. And his generals followed the tradition of skimming off the top.

For example?

They would say, I have 10,000 men, and demand enough arms and money for them. But they never had as many men as they claimed, and pocketed the difference. That was a generals prerogative.

Why didnt Chiang change that?

He kept putting off the time when the people would be educated enough to take over the government; for him that explained why China couldnt be democratic yet. China never had a civil society: there was the court, the mandarins, and the peasants. So there was a lot of preparatory work to do. But nobody ever seemed to be doing it.

What was May-ling doing?

Whenever the Chiangs needed money, shed hop on a plane to America. Roosevelt was sympathetic: the Delano family traded in China. He gave her what he felt was necessary to keep his dream of a free, unified China alive. He felt very strongly that the Allies could not lose China; that was the one thing Chiang had to dangle. They started rumors about negotiating with the Japanese to keep the pressure up. So she got plenty of aid.

Where did the money go?

The Chinese army never had enough armaments, but there were warehouses full of ammunition Chiang was storing to use against the Communists. They had to blow it all up when the Japanese moved in. The aid stopped with Truman: he had no use for the Chiangs. But May-ling had many friends here, some quite powerful.

For instance?

Henry and Claire Boothe Luce. To them, the Chiangs were saints one and two, absolutely remarkable people devoted to democracy. I dont know how many times they were on the cover of Time or Life. So their mythology grew in America.

How did she win Americans over?

She never demanded aid. She once described working for the Shanghai YWCA in the 1930s: I put on my best hat and shoes and furs and go in and give the gentlemen the opportunity to give to a good cause. She manipulated Congress and the media the same way. She handled herself brilliantly. Here was this tiny woman with a gorgeous body who was flirtatious and funny and spoke fluent American with a charming southern accent. She made congressmen feel big and important. She spoke with enormous feeling about China as the bastion of democracy, how the Chinese were waging the fight America should be waging against the Japanese.

Did she believe in democracy?

Eleanor Roosevelt said, Madame Chiang can talk about democracy, but she doesnt quite know how to live it. She could comparmentalize, say the appropriate thing to each audience to get what she wanted. But she was a genuine patriot. She was much more aware than Chiang of the threats in the world. She understood the foreign devils.

What does that mean?

Their culture said they were the center of the world, the Middle Kingdom, and everyone else was a barbarian. Chiang didnt give a damn about anyone outside China; he just wanted to be treated as the most important person in China. He was furious when neither Roosevelt nor Churchill met him at the airport in Cairo in 1943, after hed wangled his way into that conference; it was a big loss of face. Remember, Chiang was a Confucian, a typical Chinese. The only thing that mattered was facenot what was actually going on, but how it looked to the world.

Wasnt May-ling his translator at Cairo?

She translated most of his foreign correspondence and meetings. She never literally translated anything, though. Chiang had a huge temper and very little education. Nothing beyond his specific world interested him. So she had to make whatever he said sound thoughtful, soften it. She mediated everything. The one time she didnt was with Gen. Joseph Stilwell.

What happened?

She was in the States when George Marshall had FDR send that telegram to Chiang threatening to cut off Lend-Lease aid unless Stilwell took over command of the Chinese army. Instead Chiang ejected Stilwell from China; that wouldnt have happened if May-ling had been there. She would have worked something out. Remember face: that telegram made Chiang look like a recalcitrant fool. Stilwell had to go.

Solely because of face?

Stilwell knew how extensive the corruption was. He understood Chiang was far more interested in fighting the Chinese Communists than in fighting the Japanese. As far as Chiang was concerned, the United States or the Soviet Union would take care of the Japanese sooner or later.

Who benefited from Stilwells recall?

Roosevelts envoy Patrick Hurley, who thought he could reconcile the Nationalists and the Communists to fight the Japanese and create a unified China. General Chennault, who insisted all the Chinese army needed to win was American air support. And May-lings brother T. V. Most historians agree it appears T. V. used Lend-Lease aid to enrich himself and his family. Ive never been able to get definitive proof, nor has anyone else. But there is a mountain of suggestive evidence.

How do you see Madame Chiang?

As a very powerful woman whose power had real limits. She told Stilwell, Ive practically killed my husband but I cant move him two inches. She was very frustrated she couldnt get him to see anybody elses point of viewor how they appeared to other countries.

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2010 issue of World War II magazine.
I GREW UP hating Ulysses S. Grant, if only because he was the one most responsible for vanquishing my childhood hero, Robert E. Lee. In our household, Lee came next to God and cleanliness, a paragon of soldierly form and virtue. To me Grant was just some grim romping stomping cigar-chomping lucky bum of a default Union general who came stumbling into history. But a later revelation shook that illusion and took me back to school on the whole subject.

I was reading Mark Twain, who referred to Grant as being filled with sweetness, gentleness and goodness. What? The old Butcher General of the Union Army? I could hardly have imagined those words existing in the same sentence as Ulysses Grant (or even Twain himself). My curiosity piqued, I spent months reading everything I could get my hands on about this figure. I was amazed at what I found.

Most historians agree on the basic facts on Grant and his times. Some of his biographers diverge, however, and they seem to share a certain frustration in explaining their enigmatic subject. They just couldnt get Granthis life, lineage, persona and vitae just didnt add up to The Greatest Commander of the Greatest Army in the World.

The way I see it, Grants unlikely success in war can be attributed to a perfect storm of historic circumstances, fateful timing and personal attributes. His father remanded young Ulysses to West Point, which he barely tolerated, before he was immersed in the Mexican War, where his experiences imprinted on him the essence of combat, if mainly by keen observation. Later, as a civilian in the 1850s, he couldnt seem to get anything together and failed at practically everything.

As the Civil War began and the relatively few available Army officers and ex-officers were choosing up sides, one of Grants peersConfederate Richard S. Ewellobserved ominously: There is one West Pointerlittle knownwhom I hope the northern people will not find out. Otherwise, expectations of Grant were very low. He was given a small command, however, and soon got found out, proceeding to turn the tables on the South.

He figured out early how to win: Get in the enemys face and systematically grind him down with your superior resources. Grant proved to be focused, astute and resilientbut so were dozens of seemingly more qualified and forceful officers ahead of him. How was it that Grant, this middling colonel of Illinois Volunteers, could leapfrog over them all? The scene was set, destiny awaited and his amazing success emerged from the particular qualities of this most unlikely commander.

Centered character

Grant was solid, stoic, low maintenance and utterly trustworthy. His forthright manner, stark honesty and good judgment won him increasing respect. Though he often was attacked and second-guessed, Grant proved to be practically beyond reproach.

The Grant personality was centered; no extreme or rough edges. He was shy, but not coy; pleasant and affable, but not gregarious; dignified, but not aloof; self-confident, but not sanctimonious; purposeful, but not ambitious; sensitive, but not sentimental. Grant was at once placid and a grand latent force.

He did his thing in the most unassuming way. Cool, quiet, humble and austere, Grant was hardly noticed in a room full of greater egos. His face has three expressions: deep thought, extreme determination, and great calmness observed Theodore Lyman, a Union officer who had served under Maj. Gen. George Meade. As calm as the cyclones core was how writer Herman Melville put it. But when it was time for action, Grant makes things git, Abraham Lincoln said.

Grant was not an inspirational leader. Devoid of style and charisma, he did not capture the hearts and imaginations of his soldiers. He was endeared to them, however, by the uncanny power of his battlefield successes and by his total lack of condescension.

Whatever glory came to Grant was not sought. Good natured, tactful and polite, he was not burdened by vanity or ostentation. He was non-judgmental, tolerant and famously magnanimous. Grant had an amazing ability to endure criticism mainly by not reacting to it. He readily accepted blame and gave none himself.

Grant had no functional vices. He was occasionally intemperate, the more noticeable because of an inability to hold alcohol in his small frame, and an over-the-top cigar habit shortened his life. His weaknesses, he said, were children and horses: He was whimsical with the former and a skilled near-whisperer with the latter. Grant knew he had a war to win and was loath to let any personal fault or indulgence interfere.

Command and control

There was no part of when in command, command that Grant didnt understand. The military values of loyalty and unequivocal authority were well suited to his no-nonsense style. Although he was not one to take charge, when he was put in charge Grant was all about consistent orders, recognition, adaptation and momentum. Once he began racking up victories, Grant had little trouble getting others on his bandwagon.

Grant was not a debater. He was a good listener and respected his colleagues, but he kept his own counsel and made decisions in an esoteric fashion. Colonel James Rusling described Grant as a man who could dare great things, hold on mightily, and toil terriblyhe knew exactly what he wanted, and why, and when.

President Lincoln loved him before they had even met. At last he had a real fighterand one who was particularly easy to work with. Grant required no stroking, didnt whine about his armys deprivations and just went about the business of winning battles without bothering the commander in chief too much. Lincoln had been frustrated by having to be the general for all of Grants predecessors, who were too cautious, too concerned with glory or just incompetent. Grant and Lincoln combined formed one of the greatest command partnerships in history.

Grants greatest exercise in command was, perhaps, of himself. In war, he never let anything out that didnt have to do with defeating the enemy. He was not without humor or emotions; he just had immense self-control. After the first disastrous day of gruesome combat at the Wilderness on May 5, 1864, Grant was heard sobbing in his tent. Next morning, his staff expected to retreat. Grant, however, turned his army to face the enemy.

Common sense

Although he was no genius, Grant was nevertheless a classic thinker. He was too pragmatic to be considered an intellectual and too colorless to be considered brilliant. But his mind was clear, sharp and intuitive, and he was quick on his feet. Grant also had a phenomenal memory andsome have saida sixth sense in matters of time, place and terrain. Putting it all together, Grant gained a reputation for just being plain right most of the time, at least in war.

Above all else, Grant was a realist. After filtering for facts, he was driven to apply what he held to be true. Very little got through to or came out of him that wasnt relevant, critical or certain. Anything having to do with pretense or illusion was stripped away. Factored out were any self-delusions, neuroses or irrational fears. The concept of denial was totally foreign to Grant.

He brought his uber-rationality and agility to bear with a determination that crushed any notions of a Southern victory. Grant could wring optimum utility out of most situations, using even the occasional failures simply to narrow down the remaining possibilities, focusing on the next move. If his plan goes wrong he is never disconcerted but promptly devises a new one said William T. Sherman.

Grant was not afraid to take calculated risks, a number of which resulted in his huge victory at Vicksburgafter which Lincoln conceded, You were right, and I was wrong.

Frank communication

If Ulysses Grant had a defining trait, it was his ability to communicate and get his point across. The manner of his speech and writing, without any distinctive style, reflected his character: direct, composed, reserved and utterly clear. His words were few, but of great substance: honest, credible and reassuring. He was a master of syntax and his words were well chosen from an effectual but not overbearing vocabulary. Some occasional trouble with spelling comes off as endearing in sentences that are otherwise lucid.

The most effective tactical weapons in Grants arsenal were his own words. He led from the pen with short, comprehensible battle orders. There is one striking feature about his orders; no matter how hurriedly he may write them on the field, no one ever has the slightest doubt as to their meaning, observed Horace Porter, Meades chief of staff. The recipient could instantly get it, allowing Grants armies to be fast afoot. The series of orders that Grant gave in his career made for one of the greatest success stories in military history.

With the publication of his hugely popular memoirs, which he completed in 1885 as he was dying of cancer, Ulysses Grant became the most prolific top military memoirist of all time. In both substance and form the memoir was all Grant, with customary candor, accuracy and readability. Today the work still ranks as world-class literature in its own right.

Nurtured confidence

Facing the enemy in his first command, Grant overcame doubts and learned to allay fear. From the moment of his first victory he gained growing confidence in himself and his nations cause. Given the means, Grant believed he could roll up the Confederates and win the whole war.

Success bred more success for Union armies under Grant. Wherever he went, he saw the situation, took charge, got results and exploited his weakened enemy. Grants optimism and simple faith in success were infectious. Momentum built, and his soldiers liked being with a winner. And they didnt mind that their leader disdained the drama of it all. The Union Army was finally galvanized, and imminent victory gave confidence even to many of Grants less talented officers. Joshua Chamberlain reflected that Grant had the rare faculty of controlling his superiors as well as his subordinates.

His most critical vote of confidence came from Lincoln himself, whose trust in Grant was marrow deep. After Vicksburg surrendered to Grant in July 1863, Lincoln declared, Grant is my man, and I am his, for the rest of the war. After the war, the nation had enough confidence in Grant to elect him president twicewithout his actively campaigning for himself. Imagine that now.

Because he saw himself as an enlightened commoner, Grants success never really went to his head. In his view, if he could be confident in himself, he could be confident in others, too. Tragically, this trusting nature became a weakness in Grant, and his postwar years were marked by misplaced trust in others coming to unhappy effectfrom corruption by subordinates during his presidency to bad business associations afterward. Off the battlefield, Grants vision was less clear and his ability to control events compromised. But his intentions were good and he never lost the affection of his constituents.

Cumulative courage

Whenever it was time to do the right thing, Ulysses Grant was dauntless. Faced with hard choices after a tough battle, Grant could be counted on to press the enemy. Ulysses dont scare worth a damn! exulted one Wisconsin soldier after watching Grant write a dispatch as a shell exploded directly in front of him. His unflinching bravery in combat was unquestionable. There would sit Grant scribbling orders, with bullets whizzing by, directing his army into harms way somewhere else, driving the enemy. Sometimes injured, usually from moving around so rapidly on horseback, Grant would endure with the toughest of his men the pains and privations of an army in the field.

Moral courage is said to manifest in a person willing himself to step outside of his natural bounds and into danger for some higher purpose than security or even survival. It was unnatural for shy, live-and-let-live Ulysses Grant to ask others for such sacrifice, but thats what he had to do. Achieving peace would ultimately require terrible bloodshed and social wreckage. It fell to Grant to get it over with as quickly as possible, not because he relished the job, but because he was the best-proven warrior in the land.

Grants most severe test of courage came long after the war, during the last year of his life. Rendered destitute after being swindled by a business partner and dying of throat cancer, Grant was utterly down and out. The pain was bad enough, but the impact of his new ignominy on his family was perhaps worse. Then Mark Twain came along with a propitious offer: Spend your last days writing those long-deferred memoirs. The volumes would sell stupendously well, lifting the Grant family out of poverty and restoring his honor.

But first Grant had to fight through the pain and stay lucid enough to write, waving off the intermittent drugs that brought both relief and debility. No greater struggle did he ever endure than keeping himself alive long enough to finish his heroic work.

Conviction to the cause

As the war progressed, Grant became a man on a mission, quietly but forcibly crusading for unity and freedom. He had found success in war by constantly leaning forward with his agenda, controlling the battlefield and one-upping the opposing general practically every time. With Lincoln, he enabled one of the most significant societal transformations of all time. None of it might have happened, however, had it not been for the core values and personal constitution of Ulysses S. Grant.

Nobody would figure that the Souths secession would so rile Grant that he would make it his lifes purpose to put down the rebellion. He felt no hatred toward Southerners (indeed few have ever had to fight against so many former friends and colleagues), but he was utterly contemptuous of their causethe worst for which a people ever fought, he observed. Though not passionate about soldiering, Grant would use his position and ability to fight hard as a means to ending slavery and restoring the Union.

Before the war, Grant had been a serious underachiever and was rarely outspoken. Privately, however, he maintained a strong patriotic ethos. A divided America, he believed, only weakened all. In his opinion, unity of purpose and equality were essential, and the new Confederacy threatened them both. No stouter foe of anarchy in every form ever lived within our borders, Theodore Roosevelt later observed.

Worse still was the institution of slavery. The more Grant reflected on this abomination, the more incensed he became. Grant could never abide cruelty, abuse or injustice, and slavery was deeply offensive to his egalitarian soul. He became a champion for the oppressed, and later, as president, he was a great friend to African Americans and Native Americans alike.

Despite being made a hero by the Civil War, Grant just wanted unity and order. Let us have peace, he urged when he was nominated for president in 1868. He and Lincoln had used the terrible tool of war to drive the nation to its moral senses, and from Appomattox forward nobody did more than Grant to reconcile the societies of the North and South.

Close companions

Finally, two people close to Grant figured significantly in his success. His marriage was a model of love and support, and the many letters from the field to his wife Julia are a chronicle of the war and the inner Grant. Also influential was his adjutant John Rawlins, his best friend and alter ego, in whom Grant had wisely invested his conscience, and to whom he would listen. I always disliked hearing anyone swear, except Rawlins, he once said.

This was Grants secret weapon: a studiously low profile masking his own good character, ability and drive. He was easy to underestimate. Friends were amazed and foes were bewildered by his unique success. How could this peaceful man of such soft disposition also be so tenacious and steely? Grant was hardly tops in any one skill or virtue, but taking the sum of his parts he was the most complete general in the Army. Once the character of the man is understood it should not be so surprising that he would thrive in a conflict like the Civil War.

My opposing idols from North and South can now be reconciled. My great affinity for Robert E. Lee is undiminished, though Ulysses S. Grant emerges a new hero. Grant will never be an icon like Washington or Lee, though he warrants greater recognition, and his feats are far more instructive on what it takes to succeed.

Jim Stickney of Asheville, N.C., is a reconstructed Southerner and lifelong student of the Civil War.

This article was originally published in the January 2016 issue of Americas Civil War magazine.
University of Washington professor Quintard Taylor is a leading scholar of black history in the American West. He also manages the Web site BlackPast.org, which gathers and disseminates information about black history and has attracted some 4 million visitors since its launch in 2007. Last year alone the site drew more than 1.8 million visitors from more than 100 nations, who, Taylor says, by voting with their keystrokes, ratify the global interest in black history. The site is popular with students from middle school to the graduate level, as well as with professional historians. Taylor has also written several books, including In Search of the Racial Frontier: African Americans in the American West, 15281990. In 2008 he co-edited with Shirley Ann Wilson Moore African-American Women Confront the West, 16002000 (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman).

Taylor will serve as president of the Western History Association from October 2010 to October 2011 in that organizations 50th year. Representing more than 1,200 professional and amateur historians, the WHA is the third largest historical organization in the United States and one of the few to research, present and promote the history of the North American West. Like many of its counterparts, the WHA is constantly evolving to meet the needs of scholars, researchers and the general public, said Taylor. Our 50th anniversary meeting in Oakland in 2011 will provide an opportunity to look back at the remarkable accomplishments of the organization. Despite our differing backgrounds, we all share a deep affection for the region we call home. We also carry the awesome responsibility of helping to interpret that region and its history to the wider world. Taylor recently took time to speak with Wild West.

I would love to see more histories that discuss the interactionsthe cooperation, conflict and accommodationbetween groups of color in the West

What was life like for black women in the 19th-century West.

In most respects, the lives of African-American women in the West were similar to those of white women and probably Latino women, since all were settlers on the frontier in some regard. Native American women, of course, had occupied the region far longer than other groups, and they had a lifestyle wholly different. Nineteenth-century black women differed from most white or Latino women in most of the West in one regardthey were overwhelmingly urban in every state and territory except Texas, Indian/Oklahoma Territory and Kansas. Black women were also particularly concerned about civil rights and especially voting rights. Since Wyoming Territory was the first Western state or territory to grant women the right to vote in the postCivil war period, black women in Wyoming were actually ahead of black women elsewhere in the region and the nation.

Black women had a breakthrough in the workforce during World War II, correct?

Yes, primarily in the workplace, when for the first time in Western history they had access to industrial jobs and were no longer relegated almost entirely to domestic service. One Los Angeles woman who worked in one of the citys aircraft plants in 1945 said it best, It was Hitler who got us out of white folks kitchens. This work opportunity would have intended and unintended consequences. This work would provide far more household income, which in turn led to far more independence from domineering black husbands or white employers.

What accounted for the continued segregation in the workplace?

The entire United States remained a segregated society in World War II. The armed forces were segregated, the schools were segregated, people lived in segregated communities, and even the churches were segregated. It is not surprising that there were calls for segregated workplaces. What is surprising is the level of resistance to that segregation on the part of all workers. Part of this came from the national unity calls orchestrated by the federal government during World War II, but a larger part stemmed from changing attitudes, particularly on the part of white workers. By the end of World War II, a substantial minority of white workers for the first time joined with black workers and other workers of color to condemn workplace (and labor union) segregation. Their calls in this period, I believe, led directly to the eventually successful challenge of segregation throughout the nation and particularly in the South in the 1960s.

What explains the perception that the Pacific Northwest offered greater freedom to blacks than other regions?

Because virtually all perceptions are based in some degree on reality. Up through the 1960s, Washington and Oregon, and to a lesser extent Montana and Idaho, were much freer from anti-black prejudice than the Deep South. Blacks who migrated to the region, and especially to Oregon and Washington, did not have to worry about racially motivated lynchings. They could own land. They lived in integrated neighborhoods. In most places they could use public accommodations without fear of being turned away. Their children attended integrated schools. Most important, they could vote. Moreover, in Washington these rights were enshrined in the 1890 state constitution. This idea of freedom began to fade somewhat after World War II, as race relations in the South improved and as racial prejudice seemed to increase with the growth of the black population in this region. Black and white residents reported far more racial tension and far more incidents of racial discrimination in the Pacific Northwest after World War II than before the conflict.

What drew so many blacks to Texas?

The black migration to Texas in the late 19th century does at first glance appear strange. Texas probably had more anti-black violence during Reconstruction than any other state in the nation. Yet, during the same period Texas also had the most rapidly growing areas of cotton production. Thousands of black (and white) sharecroppers who were unable to own land in the Old South moved to Texas to work in its burgeoning agricultural economy, which by the way also drew thousands of workers north from Mexico. A smaller but still significant number of blacks moved to Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, which even then were among the fastest growing cities in the Southwest.

And to the California Gold Rush?

Very few black miners struck it rich, but many were like Peter Brown, the miner from Missouri who wrote to his wife in 1851: California is the best country in the world to make money. It is also the best place for black folks on the globe. With those comments, Brown expressed an optimism rare at the time that African Americans would be allowed to prosper somewhere in the United States. This optimism was shared by many of the 4,000 blacks who came to California in the 1850s. In fact, by 1860 California had by far the wealthiest black population in North America. One of those people, Mary Ellen Pleasant, was one of the founders of the Bank of California and eventually became one the wealthiest women in the entire West. The optimism, however, was driven not only by economic prosperity but also by the ability of African Americans to challenge successfully for their rights in the 1860s and 1870s. While blacks were never completely free of racial bias in California or anywhere in the nation for that matter, certainly those who resided in the Golden State considered themselves luckier than most blacks across the nation.

How has black history evolved?

Some form of black history has existed in the United States ever since the people of African ancestry arrived in what is now the U.S. West from central Mexico in the 1530s or the first blacks landed at Jamestown, Va., in 1619. That history has been carried forward informally in the stories of individuals or communities. By the mid19th century that history was for the first time being recorded in books widely circulated among African Americans. It was also reproduced in thousands of pageants and plays held regularly in black church basements or clubhouses across the nation. By the middle of the 20th century, the history was now recorded in dozens of volumes by professional historians, those who had advanced degrees from the most prestigious universities and who often taught at the same institutions. Their target audience was no longer just African American readers; they now wrote histories that would be as eagerly read in classrooms and coffee shops or over kitchen tables by folks in Waterloo, Iowa or Casper, Wyo., as by people in southern Georgia or New Yorks Harlem. Today African-American history is one of the most popular subject areas for graduate students of all racial backgrounds who attend institutions as diverse as Yale or the University of Washington. At least 1,000 new books appear on the subject annually. It is also the subject of numerous articles in a broad array of magazines, including Wild West. Your interest in this article attests to the growing desire not just to know African-American history but to see how it fits in the wider world.

What stories remain to be told?

I dont believe one can have or read too much history, but I will say we need more studies of black Western urbanites in the 19th and 20th centuries. Although Wyoming, for example, had buffalo soldiers and homesteaders, the history of the small communities in Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie have yet to be told. Those stories provide another dimension to black history in Wyoming. I think the same can be said of other Western states. Second, I would love to see more histories that discuss the interactionsthe cooperation, conflict and accommodationbetween groups of color in the West. For example, how did 19th- and 20th-century Native Americans in Wyoming interact with the small black population? What was the black reaction to the Chinese in Wyoming or later to the influx of Latino farm workers? Finally, we still know very little about gender in the region as it impacts black women. Did the experience of black women on the frontier differ significantly from that of men? Did black women find common cause with white women or Native American women in Wyoming and other Western states on specific issues? Did their racial attitudes vary from those of black men? I think these and similar questions should be explored in detail.

What is the HistoryLine Interactive History Project?

HistoryLink is an online encyclopedia for the state of Washington. Their mission is similar to that of BlackPast.org in that they want to make that historical data available to a broad audience that uses the Internet. I sit on the board of HistoryLink, and a number of our volunteer contributors also write for that Web site.

How did BlackPast.org start?

BackPast.org was officially launched on February 1, 2007. As of this writing, its 3,000-plus pages comprise the largest free online reference center on African-American history on the Internet. It features timelines, major speeches and links to major African-American newspapers, museums, genealogy Web sites and digital archives. The Web sites seven bibliographies list more than 3,000 books. The heart of BlackPast.org, however, is the online encyclopedia, with over 2,500 entries that describe historical figures, events and places in African-American history. These entries were written by nearly 400 contributors from three continents. Many entries describe well-known individuals such as Harriett Tubman, W.E.B. DuBois, and President Barack Obama, but the site also profiles little known but significant people in African-American history such as Freedoms Journal, the first African-American newspaper, Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first African-American woman to receive a medical degree (New England Medical College, 1864) and Elijah Abel, the last 19th-century black priest in the Mormon Church.

You serve on the board of the Idaho Black History Museum. What drew you to that position?

First, I have some very good friends in Idaho who are quite persuasive. I was also drawn to the museum because Idaho has a relatively small African-American population, leading many people to quickly dismiss the state as having no African-American history. The leaders of the museum are out to remind Idahoans and others across the nation that such an assumption is incorrect. People of African ancestry have traversed or lived in Idaho since York first walked across its northern panhandle during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Few people probably know that Dr. Les Purce, currently the president of Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., was two decades ago the first African-American mayor of Pocatello, Idaho, the second largest city in the state, or that his grandfather Tracy Thompson was a leading rodeo star there in the late 19th century. Idahos black history (and its historical museum) serves as a powerful reminder that African-American history exists in every Western state and, indeed, every state in the nation.

What areas of Western history deserve more study?

My comments here would be similar to those made regarding African-American history in the region. Id like to see more urban history (few people realize that the West is the most urbanized region of the nation). I would certainly like to see more history that relates to gender, race and social class. I would also like to see more history that reflects on the momentous transformation taking place in the West as the old extractive economy gives way to technology and service-related industries. I think historians are often well positioned to provide the public with perspective on the changes and perhaps to allay fears that this transition represents the worst of times and a dire future. The West has experienced these transitions before and emerged even stronger. Historians of the region can remind the public of these past times as we chart a new roadmap into the future.
As the plane turned onto the taxiway, three trucks full of soldiers careened around a corner from another taxiway and slammed to a stop within inches of the plane, wrote Geraldine Frederitz Mock. Guns in hand, the soldiers leaped from the trucks and surrounded the airplane. Accustomed to seeing military planes piloted by men, the Egyptians were apparently staggered when they saw a woman at the controls of the 1953 Cessna 180, dubbed Spirit of Columbus and nicknamed Charlie. In the cockpit was Mock, a 38-year-old mother of three from Bexley, a Columbus, Ohio, suburb.

It was 1964, and Jerrie Mockwho would later chronicle her adventures in the book Three-eight Charliewas on the sixth leg of her historic flight around the world. During her flight from Tripoli to Cairo, she had accidentally landed at a secret military base instead of at the Cairo airport. Despite that incidentwhich ended peacefullyand several other scary moments (ice on the wings, sand in the engine and an antenna motor that burned out), Mock would eventually return to Columbus Airport on April 17, becoming the first woman to fly around the world solo. She completed the trip in 29 days, 11 hours and 59 minutes. Upon landing, she was greeted by Ohios Governor James A. Rhodes and a mob of fans. Dubbing her Ohios Golden Eagle, Rhodes proclaimed April 18 Jerrie Mock Day.

Geraldine Frederitz grew up at a time when young girls were expected to play with dolls and learn household chores. But because she wasnt allowed to venture across the street to the area where most of the other girls in her neighborhood lived, she actually ended up playing plenty of boys games like cowboys and Indians, and had decided those were much more fun. Although her mother refused to buy her little girl the toy train she so much desired, she eventually gave up the idea of teaching Jerrie to knit, a chore the child loathed.

At school, Jerrie refused to learn embroidery and resented the fact that the boys were allowed to go to mechanics class but she was not. When she was around 12, Jerrie was surprised to learn that women could only work for five hours in factories before taking a break, under Ohios Womens Protective Laws. In a Columbus Dispatch article, she later said, I was never going to abide by man-made laws that said women couldnt do something.

Frederitz determined early on to go well beyond the narrow boundaries of her hometown. I was stuck in a little town called Newark, where no one went anywhere, she later recalled. I also grew up in an age where there was no television and you could only learn about the world from geography books. I had no idea what it was like in other parts of the world but I wanted to be different than everyone else and find out.

Frederitz caught the flying bug at age 7, when she took her first ride in a Ford TriMotor with her parents. Even though the ride only lasted 15 minutes, it made quite an impression. She told everyone who would listen that when she grew up she would fly around the world. Flying may have been in her blood. Her mothers maiden name was Wright, and Mock had heard she might have been related to the Wright brothers in some way. I remember my aunt telling me about how she got invited to tour the Wrights bicycle factory, she later recalled. The youngster was also impressed by Amelia Earharts highly publicized feats. As a result, Jerrie took a preflight course during her high school years (the only other female in the course dropped out after the first session).

Marriage to Russell Mock in 1945 and motherhood temporarily interrupted Jerries flying dreams and ended her college education. She had been attending Ohio State University, the only woman then enrolled in its aeronautical engineering program. In addition to raising a family, for five years Mock coproduced an educational television program for local schools.

When Mock finally took her first flying lesson in 1956, it was immediately obvious that she was a natural pilot. She soloed after only nine hours and 15 minutes of instruction. In 1958, she earned her license. Mock learned to fly by landmark navigation, since at the time pilots were not legally required to fly with radios. She quickly became dissatisfied with the simple routes most Ohio pilots flew and was later disappointed to learn that no one in Columbus could teach her how to fly across oceans. I plotted more complicated routes to fly than experienced pilots, she recalled. Even the old-timers asked me how I navigated.

In 1961, Mock became the first woman licensed by Ohio to manage an airport, Price Field in Columbus, a job she held for about a year. On Sundays, she was there alone, which meant fueling airplanes, tying them down, and even doing despised household chores like making coffee. The male instructors did not like a woman telling them what to do, Mock recalled. I did not worry about it and ignored them. Mock also managed Logan County Airport in Lincoln, Illinois, for a few months to help out a friend, flying back and forth from Columbus to do so.

Although she only had 700 flying hours before she embarked on her round-the-world adventure, most of that time was spent flying long distanceto the Bahamas, Canada and Mexico. In contrast, Mock later met an instructor who had accumulated thousands of hours of flying experience but none of it was long distance. While flying to Mexico, she had to learn the hard way that radio stations could go off the air. It prepared her for similar conditions on her world flight.

Several years after earning her license, Mock told her husband that she was bored with being a housewife and wanted to do something exciting. He jokingly suggested she fly around the world. The joke stopped when Mock contacted the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) in 1962 and found out that a woman had never flown solo around the world. She had taken it for granted that a woman had already done so. After all, that was Amelia Earharts intent in the 1930s, when she and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared in the Pacific. It immediately became Mocks goal.

Mock soon discovered that in Columbus, U.S. Air Force personnel were the only people who knew what was needed to get her started. They agreed to help her out on an unofficial basis. She also received valuable information from two brothersmechanic John Peck at Price Field, who had been World War I ace Eddie Rickenbackers personal mechanic, and Robert Peck, an engineer at Purdue University. Brigadier General O.F. Dick Lassiter of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), a family friend, also gave her advice.

Next year, the Columbus Dispatch agreed to be a sponsor (thanks to her husbands advertising connections) and to fund most of the trip. Then she needed to plot a route, gain permission to fly across countries, and have observers and timers appointed by the NAA at each stop to document landings and takeoffs for establishing official records. I visited each embassy in Washington, D.C., to get clearance, Mock later recalled. The actual flying was a lot less complicated than putting together all these little details.

Jerrie Mocks Cessna C-180 on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Most important, a single-engine airplane had to be modified to make a round-the-world trip. Mocks 11-year-old Cessna 180, with the Federal registration number N1538C, was equipped with a new engine, an airline-type compass, twin radio direction finders, dual short-range radios and a long-range high-frequency radio system with a trailing antenna. The passenger seats were replaced with huge gas tanks (the fuel tank installation alone cost around $4,000).

The plane had to be flown to Wichita, Kansas, for these modifications, and before Mock could even begin her historic flight, she had to fly back to Columbus, an additional 1,000 miles, since she had to fly around a restricted area. I also had to fly to Florida to get the high-frequency radio installed, since no one in Columbus knew how, recalled Mock, and fly to Muskegon, Michigan, where they built the Continental engine. When she finally took off from Columbus, at 9:31 a.m. on March 19, 1964, it would be another 1,000 miles or so to reach her next stop, Bermuda.

For a time, it seemed that another female pilotJoan Merriman Smith of Long Beach, California, had beaten Mock to the punch. Smith took off two days ahead of Mock to fly around the world, challenging the Ohio pilot. Now the flight had become a race, which meant Mock could not take the time to sightsee en route as originally planned. Each time she touched down at her latest destination and was ready to go exploring, her husband would track her down and demand she get back into the air as soon as possible. She had a race to win, and luck was with her, not her challenger. Smith ran into mechanical and logistical problems, completing her globe girdle well after Mocks (it took Smith 50 days). After I returned home, I remember reading a newspaper story about Smith shopping in Singapore, recalled Mock.

To Mock, the long hours alone in her plane were a picnic compared to the administrative and logistical problems she often faced on the ground. Red tape and language barriers on stops abroad sometimes forced Mock to spend more hours on the ground than in the air. At the Cairo airport, for example, Egyptian officials didnt believe she was a pilot and not just a passengerrefusing at first to stamp her visa without a boarding ticket.

Despite such problems, and her husbands urgings, Mock did find the time and energy to fulfill some of her childhood dreams along the way. She saw an elephant up close in Sri Lanka and rode a camel in Egypt near the Sphinx. She also got to meet some notable personalities, including Pakistans most famous woman flier, Suchria Ali, a commercial glider pilot and instructor for the Aero Club who came to Karachis airport to see her off. When she landed in Guam, Mock was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd that included a general, an admiral and a bandand she was invited to stay in the governors mansion.

Mocks flight was monitored by the NAA and the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which certified it as a round-the-world speed record for aircraft weighing less than 3,858 pounds. Mock also became the first woman to fly from the United States to Africa via the North Atlantic, the first woman to fly the Pacific in a single-engine plane and the first woman to fly both the Atlantic and Pacific alone. During her flight, Mock established another first that did not go into the record books: She became the first woman to land a plane in Saudi Arabia.

After completing her round-the-world flight, Mock never again flew Spirit of Columbus. Cessna gave her a 206, and her old 180 was stored in the Cessna factory in Wichita until the firm donated it to the National Air and Space Museum in 1975. It was displayed in the General Aviation gallery until 1984, and is now stored at the Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility.

Mock continued to break records, a total of 21 for speed and distance in all. In 1965, she broke the speed record for a closed course of 312 miles and with a plane weighing less than 2,200 pounds, flying 205 mph in an Aero Commander 200. In 1966, just one week shy of the second anniversary of her global flight, Mock broke the nonstop distance record for a woman after a 4,550-mile flight from Honolulu to Columbus that took 31 hours. Governor Rhodes was again at the airport to greet her when she landed. Three Russian women had set the previous record of 3,071 miles in 1938.

In 1968, Mock broke another world speed record, flying from Columbus to Puerto Rico and back in 33 hours. The next year, she shattered nine world speed records while delivering her Cessna 206 (the same one given her after her world flight) to a priest in New Guinea to use for his missions. Lae, New Guinea, the last place Mock flew to in her career, was also the last place Earhart took off from before she disappeared in July 1937.

Mock decided to give up flying after 1968 because it would be too expensive to continue flying around the world to all the exotic places she still wanted to go. Anything else would have been anticlimactic, she pointed out.

Surprisingly, in later years Mock pointed out that her round-the-world flight was not actually her most memorable. Several months after that journey, she became one of the few women to fly at supersonic speeds, thanks to an Air Force pilot who gave her a ride in a McDonnell F-101 Voodoo jet fighter. The jet reached a speed of 1,038 mph (Mach 1.7), and Mock briefly handled the controls. Fantastic, Mock told a Columbus Dispatch reporter. I didnt want to come down.

Mock received the Federal Aviation Agencys Gold Medal for Exceptional Service on May 4, 1964, from President Lyndon Johnson, and a year later became the first woman, and first American, to earn the Louis Bleriot Silver Medal for aviationthe award for breaking an existing record of a light plane under 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds). She received numerous other regional and national awards in recognition of her aviation accomplishments, as well as keys to 10 cities and 18 honorary memberships (including in the 87th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the U.S. Air Force). In 1979, she was inducted into the Ohio Womens Hall of Fame.

Despite all that fulsome recognition, Mock tended to downplay her achievements. I just went out to have fun and to see the world, she said matter-of-factly in one interview. But she did write about her achievements in the book Three-eight Charlie, in which she recorded her impressions of all the publicity she received. When she landed in Columbus after her round-the-world flight, for example, she was overwhelmed by the crowds of people and being in the spotlight. It didnt seem right that these people should say such wonderful things about me, she wrote. I had just had a little fun flying my airplane.'

Despite her modesty, Mock has said she believed that more women took up flying after her 1964 venture. And decades later, long after she retired and moved to Florida, she still received mail from women who said her accomplishments have changed their lives. One recent letter came from a Newark woman in her 50s who said Jerrie made her realize she did not have to be just a housewife.

Another Columbus woman remembers Jerrie Mocks impact on her own life. I followed her flying career closely, even though I was just a kid, recalled Terry Fogle. I thought it was so cool that she was such a fearless woman flying everywhere in her little plane.

Editors Note: Jerrie Mock died on September 30, 2015, in her Florida residence. She was 88 years old.

This article was written by Laurel M. Sheppard and originally published in the July 2005 issue of Aviation History. Additional reading: Three-eight Charlie, by Jerrie Mock.

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In the late summer of 1862, Robert E. Lee led the Army of Northern Virginia in an invasion of the North for the first time in the war, threatening Pennsylvania. The collision of the opposing armies was near the Maryland town of Sharpsburg, but is known as the Battle of Antietam. This battle scene, now believed to have a portion missing, depicts Colonel Robert Brown Potter as the central figure. Potter had just been appointed as colonel of his regiment, the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry, when he was called upon to push his regiment, along with the co-incidentally numbered 51st Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, across a stone bridge over Antietam Creek, and attack the Confederate right flank. The advance of Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside had been delayed by Confederates on a low ridge overlooking the bridge (now known popularly as Burnsides Bridge) and the day was waning. The assault of these troops of the Union left flank would be the final one of the battle and could decisively determine the battles outcome and potentially destroy Robert E. Lees forces.

Potter and his two regiments succeeded in forcing their way through the hail of bullets and pushed the Confederates off the hillside; a scene which is depicted in this painting. It is believed that originally the stone bridge was visible in the distance on the right hand side of the painting. Despite the successful assault at the bridge Union victory was stymied by the last minute arrival of fresh Confederate troops who stalled the Federal advance. Although the battle ended in a bloody stalemate as the most Americans ever died on that single day, but as Lee was forced to retire from the field and return to the South it was considered a technical Northern victory.

Although the artist who painted this work was not at the scene, he was himself a veteran of the war. Julian A. Scott has enlisted in the Third Vermont Volunteer Infantry as a drummer. He served until May of 1863, when he was discharged because of disability. Although a drummer and only fifteen at the time of his enlistment, Scott served in battle and was awarded the Medal of Honor for bringing wounded soldiers to safety under fire at the battle of Lees Mills, Virginia in April of 1862. He is one of the youngest men to have ever been awarded the Medal of Honor. After the war Scott studied at the National Academy of Design, mentored by the noted artist Emanuel Leutze, and became a prominent American artist whose works include many Civil War scenes and portraits.

Colonel Potter continued to serve after being wounded at Antietam, and was promoted to brigadier general in March of 1863. Wounded again near Petersburg, Virginia, in July of 1864, Potter missed the closing campaigns of the war. At the end of the war he was promoted to the rank of major general, and went into the profession of law as a civilian.
Hell and Good Company

Life and Love in the Spanish Civil War

by Richard Rhodes. 384 pages. Simon & Schuster, 2015. $30.

Reviewed by Peter Carlson

Many books have been written about the Spanish Civil War. Few of them explore the aspects of the war that interest me, Richard Rhodes writes in his preface to Hell and Good Company. Rhodes says he was drawn to the human stories that had not yet been told or had been told only incompletely, and he has woven those stories into a fast-paced and ultimately moving book.

Rhodes, 77, is one of Americas finest writers of narrative nonfiction. Best known for his four books on the history of nuclear weaponsincluding the Pulitzer Prizewinning The Making of the Atomic Bombhe has also written a biography of John James Audubon, a memoir of his own Dickensian childhood, and more than a dozen other books. He is a master of the art of weaving several stories and complex background material into a compelling narrative, and he demonstrates that art in this book.

Rhodes quickly sketches the background of the Spanish Civil Warhow after centuries of rule by the aristocracy, the army, and the Catholic Church, Spain finally became a republic in 1931. Five years later General Francisco Franco led a military revolt against the republic. Mussolini and Hitler aided Franco with troops, arms, and air power, while Stalin sold guns to the republican forces, which were reinforced by 40,000 foreign volunteers, many of them Communists.

Against this backdrop, Rhodes tells the stories of a handful of foreigners who traveled to Spain to support the republican forcesNorman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon; Edward Barsky, an American doctor; Patience Darton, a British nurse; Ernest Hemingway and his mistress (and future wife) Martha Gellhorn, both of whom reported on the war; and Robert Merriman, a Communist from California who led the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and became a model for the hero of Hemingways war novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. The war changed their lives: Some fell in love, some were killed, and some were betrayed by their allies or jailed by their countrymen.

Two aspects of the war fascinate Rhodesits effect on medical science and its influence on modern art. He chronicles how doctors, Spanish and foreign, pioneered new techniques for wound care while working under horrendous combat conditions. And he recounts in gruesome detail the German and Italian bombing of the Basque town of Guernica. Then he depicts, step-by-step, how Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, enraged and inspired by newspaper photos of the massacre, created his masterpiecethe starkly powerful 25-foot-long, black-and-white mural Guernica.

But even the greatest art could not save the Spanish republic from the overwhelming air superiority provided to Franco by Hitlers Condor Legion. In April 1939 Franco won the war and created a dictatorship that ended only when he died in 1975. Rhodess book is not a full military history of the conflict, but it is an entertaining, if somewhat eccentric, introduction to what he describes as a small but pivotal war at a hinge of history.

Peter Carlson often focuses on personal stories to capture larger moments of history, as in his most recent book, Junius and Alberts Adventures in the Confederacy.

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Theres a nighttime scene in Steven Spielbergs Lincoln in which the president tells an African-American woman about his uncertainty over what freedom will bring emancipated slaves after the Civil War.

The woman, whom he addresses as Mrs. Keckley, makes brief but puzzling appearances throughout the film: outside the Lincoln bedroom in the White House, in the gallery of the House of Representatives beside Mary Todd Lincoln and as the sole companion of the Lincolns at an opera. In this conversation, Keckley asks Lincoln pointedly for his personal feelings toward her race. I dont know you, Mrs. Keckley, he begins. And neither does the viewer, who is left to ponder how this woman could have come to address the president so candidly, and what may have moved Lincoln to speak so frankly to her about his misgivings.

But this dramatization is deceiving. Abraham Lincoln knew Elizabeth Keckley well, both as his wifes most intimate friend and as a leader among free black women in the North. In just five years she rose from slavery in St. Louis to intimacy with the first family in Washington. Her remarkable life story and accomplishments ranked with those of contemporaries Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. But unlike them, her name faded into the shadows of history, much like her shadowy presence in the movie. And so the question remains: Who was Mrs. Keckley?

Elizabeth Keckley (sometimes spelled Keckly) was born on the plantation of Armistead and Mary Burwell outside Petersburg, Va., in February 1818. She never knew her precise birth date, a detail too trifling for entry into slave records. But her birth engaged more than the passing interest of Armistead Burwell, who was both her master and her father. Elizabeths mother was Agnes Hobbs, a literate slave and the Burwell family seamstress.

Liaisons between masters and female slaves were common and usually forced. As slaves were mere property, Southern society did not regard this as rape or adultery. But wives of philandering slaveholders had little regard for the offspring of such illicit encounters, particularly when the children bore a resemblance to their fathersas did light-skinned Lizzie Hobbs. Mary Burwell put Lizzie to work at age 4 watching over the Burwells baby daughter. The responsibility was too great for a child. One day Lizzie accidentally rocked the cradle too hard, spilling the infant to the floor. Perplexed and frightened, Lizzie tried to scoop the baby back into the cradle with a fireplace shovel just as Mary Burwell entered the room. Infuriated, Mrs. Burwell ordered the overseer to beat Lizzie. The blows were not administered with a light hand, and doubtless the severity of the lashing has made me remember the incident so well, Keckley later recalled. This was the first time I was punished in this cruel way, but not the last.

Elizabeth Hobbs lived a turbulent early life, with both the anguish common to slavery and privileges denied most slaves. Her mother taught her to sew, and somehow, probably with the Burwells permission, she learned to read and write. In 1836 Armistead Burwell loaned Elizabeth and her mother to his eldest son Robert, a Presbyterian minister living in Hillsborough, N.C. Robert Burwells wife considered Elizabeth too strong-willed for a slave and sent her to William J. Bingham, the village schoolmaster known for his cruelty, to have the pride beaten out of her. Calling Elizabeth into his study, Bingham grabbed a lash and told her to strip naked. Elizabeth refused. Recollect, I was eighteen years of age, was a woman fully developed, and yet this man coolly bade me take down my dress. Bingham overpowered her, and she staggered home covered with bloody welts and deep bruises. After beating her a second time, Bingham broke down and begged her forgiveness. After Bingham faltered, the Reverend Burwell himself beat Elizabeth, striking her so hard with a chair leg that his wife begged him to desist from further punishments.

No sooner did the beatings end than a white neighbor named Alexander Kirkland raped Elizabeth. He used her for four years. In 1840 Elizabeth gave birth to a boy, whom she named George Kirkland. Although three-quarters white, he was a slave like his mother.

After these ordeals, Elizabeths fortunes improved. She and her son returned to Petersburg as the property of Armistead Burwells daughter Anne Garland and her husband Hugh. Anne treated her illegitimate half-sister kindly and encouraged her progress as a seamstress and dressmaker.

Garlands business went bankrupt in 1847. He moved his family to St. Louis and opened a law practice, which also foundered. Elizabeth and her mother helped support the Garlands by making dresses for white socialites. In exchange, the Garlands permitted Elizabeth to mingle with the large free black population of St. Louis. In 1855 they agreed to manumit her and young George for $1,200, which Elizabeth borrowed from a sympathetic white client.

That November, Elizabeth married James Keckley. She prospered as a dressmaker and sent her son to the recently founded Wilberforce University in Ohio. But her marriage broke down after Elizabeth learned her husband, who had represented himself as a free black man, was in fact a dissolute and debased slave who proved nothing but a source of trouble and a burden to her. In early 1860, Elizabeth Keckley left her husband and moved to Baltimore, hoping to teach dressmaking to young black women. Her plan failed, and with scarcely enough to pay my fare to Washington, Elizabeth traveled to the nations capital in search of new opportunities.

It was a life-changing decision. Elizabeth found work in October 1860 as a seamstress for a polite and kind shop-owner whose customers included the leading ladies of Washington. He offered her a generous commission. Elizabeths clients delighted in her designs, and her popularity grew. She rented an apartment in a middle-class black neighborhood and soon counted Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee, wife of Colonel Robert E. Lee, and Varina Davis, wife of Senator Jefferson Davis, among her clients.

During the secession winter of 1860-61, Elizabeth went to the Davis residence daily to make clothing for Varina and her children and frequently overheard Senator Davis political discussions with Southern colleagues. When the Davises left Washington in late January 1861, Varina asked Elizabeth to come South with the family, warning that in the event of war Northerners would blame blacks for the conflict and in their exasperation treat you harshly. Elizabeth politely declined, and they parted on good terms.

But Elizabeth was not long without a distinguished patroness. With ambition equal to her talent, she sought work in the White House. To accomplish this end, I was ready to make almost any sacrifice consistent with propriety. As it turned out, all she needed to do to gain an interview with the new first lady was to make a gown on short notice for Margaret McClean, daughter of future Maj. Gen. Edwin V. Sumner and a mutual friend of Varina Davis and Mary Todd Lincoln.

Elizabeth called on the first lady on March 5, 1861, the day after President Lincolns inauguration. The interview was short; learning Elizabeth had worked for Varina Davis, whose wardrobe was widely admired, Mary Lincoln hired her on the spot, asking only that Elizabeth keep her rates reasonable because the Lincolns were just arrived from the West and poor. Mary made no friends in Washington society, but the dresses Elizabeth created for her caused quite a stir. The wives of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles became regular customers, and Elizabeth made mourning gowns for the widow of Senator Stephen A. Douglas. But most of her income came from working on Mary Lincolns expanding wardrobe. With her earnings, Elizabeth opened a shop and hired several assistants. Mary preferred to go to Elizabeths rooms for her fittings, as did Mary Jane Welles and Ellen Stanton. Elizabeth disapproved of their visits, saying later, I always thought that it would be more consistent with their dignity to send for me instead of their coming to me.

Meanwhile, her son had managed to pass himself off as white to enlist in the Union Army at the outbreak of the war. His time in the service was short; George Kirkland died August 10, 1861, at the Battle of Wilsons Creek, Mo. Mary Lincoln heard the news while vacationing in New York and sent Elizabeth a kind womanly letter of condolence, a mark of the growing intimacy between them.

That the spoiled daughter of a Kentucky slave owner would form a close bond with an ex-slave was less surprising than it appeared. Mary was a friendless outsider in Washington. Fair-skinned, always immaculately dressed, literate and courteous to the Nth degree, a White House housekeeper observed, Elizabeth was the only person in Washington who could get along with Mrs. Lincoln when she became mad with anyone for talking about her and criticizing her husband. Thirty-seven years of bondage had taught Elizabeth to accept fits of temper and irrational outbursts far more severe than Mary Lincolns.

The death of the Lincolns 11-year-old son Willie in February 1862 drew Mary closer to Elizabeth. Suffering from paroxysms of grief beyond her husbands capacity to endure, Mary found refuge in her dressmakers calm and steady presence. A pattern emerged that would characterize the next three years of Elizabeths life. She spent much of her time at the White House, often returning home only to sleep or give brief instructions to her employees. She cared for the Lincolns youngest son Tad, who was often ill, ministered to Mary during her frequent bouts of headaches and nervous exhaustion, and earned the respect of President Lincoln, who addressed her as Madame Elizabeth.

When slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia in April 1862, a New York Post correspondent introduced the nation to Lizzie, a stately, stylish woman, in an article about successful free blacks in Washington. Her features are perfectly regular, her eyes dark and winning; hair straight, black, shining. A smile half-sorrowful and wholly sweet makes you love her face as soon as you look on it. It is a face strong with intellect and heart. It is Lizzie who fashions those splendid costumes of Mrs. Lincoln, whose artistic elegance have been so highly praised. Stately carriages stand before [Keckleys] door, whose haughty owners sit before Lizzie docile as lambs while she tells them what to wear. Lizzie is an artist, and has such a genius for making women look pretty, that not one thinks of disputing her decrees.

Lincoln spoke freely in Elizabeth Keckleys presence. One afternoon while she was dressing Mary Lincoln for a reception, the president entered the room. Glancing onto the lawn where Tad played with two goats, he turned

to Elizabeth and asked, Madame Elizabeth, you are fond of pets, are

you not? Oh yes, sir, she answered. Well, come here and look at my two goats. I believe they are the kindest and best goats in the world. See how they skip and play in the sunshine. After one sprang into the air, Lincoln asked Elizabeth if she had ever seen such an active goat. Musing a moment, he continued, He feeds on my bounty and jumps with joy. Do you think we should call him a bounty-jumper? But I flatter the bounty jumper. My goat is far above him. I would rather wear his horns and hairy coat than demean myself to the level of the man who plunders the national treasury in the name of patriotism. Come, Lizabeth, Mary scolded. If I get ready to go down this evening I must finish dressing myself, or you must stop staring at those silly goats.

Mrs. Lincoln was not fond of pets, and she could not understand how Mr. Lincoln could take so much delight in his goats, Keckley remembered. After Willies death, she could not bear the sight of anything he loved, not even a flower.

Mary buried her unrelenting anguish in lavish spending on clothing and jewelry. Elizabeth accompanied her on shopping trips to New York and Boston, remaining behind in the cities for days at a time to settle orders with merchants. Despite the demands of being the first ladys companion, she carved out a place as a leader among the capitals free black community. A chance stroll past a charitable event for wounded soldiers in August 1862 suggested an idea. Forty thousand ex-slaves freed by advancing Union armies thronged the capital, where they lived in squalor. If the white people can give festivals to raise funds for the relief of suffering soldiers, she mused, why should not the well-to-do colored people go to work to do something for the benefit of suffering blacks? Two weeks later the Contra-band Relief Association was born, with Elizabeth as president. Mary Lincoln was first to subscribe with a $200 donation. President Lincoln also contributed. Northern abolitionists raised funds and contributed clothing and blankets. Frederick Douglass lectured on the associations behalf and obtained contributions from anti-slavery societies in Great Britain.

Under Elizabeths leadership the association distributed food, clothing and other essentials to freedmen, sheltered them and brought teachers to schools built for them. Fundraisers attracted prominent speakers such as Douglass and Wendell Phillips. The organization also hosted Christmas dinners for sick and wounded soldiers of both races.

Some of the freedmen and freedwomen had exaggerated ideas of liberty. To them it was a beautiful vision, a land of sunshine, rest, and glorious promise, she wrote. Since their extravagant hopes were not realized, it was but natural that many of them should feel bitterly their disappointment. Thousands of the disappointed huddled together in camps, fretted and pined like children for the good old times. In visiting them they would crowd around me with pitiful stories of distress. Often I heard them declare that they would rather go back to slavery in the South and be with their old masters than to enjoy the freedom of the North. I believe they were sincere, because dependence had become a part of their second nature, and independence brought with it the cares and vexations of poverty.

As the war dragged on and her husband had neither the time nor patience to indulge her roller-coaster emotions, Mary Lincoln grew increasingly dependent on Elizabeth, withholding little. When it appeared Lincoln might lose the 1864 election, she tearfully revealed her crushing financial burden. The president glances at my rich dresses and is happy to believe that the few hundred dollars that I obtain from him supply all my wants, she said. If he is elected, I can keep him in ignorance of my affairs, but if he is defeated, then the bills will be sent.

Lincolns re-election eased her worry. After Richmond fell in April 1865, Mary invited Elizabeth to accompany her and the president on a visit to City Point, Va., aboard the River Queen. From there they traveled to Richmond, where Elizabeth visited the vacant Confederate Senate chamber and sat in the chair Jefferson Davis sometimes occupied. When the presidential party moved on to Petersburg, Elizabeth searched for childhood acquaintances while the president inspected the troops. She found a few, but was sorry she had come. The scenes suggested painful memories, and I was not sorry to turn my back again upon the city, she confessed.

Greater pain awaited, and soon. On the evening of April 11, Elizabeth peered out a White House window at the president, who stood on an open balcony a short distance away. Lincoln had just begun to speak to a large crowd about his plans for Reconstruc-tion. In one hand he held his speech, in the other a candle. Its flickering shadow obscured the words, and Lincoln passed the candle to a journalist behind him. As the candlelight fell full on the president, Elizabeth shivered. What an easy matter it would be to kill the president as he stands there, she whispered to a companion. He could be shot down from the crowd, and no one be able to tell who fired the shot.

The next morning Elizabeth shared her fear with Mary, who answered sadly, Yes, yes, Mr. Lincolns life is always exposed. No one knows what it is to live in constant dread of some fearful tragedy. I have a presentiment that he will meet with a sudden and violent end. I pray to God to protect my beloved husband from the hands of the assassin.

Three nights later the president lay dying in the Petersen House across the street from Fords Theatre. Mary ordered messengers to bring Elizabeth to her, but they all got lost in the tumult outside the theater. The next morning Elizabeth came to the White House. She found the first lady prostrate with grief and in desperate need of her companionship. For the next six weeks she remained with Mary, sleeping in her room and, as Mary said, watching faithfully by my side.

After Lincolns assassination, Marys debts came due. From Chicago, where she had moved with Robert Todd Lincoln, she hectored Elizabeth with sorrowful letters of her financial plight. In September 1867, she enlisted Elizabeth in a scheme to sell her clothing and jewelry in New York City. Together they visited merchants, Mary traveling heavily veiled and incognito as Mrs. Clark of Chicago. Sales were few, and she was found out. The press pilloried her as insane, a mercenary prostitute who dishonored her late husbands memory. Retreating to Chicago, she left Elizabeth to negotiate with her creditors. The letters from Chicago resumed, each begging Elizabeth to stay in New York until she settled Marys affairs. Elizabeth agreed, shutting down her Washington business and taking in sewing to make ends meet. While Elizabeth labored on her behalf in New York, Mary inherited $36,000 in bonds from her late husbands probated estate. She had promised Elizabeth a tidy sum for their joint venture, but sent her nothing.

With her own livelihood imperiled and her reputation sullied by the Old Clothes affair, Elizabeth decided to write her memoir in collaboration with James Redpath, a book promoter and white friend of Frederick Douglass.

In the spring of 1868 the prominent New York publisher Carleton and Company released Behind the Scenes: Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the White House. Elizabeths avowed purpose was to place Mrs. Lincoln in a better light before the world by showing the innocent motives that actuated us in the New York fiasco and also protect her own good name. To defend myself I must defend the lady I served, she wrote boldly in the introduction.

Instead, Elizabeth destroyed herself. Her frank revelations of Mary Lincolns erratic behavior and spendthrift ways while in the White House violated Victorian standards of friendship and privacy and of race relations. Without Elizabeths permission, Redpath had inserted as an appendix Marys correspondence with Elizabeth about her New York scheme, letters that showed Mary at her unstable worst. Robert Lincoln denounced the book and may have tried to suppress sales. A New York book critic wondered if American literary taste had fallen so low grade as to tolerate the backstairs gossip of Negro servant girls. Washington newspapers warned white families not to confide in their black housekeepers. Someone penned a cruel parody titled Behind the Seams; by a Nigger Woman who Took Work in From Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Davis and Signed with an X, the Mark of Betsey Kickley (Nigger). Mary Lincoln dissolved her friendship with the colored historian, as she now referred to Elizabeth Keckley.

Mary, born the same year as Elizabeth, died in 1882. Elizabeth outlived her by 25 unhappy years. Behind the Scenes cost Elizabeth her white clientele. She scraped by teaching young black seamstresses, and in 1890 sold her cherished collection of Lincoln mementos for a paltry $250. Friends arranged Elizabeths appointment to the faculty of Wilberforce University in 1892 as head of the Department of Sewing and Domestic Service, but she taught only briefly before a mild stroke ended her working life. Elizabeth spent her final years in the National Home for Destitute Colored Women and Children, founded during the Civil War in part with funds from her Contraband Relief Association. She never recovered from her falling-out with Mary Lincoln. She hung Marys portrait over her bed and made a quilt from pieces of her dresses. Like Mary, she suffered constant headaches and frequent crying spells. In 1907, at the age of 89, Elizabeth Keckley died alone and nearly forgotten.

She deserved better. During the Civil War, she had lifted much of the weight of Mary Lincolns grief and instability from the presidents shoulders. For that alone, Elizabeth Keckley merits the gratitude of history.

Peter Cozzens is author of 16 books on the Civil War and the American West.
In honor of the men and women of the Armed Forces of the United States who served in the Vietnam War. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed in the order they were taken from us. Inscription at the beginning of The Wall.

The 58,152 names of those who died in Vietnam are etched onto the two rising black marble slabs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The slabs meet at a vertex of 125 degrees, 10 feet above ground level to form the Wall. The shining surface is intended to reflect the sun, the ground and those who stand before it. The names are listed chronologically by date of death, the first to last. As one walks the Wall slowly, examining the ineffably American names, one is struck by the same recurring surnames. How many Smiths can there possibly be who died in Vietnam? There were 667; How many Andersons?, 178; Garcias?, 102; Murphys?, 82; Jenkins?, 66; One wants to know more about these Americans. Who were they?

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DATABASE

A new Department of Defense (DOD) database computer tape released through the National Archives allows researchers to take a much closer look at our 58,152 Vietnam casualties. From 1964 to 1973, 2,100,000 men and women served in Vietnam, but this was only 8 percent of the 26,000,000 Americans who were eligible for military service.

DEFERMENTS AND EXEMPTIONS

The vast majority of Americans who were eligible by age but did not serve in the armed forces were exempted by reason of physical, mental, psychiatric, or moral failure; or they were given status deferments because they were college students, fathers, clergy, teachers, engineers or conscientious objectors. Others, later in the war, were simply ineligible because of high lottery number. Many others joined the reserves or National Guard, which were not mobilized in any appreciable numbers during the war. A relatively small number refused to register for the draft at all. Some went to Canada or Sweden, but few of those who evaded the draft were actually prosecuted and most were eventually pardoned by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

CASUALTIES BY BRANCH OF SERVICE

The DOD database shows that of the 2,100,000 men and women who served in Vietnam, 58,152 were killed. The Army suffered the most total casualties, 38,179 or 2.7 percent of its force. The Marine Corps lost 14,836, or 5 percent of its own men.

The Navy fatalities were 2,556 or 2 percent. The Air Force lost 2,580 or l percent. Coast Guard casualties are included in the Navy totals. Of the 8000 Coast guardsmen who served in Vietnam, 3 officers and 4 enlisted men were killed and 59 were wounded.

Eight women were killed in Vietnam, five Army lieutenants, one Army captain, one Army lieutenant colonel and one Air Force captain. All were nurses, all were single and all but one were in their 20s. An estimated 11,000 women served in Vietnam.

WOUNDED

In this study we will refer to casualties as the 58,152 who died in Vietnam, but it should be emphasized that there were 153,303 who were wounded seriously enough to be hospitalized. Thus, there were 211,455 killed and wounded, or one in every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam. The Army as a branch had 134,982 killed or wounded (9.5 percent), but the Marines suffered 66,227 killed or wounded (22.5 percent) or almost one of every four Marines who served.

CASUALTIES BY AGE-ENLISTED

Since the days of Alexander the Great and the Roman Legions, it has always been the young, inexperienced, low-ranking enlisted man who has taken the brunt of combat casualties. The Vietnam War was no different. The DOD percentages reveal that nearly 75 percent of Army enlisted casualties were privates or corporals. The Marine Corps losses were skewed even more to the lower ranks, 91 percent were privates or corporals. If the two branches are combined, then 80 percent of the Army and Marine enlisted casualties were privates or corporals, grades E-1 to E-4.

Although it is a truism that the young die in war, one is still unprepared for the fact that 40 percent of Marine enlisted casualties in Vietnam were teenagers; that more than 16 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also teenagers; and that nearly a quarter of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam were between the ages of 17- and 19-years old. If the demographic is expanded to 17- to 21- years, then we find there were 83 percent of Marine enlisted casualties, and 65 percent of Army enlisted casualties. Only the Navy, with 50 percent of its enlisted casualties over 21, and the Air Force, with 75 percent over 21, showed an older, more experienced age demographic. No other American war has presented such a young profile in combat. These young men were trained quickly and shipped to Vietnam quickly. They also died quickly, many within a few weeks or months of arriving in Vietnam.

But given the draft policies, the hard-sell recruitment, the severe escalation from month to month and the refusal by President Lyndon Johnson to call up the older reserves and National Guard, it could not have been otherwise. The burden of combat fell on the very available non-college-bound young.

AGE 17 TO 21 PREFERRED ARMY AND MARINE COMBAT MATERIAL

The civilian and military men who formed the policy did not see it necessarily as a disadvantage. The very young were considered by many to be preferred combat material. Despite their inexperience, they were thought to accept discipline readily. They did not, in most cases, carry the burdens of wife or children. They were at their peak physically. Perhaps more important, many of them probably did not yet fully understand their own mortality and were therefore less likely to be hesitant in combat. And, as in every American war, it is the very young who are the most willing to volunteer.

VOLUNTEERS VERSUS DRAFTED CASUALTIES

It may come as a surprise to some that 63.3 percent of all Vietnam enlisted casualties were not draftees but volunteers. If officers are added, then almost 70 percent of those who died were volunteers. Of course, the Marine, Navy, and Air Force enlisted casualties were all volunteers, but as it turned out, almost 50 percent of Army enlisted casualties were also volunteers. It should be noted, however, that the draft was specifically designed to trigger volunteer enlistments. The draft policy at the time of the Vietnam War was called the Universal Military Training and Service Act. Since its adoption in 1951, at the time of the Korean War, this policy had been renewed by Congress every four years. It called for the registration of all 18 to 26-year old males, with induction to take place at 18 1/2 if so ordered by the local draft board. The draftee, if found physically and mentally fit, would be inducted for a period of two years, to be followed by another two year period in the active reserves and a subsequent two years in the inactive reserves. The trigger came when the recruiters pointed out that the volunteer could enlist as early as 17 (with parental consent); that he was allowed to select his branch of service; that he would receive specialized training if he qualified; that he could request a specific overseas assignment; and that his three year enlistment followed by three years in the inactive reserves satisfied his military obligation immediately. Sad to say, many of these recruitment promises were fudged in one way or another, and many of these young men found themselves shipped directly to Vietnam after basic training.

MILITARY TRADITION

One additional factor, often overlooked, that influenced volunteer enlistment was military tradition  the influence of fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and others who had served in previous 20th century wars. In many of these families it was considered unpatriotic and indeed reprehensible to avoid active duty by requesting a status deferment or seeking out a draft counselor for advice on how to avoid the draft. Often that advice, especially for professional athletes, rock stars, sons of politicians and other celebrities, was to join the never-to-be-called-up reserves or National Guard. All of this was one of the great and abiding agonies of the Vietnam War, causing repercussions within families and on the national political scene to this day.

OFFICER CASUALTIES

The training for American officers is thought by most foreign military authorities to be the best in the world. With few exceptions, almost all of the 6,600 commissioned officers who died in Vietnam were graduates of the service academies, college Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC), or the Officer Candidate School (OCS) programs. The major service academies and other military colleges provided close to 900 of the Vietnam officer casualties: the U.S. Military Academy, 278; the U.S. Air Force Academy, 205; the U.S. Naval Academy, 130; Texas A & M, 112; The Citadel, 66; Virginia Military Institute, 43; Virginia Polytechnic Institute, 26; Norwich University, 19.

ARMY AND MARINE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE

Officer casualties in Vietnam, including warrant officers, numbered 7,874, or 13.5 percent of all casualties. The Army lost the greatest number of officers  4,635 or 59 percent of all officer casualties. Ninety-one percent of these Army officers were warrant officers, second lieutenants, first lieutenants or captains. This was a reflection of the role of warrant officers as helicopter pilots (of the 1,277 warrant officer casualties, 95 percent were Army helicopter pilots), and of the young lieutenants and captains as combat platoon leaders or company commanders.

The same profile holds true for the Marine Corps, where 87 percent of all officer casualties (821 of 938) were warrant officers, lieutenants or captains. Army and Marine officer casualties were also quite young. Fully 50 percent were in the 17- to 24-year age group, and astonishingly, there were 764 Army officer casualties who were 21 or younger.

NAVY AND AIR FORCE OFFICER CASUALTIES BY RANK AND AGE

Quite a different profile emerges among the Navy and Air force officer corps. The Air Force lost the highest percentage of officers. Of 2,590 total Air Force casualties, 1,674 or 65 percent were officers. Many of them, as experienced pilots, were older (two thirds were thirty or older) and many were high ranking. Almost 50 percent were majors, lieutenant-colonels, colonels and three were generals. The Navy had a similar profile: 55 percent of its 622 officer casualties were 30 years of age or older, and 45 percent were ranked at lieutenant commander or above when they died. It should be emphasized that 55 percent of all Navy and Air Force officer casualties came as a result of reconnaissance and bombing sorties into North Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. As a result, it was mainly the families of Navy and Air Force pilots and crewmen who suffered the great agony of the POW (prisoner of war) and MIA (missing in action) experience that came out of the Vietnam War.

MAKEUP OF FORCES

The makeup of U.S. combat forces in Vietnam has long been the subject of controversy among social scientists. The feeling is that the poor, the undereducated and the minorities made up the vast majority of the combat arms during that war. This makeup, they say, was the very antithesis of what we stand for as a democracy  a shameful corruption of our values and our historical sense of fairness and social justice. There is some truth to this, but it is instructive to look at what the DOD database reveals in terms of race, ethnicity, national origin, religious preference and casualties by U.S. geographic areas.

CASUALTIES BY RACE: ENLISTED MEN

Of all enlisted men who died in Vietnam, blacks made up 14.1 percent of the total. This came at a time when blacks made up 11 percent of the male population nationwide. However, if officer casualties are added to the total, then this overrepresentation is reduced to 12.5 percent of all casualties. Of the 7,262 blacks who died, 6,955, or 96 percent, were Army and Marine enlisted men. The combination of the selective service policies with the skills and aptitude testing of both volunteers and draftees (in which blacks scored noticeably lower) conspired to assign blacks in greater numbers to the combat units of the Army and Marine Corps. Early in the war (1965 and 1966) when blacks made up about 11 percent of our Vietnam force, black casualties soared to more than 20 percent of the total. Black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., protested, and President Johnson ordered black participation in combat units cut back. As a result, the black casualty rate was reduced to 11.5 percent by 1969.

CASUALTIES BY RACE: OFFICERS

During the Vietnam War, the Navy and Air Force became substantially white enclaves  enlisted and officer casualties were 96 percent white. Indeed, officer casualties of all branches were overwhelmingly white. Of the 7,877 officer casualties, 7,595, or 96.4 percent, were white; 147, or 1.8 percent, were black; 24, or 0.3 percent, were Asian; 7, or .08 percent, were Native American; 104, or 1.3 percent, were unidentified by race.

HISPANIC-AMERICAN CASUALTIES

The 1970 census which is being used as our Vietnam era population base did not list an Hispanic count but gave an estimate of 4.5 percent of the American population. In a massive sampling of the database, it was established that between 5 and 6 percent of Vietnam dead had identifiable Hispanic surnames. These were Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino-Americans with ancestries based in Central and South America. They came largely from California and Texas, with lesser numbers from Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, New York and a few from many other states across the country. Thus it is safe to say that Hispanic-Americans were over-represented among Vietnam casualties  an estimated 5.5 percent of the dead against 4.5 percent of the 1970 population.

CASUALTIES BY NATIONAL ORIGIN/ANCESTRIES

In terms of national origin/ancestries, an extensive sampling of the data-base reveals that Americans of French Canadian, Polish, Italian and other Southern and Eastern European surnames made up about 10 percent of the Vietnam casualties. These casualties came largely from the Northeast and North Central regions of the United States, many from the traditionally patriotic, Catholic working class neighborhoods.

The remaining 70 percent of our Vietnam enlisted casualties were of English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries, more from the South and Midwest than the other regions, many from small towns with a family military tradition. The officer corps has always drawn heavily on English/Scottish/Welsh, German, Irish and Scandinavian-American ancestries from middle-class white collar homes, with other large percentages from ambitious working class blue collar and, of course, career military families. These officer casualties came more from the South and West regions, 4.1 deaths per 100,000, in contrast to 3.5 from the Northeast and Midwest regions.

CASUALTIES BY RELIGION

The DOD database listed precise religious preferences for the 58,152 Vietnam casualties. Protestants were 64.4 percent (37,483), Catholics were 28.9 percent (16,806). Less than 1 percent (0.8) were Jewish, Hindu, Thai, Buddhist or Muslim combined, and 5.7 listed no religion. Blacks were 85 percent Protestant. Officers of all services, by tradition largely Protestant, remained so during the Vietnam war, sustaining casualties in comparison with Catholics by a 5 to 2 ratio.

CASUALTIES BY GEOGRAPHIC AREA

As a region, the South experienced the greatest numbers of dead, nearly 34 percent of the total, or 31.0 deaths per 100,000 of population. This number of deaths per 100,000 compared strikingly with the 23.5 in the Northeast region, 29.9 in the West and 28.4 in the North Central (Midwest) region.

This uneven impact was caused by a number of factors: (1) While the South was home to some 53 percent of all blacks in the 1970 census, almost 60 percent of black casualties came from the South; (2) Although we cannot be as precise, we do know that a considerable majority of Hispanic-American casualties came from the West, (California, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado) and the South (Texas); (3) Better employment opportunities in the Northeast reduced the number of volunteers; (4) Greater college matriculation in the Northeast increased the number of status deferments for the regions 17- to 24- year olds; (5) More anti-war sentiment in the media and on college campuses in the Northeast.

A correspondingly greater tradition of military service in the other regions had its effect on U.S. regional casualties. It is not surprising, for instance, that West Virginia, Montana, and Oklahoma had a casualty rate almost twice that of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

CASUALTIES BY EDUCATION

World War II had been, for the most part, a perfect war, clear of purpose, the forces of democracy and freedom lined up against the forces of fascism and tyranny. Our combat arms were thought to be completely classless. They drew on every segment of American society. We were one giant Hollywood B-17 bomber crew, one perfect socioeconomic platoon storming Omaha Beach or Okinawa. All classes were drafted or volunteered and all served and died equally, although it must be noted that most blacks died separately.

AN EDUCATIONAL ARPARTHEID

But after World War II a kind of educational apartheid had settled over the United States. Where previously a high school diploma had been an acceptable goal, now it was college and all the benefits it would bring. The popularity of the GI Bill after Vietnam emphasized this yearning. Early on President Johnson, his advisers and especially the Congress, realized that if the draft was to be truly equitable and had included combat assignments in Vietnam for the sons of the educationally advantaged and influential Americans from the professional and managerial classes, then the resulting uproar would have shut down the war.

THE CHANNELING MEMO

Congress and the Johnson administration, therefore, sought to protect our college-bound and educated young men. The Channeling Memo of July 1965, instructed all local draft boards to give status deferments to college undergraduate and post-graduate students. The Selective Service System it said, has the responsibility to deliver manpower to the armed forces in such a manner as to reduce to a minimum any adverse effect upon the national health, safety, interest and progress.

It is forgotten now, but in the beginning Congress and most of the American people were behind our containment effort in Vietnam. The young enlisted volunteer or draftee had not had much time to form any complicated theories about our Vietnam commitment. He accepted the tradition of military service passed on to him by the popular culture and by President John F. Kennedys ringing words, Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.

Most of the young American enlisted men who served in Vietnam were not college prospects at the time they entered the service. Those who could have qualified for college probably did not have the funds or motivation. Many of the 17- and 18-year olds were simply late in maturing. They were struggling through or dropping out of high school, or if a high school graduate, had tested poorly for college entrance. (Surprisingly, as it turned out, the percentage of Vietnam veterans who applied for the GI Bill was higher than either World War II or Korea.)

EDUCATIONAL LEVELS OF ENLISTED CASUALTIES

The DOD database provides no civilian or military educational levels for the Vietnam casualties specifically, but it does give us general levels for all enlisted men across all the services during the Vietnam era. The figures show that on average 65 percent of white enlisted men and 60 percent of black enlisted men were high school graduates. Only 5 to 10 percent of enlisted men in the combat units were estimated to have had some college, and less than 1 percent of these enlisted men were college graduates.

TESTING WITH THE AFQT

The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was given to all entering enlisted men. The resulting aptitude scores were used to classify entrants into four categories and this would, for the most part, determine their subsequent assignments. On average, 43 percent of white enlisted entrants placed in categories I and II (scoring 65 to 100) and 57 percent in categories III and IV (scoring 10 to 64). For blacks, however, only 7 percent placed in categories I and II and 93 percent placed in categories III and IV. In civilian life, poor aptitude testing can have a tremendous negative impact, whether for college placement or for simple job advancement. In the military it can be somewhat more deadly. John Kennedy, discussing military assignments, said that, life is unfair. True enough, but many of the surviving Vietnam casualty families would reply that the ultimate unfairness is death at an early age, in a land far from home, for reasons not clearly defined.

PROJECT 100,000

Adding to the problem was Project 100,000. Lower end category IVs consisting of those who scored below 20 on the AFQT were usually rejected for service. But in 1966, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara decided to institute Project 100,000 that would allow category IV men to enter the military. This, they felt, would offer these men the opportunity to get remedial training in the service and then be able to compete successfully when they returned to civilian life. Many high-ranking military men (including General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam) opposed the program, feeling that the effectiveness of some units would be reduced and that fellow soldiers would sometimes be put in greater jeopardy by these less mentally capable personnel. Nevertheless, 336,111 men were phased into the service under this plan (mostly the Army) and 2,072 were killed. This amounted to 4.1 percent of all enlisted casualties in Vietnam.

Thus we can see that the channeling philosophy continued within the armed forces. Through the AFQT process, the men scoring in the higher categories were more likely to be channeled into further specialized training and eventually assigned to technical and administrative units.

POOR VERSUS RICH AND THE M.I.T STUDY

The widely held notion that the poor served and died in Vietnam while the rich stayed home is way off the mark. A more precise equation would be that the college bound stayed home while the non-college bound served and died. The idea that American enlisted dead were made up largely of societys poverty stricken misfits is a terrible slander to their memory and to the solid working-class and middle-class families of this country who provided the vast majority of our casualties. Certainly, some who died did come from poor and broken homes in the urban ghettos and barrios, or were from dirt-poor farm homes in the South and Midwest. And mores the pity, because many of them were trying to escape this background and didnt make it.

Some recent studies tend to refute what had been the perceived wisdom of social scientists and other commentators that our Vietnam dead came overwhelmingly from the poor communities. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study released in 1992, found that our Vietnam casualties were only marginally greater from the economically lowest 50 percent of our communities (31 deaths per 100,000 of population), when compared with the economically highest 50 percent (26 deaths per 100,000 population). Although valuable, this study was almost certainly misinterpreted by its authors when they said that their data showed that most privileged and influential segments of American society were not insulated from the perils of Vietnam conflict. There is no question that all segments of American society were represented. The officer corps casualties alone would satisfy that judgment, but that is not the same as being representative.

What the MIT study almost certainly showed was that members of the so-called working class consisting of carpenters, electricians, plumbers, firemen, policemen, technicians, skilled factory operatives, farmers, etc., were living in middle class communities and were, therefore, part of our burgeoning middle class. Their sons, if not college material, made up a significant part of the volunteers and draftees.

As we have pointed out earlier, more than 80 percent of our casualties were Army and Marine enlisted men with an average age of 19- to 20-years. Only 10 percent of enlisted men had even some college to their credit and only 1 percent were college graduates. By and large, with the exception of the officer corps, most of the college bound and educated skipped the Vietnam War at the urging of, and with the approval of, their own government.

TEENAGERS SLOW TO MATURE

Additionally, many of the names on the wall were other teenagers from the suburban white collar communities with siblings who were in, or would go on to college, but who, as individuals themselves, were slow to mature, struggled through high school and were therefore very available for the Vietnam War. It is instructive to read the literature of the war, the letters written home from those who died, the novels and narrative accounts of those who served in combat and then returned. They often reveal a typically warm American family atmosphere. They refer to older or younger siblings who are either in or on their way to college. And they often show a heartbreakingly wry sense of humor with the same sensibilities as their college-bound peers. It forces us to the conclusion that many of those names on the wall were kids who just couldnt quite get it together in high school, a little late in maturing intellectually, and didnt have the resources or the guile to get out of the way when the war came.

THE NAMES ON THE WALL: AN HISTORICAL JUDGMENT

What will be the evolving historical judgment for those names on the Wall? With the end of the Cold War, many now believe that at its outset the Vietnam War was a quite honorable extension of our ultimately successful policy of Communist containment; that our effort in Vietnam became flawed because of political and strategic failures having nothing to do with those who died there; and that these young Americans were asked by three presidents and six Congresses to give up their lives so that freedom would have a better chance in the world. As one stands before the Wall one feels that no other judgment is acceptable to their living memory. As Maya Ling Lin, the architect of the Wall, has said: It was as if the black-brown earth were polished and made into an interface between the sunny world and the quiet dark world beyond that we cannot enter. The names would become the memorial. There was no need to embellish. Postscript: Since 1982, there have been 89 names added to The Wall. In 2004, the total is 58,241 names.

The article was written by Bill Abbott, an independent researcher and writer. He was a Navy enlisted man during World War II and has a degree in Political Science from Duke University. The article was originally published in the June 1993 issue of Vietnam Magazine and updated in November 2004.

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In Vietnams long war for independence, first against longtime colonial power France and later against the United States and its allies, many factors contributed to the ultimate victory for Communist forces. At its core was the iron will and tenacity of millions of Vietnamese who had to rely on relatively primitive means to combat adversaries wielding state-of-the-art war-making technology. Among the low-tech meansoften derisively dismissed by their foesthat proved critical to the outcome of their war with the French and, to a lesser extent, the United States, was the simple bicycle.

Why dont we concentrate on bombing their bicycles instead of the bridges? Sen. Fulbright wanted to know.

This point may be best illustrated by a London newspaper report of October 3, 1967, that described a hearing before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator William Fulbright of Arkansas responded to a New York Times reporters testimony regarding the extensive use of bicycles by the Communist forces in Vietnam. The reporter, Harrison Salisbury, who had recently been in Hanoi, detailed for the committee how bicycles enabled the Viet Cong (VC) and regular North Vietnamese Army (NVA) to continually resupply their forces even under the most adverse conditions. Salisbury concluded his testimony with a strong assertion: I literally believe that without bikes theyd have to get out of the war.

The astonished Fulbright, almost springing up from his seat, replied to Salisbury: Why dont we concentrate on bombing their bicycles instead of the bridges? Does the Pentagon know about this? Most of the committee members and those in the audience thought the senator was being sarcastic. Laughter erupted at the idea of vast numbers of sophisticated American aircraft hunting down bicycles in the thick jungles of Vietnam.

In contrast to the smirks and snickering, the stone-faced silence of the uniformed members of the U.S. military in attendance was revealing. They, along with their bosses in the Pentagon and in Vietnam, knew that the enemys employment of bicycles in the war in Southeast Asia was hugely significant to sustaining their war effort against the United States. It was no laughing matter. The bicycle had survived the most modern weapons in the American military arsenal.

After the Japanese were defeated at the end of World War II, the French once again took control of their Indochinese colonies. But the Communist Viet Minh, led by the diminutive Ho Chi Minh, were determined to drive the French imperialists from their homeland. The architect of their military strategy was General Vo Nguyen Giap, whose tactical model called for relentless small-scale actions against the French, designed to wear them down by cumulatively increasing their anxiety, inflicting constant losses and destroying their self-confidence. In order to do this, Giap had to be able to move men and war materiel speedily and stealthily around the battlefield.

By 1953, after seven years of savage fighting, the French had suffered 74,000 casualties, with another 190,000 troops bogged down in fruitless occupation. Hoping to negotiate a way out of the conflict, General Henri Navarre, the French supreme military commander in Indochina, devised a plan to draw Giap in to a decisive set-piece battle. If he could notch one clear victory, then France would be in a strong position to obtain an honorable political settlement that would allow Paris to quit the country without losing face.

The place Navarre chose for his climactic battle was Dien Bien Phu, a vital transport junction in a valley in the extreme west of the country, 220 miles from Hanoi. It sat astride the main route to Laos, where a crucial Viet Minh supply line from China linked up. Navarre was confident that his opponent did not have sufficient transport to bring in the food and weapons needed to win a major confrontation in this isolated area.

In late November 1953, 15,000 French troops occupied Dien Bien Phu. The Viet Minh accepted the challenge and quickly surrounded the French outpost with 50,000 fighters, supported by tens of thousands of workers and porters who cut new jungle paths to carry supplies to the battlefront.

The contest for the base became a battle of logistics. The French grievously erred by underestimating the Viet Minhs ability to bring up heavy artillery and supplies for their troops. They expected to face only mortars, not heavy long-range guns. But Giap was able to place 144 heavy artillery piecesplus dozens of lesser caliberaround the doomed French post.

The key to the Viet Minhs supply effort in this epic battle was a combination of transport modesbuilt around the largest military bicycle-transport feat in history. Although the Vietnamese used 600 Russian-made Molotova 2.5-ton trucks as well as sampans, ponies and some 200,000 porters carrying spine-breaking loads, the mainstay of their logistical network was composed of 60,000 tough bicycle-pushing men and women.

On May 7, 1954, after 3 1/2 months of preparation, including the stockpiling of massive amounts of food and ammunition, followed by more than two months of vicious fighting, the beleaguered French bastion at Dien Bien Phu fell to the Viet Minh. The French lost more than 3,000 men killed and 8,000 taken prisoner. The Vietnamese lost 8,000 soldiers. Throughout the siege, the Viet Minh supply lines, maintained by the transport cyclists and other transport means, were never seriously interdicted by aircraft, even though the French knew of the supply routes and storage areas along the way. They simply did not have enough planes to disrupt the day and night flow of Viet Minh supplies reaching the battle zone. Further, the thick jungle canopy made accurate targeting of these supply lines very difficult.

In their fight against the Frenchand later the Americansthe Vietnamese favored the French-made Peugeot bicycle, with the Czech-built Favorit their next bike of choice. One of the Favorits set a record, hauling a total of 100 tons in 1961-62.

With their large carrying capacity, bicycles were particularly effective on Vietnams narrow roads and tracks in the dry season, and easily modified for service. First our bicycles had to be turned into xe tho [pack bikes], with the crossbar capable of carrying 200 kilograms [440 pounds] or more, said Ding Van Ty, a bicycle brigade leader and repairman, in The Bicycle in Wartime, by Jean Fitzpatrick. We had to strengthen all the parts.We camouflaged everything with leaves and moved at night. Ty described how the seat was removed and a rack fashioned of metal, wood or bamboo lashed in place over the back wheel. This provided an extended line from which bags or boxes were hung and other goods tied on by ropes or strips of inner tubes. The bicycle frame was often strengthened by adding metal, wood, or bamboo struts, reinforcing the front forks and increasing the suspension. Even with two tenders walking each bike, the tonnage of supplies getting to the fighters proved to be a great deal more than that consumed by the bike tenders.

Once loaded, it was not possible to walk close enough alongside the bike to use the normal handlebars for steering. Hence, a wooden stick or bamboo pole was lashed to the handlebars that extended far enough to allow the tender to hold and steer the bicycle. Typically, another stick was inserted into the vertical seat tube that was used to push the bike along or hold it back on downward slopes. The carrying capacity for these modified two-wheelers ranged up to 600 pounds, with the average load being around 440 pounds, versus the 80- to 100-pound load that could be carried by a single porter. A record was set at Dien Bien Phu with a single bicycle carrying a load of 724 pounds. This achievement would be surpassed a decade later when one bicycle, or as the North Vietnamese called them, steel horses, carried 924 pounds along the entire Ho Chi Minh Trail in 1964.

In addition to transporting men and supplies, the bicycle served the needs of the wounded on the battlefield. In 1968 a Peugeot subsidiary produced a model especially for the North Vietnamese Army that contained surgical and medical kits and two headlights, with detachable extension cables for lighting a small field hospital. And a rudimentary form of medevac was devised using two bikes lashed together with long bamboo poles from which one or two stretchers could be suspended.

By 1963 the United States had 12,000 military advisers in South Vietnam and had taken the place of the French in Southeast Asia, with the new of aim of preventing the spread of communism across the region. Within six years, more than half a million U.S. troops and some 100,000 allied soldiers were fighting the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese. Dismissing the French experience and defeat as partly the result of a lack of sophisticated technology, the American military employed its advanced war-making capability, its helicopters and overwhelming airpower in a massive way. Ignoring French advice, the U.S. military reckoned that simple things such as the bicycle were obsolete and that their effects on logistics were to be discounted.

To militarily deal with the Americans, Giap turned again to the strategy employed against the Frenchwage a protracted war and use Laos and Cambodia as sanctuaries. As part of his war-winning scheme, his men would counter U.S. mobility and firepower by moving and fighting at night. And to sustain his forces in the field, he would continue to rely on bicycle transport to deliver food and weapons to his forces. Giap used the bicycles, as one American colonel said, as pickup trucks. Hundreds of thousands of them were on the move daily.

Averaging 25 miles a day, Vietnamese cyclists traversed across narrow trails that were seldom straight for more than four yards and were studded by stumps, roots and snags. The riders heads and bodies were constantly striking overhanging bamboo and creepers. As bad as the pathways were, the many tiny, swaying bridges, suspended only by jungle vines over the hundreds of waterways, were worse. Sturdy, maneuverable and reliable in all these conditions, the bicycle also offered the advantage of silence. Tenders could hear American aircraft in time to pull into the undergrowth and avoid detection.

Although most of the U.S. military dismissed the importance of bicycles in the war, the Pentagon did commission a 1965 report on their use during wartime. Colonel B.F. Hardaway, chief of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Research and Development Field Unit-Vietnam, had requested the study to help the Pentagon assess the enemys use of bicycles and determine how best to counter it. The introduction noted, Interest in the employment of bicycle troops is emerging once again, this time in Southeast Asia, where the road network is inadequate for motorized transportation, but where paths and dikes may provide an acceptable avenue for bicycle movement. But the report gave little guidance; it was based mostly on American sources, with only a few references to Japanese use of bikes in Malaya and the impact bicycle transport had on the outcome at Dien Bien Phu. Soon after the report was issued, Hardaways superiors instructed him to drop the subjectand get on to more pertinent matters.

During the early 1960s, the North Vietnamese government started to expand and modernize the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which at that time was so narrow that it was only passable on foot or by bicycle. By 1975 the Trail would comprise 12,000 miles of roads and paths carved in the face of increasingly violent American efforts to close it down. Used during the First Indochina War as a line of communication to the north by the Viet Minh, the sparsely populated area paralleling the borders of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia was actually a maze of paths, roads, streams and rivers running down the spine of the Annamite Mountain range of eastern Laos, through some of the most inhospitable terrain and impenetrable jungle in the world. The web of paths took months to traverse on foot at a rate of six miles a day. Bikes and ponies were used on portions of the Trail to carry supplies south, but even their use was impractical on much of it.

In 1964 the growing American presence in South Vietnam caused Hanoi to begin to enlarge the Trail into a truck route to ferry more supplies to sustain VC and NVA troops. The Trail was necessary to make up the shortfall in sea-transported supplies, which had been severely interdicted by the Americans.

By 1966 the Trail had become the logistical backbone of North Vietnams military effort. Supplies and troops primarily exited at three major points: the A Shau Valley, the Ia Drang Valley and War Zone C. Using the modernized Trail, the number of troops and the quantity of supplies moving south grew dramatically, from a total of 30,000 men and 20 to 30 tons of supplies a year in the period 1959-64, to 10,000 to 20,000 troops a month and 120 tons of war material a day by 1968.

As impressive as the numbers were, the success of the North Vietnamese resupply was also aided by the meager supply requirements of the Communist fighting forces in South Vietnam. A 10,000-man NVA or VC division needed only three tons of supplies per day. Further, much of the food consumed by the Communists was taken from South Vietnamese villagers as a form of tax and therefore was usually within moving distance of its recipients. The result of all these factors allowed the bicycle, plentiful in all regions of Vietnam, to be utilized to its fullest extent and to provide a cheap and ready mode of transportation to a military logistical requirement that was modest at best.

American attempts to stop traffic on the Trail were persistent yet uniformly unsuccessful. Clandestine CIA operations, ground incursions and B-52 carpet bombings all came up short. The most effective tactic to disrupt Trail movement was the use of low-level helicopter attacks against truck traffic. Although the helicopters flew only a small percentage of missions against the truck convoys on the Trail, they accounted for half of the destruction inflicted on them. Helicopters, however, were vulnerable to the thousands of enemy antiaircraft guns that studded the Trail by the late 1960s, and these missions were soon replaced by high-levelbut highly inaccurateB-52 bombing sorties. When U.S. strikes did stall a truck column, bicycle and human porters would be brought in to transport the goods. Overall, U.S. aerial interdiction against the routes logistical effort inflicted only 2 percent of the losses the North Vietnamese suffered while using the Trail.

Although French and U.S. airpower could not stanch the flow of supplies along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the terrain nevertheless took its toll on the Viet Minh and later North Vietnamese porters and bicycle tenders. Seventy-two military cemeteries that line its route attest to the dangers nature posed in addition to human intervention. More cyclists and portersestimates range from 10 to 20 percentperished from disease, exhaustion, and attacks by tigers, elephants and bears than by

bombs or bullets. They rested at the many relay stations on the Trail, which were really nothing more than clearings in the forest, and they were moved every few days to prevent the enemy from discovering them.

As the Vietnam War intensified, so did the size and scope of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which more than anything showed that the conflict between the United States and North Vietnam was a war of supply, a war the North Vietnamese were not losing no matter what the United States did. Starting in 1965, the number of North Vietnamese trucks traversing south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail rose to about 2,300, with 2,500 moving in the opposite direction. This number would dramatically increase during the remainder of the war as the truck became the mainstay of the resupply effort of the North Vietnamese.

The bicycle, however, was never entirely replaced as a means of transportation of war materiel. In fact, the organization responsible for the movement of all supplies to the south along the Trail, the 559th Transport Group, throughout the war retained among its 50,000 troops and 100,000 laborers two battalions of some 2,000 cyclists engaged in moving supplies to inaccessible areas along the Trail and supplementing the efforts of the truck convoys.

Indeed, in the jungles of Vietnam, the bicycle continued to be a competitor against the best 20th-century war technology the West had.

Arnold Blumberg, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, is a frequent contributor to military history publications and is the author of the forthcoming book from Casemate Publications, When Washington Burned: An Illustrated History of the War of 1812.
The Vietnam War from the Rear Echelon: An Intelligence Officers Memoir, 1972-1973, by Timothy J. Lomperis, University Press of Kansas, 2011

Now, author Timothy Lomperis is a political science professor who has written several books about the Vietnam War. Then, Lomperis was an Army lieutenant in Saigon, a REMF (a rear echelon motheryou know the rest) who did two tours of duty. By combining a history of the war and personal memoir, the result is two narratives woven into one. The authors service covers the period from the 1972 Easter Invasion to the 1973 Paris Peace Agreement and its aftermath. He offers a mid-level perspective of the rear-echelon war in Saigon. Lomperis writes that macro accounts of strategy and diplomacy as well as combat memoirs are plentiful, while mid-level accounts have been largely neglected.

Raised by Christian missionary parents in India, Lomperis enlisted in 1969 and after training, volunteered for Officer Candidate School. His worldview was conservative and religious. He writes that he viewed the antiwar movement with revulsion and believed a particular Army chaplain was an angel sent from Heaven directly to me. While President Richard Nixon is said to have had a secret plan to end the war, Lomperis had a secret plan to avoid the war: stay stateside until the fighting was over. His plan failed and on March 12, 1972, he arrived in Vietnam. He was assigned to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) headquarters, where the central decisions for the ground war were made. An intelligence analyst during the 1972 battles, he was privy to tactical, operational and strategic level intelligence. Later he was involved in selecting targets for B-52 attacks against the NVA.

Lomperis spent as much time off base as he could, and came to know Saigon and the Vietnamese quite well. The food was delicious and very cheap, and eating it was the central quest of my daily existence. His descriptions of life in Saigon are excellent, and read more like a travel guide than a war memoir. After the 1973 peace agreement, which put restrictions on the number of uniformed American personnel who could remain in Vietnam, Lomperis became a civilian. He continued to work in the field of military intelligence. He was dissatisfied with the diminishing U.S. support for South Vietnam and considered it a tragedy. He disliked the antiwar direction of American politics and considered the antiwar movement treasonous. He left Vietnam in August 1973 in deep moral despair. Lomperis felt more loyalty to the South Vietnamese than he did for the United States. According to him, South Vietnam was betrayed by Nixon, Congress and the American people. He is much less critical of South Vietnam, the shortcomings of its institutions and the South Vietnamese role in the fall of South Vietnam.

Rear Echelon is memoir and history. The memoir is the best part. The history relies too much on a few revisionist secondary sources and contains numerous errors: a division of Marines did not splash ashore in 1965, it was one battalion. The Street Without Joy is not Highway 1 between Saigon and Hanoi, rather, it is a 20-mile stretch of that highway. Lomperis claims that Hanoi admitted its losses from the December 18-29, 1972, Christmas bombing were crippling. His source is an English translation of a Russian translation of a Vietnamese report dated December 1, 1972, which is before the bombing began.

Although Lomperis writes, All in all, it was a bad war, retrospection and his strong religious beliefs allowed him to find peace with his role in it. In spite of his occasional missteps, Lomperis keen observations and wit makes for a good read.

Peter Brush
Fifty years later people still ask the question about Alger Hiss: Was he or wasnt he a Communist spy?

The headline blared from the front page of the New York Times on August 4, 1948: RED UNDERGROUND IN FEDERAL POSTS ALLEGED BY EDITOR, it read. IN NEW DEAL ERA. Ex-Communist Names Alger Hiss, Then In State Department.

The ex-Communist was Whittaker Chambers, a rumpled, rotund editor at Time magazine. In testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on August 3, Chambers said Hissthe president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former member of Franklin Roosevelts State Departmenthad been part of the United States Communist Partys underground.

Chambers accusation reverberated like a bombshell in the Cold War atmosphere of 1948. The case was the Rashomon drama of the Cold War, said David Remnick in a profile of Hiss that he wrote for the Washington Post in 1986. Ones interpretation of the evidence and characters involved became a litmus test of ones politics, character, and loyalties. Sympathy with either Hiss or Chambers was more an article of faith than a determination of fact. On the left was liberal New Dealism, represented by Hiss; on the right were conservative, anti-Roosevelt and Truman forces personified by Chambers.

Depending on ones politics, the idea that someone like Alger Hiss could be a Communist was either chilling or absurd. Erudite and patrician, Hiss had graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Law School. He had been a protege of Felix Frankfurter (a future Supreme Court justice) and later a clerk for Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. In 1933, he joined Roosevelts administration and worked in several areas, including the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Nye Committee (which investigated the munitions industry), the Justice Department, and, starting in 1936, the State Department.

In the summer of 1944 he was a staff member at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, which created the blueprint for the organization that became the United Nations. The next year Hiss traveled to Yalta as part of the American delegation for the meeting of Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, and Winston Churchill. Later, he participated in the founding of the United Nations as temporary secretary general. In 1947, John Foster Dulles, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, asked Hiss to become that organizations president.

Hisss accuser seemed to be his polar opposite. Whittaker Chambers was the product of a stormy and difficult marriage, and he grew up to be a loner. While at Columbia University, he showed literary talent but was forced to leave after writing a blasphemous play. He soon lost his job at the New York Public Library when he was accused of stealing books. Chambers joined the Communist Party in 1925, later claiming he thought that Communism would save a dying world. He worked briefly for the communist newspaper Daily Worker and then the New Masses, a communist literary monthly. In 1932 Chambers entered the communist underground and began gathering information for his Soviet bosses. A growing disenchantment with the Communist Party following news of the purge trials in Joseph Stalins Soviet Union caused Chambers to leave the underground. In the late 1930s, he abandoned Communism and became a fervent Christian and anti-Communist. He started working at Time in 1939 and eventually became one of the magazines senior editors.

Chambers had accused Hiss of being a Communist before his 1948 HUAC appearance. Following the signing of the non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the USSR in August of 1939a disillusioning event for American Communists, who believed the Soviet Union would remain a sworn enemy of Hitlers regimeChambers approached Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle and told him about fellow travelers in the government, including Hiss. Chambers recounted his Communist activities to the FBI in several interviews during the early 1940s, but little happened. The Soviet Union, after all, was then an ally in the war against Nazi Germany.

By the summer of 1948 the global picture had changed. As the Cold War chilled, Communist infiltration of the governmentreal or imaginedbecame a serious issue for both Republicans and Democrats. The Justice Department had been investigating Communist infiltration since 1947, but its grand jury had not returned any indictments. Republicans, eager to gain control of the White House in the fall election, had been bashing the Democrats for being soft on communism.

On Capitol Hill, HUAC, dominated by Republicans and conservative Democrats, was looking into possible Communist penetration of the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. Committee members, particularly an ambitious freshman congressman from California named Richard Nixon, knew what was at stake. HUAC was a controversial body under fire for its heavy-handed tactics. If Chambers story proved false, HUACs reputation would suffer a potentially fatal blow.

Hiss learned about Chambers testimony from newspaper reporters and immediately demanded an opportunity to respond. On August 5 he appeared before the committee and read from a prepared statement. I am not and have never been a member of the Communist Party, he said. Hiss also denied knowing Whittaker Chambers. So far as I know, I have never laid eyes on him, and I should like the opportunity to do so. Shown a picture of Chambers, Hiss responded: If this is a picture of Mr. Chambers, he is not particularly unusual looking. He looks like a lot of people. I might even mistake him for the chairman of this committee.

It appeared that Hiss had cleared his name. But Nixonwho had been told of suspicions about Hiss long before Chambers HUAC appearancewasnt satisfied. He argued that even if the committee could not prove Hiss was a Communist, it should investigate whether he ever knew Chambers. Nixon persuaded the other members to appoint him head of a subcommittee to investigate further.

At a session in New York City on August 7, Chambers provided more information. He said that Hisss wife, Priscilla, was also a Communist and that the Hisses knew him as Carl, one of the many names he used while working for the underground. He described the homes the Hisses occupied and the old Ford roadster and Plymouth they had owned. Hiss, Chambers said, insisted on donating the Ford for the use of the Communist Party despite the security risk.

Chambers information wasnt completely accurate. He said the Hisses did not drink, but they did; he described Hiss as shorter than he actually was; he wrongly maintained that Hiss was deaf in one ear. However, he also provided information that indicated he knew them rather well. For instance, he reported that the Hisses were amateur ornithologists and had been much excited about observing a prothonotary warbler near the Potomac River.

On August 16 the committee summoned Hiss to appear in a secret session. This time Hiss conceded that a picture of Whittaker Chambers had a certain familiarity, but he was not prepared to identify the man without seeing him in person. He then described a man he had known in the 1930s and to whom he had briefly sublet his apartment. He hadnt known him as Carl, but as George Crosley. Hiss described Crosley as a frumpish deadbeat with bad teeth who made ends meet by borrowing money and writing an occasional magazine article. When asked about the Ford, Hiss claimed he had given it to Crosley. Hiss also said Crosley had once given him an oriental rug in lieu of payment of rent. Chambers would later claim the rug was one of four he had given to friends of the Soviet people.

John McDowall, a Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, addressed Hiss. Have you ever seen a prothonotary warbler? he asked.

I have, right here on the Potomac, Hiss replied.

Nixon now wanted Chambers and Hiss to meet face to face. A meeting had been set up for August 25, but instead Nixon arranged to surprise Hiss with Chambers eight days ahead of schedule. In that tense and hostile meeting at New York Citys Commodore Hotel, Hiss asked Chambers to speak, looked at his teeth, and finally identified him as the man he knew as George Crosley. Hiss issued a challenge to his accuser. I would like to invite Mr. Whittaker Chambers to make those same statements out of the presence of this committee without their being privileged for suit for libel. I challenge you to do it, and I hope you will do it damned quickly.

The next confrontation was public, held on August 25 in a congressional hearing room in Washington. Public interest in the case gave it a circus atmosphere. The packed conference room was jammed with spectators, radio broadcasters, film cameramen and even hookups for live television. At this point Nixon and HUAC appeared openly hostile to Hiss. You are a remarkable and agile young man, Mr. Hiss, said one member of the committee after Hiss answered evasively about the fate of his Ford automobile.

Two days later Chambers appeared on the radio program Meet the Press and declared, Alger Hiss was a Communist and may be now. A month later Hiss filed suit for damages. I welcome Alger Hisss daring suit, Chambers said. I do not minimize the ferocity or the ingenuity of the forces that are working through him.

As Hisss suit prepared to go to trial, the case took a new, even more serious turn. It changed the main issue from whether Alger Hiss was a Communist to whether he was a spy.

In his earlier statements before HUAC, Chambers denied being involved with espionage. His contacts in Washington acted only to influence government policy, not to subvert it, he had said. It was the same story he later told the Justice Department grand jury. But when facing pretrial examinations for the libel suit, Chambers changed his story. He told his lawyers that he could produce evidence that Hiss had given him government materials. When he had broken with the Communist Party 10 years earlier, Chambers said, he had saved some documents in case he needed to protect himself from retribution. He sealed the documents in an envelope and gave them to his wifes nephew, Nathan Levine. Levine hid the envelope in his parents Brooklyn home.

Retrieved from a dusty dumbwaiter shaft, the materials turned out to include 65 pages of typewritten copies of confidential documents (all except one from the State Department), four scraps of paper with Hisss handwritten notes on them, two strips of developed microfilm of State Department documents, three rolls of undeveloped microfilm, and several pages of handwritten notes. All dated from the early months of 1938. Chambers turned over most of the evidence but initially held the microfilm back in reserve. Fearing the federal grand jury would indict him for perjury, Chambers finally handed over the microfilm to HUAC. With a flourish of cloak-and-dagger dramatics, he had hidden it in a hollowed out pumpkin on his Maryland farm.

The so-called pumpkin papers ratcheted interest in the case up another level. Nixon immediately flew home from a vacation cruise in the Caribbean and posed for newspaper photographs showing him peering intently through a magnifying glass at the microfilm strips. The next day Nixon received a shock when an official at Eastman Kodak said the film stock dated from 1945meaning Chambers had lied when he said he had hidden the film in 1938. Shaken, Nixon phoned Chambers and angrily demanded an explanation. It turned out that none was needed. The Eastman Kodak source called back and corrected himself. The film stock dated from 1937.

Hiss, who also testified before the grand jury, claimed the materials were either fakes or had come from someone else. The grand jury thought otherwise and on December 15, 1948, it indicted Hiss for perjury, accusing him of lying when he said he had never given State Department or other government documents to Chambers and that he had had no contact with Chambers after January 1, 1937. Espionage charges were not possible because the three-year statute of limitations had expired.

The trial began at the Federal Building on Foley Square in New York City, on May 31, 1949, and lasted for six weeks. The prosecution emphasized its three solid witnessesa Woodstock typewriter once owned by Alger and Patricia Hiss, the typed copies, and the State Department originalsas uncontradicted facts. According to Chambers, Hiss took documents home from his office so his wife could type copies on the Woodstock. Hiss then returned the originals to his office and gave Chambers the copies. Chambers had the copies photographed for his Soviet handlers.

The typewriting would prove central to the case. The Hisses had once owned a Woodstock, and a comparison of the State Department copies with letters typed in the 1930s by the Hisses on their Woodstock indicated that they came from the same machine.

Hisss defense focused on his reputationhis character witnesses included a university president; several notable diplomats and judges, including Supreme Court Justices Felix Frankfurter and Stanley M. Reed; and Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. In contrast, the defense portrayed Chambers as a psychopathic liar and moral leper who could have acquired the microfilmed documents through many different channels. As for the handwritten notes, someone could have stolen them from Hisss office or trash basket.

After a long search, the defense team tracked down the Woodstock typewriter. The Hisses had given it to a maid, Claudia Catlett. The defense hoped to prove that the Catletts received the typewriter sometime before the spring of 1938, but neither Catlett nor her sons could substantiate the giveaway date, weakening the defense considerably.

The first trial ended in a hung jury, with eight of the twelve jurors voting to convict Hiss. The Justice Department quickly announced it would seek another trial.

The second trial began on November 17, 1949, and lasted three weeks longer than the first one. This time the jury found Hiss guilty. He would serve 44 months in the federal penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Cold War turned even colder in the years following Chambers first testimony and Hisss conviction, and continued to intensify after Hiss entered prison. China fell to the Communists in 1949, and the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb that same year. The following February, a little-known senator from Wisconsin, Joseph R. McCarthy, announced at a speech in West Virginia that he had a list of 205 card-carrying members of the Communist Party who were employed by the State Department. His sensational and unfounded charges launched a red-baiting career that would make his name forever synonymous with witch-hunting demagoguery. As historian Allen Weinstein later wrote, Alger Hisss conviction gave McCarthy and his supporters the essential touch of credibility, making their charges of Communist involvement against other officials headline copy instead of back-page filler.

Richard Nixon benefited as well. His role in the Hiss case helped him secure a senate seat over Helen Gahagan Douglas, a liberal Nixon labeled the Pink Lady. Two years later Nixon became Dwight D. Eisenhowers vice president. Nixon would always consider the Hiss case a defining moment in his career and included it as the first of the six crises he described in his political memoir of the same name.

Chambers, who published his account of the case in Witness, a 799-page bestseller published in 1952, died in 1961 of a heart attack, a hero of the American right. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan awarded Chambers a posthumous Medal of Freedom. Four years later, the Reagan Administration designated Chambers Maryland pumpkin farm as a national historic landmark.

Hiss, who published In the Court of Public Opinion in 1957 to present his side of the story, never stopped fighting to clear his name. Ive spent a great deal of time on the issue of Why me?  Hiss told writer David Remnick in 1986. I came to the conclusion that its largely accident, that I was well down the list of those who were selected in order to bring about a change in American politics. Hiss said that he wasnt the real target; he was merely a means to break the hull of liberalism.

Fortune began looking up for Hiss in 1972 when the Watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign the presidency. Nixons fall gave some credence to a wide spectrum of conspiracy theories involving fake typewriters, phony microfilm, and various collusions among the FBI, Nixon, HUAC, the CIA, the radical right, and the KGB. Hiss even theorized that Chambers, who had engaged in homosexual activity before his marriage, had a deep attachment to him, an unrequited passion that may have led Chambers to seek revenge. Hiss would return to that theme in a second book, Recollections of a Life, published in 1988.

Hisss prospects suffered a reverse in 1978 when Allen Weinstein published Perjury. Weinstein had set out to write an account sympathetic to Hiss. Using the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to previously classified materials from the State Department, Justice Department, and FBI, Weinstein finally concluded that Hiss was guilty. In Newsweek, columnist George Will wrote that with Weinsteins book, the myth of Hisss innocence suffers the death of a thousand cuts, delicate destruction by a scholars scalpel.

Over the years, Hiss attempted to have his case appealed. In 1978, using the newly acquired government documents, he petitioned the Supreme Court for a third time, declaring gross unfairness (a writ of error  coram nobis). On October 11, 1983, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Hiss requested information from Soviet sources to clear his name. After extensive research, General Dimitri Volkogonov, head of the Russian military intelligence archives, declared, Not a single document substantiates the allegation that Mr. Hiss collaborated with the intelligence services of the Soviet Union. You can tell Alger Hiss that the heavy weight should be lifted from his heart. But questions from suspicious conservatives forced Volkogonov to admit he hadnt searched the complex and confusing archives in great depth and that many of the files had been destroyed after Stalins death in 1953.

In 1993, a Hungarian historian, Maria Schmidt, divulged material from Communist Hungarian secret police files that seemed to suggest Hisss guilt. In 1949 Noel Field, an American suspected of being a Communist spy, had been imprisoned in Hungary as a suspected American spy. Under interrogation he had incriminated Hiss, in a confession Schmidt found in Fields dossier. Field, however, had recanted after his release, and Hiss defenders considered the Hungarian documents to be tarnished evidence.

Another piece of evidence came to light in 1996 when the CIA and National Security Agency made public several thousand documents of decoded cables exchanged between Moscow and its American agents from 1939 to 1957. These materials were part of a secret intelligence project called Venona. A single document, dated March 30, 1945, referred to an agent code-named Ales, a State Department official who had flown from the Yalta Conference to Moscow. An anonymous footnote, dated more than 20 years later, suggested Ales was probably Alger Hiss. Hiss, one of only four men who had flown from Yalta to Moscow, issued a statement denying he was Ales. He went to Moscow merely to see the subway system, he said.

Alger Hiss died on November 15, 1996, at the age of 92. Was he one of the centurys greatest liars or one of its longest-suffering victims? I know he was innocent, says John Lowenthall, a friend and legal representative who made a documentary, The Trials of Alger Hiss, in 1978. For most people its not a matter of fact, its a matter of ideology and emotion. Most of the people who take the stand that Hiss was guilty built their careers on it.

Yet while the preponderance of evidence does weigh heavily against Hiss, his unrelenting insistence of innocence will keep the door of doubt ever so slightly ajar. David Oshinsky wrote in the Chronicle of Higher Education that the question of Hisss guilt or innocence has become, like the case itself, part of our history. For intellectuals, left and right, it still taps the deepest personal values and political beliefs, raising questions about liberalisms romance with Communism, and conservatisms assault on civil liberties, years after the Cold War ended.

A half-century after it started, the Hiss case remains a political dividing line.

James T. Gay is a professor of Hhistory at State University of West Georgia in Carrollton. This article was published in the May/June 1998 issue of American History. Subscribe here.
At 0200 hours on June 3, 1972, Americas last POW rescue attempt began when Lt. j.g. Mark Lutz guided a Mark 6 swimmer delivery vehicle (SDV) away from the submarine Grayback, submerged just outside the mouth of North Vietnams Red River. Lutz was to deliver two U.S. Navy SEALs, Lieutenant Melvin Dry and CWO Philip Martin, to a small island approximately 4,000 yards away to await the arrival of two U.S. POWs who were to escape their camp by boat. It was a daring secret mission made possible by the only U.S. Navy submarine capable of covertly delivering Marines or Special Forces to an enemy shore.

Commissioned in March 1958 as the lead unit of Regulus cruise missile carrying submarines, the advent of Polaris missiles led to Graybacks modification and 1968 re-commissioning as an amphibious personnel transport. It received the designation LPSS-574 (for Submarine, Landing, Personnel). The alterations included lengthening the hull to accommodate two auxiliary fuel tanks forward of the engine room, extending the sail by 10 feet and converting the missile magazines on the bow into a dry deck shelter capable of embarking up to 67 troops and two SDVs. The shelter had a special bulkhead to enable underwater launch and recovery of the troops and SDVs. It also had a decompression chamber installed in the starboard missile hangar location. However, SEALs reported that the shelters designation as dry was at best an exaggeration as it was always damp and humid. Another negative aspect of its design was the air venting, which routed air from the subs head through the shelters when the submarine snorkeled to re-charge its batteries.

The hull expansion and alterations reduced Graybacks speeds by about 2 knots. Although slow when submerged, it was extremely quiet when operating on batteries. Its comparatively small vertical size made it ideal for operations in the relatively shallow South China Sea and coastal waters off Vietnam.

Most of Graybacks missions during and after Vietnam remain classified. It reportedly conducted its first covert mission of the war in 1971, but the recent release of details about Operation Thunderhead ensures that it will be best known for its key role in that POW rescue attempt, even though it failed. Unexpected currents and poor navigational information precluded Lieutenant Lutz reaching the island before the SDVs batteries ran out. The SEALs had to abandon it and be rescued by helicopter, sinking the SDV before they departed. Lieutenant Dry was killed while trying to return to Grayback by helicopter, and the rescue mission had to be aborted.

Grayback remained active in Asian waters for another 12 years before its aging equipment and a lack of spare parts led to its 1984 decommissioning. It was sunk as a target off Subic Bay, Philippines, on April 13, 1986. However, its activities during and after the Vietnam War convinced the Navy of the need to retain Graybacks capabilities. The development of Detachable Dry Deck shelters began in the 1970s, and the first Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarines were modified to carry them in 1987. Grayback may be gone, but its capability to support special operations forces lives on in the design specifications and construction of every U.S. Navy submarine built since the 1990s.

USS Grayback Max. speed (surfaced): 14 knots Max. speed (batteries): 13 knots Cruising speed: 4-6 knots Surface propulsion: Diesel-electric Displacement (surfaced): 2,768 tons Displacement (submerged): 3,638 tons Crew: 12 officers/77 enlisted Armament: 16 21-in. torpedos

First published in the October 2011 Vietnam magazine. Subscribe today!
Using their superior speed and maneuverability, the two wooden Confederate rams darted from one side of the river to the other, using the serpentine curves of the Mississippi to stay out of the line of fire of the Union ironclad immediately ahead of them. Each captain knew that one salvo from the enemy boats powerful guns could blow his own boat apart.

The Confederate commander was content to wait until the skies were dark. His boats were twice as fast as the ironclad, and he knew he could overtake her before she could reach the safety of the Union fleet above Vicksburg. He wanted darkness to blind the Union gunners aim, enabling the Confederate boats to get close enough to use their rams.

In the midwinter darkness the lookouts lost sight of the ironclad near Palmyra Island. Suddenly they spotted her. She had come about with her lights extinguished and was slowly drifting down the river toward them. The Confederacy had always used the Mississippi River to supply Vicksburg and Port Hudson. For the last three weeks, Union boats had blockaded it. Now the crucial battle for control of the supply lines was about to take place.

By the beginning of 1863, the Union Armys advance down the Mississippi Valley had ground to a halt. The 100,000-man army that Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck had assembled at Pittsburg Landing, Tenn., following the Battle of Shiloh, had been broken up, part of it now at Murfreesboro, Tenn., under Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans, another part at Oxford, Miss., under Maj. Gen. U.S. Grant.

In December, the ever-aggressive Grant tried to seize Vicksburg, but Maj. Gen. William Shermans corps was repulsed at Chickasaw Bluffs. While the Army contemplated other operations, the Navy decided to take its turn in attacking the Confederates. Commanding the Western Flotilla on the Mississippi was Rear Adm. David D. Porter. Porter had helped plan the attempt to relieve Fort Pickens before the firing on Fort Sumter and commanded that expedition. He later was deeply involved in planning the attack on New Orleans (and after the war would claim chief credit for originating the idea).

For his efforts, the Navy Department gave Porter command of the mortar boats during the News Orleans operation. Porter publicly vowed to reduce Forts Jackson and St. Philip in two days. Admiral David Farragut gave him his two days, and when the defenses of the forts seemed to be as strong as ever, led his warships past the forts (over Porters protests) to seize New Orleans.

Porters actions during the campaign were a blemish on his record. He thought he should have commanded the Gulf Squadron instead of Farragut, and he constantly tried to undermine Farraguts position in private letters to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox in which he criticized Farraguts handling of the operation.

Flag Officer Charles Davis had done a creditable job as commander of the Western Flotilla during the summer of 1862, but the Navy could not forget that he was a blue-water oceanographer. Later that year, the Navy appointed Porter to replace him. By the end of January 1863, Porter was ready for the Navy to take the offensive against the two remaining Confederate positions on the MississippiVicksburg, Miss., and Port Hudson, La.

The Confederacy controlled the Mississippi between these two bastions, using the river to keep them supplied. Porter believed that if he could put one or more boats at the mouth of the Red River he could stop the Confederates from supplying these positions from the west, especially from Texas.

The first boat Porter sent downriver was Queen of the West. A former freight boat on the St. Louis to New Orleans run, Queen was the flagship of the Marine Brigade, formerly the Army Ram Fleet. Commanded by 19-year-old Colonel Charles R. Ellet, Queen was a veteran boat, having participated in the Battle of Memphis.

Porter knew the operation would be dangerous. The initial problem was getting past Vicksburg. Although Farragut had run the Gulf Squadron past it twice in early summer 1862, the defenses were much stronger in January than they had been six months before.

The Confederates had one warship on the river that particularly worried Porter. He wrote Ellet: There is one vessel, the Webb, that you must look out for. If you get the first crack at her, you will sink her, and if she gets the first crack at you, she will sink you. Webb had been a lower river towboat noted for her speed and endurance. Heavy iron plate protected the machinery and boilers, but the boat was essentially unarmored.

Queens movement south on February 2 began ominously. Problems with her steering caused a delay in departure that caused Queen to arrive at Vicksburg at dawn. Queens first mission was to sink the steamer City of Vicksburg, tied up at a wharf below the city. Queen tried to ram her, but only succeeded in staving in some deck planks. The crew then threw firebombs onto Vicksburg, but her crew extinguished them. Queen tried to ram the steamer a second time, but only succeeded in driving her into the mud.

Ellet wanted to try again, but fire from the Confederate batteries worried him. Queen had been hit 12 times already. All of the hits were above the waterline, but they had set fire to cotton bales on her deck. Ellet brought Queen safely about and continued downriver.

During the next 10 days, Queen ruled the Mississippi and Red rivers. Fifteen miles south of the Red River she captured the steamer A.W. Baker, which had just unloaded her cargo at Port Hudson. Going up the Red River, she seized the steamers Moro and Berwick Bay.

With coal supplies low, Queen returned to the Mississippi. Finding that his prizes slowed him up, Ellet removed some supplies from them before burning the enemy vessels. On the 10th, Queen was at Warrenton, where she took on 20,000 bushels of coal from the tender De Soto.

Queen returned to the Red River, and on the 12th prowled the Atchafalaya River in search of a transport reported to be there. On the 13th, Porter sent another boat downriver to join Queen, the powerful new ironclad Indianola.

Indianola, which cost a lordly $183,662.56 to construct, mounted four guns, two 11-inch Dahlgrens forward and two 9-inch rifles aft. She was unusual in that she had two sidewheels plus a pair of screw propellers. In 1863, Appletons Cyclopedia described Indianola as a new iron-clad gun-boat, one hundred and seventy-four feet long, fifty feet beam, ten feet from the top of her deck to the bottom of her keel. Her sides five feet down were thirty-two inches thick of oak. Outside of this was three-inch-thick plate iron. Her casemate stood at an incline of twenty-six and a half degrees, and was covered with three-inch iron. She had seven enginestwo for working her side wheels, two for her propellers, two for her capstans, and one for supplying water and working the bilge and fire pumps.

The problems associated with building Indianola foreshadowed the problems she would later encounter during her brief career. When a Confederate army under General Edmund Kirby Smith threatened Cincinnati in September 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace seized the still-uncompleted Indianola to help in the defense of the city. But though her guns were in place, there was no ammunition for them. The builder immediately complained to the Navy that the Army was interfering with completion of the boat.

To try to regain control of Indianola from the Army, the Navy appointed Acting Master Edward Shaw to command her. With the Confederates retreating toward Tennessee, Wallace had no reason to retain control of the ironclad. Construction resumed soon after Shaw assumed command.

The man chosen to command Indianola permanently was Lt. Cmdr. George Brown, an 1855 graduate of the Naval Academy. Brown knew Porter, having served under him on Powhatan during the attempt to relieve Fort Pickens in 1861. In 1862, Brown had commanded the six-gun, 829-ton steamer Octorara as part of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

Brown discovered more problems once in command. Captain Alex M. Pennock, at the naval depot at Cairo, Ill., provided Brown with a crew, but everyone had the rating of seaman and, as Brown reported to Porter, expected the higher pay of a seaman. Security was another problem. Captain J.B. Hull, the Navy officer responsible for overseeing construction of Indianola, was upset about a report in the Missouri Republican giving details about her construction. Citing a Navy General Order, he ordered Brown to keep newspaper correspondents off the boat during construction. In addition, he wanted Brown to try to find out who had given the Republican the information, telling him to pay particular attention to the Cincinnati newspapers.

When Indianola was ready to sail, low water kept her from leaving Cincinnati. Finally, in December, Porter ordered Brown to take her to Louisville to be ready to cross the falls of the Ohio at the first opportunity, and pointedly criticized him for not making the move sooner.

These problems were mere nuisances. The real problems with Indianola lay in her design. Indianolas engines took up so much space that there was no room for a crew. Porter tried to get Hull to correct it, but he refused to take any action without prior authorization from Washington. Temporary quarters were built on top of the boat, but they were not enough to house the entire crew. When Brown steamed south from Vicksburg, he could take only a skeleton crew and did not have sufficient crew members to man all his guns at once.

The gunports were too small to allow the gunners to elevate their guns to achieve the maximum range. At the same time, the portholes in the pilothouse were too small to allow the pilots to help the gunner aim their guns at night.

By December 1862 Indianola had joined the Western Flotilla, being assigned on the 25th to the second division under Lieutenant Gwin in Benton. As in the case of many other ironclads, the Navy had actual possession of the ironclad before having legal title to her. It was not until January 12, 1863, that Hull informed Porter that Indianola had completed her testing as required by the contract and was officially being turned over to Porter.

Porter planned to make the war personal. If Brown captured a good steamer, he was to go to Jeff Davis plantation and his brother Joes and load up said steamer with all the cotton you can find and the best single male negroes. Brown was also to send Queen down to Port Hudson, where Ellet was to transmit a message to Porters brother Commodore William Wild Bill Porter in the gunboat Essex just south of that Confederate position. The Essex was to run past Port Hudsons defenses to join the other two boats. The two ironclads and the wooden ram would have given the Union Navy an invincible force on the Mississippi in the Confederates rear if all had gone according to plan.

At 10:15 on the night of February 13, Indianola left her anchorage at the mouth of the Yazoo River. As both protection and a source of supply, Indianola had a barge fastened to each side, each containing 7,000 bushels of coal.

At 11:10 p.m. she passed the upper batteries of Vicksburg. Twelve minutes later the Confederates opened fire, dropping 18 shots into the river around Indianola without hitting her. By 11:41 the ironclad was out of range of the last battery.

Porter watched Indianola run past the Confederate defenses. Between her passage and that of Queen he had seen (or at least thought he had seen) five Confederate guns blow up. He reasoned that the more the Confederates fired, the more damage they would do to their own defenses, at the same time telling the Union forces where the batteries were located.

If the Confederates wanted something to shoot at, he would provide it for them. He placed a mortar boat in position where it could bombard that part of Vicksburg known to contain military stores. The Confederates fired at it for a while but, not being able to hit it, soon ceased fire. Porter then began plans to give them another target to shoot at, and in so doing, he set in motion the final steps of Indianolas bizarre end.

Fog delayed Indianolas departure for 18 hours. Had she left earlier, events would have been different, since she would have joined Queen before she sortied up the Red River. As it was, the Army ram made the trip alone.

On the 14th, Queen captured the Southern steamer Era No. 5 on the Red River, full of corn for the Confederates at Little Rock. The prisoners told Ellet that there was a battery at Fort Taylor at Cordons Landing, 80 miles from the mouth of the river. They convinced him that he could capture it easily. Accordingly, Ellet impressed George Wood, pilot of Era, to guide Queen upriver. One-quarter mile from the battery, Wood ran Queen aground. Almost immediately, Fort Taylor opened fire with three rifled 32-pounders.

Ellet tried to back Queen free as Confederate shells slammed into her. The boat shook violently, convincing the crew that the boilers had exploded. They abandoned ship, using cotton bales to float over to De Soto. Ellet later wrote that he did not destroy Queen because there was a wounded officer on board who could not be removed.

As the crew reached De Soto, Confederates on the shore shouted for them to surrender. The steamer drifted with the current, picking up more survivors from Queen. Three miles downriver she unshipped her rudder. In three hours she drifted 15 miles, sometimes floating down the river stern first. About 11 oclock she reached Era, at which time the second rudder on De Soto was lost.

Expecting Webb to arrive at any time, Ellet put everyone on Era before destroying De Soto. To try to gain more speed, they tossed some of the cargo of corn overboard. Through the foggy night the boat continued down the Red River to the Mississippi, the only fuel being corn and some water-soaked cypress logs they found stacked along the riverbank.

Era went aground once during the trip, but the crew managed to get her free. As they passed Ellis Cliffs just south of Natchez, they saw the smoke of a steamer coming downriver toward them. At first they could only see the smoke, not the boat making it. As it came closer they saw that it was Indianola.

Ellet told Brown what had happened, then agreed to accompany the ironclad south. Approaching Ellis Cliffs again, Era made the signal for danger. Up the river toward them came Webb.

The Confederate ram quickly came about and headed downriver at full steam, with Indianola in close pursuit. Brown put his guns at the maximum elevation the gunports would allow and fired two shots, one of which landed in the water 50 yards astern of Webb. Before he could fire again, Webb passed out of sight around a bend in the river. When Indianola came around that same bend, she entered fog so thick that Brown could not see Webbs smoke. Indianola anchored that night at Glasscock Island and at 5 p.m. on the 16th arrived at the mouth of the Red River.

For the next four days Indianola blockaded the mouth of the Red River. On the 18th, Era left her to join the Flotilla north of Vicksburg. The Confederates, in the meantime, towed Queen to Alexandria to be certain the Union forces did not recapture her. By the 19th they had her effectively repaired.

Brown learned that the Confederates intended to come after him with both Queen and Webb, plus four steamers full of infantry. On the 21st he left the Red River to get cotton bales to fill the spaces between the casemate and wheelhouse to help repel boarders. By the afternoon of the next day, he had all the cotton he needed and was back at the mouth of the Red River. Expecting Porter to send another boat down to assist him, he chose to remain there instead of trying to flee north.

Overall commander of the Confederate forces set to attack Indianola was Major J.L. Brent, with Captain James McCloskey commanding Queen and Captain Charles Pierce Webb. Supporting them were the steamer Dr. Batey (with 250 soldiers from Port Hudson on board) and the tender Grand Era.

Indianola finally left the Red River on the 23rd, steaming up the Mississippi, slowed considerably by the two coal barges still lashed to her sides. Brown was reluctant to abandon them, as he thought they would need the coal if Porter sent another boat downriver to join him.

The Confederate boats could travel about twice as fast as the Union boat. Brent thought he could have overtaken Indianola on the morning of the 24th, but realizing the power of the Union boats guns, he wanted to engage her at night so that his wooden rams could get close to the ironclad before the Union gunners could sight their guns.

On the afternoon of the 24th, Brown stopped along the river for several hours, for some reason he did not mention in his official report. When the Confederates arrived at Grand Gulf at sunset, they learned that Indianola had passed by four hours before.

Although the Confederates had seen Indianola near the mouth of the Black River, the Union lookouts did not notice the Confederates until they were just above the head of Palmyra Island. Both Queen and Webb were running with all lights covered. A lookout in Indianolas wheelhouse saw the lights of Grand Era a quarter-mile behind the rams.

Brown extinguished all lights on his boat and turned her bow downriver. With the engines shut down, the Confederates could not hear her. Confederate lookouts saw the ironclad at 1,000 yards dead ahead on the west bank. At 500 yards Brent could make out the coal barges lashed to Indianolas port side.

At 100 yards the Confederates opened fire with two Parrott guns and one Cross 12-pounder. None of the shots hit the ironclad. A second shot disabled one of the Parrotts. The weather conditions were ideal for the type of battle Brent wanted. The moon was partially obscured by a veil of clouds, and gave and permitted just sufficient light for us to see where to strike with our rams, and just sufficient obscurity to render uncertain the aim of the formidable artillery of the enemy, he reported.

Brent directed Queen toward Indianola, intending to strike the ironclad near the wheelhouse just behind the coal barge, but as Queen attacked, Brown backed up Indianola, putting the barge between them. Queen sliced into the barge, passing through it and denting the armor plate of Indianola without causing any real damage. For several minutes Queen remained stuck in the barge while riflemen on Dr. Batey peppered the Indianola to keep the Union crew from trying to board.

As Queen backed away, Webb attacked, striking Indianola near the bow. The collision did little damage, but Webb got her bow between the coal barge on the starboard and the ironclad. By pushing forward, she was able to knock the barge loose.

Queen waited until Webb was clear before making her second attack. Brown tried to bring Indianola around to face the Confederate ram, bow-to-bow. Queen struck a little forward of midships, doing little damage. As Queen backed away, Brown took men from the bow guns and had them man one of the 9-inch aft guns. The flames from the muzzle almost reached Queen, and the blast blew a dozen cotton bales off the deck. The shell entered a forward porthole, disabling two guns.

Both Queen and Webb attacked again. Queen struck aft of the wheelhouse, shattering the frame and loosening some planks, while Webb punched a hole in Indianolas hull. Both Confederate boats were also damaged in the attacks. Queen listed, forcing Brent to pause to throw some cotton bales overboard in an attempt to right her. Webb lost part of her bow, but Pierce thought her strong enough for another attack.

With this attack, Webb crushed Indianolas starboard wheel, disabled the starboard rudder, and started a number of leaks. The paddle wheel came loose and dropped into the water. Brown knew that another attack on the stern would cause Indianola to sink, with a heavy loss of life. He ran the bow ashore with the screw engines and dumped the code books overboard before running out on the deck with a white handkerchief to surrender. Brent boarded Indianola, and on the upper deck he accepted Browns sword.

Brent decided to try to save the ironclad, appointing Lieutenant Thomas H. Handy as acting prizemaster. He thought the western bank was too easy a place for the Union to recover the boat, so he had Webb and Dr. Batey tow her toward the eastern bank. She sank on a sandbar in 10 feet of water, ironically just opposite Joseph Davis plantation. The next morning the Confederates put a 100-man salvage crew and two pieces of field artillery on Indianola in an attempt to save her.

In his History of the Confederate States Navy, former Confederate midshipman J. Thomas Scharf stated that Indianola was blown up to prevent her recapture by the Federals. However, the destruction of Indianola was not that mundane.

Upriver, Porter did not know about the loss of Indianola, though he knew about Queen and he had reports that she was at Warrenton, seven miles south of Vicksburg. Porter prepared to give the Confederate batteries something else to shoot at. Finding that they could not be provoked to fire without an object, I thought of getting up an imitation monitor.An old coal-barge, picked up in the river, was the foundation to build upon. It was built of old boards in twelve hours, with porkbarrels on top of each other for smoke-stacks, and two old canoes for quarter-boats; her furnaces were built of mud, and only intended to make black smoke and not steam. Painted on the side was the taunting slogan: Deluded Rebels, cave in!

Since he wanted it seen, Porter launched his monitor during daylight. Soon word spread out from Vicksburg that a turreted monster that dared run the defenses in daytime was loose on the river.

A Mississippi cavalry officer watched the reaction at Indianola: In a short time, Queen of the West came back in great haste, reporting a gunboat of the enemy approaching. All the vessels at once got underway in a panic, abandoning without a word the working party and field pieces on the wreckthe Federal vessel did not approach nearer than 2 1/2 miles, and appeared very apprehensive of attacking.

In the panic to escape from Porters monitor, Dr. Batey collided with another boat and sank. Despite the advantage of being able to see the target clearly, the Confederate gunners were unable to hit the boat as it drifted past their positions. It finally came to a halt on a sandbar 2 1/2 miles upriver from Indianola.

The salvage party made a half-hearted attempt to raise Indianola during the night before losing their nerve. On the 26th they blew up the wreck, although a couple guns were later recovered.

On March 7, the Richmond Examiner wrote a fitting epitaph for the entire riverine misadventure: The reported fate of the Indianola is even more disgraceful than farcical.

This article was written by Robert Collins Suhr and originally appeared in the July 1993 issue of Americas Civil War magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Americas Civil War magazine today!
I been researching Union General Robert Allen, I found out that he had a son that died during the war. I cant find out the full name of the generals wife or anything about her. Can you help?.Thank you.

? ? ?

Dear Anonymous,

It may be a sign of the times, but in all the sources I searched the only reference to Maj. Gen. Robert Allen even being married is one that mentions him taking the vows in New York City in February 1849, without mentioning his spouses name. He left town for his next military assignment the same month. While we know he had a son and a daughter, only the son is namedLieutenant Robert Allen Jr., who entered army service against his fathers wishes, had a leg shattered at Fair Oaks on June 1, 1862, was taken prisoner, had the leg amputated, was released through negotiation with a Rebel officer who was a prewar friend of Allens, but in spite (or because?) of a further amputation succumbed to his injuries. Neither Allens wife nor his daughter are afforded any such identification.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ldshistorical&id=I96049

Sincerely,

Jon Guttman

Research Director

World History Group

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Authorities in Texas are turning to the public for help in order to solve the mystery of a man who was found decapitated earlier this month in a pickup truck parked at a boat ramp in Brazoria County

The Brazoria County Sheriff's Office said the decapitated body was discovered on the evening of May 3 at the Austin Bayou Boat Ramp on FM 2004 in Brazoria County.

Deputies say a passerby called in that evening to report what appeared to be a deceased person in a blue Chevrolet pickup truck parked at the boat ramp. Responding to the call, they arrived sometime later to find a headless body.

Investigators, using a fingerprint analysis, have since identified the man as Jubal Dee Alexander, from Port Arthur, Texas, who, according to Brazoria County Sheriff's Capt. Chris Kincheloe, was living out of the truck after moving to Brazoria County to work at a plant. However, he was last seen on April 27 and hadn't been seen or heard from since, until that May evening when he was discovered headless in the truck.

This is all that police know, and they've launched an investigation to figure out the rest. A cause of death has not yet been determined. In addition, Kincheloe noted that while it's unclear if Alexander was alive or dead when decapitated, investigators are handling the case as if it were a homicide investigation.

"We're going through our paces trying to run down as many leads as we can," Kincheloe said.

A somewhat similar case played out in April when a Seattle woman's head and other body parts turned up in a trash bag. Police identified her as 40-year-old Ingrid Lee thanks to a photo of her that was given to them at the start of their investigation. She was supposed to meet the now-alleged killer, 37-year-old John Charlton, for a date, but was killed sometime before or after.

While the body was missing in that case, the head was missing in this one, and police still can't find it despite an "extensive search."

In the meantime, BCSO is calling for anyone who may have knowledge of what transpired to contact them at 979-864-2392 or Brazoria County Crimestoppers at 979-864-2279.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
News, events, history, and other mid-week tidbits.

Tuesday, October 25, 4:30  7 p.m.

Orr Area EMS Open House

Brats and burgers will be served. Event includes a new ambulance tour and blood pressure screenings. For more info: 218-780-3798.

Orr Fire Hall

4540 Lake St., Orr

Tuesday, October 25, 12  6 p.m.

Essentia Health Job Fair

Talent recruiters and department managers will be on-site at Essentia Health-Virginia. Candidates from all backgrounds are encouraged to attendnurses, nursing and clinical assistants, surgery technicians, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, human resource professionals, and those interested in environmental services or nutrition services. Essentia staff will greet candidates, conduct an initial screening and filter them to appropriate hiring managers for interviews. Select candidates will be verbally offered a position before leaving. Candidates are asked to bring a resume, but its not required. Attire is business casual. For more info: www.essentiacareers.org.

901 9th St. N., Virginia
The launch of NH Collection brand in Germany is part of the company's strategic five-year business plan and confirms the growth momentum across all of its brands

NH Collection Berlin Friedrichstrasse, NH Collection Frankfurt City, NH Collection Hamburg City and NH Collection Dresden Altmarkt are the first four upper-upscale establishments in Germany

At least one more NH Collection opening is scheduled for 2016: NH Collection Koln Mediapark will be officially inaugurated on June 1st

After the successful opening of its first four German hotels in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Dresden, NH Hotel Group now officially launches its upper-upscale brand NH Collection in Germany. In line with its strategic five-year business plan, the Company is strongly committed to its most exclusive brand, further strengthening segmentation of its portfolio under the new brand architecture, with the aim of increasing guest satisfaction.

NH Collection, aims to exceed expectations of guests who are looking for 'that little bit extra' from their trips, whether for business or pleasure. Targeted at consumers who demand excellent service but, above all, a genuinely exclusive and memorable experience at strategic urban locations in core international destinations. NH Collection creates extraordinary experiences that blend thoughtful attention to detail, outstanding services, innovative products, state-of-the-art technology and genuine local gastronomy, which will culminate into an unmatched stay.

The launch of NH Collection in Germany is an important milestone regarding NH Hotel Group's expansion plans. "This launch brings us one step closer to our vision which is that one day, whenever anyone contemplates a trip to a city for an overnight stay or meeting, for business or pleasure, they will always ask themselves if there is an NH hotel at their destination", stated Federico J. Gonzalez Tejera, Global CEO of NH Hotel Group. The company will operate 68 NH Collection hotels worldwide by the end of 2016.

Stephan Demmerle, Managing Director of the Business Unit Central Europe at NH Hotel Group, explains the brand essence of NH Collection: "Guests staying at NH Collection hotels can look forward to a wide range of personalized products, such as high-quality furnishing including Nespresso coffee machines, rain showers and exceedingly comfortable beds, enlarged choice at breakfast and of course the service provided by our Guest Relation Managers, who cater to all individual needs and make every wish become reality. We aim to surprise our guests by exceeding their expectations of our hotels and standards".

Technological highlights are an essential part of the NH Collection experience. NH Collection Berlin Friedrichstrasse and NH Collection Frankfurt City, for example, both showcase large-scale LED displays in their public areas, which use atmospheric video effects to create a unique ambience. In addition, innovative solutions like the 3D holographic projection technology are available for meetings and events not only at NH Collection but also at nhow hotels.

A stay at NH Collection is rounded of by an extraordinary culinary experience. Guest get their palates delight with their culinary creations created by internationally renowned chefs like Paco Roncero, Oscar Velasco, Chris Naylor, David Munoz and Jacob Jan Boerma , who have 11 stars among them awarded by the Guide Michelin. Together with their teams, these chefs treat guests at NH Collection to memorable gastronomic pleasures of superior quality.

All these details serve to explain why NH Collection Berlin Friedrichstrasse, NH Collection Frankfurt City and 19 more NH Collection establishments in Europe and Latin America are already part of the portfolio of Preferred Hotels & Resorts.

At least one more NH Collection establishment is scheduled to open in Germany this year: On June 1st 2016, NH Collection Koln Mediapark will be inaugurated after having undergone major refurbishment. Just recently, Vienna also witnessed the opening of the first NH Collection hotel in Austria: in an ideally central location on Europe's longest shopping boulevard, Mariahilfer Strae, guests at NH Collection Wien Zentrum enjoy a unique and truly memorable stay. Austria is, like Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania, part of the Business Unit Central Europe at NH Hotel Group.

On the occasion of the official NH Collection brand launch event in Germany, NH Hotel Group will for the first time host the NH Collection Video Art Award. This prize, which has been created in collaboration with New York-based curator Leo Kuelbs, is dedicated to talented young video artists. In its first edition, the award is devoted to the new premium brand with the call to take a creative stance on the essence of the NH Collection brand using innovative technology and surprising aesthetics.

About NH Hotel Group, part of Minor Hotels

NH Hotel Group (www.nhhotelgroup.com) is a consolidated multinational player and a benchmark urban hotel operator in Europe and the Americas, where it operates more than 350 establishments. Since 2019, the Company has been working with Minor Hotels on integrating all of its hotel trademarks under a single corporate umbrella brand with a presence in over 50 countries worldwide. Together they have articulated a portfolio of more than 500 hotels operating under eight brands: NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow, Tivoli, Anantara, Avani, Elewana and Oaks - to forge a broad and diverse range of hotel propositions in touch with the needs and desires of today's world travellers.
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Balsamic Roasted Chicken Thighs

by Sheena 6077885 Ingredients (5 chicken thighs) 5 chicken thighs (bone in skin on)

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled

1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

1 medium red onion, cut into wedges

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup chicken broth Instructions Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Trim excess fat from thighs.

Add chicken thighs, olive oil, garlic, rosemary and lemon pepper in a gallon ziploc bag. Combine until evenly coated.

Place onions in the bottom of a glass baking dish. Place chicken thighs over top, including garlic from the bag. Combine balsamic and chicken broth, then pour over top chicken thighs.

Bake for one hour, basting chicken with juices every 15 minutes. Serve chicken with a scoop of onion and garlic from the pan. Powered by Recipage

Pure comfort food that's perfect for Sunday dinner! Tons of delicious flavor and easy to prepare!Up until today, it's still been pretty cold and rainy in Minnesota! It's been iffy on whether we can BBQ or not, so when in doubt, make a comfort food recipe like I'm sharing today!Comfort food is simply the best.When I think of comfort foods, it's usually a meat and potatoes kind of meal, or pasta. Pasta is defintely at the top of my comfort food list.Meals like this are usually made for Sunday dinner at my house, but this recipe would also be great for a weeknight meal too.While the chicken is roasting, you can prepare the sides and even a quick dessert!It's no secret by now, I'm a lover of all things balsamic.I was browsing through one of the many cookbooks in my collection and found a recipe similar to this. I tweeked a few things and came up with my own version.The sweetness from the balsamic caramelizes the chicken skin perfectly and also adds a bit of tang to the garlic and onions in the bottom of the pan. It would be great served with some rice or mashed potatoes and also some steamed carrots or peas.It's been quite a while since I've posted a recipe! What have I been up to since then?We've been getting ready for my boyfriend's college graduation! He graduated last Friday with a Bachelor's Degree in IT. He is originally from Burkina Faso, West Africa, so his Dad flew in for graduation and to stay with us for a month to visit!All of that along with the usual Girl Scouts, work, volunteering and everything else we do on a daily basis! I love my crazy life and will hopefully be blogging more often, very soon!Hope you enjoy this recipe! Thanks for following along! :)If you liked this post, follow the Hot Eats and Cool Reads board on Pinterest here Kitchen items you may need: (affiliate links)Other posts you may enjoy:
Chance the Rappers new mixtape Coloring Book features a few well-known producers, most notably Kaytranada, Lido, and Donnie Trumpet. The majority of the producers, however, were relatively obscure finds. It appears that Chance scoured the web and worked his network of artists to find producers whom he believed could could carry out his specific vision  gospel chords, lustrous synths, and lots of horns. Like the features, the production is Chicago-heavy, but Chance went as far as Europe in his search for collaborators.

Click through the gallery to check out five of the lesser-known (but no less talented) producers who contributed to Coloring Book.

GARREN  Smoke Break feat. Future

Garren Langford is a senior at the University of California-Berkeley. Earlier this week he completed his collegiate academic career by turning in a 30-page thesis on internet access in Brazilian favelas.

Six months ago, he released a glossy remix of Chances Sunday Candy that has since soared to over a quarter million views. One suspects that this remix is how he initially got Chances attention, although he has other Chicago connections as well  he produced Joey Purps recent slapper Photobooth.

It appears that GARREN also handles all his own artwork. What a creative young man. This guy is going places. Check out his The Late Day Sessions EP below.

Brasstracks  No Problem feat. 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne

A Brooklyn-based duo comprised of Ivan Jackson (trumpet) and Conor Rayne (drums), Brasstracks is pioneering the integration of live instruments with the native conventions of electronic music.

Referring to their sound as future brass, Brasstracks provided horns on Anderson .Paaks single Am I Wrong. Their SoundCloud page is a veritable treasure trove check out their outstanding single Say U Wont below. Their debut EP is out this summer.

CBMIX  Mixtape feat. Young Thug & Lil Yachty (co-produced with Social Experiment drummer Stix)

CBMIX is the head engineer at Young Chops Chop Squad Records. Hes produced for many artists on the Chicago drill scene, including Johnny May Cash, Lil Flash. His biggest hits to date are undoubtedly Lil Durk and Chief Keefs Decline and Keefs Earned It, both of which he co-produced with Young Chop.

Cam Obi  Blessings #2 and Grown Ass Kid feat. Mick Jenkins & Alex Wiley

Far and away the most well-known of the producers on this list, Cam is old buddies with Chano and the Social Experiment crew. He has credits on songs by Bas, Wiz Khalifa, Young Jeezy, Lil Wayne and hes worked with nearly everyone in Chicagos new generation of rappers, notably Mick Jenkins, Saba, Rockie Fresh, and Vic Mensa (he produced Orange Soda arguably Vics best track ever).

He produced or co-produced three tracks on Acid Rap  Good Ass Intro, Cocoa Butter Kisses, & Good Ass Outro  and he would have produced two on Coloring Book if not for sample clearance issues.

Rascal  Juke Jam feat. Justin Bieber & Towkio

With the exception of the Norwegian Lido, 20-year-old Rascal is the furthest-flung producer on Coloring Book. He hails from the the city of Aachen, Germany, which lies on the Belgian border. He is best known for his collaborations with Elhae, and he has also collaborated with British rappers Little Simz and Jay Prince. He describes his sound as mellow, crunchy, & extraordinary we tend to agree.
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In the late 1940s, there were almost 120 stores along Dowling Street between Interstate 45 and Alabama, once the commercial spine of the Third Ward.

Like any thriving neighborhood, there were restaurants, movie theaters and grocery stores, tailors, printers and car shops.

A recent survey of the area shows only about 20 businesses operating today.

In February, students and professors from the University of Houston's Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture along with members of a new Third Ward community group came together to discuss a design project that would envision a revitalized Dowling Street.

A large model of the area, a patchwork of rundown buildings and vacant lots, was presented, and members of the Emancipation Economic Development Council provided input on what they wanted to see in some of the empty spaces.

"We had blocks representing housing, commercial development and civic things, and we asked people to refill the corridor. They wrote on stickies the types of uses they really wanted to see," said Susan Rogers, UH architecture professor.

Students picked 22 vacant sites and, based on the feedback from the meeting, designed developments ranging from single-family homes to mixed-use projects with offices, art studios and shops. There were grocery stores, a movie theater and a senior housing complex.

The development council was formed last year with efforts in mind to protect the community's history and stimulate the economy. It is being spearheaded by area churches and Project Row Houses, a community-based arts and culture nonprofit.

The reasons for the area's decline are complex.

Part of it had to do with redlining practices instituted in the 1930s, meaning residents and business owners didn't have access to loans to improve their properties and help their businesses grow. Many residents moved out of the neighborhood, which also suffered from the shift in the way retail services were provided to consumers on a larger scale. Mom-and-pop markets and drugstores were replaced by mega-markets and pharmacy chains that stayed away from lower-income regions.

Rogers, who led the project with UH professor Ronnie Self, said she hopes her students' ideas help influence development in the Third Ward, the university's home, as well.

A couple of weeks ago, the students placed yard signs with renderings on the sites where their developments were proposed. Instead of "Land Available," the signs read "Custom Ideas Available."

As urban neighborhoods like the Third Ward have become blanketed with upscale housing in recent years, council members don't want to see Dowling turned into a tunnel of townhomes.

"They really want it to be the Main Street of Third Ward once again," Rogers said.

Park plan 'still in play'

The chain-link fence surrounding a 1970s-era office complex at the northeast corner of Westheimer and Mid Lane portend the demolition of the vacant structures that sit on a pricey plot of Houston real estate.

The property owner purchased the development several years ago. On the back of the property, an eight-story apartment building called The James opened last year. A multifamily building with 17 stories called The Ivy is under construction.

Once the existing office buildings are taken down, it would be expected that the owner, Stonelake Capital Partners, would have plans for another building, maybe two. Yet Stonelake says it will develop a 5-acre park at the front of the site, an amenity to the residents, according to the company's website.

Alan Schoellkopf, Stonelake's chief operating officer, confirmed that the park plan is still in play but directed additional questions to an associate with the firm who did not return calls.

Perhaps the park will be temporary and buildings will be developed once the commercial real estate market improves. But maybe it will become another example of urban green space, as developers put more of an emphasis on nature and community spaces.

The site is between Highland Village and River Oaks District. It includes several low-rise buildings that housed an Indian restaurant, two banks, medical offices and other small businesses.

Stonelake Capital was founded in 2007 and has raised a series of funds it manages on behalf of college endowments, foundations, family offices and pension funds. Its investments include industrial, retail, multifamily and office properties in the major markets in Texas.
Linn Energy spent the past decade on a $17 billion, debt-fueled shopping spree, buying a vast collection of wells and companies during the frenzy of one of the great U.S. oil and gas booms.

It started in 2003 when founder Michael Linn spent $50 million to buy four companies drilling in Appalachia. It ended Wednesday in a Texas courtroom, when Linn Energy, once among the 15 largest U.S. drillers and an employer of 1,650, filed the largest ever exploration and production bankruptcy by debt, according to the bond rating agency Fitch Ratings.

Linn Energy, in many ways, captures the go-go years of the oil and gas boom and the sense among lenders, investors, and fast-growing companies that good times weren't going to end anytime soon. During the boom, Linn Energy made a lot of money for a lot of people - executives, bankers, lawyers, and investors - and few questioned a pioneering business model that relied as much on financial engineering as it did on actual drilling.

It all worked when oil prices were rising, eventually climbing above $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014. But by the time oil landed below $30 per barrel in February, the corporate structure that made Linn so adept at buying other firms became a liability as its debt-funded acquisitions turned sour.

"When they were making acquisitions at $80 oil, it was OK," said Sharon Bonelli of Fitch Ratings. "Ultimately, they just had too much debt."

Linn Energy reported $8.3 billion in debt and asked for Chapter 11 protection Wednesday after reaching a restructuring agreement with creditors. Under the plan submitted to the court, its shareholders will lose everything. The most senior creditors will get a mixture of cash and a stake in a new line in credit, and other creditors will get shares in the new company, which is expected to be worth a fraction of Linn Energy at its height.

The bankruptcy filing was expected for some time. In March, Linn Energy told creditors that bankruptcy "may be unavoidable."

Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston, said Linn essentially transformed itself from drilling company into a commodity investment fund that borrowed heavily to boost returns. "They got into a hole and kept on digging," he said.

Relied on hedges

Linn Energy is one of the few oil and gas drillers structured to resemble a partnership, which means it can avoid some taxes, but pays out much of its cash flow to investors. While partnerships are common in the oil and gas industry, the structure isn't typically used by drillers because swings in oil prices can jeopardize the dividends they pay to investors.

Linn's management sought to solve this problem by smoothing out their revenue using financial instruments called hedges, which lock in prices for oil far in advance. Shortly before it filed for bankruptcy, Linn Energy owned hedges worth about $1.6 billion, which it sold for $1.2 billion, according to court records.

More Information Linn Energy'sbiggest deals Feb. 2013: $4.3 billion, Berry Petroleum Co June 2014: $2.2 billion, Devon Energy Corp. July 2007: $2.1 billion, Dominion Resources Inc Feb. 2012: $1.2 billion, BP plc June 2012: $1 billion, BP plc Nov. 2011: $629 million, Plains Exploration & Production Co. Sept. 2013: $525 million, BC Operating Inc. Dec. 2006: $415 million, Stallion Oilfield Services Inc April 2012: $400 million, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Aug. 2014: $340 million, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. Source: Dealogic See More Collapse

With the hedges in place, the company went on a spree of acquisitions that enabled it to keep paying higher dividends, funded by debt and newly minted shares in the company.

Michael Linn founded the company with help from investment group Quantum Energy Partners and an initial investment of $16.3 million. Almost immediately, he began buying his rivals.

By the time the company launched an initial public stock offering in early 2006, Linn Energy had spent $203 million, mostly borrowed, to buy nine competitors and 1,914 natural gas wells, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. By comparison, it had spent $32.9 million and drilled 168 wells itself.

The deals got larger after Linn went public and had access to more capital. "We plan to aggressively purse additional acquisition opportunities," Kolja Rockov, Linn Energy's chief financial officer, told investors in early 2007.

Soon after, Linn Energy inked 21 significant acquisitions at a cost of $3.3 billion, according to regulatory filings. It had drilled 519 wells and bought 8,273 more At the end of 2010, Linn Energy carried $3.8 billion in debt, including its credit facility.

Linn stepped down as CEO in 2010 and retired from the company in 2011, when Linn Energy was worth roughly $10 billion. He was replaced by Mark Ellis, who is still CEO.

In late 2012, Linn Energy doubled down on its fund-raising successes by launching an initial public offering for an affiliated company. At the time, it was the largest-ever IPO for an energy company.

By early 2013, Linn Energy was at a full sprint.

The firm signed one of its largest deals, $4.3 billion including debt, a $2.5 billion, all-stock deal to buy Berry Petroleum Co., a Denver oil company. The deal gave Linn oil wells in California, the Permian basin and the Rocky Mountain region - as well as another $1.8 billion in debt. It was Linn's 57th deal, bringing the total tab to $10 billion.

"Our strategy of acquiring mature oil and gas assets across the U.S. has been very successful," Rockov told analysts on a 2013 conference call. "Today, we've broken new ground."

An analyst on a conference call congratulated the company on a deal, calling it an IPO that would have a "broad implications" for oil and gas companies like Linn.

'Unprecedented collapse'

The first cracks began to appear in 2013. Even before oil prices began their fall, the prices of the hedges that Linn Energy depended on for its steady stream of revenue started sliding. Instead of $90, Linn Energy had to lock in lower prices for oil, reducing its revenues, its market value, and its ability to borrow.

By late 2014, oil prices were in free fall. So were Linn Energy shares.

Many of the wells Linn Energy had bought were no longer profitable. The company shut down about 1,000 money-losing wells in 2016 and reported a loss of $2.5 billion in 2015, according to regulatory filings.

Two months ago, the company warned of a bankruptcy. The filing came on Wednesday.

In a declaration to the bankruptcy court, Arden Walker, the company's chief operating officer, blamed it on the market.

"This unprecedented collapse in commodity prices," he said, "has fundamentally changed the economics oil and gas production."
Striking a balance between saving old buildings and protecting the communities that use them can be tricky for preservationists and planners, especially in a city like Houston with lax development policies, an expert panel said Thursday.

The region is ripe for teardowns, said Monte Large, a Houston-based developer who has taken on adaptive reuse and renovation projects. It costs more in taxes, for example, to keep an older structure on a property than to tear it down. Renovation also is typically more expensive and more complicated than to build new.

"The challenge is to balance the bottom line," Large said during a discussion that was part of the Next City Vanguard Conference at NRG Center, in the shadow of the Astrodome.

Large pointed to the Dome, which sits unused despite more than a decade's effort by local preservationists, as a symbol of issues that remain to be addressed. But the panel also took up broader issues of public equity and the challenges of rapidly gentrifying communities.

Problems with equitable preservation exist even in cities with strict protections in place. Panelist Howard Conyers, a NASA engineer in New Orleans, said that city's historic preservation guidelines for areas such as the French Quarter are not economically viable in other areas.

"We need to find a way to broaden it to encompass all communities," said Conyers, an advocate for affordable housing.

Conyers said preservation regulations are sometimes a double-edged sword. He said the historic character that is protected in New Orleans makes it marketable and look nice, but there needs to be a better balance. He said costs to restore certain buildings are unattainable for most.

"It needs compromise and give and take," he said.

Conyers also said that defining success in New Orleans is difficult. Post-Katrina changes have been good for developers, he said, but many residents now can no longer afford rising property taxes and insurance rates. He said one new project featuring wine bars and new restaurants doesn't necessarily benefit the people who originally lived in the neighborhood.

Steven Marcus of the Gary, Ind., building commission said preservation efforts also should consider accessibility.

"It gets back to equity in an urban community when one community doesn't have access to the same resources as another group," Marcus said. "... We need to broaden the views of preservation to those affected by it."

Assata Richards, director of the Sankofa Research Institute at the University of Houston, said Houston is skewed toward those who have resources, citing land-use battles in which only the wealthy neighborhoods are able to fight back against unwanted development. This has happened in neighborhoods near Rice University, River Oaks, the Museum District and the Heights, she said.

"We need to tackle the root way Houston evolved based on capital," Richards said. "... We need to work better to tie preservation to the needs of the community."

Richards, who worked with Project Row Houses in the Third Ward, said that when those structures were preserved as art, there needed to be an additional connection to preserve houses for people already living in the community.

"Whether they mean to or not, there is more care about the buildings than people in them," she said. "It's preservation for what, not who. There are people in the social structure who say buildings are more important than people."

She said Mayor Sylvester Turner's administration wants to address the issue by starting with a neighborhood-based plan that will create equitable policies.

"If you value people, it will extend to the value of the place," Richards said.
Actress Diane Guerrero has something in common with Maritza Ramos, the fictional character she plays in the hit Netflix series "Orange Is the New Black": Both have been punished by society.

In the series, which begins its fourth season June 17, Maritza was sentenced to prison for committing a crime. In real life, the American-born Guerrero was sentenced to a life of constant fear, as the daughter of undocumented Colombian parents who were deported when she was 14 years old.

"It was like my parents had died all of a sudden. The end of life for me," says Guerrero, remembering the day 16 years ago when she came home from school and heard none of the sounds she usually heard, no voices chattering in Spanish or salsa blasting from the radio. It was all silence, except for her desperate voice calling for "Mami!" and "Papi!" until a neighbor reported: "Your parents have been taken."

For Guerrero, 29, fear has been the source of an unyielding anxiety that she has learned to control. And unlike her character, the actress has done something remarkable with her life, studying music and acting, and becoming part of the award-winning cast of "Orange Is the New Black," arguably the most-viewed original Netflix series of all time.

In addition to more than 15 roles in film and television, including "Jane the Virgin," Guerrero has just published her memoir, "In the Country We Love" (Henry Holt & Co., audiobook from Audible). It's the dramatic story of an American girl whose parents were taken away, and a sort of catharsis for the actress.

Guerrero's story is incredibly common. Nearly 4 million Americans younger than 18, according to Pew Research Center, are living with at least one undocumented parent.

Q:Why did you decide to write the book?

A: I wanted to use my voice and to be part of the movement for an immigration reform because many people have been politicizing the issue of immigration without seeing the human side, the stories that may be happening in their neighborhoods. I wanted to use the platform of being an actress in a positive manner, and I wanted to be this social activist that I always wanted to be.

Listen to a passage from the Audible version of "In the Country We Love," performed by Diane Guerrero.

Q: As an activist, do you work closely with certain groups?

A: I work with an organization called ILRC (Immigration Legal Resources Center) and with Mi Familia Vota (My Family Votes). They are doing really good work for undocumented communities and promoting the Latino vote. I think we need to be unified as a people  . It's not just about the presidency; it's about getting people involved in the community on the very lowest levels of government so that we know who we are electing.

Q: Your parents became "telephone parents" since they were deported.

A: It's hard! It's very difficult, but I had to face my own reality and find my own truth. And as you read in the book, I stayed upset many years over having to speak with my parents only over the phone, to the point that I didn't want to speak with them anymore. But what I understood with time is that simply being there, having a "te quiero" from my mom, saying "te quiero mucho, Mama" those little things mean a lot. Love is so strong and deep for me and my family that you can put millions of miles between us and it's not going to affect that. But I had to learn that. I had to go to therapy. Our relationship is very romantic. We always are very heavy. It's not, "Hola, Mami, como estas? Bueno, ciao (Hi, Mom, how are you? Bye)." It's more like, "Te extrano, te quiero, quisiera estar contigo (I miss you, I love you and want to be with you)." It's all so very heavy. A very intense love.

Q: What has been the most difficult lesson?

A: Accepting that my life is valuable, that it has something important to say, that my family matters. You know, when you hear time and again that your situation is your parents' fault because they did not come here legally, you start to say, "I am being a nuisance; I don't belong here." Because when you hear this enough, you start to doubt yourself.

Listen to a passage from the Audible version of "In the Country We Love," performed by Diane Guerrero.

Q: Do you feel happy today?

A: Of course I still struggle every day. I am in therapy because I suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. It's funny and it's sad and it's beautiful at the same time. It is just life. I think that when I started caring about stuff, things that are going on in the world and humanity in general, and stopped thinking about just me, I was able to accept my life and say: You know what? Regardless of anything, my life is beautiful.

Things are going very well in my career. I got a movie role, and I think it's going to be a great film, but I don't want to talk about it because I don't think any information is out in the open. And we are going to start "Orange" in June. But my hope and my dream is that one day my parents would be able to go with me to a premiere and see me walking the red carpet. I know it sounds stupid and silly, but those are my dreams.
Eight names that have adorned Houston school buildings, uniforms and yearbooks for decades will vanish next year after trustees came together Thursday to approve new ones without Confederate ties.

The renaming decisions followed months of controversy that had split the school board, heightened racial tensions, and fueled mixed reactions from parents, students and alumni. Before the votes Thursday, however, the four trustees who initially opposed the renaming process, criticizing the lack of community input, said they would back away from their resistance; in some cases, they abstained.

"Let's come together and take this energy and really steer it toward our students," said trustee Greg Meyers, who previously opposed the renaming items. "We'll get past this. No matter what the name, it's what happens inside."

The new names will take effect in the fall. Reagan High School will become Heights High after its neighborhood. Davis High similarly will change to Northside High. Lee High will take the name of former longtime educator Margaret Long Wisdom.

More Information Renamed schools Margaret Long Wisdom High School (currently Lee High School) Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School (currently Johnston Middle School) Yolanda Black Navarro Middle School of Excellence (currently Jackson Middle School) Heights High School (currently Reagan High School) Audrey H. Lawson Middle School (currently Dowling Middle School) Bob Lanier Middle School (currently Sidney Lanier Middle School) Northside High School (currently Davis High School) Tanglewood Middle School (currently Grady Middle School) See More Collapse

Johnston Middle will become Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School. Jackson Middle will turn into Yolanda Black Navarro Middle School of Excellence, after the late East End civic leader. Dowling Middle will take the name of Audrey H. Lawson, after the late charter school founder and first lady of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church.

Lanier Middle will swap only its first name to honor former Houston Mayor Bob Lanier instead of Sidney Lanier, a poet who had served as a private in the Confederate Army.

The board voted in March to change Grady Middle School to Tanglewood.

Across the country, the movement to oust symbols of the Confederacy grew over the summer after the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners by an alleged white supremacist in South Carolina. That state later took down the Confederate flag outside its Capitol. And the University of Texas at Austin removed a statue of Jefferson Davis, who led the Confederacy, from a prominent position on campus.

Threat of lawsuit

The new HISD school names were not universally embraced. A local attorney, Daniel Goforth, threatened in a letter Wednesday to sue the Houston Independent School District on behalf of alumni, students and community members if the board changed the campus names. He wrote that the process should be invalidated because the district did not specify in writing the cost of the renaming or detail the reasons.

The agenda items for Thursday did not list a cost but said funding would come from the district's savings account. Agenda items earlier in the year that started the process - calling for the formation of school committees to choose new names - listed the cost as none. But HISD officials clarified at the time that the estimated price tag would be $250,000 per campus.

"This whole process deserves a do-over," Ronald Kahanek, a supporter of keeping the Lanier name, told the school board.

Protesters turn out

Before the board meeting, opponents of renaming Reagan High School donned maroon T-shirts, waved American flags and chanted the school song outside district headquarters. They stood behind purple-clad allies at Davis High School, who also opposed a name change there. One Davis supporter held a sign that read, "FIX the schools, NOT the Name!"

A couple dozen community members also turned out in support of renaming Dowling Middle School for a former HISD principal, Carrie Rochon McAfee. They said they had nothing against Audrey Lawson but preferred an educator from the neighborhood.

Trustee Wanda Adams, whose district includes Dowling, read a letter from Audrey Lawson's husband, the Rev. Bill Lawson, who said he would support whatever the board decided.

"It's unfortunate it's gotten to this level," Adams said in an interview before the meeting. "I've apologized to the Lawson family."
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A sign at the Vintage Park development in northwest Harris County makes an extravagant promise: "Live. Play. Eat. Everything you need is right here!"

Well, not quite everything.

Vintage Park, near Louetta Road and Texas 249, is an appealing space, replete with shops of every variety, diverse restaurant options, a movie theater and other amenities. And there's plenty of housing within walking distance, including a big apartment complex under construction across the street.

But a closer look reveals that this development is walkable only within its own boundaries. There are no sidewalks on its edges and no convenient way to walk to and from nearby residences. Vintage Park is a pretty island, disconnected from its surroundings.

This highlights certain findings of the 2016 Kinder Houston Area Survey, which in recent years has extended beyond Harris County to measure attitudes in suburban areas. The survey reveals a big gap between the share of people who desire what planning geeks call "walkable urbanism" and the proportion who actually enjoy this lifestyle.

In the survey, samples of residents in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties were asked this question: "If you could choose where to live in the Houston area, which would you prefer: a single-family home with a big yard, where you would need to drive almost everywhere you want to go, or a smaller home in a more urbanized area, within walking distance of shops and workplaces?" Those responding also were asked which option described where they currently lived.

Aspiration vs. reality

The difference between aspiration and reality was most pronounced in Fort Bend County, where just 35 percent of those who expressed a preference for an urban lifestyle actually lived in that environment. The comparable figures were 47 percent in Montgomery County and 63 percent in Harris County.

"It's worth noting that this same trend doesn't play out among those seeking single-family homes with a big yard," Ryan Holeywell of the Rice University Kinder Institute wrote in a post on the institute's blog. In Harris County, he wrote, roughly 11 percent of respondents indicated they preferred a single-family home with a large yard but didn't live in such a place; the comparable figures were 6 percent each in Montgomery County and Fort Bend County.

Overall, Harris County residents were split evenly in their preferences; in Fort Bend County, 55 percent preferred single-family homes with big yards and 43 percent wanted urban living; and in Montgomery County, the tally was 67 percent single-family and 32 percent urban.

For years, advocates of urban-style development have argued that most of the area's developers, steeped in a culture of car-dependency, just don't get it. As a result, this argument goes, they are failing to deliver sufficient amounts of a product that many of their customers want.

But Kyle Shelton, a post-doctoral fellow at the Kinder Institute, suggests the explanation is not that simple.

Not just developers

"It doesn't fall solely on the developers," Shelton told me. He noted that affordability is a factor, as most "new urbanist" developments tend to cater to the higher end of the market.

In addition, the survey question may not capture the nuances of what people want. A willingness to forgo a "big yard" doesn't mean that respondent doesn't want a yard of any size.

"People don't necessarily want Midtown," Shelton told me, referring to a densely developed neighborhood south of downtown Houston. "But they'd like to be able to walk to more destinations."

In other words, they want the best of both worlds. Houston's Montrose area - honored by the American Planning Institute in 2009 as one of the nation's 10 great neighborhoods - is a walkable community that still has plenty of traditional single-family houses.

Interestingly, some of the best examples of walkable urbanism in greater Houston are in the suburbs. In The Woodlands Town Center, for example, a vast network of trails seamlessly integrates homes with shops, restaurants and offices. I spent a couple of hours recently tooling around the town center on my bike and could easily have done so with only my feet.

I saw kids playing in a fountain, families having lunch at outdoor tables under canopies that shielded them from the sun, and lots of pedestrians and fellow cyclists - even on an afternoon in early May, essentially the start of summer in Houston. The scenes could have been ripped from a brochure promoting the delights of new urbanism.

Making this lifestyle available to more of the people who want it is challenging for lots of reasons. But the survey results suggest it's a challenge worth taking on.
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Debi Strong tried to take her own life in 2012 by swallowing a handful of prescription pills. Days later, she checked into Houston's Menninger Clinic, the psychiatric and behavioral health hospital in southwest Houston. Since then, art based on inspirational quotes has helped her survive and find meaning in her life.

Recently, she shared her artwork with patients and doctors at Menninger.

Four years ago, Strong was living in Big Fork, Mont., married with two daughters and a career in law enforcement as a National Parks Ranger, but she was barely functioning. She had been taking antidepressants for decades and had been in therapy of some form for just as long. After a nine-day stint at a local inpatient psychiatric program - which didn't lift the oppressive weight of her depression - she woke up one morning and decided to end her life.

After getting her younger daughter off to school and taking the dog for a walk, she swallowed an assortment of pain killers.

That's how she landed at the Menninger Clinic. A lot of the therapy didn't click right away, and after a rough three weeks, Strong was frustrated that she wasn't feeling any better.

"I was finally told, 'You're trying, but you're not doing. You need to kick yourself in the butt,' " Strong recalled.

One evening, not long after the blunt advice, she saw a set of affirmation cards in the common room.

"I thought, 'This is really stupid, but  I can do this,' " she said. "So I'll read these three times a day for a week. I can measure that."

After four days of repeating the affirmation cards, Strong was returning from the laundry center when she realized a pair of yoga pants she'd meant to wash had fallen out of her basket. Knowing she wouldn't be able to do laundry for several more days, the cascade of negative thoughts began: "How could you be so stupid?" "What an idiot!"

Then, in the middle of the barrage, a different question popped up in her mind.

"Am I really stupid for a pair of pants falling out of my basket?" she thought. "Am I really a worthless person because of this accident?"

That was the breakthrough.

Strong's tool kit for managing depression - which, she says, much like alcoholism, requires a daily practice because it's never "fixed"- contains cognitive behavioral therapy, medication, counseling, a solid support system and art.

Beyond that, she and the Menninger Clinic use a program launched by local author and research professor Brene Brown, whose 2012 book, "Daring Greatly," was a national best-seller. Brown's unique research into shame and vulnerability at the University of Houston's Graduate School of Social Work has gained renown among personal development circles. Brown's 2010 TEDx Talk, "The Power of Vulnerability," went viral. Today, Brown is a regular on the Oprah Winfrey Network and even developed an art-journaling workshop for Winfrey's "Life Class" series.

In 2007, before the best-seller and the Oprah collaboration, Brown had piloted an early version of "The Daring Way" program now offered at Menninger and other facilities across the country, said Cynthia Mulder, a licensed clinical social worker and the director of education and training for the program at Menninger.

"The Daring Way" focuses on developing shame-resilience skills and daily practices that transform the way individuals live, love, parent and lead. Group therapy sessions within the program at Menninger offer a place for people to air their feelings of shame and hopelessness among those who empathize without judgment.

Before coming to Menninger, Strong said she never thought she would meet so many other people living through the same isolation and shame she felt before her suicide attempt.

Since returning to Montana, Strong has started facilitating a peer-to-peer support group in the hospital that discharged her before her suicide attempt. In the sessions, she leads members through some of Brown's e-courses.

"She's just been huge for me. I sent her a piece of art I made," Strong said.

Creativity is a central focus of Brown's work, and Strong had also signed up to receive daily emails with inspirational quotes from www.gratefulness.org. On Thanksgiving Day 2013, Strong decided to create a piece of artwork to accompany each quote - one piece of artwork every day. She took her notebook of drawings and paintings everywhere.

Strong completed an entire year and said the project trained her to accept each piece, with all its imperfections, and move on to the next day. She called it her year of gratitude since each quote had something to say about being grateful.

To Strong, gratitude is central to staying happy.

Recently, she returned to Menninger to speak with patients and doctors about how she manages her depression. Strong brought her artwork, and it was displayed in the clinic's common spaces. The exhibit also will hang for six months in the hospital where she volunteers in Montana.

Strong also brought photographs of herself and her daughter in New York, as well as photos of her surrounded by children at a youth art center in Costa Rica where she has volunteered several times.

"I just want people to be able to see that and have some hope," she said.
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Merging Houston's and Harris County's crime labs, an idea that was rejected several years ago by the city's mayor when forensic work was shifted from the police department to a new independent agency, is getting a fresh look by local officials eager to save money and avoid duplication.

All of the members of the Harris County Commissioners Court are renewing calls for the county to take over forensic work from the city lab, and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said last week that he is interested in pursuing either a merger or further partnership with the county, in contrast to his predecessor.

Yet some at the city's forensic science center are loath to foreo its independent structure. They wonder whether a shakeup for a lab only just pulling away from its troubled history would cause more harm than good.

"I think cooperation between the two organizations is entirely possible," said Peter Stout, chief operating officer of the Houston Forensic Science Center. "But merger? I'm not sure whether the citizens are going to get the benefit from that on a timeline that makes sense. And they risk backing up on demonstrable progress that we've made to this point."

Even so, Turner has asked his chief development officer to explore what such a move would entail as county staffers examine potential funding and governance for such a venture and how it might affect the time it takes to process evidence.

"How much volume do they have at the City of Houston? What would have to take place as (to) not only the amount of space, but how would we merge?" are among the other questions, county budget director Bill Jackson said.

With 250 employees, the county's Institute of Forensic Sciences is already among the largest crime labs in the country. It acts as a medical examiner and provides forensic services - including toxicology and trace evidence - for 77 agencies including the Harris County Sheriff's office, which submitted most of the nearly 25,000 cases that the institute received last year.

The institute operates on a budget of almost $29 million and has seen demand for its services increase in recent years. Last year, burgeoning demand forced the institute to suspended some touch DNA analysis - used to identify criminals by DNA left on counter tops and garage doors.

Meanwhile the Houston Police Department, which investigates most of the region's crime, submits evidence to the Houston Forensic Science Center, an independent organization that assumed control of the department's long-troubled crime lab two years ago.

'We're producing a service'

Despite pressure then from county officials and some City Council members to pursue a joint lab, then-Houston Mayor Annise Parker opted to create a separate institution, arguing that the county lab was too linked to county commissioners and the county district attorney's office.

The 176-person forensic science center now primarily serves HPD, processing nearly 27,000 cases for the police department in the last fiscal year. It is looking to become regional, however, and acquired its first two contracts with non-city agencies within the last six months. The city center has a budget of close to $26 million for the current fiscal year.

Enter Turner, who was elected in December following a campaign in which he vowed more cooperation with the county and to close a significant budget gap. Some county leaders quickly renewed calls for consolidation.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett declared in his State of the County address last month that a merger between the two "makes too much sense to ignore." Steve Radack, the Precinct 3 county commissioner, agreed that now was the "perfect time" to start planning for a merger.

Turner has extolled the virtues of a partnership without committing to a specific structure.

"To the extent we can work collaboratively and reduce some of the redundancy, then hopefully that will save some dollars on the county end, as well as save some dollars on the city end," Turner said. "I'm not trying to be territorial, I'm just trying to get the best result for the people of the city of Houston."

Despite mounting political enthusiasm for a joint venture, however, several city forensic science officials were skeptical of the idea, noting the logistical challenges of a merger they characterized as financially and scientifically risky.

"We're not producing a widget here," said David Leach, the group's chief financial officer. "We're producing a service which is helping protect the citizens. So, how much are you willing to risk?"

Such an endeavor would require negotiations over governance and funding rooted in the politically touchy question of control.

"What's the structure going to look like? How's that going to work? Who's going to fund it? What are the working cultures of the two labs like? You could end up with two groups of employees with different working philosophies," said William King, a criminal justice professor at Sam Houston State University.

The county's Institute of Forensic Sciences now reports to county commissioners, the county's governing board. None of the staff work for law enforcement.

The Houston Forensic Science Center, on the other hand, is overseen by a board of directors appointed by the mayor. About four of 10 staffers are city employees, either HPD officers or civilians.

Governance was among the sticking points after a civil grand jury recommended consolidating the crime labs for the city of Los Angeles and the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, said Barry Fisher, former director of their sheriff's crime lab.

The move could have had potential savings of nearly $3 million, according to the grand jury. But they kept their operations separate, Fisher said, calling the prospect of the county taking over city police forensic work a "deal breaker."

"Sheriff's and LAPD management indicated that they did not believe it was feasible to consolidate the two agencies' crime lab services into a single agency," according to a 2010 audit of the project. "They believed that differences in forensic policies, possible conflicts over operations and prioritization of cases, and additional administrative requirements made consolidating the services unworkable."

Fisher said city leaders worried about their ability to prioritize cases if they had to compete with other jurisdictions for crime lab services. Instead the city and county work together in the same building in a partnership with a local university, which has produced other benefits, Fisher said.

"There's interaction on a regular, daily basis," he said. "I've watched people who are working on a particularly difficult, high-profile case walk over to somebody in the other lab, the city lab, and say 'What do you think about this?' "

County builds new facility

The discussions in the Houston area come at a time of change for both organizations. Houston's forensic science center is seeking to leave behind a history marred by backlogs and mismanagement under HPD and, ultimately, find a permanent home, while the county is building a new forensic facility.

The county broke ground in late 2014, and county budget director Jackson said the new complex - with more than 200,000 square feet in the Texas Medical Center - is set to open in early 2017.

The new building will have a few floors designated for the institute's own growth that could be converted to city space, Jackson said, adding that a full integration would likely require more space and possibly another multi-million-dollar building.

"In terms of space, what's required, it would have been nice for the city to be in on the planning of that, but we've passed that point," Emmett said. "I think the next step is the city needs to say, 'Yes we want the county to take over the crime lab,' and we work out the financial arrangement and however that works."
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Expanded testing for property crimes has helped create a backlog of more than 4,600 DNA cases in the Harris County crime lab, straining its ability to complete the processing of such evidence for sexual assaults and even homicide cases in a timely manner.

Officials with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences say a relentless uptick in property crime, robbery and assault cases has stretched the lab's resources. The spikes can be traced in part to the lab's own push in recent years to expand its forensic operations and offer law enforcement agencies more DNA testing for property crimes.

The lab serves more than 60 law enforcement agencies, which rely on it to process DNA evidence as part of criminal investigations. Officials are particularly concerned about how the backlog has affected sexual assault cases, which they've pledged to make a priority as the cases have recently taken longer to finish.

Sexual assault cases took on average of 172 days to complete in 2015, far from the county's 60-day goal and the roughly 60 to 90 days that they took from 2009 to 2013 The average for homicides and death investigations is now 238 days, though it is more difficult to set a benchmark in such cases because evidence often comes in piecemeal over time.

The backlog - defined by county lab officials as containing any case that has not been completed - has set off a debate over how to prioritize DNA testing in the short term and handle lesser offenses such as property crimes in the long term.

A DNA testing backlog has "serious implications for public confidence in the justice system," said Clete Snell, a criminal justice professor at the University of Houston-Downtown. He said delays in testing can postpone trials and can torpedo prosecutions because of lack of evidence. He said that in some cases, wrongfully convicted people wait longer in jail for DNA tests to prove their innocence.

"There is great potential for a miscarriage of justice," Snell said.

The district attorney's office declined to comment on the backlog issue. The DA's office has not indicated that the backlog has affected any prosecutions, said Roger Kahn, director of the Harris County crime lab.

Some work outsourced

Still, officials acknowledged they are essentially conducting triage as they decide what services they can cut to bring down the turnaround time on processing DNA for sexual assault and homicide cases.

"I think once you get behind, you really have to prioritize things to catch up," Kahn said. "Once you catch up, then you can reassess and distribute resources more uniformly."

Kahn said the lab already has essentially halted analyses of DNA in some property crimes. Last July, the institute said it would suspend "touch DNA" analysis - such as testing for microscopic skin cells containing DNA that naturally rub off on objects - for almost all property crimes.

More Information By the numbers 4,600: Number of DNA cases that are backlogged in the county crime lab. 172: Days on average that a sexual assault case takes to complete. 60: Days prescribed in goal for completing sexual assault cases. See More Collapse

The moves have contributed to a drop in the number of sexual assault cases that take more than 60 days to complete: after reaching 252 in January, that number was 148 last month, Kahn said.

He stressed that the high numbers are also in part because of new protocols to reanalyze some cases that have samples containing multiple people's DNA. These, he said, can often be the most complex cases.

All this being said, Kahn acknowledged that the turnaround times are too high.

He said lab officials are looking at halting some analyses of assault and robbery cases. The lab is also planning to work with sexual assault nurse examiners to better identify samples to analyze in such cases, and is weighing other possible workflow improvements.

For their part, county commissioners on Tuesday approved the crime lab's move to apply for a National Institute of Justice grant of more than $645,000 that would help its DNA division - the Forensic Genetic Laboratory - reduce the backlog. It has applied for and received the same grant since 2005.

Commissioners also approved a roughly $100,000 contract to outsource some property-crime testing to a private company, Bode Cellmark Forensics, an uncommon move but one that the county has made in the past.

Determining priorities

For some, the revelations about the lab's current predicament - and a backlog that has more than tripled over the past three years - came as a surprise.

The crime lab has been held up by many in the county as a sterling counterpart to Houston's operation over the years. In 2002, testing was temporarily suspended at the Houston Police Department's crime lab after an audit cited unqualified personnel, lax protocols and shoddy facilities, including a roof that leaked rainwater onto evidence.

At the time, the Houston police lab carried a decades-old backlog of thousands of untested rape kits. In 2013, the City Council outsourced the testing - for more than 6,660 DNA cases - to two private firms at a cost of $4.4 million.

After the turmoil, city leaders in 2012 created a local government corporation, called the Houston Forensic Science Center to take over the lab operations from HPD.

Some local officials have cited the HPD lab's past problems in arguing for a merger of the city and county facilities, each of which is among the largest publicly funded crime labs in the country. The Houston lab handles 5,000 to 6,000 DNA cases each year. Last year the county DNA lab received about 4,300 new cases.

County officials were questioned about the backlog and its impact at a Wednesday meeting of the county's criminal justice coordinating council.

"I've heard about all the good, great work y'all do," Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack told crime lab officials. "I hear about all the awards you win. But I don't hear that you're behind. Now, the word is you're behind. The public didn't know you're behind, and I think some government officials didn't know you're behind, and y'all need to come up with some real, good plans to figure this out."

It's unclear what will happen to property crime cases, and possibly robbery and assault cases, that the county crime lab may set aside to focus on sexual assaults and homicides. Kahn said the lab works closely with law enforcement and the district attorney's office to prioritize cases, even those involving property crimes.

At Wednesday's meeting, District Attorney Devon Anderson questioned whether the lab should be making decisions of what types of cases to prioritize.

Sheriff Ron Hickman said telling the public that the county lab had the technology to solve crimes, but couldn't use it because of lack of resources, would not "play well."

"How do you get to say, 'No?'" Hickman said.

Kahn said the current focus is on sexual assault cases. Then lab officials, with other public officials, will determine how best to use the lab's resources.

The sheriff's office could not answer questions about the potential impact on cases Thursday.

City also has backlog

Meanwhile, the city's crime lab is working to eliminate its own backlog of untested rape kits and reduce turnaround times to 30 days. Chief Operating Officer Peter Stout said the city lab was on track to meet that goal by July 1.

After initially erasing its rape kit backlog last year, the number began to creep up again this year.

Ramit Plushnick-Masti, a spokeswoman for Houston's crime lab, said that as of Wednesday it still had to process 61 untested rape kits. The lab also has a DNA testing backlog - defined as cases that have not been completed within 30 days of a request by a law enforcement agency - of 1,038.

About 10 percent of the Houston crime lab's caseload is "touch DNA" in property crimes, one of the main factors county officials say was behind their backlog.

Stout said the city lab was attacking its backlog with "any number of tools" including overtime, workflow changes, and more hiring and equipment.

Said Stout: "Everybody in the country struggles with this."

Anita Hassan contributed to this report.
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Leaving her Westchase apartment early one May morning in 2012, the 63-year-old banker felt an arm grab her from behind in a headlock and force her inside.

The attacker covered his victim's head with a towel, bound her arms and legs and stuffed a rag inside her mouth. He then raped her multiple times before fleeing three hours later. She never saw his face, glimpsing only his distinctive sneakers with a plaid design on the sides.

"I spent a month staring at people's feet," the woman said. "Is that him? Could that be him? It was the only thing I knew about this man. How sad is that? I wanted to see those shoes, but at the same time, I knew I would lose it if I did."

The weeks she spent searching for her assailant, Domeka Donta Turner, while she struggled to rebuild her life could have been prevented. Turner, 29 at the time, could have been locked away.

In 2010, he allegedly raped a woman in west Houston, and the victim's sexual assault kit included his DNA. Had police tested that rape kit at the time, they could have identified Turner because of a 2006 felony burglary conviction that required his DNA to be collected and put in a national law enforcement database. But they didn't test that kit, instead leaving it to collect dust on a storage shelf along with 6,600 other sexual assault kits, part of a decades-old Houston Police Department backlog.

No wrongful convictions

At a City Hall news conference last month, police, crime lab and city officials celebrated clearing the rape kit backlog. In all cases reviewed so far, the testing has found no wrongful convictions.

But officials have confronted some painful realities: At least seven of the 29 suspects charged so far committed other sexual crimes, some against children, while kits containing their DNA sat untested.

A Houston Chronicle review of court documents has also found that at least three suspects resemble Turner's case. As convicted felons incarcerated at a Texas Department of Criminal Justice facility they were required to submit their DNA or it was court-ordered, making it available in the national database. Had the kits been tested at the time or soon after, they likely could have been identified and been potentially locked away before they allegedly raped again.

Officials are quick to note that in some cases, especially older ones, these prior DNA samples might not have prevented future crimes because they held too little genetic information for a match. Improved technology today can do more with less DNA.

"You have to figure in that it takes time to investigate a case," said Jacinda Gunter, an HPD lieutenant on the city's backlog task force. "Even if the kit had been sent and tested, did we have that guy's DNA in the system at time? Would it even have produced a hit? There's a lot of factors involved. There's no way to know."

More Information A timeline of rape kits backlog 1980s: The first untested rape kits begin to sit in HPD's property room, where thousands more will go over the next three decades. 1995: The state Legislature passes a bill authorizing the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch its CODIS program, collecting the DNA of certain offenders to be added to a national database. During the next two decades, state law will gradually expand the list of offenses for which a suspect or convict's DNA must be collected. 2002: DNA testing at HPD's crime lab is temporarily suspended after an audit reveals shoddy forensic work including unqualified personnel, lax protocols and facilities that included a roof that leaked rainwater onto evidence. 2004: Houston receives the first batch of funding from National Institute for Justice to improve DNA testing. 2009: The Houston Chronicle finds that a crime lab backlog of DNA evidence includes at least 4,000 untested rape kits, including 1,000 that are part of active investigations. The backlog will grow to more than 6,600. 2011: A new law mandates that all Texas agencies count their backlogged rape kits and test them. Shortly after, the city receives NIJ funding to study why its backlog developed and come up with a plan to erase it. 2012: City Council approves a plan to shift HPD's crime lab operations to an independent lab. 2013: City Council approves $4.4 million to outsource the rape kit backlog and other DNA testing to two labs. 2014: Herman Ray Whitfield Jr. is among the first alleged serial rapists identified through testing the backlog. HPD suspects he may have committed more rapes and calls for tips. 2015: City officials announce that for the first time, the city has cleared its rape kit backlog, yielding 850 DNA matches and 29 new charges so far. See More Collapse

But at least some crimes likely could have been prevented, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson acknowledged at the recent news conference. "It did happen, unfortunately," Anderson said of repeat offenders. "We are eagerly looking forward to prosecuting those rapists, those repeat rapists."

Lavinia Masters, a sexual assault victims advocate, said she hopes officials are moved by the stories they're now seeing as they put names and faces to the untested kits. Masters was raped as a 13-year-old in Dallas when her attacker broke into her bedroom. Her kit sat untested for more than two decades while her attacker sexually assaulted at least two other women.

"It angers you to know that there are monsters out there that shouldn't be," Masters said. "As a victim that's very, very difficult. For me, there was some bitterness."

More suspect IDs likely

The Houston City Council in 2013 approved using $4.4 million to outsource all outstanding DNA evidence in the rape kit backlog to two private labs. The testing they did generated 850 hits, meaning a suspect's DNA already was in a national database in connection with an earlier crime. In some cases, the hit confirmed the right person had been convicted, and in other cases it linked to an unnamed profile.

Most of the newly identified suspects are still awaiting trial. More suspects probably will be identified as prosecutors and police investigate the remaining DNA matches.

In Turner's case, he pleaded guilty to one count of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit another felony for his 2012 rape of the banker in Westchase. He agreed to 40 years in prison, and prosecutors dropped charges against him in the 2010 attack.

Herman Ray Whitfield Jr. was among the first suspects identified by the backlog testing. Since last spring, he's been charged with five counts of aggravated sexual assault in connection with rapes in the early 1990s and another in 2008, including one sexual assault of a child.

Whitfield began serving a 30-year sentence for kidnapping in 1994, but was paroled in 2006. Had police tested any of the sexual assault kits from the 1990s as Whitfield served his kidnapping sentence or once he was paroled, he likely would not have been free in 2008, when he allegedly raped a woman.

In that incident, Whitfield allegedly approached the woman walking alone in Sunnyside, choking her as he dragged her to the side of a road. He then is accused of shoving her behind some bushes and holding a knife to her neck as he raped her.

Another suspect, Keith Edward Hendricks, a homeless man convicted of a 1978 rape in Indiana, is now facing four sexual assault charges from 2006 to 2013. Officials said Hendricks attacked homeless women, luring them to abandoned buildings and raping them, sometimes while brandishing weapons such as a box cutter.

A kit in the city's backlog first tied him to a 2006 sexual assault. One year after that alleged rape, he was ordered to submit a DNA sample on another sexual assault charge. Had officials tested the 2006 kit, it might have spared a victim in an alleged 2013 rape.

But the women accusing Hendricks of rape may have been difficult to put on the stand, said Jane Waters, head of the district attorney's special victims bureau. Many of the women were homeless, and some had drug or alcohol addictions.

"It's so sad because he's picked them because of all these reasons," Waters said. "Individually, we may not have had enough, but all together, with the DNA and all the victims, it's a strong case now."

A city task force is charged with clearing the rape kit backlog by updating criminal cases and making arrests as suspects are identified. Public officials so far appear uninterested in delving into the specifics of why those 6,600 kits went untested, instead offering general reasons, from a lack of funding to ignorance about the value of DNA testing to, in some cases, uncooperative victims. Other common reasons include that the evidence wasn't needed to get a conviction or that the case had been dismissed, according to the National Institute of Justice, a federal agency that funds efforts to reduce DNA backlogs.

In recent years, a 20,000-kit backlog has been announced across Texas - Dallas started testing its 4,144-case backlog last October - as well as 12,164 kits in Memphis, Tenn., and 11,304 in Detroit.

The $7.7 million in federal NIJ grants Houston has received since 2004 went toward erasing the backlog and equipping the city crime lab, which has a troubled past. In 2002, DNA testing at the lab was suspended after an audit revealed shoddy work, including unqualified personnel, lax protocols and inadequate facilities.

The lab resumed operations about seven years ago, and since has transitioned to being run by a city-appointed board.

A small part of the federal grant money Houston collected in recent years went to studying how the backlog was created.

University of Texas professor Noel Busch-Armendariz, who led research on the testing of Houston's backlog, said there was a variety of reasons why victims didn't want to move forward with cases at the time, contributing to the backlog. Some of these fell on HPD investigators who were not always sensitive to victims' trauma, she said, or who could take weeks to follow up.

"Some victims were too traumatized to go forward, some felt mistreated or had mistrust of the system. And sometimes it was just the lack of contact by the police, frankly," Busch-Armendariz said. "What they remembered was, 'I gave a kit and I had no follow-up. Nobody called me.' You cannot wait, because what happens is trauma sets in, and they start to rethink whether they want to go forward."

Court records reveal kit

Police never fully explained to the victim in Turner's assault, the banker, how they determined his identity. The Chronicle typically does not name sexual assault victims. Police reports indicate they identified Turner through a DNA hit, likely from his 2006 felony conviction. She discovered the untested rape kit from Turner's 2010 assault only after she searched court records and asked prosecutors why charges were being brought four years later.

"Of course there's the 'what if,' " she said. "I have enough life experience to know things don't work like TV. But of course I wish they had tested it. Of course."

She harbors no ill-will toward the HPD or other officials - "What's the point?" - and she's grateful to the investigator who promised he would find her attacker.

She's told only a few people about her assault. She was reluctant even to share the story with her three grown children. Eventually, her daughter figured out what happened.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she told her.

And, outwardly at least, she seemed to be just that. She quickly went back to work and kept a normal routine. That's not to say that she didn't brim with anger at the memory. "I don't get sad, I get mad," she said.

Only one nightmare

The events of that day return in pieces, and some of what happened she's simply blocked out. She can remember the fleeting hope that came every time her phone rang. Maintenance crews pounding at the window eventually scared Turner off.

She remembers the aftermath of the rape more clearly, especially the seemingly never-ending shower she took the night after the assault. She just couldn't get clean enough; she couldn't erase the day.

She clung to small victories in the week that followed. She repainted her meticulously manicured nails, which had been badly chipped in the struggle. In a stroke of luck, she found her passport amid the crime scene that had become her living room.

Turner had taken everything else: her driver's license, her credit cards, cash and some jewelry.

"It was just this piece of me and all of a sudden I had my identity back," she said. "I was me again."

But not everything could be recovered. She knew she had to move, leaving behind the apartment she'd loved for more than a decade.

She's had just one nightmare, the night Turner pleaded guilty. After the prosecutor called to deliver the news, she poured herself a drink and did a celebration dance. She put away the pressed French blue blouse she had planned to wear at Turner's trial, similar to the one she had been wearing on the day of the attack. She thought it would remind him of who she was.

Hours later, she awoke in the middle of the night, screaming, her bedsheets knotted from the tossing and turning. She could hear herself shouting, "No, no, no!"

"It just puts your whole life off-kilter," she said. "You try not to let it, but it does."
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Harris County Democrats head to the polls later this month to choose between law enforcement veterans angling for the chance to square off against Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman in November's general election.

Former Houston police officer and city councilmember Ed Gonzalez will face off in the May 24 primary runoff against Jerome Moore, a lieutenant with the Harris County Precinct Five Constable's Office who polled second.

The winner will face Republican Hickman, who was appointed to the post after Sheriff Adrian Garcia resigned in 2015 to pursue a mayoral bid.

Gonzalez led the four-man field in the March 1 primary, drawing 43 percent of the vote to Moore's 30 percent. Gonzalez has also led Moore in campaign funds, spending $73,000 in the month leading up to the primary compared with the few thousand dollars Moore reported spending, according to campaign finance reports.

Moore says he's since spent about $20,000 of his own money in efforts to drum up support.

Gonzalez has drawn heavy support from the Democratic establishment, including former Mayor Annise Parker, state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, and the Harris County chapter of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats. Moore's supporters include the Houston COGIC political action committee and the Harris County Northeast Ministers' Alliance Group.

Both Gonzalez and Moore have called for greater transparency at the sheriff's office and pledged to personally, regularly, inspect the department's jail, which has come under repeated scrutiny in recent months. A Houston Chronicle investigation of the jail found extensive problems ranging from patterns of use of force by guards to poor medical care for inmates.

Collaborate with HPD

Gonzalez, 47, touts his 15 years as a Houston police officer and his work on the Houston City Council, where he chaired the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.

"I'm think I'm uniquely qualified to be the next sheriff," Gonzalez said. "I'm the only one with combined law enforcement experience  and I have the proven leadership skills."

Gonzalez has argued for more oversight in the jail as well as broader education and training programs for inmates to help lower the number of repeat offenders.

He said he plans to increase community engagement and collaborate with the Houston Police Department and other local departments to fight crime more broadly.

"Crooks these days are crossing municipal boundaries all the time, and departments aren't always communicating effectively," he said.

Build trust

Moore, 42, who has worked for the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office for 16 years and previously for the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office, said he has taken "more than 600 crooks" off the streets and touts the supervisory experience he gained as a lieutenant at Precinct 5.

Like Gonzalez, he called management of the county jail as a top priority for the next sheriff, as well as taking a more community focused approach to policing.

"Too many people are dying in that jail," he said, citing the recent case of a man beaten to death while in jail on a minor theft charge. "We've got to do better in the jail  Right now, we don't have accountability in that jail."

He stressed the need for a more community-oriented approach to policing, jail diversion programs to reduce the number of inmates in the jail, and the need for a more diverse command staff at the upper echelons of the sheriff's office - an issue that cropped up after Hickman appointed white men to the vast majority of his administration's top command posts.

"I will make building trust between law enforcement and the citizens of Harris County my top priority," he said, saying he'd order deputies on patrol to get out and introduce themselves to neighborhood residents.

Boost from other races

Michael Adams, a professor of political science at Texas Southern University, said the changing demographics in Harris County and two run-off elections for justices of the peace that include Latino candidates could favor Gonzalez.

Moore, though, who is black, could get a boost from a runoff for state Houston District 139 between Jarvis D. Johnson and Kimberly Willis, he said.

Early voting begins May 16 and runs through May 20.
WASHINGTON - In the middle of a legal fight with North Carolina over transgender rights, the Obama administration is planning to issue a sweeping decree telling every public school district in the country to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

The letter to school districts that will go out Friday describing what they should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against, signed by officials of the departments of Justice and Education, does not have the force of law.

But it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration's interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.

The move is certain to draw fresh criticism, particularly from Republicans, that the federal government is wading into local matters and imposing its own values on communities across the country that may not agree. It represents the latest example of the Obama administration using a combination of policies, lawsuits and public statements to change the civil rights landscape for gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people.

After supporting the rights of gay people to marry, allowing them to serve openly in the military and prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against them, the administration has made bathrooms its latest battleground.

"No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus," Education Secretary John B. King Jr. said in a statement. "We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence."

Courts have not settled the question of whether the nation's sex discrimination laws apply in matters of gender identity. But administration officials, emboldened by a federal appeals court ruling in Virginia last month, think they have the upper hand. This week, the Justice Department and North Carolina sued each other over a state law that restricts access to bathrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms.

"A school may not require transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so," according to the letter, a copy of which was provided to the New York Times.

A school's obligation under federal law "to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex requires schools to provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents, or community members raise objections or concerns," the letter states. "As is consistently recognized in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students."

As soon as a child's parent or legal guardian asserts a gender identity for the student that "differs from previous representations or records," the letter says, the child is to be treated accordingly - without any requirement for a medical diagnosis or birth certificate to be produced.

It says that schools may - but are not required to - provide other restroom and locker room options to students who seek "additional privacy" for whatever reason.

Attached to the letter, the Obama administration will include a 25-page document describing "emerging practices" that are already in place in many schools around the country. Those included installing privacy curtains or allowing students to change in bathroom stalls.

In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and "best practices" for the treatment of transgender students.

"Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive," wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

The White House has called North Carolina's law "meanspirited," and said this week that federal agencies were continuing a review of their policies on the treatment of transgender people while the administration waged its legal battle with the state.

President Barack Obama condemned the law last month, saying it was partly the result of politics and "emotions" that people had on the issue.

"When it comes to respecting the equal rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation, whether they're transgender or gay or lesbian, although I respect their different viewpoints, I think it's very important for us not to send signals that anybody is treated differently," Obama said at a news conference in London.
American politics always has surprises, but things have been especially unpredictable since President Obama took office. First, few observers were prepared for the tea party movement, which ousted several veteran GOP lawmakers, replaced them with more radically conservative newcomers, and helped the Republican Party win control of the House of Representatives in 2010.

"That left a lot of analysts slack-jawed, wondering: what was this latent force that drove the emergence of this movement?" said Robb Willer, a sociologist at Stanford University.

Then, of course, there was Donald Trump.

Willer speculates that one thing connecting these two political earthquakes might be white voters' unconscious racial biases. In a series of psychological experiments between 2011 and 2015, he showed how hostility toward people with darker skin and perceived racial threats can influence white support for the tea party. He and his colleagues published a draft of a paper on their findings online last week -- some of the most direct evidence of the importance of race to the conservative resurgence during Obama's presidency.

First, the researchers randomly sorted subjects into two groups and showed them a series of pictures of celebrities, including digitally altered images of the commander in chief. One group saw a version in which Obama's skin had been lightened, while in the other version, his skin had been darkened.

Then the researchers asked the subjects in each group whether they supported the tea party. The share that did was a small minority in both groups. Among the 255 white subjects, though, those in the group that had seen the darkened portrait were almost twice as likely to say they supported the movement.

Among the 101 participants of other races or ethnicities, by contrast, those who saw the lightened image of Obama were twice as likely to support the tea party as those who saw the darkened image. Because they had fewer subjects of color, Willer and his colleagues couldn't rule out the possibility that this difference between the randomly assorted groups was due to chance.

The result suggests that some white Americans are more likely to oppose Obama solely because of the shade of his skin. For them, the reality that someone with a dark complexion occupies the nation's highest office could be a source of unease.

Past polls and experiments have also suggested that the president's race has motivated opposition to his policies.

For example, psychologist David Sears and political scientist Michael Tesler found that many white voters were willing to support white liberal politicians such as President Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry when they were candidates for president, but voted against Obama. Since Clinton, Kerry and Obama all espoused a similar ideology, the pair surmised that Obama must have been less popular because he is black.

Conservative politicians also seemed to respond to racial animosity toward the president. A study last year found that -- intentionally or not -- some negative advertisements aired against Obama in 2008 showed him with darker skin.

Willer, though, was able to demonstrate the connection between Obama's skin color and conservative opposition experimentally. The researchers also conducted a few more studies to see whether tea party support might be motivated by signs that the position of white Americans as a privileged majority is declining.

The researchers presented two groups of subjects with apparently innocuous reports about U.S. demographic trends and the white share of the population. One group read a report that showed population data only from 2000 to 2020, making it appear that the white majority remains relatively stable. The other group read a report that showed the trend since 1960 and predictions through 2060, forecasting that the white population would decline into a minority.

Again, there were significantly greater levels of white support for the tea party among those who read the second report, which focused on the declining white population. Those who read that report rated their level of support for the tea party at an average of 1.62 points on a five-point scale, where a score of 5 signified "a great deal" of support.

Those who read the first report, showing that the white majority was relatively stable, rated their support at an average of 1.28 points. Again, supporters of the tea party were in the minority in both groups.

Willer and his collaborators repeated the experiment, this time with fictional economic data. In one report, the incomes of ethnic minorities were in decline, while white incomes were unchanged. In the second report, white incomes were declining while other groups' incomes did not change.

In fact, incomes for all racial and ethnic groups have declined in tandem in recent years, with no one group gaining or losing relative to the others.

Yet Willer had a hunch that because white incomes have declined, some of the white participants in the experiment might feel that white households are losing their relative advantage in the U.S. economy. If so, the second report he showed them would have seemed to corroborate this mistaken perception.

Previous research has shown that white Americans tend to see the trend toward racial equity as a kind of competition, in which one group's loss must be another group's gain. In particular, research shows, economic distress can exacerbate racial biases, since they give members of the dominant group the mistaken impression their relative position is endangered. White Americans get "the sense that they have a shrinking piece of a pie that is itself shrinking," Willer explained.

With the second report, Willer and his colleagues showed that their subjects reinforced this unconscious bias and produced greater levels of white support for the tea party: Those who saw that report rated their support for the tea party at an average of 1.45 points. Those who saw the first report, showing incomes for racial minorities declining, rated their support at an average of 1.23 points.

This kind of zero-sum thinking doesn't seem common among racial minorities. If it were, then one would expect that minorities who read the first report -- showing their disadvantage increasing -- would be more likely to oppose the tea party as a protest against white privileges.

On the contrary, participants of color who saw the report that emphasized declining white economic status were more likely to oppose the tea party. Again, this difference might have been the product of random chance.

Willer started this series of experiments in 2011. He was already wrapping up the research when Trump announced his presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants criminals, so he doesn't have direct evidence on whether racial biases have contributed to Trump's success. Yet other research, including polling by The Washington Post, suggests that some white voters' perception that their dominance as a racial group is threatened has motivated some to cast ballots for the presumptive Republican nominee.

"A lot of analysts have been shocked to see a major party candidate receive so much popular support despite a track record of controversial statements toward multiple ethnic groups," Willer said. "It's less surprising if you think of the tea party as a sort of historical bridge to the Trump candidacy."

The movement, he explained, might have made using the kind of inflammatory rhetoric that Trump has employed more socially acceptable, and past research suggests that the movement could have created a new sense of racial identity among its supporters.
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DALLAS - Tamara Freeman listened with a smile on her face Thursday as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bashed Hillary Clinton and Democratic Party policies, called for securing the border with Mexico and promised to ban so-called "sanctuary cities" and the donation of the organs of aborted fetuses.

The smile disappeared, though, when Abbott repeated his call for a Convention of the States to recommend changes to the U.S. Constitution to give states more power over the federal government, a move she fears also could endanger personal freedoms.

"He's my guy on most things," said the 50-something mother of four from Dallas. "Notice I said most things."

At a time when many party regulars, particularly here in Ted Cruz country, are struggling with the idea of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee and the need to unify behind him, there appears to be at least one person they all can all get behind: Abbott.

"He's the rock," said Leroy Chase of Garland. "His putting in with Trump told everyone that we needed to get on board, however we have to."

Like Freeman, most delegates to the three-day Texas Republican Convention here give Abbott high marks on almost every issue 16 months into his first term, even if the tea-party supporters still cannot understand why he supported an expansion of state-backed pre-K programs.

"Consistent conservative principles go a long way with me," said Freeman, a retired Houston baker who said she has been active in party politics for 20 years, most recently with tea party groups. "And as far as I'm concerned, he's done what he said he would, with that one exception."

Dozens of other delegates and conventioneers echoed the sentiment, cheering red-meat speeches from Abbott and "authentic conservative" Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, even as they continued to mourn Cruz's decision to drop out of the presidential race last week, a development many said has left the convention more subdued than in previous years.

For Abbott, who released a book Thursday focusing on his experience becoming paralyzed in a freak accident and building a political career that landed him in the governor's mansion, this year's gathering is as much a celebration of his place as titular head of Texas' Republican party as it marks a shift back to state issues from the intense Washington-bashing of years past.

'Come to grips with reality'

His speech opening the convention here focused on two items: the 2016 presidential election and who should be able to use which public restroom, the so-called transgender bathroom issue.

Abbott, who had endorsed Cruz, his onetime colleague in the Texas attorney general's office, never mentioned the name of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, but his message was clear: the party needs to unify to defeat Clinton.

"Ted may have come up short, but that does not end the war. America does not have the luxury to get this election wrong," Abbott told the crowd.

He said the election would determine the fate of such issues as gun rights, energy production and the balance of the U.S. Supreme Court before adding, "We need to come to grips with the reality."

Abbott also promised to fight during the 2017 legislative session to prohibit the transfer of fetal tissue from abortions, and to stop some cities from adopting so-called "sanctuary" policies for dealing undocumented immigrants.

Acknowledging fears among conservatives over a Convention of the States, Abbott told the crowd "it takes just 13 states to block any radical idea." Judging from the murmurs in the crowd and discussions after the session, it appeared many remained unconvinced.

Just as Abbott's speech brought light applause at some points and standing ovations at others, his punchy rhetoric soon was matched by Patrick.

Patrick, too, got high marks from the crowd as he pledged to support a "strong conservative agenda" in the Legislature with no retreat on lowering taxes, improving education, ramping up border security beyond a whopping $800 million expenditure last year and stopping men from using women's restrooms.

"We will fight to keep Texas the leader of the free world in conservative values," he said, joking about the transgender bathroom issue. "It is great to be at the largest Republican convention on the planet. And not one man wants to use the ladies room."

'Growing complacent'

For all the GOP chest-beating offered by Abbott and Patrick on Thursday, Deena Carter, a tea party activist from San Antonio, said Texas' top leaders need to focus on keeping united a party that nationally "is a mess."

"We need to focus on getting a Republican elected in November, and then on keeping Texas moving ahead with some fresh new Republican ideas that I don't quite hear yet," she said. "I fear that some Republicans are growing complacent and that'll mean trouble ahead, especially if we lose the White House."

Abbott repeatedly has said that he is pushing to ensure that a new version of the so-called Texas Miracle - the economic boom times the state enjoyed in the early 2000s - will be realized during his tenure.

Patrick, who said Thursday he intends to run for reelection and does not plan to ever challenge Abbott, as some of the governor's supporters consistently have wondered, said party unity in the presidential race is a first priority.

Both he and Abbott have endorsed Trump.

The unity theme seemed to get a slightly subdued reception from some Cruz delegates, though the message seemed to get through.

"Even though I don't like Donald Trump - his orange hair, his big mouth, his liberal past, none of it - but I understand why we need to get together and support him, and I'll do it," said Carolyn Cunningham of Cleburne. "We have a good run of officials now here in Texas, starting with Gov. Abbott, and Texas Republicans know how to get it together."
DALLAS - The soul-searching path to accepting Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee is on full display at the Texas GOP convention, as party leaders try to rally the thousands of delegates here to remember their common enemy.

Gov. Greg Abbott, still bragging about his crushing defeat of Wendy Davis in 2014, used his time on the convention stage to bash Hillary Clinton and warn the delegates about what her administration could bring. Abbott brought all the red meat for his friendly audience: She's going to take away your guns, kill energy jobs, and force liberal social values down Texans' throats.

"We need to come to grips with the reality," Abbott said of the state of the Republican race. And later: "We must defend the Constitution by defeating Hillary."

In reality, a Clinton White House would assuredly prompt Texas leaders to file a bevy of new lawsuits over the next four years  a process that has become rote to them but still fires up the base that attends conventions. Abbott basically promised as much when he fondly recalled how many times he sued the federal government as Texas attorney general, but he also warned the delegates not to let all his work go to waste. He did not file 31 lawsuits on behalf of the state so that Clinton could continue President Barack Obama's policies another four years, Abbott told the crowd.

Still, above all, Abbott said he wanted a Republican in the White House. He just never mentioned that Republican by name. Every honest projection, of course, puts Texas in the Republican column for the general election, and everyone here knows that. Which is what makes it possible for Abbott and other state leaders here to say merely that they have to unite against Clinton, all the while receiving rapturous applause. Texas is not going to be a crucial battleground state, so less may be more when it comes to Trump here, at least when it comes to the state's top leaders.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed the sentiment during his speech, though he ratcheted up the threat of Clinton winning Texas in November and actually mentioned Trump's name.

"I know the time of healing will come to some faster than others, but, folks, we must unite," he said. "We must support our Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump. We must not give up Texas to the Democrats."

The Republican Party of Texas' convention is the first step in the healing process, and the messages from the state's No. 1 and No. 2 to their party's activists seem to be: get there however you want, but please get there with us.
WASHINGTON - Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan appeared to take half a step back from their political standoff Thursday, as Trump toured Washington for a swirl of meetings with Republicans concerned about the direction of his presidential campaign.

Ryan and Trump have clashed over the last week, after Ryan indicated he was not ready to endorse Trump, citing concerns about his political style and policy agenda. The two met at the Republican National Committee on Thursday with Reince Priebus, the committee's chairman, as a chaperone.

Ryan gave no public signal that he was poised to back Trump, and two people briefed on the meeting said they did not discuss a possible endorsement. But in effusive remarks after the sit-down, Ryan insisted that the party leadership was not on the brink of an irreparable split.

At a news conference, Ryan said he had found the meeting encouraging and pleasant but that it would take more than one session to bring the party together. The Wisconsin lawmaker said he and Trump had discussed the constitutional separation of powers, Supreme Court justices and abortion, among other subjects.

Ryan said he had found Trump a "very warm and genuine person."

"Donald Trump and I have had our differences. We talked about those differences today," Ryan said, adding, "I do believe that we are now planting the seeds to get ourselves unified."

With his conciliatory language toward Trump, Ryan embarked on a perilous gamble with the volatile force of the businessman's personality - which the speaker characterized as "very good" - and with Trump's shape-shifting on policy.

While Ryan noted that Trump had expressed openness to his policy positions, about 12 hours earlier, Trump was calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage, as part of a series of insulting Twitter messages aimed at Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

Ryan risks getting on board with one Trump, only to possibly find a new version making statements he finds untenable, even repugnant, weeks or months later.

Still, Ryan's remarks about Trump are likely to help ease the friction between the two camps and perhaps to buy the speaker and his conference more time as they decide how to handle their new standard-bearer.

The next step, Ryan said, would be to "go deeper into the policy areas" where there may be disagreements between congressional Republicans and Trump. Ryan and Trump hold divergent views on issues including immigration, trade and government-funded retirement programs.

Trump and his critics in party leadership have sought to present at least a facade of unity in recent days. Priebus said in a CNN interview that there was "very good chemistry" between Trump and Ryan.

Trump's pilgrimage to Washington posed a critical test for his candidacy at the onset of the general election campaign. His ability to compete against his Democratic opponent depends in no small measure on his success in raising money from mainstream donors and proving to middle-of-the-road voters that he is more than a flame-throwing populist.

The atmosphere around Thursday's meeting had a variety-show quality to it: Outside, a crush of cameras, reporters, party faithful and gawkers were joined by a few protesters chanting "R.I.P., G.O.P.!" One wore an oversized papier-mache head and a "Trump" placard and clutched a cartoonish moneybag.

Inside the building, young Republican National Committee employees pressed against the windows, peering out and taking photos of the scene.
Schools are supposed to help kids build character, socialize and learn critical thinking and academic content. But we also ask schools to do a lot more: to offer extracurricular activities, serve as community centers and feed our children. Particularly in low-income areas, where kids come to school with a variety of disadvantages, the successful completion of these varied tasks can require Herculean efforts.

That's why we should celebrate initiatives that ease the burden on low-income schools. The Community Eligibility Provision, enacted in 2010, does just that. The program simplifies the school meal process and helps ensure that kids have something to eat during the school day, all at very little cost.

Some children in low-income households qualify automatically to receive free or reduced-price meals because of homelessness, participation in Head Start or receipt of safety-net benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But other children need to apply for this benefit, and, as you might imagine, some of the neediest students fall through the cracks. The application process creates large amounts of paperwork for school staff members, who must not only process school meal applications, but also, if they want their school to be reimbursed for meals, track who is in which eligibility category during lunchtime.

Community eligibility solves this problem for high-poverty schools. Any school that has an Identified Student Percentage (ISP) of 40 percent - that is, any school in which 40 percent of the students automatically qualify for free or reduced-price lunch through enrollment in other programs - can offer free school meals to all of its students. Participating schools get reimbursed based on student needs; schools with higher ISPs receive higher reimbursements. In other words, community eligibility cuts through bureaucracy by eliminating the application and verification processes and substantially simplifying reimbursements, all of which would otherwise divert school officials' attention away from providing quality meals.

Yet a new proposal by congressional conservatives would restrict community eligibility, substantially increasing administrative burdens in more than 7,000 schools and threatening 3.4 million students' access to school meals. For no good reason that we can see, lawmakers from the Education and the Workforce Committee may vote soon to raise the ISP threshold from 40 percent to 60 percent. (The committee includes one Texas congressman, Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, a Democrat who represents the Texas 15th Congressional District.) Because ISP numbers don't capture low-income students who must typically apply for free or reduced-price meals, this threshold would render all but the highest-poverty schools (generally those in which more than 90 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals) ineligible for community eligibility.

Raising the threshold would save a little bit of money, as fewer students would qualify for free school meals, but the overall savings of about $1.6 billion over 10 years wouldn't come close to offsetting the administrative burden, increased social stigma for low-income students and negative health and academic effects it could create.

House Republicans propose redirecting these savings to summer food programs for poor students and a higher reimbursement rate for the school breakfast program. Good ideas, for sure, but why pit an important program, one that school officials absolutely love, against these other worthy objectives? Instead, we should raise the money necessary (a small amount) to make sure students have breakfasts and lunches during both the school year and the summer.

Committee Chairman John Kline, R-Minnesota, has said that "providing children access to nutritious meals is a priority we all share." Republicans also have long argued that there's far too much government bureaucracy, and that they view their role as cutting red tape; in fact, in the very same bill in which they're proposing unnecessary modifications to community eligibility, they argue that they want to reduce "administrative challenges for school lunch officials."

If Kline and his colleagues really mean what they say, they should oppose this harsh proposal.

Bernstein, a former chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden, is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and author of the new book "The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity." Spielberg, a Teach For America alumnus and former member of the Executive Board of the San Jose Teachers Association, works on issues related to inequality, economic opportunity and full employment with Bernstein at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This commentary was first published by the Washington Post's "PostEverything" blog.
The Texas Supreme Court will soon release a decision that could have incredible ramifications for millions of children and parents across our state. At stake is whether education funding should be primarily a top-down, one-size fits all state system, or whether dollars spent on education should help students and their parents choose the best options available.

I firmly support the latter. The case of the state of Texas versus hundreds of independent school district groups and concerned parties is an opportunity to end public schools' monopoly on many of our children's futures.

The solution, ultimately, is to expand the education choices available for Texas families. We don't need more dollars for education; we need more education for our dollars.

Although some will make the case that Texas needs to spend more on education, much of the money we spend on our schools goes toward everything but learning. From 1992-2009, the state K-12 population grew 37 percent, yet the number of school district administrators and other nonteaching staff grew 172 percent. The rest of the nation hired 47 percent more administrators, on average. According to 2014 statistics from the TEA, state public schools maintain one teacher for every nonteacher, while there are 15.3 students to every teacher.

With this unhealthy emphasis on administration over education, it's no wonder that only 25.3 of students taking the ACT and SAT exams met an acceptable criterion score. And we're spending hundreds of millions on remedial education to help college students make up for what they didn't learn in public school.

Clearly many school districts don't know what to do with the money taxpayers send them - that's why giving them more won't make much of a difference in the quality and consistency of children's education across the state.

And for many struggling families, sending their child to the local school is the only option, even if it's not good enough. As a consequence, parents looking to give their children a better chance at a bright future have to make sacrifices that shouldn't be necessary.

I know this first-hand. Rather than send me to a school selected for me by bureaucrats-a gang-ridden San Antonio public school - my parents made the difficult decision to forgo resources, professional goals and personal ambitions so that my brother and I had something better. My father abandoned his career to teach at a private school, giving us access to discounted tuition at a better institution.

I was lucky my parents had the ability and means to choose a better education for me. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they try, many Texas families don't have that option.

While Texas is leading the country in many areas, we lag behind in providing choice in education. Although no private school choice programs exist in Texas, 31 states have enacted 61 private school choice programs. Charter schools, though valuable options for families, are not nearly accessible enough here, with over 100,000 students on wait lists; new students literally have to win a lottery for the opportunity to attend these schools.

While parents like mine will continue making sacrifices to get their children an education that empowers them to succeed, should those sacrifices be necessary? What about the parents who are simply unable to make those sacrifices? Should they remain without options or opportunities for their children?

I hope that the school finance rulings will highlight that our education tax dollars aren't being spent in an efficient manner, nor a manner that serves the needs of students in Texas. Lawmakers should respond by empowering parents and students with more educational choice.

There are plenty of ways to do that. In the last legislative session, for example, state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas proposed a bill creating education savings accounts (ESAs). ESAs allow parents to direct their child's state education funding to personalized uses, including school tuition, books, online courses and tutoring. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus have issued interim charges to research school choice in other states and make recommendations for the 2017 session.

School choice is the right choice for Texas, and the court's decision will open an opportunity for us to decide how to move forward in education. It will take lawmakers and engaged citizens working together to give children access to the opportunity needed to achieve their American dream.

Greener is the Texas state director of Americans for Prosperity.
Well that was a bust.

After months of fierce campaigning that became personal toward the end, the election for Republican Party of Texas chairman was all but over late Friday morning when it was clear Jared Woodfill, the former chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, was not making anywhere near the kinds of inroads with delegates he needed.

In the end, Woodfill won the support of only three out of 31 senate district caucuses at the convention. He conceded the race to Tom Mechler of Amarillo, the current party chairman and its former treasurer, as did Woodfill's running mate for vice chair, Cathie Adams.

It was the kind of uneventful finish that we have come to expect at this year's state GOP convention. There have been few, if any, surprises here. Add the chairman's race to that list. At this point, the delegates and the media alike are just waiting on Ted Cruz to arrive and deliver a rousing homecoming speech on Saturday.

For Woodfill, that meant blasting the party under Mechler for being absent during the controversies that erupt at the Capitol during legislative sessions. In his speech to delegates Thursday, Woodfill ran down a list of bills from the 2015 session that he said "died on the vine"  including state Sen. Donna Campbell's bizarre bill to ban Sharia law in Texas  because the state party did not alert the grass roots to call their lawmakers about the pending legislation when it mattered most.

As for Mechler, who came to the convention with a host of endorsements from prominent state GOP leaders, the case for the party's effectiveness largely was left up to his predecessor, Steve Munisteri, to make. Munisteri never mentioned Adams by name, but he directed his fire squarely at her short tenure as party chair, saying that the GOP had failed to pay its bills and that the party's finances were in complete disarray. He urged the delegates not to take the party back there.

By Friday morning, when the results were clear, Woodfill went to the mic and called for the party to support Mechler. For all the talk about party unity in the presidential race, the GOP faithful here found a way to come together pretty quickly.
DALLAS -- If you thought this week's Republican Party of Texas convention in Dallas was going to be tough going for Donald Trump delegates, youd be right to some degree.

Among the delegates, there is no shortage of praise for Ted Cruzs presidential bid, which ended earlier this month after a disappointing loss in the Indiana primary. The freshman Texas senator is scheduled to speak here Saturday afternoon in what will be a closely watched address. Will he endorse Trump, the presumptive nominee? Will he, like so many Republicans before him in the last few weeks, try to skirt around the endorsement question?

For some of the Trump delegates, their guy soon will be the official nominee, but there is a process of acceptance the Cruz supporters, who make up a majority here, will have to go through first.

A Trump delegate from The Woodlands, Bernadette McLeroy, said she supported Trump from the start of his campaign. She wasnt holding out hope, though, that her neighbors would send her to the partys convention in Cleveland as a Trump national delegate.

Ill turn everyone for Trump if they send me, she said. And Im Hispanic.

By Thursday afternoon, the favorite in the exhibit hall  where various politicians and organizations set up booths to promote themselves  was Ted Cruzs table, which had become a kind of makeshift shrine to his presidential ambitions. He is beloved by the delegates here, many of whom left notes of encouragement for Cruz and his family and others who urged him to look ahead to a second White House bid in 2020.

That is why Trump, if he is going to do anything this weekend, would be smart to come to the Texas convention. The delegate process to decide which Texas Republicans will represent the state in Cleveland got underway Thursday as the breakout sessions started. Also, the states top leaders already have laid the groundwork on the party unity front, so the stage is set for Trump to drive the message home. There has not been any sign that Gov. Greg Abbott or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who both spoke Thursday, or any top official who will follow them Friday and Saturday are going to make Trump the enemy  at least not publicly from the stage.

An invitation already been extended. John Cornyn, Texas' senior senator, sent a tweet Thursday saying he invited Trump to the convention if he can make it. Cornyn and other GOP leaders on Capitol Hill met with Trump to discuss his general election strategy and how to bring the party together after a bruising primary fight.

Security passes and a helipad landing have been arranged here, according to Quorum Report, though there is no official word yet on whether the New York mogul will drop in. Where else is unity more important than right here in the heart of Cruz country?
Emergency personnel were called at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to an accident that blocked North U.S. 63 near the Texas County Health Department in Houston.

Houston Police Chief Tim Ceplina said the crash occurred when two northbound vehicles made contact while traveling in the uphill portion of the highway where there are two northbound lanes. Ceplina said a 2001 Dodge pickup being driven in the right lane by Laura Twyford, 26, of Houston, attempted to move into the left lane behind a 2007 Kia Sorrento driven by Lawrence Donogne, 63, of Granite City, Ill.

Ceplina said Twyford failed to allow enough room and clipped the Kia, causing it to spin, overturn twice and come to rest in the middle of the roadway. Twyfords truck came to a stop on the west side of the roadway, on the other side of the single southbound lane.

Ceplina said nobody was significantly injured in the wreck. Twyford was issued a citation for failure to yield right of way, and had two children with her (ages 4 and two months) who were unharmed.

A Texas County Sheriffs Department deputy assisted police at the scene, and a Texas County Memorial Hospital ambulance responded, taking Donogne to the facility as a precautionary measure. His vehicle was totaled.

The highway was closed during the aftermath, and reopened at 11:15 a.m.

-

Earlier: Emergency personnel were called at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday to an accident that blocked North U.S. 63 near the Texas County Health Department in Houston.

One vehicle  that was on its top in the roadway  was removed. U.S. 63 reopened at 11:15 a.m.

The investigation continues.
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Equal Pay Day- A day of awareness about the pay gap that exists between men and women, Equal Pay Day symbolizes how far into the next year women must work to earn what men earned in the previous calendar year. According to a recent CareerBuilder.com survey of 223 HR managers, men are nearly three times as like as women to earn six-figure salaries and nearly twice as likely to earn $50,000 or more. These are staggering numbers, especially when you take into account that women at these same companies were almost twice as likely to report earning less than $35,000. Based on the slow rate at which the gender wage gap is closing each year, the Institute for Womens Policy Research has projected that women wont receive equal pay until 2059. According to recently published survey results, equal pay in the workplace is the gender issue both men and women most want to change in the next five years, and both genders are optimistic that it will become a reality by 2020. Considering that if full gender equality is attained, $4.3 trillion could also be added to the U.S. economy in 2025 (according to an April 2016 McKinsey Global Institute report), it is not a surprise that the White House recently announced a proposal that would require companies with 100 employees or more to report how much they pay their employees broken down by race, gender and ethnicity. In the past, HR leaders have been woefully under served in their ability to get in depth i...
ajor Kiwi organization has been hit with a five-figure fine after the Employment Relations Authority ruled it had unfairly reprimanded workers for distributing union material.Talleys-owned South Pacific Meats was ordered to pay two workers a total of $38,700 after they were reprimanded for handing out a Meat Workers Union newsletter.Employee Katrina Murray will be paid more than $35,000 after the ERA agreed she subjected to unjustified action and unjustified dismissal for sharing a union newsletter around the Awarua plant.Co-worker Cliff Kruskopk was awarded $3,700 after he was given an formal warning for pinning a newsletter to a noticeboard.Katrina Murray was one of the few workers to come out as a union member at the Awarua plant in Invercargill and the company tried to punish her for it, claims Daryl Carran, president of the Otago Southland Branch of the Meat Workers Union.The second worker, Cliff Kruskopk innocently thought that other workers might be interested in the union news and the company tried to punish him as well, he added.Union membership has been strongly resisted by Talleys at Awarua and SPMs other plant in Malvern, Christchurch. Recently the Employment Authority fined the company $144,000 for breaches of union access requirements to these sites.
A Conservative backbencher says that the Liberal government is becoming "the government of death."

Arnold Viersen, who represents the Alberta riding of Peace RiverWestlock, addressed the "March for Life" anti-abortion rally on Parliament Hill Thursday.

The rookie MP noted that, as first reported by Sun Media, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lifted a restriction on Canadian foreign aid dollars being used to fund abortion services in other nations through the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Initiative.

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Arnold Viersen addresses the 'March for Life' rally on Thursday, May 12, 2016.

The previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper committed billions to the global fund but notably refused to allow that money to be used for abortion. Liberals pledged in their platform to cover the "full range of reproductive health services" in the initiative.

Viersen told the crowd  which event organizers pegged at 20,000  that while the Harper government "stood for life," Liberals have decided Canada should "export death."

With rally-goers behind him holding signs expressing regret for their own abortions, Viersen accused the Trudeau government of co-opting the initiative to "not only include abortion, but to promote it."

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"When you combine this with the recent legislation on assisted suicide and euthanasia, its not hard to see that this Liberal government is quickly becoming the government of death," Viersen said, referring to recent legislation on physician-assisted death.

He called on those at the rally to write to their local MPs and to continue standing for life.

Trudeau targeted for pro-choice pledge

While the "March for Life" is an annual event in Ottawa, this was the first since Trudeau became prime minster last fall.

Anti-abortion groups sent extremely graphic flyers to the mailboxes of Canadians last year targeting Trudeau for his decision to reject as candidates any Liberal who would not support abortion rights in the House of Commons.

Trudeau addressed the controversy over his pro-choice pledge in a memorable speech on the topic of liberty in March 2015.

"For Liberals, the right of a woman to control her body is more important than the right of a legislator to restrict her freedom with their vote," he said at the time. "MPs who disagree with that have other choices. They can sit as independents, or as Conservatives."

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We will never back down from our commitment to protect a woman's right to choose. Watch this video. #Yes2Trudeau https://t.co/Lrn5ozB2ac  Liberal Party (@liberal_party) March 13, 2015

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Austin Wang said his win at the Intel competition is "surreal." (Photo: Intel)

For the second year in a row, a Canadian student has won the top prize at the worlds largest high school research competition.

Vancouvers Han Jie (Austin) Wang, 18, took home US$75,000 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Ariz. for developing microbial fuel cells (MFCs) that convert organic waste into electricity more efficiently.

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Its completely surreal, Wang told The Huffington Post Canada in an interview. I almost feel like I can wake up any moment from this dream.

Commercial possibilities

Wang identified genes in genetically enhanced E. coli bacteria that allowed them to generate power. He believes that his MFCs could be used commercially because they generate power more efficiently than existing MFCs, and at a lower cost than solar energy.

He came up with the idea for a school science fair in Grade 9 when he learned that bacteria could generate electricity. He said hes been working on the project ever since.

Wang, who is now in Grade 12 at David Thompson Secondary School, explained that the most immediate application for his project is in treating sewage and wastewater. He said that the MFCs could use energy from wastewater to generate power.

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"Back-to-back wins showcase how competitive Canadians can be on a global scale."

The Intel competition aims to honour the worlds most promising student scientists, inventors, and engineers. Finalists are chosen from hundreds of fairs, and their projects are scrutinized by almost 1,000 judges from nearly every scientific discipline.

Wang beat out over 1,700 other students from across the globe.

Eight other Canadian students won 14 awards this year, totaling US$106,700. Intel gave out US$4 million in prizes this year.

Repeat Canadian victory

Last year, Vancouver teens won two of the three top prizes at the competition.

Raymond Wang, 17, was recognized for a device that improves air quality on airplane cabins while cutting down on the transmission of diseases, while Nicole Ticea, 16, won for creating a simple and inexpensive HIV test that can be used by people in low-income communities.

"Back-to-back wins showcase how competitive Canadians can be on a global scale, said Nancy Demerling, marketing manager of Intel Canada in a news release.

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Well, this is a bit of welcome  and steamy  news!

For the first time in Canada, a new sexual health study took a look at what's really going on with the sex lives of Canadians between the ages of 40 and 59.

The study, which was commissioned by Trojan in partnership with the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN), asked 2,400 participants to provide details about their sexual health, pleasure, behaviours and attitudes.

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"There is a public perception that as we age, sex becomes less important, less enjoyable and less frequent."

It found that as they age, their sexual pleasure doesn't decrease. In fact, the majority of midlife Canadians have become more sexually adventurous than they were a decade ago  63 per cent said they are more interested in trying new things to enhance pleasure.

According to the study, 65 per cent of those surveyed said their last sexual encounter was very pleasurable and the majority of midlife Canadians said that their current primary relationship is emotionally satisfying  46 per cent very satisfying, 87 per cent at least somewhat satisfying.

"There is a public perception that as we age, sex becomes less important, less enjoyable and less frequent," says Dr. Robin Milhausen, sexuality and relationship researcher at the University of Guelph.

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"The study findings indicate that most midlife Canadians are indeed leading satisfying and active sexual lives ... And married people are reporting sex as pleasurable as their single counterparts, in fact, married men reported more pleasure at last sexual encounter than single men. So the future looks bright for midlife Canadian relationships."

And for those who believe the myth that your sex life decreases the longer you're married, take a look at these heartwarming stats:

40 per cent of married/cohabiting respondents reported having sexual encounters once or more per week, while 30 per cent of singles report the same frequency.

Most of those surveyed said they were sexually active in the previous three months, especially those who were married or cohabiting.

For the majority of Canadians, their last sexual encounter lasted between 16 and 30 minutes.

"Not enough Canadians are speaking up about their sex lives."

Here's some additional info from the survey:

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

People who talk about their sexual likes and dislikes with their partners were found to be more sexually satisfied, the study found.

However, according to the study, only half actually maintain a discourse about sex with their partners.

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"Not enough Canadians are speaking up about their sex lives," says Milhausen. "Communication is key to a satisfying and pleasurable sex life and this data strongly backs that up."

Have You Got Six Minutes To Spare?

What midlife Canadians do after sex  and for how long  is one of the strongest predictors of sexual pleasure in relationships, according to the study.

Despite the notion that foreplay leads to better sex, post-sex affection  cuddling and kissing, for example  is just as important, if not more important, for sexual pleasure, for both men and women.

In fact, 71 per cent of women who had six to ten minutes of post-sex cuddling rated their sexual experience as "very pleasurable." Only 44 per cent of women who had less than five minutes of post-coital affection were pleased with their experience.

Unsafe Sex

According to the study, there's a growing concern that sexually active men and women aren't having safe sex, and this is even true for sexually active midlife Canadians.

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Only 65 per cent of single men and 72 per percent of single women did not use a condom when they last had intercourse. And more than half of those men and 32 per cent of those women had two ore more partners in the previous year.

This may be because younger adults are more likely to be using condoms to prevent pregnancy and are also more knowledgeable about STIs.

"We have a lot of work to do to bring single midlife Canadians up to speed on the need for safer sex, particularly with respect to consistent condom use" says Alex McKay Ph.D., Executive Director of SIECCAN.

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Lord Conrad Black can't seem to stop running headfirst into the law.

The latest to stand in his way? Canada Revenue Agency, which The Globe and Mail reports has put a hold on the sale of his Toronto mansion over claims of unpaid taxes.

The CRA put two liens on the property: One for more than $12.3 million in unpaid taxes, and another reportedly on behalf of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, for more than $2.7 million in unpaid taxes, according to documents obtained by the Globe.

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Black put his 23,000-square-foot, nine-bedroom palace in the Bridle Path on the auction block in February.

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And it turned out Black would continue living in the property, seemingly in a sort of private-home sale-leaseback scheme.

Black told the Globe in an email that the liens on his house are nonsense, but a legal matter we'll work out judicially.

Blacks newspaper empire once spanned the world and included the National Post, the Daily Telegraph in the U.K., the Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.

Black was accused of diverting funds from his holding company, Hollinger International. He served a total of 37 months in prison after being convicted in a U.S. court in 2007 of three counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. Two of those charges were overturned on appeal.

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NEW YORK  Donald Trump says Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos is using his newspaper to help the online retailer avoid taxes.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Fox News that Bezos is "using The Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed.''

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"This is owned as a toy by Jeff Bezos who controls Amazon," Trump told Fox's Sean Hannity. "Amazon is getting away with murder tax-wise. He's using the Washington Post for power so that the politicians in Washington don't tax Amazon like they should be taxed."

Bezos is "worried about me" because "he thinks I would go after him for antitrust, because he's got a huge antitrust problem," Trump said.

"Amazon is controlling so much of what they're doing ... What he's got is a monopoly and he wants to make sure I don't get in."

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The comments came after the newspaper's associate editor, Bob Woodward, was quoted as saying the Post has assigned 20 people to dig up Trump's past.

Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post and founder of Amazon, delivers remarks at the grand opening of the Washington Post newsroom in Washington January 28, 2016. (Reuters/Gary Cameron)

"There's a lot we don't know," Woodward told a National Association of Realtors convention in Washington. "We have 20 people working on Trump, we're going to do a book, we're doing articles about every phase of his life," he added.

In a statement, Post executive editor Martin Baron says he's "received no instructions from Jeff Bezos'' regarding campaign coverage, and the decision to write a book came from the newsroom. Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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 With files from The Huffington Post Canada

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Fort McMurray residents have lost so much over the past two weeks after an inferno destroyed houses in the northern Alberta city. But there is one thing that was left intact  people's sharp sense of humour.

One evacuee decided to jokingly post a "For Sale" ad for property he had lost in the blaze.

For $1, bargain hunters can pick up a 2013 all-terrain vehicle (ATV), the post read.

"Some burn marks. Works great. 2,600 kms. First come first serve. Pick up in Abasand," wrote Matt Fifield in a Facebook group titled Controversial Humor Fort McMurray.

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There's just one catch  a photo shows the ATV burnt to a crisp, with just the frame still standing.

A Fort McMurray evacuee shared this hilarious "For Sale" post on social media. (Photo: Facebook)

The wildfire is still burning out of control, and has grown to over 2,400 square kilometres. For hundreds of evacuees who had lost their homes and possessions, Fifield's joke opened an opportunity for some much-needed laughter.

"I think it's stolen, it looks hot," wrote one commenter.

"The frame looks solid, you should ask for more," added another.

A few followed Fifield's lead, sharing photos of a burned jeep, motorcycles, a trailer and a dealership.

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This motorcycle is a "smokin' deal." (Photo: Facebook)

"Props to everyone being able to laugh at a time like this. We all need some more of that," commented one group member.

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Over 88,000 evacuees safely fled Fort McMurray last week, as a raging wildfire forced the entire northern Alberta community from their homes  sadly, however, the area's wildlife was left behind.

Theres not very much that can survive those fires, University of Alberta biology professor Lu Carbyn told Global News.

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"There may be some small elements that might survive pockets of fires but certainly broad scale, there would be massive destruction of anything thats caught up in these fires.

Burnt trees are shown in an aerial photo of Fort McMurray, Alta. (Photo: Jason Franson/CP)

As of Friday morning, the wildfire covered more than 2,400 square kilometres.

Fort McMurray sits in the heart of Canada's boreal forest, filled with dense, coniferous trees, lakes and wetlands. The 587 species of wildlife that call Alberta home face many of the same dangers as humans that share their habitat from smoke inhalation to loss of their homes.

Im sure well have tens of thousands of losses," director of the Alberta Birds of Prey Society Colin Wier said, in an interview with Maclean's.

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A flock of birds fly from a massive cloud of smoke near Fort McMurray. (Photo: Mark Blinch/Reuters)

Naturalist Brian Keating says the impact to wildlife from the fire could be enormous, and small animals are likely to be the hardest hit.

"Any burrowing rodents probably perished ... deer, caribou, adult bears and adult cougars likely did escape," Keating told CBC's "The Homestretch."

"I'm sure we'll have tens of thousands of losses."

Wildfires can also push animals out of their usual habitats. This bear, for example, was caught foraging in a Fort McMurray dumpster after the evacuation.

Bears are one of the species most poised to potentially benefit from a wildfire.

The ursine opportunists have been known to watch for species fleeing flames that might make for easy snacks, National Geographic reported.

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A black bear, prowling the abandoned streets of #FortMcMurray after the fire pic.twitter.com/VlqWyLeMc0  George Kourounis (@georgekourounis) May 12, 2016

After massive fires in Yellowstone National Park, U.S., bears were some of the first to move back into burned areas after the fire had passed.

The good news is that because wildfires are part of the forest's natural life cycle, the blaze might actually have some positive effects on wildlife habitat. The size and intensity of the fire might mean those benefits take longer to appear, but experts say the area will eventually recover.

What [wildfire] does is it rejuvenates forest stands, increases habitat  just different types of habitats within the forest  and creates the diversity that boreal forest provides to all the different animals, Alberta Environment and Parks employee Dave Kay said in an interview with 660 News.

By all indications this is a fairly hot fire, so it will burn a little deeper. It may take longer for some of the plants to re-establish, because it will burn right down to mineral soil in many areas."

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Nine-year-old Broghan Robins has been struggling in school this past year and has been undergoing tests to figure out why. He is highly intelligent (ask him anything about "Harry Potter") and yet his marks have plummeted from solid As to barely passing. Unsure of what to do next, his dad had a sudden idea: maybe the prime minister can help encourage him.

Dad Mark Robins is an active Liberal supporter. When he and Broghan attended a Liberal fundraising event in Montreal back in 2014, Robins jokingly tweeted that his then seven-year-old son would love to meet the next prime minister of Canada.

"I was in a corner, talking with Marc Garneau, when suddenly the crowd parted and there was Justin Trudeau. He said to me, 'Excuse me there's someone I need to meet,'" Robins told Huffington Post Canada. Trudeau then squatted down so he could speak with Broghan, eye to eye.

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There wasn't any press at the event, which made Robins even more impressed that the future leader would take the time to chat with a little boy. The Kitchener, Ont. dad took a photo of his son with Trudeau, which Broghan insisted on hanging in his bedroom.

It was that picture Robins and his wife Natalie Waddell sent to the Prime Minister's Office, hoping Trudeau, a former teacher, could sign it and encourage Broghan as he struggles in school. As Robins says, "It doesn't hurt to ask!"

This week, Broghan was shocked to receive an envelope with his prized photo and a simple message from Trudeau: "I'm pulling for you!"

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Once the family frames Broghan's new photo, the boy plans to take it to school to show his class.

For Robins, he hopes his son truly understands that not every little boy has a signed message from a world leader and that: "Justin Trudeau believes you can make things better for yourself."

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A city couldn't possibly be more expensive to live in than Vancouver, could it?

Yes, some could. But maybe not forever.

San Francisco's median home price jumped 12 per cent year over year in March, putting it at about C$1,040,231.69, BMO economist Sal Guatieri pointed out in a Thursday note.

Meanwhile, in Greater Vancouver, the benchmark price, which represents typical homes in an area, was only C$844,800, about 20 per cent lower than San Fran's median value.

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But this also represented an increase of 25 per cent in the same period  and it could top San Fran if prices keep climbing as they have in the next two years, Guatieri said.

A tech boom has fueled San Francisco's housing market to new heights, with the average price going from US$895,000 in 2007 to about $1.1 million today, according to Forbes.

But media reports have expressed concern that the market there resembles housing conditions prior to the dot-com bubble bursting in 2000, when prices fell by about 10 per cent.

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Then again, Vancouver hasn't been immune from warnings about real estate, either.

The Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) said single-detached home prices in the West Coast city "are now observed to be at levels higher than those consistent with financial, economic and demographic fundamentals," according to The Globe and Mail.

They're not so different, they and them.
Eco Images via Getty Images As the top soil leaves the countryside so do the peasants. These environmental refugees are among the most disadvantaged people in the world.

While my family passed through the slums of Port-au-Prince the other day after visiting my wife's ancestral village in Haiti's countryside, something else was happening 1,500 miles away: the annual Met Gala, the Super Bowl of the fashion industry.

Some of the most fashion-forward looks of the night, held at Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art and hosted by Vogue's Anna Wintour: Zayn Malik's Robocop-reminiscent metallic arms, Taylor Swift's silver fembot, Kanye West's coloured contacts and Lady Gaga's fishnet stockings and 10-inch heels.

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The theme: future glam.

After walking the red carpet, attendees dined on baby white asparagus with sturgeon caviar, wild striped bass with California dill sauce and green apple sorbet on a spun-sugar nest with rhubarb compote.

From the vantage point of the poorest country in the hemisphere, the analogy wasn't hard to arrive at: we are the Capitol.

In that fictional high-tech city described in the Hunger Games trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins, the ruling class of the nation of Panem dine on luxurious meals, exhibit outrageous style and undergo plastic surgery -- all while the rest of the land starves for bread.

The Capitol is a stew of extravagant excess, extreme inequality and stylish insouciance. Its residents aren't necessarily evil -- just deeply ignorant of the level of suffering outside their borders and insulated by lives of ease and abundance.

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We rolled on through Port-au-Prince, encountering pockets of garbage and smoke and poverty so extreme it seemed to punch you right in the face. Our SUV's tinted windows were rolled up tight, since my children might "look like money" to those in the encampments, our driver advised.

At that moment, tweets about the Met Gala were rolling in.

"I'm really excited to get our first best-dressed at the Met... This Gala is like the Grammys of style!" tweeted Kanye West. "Unapologetic fun," tweeted Madonna. "Me I'm back in the NY GROOVE," tweeted Lady Gaga.

Unlike Panem, though, in our world there is not just one Capitol, but multiple cities of excess. A few days earlier at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., tuxedoed diners began their meals with diver scallops, topped with sweet potato mousseline, caramelized corn and espelette cream.

They followed that with steak au poivre, joined with honey- and orange-infused shrimp. To finish up, desserts like strawberry shortcake, dolce de leche and chocolate mousse, along with miniature French pastries. The cost: $3,000 a table.

Deep in the mountains of Haiti's southwest where I had stayed for a week, the menu was -- shall we say -- more limited. In tourist areas, young orphans and stooped grandmothers sidled up to visitors, hoping to strike up conversations and share in our meals.

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Most North Americans would hardly think of ourselves as existing in luxury, as we live paycheck-to-paycheck ourselves, struggling to get by.

But luxury is a relative thing, and probably not what you imagine it to be.

To be sure, these are broad-stroke generalizations. There are rich and poor within the borders of Haiti, just as in any other nation. In Port-au-Prince, tin-shack shanties sit a stone's throw from leafy neighbourhoods dotted with gated mansions and Land Rovers.

And most North Americans would hardly think of ourselves as existing in luxury, as we live paycheck-to-paycheck ourselves, struggling to get by.

But luxury is a relative thing, and probably not what you imagine it to be. In my wife's village, luxury might mean continuous electricity. In that town, it comes on for a few hours a day -- or not. It's usually cut off by late afternoon, when most people could really use it. No one seemed to know why.

Luxury might mean a paved road, or drinkable water coming out of taps, or a hot shower, or a WiFi signal. Or a supermarket packed floor-to-ceiling with an astonishing array of food -- like, say, any random Safeway.

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Many Haitians have economic problems that are not just theoretical, but existential -- getting enough food and water to survive the day. Meanwhile, the economic problem identified by the likely Republican presidential nominee? Deport the least advantaged and most vulnerable elements of society -- and build a wall to keep them out.

A very Capitol-like solution, no?

It should be stressed that Haiti is much more than a tragic fable. It is a place of stunning natural beauty, of remarkable human resilience and a showcase for creative survival. Impressive strides were made under previous president Michel Martelly -- patching infrastructure, improving safety, developing tourist-friendly resorts.

And yet: As I left Haiti, new friends came up to me in whispers, asking me to bring just a few dollars the next time we visited, for the school fees they couldn't afford for themselves or their children.

For my own society, it all made me not a little embarrassed. How would you even begin to explain something like the Met Gala and all the boldface names dripping with couture and diamonds?

As readers of The Hunger Games, we were all appalled by the Capitol's casual greed, and the unforgivable ignorance of the privation all around it.

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By that same logic: What opinion should we have of ourselves?

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A small act of heroism in a time of unimaginable hardship. It's what it means to be a Canadian -- giving, selflessness and strength.

As the country's attention is trained on the second horrific week of catastrophic wildfires that have raged across more than 200,000 hectares of Alberta, leveling communities in and around Fort McMurray and up-ending lives in its wake, still I am feeling a strong sense of Canadian pride.

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That's not hard to understand.

Albertans and Canadians -- and even many outside our borders -- have shown a level of giving, selflessness and strength that is hard to imagine. But you have to see that generosity in action to believe it.

The social media hashtag #FortMcMurrayStrong shows it best. Whether we're talking about frontline emergency personnel working to the point of exhaustion in unimaginable heat, oil sands employees making that extra effort to help out a neighbour, or volunteers at shelters or citizens digging deep into their pockets, it's all very, very inspiring.

Take for example the crew at Shell's Albian operation, where its aerodrome safely evacuated well over 7,000 people on more than 60 flights since May 3, welcoming and assisting thousands of displaced community members.

Or consider Syncrude as it monitors and assesses wildfire activity in the Wood Buffalo region, and works to have its units suspended and all personnel removed by bus and air from Mildred Lake for their safety.

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And despite the suspension of operations, Syncrude (a joint venture of several energy companies led by Suncor and Imperial Oil) says the jobs and pay of its 4,800 employees are secure -- including the emergency advance to be processed immediately -- meaning there's no need to apply for Employment Insurance benefits.

Suncor Energy has reduced its oil sands operations for safety reasons, and has also made a donation to the Canadian Red Cross for $150,000. Meanwhile, ATCO trucks and workers are all over the region, focused on restoring power where they can.

Or consider the Imperial Oil Foundation that has earmarked $100,000 to the Canadian Red Cross in this time of unparalleled crisis.

Whether it's Imperial Oil, Cenovus, MEG Energy or Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., companies are providing emergency accommodation for displaced employees and their families, airfield support, staff and equipment to help fight fires.

And what about all the companies large and small that have offered beds, fuel and flight access -- so focused on the task at hand that they haven't even stopped to make their support public?

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Let's not forget the acts of heroism from the people that some used to think of as "average Albertans" -- but who in my mind will always be very far above average from now on.

Far afield of the oil business, look at Loblaw pledging $300,000 to the fire relief effort (with another $120,000 coming from its shoppers), or each of the big banks coming forward with at least $100,000, just as the Hudson's Bay Company has also done.

We have heard that the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames are good for $100,000, and that WestJet, Air Canada and three smaller carriers have been flying evacuees and will also be doing more to support as well.

The Mining Association of Canada pledged $50,000 and customers at Apple's Canadian iTunes storefront can donate to the Canadian Red Cross for relief for victims of the fire.

And let's not forget the acts of heroism from the people that some used to think of as "average Albertans" -- but who in my mind will always be very far above average from now on: the staff who helped evacuate more than 100 patients from the Fort McMurray Hospital, or the firefighter who lost the battle to save his own home, and diligently moved on to try to save the home next door, fighting for another 22 hours straight.

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There are a thousand or more such examples. I'd like to hear from you if you know of a story of selflessness, generosity and giving. If your company has made a pledge, let me know; I'd like to pass the information along.

If your neighbor or family member went above and beyond, tell me. You may not be comfortable sounding your own horn, but I want to do it for you. Drop me a line.

And please remember the crucial support being provided by the government. The Government of Canada, among other things it has pledged to do, is matching your Red Cross donations through to May 31. Provincial government is also matching.

There is still a great need for your support. Please visit the Canadian Red Cross Alberta Fires Appeal site, and please continue to give. Thank you for your generosity.

Get your free stickers to show your support for Fort McMurray and check out our T-shirt fundraiser at CanadaAction today.

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Cody Battershill is a Calgary realtor and founder/spokesperson for CanadaAction.ca, a volunteer organization that supports Canadian energy development and the environmental, social and economic benefits that come with it.

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Timur Nisametdinov via Getty Images Chain of figures

What makes a family? There are so many answers to that question. The dictionary definition of family is "people related by blood or marriage." But in countries around the world, family can mean many different things.

On International Day of Families this Sunday, World Vision honours families everywhere. We think of those surviving against incredible odds. We pray for those dealing with overwhelming loss, or standing strong in the face of disaster. We think of those who adapt, forgive, and grow together.

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Here's a look at a few of the things that family can mean, in countries around the world (All photos by World Vision):

India: "I want to be a doctor and make my daddy happy," says Swati, with a laugh. Such a thing is possible, given the work that men in the community are doing through a World Vision program to address gender-based issues like violence and early marriage. "This tradition of choosing boy over girl has been going on for generations," says father Rajesh. "I want to change it."

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Nepal: In some situations, love for family means leaving them far behind. One year after mother Amrita and her family lost their home in a massive earthquake, her husband has returned to his job in the Middle East. A devoted and adoring dad, he's earning the funds to rebuild the family home. Thanks to donations for the relief effort in Nepal, mothers like Amrita are getting the support they need with their new babies.

Tanzania: In situations where survival is connected to the land, every family member pitches in to help. Naini (left) and Aloisi (right) stand in the water pan they are digging with their children, to capture every ounce of precious rain. Precipitation was poor last season, causing many farmers to lose their crops. "My father loves his project," says his daughter, Jenipha.

Mongolia: The family birthday party can look a bit different in some of the regions where we work. This joint party, for children in an entire community who are sponsored through World Vision, brings decidedly more birthday girls and boys to the table! In our work overseas, we've noticed how shared joys and struggles create familial bonds between unrelated people. There's always someone to play with.

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Ecuador:This community is a patchwork of farms, with land passed down for generations. Graciela's family farm sits on a muddy hillside, inherited from her grandmother and mother. Graciela (right) and her husband were farming neighbors as children, and their five children now help work the land. "We love living and working here," says Graciela, of the only home she knows.

Indonesia: This blended family, now bubbling with joy, was born of pain and loss. When the 1995 tsunami hit South-East Asia, Armanzah (left) was already a widow with two little boys. Moved by the devastation she saw on television, Armanzah headed to the region to help the survivors. There she met Hasan (right) who had lost most of his family in the disaster. Over time, the couple fell in love and married, and had a daughter together.

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Cambodia: Family duty pulls big brother Heourn away from school--and closer to his three little sisters. Childcare is his constant occupation, especially when his parents are called to work out of town. The family home is dangerous, with huge holes in the cracked wooden floor, and Heourn must watch them carefully. "Yes, I like to go to school very much," says the sixth grader. "But I need to look after my sisters."

Iraq: Sometimes, children have to step into the role of parents. In this camp for displaced persons, big sister Salma is the main caregiver for her siblings, one of whom is disabled. Their father was killed when fleeing extremists and their mother, distressed by events, has not spoken in three months. World Vision is providing support to the family, to take some of the weight from the children.

Rwanda: Sometimes, families are born from forgiveness. The families of Callixte (playing the guitar) and Andrew were able to reconcile after the Rwandan genocide of 1994, with help from World Vision's peace-building programs. Callixte was part of a group that killed the entire extended family of Andrew's wife, Madrine. Today, after much work and tremendous grace, the families are close. It's common to see them singing and dancing together, setting a new beat for the future.

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Lebanon: "We are brothers," say Kameron and Amir, who at first glance look like twins. Only a year apart, their bond is tight. Tighter than most, as they mourn the loss of their parents. "When the clashes stared in Syria, some people came and took my parents," says Kameron. "I don't know where they are now, I don't know who took them. My grandmother came and took us, and brought us here to a camp in Lebanon." Around the world, grandparents often step in to care for a new generation of children.

Philippines: Rynaval's labour pains began right in the middle of a typhoon. "I was bargaining with the babies inside me, to stay for some more days," she says. "But they were too excited." Rynaval and her husband braved the turbulent, hour-long boat journey from their remote island to the nearest mainland town. There, the little boys were delivered safely in hospital. "It was the most terrifying boat ride I've ever experienced," remembers the mother. "My entire family was at risk."

In countries around the world, World Vision helps keep families alive, together, and thriving. Learn more about our work in community developing, emergency response and advocacy at worldvision.ca

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Tony Barson via Getty Images CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 11: Director of photography Vittorio Storaro, actor Corey Stoll, actress Blake Lively, director Woody Allen, actress Kristen Stewart and actor Jesse Eisenberg attend the 'Cafe Society' premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Tony Barson/FilmMagic)

Actress Blake Lively, director Woody Allen, actress Kristen Stewart and actor Jesse Eisenberg attend the 'Cafe Society' premiere during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival.

It is the job of the media to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

Ronan Farrow (reporter, lawyer and activist) reminds us all of this very important tenet of journalism when he penned the provocative piece entitled, "My Father, Woody Allen, and the Danger of Questions Unasked" for the Hollywood Reporter.

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Farrow is dismayed that despite the fact that his sister, Dylan Farrow, has made damning accusations against their father, Woody Allen has not only evaded justice, but continues to enjoy a successful Hollywood career.

Sexual assault has always been an uncomfortable topic to discuss. Pedophilia and incest, even more so.

And though it may make all of us uncomfortable, for the sake of victims who suffer regardless of whether we choose to talk about the subject matter, we must.

The fact that Hollywood stars such as Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg continue to work with Woody Allen speaks volumes about their character.

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No role, no amount of money should be enough to tempt someone to work with a director who has been accused by his own children of molesting his young daughter, Dylan, when she was just seven years old.

If Hollywood actors and producers turned their backs on the likes of Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and Terry Richardson, it would send a strong message of support to victims. And for many victims who know that the prospect of a criminal conviction is faint at best, seeing their alleged abuser publicly shamed or ostracized is the only morsel of justice they will ever be served.

The fact that most journalists carefully steer clear of asking Allen the tough questions is appalling, as Ronan Farrow correctly points out.

But I am even more dismayed by the starlets and purported feminists who willingly work with Allen. These actresses are essentially telling a seven year old child that they do not believe her and that her story does not matter. They are flipping the bird to all victims of sexual abuse through their acquiescence.

I will never be asked to star in a Woody Allen directed film. But I can still make a point of choosing not to support Allen by boycotting his movies (which I have been doing for years now). I can still show support for that little seven-year-old girl and others like her.

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After learning of Roman Polanski's crimes against a 13-year-old girl and how he evaded justice, I made a point to never see a Polanski film. Even when Polanski's celebrated film "The Pianist" was nominated for multiple Oscars, I continued to avoid it and was disheartened to see Hollywood support Polanski and shower him with golden statuettes.

True, there may not be enough evidence to see Woody Allen locked up in a tiny cell. And I am not advocating the imprisonment of anyone without due process or a finding of guilt beyond all reasonable doubt.

However, there is a big difference between a court of law and the court of public opinion.

I do not need to be 100 per cent certain of Woody Allen's guilt to feel comfortable with my decision to boycott his films. I believe Dylan Farrow and Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow.

I certainly do not believe the denials of a man who went on to have an unhealthy relationship and affair with the much younger Soon-Yi Previn (essentially, his step-daughter). Any man who thinks it is OK to engage in a sexual relationship with someone he once parented clearly has no grasp on acceptable social mores.

Woody Allen's own words regarding this troubling union are damning enough.

"I'm 35 years older, and somehow...the dynamic worked," explains Allen during a 2015 interview with NPR. "I was paternal. She responded to someone who was paternal."

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Whenever a Woody Allen film hits the big screen, I will protest the film by withholding my money and support. Instead, I will donate the money I would have spent on a movie ticket to a charity that supports victims of sexual assault. I challenge you to do the same.

We may not have the power to change Hollywood overnight, but we can still cast a small vote in favour of decency and dignity and grace.

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Danny Moloshok / Reuters Actress Hayden Panettiere arrives at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California January 17, 2016. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Rehab for postpartum depression.

Wouldn't that be nice?

I don't remember being given the option.

I do remember getting a weird look, being brushed off, handed a script and sent home.

I can only imagine (fantasize) what rehab for postpartum depression looks like.

A limo arrives at my doorstep and out steps Ryan Gosling.

"Hey girl. You've been working too hard trying to manage postpartum depression and taking care of a baby all on your own. Hop in," he says. "We're going to PPD rehab."

His assistant gently straps my baby into the car seat and I slip in beside her.

"Champagne?" offers Ryan.

Don't mind if I do.

We laugh and sing the whole way and just as I begin to feel some awful PPD symptoms coming on, we pull up to the most beautiful Muskoka lakeside property I've ever seen.

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A tall and beautiful Hollywood starlet runs over to greet us.

"Welcome to PPD rehab!" Shouts a joyful Kate Hudson.

"Here is some exercise apparel from my clothing line you'll need for your yoga classes."

"Wow, thanks Kate," I say.

"Your baby is soooo adorable!" says Kate. "Let me take her for a while so you catch up on your beauty sleep."

My room is outstanding. My meals are all prepared. My view is glorious.

In walks Ryan.

"Hey girl. Just wanted to let you know that everything is being taken care of while you're here so just sit back, relax and let us do our job. You're in good hands."

For the next six weeks, all I do is rest, rest and rest some more while in PPD rehab. I learn that in the past and still in some countries today, all moms get to do this, not just moms with PPD. It's known as the "lying-in" period.

During my stay, I'm given access to the top psychologists and wellness experts in the country. I'm told about the merits and risks of medication and monitored closely. I'm given excellent evidence-based therapy and phenomenal child care.

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I don't know if this is the kind of treatment Hayden Panettiere is receiving at her PPD rehab, but it must be good since she's back for a second time.

Though my PPD isn't gone by the time I leave, I'm provided with fantastic home care to help with my recovery and the chance to return to PPD rehab if I need to. I attend regular PPD group support meetings and my family doctor closely monitors me every step of the way.

"Thank you so much for recommending PPD rehab," I tell her at one of our regular weekly follow-up appointments. "I don't like PPD, but I love being a mom."

I don't know if this is the kind of treatment Hayden Panettiere is receiving at her PPD rehab, but it must be good since she's back for a second time. You can't predict how long PPD will stick around and I truly wish her all the best.

But I also wish I could join her.

My PPD is kind of gone now, I think. In Canada, you're kind of left on your own to monitor your progress. It lasted five years with my first daughter and 18 months with my second. I just finished weaning myself off my medication. I think I did a pretty good job, but I'm not sure. My cycle is kind of all over the place. My doctor takes notes.

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Oh, how I would have loved to go to PPD rehab.

Or at the very least, been given adequate PPD screening, treatment and follow-up. Perhaps my PPD wouldn't have lasted so long. Perhaps I wouldn't have developed postpartum mania, quit my job and went broke. Perhaps I would have enjoyed motherhood. Perhaps my daughter wouldn't be struggling so much with mental health issues at the age of six.

Perhaps... but we'll never know.

About how the onus is on the mom battling PPD to recognize she has PPD, convince her doctor she's suffering, be given confusing advice on medication and put on a year-long waiting list for sub-par psychiatric services.

When are we going to wake up and realize that PPD is a serious medical condition affecting the mother and her baby?

A mom with PPD can't be sent home with a pill and expected to get better on her own.

Because she's not on her own.

I dream of a day when a mom with PPD can walk into her doctor's office for help and leave with a comprehensive treatment and support plan.

She has a precious and vulnerable little human to take care of as well as herself and maybe other kids, a home and a partner, while battling a mental illness no one seems to be taking seriously in this country.

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When are moms with postpartum depression (and all its forms) going to be given the attention and respect they deserve?

We need a major overhaul when it comes to treating PPD in Canada and maybe it starts with recognizing it as its own distinct illness in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM).

The DSM is what doctors use to treat mental illness. As it stands, PPD falls under the Major Depressive Disorder category and is treated as such. The DSM is American but it's looked to around the world as the authority on mental health disorders.

"The DSM has a qualifier major depressive disorder with peripartum onset but it's only four weeks," said Kate Kripke, a perinatal mental health specialist in Boulder, Colorado, in an earlier interview with me. "We all know that a mom can develop postpartum depression or anxiety, eight, nine, ten months in. We miss the point with that."

Back to PPD rehab.

I dream of a day when a mom with PPD can walk into her doctor's office for help and leave with a comprehensive treatment and support plan.

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And who knows? By the time my daughters become mothers, if they so choose, maybe PPD rehab will actually be a thing in Canada that you won't have to be a celebrity for or rich enough to have access to it.

Or better yet, maybe PPD will have been taken seriously enough to have researchers determine the cause and how to prevent it from ever happening in the first place so moms can get on with raising the next generation.

And enjoying motherhood.

Wouldn't that be nice?

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kupicoo via Getty Images Portrait of a young nurse with her team in the background

Psoriasis: More than just a skin condition

Imagine a sizeable portion of your body covered with bright red spots and thick scaly patches. Imagine being so itchy and uncomfortable that you hardly ever get a decent night's sleep. Imagine being continually on the receiving end of glares and stares, such that on many days you just don't even feel like leaving your home.

This is the reality for many people who suffer from psoriasis -- a life-long autoimmune disease affecting about one million Canadians. Not all cases of psoriasis are so severe, but some are. Many living with the condition have struggled for years without much improvement.

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While psoriasis appears as a skin condition, its impact goes well beyond the skin. The disease can have a major effect on a person's quality of life and increase their risk for other chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The emotional and social impact can significantly effect a person's well-being and contribute to low self-esteem, anxiety and depression. Given that psoriasis is such a visible disease, people often want to cover it up and feel embarrassed and stigmatized when out in public.

Nurses: With you every step of the way

I see myself as more than a nurse who treats patients -- I also take on the role of counsellor, motivator and advocate at a time when they need support most.

Dermatology nurses like me play an important role in helping people living with psoriasis manage their chronic condition. Each day, I provide ongoing education, support and treatment to those patients who need it. I often meet with patients who are uncomfortable talking about what they're going through, even with loved ones. As dermatology nurses, we work to help each patient feel less alone in their journey. That's why the theme for this year's National Nursing Week couldn't be more fitting, Nurses: With you every step of the way.

Patients today want more information about their disease and to actively participate when it comes to making decisions about their care. An important first step is getting to know each patient by learning about their unique needs, preferences and treatment goals. This helps the patient better understand their disease and how to best manage it. There are many options available that can be very effective in treating people with moderate to severe symptoms including ointments, specialized light therapy and medicines taken by mouth or given by injection. Patients are encouraged to speak to a health-care professional to figure out what works best for them.

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Expressing empathy is also key in empowering and motivating patients to take control of their disease management. Research informs us that when patients feel involved in decision making about their own care, they do better. I see myself as more than a nurse who treats patients -- I also take on the role of counsellor, motivator and advocate at a time when they need support most.

Hear from other Canadians treating and living with psoriasis

Nurses are always looking for new ways to reach out and communicate with patients, their families and society. Together with doctors and patients, I recently contributed to a podcast series called "Layer by Layer" which provides a glimpse into what it's like to live with psoriasis. Canadians living with or affected by psoriasis can hear the experiences of others who treat and have the disease and understand that there is help available and, most of all, that they are not alone in their journey.

As dermatology nurses, we're dedicated to helping and supporting patients as we want to help ensure their experiences are positive ones and that everything is being done to improve their condition.

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Do you dodge black cats and cracks in the sidewalk? Throw salt over your shoulder and pop your umbrellas only outside? Would you fly out on Friday the 13 or postpone a vacation to a less spooky date? If you're feeling a little unlucky lately, we've got some suggestions.

Try your luck and rub up on a nose, some toes, a boob or some bums in the luckiest places in the world.

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1. Statue of Juliet in Verona, Italy

Venture to Verona to be lucky in love. The tradition states that those who visit "Juliet's House," a 14th-century property purchased by the city of Verona, will be blessed with good fortune in their romantic exploits if they rub the right breast of the bronze statue of Juliet. Poised beneath a balcony just like the fictional one in Shakespeare's play, the statue has been admired so earnestly that the city had to remove it and make a replica.

If you've been feeling stuck in a romantic rut, perhaps a visit to the idyllic courtyard is in order to reverse your fortune. (Although one might wonder exactly how lucky Juliet was herself -- let's not forget that "these violent delights have violent ends.")

2. Weeping Columns in Istanbul, Turkey

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The Weeping Columns in the Hagia Sofia are said to leak holy water. Visitors put a thumb in a hole on the column and if the finger comes out damp, the wish will be granted. Also called the Column of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, the site is said to have cured chronic ailments including blindness.

3. Crazy Girls sculpture in Las Vegas, Nevada

Flickr photo by Ronnie Macdonald

Vegas is, shockingly, home to a cheeky luck-seeking strategy. In a place where visitors are particularly preoccupied with their luck, the Crazy Girls sculpture is the site of gambler's reverence. The sculpture is apparently the most photographed in Vegas, and the bronze bums have been rubbed shiny by high-rolling hopefuls.

4. Laughing Buddha in Hangzhou, China

There seems to be an international consensus that rubbing body parts is the best way to get lucky. The same holds true when rubbing the belly of a laughing Buddha, which is said to bring good fortune, wealth and prosperity. That belief originated in the Lingyin Temple, a large monastery in Hangzhou, China. The Laughing Buddha that is considered to be particularly lucky is the one found in a series of rock carvings entitled, "The Peak that Flew Hither", found in a grotto just outside the temple entrance.

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5. Schoner Brunnen in Nuremburg, Germany

Schoner Brunnen (literally, "beautiful fountain") is a 14th-century fountain in Nuremberg's market, and one of the main attractions in the city's Historical Mile. The fence surrounding the fountain has two brass rings on either side which are said to bring good luck to those who spin them three times and make a wish.

6. Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy

One of the more famous spots on our list, it's estimated that 3,000 euros are thrown into the Trevi Fountain every day. Tradition dictates that coins are to be thrown over the left shoulder, using the right hand. Legend holds that a coin thrown into the fountain guarantees another visit to Rome. Those looking for love with a local should throw in two coins. For those who want real commitment: toss in three coins for a marriage. Even if you're not looking for love, the coins are collected every night and donated to a charity dedicated to helping those in need, so a couple extra coins couldn't hurt.

7. Blarney Stone in Cork, Ireland

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Our Deal Expert, Mike Duchesne, kissing the stone (we can attest to his success, he's got the gift of gab).

If it's eloquence you're seeking, the Blarney Stone should be the site of your next vacation. Tradition holds that a kiss upon the limestone block gives the kisser "the gift of gab." The legendary stone is built into the battlements of Blarney Castle, five miles from Cork, Ireland. To peck the stone, however, visitors must first climb to the castle's peak, then bend over backwards on the parapet's edge. Safeguards have been installed, though visitors often choose to be steadied by a friend as they aspire to eloquence. It is said that kissing the stone once entailed being dangled by the ankles.

8. Abraham Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, Illinois

The burial place of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois is home to a copper-nosed replica of the 16th president. Rubbing his schnoz is said to bring good luck, and as a result, it's a bit shinier than the rest of his mug. Every year, thousands of visitors rub the nose at the base of the tomb.

9. Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic

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After it was destroyed in a flood in 1342, a number of astrologers were tasked with the most auspicious way to rebuild the bridge. They chose a precise date and time (July 9 at 5:31 a.m.) to lay the first brick, and three lucky ingredients (eggs, milk, flour) were added to the mortar used for rebuilding. Evidently, it worked, because the bridge still stands, and a brass plaque is rubbed by tourists in the hopes of gaining a touch of luck.

10. Statue of St. John Nepomuk in Prague, Czech Republic

In Prague, it is said that touching the statue of Saint John of Nepomuk will bring luck, and a return to Prague. There is a cross with five stars at the site of his execution, also on Charles Bridge. You can make a wish when you tap the cross and stars with your left hand.

11. Winged Figures of the Republic in Boulder City, Nevada

Not far from Las Vegas, the "Winged Figures of the Republic" are iconic sculptures on the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam. The wings are 30 feet tall, the figures themselves are made from over four tonnes of bronze. Everything has been weathered to a green patina except for the toes of the figures, which have been left glowing from the hands of luck-seeking tourists.

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12. Il Porcelino in Florence, Italy

Our third lucky destination in Italy (perhaps the hapless ought to plan a tour) is a bronze fountain of a boar. Il Porcellino is Italian for "piglet," and visitors are meant to drop a coin in its jaws for luck, then rub the nose to ensure a trip back to Florence.

13. Fountain of Wealth in Suntec City, Singapore

The largest fountain in the world, the Fountain of Wealth is meant to give visitors a shot at luck and love. Built in strict accordance with feng shui principles, the fountain is meant to represent the ring in the palm of a hand, which guarantees the retention of wealth. During certain times of the day, the main fountain is turned off so guests may circle the smaller fountain in the centre. Visitors are meant to circle this fountain three times, keeping one hand on the water at all times.

Catherine Cunningham is a Travelzoo Deal Expert based in Toronto. Travelzoo has 250 deal experts from around the world who rigorously research, evaluate and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.

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The five things you need to know on Friday May 13, 2016

1) FOR FOX'S SAKE

The Tory infighting over Europe has reached such a pitch that its giving poor old Sir John Major headaches and blinding flashbacks. The Guardian reveals that in a speech tonight at the Oxford Union, the ex-PM will warn of long-term dangers as some of the Brexit leaders morph into Ukip, and turn to their default position: immigration.

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Major says the dangers are of long term divisions in our society, though its clear he also means theres a real risk to his partys community cohesion too. No.10 is acutely aware of the problem of how to heal the Tory party after June 23. And the Sun has a story on plans by David Cameron to use a reshuffle to reunify his party, with Liam Fox tipped as the favourite Brexiteer due a comeback, possibly replacing Grayling as Leader of the House.

Foxy turned down a junior role in 2014 but may be tempted by a return to Cabinet in what Craig Woodhouse says would be a reshuffle pencilled in for June 30. The Sun piece includes one rumour doing the rounds this week among Tory MPs: that Jeremy Hunt could be shunted to Transport. That would clear the way for Boris to take on a big brief, or for Nicky Morgan to move from Education (where again Boris could be installed).

One reason Fox is said to be in line for a reward is his measured tone so far in the Brexit debate. And hes long been close to George Osborne. Yet the Vote Leave camp are not very measured in their fury with the Treasury and Mark Carney after the Governors warning of Brexit-inspired recession yesterday.

IDS pointed out just how dire the Banks forecasts had been. At a breakfast yesterday, he also vented years of frustration with the Treasury, calling it the worst thing in Britain and demanding it be broken up. The average age in the Treasury is 27They have no collective memory for any agreement or decision that had been taken before they arrived at their desks.

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Christine Lagarde of the IMF is at the Treasury this morning to deliver her regular review of the UK economy. Sometimes at these events, the Chancellor appears alongside her. Will he today? And will either of them be asked about this eye-catching Express headline today: Meddling EU planning a BAN which could spell the end of sex toys and kinky underwear.

2) TELLY WELLY

MPs are off to their constituencies for more jolly Euro campaigning. But the message coming back from both Outers and Inners this week has been that the Brexit vote is hardening up. Some MPs in the Remain camp say that although the polls are pretty close, they compare it to the general election and claim that the underlying story is very different, that lots of In voters are being missed.

For some in No.10, the only point of the TV debates is to get soft Inners to finally commit to voting and voting Remain. The row over the ITV decision to invite Farage rumbled on yesterday, with John Whittingdale saying how he felt Downing Street had no right to dictate terms of who should represent the Vote Leave side. Boris says in his Spectator interview that Id look a bit of a wimp if I said no to a debate with Cameron. But the Telegraph also reports how he's furious at the Vote Leave threat that 'people in No.10 won't be there long' after June 23.

Strangely, no one has asked why Jeremy Corbyn isnt being included in the TV debates for the In camp. Today, the Labour leader hits the road again to target the youth vote in the referendum, and you can bet he likes the Eddie Izzard tour we revealed yesterday.

As for telly bias, some in team Corbyn were quietly (very quietly) pleased at Sir Michael Lyons line on Wato yesterday lunchtime: that some of the most senior editorial voices in the BBC have lost their impartiality about coverage of Corbyn. Without specifying what he meant, Lyons talked of some quite extraordinary attacks on the elected leader of the Labour party. Tony Hall called his allegations extraordinary in turn. Thats not the journalism I know, he said.

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3) EXES MARKS THE SPOT

The slow burn of the row over the Tory partys 2015 election expenses continues. Yesterday the Electoral Commission went public with a High Court move to compel the party to hand over key documents in its probe into alleged breaches of local spending limits in a swath of key constituencies.

The Tories did hand over the documents soon after the EC put out a press release. Many Tory MPs, and a few hacks, roll their eyes at the Channel 4 News stories, which suggest that battlebus and accommodation costs were not declared locally in key marginals. The defence seems to be this was all an admin error about not very much money. Yet its serious enough for several police forces across the land to be interested.

Today, the BBCs Ross Hawkins has a new line that there are now calls for a separate investigation into David Cameron letters sent out in the marginals, which dont name the candidate but do mention the constituency. Adrian Sanders, the defeated Lib Dem in Torbay, says that has to be a local cost not a national expense and is referring it to the cops. Gavin Millar QC was on Today making the case too.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

Watch the video of a mother and her mixed race daughter take on a racist in Bath.

4) ILL GET YOU BUTLER

Speaking of racism, theres more trouble for Trump, this time from his longtime former butler. Anthony Senecal, 84, had posted on Facebook calls for Barack Obama to be killed. This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term !!!!!

For good measure, Senecal said: Our current 'president' is a rotten filthy muzzle!!! And in another post he added: muzzie shits...are invading our country. Something tells me he may be in favour of Trumps travel ban.

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My favourite detail in this MotherJones.com story is Senecal was Trumps butler for 17 years - before Trump persuaded him to stay on as the in-house historian at the tycoon's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. He no longer works there, but its all kinda embarrassing.

5) GOODWINS LAW

Is this why the criminal law needs tightening up on financial misconduct? After a five-year inquiry, Fred Goodwin and senior executives involved in the 45 billion collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland will avoid criminal charges. There is insufficient evidence to charge them over RBSs 2008 rights issue, the Crown Office in Scotland concluded.

Fred famously lost his knighthood, but hes not lost his liberty. But another knight, Sir Vince Cable, says the lack of action is a serious injustice, and Unites Rob MacGregor says: It is staggering that eight years after the near implosion of RBS no one has faced criminal charges.

Iain Martin, the CapX website editor who has written a fascinating book on RBS and the financial crisis, has yet more material for an update.

COMMONS PEOPLE

Listen to our latest Commons People podcast. Lots on the local elections, Brexit, Sadiq Khan and corruption summits. Plus our usual ace quiz.

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If youre reading this on the web, sign-up HERE to get the WaughZone delivered to your inbox.
The public is being placed at greater risk of harm from the impacts of climate change because of failures in communication by newspapers and broadcasters, as well as the Government and researchers, according to evidence submitted to an influential group of UK Members of Parliament by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The submission, which I submitted to an inquiry on science communication by the House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology, points out that "a disappointingly large amount of inaccurate and misleading information about climate change is communicated to the public by the media".

The evidence states: "The vast over-representation of viewpoints from individuals and organisations that reject the scientific consensus may largely explain why such a large proportion of the public do not realise the extent of scientific consensus and hence do not share the conclusions of the consensus".

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For instance, a survey of a representative sample of British adults, carried out by ComRes for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit in September 2015, found that only 16 per cent agreed that "almost all", with a further 45 per cent choosing "a majority of", climate scientists "believe that climate change is mainly the result of human activities".

The survey also discovered that only 59 per cent agreed with the statement "Climate change is happening and is mainly caused by human activity", while 28 per cent agreed that "Climate change is happening but human activity is not mainly responsible for it".

And the 17th wave of the public attitudes tracking survey commissioned by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which was carried out in March 2016, found that only 43 per cent of a representative sample of the UK public agreed that climate change is entirely or mainly caused by human activity, with a further 41 per cent stating that climate change is partly caused by natural processes and partly caused by human activity.

My submission draws attention to the fact that the results of these opinion polls are in stark contrast to the extremely strong consensus among scientists that climate change is happening, is driven primarily by human activities, and poses severe risks if unmanaged, as demonstrated through the conclusions in 2014 of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, numerous surveys of peer-reviewed papers, such as Professor James Powell's analysis earlier this year, and the verdicts of national science academies and other major scientific institutions around the world, including a joint publication in 2014 by the UK's Royal Society and the United States National Academy of Sciences.

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The submission to the Committee also emphasises that the majority of the UK's national newspapers have adopted editorial lines on climate change that, to varying extents, promote the views of climate change 'sceptics'.

While the editorial line can often be detected in the choice and style of news stories about climate change, it is often more obvious in the commentaries that are published. Geoffrey Lean, the former environment correspondent of The Daily Telegraph, has drawn attention to the disproportionate number of columnists for UK newspapers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change.

This was clearly demonstrated last month after a group of peers, including Lord Stern, the Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, wrote a letter to the editor of The Times to highlight the damage he is causing to the newspaper's reputation by promoting climate change denial.

In response, Viscount Ridley, the hereditary peer and former Chair of Northern Rock bank who regularly disseminates inaccurate and misleading information about climate change in his column in The Times, accused the authors of the letter of trying to "shut down debate about the science of climate change".

This defensive tactic adopted by Viscount Ridley and his fellow campaigners at the Global Warming Policy Foundation, such as Charles Moore, not only misrepresents the concept of press freedom, but also tries to obscure how unscientific and intellectually feeble the arguments of climate change 'sceptics' really are.

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Newspapers such as The Times are supposed to be bound by the Editors' Code of Practice, which states: "The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text".

However, this self-regulation code is routinely disregarded by the editors of The Times and other newspapers who allow false information to be disseminated to the public, apparently on the grounds that bogus claims, not matter how demonstrably inaccurate and misleading, can be classified as 'a point of view'.

Moreover, the modern scientific method is based on exposing claims to the rigorous test of experimentation and observation, and those that fail are allowed to die. Climate change 'sceptics' have been shown over and over again to be wrong about the science, as well as the economics and politics, yet they demand that their zombie arguments should be allowed to live on for the sake of 'free speech'.

It is time for the editors of The Times and other newspapers that champion the views of climate change 'sceptics' to start putting the interests of their readers first.
Flesh and pleasure made its name, but in 1956 there was a lot more to a place that, in modern times, has all but vanished.

From Britain on Film available at BFI Player

Sunshine in Soho (1956) is part of Britain on Film, celebrating UK places that mean the world to you.

1. Berwick Street Market

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2. Algerian Coffee Stores Ltd, Old Compton Street. Opened in 1887 and still thriving, it was started by a Mr Hassan and is now run by the Crocetta family, who have been there since 1948.

3. The York Minster, also known as 'The French' and now The French House, 49 Dean Street.

4. Inside the kitchens at Ristorante Isola Bella, 15 Frith Street. The premises are currently a burger restaurant.

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5. Soho Square.

6. The annual Soho Fair, with floats and a pageant. Here are the representatives of the Visual Arts Club Models, 12 Soho Square. Set up by the artist Jean Straker, it allowed photography and sketching classes that included 'modern nudes'. Straker fell foul of the Obscene Publications Act in the 1960s, but defended his work with vigour and, on one occasion, poetry:

Cover girls are meant to draw

The eyes, and pence from pockets;

Those uncovered often score

A pride of place in lockets.

7. Soho Fair, 1st Prize winners for best float.

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8. Taking bets on the annual Waiters' Race.

9. And they're off!

10. Holding a half-bottle of champagne and two glasses, they had to do a circuit of Soho Square then hurl themselves down Greek Street.

11. The 1956 winner, Robert Taylor.

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12. Victor Berlemont, proprietor of the York Minster, aka 'The French' and now The French House. He was the first foreigner to be granted a full pub licence in England. His son Gaston (born in the pub) took over in 1951 and retired on Bastille Day 1989, when Dean Street was officially closed, and the revels lasted all night.

13. Golden Square, as Italia Conti students put on a show. In the background is the world's first specialist hospital for diseases of the throat. It's currently the offices of Clear Channel, an advertising business.

14. An all-male queue for The Windmill, which featured tableaux vivants (of static naked females), dodging the censor's rule that "if you moved, it's rude". There were comedians too - a thankless task - and the rota included Tony Hancock, Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, Bruce Forsyth, Tommy Cooper and Barry Cryer.

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15. Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus.

16. Peggy Ashcroft caught at the stage door.

17. Gallery One, 20 D'Arblay Street. It was run by Victor Musgrave, who, in the words of French postmodernist Yves Klein, "had a busy fantasy life" involving some of Soho's more familiar workers. Colin MacInnes, who went on to write Absolute Beginners, lived upstairs.

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18. Brian Robins, artist by day and gas lamp-lighter by night.

19. Inside The Mandrake Club, 4 Meard Street. Co-owned by Teddy Turner and Boris Protopopov ("a huge, taciturn unkempt Bulgarian", according to author Barry Miles). The bar cashed cheques, but half the amount had to be spent behind the bar - the perfect service for regulars like Julian Maclaren-Ross, who did not have a bank account.

20. The day ends at Les Enfants Terribles, 93 Dean Street. It was run by Betty Passes, who has a claim to be the inventor of disco, having pioneered the idea of dancing to records at her premises in 1957.

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The film and stills on the page are taken from Sunshine in Soho (1956). It shows the thriving and truly cosmopolitan community: Italian delis, French patisseries, models and Greek-Cypriot cafes jostled for space alongside jazz bars.

We see models from 'Visual Arts Club' strut their stuff in the parade, as waiters from local restaurants compete in a race through streets where the remnants of wartime bomb damage can still be glimpsed. Many of the locations - Old Compton Street's Algerian coffee store; Berwick Street market - still exist (for now) but the increasingly dull commercialism of the area today and the accelerating rate of gentrification make this a film to cherish - and for 21st century activists, a call to action perhaps...

The film is part of the BFI's Britain on Film project. It is an archive of films from across the UK. Some 10,000 film and TV titles from 1895 to now will be digitised and can be watched for free on BFI Player.

This article was originally published on the BFI website.
David Cameron has been talking up the impact of the anti-corruption summit that he chaired on 12 May. A look at the summit's communique reveals just how hard it is to get everyone to talk the same language.

Representatives from over 40 countries met in London on 12 May with a view to coming up with a coherent international strategy for tackling corruption. The communique that has come out of the summit is not short on hopes and expectations, but a look at the details reveals a disappointing lack of agreement on how precisely to move the agenda forward. There is a clear preference for stressing the importance of many existing initiatives - the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), for example, gets 11 mentions, whilst the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pops up 5 times - and for insisting that better co-operation, treating corruption as a top priority and showing a greater resolve to root out corruption practices will help mitigate corruption's effects.

But we know from previous experience that statements of intent alone don't get us very far. The UNCAC and initiatives such as the OECD's anti-bribery convention have been around for a long time, and yet the evidence that anything has substantially changed as a result is, at best, contested. That is not the fault of the institutions that oversee these initiatives, it is the responsibility of governments who haven't been able to do justice to their laudable aims.

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Eric Pickles, the UK's anti-corruption champion, claimed at a pre-summit event at the Commonwealth Secretariat on 11 May, that the leaking of the Panama Papers was a game-changer. Yet the communique released on 12 May shows how difficult it is going to be to get everyone not just singing from a new hymn sheet, but also recognising that a new song is indeed even necessary.

The attempt to improve transparency over who actually owns, and profits from, companies ('beneficial ownership') has noticeable caveats. Signatories might well claim that information will be "collected, available and fully accessible" but it will only be available "to those who have a legitimate need for it". This "may include" public registers. Bet your bottom dollar it won't in places that see secrecy as part of their business model.

The current international framework continues to be lauded, even though it is clear that it has not been up to the task thus far. FATF and the Global Forum on Transparency and the Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, for example, have been tasked with developing "initial proposals" that will help to "improve the implementation of international standards on transparency". This is not game-changer territory.

The much vaunted attempts to make the life of the facilitators of corruption - the lawyers, the accountants, the estate agents, the other providers of professional services - more difficult also sound depressingly sterile. The signatories are going to "work with each other and the private sector" to drive these middle men out. How? We don't know. Sport, too, gets a couple of paragraphs, but simply to state that national and international governing bodies need to do more to "implement high standards of transparency and good governance". In other news, the resident of the Vatican continues to be Catholic.

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Where there are concrete commitments, it is also not clear how they will affect change. The new 'International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre' sounds encouraging, but it is not clear how it will work other than "worki[ing] closely with relevant international and national organisations". The proposed 'Global Asset Recovery Forum' also sounds promising, particularly as it will be focussed on helping Nigeria, Ukraine, Tunisia and Sri Lanka in helping get stolen assets returned. Again though, more on how it will do this needs to be forthcoming.
If you never know what you are going to get from Woody Allen, a director who writes notes on an old typewriter which do not always translate into great movies, the same could be said for the Cannes Festival's opening films. Sometimes you just have to look away towards the bigger fish of the competition and hope like hell.

This time, however, most people were satisfied with Cafe Society, which sets itself in the Golden Age of Hollywood, is wonderfully shot by Vittorio Storaro, one of the best cinematographers around, and tells the story of a young nightclub manager (Jesse Eisenberg) who goes from gauche young man to disillusioned veteran largely because of a broken heart.

There are echoes of Crimes and Misdemeanors here. But the film never quite reaches those considerable heights.

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Maybe because Allen is now 80, and still plagued by his son Ronan Farrow who has reasserted old charges of sexual abuse and doesn't much care for the way Cannes celebrates his father, the film's tone is ironic rather than acid where Hollywood is concerned.

It is almost as if Allen is ambivalent about what fame and celebrity does to you and, while appreciating the upside, knows about the downside pretty well.

Cafe Society, lest we forget, may be a minor strut in the large Allen canon but it has been made by one of the most fluent directors in America and, for that reason alone, is worth savouring. Add the excellent performances from Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart as the object of his love, and you get a decent essay on love, guilt and, above all, fate.
Full Fact is an independent, non-partisan factchecking organisation. We provide free information so that anyone can check the claims we hear from politicians and the media. This blog first appeared here

Last night's Question Time was in Aberdeen. On the panel were Conservative secretary of state for Scotland David Mundell MP, the SNP's minister for Europe Humza Yousaf MSP, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale MSP, former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars and editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek magazine Merryn Somerset Webb.

We checked their claims on Scottish public attitudes, election results, immigration and jobs.

Scottish public attitudes

"We do have social attitudes studies going back for years which show us that in fact Scotland is just as conservative with a small c as the rest of the country and when it comes to things like welfare, taxation, etc, they respond in exactly the same way as the rest of the UK."--Merryn Somerset Webb

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Scotland is more social democratic in outlook than England, although the differences are "modest at best" according to a specific report on the question by NatCen Social Research (the people behind the surveys Ms Webb refers to).

Comparing the British and Scottish Social Attitudes surveys, the researchers found that people in Scotland were slightly more concerned than English respondents about income inequality, and slightly more in support of tax and spending, but concern for both had been falling over the last decade.

On the EU, polls have found people in Scotland are more likely to be in favour of remaining in the EU.

Polls in the past month have shown variations of 48-66% of Scots want to stay in the EU, and 18-35% want to leave. That compares to a much more neck and neck result for the UK as a whole , with 38-53% reporting they want to stay, and 34-50% reporting they want to leave. The remainder are people who have not made up their mind yet.

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Scottish Parliament election

"Anybody who thinks that somehow or other we have had a great Tory victory, go and look at the results"--Jim Sillars

The Scottish Conservatives won a total of 31 seats from a possible 129 during the recent Scottish Parliament election.

This is an increase of 16 MSPs since the last election in 2011 and 13 more than at any time since Devolution in 1999.

These 129 seats are voted for in two ways. 73 of these are individual constituencies while the rest are regional seats which are voted for on the basis of parties rather than candidates.

The Scottish Conservatives won more regional seats than any other party, with 24 elected. In the constituency lists it won the second most number of seats, behind the SNP, with 7 elected. So, it gained most of its seats in the regional vote.

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Its regional vote share was 22.9% and its constituency share was 22%.

Immigrants and wages

"Do you believe that the number of immigrants that come in under the EU regulations has pushed wages down for people already living in Britain?"--David Dimbleby

"There is not enough evidence on this to say absolutely but yes I think it probably is true to a degree"--Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb is right to suggest there's no definitive evidence on this topic. Studies in the past have disagreed over whether there's a positive or negative impact of overall immigration on the wages of UK workers, partly because they use different methods to estimate the answer.

But studies do tend to agree that the impact is small, particularly with immigrants from otherEU countries.

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The impact isn't the same for everybody: lower-wage workers are more likely to be negatively affected than higher earners.

The Migration Advisory Committee, which advises the government, said in a recent review:

"We conclude that overall the impacts found are modest and tend to be positive at the top of the wage distribution and negative at the bottom. As we would expect workers in low-skilled jobs to be at the bottom end of the wage distribution, this suggests that the negative impact is likely to fall on those working in low-skilled jobs."

Jobs in Scotland

"330,000 people here in Scotland have jobs partially dependent on membership of the EU"--David Mundell MP

There's no evidence that these jobs are dependent on British membership of the EU.

The estimates look at how many jobs are linked to exports to the EU, and we don't know how these exports, and so the associated jobs, would be affected if the UK were no longer an EU member.

Around 330,000 is an old estimate by economic consultancy CEBR which has since been revised. It told us the most up to date figures on this come from the Treasury, which suggest about 250,000 jobs in Scotland are linked to trade with the rest of the EU.

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This includes both how many jobs are in industries that export to the EU, and jobs that come about indirectly as a result of exporters' increased demand for products and their workers' wages.

What happens to exports if we leave depends on the trading and other economic arrangements made in negotiations after a vote to leave.
It has long been evident that the referendum on 23 June is about whether Britain's membership of the European Union should be maintained regardless of the deal David Cameron struck with the EU member countries on 19 February 2016. As such, the questions facing unions and their members are even more profound and searching than could have been expected.

Compared to the referendum on Scottish independence, it at least gave a greater element of choice where the independence option offered the prospect - no matter how contested - that some degree of social progress could be made in Scotland after it became independent. The starkness of the binary choice where the options for unions are about which one is least worse has added to the difficulties unions face in deciding what approach to take when it has been evident for many years that the tone and terrain of the debate as well as the call for a referendum itself has been set by the right (and specifically an ideological struggle within the Conservative Party).

With the exception of three unions (ASLEF, BFAWU, RMT) which are for 'Brexit' and the NUT which decided not to take a positon, every other union that has so far taken a position is for remaining. These unions declaring support for 'Bremain' have made their support critical and conditional upon arguing for a return of the social dimension of the EU so that the advance of neo-liberalism and deregulation, it is hoped, can be halted and reversed.

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Moreover, these unions fear that if Britain was to leave a number of workers' rights would be lost as the political forces set to benefit from a vote to leave would be those favouring the ending of various social rights. In other words, the forces of neo-liberalism would be strengthened, being right wing Tories and UKIP.

By contrast, the unions campaigning for 'Brexit' cite that the social dimension of the EU has already been made worthless by the tightening grip of neo-liberalism within the EU and the only way to break out of its control is to leave the EU. They cite the pressure to privatise public services, the enforcement of austerity programmes (especially in regard of Greece) and the undermining of the right to strike amongst these, and state that the vast majority of workers' rights in Britain exist separately from those provided by the EU, namely, that they are national laws derived from developments separate from the EU.

The challenge for unions arguing for a 'yes' or 'no' is three-fold. First, to get their voices heard amongst their own members given the awarding of official campaign 'yes' and 'no' status to groups dominated by business interests and the resources these groups have. Second, and following the outcome of the referendum, to try to hold the victors to the reasons why union members voted for a particular outcome given that both leave and remain camps comprise groups with different and divergent reasons for achieving the same result in the referendum. Third, the debate on employment and the economy will be restricted in practice to whether there are more or less jobs available if Britain leaves or stays rather than any discussion about the quality of these jobs, their pay or whether they are unionised or not.

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But underlying this is a much more fundamental challenge for both sides - this is to explain how voting one way or the other will strengthen the rights of workers when the victors, whether the result is stay or leave, will be the right-wing political forces that are hostile to workers and their unions. This needs explaining because it is patently obvious that neither those in the unions favouring staying nor those leaving are in a sufficiently powerful position to influence the respective campaigns and camps nor help determine the political settlements after 23 June no matter which way the vote goes.

Thus, if there was to be a leave vote, neo-liberalism and the neo-liberal state would not be weakened for those forces that would be dominant from the 24 June onwards are in favour of further deregulation of the labour market with the exception of migration controls and legislation to further weaken unions. If there is a vote to stay, Cameron, Osborne et al. will be boosted in their project to shrink the state and social wage along with opening up more opportunities for businesses and implementing the components of the Trade Union Act 2016.

This suggests that the most crucial issue underlying the debate on the EU and workers' rights is a very old one, namely, how do unions build power and leverage in an increasingly globalised capitalist world.
As an ordinary British citizen similar to the 16% of the voters unsure whether they should support Britain staying in the European Union or join the camp of the anti-EU people like Boris Johnson, or like the 40% of the voters who would not want to change Britain's status quo without compelling reason, you probably have no idea why you were suddenly proposed to vote on "Brexiting". What such terrible things have happened since 1975, or could happen now. should you, after all, chose to vote to remain a member of the European Family? Many representatives of British big business do not understand why Britain would even contemplate leaving the EU, given all the economic privileges it receives from the membership, such as moving goods, capital, services and people rather freely across the world. They claim that the benefits that Britain gains from such a free trade regime are much higher than the estimated 18 billion paid to Brussels annually for Britain's membership in the organization. The Central London property market is also reacting to a Brexit speculative effect, with big investors being hesitant to buy new properties in such a risky economic environment, to say the least. French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron warned, for example, that as a result of Brexit, "Britain would struggle to regain access to the EU's single market and would lose its negotiating power in talks to protect its ailing steel industry from Chinese competition". Macron was immediately supported by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble who was being more frank by famously saying that "Berlin would be a tough negotiator if the UK voted to leave the EU and that there would be no easy trade deal between the two". And why the devil would Mr. Cameron shoot himself in the foot anyway, by announcing the June referendum after it turns out that, despite having risked a hung parliament and been subjected to an enormous pressure from the Scots in May 2015, the Tories had won a decisive parliamentary majority?

It may be much easier to understand the fuss over the upcoming referendum, though, if you are David Cameron. Indeed, Cameron managed to form the first Conservative majority government since 1992, with the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) having become the third most popular force in the British parliament after the Tories and the Scots. Yet UKIP currently constitutes the leading British force in the European Parliament, where Laborites and Conservatives rank only second and third, thus illustrating how powerful the phenomenon of Nigel Farage actually is across the country. Hating this fact does not make it any less truthful, hence the reaction such as that of Mr. Schauble.

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Right wing sentiments have become even more profound when it turned out that many people in the Prime Minister's own party, not to mention the Cabinet, joined the pro-Brexit campaign. "The European Union, despite the undoubted idealism of its founders and the good intentions of so many leaders, has proved a failure on so many fronts," or "The euro has created economic misery for Europe's poorest people. European Union regulation has entrenched mass unemployment. EU immigration policies have encouraged people traffickers and brought desperate refugee camps to our borders" are just a few comments on behalf of the UK's acting Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove reflecting the most popular Eurosceptic ideas in Britain. It is difficult to assume that London's official position can be any different from that of the Lord Chancellor. But then it has also been evident, at least for any other member of the European Union, that Britain was already exempt from the euro and Schengen areas at the time of negotiating the recent EU-UK deal, and that the encouraging references to ever-closer union in the European Treaties did not apply to the UK per se. The newly agreed EU-UK deal only reinforced the existing rules. As regards illegal immigration and other security related issues that Europe is currently faced with, they constitute a purely moral and humanitarian dilemma as every European state has its own immigration regulations that are generally compatible with the Union laws, including those on welcoming individuals who present threat to public security. Therefore, blaming the European Union regulations for the sharp rise in crime rates or the number of unwanted migrants, who apparently do not enter the European countries from outer space, means to shift one's own responsibility onto Brussels. Britain has even been exempt from the proposed financial pay-off clause of the European Commission's "Dublin asylum regulation", which urges the countries to pay 250,000 for every relocated asylum seeker that they refuse to take.

Nevertheless, the fears exist that, were the United Kingdom to leave the European Union altogether, Germany would automatically become Europe's single hegemon. Whether such an assumption is well founded is a good question, since it has long been reported that Angela Merkel was expecting the British Prime Minister to support her ambitious project of creating a single European army in return for his renegotiating of Britain's position and privileges as a full pledged member of the European Union. Peter Foster and his colleagues from the British newspaper The Telegraph were able to access the paper drawn up by Europe and Defense policy committees of Merkel's party that calls for a permanent EU military headquarters, combined weapons procurement and a shared military doctrine. According to some reports, these initiatives include relaxing Germany's restrictions about deploying troops in peacetime within the country, introduced after 1945 when Germans pledged to turn away from militarism. But in the words of Tory MP Sir Bill Cash, "Britain had fought Germany in two world wars to keep its freedoms and was not going to surrender them to a German-run Brussels now".

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There is another aspect where David Cameron may view Germany as a competitive force. It has to do with the German Chancellor's supportive statements on the new Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), which could reportedly boost the EU and U.S. economies by $100 billion annually each. Prior to visiting Germany in April 2016, the U.S. president Barack Obama praised Angela Merkel as "courageous" over her refugees' policy and stressed that the Chancellor was one of his closest partners and a friend. In his interview to the Bild newspaper, Obama said: "Germany remains one of America's closest and strongest allies - an indispensable partner not only for our own security and those of our NATO allies, but also for the security, the prosperity and the dignity of people across the whole world", adding: "With Chancellor Merkel, Germany has raised the stakes and plays an even bigger role on the international stage". He particularly stressed Merkel's strong leadership in maintaining European unity in the face of the Ukrainian crisis. And while it is commonly believed that the U.S. enjoys a "special relationship" with Britain, Germany has become Washington's "indispensable partner", whose credibility only grows further under Merkel. One can, of course, question how wise was Merkel's idea of welcoming hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East to Germany amid the Syrian turmoil, but Berlin definitely proved to be a reliable and compassionate partner in the eyes of Washington - no global American initiative has ever been resisted by Germany since after the Iraq war, when the former Chancellor Gerhard Schroder resisted the U.S. and UK led multinational military invasion of Baghdad. During the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Germany was called a "partnership in leadership". Even during the most recent diplomatic scandal between the two countries, when the C.I.A. was famously accused of spying on the German government, including on Merkel herself, the Chancellor's reaction was quite unique: "Viewed with good common sense, spying on friends and allies is a waste of energy. In the Cold War it may have been the case that there was mutual mistrust. Today, we live in the 21st century". She insisted that Germany and the U.S. remain close partners and that "nothing about this will change". It is enough to listen to the statements by some British politicians in the wake of Obama's recent visit to London, viewed by many in Britain as Washington's intervention in the referendum debate, to see how different the U.S. special partner may presumably view the Washington-London relationship in the light of Merkel's increasing influence on Brussels and the transatlantic dynamic.
With only a couple of days to go before the 'Heads Together' launch, I find myself wondering what this will all bring, what kind of dent will this collaboration make with the issue which faces CALM. Seventy-six per cent of all suicides are male.

Nationally only 29 people in every 100 correctly identify suicide as the single biggest killer of all men. We've 8.5 people on the helpline every night, providing phone and webchat. This time next year, what will this picture look like? How will we have moved the dial?

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Yesterday the Duke of Cambridge welcomed the launch of our 'Coalface Coalition', with representation from Roads, Rail, Police, Fire, Ambulance and RNLI, Samaritans and Lynx. The ambition is to work upstream - or in normal language to try and tackle the source of the issue.

We want to enable guys to support each other early on, which calls for creating social change. The plan is that working together we come up with both online support, and crucially a campaign, in which we pull in the rest of society to support it. So no small ambition. But then it's a formidable group with formidable expertise.

As it was the launch was covered on a number of national broadcast agencies - but it was light-touch. Nationally, despite the devastation caused by every suicide - to the friends, family, colleagues and all those working 'at the coalface', the topic has yet to make it as a central public issue. Which it should be. With an average of 12 men a day, according to published figures, male suicide costs the country 20million PER DAY. A cost which excludes suicide attempts. So the leading killer of men under 45 in the UK and eye-wateringly expensive. But it barely makes it as a serious 'news' story.

Let's not be grudging, it did make it into the news.

What do I hope for the year ahead? What could be more exciting than to think about cracking the stigma surrounding suicide? His mum took the stigma out of AIDS. This is no less of an issue, and no less tough. Suicide, and particularly male suicide, sits as one of the top three leading killers of men in most countries around the world, if not number one. To date few people have been willing to lead on this issue. But when the attempts have been made, like Professor Green, in his documentary Suicide and Me, the response has been overwhelming. So I reckon it could be done. No pressure.

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Just talking about suicide won't in itself make the difference. Nor will it help just to tell guys to 'talk'. We need to go further. To nail this one we have to make the notion of masculinity bigger, more inclusive, more tolerant. Strong and silent is the definition of a doormat, and frankly it's pretty limiting and offensive.

As a woman I love the fact that I'm able to define what I am by... well, what I am. If men are to talk, are to reach out, are to insist that they can be fallible, and still be a man, then we have to challenge a concept of masculinity which leads men to thinking there's only one door when things go wrong.
Junior doctors from across the country will gather in London this weekend for the BMA's annual junior doctor conference. They meet at an unprecedented time in the history of the NHS when the challenges facing this great institution have never been more acute. The NHS is, in many ways, a victim of its own success. People are living longer, advances in medicine mean that illnesses which were once considered a death sentence can, thankfully, now be treated and managed. The result is a rising and aging population with greater healthcare needs, and a health service that is desperately struggling to keep up. This is compounded by an enormous funding gap - 22bn - and worrying shortage of staff in many GP surgeries and hospitals wards across the country. On almost every front, the NHS is being asked to deliver more, with less. Less money, fewer staff, more patients. You don't need to be a genius to work out this isn't sustainable and that something has got to give.

This is the backdrop for what has been a difficult and fraught dispute between junior doctors and the government on proposals for a new contract. Junior doctors have finally reached a tipping point. Their message to the government throughout this year has been clear: you can only stretch us so far before we break. Since January, tens of thousands of junior doctors have taken to picket lines across England. We have seen the first full walk-out of doctors in the NHS. Junior doctors have agonised over the choice between disrupting patients and protecting future patient care. We are part of a history we didn't wanted to make, but never before has the profession united with such solidarity and passion. Why? Because desperate times call for desperate measures and for the sake our patients as much as ourselves, this contract is too important to get wrong.

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The contract determines how safely and sustainably junior doctors work. It determines obvious things like pay and working hours, and also less obvious but no less important things such as the quality of doctors' working lives and the quality of their training. I would not want my family to be treated by an exhausted doctor, and nor would I want them treated by one who feels devalued and demotivated. Doctors' training can last up to a decade after medical school - a significant chunk of a doctor's working life. They remain under the junior doctor contract for that time, so changes to their contact have a lasting impact.

It's worrying, if not surprising, that such a high number of junior doctors - almost one in three - have considered leaving the profession. To lose a large swath of doctors at the beginning of their career would be a disaster for the NHS. This is why the BMA has fought so vigorously to agree a contract that will deliver for patients as well as junior doctors not just today, but tomorrow and into the future.

Talks began again last week and will continue into next week, and any offer that emerges will be put to a vote of junior doctors. I believe there is a genuine willingness on both sides to reach a negotiated end to this dispute. The principle underpinning the BMA's position during talks has been to agree a safe and fair contract, one that does not discriminate against any group. One that ensures we can recruit and retain the doctors needed to meet rising demand and ensure the NHS can continue to deliver a world class service. We fully support patients having access to the best possible care, seven-day a week and we already work around the clock to provide this. Despite what some have said, we are not the enemy of government. Doctors in this country will work with all political parties and government to improve the working lives of frontline NHS staff and in so doing improve the care that patients receive. A motivated, valued workforce is vital for the NHS and we will do our part with government to achieve that goal.

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Election results are the political equivalent of medical scans. They provide copious information while leaving plenty of scope for the commentators to decide what is important and what is not. Which of the results is a symptom of a tectonic movement? Which, on the other hand, merely shows that a candidate has irritated his or her supporters who have reacted by staying at home?

Down here in London most of the attention was focused on the campaign for mayor. Mr Khan won and the reasons for that are fairly obvious. It isn't just that London is usually a Labour city, something demonstrated at the last general election, but rather that Mr Khan proved to be the stronger of the two main candidates. He resisted the temptation to make personal attacks (oh dear, what can Mr Goldsmith's strategists have been thinking of there? Everyone knows that the public loaths such tactics) but he also gave the impression of having a little more weight. Certainly he will have no difficulty in working with a Tory government, and then there is the bonus. That the moderate son of Pakistani immigrants can achieve such an office sends just the right message to the Muslim community.

Still, welcome though the result may have been, it is hardly a major shifting of the political geology. Nor indeed were the English Council results or even those in Wales. Yes, it is true that UKIP picked up some seats in the Welsh Assembly but that is surely a by-blow of the Referendum debate rather than anything more fundamental. No, to find something psephologically interesting, you have to look at Scotland and the fact that the Conservatives, under their charismatic leader Ruth Davidson, have pushed Labour into third place at Holyrood.

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Politics in Scotland is changing and at the root of the change is the price of oil. The Scots are financially sophisticated and they cannot but realise the effect which the fall in that price has had on the viability of independence. In the period just before the 2014 poll the price of crude was $115 per barrel and their projections for the national finances were drawn on that basis. It is now down at $43 and, although it may come back a bit, its price will forever be capped by the ability of the West to obtain energy from fracking. So that's "Bye, Bye, PetroScotland" and back to a country which can only preserve its standard of living on the basis of subventions from south of the border.

None of this is news to the SNP, although you cannot blame them for being a little disingenuous about the issue, as independence from England is their raison d'etre. So they continue to chunter on about independence as an aspiration, and after all who knows what opportunities a Brexit vote might throw up, while settling down to the day job of getting the best position for Scotland that is attainable within the union?

The interesting question is where this has left Labour. Having seen their vote slip away to the SNP against the background of the Scottish Referendum, they now find that, because they and the SNP are both leftward leaning and chase many of the same objectives, they have no lever for getting it back again. Suppose that the SNP gradually moves away from independence. Yes, a bow here and there towards Robert the Bruce and a tear in the eye on the anniversary of Bannockburn, but in reality becoming a left of centre party devoted to good government. Why would the left-leaning voters go back to the party which ignored them for so many years? And for those Scots, and there must be many of them, who are appalled at how close to an unfinanceable breakaway Scotland came, there is a resurgent Tory party. The natural way of British politics is to have one party of the left and one of the right with a number of also-rans, and Labour seem to have cut themselves out of the main competition. Although nothing is forever (as Ruth Davidson has demonstrated), it could take them a very long time to recover.

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Like good doctors we should complete our survey of political movement by looking beyond the graphs and figures for symptoms of unease. The tension within Labour is all too well documented with Mr Corbyn looking out from a fortress built on an impregnable foundation of activist support as his enemies struggle to find a way onto the battlements. It is all quite exciting in a "Game of Thrones" kind of way but at least it is comprehensible. That is more than can be said of much of the programme being pursued by the government.

The odd thing here isn't the EU debate (we all know how they got trapped into that) but the quarrels they pick on the side. What possessed them, for example, to try to convert all schools to academies? After all, they already have power to convert those which are failing, and to start changing the status of the rest is a mere moving of the deckchairs on the ship of state education. Yes, it may be tidier but surely they should have consulted, if only with their own supporters. Now they have had to backtrack.

When Mr Osborne addressed the Westminster journalists recently he joked about a new rule, saying, "It is called the 5:2. After two out of every five Budgets, I eat some of my own words". The backtracking on academies is an example (the original policy was announced by the Chancellor at this year's Budget), but it isn't just Mr Osborne. The Government has a way of announcing things which are not fully thought through, Andrew Lansley's health reforms being an obvious example.

So why do they do it? One could put it down to thrusting ministers trying to make names for themselves but I suspect there is something more fundamental than that and that much of the hyperactivity comes from a belief that a government must maintain forward momentum if it is to succeed.

In theory there is much to be said for this. Governments with momentum develop a teflon-like ability to throw off minor problems. Who cares if an MP claimed the price of his duck house if a serious attempt is being made to solve the problems of the NHS? Take a government which is not driving forward, however, and like the shipwreck so vividly described in "Jaws", it soon becomes a ring of people flailing in the water with the sharks removing them one by one. That is the conventional wisdom and usually, I think, it is right. What happens, though, when the government is involved in titanic struggles to get the deficit down and to deal with Europe? Does it still need an aggressive program or do those struggles provide it with sufficient momentum on their own?

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I suspect that the answer to the last question is "yes". The recent election results show that the public is prepared to cut the government quite a lot of slack despite its to-ing and fro-ings and that must be because they appreciate the difficulty of the big issues it is wrestling with. If that is right, the best advice to ministers must be to slow up, relax a bit more, get up later in the morning and spend more time with the family.
Everyone knows that the UK is rapidly approaching a point where it needs to make some pretty difficult decisions about cultural identity and geopolitics. And then after the Eurovision Song Contest finals on Saturday, it's going to have to deal with the EU referendum.

I'm pretty passionate about Eurovision. Beyond the spandex, the wind machines and the occasional great tune, there's also a real sense of it being a participatory spectacle that goes beyond borders. There's very few instances of mass popular culture that directly relates the UK population to its continental cousins and a sense of being part of mainland Europe. So for myself and a group of four other friends, it felt like a really natural fit to hatch a plot to harness the Eurovision finals as a means to get people thinking about their referendum vote, and more importantly, make sure people are registered to vote.

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As plans go, it's pretty simple. Like Bucks Fizz, we were concerned that people didn't "let your indecision, take you from behind." So over the course of the week via the What's your Euro Vision? website we've been encouraging people to sign up to a thunderclap, which is an automated mass social media moment, rather than a particularly unpleasant STD. in the space of 140 characters, we've managed to cram in references to Bucks Fizz, Sweden's 2012 winner Loreen and this year's UK entry Joe and Jake - all of it enticing people to make sure they're registered to vote for the referendum. At the moment the social reach of that message is over a million people and rising steadily - and that's on top of the massive traffic on the night of the Eurovision hashtag itself.

Eurovision is a bit like the Bible - it's always possible to tease out something that supports your own agenda. But the more we started to trawl through its sequined oeuvre for references and content related to the referendum, the more apparent it became that national pride as well as participation in a European identity were two recurring themes in the history of the competition. And that playoff between those two themes seemed relevant in asking people what their vision of Europe was in the context of the big EU decision.

We're primarily concerned in our project with making sure that more people vote - 6.6 million people in the UK watched the Eurovision finals last year, and many pundits are concerned about a low turn out for the referendum. But we're also transparent about the fact that we have a particular vision for Europe. A vision whereby we stay in to address international problems like climate change and tax injustice that require international solutions. A Europe that strengthens and extends protections for the environment, consumer standards and workers' rights, and where refugees fleeing war and conflict were offered sanctuary.

That vision, laid out in The Radical Case to Remain and articulated by groups like Another Europe is Possible, might sound as cheesy and idealistic as your standard Latvian power ballad, but it's certainly a vision worth fighting for. Of the five of us that put together the What's Your Euro Vision? website, two of us are from Italy and Denmark, and two of us have partners from EU countries outside of the UK. We're grateful for the privilege to live and work and love across borders like that.

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Brexiters and Lexiters alike would decry this Euro Vision as hopelessly naive, and they have a point. The EU is rife with corporate lobbyists who are trying to foist free-market fundamentalism on us all through the trade deal with the US, and the EU's recent militarised response to Syrian refugees is particularly shameful. But as things stand in the UK, I have more faith in addressing such issues aligned with much more progressive forces in Europe.

While that Euro vision of hope is speculative and optimistic, the vision I have of what a successful 'leave' vote would mean politically is bleakly certain. As much as I respect the position of many of the people raising criticisms of the EU, a vote to leave would inevitably be characterised as a victory for the right, for xenophobia and the increasing Faragian tendencies in society. My husband is Spanish and has lived in the UK for over 20 years, but in the last year or two has started entertaining a previously unthinkable prospect that the UK is becoming a place that makes him feel uncomfortable as a migrant and a foreigner. And a Brexit result in the referendum would be another definite step in that direction.
al-Kammouneh camp in the aftermath of the airstrike (photo c/o The Guardian)

If (or rather when), as seems likely, it is confirmed that last Thursday's airstrike upon al-Kammouneh refugee camp near Sarmada, Syria, was the work of Assad's forces, the shape of the Syrian situation will be shifted definitively. A refugee camp constitutes no material gains, no strategic advantage - and to target one represents a shift away from oppositional combat towards generalised destruction. An attack can no longer be called warfare when it has no concrete objective and is carried out not against an armed enemy or even on contested territory, but upon a group of destitute, broken victims of actual warfare.

The people killed, injured and bereft by the airstrike are impartial, impotent bystanders - not of benefit or detriment to either side, but running from the weapons of both. The mentality of this strike, and the lesson we can take from it, is more sinister even than indiscriminate carpet bomb attacks and intentional strikes on hospitals in rebel-held territory, subscribing to a mentality of "my enemy's doctor is also my enemy" - both in breach of the international laws governing armed conflict. The government is now actively targeting and obliterating civilian victims. Those people who were previously dismissed callously as collateral damage have become an active target. Which leaves the only conclusion that the idea behind the strikes was either to kill gratuitously, or to spread terror and disseminate the message that no one is safe, anywhere in the country - the very motor of terrorism.

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Assad is the master terrorist. His ideology: absolute power; his greatest weapon: the State.

Bashar al Assad

Even the strategy of these attacks echoes, uncomfortably closely, that employed in the Daesh (IS, ISIS, ISIL) bomb attacks on Zavantem airport (Brussels) in March. This strike came at the end of a week's intense bombing campaign on nearby Aleppo, pushing more residents towards local refugee camps, including this one - thereby accumulating a maximum number of victims before launching the assault. By comparison, in the Zavantem attack, a smaller explosion was detonated inside the airport, sending people running towards the exit - a funnel. Predicting this, a second bomber was waiting by the door with a larger explosion to cause maximum damage to the bottleneck of people fleeing the first. This 'trap and bombard' tactic is alarming both in its cold-blooded malice, and in its notable recent employers. Is Assad taking his lead from Daesh?

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Daesh fighters march through the streets

The relationship between the Syrian regime and the Islamic State, while openly acknowledged in the region, is not widely appreciated by Western countries. Daesh is one of a multitude of Islamic militant groups formed in the early days of the Syrian revolution, when international news was focused on Assad's crimes against his own people. To create a global distraction, and to legitimise his use of armed force by 'poisoning' the rebel movement, Assad released hundreds of terror prisoners. Not realising that they were pawns in his plot, many of these terrorists took up arms to take revenge on Assad, imbuing the revolution with the jihadist nuance he desired.

Daesh soon became the biggest of these groups, and both they and the regime concentrated their efforts on eliminating other - mainly moderate - rebel factions, preparing for a binary situation in which, in the words of a senior Western diplomat specialising in the Syrian civil war, "[the government] know[s] that if it comes to choosing between the black flag [of ISIS] and Damascus, the international community will choose Damascus... It will do whatever it takes to devalue the opposition, even if that means strengthening ISIS." Not because the regime presents the lesser threat to the Syrian people, but because its brand of terrorism stays safely within the confines of the country and doesn't threaten the rest of us. It is a statistic that I have used before, but one that needs to be repeated until it is widely known: for every person killed in Syria by Daesh, seven are killed by the government. Almost none of these are Daesh fighters.

The current situation of Daesh threats and atrocities dominating Western media suits Assad well; a prominent Syrian businessman notes that "the more powerful ISIS grows, the more useful they are to the regime." Not to mention all the oil and gas that the government buys from ISIS, and the electricity they sell back to them, evidence suggests that this trade extends even to human lives; the American journalist James Foley, beheaded by Daesh in August 2014, was initially arrested by government forces in a part of the country not yet touched by the group. A year later, the video of his execution by Daesh fighter 'Jihadi John' was released. (Incidentally, the regime issued a statement claiming that Foley had been arrested and "sold" to Daesh by the Free Syrian Army - another tactic to undermine the strongest player of the secular opposition.)

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The government is in no way endeavouring to quell or even slow Daesh. In 2014, just 6% of regime attacks were on ISIS targets, while over 90% targeted non-ISIS opposition. The businessman explains: "If the regime were serious about getting rid of ISIS, they would have bombed Raqqa by now. Instead they bomb other cities, where the FSA [Free Syrian Army] is strong." Meanwhile, Daesh has worked out where its interests lie and adjusted its sights from fighting the regime to fighting other opposition groups, and fairy godmother Russia has stepped in, grounding US aircraft supporting moderate rebels - all contributing to pave the way for Assad's ideal binary conflict scenario.

al-Kammouneh camp after the strike (photo c/o The Guardian)

So Syria is a country under the control of not one, but two major terrorist organisations, Daesh and the State, siding together to undermine their mutual enemy - moderate opposition groups striving for a peaceful, democratic future Syria. This state terrorism is a force to which Europe and the West are party. Firstly because there are Western nations which believe that defeating Daesh is the be-all-and-end-all and are willing to 'discuss' Assad's position; although the truth is that, with Assad in power, there will be no defeat of Daesh, whom he endorses and supports. Secondly, and more specifically pertinent, the EU cannot absolve itself of responsibility for the victims of Assad's attack on a refugee camp kilometres from the Turkish border. By acting as the driving cog in a growing global chain of closed borders, Europe is encouraging the trapping of Syrian refugees within the confines of the comprehensively unsafe country.

Europe's entry in March into a callous deal with Turkey, commodifying human lives to use as bartering chips, is a tacit approval of their decision to close and fiercely guard their border with Syria, violently pushing back anyone trying to escape the warzone. There will almost certainly be people in al-Kammouneh camp who have tried to enter Turkey and been pushed back, or managed to enter and be deported - and without a doubt, many people would have left had they not known the border to be closed. As this is a country to which we, as Europe, are sending people back, it is conceivable that someone killed or injured in Thursday's attack had, in fact, reached Europe. But as their life wasn't worth our protection, off we sent them back to Turkey, and from there - who knows? Who even cares?

If there is any question whatsoever of a person who has reached European soil with the intention of claiming asylum ending up back in Syria against their will, it is not just our moral responsibility, but our legal obligation under the Geneva convention to give them safe refuge. Given that Turkey is known to deport hundreds of Syrians weekly, this necessitates the cessation of deportations from the EU to Turkey, which should never have been classified as a 'Safe Third Country' - and never would have been before this new age of xenophobic and egocentric isolationist European politics. Leading by example, the EU has forfeited any capacity to criticise border closures or unsafe deportations by other countries. Europe has given up its role as a protector and defender of human rights.

Two clear conclusions can be drawn from Thursday's al-Kammouneh airstrike: politically, anyone considering the continuation of Assad's 'presidency' must immediately re-evaluate. And humanistically, refugee camps within Syria can no longer be deemed safe or adequate places for people to stay. Given that they were the last sanctuary, after hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure have been systematically targeted for some time, it must be agreed that Syrian refugees, as a matter of urgency, must be considered at risk anywhere in the country and granted free egress from it. If the EU is determined to pursue its legally dubious and morally deplorable deal with Turkey, it must use this relationship to demand that Turkey allow this egress across its border. The EU must once again lead by example, but this time a positive example; retracing its steps, to reverse the domino border closures that have trapped people in Syria where they live as constant targets of a terrorist state.

*****

If you're interested in reading more on this topic, these are a few articles recommended to me by a Syrian friend that I found insightful and useful in the writing of this piece:
Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom where same-sex marriage is not legal. Same-sex marriage has become the benchmark for LGBT equality in the western world. In 2013, there was widespread rejoicing when the English parliament legalized same-sex marriage. In May 2015, the Republic of Ireland endorsed same-sex marriage, as did the USA in June 2015. Northern Irish people want same-sex marriage, as indicated by the 20,000 people who marched for same-sex marriage in Belfast in June 2015.

The Love Equality campaign is fighting for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. On 5 May Northern Ireland went to the polls to elect the Northern Ireland Assembly. The goal of the Love Equality campaign is to ensure that same-sex marriage is sanctioned by the Northern Irish Assembly within this term.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is currently blocking same-sex marriage. On 2 November 2015, the Northern Irish Assembly voted in favour of same-sex marriage. Of the 105 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) who voted, 53 MLAs were in favour and 52 against (three abstained). The DUP then blocked the legislation, using a constitutional mechanism called a "Petition of Concern."

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The "Petition of Concern" mechanism was formulated pursuant to the 1998 Belfast Agreement. The DUP use this mechanism the most, although it is routinely used by other parties to veto legislation. It is designed to ensure that neither unionist nor nationalist parties can enforce a Protestant or Catholic agenda in relation to the other. Same-sex marriage is of no disadvantage to any community. The "Petition of Concern" was designed to protect the rights of one community, not hinder the rights of others. This is a misuse of the "Petition of Concern" mechanism. The DUP is using the mechanism to oppress LGBT people.

When the DUP used the "Petition of Concern" in November 2015, this was the fifth time they have used the mechanism to halt legislation around same-sex marriage. The DUP are the main unionist party. The DUP has the largest number of representatives at Stormont, the results of the 5 May elections last week leaving them with an unchanged number of MLAs. The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the second largest unionist party, allowed their MLAs a free vote on same-sex marriage on 2 November. There are some supporters of same-sex marriage within the UUP. Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, nationalist parties, both support same-sex marriage. Amnesty International has confirmed that, following the 5 May elections, a majority of MLAs (at least 58) support same-sex marriage. Amnesty has called for a further attempt by the Northern Irish Assembly to legalise same-sex marriage in light of this.

Public opinion is resoundingly in favour of same-sex marriage. An Ipsos MORI poll carried out in July last year showed that 68 % of people in Northern Ireland support same-sex marriage. Both Protestants and Catholics are in favour of same-sex marriage. As in the rest of the UK, a notable trend around support for same-sex marriage is age, with the older generation generally less supportive. The July 2015 poll found that 82 % of 16 to 34-year-olds support same-sex marriage, the figures falling to 75 % amongst 35 to 55-year-olds and 47 % amongst those aged 55 and over.

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The DUP has stated that it intends to continue opposing same-sex marriage, but it is unknown whether the they will continue to use the "Petition of Concern" mechanism to block this. Not all of the DUP MLAs are opposed to same-sex marriage, but they have not been allowed a free vote on the matter. The DUP MLAs have been instructed that they must tow the party line on same-sex marriage. Arlene Foster, the head of the DUP, remains opposed to same-sex marriage. She cited religious beliefs for her opposition to same-sex marriage during debates in Stormont. The DUP takes a traditional position on a number of matters. It has also opposed any softening of the rules around abortion. The DUP has always opposed every equality measure for LGBT people, including civil partnerships, which they now cite as a reason why same-sex marriage is unnecessary.

A second route to same-sex marriage may be through the courts. There are currently two important cases taking place, the outcomes of which are expected in the summer. One of the cases is brought by a same-sex couple who were married in England, but are fighting to have their marriage recognised in Northern Ireland. The other case directly challenges the ban on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, arguing that this is a human rights breach under the European Convention on Human Rights. Regardless of the outcomes, the cases will almost certainly be appealed, which is a lengthy process. Favourable outcomes may pile pressure on the DUP to desist from using the "Petition of Concern" to block same-sex marriage though.
If you have been busy campaigning to save the BBC from its enemies, well done. If you wrote to your MP, signed a petition, or contributed to the government's consultation exercise (which 192,564 of you did, apparently), you did not labour in vain.

Job done? Fraid not. Get out your magnifying glass, apply a cold compress to your forehead, and start ploughing through the small print. It's not exactly fun, but someone has to do it.

Like most White Papers, this one starts off all soft and cuddly. The BBC, it says, is "a revered national institution, and familiar treasured companion. It is a cultural, economic and diplomatic force that touches the lives of almost all of those who live in the UK and hundreds of millions beyond these shores."

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Eighty per cent of the people who responded to the government's consultation exercise said they think the BBC serves its audiences either well or very well. Seventy-four per cent of British voters believe it delivers 'fresh and new' programming. The government disagrees, and insists that it needs to keep bashing the BBC over the head to persuade it to 'focus its creative energy on high quality distinctive content.' Like Wolf Hall, presumably, or W1A, or Planet Earth, or Bake Off, or Dr Who, or The Night Manager, or ... do I really need to go on?

The White Paper is a perfect example of a government trying to fix something that ain't broke. How often does it need saying: the BBC is far from perfect, but it is one of the few British institutions of which we can be justifiably proud. (And no, I don't say that just because I used to earn my living by working for it.)

So here's the BBC's new mission: "To act in the public interest, serving all audiences with impartial, high-quality and distinctive media content and services that inform, educate and entertain." Achieving this, says the White Paper, "will require a change of culture within parts of the BBC", which is nonsense. What on earth do ministers think it's been trying to do all these years? Sometimes it fails, admittedly, but I defy anyone to prove that it's not been trying.

John Whittingdale, who has never made any secret of the fact that he doesn't really see why we need a BBC at all, has had to accept that, unlike him, the great British public have a deep affection for it. He has had to accept, through gritted teeth, that there is no alternative, at least for the next decade, to the licence fee, and, much as he would love to, he's not going to be allowed to write the BBC's schedules to give its commercial rivals a free run at peak-time viewing.

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For all of which, I suspect, we owe the director-general, Tony Hall, a vote of thanks and a round of applause at a largely successful behind-the-scenes lobbying operation. When Tory MPs start voicing concern that their own government is being too hostile to the BBC, you know there has been some serious chatting going on in the places that matter.

I won't mourn the death of the BBC Trust, which I described after the Savile debacle in 2012 as 'an ugly, hybrid beast, neither regulator nor board of directors, [that] should be put out of its misery.' But I urge you to look very carefully at the terms of reference being proposed for the new regulator, Ofcom.

It will 'regulate editorial standards' (p.14), and 'investigate any aspect of BBC services, including where minor changes have over time combined to have notable impact, with proportionate powers to sanction' (p.15). What that means is that if Ofcom suspects that the BBC's programming is potentially eating into the profits of its competitors, it will have the power to step in.

As my former colleague Robert Peston, now political editor of ITV, put it: 'There is a high probability that the BBC's activities will be much more severely circumscribed by an Ofcom highly sensitive to the impact of the BBC on the likes of ITV and Sky. In practice, the BBC's ability to make highly popular programmes, or invest in important new technologies, may be reined in.'

And when you finally get to page 54 of the White Paper, you find this: "The new regime should be moved towards a more clearly regulatory approach with a greater focus on measurable quantitative obligations that specify desired outputs and outcomes rather than the more qualitative approach of the existing service licences."

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In other words, measure the impact of BBC programming on its competitors, and take action accordingly. Never mind if the programmes are popular with the audience.

Even more ominously, "the new licensing regime will... require the licensing of the BBC to include content requirements that provide a set of measurable outputs to which the BBC can be held, the majority of which will be at service level. The BBC will be obliged to report against these content requirements, and the regulator will enforce against them, ultimately with the ability to sanction the BBC if required."

And who will set out the content requirements? Surprise, surprise, it's spelt out on page 55: "The government (my emphasis) will provide guidance to the regulator on content requirements and performance metrics to set clear policy parameters for the creation of this new regime."
Katie Price sparked a spate of complaints to Ofcom and ITV this week, after advocating fingering on Loose Women. She suggested spit as a natural lubricant, and said she had a sex toy but liked the real thing. "Oh Katie!" said the Loose Women in their disappointed voices. And Katie was escorted off the stage.

What was the topic of chat that made Pricey's comments so incongruous? Were they discussing Brexit? Or the immigration bill to allow 3,000 lone child refugees to enter the UK? Maybe they were tackling mental health issues, when Pricey shared what she shoves up her vag?

If they'd been debating anything of the sort, I could understand their despair, but in fact the Loose Women were discussing sex toys. Ruth Langsford announced that Gwyneth Paltrow is offering tips on "the best sexual gadgets and recipes to spice up your love life!" One of these gadgets being a 10K 24 carat gold vibrator. "Would you spend ten grand on a vibrator?" asked Ruth, opening the discussion. "No, why, when you've got the real thing?" says Pricey. "It's gold! It's gold!" says Ruth, who apparently keeps a magpie in her vagina. "You've got fingers and the real thing," says Pricey, sensibly. "Steady," says Langsford, in a warning voice.

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"You've got vegetables and that in the fridge," says Pricey. "Alright Katie," says Langsford, the threat level in her tone rising from icy conditions to avalanche. But actually, in the context of a conversation about what to stuff inside your vagina, Pricey's suggestions seem fairly level-headed. Cucumbers are 49p in Tesco. You can get a kilo of carrots for less than a quid. Fingers are free.

Langsford is like the Marie Antoinette of masturbation. "Let them eat cake" declared the duchess, when beggars couldn't buy bread. "Let them spunk ten grand on a gold gash gadget!" laughs Langsford, shrugging off what, for many, would be a year's salary.

Langsford continues to read out items from Paltrow's clunge catalogue, and gets to "vibrating necklace." Coleen Nolan fiddles with her own jewellery, and looks perplexed as she asks: "Why would you need a vibrating necklace?" Langsford agrees: "That would be very annoying, wouldn't it?" Pricey announces that she knows what kind of necklace it is. Sensing the pseudo-liberated sex chat is about to get real, Langsford marches the conversation along to lubricants, which she imagines will be "safer ground." When Pricey suggests spit, Langsford says, "Oh Katie!" and does an exaggerated cross face.

At this point, Nolan gets out of her seat, and physically frogmarches Pricey off stage. "I wasn't going to say spit," says Langsford stiffy, "Gwyneth doesn't say spit, Gwyneth says, if you want a natural alternative to lubricants, you can use organic coconut oil, olive oil, and aloe vera."

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Do the Loose Women have an aversion to body parts and bodily fluids? Given that the subject is sexual pleasure, their outrage seems a little odd. Maybe they're only aroused by 10K price tags and the fancy oil aisle in Waitrose - but there are some slots we don't need Ocado to fill. If we're talking natural lubricants, why isn't saliva an acceptable suggestion? I bet if Family Fortunes asked 100 passersby to name a lubricant, saliva would be up there in the top two answers. So why is everything Pricey says treated as sordid? And why are they fan-girling Paltrow, the pinnacle of clinical?

Katie Price's roots as a working class glamour model, mean that everything she says is dismissed by them as smutty. Paltrow, on the other hand, could fly the flag for felching and she'd still have Langsford fawning over her. Paltrow is an A-Lister - she's acceptable, she's respectable. Apparently, discussions about sex are only for "nice people."
Legend tells that in 333 BC, while wintering at Gordium, Alexander the Great disentangled an impossible knot. The prophecy told that the man to untie that knot would become king of the land. At first, Alexander the Great attempted to unbind the Gordian knot, but frustrated by the difficulty of the task, he finally decided to slice it in half with a stroke of his sword.

This anecdote became an early example of Consequentialism, an ethical theory that considers the consequences of a particular conduct as the relevant reference to judge its moral character. The most emblematic figure of this theory is Machiavelli, who held that "for although the act condemn the doer, the end may justify him".

This (un)ethical theory was completely rejected in the 20th century's political world. After centuries of massacres and atrocities justified by 'honourable' ends, humanity undertook to establish a set of minimum rules that could not be breached under any circumstances. The Rule of Law and the respect for human rights became the two unbreakable limits to State and Prince's Power.

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Nevertheless, the current Government of Sheikh Hasina Wajed in Bangladesh has decided to recover the absolutist maxima of 'the end justifies the means' to deal with accountability for international crimes committed during the 1971 War of Liberation. Although seeking justice and accountability for gross human rights violations committed during the war is a desirable and legitimate end, nothing justifies depriving accused persons from their inherent rights, setting unfair and dependent trials to judge members of the political opposition, and condemn more than a dozen people to death.

Today is a tragic day for international justice. On 11 May 2016, at 00.10am, Motiur Rahman Nizami has been hanged in a Dhaka jail.

He is the fifth person to be executed upon the orders of the highly flawed International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh (ICTB), a tribunal created to provide justice and accountability for international crimes but whose legitimacy has been tarnished by its trend of procedural irregularities, political manipulation of the trials and legal unfairness.

Nizami was the former leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, one of the main opposition parties in Bangladesh. He was elected Member of Parliament twice and became Minister for Agriculture and then for Industries for the period from 2001-2006. In 2014 the ICTB condemned him to death for genocide and crimes against humanity. This year, the Supreme Court controversially upheld the death sentence.

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A simple reading of the sentences by the ICTB and the Supreme Court permits one to conclude that Nizami, like the other defendants before him, was not afforded a trial consistent with international standards of justice. This is the position adopted by a number of leading international legal scholars in a public statement issued two days before the execution in which it stated that by "explicitly removing constitutional and fair trial protections from those due to appear before the BICT" the Government had "undermined its effectiveness and its legitimacy from the outset, and further, set the tone for what was then to develop." The statement, signed by an independent group of prosecutors, judges and academics

According to the prosecution, Nizami was the Chief of the Al-Badr, an auxiliary para-military force of the Pakistani Army. However, despite having access to abundant resources, the prosecution was unable to provide any evidence emanating from the conflict that would demonstrate that Mr. Nizami held such position, instead preferring to rely on inference and innuendo.

The language and the narrative of the sentence is literary and partisan rather than technical, but what it is more surprising from a legal point of view is the complete lack of analysis of the relevant elements of the crimes. Although in the appeal verdict the Supreme Court confirmed the conviction for genocide, the Court examined neither the subjective requirement (i.e. the existence of a recognizable relevant group under the genocide definition) nor the mental element of the crime, which is the essential feature of the offence.

Nevertheless, the unfairness of this trial is not limited to a concerning lack of evidence and legal analysis, but infects and abruptly removes the most basic fundamental rights. The trial against Nizami was infected by an alarming inequality of arms: while the prosecution was afforded 22 months to conduct their investigations, the defence was granted a mere three weeks to prepare the case for trial; while the prosecution called 26 witnesses, the defence was prevented from calling any more than four. Even more worryingly is the fact that prosecution witnesses admitted to have provided false testimony after having received bribes to rehearse a certain narrative.

Despite the rhetoric advanced to the contrary, there is no moving away from the fact that the ICTB is a politically-manipulated tribunal. The 'Skypegate' scandal, which analyzed hours of conversation and emails between the ICTB judiciary and a third party, demonstrated not only that the ICTB judges follow external orders but also that the defendants' guilt is pre-determined.

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Several international human rights organizations had already criticized the ICTB and the Government of Bangladesh for explicitly depriving defendants from constitutional rights and for its partisan character. It is important to recall that the Tribunal's jurisdiction is limited to prosecute crimes committed by just one side of the conflict.

This time, the public calls to stop the execution of Nizami were firmer and more abundant than ever before. Statements were issued by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales and the former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes. Significantly, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called to halt the execution of Nizami and declared that "the trials conducted before the Tribunal have unfortunately not met international standards of fair trial and due process".

Sadly, the Government of Bangladesh simply ignored these calls and criticisms, which invites one to believe that it is time for stronger action by the international community.

The need for justice has been perverted, and allowed to mutate into a quest for revenge in Bangladesh. Without due process, without rights, a judicial process is a mere show trial, and a death sentence becomes an arbitrary killing.

The ICTB trials, and more particularly, the imminent execution of Nizami, creates further political and social tensions, as thousands of individuals demonstrated against the unfairness and arbitrariness of the processes. These tensions have become violent in the recent history of Bangladesh, placing the country on the verge of internal conflict.

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Meanwhile, the Government has responded with extreme oppression to this opposition, and the country's security record is now littered with reports of murders, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and torture. Crimes that are met with an absolute impunity.
Conservatives took a break from funding pray-away-the-gay camps to express concern over the danger posed to children by gender-neutral bathrooms. Donald Trump tapped a climate denier as an energy adviser, raising the shocking possibility that his policy prescriptions aren't fact-based. And Trump regularly pranked journalists on the phone, reminding them that if their refrigerator is running, they better build a wall around it to keep it from taking American jobs. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, May 13th, 2016:

OBAMA EITHER PROTECTING OR ENDANGERING KIDS -- DEPENDS ON WHOM YOU ASK - Richard Perez-Pena and Jack Healy: "The Obama administrations directive Friday on the use of school bathrooms and locker rooms by transgender students intensified the latest fierce battle in the nations culture wars, with conservatives calling it an illegal overreach that will put children in danger and advocates for transgender rights hailing it as a breakthrough for civil rights. The policy drew a swift backlash from conservative politicians, groups and parents. In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appealed to local school boards and superintendents not to abide by the administrations directive, noting that there were just a few weeks left in the school year and time over the summer to fight the policy with legislation or legal action. 'We will not be blackmailed,' he said. 'I believe it is the biggest issue facing families and schools in America since prayer was taken out of public schools,' Mr. Patrick, a Republican, said at a news conference. 'Parents are not going to send their 14-year-old daughters into the shower or bathroom with 14-year-old boys. Its not going to happen.'" [NYT]

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ADMINISTRATION INSTITUTE NEW PROTECTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER PATIENTS - Jeffrey Young: "Transgender individuals gained new legal protections against discrimination by health insurance companies and medical providers under a regulation published Friday. The health care rules stem from anti-discrimination provisions in the Affordable Care Act, designed to prevent unfair treatment based on sex, gender identity and sexual orientation. They are the latest step President Barack Obama has taken to extend civil rights protections for transgender people. Most recently, the Obama administration has challenged a North Carolina law mandating individuals use public bathrooms that correspond with the gender they were assigned at birth, and notified public schools they risk losing federal funds if they impose similar requirements on students. Under the new regulations, transgender people are guaranteed equal treatment by insurers and medical providers, and will have the right to make civil rights claims against those that deny them coverage or necessary care because they are transgender. That includes forbidding health insurers from categorically excluding treatments related to gender transitions, although it doesnt mandate those procedures be covered." [HuffPost]

A reminder from history: "[B]eing transgender has nothing to do with being a sexual predator preying on children in bathrooms (plenty of cisgender men have that covered)  but its not new. It goes back decades, and it has been used to discriminate against an entirely different group of people: African-Americans. Jump back to 1961, for example, to a report that the Louisiana State Advisory Committee issued to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights... 'Dont wait for your daughters to be raped by these Congolese,' Leander Perez, a leader of the White Citizens Council of Louisiana, told a crowd of 5,000 gathered at a meeting in New Orleans. 'Do something about it now.'" [HuffPost's Jen Bendery]

WE'VE REACHED THE POINT WHERE WE'RE ASKING THE JERKY BOYS FOR COMMENT - Foreign intelligence services are really going to have a field day with this commander-in-chief. Sam Levine: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump denied on Friday that he ever used a false name to pose as a spokesman for himself  something he had been widely known to do for years. During a telephone interview on the 'Today' show, Trump responded to a Washington Post report detailing Trumps attempts to call reporters using the false names John Barron or John Miller. The Post obtained a recording from one call with 'Miller' that sounds an awful lot like Trump discussing his divorce with Marla Maples. Trump denied it was him in the recording and called it a 'scam.' 'I dont know anything about it,' he said. 'Youre telling me about it for the first time and it doesnt sound like my voice at all. I have many, many people that are trying to imitate my voice and you can imagine that and this sounds like one of these scams, one of the many scams. Doesnt sound like me.'" [HuffPost]

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Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill

SEE YOU IN CLEVELAND, DONALD! - Michael Calderone: "Donald Trumps presidential campaign, which has barred more than half a dozen news organizations from attending events, wont be able to similarly restrict press access when the candidate accepts his partys nomination in July. 'If a Trump employee told me that I had to credential or had to blacklist someone, I would not listen,' Robert Zatkowski, director of the House Periodical Press Gallery, told The Huffington Post. For over a century, the congressional press galleries have facilitated the credentialing process for Republican and Democratic conventions alike. 'The parties have designated the galleries to credential the media because were an impartial arbitrator,' Zatkowski said. 'This is what we do on Capitol Hill.' Zatkowski said no one from the Trump campaign, or any other, has urged the galleries to deny credentials for Julys Republican National Convention. That should come as a relief to some of the news organizations that have been barred from Trumps rallies and speeches. The Trump campaigns severe restrictions on the media have been unprecedented, including denying press credentials, at times, to The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Politico, Fusion, Univision, The Des Moines Register, National Review and Mother Jones." [HuffPost]

Gotta play to the swing voters in West Virginia: "Republican presidential contender Donald Trump has asked one of Americas most ardent drilling advocates and climate change skeptics to help him draft his energy policy. U.S. Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota - a major oil drilling state - is writing a white paper on energy policy for the New York billionaire, Cramer and sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Cramer was also among a group of Trump advisers who recently met with lawmakers from western energy states, who hope Trump will open more federal land for drilling, a lawmaker who took part in the meeting said." [Reuters]

Worth it: "[Trump's] disdain for the press can be traced back to the days when he was a mainstay on the cover of New York City tabloids. At Trumps 44th birthday party in 1990, Village Voice reporter Wayne Barrett, who had been writing muckraking stories on him for over a decade, was arrested and put in jail for defiant trespass...While he doesnt remember how big a fine he ultimately paid, he said two things stuck in his mind from the evening. One is the sensation of being handcuffed..The other is his bloody cellmate, whom he said masturbated for hours on end. 'He never came, that I can tell you' Barrett said. 'And he didnt stop trying.'" [BuzzFeed's Christopher Massie]

HOUSE NOT LOVING TRUMP, BUT ABSOLUTELY HATING HILLARY - And that's just the way it is. Matt Fuller and Daniel Marans: "Speaker Paul Ryan isnt the only House Republican doing some soul-searching on Donald Trump. Republicans are learning that squaring their positions on issues like debt, Social Security and Medicare with those of the presumptive GOP nominee requires some contortions more complicated than Trumps combover. But the key to supporting a nominee whose positions  depending on the day and the issue, of course  seem so antithetical to the GOPs is this: you focus on the alternative. 'Hes 10 times better than Hillary,' Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told The Huffington Post. Massie, whos actually a delegate at the GOP nominating convention in July, said none of the people on the 'Never Trump' bandwagon are proposing an alternative. So Im presuming theyre for Hillary,' he said. Asked how he could support Trump, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) launched into an explanation that began: 'Heres what I know about the likely Democrat nominee.'" [HuffPost]

Libertarian presidential candidate John McAfee: ""What else? Okay: I am married to an ex-prostitute. And until I was 38 years old, I took more drugs than any human on the planet. But Im 70. Good lord, cut me some slack. [WaPo's Dave Weigel]

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PUERTO RICO DEBT DEAL CLOSE - Laura Barron-Lopez: "Lawmakers are close, really close, to dropping legislation that would form an oversight board to help Puerto Rico restructure $70 billion in debt that it cannot pay. The commonwealth defaulted May 1 on a roughly $400 million debt payment and if Congress doesnt act soon, the island will default again on a much larger sum of $2 billion. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, told reporters on Friday that the bill would be released today but left some room for another delay. The bill was initially scheduled to be unveiled Wednesday, but negotiators werent ready. 'If it doesnt drop today I will be the most surprised person in the world' Bishop said. Asked what the ultimate holdup was given his apparent readiness to introduce the text, he said both Democrats and Republicans continue to be hung up on 'words.'" [HuffPost]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a ticklish bat.

COMFORT FOOD

- What might happen if you went back and time and killed your grandfather.

- Making a rap out of Snoop Dogg's parody of modern rappers.

- Jupiter may be responsible for life on Earth.

TWITTERAMA

@SaveYouAClick: friday the 13th is when u tweet fire tweets w typos and ppl take ur internet jokes as serious so basically like any other day online

@tripgabriel: The Trump tax rate story buried the fake spox, who eclipsed the racist butler who overtook the tax hike gaffe. Thus does Trump win the news.

@DavidMDrucker: Area candidate on his policy proposal suggestions: 'It was just a mission statement.'

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The Undiscovered American Modernist

Exhibition of Paintings by William Sanger

The Tides Institute and Museum of Art, Eastport, Maine

May 13 - June 12, 2016

It is axiomatic in the art world that most painters are ignored during their lives and forgotten after their deaths. William Sanger (1873-1961) fared better than many artists during his life because of his innate talent and after his death because of the notoriety of his wife, Margaret. While living, Sanger had several solo exhibitions in the 1920s and 1930s at such galleries as the Touchstone Gallery, the Brown-Robertson Studio and the Delphic Studio, all in New York City, along with exhibiting in numerous group shows in the city and around the country. His last solo show was in 1931.

Now, 55 years after his death, and 85 years after his last solo exhibition, William Sanger is the subject of a solo exhibition at the Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport, Maine, a town that Sanger visited in the 1920s and the site of some of his most vibrant watercolors, including South End Bridge, now in the Brooklyn Museum and Unitarian Church, Eastport, Maine, exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1927, its location now unknown.

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Several artists trekked to Eastport in the 1920s to paint. It is as far east as one can get in this country. When I was there last weekend dropping off a dozen paintings for the show, my IPhone automatically switched to Canada time. The steep rocky cliffs and swirling surf of the Maine coast downeast were the subject of most of Sanger's paintings. Sanger also ventured into New Brunswick, Canada to Grand Manan Island, where he painted the Gannet Rock Lighthouse several times, as well as the island's harbor.

Art historian Alexandra Anderson has contributed a critical essay for the exhibition catalogue, where she cites the influences of Albert Pinkham Ryder, Thomas Hart Benton, Marsden Hartley and John Marin on Sanger's paintings.

Sanger's palette consists of aquamarine, deep blue, grey, sharp white and russet earth tones. More than one critic commented that he was a master of leaving white spaces in his scenes. Sanger's seas are stormy, the skies are dark and threatening and the rocks unforgiving. There is, as Anderson says, a frenetic feeling and pulsating energy. There is turmoil, foreboding, a sinister feeling.

The influence of El Greco is palpable. Sanger had gone to Spain in 1917 in the middle of the Great War (a not undangerous voyage) to see El Greco's works first hand. Sanger was a) German-born, b) too old for U.S. military service and c) would have refused to serve as a conscientious objector if drafted.

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Sanger visited the 1913 Armory Show multiple times and decided to leave his architecture practice in New York and go to Paris to paint. He spent a year there, returning only when the outbreak of war, and his wife's arrest in New York for her birth control work, compelled him to return.

It is the incident following Margaret Sanger's arrest for publishing The Woman Rebel that William Sanger is best known for. Margaret went into exile rather than face trial. Anthony Comstock, the government's obscenity enforcer (birth control was obscene under the law) entrapped William into handing one of his wife's pamphlets to an undercover police officer. Comstock offered to drop the charges if he would reveal his wife's whereabouts. He gallantly refused, even though they were estranged and headed for divorce, went on trial and was sentenced to 30 days in prison after a trial as tumultuous as one of his later paintings of the Maine coast. The trial made headlines, and William Sanger became a hero to all who opposed government censorship of medical information and who supported a woman's right to choose when and whether to have children.

William Sanger was a radical and revolutionary at heart, a romantic, a fighter for his beliefs and a political philosopher (he was working on an illustrated biography of Thomas Paine at his death). He fought against injustice and poverty his whole life. He was an angry, agitated man. He endured the worst tragedy a parent can when his and Margaret's 5-year-old daughter Peggy died of pneumonia shortly after he was released from prison. He never forgave himself.

More than once he painted ships crashing onto rocks. The seas are menacing, reflecting, as his granddaughter Nora Hoppe says, his portentous view of the world. The sense of impending doom and tragedy envelope the viewer, as I think they enveloped William Sanger.

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So why was William Sanger forgotten by the art world? Watercolors are undervalued in the art world. Even masters like John Marin are now largely ignored. Marin and Sanger's styles were overtaken by Abstract Expressionism. But Sanger's works are too powerful and visceral to be ignored.
"Trump is not a policy person. I don't know what half his policies are," said Poliquin. "He's gonna say 'We're going in this direction. Poliquin, you fix this.'"

Poliquin said that Trump's Capitol Hill meetings this week are the first step in this process of strategic and policy alignment.

"And guess where the policy's going to come from: the House of Representatives. Not from the Senate, it's going to come from us. That's why these meetings are happening now. Don't read about all the crap in the press," Poliquin concluded.
The body of Souleimane Hadji, 15, is brought by his family from hospital. Amnesty International called for the apparent indiscriminate killings of Souleimane and his father by UN peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic to be investigated in August 2015. Credit: Amnesty International

Last August, Balla Hadji, a 61-year-old truck driver in Bangui in the Central African Republic, was having breakfast with his wife when they heard shots outside. He ran out to call his daughter inside, but troops were already there, and shot him in the back as he ran away. His 16-year-old son, Souleimane, was also shot when he ran towards his father. Balla died on the spot, his son Souleimane the next day.

The soldiers were neither armed groups nor government forces; they wore the famous blue helmet and vest of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers. Witnesses told Amnesty International that instead of helping the wounded father and son, the peacekeepers - who were meant to protect them - fired another round when the daughter tried to cross the street to reach her injured relatives.

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What happened to an organization meant to protect and give voice to the world's most vulnerable people? This is a question that candidates to succeed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon must address in the process that started at the UN General Assembly earlier this month. In the coming months governments will select the UN's next leader - who will take up their post in 2017.

This is a crucial turning point for a twentieth century body being shoe-horned into the twenty-first.

The UN showed it can still deliver when it brokered agreements on development and climate goals in 2015, but its response to major crises was woefully inadequate. From its failure to protect civilians in conflicts like Syria and South Sudan to abuses perpetrated by its own forces, the UN is an organization creaking at the seams.

This is largely the fault of governments willfully thwarting UN action aimed at preventing war crimes and crimes against humanity or holding perpetrators to account. The UN Security Council appears less a place where people's security and rights are protected than a forum where the richest and most powerful countries in the world play politics with their lives.

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Four times a Security Council member has vetoed UN efforts to respond to the Syrian conflict. The result: nearly 12 million forced to flee their homes, and more than 250,000 dead.

At the Human Rights Council, Saudi Arabia's western allies did its bidding, obstructing the establishment of a UN-led inquiry into violations by all sides in the conflict in Yemen, even while the Saudi-led coalition's bombing campaign commits war crimes. The result: a conflict that has taken the lives of more than 2,800 civilians, 700 of them children.

Even when the Security Council has acted and imposed sanctions and arms embargoes they have not been implemented effectively, for example in Sudan.

This cannot go on. I have seen the consequences on the ground in countries like Syria and Yemen: thousands detained, killed, displaced, and disappeared. When the victims and their families ask me if there is an organization that can help them, I know the answer should be the UN. Today I cannot look them in the eye and promise it will.

Failure to protect human rights will sow the seeds of future crises by fueling the injustice and repression that breed instability. Look at the uprisings in the Arab world five years ago, a palpable example of the link between system failure and governments repressing dissent and human rights.

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A Human Rights Agenda for the Next Secretary General

The UN has not failed, yet. But its ability to fulfill its purpose is in grave jeopardy. The governments who select the next Secretary-General have to answer the critics who question whether the organization is fit for purpose in the twenty-first century.

The world needs someone who will champion marginalized people, protect civilians in conflict and prevent mass violations, combat impunity by supporting the International Criminal Court, fight for gender equality, defend activists against repressive governments and deal with the biggest global refugee crisis in seventy years.

That is a tall order, but essential in a world racked by proliferating conflict, deliberate targeting of civilians by states and armed groups, and rising xenophobia.

The next Secretary-General can do that by putting the protection of human rights front and centre. Human rights are meant to be the UN's third pillar, along with development, and maintaining peace and security. But they risk becoming the third rail of UN politics: too controversial to touch, and a black mark in the eyes of certain Security Council members.

The new Secretary-General must bring human rights and humanitarian crises before the Security Council. When serious human rights violations occur, he or she should use their powers under Article 99 of the UN Charter to bring threats to international peace and security before the Security Council. This power has not been used for decades.

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United Nations peacekeeping forces in Central African Republic. Credit: Amnesty International

The next Secretary-General must also restore the reputation of an organisation tarnished by sexual exploitation and abuse committed by its own peacekeepers. The UN's own statistics show 69 allegations of abuse in 2015, 22 of them from its peacekeeping force in the Central Africa Republic. The UN must make sure peacekeepers are punished when they turn predator.

But a critical first step is to have a fair and transparent process to select a highly qualified next leader for the UN. In the past, powerful governments who felt a strong Secretary-General was not in their interest have had too much control over the final decision. The debates held earlier this month kick started a vital opportunity for governments to reinvigorate the UN.

The election of the UN Secretary-General this year may capture a fraction of the attention of the US presidential campaign. Yet for much of the world who stand to benefit from a dynamic UN, it could be just as significant. If not more.
Kira Kazantsev, Amy Ziering, Kirby Dick and I at Safe Horizon's Champion Awards 2016

When The Hunting Ground came out about a year ago, it set the stage for a national debate on campus sexual assault. The film received enormous praise from survivors, advocates and others who saw this issue far too often swept under the rug, and commended the film for shining a much-needed spotlight. But there was also an intense backlash from critics who speculated that the survivors in the film were lying and who felt that the film didnt do enough to highlight the perspective of the accused.

As I saw it, the airing of the film put real pressure on the White House administration and college campuses to address this issue immediately. On the state level, Safe Horizon helped lead a broad advocacy campaign to encourage lawmakers to pass the Enough is Enough legislation, a multi-tiered effort to address the prevalence of sexual assaults on New Yorks public and private college campuses.

At Safe Horizons 21 Annual Champion Awards, I was able to stand alongside hundreds of attendees and applaud The Hunting Grounds Director Kirby Dick and Producer Amy Ziering as they accepted the Voice of Courage Award for their work to bring attention to the epidemic of sexual assault and rape on Americas college campuses and the widespread failures of by college officials to support and protect victims.

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I cry for my father. I cry for the college sophomorewho told me she didnt want to tell her parents [she was sexually assaulted] because she didnt want to make them sad. I cry for all the women and men Ive met over the past five years who were met with silence and blame when all they did was report a crime in order to stop it from happening to someone else - Amy Ziering at Safe Horizon's Champion Awards 2016

Before the event, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with both Kirby and Amy and delve deeper into the making of the film, the backlash and challenges they faced, what it was like to have the support of Lady Gaga, advice they have for survivors seeking justice, what we can do to help and what it meant to be honored by Safe Horizon.

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Since the film first gained viewership, there has been some backlash attempting to undermine the credibility of the film and victims. What do you say to that?

AMY: Its crazy to me that as a survivor of sexual assault, you report a crime and youre attacked. You become re-victimized. The Hunting Ground has been vetted by lawyers. We have not had to retract any statements in the film and yet there is this white noise campaign to undermine it. Its not terribly surprising, but upsetting.

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And this desire to protect male power and vilify women. You see it in our film: the incredible backlash that survivors face. And its not an accident that the film itself ignited something very similar.

KIRBY: What youre seeing in this backlash is an attempt to try and silence survivors. This is something we have seen historically and has gone on for decades and decades: blame the victim. Its a real reason that we continue to have this problem today because of this misunderstanding about survivor experience and aggressive behavior towards undermining that experience.

What did it take to create this film considering how challenging it has been for universities to be open about sexual assault cases and policies?

KIRBY: One of the things that we saw was the incredible fear of administrators who knew this was a problem, but were so fearful to speak about it. Many of these administrators were horrified by what was happening, but couldnt come forward because of fear of repercussions. Those we did speak with on camera werent employed at the time. That was one of the major obstacles in making this film: Finding folks in the inside who can speak to how universities really respond to these assaults.

What does it mean to have people like Lady Gaga, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden support the film and its message?

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AMY: Its phenomenal. This is the first time in my lifetime that I feel that we are shifting the blame from victim to perpetrator and thats a credit to not only the film but to all the organizations on the ground, the advocates, the work of the administration and supporters like Lady Gaga. Together we are demanding a new ethic in how we are treating survivors of sexual assault.

KIRBY: We are grateful to see these public figures step forward and boldly state: This is an issue of national urgency. The burden to demand change shouldnt be on just survivors or organization like Safe Horizon. As a man myself, I also want other men to absolutely prioritize this as an important issue. This is not just a womens issue.

At Safe Horizon we see many younger, college-aged sexual assault victims coming forward. We also advocate for a day when victims are believed, supported and assured justice. What advice do you have for victims?

AMY: First of all, whatever decision you make you should feel is 100 percent the right one for you. There is no right or wrong. If you want to seek justice, or dont, do what you need to do to take care of yourself as a survivor of a traumatic event. But if you want to seek justice, its important to have strong support networks as the process can be very hard.

KIRBY: Every time a survivor comes forward, it is a courageous act that will hopefully change the way this country responds to survivors of sexual assault. And the reasons we are seeing a change in the debate around sexual assault is because of the courage of survivors in standing up and saying, This is not right.

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After watching this film, many viewers were outraged. What can they do?

AMY: The first thing anyone can do is, if someone confides in you and tells you they have been assaulted, believe them. Thats just square one. Even if no one gets any justice, it would help the victim therapeutically. For survivors to not be second guessed, doubted or accused of causing their assault would be a game changer.

I would also love for sex to be taken out of the equation. Sexual assault needs to be treated like a crime like any other. Ninety-two to 98 percent of the time when someone is reporting a rape they are telling the truth, and that is statistically consistent with every other crime in our society. Yet sexual assault is the only crime that prompts the questions: What were you drinking? What were you wearing? That just has to stop.

What does it mean to be honored by a victims services agency like Safe Horizon?

AMY: Its a huge honor. We are grateful to this organization that does this work every day on the ground in a way we couldnt imagine. We almost feel like Safe Horizon should get the award and not us. We are glad to contribute and stand on your shoulders.

KIRBY: Without organizations like Safe Horizon, many more lives would be destroyed. We are humbled and grateful to receive this award, but more grateful for the lifesaving work you all do.

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If you want to learn more about The Hunting Ground, a companion book, The Hunting Ground: The Inside Story of Sexual Assault on American College Campuses, will be released on May 17, 2016.

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I am old enough to remember when there was no Amnesty International. I am also old enough to remember a Cuba before Fidel Castro. Indeed, my seemingly simple life trajectory dramatically changed course right as the two were coming into existence. In 1960, at the age of 23, I was taken away at gunpoint in the night for refusing to place a sign on my desk that read, "I'm with Fidel." One year later, Amnesty International was founded, and I became one of their first prisoners of conscience.



I left Castro's gulags 22 years later, in a wheelchair. The decades of starvation, torture, labor camps, and physical abuse at the hands of Castro's thugs left me hardly able to walk. And yet I was one of the lucky ones, because I lived to tell about it. Each night the sound of gunfire at the execution wall and the muffled noises of my friends, gagged and struggling to make their final cries for freedom, was an all-too-familiar refrain.



The executioners eventually had to gag the dissidents, because their shouts of "Viva Cristo Rey" moments before death only stirred others to greater passion for freedom. But Castro's jails were not just stacked with Christians. I suffered and starved alongside Cubans of all stripes, be they homosexuals or Jews, who for one reason or another, did not conform to the regime's acceptable mold.



But religious believers were a particular threat because they believed in a power higher than Fidel. That faith sustained a man like me through seemingly endless stretches of darkness and abuse, when faith in everything else faltered. Faith in God stopped my heart from hardening over with the same hate of my abusers; it kept my heart and my mind free from their ultimate torture and full of hope.



And yet 34 years after my release, the Castro regime remains in power and hard at work in trying to beat faith out of Cuban society. Contrary to any notions that warming relations with Cuba have improved religious liberty, conditions have only deteriorated. As The Washington Post noted earlier this year, political arrests surged in 2015 to the highest numbers seen in decades, with 8,616 documented arrests last year, up from 2,074 in 2010. One NGO documented over two thousand distinct religious liberty violations in 2015, as opposed to 220 the year prior. And the past two Sundays, members of the Damas de Blanco, women who wear white to protest the suspicious arrest and detention of male relatives or spouses, were detained on their way to their usual Sunday Mass, including on Mother's Day.



Alan Gross, the American jailed in Cuba for five years, was just trying to help the fledgling Jewish community in Cuba get better internet access. For that he nearly lost his life. His own wife was sure he would die, at one point saying to the press, "My husband has paid a terrible price for serving his country and community...I am afraid that we are at the end." When he was finally freed, he too could hardly walk, and stepped off the plane missing teeth and weighing 100 pounds less -- the cost of helping one's religious community in Cuba.



Today in New York City I will join another member of the Jewish community -- Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel -- in celebrating religious liberty at the Canterbury Gala in New York City. Wiesel once said, "To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all."



Until every Cuban is secure in their right of conscience, until there are no more peaceful men of goodwill removed from Castro's jails in wheelchairs, until there are no more Damas de Blanco who spend Mother's Day in jail because they are protesting the illegal detention of their sons, until Amnesty International takes down its prisoners of conscience list because it is no longer necessary, until that day -- I will not be silent. We are their only earthly hope.
On Monday May 9, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced the long awaited policy to allow eligible Filipino WWII veterans to be reunited with their families through a parole process.

Recognizing that these aging veterans are in their 90s, but have to wait as long as 20 years under current policy to reunite with their children, this policy is expected to help thousands of veterans with support from their families in their twilight years. The announcement was made and received with all the fanfare appropriate for a victory that was years in the making.

USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez personally announced the policy change at a special White House Briefing I was able to attend with colleagues from around the country to discuss immigration issues in Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. His unequivocal support for the veterans reminded everyone in the room that their service was not just to the Philippines, but to all of us as Americans.

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Filipino WWII veteran advocates and other leaders attending the White House briefing on immigration and Asian American/ Pacific Islander communities. Photo Credit: Lou Tancinco

The announced policy was hailed by advocates and organizations working with and for Filipino WWII veterans around the country, as well as in the Philippines. Organizations such as the San Francisco Veterans Equity Center and the National Federation of Filipino American Associations issued press statements, as did our allies who stood shoulder to shoulder with us, such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice- AAJC. Organizations like these are leading the important outreach to make sure that every eligible family will be able to benefit from this new policy.

My organization, the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project (FilVetREP) welcomed this development as yet another victory in the ongoing struggle to give these veterans their just due. We recognize that immigration is one of the ongoing unresolved issues related to the underlying inequity of Filipino veterans as unrecognized U.S. veterans. Now retired Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) originally introduced legislation reunite Filipino WWII veterans with their families in 2007 as part of the broader equity movement to fully support Filipinos whose status as U.S. veterans was summarily revoked by the U.S. government after the war. Senator Akaka's legislation went on to be one of the few bipartisan pieces of immigration legislation in a protracted and bitterly divisive immigration debate, but never got final passage. President Obama, recognizing the bipartisan support for these veterans, and with pressure from advocates in the Filipino American and AAPI community, announced his intent to create this policy that we celebrate this week.

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The Filipino Veterans Equity Act, on the other hand, as a bill that had been introduced in the Congress as early as 1991, went on to achieve an important yet limited victory. The Equity Act was intended to restore, by reason of their active service, full veterans' benefits to the Filipino World War II veterans, which were rescinded by the Congress on February 18, 1946. The Equity Act was never enacted into law. However, in 2008, legislation introduced by the late U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI), established the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund. Passed and enacted in law as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5), the Act, among other things provides a one-time payment for Filipino WWII veterans in the U.S. ($15,000) and the Philippines ($9,000). While the Act recognizes the service of the Filipino World War II veterans as active military service in the Armed Forces for purposes of the lump sum payments, the inequity and struggles still exist as work continues to try and fix the eligibility process and ensure everyone who served benefits by this legislation.

The immediate victory we celebrate this week on the immigration front should not be an excuse to kick our feet up and call it a day, but rather an incentive to keep building on our success and push for official recognition. FilVetREP recognizes the ongoing challenges our veterans face on the legislative front, but sees the next achievable victory in the 2015 Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act. Introduced by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in the Senate as S. 1555 and Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) in the House as HR 2737, this bill will provide a Congressional Gold Medal as fitting tribute to their selfless service. We are mobilizing our partners and allies to support our campaign and proudly connect this work to the decades of advocacy that have achieved victories for our veterans on a variety of fronts, from immigration to health care, to burial benefits.

With immigration policy on our side, and mindful of the other needs of our veterans, all hands are on deck nevertheless to win a Congressional Gold Medal for Filipino WWII veterans this year. Previous military units from communities that faced discrimination- from the Tuskegee Airmen, to Japanese American military units (the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service, and the 100th Infantry Battalion), the Navajo Codetalkers, the Women's Air Service Pilots, and most recently, the Borinquineers 65th Infantry Regiment of Puerto Rico, have received Congressional Gold Medals. Despite the racism, sexism, and xenophobia these military units faced, they fought bravely for their country and their receiving a Congressional Gold Medal is a reminder that the nation's gratitude does not discriminate.

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The discrimination Filipino WWII veterans have faced as unrecognized U.S. veterans has lasted for more than seventy years and a Congressional Gold Medal may be the last victory we can achieve for them while they are still with us.
I sat in the Station museum, crying uncontrollably. As Nina Simone sang "Strange Fruit" and "Feeling Good," pictures of a proud mother with her son and grandson populated a projector screen.

The middle son's eyes stared back at me from the screen as if they were my own, piercing me with a kind of peace that was almost biblical. He had sleepy eyes, the kind that conveyed confidence. And he was handsome; I imagine he had no problems with women. His smile wasn't the "light up a room" kind of smile, but rather the kind of smile that comes with warm, comforting laughter -- the subtle kind of laughter that puts you at ease. In the pictures, he was happy.

But that was only one side of the story. We were celebrating the son's birthday, but he wasn't with us. Jordan had died two years earlier, snatched away by a trigger-happy off-duty police officer. The officer's name doesn't matter -- it never does -- but Jordan's name does matter, because his name resurrects him, speaks him back into existence, even if this existence is one marred by tragedy. I cried uncontrollably because I saw myself in Jordan, a young black man who could at any time be snatched away from my family and friends.

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We often talk about injustice in the abstract, even -- and especially -- when we discuss particular instances of murder and death. The news outlets report police shootings as if all the victims are the same -- some unknown "unarmed black male or female." We speak of injustice in terms of numbers: 116 people killed by HPD officers in the last 11 years with 0 charges. The stories start to pile up to the point where we can't keep the stories separate: like a Black-ish episode come to life, black people cannot stay in front of the train of death headed our way. The stories run together, numbing us to the real human cost of a lost daughter or son, husband or wife, fiancee, cousin, or sister. The deaths pile up, becoming so heavy that our individual and collective psyches struggle to stand under their weight. And every time we hear about another death, we all die just a little more. I cried because I saw myself in Jordan, because Jordan's life and death were -- and are-- my own.

And I saw my mother in Janet.

As the slideshow ended, Janet took the podium and began to tell us her story -- the story of a mother who had lost her son too soon and for no reason. She didn't speak in the language of the media -- her story didn't include "unarmed black male killed by police" or "police brutality." Her story wasn't sensationalized. She didn't walk us through the "objective prose" of those Wolf Blitzer-like journalists who have no investment in or concern for the ones who have been lost. She didn't give a damn about broken buildings. She only cared about broken relationships, particularly the relationships between a mother and son and father and son that were severed behind the cowardice of a man who thought his badge was a license to kill.

Janet isn't a loud woman; she isn't theatrical. Despite the loss she's suffered, she is remarkably calm when she expresses herself. This is largely due to the fact that she is a woman of faith who will quickly and frequently retreat to her prayer closet when life gets hard. Even if you don't believe in God or prayer, or if you're agnostic (as I am), Janet's serenity forces you to reckon with the possibility that there is something out there, pushing us, prodding us, holding us up when life gets to be too much to bear. Janet's calmness is a testament to her faith and to the God in whom she puts her trust.

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But don't mistake Janet's serenity and her calming nature for docility. Although she doesn't yell, her words are powerful and poetic. As she took the podium, she spoke in hushed tones, so barely audible that we had to move the microphone toward her mouth so that we could all hear what she had to say. But the words she spoke pierced the hearts of anyone under her voice. When she spoke of her grandson, Little Jordan, who had lost his hero, she raised a question that still rings in my ears: "how do you tell your grandson that his superhero has been shot down?" and as she continued, she spoke from a position that only someone in her position could speak. She wonder aloud why she had been inducted "into a sorority that she never pledged for and never wanted to be in," and tried to wrap her head around the grief she was experiencing. Tears streaming down her face, she reminded us that we have words like "widow," "widower," and "orphan," but we "have no word for a parent who has lost their child." She spoke of the limbo she lives on a daily basis, reminding us that grief has no timeline, and that the loss of a son is a debt that cannot be repaid.

We cried. All of us cried. All of us shared in the loss because Janet walked us through the emotions, allowing her vulnerability to pierce our hardened and angry hearts. The room was full of activists who were pissed about injustice, and Janet's story softened that anger, turning it into compassionate empathy and inspiration to continue on.

Somewhere I read that black women have displayed and continue to display "unshouted courage," the kind of courage that requires no attention even as it keeps the wheels of life moving. This courage isn't "strong" in the masculine sense. Janet didn't advocate the kind of coercive power intrinsic to patriarchal forms of expression. Instead, as the faith-filled woman she is, she invited us into her prayer closet. She closed her talk in hopeful tones, telling us that prayer could and would change the situation and bring justice to her family for Jordan's cause. She invoked the three numbers 7-7-7, and invited us to pray seven words three times in a row: God will give us beauty for ashes. And as we entered in a collective prayer closet, we laid hands on Janet, praying with and for her, holding her up in the collective spirituality that filled the room. White and black atheists, humanists, agnostics, Christians, and Muslims laid hands on a woman who was a childless mother, who was our mother, holding us even as we held onto her. It was Janet who was able to bring that many different people to a room and unify them. She prophetically glued us together through a vulnerability shot through with love. In that room, Martin Luther King's "beloved community" was actualized, even if for a few moments. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Janet has since started a radio show that brings awareness to the human cost of police recklessness, irresponsibility, and cowardice. Every Friday, she brings other mothers who have lost children -- other members of this unwanted sorority -- to her show. They speak candidly, vividly recounting their stories of hearing about their sons and sisters killed. In each of these mothers, we hear stories -- not the cheap stories the media use as fodder for ratings--of human loss, of emotional tragedy and psychological struggle, of the perpetual fight for one's own sanity in the midst of intense unshakeable grief. And every time I hear the stories, every time another sorority member speaks of their induction, I am reminded of the unshouted courage Janet displays.

This is for Janet, the woman who miraculously lives the limbo of being a childless mother with grace, serenity, and strength.

This is for Janet, the woman who humanized injustice for me, who put a human face and story to the grief I was experiencing.

This is for Janet, the woman whose faith is a testament to the reality of the divine.

This is for Janet, the woman who taught me how to truly fight for justice.

Although I haven't known you long, I love you Janet. Thank you for being my role model, my teacher, my prophetess, and my inspiration.

And, in Janet's own style, I leave this piece with 7-7-7: three prayers, seven words each.



May your radio show change the world.

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May you never shed tears in vain.
Wick Sloane teaches a college writing class at Bunker Hill Community College, where he also manages the Emergency Assistance Fund. There are weeks, he said, he spends "more time helping students sign up for food stamps than I have correcting essays." The same thing is true for many of his colleagues.

"Hunger and food stamps have been my major professional development since I started teaching at BHCC," Sloane said.

Sloane's experience at Bunker Hill is not unique. Hunger and food insecurity among college students across the nation, and not just at community colleges, is a significant and growing problem, even at some of the elite colleges and universities. And, like most of the socioeconomic problems facing us today, it is complex and not easy to solve.

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Students who experience hunger and food insecurity on campus struggle in many ways. The threat of needing to make a choice between continuing to shoulder the burden of paying for college and not having enough money for living expenses, or dropping out to work to pay for food and rent is constant. So is the risk of stigma and embarrassment in asking for help or of going to classes and not doing as well as you can because of fatigue and gnawing hunger.

A study by The City University of New York found that about 40 percent of its 274,000 students experienced food insecurity in the past year and the percentage was higher among students who worked at least 20 hours per week and for Black and Latino students. That comes to almost 110,000 students.



While the high and rising costs of college tuitions and fees represent a barrier to enrolling in and staying in college, according to the College Board, it is all of the other costs such as rent, food, child care, gas, and phone bills that account for more than 70 percent of the total cost of attending a two-year college. And these costs may not be built into the financial aid students may receive.

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Bunker Hill has, as part of its Emergency Assistance Fund, established a food bank on campus, supplied with the help of local donations.

Other colleges and universities, as well as national organizations such as the College and University Food Bank Alliance, have done the same. This is to their credit but this approach, while necessary, is not a solution.

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We need to recognize that the positive changes we are seeing in the demographics of the college population, in which more low- and middle-income students, many of whom are first-to-college, and the higher costs of higher education are negatively intersecting. Since the downturn in the economy and the decrease in state support of public education, there has been a significant shift of the cost of college education to students and families. For many of those families the increased cost has resulted in sending their children off to school without enough money to make it safely through a day, much less a semester.

One significant part of the problem facing these families is that, currently, colleges alone determine the cost of attendance (COA). The COA is what caps students' eligibility for federal, state and other financial aid. A study by the Wisconsin HOPE Lab shows that colleges tend to underestimate COA and suggests that this might be an institutional choice. That is, since colleges are under pressure to keep their price low, they have an incentive to underestimate the non-tuition portion of the total price that do not end up in their pockets.

Listening to the experiences of Wick Sloane and all of the dedicated educators and students for whom dealing with hunger on college campuses, it is clear that this growing issue is one that needs to be dealt with head-on. Perhaps one metric by which we rate colleges should be how well they address the needs of students in extreme financial difficulty.

We must find ways to make sure that colleges have a stake in helping financially struggling students to meet some of their basic daily needs related attempting to meet the high and often-unanticipated COA. One way may be through the establishment of Emergency Assistance Funds on all campuses with application process that are neither stigmatizing nor overly burdensome.
North Carolina's so-called "bathroom law" requires individuals to use the gender-designated bathroom that accords with their birth sex. Supporters treat this as a common sense solution that what they perceive as a sudden shift in our understanding of biological sex and gender identities. They assume they are simply returning North Carolina to a simpler time, when gender and biology aligned in a straight-forward way. The fact that no one carries his or her birth certificate, but it is supposes to be the basis of bathroom use, suggests the conviction that this proposition is obvious; in the absence of bathroom monitors checking birth certificates (and people in need of a toilet needing to produce them), the assumption is that gender and biological sex are readily apparent. Along with others who want to return to a mythical past that aligns with their conservative values, this stance reveals ignorance over the fact that gender has been a contested category from the earliest moment of American history.

In 1629, a Virginia Quarterly Court heard a case of indeterminate gender A person known as Thomas Hall, who like many migrants had come to the colony as an indentured servant, was hauled before the court to have his (or her) gender sorted out. The case arose out of a fornication accusation initially. Hall had reported "lain with a woman," a fellow servant, which phrasing implied sexual activity. In investigating, the community discovered Hall's changeable gender identity. In England, she had been christened Thomasine and taught traditional female tasks. At the time the skills a person learned were closely tied to gender, so girls learned needlework, while boys did not. Later, and in keeping with numerous other cases of early modern cross-dressing, Thomasine changed to Thomas and went to fight as a soldier on the European continent. Shifting in this way offered women protection as well as opportunities, and that might have explained Thomasine's transformation to Thomas. Later, upon coming to Virginia, Thomas/Thomasine lived mostly as a man but sometimes slides toward female gender once again.

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The older women in the community wanted to know, and they assigned themselves to discover, Hall's true biological sex. The court records contain testimony that suggests they held Hall down and examined his or her genitalia. Although the fact that they were self-appointed was out of the ordinary, a team of middle aged women examining the body of a woman for legal or medical purposes was not unusual. The courts frequently deputized women to explore female bodies for signs of intercourse, pregnancy or witches' marks. If Hall proved a man, though, holding him down and analyzing his body parts was atypical, and even possibly unacceptable. A male community leader tried to settle the case by simply asking Hall, who replied that s/he was both male and female.

Scholars have concluded that biologically Hall was probably an intersex person. A certain number of people are born with genitalia that is neither male nor female. For many years in 20th century American medicine, these babies were silently "repaired" by doctors who chose a sex and operated to bring the infant body more into conformity with expectations. The North Carolina legislators are willfully ignorant of such practices, clinging the idea of male and female verities that others want to upend.

In the end the Virginia magistrates sentenced Hall to signal her/his unusual biology by wearing attire typical of both genders, donning an apron over male attire. This result intended to prevent Hall from moving back and forth between identities at will, by announcing a special category or either/both. When presented with Hall attired (and equipped) as both, what would North Carolina do?
Wanxiang America Corporation's US headquarters is an unassuming building on a quiet strip in Elgin, Illinois, approximately 35 miles outside of Chicago. Its interior is humble, as are the origins of the company, which was founded in Hangzhou, China in 1969 as a bike repair shop with a $500 investment by Lu Guanqiu, now Wanxiang's chairman. Today, Wanxiang is China's largest auto parts manufacturer with $25 billion in global assets.

Lu's life story epitomizes a classic Horatio Alger rags-to-riches tale, one that Americans instinctively admire: a young entrepreneur who, with little means, is able to find success. It is an admirable and self-affirming narrative.

But the history of Wanxiang America is also a tale of what the future of US-China relations might look like - an aspirational goal that is in the interest not only of our two nations but for the global construct of peace and stability.

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The facts are clear: there is no global challenge - from climate change to open sea lanes of communication to international economic stability - that does not and will not require the United States and China to work together. Our two countries may not always agree; our interests will undoubtedly diverge. But we must find a way to collaborate even while we are competing - or even standing at diametrically opposed positions.

It can be done. Take for example the recent decision by both nations to commit to reducing carbon emissions by signing onto the Paris climate change deal. The US and China account for nearly 40 percent of the world's carbon emissions - so the agreement was far from insignificant.

Many Americans are scared of China. It is a vast nation with a huge population and a very different history and culture. It is, to state the obvious, the definition of "foreign."

China is the second largest economy in the world (soon to surpass the US in that position), America's fastest growing trade partner, a nuclear power - and the list goes on. The idea that we will successfully contain China is naive. Nor, for that matter, is it in our broader interest.

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Given the wide range of challenges in the US-China relationship, our goal must be to manage effectively and peacefully the differences we face and celebrate and deepen the interests we share. Wanxiang's investment in the United States, which alone has created thousands of American jobs, is one great example of interests aligned.

And it is not just Wanxiang. Between 2005 and 2015, Chinese companies invested nearly $100 billion in the United States. In 2015 alone, Chinese companies made $15 billion worth of new investments in America. These investments directly support more than 90,000 American jobs - and that doesn't count the jobs that are created when workers' paychecks circulate throughout the economy. In the years ahead, Chinese investments will support hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

Beyond the direct investment of US-China business engagement, what can we do as a nation to ensure that we are building capacity to manage the most consequential relationship that exists in the world today?

Quite simply, the answer lies with our young people, tomorrow's leaders. In China, English language learning is mandatory among K-12 students. In the United States, just 200,000 K-12 students are studying Mandarin and a smaller subset study in China when they are older. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping have come together to commit both sides to increasing the number of young students learning Mandarin in the US to one million by 2020. The goal is ambitious, but the need is urgent.

Cross-cultural understanding between our two nations is critical if we are to work together to solve our greatest shared challenges. The more we know about China, the more we will appreciate its perspective, its politics and its people.

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(election poster of Norbert Hofer: "Show the Flag! Love, Freedom, Love of the Homeland)

Barring what looks increasingly like a miracle, Austria will elect a far right president this Sunday. This time around it is not just someone with a far right past, like Kurt Waldheim, but a current member of a far right party, Norbert Hofer, of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO).

The Austrian presidency is not very powerful, but it is not a purely ceremonial position either. Most importantly, the president can dismiss the federal government. While this power has not been used in the postwar period, Hofer has already said he would use it under a variety of different conditions.

The recent polls will make him even more eager to find a reason: his FPO has about one-third of the vote, far ahead of the traditional two "big" parties - the social democratic SPO and the conservative OVP - which have been reduced to a mere 20 percent each. In other words, by the end of this year Austria might have both a far right President and a far right Prime Minister!

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Most analysts will argue that the far right success is a (logical) consequence of the "refugee crisis," further fueling the myth that immigration automatically leads to anti-immigrant sentiments and far right electoral success. But there is nothing automatic about it. Just look at Canada, which has one of the highest levels of immigration of all western democracies, and willingly took in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees. But, rather than seeing a far right backlash, it sees thousands of Canadians line up to sponsor (more) Syrian refugees!

Moreover, the rise of the FPO predates the "refugee crisis" by many decades. Let's not forget that the party gained almost 30 percent of the vote in 1999, before entering the government as a junior partner, and splitting as a consequence of internal struggles. It was battling for first position in polls already in 2014, well before refugees became perceived as a "crisis" in Europe. The "refugee crisis" has been at best a catalyst, boosting the support of the FPO, while at the same time absolutely destroying that of the two governmental parties.

The reason for both processes is the incompetent and opportunistic behavior of the two mainstream parties. First and foremost, they completely mishandled the refugee situation. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel had come out in support of the refugees, calling for a Willkommenkultur (welcome culture), the Austrian government joined in. Prime Minister Werner Faymann (SPO) even heavily criticizing Merkel's nemesis, Hungarian premier Viktor Orban, likening Orban's anti-refugee policies to Nazi deportations of Jews - a preposterous analogy, obviously.

But as Austria struggled logistically with the sharp increase in refugees, anti-refugee sentiments in the media and public grew, and the Austrian government radically changed opinion. Against international pressure and obligations they closed Austria's borders, suspending Schengen, and introduced a daily quota of refugees. Faymann even openly criticized Merkel's open door policy, stating that Austria is not Germany's "waiting room."

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Not surprisingly, rather than regaining the trust of the people, the government policies intensified public frustration. The complete turnaround only strengthened the impression that the government parties were out of their depth and that the FPO had been right all along that this was indeed a refugee "crisis." Both SPO and OVP got hammered in the first round of the presidential elections: their candidates gained 11.3 percent (SPO) and 11.1 percent (OVP), respectively. In previous presidential elections their candidates would get a combined 80 percent or more!

Yet, nothing was lost yet. Although Hofer won the first round of the presidential elections convincingly, with 35 percent of the vote, he was still far away from a majority. If the liberal democratic forces would rally around Alexander van der Bellen, the nominally independent Green politician who came second with 21 percent, the second round would see the broadly anticipated FPO defeat. After all, this had happened before in France, for example, when Chirac defeated Jean-Marie Le Pen in 2002.

Surely the SPO would endorse Van der Bellen, an establishment Green who is so moderate that he could almost be a social democrat. But they didn't. And neither did the OVP. While several individual SPO and OVP politicians have endorsed Van der Bellen, the two parties have not. There can be only one reason for this embarrassing reluctance: both parties are flirting with the FPO to form a coalition government after the next parliamentary elections, slated for next year - if President Hofer will not force an earlier election.

But it wasn't just opportunism. Political incompetence also plays a role. Faymann resigned as premier earlier this week. While the decision makes some sense, the timing does not. By resigning in between the first and second round of the presidential elections, he only strengthened Hofer. After all, the resignation is universally seen as a consequence of the "refugee crisis," and the far right backlash, showing everyone critical of the government that voting for the FPO provides direct results!

The latest polls have Hofer at (roughly) 53 percent and Van der Bellen at 47 percent. Given that the polls were hugely underestimating Hofer's support in the first round, by some ten percent (!), this seems like a run race. Hence, illiberal democracy will be extending its reach even further within Central Europe, having grown from Hungary to Poland to Austria (and possibly Croatia). It will no longer be just an East Central European issue, to be defined away by "post-communism" and other increasingly dated explanations.

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VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - MARCH 12: Pope Francis waves to the faithful as he arrives in St. Peter's Square for a Jubilee Audience on March 12, 2016 in Vatican City, Vatican. As part of ongoing celebrations of the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis held a special General Audience on Saturday morning. The special Saturday Audiences are being held once each month throughout the Jubilee Year. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Don't get me wrong. I am very fond of Pope Francis - his warmth and sunniness, and his dedication to serving the poor. I realize he leads a church whose 1.2 billion members disagree about a number of doctrinal matters - women's ordination, same-sex marriage, abortion and contraception.

But it is becoming wearying when the Pope, after three years in office, edifies the faithful through off-the-cuff remarks that the media scramble to decipher.

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The latest example is the Pope's response to a conference of women religious. He was asked to form a commission to study whether the church could ordain women deacons, a position that does not lead to the priesthood, but offers women a more meaningful role at Mass, and the right to preach the gospel from the pulpit. The Pope indicated that Yes, that might be a good idea.

This is hardly a resounding call to action. But consider how the media are reporting it. In today's Washington Post, for example, the headline is "Pope supports study on reviving role for women." The New York Times implied it was a done deal: "Pope Francis Says Commission Will Study Whether Women May Serve As Deacons."

I am not blaming the very good reporters who wrote the stories. They don't get to write the headlines. But nevertheless, the Pope's spontaneous remark conveys a change in course that is far more substantial than what the Pope actually said. He responded positively to one question. He mulled about it out loud. He seemed to grow fond of the idea. But that's far from convening an actual commission.

Let's put this along with his famous, "Who am I to judge?" answer to a question about gay priests. While some Vatican watchers predicted a sea change in thinking about gay Catholics, the Pope's tolerance had some notable limits. In his formal response to the bishops' Synod on the Family, the Pope made very clear that same-sex marriage is not "even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage."



Then there was his convoluted discussion about contraception and the Zika virus. He implied that maybe, just maybe, when the alternative is giving birth to babies with terrible and likely fatal birth defects, contraception could be permitted. Vatican watchers say that previous Popes have done something similar, giving theologians the okay to explore the question and to consider when contraception might prevent a larger evil. But these theological excursions, as delicate and intricate as a medieval book of hours, won't help the struggling Catholic women of Brazil and other Zika-plagued countries, who don't necessarily have the time or the background in theology to figure out if they can use birth control or not.

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The Pope also makes gestures that are dramatic, but don't necessarily lead to anything more. The most eye-opening one was his decision, after visiting a camp on the island of Lesbos, to take 12 Syrian refugees back to the Vatican. That was noble.

He also has repeatedly spoken out against efforts in Europe to block the flow of refugees. Maybe that's all he can do - exhort by example and entreat by eloquence. But what's the point of being Pope if you can't issue mandates? Last fall, the Pope asked each Catholic parish, monastery and religious community in Europe to take in a refugee family. Presumably, the Pope could do more than just ask. He could send a letter to all bishops in Europe strongly urging them to follow through. (I'd suggest he also extend his urgent request to North America,too.)

Here's the problem with all these papal suggestions and gestures: They allow bishops to call the real shots.The bishops know that the Pope won't last forever. They can resist or ignore his change of tone, and reformist language, and wait until the next papal election delivers someone more to their liking.

And bishops have huge power in their own dioceses. In 1996, Fabian Bruskewitz, then the notoriously conservative bishop in Lincoln, Nebraska, excommunicated Catholics who deigned to belong to the progressive Catholic group, Call to Action. The Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI refused to overrule the bishop's decision.

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The bishop of the Arlington, Virginia diocese, required that any volunteer who wanted to teach religion to youngsters sign an oath declaring loyalty to all the bishops' teachings, including the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' opposition to the birth control mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

But the Pope has the final say over what the bishops do. He could use his power. He would stir up strife in the church, no doubt. But that didn't stop Pope Paul VI from declaring, in an encyclical, that artificial birth control was "intrinsically wrong," even though a pontifical commission looking into the issue had voted overwhelmingly to permit married couples to practice birth control. Pope John Paul II, who started the process, and Benedict XVI oversaw its completion, created a lasting change in the church when they revised the prayers Catholics say at Mass, making the language more formal, more severe, and less accessible.

In 2006, the Vatican wasted no time punishing then-Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, when he disagreed with his fellow bishops and publicly supported a proposed Ohio law extending the statute of limitations for allegations of clergy sex abuse.
Thomas Jefferson once said: "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." If he were a statesman today, he might also agree that honesty should be the first chapter in another tome: the book of global prosperity.

Corruption poses a major threat to our global prosperity and security. The scale of its impact is staggering. The World Bank estimates that approximately $1 trillion is paid every year in bribes by the private sector alone; that as much as $6 trillion in untaxed wealth held in offshore tax havens is denying revenue to needy nations; and according to the IMF, money laundering is accounting for as much as five per cent of global GDP.

Yesterday in London, Secretary of State John Kerry joined Prime Minister David Cameron and other heads of state and high-level officials from over forty countries at the UK Anti-Corruption Summit calling for countries to make the fight against corruption a first-order priority. Countries agreed to work together to deepen efforts to combat corruption and follow through on already-high international anticorruption standards and principles.

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"Corruption, writ large," the Secretary told the audience, "is as much of an enemy, because it destroys nation states, as some of the extremists we are fighting or the other challenges we face."

As he explained, corruption contributes to trafficking in persons, drugs, arms and wildlife. People frustrated with a corrupt system often support or succumb to extremist ideologies and actions.

Ultimately, corruption corrodes the foundation of society, destroys the rule of law, and undermines freedom and government institutions.

At the Summit, Secretary Kerry called upon global leaders to show that "leaders at the highest level are not, in fact, part of the problem; they're part of the solution."

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The United States has led by example with a long track record of promoting honesty and transparency in business and government.

The United States was the first country to prohibit the bribery of foreign officials. It was the first to criminalize money laundering. And it has some of the strongest corruption-related visa restrictions in the world.

Our companies have created some of the highest standards of excellence in corporate accountability and in working with governments and countries abroad to improve governance and competitive markets globally.

President Obama recently announced a new "beneficial ownership" bill and regulations to combat money laundering, corruption, and tax evasion. Financial institutions will be required to know and keep records of who actually owns the companies that use their services. New tax rules will close loopholes that allow foreigners to hide assets in the U.S. or to conduct financial activity behind anonymous entities. And all fifty states, for the first time, will share information on beneficial owners with law enforcement.

These efforts are critical to preventing criminals from using the global financial system to launder proceeds from corruption, finance terrorism, evade international sanctions regimes, or evade taxes.

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Further, the State Department's Fiscal Transparency Innovation Fund works to boost governmental fiscal transparency and citizens' budget literacy.

In the OECD Working Group on Bribery, we encourage other member countries to adopt tough laws against foreign bribery and investigate their own companies, and we call on all major exporting countries that are not yet members to commit to the Anti-Bribery Convention.

We complement that effort by promoting anticorruption reforms in the G20, G7, APEC, Chamber of Commerce, and other forums, and by supporting treaties such as the UN Convention against Corruption. By enforcing our existing anti-corruption and foreign bribery laws and encouraging other countries to do the same, we are leveling the playing field for honest companies to invest and do business worldwide.

However, our anti-corruption efforts should not just be about punishing corruption, but also about preventing corruption in the first place. That is why Secretary Kerry has announced $70 million in anti-corruption programming to help countries deliver on their promises of reform. And in this arena, private companies have a leading role.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Secretary Kerry called all businesses to action, saying "It is everybody's responsibility to condemn and expose corruption ... with a standard that expects honesty as a regular way of doing business."

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U.S. companies are already world leaders in responsible business conduct, including anti-corruption compliance. And for 17 years, the State Department has promoted those business practices worldwide through the Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence.

Today, we want to work with our companies to help government create better financial management systems, online registrations and service delivery, and increase accountability and competitiveness.

By fostering a culture that refuses to tolerate corruption in any forms, companies not only maintain ethical and legal standards, they realize gains through decreased costs and increased efficiency.

It is incumbent upon all of us - not just governments, but also civil society and the private sector - to coordinate our efforts to strengthen our domestic enforcement and prevention efforts to combat corruption and bribery.

By closing doors to corruption, we can open new ones to greater economic productivity and mutual prosperity. We can remove the wedges between governments and people that have led to failed states and violence. And we can deepen our efforts to address our greater challenges, from tackling climate change and inequality to expanding access to decent education and healthcare.

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With summer around the corner, vacation planning is at the top of many Americans' to-do list. Probably right behind "save money for a summer vacation." Luckily, getting away this summer doesn't have to break the bank. Airfare prices heading into the summer travel season are at a five-year low.

We took the 50 most popular destinations so far this year on Cheapflights.com, jumped into the way-back machine, and compared the average airfares our users found to airfares found for those destinations from January through April of each year for the last five years. 2016 was the hands-down winner with the lowest average fare.

While it's great to know airfares are lower in general, it's even better to know which specific destinations are looking like particularly good deals. So we dug a little deeper. Here are the 10 destinations (five domestic and five international) where average flight prices have dropped the most, by percentage, versus this time last year. The prices our users have found to these destinations this year are down 25 percent or more over the same period last year. Best of all, these spots are all great vacations waiting to happen.

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Fly into Chicago-O'Hare International and save this summer - airfares are down 41 percent compared with last year. But that's hardly the only reason to head to the Windy City. Chicago boasts multiple free festivals this summer, including the Chicago Blues Festival in June and the Chicago Jazz Festival held Labor Day weekend, among many other must-see events. Pop culture enthusiasts should also be sure to grab some grub at the summer-long "Saved by the Bell" pop-up diner in Wicker Park, "Saved by the Max."

Florida has always been a popular summer travel destination for all ages and interests. From family-friendly Disney World to the vibrant nightlife of Miami, there is no shortage of summer adventures to be had in the Sunshine State. And those looking for a Florida vacay this summer are in luck. Four airports in the state have seen big average airfare drops this year: Southwest Florida International (serving Fort Myers and the Florida Gulf) is down 35 percent, Orlando International is down 32 percent, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International is down 32 percent and Miami International is down 25 percent, making all four great options for summer 2016. Head to Disney, enjoy the Southern Florida sunshine, party in Miami, relax in Fort Lauderdale or, perhaps, all of the above.

Some big airfare drops for flights landing at LaGuardia look to be making the city that never sleeps a perfect city getaway. With airfare down 31 percent compared with last year, there is no better time to explore Central Park in all its summertime glory, and take advantage of a number of free events. The Annual Museum Mile Festival happens in June, opening up Museum Mile to the public for free. Soak up the culture (and the sun) and then take in Shakespeare in the Park, also free. Plan ahead as lines for tickets can get long. If the Bard isn't your bag, NYC also offers free outdoor movies throughout the city.

Keeping your cool in Hotlanta this summer is a breeze and starts with low-cost flights to Atlanta International - down 28 percent compared with last year. Once there, check out free weekly rock concerts in Piedmont Park every Sunday throughout the summer. You can also explore off-the-beaten path Atlanta attractions such as June's Helen to the Altantic Balloon Festival or the Chattahoochee Nature center Butterfly Festival. When you're through, quench your thirst during "Sips in the City" with downtown Atlanta restaurants offering beer and cocktail specials every weekday from 4 to 7 p.m.

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There is no shortage of things to do in Los Angeles. From the iconic glamour of Hollywood to the laid-back vibe of Santa Monica, a summer vacay on the West Coast can't be beat. And, this year, airfare prices to Los Angeles International have been down noticeably (27 percent), making it a good opportunity to see it all for less. Save even more by taking advantage of all the cheap and free activities the city has to offer. While the beach is number one, consider checking out a museum or two, hiking to the Hollywood sign, enjoying one of the free events held at The Griffith Observatory or catching a moonlit movie with the Moonlight Movies on The Beach series in Belmont Shores.

Thanks to some healthy competition for international travelers between Gatwick and Heathrow, average airfares to London are down (29 percent into Gatwick and 33 percent into Heathrow) and deals are there for the taking. So why not hop across the pond this summer? June brings the Trooping of the Colour, a parade in honor of the Queen's birthday, as well as a two-day floating cinema tour. If you're in Londontown later in the summer, head to the Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's biggest street festival.

Australia is a dream destination for many Americans, and now is a great time to head Down Under while prices are down. Fly into Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney to save on airfare (with average flight prices down 33 percent). While it may be winter in Australia, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to keep you busy. After all, Aussie winters are typically mild, making it a great time to get outdoors. July is actually the best month of the year for a whale watching excursion in Sydney, with sightings almost guaranteed - providing a refund or second trip should you not see a whale. It's also the perfect time to hike the Blue Mountains, which become even more scenic during Sydney's winter months.

Who doesn't dream of a Costa Rica vacay? Make the dream a reality while average flight prices to Juan Santamaria International are down this year (31 percent). With rain forests, waterfalls, volcanoes and rivers to explore, natural beauty abounds. Add to that, rich culture and tasty affordable dining options, and you will want to start packing immediately.

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Southeast Asia is becoming increasingly popular with American travelers. Experience it for yourself with a summer getaway to Bangkok, Thailand. Airfares to Bangkok International have been trending down (26 percent), making it a great time to check out this up-and-coming hot spot. Explore gorgeous temples, see the sights from aboard a canal tour and nosh on tasty and intriguing street food. Bangkok is the perfect out-of-the-box summer trip, and there is no better time to experience it than now.

Punta Cana has a lot to offer summer travelers by way of sun, fun and relaxation. And, in 2016, add lower than usual flight prices to that list - down 31 percent compared to last year. Whether you prefer lounging on the beach with a cocktail or indulging in a little underwater adventure, Punta Cana will deliver. Whether you choose to snorkel, snuba or cruise the Caribbean in a catamaran, the living is easy (and affordable) in Punta Cana this summer.
Last November, U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order to "ban the box" - the widely-hated part of a job application that allows federal agencies and other employers to force prospective hires to disclose criminal their criminal record history.

In issuing the order, the president declared government hiring shouldn't use criminal history "to screen out" applicants before their qualifications have been considered. The order allows federal hiring officials to ask about past convictions, but only after making a conditional job offer.

New measures such as this are clearly needed to halt the premature termination of job prospects for the 600,000+ former inmates who re-enter the job market each year. And thankfully, the movement is taking hold, not just for the federal government, but in the private sector, too. Since Obama issued his order, the 'ban-the-box' campaign is percolating at the municipal and state level across the country.

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Most recently, the states of Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin imposed the policy on their own governments, bringing the total to 23 participating states. The prohibition also covers private employers in seven states: Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

Over 100 cities and counties now have their own "ban the box" laws. That includes nine of the 30 most populous U.S. cities: Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore and Portland, Oregon acted before their states adopted a statewide measure. Altogether, the National Employment Law Project calculates, about 185 million people - over half the nation's total population - now live in jurisdictions with 'ban the box' or similar restrictions.

Last December, Portland joined the roster of major cities barring employers from using their own or third-party criminal record checks before extending a conditional job offer. The same month, Philadelphia expanded an earlier groundbreaking "ban the box" law by attaching onto it a new ordinance, which bars both public- and private-sector employers from asking about, taking into consideration, or sharing information about arrests which did not lead to a conviction. Philadelphia employers may only consider convictions from the previous seven years the job applicant was not incarcerated.

The most recent major city to act is Austin, now the nation's eleventh largest. In March, the state capital became the first city in Texas to approve a "ban the box" ordinance. It covers only private-sector employers with 15 or more workers for 20 weeks a year (federal and state agencies are exempted, along with private membership clubs). It also forbids using criminal records to deny promotions to current workers, and spells out factors for making individual assessments of whether an applicant with a criminal record is suitable for a position.

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On May 22, 2016, the Greek Cypriots in the independent south of Cyprus will go to the polls, with the issue of the reunification of the island heavily weighing on their minds. Northern Cyprus remains under Turkish occupation since 1974.

The preamble of the United Nations (UN) Charter states: "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war... to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law... our respective Governments... have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations (UN)." The purpose of the UN, as expressed in its Charter is: "To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes." To achieve this purpose, "all Members shall refrain ... from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state." In the event that international law, as expressed in the UN Charter, has been breached the UN Security Council is empowered to decide on measures "to be employed to give effect to its decisions."

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Cyprus has been a part of the Greek world as far back as can be attested by recorded history. After the collapse of the Byzantine Empire and the defeat of the Venetians it fell to Ottoman rule from 1571 to 1878. In 1878 it was placed under British administration, was annexed by Britain in 1914, and in 1925 became a British colony. Greek Cypriots joined the mainland Greeks in the wars of independence against the Ottomans, and the British played with Greece and the Greek Cypriots the idea of Cyprus' enosis(union) with Greece a number of times when this served their interests, to afterwards turn the other way. In 1955, the Greek Cypriots started a guerrilla war against British rule demanding enosis with Greece. The British colonial policy of "divide and rule" cultivated intentionally animosity between the Greek majority and the Turkish minority (18% of the population) in the island. Hitchens quotes C.M. Woodhouse's writing "Harold Macmillan [then Foreign Secretary] was urging us to stir up the Turks in order to neutralize the Greek agitation." It was the British who first in 1956 proposed the idea of partitioning the island, and their fingerprints are present on all developments on the Cyprus issue which in one way or another have some form of partition as a feature.

In 1960, Cyprus was granted independence under an imposed unworkable constitution, which made the conflict between the two communities unavoidable. The arrangements of 1960 (Treaties of Guarantee, Alliance and Establishment) were heavily influenced by the British, who were driven by the perception that the partition of the island, one way or another, served best their interests. This served also the Turkish interests, and since then Turkey is consistently striving to get the most from such a partition. The British ideas of division and the Turkish insistence on partition have propagated through what has followed including the UN supported negotiations between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and the Annan Plan.

On 20 July 1974, Turkey, a UN member state, in violation of the UN charter, claiming a right (which is also questionable) under the Treaty of Guarantee to intervene, invaded Cyprus and defying the UN Security Council quickly occupied 37% of the island, and forced the separation of Greek and Turkish Cypriots into two communities. The day of the invasion the U.N. Security Council called "upon all States to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Cyprus;" demanded "an immediate end to foreign military intervention;" and requested "the withdrawal without delay from the Republic of Cyprus of foreign military personnel present otherwise than under the authority of international agreements."

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Subsequently, these demands were reiterated by the Security Council in numerous resolutions, which not only were ignored by Turkey, but also in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49, Turkey settled in the occupied Northern Cyprus a large number of its own nationals to change the demographics of the island. It has been estimated that today in the occupied part of Cyprus there are about 150,000 - 160,000 settlers.

After the failure of the second Geneva Conference on 13 August 1974, under the urging of the Security Council the two Cypriot communities engaged in a lengthy series of heavily asymmetric negotiations - on the one side the Republic of Cyprus represented by the Greek Cypriots, the "orphan child" of the UN(Waldheim, UN Secretary General), pressured from all sides to compromise, and on the other side the leadership of the Turkish Cypriots, supported by 40,000 Turkish troops in the occupied territories, committed to the Turkish objective to partition the island. A walk through the resolutions of the UN Security Council and reports of the UN Secretary-General reveals that the international justice system left the victim, the Republic of Cyprus, to negotiate the settlement of the "case" by accommodating its assailant, Turkey.

The original call of the International Community (UN), for "the necessity to restore the constitutional structure of the Republic of Cyprus established and guaranteed by international agreements" retreated to a call for a bi-communal federal Republic, then for "a federation that will be bi-communal as regards the constitutional aspects and bi-zonal as regards the territorial aspects", then for "two politically equal communities....in a bi-communal and bi-zonal federation."

The original demand of the International Community for the withdrawal "of all foreign armed forces" retreated to a call for "significant reduction in the number of foreign troops."

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The demand for the "return of all refugees" (about 240,000 Greek Cypriots) ended up in the Annan Plan to the return of about 50% of them.

The urge of the UN for negotiations "whose outcome should not be impeded or prejudged by the acquisition of advantages resulting from military operations", retreated to pressure on the Greek Cypriots to accommodate the demands of Turkey, which has and is taking "advantages resulting from military operations." The problem of Cyprus gradually morphed from one of a foreign invasion in violation of international law into, and dealt as, an issue of conflict between two communities to absolve the assailant of its criminal actions.

The leadership of the Turkish Cypriots, with the support of Turkey and its troops on the island, defying the calls of the Security Council, first declared the occupied north Cyprus an "autonomous" Turkish Cypriot administration, then "Turkish Federated State of Kibris," then independent "Turkish Cypriot Administration," and subsequently a sovereign state, the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus."

The intransigence of the Turkish Cypriot leadership led to the failure of the Waldheim (UN secretary) initiative.

The Turkish Cypriot leadership, caused the failure of Perez de Cuellar's (UN Secretary) initiative by insisting to "the right of secession", caused the failure of Ghali's (UN Secretary) initiative by voicing positions "fundamentally at variance with the Set of Ideas", and "repeatedly imposed obstacles in the establishment of bi-communal contacts" aiming "to build co-operation, trust and mutual respect between the two communities."

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Articles 41 and 42 of the UN Charter empower the Security Council to take measures "to give effect to its decisions." They include "complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations," and if these would "have proved to be inadequate, it may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such action may include demonstrations, blockade, and other operations by air, sea, or land forces of Members of the United Nations." Since 1966, the Security Council has imposed sanctions against a number of countries, in the 1960's intervened militarily in Congo, and in 1990 authorized the use of force against Iraq, which had invaded Kuwait.

The unwillingness of the UN Security Council to enforce its resolutions and its continuous yielding to the Turkish demands led in 2004 to the Annan Plan, heavily influenced by the British. The Plan re-endorsed the Treaties of Guarantee and Alliance, which provided the excuse for the Turkish invasion; re-affirmed the British sovereignty rights on the Cypriot territory of the British bases; would, if implemented, keep Cyprus a hostage of Turkey in perpetuity; would dismantle the Republic of Cyprus and replace it with the United Republic of Cyprus without real sovereignty in a federal system of veto powers that most likely would lead to the same deadlocks as the unworkable constitution of 1960; did not resolve the illegal settlement of Turks in the occupied Northern Cyprus; did not resolve equitably the territorial issue; did not allow for the return of about 50% of Greek Cypriot refugees to their homes; and would enforce many other inequities to accommodate Turkey, the assailant of the Republic of Cyprus and the violator of international legality.

If the Annan Plan was a just resolution of the Cyprus problem why it is not implemented by Turkey to resolve its Kurdish problem? Why the international community does not pressure Turkey to adopt such a solution to its Kurdish problem?

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Since the Greek Cypriots voted "no" in the referendum for the Annan Plan, the Security Council resolutions continue to urge the two sides to proceed with the implementation of confidence-building measures and negotiations for a comprehensive settlement. However, as it was recognized in a recent security council report, the Annan Plan looms in the background, with Greek Cypriots hoping "to create a new basis for negotiations that did not involve the Annan plan", and "Turkish Cypriots (and Turkey)" fearing "that this new process would put aside the fragile achievements of past rounds of negotiations and, particularly, the gains they had achieved in the Annan plan."

Recently optimism has been expressed that a solution of the Cyprus problem can be imminent. In January 2016, Cyprus president Anastasiadis said: "To paint a picture that we're just shy of an overall settlement is a mistake." He said Akinci, the leader of the Turkish Cypriots, is expressing "positions that reflect concerns of the past." One such issue is an insistence that Turkish Cypriots remain the majority in terms of population and ownership of private property inside the constituent state they will govern as part of an envisioned federation. The Turkish Cypriots also want the retention of the Treaties of Guarantee and Alliance that give the right of intervention in Cyprus to Turkey, Greece and Britain.

The President of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus Yiannakis Omirou, expressed similar concerns. He said that we want a solution the soonest, but one that will end the Turkish occupation, safeguard human rights, terminate the 1960 guarantees, and will not provide for permanent derogations from the EU acquis communautaire.

The problem of Cyprus demonstrates the impotence of the international community "to maintain international peace and security... in conformity with the principles of justice and international law." The critical issues of the problem remain the same since 1960: the insistence of Turkey to either partition the island, or keep it under its thumb; the unwillingness of the international community to enforce the dictates of international legality; and the appeasement of Turkey with the imposition of unworkable solutions. Understandably, as international law and our world are today, there are many cases where realities make the enforcement of international law a daunting or unfeasible task, but Cyprus has been an example of a not such a case.
In March 2016, the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed delisting the grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in portions of Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. As mandated by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Service opened a 60-day public comment period. They received a deluged of responses--63,000 in all--many scathingly opposing delisting the great bear.

Yellowstone Grizzly Bear, NPS Image

Delisting is in part a numbers game. The Yellowstone grizzly bear population, which has grown from 136 bears in 1975 to an estimated 750 or more today, certainly meets the numerical delisting criteria in the federal Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan. USFWS director Dan Ashe called the Yellowstone grizzly bear recovery ". . . a historic success for partnership-driven wildlife conservation under the ESA." He asserted that ". . . final post-delisting management plans by these partners will ensure healthy grizzly populations persist across the Yellowstone ecosystem long into the future."

So why all the delisting opposition? Proposed grizzly bear hunting in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, which would open soon upon delisting, fuels much of it. Experts such as newly-retired 35-year grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen maintain that hunting will reduce conflict between bears and people and check a grizzly bear population deemed at carrying capacity.

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In the past few years, grizzly bears have been roaming increasingly onto the prairie east of the Continental Divide--reclaiming their ancestral Pleistocene range in a now human-dominated landscape. Consequently human-bear conflicts, which include livestock depredation, have escalated. As is the case with state-managed hunts for other species, a hunt would legally enable people to kill grizzly bears in a presumed sustainable manner, thereby reducing conflicts. The environmental community and many scientists disagree, because such a hunt will make a species with one of the lowest reproductive rates of any terrestrial mammal vulnerable to extinction. Furthermore, new science in the Upper Midwest shows that post-delisting wolf hunting has failed to increase human tolerance for the species. This raises doubts about whether such a hunt would do so for the grizzly bear.

The death of a beloved Yellowstone 25-year-old bear named Scarface, which has come to light recently, exemplifies this species' vulnerability to humans. This iconic bear acquired his name due to his battle-scarred face. At 600 pounds in his prime, he was a park favorite. In 2015 he emerged from hibernation very thin, in obvious physical decline. Biologists expected that he wouldn't live another year, due to his advanced age. However, Scarface wouldn't have a peaceful death. In November 2015, the bruin was shot illegally outside Yellowstone, in Gardiner, Montana. USFWS issued a media release about the killing and launched an investigation. Scarface's death triggered outrage and grief in the environmental community and among park visitors. It also caused people to question the wisdom of delisting this species at a time when there continues to be so much human intolerance for it.

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Scarface, Photo by Cristina Eisenberg

This is the second delisting attempt for Yellowstone Grizzlies. In 2008, with the Yellowstone grizzly bear population at 600, meeting ESA recovery criteria, the Service filed a delisting proposal. However, scientists had found that grizzly bear reproduction was down, due to a decline in whitebark pine, a protein-rich food. While grizzly bears can eat over 270 different foods, they require high protein at specific times of year--such as before hibernation. Protein-rich, high-fat items like pine nuts enable them to pack on pounds. For breeding females, body fat determines their ability to reproduce. Pregnant females going into hibernation with insufficient body fat absorb their fertilized eggs. A successful lawsuit resulted in renewed protection for the great bear.

Stay tuned for next steps with grizzly bear policy. In the meantime, people such as Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks grizzly bear management biologists Tim Manley and Mike Madel will continue to do what they've been doing for decades--working to help people and bears coexist. Their caring and tireless commitment to helping bears survive in increasingly human-dominated landscapes has done much to advance conservation. Such ongoing efforts are essential as we move toward delisting.

As the ESA comes of age in the 21st century, we must find a way to move gracefully and ethically forward in applying this law, whose original purpose was species recovery, not indefinite protection. Grizzly bears will be delisted sometime soon. In preparing to do so, scientists will continue to add to what we know about this species' needs, factoring in climate change impacts and other issues that didn't exist in 1975.

US Geological Survey scientist Tabitha Graves is just such a researcher. In her Earthwatch Institute project, Climate Change, Huckleberries, and Grizzly Bears in Montana, she and citizen scientist volunteers are studying productivity of this crucial pre-hibernation bear food. A warming climate and pollinator decline can alter huckleberry availability and size, negatively impacting grizzly bears and other species. However, her findings may take several years to emerge.

This begs the question, will the grizzly bear be delisted this time around? Maybe, but not until concerns about climate change, population viability, and conflict with humans are addressed in good faith using best science.

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We say goodbye to Amsterdam with a heart that is even lighter than when we first arrived. Amsterdam, for her rather bad girl image, actually became a beautifully quaint city who was in reality a misunderstood good girl. It got me to thinking: how many people have I unfairly judged before truly getting to know their true light? Amsterdam has become a symbol for the moments when I lose my personal consciousness by bringing my own personal gavel of judgment upon the actions and choices of another human being.

Our final day was spectacularly simply yet incredibly exciting at the same time. Joy and I awoke after nine following a night of late night talking, laughing and generally solving the world's problems by realizing we don't know squat about solving the world's problems. We got ready quickly to enjoy our last day in Amsterdam and we made our way down to the lobby for our final tour of this city on this leg of our European tour. We hopped, once again, on the ultimate tourist transportation; the canal boats.

There is something so quaint about the cheesiness that is disguised as convenience that the canal boats offer but by the same token I feel the canal boats have both: equal parts cheesiness and equal parts convenience. This is a recipe for fun for day two on the canal boats for Joy and me. The boat ride offers a cornucopia of life on the river. A quick glance out of the boat window and one might spy a woman dressed in red on a gondola slicing through the water with seemingly not a care in the world or see a duck resting comfortably on a pile of floating garbage. It was all there to see if only a person could be present to soak in all of Amsterdam's eccentricities.

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Joy and I exited the boat at our first stop and we meandered our way through the cobble stone streets of Amsterdam while happening upon a local art festival. Coincidentally, it happened to be right outside the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, which to me is the cruelest barometer by which to measure these up and coming talents that are trying desperately to sell their wares at this local festival. To try to sell paintings outside the shadow of the building that celebrates the work of one of the greatest artists in the world seems to be an act of bravery that exceeds pure confidence. This is the equivalent of standing in the parking lot outside of a Luciano Pavarotti concert and telling everyone going inside to watch it, "You know what? I sing a little bit too."

However, as we strolled through the festival we were awe-inspired to discover that these artists did "sing a little too." Each time we walked up to a newly created piece of Dutch art we were impressed. Breathtaking paintings peered out at anyone who was willing to witness their beauty simply by stopping for a peek. No pressure to buy, just take a look and see if I can't entice you to take me home. You know you want to. Just one peak, it won't hurt. The first one is free...

These artists are the quintessential essence of expressing the beautiful creativity of humans. We are godlike in our ability to create however few of us know it and few of us are able to quell the feelings of fear just long enough to take a chance to create and then share that creation with the world. I had to respect these artists for taking that chance. This is why I love artists so much. They dive headfirst into their passion and let the critics fight over the merit of their work. For their part, they simply enjoy the process of creation.

Even the street food vendors found ways to create new versions of old classics. We watched as one vendor, who was selling only French fries, artistically tossed steaming hot fries into a paper shaped cone sleeve with an attached container for ketchup, just to add a little convenience to the whole fry-eating process. The vendor catered to an endless line of people waiting patiently to partake in this simple delicacy. This proves you don't have to necessarily do something groundbreaking to get the recognition for a job well done. Sometimes mastering a classic is the greatest skill we can learn.

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Joy and I continued to wander the streets after partaking in "New York" pizza at one local food truck that can never quite measure up to authentic NEW YORK pizza. I sipped cappuccinos while watching all walks of life pull out joints and smoke them in public view. Marijuana technically isn't legal in Amsterdam but it also doesn't seem to be any concern for local authorities. The general rule seems to be, smoke all you want, just don't do it in front of the police or for the eyes of children to witness. Amsterdam always seems to say, "Practice any vice that you see fit just don't throw it in our face while you do it."

For us, Joy and I decided to try our luck in the casinos. We slid into a little boutique casino in the Red Light District, I placed one bet on roulette on my favorite number 4 and on the first spin we walked away a winner. Joy and I hugged and decided not to push our luck any further. Mother Universe had smile upon us and we took our winnings and decided we would close out our final night in Amsterdam with a glass of wine for me and a water with ice for Joy (She is very American when it comes to her water. Ice is a must for her contrary to European tradition).

As the sun began cooling signaling the end of the day, Joy and I decided it was time to figure out where we were going next. We thought, what better way than allowing the Universe to decide. All day we had been receiving hints as to where we should go. No less than three people mentioned the same place to us and finally, as we were closing out our final day in Amsterdam our waiter, Alejandro, sealed the deal when he told us where he was from.

"We are wondering where we should go next. Where is your favorite city in the world?" we asked Alejandro.

"My home will always be my favorite city in the world," he told us. "This is simply a magical place you must visit before you die and it is my hometown."

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We asked Alejandro where he was from and wouldn't you know it, it was the same city we had been hearing about all day. This had sealed the deal. We knew where the world was now taking us. Joy pulled out her phone and in only a few seconds she booked us flights on the next stop on our journey.

Soon after we hopped on the canal boat to head back to our hotel. While we were waiting for the boat to depart to our final destination we sat reveling in our final day in this magical European city. As the captain of the boat fired up the engines to take us back to our hotel he said, "It is time to go, my friends." Indeed it was. We were closing our chapter on Amsterdam and we were moving on. The next adventure awaited.

Imagine our excitement as we head off to our next place of inspiration. Joy and I spent the night packing as we talked about our next adventure ahead. For now we were turning out the lights on Amsterdam. She was a divine city that played gracious host to us, the kind of host that you can't wait to offer you another invitation to visit.

Amsterdam is misunderstood. She is and always will be authentically herself and she isn't going to change for you or anyone else just to conform to a set of rules for the sake of conformity. Amsterdam is her own girl and she likes it that way.
This month, the first ever World Humanitarian Summit is being held in Istanbul, Turkey. The timing and location could not be more apt. We are witnessing a rapid increase in humanitarian crises, from the West African Ebola epidemic, earthquakes in Nepal, Japan and Ecuador, to the intractable and brutal conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

A topic of discussion at the Summit is "Putting People at the Center," a special session calling on humanitarian responders to place the people who receive humanitarian assistance - beneficiaries - at the heart of their programs. That a special session on this topic must even be held could be considered something of an indictment of the humanitarian community. If we aren't already putting beneficiaries first, what exactly are we doing? And if we put beneficiaries at the center of our approach, how will our humanitarian actions change?

The key, I believe, is accountability. Accountability is most often used to describe responsibility to donors, to ensure that funds are being used legitimately as the donor intended, and in a way that provides a measurable impact. While this is vital, putting people at the center also requires accountability to our beneficiaries. As humanitarian responders, we have a duty to be accountable both to our donors and to those we serve on the ground. So how do we measure this accountability to beneficiaries?

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This requires feedback mechanisms to give recipients a say in the aid they are receiving. These feedback mechanisms must be completely independent, and staffed by individuals separate from staff working on the direct provision of assistance. By separating the delivery of humanitarian assistance and beneficiary feedback into discrete functions, we can help ensure that beneficiaries - who are among the most vulnerable people - feel more comfortable discussing their concerns, as well as allow those collecting the feedback to give honest assessments to program implementers of what the community's needs are, as well as if the current assistance is effective.

But having feedback mechanisms is not enough. We must act seriously on that feedback. It is essential to prioritize flexibility when responding in a new or dramatically changing environment. If people are not benefitting from your assistance, or if they have ideas on how it can be improved, that feedback must be heeded. Humanitarian crises are prone to remarkably rapid shifts in the local situation on the ground. One moment the primary concern may be shelter for recent arrivals, the next soaring food prices from surging populations putting pressure on limited supplies. Maintaining flexibility is the best way to adapt to changing circumstances, whether external shocks or changes in beneficiary needs.

At Global Communities, we have implemented a feedback mechanism for vulnerable displaced persons in Syria. We provide a hotline number to receive calls, text messages, or whatsapp messages from beneficiaries, and with every kind of assistance we deliver, we also provide a paper feedback form for beneficiaries to complete if they so choose. We learn a great deal through the feedback we receive. For example, we originally provided beneficiaries with kits of in-kind goods. After receiving feedback from beneficiaries that they would prefer vouchers, we changed our program to take this feedback into consideration. Now, an increasingly large portion of our assistance to program participants in Syria is distributed via vouchers.

It takes time, effort and clear communication with your donors, but putting beneficiaries' needs at the center of assistance better meets their needs. It is the responsibility of NGOs to listen to the needs of the community and both act upon them and inform our donors and supporters of those needs and how best to meet them. If we are not doing this, we are failing in our responsibility toward those we serve.

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For any emergency humanitarian response to be truly accountable to beneficiaries, however, it must have a longer-term focus. Simply showing up to struggling communities, offering assistance, and moving on to the next town is not enough. By having a continuing presence in the community, a relationship can be built at all levels of the local society. In many ways, knowing from the beginning that your humanitarian response will be a longer-term commitment is the only way to build trust and accountability: local communities will not trust you if they know you are going to leave immediately after dropping off your assistance.

This is especially important in the emergency relief context, where tensions are often strained to the breaking point by the stresses of the crisis. Short-term responses can exacerbate these tensions, with an influx of support or goods suddenly creating a problem of who gets what. On the other hand, longer-term programs that partner with the community can help alleviate this risk by forging partnerships that address community needs.

We often separate out humanitarian assistance from long-term development, but if we are going to build long lasting relationships that foster accountability, we must be prepared to work with communities long after the most immediate aspects of the crisis have ended. This will require a change in the way that humanitarian assistance is funded. The gulfs between urgently needed short-term funding and longer-term investment need to be bridged. Hybrid forms of funding that address the spectrum of needs must be developed to ensure our community practices this accountability.
Former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman (R), who headed the EPA under President George W. Bush, has written to President Obama's EPA head, Gina McCarthy, to argue that the EPA's proposed regulation to reduce the risks of explosions at U.S. chemical plants is too weak. Whitman writes that her purpose is "to urge the EPA to strengthen" its rule "to increase the safety of the American people," particularly by requiring numerous high-risk chemical facilities to move to inherently safer technologies (IST).

A chemical plant disaster could result from accident, natural disaster, or deliberate attack. The EPA has identified 466 chemical facilities in the U.S. that each put 100,000 or more people at risk.

Whitman submitted her comment to the EPA on Wednesday, the same day that investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced that the April 2013 explosion at the West Fertilizer Company plant in Texas was intentionally set and not, as previously thought, an accident. That Texas explosion, which moved President Obama to speak at a memorial service for the 15 people who were killed, triggered a White House executive order aimed at reducing chemical plant dangers, which in turn led to the new EPA proposed rules.

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But Whitman made clear in her letter to McCarthy that the new draft rule did not do enough to prevent future tragedies. "It would be most regrettable," she wrote, "if in the closing months of the Obama Administration EPA did not use the opportunity that President Obama's Executive Order provides to expand the use of IST, when economically and technologically feasible, to reduce the vulnerability of high-risk sites to terrorist attack and to better protect the American people in the event of either an accidental or deliberate release."

In the wake of the September 11 attacks, with growing concern about attacks on U.S. soil, EPA administrator Whitman drafted rules requiring IST conversions, where feasible, at high-risk chemical plants. But the plan was blocked by the Bush White House after lobbying by the chemical industry. Koch Industries have been the most aggressive lobbyists for such reforms for more than a decade. But the Obama White House owes no favors to the Koch brothers.

In March I submitted a comment to the same EPA rulemaking process, co-authored with Lieutenant General Russel L Honore, US Army (Ret), the former commander of Joint Task Force Katrina, and Major General Randy Manner, US Army (Ret), former Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The generals and I argued, as Governor Whitman does, that U.S. chemical plants currently pose a serious national security danger. We warned that, while the Obama EPA's proposed rule includes important measures to improve emergency preparedness, even more essential is prevention of a chemical disaster in the first place. And in this regard, the proposed rule falls well short.

Our 100-organization Coalition to Prevent Chemical Disasters makes similar arguments in a comment that we delivered to the EPA today. And the members of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazardous Investigation Board, which is responsible for investigating hazardous materials incidents, also filed a comment calling for broader implementation of safer materials requirements.

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But the strongest statement of the threat came from Senator Barack Obama in 2006, when, in advocating for stronger IST mandates, he called America's hazardous chemical facilities "stationary weapons of mass destruction spread all across the country."

The EPA and the Obama Administration need to act on Senator Obama's stark concern, as Governor Whitman's strong new letter underscores.
In the annals of women who have had a major impact on the world, not many can match the achievements of Harriet Tubman. Born a slave in Maryland in 1822, she was multitasking before the term was invented. She was an abolitionist, a spy for the U.S. Army during the Civil war, and most famously the driving force behind the Underground Railroad, which rescued slaves and brought them to freedom in the northern states. She worked with John Brown to plan his raid on Harpers Ferry, and was an early and vocal supporter of women's suffrage.

Though Harriet Tubman is in the history books and will always be remembered for the courageousness of her exploits and her unwavering zeal for change, she's finally getting the kind of recognition she and other women who have played outsized roles in history deserve: she'll be represented on the nation's currency. President Andrew Jackson will disappear from the face of the $20 bill, and Tubman will take his place.

It's about time.

Harriet Tubman fought against staggering odds to improve the lives of others and effect change. While women today, at least in Western society, don't face ordeals of the kind she grappled with, they still encounter hurdles in the struggle for gender equality. Granted, women have made strides. There were no women chief executives in the FORTUNE 500 when the list first appeared in 1955. Today there are 22. That's progress, but by no means enough, especially when data show that companies with a greater number of women in leadership positions outperform their peers.

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Even if our struggles are different from theirs, we can learn something about determination and focus from heroes such as Harriet Tubman. I've often touted that in today's business world, women must not be afraid to take on challenges, even ones that at first glance seem too daunting. They must not feel as if they don't belong at the table with men, even when they've earned their seat--there's no more room for "imposter syndrome" in today's world. And they need to get past the fear of asking for more responsibility, more acceptance of their ideas, and equal compensation. Assertiveness is applauded when men are involved, but women are often told tone it down and keep their ideas to themselves. Or worse, not shoot for the high-level roles men hold.
hand clicking franchising button on a touch screen

If you own a business, you might think that expanding it with a franchise means surrendering your position as the boss. For several years, I operated my own successful water and fire damage restoration company in Chicago, but I knew that I was ready to move to the next level.

After careful research and planning, I partnered with a national franchise that demonstrated a proven track record. The business model has its challenges, but it's also been very rewarding for me and my growing family of employees.

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Because my experiences have been positive, I'd like to share what I've learned over the years. If you're thinking about buying a business franchise, I offer these eight points for your consideration.

1. Research Your Options

As an independent, you handle the trial and error process of doing business by yourself every day. Think about how much you invest in self-reliance, and balance that against the potential to expand your success.

You never make a big decision without diligent research, so explore the options within your industry. I found that buying a franchise made my business part of a larger business that offers national brand recognition and an established customer base.

2. Know What to Look For

Franchise agreements vary from one industry to another, but they all outline company requirements and levels of support. Compare the details in different agreements, and weigh them against your expectations.

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Once you narrow your options to two or three companies, look for a solid reputation, robust financial growth and a partner-friendly franchise agreement. The research takes time, but it's an investment in your future.

3. Know What to Look Out For

You can learn a lot about a franchise before visiting its website. There are a number of franchisee associations that network online and provide candid snapshots of organizations with questionable reputations.

The FTC requires that franchise businesses make a Franchise Disclosure Document available to prospective buyers. Visit a company's site, and download its FDD to learn about turnover and failure rate details.

4. Plan for a Financial Transition

While the idea of buying into a franchise seems expensive, it can cost less than financing a new business on your own. My company was already established, but I considered my franchise license as an investment, and it paid off well enough that I recently purchased a second license.

You also pay franchise royalties, but you receive a lot of support in return. Don't expect to make money the first week. Instead, work out financial plans that let you transition smoothly to your new business model.

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5. Expect Plenty of Support

A successful franchise maintains its strong market position by making sure that you have the training and tools you need to deliver the best products or services. This support helps my cleaning and disaster restoration company stay up to date with the latest industry certification, techniques and equipment.

You should also expect a strong franchise network that provides cutting edge marketing and financial strategies through conferences and workshops. This kind of collaboration builds professional relationships, generates leads and increases your customer base.

6. Be Prepare to Meet Standards

I work closely with my business development manager to make sure that my operations meet franchise standards. I understand my responsibilities to deliver my best and maintain the company's reputation.

While there are a few restrictions on how and where I do business, they never compromise the professional commitments I have to my customers or the quality of my work. Most potential franchisees are surprised at the freedom that comes with a buy-in.

7. Know That You're the Boss

When you become part of a franchise, you're expected to uphold company standards and meet financial obligations, but you're still the boss. Hiring and firing are up to you, and you make all the day-to-day decisions.

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As an independent operator, you do everything by yourself. You have to keep up with the latest industry trends while you handle marketing, juggle finances and expand business. As a franchisee, you do everything with the backup of a partner organization that wants you to succeed.

8. Be Ready for the Challenges



Because ServiceMaster is a nationally recognized brand, its big name implies that I make hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Sometimes, new customers think that I own the company. They're surprised to learn that I run a small, family-owned and operated business with my two franchise licenses.

When you operate a franchise, you go through the same hard times and face the same problems that affect independents. However, you're generating your own revenue and building your own success with a backup system that's there for as long as you're in business.



Solid Support Makes the Difference

Running a company isn't easy, but you can go further and achieve more when you have solid support. The level of security that comes from buying a franchise can make a big difference in your future.
Nearly one in two Americans suffer a "chronic" (long-lasting or incurable) disease or disability. These are our family members, people we know and love.

To heal the ill and injured, rather than merely maintaining them in their suffering, we must have cures. That means research funding, and scientific freedom, supported by our leadership.

Our next President must understand the importance of medical research, and help us go forward.

So where do they stand, the Presidential candidates of 2016: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton?

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One chatted casually about giving control of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to a conservative radio "shock jock."

Another voted to put stem cell researchers in jail, with a fine of one million dollars.

And one is a long-term supporter of full stem cell research. (3)

Can you guess which is which?

1.When Donald Trump visited the ultra-conservative Michael Savage radio show, the host made an unusual request, asking to be appointed head of the $30 billion National Institutes of Health, saying:

When you become president, I want you to consider appointing me to head of the NIH. I will make sure that America has real science and real medicine again in this country because I know the corruption. I know how to clean it up and I know how to make real research work again.

To which Trump responded:

"I think that's great... you know you'd get common sense if that were the case, that I can tell you, because I hear so much about the NIH, and it's terrible."

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Hopefully, Mr. Trump was only joking -- but this is the man who pledged to eliminate what he calls the "Department of Environmental", so it is hard to consider him a friend to science.

2.Bernie Sanders co-sponsored a bill to put scientists in jail for ten years -- and fine them one million dollars -- for a type of stem cell research called Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer, (SCNT), sometimes called "therapeutic cloning."

Sanders's legislation condemned both good and bad kinds of cloning as if there was no difference between the universally-despised reproductive cloning (an attempt to create babies, endangering both mother and child) and therapeutic cloning, stem cells in a petri dish. This is like comparing a light bulb with a lightning bolt; both involve electricity, but one lights a room while the other starts forest fires.

Robert Klein, Chair Emeritus of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine said:

"Sanders and (then-Republican House Majority Leader Tom) DeLay -- were part of the religious right's attempt to shut down this whole critical new frontier of therapy for chronic disease."

Why would Senator Sanders side with anti-science extremists to put researchers in jail? Sadly, he is known to oppose biomedicine, saying he had "very serious concerns about the long-term goals of an increasingly powerful and profit-motivated biotechnology industry."

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Biomedicine, it should be noted, currently provides more California jobs than aerospace and the movie industry put together.

3.Hillary Clinton strongly supports full stem cell research. As a senator, she was faced with the question of cloning and answered it boldly.

Like former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and First Lady Nancy Reagan, Secretary Clinton supported SCNT for stem cells, while banning human reproductive cloning. With fellow Senators Dianne Feinstein and the late Edward Kennedy, Clinton co-authored legislation with a clear distinction between what should be supported and what should be illegal.

The purpose of her bill was plain: "To prohibit human cloning while preserving important areas of medical research, including stem cell research."

What kind of President do we want?

A man who will side with anti-science extremists and vote three times to jail stem cell researchers?

Someone with so little scientific awareness that he does not even know the name of the Environmental Protective Agency -- which he would eliminate?

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Or a woman who has studied the issues and taken her stand -- consistently fighting for research for cure?
Sometimes winning is a unanimous decision. Last week, officials in Gary, Indiana, voted unanimously against allowing the private prison company GEO Group to build a for-profit immigration detention center in the city. The decision follows months of organizing by a diverse coalition of faith leaders and residents against the publicly traded corporation, which profited $139 million in taxpayer dollars nationwide in 2015.



Sometimes winning is the end of a contract. New York City officials have announced that they will not renew a multi-million dollar contract with Veolia, a private French conglomerate, to manage the city's wastewater treatment plants. The contract had come under fire from workers and safe water advocates--and for good reason: Veolia has a track record of chemical explosions, sewage spills, and soaring rate hikes across the world. New York City isn't an outlier. In 2012 alone, ten U.S. local governments took back operation of their water or sewer services from Veolia.



Sometimes winning is a new rule. The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) just proposed a rule that would restore the right of consumers to join together to hold corporations accountable when they break the law. The rule limits the financial industry's use of "forced arbitration," an abusive practice in which corporations bury clauses in the fine print of contracts to block consumers from challenging hidden fees, fraud, and other illegal behavior. Forced arbitration is privatized justice--it forces consumers of things like credit cards and student loans to settle disputes with a company using a third party arbitrator instead of a public jury or judge.
Meet My Child got nearly 1.5 million views via Facebook in its first two days. Comments flooded in from people who were moved by the stories of three moms and their transgender children, including some viewers who said the video changed their minds on the "bathroom issue."



This family-oriented approach to re-framing the debate was inspired by our work on marriage equality. Our team produced one of the early TV ads on the topic during the battle for marriage in Massachusetts, the first state to allow same-sex marriages. That ad featured a young man talking about his two moms and the meaning of their marriage. Focus group research showed that people from many different backgrounds could relate to the family's story.



Most people recognize that families come in all shapes and sizes. We respect parents who stand up for their children. And we're moved to protect children who are threatened. Content that speaks to these values can move millions.



The "focus on family" strategy turns the tables on politicians who are demonizing transgender people and stirring up fears about predators in public restrooms. The moms in our video send a powerful message to the politicians and an invitation to all: Meet my child. Hear my family's story. Learn about this issue.



The response to the video shows that many people are interested in learning more. YouTube data showed that an astonishing 76 percent of those viewing the video were also reading a post about it or looking up information on another website while watching it. Clearly, many people are looking to learn more.



In an article about Meet My Child, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) cites research showing fewer than 20 percent of Americans know someone who is transgender. An Equality Federation spokesperson says, "Humanizing (transgender people) is critical. It reduces that fear factor."



The Hattaway team has been working on this issue with several clients and partners. A Media Map analysis we conducted last year found that opponents of LGBT equality were on the offensive in multiple states, using "bathroom bills" to re-frame the public conversation about LGBT issues in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made marriage equality the law of the land. Voices for equality were visible in the state-level conversation, but they did not deliver clear or consistent messages.


The cast and crew of Clash attend the film's world premiere in 'Un Certain Regard' in Cannes

Sometimes a film makes history even before it is screened.

Such is the case for Mohamed Diab's latest Clash ('Eshtebak'), the much-awaited follow up from the talented Egyptian filmmaker to his Cairo 678, a personal favorite. Clash opened 'Un Certain Regard' at this year's Festival de Cannes, marking the return of Egyptian cinema to the section, the first time since Yousry Nasrallah's After the Battle was screened there in 2012. That could be groundbreaking enough, but it's not all the film is achieving.

Most importantly, Clash bring to the forefront a concept, an idea that has haunted me since I glanced at the intro to Fawas A. Gerges' book titled ISIS, A History. There, on the front inside cover, the sentence, "... how ISIS emerged in the chaos of Iraq following the 2003 U.S. invasion, how the group was strengthened by the suppression of the Arab Spring..." It's a provocative and unsettling supposition.

Diab's film takes place entirely in the back of a police van, in the wake of then elected president Mohamed Morsi's ousting from power, in July of 2013. There, in the small enclosed quarters, Diab offers a microcosm of modern Egypt, with Muslim Brotherhood members sharing space with pro-military supporters and activists; men, women and children. All there, all part of a new and chaotic Egypt, all in a caldron waiting to boil.

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I usually don't write about films I have yet to watch but with Clash, I know that I'll end up being deeply disturbed but also perfectly illuminated by Diab's work. I can't remember the last time I've craved to watch a film this much and the reviews are only fueling that fire.

Luckily, I was able to reach out to the filmmaker and ask him a few questions to find out his thoughts on this wild ride, pardon the pun, from his previous film to now -- Clash in Cannes.

In your beautiful Variety guest piece after the Paris attacks, you described Clash this way: "The film unfolds inside a prisoners transport vehicle, carrying detainees from all walks of life -- activists, Islamists and military supporters. In the course of a hellish day, they are forced to see one another beyond the stereotypes and discover each other's humanity." Do you think cinema as a whole, but more specifically films from the Arab world can help us, at this difficult time, find a way out of the madness?

Mohamed Diab: In times of war, people see each other as black and white. You saw it after 9/11, you see it after every big city that is hit by terrorism, you saw it in countries that had civil wars, even between its citizens... It's black and white. It's me, I'm good and "the Other" is evil, I'm white he's black, and I think it's very hard to convince people, to talk reason to them, just in a conversations.

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The best thing about film is it gives you a real time, you see the world through someone else's eyes and for the first time you can take a pause and really analyze the world in a very calm and fair way. So yes, films can help. By the way, everyone I knew around me advised me not to make this film right now because it would be so dangerous. Not only because one side is going to hate me but everyone is going to hate me. Egypt is so divided now that we don't only have two sides but so many sides and everyone of them wants to see the world and what happened through their eyes. We have a saying in Egypt now, "If you don't see things 100 percent like me, then you're a 100 percent against me."

Film can help because for a moment it can calm you down and show you the world through someone else's eyes. I made Clash now because the best time to make a film like this is when the fight is on, not after the battle is done.

Can cinema change the world?

Mohamed Diab: Definitely, it can change it -- one person at a time. I'm going to talk as a person, because ten years ago when I started writing films and making films, it changed me as a human being. I remember writing a story about a drug lord and I was so judgmental about the guy until I started writing him. Being him, changed me. I eventually made the film about whether it was really his choice to be this way or not... He asked that question, all through the film, his own existential question. As a person cinema changed me, I am way less judgmental and I can call myself more mature because of cinema, and I think every film you watch, it's not like just meeting a person, you get into their lives. Film can show you someone's life, from the beginning to the end.

With your previous film, you dealt with the sexual harassment women faced in Egypt, pre-Arab Spring. Now in Clash it's a new Egypt you deal with, and yet the common thread seems to be, in my humble opinion, that you are not making films about your country. Rather, they are films about humanity at large and how incredibly similar we all are. Can you talk a bit about that?

Mohamed Diab: I think it's normal that a filmmaker expresses himself and his personal experience. There are definitely universal values and I think they are in my films. Something like sexual harassment, you're going to find it everywhere and women are going to react the same in the same conditions as my heroines in my film but it's still very Egyptian because it's my experience in a way.

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The same thing with Clash, it has Egyptian elements but also very broad elements to it, it could be set in the Ukraine or anywhere in the world where people face trouble or civil war. People can relate. Even disputes, like what is happening in America right now, the presidential elections, you can imagine the people who clashed at Trump's rallies, if they are stuck in one place together similar things could happen. Definitely I don't think there is a way a film can succeed universally unless it has the main universal values of everyone. It could be about a town in South Africa, or New York, you are never going to relate unless it has those universal values.



A still from Clash by Mohamed Diab

How does it feel to have made the opening film of 'Un Certain Regard' in Cannes this year?

Mohamed Diab: I was so proud, yet so stressed and it came the same day. I thought I would be more happy but I'm so stressed, it's my first time in Cannes. And there is the extra stress of not only the artistic side but the political side or how people are going to receive the film. It's my first experience and I can't wait for it to happen. It's the greatest feeling for any filmmaker in the world.

What do you hope audiences will take away from Clash?

Mohamed Diab: I think Clash is complicated, it's very hard to say that there is one thing that they can take away from the film. There is definitely the message about co-existence, there is the message about humanity, you don't know anyone until you are really close to them. Understanding people, motives, one of the most important thing in the film is the vicious cycle of violence, how it starts and how it never ends. If you keep feeding the vicious circle, it will never end, it's just going to continue. And I think the film explains that very well, the origins of violence and I think it's essential not only for Egyptians but for the whole world, because you can understand the roots of ISIS and extremists.

Do you think of yourself as a bridge across cultures

Mohamed Diab: I call myself a citizen of the world. I don't live in borders, I believe we're all the same. As a filmmaker, I'm trying to express that as much as I can. As I grow, this is the main message that I wish I could communicate, how we are all the same. Yes, there are different cultures, but the core of a human being is the same, the core of a society is the same.

I learned my English from movies and songs and the first time I was in the U.S. I was blown away. I was in love with the place just because of movies! And that's one of the reasons I love different cultures and I love film and I wish I could just express that in my films -- bring people together in a way, as much as I can.

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We would never ask an American filmmaker if he feels like he's representing his whole country at a festival, yet the question can't be avoided in the case of a filmmaker like you, originally from Egypt. How does it feel?

Mohamed Diab: Do I represent the whole Egypt? If you'd asked me five years ago, I would have said, maybe, yes. But now Egypt is so divided I can't have the audacity to say that. I just represent myself and I represent everyone who thinks like me, and I try to be fair enough to represent every character from their own point of view, as much as I could. Maybe people will disagree with me, maybe people will agree with me, but I tried my best to be true to every single character. And every single one of them is expressing a portion of Egypt. I think seeing the film, you can see a wide spectrum of Egyptians, if not all Egyptians.


Photo by E.C. Iwata

As we see the affiliated "none" numbers rise, religious shifts, from doctrinal reforms and latest church cultures, are criticized for their apparent hollowness. But what is to make of the other stat reports? Specifically, Evangelical Christianity and those who identify as gay Christians are also increasing. That's right. More Christians are "coming out" despite the falling out of their straight brothers and sisters from the more accepting mainline churches.

Evangelicals and gay Christians. Climbing. Together.

Well, so to speak. Affirming evangelical churches are few and far between. So what does this say about these LGBTQ devotees and Christianity?

In Lubbock, Texas, these two striking identities convene with Lisa, a lay preacher and evangelist of 35 years, and her wife, Franziska, who's adept in contemplative prayer. Their partnership creates a safety net embracing those who haven't altogether rejected their faith despite the rejection from their faith community. Together, they write as well as offer a safe space of spiritual refuge through their Wetfeet Ministries.

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Lisa acutely remembers her dwindling, seventeen-year-old self coming to grips with her same-sex attraction. After the failed efforts of ex-gay therapy her parents insisted on, she eventually left home certain she could no longer live with her Church of Christ, Texas family. Despite genuinely loving them, she knew she had to go.

Yes, that was in the 80's when gays were more likely treated as lepers, such as when a funeral home was unwilling to take Lisa's friend who had died of AIDS. She and her friends were left having to wrap him in a blanket and take him away in her station wagon.

Having experienced the desertion of her dying friends, Lisa notes the indifference for the struggles of this current generation of LGBTQ young people. Indeed, it's news to most that upwards to 40% of homeless youth today identify as a sexual minority, most of which run-aways from "corrective" mishandling, including cruel forms of physical and verbal abuse. And then there's the other troubling numbers of suicide resulting from the more obscure forms of shame.

"I've never been in a situation where I had to hide." Franziska continued, "When I tell people that, I always get applauded."

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As a German raised Lutheran among the Protestant Kirchen in Martin Luther's country, Franziska describes seeing the wedding band on her minister's hand as a child, never thinking anything of his male partner and never thinking twice about her own realization of her bi identity at age fourteen, sixteen years ago. Perhaps that's not surprising considering the recent reports of German churches overwhelming support of same-sex marriage despite some non-consensus among the handful of evangelikal churches (akin to America's renown kind). Nevertheless, Franziska's been jolted by her new reality since coming to the States, clarifying, "When I came here, I was horrified... I hadn't met an LGBT [American] Christian who had not been hurt by their church, family or friends."

Religious faith isn't necessarily the problem but how it's applied.

Take Franziska's Protestant church father, Martin Luther--an activist dismantling the religious abuse of his day in the early 1500's. His big idea? Sola Scriptura is the basic reason why bibles are available in nearly every language.

Translated, "the scriptures alone," as the only religious authority on one's life is the predominant theme held by many conservative evangelicals today. But it only captures half of Luther's intent. His aim was to remove all stumbling blocks to faith and salvation, including limited access to the texts. Along with Sola Scriptura, his 95 Theses challenged the Latin Vulgate's literal interpretation of Jesus words, "Do penance." In so doing, he confronted the problem of selling indulgences promoted to reduce the punishment of sin (and also profiting the Church).

Luther was shoveling off the pile that had gathered on the core foundation of Christianity--salvation by faith alone. Ironically, his famous declaration now corresponds with absolutist mindsets and behaviors characteristically undeterred by other's perceptions and their related context or circumstances (e.g. "God said it, I believe it, that settles it").

However, the pangs felt by many LGBTQ is a global occurrence in even some of the least Christian countries.

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A recent study in Japan (which has a Christian minority of less than 1%) reported 70% of LGBTQ youth admitted having been bullied and 30% contemplated suicide. In fact, internationally, these youth are twice as likely to consider or attempt suicide than their straight peers. Except, while Japan ranked 17th out of 25 on the World Atlas' total highest suicide rate overall, the United States didn't even make the list.

Accordingly, studies show religion as a protective factor against suicide in general, however, a suicide risk factor for sexual minorities. Fitting then, as Franziska highlights the very reason for her shock amidst Christian America.

So why the draw for sexual minorities to maintain their Christian identity, or more, add it to the mix among societies blatant snub?


Photo: "Cathedral, Bushwick, Brooklyn," by Timothy Krause, 2013. Via flickr. CC2.0 license.



If you didn't catch a report from the Pew Research Center last month on what seems to be an important new trend in American religion, feel free to forgive yourself -- and not just because the report was released on April 15. Tax day or not, Pew found that most Americans are not paying much attention to religion. We're not talking about it. We're not even arguing about it anymore. For more than half of us (49%), talking about religion outside of our families is totally not a thing. And, for a large plurality of Americans (40%), religion seldom or never comes up within families either.

But even these numbers don't quite show the extent of the growing national silence around religion -- of a very particular sort. Pew sliced participants in their recent "Religion in Everyday Life" survey into two very broad categories: the "highly religious"-- the 30% of Americans "who say they pray daily and attend religious services at least once a week"--and the 70% of Americans who are, on the basis of prayer practice and church attendance, counted by Pew as "not highly religious." As would be expected, the "highly religious" are highly chatty about religion, especially those on the Evangelical Christian and otherwise more conservative end of the religious spectrum.

But even these folks have given up on talking with the unwashed majority about religion. Some 90% told Pew researchers that they wouldn't bother to try to change the mind of someone with a different religious perspective, adopting instead an "agree to disagree" stance (70%) or avoiding such conversations altogether (18%). Here, the highly religious are not unlike many Atheists and Agnostics, who also take a "live and let live" (66%) approach to religious difference and often minimize potential conflict by not broaching the subject of religion at all (30%).

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Provocative though this data may be for those concerned about the apparent decline of religion in America, we'd do well to approach it with some caution. First off, the categories Pew constructs are incredibly broad. We might think of the "not highly religious" cohort as largely nonreligious, and no few of them would identify as such. Still, Agnostics, who may have an active curiosity about the possible existence of a supernatural being or force, are very different from Atheists, who see the question as fully settled. Both would be nestled in the "not highly religious" category along with people who understand themselves as spiritual and who have some manner of more or less regular spiritual practice, as well as with those who might well have been marked as "highly religious" had they not become frustrated by their church experience--the "Dones," as Thom Schultz calls them--and entered a self-imposed exile from institutional religious life. (However, we also might fairly assume that some Dones are, in fact, done with institutional affiliation precisely because they are so highly religious.)

Finally, nearly three-quarters (72%) of the "not highly religious" category are people who are affiliated with an institutional religion. They might not attend services every week or pray with regularity, but their religiosity is almost certainly different from that of Atheists, Agnostics, spiritual Nones, and languishing Dones.

All of this makes the "not highly religious" category rather a muddle.

Clearly, dividing Americans into "the highly religious" and "everybody else" hardly gets at the range of experiences that people might consider "religious" or how such experiences enter into every day conversation. Indeed, as HBO's John Oliver recently explained with characteristic panache, the drive to present what seem to be statistically significant results often presses researchers to employ a practice called "p-hacking" or "data dredging." This involves expanding or narrowing a data set in order to amplify more attention-grabbing results--as when researchers compare a more or less homogeneous category of Americans amounting to 30% of the population to a widely heterogeneous category that makes up the remaining 70%.

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Would the Pew results have been so headline-grabbing had they developed an intermediate "moderately religious" category? My own hunch is that the results would be more along the lines of "really religious people talk about religion a lot; moderately religious people talk about religious some; not very religious people don't talk about religion much." Who'd've thunk it?

But the construction of Pew's categories is problematic beyond population proportionality and diversity of religious practice. What constitutes "highly religious" practice in Pew's data also begs scrutiny.

For Pew, "praying daily and attending religious services at least once a week" are the what earn one entry into the ranks of the "highly religious." Now, certainly, if someone told me she prayed every day and went to church every week, I would likely see her as pretty religious. But what about people who meditate everyday or practice yoga several times a week and who see these activities as part of their spiritual or religious make-up? Suppose I never attend church services but, on the basis of my deeply held moral convictions (these, perhaps, religiously grounded), I volunteer at a food pantry or advocate for the working poor? Is that religious enough to be "highly religious"?

Nones in Pew's "Religion in Everyday Life" survey were slightly more likely (29%) than were the "highly religious" (28%) to consider "whether a company pays a fair wage" in making purchasing decisions and were more than 10% more likely to recycle "whenever possible" than their "highly religious" neighbors. Are such moral goods outside the realm of the religious in American life?

Do surveys like those produced with regularity by Pew, Public Religion Research Institute, the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, commercial pollsters like Gallup and Harris, and a host of other organizations so over-determine "genuine" religiosity in terms of institutionally defined propositional beliefs and congregational practices that we're missing what religion is in the process of becoming in America through practices that often look nothing like those counted by demographers?

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Yes, it seems clear that the demographic blip that goosed up religious affiliation and identification in the 1950s in the United States is coming to an end. Congregations are centers of religious and spiritual practice for fewer and fewer people. Arguments about competing religious beliefs seem less and less worthwhile to people across the religious and nonreligious spectrum.

Religion has gone rogue. But we can still hear its voice.
On October 11, 2014, just before my 28th birthday, I was jolted awake in the middle of the night by the sensation that bees were stinging me from head to toe. Tingling sensations crept all over my body; phantom pins and needles pricked and burned my hands and feet; roving numbness caused me to lose sensation in one finger, then one toe, then one earlobe; and what felt like icy water slid up and down my limbs. When I tried to get out of bed, my legs would not support my weight, and I crumpled onto the floor. As I hoisted myself back into bed, all of my joints popped and crunched with the exertion, random stabbing pains sliced through my neck and shoulders, and my muscles -- all of my muscles -- in my jaw, my abdomen, my feet, were aching as though I had the flu. Once lying still again, I noticed that, one by one, my muscles were twitching -- first in my right toe, then in my cheek, then my left eye.

As I lay there in the dark, my mind whirling to comprehend what was happening, I thought about the past few days, attempting to pinpoint a cause. The only thing I had done differently was take the prescribed dose of antibiotic Ciprofloxacin (in the fluoroquinolone family) for what my doctor's vacation stand-in suspected to be a UTI based on symptoms and white cells in the urine -- I later found out that no culture was actually done.

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At first, the idea of an antibiotic being responsible for the bizarre symptoms I was experiencing seemed laughable. But as I lay in bed after only three days on the drug, my whole body in revolt, I reached for my phone in search of answers. The phone itself seemed to weigh a hundred pounds, and my wrist gave out upon trying to lift it. I finally managed to situate it in such a way that allowed my aching fingers to type "adverse reaction to Cipro" in the search bar.

What popped up was terrifying.

Countless stories of previously healthy people who had been permanently disabled, ended up in wheel chairs, experienced chronic pain, lost their cognitive abilities, developed psychiatric problems -- all from an antibiotic prescribed (in most cases) for minor infections -- filled my iPhone's tiny screen.

How is this possible? I thought. The reactions seemed so unrelated and so numerous, affecting virtually every system of the body. The one thing they all had in common was that they were utterly devastating. From an antibiotic?

The disbelief quickly dissolved into the panicked realization that what I was experiencing may only be the beginning. I called my doctor's emergency number, and the on-call physician told me to stop the medication and come in first thing in the morning.

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This was the beginning of my journey as a "Floxie," the nickname given to those suffering from what the FDA now calls Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability or FQAD.

I was diagnosed with the following conditions: widespread muscle deterioration; body-wide tendon damage (which put me at risk for rupture); damage to my peripheral nervous system resulting in neuropathy (which caused chronic pain, extreme weakness, and severely limited mobility); and damage to my central nervous system resulting in chronic migraine and impaired GABA function.

For the first few months after being "floxed," I was almost completely bed-ridden. I could barely walk from my bedroom to my bathroom, and I often needed help dressing and undressing, cutting food, washing my hair, and lifting anything heavier than a leaf of paper. My teaching job found long-term substitutes for my classes, and I was out of work until December, when I went back to work VERY part time (only one class). Being around my students again brightened my outlook immeasurably, but cutting so far back on work had drastic financial consequences, as my husband (also a teacher) and I were still paying rent, heat, etc. We have since moved out of our apartment and back in with my family while we get back on our feet.

The rest of the healing process has been up and down, learning by trial and sometimes-disastrous-error what helps and what hurts (if you would like to read these details of my story, learn more about the condition, or read about what has helped me cope, please visit my more in-depth post on the Floxie Hope website). I am now teaching full time again, and while my "good days" once meant brushing my own hair, they now entail climbing mountains -- literally. But chronic migraine, unpredictable flares of pain, fatigue, and mobility issues, and an inability to tolerate even "minor substances" like over-the-counter painkillers, caffeine, or alcohol, are a part of my daily life -- and I am one of the very lucky ones.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics can and do save lives. They were developed to treat serious illnesses like Anthrax and antibiotic-resistant pneumonia. And in cases like those, risking lifelong disability is likely worth it. However, according to the CDC, this class of antibiotics is the fourth most popular in the US, given to 33 million Americans in the year 2013 alone, frequently for minor infections like those of the sinuses and urinary tract.

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I, along with countless others, contacted the FDA, hoping they would hear our plea: These antibiotics are too dangerous to be given as first-line treatment for minor infections (especially when neither doctors nor patients are fully aware of the risks). My neurologist likened Ciprofloxacin being prescribed for my suspected UTI to "killing a fly with an uzi."

Finally, the FDA has agreed; it announced Thursday that it will require stronger warning labels on Fluoroquinolones so that both doctors and patients can make better, more informed decisions.
There was only an hour between flights, but the airline assured us that it was more than enough time, and since it was their recommend itinerary, we let it fly (pun intended). With our false sense of confidence, we walked off the jet bridge in Madrid and began our search for the location of our connecting flight. We landed in Terminal 4S and our next flight was departing from Terminal 4. We were feeling pretty good. That lasted for about 100 yards. As we turned the corner we came into an expansive room that housed passport control. We were greeted by a sea of humanity all standing in an incredibly long queue. I was traveling with my 75-year-old dad who is not known for his low-key reactions. In this case, although his comments are not suitable for print, they were absolutely an appropriate assessment of our current situation. There were approximately 2,000 people standing still in line without out anyone explaining where to go or why the line was not moving. After about 40 minutes, we learned that the train connecting Terminal 4S to Terminal 4 was not functioning properly. Evidently the "S" in 4S stood for satellite, which was appropriate because it appeared to be about the same distance from our departure terminal as the moon is from earth.

I was traveling with my 75-year-old dad who is not known for his low-key reactions.

As we stood in line, we spoke with others who were in similar predicaments. We all figured that with these many people trying to catch connecting flights that the airline would surely hold the planes. We were wrong. After finally making our way to our gate, we were met with a closed door and nothing other than the instruction to go to customer service, where again we queued up to await our fate. For us, it was another flight in 12 hours. We were given our boarding passes, vouchers for a fine European meal at McDonald's and passes to the airport lounge. What we did not receive was an apology or any empathy. This was all from an airline that prides itself on its superior customer service.

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We were given our boarding passes, vouchers for a fine European meal at McDonald's and passes to the airport lounge.

This is where so many companies screw up. They believe that delivering the best customer experience starts by placing customers first, and that is just wrong. Let's go back to the example above. Obviously, a train malfunction is out of the airline's control. But, the whole experience would have been different if we were provided timely and accurate information, treated with a bit of kindness and shown a little empathy. It is the people within a company that provides those things, and that is why the best route to improve the experience of your customers, is by putting your people first.

But, the whole experience would have been different if we were provided timely and accurate information, treated with a bit of kindness and shown a little empathy.

I have often written about this, but it is so fundamental that it weaves its way back into much of my writing. We are all in search of the same thing. We want to be heard, cared for, valued and respected. As customers, that is certainly true. and If we are to expect our employees to treat our customers in such a way, don't we have to make certain that is how we treat our employees? The answer is an obvious yes! Companies need to hire good people. Then they need to empower them, connect them to a higher purpose and make them feel heard, cared for, valued and respected. If they do these things, their employees will want to deliver a great customer experience.

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Companies need to hire good people. Then they need to empower them, connect them to a higher purpose and make them feel heard, cared for, valued and respected.

Fortunately, we were met with great customer experiences throughout the balance of our trip, including one young waiter in Ljubljana, who made us feel like we were his personal guests. He even chased me halfway across a bridge to bring me my cell phone that I had left on the table. We were so impressed by him, that we went back the next night just because we enjoyed his company and his hospitality. It wasn't the food or the ambiance that brought us back, it was him. That was the power he had to turn us quickly into loyal customers. If you truly care about your customers, don't put them first. Instead, put your people first and trust them to deliver a great customer experience.

Want to Read Great Books On Business & Leadership Growth?

Join the Integrative Leader's Book Club. Each month we pick a thought provoking book to read and discuss. This club was created to help us lift our heads up from working in our business and allow us to spend a little time working on it. Leadership is a practice and the books read and the wisdom shared will help us all become better at our craft. Sign Up.

I serve as a thinking partner, providing my clients with the clarity, focus, and tools they need to make good people and product decisions. I help my clients tell their stories and build relationships with their customers. I enable their leaders to better connect and communicate with those whom they lead. Thanks for reading -- Elliot Begoun
We are building the movement to stop catastrophic climate change: the Keep It in the Ground movement. All over the country, people are rising up against Fossil Fuel Empires to protect our public areas and climate from a legacy of destruction and climate disruption. Together, we're sending a message to President Obama that time is running short, but he can still define his climate legacy by stopping the sale of fossil fuels on public lands and waters and keeping them in the ground.

Over the past week, thousands around the globe have stood against some of the world's most dangerous fossil fuel projects as part of Break Free from Fossil Fuels 2016. Break Free from Fossil Fuels is a global wave of resistance to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground and to accelerate the just transition to 100 percent renewable energy. On May 15, in Washington, D.C., more than a thousand people will join this wave as they gather in front of the White House to demand an end to offshore drilling. Just two months after President Obama acknowledged the need to move away from the dirty fuels of the past, his administration announced a plan to open millions of new acres in the Arctic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration and development. The 2017-2022 offshore drilling plan is the wrong direction for the health and safety of our communities, wildlife, environment and climate. It undermines the president's commitment to address global warming.

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The Arctic Ocean and the Gulf Coast are the literal front lines of fossil fuel destruction and climate disruption. The dirty legacies of Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska and Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico will continue for years. Along both coastlines, Indigenous communities are forced to permanently relocate as sea levels rise and the land erodes into the encroaching water. The time of treating our oceans and coastlines as zones to pillage, destroy and sacrifice is over.

On May 15 in Washington, D.C., the people will call on President Obama to use his executive authority to permanently protect our oceans and end new oil and gas leasing. Such executive action would keep up to 62 billion tons of carbon emissions in the ground and make progress toward limiting global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Given the dangers of oil spills and the urgent need to combat climate disruption, the federal government should have nothing to do with the dirty business of offshore drilling. Selling these waters that belong to the American people to private companies that only profit from environmental and climate destruction is unconscionable.

The seas may be rising, but so are the people. In less than a year, hundreds of people surrounded the New Orleans Superdome against new leases, and for efforts to restore, heal and defend the Gulf Coast; kayaktivists helped to stop Shell's drilling activities in the Arctic Ocean, and towns and businesses along the mid- and south-Atlantic coast united to keep the Atlantic Ocean out of the 2017-2022 offshore drilling plan. With every victory, we're showing that people power trumps fossil power.
President Obama will be become the first sitting U.S. President to visit Hiroshima, the site of the U.S. atomic bomb attack, when he visits Japan for the G7 summit later this month. During the visit, President Obama is expected to speak about American efforts to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, a message that will likely resonate with nations close to North Korea.

Just a few hundred miles away, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un recently announced that North Korean scientists have developed nuclear warheads small enough to fit on ballistic missiles. Over the last few months, the North has stepped up its belligerent rhetoric in response to the United Nations imposing some of its toughest sanctions.

In January 2016, Pyongyang stated publicly that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb that could "wipe out the whole of the U.S. territory." Not long ago, the "Dear Leader" displayed a chart reporting to show the flight path that a North Korean ICBM would take to strike America's west coast. These actions underscore the precarious state of affairs in Northeast Asia which poses a serious threat to U.S. national security interests.

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In recent weeks, North Korea fired two mid-range Musudan missiles, but both attempts failed. The U.N. Security Council discussed the latest North Korean launches behind closed doors, but the message is clear, North Korea is determined to do everything within its power to create instability in the Asia-Pacific region.

In addition to the North Korean threat, the United States and its regional allies are also dealing with territorial disputes and challenges to regional stability in the South China Sea. China's island building in the South China Sea, poses a threat to U.S. national security interests in the region. At a time of escalating tensions, when the United States looks to its regional allies for support, many of these same allies are still involved in disputes with each other over historical issues that are more than 70 years old. The United States depends on South Korea and Japan to help promote American values in East Asia. Until recently, both countries were involved in an ongoing conflict over the use of South Korean "comfort women" by Japanese soldiers during World War II. This historical issue presented a challenge to U.S. foreign policy, as we need our allies working together.

In late 2015, the United States helped broker a bilateral agreement between Japan and South Korea to ultimately resolve the "comfort women" issue. The agreement facilitated a final apology and the Japanese government agreed to put $8.3 million into a fund to help the surviving women. President Obama praised the leaders of Japan and South Korea for "having the courage and vision to forge a lasting settlement to this difficult issue."

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Regrettably, North Korea appears determined to exacerbate tensions and increase mistrust between two of America's most important allies in Asia. The North Korean dictatorship described the historic deal as a "humiliating agreement" and indicated its vehement opposition to any form of detente between South Korea and Japan.

Chong Dae Hyup, an extreme nationalist group with alleged ties to North Korea, has exploited this agreement by rallying nationalist furor in South Korea against Japan. One Korean-American group articulated a similar message and called on President Obama to fire Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in a Change.Org petition, for negotiating this historic agreement. Deputy Secretary of State Blinken has called on all Korean-American groups to support the agreement and many groups have agreed to do so.

The United States must not allow North Korea to exacerbate tensions between our key strategic allies in Asia. As the leader of the free world, the United States needs to support our regional allies who are standing up to a Stalinist regime that is intent on developing nuclear weapons. At a time of escalating tensions, we need our critical allies, South Korea and Japan working together to help safeguard American interests in Asia.

In May 2016, North Korea sentenced a Korean-American businessman to 10 years of hard labor. This came a few weeks after Otto Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate was sentenced to 15 years hard labor on charges of stealing a poster from his hotel. The recent detention of American citizens in North Korea, is another clear sign that the United States needs to take a strong line against North Korea and support our key allies in East Asia.
Stop Demonizing and Start Working

America before election is routinely on a rollercoaster, drawn apart by conflicting forces. It's time for a sophisticated democracy such as ours to see a big picture and understand that demonizing the opposing party is ultimately counterproductive: just look at Ted Cruz! Instead of correcting/perfecting his own ways, Cruz accused Donald Trump of God-knows-what, but only to his own detriment: even some evangelicals preferred Trump. It looks like this pattern will be reenacted by Trump accusing Hillary Clinton of God-knows-what instead of correcting his ways: it's easier to accuse/criticize than think and do.

My point is that in order to advance our success, we need to stop demonizing the "enemies" or finding excuses for not going an extra mile to reach our goals. Instead, we need to focus on the proven ways to make it in America, giving it our 100% without reserve--then we'll succeed!

Why am I so sure? My research for the upcoming book - describing how the first-generation immigrant women made it in America - has shown that indeed "blood, sweat, and tears" are good not only for the song lyrics or fictitious pursuers of the American Dream. This mindset of workaholic optimism is mass-applicable, and it's time to start working on it.

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Seven Proven Success-Track Ways

The ways that made it possible for the most vulnerable US demographic, immigrant womankind, to succeed are not one-offs: they use lots of their own "blood, sweat, and tears" to perfect them all, including:

1.Good education

2.Language acquisition

3.Cultural integration and social networking

4.Utilizing unique double-culture vision to find the niche

5.Building business/career from scratch

6.Being a persistent workaholic

7.Reinventing self from an outsider to a successful outlier, a super achiever.

Success-Track Shortcuts

Some of these proven ways have shortcuts:



A.One natural - and central to their success - shortcut is double-culture vision, or ability to see things from two different cultural perspectives and broader knowledge: immigrants can identify the niches/opportunities sooner than other people.

B.An American-born spouse is helpful for faster language acquisition; adjusting to and handling a new culture; and establishing a reliable circle of friends.

C.The material aspect of life may be easier with a native-born spouse too, because money never hurts - think of Melania Trump! My outstanding book subjects told me, however, that money means little for upping one's personal success or brand name (and we're talking of "every woman," not a billionaire's wife); it's one's personal tenacity and sweat and tears that count. A constructive role of a partner is being a sounding board, cheer leader, and adviser--that is, the role that both native-born and immigrant women equally enjoy and value.

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How to Utilize Your Unique Advantages

Each successful immigrant woman embraces the proven ways on her success trek while adding her own spin, for instance:

The Case of Hannah Kain, from Denmark: Giving It Her Very Best

For Hannah Kain, President and CEO of ALOM Technologies Corporation, achievement is not a line but a dimension, like the dimensions of space. Hannah knows how to operate in a multi-dimensional business space she has created for herself, always giving her very best to everything she's after--and she always succeeds. Why?

Hannah (pictured) brought a lot to the American table:

1.Values - including compassion - inherited from her professor father who was a Nazi camp prisoner and her mother, who taught disadvantaged schoolchildren.

2.Sense of a level field developed during her short stint as a member of Danish parliament and being her party's chairperson of the equal rights commission.

3.Inclusive leadership the Scandinavians are famous for. In Hannah's own words, "I believe I bring a Danish management culture to my company, creating an open and positive team environment. Inclusive, compassionate, but also goal focused."

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4.Stellar education: 1 Bachelor and 2 Master's degrees completed in Denmark, plus an executive program needed for her US business, from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

5.Pragmatic attitude to learning a new language. Hannah gave it her very best: "To a large extent, the discrimination against me as an immigrant was because of poor English - which was my job to fix."

6.Openness to cultural integration that conditioned success: Hannah's involvement with women diversity organizations and ALOM's certification as women-owned business opened doors to more business and professional opportunities. Today, ALOM has 90 employees and 100 contractors--no small deal!

7. Unique double-culture vision allowed her to spot the right opportunity for starting her own business in 1997. The industry Hannah's in - supply chain services - is changing by the minute, so she had to reinvent herself and her company many times, to grow and operate from 16 locations worldwide. For her, the American game is to integrate, learn and change continuously--and enjoy the ride.

The Point

It is far from easy to achieve success both in the USA and Denmark, where business dimensions differ--but Hannah made it. She made it because she never demonizes real/imaginary rivals; she just outperforms them and enjoys the business rollercoaster: she works, not whines--and wins!

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Best Defense Is Advance

These are hard times for all American immigrants: immigration became the lightning rod in the current presidential campaign. The intolerance torch - and Trumpism mentality as a whole - caught fire ignited by those who use it for their own ends. And I don't mean that poor Mr. Trump should be held responsible for total effects of Trumpism: he's only a bold standard-bearer, trusted by those who do not require proven facts.
By Megan Craig, Contributor

It's no secret that tiny houses are growing in popularity across the U.S. Not only can owners of tiny homes simplify their lives by reducing possessions and space, but they also tend to pay less for mortgages, utilities, and other costs.

Still, zoning laws can make it hard for average Americans to find sites for their pint-sized properties. These guidelines affect the dimensional requirements for various types of buildings.

"I think that originally those laws were there to protect people, and then they grew to be more about keeping the neighborhoods standard and keeping property values high," said Elaine Walker, founder of the American Tiny House Association. "But I think we're seeing a bit of pullback on that idea."

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So, where exactly can tiny house enthusiasts put their little homes, and how can they comply with zoning laws that differ from place to place?

"That is the million-dollar question," said Pat Clancy, a tiny home specialist with Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.

Here are 10 tips for building tiny houses that meet the zoning laws of your region.

1. Build your tiny home in a friend's backyard.

If land ownership isn't your primary objective, consider building your tiny house on someone else's lot as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU). According to the Federal Housing Administration, ADUs are habitable living units located on properties with single-family homes. So, if your friend or family member has land to spare, you could share it under ADU regulations in many states.

Still, going the ADU route isn't ideal for every tiny home builder.

"Most people don't want to risk building their tiny home on a foundation on someone else's land because it would be so difficult to move," Walker said. "You don't necessarily want to take the risk if it doesn't work out with the larger homeowner."

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2. Find a job that makes it legal to live in an ADU.

If your tiny home is portable, living in it on an employer's land is another way to use accessory dwelling unit laws to your advantage.

"It really is a great option, particularly for elder care," said Laura M. LaVoie, who built and lives full-time in her tiny home in North Carolina and blogs about it at 120squarefeet.com. "In most cases, it would be essentially a rental situation (for the worker), so it's up to them whether that's something they'd be open to."

3. Put your tiny house on a trailer.

Many places -- including Nantucket, Mass., and Fresno, Calif. -- place less stringent regulations on tiny houses that are portable. According to LaVoie, the advantage of living in a portable tiny home is that you can move if necessity, or opportunity, dictates.

Once your tiny home is on wheels, you can have it certified as a recreational vehicle, provided that it meets RV standards. However, because some codes prohibit RV owners from living in the vehicles permanently, having your home certified could work against you.

"A lot of places don't want somebody living in an RV in a driveway, so they've put prohibitions on it," said Jay Austin, designer and owner of a tiny house called The Matchbox and member of tiny house collective, Boneyard Studios.

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For best results, research your municipality's restrictions on RV ownership before deciding whether to register your tiny house as one.

4. Regularly move your tiny house on wheels.

Take the idea of a mobile home to the next level by bringing your tiny house with you when you travel. Not only does doing this save you money on hotel costs, but it also helps you avoid breaking temporary living rules.

"Most people don't build their tiny house with the thought that they're going to move it constantly like you would a camper or RV, but there are people who do want that completely mobile lifestyle," LaVoie said.

Moving regularly can enable you to get around restrictions on camping, or keeping your tiny home in one spot for too long.

5. Only live in your tiny house recreationally.

According to Walker, many cities allow individuals to live in tiny houses temporarily but not permanently. Hence, a tiny home can serve as a great vacation property, if it's located in a place you like to visit.

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Additionally, tiny home builders can rent out their accessory dwelling units to earn extra income. Said Walker, buying a tiny home to rent out is "a good investment and a legal route" to joining the tiny house movement.

6. Explore land sharing in a blighted area.

If you're building a tiny home on wheels rather than a permanent foundation, consider participating in what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development calls "temporary urbanism" by planting your tiny house on urban property that's otherwise not useful.

Austin, who once lived on property held by another tiny house owner, now resides on city-owned land in Washington, D.C. The site of an abandoned middle school, the land is too costly to fix up or tear down. Instead, the city leases the front plaza of the property to a neighborhood farming guild, which in turn subleases a small plot to Austin.

"The idea is to move the house there for a few years, and then when they're ready to start developing [the property], you find another place to move," Austin said.

7. Find a tiny house community or village.

If you're looking to build your tiny home without having to jump through a lot of zoning hoops, choosing an area that already has other tiny homes is a sure bet. Numerous tiny home communities exist across the country and, according to Walker, might be good options for those who feel uncertain about sharing land or moving their homes frequently.

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"A lot of people who come to the tiny house movement are specifically looking for that community experience," said LaVoie, "so going to an actual community is perfect."

8. Move to a city that allows tiny homes.

In many parts of the country, zoning laws prevent tiny homes built on foundations and those not considered accessory dwelling units. However, the list of places that allow tiny homes is expanding.

Some of the cities that permit tiny houses are Walsenburg, Colo.; Canyon County, Idaho; Ashland, Ore.; and Richmond, Maine. Additionally, Pulaski County, Ky., has no zoning laws, a fact that makes it a great choice for tiny home dwellers.

Walker offers an incomplete but expansive list of tiny home-friendly locations on her site, Tiny House Community.

9. Opt for a small home that isn't technically a tiny home.

If strict zoning laws have you feeling left out of the small house movement, you might want to opt for a house that's slightly larger than tiny. Walker suggests looking for homes that are smaller than traditional houses but not quite as minute as those found in tiny home communities.

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Very old homes in New England, for example, often measure in below present-day zoning minimums. However, according to Walker, "you can be grandfathered in with that footprint."

10. Petition your local government to change its rules.

If you dislike your town, city or county's zoning laws, you might be able to petition to have them changed.

North Carolina-based LaVoie is a member of the Asheville Small Home Advocacy Committee, a volunteer group that's working with the city council and planners to make tiny houses more viable within the city.

"It won't be an overnight process, but it's something people have done and people are doing in cities all over the country," LaVoie said.
Brazil's interim President Michel Temer (R) talks with Senator Aecio Neves during a ceremony where he made his first public remarks after the Brazilian Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Brazilians are easily recognizable abroad, particularly in countries such as the United States, where people tend to be more straightforward. Brazilians, on the other hand, tend to beat around the bush and avoid conflict. Michel Temer, the acting president of Brazil, is no different.

Members of the Workers' Party (PT), the Social Democratic Party (PSDB) and his own party (PMDB) unanimously agree with this statement: Temer is a man who's always eager to please. He loves to reach out and talk to people, and often uses analogies -- informed by his legal career -- in conversation.

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While he doesn't have a strong public image, he was appointed vice president in Dilma Rousseff's administration due to his political skills. Temer was little known outside of political circles until his appointment, but the 75-year-old politician -- who served as speaker of the lower house of Congress three times -- knows the ins and outs of his party and of Congress.

He knows that a congressman likes to be heard. That was how he became, in 1999, speaker of the lower house of Congress. He visited each and every office and talked to every one of the more than 500 congressmen.

In 2010, then-President Lula asked the current President of the Senate Renan Calheiros and the current Senator Jader Barbalho if he could name the vice president in Dilma's ticket. He tried everything he could to get Henrique Meirelles, then-president of the Central Bank, on Dilma's ticket. The PMDB congressmen refused -- and so Lula sought three other nominations.

A few days later, both congressmen came back with the same answer: "Our nominations are: Michel Temer, Michel Temer and Michel Temer." Although the members of the Workers' Party considered Temer to be overly voracious when he defended a greater participation for PMDB in the government, they had little choice but to accept his nomination. The groom was not ideal, but the arranged marriage had to take place.

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After the ticket was arranged, the main obstacle was Dilma's lack of diplomatic communication skills. The vice-president soon felt like a "decorative" figure. As someone who likes to have his voice heard, this dynamic enraged Temer. The politician made his dissatisfaction clear in December 2015 when his penned letter directed at president Rousseff was leaked to the public. The letter aired his many grievances with Rousseff and was seen as another blow to the embattled president.

As a part-time published poet who dreams of joining the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Temer has the habit of making his writing public. One of his poems reads:

Writing is like exposing oneself.Revealing one's abilityOr inability.And one's intimacy.In the lines and between the lines.

Known for his restraint, Temer's letter shocked many in Brazil, including those closest to the wily politician.

Right before being nominated chief of staff, the former President Lula tried, through an intermediary, to schedule a meeting with the vice president. Temer expressed his concerns to the interlocutor: "I am always worried when meeting with Lula. Last time we met, we drank a little too much wine and the result was that letter."

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We've heard stories concerning Temer's temper. One of these stories earned him a nickname that endures to this day: "Butler in the house of terror."

In 1999, during a heated debate with one of his few political enemies, former president of the Senate Antonio Carlos Magalhaes, Temer said: "The senator has the unpleasant habit of trying to mock and ridicule people. My moral standards put the senator's to shame." To which Magalhaes replied: "He is already a subject of ridicule. I am not impressed by his image as a butler in a house of terror."

It is commonly known that if you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one at all. If you try to give space to everyone, you end up being the target of endless criticism.

This explains the challenges he is facing in forming his new cabinet, according to a senior member of the interim-president's party.

Temer tried to fit everyone in -- he has reached out to many people and has already had to withdraw some of his invitations. "This hurts. He tries to please everyone, tries to solve everything by talking, but he is very susceptible to pressure, mainly from a small group," warns another member of PMDB.

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This small circle, which includes future ministers Geddel Vieira Lima, Moreira Franco and Eliseu Padilha, reveals another of Temer's defining traits: loyalty.

No surprise, then, that Temer, who will celebrate his 76th birthday in September, has won every dispute for the leadership of the PMDB since 2001.

His political deals are often conceived on Sundays or Mondays during conversations with those close to him. They meet in the official residence of the Jaburu Palace, with soup served as the main course.
Donald Trump is often accused of dividing Americans through his name-calling and tough talk about women, immigrants, and President Obama. But he is succeeding in uniting one group in a way that I never dreamed possible: Christians.

I am a fairly progressive Presbyterian pastor, and often disagree with evangelicals and Roman Catholics about political and social issues. But I recently read the following in The New York Times: "This election has cast light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all over the country." The author was not a liberal colleague, but was Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptism Convention.

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Moore went on to say, "Many of those who have criticized Mr. Trumps's vision for America have faced threats and intimidation from the 'alt-right' of white supremacists and nativists who hide behind avatars on social media." His words made me want to shoot off a message of support to the Southern Baptists -- something I've never been inspired to do in 30 years of ministry.

In March, a group of Catholic leaders appealed to Americans to vote for candidates other than Donald Trump. "We urge our fellow Catholics and all our fellow citizens to reject his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination," said their letter in National Review. The primary authors were not the liberal Catholics you might expect, but conservatives Robert George of Princeton University and George Weigel of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

From their perspective, Trump is unfit to be president and does not represent Catholic values. "His campaign has already driven our politics down to new levels of vulgarity," they write. "His appeals to racial and ethnic fears and prejudice are offensive to any genuinely Catholic sensibility." I would argue that Trump does not represent Presbyterian values either, despite his claim to be part of the denomination. His prejudices are offensive to any genuinely Christian sensibility.

As a Presbyterian pastor, I will continue to disagree with Southern Baptists about same-sex marriage and with Roman Catholics about the ordination of women. But Donald Trump has shifted the debate to issues that are more central to our shared Christian faith, such our belief that every human being is created in the image of God. In addition, Trump's candidacy inspires us to find common ground on theological tenets such as the sovereignty of God, the danger of idolatry, and human sinfulness.

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"I don't like to have to ask for forgiveness," said Trump to CNN. "And I am good. I don't do a lot of things that are bad." In contrast, most Christians are united in their need for forgiveness, and are grateful for the pardon that comes through the death of Jesus on the cross.

There are certainly Christians who are voting for Trump, but not in the numbers you might expect. Christianity Today reports that in the March 1 "Super Tuesday" races, Trump failed to win a majority of evangelicals in any southern state, and on March 15 he won only 19 percent of voters who picked their candidate based on "shared values" -- a category that included both evangelicals and Catholics.
"Applying for college is not what it used to be. It is insanely more competitive these days and if you can afford the help of a professional, get it" according to parent quoted in an Atlantic article. College admissions has become a hyper-competitive and important part of a student's educational journey. As colleges routinely receive thousands of applications and students are applying to more and more colleges each year, admissions has become a sophisticated and confusing process, especially for parents who are unfamiliar with the US educational system and just want the best for their children.

At Synocate, we have helped hundreds of students apply to college and have consulted with thousands of parents. Time and time again, we see parents confused by the process and looking for help. We wanted to outline how the industry has evolved, what some firms offer and the differences between firms, and our opinion on when a private college counselor can be helpful or not.

Industry Overview

In response to these industry dynamics, college counseling has spawned as an industry to help students and parents through the process of selecting classes, finding an interest, and eventually applying to college. The number of independent college counselors has grown from 2,000 to ~5,000 according to the IECA in their last survey, and another site states that it has grown 300% in the past 3 years. Many of these are one-person firms with a parent or educator who has had previous experience helping students. Some are larger institutions, and some are tutoring companies also offering college counseling.



Many college counselors focus on the 11th and 12th grade students as the majority of the work is done then - creating a college list, applying to colleges, and choosing a college that matches the student. Some, like us, have the philosophy of helping younger students find their interest and articulating that story over time and work with younger students.

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Most college counseling is hyper-local and in-person, sometimes even at the home of the student/parent. Many college counselors use pen and paper to help students and usually have 10-15 students per application cycle. Some interview students before accepting them to make sure they are a fit with their program. Many tailor their programs specifically to student needs.

What Do College Counselors Offer?

Most private college counselors focus on college applications and essay writing. They help brainstorm essays, outlines, and a school list. Some only do a cursory glance of the essays whereas others will edit until completion or until the time bought expires.

At Synocate, we also believe a letter of recommendation strategy, early action/early decision strategy, and a 5-step list of colleges is important for seniors to work on. These should be in addition to work on the college essays and the initial formation of the college list.

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Some college counselors also offer support for younger grades. For these students, college counselors help apply for summer programs, find local activities to discover an interest, and prepare school lists of classes. We believe this is very important not for admissions but because students can actually build an awareness and a tool set to find their interest. Because students change their major so often in college, most go through the same learning process they went through in high school. Helping children become familiar with the strength-finding process at a young age can pay dividends later in life, not only in college, but in a fast-paced, changing world as well.

Some college counselors offer immersive tours of colleges or summer programs, others focus on a specific vertical like Ivy League or special needs, and still others intake a set number of students per year with certain backgrounds. Navigating which college counselor to choose can be challenging, as well as verifying that they are the right fit for your child and actually can help.

Choosing a college counselor

A private college counselor can be very helpful to students and parents, and in other cases, can be less helpful. For most students we have seen, giving them an outside expert opinion throughout high school is very valuable.

Admissions counselors are helpful when parents are unfamiliar with the application system or want an expert guiding their child through the admissions process. Many high schools have school counselors that are often overwhelmed with students. Students should first try to use these counselors as a resource and connection to many universities. School college counselors serve as a gateway between universities and high schools very often.

Counselors can also be helpful when students need an extra push. The college admissions process requires a lot of organization and self-discipline, especially if students are applying to Top 50 schools that require many essays. Following all of the deadlines, drafting the essays, preparing for interviews, and choosing a college is a lot like taking another AP or IB class.

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College counselors might not be very helpful if they do not have a good culture fit with your student or do not share the values you have as a parent. If they do not have the experience or expertise with your particular student they may also be less helpful. Finally, most college counselors do not actually write essays for students and sometimes parents and students expect that.

College admissions has become a crazy process of writing essays, keeping track of deadlines, and maximizing admissions chances. The college counseling profession has grown exponentially due to this dizzying but important process of finding an intellectual home. There are many types of college counselors and choosing the right one involves finding someone with the right expertise, values, and background.

Finally, from our experience meeting thousands of students, we see that most students can benefit from some form of help - whether that is online forums like College Confidential, friends, or family - and a professional college counselor can be a source of singular, expert advice.
Supporting agreement to phase-down super greenhouse gases under the Montreal Protocol. One of the biggest international climate wins this year would be to secure an agreement to phase-down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal Protocol. That is why these countries affirmed: "their commitment to adopt a Montreal Protocol HFC phasedown amendment in 2016, and intend to provide additional support through the Protocol's Multilateral Fund following adoption of an amendment for its implementation". After the most recent Montreal Protocol meeting in Geneva in early April, four proposed HFC amendments were consolidated into a negotiating text, and countries will now hopefully come to a strong agreement this July and October during their final two meetings of this year.



Addressing oil and gas methane pollution. These countries are major players in oil and gas development so they have some leaky methane. As a result, the Nordic countries announced that they: "pledge to keep their respective methane emissions from this sector at or below current levels". This builds upon the national commitment from the U.S. and Canada to cut their methane pollution 40 to 45 percent by 2025. The U.S. finalized a next step towards that goal when it finalized standards for new oil and gas wells, but in order to reach that target it is critical that EPA also set standards for pollution from existing oil and gas operations all across the country that account for the vast majority of the problem. And we are hopeful that the Nordic countries will take stronger action domestically and help put further pressure on oil and gas companies to deliver even more action.



Working to address deforestation. Norway has been one of the leaders in efforts to address deforestation around the world. And the U.S. has supported a number of efforts to address this major source of global warming pollution. These countries announced that they will support efforts to address deforestation and illegal logging and spur more: "private sector efforts to eliminate deforestation from the production of commodities such as palm oil, pulp and paper, cattle and soy". In addition, the U.S. and Norway signaled that they will agree to a new detailed set of actions in the coming months.



Getting the aviation sector to address its climate pollution. The aviation sector is the seventh largest emitter in the world if it was a country. And its emissions are projected to triple by 2050 if further action isn't taken. The aviation sector was one of the two industries (the other is shipping) that were noticeably absent" from the Paris Agreement. That is why countries are working to secure new actions from the aviation sector to curb its growing carbon pollution. The U.S. and Nordic countries announced their: "commitment to work together and through the ICAO to reduce international aviation's climate impact...by adopting a strong global market-based measure (GMBM) to enable carbon neutral growth from 2020". Let's hope the global community can finally address this growing source of carbon pollution.



Supporting the Paris Agreement. Countries accounting for around 50 percent of the world's emissions have announced that they will formally join the Paris Agreement this year. Of the Nordic countries, Norway has already pledged that it will early this year, and today Iceland has announced that they also plan to ratify the agreement this year. The remainder of the Nordic countries will join the Paris Agreement with the rest of the European Union countries, which will likely happen next year.

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Friday the 13th is turning out to be a day of good fortune, after all. International climate action continues to roll in the right direction after countries finalized the Paris Agreement.


Credit: Carta Maior

Daniel Pascual is a 42-year-old indigenous rights defender from Guatemala's K'iche' community. An activist from an early age, Daniel is the current coordinator of the Comite de Unidad Campesina (CUC), an ActionAid partner organization. Growing up during Guatemala's brutal civil war, he lost family members to the conflict, as well as many close friends.

I caught up with him when he came to Washington D.C. to testify about the violence and intimidation of activists in his country.



You became a rights defender aged 13. What inspired you at such a young age?

Guatemala was going through a war that started all the way back in 1963 and it became fiercer at the end of 1970s. We had a major earthquake in 1976 and when CUC was born in 1978, my father got involved. On one hand, my involvement in CUC had to do with all the repression we used to live with in Guatemala. There was the genocide, the land was exploited. There were kidnappings. And anyone who protested, was made to disappear.

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I was born in 1971. In 1982, my dad got involved into reaching out to local indigenous communities. I came along and I got involved through my dad, I was about 10 or 11 years old. Illiteracy was so common that while I could barely read and write myself, people asked me to explain what the different brochures and pamphlets from CUC said. That allowed me to start working with the community. And also learn my own indigenous language, which is K'iche'. My job was to kind of explain what was going on in the country with the war and repression and talk about poverty.

You face constant opposition, including finding yourself directly targeted by the government. How do you stay motivated in the face of this opposition?

The war ended in 1996 but we still see hunger, racism, discrimination, lack of education in those communities. So, we are faced with the need to keep us going. The government's efforts have been to ignore the reality of issues and disqualify our work, or say it's not valuable. The government is focused more on its image than finding solutions, but the strongest opposition we have actually seen comes from businesses.

In 2005, the U.S. signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement - CAFTA. This really opened the door for exploitation and since then, the state has given these industries more than 300 mining permits, more than 150 hydro-electric permits, and at least 20 licenses for oil exploitation. But we're also seeing the exploitation of land through the emergence of large-scale farming that brings palm oil and sugarcane, which displaces people from their land. The most specific case of displacement that we are working with is in the Polochic Valley. In 2011, 800 families were displaced, and that led the human rights commission to provide protection to some of these communities. They must address the hunger issues, they must address their housing needs.

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Water is also a big issue in southern Guatemala in an area that borders Mexico, where we have been having issues with these large plantations that grow palm oil and bananas. The biggest battle has been against a multi-national company that focuses mostly on African palm oil. They use two rivers to literally redirect all of the water from these rivers towards their plantations, so the communities that live downstream, they're left without water. And the water that comes back, whatever water they return, is polluted.

What part of your work defending rights of indigenous and non-indigenous people are you most proud of?

My work with CUC on land recuperation and sustainable farming with local communities, getting back land that was taken away, and setting up projects that allow people to work the land in a way that they are able to feed themselves and their families. There is more work we do with CUC that makes me feel proud. We're a diverse organization in the sense that men, women are represented, indigenous, non-indigenous groups, and we work to make sure everyone's voice is heard.

There are communities that exist in Guatemala, but they are not recognized. The constitution tries to address everyone as equal but that denies the existence of these specific groups with different needs, different cultures, and religions. And that allows society to be very racist. That means when people come with their ethnic attire to look for work, they are denied work. They continue to call our spirituality witchcraft. We still have indigenous authorities within our communities. We still have the historic memory of who our ancestors are. The people who attack us, they claim we are nationalists and separatists, and that we want to continue practicing witchcraft. Whereas, they say the country needs to be just one and they claim that they are trying to unite us. Those are the largest political battles we are having right now.

We want our identities to be recognized. We want the country to be truly recognized as a multicultural country and recognize these different groups. That means we need to change the constitution.

Is there anything you would like to leave us with before you go?

The companies that are taking our resources are also violating human rights. They are now the ones who are persecuting activists, they are getting activists imprisoned and assassinated. Some of these companies are American companies.

We have widows and orphans of people who have been assassinated. There's a case in northern Guatemala where all the species of fish were wiped out in the river because of pollution from a palm oil plantation. Activists have been imprisoned for demanding the protection of rivers and the courts are being used against us. We're going to have a 12 day march where we are going to walk from the Mexico-Guatemala border all the way down to the capital of Guatemala to denounce the exploitation of water by the mining companies, hydro-electric companies, plantations, and the privatization of water in urban areas. We're going to walk 260 kilometers.
Here's my list of the best reporting on the Colorado state legislature this session, from a progressive perspective. The press corps is threatened and depleted but continues to crank out quality journalism. Let's hope we can say that next year.

o In a detailed analysis of votes on numerous issues, The Denver Post's John Frank illuminated beautifully that the split among GOP state senators reflects divisions in the Republican Party nationally. His list of eight hard-right state senators, later dubbed the "Hateful Eight" by liberals, includes two in possible swing districts: Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs and Laura Woods of Westminster.

o The Denver Post's John Frank broke a story exposing the tactics of Americans for Prosperity in pressuring state lawmakers to sign a pledge not to "undermine the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights by creating a special exemption for the Hospital Provider Fee." The Colorado Independent's Corey Hutchins filled out the picture of AFP with an illuminating piece about the organization's field work--as well as another story featuring the angry response of Republican Sen. Larry Crowder (R-Alamosa) to AFP's apparent pressure on Crowder. The pressure from AFP appeared to have ratcheted up after Hutchins had matter-of-factly reported Crowder's views in support of turning the provider fee into an enterprise.

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o The Colorado Independent's Corey Hutchins also banged out an excellent explainer of the hospital provider fee (and related issues), just as the legislative session was cranking up and few people understood what the fee was and what was going on.

o Rocky Mountain Community Radio's Bente Birkeland offers a daily drumbeat of short interviews that often prove illuminating or provide a springboard more in-depth analysis (e.g., Secretary of State Wayne Williams' position on election modernization or Sen. Larry Crowder's stance on Syrian refugees).

o The Durango Herald's Peter Marcus asked why J. Paul Brown (R-Ignacio) had voted last year for a program offering contraception to low-income women and teens, but this year voted against it. It's basic journalism, of course, but often forgotten in onslaught of other news.

o The Colorado Independent's Marrianne Goodland provided in-depth coverage on, among other legislation, a predatory-lending bill that was defeated by state house Democrats.

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o Fox 31 Denver's Amanda Zitzman put a human face on a bill aimed at informing citizens about the cost of free-standing emergency rooms versus urgent care.

o The Denver Post's Joey Bunch is trying to do something different at the newspaper with his "Joey 'Splains" series. He's on the right track.

o On the legislative campaign trail, we owe thanks to the reporters who covered the caucuses and county assemblies, allowing us not to rely solely on reports by party activists. The Colorado Statesman's coverage, especially Ernest Luning's, on social media and in articles stands out.

o The Boulder Weekly's Caitlin Rockett found holes in the assertion that a bill targeting tax havens was bad for small business.

o The Colorado Statesman's Hot Sheet is a welcome infusion of legislative news. (In the advocacy world, ProgressNow Colorado's Daily News Digest is a userful compilation of political news coverage.)

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Drawing enthusiastic crowds around the state, Democratic challenger Rob Hogg's US Senate campaign to "uplift democracy" and "make Congress work again" is inspiring comparisons to the upset Senate victory of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone from neighboring Minnesota.

As Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley continues to slip in the polls, with his refusal as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing for a Supreme Court nominee and his recent statement that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would nominate the "right type of people," state senator Hogg has galvanized a cross-section of support with his issues-focused campaign.

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"Rob Hogg is Iowa's best hope for replacing Chuck Grassley," said Catherine Crooks, the Franklin County Democratic Chair in Latimer, Iowa. "This is a very important election at a very crucial time in our country. He has shown that he is prepared to do the job, and has the vision to make Congress work again for the people of America. Like Paul Wellstone, Rob has the ability to connect his political voice to the people he is serving. He has brought excitement to this campaign by being positive and listening to the concerns of Iowans about our future. Rob will be the voice we need in Congress."

Eschewing out-of-state fundraising trips, Hogg has barnstormed with a popular clean energy and clean water campaign across a state that now leads the nation in wind energy production, and with the goal of changing the gridlock in Washington with a new era of leadership. Along with the "rock solid" endorsement of 90 current or former legislative colleagues in the state house, Hogg earned the support this month of the Iowa Federation of Labor and AFSCME Iowa Council 61, and has inspired the involvement of new voters and young people.

"I have been talking to people door-to-door and they are excited about Rob Hogg," said Katie Rock, of Des Moines, who was raised on a sixth generation family farm near Muscatine. " For those that have seen his enthusiasm in person they know he's their guy. They are hungry for a strong progressive leader that's ready to get to work. He reminds them of Paul Wellstone in that way."

With his five successful state senate campaigns, twice replacing Republicans in Cedar Rapids, supporters have praised Hogg's grassroots campaign over the candidacy of former Iowa Lt. Gov. and Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge, pointing out her most recent electoral loss in 2010 and out-of-step positions on labor and environmental issues for most Democrats. In the tradition of Wellstone's 1990 campaign strategy, when he defeated incumbent Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in Minnesota, despite being outspent 7 to 1, Hogg volunteers recently produced a campaign video on Hogg's role in "uplifting our democracy" and inspiring a new generation of leadership. A nationally recognized leader on climate change initiatives, Hogg has brought together rural, suburban and urban communities for legislation to assist the rapid growth of Iowa's solar energy industry and clean energy jobs.

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"For decades Rob has been vocal in taking action not only nationally and internationally but also focusing on what we can do at home in Iowa," said Anthony Lucio, a first-time voter and University of Iowa graduate student in Iowa City. "It is this kind of work ethic that I want in a senator and is what encourages me to vote. With a congress that has quite literally the worst approval rating in history, I believe Rob Hogg embodies the message young voters are trying to get Washington to hear. Young voters need to find issues they are passionate about and act on them. I think Rob can inspire voters to bring energetic change in the US Senate race."

In his campaign speeches, Hogg has declared "dark money" and negative attack advertisements are turning off an entire generation from the political process, while he wants to "inspire young Americans to get involved in the political process and help transform American politics."
My junior colleague's email, titled "time-sensitive" and sent from her gmail account, was oblique - something important, she intimated, and best not put in an email. Apparently, she and some other junior anthropologists had written a statement of opposition to the motion to boycott Israeli academic institutions currently being voted on by members of the American Anthropological Association. They were afraid, however, of the professional consequences of signing their names, and it could only be published if at least one person were willing to sign by name rather than be anonymous. The ask: would I be that person?

She may have remembered that in December I'd snuck into and disrupted a Trump rally - really, I thought, could my fellow anthropologists be scarier and less civil than Trump's goons who dragged me out of that ballroom at the Plaza? How dangerous could a blog post be? Dangerous enough, apparently, that the seven anonymous authors were working so secretively that they did not even all know each other's identities. Dangerous enough, apparently, that at the extremely vitriolic AAA business meeting in November of 2015, the resolution passed by a landslide, 1040-136 - suggesting, I'd argue, not widespread support for the resolution so much as substantial fear about publicly opposing it.

Just to be clear, the statement on which AAA members are currently voting is not about whether anthropologists should buy Soda Streams, whether AAA should divest endowment funds from Israeli-owned industries doing business in the occupied territories, or whether the American Anthropological Association should sanction the Israeli government. It's a statement that calls for the AAA "to boycott Israeli academic institutions until such time as these institutions end their complicity in violating Palestinian rights".

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I agreed to be one of the named signatories (and now we number six) for three reasons. First, the resolution creates a false binary, in which the only way to stand in solidarity with Palestinians is to cut off our communication with academic institutions in Israel. Second - and this is particularly ironic for a discipline that studies the social organization of power and argues for historically-grounded understandings of social change: When has a collective commitment by a group of social scientists to avoid contact with other social scientists advanced the cause of justice? Approximately never. Third, the boycott has created a climate of fear, with junior anthropologists afraid of the professional consequences of not falling in line. The panicked demand for secrecy in my colleague's email reveals the damage already wrought to our discipline.

To be clear, my quarrel is with my pro-boycott colleagues' strategy of making the AAA their field of action, and with the unintended harm that is doing to our community of scholars, not with their actual assessment of the situation. In fact, I agree with some elements of the boycott advocates' description of the systemic and untenable ways in which unequal treatment of Palestinians is woven into the fabric of Israeli society. And it pains me to stand up publicly against colleagues for whom I have a great deal of respect as scholars, even more so because so many of them are fellow faculty members at Columbia.

As our statement argues, if you want to work for change, remember how power works. From Tennessee? Go meet with Senator Bob Corker, the chair of Senate Foreign Relations committee, and demand a different US strategy for Israel. Are you from Maryland? Call up Senator Ben Cardin, the ranking Democrat on that committee. Or, all of you who are US citizens, show your commitment to a more just Israel by holding Hillary Clinton to task for pandering to AIPAC, or work to defeat Trump for doing the same. Spend the summer and fall canvassing door to door to put someone in the Oval Office in November who has both the vision and the political skills to engage productively with Israel's elected officials, civil society, and academics.

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At Passover last month, many of us sat down to tables where the seder plate featured a red onion in solidarity with farmworkers or an orange to mark the under-discussed role of women in our quest for liberation, or used a Seder supplement that makes connections between our time as slaves and Black Lives Matter. As Jews, this is the when we remember that no one is free until all of us are free, and when we recommit to doing the work of liberation.
In his remarkable speech at Howard University, President Obama asked graduates, "If you care about mass incarceration... How are you pressuring members of Congress to pass the criminal justice reform bill now pending before them?"

With a limited legislative calendar this year, time is running out for the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act -- a bipartisan bill to reduce drug penalties that have contributed to an 800% increase in the federal prison population since 1980.

If the legislation is adopted, at least 7,500 individuals locked up for harsh mandatory prison terms would be eligible for earlier release. Life without parole for third-strike drug offenses would be eliminated. Another 4,000 individuals each year would get relief from mandatory minimum sentences.

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Yet, even though the bill represents the best chance in a generation to make significant changes in federal drug sentencing, some activists seem to be feeling the fierce urgency of next year. With Democrats poised to make gains in November, there's a school of thought that says it might be better to wait for bolder legislation.

It's an understandable impulse: the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act is a compromise measure. It is not the bill that criminal justice reform advocates would have written. And it certainly would not end mass incarceration, which is the product of countless punitive policies across all levels of government.

But the legislation is undeniably a step in the right direction. More than 5,000 of the bill's beneficiaries -- about 80% of them African American -- are serving lengthy prison terms under discriminatory crack cocaine laws. Hundreds who are serving mandatory life sentences for a third drug offense could see their prison terms slashed to 25 years.

In addition to the direct impact, the bill would have a ripple effect throughout the criminal justice system. After Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 -- reducing the unfair sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine -- the U.S. Sentencing Commission revised its guideline penalties for crack. Three states followed suit. Passing the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, which is based on state-level reforms, would continue this virtuous cycle.

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The bill is not perfect. For example, it would add two new mandatory minimums -- for interstate domestic violence that results in the death of the victim and terrorism -- which would apply in a handful of cases. The bill would also require judges to impose an additional sentence of up to five years -- or as little as a day -- for fentanyl, a synthetic drug commonly mixed with heroin. Federal law already provides mandatory minimum penalties for certain fentanyl offenses. While the potential impact of the proposed enhancement is unknown, only 13% of federal drug cases in 2015 involved heroin; the fentanyl penalties would apply in a subset of such cases.

Given the existing scale of incarceration, any new punitive measures are regrettable. But the test for a criminal justice reform bill -- indeed for any piece of legislation -- is not whether it is perfect, but whether it is better than the alternative.

If we wait until next year there is no assurance that a new administration would prioritize federal sentencing reform in its first term. Moreover, any reform achieved this year is not the end of the story. After Congress reduced the scale of the disparity between crack and powder cocaine in 2010, advocates pledged to keep pushing for reform. And now we have a chance to do so by making those changes retroactive to people convicted of crack offenses before the law changed.

Failure to move forward this year would risk the bipartisan cooperation that has been a hallmark of criminal justice reform in recent years. What would happen if the coalition of Senators who coauthored the sentencing reform measure -- including Chuck Grassley of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Pat Leahy of Vermont, and Cory Booker of New Jersey -- were to fall apart?

"There is a price to pay for rejecting the partial victories that are typically achieved through political activity," former Congressman Barney Frank wrote in his memoir. "When members of Congress defy political pressure at home and vote for a part of what you want, they are still taking a risk. Telling them you will accept only 100 percent support is likely to leave you with nothing."

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While we don't know the future, we do know that Congress is poised to show that it can make progress on criminal justice reform in a bipartisan way this year. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would not solve all the problems in the criminal justice system, but it would reduce punishment for thousands of individuals and, on balance, create a fairer and more effective system.
"We are used to fighting uphill climbs," Bernie Sanders proudly proclaimed after his West Virginia Primary victory on Tuesday night. The victory was the Vermont Senator's 19th in the battle for the Democratic nomination for President. It proved that, despite Hillary Clinton's nearly 300 pledged delegate lead in the race, Sanders is making it interesting. He is making her look over her shoulder, breaking a sweat in her quest to secure the nomination in a general election against, in all likelihood, Donald Trump.

Sanders says he will fight all the way up to the Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, and hopefully sway some of Clinton's 516 superdelegates over to his side.

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"I will fight as hard as I can to make certain that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States," Sanders recently stated.

It's time for Bernie to assess whether staying in the race is the best way to achieve that goal.

I say that because it's clear that the Democratic Party is divided between Sanders and Clinton, and the divide is sharp. Perhaps nothing defines this schism more than the "Bernie Or Bust" movement, in which Sanders' supporters express unwavering allegiance to the Democratic Socialist, even if it means voting for a third-party candidate, or worse, Donald Trump. This would go directly against Sanders' goal of making sure the New York billionaire never steps foot in the White House. An April 24 Los Angeles Times story cited a recent McClatchy-Marist poll showing one in four Sanders supporters would not vote for Clinton in a general election. This may prove fatal for the Democrats in November.

However, what is most troubling, to me at least, is the fact that Sanders seems to encourage these supporters. He steepens the chasm within the party not only with his rhetoric, but also with his inability to understand the best way to unite the party and defeat Trump is to come together behind Clinton.

I know the "Bernie Bros" will roast me for these opinions, and cite polls that have Sanders beating Trump in a general election contest. Still, at this point, the delegate math is not on his side. Yes, the pledged delegate system is far from perfect, but nothing can be done to change it before November.

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His 1,425 pledged delegates sit nearly 300 behind Clinton's 1,719. When factoring in superdelegates (Clinton has 516 to Sanders' 41), that deficit swells to 769. To win the nomination, Sanders would need a substantial amount of Clinton's superdelegates to switch their allegiance. Taking the fight all the way to Philadelphia with only strengthen the Republicans' resolve and further divide Democratic voters in November.

I get it. It's a heated campaign season, and the sparring on the left is dwarfed in comparison to the vitriol spewed between candidates on the right. I understand the importance of fighting for what one believes in, and voting on one's conscience.

I'm no Clinton cheerleader, either. There's good reason for her high unfavorable ratings. Yet, this is about party unity. Time is not on the Democrats' side. House Speaker Paul Ryan, who, just last week, told CNN that he wasn't ready to support Trump, was "very encouraged" by his meeting with the presumptive GOP nominee on Thursday. The Republicans have taken steps to unite, while the Democrats have been impeded by Sanders' insistence on staying in the race.

Look, I like Bernie. I admire his determination, and agree with much of his policies on fixing income inequality, a corrupt campaign finance system, education, and the unethical war on drugs. He has brought these issues to the forefront of the American political consciousness, and changed the Democratic Party because of it. However, by carrying on his campaign to a contested convention, Sanders walks a fine line between advancing his progressive ideals, and damaging Clinton's image ahead of the general election. Right now, unification of the party should be top priority.

It's a matter of protecting his legacy as well. If Sanders shows he can support his colleagues and work together with his constituents, he will gain greater respect and influence upon his return to the Senate. As a progressive titan, he could harness the momentum of his presidential campaign and work to elect Congressional candidates supportive of his policies and beliefs. This can help make his "political revolution" a reality.

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If Sanders doesn't bow out, then he at least needs to tone down his rhetoric against Clinton. Donald Trump himself is impressed by the Senator's heated rhetoric. He even plans to use some of Sanders' statements against Clinton should she secure the nomination in a general election.

"I'm going to be taking a lot of the things Sanders said and using them," Trump told Morning Joe in April. "I can reread some of his speeches and get some very good material."

If becoming Trump's ghostwriter doesn't give Sanders pause, and make him question whether his campaign is helping or hurting Trump's chances at the White House, I don't know what will.
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Regardless of what you might think of the short-fingered vulgarian, one thing Trump has going for him is the infamous, zealot-like devotion of many of his supporters. This demographic probably made up the bulk of his primary votes, and mostly falls into the "ignorant bigots" category mentioned above. The proto-fascists who make up the other groups, while loud when cloaked in the anonymity of internet, are much less significant in regard to potential ballots cast, and are probably more a detriment to his campaign than assets. In other words, they're not just expendable, they're dead weight. There's a reason the GOP mastered the dog whistle, and it has nothing to do with being politically correct. Overt racism and sexism simply aren't characteristics of a politically viable campaign strategy in a national election.

This combination of ignorant devotees and dead weight creates an opportunity for Trump. And, bear with me, could put him in a position to help assuage some of America's repulsive intolerance he exploited to land the nomination in the first place.

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Before I go any further let me get this out of the way. I don't think Trump is likely to embrace the occasion and make a positive contribution to society. I set out to do a thought experiment about unexpected things he might do that'd make him more palatable in the general, and this is one place I wound up. It's not a prediction so much as me pondering the possibility.

But I digress.

The way Trump could move toward reducing the bigotry that's been a centerpiece of his campaign to this point is simple, pull a complete 180 on a few key issues. Instead of building a wall and deporting undocumented immigrants he'd begin extolling the merits of immigration and heralding the longstanding American Melting Pot tradition. Instead of banning Muslims he'd start to speak to the importance of religious liberty in the spirit of the Founding Fathers. Instead of playing to racist and Islamophobic stereotypes that remove context and hold entire groups liable for the actions of a few, he'd transition to exalting the American tradition of individualism.

This would accomplish several things. First, Trump's contingent of Angry White Men involved in White Nationalist projects would denounce him as a traitor and be forced to scurry back under their respective rocks. This, in turn, would make Trump a more suitable candidate with large swaths of general election voters currently turned off by his nativist demagoguery. And most importantly, it could help a whole group of ignorant bigots come to a place of being slightly less bigoted.

Trump once joked that his fanatics, er, I mean supporters, wouldn't bat an eye if he plugged a few shots into random people walking down Fifth Avenue. And at this point I think he's shown that's pretty much right. Begging the question, why couldn't he convince them to embrace some legitimately patriotic ideals like religious liberty and the virtues of immigration--even when applied to Muslims and People of Color? He could. Not only this, he might be one of the only people in the country capable of pulling off such a feat. Ignorant white bigots aren't listening to Ta Nehisi Coates, bell hooks, Michelle Alexander, Khaled Beydoun, Linda Sarsour, Chela Sandoval, Tim Wise, Chris Crass, or any other Leftie antiracist. But Trump, well, they just might listen to him. If he made this radical shift it'd shed his dead weight, make him a serious contender this fall, and potentially make some progress mending the wounds he's picked at to get to where he is. I'm not counting on it, but I'm not counting the possibility out either. Trump is capable of pulling off a whole lot of surprises between now and November, there's a chance one of them might be semi-positive.
At last week's Asian Development Bank (ADB) annual meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, high level officials highlighted key human rights messages. The Bank's president, Takehiko Nakao, emphasized the importance of free speech for sustainable development in response to concerns about the bank financing governments engaged in broad and brutal crackdowns. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the ADB's host, said supply chains should be free from labor abuses and welcomed the bank's new commitment to International Labour Organization standards on supply chains. But the bank has a long way to go to turn rhetoric into reality.

Azerbaijan's government has been waging a repressive campaign against critics, a dramatic deterioration in an already poor rights record. It has arrested or imprisoned dozens of human rights defenders, journalists, and bloggers on politically motivated charges, prompting others to flee the country or go into hiding. The government has frozen bank accounts of independent civic groups and their leaders, in some cases forcing them to shut down.

Although, since March, the authorities have pardoned or conditionally released over a dozen activists and journalists imprisoned on politically motivated charges, many others remain behind bars. The authorities have unfrozen the bank accounts of some nongovernmental groups and their leaders. But existing legislative restrictions make it effectively impossible for these groups both to use the funds in their accounts and to receive foreign funding.

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In this climate, people face a risk of reprisal for commenting on development projects or exposing the misuse of funds or harmful projects. Some multilateral bodies are starting to respond. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which promotes good governance of resource-rich countries, downgraded Azerbaijan's status last year because of its flagrant disregard for fundamental freedoms. The Open Government Partnership (OGP), which works to make governments more open, accountable, and responsive to citizens, followed suit last week.

But the ADB is looking to provide Azerbaijan with significant budget support and increase funding for a lucrative gas field with little regard for its own commitments to participation and accountability, its endorsement of EITI, and its partnership with OGP.

In Uzbekistan, the government uses forced labor in its cotton industry, but the bank continues to fund irrigation and agricultural modernization projects that support it. The government imposes strict production quotas on farmers and forces more than a million people annually to work in cotton fields. Instead of ensuring there's no forced labor in areas benefiting from the bank's project, the bank has only tried to prevent labor abuses in the irrigation project while ignoring forced labor in the fields they water.

Corruption is rife in both Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The Panama Papers have exposed evidence indicating that the family of Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has extensive secret offshore accounts, with various business interests, including in gold mining. The government has wasted huge sums of hydrocarbon revenues on prestige projects that don't produce the kind of inclusive growth the ADB's strategy says it wants to promote. Similarly, in Uzbekistan, income from cotton sales disappears into the Selkhozfond, an opaque fund to which only the highest-level officials have access. Transparency International's corruption perceptions index ranked Uzbekistan 153 out of 168 countries.

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The ADB needs to put its money where its mouth is. In Azerbaijan, it should only provide budget support to the government once the country has stopped attacking independent voices. It also shouldn't finance extractive industries projects until the government is again compliant with EITI. In Uzbekistan the ADB should stop funding projects that support an industry riven with forced labor. It should instead invest in projects that address the urgent social and economic needs of the people while pressing the government to end forced labor.
If ever there was a season for progressive-hearted people to urge their friends and neighbors to vote, this would be it.



Ritual is one powerful way to help each other make and keep the commitment to vote.

Ask your friend: "With which hand will you vote in the upcoming election?" With both of your hands, clasp that hand, close your eyes, and say: "May the love of God guide your hand to vote for the common good. Amen!" If you just happen to have a little bottle of Josie Maran pure organic argan oil or some other light oil in your handbag, rub a drop on the back of your friend's hand as you give the blessing. (Full disclosure: Josie is my stepdaughter.) Alternative wording for the non-theistic: "May love guide your hand to vote for the common good."



This simple ceremony gets the recipient of the blessing to make not just a verbal commitment, but a physical one. There is strong evidence from social psychology of the efficacy of this kind of practice. The ritual also makes voting a matter of the heart. In the midst of an electoral season of breathtakingly crude behavior and rhetoric, this simple ritual - which can be performed anywhere - redefines voting as an act of love for one's neighbors, near and far. It casts voting as an act of faith, an expression of the soul and the spirit. And by the way, rubbing oil on the back of the hand feels really good!

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It is my hope that this little ritual will spread far and wide, happening in private and public settings, including churches and temples, everywhere. I hope that people will do it spontaneously with their friends, neighbors, and acquaintances. It will have its public debut in - where else? - Hollywood, on May 22 in 10:30 worship at Mt Hollywood Congregational UCC Church. That same day, 3-5 pm, it will be performed in a free public event called VOTING AS AN ACT OF FAITH, hosted by Progressive Christians Uniting, at First United Methodist Church in Pasadena. The flyer for the event, and the template for the ritual as it can be performed in houses of worship, is attached. It's also in our new PCU book which I edited, DEEPER LOVE. Stay tuned here for an upcoming video of the ceremony.



A "blessing of the ballot" ceremony for individuals, at the polls or after filling out an absentee ballot at home:
At a recent, small, Manhattan dinner party with friends and acquaintances, after we succumbed to the veritas that had overtaken us from rapid fire drams of vino that liberated our theretofore secluded thoughts, the conversation turned to confidantes. Namely, to whom would you turn for guidance when a life crisis confronts you?

To the surprise of the others at the table, the principal interviewee, as it were (let's call him Bob), explained that he doesn't really go to friends in times of personal difficulty or crisis. No, he would call a "shrink" he had seen professionally in the distant past or, perhaps, he would seek the guidance of a lawyer retained solely to discuss the issue - a "special purpose friend," as it were. But why? After all, the personal crisis might not necessarily require the skillset of these professionals. Why not, instead, seek out the help of a lifelong friend who has "been there"? Or a friend who was comfortable enough to confide in you in the past - you know, the friend who has told you where his bodies are buried. Or, simply, the friend who knows you, and who can recognize what you have done in full context to better carve a pathway to help you out of it or to lessen the painfulness of the experience going forward.

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At first, Bob deflected - he doesn't have close friends (to be distinguished from one's social media friends). But when he fessed up (more vino having infused him), his real issue was that the "confidentiality" of the conversation was of the utmost importance and the professional was - to him - plainly more reliable, no matter how good the friend. To explain - or maybe to justify - his reasoning, he pointed to a precept in the Rabbinic teachings of Ethics of the Fathers: "One should acquire a friend" (I, 6). And when one "acquires," one "comes to own". Meaning, at least to Bob's way of thinking, when you pay someone, you are guaranteed a "secure-to-the-death" confidentiality that you might never get from a friend. Further, he continued, relying on Visions of the Fathers, the way to avoid distorted judgment is through the help of someone "not affected by our biases."

Bob was not challenging going to friends for comfort, or encouragement or support. No, we were talking about direction - who you can confide in when deciding which way to turn when faced with a crisis. At first blush, Bob's course seemed sad: after all, isn't a time of crisis what a friend is really for? Why must we - why would we - seek out someone we barely know or actually don't know at all for guidance when times are rough; when we are up against crunch time? The way Bob put it, though, was that a friend may not be good enough. In some indiscreet way, they may be incapable of maintaining the confidence when they think it would "help" to disclose it, or when the friendship, as often happens, falls apart. Or, the friend simply has loose lips, no matter how good his or her intentions. Everyone tells someone. And even if not, do we want to worry that this time - with our secret - they will indeed tell?

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But, maybe, there's something different altogether at stake. It could be that Bob won't be able to actually tell a friend what he did, or wants to do. Or that a friend won't be capable of imparting the wisdom needed with the requisite objectivity, particularly if he knows others involved. He may love you too much to be impartial; or impart his "advice" (consciously or not) glazed over with jealousy. The friend may be too judgmental - "What the hell were you thinking?" - and who in the world needs that when the problematic deed is already done, the dye already cast? (One expects the "professional" to guide without being judgmental). And perhaps, although Bob did not say this, consideration of the legal implications of a decision may matter.

Whether a lawyer, or psychiatrist, is or is not necessary to assist, the plain reality is that they are honor bound - and, more to the point, legally bound - to keep your secret. You simply can't be sure a friend will keep his mouth shut! And if your friend talks, what is your recourse? Particularly since he (and likely not your paid professional) is directly in your circle of friends.
Stop racism

It was four years ago that I walked across the graduation stage at Dan Patch Stadium, diploma in hand.

My school, Prior Lake High School in Savage, Minnesota, was around 88% white, and while I roamed its halls my race ensured I rarely had to think about racism. I was misled by society, taught to believe that racism was only something that happened in "the South." When I got to college, though, I studied racial inequality - specifically residential segregation - in America and began to understand how deeply constitutive of my town's history white supremacy was.

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Which is why it should not have surprised me to discover that a couple Prior Lake High School students tweeted a lynch threat to a black girl. Or that many others collectively and individually harassed her online with racist jeers, taunts, and memes.

It began with pictures posted featuring a group of predominantly white students wearing "dashikis": a style of shirt from West Africa. Several photos portrayed the students mocking the dashikis, as well as making confused and disgusted faces while wearing them. The students, none of whom it's fair to presume had cultural ties to West Africa, were engaging in what's known as cultural appropriation: the mishandling, belittling, or offensive use of a non-hegemonic culture by members of another (usually the dominant) culture. However, the appropriation itself is not the main event I wish to highlight, nor is my intention to demonize or blame the individual students for the insensitivity. Rather, I am horrified by what followed.

When a black student pointed out the offensive nature of the photos on Twitter, the situation went off the rails. Prior Lake High School students hurled racialized insults at the girl. The phrase "if you're not white, you're not right," appeared in the melee. One PLHS student targeted the offended student with a meme comparing black children to monkeys, a racist trope with a history spanning over a century.

Then, in a tweet eerily reminiscent of the lynching threats used by white mobs in the early to mid-twentieth century (and before) to intimidate black students from enrolling in white schools, one student tweeted a photo depicting four or five nooses with a black child looking on. Targeting the victim with such a photo, situated within the historical context of America's horrifying extrajudicial racial murders, was not merely an innocent high school prank. This appalling act was a lynching threat that should provoke a criminal investigation in addition to the student's expulsion.

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The cultural appropriation and subsequent racialized harassment are important and must both be addressed. Those responsible for the heinous bullying must be held accountable and in the case of the lynching threat severely punished, if not imprisoned.

What filled these young students with such hatred and spite? The answer to this question requires a critical look not just at Prior Lake-Savage, or just at Minnesota, but rather at the way our country interprets its own past.

Our media and society often sever the links between historical events, suggesting that slavery, Native American genocide and removal, colonialism, Jim Crow, lynching, poverty, and other forms of racial violence were isolated incidents. Even these "incidents" go underground circa 1970, though. Then, so the narrative goes, once the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act had been passed, history ended. Racism presumably evaporated, leading to perfect equality in the last fifty years in the United States. Militarization of police forces, skyrocketing forced poverty, American imperial wars abroad, increasing segregation, mass incarceration, class inequality, mass deportation, and the undeniably racist War on Drugs are not given one word.

This narrative style serves a political role: to give white youth tools to uphold the systems of white supremacy that have directly and indirectly wrought unfathomable violence. Our society does not merely hide reality; it distorts it, it intentionally subverts it, and, frankly, it lies about it. It teaches students to deny that segregation, inequality, mass incarceration, and rampant racism exist by omitting them from discourse and public knowledge. It withholds tools of empathy and values of equality, which are "biased" according to white supremacist authorities whose first impulse is to cling to empty charges of "free speech" and "neutrality" rather than to protect people of color.

It was a particularly violent manifestation of this culture that turned a few sweet little white children from Scott County, MN into racist bullies who knew to draw on the violent tradition of white supremacy to cow a black girl who dared to challenge their authority to make judgments about Dashikis into submission with a lynch threat.

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In the coming days it will be crucial for administrators at Prior Lake High School and law enforcement officials investigating the harassment and threats to keep in mind the role white supremacist culture played in creating environments of toxicity for high school students of color. While many if not most PLHS students would not have responded the way the white students involved in this situation did, it would be a mistake to look at this incident as an isolated one or to approach future "diversity" education without keeping a vigilant eye on the tentacles of white supremacist culture that clutch our society in a vice-grip. Any plan going forward must acknowledge and seek to counteract these social forces.
In this sharply witty and insightful novel, Morris Berman depicts a version of choosing the "monastic" option, introduced in The Twilight of American Culture. Put the iPhones down, log out of Facebook. Take a couple of hours and have a coffee, listen to some classical music and read the New York Times. In this manner at the least do harm and do not participate in the corrupt hustle which has contaminated every institution in America. Get with a group of like-minded people. Maybe even band together and do something which helps others.



The Man Without Qualities is a quick, breezy read and comic, which is appropriate for political satire. A weighty seriousness would undermine the message, which seems to be the possibility of authenticity, not necessarily realization. We see early on when the leader of the authentic movement, a retired German literature professor, George Haskel, realized as the "Dullness Institute," literally sends Hillary Clinton to Bellevue when she is challenged at an NYU rally by a question she or any other politician can't possibly answer: "What can any candidate do us for us at this point in American history?" Addressing the crowd he continues, "Does anyone here really believe Hillary can turn things around? Shouldn't we all just stop wishing and striving and just go home instead?" HRC's response is laugh out loud funny: "'You,' she shrieked pointing at me. 'You--' Her face swelled to twice its normal size, and turned purple. She was now rolling around the stage, apparently rabid."



In this wishful fantasy, a hundred thousand people throwing their phones into the Potomac may be authentic, dropping out, but could also be viewed as treasonous by the worshipers of the almighty Hustle. Similarly, Americans who do not willingly embrace debt slavery (a subset of the Hustle) are probably not viewed as good Americans. So, the DI is a counter movement that turns into the Authentic Party. It madly gathers followers, some real-life personalities, and generates enough resources to sue some crooked corporations for "trillions." Trillions? George wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Then, and I don't think this gives much away, the AP turns revolutionary and plans a two-million person march on the White House to demand that the President step down. There is a confrontation in the Oval Office and while the President agrees to some concessions, he will not step down. So he tells George and his top level advisers that he will leave them for one hour to decide what to do. The military is on full alert. The book ends with this standoff, but it's pretty clear what George has decided. Still, this leaves us wondering what the President will do.



I doubt Dr. Berman is suggesting that something like this is really possible, especially if we consider his conclusion at the end of Why America Failed. Thomas H. Naylor, in a January, 2012 review for Second Vermont Republic, writes, "Berman makes it very clear that his book has no "happy chapter" because the endgame is not going to be very pretty."
How global complacency puts Uzbek human rights defenders at risk

Co-authored by Abby McGill, Campaigns Director, International Labor Rights Forum

This week, more than 200 labor rights advocates from unions, companies, churches and non-governmental organizations are gathering in Washington, D.C. to honor Uzbek human rights defenders who have been documenting the Government of Uzbekistan's ongoing use of forced labor in its annual cotton harvest. Unfortunately, only one of the invited honorees was able to attend due to increasing attacks from government officials. These brave activists take incredible personal risks to ensure evidence of state-sponsored forced labor is publicly available to the global governments and institutions that could influence the situation. But in a sad irony, those same governments and institutions speak in defense of persecuted activists only in private, if at all.

Neither violent repression of civil society actors nor international complacency is new in Uzbekistan. This same week in 2005, armed security forces under the leadership of the Uzbek Government gunned down at least 700 citizens and subsequently tortured dozens more in what became known as the Andijan massacre. After Andijan, the United States and European Union imposed sanctions on the Uzbek regime for its brutality, yet quickly softened enforcement and then let the sanctions expire. The brutality of the Uzbek regime has not softened, however, and it is time that the international community took forceful action in support of those struggling to promote a culture of freedom and against a regime that continues to coerce citizens to labor in agricultural fields against their will for the benefit of a wealthy elite.

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Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who has been in power since Uzbekistan's emergence as an independent country after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, oversees a forced-labor system of cotton production in which officials force more than a million Uzbek citizens to work in cotton fields under threat of penalty. This system is only possible through the state's use of fear, established with both violence and regular coercion. Average Uzbek citizens are faced each fall with the choice between weeks of picking cotton, paying bribes to officials, or facing penalties imposed by the state, including job loss, expulsion from school, denial of social benefits and punitive tax investigations. Officials routinely try to silence those who seek to document this system, but 2015 saw a new level of official repression against those who openly document this egregious violation of human rights:

Uktam Pardaev, head of the Jizzak Branch of the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan, was arrested on falsified charges, detained for eight weeks, and beaten. Global pressure led the government to reduce a 6-year prison sentence to probation. Uktam cannot leave his hometown or his home after 10 pm and remains under constant surveillance. A global campaign is working to free Uktam.

Dmitri Tikhonov was forced to flee Uzbekistan after multiple arrests and his house was set on fire. The arsonists also stole archives of Dmitri's work. No one was ever charged. Instead, officials fabricated serious charges against him, forcing Dmitri to seek asylum in Europe.

Elena Urlaeva was detained five times while documenting the 2015 cotton harvest. Twice she was subjected to brutal body cavity searches while in custody. Officials also subjected her to other humiliations and videotaped the abuse. She was denied an exit visa.

The second attack against Ms. Urlaeva came only a week after the Uzbek government met with the International Labour Organization (ILO), World Bank and several diplomatic missions in Tashkent to discuss the government's systematic use of forced labor to produce cotton. Elena, Uktam and Dmitri all met with the ILO, World Bank, U.S. and European Union (EU) diplomatic missions in Uzbekistan repeatedly throughout the 2015 cotton harvest. ILRF and our allies on the Cotton Campaign have repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, urged these international organizations, the EU and the U.S. government to speak out publicly in defense of these activists. In Uzbekistan, where freedom of association is not respected, these brave citizens are doing the work of independent trade unions. We remain deeply concerned that quiet diplomacy leaves Uzbek human rights defenders at risk of continued repression.
America, particularly its middle class and poor, has felt the decimating influence of macroeconomic forces that extend far beyond our local communities. In the face of powerful global and technological forces and trends, failures in global trade policy have aggravated wage stagnation, and left the long-term unemployed with shuttered factories.

Many have criticized U.S. free trade policy's regressive effect on parts of our labor market. Looking for a more favorable "business climate", American firms relocate to other countries and turn up the heat on their former workers. Finding it more profitable to do business in foreign countries that lack environmental and labor standards, their departures undermine former economic engines throughout the U.S. economy, leaving our communities suffering from job loss and downward wage pressure. Where does that leave our nation's poor, residing in our nation's urban centers, like Chicago's west side, where, a majority of neighborhood poverty rates exceed 34% and unemployment is approximately 20%? As we search for solutions, it's clear who bears the brunt of our inaction. There may be hope.

The Obama administration is charting a new course with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement between the United States and 11 other trading partners bordering the Pacific Rim. Living up to the President's campaign promise to rewrite NAFTA, TPP includes enforceable labor standards ensuring fair labor competition in the form of collective bargaining rights, bans against child and forced labor, minimum wage standards, and rules against discrimination. Forcing countries to adopt these new rules will reduce the incentive for companies to leave the U.S. in pursuit of lower labor standards and larger profits.

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Just as they shouldn't seek to avoid fair labor rules, U.S. businesses shouldn't be able to move operations abroad to escape responsible environmental practices at home. TPP includes enforceable environmental provisions in opposition to harmful management practices relating to wildlife, sustainable fisheries, marine conservation, water pollution, ozone damaging substances, and energy efficiency.

TPP's goal to set higher standards aligns with our mission to prepare unemployed and underemployed populations on the Chicago's west side for job and business opportunities. As the U.S. gains access to new markets, global demand for U.S. goods and services increase. Collectively, TPP countries produce 40% of the world's total gross domestic product ($107.5 trillion), 26% of its trade, and 793 million of its consumers. These partners make up this fastest growing part of the world's marketplace. If the U.S. doesn't take the lead in determining standards in this region, China will. The last thing we need is to force small businesses on Chicago's west side to compete in the Asia-Pacific without fair rules. And that's the choice we now face.

TPP is a step in the right direction of addressing some of the evils of international trade. President Obama said,

"...we should have learned some lessons from NAFTA, and in fact that's what we've done, which is why now we have enforceable environmental provisions and enforceable labor provisions. What we can't do is think that somehow, if we draw a moat around this country, that we're going to be able to avoid globalization and technology, because frankly when you look at job loss and lost leverage, automation and technology has probably contributed more than trade has to that problem."
Part Two of a Two-Part Series

We're on the cusp of a revolution in retirement leisure -- how much leisure time we have, how long we have it, what we do with it, and how it's reshaping our lives. Over the next 20 years, tens of millions of boomers will retire and, as I explained yesterday in New Study Uncovers the Upside of Retirement Leisure: The Freedom Zone , just as they've transformed every life stage they've moved through, this powerful generation is already changing the face of leisure in retirement.

Gone is the old definition of leisure as a time to simply wind down, take a cruise, rest, and relax. Today as we move through retirement, and gradually break the habits formed over a lifetime of hard work in a workaholic culture, our relationship with leisure -- and with ourselves -- evolves and changes. Understanding this evolution is the first step in planning for happiness and fulfillment in this most "time affluent" phase of our lives.

My firm, Age Wave, recently partnered with Bank of America Merrill Lynch on a landmark research study, "Leisure in Retirement: Beyond the Bucket List" , to examine the priorities, hopes, dreams, and challenges of the surging new world of leisure in retirement. We surveyed a total of 3,712 adults age 25+ from all socio-economic backgrounds and walks of life. One of the most fascinating findings revealed in our research was that today, in part because Americans are living longer, healthier lives and have far higher aspirations, retirees move through four distinct stages of retirement leisure, each with its own priorities, challenges, and social connections (FIG 1).

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FIG 1





Stage 1: Winding Down & Gearing Up: 5 years or less before retirement

In the five years before people retire, many feel overwhelmed with work and say they really look forward to having more time in retirement for the non-work activities they love. One focus group pre-retiree explains, "I feel so burned out and overwhelmed. I can only dream about all the fun things I might do in retirement. Just thinking about it gets me excited."

Many in this stage feel highly stressed because they are so busy, and 74 percent identify work as the biggest barrier to them having more fulfilling leisure. Leisure travel in this stage is about escape (43 percent) and recharging one's batteries (46 percent). However, in the two years before retirement, most soon-to-be retirees don't travel quite as much; they spend less as well. They feel optimistic about retirement leisure, and most are focusing on gearing up for that next stage. What's currently missing in our preparations is a specific focus on what we want to experience and accomplish in our retirement leisure -- and how much time and money we plan to spend on leisure activities that bring us the most happiness and fulfillment.

Stage 2: Liberation & Self-Discovery: 0-2 years into retirement

Once people actually retire, most (78 percent) feel they finally have enough free time to do all the things they want. There's an enormous sense of liberation and relief as nearly all (92 percent) say retirement provides them with the freedom to finally do what they want, on their own terms.



In this stage, many retirees seek personal growth and adventure, including biking and hiking, and enjoying trips that offer learning and even home sharing. In fact, 72 percent want to try new leisure activities compared to doing things they've already done. For example, one focus group participant told us, "I've never had the time to train for any type of sporting competition. Now I'm starting to train for a 5k. Who knows where this will lead, but I'm energized and ready to try something new." Leisure is clearly a priority for retirees in this stage, but 24 percent continue to work, with 68 percent of those retirees working part time. In addition, 22 percent of retirees in this stage of retirement leisure enjoy regularly volunteering their time.

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While liberation and self-discovery define this stage of leisure in retirement, it's still a time of transition that requires adjustments from work life. Some early retirees feel unsettled, anxious, and even bored after spending most of their life in a work-centered identity. More than a third say it's harder to structure their time than before they retired, and almost half feel guilty about not using leisure productively. A bit of preparation, envisioning and planning for how you want to spend your leisure in retirement, can help with this complex transition.



Stage 3: Greater Freedom & New Choices: 3-15 years into retirement

Once retirees settle into retirement and successfully move through the transition away from work, they appreciate and enjoy their leisure even more. As retirees embrace their new leisure identity, feelings of happiness, contentment, and confidence are high; spontaneity peaks; anxiety wanes. As retirees further separate from full-time work and gain comfort with their post-work identity, "be-ing" increasingly replaces "do-ing" and fewer have feelings of guilt when not using leisure productively. Most retirees (74 percent) say it's easier to structure their free time now than it was during their pre-retirement years.

When it comes to everyday leisure, retirees in this stage are most likely to exercise, shop, read for pleasure, volunteer, take classes, and socialize with friends. One focus group participant explains: "I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I walk each morning with a group of friends, take part in a book club at my local library, and get to spend time with my grandchildren. Life doesn't get better than this."

Spending on leisure travel, as well as the pace of travel, rises with interest in immersive experiences. According to Matthew Upchurch, the Chairman of Virtuoso -- the nation's leading network of luxury travel advisors, "We've learned that travelers at this new, more liberated stage in their lives are truly seeking to see, feel and learn new things. They want to make special new memories -- particularly ones that are shared with loved ones." Voluntourism, cruises, adventure travel, international sightseeing, RV travel, and overnight spa trips are common. Only 9 percent of retirees in this stage are still working, often in different and more enjoyable ways than they did during their core careers.

Stage 4: Contentment & Accommodation: More than 15 years into retirement

The fourth stage of retirement leisure is usually more than 15 years into retirement. Maintaining health and independence is even more important to these retirees, with most of their leisure time spent relaxing or connecting with family and friends. Compared to other stages, retirees are most likely to prioritize simplifying their lives and enjoying familiar activities rather than discovering new ones. "At this stage of retirement, I take part in the tried and true activities I've always enjoyed doing with those people I care about most. It's what makes me happy," said one focus group member.

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Retirees in this stage are often less energetic, more financially constrained, and more physically limited than earlier in retirement. They seek to connect with family and friends in all types of leisure, including multigenerational travel with grandchildren and heritage trips.

At this stage, health conditions (72 percent) are more pervasive and can limit leisure experiences. In addition, a vast majority (61 percent) of retirees are dealing with an increase in doctor visits and medical care, with some involved in caregiving for a spouse/partner. These challenges can limit leisure activities.

The Coming Leisure Boom



So what do these four stages mean for how retirement leisure will look in the coming years? As boomers migrate from being time constrained to time affluent, the leisure travel economy is well positioned to grow and prosper -- targeting each of the four stages of retirement leisure based on their needs and interests. In just the past year, retired boomers spent more than any other group on leisure travel. As the "age wave" grows, this leisure economy will diversify and multiply, reaching a cumulative total of $4.6 trillion, which will likely create an unprecedented opportunity for the leisure industry (FIG 2).



FIG 2





Here are some of the latest travel trends today's retirees tell us they enjoy the most. This list is sure to grow as the travel industry steps up its offerings and creativity to meet the coming boom:

Tried and True Destinations. Although retirees enjoy a variety of vacation spots, familiar locations such as Hawaii, New York, California, Italy, Australia and England remain the most popular.

Although retirees enjoy a variety of vacation spots, familiar locations such as Hawaii, New York, California, Italy, Australia and England remain the most popular. Cutting Edge Lodging Options. Globally, almost one million Airbnb users are over 60, including 10 percent of all hosts (and growing), who make, on average,6,000 per year.

Globally, almost one million Airbnb users are over 60, including 10 percent of all hosts (and growing), who make, on average,6,000 per year. Adventure Travel. Overseas Adventure Travel, the first U.S. travel company to design adventure trips for age 50+ travelers, saw business jump 67 percent in a decade. The majority of customers at Nomadic Expeditions and Mountain Travel Sobek are age 50+. Roughly 20 percent of REI Adventures' business comes from customers over 60.

Overseas Adventure Travel, the first U.S. travel company to design adventure trips for age 50+ travelers, saw business jump 67 percent in a decade. The majority of customers at Nomadic Expeditions and Mountain Travel Sobek are age 50+. Roughly 20 percent of REI Adventures' business comes from customers over 60. Nostalgia Travel. 24 percent of retirees say going on an RV trip is very appealing at this stage of their life and RV sales are expected to continue to grow as boomers retire. Airstream sales grew 35 percent in 2014 (nearly 3x industry growth) with most buyers age 50-69.

24 percent of retirees say going on an RV trip is very appealing at this stage of their life and RV sales are expected to continue to grow as boomers retire. Airstream sales grew 35 percent in 2014 (nearly 3x industry growth) with most buyers age 50-69. Biking. Between 1995 and 2009, biking rates among people ages 60-79 grew 320 percent. Several companies now tailor bike tourism trips to the 50+ market, and marketers say biking is replacing golf as a popular option for active holidays.

Between 1995 and 2009, biking rates among people ages 60-79 grew 320 percent. Several companies now tailor bike tourism trips to the 50+ market, and marketers say biking is replacing golf as a popular option for active holidays. Voluntourism. Americans age 60+ were the most likely to have taken a volunteer trip in the last year. The Peace Corps also now has a program seeking volunteers 50+.

Americans age 60+ were the most likely to have taken a volunteer trip in the last year. The Peace Corps also now has a program seeking volunteers 50+. Learning. Educational tours and programs, which combine travel and learning, are booming. Road Scholar offers 5,500 programs worldwide.

Educational tours and programs, which combine travel and learning, are booming. Road Scholar offers 5,500 programs worldwide. Cruising. From 2009 to 2014, around-the-world cruises grew from 17.8 million to 22.1 million passengers, 52 percent of whom are age 50+. Almost half (45 percent) of retirees say a cruise is very appealing at this stage of life.

From 2009 to 2014, around-the-world cruises grew from 17.8 million to 22.1 million passengers, 52 percent of whom are age 50+. Almost half (45 percent) of retirees say a cruise is very appealing at this stage of life. Solo Travel. 12 million of the 32 million Americans who live alone are 65+. Ten percent of all leisure travelers go alone. Forty percent of travelers with the age 50+ adventure travel company OAT are solo travelers.

12 million of the 32 million Americans who live alone are 65+. Ten percent of all leisure travelers go alone. Forty percent of travelers with the age 50+ adventure travel company OAT are solo travelers. Multigenerational Travel. More than one-third (36 percent) of retirees have gone on a multigenerational trip in the past year. While many say it's the greatest experience of their lives, multigenerational travel can have its challenges -- chief among them is aligning activities that appeal to everyone.

The Challenges to Retirement Leisure

As our study revealed, pre-retirees have a lot to look forward to in their retirement leisure -- all that travel, plus more freedom, more fun, and a greater sense of emotional wellbeing. With life expectancy at an all-time high, retirement leisure can last anywhere from 20 to 30 years. That's a lot of time to fill, and we'll need to change the way we plan for it if we're to make the most of our new beginnings.

As Lorna Sabbia, Head of Retirement & Personal Wealth Solutions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch points out, "While retirement leisure has historically been viewed as a time to do less, today's retirees are viewing it as an opportunity to do more. And, as retirees experience two decades or more in retirement, they have a lot to plan for -- new beginnings, deepening relationships, and exploring their passions." Most Americans take practical steps to fund their children's college education or to save for their basic needs in retirement. But envisioning and planning for our retirement dreams is far less common. Two-thirds of our study participants who have a spouse or partner have not even discussed how much leisure time they want to spend together in retirement -- or how much money they plan to spend on their leisure. That's too bad, because our study revealed that those retirees who have done even some preparation are far more likely to say that retirement is fun, enjoyable, and pleasurable. It's time we use our newfound knowledge about leisure to plan more completely for a retirement in which our time affluence brings us new beginnings, meaningful contributions, and satisfying experiences.

This article, together with New Study Uncovers the Upside of Retirement Leisure: The Freedom Zone , offers a small sample of the deep findings about leisure in retirement found in our comprehensive study. To explore additional ideas and information, you can download the full report here. I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions, and I wish you great success on your quest for leisure in retirement.

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Earlier on Huff/Post50:


I ran out of time. For a year I intended to write about turning 50 - a contemplative, insightful piece extolling the wisdom gained from living for half a century, but in a few days I'll be 51. Gone the way of shoulder pads and stirrup pants, like it or not, the time has passed.

I ran out of time even though I've tried diligently to slow down my life and clear some space.

Simplify, downsize, prioritize; these are my buzz words. Progress is evident, although the perfect balance wherein I fulfill my roles of mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend and fitness instructor, and manage to shave under my arms occasionally . . . this eludes me still.

The other night, out to dinner after one of the kids' choir concerts, my father-in-law glanced over as I checked my calendar on my phone, its colorful blocks stacked atop, beside and overlapping each other like a patchwork quilt. He looked from the screen to my face and, shaking his head, said, "You're too busy."

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This, I know. How to change it, I do not.

"What can I cut, Dad?" I asked, a little exasperated, and more than a little desperate.

Life seems to be speeding up, or perhaps it's that more life is crammed into a single day. My parents' generation raised their families in a slower time, with far less electronic assistance. Take telephones. Then: a bulky plastic rotary unit, mounted permanently on the wall, its handset tethered by a 10-foot spiral cord, served the entire household. Compared to now: a smart phone, sleek and handheld, individually owned by every member of the family, able to - at virtually any time, any place - access limitless information and connect to limitless other smart phones.

Technology put the world at our fingertips, but the flip side is the 24-hour demand inherent with its accessibility.

We can virtually reach out and tap anyone on the shoulder at any time of day or night. It takes mere seconds to send and receive a message. What then, is a reasonable response time for emails and texts? 24 hours? 2 hours? 5 minutes? And what about Facebook messages and Instagram posts? Social media has crossed over, blending our personal and professional lives, blurring the lines.

Technology gave us a shorthand for instant gratification but idk if we r betr 4 it. Some days my smart phone is like an incessantly whining child, tugging at my sleeve, yelling louder and louder, "mom, mom, mom, mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, MOM, MOM, MOM!!"

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During the last few weeks of school, my moderately frenetic pace as a mother kicks up to severely frantic. Routines out of whack, extra activities to manage and preparations to make for the upcoming summer holiday (truly a misnomer) send the needle on my stress gauge into the red. With Type-A drive I tackle numerous projects at once, the way I know best: with sleep deprivation and coffee. The goal is to knock out as many items as quickly as possible.

My monkey-mind chants an endless to-do list like a scrolling marquee across the bottom of screen on CNN. I'm running out of time.

This year, on top of it all, my daughter, Sydney, who has Down syndrome, spent the last ten days of school at home recovering from a tonsillectomy, the result of a sleep study and subsequent diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (common in kids with DS). Small for her age of fourteen, with long strawberry-blond hair and a freckled face, she's adorable, and it's not just me who thinks so. Before surgery, she charmed the staff with her smiles and snappy comebacks, but afterward, my brave girl was miserable, and understandably, a bit grumpy. We stuck to an alternating 3-hour dosing of Tylenol and Motrin to keep the pain at bay. Armed with popsicles, ice cream, and mashed potatoes, we told her she could watch Disney Channel to her little heart's content.

Since she's my easy-going kid who doesn't complain often, stoic with a high tolerance for discomfort, I figured it would be, for the most part, business as usual. Meaning I'd be able to keep up with my job managing group fitness. My husband, Steven works from home as well and we arranged our schedules to trade off nursing our patient. When I had classes, he was there. When I was home, I fully anticipated toggling between making milkshakes and sending emails while Sydney rested quietly.

Uh, yeah. No.

She didn't really rest. In fact, she was rest-less, never settling for more than 30 minutes at a time. She couldn't focus on TV, it hurt too much to eat (even ice cream), and she had no interest in her iPad. She wanted to talk. To me.

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"Um, excuse me, Mom?" Sydney queried from the table. "Why my voice is low [sic]?"

I answered from my computer without looking. "It's from your tonsils, remember?"

I'd just blended her a smoothie to chase the last round of medicine, hoping for a few free minutes to compose an email. "Don't worry. It won't last."

"Why can't I go to school?" she asked.

"Hmmmm?" I replied, fingers flying over the keys. "School?" I echoed, my brain constructing words into sentences on the screen in front of me.

Multi-tasking has been debunked; it is not a thing.

Rather, our attention rapidly fires, shifting back and forth between focuses; my focus was in front of me, not behind.

"Why am I not at school?" She repeated.

Mentally, I pulled my concentration away from the computer with effort. I could picture Sydney's face, though my back was to her; eyes opened wide behind purple wire-frames, eyebrows arched high, her mouth frozen in the shape of the last vowel sound she made. She'd asked this question every day, several times a day, for the last week.

"You know why," I said with a sigh, but without looking. "You tell me, why you aren't you in school, Syd?" My impatience thinly veiled in my voice.

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"Because I had my tonsils out?" she asked, unsure.

This was her game; she was being coy, fishing for my response. I'd already noticed her strategy of waiting for me to pick up my phone, then immediately starting in with obvious questions to which she had the answers. The more I needed to think, the more she diverted. And the more she kept me from working, the more annoyed I became.

The afternoon's tasks spanned the display of my iMac in multiple open windows; new summer schedules for four gyms, several tabs on the web browser, iTunes, with playlists waiting to be organized for teaching, a newsletter in progress. And my calendar. Always my calendar.

Behind me, my daughter waited for an answer.

Realizing it had been several seconds, I turned and looked directly into her eyes. "Yes, honey," I said firmly, "because you had your tonsils out."

Her days were long and empty, her throat hurt badly, and she was lonely. My compassion stirred when she said, "I just miss my friends, Mom."

"I know, sweetie. I'm sorry." I got up and walked to her, resigned to the conversation for the moment.

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Eyeing her empty cup, I gushed, "Good job! You drank your whole smoothie!" with over-the-top enthusiasm.

She soaked up the praise with a smile and a shy little shrug.

Making an attempt to address her feelings, I said softly, "I know you miss your friends, but you'll see them at yearbook signing, remember?"

She perked visibly at the mention. "Oh, yeah! Yearbook signing. On Thursday, right?"

"Yep. On Thursday."

I got up to take her cup to the sink. She sat without speaking as I rinsed dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. I knew my daughter's angst, that she needed me. I heard her plea for attention.

But my monkey-mind chattered louder, tabulating how much was yet to do. Running. Out of time.

"Mom needs to get some work done now, Syd. Okay?"

She was quiet.

"How about a pudding?"

She nodded.

"Do you want anything else?" I asked. "I can put on a movie."

"No, I'm fine," Sydney said, matter-of-factly, looking away.

I registered her disappointment, but I was up against a deadline and the detailed work required focus. I sat down once again and the clacking of the keyboard filled the silence. For 15 seconds.

"Mom? Excuse me."

Like clockwork.

"Wow," I said, taking a deep breath. 'Patience, Lisa,' something within me warned. But, unheeding, I charged ahead. "You sure are talking a lot today. Doesn't that hurt your throat?"

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"No," she answered defensively. "I just . . . I just . . . ," she said, reaching for the right words. Sydney has exemplary verbal skills, but sometimes expressing exactly what she means to say is tough. "I just . . . have tonsil breath," she stammered, referring to the inevitable halitosis following a tonsillectomy.

The doctor had told us, "She will have bad breath. Just turn your head when she talks." Though anticipated, the odor was quite unpleasant, and the days of her family avoiding face-to-face contact with Sydney was wearing on her self-esteem. And she knew this sympathetic point would provoke a response from me. My innocent child, far too vulnerable to be calculating, nonetheless, knew what she was doing, and couldn't stop herself. Drawing me from my work, keeping me engaged, baiting me continually, she was desperate for me to just look at her.

I didn't catch the rest of what she said; I was reading the three texts that just came in. My adrenaline rose with the tension in my shoulders.

"I know I'm . . . ," Sydney paused.



Monkey-mind. Chanted. Running. Out. Of. Time.

" . . . talking a lot, but . . .," she continued.

Tapped, done, no restraint left, I interjected with exaggerated animation, "Yes! A really LOT! And . . . you're driving me Cah-RAy-zeeeeee!"

An offhand remark meant to be deflecting; casual, yet careless, it stung with more bite than was intended. But I didn't know that. I went on with my work for a minute before a subtle energy, a silence far more permeating than her previous chitchat, unraveled my focus. I felt her more than heard her and turned around.

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Grimacing with silent sobs, Sydney sat bent over her pudding, shoving bite after bite in her mouth until it overflowed out the sides. Inhaling sharply, she aspirated and coughed. Snot billowed from her nose until her face was a mass of chocolatey mucus.

"Oh, honey!" I jumped up and grabbed a Kleenex, wiping her nose and mouth quickly. "Swallow," I said, holding the straw of her water jug. "Breathe," I added and then took a big breath in myself. She cleared her throat repeatedly, before slowing her shaky breathing and trying to calm herself.

When we were both calmed down, she said so softly I could scarcely hear, "I get it, Mom."

Speaking with a wisdom I forgot she is capable of, her words held the implication that she did indeed understand how swamped I was and that she was doing her best not to need too much from me.

"I know we have a busy schedule?" she continued, her voice rising as in a question, shrugging and turning a palm up as if to say, 'it is what it is.' "But," her small voice quivered, "you're going to the gym and. . . ," she stopped and breathed in deeply. "And . . . and . . . I just . . . I really . . . miss you?"

The last two words came out high-pitched and barely audible. Her chin trembled. She tucked her head down and reached her index finger underneath her glasses, wiping fresh tears from her eyes. Lifting her head with a slow inhalation, she looked to see if I was listening, then choked out the words, "I . . . just . . . NEED . . . you!" And with that, she abandoned her fight to hold back the tide of her emotions.

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Remorse hit me like a wave. My heart broke open wide and all the tightness loosened in my chest, sliding away as I gathered her in my arms. She buried her face in my belly and we both cried.

In the past I would have castigated myself for being a bad mother, but as an older parent, my compassion now extends to myself as well. With maturity comes the recognition that when overdoing drains me, I lack what she needs and I am unable to give what is just not there.

The wisdom gained over the years is that in order to take care of my daughter, I need to take care of myself.

I've known my over-busy, over-scheduling, over-doing lifestyle has to change. But how? I recall the analogy of 'first things first:' Time is represented by an empty glass jar, with finite volume. Sand, pebbles and rocks symbolize the many, many things that fill that time, ranging from very small to very large. If I fill the jar with sand and pebbles first, only a few big rocks will fit, and not well. But reverse the order and miraculously, the same space holds much more volume. In other words, if the big rocks are gonna fit, they've gotta go in first.

My problem? Everything is a big rock. I've missed the distinction between size and texture and value. But it doesn't have to be this way. I don't know whose permission I've been waiting for; whose jar is it, anyway? In my 50th year, these shifting perceptions and realigning priorities influence my choices more than external expectations. The voice I'm attuning to now comes from within - not without - myself. Sydney is a bona fide big rock along with my other children and my husband. And, what about me? Is it possible to put myself first, or even forgo some sand and pebbles to make room for a big rock of my own? I say emphatically, "Yes!"

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My friend, Jackie, a single mom whose son has spina bifida once told me, "There is just no way to get it all done, so I have to let some things, the less important things, slip." In these fast-paced times, I believe no one can get it all done and since it is my jar, I get to decide what's more, and less, important.

If I worry about the big rocks, the rest will either fit, or I can simply let it slip. No more running out of time for what really matters.

I untangled from Sydney and pulled back to look at her reddened eyes. Smoothing her hair back from her face, I finally saw her; my daughter. Such a precious girl. How could anything be more important?

"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked.

She looked crestfallen as if I were shoving her off again in favor of my computer.


(Photo credit: Jonathan Ernst for LWR)

By John Rivera

At Lutheran World Relief, we are extremely concerned about the news we received this week that the Kenyan government will close the Dadaab refugee camp, located on the border of Kenya and Somalia, and will seek to repatriate the mostly Somali refugees who live there.

LWR, working with our partner, the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service, provides ongoing assistance to refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya, serving refugees from Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, and other neighboring countries. The Lutheran World Federation is a global communion of 145 churches in the Lutheran tradition, representing over 72 million Christians in 98 countries, and we collaborate with them on a number of projects around the world.

Closing the World's Largest Refugee Camp

In a statement issued on May 6, Kenya's Interior Ministry cited security challenges posed by Al-Shabaab, the armed Somali Islamist group, and the slow pace of Somali refugee repatriation as factors in its decision to close Dadaab, which is the world's largest refugee camp. It also plans to dismantle the Department of Refugee Affairs. Thankfully, an initial decision to close the Kakuma camp has been rescinded.

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The Department of Refugee Affairs plays a key role in providing services to refugees and has worked hand-in-hand with humanitarian organizations. Its absence is already being felt, says Lennart Hernander of the Lutheran World Federation's Kenya-Djibouti Program.

"We have noted immediate negative effects of the directive," he says. The Department for Refugee Affairs (DRA) has not issued movement passes for refugees needing medical referrals to national hospitals, and no transportation is currently being provided for asylum seekers at the Nadapal transit center (managed by the Lutheran World Federation) on the South Sudanese border to Kakuma camp.

Both Nadapal transit center and Kakuma reception center are currently filled to their capacity with asylum seekers and the registration and processing of their cases is urgent and needs the DRA to be operational and functional. "With about 70 to 100 new arrivals per day at Nadapal, the center will soon be beyond its safe level," he says.

"Many refugees are anxious and very worried," Hernander says.

No Known Link Between Terrorists and Refugee Camp

Humanitarian organizations familiar with the situation on the ground say there is no established link between any terrorist or terror attack and Dadaab, noting that none of the persons caught during attacks, killed, identified as suspects or arrested is a refugee. "Despite frequent accusations, Kenyan government officials haven't produced any tangible evidence that refugees are responsible for attacks," said a Human Rights Watch official.

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LWR supports the concerns raised by a coalition of 11 non-governmental organizations that provide assistance to refugees in Kenya, which issued a statement urging the government to reconsider the closure of the camps and the dissolution of the Department of Refugee Affairs. "Shutting down the refugee camps will mean increased protection risks for the thousands of asylum seekers--the majority of whom are women, children and unaccompanied minors," the statement said. The abrupt closure of the camp "would mean a humanitarian catastrophe for the region as neighboring countries, especially Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia are already shouldering huge refugee populations."

The coalition is urging the Kenyan government to continue its efforts to increase and improve security within the camps, while seeking durable, long-term solutions to repatriation, which must include safety for refugee families, freedom of movement, and access to basic services and livelihood options for both returnees and host communities.

Turning to the international community, the NGOs are urging "predictable and sufficient financial support" to refugee programs and the government of Kenya that is hosting them. In addition, "the international community should expand its resettlement quotas for refugees coming from the Horn of Africa" as well as share the burden of hosting refugees.
A man being buried by laptops and newspaper

This post originally appeared on the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Imagine a world where publications are controlled not by zillionaires or governments, but by readers, journalists, crowdfunders and other shareholders. A world in which news outlets offer a wide range of consistently reliable, informative news, and where content is not determined by the power of money.

Sounds utopian? French economist and Institute grantee Julia Cage doesnt think so.

In her new book, Saving the Media: Capitalism, Crowdfunding, and Democracy, Cage examines whats gone wrong with the media in Europe and the United States; how we got into this mess; and how a new business model could save a public resource essential to the functioning of democracy. She explores a media landscape in which the drive to entertain and cater to the affluent has crowded out quality and where plummeting ad revenue and destructive competition have created conditions that lead to laid-off employees and shuttered newsrooms. Cage proposes instead a model firmly anchored in the notion that news is a public good  one that can revive our societies and enable us to debate the issues that will shape our collective destiny.

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Along the way, Cage dispels pervasive industry myths, such as the notion that the web is decimating audiences for print media. She concludes that the audiences for the two platforms are actually about equal in size, adding that because newspapers are often read by several people, counting only paid subscribers doesnt provide a clear picture. She also argues that their influential role in public conversation should entitle media organizations to more state support than is currently the case. What must be recognized is that the news media provide a public good, just as universities and other contributors to the knowledge economy of the twenty-first century do, she writes. For that reason they deserve special treatment by the government.

Cage argues that if society expects the media to provide quality, unbiased information in order to allow the public to make informed decisions, then relying on market forces to shape the industry is a perilous choice. Surveys have shown that large majorities think that the media are biased  hardly a favorable condition for democracy. She warns that democracy depends on more than just diversity of media sources; it requires diversity in the ownership.

Glancing back through media history, Cage notes that when shares of American newspapers began trading on the stock exchange in the 1960s, strategies to boost payouts to shareholders negatively affected the quality of news. Circulation shrank as papers targeted wealthy audiences in order to increase advertising revenues, and it shrank further as the quality of news decreased. This not only hurt the economic stability of the newspapers, but hurt democracy, too, as citizens were deprived of quality sources of information.

The logic of market forces does not produce the media content a democratic society needs in order to make informed choices.

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Cage is unimpressed by the example of Jeff Bezos acquisition of the Washington Post  and the argument that the medias best hope lies in billionaire owners who have made their fortunes elsewhere. While investment in media may be welcome, that model offers no protection from the possibility that these moguls will unduly influence publications to serve their own interest, much as wealthy political donors use their contributions to impact elections. Even worse, they may simply be fickle vanity investors who see their media properties as a source of amusement.

Cage finds more promise in various experiments in Europe and the U.S. to turn media companies into nonprofits, but she observes that this option carries is its own hazards. For example, the Bertelsmann media company (a majority shareholder in Penguin Random House), owned by the Bertelsmann Foundation in Germany, offers enviable stability to its publications, but the owners do not forfeit the right to intervene in the management of the company  meaning the editorial independence of its media outlets is effectively sacrificed.

Democratic management of media companies, she admits, does not have a spectacular track record. Different forms of cooperatives have been tried in Europe and the U.S., but financial challenges and the complexity of large news organizations have dogged these efforts.

Cage seeks to a path between the Scylla of hypercapitalism (large investors with unlimited power) and the Charybdis of hypercooperation (one person, one vote) to come up with an altogether new media structure. Her vision is a novel economic and legal template based on crowdfunding and power-sharing. It hitches together elements of a joint-stock company and a foundation to create what she calls the nonprofit media organization (NMO), the purpose of which is to bring new capital to the media by granting attractive tax advantages, to stabilize the capital base by making investments irrevocable, and to limit the decision-making power of outside investors. Its a kind of hybrid model based on the worlds great universities, which combine commercial and non-commercial activities.

Cages model seeks to avoid giving up power to large shareholders, but she doesnt believe absolute equality among shareholders is realistic. In her model, voting rights increase with the size of contributions up to a certain limit so that small shareholders retain an incentive to invest. But she recognizes that capital is capital, and large contributors will have more say than smaller, although smaller contributors can band together into societies, say for readers or journalists, to amplify their voices.

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A diamond may be forever, but that doesn't mean it has to remain with the same owner forever.

The most wonderful quality about diamonds is that they are one of the only types of physical matter on this earth that do not wear and tear. As a result, you can not tell the difference between a diamond worn 300 years ago from a diamond freshly mined. So, when you are looking at diamonds in the jewelry store, you can't tell if that diamond is "used." In fact, 1 in 10 diamonds, possibly even more that you see in jewelry stores are pre-owned stones. With that being said, chances are, the diamond you are wearing on your finger has been worn before.

Nearly every diamond that has been mined is still in circulation today. Diamonds are often sold back to dealers and retailers and are then recut, reshaped, reset, repolished, and remounted into beautiful new settings and sold as "new" diamonds. Additionally, many jewelers take used diamonds and convert them into new fashionable designs making the tracking of these used diamonds more difficult. More than a billion dollars worth of recycled diamonds is sold in stores today. But, don't get alarmed, no one can really know for sure if you are wearing a used diamond unless you purchase it straight from the diamond mine yourself.

Being in the diamond business, I can tell you that diamonds are sold every single day to dealers around the globe and those stones are not replanted back into the ground. They are sometimes put into lots and then sold off to buyers and representatives that handle the buying for large retail companies. Other times, these lots are sold to networks of diamond buyers that sell to independent, local jewelers.

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So, what's the big deal anyways? Diamonds have always been passed down from generation to generation for centuries, which we call estate jewelry, or heirlooms. But even more importantly, diamond mining causes significant environmental consequences on the environment, so you should be happy to be wearing something "used" or even request and search for something you know is used. The massive environmental disruption from mining causes soil erosion, deforestation, and ultimately the collapse of entire ecosystems. By wearing jewelry that is recycled or used, heirlooms or vintage jewelry, you are doing something that is both socially and environmentally responsible. There are literally enough harvested diamonds to satisfy all our jewelry needs for the next 50 years or so without having to mine a single stone and there is a good chance these precious gems will end up right back into the marketplace as the number of recycled diamonds is growing. And, the more recycled diamonds that are sold back to the industry, the less new diamonds need to be mined, mitigating the environmental impact.
Round bookshelf

I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be okay. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me. So I have a special place for every library, in my heart of hearts.

 Maya Angelou

I have an unshaken conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of using them.

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 Franklin Delano Roosevelt

There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration.

 Andrew Carnegie

When Andrew Carnegie was a seventeen-year-old immigrant working boy in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (now Pittsburghs North Side) in 1853, he wanted to be able to borrow books to improve himself  but in the era of predominantly private libraries he was stopped by an annual $2.00 library subscription fee. At the time he expressed his frustration in a letter to the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch and got the fee waived. Years later, after building the steel empire that made him the richest man in the world, Andrew Carnegie gave $60 million to fund a system of 1,689 public libraries across the United States, with hundreds more in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Canada, and other parts of the world.

The Carnegie libraries were often the first free public libraries in their communities and popularized the open stack system that allowed people to browse through a librarys shelves themselves instead of having to request books from a clerk. They helped transform the expectation of public access to books and in the process transformed lives. The library was often the grandest building in town, and the typical design included a front staircase as a visual symbol that visitors were elevating themselves by entering the building. One injustice was that many libraries were initially segregated and some towns received grants for racially separate Black libraries but several Carnegie libraries broke those barriers too. Washington, D.C.s library was integrated from its 1903 opening and for many years was one of the only places in the city Black citizens knew they could use the public bathrooms. Across the country Carnegie libraries set a standard as centers of their communities and pioneered new ways libraries could serve people that went beyond the gift of books.

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Todays libraries continue to find ways to extend the tradition of community outreach in the 21 century. I recently had a wonderful visit with staff heads of the Los Angeles Public Library system and library foundation. Its 73 locations serve the largest and most diverse population of any library system in the country. I loved hearing about all the ways their system reaches out to their community  especially their services for young people. Carnegie libraries featured some of the first childrens rooms and most of us are now familiar with library story times and other vital literacy programs for young children. The Los Angeles Public Library features these and much more.

Some library branches provide free lunches in the summer targeting children who qualify for free or reduced price meals during the school year, pairing summer meals distribution with programs like the Summer Fun reading club, art and science activities, free eye exams and eyeglasses, and jobs skills training for teenagers. Full STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Ahead programs offer popular activities like robotics, coding, circuitry, and stop-motion animation. Student Zones in libraries provide homework help, computers, tutoring, and areas for collaborating on school projects. Online tutoring for children in kindergarten 12 grades and adult learners provides one-on-one live homework help with math, science, social studies, and English accessible from any Internet-connected device.

Teenagers have their own special rooms, group study spaces, and workshops to help them improve study skills and prepare for PSAT/SAT exams and college applications. Parent workshops teach parents how to help their young children start school with the skills they need to read and learn, and librarians bring the same early literacy information to Head Start programs, child care centers, and community-based organizations to reach more families.

Other library efforts stand out. In order to serve Los Angeless large number of immigrant residents eligible to become U.S. citizens, the library has created the Path to Citizenship program with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and dozens of community organizations. City libraries provide materials and resources in Citizenship Corners and offer workshops about citizenship issues, events providing help filing for citizenship, and literacy classes to build English language skills. This program is now becoming a model for other cities across the nation.

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It was wonderful to be reminded of what is possible when a public institution truly seeks to serve its community. I hope all public libraries across the country will follow in the Los Angeles Public Librarys terrific footsteps. While city library systems have the potential to reach people on a grand scale, all libraries have a crucial role to play. I would love to hear about what your public library is doing for children. Visit the Association for Library Services for Childrens Summer Reading Lists, the American Library Associations Library Programs for School Aged Kids and School and Library Activities for Children and Young Adults, and It Takes More than Snacks to Attract Teens to Your Programs to learn more about the types of programs you can ask your local library to sponsor for children of all ages, especially as the popular summer reading programs get into full swing. Many people have a memory of the one special library that either provided a refuge from the outside world or a gateway to a much bigger one.
The Alzheimer's Association estimates that there are more than 15 million people serving as caregivers to people with Alzheimer's. The Family Caregiver Alliance states that caregivers are at increased risk for declines in physical and mental health. Furthermore, the Alliance states that women experience worse health effects than men. Finally, an article originally published in the American Journal of Nursing states that caring for someone with dementia causes worse health effects than caring for people with other diseases.

The purpose of this article is to provide 25 tips to help you survive as an Alzheimer's caregiver and avoid some of these negative health effects.

1.Learn what community resources are available: Know where you can get help from the community.

2.Become an educated caregiver: Some useful sites for educating yourself are the Alzheimer's Association and the Alzheimer's Reading Room. Also, attend any caregiving seminars presented in your community.

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3.Ask for help - and accept it: Don't be too proud to ask for help. Getting help can make a major difference in your life.

4.Take care of yourself: Try to eat well and exercise regularly.

5.Manage your level of stress: Consider taking a stress management course.

6.Accept changes as they occur: Go with the flow. Your loved one's condition will change frequently.

7.Give yourself credit - not guilt: Make a list of all the things you are doing correctly and look at it frequently.

8.Make legal and financial plans before they are needed: Put your loved ones affairs in order now. Don't wait until it's too late.

9.Visit your doctor regularly: Go to the doctor when you don't feel well and be sure to have all of the recommended health screening tests done.

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10.Understand what's happening as early as possible: Read up on Alzheimer's disease so you understand what's happening.

11.Consult a geriatric care manager: Geriatric care managers are specialists who help families care for elderly relatives. They can provide valuable information and resources you will need to help you through these difficult times. Go here for their professional organization's website.

12.Contact the Alzheimer's Association for help: The Alzheimer's Association (www.alz.org) has a 24/7 help line. Just call 1-800-272-3900.

13.Contact the Alzheimer's Foundation of America for help: This organization (alzfdn.org) has a help line operated between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. Call 1-866-232-8484.

14.Study and put into practice "The Caregiver's Bill of Rights:" You can find this document here.



15. See a psychotherapist: If your stress level is very high or if you are feeling depressed, a therapist might be able to help you.

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16.Consult with your spiritual leader: If you are a religious person your spiritual leader might also be able to help you.

17.Join a support group: Support groups can be helpful for Alzheimer's caregivers, even if you just listen in.

18.See a family therapist: If there is a lot of conflict among family members consider seeing a family therapist.

19.Keep a journal: Writing about your experiences and feelings every day can also be therapeutic.

20.Learn how to get along better with your loved one: Here are three quick tips: Don't contradict or argue with them, Don't bring up subjects that might upset them, and if they do get upset quickly change the subject. Following these tips will lead to a better relationship.

21.Take up a hobby about which you become passionate: It's important to have time to yourself. Find a hobby you love. It can make a big difference.

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22.Overcome Denial: Quit making excuses for your loved one's memory and functioning problems. Admit to yourself that they have Alzheimer's.

23.Make peace with Alzheimer's: After you admit to yourself the person has dementia it's important to truly accept that fact. Learn to love the person just as he or she is.

24.Make peace with God: If you are a religious person, make peace with God for allowing your loved one to have this disease. Pray and, again, consult your spiritual leader.

25.Spend time with people you love: Being with people you love can help recharge your batteries and will improve your quality of life.

NOTES: Tips 1 - 10 are loosely based on a list from the Alzheimer's Association 10 Ways to Manage Stress and Become a Healthier Caregiver. This article originally appeared on the Alzheimer's Reading Room.
This article has been submitted as part of our series of blogs on natural capital by Richard Spencer, Head of Sustainability, ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales).

When I set up the Finance Innovation Lab with colleagues here at the Institute of Chartered Accounts, and in partnership with WWF-UK, we were mindful of the fact that we would not be successful by attempting to solve the feasibly unsolvable - namely the financial crisis - through approaching the problem with an "answer" or single approach already in mind. In my years of experience in the world of investment banking and consulting, it was entrenched that unless you had the answer straight away, you had failed. In fact, what this led to, was a situation where you ended up desperately trying to persuade your clients they were asking the question that fitted your answers. It is the same propensity that drives advocacy research, where the author simply looks for the evidence to support the predetermined cause.

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At the Lab we felt that it was necessary to approach the many issues in the financial system with humility, and to go in with an open mind. We recognised that we didn't even know what the right questions were, never mind the right answers. Without getting the questions right, you can't get the answers that you need to affect change.

We felt that it was important to work collectively and co-creatively, and so we threw out the traditional notion of hierarchy, and embraced the ethos that great ideas come from all rungs on the ladder. We particularly embraced the unexpected, unconventional and dissonant voices; those usually inaudible over the cries of 'the expert' who has traditionally defined outside and divergent views as mostly worthless. And yes, of course we didn't get it perfect first time, it took many attempts, and there were many wobbles before we found our way. Ultimately though, this willingness to try different ideas and approaches is what has made the Lab so successful.

At the heart of all this is a very simple concept: It is rare that a single person, team or organisation has all of the answers. It is only by collaborating, weighing up, combining and developing on the ideas of others, that true success can be achieved. It is an understanding of this that led Sir Isaac Newton to famously write that "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." He recognised that for all of his brilliance, he would not have achieved what he did, without the ideas and knowledge of others upon which to build.

When one reviews the landscape of sustainability, despite the fact we are focused on a common goal, we are remarkably fragmented. Almost no one seems to really believe that businesses can actually put aside their competitive edge to collaborate. This is true even though many recognise that what the sustainability movement desperately needs - in fact the only way that it can be successful - is if it transforms entrenched systems on never before seen scales.

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As an example, achieving the vision of the Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, is going to be a huge challenge, and a test of the collaboration that we as a global community are capable of. We can no longer continue as we have done, but only just slightly better; that is describing operational efficiency at best. We have to be strategic. We have to fundamentally change the way we do things in order to achieve a world of social justice, wealth and prosperity, while being mindful that there are limits to what nature can provide. This has to happen at the personal, organisational and economic level, and it will only work if we act together; if we collaborate.

This will be most challenging at the national level. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has noted on many occasions that the late 20th century and early 21st has seen power, (the ability to act), globalise into corporate power and the influence of an elite few. However, he argues that politics, (the ability to decide), has remained tightly held by the nation state; this is an illusion. How much sovereignty did Greece really retain after its sovereign debt crisis?

The inability to achieve what should have been achieved at COP21 in Paris, shows that nation states are not coming together in common, but continue to fight for their own turf. I believe collaboration at the nation-state level will inevitably centre on the pooling of sovereignty.

But there are positive stories that give hope. This year the Natural Capital Coalition will launch its Natural Capital Protocol, a framework to enable businesses to embed the importance of nature at the heart of all they do. I am certain that the key ingredient in its success was collaboration. Over forty organisations from across the economy came together, without the hand of government, to agree under pre-competitive contracts to produce a public good - the Protocol. Let's not be in any doubt this, it is a stunning achievement. In my view the invisible asset, the act of collaboration, has allowed for this success.

While developing the Protocol, the challenge of many acting as one has been difficult at times, but ultimately it has worked superbly. The whole point is that collaborations should not be easy. If you all just agree, then what was the point? Equally if you are purely hostile and stubborn in your beliefs, you will likewise struggle to achieve anything significant. Both are stagnant pools. But constructive disagreement is dynamic and leads to the evolution of thought and ideas: when you come with all your passion, knowledge, skill and experience, but have the courage to relax your beliefs, to accept that you might be wrong, to embrace other perspectives, to listen to contrasting view points and to navigate as a cohesive unit towards the best possible outcome, that's collaboration.

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A recent survey of refugees living in Colorado provides new evidence of their integration and contributions to American society and the economy. The report finds that after four years of life in the United States, 75 percent of refugees were "highly integrated," and nine in ten worked for more than thirty hours per week.

In light of the recent scrutiny of the refugee programs, recognizing the contributions of refugees and their positive integration outcomes is critical to determining admissions numbers moving forward.

The Colorado survey studied nearly all Burmese, Bhutanese, Somali, and Iraqi refugees that arrived between January 2011 and March 2012. Colorado's State Refugee Coordinator, Kit Taintor, said, "these refugees are integrating, they are finding jobs with higher wages, they are able to do things like move from a rented apartment into a home."

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Additionally, the survey detailed that just five percent of refugees remain in the "low-integration" range after four years in the United States.

Researchers posited this group primarily consists of stay-at-home mothers and refugees over 55 years old, because stay-at-home mothers lack the social interactions found in school or employment and older individuals have a harder time learning a new language and finding permanent work. Both lead to increased isolation, which hinders integration.

Despite these groups, three-fourths of refugees surveyed were rated highly integrated within four years. Six in ten refugees were fluent in English, and nine in ten were working more than 30 hours per week.

Most refugees, seven in ten, reported that they were employed at a level commensurate with their education-- implying they found the right fit for occupation quickly.

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In regards to barriers to employment, refugees claiming they "couldn't find job" went from 55 percent in year one to just 5 percent in the fourth year.

Of those surveyed, two-thirds spend time with people of a culture, ethnic group, language, or religion different from their own. Seven in ten can readily access information about other cultures, ethnic groups, languages, and religions. And eight in ten celebrate American holidays.

Seventy-five percent attend celebrations or events for other cultures, ethnic groups, languages, and religions.

Survey participant Leela Tinsina left Bhutan when he was 14, and lived for two decades in a refugee camp. Having lived in Colorado for five years, Leela calls America his home, where he works for a Colorado non-profit organization, and where he and his wife, who works in the healthcare industry, just bought a home and are raising two boys.

Tinsina said, "I feel very proud and honored to be in this country." He considers his move to America his second life and said, "I want to say thank you to the American people, and the American government." The successes for individuals like Leesa are impressive, considering that they spent years of their lives fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries.

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Of course, progress is still needed. The survey found that one-fourth of refugees do not have health insurance. Twenty percent still cannot speak English, and four in ten still lack confidence in their language skills.

The Colorado study showcases integration progress from refugees as they spend more time in the United States. Improved policies can further facilitate integration, especially amongst the groups that struggled to learn English.

Further studies like this one, which survey and share what works best for successful refugee integration and where we need further investment, are necessary to ensure our refugee resettlement program continues to transform refugees into fully functioning American citizens.

While transitioning to a new country is exceptionally difficult, refugees make great strides annually and by the fourth year make it difficult to ascertain the difference between a refugee from Iraq or a native born American citizen. After a full decade, we can expect those gaps to be even slimmer.
The 2016 elections give communities of color the chance to use our growing political power to organize and mobilize to move America forward after more than a generation in which this country has moved backward. There was a time when our nation put a man on the moon, found cures for diseases that ravaged our communities, advanced technology that we all benefit from today - jet planes to the internet. We birthed some of the greatest artists and fought against laws and practices that harmed us. We abolished slavery, and crushed Jim Crow too. We outlawed child labor, created an eight-hour day. We increased wages, and organized unions; we made school public and available to everyone.



After the election of President Obama it has become increasingly important if not imperative for any candidate that seeks the Democratic nomination to understand that the Black and Brown vote can no longer be treated as a secondary strategy for victory. In fact it is virtually impossible to win the nomination without having our vote as a deep and necessary component of the path to victory in the primary and even in the general election. While this is true it has not had a far reaching effect on the national dialogue. I have listened intently to the actual debates and public discussions. They are absent of any real and meaningful discourse about Black and Brown people short of walls being built to keep Mexicans out and a stiff- armed reference to Black Lives Matter that stops at sloganeering.

On one side of the debate we have to endure the racist and fascist rhetoric that seeks to blame radical capitalism, unchecked greed, and economic disparity on people of color. On the other hand we witness a cursory discussion around race and gender couched in a larger discussion around economic inequality and mass incarceration. While these are progressive ideals and will benefit people of color, they blatantly side step and even disregard any real discussion of structural racism and they refuse to address directly our particular and "peculiar" relationship to this country. Increasing the minimum wage is necessary but does not address the uneven access to jobs, capital, training or a mostly segregated workforce and segregated unions. More importantly it does not speak to the more than 5 decades of deep poverty and double digit unemployment of African American men.

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Americans are being force fed a caricature of our worst fears; elections that have turned into vaudeville where name-calling and one-liners are more important than poverty and dying children. Where things like making sure we all have health care, a living wage, or a nation that is not a police state where millions of people are incarcerated, or a place where we expand higher learning to all Americans has become unreachable.

In America's urban centers, it is the disenfranchised communities of color that have suffered the most. As the Mayor of Newark, I can tell you that this country's problems are Newark's problems, from poor infrastructure to wage inequality- from poverty to poor access to health; the foreclosure crisis to access to quality food, housing, and safe neighborhoods. Although plagued with two decades of growing economic inequality, increasingly concentrated power in the hands of the extremely wealthy and a national government paralyzed by extreme partisanship, ironically, communities of color are in the best position to drive the fundamental changes desperately needed by our nation. By uniting the steadily increasing political influence of our communities at the local level, taking advantage of our growing numbers in the electorate, organizing in every community where we live, mobilizing our huge grassroots voter base and, yes, realizing our potential to raise money in large amounts, we can become the driving force at the state and national level for political, racial and economic justice.

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As a group, we can leverage our power to impact the choice of candidates for president, governor, and major national, state and local offices. We can unite the power of our individual cities and towns in order to ensure that candidates at every level are responsive to the needs and concerns of African Americans, Latinos, and the poor of every race.

This is a year of opportunity to begin changing the direction of America, but we can realize that opportunity only through uniting, organizing and mobilizing. I am doing my part in that process by convening a meeting of our brightest minds, thought leaders, community activists, entrepreneurs, business executives, educators, artists and government officials to discuss specific topics of concern to our community and what we can do to achieve our goals. We are bringing together people of vision and achievement who have been making a difference in their various communities and areas of endeavor. We will join in a closed door roundtable discussion titled Power Politics & Community Reinvestment on the weekend of June 10th - June 11th, 2016 in Newark, N.J. at the Robert Treat Hotel.

We will be discussing plans for ongoing organization as well as mobilization around:

 Urban Marshall Plan - Setting An Agenda for Educational Reform & Exploring Avenues to Combat Five Decades of Poverty and Unemployment

 Black Lives Matter - Combating Criminalization, Mass Incarceration and Killing of Black Men & Women

 Arts & Culture - Examining The Perennial Question, Does Art Imitate Life or Does Life Imitate Art

 Coming Together - How To Achieve Unity Among Different Communities for A Common Objective

 Closing the Wealth Gap: - Technology & New Paradigms In Economic Innovation

Those who attend will be prepared to roll up their sleeves and get dirty. Discussing issues is only a starting point. The roundtable will be creating plans for action: substantive, meaningful, tangible and actionable plans to address the issues of social justice facing our communities and developing the strategies to implement those plans.

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Channel 4 (UK) is airing a documentary entitled Children on the Frontline.

It's a follow up to documentary filmmaker Marcel Mettelsiefen's 2014 film, Children on the Frontline: Syria.

In the first film, Abu Ali, a Syrian Freedom Fighter is captured by ISIS. His family is left alone.

Two years later, Mettelsiefen rejoins Abu Ali's wife and her four children as they make the painful decision to leave Syrian and head for Europe.

The film follows them on their harrowing voyage (having left Abu Ali's aging mother behind as she is too old to make the trip), across Europe and finally settling in Goslar, Germany.

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It is a film well worth watching.

However, I was particularly taken by one segement of the film, an outtake entitled "This Is Why Refugees Have Smartphones".

In this short 1:40, Hala, Abu Ali's wife and the children's mother, explains why she always has her smartphone with her. It contains all her memories. It is poigniant.

But is also, at least to me, raised a far more interesting idea.

We have all seen endless coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Nearly 1 millon refugees, many from Syria, but many others from Iraq, Pakistan and more, streaming into Europe, caught at closed borders, risking their lives on small boats to get from Turkey to Greece and so on.

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One notes and many have noticed that almost all of these refugees have smartphones with them. They are almost universal now.

Hala explains why she has a smartphone, and of course, it does carry all the photos of her past.

But that smartphone, and the hundreds of thousands of other smart phones, in hundreds of thousands of hands could do much more.

Those smartphones are not just the repository of photographs and old text messages, they are also, each of them, video production and uplink facilities.

Everyone has one.

Each of those refugees has a poigniant story to tell.

Marcel Mettelsiefen touchingly allows Hala to tell her own story, which is great, but (sorry to say), Hala does not really need Marcel Mettelsiefen, great filmmaker though he is.

What she needs is a video camera and a way to share her video with the world.

That she already has.

And what she needs is someone to show her how to use the rather remarkable power that is already in her hands.

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That is the part she doesn't know... yet.

Remarkable power.

Consider this: There are 1 million refugees who have made the same voyage that Hala has. They all, more or less, have smartphones that can record video. I would bet that a good number of them are actually making video of some kind or another.

And this has been going on for a year? More?

that would be millions of videos from the people who are actually expriencing the tragedy, first hand.

(Like the Diary of Ann Frank).

Yet in all the countless hours of coverage of this event by The BBC or NBC or CNN, how much of that highly personal, all too real and honest video have those networks ever aired?

Would none be a good esimate?

And why is that?

Because you can't 'trust' what Hala says?

Because you need to send a 'reporter' who doesnt' speak Arabic to 'report' the story?

Does this make sense?

Is this journalism?

Hala and her compatriots have enormous power in the palm of their hands.

They need only learn to use it.
Written with Heather White, Nalini's Co-Chair on the Taskforce on Women & NCDs

The thousands of women who gather in Copenhagen next week for the Women Deliver Conference will surely leave the meeting feeling positive and inspired after sharing stories of amazing women and accomplishments. As women, we can all be proud of the progress the world has made to advance the health and wellbeing of women around the globe. The central role of women in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) gives us great hope that our generation is indeed serious about leaving the world a better place for the next generation by lifting up women, so women can lift up the world.

In this spirit, let us reflect on just one aspect of many in a woman's life: her health. A woman's life is more than her reproductive years. A woman's role and contribution to society goes beyond her child-rearing years. The world must commit to nurturing a woman from her birth, through her fifth birthday, to her adolescent years, through marriage and childbirth and family life, right through the productive years to her old age. Known as a lifecourse approach, this will require a systematic strengthening of health systems the world over.

What are NCDs, and why care about them? Non-Communicable Diseases, or chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic lung diseases -- are the #1 killer globally. What is less well known is that NCDs are the #1 killer of women, killing more women around the world than maternal mortality and HIV, TB, malaria combined.

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Heart disease alone kills 8.6 million women each year, more than 15 women every minute.

Women are most impacted by cooking fumes, especially in lower income countries. Globally 3 billion people -- about 50% of the world's population -- use solid fuels or unclean cookstoves, increasing the risk of chronic lung disease, lung cancer, heart disease and child pneumonia.

Three million women die of cancers (breast, lung, colorectal, cervical) each year.

Surely the #1 cause of women's mortality -- NCDs -- should be the #1 women's health priority and central to our development agenda.



There is more to this story. NCDs are a major underlying reason why pregnant women die. Diabetes and hypertension during pregnancy can lead to many complications during childbirth, a significant cause of maternal mortality. Diabetes in pregnancy can have serious consequences for both mothers and their children. According to the International Diabetes Federation, one in seven live births is affected by gestational diabetes. Addressing NCDs is one way of saving mother's lives.

Many NCDs can be mitigated by adopting healthier behaviors. According to the WHO, 80% of heart disease, 80% of diabetes and 40% of cancers can be prevented by avoiding tobacco, reducing alcohol consumption, eating healthy foods and increasing physical activity. We believe that we women are a powerful solution to the NCD crisis as we make decisions everyday about the food the family eats, and the physical activity they engage in.

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NCDs affect women not just as patients but also as caregivers. Arogya World, a member of the Taskforce on Women & NCDs, conducted a study of 10,000 women in 10 countries on the impact of NCDs on the everyday lives of women and their families. Results showed that one half of the women surveyed provided care for someone in their household with an NCD and 20% of them had to quit their jobs to do so. This issue of unpaid care must be addressed in the era of the SDGs -- too many women are not counted in their country's GDP because of NCDs.

In honor of Women Deliver, and in collaboration with the NCD Alliance, we have developed an infographic that highlights many of these issues. Our website also offers links to several reports, briefs, articles, statements and videos.
The Paris climate accord, signed by 175 countries in April, was a high point of success for the United Nations. And the U.N. has also managed to focus governments around the world on sustainable development goals. Yet, on the security side of the equation, for which the U.N. was principally founded, the record is largely one of failure.

The international body has been unable to stop the carnage in Syria. North Korea continues to defy every successive U.N. resolution over its nuclear program. The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 without U.N. sanction -- just as the former Soviet Union similarly invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and Czechoslovakia before that. The Vietnam and Korean wars were ended without U.N. involvement. And the U.N. had no role in the treaty between Egypt and Israel mediated by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

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As former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali observed in a conversation with me in Paris in 2003 as the Iraq war got underway, the reality of big power geopolitics ultimately sidelines the U.N. on issues of war and peace. Its primary mission going forward, he felt, would no longer be security. Rather, "the United Nations will be compelled sooner or later to manage globalization since there is no other international organization," he told me. "Financial flows, environmental degradation, new technology, diseases -- all these are global challenges looking for an institutional response. That is the U.N. role in the future."

This week, The WorldPost provided a unique platform for candidates seeking the position of the next U.N. secretary-general. For the first time under new transparency rules, candidacies can be declared and open campaigning for the post is allowed. The contributions we've published so far are remarkably in line with Boutros-Ghali's vision of the U.N. -- except for a mention here and there of "preventive diplomacy," all focused their pitches on issues of development and globalization from poverty alleviation and climate to humanitarian aid, refugees and gender equality. It is a different organization, indeed, than the one envisioned by its architects in the wake of World War II. Each candidate laid out for The WorldPost his or her vision of the world and the U.N.'s role in it:

Helen Clark , the former prime minister of New Zealand, argues that, "our global citizens, and in particular our young people, need to have confidence in [the U.N.'s] capacity to deliver results."

, the former prime minister of New Zealand, argues that, "our global citizens, and in particular our young people, need to have confidence in [the U.N.'s] capacity to deliver results." Irina Bokova , director-general of UNESCO, sees "the prevention of armed conflicts and violence" as possibly the most fundamental responsibility of the global community.

, director-general of UNESCO, sees "the prevention of armed conflicts and violence" as possibly the most fundamental responsibility of the global community. Srgjan Kerim , a former president of the U.N. General Assembly who focuses on management reform of the U.N. itself, says the role of the secretary-general is a task that, "requires passion, dedication, commitment and sacrifice."

, a former president of the U.N. General Assembly who focuses on management reform of the U.N. itself, says the role of the secretary-general is a task that, "requires passion, dedication, commitment and sacrifice." Vuk Jeremic , another former president of the U.N. General Assembly, says he would, "appoint qualified women to 50 percent of U.N. Under-Secretary-General or equivalent positions from Day One."

, another former president of the U.N. General Assembly, says he would, "appoint qualified women to 50 percent of U.N. Under-Secretary-General or equivalent positions from Day One." Igor Luksic , a former prime minister of Montenegro, calls for, "a more robust position in the Deputy Secretary-General, who should have a leading role in dealing with regional and sub-regional arrangements, as well as in the field of mediation and prevention."

, a former prime minister of Montenegro, calls for, "a more robust position in the Deputy Secretary-General, who should have a leading role in dealing with regional and sub-regional arrangements, as well as in the field of mediation and prevention." Vesna Pusic , the first deputy prime minister of Croatia, believes, "the next Secretary-General should focus on enhancing the U.N.'s role in peace negotiations."

, the first deputy prime minister of Croatia, believes, "the next Secretary-General should focus on enhancing the U.N.'s role in peace negotiations." Antonio Guterres, who just stepped down as U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, summarizes a view held by most of the other candidates that sees the U.N. role as stemming the root causes of violent conflict before it is too late: "The world spends much more energy and resources managing crises than preventing them," he writes. "Thus, the U.N. must uphold a strategic commitment to a 'culture of prevention.'"

The current secretary-general of the U.N., Ban Ki-moon, also writes this week. In his piece, which was separate from the series, Ban echoes many of the candidates' messages by highlighting perhaps the most urgent contemporary crisis: "War, human rights violations, underdevelopment, climate change and natural disasters are leading more people to leave their homes than at any time since we have had reliable data," he writes. "More than 60 million people -- half of them children -- have fled violence or persecution and are now refugees and internally displaced persons. An additional 225 million are migrants who have left their countries in search of better opportunities or simply for survival."

Writing about the consequences of U.N. failure from the front lines of the refugee crisis in Gaziantep, Turkey, WorldPost Middle East Correspondent Sophia Jones reports on how the self-proclaimed Islamic State is trying to kill Syrian media activists working from exile across the border. "'We will not give up,'" one writer says. "'If we're all afraid, then how will we bring about freedom?'"

In other major news this week, Brazil's Senate voted to commence impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff just months before the Olympics. Nicholas Miriello and Nick Robins-Early trace the South American country's descent into chaos. Grasielle Castro profiles the new Brazilian interim president, Michel Temer. Writing from Manila, Ramon Casiple analyzes the election this week of Rodrigo Duterte -- "the Donald Trump of the Philippines" -- who has promised to use strongman tactics to impose order and crack down on crime and drugs. Richard Heydarian also writes from Manila that, "The old order -- a cacique democracy, undergirded by 'managed competition' among liberal oligarchs -- is withering away. But it is far from certain whether the Philippines is on the cusp of salvation or instead diving straight into abyss." We profile the new leader -- who once called Pope Francis "a son of a whore" -- here. As the U.S. presidential race continues to heat up, Chandran Nair writes from Hong Kong that Asia ought to take up Trump's challenge to go beyond the World War II American-led alliance system and build its own security arrangement based on investment and trade instead of intervention in each other's affairs. China's top arms control official, Wang Qun, calls on the U.S. and China to agree on "rules-based" governance of cyberspace in talks that open this week.

In another plea for greater world collaboration, California Gov. Jerry Brown and former U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry call for more global cooperation, especially between America and Russia, to prevent terrorists from obtaining nuclear material. "The U.S. and Russia, the nations that possess 90 percent of the world's fissile material," they write, "should work closely together, including cooperation in intelligence about terror groups, to ensure that a terror group never obtains enough material to destroy one of their cities. After all, these two nations not only possess most of the fissile material, they are also the prime targets for a terror attack. Moscow and St. Petersburg are in as great a danger as Washington, D.C. and New York City."

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On another security front, former NATO commander James Stavridis advises the incoming commander, Army General Curtis Michael Scaparrotti, that NATO must stay the course -- but also adapt. "We should not walk away from Afghanistan," he says, but further notes that, "we also need a new strategy for the Arctic." Writing from Rome for our "Following Francis" series, Sebastien Maillard reports on how the pope sees his church helping Europe rediscover its unity beyond its Christian heritage. Maillard cites Francis as saying, "'The identity of Europe is, and always has been, a dynamic and multicultural identity ... the roots of Europe, were consolidated down the centuries by the constant need to integrate in new syntheses the most varied and discrete cultures.'" The newly elected Muslim mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, tells HuffPost UK that it would be "wise" for him to visit the U.S. before a possible President Donald Trump could bar him from entering.

In advance of massive demonstrations last weekend against Poland's hard shift to the right, Christian Borys wrote that many feel the new government is taking the country in an authoritarian direction. Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden discuss a new study that shows Chinese companies in Africa tend to comply with high standards where rule of law is strong, while acting as "bad corporate citizens" where rule of law is weak. Krithika Varagur reports on a gathering this week in Indonesia of the world's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, to propose ways to combat extremism.

In a review, Bhaskar Chakravorti wonders whether "connectivity is destiny" as Parag Khanna writes in his new book, "Connectography." Read Khanna's recent article on The WorldPost here. Finally, in our Singularity series this week we examine how new technology won't replace us, but instead force us to evolve.

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WHO WE ARE EDITORS: Nathan Gardels, Co-Founder and Executive Advisor to the Berggruen Institute, is the Editor-in-Chief of The WorldPost. Kathleen Miles is the Executive Editor of The WorldPost. Farah Mohamed is the Managing Editor of The WorldPost. Alex Gardels and Peter Mellgard are the Associate Editors of The WorldPost. Katie Nelson is the National Editor at the Huffington Post, overseeing The WorldPost and HuffPost's editorial coverage. Charlotte Alfred and Nick Robins-Early are World Reporters. Rowaida Abdelaziz is Social Media Editor. CORRESPONDENTS: Sophia Jones in Istanbul EDITORIAL BOARD: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Arianna Huffington, Eric Schmidt (Google Inc.), Pierre Omidyar (First Look Media) Juan Luis Cebrian (El Pais/PRISA), Walter Isaacson (Aspen Institute/TIME-CNN), John Elkann (Corriere della Sera, La Stampa), Wadah Khanfar (Al Jazeera), Dileep Padgaonkar (Times of India) and Yoichi Funabashi (Asahi Shimbun). VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS: Dawn Nakagawa. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Moises Naim (former editor of Foreign Policy), Nayan Chanda (Yale/Global; Far Eastern Economic Review) and Katherine Keating (One-On-One). Sergio Munoz Bata and Parag Khanna are Contributing Editors-At-Large. The Asia Society and its ChinaFile, edited by Orville Schell, is our primary partner on Asia coverage. Eric X. Li and the Chunqiu Institute/Fudan University in Shanghai and Guancha.cn also provide first person voices from China. We also draw on the content of China Digital Times. Seung-yoon Lee is The WorldPost link in South Korea. Jared Cohen of Google Ideas provides regular commentary from young thinkers, leaders and activists around the globe. Bruce Mau provides regular columns from MassiveChangeNetwork.com on the "whole mind" way of thinking. Patrick Soon-Shiong is Contributing Editor for Health and Medicine. ADVISORY COUNCIL: Members of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council and Council for the Future of Europe serve as the Advisory Council -- as well as regular contributors -- to the site. These include, Jacques Attali, Shaukat Aziz, Gordon Brown, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Juan Luis Cebrian, Jack Dorsey, Mohamed El-Erian, Francis Fukuyama, Felipe Gonzalez, John Gray, Reid Hoffman, Fred Hu, Mo Ibrahim, Alexei Kudrin, Pascal Lamy, Kishore Mahbubani, Alain Minc, Dambisa Moyo, Laura Tyson, Elon Musk, Pierre Omidyar, Raghuram Rajan, Nouriel Roubini, Nicolas Sarkozy, Eric Schmidt, Gerhard Schroeder, Peter Schwartz, Amartya Sen, Jeff Skoll, Michael Spence, Joe Stiglitz, Larry Summers, Wu Jianmin, George Yeo, Fareed Zakaria, Ernesto Zedillo, Ahmed Zewail, and Zheng Bijian. From the Europe group, these include: Marek Belka, Tony Blair, Jacques Delors, Niall Ferguson, Anthony Giddens, Otmar Issing, Mario Monti, Robert Mundell, Peter Sutherland and Guy Verhofstadt.

MISSION STATEMENT

The WorldPost is a global media bridge that seeks to connect the world and connect the dots. Gathering together top editors and first person contributors from all corners of the planet, we aspire to be the one publication where the whole world meets.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives for a luncheon with Nordic leaders at the US Department of State on May 13, 2016 in Washington, DC. / AFP / Brendan Smialowski (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Secretary of State John Kerry and dozens of heads of state attended yesterday's London Anti-Corruption Summit, which revealed tensions in the multilateral approach to combating corruption Secretary Kerry and other leaders in London put forward.

Corruption has come into the spotlight in recent months as governments are focusing on it as a driver of violent extremism. The United States launched a global initiative to counter violent extremism at a summit in Washington in February 2015 stressing the importance of a broader approach to preventing extremism, not solely military or security focused.

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Combating corruption is appropriately part of that broader approach. Addressing the London Summit, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said that corruption lies "at the heart of the most urgent problems we face," including what he called "the ever-present threat of radicalization and extremism." Secretary Kerry, in his remarks, stated that corruption is "a contributor to terrorism."

Researchers have studied the link between corruption and terrorism, publishing a collection of essays to coincide with the summit. Sarah Chayes, a leading voice in recognizing that combating corruption must be part of counterterrorism strategy, put forward an essay exploring the "causal link" between corruption and terrorism. She provides examples from Nigeria and Afghanistan, where she lived for ten years, of how the "violation of a person's basic humanity" produced by corruption fuels support for violent extremist groups like Boko Haram or the Taliban.

Chayes also pointed to a central problem in global efforts to combat corruption: "Of all the competing priorities, the one that most swiftly trumps anti-corruption is security," she writes, noting that the corrupt practices of those seen as allies in the fight against terrorism are too often overlooked. As she observes, corrupt governments that claim to be fighting against terror "may actually be generating more terrorism than they curb."

In an article published before the London Summit, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, and former Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, call for security cooperation and arms sales to be conditioned on recipient governments not engaging in widespread systematic corruption.

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Such conditions set a good aspirational target, but are too easily trumped in practice by invoking security considerations as a greater priority. But as Chayes points out, "the purported trade-off between security and corruption is a false dichotomy."

Secretary Kerry has emphasized the need to prevent corruption from taking root and identified the importance of empowering citizens to hold governments and security forces accountable and deterring corrupt practices through oversight.

Strong independent civil society organizations are essential in promoting transparency and preventing corruption. They serve as a counterweight to state-controlled vested interests. In Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund has suspended lending programs to the Kiev government over concerns about corruption and governance issues and is demanding the inclusion of independent civil society groups as part of an anti-corruption bureau to curb these problems.

However, in too many countries viewed as partners in global CVE efforts, governments are cracking down on independent civil society organizations. Such policies facilitate corruption and thereby fuel the grievances that terrorists exploit. In countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia the U.S response to severe repression of civil society organizations has been weak. U.S leaders failed to speak out clearly in support of threatened and persecuted activists in recent visits to Cairo and Riyadh.

It is good that the international community is increasingly paying attention to the ways that restrictions on basic freedoms of association and expression exacerbate problems like corruption that in turn fuel terrorism. At the London Summit, Secretary Kerry proclaimed that the new multilateral effort to combat corruption "is the beginning of something different." For that to be the case, the U.S. government will have to be more consistent in urging its allies to enable independent civil society organizations, including those who monitor and expose abuses and corrupt practices by government officials, to function free from restrictions that undermine their ability to function or even to exist.
Think back to your first career-forward job right after college, or right after you graduated high school. Did your courses and school work allow you to secure the job? Did you get the job through interviewing and showcasing your impressive GPA? Did you have a job-matching program at your school? Odds are, all of the routes just mentioned are unlikely to be the case.

We all know from the media, and many of us from our personal experience, that we are living in a tough, highly competitive job market. Just how hard is it for college students to find a job right now? As of mid-2015 a poll conducted by AfterCollege, a website connecting college students with employers, found that only around 14% of college seniors have a steady, career-type job lined up after they graduate. This means 86% of graduates (about 5 out of every 6) have no idea what they are going to do post-college.

The Big Question: Why is it so hard for students to find a job?

We are in a job market where work experience trumps education, and college grads are directly competing with those who have held a position in their career field for years. Every time I make a payment on my college loans, I think about what I actually received for my thousands and thousands of dollars spent, and I think about what I could have done differently with that investment. The reason I was able to obtain my first position in the marketing field happened because of the experience I had gained through a summer internship at the local event stadium in my hometown. The employer was impressed with the actual work I had accomplished at my internship, versus my 3.7 GPA and plethora of marketing courses.



Internships are the great equalizer for those just entering the market.

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But the more exciting part is that students can now combine valuable, on-the-job experience and fill their wanderlust urge at the same time.

An entrepreneur I met through a business forum, Jivko Pentchov, sparked my curiosity on the topic after telling me about a platform he launched called Intern Place that connects students with an internship in their career field in top destination spots in less than 4 weeks. My first thought was, "What! I would have done that in a heartbeat". With travel at my core, I wished that I had been able to experience my work experience abroad, and I immediately wanted to share the idea with anyone I thought of who could benefit.

Most millennials don't need more of a reason than being able to travel to get excited about this, but it might take a little more convincing for the parents who are most likely going to have to front the bill for them.

As an expert in the space, I interviewed Mr. Pentchov to provide some key benefits to interning abroad compared to a domestic internship. Here are 4 ways internships abroad often lead to added value for students on the job hunt in a crowded market.

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1. Business Is Global

Yes, any kind of work experience, domestic or international, is going to give you a leg up compared to someone with none. However, in a world that globalizes a little more each day, where your co-worker is more often than not remote, it's beneficial for a business to hire someone with experience in doing business with other cultures. Understanding how business is done outside of the country immediately sets you apart in value from other job seekers.

2. You Grow Personally

An internship in your hometown or near your college doesn't often lead to profound insights about yourself. Now if you take that internship and throw the person in a place with new surroundings, people, and customs you are giving them a healthy push out of their comfort zone. This gets students out of their "safety bubble" provided by their parents, friends, and comfort in their hometown surroundings, and allows them what it's truly like to experience dependence on themselves.

3. You Develop Highly Sought-After, Hard to Train Skills

Internships abroad are an incubator for skills and personality traits that take employees farther in their careers. Skills like self-awareness, problem-solving, and cross-cultural communication, combined with traits like flexibility, independence, and confidence are a win for any business and a sure-fire differentiator in the job market.

4. You Are Better Prepared for the Interview

Situations like frantically having to figure out how to use your one French class to travel across town make interviewing seem like a breeze. Beyond just being able to keep your composure under stress, international internships provide a compelling answer for interviewers who want to know how a candidate is able to adapt to new situations. This power duo sets you up for a confident, intriguing interview for that dream job.

What an international internship did for this student...

Robert Kang is a sophmore at The George Washington University, and already has an impressive resume, along with TWO jobs he holds simultaneously as an Operations Director and a Campus Security Authority Supervisor. I was curious what differentiated this student from others, and we chatted about how he was able to build a diverse resume and secure high level work as student. Robert credited an international internship he was placed in through Internshipapp.com, which was located in France at an environmental policy non-profit called Les Eco Maires to his success.

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There he developed urban mobility systems, discussed policies on sustainability, and examined methods to promote those policies to other nations. He also wrote a 27-page research report which was used by his supervisor in a major event. Robert says that the combination of his work, and the skills and character traits developed during his time overseas allowed him to stand out and secure his current positions. Robert admits, "I love to travel, and it was fun to gain such unique work experience in a city I've always wanted to explore."
In 1940, when the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health was born, the set of questions and challenges facing the foundation and its allies were catastrophic in scale. The world was going to war. The nation was only just beginning to recover from an economic depression that cast into doubt the fundamental viability of liberal democracy. Many people wondered whether western civilization itself was on the verge of extinction.

The hope of the burgeoning mental health profession was that it was precisely the tools and concepts of mental health that would enable us to find our way out of the darkness. A superior understanding of human nature would lead to better therapies, better parenting, more precise and effective interventions, and ultimately more humane and less war-prone societies.

More than seventy-five years later, we have two kinds of answers to the questions that were posed in 1940.

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One is a very fortunate answer. Western civilization persists. We were not doomed to a new Dark Ages.

The other answer comes in the form of the steady, despair-inducing drumbeat of names and places that blare from the news channels: Sandra Bland. Dylan Roof. Sandy Hook Elementary School. Fort Hood. Charleston. Michael Brown. Freddie Gray. Tamir Rice. Germanwings. Umpqua. Colorado Springs. San Bernadino.

It seems as though every month another tragic incident or crime emerges to suggest that the customary behavioral health frames that we bring to our work may not be sufficient to address what's going on in our country and our culture.

This past November, to celebrate and reflect upon our 75th anniversary, the Hogg Foundation addressed this issue directly, hosting a conversation with our colleagues and allies on the question: "How Do We Bring Wellness to an Unjust World?"

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Not so shockingly, we didn't converge on any silver bullet solutions to the massive social problems that so many of us, across the political and disciplinary spectrum, are struggling with right now. Our problems with violence, racism, and inequality (among other issues) are too complex and entrenched to allow for that. If there were easy answers, we would have identified and implemented them by now.

What was surprising, however, was what seemed to me a shared recognition among the clinicians, advocates, consumers, academics, and community leaders in the room that in some fundamental way our community hasn't even been asking the right questions.

It was also surprising to me that so many of us, given a few hours and the encouragement to reflect, didn't turn to the language of our work lives, of best practices and cutting edge theory, but instead reached for the language of our hearts and souls.

We asked questions like, "Where is our sense of shame?" We lamented that we'd lost a set of shared values. We spoke words like truth, anger, justice, and love.

What I take from that isn't that we should dispense with the more clinical and theoretical concepts we deploy in our work. Love may make the world go round, but it's not always the most useful prescription for treatment, or for systemic mental health care reform.

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In order to help us bring the higher commitments down to earth, we need theoretical structures and concepts like health disparities, economic inequality, cultural and linguistic competency, minority health, integrated care, collaborative care, trauma-informed care, the biopsychosocial model, recovery, etc. We need best practices and evidence-based treatment.

The problem comes, as I believe it has, when we allow ourselves to believe that understanding and knowledge on their own are sufficient to solve the problems that ail us.

This was the faith of many of the mid-century leaders in the field of mental health, when the modern American mental health system was taking shape. And it often was a faith, held with evangelical fervor.

The men and women who traveled the byways of Texas in the 1940s and 50s on behalf of the Hogg Foundation, spreading the gospel of mental health, even came to refer themselves as "circuit riders," after the early American clergy who spent much of their lives on horseback, ministering to far flung settlements.

That mid-century faith was in the power of reason and knowledge. If only we can identify the best practice. If only we can, through diligent research and experimentation, arrive at the most efficient delivery model. If only we can quantify and characterize the damage done by prejudice, poverty, neglect. If only the ignorance can be cured, the mental health of our people will follow.

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It was a noble and ambitious faith. And the work that has been done in its name has been extraordinary. We are its fortunate heirs.

We're also, I've come to believe, its unwitting victims. Because although their path has produced enormous good, in many ways it hasn't lived up to its promise. Knowledge, it turns out, isn't nearly enough. And this is most apparent precisely in the space between the vastness of our accumulated knowledge and the unwellness in our culture.

Without an old-fashioned sense of shame, at the suffering we allow to endure through neglect and selfishness, we don't have the motive to act. Without a shared sense of values, about who we are and what we care about, we won't know where and how to act even if we can mobilize a sense of moral urgency.

I don't know any more than anyone else how to generate that shared sense of purpose and values. It's the work of broad social movements, inspired by true moral and spiritual geniuses, and it comes unexpected. Philanthropic foundations like the one I lead are rarely at the vanguard of such social movements, and I'm not sure it's appropriate for us to try to be.

What we can do, and I know this precisely from the example of those pioneers and evangelists of mental health who came before us, is think in the most fundamental ways about how the ideas and tools of mental health can help heal the world. We can give support to those who are doing the most creative and meaningful work. We can be skeptical of orthodoxies, including our own. We can speak from our hearts and souls. And we can have a true sense of mission.

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My predecessors' faith in reason and knowledge was excessive. But I don't believe their sense of mission was.

The project of bringing wellness to an unjust world is one that's likely to go on, without satisfactory resolution, for as long as humanity persists. There are no answers, in the sense that we sometimes like to dream there are. But there are more and less courageous ways to bring us closer to a truly loving society. We should strive to be courageous.

[Illustration by Josh Gosfield]
The phrase "meant to be" is used a lot...perhaps to excess. But a recent adoption at the animal welfare organization I work for truly is an example of something that was meant to be.

Thirteen years ago, following their return from a honeymoon in Hawaii, newlyweds Mark and Rebecca were searching Petfinder.com for a dog. Independently, the Maryland residents each found the photo of a puppy named Autumn at the Washington Animal Rescue League and simultaneously emailed photos of her to each other. "I think our emails actually crossed in cyberspace," Rebecca recalls. "We decided Autumn was meant to be ours."

Although the shelter was closed by a major snowstorm on the day they hoped to meet the puppy they already thought of as "theirs," the couple were told that someone would be on site to care for the animals and that they could still come if they really wanted to. They did.

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For more than a decade Autumn (renamed Tiki) was an integral, adored member of Mark and Rebecca's family, which grew to include two daughters and another dog, Coco. "She [Tiki] was crazy sweet, a miraculous dog," says Rebecca. Life was good.

Then Tiki began to behave oddly, spending more time under the bed and not being as interested in things as she had been. Following a cancer diagnosis, she underwent surgery involving the removal of six ribs and a piece of her diaphragm. Thankfully, she recovered well and was once again a dog in love with life.

Eventually, however, after two years of remission, the cancer caught up with Tiki, and Mark and Rebecca recently made the painful but loving and selfless decision to let her go. The next couple of weeks were difficult for the whole family, including two-year-old Coco, who was pining for her canine companion. "There was an eerie silence in the house," Rebecca explains. "A feeling, more than a sound." They needed an infusion of new life, which they found, once again, at the Washington Animal Rescue League (now merged with the Washington Humane Society).



Rebecca and Mark had seen Watermelon on Animal Planet's Puppy Cam and her border collie mix look appealed to them. "She's the kind of dog we like and there was something compelling about returning to the place we'd adopted Tiki," says Rebecca. "Even though we'd never met Watermelon, we decided to make a leap of faith. We just had a feeling that she, too, was meant to be with us."

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So they drove to Washington from their current home in New Jersey, spending the night in a hotel so they could be at the shelter when it opened. And once again magic happened...and they fell in love.

Watermelon was welcomed into her new home with her first toy, a stuffed giraffe, just like the one Mark and Rebecca gave to Tiki 13 years ago. Now their newest family member is settling into her new home and learning her new name: Mango. "My daughter collects lip balms and there's a pack of Lip Smackers that includes Coco Cabana, Tiki Tangerine, and Mango Mix," explains Rebecca. "The three flavors are grouped together and she really liked the symbolism of that."
Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, holds a copy of a report on conditions at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility at a press conference in New York, August 4, 2004. Three Britons released from Guantanamo allege systematic abuse at the facility in the report. REUTERS/Peter Morgan PM/GN

From defending civil rights in the US to defending Central American revolutions from the US. From representing HIV-positive Haitian asylum seekers quarantined at Guantanamo Bay in the early 1990s to representing the Muslims brought there 10 years later in the "global war on terror." From suing foreigners for torture in US courts to suing Americans for torture in courts abroad. The radical lawyer Michael Ratner, who died on May 11 at age 72, was always, instinctively, in the right place, fighting the right battle, from the right trench.

Michael Ratner (far right) and Reed Brody (fist raised) at 1984 protest of US support for Nicaraguan "contras" Reed Brody

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I first met Michael in June 1984. I had just returned from Nicaragua where, in a little hamlet by the Honduran border, villagers told me about the US-backed Contra rebels burning schools and farms and savagely murdering teachers and activists. I felt an enormous responsibility to do something -- indeed I promised the villagers that I would, but I didn't know what to do.

A few days after my return, the National Lawyers Guild organized a blockade of the Federal Building in lower Manhattan to protest US policy in Nicaragua. Michael was there with other luminaries such as Prof. Arthur Kinoy and activist lawyer Bill Kunstler. Although I had sworn that I wouldn't do anything stupid for at least a week after my return, I was arrested that sweltering day with Michael and the others. That was my introduction to this man who was even then a reference on the progressive legal community, and I talked to him about how to fulfill my promise to the Nicaraguan villagers.

Out of our discussions grew the idea for what would become my five-month investigation of widespread Contra atrocities, which landed on the front page of the New York Times, helped change the terms of the debate, and led to a temporary cutoff of US aid to the Contras.

The next year, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which used my report, ordered the US to stop supporting the Contras. Michael and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which he led for three decades, decided that the world court's ruling had to be taken seriously and prepared to go to federal court to seek an injunction against further Contra aid. Feeling that they needed American plaintiffs with legal standing who could argue that their lives were at risk, Michael sent me back to Nicaragua, where I took statements from those who seemed the most exposed.

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Reed Brody and Michael Ratner, Berlin 2014 Reed Brody

One of them was Ben Linder, whose daily work bringing electricity to remote villages put him directly in the Contra's path. Ben signed an affidavit saying that he was "subject to personal danger to life and limb" and that if the court did not grant the injunction, he could "suffer irreparable physical harm as a result of the unlawful actions of the US government." The federal court refused to grant the injunction and less than a year later Ben was the first and only American executed by the Contras. Michael then spent years representing the Linder family as they sought redress against Contra leaders and the US government.

Working together on issues ranging from Haiti to Abu Ghraib, Michael would become my best friend and mentor, my co-author (of The Pinochet Papers), my co-counsel, and for four years my Columbia Law School co-professor as we shared with a new generation of law students our ideas for how to "bring the bad guys to justice."

Michael will perhaps best be remembered as the first member of the "Guantanamo Bar Association." In early 2002, as the attack on the World Trade Center was fresh in the minds of Americans, the US began taking detainees captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere - whom Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld called "the worst of the worst" -- to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in an attempt to put them beyond the jurisdiction of the US courts. Michael and the CCR sued President George W. Bush on their behalf. Ultimately the US Supreme Court ruled that prisoners at Guantanamo had constitutional rights, which could be enforced by the US courts.

Most important, Michael was a gentle and generous human being who touched and inspired so many others all over the world. He and his wonderful wife, Karen, were - and are - at the heart of a large multi-generational progressive community in New York.
Despite a decade of lessons learned from fighting global health disasters like avian flu, SARS, and most recently Ebola, the United States continues to use an ineffective 'crisis-by-crisis' approach to combat health emergencies. With the Zika virus now challenging domestic and international health care infrastructures, we need a comprehensive playbook to address these global health pandemics and ensure global health security for future generations.

Detecting, preventing, and responding to Zika will require accelerated research, investments in surveillance systems, and expanded mosquito control, among other activities. But every day we wait to provide the emergency funding necessary to combat Zika is a day closer to the heat of summer when mosquitos begin their blood-searching quest. Every day we wait, Americans are more vulnerable to contracting the virus without a clear national strategy to eradicate the threat.

During the Ebola outbreak, more people were infected and died from the virus than should have because the international community failed to quickly identify and respond to the deadly epidemic. Health systems buckled under the pressure of inadequate resources or knowledge of how to track and treat the disease. American leadership was instrumental in helping to stop the spread of the disease thanks to $5.4 billion in emergency funding but this was a temporary solution when America and the rest of the world deserve a lasting one.

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Unlike the two cases of Ebola that were transmitted on American soil, active Zika transmission is on the verge of exploding across America. Although Zika was historically considered a benign virus resulting in mild flu-like symptoms, recent investigations have discovered the alarming connection between the virus and the development of microcephaly, in which an infant is born with a much smaller head size and an underdeveloped brain. Researchers also suspect Zika will make people of all ages more susceptible to developing the autoimmune disorder Guillian-Barre Syndrome, which can cause partial or full paralysis and other neurological issues. Increased incidence of microcephaly or Guillian-Barre will not only devastate individual families, it will also put significant strain on the long-term the health care, education, and social services systems of our nation.

As of early May, there are 503 cases of Zika in the United States, all of which were acquired after travel to an area with active Zika transmission or by a partner who was infected. There is not time to delay the development of a comprehensive strategy to fight this virus, and do so in a manner that establishes a foundation for future protocol against emerging health care threats.

That is why I encouraged the administration to designate a single White House level appointee to coordinate the U.S. policy and interagency Zika effort and liaise with international and domestic partners in the face of this pandemic. The appointment of Ron Klain to coordinate all federal efforts to combat the Ebola crisis was an important success and is effective model to replicate. Such leadership would organize the logistical framework that is necessary to successfully analyze the risk of disease infection, outline the necessary resources, and request timely action by lawmakers about any additional funding needs.

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This week, I queried the Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency about the country's health care system capacity to prepare for and respond to active Zika transmission on American soil. In my letters, I specifically ask for more information about the use of genetically modified mosquitoes as a potential strategy to reduce Zika virus transmission and the concerns that remain about the effectiveness and safety of the technology.

The international community is once again calling for a united front to a new global health threat. We need to put in place a system that can rapidly mobilize against infectious diseases instead of relying on a fragmented, reactive approach each time a crisis appears. Our lack of an immediate financial response to Zika has already left us at a disadvantage against the inevitable infiltration of the virus here in America. But it's not too late to build a cohesive plan that establishes a permanent system and protocols for when the next health crisis emerges.
My friends who consider themselves to be "in the know" when it comes to politics assure me that Donald Trump cannot and will not win the presidency of the United States.

But I am not so sure.

My erstwhile friends point out to me that it is only a small number, proportionately, who are Trump supporters. "Yes," said one friend this week in Washington, "he has 10 million supporters, but there are 300 million people in the United States. There is no way he is going to win."

Those 10 million supporters are supposedly angry, white, blue-collar workers who believe Donald Trump will cure their woes, and the vast number of people who vote are not ...them, my friend said.

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But Trump doesn't speak only to that demographic. Trump speaks to a wide swath of Americans, primarily but not all white, who are determined not to let their power fade as more and more people of color go to the polls. Already, many are worried. Former GOP presidential candidate Pat Buchanan said last week in an interview on NPR that America is "25 years away from the fact where Americans of European descent will be in the minority in the United States."

The interviewer asked him why he saw that as a problem, and Buchanan said that no country which loses its "ethnic core" can survive. All over the world, he said, he sees people of different ethnicities "at each others' throats. The interviewer pressed him, and said that he, Buchanan, was laying out a vision of America that was white and Buchanan said, "It's an America like the country I grew up in, which was a pretty good country." (http://www.npr.org/2016/05/05/476844409/pat-buchanan-on-why-he-shares-trump-s-ideas-on-foreign-policy).

Pat Buchanan is not a blue collar worker. He is a professional, highly educated ...and his anger is no different on many levels than is the level of Trump's "out" 10 million followers. The whiteness of this country is diminishing, and many white people are simply afraid, yet bound and determined that the demography of this country will not change.

The "make America great again" is dog whistle language that everybody understands. When Richard Nixon was running for president, Lee Atwater admitted that "the problem is the blacks." The Nixon campaign wanted to win the votes of racists without sounding racist, and so the so-called "Southern Strategy" was developed. Atwater admitted that times dictated that the campaign be "politically correct," and so nobody could say the "n" word in campaign speeches - yet the populace being targeted had to understand the candidates' position on black people. And so Atwater said candidates had to start talking about things like "busing," "states' rights," and "cutting taxes." Everyone who was supposed to know would know that the candidates were putting black people down and blaming them for the state of the country.

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While white Americans groan when race is mentioned, it is a fact that race is and has always been in the center of political dialogue and aspirations. The beloved Ronald Reagan used the dog whistle term "states' rights," declaring that he believed in the same, as he opened his run for president in 1980 at the Neshoba County Fair, in Neshoba County, Mississippi, the place where the bodies of three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, were found. Mississippians and indeed many to most Southerners resented the interference of the federal government in their way of doing things, murders of innocent people notwithstanding. Reagan stood there and told the people, "I believe in states' rights!" The people cheered and Reagan went on to become beloved by white America.

But he wasn't just beloved by angry, white, blue collar workers. Even so-called "liberals" and "progressives" stopped short of acknowledging the full personhood of black people. No matter their geography, it is safe to say that a fair number of white people totally believed that black people were, in general, making much ado about nothing, and resented being called "racist" because activists were calling racist policies out.

The sentiments that Donald Trump is spouting is like a balm to dry, bruised white souls that believe America is supposed to be a white man's country. Trump is no different than Nixon. He knows exactly what he is doing and he knows that the reach of his appeal is wider than many would like to believe. Nixon won, and so did Reagan, and I would bet that many experts thought they wouldn't win, either.

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Trump is playing the race card, as did Nixon and Reagan. And despite reassurances from "experts," I am not sure he will not win. Racism is a potent driver in the minds of some white Americans. They believe in their hearts that America is in trouble because its demography is shifting, and they are bound and determined that they will "make America great again" and put everyone back in their places, as soon as they get the right person in the White House.
Photo courtesy of Codepink.org

In this episode of Scheer Intelligence, Robert Scheer sits down with activist Jodie Evans to discuss her organization's efforts to move the United States away from military conflict as well as the origins of her activism.

Jodie Evans, along with several other women, started Codepink in 2002 in an effort to prevent the US invasion of Iraq through confrontations with members of government.

Evans also ran California governor Jerry Brown's presidential campaign in 1992. In their conversation, Evans tells Robert Scheer what it was like to run a campaign against Bill Clinton and the similarities she sees with Hilary Clinton's campaign today. She also discusses her ideas about feminism and reconciling them with the possibility of a female president. Finally, Evans tells Scheer how fighting for a living wage as a hotel maid in Las Vegas started her on her path to campaign manager and ultimately Codepink founder.

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Adapted from KCRW.com

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Read the full transcript below:



Robert Scheer: Hi, this is Robert Scheer with another edition of Scheer Intelligence, where the intelligence comes from my guests, in this case Jodie Evans, who started life in Las Vegas six decades ago or so. And as a young woman working in a hotel, got involved in a labor struggle and thus was born your social conscience, which has now, over the last years, made you prominent as a leader of Code Pink, disturbing republican conventions and Sarah Palin's speech in '08, and others. And really a major force in a peace oriented, social justice oriented feminism, I think, is the best way to describe it. So I'm going to start right with the most controversial issue. What is a peace loving, social justice concerned, feminist think about Hillary Clinton?

Jodie Evans: I don't think much of Hillary Clinton. For us at Code Pink, we've witnessed her being for war, being very much pivotal to what happened in Libya, what happened in Honduras, the coup. She--we always say, she hasn't met a weapon she didn't like. You know, as Secretary of State, your job is to be a diplomat, and we didn't see that out of her. She seems to love war. So I'm not a big fan, and probably for more reasons than just that out of Code Pink: her connections to Wal-Mart; the Clinton Global Initiative takes a lot of money from the Saudi government; she seems to like Kissinger, another war criminal. So her friends seem to be war criminals and pretty awful friends of the United States.

RS: I should point out--I didn't give you a formal introduction. But you're not just some fringe idealist, though that's sort of what you've evolved to be: a serious idealist. But you've been around practical politics. You were a member of Jerry Brown's cabinet at one point; you were the chair or director of his presidential campaign in 1992. And I think when I first met you, I thought of you as a kind of establishment-type person. I was working for the LA Times; my wife was the bureau chief in Sacramento, Narda Zacchino. And we saw you with Jerry, and Jerry was a work in progress then. I'm very impressed with what Jerry is doing now as governor, in the main part; I think the second coming of Jerry is very exciting, and my wife has actually written a book about California coming out this summer in which Jerry looks pretty good. But back then, Jerry was also a politician, but he did make one statement; he was, when you were running that campaign, he was running against Bill Clinton in the democratic primary. And Jerry hit directly an argument that's going to be advanced a lot in this election if it's Hillary versus Trump. And that is, he said, "It's not a question of the lesser of two evils; it's the evil of two lessers." And I've been quoting that a lot; I don't know if you, do you remember him saying that?

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JE: Of course. I ran that campaign. [Laughs]

RS: And first of all, where did that statement come from, do you remember?

JE: Well, Jerry is awesome with words. So that came straight out of Jerry. And you have to remember that Jerry's campaign in '74 came out of the McGovern campaign; he was the chair of McGovern California, and that's how we met in '72. And it really was this chance for new ideas. And being part of that administration for eight years, we broke through all the rules. So when you call him a politician, then, I think he wasn't a politician yet; I think that what he was able to achieve in those eight years was because he wasn't a politician, because he was an idealist, because he didn't, wasn't limited by 'things don't happen that way.' Matter of fact, we broke so many rules and people were so mad at us, but to move into a Reagan state capital and just turn it upside down was huge. And bringing all kinds of people who'd never been into government into power; by the time he left, there were, he had more than fifty percent women on his cabinet, more than 50 percent appointments that were representative of the state of California. It was huge. And you know, just what the cabinet was able to do. And then to create a campaign that only took a hundred dollars and no PAC money, because the issue of the campaign was, if you don't take money out of politics, none of the other issues matter. Back in '92. And really witnessing, I think, through that campaign how the Democratic Party establishment gets in the way of real change, and actually, you know, continues to support the status quo, was the place where he really recognized and was able to make a statement like that.

RS: For those who don't live in California here, man was governor for two terms; his father had been governor for two terms. And here he was, and has now come back for a second go-around; he's in his second two-term stint. And he's far more progressive, he's far bolder--I see you frowning--but that's the way I look at it, on certain particular issues. And also other people in the state Democratic Party leadership, Kamala Harris and others. Much more frontal in challenging the banks; certainly in embracing the Latino community, extending to the undocumented community. There's a whole range of issues--



JE: Yeah, but I mean, he was that way in the beginning. I mean, I think we forget how far backwards we've come and how great he looks now, but I think those are--I mean, Jerry was in Latin America a lot before he became governor. He's very connected to Latin America, really understands the immigration issues from, you know, back then. Don't forget, he made marijuana legal, basically, for the eight years of his governorship. We forget that, that it was a traffic ticket.

RS: Yeah.

JE: I think it's a really good way to look at how far backwards, or how far right we've come as a country, and how Jerry's just back to being Jerry.

RS: OK, but I don't want to get this to be just a celebration, or a celebration of Jerry Brown, because he's not so great--certainly not great on fracking, from my point of view--

JE: No, that's a big fight we have.

RS: --and he hasn't been great on prisons, and it really took some battles with people on Pelican Bay and others to confront him on that. One of them [laughs] happens to be an ex-wife of mine, Anne Weills, who's been one of the lawyers leading that fight on the solitary confinement in Pelican Bay and so forth. So Jerry is not always great. But what he's been great at is in California establishing a model of the Democratic Party opposite to the Texas model of the Republican Party, you know, where you can reach out to the vulnerable; you can be supportive; it can be progressive. And I was just thinking, in terms of the Clintons and their triangulation, their constant urge to the center, Jerry now does seem like a progressive figure. You're saying that that's the way he was the first time around. So let's, that's a good place to start with. Let's talk about that, when he ran against Bill Clinton. What was his complaint about the Clintons, Bill Clinton then, but now Hillary Clinton? What was his critique?

JE: They were not progressive. And--on any of the issues that Jerry cared about. I mean, Hillary Clinton was on the board of Tyson Chicken and Wal-Mart. I mean, they did not represent change; they represented the party move to the right. And on all issues that he cared about, that was a problem. And so, yeah. And also, they represented the monied interest, and money in politics was the big issue of our campaign; that if we didn't get the money out, things would continue to go the way they've gone. And we saw that in the Clinton administration, undermining the legislation that kind of kept some semblance of order around Wall Street was demolished.

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RS: I'm talking to Jodie Evans, who was the chair of the Jerry Brown campaign where he ran against Bill Clinton back in '92. And it's interesting, you folks knew it then, that Clinton represented a, what, a somewhat right-of-center figure.

JE: Correct. And not only that, I've reached out to a lot of the people from the campaign to see if they've had the same feeling I had as we went into this campaign. And I want to make it clear I'm speaking as an individual, but not as Code Pink, because Code Pink's a 501(c)3 and we're not taking sides. We're, we just bring the message of, we want a president for peace, and to all of the candidates, because none of them are great at it. But on the Hillary piece, to run against them was so diabolically painful. I mean, I felt evil. I mean, I felt it; it was palpable, and in this campaign I've remembered it. And I've remembered the pain, and at some point, I just called Jerry and I said, we're going to quit, because some of the people in the campaign wanted to go, you know, wanted to meet them at the evil. And I said, no, that's not what we're here for. We're here about humanity and about life and about values, and if we get in that process, then we just become them. And so we kind of closed the campaign down before we even got to California, and I said, just want to save the money we have left, and we'll take these issues on at the convention. Because we'd already basically, we weren't going to make the delegates, kind of where Bernie stands right now. And I said, it's not worth fighting out the battle, because they lie constantly; they undermine, you know, they misrepresent. And [they] just said, well, that's, you know, that's what campaigns are; and I'm like, no, this is the third campaign that I had been part of with Jerry, and no it hadn't felt like that before. It really was, in our souls, abusive. And so I've reached out to other people in the campaign, and they remember it that way. They remember how painful it was, how hard it was to go against the lies. Which very much reminds me of what it was like to try to stop the war in the Bush administration, where everything coming out was a dismantling of truth and then a creating of something you couldn't go up against because it's very hard to go up against a lie. It just falls apart in your hands. And you can tell the truth, but the media spins the lie.

RS: Let's step back. Because this is a really important piece of history. I kind of--I covered this campaign for the Los Angeles Times; I was one of the people covering it. And I remember Jerry got a couple of really big victories, right?

JE: Yes.

RS: Which states did you guys win?

JE: Maine, Colorado, Connecticut, and we were going into New York with those victories. It was like, the surge was happening.

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RS: Right, and then Bill Clinton pulled a fast one in New York. That was the Sister Souljah moment, and that was the attack on Jesse Jackson and everything.

JE: Yes, yes.

RS: Do you remember the specifics?

JE: Oh, sure. It was that Jesse Jackson was anti-Semitic, and they pulled together the whole Jewish community to go against Jerry and say he was anti-Semitic. Which was crazy. And--

RS: Right, and then there was the thing with Sister Souljah, who is a songwriter, and she's gone on to be a great novelist and a social critic. And they demonized that woman.

JE: Yeah. They demonized anyone they could. It's just, let's take them on, wrap it around Jerry's neck, and tie it, you know, tie it in a bow, and that anyone is fodder for their, basically any life is fodder for them to get ahead.

RS: I'm talking to Jodie Evans, who not only has had great experience and shown great courage and insight, but actually traveled; and you've been to Afghanistan, you've been to the Gaza strip, you've been to Iraq and done a lot of really gutsy, brave things. So tell me about Iraq and Hillary Clinton.

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JE: Well, when we started Code Pink, we called Code Pink because Bush was calling Code Red, Code Orange and Code Yellow to frighten the American people into a war. So we called Code Pink and we did a vigil outside the White House every day, from the day he put the petition in for the war. While we were there, we realized we needed to go to Iraq so we could talk out of experience about what was happening there, so we went to Jordan and drove across the Iraqi border, and went to Iraq for ten days, and continued our vigil there. We came back to say, you can't bomb this country; we've already devastated it with sanctions; there's, they have nothing, we'll roll over them in three days. And the people there say, you can't bomb us into democracy; please let us free our country by ourselves. If you dismantle our country, a country where Sunni and Shia and Christian and Muslims--you know, everybody lives together, you will separate us and you will create hell on earth. We came back with that message. And we talked to the inspectors while we were there, and all the inspectors said, there are no weapons of mass destruction. We begged Hillary for a meeting; she wouldn't meet with us. So a hundred of us, dressed in pink slip--because if you fail to do your job, you get a pink slip, right? You should be fired. And so we gave people, like, awards for bravery to fight war, and then we gave them pink slips for siding with war. A hundred women dressed in pink slips; we started singing in her office so loud, so they couldn't do any work. Finally after half an hour, she says, OK, I agree to meet with you at five o'clock--to shut us up. So at five o'clock she came in, and we spent about 20 minutes telling her what we saw in Iraq. When we finished, she looked at us and she said, I don't care; I'm going to vote for the war because I have to protect the people of New York. Which was such an absurd thing to say, because she knew there was nothing, that the Iraqis had nothing to do with 9/11, that they had no desire to do anything to the people of New York, and that there were no weapons of mass destruction. And Nancy Pelosi herself told me that she'd seen the intel, and that they knew in Congress and the Senate that there were no weapons of mass destruction. So I took my pink slip off and threw it at her and said, this is disgusting. I mean, you're doing this politically because you want to run for president. And war is the wrong answer. Which proved out, because really why Obama was able to get ahead of Hillary's drive was because he was the anti-war candidate. Also an illusion that was later played out to be not true; the military has grown, with Obama, bigger than under Bush.

RS: The whole question--and it really is very basic to the argument for Hillary--is, there is something Margaret Thatcher-like about Hillary Clinton's position. That it favors a strong, you know, showing women can be strong, it favors--

JE: It favors the elite and American exceptionalism. Which is something that's very disturbing; it's not part of what we're, at Code Pink we're anti-imperialist, and we see the solutions need to be a global connection, that we're all connected. And that we separate ourselves as American exceptionalists--exceptional at terrorism globally, yes. But she really has an elite position. We see that with Bill's legislation; we see that with where she stands, where she takes her money; I mean, she takes her money from war manufacturers, from Wall Street, and then pretends that she's not going to be affected by that. But I think she thinks that way because she's so steeped in 'this is what the world is,' and not--and really tone deaf around seeing the bigger picture and seeing what this does to the world. And how U.S. imperialism affects people all over the globe, and that these policies have continued to create global inequality; those policies that support corporations have continued to create the climate change situation. So her, where she sits, is tone deaf to what really is needed to come to peace, to come to justice, and to create a world that isn't full of war.

RS: You know, I didn't mean to get you here for this podcast to--

JE: [Laughs]

RS: --no, really, to use you to attack Hillary Clinton. But I think for people on the progressive side of things, and I certainly put myself in there, this is going to be a tough one. Particularly if it's Hillary Clinton versus Trump. But I could see this as an issue where the lesser-evil argument is going to tear apart this whole progressive movement in the next period.

JE: I look at it a little differently. I think that right now, because of how bad everything's getting, and the scale's tipping so badly, that we're really in my lifetime at a place of 'what side of history do you stand on.' And we've gotten away for a long time about, you know, it kind of being gray. But right now it's not gray. It's very clear; we know where we are in history, that if we don't make choices about people, against the accumulation of wealth, against the violation of the planet, against all the things that we do to the people globally--not just globally, but in our own country, and the marginalizations, et cetera--if we don't take a stand against that, and a stand for the people against corporate welfare, corporate owning of our democracy which doesn't even exist because we have an oligarchy--Hillary is on the wrong side of history. That's clear. It's not murky anymore; it is very, very clear. So you get to decide, which side of history do you stand on? You know, as far as the feminist argument goes, I speak a lot in Wall Street; I've been mentoring a lot of the young women there. And when I speak at some of the groups, I say, can you raise your hand if you're a feminist? And everybody raises their hand, and then I question them: how do you be a feminist and work in Wall Street when feminism is about equality? And I think we get, I think there's some confusion around 'what is it to be a feminist' and then 'what is it to be a woman.' I--

RS: Well, this is glass ceiling feminism. It's the whole thing--

JE: Well, but it's also, do we want to be equal in a man's world, or are we creating a world of equality?

RS: What's interesting about the combination you've represented is you've been very effective. It's always put as, oh yeah, the idealists, they can take these positions but they have no impact. And you've had tremendous impact. I mean, I remember watching that republican convention where you got arrested, and I thought, my goodness; you know, here Jodie has managed to capture the stage. You were able to change the debate for a couple of hours, you know, and remind people that what they were doing was evil and that there was a moral dissent that had to be registered. I just was so proud of you that time, and I just thought, you know, this demolishes the argument, you're either effective but a sellout, or on the other hand you're principled but have no impact.

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JE: Well, I mean, Bob, let's just to back to, you know, when we finished bombing, you know, shock and awe on Iraq, the U.S. electorate was like 85 percent for the war. Like, the day after, you know, because everybody's, 'Oh, God, so we have to be there.' It took us, you know, work every day in Congress, dressing up, disrupting, being in the face of--it took us until '06 to really move the country to where it was 50 percent, over 50 percent against the war. On drones--when we started our campaign against drones, 95 percent of the electorate were for drones. We've moved it down to 55 percent and we need to move it below. But our job as activists is really to wake people up to these issues they're being lied to about, and ground them in the truth and the cost, and to get them to make a decision from what's real, not the fantasy story that they're fed. So it's funny, because the idealism, the story that we're fed, is oh, this war's going to be fast and it's going to be cheap and we're going to win--that was the story we were fed while we were in the halls of Congress saying, no it's not going to be fast; no war is fast, cheap or easy. War is devastating, it opens a Pandora's box, and it could disrupt the Middle East for 30 years. So when you say idealism, we actually feel like we're showing up with, like, what's--you know, here's the cost, here's what it's going to look like, we're in the halls trying to wake people up, to break the kind of addiction to some story that is not going to come true for them.

RS: There's going to be two big issues in this election if it is Trump against Hillary, which is looks like at the moment when we're doing the interview. One is going to be this lesser-evil argument. And what you're really suggesting is the need for a grassroots corrective to evil, whether it's lesser or--

JE: Well, that's happening. We've seen it, you know, with Occupy; now we see the effects of Occupy in the Bernie campaign. And as we know, change takes time, and if you track this back, you can see it all the way back to Jerry's campaign in '92. Tim, who was one of the deputies in the campaign--



RS: You can see it back to the McGovern campaign.

JE: Yeah, right. So I think we're just, you know, it kind of got buried a little bit after the McGovern campaign, it rose again. And it's coming back--

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RS: You were telling me about Tim. I'm sorry I interrupted you.



JE: Well, Tim Carpenter was a deputy in the campaign in '92.

RS: Jerry's campaign.

JE: And he, out of that, created PDA, Progressive Democrats of America, after [the] Boston Democratic Convention in 2004. And then, before he died, he was really the one that pushed Bernie to run, saying 'I was part of Jerry's campaign in '92; I can feel the energy is there for this; you'll be surprised, you know, it's ready to lift you up.' And really counseled him on the same way that Jerry was running; that it's not about you, it's about the movement. The revolution is happening. It's on fire. And enough people, that groundswell of people getting that the curtains in the Wizard of Oz are being pulled back, and people see the lie it is and the devastation it is, and that you know, their emperor has no clothes--that's been pulled back further than I have seen in a really long time. And I think that's, when you're not bought in or made comfortable by the status quo, you see the devastation of it. And I think that's what we see with young people right now.

RS: When I look at how Occupy got crushed, in New York, yes, it was a somewhat liberal republican; in every other city, it was a democrat.

JE: OK, don't use the word 'crushed.' It just found other ways to--

RS: It felt crushed that night. I was down there at four in the morning--

JE: --yeah, it felt crushed, but maybe--

RS: --and I looked at these big concrete barriers and the helicopters--it was like a war zone! Helicopters circling above, and concrete barriers being lowered, and people herded and getting arrested. You just felt the full power--

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JE: Yeah, but you've got to remember that, like, what Occupy Wall Street was about was being a mirror for everyone to see what we were up against. And that was a great second moment of a mirror. But it wasn't crushed--

RS: I agree, I agree, I misspoke--

JE: --it has gone out to, like, be a huge piece of what Bernie is. And what it did was profound. To shift the political dialogue as they did, that is profound.

RS: No question, you're absolutely right.



JE: You can't buy that.

RS: You're absolutely right. But the right of the people to peacefully assemble for a redress of grievances, which was in full force with Occupy--peaceful, legal redress of grievances--was temporarily stopped in its tracks by democratic mayors in just about every city. Including our own--

JE: Well, that's the--wait, wait, wait, the CIA--

RS: --including our own, here in Los Angeles.

--no, that was, first of all, that happened in Washington. How to do it was taught from the CIA and from the FBI. Don't think that didn't come straight out of Washington.

RS: Right, it was a strategy--

JE: So it took them a while to figure out what to do, and they finally did it, but they did not crush what that represents; matter of fact, they helped it grow even more. Because then it wasn't about occupying a square; it became about occupying even a bigger space.

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RS: My concern is that this--first of all, the idea that Trump, if he's going to be the candidate, is so menacing that it stops all thought and you have to rally around Hillary. The lesser-evil argument, through most of my adult life, has been compelling for most people on the progressive side. I just feel it in conversations I have with people, whether I'm in the store buying something--you know, people say, Bob, what you say is correct; I listen to you on the radio, blah blah blah, but--but--you know, Trump is there, and that's the great menace, and we have to rally around Hillary. And you know you're going to hear that, right?

JE: Sure, but I hear that about everything. I hear that about going to war with Iraq and escalating in Afghanistan, and you know, bombing the hell out of Syria. I hear that all the time, and I don't see it ever solve the problem. So I have no problem with where I stand, and I know a lot of people stand where I do. It's, how do we not live in the bifurcation that fear creates, in the either/or, and start living out of love and care and compassion, and into the world we want to create. This is an opportunity for people to stand where they stand. Let's, you know, let's let this be that opportunity. When you talk to people who say, I want to be afraid of Trump and I'm--don't think I'm not engaging with Trump. Code Pink has disrupted Trump rallies 18 times. Because we do it because to stop hate, because it drives us to war, to wake people up to what Trump is--not against Trump, but the space that we've been locked into. About, you know, a) who are these people that are reacting to Trump and what have we done to help create that, is a little bit of the lesser of two evils, instead of what are real changes and how do we serve the people.

RS: For the first time, third party options are in the air, particularly if Bernie does something like just get up on the stage at the Democratic Convention and embrace Hillary. I think there's a lot of people who have been supporting Bernie who are going to say, wait a minute, that's not, that's not right. You know, everything you said up to now means you shouldn't endorse her, whatever the party convention attitude is. What do you think, looking at these third party alternatives? Because there's nothing in our Constitution that says we're supposed to have two parties.

JE: Well, don't forget that Clinton became president because of the three parties in the '92 campaign.

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RS: Ross Perot.

JE: And so that separated enough--he didn't get 50 percent of the vote. He got 40-something percent of the vote because there were three candidates. So it's not the first time this has happened. I think this time it's going to be fleshed out a lot more; I think that, you know, the powers that be use things to scare people to get their way. And so they were able to use Nader, instead of the Democratic Party's weakness, as the excuse for what happened; or Gore's walking away from a fight in the Supreme Court. And so they scapegoat in the same way the Clintons use scapegoating in their campaigns. And I think right now it's the space where we need to stand up and name the thing; not be frightened, but name what's happening, and what are the consequences of this act. Too often it's like, oh, let's just be afraid and act this way and not recognizing the consequences. Even just to say we need to grow the economy so there's more jobs--we've been growing the economy for a really long time, and what happens is more and more people fall into poverty; more people get rich. And so how do we look at this? We have a new campaign at Code Pink called Growing a Local Peace Economy, which is a way to be able to--how do we stand with this? How do we recognize that the economy that we all clamor to be a part of is the war economy? It's not just what we invest in war, which is over 50 percent of our tax dollar; but everything this economy is doing is oppressing, it's extracting from the earth, it's destroying life. And there's another economy that exists; it's what I call the local peace economy. The giving, sharing, caring, relational, resilient, thriving economy without which none of us would be alive. But we get attached to this other economy that's really taking us off a cliff. And so at the very core of it, at Code Pink, we're working to divest ourselves from this war economy, which is all of it, into how do we become relational again? How do we come back to our communities and build, you know, the arc that gets us through this flood of devastation that we've been creating as the United States globally?

RS: What this podcast series is all about is interviews with people I call 'American originals,' not that you don't have originals and great people in other cultures. But how did you get to be this way? What would you say were the key--if we wanted to pass it on, if we wanted to bottle it. And not just about you, but you know, the people you've worked with that are so incredibly independent and courageous. What is the key ingredient?

JE: I mean, I think a turning point in my life was, I was a maid making $1.87 an hour in 1970. And we organized and fought and marched and got a living wage. I mean, it meant I lost my job, because I was underage. But it meant that all these women that I'd worked with that were raising kids, single moms, on $1.87 an hour got a living wage. And my [friend] raised 11 kids on a maid's salary in Las Vegas and became head of the union, and led a six-year strike against one of the hotels and won. So I think then I was like, since I was raised working-class and saw the devastation of power both as a young person who saw abuse and the overuse of power and what that felt like. And then also working with Cesar Chavez; you know, Jerry really loved Cesar and he really wanted to get the farm labor bill through. And there was a point at when the farmers were more powerful than Cesar, and we went down to Delano and we marched back to the governor's office. And I had an office inside the governor's office, but I sat outside with Cesar and the farmworkers. And when I was sitting there, I was like, I always belong here. Because I'd seen what happened inside the governor's office, and I said, power's stupid. It just gets blinders on it; it doesn't mean to. You know, I could have compassion for what was happening, but it just gets stupid. And I always want to be outside of power, because it really is deaf. And that, you know, we need to be outside, shaking down the place where everybody just goes deaf, dumb and blind, and waking people up. Not only the people in power, but the people that are outside of power but can't figure out why they're locked in. And when I went to stand outside the White House, when Bush put forth the resolution for a preemptive strike on Iraq, I stood there because everybody was buying into the war, and I wanted to be the person outside that said, no, this is wrong, so the person kind of confused--because they thought it was wrong, but everybody was saying it was right--had a place to hold onto. And that was really Code Pink; it's like, this is wrong, we're going to stand here every day and remind people the cost of war and what's going to happen and what we're going to pay for. And even if the media doesn't want to cover us, we're going to stand out here. And we didn't stop, and we haven't stopped for 14 years. And we've continued to, you know, try to get people out of Guantanamo, to accountability on the war crimes, now drones and now Saudi Arabia--to just stand up and say, you know, what the mainstream is telling you, what the status quo says is right, isn't. And what you feel in your heart, you can continue to feel and fight for.
Victimizing the minority communities in vote-based politics is not an uncommon phenomenon in national politics worldwide. In many countries of the world, the term "immigrant" and "minority" holds almost same meaning if not all the time. Even in Europe, where political culture is grossly considered somewhat fairer than the other parts of the world, many of the European political parties intentionally place the issue of immigration policy ahead of other more important issues to create a temporary stir that helps them increase the support of swinging voter and sometimes to confuse and divide their opponent's support. So, it is no wonder that this tendency would be reproduced by other countries as well.

Tendency of this practice has increased throughout Europe since the last two decade, which results an emersion of the far-right political parties as a balancing factor to form the government and in the parliament as well. Aftermath of upsurge of the far-right political parties also compelled the progressive and liberal parties to change or accommodate their policies on immigration in favor of the far-rights, which set a bad example to the other countries of the world.

Communalism of all form is nothing new to us. Though Hitlar's war against Jew or the conflict between the White and Blacks seems like primitive now-a-days, but something similar to those still exist in many societies today. Business was the main purpose of colonialism which relied upon communalism and racism. However this deep root of communalism extended through difference on religious opinion and customs. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the vacuum of super-power in world politics was filled-up by religious communalism, which was opaque in nature earlier. Since the early nineties, religious politics became deep-rooted in almost all of the modern societies. Since then, radicalism has become a particular dogma and annexed a good share of the world politics steadily. Now, given the contemporary world problems like Islamic State and crisis in Syria and failure of joint effort of world powers to solve the problems, it can be said that the world has become divided into two parts- "Democratic Capitalism" and "Radical fundamentalism".

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It can be argued that the vote-scoring tendency of the world leaders produced such polarization throughout the world. Particularly in South-Asia, this tendency is so acute that the religious minorities are being victimized on a regular basis. Though presence of radicalism in politics is not new in Pakistan and Bangladesh, this phenomenon recently occupied the world's largest democratic country-India. Infamously known for their communal approach, BJP has managed to form the government there. Though the country's politics is visibly dominated by development issues, but deep within it is radicalism that really dominate. For this, many suspects that Congress may need to adopt with the radical parties like BJP or compromise with their secular stance which is seen regularly by the liberal parties in the western democratic societies. To survive, the left-leaning parties in India prefers an opportunistic approach. Al these factors and practice helps strengthen radicalism.

Being influenced by the politics of other countries is a common trend now-a-days in world politics. We have left behind the period of circumscription. So, as influential neighbor, the politics of Bangladesh is bound to be influenced by the politics of India and Pakistan. In the beginning, I argued that religion-based politics is actually the ill-practice of getting more vote and polarizing the society. After the killing of secular icon Sheikh Muzibur Rahman in 1975, a stiff decline was seen in the demography of the minority. (Some statistics). Since 2001-2011, one million Hindus simply vanished from the population census without any visible reason, despite having a secular party in the government. It is definitely a matter of regret and anxiety that, despite having a secular government, the percentage of minority people is decreasing without a valid reason and a large number of them are reported to be forcefully exiled to the neighboring India, which has a Hindu majority population.

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So far, it has become clear that around the world, the liberal, democratic and socialist political parties are losing ground on politics on the issue of immigration to their radical and conservative political counterparts. Though there is an attempt by the progressive political parties to show this tendency as a trick to keep the far-rights distant from state power, but this fails to hinder them from gaining popularity.

In Bangladesh, the same tendency of a hidden conciliation in between the secularist government party- 'Bangladesh Awami League' and the other radical religious parties has become evident with the continuous declination of the minority. Already Bangladesh's the largest neighbor country in South Asia, India, declared that it will give shelter to the oppressed religious minority of Bangladesh and Pakistan- the Hindus, with an automatic citizenship according to the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. Though it seems as a good move to stop the oppression of the religious minorities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, but this step has been taken by a right-leaned religious political party- Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been taken as a political trick to strengthen the narrative of the religion based politics of BJP. It is worthy to mention that India is a Hindu-majority nation, whereas Bangladesh and Pakistan are Muslim majority. The BJP leaders already made it clear that the muslims-who want to take shelter in India will be opted out of this opportunity-which is a clear indication that this decision was taken from a religious point of view and not from the intention of serving the oppressed. This decision will indeed encourage the muslim radicals in Bangladesh and Pakistan and will also create a "cause" to evict and persecute the religious minority-the muslims in India, on which BJP and its leaders are already convicted.

It is a matter of regret that the same occurrence, in different camouflage, is taking place in Europe. For example, all the countries of Europe vowed to protect the Jews minority after the Second World War, but now-a-days, they are slightly shifting from their promise, which is same in the case of other minorities as well. If the political parties continues this practice, then everybody will suffer in the long run, particularly the upcoming generations. The politics of compromising with the "bad" achieve nothing apart from the moral erosion of the political parties and hence loosing popularity in the long run.

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In a certain medieval Christian document, we find an account of Jesus' life. His birth, we are told, coincided with a "decree from Ft. Rome." The decree stated that "all warrior heroes were to return to their assembly place, each one was to go back to the clan of which he was a family member by birth in a hill-fort." His parents Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem, the "hill-fort" which had been once ruled by David, who was "earl of the Hebrews." There the young Jesus is born in a "fodder-crib." After he grows into an adult of great reputation, he attracts disciples. He is referred to throughout the document with titles such as "the good Chieftain," "the Chieftain of mankind," and the "Chieftain of clans."

At one point in the story, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray in the following way:

Father of us all, the sons of men

You are in the high heavenly kingdom

Blessed be Your name in every word

May Your mighty kingdom come

May Your will be done over all this world--

just the same on earth as it is up there

in the high heavenly kingdom.

Give us support, each day, good Chieftain,

Your holy help, and pardon, Protector of Heaven,

our many crimes, just as we do to other human beings

Do not let loathsome wights lead us off

to do their will, as we deserve,

but help us against all evil deeds.

Sometime later, one of his disciples named Judas leads an "enemy clan" ("the Jews") to Jesus and "his warrior companions" so that they might arrest them. Another of his disciples, Simon Peter, who is called a "very daring Thane," tries to protect Jesus by pulling a sword on those who have come out against them. His efforts are futile, for Jesus is indeed arrested and sentenced to death. His death is not a tragedy though, for the text concludes: "All of this was just the way He wanted it and had predetermined beforehand for the benefit of mankind, the sons of men."

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The story contains far more episodes than those that are included above, but they are sufficient to set the stage for this discussion. These likely familiar narrative snippets come from a little known Old Saxon epic poem from the ninth century known as The Heliand (lit. "savior" in Old Saxon). It is clearly related to canonical accounts of Jesus' life, probably filtered through a later text that harmonized the New Testament gospels into one account. In the examples above, we see allusions to the Gospel of Luke's story of the Roman census that coincided with Jesus' birth, the Lord's Prayer that is given in both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and Jesus' arrest, which is reported by all four New Testament gospels.

Despite its colorful language, this ninth-century text unfortunately does not tell us anything new about the historical Jesus' life. Even if it were to report an unheard of episode of Jesus' life, there is no reason to assume that it would be historically accurate. Yet even so, it tells us a great deal about the transition of Christian ideas into medieval Europe, and in doing so, it acts as a cautionary tale for using historical documents as clear windows onto the world of the past.

The clunky transition of Christianity into Europe has been smoothed over by many authors. For instance, in The Life of St. Martin, its author Sulpicius Severus tells us about the renowned Martin, who spread Christianity throughout regions that are now modern France by, on one hand, doing miracles, and on the other hand, destroying pagan shrines and other important sites of indigenous worship. The text gives the impression that Christianity systematically and effortlessly displaced pagan beliefs and practices. The Heliand, however, tells a different story. It witnesses to the clear effort to creatively combine cultural elements that existed among the local peoples with the new ideas in Christianity. It portrays Jesus in terms that reflect the indigenous language that would be most valued by its readers/listeners. For instance, as given above, the cities of Rome and Bethlehem are referred to as a "forts," language that would have been most appropriate for a central and important settlement in the ninth century. Important men are "chieftains," "earls," or "warriors." Even God is addressed as the "good Chieftain" in The Heliand's version of the Lord's Prayer. When we read this text, it is absolutely clear that, far from displacing the indigenous culture of pre-modern Europe, the story of Jesus' life has been filtered into the world of ideas on the ground there.

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Kilmorie Chapel, Scotland 8th-10th century

How does this version of Jesus' life act as a cautionary tale for using historical documents as clear windows onto the world of the past? Its seemingly out-of-place language constantly reminds us that it is just that: a version (one might even call it a translation) of the life of Jesus into the medieval period. We easily catch those odd features of the account, because they stand out to us. But this should encourage us to wonder which features of the earlier accounts of Jesus' life functioned similarly in the first century. That is, we should ask: which concepts and terms made perfect sense to people in the first century but may stand out as "out-of-place" to a modern reader?

Scholars of Christian origins can recite numerous examples. Let me list just a handful. The famous phrasing "Word (Logos) of God" that the author of the Gospel of John especially loves to employ resists a simple meaning, both in the modern and the ancient contexts. The word logos in Greek has numerous translations, and it is not at all clear what the author of the Gospel of John means when he describes Jesus as such. Another example is the term "grace" that Paul often uses in his letters. Modern Christians (especially Protestants) have a very particular understanding of this term, but Paul uses it in a far more flexible fashion, even casually in his letters' opening greetings. A final example, perhaps the most famous example, is the notion of divine sonship. Modern Christians are absolutely comfortable describing Jesus as the singular son of God. Yet this identification would have resonated in many other ways in the ancient world, in particular, inviting a comparison with Greek and Roman stories of "sons of God," as well as subtly challenging the Roman emperor, who was also a divine figure and savior by some accounts. The ancient nuances of concepts such as "word of God," "logos," and "son of God" are usually lost today, because they don't translate well to contemporary contexts.

Jesus as the Sun God, 3rd century: Out of place today?
Seventeen years ago, on May 12th, 1999, my then-boyfriend followed me on a family trip to Ireland and proposed at Ross Castle in Killarney. My cheeks were sore from smiling and I couldn't wait to begin the next chapter of my life. It was like a dream come true.

Since then I've learned that the marriage is so much more important than the wedding day, that you fall in and out of like and love on a daily basis, and that having kids challenges you to the breaking point and rewards you with epic joy.

Becoming a mother made me more aware of how my attitude and choices might steer those whose ears were listening and eyes were watching.

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One day my 10-year-old son said to me, "In my opinion, you are a dreamer and dad is a realist. But you need both, you know?" "Why is that," I asked? "Well because without the dreamer, the realist would never get off the ground. And without the realist, the dreamer might go too far."

I think he's right. But many of us have too much realism and not enough dream. Dreaming is the first thing to go when life gets tough. When the focus needs to be on the bills and the meals and the list of things that must get done.

However, dreaming is also what helps raise us up to a better place. Where we can follow our heart and make a difference.

As Harriet Tubman said, "Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

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And Langston Hughes said, "Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly."

The journey I began seventeen years ago has been filled with many different dreams. Dreams of being a mother, a writer, and an agent of change. Dreams of becoming more of myself. Every day I try to take one more step in that direction.
Nearly 90% of Americans say genetically engineered food should be labeled, with high support across all ages, races and political affiliations, according to a December 2015 Mellman Group poll. It's hard to think of a political issue that shares such broad appeal. Belief in our right to know what's in our food is as American as apple pie.

Now, after a hard-fought battle led by millions of consumers and the nation's largest environmental, health and consumer groups, we are winning that right. Large food companies from General Mills to Kellogg to Campbell's have said they are putting labels on food products to indicate if they are produced with genetic engineering.

Is it possible to undo this progress? Could the new food labels actually roll back to the factories to be replaced by incomprehensible black blobs called QR codes?

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Are Senate Democrats, led by Michigan Democrat Debbie Stabenow, about to make a deal that will stop GMO labeling in its tracks?

The agrichemical industry is swarming the U.S. Senate right now with a last-ditch lobbying effort to pass the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act, and thereby nullify state labeling efforts. They have just a few weeks left to get this done before Vermont implements the nation's first mandatory GMO labeling law July 1.

The House of Representatives passed the DARK Act last year. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said at the time in a CNN op ed, "The fact that Congress is even considering a proposal to deny Americans basic information about their food speaks to overwhelming power of these corporate lobbyists over the public interest."

All eyes are now on Sen. Stabenow, who, according to the Hagstrom Report, just proposed new language for a "compromise." This may or may not include QR codes, an 800 number, or some other way of claiming "mandatory" labeling while allowing food companies to remove the words "genetic engineering" from the new labels that are already on their way to a store near you.

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Details on the compromise are murky. But one thing is clear: as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Sen. Stabenow holds the keys to decide whether or not Americans will finally get clear, on-package GMO labels that are already required in 64 other countries around the world.

Both sides are doing their best to influence her. As Politico reported, organic industry leaders held a fundraiser for Sen. Stabenow in March, just days before the last vote on the DARK Act, and organic industry leaders donated several thousand dollars to her campaign in 2015 and 2016.

A review of Federal Election Commission filings for donations to Sen. Stabenow's campaign from corporations and trade groups over the past five years found little from the organic industry - just one donation from the Organic Trade Association in 2012 for $2,500.

Big food, chemical and agribusiness groups, meanwhile, donated well over $100,000 to her campaign in that time period, including a combined $60,000 from Monsanto, DuPont, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Dow, Kraft, Bayer and ConAgra.

Those corporations were among the top 10 donors to anti-labeling campaigns that spent over $100 million to defeat GMO labeling ballot initiatives in California, Washington, Oregon and California - using dirty tricks to do so, such as mailers from fake front groups, false claims in ads and voter guides, and the largest money laundering operation in Washington State election history.

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Why are these companies so afraid to give Americans an informed choice about GMOs in our food?



Big agribusiness groups are sending the message that it's none of our business what's in our food and how it's produced. Political cartoonist Rick Friday learned that lesson the hard way when he was recently fired from his job of 21 years at Iowa's Farm News for pointing out in a cartoon that top executives at Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer and John Deere made more money last year than 2,129 Iowa farmers.

What else don't these companies want us to know about our food?

The fact is, most genetically engineered crops are engineered to survive chemical herbicides, which is good for chemical company profits but not so good for farmers and families in GMO-growing communities such as Hawaii, Argentina and Iowa - or for the rest of us who may be eating food every day that contains glyphosate, which was recently classified as probably carcinogenic to humans by the World Health Organization's cancer panel.

The good news is, consumer demand for transparency is now too loud to ignore.

State drives for GMO labeling succeeded in educating millions of people that our most important food crops have been genetically engineered with no transparency. Vermont's labeling law is a victory for the nation and food companies are already well on their way to labeling GMOs for the first time in the U.S. history.
There are far too many vague, yet commonly used terms in the beer world. Most people would struggle to explain what smooth, light, heavy, or drinkability actually mean, but there's one term that is the most questionable and pervasive: Balance. Often the expressed goal of brewers is to create balance, even though it has the most fleeting definition on the list. Ask any beer lover to describe a current favorite brew and balance will probably be mentioned, whether it's a double IPA, gueuze, oatmeal stout or hefeweizen. The problem is that it's unclear exactly what entails that balance. The most common conception of balance is malt sweetness versus hop bitterness. Balance, in anything, is rarely that simple though, and we're talking about the millennia-old beverage that may be the single commodity most responsible for the beginning of written record keeping and civilization. So clearly, balance has been reached in beer in many different ways long before the current popular styles existed, especially since hops have only been used in brewing for one-thousand years.

There are plenty of great beers that can only be described as unbalanced according to the bitter and sweet dichotomy. Many prized IPAs are dry and bitter with a subtle malt flavor that is not even noteworthy. Stillwater's Classique farmhouse ale, for example, is similarly unbalanced by malt; bland corn and rice are used in this beer, clearing the stage for flavorful saison yeast and American hops. Sour flavors can fill in for the bitter ones, too. Beer can have acidity and peppery citrus like a good salad dressing, then a crisp crouton malt bite to "balance." It also could be fermented with fruit for further complexity, like building a salad. The elements of balance in beer like this are completely different than those of an English pale ale. A golden fried food with a squirt of citrus is a much more apt metaphor for that style. I think comparing beer to specific food dishes is helpful, if imperfect, in understanding different ways a beer can achieve balance because the 5 basic tastes can exist in beer, not just sweetness and bitterness. A dry-hopped gose, (a tart, salty ale) might even exhibit sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami flavors all at once, like the complex Pad Thai dish. Harmony might be a better term than balance because it leaves possibilities open that are beyond those two tastes most commonly connoted by that term.

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In the past, brewers had to balance out their brews using whatever resources were available to them, and also in accordance with local tastes. This process has changed with globalization and modernity, but I don't know if it's changed much. Regional tastes are still very distinct, like West Coast versus East Coast IPA, or Czech versus German pilsner, and these variations are still influenced by local demand. When brewers construct a beer that resonates with local consumers, it is usually because a unique, local ethos is perceived in the beer itself. This ethos may be felt by drinkers because of local ingredients, a unique brewing method, or just an attitude presented by the brewery. The birth of the modern American IPA in San Diego most likely came about because brewers and drinkers in southern California felt the bold innovation of brewing beers more bitter than ever before represented their community mindset in some way. They threw traditional ideas of balanced bitterness to the wind and, to traditionalist brewers' surprise, the in-your-face style now rules the American craft beer scene.

Obviously the tastes and available ingredients, not to mention brewing technology, have varied widely throughout the world and different cultures have found different solutions to the issue of balance. In the not-too-distant past, the matter of old beer turning sour was dealt with by adding fresh, sweet beer. The balance reached through this technique led to one of the first phenomenons of beer in the western world, the porter. It was the most popular beer in Britain and it's colonies for at least a century, and strong, or stout, versions of porter were exported to Russia and Baltic countries, spawning even more beer styles. Blended beer isn't made in large quantities anymore, except in Belgium where millennia-old methods of brewing have survived. This is brewing like it was done before yeast was fully understood as a species. The conquest of yeast is perhaps what led to the current cornering of balance.

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U.S. Navy nuclear test, Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands

Nuclear weapons are scary. The risk of use by accident, intention or terror. The climate consequences. The fact that they are designed and built to vaporize thousands of people with the push of a button. Scary. Fortunately, there is something we can do.

We know that nuclear weapons are scary, but we must be much louder in defining them as unacceptable, as illegitimate. By following the money, we can cut it off, and while this isn't the only thing necessary to make nuclear weapons extinct, it will help.

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That's why we made Don't Bank on the Bomb. Because we want to do something about nuclear weapons. Investments are not neutral. Financing and investing are active choices, based on a clear assessment of a company and its plans. Any financial service delivered to a company by a financial institution or other investor gives a tacit approval of their activities. To make nuclear weapons, you need money. Governments pay for a lot of things, but the companies most heavily involved in producing key components for nuclear warheads need additional investment -- from banks, pension funds, and insurance companies -- to sustain the working capital they need to maintain and modernize nuclear bombs.

We can steer these companies in a new direction. We can influence their decision making, by making sure our own investments don't go anywhere near nuclear weapon producing companies. Choosing to avoid investment in controversial items or the companies that make them -- from tobacco to nuclear arms -- can result in changed policies and reduces the chances of humanitarian harm. Just as it wasn't smokers that got smoking banned indoors across the planet, it's not likely that the nuclear armed countries will show the normative leadership necessary to cut off the flow of money to their nuclear bomb producers.

Public exclusions by investors have a stigmatizing effect on companies associated with illegitimate activities. There are lots of examples from child labor to tobacco where financial pressure had a profound impact on industry. While it is unlikely that divestment by a single financial institution or government would enough for a company to cancel its nuclear weapons associated contracts, divestment by even a few institutions, or countries, for the same reason can affect a company's strategic direction.

It's worked before.Divestment, and legal imperatives to divest are powerful tools to compel change. The divestment efforts in the 1980s around South Africa are often cited as having a profound impact on ending the Apartheid Regime. Global efforts divesting from tobacco stocks, have not ended the production or sale of tobacco products, but have compelled the producing companies to significantly modify behaviors -- and they've helped to delegitimize smoking.

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According to a 2013 report by Oxford University "in almost every divestment campaign ... from adult services to Darfur, tobacco to Apartheid, divestment campaigns were effective in lobbying for restricting legislation affecting stigmatized firms." The current global fossil fuel divestment campaign is mobilizing at all levels of society to stigmatize relationships with the fossil fuel industry resulting in divestment by institutions representing over $3.4 trillion in assets, and inspiring investment towards sustainable energy solutions.

US company Lockheed Martin, which describes itself as the worlds largest arms manufacturer, announced it ceased its involvement with the production of rockets, missiles or other delivery systems for cluster munitions and stated it will not accept such orders in the future. The arms manufacturer expressed the hope that its decision to cease the activities in the area of cluster munitions would enable it to be included in investors portfolios again, thereby suggesting that pressure by financial institutions had something to do with its decision.

In Geneva right now, governments are meeting to discuss new legal measures to deal with the deadliest weapons. The majority of governments want action- and want it now. Discussions are taking place about negotiating new legal instruments -- new international law about nuclear weapons. The majority of the world's governments are calling for a comprehensive new treaty to outlaw nuclear weapons.

And they're talking about divestment too. For example, the Ambassador from Jamaica said:

"A legally-binding instrument on prohibition of nuclear weapons would also serve as a catalyst for the elimination of such weapons. Indeed, it would encourage nuclear weapon states and nuclear umbrella states to stop relying on these types of weapons of mass destruction for their perceived security. Another notable impact of a global prohibition is that it would encourage financial institutions to divest their holdings in nuclear weapons companies."

Governments are talking about divestment, and it's something you can do too. If you have a bank account, find out if your bank invests in nuclear weapon producing companies. You can either look at our website and see if your bank is listed, or you can ask your bank directly. We found that a few people, asking the same bank about questionable investments, was enough to get that bank to adopt a policy preventing them from having any relationship with nuclear weapon producing companies.

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Anyone, no matter where they are can have some influence over nuclear weapons decision making. From the heads of government to you from your very own pocket -- everyone can do something about this issue. It doesn't take a lot of time, or money, to make a difference, but it does take you. Together we can stop the scary threat of massive nuclear violence. If you want to help end the threat of nuclear weapons, then put your money where your mouth is, and Don't Bank on the Bomb.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's first serious foreign policy speech made clear that his approach will be based on the idea of putting "America First" in all his decisions. As the noted conservative columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer noted, on the surface, "America First" would seem to be a hard theme to argue with, but also an empty and even dangerous assertion:

"Classically populist and invariably popular, it is nonetheless quite fraught. On the one hand, it can be meaningless--isn't every president trying to advance American interests? Surely, Truman didn't enter the Korean War for the sake of Koreans, but from the conviction that intervention was essential for American security."

Other commentators found that the policy prescriptions Trump offered under the "America First" banner were so contradictory that it was hard to understand who or what, exactly, was really on "First" in the Trumpian world view. As they put it, the remarks "exposed a series of inconsistencies":

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"Trump lambasted President Barack Obama for overextending U.S. military resources abroad without a clear-eyed purpose or strategy. He also said the Obama administration's fecklessness gave the Islamic State group the space to grow and prosper.

"But moments later, he sent conflicting signals about his own prescriptions for confronting the world's most notorious terrorist organization, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

"While he promised 'ISIS will be gone if I'm elected president,' he also said he was not inclined to deploy U.S. troops for combat."

Ordinarily, such contradictions would be enough to seriously undermine a serious presidential candidacy, but Trump is no ordinary candidate, so it is probably important also to examine more closely the overriding theme of his foreign policy approach to get to the roots of his thinking. We will find that "America First" has deep roots indeed in American foreign policy debates and thinking, and that it carries a meaning far beyond the simple two words.

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As Charles Krauthammer observed, "America First does have a history. In 1940, when Britain was fighting for its life and Churchill was begging for U.S. help, it was the name of the group most virulently opposed to U.S. intervention. It disbanded--totally discredited--four days after Pearl Harbor. "

The original America First Movement began in the late 1930s as war broke out again in Europe, against the backdrop of the re-emergence of the strain of isolationism that initially held Wilsonian America back from engagement in World War I, until attacks on the high seas forced the country's hand.

Started at Yale University, the movement attracted contributions from the likes of future President Gerald Ford, future Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, and even a young John F. Kennedy. Trusting that the Western Hemisphere would be virtually impregnable from attacks by the Axis powers, America First adherents argued that national energy should be focused on building a "Fortress America." The most famous advocate for the America First Movement was the aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, who argued that no successful attack on America from Europe could be carried out by air, and to the general public seemed to have the credibility to make that assertion.

Lindbergh gave several radio addresses in 1939-40 and two major nationally broadcast speeches in 1941 (after the European war had moved into France and England) promoting America First. His April 23 speech focused primarily on attacking England for its efforts to draw America into what, Lindbergh believed, was a "hopeless" struggle:

"I do not blame England for this hope, or for asking for our assistance. But we now know that she declared a war under circumstances which led to the defeat of every nation that sided with her, from Poland to Greece. We know that, in the desperation of war, England promised to all those nations armed assistance that she could not send. We know that she misinformed them, as she has misinformed us, concerning her state of preparation, her military strength, and the progress of the war."

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Lindbergh went on to use language that strongly echoes Trump's current rhetoric about the state of the country and the views of what President Nixon used to call the "silent majority," a phrase borrowed early by Trump. For example:

"We have weakened ourselves for many months ... While we should have been concentrating on American defense we have been forced to argue over foreign quarrels. We must turn our eyes and our faith back to our own country before it is too late.

"During the last several years I have traveled over this country from one end to the other. I have talked to many hundreds of men and women, and I have letters from tens of thousands more who feel the same way as you and I. Most of these people have no influence or power. Most of them have no means of expressing their convictions except by their vote, which has always been against this war. They are the citizens who have had to work too hard at their daily jobs to organize political meetings. Hitherto, they have relied upon their vote to express their feelings; but now they find that it is hardly remembered except in the oratory of a political campaign."

It was Lindbergh's second major 1941 speech; however, it earned the America First cause disrepute and presaged its demise after the Pearl Harbor attack late that year. (Ironically, this speech was delivered on September 11, a day that would later prove the continental U.S. was not immune to foreign air power--although of a much different sort than even Lindbergh imagined).

In this Des Moines, Iowa, address, Lindbergh made a fateful reference to an unholy triad of forces he asserted were dragging America into war: "The three most important groups who have been pressing this country toward war are the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration."

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He had already attacked the British and was a well-known opponent of the president, but in singling out Jewish interests, Lindbergh stepped over the line toward blatant anti-Semitism:

"No person with a sense of the dignity of mankind can condone the persecution of the Jewish race in Germany. But no person of honesty and vision can look on their pro-war policy here today without seeing the dangers involved in such a policy both for us and for them. Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way for they will be among the first to feel its consequences.

"Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastations. A few far-sighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention. But the majority still do not.

Trump, of course, has been a frequent critic of the media (which he has also exploited) and pointedly keeps reporters in fenced "pens" at his rallies, watched by security guards. But he has not, like Lindbergh, identified the press pejoratively as Jewish, but just as biased liberals (as does Ted Cruz). Trump's speech contained no anti-Semitism, although the Anti-Defamation League criticized its adoption of Lindbergh's "America First" theme because of is historic association, and called on him to stop using the new slogan.

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The gist of Trump' address, however, did reflect the same critique of European allies (i.e., NATO) and strains of isolationism that Lindbergh frequently called upon. For example:

"It all began with a dangerous idea that we could make western democracies out of countries that had no experience or interests in becoming a western democracy.

"First, our resources are totally over extended. Our manufacturing trade deficit with the world is now approaching $1 trillion a year.

"We're rebuilding other countries while weakening our own.

"Secondly, our allies are not paying their fair share, and I've been talking about this recently a lot. Our allies must contribute toward their financial, political, and human costs, have to do it, of our tremendous security burden. But many of them are simply not doing so.

"They look at the United States as weak and forgiving and feel no obligation to honor their agreements with us. In NATO, for instance, only 4 of 28 other member countries besides America, are spending the minimum required 2 percent of GDP on defense.

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"The countries we are defending must pay for the cost of this defense, and if not, the U.S. must be prepared to let these countries defend themselves. We have no choice."

Trump went on to link his "America First" policy theme to his long-standing positions regarding deporting undocumented residents and stopping the flow of Muslim immigrants or visitors:

"There are scores of recent migrants inside our borders charged with terrorism. For every case known to the public, there are dozens and dozens more. We must stop importing extremism through senseless immigration policies. ... A pause for reassessment will help us to prevent the next San Bernardino or frankly, much worse."

Again, in the same vein as Lindbergh, Trump called for a rejection of policies favored by the established elites:

"Finally, we must develop a foreign policy based on American interests.

"We have to look to new people because many of the old people frankly don't know what they're doing, even though they may look awfully good writing in The New York Times or being watched on television. We will no longer surrender this country, or its people, to the false song of globalism. The nation-state remains the true foundation for peace and harmony."

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Charles Krauthammer summed up Trump's remarks as continuing the underlying view of conservative isolationism from Lindbergh through Pat Buchanan and Rand Paul. But the columnist went on to raise a key question, even for conservative, isolationist voters:

"Trump's version, however, is inconsistent and often contradictory. After all, he pledged to bring stability to the Middle East. How do you do that without presence, risk, and expenditures (financial and military)? He attacked Obama for letting Iran become a 'great power.' But doesn't resisting that automatically imply engagement?"

Krauthammer's question deserves an answer: it is that the "America First" slogan is so dangerously seductive because all its contradictions can be justified by simple application of the slogan, regardless of whether they are inconsistent with one another! Going hard and strong after ISIS certainly sounds like putting American interest first; but so, in isolation, does keeping U.S. troops out of the Middle East. To make his "deal" with the American people, Trump is both "selling" isolationism, and counting on isolationism when it comes to coherent thought.
When was the last time you updated your resume?

From "London Life" to "Rise and Grind NYC," Snapchat Geofilters have become the unassuming backdrops to modern life. They sit behind your basic dog-face selfies, your sultry sexts and the mundane clips of your average nights out. But for some, they're more than just a banal distraction from everyday life. They're an opportunity.

Enter Erik Sena, a 22-year-old senior at San Diego State University. Having applied to advertising firms across southern California and receiving nothing but rejections and emails that went unanswered, he turned to Snapchat to try and help him find a job.

Targeting six ad agencies in San Diego and Los Angeles, Erik hoped that using a custom snapchat filter would help him get attention from the right people.

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He said: "I had nothing to lose. I have applied to a lot of agencies and been rejected or ignored. I graduate this weekend so I really need something.

"I thought why not do a geofilter?"

Trying to get around the costs of applying your own custom filter, Erik tried to submit a community filter, but was rejected within hours.

He then mocked up an improved version, with just his name and the titles "copywriter" and "digital provacateur." The design was accepted the same day.

Spending $108 dollars on the design, the two filters were live at six ad agencies. The Playa Vista filter, in LA, cost $75 dollars for just one hour while the San Diego geotag was only $35 for nine hours.

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Since the filters went live, Erik has got some interest. "So far, I've only heard back properly from one agency, their CEO hit me up on Twitter and someone from a different agency liked some of my tweets."

"Two out of six isn't bad, I was only really aiming for one to recognize me."

The filters themselves contained no contact information or way of looking Erik up on social media, but he doesn't seem too worried.

He said, "As far as contact details, that's definitely something I should've done. But my idea was that if I just got my name out there, they could Google.

"Looking back, I kind of wish I had put some contact details in, but it seems to have worked out so far."

Erik credits the current jobs market for the need to innovate in mediums like Snapchat: "You have to stand out these days if you want a job, especially in advertising. Everyone's trying to make themselves different. Everyone's trying to get decent jobs for right after graduation.

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"The traditional way, handing out resumes, doing applications is so competitive and already so creative, you have to really try to stand out.

"Snapchat's a big deal right now, so are Geofilters, so I thought why not capitalize on both?"

He's also had his fair share of criticism."People have told me it's a cheap gimmick. And that would be true if it was the only tool I was using, I've handed in resumes, I've applied at so many places, and heard nothing.
A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters finds that five of the uninhabitated Solomon Islands have submerged underwater and six more have experienced dramatic shoreline reductions due to man-made climate change. The study by a team of Australian researchers offers scientific evidence confirming anecdotal accounts of climate change impacts on Pacific islands. That evidence consists in part of radiocarbon tree dating and of aerial and satellite images of 33 islands dating back to 1947.

According to the study authors, the Western Pacific, where residents in many remote communities must constantly climb to higher elevations, is a hotspot for tracking sea-level rise.

The Solomon Islands have experienced nearly three times the global average of sea-level rise, 7-10 millimeters per year since 1993--rates consistent with those that can be expected across much of the Pacific in the second half of this century, reported Scientific American.

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Previous research had attributed Pacific island shoreline changes to a mix of extreme events, seawalls, and inappropriate coastal development as well as sea-level rise. But the new study directly links island loss to climate-related phenomena.

Human disturbances, plate tectonics, hurricanes, and waves can mask the effects of climate change. So to hone in on those effects, the researchers studied islands with no human habitation--Nuatambu Island being the one notable exception.

"Rates of shoreline recession are substantially higher in areas exposed to high wave energy, indicating a synergistic interaction between sea-level rise and waves," the study authors said. "Understanding these local factors that increase the susceptibility of islands to coastal erosion is critical to guide adaptation responses for these remote Pacific communities."

U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions Fall But Global COConcentrations Rise

Last year, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions in the United States fell 12 percent below 2005 levels as a result of electric power sector changes.

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The Energy Information Administration (EIA), which released the data, attributed the decline largely to "decreased use of coal and the increased use of natural gas for electricity generation." Such fuel use changes, the EIA reports, accounted for 68 percent of total energy-related carbon dioxide reductions from 2005 to 2015.

Meanwhile, carbon dioxide concentrations at a remote Australia monitoring station--Cape Grim--are poised to hit a new high of 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide for the first time in a few weeks. Though that mark is largely symbolic, the United Nations suggests that concentrations of all greenhouse gases should not be allowed to peak higher than 450 ppm this century to maximize chances of limiting global temperature rise.

"We wouldn't have expected to reach the 400 ppm mark so early," said David Etheridge, an atmospheric scientist with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which runs the station. "With El Nino, the ocean essentially caps off its ability to take up heat so the concentrations are growing fast as warmer land areas release carbon. So we would have otherwise expected it to happen later in the year."

The first 400 ppm milestone was hit in 2013 by a monitoring station in Mauna Loa. Cape Grim and Mauna Loa are among the stations that measure baseline carbon dioxide across the world. Their readings are unaffected by regional pollutions sources that would contaminate air quality.

Companies Relinquish Arctic Drilling Leases

Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, and other major oil and gas companies have relinquished oil and gas leases worth approximately $2.5 billion and spanning 2.2 million acres of the Arctic Ocean.

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The region is estimated to hold 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, but tapping these resources has come at great risk for companies.

"Given the current environment, our prospects in the Chukchi Sea are not competitive within our portfolio," said ConocoPhillips spokeswoman Natalie Lowman. "This will effectively eliminate any near-term plans for Chukchi exploration for the company."

Marketplace reports that data secured through a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that Shell, ConocoPhillips, Eni and Iona Energy have renounced all but one of their leases in the Chukchi Sea--meaning 80 percent of all area in the American Arctic leased in a 2008 sale has or will be abandoned.

Shell Spokesman Curtis Smith said "After extensive consideration and evaluation, Shell will relinquish all but one of its federal offshore leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea. Separate evaluations are underway for our federal offshore leases in the Beaufort Sea. This action is consistent with our earlier decision not to explore offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future."
Innovation is already changing the way we live, commute, shop, and more. But can it make the world a safer place from growing climate and disaster risk? According to the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), the answer is a resounding yes. The biennial Understanding Risk Forum, a major forum for technologists, policy makers, private sector and civil society to exchange ideas and partner to better assess disaster risk, is taking place this week in Venice. I interviewed Francis Ghesquiere, Head of the GFDRR Secretariat, to find out more:

Question 1: What's the evidence that disasters are increasing around the world?

Answer: Forty years ago, the number of reported disasters was around 400 each year. Fast forward to today, that number has more than doubled. During this period global economic losses have totaled $4.2 trillion dollars, with more than half of those costs occurring just in the last decade. What happened?

First and foremost, population is growing and people are moving to cities. This is particularly true in the developing world where systems and standards are not yet in place to ensure that disaster risk is taken into account. This trend is now exacerbated by environmental degradation and climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of events like floods, cyclones and heat waves.

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It is clear that without a radical change in the way we plan today's development, we will never be able to address the disaster risk of tomorrow. Accurate and reliable risk information is the lynchpin of smart investments and policy making, but good information about natural hazards is often missing. This is why we are all meeting this week at the Understanding Risk (UR) Forum. We need to find new ways to assess risk and we need to better communicate about risk so it is integrated in development.

Question 2: Who is attending the Understanding Risk Forum, and what do you expect will come out of it?

Answer:The UR Forum brings together experts from completely different fields but all dealing with assessing the risk of disasters. We have people coming from Silicon Valley working on innovative geospatial technologies, as well as volunteers from NGOs working in the Sahel on how to address the risk of drought. We have scientists working in the Bhutan trying to provide better information on seismic risk in a country that is currently building many dams. And we have psychologists who specialize in trying to understand people's behavior and actions once they become aware of risk.

Overall, we expect more than 800 participants from more than 100 countries. The idea of UR is that by connecting people from different sectors who are working on the same problem, but from different perspectives, we can generate innovation and partnerships that go beyond the current state of play.

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Innovation is the focus of the Forum, so a lot of our presenters and events will highlight new trends in collecting and analyzing risk information, as well as emerging technologies that are giving us a better picture of climate and disaster risk that communities, governments, and development partners can act on.

Question 3: Can you give me some examples of the ways in which better risk information can help countries and communities become more resilient in the face of disaster?

Answer:One thing is clear. By taking risk into account in today's development, we can avoid the disasters of tomorrow. Let's take the example of Bhutan, which has fantastic hydropower potential. Bhutan is currently building a large number of dams. But the country is also in a very active seismic zone. It is crucial that the dams being built are done so using the appropriate standards.

But risk information is not important only for specific types of infrastructure. Cities in the developing world are growing at a breakneck pace. As they grow, housing facilities, transport infrastructure, communication networks, and literally everything that is being built needs to be take the potential impact of natural hazards into account.

To do this, engineers and city planners need the right information. A new tool being presented at the Forum, ThinkHazard!, allows decision-makers to assess their exposure to eight types of natural hazards across the globe, including earthquakes, cyclones, floods, heat waves, etc. The hope is that by making this type of risk information available, they won't be able to say "we didn't know!"

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Question 4: What are some examples of innovations being used on the ground?

Answer: There are a lot a smart people working on this and a lot of new ideas that will be presented at the UR Forum. One of the most interesting advances is in the area of artificial intelligence and machine learning. For a few years now, the community has been using drones to capture post-disaster imagery. But once captured, you still need an engineer to analyze these images and assess the extent of the damage--a process that is time consuming. Can we teach computers to do this for us?

But not all innovation is about technology. The most successful innovations are those that have empowered communities to participate and become sensitized to the risk of disasters. Take the recent case of Nepal. Before the devastating Gorkha earthquake last year, over 6,000 volunteers participated in a crowd-sourced mapping exercise, using smart phones and GPS to more accurately locate emergency routes, hospitals, critical infrastructure, and more. After the earthquake, more than 80% of the regions affected benefited from information collected through this mapping exercise, with the Nepal military, the Red Cross, and other organizations using it to guide their interventions.

Question 5: How can people get involved to help make their own communities more resilient to disasters?

Answer:Disaster risk is everyone's business. It starts at home and making sure you and your family are not exposed to the elements. It is also about influencing the authorities and make sure they consider disaster risk in future investments. It seems logical that building in flood plains should not be allowed, yet it still happens everywhere in the world.

If you want to learn about new technologies and innovations, you can join the UR community at www.understandrisk.org. There are now more than 6000 development professionals, entrepreneurs, scientists, and civil society representatives actively participating in this community and it keeps growing. You can also join us this week the fourth biannual UR Forum taking place in Venice, Italy, a city well aware of the perils of living close to the sea.

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In today's world, you don't have to be a disaster risk expert to make a difference. Whether you are a scientist, a policy-maker, or a concerned citizen, you can all help your community by making it aware of the risk and taking steps toward lasting resilience.

Francis Ghesquiere is Head of the Secretariat for the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction & Recovery (GFDRR). Prior to joining GFDRR, Francis managed disaster risk management programs in the South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean regions at the World Bank. In addition to developing a number of flagship initiatives, including the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) and the Central America Catastrophe Probabilistic Risk Assessment initiative (CAPRA), Francis also led the establishment of the Understanding Risk Forum (UR).
Diane Rehm, the treasured NPR host of The Diane Rehm Show (and friend to UsAgainstAlzheimer's), has written a deeply personal, profoundly moving, incredibly honest book about her life before and after her husband's death. Diane and John were married for 54 years. Admittedly, they were not all blissful -- what marriage is? They loved each other but perhaps were not suited for each other. John, a brilliant lawyer, taciturn and introspective by nature, was happy just to be alone. Diane, though she appreciates solitude, is a gregarious, inquisitive, people person through and through. They would fight -- and make up gloriously. But there were times when John would go without speaking to Diane for three weeks at a stretch.



In 2005, John was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Over nine years, John's condition spiraled downward. When he felt he could no longer lead a dignified life at home, John decided he wanted to move to an assisted living facility. Diane agonized over his decision and her reaction. Should she have insisted he stay at home? Was she a bad person for agreeing? She concluded that she simply wasn't cut out to be a caregiver. She admits with guilt and honesty that this decision plagues her to this day. Still, she visited John virtually every day, always bringing along their beloved long-haired Chihuahua, Maxi.

Eventually, John could no longer take care of himself in any way. When it was clear that he would never again be able to do the most basic personal care, he told Diane that it was time -- he wanted to leave this world. This was not a surprise to Diane. Both of John's parents had committed suicide, and John and Diane had discussed the issue over the years. They had pledged that when either no longer wanted to live, they would help each other end their respective lives.



This was easier said than done given Maryland's laws. John asked for his doctor's help, but the doctor refused. The only option was to refuse medicine, food and water. And that is what he did. John Rehm died 10 days later.

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Distraught and exhausted, Diane returned to her eponymous NPR program with a heavy heart, at the same time grateful for the continuity and the support from her listeners across the country. While I'm mentioning listeners, let me just point out that our D.C. cab drivers are the best informed people you will ever meet. I have yet to ride with a cabbie who doesn't listen to The Diane Rehm Show. To a person they rhapsodize about how wonderful she is and how much they will miss her when she retires. They particularly love her soothing voice and how respectful she is of her guests. But I digress.

After John died, Diane was faced with the reality of a new normal -- in both mundane and profound ways. Who was she now? She was living for one but still thinking about two. The day John died is the day she started writing this book. And in the year that followed, Diane zeroed in on two causes that she would devote herself to: Compassion & Choices and UsAgainstAlzheimer's.



Compassion & Choices is an organization advocating for patient choice in end-of-life care. Diane is passionate about this cause and will undoubtedly be its spokesperson once she retires.

UsAgainstAlzheimer's is an organization dedicated to eradicating Alzheimer's. I wrote an off-Broadway play called "Surviving Grace" about a sitcom writer (which I was) and her mom, who is spiraling down into the unforgiving chasm of this hideous disease (which my mom did). Several years ago, I staged a reading of Act I and asked Diane to help with a rewrite for a Washington D.C. audience. She graciously agreed and, working together, we made it better. (Always the lady, Diane took out the curse words.)

The more we worked, the more it became obvious to me that Diane had to play Grace. Risky, perhaps, since Diane had never been on stage before. But my instinct paid off. Diane was a revelation -- brilliant and laser sharp with a comedic line; heart-rending with a dramatic line. To date, she has played Grace in Washington, San Diego, Raleigh, Indiana and Boston, and we're going to keep going. Watch out, Meryl Streep.

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It's been nearly two years since John's death. Diane is often asked if she has reached closure. "Closure -- no," she responds. "Some part of me will grieve forever."

By the final page of On My Own, Diane realizes that she has become a more positive person -- that life is good and that petty issues are a waste of time. She closes by saying, "I can only hope that this is the message I convey to those around me." And, of course, she does.

Now stop reading this and run -- don't walk -- to get a copy of Diane Rehm's eloquent book. You won't regret it. And then bring your questions to our next Alzheimer's Talks on May 16 when Diane joins me to talk about her book and plans for the future. Sign up today to join us on Monday, May 16 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
"I'm riding a tiger, hoping that the monster will not devour me" -- Chief Justice Willy Mutunga

"Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!" -- Lady Macbeth Act 5, scene 1, 26-40

The cold-blooded and clinical murder of Jacob "JJ" Juma, a businessman described in equal parts as "controversial" and "a fierce critic of the Kenyan Government" harkens a darkness that while worrisome, is not wholly unexpected given the suspected actors -- Kenya's rich and powerful -- and the stage -- Kenya.

Equally unsurprising is the fact that the guilt of yet another high profile life needlessly lost under suspicious circumstances has not prompted a critical mass of Kenyans to demand answers and a more civil less violent public discourse. If anything, reaction to Mr. Juma's death has rekindled the deep toxic partisan and tribal animus that has pervaded Kenya since its independence but now more so than ever.

To some, the late businessman is now a "martyr".

To others, JJ "was another stupid ODM (Orange Democratic Movement -- Kenya's Opposition) thug silenced because of his arrogance and sheer foolishness" as one commenter on Mwakilishi, an online newspaper for Kenya's diaspora community, callously put it.

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As someone who has lost an extremely close family friend to the very type of violence that ended Jacob Juma's forty-something life, my thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones. May the Almighty give them strength during this painful and trying time.

As a critic of the Government of Kenya, especially its first and current one, I am shaken but unbowed. I have embraced the reality that there are risks associated with speaking out, publicly and vociferously against gross misdeeds and malfeasances, especially those implicating the very rich and very powerful. What has made this exercise even more risky in Kenya is that some of the misdeeds and malfeasance can and have been corroborated:

National Youth Service (NYS) Scandal, Eurobond and land-grabbing (Weston Hotel - Langata) are three such misdeeds and malfeasance implicating Kenya's rich and powerful that Jacob Juma repeatedly talked about and apparently had insider info on.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for the perpetrators, in this era of social media and electronic (SMS, Emails, Phone Records) foot and fingerprints, one can run or literally kill a potential victim. However, they cannot hide or erase the evidence. Mr. Juma's social media pages (Facebook and Twitter) are a homicide investigator's dream (and a murderer's nightmare) replete with names, dates, locations and time-stamps.

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Similarly, one can stage-manage a crime scene. They can contaminate or allow the contamination of evidence but the laws of Physics -- motion, momentum, velocity, ballistics, fluid dynamics/mechanics -- cannot be contaminated, distorted or altered. The bullets that felled JJ have their story to tell as does the blood that oozed from the fatal wounds. Likewise, the Mercedes Benz he was traveling in will chime in with its own accounting of the day's events.

In his article "Extrajudicial executions have no place in State ruled by law", Daily Nation's Macharia Gaitho groups the current Government of Kenya alongside the Who is Who of organized crime -- American/Italian Mafia, Chinese Triad, Japanese Yakuza and Russian Bratva -- in how it identifies traitors (perceived or otherwise) within its rank and "silences them for good".

Unfortunately for President Kenyatta and his supporters, the narrative that his government is akin to an organized crime outfit was given credibility by none other than the country's Chief Justice Willy Mutunga. Those cheering the murder of Mr. Juma are tangentially cheering the actions of a government that, to paraphrase its Chief Justice, "has never been as corrupt as it is today."

The soon-to-retire CJ went on to point out that the "influence of the cartels (within the GoK) is overwhelming.....(that) they are doing illegal business with politicians."

Finally, Mr. Mutunga warns that if Kenyans "do not fight the cartels, (they will) become their slaves (and) leaders who do take on the cartels must be prepared to be killed or exiled." I will concede that there were valid concerns about Mr. Juma's approach to "taking on the cartels"; cartels that Mr. Kenyatta himself alluded to in the many speeches he gave regarding corruption in his government.

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However, and as succinctly stated by Mr. Gaitho, "nobody had the right to try, sentence, and execute him (Jacob Juma) outside the judicial process."

Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond aka James Hadley Chase was partly right: The Guilty Are Afraid. That is why they seek absolute and permanent silence of those who know their secrets.
Nakba day is a significant day for the Palestinian people. Almost every family has a story to tell about that day in 1948 when many Palestinians were forced to leave their homes to seek refuge in less troubled lands. For the Sabella family, Nakba day is a day of reflection. Today, I visited my aunt Hilda and uncle Maurice in the Old City of Jerusalem along with a friend and asked them to share more about their memories of Nakba day.

My aunt takes a sip of her sweetened Arabic coffee and looks at me with somber eyes: "I still have the paper and the key, you know," she says. Aunt Hilda was talking about the piece of paper that proved my grandfather's ownership of his home in Katamon in West Jerusalem in the year 1936. I ask her to tell me more about that house. "Your grandfather purchased the estate from the Latin Patriarchate in 1936 and our family lived in it until 1948 when the war broke out," she says. "It was a beautiful home with many empty fields around it," my aunt recalls. "I still remember the view from our front door."

I asked her about what happened in 1948. She shakes her head, takes a puff from her cigarette and takes me back. "Your grandfather used to love this home, but when the Hagana bombed Katamon's Semiramis Hotel killing 26 people in the process, he decided it was time to leave." The Hagana was the Jewish underground militia which was active at the time and later formed the core of the Israeli military. My grandfather was worried that the neighborhood, which was the only Arab neighborhood between two Jewish ones, would continue to be targeted by the notorious Jewish militia. He chose safety first, as did many others who were forced to flee in search of safer grounds.

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My grandfather Zacharia, my grandmother Margaret, my father Bernard, my uncles Abdallah and Maurice, and my aunts Hilda and Bernadette packed their bags and made their way towards Lebanon where they sought refuge in the small town of Ghazir. They stayed there for nine months until they decided to return to Jerusalem and settle in the Old City, which was under Jordanian rule at that time. This is the very home where we were sitting drinking our Arabic coffee and talking today. It is the very home where my family meets for holidays like Easter and Christmas and where we honor and keep alive the many traditions that were celebrated by my grandparents. Back in 1948, this house in the heart of the Old City of Jerusalem was a one room flat. There was no kitchen, no toilet, and no running water. The seven members of the Sabella family lived there in these dire conditions for seventeen years. "But we managed," says my aunt Hilda.

In 1965, the house was renovated and for the first time, the Sabella family, which by then consisted of ten members with the addition of my uncle Tony, my aunt Therese and my uncle David, was able to enjoy a home with running water and an en-suite toilet. In 1972, my family went back to the place where their Katamon home once stood. "We went back there to visit our home but found that it had been destroyed and in its place was a sixteen-apartment building complex," my aunt Hilda recalls. My aunt tells me that my family stood there in silence for a while reminiscing about their childhoods and the surrounding empty fields where they used to play and wander.
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The world's largest aircraft, the Antonov AN-225 Mriya, arrived in India early morning on Friday, landing at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad.

According to reports, this cargo aircraft is the longest and heaviest plane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes.

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The cargo aircraft that has six turbofan engines is specially built to undertake transcontinental route airlifting loads between 180-230 tonnes. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service.

Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence signed a strategic pact with Ukraine's ANtonic Company last month for the assembly, manufacture, and maintenance and repair of its platforms in India, both for the commercial and the military market.

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India reportedly requires over 200 medium lift turbofan aircrafts valued at 35,000 crore, as these are the backbone of all tactical transport support of the air force, army and paramilitary forces.

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Sukree Sukplang / Reuters Australian writer Harry Nicolaides waits inside a detention cell of the Bangkok's Criminal Court January 19, 2009. Nicolaides pleaded guilty to defaming Thailand's crown prince on Monday and faces up to 15 years in jail when he is sentenced later in the day. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND)

NEW DELHI -- The Supreme Court today ruled that India's criminal defamation law does not have a chilling effect on free speech, and told Subramanian Swamy, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, the three petitioners who challenged the constitutional validity of Indian Penal Code Sections 499 and 500, that they would have to stand trial in the cases against them.

Around the world, activists have argued that criminal defamation laws strike fear in the hearts of citizens, especially journalists, who hold back in their criticism of the government and political figures, in effect, curtailing free speech. But most countries have retained criminal defamation laws, punishable with imprisonment, fines, or both.

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There is a very slight shift towards either abolishing or amending criminal defamation laws, but not enough for it to be described as trend. In February, Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court struck down a criminal defamation law which had led to the arrest of scores of journalists in the past. But from Germany to the autonomous republic of Somaliland, citizens are hauled up for "insulting" powerful people, year after year.

In our own neighborhood, Pakistan and Bangladesh mirror India's defamation law , which can land one in prison for a maximum period of two years. In 2003, Sri Lanka emerged as the pioneer in South Asia, repealing its criminal defamation laws, and only allowing for civil suits.

With the exception of Jamaica, criminal defamation laws exists across the Americas including in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Mexico and the United States have no criminal defamation laws at the federal level, but certain states within these two countries still criminalize defamation.

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Criminal defamation is the norm in the European Union, with 23 out of its 28 member states having some form of criminal defamation on their books. The exceptions are Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom.

Over the past year, Turkey, a European Union-candidate, has been in the news for its absurd criminal defamation cases. A family doctor Bilgin Ciftcifor was charged with insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan because he posted online that appeared to liken him to Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Erdogan also sued 17 individuals including minors for calling him a "lightbulb."

With a handful of exceptions, including Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, and Uganda, most countries in Africa have colonial-era defamation laws, which were used to stifle opposition and nationalist movements.

"Criminal defamation laws are nearly always used to punish legitimate criticism of powerful people, rather than protect the right to a reputation," Pansy Tlakula, African Union's Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, said in 2013.

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Adnan1 Abidi / Reuters Bihar's chief minister and leader of Janata Dal United party Nitish Kumar gestures during an interview with Reuters in the eastern Indian city of Patna January 8, 2012. When India launched reforms to open up its state-stifled economy 20 years ago, many states surged ahead, leaving behind the 3.5 percent

Country-made spurious liquor kills 136.Its a news headline from Gujarat, 2009. In alcohol-free Gujarat, as in Pakistan, moonshine deaths are not uncommon. Such a tragedy in Bihar cannot be ruled out.

Oh wait, its already happened. In two separate incidents in April last week, four people have died of country-made hooch. If such an incident takes place on a larger scale, there is little doubt that Nitish Kumars policy of complete prohibition will be blamed for it.

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Amongst the biggest political changes in India over the past decade or so is the rise of the woman voter as an independent constituency. Nurturing this constituency has been one of the key game-changers for Kumar in Bihar.

Kumar is virtually running an all-India prohibition campaign, invited by various womens groups in states including Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. The effort could come crashing down one fine day.

Amongst the biggest political changes in India over the past decade or so is the rise of the woman voter as an independent constituency. Nurturing this constituency has been one of the key game-changers for Kumar in Bihar. Its one of the ways through which Kumar, despite a mere 4% vote of his own Kurmi caste, won a third consecutive term as the chief minister of a state where caste rules the roost.

Having won a third term, Kumar is making a bid to be Indias next prime minister in 2019. Its only fair that a former union minister, a three-term Bihar chief minister, has such an ambition. In post-Modi India, presidential style elections are the new normal. If a three-term Gujarat CM can become PM, why cant Bihar achieve the same?

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In post-Modi India, presidential style elections are the new normal. If a three-term Gujarat CM can become PM, why cant Bihar achieve the same?

Except that the BJP is a national party, and the only other pan-India party is the Congress. Workers of the RSS, who do the hard work of winning in elections, back the BJP. The Congress is backed by historical roots in different parts of the country, from Arunachal to Kerala. Not only does Kumars party have no presence outside Bihar, even in Bihar his party, the Janata Dal (United), is a very weak organisation.

He may be a clever politician whos won a third successive term in Patna, but he has never won an election without a pre-poll alliance. In 2019, Nitish will have to continue his alliance with the Congress and the Lalu Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal. Given the seat sharing in 2015 assembly elections, Kumars party can contest at best 17 of 40 seats in Bihar. Even if the JD(U) wins all 17, can you really become Indias prime minister with 17 seats?

In three years time, Kumar cannot build a party organization and a presence in a chunk of states outside Bihar. Merging a few small parties and appealing to the Kurmi voter in eastern Uttar Pradesh wont make a huge difference. Besides, it is presumptive that the Kurmi in Uttar Pradesh will identify with the Bihar chief minister or his party. A pan-India presidential campaign without the semblance of a party is futile.

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In a presidential style campaign a la Narendra Modi, Kumar will go around India selling his achievements as Bihar chief minister. Regardless of his performance as chief minister, Bihar is still a very poor and backward state, and it is not credible to sell a Bihar model. A look at the pathetic state of Bihars capital city, Patna, is enough bad advertisement for Bihar.

The only way Nitish Kumar can ever become Indias prime minister is a third front kind of coalition, supported by the Congress or the BJP. Such a scenario cannot be ruled out, considering the 2014 results did not disturb the vote shares of political parties in the way that it did the Congress.

However, in a coalition situation, Kumar as consensus choice of a motley group will depend on various factors. For one, why will a party from Uttar Pradesh, Odisha or Tamil Nadu, with much more seats than Nitish Kumar, support him as the consensus candidate for prime minister?
Punit Paranjpe / Reuters India's SpiceJet aircraft prepares for takeoff at the airport in Mumbai July 15, 2008. Budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd said on Tuesday U.S. investor WL Ross & Co LLC will invest about 3.45 billion rupees ($80 million) in the company, helping the shares surge 16 percent in a weak Mumbai market. REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe (INDIA)

NEW DELHI -- The Supreme Court yesterday directed budget airline SpiceJet to pay Rs 10 Lakh as damages to a flyer, suffering from cerebral palsy, who was forcibly offloaded in 2012, saying the manner in which she was de-boarded depicts "total lack of sensitivity".

The apex court noted that the disabled flier Jeeja Ghosh was not given "appropriate, fair and caring treatment" which she required with "due sensitivity" and the decision to de-board her was "uncalled for".

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"On our finding that SpiceJet acted in a callous manner, and in the process violated Rules, 1937 and Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), 2008 guidelines resulting in mental and physical suffering experienced by Ghosh and also unreasonable discrimination against her, we award a sum of Rs 10,00,000 as damages to be payable to her," a bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and R K Agrawal said.

Ghosh was offloaded from a SpiceJet flight on 19 February, 2012 from Kolkata when she was going to attend a conference in Goa hosted by NGO ADAPT (Able Disable All People Together), the second petitioner in the case.

The apex court said the decision to offload Ghosh was taken by the airlines without any medical advise or consideration and her condition was not such which required any assistive devices or aids.

"Even if we assume that there was some blood or froth that was noticed to be oozing out from the sides of her mouth when she was seated in the aircraft (though vehemently denied by her), nobody even cared to interact with her and asked her the reason for the same.

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"No doctor was summoned to examine her condition. Abruptly and without any justification, a decision was taken to de-board her without ascertaining as to whether her condition was such which prevented her from flying. This clearly amounts to violation of Rule 133-A of Rules, 1937 and the CAR, 2008 guidelines," the bench said.

The bench, in its 54-page judgement, further said that differently-abled persons are unable to lead a full life due to societal barriers and discrimination faced by them in employment, access to public spaces and transportation.

"What is to be borne in mind is that they are also human beings and they have to grow as normal persons and are to be extended all facilities in this behalf. Persons with disability are a most neglected lot not only in the society but also in the family. More often, they are an object of pity.

"There are hardly meaningful attempts to assimilate them in the mainstream of the nation's life. The apathy towards their problems is so pervasive that even the number of disabled persons existing in the country is not well documented," the bench said.

It said that the work experience and other qualifications of Ghosh amply demonstrates how a person suffering from cerebral palsy can overcome the disability and achieve such distinctions in her life, notwithstanding various kinds of retardation and the negative attitudes which such persons have to face from the society.

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"Ghosh is a living example who has, notwithstanding her disability, achieved so much in life by her sheer determination to overcome her disability and become a responsible and valuable citizen of this country.

"A little care, a little sensitivity and a little positive attitude on the part of the officials of the airlines would not have resulted in the trauma, pain and suffering that Jeeja Ghosh had to undergo. This has resulted in violation of her human dignity and, thus, her fundamental right," the bench said.

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Rajdeo Ranjan, a senior journalist from Siwan in Bihar, was shot dead on Friday by criminals near the railway station. Ranjan was the bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan in Siwan.

Hours before this incident, another journalist was shot dead in neighbouring Jharkhand.

Ranjan was reportedly shot point blank in the head. One of the bullets hit the 42-year-old journalist on the head and another on the neck. He was taken to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

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According to police, five motorcycle-borne criminals were waiting for Ranjan when he was walking to his home. They reportedly shot him twice.

The incident came on a day RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who was addressing an election rally in Panki assembly constituency in Palamu, visited a journalists home to mourn his killing by criminals a day before in Jharkhand.

On Thursday night, in Jharkhand's Chatra district, a journalist was shot dead by unidentified people. 35-year-old Akhilesh Pratap Singh worked for a local news channel, and was gunned down near the panchayat secretariat of his village.

Nine journalists were killed in India last year and the country ranked an abysmal 133 among 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index.

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Krishnendu Halder / Reuters Women inmates prepare scented floating wax candles inside Chanchalguda Women Prison for the Hindu festival of Diwali in the Southern Indian city of Hyderabad October 24, 2011. Jail authorities have initiated many programs like baking, tailoring and candle making for inmates to upgrade their work skills and prepare them for the responsibilities of life after prison, the director general of prisons CN Gopinath Reddy said. The prisoners can earn about 50 Indian Rupees ($1) for eight hours of work, he added. REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder (INDIA - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY BUSINESS)

In a bid to help women inmates in Karnataka jails rehabilitate faster and maintain bonds with their children, the Director General of Police, Prisons, HNS Rao, has decided to let their guard down  both literally and metaphorically.

According to a report in Bangalore Mirror, Rao observed that the women inmates were unable to interact with their children during their weekly visits  especially because of the four-feet high walls or the three-feet-high metal mesh barrier  a standard in most prisons.

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Women inmates with children craved to see their faces, touch them, talk to them and interact with them, said Rao.

To find a solution to this problem, Rao is now planning to redesign the interview area to make it more 'human-friendly'.

Rao, who was the ADGP, Home Guards and Civil Defence was recently promoted to this new position in a major overhaul of the Karnataka police department.

"The new facility, already up in Tumkur, will facilitate the women inmates to interact with their children freely without compromising the security aspect. The metal mesh barriers won't exist and the mothers can interact freely with their kids inside. A facility where one is not even able to see their children makes no sense," Rao told Mirror.

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However, this facility won't apply to high-security prisons, he added.

As of now, women inmates who are still under trial are permitted visits twice a week, while convicted prisoners are permitted the same just once a week.

The prisons in the southern states of India have now been under constant scrutiny since the Academy of Prisons and Correctional Administration (APCA), Vellore, proposed to institute awards for 'best prisons' in January this year. One of the main criteria in the selection process would be as to how the prison staff handles the inmates.

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A DIY Style 12-Week Plan To Promote Your Next Album

Promoting your album by earning media attention is an excellent way to grow a fanbase, but hiring a publicist may not be in the budget for a lot of independent artist. Here we walk through a twelve week plan for effective DIY promotion.

_____________________________

Guest Post by Hugh McIntyre on the Sonicbids Blog

Every band knows that getting the attention of the media can be very helpful in growing a fanbase and making it, but not everyone has the money to hire a publicist. Sure, Id suggest you go that route if you can, but I also understand that its not always an option.

If youre going to promote your upcoming album on your own, there is a lot of research and planning you should do before you begin. I recently spoke with Jessica Johnson, a project manager at Vocativ who works on album campaigns, and she had a lot of good advice about when certain things need to happen to properly promote your album.





Weeks 0-1: the first single

One of the first things you should do is pitch the first song, which seems pretty obvious, but theres more to it than that. This can be the official first single, or perhaps a promotional single. These terms arent terribly important if you're just starting out and have a small (but growing) fanbase, and you can take them seriously or not. Launching the first single is probably your best bet, as thats the song youll want to invest the most time, money, and effort into.

Reach out to media with an initial offering from the album and see if anybody wants to premiere it. Usually, outlets want at least 24 hours of exclusivity, but you can work that out on a case-by-case basis. To be clear: the song should debut during the first week of the official campaign, so you might have to start pushing it to writers a few weeks prior.

[How to Set Up a Blog Premiere for Your Song in 10 Steps]

Week 2-3: the first music video

If you go with the official single as the first piece of music released from the album, you should be almost ready to share the video as well. The official music video is another great item that outlets like to share, and they will potentially be even more interested if it is connected to a proper "single." The visual treatment will also help spur sales and streams of the first song, which will likely still be gaining ground and working its way to blogs and listeners around the world (if all is going well).

Weeks 4-5: another track from the album

Johnson suggests sharing an additional piece of content every two weeks or so before the release of an album, as it keeps stories coming and fans will have new music to get excited about as they get ready for the record. This would probably be a good time to release a second song from the album. It doesnt have to be an official single, as youll probably want more time to continue to promote your first one, especially if the video has just been released a few weeks prior. You shouldnt skimp on promoting something that took a lot of resources to create, like a music video, but at the same time, you need new material to stay fresh. Its a balancing act for sure, but whenever you release new tunes, your fans will surely be happy, and thats the most important part of this.

Week 6-7: remixes, acoustic covers, and live versions

At this point, you will have two or three songs out, and a music video. So, should you then promote another new song, or go another route? Live versions, acoustic covers, and remixes are all great ways to keep buzz growing for a song that youve already released, but that still has plenty of life left in it.

"We really emphasis doing remixes, because those chart really well on Hype Machine," Johnson explained, saying that rankings on the blog aggregator can be very important.

Week 8: college radio

We wont get too much into radio here, since that can be an entirely different conversation with its own calendar altogether, but I think its worth noting that four weeks out from the albums street date is a good time to send the music to college stations. You can mention in the release you send them which one has a video and is the single, but dont worry too much about it. Why? Johnson says that college kids "like to be their own A&R person," and they often listen and pick their favorites anyways.

[How to Get Your Music Played on College Radio (And Why Its So Important for Indie Artists)]

Week 9: one last song

Its getting close to the actual release of the album, and if youve been able to stay on course (which, in reality, is highly unlikely, so dont feel too bad if things got a little bit messed up), this will be your last new piece of content before the album is made available. Its entirely up to you what you want to release here, but try mixing things up a little bit. If your album is mostly acoustic, try sharing a slightly louder track. If you last sent out an acoustic version of the first single, why not try a remix? Its fine to keep promoting the first single, as long as you do so in interesting ways.

Week 10: send it to the stores

If youre doing this all on your own, this is the point when youll want to send your album to streaming sites and online stores. The best way is to work through a partner like CD Baby orTuneCore, which will automatically distribute the music to all of these places at once on a certain date. You typically only need a few days for it all to be approved, but its better to leave more time than less.

Week 11: premiere the album

The week before the album is actually out, you should be premiering it with a pre-arranged press partner. Its tough to nail down when you should be pitching this or have it secured, as anything related to press can happen at almost any time. You should be pitching throughout this entire campaign, but with certain targets in mind that you're communicating clearly. You can send out the album weeks before its out, but tell everybody when it officially drops and when you want them to premiere it.

One week of exclusivity is a great window, and full albums are often a very juicy piece of content that blogs like to say they had their hands on before anybody else.

Week 12: it's out!

Release the album and tell all your fans to listen to it as much as they can!

Week 13: what to do after it's out

This is the week after the album has already come out, so hopefully you got some good press and the play counts are adding up. Oh, and maybe a few people purchased it?

A week or so after the record has dropped is when you should release a second music video, perhaps for a second single that's out at the same time, or one of the songs you released before the album premiered. Again, there is no perfect or exact way to do this, so it all depends on which route you went. Either way, Johnson says that when she and her team are working with artists, they "typically wont release the second video until after the album is out," as its a really valuable piece of content.

Hugh McIntyre is a freelance pop music journalist in NYC by way of Boston. He has written forBillboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and MTV, as well as various magazines and blogs around the world. He is also the founder and editor-in-chief of the blog Pop! Bang! Boom! which is dedicated to the genre of pop in all of its glory.

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BMIs New Honor Is Called The Taylor Swift Award, And The First Winner Is.

BMI celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind the years most-performed pop songs at the 64th Annual BMI Pop Awards, held May 10 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

______________________________________

This week Taylor Swift was presented with the first-ever BMI Taylor Swift Award, a special award bearing her name in recognition of her incomparable creative and artistic talent and influence on music lovers around the world.

This is only the second time in BMIs 76-year history that the company has presented an award in someones name. The first was to Michael Jackson in 1990.

The lyricist also took home the BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year title once again for penning four of the years most-performed songs from her hit album 1989; Bad Blood, Blank Space, Style, and Wildest Dreams.

Songwriters, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil were awarded the BMI Icon Award for their contributions to the craft of songwriting. The SoCal VoCals, University of Southern Californias premiere acapella group, paid homage to the songwriting team with a musical tribute. The talented vocalists performed a medley of Mann and Weils most iconic songs including We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, Just Once, Youre My Soul and Inspiration, On Broadway, Somewhere Out There, and Youve Lost That Lovin Feeling.

Throughout the evening, the 50 best performing songs in BMIs catalogue were named leading up to the announcement of the BMI Pop Song of the Year. Jeff Bhasker, Devon Gallaspy, Trinidad James, Mark Ronson, Lonnie Simmons, Rudy Taylor, Charlie Wilson, Robert Wilson and Ronnie Wilson shared that honor for their Grammy-winning hit Uptown Funk. Sony/ATV Publishing claimed the prestigious BMI Pop Publisher of the Year crystal with 23 of years most performed songs.

The 64th Annual BMI Pop Awards were hosted by BMI President & CEO Mike ONeill and BMI Vice President of Writer/Publisher Relations Barbara Cane. For a complete list of 2016 winners, visit bmi.com.

via Celebrity Access

PHOTO CREDIT: (L-R) President/CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing Nashville Troy Tomlinson, honoree Taylor Swift, and Sony/ATV CEO Martin Bandier pose with award onstage at The 64th Annual BMI Pop Awards, honoring Taylor Swift and songwriting duo Mann & Weil, at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on May 10, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for BMI)

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J Dillas Low-End Genius

In this piece Carter Lee deconstructs the intricate basslines of deceased record producer and rapper J Dilla, examining the structure of his music both in terms of the theory behind it and the challenges of recreating his specific tone.

________________________________

Guest Post by Carter Lee on Soundlfy's Flypaper

I often get asked about my favorite bassists. It makes sense  Im a bass player. The truth is though, my answers have changed almost constantly throughout my musical development. But despite my shifting interests, ever since I first heard The Shining, J Dilla has consistently had an impact on my playing, and has been the first name that pops into my head as a favorite.

Dilla was a legendary producer; he was the Mozart of Hip Hop; and he had some serious emcee chops. But to me, as a bass player, his construction of bass lines makes him an undeniably talented low-ender. The lines he sampled, chopped, and at times even played, are some of the most beautifully placed and harmonically rich lines ever recorded.

I have always found hours of fertile practice ground in Dillas music, a dojo for anyone trying to understand harmony and groove on a higher level. If youre a bass player and want to hear what tensions in the bass line can sound like, listen to Believe in God from Jay Loves Japan.

And if you want a real challenge in playing on different parts of the beat, check out Dillas remix of the Pharcydes track She Said. I remember being in a bass lab at Berklee, as eight different players tried to play that line. Some came closer than others, but nobody really nailed it. A lot of players try to mimic Dilla, and can sound awful doing it, because on first listen, the lines can sound random, chaotic even, but as you dig deeper into each track, you realize every note is exactly where it needs to be.

With the release of a new posthumous album, The Diary slated for April 15th, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at some J Dilla, starting with his first mainstream production, Stakes Is High. Dilla produced Stakes Is High for the 1996 De La Soul record by the same name. With the bulk of the track coming from a precisely cut sample of Ahmad Jamals Swahililand, this track provided the perfect bed for De Las attack on what was perceived as a declining hip hop culture.

Digging into the musical components of this track, the first thing youll notice is that it feels relentless and in seemingly perpetual motion. That has a lot to do with how active the bass line is, but it has even more do with the fact that the loop is a three bar phrase. While most producers create an even number of bars for their tracks, Dilla was so in command of his craft that he could make the odd structure feel natural. The first two measures provide the tension, and when the harmony resolves with a II-V-I progression, there is a feeling of release and calm for the third measure before it sets right back up.

+ Learn more: Brush up on your theory with our free series of courses, Theory for Producers, made in partnership with NYUs Music Experience Design Lab.

Keeping with the theme of threes, check out the dotted eighth note figure throughout. To my ear, thats where most of the emphasis seems to be placed. Now look at where those figures occur in the track: beat one and four of the first measure and beat three of the second, or every three beats. The fact that Stakes has all of this rhythmic complexity and is STILL a neck-breaking beat is a perfect example of what makes Dilla ahead of his time. Producers like Flying Lotus and Knxwledge have this much depth in their music today, but Dilla did it in 96.

Harmonically, there isnt anything too crazy happening here. As the bass line winds down the F minor scale, the melody uses a fairly constant G, employing it as just about every chord tone and tension possible, beginning and ending as the 9th of the F minor chord. Simple, singable melodies are another Dilla trademark.

Recreating His Bass Tone

The sample is an upright (Jamil Nassers to be exact) so electric bassists wont be able to totally recreate that tone, but you can make some adjustments that will help get you close. Using flat wound strings is a good place to start, as they offer a warm, dark tone that you cant get from round-wounds. Next, use your neck pickup (if you have a P bass even better), keep the tone knob fairly closed, and pluck closer to the fretboard. Scoop out some of the low and high mids on your amp and boost the lows a little. Finally, if you have a reverb pedal, mix in just a touch of it. Nothing can totally recreate the weight and resonance of an upright, but with some experimentation, youll find a wide range of tones on an electric that can almost substitute.

Its hard to explain exactly what learning Dillas music can do for you. All I know is that Ive spent hours sitting on the same loop over and over, trying to get the feel, tone, attack, and placement just right, and Im hoping that eventually, one day, that will show in my playing.

J Dillas posthumous release, The Diary, was released on April 15th. Preview and buy the album on iTunes here!

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These tools help amid ongoing market and legal challenges
Presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump hasnt exactly been forthcoming in his plans for the US health insurance market. When asked during a debate what he planned to do after repealing the Affordable Care Act, Trump responded by saying he would create something wonderful, and allow the sale of insurance across state lines.Establishing a national market for health insurance remains a popular idea among Republicans, and supporters say the removal of state barriers will create more competition and bring down the cost of health insurance.However, Kaiser Health News Julie Rovner said the idea is not so simple.In the first of a series of videos called Sounds Like a Good Idea, Rovner examines interstate selling  a proposal that has been around since at least 2005  by looking at three states that already allow it: Georgia, Maine and Wyoming.Despite these allowances, and the agreement to it in the Affordable Care Act, not a single insurance company has offered to sell a product approved in one state to people in another state, Rovner says.Why not?For one thing, complicated policies designed to limit costs make it difficult to create one size fits all policies that work in multiple areas  particularly due to network limitations.If youre in Florida and you want to buy a plan from North Dakota, its unlikely that North Dakota plan will have many healthcare options for you in the Sunshine State, she said.Yet the idea remains popular. Proponents say creating a national market would allow consumers to save money by buying cheaper insurance plans from states that require fewer benefits, which translates to less expensive premiums.The Affordable Care Act did cut back on these differences between states by creating minimum standards of care, but most Republican plans  including Trumps  count on the repeal of the health law.Rovner and other detractors, however, say this plan would actually incite a race to the bottom in which the insurance industry would come to resemble the credit card industry, with carriers moving to states with the loosest regulations on benefits and sales practices.That could draw the healthier people out of their home states, leaving behind sicker people and causing insurance premiums there to rise, Rovner said. That could put consumers on the hook if something happened.Regulatory issues would also be difficult. If a patient wanted to make a complaint regarding an out-of-state insurance policy, he or she would find their insurance commissioner powerless to do anything about it.In short, selling insurance across state lines sounds like it would be a good idea, but it hasnt worked so far, she said.
Willis Towers Watson has announced the appointment of a 28-year veteran as president and chief executive officer of Willis Programs.Stacy Brown, who brings a strong background in insurance and environmental consulting to the role, will be based in Denver and report to Tom Coughlin, national partner.Brown joined Freberg Environmental Insurance, a subsidiary of Willis Towers Watson, in 1998 and has served as president and managing partner for the past seven years. He will continue to hold this position for the near future, the company said in a news release.Brown will take the place of David Hampson, who retired earlier this year, in overseeing Willis Programs. The program administration business provides underwriting, claim management and loss control services across 36 markets and reaches more than 4,000 independent agents and brokers nationwide.We are thrilled to have Stacy lead our program business and build on the success we have established in the marketplace, Coughlin said. He brings tremendous credibility and deep industry experience in this role.Brown expressed his commitment to Willis clients and commented on what he sees as many opportunities to grow and develop new programs.I look forward to building on the legacy and brand of our insurance solutions, including our portfolio of highly successful Guard programs  MountainGuard, LawyerGuard and DroneGuard  while we continue to evolve other unique offerings including the Smith, Bell & Thompson, and Freberg Environmental programs, he said.
Letter carriers will be picking up donations of nonperishable food on Saturday.

Letter Carrier Food Drive Set for Saturday

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Letter carriers across Berkshire County this Saturday will pick up nonperishable food on their routes to donate to the Friendship Center Food Pantry, among other charities.

North Adams letter carrier and president of the Berkshire County Letter Carriers Union Branch 286 Gary Ghidotti said any resident can donate a bag or box of non-perishable food by leaving it under his or her mailbox. The letter carriers in Adams, Becket, Dalton, Great Barrington, Hinsdale, Housatonic, Lanesborough, Lee, Lenox, North Adams, Pittsfield, parts of Richmond, Sheffield and Williamstown will be collecting the donations and bringing them to their respective loading docks for sorting and packing.

"Many of our neighbors out there aren't eating as well as some of us because, unfortunately, there aren't enough quality jobs in America where people can make a living wage to feed themselves and their families," he said.

Ghidotti said the letter carriers will only collect nonperishable food that has not expired. He asked that people do not leave anything in a glass container.

Food donations in North Adams can also be dropped off at the former Sears location in the Steeple City Plaza on Rear Main Street from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The local food pantry will collect the food periodically throughout the day.

"People can drop it off right there," Ghidotti said. "It would probably make it a lot easier ... it doesn't have to get handled two or three times."

Ghidotti said the Friendship Center is looking for volunteers to help box, weigh, and store the food at Sears. There will be refreshments for those who want to help.

At the Pittsfield Post Office, volunteers from Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Community Action Council, and Taconic High School students from the Berkshire Youth United (BYU) program will distribute the food to the more than 10 food banks.

The letter carrier drive has collected more than 8,000 pounds of food in the past. Also benefiting in North Adams will be the Berkshire Food Project. Letter carriers in other towns will be donating to their local food pantries, such as St. Patrick's in Williamstown.

Ghidotti said every second Saturday in May, letter carriers across the nation have collected food for this fundraiser. He said some 70 million pounds annually has been collected over the last decade or so.

Last year, North Adams collected between 12,000 to 15,000 pounds of food.
Brien Center CEO Christine Macbeth presented state Sen. Benjamin Downing with its Leadership Award on Thursday. Brien Center CEO Christine Macbeth. A few years ago Pignatelli, a Lakers fan, and Downing, a Celtics fan, wagered on a series between the two teams. The loser had to wear the opponent's jersey. The Lakers won then and on Thursday, Pignatelli called on Downing to pay up, presenting him with a customized Lakers jersey. Downing put the jersey on, but didn't keep it on for long. Pignatelli also framed Downing's state license plate, a bumper sticker, and a photo of the Berkshire delegation. PreviousNext

Downing Honored During Brien Center's UNICO Dinner



Maria Congelosi shared her story of how the Brien Center saved her life. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Maria Congelosi was feeling so low that she tried to kill herself.

Congelosi is a Romanian native who came to the Berkshires because she was adopted. By the age of 9 or 10, she started getting into physical altercations with her adoptive mother. Throughout school she felt self-conscious, had depression and anxiety. She was teased by her peers.

"Growing up wasn't easy. I had image issues. I didn't like myself. I was excluded a lot. I didn't have friends," Congelosi said.

Her mother put her in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and Congelosi grew attached to her Big Sister. But that woman started pushing her responsibilities onto Congelosi.

"She kind of took advantage of me and my kindness," Congelosi said. "I always thought she cared but she never really did. A few years ago she finally broke my trust. I've had a hard time trusting people since then."

Her depression picked up. Her anxiety got worse.

"I got to the point when I wanted to die. I felt so worthless. My mom and dad gave me up for whatever reason. I have no idea why," Congelosi said.

On Thursday, tears started to flow down Congelosi's face when she introduced her mother to hundreds of people at the Brien Center's annual UNICO dinner. Congelosi had gone to the Brien Center, where she was matched with therapists and other mental health professionals who got her medication and treatment to conquer her illnesses.

Now, Congelosi has a strong relationship with her mother and has started to "put her self out there." She went from being afraid to speak to addressing a packed Itam ballroom.

"The Brien Center is a place that saved my life," Congelosi said.

Brien Center CEO Christine Macbeth said her story exemplifies what the organization stands for. The nonprofit organizations is 95 years old and has grown to have 27 locations throughout the county, all of which are focused on mental health and addiction treatment for all ages.

"We are guided by the belief that everybody in Berkshire County benefits when people are emotionally healthy," Macbeth said.

Macbeth says 10,000 residents receive service through the company and 4,000 of them are children.

"Prevention works. Treatment is effective and people can and do recover," Macbeth said.

She said the organization is now joining forces with others which are pushing for the de-stigmatizing of mental illness and diseases.

"We as a community must talk more and work harder to education people about mental illness and addiction and destigmatize both. Talking openly with one another about mental health and addiction is the best way to break down the barriers and misconceptions," Macbeth said.

Thursday's dinner, sponsored by UNICO, honored outgoing state Sen. Benjamin Downing, who was presented the Brien Center Leadership Award for his work in the State House supporting the center. The senator has opted not to run for re-election after a decade of service.

"I'm the only member of the House of the Berkshire Delegation that is still there [from] when I started. State senators have come and gone. But I'm taking this one hard, personally. He's not only a good friend and a good partner but a good mentor to so many people," state Rep. William "Smitty" Pignatelli said.



State Rep. William 'Smitty' Pignatelli gave Sen. Benjamin Downing a legislative citation honoring his decade of service. Downing was given the award from Macbeth, and Pignatelli had some other gifts. A few years ago Pignatelli, a Lakers fan, and Downing, a Celtics fan, wagered on a series between the two teams. The loser had to wear the opponent's jersey. The Lakers won then and on Thursday, Pignatelli called on Downing to pay up, presenting him with a customized Lakers jersey. Pignatelli had also framed Downing's state license plate with a photo of his local colleagues, and presented Downing with a citation from the House of Representatives.

After receiving the award and Pignatelli's gifts, Downing credited organizations like the Brien Center as being what makes Berkshire County a "special place."

"This community has given me absolutely every opportunity in life. This community has been there for me and my family when we've gone through tragedy. This community is a special place," Downing said. "We don't give ourselves nearly enough credit for just how special this community is."

In the Berkshires, organizations and individuals find ways to work together and make dollars stretch before asking state or federal officials for help. It is a community with a "unique spirit" filled with people who donate their "time and talent" toward helping others, he said. And he said it is the type of community that is exactly like Pignatelli telling Congelosi when she walked away from the podium to a standing ovation that this is her family.

"Everywhere has challenges but not every has the sense and the spirit of community that this place has. Not everywhere has what Pittsfield has, not everywhere has what the Berkshires has," Downing said.
Samantha Dorwin presents James Gazzaniga with a SkillUSA medal to acknowledge his many years on the McCann School Committee. Gazzaniga shares a laugh with Dorwin and Jordan Reinhardt. Gazzaniga is given a service recognition award from Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch. John Hockridge presents a life service plaque from MASC. Gazzaniga and former superintendent Howard Brookner share memories. State Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, a longtime friend, reads a proclamation from the House. Students from the SkillUSA and Business Professionals of American chapters reviewed their years for the School Committee. Metal fabrication teacher John Kline, left, and Superintendent James Brosnan explain Spenser Tanner's welding accomplishments. Principal Justin Kratz announces Dorwin being named a Presidential Scholar. A standing ovation for Gazzaniga. PreviousNext

McCann School Says Farewell to Longtime Member

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  McCann Technical School celebrated some of its outstanding students on Thursday night, including its oldest: 86-year-old James R. Gazzaniga Sr.



The longtime School Committee member was presented with a special diploma to recognize his 36 years of service, as well as a proclamation from the state House of Representatives, a plaque from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and, perhaps more pointedly, a SkillsUSA medal and T-shirt from the students.



"Being on this committee ... it lived up to every expectation I ever had," Gazzaniga said. "To be associated with this school, these students, this School Committee, has been absolutely mindblowing."



That included the honors piled up the school this past year, including racking up 55 medals at the SkillsUSA district competition, and 31 at states. Two standout students are Samantha Dorwin, who was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar, and Spenser Tanner, who was selected to represent the United States in welding at SkillsUSA in Quebec.



Dorwin, also national Region I vice president for SkillsUSA and No. 2 in her class, gave the keynote address at the state convention. The machine technology student is also a member of the softball team, won a gold in figure skating at the Bay State Games and spoken at a number of public events. She plans to attend Bentley University and study financial management.



"It is an absolutely fantastic honor," said Principal Justin Kratz, saying the school's research had so far found only three students in the history of the Berkshires having been named a Presidential Scholar. "It's a very prestigious honor."



In trying to grasp the magnitude of this award, the school did some calculations: of the 69,298 seniors in Massachusetts this year, only four were named scholars.



"That's less than half of 10,000th of a percent," he said. "That is absolutely mind boggling."



Tanner also excelled, winning one of two Awards of Excellence presented to U.S. competitors in Quebec and coming in fourth overall in the international competition. He spent two days working nine to 10 hours on welding, including against Canadian competitors in their early 20s.

The school's Business Professionals of America chapter also reviewed the highlights of its year.

Gazzaniga is the longest serving elected official for the town of Williamstown and only once, in 2010, did he face a challenger.



He thanked his wife of nearly 60 years, Joan, saying "without her encouragement and assistance, we would not be here tonight."



Williamstown Town Manager Jason Hoch joked he attended and graduated Williams College, went away to work elsewhere and returned last year, all in less time than Gazzaniga had served on the Northern Berkshire Regional Vocational School Committee.



Gazzaniga worked in the business his father founded, the former Gazzaniga's Paint and Wallpaper, and was a guidance counselor at Mount Greylock Regional High School until his retirement in 1990. His wife was a longtime special education teacher.



He had worked with two of the school's three superintendents, and was instrumental in selecting the current superintendent, James Brosnan, in 1995.



"We had three superintendents and each one was the superintendent when we needed the quality they so abundantly possessed," he said.



He recalled the school's past, and how it had flourished and expanded as technology progressed. He joked with former Superintendent Howard Brookner about difficult budgets. And he gave the nod to his successor, David Westall, a McCann graduate and son of the school's first superintendent, James R. Westall.



And there was some laughter as his wife gave the "cut it" signal to his recollections.



"After tonight, I'll be asked what I miss most  everything. It's a package deal. I thank you for the opportunity to share this amazing learning experience," he said, adding to the students in attendance, "you are the proof positive of all the good things that have happened."
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Press Release: Tax Officials from Southern and Eastern Africa Receive Measuring and Managing Performance Training

Press Release No. 16/217

May 12, 2016

On May 913, AFRITACs South and East jointly held a regional seminar at the Africa Training Institute (ATI) in Mauritius on how to measure and manage performance in tax administrations using the International Survey on Revenue Administration (ISORA), hosted on the IMFs Revenue Administration Fiscal Information Tool (RAFIT) data collection platform.

The event brought together senior officials from Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Consistent with the global Financing for Development agenda and the importance of mobilizing domestic resources, the event focused on a recently IMF-developed tool for measuring and managing tax performance. Such a measure enables tax authorities to be effective and efficient as it provides feedback to management on whether the strategies yield the expected results. Using ISORA helps the organization measure its performance from all relevant perspectives and key performance areas.

Seminar participants shared their country experiences in implementing instruments and tools to manage tax performance. They agreed that tax performance management is contingent on a clear leadership commitment and a deliberate change management effort to support implementation of the system as the foundation of good people practices in an organization. Additionally, tax managers need to be supported and held accountable for implementing the new system that should be aligned to the strategic objectives of the organization, measuring performance from all broad perspectives of the business and not solely on performance against revenue targets.
Imperial Valley News Center

Craigslist Robber Who Impersonated Law Enforcement Sentenced To 12 Years In Prison

Oakland, California - Tuan Ngoc Luong was sentenced to 12 years in prison following his conviction for Hobbs Act robbery and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Federal Bureau of Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Bertram Fairries.

A federal jury convicted Luong, 38, of Castro Valley, California, on January 28, 2016, for setting up and committing an armed robbery using Craigslist as the bait to lure his robbery victim. When Luong was convicted of the charges, he already had been convicted in September 2015 of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.

Evidence at his trials showed that Luong posted an advertisement on Craigslist in February 2015 purportedly to sell his car. An unsuspecting potential buyer found the advertisement online and contacted Luong. The two agreed to meet at the Castro Valley BART station where Luong represented to the buyer that he was a sheriffs deputy. At Luongs urging, the victim took the car for a test drive with Luong in the car. During the test drive, Luong claimed he needed to stop at home to get the title to the car and instructed the victim to stop in a secluded residential neighborhood. After they stopped and got out of the car, Luong pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun, pointed it at the victim, and demanded money. Ultimately, Luong robbed the victim of a cellular phone, credit card, and a number of personal items before fleeing in the car. Luong was captured two days later as part of an undercover sting operation after an Alameda County Sheriffs Deputy posed as an interested buyer in response to the same Craigslist advertisement. When Luong arrived to meet the prospective buyer, he was arrested with a black semi-automatic pistol clipped to his belt on the small of his back.

On March 26, 2015, a federal grand jury charged Luong in a three-count indictment with Hobbs Act robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  1951(a); brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  924(c)(1)(A)(ii); and being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g).

The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Haywood S. Gilliam, U.S. District Judge. Judge Gilliam also sentenced Luong to a three year period of supervised release and ordered Luong to pay full restitution to his victim.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Lewis and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Linnett are prosecuting the case with the assistance of Janice Pagsanjan, Jeanne Carstensen, Melissa Dorton, Patty Lau, Noble Hughes, Trina Khadoo, and Katie Turner. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Alameda County Sheriffs Office and the FBI.
Mexican Mafia Member who Controlled Latino Street Gangs in Orange County Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison

Santa Ana, California - A longtime member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang who controlled Latino street gangs in Orange County for at least three decades was sentenced Monday to 15 years in federal prison after being found guilty earlier this year of federal racketeering offenses.

Peter Ojeda, 74, was sentenced this morning by United States District Judge James V. Selna, who said the defendant, notwithstanding his age, still represented a danger to the community.

A federal jury in January found Ojeda guilty of two offenses: conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and conspiracy to commit violent crimes in aid of racketeering. The jury found that Ojeda ordered murders and assaults while incarcerated in federal prison for a prior racketeering conviction.

Ojeda, who is also known as Sana and The Big Homie, has been in federal custody since he was indicted in the prior racketeering case in 2005.

Ojeda is a career criminal and a Mexican Mafia leader, which means he is intimately familiar with the violence, drug trafficking, and extortion that fuels this criminal organization, said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. Prior criminal cases against Mr. Ojeda have not had any deterrent effect, but todays sentence makes it unlikely that Mr. Ojeda will ever be able to walk freely on the streets where his criminal organization has caused so much harm.

Ojeda was convicted by a jury that heard evidence during a two and half month trial before the United States District Court in Santa Ana. The jury found that both conspiracies involved plots to murder other gangsters as part of a turf war with a rival Mexican Mafia member who attempted to assert control over local street gangs after Ojeda was imprisoned in his prior case.

In relation to the RICO conspiracy, the jury found that Ojeda was involved in the operation and management of the Mexican Mafias activities in Orange County, which included conspiring to commit murder, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. Ojeda ordered Latino street gangs in Orange County to pay taxes that consisted of a portion of the proceeds the gangs earned from various criminal activities, including drug trafficking. In return, gang members were permitted to exert influence over their neighborhoods and territories and seek protection or assistance from the Mexican Mafia.

Ojedas girlfriend, Suzie Rodriguez, 53, was also found guilty in the RICO and VICAR conspiracies for acting as a messenger between Ojeda and local gang leaders while Ojeda was housed in a federal prison in Pennsylvania. During the trial, prosecutors argued that Rodriguez acted as Ojedas eyes, ears, and voice on the streets of Orange County. Judge Selna is scheduled to sentence Rodriguez on June 6, 2016.

The Mexican Mafia is a powerful and violent prison gang that controls drug distribution and other illegal activities within the California penal system and on the streets of Southern California by organizing Latino street gang members for the purpose of establishing a larger network for the Mexican Mafias illegal activities. If a street gang does not comply with the demands of the Mexican Mafia, the prison gang will order the assault or murder the offending gangs members, whether they are in custody or on the streets.

In the prior federal case, Ojeda pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate RICO and conspiring to distribute narcotics. In late 2006, he was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. It was while in federal prison that he participated in the subsequent conspiracy that led to his indictment, conviction, and todays sentencing.

Ojedas conviction was the result of Operation Black Flag, an investigation conducted by the Santa Ana Gang Task Force. As a result of the investigation, 59 defendants were convicted on federal charges, and another 40 defendants were prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorneys Office.

The Santa Ana Gang Task Force is made up of agents and officers with the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Santa Ana Police Department; the Orange County Sheriffs Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives; and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The Anaheim Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department and the United States Bureau of Prisons provided substantial assistance.
Two L.A. County Sheriffs Deputies involved in Use-of-Force Incident against Shackled Inmate Sentenced to Prison

Los Angeles, California - Two Los Angeles Sheriffs deputies who were found guilty after a two-week trial earlier this year of falsifying reports with the intent to obstruct justice related to their assault of a waist-chained inmate were sentenced to prison terms Monday.

Former deputies Joey Aguiar, 28, and Mariano Ramirez, 40 were sentenced respectively to 18 months and 13 months in prison by the Honorable Beverly Reid-OConnell. When imposing sentence Judge OConnell found that, in addition to falsifying their reports, Aguiar and Ramirez had engaged in excessive force against the shackled inmate, who was struck, kicked, repeatedly hit by a flashlight, and pepper-sprayed, while he was on the ground.

Aguiar was convicted of one count of falsification of records for submitting a report that falsely stated the inmate, Bret Phillips, who is now 44, was beaten after he had attempted to headbutt deputy Aguiars face and that Phillips violently kicked at Aguiar. Mr. Phillips did neither, according to testimony presented at the trial.

It was undisputed that Mr. Phillips was waist-chained with handcuffs binding his hands to a chain around his stomach throughout the entire beating.

During the trial, Chaplin Paulino Juarez, who was an eyewitness to the event, testified that he repeatedly raised concerns about what he had seen with senior LASD officials, but was rebuffed. Chaplin Juarez ultimately relayed his concerns to the ACLU. The information provided to the ACLU by the chaplain later came to the attention of the FBI. By this time the FBI had begun a wide-ranging investigation into civil rights abuses by the LASD in custodial settings, particularly excessive uses of force by deputies on the 3000 Floor of the Mens Central Jail. Another witness, who was an inmate when Mr. Phillips was beaten, testified that he hid in the shower to avoid being seen by LASD personnel as he watched the deputies beat a defenseless and unmoving inmate. During the sentencing, Judge OConnell stated that she believed the testimony of Chaplain Juarez and Mr. Maestaz.

These defendants attempted to cover up an unwarranted attack upon an inmate who was restrained with waist chains, said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. The reprehensible conduct of these defendants in this case undermines the work of law enforcement everywhere, tarnishing the outstanding performance of the vast majority of officers.

The jury in the case had been unable to reach a unanimous decision on a civil rights offense that alleges the deputies unlawfully beat the victim during the incident on February 11, 2009. The jury reported in open court that it was split 10-2 in favor of guilt. The jury acquitted Aguiar and Ramirez of conspiring to violate the inmates civil rights.

The case against Aguiar and Ramirez is the result of an investigation by the FBI, and is one in a series of cases resulting from an investigation into corruption and civil rights abuses at county jail facilities in downtown Los Angeles. As a result of the investigation, 18 current or former members of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department have now been convicted of federal charges.
President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

Washington, DC - Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

Christopher E. OConnor  Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Tamara L. Lundgren  Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

Inge G. Thulin  Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

Naseem Kourosh  Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Barbara Satin  Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Manjit Singh  Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Jack Martin Brandt  Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Dan Habib  Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Michelle C. Reynolds  Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Ricardo Thornton, Sr.  Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J.  Member, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

John Ruskay  Member, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

President Obama said, These fine public servants bring a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their important roles. I look forward to working with them.

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individual to a key Administration post:

Christopher E. OConnor, Nominee for Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, Department of Veterans Affairs

Christopher E. OConnor is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Previously, he served as Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs from 2010 to 2015. Mr. OConnor served in various roles in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1979 to 2009, including Commanding Officer of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar from 2006 to 2009 and Deputy Legislative Assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps from 2004 to 2006. He served with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing as Assistant Wing Commander from 2003 to 2004 and as Assistant Chief of Staff for Operations from 2002 to 2003 in Okinawa, Japan. Mr. OConnor received a B.A. from the University of Rochester and an M.A. from The George Washington University.

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Tamara L. Lundgren, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

Tamara L. Lundgren is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc., a position she has held since 2008. She first joined Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. as Chief Strategy Officer in 2005. Ms. Lundgren was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase in London and New York from 2001 to 2004 and a Managing Director at Deutsche Bank AG in New York and London from 1996 to 2001. She was a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP in Washington, D.C from 1995 to 1996. Since 2015, Ms. Lundgren has served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Ryder System, Inc., Parsons Corporation, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Portland Branch. Ms. Lundgren received a B.A. from Wellesley College and a J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law.

Inge G. Thulin, Appointee for Member, Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations

Inge G. Thulin is Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of 3M Company, positions he has held since 2012. He held a number of executive and managerial roles at 3M since 1979, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer from 2011 to 2012, Executive Vice President of International Operations from 2003 to 2011, and Vice President of the Companys Europe and Middle East areas from 2002 to 2003. Mr. Thulin is a member on various boards, including Chevron Corporation, World Childhood Foundation, The Business Council, Business Roundtable, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He previously served as a member on the Board of Directors of the Toro Company. Mr. Thulin received a B.A. and M.B.A. from University of Gothenburg.

Naseem Kourosh, Appointee for Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Naseem Kourosh is the Human Rights Officer at the U.S. Baha'i Office of Public Affairs, a position she has held since 2011. In this position, Ms. Kourosh defends the rights of persecuted Baha'i communities, works to advance international religious freedom, and engages with colleagues and partners in discourse and advocacy around human rights issues. Before joining the U.S. Baha'i Office of Public Affairs, she practiced commercial litigation at law firms in New York City, clerked at the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and worked with several human rights organizations. Ms. Kourosh received a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from the New York University School of Law.

Barbara Satin, Appointee for Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Barbara Satin is the Assistant Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force. She is an active member of the United Church of Christ and served on the denomination's Executive Council as its first openly transgender member. Ms. Satin recently worked on the development of Spirit on Lake, a LGBTQ senior housing project in Minneapolis. She served on the Board of Directors for OutFront Minnesota from 2001 to 2008 and has served as Chair of GLBT Generations since 1999. She has also served on the Board of Directors of PFund Foundation, a regional LGBTQ community foundation advancing social justice in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, since 2013.

Manjit Singh, Appointee for Member, Presidents Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Manjit Singh is the President of Agilious, a software technology consulting firm she founded in 2013. He is also co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national Sikh American media, policy, and education organization. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Guru Gobind Singh Foundation and also as a Member-at-Large on the Board of the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington. Mr. Singh received an M.S. from the State University of New York at Albany and a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Bombay, India.

Jack Martin Brandt, Appointee for Chair, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Jack Brandt is the Disability Policy Specialist for the Partnership for People with Disabilities at Virginia Commonwealth University, a position he has held since 2010. Mr. Brandt was a Disability Rights Advocate at the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy from 2008 to 2010, and a Disability Policy Consultant for the State of Virginia from 2006 to 2008. He was a Governors Fellow at Virginias Office of Community Integration for People with Disabilities in 2006. Mr. Brandt has served on the Virginia Community Integration Advisory Commission since 2011 and on the Virginia Statewide Independent Living Council from 2006 to 2012. He received the Colorado Award from the Virginia Department of Aging and Rehabilitation Services in 2013, the Participatory Action Research Award from The Arc of the U.S. in 2012, and the Jackie Crews Award for Excellence in Leadership from the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities in 2006. He was first appointed as a member of the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2010. Mr. Brandt received a B.A. from James Madison University and an M.S. from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dan Habib, Appointee for Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Dan Habib is a Filmmaker and Project Director of the Inclusive Communities Project at the University of New Hampshires Institute on Disability, where he has worked since 2008. Mr. Habib has held a few positions at Concord Monitor from 1998 to 2008, including Photography Editor, freelance photographer, and Staff Photographer. Mr. Habib created a nationally broadcasted film about his son, Including Samuel. He received the Humanitarian Service Award from the University of Michigans College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in 2015 and the Justice for All Grassroots Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities in 2013. He was first appointed as a member of the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2014. Mr. Habib received a B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Michelle C. Reynolds, Appointee for Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Dr. Michelle C. Reynolds is a Research Associate with the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) Institute for Human Development, Missouris University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, a position she has held since 1997. At UMKC, Dr. Reynolds serves as the Director of the Individual Advocacy and Family Support and Missouri Family-to-Family Disability Resource Center. She holds various leadership positions with the National Community of Practice for Supporting Families of Individuals with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities and Missouris Family-to-Family Health Information Center. She was first appointed as a member of the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2014. Dr. Reynolds received a B.A. and M.A. from Rockhurst University and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri Kansas City.

Ricardo Thornton, Sr., Appointee for Member, Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Ricardo Thornton, Sr. has worked at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. since 1978. Mr. Thornton is a member of Project ACTION!, a coalition of adults with disabilities. He is a member of the D.C. Developmental Disabilities Council, serves on the Special Olympics Board of Directors, and an actor with the theatre group Players Unlimited. Mr. Thornton and his wife Donna were the subjects of Profoundly Normal, a made-for-TV movie. In 1997, he was selected by The Washingtonian as a Washingtonian of the Year. He was first appointed as a member of the Presidents Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2014.

Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., Appointee for Member, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J. is a Senior Analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, where he has worked since 2005. Rev. Reese was Editor-in-Chief of America magazine from 1998 to 2005 and an associate editor from 1978 to 1985. Additionally, Rev. Reese was a Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center from 2006 to 2013 and from 1988 to 1998. Rev. Reese entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained in 1974. He was first appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in 2014. Rev. Reese received a B.A. and M.A. from St. Louis University, an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. John Ruskay, Appointee for Member, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Dr. John Ruskay is a partner at JRB Consulting Services, a position he has held since 2014. Dr. Ruskay is currently the Executive Vice President-Emeritus of the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, where he previously served as Executive Vice President & CEO from 1999 to 2014. He began his tenure at the UJA Federation working in a variety of roles in 1993 including Chief Operating Officer, Group Vice President for Program Services, and Executive Director for Education and Community Services. From 1985 to 1993, Dr. Ruskay served as the Vice Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. From 1980 to 1985, he was the Education Director of the 92nd Street Y. Dr. Ruskay received a B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
United States and Cuba to Hold Third Bilateral Commission Meeting

Washington, DC - The United States and Cuba will hold the third Bilateral Commission in Havana, Cuba on Monday, May 16. Following the successful visit of President Obama to Havana in March 2016, Secretary Kerry asked Ambassador Kristie Kenney, the Counselor of the U.S. Department of State, to lead the delegation.

The Secretary places a top priority on deepening our dialogue with the Government of Cuba, the primary mechanism for which is the Bilateral Commission. Deputy Assistant Secretary John S. Creamer will also attend for the United States. The Cuban delegation will be led by Josefina Vidal, the Foreign Ministrys Director General for U.S. Affairs.

The meeting will provide an opportunity to review progress on a number of shared priorities since the last Bilateral Commission meeting in November 2015, including progress made during the Presidents historic trip to Cuba in March. The United States and Cuba expect to plan continued engagements on environmental protection, agriculture, law enforcement, health, migration, civil aviation, direct mail, maritime and port security, educational and cultural exchanges, telecommunications, trafficking in persons, regulatory issues, human rights, and claims for the remainder of 2016.
Notice Asking Women Advocates Not to 'Arrange' Hair in Open Court in Pune Sparks Outrage
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Michael B Jordan will join his former Creed director Ryan Coogler in the up-coming Marvel film Black Panther, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Jordan's role is unclear but he may play a villain in the film, which will hit theaters on February 2, 2018.

Coogler and Jordan first teamed up for the 2013 drama Fruitvale Station, the retelling of the fatal police shooting of Oscar Grant.

The news comes days after reports that Oscar winner and Tony nominee Lupita Nyong'o is negotiating to star alongside Chadwick Boseman, who plays TChalla, the king and warrior of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.

Bosemans Black Panther was introduced in Captain America: Civil War, which generated $700 million worldwide since its release. Civil War directors The Russo Brothers will also team up with Jordan to produce his upcoming remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, Deadline reports.

Last year, Jordan made his major superhero debut when he starred as Johnny Storm in Marvels The Fantastic Four.

Production for Black Panther will begin in 2017.
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The Night Manager fans pleas that lead Tom Hiddleston be the next James Bond appear to have been heard, with the franchises current director and executive producer having apparently set up a meeting with the actor.

Hiddleston was seen with Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli at the Soho House members club in London, according to The Mirror.

If indeed they did meet however, it was probably only a casual chat and they may well be a long way off a deal.

This comes in spite of Hiddleston saying on The Graham Norton Show last week: "The position isn't vacant as far as I'm aware. No-one has talked to me about it.

Recommended Read more Why Hugh Laurie should be the next James Bond

"I think the rumours have come about because in The Night Manager I play a spy and people have made the link."

In fact, while hes never said he wouldnt take the role, hes getting a little tired of the speculation.

"I feel like, I want to just make it stop, he told Sky News last month. Because I have no power over it, but that's what being famous is. You have no power over other people's opinions.

"People have very strong opinions about Bond and why shouldn't they? But it's difficult to talk about because it's a completely unreal conversation in a way.

It's just an idea in people's minds so it's quite hard to engage with because it hasn't come from me if that makes sense.

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"It's odd because it's becoming overwhelming - not the thing of it, but the number of people per day who bring it up, it's actually becoming a weird thing to deal with.

Meanwhile, current Bond Daniel Craig has been pretty inconsistent in his thoughts on returning after Spectre for another film.
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In the sauna-like heat of Hoxton Hall, Foy Vance is explaining the logic to the date of his album release.

Friday the 13th I wanted to give the album the worst possible start, he shrugs. Its an Irish thing.

Vance has a good crowd tonight; the venue is full but not crammed, and fans  some wearing fake moustaches  peer from the balconies down at the small stage as he gets things moving with Upbeat Feelgood, a foot-stamping, head-nodding jam that does what it says on the tin, before the setlist is essentially forgotten and he really gets going.

Foy Vance at Hoxton Hall (Matt Spracklen)

Songs from Vances new album The Wild Swan are obviously the focus for the evening but he manages to cram a few other gems in as he hops between the keyboard and his guitar: "Closed Hands, Full of Friends" from 2013s Joy Of Nothing, along with an an obviously emotional cover of Princes Purple Rain.

She Burns off The Wild Swan is one of the tracks where Vances talent as a writer really shines; the simple guitar hook joined midway by a shimmering drumbeat so the song builds gradually, ahead of "Ziggy Looked Me In The Eye" where his husky cries of revolution recall Tracy Chapman, then to the bluesy Noam Chomsky Is A Soft Revolution that should feel jarring against his typically gospel-fuelled folk rock only it doesnt.

Brief pauses between songs show Vances humorous side; before he begins Unlike Any Other he cracks a joke about the songs subject (shes in the audience) which, rather than detracting from the heartfelt emotion in the track, gives his audience a generous insight into his history, and consequently the idea that they understand more of what hes singing. Its a gift in the form of music thats real and honest by an artist who means what he sings, and that feels like quite a rare thing to be able to do today.

The Wild Swan by Foy Vance is out now. Photos by Matt Spracklen
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After more than 20 years and an infamous legal battle, Glenn Danzig has finally returned to the Misfits to pay his bills play shows in Chicago and Denver.

The Misfits that everyone loved ceased to exist when frontman Danzig left in 1983, though bassist Jerry Only eventually won the rights to use the band name and recorded and toured under it in the 1990s.

Danzig busied himself with his slightly more metal-orientated eponymous band meanwhile, putting out several albums.

If you thought Axl Rose returning to Guns NRoses/standing in for Brian Johnson in AC/DC was unlikely, this is something else, given Danzigs notoriously capricious behaviour.

Glenn Danzig on stage in 2005 (Getty)

In 2011, he threatened to cancel his appearance at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas because it was too cold, demanding vitamins, French onion soup and a Wendys chicken sandwich.

Lengthy negotiations with promoters and several stage heaters later, he eventually agreed to play, starting his set 45 minutes late.

Billed under the slogan They said it would never happen, the Misfits shows run 2 - 4 September at Riot Fest in Denver and 16 - 18 September in Chicago.


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Two tense semi-finals later and the Eurovision grand final line-up has been revealed, with the UKs Joe and Jake hoping to reverse recent embarrassing trends and bring home the trophy on Saturday night.

The duo has been given the penultimate slot in the running order, sandwiched between 2014 winner Austria and the closing act Armenia. The running order is carefully curated by producers to make sure each song stands out and creates the most exciting show possible.

Listen to every song and read our verdicts here, and check out the running order below complete with the best odds at the time of publication (Friday morning) from oddschecker.com:

Belgium, 100/1

Czech Republic, 300/1

The Netherlands, 100/1

Azerbaijan, 250/1

Hungary, 200/1

Italy, 70/1

Israel, 100/1

Bulgaria, 125/1

Sweden, 16/1

Germany, 500/1

France, 14/1

Poland, 150/1

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Australia, 5/1

Cyprus, 150/1

Serbia,100/1

Lithuania, 300/1

Croatia, 200/1

Russia, 8/13

Spain, 150/1

Latvia, 100/1

Ukraine, 11/1

Malta, 50/1

Georgia, 300/1

Austria, 100/1

United Kingdom, 150/1

Armenia, 33/1

Russia remains the clear favourite to win with odds of 8/13, followed by Australia, which returns to the competition for the second consecutive year after being invited to participate again (read more on the thinking behind that here). Ukraine, France, Sweden and Armenia are also in with a shot according to the bookmakers, while the UK trails with best odds of 150/1. Many bookmakers have slashed the UKs odds following an impressive dress rehearsal, however, with some offering odds of 33/1. Russia aside, and whether it can win with a history of poor gay rights remains to be seen, its a pretty open contest this year. Its anybodys game as it stands, so a lot will depend on those final performances.

Graham Norton is providing the commentary once again, with the show starting at 8pm on BBC1.
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It was 9:07 am on 22 March when Belgian police's directorate of operations sent out an email ordering the closure of the Brussels metro.

Earlier that morning, about 8 am, there was an explosion at Brussels Airport. It took federal police almost an hour to conclude that their city was under attack and that all metro lines and major train stations needed to close.

But when police finally sent an email to order that closure, they sent it to the wrong address, a parliamentary committee has learned.

At 9:11am, a bomb went off in a metro train that was about to leave Maalbeek station. Sixteen more minutes lapsed before the city's metro system was finally closed. The Isis militant group later asserted responsibility for the attacks.

According to Politico Europe, authorities sent the crucial email to the private account of Jo Decuyper, the head of the city's railway police, rather than to his official address.

"At that time, I was obviously not sitting in front of my computer," Decuyper was quoted as saying by the Belgian newspaper De Standaard.

In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A private security guard helps a wounded women outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Wounded people receive assistance by rescuers outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Rescue workers treat victims outside the Maelbeek underground station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Passengers waiting to be evacuated from the train between Arts-Lois and Maelbeek In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency services and police work around a metro station after an explosion in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Rescue teams evacuate wounded people outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A woman is evacuated in an ambulance by emergency services after a explosion in a main metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A Belgian soldier stands guard outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels after a blast at this station located near the EU institutions In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian police officers stand outside the Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian policemen and a soldier carrying an injured person after an explosion at the Maelbeek Metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A view of the train after the explosion in Maelbeek station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station People receive treatment as emergency services attend the scene after an explosion in a main metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Maelbeek Metro station after an explosion on a train in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Passengers walk on underground metro tracks to be evacuated after an explosion at Maelbeek train station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station A victim receives first aid by rescuers, near Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Firefighters arrive at the scene near Maalbeek metro station In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency workers arrive at a security perimeter set near Maalbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency rescue workers stretcher an unidentified person at the site of an explosion at a metro station in Brussels AP In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Police seal off the area at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels Reuters In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency personnel are seen at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Emergency personnel are seen at the scene of a blast outside a metro station in Brussels Reuters In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Belgian police and emergency staff arriving in the Wetstraat - Rue de la Loi, which has been evacuated after an explosion at the Maelbeek metro station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station Smoke rising from the Maalbeek underground, in Brussels, following a blast at the station close to the capital's European quarter Getty Images In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station People are evacuated from the Schuman station in Brussels In pictures: Terror attacks at Brussels metro station The scene outside the Maalbeek underground in Brussels after the explosion

Sending emails had become necessary because of disruptions to phone service in and around Brussels after the initial attack. Even authorities had few options apart from communicating via the Internet or smartphone services such as WhatsApp.

However, Decuyper told the parliamentary committee, no email could have prevented the explosion, even if he had seen the order on time.

"Even if there was a button to stop everything and to evacuate  which obviously does not exist  it would not have prevented" the blast, Decuyper said.

He said that evacuating the metro system under normal circumstances would have taken 30 minutes. Apart from that, federal police ordered the metro to shut down only by noon that day  about four hours after the first explosion at the airport had taken place.

The information about the email error has raised new questions about whether Belgian authorities are up to the challenge of confronting Islamist terrorism in their country.

In an interview with CTC Sentinel magazine in August, Belgian counterterrorism official Alain Grignard openly acknowledged the obstacles authorities were facing.

"We dont have the same resources as US law enforcement agencies, but its important to point out you can never provide 100 per cent security," he said. Belgium  a country of 11 million people  has Europe's highest per capita ratio of Isis sympathisers who have gone to Syria or Iraq, and the country's relatively small security services have struggled to address the terror threat.

"Belgium counterterrorism agencies were praised for thwarting the Verviers plot, but luck played its role," Grignard said last year, referring to a terror plot that was disrupted in January 2015 in the city of Verviers.

"Tomorrow we might not be so lucky," Grignard said.

Copyright: Washington Post
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Calvin Klein has been accused of running a "sexist" and "pornographic" marketing campaign after including in it a photograph shot up the skirt of a young woman.

Social media users have taken to Instagram to condemn the clothing company for marketing its underwear with an image of a young-looking model standing with her legs apart and shot from beneath to show her knickers.

While some have said the picture deliberately tries to make her look "about 12", other users have said is a clever and creative idea.

One user, called Saleenjonny, said: "CK in the past for me stood for making you feel sexy in the clothes you are in.

"This ad makes me feel like a pervert. I am not a pervert. Show class not ass. Leave that to Playboy."

Alongside "I react in my calvins", "I kick it in my calvins" and "I sign off in my calvins", this picture goes by the slogan "I flash in my calvins."

Many of the pictures feature slim women baring skin.

Heidi Zak, chief executive of bra and underwear company ThirdLove, based in San Francisco, said the advert was "outdated".

"This isn't the 90s, we're nearly in 2017, it's so dated to keep doing these very provocative over-sexualised ads that are always featuring young women," she told The Independent.

"Haven't we seen this already?"

She added that millienial consumers were concerned with women feeling sexy in themselves rather than being sexy for the male gaze.

But Harley Weir, the photographer who took the shot, has reportedly said she is "very happy" with the reaction to her picture, because it has sparked attention and conversation.

The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Show all 12 1 /12 The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Anne Hathaway The 32-year-old actress said she has already experiences job rejections because of her age. Now I'm in my early thirties and I'm like, 'Why did that 24-year-old get that part? I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it, it's the way things are, she told Glamour. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Helen Mirren On news that Maggie Gyllenhaal had been turned down for being too old, aged 37, to play a 55-year-old mans partner: Its f***ing outrageous. Its ridiculous. Honestly, its so annoying. And twas ever thus. We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger. Its so annoying. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Maggie Gyllenhaal Gyllenhaal revealed she was told by a Hollywood producer that she was too old, aged 37, to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh, she said at the time. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Meryl Streep Meryl Streep has helped fund an all-female screenwriters group called The Writers Lab to encourage more women to pen Hollywood scripts. She previously told Vogue in 2011: Once women pass childbearing age they could only be seen as grotesque on some level. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Emma Thompson The actress said she thought Hollywood is still completely s*** when it comes to treating women equally to men. When I was younger, I really did think we were on our way to a better world. And when I look at it now, it is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women, and I find that very disturbing and sad. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Elizabeth Banks Banks said she was driven from acting to directing due to the lack of roles for older women in Hollywood. "[Industry sexism] drove me to direct for sure. I definitely was feeling that I was unfulfilled and a little bit bored by the things that were coming across my desk. I mean look at Gwyneth Paltrow who has her Oscar [for Shakespeare in Love] and played fifth banana to Iron Man, she told Deadline. PA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Viola Davis I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualised role in TV or film. I'm a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualised woman. I was the prototype of the mommified role, she told The Hollywood Reporter. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Liv Tyler The Lord of the Rings actress said she only get cast in roles where she is treated as a second class citizen at the age of 38. When youre in your teens or twenties, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], youre usually the wife or the girlfriend - a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older, she told More magazine. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Cate Blanchett The actress famously called out sexism on the red carpet at the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards. When a camera operator scanned her up and down, she said: Do you do this to the guys? In her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine, she reminded the film industry that movies with leading women can still be successful. And thank you to... those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women at the centre, are niche experiences. They are not -- audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people. Gareth Cattermole/Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Ellen Page Asked if she had ever encountered sexism in Hollywood, Page told The Guardian: Oh my God, yeah! It's constant! It's how you're treated, it's how you're looked at, how you're expected to look in a photoshoot, it's how you're expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it's how you... If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Zoe Saldana The actress says she refuses roles where she has to play the generic girlfriend, wife or sexy bombshell. "It's very hard being a woman in a man's world, and I recognised it was a man's world even when I was a kid. It's an inequality and injustice that drove me crazy, and which I always spoke out against  and I've always been outspoken, she told Manhattan magazine. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Charlize Theron The actress spoke to ELLE about negotiating equal pay for the Snow White and the Huntsman sequel: "This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way." Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Others said the brand, which is owned by apparel marketing company PVH, which also owns Tommy Hilfiger, was promoting a sexist attitude.

"The issue here is CK's use of this image as public advertising," said another Instagram user.

"They are a global, highly influential brand and their publishing of this image sends the widespread message that taking photos up skirts is OK."

One user responded that online "social justice warriors" were overreacting and the model had been paid.

"This is an underwear shot, on a model that has been paid for this, for an underwear advertisement. I'll buy more quality underwear from you in the future," they said.

The Independent has approached PVH and Calvin Klein for comment.
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Belgian police have warned citizens not to use Facebooks new Reactions, to protect their privacy.

In February, the site launched six new ways of reacting to a post, alongside the Like button. They were intended partly as a way of answering calls for a Dislike button  allowing people to share their feelings about posts without appearing to endorse what had been said.

But the Belgian police now says that the site is using them as a way of collecting information about people and deciding how best to advertise to them. As such, it has warned people that they should avoid using the buttons if they want to preserve their privacy.

10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Show all 10 1 /10 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Around 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day, with the site estimating in September last year that users had so far put up more than 250 billion images. Thats 4,000 photos uploaded every second and around 4 per cent of all photos ever taken, according to a study by Nokia. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Facebooks logo is blue because Mark Zuckerberg is red-green colour blind. Blue is the richest color for me. I can see all of blue," said Zuckerberg in an interview with the New Yorker. The colour is so popular that Facebooks campus store even sells nail polish in the exact shade named social butterfly blue. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Zuckerberg's famously low-key wardrobe (either a grey t-shirt or a hoodie) is so that the CEO saves time deciding what to wear each day. However, Zuckerberg is known to dress up when the occasion demands it. For a 2011 event with Barack Obama he showed up in a suit, with the president introducing himself by saying: Im Barack Obama and Im the guy who got Mark to wear a jacket and tie. REUTERS/Brian Snyder 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook In July 2006 Zuckerberg turned down a $1 billion offer for the site from Yahoo. He was 22 years old at the time and owned 25 per cent of the company. Zuckerberg reportedly turned it down by saying I don't know what I could do with the money. I'd just start another social networking site. I kind of like the one I already have. He definitely made the right choice: Facebook is now valued at $135 billion. 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook A YouGov poll claimed that three-quarter of UK Facebook users' photos showed someone drinking or inebriated. However, the poll did ask users to estimate the number of boozy snaps themselves, and like all things on Facebook, there might have been an element of exaggeration involved. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Facebook operates a bounty hunter program  for bugs. Like many other big technology companies Facebook offers cash rewards to security researchers who point out flaws in the sites code. The minimum payout is $500 and the largest prize to date has been $33,500. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook More than a third of divorce filings in 2011 referenced Facebook, said a survey from UK-based legal firm Divorce Online. The exact figures may be an estimate, but with just under 8 trillion Facebook messages sent in 2013 its certain that a substantial body of evidence is to be found on the social network. 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Zuckerberg isnt much of a Twitter fan. Despite having nearly three hundred thousand followers on the service hes only tweeted 19 times - once in 2012 and the rest in 2009. Although Facebook dwarfs twitter in terms of active users (1 billion compared with 200 million by some accounts) the micro-blogging site handles breaking news better. Facebook has introduced trending topics and hashtags to counter this. 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook Following the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 Iceland decided to rewrite their constitution using Facebook to solicit suggestions from citizens. Unfortunately, despite this forward thinking approach, the document was killed by politicians in mid-2013 for various (mostly technical) reasons. 10 facts you didnt know about Facebook You can browse Facebook upside down. Facebook currently supports more than 70 different languages  including English (Pirate) and English (Upside Down). Check the bottom of the column on the right of your newsfeed and click your current language to change!

The icons help not only express your feelings, they also help Facebook assess the effectiveness of the ads on your profile, a post on Belgians official police website reads.

The site is able to use the tool to tell when people are likely to be in a good mood and then use that to decide when is the best time to show them ads, the Belgian police has claimed.

 Facebook Reactions

By limiting the number of icons to six, Facebook is counting on you to express your thoughts more easily so that the algorithms that run in the background are more effective, the post continues. By mouse clicks you can let them know what makes you happy.

Recommended Read more Facebook to push posts that make people angry to top of feed

So that will help Facebook find the perfect location, on your profile, allowing it to display content that will arouse your curiosity but also to choose the time you present it. If it appears that you are in a good mood, it can deduce that you are more receptive and able to sell spaces explaining advertisers that they will have more chance to see you react.

People have pointed out that Facebooks Reactions tool is helpful to advertisers since it was released. Though the site said as it was launched that it was a way of allowing people to react in more complex ways, it also provides valuable data to Facebook about how things make people feel, as well as encouraging them to interact with posts amid worries that people are becoming less and less personal on the site.

Soon after the feature was released, Facebook also confirmed that reacting angrily to a post would be treated as any other kind of engagement with it. Since Facebook treats engaging with a post as an indication that users want to see more things like it, that means that reacting angrily could lead to seeing similar posts and could be sold to advertisers, too.
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Samsung's upcoming phablet, the Galaxy Note 6, is reportedly due for release in mid-August.

The rumour was started by Evan Blass, prolific mobile industry leaker, who tweeted: "Samsung Galaxy Note 6 US release scheduled for week of August 15."

Blass's tweet only referred to the US, but the Note 6 could see its worldwide debut on the same date. After all, the Note 5, the new phone's predecessor, was released all over the world on 21 August last year.

Obviously Samsung won't confirm whether this date is correct, but it makes sense. Blass is an incredibly reliable source, and an August release date would put the Note 6 on the market just ahead of the iPhone 7, rumoured to be launching in September.

Leaked details about the Note 6 have been trickling through for a while - according to the rumours, it's likely to boast IP68 water resistance, a huge 4,000mAh battery, and a slightly ridiculous 6GB of RAM.

It'll also have a 5.8-inch screen (even bigger than the iPhone 6 Plus's 5.5-inches), and the usual Note slot-in stylus to help with navigation.

We'll know more details as the launch date approaches, but Samsung's clearly trying to produce the most powerful phone they can. Apple is going to have its work cut out for itself.
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Traditionally high-paying industries are increasingly losing popularity among UK graduates in search of professional development and stability, a study has found.

UK graduates are turning away from the banking industry, whose popularity has slipped 4 per cent since 2014.

Likewise, engineering students are showing little interest in taking up jobs in oil companies.

(Universum (Universum)

Tech giants Google and Apple have been named as most attractive employers in the UK, according to Universum, a global research and advisory firm.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a consulting firm, came in third place.

Universum surveyed more than 50,000 students across the UK at 109 universities and found that traditionally highly-paid jobs are no longer the big draw for new graduates.

UK banks HSBC and Barclays, ranked low at 27th and 28th on Universum's UK top employers list, have lost four and three places respectively since 2015. Their US counterparts JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs made the top ten best employers but both lost a place compared to last year.

(Universum)

Uncertainty over next months European Union referendum, which might result in redundancies or positions being moved to other countries, has prompted students to turn to more stable career paths, according to Joao Araujo, manager of Universum UK and Ireland.

Bad press over high executive pay in banking might have dampened students interest in the industry, Araujo said.

With the coming referendum we saw a spike in uncertainty. Meanwhile, we see students more concerned with their stability and more interested in secure employment. When an economy is growing as the UK economy is, the focus should shift to other expectations as job opportunities rise and job-seekers feel they are in the driver's seat, Araujo told the Independent.

Our study shows the opposite: the majority of students seem nervous and eager to have an opportunity  its almost like a flashback to the peak of the latest financial crisis, he added.

This may create difficulties for the banking industry, worsening competition for the most talented graduates at the same time as tech disrupts traditional bank business models.

Graduates are looking to Google and Apple for innovation, a creative and dynamic work environment and high future earnings, the study found. Meanwhile consulting firms like PwC are attractive for the professional training they offer.

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.

Google and Apple keep attracting employees, which means they can pick from the best. This has a viral effect in terms of attracting talent: the more great talent an organisation has, the more people want to join that organisation and earn that badge of competence. If you pass certain recruitment processes, you are really a top talent, Araujo said.

Technology firms make up half of the 10 highest paying companies in the UK,overtaking banking, according to another recent study by Glassdoor.

Software firm SAP, with an average total package of 90,000, topped the list. Cloud computing company EMC, management consultant McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group followed. Each of these firms offered median salaries above 80,000 a year.

The top 10 employers in the UK according to Universum:

1. Google

Google has faced criticism for perceived privacy breaches in the past (Getty)

2. Apple

Apple CEO Tim Cook in San Francisco last September  before these results were announced, the company had experienced 51 quarters of growth (Getty)

3. PwC

Pricewaterhouse Coopers is the biggest private sector employer of graduates (Rex)

4. JP Morgan

(AP)

5. LOreal

(Getty Images)

6. Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs is one of the major city firms helping fund the 'In' campaign (AP)

7. BBC

(Getty)

8. Deloitte

Deloitte and two of its auditors stand accused of failing to adequately challenge Autonomy's accounts ahead of a $11bn sale to Hewlett Packard (Getty)

9. Nike

10. Ernst & Young
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The most important thing for a butler to learn, declared Anthony Senecal, a longtime attendant to Donald Trump, is to keep your mouth shut.

The 84-year-old would likely admit that he has not always followed his own advice.

This week, the man whose job was to get whatever the New York tycoon wanted as quickly and efficiently as possible, found himself at the centre of a self-lit firestorm after a magazine uncovered social media posts in which he called for the death of President Barack Obama.

Mr Trump bought the Mar-a-Lago estate in 1985 (Wikipedia)

One of them read: This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term.

After the revelation, the Secret Service confirmed it was looking into the matter, while the Trump campaign sought to distance itself from the man who served the real estate billionaire up close for many years.

Speaking from his Florida home in Lake Worth, a 20 minute drive from the Mar-a-Lago-Club where he attended to Mr Trumps every demand, he told The Independent he had been visited by a Secret Service agent and three police officers on Thursday evening.

They came to my apartment. There was one Secret Service agent and three sheriffs deputies, he said. They basically asked if I had a gun and whether I wanted to go to Washington.

Asked he he believed the agency was taking the messages he posted on Facebook seriously, he said: They have to.

Mr Senecal was the subject of a lengthy profile earlier this year in the New York Times that revealed how he had been an employee at the Mediterranean-style property, built 90 years ago by the cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, since 1960.

(Copyright (c) 2001 Rex Features. No use without permission. (Copyright (c) 2001 Rex Features. No use without permission.)

He said that when Mr Trump bought the estate in 1985, I came with the furniture. Mr Trump has since used the elegant estate as a getaway, for hosting social events and as the venue for many of the victory news conferences he held after winning primary elections.

But the profile failed to mention the many Facebook posts that Mr Senecal had made over the years and which were revealed this week by Mother Jones magazine.

Another of the postings read: I feel it is time for the SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION !!!!! The only way we will change this crooked government is to douche it !!!!! This might be the time with this kenyan fraud in power !!!!! ...[W]ith the last breath I draw I will help rid this America of the scum infested in its governmentand if that means dragging that ball less dick head from the white mosque and hanging his scrawny ass from the porticocount me in !!!!!

The magazine reported that last summer, one of Mr Senecals Facebook friends wrote a message that referred to Michelle Obama as Sasquatch, and called for her and Mr Obama to be hanged. Mr Senecal responded: Amen....Two of the most DISGUSTING individuals on the face of God's Green Earth !!!! Puke !!!!!!

Mr Senecal, who said he was angry and mean, claimed that nether he or his posts were racist. Never have been, never will be.

Speaking by phone, Mr Senecal he believed Mr Trump was the ideal candidate to be president.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

Its not just because I know him. He is all about honesty and he is honesty. [The current government] is so corrupt, he said. They all need to have their arses handed to them. Harry Reid [the Democratic leader in the Senate] should go to jail.

Mr Senecal said he was not asked by the police to put an end to his comments or his postings on social media. He said it was his constitutional right to do so.

As if to prove his point, he added of Mr Obama: I think he is a traitor and a fraud. I think he should be hanged or thrown in the electric chair.

The Secret Service has said it is investigating the matter though a spokesman refused to confirm whether an agent had visited Mr Senecal this week.

Meanwhile, the Trump campaign sought to distance itself from Mr Senecal, who stopped working as a butler in 2009. He now works as the in-house historian at Mar-a-Lago, a position for which he receives no salary but which is supplemented by the tours he gives of the estate.

Hope Hicks, a Trump campaign spokeswoman, said in an email: We totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him.

Yet many on social media have asked why the presumptive Republican candidate for president would wish to employ a man with such horrible views in such an intimate job. They have also pointed out that this was not the first time Mr Trump has found himself at the centre of controversy over his association with people with extremist opinions.

Earlier this year, the 69-year-old was accused of failing to denounce a former Ku Klux Klan leader who had announced his support for his candidacy.

Just this week, it emerged that a white supremacist had been selected as a delegate for Mr Trump in California. The campaign said it had happened as the result of a computer error.

Mr Senecal said he had not heard from either Mr Trump or his campaign since the controversy erupted. His campaign has said what they would say and that is that. It does not bother me at all, he added. I would do exactly the same.
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The worlds oldest person, Susannah Mushatt Jones, has died aged 116.

The Alabama native died at an elderly peoples public housing facility in New York City on Thursday, according to the Gerontology Research Group. She had lived there for over three decades and had been ill for the past 10 days.

One of 11 children, Ms Jones was born in Alabama in 1899. According to the research group, she was the very last American who was born in the 1800s.

Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images

The granddaughter of slaves, and daughter of sharecroppers, Ms Jones attended a school specifically for young black girls. After graduating in 1922, she worked as a nanny before moving to New York where she co-founded a scholarship fund for young African-American women to attend college.

Ms Jones became the oldest woman alive following the death of 117-year-old Misao Okawa in Tokyo last year.

Last year, Ms Jones revealed what she believed is the key to living a long, healthy life: I never drink or smoke. I surround myself with love and positive energy, she said. Thats the key to long life and happiness.

As far as a daily routine goes, she added she gets lots of sleep and eats a daily breakfast of bacon and eggs.

Ms Jones is survived by over 100 nieces and nephews.

The oldest person alive now is thought to be Emma Morano, a 116-year-old Italian woman who is just a few months younger than Ms Jones.

Additional reporting by agencies.
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A brutal blood-soaked bid to wipe London off the map was a key factor that led to the city first emerging as Britain's capital.

New archaeological research is showing that London's elevated status stemmed partly from a Roman military and political reaction to Boadicea's violent destruction of London and other key cities in the mid 1st century AD.

The investigation, carried out by Museum of London Archaeology (Mola), suggests that the Romans shifted the capital of their British province from Colchester to London shortly after her revolt.

A key piece of new evidence in the Mola research shows that the Roman military built a fort in London immediately after Boadicea (more accurately known as Boudicca) had been defeated  but did not seem to have built an equivalent one in what had, until then, been Roman Britains provincial capital, Colchester. The research on the 125-by-90-metre playing-card-shaped fort is the first of its kind and has been published by Mola as a 263-page book  An early Roman fort and urban development on Londiniums eastern hill. It was located just west of modern Mincing Lane, 230 metres north-east of the northern end of Roman era London Bridge. Archaeologists believe it would have accommodated between 500 and 800 troops  a mixture of legionaries and auxiliaries and of infantry and cavalry.

The research on the fort is hugely significant for how we understand the early development and growth of London  and how, why and when it first became Britains capital, said Julian Hill, a senior archaeologist at Mola.

Archaeologists studying the new fort believe the Romans decided that London had the strategic and logistical edge over Colchester, previously the provincial capital

What's more, quite separate work by British and other scholars now hints at the possibility that, at the same time or shortly after the fort was built, a huge temple to the Imperial cult may well have been constructed in London. One of the key symbols of Colchester's status as the province's pre-revolt capital had been its Imperial cult temple  but that building was partly destroyed during the rebellion, and although it was at some stage repaired, some inscriptional evidence from London suggests the possibility that post-revolt Colchester had to share the Imperial cult role with London.

With the new fort, archaeologists now believe that in the aftermath of the revolt the Romans chose London as their new British political headquarters.

It had three key strategic, mercantile and political advantages over Colchester. First of all it was the nearest point to the sea that the Thames could easily be bridged. The first London Bridge (just a few metres east of the modern one) had been built by the Roman military, probably in 48 AD. Secondly, unlike Colchester, seagoing ships could reach London and unload their freight there. And thirdly, again unlike Colchester which had been a major British tribal capital, London was a totally Roman "new build" city that therefore had no tribal political baggage or implications to be taken into account.

It seems that immediately after the Roman conquest had begun in 43 AD, the then Emperor, Claudius, was keen to impress (and co-opt the status of) Britain's most powerful tribal confederation, the Trinovantes by building his first great Roman fortress there  and making it the capital of the province. But, in 60 AD, when both Colchester and London were both destroyed in the Boudiccan revolt, the Roman authorities appear to have decided that strategic and logistical factors should now determine where their political headquarters and provincial capital should be  and London was then developed far more assiduously than Colchester.

London grew rapidly in the mid 1st century, with the development of a large forum, public baths, amphitheatre, major port facilities and other major buildings

Indeed, within 15 years of the defeat of Boudicca and the upgrading of London, the city experienced huge levels of imperial investment  including a large forum, a public baths complex, an amphitheatre, major port facilities and other major buildings  probably temples.

So rapid was the city's growth (and the consequent demand for residential and commercial real estate), that in about 75 AD the Roman authorities appear to have decided to relocate London's fort. Certainly, by about 120 AD a new fort had been built at the north-western edge of the burgeoning city  in what is now Cripplegate.

The huge military and therefore political importance of London in the post-Boudicca era was not just because of its fort. Archaeologists now think it is likely that most military hardware was channelled into Britain via London. And on the back of that very substantial military transport operation, mainly conducted by private vessels subcontracted by the military, a large-scale civilian mercantile trade rapidly developed.

Archaeological research is shedding light on the nature and scale of both the military and civil operations.

An analysis of finds from the post-Boudiccan fort (which operated from about 61 AD to about 75 AD) shows the sort of military hardware the troops there were being supplied with  everything from armour, spears and shields to horse fittings, oil lamps and writing equipment. In total, about 60 military items have been identified from the fort so far. However, archaeologists have, over the years, also found large quantities of broken military equipment which the Romans had used as part of landfill to raise ground levels on marshy land 400 metres west of the fort. So far, these include well over 500 fragments of Roman helmet, armour, weaponry and cavalry equipment  all potentially from the post-Boudiccan fort. It is the largest corpus of Roman military equipment ever found in Britain.

London commute through the ages Show all 30 1 /30 London commute through the ages London commute through the ages 1854 Ladies' crinolines are loaded onto an omnibus going from Sloane Street to Fleet Street, London Getty Images London commute through the ages 1865 Passengers wearing top hats on a 'knifeboard' omnibus travelling on the route between Bank and the Strand in London London commute through the ages 1900 A cyclist riding a penny farthing over Hammersmith Bridge, London London commute through the ages 1909 The silhouette of the Eros statue hovers above passengers on board a motor bus passing Piccadilly Circus in London Getty Images London commute through the ages 1910 Traffic outside Aldgate East underground station in London London commute through the ages 1913 A woman reading a copy of the 'Suffragette' magazine on an open-top London bus London commute through the ages 1919 London workers on their way to the city during the railway strike Getty Images London commute through the ages 1919 Traffic congestion on the Embankment, London, during the railway strike Getty Images London commute through the ages 1922 A man writing on a complaints poster on the London Underground Getty Images London commute through the ages 1924 Mr Baldock from Clapham Depot Trams arrives at the Law Courts in London to attend an enquiry set up by the Ministry of Labour, into the bus and tram strike London commute through the ages 1926 An independent bus crammed with commuters at Ludgate Circus, London, during the General Strike Getty Images London commute through the ages 1926 A crowded platform at Paddington Station, London, during the General Strike. Passengers have just arrived from Slough on a local train driven by strike-breaking amateurs. The locomotive at bottom left is a GWR 2221 Class 4-4-2T, number 2223 Getty Images London commute through the ages 1929 The Auto Red Bug, America's latest electric two-seater being driven through the streets of London Getty Images London commute through the ages 1940 Members of the public being entertained by an ENSA concert party in Aldwych Underground Station, London London commute through the ages 1940 People from the more densely populated parts of London sleep in underground stations after the nightly bombing raids London commute through the ages 1940 People sleep on the escalators of the underground stations after the nightly bombing raids Getty Images London commute through the ages 1948 A party of Swedish transport workers watching a London Underground train passing through an automatic wash at Hainault, Middlesex London commute through the ages 1952 Rays of springtime sun illuminate a railway policewoman in Liverpool Street Station, London Getty Images London commute through the ages 1956 Commuters travel through London's Piccadilly Circus tube station Getty Images London commute through the ages 1957 Crowds leaving London Bridge Station on their way home from work Getty Images London commute through the ages 1957 Guitarist Brian Hinton busking to travelers on the London Underground Getty Images London commute through the ages 1960 Fox photographer George Freston sits on the London Underground, reading a copy of D H Lawrence's novel 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', on the day the book went on general sale, after a jury at the Old Bailey decided that the book was not obscene, after a 33 year old ban. Fox photographer Les Graves is on his left Getty Images London commute through the ages 1967 London commuters try out the new Raleigh motorised small-wheeled cycle, which features automatic transmission London commute through the ages 1968 A mock-up at the 'Victoria Line' exhibition at the Design Centre, London, of the interior of a new type of carriage which was used on the new Victoria Line of the London Underground. The new carriages featured length ways seating to allow more room for standing passengers, two-level arm rests, which can be shared by adjacent passengers, and internal speakers for driver announcements Getty Images London commute through the ages 1969 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates the Victoria line of the London Underground during the official opening ceremony London commute through the ages 1972 A protest against the proposed closure of London Underground's Central Line from Epping to Ongar, outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images London commute through the ages 1974 Popular singer Desmond Dekker assists Mad Eric Jarvis in his attempt to break the world record for sewage pipe squatting, as they travel on a London tube train London commute through the ages 1975 A queue at the ticket office at Gloucester Road underground station, London London commute through the ages 1975 A policeman asks for the assistance of passengers from Moorgate Tube station following the train crash in the tunnel Getty Images London commute through the ages 1978 Passengers travel on the London Underground

There is even some evidence  Celtic-style metalwork  from the fort area and the landfill, suggesting that native British auxiliary troops from friendly tribes may have formed part of the post-Boudiccan London garrison

The newly re-examined evidence suggesting the possibility that London became a centre for the Imperial cult soon after the Boudiccan revolt is also potentially very significant. It consists of an inscription and two pieces of sculpture. Two items of sculpture (a marble head and a bronze arm) are from imperial statues, probably of the Emperor Nero  and almost certainly date from the 60s AD.

But it is the inscription which is the strongest indicator that London had a large Imperial cult temple. The inscription, in honour of the divine spirit of the emperor, was on a statue plinth which appears originally to have been about 2 metres wide and 1.4 metres high. The unusually large size of this probable plinth strongly suggests that it supported a bronze statue of truly monumental proportions  potentially double life-size.

Underlining the political significance of this once-great statue is a part of the inscription which suggests that it was erected by Roman Britain's provincial council  the province's rubber-stamp "parliament" which was responsible for administering the Imperial cult. Strangely, the inscription and the remains of the plinth it was inscribed on, have always been largely ignored by the archaeological world  mainly because the object was found in 1850, but unfortunately lost by 1859. Only a drawing has survived. However, it is known that it was re-used in a later wall, located only about 150 metres from a particularly large probable riverside temple built in about 75 AD. In terms of wording, the style of the inscription is, in some respects, unparalleled  arguably because of its probable early (potentially 1st century) date. One particular possible rendering of the wording of the inscription would have been especially appropriate for the specific political circumstances of the 70s AD. It is also known from Roman classical sources that during the period 69-81 AD a particularly large number of imperial statues were erected in Britain.
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The reasons why it is common for animals to engage in sexual behaviour with others of the same gender has long puzzled evolutionary biologists.

After all, it doesnt actually lead to the production of offspring and the continuation of the creatures genes.

But now researchers in Sweden have discovered that genes which encourage beetles to engage in what they call same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) can also be evolutionarily advantageous to the opposite sex.

When they bred male beetles selectively for SSB, they found that their sisters laid more eggs and produced more offspring than before. And breeding females for SSB resulted in genes that helped the males reproduce.

Professor David Berger, of Uppsala University, said: Our findings show that studying the genetic links between different characteristics in males and females can hold major clues to how genetic conflicts between the sexes shape the evolution of traits, and same-sex sexual behaviours are just one example of this.

The genetic mechanism explaining the occurrence of SSB that we demonstrate in these beetles could apply equally well in very different animals.

Seed beetles go through a courtship ritual before attempting to mate. In the males, they then mount their partner from behind and insert their version of a penis.

Sex between males carries a small but significant risk as the penis can get trapped in the wing casing of the other male, leading to the death of one or both. Sex between females, the researchers said, was less pronounced with no risk of death.

Another of the research team, Dr Alexei Maklakov, stressed that beetles were very different to humans.

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. 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The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. 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For example, the beetles bred for SSB would still mate with females. Some of the genes concerned were linked to the idea of opportunity cost, Dr Maklakov said.

While some beetles spend time working out if another beetle is of the opposite sex before mating, others deploy a scatter gun approach and there is an evolutionary play-off between the two.

The first group might miss chances to mate, while the second might get tired out due to too much attempted sex.

Dr Maklakov stressed it was important not to try to read too much into their research.

Its very difficult to extrapolate directly in any way from animals to humans, he said.
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Chief constables have had to be reminded that the dead cannot be charged with criminal offences, after the Crown Prosecution Service complained of receiving a number of requests regarding dead suspects.

CPS director Alison Saunders had to issue the notice to senior police officers to stop them from presenting CPS lawyers with endless files of evidence on dead suspects.

In a directive published on the CPS website, Ms Saunders said: Since deceased persons cannot be prosecuted, the CPS will not make a charging decision in respect of a suspect who is deceased.

This applies in all cases where the suspect is deceased, including cases in which the police made a referral to the CPS for a charging decision prior to the suspect's death. The CPS will also not make hypothetical charging decisions.

The advisory comes as prosecutors and police deal with a huge increase in investigations into past child abuse cases, including disclosures about Jimmy Savile.

Prosecutors anticipate the number of historical cases being presented to continue to rise as the Goddard inquiry into institutional child abuse begins its public hearings into alleged cover-ups in Lambeth, the Catholic church, the Church of England and Westminster.

Operation Hydrant, the primary national investigation into non-recent child sexual abuse, which is liaising with the Goddard inquiry, has more than 2,228 investigations on its database, including investigations into 302 people of public prominence. The suspects involved include 286 dead people.

Last month the former head of Britains police chiefs called for less money to be spent on historical child abuse cases and more attention given to current cases.

Sir Hugh Orde said resourcing a historical investigation over current day cases was a back to front way of using limited resources.

The CPS said in its new advice that police may want to continue an investigation if a suspect dies during their inquiry, because living suspects could be linked to the dead person. However, Ms Saunders said, lawyers would not be giving hypothetical advice on whether the deceased could have been charged.

When advising on or making charging decisions in such cases, the CPS may need to consider the role played by the deceased suspect, and the evidence against that suspect, the guidance said. Although the CPS may undertake a detailed review of the evidence against the deceased in these circumstances, it will not make a charging decision in respect of the deceased.
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Four members of gang who hunted down and murdered a teenager in east London are facing life behind bars.

Marcel Addai was stabbed 14 times after the tripped and fell while trying to escape the knife-wielding members of notorious Hackney gang, Fellows Court, in September last year.

The 18-year-old, a member of the rival gang Hoxton Boys, was stabbed close to his home at Wenlock House, Hoxton after being chased by the gang who arrived in a convoy of cars to attack him.

Sodiq Adebayo, 23, Momar Faye, 19, Sheku Jalloh, 23 and Rikell Rogers, 23, were found guilty of Marcels murder at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

Three others, Akeem Gbadamosi, 22, Eugene Ocran, 19, and David Oladimeji, 21, were acquitted.

During the trial, the defendants blamed each other for the attack and had to be handcuffed and forcibly kept apart by guards while in the dock when the verdict was read out, the London Evening Standard reports.

Abebayo broke down in tears and Faye shouted at the jury Im an innocent man, you have thrown my life away for no reason.

He also threatened the trio who were acquitted saying he was going to do them when the got the chance.

(L-R) Sodiq Adebayo, Rikell Rogers, Momar Faye and Sheku Jallo (London Metropolitan Police)

Make the most of the time you have, youre a bad boy, he added.

During the trial, witnesses said they had heard a commotion at around 10pm on 4 September as the gang arrived in a black Mercedes, a silver Vauxhall Astra and a dark blue BMW to find Marcel.

He attempted to zigzag and run away from them but tripped and was stabbed repeatedly after falling to the ground.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. 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The attack happened out of the range of CCTV cameras, but the gang members were tracked down using the vehicle licence plates.

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC remanded the four in custody ahead of their sentencing hearing next week.

All will face a minimum term of life in prison but the judge will set the minimum term they must serve before being considered for parole.
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A London teenager has told of how the managed to fight off knife-wielding burglar while tied up at his 5m home - armed only with an umbrella.

George Zelonka, 19, said he was able to free himself after a masked raider burst into his bedroom in Hampstead, west London, bound his hands with cable ties and screamed: Im going to kill you.

Describing the incident as like a Tarantino movie, the film studies student says he was forced to lie on the ground as a man waved a knife in his face.

Instead, he leapt to his feet, snapped the cable ties binding his hands and attacked him with the first thing the could find - the umbrella.

Footage from the familys CCTV camera shows Mr Zelonka battering the intruder as he ran from the property during the incident on Tuesday.

The teenager then returned home and called his father, a property developer working in the City, who contacted the police.

Officers arrived minutes later and carried out a major search of the area but were not able to locate the robber.

Mr Zelonka insists he is not a hero and the adrenaline just kicked in.

Mr Zelonka says he is 'not a hero' and was just acting on adrenaline (Nigel Howard/London Evening Standard)

He told the London Evening Standard that he had been in his bedroom revising for exams when the burglar, wearing a flesh-coloured mask, burst in brandishing a 9 inch knife at 5:45pm.

He said: When he was tying me up I felt completely helpless, I couldnt contact anyone and I was totally at his disposal.

He had this skin-coloured mask, so I could only see his eyes, and he kept saying he was going to kill me.

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It could be my paranoia from watching too many Quentin Tarantino movies, but I heard him going for plastic bags and something inside me just said get up.

Ive no idea how I broke the cables but it definitely scared him. I shouted at him You have no idea who youre messing with and the dynamic completely changed.

He said the intruder then began backing out and jabbing the knife at him to keep him away.

The man then ran away before being followed by Mr Zelonka carrying the umbrella.

 Baby-holding bar owner fends off armed robber

The teenager said he chased him until he reached the Heath where he decided it was probably best to let him go.

His father, George Zelonka, praised his sons actions and said he had thought his son was playing a prank to get out of revision when he first answered the phone.

He said of his son: "I think he saved his own skin by being so aggressive and making a lot of noise, he didnt let himself become a victim.

"He turned the tables whereas most kids his age, even men my age, would have had a heart attack.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA

"This guy had him face down with a knife and suddenly within seconds it completely turned around. Its amazing, hes never even been in a fight before. I think this will be the making of him."

He said the family did not know what the intruder was looking for as he had passed Mr Zelonka Snrs study containing his laptop and his wallet to go to the bedroom.

I hope they catch the guy who did this because it clearly wasnt his first time and he could do it again. He needs to be off the streets. Thankfully the police are all over it, he added.
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A Scottish council has drawn up rules for the use of fake Facebook profiles to spy on people, it has been reported.

East Lothian Council staff are allowed to use false identities on Facebook in order to befriend and monitor "targets", The Sun reported.

Details of the rules and regulations surrounding the practice were outlined in a report about "surveillance through social media," which the paper claims to have seen.

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It said that council staff were allowed to look through social media profiles which were not protected.

However, the reasons why officials would want to monitor people's online behaviour are not specified in the document.

A spokeswoman for the council told The Sun that it had told by the Surveillance Commissioner that social media monitoring is regulated by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), which tells public bodies what kinds of surveillance techniques they can use.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. 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The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. 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The powers laid down by RIPA are meant to be used "in the interests of national security," but councils have used the act in the past to monitor local newspaper journalists and detect fraudulent uses of disabled parking badges.

In a statement to the paper, the council said: "Although East Lothian Council has never used covert identities for social media as part as an investigation, and is highly unlikely to do so, a policy must be put in place to include all eventualities even if they are not used."

"Creating false identities would undergo even more rigorous testing and will not ever be used by East Lothian Council - it is a provision aimed at the police."

A spokeswoman said the council agreed not to use the powers at a cabinet meeting on 10 May.

Other councils have been more ready to use RIPA powers, however. Poole Borough Council was forced to apologise in 2010 after the Investigatory Powers Tribunal ruled against its use of RIPA to spy on a family to check they were living in the right school catchment area.

The Independent has contacted East Lothian Council for further comment.
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I need my children. I miss them so much  I hear their voices every daybut they are not with me.

Those are the words of a Syrian mother whose family is being kept apart by the UKs reunion rules for refugees.

Amal Alwadi and her husband Muhammed are living in Sheffield after their asylum applications were accepted by the British Government.

The Alwadi family became separated as they fled the Syrian civil war (British Red Cross)

But their teenage son remains stranded in a refugee camp in Calais, while their 20-year-old daughter is living in Turkey.

In a video message to Theresa May, they described the pain of not seeing them in nine months.

We fled our home country due to war, bombing and destruction  my children and I fled to other countries in Europe because our home was destroyed, Mr Alwadi, a former lawyer, said.

Now I can no longer see them and they can no longer see me.

They need me, for they are my children, a piece of me.

The Alwadi family became separated in 2012 when a crackdown on Arab Spring protests by the Syrian government and ensuing fighting forced them to flee to Libya.

Muhammed Alwadi and his wife Amal have been unable to get visas for their two older children to join them living in Sheffield. (British Red Cross)

But when the security situation there became increasingly dangerous amid violence by warring militias, Muhammed made the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

He journeyed onwards to the UK and after being granted refugee status in December 2014, he immediately began the process of applying for family reunion.

Almost a year later his wife Amal and their two youngest children Lin and Majd were granted visas to join him, but the couples two eldest children were refused because they were over the age of 18.

I need my children, I miss them so much, Amal said.

I still remember their voices in my ears every day. I miss their laughter, our late nights together, having fun together.

Our life is truly heart-breaking without them.

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.

Their eldest son, Kusai, was living with his sister Athar in Turkey but decided to make the journey to France last year and has been living in Calais for five months.

His mother said he is aware of nightly attempts by fellow asylum seekers to reach the UK through the Channel Tunnel but she begs him not to make the attempt.

The video message to the Home Secretary was recorded as part of the British Red Cross Torn Apart campaign.

The charity is campaigning for a change in legislation to extend reunification to include young people who were living with their parents at the time they were forced to leave their home country.

Alex Fraser, its director of refugee support and international family tracing, said the Alwadi family was just one example of how current policy is forcing refugee families through more pain and trauma.

No one should flee conflict only to endure more loss and pain simply because their child is over the age of 18, he said.

You do not stop becoming parents to your children when your child turns 18.

One of their children has been living in a refugee camp in Calais for five months (PA)

Any parent will tell you that the love and concern you have for your child does not lessen as they get older, and so that is why we are calling on the government to make a change to the rules and enable families to build a new life together, safe from conflict and persecution.

The Red Cross cited the Children Act 1989 among the examples of legislation classing young people up to the age of 25 in some circumstances.

The charity is working to reunite family members in the refugee crisis, helping 606 people so far this year.

Nick Clegg is among the politicians supporting the Torn Apart campaign.

This is about decency and compassion. Families like the Alwadis have already had their lives turned upside down by conflict, they shouldnt have their families torn apart by petty technicalities in Britain too, the former deputy Prime Minister said.

I hope the Home Secretary will listen to their story and those of families like them and expand the criteria to allow more families that have fled war and persecution can stay together.

A spokesperson for the Home Office has not yet responded to The Independents request for a comment
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The Government is considering changing laws banning term-time holidays for school children after father won his case in the High Court.

The Department for Education said it was disappointed with the ruling in favour of Jon Platt, who refused to pay a fine for taking his six-year-old daughter out of lessons for seven days for a family holiday to Florida last year.

The evidence is clear that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupils chance of gaining good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances, a spokesperson said.

We are confident our policy to reduce school absence is clear and correct.

 Dad wins holiday ruling

We will examine todays judgement in detail but are clear that childrens attendance at school is non-negotiable so we will now look to change the legislation. We also plan to strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities.

Mr Platt was prosecuted under section 444 of the Education Act, which stipulates that parents are guilty of an offence if they fail to ensure their child attends regularly at school.

The law does not specify a length of time, although the Department for Education sets its bar for persistent truancy at 90 per cent.

New rules introduced in 2013 said absences should only be authorised by schools in exceptional circumstances, allowing fines to be imposed for anything judged to fall short of the benchmark.

Previous guidance allowed headteachers to grant up to a fortnight holiday in term-time each academic year for pupils with good attendance records.

Jon Platt won a high court battle over taking his daughter on holiday during term time and is now starting a company to help other parents who did the same thing to recover fines (PA)

After returning from his family holiday in April last year, which included a visit to Walt Disney World, Mr Platt was issued a 60 fine that quickly doubled when he refused to pay.

The battle escalated to reach the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court in October, where Mr Platt won his case, but the local authority appealed the decision to the High Court.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge on Friday, ruling that the magistrates had not erred in law when reaching their initial decision.

The two judges said magistrates were right to take into account the wider picture of Mr Platt's daughter's regular attendance record when they decided he had no case to answer.

Speaking outside court after his victory, he said: I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents.

The High Court ruling, which sets a legal precedent in England and Wales, was eagerly awaited by families enduring huge price hikes in the school holidays.

Many were celebrating the triumph of common sense on Twitter, with some hailing Mr Platt a hero.

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He said his children have never had less than 93 per cent attendance in an academic year and refused to accept he had committed a criminal offence by paying the original fine.

Julie Robertson, a lawyer who has represented parents challenging school holiday fines, said his victory should give magistrates courts the final say on the issue, and encourage councils to adopt a proportionate and common sense approach before handing out fines and launching prosecutions.

She said that over several years of similar cases she had not once met criminally incompetent parents, adding that many had taken their children on educational holidays.

What constitutes reasonable attendanceis not something you can put a blanket figure on without taking into account the academic record of each individual child, she added.

Attendance alone does not guarantee that a child will do well academically, nor does missing a few classes prevent them from succeeding.

Prosecuting parents does not in any way help children to learn.
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The High Court has ruled that a father who took his daughter out of school for a family trip to Florida did not break the law, paving the way for more parents to take pupils on term-time holidays.

Jon Platt refused to pay the charge for taking his family on the holiday after her Isle of Wight school refused permission for seven days of absence.

After returning from the break in April last year, which included a visit to Walt Disney World, he was issued a 60 fine that quickly doubled when he refused to pay.

A prosecution against Jon Platt was thrown out at the High Court (PA)

The battle escalated to reach the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court in October, where Mr Platt won his case, but the local authority appealed the decision to the High Court.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge on Friday, ruling that the magistrates had not erred in law when reaching their initial decision.

The two judges said the magistrates were right to take into account the wider picture of Mr Platt's daughter's regular attendance record when they decided he had no case to answer.

Speaking outside court after his victory, he said: I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents.

Many were celebrating the triumph of "common sense" on Twitter, with some hailing Mr Platt a "hero".

The father said the case had cost him 13,000, which he described as money well spent, and has crowdfunded 25,000 to cover legal costs.

Taking his six-year-old daughter out of school was not about the cost but rather the principle that he should not be criminalised for doing so, he said.

Jon Platt was cleared by magistrates but the decision was challenged by Isle of Wight Council (PA)

"If the law required 100 per cent attendance, if the law said your children must attend every single day in order to get a great education, the law would say that - but it does not, he told ITVs Good Morning Britain programme.

"We are not arguing on behalf of people whose kids don't go to school, I'm arguing on behalf of people whose kids go to school every single day and maybe once a year they take them out for five days.

"It does not harm them at all. How do I know? Because my own kids are doing really, really well in school. They never had 100% attendance but they never had less than 93% attendance.

"Paying the fine was an acceptance that I had committed a criminal offence, I was so indifferent to my children's wellbeing that it amounted to a criminal offence.

"That's just not true - I'm not such an incompetent parent or so indifferent to their wellbeing that I should be criminalised for it.

Mr Platt was fined 60 again in February after taking his daughter on another trip out of school holidays to Lapland.

He was prosecuted under section 444 of the Education Act, which stipulates that parents are guilty of an offence if they fail to ensure their child attends regularly at school.

The law does not specify a length of time, although the Department for Education sets its bar for persistent truancy at 90 per cent.

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New rules introduced in 2013 said absences should only be authorised by schools in "exceptional circumstances", allowing fines to be imposed for anything judged to fall short of the benchmark.

Previous guidance allowed headteachers to grant up to a fortnight holiday in term-time each academic year for pupils with good attendance records.

The Liberal Democrats argue that the caveat should be reintroduced, with headteachers able to allow 10 days absence.

John Pugh MP, the party's education spokesperson, said the current rules impact on families on low and middle incomes.

"It was an arbitrary threat that hurt those who work hard, save and want to take their family away for a few days," he added.

"The combination of steep prices during school holidays and seasonal working patterns mean some families will never have the chance to take a break together.

"Enabling children to visit extended family or visit new places can also be a valuable learning experience."

The Department for Education said it was disappointed with the ruling in favour of Mr Platt but would consider changing the law.

Prices for package holidays in popular European destinations spike at the start of the school holidays (AFP/Getty Images) (DESIREE MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images)

The evidence is clear that every extra day of school missed can affect a pupils chance of gaining good GCSEs, which has a lasting effect on their life chances, a spokesperson said.

We are confident our policy to reduce school absence is clear and correct.

We will examine todays judgement in detail but are clear that childrens attendance at school is non-negotiable so we will now look to change the legislation. We also plan to strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities.

The High Court ruling, which sets a legal precedent in England and Wales, was eagerly awaited by parents enduring huge price hikes in the school holidays.

Craig Langman, chairman of the Parents Want a Say campaign, which opposes the term-time holiday ban, called the court case a pivotal moment.

It's time we bring discretion and common sense back into the education system, he said. This nonsense has been going on for two years too long."

The ruling came as a survey revealed families face paying more than double the price for a package holiday as soon as school holidays begin.

Research by travel money provider FairFX of package holidays said prices increased by up to 115 per cent for a family of four at a four star hotel in Tenerife, Majorca, the Costa del Sol and the Algarve.
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A young transgender person has said identity is "not about what's between your legs" in one of the first interviews with users of the UK's only specialist gender development clinic.

Colin, a 16-year-old who was born biologically female but lives as a boy, is one of the 1,400 young people referred to the Tavistock Centre in London for gender identity - a referral figure that has doubled over the past 12 months.

Another interviewee first had treatment for gender dysphoria at nine years old.

Recommended Read more Germaine Greer stirs controversy for her latest transgender remarks

The interviews come in the same week that Barack Obama said US schools would be required to allow pupils to use whichever gender toilet they identified with under a new federal law.

Colin, who is from Brighton, said he first asked his mother if he could be a boy aged three years old.

Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Show all 4 1 /4 Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Lea T. locking lips with Kate Moss on the cover of Love magazine's Spring/Summer 2011 issue Kate Moss and Lea T styled by Katie Grand and shot by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender model Lea T on the cover of Love magazine's Spring/Summer 2011 issue Lea T styled by Katie Grand and shot by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Lea T. on Givenchy's autumn/winter 2010 campaign Givenchy Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Transgender supermodel Lea T in pictures Brazilian model Lea Tisci (Lea T) poses as she arrives for the amfAR 21st Annual Cinema Against Aids during the 67th Cannes Film Festival Getty Images

"Basically gender is what's been your ears, not what's been your legs," he told Radio Four's Today programme.

"I feel it's something really innate within you, your gender. It has no correlation to your body."

When asked whether having a disorder of some kind was now "fashionable" or "attention-seeking" behaviour among young people for a feeling which would simply have been "put up with" by previous generations, Colin said he felt much happier.

"Well, I think if I'd wanted to do something for attention then there's plenty of things that I could do for attention that would have been more easy and less emotionally and physically painful," he said.

"Logically it would seem easier to continue life as a woman. I'm happier like this than I've ever been."

His words were echoed by Poppy, a girl born as a boy called Louis who transitioned at age nine.

"Something felt wrong inside. Being a boy's a bit stressful," she said.

"I'm not sure [why] but it's weird, a weird feeling."

Research on transgender identity and gender dysphoria first began in the 1970s and started out trying to help children become comfortable with their biological sex rather than allowing them to transition.

Today young people may have access to hormone treatments to delay puberty until they know which gender they wish to live in as an adult, as well as non-hormone based treatments such as chest binding.
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Brexit would have negative and substantial long-term economic consequences for the UK, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

And Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the Fund, has echoed the words of the Bank of England Governor yesterday in suggesting that a vote to leave could potentially trigger an immediate technical recession.

It is the latest international body, following the OECD, to state unequivocally that leaving the EU would be damaging for Britains economy.

Recommended Read more Bank of England warns EU referendum could damage UK economic growth

A vote for exit would precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial volatility and a hit to output the Fund argues in its latest annual Article IV analysis summary of the UK economy today. Among the impacts it cited a possible "sharp drop in equity and house prices [and] increased borrowing costs for households and businesses".

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the IMF, told journalists that Brexit would likely lead to lower output, lower growth and higher domestic prices and that the outcomes would range from pretty bad to very, very bad.

Referring to two consecutive quarter of negative growth, she added: "A technical recession is one of the probabilities of the downwide risk scenario in the event of a leave vote."

The IMF report added that fears of Brexit already appears to be having an impact on investment and hiring decisions, with recent surveys of economic activity falling to their weakest levels in three years.

The Leave campaign dismissed the IMFs warning. The former Conservative Chancellor, Lord Lamont, said: This daily avalanche of institutional propaganda is becoming ludicrous and pitiful. Important institutions are being politicised and used to make blood-curdling forecasts.

Priti Patel MP, who is backing the leave campaign, said: It appears the Chancellor is cashing in favours to Ms Lagarde in order to encourage the IMF to bully the British people.

For her part, Ms Lagarde strongly denied the report's conclusions on Brexit had been influenced by the Treasury. Heck no! If you are suggesting that you don't know the IMF she said.

Ms Lagarde added that the IMF had to analyse the economic impact of Brext because of its implications for the global economy.

I don't think that in the last six months I have visited a country anywhere in the world where I have not been asked 'what will be the economic consequences of Brexit?' So it is out of duty and loyalty to our mission that we have to study that in depth."

The report adds support to fears that Londons status as a global financial centre could be imperilled by Brexit as UK-based firms may lose their passporting rights to provide financial services to the rest of the EU and banks and clearing houses might move operations out of London.

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 IMF itself has not yet released its own detailed statistical estimates of the potential size of the hit to the UK economy from leaving the EU. Those are expected to be released in the full Article IV document on 16 or 17 June - the week before the 23 June referendum vote.

But the Fund today notes that other analyses by the likes of the Treasury, PwC and the National Institute for Economic and Social Research have estimated the damage by 2030 at between 1.5 and 9.5 per cent of GDP relative to staying in.

It said the range of views mainly reflect differing assumptions about the UKs trade relationship with the rest of the EU post-Brexit and stresses that the overwhelming consensus of experts is that the impact of departure would not be positive.
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Jeremy Corbyn has been announced as the keynote speaker at the conference of New Labour pressure group Progress.

The Labour leader will give a speech to members of the group on Saturday as it meets in central London for its annual gathering.

The organisation, which advocates for a political approach closely associated with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, endorsed Liz Kendall for the leadership of the party in 2015.

Recommended Read more Corbyn tells Labour MPs to stop sniping and turn fire on Tories

We are pleased to announce Jeremy Corbyn is keynote speaker at the Progress Annual Conference 2016, a spokesperson for the organisation said.

MPs associated with Progresss policies and networks have been amongst Mr Corbyns fiercest critics  with former chair John Woodcock having previously said the party cannot go on like this under his leadership.

The conference is likely to be a tough gig for Mr Corbyn, who hails from the partys left wing and has been subject to criticism from those further to the right and centre in his party.

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

If successful the Islington MP could however build valuable bridges with his fiercest critics within Labour, after an unexpectedly reasonable local election result that saw the prospect of a coup against his leadership fade.

Mr Corbyn responded to the local election result by saying Labour needed to do more to win in 2020.

Elements of the partys left wing have previously criticised Progress. In January, John McDonnell said resignations from Labours front bench came from a narrow right wing clique within the Labour Party, based around the organisation Progress.

Both the late Labour MP Michael Meacher and Jon Lansman, the chair of Momentum, have described the group as a party-within-a-party on account of its separate membership structure and internal lobbying activities.

In 2016 the organisation has received funding from Lord Mandelson, the former Labour business secretary, and Lord Sainsbury, a billionaire and close friend of Tony Blair.
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Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has said she will not rip up her manifesto following the partys defeat in the Scottish elections last week.

The party was pushed into third place in Scotland for the first time in 100 years at the election, which saw the Scottish Conservatives replacing them as the official opposition to the SNP.

Despite this, Ms Dugdale said on BBC's Question Time that she did not believe Scotland had rejected her manifesto - which focused on raising taxes for the rich.

She said instead of people rejecting her partys policies, Labour were squeezed out by the debate on a second referendum.

Ms Dugdale claimed: What happened last week was we were defeated. The people of Scotland spoke and they sent us a big strong message. They wanted to make clear that they oppose the second referendum, those issues came to the fore again.

I fought that campaign on trying to move on from those referendum arguments of the past. I believe that Scotland wanted to move forward whether we were a 'Yes' or a 'No'.

What happened last week was Labour were squeezed between the SNPs desire for independence and the Tories deserve to talk about this threat of a second referendum.

Kezia Dugdale said she is proud of her manifesto and believes it is what Scottish people really want (Getty Images)

Ms Dugdale, who replaced former Labour MP Jim Murphy after his defeat in the general election last year, said she knew it was a terrible night for her party, but that there were positives to take from it.

She said: I lost a third of my colleagues. I have not come on this programme to say it wasnt a bad night for my party.

[But] I think the people of Scotland also sent a message to Nicola Sturgeon that they wanted her to be First Minister, they wanted her to carry on, but she wasnt going to have it her own way.

She then turned on SNP MSP Humza Yousaf, who was also on the panel, after he said the election showed the country were overwhelmingly in favour of SNP policies and that Labour were fuelled by a blind hatred of his party.

She said: First of all I would like to take exception to Humza saying my party is fuelled by a blind hatred of yours. I dont hate your party, I just disagree with it.

I disagreed with it during the election campaign when you refused to ask the richest people to pay a bit more tax so we are able to protect our public services.

Humza, a little bit of humility on your part would go a long way.

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

Ms Dugdale said during the campaign if you looked on the front page you could see Labour was in trouble but if you looked on page two you can see that there was overwhelming support for Labours policies.

Labour lost 13 seats in the Scottish parliament elections last week.

Along with the poor result in Scotland, the party struggled in the English council elections in comparison with how opposition parties usually perform at this part of the election cycle, though they performed well in London.
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MPs could be banned from talking out or filibustering laws proposed by backbenchers, under proposals drawn up by an influential parliamentary committee.

The House of Commons procedure committee, which is investigating the way that backbench legislation is made, has recommended that some bills proposed by backbenchers be given a guaranteed vote at their second reading  far increasing their chances of becoming law.

Under the proposals, time limits would be imposed on MPs speeches on a Friday afternoon to stop them from indefinitely delaying the debate until time runs out for a vote.

A small number of mainly Conservative backbenchers have caused consternation in recent months by blocking a series of pieces of backbench legislation by using up time with long, sometimes rambling speeches.

Bills blocked without a vote by the loose group of legislators include one to mandate that children be taught first aid in schools, another to remove hospital car parking charges for carers, and one to make sure that homes rented out by private landlords are fit for human habitation.

But the procedure committees chair, Conservative MP Charles Walker, criticised the current arrangements as being unreasonable.

The current process misleads the general public, often falsely raises expectations about legislative action, and operates under procedures which are too easily gamed to prevent genuine legislative proposals from proceeding, he wrote in an article for UCLs Constitution Unit.

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

Calling for more transparency in the way the system works, Mr Walker added:

It is now extremely difficult for a genuine private members bill to reach the statute book  increasingly, not because the House as a whole has decided that a bill should not progress, but because a small number of members opposed to a measure can effectively veto it.

He said that were reform not implemented, backbench legislation, as we know it, will cease.

The committee suggested that the number of MPs chosen in a ballot to introduce private members bills be reduced from 20 to 14, that the first bill debated each Friday be guaranteed a vote following a full days debate.

A register would also be set up for members to demonstrate cross-party support for such bills.

The proposals are currently being considered by the government, which may or may not grant a vote on their implementation.

Over 50,000 people have signed a petition on the parliament website calling for reform of the filibuster rule.

The Government responded to the petition by saying the issue was a matter for the House of Commons and the Speaker chairing the debate.
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David Cameron didn't care that Afghanistan was "fantastically corrupt" when he helped to pour billions of pounds of investment, military infrastructure and misplaced aid into the country, a senior Afghan official pointed out yesterday.

The unnamed official was responding to Mr Cameron's gaffe on the eve of his much-vaunted Anti-Corruption Summit. The PM was overheard saying: "Weve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain. Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.

Speaking at the conference the next day, the senior member of the Afghan delegation reminded Mr Cameron that clumsy Western intervention in Afghanistan allowed corruption to flourish. He said: "We inherited, and I quote, a 'fantastically corrupt' system.

 Cameron on corruption

"In my country for the past decade there have been enthusiastic international community partnerships willing to pour in billions into a country without thinking about the safeguards that were needed in order to ensure that money would be spent transparently and effectively."

Since the turn of the century, the key driver of corruption in Afghanistan has been the war fought between the Afghan security forces and a US-led coalition on one side and the Taliban on the other.

In February 2014, an internal report by the Pentagon suggested that the coalition had aided and abetted corruption by supporting warlords, bankrolling lucrative private trucking contracts and routing aid via corrupt officials rather than supporting grassroots humanitarian work.

World leaders, including David Cameron and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, at the summit (next24online/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

And according to a 2012 survey by the Asia Foundation, the average Afghan considers the period of rule under Hamid Karzai from 2001 onwards to have been more corrupt than any of the previous five regimes.

The former president worked closely with the American government, but many Afghans perceive this relationship as responsible for an explosion in systemic corruption.

The Taliban was thus able to garner support from Afghan citizens, the authors of the report suggest, by offering an alternative to a corrupt system where mujahideen warlords raked in cash from the invading forces and subsequent aid efforts.

War artists in Afghanistan Show all 6 1 /6 War artists in Afghanistan War artists in Afghanistan Work by Matthew Cook Matthew Cook War artists in Afghanistan War artists in Afghanistan Work by Jules George Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Embedded: Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Work by Jules George Jules George War artists in Afghanistan Trooping the colours: Jules George was inspired by his father and grandfather to witness and document war, if not to wage it Jules George

After the US, the United Kingdom was the largest contributor to the 13-year-long Operation Enduring Freedom, and Mr Cameron was commander-in-chief of British forces in the country from 2010 until the official end of the war 2014. The UK continues to send around 200 million annually in aid to Afghanistan.

The amount of opium being produced also increased as much as threefold following the coalition invasion, which further entrenched corruption into Afghan society as officials and security forces were paid off. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani used his speech at the summit to remind Mr Cameron that 96 per cent of the profits from the Afghan drug trade are laundered in Europe.

At the summit Mr Cameron was not able to to convince a single British overseas territory to agree to publish details of who really owns companies registered in their jurisdiction. Afghanistan and Nigeria both pledged to publish this information.
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Police have been asked to investigate whether letters sent by the Conservatives to voters in David Camerons name broke election laws.

In the latest twist to the investigation into the partys election spending, a former Liberal Democrat MP told police that mail-outs by the Tories were not properly recorded as local election expenses and may have broken spending limits.

Conservatives say the letters, which were signed by David Cameron, did not count as local campaign expenditure because they did not mention the name of the Tory candidate in the area.

The correspondence in question however repeatedly mentions the local area, Torbay, and was sent to voters at their local address. The BBC, which first reported the latest allegations, says it has seen similar letters sent to voters in other areas.

If the letters are ruled to count as local election expenditure then spending limits  put in place to make sure parties with big financial backers cannot spend their way to victory  may have been broken.

The report comes a day after the Electoral Commission went to the High Court to order the Conservatives to release key documents relating to a similar allegation, related to bussed-in activists.

 Angus Robertson asks about allegations of Conservative election fraud

Nine police forces are now investigating whether the Tories breached election spending with the so-called battle buses, while the Electoral Commission is also looking into the matter.

Torquay Town Hall, home of Torbay Council (Public domain - Adrian Pingstone)

Former Lib Dem MP Mr Sanders, who lost his Torbay seat to Conservative MP Kevin Foster in 2015 told the BBC: It is a specific targeted mailshot to a voter in a given constituency saying vote for our candidate in that constituency.

That has to be a local cost, not a national expense.

Other spending breach allegations relate to the Conservatives' 'battlebus' (Getty Images) (Getty)

A Conservative spokesman said: Simply referring to the location where the elector lives does not promote any named candidate. The literature only promoted the national Conservative Party.

Such literature was not a local election expense under the RPA [Representation of the People Act] regime, as it was not connected with promoting the election of any candidate.

The letters urge the people they were sent to to vote Conservative here in Torbay.

The Conservatives ultimately won the seat with 40 per cent to the Liberal Democrats' 33 per cent.

General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies Show all 36 1 /36 General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 4 May: Milibrand part 2 Russell Brand dramatically unveiled the second part of his interview with Ed Miliband, in which he agreed with the leader and then called on his YouTube viewers to vote Labour. David Cameron had described him as a "joke" who previously advocated not voting - but with Brand commanding more than a million YouTube subscribers that may come back to haunt the Tories. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 3 May: #EdStone Labour leader Ed Miliband unveiled Labour's pledges carved into a stone plinth in Hastings. He said it showed his commitment to keep promises - but many mocked the "risible" stunt and said it would be the "tombstone" for Labour's election hopes. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 2 May: Ukip candidate suspended A Ukip candidate who described himself as unapologetically politically incorrect pro-British was suspended after suggesting Shadow Minister Luciana Berger had split loyalties because she is Jewish. In one Twitter message Jack Sen, standing in West Lancashire, said: Protect child benefits? If you had it your way you'd send the  to Poland/ Israel. Twitter/@jacksenukip General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 1 May: 'It's all about my career... I mean country' Labour jumped on another David Cameron gaffe after the PM said on the campaign trail that the election was a career defining moment when he meant to say country defining. Ed Miliband's party pounced, saying the remarks were proof Mr Cameron puts his career before the country. Its all about Dave, the party tweeted. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 30 April: The Sun has got two hats on The Sun revealed who it was supporting in the election - both the Tories and, in Scotland, the SNP. While the UK edition of the newspaper called on the British public to vote Conservative so as to "stop [the] SNP running the country", The Scottish Sun announced its support for Nicola Sturgeon's party saying it will "fight harder for Scotland's interests at Westminster". General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 29 April: Complacent Conservative? Tory Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith failed to turn up to hustings in his own constituency following a 'late change in his schedule'. Wags observed that it was ironic given the minister has ramped up monetary sanctions against people who do not attend job interviews or JobCentre meetings. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 28 April: Offensively independent An independent candidate standing in Northern Ireland proudly came up with the least 'politically correct' leaflet of the campaign. Susan-Anne White declared she would criminalise adultery and homosexuality, end sex education, reinstate corporal punishment and much more. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 27 April: NI minister 'homophobia' Jim Wells, the DUP Health Minister of Northern Ireland, resigned after saying children are more likely to be abused by gay couples. He had said: You don't bring a child up in a homosexual relationship. That a child is far more likely to be abused and neglected. He said he was standing down to spend more time with his family. Paul McErlane/Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 26 April: The Ed and Boris bust-up In what was widely hailed as the best bit of election TV so far, Ed Miliband and Boris Johnson clashed head-to-head in angry scenes live on the Andrew Marr Show, forcing their usually genial host to intervene and tell the pair of them to "shut up". The increasingly animated London Mayor repeated personal attacks over Mr Miliband 'stabbing his brother in the back', while the Labour leader got in some jibes of his own about Mr Johnson's Eton education. Reuters General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 25 April: Political football David Camerons football-loving credentials received a kicking at a campaign event in Croydon after he suggested to the audience he supported West Ham- despite previously claiming he was a huge Aston Villa fan. When asked about his sudden change in loyalty, Cameron later said he was still a Villa fan and blamed the slip up on a 'brain fade'. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 24 April: Migrant crisis made political Ed Miliband was branded 'shameful' by Downing Street after he said David Cameron was partly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of migrants in the Mediterranean. The Labour leader said the Prime Ministers role in creating instability in Libya had contributed to thousands of north Africans drowning in the Mediterranean as they try to flee the crisis. A senior Tory called the comments 'deeply provocative' Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 23 April: IFS accusations Voters are being kept 'in the dark' by all the main parties over future spending cuts and tax rises, the influential Institute for Fiscal studies said. A detailed study of the party manifestos by the think-tank concluded that none of the Lib Dems, Labour, the Conservatives or SNP had provided "anything like full details" on plans to cut the deficit over the next five-year Parliament. Getty General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 22 April: The not-so-Green Party A group of leading scientists and campaigners rounded on the Green Party, accusing it of turning its back on its main mission by largely ignoring the crucial issue of climate change in the run-up to the general election. Critics said that although the Green Party manifesto contains plenty of references to policies on global warming, the party was 'grievously at fault' for leaving the subject largely unspoken in campaigning by the party and its leader, Natalie Bennett. Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 21 April: Wikipedia edits Tory party chairman Grant Shapps was accused of editing the Wikipedia pages of his Conservative rivals and allegedly changing his own page to delete embarrassing references to his past. A Wikipedia administrator reported and suspended an account called 'Contribsx' on suspicion it was being used by Mr Shapps or 'someone acting on his behalf'. Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 20 April: Dodgy Tory donors? The Conservatives were forced to return more than 50,000 in donations from a businesswoman whose husband was convicted of tax fraud in the US. Beatrice Tollman, who donated 20,000 as recently as early April, was herself charged with conspiracy to evade millions of dollars worth of tax in the US, charges that were dismissed by a judge in 2008 General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 19 April: Miliband a hit among the hens Ed Miliband was described as "the stripper" by a group of women on a hen party in Chester after they spotted the parked-up Labour battle bus. But not everyone saw it as statesmanlike behaviour, some saying it was 'cringe-worthy' and others reporting he looked 'absolutely terrified' YouTube/Chester Chronicle General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 18 April: DUP on gay marriage A right-wing Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland politician thanked Nick Clegg for 'reminding' voters that they are seeking to abolish same-sex marriage. After the Lib Dems set up a satirical website accusing the DUP of wanting to 'reject gay rights', North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said he was grateful to Mr Clegg 'for reminding people of the pivotal role the DUP can play' Joe Raedle/Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 17 April: Labour 'metaphors' A Labour candidate was forced to apologise for getting carried away with colourful metaphors after making a joke about being caught in a threesome with Ed Miliband and a goat. Clive Lewis, a former reporter for BBC Look East who is now standing in Norwich South, said "anything could happen" when asked if he could be beaten by the Greens. After the Miliband example caused a bit of a backlash he added: "If anyone was genuinely offended then I'm sincerely sorry for that." Rex General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 16 April: Ukip candidate calls Islam 'evil cult' A Ukip candidate standing for Parliament faced being sacked by the party after describing Islam as an evil cult. Stephen Latham, who is fighting the West Bromwich East seat, made the remarks in a Facebook post. He later said: "I wouldnt have meant it about Islam itself. It would have been about the people causing problems." General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 15 April: Labour candidate 'forgets manifesto' A video emerged of a Labour candidate suffering a terrifically awkward 'brain fade' and failing to name her partys key policies. During an interview with local website The Chiswick Calendar, Ruth Cadbury (running for Brentford and Isleworth) froze: "Um I cant remember my key I do need to check Im reading them every day... er sorry Labours key policies..." The Chiswick Calendar General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 14 April: Tory candidate 'wristbands' There were calls and a petition for the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Cambridge to stand down, after she said that mental health patients could wear colour-coded wristbands to identify their conditions. Chamali Fernando was accused of showing 'prejudice' and 'remind[ing] us how far we have to go' by mental health campaigners Twitter/Richard Taylor General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 13 April: Smarter than a 10-year-old? Former PR man David Cameron is used to spinning his way out of trouble against the most challenging interviewers - yet came completely unstuck on a visit to a primary school for Newsround. With his guard down, 10-year-old Reema asked: 'If you could pick one politician apart from yourself to win who would it be and why?' Cameron said it was the 'best' question he'd had so far on the campaign, um-ed, ah-ed and failed to give a clear answer. Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 9 April: Ukip's porn star candidate A mini-scandal surrounded Ukip's Bristol branch when it emerged the vice chair had an unusual second job as a veteran porn star. The party insisted it was happy to support candidates regardless of what they did in their spare time, adding proudly that 'no other party' would have taken John Langley - aka 'Johnny Rockard'. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 8 April: Ed Balls on non-doms No sooner had Ed Miliband announced a popular Labour policy to scrap the non-dom tax status, a video emerged of Ed Balls explaining how such a move would end up costing Britain more. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 5 April: Tories taking care of business (owners) In an interview with this newspaper Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, revealed that a senior Conservative minister told a Liberal Democrat cabinet colleague: 'You take care of the workers and well take care of the bosses' in a private Whitehall meeting to discuss the Coalition Governments priorities. Getty General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 3 April: Nicola Sturgeon 'memo' Nicola Sturgeon was forced to deny telling the French ambassador she wanted the Tories to win the election in May in preference to Labour, after a 'memo' to that effect was leaked to the Telegraph. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 2 April: Nigel Farage on HIV UKIP leader Nigel Farage sparked controversy during the ITV Leader's Debate 2015 for saying that immigrants who were HIV positive should not be able to enter the country and use the NHS for free. Ken McKay/ITV via Getty Images General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 29 March: Labour mugs Senior Labour MP Diane Abbott was among those who led a backlash against a mug being sold by the party celebrating its new commitment to a tough immigration system. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 23 March: Ukip's Atkinson expelled Janice Atkinson, an MEP and once one of Ukip's most senior figures, was expelled after she was found to have brought the party into disrepute. Ms Atkinsons chief of staff was secretly recorded appearing to ask the manager of a restaurant in Margate to more than treble the 950 cost of a meal before Ukips spring conference. Nigel Farage later said the claims 'couldn't look worse'. Chris Radburn/PA Wire General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 8 January: 'Meet the Ukippers' Ukip councillor Rozanne Duncan was expelled from the party for saying she had a problem with black people because there was 'something about their faces' during filming for the BBC documentary 'Meet the Ukippers' BBC General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 20 November: Emily Thornberry and the white van Labour front bench MP Emily Thornberry was forced to resign after tweeted a photo of a house in Rochester adorned with three England flags and a white van out the front, which saw her accused of holding working class voters in 'contempt'. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 22 October: Ukip Calypso The former BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read was forced to apologise for "unintentionally causing offence" with his song Ukip Calypso and asked his record company to withdraw it. The song, which the Surrey-born disc jockey sang in a mock Jamaican accent, had been branded racist. PA General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 7 October: Forgetful Boris During his Ask Boris show on LBC prior to the Clacton by-election last year, the London Mayor was asked by Nick Ferrari who the Tory candidate was. Boris replied: "We've got a fantastic guy called - oh hes brilliant I dont know... he is superb man .. Stirling? Girling? Something like that whats he called? You tell me." It was Giles Watling, Boris. PA/Getty General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 18 August: Janice Atkinson The senior Ukip MEP was forced to apologise after she was recorded by BBC South East Today describing a Thai constituent as 'a Ting Tong from somewhere'. It wasn't enough to see her disowned by the party - that came later when she was caught in a newspaper sting relating to expenses Facebook/Maria Pizzey General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 16 May (2014): Nigel Farage on LBC Nigel Farage's car-crash performance on LBC was one of his worst in recent years, and culminated in him saying he would be 'uncomfortable' with a Romanian family moving in next door. The gaffe later saw Ukip take out a full-page newspaper advert insisting it was not a racist party. General election 2015: The worst gaffes and controversies 20 March (2014): 'Patronising' Grant Shapps Grant Shapps, the Conservative chairman, came under pressure from across the political spectrum after a 'patronising' tweet in which he suggested Budget measures to halve bingo tax and cut the price of beer by 1p would 'help hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy' Getty

Political parties are bound to stay within strict spending limits at general election to ensure that those with big financial backers cannot spend their way to victory at elections.

Devon and Cornwall Police are among nine police forces to have launched investigations into electoral law compliance at the 2015 general election. The force has not commented on specific allegations, however.
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Amid the ongoing heroin and opiate epidemic killing thousands of Americans, lawmakers in Alabama have opted to crack down on an increasingly popular plant-based drug.

Kratom, a herbal substance linked to opiate withdrawal treatment, is now outlawed in six states. On Tuesday, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed Senate Bill 226 making the sale and possession of the drug illegal.

Merchants in the state were given a Thursday deadline to dispose of products containing the plant-based drug, which is typically sold in pill, liquid and powder form at retailers.

"Some store owners are calling in wanting law enforcement to come take possession of this drug because their distributors are not wanting to pick them up," the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office said in a statement to ABC 33/40. "These store owners are losing large amounts of money due to this, but at least they are turning it in and getting it off the shelves so kids cannot get a hold of it."

However, some dispute just how lethal the drug actually is. Compared to 28,647 recorded opioid overdoses in 2014, deaths directly related to kratom are much harder to track and seldom reported.

Direct kratom overdoses from the life-threatening respiratory depression that usually occurs with opioid overdoses have not been reported, Oliver Grundmann, a clinical professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Florida, told VICE.

Grundmann reviewed the research on kratom for the International Journal of Legal Medicine, finding that there are no standard screening techniques to trace mitragynine and its metabolites, the drugs compounds. The growing concern of the abuse potential of kratom requires careful evaluation of its benefits and potential toxicities.
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Human rights activists have condemned the decision to convict a woman who had a miscarriage of murder. The Argentinian woman, who has not been named and is known by the pseudonym of Belen, has been sentenced to eight years in prison under the countrys laws on abortion.

Amnesty International have called the prosecution absurd and allege it was conducted on the basis of false evidence. The woman was admitted to hospital with stomach pains in March 2014. She was 20 weeks pregnant and suffered a miscarriage. She says that shortly after, medical staff approached her and accused her of self-inducing the miscarriage contrary to Argentinas strict anti-abortion laws.

She says the staff had found a foetus in the hospital toilets which they claimed was hers. Police allegedly did not conduct DNA tests on the foetus to establish parentage and medical examinations suggested that foetus was 32 weeks, rather than the 20 week old foetus the woman had lost, and would have been the child of a 35 year old woman while Belen was 25.

After being held in prison for two years, she was convicted last month of aggravated homicide; the premeditated killing of a close relative.

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. 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Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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Belens lawyer, Soledad Deza, said: My client has always been linked in peoples minds with the so-called found foetus. Despite the fact that according to the evidence the foetus was found before she entered the hospital and despite considerable confusion in the files over whether there were one, two or several foetuses, whether it was a male or female foetus, whether it was the foetus of a 35-year-old woman [Belen was 25 when she went to the hospital] or whether it belonged to someone else.

This supposed link, first turned into a suspicion by medical staff, then into an accusation by police, then into a supposed forensic link after the fact, then it became a matter of record and finally a legal case, and ALL without a shred of evidence.

Amnesty International Americas researcher Fernada Doz Costa said: It is an almost absurd example of how criminal law is applied selectively, imprisoning the poor who are considered guilty even when there is no evidence. And if they are women it's even worse.

Belen epitomizes the violence with which patriarchy is imposed by our states, even to the point of putting women in prison because, they suspect, they have not fulfilled the duties expected of a good woman.
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Barack Obama has said transgender pupils at public schools must be allowed to use the toilets and changing rooms of whichever gender they identify with.

Schools will be sent a letter today in an attempt to end discrimination against pupils who want to use a different bathroom to the gender stated on their educational records.

There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement accompanying the directive.

This guidance gives administrators, teachers and parents the tools they need to protect transgender students from peer harassment and to identify and address unjust school policies.

The order comes amid a legal standoff between the Obama government and the state of North Carolina over a controversial bathroom bill which requires people to use bathrooms according to their biological sex.

LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said he signed the bill in March as it "didn't make sense" to allow "men to use a women's bathroom".

The tussle intensified earlier this week as the Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against the state's new law, prompting the North Carolina government to file its own lawsuit against what it called the "blatant overreach" of the government's position on the matter.

LGBT campaigners and celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner have voiced their opposition to the "bathroom bill" ruling, with some calling for a boycott.

The laws that have been passed there are wrong and should be overturned, President Obama said at a press conference during his visit to the UK in April.

Obamas new directive to all public schools does not impose any legal requirements but makes clear the governments expectations of nationally-funded schools. Schools which do not comply could lose government funding or face lawsuits.

It says schools should treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as they are notified by a parent or guardian and does not require any specific medical diagnosis.

A bathroom described as all-gender was opened last year within the White House as a symbol of solidarity with the LGBT community.

The White House allows staff and guests to use restrooms consistent with their gender identity, which is in keeping with the Administrations existing legal guidance on this issue, a White House spokesperson told CNN last year.

In the UK, a number of universities including Lancaster University and the University of Northampton have introduced gender neutral toilets following student campaigns.

And a primary school in East Sussex introduced gender neutral toilets in 2014 to prevent transphobia among pupils.

At a meeting of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in April, history teacher Julia Neal, the unions equality and diversity committee, called for UK schools to consider introducing gender-neutral toilets.

Its about senior management teams and governing bodies understanding that there are a lot of facilities in schools that are separated  changing rooms and toilets and uniforms are very gender-specific, she told the Evening Standard.

If there is gender fluidity they need to understand the importance of gender-neutral facilities [...] Its a delicate area. Teachers are not confident, which is not a criticism.
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Brazil's acting president, Michel Temer has held his first official cabinet meeting vowing the new team will try to rescue the country's plunging economy.

The gathering at the government headquarters on Thursday followed a chaotic day that saw the Senate vote to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government - a move she branded a coup.

Mr Temer said that an "urgent" task wast "to pacify the nation and unify the country, after Ms Rousseff's suspension.

Recommended Read more Brazil faces a long road to stability

Mr Temer moved quickly to announce his new team, whose star appears to be Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles, widely respected for serving as Central Bank chief during the boom years from 2003 to 2010.

Our biggest challenge is to stanch the process of freefall of our economy, Mr Temer said at a swearing-in ceremony for the 22 ministers. First of all, we need to balance our public spending. The sooner we are able to balance our books, the sooner we'll be able to restart growth.

He also promised to support the widening investigation into corruption at the state oil company that has already embroiled leading politicians and even implicated Mr Temer himself. Mr Temer denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Meirelles said that he will seek to tackle pension reform and labour law reform, signalling potentially sensitive changes for a sputtering economy

Mr Meirelles told a news conference that he would work on reforms of a costly pension system that allows many people to retire in their 50s.

Retirement must be self-sustaining over time, said Mr Meirelles. He also said Brazil needs to raise worker productivity, and this comes through labour law changes.

However, Mr Temers choice of ministers raised criticism for its makeup: All its members are middle-aged or elderly white men - a particularly sore point in this majority non-white country.

It is a very conservative, very religious cabinet, with no black [people] and no women, said Francisco Fonseca, a political scientist at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas think tank

Six women were in Ms Rousseff's Cabinet when she began her second term last year.

Mr Temer made a bid for peace with Ms Rousseff, offering his institutional respect for the suspended leader, who continues to live in the presidential residence even as her replacement holds down the government offices.

This is not a moment for celebrations, but one of profound reflection, he said.

Ms Rousseff, however, vowed to fight her ousting, calling it a coup led by a social and economic elite that had been alarmed by the policies of her leftist Workers' Party, which had held power for 13 years.

Ms Rousseff warned that Mr Temer plans to dismantle government social programs that benefit around one-fourth of the Brazilian population. He insisted the programmes would be maintained and perfected under his leadership.

But his choice to lead the Social Development Ministry, Osmar Terra, acknowledged that could be tough.

What President Michel is proposing is that those programs be the most sheltered (from cuts). But if the budget hole is very big, we'll see, he said. The country is bankrupt.

Ms Rousseff, whose popularity plummeted amid the worst recession since the 1930s, is accused of using illegal accounting tricks to hide large deficits in the federal budget. Opponents argue that damaged the country, but Brazil's first female president denies any wrongdoing, having called it baseless pretext by the elite to snatch back power.

The finance minister Mr Meirelles said the government is ready for protests over its proposals, acknowledging, The debate will be quite intense.

Ms Rousseff will be suspended for as long as 180 days pending a trial in the Senate. If two-thirds of the 81 senators vote to find her guilty, Mr Temer would serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in December 2018.

Mr Temer, the longtime leader of the centrist Democratic Movement Party, had been Ms Rousseff's vice president as part of a coalition of convenience that broke down under the strains of economic woes and corruption scandals.

Mr Temer has been implicated by witnesses in the Petrobras scandal, but he has not been charged. The impeachment drive's main motor, former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha, has been charged in the scandal and was suspended last week as speaker over allegations of corruption and interfering with justice.

The acting president pledged that the investigation will continue unimpeded. It deserves to be followed closely and protection against any interference that could weaken it, he said.

Associated Press
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A Kansas woman says that she was kidnapped, beaten and held hostage for six days by a man she met on Tinder.

Shane Steven Allen, a 30-year-old Lawrence resident, is now facing one kidnapping charge and four charges of aggravated battery, NBC News reports. Hes currently being held at the Douglas County Jail on a $100,000 bond. If convicted, he could serve up to 32 years in prison.

The woman, an unnamed 20-year-old student at the University of Kansas, said that she left her sorority house on April 12 and returned six days later with visible bruises and injuries on her face and across her body, according to court documents obtained by the Lawrence Journal World. She was immediately taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital to treat her injuries.

Allen continually beat the woman in fits of jealousy after he accused her of flirting with a friend, and in separate instances outlined in an arrest affidavit, threatened to kill her and himself if she tried to escape. She also told investigators that at one point, her knees were so swollen she didn't believe she physically escape.

The pair reportedly met once prior to the event without incident.

Allen is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.
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One of the largest cities in Colorado is donating millions of dollars raised by taxes on marijuana sales to local non-profit organisations which help the homeless.

Aurora will use a significant portion of the $4.5 million revenue from recreational cannabis to fund the Colfax Community Network, which helps low-income families to live in motels, apartments and provides food, clothing, hygiene products and nappies, as well as other local programmes.

A total of $1.5 million of the revenue has been earmarked for homeless efforts in the 2017 and 2018 city budgets, in addition to the $1.5 million already approved for the 2016 budget.

Recommended Read more What marijuana does to your body and brain

Colorado has already given the non-profit around $220,000 to assist with operating expenses, part of a two-year plan to deal with homelessness in the states third largest city.

The Colfax Community Network is in extremely dire straits in that they do not have funds to continue operating, Nancy Sheffield, director of Aurora neighbourhood services, told the Aurora Sentinel.

The Comitis Crisis Center and Aurora Mental Health will also be equipped with a van for their homeless outreach programs, along with two outreach workers each.

An Aurora Housing Authority landlord co-ordinator will now work full time instead of part time, thanks to a city allocation of $45,000. This position is vital as landlords are often reluctant to accept previously homeless people as tenants.

Council members are also considering a day center for the homeless, a place where they could wash their clothes, take a shower and receive mental health services.

Normally funded by revenue from red-light cameras, the sales revenue from cannabis has come as a welcome relief for non-profits, according to the Denver Post.

We wanted to be able to show citizens that we are having a positive impact on the community and point to specific projects or initiatives to where that money is going to, said city councilman Bob Roth.

Recreational sales of the drug started in October 2014, the first state to legalise recreational drug use. There are now at least 20 dispensaries in the city, but the number of marijuana licences is capped at 24.

Aurora city officials forecasted that pot revenue would double from $2.65 million in 2015 to $5.4 million in 2016. Revenue from cannabis is expected to clock in $6.4 million in 2017, but should remain flat from 2018 to 2020 once all the dispensary licences are used up.

In March Los Angeles also proposed to fund housing for homeless people through a tax on pot, which is estimated to bring in an annual $16.7 million.
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Police are investigating the Facebook account of at least one Milwaukee, Wisconsin, teenager after she reportedly skipped class with two others and livestreamed video of various sex acts via the social network.

Recommended Read more Woman livestreams her suicide on Periscope

The livestream featured two girls, ages 14 and 15, engaging in sex and sex acts with one 15-year-old boy, and was broadcast to students at Barack Obama School, CBS 58 reports. The video was not filmed on school grounds.

Milwaukee police issued a search warrant to Facebook requesting all information, including pictures, statuses, videos, other personally identifiable information, of the 14-year-old female suspect.

The two girls are listed as suspects in the warrant and could be charged with exposing a child to harmful material. The male in the video was not listed as a suspect in the warrant.

Teenagers risk death in internet strangling craze Show all 2 1 /2 Teenagers risk death in internet strangling craze Teenagers risk death in internet strangling craze 289486.bin Teenagers risk death in internet strangling craze 289481.bin

In January, staff became aware of a video depicting inappropriate conduct that took place outside of school and off campus, Milwaukee Public Schools said in a statement.

The school immediately notified proper authorities and cooperated with the investigation. We took appropriate disciplinary action against those involved, which would be in addition to any outside consequences they may face.

According to CBS 58, students viewed the livestream during their afternoon health class on 14 January.

A spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department did not offer The Independent more information about the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
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Oftentimes, when somebody offers a free hug, that is what they give. But for one New York City tourist, the advertised free hug came with violence and a black eye.

A 22-year-old woman on holiday from Ottawa met a man carrying a sign that read 'Free hugs' in the epicenter of Manhattan tourism, Times Square, and took a photo with him. According to police, when she declined to tip him after taking the photo, the man allegedly punched the woman in the face and ran away.

Recommended Read more Transgender woman subjected to horrifying verbal abuse on train

Police officers apprehended the suspect shortly after the reported assault with the help of the photo the victim took with him.

Jermaine Himmelstein, the man accused of assaulting the woman, did not deny the allegations. He was reportedly charged with robbery after the Thursday arrest.

I was aggressively asking for tips, he told a local NBC affiliate.

According to the New York Times, Mr Himmelstein, 24, has a troubling history of assaulting women throughout the city.

In a 29 April incident, investigators said Mr Himmelstein assaulted a woman in her mid-20s who was waiting for the subway.

You will respect me when I knock you out, he reportedly said as he ran off.

The Times featured Mr Himmelstein in a 2013 profile, where he described an attack on a female New York University student.

She says, I have a boyfriend, and this and that, he said of the encounter in Washington Square Park. He described himself becoming upset that she would think he was desperate, having no friends.

I went and got a can out of the trash and filled it with water and I marched right back to her and threw it right in her face until her face was swollen, Mr Himmelstein said. Then I got a cup of ice coffee and I threw it at her.

That same year, police say he assaulted another woman in the park, telling her, Youre pissing me off. I assault people when Im mad, before attacking.

Both NBC and the Times detailed numerous other reported attacks on young women by Mr Himmelstein. Police said he had been arrested 16 times.

Mr Himmelsteins parents told the Times in 2013 that they had not been aware of his behaviour until then.

We dont condone this, Denise Himmelstein said. Jermaine comes from a home where we give him hugs.

Ms Himmelstein said that her son suffered from autism.

Please tell every woman in America, I apologise, she added. Any woman walking through that park, I apologise.
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A man was arrested for kidnapping his 9-year-old niece after two local residents found the pair on their property a week later, according to authorities.

They were found in Hawkins County, a rural area in East Tennessee, down a trail so remote that emergency services needed a four-wheel car to access them.

Carlie Trent was picked up by her uncle Gary Simpson at Rogersville primary school on 4 May. He bought items including lipstick and a child's bikini before disappearing for nine days.

Mr Simpson has been charged with especially aggravated kidnapping, Tennesse Bureau of Investigation director Mark Gwyn said at a press conference.

Carlie, who appeared to be OK, according to Mr Gwyn, was taken into hospital to be checked out.

Tennessee authorities had asked local residents to check their property, including barns and outbuildings to look for Carlie.

The pair were found by two local residents, Donnie Lawson and Baptist minister Roger Carpenter, on their property, far from the main road.

Mr Carpenter held Mr Simpson up at gunpoint while Mr Lawson called emergency services.

We are sure that the family of Carlie Trent sends its heart-felt thanks for their actions today, said Mr Gwyn in a statement.

Authorities listed the items Mr Simpson bought at a shop the day of the kidnapping on social media to alert the public of the disappearance.

In the coming days and weeks, we will work with District Attorney Dan Armstrong to ensure that Gary Simpson is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, Mr Gwyn said.

Mr Simpson, who is an uncle by marriage, previously had custody of Carlie and her younger sister, but they had since returned to their biological father, James Trent.

Authorities insisted that Carlie was in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death and the disappearance was not just the result of a guardianship battle.

Mr Trent told WVLT-TV that Mr Simpson, married to his sister, was jealous of the girl and that he and his wife often took care of their daughter.

He had access to her every day, he was obsessed with her, he wanted her, and he wanted her all to himself, Mr Trent said. That's a scary thing to think about.

Mr Trent said he did not think his brother-in-law would hurt his daughter but he was worried about her return.

It would be a great moment, but then again it'll be a scary moment because I'm just wondering how she's going to be. Is she going to be as happy as she was? [Is] she going to be scared to death of everyone? he explained. That's what I worry about. She just won't be the same.

The local police issued an amber alert when the girl disappeared and the police were flooded with hundreds of tips as to the pairs whereabouts, but no credible lead came through until the two local residents called.
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Online bidding for George Zimmermans gun has reached $65m (45m), less than a day after it was relisted on the site UnitedGunGroup.com, in what appears to be an effort by internet trolls to highjack the auction.

Bidding for the firearm - used by Zimmerman in the 26 February 2012 killing of the unarmed, black teenager Trayvon Martin - started at $5,000 Thursday evening. The top bid by early Friday morning exceeded the $65m mark, placed by a user called Racist McShootface. The account was later deleted.

Multiple bids of more than $400,000 were placed under the name of Tamir Rice, after the 12-year-old child killed by a Cleveland police officer while holding a toy gun.

United Gun Group, a gun-selling community launched after Facebook banned the private sell of guns on its site, hosted the listing of Zimmermans Kel-Tec PF-9 9mm handgun after a first site had rejected it.

I talked to George Zimmerman earlier today and told him that as long as all laws are being followed, he can list the gun on our site, the sites founder, Todd Underwood, told the Washington Post on Thursday. I dont support it, I dont condone it, I dont have anything against it. Its his property, its his decision.

But the gun was temporarily removed from the site Thursday night becuase the listing was not in the best interest of the site.

Our mission is to esteem the 2nd amendment and provide a safe and secure platform for firearms enthusiasts and law-abiding citizens; our association with Mr. Zimmerman does not help us achieve that objective, the company wrote in a statement.

Ferguson fears that racism is returning Show all 2 1 /2 Ferguson fears that racism is returning Ferguson fears that racism is returning ferguson.jpg GETTY IMAGES Ferguson fears that racism is returning pg-70-ferguson-getty.jpg Getty Images

But the controversial handgun, which Zimmerman regards as an American Firearm Icon, is still listed on the United Gun Group site. According to a bid clock, the auction will end around 18 May.

Mr Underwood was not immediately available to confirm the authenticity of the bids or if he intends to keep the listing on the site.

Zimmerman first listed the pistol on GunBroker.com Wednesday night. The gun was removed the following morning by the site administrator, who invoked the companys right to reject listings at their discretion in a statement.

We want no part in the listing on our web site or in any of the publicity it is receiving, the statement said. Zimmerman told the Post that Gun broker was not prepared for the traffic and publicity of the firearm.

Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in a Sanford, Florida, gated community while the 17-year-old was walking to his grandparents house. He was charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, but acquitted by a jury in 2013 due to the states Stand Your Ground law - which does not require an attempt to retreat before using deadly force as self-defence.

When asked to comment on the auction, lawyers for the Martin family declined, saying: The Trayvon Martin Foundation is committed to its mission of ending senseless gun violence in the United States  [and] has no comment on the actions of that person.
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A man allegedly raped and murdered his former girlfriend and then texted her mother to say: Im sorry I killed your daughter.

25-year-old Juan Camacho has been accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend, 28-year-old Veronica Rodriguez in the home they shared in Philadelphia.

Ms Rodriguezs children, three girls and a boy, were sleeping in the house at the time of the alleged murder.

The victims mother said she received a text message from Mr Camacho shortly after she was killed, as reported by NBC.

He texted me and said 'I'm sorry, I killed your daughter, said Maribel Guzman.

According to the police, Mr Camacho confessed to killing Ms Rodriguez in a call to emergency services when he said he had choked her to death and was feeling suicidal.

He fled the scene, but was later caught by police.

The night before, Ms Guzman said the alleged killer sent her a message on Facebook to ask how he could win her daughter back.

Ms Guzman described her daughter as a good, good woman who was always happy, always bringing the family together.

She said she last spoke to her daughter via FaceTime on Mother's day, when Ms Rodriguez told her she had broken up with her boyfriend of about six months.

Ms Rodriguezs family, who live in Florida, are trying to raise $6,000 needed to bring her body home.

Mr Camacho has been charged with murder, rape, sexual assault and abuse of a corpse.

Police said there was no known history of domestic violence at the house or between the couple.

According to the US-based National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in five women and one in seven men have been the victim of severe violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
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Residents in the US city of Manchester, New Hampshire, were told to stay in their homes after two police officers were shot and injured and the authorities launched a search for the gunman,

Manchester Police Chief Nick Willard said early on Friday that two officers were shot at about 2am and that they were recovering at hospitals. There was no immediate word on the officers injuries or conditions. No details about the shootings have been released.

Mr Willard said police were searching for the suspected shooter, described as a white man with long hair who is wearing a trench coat. He is considered armed and dangerous, the Associated Press said.

He later told a local radio station that they were no longer looking for the person they believed had shot his officers.

"We are no longer looking for the individual we believe is responsible for shooting our two officers," he told WMUR-TV. "What that means  it's a fluid investigation and to protect the integrity of the investigation, I can't actually say whether or not that individual is in custody, or if that individual is being questioned or anything of that nature."

A number of schools on Manchesters west side were closed and some residents were told to shelter in place due the search for the suspected shooter.

A witness on the citys Ferry Street told ABC News that he heard a shot fired around 2am then saw a saw a person staggering. He then realised it was a police officer.

I saw a man kind of stagger a little bit, the witness said. He staggered a few steps and then he called in that he had been shot. That's when I realised he was a cop.
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The Obama administration is planning a new range of raids to deport hundreds of undocumented Central American mothers and children - many of whom fled to the US to escape violence and killing.

Earlier this year, Barack Obama, who has deported more people than any other US president, sparked anger among rights activists when he ordered officials to begin detaining and forcibly deporting hundreds of illegal immigrant families. Most of the raids focused on Georgia, Texas and North Carolina and resulted in the detention of 121 people.

Now it has been reported that immigration officials are planning a month-long series of raids in May and June. Reuters said the sweep would be the largest operation to deport immigrants since January.

The rhetoric about immigrants has increased during the election campaign (AP)

Documents seen by the news agency suggest officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have told field offices to launch a 30-day surge of arrests focused on mothers and children who have already been told to leave the United States. The operation would also cover minors who have entered the country without a guardian and since turned 18 years of age.

The exact dates of the latest series of raids were not known and the details of the operation could change.

The operation in January marked a departure for ICE, part of the Department of Homeland Security, from one-off deportations to high-profile raids meant to deter migrants from coming to the United States. Many of those entering the US are fleeing violence in countries such as Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

The issue of immigration to the US has become increasingly sensitive as a result of the rhetoric of many of the leading Republican candidates for president. Presumptive candidate Donald Trump called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers and has vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexican border if he is elected.

The issue has not just focussed on migrants or refugees from central America. More than 30 US states have said they will do everything they can to block to settlement of the 10,000 or so Syrian refugees the US plans to accommodate.

 Farage on immigration

Yet campaigners point out that for all the noise from Republicans, it is the administration of Mr Obama that has deported more immigrants than any previous

In 2014, it is estimated that more than 200,000 Central Americans tried to emigrate to the United States without documentation. Since coming to office in 2009, Mr Obamas government has deported more than 2.5m people, up 23 per cent from the administration of George Bush years. He is set to have deported more people than all the presidents who governed between now 1892-2000.

Activists have sought different ways to try and help those without documents.

Hundreds of churches across America have defied the US government and offered support and sanctuary to immigrants who face deportation. Some of them have literally offered a resting space to people, aware that federal agents are unlikely to carry out arrests inside their premises.

Both Democratic presidential candidates, looking to appeal to Hispanic voters, have expressed opposition to the planned raids, with front-runner Hillary Clinton saying they are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country.

Families fleeing violence in Central America must be given a full opportunity to seek relief, she said. And we need to take special care of children.

Vermont Senator. Bernie Sanders issued a statement calling the raids painful and inhumane while asking Mr Obama to give Central American families temporary protective status through an executive order. Sending these people back into harms way is wrong, he said.

Jennifer Elzea, a spokeswoman for US Immigration Immigration and Customs Enforcement told The Independent that the operations were not raids and said they were targeted arrests.

She added: We stress that these operations are limited to those who were apprehended at the border after January 1 2014, have been ordered removed by an immigration court, and have no pending appeal or pending claim for asylum or other humanitarian relief under our laws.

Gren Chen, director of advocacy for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the actions of the US government were "shameful". "It's closing asylum doors to people who have escapted terrible violence," he said.
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The American death penalty is fading fast.

On Friday, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer announced that it would not longer permit its products to be used in lethal injections  a move that shuts off the final remaining source of approved chemicals for state executions.

Campaigners against the death penalty said the move means that, unless a state has stockpiled supplies of lethal compounds, authorities will have to seek illicit sources or else adopt a different method of execution, such as the electric chair or firing squad.

(Rex)

This is great news, Maya Foa of the London-based Reprieve, told The Independent. This means that all FDA-approved suppliers have said they do not want their medicines being used for executions. Theyre saying we dont want you do to this anymore.

The decision by the pharmaceutical giant was first revealed by the New York Times. In a statement, the company said: Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve and strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment.

Pfizer said it would restrict the sale to selected wholesalers of seven products that could be used in executions. The distributors must certify that they will not resell the drugs to corrections departments, and will be closely monitored.

Even while opposition to the death penalty has grown, a number of US states have sought to obtain lethal chemicals from third parties or else from suppliers overseas, who are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Some have been forced to delay executions, while others have approved alternative methods, including the firing squad, the electric chair and the gas chamber.

Others have bought drugs from so-called compounding pharmacies, which operate without normal FDA oversight.

For many years, execution by lethal injection usually involved a combination of three drugs  an anaesthetic, a paralytic and thirdly potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

For a long time, the anaesthetic of choice was sodium thiopental. But after a US manufacturer halted production of the drug in 2009, states that carried out executions sought to obtain it elsewhere.

That supply was halted by the efforts of campaigners opposed to the death penalty, leaving many US states scrambling to find an alternative.

States such as Florida and Oklahoma settled on midazolam, despite campaigners pointing to several botched executions using the drug as evidence of its unsuitability.

Charles Warner took 18 minutes to die when he was put to death in January 2015 and when asked to give his last words said that the needle inserted hurt like acid.

My body is on fire, said Warner, convicted in 1997 of the sexual assault and murder of an 11-month old girl.

In July 2014, convicted killer Joseph Wood III died one hour and 57 minutes after his execution began in Arizona. Death penalty experts said it was one of the longest times it has taken in the United States for drugs to kill a condemned man.
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Republicans missed a self-imposed deadline on Friday to aid Puerto Rico's ongoing debt crisis.

The third and final version of the expected legislation would create a control board to manage the territory's financial obligations and oversee debt reconstruction, the Associated Press reports. Critics have been concerned that the bill would grant too much power to creditors.

We have one shot at getting this right. Were going to do it right, said Republican Representative Rob Bishop of Utah, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

If Puerto Rico spins out into economic chaos, you may never have a chance of recovering again, and youre going to hurt people, Bishop said during an interview on C-Spans Newsmakers. "We cant screw it up.

Shortly after the deadline expired, House Speaker Paul Ryan issued a statement saying that his party will propose the "best, most responsible legislation to tackle Puerto Rico's fiscal crisis while protecting American taxpayers. He added that Republicans are working with Democrats and the Obama Administration to ensure the bill is ready in "the coming days."

According to the AP, both parties hope to introduce and pass the bill in the House and Senate before the US territory defaults on a $2 billion debt payment on July 1.

Several Obama Administration officials visited Puerto Rico in recent months, including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Thomas Frieden and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who has warned that the threats facing Puerto Rico are both immediate and real.

Hospitals continue to lay off workers, ration medication, reduce services and close floors, Secretary Lew said in a letter urging Congress to act on the crisis. Despite the intensifying threat from the Zika virus, financial constraints have made it extremely difficult to counteract.
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Three public schools went on lockdown Friday after a student accidentally shot himself, prompting fears of an after shooter at a Greenville, South Carolina high school.

Two students at Southside High School were involved in the shooting and one is being charged as an adult, FOX Carolina reports, after shots rang out inside the schools cafeteria at 8:40am.

Superintendent W. Burke Royster said that the students concealing a handgun inside a backpack when it discharged, striking one of them. Braylin DeAndre Scott, 17, has been charged with unlawful possession of a pistol, disturbing schools and carrying a weapon on school property.

The injured student, whose name hasnt been released, is conscious and talking, and will likely face the same charges when released from the hospital.

Michael McDowell, a 17-year-old student at the high school, said that he grew up with the victim, who's "friends with everyone."

"He was a good kid," McDowell told Greenville Online. "He didn't mean no harm."
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Donald Trump, the probable Republican nominee for the 2016 presidential election, has said that he doesn't use offshore bank accounts and that his tax rates are no one's business.

The billionaire and reality television star told ABC's Good Morning America that he's built a "massive business" and wants to "make sure everything is perfect."

Trump then, incorrectly, stated that many presidents have not released their tax returns to the public. ABC correspondent George Stephanopolous corrected Trump by saying that every single presidential nominee since 1976 has released their returns.

"Right but before 1976 most people didn't do it," Trump responded, "I mean, it used to be a secret thing. I don't want it to be secret but I do want the audit to get finished."

WATCH: "It's none of your business, you'll see it when I release." - @realDonaldTrump on what his tax rate is... https://t.co/cdVHOF1hFV  Good Morning America (@GMA) May 13, 2016



One of the real estate mogul's loudest critics has been the 2012 Republican nominee, Mitt Romney.

There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trumps refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them, Romney wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. Given Mr. Trumps equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume its a bombshell of unusual size.
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Anthony Senecal, the longtime butler of Donald Trump, said he had already been questioned by the Secret Service over messages he posted on social media calling for the death of Barack Obama.

The 84-year-old, who filled the intimate role for the presumptive Republican nominee until 2009, said that a Secret Service agent and three police officers visited him at his home in Lake Worth, Florida, on Thursday evening.

They came to my apartment. There was one Secret Service agent and three sheriffs deputies, he said in an interview wiith The Independent. They basically asked if I had a gun and whether I wanted to go to Washington.

Anthony Senecal has worked with Mr Trump for many years (Rex Features) (Facebook)

Asked if he believed the agency was taking the messages he posted on Facebook seriously, he said: They have to.

Mr Senecal, the subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Times earlier this year, found himself in the headlines again this week after Mother Jones magazine revealed that the former butler had made a series of postings on Facebook that called for Mr Obama to be killed.

In a conversation during which he appeared several times to contradict himself, Mr Senecal said that he had not threatened Mr Obama. He then added: I think he is a traitor and a fraud. I think he should be hung [sic] or thrown in the electric chair.

He added: "I'm old mean."

A number of Mr Senecals online postings contained language that many have said was racist. He denied they contained racist language or that he was a racist.

Not true. Im not a racist. Never have been, never will be.

In one recent Facebook post, Mr Senecal wrote: To all my friends on FB, just a short note to you on our pus headed president !!!! This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term !!!!!

He added: Instead he still remains in office doing every thing [sic] he can to gut the America we all know and love !!!!!

Asked if the agent or police officers had asked him to stop making his posts or repeating his comments, he said: "No, they did not. They could not ask me to stop  it's my constitutional right."

The Trump campaign has distanced itself from Mr Senecal, who said he still worked as an unofficial historian at the tycoons estate.

Hope Hicks, a campaign spokeswoman, said in an email: We totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him.

The Secret Service said on Friday it could not comment on the details of the case. In a statement released earlier this week it said it was "aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation.
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The US Navy has said it has fired the commander of the 10 American sailors whose vessel slipped into Iranian territorial waters and who were detained, videotaped and questioned by Iran.

In a statement, the Navy said it had lost confidence in Cmdr Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer of the squadron that included the 10 sailors at the time of the incident in January He was responsible for the training and readiness of the more than 400 sailors in the unit.

The Associated Press said that an anonymous Navy official said Mr Rasch failed to provide effective leadership, leading to a lack of oversight, complacency and failure to maintain standards in the unit.

 Commander of captured US sailors apologizes on Iran state TV

The official said that Rasch has been relieved of his command duties and reassigned.

Although this is the first firing by the Navy regarding the incident that was a huge embarrassment to the Navy, several other sailors received administrative reprimands. The investigation is expected to be finished by the end of the month, and others are likely to be disciplined, the news agency said.

Mr Rasch was promoted to commander of the unit in April - after the Iran incident occurred, but before the preliminary investigation was done.

The Navy said it had lost confidence in Cmdr Eric Rasch (US Navy)

In what was considered a widely embarrassing incident and one that was seized on by critics of the Obama administration, the sailors - nine men and one woman - were detained after their boat drifted into Iranian waters off Farsi Island. The island in the middle of the Persian Gulf that has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats since the 1980s.

The sailors were on two small armed vessels, known as riverine command boats, on a 300-mile journey from Kuwait to Bahrain, where the Navy's 5th Fleet is located.

The incident, while brief, raised tensions between the US and Iran because of images Iran published of the soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads.

The incident was resolved after the intervention of Secretary of State John Kerry (AP)

Navy Capt Gary Leigh, commander of Riverine Group 1, decided to fire Mr Rasch after he Leigh reviewed the initial investigation. A Navy official said no action has been taken, at least so far, against Cmdr Greg Meyer, who was serving as commander of the squadron when the incident happened. He is no longer in a command job.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the sailors made a navigational error and went off course.

An initial account said the planned transit path for the mission was down the middle of the Gulf and not through the territorial waters of any country other than Kuwait and Bahrain.

That account said the crew stopped when a diesel engine in one of the boats appeared to have a mechanical issue. The second boat also stopped.

At this point they were in Iranian territorial waters, although it's not clear the crew was aware of their exact location, the report said.

Secretary of State John Kerry, in a series of phone calls, used the personal relationship he has formed with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to work out the crews' release. Mr Kerry credited the quick resolution to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country secure and strong.
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Women might be forced to sign up with the US military draft by 1 January 2018 if government approves a new proposal from the armed services committee, moving one step closer to ensuring both genders would be subject to serve during war.

Because the Department of Defense has lifted the ban on women serving in ground combat units, the committee believes there is no further justification in limiting the duty to register under the Military Selective Service Act to men, the bill summary read.

Furthermore, each uniformed chief of the services testified to their personal support of including women in the requirement to register for selective service."

Recommended Read more US army hires first women in history for ground combat roles

The last military draft in the US was in 1973 during the Vietnam War era, but all men are required by law to sign up with Selective Service within 30 days of turning 18.

Women have never been conscripted or required to sign up to the Selective Service, which is an independent agency that logs information on those potentially subject to conscription.

A return to conscription is unlikely as most military leaders believe the all-volunteer force is working.

Although the proposal has been approved by the Senate, a lively debate is expected when the Draft Americas Daughters Act is considered in the full Senate and House.

The White House declined to comment on whether President Barack Obama would sign the Act into law.

The countries with anti-women laws Show all 5 1 /5 The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws

In 2015 the Pentagon announced that all military jobs must be open to women, including ground combat roles.

The amendment requiring women to register with the Selective Service was proposed by Californian Republican congressman Duncan Hunter in order to force a discussion about how the Pentagons decision to make all military jobs open to women failed to consider whether women should also be drafted in war.

South Korea and US military drills anger North

Its wrong and irresponsible to make wholesale changes to the way America fights its wars without the American people having a say on whether their daughters and sisters will be on the front lines of combat, said Mr Hunter on his website.

If this Administration wants to send 18-20 year old women into combat, to serve and fight on the front lines, then the American people deserve to have this discussion through their elected representatives.

He said he believes most American do not want women to be drafted. Despite his views, he proposed and then voted against the measure. It was passed in April by 23-3.

This is a highly consequential  and, for many American families, a deeply controversial  decision that deserves to be resolved by Congress after a robust and transparent debate in front of the American people, instead of buried in an embargoed document that is passed every year to fund military pay and benefits, said Utah Republican senator Mike Lee, who voted against the policy bill.

Senator John McCain said on social media he was very proud to sign the bill, which also covers the military budget for the fiscal year of 2017.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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China is building an Islamic theme park in a bid to improve ties with the Middle East and push a version of the religion that fits the Communist Party vision.

The Hui Culture Park has cost billions to construct and is aimed at improving relations with majority Muslim countries.

Due for completion in 2020, the state has pumped $3.7 billion into the project since work begain in 2012, according to China Daily, despite a relative lack of attention or interest.

China is hoping to improve Sino-Arab relations for economic investment and is also looking to shift attention from the controversy surrounding the states treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority.

The park, also known as the World Muslim City, has been constructed in Yinchuan in the inland Ningxia autonomous region.

Ningxia is home to a large population of Hui Muslims, who speak Mandarin and are ethnically similar to the majority Han Chinese population.

With direct flights planned from Arab and South-east Asia, the relatively small city of Yinchuan has become an important symbol in the Chinese states desire to convey its cooperation with Muslims.

Though not explicitly religious, the park boasts a domed Golden Palace, complete with minarets prayer chanting. Visitors are required to remove their shoes before entry and women have the option to cover themselves in traditional clothing.

The park also plays host to shows, such as an extravagant rendition of The Thousand and One Nights, complete with lights, music and local Hui Muslim dancers. A gift shop also sells traditional outfits to visitors.

A folk centre and hotels are also planned.

The project is being viewed by some as a response to the need for China to better engage with Muslims, at home and abroad. While Hui Muslims run the park, the Uighur Muslim minority often generate far more negative attention for the Chinese state.

Kyle Haddad-Fonda, who recently visited the site, wrote in Foreign Policy: A curator of a museum of the Hui experience is faced with a difficult task. He or she must convey that Chinese Muslims have always been linked to the wider Islamic world, while still demonstrating that their primary loyalties are to the Chinese nation.

"The exhibits must reinforce that the Hui have always been integrated into Chinese society, while giving the impression that the Chinese Communist Party has done more to advance their status than did previous regimes.

The result is an eclectic and uneven display.

The world's weirdest theme parks Show all 11 1 /11 The world's weirdest theme parks The world's weirdest theme parks Love Land, South Korea This outdoor sculpture park in Jeju Island is dedicated to sex, featuring 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions. It describes itself as 'a place where love oriented art and eroticism meet' Getty Images The world's weirdest theme parks The Kingdom of Little People, Kunming, China Opened in 2009, The Kingdom of Little People employs a number of dwarfs to perform variety shows for punters The world's weirdest theme parks Shijingshan Amusement Park, Beijing, China A poor man's imitation of Disneyworld, this Beijing theme park has a fake Sleeping Beauty Castle and various characters which look similar to Disney's trademarked own Getty Images The world's weirdest theme parks The Holy Land Experience, Orlando, Florida Set in Orlando Florida, the home to theme parks, The Holy Land Experience recreates scenes from the Bible, with architecture modelled on the ancient city of Jerusalem AP The world's weirdest theme parks Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Dolly Parton's very own theme park features thrill rides and traditional crafts and music of the Smoky Mountains area AP The world's weirdest theme parks Dubailand, Dubai, UAE The theme park promised to be the most ambitious in the world, with a budget of $64.3 billion. But the project was put on hold at the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008 AP The world's weirdest theme parks Dickens World, Chatham, Kent Although Dickens was only a brief resident of Chatham as a child, the theme park features buildings, places and people of the Medway Towns which the writer drew inspiration from AP The world's weirdest theme parks Diggerland, England Billed as the 'ultimate adventure park experience', Diggerland allows children and adults to drive full-size construction machinery The world's weirdest theme parks Harmonyland, Japan Essentially a Hello Kitty theme park, Harmonyland offers family-friendly rides adorned with plenty of Hello Kitty memorabilia The world's weirdest theme parks Nurburgring Roller Coaster, Germany If going on a rollercoaster wasn't dangerous enough, try this one directly next motorsports compex Nurburgring The world's weirdest theme parks Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi Where else but the capital of bling would you find Ferrari World, 'the largest indoor amusement park in the world'. The park also claims to host the world's fastest rollercoaster, Formula Rossa

The Cultural Revolution, when the countrys religious minorities suffered greatly at the hands of the state, is reportedly skipped over.

Also ignored is the current situation of the Uighur Muslim population, who mainly reside in the remote Xinjiang autonomous region. The Uighurs are not ethnically Han Chinese and speak their own language, which has led to assimilation problems in Chinese society.

Ethnic, religious and economic tensions have fuelled disaffection in the Uighur population, which is sometimes manifested in outbursts of violence.

Rights groups such as Amnesty International have criticised censorship, government heavy-handedness and restrictions placed on freedom of religion in Xinjiang.

The perceived mistreatment of the Uighur Muslim population has also been criticised internationally. In July 2015 in Turkey, there was public outrage and protests after it was reported that Uighur Muslims were prevented from fasting during Ramadan.

Extremist group Isis has also played upon the issue and in December 2015 released a song in Mandarin Chinese, calling for its Muslim brothers to wake up.
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Indonesia are planning to execute 15 death row inmates by firing squad including 10 foreign nationals.

Authorities has said the executions could happen at "any time" in an attempt to avoid the international "soap opera" caused by the killing of 12 foreign drug convicts last year.

Those shot dead on the penal island of Nusakambangan including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran along with the mentally-ill Rodrigo Gularte from Brazil.

Seven of the 10 foreign inmates now facing death by firing squad hail from countries that still implement the death penalty - China, Pakistan and Nigeria.

The remaining three death row inmates come from Zimbabwe, which is looking to eliminate capital punishment, and Senegal, which banned the death penalty more than ten years ago.

Chief Security Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told journalists: "The executions can take place any time, but there will not be a soap opera about it this time."

The five Indonesian prisoners were sent to Nusakambangan over the last month, three of them on Sunday 8th May, making some speculate the executions are imminent.

Indonesian human-rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis has told Time there will still be some public outcry "but it wont be as much as last year".

In pictures: Haze in Indonesia Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Haze in Indonesia In pictures: Haze in Indonesia An Indonesian woman rides a motorbike amid thick yellow haze in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan province EPA In pictures: Haze in Indonesia An Indonesian man rides a wooden boat amid thick yellow haze on Kahayan river in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan province EPA In pictures: Haze in Indonesia An Indonesian woman and a child walk on a bamboo bridge as thick yellow haze shrouds the city in Palangkaraya Getty Images In pictures: Haze in Indonesia A couple crosses a river by boat as the city shrouded in thick yellow haze in Palangkaraya Getty Images In pictures: Haze in Indonesia Haze fills the air in Tumbang Nusa, Central Kalimantan AFP In pictures: Haze in Indonesia The Seri Wawasan bridge is seen covered by haze in Putrajaya AFP In pictures: Haze in Indonesia People walk by the Kahayan riverbanks, the worst-hit by haze Palangkaraya city AFP In pictures: Haze in Indonesia Commuters drive through thick haze in Tumbang Nusa, Central Kalimantan AFP

On a visit to Berlin in April, German Chancellor Angela Merkel informed Indonesian President Joko Widodo of her opposition to the death penalty.

Defending his position, Mr Widodo said: "There are between 30 and 50 people in Indonesia dying per day because of drugs."

After the domestic outcry over the rape-murder of schoolgirl in April, authorities are currently considering the death penalty for convicted rapists.

Among the foreign nationals on death row in Indonesia are Britons Lindsay Sandiford from Teeside and Gareth Cashmore who have both been convicted over drugs smuggling offenses.
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Philippines President-elect Rodrigo Duterte calling Pope Francis a 'son of a whore' was just banter typical of the Filipino style of elections, a spokesman has said.

Mr Duterte has promised that making a trip to the Vatican City to ask for the forgiveness of the Holy Father in person was a "high prioirty".

The offending comment was made during a speech announcing his presidential run when he referred to a papal visit the year before.

Nicknamed the 'Donald Trump of the East', Mr Duterte said: "It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming.

"They said it was the Pope. I wanted to tell him 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore'."

While the Philippines is mainly Catholic country and despite senior Catholic leaders condemning his comments, there was little effect on his popularity, Time reports.

Mr Duterte's aides had repeatedly said the future President has already apologised to Pope Francis in a letter receiving a response from the Vatican offering "the assurance of prayers".

The President-elect has said publicly that Pope Francis was the victim of a "stray bullet" resulting from his frustration with government failings.

 Philippines elects President

Peter Lavina from Mr Duterte's campaign team said: "The mayor repeatedly said he wants to visit the Vatican, win or lose, not only to pay homage to the Pope but he really needs to explain to the Pope and ask for forgiveness.

"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

"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."

Mr Duterte, who previously served as Mayor of Davao City, has been condemned by human rights groups for his links with death squads responsible for extra-judicial killing of suspected criminals in the 1990s.
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Belgium will rejoin the international coalition against Isis and begin launching air strikes in Syria for the first time, its government has announced.

A spokesperson for the prime minister, Charles Michel, confirmed Belgian media reports suggesting six of the country's F-16 fighter jets would be rejoining the US-led military effort.

Belgium joined in coalition air strikes against Isis in Iraq in the summer of 2014, but suspended its involvement in July 2015 citing the unsustainable financial costs involved.

It has not previously been involved in fighting Isis in Syria, but there were reports in early March that the government had been formally requested to help by the US.

In the wake of the Brussels terror attacks on 22 March, Isis said Belgium was targeted as "a country participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State" - despite the fact it had not dropped a bomb there in at least nine months.

Speaking to the AFP News Agency, Mr Michel's spokesman said the strikes would begin on 1 July. "The objective will be to destroy these groups' refuges."
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The anti-establishment Pirate Party of Iceland has been awarded more funding for the upcoming general election than any of its rival parties as it continues to top nationwide polls.

The anti-establishment party, which calls for a 35-hour working week, direct democracy and total drug decriminalisation, has the lead in eight out of the last ten polls. They look set to form a crucial part of a coalition government in this autumn's general election.

There is a pool of 290 million ISK (1.6 million) available to fund political campaigning in the run-up to the election, divided based on February poll results. The Pirates were comfortably leading the polls at that time, and should scoop 35% of the funding pot, more than any of their rival parties.

 Iceland Protesters Throw Eggs at Parliament After Panama Papers Leak

The Pirates do not have a formal leader, but poet and activist Birgitta Jonsdottir MP is the chair of the Pirate parliamentary group and their de facto spokesperson.

She said: We did not expect this. We dont care. Democracy doesnt revolve around getting loads of money from the government.

"We funded our campaign at a flea market before the last elections and that was fine. We feel we need to be able to pay the salary of our employees. Anything more than that is too much."

Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was stepped down following the revelation in the Panama Papers leak that he owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.

Wintris Inc. owned bonds in three of the major banks which collapsed during Iceland's financial crisis, and Mr Gunnlaugsson was forced to step aside as tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets of downtown Rejkavik.

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

The Pirate Party were polling at up to 43% in the days following the leak, while Mr Gunnlaugsson's Progressives, the dominant party in the current coalition, slumped to single digits. In the most recent poll, conducted by Frettablai, the Progressives had just 6.5% of the electorate on board.

The same poll placed the Pirates almost level with the centre-right Independence Party, at 30.3% and 31.1% respectively. If the election were to be held tomorrow, the most likely outcome would be an alliance between the Pirates and the Independence Party or the Pirates and the Left-Greens.

Either result would mark a dramatic change in the political landscape. The Pirates currently have just three seats in the Icelandic parliament, the Alingi, but could well hold the balance of power this autumn.

Mr Gunnlaugsson, who is still the chair of the Progressive Party and a sitting MP, rose to power on a promise to defend ordinary Icelanders against "vulture" businessmen.
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The European Unions naval mission to combat people smuggling in the Mediterranean has failed to disrupt the trade, a parliamentary report will warn.

Operation Sophia was set up to stem the flow of migrants and refugees from Libya and surrounding countries to Italy, amid fears of a significant increase in the number of people attempting to make the dangerous crossing this summer.

A House of Lords report said the operation had saved more than 9,000 lives over the last year, but warned it had failed in its wider aim of reducing people smuggling.

While 80 smuggler boats have been destroyed by EU naval forces, the sinkings, which take place after migrants are rescued, had simply resulted in smugglers switching from wooden boats to even more dangerous dinghies, which are "even more unsafe", the report said.

It also found that the people traffickers arrested when boats are seized tended to be low-ranking. While 50 arrests had been made, they were not the key figures in smuggling networks, the report added.

The House of Lords EU committee said that bloc had failed to address the roots of migration in countries of origin, adding that Operation Sophia had been hamstrung by the Libyan governments weak grasp on power.

Operation Sophia - named after a baby born on a mission ship off the Libyan coast - is currently limited to operating in international waters.

Plans are being drawn up to extend its remit to Libyan waters and onshore, but the committee said it was doubtful this could succeed, in light of on-going instability.

In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing for food at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees' tents at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Oxy transit camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos The graves of drowned refugees in Mytilene, Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos A building used to house unaccompanied children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing to register at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees arriving on smugglers' boats from Turkey in Lesbos

Lord Tugendhat, chair of the committee said: A naval mission cannot disrupt the business model of people smuggling, and in this sense it is failing.

The smuggling networks operate from Libya and they extend through Africa. Without support from a stable Libyan government, the operation is unable to gather the intelligence it needs or tackle the smugglers onshore.

Lord Tugendhat added: We recognise migration is a sensitive topic among national electorates and understand these concerns, but we believe the lack of public debate and political leadership has further politicised the issue among European citizens.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel's public calls for tolerance and inclusivity are increasingly falling on deaf ears, a new survey into Germany's attitudes towards Islam shows.

A new poll shows almost two-thirds of Germans think Islam does not "belong" in their country. In a marked increase from a similar survey conducted six years ago in which a minority of Germans (47 per cent) thought Islam had no place in their nation, the latest poll shows the figure is now at 60 per cent.

That survey was provoked by then-President Christian Wulff's assertion that Islam was a part of the German nation, which sparked a furious backlash from social commentators.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated Mr Wulff's line on several occasions, but she has been undermined by her own interior minister', who publically stated that Islam "does not belong" in Germany.

Create bar charts

And the most recent survey of 1,000 German citizens, conducted by polling organisation Infratest dimap, reflects a lurch to the right in the German political mindset.

Nationalist and far-right parties are garnering support on Islamophobic platforms, buoyed by anti-refugee sentiment against the 1.1 million people who have arrived in Germany to seek asylum since the start of the current crisis.

There were 1,000 attacks on refugee shelters in Germany last year, a fivefold increase compared to 2014. In one incident, people in the town of Bautzen allegedly clapped and cheered as a refugee shelter burned following an arson attack.

 Germany's AfD says Islam is not welcome

Alternative for Germany (AfD) is an anti-immigration party, whose representatives recently refused to applaud Germany's first Muslim speaker of a state parliament.

A portion of their manifesto is titled "Islam is not party of Germany", in a direct response to Chancellor Merkel's public stance.

They write: "An orthodox form of Islam that does not respect our laws or even resists them, and makes a claim to be the only valid religion, does not correspond to our legal system and culture." The document also calls for a ban on minarets, burkhas and other "Islamic symbols of power".

Ninety-four per cent of AfD supporters responding to the survey said Islam did not belong in Germany, an opinion shared by 76% of those who support the centre-right Free Democratic Party.

In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany A police officer talks to a counterprotestor at the sidelines of right-wing movement 'Baergida' (Berlin Patriots against the islamization of the Occident), a Berlin version of Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident), protest in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany Participants of right-wing movement 'Baergida' (Berlin Patriots against the islamization of the Occident), a Berlin version of Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident), protest in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida with a sign reading 'Stop agitation against Islam' in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany Participants of the 'Alliance against Racism' demonstrate against right-wing initiative Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident) in Berlin. Counterdemonstrations against racism and xenophobia have been planned in Dresden, Berlin, Cologne and Stuttgart. The demonstrations staged by the anti-Islamic Pegida movement produce a series of slogans arguing that Germany is taking in too many foreigners, that the social structures are about to collapse due to the rising number of asylum-seekers, and that there is the threat of an 'Islamisation of the Occident' In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany German Justice Minister Heiko Maas takes part in a protest against the march of a grass-roots anti-Muslim movement in Berlin. The rise of the group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida), has shaken Germany's political establishment In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany The lighting of the Brqandenburg Gate was switched off to make a statement against racism as People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany A left wing activist struggles with the riot police during a protest against a planed march of the Pegida movement in their first Berlin demonstration, which they have dubbed 'Baergida' In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Hamburg In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Munich In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Stuttgart

The anti-Islam street movement Pegida, founded in Germany in 2014, has also brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets of Dresden and other European cities for often-violent protests.

Referring to the rise of AfD, the chairman of the Council of Muslims in Germany told the radio station NDR: "It is the first time since Hitler's Germany that there is a party which discredits and existentially threatens an entire religious community."

Just over half of Germans (52%) are concerned that the influence of Islam is growing too strong as a result of the current influx of refugees, while almost three-quarters of respondents (72%) are worried that Islamist terrorists will launch an attack on German soil.
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The number of migrants arriving on Greek islands from Turkey dropped by 90 per cent in April compared to the previous month, according to the European Union border agency.

Frontex, which co-ordinates European border management, said 2,700 people arrived in Greece in April, the majority of whom were originally from Syria, Pakistan, Afganistan and Iraq.

Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri described the drop in numbers as dramatic.

The total for all of April is well below the number of people we often saw reaching just the island of Lesbos on a daily basis during last years peak months, he said.

The drop in numbers is said to be a result of several factors, including the EU-Turkey agreement to control traffic, as well as stricter border policies applied at the Greek-Macedonian border.

Under the EUs agreement with Turkey, all migrants and refugees who cross into Greece illegally  including Syrians  are sent back.

In return, the EU has said it will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey, rewarding the country with more money, early visa-free travel and faster progress in EU membership talks.

In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing for food at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees' tents at the Kara Tepe camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Oxy transit camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees waiting to board ferries to the Greek mainland in Mytilene, Lebos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos The graves of drowned refugees in Mytilene, Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos A building used to house unaccompanied children at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees queuing to register at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees at the Moria camp in Lesbos In pictures: Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugees arriving on smugglers' boats from Turkey in Lesbos

Due to the significant drop in arrivals to the Aegean islands, the number of migrants reaching Italy exceeded the totals for Greece for the first time since June 2015.

According to the borders agency, 8,370 migrants arrived in Italy through the longer, central Mediterranean route from north Africa. Eritreans, Egyptians and Nigerians accounted for the majority of these migrants.

Frontex said there was no sign that migrants were shifting from the route to Greece along the central Mediterranean route instead, since the number of people arriving in Italy had also reduced, by 13 per cent since March and down by half since April last year.

The Norwegian Refugee Council have contested this statement, however, after Italian coastguards helped rescue another 801 people from north African boats on Thursday.

This might be a first sign of Syrian refugees now choosing the much more dangerous route across the Mediterranean from Northern Africa to Italy, in search of protection in Europe, said Edouard Rodier, Europe director at the Norwegian humanitarian agency.

If this continues, the EU-Turkey deal is not only a failure, but may also result in more deaths at sea, he said in a statement.
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US military officials are monitoring reports that Isis have declared a state of emergency in Raqqa.

Social media and news reports that suggest Isis may have come under siege in its self-declared capital in Syria are being closely watched by the US-led anti-Isis coalition.

Col. Steve Warren, spokesman for the coalition said: We have seen this declaration of emergency in Raqqa, whatever that means.

"We know this enemy feels threatened, as they should," he told CNN on Friday,

Media reports have indicated that the terrorist group is moving personnel around the city and attempting to put up covers to shield potential targets from airstrikes and ground attacks.

"They see the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with the Syrian Arab Coalition, manoeuvre both to their east and to their west," said Mr Warren. "Both of these areas becoming increasingly secure, and the Syrian Democratic Forces increasingly able to generate their own combat power in those areas."

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Spokesman Tajir Kobani announced earlier this week that commanders of the SDF-affiliated groups in Northern Syria had coordinated plans for a joint final operation for liberating Raqqa from the Isis.

According to US defence officials, Isis may now be responding to the UN allies efforts to liberate the city by repositioning personnel and military apparatus.

Recommended Read more Insider reveals how Isis installed its reign of terror in Raqqa

US Military also say this movement could help overhead surveillance aircraft an improved chance of finding and targeting them.

While officials have not confirmed whether or not it is believed Isis leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is still in the city, officials say they are also monitoring intelligence suggesting he could be other locations.

"Baghdadi remains extremely careful" about his personal security, a US defence official told CNN.
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Thousands of people have attended the funeral in Beirut of a Hezbollah commander killed while leading the militias forces in Syrias civil war. It remains unclear who was responsible for Mustafa Amine Badreddine death. But it brings to an end a long manhunt by Israeli and Western intelligence services for a guerrilla leader who has managed to remain in the shadows while taking part in assassinations and military operations.

Hezbollah reported from its Lebanese headquarters that 55-year-old Badreddine was blown up in an explosion near Damascus airport. Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Qaeda-affiliated Syrian rebel group claimed, however, that he had died in a battle in Khan Tuman, south of Aleppo.

The funeral took place on Friday afternoon, with flowers being strewn over the coffin. Some mourners blamed Israel for the killing, with one mourner commenting, Hezbollah has many spies. Another held that without Badreddine's leadership Daesh (Isis) would be here now.

In the initial announcement of the death, on Lebanons Al Mayadeen TV channel, Hezbollah had said that an Israeli air strike was responsible. But this was withdrawn from a later statement, which did not mention Israel, saying instead, that the group was seeking to determine whether the blast was due to an air or artillery strike and the conclusions would be announced soon.

Hezbollah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem said the group would announce the outcome of its investigation into the death by Saturday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Speaking at the funeral, Qassem also vowed that the group would continue on the path of Badreddine.

 Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine killed in Syria  group confirms

Badreddine, who adopted the nom de guerre of Zulfiqar, the name of the sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohammeds son-in-law, had been in charge of Hezbollah fighters in Syria for the last five years. The militia statement said: He said months ago that he would not return from Syria except as a martyr or carrying the flag of victory. He is the great jihadi leader Mustafa Badreddine, and he has returned today a martyr.

The information gleaned from the initial investigation is that a major explosion targeted one of our centres near Damascus international airport, which led to the martyrdom of Sayyid Zul Fikar [his nom de guerre] and the injuries of others.

This undated handout image released on Friday, 13 May, 2016, by Hezbollah Media Department, shows slain top military commander Mustafa Badreddine smiling during a meeting (AP)

The Israeli government refused to comment on whether it played a part in Badreddines death. Yaakov Amidor, a former national security adviser to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, We dont know if Israel is responsible for this. But remember that those operating in Syria today have a lot of haters even without Israel.

Badreddine had been accused of being involved in the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafeq Hariri in Beirut in 2005, and in the October 1983 bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut that killed 241 people. He was sentenced to death in Kuwait over a plot to blow up the American and French embassies there during the Iran-Iraq war, but was freed by Iraqi troops after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait.

People toss rose petals as Hezbollah members stand near the coffin of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in an attack in Syria, during his funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, May 13, 2016. (Hasan Shaaban/Reuters)

Badreddine was tried in absentia by the ongoing Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in The Hague, over the killing of Mr Hariri. He was indicted on four charges and was accused of being the overall controller of the operation which led to the Prime Ministers death in an explosion on Beiruts waterfront.

The Syrian regime was suspected of commissioning the assassination, and President Bashar al-Assad withdrew his forces from Lebanon in the furore which followed with anti-Syrian feeling running high in Lebanon.

Badreddine was the most senior Hezbollah commander killed since his predecessor and brother-in-law Imad Mughniyeh was assassinated in a Mossad and CIA operation in Damascus in 2008. Mughnieyhs son, Jihad Mughniyeh was killed in an Israeli air strike last year. Badreddine was last seen in public at the wake.
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Around 3,000 children are among civilians facing a mounting humanitarian crisis in a town besieged by Syrian regime forces near Damascus.

Save the Children said the rebel-controlled Khan Eshieh area had been completely surrounded in recent days, with the last remaining road in and out closed by heavy shelling and snipers.

It houses a large Palestinian refugee camp, where a local aid group said three young men were shot dead while trying to escape in recent days as barrel bombs rain down on the settlement and surrounding farms.

Sonia Khush, head of Save the Childrens Syria programme, said: Despite the supposed ceasefire across the country, people are living in terror of siege and bombardment.

Khan Eshieh (bottom left) seen on a map next to other besieged rebel areas (in green). Territory controlled by the Syrian government is marked in red and by Isis in black. (Liveuamap)

People in Khan Eshieh tell us that most medicine, fuel and flour has almost run out, and food prices have doubled in the past few days.

They expect it to get even worse in the coming days. The roads and access to the camp must urgently be reopened and vital humanitarian aid immediately allowed in.

The last road to the nearby town of Zakia, known locally as the Death Road due to the high risk of travelling on it, had been used to get food, medicine and supplies.

The Jafra Foundation, which provides education, support and aid in the camp, said basic supplies were dwindling and the situation was expected to worsen.

An opposition group published footage of explosions on Thursday, appearing to show a helicopter flying over before the sound of explosions were heard and huge mushroom clouds rose into the sky.

A Facebook page claiming to represent the local council has documented weeks of intensified barrel bombings and shelling blamed on the Bashar al-Assads regime in Khan Eshieh.

It said five helicopters unloaded more than 20 bombs on Thursday as well as sporadic bombardment with mortars and heavy artillery. Casualty figures were not immediately available.

Khan Eshieh became home to more than 20,000 Palestinians since they arrived in the 1940s, going on to settle and work as teachers, civil servants and on surrounding farms.

Since coming under the control of opposition groups in the Syrian civil war it has seen sporadic fighting and bombardment, leaving civilians and United Nations staff among the dead.

After almost three years under partial siege the number of inhabitants has fallen to around 12,000 people  a quarter of them children  Save the Children said.

All main roads between the camp and Damascus have been closed since 2013 and military checkpoints have been installed to prevent people from entering and leaving.

Other Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, including Yarmouk (pictured) have seen intense fighting during the civil war (Getty)

Only one doctor and one dentist are believed to remain in the camp, and do not have enough medicine, equipment and electricity needed to treat patients, while residents report an urgent need for water purification tablets to reduce the growing risk of disease.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) condemned attacks that killed at least one refugee and injured children in Khan Eshieh in June last year, as well as the killing of six Palestinians by mortar shells that hit a school in 2013.

Chris Gunness, a spokesperson for the agency, said it was concerned about the plight of more than 20,000 civilians in Khan Eshieh and Palestinian areas of Daraa governorate.

In both areas, refugees have been exposed to direct armed conflict, violence and humanitarian deprivation and we need immediate and sustained humanitarian access, he added.

In Khan Eshieh we estimate that there are about 5,000 civilians and in the inaccessible areas of Deraa governorate we estimate there are about 17,500 people, including many thousands of children.

In pictures: Syria conflict Show all 40 1 /40 In pictures: Syria conflict In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians carry children amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl on a street covered with dust following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians react as they stand amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man carries a girl amid debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured Syrian man walks out from the rubble of a destroyed building following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman makes her way through debris following a air strike by government forces in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis People stand on the rubble of collapsed buildings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, in the Al-Fardous neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian residents stand amid the rubble of destroyed buildings In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian resident grasps a mattress amid rubble in the al-Firdous neighborhood of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A view taken from Tel al-Sawadi shows a large explosion allegedly at the Wadi Deif Syrian army base in northwestern Idlib on May 14, 2014, which opposition fighters have been trying to capture for more than a year. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Islamist rebels detonated explosives planted in a tunnel under the army base killing or injuring dozens. AFP In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A bullet-riddled parking sign stands amid debris in a deserted street leading into the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A general view shows abandoned buildings on a deserted square in the old city of Homs after Syrian government forces regained control of rebel-controlled areas In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A military vehicle that belongs to the Free Syrian Army is seen in Al-Amariya district in Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A mosque is pictured through shattered glass in the old city of Homs, as rebel fighters withdrew from the city centre in line with a negotiated withdrawal deal with the government after having held out under tight siege for nearly two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Buses carrying Free Syrian Army fighters leaving Homs. Exhausted and worn out from a year-long siege, hundreds of Syrian rebels left their last remaining bastions in the heart of the central city of Homs under a cease-fire deal with government forces. The exit of some 1,200 fighters and civilians will mark a de facto end of the rebellion in the battered city, which was one of the first places to rise up against President Bashar Assad's rule, earning it the nickname of "capital of the revolution" In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian government forces hold up a portrait of President Bashar al-Assad (L) while others raise the national flag on top of a pole in the old city of Homs In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad run through Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr crossing after their release by rebels. They were freed as part of a larger deal which saw the last remaining Syrian rebels in central Homs city evacuate their positions and free captives in several locations in northern Syria In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman and two children walk past heavily damaged buildings in the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man carries a wounded girl following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Mowasalat neighborhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A wounded man sits as he is treated at a makeshift hospital following a reported bombardment with explosive-packed "barrel bombs" by Syrian government forces in the al-Sakhour district of the northern city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Debris rises in what Free Syrian Army fighters and Islamic rebels said was an operation to strike Al-Sahaba checkpoint, which is considered a gateway to Al-Dayf valley, and remove forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Maarat Al-Nouman, Idlib province In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Men try to put out fire at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Civil Defence members try to put out fire In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Survivors react at a site hit by what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Azaz, north of Aleppo, near the border with Turkey In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Residents queue as they wait to receive food aid distributed by the UNRWA at the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Belongings of Syrian rebels inside a chapel at Crac des Chevaliers, the world's best preserved medieval Crusader castle in Syria. The village was destroyed in fighting between the government and rebel forces while the castle, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, also has been damaged over the past two years In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Hosen Sabah, a 16-year-old student is comforted by his mother at a hospital in Damascus. Nosen was wounded by a mortar outside his school, while 14 other students were killed and over 80 wounded In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Free Syrian Army fighter works on a locally made launcher before firing it towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Mork town In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian policemen and citizens inspecting the site of a car bomb at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus. According to Syria's Arab News Agency (SANA), a car bomb explosion has gone off in the countryside of Damascus and initial information say there are casualties, where a car rigged with explosions was remotely detonated at the entrance of Moadhamiyet al-Sham neighborhood in rural Damascus during engineering units it was trying to dismantled it In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Opposition fighters carrying a rocket launcher during clashes against government forces in the Sheikh Lutfi area, west of the airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man helps a woman to make her way through debris following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian man reacts as he carries the body of injured boy following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 33 civilians were killed in the attack In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrian rescue workers carry the body of a woman following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A Syrian woman walks past the burning wreckage of a car following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man and two children run to a safer place following reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man holds an injured child after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hullok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis An injured man talks on a walkie-talkie after, according to activists, two barrel bombs were thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Hellok neighbourhood of Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis A man walks inside a mosque damaged by, according to activists, a barrel bomb thrown by forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad in Old Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Syrians gather at the site of reported air strikes by government forces in the Halak neighbourhood in northeastern Aleppo In pictures: Syria conflict Syria crisis Rebel fighters carry their weapons as they run to avoid snipers loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the town of Morek in Hama province

Despite the cessation of hostilities agreed in February and accompanying pledge by the Syrian regime and rebel groups to allow humanitarian access into besieged areas, Khan Eshieh is one of many cut off and under attack.

Only 17 per cent of the more than 4.5 million people in surrounded and hard-to-reach areas have so far received assistance, Save the Children said, and UN aid convoys continue to be denied permission. At least six besieged areas have still not received any aid at all.

One convoy was refused entry to Daraya on Thursday,despite having obtained prior clearance from all sides that it could proceed.

The International Rescue Committee said the situation was desperate after three-and-a-half years of fighting and that the convoy, due to be the towns first ever aid delivery, was taking baby milk, vaccinations and medical supplies.

There is also concern about the situation in another Palestinian refugee camp  Yarmouk in Damascus  which has been overrun by Isis in weeks of fighting, leaving families without access to food, clean water and medical treatment.
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Hezbollah's top military commander has been killed in an explosion in the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shia militant group has confirmed.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, 55, was supervising the group's involvement in the Syrian civil war, where it has fought alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces against militant groups trying to remove him from power.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to the group, said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike, but later removed the report.

Hezbollah said it was investigating whether a "missile or artillery strike" was responsible.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine, one of four men wanted for the assassination of Lebanon's assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, is shown in this undated handout picture released at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon website 29 July, 2011 (Reuters)

Announcing his death, Hezbollah said: "A few months ago, he stated: I will not come back from Syria, unless a martyr or carrying the banner of victory.

"He's the great Jihadi leader Mustafa [Badreddine]. And here he is today a martyr wrapped in the banner of victory."

The statement added: "Early information from the investigation shows that a strong explosion targeted one of our centers near the Damascus International Airport leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounded several others."

In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Syrian citizens check a damaged house that targeted by the coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Isis group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A Syrian boy (L) looking at a destroyed car that activists say was targeted by the coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Parts of a missile that activists say was fired by coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Isis group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Tthe guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) launching Tomahawk cruise missiles against Isis targets In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) launches a Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Red Sea, to conduct strike missions against Isis group targets in Syria In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) launching a Tomahawk cruise missile against Isis targets in Syria, as seen from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Arabian Gulf In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria US navy sailors standing watch on the bridge while Tomahawk cruise missiles are launched against Isis targets in Syria, aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58), in the Arabian Gulf In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria An F/A-18C Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87 prepares to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Arabian Gulf, to conduct strike missions against Isis group targets AFP/Robert Burck In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The US-led airstrikes in Syria against Isis targets in and around the city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A fighter from the Isis group holds a piece of what the IS is saying is a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis organisation pray at the spot where the jihadist group said a US drone crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group gesture as they load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in Raqqa. A US-led coalition on carried out its first air strikes and missile attacks against jihadist positions in Syria, with Damascus saying it had been informed by Washington before the operation began In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A Syrian man rides his bike past a communications tower that was destroyed after a US drone crashed into it, according to fighters with the Isis group, in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria People inspect a shop damaged after what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone crashed into a communication station nearby in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man holds the remains of what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone which crashed in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Resident gather in the back of a van the remains of what Isis militants say was a drone which crashed in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man inspects the remains of what Isismilitants say was a U.S. drone which crashed into a communication tower in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man inspects the remains of what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone which crashed in Raqqa

Badreddine, nicknamed Zul Fikar after the sword of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and a revered figure in Shia Islam, was accused of leading a cell allegedly responsible for the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a 2005 suicide bombing.

He was being tried in absentia along with four others for the death of Mr Hariri and 22 others. The trial is ongoing near The Hague, Netherlands.

His death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

Following Mughniyeh's death, Badreddine became Hezbollah's top military commander.

 Hezbollah Loses 10 Fighters In Sunday Clashes With Nusra: Source

Badreddine was also suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

He was detained in Kuwait and imprisoned for years until Saddam Hussein's army invaded the country and opened the doors of its prisons in 1990.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Over the last 30 years, Israel has killed some of Hezbollah's top leaders.

In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Sayyed Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife, 5-year-old son and four bodyguards.

Eight years later, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Ragheb Harb was gunned down in South Lebanon.

Hezbollah plans to hold a mourning ceremony for Badreddine.

Additional reporting by Associated Press
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A group of tax havens have accused larger countries like the United States of hypocrisy when it comes to cracking down on tax avoidance.

With the issue of offshore finance high on the agenda in light of the fall out from the so-called Panama Papers scandal, world leaders convened in London on Thursday to agree new measures to take on the issue.

At the summit, world leaders from six countries  Britain, Afghanistan, Kenya, France, the Netherlands and Nigeria  agreed to publish registers of so-called beneficial ownership. These lists help authorities identify who really owns companies and to crack down on tax avoidance.

But offshore havens such as the Isle of Man, Cayman Islands, and Bermuda criticised larger countries  notably the US  for asking them to sign up to public registers of beneficial ownership when they held themselves to lower standards.

The tiny US state of Delaware is in particular notorious for hosting US corporations that are physically headquatered in other states.

The state, which has a population of under a million people, has very few taxes and a significant proportion of its public budget - over a quarter - is raised from incorporation fees.

Companies listed there benefit from significant tax advantages compared to more developed areas which have raised taxes to fund the infrastructure that makes business possible.

Alden McLaughlin, premier of the Cayman Islands, accused the larger countries of deploying rhetoric but taking little action themselves.

Protesters throw fake money as they take part in a demonstration against tax havens in London. The protest, organised by Oxfam, ActionAid and Christian Aid, turned part of Trafalgar Square into a 'tropical tax haven' to highlight tax dodging as an international corruption summit hosted by David Cameron was held in nearby Lancaster House (Getty Images)

It is time to put behind us the shades of hypocrisy that have been part and parcel of this discussion for years and years, he said.

There is little point in us continuing the rhetoric if we are going to continue to allow major countries to remain outside the standard.

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

Bob Richards, deputy premier of Bermuda, said that UK and the US had also built favourable tax climates.

There are more billionaires per head of population in Britain than anywhere else and thats not because of the climate, its because of the tax climate, he argued.

Allan Bell, chief minister of the Isle of Man, additionally told the Financial Times newspaper: Where I get angry is the hypocrisy of the US in particular, which has been preaching to the world about the importance of access to information relevant to the US, but they themselves have not been moving at the same pace

Offshore finance was just one of the issues discussed at this weeks summit, which was about corruption in general.

Downing Street said the new register to be implemented in the UK would 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 our public funds.
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A Thai university has been forced to cancel a series of entrance exams after three prospective students were found to be cheating using super high-tech gadgets.

Echoing something out of a James Bond movie, CBS News reports how the students at Rangsit University (RSU) in Pathum Thani, north of Bangkok, were caught wearing glasses with embedded cameras.

Recommended Read more Half of students unknowingly being affected by plagiarism

The cameras were designed to take pictures of exam questions which were then allegedly sent to a third party.

The students were also reportedly wearing smartwatches to which third parties sent the answers back to for the three to then cheat their way onto medical courses.

A member of staff at the university, Arthit Ourairat, posted a group of pictures of the gadgets onto his Facebook page, which have since gone viral having racked-up almost 65,000 reactions and almost 25,000 this week.

Student news in pictures Show all 34 1 /34 Student news in pictures Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain a student demonstrator during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures South Korean policemen detain student protestors during a protest against South Korean President Park Geun-Hye outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea. The protesters demanded that the parliament takes steps to impeach President Park Geun-Hye EPA Student news in pictures Filipino demonstrators face off with anti-riot police during a protest near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippine EPA Student news in pictures Hundreds of protesters including Indigenous People, students and militant groups marched towards the US Embassy to protest against the presence of US military troops and condemning the violent dispersal which left at least forty people hurt including twenty police officers and three people who were run over by a police van EPA Student news in pictures A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students Student news in pictures A man holds up a photograph of a missing student with a caption reading 'We are missing 43,' during a meeting marking the 25-month anniversary of the disappearances of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero, in Mexico City. A federal judge in Mexico has ordered that a once-fugitive police chief be held on charges of kidnapping in the disappearance of 43 students AP Student news in pictures Miguel Perez, an intern student from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, puts away his cell phone before walking into the operating room at the Dr. Isaac Gonzalez MartInez Oncological Hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Once they complete their general surgery training, many residents are moving to the United States in search of better wages, one of the main factors linked to the current shortage of specialists in the Island Student news in pictures Fewer EU students have applied to start university courses in the UK next autumn. There was a 9% fall in the numbers who had applied for courses, according to admissions service UCAS. PA wire Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela. Masses of protesters jammed the streets of Venezuela's capital on the heels of a move by congress to open a political trial against Maduro, whose allies have blocked moves for a recall election AP Student news in pictures University students protest against President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela AP Student news in pictures Thousands, most of them high school students, march during a demonstration in Madrid, Spain, on a one day strike to protest about the country's education law that increases the number of annual exams AP Student news in pictures Students gather on the west mall to confront the Young Conservatives of Texas student organization over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action Student news in pictures Donald Parish Jr, right, confronts Electrical and Computer Engineering senior Dewayne Perry over a controversial bake sale on The University of Texas campus in Austin, Texas. The Young Conservatives of Texas chapter at the University of Texas-Austin sparked the protest with an affirmative action bake sale. The club encouraged students to buy a cookie and talk about the disastrous policy that is affirmative action AP Student news in pictures Brigham Young University announced that students who report sexual assault will no longer be investigated for possible violations of the Mormon-owned school's strict honor code that bans such things as alcohol use AP Student news in pictures Students of secondary education march to protest against the final examinations and LOMCE (The Improvement Quality Education Law) law, after a call by trade unions, in Murcia, Spain EPA Student news in pictures South African police have used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of protesters who had marched to the parliament building to call for free university education, where the finance minister was giving a budget speech AP Student news in pictures Police break up student protests outside the parliament in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures South African Policemen fire rubber bullets at student protestors in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures A student protestor is hit by a rubber bullet in Cape Town, South Africa AP Student news in pictures An injured student is helped by colleagues during protest outside the parliament during South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's medium term budget speech in Cape Town, South Africa Reuters Student news in pictures Plaintiffs and bereaved families of elementary school students killed in the tsunami that followed a major earthquake in northeastern Japan in 2011, show banners that say 'victory in a suit filed with the Sendai District Court' in Sendai. A Japanese court ordered municipalities to pay $13.7 million dollars to families of school children who were swept away to their deaths by the 2011 tsunami Getty Student news in pictures A group of student at Ewha Womans University calls for a thorough investigation into those involved in years of engagement with state affairs backstage by Choi Soon-sil, a personal confidante of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, at the school's front gate in Seoul, South Korea EPA Student news in pictures Students raise placards during a strike action called by the student union, in Madrid against university entry exams Getty Student news in pictures Libyans throw a newly graduated student into a fountain as they celebrate during the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Libyans celebrate as they attend the graduation ceremony for students from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Al-Arab University in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Getty Student news in pictures Thousands of Thai Catholic students take part in mourning tributes and in singing the Thai Royal Anthem to honour late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Saint Dominic School in Bangkok, Thailand EPA Student news in pictures Students of Silpakorn University paint portraits of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures A student of Silpakorn University paints a portrait of the late Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej at the university campus in Bangkok Getty Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend PA wire Student news in pictures St Andrews University students take part in a foam fight known as Raisin Monday in the Lower College Lawn behind St Salvator's Quadrangle following the Raisin Weekend, an annual tradition where student 'parents' inflict tasks on the unfortunate first-years they have adopted as 'children' as part of a mentoring scheme PA wire Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) take part in a practice in Havana, Cuba Reuters Student news in pictures Students at the Cuba's National Ballet School (ENB) wait in line to enter a classroom in Havana, Cuba Reuters

Local media reports have said the students involved have been blacklisted and will not be allowed to resit. They are due to appear at a police inquiry on Monday.

The director of academic standards at RSU, Kittisak Tripipatpornchai, told The Associated Press staff had come across cases of students copying one another in the past, which is quite normal, but added: Weve never found cheating of this level. Now, were going to be paying much closer attention.

According to the universitys site, RSU is a leading private institution which is fully-accredited by the Ministry of Education under the Thai government.

In the wake of the scheme, the Bangkok Post reports the Medical Council of Thailand called an emergency meeting and confirmed it would ban any student caught cheating in medical tests, preventing them from becoming doctors, even with private college or overseas credentials.

Closer to home, in the UK, Britains universities were found to be in the midst of a plagiarism epidemic after an investigation by The Times newspaper in January revealed how almost 50,000 students were caught cheating in the last three years.

The University of Kent came out on top with the highest number of academic misconduct cases - with 1,947 - followed by the University of Westminster (1,933), and the University of East London (1,828).

In a statement shortly after the findings emerged, a Kent spokesperson said it had robust systems in place to detect anyone who may be trying to cheat, adding the institution will not tolerate academic misconduct.
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Salaries differ across Europe but a higher pay packet doesn't always come with a better standard of living.

According to Glassdoor's report titled "Which Countries in Europe Offer The Best Standard of Living?," some cities with wages on the lower end of the scale make up for it with low prices.

Glassdoor's cost of living index takes into account is income versus "how much money is needed to buy a standard basket of goods and services in different countries, including groceries, restaurants, transportation, utilities, and rent."

Business Insider took a look at the 13 cheapest cities to live in Europe:

9. Marseille --The coastal city is the cheapest city to live in France but the country overall ranks pretty low in Glassdoor's separate standard of living index due to the average high cost in living, mainly through housing and rent.

Try it Yourself 

8. Graz -- The second-largest city in Austria is known as a university town and rent, food, and utility costs are some of the lowest in the country.

7. Barcelona --The seventh-most populous urban area in the European Union. It attracts professionals and tourists from across the world but living costs are still low compared to wages.

6. Lisbon -- Glassdoor says that the average nominal wage in Portugal is only around 15,500 (12,210, $17,641) but low local living costs mean the average city dweller will not be massively out of pocket.

5. Athens --The city may be rocked by mass unemployment and a refugee crisis but if you have a job, Athens is pretty cheap to live in.

Try it Yourself 

4. Tallinn -- Living costs in the city are incredibly cheap and considering it is the political and financial capital of Estonia, wages are on the rise.

3. Thessaloniki --The second largest city in Greece is by the sea and a major transportation hub for the country, providing lots of jobs. It also is a tourist hotspot -- thanks to its museums and historical monuments.

2. Porto --Glassdoor says that the second largest city in Portugal is around 70% cheaper to live in than New York City.

1. Tartu -- The beautiful city is the second largest in Estonia and is regarded by the country as its "intellectual capital" due to it being home to the nation's oldest and most renowned university, the University of Tartu.

Read more:

 Barack Obama says Britain is a 'free rider'

 These tweets nail the absurdity of many tech offices

 4 reasons why the Irish economy killed it in 2015

Read the original article on Business Insider UK.  2015. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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Can corruption be controlled by reform or is it so much the essential fuel sustaining political elites that it will only be ended  if it ends at all  by revolutionary change?

The answer varies according to which countries one is talking about, but in many - particularly those relying on the sale of natural resources like oil or minerals - it is surely too late to expect any incremental change for the better. Anti-corruption drives are a show to impress the outside world or to target political rivals.

The anti-corruption summit in London this week may improve transparency and disclosure, but it can scarcely be very effective against politically well-connected racketeers, busily transmuting political power into great personal wealth.

This is peculiarly easy to do in those countries in the Middle East and Africa which suffer from what economists call the resource curse, where states draw their revenues directly from foreign buyers of their natural resources. The process is described in compelling detail by Tom Burgis in his book, The Looting Machine: Warlords, Tycoons, Smugglers and the Systematic Theft of Africas Wealth. He quotes the World Bank as saying that 68 per cent of people in Nigeria and 43 per cent in Angola, respectively the first and second largest oil and gas producers in Africa, live in extreme poverty, or on less than $1.25 a day. The politically powerful live parasitically off the states revenues and are not accountable to anybody.

Burgis explains the devastating outcome of a government acquiring such great wealth without doing more than license foreign companies to pump oil or excavate minerals. This creates a pot of money at the disposal of those who control the state. At extreme levels the contract between rulers and the ruled breaks down because the ruling class does not need to tax the people  so it has no need for their consent.

He writes primarily about Africa south of the Sahara, but his remarks apply equally to the oil states of the Middle East. He rightly concludes that the resource industry is hardwired for corruption. Kleptocracy, or government by theft, thrives. Once in power, there is little incentive to depart. Autocracy flourishes, often same ruler staying for decades.

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

Most, but not all, of this is true of the Middle East oil producers. A difference is that most of these have patronage and client systems through which oil wealth funds millions of jobs. This goes a certain way in distributing oil revenues among the general population, though the benefits are unfairly skewed towards political parties or dominant sectarian and ethnic groups.

In Iraq there are seven million state employees and pensioners out of a population of 33 million who are paid $4bn a month or a big chunk of total oil income. Often these employees dont do much or, on occasion, anything at all, but it is an exaggeration to imagine that Iraqs oil money is all syphoned off by the ruling elite.

I remember in one poor Shia province in south Iraq talking to local officials who said that they had just persuaded the central government to pay for another 50,000 jobs, though they admitted that they had no idea what these new employees would be doing.

Reformers frequently demand that patronage be cut back in the interests of efficiency, but a more likely outcome of such a change is that a smaller proportion of the population would benefit from the state income.

This could be the result of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans radical plans to transform the way Saudi Arabia is run and end its reliance on oil by 2030. He may well find that the way Saudi society works has long gelled and face strong resistance to changing a system in which ordinary Saudis feel entitled to some sort of job and salary.

The resource curse is not readily reversible, because it eliminates other forms of economic activity. The price of everything produced in an oil state is too expensive to compete with the same goods made elsewhere so oil becomes the only export. Migrants pour in as local citizens avoid manual labour or employment with poor pay and conditions.

A further consequence of the curse is that the rulers of resource rich states  like many an individual living on an unearned income  get an excessive and unrealistic idea of their own abilities. Saddam Hussein was the worst example of such megalomania, starting two disastrous wars against Iran and Kuwait. But the Shah of Iran was not far behind the Iraqi leader in grandiose ideas, blithely ordering nuclear power stations and Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft.

Muammur Gaddafi insisted that Libyans study the puerile nostrums of the Green Book, and those failing that part of the public examinations about the book, were failed generally and had to re-take all their exams again.

Can the looting machine in the Middle East, Africa and beyond be dismantled or made less predatory?

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Its gargantuan size and centrality to the interest of ruling classes probably makes its elimination impossible, though competition, transparency and more effective bureaucratic procedures in the award of contracts might have some effect. The biggest impulse to resistance locally to official corruption has come because the fall in the price of oil and other commodities since 2014 means that the revenue cake has become too small to satisfy all the previous beneficiaries.

The mechanics and dire consequences of this system are easily explained though often masked by neo-liberal rhetoric about free competition.

In authoritarian states without accountability or a fair legal system, this approach becomes a license to loot. Corruption cannot be tamed because it is at the very heart of the system.

Patrick Cockburn is the author of Chaos and Caliphate: Jihadis and the West in the Struggle for the Middle East, published by OR Books, 18. Readers can obtain a 15 per cent discount by using the code: INDEPENDENT
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EUNavforMed  or Operation Sophia, to give the gig its more romantic title  is a real success story. Its not the failure the House of Lords would have us believe in their mean-minded report. EU ships have saved more than 9,000 souls among the poor and huddled masses crossing the Mediterranean, the refuse of Libyas teeming shore. It is a stunning success for the humanitarianism of the EU  an institution which Britain is thinking of leaving.

But such is the immoral nature of our reaction to this catastrophic human crisis that our political masters did not dare to put human lives ahead of tackling criminality when they launched the whole fandango a year ago. Well aware that millions of Europeans were not too keen on rescuing the refugees and migrants drowning in Mare Nostrum (and quite a few, alas, rather keen that these poor folk might expire en route), Dave Cameron and his mates went banging on about the need to hunt down people-smugglers.

Personally, Id rather he hunted down the arms smugglers who are the cause of this bloody tragedy. But that would mean arresting all kinds of well-off gents from the Gulf, Turkey and, indeed, Libya  along with CIA agents, Russian spooks and quite a few intelligence outfits even closer to home. Impossible.

So having told us this was all about criminality, Dave and the lads have to faff on about driving wedges into people-smuggling Mafiosi who are supposedly the real culprits.

Now that weve bribed the Turks with a regular annual wodge of greens and easy visas to Europe for their own migrants, rather than the more desperate kind from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, the immediate problem is that we cant bribe the Libyan government in the same way. First, because it doesnt exist, thanks partly to our own messing in that tripartite nation, and second because we dont really have much enthusiasm to send our marines to the shores of Tripoli.

After all, dispatching our commandoes to Arab lands  with or without permission from the relevant dictators  to shoot down the desperados who are packing the coffin ships with human flotsam would immediately bring us into conflict with all kinds of chaps: Isis, al-Qaeda, Nusrah, Boko Haram, freelance militias, Arab government ministers, Gulf allies and Washington cut-outs.

 Mediterranean deadlier than ever as migration surges in 2014

Wed have to use precision bombing and lots of drones and then, before we knew it and as per usual, wed be blowing up the camps, clinics and hospitals used by the refugees as well as the gunmen and smugglers before the homeless, tempest-tossed migrants even dipped their toes in the sea.

Its highly instructive that one of the most recent EU puffs for Operation Sophia puts the rescue of human life first on its list of mission objectives  which is where it should be  and only then waffles on about smugglers.

Theres one killer line at the end, however, that hits us old Middle East hands like a whiplash. The purpose of the whole EU project, we are told, is to tackle the root causes of the refugee tragedy.

Surely not? For that would mean weve got to talk about justice, dignity and freedom for the people of the Middle East  which means weve got to redesign our policies towards Islam, history, Arab dictators, Israel, the Palestinians, the Kurds.

We may even have to re-examine our views of Europe, even of the EU. And if were going to set sail across the Mediterranean with that kind of ambition, wed better follow the example of Admiral Lord Nelson who held his telescope to his blind eye at the Battle of Copenhagen and remember what he supposedly said: I see no ships!
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Ashraf Ghani was four minutes into his speech when a young Afghan in the audience stood up and started shouting :You are a liar! You have lied to the Afghan people and now you are lying to the world! I worked for you, I know all about you!"

The august Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in Whitehall had not seen anything like this before. Stunned silence was followed by gasps as Afghan security men dragged the heckler, yelling "You are a disgrace, at the Afghan President out of the auditorium. A shaken Mr Ghani restarted the address he had come to deliver after attending the international anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday.

The summit had started amid great embarrassment after David Cameron was caught on video telling the Queen leaders of fantastically corrupt" countries, Afghanistan and Nigeria, were coming. Mr Ghanis talk at RUSI, followed by a question and answer session, it was stressed to us, would be about security, not corruption.

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Three minutes later another young Afghan, in another part of the room, stood up. You are a corrupt man! Everyone knows that! You are also a racist." He unfurled a poster before also being dragged out by the Presidents security men. "Help me, they are beating me up! This is Britain, not Afghanistan! he cried as chairs overturned amid RUSI members sitting open-mouthed in astonishment.

There was a third interruption half an hour later, during questions. A young woman berated Mr Ghani for presiding over an administration which is both inefficient and corrupt. A few of the security men moved towards her, but then hesitated, unsure what to do. She continued until the microphone was taken away from her.

The row was about an electricity transmission project in which power lines have been rerouted away from Bamiyan, a northern province with a predominantly Hazara population. The RUSI protestors were Hazaras; President Ghani is a Pashtun. There have been complaints that his government discriminates against the Hazaras.

The President insisted that he was prepared to engage in debate with his opponents. See, even in the middle of a war, we are prepared to discuss and debate infrastructure issues. I am prepared to engage with these young people now he said. The two young men had been thrown out by then. I understand the anger of young people but your emotions are being exploited he told the young woman. She was not impressed by this, and told him so.

 Cameron on corruption

This episode, in a rather unlikely setting, was a glimpse of the turbulent politics and divisions of Afghanistan. There is a dark history behind Hazara claims of oppression. The Taliban, overwhelmingly Pashtun, had carried out massacres of the community during the countrys civil war, and memories of what took place remain raw.

Mr Ghani, a former World Bank official backed by the West in the Presidential election two years ago, is facing rising unpopularity. Corruption remains endemic; Transparency International has moved Afghanistan down in its index to the third most corrupt in the world. At the same time, poverty levels continue to rise. The security situation in the country is worsening, with Isis and al-Qaeda joining the jihad. Swathes of territory have fallen to the insurgents and attacks on the capital, Kabul, take place with increasing frequency.

Mr Ghani has been blamed for contributing to the security failures. After coming into office he reversed the position of his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, who had blamed the Pakistani military and the countrys secret police, ISI, for orchestrating the attacks. The new President went to see the head of the Pakistani military before meeting Paksitans civilian government, a break with protocol. The hope was that the Pakistani military and ISI would bring the Taliban to the negotiating table and curb attacks.

Mr Ghanis critics, especially in the minority Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek communities, claim that he was setting up an intra-Pashtun deal with the Pakistanis and the Taliban. There is no evidence that the President was acting on sectarian motives. In any event, the gambit failed: no meaningful talks have taken place with Taliban and insurgent attacks have instead increased.

In his RUSI talks, Mr Ghani returned to the Afghan policy of blaming Pakistan for its ills and acknowledged that his attempts at rapprochement had failed. Why is he surprised by this, everyone could see thats what will happen, said an Afghan student in the audience. Still, I have never been to RUSI before, I didnt realise it was going to be this exciting. But, you know, if you want to see proper violence you really should go to our parliament in Kabul.
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The Dutch daily De Telegraaf clearly overstepped the mark, by Recep Tayyip Erdogans standards, when it published a cartoon on its front page under the caption Erdogans long arm, which showed the Turkish President as an oversize ape with its arms resting on a crushed European journalist.

This was a reference to a Dutch journalist detained in Turkey after sending tweets deemed critical of Erdogan. She has since been freed, and has now been allowed to leave the country.

Turks have a great sense of humour and for a number of years have made fun of Erdogan in cartoons pointing to the power he has acquired for himself.

In 2005, a cartoonist was fined for depicting Erdogan as a cat entangled in a ball of wool. But in another trial that followed, a satirical magazine was acquitted after a cover depicting a menagerie with Erdogans face on each animal. As the court admonished, The owners of political power should be open and tolerant to all kinds of criticisms.

But little has that helped. Since Erdogan was elected president in 2014, almost 2,000 cases have been brought against people for insulting the president. Last September, the Turkish weekly Nokta had on its cover a grinning Erdogan taking a selfie while a soldiers coffin was carried by in the background  a clear reference to Erdogans war on the PKK. The issue was banned and the editors face a sentence of up to 12 years imprisonment for insulting the president and making terrorist propaganda.

Turkey protests: Erdogan is Turkey's Mrs Thatcher - and he's not for turning either Show all 3 1 /3 Turkey protests: Erdogan is Turkey's Mrs Thatcher - and he's not for turning either Turkey protests: Erdogan is Turkey's Mrs Thatcher - and he's not for turning either 169917998.jpg Getty Images Turkey protests: Erdogan is Turkey's Mrs Thatcher - and he's not for turning either 169906502.jpg Getty Images Turkey protests: Erdogan is Turkey's Mrs Thatcher - and he's not for turning either 169917619.jpg Getty Images

Last week, in a new blow to the freedom of the press in Turkey, the editor-in-chief of the secular daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, Can Dundar, and his Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, were sentenced to five years in prison for reporting the Turkish states transport of arms to jihadists in Syria.

Outside the courthouse, after sentence was passed, Dundar narrowly escaped assassination by a man who shouted traitor while firing the shots.

Thanks to German chancellor Angela Merkels appeasement policy President Erdogans long arm now also extends to Europe. After the comedian Jan Bohmermann read his anti-Erdogan poem on German TV, Erdogans German lawyer applied for  and was granted  a court injunction against an online video in support of the comedian.

His lawyer also applied for an injunction against Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of the Axel Springer media group, who had, in a letter, also supported Bohmermann. However, in refusing that injunction, the Cologne court ruled that Dopfner had a constitutionally-guaranteed right to the freedom of expression. Erdogans attorney, on the other hand, compared these repeated insults to gang rape. Mr Erdogan, he stated, is a human being and human dignity is inviolable.

Nevertheless, everybody seems to want to join in  including The Spectator magazine in the UK, which has launched a President Erdogan Offensive Poetry Competition, offering a prize of 1,000 for the most filthy poem about the Turkish president.

In a counter-offensive, the Turkish consulate in Holland has sent an email to Turkish organisations, asking them urgently for the names and written comments of people who have given derogatory, disparaging, hateful and defamatory statements against the Turkish president, Turkey and Turkish society in general in emails or social media such as Twitter or Facebook.

Furthermore, the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders has warned Dutch citizens planning to travel to Turkey on holiday that he could give no guarantees of their safety if they have been critical of the Turkish president. The German Foreign Ministry has also strongly advised German visitors not to make public critical statements against the Turkish state and not to express sympathy for terrorist organisations.

So now there is an added risk for holiday-makers in Turkey  not only from bomb-happy terrorists, but also a vengeful president.
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Yesterday, I took a train through central London. That sounds unremarkable  millions of people do this every day. But getting on that train is something that, in the last six months, I have been unable to do.

Late last year, I was caught up in the Paris terror attacks. This led to a resurgence of the post-traumatic stress disorder I had developed  but largely got over  after a man tried to strangle me to death in 2010. As a result, almost overnight, the world became set with traps, crawling with men who were determined to kill me.

Every unattended bag, police car, low flying helicopter, sudden noise or movement or sign of suspicious behaviour convinced me that another terror attack was unfolding. Every minor symptom was a life threatening illness. Every unanswered text was a dead family member or friend.

In my sleep, I heard French sirens, felt the cold metal of a gun being held to my head. I still do, some nights.

I dont write this to invite pity, but to highlight how mental illness can afflict anyone  even people like me.

Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Show all 10 1 /10 Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 30 per cent of people deal with anxiety by talking to a friend or relative, or by going for a walk. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Almost one in five people feel anxious all or a lot of the time. PA Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 22 per cent of women feel anxious a lot or all of the time, compared to 15 per cent of men. Roman Levin/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 45 per cent of people who feel anxious in everyday life cite financial issues as their biggest cause of worry. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report And 26 per cent of people who feel anxious say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with worry. And 26 per cent of people say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with anxiety. Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 27 per cent of people who suffer from anxiety say work issues, such as long hours, are the source of the problem. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report But 16 per cent use alcohol to cope, while 10 per cent turn to cigarettes in the face of anxiety. Unemployed people are more likely to resort to these harmful strategies: 27 per cent use alcohol and 23 per cent use cigarettes. AFP/Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Only seven per cent of people who say they suffer from anxiety seek help from their GP. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report People are thought to be more anxious than they were five years ago. Alessandra/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report The stresses of modern life are thought to have created "The Age of Anxiety". Getty

From the outside, I am a functioning member of society. I write columns in national newspapers, I go to the office, I see my friends, I go for weekends away. But while Im doing these things, and though youd never know it, I might at the same time be imagining myself lying on a pavement bleeding to death, or dying of cancer. But I suppose if youd seen sobbing my heart out on the bus last week, as my legs shook beneath me because I was convinced there was a bomb on board, you might have some kind of inkling.

It seems not a day goes by without the issue of mental health entering our national consciousness, whether a public figure has opened up about their own struggle or another report is published on the funding crisis in mental health services.

This week, the actress Sheridan Smith faced stigma and abuse as she was signed off for up to a month from the West End show Funny Girl, in which she plays a leading role, because of stress and exhaustion.

We also heard of the suicide of author and agony aunt Sally Brampton, a woman who fought depression for many years and whose 2008 memoir Shoot the Damn Dog highlighted in raw detail how success, visibility and status do little to shield a person from the horrors of mental illness.

In the years since Bramptons memoir was first published, the way we talk about mental illness has undergone a heartening transformation. Social media  so often criticised as a meretricious lens through which we show only the sunniest aspects of our lives  has provided many people struggling with mental illness with an outlet.

Facebook support groups and message boards abound; news feeds are populated by members naming three good things that happened to them today. When a friend on social media shared publicly that he was battling depression, the response under his post was sympathetic, kind and encouraging. When another male friend said, matter of factly, that he regularly goes to see a therapist I felt an overwhelming sense of pride.

In the middle of a male suicide epidemic that is killing our fathers, our brothers, our boyfriends, husbands and sons, public conversations like these are crucial. Anyone who has felt the way mental illness constricts your world, making it smaller and lonelier, knows that another human puncturing the foggy barrier you inhabit, through understanding, tenderness and support, has the ability to save a life.

And while its important to highlight the stigma faced by Sheridan Smith and others who are honest about their condition, its vital too that we celebrate this new openness too. It is a sign of the most stupendous progress.

In 2015, Matt Haigs Reasons to Stay Alive, which detailed his struggle with anxiety and depression, was a huge bestseller  partly as a result of its unapologetic frankness, but also because of the story of hope than runs through work. He writes: Life is waiting for you. You might be stuck here for a while, but the world isnt going anywhere. Hang on in there if you can. Life is always worth it. Vital words.

 NHS invest in mental health

Partly as a result of Haigs success, the mental health memoir has become a publishing phenomenon. A Vice article about anxiety, written by senior editor Eleanor Morgan, went viral last year and has since inspired a brilliant forthcoming book, Anxiety for Beginners.

People  high-functioning, highly successful people  are crying out to talk about their struggles with mental health, she wrote in the original article. No one would feel ashamed discussing an arrhythmia: why should an instability in the brain be taboo over one in the heart? Morgans refreshing book is written in the frank, confiding, witty voice of a person facing and trying to make sense a tide of psychological bullshit; a person who could, ultimately, be any one of us.

The journalist Bryony Gordon is also shortly to release her second memoir, entitled Mad Girl. I wasnt a particular fan of her first book, The Wrong Knickers  didnt everyone take drugs and have one night stands throughout their twenties? What is clear from her follow is that Gordon was struggling desperately with obsessive compulsive disorder throughout this period of her life. Mad Girl, a vivid page-turner with an intensely moving ending, is the best thing she has written. It feels like you are seeing her properly for the first time, and its frank honesty will inspire.

These are just two examples of a publishing trend with more to come, from Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburns Boys Dont Cry, Emily Reynolds A Beginners Guide to Losing Your Mind to James Dawsons Mind Your Head. That such a variety of stories about mental health is being told represents a monumental cultural shift.

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We are making progress. To hear another person open up about their difficulties has the effect of making people like me not just feel less alone, but also less ashamed. Because, though the external stigma of mental illness is significant and damaging, it is often never nearly so bad as the stigma we create for ourselves.

I felt ashamed to tell you that I am often too frightened to get on a train. I felt that it exposed me as weak, or a failure, or a nutter.

But I told you anyway, because writers such as Brampton and Haig, Morgan and Gordon, gave me permission to do so with my head held high. And that, on its own, is huge.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has branded as "irresponsible" a claim by the employers' group Ibec that the findings of the Clerys report should not be implemented and that existing laws should be tested first.

Ibec said provisions already existed within the 2014 Companies Act to deal with poor corporate behaviour.

Staff at Clerys learned last June that they were to lose their jobs just hours after the store building had been sold.

The report, by Labour Court chairman Kevin Duffy and company-law specialist Nessa Cahill, found that there should be increased compensation for workers, amounting to two years' pay, if an existing 30-day notice and consultation period is not respected by an employer.

But Maeve McElwee, director of employer relations at Ibec, said some of the recommendations were "enormously onerous".

She continued: "The Companies Act 2014 already provides for opportunities to address poor corporate behaviour. To introduce further legislation that would impact on every business and all compliant businesses is excessive when we haven't yet tested the legislation that currently exists."

But ICTU described the Ibec claim as "misleading and irresponsible".

Spokesperson Patricia King said: "Their (Ibec's) assertion is also undermined by the Duffy/Cahill report on the Clerys closure, which identified serious deficiencies within the existing law that it said should be addressed."
The future of KBC Bank Ireland is now unlikely to be decided by its Belgian parent until early 2017, its chief executive has told the Irish Independent.

The bank had flagged that a decision would be taken in 2016 - the target date for the Irish unit's return to profit.

In fact KBC returned to profit in 2015, but a decision on its future won't now be taken until the end of this year or early 2017, said KBC Ireland chief executive Wim Verbraeken.

"The bank will want to see how the full 2016 results shape up, it's the first full year of normal existence (since the crash)," he said.

When a decision is made, options on the table are for KBC to retain the Irish unit and seek to organically grow it as a retail bank, to build a captive bank-insurance group, or to sell the profitable Irish bank, KBC managers in Brussels told analysts yesterday.

Wim Verbraeken declined to comment on whether a fourth option - to merge KBC Ireland with another Irish bank - was being considered.

Results released yesterday show profits at KBC Bank Ireland more than doubled in the first three months of the year, to 34.2m.

The bulk of that was generated from interest margins and fees, Mr Verbraeken said, with an additional 3m booked as a result of gains on previously written down commercial property assets.

In the mortgage market, a targeted marketing push in Dublin and Cork helped generate a significant lift in mortgage applications, Mr Verbraeken said.

The bank maintained its share of the home loan market in quarter one, though growth in the market overall had been a bit disappointing, he said.

Earlier this week KBC announced several new variable lending rates for new customers, and reduced fixed rates for new and existing customers on two, three, and five year home loans.

KBC is working within the Central Bank lending rules, and would provide its insights ahead of this year's review of the mortgage caps "if asked", Mr Verbraeken said.

The bank boss declined to comment on plans to potentially tackle the high cost of Irish home-loans included in the Programme for Government, and said the bank had not seen the proposals.

KBC has focused on current accounts as the core of its push into the retail market - with cross-selling of mortgage and investment products.

In the three months to the end of March, the bank added 16,800 new customers.

KBC said its deposit base in both its retail and corporate businesses grew to 5.4bn from 5.1bn at the end of 2015.

The bank said 95pc of customers in long-term arrears had now been offered a debt deal, and that it does not anticipate a spike in repossessions this year.
Microsoft has been given the go-ahead to construct four huge data centres in Dublin that are likely to involve an investment of as much as 900m.

Almost 1,800 construction jobs will be supported by the three-year project, according to Microsoft. The data centres will also result in the creation of 140 full-time jobs.

The local council has just approved the project, which will be built at Grange Castle in Clondalkin.

Microsoft and other firms including Google already have data centres at the location.

The Microsoft scheme firmly places Ireland among the leading global data centre locations, and cements a massive capital expenditure by the software giant on its facilities in Ireland over the past few years.

The company, co-founded by Bill Gates, is currently building a new 134m campus in Dublin for 1,200 staff. It has also spent over 800m on its existing data centre operations at Grange Castle and it's one of the biggest facilities of its type in Europe.

The data centre operations are used by Microsoft as cloud computing hubs. Between 2007 and 2014, Microsoft was granted planning permission for four data centre facilities at Grange Castle. The first was constructed in 2008. Three others are also now operational.

"These data centre facilities were originally designed to meet Microsoft Ireland's data centre server requirements based on projections completed in 2007," the company told the council in its latest planning application.

"Since that time, the demand for online services has expanded exponentially and additional data centre development is required to allow Microsoft Ireland to meet an ever-growing worldwide demand for the services it offers over the internet," it added. The company received planning permission in 2013 and 2015 for two more phases of its data centre expansion. The first phase of that expansion has been completed and the second phase is just about to get under way. Microsoft said that the "increasing move" of social and business life to the cloud means that current facilities are approaching their capacity "ahead of the most conservative predictions of five years ago".

The current application that has just been approved by the council is phase three of Microsoft's data centre development at Grange Castle.

Microsoft, whose Irish managing director is Cathriona Hallahan, opened its Irish base in 1985.

The company confirmed that it had opted for Ireland for the current project due to its temperate climate.

"The selection of Ireland as the preferred country location for this development was based largely on climatic conditions and strategic business considerations," it said.

Billions of euro are being invested in Irish data centres by global giants such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

Apple is planning to build an 850m data centre in Athenry, Co Galway. Facebook recently started construction of a 200m data centre in Clonee, Co Meath.

Amazon has a number of data centres in Dublin to support its huge web services business, and has begun construction on a major new project beside Dublin Airport.

It is also planning to build on the former Jacob's biscuit factory in the capital.
Mr O'Leary and other supporters of Norwegian, including Failte Ireland chairman Michael Cawley, have urged US politicians to back the airline's permit request (Picture: Bloomberg)

Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary is among a number of leading Irish figures who have hit back at US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders' opposition to a new American air route from Cork.

Sanders voiced his disapproval of the plan to grant Norwegian Airlines International a permit to fly between Cork and the US.

But in a joint letter sent to more than 50 senior US politicians who are members of the 'Friends of Ireland' caucus, Mr O'Leary and other supporters of Norwegian, including Failte Ireland chairman Michael Cawley, have urged them to back the airline's permit request.

"We ask that you support NAI's (Norwegian Air International's) request on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of American and Irish consumers and business people who will benefit from new, accessible, and affordable flights between our two countries and Europe," the letter states.

A rally was held yesterday in Washington DC to show support for NAI's plans.

The letter to the US politicians has also been signed by MEP Deirdre Clune; Kevin Toland, the chief executive of the DAA; Eamonn Brennan, the CEO of the Irish Aviation Authority; Michael Murphy, the president of UCC; and Ian Talbot, the CEO of the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland. There are 21 signatories in total.

They add: "To our dismay, opponents of NAI have repeatedly and maliciously impugned Ireland's aviation-safety oversight, regulatory structures and labour protections and labelled Ireland as a mere 'flag of convenience'. This is deeply inaccurate and misleading."

NAI, a subsidiary of Norwegian Air Shuttle, has an Irish air operator's certificate.
Facebook has admitted that humans are involved in determining the content of its trending news section but denied accusations of Left-wing political bias.

In a statement Justin Osofsky, vice president of global operations, said there were a "series of checks and balances" in place to make sure stories appeared "regardless of where they fall on the ideological spectrum".

"Topics that are eligible to appear in the product are surfaced by our algorithms, not people. This product also has a team of people who play an important role in making sure that what appears in Trending Topics is high-quality and useful."

He added: "Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to discriminate against sources of any political origin, period."

However, internal documents leaked to the Guardian showed a team of news editors was able to "inject" stories.

The editors were even given a specific example of what to inject - stories relating to the Black Lives Matter protest group.

Earlier his week technology website Gizmodo claimed Facebook had failed to publish popular stories about conservative issues.

Independent contractors who worked on the Trending Topics team said those stories related to a high profile conservative political conference in the US and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Tom Stocky, who tuns the Trending Topics section, said there was "no evidence" to back that up.

He said: We take these reports extremely seriously and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true.

"There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality."

Last month, Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and chief executive, publicly criticisied presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump over his plan to build a wall on the US-Mexican border.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde calls for governments to act on economic growth

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on Friday there were no economic positives to Britain leaving the European Union and that the impact would range from "pretty bad to very, very bad".

Her blunt warning came as the IMF said the country risks falling into a spiral of weaker economic growth, lower house prices and diminished foreign investment if voters opt to leave the European Union after the referendum next month.

The fund, in an annual report on Britain's economy, said an exit vote would "precipitate a protracted period of heightened uncertainty, leading to financial market volatility and a hit to output."

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A sudden stop to investment in key sectors of the economy such as commercial real estate and finance could exacerbate Britain's record-high current account deficit, the report said.

"Such market reactions could sharply contract economic activity, further depressing asset prices in a self-reinforcing cycle," the Fund said. It also repeated a warning that a Brexit shock could upset the global economy.

British voters have been bombarded with Brexit warnings in recent weeks. On Thursday, the Bank of England said the economy would slow sharply, and possibly even enter a brief recession, a possibility backed by Lagarde on Friday.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has also warned that British voters risk paying a "Brexit tax" equivalent to a month's salary by 2020 if they leave the EU.

Lagarde said the Fund would publish detailed forecasts for the size of a Brexit hit to Britain's economy probably on June 16, a week before the referendum and the same day that finance minister George Osborne and BoE Governor Mark Carney are due to make high-profile speeches at the annual Mansion House dinner.

"LAUGHABLE"

Anti-EU campaigners hit back at the IMF quickly, questioning the Fund's authority when it comes to forecasting.

"Very few people in the media ever pause to ask that question, but its track record is laughable," Arron Banks, a co-founder of the Leave.EU group, said. "Its forecasts are never right, it backed the euro and it didn't see the financial crisis coming."

Vote Leave, the official "Out" campaign, said Britain was being bullied by the IMF.

So far, the barrage of warnings about the economy do not appear to have swayed many voters. Opinion polls show Britons believe staying in the EU would be best for the economy but they are more or less evenly split on how they intend to vote.

Lagarde defended the Fund's decision to publish a report that closely echoed the warnings of Prime Minister David Cameron and finance minister Osborne who worked closely with Lagarde when she was France's finance minister.

"We are not doing it out of politics, this is not the job of the IMF. We're doing it because it's a significant downside risk. And second, it's not just a domestic issue ... it's an international issue," she said.

The IMF said Britain, after a Brexit vote, could take years to renegotiate trade deals with the EU and other countries, hitting investment and weighing heavily on economic sentiment.
Fronted by Ian Brown, the band have not released new music since the mid-1990s

The Stone Roses will release their first new music in more than two decades tonight.

The Manchester band, who are set to headline shows in the city and T in the Park later this year, have not released new music since the mid-1990s.

Posters featuring the band's lemon logo appeared across Manchester ahead of the announcement - signalling to fans that big news was imminent.

And on Thursday they simply tweeted: " THE STONE ROSES WILL RELEASE A NEW SINGLE TONIGHT AT 8PM."

A spokeswoman for the band would not give any further details on the single, including how or in what format the single will be released.

Colin White, owner of Vinyl Revival record shop in Hilton Street, said a poster had been put up outside his store on Tuesday and excitement had been building.

The 48-year-old, who counts himself among their fans, said: "Roses fans are coming in and saying, 'Have you heard the news?' I've had lots of people coming in and they were really excited.

"I'm excited but I'm hoping it's going to be something a bit better than the ordinary.

"I had been told they would be trying out new stuff at the gigs.

"They are geniuses at keeping things quiet."

Fronted by Ian Brown, the four-piece are often hailed as the inspiration for a generation of bands.

The Stone Roses made a triumphant comeback in 2012, having announced in 2011 that they were reforming after an acrimonious split 15 years earlier.

Video of the Day

The reunion was one which many fans thought would never happen after their bitter fall-out.

They had long met rumours of a revival with assurances that the band would not reform.

But they eventually buried the hatchet in 2011, agreeing a series of festival dates and a three-night stint topping the bill at their own mini-festival in Manchester's Heaton Park.

The show was the band's first large-scale show in the UK since the group fell apart in 1996.
An investigation has been ordered into ITV drama series The Secret by British Prime Minister David Cameron.

The probe reportedly comes in the wake of allegations of invasion of privacy from Lauren Bradford, the daughter of the real-life convicted killer Colin Howell, portrayed by James Nesbitt in the series.

The Secret is based on the true story of Northern Irish dentist Howell who, with the help of his lover Hazel Stewart, killed their respective wife and husband, Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan, in Derry in 1991.

The dead couple were believed to have died in a suicide pact after they were found in a garage in a car full of fumes.

However, Howell confessed to the crime in 2009, and revealed that Stewart had also been involved.

The Secret has been receiving rave reviews from viewers and critics, but Bradford alleges that her right to privacy has been breached by ITV and the production company who, she says, did not consult with her prior to giving the series the green light.

The issue was raised by Bradford's local MP Louise Haigh at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday and Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will talk to the Culture Secretary to investigate the drama.

Bradford, who wrote an emotional article about her experience for The Guardian newspaper last month, had approached Haigh to address the issue.

Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on RTE Radio One on Thursday, Haigh said, "It was completely against her wishes. She made it very clear to ITV and the production company as soon as she found out.

"She found out the programme was going ahead from Twitter, which I think is the height of disrespect.

"She tells me that she gave them some factual information and gave them perspective which she really feels was ignored and dismissed. She now feels the portrayal, particularly of her mother, is very unfair and very demeaning to her."

In her piece for The Guardian, Louise wrote, "In the midst of trying to come to terms with the imminent release of the drama, our family endured the PR and social media build-up with sleepless nights and tearful days, while those responsible were being congratulated for a brilliant production.

Video of the Day

"We have been left trembling in the wake of it. The insensitivity of this intrusion is in direct proportion to the trauma that it causes."

Lauren took particular issue with the portrayal of her late mother in the drama as "no more than a down-trodden housewife".

"It fails to capture her ambition and drive, her wicked sense of humour, her thoughtfulness and warmth," she wrote.

According to Haigh, Lauren is hoping that by tackling the issue she might change the situation for other families who might find themselves in a similar position in future.

"ITV have argued to me that any requirement to get her consent would be a restriction on their free speech, but I think there needs to be a proper debate now about where their free speech can end and her right to privacy should be protected," said Haigh.

She added that victims should have a "proper role in the decision to air and the development of accounts of their own life."

In a statement, ITV said, "ITV has a proud record of broadcasting award-winning factual dramas based on or representing real events or people.

"The scripts for The Secret were based on an exhaustively researched book by a highly respected journalist as well as extensive additional research and the documented court cases which have been widely reported in the meida."
A 20-year-old Irish man jailed in Egypt for the last 1,000 days as he awaits trial and a potential death penalty has said his incarceration has felt like 1,000 years.

Ibrahim Halawa's family and supporters are holding an awareness day on Dublin's Grafton Street to allow people to see pictures of him and to learn about his detention.

Arrested in Cairo aged just 17 in the midst of protests over the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, he has been held without trial for almost three years and is due to face justice as part of a mass trial in late June.

His family released a section of a letter he wrote to them in the last week to mark the 1,000 days.

Mr Halawa wrote: "One thousand days with 1,000 different stories. Sadly not the type of joy, laughter and smiles. But rather the type full of suffering, pain, torture, tears, abuse, suicide, and death.

"One thousand days that have felt like 1,000 years. Not only for me but for hundreds behind bars.

"One thousand days for something I believe people should be able to live in just as I do back home, in a free democratic country.

"One thousand days and 1,000 more if it takes to be free. Some have lost hope and written THE END on their story, but I leave many blank pages to be filled."

The Halawa family insist his imprisonment is unlawful and unjust.

One of Mr Halawa's sisters, Somaia, said: "We want to come together to show Ibrahim our support and that we haven't forgotten him.

"We also want to call on an end to this nightmare. We call on more serious and assertive action to be taken to help free Ibrahim."

The Halawas insist Ibrahim has been jailed without a fair trial and no adequate access to a lawyer, and claim he has been electrocuted, beaten, spat on and moved without his family's knowledge.

They have also criticised the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs over what they claim is a "softly, softly" approach by diplomats with Egyptian authorities.

Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan has ordered talks amid the controversy of Mr Halawa being moved from prison to prison, and sent Ireland's ambassador to Egypt Damien Cole to discuss the matter with officials in Cairo. He has also brought in the Egyptian ambassador Soha Gendi in Dublin as part of the diplomatic process.

Mr Halawa's family have set up an information stall on Grafton Street to create awareness of his plight.

Lynn Boylan, Sinn Fein MEP and one of their most vocal supporters, called on Ireland to seek Mr Halawa's release under a "presidential decree".

"I am asking the incoming government and in particular the new Independent ministers to intercede on Ibrahim's behalf. In particular I ask (Children's) Minister Katherine Zappone TD from Ibrahim's constituency to speak for Ibrahim at the cabinet table."

Ms Boylan called on the new cabinet members to ask Taoiseach Enda Kenny to take up the case personally and seek the Egyptian presidential decree.

The London-based Reprieve organisation, which has campaigned for the Halawas and opposes the death penalty, reiterated calls for his release.

"It is a scandal that the Egyptian authorities continue to seek the death penalty for Ibrahim despite his having been a child at the time of his arrest," Harriet McCulloch, deputy director of the death penalty team, said.

"The Egyptian authorities must immediately call an end to this mass trial and others like it and release Ibrahim and the hundreds of others like him who have been illegally detained for so long."

He was 17 when he was detained while taking refuge in a mosque near Cairo's Ramses Square as a "day of rage" was held over the removal of president Mohamed Morsi.

The mass trial he is facing, along with more than 400 others, has been repeatedly postponed since his detention in 2013.
Relatives and political representatives returned to Kilmainham Gaol yesterday for the last ceremonies to mark the executions of 1916 rebels.

James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada were commemorated in two separate events in the Stonebreakers' Yard.

The ceremony for Connolly attracted key figures of the Irish left, including Joe Costello and former Labour Leader Joan Burton.

Connolly's great grand-daughters, Sarah and Ruth Connolly, also attended, and said his role in the Rising was not often discussed by the family.

"My dad's father, Roddy, didn't speak about it too much because he had a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder after the executions," said Ruth (31).

Connolly's execution is seen as the most brutal of all carried out in the aftermath of the Rising. As a result of injuries he sustained in the hostilities, he was unable to stand. He was therefore strapped to a chair and shot by a firing squad.

Fr Adrian Curran read from the memoirs of a Capuchin friar who accompanied Connolly to his execution.

"I had stood behind the firing line. It was a scene I should not ask to witness again," the friar wrote.

"I had got to know Connolly, to marvel at his strength of character and now I had to say goodbye."

During the ceremony, written records of the Proclamation signatories' final hours in Kilmainham were read to the family, historians and politicians.

Speaking at the service, Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar told the story of how Mac Diarmada said "that he wasn't afraid and it would be a privilege for him to die in the company of Clarke, Connolly and others."

Meanwhile, the National Museum of Ireland has announced that it has acquired a collection of medals from the Connolly family for its national exhibitions.

Separately, a new exhibition of stories and portraits of 1916 figures has opened at Kilmainham Gaol.
Four criminals were contracted in Eastern Europe to specifically target a Galway city jewellers, where they carried out a violent armed robbery, stealing 1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches.

Detective Sergeant John McElroy told Galway Circuit Criminal Court that the robbery was planned from Lithuania.

The four men before the court, Irmantas Paulauskas (38), Saulius Repecka (37), Erikas Matusevicius (36) and Vaidas Pinelis (28) had been "recruited" there to do the job and arrived in Dublin two days before the robbery.

They went to Galway the day beforehand to 'case' the premises and leave unlocked bicycles nearby at Merchant's Road to be used for their getaway.

Sentencing Paulauskas to 14 years in prison and the other three men to eight years, Judge Rory McCabe hinted that people with local knowledge must have played a part.

He said: "The evidence strongly suggests this robbery was meticulously planned and these men were probably under contract to carry it out. All of them knew where to go and what to look for in the shop."

The 'smash and grab' style robbery was carried out with military-style precision and the men were on the premises for only 90 seconds, before leaving calmly with two rucksacks crammed with 16 trays of diamond rings and 32 Rolex watches. The rucksacks were later found by gardai, hidden under a bush on Lough Atalia.

All four were arrested within a hour of the robbery and while three of them admitted their guilt straight away, Paulauskas denied any involvement.

A jury found him guilty on Wednesday of carrying out the robbery and of being armed with an imitation pistol.

The sentence hearing yesterday heard that all four men had previous convictions in Lithuania, with Paulauskas having convictions for thefts, fraud and serious assaults.
Gardai at the Phoenix Park for the Swedish House Mafia gig in 2012 at which a number of fans were injured. Photo: El Keegan

Almost 30 fans of Swedish House Mafia have launched claims for personal injury damages arising out of a concert by the group in the Phoenix Park four years ago.

There were a number of attacks on fans at the concert in July 2012.

The incidents led to a meeting between event organisers and the Garda Commissioner, and the establishment of protocols governing the running of any future events in the park.

A solicitor involved in one case, which is yet to be heard by the courts, said he knew of 26 cases pending, with others also in the pipeline.

Stabbed

Last week, a man who was stabbed and beaten up at the concert settled a 60,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court for an undisclosed sum.

Barrister Suzanne Walsh asked Judge Jacqueline Linnane to strike out the claim of Niall Davey with an order for his legal costs.

The new claims will be heard by the Circuit Civil Court and, for the more serious cases, the High Court. Prior to the settlement of Mr Davey's case, barrister Pat Purcell had told the court he would be seeking to present a Report of the Garda Investigation.

It is expected the report, previously unpublished, will be opened during the forthcoming cases. The new cases are expected to come for trial before August.

Mr Davey, of Castleknock Drive, Castleknock, Dublin, had sued MCD Productions of Dun Laoghaire; Swords Risk Services Ltd, Tuam Road, Galway; Eventsec Ltd, Queen's Way, Belfast; Michael N Slattery and Associates Ltd, Lower Pembroke Street, Dublin, and PBM Productions Ltd, trading as Diffusion Events, Dun Laoghaire.
John Hayes: court heard of his chronic addiction to heroin (Picture: Emma Jervis)

A judge has given a man with nearly 200 previous convictions "another chance" of avoiding jail after a "very frightening" raid on a Paddy Power bookmakers armed with a knife.

Circuit Court judge Tom O'Donnell held off sentencing Limerick man John Hayes, after hearing that he had made strides in dealing with a chronic heroin addiction.

Hayes had 193 previous convictions, including possession of a knife, escaping from custody three times, misuse of drugs, vagrancy, theft and driving without insurance and without an NCT certificate.

Hayes (42), of Hartigan Villas, Moyross, Limerick, pleaded guilty to robbing the bookies on William Street, Limerick, at around 8.50pm on August 21, 2013.

Limerick Circuit Court heard that Hayes threatened a female member of staff with a "large knife" and demanded cash.

The woman refused to hand over the money and pushed a panic alarm, alerting gardai.

Hayes was seen on CCTV cameras leaving a nearby pub in a bright orange hoodie and returning to the premises wearing the same hoodie shortly after the incident.

The woman also identified the orange top that was worn by Hayes.

Brian McInerney BL said Hayes had no trappings of wealth and was now off drugs.

Judge Tom O'Donnell said that despite the "very frightening" crime, he noted that Hayes "has engaged with the probation services and is on a methadone programme".

"The accused has an appalling record and has been given several chances and has not taken them," the judge said.

However, he added: "In fairness to the accused, he is in the best condition I've seen him in many years."

The court also noted that a probation report was "very positive".

Judge O'Donnell adjourned sentencing Hayes to October 4 next.

He added: "I'm prepared to give this young man another chance to see if he can deal with his chronic heroin addiction."
Forcing Christian bakers to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan could amount to cruelty, Northern Ireland's top law officer argued today.

Attorney General John Larkin QC's assessment came as judgment was reserved in a landmark legal battle over the McArthur family's refusal of a customer's order.

Senior judges in Belfast pledged to give their verdict as soon as possible.

Ashers' Baking Company, run by the McArthurs, is seeking to overturn a finding that it acted unlawfully in declining Gareth Lee's order.

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 refunded his money for the order because the message went against their Christian faith.

The family insist their problem was with the cake and not the customer.

But Mr Lee sued, claiming he was left feeling like a lesser person.

Last year Belfast County Court held that the bakery had discriminated against him on grounds of sexual orientation and religious belief or political opinion.

The firm was also ordered to pay 500 compensation to the gay rights activist, whose legal action was backed by the Equality Commission.

During a four-day hearing at the Court of Appeal lawyers for the McArthurs have challenged the finding by insisting it would have been sinful for them to complete the order.

Counsel for the family claimed it was wrong to force them to choose between operating a business or adhering to their faith.

In closing submissions today David Scoffield QC rejected claims that his clients' refusal subjected Mr lee to direct discrimination.

He said: "The reason the order was declined was conscience, it was nothing to do with this customer or any customer's political opinion.

"A customer with a different political opinion who wanted the same cake would have received the same response."

Supporting the McArthurs' case, the Attorney General has contended that it was wrong to force them to express a political view in conflict with their faith.

He insisted they should have constitutional protection for turning down a customer's order based on their religious beliefs.

And in his final arguments today, Mr Larkin claimed the problem in the case involved "coerced expression".

He told the court: "The wrong occurs, and can amount to cruelty, to make someone say something fundamentally at variance with their political opinion or religious views."

Following closing submissions the three appeal judges, Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan and Lord Justices Weatherup and Weir, confirmed they were reserving their decision.
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, left, and Philip Grant, Irish Consul General of the Western United States, walk in front of the apartment block where the balcony tragedy occurred (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A private investigator has been aiding the victims of the Berkeley balcony collapse with their multi-million dollar civil suit for damages over the tragedy, it has emerged.

Legal papers filed with a court in California reveal that an investigator was retained by lawyers for the victims to gather documents that will help with their cases. The disclosure was made after the company that owns the building where the tragedy occurred sought to quash civil summonses issued against it.

The move is being fought by lawyers for the victims.

Copies of deeds, a lease memorandum and other legal papers were obtained by the investigator, the court was told in a legal filing.

The building is owned by BlackRock Granite Property Fund, a 2.5bn investment fund. It is among 32 defendants being sued for negligence by survivors and relatives of those who died when the balcony collapsed last June.

The tragedy claimed the lives of five Irish J1 students and a young Irish-American woman. Seven other Irish students were seriously injured.
The Luas will not operate until 6.30am on Saturday tomorrow morning

Dublin commuter routes have been badly hit by increased traffic due to another day of Luas strike action.

The Luas will not operate until 6.30am on Saturday tomorrow morning as drivers take part in their 11th day of industrial action.

Dublin Bus services are operating as normal today, but have warned commuters to allow additional time for their journey.

Services are expected to be busier than usual due to the Luas stoppages, especially at peak times.

#Luas not running today Fri 13th May due to strike action. See https://t.co/XXNtt9hsNS for info  Luas (@Luas) May 13, 2016

There is particularly heavy traffic in areas of south Dublin, and AA Roadwatch reports that it is very slow inbound on the Drummartin Link Rd, Goatstown Rd and through Clonskeagh into Ranelagh.

It is similarly heavy on the Dundrum Bypass from the M50 onto Dundrum Rd through to Milltown.

Elsewhere in Dublin, traffic is slow on St Johns Rd west up to Heuston Station, and creeping along the North Quays from Inns Quay to Bachelors Walk.

Its also busier than usual on the north side heading into the city from Fairview through to Connolly Station on Amien Street.

Our services are operating as normal today but due to Industrial Action at Luas allow additional time for journeys pic.twitter.com/4NfYZLSwcs  Dublin Bus (@dublinbusnews) May 13, 2016

In Wicklow, motorists can expect heavy delays from J11 Greystones as Gardai are dealing with a crash on the N11 Wexford/Dublin Rd northbound at J6 Bray/Fassaroe.

AA Roadwatch reports that emergency services are treating a fuel spill in Cork outside Glanmire on the Old N8 near Sallybrook Industrial Estate. Drivers are urged to avoid this route if possible or to take care on approach.

Elsewhere in Cork, traffic is building on approach to the Dunkettle Interchange from the N8 Dublin Rd and the N40 South Ring Rd.

Its busy but moving along the Quays in the city centre.

Its Friday the 13th. Superstitious or not !. Drivers Reduce your speed.

Do not make it a Fatal Friday for your or any other family ! RT  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) May 12, 2016

The N72 Mallow/Fermoy Rd is closed between Olivers Cross and Monanimy Cross until 6pm today for works. Diversions are in place.

Those travelling on the M7 Dublin/Limerick Rd southbound between J28 Castletroy and J29 Ballysimon are advised to take care as there is debris in the right lane.

In Limerick city, traffic is busy on Patrick St and OConnell St.

Drivers are warned of delays in Sligo as a stop/go system is in place at the junction of the N17 Sligo/Galway Rd and the Ballina Rd (R294) due to works in Tobercurry.

In Galway, its busy northbound on Ballybrit Crescent heading into Galway Technology Park.

There are further delays in Galway and Carlow due to stop/go systems on the N59 Galway/Clifden Rd at Bushypark and the N80 Carlow/Enniscorthy Rd at the Wexford Rd Business Park.

There are diversions in place on the N61 Boyle/Roscommon Rd between Boyle and Tulsk due to ongoing works.
Every year, there are about 100 chronic cases of children who miss huge chunks of schooling and whose parents refuse to put it right.

These are the cases of last resort, where parents are issued with a court summons because they have ignored all previous advice and warnings. About one in four cases result in a conviction; the penalties are a maximum fine of 1,000 or a month in prison or both.

There are about another 250 children who come to the attention of educational welfare officers every year, but whose parents work with the authorities and get their children back on track.

A child who displays persistent absence from school, which amounts to a loss of 20 days or more during the year, automatically triggers the interest of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) if there is no valid reason, such as illness.

If the educational welfare officer feels they are making no progress, they can issue a school-attendance notice to the parents. It lasts for two years and if there is a breach of the notice at any stage within that period, a summons can be issued.

School-attendance legislation covers 6-16 year olds and there are about 750,000 in that age bracket at school in Ireland.

Against that figure, the incidence of serious absenteeism may seem statistically small, but the lives and futures of children are at stake.

So if parents are not living up to their responsibility to give their children the education to which they are entitled, and on which their life chances depend, the State has a responsibility.

Chronic absenteeism is more of an issue in disadvantaged communities and those schools are provided with a range of supports, such as breakfast clubs and home-school liaison staff, to assist them in helping parents overcome whatever challenges they face. There is always an argument for even better supports, but sometimes individual cases are very complex.

One primary principal said that the most serious cases could often be a consequence of tragic circumstances, such as mental-health issues or substance abuse.

Critics of any suggestion of using child benefit payments as a stick around school attendance include Tanya Ward of the Children's Rights Alliance.

She argues that it is a universal payment designed to help families with the cost of caring for their children and that it should in no way be used as a tool to punish parents and families.

In practice, it would indirectly lead to school principals actually making decisions on who gets child benefit.

The NEWB comes within the remit of the child and family agency, Tusla. A spokeswoman for the agency said persistent non-attendance could often involve more than one factor.

She pointed out that homelessness was recently presenting as a reason for absenteeism because of the journeys some children face in travelling to the school they were in before becoming homeless.

There is little evidence of such a law in other jurisdictions. But in Michigan, USA last year, the governor signed into law the "parental responsibility act", providing statutory authority to cut off child assistance for chronic truancy.
Shocking video footage exclusive to Independent.ie reveals the horrid conditions of Dublins rental accommodation.

These cramped apartments, some of which are so small that the bed is pushed up next to the kitchen counter, are being advertised online for up to 1,000 a month.

Earlier this week, a report from property listings website Daft.ie found that rents across the country have soared above 1,000 a month.

On May 1, rental supply was at its lowest point on record with fewer than 3,100 properties available to rent nationwide, according to the report.

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In 2015, that figure was 4,300 and in 2009 there were 23,000 homes advertised to rent.

As of yesterday, there were just 3,400 rental properties available, and with so few places on the market, tenants are becoming more willing to settle for extremely poor conditions at eye-wateringly high prices.

We visited a number of apartments advertised online for less than 1,000 across Dublin city, and the findings were bleak.

Many properties were listed as studio apartments, despite consisting of no more than a single room which was crammed with a bed, a hob, a sink and a separate toilet and shower.

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In Dublin 1, one such apartment was advertised for 850 a month.

Before agreeing to a viewing, the landlord made repeated requests to see a passport, and asked to know where potential tenants worked and whether they were in college.

On opening the door, guests are greeted by the foot of the tenants bed, which is nestled between the tiny bathroom and the kitchen/living area.

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Inside the door, there was an alarm system bearing a shock hazard warning tag, along with a washing machine and a small sink, on the opposite side of the room from the cooking area.

Above the kitchen space  which consisted of a fridge, an oven and hob and a microwave  the walls were stained with dirty brown grease patches.

Next to the kitchen, a small dining table with one chair was pushed up against the tatty leather sofa, which was heavily cracked and split, and covered in tears and scratches.

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A coffin-like bathroom included a toilet and barely enough room to wrap a towel around yourself after hopping out of the cramped shower.

The current tenant had left a full bag of rubbish by the bed, making for an even worse impression.

The footage also shows another so-called studio apartment in Dublin 4, which was on offer for 955 a month.

The room, which contained a double bed squeezed up against the sofa, with just a foot of space separating the end of the mattress from the kitchen counters.

The tenant will have to eat their dinners on the couch, as the room offers no dining area.

The flat has its own separate bathroom, with a toilet and a tiny shower.

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There was a TV sitting above the head of the bed, which the landlord suggested could be mounted next to the door.

A shabby-looking flat in Dublin 8, in which the bed was housed in what appeared to be a converted closet, was advertised for 850 a month.

The living, kitchen and dining area was in a separate room, and a small staircase leads to the tiny box bedroom.

Inside, the double bed leaves barely enough room to shuffle to the wardrobe, which sits above on a raised platform.

The small bedroom window looks out on a brick wall.

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Although the flat boasts a power shower, tenants might have trouble turning around, as the bathroom is so cramped.

However, tenants desperate to work and live in the city have been eagerly snapping them up, as potential renters lined up with references in hand to speak to the landlords.

As Ireland's largest classified property advertising website we don't manage the properties; but host ads on behalf of landlords/agents etc, said Mr Clancy.
Meryl Streep as boss from hell Miranda Priestly in the film 'The Devil Wears Prada' (Picture: Twentieth Century Fox)

Stress has now overtaken back pain as the number one health hazard in the workplace - leaving employees in a minefield that can trigger absenteeism and a loss of productivity.

Dr John Gallagher, a specialist in occupational medicine, said he had seen stress, anxiety and depression escalate in the past 10 to 15 years, generated by problems such as work overload.

"Employers need to find out if it is work-related and what is causing it. Nobody is immune to it, managers included.

"There is little point in advising counselling if the main issue is not addressed. We should be careful about medicalising stress. The source must be found and dealt with."

Managers who are like the "boss from hell", as played by Meryl Streep in the film 'The Devil Wears Prada', can have a detrimental effect.

The knock-on effect is that the wrong workplace dynamics can lead to needless absenteeism, loss of morale and falling profits.

Dr Gallagher addressed the Health and Safety Review conference yesterday.

He is head of Cognate Health National OHP Network, which provides occupational health physicians to employers across the country.

Dr Gallagher said he advises stressed employees of the importance of taking exercise for their wellbeing.

"More employers are now contracting in wellness and screening programmes. They know they must go beyond just following health and safety legislation.

"Lifestyle diseases like obesity are making more impact. Sitting for hours is not healthy.

"I see more workplaces conducting stand-up meetings. They are beneficial and also efficient," he added.
Audrey Fitzpatrick is "feeling proud" of her husband Dave Mahon - the man who killed her son.

Writing online she also added that he was "not a bad man".

Audrey Fitzpatrick has broken her silence after her husband David Mahon was found guilty of killing her son Dean Fitzpatrick last week.

The mother, whose teenage daughter Amy Fitzpatrick went missing in Spain in 2008, now says her killer husband is a good man.

Writing on her Facebook page yesterday, Audrey Fitzpatrick said that it was her and Dave's first wedding anniversary.

However, she took the opportunity to defend her husband and said that she was "feeling proud".

"Today was first time I put up any of Dave on this ," she wrote on her Facebook page.

"But today is a first wedding anniversary and by God he'd do anything to get out of buying a present," she wrote.

guilty

"I'm sure people are going to judge me doing this, one year today was the happiest day we both had in over 8 years...he's not a bad man and would NEVER lie, so I'll get off and let the bating begin!!!" she added.

Just last week, a jury of six men and six women found Dave Mahon was guilty of killing Dean Fitzpatrick on May 26, 2013.

The 23-year-old received a single stab wound to the stomach outside the apartment his mother Audrey shared with Mahon at Burnell Square, Northern Cross in Malahide.

David Mahon and Dean's mother Audrey Fitzpatrick were married last year, two years after his death.

The family had moved to Spain in 2004, where they had business interests. Amy went missing four years later.

The court heard that, by 2013, Dean Fitzpatrick was in a relationship and had a two-year-old child. He had mental health difficulties and had a difficult relationship with Mahon.

Although Mahon was found not guilty of Dean's murder, the court found him guilty of manslaughter.

The case has been adjourned until May 30 and Mahon has been remanded in custody.

A tired-looking Audrey appeared before court earlier this week, when she settled a 60,000 damages claim against Dublin City Council and Irish Water.

The mother alleged in the Circuit Civil Court that she had been injured when her foot went into an open shore on May 29, 2014.

Ms Fitzpatrick, described as a homemaker, 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.

injured

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 action, 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, distress and discomfort which had disrupted her social, domestic and recreational life.
A man who refused to pay a fine for taking his six-year-old daughter out of school for a family trip to Florida has won a ruling in his favour at the High Court.

Jon Platt, who is originally from Northern Ireland, was fined by Isle of Wight Council after he took his family on the holiday, which included a visit to Walt Disney World, without permission from his child's school.

He was originally fined 60. This was then doubled because of his refusal to pay.

The dispute went before Isle of Wight Magistrates' Court in October when Mr Platt won the case.

But the local authority appealed against the decision at the High Court in London.

On Friday, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not "erred in law" when reaching their decision.

On Friday, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Mrs Justice Thirlwall dismissed the council's challenge, ruling that the magistrates had not "erred in law" when reaching their decision.

After the ruling, Mr Platt said outside court: "I am obviously hugely relieved. I know that there was an awful lot riding on this - not just for me but for hundreds of other parents."

The magistrates decided Mr Platt had "no case to answer" because no evidence had been produced to prove that his daughter - who is now aged seven and can only be referred to as M for legal reasons - had failed to attend school "regularly".

The two High Court judges ruled that the magistrates were entitled to take into account the "wider picture" of the child's attendance record outside of the dates she was absent during the holiday.

Julie Robertson, solicitor at Simpson Millar, who has represented parents over term-time holiday fines, said: "This decision has provided much needed clarity for parents as to whether regular attendance can continue to be decided on an individual basis by the lower Courts. This decision gives parents the freedom and comfort to continue to take their children out of school during term time provided that they secure regular attendance on the whole."

She added: "Attendance alone does not guarantee that a child will do well academically, nor does missing a few classes prevent them from succeeding."

It comes as a survey revealed families face paying more than double the price for a package holiday as soon as school holidays begin.

'Money well spent'

Mr Platt said the case had cost him 13,000, which he described as "money well spent".

Taking his six-year-old daughter out of school was not about the cost but rather the principle that he should not be criminalised for doing so, he said.

He told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "If the law required 100 per cent attendance, if the law said your children must attend every single day in order to get a great education, the law would say that - but it does not.

"We are not arguing on behalf of people whose kids don't go to school, I'm arguing on behalf of people whose kids go to school every single day and maybe once a year they take them out for five days.
Jamie presented Caolan and his father, Paul with the custom Lightsabers from Saberforge which were bought and tailored to suit both Caolan and his little brother Ciaran

Jamie and Little Sister Faith. Jamie's "Little Princess Faith" visiting him the last time he was in hospital a few weeks ago

The day Jamie organised along with the Emerald Garrison to pay a little visit to Ciaran's house. Jamie is the one wearing the Darth Vader costume. Courtesy of GC Photographics

"Jamie, Ciaran, Caolan" The first time Jamie met the boys, after sending them to a private screening of The Force Awakens, as Ciaran wouldn't have been able to go otherwise, due to his immune system being low

He's defeated cancer twice and now all this brave teenager from Northern Ireland wants is to meet his idols - the cast of Star Wars, who just so happen to have touched down in Ireland to film the latest installment of the blockbuster series.

Jamie Harkin was diagnosed in June 2011 with Hodgkins Lmphoma cancer and suffered a relapse in January 2013.

Having beaten the disease twice in five years, the 17-year-old has been seriously ill since January this year.

However, the determined teenager has taken it all in his stride and set up Jamie's Journie, a community to help those in the north west suffering from cancer, raising over 20,000.

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He has set up many experiences in the community to help other young people.

Jamie has been a Star Wars fan since he was three and always aspired to direct the films with one of his dreams being to cross lightsabres with the cast.

And it just so happens that the likes of Luke Skywalker, Rey and Kylo Ren - instead of being a galaxy far, far away - are actually remarkably close.

Mark Hamill, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver were snapped arriving at Belfast International Airport on Friday morning.

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While the iconic Millennium Falcon has docked at Malin Head in Co Donegal.

Mum Patricia says Jamie is the biggest Star Wars fan in the galaxy and so she launched an appeal to get the actor's attention using the hashtag #StarWarsForJJ on social media.

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The as-yet-untitled Star Wars Episode VIII is filming just out of view of Jamie's Derry house which is right on the border, his mother said.

Should he get to meet the cast, the selfless teenager who is studying for his GCSES, doesn't want it just for him, rather he wants it for the others in his Jamie's Journie community.

Among them is little Ciaran Murphy who turns two next week, he was diagnosed with leukaemia last summer and loves all things Star Wars.

The little boy is back in hospital and will be for the next number of weeks and Jamie would love to have something sorted for the his birthday on Thursday.

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Patricia said: "We didn't even think about Star Wars coming here because Jamie has been so sick. If Jamie had have been better, he would have been doing this for Jamie's Journie's kids himself.

"I put up a public appeal the other day, and overnight there was more than 20,000 views.

"Jamie has been a massive fan of Star Wars since he was three and when he turns 18 he plans to join the Emerald Garrison to visit sick children as Luke Skywalker."

Last year Jamie dressed up as Darth Vader and arranged for members of the Emerald Garrison - a Star Wars-themed costume club which raises money for charity - to visit one little Ciaran, one of the youngest members of the Jamie Journie family.

Now with the cast of Star Wars arriving in Northern Ireland and being so close, Patricia said the appeal is just something they needed to do.

"They are on our doorstep," she said, "We have all these amazing kids that have been through so much and are going through so much.

"We just really want to get Jamie and some of the kids, even to go on set, just something.

"It's just so close and it's such a dream. It's never going to happen again.

"Jamie wants it for him and some of the kids. They are as mad about Star Wars as he is.

"He's been so ill since January and it would be good for all the kids."

She added: "With him being so sick of late, I thought maybe it's time that somebody pushed for something for him."
SUPPORT for Independent TDs has fallen significantly in the wake of the formation of a new government.

The first major opinion since Enda Kennys re-election as Taoiseach shows that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail are still neck-and-neck in terms of public backing.

But voters are losing in faith in all the main party political leaders.

Fianna Fails Micheal Martin is still the most popular leader but his satisfaction rating fall back from the highs of the campaign to 42pc, down 12 points since February.

Mr Kenny is on a satisfaction figure of 35pc, while Sinn Feins Gerry Adams is at the lowest level since 2013 on 24pc.

Half (49pc) would prefer to see Micheal Martin as Taoiseach, while only a third (36pc) would pick Enda Kenny.

Leo Varadkar is the voters favourite to succeed Enda Kenny, with 32pc of all voters and 39pc of Fine Gale voters supporting him to replace the current Taoiseach.

The newly appointed Social Protection Ministers is relatively stronger among younger voters, those in more upmarket social groups and in Dublin.

Housing Minister Simon Coveney is the second favourite to succeed Enda Kenny with 25pc support among all voters and 28pc among Fine Gael voters.

The Red C poll for Paddy Power also asked over 1,000 voters for their views on Irish Water. A significant proportion of voters (61pc) believe that Irish Water should now be abolished  but well over half of people (59pc) said they would pay water charges in the future if they are re-introduced.

Some 71pc believe that those who have paid their water charges to date should be refunded, while only around a third of voters feel that those who havent paid should be perused through the courts for payment.

RED C interviewed a random sample of 1,015 adults by telephone between May 9-11.

The poll, revealed on RTEs Today with Sean ORourke show that Fine Gael remain just about head on Fianna Fail on 27pc, compared to 25pc. The gap is actually even closer when decimal point rounding is removed.

Sinn Fein do see some small gains in support rising to 16pc, approximately 2pc ahead of what they achieved at the election.

The Labour Party, which is now searching for a new leader after Joan Burtons resignation this week, is on 5pc support. This is 2pc below their election day drubbing.

Despite being central to preventing a second election the Independent candidates appear to have suffered most by the events of recent weeks.

Independent support is down 4pc to 9pc in this poll, while the Independent Alliance is also down 1pc since the election, continuing an apparent downward trend, albeit within the margin of error.

The AAA-PBP, Greens and the Social Democrats all appear to come out of negotiations quite well, despite most not having taken part, with gains for all three parties vs the actual election results.

FG 27pc (unchanged)

FF 25pc (unchanged)

SF 16pc (+2)

Independents 9pc (-4)

Labour 5pc (-2)

Ind Alliance 3pc (-1)

AAA-PBP 6pc (+2)

Social Democrats 4pc (+1)

Green Party 3pc (+1)

Renua 1pc (-1)

Others 1pc (unchanged)
A software error has been blamed for a passenger jet almost overshooting a runway at Belfast International Airport, investigators have revealed.

The glitch resulted in the airliner not having enough space left to abort a take-off.

The pilots had selected the correct take-off plan on their computer, but the calculations were made using a runway more than 1,000m longer than the real thing.

Some 156 passengers and six crew were on board the Airbus A319-111 flight bound for Luton.

When the 33-year-old captain of the plane saw the end of the runway approaching too soon, he made the split-second decision to continue, and the jet became airborne with just 200 metres of Tarmac left in front of it.

He later told the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) he felt that a rejected take-off would not provide sufficient stopping distance.

Investigators concluded that the incident on June 25 last year was likely caused by incorrect take-off data after an anomaly with the Airbus FlySmart software on the captains PC led to a change in runway choice.

A report by the AAIB stated: This anomaly was not known by the operator or manufacturer at the time and is likely to have been the reason for the incorrect runway selection.

These figures were not identified as erroneous and were subsequently used for take-off.
Former environment minister Alan Kelly has declared his intention to seek the leadership of the Labour Party and double their Dail seats at the next election.

The Tipperary TD predicted the new government will collapse within two years and he has the energy and drive to lead the party.

However, he said that he does not anticipate a full-blown leadership contest, suggesting that the partys seven TDs will reach a consensus on who should succeed Joan Burton.

Brendan Howlin is also considering whether to have a tilt at the position this weekend, while Jan OSullivan and Sean Sherlock have not ruled themselves out of contention.

Mr Kelly (40) said that he spoke with Mr Howlin about the situation yesterday and the party TDs and senators will meet on Tuesday for further discussions.

In a clear effort to differentiate himself from Mr Howlin (60), the current deputy leader suggested the party needs a leader who can plan for multiple elections and he could bring a different philosophy.

If the election was very soon, the Labour Party would have ambitions to double their seats, he said.

Speaking on the Late Late Show, Mr Kelly described Labours election result as disastrous  but blamed populism for much of their troubles.

We lost because by and large we were lost in the flow of populism that has engulfed Irish politics, he said.

The issue is that in modern day politics, there is a large element of populism that has taken hold. We need to take a step back from that.

We now have a scene in the Dail where a quarter of the people dont want to govern, probably ever.

He argued that Labour were so busy concentrating on saving the country that they didnt demonstrate to their core voters the fights they were winning in government during the past five years.

Asked if Labour had betrayed their voters by allowing child benefit to be cut, Mr Kelly replied: I wouldnt go anywhere near using the word betrayal. They brought this country through the worse economic crisis in the history of this State.

And in a clear pitch for the leadership, Mr Kelly said: We will bring this party back.

Mr Kelly also said the public perception of him is distorted because people see him through the prism of water, housing and flooding.

I come from a very humble background. Everything was put into giving us an education and weve been moderately successful, he said.

Mr Kelly admitted that he is ambitious, but said that is frowned up depending on where you come from.

You have to put yourself forward in life. Somethings theres an element of begrudgery.

On Irish Water, Mr Kelly hit out at junior minister Finian McGrath who had been refusing to pay his charges.

He said it was incredible that Mr McGrath could have expected to sit at Cabinet while not obeying the laws of the country.

Sometimes you dont like that laws. But you have to obey the laws, he said.

If the election was very soon, the Labour Party would have ambitions to double their seats.
Willie Penrose, chairperson of the Parliamentary Labour Party, speaks at the publication of Labour's Water Fairness Bill 2016. Also in attendance were Jan O'Sullivan TD, Senators Denis Landy, Kevin Humphreys and Aodhan O Riordan, and Alan Kelly TD, Brendan Ryan TD, and Senator Ivana Bacik. Photo: Tom Burke

People who paid their water charges must be refunded by Irish Water if the charges are definitively abandoned, the Labour Party insists.

Labour introduced the controversial charges while in government with Fine Gael. But their party chairman, Willie Penrose, has published a draft law allowing for a full return of all money paid to Irish Water by customers within six months.

Former Labour Environment Minister Alan Kelly said scrapping water charges was "environmental treason" by Fianna Fail, who forced the change as the price of facilitating the incoming minority Government. Mr Kelly, tipped by many to be the next party leader, has also expressed doubt about the administrative challenge of refunds which are entangled with the 100 water grant already paid out.

Launching the "Water Charges (Fair Treatment of Customers) Bill 2016", Mr Penrose said that if water charges are suspended, Labour will champion equal treatment of those who paid and those who did not pay.

"We cannot allow a situation to arise where people who comply with the law of the land, are left feeling they have been mugged," the Westmeath TD said.

Mr Penrose, also a leading barrister, said that if the party's bill is not accepted he will proceed with his threat of a class action on behalf of citizens who have paid their water charges. The Labour strategy in opposition, of championing the case of the six out of 10 citizens who paid some water bills, is the latest change of political position on the issue.

During the 2011 general election, Labour warned that a Fine Gael-only government would introduce a 238 per year water tax. After much internal acrimony, yearly rates of 160 for a one-person household, and 260 for others, were introduced in 2014 by the Fine Gael-Labour coalition following big street protests.

Back in December 1994, as they entered the Rainbow Coalition, Labour abandoned the principle of water charges fearing a big backlash from opponents on the further left of the political spectrum.
Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said that one of the biggest issues was a policy limiting the number of social housing units in any one area to 20pc of the total Photo: PA

Two thirds of Nama units being offered for social housing are being turned down.

And the agency is "scouring" its portfolio to find possible social housing units at the request of new minister Simon Coveney.

The agency's chairman, Frank Daly, addressed TDs on the Dail's housing and homelessness committee about its role. Nama has committed to providing 20,000 residential units by 2020. Mr Daly said Nama had previously offered local authorities 6,700 units for social housing but had been asked for just 2,500 of these.

"We are continually scouring our portfolio for more units that could be used for social housing," Mr Daly told TDs.

"We had a meeting with the Minister for Housing [Mr Coveney] which was very useful. He has encouraged us to look again at our portfolio...

"We have said we will do that and we are confident that we can come up with several hundred additional units which we will offer to the local authorities as soon as we possibly can."

He said of two million homes in Ireland, just 6,000 are in the hands of Nama debtors and that nearly all of them are occupied.

"Some people would have us believe there are easy answers to all of Ireland's housing problems. I am sure that this committee ... knows that is not the case," Mr Daly said.

Fine Gael's Fergus O'Dowd pointed out that in a number of cases local authorities that declined the most units are those that have the greatest demand, including Dublin councils.

He said it "makes no sense" and asked why it was happening.

Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh said that one of the biggest issues was a policy limiting the number of social housing units in any one area to 20pc of the total. "That's not acceptable," Mr O'Dowd replied. "How in the name of God can local authorities turn down a roof for families? That is what they are doing."

Mr McDonagh said Nama asks their debtors to hold units back while waiting for an answer from local authorities.

He said when they are turned down the properties are "snapped up" in the private rental sector.

But Sinn Fein's Eoin O Broin, a former South Dublin councillor, said that there are constraints imposed by central government.

He gave the example of 591 units Nama offered to his former council, with almost 500 of them in one location, and said that this was not allowed for under government policy.

He also accused Nama of being "more driven by commercial calculations" than its remit for contributing to the "social and economic development" of the State.
A choice of four properties available to buy in the Kingdom, including some offering views of Kenmare Bay, and locations close to the many amenities and sights that the county has in abundance.

Silvermoon, Templenoe 495k

Sherry FitzGerald Daly (064) 664 1213

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There are good views of Kenmare Bay from Silvermoon and the house has a raised deck off the main living room from which to enjoy them. The house is 2,670 sq ft on three storeys. At entrance level there's an open-plan kitchen, dining and living room, with a wood-burning stove and French doors to the deck. There are two bedrooms on this level, and two upstairs, both en-suite. The basement has a garden room and a large store room. It is on two-thirds of an acre of grounds, with shrubs and a vegetable garden.

Stablewood, Coolcorcoran

500k DNG Ted Healy (064) 663 9000

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Stablewood is a development of large detached houses in the townland of Coolcorcoran, about three kilometres north of Killarney. At the end of it is this B2-rated house on 0.6 of an acre. It's completed to 'builder's finish', leaving a buyer with 4,036 sq ft to decorate to their own taste. The entrance hall has a rather arresting concrete staircase. There are three reception rooms and a study, as well as the kitchen/dining room. There's one en-suite bedroom on the ground floor and the other five upstairs, two en-suites.

Kincora, Oakpark Road, Tralee

199.5k Sherry FitzGerald Stephenson Crean (066) 718 0822

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Kincora is a semi-detached bay-windowed townhouse close to the centre of Tralee, less than 10 minutes' walk from both the railway station and the Institute of Technology. It's on three storeys and has five bedrooms on the upper two floors, three en-suite. By way of living rooms, there's a sitting room with a fireplace on the ground floor, as well as an eat-in kitchen with a solid-fuel stove and a separate utility room. A laneway runs alongside the property giving vehicle access to a paved back yard with outhouses.

Stradbally, Castlegregory

250k Dillon Prendiville (068) 21739

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Just south of the Maharees in Kerry and tucked off the main road stands a pair of semi-detached traditional stone cottages that have been fully restored. They have almost identical layouts, but should you wish to unite, you'll have to get rid of some of the duplicate rooms. Each house has on its ground floor an open-plan living and dining room, a kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, and there are two upstairs bedrooms in each - for a total of six in all. They're on about a third of an acre, about four kilometres from Castlegregory.
Reading your letters page of May 9 reminded me of the fact that we all tend to have very short memories.

John Fitzgerald tells us about the "cutting of 12m from the State's mental health budget for 2016". Concetto La Malfa tells us about curing the HSE's "unsustainable deficiencies". Fred Molloy tells us about "Irish Water drowning in a sea of its own mistakes". All of that and much more was framed in terms of what Mr Molloy called putting right all that was wrong with the "last five years of governance".

That ignores the fact that the problems listed, and indeed many more of our present-day problems, have causes which go back much further than the last five years.

From 1997, the same political grouping - Fianna Fail - was elected to government at all elections right up to 2007.

Being in continuous power for all of that time, they became complacent and made decisions which eventually bankrupted the country.

In 2010, therefore, we had the biggest collapse in the history of this country, with a shortfall of 30pc in government expenditure, financial institutions bankrupted and an 85bn bailout funded by the taxpayers of this and other, sometimes poorer, countries.

As a result, a different government was elected in 2011. That government helped to bring the country back from the abyss.

Blaming the "last five years of governance" for our problems and not the governance of the previous decade or more is, therefore, very short-sighted.

It could contribute to a repeat of the mistakes which had such a devastating effect on all citizens of this 94-year-old democracy.

A Leavy

Sutton, Dublin 13

Eighth Amendment saves lives

Jacinta Fay of the Abortion Rights Campaign says that every day the Eighth Amendment remains in place 10 women have to travel for an abortion (Irish Independent, May 12).

Were it not in place, we would soon have the same rates of abortion as in the UK and there would be 30 abortions taking place here daily. That equates to over 10,000 lives saved by the amendment every year, and around 200,000 since it was put in place. That, to me, sounds like a lot of reasons for keeping it in place.

Revd Patrick G Burke

Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny

Sabina Higgins's abortion remarks

The comments suggesting Sabina Higgins should stay silent smack a little too closely of 'keeping women in their place', which is another issue entirely.

Eve Parnell

Dublin 8

When I saw the headline 'Abortion law "an outrage" says wife of President' on the front page of your paper (Irish Independent, May 9) I thought it was referring to the outrageous law allowing abortion in certain circumstances which was brought in by Enda Kenny.

Then, as I read the article, I realised that Ms Higgins was claiming that the law on abortion was an "outrage against women" being made to carry a pregnancy to full term in the case of fatal foetal abnormality.

I believe Ms Higgins has taken advantage of her status as wife of the President. I believe she is wrong. In my opinion, she is also irresponsible in promoting further abortion.

Research suggests that a woman who has had an abortion suffers a mental and emotional struggle in knowing she played a role in her unborn child's death. This suggests that she might have been happier to have allowed her child to be born.

Peadar O'Maolain

Tullamore, Co Offaly

With the greatest of respect to Tracy Harkin and her daughter, I cannot help but feel that Ms Harkin's article 'Why doesn't Sabina Higgins respect the right to life of my nine-year-old daughter?' (Irish Independent, May 11) misses the point.

No one is questioning or threatening the life of her nine-year old.

I am delighted that Ms Harkin's daughter is loved and happy. But just because carrying her pregnancy to term was the right thing for Ms Harkin, doesn't make it the right thing for others. And it certainly doesn't give her a right to force her choice on others.

For many women faced with a pregnancy where the foetus has been diagnosed with a "fatal foetal abnormality" it is an "outrage" that they are forced to carry their pregnancy to term.

Those who call for the legalisation of abortion are not calling for abortion to be enforced on people like Ms Harkin, or on anyone at all. They are not calling for abortion, they are calling for the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

The ability to choose to end one's pregnancy is fundamental to the bodily integrity, health and basic human dignity of women and does nothing to threaten people like Ms Harkin's nine-year old.

April Duff

Portobello Harbour, Dublin 8

Shatter has been wronged

Now, I may be among many others who are not fans of Alan Shatter.

However, fair play is called for and the O'Higgins Report clearly vindicates the former Justice Minister.

The man has been wronged and continues to be wronged by his own, in that whilst the Fine Gael Government accepts its findings, it will not offer an apology to Mr Shatter or alter Dail records.

This is unjust and wrong.

One way to ensure he gets justice is for Mr Shatter to resign the Government whip and thus erode the Government's 'majority'.

The very threat of this might be enough to inject some humility into the new Government and remind it that the good old days are officially over.

Killian Brennan

Malahide Road, Dublin 17

Scrapping history

The recent discovery of the Dublin Metropolitan Police files for the 1913 Lockout is not surprising.

Back in the 1940 and '50s, when I was a schoolboy visiting Dublin, a friend of my uncle's, a Garda Sergeant, told me of his early duties while stationed in Rathmines to service the part-time station in Terenure. One day, in the late 1930s, to pass time, he opened a large metal cabinet and found old duty books going back to the 1800s.

In one, he found details of the arrest of his grandfather, a blacksmith, for being drunk and disorderly. It took six constables to restrain him. Those books were later scrapped as waste paper.

Decades later, when I was living in the UK in the 1960s, I contacted Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) looking for some Irish record books, which should have been returned to London after the Treaty. I received the response, "Oh, we offered our stock to the Irish Stationary Office during the war, to avoid the Blitz, but were told to dump them".

Since then, I have often, quietly, thanked them, as the scarcity value of such records has been quite rewarding.

Cal Hyland

Clasheen, Co Cork
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition after a British woman said she was sent home without pay from a temping job at PricewaterhouseCoopers because she wasn't wearing a pair of high heels, or more specifically shoes with a heel of between two and four inches.

If you wrote this into a novel about sexism in the workplace, it would seem a bit far-fetched. "Too much," your editor would tell you. "You need to tone it down a little."

When Nicola Thorp rang a UK employee-rights helpline, she was told that employers have the right to impose a dress code. The temping company, Portico, has now backed down and said that PwC had asked it to review and revise its policy. Portico released the following statement: "We are therefore making it very clear, that with immediate effect, all our female colleagues can wear plain flat shoes or plain court shoes as they prefer."

Photos of the blood-stained feet of a waitress in Canada - who worked a full shift in high heels, part of that company's dress code - have also gone viral over the past two days.

Imposing a heel height on women isn't asking us to be professional, it's asking us to be sexy and uncomfortable. So, could women made to wear them at work sue their employer?

"If they set the code because they thought high heels made women look sexy, that is a case," Lawrence Davis, director at Equal Justice Limited solicitors told BBC news yesterday, "because being sexy at work is not a job requirement." The online campaign has garnered more than the required 100,000 signatures, so the issue might now be debated in Britain's parliament.

The height of a heel shouldn't denote professionalism - flat shoes can be just as sophisticated. But this isn't the first time we've had a heel-gate situation.

At last year's Cannes film festival, a group of women were refused entry on the red carpet because they were wearing flat shoes, including film producer Valeria Richter, who has had part of her left foot amputated. Not cool. Actress Emily Blunt was among those actresses who spoke out. "Everyone should wear flats, to be honest. We shouldn't wear high heels," she said. "That's very disappointing, just when you kind of think there are these new waves of equality."

Women are the eternal victims of con tricks by the fashion industry. Right now, every woman is supposed to have a wardrobe of shoes. You can blame Carrie Bradshaw. And this total disconnect between fashion and what people should actually wear to work seems to have passed almost unnoticed. Magazines continue to show us ever more crazy shoes but fashion isn't about moderation, it's about excess, and stretching the boundaries into new territory.

Fashion shouldn't be used as a tool against female workers.

The petition states that "current formal work dress codes are outdated and sexist."

They are if we've arrived at a place where in order to be completely professional, a woman should be hobbled and in physical pain from her footwear.

But here's a radical idea: maybe it isn't OK to compel women to spend their wages on and wear shoes that will hurt their feet, damage their legs and spines and cause long-term harm. The whole range of physiological repercussions that await the heel-wearer run the gamut from blisters to bunions, back pain to varicose veins and plantar fasciitis to splitting headaches.

Maybe a woman would be just as capable of replying to emails, answering phones and compiling reports in non-vertical footwear.

I've read some online comments about this sorry saga, all from men or avatars weirdly enough, claiming that this is the exact same thing as insisting that men wear suits and ties. These lads are totally right, of course. It is the same thing if wearing a suit and tie renders men less mobile and leaves them with lifelong foot problems. Does it?

I know girls who love their heels. Some even wear them at weekends for no reason at all. Some of them say that the extra height makes them feel stronger, more empowered, and that they feel like a duck when they walk in flats. I'm not trying to ban heels but I'm not sure how you can be plucky and self-assured when you've got a twisted ankle, bunions and tendonitis because your boss is forcing you to spend your 9 to 5 in four-inch heels.

Women have suffered in the podiatric area from the time of foot-binding onwards, thanks mainly to the perverse predilections of men and fashion.

In 2016, no woman should be forced to walk around on stilts. Dear bosses, let us wear shoes we can walk around comfortably in.
Is it really so surprising that Sabina Higgins has weighed in to the abortion debate? She and her husband - our First Citizen - have been using the prestige given to them by the office of the presidency to advocate for all sorts of points of view.

In this column a few weeks ago, I described how Michael D Higgins has been continually using the soapbox provided to him by the presidency to push a particular worldview, in his case, socialism.

Is that putting it too strongly? Not at all. Read his speeches in which he attacks so-called "neo-liberalism", attacks free market advocates such as Milton Friedman, extols their intellectual opposite numbers and, in one of his 1916 speeches, even managed to work in a favourable reference to soviet committees set up in various parts of the country 100 years ago.

This was done without the faintest trace of a blush. There was another part of the world that was, of course, setting up lots of soviet committees around that time - namely the Soviet Union. We all know how that noble experiment in 'equality' worked out.

Sabina herself, at another 1916 event, attacked capitalism's "empires of greed".

"Now 100 years later in this contemporary and globalised world there is a new form of capitalism," she said. "And that seeks to undermine democracy itself."

She added: "The empires of greed are even more powerful and less visible and less accountable. The challenges are only too clear as we see the suffering of our fellow men and women across the globe."

It is also astounding that such a thing can be said without so much as a blush. Those countries that have embraced market reforms and free trade have done vastly better economically speaking, and consequently have lifted far more people out of poverty than those that have opted for closed economies and nationalised industries.

I don't think that either the President or his wife have any business using the office of the presidency in such a way.

I would object equally loudly if a President Michael McDowell used the office to push his own ideological point of view, one very different, when it comes to economics at least, to that espoused by Sabina and her husband. I would also object if the office was used to push a pro-life view.

This week we read that Sabina was speaking at a debate by midwifery students about whether or not Ireland's maternity care has realised the ideals of the 1916 leaders.

She used the occasion to weigh in on the abortion debate. She said it is an "outrage" that women whose unborn babies have been diagnosed with a condition that will very likely result in their deaths soon after birth should have to carry these babies to term.

She told the midwives: "There has to be the choice that you know that... what do you call it... that foetal abnormality that the person or persons should be made carry you know and sit in you know these are really outrages against women and outrages against the world and nature."

Let's leave to one side the rights and wrongs of terminating early the life of a baby that will very likely die soon after birth, and consider instead the intervention of the wife of the President in such a controversial debate.

It has been said in her defence that as a "private citizen", Sabina Higgins, unlike her husband, is entitled to say what she likes. But if she was simply a "private citizen", rather than the President's wife, would her remarks have been the page one headline of this newspaper on Monday? In fact, she was described in the headline as the "President's wife" because it was this that gave her remarks such significance - and it was this that signalled to readers that the remark was newsworthy.

In addition, would she have been invited to the midwifery event if she was not the wife of the First Citizen? Would she have been invited to address those other 1916 events? So we cannot pretend that she is simply a "private citizen".

Finally, if she is merely a "private citizen" then why did the Aras an Uachtarain press office clarify what she said at the above mentioned debate?

It is true, of course, that the Constitution says nothing about the role of the spouse of the President. On this basis, it is argued, and has been argued by at least one constitutional expert, she is free to say what she likes.

But the role of the President, and of the spouse of the President, is also bound by custom and protocol. It is this that dictates, more than a literal reading of the Constitution, that the presidency, and everything associated with it, should remain above matters of public controversy.

To do otherwise makes it a controversial office, a divisive office, one that is no longer above the fray, one that no longer unites - meaning the President must be subject to the same day-to-day criticism aimed at any other political office-holder.

The presidency has gained its prestige by keeping itself above the fray, by being non-partisan. To then take advantage of that prestige by using the office for partisan purposes will eventually rob the office of much of its prestige. The only reason this has not happened to date is because much of what he (and she) has to say suits liberal opinion, and liberal opinion governs this country to a ridiculous extent.

But as the office becomes ever more politicised, future presidential contests will become even more fraught than the last one. We will have to know in advance to what partisan purposes a candidate would use the office if he or she won it. We will have to know in advance what the role of the candidate's spouse will be. We will also have to know what the candidate will do following their term of office.

For example, Mary Robinson has been quite explicit in saying that she believes she ought to stay out of issues of strong public controversy in Ireland even after stepping down, in the tradition of previous office-holders.

But Mary McAleese felt it was her moral duty to become involved in last year's marriage referendum on the Yes side. Thus she brought the prestige of her previous office to bear in that debate.

So we will need to know from prospective presidents whether they will follow the convention of Mary Robinson or Mary McAleese.

This is what happens when you politicise an office that ought not to be politicised. You end up being forced to treat and regard the President and the presidency as one more partisan office.

That was never its intention, but this week Sabina Higgins pulled it considerably further in that direction.
The first ever Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai held in Charleville took place over last weekend when up to 1,200 entrants competed in traditional music, song and dance competitions at the Charleville Park Hotel and in the Schoolyard Theatre.

The event was brilliantly organised by the members of Charleville's Craobh An Rath Comhaltas branch and in a new innovation for the county event - the biggest in the country - all music and singing competitions were held under the one roof at the magnificent venue of the Charleville Park Hotel.

Cork County Board chairman Con McCarthy and secretary John Finbarr Crowley said they were looking forward to a successful weekend and any reservations they might have had regarding holding all the competitions in the one venue were soon dispelled, such were the facilities available at the hotel and the welcome they had received from the management and staff.

Mr. McCarthy declared the weekend open at a reception at the hotel on Thursday evening and in the course of his address said he was delighted to be in the Golden Vale town for the first ever Fleadh Cheoil Chorcai and he paid tribute to the energetic craobh members for undertaking the mammoth task of hosting the annual event. "They have left no stone unturned to ensure the success of the event," he said.

Mr McCarthy said that the first Cork County Fleadh was held in Kanturk in 1961, where he worked for a number of years. "The branch in Charleville is carrying on a tradition that was started in 1951  and it is this music, song and dance that binds us all together and sets us apart as a nation," he said.

"This is a great year in that we are celebrating the Easter Rising of 1916 as well as our traditional and cultural freedom, which the Rising brought about," he said.

He thanked the local committee for hosting the Fleadh, their attention to detail and in their quest for excellence to ensure everything was ready for the event. He thanked the hotel manager, Declan O'Grady, and Barbara Riordan and their team for their friendship and co-operation and the sponsors for their support of the Fleadh and his own officers in the county board who work so hard to ensure the success of the event.

Earlier, Michael McGrath, the president of the Craobh An Rath branch, welcomed the attendance and outlined the progress of the branch since its inception in 2011. He praised the members of the branch for their dedication to fostering traditional Irish music in the town where they now facilitate the teaching of music to in excess of 100 children and an increasing number of adults. And he congratulated them on their organisation of the county Fleadh.

Branch chairman Pat McAuliffe thanked everybody for supporting the branch since it started, especially the C.B.S. Primary School principals, Jerry Murray (former) and the present principal, Michael O'Sullivan for granting permission to hold the music classes each week, the teachers, the committee members and the parents of the children and the sponsors of the Fleadh, for their support.
A Macroom father of two has been jailed for eight-years for a savage assault which left his wife with horrific injuries including a brain wound, a collapsed lung and a lacerated liver.

Anthony Kelleher (42) was jailed after being convicted of assault causing serious harm to his wife, Siobhan (36), despite the fact the woman refused to give evidence at his Cork Circuit Criminal Court trial.

Judge Sean O'Donnabhain noted that Ms Kelleher had sustained such serious injuries she went into a coma - and then sustained a stroke.

"She suffered severe, permanent and life-changing injuries," he said.

Judge O'Donnabhain acknowledged defence submissions that Kelleher was a hard-working man and had not seen his children since his conviction because he did not want to expose them to prison conditions.

Ms Kelleher had to be placed in a medically induced coma on June 12, 2014 after being discovered by paramedics with serious injuries at her home at Raleigh North, Macroom.

Her husband had raised the alarm and insisted that she had sustained a severe fall.

The trial heard that Ms Kelleher was in a critical condition by the time she arrived at Cork University Hospital (CUH). She later suffered a stroke.

Anthony Kelleher had vehemently denied assaulting his wife of six years.

However, he was unanimously convicted by a jury of nine men and three women after one hour and 15 minutes of deliberations.The trial heard that Gardai had received a complaint from the woman about her husband's behaviour.

She alleged that he came home "ranting and raving", dragged her out of bed and threw her down the stairs of the family home.

Det Garda Tom O'Sullivan confirmed he took a statement from Ms Kelleher on June 25, 2014 as she recovered in hospital.

She said her spouse had been "cursing and blinding" at her about a call made to their home. In the garda statement, she explained that he followed her to their bedroom when she went to bed to avoid a confrontation.

"I went to bed and covered my head. He pulled the blankets off me. I said 'sorry.' I put my hand up to my face to save my head. I didn't want bruises," she said in the statement. "He pulled me out of bed by the ponytail. There were clumps of hair. He threw me down the stairs and kicked me in the ass."

Gardai said she later told them her husband visited her in a Cork hospital and said that, if she had died, he would have thrown himself into a river.

Sgt Marie Keating said she met Ms Kelleher by appointment in April 2015 and she expressed her wish to withdraw her earlier statement against her spouse. Ms Kelleher also told the garda that her husband was a "good father," "a good husband" and from a "respectable family".

"I do not want him charged," she said.

During the trial, Ms Kelleher took to the witness stand but declined to answer questions from either the prosecution or the defence.

"I refuse to give any evidence, judge," she said.

The court heard her injuries are so severe that she now walks with the aid of a cane and is assisted in the care of her two children by her sister.
The nieces of Easter 1916 hero, Thomas Kent, have spoken of their pride at their uncle's sacrifice as they remembered him at a special commemoration in the former Cork Military Detention Barracks where he was executed 100 years ago this week.

Kent's nieces, Kathleen Kent and Prudence Riordan, were among the many relatives and dignitaries to attend the ceremony organised by the Defence Forces at the spot where Kent was executed by firing squad on May 9, 1916

"It means a lot to have this ceremony here today and to have Uncle Tom's sacrifice recognised and we are so grateful to everyone involved in organising it especially the army," said Ms Kent (86) who, with assistance from her niece, Nora Riordan, laid a wreath where her uncle was executed.

Ms Kent's sister, Prudence Riordan (81) also spoke of her pride in her uncles, Tom, David and Richard as well as their own father, William who resisted attempts by the RIC to arrest them at their home in Castlelyons during a round up of prominent nationalists in the wake of the Easter Rising.

"We are all terribly proud of what Uncle Tom and his brothers did - it was very sad for them - they made terrible sacrifices," said Ms Riordan who was accompanied to the ceremony in what is now Cork Prison by her daughter, Nora and her son, Michael.

Nora Riordan said: "Today marks the end of a memorable year for the family - it's been an emotional journey for us with Thomas's remains now finally resting in the family vault in Castlelyons - we have been humbled by all these events and we are very glad to attend today's ceremony.

Ms Kent and Ms Riordan later visited the cell where their uncle spent his last night.

"The Prison Service told us that it hadn't changed much from when he was held there so it was very emotional for us to see it and to think of him there in his stocking feet as he was when he was brought in from Fermoy, without pen or paper to write a letter in his last hours - it was very sad," said Ms Kent.

This weekend the village of Castleyons will hold celebrations remembering the Kent's

The highlight of the weekend will be a parade through the village on Sunday followed by the unveiling of a granite monument dedicated to Thomas Kent and other local volunteers.

Sunday evening will also see the village host 'Castlelyons Ceiliuradh' a cultural celebration featuring a musical parade of local bands.
While US Presidential hopeful, Bernie Sanders is fearful that the Cork-US flights could costs thousands of jobs, his claims have been shot down by MEP Deirdre Clune who has strongly rejected his 'flag of convenience' claim.

She has compared the opposition to Norwegian Airlines flying between Cork and Shannon airports and the US, to the negativity and opposition which faced Ryanair when it sought out a licence to fly to the UK in 1986.

"I utterly refute the allegations that Norwegian Airlines Ireland (NAI) is using Ireland as a flag of convenience to employ low-paid crew and to undermine working conditions for cabin crew working for other transatlantic airlines," she said.

She said that by granting the licence to fly between Cork-Shannon and the US would have "enormously positive impact on southern Ireland."

She said what Mr Sanders is advocating is "anti-competitive and bad for air passengers."

Cork Airport manager, Niall McCarthy said that the airport is "within touching distance" of securing the first transatlantic flight to the East Coast of America.

He said the US Department of Transportation is currently accepting submission concerning the application by Norwegian Air to start flights to Boston as soon as possible this year, and with plans for New York in due course next year.

He is seeking the publics help and to ensure the permit is approved and between now and May 16, he is urging individuals and businesses to submit a comment of support via the official US Department of Transportation website.

It is Mr Sanders fear that if a licence is granted it would be a "direct violation of the strong labour provisions included in the US-EU Open Skies agreement."

"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 county and in Europe," said Mr Sanders.

His view has been echoed by the Irish Congress of Trade Union. Its general secretary, Patricia King said the NAI's plans appear to be driven largely by a desire to drive down pay and standards in the aviation sector.

Norwegian has said that it has already been granted tentative approval for the permit, as it has written assurances to the US authorities about staff, contract terms and conditions.

The spokesperson said the NAI is headquartered in Dublin with 80 employees and has 37 aircrafts registered in Ireland and it already operates flights to and from Ireland.

The spokesperson also said that it always "follows the rules and regulations" in all markets in which it operates and offers employees competitive wages and conditions.
The trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Sean FitzPatrick on charges of misleading the bank's auditors has been put back to October next.

Mr FitzPatrick (66) of Whitshed Road, Greystones, Co Wicklow has pleaded not guilty to 27 offences under the 1990 Companies Act. These include 21 charges of making a misleading, false or deceptive statement to auditors and six charges of furnishing false information in the years 2002 to 2007.

Last month, Judge Rory McCabe said he was anxious for the trial to proceed in late May. The trial at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court is due to take between two to three months and will require a specially enlarged jury of 15 members.

On Monday, May 9, Judge McCabe adjourned the start of the trial after concerns were raised that the trial would not finish by the end of July, when normal sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court finish for the summer vacation.

The court heard that there was a possibility that the length of the trial might mean keeping a jury in over the summer or else a long break in the middle of a trial.

Lawyers for the defence and for the Director of Public Prosecutions told the court that they were ready to proceed but couldn't give a commitment that evidence would be completed before the end of court term.

Judge McCabe fixed a new trial date of October 4 next.
(L-R) Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, director Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart attend the "Cafe Society" Photocall during The 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Actors Corey Stoll and Blake Lively and Director Woddy Allen attend the "Cafe Society" premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Actress Blake Lively attends the "Cafe Society" premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Actress Blake Lively, left, director Woody Allen and actress Kristen Stewart arrive on the red carpet for the screening of the film Cafe Society and the Opening Ceremony at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

US director Woody Allen (L) arrives on May 11, 2016 with US actress Blake Lively for the screening of the film "Cafe Society" during the opening ceremony of the 69th Cannes Film Festival

Blake Lively has condemned a French comedian for poking fun at Woody Allen with a controversial rape joke during the Cannes Film Festival opening ceremony.

Master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte shocked the audience at the grand premiere of Allen's new comedy, Cafe Society, on Wednesday night, when he said: "It's very nice that you've been shooting so many movies in Europe, even if you are not being convicted for rape in the U.S."

The quip reportedly drew gasps from the audience, as host Lafitte appeared to reference the allegations of sexual abuse levelled at the director by Dylan O' Sullivan Farrow, his adopted daughter with ex-partner Mia Farrow.

Allen, 80, batted off the joke during a lunch in Cannes as he continued to promote his new comedy, telling Variety.com, "I am completely in favour of comedians making any jokes they want."

Expand Close Actress Blake Lively, left, director Woody Allen and actress Kristen Stewart arrive on the red carpet for the screening of the film Cafe Society and the Opening Ceremony at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Actress Blake Lively, left, director Woody Allen and actress Kristen Stewart arrive on the red carpet for the screening of the film Cafe Society and the Opening Ceremony at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

He added, "It would take a lot to offend me."

However, his Cafe Society star Blake Lively wasn't laughing at the joke and she is outraged at Lafitte's remarks during his opening routine, which also included quips about the gay community and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

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"I think any jokes about rape, homophobia or Hitler is not a joke," she explained to Variety. "I think that was a hard thing to swallow in 30 seconds.

Expand Close (L-R) Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, director Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart attend the "Cafe Society" Photocall during The 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp (L-R) Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, director Woody Allen and Kristen Stewart attend the "Cafe Society" Photocall during The 69th Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

"Film festivals are such beautiful, respectful festivals of film and artists and to have that, it felt like it wouldn't have happened if it was in the 1940s. I can't imagine Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby going out and doing that. It was more disappointing for the artists in the room that someone was going up there making jokes about something that wasn't funny."

And it wasn't just the rape reference which upset pregnant Blake: "He made three homophobic comments in a row. A Hitler joke. And a rape joke. It was all within 30 seconds. What on Earth was happening? It was really confusing."

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The controversy unfolded hours after an essay written by Woody Allen's estranged son, Ronan Farrow, for The Hollywood Reporter hit headlines. The broadcaster slammed the Hollywood support his dad continues to receive, despite the allegations he molested his daughter.

The moviemaker has never been charged and has always maintained his innocence, but Ronan is convinced his sister wasn't lying when she opened up about her experiences with their father.

Expand Close Actors Corey Stoll and Blake Lively and Director Woddy Allen attend the "Cafe Society" premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Actors Corey Stoll and Blake Lively and Director Woddy Allen attend the "Cafe Society" premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals on May 11, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Allen appeared unfazed by his son's remarks at Cannes, and when asked for a comment he said, "I never think about it. I made my statement in the New York Times a long time ago... I think its all silly, the whole thing. It doesnt bother me. I dont think about it."
The momentous vote in Brazil's senate has placed President Dilma Rousseff on trial and suspended her from office for 180 days.

But it also showed how the former Marxist guerrilla, who became Brazil's first female leader, is losing her struggle for political survival.

Her opponents needed only a simple majority of the 81 members of the senate to force her to stand aside and go on trial for allegedly cooking the government's books.

Yet of the 77 senators present, 55 voted in favour of the impeachment process.

The result indicates that when the trial is over and it comes to a final vote on whether to remove Ms Rousseff - which would require the support of two-thirds of the senate - her chances of holding on are slim.

"The votes on the senate floor shows Dilma's comeback is practically impossible," said Juliano Griebeler, a political analyst at Barral M Jorge consultancy in Brasilia.

Exiled

"The opposition already has the two-thirds necessary to guarantee the judgment and this scenario will be difficult to reverse."

Ms Rousseff has now been reduced to a president exiled in her own country.

While she is tried, she will remain in her residence, the Alvorada palace, and will retain a staff and an official plane.

But for the six months in which her trial is heard by the senate, Vice-President Michel Temer will be Brazil's interim president.

Mr Temer and his Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) left Ms Rousseff's governing coalition earlier this year as he set out his claim to the presidency.

With the impeachment process casting a shadow over the country, Mr Temer will try to offer some stability for Brazil in the midst of a protracted recession and political crisis.

Senator Romero Juca, who is expected to be named among Mr Temer's cabinet, said: "The PMDB and other parties saw that it wasn't necessary to wait for the Titanic to hit the iceberg and thousands of people to die.

"It was necessary to change the ship's route. And to change the route of the ship, you have to change the captain. The feeling of the majority is a feeling of hope, of a new way."

Mr Temer will be able to form a majority government and is now finalising his ministerial appointments. He is understood to be planning to reduce the number of ministries.

One of the most pressing issues he will need to address is the economy. Mr Temer will probably want a vote on new fiscal targets within a week.

Mr Temer is seen as more business-friendly than Ms Rousseff and the markets are expected to react favourably to his impending leadership.

Yet Brazil's economy is forecast to shrink by 4pc this year while unemployment has already reached double figures.

Defiant

Francisco Lopreato, an economics professor at Unicamp, told a Brazilian newspaper: "The new government can enjoy a honeymoon period to begin with, but I believe that if the focus of policies is only austerity, it will encounter problems going forward."

Meanwhile, Ms Rousseff remained defiant in the face of the senate impeachment vote, saying, "Never will I stop fighting."

She has appeared publicly for the first time since the senate vote, calling the process "fraudulent" and "a coup."

She says it has been cooked up by opponents eager to snatch power and roll back social programmes.

Ms Rousseff, who was tortured under the country's dictatorship, has frequently argued she had not been charged with a crime and previous presidents did similar things.
Donald Trump's refusal to release tax returns "disqualifies" him as president, Mitt Romney has said.

Donald Trump is under growing pressure to release his tax returns after Mitt Romney, the Republicans' 2012 presidential candidate, said failure to do so would disqualify him as president.

The issue threatened to overshadow Mr Trump's scheduled meeting with senior Republicans on Capitol Hill yesterday, after the candidate backtracked on a previous pledge to make his returns public, as is traditional for presidential nominees.

Mr Romney, who has already said Mr Trump should not be the Republican candidate, hit out on Facebook after the property tycoon - who claims to be worth US$10bn - said he was unlikely to release his returns before November's election because they are currently being audited by the authorities.

Flaws

"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," Mr Romney wrote.

"Mr Trump says he is being audited. So? 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.

"There is only one logical explanation for Mr Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them. Given Mr Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size."

All presidential nominees of major parties have issued tax returns during election campaigns for the past 40 years, although Mr Romney himself only did so in 2012 after a public clamour.

Mr Trump said he would not release his returns while they were being audited because "there's nothing to learn from them", adding that he believed the public had little interest in them.

The audit, on returns going back to 2009, is not expected to be completed before the presidential poll. He had previously promised to open his tax returns to public scrutiny.

Mr Trump's volte face also left him open to fresh attacks from Hillary Clinton, whom he has attempted to characterise as "crooked Hillary".

Mrs Clinton, who posted eight years of returns on her website, told supporters at a rally in New Jersey: "When you're running for president and you become the nominee, that's kind of expected.

"So you've got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them? Yeah, well, we're going to find out."

Mr Trump's citing of an audit as justification for keeping his returns under wraps has already been undermined by a public statement in February from the Internal Revenue Service that it did not prevent him from making them public.

President Richard Nixon released his tax returns while they were being audited in 1973, at a time when his presidency was being consumed by the Watergate scandal. They showed he had seriously fallen short of his tax obligations, paying just over US$6,000 on nearly $800,000 income over a three-year period.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan pledged to work together despite their differences after a meeting yesterday aimed at repairing their breach and unifying a party torn over Trump's rise to the cusp of the GOP presidential nomination.

They issued a statement describing their meeting as a "very positive step toward unification" that recognised "many important areas of common ground" as well as areas where they disagree.

Infighting

Ryan has yet to come out in support of Trump, a week after stunning Republicans by withholding his endorsement. But their statement suggested both are invested in tamping down the Republican infighting as they try to pull the GOP together for the fight against Hilary Clinton and Democrats.

The much-anticipated meeting unfolded yesterday morning as more Republicans have begun urging the party to put the extraordinary discord behind.

"The meeting was great," Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, tweeted after. "It was a very positive step toward party unity."

Mr Priebus attended the opening meeting with the two before Trump and Ryan sat down with a small group of GOP House leaders.

On the eve of the meetings, Trump eased his defiant tone of recent days. Asked on Fox News who led the party in his view, he said Ryan. "I would say Paul for the time being and maybe for a long time," he said. "We can always have differences," he said. "If you agree on 70pc, that's always a lot."
French police officers carry a piece of debris from a plane known as a flaperon in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. Photo: AP

Two more pieces of debris found in South Africa and near Mauritius are "almost certainly" from flight 370, which disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board, the Malaysian government has said.

The discovery brings the total number of pieces found and believed to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet to five.

Although the discoveries have bolstered authorities' assertion that the plane went down somewhere in the Indian Ocean, none of the parts has so far yielded any clues as to exactly where and why it crashed.

Those elusive answers lie with the flight data recorders, or black boxes, which may never be found.

The two newly identified pieces of debris were found in March. Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said one was an engine cowling piece and the other is an interior cabin panel piece discovered on Rodrigues Island, off Mauritius - the first interior part found from the missing plane.

An international team of experts in Australia who examined the debris concluded that both pieces were consistent with panels found on a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, Mr Liow said.

Expand Close This handout combo released on May 12, 2016 by Australian Transport Sefety Bureau and Malaysian MOT shows an item of debris recovered from the beaches in South Africa and Mauritus. Getty Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp This handout combo released on May 12, 2016 by Australian Transport Sefety Bureau and Malaysian MOT shows an item of debris recovered from the beaches in South Africa and Mauritus. Getty Images

All five pieces have been found in various spots around the Indian Ocean.

Last year, a wing part from the plane washed ashore on France's Reunion Island.

The jet, which vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is believed to have crashed somewhere in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,800km off Australia's west coast.
Tensions between Russia and the West rose still further yesterday when Nato declared that a missile-defence site in Romania had become operational.

A battery of American SM-3 interceptors, designed to shoot down incoming missiles, was activated at Deveselu military base.

A similar facility is due to become operational in Poland in 2018.

Only a handful of interceptors will be deployed at the two bases, enough to protect Europe against attack from a country possessing a small arsenal of nuclear missiles.

The missile shield would be of minimal use against Russia, which has about 300 intercontinental ballistic missiles on land and scores more deployed on submarines.

Nonetheless, Russia claims to see the missile defence plan as a direct threat to the deterrent power of its own nuclear arsenal.

"From the very outset, we kept saying that, in the opinion of our experts, the deployment of an anti-missile defence poses a threat to Russia," said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman.

He described how President Vladimir Putin (pictured) had "repeatedly asked who that system was working against and who it would be working against in the future".

Nato had replied that the missile shield was designed to protect against a possible future threat from Iran.

But Mr Peskov pointed out that last year's agreement with Iran was supposed to have removed the possibility of the country obtaining a nuclear arsenal.

"Now we know that the situation involving Iran has changed cardinally," said Mr Peskov.

"But the questions that have been repeatedly asked from Moscow, including those from President Putin, have retained their relevance."

The plan to protect Europe from any future missile threat is based upon SM-3 interceptor batteries in Poland and Romania - both of which rely on the advanced Aegis radar - and a new 'X-band' radar station in Turkey.

In addition, a number of Nato warships carrying interceptors are deployed in the Mediterranean.

Experts point out that the system is clearly directed towards a possible threat from the Middle East.

"In the grand scheme of things, does this make a real difference to the Russian strategic nuclear deterrent? The answer is no," said Douglas Barrie, the senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

"Everything is configured to look in the other direction.

"The whole intercept geometry is not pointing towards Russia. If you were thinking about Russia, you just wouldn't configure it in this way."

But there are fears that Russia might use the activation of the first element of the missile defence shield as an excuse to move nuclear weapons to sensitive locations, for example, the Kaliningrad enclave that borders Poland and Lithuania.

An opinion poll published in the Polish press yesterday found that most Poles now favoured a return to conscription because of fears of Russian aggression.

Poland ditched conscription in 2008, but Russia's annexation of Crimea and the war in eastern Ukraine appear to have persuaded many of the country's people that it should now return. The survey showed that 58pc of Poles were now in favour of conscription, with only 34pc against.
Pope Francis has agreed to set up a commission into whether women could serve as deacons, local media reported yesterday, a potentially historic move that could end male dominance of the Roman Catholic clergy.

Deacons are ordained clerics who sit just behind priests in the Church hierarchy. They can preach and officiate at baptisms, funerals and weddings, but are not allowed to celebrate Mass, hear confessions or anoint the sick.

Attending a meeting of nuns at the Vatican, the Pope was asked why women could not serve as deacons, with one delegate suggesting it would be a good idea to create a commission to study the issue.

"I think so. It would be good for the Church to clarify this point. I agree," he was quoted as saying by Italian news agency ANSA. A Vatican spokesman said he could neither confirm nor deny the comments.

The Church teaches that women cannot become priests because Jesus willingly chose only men as his apostles.

However, St Paul refers in the Bible to a deaconess called Phoebe, leading liberal Catholics to argue there is clear precedent for women to play a more important role in Church life. Conservative Catholics would likely put up fierce resistance to any such a move, eager to preserve separate roles for men and women within the Church.

Pope Francis has stirred concern among traditionally minded Catholics over what they perceive as his liberal leanings on a range of issues, from divorce to the use of contraception.

Earlier this year he overturned centuries of tradition that banned women from a foot-washing service during Lent, upsetting conservatives and delighting women's rights activists.

Speaking to the nuns yesterday, the pontiff said he had once discussed the role of female deacons in the early Church with a professor, but remained uncertain about the question.
Most of the 130 killed in the attack were hostages in the Bataclan concert hall

France started air strikes in Syria last year because of concerns months before the Paris attacks that the ringleader was plotting to target a concert and take hostages, a French newspaper has reported.

Citing French and Belgian intelligence material and police recordings, Le Parisien lists repeated occasions when authorities allegedly failed to catch Abdelhamid Abaaoud, even though he had been considered a major threat by several European intelligence services before the attacks on November 13.

Abaaoud was killed in a police raid five days after the attack by Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers. Most of the 130 killed in the attack were hostages in the Bataclan concert hall.

The French president's office and the Interior Ministry, which oversees intelligence services, did not respond to requests for comment.

Survivors and families of victims are marking six months since the attacks on Friday, which shook the nation and prompted a state of emergency that is still in place.

French authorities came under fire immediately after the attacks for intelligence missteps or gaps that failed to prevent the bloodshed.

France had been under high alert since deadly shootings at newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher market in January last year.

By September 2015, Le Parisien reported, authorities had identified links between Abaaoud and thwarted attacks on a high-speed train and a church, and suspected he was plotting a big attack.

The report quotes a witness as saying Abaaoud asked him to find a concert or other easy target with a lot of people, with the goal of seizing hostages and dying while fighting police.

France joined the US-led coalition against IS in Iraq in 2014 but stayed out of Syria.

President Francois Hollande changed tack in September 2015, launching air strikes on Syria to prevent what the government said were attack threats.

Le Parisien said the decision was prompted by intelligence about Abaaoud, and that a French air strike on Deir ez-Zor in Syria on September 27 was aimed at Abaaoud's training camp.
The family of comedian Joan Rivers has settled a lawsuit against the medical clinic which treated her shortly before her death.

The 81-year-old died days after undergoing a routine endoscopy at Yorkville Endoscopy in New York.

Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, filed a medical malpractice lawsuit alleging that doctors carried out unauthorised medical procedures, took a selfie with the comedian and failed to act as her vital signs deteriorated.

Melissa Rivers' lawyers said they were pleased that the case had been resolved, but did not specify the amount of the settlement.

They added that they wanted to "make certain that the focus of this horrific incident remains on improved patient care and the legacy of Joan Rivers".

Melissa Rivers said the settlement allows her to "put the legal aspects of my mother's death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation".

She said she will continue working to ensure higher safety standards at out-patient surgical clinics.

The lawsuit had alleged that doctors at the clinic mishandled Ms Rivers' endoscopy and performed another procedure, known as a laryngoscopy, on her vocal cords without consent.

The lawsuit claimed that an anaesthesiologist expressed concern over what the procedure would do to Ms Rivers' ability to breathe, but was told she was being "paranoid" by the gastroenterologist performing the endoscopy.

The city's medical examiner found that Ms Rivers died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen after she stopped breathing during the endoscopy. Her death was classified as a therapeutic complication. The classification is not commonly used.

A spokesman for Yorkville Endoscopy said both sides agreed to settle the case to avoid protracted litigation.

A statement from the clinic said: "Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family.

"We remain committed to providing quality, compassionate healthcare services that meet the needs of our patients, their families and the community."

The federal Centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services found after an investigation that the clinic made several errors, including failing to keep proper medication records and taking mobile phone photos.

The investigation also found that the clinic had failed to receive informed consent for every procedure performed and failed to record Ms Rivers' weight before administering sedation medication.
The mining industry was a foundation of the South African economy but has struggled over the years because of rising costs

South African gold miners who developed lung diseases while working underground can launch a class action suit against mining companies, a judge has ruled.

The ruling by deputy judge president Phineas Mojapelo opens the way to litigation involving tens of thousands of miners and spanning decades of cases.

It will put pressure on a mining industry that was a foundation of the South African economy but has struggled over the years because of rising costs.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions, a labour group, described the ruling in a Johannesburg court as a "huge victory".

Many who are now sick worked in South Africa's gold mines during apartheid, when miners rarely had the proper protective gear.

They suffer from diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis.
Four women walk with masks in front of billowing black smoke from a huge fire in Sesena, central Spain (AP)

More than 9,000 people have been evacuated from a large apartment complex near Madrid after a raging fire at a tyre dump sent toxic clouds of black smoke into the sky, Spanish officials said.

About 8,000 apartment dwellers had already left their homes in Sesena as the thick smoke poured out from the fire that started before dawn, the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha announced.

It said ambulances were being sent to the complex to evacuate people with health problems who could not leave on their own.

The order was issued because weather conditions were expected to change overnight, raising the risk that the smoke could inundate the apartment complex even as firefighters reported progress in trying to bring the fire under control. The dump is less than six miles from the complex.

About 70% of the tyres had burned by Friday night but authorities did not know when the blaze would be completely extinguished, said Francisco Martinez, the regional government's environmental minister.

No injuries were reported because of the fire, which authorities believe was intentionally set. The smoke plume was visible from Madrid, more than 20 miles away. The sprawling tyre dump is thought to be Europe's largest, Sesena Mayor Carlos Velazquez told the Cadena Ser radio station.

Two water-carrying helicopters doused the vast expanse of tyres throughout the day.

Madrid firefighting inspector Luis Villarroel said firebreaks that were created helped restrict the blaze to one active front. By Friday afternoon, the smoke had lost much of its density.

Classes at one school were cancelled and authorities urged drivers to keep their windows closed. Two major roads run close to Sesena and one was closed to traffic for three hours before being reopened.

Spain's leading El Pais newspaper reported that the dump holds 110,000 tons of used tyres.

Known locally as the "tyre cemetery," it was declared illegal in 2003 because it lacked proper permits. Authorities since then have been trying to figure out what to do about it.
Mustafa Badreddine has been killed in Syria (Hezbollah Media Department via AP)

A top commander of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group has been killed in an explosion in Damascus.

Mustafa Badreddine, 55, is the highest-level figure from the group to die since it threw itself into Syria's civil war.

He had been the mastermind of Hezbollah's involvement in the war, which has been crucial to preserving President Bashar Assad's hold on power against rebels but which has come at a heavy cost for the Iranian-backed Shiite guerrilla force, with more than 1,000 fighters killed.

His death was a severe blow to the group, robbing it of a commander with decades of experience.

However, observers said Hezbollah was not likely to scale back its intervention in Syria, where it has fighters battling alongside Mr Assad's army on multiple fronts.

"I really do think it will affect their morale. This is not just their commander in Syria. This is one of the most elite and uniquely pedigreed Hezbollah personalities," said Matthew Levitt, director of the Stein Counterterrorism Programme at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

However, he added: "I don't think they are going to waver in their commitment in this."

He pointed to Hezbollah's own interest in stemming Sunni militants in Syria and the determination of Iran to keep Mr Assad in power.

The cause of the explosion which killed Mr Badreddine on Thursday night remained a mystery.

Hezbollah said it occurred near the Damascus airport, without giving further details.

The airport is close to the Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, where the group has a strong presence and several military positions.

The group said it was investigating whether the blast, which wounded several others, was from an air raid, missile attack, artillery shelling or other causes.

Hezbollah's traditional enemy, Israel, has assassinated leaders from the group in the past.

However, Sunni opposition forces could also be behind the explosion, including militants like Islamic State or the al Qaida branch in Syria, the Nusra Front.

The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV, which is close to Hezbollah, initially said Mr Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike but later removed the report.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Kassem, said that by Saturday the group will release information on who was behind the killing of Mr Badreddine.

"We will continue to confront Israel and we will continue to confront Takfiris," he told a gathering ahead of Mr Badreddine's funeral. "Takfiris" is a term for Sunni extremists.

"For us, there is only one enemy, which is Israel and those siding with it. The picture may differ and the positions may change but they are all at the end inside the Israeli project.

"By killing you, they gave a new push to our drive that produces a martyr after another, as well as a commander after another."

Mr Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor and brother-in-law, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus.

After that, Mr Badreddine became Hezbollah's top military commander and adviser to the group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

He was to be laid to rest next to Mr Mughniyeh on Friday afternoon at a Shiite cemetery south of Beirut.

Mr Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Mr Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle East's most dramatic political assassinations.

The trial is ongoing in the Netherlands. A billionaire businessman, Mr Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990.

Hezbollah denies involvement in Mr Hariri's assassination and says the charges are politically motivated.

One of the group's most shadowy figures, Mr Badreddine was also known by aliases Elias Saab and Sami Issa.

He was only known to the public by a decades-old black-and-white photograph of a smiling young man wearing a suit until Hezbollah released a new image of him in military uniform.

He was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on him twice for his involvement in the Syrian war, in 2011 and in 2015.

According to US officials, Mr Assad and Mr Nasrallah co-ordinated Hezbollah's actions in Syria on a weekly basis, with Mr Badreddine present at top Damascus meetings.

Mr Badreddine was also known for his expertise in explosives, and his trademark was to add gas to increase the power of sophisticated explosives.

In its statement announcing his death, Hezbollah said "a strong explosion targeted one of our centres near the Damascus International Airport, leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounding several others".

Top Hezbollah officials attended a mourning ceremony at a hall in southern Beirut on Friday, where Mr Badreddine's family members received condolences.

His only son, Ali, wept as a senior Hezbollah official hugged him.
The guidance says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity (AP)

Public schools in the US must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to the government.

The Obama administration issued a directive on Friday amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

The guidance from leaders at the departments of education and justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity, even if their education records or identity documents indicate a different sex.

In a statement accompanying the directive, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said: "There is no room in our schools for discrimination of any kind, including discrimination against transgender students on the basis of their sex."

In issuing the guidance, the Obama administration is again wading into a socially divisive debate it has bluntly cast in terms of civil rights.

The Justice Department sued North Carolina on Monday over a bathroom access law that it said violates the rights of transgender people, a measure that Ms Lynch likened to policies of racial segregation and efforts to deny gay couples the right to marry.

The guidance does not impose any new legal requirements.

However, officials say it is meant to clarify expectations of school districts that receive funding from the federal government.

Educators have been seeking guidance on how to comply with Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in educational programmes and activities that receive federal funding, US education secretary John B King said in a statement.

"We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence," he said.

Under the guidance, schools are told that they must treat transgender students according to their chosen gender identity as soon as a parent or guardian notifies the district that that identity "differs from previous representations or records".

There is no obligation for a student to present a specific medical diagnosis or identification documents that reflect his or her gender identity, and equal access must be given to transgender students even in instances when it makes others uncomfortable, according to the directive.

"As is consistently recognised in civil rights cases, the desire to accommodate others' discomfort cannot justify a policy that singles out and disadvantages a particular class of students," the guidance says.

The administration is also releasing a separate 25-page document of questions and answers about best practices, including ways schools can make transgender students comfortable in the classroom and protect the privacy rights of all students in restrooms or locker rooms.

The move was cheered by Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a gay, lesbian and transgender civil rights organisation, which called the guidelines "ground-breaking".

HRC president Chad Griffin said in a statement: "This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools."

The guidance comes days after the Justice Department and North Carolina filed duelling lawsuits over a new state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.

The administration has said the law violates the Civil Rights Act.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has argued that the state law is a "commonsense privacy policy" and that the Justice Department's position is "baseless and a blatant overreach".

His administration sued the federal government hours before the state itself was sued.
2 shot, possible 3rd victim at large in shooting at Anderson gas station

Two are wounded and undergoing medical treatment after a shooting in Anderson. There is potentially a third victim at large.
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By Ray Chandler, Special to the Independent Mail

SALEM  The state has given its stamp of approval to a charter school planned for Salem, following the coming closure of the Tamassee-Salem Middle and High School.

On Monday, the board of the South Carolina Public Charter School District approved, with conditions, the amending of the Greenville-based NEXT High School's charter to include middle and high school campuses in Oconee County.

One key condition is to have 215 students enrolled by the beginning of school in the fall.

In the two weeks since the application period opened, the school has 125 enrollees, according to Zach Eikenberry, founding CEO of NEXT High School. The school is also expanding its reach for students outside the Salem area.

Salem officials and area residents see this week's approval by the state board as a critical step forward, one of many before the school is realized.

"It was a hurdle we had to go through," Salem Mayor Diane Head said Wednesday. "There are several things we still have to do, but we're excited. The whole town is excited. It's good for the town. It's good for the county. But most important, it's good for the students."

The mayor and several community leaders launched the idea of a charter school as an alternative soon after the School District of Oconee County board voted 5-0 in October to close the Tamassee-Salem school at the end of the current school year.

The school district cited rising costs and falling enrollment at the schools as reasons for closing them, but the community fought to keep alive the 75-year-old tradition of having a community school.

The combined enrollment for grades 6-12 in the current year is 251 students, about 50 fewer than during the 2014-2015 school year.

In the weeks following the vote to close, the school board also voted to transfer the Tamassee-Salem school buildings to the city of Salem.

Salem area resident Eddie Martin said the closure, lamentable as it was, gives the town an opportunity to both preserve a community school and try something new.

"From what I understand, this presents an innovative learning process that can help all students achieve their optimum output, as well as build on their creativity and their critical thinking," Martin said.

Martin said he was impressed by the teaching program NEXT officials outlined that emphasizes a hands-on approach. "This gives students an opportunity to actually put into use concepts and critical thinking and see the results first hand, in real time," he said.

And since the students will actually be involved in the school operations, possibly including food preparation, according to Martin, the school model will also a vehicle for teaching responsibility.

Lynne Martin, Eddie's wife and a Tamassee-Salem graduate, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the School District of Oconee County seeking to keep the schools open. She greeted Monday's decision as a blessing.

"Every step forward is a God-sent blessing," Lynne Martin said. "It is refreshing to know that Next Charter School in Greenville County cares for our community and our students and sees our value and potential."
By: Tracie Frost

In July we reported that India and the United States signed an agreement to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The agreement is designed to increase transparency between the two nations on tax matters and took effect September 30, 2015. We are now seeing the results of this agreement on U.S. residents and Green card holders who own Indian or other non-U.S. mutual funds.

Mutual funds in India appear to be a tax-conscious investment vehicle because in India dividends are tax free up to U.S. $15,000, and long term capital gains on equity and mutual funds are also tax free. However, for Indian Americans, Non-Resident Indians, and Americans living and working in India, the U.S. tax consequences of Indian mutual fund ownership far over-ride the benefits. Because the United States levies tax on the world-wide income of U.S. residents and citizens, income from non-U.S. mutual funds, which are considered Passive Foreign Investment Companies, is taxed in the U.S. under the U.S. tax regime and at U.S. rates.

Tax Consequences of FATCA

Previously, the U.S. tax laws related to non-U.S. mutual fund ownership were easy to ignore because the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had no way of knowing if U.S. residents owned non-U.S. mutual fund shares unless they self-reported. That changed with FATCA. Under FATCA, each foreign financial institution reports the names, addresses, tax identification numbers, account numbers, and account balances of each account holder that is a citizen or resident of the U.S. to the IRS. When the IRS is notified of an individuals ownership in non-U.S. mutual funds, it determines if the individual filed Form 8621  Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund. If the individual has not appropriately reported the holdings, the IRS can levy stiff penalties.

But its not just the penalties for non-compliance that taxpayers should be concerned with. The tax and reporting burden for non-U.S. mutual funds is onerous. Non-U.S. mutual funds, hedge funds, and many insurance products fall under the gambit of Passive Foreign Investment Companies (PFICs). PFICs came into being in the Tax Reform Act of 1986 as a way to discourage U.S. taxpayers from using offshore tax shelters, and the tax treatment was designed to be particularly burdensome. Under the PFIC tax regime, all income is ordinary income automatically taxed at the top individual tax rate (39.6 percent for 2016). In fact, the total tax on a PFIC investment could be 50 percent or more, and losses cannot be used to offset capital gains.

Further, for each PFIC investment, the taxpayer must file a separate Form 8621 each year. By the IRSs own estimate, the three-page form can take more than 20 hours to prepare. Investors who hire tax accountants to prepare their returns could pay thousands of dollars just in tax preparation fees related to the Form 8621.

RELATED: Accounting & Reporting Services from Dezan Shira & Associates

Observations

Now that FATCA has given the IRS an open window into U.S. taxpayers offshore investments, U.S. citizens and residents should carefully review their foreign investments to determine if any of their holdings constitute a passive foreign investment company. Taxpayers should then plan their investments with the PFIC tax regime in mind. In the end, for a U.S. taxpayer, the best course will likely be to invest in a comparable U.S.-based mutual fund, rather than a non-U.S. fund.

About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email india@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight.

Managing Your Accounting and Bookkeeping in India

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we spotlight three issues that financial management teams for India should monitor. Firstly, we examine the new Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) system, which is expected to be a boon for foreign companies in India. We then highlight common filing dates for most companies with operations in India, and lastly examine procedures and regulations for remitting profits from India.

Tax, Accounting, and Audit in India 2014-2015

Tax, Accounting, and Audit in India 2014-2015 offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in India. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who need to be able to navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in India in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their India-based operations.

An Introduction to Indias Audit Process

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we provide readers with an overview of Indias annual audit process and offer important tips for the smooth navigation of the countrys audit regulations and accounting standards. We begin by first explaining the two most common types of audit in India, statutory and internal audits, and then outline the standard steps and procedures an Indian auditor will follow in each.
To commemorateFortis Memorial Research Institute organised a four-day long celebration starting May 9th till May 12th to highlight the theme of the yearThese programmess were dedicated to nurses, who are the backbone of our healthcare system, working round the clock and playing a crucial role in caring and healing ailing patients back to health.An inter-hospital debate and quiz programme at FMRI saw good participation from various hospitals such as Medanta: The Medicity; Max Super Speciality Hospital, Artemis Hospital, Paras Hospital, Columbia Asia hospital and Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, with participants bagging various prizes.The first two days of the Nurses Day celebrations were dedicated to internal engagement programmes and fun activities aimed at providing a break to the routine tasks of nurses through painting, sketching, poster-making and mehendi art among others. Nurses across Gurgaon, Faridabad, Noida and Delhi participated in these competitions and activities. As part of larger community engagement, nurses also visited Guru Gobind Singh Charitable Trust, an NGO which teaches children in and around Wazirabad village on May 11, where children of ages 11-13 were given hands-on training in First Aid.In addition, to bring the Nurses Day celebrations to an appropriate conclusion, FMRI also gave away awards to recognize the hard work and dedicated efforts of nurses for working tirelessly in healing them back to health.along with several specialists who attended the event.said on the occasion, that, The role of nurses in our healthcare system cannot be evaluated easily, so valuable are they in the entire patient-centric value chain. They stand right next to expert specialists and qualified doctors and it is high time, their services are given due recognition by our society at large and they are accepted as leaders andadministrators in their own fields. We ensure that at all Fortis hospitals, our experienced multidisciplinary team comprising trained and skilled staff provides state-of-the-art patient care with promptness and compassion.Nurses are an essential resource of any countrys healthcare system. In countries withinadequate nursing staff in hospitals and healthcare centres, the public health infrastructure faces a lot of constraints and serious challenges.Patients are not attended to in time, monitoring and follow up process is affected, and key messages are not delivered to patients. This occasion provides us an opportunity every year to recognize the hard work and care giving efforts of nurses across various hospitals in Delhi-NCR.
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was apprised of a General Framework Agreement (GFA) on Renewable Energy Cooperation between India and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The GFA was signed, in New Delhi on 11th February this year during the state visit of Crown Prince of UAE.

The objective of this GFA is to establish the basis for a framework through which extensive projects, investments, other forms of commercial endeavours, cooperation in research and development in renewable and clean energy, and knowledge sharing platforms could be enacted on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity between the Parties. The GFA aims at cooperation between India and UAE in the field of new and renewable energy technologies.

The GFA will provide opportunity for exploring potential renewable energy projects for investments; Continue cooperating in the International Solar Alliance; exploring avenues of cooperation in research and development in renewables; developing knowledge-sharing mechanisms through which to build upon the human capital of the Parties; exploring establishing a joint fund between the Parties to facilitate investment: forms of cooperation as mutually agreed by the Parties.
A sum of Rs. 1 lakh invested in the Ahmedabad-based Symphony Ltd, exactly a decade ago, now stands at a mammoth Rs. 9.18 crore as on May 12, 2016. This is the story of possibly the biggest multi-bagger stock on the stock market.



A multi-bagger stock is defined as one that gives return over 100%. Long term investment in stocks has always been advised as a wise move and multi-bagger stocks like Symphony underpin the fact that a longer holding period is the key to mega success or manifold returns in stock markets.



As many as 10 multi-bagger stocks on the BSE offer huge returns - between 5,127% to 91,744% - over last 10 years including Relaxo Footwear, Ajanta Pharma, DFM Foods and Caplin Point Laboratories. Interestingly, the top 10 multi-baggers fall into small-cap and mid-cap segment and their steady progress in business coupled with less volatility are the factors responsible for their super run on the bourses.



Following is the snapshot of how top 10 multi-baggers have offered huge returns in last ten years:

Performance of multibaggers in last 10 years Stock Return (%) Rs. 1 lk invested now stands at Rs. Cr Symphony 91744.10 9.18 Relaxo Footwear 13664.86 1.37 Ajanta Pharma 12948.55 1.30 DFM Foods 12570.49 1.26 Caplin Point Lab 11540.00 1.16 Vinati Agro 10735.22 1.08 Mayur Uniquoter 8722.22 0.88 Eicher Motors 5761.27 0.58 La Opala RG 5298.40 0.54 Kwality Ltd 5127.46 0.52

Analysts are of the view that in stocks like the above mentioned, generally the promoter or promoter groups exposure remains higher than retail or institutional investors, which eventually avert the risk of volatility dampening the stock price. History has shown us that multi-baggers have defied odds such as 2008-09 crises, heavy sell-off by foreign investors or domestic mutual funds, fanatic fluctuations in currency markets and even subdued macro-economic environment.



Air cooler manufacturer Symphony Ltd went to financial restructuring in 2002-03 and rose from the ashes like a phoenix. The company is the worlds largest firm in air cooler manufacturing with a strong presence in over 60 countries.



Similarly, commercial auto vehicle manufacturer, Eicher Motors now enjoys deep penetration in two-wheeler market with Royal Enfield. The company recently outpaced Harley Davidson in terms of market capitalization.



To sum up, it is evident from the numbers that multi-baggers have always favored investors with long term investment in their minds. In these stocks, the longer holding period has in fact acted as a shield against economic downturns of the past 10 years.
The Government has declined Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power's request to let it mortgage coal blocks attached to Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Madhya Pradesh to lenders (including banks from the US, China and Singapore), reports a financial newspaper.The Union Coal Ministry has in a letter to Reliance Power and the Madhya Pradesh government communicated its dissent in granting permission to assign mining lease of Moher and Moher Amlohri Extension coal blocks as security to lenders of the Sasan project, officials have been quoted as saying by ther paper.The mining leases for the blocks were executed between the state and Reliance Power in September 2011.The Coal Ministry has told Reliance Power and the MP government that there is no provision for such mortgage in the contract documents and the power purchase agreement (PPA) for the Sasan project.The view was taken by the Coal Ministry after months of deliberations with the Law and Power ministries, a senior government official told the daily.In its representations to the Government and through the MP government, Reliance Power had told the Centre that mortgage was a prerequisite for the INR 14,500-crore debt that the company took from a consortium of 14 banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) in April 2009.The banks that financed 75% of the INR 19,400-crore Sasan project included IIFCL, Power Finance Corp, Rural Electrifi cation Corp, Punjab National Bank, LIC, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India.US Exim, Bank of China, China Development Bank and The Export Import Bank of China along with Standard Chartered Bank have refinanced part of this loan.
Polite applause for Julia Roberts. Not because of her debut at the Cannes Film Festival, but for something bigger. The prestigious event was the only bastion left for the Hollywood actress to conquer. And she did it by flaunting her signature big smile, the perfect elegance, and no footwear!

Yes, you heard that right. Julia became the first celebrity to walk barefoot at the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival, but with equal ease and panache. So she made the perfect entry in a black Armani Prive gown and Chopard diamond necklace. Then the moment came when she lifted her gown to climb the stairs and the world was shocked to see her without any shoes! She continued to walk barefoot as a bold protest against the Cannes authorities.

The festival's fashion rules strictly demand all female celebs to wear stilettos. And Julia's walk will be constituted as the most rebellious act done by any celebrity. Well, she did arrive wearing heels, but she appears to have removed them while making her way on the red carpet.

Julia protested against the 2015 controversy when numerous women were stopped from attending screenings, because of their "choice of footwear". They were reportedly turned away for wearing ankle boots and tights. Some were even physically pushed away for wearing platform sandals that security seemingly disliked! This gave the festival a lot of flak with #HeelGate and #ShoeGate trending over social media. According to reports, the rules of the dress code aren't stated strictly anywhere. But they are reinforced by the security guards.

Julia was here to attend the premiere of her latest flick Money Monster. And accompanying her was her co-star George Clooney. The 48-year-old actress was clicked sharing a good laugh with George while telling him about her shoe episode on the red carpet. Also making her first Cannes appearance was George's wife and international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who walked hand-in-hand with George.

Julia's decision to go barefoot has been applauded by fans on social media.

Stop her if you can. Julia Roberts walks the Cannes red carpet barefoot to protest last year's #flatgatecontroversy pic.twitter.com/Iirb65NObb  Grazia India (@GraziaIndia) May 13, 2016

Julia Roberts hailed for 'unthinkable' barefoot walk in Cannes https://t.co/tq1mqCeKDD  Anna Brookins (@AnnaBrookins) May 13, 2016

@JuliaRoberts does the unthinkable. Walks barefoot at @Cannes red carpet. Defies archaic 'high heels mandatory' rule pic.twitter.com/fXIaNpxL9G  Sonal Kalra (@sonalkalra) May 13, 2016

When Julia Roberts did what I've always wanted to do: ditched the heels and went barefoot. #inspiration #Cannes2016 pic.twitter.com/KRneFjKfM0  Kamrun Nesa (@kamrunnesa) May 12, 2016

This was not the first time Julia used a red carpet to mark a protest. In 1999 she flashed her hairy armpits at the premiere of Notting Hill with many seeing the move as a statement of feminism. She is also known for going barefoot at awards ceremonies and even at her wedding. While at some places her move was appreciated as a "veritable act of militant feminism", others said she "dared the unthinkable." And her Cannes act is a small step for gender parity in dress codes.

Reuters

This Cannes debut will go down in the history. Shall we respect her a little more today?
Have Uday Chopra and Nargis Fakhri called it quits?

Has Uday Chopra called off his wedding with Nargis Fakhri?

Is this the reason Nargis Fakhri has left for New York leaving three producers in a soup?

indiatoday

Neither you, nor me had thought that we would seek answers to these questions on a Friday! But it's happening. If reports are to be believed, Nargis has become the "gone girl" in Uday's life and Bollywood too. No wonder she has been missing from the promotions of Azhar. Did we hear some insider saying Nargis had a "nervous breakdown" after Uday refused to marry her? Ouch!

designcenter3d

According to a DNA report, Nargis lost interest in Azhar promotions, and two days ago, left the country. She has flown off to New York, leaving Housefull 3 mid-way and the schedule of Banjo incomplete, leaving the producers high and dry. Apparently she told the Azhar team that she was "suffering from an injury". Then we heard a different side to the story - Nargis had a huge fight with Uday and left almost overnight!

Uday and Nargis have been caught spending time with each other time and again, and even made some public appearances in the past. People close to them said they were in a committed relationship, and Uday was keen to marry her. Uday had even shared a picture of his coffee mug, with a picture of Nargis on it!

However, Nargis wanted to focus on her career and Hollywood venture. And with time, she shuffled her priorities to give her personal life more space which is why Uday changed his mind. He dropped their wedding plan leaving Nargis depressed! Now the actress has told her friends that she needs a month or two to recover from the "upheaval in her personal life".

"Nargis was all set to announce her wedding to Uday Chopra, but he'd changed his mind about getting hitched and this came as a shock to her. There was a time when he was very keen to marry her and had proposed to her, but she wanted to focus on her career and Hollywood films. Now, the tables have turned."

Whether they should be together or not, is their personal decision. We just hope Nargis returns to B-town soon. Her producers are as much in waiting of her, as her fans.

radass
In May 2014, when the BJP won the general elections, Narendra Modi surprised everyone by inviting country heads of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member states including Pakistan to his swearing-in ceremony.

Reuters

While the move was hailed as a diplomatic masterstroke, it also outlined the importance the new government in Delhi has placed on having good relations with its immediate neighbours.

This was further emphasised when Modi, out of all countries in the world, chose Bhutan for his first foreign visit as the Prime Minister of India.

Shortly after assuming office, the NDA government took the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's 'Look East Policy' one step further and called it 'Act East Policy' indicating the larger role India wants to play as a regional superpower.

PTI

This outreach also had a larger aim behind it - to counter the growing influence of the other superpower in the region, China.

The recent expansions of China into South Asia, and the Indian Ocean, which New Delhi for long considered its backyard, has unsettled our policies towards neighbouring countries.

China now has huge investments in countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal Sri Lanka and Maldives, almost encircling India with its strategic investments.

Of all these investments, the most damaging for India is the $46 billion China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which connects Pakistan's Gwadar Port in Balochistan with Xinjiang province in China, with a network of roads and bridges.

It also passes through the parts of Kashmir under the occupation of Pakistan and China. Built almost wholly on Chinese funds, it not only gives Beijing an access to the Arabian Sea, but also control of Gwadar which it can use as a Navy base, docking even warships which could pose a direct threat to India's national security.

Mappk

India tried to counter the move by getting involved in the Chabahar Port project in Iran, which is also located on the Arabian Sea.

Once completed, the two ports will compete with each other to capitalise on almost 20 percent of the world's crude oil shipment which passes through the region. While Chabahar Port is India's counterweight to Gwadar, it will also for the first time give sea access to landlocked Afghanistan via a road which will pass through Iran, which will also be built with Indian assistance.

China had, for many years, kept a distance from Afghanistan. But with the NATO pulling out, China has ramped up its investments.

These are mainly focused on the rich mineral resources which had for long remained untapped. For India, Afghanistan is more of a strategic position when it comes to relations with Pakistan.

Tolo News

New Delhi is one of the biggest aid providers to the rebuilding of Afghanistan, and has heavily invested in infrastructural projects, including the newly built Afghan Parliament.

In the eastern side, the recent 'misadventure' from India, which allegedly tried to arm twist Nepal's constitution to 'fit' its criteria, inadvertently opened a gateway for China to cement its position in the Himalayan kingdom.

PTI

An 'unofficial' trade embargo at the Indo-Nepal border which continued for 135 days resulted in an acute shortage of essential goods and fuel in Nepal, and almost brought the country to its knees. With no way to get fuel from India, Nepal, for the first time in over forty years, turned to China which was wholeheartedly willing to step in the vacuum.

Read: How the once cordial relations between India and Nepal strained in the recent times.

Another country where the two Asian giants are fighting for dominance is Sri Lanka.

The Indian Ocean Island, which India considered its backyard for long, had in the past decade been able to attract Chinese investments worth billions, mostly due to former Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who favored Beijing over New Delhi.

Nation.lk

China, which already completed the works on Hambantota port in Rajapaksa's hometown, at a cost of US $361 million can use it to dock both its commercial and war ships, which poses a direct security threat to India.

Tensions were high in November 2014 after two Chinese navy submarines docked at the Colombo port despite India raising concerns. Another 'headache' for India in the same country is the massive Colombo Port City Project, once again being built by China.

The $1.5 billion project is the biggest infrastructure investment China ever made in Sri Lanka and the island nation's biggest ever infra project. Once again with complete control handed over to a Chinese-state-backed company, India has a reason to be concerned.

theindependent

However, with the change of government in the island nation last year, the new President Maithripala Sirisena has assured India that Chinese submarines won't be allowed at its ports again. Unlike his predecessor, President Sirisena has opened up his country for foreign investments from all countries including China and India.

Another Indian Ocean region which recently caught Chinese attention is the island archipelago of Maldives.

In 2015, the Maldivian Parliament lifted restrictions on foreigners owning land in the country, allowing individuals or companies to buy land provided they invest $ 1 billion and reclaim 70% of the land from the Indian Ocean for their project. This opened a floodgate of Chinese investments to the tourist paradise.

China has also pumped in major investments in Maldives, including in the bridge project connecting the airport and the capital of Male and also helped the archipelago nation's tourism by ensuring that 30 to 40% of the tourists are Chinese.

With its strategic investments, China has presence in India's east, west, north and south. Even though so far India has remained relatively non-aggressive when it comes to China's expansionist policy, in its own way New Delhi is getting back at Beijing, especially where it hurts most, the South China Sea. India is involved in oil explorations off the Vietnam coast, in the South China Sea. The islands China claims to be its territory has been disputed between China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. While China defends its constructions in PoK, it calls the Indian presence in SCS illegal.

BBC

The two economic giants have come a long way from the 1962 war and even though occasional skirmishes happen at the Line of Actual Control, both countries have an understanding that another full blown direct confrontation won't be in the interest of either of the sides. This will only escalate the ongoing game of outdoing each other in their own backyard .
At some point in your life, through friends, popular media or your school or college, you must have come across the term "mercy killing". The legal term for mercy killing is euthanasia and the consequences of legalising it, have over time, become a heated debate among India's intellectual, political and legal circles. The case that led to this heated debate was that of Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v. Union of India.

ndtv

Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug was a nurse in the King Edwards Memorial Hospital in Mumbai when she was assaulted by a sweeper of the same hospital while changing her clothes in the hospital basement. During the assault, she was tied with a dog chain around her neck, which cut off oxygen supply from her brain and rendered her in a permanent vegetative state for the next 42 years.

miror

From the day of the assault till the day she died, Aruna could only survive on mashed food. She could not move her hands or legs, could not talk or perform the basic functions of a human being. Journalist-Activist Pinky Virani, who had published a book regarding her case titled Aruna's Story, filed a writ petition under Article 32 before the Supreme Court of India, asking for the legalisation of euthanasia so that Aruna's continued suffering could be terminated by withdrawing medical support. She contended that the patient had been in a permanent vegetative state for the past many years and did not have any chance of recovery at all.

indiaunion

The Supreme Court accepted the petition and constituted a medical board to report back on Aruna's health and medical condition. The medical board, comprising three eminent doctors, reported that the patient was not brain dead and responded to some situations in her own way. They felt that there was no need for euthanasia in the case.

The staff at KEM Hospital and the Bombay Municipal Corporation filed their counter-petitions in the case, opposing euthanasia for Aruna. The nurses at KEM Hospital were quite happy to look after the patient and they had been doing that for years before petitioner Pinky Virani emerged on the scene.

The court, while delivering its judgment, distinguished between active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia means killing a person through the use of lethal substance or force, and passive euthanasia means withdrawing or discontinuing medical support necessary for the continuation of life. The court rejected the plea for euthanasia for Aruna Shanbaug but legalised passive euthanasia in the country.

The reason any debate around euthanasia generates such a heated discussion is because while our constitution recognises the right to life with dignity, it does not recognise the right to die. Therefore, a debate regarding mercy killing is just not a debate regarding the legality of such a wish, but is also a debate about the morality and ethics of such an act. With the concept of euthanasia, law enters that complex territory of medical ethics which has even divided the medical fraternity sharply in the recent past.

indianexpress

Passive euthanasia did not remain legalised for long in India. In Common Cause v. Union of India, it was urged that the judgment of Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v Union of India was decided based on incorrect interpretation of the constitution bench's judgment in Gian Kaur v State of Punjab, and therefore it was referred to a larger constitutional bench for review and final judgment.

bccl

Aruna Shanbaug died in May 2015, but her case helped in shedding light on an extremely complex issue of medical ethics and law. Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States. Will India join the list?

We'll have to wait and watch.

Cover image courtesy: i0.wp.com/blog
The brutal rape and murder of Champa Chettri, a 20-year-old in Baragolai, Tinsukia district of Assam, has led to a series of protests and demonstrations across the state.

The girl's charred and badly disfigured body was discovered floating on the Dihing River. The police have since arrested two men - Biswajit Chettri and Moinul Ali - and charged them under Section 366, 376 and 342/34 of the IPC.

Indian Gorkhas

The incident has led to state-wide protests with students from the All Assam Gorkha Students' Union organising candlelight marches, and calling for a 12-hour shutdown in protest of such barbarism and the strictest action to be taken against the accused.

Rakesh Furba Sherpa, President, Tinsukia Regional Committee at All Assam Gorkha Students Union, has written a letter in Hindi to the Prime Minister which has since been shared widely on social media. He writes, "It is sad that the 2012 Nirbhaya case has been repeated in Assam... I don't think you've learned anything about laws for women's safety despite all your foreign trips in the last two years."

Darjeeling Times

A candlelight march for justice for the victim was attended by more than 1,000 people, and also included celebrated mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa from Arunachal Pradesh, who scaled Mount Everest thrice, celebrity super model Rewati Chetri, and M Sangma, a celebrity cancer survivor cyclist from Meghalaya.

A bandh was also declared through the Tinsukia district on Monday demanding strict action on the accused. Main areas like Makum, Jagun, Margherita, Tinsukia, and Bargolai were completely shut down. The police detained members of the All Assam Gorkha Students Union during the bandh to prevent any violence in the district.

Darjeeling Times

Chettri was reported missing by her family on April 29 when she did not return from a visit to a local beauty parlour. Her body was discovered on May 3 on the river Dihing river by some local boys who reported it to the police. She had been raped and then murdered. After a failed attempt of burning the body, it was dumped into the river.
J.K. Rowling recently came to the rescue of a fan who sought the writer's help on Twitter with a heart-wrenching post about fighting her inner dementors.

So when user @AlwaysJLover posted a personal account about her struggles against depression, Jo readily extended help with her words. And we know how her words can literally create magic in our lives.

@AlwaysJLover

With a history of depression, Kate has had her own share of self-harm and bullying. In her note, she thanks Jo for inspiring her through her hardships and helping her start the healing process.

After that, she expresses her heartfelt gratitude to the writer and asks Jo for a handwritten 'Expecto Patronum' so that she can get it tattooed on her wrist - the area where Kate hurt herself the most.

Debra Hurford Brown

It's important to note here that tattoo artists have more than been kind enough to ink their customers on their most self-harmed areas and have offered their services for a low or no price.

And Jo, being the amazing person that she is, granted Kate's wish and shared the famous quote in her handwriting.

.@AlwaysJLover I love that you're working to heal and protect yourself. You deserve this. I hope it helps. pic.twitter.com/T2nDG3z2MJ  J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 11, 2016

Here's hoping that the beautiful cursive gives Kate strength. Always.
This is one of the few times a match on Tinder turned out to be a nightmare for this woman hailing from Kansas, USA. The man in question, Shane Steven Allen, reportedly matched with her on the dating app, met her, kidnapped her, beat her up, and kept her against her will for six days! The man is currently in police custody under a $100,000 bond, and if found guilty, could face as long as 32 years in prison.

msecnd.net

The 20-year-old woman, a student of the University of Kansas, was kidnapped on the 12th of April and returned on the 18th with multiple injuries all over her body including black eyes, broken blood vessels in her eyes, bruises and abrasions according to Lawrence Journal World.

wikimedia



She knew him from before

The two had apparently met once before the horrific incident occurred. Allen apparently accused the woman of flirting with one of his friends which started the abuse lasting six days. After beating her up, he was apparently holding her captive until her facial injuries healed. After six gruelling days, she was dropped back to the sorority house after promising that she wont be calling the police.

Shame.
Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com.

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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.
Niger Delta activist and Itsekiri leader, Chief Ayiri Emami, said on Friday that those bombing pipelines in Delta State were not ghosts, but known human beings living in the state. He, therefore, urged security agencies to go after them.

We know them, the security agents know them too, they are not ghosts, and we will support President Muhammadu Buhari to bring them out no matter where they hide, he told Vanguard.

He faulted the Delta state government over its alleged laid-back response to vandalization of pipelines by the Niger Delta Avengers. He also blamed leaders of his party the All Progressives Congress (APC).

APC leaders in Delta state should rise up and condemn the activities of these militants, we are not part of them, they should not destroy our state, we are in support of President Buharis government. Government should isolate the criminals and deal with them.

What is going on is not surprising to some of us and I want to say that government security agencies should be more serious about finding the perpetrators. I know that if they were serious, they would have fished them out because they have information on what is happening, he said.

Emami continued: It is just some few persons that are doing all these things and security agents should not stand and be looking at them and pretending that they do not know them. This matter is beyond what the Delta state government can handle even though it has not demonstrated enough commitment.

I want to suggest that President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Security Adviser, Minister of State for Petroleum, the Army, Navy, Air force and Police, the state government and the communities should all wake up on this matter. The communities should identify the militants doing these things because they know them and point them to security agents for arrest, he said.

I have interacted with people from the area, they are not happy with just some few persons that are bringing bad name to all of them for self-centered reasons and government should stop them, who they are avenging.

I can tell you that the name, Niger Delta Avengers, chosen by the criminal elements and economic terrorists bombing oil and gas installations in the state and their demands roundly expose their political, selfish, corrupt and destructive mission.

They are on their own, the good people of Niger Delta are not with them, we are in support of President Muhammadu Buhari and his government, we want him to transform Niger Delta, what are these masquerading economic saboteurs avenging? When positive reforms ongoing in the oil and gas sector are already yielding dividends, with the coming on stream of the nations refineries, as well as other infrastructures in the sector hitherto abandoned.

Every responsible Niger Deltan is ready to render needed support to the government to track down these selfish criminal elements to enable the Buhari administration achieve its desired goals in the South-South, especially the realization of mega peoplecentred projects.

We are interested in the completion of the Lagos-Calabar Rail Project in the just signed 2016 budget, the EPZ project in Escravos, Warri South-West Local Government Area, Delta State and other worthy projects, not bombing of pipelines. That image of Niger Delta does not represent us, it is the selfish desire of few criminal elements.
The senator representing Bayelsa East on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ben Murray-Bruce, has given some words of wise counsel to the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration on how to help it ease the burden imposed on Nigerians by recent increment in price of petrol.

The federal government on Wednesday announced the removal of subsidy and increase in price of petroleum products from N86 a litre to N145.

The move has been greeted with condemnation by Nigerians, who are still grappling with the effects of the worsening economy on their living conditions.

In a series of tweets on Thursday, Mr. Bruce said it was unfair for government to increase the pump price of petrol when it has not improved the living conditions of the people or reduced what the government is consuming.

He, however, advised the president to increase minimum wage to help workers cope with increased fuel price or exclude minimum wage earners from paying tax.

Is it fair on the masses to ask them to pay double for fuel when we have not improved the economy or reduced what we in govt consume?  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 12, 2016

I appeal to @MBuhari to consider the immense suffering in Nigeria and increase minimum wage to help workers cope with increased fuel price.  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 12, 2016

Either @Mbuhari increases the minimum wage to help masses cope with increased fuel price or he should allow minimum wage earners pay no tax.  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 12, 2016

Increase minimum wage because the President and his cabinet, dont buy fuel with their money, yet earn more than minimum wage workers who do!  Ben Murray-Bruce (@benmurraybruce) May 12, 2016
The newly established Dangote Tomato Processing Factory in Kadawa, Kano State, has suspended production, according to its Managing Director, Alhaji Abdulkadir Kaita.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Friday, Kaita said that the company, which commenced production in February, had stopped production due to the lack of raw materials.

He said that the company found it necessary to suspend production because there was no fresh tomatoes to process, adding that most of the tomato farms in Kano, Jigawa, Plateau, Katsina and Kaduna states were affected by a pest popularly known as Tuta absoluta which killed all the tomato species there.

The managing director noted that the pest had destroyed tomato farms in the affected states, making the price of the perishable commodity to go up.

However, he said production would commence during the next irrigation season.

The Dangote tomato processing factory can process 120 tonnes of fresh tomatoes per day at full capacity.
A former butler of Donald Trump, who no longer works for Mr Trump is now being investigated by the United States Secret Service for racist threats aimed at US President Barack Obama.

Anthony Senecal, 84, who worked as a butler for Trump for 17 years, until 2009, wrote in a recent Facebook post that Mr Obama should be shot by the military as an enemy agent.

To all my friends on FB, just a short note to you on our pus headed president !!!! This character who I refer to as zero (0) should have been taken out by our military and shot as an enemy agent in his first term !! Instead he still remains in office doing every thing he can to gut the America we all know and love ! Mr Senecal said in a Facebook post. According to Mother Jones magazine.

Its not the first time he has made hateful remarks against the president.

Last April, he wrote that the US president should be hanged calling him a pri**. Looks like that sleezey b**tard zero (O) is trying to out maneuvre Congress again, if the truth be known this prick needs to be hung for treason!!! he said.

The Secret Service confirmed to reporters it will investigate comments made by Donald Trumps former butler calling for President Obama to be killed. The US Secret Service is aware of this matter and will conduct the appropriate investigation, Secret Service agency spokesman Robert Hoback said in a statement.

Source: Twitter
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday stormed the residence of detained former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode in Abuja, where they conducted a search of the residence.

The ex-minister is in custody for allegedly receiving N840 million out of the N2.5billion illegally withdrawn from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and paid into the accounts of six chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Goodluck Support Group (GSG).

The funds were reportedly pumped into the re-election campaign of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in last years general election.

Mr. Fani-Kayode denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not know the source of the funds was from the CBN and that it was used judiciously by the Media and Publicity Directorate of the PDP Presidential Campaign Organization, which he headed.

Although there was no official confirmation of the search on the residence of the detained former minister, it was learnt that the development followed intelligence reports on some of the issues emerging from Fani-Kayodes interrogation.

Raising the alarm on the search by the EFCC operatives, the Special Assistant on Media to the ex-minister, Mr. Jude Ndukwe, said it was conducted without any warrant.

In a statement yesterday, Ndukwe said: Earlier today, the EFCC invaded the residence of Chief Femi Fani-Kayode even when he was still in their custody.

What miffed us most was their mode of operation which was forceful, provocative and dangerous as they wielded their guns with needless threats.

The worst is that the invasion was without a warrant as they forced their way in, and after terrifying all the staff at home, including the infant, they whisked the laundry man away even though he was later released.

This is the fourth time the EFCC operatives would be invading Chief Fani-Kayodes residence in just under a week.

We condemn this act of executive lawlessness, harassment and intimidation. Chief Femi Fani-Kayode has served this country even at the highest levels and he deserves some courtesy.

We call on the EFCC to endeavour to carry out their functions within the ambit of our laws and stop brazenly betraying the fact that Chief Fani-Kayode is under persecution. The world is watching!
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Nwabueze Ngige, has appealed to the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) to call off their warning strike and resume duty in the interest of the nation.

Recall that the NARD began a 5-day warning strike that began on Wednesday over issue regarding payment of salaries and working conditions.

A statement yesterday by the Deputy Director (Press) in the ministry, Samuel Olowookere, said Ngige, also a medical doctor, advised them to utilize the mechanisms of the ongoing social dialogue with government on the issues of concern to its members.

The minister urged the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) being the parent body of NARD to join in the appeal, drawing the attention of the striking resident doctors to the essential nature of their duties to humanity.
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a doctor, identified only as Abiodun, for allegedly raping and impregnating a 26-year-old ulcer patient in the Ipaja Ayobo area of the state.

Abiodun, a trado-medical doctor, who had his health centre  Damola Healthcare  on Agbaje Street, was arrested on Tuesday by the Isokoko Police Division.

The Family Support Unit of the division was said to be in charge of the matter.

The victim, Funmilayo (pseudonym), who hails from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and lives two streets away from the centre, had in December 2015, gone to the place to complain about ulcer.

It was learnt that Abioduns workers had prescribed some herbal drugs for the lady, telling her that she would pay N18,000 for comprehensive treatment. The victim reportedly deposited N10,000.

Our correspondent gathered that when there was no improvement in the ladys condition, she requested to meet with Abiodun for further counselling in January 2016. Abiodun was said to have taken over Funmilayos treatment from his workers.

It was learnt that the doctor on January 17, after conducting some tests on the patient, allegedly told her that she had womb infections and she needed to be further examined, asking her to come back two days later by 9am.

On January 19, Funmilayo, who was said to be afraid of testing positive for womb infections, got to the hospital around 7am and waited at the reception.

Our correspondent learnt that when Abiodun arrived at about 8am, he invited the patient to his office and allegedly asked her to UnCloth to have her private parts examined.

It was gathered that Abiodun, however, allegedly raped Funmilayo, and thereafter begged the patient not to disclose the incident to anyone.

A police source said that Funmilayo, however, reported the matter at the Ayobo Police Division, when she discovered in February 2016, that she was pregnant, and the doctor allegedly told her to have an abortion.

She said, The doctor agreed he had an affair with her, but he insisted that the victim should get rid of the pregnancy. The lady insisted that she would not risk her life to go for an abortion since she was not promiscuous. When the matter got to the Ayobo division, the doctor was arrested and made to promise to take care of the lady. But after he was granted bail, the promise was not kept.

Our correspondent learnt that the matter was later brought to the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Alausa, which referred the victim to Mirabel Centre, Ikeja, for a checkup.

It was gathered that the DSVRT thereafter requested the matter to be transferred to the Isokoko division and the doctor was re-arrested.

Funmilayo, a National Diploma holder from a polytechnic in Lagos State, described what went on in the suspects office as shocking, adding that she could no longer keep the rape a secret when she found out she was pregnant.

She said, On that day, when he arrived, we went into his office. He asked me to lie on the bed as he would insert a rubber tool into my private parts for examination. I did. My legs were far apart. He did that for some minutes, and suddenly I noticed he inserted his private parts.

I shouted, but the cleaner did not come in. He stopped when he ejaculated. Immediately, he began to apologise that he did not know what came over him. I vowed not to return to the centre. I did not tell anybody because I thought I should just forget about it.

It was in February that I found out I could not menstruate. I went for a scan, but nothing showed. By March, I went for another scan, and it showed that I was pregnant for six weeks and four days. When I informed him, he suggested abortion, which I rejected. That was how the trouble began.

The DSVRT Coordinator, Lola Vivour-Adeniyi, warned female patients to insist on having a female nurse around in the hospital room, whenever their private parts were to be examined by a male doctor.

She said, This is a rape by a traditional doctor which has now resulted in pregnancy. We requested that the case be transferred to the Family Support Unit of the Isokoko division from Ayobo division. The Department of Public Prosecutions has also requested the duplicate case file. The DSVRT has referred the victim to the OPD to get legal representation. She is also being given antenatal care at the Mirabel Centre.

It must be emphasised that women must ensure that a female nurse is in the examination room whenever their private parts are to be examined by a male doctor.If that was done in this case, such sexual assault would not have taken place.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed Abioduns arrest.

She said, The doctor has been arrested. The case is still under investigation.

Source:BreakingTimes
The unending crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday took a turn for the worse as a former Minister of Information and a founding member of the party, Prof. Jerry Gana, led a group of other leading members to announce the takeover of the party from its current national chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff.

The former minister, who heads a group within the PDP called Concerned Stakeholders, met on Thursday at the Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja, where they made their stand known.

After the meeting, a communique signed by a former Deputy President of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu; a former Minister of Education, Prof. Tunde Adeniran, and media mogul, Raymond Dokpesi, was issued rejecting the decision of the partys National Executive Committee, NEC, to extend the tenure of Mr. Sheriff to May 21, 2016.

The group said as far they were concerned, the tenure of the current National Working Committee, NWC, elapsed since March 24, 2016.

They argued that a national convention should have been convened to either elect a new NWC or approve the composition of a caretaker committee.

The purported extension of the tenure of the Chairman and other members of the national working committee by the Party by the NEC was an illegality and therefore untenable and contrary to the provisions of our party Constitution which gives such powers ONLY to the National Convention of the Party, the group said.

They also said in line with that position, all actions purportedly taken by the said NEC and the National Working Committee, including the Ward, Local Government, State Congresses and the planned National Convention of the Party slated for the 21st of May 2016 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State constitute a nullity and are of no effect.

They equally said the zoning arrangement as announced by the chairman of the purported Zoning Committee led by Governor Emmanuel Udom of Akwa-Ibom State was unacceptable, because it ran contrary to the PDPs established principles and practice, which, they said, had sustained the party in continuous unity for the last 18 years.

Deriving from all the above and in order to stop further slide into unconstitutional confusion and widespread disenchantment of party members nationwide, We the founding fathers, stakeholders and leaders of the party from all the 6 Geopolitical zones hereby announce a 21 member steering committee to manage the affairs of the PDP, and work intimately with our respected members of BOT who are the conscience of the party till such a time that a proper, lawfully organized National Convention of the party, where a new authentic leadership of the party will be duly elected in accordance to the provisions of our party constitution and guidelines, they said.

They added that the new steering committee will soon embark on a nationwide tour, to address and resolve all issues and areas of conflict in every state of the federation.

The group said the steering committee will immediately put in place a National Reconciliation Committee to reconcile all previously aggrieved party members.

The Concerned Stakeholders equally condemned what they called an attempt by the illegal NWC of the party to amend the constitution of the PDP in order to muzzle and control the BOT and thereby subject it (BOT) to the villains and caprices of the NWC.

The Gana group also called on governors elected on the platform of PDP, as well as senators, House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly members to take up the gauntlet and support this noble cause.

We need to come together as a family, to fight the cancer of impunity that has eaten deep into the tissues of our party, they said.

Our correspondent reports that the meeting was attended by PDP chieftains including former a former Minister of Transportation and Nigerias ex-Ambassador to Canada, Ojo Maduekwe; former National Chairman of the PDP, Okwesilieze Nwodo; ex-Deputy National Chairman of the PDP (South-west), Chief Bode George; Governor of the defunct Gongola State and former PDP National Chairman aspirant, Ambassador Wilberforce Juta; former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Shettima Mustapha; former FCT Minister, Bala Mohammed; former Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki; Dr. Akilu Indabawa, Mrs. Remi Adikwu and Professor Sulaiman Abubakar.

Others were Ibrahim Bunu, Adamu Maina Waziri, Senator Grace Folashade Bent, Ambassador Ester Audu and Senator Ibok Essien.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has told Nigerians to bear with government over the recent increment in price of petrol, saying in few months time, the price will go downwards.

You will be amazed at what will happen to your N145 price because it will go downwards, Kachikwu said Thursday when he appeared as a guest on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily.

The Minister on Wednesday announced the removal of subsidy on petroleum products and an increment of the price of premium motor spirit to N145 a litre. He, however, advised the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, retail outlets to sell the product at a lower price than N145, but he did not specify the amount.

Explaining to Nigerians that it was not an easy decision to remove fuel subsidy, Mr. Kachikwu said You dont give what you dont have. We want Nigerians to understand that we feel the pain, and we have tried to avoid it since I came in October. We have done everything we could.

We first went on to the issue of the subsidies that we inherited which, by the way, were based on 50 to 55 million litres consumption, and we said the number looked bloated. So, we did an experiment and came to a conclusion that this country doesnt consume more than 45 million litres a day.

Then we came to a second point and said, We are not even going to have subsidy again. We are going to exit it because there was just too much fraud involved in it.

So, left with that option, what were we supposed to do? We have struggled. Queues continue to go and they are back. And it will continue to happen unless we address the issues, he was quoted as saying.
3 young women of the same family were shot dead on Wednesday, May 11 by male relatives who suspected them of having relations with men. The women, aged 22, 28, and 29, all lived in the same house.

According to police, the women 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 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, said police investigator Mohammed Ayub.

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.

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 judges discretion to decide whether to impose a prison sentence when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer- a loophole that critics say is still exploited.

Source:Newsweek Pakistan
The Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, yesterday took the crisis rocking the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, which is also threatening to derail his administration, to the National Secretariat of the party in Abuja.

Recall that the Kogi APC last month passed a no-confidence vote on the governor, accusing him of romancing the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state; a claim Bello strongly denied.

The governor, who drove himself to the party secretariat at about 12:15pm in a Maroon Porsche SUV, in company of his aides, headed straight to the office of the national deputy chairman, North, Senator Lawal Shuaibu, where he held a closed door meeting for about an hour after which he made for the office of the national chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

Governor Bello, who refused to speak to the press about the outcome of his visit to the partys secretariat, only said, no press as he headed back to his car.

However, it was gathered that the visit was not unconnected with the partys posture towards the governor over some of his actions which the leadership is allegedly unhappy about.
A former militant, General Africa Ukparasia yesterday accused a fellow former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo alias Tompolo of trying to make the country ungovernable for the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, warning him to desist from any further attacks on oil installations.

General Ukparasia told journalists in Abuja yesterday that Tompolo, who is currently on the run from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is the brain behind the recent destruction of oil installations in the Niger Delta, saying he was prepared to assist the government to stop the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers.

The Avengers is a new militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility for the recent spate of bombings of critical oil and gas assets in the region.

The group, which claims to have no links with Tompolo, recently warned the fugitive ex-militant leader to desist from condemning its nefarious activities in the Niger Delta.

Ukparasia, however, did not buy the public display of hostilities between the Avengers and Tompolo, recalling that in the run up to the 2015 general election, the latter vowed to make the country ungovernable for the Buhari government if former President Goodluck Jonathan lose his re-election.

He said: I want to state categorically that the Niger Delta Avenger is not a new group. It is Tompolo that is behind the group and what they are out to do is to carry out their threat to make the government ungovernable for the APC. We will not allow that to happen.

Tompolo is the person behind the attacks in the Niger Delta and so, Nigerians and people of the Niger Delta should not think that there is a new militant group. I am confirming that it is Tompolo that is behind the group. It is not a new militant group.

It is Tompolo that is disturbing the peace of the people of the Niger Delta. So, I am warning him to stop the unnecessary action and stop disturbing this our government because the government is very sincere.

During the last government, nobody heard of the name Avenger causing problem and causing damages to our oil installations. But today, before the last election, Tompolo vowed and it was all over the media that if Jonathan does not win the election, he will make the incoming government ungovernable. That is what he is doing now. So, nobody should be surprised about what is happening now because it is Tompolo that is doing it.
A Nigerian-born student has been cleared of rape in the UK after a woman he had sex with claimed she thought he was a white guy.

According to UK Metro, Sam Obeghe, 24, had sex with the shop worker, 21, at his flat after a night out. He stopped when she cried his friend Zack Garrigans name. She had earlier been with Mr Garrigan, who had since left the room. She says she realised her mistake when she ran her fingers through Mr Obeghes hair.

She left the flat and reported Mr Obeghe for rape following the incident in December 2014 and he faced a trial. However, a jury found him not guilty after just 27 minutes of deliberation

During the trial the woman said the bedroom was pitch black and she couldnt see enough to distinguish between the two men, despite Nigerian-born Mr Obeghe being of different ethnicity to Mr Garrigan, who is white. The two men also have different features, builds and a different voice.

The incident occurred on December 5 2014 when the woman  known as Miss X  had got drunk during a night out with a friend in Bolton town centre. The two women met Mr Obeghe and Mr Garrigan in the Vogue bar and in the early hours of the morning the four of them, plus another man went to Mr Obeghes flat in the Heaton area of the town.

Mr Obeghe  who had not been drinking  gave the party a lift in his BMW but once they got back Miss X and Mr Garrigan began kissing and headed into the accused mans bedroom for sex. The woman said she and Mr Garrigan did not have intercourse and she fell asleep while he went into the lounge to try to find some Viagra

But she told the court she was subsequently woken by a man she thought was Mr Garrigan in the bed and they began having sex.

I was saying Zacks name because I thought it was him I was having sex with. The person hugging and kissing me didnt feel any different. I thought this was Zack, I called his name four or five times. It went on for a couple of minutes until I put my hands through his hair and realised it was not Zack but Sam. I was screaming, what are you doing? and he ran out of the room. I was embarrassed and ran out. Zack was asking what was wrong, I was just saying that I needed to get out.

The woman later told her mother who called police. Mr Obeghe, who at the time worked for a fashion brand, said he had met the woman while helping Mr Garrigan celebrate his birthday and he had agreed to let them and the other friends go back to his flat a t 5 am.

I could tell she was drunk  her and Zack were the same, he said. Music was playing and they were kissing and then went into my bedroom. I sat there thinking what have I done? bringing them back here because I had work the next day.

I saw Zack coming out, first naked and I was saying, come on I need to go to bed.

I asked him, Are you guys leaving? but he was not really paying attention to what I was saying and I said, Im going to go and get her out.

I walked into the bedroom, sat on the bed and started nudging the woman saying, go and meet Zack in the living room. At first I lay there thinking finally I can go to bed but she grabbed me.

I was just thinking, I didnt really want to have sex with her, but Im a human being and if you get touched like that you have a motivation to move on. I figured she was probably very drunk. Then she grabbed me saying, come on Zack and I realised shes thinking Im Zack so I jumped off the bed and jumped out of the room.

I went into the living room and told Zack: Man you will not believe what shes just done. Zack was sort of laughing and then I saw her storming out and she was screaming. I was in shock. I didnt climb on top of her and kiss her.

After the not guilty verdict Mr Obeghe was too upset to comment. His lawyer Sarah Johnson said:

We are not suggesting this is a wicked woman telling a wicked pack of lies  but she couldnt remember everything that happened in that bedroom. Shes not someone you can say is accurate and reliable.

She said the room was pitch black and she couldnt see anything, despite the defendant being of a different ethnicity, having different features and a different voice. It was only when putting her hand through his hair she put her head back and its that movement of her head that allows her to see that its Sam and not Zack.

Source: Metro
Punch

The Convener, Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reforms, Chief Ayo Opadokun, says the recent increase in fuel price should compel the Federal Government to accept the N56,000 minimum wage proposed by the Nigeria Labour Congress.

Vanguard

N386bn looted funds to finance budget deficit FG Minister of National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, said yesterday, that N386 billion recovered looted funds would form part of resources to finance the 2016 budget deficit.

The Sun

Grass to grace aptly summarizes the story of multi-talented actor, Chiedozie Sambasa Nzeribe. Coming from a rough background, Sambasa made his debut in Nollywood in 2013.

Thisday

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said his administration would not make any payments, no matter how small to individuals or companies which are unable to provide evidence of tax compliance from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).

Daily Times

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Thursday advised haulage companies to put in place adequate safety measures during operational activities to forestall accidents.

Daily Trust

The crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kwara State appears to be unresolved, following the emergence of two sets of executives

Tribune

The crisis rocking the South West Zonal chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has assumed another dimension as a Federal High Court in Lagos, on Wednesday, restrained the party and its officers from going ahead with the zonal congress scheduled to hold on Saturday, May 14, 2016.

The Nation

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa state, has criticise the Justice Kazeem Alogba-led Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja for some of its rulings.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has blasted the Prof. Jerry Gana-led Concerned Stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, describing them as unpopular in their areas, but issuing threats and attempting to cause confusion in the opposition party.

The Gana-led group yesterday sacked the Ali Modu Sheriff-led National Working Committee of the PDP, in its place, constituting a 21-member steering committee to pilot the affairs of the party and work with the Board of Trustees to conduct the national convention.

The group, which comprises mostly of founding fathers of the PDP, in a communique signed by former Deputy President of the Senate, Ibrahim Mantu; former Education Minister, Prof. Tunde Adeniran and media mogul, Raymond Dokpesi, and issued at the end of its meeting in Abuja, described the planned amendment to the PDP constitution, championed by Sheriff, as illegal and insisted that the national convention slated for May 21 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State be put on hold.

But Wike, who was one of the PDP governors that worked towards the emergence of Sheriff as national chairman and is favourably disposed to his continued stay in office after the May 21 convention, accused the Concerned Stakeholders of having a hidden agenda.

The governor spoke while addressing the National Convention Planning Committee at the Government House, Port Harcourt, last night.

He said: Anybody who loves this party, knows that this is the time to make sacrifices. We are rebuilding this party and we need to work together in unity to succeed.

It is important that we work as a team, as that is the only way for us to achieve set goals. Only those with hidden agenda will work against the party.
Famous Nigerian comedian and evangelist, Julius Agwu recently survived a near death operation.

His wife has gone on to share photos of her husband after his brain surgery.

.and then came the smile of VICTORY. Indeed there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Exactly a year later and better than ever. Giving Glory to God for all he has done and is [email protected] you are a COVENANT CHILD #livingtestimony#brainsurgery#Jesusmyrock, she wrote.

And now, the comedian, thankful for a successful operation took to Instagram today, May 12, 2016 sharing photos with the words, EXACTLY A YEAR TODAY #12thMAY Makes it 1YEAR AFTER #MyBRAINsurgery in HOUSTON TEXAS MY UTMOST GRATITUDE goes to #almightyGOD for the GIFT of LIFE and A #2ndCHANCE my gratitude also goes out to my ANGELIC WIFE and SUPER WOMAN @ibmac_a for being my PILLAR OF #STRENGTHandSUPPORT always LOVE YOU TO BITS.

You would remember that Julius Agwu started losing weight mysteriously and was rushed to the hospital after he had a seizure in May where it was discovered he had lumps in his brain.

Thankfully, Julius Agwu had brain surgery in America which was successful.
Muslims in Iran could miss out on the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this year as Tehran and Riyadh trade blame over a failure to agree organisational details, according to media reports. A delegation from Tehran held four days of talks in Saudi Arabia last month, aimed at reaching a deal for Iranians to go for Hajj, which will take place in September.

Irans official IRNA news agency quoted Tehrans Islamic Guidance and Culture Minister Ali Jannati as blaming Riyadh for the impasse. The Saudi Hajj ministry, however, said Tehrans delegation had refused to sign an agreement laying out arrangements for this years pilgrimage, according to a statement carried by state-linked news site Sabq.

Last years Hajj was marred by the death of more than 2,000 pilgrims, 464 of them Iranian, in a stampede at Mina on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca. The arrangements have not been put together and its now too late, said Jannati, whose ministry oversees arrangements for Iranian pilgrims. But a statement carried by Sabq said that Irans demands included the granting of visas inside Iran and transport arrangements that would evenly split the pilgrims between Saudi and Iranian airlines.

Iran is the only country that refused to sign the agreement on the Hajj. It insisted on a number of unacceptable demands, Minister of Hajj and Umra Mohammed Bintin told Saudi state TV channel Ekhbariya. Saudi Arabia and Iran severed ties after protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions there following the execution of a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia.
One thing that defines this day and age is how focused people are on how we look.

There are so many products, filters, clothes, videos and more to help us be the most attractive versions of ourselves.

Although we say and hope that striving to look our best is for ourselves and for our own self-worth, we all know that most of the time it is to be attractive to other people.

Read17 things you absolutely need to stop doing in order to make your life amazing

There are definitely ways we can tell when people are attracted to us, but there are also times when it seems kind of a mystery, and one we definitely want solved.

So what is the best way to know how attractive we are to other people?

It seems a study first published in 2010 and discussed in a new book, Nicholas Epley, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago, and Tal Eyal, a psychologist at Israels Ben-Gurion University, reveals an actual technique to help find out how others perceive your attractiveness.

It actually starts with you

A large part of the study reveals that how others see you actually starts with how you see yourself.

The scientists said that we are the most critical judge of our own looks because we know every little thing about ourselves that are actually completely unobvious to anybody else.

The study found that one of the solutions to understanding how attractive we really are is distancing ourselves from our own self-perceptions, which is easier said than done.

Time is important

It seems that one way to battle how we perceive our own imperfections is to give it a little time; meaning that we seem to be less harsh on ourselves and our attractiveness when we give ourselves a little time to look at ourselves objectively.

In the study, they took pictures of some college students and told them people would judge it that day, and others they told that people would see it in a month. They then asked them to say what the people looking at their photos would say.

The ones who were told that their photos would be viewed in a month were way more accurate about what people would say about their photo than the ones who were told that people would view them later that day.

Dont just walk in their shoes

The study revealed that another secret to revealing how attractive you are to someone is putting yourself in their shoes, but also going a little more in depth than that.

The scientists in the study said it is important to look at other peoples life circumstance, like the stability of their job, stress, or other important life situations.

When you do this you will more accurately be able to tell how they will perceive you.

The key to being attractive? Get over yourself

Based on the results of the study the scientists found that you can actually accurately gage how attractive people think you are, but you really need to let go of all the imperfections you see in yourself.

When thinking about what other people are thinking of you, dont sweat the small stuff, because other people arent, Epley said.

So listen to science and stop focusing on all your imperfections, but rather take an outside approach. Then you can really know how attractive you really are to the world around you
The Minister of Information, Culture and National Orientation, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has written the National Broadcasting Commission requesting a loan of N13, 120, 470 (Thirteen Million, One Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira).

The loan is to enable the minister and his team travel to China on assignment that is reportedly in national interest.

A copy of the memo seen by our correspondent dated May 11, 2016 addressed to the acting Director-General of the NBC, Alheri Saidu, and signed by the Director, Public Relations and Protocol to the Minister, Dama N.P.D, said the loan will be repaid as soon as the Ministry receives its allocation from the 2016 budget.

The memo also attached approvals from the Permanent Secretary and Mr. Mohammed.

The loan raises questions of probity, accountability and adherence to laid down rules and regulations as the NBC is a government-funded organization, not a financial institution, which the Ministry could have easily approached to obtain a loan to be repaid in full with interests at prevailing rates.

See the Memo:


A four-storey shopping complex constructed by the Ogun State Government has collapsed with many people feared dead.

The project at the popular Itoku market of Abeokuta caved in Friday morning, trapping several construction workers, witnesses said.

Governor Ibikunle Amosun has arrived at the scene and is coordinating the rescue effort.

A witness said the building collapsed at about 9.00am, as workers were busy at the site. Six people were rescued and immediately taken to the hospital thirty minutes later, the source said.

Rescue efforts have continued more than three hours later, as personnel of the Fire Service, Ogun State Emergency Management Agency, Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, work to remove the debris to reach trapped victims.

Mr. Amosun appealed to families of those affected to be patient as efforts were ongoing to save lives of those trapped.

By 12.30PM, the governor said he had directed that a crane be deployed to quicken the rescue effort.

The building project was handled by Validdus Construction Services, James Town Development and Hakmode Ventures, PREMIUM TIMES understands.

Source:PremiumTimes
Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has sued for calm among residents of the state a day after the federal government scrapped fuel subsidy and jerked the price of petrol from N86.50 to N145 a litre.

Recall that Mr. El-Rufai was a vociferous critic of a similar policy in 2012 by the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

Many Nigerians have condemned the price hike, and have questioned the sincerity of politicians, who were in the forefront of opposition to the policy in the past, but, as members of the present administration, are in support of the latest decision announced on Wednesday by Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu.

In what appeared his first response, through a Kaduna State government statement, Mr. El-Rufai urged calm even as he commended the orderly response of Kaduna people to the latest removal of fuel subsidy.

The Kaduna State Government wishes to appeal for calm. It commends the people for the orderly response to the fuel price adjustment by the Federal Government, and requests their continued patience for the supply of petroleum products to improve, the statement said.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has assured Nigerians that the President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government will not deliberately introduce policies that will further compound their woes.

This is just as he vowed that the House will not allow the Executive arm of government to make any policy that will impoverish the people.

The Speakers comments came against the backdrop of the full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector and increment in the pump price of petroleum products from N86 a litre to N145.

Dogara, who spoke when he granted audience to a delegation from the National Council of Ulamas of the Jamaatu Izalatil Bidiah Wa Iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS) led by its national chairman, administration, Sheikh Nasir Abdulmuhyi, in Abuja yesterday, however, said the House of Representatives will not be rushed into taking a stand on the matter.

We are the House of the people, so we dont judge. I do not want to come out with an opinion because I know that the matter, very soon, will come to the floor of the House of Representatives and as the presiding officer, I dont want to give my opinion before that time. But one thing we can take home and assure our followers is that we will never allow any measure to be embarked upon by the government that will further impoverish our people, Speaker Dogara assured.

Earlier, Sheikh Abdulmuhyi commended Mr. Dogara and urged him to press it on the federal government to consider the poor masses and the effect of the recent increase in pump price of petrol on them.
A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a market in a town north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least four security personnel, hours after gunmen killed 12 people at a cafe in the same town. At least 25 people were also wounded in the attack on the restaurant in the mainly Shia town of Balad, hospital and police sources said on Friday.

The attackers used machineguns to spray the cafe with bullets from cars parked outside for about 10 minutes before leaving the scene, the Reuters news agency reported. They passed three police checkpoints before reaching their target, police sources told Reuters. The town is about 40km from a frontline held by Shia militiamen, which was almost overrun by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in 2014.

Iraqi authorities have faced criticism over security breaches after suicide attackers set off three bombs on Wednesday in Baghdad killing at least 80 people in the bloodiest day for the city so far this year.

The country is in the grip of a political crisis over a cabinet overhaul that has crippled the government for weeks and threatens to undermine the United States-backed war against ISIL, which still controls swaths of territory in the north and west.

Source: Reuters
Top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria this week, the Lebanese Shia group has said. He took part in most of the operations of the Islamic resistance since 1982, Hezbollah said in a statement announcing his death on Friday, describing Badreddine as a great jihadi leader.

Badreddine, 55, was one of the highest ranking officials in the group, and assessed by the US government to be responsible for Hezbollahs military operations in Syria, where it is fighting alongside the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He was killed on Tuesday night, the Hezbollah statement said, adding that the attack targeted one of its bases near Damascus airport.

The group said it was working to define the nature of the explosion and its cause, and whether it was the result of an air strike, or missile [attack] or artillery. Ali Rizk, a political analyst and an expert on Hezbollah, told Al Jazeera that the attack targeted Hezbollahs operations centre in Damascus.

It was a big explosion which targeted Hezbollahs operations centre in Damascus. Israel is most likely behind the attack, however it has not yet been confirmed, Rizk said. Mustafa Badreddine replaced Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in 2008 in an Israeli raid. This will not change Hezbollahs role in Syria at all, on the contrary it will make Hezbollah more determined to stay involved in Syria until the end.

The Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen earlier reported that he had been killed in an Israeli attack. There was no immediate response from Israel which has attacked Hezbollah targets in Syria several times during the countrys five-year conflict. We decline to comment, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.

Aljazeera.
President Muhammadu Buhari has revealed that he gets so worried about the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls so much that he dreads meeting with their parents.

The 216 schoolgirls from Chibok secondary schools were kidnapped from their hostel more than two years ago by Boko Haram gunmen.

In an interview with CNNs Christine Amanpour in London on the sidelines of the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron, the president said he had met twice with the families of the abducted schoolgirls but said he tries to limit his meetings with them for his own emotional balance.

I try to imagine my 14-year-old daughter missing for one to two years a lot of parents would rather see them in their graves than the condition they are in now, he said

Its tragic, President Buhari added.

Asked about a video  exclusively obtained by CNN last month  in commemoration of the second anniversary of the Chibok girls abduction in which some of the schoolgirls were shown alive and appeared to be well-taken care of in captivity, Buhari said he had not seen the clip and insisted that he would not have shown it to the families even if he had seen it.

How can we show it to them when we dont know where they are? he asked. If we know where they are then we can organize to secure them. If they are divided into 5, 10 groups all over the region, theres no way we can spontaneously and simultaneously attack all those locations. The important thing is to get them alive, he said.

It was believed that the clip was made by an off-the-books negotiator between Boko Haram and the federal government.

Mr. Buhari, however, insisted that his administration is still trying to establish bonafide Boko Haram leadership before entering into talks with them.

When we identify it, we are prepared to talk to them. We cant just talk to whoever gets a video clip, he said.
51-year-old Lekan Shonde, who allegedly killed his wife at their home in the Egbeda-Idimu area of Lagos State last Thursday had mentioned that his wife was having an affair with her boss, Kayode, at the publishing company where she worked as the human resources manager. However, the man accused of dating late Ronke Shonde, Kayode, has denied the allegation, saying he only had a professional relationship with the deceased. INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 5 things you need to know about him, how he became close with Ronke and his relationship with her

-According to the reports, Kayode and Ronkes brother, Jide, who died in a ghastly motor accident in July 2015, were friends.

-After the death of Jide, Kayode, who was working in Ibadan, Oyo State, was said to have been transferred to Lagos by his company.

-While in Lagos, he was said to have struck a friendship with Ronke because of her late brother and due to Ronkes influence in the publishing company owned by her uncle, Kayode was said to have joined the publishing firm and was made the general manager.

-Their friendship and the managerial positions were said to have made it possible for them to always travel and go out together and was also said to have become close to Ronkes uncle, who owned the firm.

-It was learnt that both Kayode and Ronke had travelled to recruit new workers for the Abuja office, when the allegation of sleeping together was levelled against them.

What do you think???
The National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mai Mala Buni, has described the comments credited to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, will form the federal government come 2019 as idle postulations.

Buni, in a statement yesterday, cautioned security agencies and Nigerians not to be hoodwinked by the alleged ploy to deflect attention from the spate of mass killings and violence being perpetuated under the watch of Wike and the PDP in Rivers State.

The APC national secretary, therefore, called on the police and other security agencies to rise up to stop the breakdown of law and order in the oil-rich state.

According to Buni, the APC-led federal government would rather concentrate on the ongoing efforts to deliver all-inclusive development in the country, instead of joining issues with Wikes idle 2019 postulations.
The Internet is all-encompassing. Between mobile devices and work computers, we live our lives on it -- but our online existence has been tragically compromised by inadequate security. Any determined hacker can eavesdrop on what we say, impersonate us, and perform all manner of malicious activities.

Clearly, Internet security needs to be rethought. Retrofitting security and privacy controls onto a global communications platform is not easy, but few would argue that it's less than absolutely necessary.

Why should that be? Was the Internet built badly? No, but it was designed for a utopian world where you can trust people. When the fledgling Internet was populated by academics and researchers communicating with trusted parties, it didnt matter that trust relationships werent well-implemented or communications werent secure by default. Today it matters very much, to the point where data breaches, identity theft, and other compromises have reached crisis levels.

To meet the challenge of an Internet teeming with cyber criminals, we've applied a pastiche of half-measures. It's not working. What we really need are fresh, effective trust and security mechanisms.

Here are several promising security proposals that could make a difference in Internet security. None are holistic solutions, but each could make the Internet a safer place, if they could garner enough support.

1. Get real about traffic routing

The Internet Society, an international nonprofit organization focusing on Internet standards, education, and policy, launched an initiative called MANRS, or Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security.

Under MANRS, member network operators -- primarily Internet service providers -- commit to implementing security controls to ensure incorrect router information doesnt propagate through their networks. The recommendations, based on existing industry best practices, include defining a clear routing policy, enabling source address validation, and deploying antispoofing filters. A "Best Current Operational Practices" document is in the works.

Every ISP that signs up [for MANRS] reduces the danger in their corner of the Internet, says Geoff Webb, a senior director of security strategy at Micro Focus.

Its Networking 101: The data packets have to reach their intended destination, but it also matters what path the packets take. If someone in Canada is trying to access Facebook, his or her traffic shouldnt have to pass through China before reaching Facebooks servers. Recently, traffic to IP addresses belonging to the U.S. Marine Corps was temporarily diverted through an ISP in Venezuela. If website traffic isnt secured with HTTPS, these detours wind up exposing details of user activity to anyone along the unexpected path.

Attackers also hide their originating IP addresses with simple routing tricks. The widely implemented User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is particularly vulnerable to source address spoofing, letting attackers send data packets that appear to originate from another IP address. Distributed denial-of-service attacks and other malicious attacks are hard to trace because attackers send requests with spoofed addresses, and the responses go to the spoofed address, not the actual originating address.

When the attacks are against UDP-based servers such as DNS, multicast DNS, the Network Time Protocol, the Simple Server Discovery Protocol, or the Simple Network Management Protocol, the effects are amplified.

Many ISPs are not aware of different attacks that take advantage of common routing problems. While some routing issues can be chalked up to human error, others are direct attacks, and ISPs need to learn how to recognize potential issues and take steps to fix them. ISPs have to be more responsible about how they are routing traffic, Webb says. A lot of them are susceptible to attack.

ISOC had nine network operators participating in the voluntary program when it launched in 2014; now there are more than 40. For MANRS to make a difference, it needs to expand so that it can influence the market. ISPs that decide not to bother with the security recommendations may find they lose deals because customers will sign with MANRS-compliant providers. Or smaller ISPs may face pressure from larger upstream providers who refuse to carry their traffic unless they can show theyve implemented appropriate security measures.

It would be great if MANRS became a de facto standard for all ISPs and network providers, but scattered safe neighborhoods are still good enough. If you require everyone to do it, it is never going to happen, Webb says.

2. Strengthen digital certificate auditing and monitoring

There have been many attempts to address the issues with SSL, which protects the majority of online communications. SSL helps identify if a website is the site it claims to be, but if someone tricks a certificate authority (CA) into fraudulently issuing digital certificates for a site, then the trust system breaks down.

Back in 2011, an Iranian attacker breached Dutch CA DigiNotar and issued certificates, including ones for Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. The attacker was able to set up man-in-the-middle attacks with those certificates and intercept traffic for the sites. This attack succeeded because the browsers treated the certificate from DigiNotar as valid despite the fact that the sites had certificates signed by a different CA.

Googles Certificate Transparency project, an open and public framework for monitoring and auditing SSL certificates, is the latest attempt to solve the man-in-the-middle problem.

When a CA issues a certificate, it's recorded on the public certificate log, and anyone can query for cryptographic proof to verify a particular certificate. Monitors on servers periodically examine the logs for suspicious certificates, including illegitimate certificates issued incorrectly for a domain and those with unusual certificate extensions.

Monitors are similar to credit reporting services, in that they send alerts regarding malicious certificate usage. Auditors make sure the logs are working correctly and verify a particular certificate appears in the log. A certificate not found in the log is a clear signal to browsers that the site is problematic.

With Certificate Transparency, Google hopes to tackle wrongly issued certificates, maliciously acquired certificates, rogue CAs, and other threats. Google certainly has technology on its side, but it has to convince users that this is the right approach.

DNS-based Authentication of Named Entities (DANE) is another attempt to solve the man-in-the-middle problem with SSL. The DANE protocol reinforces the point that a sound technology solution doesnt automatically win users. DANE pins SSL sessions to the domain name systems security layer DNSSEC.

While DANE successfully blocks man-in-the-middle attacks against SSL and other protocols, it is haunted by the specter of state surveillance. DANE relies on DNSSEC, and since governments typically owns DNS for top-level domains, there is concern about trusting federal authorities to run the security layer. Adopting DANE means governments would have the kind of access certificate authorities currently wield -- and that makes users understandably uneasy.

Despite any misgivings users may have about trusting Google, the company has moved forward with Certificate Transparency. It even recently launched a parallel service, Google Submariner, which lists certificate authorities that are no longer trusted.

3. Tackle the malware problem once and for all

Almost a decade ago Harvard Universitys Berkman Center for Internet & Society launched StopBadware, a joint effort with tech companies such as Google, Mozilla, and PayPal to experiment with strategies to combat malicious software.

In 2010 Harvard spun off the project as a stand-alone nonprofit. StopBadware analyzed badware -- malware and spyware alike -- to provide removal information and to educate users on how to prevent recurring infections. Users and webmasters can look up URLs, IPs, and ASNs, as well as report malicious URLs. Technology companies, independent security researchers, and academic researchers collaborated with StopBadware to share data about different threats.

The high overhead costs of running a nonprofit took a toll, and the project moved to the University of Tulsa under the auspices of Dr. Tyler Moore, the Tandy Assistant Professor of Cyber Security and Information Assurance. The project still offers independent testing and review of websites infected with malware and runs a Data Sharing Program in which companies contribute and receive real-time data on Web-based malware. Development is underway on a tool to provide more targeted advice to webmasters based upon the type of compromise they have experienced. A beta is expected by the early fall.

But even if a project successfully addresses a security problem, it still has to deal with the practical realities of how to fund its operations.

4. Reinvent the Internet

Then theres the idea that the Internet should be replaced with a better, more secure alternative.

Doug Crockford, currently a senior JavaScript architect at PayPal and one of the driving forces behind JSON, has proposed Seif: an open source project that reinvents all aspects of the Internet. He wants to redo transport protocols, redesign the user interface, and throw away passwords. In short, Crockford wants to create a security-focused application platform to transform the Internet.

Seif proposes replacing DNS addressing with a cryptographic key and IP address, HTTP with secure JSON over TCP, and HTML with a JavaScript-based application delivery system based on Node.js and Qt. CSS and DOMs will also go away under Seif. JavaScript, for its part, would remain the key cog in building simpler, more secure Web applications.

Crockford also has an answer for SSLs reliance on certificate authorities: a mutual authentication scheme based on a public key cryptographic scheme. Details are scarce, but the idea depends on searching for and trusting the organizations public key instead of trusting a specific CA to issue the certificates correctly.

Seif would feature cryptographic services based on for ECC (Elyptic Curve Cryptography) 521, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 256 and SHA (Secure Hash Algorithm) 3-256. ECC 521 public keys would provide unique identifiers.

Seif would be implemented in browsers via a Helper application, akin to fitting older televisions with set-top boxes so that viewers can receive high-definition signals. Once the browser vendors integrate Seif, the Helper app wont be necessary.

There are a lot of intriguing elements to Seif, but it is still early stages. The Node implementation, which would run the Seif session protocol, is currently in development. Even without knowing a lot of the details, its clear a proposal this ambitious requires the backing of heavy lifters before it can be presented to users.

For example, a major browser maker -- say, Mozilla -- would need to integrate the helper app, and a major website would have to require that all customers use the browser. Other sites and browsers would follow due to competitive pressures, but the question remains whether anyone with that kind of clout would climb aboard the Seif train.

Where we go from here

Trashing everything and starting all over again is not going to happen, so the only option is to make the current Internet harder to attack, Webb says. Instead of trying to fix everything at once, there should be smaller fixes to make it harder to misuse specific portions.

When your house is on fire and you are waiting for the fire truck to come put water on the house, you save what you can, not walk off to look for a new house, Webb says.

No one controls the whole Internet, and more important, there's a massive amount of built-in redundancy and resiliency. Fixing it is not a task for only one entity, but a multistakeholder approach involving individuals, corporations, and governments. The ISPs should take charge of fixing the underlying routing issues, but they arent the only ones responsible. There are issues with DNS, with how services deploy encryption, and with hardware devices used to connect to services, to name a few.

Governments have been trying, especially with recent attempts to pass security privacy laws. Most of them have died quietly in review because they are too complex or arent high enough a priority. But the lack of legislation doesnt mean governments should fail to get involved.

You have to fix all of it, but no single person can fix it, Webb says. I will do my best, if you do your best.

The road to a secure Internet is paved with lots of great ideas that have flopped right out of the gate or petered out due to lack of interest. Grand plans always sound promising, but they wont go far if they dont take into account technical limitations, practical realities regarding deployment, and costs of adoption. The hard part is drumming up support, developing momentum, and eliciting sustained commitments.

If someone does fix the Internet, my great-great-great-grandchildren will thank them for it, Webb says.

This story, "4 big plans to fix Internet security" was originally published by InfoWorld .
Shootin' the Bull Swift Trading Company - Mon Oct 24, 5:24PM CDT 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 - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 : 76.71 (+0.76%) CTH23 : 76.34 (+0.79%) CTK23 : 76.15 (+0.79%)

Wheats Weaker Out of Weekend Barchart - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 : 840-4 (+0.21%) ZWH23 : 858-4 (unch) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7336 (-1.52%) KEZ22 : 938-2 (unch) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9620 (-1.06%) MWZ22 : 957-2 (unch)

Hogs Close Steady on Monday Barchart - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 : 681-0 (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7135 (-0.30%) ZCH23 : 687-2 (unch) ZCK23 : 686-2 (-0.15%)

Soybean Prices Close Double Digits Lower Barchart - Mon Oct 24, 4:52PM CDT 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 : 1373-2 (+0.09%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.2708 (-1.72%) ZSF23 : 1382-4 (+0.09%) ZSH23 : 1390-4 (+0.09%)

Livestock Report Walsh Trading - Mon Oct 24, 4:39PM CDT Cattle Markets surge
Another day, another big gift at Harvard. No, we're not quite talking the huge numbers that hedge funders John Paulson and Kenneth Griffin, or real estate mogul Gerald Chan bestowed on the university in recent years. Still, Harvard recently received the equivalent of a $21 million from the Lee Kum Kee family to fund research on the links between psychological well-being and physical health. The funds will establish the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Those of us in the West marvel at the apparent happiness of certain cultures in the developing world, and wonder why we, the comparatively privileged, can't always access that same feeling. Go to your local Barnes and Noble, and you'll find a self-help section full of books like the Power of Positive Thinking or The Happiness Quotient. If you do your shopping online, your queue likely has some of these books, as well. I'm especially guilty of queuing up these books, seeing them when I purchase something I probably shouldn't, while the Book That May Change My Life sits perpetually in queue.

I think I just overshared there.

In all seriousness, though, science for a while now has been telling us that a person's outlook on life can influence their health. Conditions that may be directly or indirectly affected by emotional well-being include some of the worlds biggest killers, including heart disease, obesity and suicide. The goal of Harvard's new Lee Kum Sheung Center is to make discoveries that can inform "personal behaviors, medical care, public health programs, and wide-ranging public policies not traditionally associated with health care and medicine but that can help people live longer, happier, and healthier lives."

We couldn't help but notice that the donors here, the Lee Kum Kee Family, linked up with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to make this gift. In 1888, late patriarach Lee Kum Sheung invented oyster sauce in the southern Chinese city of Nanshui, Guangdong Province, and established the Lee Kum Kee business. The family currently owns Lee Kum Kee Sauce Group and LKK Health Products Group, two multinational companies headquartered in Hong Kong.

The T.H. Chan School, meanwhile, draws its name from the late T.H. Chan, who built a successful real estate business in Hong Kong. T.H. Chan's sons, Ronnie and Gerald Chan are worth $2 billion and own Hang Lung Group and the Morningside Group. In 2014, Gerald Chan joined the ranks of major Harvard philanthropists when he gave a huge $350 million to the School of Public Health.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal analysis of U.S. Department of Education data, Hong Kong has become the top international source of large gifts to U.S. colleges, making up 17 percent of the worlds total donations to U.S. universities. In the case of Gerald Chan, he earned a doctorate from Harvard. But what about a family like the Lee Kum Kees?

Well, part of the story is that U.S. schools are dedicating more staff to international fundraising, as Amir Pasic, the vice president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, notes. It's unclear if any connection exists between the Chans and the Lee Kum Kee family, but the two prominent families are part of an economic elite in Asia that also has strong ties with the states and other parts of the world. These connections likely influence philanthropy, too. Other funders in this space include Zhang Lei of Hillhouse Capital Group, who's given big to Yale, and SOHO Chinas founders Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi who gave $15 million to Harvard.
Last year, I made the (obvious) prediction that scrutiny of the Clinton Foundation would pick up in 2016 as the election approached. Such scrutiny is well deserved. Some of the allegations about the foundation have been truly unsettlinglike those stories linking the Clintons to repressive foreign regimes. Lets hope smart reporters keep digging around.

Yet other allegations about the Clinton Foundation have been almost comically clueless in their failure to understand modern philanthropy or how this unique outfit operates.

A new story published in the Wall Street Journal, by James Grimaldi, falls into the latter category. It alleges that the Clinton Foundation improperly aided a for-profit energy business founded by friends of Bill Clinton. The company, Energy Pioneer Solutions, describes its mission as building a sustainable energy model that provides streamlined, turn-key solutions for both energy providers and American homeowners alike. Among its ideas is finding new ways to insulate homes that dont require big upfront outlays for homeowners. The founders of the company have various ties to Bill Clinton, both political and personal.

As part of the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative, a $2 million investment was arranged with Energy Pioneer Solutions by Kim Samuel, a Canadian businessperson and philanthropist. Additionally, Bill Clinton recommended to Obamas Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, that the company receive a federal grant from the Energy Department, which it did.

Those are the facts of the case, as breathlessly reported in the Wall Street Journal, complete with a graphic laying out the web of relationships involved.

Whats your reaction to those facts? My own is: Good work, Bill! The former president and Clinton Foundation did a wise thing herealbeit without a keen enough eye toward how a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper might work with this material when Hillary made a White House run.

Finding new ways to finance sustainable energy solutions for homeowners has emerged as one of the most promising frontiers in clean energy in recent years. Most notably, solar panels have spread rapidly across rooftops as private companies have shouldered the cost of installing those panels, at no cost to homeowners. Bill Clinton clearly grasped the potential of this model back in 2010, before many other people did, and also grasped that it was critical to find new ways to finance home insulation and other efficiency steps so that homeowners didnt have to shell out the money themselves.

While the WSJs Grimaldi writes darkly about the Clinton Foundation arranging support for a for-profit business, this is an obvious area where a private investment makes a lot more sense than a charitable grant. Impact investing has huge potential in the sustainable energy space, as weve lately seenwhich is another thing that Bill Clinton grasped before many others did.

If Grimaldi knew anything about impact investing or the Clinton Foundations model, hed know that this episode with Energy Pioneer Solutions was firmly in line with its mission. The foundation is not a traditional charitable grantmaking entity. It is mainly a matchmaker that connects donors to projects that aim to improve the world. Some of that money takes the form of philanthropic contributions; some takes the form of private investments in for-profit companies that address social or environmental problems.

In this way, the Clinton Foundation is like a growing number of philanthropic entities that blend different models for achieving impact. (The Omidyar Network is among the best known of such hybrids, directly making many investments in for-profit social enterprises, along with grants.)

Grimaldi writes that the commitment to Energy Pioneer Solutions was atypical [for the Clinton Global Initiative] because it originated from a private individual who was making a personal financial investment in a for-profit company. In fact, for-profit investments have long been a common part of the CGI. Many millions of dollars in such commitments have been announced at CGI events, with the biggest of these investments in the energy sector. How could Grimaldi not know that? Did he not bother to visit this page of the CGIs website? Or this one or that one?

If you look at CGIs record, youll know that it makes total sense that Bill Clinton would seek to arrange financing for Energy Pioneer Solutions. The fact that he was connected to some of those involved is immaterial. Most of us find out about cool ideas and projects through our personal or professional networks.

To me, the only mystery in this story is why James Grimaldi would write ittrying to concoct a scandal out of a smart impact investment made six years ago. After all, this is the same James Grimaldi who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his investigation of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

I have two theories as to why Grimaldi got this so wrong.

First, like most reporters, he just doesnt understand either the Clinton Foundation or impact investing. When most people hear the word foundation, they think charity, and you can see why they might think that it would be improper for a foundation to be involved in arranging financing for a for-profit business. Is this stuff confusing enough to even trip up a top reporter? Could James Grimaldi somehow not have clued into the hottest new trend in philanthropy in the course of reporting this story? Maybe so.

Or maybe not, which leads me to my second theory about Grimaldis motivesnamely, that this story is really about sniffing out a Clinton sex scandal. The New York Post wasted no time today linking one of the original owners of Pioneer Energy Solutions to Bill Clinton in a romantic way, plastering the allegation on its cover and, in the process, badly mangling the WSJ story. The Post depicts the Clinton Foundation itself as making a payout to the company, as opposed to simply arranging financing. Clearly, one reporter on Rupert Murdochs payroll didnt closely read what another had written.

James Grimaldi worked at the Wall Street Journal long before Murdoch bought it, and Im not suggesting that hed be the willing tool of a politically motivated attack aimed at weakening the presumptive Democratic nominee. But it isnt unimaginable that the allure of this story, with its combustible mix of sexual innuendo and ethical impropriety, would pull in Grimaldi against what should have been his better judgmentand that hed receive more encouragement to keep digging into a non-story than he might have gotten from a newspaper that wasnt owned by Rupert Murdoch.

The Clinton Foundation does deserve more scrutiny. Maybe a lot more as the election approaches. But this was a sorry day for the Wall Street Journal and journalism broadly.

One last point: Even if this story is baseless, it underscores the risks of mixing high-profile philanthropy with national politics. There is just too little public or media understanding of philanthropy to expect that this subject will be treated properly in the high-octane context of partisan combat.

So heres a piece of advice for future presidential aspirants: If you have enemies out to get youand youre not so bad at wounding yourselfdont set yourself up as a philanthropic middleman, raising money from numerous major donors and directing it to myriad projects. Its just going to end up as a big mess in the end.
InsideClimate News and similar nonprofits are thriving, in spite of worries about independence and sustainability in philanthropy-supported media. With a new $1.5 million grant, ICN is pushing its model even further.

In the latest round of Pulitzer Prizes, three nonprofit media outlets either won or were finalists for their work, some multiple times, which is impressive considering it was just six years ago that the nonprofit ProPublica took home its first Pulitzer.

Theres ongoing trepidation in media and philanthropic circles concerning both the editorial independence of such organizations, and whether its a sustainable business model. But nail-biting aside, the accomplishments and the numbers show that philanthropy-backed journalism is becoming a steady force rather than a few experiments.

Related: Green Journalism Gets a Raise from a Top Environmental Donor

One of those 2016 nonprofit Pulitzer finalists, and a past winner, is InsideClimate News. With help from a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the Grantham Foundation, ICN's biggest contribution to date, the investigative outlet plans to double its size and establish a permanent newsroom. For perspective, ICNs current annual budget is about $1.5 million, and Grantham's first grant in 2012 was $100,000. So this is a big step up. At nearly a decade old, ICN and its expansion is testing the long-term viability of journalism thats supported mostly by foundations.

Nonprofit journalism has been growing, including both local news outlets and investigative partnership organizations like ProPublica. InsideClimate News stands out from the crowd in a few ways. Launched in 2007 by David Sassoon and originally sponsored by social change funders group Public Interest Projects (now going by NEO), it ran with a tiny budget and staff and no physical newsroom. Its grown in influence over the years as it decided to hammer down on investigative coverage. ICN has won a number of awards sinceincluding a Pulitzer in 2013 for its investigation of an under-covered, massive oil spilland was a finalist for coverage of Exxons misinformation campaign on climate change.

Not only does it fill a very distinct niche, many of its big funders are climate or environment funders such as Grantham, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Energy Foundation. They're undeniably driving an agenda to spur action on this particular issue, as opposed to a goal of generally strengthening journalism.

Related:

This kind of relationship between funding sources and an editorial agenda makes many journalists uneasy, and there have been a few cases of news outlets coming under fire for their funding sources. In January, New Yorker writer Nicholas Lemann called for a code of ethics for media nonprofits. A recent study by the American Press Institute found a concerning lack of ethical guidelines on nonprofit funding at news organizations, and that about half of funders are making other grants on issues where they are also trying to change policy or public behavior.

The rules of the road should be clarified, but these concerns arent insurmountable. In fact, the API study also found public transparency on these donations to be almost universal (99 percent are disclosed), and theres very little evidence of explicit editorial influence by funders. ICN is notably highly transparent about its funding sources.

Related: This Climate News Site is a Winner in the Surge of Funding for Green Journalism

Id also point out that the conceit of neutral journalism is not all its cracked up to be. Aside from the inescapable influence of where the money comes from (ads, readers, a tycoon owner), attempts to avoid bias have crippled climate coverage in the United States. Outlets are improving over time, but have notoriously parroted conservative skepticism on climate change that has no factual basis in pursuit of perceived balance.

Not only that, traditional models of journalism have fallen down on the job when it comes to basic coverage of climate change, with climate news actually falling in 2015, despite several historic occurences. Say what you will about ICNs agenda, its one that is underrepresented and desperately needed in traditional news coverage.

The bigger issue is whether grant-funded journalism is a sustainable model. Philanthropy may seem like a godsend for journalism, but we see all the time that it can be both fickle and demanding. So were naturally skeptical that its a model for media that can provide a secure and ongoing foundation.

Related:State of Dependency: How Funders Keep Nonprofit Journalism Afloat

ICN could certainly prove people like us wrong. Its most recent report from 2014 showed an incredible 88 percent of its funding came from a mix of foundations, but that its shooting to get that number down to 51 percent, balanced by individual donors, corporate sponsors, and a small amount from collaborations. That still means 96 percent would come from the generosity of others.

Whats the big deal? Well, foundations tend to lose interest in causes over time, generally dislike having grantees depend on them for survival, and they usually demand concrete metrics of success for continued funding (all of which makes grantees pull out their hair and lose sleep). You can imagine why this would be especially troubling for editors and reporters, who prefer to live on the other side of a firewall from the hunt for stable revenue.

One other scary notethe API study found a disproportionate relationship between the dependence of outlets and the priorities of media funders. About half of the foundations in the study said they gave 10 percent or less of their funding to media in the last year. But among nonprofit media, 39 percent said they depend on foundations for most of their funding. Imagine being mostly dependent on a source that is 90 percent concerned with other stuff.

Building an individual donor base will certainly go a long way, and nonprofit media appears to be here to stay. But were definitely in uncharted waters, with outfits like InsideClimate News finding their way as they go.
Estonia-based self-storage operator Mini-Holding Ltd. is raising capital through the crowdfunding platform Invesdor to fund expansion for its subsidiary, Minilaod Ltd. The campaign has raised 27,816 toward its goal of 60,000. Proceeds will be used toward development of a second Minilaod facility in Tallin, Estonia, as well as future expansion to Parnu and Tartu, Estonia. The company also intends to eventually develop facilities throughout the Baltic region, which includes Latvia and Lithuania, according to the Invesdor website.

The Minilaod facility in Tallin, one of three self-storage operators in the city, is 100 percent occupied, according to a video posted on the crowdfunding page. The market in Tallin and other Estonian cities is ripe for growth, according to Tuomas Kurittu, owner and managing director of Mini-Holding.

Kurittu has been in the self-storage business for more than 20 years, launching Espoon Minivarasto Oy in Finland in 1993 and expanding the self-storage business to eight locations, including two in Sweden. He owned 71 percent of the business when it sold to Pelican Self Storage Ltd. in 2009, according to the crowdfunding page. The entrepreneur also has development experience, having served as a contractor for Steel Storage Ltd. and building facilities in Great Britain and Continental Europe. He founded the Minilaod brand in August 2010.

The cost to invest is 38 per share with a minimum purchase of eight shares. The crowdfunding campaign is capped at 99,999 because securities reaching or exceeding 100,000 in Estonia require a prospectus, the cost of which is prohibitive for Mini-Holding, according to the crowdfunding description. Investments exceeding the cap amount will be refunded after the offering ends on May 31.
The owners of Southside Mini Storage in Greenville, Tenn., are facing opposition from residents in their quest to expand their property. After several people spoke against the project during a May 10 public hearing, the Greene County Regional Planning Commission voted 7-2 to recommend the Greene County Commission reject the rezoning request made by Robert and Carolyn Ball. The couple hoped to have two parcels near their property at 35 E. Allens Bridge Road rezoned so they could build additional units.

Built in 1998, the facility was grandfathered in under the countys current zoning, according to the source. The lots in question are zoned for general agriculture (A-1), not general business (B-1). As such, storage is now considered a "non-conforming use.

Residents living near the facility at the intersection of the Asheville Highway and East Allens Bridge Road opposed the rezoning because of what could be developed on the property should the Balls ever sell it. In addition to storage yards and buildings, other uses permitted under the general-business zoning include hotels and motels, multi-family residences, offices, restaurants, and retail.

"My concern is not what was on the property when I bought [my house], it's the potential of what can be put on the property once it is rezoned to B-2," said Adam Hansel, whose home is across the street from Southside Mini Storage. Hansel presented the planning commission with a petition containing 30 signatures to oppose the rezoning. "I do not want my children to grow up with a dollar store or a pawn shop sitting in my front yard," he said.

The addition of more storage units might also lead to increased traffic, said Hansel and Dan Richardson, another resident. "All of these residents in this entire area keep their places looking immaculate," Richardson said. "This is a prime area here. Now we're talking about putting commercial right in the middle of it."

Resident Lori Vaughters expressed concerns about additional lighting and how the expansion would affect the property value of her home, which is currently for sale. "So we're not thrilled with the devaluation of our property to have commercial property across the street," she said.

Robert Ball argued the new units wouldnt increase traffic. The lots would be fenced, and the expansion would improve the storage property.

Residents Kathryn Sanders and Patricia Lockwood claimed they moved to the area to avoid the lights, noise and traffic that are more prevalent in the town. "I don't want to live next door to a place with a fence around it and another big building. That's not why I moved there, either, Lockwood said.

Tim Tweed, building official for Greene County, noted there are commercial-like uses permitted in general agriculture districts as well.

After the discussion, planning commission member Gwen Lilley moved that the commission recommend the rezoning request be granted. It was seconded by panel member Stevi King, but failed.

The Greene County Commission will consider the planning commission's recommendation in June. A public hearing will also be held at that time.
The William Warren Group (WWG), a privately held real estate company that operates the StorQuest Self Storage brand, has purchased New Haven Self Storage in New Haven, Conn. The property at 140 Ferry St. is near Yale University.

The multi-story facility offers 60 different unit sizes, according to a press release. Property features include 24-hour access and video cameras. Customer amenities include online billpay and reservations.

WWG opened a newly built property in Queen Creek, Ariz., last month. The facility at 5260 W. Hunt Highway is near San Tan Mountain Regional Park, a desert area with more than 10,000 acres of biking and hiking trails.

Founded in 1994 and based in Santa Monica, Calif., WWG acquires, develops and operates more than 100 self-storage facilities in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, South Carolina and Texas.
Voice of America journalists were beaten and harassed by authorities in Pakistan and Iraq earlier this week. One of the journalists was a reporter for VOA Deewa and the other for VOA Kurdish.

I am appalled that these VOA journalists, who were only doing their job of reporting accurate information, were beaten and harassed by security forces, VOA Director Amanda Bennett said. Intimidation only generates an opposite effect. VOA will not be deterred in its efforts to seek out and share the truth.

Naimatullah Sarhadi, a contributing reporter for VOA Deewa, was attacked by local police Thursday night (May 12) at a checkpoint in the town of Chaman in Balochistan province in Pakistan while returning home from an assignment. When Sarhadi identified himself as a VOA reporter, police severely beat him and broke his nose. A bystander eventually convinced the authorities to leave Sarhadi alone. On Friday, local journalists in Chaman demonstrated to condemn the violence. VOA Deewa is the Voice of Americas popular Pashto language news service to the volatile border region of Northwest Pakistan.

Zhiyar Muhamad, a contributing reporter for VOA Kurdish, also was attacked on Thursday while covering a protest outside a mosque in the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. A uniformed Kurdish Security Forces (KSF) official demanded Muhamads camera and cell phone, threatening to beat her if she did not comply. When she refused, the official punched her in the head, breaking her glasses. Muhamad managed to retain her equipment and continued to cover the protest as the security official eventually was removed by other KSF members.

The BBG calls on authorities in Pakistan, Iraq and elsewhere around the globe to refrain from carrying out these types of aggressive acts, which are only meant to silence independent journalism and freedom of expression, BBG CEO and Director John Lansing said. Threats to the free practice of journalism are a denial of basic human rights and must not be supported by any government.

ABOUT

VOA Deewa TV and radio provide news and information to the critical Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, where more than 50 million Pashtuns live. The region lacks local independent sources of information on regional, international and U.S. news. Military narrative, jihadi agenda and extremist groups are dominant in the state and private media market. VOA Deewa also reaches this critical region via digital platforms, direct-to-home satellite and the Internet.

VOA Kurdish reaches its audience on radio, television and the Internet. In addition to shortwave and AM, the services programs are broadcast by FM affiliates in several cities in Iraq, including Arbil, Sulaimania, Kirkuk, Mosul, Baghdad and Basra. VOA Kurdish also produces video reports that are streamed on its website. VOA programs are intended for the more than 30 million Kurds living in the Middle East and Eurasia, and the approximately one million Kurds in Europe and North America.
Preliminary euro zone GDP data that Eurostat released this morning revealed a weaker-than-anticipated pace of growth for the common-currency zone in the first quarter, with the headline index registering an annualized 1.5 percent versus consensus forecasts of 1.6 percent. Germany, the largest economy within the European Union, registered growth of 0.7 percent for the first three months of the year, besting forecasts. Recent data from the Eurozone has shown signals of improvement but the European Central Banks quantitative easing program has not proven as effective to date as efforts by the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England. Adding to the picture, the looming possibility that the U.K. might leave the EU and the reemergence of Greece as a threat have caused investors to become less confident that bond purchases alone will spur growth.

Investors more cautious over U.S. equities. Asset-flow data continues to suggest caution on the part of investors. In a report issued today, Jefferies quantitative strategist Kenneth Chan, in part relying on data from Bloomberg and EPFR Global, noted that investors withdrew a net $7.3 billion from U.S. stocks last week for the fifth consecutive weekly contraction. European equities also saw withdrawals for the period, while money markets and gold gained.

Petrobras reports loss. Today Petroleo Brasileiro reported a third consecutive losing quarter with revenues 5 percent lower than the same quarter in 2015. The company continues to be mired in a political scandal that was the catalyst for this weeks presidential impeachment. In the accompanying statement, Petrobras executives pledged to continue to seek asset sales to shore up the companys balance sheet.

No shift in production estimates from OPEC. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries reported a production rate averaging 32.44 million barrels a day in April, according to a report issued today. The report said demand should improve through 2016 as activity measures in the developing world improve because of stimulus measures. Separately, the organizations research team anticipates investment levels in the industry will remain depressed into 2018. OPECs next meeting is in June.

Honda profits slide as recall looms. After massive recalls related to potentially faulty airbags, Honda Motor today reported that it will need to call back an additional 21 million vehicles in coming months. The companys earnings for the full fiscal year ending in March fell $32 percent to $3,2 billion from a year earlier and company management guided expectations lower on a stronger yen for the year ahead.

Portfolio Perspective: The changing dynamics of the crude oil market  Duncan Goodwin, Baring Asset Management

So far this year, there has been no letup in the volatility of crude oil prices. Having troughed in January, West Texas Intermediate prices are up over 25 percent having briefly been above $40 per barrel. When looking at this through a top-down macro lens, we see scope for ongoing volatility. So what is fundamentally changing in the crude market to drive this higher volatility? U.S. tight (or shale) oil has emerged as a cost-competitive source of oil in a global market that has been struggling with lower demand. Importantly, we see the U.S. crude supply as much more responsive to future price movements. This means that when prices are depressed, as they are now, the supply will respond by falling, but when prices reach a certain level, the supply will resume. Much the same dynamic has occurred in the U.S. natural-gas market over the last ten years.

In our view at Barings, this means that oil price cycles will be measured in months rather than years  not great for those looking to plan long-term capital projects in the industry, but better news for those looking to trade and store crude and associated products  assuming traders can trade the volatility effectively. Given that we are some way through the recent down cycle in crude prices, with activity in the U.S. near lows and still declining, we expect to see crude markets balance and then tighten toward the end of this year, with a pickup in activity in the U.S. as we move into 2017. However, calling the duration and size of the up cycle is more challenging. The U.S. services industry has taken significant capacity out and it is too early to call the crude price needed to bring this activity back.

Duncan Goodwin is a portfolio manager of the Global Resources Fund at Baring Asset Management in London.
Reports of a new hacking attempt on a bank through the SWIFT electronic messaging system, similar to a computer hack that stole $81 million from Bangladeshs central bank in February, have elevated concerns about the vulnerability of financial institutions to cybercrime.

On Friday, SWIFT announced that a bank, believed to be in Vietnam, had been penetrated by hackers who surreptitiously installed malware on its computers. The attack targeted a PDF reader used by the bank to check funds transfers over the SWIFT network.

The two attacks were part of a wider and highly adaptive campaign targeting banks, SWIFT, a Belgium-based cooperative whose communications network is used by banks around the world to transfer billions of dollars of funds, said in a statement. It did not say whether money had been stolen in the latest incident but said the hackers have been able to bypass whatever primary risk controls the victims have in place, thereby being able to initiate the irrevocable funds transfer process. In a second step, they have found ways to tamper with the statements and confirmations that banks would sometimes use as secondary controls, thereby delaying the victims ability to recognize the fraud.

The theft from Bangladesh Bank, one of the largest known bank heists ever, has seized the attention of the financial industry since it was disclosed in March. The case dominated discussions among 1,100 cybersecurity experts who gathered in Miami Beach earlier this month for the annual meeting of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), the industrys leading forum for collaborating against cybercrime.

Experts say the fraud began with a so-called spear phishing attack, a common scam that begins by sending an innocent-looking e-mail to a bank employee with an attachment known as a payload. If the employee clicks on the attachment, it surreptitiously downloads malware that provides criminals with a back door into the banks computer system. The malware enabled the hackers to exploit the central banks SWIFT connection, heightening fears about wider threats to international payments systems.

The hackers sent fake instructions to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to transfer a total of $951 million from Bangladesh Banks account at the New York Fed. Fed employees managed to block most of the orders, but $81 million was wired to accounts in the Philippines and spirited away through casinos.

The central bank had apparently integrated the SWIFT money transfer system into its regular computer network, a serious mistake, says Douglas Johnson, senior vice president for payments and cybersecurity policy at the American Bankers Association (ABA), who is on the board of FS-ISAC. Most big banks separate their wire room from the rest of the bank, using both physical security and separation of IT systems, to deter the threat of fraud, he says.

Networks have connectivity, and to the extent that there is no level of segregation between the SWIFT system and other systems in the institution, you will potentially compromise the ability of the institution to prevent those kinds of unauthorized transactions, he says.

Fazle Kabir, who recently took over as governor of Bangladesh Bank after his predecessor resigned over the theft, met with New York Fed president William Dudley and a representatives of SWIFT in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this week to discuss possible remedial action. After the meeting, the parties issued a statement promising to pursue jointly certain common goals: to recover the entire proceeds of the fraud and bring the perpetrators to justice, and protect the global financial system from these types of attacks. Meanwhile, the FBI has begun an investigation into the heist at Bangladeshs request.Both SWIFT and the New York Fed have said they were not responsible for the losses. But SWIFT did acknowledge last week that it was aware of other attempts to put malware on several banks computer systems with the objective of making fraudulent funds transfers, and it issued a mandatory software update aimed at eliminating that vulnerability. We have informed our customers that there are other instances in which customers internal vulnerabilities have been exploited, in order to stress the importance and urgency of customers securing their systems, the outfit, formally called the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, said in a statement. The key defense against such attack scenarios remains for users to implement appropriate security measures in their local environments to safeguard their systems  in particular those used to access SWIFT.

Hackers in Russia used spear phishing to attack 100 small banks in 2013, according to a report from Kaspersky Lab, a Moscow-headquartered cybersecurity firm. Although some U.S. and European banks were caught by the fraud by the so-called Carbanak gang, most of the money stolen, which the firm estimates could total $1 billion, came from Russian institutions. The hackers took control of the banks video systems, allowing them to watch daily operations and learn which employees performed which tasks at each bank.

Until two years ago, most spear phishing was aimed at government computer systems, says Joseph Opacki, a former cybersecurity expert for the FBI who now does threat research and analysis at PhishLabs, a Charleston, South Carolina, cybersecurity company. Increasingly, though, cyberthieves are targeting financial institutions. In 2014, 22 percent of reported phishing attacks had targeted banks, the largest group of victims.

Weve seen a natural evolution of these types of attacks, he says. First they went after consumers. Then they targeted point-of-sale terminals, which let them obtain consumer information during transactions. And now the final stage is that they are targeting financial institutions directly.

In 2103 hackers stole the credit card details of 40 million customers at Target Corp. stores, using a spear phishing attack on an air conditioning contractor to get into the retailers computer network. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. was targeted in a spear phishing attack in 2014. No money was stolen, but the hackers entered a rewards card database and got the names and addresses of millions of clients; they then used the pilfered names in a penny stockselling scheme that netted more than $100 million. The U.S. government charged two Israelis and an American with being responsible for the fraud.

The ABAs Johnson says U.S. banks stopped $11 billion in fraud attempts against customer accounts in 2014, but there were still $2 billion in losses. Opacki says that there are no statistics about frauds against the banks themselves, and he believes many dont disclose those losses for reputational reasons.

One problem many banks face in trying to harden their computers against attack is that they use a lot of custom software that has to be rewritten and extensively tested for months before any fixes can be implemented. Such software has a big impact on banks infrastructure and products and cant be quickly updated, he says.

Many banks now send phishing e-mails to their own employees to test whether they will respond to them. They use it as a teachable moment, says Johnson.

PhishLabs conducts training programs to help bank employees recognize phishing attacks, but even training has its limits, says Opacki: These attacks are largely targeting people, and the problem is, you are never going to be able to remove human vulnerability.
Former insurance billionaire Sam Wyly has been convicted of defrauding the IRS by shuffling assets among a network of offshore trusts to evade millions of dollars in taxes.The 81-year-old entrepreneur has had a string of successful businesses; including Gulf Insurance Group that he used to fund an ambitious national network to compete with AT&T. Gulf Insurance Group was acquired by Travelers in 1993.US Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Houser in Dallas said that Wyly, a sophisticated businessman, was aware of the efforts of his advisors to hide his assets.Houser rejected arguments Wyly was simply following orders from his own employees.The court does not believe that the law permits Sam to hide behind others and claim not to have known what was going on around him, she said.The ruling is the latest blow to Wyly, once a fixture in Texas high society, in a string of legal battles with US agencies that threatens to erase the fortune he amassed over a lifetime.The Internal Revenue Service claimed to be the victim of a vast fraud revealed in a 2010 US Securities and Exchange Commission suit against Wyly and his brother Charles.The pair made a fortune building houses, including the arts and crafts chain Michaels Stores Inc. Charles died in a car crash in 2011.In 2014, a federal jury in Manhattan found the brothers had used a web of offshore trusts for 13 years to hide stock holdings and evade trading limits, allowing them to rake in $550 million in illegal profit. The verdict quickly triggered bankruptcy filings by Sam and his brothers widow, Caroline Dee Wyly (who was eventually ruled to have not taken part in any fraud).Houser held a two-week trial in January to determine whether the Wylys defrauded the IRS. The proceeding shed light on the assets and lifestyles of the extended Wyly family, including their Dallas mansions, expansive ranch properties in the mountains of Colorado and rare artwork.The IRS argued many of the luxuries were purchased by offshore trusts and loaned to the family to avoid taxes, and that property was gifted to children for the same purpose.Sam Wyly said he had relied on lawyers and accountants to set up the offshore trusts and knew few details about how they operated. His lawyers called the arrangement aggressive but not illegal. Dee Wyly testified that she entrusted financial matters to her husband and signed tax returns and other documents without reading them.The judge had little patience for Sam Wylys defence.To accept the Wylys explanation requires the court to be satisfied that it is appropriate for extraordinarily wealthy individuals to hire middlemen to do their bidding in order to insulate themselves from wrongdoing so that, when the fraud is ultimately exposed, they have plausible deniability, Houser said in her 459-page ruling.The IRS was seeking 1.4 billion from Sam Wyly and $834 million from his sister-in-law, with penalties and interest accounting for 80 per cent of the totals, the government said in court papers filed Jan 25.
American drivers are at their angriest at 6pm on a Friday night in August, especially if they live in Hawaii.These are the findings that researchers from insurance news and information website Auto Insurance Center (AIC) discovered after analysing 65,535 Instagram posts with the hashtag #RoadRage.High temperatures, more holidaymakers taking to the streets, and motorists at a higher chance of consuming alcohol led to a perfect storm for road rage, the researchers found.The data revealed the cities, states, months and even the most common words associated with road rage, which include traffic, stuck, work, crazy and, not surprisingly, numerous expletives.States with high tourism were found to have higher road rage posts, with Hawaii topping the list at 5,872 posts possibly since traffic in Honolulu ranks as the third worst in the US.Los Angeles topped the list of cities with the most road rage, followed by New York City.The AIC launched the study after data collated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) revealed the number of fatal accidents caused by road rage or aggressive driving had risen dramatically since 2004.While the analysis revealed many trends, the researchers explained it did not highlight the grim truth of road rage, which is often tied to violence, injury and death.Allowing extra time, adjusting your schedule to avoid the worst traffic, and listening to music were all recommended as ways to curb feelings of anger.They also suggested breathing deeply, taking a break to stretch your legs or having some water if anger does begin to build.And for those on the receiving end of road rage, they said to never challenge another motorist, ignore any obscenities, and avoid using the horn unnecessarily.The researchers added that even posting on Instagram could have a beneficial effect.The rise of social media has given motorists new ways to vent their driving-related frustrations  a much better option than expressing anger while behind the wheel.#RoadRage in the United States:1. August2. July3. October1. 6:00 pm2. 5:00 pm3. 4:00 pm1. Hawaii2. California3. New York4. New Jersey1. Hawaii2. Los Angeles, CA3. New York City, NY
Centrepoint Alliance has confirmed it is exiting the New Zealand market just nine months after expanding the Australian business here CEO Bob Dodd told brokers in a recent letter that the company would cease writing new business with immediate effect but would honour all existing business into run off.We over-estimated the level of potential support for another New Zealand funder with volumes achieved way below expectations, Dodd told Insurance Business.Our board made the decision to cease new business and refocus our investment in the Australian market only.This decision also unfortunately impacts Mark Kreling, our local representative, and his role has been made redundant. We thank him for his efforts and wish him well for the future too.Kreling told Insurance Business that while he was disappointed by how things had turned out, he was currently considering a couple of other opportunities.Ratings agency Standard and Poors (S&P) has affirmed the A+ financial strength rating on QBE Insurance Group Ltd.s core operating companies, and its A- issuer credit rating on QBE. S&P also revised the outlook of QBEs core operating entities and other subsidiaries from Stable to Positive, the insurer reported.I am very pleased that S&P recognises both the progress we have made in improving QBEs performance and the strength of our capital base, commented QBE Group CEO John Neal on S&Ps release.Earlier this year, QBE Chairman Marty Becker said that the business overall has largely achieved target, having delivered on its 2015 promises, and expressed confidence for the Groups future success.The insurer had reported a cash profit of $893 million and an adjusted combined rating operating ratio of 94% for 2015.The announcement reflects S&Ps expectation that QBEs earning profile will improve over the medium term, together with reduced earnings volatility, greater reserving stability, and a return to top line growth, said Neal.S&P has also acknowledged QBEs capital adequacy as AA equivalent. Neal added that Many, if not all, of the themes noted by S&P in support of their decision were detailed in QBEs Investor Update held in Sydney yesterday [May 10]. Zurich has reported a business operating profit (BOP) of US$1.1 billion for the three months ended 31 March 2016 which it said was proof that improvement plans for its general insurance division were working.CFO George Quinn said: While it is still early in the process, these results show that the measures we put in place to improve the performance of our general insurance business are taking effect.Even adjusting for a benign catastrophe claims environment, there has been an underlying improvement and we expect to see this trend continue throughout the year.The general insurance division reported a BOP of US$542 million for the first three months of 2016, down from 23% from the prior year period but Zurich said it was a significant improvement on an operating loss of US$120 million in the previous quarter.The combined ratio of 97.7% for the first three months of 2016 was also significantly better than the 103.6% combined ratio for the full year 2015 and one percentage point higher than in the same period in the previous year.Gross written premiums declined 5% in local currency or 10% in US dollar terms, largely due to re-underwriting and de-risking actions to improve performance announced last year.Zurich said these initiatives contributed to rate increases on renewal business of 3% in the quarter and an improvement in the accident year loss ratio ex-catastrophes to 66.5% in the period, from 69.5% in the previous quarter.It is expected that further benefits from these and other measures to reduce costs will continue to flow through to results towards the latter half of this year, the company said.
A Massachusetts company that manufactures materials used in laboratory analysis has agreed to pay $199,500 to settle claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it violated state and federal hazardous waste laws.

Waters Technologies Corp., based in Taunton, generates a range of hazardous wastes that include ignitable waste; corrosive waste; reactive waste; characteristically toxic waste; waste solvents, and off-specification waste.

The case stems from a March 2014 inspection by EPA in which inspectors identified numerous violations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

EPA alleged that the company failed to follow standards for the storage of hazardous wastes in tanks and to follow several regulations requiring the company to monitor potential air emissions from equipment that contains volatile organic waste.

EPA also alleged that the company failed to ensure that waste solvents would not be released from its facility. The alleged violations could have resulted in releases of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to the environment.

It is essential that companies handling, managing or storing hazardous materials make sure they carefully follow hazardous waste laws, including laws pertaining to air emissions from hazardous waste tanks, which help ensure protections for workers, their surrounding community, and the environment, said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPAs New England office.

EPA said that immediately after its inspection, Waters Technology voluntarily contracted with a third-party consultant and put in place practices and technologies that brought the facility into compliance with relevant hazardous waste regulations, minimizing the risks of emission of hazardous wastes to the environment and employee exposure to hazardous wastes.

Topics Claims Massachusetts Pollution
Chedid Capital Holding, in collaboration with a group of investors in Dubai, has acquired 75 percent of Al Manara Insurance Services Co. Ltd., an insurance brokerage firm with more than 25 years of experience in the United Arab Emirates.

This move is part of the Chedid Capitals expansion and consolidation plan in countries of the EMEA region by 2017, said a statement issued by the Beirut-based regional insurance and reinsurance group.

Along with the growth of our businesses in Africa, we are proud to continue our expansion in the Gulf Co-operation Council through the acquisition of Al Manara Insurance Services. This company has solid roots in the UAE market and a great reputation earned over 25 years under the leadership of Issam Lahham, said Farid Chedid, chairman and CEO of Chedid Capital.

Lahham, managing director of Al Manara Insurance Services, noted that the acquisition provides the Sharjah, UAE-based company with a further step toward developing a regional leader in the insurance broking industry.

Source: Chedid Capital Holding

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies
XL Catlins insurance operations announced it has strengthened its energy team globally with four senior hires: Wayne Jacobson, Joseph Tina, Helen Watkinson and Denise Dass-Hewitt.

In the Americas, XL Catlin has appointed Wayne Jacobson as director of Energy Liability  Americas. Based in New York, Jacobson joins from Colony Specialty Insurance Co. where he was vice president for the companys Oil & Gas division. During his nearly 40-year career, Jacobson has served in senior positions at several leading Insurers.

Joseph Tina also joins as underwriter for Energy, Liability for the Americas, based in New York. Tina also joins from Colony Specialty where he held the position of senior underwriter, leading the Oil & Gas division. He has a broad experience having worked in the energy insurance sector for eight years.

In Paris, France, Helen Watkinson joins as underwriting manager, Energy, for France, bringing with her 10 years of experience in insurance. She started her career in 2006 with Munich Re before joining Liberty Specialty Markets in London in 2008 and in Paris in 2014 as a senior underwriter, Onshore Energy.

In London, Denise Dass-Hewitt joins as a risk engineer. Dass-Hewitt has over 35 years experience with major North Sea operators. In her last role as vice president, Development, at BG Group, she was responsible for all operational aspects of the appraisal, concept selection and developments of the BG Brazil discoveries. Prior to joining BG, Dass-Hewitt held many senior engineering roles with Enterprise Oil plc, Repsol Exploration (UK) Ltd., Goal Petroleum plc, and Arco British Ltd.

The global team will be further supported by consultant and industry veteran, Bryan Johnson, who has recently been appointed as a consultant on the upstream account, based in Houston, Texas.

The energy industry is facing well documented challenges around the globe, said Huw Jones, global head of Energy at XL Catlin.

As part of our long-term commitment to the market, we have added to and invested in our team globally to ensure we have the best talent both in terms of risk engineering and underwriting, he added. The need for intelligent and flexible underwriting decisions, backed up by first-class engineering capability, is stronger than ever, and as such I am delighted to have attracted these high-caliber colleagues to join our global team.

Source: XL Catlin

Topics Underwriting Energy Oil Gas AXA XL
In the trucking industry, technology is driving change.

Todd Smith, chief operating officer at Decker Truck Line Inc. in Fort Dodge, Iowa, told The Messenger that by the end of 2017 it will be mandated that all trucks have electronic logs. Paper logs will no longer be accepted.

This change in technology has made it a difficult transition for some of the older truckers, who account for a large percentage of drivers.

Smith said the average age of the driving force today is an estimated 57 years old.

Some of those drivers might be used to the paper logs, so that change is creating anxiety, he said. Some of those drivers are getting out of the industry.

Stricter emissions standards on trucks are also having an impact.

Decker Truck Line Inc. recently put an order in for several hundred new Peterbilts, most of which use automatic transmissions and burn cleaner fuel, Smith said.

Our fleet is going to be one of the youngest fleets in the country, he said.

Smith said trucking is vital to the health of the economy.

The trucking industry is about a $600 billion industry, he said. Out of $600 billion, about 75 percent of that is delivered on what we call a truckload, which is a full truckload of freight, which is what Decker is involved in.

When you go to the store, any store, a truck delivered it, he added. So if the truck industry is healthy, the economy is healthy.

Recognizing the importance of truckers, Smith said its important to treat them with respect.

Our focus at Decker is that we believe driver is king, he said. Our drivers are the most important part of the team here, and we firmly believe that.

The industry is also trying to battle through a shortage of truckers throughout the country.

Right now depending on what you read or who you believe, we have a shortage of about 96,000 drivers overall, Smith said. The challenge that we have is that the average age of a driver is 57, and those drivers are retiring. We arent replacing those drivers fast enough. More are retiring than coming in and that is creating somewhat of a gap.

Jeff Frank, director of the Iowa Central Community College Transportation Technology Center, said the problem with the shortage of truckers can be solved with better retention.

If we improve retention, we improve our turnover rate and that means we dont need to hire as many people, he said.

Part of achieving better retention begins with proper training.

At 390 hours, Iowa Centrals trucking school is one of the longest Professional Truck Driver Institute programs in the nation, according to Frank.

The more drive time and practice they get, the better they will be when they leave, he said.

Frank said some schools are shorter, but the results arent as good.

Anybody can get the job, he said. If I can breathe on the mirror and fog the mirror, I can get the job. I need the skills to retain the job because if I dont have the skills, Ill be terminated.

A simulation lab with $274,000 worth of equipment is one tool used by Iowa Central to prepare students for real-life driving situations.

The simulators can test students in a wide variety of vehicles, across different types of terrain and in almost any weather condition.

They have a front windshield, two side windows and mirrors, just like in the trucks.

Frank said the simulators can be used on students who are learning how to shift.

The simulation gives students practice without tearing up a truck, he said. Learning to shift is really hard on transmissions.

Frank, who has spent 37 years in the industry, said the business has changed since he first got behind the wheel.

The biggest thing I see is that its a very fast paced industry now, he said. Theres a lot more pressure now than what we had. I had somebody show me how to drive. Now today because of the cost of insurance and equipment they want people to have training.

The training offered at Iowa Central has earned a reputation as being one of the best in the country.

Several students from out of state have enrolled in the program.

Students from Alaska, North Carolina, Colorado and Missouri have made their way to Fort Dodge for Iowa Centrals trucking program.

Reggie Watson, of St. Louis, Missouri, said he had a friend who recommended Iowa Centrals trucking school to him.

I heard it was a good school, he said.

Watson said traveling has always appealed to him.

Its something Ive always been interested in doing, he said. Just driving cross country was something I knew I wanted to do.

Said Aldin, 31, of Des Moines, said he likes how Iowa Central teaches their students.

I like the program and how they teach, he said. Its a full program. They teach you good.

Frank said students in the program have an opportunity to be comfortable financially.

This is a good career, he said. I never had to worry about if I was going to make enough money for my bills. Theres good benefits. Most students are going to get tuition reimbursements. How much better could it be?

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Tech Training Development Trucking Iowa
When you go to one of those giant annual insurance conferences ever wonder how much wine  in terms of gallons, number of glasses, bottles, dollar value  is consumed at all the evening mixers and up-scale soirees over the course of these two- or three-day gatherings?

At the Risk and Insurance Management Society meeting in March I was personally invited to a few such get-togethers.

There were typically three areas among the seas of enthusiastic wannabe networkers where navigation became difficult: getting around the bar area packed with the hard-drinkers; squeezing by the station that had the best appetizers; avoiding head-on collisions with the umpteen servers toting trays brimming with glasses of red or white wine.

In light of this unflagging devotion to fermented grapes, a report from the executive body of the European Union might hit home for a number of people in the insurance industry.

A report in Horizon, an EU research and innovation publication, suggests that some wines could become a bit less tasty because of climate change.

The report says winemakers are reporting changes in their yields in a warmer climate: In France, the Burgundy region had its driest July in 66 years in 2015, while Italian producers are planting different grape varieties due to more intense summers.

According to the report, growers are struggling to keep their product stable in quantity and quality.

What appears to be happening, the report explains, is extra heat and sunlight is boosting the amount of sugar the vines put into grapes.

This means the alcohol content of the wine can rise above the ideal 12- to 14-percent range during fermentation, and that the sugar content develops faster than the polyphenol chemicals that give wines their taste. An FYI for aficionados, the chemical class of tannins is a subset of polyphenols.

By stimulating the increase in sugar while the content in polyphenol aromas is not quite mature, you have a lot of sugar very early and the rest of the components are not quite there, Dr. Anne-Francoise Adam-Blondon of the National Institute for Agricultural Research in France told Horizon.

Paying for Climate Change

Not far from Californias famed wine region, Bay Area residents next month will decide whether to pay to fight climate change.

Measure AA on the June 7 ballot would institute a $12 per year parcel tax, raising roughly $25 million annually for 20 years to defend against sea level rise by restoring marshes.

An official argument in favor of the measure from Ballotopedia states:

Join Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and environmental, business and community leaders from across Alameda County in voting YES on Measure AA for a clean and healthy San Francisco Bay. This measure is critical to restoring wetlands and protecting wildlife habitat for future generations throughout the Bay Area.

Opponents, such as the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, say its unfair to tax all people in a region that stretches far from the ocean.

Whether it is a struggling farm worker family in a very modest bungalow in Gilroy, or the Apple campus there in Silicon Valley [the tax is the same], Jon Coupal, president of the association, told Bay Area public radio station KQED. So obviously there are equity issues.

Get the GIF?

A tweet from a professor at the University of Reading in the U.K. has been mesmerizing the masses lately.

Professor Ed Hawkins generated a global warming animation using data on the planets average temperature anomalies going back to 1850 and plotted them in the form of a spiral that moves outward showing warmer temperatures farther out as the years roll by.

As of Thursday it had been retweeted nearly 10,000 times, and favorited more than 6,000 times.

That shouldnt be too surprising. GIFs seem to have returned to popularity lately, and the graphic was colorful and doesnt require much reading  even less thinking. Thus the popularity on social media.

Hawkins also published the animation in Climate Lab Book, an open source climate blog. In the blog he breaks down a few features that can be seen in the graphic:

1877-78: strong El Nino event warms global temperatures;

1880s-1910: small cooling, partially due to volcanic eruptions;

1910-1940s: warming, partially due to recovery from volcanic eruptions, small increase in solar ouput and natural variability;

1950s-1970s: fairly flat temperatures as cooling sulphate aerosols mask the greenhouse gas warming;

1980-present: strong warming, with temperatures pushed higher in 1998 and 2016 due to strong El Nino events.

Neanderthal Enigma

A University of Colorado Denver researcher thinks climate change may have contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals.

According to anthropology professor Jamie Hodgkins, Neanderthals in Europe showed signs of nutritional stress during periods of extreme cold, suggesting climate change may have contributed to their demise around 40,000 years ago.

She looked at the remains of prey animals and found that Neanderthals worked especially hard to extract calories from the meat and bones during colder periods, according to the publication Science Daily.

The professor examined bones discovered in caves in Southwestern France where Neanderthals once dwelled for marks that would tell her how animal carcasses were butchered and used for food. The bones were more heavily processed in glacial periods, which the professor thinks indicates a nutritional need to consume all of the marrow  a likely signal of a reduction in food availability.

Our research uncovers a pattern showing that cold, harsh environments were stressful for Neanderthals, Hodgkins told Science Daily in an article on Wednesday. As the climate got colder, Neanderthals had to put more into extracting nutrients from bones. This is especially apparent in evidence that reveals Neanderthals attempted to break open even low marrow yield bones, like the small bones of the feet.

She added: Our results illustrate that climate change has real effects.

Past columns:

Topics Europe Climate Change France
The proposal boiled down to just three paragraphs in the Federal Register: Would it be a good idea, the Federal Emergency Management Agency wondered, if Washington gave states a financial incentive to pass building codes, better protecting their residents against the effects of climate change?

That was in January. By March, the response from states was clear: No, it would not be a good idea. Not good at all.

Just as there is a political economy of fighting climate change, there turns out to be a political economy of adapting to it. And navigating it could be just as hard.

FEMAs proposal looked modest enough. Rather than continue to provide federal assistance once the president declares a disaster, the agency suggested making states responsible for an initial share of the costs  in other words, a deductible. States could lower that deductible by taking basic steps to prepare for disasters, such as passing tougher (or any) building codes, establishing their own disaster funds, or buying private insurance on government buildings.

The goal, according to FEMA, is twofold: First, reduce federal spending on disaster assistance (something Congress has already demanded), because fewer states would request money. Second, protect more people and property from damage caused by the increase in storms, flooding and general meteorological mayhem already happening thanks to climate change.

Its hard to dispute the need for such a shift. FEMA says just 65 percent of the U.S. population is covered by building codes; just 20 states have a mandatory building code for residential construction, according to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, an industry-backed research group. Thats despite research showing that areas with tougher building codes sustain less damage in extreme weather.

The most exposed states also tend to be among the least prepared. Last year, the institute ranked 18 states along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts for their approach to building codes and enforcement; they found that just five used the latest version of the International Residential Code, which covers everything from foundations and wall construction to storm drainage and gas piping. Six states had no mandatory residential building code, deferring instead to cities and counties. Most of those states also had no statewide program to license building inspectors.

State and local officials say they would prefer that the federal government continues to provide disaster aid with no new conditions, and they have urged FEMA to abandon its proposal.

The reasons for the opposition range from the bureaucratic to the absurd. The National Governors Association, in comments to FEMA, said its members worried that the agency will have a hard time measuring (and putting a value on) states actions to protect residents, and that the deductible would create too much paperwork.

Susan Frederick, a lobbyist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said FEMA needs to appreciate that different states face different fiscal realities. After all, she ventured, building codes cost money to produce.

If a state or a locality contracts out for engineers to do a building code, thats a financial expense, Frederick told me. These people dont work for free.

Debra Ballen, head of policy for the insurers institute (IIBHS), said that makes no sense. They dont have to pay anyone to write the building code  the International Code Council provides the model code, Ballen said. Adopting a building code would be the cheapest kind of legislation to pass.

There might be a better explanation for states reluctance to impose building codes: Home builders would rather they didnt. And home builders matter in state and local politics. In 2014, the construction industry spent $17 million on state-level lobbying, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

So what explains the industrys aversion to building codes? According to Susan Asmus, a vice president at the National Association of Home Builders, codes have become little more than a device to boost sales for specialty goods. Whats happened over time in the building code process is that manufacturers and other special interests want to get their specific window, insulation, piping, whatever other products recognized by the code so that everybody has to purchase their products, she said.

At a White House conference this week on how to pass more resilient building codes, Tim Kant, the mayor of Fairhope, Alabama, said his efforts to pass tougher codes have hurt him politically.

We get beat up every time we put a new requirement on, Kant said, adding that his own states government has been reluctant to help. His city persevered and is now one of the nations leaders in constructing buildings that can survive high-speed winds.

What makes the fight over FEMAs proposal so important is that imposing tougher building codes is the easiest part of adapting to climate change. Harder still is preventing the construction of new buildings in the most at-risk areas  especially along the coasts, which tend to be where people want to live. Astronomically harder would be relocating people who already live in those areas. Both will seem impossible if simply adopting building codes proves too much to ask.

The White House said this week that FEMA will use the feedback it got from Januarys proposal and issue a revised plan for a state deductible. Its unclear how much the agency can massage its plan to account for the objections of states and cities: Ultimately, states will either face financial repercussions for failing to pass building codes, or they wont.

We want to come up with a shared solution before something is forced upon us, FEMA spokesman Joshua Batkin told me, a warning that states should accept the deal or brace for even worse cuts from Congress. Whether Congress would actually cut disaster money is questionable. But threats like these may be what it takes to coerce more states to get ready for climate change. Common sense alone doesnt seem to be enough.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Climate Change Construction
The U.S. Supreme Court has managed to steer away from controversy in the three months since Justice Antonin Scalias death. Thats about to get harder.

The court is opening the last phase of its nine-month term, a six-week stretch that will feature rulings on affirmative action, immigration, abortion, contraceptive coverage, and Puerto Ricos debt. A batch of opinions is likely on Monday.

Each dispute has the potential to divide the eight justices, highlighting whats at stake from the Senates refusal to consider Judge Merrick Garland, President Barack Obamas nominee to replace Scalia. The cases could also thrust the court more deeply into the 2016 election fray and the presidential race between Donald Trump and, most likely, Hillary Clinton.

At the same time, the cases offer ways for the justices to rule narrowly and defer consideration of more sweeping issues. Those potential paths of consensus may hold appeal on a court that prides itself on being above politics, even at a time of political tumult.

I see the justices as almost trying to hide, said Michael Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell Law School. Theres a vacancy. Theres this extraordinary inaction by the Senate. Theres a presidential campaign that is highly unusual, the outcome of which will undoubtedly affect the membership of the court.

And there are cases on the courts docket that connect to hot-button issues that divide the country pretty sharply.

4-4 Ties

The justices have muddled along since Scalias death on Feb. 13. Several publicly indicated they would try to avoid a rash of 4-4 ties that might suggest a judiciary in crisis. All of us are working hard to reach agreement, Justice Elena Kagan said in April.

Those efforts have helped produce 13 mostly narrow rulings. The biggest  a unanimous decision that said states and cities could keep using their longstanding methods for drawing election district lines  was noteworthy mostly because it didnt produce the redistricting transformation conservatives had sought.

So far, the court has produced only two deadlocked results, including one that let 20-plus states continue to require public-sector workers to help fund the unions that represent them. That number may now start to climb.

Contraceptive Coverage

The court risks deadlock in a fight involving religious groups that say the Obama administration is forcing them to facilitate what they consider immoral contraceptive coverage, and a clash over congressional power to authorize consumer lawsuits. The justices also might split over the presidents plan to defer deportation for millions of unauthorized immigrants.

For some, the biggest mystery is why the court hasnt already issued a stack of deadlocked rulings, given the unlikelihood that a tie-breaking ninth justice will be seated before November.

I dont think anyone thinks a new justice is going to be confirmed before the election, said Daniel Ortiz, who directs the Supreme Court litigation clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law. People are a little bit confused about what is going on.

The answer may be that the court is still trying to cobble together majorities, one way or another. In perhaps the clearest sign of such efforts, the justices took the unusual step after the contraceptive argument in April of floating a possible compromise and asking the two sides to comment.

Consumer Lawsuits

Some cases are proving harder to resolve than others. The consumer-lawsuit dispute is pending more than six months after the Nov. 2 argument. The case, which concerns an allegedly error-riddled Internet profile, tests the power of Congress to authorize suits by consumers who havent suffered any clear harm.

Theyre acting as if theyre trying to avoid 4-4 splits when possible, said David Strauss, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago. If they can decide a case narrowly in a way that will get five or more votes, they will do that.

Yet some cases could be polarizing no matter what the court decides.

The immigration case plunges the court into one of the biggest issues in the presidential campaign  what to do about the 11 million people who are in the country illegally. Obama is seeking to offer a shield from deportation for about 4 million people.

Less Than Ideal

A 4-4 tie would leave intact a federal appeals court decision blocking Obamas executive actions  a less-than-ideal outcome, said Strauss.

I would be surprised for them to uphold what the lower courts did by a 4-4 vote, just because its such a big issue, he said. Ordinarily youd expect the court to really want to avoid deciding that 4-4. Youd want them to decide that by deciding it.

One possibility is that the court could rule that Texas and other states lack the legal right to challenge the presidents actions on immigration. Either way, the practical impact is likely to be limited given the proximity of the presidential election.

Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has vowed to deport all unauthorized immigrants, so his election would effectively nullify any ruling favoring Obama. And a Clinton victory would ensure that either Garland or another Democratic appointee fills Scalias seat  and potentially break a 4-4 deadlock.

Abortion Clinics

The abortion case, testing a Texas law that puts new requirements on clinics and doctors, will produce the courts first ruling on that divisive issue since 2007. Arguments in March suggested that five justices were leaning toward striking down at least part of the Texas measure. A 4-4 split would let stand an appeals court ruling upholding the restriction.

The affirmative action and Puerto Rico cases cant end in deadlock because only seven justices are participating. Justice Samuel Alito has a financial conflict in the Puerto Rico case, while Kagan took part in the affirmative action litigation while she was a lawyer for the Obama administration.

The Puerto Rico dispute will decide the fate of a local law that would let the islands public utilities restructure billions of dollars of debt. The court is considering the case while Congress attempts to work out a broader plan to address the commonwealths $70 billion in debt. A ruling backing the law could give new leverage to Puerto Ricos advocates in Congress.

Affirmative Action

The affirmative action case centers on an unusual University of Texas admissions policy that considers race only for a subset of the entering class. Justice Anthony Kennedy, whos seen as the potential swing vote, indicated during arguments in December that he was conflicted.

University of Chicagos Strauss said the court might be reluctant to issue broad restrictions on affirmative action with a four-justice majority, given the prospect that the decision could be overturned once the court is at full strength.

To have an important issue decided 4-3, I think, is very problematic, Strauss said. I think theyd want to avoid that.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Texas
Lowes Cos. has reached an $8.6 million settlement of a U.S. agency lawsuit accusing the nations second-largest home improvement retailer of illegally firing workers who went on medical leave for a long time.

The accord resolves Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that Lowes violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by terminating employees whose medical leaves of absence exceeded the companys 180- or 240-day maximum leave policy.

A consent decree detailing the settlement was approved on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte in Los Angeles. It requires Lowes to retain consultants to oversee its leave of absence policies, and track workers requests for accommodations.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based company also agreed to improve employee training.

Lowes denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. The decree lasts for four years.

The accord sends a clear message that automatically firing disabled workers who reach rigid limits on leaves of absence may be illegal, EEOC General Counsel David Lopez said.

Karen Cobb, a Lowes spokeswoman, said the company updated its leave of absence policies in 2010, and has since taken steps to ensure consistency in applying our policies and help employees manage their leaves of absence and accommodations.

The EEOC said anyone Lowes fired between Jan. 1, 2004 and May 13, 2010 after taking maximum leave may pursue a claim.

The case stemmed from EEOC charges filed between 2007 and 2010 that Lowes fired three workers after unreasonably refusing to grant them extended medical leave.

The case is U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v Lowes Cos et al, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 16-03041.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alistair Bell and Meredith Mazzilli)

Topics USA
As the number of earthquakes in Oklahoma exploded into the hundreds in the last few years, nearly a dozen insurance companies moved to limit their exposure, often at the expense of homeowners, a Reuters examination has found.

Nearly 3,000 pages of documents from the Oklahoma Insurance Department reviewed by Reuters show that insurers and the reinsurers who cover them grew increasingly concerned about exposure to earthquake risks because of heightened frequency of seismic activity, which scientists link to disposal of saltwater that is a byproduct of oil and gas production.

Even as they insured more and more properties against earthquakes in the past two years, six insurers hiked premiums by as much as 260 percent and three increased deductibles. Three companies stopped writing new earthquake insurance altogether, state regulatory filings obtained by Reuters show. Several insurers took more than one of those steps.

Summary of insurer earthquake coverage changes, based on Oklahoma Insurance Department filings.

Company Date Action Armed Forces Insurance Exchange Aug 8, 2014 Increases earthquake premiums by 1-3 cents per $1,000 of coverage. Chubb Ltd. Dec. 19, 2014 Increases earthquake premiums from $0.30 per $1,000 of coverage to $0.33. Country Mutual Insurance Co. Sept. 11, 2015 Increases earthquake deductible from 5 percent to 10 percent in an effort to address exposure management. Lowers premiums to compensate consumers. EMCASCO May 7, 2014 Eliminates option for 5 percent deductible, meaning lowest available deductible is 10 percent. Increases premiums by earthquake coverage by 1-2 cents per $1,000 of coverage. Farmers Insurance Co. Oct. 6, 2014 Increases premiums by 50 percent in one type of plan, which the company said in a filing was to account for the higher exposure and the need to reinsure the risk. Farmers Insurance Co. Sept. 9, 2015 Increases earthquake premium in one type of plan to $0.403 per $1,000 of coverage, up from $0.345 in some plans and $0.259 in others. A spokesman said the companys changes were made to reflect the increased risk. Farmers Insurance Co. Nov. 9, 2015 Eliminates option for 2 percent deductible in one type of plan, meaning lowest available deductible is 5 percent Great Northwest Insurance Co. May 30, 2014 Increases earthquake premiums by as much as 260 percent to match competitors rates, particularly Travelers. A spokesman said the company was seeking to grow its Oklahoma earthquake program, after not actively marketing it for several years, and looked to other insurers rates for guidance. The Hartford Oct. 24, 2014 Issued a moratorium to no longer offer new earthquake coverage in Oklahoma. Horace Mann Insurance Co. Dec. 22, 2014 Increased earthquake premiums by 1-2 cents per $1,000 of coverage so that they are more closely aligned with our competitions rates. Horace Mann Insurance Co. Nov. 10, 2015 Again hikes earthquake premiums by 1-2 cents to match competitors. Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. Feb 5, 2011 Removed earthquake coverage from existing plans. Travelers Companies Nov. 4, 2014 Stopped writing new earthquake coverage in Oklahoma to manage our exposure to earthquake in the state, according to filings for several types of plans.

In addition, the insurers would consider suing oil and gas companies for reimbursement in instances where they would have to pay damages to homeowners, according to several sources, including two insurance company officials.

So far Oklahomas biggest earthquake was a 5.6 magnitude temblor in Prague in 2011 that buckled road pavement and damaged dozens of homes.

However, the push to limit earthquake exposure reflects insurers fear that the surge in small quakes is a portent of a big one in coming years, given the relationship between the magnitude and a total number of earthquakes in a certain area.

The filings show many insurers explicitly stated they were concerned about exposure to earthquake risk. In late March, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) warned that 7 million Americans were at risk of so-called induced seismicity. The warning further heightened insurers and reinsurers concerns, Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner John Doak said.

Because earthquakes were rare in Oklahoma before shale oil and gas production soared in the past decade, very few residents carried earthquake insurance back then.

Oil, Water and Quakes

That has changed as the number of quakes of magnitude 3.0 and higher recorded in the state soared from a handful in 2008 to 103 in 2013 and 890 last year, according to USGS. The value of coverage, usually offered as an add-on to standard homeowners policy, also spiked to $19 million in 2015 from less than $5 million in 2009, according to the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group.

Scientists link the quakes to the injection of wastewater generated from the oil and gas production process deep underground. Volumes of so-called produced water have ballooned as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, boosted output in Oklahoma.

Monthly injection volumes in Oklahoma doubled between 1997 and 2013, according to a 2015 Stanford University study.

The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association has said state regulators efforts to work with producers to limit the amount of wastewater injected would reduce seismicity.

So far, relatively few homeowners have filed claims, in part because the damages were not big enough to exceed the deductibles. Some who did say they had trouble getting compensation.

Julie Allison said the cumulative effects of the 39 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 and above that had struck within two miles of her home in Edmond, Okla., had caused $70,000-80,000 in damages, but Farmers Insurance denied her claim in April.

They did not deny that we had damage, Allison said. The insurance company, however, blamed it on ground erosion and settlement, she said.

Farmers said it relied on outside engineering experts for the assessment and that the Allisons have accepted the companys offer to pay for a second opinion by an expert of their choice.

Higher Exposure

For some insurers and reinsurers the risks have proven too big. Responding to the pull-back and premium hikes Oklahomas Insurance Department has scheduled a fact-finding hearing in late May, Doak said.

Travelers Insurance Co., the sixth-largest provider of earthquake insurance in the state, stopped allowing existing policyholders to add earthquake coverage in November 2014. In a filing, it said it was making the change to manage our exposure to earthquake in the state.

The Hartford stopped writing earthquake insurance in Oklahoma in late 2014. Oklahoma Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. removed earthquake coverage from their existing homeowner policies in February 2011, filings show.

The Oklahoma Farm Bureau said it made a business decision to remove coverage in 2010. Travelers declined to comment beyond its filing. Hartford declined to comment.

Other companies raised deductibles or premiums. Andrew Walter, manager of underwriting research and development at Country Mutual Insurance Co., which raised its deductible last year, said the step aimed to protect our financial strength in case of a large scale earthquake in the state.

Others that hiked premiums include Chubb Ltd., which said it kept providing coverage to existing and new customers, but would not discuss premium rates, and EMCASCO Insurance Company, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Risk modelers fear that insurers are too exposed in the event of a big one, even though claims have been few thus far.

If they do end up with substantial claims for a large quake, insurers could sue the oil companies for reimbursement. At the Oklahoma insurance regulators request, several insurance companies clarified last fall that they did cover man-made quakes, which provided an incentive to try to recoup payouts from oil and gas companies.

Two insurers  the United Servicemembers Automobile Association and Palomar Specialty  said they could consider such action.

(Additional reporting by Liz Hampton and Terry Wade in Houston; Editing by David Gaffen and Tomasz Janowski)

Related:

Topics Carriers Catastrophe Trends Energy Reinsurance Oil Gas Agribusiness Homeowners Oklahoma Earthquake
Medical marijuana advocates have won a significant victory in their efforts to jumpstart Louisianas medical marijuana program.

The House voted 62-31 to expand the program to cover more diseases and to make regulatory changes aimed at getting medicinal-grade pot into patients hands more quickly.

Senate Bill 271 by Republican Sen. Fred Mills, a pharmacist from St. Martin Parish, has received Senate backing. The vote sends the bill back to the Senate for consideration of House changes. If it gets final passage there, Gov. John Bel Edwards has said he will sign it into law.

Lawmakers created the framework for a medical marijuana program in Louisiana last year, but regulatory hurdles built into the law have slowed its start.

Bill supporters describe children struggling with uncontrollable seizures and patients coping with horrible pain. They said the program only allows medical marijuana in an oil form that cant be smoked. Local sheriffs and district attorneys oppose expansion, calling it a gateway to unfettered, recreational use of marijuana.

Rep. Reid Falconer, R-Mandeville, talked of his precious daughter, who has epilepsy and who has been unable to find medications that end her seizures.

This bill will enable our doctor to have another tool to treat my baby girl, he told his colleagues.

During the evening debate, bill supporter Katie Corkern sat in the back of the House chamber with her son Connor, who uses a wheelchair and has a rare brain disorder that causes uncontrollable seizures.

As he urged passage, Rep. Sam Jones talked of Corkerns son: Since we began this debate, there is one child in this chamber who has had eight seizures.

Rep. Beryl Amedee, R-Gray, said federal drug regulators havent approved medical marijuana, so doctors wont have guidance on dosage or standards to apply.

How is it that the doctors are going to know what to give to the patients? she asked.

Rep. Scott Simon, R-Abita Springs, voted against the proposal, saying he worried about public safety, that were working our way toward legalization of marijuana.

His colleague, Rep. Terry Landry, a former state police superintendent, dismissed such concerns as nonsense and fear-mongering.

Were really talking about suffering here, said Landry, D-New Iberia. Were not talking about a gateway to a legal drug.

The medical marijuana law passed last year will eventually get medical-grade pot to people suffering from cancer, glaucoma and a severe form of cerebral palsy. Mills proposal would add seizure disorders, HIV, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and other diseases to the list. It would remove glaucoma, in response to opposition.

The bill also would set a Sept. 1 deadline for LSU and Southern University to decide if they want to be the state-sanctioned grower of the product, in an effort to speed the decision-making since the schools get first right of refusal to grow the plant. It also would rework some of the regulatory language.

Mills has estimated Louisiana is about two years away from getting medical marijuana to patients. The state-sanctioned grower needs to be selected, along with 10 licensed distributors.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Louisiana Cannabis
Kentucky State Police say two people have been charged in connection to a home burglary and arson that occurred in Madison County.

Police say 38-year-old John C. Roth of Nicholasville was arrested Tuesday and charged with receiving stolen property under $10,000 after allegedly trying to pawn items that were stolen from the home, which was burglarized and set ablaze on Monday. Media reported he pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Jessamine District Court.

A 17-year-old juvenile also was taken into custody and charged with arson and burglary.

The house was the sixth home in central Kentucky that police say was burglarized and then set on fire. Police have said the string of rural house fires appear connected but have not charged Roth and the juvenile in the other cases.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Law Enforcement Kentucky
Former Massey Energy CEO Donald Blankenship is headed to prison even as he appeals his conviction for conspiring to flout mine-safety laws in connection with the worst U.S. coal industry disaster in almost 40 years.

The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday turned down Blankenships bid to stay out of prison while it weighs his challenges to a jurys 2015 finding that he plotted to speed up production at a West Virginia mine by ignoring safety rules. An explosion linked to a build up of coal dust ripped through the Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010 and killed 29 workers.

The ruling means Blankenship, who owns a mountaintop castle in West Virginia, needed report to a federal prison in California as of May 12. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons hasnt publicly specified where the former CEO will be imprisoned.

Im happy the system is making Mr. Blankenship start serving his sentence, Judy Jones Petersen, sister of one of the miners killed in the 2010 blast, said Thursday. I hope he spends the next year reflecting on how his greedy behavior created an environment that wound up taking the lives of 29 workingmen.

Exceptional Circumstances

Federal prosecutors in Charleston, West Virginia, had opposed Blankenships request to stay free on a $1 million bond, saying U.S. law only allows service of criminal sentences to be delayed for exceptional circumstances. Blankenships case didnt meet that test, the prosecutors said.

William Taylor, Blankenships lead defense lawyer, didnt immediately return a call for comment on the appeals courts decision.

The former CEO was convicted on a misdemeanor conspiracy charge, which carried a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $250,000 fine. Blankenship has already paid the fine, according to court filings. Jurors acquitted him of two felony charges which carried more substantial jail time.

The conviction capped a five-year effort by federal prosecutors to hold Blankenship accountable for safety violations that led to the explosion at the mine about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of the state capital of Charleston.

Blankenships lawyers contend in his appeal the government didnt prove the former CEO committed criminal acts, including intentionally violating mine safety laws, and that U.S. District Judge Irene Berger didnt properly instruct jurors on what constituted reasonable doubt about his guilt.

Substantial Questions

Those issues raised enough substantial questions about his guilt that the appeals panel shouldve let Blankenship remain free, his lawyers said.

To know that he is going to be put behind bars is a relief to me, said Gary Quarles, whose son was killed in the Upper Big Branch explosion. I had been wondering how long this was going to go on with his lawyers, his money and everything.

The case is U.S v. Blankenship, No. 16-4193, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit (Richmond).

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Legislation Virginia
EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants has named Liz Miller a senior communications consultant in its employee benefits division.

Miller will be based in EPICs San Francisco headquarters and report to John Gaffney, director of national benefits operations.

Miller joins EPIC from Zenefits. She previously worked for Aon Hewitt as a health and benefits consultant. Miller was a business owner providing health instruction and fitness education to the community, and worked as a behavioral therapist before beginning her health and benefits.

EPIC is a retail property/casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm.
The Glock gun company has settled a lawsuit filed by a former Los Angeles police officer who was shot and paralyzed by his 3-year-old son.

City News Service says attorneys for Glock and former Officer Enrique Chavez told a judge this week that theyve reached a settlement in the negligence suit.

However, no terms were divulged.

Chavez was off-duty and his son, Collin, was in the back of the family truck in 2006 when the 3-year-old grabbed his fathers gun and fired.

Chavez was shot and paralyzed from the waist down.

Chavez and his wife sued, arguing the gun lacked a grip safety and was too easy to fire.

Glock noted that Chavez acknowledged leaving the gun near his child, who wasnt in a car seat.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits California Law Enforcement Gun Liability
Pochi giorni ancora e la Chiesa celebrera il centenario delle apparizioni mariane a Fatima, un messaggio di religiosita che ancora oggi e attuale, ma cosa ancora dobbiamo aspettarci da quellavvenimento? La storia piu nota alla maggior parte dei cristiani e quella riguardante i pastorelli, Francesco e Giancita per aver ricevuto le apparizioni della Vergine e che saranno santificati appunto il prossimo 13 maggio.

Da dove viene il nome del villaggio di Fatima?

Se ritorniamo indietro negli anni precedenti al 1917 ritroviamo quella storia che ci fa comprendere perche un villaggio della penisola iberica porta il nome della donna piu importante dellislam. Sia Maria che Fatima sono le due figure femminili presenti nel Corano, entrambe esempi da imitare ritenute degne di essere onorate per i musulmani. La prima Maryam, e riconosciuta come la Madre di Gesu a lei e dedicata la 19 Sura in cui si narra del suo parto verginale, mentre Fatima il nome vuol dire colei che nutre era lultima figlia di Mohamed, (Maometto) come Maria diventa un modello di donna perfetta. Risaliamo al 1100, la regina Mafalda di Savoia moglie di A. Henriques, grande cattolica, ha il merito di aver catechizzato e quindi ha reso possibile la conversione della bellissima e giovane principessa Fatima, che era stata imprigionata dai cavalieri cristiani durante la guerra dei Mori questi ultimi avevano invaso il Portogallo. LItalia entra cosi nelle vicende storiche portoghesi, Fatima viene scelta dal Conte Ourem per essere sposata, verra sepolta vicino alla Regina Mafalda nella stessa chiesa che questultima aveva fatto costruire anni addietro.

Gli eventi per festeggiare il centenario delle apparizioni

Numerosi gli eventi per festeggiare la ricorrenza dellapparizione centenaria, tra questi la mostra fotografica intitolata: I colori del sole: La luce di Fatima nel mondo contemporaneo che sara possibile visitare fino al 31 ottobre 2017, presso il Convivium di SantAgostino Basilica della Santissima Trinita. Lo scopo della mostra e fa rivivere agli spettatori, il giorno dellultima apparizione quel 13 ottobre 1917 e il Miracolo del Sole, tramite una scenografia del luogo e strumentazioni apposite che creano un effetto verosimile. Si fa memoria di quel prodigio, si puo in qualche modo prendere atto del fatto che il Miracolo del Sole e stato linizio di una storia ancora in corso e di tale storia della salvezza, tutti noi siamo chiamati a essere protagonisti.

Il Mio Cuore Immacolato sara il tuo rifugio e la via che ti condurra a Dio, e invece il titolo del settimo ciclo dellitinerario tematico del Centenario (anno pastorale del 2016-2017) un programma stilato da un gruppo di teologi tra i piu noti: J. Farias e J. Duque, inaugurato 7 anni fa, un cammino vero e proprio di preparazione spirituale in vista delle celebrazioni del Centenario dalle Apparizioni mariane. E iniziato con le Memorie di Suor Lucia, quindi annualmente sono state ricontemplate le tappe storiche di Fatima, approfondendo laspetto teologico che ha permesso di tracciate le idee principali del Messaggio di Madonna di Fatima.

La spiritualita fatimita

Le raccomandazioni materne della Vergine si possono comprendere e vivere attraverso ladorazione eucaristica, la penitenza, la preghiera per la conversione dei peccatori, per il Pontefice e per la pace nel mondo. La spiritualita fatimita si racchiude nella semplice mariana preghiera, ma potente arma contro il demonio: il Santo Rosario e la devozione allImmacolato Cuore della Madonna. San Luigi de Monfort si chiedeva Chi sei tu Maria? autore del bellissimo Trattato della vera devozione alla Vergine, come lui chiediamoci la stessa domanda, la risposta e nei Vangeli, pochi racconti, ma sufficienti per conoscere la creatura che ha conquistato il cuore del Creatore.

La giovane ebrea di Nazaret, e la prescelta da Dio per diventare Madre del Redentore, che con il suo Fiat si fa corredentrice per lumanita affidatale dal Figlio sulla Croce. Una donna che ha saputo ascoltare la Parola di Dio, una Parola che ha portato in grembo, quindi e diventata la comunicatrice per eccellenza del Logos, ella e stata chiamata perche ha avuto un cuore aperto, si e affidata a Dio, ha accettato la sua volonta e quando non comprendeva conservava tutte queste cose nel suo cuore (Lc 2,19), si e fatta strumento del Padre, diventando il volto materno di Dio stesso. Luomo ha bisogno della comprensione materna per tale motivo Dio ha voluto donarci la sua stessa Madre, lamore verso ciascuno di noi lo ha dimostrato con la sua Passione, un Dio solidale col dolore umano, un Dio che conosce le fragilita delle sue creature e quindi bisognose di una madre che aiuta e consola.

Linvito di Fatima: lasciarsi contagiare dalla perfetta discepola del Signore

Linvito di Fatima e lasciarsi contagiare dalla perfetta discepola del Signore, la Vergine ci puo rendere docili allazione dello Spirito Santo, ma luomo deve aprire il suo cuore. Il dono piu grande di Dio e il libero arbitrio, ma se luomo usa la liberta per scegliere il male, impedisce allOnnipotente di salvarlo. Quando si parla di Fatima la mente corre subito alle profezie, per certi versi rendono complessa tutta la storia dellavvenimento dei piccoli veggenti, allora chiariamo subito cosa significa profetizzare, il rischio e quello di scivolare in timori inutili. Spesso vengono confusi i termini profezia e apocalisse, come realta catastrofiche, quando invece la parola stessa apocalisse significa rivelazione. Il senso della profezia cristiana presente nei vangeli e quello di consolare, incoraggiare e rafforzare il credente. Laspetto profetico e una delle tre sfumature del messaggio consegnato ai pastorelli, poi vi e laspetto apocalittico che allude alla lotta spirituale che ognuno di noi durante la vita deve affrontare, infine ce il lato sapienziale. La Vergine non fa nessuna nuova rivelazione, Lei e in perfetta sintonia con la Trinita e avendo il compito di intercedere per il mondo non si stanca di ribadire la conversione come condizione necessaria alla salvezza. La profezia fatimita non e ancora conclusa, ma la Chiesa anche se dovra vivere ancora persecuzioni, conservera sempre la speranza, poiche il sangue dei martiri rigenera la fede e paradossalmente rafforza le membra del corpo mistico del Cristo, sono questi i testimoni veri che dimostrano lamore per Lui e che santificano la Sposa del Signore.
It is not easy for investors to buy Greek government bonds. Lack of access and liquidity and the size of investment required puts Greek sovereign debt out of reach for many. The only way to buy a Greek government bond is through a bank or broker, or through a hedge fund that has built significant exposure.

However, if you're willing to go though the trouble and possess the necessary capital and tolerance for risk, then acquiring Greek debt may be worth the effort. Greece has been the go-to market for yield hungry investors ever since the country underwent debt restructuring in 2012. The S&P Greece Sovereign Bond Index has put in a one-year return of 12.47% as of July 2020. Over the past five years, the index has returned 19.83% annually.

The Risk Is Considerable

Investing in Greek government bonds is appropriate only for financially sound investors with a high tolerance for risk. As of April 2020, Fitch Ratings had assigned Greek long-term debt a BB rating, which denotes an elevated risk for default relative to other issuers. 

There is a very real possibility of losing every dime of a minimum $100,000+ investment. Therefore, only investors who can afford to lose that kind of money should even consider looking at Greek debt as a possible investment.

The Argument for Positive Returns

The arguments for an investment in Greek debt paying off handsomely are essentially twofold. The first is a belief that the Greek economy and the Greek government won't simply totally collapse and default on every obligation imaginable across the board. While that's not a given, advocates for investing in Greek debt make the argument that such a catastrophic total collapse is not really among the likely possibilities and that the total doomsayers are being overly pessimistic. Greece is in a financial mess, but it's such a mess that at this point that about the only direction left may be one of upward improvement. This has led a handful of long-term investment analysts to recommend the purchase of Greek 30-year bonds.

The second linchpin of the argument for investing in Greek debt is the fact that thanks to its 2012 debt restructuring, other than its current bond obligations, the Greek government has no other significant debt obligations until 2023. This was the argument put forward by JP Morgan Chase when, in 2014, it recommended the purchase of five-year Greek bonds, due to mature in 2019, long before that 2023 date. JP Morgan Chase was one of the managers of the sale.

How to Acquire Greek Bonds

There are really only a couple of avenues open for purchasing Greek bonds. There are no Greek bond ETFs currently available. There are a couple of hedge funds, such as Dan Loeb's Third Point, that have made significant investments in Greek debt, but those don't represent an investment purely in Greek bonds. Basically, the only options for purchasing Greek bonds are going through a bank or brokerage firm, and either option requires a minimum investment of over $100,000.

Most of the major banks, such as JP Morgan or Citibank, can purchase Greek bonds for an investor. However, because of the very low liquidity in the market, the minimum purchase required is 100,000 euros, a bit more than $100,000.

The other option is to go through a brokerage such as Fidelity or Charles Schwab. Greek bonds aren't listed as available investments on their websites, but you can contact a broker specializing in foreign bonds to make the purchase on your behalf. Again, a minimum $100,000+ investment is required, and because of the extremely low liquidity in the market, the broker cannot guarantee to manage a favorable purchase price.
Entertainment / Music

by Ngoni Dapira

MUTARE-BORN United States musician, Peter Mutsemi, who is currently in the country, keeps on scoring big with his latest video for his single, No Contender promising to go platinum again.Manica Post reported that affectionately known as Thulani, the talented musician arrived in the country on April 24, staying for three weeks to promote his debut compilation album, Bata Musoro.He made his debut performance in Zimbabwe at the Zimbabwe International Trade Show shut-down after party in Bulawayo that featured top South African performers Nathi of the Nomvula fame, Vusinova, Cash Time's Kid X and Nomuzi Mabena.Launched on YouTube on April 11, No Contender is already recording 18 171 hits.The love song which has a beguiling club beat and catchy chorus has a mixture of Shona and English lyrics to capture his diverse international listeners.The video which was shot on high-definition emulating the chic lifestyle typical of Niger (Nigerian) Afro-pop videos by stars such as D'banj and P Square, definitely raised his profile.In an interview with The Weekender before the launch of his compilation album last Tuesday on Diamond FM, Thulani said: "My debut album will comprise of all the songs I have written and composed so far including Nhasi and No Contender. I am proudly Zimbabwean and want to promote Afro-pop with a Zimbo music touch which is what I always try to do in all my music. I am launching my album at home because I want people back home to identify with my music," said Thulani.His second single Nhasi launched in September last year also did outstandingly well after it topped the video charts in the first month of release on the DStv Zambezi Magic channel on the Zim-Top 10 chart.Thulani who is a song writer and producer, during his visit has also done a collaboration of Ini Newe with Soul Afrika, Tehn Diamond and Junior Brown.The song will be released next month.The artiste left for South Africa last Wednesday to shoot his fourth video for his song, Clues in the stars which will be directed by the legendary Johannesburg-based music video director, Bruce Patterson."Patterson has worked with Davido, AKA and other big names in Africa. So if I want to aim big this is the only way to go. I will come back on Sunday and do more promotional work of my album before leaving for the US next Thursday," he said.Thulani who returned to the USA yesterday (Thursday) said he would continue to raise the Zimbabwean flag high and put the country's Afro-pop artistes in the limelight.
MI5 has raised the level of threat for a potential Northern Ireland related terror attack on British soil by Irish Republican dissidents.

Home Secretary Theresa May made the official announcement to the UKs House of Commons on Wednesday, noting that it reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity.

The level had been moderate and is now substantial, the third-highest category out of five, which indicates that MI5 views the possibility of a terror attack as substantial.

The change refers specifically to the threat of an attack in England. The terror threat level in Northern Ireland is currently one level higher, at severe.

The threat level throughout the UK of an international terror attack is also currently at severe.

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 May said.

Speaking of the dissident groups, 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.

She also said that the public should not be alarmed, and this should not affect how we go about our daily lives.

H/T Irish Times
Sadiq Khan is a Muslim and would therefore be banned from the U.S. by Donald Trump, if Trump ever becomes president.

That might cause a problem as the son of a Pakistani train driver is now the mayor of London and the first Muslim to occupy such a leadership post in the western world. At age 45 he has a very bright future ahead, perhaps even leading a British Labour Party that is hopelessly split at present.

Khan defeated all comers because he had a profound message that registered with London voters tired of the antics of incumbent Boris Johnson, a Trump-like figure himself in terms of ego who never knew when to shut up.

Khan as a human rights lawyer was unafraid to stand up for the forgotten and the overlooked. He defended Kurds in London, and he tackled police abuses. He showed himself unafraid and undaunted by the establishment.

Throughout his career Khan reached out to all ethnic groups. During his campaign for mayor he met with the Irish Post newspaper publisher Elgin Loane and several other members of his staff and proudly trumpeted the papers endorsement.

It was unheard of for the Irish to be included by the last mayor of London, said Post publisher Loane.

He was in essence saying, Come on in, we are all part of this great city. It was a wonderful moment.

Little wonder Khans slogan was A Mayor for All Londoners.

As Khan noted, Campaigns that deliberately turn their back on particular groups are doomed to fail.  He could have been speaking about Trump with his anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic and anti-Muslim rants.

Khans Conservative Party opponent for mayor, an incredibly rich and privileged politician named Zac Goldsmith, tried to tie Khans Muslim roots around his neck, claiming he was pictured with dangerous Muslim elements. The charges failed to stick. The London sense of fair play ensured they rebounded.

Khans father was a train driver, and his mother a seamstress. They emigrated from Pakistan and had eight children living in a small house. Khan learned the essential lesson of life early: there was no substitute for hard work.

From his earliest years, Khan worked. "I was surrounded by my mum and dad working all the time, so as soon as I could get a job, I got a job. I got a paper round, a Saturday job  some summers I labored on a building site, he said.

The Khan family continues to send money to relatives in Pakistan, "because we're blessed being in this country.

As the Labour Party took heavy losses around Britain in local elections last week after disastrous infighting, Khan was the one success. He made it clear he had no time for internal wrangling and fighting,

"Squabbles over internal structures might be important for some in the party, but it is clear they mean little or nothing to the huge majority of voters. As tempting as it might be, we must always resist focusing in on ourselves and ignoring what people really want," he said.

"Throughout my campaign, we focused on the issues that Londoners care about most: the lack of affordable housing, transport infrastructure and fares, the NHS, the need for real neighborhood policing and pro-business policies.

With that laser-like focus Khan won in a landslide. He has shown that despite rampant discrimination a Muslim candidate can get elected to one of the highest offices in the land. That may be the best reply of all to ISIS and its ilk who want to claim only persecution and discrimination.
In the mid-to-late 1800s, as many Irish fled their famine-stricken home country, thousands came to America to labor on the railroad systems that would connect the states as nothing had before.

Sadly, many of these men  and some women  would lose their lives along the tracks where they set down the rails, due to the grueling labor, the often rough work conditions and the rapid spread of diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Worse still, a great number of these workers were denied any sort of formal burial, their bodies simply left behind or put in a mass grave with other workers.

Perhaps the best-known instance of an Irish railroad workers mass grave can be found in Duffy's Cut, PA, which first made headlines 12 years ago when brothers Doctors Frank and William Watson began their investigation into the deaths of the Irish immigrants, spurred on by a file of evidence left by their grandfather. After years of research and testing, they were able to confirm that while some of the 57 Irish immigrants, most from County Derry, died from cholera, others were murdered, possibly by locals who believed they were responsible for spreading the disease.

Less well known are two mass graves of fifty Irish people who worked on the Illinois Central Railroad in Funks Grove, IL, a small village 12 miles south of Bloomington.

The grave site's unusual because the workers were buried in the local cemetery instead of by the tracks, all thanks to the kindness of one family, the Funks.

The family came to the area in 1824, when brothers Isaac and Abaslom Funk arrived there after leaving their familys Ohio farm. Half a year later they were joined by their sister, Dorothy (Funk) Stubblefield and her husband, Robert, who set down roots in the area. The family chose the location of the church and cemetery in 1830, and in 1864-65 they built a new church building out of white pine shipped from the east coast. They maintained the church and the cemetery themselves until 1891.

Read more: The impact of the Irish on the American railroad system

So how did the fifty Irish men come to be buried in the Funk family plot, in two mass graves?

In the 1850s, central Illinois was flooded with thousands of rail workers, who labored to build over 2,700 miles of track in the state in just 10 years.

In an article on the Irish rail laborers of Central Illinois, Mike Matejka explains, Famine-ravaged Irish families became the key foundation for pre-Civil War railroad and canal building in America. 75 cents to $1.50 a day was the standard wage rate, minus room, board and other expenses. The Irish were the largest ethnic group listed in the payroll records for the Illinois Central railroad.

A cholera outbreak, sadly an all too common occurrence in the railroad labor camps, led to dozens of deaths among the workers, and the Funk family, the founders of Funks Grove, offered to let them be buried in their cemetery plot.

Matejka explains the significance of this gesture given the social climate of the place and time:

The Funk family broke social barriers of the times in allowing Irish burials in their cemetery. Bloomington did not have a Catholic Church until 1853 and a cemetery until 1856. The reigning mayor, Franklin Pierce, was a "Know-Nothing," frequently attacking the growing Irish community on Bloomington's west side. Perhaps the Funk's Grove cemetery was a sanctuary for the growing Irish community, until they were able to establish their own burial spot, outside city limits, in 1856.

While the exact fate of the Irish immigrants buried at Funks Grove remains unknown (local papers did not carry reports of any of the mens deaths at the time,) Matejka does quote L. Jane Canfield, a Funk's Grove native, who remembered what her grandmother, Emily Jane Van Ness Wilcox, told her:

She talked about how the young Irish men, some were fourteen or fifteen years old, who worked on the railroad in the early 1850s had migrated to the U.S. because of the famine in Ireland. They worked hard and lived in primitive conditions along the building site of the railroad. In the summer of 1853, many men, both young and old, came down with cholera and a large number of them died in a few days. Fear of the spreading disease, they were buried in a mass grave west of the Funk's Grove church.

The presence of the graves endured in local memory. A Celtic cross monument was erected on April 28, 2000, following donations totaling $20,000 from Irish heritage groups, local unions and a few generous individuals to commemorate the Irish immigrants buried at Funks Grove. It reads:

"This Celtic cross honors the memory of more than fifty souls buried here in the early 1850s. These immigrants from Ireland were driven from the land of their birth by famine and disease. They arrived sick and penniless, and took hard and dangerous jobs building the Chicago & Alton Railroad. Known but to God, they rest here in individual anonymity  far from the old homes of their heirs  yet forever short of the new homes of their hopes. Their sacrifices opened interior Illinois and made it possible to develop the riches of the land we share today."

Do you know any stories or historical information of the Irish immigrants who built railroads in the US? Share them in the comment section, below.

* Originally published in May 2016.
A help website for Wilsons Temperature Syndrome has claimed that those with Irish ancestry are more likely to suffer from thyroid problems as a result of the Great Hunger in the mid-1880s.

WilsonSyndrome.com claims that in a study of the ancestry/nationality of those who are more predisposed to suffer with WTS, they discovered it was most prevalent among those countries who have endured famine in the past.

The existence of WTS is already a cause for some debate. Not recognized as a medical condition by evidence-based medicine, it is regarded as an alternative medicine concept and not accepted as a medical diagnosis.

According to the Mayo Clinic, proponents of Wilson's syndrome believe it to be a mild form of thyroid hormone deficiency (hypothyroidism) that responds to treatment with a preparation of a thyroid hormone called triiodothyronine (T-3).

However, the American Thyroid Association has found no scientific evidence supporting the existence of Wilson's syndrome.

In general, those who believe the syndrome exists attribute it as the cause to a collection of nonspecific symptoms in people whose thyroid hormone levels are normal.

The American Thyroid Association describes Wilson's syndrome as at odds with established knowledge of thyroid function, concluding: The diagnostic criteria for Wilson's syndrome  low body temperature and nonspecific signs and symptoms, such as fatigue, irritability, hair loss, insomnia, headaches and weight gain  are imprecise.

There's no scientific evidence that T-3 performs better than placebo in people with nonspecific symptoms, such as those described in Wilson's syndrome.

Nonetheless, there are those who support the idea of WTSs existence and they claim that it is a leftover problem of famines past.

About 200 million people in the world have some form of thyroid disease. The problem is sometimes passed down from generation to generation. The main problems identified are hypothyroidism (thyroid under activity) and hyperthyroidism (thyroid over activity).

WilsonSyndrome.com asserts that as thyroid system problems tend to run in families ... Wilsons Temperature Syndrome, in specific, also appears to have a hereditary component.

Some who believe in WTS cite it as a starvation coping mechanism gone amuck, meaning that the bodies of those who have suffered from prolonged periods of hunger have altered the way in which their thyroid works, to slow down their metabolism and preserve energy.

In certain cases, they claim, following these periods of hunger the thyroid continues to function abnormally and that this trait has been passed down to their ancestors causing thyroid problems in our current generation.

WilsonSyndrome.com adds, Interestingly, the patients who seem to be the most predisposed towards developing Wilsons Temperature Syndrome (earlier in life with less provocation) seem to predominantly belong to certain nationalities such as, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, American Indian and Russian (as well as from other countries which have been plagued with famine).

Read more: Irish town built a memorial to thank Native Americans who helped during Famine

Furthermore, they claim that those who are most at risk are people who have both Irish and Native American ancestry.

Putting the Irish even further at risk, according to their research, is the tendency of patients to have red hair and freckles.

Patients who have a greater tendency towards developing Wilsons Temperature Syndrome frequently have a light complexion with freckles, light-colored eyes, and red hair (or red highlights such as auburn colored hair), the site writes.

Irish and Scot people frequently have these characteristics of course, but there are people from other countries who also seem to have a tendency towards red hair, light-colored skin, and light-colored eyes who seem to be prone to Wilsons Temperature Syndrome (e.g. northern Italy).

Although the accuracy of the Syndrome diagnosis itself is also in question, the claim does raise some interesting questions of the lasting effects of famine of the ancestors of those who suffered.

The WST believers state that its not impossible that as the Irish fled from hunger and struggled to survive during the years of famine in the 1880s, that those who survived slowed down their own metabolism. However, they say, it may not have been as easy to return to the original energy breakdown process once the hunger had ceased.
A Cork family syndicate collected their 500,000 EuroMillions Plus prize from National Lottery HQ today - but it could have all been so different were it not for one woman's diligence.

The family, who wish to keep their identity private, outlined the incredible circumstances in which they found out about their 500,000 windfall.

My husband was on the computer on Tuesday night and I asked him to look up the results of the EuroMillions draw, one of the winners beamed.

Moments later, I saw him crumple up the ticket as he informed me that I was out of luck.

Later that night, for some reason I questioned whether or not my husband had also checked the EuroMillions Plus numbers.

When he finally got around to checking the numbers, there was a stunned silence in the room and I knew something had happened.

It just goes to show that you have to check your lottery tickets very carefully before throwing them away.

The winning ticket was a Quick-Pick selection for the Tuesday May 10 draw.

It sold at Centra in Doneraile, Co Cork on the day of the draw.

Discussing their plans for their winnings, she added: We have always wanted to go on a cruise around the world so that will be something we will do very soon.

We are a close-knit family so this win will give us some financial security for many years.

The win marks the second time this week that an inspired intervention by a wife has resulted in a huge EuroMillions pay-out.

Yesterday, a lucky Dublin man scooped the 500,000 EuroMillions Plus jackpot prize when he found his winning ticket, only after his wife instructed him to tidy up their bedroom.
It has emerged this evening that a newly-appointed junior minister, who had refused to pay his water charges, has now agreed to do so.

Finian McGrath has this evening agreed to pay the bills which he had so far refused to pay.

Minister McGrath had been criticised earlier this week after saying he would ask for the Attorney General's advice before deciding whether to pay.

It is understood the minister is still opposed to water charges, but now believes the dispute is becoming a distraction in his new job as Disabilities Minister.

"I know that priorities must be set and I do not believe that my not paying the water charge at this stage will greatly alter the situation for Irish Water. The debate has moved on and it will be a matter for Dail Eireann in due course.

"It is clear to me that not paying the charge will become a significant distraction to other important work and Im determined that this will not be allowed to happen. To that end I will now regularise my situation with Irish Water and pay my charges," McGrath said.

new politics?im trying to deal with abuse,c.f.,disability ,health and housing.lab want to talk about water.strange.  Finian McGrath (@Finian_McGrath) May 11, 2016

Speaking this evening, Sinn Fein TD for Dublin Bay North Deputy Denise Mitchell said that she is not surprised at the capitulation of Deputy Finian McGrath in the face of Fine Gael pressure to pay his water charges.

Deputy Mitchell said: I believe that Deputy McGrath's capitulation to Fine Gael and media pressure to pay his water charges proves he does not have the backbone to stand up for the people of Dublin Bay North."
Counsel for a former executive of Anglo Irish Bank claims the prosecution has not proven he had any criminal intent in an alleged conspiracy to defraud.

John Bowe, who used to work as the banks head of Capital Markets, is one of four bankers accused of misleading the public about its financial health in 2008.
The total amount of gross income posted by US firms and their subsidiaries in Ireland in 2012 was $122.3bn, according to the study commissioned by the Washington Center for Equitable Growth.

However, economics professor Kimberly A Clausing, an expert on multinationals and corporate tax, estimated just $23bn of that total would have been posted by the companies in Ireland if there had been no shifting of income to the Irish arms and subsidiaries.
The company recorded an improved financial performance last year as operating profits rose to just over 25m.

New accounts filed by Blackstone/GSO Funds Management Europe Ltd show the firms profits increased 3m in the 12 months to the end of 2015.

Turnover  largely from advisory fees  climbed from 31m to 35m.

The Dublin-registered firm lists its principal activity as the provision of management and advisory services for collaterised loan obligations (CLOs), as well as being involved in loan workouts and restructurings.

CLOs are a type of security backed by pools of often poorly-rated corporate bonds which came to prominence in the wake of the financial crash.

They offer investors the potential for higher returns but also expose them to the bulk of the associated risk.

Blackstone, meanwhile, has become better-known in Ireland as one of the so-called vulture funds involved in buying up Irish mortgage loans.

It has also been an active investor in Irish commercial property and also made a reported 375m profit selling part of its stake in telco Eircom  now eir.

The stake was sold to New York-based hedge fund Anchorage Capital.

Blackstone/GSO paid more than 3.1m in corporation tax last year  an increase of about 200,000 on the previous years total.

It recorded an after-tax profit of 21.9m.

Assets under management amounted to 4.1bn compared to 3.1bn at the end of 2014.

Directors emoluments decreased by more than 400,000 during the year.

In total, the companys directors received 2.3m during 2015.

Directors pension costs amounted to 38,462 compared to 55,756 in 2014.

Staff wages and salaries increased by approximately 1m to 6.65m while employee pension contributions cost the company 280,290.

The Irish firms parent company, Blackstone Group is the worlds largest private equity firm.
News / Africa

by Staff Reporter

The woman claim to have been raped by a man of God.The woman said the pastor (47) raped her in 2014 when she went to his flat for counselling.She said: "When I got there, he said I had demons and he knew how to remove them. He said I had to undress so he could anoint my private parts."She said the pastor told her he would use his hand to smear the anointing oil on her punani, but he ended up raping her.Daily Sun reported the woman said she had kept quiet about the incident because the pastor had threatened to kill her.The pastor's wife said she moved out of their apartment last month after she caught him with his pants down with a woman from church. She also accused the pastor of raping her two daughters, aged eight and 17.KZN police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said police are investigating a case of rape. No arrest has been made.
Mary White of engineering firm Fingeleton White was speaking yesterday after An Bord Pleanala gave the final leg of the pipeline the go-ahead.

The benefits of the pipeline are increased safety, environmental benefits, fuel security for Dublin Airport. These benefits are in the interests of the stakeholders so we would expect that commercial solutions will be reached, she said.
In announcing his Cabinet last Friday, Mr Kenny said the provision of rural broadband would fall under the remit of Minister Heather Humphreys expanded department.

Given that the NBP is a countrywide initiative rather than being focused solely on rural areas, Mr Kennys announcement caused some confusion as to which government department would have responsibility for delivery of the plan.

The Department of Communications, Energy, and Natural Resources, which has been tasked with the implementation of the broadband plan up to now, was unable to outline its future role when contacted by the Irish Examiner. A spokesperson said the NBP remains a top priority for the government.

Both it and the Department for Rural Affairs are working together to give effect to the relevant commitments in the Programme for Government and the Taoiseachs speech, said the spokesperson.

The department was unable to offer details about its involvement, however, nor could it outline the role newly appointed Communications Minister, Roscommon Galway Independent TD Denis Naughten, will play in supplying high-speed broadband under the plan.

Furthermore, the department could not confirm whether it or Ms Humphreys department had ultimate responsibility for what is the countrys largest and most significant broadband intervention.

The Department for Rural Affairs wasnt available to comment.

The confusion created by the Taoiseachs announcement last week is the latest setback to the plan after it ran into delays over the last few weeks. The Department of Communications announced it would not be in a position to award a contract for the NBP this year, as planned.

Mr Naughtens predecessor, Alex White, said the plan would be delayed maybe six months, as a result of interested parties receiving a months extension to make submissions.

Eir chief executive Richard Moat then told the Irish Examiner that the delay remained unclear, despite Mr Whites comments.

Eir itself has also been blamed for the delayed rollout of the plan, which aims to deliver a minimum speed of 30Mbps to thousands of homes and businesses that commercial providers consider uneconomical to serve.

Rival BT criticised Eir for chopping and changing its broadband plans after it announced late last year that it was to connect 300,000 of the 750,000 premises originally contained in the NBP.

Under European state aid rules, the government is precluded from providing broadband in areas covered by commercial operators.

The Programme for Government published this week also caused confusion over the NBP. It committed to supplying next-generation broadband to every home and business in the country by 2020.

It states, though, that this could take up to five years, meaning it could be 2022 before it is achieved, given that the contract wont be awarded until 2017 as a result of the six-month delay.
In the mid-term review of the CAP, the government will propose a lowering of the cap on basic payments from 150,000 to 100,000.

If approved, the 243 farmers who shared 32m in 2011 (averaging c130,000 each) will lose out.

Protecting the overall CAP payments is a cornerstone of the new programme for government, which cites farming as the heartbeat of rural economy.

One of the first actions committed to by the new government and Agriculture Minister Michael Creed will be a full mid-term review of the 52m 2015-2020 Beef Data and Genomics Programme for suckler beef farmers.

On simplification of the farm payments inspection system, the government will table amendments at EU level to make a proposed yellow card system workable in Ireland.

The programme confirms an EU rural development financial measure will be evaluated as a source of cheaper credit.

TAMS grants for farmers are to include mats for slatted sheds; rainwater harvesting systems; and drain clearing, subject to EU approval.

Farmers have welcomed commitments to increase funding for disadvantaged area payments by 25million in Budget 2018, and to seek EU permission for a new sheep subsidy scheme, with 25 million of funding in Budget 2017, if approved.

The government will seek recognition from the European Commission for forgotten farmers as a group to be compensated for specific disadvantage, under the National Reserve, in the same way that Old Young Farmers are currently provided for.

This will include farmers under the age of 40, who do not currently meet the five-year rule, and who did not receive Young Farmers Installation Aid.

Payments in the fodder aid scheme and hardship scheme for farmers in very difficult circumstances after flooding is to be finalised without undue delay.

In consultation with the Road Safety Authority and the Irish Road Hauliers Association, the government will raise the restriction on hauling cattle without tachographs from 50 kilometres to 100 kilometres.

The programme combines ambitious Foodwise 2025 Expansion plans with designing and delivering a climate change mitigation and adaptation strategy for Irish agriculture and the broader food industry.

By 2025, Foodwise 2025 aims to increase food and drink exports 85%, to 19bn; increase value added 70% to 13bn; increase primary production 65% to almost 10bn; and create a further 23,000 jobs in the agri-food sector.

The plans include development of beef producer organisations to ensure farmers are not just price takers; strategic taxation changes to support farm incomes and land mobility; and prioritising and developing new live export opportunities.

The Farm Assist Scheme for low-income farmers is to be reviewed, and a priority for the new Government will be to safeguard Irelands defensive and offensive interests in any future international trade negotiations (such as a potential Mercosur deal).
All but one of the 21 analysts surveyed forecast the company will take negative action later today.

More than half see a downgrade of the sovereign from A2, the fifth-lowest investment grade, where it has been since 2002.

Political risk looms large in Poland, said Wolf-Fabian Hungerland, an economist at Berenberg Bank in Hamburg.

The erosion of democratic checks and balances calls into question the long-term credibility of the nationalist Polish government to service its debt, he said.

The shine has been off the EUs biggest eastern economy of 38m people since a new government led by the Law & Justice party swept into power last year.

Markets buckled in January after an unexpected downgrade from S&P, Polands first by one of the three major credit assessors, which followed a political standoff at home and a deepening rift with European partners and the US.

Moodys warned last month that heightening political risks in the country were  credit negative.

The government hasnt received any signals that Moodys will cut the rating, according to Deputy prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

I dont know what Moodys move on Poland will be and I dont have a reason to assume it will be negative as economic data are positive, finance minister Pawel Szalamacha said in parliament yesterday.

For the past two years, GDP has expanded faster than 3% each quarter, with growth jumping to 4.3% in the final three months of 2015.

GDP gained at a slower pace in January-March, adding 3.5% from a year earlier, according to a survey.

The government, which took power in November on promises of extra child benefits and higher wages, is putting pressure on public finances with spending increases and plans to lower the retirement age.

Law & Justice has given little ground to critics.

Officials have called S&Ps downgrade unfair and purely political and said it overlooked one of the fastest-growing economies in the EU. Last month, Prime Minister Beata Szydlo blamed opposition parties for fuelling a selloff in the zloty.

Also alarming investors are costly pledges to increase tax-free income and convert the equivalent of $36bn (31.5bn) in Swiss franc-denominated home loans.

The currency will be at 4.4 against the euro at the end of Mondays trading following Moodys announcement, according to a survey. The currency is down 3.7% this year, worse than its regional peers including the Romanian leu and Hungarys forint.
As a Waterford man, it strikes me that the theft in Thurles last Sunday was a total insult to the amateur players who give so much to their sport and to the fans who had to fork out handsomely for the second weekend in a row.

The GAA needs to take a serious look at how it treats its players and fans and ensure that a sport that makes such a significant economic and social contribution to the country is treated in a professional manner.

This debacle compounded a difficult couple of days for me.

Two days previously, we were eventually presented with a government after weeks of political nonsense, but it strikes me that we have ended up with the government we deserve. That is not meant as a compliment.

Looking down through the composition of the Cabinet and the various promotions and shaftings, one can only scratch ones head and wonder.

It is very apparent that the Taoiseach sold his soul, and that of his party, to retain power and write himself into the history books.

He neither took the long-term future of the country or that of his party into account, and I fear that both will be the ultimate losers from the government that was patched together.

As somebody who paid water charges willingly, I am totally enraged at the manner in which Enda Kenny has done a total U-turn.

It creates a very dangerous precedent and implies that, in future, if Government introduces a measure that the vocal minority does not like, it will eventually be repealed.

The moral of the story appears to be that being a law-abiding citizen does not pay. In fact, if one flouts the law, one might eventually get the opportunity to serve in Cabinet. Mr Kenny should realise that power at too high a price is not really power at all.

The draft programme for government opens with the statement that the New Partnership Government is ready to embrace the opportunity presented on February 26 by the Irish electorate.

Who are they trying to fool? If the verdict delivered by the electorate on February 26 is regarded as an opportunity, then God help us.

I hope I am proved wrong, as I have been on more occasions than I care to remember in the past, but I am very skeptical about the ability of the patched-together construct to function properly.

If it manages to survive beyond a year, it will be a clear sign that no hard decisions were taken and that the path of least resistance was pursued on every occasion.

On the other hand, if it takes tough decisions and engages in proper policymaking, then I fear it will collapse and the lily-livered Independents will run for the hills.

One way or another, it does not bode well for a country that is still struggling to lift itself out of the deep chasm into which it fell in 2008.

Of course the programme for government does make all of the right noises.

It has clearly identified housing, health, jobs, rural development, disability, children, older people, crime prevention, equality, agriculture, and climate change as key priorities for the new regime.

It would not take a rocket scientist to figure out the issues. So far so good, but the rest of the document is full of aspirational hogwash.

I fear that the next programme for government, whenever it will be presented, will contain all of the same aspirations, and all of the same issues will remain unresolved.

In my view, Irish politics is a total and utter mess at the moment and it is not fit for purpose to successfully address the many challenges that the country is facing.

If it is any consolation, Ireland is not unique in that regard. Italy has been at the forefront of this malaise for decades, but many other countries are rapidly joining it.

Spain, France, and the US immediately come to mind.

Indeed, the Brexit campaign in the UK shows how strange politics in that country has become.

If David Cameron loses the referendum, he cannot possibly survive as leader of the Conservatives, and Boris Johnson would appear to be his obvious successor in such an eventuality.

Need I say any more?
News / Africa

by Munyaradzi Huni

UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni yesterday branded the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a "bunch of useless people who should not be taken seriously." His sentiments echo those of President Mugabe who last year attacked the ICC saying Africa should set up its own court of justice.Speaking during his swearing in ceremony yesterday at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, where President Mugabe received a thunderous ovation after being introduced to the crowd, the Ugandan leader attacked the ICC that has been overtly biased against African leaders.President Museveni introduced the leader of Sudan Omar al-Bashir who last year had to hurriedly leave the African Union Summit in South Africa to avoid arrest over alleged war crimes charges pressed by the ICC. When he left South Africa, President Mugabe, who was at the time the AU chairman, attacked the ICC saying: "This is not the headquarters of the ICC; we don't want it in this region at all."Yesterday, President Museveni spoke in reference to the incident saying Africa should not take the ICC seriously."When they started, we used to take the ICC serious but not anymore. They're a bunch of useless people who shouldn't be taken serious. We've no business with ICC and so we welcome our brother from Sudan President al-Bashir," he said to wild cheers from the crowd that packed the ground.Later, the crowd went into a frenzy as President Mugabe walked to take his seat in the VIP tent, with some Ugandans heard shouting: "This is the President of Africa!" President Museveni went on to describe President Mugabe as "our Mzee" and the cheers grew even louder.President Museveni won the February 18, 2016 elections by 60 percent while his main challenger Kizza Besigye garnered 35 percent.Zimbabwe and Uganda enjoy cordial relations as President Museveni has come out openly supporting the country's land reform programme and castigating Western governments for ostracising and demonising President Mugabe.Uganda was granted independence by Britain in 1962. President Museveni came to power in 1986 through his National Resistance Movement. When he took over power, he appointed a government from across ethnic lines, re-established the rule of law and set up a Human Rights Commission.Foreign investment and tourism were encouraged by this move and Uganda's economy began to grow. President Museveni won a presidential election in 1996 and again in 2001.In 2006, full democracy returned with multi-party elections and Museveni remained president by popular vote. In February 2011, he again won elections in that country.Meanwhile, President Mugabe returned home yesterday and was welcomed at the Harare International Airport by the two Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, several government ministers and service chiefs.
Yesterday, the young heroin addict who snatched money from her hand was jailed for three years.

Detective Garda Cormac Crotty testified at Cork Circuit Criminal Court that Stephen OSullivan, 24, could be seen outside Corks General Post Office when CCTV was examined afterwards.

OSullivan followed the woman as she walked along Winthrop St, Cork, on May 21, 2015. He got away with 186 in cash, a pension card, and two passports.

Det Garda Crotty said the accused had been in town begging, to give money to his mother, but the detective reckoned any money he received would have been spent on heroin.

Elizabeth OConnell, defence senior counsel, said the accused had been living on the streets from the age of 15 and was never before involved in crime or violence.

The victim in this case said she almost fainted with the fright when he grabbed her money.

The injured party had enjoyed long walks every day but had lost a lot of confidence as a result of the robbery and now only walked once a week to collect her pension.

He had a very bad addiction to heroin at the time. He was sleeping rough at the time, said Ms OConnell.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain imposed a sentence of four years with the last year suspended for the robbery and for a number of burglaries of offices in the city centre around that time.

OSullivan had previously resided at 53 Reendowney Place, Ballyphehane, Cork City.

The judge said he had a very lamentable and sad background.

The last year of the sentence was suspended on condition that he would take up residential drug treatment on his release.

At a bail hearing on the robbery charge previously, OSullivan said: I am sick of taking drugs, I am sick of drinking, I just want to get on with my life.
CityJets chief executive chairman, Pat Byrne, said the demand for the 18 flights a week service was just not there in sufficient volume and at a sustainable price.

Niall MacCarthy, airport managing director, said airlines have to make decisions based on the commercial viability of routes.

And unfortunately the service to London City was not profitable for CityJet, he said. Quite simply, not enough people were using the service despite intensive and exhaustive marketing campaigns.

They are a great airline customer and we welcome the continuance of their summer season services to Nantes and La Rochelle as well as the Menorca charter service.

Despite the blow, he said airport passenger numbers are still expected to increase by 7% to 8% this year.

Weve already added a number of new routes, including Dusseldorf, Cardiff, Leeds Bradford, and Southampton, he said.

In addition, Iberia Express will commence its new Madrid service shortly and we are also very hopeful about the prospect of our first transatlantic route in the near future.

Cork Airport

He also pointed out the London market is still well served from Cork with 56 flights each week to Gatwick, Stansted, and Heathrow.

Mr Byrne said they launched the Cork-London City Airport service in October against a backdrop of what they believed to be well-founded optimism.

All the indicators suggested there would be strong support from both business and leisure communities, especially in view of the very significant convenience of City Airport, he said.

Unfortunately, with the route now in its eighth month of operation, we have been unable to achieve our passenger load factor and average fare targets.

CityJet said it is firmly committed to operating its new summer routes from Cork to La Rochelle and Nantes, and its charter series to Menorca.

Cork Chamber president, Barrie OConnell, said every effort was made by all stakeholders to ensure this route would be a success.

But unfortunately the take up by passengers, leisure and business, inbound and outbound was less that had been forecast.

Cork Airport has been successful in winning a number of new routes in the last 12 months and is on target to achieve strong single digit growth for 2016.

Less than an hour after the decision was announced, Aer Lingus launched a summer seat sale on its Cork to Heathrow route, with fares from 35.99, and Ryanair offered 16.99 fares on its Cork to Gatwick and Stanstead routes in June.

CityJet will be in touch with affected passengers so they can avail of a refund.
Peoples Convention activist, Diarmaid O Cadhla, was arrested by appointment at his home in Blackrock, on the southside of Cork City, around 11am by gardai who executed a warrant for his arrest.

He was transferred to Cork Prison where he insisted the admissions process be conducted in Irish, and using Irish-language forms.

His arrest arises out of his conviction for failing to complete Sipo forms after his unsuccessful candidacy in the 2011 general election, when he polled 508 votes in Cork South Central.

In accordance with the Electoral Act 1997, all candidates must declare donations in excess of 634.87 received for election purposes.

The legislation also requires all candidates to declare all election expenditure within 56 days of polling day and file a return for that expenditure to the commission.

Mr O Cadhla failed to file his returns within the required period.

The commission said it is its practice not to refer files to the DPP unless, after a significant period of time, and having issued a number of reminders, the documentation remains outstanding.

Sipo said, having issued several reminders, Mr O Cadhlas case was one of 23 it referred to gardai.

His case was referred to the DPP on September 2, 2011, and gardai served electoral documents to him on October 6, 2011. He requested the documents be served in Irish, which was done on October 23, but he refused to return them on constitutional grounds.

He was then convicted and fined in Cork District Court in December 2014 for failing to make the prescribed electoral returns to Sipo. He had argued that the legislation is flawed, that the Sipo process discriminates against non-party candidates in favour of political parties which he described as private clubs, that his constitutional rights were being denied, and that he was being discriminated against.

He appealed the conviction to Cork Circuit Court and lost last July, when Judge Donagh McDonagh confirmed the original penalty of a 300 fine or five days in prison in default of payment. The warrant for his arrest for non-payment of the fine was executed yesterday.

Mr O Cadhla also unsuccessfully contested this years general election.
While no settlement figure was disclosed, it is understood Ms Wall will receive more than 500,000.

Ms Wall, whose claim included a claim for punitive and exemplary damages, previously rejected an offer of 75,000 as inadequate.

At the High Court yesterday, Luan O Braonain, counsel for Ms Wall, and Shane Murphy, for the Minister for Justice and the State, told High Court deputy master Kevin ONeill the case had settled and could be struck out with costs to Ms Wall. The deputy master made those orders.

The compensation proceedings were initiated in 2010.

The cause of action dates back to 1999 after Ms Wall, a former Sisters of Mercy nun known as Sister Dominic, became the first woman to be convicted of rape in Ireland.

Ms Wall was released on bail four days into a life sentence when it emerged a prosecution witness had been called, against the direction of the DPP, to testify at her trial.

That witness later admitted fabricating evidence in which she claimed to have seen Nora Wall holding down the alleged victim during the attack.

In light of those new facts, the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2005 declared Ms Walls conviction a miscarriage of justice.

In 2014, in an order made in the compensation proceedings, Mr Justice Michael White directed the minister and State to provide a range of documents to Ms Walls side. These included files recording the reason or reasons, as yet undisclosed, why the witness for the prosecution was not to be called at the trial and any documents prior to July 31, 1999, dealing with any assessment of the credibility and/or reliability of the complainant.

After further applications, the DPP later agreed to discover those documents.
Pressure has been put on the minister of state with special responsibility for disability issues to pay water charges, including from his own ministerial colleges.

However, yesterday Mr McGrath said he would seek advice from the Attorney General as he does not want to be forced into a position where I dont have to go.

Independent Alliance TD Mr McGrath said: I am still very against the concept of what happened and the whole issue of water charges, and what happened.

But I also feel very strongly that we should let the commission do their work over the nine months and the let the Dail decide.

Mr McGrath added that he had voted against legislation in relation to water charges, as he was very very unhappy the way Irish Water was set up.

It was a shambles so I feel very very strongly about the issue and thats the reason why I didnt pay the water charges in the first place, Mr McGrath said.

I recognise the position now that I am in cabinet, so I have contacted the Attorney General looking for legal advice on it to see if there are any constitutional or legal issues there that says I have to do something and I will genuinely look at those.

The Dublin North Central representative who, along with fellow Independent Alliance member John Halligan, have yet to pay water charges, said he would also be seeking advice from other members of his group.

There are five of us left in the Independent Alliance, he said. Three of us have paid, two of us havent, so I want to see the broader view.

I dont want to be forced into a position where I dont have to go.
At the very early stages, the inquiry was told by senior counsel for Ms OSullivan that evidence would be produced to show that Sgt McCabe had told two other officers that he was making his complaints because of malice he harboured towards a senior officer.

The inquiry was informed that the two officers had taken notes at the meeting in question and prepared a report which was forwarded to a senior officer.

However, a few days after the submission, Sgt McCabe informed Mr OHiggins he had a tape recording of the meeting in question.

The commission took possession of the recording and arranged for a transcript to be created.

Mr OHiggins indicated that the transcript coincided precisely with Sgt McCabes version of events and was in conflict with the allegation that he had told the two officers he was motivated by malice.

Maurice McCabe

Following that, no evidence to show malice was called from the two officers who were at the meeting.

However, the failed attempt to impugn Sgt McCabes character did not appear in the OHiggins report. The retired judge stated that Sgt McCabe was an entirely truthful witness and his bona fides were fully accepted.

The documents show that, at the commission, Mr OHiggins asked the commissioners lawyer whether you are attacking his [McCabes] motivation and attacking his character.

The reply from Colm Smyth, SC, was: Right the way through.

He told the judge that he was acting on instructions.

Sgt McCabes counsel, Michael McDowell, objected in the strongest terms to the course being taken by Ms OSullivan.

Attacking one of our own members of our force who is in uniform and on oath when in circumstances where in public she promoted him to a professional standards unit, and in public she has indicated that she accepts that he was acting in good faith et cetera, et cetera, and in private she sends in a legal team to excoriate him.

Noirin OSullivan

At the inquiry, the commissioner was represented by the same counsel as two of the officers against whom Sgt McCabe had made allegations.

A Garda spokesperson said the commissioner was barred by statute from commenting on the commission.

In May 2014, then acting commissioner Ms OSullivan told a joint Oireachtas committee that Sgt McCabe had the full support of garda management.

In September 2014, after Sgt McCabe raised further concerns about the penalty points system, the commissioner appointed him to the Professional Standards Unit to assist in reforming the system.

The OHiggins report published on Wednesday described Mr McCabe as a dedicated and committed officer. It said the sergeant was a person who acted out of genuine and legitimate concern and that the commission unreservedly accepts his bona fides.

The inquiry vindicated former justice minister Alan Shatter, who had resigned after criticism of him in the Guerin Report, which preceded OHiggins.
Communications Minister Denis Naughten yesterday appeared to backtrack on previous statements in which he said the payment should be stopped from parents who fail to send their children to school after being put under pressure not to go ahead with the proposals.

The proposal sparked anger among opposition TDs, childrens organisations, and charities, who believe the measure would only hurt the poorest in society. Mr Naughten and Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe moved to clarify the situation after the proposals were described as unfair and ridiculous.

Mr Donohoe said the Government would do nothing that creates the impression or the possibility that any family will be punished.

What we are aware of is that we have a few cases of children who are in primary school and then they dont go either into secondary school or complete their full secondary school attendance, he said. We have an awareness of an issue regarding what happens to child benefit in that period.

Mr Naughten, who in a Dail debate with then Tanaiste Joan Burton last year suggested her department threaten to remove the payment, yesterday appeared to soften this line after criticisms from the Childrens Rights Alliance, Parent Line, Barnardos, and opposition TDs. He said the plans would link the Tusla database  which records children who are out of school for more than 20 days  with the social welfare database.

On RTEs News at One he said he was disappointed by comments made by the Childrens Rights Alliance and others who attacked the plans claiming they were daft.

However, he added: At the moment, the law is that a child is not entitled to child benefit unless they are receiving an appropriate education. That is strictly enforced from the age of 16 on, but it is not being linked up under the age of 16.

Reacting to the proposals on child benefit which are contained in the programme for government, Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Childrens Rights Alliance, said: This is a daft proposal that would seriously undermine the rights of children.

It should in no way be used as a tool to punish parents and families. In practice, it would indirectly lead to school principals actually making decisions on who gets child benefit.

We are bewildered as to why this proposal has been included in the Programme for Government. What is the rationale for it?

This position was echoed by June Tinsley, head of advocacy at Barnardos .

It will, ultimately, penalise the poorest and push families into further poverty, said Ms Tinsley.

Rita OReilly of Parent Line said the measure would be regressive.

Labours Jan OSullivan said the proposal should be nipped in the bud.

Under this plan, children who miss school, usually as a result of complex domestic and family issues, would be put to a huge disadvantage and their parents would be put under even greater financial pressure, she said.

Fianna Fail spokesman on Social Protection Willie ODea said the proposal should be reconsidered.

Child benefit is a universal payment which is in place to help families with the cost of raising children. Its particularly crucial for low-income families, he said.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: Child benefit is one of the few universal welfare payments which benefits every child in the State and provides families with the basic means to pay for bare necessities, such as food and clothing.
The proceedings by Hutch, 33, who is detained in the medical unit of Mountjoy Prison, were among almost 20 separate cases which came before the High Court yesterday. All of the cases were adjourned to various dates in the next law term. Among the reasons cited was that several are awaiting the outcome of another prisoners case, on which judgment has been reserved by Mr Justice Paul McDermott.

Hutchs case was among five new cases initiated on Wednesday after Mr Justice Michael Moriarty made formal declarations that Section 99.9 and 99.10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, as amended, are unconstitutional. Those subsections govern the courts powers to activate suspended sentences.

It is understood emergency laws to deal with the consequences of the courts declarations are in the final stages of drafting and may be ready to be put before the Oireachtas within two weeks.

The five cases, and another initiated yesterday, bring to almost 20 the cases initiated since Mr Justice Moriarty delivered his judgment on April 19 in which he found the subsections were unconstitutional.

It was indicated to Mr Justice Seamus Noonan that the State disputes that several of the applicants are entitled to any benefit from the Section 99 decisions.

When the case of Hutch was mentioned, his counsel James B Dwyer BL said it is among those affected by the Section 99 ruling.

Conor Power SC, for the governor of Mountjoy Prison, said his position was that Mr Hutch was not detained on foot of an activated sentence and this case should go back to await Mr Justice McDermotts decision. Counsel added he had a certificate for the prisoners detention and handed that into court.

The judge said he was adjourning the case to May 25 when the next law term opens. He also adjourned the various other cases to dates in the first and second weeks of the new term.

Hutchs application is for an inquiry, under Article 40 of the Constitution, into the legality of his detention. It is claimed the court orders which have led to his present detention were made under Section 99.9 and 99.10 and that the striking down of those provisions means the sentences imposed on him on May 16, 2013, were not validly imposed.

Hutch was jailed for eight years after he threatened to kill three gardai, claiming he had a grenade. At the time, he was also serving a suspended sentence of four years for a 2009 robbery and assaulting a garda.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery on Drumcondra Road, Dublin, on August 27, 2012, and to assaulting a garda sergeant during the same incident. He attempted to bite the garda after being arrested for a robbery of another man.

He also pleaded guilty to car theft, dangerous driving, and damaging a Garda car during a high-speed chase around north Dublin on October 1, 2012. He admitted escaping from lawful custody at the Mater Hospital on the same day.

Hutch, with 48 previous convictions, was arrested a week after escaping from custody in the Mater Hospital and later committed an armed robbery with a knife in Dublin City centre.
The move affects the jobs of 2,265 people. About 1,415 staff are directly employed, while 500 concession staff and 320 cosmetic staff also work in the stores.

The application was brought as a result of Debenhams Retail Ireland suffering consistent losses since the onset of the recession in 2007, and after the withdrawal of support on Wednesday this week of its UK parent company, Debenhams Retail plc, the court heard.

The recession has been bad for Debenhams and the losses suggest the recovery in the retail sector here is somewhat exaggerated, Rossa Fanning, counsel for Debenhams Retail Ireland Ltd, said.

While revenue has begun to stabilise in the last two years and show signs of growth, the total revenue in the financial year 2015 was 167m, 22% below the 2007 figure.

Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd is considered to have a reasonable prospect of survival, in whole or part, once certain conditions are met including approval of a survival scheme which would involve reducing costs, including staff and rent costs, Mr Fanning said.

Concessionaires and staff will continue to be paid throughout the period of court protection and all vouchers, gift cards and loyalty points will be honoured, he stressed.

His client was conscious of the public controversy that arose following the sale of Clerys and the effects on the latters concessionaires and staff, and Debenhams Retail (Ireland) Ltd was anxious to assure staff, concessionaires, and customers it will be business as usual during this examinership.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern said he was satisfied to grant court protection and to appoint Kieran Wallace of KPMG as interim examiner. He also made directions for advertisement of the petition and returned the matter to May 25.

Earlier, Mr Fanning said the company operates 11 stores here  four in Dublin, two in Cork, and others in Galway, Limerick, Newbridge, Tralee, and Waterford.

It incurred losses in five of the last six years and is insolvent both on a balance sheet basis and on its ability to pay debts as they fall due, the companys petition stated. It incurred losses of some 22.6m in the last three years and continues to be loss-making in the current financial year.

It recorded increases in revenues of 1% and 2% respectively in the financial years ending August 2014 and 2015, but also reported losses in both years due to its fixed cost base. Store rents and staff costs account respectively for 15% and 22% of revenue. Payroll costs were 36m annually and rent costs for the 11 stores were 25m annually.
News / Africa

by Staff reporter

Johannesburg - Former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has been dodging offers to join political parties and become Nelson Mandela Bay mayoral candidate, he told News24 on Thursday."A lot of people are approaching me, but I know what I want. Why would I abandon the new federation only to be mayor at some city? A lot of people would be very frustrated if I would announce my candidacy. I don't know what the future holds. We don't know what will happen."He said DA leader Mmusi Maimane had approached him to form a coalition with the United Front. He said he told Maimane no. Maimane met him after it became obvious that no one would win the elections outright in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, he said.Vavi said he was sympathetic to the Economic Freedom Fighters."A lot of what the EFF is pushing for is what we were fighting for when they were in the ANC Youth League and I was in Cosatu before the intolerant crowd kicked us out. I can't help but be sympathetic to the EFF. We are the same," he said.The proposed new labour federation to rival Cosatu had promised to champion the rights of the workers and the poor. Vavi, who would lead it, said it would not succeed if it did not also address the education and training crisis."In 22 years of democracy very little has been done to address the quality of our education system. We cannot compete even with our neighbours, let alone the industrialised economies," he said in a statement.He said several meetings with other unions were planned in the coming days.
Speaking in Dublin at the The Ombudsman behind Bars conference, Inspector of Prisons, Judge Michael Reilly, called for the Ombudsman be given the powers to investigate complaints from prisoners. Judge Reilly said that every prisoner had a right under international treaties and United Nations rules to have a complaint independently investigated.

In Ireland, prisoners can make complaints to the Irish Prison Service but there is no external element to the complaints process, which is in breach of the UNs Mandela Rules.
Det Sgt John McElroy told the mens sentence hearing at Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday that the robbery had originally been planned from Lithuania and the four before the court, Irmantas Paulauskas, aged 38, Saulius Repecka, aged 37, Erikas Matusevicius, aged 36, and Vaidas Pinelis, aged 28, had been recruited there to do the job.

They arrived in Dublin two days before the robbery. They came to Galway the day beforehand to case the premises, Hartmann Jewellers on William St, which is in a pedestrianised area, and position unlocked bicycles nearby at Merchants Rd, which were to be used for their getaway to the bus station.

Sentencing Paulauskas to 14 years in prison and the other three men to eight years, Judge Rory McCabe hinted that people with local knowledge must have played a part in the planning and execution of the robbery.

The evidence strongly suggests this robbery was carefully and meticulously planned and these men were probably under contract to carry it out, he said.

There were probably many other links on the chain because the mens knowledge of the geography of Galway and the premises was of the greatest detail. All of them knew where to go and what to look for in the shop and how to get at it and how to get away afterwards.

I think there were other people involved, who were supposed to collect the rucksacks under that tree. They must have been greatly disappointed when they came up empty-handed.

The men were only on the premises for 90 seconds before leaving calmly with two rucksacks crammed with 16 trays of diamond rings and 32 Rolex watches.

Gardai later found the rucksacks hidden under a bush at the waters edge on Lough Atalia.

All four were arrested within a hour of the robbery and while three of them admitted their guilt straight away, Paulauskas denied any involvement, claiming he had been on a day-trip on his own when he was kidnapped by gardai.

A jury found him guilty on Wednesday following a two-week trial, of carrying out the robbery and of being armed with an imitation pistol.

The sentence hearing yesterday heard all four men had previous convictions in Lithuania with Paulauskas having the more serious convictions  for thefts, fraud, and serious assaults.

He expressed no remorse for the terror female staff had to endure during the robbery, while the other three men expressed genuine remorse, Sgt McElroy said.

The judge said: Its very likely the robbers would have got away with it but for the good citizens of Galway who got involved that day and followed the men at great personal risk to themselves.
Mr Donohoe, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, said it is his expectation that a vote will be held on the issue.

His comments came after the UN criticised Irelands abortion laws, calling on the Government to legislate to make abortion available in the cases of rape, incest, and fatal foetal abnormalities.

Fine Gael had promised in their pre-election manifesto that a citizens convention would be held on the issue of the Eighth Amendment.

Paschal Donohoe

However, it is understood that Independent TD and Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone lobbied the party and, in advance of backing Enda Kennys nomination for Taoiseach, received promises from Fine Gael that this would go ahead. This could put more pressure on the Government to speed up a vote on repealing the Eighth Amendment, which currently gives equal status to the mother and her unborn child.

Mr ODonohoe told RTEs Morning Ireland: The Fine Gael position on that during the general election continues to be the case. We are committed to putting in place the same process that we did in relation to marriage equality that led to a referendum there. So what we will set up will be a citizens assembly to deliver on the matter that will lead to proposals that the Oireachtas may consider and vote upon.

My expectation is that there will be one, and the process that we have put in place is designed to look at what is a sensitive matter in a careful way.

Cora Sherlock, of the Pro Life campaign, said that the group was disappointed by the comments, adding: Our laws protect and respect human life. We shouldnt be denuding or we shouldnt be defensive about our laws.

However, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties executive director, Mark Kelly, said: The Irish Council for Civil Liberties believes that it is now incumbent upon the Government to publish its full blueprint for the new Citizens Assembly on Repeal of the Eighth Amendment that the Tanaiste yesterday promised the United Nations would be up and running within six months.

A number of politicians have recently campaigned strongly in favour of repealing the Eighth, including Labour members, Independents Clare Daly, Mick Wallace, and Joan Collins, as well as the Green Party, Sinn Fein, and the Anti-Austerity Alliance/People before Profit.

Clare Daly

Mr Donohoe went further with his comments in committing to a referendum in the coming years while speaking on Newstalks Breakfast show.

What I am certain will happen first is the process that we have committed to in relation to considering this issue  that will happen  and it is my view that that will lead to a referendum on this issue in the coming years, he said.

Asked about the programme for government published earlier this week Mr Donohoe said a number of key areas put forward by Fianna Fail have been included in the document.
The Drugs.ie Lets Talk about Drugs National Youth Media awards received 960 entries, compared to 650 last year.

The overall winner was Kells Youthreach, in Co Meath, for their video, Monkey on Your Back.

It is the first one that turns you into a liar and a thief. The last one does make you a statistic and, if you dont want to be one, is it time you educated yourself more about it? the narrator asks at the end.

Video/Animation Category Winner (12-14): Monkey on Your Back, Kells Youthreach

The competition, for people aged between 12 and 25, was developed by Greater Blanchardstown Response to Drugs, in 2007. In 2014, the initiative became a national competition and is now managed by the Ana Liffey Drug Project.

Director of the Ana Liffey Drug Project, Tony Duffin, said the overall winning entry ended on a peer-to-peer call to young people to educate themselves about drug use and the potential risks.

Ultimately, this is what the drugs.ie media awards are about, he said.

Mr Duffin said that not all young people took illicit or unknown drugs. However, some did and the awards wanted to reduce the chances of drug-related injury or death.

Thats why we will continue to work with our partners, to ensure that meaningful messages get through to this target group, via the Drugs.ie media awards, he said.

Television and radio presenter Eoghan McDermott, who attended the awards ceremony in Dublin, said drug-use was a problem across all age groups and all sectors of society.

To have a project which encourages young people to think about drugs and drug-use, to start a conversation with their peers and to create such wonderful resources, is simply fantastic, said Mr McDermott.

The standard was so high this year that the organisers have provided a list of honourable mentions. Theme-based entries included news articles, videos, audio recordings and posters.

Drugs.ie is an independent website, funded by the HSE and managed by The Ana Liffey Drug Project. It receives 180,000 Irish visitors and 500,000 international visitors every year.

Here are the other category winners:

Video/Animation Category Winner (15-17): St Davids CBS Dublin

Video/Animation Category Winner (18-21): John Carney

Video/Animation Category Winner (22-25): Ed Griffen, Playing House

* Other winning entries and runners-up can be viewed at https://bit.ly/1Wq5QKy]HERE
The Employment Appeals Tribunal was told by the former employee, Stephen Ruth, that he began working for the company in October 2012 before being dismissed in September 2014. He told the tribunal he was one of three permanent employees who were all notified in July 2014 that one of them was to be made redundant. He said all three were interviewed and Mr Ruth was subsequently made redundant.

However, he said an intern on the JobBridge scheme, who had been taken on in April 2014, was kept doing his job after he had been dismissed. In January 2015, that individual was made a permanent employee.
Just 5% of land sold by Nama for housing since 2014 has been put to use by hoarding developers in search of greater profits, it emerged yesterday.

Demand for new homes is highest in the greater Dublin area, but a small number of developers stand accused of holding back on developing their lands, even though planning permission has been granted.

Nama CEO Brendan McDonagh has said that there is a major issue with developers hoarding land waiting for a better return.

Mr McDonagh said that since the start of 2014, they have sold land that could provide up to 20,000 units  but just 5% of that has so far been delivered.

Mr McDonagh made his shocking comments at the Oireachtas Housing and Homelessness Committee.

He said that while there are a number of issues around planning and the density of housing, he believes owners and developers are waiting for a better return.

One of the biggest issues, and I know the Committee has discussed this, looking at your transcripts, really is that there is an issue with people buying land, effectively looking for a higher rate of return, he said.

But there were calls last night from members of the Oireachtas Housing Committee to have such hoarded lands sezied by way of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs).

Independent Alliance TD for Galway East, Sean Canney, highlighted the case of one major developer in the Dublin area building less than 50 homes since the start of 2015, despite holding more than 15% of the available zoned land.

Mr Canney said in such circumstances, local authorities should be given powers to buy the land by way of CPO and begin developing it.

We must consider it as it is not acceptable at this time of crisis that such large pieces of land remain unused, he told the Irish Examiner.

Mr Canney also highlighted a potential shortage in qualified tradespeople to build the homes which are badly needed.

A recent ESRI report found that despite a shortage of starter homes, particularly in the Dublin area, the report found the market in the capital may still not be profitable for developers.

However, developers might also be hoarding land in anticipation of higher prices and profits in the future, it said.

Developers may be constrained by high construction costs in Dublin, planning regulations that add to costs, lack of suitable development land or may find it difficult to raise credit for larger projects, the report said.
The man gave an undertaking in court to abide by a number of strict bail conditions, including that, he notify gardai 48 hours prior to moving address; give officers 12 hours notice of travelling within the State; specify the route of his journeys; and give gardai his reasons for travelling.

He also gave an under- taking to surrender his passport and all telecommunications equipment, including mobile phones with internet access.

The man also agreed not to contact the alleged injured party, or have unsupervised access with any persons under the age of 18, including family members.

Judge Marian OLeary remanded the man in custody with consent to bail on his own bond of 1,000, which does not have to be lodged in the court.

If the man is in a position to take up bail, he must lodge 2,500 of an independent surety of 5,000, the court ordered.

The mans solicitor, Sarah Ryan, said her client was not in a position to take up bail, and that the mans family had not yet been informed.

The man also agreed to abide by a daily curfew between 8am and 9pm; sign on daily at Roxboro Road Garda Station, Limerick; notify the Garda superintendent at Roxboro Road, or the member in charge at the station, of any intention to leave the jurisdiction.

The man also gave an undertaking not to purchase, use, or access any other electronic equipment, other than a mobile telephone number which cannot access the internet.

We want to take all iPhones and telecommunications equipment from him, but we know that he must have telephone for his work, Sergeant Donal Cronin, prosecuting, said.

The man also agreed to supply a contact number to gardai within 24 hours of achieving bail; that he inform the gardai of any social media platforms he has used in the past, and that he immediately cease accessing them.

Judge OLeary described the offence as very serious.

The man broke down in court a number of times.

The accused was arrested at a location in the State at 9am last Tuesday, and charged before Limerick District Court last Wednesday night, with sexually exploiting a child, contrary to Section 3 of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act.

The offence is alleged to have happened on a date between January 3, 2015, and February 10, this year.

Garda Fiona OConnell has alleged in court that the man befriended the boy on social media applications  Tinder and Snapchat  and sent the boy provocative images and videos of himself masturbating.

She also alleged gardai found 56 naked images of the boy on a phone belonging to the accused.

Phones belonging to both the man and the boy are currently being scrutinised by garda forensic officers.

Garda OConnell said it was her belief that the boy was coerced by the accused to send images to him.

Garda OConnell said the man was intercepted by gardai at a pre-planned garda checkpoint last Monday as he allegedly travelled to meet the boy for sex at a hotel at a location in the State.

She alleged the man also booked a hotel to have sex with the boy on February 13 last, but no meeting took place.

She said she believed the accused would interfere and continue to contact the injured party through social media, if granted bail.

The man has also given a sworn undertaking to allow gardai monitor his phone.

The court has prohibited the media from reporting the identities of the parties involved, as well as any locations heard in evidence.

Further charges are expected to be brought against the man at a later date, gardai told the court.

The man was remanded to appear before the court again on May 17.
Opponents to Norwegian Air International (NAI), the Dublin-based low-fares airline planning to launch the Boston service this year and a Cork to New York service next year, called on the Obama administration to block the issuing of a foreign carrier permit to NAI, claiming the airlines business model will threaten thousands of American jobs.

They also called on congressmen to back proposed legislation which could block the permit.

The US Department of Transportation (DoT), which announced tentative approval for the licence in April, will stop accepting submissions next Monday, and issue a final decision on the licence soon afterwards.

Yesterdays protest comes despite assurances from US President Barack Obama in March that there is no legal impediment to the granting of the licence.

The European Commission is also poised to trigger arbitration if the licence is blocked.

Cork Airport

Cork Chamber, which is working with Cork Airport and other regional and national stakeholders to gather support for the flights on this side of the Atlantic, said hundreds of people, businesses and organisations have already logged on to the DoTs website to formally back the granting of the foreign carrier permit to NAI.

The Chamber also co-ordinated a co-signed letter from leading Irish business, tourism, and political figures, to a group of influential US Congressmen, the Friends of Ireland Caucus, outlining key facts about NAIs plans, and highlighting the benefits of its proposed transatlantic flights to both countries.

But the Chamber said it is important that people continue to lodge supportive submissions to the DoT.

In a message to members yesterday, it urged them to stress in their submissions that the proposed route is fully compliant with the spirit of the US-EU Open Skies Agreement, and the suggestion that Norwegian is offering substandard or unsafe working conditions is incorrect.

NAI is headquartered in Dublin and Norwegian will be subject to Irish labour laws, which are among the strongest in world, it said. Ireland has one of the highest ranked civil aviation authorities in the world and an excellent safety record.
Party leader Mike Nesbitt said the move heralded a new era for devolved politics in the region.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement established a form of government based on a ruling coalition executive made up of all the Norths main parties. The aim was to ensure all sections of a deeply divided society had a role in power.

While smaller parties and Independents have sat outside the executive in past mandates, they have not been afforded the recognition, funding and status of an official opposition.

A law passed earlier this year enable parties with the electoral strength to enter the executive to instead form an opposition.

Mr Nesbitt made the announcement moments after Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein veteran Martin McGuinness were reappointed first minister and deputy first minister respectively in the first sitting of the legislature since last weeks Assembly election.

With the DUP and Sinn Fein having consolidated their positions at the head of the executive in the election, the focus now shifts to the SDLP to see if it will follow the UUP out of government. The cross-community Alliance Party is expected to remain in the executive and again take on the politically sensitive justice portfolio.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said his party would wait until negotiations around a new programme for government were completed.

Eighteen years ago, the UUP, the then dominant force within unionism, was one of the key architects of the Good Friday Agreement while the DUP opposed it.

Mr McGuinness accused Mr Nesbitt of a lack of leadership, claiming he had repudiated the UUPs Good Friday Agreement legacy. I find that deeply disappointing, he said.

I do think rather than being seen as leadership it will be seen as a lack of leadership, it will be seen as a lack of the Ulster Unionist Partys ability to accept the democratically expressed wishes of the people who have charged both the DUP and Sinn Fein with responsibility to lead this administration forward.

DUP Assembly member Paul Givan said the UUP had been rejected by the electorate. With Mike under internal pressure he is now running into opposition having lost the election, he said.

Whilst others have run away, the DUP, as the leaders of unionism will get on with the business of government.

As an official opposition, the UUP will have additional speaking rights in the chamber, be able to table opposition day debates, will fill some key scrutiny committee roles and have access to funded research services.

Alliance Party leader David Ford accused Mr Nesbitt of grandstanding.

Whether in opposition or not, todays move by the UUP shows Mr Nesbitt clearly makes decisions based on where he can best be seen, as opposed to what can best help the people of Northern Ireland, he said.
Advocates for Victims of Homicide called for immediate reform of the bail laws to ensure violent predators such as Jerry McGrath are kept in custody when charged.

McGrath murdered mother Sylvia Roche Kelly in December 2007 while out on bail for a savage assault on Mary Lynch in Cavan and, separately, a thwarted abduction of a child in Tipperary.

AdVIC chairman John Whelan, whose sister Sharon and nieces, Zara, aged 7, and Nadia, aged 2, were murdered in Kilkenny on Christmas Day 2008, said the poor treatment of victims runs through the entire OHiggins report.

While documenting the failures of probationary gardai and their supervising sergeants in a litany of cases, Mr Justice Kevin OHiggins said that any disciplinary proceedings of gardai implicated in his report would not be helpful.

The report did not make any negative comment on the decision of a judge to grant McGrath bail despite strenuous" objections of prosecuting garda in Tipperary.

No matter what the judge (Mr OHiggins) said, there were mistakes, whether through incompetence or lack of supervision or lack of communication or whatever, at the end of the day a woman was murdered by someone who should not be out on bail, said Mr Whelan.

The OHiggins report documented repeated failures at Bailieboro regarding the appropriate charging of McGrath for the serious assault on Ms Lynch and the failures to object to bail, as well as failures of both gardai there and in Tipperary to apprise themselves of the seriousness of each others cases.

My experience of gardai in my own case was they were absolutely top notch and Ive always spoken very highly of gardai, but the facts are the facts in this case, and the other cases, that victims were let down.

In the McGrath case something happened between Bailieboro and Tipperary and this man killed a woman and her family is left bereaved.

What about accountability? Who is to be held accountable?

Mr Whelan continued: We in AdVIC have been calling for years, but no one is listening, for bail laws to be changed. We want judges to listen to gardai if they object to bail, particularly where there is a history of violence. Who is to be held accountable for that?

He also strongly criticised the treatment of Ms Lynch  who gardai failed to keep informed or ensure she attended court on the day her case was disposed  and Lorcan Roche Kelly, husband of Sylvia, who did not get a reply to his letter asking why McGrath was granted bail for 18 months.

Mr Whelan hit out at the bulk of the media coverage: Look at the coverage yesterday, it was all about the political fallout, about ex-minister Shatter and Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the ex-commissioner.

"What about Mary Lynch or Sylvia Roche Kelly and her children? What about them? How theyre going to cope.

He criticised the failure of the last Government in transposing the EU Victims Directive which came into effect last November which would give victims legal rights.
News / Local

by Staff Reporter

A Bulawayo policeman told a court that he was beaten by his wife after catching her sleeping with his workmate at their matrimonial bed.Justice Chenjerai sought a restraining order against his wife Leslie Mandindo.He claimed Mandindo bear him each time he tried to reprimand her for her bad behaviour."I am customary married to Leslie Mandindo. She has been unfaithful to me and I caught her having s*x with my workmate in our house" he said."She is violent and has been beating me on several occasions each time I tried to reprimand her, the latest being on 20 April".He added that she once walloped him right in front of his workmates.However, Mandindo denied the allegations."He never caught me with a boyfriend. I am also not verbally and physically abusing him as he is claiming".Magistrate Sheunesu Matova ordered Mandindo to refrain from abusing her husband.
Nama chairman Frank Daly, speaking at the Oireachtas Housing Committee yesterday, said anyone who thinks the agency can solve the housing crisis alone is mistaken.

He claimed that 88% of its housing stock had been sold to individuals and not vulture funds.

He also advised the vast majority of the 6,000 housing units in Namas portfolio are already occupied.

However, Mr Daly said Namas plan to deliver 20,000 units by 2020, will only be one part of the solution.

Any analysis that claims we can deliver all the homes people need is mistaken, he said.

That 20,000 represents about one fifth of the estimated 100,000 units demanded between now and 2020.

So other players will have to make a contribution. We want to get more people into more homes, and weve every confidence that we will do so.

Mr Daly also claimed that Nama will make a surplus of 2bn by the time it winds down.

However, the claim ignores the fact Nama will not seek to recover the full 72bn of the original loan values, but rather only the 32bn that Nama paid for the loans.

Mr Daly said that while the legislation setting up Nama had referred to a social dividend, it was clear the main purpose was its contribution to dealing with the States economic difficulties.

Quite obviously it is a matter for government at the time to decide what they do with that, he told the committee.

Nama has a commercial remit and its objective must be get the best financial return for the State.

Mr Daly said repaying the debt was Namas top priority. Paying it back as quickly as it could was the biggest social dividend it could deliver. Mr Daly said senior debt would be paid back by 2018 and subordinated debt by 2020.

The chief executive of Nama, Brendan McDonagh, warned there is an issue with developers hoarding land waiting for a better return.

Mr McDonagh told the committee that, since the start of 2014, they have sold land that could provide up to 20,000 units  but just 5% of that has been delivered.

He said that while there are a number of issues around planning and the density of housing, he believes owners and developers are waiting for a better return.
A sea of bows, rising and falling in waves, they fill the air with polkas and slides, hornpipes and jigs, under the stony gaze of a man whose influence on the areas distinctive musical style is undiminished more than half a century after his death.

As the tunes of OKeeffe flow through the fingers of participants at this years World Fiddle Day on May 21, those musicians are playing their part in the living tradition of Irish music, passing it from one generation to the next.

And those present in Scartaglin this year will make a connection with OKeeffe in visual, as well as aural form. For posterity, a photograph is taken each year of the assembled fiddle players  from raw beginners scraping their first polkas, to academics and lifetime devotees of the Sliabh Luachra style of the Cork-Kerry border.

In decades to come, these pictures might even become a source of interest similar to that generated by the unveiling on Saturday of rare colour photographs of OKeeffe, taken in 1957.

Dr Matt Cranitch, awarded a PhD for his research into OKeeffes music and the Sliabh Luachra fiddle tradition, was instrumental in bringing these pictures to light.

He explains the origin of the photographs, taken by American folklorist Jim Griffith, who was accompanied by musician and music collector Seamus Ennis. Padraigs fame had reached RTE and collectors came, including Seamus Ennis, who struck up a rapport with Padraig.

Terry Wilson, who lives in Clare, spent 10 years in Phoenix and met Jim Griffith, who recounted the fact that he had been in Ireland, and his meeting with Padraig OKeeffe.

Seamus Ennis had brought him to Scartaglin and Griffith took colour slides, which were revolutionary at the time. He never developed that roll of slides, and he gave them to Terry Wilson.

Following discussions involving Cranitch, accordion legend Jackie Daly, and World Fiddle Day Scartaglins driving force PJ Teahan, Wilson allowed the photographs to come full circle to where they were taken in Lyons bar, Scartaglin. The pictures will be unveiled by Daly this Saturday in the bar, still owned by the same family as when OKeeffe, Ennis, and Griffith came together nearly 60 years ago. It was in Lyons pub that they met, says Cranitch.

Padraig spent so many hours there that it was referred to as Padraigs office, so this is a way of bringing it back home and its fitting that it should be on World Fiddle Day.

Born in Glountane, 1887, OKeeffe gave up a schoolteachers job and, led a very bohemian life within the locality, teaching music and passing on the tradition.

Although he inherited the native style, notably from his uncle Cal OCallaghan, Padraig put things on a much higher level because he was a real innovator, explains Cranitch, and in every manuscript he wrote, he specified the bowing.

OKeeffes illustrious past pupils provided insights into the travelling fiddle masters style and self-devised musical notation system, among them Julia Clifford, her brother Denis Murphy, Johnny OLeary, and Paddy Cronin, who passed away two years ago. His last pupils, Paddy Jones and Martin OConnor, are attending this years gathering, while on May 20, Cranitch delivers a talk on Maida McQuinn Sugrue, who on emigrating to Chicago, performed with fellow OKeeffe pupil Cuz Teahan.

Padraig OKeeffe, Tom Billy Murphy, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford, Paddy Cronin  they are the sources, and the continuum is being marked on World Fiddle Day. Its a showcase of the music, a chance to exchange ideas. Music can be transferred by CDs and books, but theres nothing like passing it on by personal connection.

World Fiddle Day Scartaglin on May 21 includes talks on Julia Clifford, a fiddle recital, and presentation by RTEs Peter Browne. Facebook: World Fiddle Day Scartaglin
Hello dear. Im a widow in my late 70s and Ive just started to see an 84-year-old man. He said last night that he would like for us to have relations. How do you think I should handle it?  Maureen, Model Farm Road

This is my second attempt at an answer. The lawyer took one look at the first one and said, I dont think thats what she meant by handle it. My advice is to handle it in private if possible. (The lawyer is still 50/50 on this new answer.) People dont like to hear old folks talking about sex in public. It puts them right off their food. The bad news is your man friend will be disappointed if you refuse his kind offer of hanky panky. But the good news is that hes 84 so hell probably forget about it in no time.

Cmere girl, whats wrong with the weather? Its sopping down here in Cork, while they are basking in it above in Mayo, which is basically like, Iceland. Do you think I should head up there for my holidays or would I be better off in Garryvoe?  Dowcha Donie, Togher, I genuinely think the Lough is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

I wouldnt bother Donie. Mayo is like Kerry, except youll see more people wearing shoes. My cousin went to a wedding in Westport once and she said that the people up there talk like seagulls. Worse again, they laughed their culchie bottoms off at her Cork accent. And shes from Ballintemple. Which means she probably sounds like a member of the Royal Family next to you. Say what you will about Garryvoe, but at least youll understand what people are saying about you. (Even if it is that youre a bit of a langer.)

Guten Tag. My parents are coming to visit me here in Cork and I am going to pick them up at the airport. I will not park my car in the set-down area because it is forbidden!!! What other options do I have?  Jurgen, Dortmund and Cork.

Your best bet is to read my bestselling book, Youre In Cork Now Sham, So Get with the Program. Here is my 7-Step Guide to Picking Someone Up at the airport. 1: Park at the set-down area outside arrivals. 2: Turn on your hazard lights. 3: Roll down the window when a security guard arrives and say, Sorry boy, I thought it would be OK if I turned on my hazards. 4: Drive away like mad before he gives you a ticket. 5: Go out around the roundabout and youll be back outside arrivals in 90 seconds. 6: Turn on your hazards. 7: Repeat.

Like totes, whats the story babes? My girlfriends are already planning a trip to Boston this Christmas to burn up the credit cards. Theyll go from Dublin but I keep hearing rumours there will be direct flights from Cork by then. Should I wait or would I better off booking a flight from Shannon?  Kimmy, formerly Dublin 4, now St Lukes, I love the way Cork people say I do be, totes hilario.

I see that presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, wants to block direct flights from Cork to the States. So there is actually more than one nutter running for the White House. Sure who wouldnt want a load of Cork people arriving in their country? Try and avoid Shannon if at all possible. The drive up there will just wreck your festive buzz. I always wonder what Buttevant has going for it. The answer arrives 15 minutes up the road. At least it isnt Charleville.

Howre oo going on? The missus wants a new frock so were heading to Cork for a couple of days. Ive heard there is a new crack now called Airbnb, where you can book a room in someones house on the old internet. Do you think that would be a good idea for a fella like myself? Dinny Paddy Andy, wed be expecting a fry up each morning and to be allowed to watch the news (6 and 9 oclock).

Im not sure anyone who uses the word frock should be trying anything new. Still its a great way to see how people live their lives in the city. (Largely in fear of visitors from West Cork. It can take months to get rid of the smell of sheep.) Dont worry about getting what you want from an Airbnb landlord. Just threaten to report them to the Revenue and theyll probably let you watch Nationwide as well.

I see that presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, wants to block direct flights from Cork to the States. So there is actually more than one nutter running for the White House
Its foldable handset, codenamed Project Valley, will be released next year as the Galaxy X, according to a post on Chinese social networking site Weibo. The post claims that itll feature a foldable 4K display to keep the resolution up when the handset is bent.

The posters source then goes on to say fairly predictable things like there will be four flagship Samsung phones in 2017. They are the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Edge, Galaxy Note 7 and the Galaxy Note 7 Edge.
As principal photography looms, several key locations around the country are being closed to drone traffic. This is for a variety of reasons, mostly safety in the event of helicopters being used and also to help keep secrets from being revealed.

The areas and dates have been outlined by the Irish Aviation Authority on their official site:
At the United Nations in New York on April 22, world leaders ratified the global climate agreement reached in Paris last December. One hundred ninety-five countries, ranging from richest to poorest, have now agreed to limit global warming to well below 2C above pre- industrial levels, with the goal of not exceeding 1.5C.

They have also committed to intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) to limit or reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030. But this is far from sufficient.

In fact, even if all INDC targets were achieved, the world would still be heading toward warming of some 2.7C-3.4C above pre-industrial levels. To keep warming well below 2C, emissions in 2030 must be more than 30% below those envisaged in the INDCs.

This will be an enormous challenge, given the need for major strides in economic development over the same period. Before this century is over, we should seek to enable all the worlds people to achieve the standards of living enjoyed only by the wealthiest 10%.

That will require a huge increase in energy consumption. The average African, for example, today uses about one-tenth of the energy used by the average European. But by 2050, we must reduce energy-related emissions by 70% from 2010 levels, with further cuts needed to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.

Meeting those objectives will require both an improvement in energy productivity (the amount of income produced per unit of energy consumed) of at least 3% per year and the rapid decarbonisation of energy supply, with the share of zero-carbon energy increasing by at least one percentage point each year.

This implies a massive acceleration of national efforts. Over the last decade, energy productivity has grown by only 0.7% annually, and the share of zero-carbon energy rose by only 0.1 percentage point per year. Even if the INDCs were fully implemented, these annual growth rates would reach only 1.8% and 0.4 percentage points, respectively.

Impressive progress is already being made in one crucial area: electricity generation. Solar power costs have fallen 80% since 2008. In some places, new supply contracts have set prices as low as $0.06 per kilowatt hour, making solar power fully competitive with coal and natural gas.

Between now and 2030, the INDCs indicate that renewable-power capacity will grow four times faster than fossil-fuel capacity, with 70% of this new renewables investment in emerging and developing economies. That investment needs to be matched by accelerated progress in battery technology, or by other tools to match electricity demand to intermittent supply.

But there is no doubt that, by mid-century, the world can build a cost-effective zero-carbon electricity system.

And yet zero-carbon power, though hugely important, is insufficient, because electricity currently accounts for only 20% of global energy consumption. Broader changes to the global energy system are needed.

Road transport and aviation, which currently rely almost entirely on liquid fossil fuels, account for 30% of total energy consumption. Decarbonisation of these activities will require either electrification or the use of hydrogen or biofuels. This is certainly feasible, but it will take time.

Heating buildings is another area where major changes are required. Here, the more widespread use of zero-carbon electricity, instead of fossil fuel-based energy, could have a major impact.

But there are also important opportunities to design and construct buildings and cities that are substantially more energy-efficient. With the worlds urban population expected to increase by 2.5bn by 2050, it is vital that we grasp them.

Given these challenges, fossil fuels will undoubtedly play a role in transport and heavy industry for some time to come, even as their role in electricity generation declines. And, even in electricity generation, emerging economies INDCs imply significant new investments in coal or gas capacity.

Taken together, the INDCs suggest that coal could still account for 35% of global electricity generation in 2030.

But that level of coal generation is likely to be incompatible with the below-2C target.

The challenge now is to find an economically sensible path that enables emerging economies to fulfill their growing energy needs, while ensuring that the world meets its climate objectives. It is technologically possible. But it will require action by many very different actors.

Governments have a vital role to play, but so, too, do incumbent fossil-fuel-based energy companies and new-entrant companies deploying or developing new technologies.

Despite their varied backgrounds, economic interests, and points of view, all of these actors must engage in an informed debate that recognises all of the complexities of the challenge ahead.

The shared objective is clear: To build a low-carbon economy that can keep global temperatures within 2C of pre-industrial levels while delivering prosperity for a world of 10bn people.

Ajay Mathur, director-general of the Energy and Resources Institute of India, is Co-Chair of the Energy Transitions Commission. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016.
IM AN admirer of Sabina Higgins. As her husband Michael Ds presidency has progressed that admiration has grown. Id long been a political fan of him, but knew nothing about her until the presidential campaign.

She has a wonderful bearing and adds gravitas to the role of first spouse. Her experience as an actress stands her in good stead, because she is constantly on public view and that must seem interminable.

But these last few months have been especially good ones for her and her husband, given their leading role in the Rising centenary celebrations.

It is hardly a surprise that Sabina Higgins has views on abortion and fatal-foetal abnormalities, nor that they would be of a liberal inclination.

Indeed, one only needs compassion to feel outrage on behalf of the women we force to carry such a pregnancy to term, or to travel abroad to have a termination, if that is what they want.

So it was no great surprise to hear the views she expressed at an event organised by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland in Trinity College. She referred to the whole thing of the choice in abortion and health and said there had to be a choice for women, in relation to foetal abnormalities, and that cases where the person or persons were made carry were really outrages against women and outrages against the world and nature. It was subsequently clarified that she meant to include the word fatal in the phrase.

I could not agree with her more and find it an outrage that such a situation continues, where couples who are given such a diagnosis are forced to travel abroad, away from family and friends, to have a termination.

That they are left to organise the logistics of bringing home the body of their dead baby, often by courier, or to undergo the first part of the procedure in the UK and risk flying home before it is complete, is barbarism.

As a society, we should be hanging our heads in shame at those who have felt compelled to identify themselves in public to tell their harrowing stories and get the law changed. Nothing has been done, apart from lip service.

However, despite being in total agreement with Sabina Higgins, I believe that she was wrong to say what she did.

I appreciate that while there are constitutional restraints on what a President can say publicly, there are no such impediments on a spouse.

As a committed feminist, our President would, no doubt, be fully behind his wifes autonomy. It cant be easy, either, being stuck up in the Aras, in splendid isolation, having uprooted yourself from friends and community. Sabina Higgins is in a permanently supporting role, expected to look at all times impeccable and to keep schtum.

However, when your spouse runs for election and you agree to support that bid, there are certain constraints that go with that, regardless of what is explicitly stated, or not, in the Constitution.

There is form here. There have been times when Sabina Higginss husband has skirted very close to the limits, and its been in the eye of the beholder as to whether he has overstepped the mark with his presidency of ideas.

A man as clever as Michael D is well able to recognise the ambiguity in his role; how poorly it is defined in the Constitution, leaving the incumbent with considerable scope to frame his/her Presidency.

The remarks in Trinity College are not the only ones made by the first couple on the thorny issue of abortion.

The President reflected the public mood, but seriously raised the ire of the government, in 2012, following the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. He said it was his wish that there be some form of investigation, which meets the needs of the concerned public and meets the need of the State.

He has also made clear his distaste for neo-liberalism and that he has issues with the outcome of our economic recovery and how much inequality has been left in its wake. He was closest to breaking the convention of not commenting on government policy in his remarks on tax-cuts proposals, during the recent general-election campaign  even if it was no surprise to anyone that he was against them.

Ive almost wholeheartedly agreed with everything he has said and highlighted, especially given the propensity we have, as a society, for not learning the lessons of even the recent past.

But if you add those latest remarks by Sabina, you have not just a President who likes to live on the edge of what is permissible, but also a spouse who does. She has not sworn any oath of office, but there are conventions. She was invited to the Trinity College event in her role as the wife of the President. She resides in the Aras.

Ive seen it argued, somewhat facetiously, that if she is not allowed to speak out, then this also precludes her and Michael Ds daughter, the newly elected senator, Alice Mary Higgins, from addressing issues. But this is a nonsense.

In 2014, when Sabina Higgins visited her good friend, peace activist Margaretta DArcy, in Limerick Prison, in what a spokesman said was a private capacity, most people viewed it somewhat benevolently. But when it comes to the most divisive issue in Irish society  abortion  such remarks as we heard are massively alienating to certain sections of the population. This couples with the previous remarks by her husband. Are controversial remarks, however much they might fit in with ones own world view, what the Presidency should be about? What sort of precedents are being set?

During the recent general election campaign, Sean ORourke interviewed Taoiseach Enda Kenny. A question was put to the Fine Gael leader about the remarks President Higgins had made on tax-cut pledges. Judging from the response, Id bet that the Government had made their displeasure on the subject known to the Aras.

No government would tangle lightly with any President, least of all one who is as popular as Michael D Higgins. However, the memory of those election-campaign remarks do linger, and there is the added, and significant, fact that there is no longer the extra protection for the President of having his own party, Labour, in Government.

It really would be a terrible pity if, between them, the President and his wife, who have done such a magnificent job in so many ways, overstepped the mark once too often.
Jo Decuyper, chief of railway police for the Brussels region, told lawmakers a national emergency communications network known as ASTRID didnt function well, and that some text messages he tried to transmit from his cellphone are still stuck in the out box.

Thirty-two people died in the March 22 attacks at Brussels Airport and in the Brussels subway.

Decuyper told lawmakers that police commanders sent him an email shortly before the subway attack that ordered the Brussels Metro system temporarily shut down, but that he didnt get the message until later because it had been addressed to his personal account.

The email which would have closed the Brussels metro was sent four minutes before the explosion rocked the Maelbeek station, killing 14 people.

He said he only saw the email the next day.

He added that the station needed at least 30 minutes to be evacuated.

Meanwhile, a Belgian court has ordered Mohamed Abrini, the Brussels attack suspect known as the man in the hat, to be held in custody for another month.

Four other suspects also had their detention extended, Belgian prosecutors said in a statement.

They include Swedish national Osama Krayem, who Belgian authorities say was spotted with the suicide bomber who attacked the Brussels Metro on March 22.

That morning, Abrini, sporting a hat, was seen with the two suicide bombers who targeted Brussels Airport.
The pair issued a statement after a meeting aimed at unifying a party torn over Mr Trumps rise to the cusp of the presidential nomination.

It described their meeting as a very positive step towards unification that recognised many important areas of common ground as well as areas where they disagree.

Mr Ryan has yet to come out in support of Mr Trump, a week after stunning Republicans by withholding his endorsement.

However, their statement suggested both want to crack down on the Republican infighting as they try to pull the GOP together for the fight against Hillary Clinton and Democrats in the autumn.

The much-anticipated meeting unfolded as more Republicans began urging the party to put the extraordinary discord behind it.

The meeting was great, Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), tweeted afterwards.

It was a very positive step towards party unity. Mr Priebus attended the opening meeting with the two before Mr Trump and Mr Ryan sat down with a small group of House leaders.

Mr Trump entered the RNC building, the venue a few blocks from the Capitol, through a side door as about a dozen protesters who oppose his immigration positions demonstrated at the front, chanting: Down, down with deportation. Up, up with liberation.

They tried to deliver a cardboard coffin to the RNC representing the suffering of immigrants under GOP policies and what they say will be the death of the party under Mr Trump. They were not allowed inside.

Paul Ryan on Trump: "Here's what we agree on. A Hillary Clinton presidency would be a disaster for this country." https://t.co/XglzWIuJSe  CNN (@CNN) May 12, 2016

Mr Trump, for years a registered Democrat, has offended women, Hispanics, and others while violating establishment party orthodoxy on numerous issues Mr Ryan holds dear, from trade to wages to religious freedom.

Trump pulled even with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll, in a dramatic early sign that the November 8 presidential election might be more hotly-contested than first thought.

While much can change in the next six months, the results of the online survey are a red flag for the Clinton campaign that the billionaires unorthodox bid for the White House cannot be brushed aside.

Trumps numbers surged after he effectively won the Republican nomination last week, according to the poll.

The national survey found 41% of likely voters supporting Clinton and 40% backing Trump, with 19% undecided. The survey of 1,289 people was conducted over five days and has a credibility interval of 3 percentage points.
Shannon Egeland told police he had stopped to help a pregnant motorist when he was hit in the head and shot.

That story was false, but the truth was equally bizarre.

Egeland, 41, had ordered his teenage son to shoot him in the legs, so he could delay his prison term and collect on a disability insurance policy.

The shooting broke a bone in one of Egelands legs and his foot had to be amputated.

This week, the former developer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a charge stemming from the disability insurance policy he applied for a week before the shooting.

Egeland was vice-president of the now-defunct Desert Sun Development, which orchestrated tens of millions of dollars in mortgage fraud, during central Oregons real estate boom and bust, from 2004 to 2008.

He was one of 12 people indicted in the scandal. Company officials falsified loan documents and secured construction loans for projects that were never completed, prosecutors alleged.

Egeland was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his role. He was wounded in the roadside shooting on July 31, 2014.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Heal Zimbabwe Trust has welcome the move by the Minister responsible for National Healing, Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko's Office to withdraw the National Peace and Reconciliation Bill from Parliament.The Minister of state in the VP's Office Tabitha Kanengoni Malinga, indicated that the ministry found it fit to first consider the adverse report by parliamentary Legal Committee."I move to withdraw the NPRC Bill for reasons that after receiving an adverse report on the Bill, the ministry has decided to consider those issues and then we will re-submit the Bill at a later date," she said.Heal Zimbabwe is on record for calling for an overhaul of the bill as condition for an effective national peace, healing and reconciliation process."Topical during the public consultations by parliament on the Bill was the powers it gives to the Minister responsible which erodes the independence of the commission, the prosecuting language in the bill, lack of clarity on decentralization strategy among many other ills," said Heal Zimbabwe.Heal Zimbabwe called upon the Ministry to stand guided by both the constitution and, more importantly, the views of the people of Zimbabwe as expressed during the parliamentary public consultations."We further implore the ministry to deal with the issues expeditiously to ensure commencement of the parliamentary processes leading to the enactment of the law and effective operationalisation of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission," said Heal Zimbabwe.
The former neighbourhood watch volunteer told Florida TV station WOFL that he had just got the gun back from the US Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Trayvons 2012 shooting death.

Mr Zimmerman told the station: I thought its time to move past the firearm. And if I sell it and it sells, I move past it. Otherwise, its going in a safe for my grandkids and never to be used or seen again.
The South Yorkshire Police officers had been dispatched to Kos in a fresh bid to discover what happened to Ben, who was just 21 months old when he went missing from the island in 1991.

A senior police officer, named in reports, Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick, has been summoned back to the UK after reports that members of his team spent eight hours drinking.

Bens mother, Kerry Needham, defended the officers at the centre of the row, telling ITVs Good Morning Britain she is confident they are doing all they can to discover the truth behind her sons 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.

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 elses.

It is horrendous. I cant 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 Im angry this report had to come out, it is just not nice.

Police pledged a 10,000 reward for information on Tuesday and a team of 10 senior officers travelled to the Greek island as part of an ongoing search for Ben, which is reported to have cost 1m.

By 5pm on Tuesday the officers gathered for drinks at their hotel before heading to a pizzeria and bars. The last members of the team to turn in wound up their evening at 1.24am, according to The Sun.

Earlier this year, South Yorkshire Police said they had received extra funding from the Home Office to help in the search.

Ben, from Sheffield, 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 Ben, who would now be 26.
The blue, seven-seater Vauxhall Zafira fell into the large crater, which opened up in Greenwich, south London, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Ghazi Hassan told the Press Association: In life, you have good days and bad days. This morning wasnt a good day. But Im thankful me or my family wasnt in the car.

Ive told the insurance. They are coming to pick it up and repair it, so thats the positive side, and that no-one was injured.

Residents in the leafy street said they heard a sound like thunder at 4am, when the large hole opened up.

The car is wedged in the hole, where it is resting on a utilities pipe. Police have warned locals they may have to be evacuated.

Mr Hassans brother, Abdul Ahmadzai, said: I woke up very surprised. The police were here about 4am, so I came outside and saw the car  they said it was in a hole.

"I thought: Theres nothing I can do and went back to sleep. I just woke up again now.

His brother had owned the estate car for three or four years, he added.

Cleo OKane, 25, who lives opposite the sinkhole  which is three metres wide and at least several metres deep  said police told her some residents might have to be evacuated.

She said: I thought it was thunder  I heard a loud bang, but it was raining so much I thought it was thunder. It must have been around 4am. I woke up and then just went back to sleep  my window was open  then woke up at six this morning, came outside, and there was a car in a hole.

Ive been here for eight years and have never seen anything like this happen.

The car was parked outside Benefice of Charlton St Thomas Church.

Reverend Erica Wooff, the rector of Charlton, who lives next door to the church, said her initial reaction was: Oh, my goodness, theres a hole in the road.
The move angered Russia, which opposes having the advanced military system in its former area of influence.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg tried to reassure Russia as he spoke at a ceremony attended by US, Nato, and Romanian officials at the Soviet-built base, 180km south-west of Bucharest.
Burma Burmas Ex-VP Hopes New Government Will Bring Peace

Parliamentarian and former Vice President Sai Mauk Kham places hopes in Aung San Suu Kyis new government to resolve ongoing conflicts in Shan State.

CHIANG MAI, Thailand  A successful peace process will depend on the efforts of the new National League for Democracy-run government, said the ethnic Shan Sai Mauk Kham, former vice president of Burma and former chair of the Union Peace-making Working Committee, on a visit to Shan communities in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thursday.

Currently a Lower House parliamentarian representing Lashio for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), Sai Mauk Kham expressed his sympathies for the thousands who have been displaced by fighting among the Burma Army and multiple ethnic armed groups, which continues in the Shan State.

As we all know, fighting is not good for either side, he told The Irrawaddy. The Restoration Council of Shan State, a signatory of last years nationwide ceasefire agreement, and the Taang National Liberation Army have their own reasons for fighting, but this causes the public to suffer.

I have not proposed any legislation in Parliament [to stop the conflict] as I am still studying the parliamentary procedures and protocols, he said. The new government is working on a new peace process, and we must wait and see how the Tatmadaw [Burma Army] and the newly formed peace committee will proceed.

Sai Mauk Kham stopped in Chiang Mai, home to a large Shan community from Burma, on his way to receive an honorary doctorate in educational administration from the Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University on May 15.

I am honored to be acknowledged by a world-famous university for what I have done in the fields of social work and religious affairs, he said.

Prior to becoming a politician in 2010, the devout Buddhist was head of the Shan State Literature and Culture Association, and has been recognized for promoting Shan culture by helping to found Shan State Buddhist University in 2014.

His election win last year was not without controversy, however, with the candidate dogged by allegations of voter fraud in the days following the Nov. 8 election. The Shan State election subcommission ultimately declared him the legitimate winner.
Burma China to Deport Kokang Refugees Back to Burma: Sources

Chinese authorities dismantle refugee shelters on the Burma border and threaten remaining Kokang displaced by fighting last year with deportation, citing orders from higher up

RANGOON  Chinese border authorities have ordered Kokang refugees back to Burma, threatening to deport those who resist the directive, according to sources on both sides of the border.

They came through Thursday and destroyed 40 or 50 dwellings, said Sai Lao, a brigadier-general in the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Kokang ethnic armed group that waged an intense campaign against the Burma Army in months-long hostilities that drove tens of thousands of civilians into China last year. They will not tolerate staying along the border anymore.

Before they destroyed the houses, they came to take photos and told the refugees to leave the area, otherwise they would be arrested and deported back to Burma, he said.

The Kokang [refugees in China] cannot speak Burmese, and they are afraid of going back to Burma because they fear being detained there as well, he said.

The Kokang are Mandarin-speaking ethnic Chinese who trace their roots in Burma as far back as the 18th century.

In early 2015, as many as 100,000 people, mostly Kokang, fled across the border to China to escape the fighting between the MNDAA and the Burma Army.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation released a report last month estimating that 20,000 of those refugees were still living in makeshift camps in Yunnan province in southern China, much higher than a 4,000 figure projected by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

They have no food, and they have no shelter, but the rainy season is about to come, said the MNDAAs Sai Lao. They have to leave, but they have no place to go. They may have to flee into the jungle.

They came and destroyed our houses from about 6 am to 11 am Thursday, said Aung Kyaw Myint, a Kokang refugee living in Yunnan. Around 45 houses were destroyed.

Some people went to their relatives houses; some went back to Burma; and some went to hide out in the jungle, he said. [The Chinese border authorities] told us that they did not want to mistreat us, but that their orders came from higher up.

They said they would come again Thursday night, but it rained, so they didnt show up.

If we could go back to our homes [in Burma], we would, he added. But the situation is still unstable there, so we are afraid to return.

The Kokang hail from a semiautonomous area in Shan State along the Burma-China border known as the Kokang Special Region. The conflict there has largely died down since fighting first broke out in February 2015, but no definitive truce has been reached between the warring parties.
Burma Govt Proposes Keeping Some Junta Curbs on Protests

Aung San Suu Kyi faces criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain junta-era restrictions on free speech.

RANGOON  Burma democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi is facing criticism from rights groups and student activists who say her ruling party is planning to retain restrictions on free speech once wielded against it by the countrys former junta.

Since taking power in April, former political prisoner Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) has released scores of detainees and is making a big push to revise some of the most repressive measures from the long years of military rule.

But its new version of the law governing public demonstrations has prompted alarm since the proposals were submitted to Parliament last week.

The draft bill would punish protesters for spreading wrong information and make straying away from pre-registered chants an offense. It bars non-citizensa category that includes the largely stateless Muslim Rohingya minorityfrom protesting and lists criminal penalties for disturbing or annoying people.

The NLD says the new bill would introduce substantial changes to the military era legislation and was aimed at protecting peaceful protesters rather than penalizing them.

But worries over the proposed Peaceful Assembly Law are compounded by concerns over the governments recent request to the US ambassador to refrain from using the term Rohingya and Suu Kyis refusal to speak out in support of a community that faces continuing persecution in Burma.

The issue is being closely watched by Suu Kyis supporters in the West. The NLD faces sky-high expectations at home and abroad, but the Nobel peace prize winners autocratic decision-making style makes the governments intentions hard to read.

We are concerned that the NLD is rushing this, said David Mathieson, a senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch based in Rangoon.

The bill should guarantee the right to protest, and theres no reason why it should include penalties against protesters, said Mathieson.

He said there were other laws, like the penal code, that regulated potential violations by the protesters and that in its current form the bill gave the authorities latitude to crack down on peaceful demonstrators.

These concerns emerge just as the United States prepares its annual decision on whether to extend its sanctions on Burma. The newly-appointed US ambassador to the country, Scot Marciel, said this week respect for human rights was an important factor.

The draft bill does remove or water down some restrictions from existing legislation, such as the article that meant activists could be hit with multiple counts of the same chargeincreasing the length of the sentences that could be meted out.

It was used last year against students taking part in an unsanctioned march on Rangoon, some of whom faced more than 50 charges because offenses were counted in each townshipBurmas smallest administrative unitthey passed through.

The draft also cuts the notice required for a demonstration to 48 hours and removes the need to get police consent.

Still, students say the changes dont go far enough.

I think the laws which restrict peoples right to demonstrate for what they want should not exist, said Zayar Lwin, a leader of one of Burmas largest students unions.

He said that as long as there were restrictions in the laws it would be difficult for us to accept that.

The NLDs Upper House Bill Committee member Aung Thein, formerly an activist lawyer, rejected that notion.

In the past, they had to seek prior permission at least five days in advance. Now, they have to notify the authorities only two days ahead, said Aung Thein.

There was also a time limit on taking action against the protesters, he said. Action must be taken within 15 days after the protest. No action can be taken against them after 15 days.

But Laura Haigh, of Amnesty International, warned that, if enacted in its current form, the bill could create more prisoners of conscience.

Swift amendment should not come at the price of ensuring full respect and protection of peaceful assembly, said Haigh.

The bill has been tabled in the Upper House and lawmakers have until May 16 to submit questions. After the debate in the Upper House, the bill will be passed to the Lower House. The NLD has a majority in both chambers.

The NLD has put some 142 existing lawsmore than a quarter of the totalunder the microscope, said the chairman of the Lower House Bill Committee, Tun Tun Hein.

This revision includes the most draconian laws of the junta era, such as the Law Protecting the State from the Dangers of Subversive Elements and the Emergency Provisions Act.

The two laws were the main legal instruments to crack down on dissent and put pro-democracy activists behind bars.

Im sure they will be revoked completely after discussion in the Parliament, said the NLDs Tun Tun Hein.
Burma Mandalay Nationalists Demand Govt Condemn Term Rohingya

Some 400 nationalists in Mandalay demand that the government officially denounce within three days the US Embassys use of the term Rohingya.

MANDALAY  Some 400 nationalists gathered in Mandalay on Friday to demand that the government officially denounce, within three days, the US Embassys use of the term Rohingya.

Joined by more than 50 monks from the ultra-hardline Buddhist nationalist association Ma Ba Tha, protesters wore yellow headbands and white T-shirts with No Rohingya and pictures of the ancient Burmese King Anawrattha printed on them as they called for government action.

The government of [Aung San Suu Kyi] is responsible for condemning the United States and urging the world to stop saying Rohingya, said U Sandar Thiri, secretary of the National Buddhist Monk Association of Mandalay, a group backed by firebrand monk U Wirathu.

If the government doesnt take action within three days, well only ramp up our movement, such as by opening protest camps in certain areas, until the government acts, he added.

Protesters marched to 62nd street, one of the main roads in the eastern part of Mandalay, shouting slogans, carrying placards and condemning the US Embassys use of the word in question in a statement on April 20 that extended condolences and expressed concern over the death of at least 21 internally displaced Muslims when a boat capsized near Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.

There have never been Rohingya among Burmas ethnic groups. The US Embassys referral of Bengalis as Rohingya is insulting to our history and to our country, which is in danger of seeing Bengalis become one of our ethnic groups and join our citizenry, said Pyae Phyo Aung, who helped to organize the protest in Mandalay.

Like many people in Burma, Pyae Phyo Aung was using Bengalis to refer to the Rohingya, the contention being that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite many members of the Muslim minority having lived in Arakan State for generations.

The US Ambassador to Burma said that he will continue to respect the name of the people, which means that he and his government will continue to use Rohingya and that we will continue to take it as an insult to our country, he added.

A statement from U Wirathu, read aloud by one of the protesters, said that use of the word Rohingya would be one of the top challenges facing Burmas new government and that it would show whether the government can balance this issue with its relationship with the United States.

The US government is only saying that it promotes democracy, development and peace, when in reality its trying to destroy these things in our country, the statement said.

Using that word and casting [Rohingya Muslims] as poor people in this country is an insult, an act of provocation and interference in our countrys affairs. If the government neglects our feelings on this issue, has no transparency and isnt brave enough to handle this situation, then we will have to be the ones to take action, instead of the government.

Protesters sought to march in front of the divisional government office, but police blockaded them from going near the building, forcing protesters to disperse a few block from the office.

Protesters also demanded that the government drop charges against demonstrators who staged a similar protest in front of the US Embassy in Rangoon in late April.

Many international human rights groups point the finger at Ma Ba Tha and other ultra-nationalist groups for the increase in anti-Muslim violence in Burma in recent years. A report from Fortify Rights and United to End Genocide released on Monday said that there are more than 140,000 Rohingya and other Muslims confined to some 40 squalid internment camps in Arakan State.
Burma Min Aung Hlaing, Burmas Commander-in-Chief, Not Stepping Down

Burmas top military commander, Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, talks democracy, presidential power and Rohingya Muslims in a rare meeting with the press.

NAYPYIDAW  Burmas commander-in-chief said he did not plan to leave office, despite having reached the official retirement age of 60 years old, at a press conference in Naypyidaw on Friday evening, vowing to maintain his position for four more years.

I would consider retiring probably around 2020 if certain goals are reached by then, said Min Aung Hlaing in a rare meeting with the press. For example, if nationwide peace is achieved, [I would consider retirement].

He pledged to try to make peace with all ethnic armed groups within five years.

The senior-general was also asked whether the military lawmakers, who control 25 percent of the seats in the Union Parliament in accordance with the Constitution, would relinquish their place in the legislature if peace were achieved with Burmas ethnic armed organizations. If everything goes well, there will be an answer [to the question of military MPs], he said. It might be in accordance with the wishes of the people.

Meanwhile, controversy over use of the word Rohingya has swirled in recent weeks in foreign and domestic media, among foreign embassies in Burma and within the ruling National League for Democracy government. But on this issue, the commander-in-chief was unequivocal: As we have said before, there are no Rohingya [in Burma], he said.

Min Aung Hlaing said the meeting with the media was convened in order to allow journalists the opportunity to exercise their democratic right to pose questions to the leaders of the country.

This is a democratic practice, he told reporters.

He added that he believed that some lower-ranking military officials might not satisfactorily answer all of the medias questions and therefore sought to answer journalists questions directly.

Another concern many analysts have had about the ascent of Aung San Suu Kyis party is the power the military continues to hold.

But Min Aung Hlaing was very clear, if not entirely truthful in assessing the extent of the constitutional power he still holds: The commander-in-chief is ranked below the president, he said. Contrary to what many assume, we are working together [with the civilian government].
Commentary Parliament Proves Conflict-Averse, to Ethnic MPs Dismay

With the ruling party deferring on parliamentary deliberations of the recent conflict in western Burma, some say ethnic minorities constituents are being robbed of a voice.

It was not a fight, per se, but at the same time, it was not a peaceful week in Parliament. Its not what was said, but rather what wasnt.

Lower House Speaker Win Myint on Wednesday rejected a proposal by a lawmaker from the Arakan National Party that sought to bring up for discussion recent hostilities in Arakan State, where some 2,000 civilians have been displaced by a conflict pitting the Arakan Army against government troops. At its core, it was a proposal that was about consideration of a humanitarian aid package for the displaced.

The speaker objected, at least in part, because he saw the proposal as having been politicized by an addendum to the aid pitch that sought to bring the Arakan Army into talks with the government and military to end the fighting.

The Arakan Army was formed in 2009 in northern Kachin States Laiza, the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Far from their declared homeland, troops from the Arakan Army eventually returned to western Arakan State, an unsettling development for the Burma Army, which for years did not face any kind of formidable ethnic armed opposition in the region.

They have just such a foe now.

In the Upper House a week earlier, the ANP fared only slightly better: A proposal brought by the party was opened to discussion by the upper chambers speaker, but the outcome was hardly more encouraging, with the proposal documented but stronger action deferred.

No aid package considered, and no word from lawmakers on whether a majority agreed with the proposals contention that a Burma Army-initiated cessation of hostilities was in order, and that the Arakan Army should be brought into the peace process.

In merely putting the proposal on record, Upper House Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than told lawmakers that the National League for Democracy (NLD) administration had made clear that it would spearhead an inclusive peace process in the months to come, apparently rendering any further parliamentary input unnecessary.

The Arakanese are just one ethnic minority group in Burma, though they are numerically the largest represented in Parliament, and still their legislative initiatives this month were largely failures. How then might smaller ethnic political parties, perhaps the Taang National Party or the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), feel about prospects for conflict in their respective constituencies (no hypothetical; a present day reality) getting attention in the legislature?

At this juncture in Burma, with no civilian control of the military, ultimately whether there is peace or war in Arakan State will be determined by the men with guns. But that does not mean the men and women with a voice and a vote in Parliament should not have the opportunity to debate the matterin particular when it includes consideration of government-funded humanitarian aid for people displaced by the conflict.

In short, this week was not a good week for national reconciliation, that broad and somewhat abstract concept that, fundamentally, is about overcoming decades of mistrust between the Burman majority and the countrys ethnic minorities.

The new government, which worked hard to dispel notions that it was a Burman party during the election campaign season, made a point to field ethnic minority candidates and pledged to make national reconciliation among Burmas many diverse peoples, and peace, top priorities.

Only if you have faith in us and give us a chance to do it, she told a voter in war-torn Kachin State, when asked about the partys plans for peace. Without being the government, we arent able to bring peace. Thats the reality.

Another reality: You are now the government and call the shots in Parliament with commanding majorities in both houses, and as such have an obligation to make good on that pledge.

ANP lawmakers were not the only ethnic parliamentarians put off by the Lower House speakers conduct this week.

It is sad for her, said Lower House lawmaker Mai Win Htoo of the Taang National Party, referring to ANP lawmaker Khin Saw Wais failed proposal. Of course, this issue should be discussed as soon as possible.

Mai Win Htoo represents Namhsan Township in northern Shan State, an area predominantly inhabited by the ethnic Palaung, or Taang, that has also been wracked by conflict in recent years. He said his party was of the opinion that it was not yet the right time to bring up that conflict in Parliament, citing two fears: that any discussion in Naypyidaw might trigger renewed hostilities, and that a failure to achieve a parliamentary resolution of the conflict would discourage the partys lawmakers and their constituents.

Our ethnic political parties have little power in Parliament, but we need to figure out how we could unify and have greater power, he said.

Sai Thiha Kyaw, Lower House parliamentarian for the SNLD, acknowledged that Win Myint was exercising the power vested in the speakership, but said this weeks rejection of the ANP proposal might lead ethnic political parties to look beyond the walls of Parliament to address concerns facing their constituents.

If ethnic issues cannot be discussed in Parliament, then there will be many questions to come over this, or we even have to think a lot about whether we are able to rely on Parliament to solve problems in our constituencies, he said.

Many ethnic minorities on Nov. 8 voted with the expectation that the NLD would be the best-positioned party to bring peace to war-torn frontier regions. After the events of this week in Parliament, they may well be rethinking that supposition.

Lawi Weng is The Irrawaddys senior conflict reporter.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Transport and Infrastructural Development minister Jorum Gumbo has said the National Railways of Zimbabwe needs $635 million recapitalization as the parastatal is currently totally out of order.Speaking in parliament, Gumbo said the Ministry has been pursuing the recapitalisation of the NRZ."The full recapitalisation of the NRZ requires about US$635 million and negotiations with potential financiers are in progress. Hon. Members will appreciate that negotiations involving such amounts are very delicate as one is bound by non-disclosure agreements," he said. "I therefore plead with this House that, in the national interest, my Ministry is allowed to handle those negotiations outside the glare of the public. I will make a Ministerial Statement in due course."
Commentary Squabbles Over Terminology Obscure Suu Kyis Larger Goals

International media have misconstrued Suu Kyis necessarily cautious policy as collaboration with the generals, but the need for inclusive dialogue in Arakan State remains urgent.

A New York Times editorial this week slammed what it called Aung San Suu Kyis Cowardly Stance on the Rohingya, in reaction to a request earlier this month from Suu Kyis Foreign Ministry to the US Embassy to avoid using the term Rohingya. The appeal came after an embassy statement last month offering condolences over the drowning of more than 20 displaced Muslims in Arakan State provoked a demonstration outside the embassy building for using the contentious term.

The New York Times is wrong to conclude that Suu Kyi, having bravely championed the rights of her compatriots in the face of despotism for a generation, has continued the unacceptable policies of Burmas former military rulers.

The Irrawaddy has reported closely on the conflict in Arakan State since 2012, when sectarian violence first broke out (resulting in some 140,000 displaced, mostly Rohingya Muslim), through to the tenure of the new government after the National League for Democracys (NLD) landslide win in the November 2015 election. Throughout, we have been witness to the sheer magnitude of unfair attacks against the NLD on issues pertaining to religion and ethnicity.

In Arakan State, the NLD government faces a pressing new challenge in the form of ethnic armed insurgency, with the Arakan Army engaged in fierce hostilities with the Burma Army, on top of the unresolved religious conflict. Meanwhile the new government is striving to realize its election promises to end the countrys civil wars and achieve national reconciliationalong with the tremendous burden of rebuilding a wrecked economy and enfeebled national institutions.

Under such circumstances, the NLD has to enlist the cooperation of the Burma Army. After five decades of repressive military rule, the Burma Army maintains its grip on core sections of the countrys political apparatus and economy. The New York Times has misconstrued this reality, characterizing her necessarily cautious policy as a joining of hands with the military.

The new US Ambassador to Burma Scot Marciel appears to understand how Suu Kyi and the NLD government must proceed in rebuilding their country and establishing democracy.

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. Its not a political decision, its just a normal practice, Marciel told members of the press and civil society on Tuesday. The ambassador, however, avoided using Rohingya for the duration of the press conference.

Although international media have largely overlooked it, the diplomatic community are aware that Burmas Foreign Ministry has adopted a more moderate stance regarding terminologyadvising the international community against using Rohingya as polarizing and unproductivein comparison with the forthright position of the previous government: that there were no Rohingya in Burma, only Bengalis (the term widely used within Burmese society to imply that the Rohingya are interlopers from Bangladesh).

In an engagement with the diplomatic community last month, Suu Kyi as foreign minister also signaled a deviation from the insistence of the military government and its successor under President Thein Sein that the country be called Myanmar rather than Burma. She told the assembled diplomats from over 60 countries that they were free to use either term.

The Irrawaddy believes that, rather than arguing over terminology, it is crucial to initiate a dialogue between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority in Arakan State and negotiate a lasting solution, which would alleviate the everyday suffering of all communities in the impoverished state.

The NLD government must invite stakeholders both from the countrys ethnic insurgencies and its inter-religious conflicts to attend, and be heard, at the proposed 21st Century Panglong Conference on national reconciliation and internal peace. The much-touted union spirit can only emerge under conditions of equality and mutual understanding among the diverse people of Burmathe one secure foundation for nation building.

At the same time, the NLD government needs to show humanity toward communities currently excluded under the 1982 Citizenship Law (notably the Rohingya, who are not listed among the 135 ethnic groups who automatically qualify for citizenship). Plans should be adopted in cooperation with the United Nations, international organizations and friendly foreign governments to promote peaceful coexistence between Burmas diverse communities, guaranteeing their fundamental human rights including access to medical services and schooling for children.

Only under such transformed conditions will the government be able to claim that there is no ethnic cleansing or systematic discrimination in Arakan Stateand that the NLD government, unlike its predecessors, is not part of the problem but part of the solution.

Meanwhile, the international media and foreign governments should try for a deeper understanding of Burmas complex ethnic makeup and its fault-lines, to avoid making statements that may inadvertently fuel strife between communities.

When questioned on the Rohingya issue in a press conference right before last years general election, Suu Kyi said it was unhelpful to exaggerate problems in Burma.

All those who have goodwill toward this country should remember the Burmese saying: You have to make big problems small, and small problems disappear, said Suu Kyi.

This editorial was originally published in Burmese on The Irrawaddys Burmese-language website.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Jorum Gumbo has told parliament that significant progress have been recorded at the Victoria Falls Airport since the project started."On project number one, Victoria Falls Airport; the US$150 million project, financed by a China Exim Bank concessional loan facility is progressing well and overall progress to date is that the runway, the terminal building respectively and the air control tower were completed and are now in use since December, 2015," Gumbo said."The conversion of the old terminal building into a domestic terminal has now commenced. This, together with a bigger fire station and expanded car park, should be completed by 31st May, 2016."He also said the Mabvuku road over rail bridge is almost complete."The construction unit is working on the deck, which is now complete. The construction of the bridge approaches is in progress and is due for completion by the end of May," he said.On the dualisation of the Beitbridge-Harare-Chirundu highway Gumbo said as already announced by His Excellency, the President on Independence Day on the 18th of April, 2016, a financier and a contractor has been identified to construct this road."The project reviews and negotiations for final contract signing are in progress. We expect to commence actual construction before the end of this year," he said.
Friday, May 13th, 2016 (11:09 am) - Score 2,674

The United Kingdoms telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed to add an extra sub-band to the 5GHz radio spectrum band used by many internal home WiFi wireless networks, which would increase the number of 80MHz channels available from 4 to 6 and deliver faster speeds.

At present most home WiFi Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN/RLAN) devices, such as a broadband router or Smartphone, make use of both the 2.4GHz and or 5GHz (Gigahertz) bands. The lower frequency 2.4GHz spectrum is the one most commonly used and also penetrates further through walls (better coverage), while 5GHz can delivery faster speeds but suffers from weaker coverage.

Each band is then split up into separate Channels. For example, there are 14 channels sharing around 100MHz of radio spectrum designated in the 2.4GHz range and each is about 20MHz wide (these are spaced just a few MHz apart to limit interference).

The 5GHz band also works in much the same way, although how many channels there are and what amount of spectrum bandwidth they use (10MHz to 160MHz) varies from country to country and via different WiFi standards. Ofcoms proposal would open up a further 125MHz of 5GHz spectrum at 5725-5850MHz, which is something that the USA already does.

Philip Marnick, Group Director of Spectrum at Ofcom, said: People are placing greater demands on their broadband, so we need to ensure they arent let down by their wireless connection. We also want to close the gap between advertised speeds and the wireless performance that people and businesses actually receive. So were exploring ways to open up more airwaves for Wi-Fi.

The reason that the regulator is focusing upon this specific slice of 5725-5850MHz is because early results from on-going technical studies suggest that sharing with other users is feasible (e.g. Satellites of the FSS use spectrum at 5GHz for data uplink in the Earth-to-space direction from ground stations across the globe.) and the band could also be opened up through UK-policy, without the need to await wider international developments.

Naturally Ofcoms consultation, which is open for responses until 22nd July 2016, will examine what stakeholders think and help to establish the correct technical parameters to ensure the appropriate protection of other users in the sub-band. Assuming all goes well then we could expect to see even faster 5GHz WiFi networks in the next 2-3 years, which will be helpful for supporting the latest Gigabit class broadband connections.
Friday, May 13th, 2016 (7:52 am) - Score 621

Cable operator Virgin Media Business has announced that nearly 1,500 businesses in 125 buildings located inside the Leeds City Centre area will gain access to their symmetric 100Mbps or faster broadband service, thanks to the operators on-going network expansion.

Virgin states that Leeds is the 4th major UK city identified by the operator, after Londons Tech City, Manchesters Northern Quarter and Birminghams Jewellery Quarter, as an area that would benefit from their ultrafast connectivity.

The latest expansion should also be taken as a complement to last years announcement (here), which confirmed that an additional 80,000 premises (mostly homes) in Leeds would soon be given access to the operators national cable network and we recently reported on one of the areas to directly benefit from this (here).

Mike Smith, VMBs Director of SME, said: Small businesses with big ambitions need reliable, secure, high speed internet access in order to thrive. Better connectivity will transform Leeds tech hubs and allow these businesses to seize the chance to become digital leaders.

James Lewis, Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council, said: We welcome this programme of digital investment in Leeds and hope that this will offer small businesses the opportunity to boost their speeds and productivity. By encouraging providers like Virgin Media to invest in Leeds, we can help to establish a competitive market and provide a genuine choice for customers.

The network being deployed is specifically designed to cater for the needs of small businesses. In that sense VMB are installing a 1Gbps fibre optic line (FTTP/B) into each building and then giving the individual businesses access to a dedicated internet connection with symmetrical speeds of either 50Mbps or 100Mbps, which should be enough for most of them. As usual theres also the option of an expensive 1Gbps Leased Line if something more substantial is required.
This is definitely a sad thing to chew for fans, as they will not be expecting any "Disney Infinity" series in the days to come. Recent reports confirm that the company has decided to remove itself from the video game world.

According to Engadget, the giant media company revealed during its second quarter earnings report its intention to cease publication of video games. This only means that all the hopes for new "Disney Infinity" installments are no longer a thing in the future.

Although Disney did not entire reveal its reason to veer away from the gaming realm, the company, nonetheless, admitted that poor "Infinity" sales was the main reason behind the move. It holds true, though, that the company's decision will cost them huge figures -- approximately $147 million.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time Disney has taken such drastic measures. In 2013, the company bailed out from continuing Junction Point and LucasArts studio's "Epic Monkey." It resulted to a total of 700 cut jobs in the following year.

Disney also confirmed the closing of Avalanche, its very own internal studio that helped in developing the "Infinity" franchise. This could mean another cut jobs, although it remains unconfirmed as of this writing.

Venture Beat, on the other hand, reports that Disney will instead move forward as a licensing model, authorizing third parties to utilize its properties. And sure enough, this was the kind of business that have succeeded in their popular franchises such as "Marvel" and "Star Wars."

The company's decision to put an end in developing notable titles such as "Infinity" is also believed to have rooted from how saturated the interactive toy industry. Despite the fact it has expected the risk the market has to offer, it still opted to continue until the toll has overtaken it.

Disney's gaming and toy division reportedly acquired a 2 percent sudden decrease in profits down to roughly $1.2 billion. Meanwhile, its operating income managed to only take an 8 percent hit down to an estimate of $357 million.
Chatbots have lately become very trendy, being present on all major messaging services.

According to Tech Crunch, Waterloo-based Kik has a young, dedicated audience of users already showing great interest in bots. Kik CEO Ted Livingston divulged onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY that the messaging app now boasts more than 6,000 bots.

Kik is among the first mobile chat apps that started the chatbots trend. Now others have pursued the trend, including Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Artificial intelligence bots are suddenly all the rage. Big tech seems to love chatbots and almost every tech company seems interested in this new A.I. trend.

A chatbot is a simple artificial intelligence system that can interact with users via text. User-bot interactions can be straightforward, like asking a bot to give you the location of a nearby restaurant, or more complex, like having one troubleshoot a computer issue.

The explosion of chatbots on the Internet has become possible due to a lot of factors coming together. Among them is the fact that Internet users are tired of downloading apps.

According to NBC News, Matthew Hartman, head of seed investment at Betaworks, said that users are thinking that they do not want to download apps, particularly if they think they might not really need them. Hartman added that Internet users prefer chat and they have moved into messenger apps.

Betaworks' new program seeks to bring small bots into the mainstream. Chatbots can easily be added to apps that people already have. This way, users can get engaged with bots.

Peter Lee, corporate vice president of Microsoft Research, said in an email that they assist now to the rise of lots of useful conversational platforms such as Skype IM, Twitter, Telegram, Line, Slack, WeChat or SMS/txt.

An early bot was created in the 1960s. However, advances in natural language processing, web search services, AI technology, machine learning and cloud power made current chatbots possible all of a sudden.
Nissan LEAF news and updates revealed that the EV company is ready to roll. Along those lines, notions of Tesla Model 3 getting left behind in production rises and the competition for dominance escalates.

Nissan is celebrating its flagship EV. It stands out that there are 50,000th European-built Nissan LEAF ready to roll off the production line, 3 years after the brand introduced electric vehicle and battery manufacturing to Europe and built at Nissan's flagship plant in Sunderland. It is the first time a European carmaker has built 50,000 electric vehicles, alongside the batteries that power them, reports Car Dealer Magazine.

Moreover, the silver, Tekna-grade Nissan LEAF is destined for a customer in France while the European-built Nissan LEAFs are currently exported to 23 global markets, covering Western Europe and other destinations as diverse as Argentina, Iceland, Israel and Taiwan, as noted by the same post.

In addition, the production line of the Nissan LEAF and its other segments such as the batteries first touched the U.K.'s soil in 2013 under the management of David Cameron, and it has propelled the availability of 2,000 jobs at Nissan and its U.K. suppliers as well.

The milestone is a great feat for Nissan LEAF and even its constituents see its impact as well. To prove the latter, Paul Willcox, chairman of Nissan Europe, said, "What Nissan is doing today with electric vehicle technology is more advanced than any other car manufacturer. This milestone is another first for Nissan and for our team in Sunderland. No other brand has Nissan's experience or expertise in both battery and vehicle production, and I'm thrilled that over 50,000 customers in Europe share our vision for a zero-emission future."

While Transport minister Andrew Jones said, "This major milestone is great news for Nissan and yet another example of Britain leading the way in developing cleaner vehicle technology, which is good for the environment and supports jobs and growth. Our goal is for nearly every car to be zero-emission by 2050 and we are investing 600 million in electric vehicles to make this a reality."

As Nissan LEAF makes its mark in history, Tesla's Model 3 is awaiting its turn to shine. However, there are rising speculations that Tesla will need to counter the unprecedented demand of the Model 3, according to iTech Post. According to the same report, "Dreams and visions are good, but it seems for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his aspirations have been speculated to lead the company to demise and destruction specially for the Model 3, Model S and Model X legacies."

Although these are just speculations, it remains uncertain on whether Tesla Model 3 will get left behind by Nissan LEAF. However, it is irrefutable that Nissan LEAF and its production line is now ready roll, strengthening the flagship with the release of the 50,000th European-built Nissan LEAF.
The mountain is famous for being called the "Mount of Doom" in the epic "Lord of The Rings" saga. Moreover, recent reports have indicated that the volcano is now active and is raising alert and awareness in the nearby regions.

The "Mount of Doom" is called Mount Ruapehu and it is located in Tongariro National Park in New Zealand. According to Mashable, "The volcano, Mount Ruapehu in Tongariro National Park, is the largest active volcano in New Zealand and it hasn't erupted since 2007 but it now seems increasingly possible it will blow, and due to this, the alert level has been raised to the second highest level."

In "The Lord of the Rings," some scenes involved Mount Doom was filmed on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu, and in the trilogy, Mount Doom is represented mainly by Mount Ngauruhoe, a nearby volcano in the same region, reports the same post. Looking back, the story of Frodo revolved largely in Mount Doom in Mordor because it is the only place the Ring can be destroyed. It also unveiled the glorious mountain with its evil aura and is famously known as the final destination for the journey of the character Frodo Baggins.

It is undeniable that the epic memory of the "Lord of the Rings" still resonates today. The Mount of Doom is consistenly buzzing with tourist and "Lord of the Rings" enthusiasts, but since the volcanic activity rising, the warning has been given.

The volcanic activity has now been set to "moderate to heightened volcanic unrest," according to a post from GeoNet New Zealand. Also, since the temperature in the lake is now a consistent 45 degrees Celsius, this indicates that Ruapehu is seeing heightened volcanic activity in the region.

Even the renowened New Zealand volcanologist, Geoff Kilgour, affirmed of the rising volcanic activity and threat. Since there is a spike in temperature, people should reconsider coming near the mountain and trekking on it.

"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," Kilgour added. With that in mind, it stands to reason that "Lord of the Rings" Mount of Doom would once again roar and shake the grounds with its strength and unseen power, just like in the historical movie franchise.
China's very own biggest cab-hailing service in the country is now to be put up against international cab-hailing empire Uber, as Apple invested $1 billion to the company on Friday.

Apple has been known to be very careful and selective in its technological conquests for startup companies, and this has been a very bold move indeed as the last startup Apple purchased was Beats in 2014. The initiative is said to be the effort of the company to improve sales in China as it has been experiencing weak points in the last few months.

Apple's investment on Didi will mark its first move on attempting to revive its sales in the mainland after the Chinese government shut down its iTunes and iBook stores. "The endorsement from Apple is an enormous encouragement and inspiration for our four-year-old company," Didi's founder and CEO Cheng Wei said in a statement. "Didi will work hard with our drivers, riders and global partners, to make available to every citizen flexible and reliable mobility choices, and help cities solve transportation, environmental and employment challenges."

Didi Chuxing, which is now valued at $20 billion, is a Beijing-based Chinese transportation company that started in June 2012. It was formed by the merging of two rival firms in 2015 and is backed by Alibaba and Tencent, the two largest Chinese Internet companies.

Meanwhile, Apple's share had its first ever quarterly drop in iPhone sales, coming only second to Google's Alphabet in an epic drop of $494.8 billion. Since this year, sales plunged at 14 percent losing about $275 billion in market value lost from Apple.

On the other hand, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with Reuters that the company's initiative is based on several strategic plans such as learning more of China market's segment. In response, Jean Liu, Didi's president, said that the company admired Apple and is looking forward to learning a lot of things from the California-based tech giant.
Three students from Rangsit University in Bangkok are now facing charges and criticism for their elaborate cheating scam in a university exam on Saturday.

Bangkok's Rangsit University canceled its Saturday and Sunday examinations for medical admission after three female examinees were caught cheating using eyeglasses that were embedded with cameras used to record the exam questions, according to CBS News. The questions captured were then sent to at least one tutorial institute, and students received the answers through their smart watches.

Dismayed over the incident, Kittisak Tripipatpornchai, the university administrator, said that cheating is not just a simple minor offence as it can be the first step to other criminal violations.

Test supervisors were alerted of the alleged cheating violation after all three takers finished and left the testing area within 45 minutes, which is the minimum time allotted to finish the exam.

"If we don't have law or tough measures to deal with this, our education system will never be competitive with other countries." Tripipatpornchai told Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the father of one of the students was able to meet with the university officials, and he claimed that he did not know anything about the cheating incident. Kittisak, on the other hand, questioned the parent where and how a high school student could get hold of 800,000 baht on their own.

Cheating had been considered an occasional incident in test examinations among students all around the world; but in this case, it had already adapted new methods with the use of high technological devices. What's more, the incident occurred at one of Thailand's leading private university.

The report received backlash from the social media. One Facebook user criticized the students' sense of responsibility, saying "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."
News / National

by Nyemudzai Kakore

Home Affairs Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo yesterday warned political parties against using human trafficking victims and the proposed introduction of bond notes to gain political mileage.Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday on trafficking in persons as well as appreciating businessman Mr Wicknell Chivayo who bought air tickets worth $50 000 for human trafficking victims, Minister Chombo said the victims should be wary of the dangers of being thrust in the public limelight, as it would expose them to the traffickers who might want to victimise them in order to conceal evidence.Minister Chombo said Government was seized with the case of repatriation of the victims and therefore, politicians should desist from misrepresenting facts on human trafficking and that clear procedures must be followed if they wanted to demonstrate.To date, 70 women have safely returned home after being lured to Kuwait to work as housemaids, but ended up being abused as sex slaves.Nineteen more are still at the Zimbabwean embassy in Kuwait preparing to be repatriated home."There are political parties that are going out and promising people that we need to go and have a march or a demonstration against bond notes, and even against trafficking of these girls. I don't want to see any political party or anybody, agitating people to demonstrate without following proper procedures and due processes", he said."Politicians want to take advantage of this situation and political parties involved know themselves. We are simply warning them not to do it again. I want to warn political parties that you cannot simply go out there and threaten demonstrations for whatever reason.""If they do, they only have themselves to blame, so convey the message properly. I have never seen a political party which marches against money expect the ones you know. How do you protest against money?"Asked on the intended one million men march by Zanu-PF, Dr Chombo said, those organising it, should follow the same procedures of obtaining relevant documents to authorise that march.He said the One Million March did not threaten anybody as it was a solidarity march and not against anyone.Questioned on whether Government had the budget to repatriate other stranded girls in Kuwait or it will seek the services of Mr Chivayo again, Minister Chombo said, "Don't abuse the young man. It is the duty of Government to make sure that once all the processes are done, the 19 girls are sent back home."He called on syndicates involved to be prosecuted as victims who had been repatriated had given valuable information, with his ministry investigating on how many Zimbabweans in the last two years had been given visas to travel to Kuwait.This was after it was revealed that 13 accused persons had appeared in Court with one James Tungamirai Maroodza who owns one of the recruiting agencies, having been issued with a warrant of arrest.International Organisation for Migration chief of mission Lily Sanya, said they were committed in working with the Government on the process of integrating the girls back into the communities so that they don't fall prey again.Social welfare representatives said a follow up had been made to the 32 girls repatriated and they were in the process of ascertaining challenges they were facing as well as empowering them to start incoming generating programmes.
Privacy and security, especially online seems to be overlooked by consumers and business alike. It is timely for Australians to reflect on, and take control of, such issues during Privacy Awareness Week.

The Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) hosts privacy awareness week (PAW) each year and its a great time to explore all aspects of privacy  not just online or cloud. For organisations, that means incorporating privacy into strategic planning, making privacy a governance priority, and taking a privacy by design approach to integrating privacy management into all projects, products, and practices.

For the consumer it is about being more aware that your data can and will be used and it is up to you to be more aware and take steps to protect that.

Intel Security (incorporating McAfee) hosted a media briefing on the topic of Australian business attitudes to cloud adoption and sensitive data management. The punchline was that as more and more business rush to adopt the cloud (78% in the survey), more and more are storing sensitive data (78%) there without perhaps taking the proper safeguards.

Before we go too much further lets define cloud. In a public sense, it simply means using other peoples hardware, software, and services and connecting to these via the internet.' That cloud can be located in Australia (where data sovereignty is an issue) or more likely in a lower hosting cost country  Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Philippines, USA and more.

Joel Camissar, Intel Securitys Director Asia Pacific Service Provider, MSP and Cloud Business started the briefing by saying The privacy and data security debate is now a global issue due to the ubiquitousness of the cloud. We revisited an initial Australian survey done in 2013 to see what differences three years can make and wanting to answer the question - Does Australian business still have its head in the cloud when it comes to privacy?

The survey was conducted by Stollznow Research and covered the attitudes of more than 450 Australian senior business leaders about the adoption of cloud services and the management of sensitive data via the cloud across their organisations.

Read on for the full findings or skip to the end for an infographic.

Cloud Adoption

There is widespread (and rapidly growing) use of cloud services across Australian businesses, yet a lack of focus on security across the board. 76% already use the cloud with 78% using it to hold sensitive. 46% of non-cloud users say they will use cloud services soon.

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is the biggest type of data being stored in the cloud (70%), followed by proprietary company documentation of processes and procedures (64%), network passwords (48%) and competitive data (48%).

Businesses using cloud services omitted key criteria when it came to choosing their cloud provider.

52% did not carry out a risk assessment or establish a Service Level Agreement (SLA).

44% did not consider the location of the cloud infrastructure.

37% did not check if the provider met the standards set out in the Australian Privacy Act.

56% of businesses holding sensitive data gave a higher level of importance to the cloud providers security certification (for example ISO 27001

60% cited continuity over any other factor as the biggest consideration for using the cloud.

Businesses not already using cloud services also showed a lack of due diligence when thinking about what they would/would not factor into their selection process when looking for a cloud service provider. 52% would not look to establish an SLA, carry out a risk assessment or require security certification.

Management of Sensitive Data

More than a third of Australian businesses dont have a policy about staff sharing information via the cloud, despite a high level of concern about this. File-sharing tools continue to be used regardless, with the majority of businesses saying they have visibility over what employees use.

58% have a policy when it comes to employees sharing sensitive data in the cloud, with 60% saying that they have visibility over employee sharing.

40% either do not have a policy, or decision makers did not know about it  despite 57% claiming to be extremely/ very concerned about staff moving information through the cloud, via USB or through other tools.

Across Australian businesses, Dropbox is the most common file transfer platform used (47%), followed by OneDrive (41%) and Google Drive (35%)

Fewer people had training in sensitive data management in 2016 than three years ago (54% compared to 62%).

Data Loss and Breach Concerns

Australian businesses today are most worried about the risk of damaging their reputations and less likely to be concerned about the financial penalties. Worryingly, the research revealed an increase in businesses keeping quiet about data breaches, but a rise in the number that admit breaches to affected individuals/companies.

77% of businesses think their own company manages PII appropriately despite 57% saying they were concerned about how staff share data via the cloud.

70% cited reputational damage (70%) followed by loss of customer trust (60%) in the event of a breach.

33% worry about the financial penalties resulting from a breach today  Federal mandatory reporting legislation is coming.

18% experienced data breaches (21% in 2013). Research showed that the incidence of password and login information misuse is way up (46% compared with previous 35%).

PII loss was down slightly from 48% to 45% today.

The Australian Government reported losing the least password/login information (11%), with those in Financial Services and Insurance the worst for this (78%).

More businesses today tell no one about breaches (rising from 18% in 2013 to 26% in 2016). However they have increased the incidence of telling external companies and individuals affected (up from 43% in 2013 to 50% today).

37% of IT decision makers knew about the proposed mandatory reporting of data breaches with those working in technology showing the highest awareness (56%). Of the 37% aware, 63% are prepared for the mandatory reporting.

Comment/Analysis

It is good to see dedicated Australian statistics based on a representative sample of business from 25 to 10,000+ employees and statistically sampled to reflect Australian business size makeup.

The rush to the cloud is greater than expected but at the SME end cloud-hosted services such as Office 365, hosted email, MYOB, and more apps make this end the fastest adopters.

It was scary to see that Intel Security alone had more than 49.9 billion queries to its research centre each day, that there were 43 million attempts per hour to entice users to click on malware links, and that 71 million potentially unwanted programs launch each day! Having a network or device that uses the internet sucks!

Camissar stated that if cybercrime were a nation, it would be the worlds 24 th largest economy  about that of Sweden.

But perhaps the most telling thing is that the Aussie mantra Shell be right mate  wont happen to me seems to apply to almost everything IT, cloud and security related. Sorry but Murphy was an optimist where this is concerned. It is when, not if, business is breached and suffers data loss.

It was also telling that there is no certification for cloud providers to comply with Australian Privacy Laws  just a reasonable expectation that they take adequate security measures.
Tumblr sent an email to its staff yesterday stating, We recently learned that a third party had obtained access to a set of Tumblr user email addresses with salted and hashed passwords from early 2013, before the acquisition of Tumblr by Yahoo. As soon as we became aware of this, our security team thoroughly investigated the matter. Our analysis gives us no reason to believe that this information was used to access Tumblr accounts. As a precaution, however, we will be requiring affected Tumblr users to set a new password.

So its a breach, probably based on legacy hardware and software. So as breaches go, given the then age and user numbers of the company, it is not too bad. WRONG!

Opinion

I dont want to discourage start-ups, but the rush to market using cloud and low or no cost apps and tools to develop, is an accident looking to happen. By far the biggest security breaches come from using free or old development tools and poorly patched systems. Yahoos due diligence should have included a full audit of security measures and code resiliency. It is not as if they did not know of Tumblrs past.

Before Yahoos acquisition Tumblr was regularly targeted  a big one in June 2011 coming from Tumblr users voracious appetite for porn resulted in email address logins and passwords being stolen via click on this link for free adult material. Then again at the end of 2012 over 6000 users caught worms from the site (or links to it). Then there was the biggie in 2013!

Solution

Nick FitzGerald, Senior Research Fellow at ESET has some words of advice. While many seem like motherhood statements, they are still ignored by too many.

Always use a strong password. By strong password, I mean very long, varied and complex with at least 14-16 characters. It is also best to include capitals, numbers, and symbols. Not all the systems will allow this but if possible, this is the best way to protect an account. Even better, if you can use such long passwords, use a phrase, such as a few lines from a poem or song you know well.

If you must use short passwords  less than 16 or so characters  avoid common words, simple keyboard patterns or personal information. Instead, use acronyms you will easily remember or spell words in a different way using phonetics and numbers. Of course, do not use the same password for all accounts.

Password managers are a handy way to have many different and optimally secure passwords without losing your mind. It is best to not write all of your passwords down without any security on your computer or phone. Also, as you are commonly required to change passwords regularly, password managers can eliminate most of that hassle, with some even enabling you to automatically change your passwords with each login.

To ensure maximum security for an account, it is strongly recommended to activate two-factor authentication. This increases security with an extra layer of protection that requires entering a unique code sent to another email address or mobile, or some other action involving a token carried by the account owner.

Tumblr has advice to and its eerily similar to Fitzgeralds advice.
Lawyers at one of the oldest specialist intellectual property firms in Australia and New Zealand have slammed the High Court's decision to refuse leave to a patent applicant to appeal a decision by the Full Federal Court of Australia.

Jack Redfern, a principal at Shelston IP, (above, left) said this decision had left people who had prospective software patents to deal with the resultant disarray and uncertainty.

He added that the decision was at odd with the federal government's stated agenda of encouraging innovation in order that Australia could get ahead and improve its international standing as a place where new ideas would thrive.

In the case in question, RPL Central applied for a patent on a software platform that enables users to input Recognition of Prior Learning information, via an online 'question-and-answer' process.

Shelston IP associate Matthew Ward (above, right) told iTWire that when the patent application was made, a commercial competitor, Myall Australia, had opposed it on the grounds that the invention was neither new nor inventive.

To obtain a patent, an individual or a company makes an application to IP Australia, a government body authorised to act in this regard. After a patent examiner approves a patent application, there is a three-month window for third parties to oppose it. They have to produce their own evidence and arguments against the patent application. The odds are typically stacked in favour of the applicant.

If IP Australia rejects the patent, then it can be taken to court by the applicant with the sequence being the Federal Court, and then the Full Federal Court. After this the applicant has to seek special leave to appeal to the High Court and if this is granted one can appeal to the High Court.

Ward said while IP Australia found that RPL's invention was both new and inventive, they blocked it on "anti-software" grounds which were not raised by the commercial opponent.

"RPL then appealed to the Federal Court. The commercial opponent did not wish to be part of the appeal, but the patent office stepped in on taxpayer money," Ward said. "RPL won at the Federal Court, but the patent office appealed the decision to the Full Federal Court. RPL applied to appeal to the High Court, but the High Court decided not to hear the appeal." This decision was handed down on May 5.

The patent in question was for a computerised method of updating one's qualifications in order to submit them to educational institutions. Different institutions require different sets of documents for evaluating the possibility of granting a prospective student admission, and RPL's system was designed to take the headache out of the process of collating these qualifications together and then submitting them to an institution.

Ward said Shelston had no involvement in the case and could therefore comment freely about it.

"What we see here is the patent office, with unlimited taxpayer funding, going to great lengths to prevent a relatively small software company from protecting its innovations," he said.

"RPL sought to protect a particular form of computer interface for helping its customers manage their RPL data, which gave them a competitive advantage in the market; now any other third parties are free to directly copy the functionality of their interface. RPL's website is no longer online, so I am not aware whether they are still functioning commercially."

Ward added that this was an unusual case. "Usually, in an appeal against opposition to a patent, the battle is between two commercial parties. Here, one of the commercial parties did not wish to pursue the matter in court. Usually, that would be the end of the story, but here the patent office was determined to block the patenting of RPL's business-related software."

Redfern told iTWire: "The approach by IP Australia of attacking, at its own volition, innovative Australian software companies, is particularly confusing and concerning when viewed in the light of the Prime Minister's recent announcement of a $1.1 billion innovation plan that is focused on encouraging risk and digital literacy.

"It is clear the government understands that there is not only a great need, but a great benefit, in having Australians embrace digital innovation and development. Hence my statement in the press release that it may be time for the legislature to step in and stop the executive and judicial branches of government undermining its plan."

Additionally, the court decision on the patent followed what the two Shelston IP lawyers described as the relatively new practice of deciding special leave applications on written submissions with no oral hearing.



Ward said this practice had begun in the last year or so. "It is purely for efficiency, given the number of matters being appealed to the High Court (across all areas of law)," he said.

"There are very few patent matters appealed to the High Court. It is a real pity, because the High Court hasn't ever extended patentability rules to apply to computer-implemented inventions. Other than in the context of "gene patents", they havent substantively considered this area of law since before computers were in common use."

Ward pointed out that patents did not protect software code; they protected software functionality. "So, it's not that anyone is free to copy RPL's code. Rather, a competitor is free to look at RPL's web interface, decide 'thats a really clever and innovative way of doing things', and copy the same thing. A good example is eBay; they have an auction and a 'buy it now' feature. That's really neat functionality which makes eBay better than other auction sites, and was actually the subject of a lengthy patent dispute in the US, though in that case it wasn't eBay that owned the patent."



Ward wasn't finished with defending software patents. "They (software patents) are not about preventing access to code. Software patents are really about protecting innovative software functionalities," he said. It's about the ingenuity that leads someone to develop a new computer product or functionality.

"A lot of people are worried that software patents can inhibit them in terms of how they code software and wok on their own projects; in reality the real purpose is to prevent copying of other people's clever functionality-related inventions.

"My take is that, if somebody comes up with a new software product or feature, which would allow them to advance their business interests, then they should have some protection against their competitors simply copying. That's why we have patents.

"Think of the start-up sector. There are so many brilliant app developers in Australia coming up with amazing new apps. By having patent protection, they create opportunities to raise capital and/or exit by being acquired by a larger player. Without software patents, there is no reason for anyone to invest or purchase; they can simply develop the same thing in-house and compete."

iTWire asked IP Australia for its take on the issue and a spokesperson responded: "In administering the Patents Act, IP Australia has an obligation to grant patents consistent with the law including whether the patent is for eligible subject matter. In this regard, there are a range of activities, ideas and innovations that the patent system is not designed to cover. For example, financial and business schemes are excluded no matter how innovative they may be considered.

"Where IP Australia makes a decision rejecting the subject matter of a patent or patent application, the applicant or patentee has a right to appeal. If so, IP Australia also has the right to defend its decision if it considers it is correct at law. This is what happened in the case involving RPL Central Pty Ltd.

"Ultimately the Full Federal Court found that IP Australias decision was correct and leave to appeal was refused by the High Court. The High Court considered the Full Courts decision 'plainly correct'.

iTWire also asked whether the organisation had any comment on why it decided to get involved, using taxpayer money, to block a patent, when Malcolm Turnbull's federal government has been shouting itself hoarse about innovation ever since it took over about six months ago.

In response, the spokesperson said: "Your inquiry also raises IP Australias financial arrangements. Please note that while IP Australia falls within the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science it operates independently of the Department on financial matters and operates on a cost-recovery basis."
Internet Australia chief Laurie Patton  a long-time opponent of site blocking  says a recent site blocking exercise in the UK was not the success claimed, with 80% of Internet users ignoring the massive blocking effort.

A huge site-blocking exercise in the UK was cited as resulting in a 22% drop in total piracy. Hardly a great result. What's more, the increase in content viewed on legitimate streaming sites went up by a measly 10%, says Patton.

Patton suggests a report in Forbes the day after the site-blocking exercise claiming "New Research Debunks Myth That Piracy Site Blocking Does Not Work" doesnt reflect the fact that 80% ignored the blocking effort.

When you actually read their report it turns out, as the authors concede, that there is a diminishing return from increasing the number of sites blocked. What's more they could not definitively determine how many of the 53 blocked sites subsequently reappeared as proxy or mirror sites," Patton points out.

Patton says there are as many as 400+ ISP's in Australia, and it is ludicrous to think that we can stamp out piracy with site-blocking.

Serious offenders with a modicum of technical knowledge will always find a way to access what they want, lawfully or unlawfully.

Patton repeats his previous assertion that there is ample research evidence showing that most people are willing to pay if they can get the content theyre after and that some surveys have found that the people who pirate are also among the most active legal downloaders.

Netflix has enjoyed considerable success since entering our market last year, and our two local SVOD platforms  Presto and Stan  are both signing up reasonable numbers of subscribers. This tells you that there is pent-up demand for the very content that, otherwise, is unsurprisingly subject to piracy.

As Prime Minister Turnbull has said: Rights holders most powerful tool to combat online copyright infringement is making content accessible, timely, and affordable to consumers.

This was also the view taken by the Productivity Commission earlier this month when it recommended an end to 'geoblocking', whereby Australians have been price-gouged on overseas video and audio content for decades.

Village Roadshow recently told Fairfax Media that taking legal action against unlawful downloaders helped educate people about the threat that piracy imposes on the creative industry. This perhaps belies what could be their ulterior motive for heading to the courts  so we are going to inconvenience ISPs and see everyones Internet access fees increase as a consequence of the costs of implementing site-blocking, all for a bit of PR?

Patton says theres a need to educate people about the rights of content creators and encourage them to access content from legitimate sites.

But first, we have to ensure that the content they want to watch is available at reasonable prices, he concluded.
Twitters platform may just be the real pulse of the people in the coming Federal Election.

@TwitterAU has launched a new #ausvotes custom Twitter emoji for the 2016 Federal Election, to add a little more colour to election Tweets.

The custom emoji will appear from 9 am today in all Tweets using the #ausvotes.

Twitter is the home of live and public political discussion in Australia, and there has already been over 136 million views of Tweets using the #auspol hashtag since the beginning of the election campaign. On top of this, #auspol was the third most trending political hashtag in the world in 2015.

@TwitterAU has also looked at how the conversation unfolded since the election was called last weekend, finding:

The top five emojis that have been most frequently used in Tweets with #ausvotes since the election campaign kicked off (shown below)

in Tweets with #ausvotes since the election campaign kicked off (shown below) The #ausvotes story to date  with over 300,000 Tweets related to the election since the weekend: Reverb link is here.

Most mentioned parties and leaders on Twitter since the election was called

An #ausvotes Twitter heat map highlighting how the conversation spread on Twitter when the Prime Minister's announced the election on Sunday

If you are interested see Twitters #ausvotes blog here.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Finance and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa has expressed ignorance about the ownership of the Choppies Supermarket which is well known to be owned by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko.This was after Tafara MDC-T MP James Maridadi questioned the reasons why the government was allowing such supermarkets to extenalise the US dollar at the time when the country faces serious cash shortages."I get the impression that the Hon. Member is becoming very personal. At first he mentioned two supermarkets, Pick n Pay and Choppies and just now he has just forgotten about Pick n Pay, but I will answer the question though," said Chinamasa."Firstly, I am not aware that Choppies Supermarket is foreign owned. Clearly I am not aware. I am also not aware of the content of the stock whether what percentage is locally procured and what percentage is imported. I am aware though, that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce have been going through various shops especially supermarkets, to determine the local content of what is being sold in those shops. I believe that local content has increased to what it was last year."Chinamasa said a lot of supermarkets are very conscious of that fact."You may also need to know Hon. Member, that the clarification by His Excellency of the indigenisation framework is precisely addressing the point raised by Hon. Maridadi," he said. "As you may know the policy states that the retail sector is reserved for indigenous people. Any foreigner to enter that sector must do so under a special dispensation which will include as we go forward, insistence on our part as Government that the investor into the retail must have out growers and must be able to source locally."He said where those factors are satisfied, he was sure that a special dispensation can be given to foreigners or to foreign investment which come into the reserve sectors."In this case, I will be quite happy to give a licence for a foreign investor into the retail sector where that foreign investor is going to procure everything, 90% locally and also to have out growers. So, the principle is very clear but the implementation will take time," he said.
Although cybercriminals have been turning out specialized hacking and attack tools at a rapid pace, terrorists are often using legitimate, consumer-focused technologies, according to a new Trend Micro report.

"They're abusing legitimate technology for their own gain," said Ed Cabrera, vice president of cybersecurity strategy at Trend Micro.

Sometimes, the vendors involved shut down accounts that are being used by terrorists, he said.

"As accounts become not usable, they pivot to other applications," he said.

For example, for messaging, 34 percent of terrorists use Telegram, 15 percent use Signal, 15 percent use WhatsApp, 14 percent use Wickr, 10 percent use Surespot, and 9 percent use Threema, according to the report.

All are common consumer messaging applications available on the official app stores.

For email, 34 percent of terrorists use Gmail, followed by Mail2Tor at 21 percent, Sigaint at 19 percent, RuggedInbox at 14 percent, and Yahoo! Mail at 12 percent.

Mail2Tor, Sigaint and RuggedInbox are darknet email service providers, used by cybercriminals -- but also recommended as anonymizing tools for activists and journalists.

CSO staff

In fact, according to the report, terrorists have been spotted adopting and distributing "anonymizing" guides originally meant for dissidents, reporters, and whistleblowers.

For example, terrorists have been using SecureDrop to share large files. SecureDrop is an open-source platform used by the Guardian and Gawker Media for whistleblowers to share documents and data anonymously with their reporters.

One reason that terrorists might prefer to use legitimate public services and other consumer-oriented tools is that criminal marketplaces are difficult to penetrate.

"It's all about the reputation economy," said Cabrera. "Criminals hate terrorists, and for them to actually penetrate and be able to be in this marketplace and be accepted, might be a challenge for them."

Russia, for example, has a sophisticated and mature criminal underground, but its members might not have much sympathy for, say, terrorists driven by religious fundamentalism.

In addition, the two groups have different motives. Cybercriminals are motivated by financial gain. Terrorists, however, may be more motivated to spread propaganda rather than malware.

When consumer tools are not available, and criminal tools not easily accessible, terrorists brew their own.

"There was a gap on the mobile end, so they started creating mobile applications to meet their needs," said Cabrera.

Using home-grown tools also helps alleviate the distrust many terrorists have for Western technologies.

According to Trend Micro, the six most popular home-grown applications include an email encryption application, a mobile encryption program, an encryption plugin for the Pidgin instant messaging application, an encryption tool that works with email, instant messages and texts, and two applications used for disseminating news feeds, calendars and other information.
The 3-0 defeat at Bradford on Sunday was the final straw, even for the supremely patient money men from Oslo.

They acted fast to appoint former academy director Terry Burton as manager for the next two relegation games at least. Mick Harford will be his number two and youth coach Stewart Robson has been conscripted for front line duty in the battle for survival.

The new management team looked a bit more like the Crazy Gang of old. There was at least a small and flickering light at the end of the tunnel instead of unremitting pessimism for the fans.

Not surprisingly there were bitter recriminations after goals from Peter Beagrie helped pushed Bradford up a place in the nether regions of the league consigning Wimbledon to the "drop zone".

Striker John Hartson, sent off for the use of "foul and abusive language" when challenging a decision by referee Jeff Winter, acted as shop steward for his team mates who then seemed to be at complete loggerheads with controversial manager Olsen.

"I think the players are together but we have gone on a terrible run and keep getting beaten. It has been well publicised that not everyone gets on with the manager. Not everybody likes the way he works, some of the things he does and his laid-back approach." said Hartson

Bradford had been Burton's first game as Olsen's assistant and he could not believe his side's ill fortune.

"The players desperately believed we could win this game and we are a better side than Bradford, but the decisions went against us," he said.

"Ben Thatcher was clearly trying to get his arm out of the way when the ref awarded a penalty. And Wayne Jacobs handled before their second. We couldn't believe it."

The cold statistics make the most depressing of reading for Wimbledon fans with eight straight defeats since beating Leicester City 2-1 at home on March 11, conceding 20 goals and scoring just five in the process.

If, as seems likely, the battle to avoid the third relegation spot ends up as a straight scrap between the Dons and Bradford, Wimbledon must at least draw both of their remaining games against Aston Villa at Selhurst tomorrow (Saturday) and away to Southampton on the final day of the season.

Were Wimbledon and Bradford to end up on the same number of points it seems likely that the Yorkshire club would survive on a slightly superior goal difference. The Bantams' final games are both away, at Leicester and Liverpool neither of which will be easy.

Announcing the changes major shareholder Bjorn Gjelsten was remarkably upbeat. "Terry and the players are convinced that we will stay up" he said - a sentiment that was echoed by Burton.

But Mr Gjelsten denied the changes being announced meant a return to "Gang warfare". That was a thing of the past. He defended the original appointment of Olsen whose results with the Norwegian national side spoke for themselves. Olsen had always been loyal to Wimbledon. It was just unfortunate that things had not worked out.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

President Robert Mugabe pulled another shocker in Uganda Thursday during President Yoweri Museveni's swearing-in ceremony.This time around he did not stumble like in Japan.Mugabe reportedly strolled into the venue, Kololo Ceremonial Ground as Museveni was being sworn in.Mugabe had arrived in Kampala on Wednedsay.Its not clear what could have delayed Mugabe.Social media went on overdrive when news filtered through.Bulawayo24.com saw a minute by minutes account of live events indicating Mugabe's mishap.However, the Herald said the crowd went "into a frenzy as President Mugabe walked to take his seat in the VIP tent, with some Ugandans heard shouting: "This is the President of Africa!"Museveni describe Mugabe as "our Mzee" and the cheers grew even louder.Chad President Idriss Deby also heaped praise on 92 year Mugabe.According to reports, Deby said Mugabe is" one of the wisest African leaders".
News / National

by Staff Reporter

Matabeleland foot-and-mouth outbreak is giving government a headache as it has not yet been completely contained, Agriculture deputy minister (Livestock) Paddy Zhanda told parliament on Thursday."Foot-and-mouth disease is a problem in Matabeleland, but we do not want to rely on vaccination of cattle only to control it because they (vaccines) are expensive and we buy them from Botswana."We do not want to centralise marketing of cattle, which will spread foot-and-mouth. What we are encouraging farmers to do is that the sale of cattle and establishment of feed lots should be done at the place where the cattle are produced so that small-scale farmers do not have to transport their cattle to Bulawayo."Zhanda said such measures reduced the prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease."Even in our negotiations with international animal health organisations, what comes out is that we should quarantine and fatten cattle at decentralised points to ensure there is no disease outbreak," he said.Zhanda was responding to a question from Bulawayo Metropolitan Senator Agnes Sibanda, who demanded to know the status of the foot-and-mouth situation in Matabeleland, given that very few cattle were exhibited at the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).
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News / National

by Bongani Ndlovu

RADIO stations which were licensed last year but are yet to go on air have less than four months to start operating or risk losing their licences, the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) warned yesterday. BAZ, in March last year, licensed eight radio stations to broadcast within a 40km radius of their locality.Out of the eight, only Ya FM (Zvishavane) and Diamond FM (Mutare) have gone live with Skyz Metro FM (Bulawayo), Breeze FM (Victoria Falls) Hevoi FM (Masvingo), Faya FM (Gweru), KE100.4FM (Harare) and Nyaminyami FM (Kariba) yet to start broadcasting.BAZ chief executive officer Obert Muganyura said the radio stations have an obligation to launch within the statutory timeframe, which is currently 18 months of being granted a licence."The radio stations have to launch within four months or statutorily they'll lose their licences. We've engaged some of them and the information that we're getting is that Hevoi and Faya FM say their equipment will be in the country soon and once it has arrived they'll install and launch," he said."The others haven't yet clearly communicated exactly when they'll be in a clear position to launch. We shall push them to launch those stations because there's that expectation from the public in those localities."He said when the 18 months elapses, they would advertise for new bidders to apply for a radio licence."If a licence is cancelled, this means it's available to other players. Due process has to be followed in terms like we've to invite new applications," he explained. "After that, public inquiries will be done."He said some have decried the harsh economic environment that was making it hard for them to launch the radio stations."The other aspect is economic hardships. Some of them have cited this. Unfortunately, the law is still the law and after 18 months they'll lose their licences if they fail to launch," said Muganyura.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Government yesterday threatened to descend heavily and crush cash demonstrations planned by the main opposition MDC-T party.This came as the MDC-T national council met in the capital and resolved to mobilize street protests soon to force the Zanu PF government to rescind its decision to introduce bond notes in two months' time as part of measures to ease the current cash crisis.Home Affairs minister Ignatius Chombo warned the police would ruthlessly deal with malcontents bent on causing disorder and chaos in the country as political temperatures soar in Zimbabwe.
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Silatronix of Madison has raised $4 million to help support the technology company's work to develop a better electrolyte for batteries.

A combination of strategic investors from Japan and company insiders are participating in the latest round, said CEO Mark Zager.

As of this week, Silatronix has raised $4 million out of a total of $7 million it's seeking. The financing was disclosed in a pair of filings with securities regulators.

The energy storage company's focus is on making lithium-ion batteries more powerful and safer.

The end result could be mobile phones and tablets that stay charged longer, or electric cars that can travel much greater distances before they need to be plugged in to recharge.

Silatronix is licensing technology developed by its co-founders in the department of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The lab discovery: materials known as organosilicon compounds, which contain carbon-silicon bonds.

These electrolytes using that technology are more stable and less prone to break down or explode than prior technology.

In essence, the company is transitioning from a research-and-development mode to an operating company looking to ramp up to commercialize its technology, said Zager.

Silatronix employs 16 people and is preparing to hire about six more, he said.

Multiple battery companies around the world are evaluating the Silatronix electrolyte, and the company is expecting to shift toward product shipments and sales in the next year, Zager said.

"It's in development and evaluation at a broad set of customers," he said. "That's really the exciting part of our story. We think we've come up with a very unique set of materials that will have broad application and help move the industry forward."

Last fall, Silatronix was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy related to its technology development. In November, it named two Japanese experts on lithium-ion battery technology to its board of advisers.

They include a longtime Sony engineer, Yoshio Nishi, who led the team that launched the first commercial production of lithium-ion batteries, in 1991.

The original research for the electrolyte was conducted in 2002-'05, and Silatronix was created in 2007. Silatronix was the first company in a program started in 2008 by Venture Investors, a Madison venture capital firm. Its other main funding source has been the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

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SHARE The Gene: An Intimate History. By Siddhartha Mukherjee. Scribner. 592 pages. $30.

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"Like Pythagoras's triangle, like the cave paintings at Lascaux, like the Pyramids in Giza, like the image of a fragile blue planet seen from outer space, the double helix of DNA is an iconic image, etched permanently into human history and memory," Siddhartha Mukherjee writes in "The Gene: An Intimate History," a fascinating and often sobering history of how humans came to understand the roles of genes in making us who we are  and what our manipulation of those genes might mean for our future.

Mukherjee, an oncologist, won the Pulitzer Prize for an earlier nonfiction book, "The Emperor of all Maladies," a history of cancer and its treatment that also delved into the lobbying, fundraising and awareness effort known as the War on Cancer. Mukherjee interspersed some stories from his medical practice in the narrative history of "Maladies"; in "The Gene," he gets even more personal, writing about several family members with inherited mental illness.

He goes back to ancient Greece for early theories about how human characteristics are passed through generations, including Aristotle's surprisingly prescient thought that the transmission of heredity was primarily the transmission of information.

Nineteenth-century pioneers Gregor Mendel (whose abbot, Mukherjee jokes, "didn't mind giving peas a chance") and Charles Darwin are given their due in crisp, detailed accounts of their work. "The essence of Darwin's disruptive genius was his ability to think about nature not as fact  but as process, as progression, as history," Mukherjee writes.

Unfortunately, their advances indirectly led to the first, but hardly last, wave of eugenicists, and such horrors as the court-sanctioned sterilization of Carrie Buck to prevent her "feebleminded" line from continuing, and the Nazi eugenics program, including Josef Mengele's notorious twin studies. "Mengele's experiments putrefied twin research so effectively, pickling the entire field in such hatred, that it would take decades for the world to take it seriously," Mukherjee writes.

"The Gene" captures the scientific method  questioning, researching, hypothesizing, experimenting, analyzing  in all its messy, fumbling glory, corkscrewing its way to deeper understanding and new questions. Scientists had a fuzzy notion of what genes were long before they could explain how they worked. One of this book's surprising heroes is Erwin Schrodinger, the physicist who also gave the world a thought experiment about a cat in a box to illuminate the dilemma of quantum mechanics. In a 1944 lecture published as "What Is Life?," Schrodinger imagined what a gene is and how it must work as if he saw DNA in his mind, including "a chemical with multiple chemical bonds stretching out along the length of the 'chromosome fiber.'"

Mukherjee's thrilling account of how James Watson and Francis Crick developed the double-helix model also describes Rosalind Franklin's overlapping research  and the contributions of other scientists to the nutrient dish of the times. Approaching our own times, the pace of discovery quickens as researchers refine both their questions and their tools, leading to the Human Genome Project and gene therapy  and to difficult ethical questions.

Mukherjee reminds us of Richard Dawkins' remark that most genes are recipes, not blueprints. A few illnesses, such as Huntington's disease or sickle cell disease, are caused by single-gene mutations. But often, as in the mutant BRCA1 gene that increases the risk for breast cancer, not all women carrying that mutation develop the disease. "Such trigger-dependent or chance-dependent genes are described as having partial or incomplete 'penetrance'  i.e., even if the gene is inherited, its capacity to penetrate into an actual attribute is not absolute. Or a gene may have variable 'expressivity'  i.e., even if the gene is inherited, its capacity to become expressed as an actual attribute varies from one individual to another." One woman with the BRCA1 mutation may develop aggressive cancer, another may develop a slower-growing cancer, and a third no cancer at all. "You cannot use just the genotype  BRCA1 mutation  to predict the final outcome with certainty," Mukherjee writes. His discussions of expressivity and penetrance are among the most helpful parts of his book.

Scientists now have the ability to manipulate almost any gene and to incorporate that genetic change permanently in an animal. But should they do so in humans? Leading researchers in this field, such as Jennifer Doudna of University of California, Berkeley, one of the inventors of genome-editing technique, have called for a moratorium on using that technique in human germline engineering  i.e., making gene changes that would be passed on to offspring.

RELATED COVERAGE

Read Lori Ahrenhoerster's review of "One in a Billion: The Story of Nic Volker and the Dawn of Genomic Medicine" by Journal Sentinel reporters Mark Johnson and Kathleen Gallagher: bit.ly/1UYsKHO.
SHARE A Country Road, A Tree: A Novel. By Jo Baker. Knopf. 304 pages. $26.95.

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When war came to Europe in 1939, Samuel Beckett was a published but largely unknown and unread Irish writer working in the long shadow of James Joyce, for whom he'd served as a literary secretary in Paris while the great man was writing "Finnegans Wake."

By war's end six years later, Beckett was well on his way to becoming the markedly different writer who would shortly unveil "Waiting for Godot" and who is now justly remembered as one of the last century's literary giants.

"A Country Road, A Tree"  Jo Baker's moving, beautifully written and riveting historical novel  explores how Beckett moved from A to B while surviving World War II in various parts of France.

Beckett did much of his moving during those years because he had no choice.

In the fall of 1939, Beckett didn't have papers authorizing his ongoing stay in France. By the time he did, he was active in the French Resistance, triggering a hasty flight south after his underground cell was betrayed. While hiding in southern France, he was aiding the fighters preparing to rise up after the Allies landed.

Baker makes clear how often Beckett might have chosen differently: staying in Ireland rather than returning from a visit there in September 1939; emigrating to America like other artists were doing; focusing on his writing and blocking out all going on beyond the walls of his tiny apartment.

"You don't have to look," Estragon says to Vladimir in "Waiting for Godot." "You can't help looking," Vladimir replies. "Try as one may."

"The war will end," says Suzanne, Beckett's lifelong companion. "We have to do something," Beckett replies, in one of the scenes Baker has imagined. "I can't just wait to see what happens."

Starting with her title, taken from the terse stage direction that opens "Godot," Baker draws many understated parallels between Beckett's wartime experience and what would become his most famous play.

There's the constant hunger, often only relieved by a carrot. A nearly dead tree. The sore feet and stinking boots of refugees on the run. And even the mysterious figure of the play's messenger boy, who in Baker's novel is among those involved in helping refugees cross to safety.

Most important, there's the abiding sense  shared by Beckett and the tramps in "Godot"  that one must keep on. "They don't know where they're going," Baker writes of Beckett and Suzanne at one point, "but they go." "Human bodies share the almost nothing they have," we're told at another point, "and go on living."

In continuing amid such privation  while afflicted by memories of those we'll meet who don't make it to the other side of the war  the Beckett envisioned here finds his answer to the question that dogs an early Beckett novel like "Murphy" (1938): "After Joyce, what is the point of writing? What else is there to say?"

Struggling to answer that question, this novel's Beckett simultaneously struggles with the sense that all words are inadequate  not because they've been exhausted by precursors like Joyce, but rather because writing itself has become "ethically suspect," in a world where meaning and communication seem impossible.

As Baker recognizes in re-creating the moment and room where it happened, Beckett's epiphany entailed moving toward this darkness rather than running away from it or trying to go around it.

"The darkness has become a solid thing," Baker writes, describing Beckett's thoughts as he drives through a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, 1945. "It's racing away from his headlights ... he is chasing after the dark, and he will slam right through it, into whatever it is that lies beyond."

Baker adds up the tolls paid along the way, particularly with regard to Beckett's relationship with Suzanne. As his tramps recognize in "Godot," decline and decay are inevitable. "But that doesn't mean," Beckett reflects here, "it wasn't worth the doing." That goes double for Baker's novel.
SHARE Sheriff Dale J. Schmidt, Dodge County Sheriff's Office TRACE FROST Audio

By of the

A scammer claiming to be from the IRS folded like laundry on Thursday when he received a call back from an unexpected recipient: the Dodge County sheriff.

On Thursday morning, Dale Schmidt received this message on his personal cell phone: "Hello, this call is officially a final notice from the Internal Revenue Service. The reason of this call is to inform you the IRS is filing lawsuit against you. To get more information about this case file please call immediately on our department number (605) 291-6542. Thank you."

According to the Sheriff's Office, when Schmidt called the number back, a woman answered, "Internal Revenue Service." When the sheriff asked if there was a way to verify that the call was coming from the IRS, the woman responded, "It is not our job to verify who we are." Then she hung up.

Schmidt called back.

This time a man answered the phone, and the rest is, well, priceless.

According to a transcript of their conversation provided by the Sheriff's Office:

Scammer: "Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service, how may I help you?"

Sheriff: "I am the sheriff in Dodge County, Wisconsin, and I had a complaint about this number and I am trying to confirm that this is in fact the IRS. Is there a way that you can confirm this for me?"

Scammer: "No sir, this is not the IRS. This is a scam."

Sheriff: "This is a scam?"

Scammer: "Yes."

Sheriff: "OK, can you tell me where you are from? Where you are located?"

Scammer: "In Afghanistan."

Sheriff: "In Afghanistan?"

Scammer: "Yes."

Sheriff: "Can you tell me your name?"

Scammer: "Malma Dahli (Spelling uncertain)."

Sheriff: "Why are you scamming our citizens?"

Scammer: "This is our job, sir."

Sheriff: "You're stealing money from people."

Scammer: "Yes."

Sheriff: "And why are you doing that?"

The scammer then hung up.

The Sheriff's Office urges people to question or ignore such calls, with a reminder that the IRS will not call anyone demanding money and that most reputable businesses will contact delinquent debtors by mail.

It also urges people to contact their local law enforcement agency if they believe they have been victimized by such a scam.

"Your best course of action is simply to hang up and go on with your day," the Sheriff's Office said.

The Journal Sentinel tried to call the scammer's number Thursday night.

The line was busy.
SHARE Milton Griswold was a naval aviation cadet studying engineering at UW-Madison when the Navy sent him to training after his junior year in 1918. On Saturday, his grandson will accept his degree at UWs commencement. Milton Pettit Griswold and Lucile Yates met on campus at UW-Madison in 1915 before getting married in June 1920. They lived in Kenosha after their wedding and then settled in Santa Monica, Calif., where Griswold worked as a petroleum engineer before he died in 1954 at the age of 56 of a heart attack. family photo

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Milton Pettit Griswold should have walked across a stage in his cap and gown with the rest of his classmates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

He should have gotten his diploma. He should have been able to call himself a UW grad.

But the world was at war and Milton Griswold was among the millions caught up in the conflict. When the young Navy aviator left UW after his junior year to teach Navy pilots to fly biplanes in the skies over Europe, he figured he would be awarded his bachelor's in mechanical engineering when the Great War was over and he returned home.

But he would be bitterly disappointed. University officials told him he had not earned a degree and despite his petitions to get his diploma, Milton Griswold never graduated.

It's never too late to do the right thing, though. Even for a World War I veteran who died in 1954.

And so, on Saturday afternoon, Milton Pettit Griswold's grandson will walk across the stage with engineering graduates at the Kohl Center and receive his grandfather's 1919 Regents' War Degree.

The crowd at the College of Engineering graduate recognition ceremony will hear a short speech explaining Milton Griswold's story, see photos of the handsome naval cadet and understand why Jack Griswold is picking up a degree that should have been awarded almost a century ago.

"It's only 97 years late, but nevertheless a Griswold will be there to receive his sheepskin," Jack Griswold, 66, an engineer in microelectronics, said in a phone interview from his California home.

None of this would have happened had it not been for Milton Griswold's granddaughter Loralee Kendall, 65. While working on her master of liberal arts thesis at the University of North Carolina at Asheville about her grandparents' years at UW-Madison, she dived deep into the UW Archives and found her grandfather's college records.

She also learned that UW had pledged to issue "war credits" to men and women who served in the military during World War I. In December 1917, three months before Milton Griswold enlisted in the Navy as an aviator, UW regents stipulated that seniors who enlisted or were drafted would be granted their degrees at the next commencement. Seniors were defined as having 90 credits of regular academic work.

Milton Griswold had enough credits.

"It was the Navy that said, 'Don't worry, we'll make sure you get your bachelor's in mechanical engineering,' but when he came back, the university said no," said Kendall, who received her master's last year. "He applied several times and was turned down, and I know he was heartbroken."

'This could really happen'

Quiet and intelligent, Milton Griswold was a leader on campus. He joined the Wisconsin Engineer magazine staff, was elected to the military honor society Sword and Scabbard, pledged to Psi Upsilon fraternity and was invited to join the Iron Cross, one of UW's most prestigious honor societies. In his first semester on campus in 1915, he chose a course load of chemistry, two mechanical drawing classes, general lecture engineering, two shop classes and Spanish 2 as well as military drill and a required physical education class.

Griswold grew up in Wilmette, Ill., and lost his father when he was 14. His mother moved her sons to Wisconsin so they could take advantage of the free university education offered to residents. He joined the ROTC naval science program, became a captain of cadets and was chairman of finance for the Officers' Military Ball. After finishing his junior year at UW, he reported for duty as a naval ensign in May 1918 and helped train fighter pilots in Pensacola, Fla.

He remained on active duty until April 1919 and then in the naval reserves. He married Lucile Yates, whom he met on campus in 1915, and they moved to Kenosha. Later they relocated to Santa Monica, Calif., where they raised four children. Griswold worked as a successful petroleum engineer identifying possible oil fields. All of his children attended Stanford University, including two who earned engineering degrees.

Both Kendall and Jack Griswold remember sitting on their grandfather's lap when they were children. They remember a quiet, wise and gentle man. And they grew up hearing about his disappointment at not receiving his degree before he died of a heart attack at the age of 56.

Once Kendall realized her grandfather had actually earned his degree, she contacted UW officials last fall and provided the required documentation. She got a positive reaction from an official in the registrar's office. "And I thought, 'Wow, this could really happen.' I was thinking about my family and wishing any of his children were still alive, but my mom was the last to go."

Kendall can not attend Saturday's commencement, but she asked her cousin, the oldest son of Milton's Griswold's oldest son, to go. He's flying in from California and will be joined by his sister, who lives in Portland, Ore. After all her efforts to right a wrong, Kendall said she plans to frame her grandfather's diploma and hang it on her wall.

"It's not a posthumous degree, it's not an honorary degree, it's an actual degree," she said.
News / Press Release

by Team ZUNDE

Given our dire national situation which has worsened polarisation of our people, one can hardly say anything about Zimbabwe these days without insulting someone. Nevertheless, this must not discourage nor deter progressive forces from speaking their minds. In a true democracy, even retrogressive forces must have their say. That's as it should be. It is in this context that we, at Zimbabweans United for Democracy (ZUNDE), are not scared to speak our minds, not sometimes but always.Evan Mawarire, the humble but pragmatic pastor whose democratic campaign has gone viral especially on social media, in our opinion, is an inspiring ordinary citizen of Zimbabwe who has every right to voice his concern when things go wrong, as they certainly have in our country. One does not need any special qualification or affiliation to speak against corruption, injustice, poverty, unemployment, lawlessness or any other vice characteristic of ZANU PF's 36 years of misrule.ZUNDE expresses its unwavering solidarity with Zimbabweans, particularly the young generations that are keen, happy, determined and prepared to stand up against the tyrannical regime and save their future. Team ZUNDE solidly stands by and supports those who subscribe to the same values of fairness, accountability, inclusiveness and respect as ours and share the same aspirations and vision for freedom, equality, justice and prosperity, as we do. Nobody amongst us has the monopoly to fight for what is rightfully ours. It is a combined and priceless effort. We applaud Evan Mawarire, Itai Dzamara as well as many others in the diverse opposition movement who have finally come to the realisation that enough is enough and it's time to take a stand.ZUNDE has no desire, agenda nor intention to politicise or gain mileage out of those who are genuinely fighting for the right cause. Rather, we unconditionally support them, regardless of their affiliation. Through "This Flag" campaign, ordinary Zimbabweans across the globe have resolved to speak out for what they believe in and against what has destroyed beautiful Zimbabwe. It takes a certified fool to burn the national flag or persecute anybody drabbing it simply because it's being used as a symbol for expression of national aspirations and frustrations. Yes, This Flag, is our flag, our pride, our national identity. We will not be intimidated.It was Chairman Mao who once said "Several hundred millions of peasants are rising like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift that no force, however great, will be able to hold back". In our case, the time has come for ordinary citizens to resist political madness, lawlessness, looting, corruption, injustice and all vices that epitomise Robert Mugabe and his clueless and moribund ZANU PF.ZUNDE would like to invite and encourage all progressive Zimbabweans around the globe to rally behind the peaceful campaign that "This Flag" has initiated. Together, we shall make our voices louder. Something has to give, sooner rather than later. The status quo is totally untenable.Lastly, allow us to direct a question to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Dr John Mangudya. "What makes you think that a miserly $200 million loan facility will transform Zimbabwe when $15 billion could not repair a single pothole?" We seem to believe that borrowed money performs miracles when we cannot put our own to good use. We have leaders who believe that when a road has deteriorated, the solution is to import a luxury four wheel drive, when hospitals are dysfunctional; the solution is to fly overseas even to deliver children, when universities have lost their ratings, the solution is to send children to other countries, how sad!Takura mureza!Together forever, Team ZUNDEwww.zunde.org; info@zunde.org , chambokom@gmail.com
U.S. Education Secretary John King is to speak at the Milwaukee Area Technical College graduation Friday night. Credit: Associated Press

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President Obama's Secretary of Education John B. King will deliver the commencement address to about 1,400 Milwaukee Area Technical School graduates Friday evening at the Panther Arena downtown.

King, who served as deputy secretary under Arne Duncan until his departure this year, says his own New York public school teachers "literally saved my life" after the deaths of his parents by the time he was 12.

He spoke to Journal Sentinel education reporter Annysa Johnson on the role of technical colleges like MATC and the urgency needed to address inequities in American education today.

Q:As a society, we tend to value four year colleges over technical schools. Why was it a priority for you to speak at MATC?

A: Community colleges like MATC are a hugely important part of the educational pipeline. They provide an important pathway for working adults, working parents, returning veterans, for folks who are looking for educational opportunities to be a path into the middle class. ... When I hear the stories of graduates, what they've overcome, the perseverance they've shown, it's inspiring and encouraging.

Q:What is the message you intend to impart to the graduates here?

A: I'll really just be congratulating them and sharing with them examples of their classmates and what they've overcome to achieve. I will be talking about the connection between MATC and the president's vision of making two years of college free for hard-working students.

MATC is part of a promise effort that allows students to go to school (for two years) tuition free. That approach one of those we want to celebrate.

Q:Speaking at the recent Education Writers Association conference in Boston, you said the United States is at a crossroads on race and education. What do you mean by that?

A: More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, we still have very large achievement gaps among students. I was just looking at Wisconsin's NAEP scores (National Assessment of Educational Progress). If you look at the achievement gaps of African-American and Latino students, they are 30 to 40 points depending on the subject and grade. Unfortunately, we are not where we need to be in terms of providing excellent educational opportunities for all students regardless of race and income. The majority of students in our nation's schools are students of color. We can't afford not to provide equity and excellence in education. We have to put those issues front and center.

Q:Speaking of equity, your office on Friday issued a directive to public schools requiring them to allow transgender students to use restroom and locker room facilities in line with their gender identity. Why did you take that action?

A: Fundamentally, the department of education is a civil rights agency. We want to ensure that all of our students  whoever they are, wherever they come from  get an opportunity for a great education, free from discrimination, harassment and violence. We received many requests from educators for guidance, and this was an attempt to provide clarity. We know educators want to do the right thing by their students.
UW System President Ray Cross talks with Rachel Ida Buff, an associate professor of history at UW-Milwaukee who led the faculty Tuesday in voting no confidence against him and the Board of Regents. Credit: Karen Herzog

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Imagine being a featured speaker at a celebration of historic significance, but most of the guests mingling in the room took a vote before the party and announced to the world they have no confidence in your ability to lead them.

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross and Board of Regents President Regina Millner walked into that awkward space Thursday at UW-Milwaukee.

The campus had invited them to speak at a celebration of its recent achievement of moving up to an R-1 Carnegie Classification as a top-tier research university long before more than a third of the UWM faculty gathered Tuesday to cast a resounding vote of no confidence against Cross, Millner and the rest of the Board of Regents.

Roughly 20 faculty members at Thursday's party wore black cloth armbands with a play on words, "R1SK," written on them, referring to the R-1 status and their perception that it's at risk because of ongoing budget cuts.

"This Carnegie designation is a snapshot of where things are, and it's a complex formula," said English professor Lane Hall, one of those wearing a black armband. "The lack of funding puts it immediately at risk, even as we celebrate."

The wave of no-confidence votes against Cross and the regents that has swept the state the past two weeks has drawn national attention beyond what the UW System already has received over $250 million in state budget cuts this biennium, and changes to tenure protections for faculty that would make it possible to lay off tenured faculty if an academic program were discontinued.

Faculty at five of the 13 UW campuses  UWM, UW-Madison, UW-La Crosse, UW-River Falls and UW-Green Bay  cast votes saying they don't believe UW System leaders are advocating effectively for state funding, or upholding shared governance and tenure. Faculty at UW-Stout, UW-Superior and UW Colleges are expected to consider similar resolutions in the coming days, and UW-Eau Claire faculty members are circulating a petition calling for a special Faculty Senate meeting next week to take up the measure.

Cross knew that once one campus passed a no-confidence vote, there would be a domino affect.

"I knew there was frustration with the board and me. I've heard the line before: 'Ray, you aren't advocating enough. You've got to take those people on. You aren't in there fighting for us,'" Cross said during an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the UWM celebration

The 68-year-old leader of the UW System isn't one to pound his fists on the table, and his folksy attempts at levity sometimes fall flat in a tense environment.

In an interview with the Journal Sentinel last spring, Cross described himself as a pragmatist and a collaborator. He talked about the importance of building relationships with lawmakers by working across the table, rather than criticizing or challenging them publicly.

Asked Thursday whether his advocacy style was working, Cross said:

"It's serving me well in the Capitol, but it's not serving me well, obviously, in the university. Am I going to change? Yes, I'm going to do some things differently.... But I can't work in another style. I have to communicate more effectively and engage in a broader way."

Asked whether the no-confidence votes had caused further damage to a public university system whose top faculty members already have been targeted for raiding because of tension here, Cross said the current conflict has made things more difficult.

"Nationally, it makes it more difficult to recruit. It makes faculty here feel maybe I should be leaving," he said. "We cannot devalue our intellectual community, but the intellectual community can't be arrogant, either. It has to be engaged in the problems of the state."

The turmoil further causes the UW System to lose focus on the next biennial budget, Cross said. "Let's engage in evidence-based research to try to deal with the issues in the state. The incarceration rate among African-American males is disgusting. Let's invest in preschool, engage in the achievement gap.

"I'll never get any money if we can't talk about how to solve problems in the community and the state, and get people to say, 'Oh, that's worth investing in.'" That's how we get money."

The division between faculty and UW System leaders also makes advocacy harder in the Capitol, Cross said.

During Thursday's social hour at UWM preceding a brief program about what it took to join the top tier of the nation's research universities, Cross and Millner mingled with faculty and staff, including those who voted against them on Tuesday.

Cross was introduced to Rachel Ida Buff, an associate professor of history and president of the UWM chapter of the American Association of University Professors who led the charge against UW System leaders, describing to her colleagues a "legislative assault" on shared governance and academic freedom accompanied by unprecedented fiscal cuts that she said impaired faculty's ability to educate and serve students.

Cross gave Buff his card and told her he believed they could work together. She agreed they should sit down and talk.

But before Cross left Milwaukee, he issued a statement that made Buff and other faculty members question whether he wants to advocate for them, or is taking sides with Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who had issued a statement before Tuesday's no confidence vote accusing faculty of working to protect their own interests ahead of students' needs.

In his statement after UWM's celebration, Cross said that at a time that should be devoted to honoring its designation as one of the country's top-tier research universities,

"we are left responding to heated rhetoric and deliberately misleading information that does nothing but distract from what should be a day of celebration for UWM, the City of Milwaukee and the entire state."

After reading the statement from Cross, Buff deplored it.

"It is deeply unprincipled to come to our party, celebrate an achievement that was difficult and underfunded, and before he's out of town, issue a news release insulting us," Buff told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "The inflated rhetoric is coming from Walker, not from us. It's disingenuous."

Cross said when he recently traveled around the state for listening sessions tied to strategic planning for the future, he met residents who were working multiple jobs and didn't know how they would afford to send their kids to college. They want the UW System to be accountable, he said.

"I'm trying to help faculty get outside the echo chamber," Cross said. "Look, this is what we're hearing from the public and what they're saying. We have to listen to them and understand how they view us, and they have to understand there are opportunities open to them through us. We need to be a more accessible and respectable source of information for the state and state government."
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel erred in his recent decision involving high-capacity wells. Credit: Michael Sears

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State Attorney General Brad Schimel's opinion limiting the authority of the Department of Natural Resources to regulate high-capacity wells goes too far and comes too soon. While the opinion is a big win for agriculture and business interests, it could have serious damaging effects on the state's waterways, and seems to place politics above science.

That science is beginning to show the connection between the groundwater into which high-capacity wells tap for irrigation and other uses and the state's rivers and streams. But just as the information is starting to come in, Schimel says the DNR has no authority to put conditions on well applications that would take into account their cumulative effects on streams, rivers and lakes in the surrounding area.

Agriculture and business interests have charged that the DNR has incorrectly interpreted its authority by clamping on restrictions  and, in some cases, denying  applications for wells. We understand their impatience and frustration, but draining groundwater sources may have far-reaching consequences that could leave everyone high and dry, including those agriculture and business interests.

Last month, an independent study using computer modeling found that the Little Plover River is closely dependent on groundwater and vulnerable to groundwater pumping. Portions of the river have run dry in some summers. What has been happening to the Little Plover has been fiercely debated by agricultural interests that rely on wells for irrigation and environmentalists who worry about the consequences of pumping all that water out of deep aquifers.

The $230,000 study paid for by the DNR was conducted by Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey.

As one environmentalist put it, the Little Plover River is a "classic example of a water body that is dying a death of a thousand straws." As the Journal Sentinel noted in an editorial at the time, the DNR needs to determine what is happening in other parts of Wisconsin, while the industry and the Legislature need to look at what they can do to mitigate the effects of all those straws.

Schimel's opinion takes the state in the wrong direction. It was issued at the request of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who asked Schimel to clarify the authority of the DNR over high-capacity wells.

Not surprising, Vos loves the opinion.

"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 the next session.

Two problems with that.

First, Vos apparently thinks that elected representatives understand the science better than the professionals and scientists hired by the state to protect its resources. We find that doubtful, especially when those politicians are so susceptible to special interest lobbyists, and when the scientists and professionals have actual degrees and studies they can point to as the source of their expertise. What can Vos point to as the source for his?

Second, Vos and his fellow Republicans who control the Legislature had a chance to create laws governing the protection of water in the session just ended and did nothing, failing to pass any bills on groundwater regulation. They sat on their hands. And our guess is they'll sit on their hands again in the next session.

Yes, Vos is right that the people's elected representatives should establish policy and set the laws that govern Wisconsin and protect its people and natural resources. But they should then get out of the way and let the professionals do their jobs.

Schimel's opinion takes away that tool and gives it to politicians. That's the wrong way to go.
Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron delivered the commencement address for students in the School of Media and Communication at Temple University on May 6. Credit: Sydney Schaefer / Temple University

SHARE In this April 7, 2003 file photo, then Boston Globe editor Martin Baron (center) congratulates reporter Stephen Kurkjian (second from left) after the newspaper was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for public service for its coverage of the abuse scandal that rocked the Boston Catholic archdiocese. From left are reporters Kevin Cullen, Kurkjian, Baron, Ben Bradlee Jr., Thomas Farragher, Walter Robinson and Sacha Pfeiffer. Charles Krupa

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Martin Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, delivered the commencement address for the School of Media and Communication at Temple University on May 6. An edited transcript of his speech is below.

As a journalist at a major news organization, I am typically asked to speak about the future of media.

Today I'd like to talk about the future of communication. Media is part of that, of course. But communication encompasses far more.

Media is in a state of upheaval. Communication  people to people  is in a state of breakdown. You are the ones to repair it, if you are willing.

Today, we are not so much communicating as miscommunicating. Or failing to communicate. Or choosing to communicate only with those who think as we do. Or communicating in a manner that is wholly detached from reality.

Too often we look only for affirmation of our own ideas rather than opening ourselves to the ideas of others.

Too often we are inclined only to talk. Too rarely are we inclined to listen  when listening is the superior route to learning and understanding. Listening has become a lost art.

And as we all talk, we have raised the volume  to a level where we can scarcely hear each other. A lower volume would allow us to hear better, and then to really listen.

In so many ways  with protests, with lawsuits, with threats of various sorts  we have sought to cut off speech rather than to encourage more of it. As if belligerence rather than debate led to a better world.

We have been quick to slap labels on others. The objective is to pigeonhole. Or to discredit, when in fact most people are more complex than any label can convey.

And now civility is evaporating from public discourse. The Internet is overrun with snark and sarcasm and cynicism. Perceived opponents are demonized. They are not opponents; they are enemies.

And the goal is not to win an argument but to annihilate those on the other side.

On your school's website, Dean David Boardman reminds us that Philadelphia "is the place where the United States Constitution, with its protection for personal liberty and expression, was crafted." And he offers assurance that the school is "dedicated to keeping the patriot founders' dream alive."

That assurance is nothing without a commitment by each of you. You will be responsible for how we communicate with each other.

A couple of months ago, I was struck by a gesture of civility and reason. It seemed so extraordinary in this time that I feel obliged to mention it.

It came from Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She issued a statement about Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court justice who had died six weeks earlier.

On the court, Ginsburg had argued with Scalia, often furiously, on the biggest issues of our era.

You might have thought they would be mortal enemies. But they became friends, in a relationship built on respect.

When a law school was named after Scalia  a move that inevitably would draw heated controversy  Ginsburg had this to say about her court opponent:

"As a colleague who held him in highest esteem and great affection, I miss his bright company and the stimulus he provided, his opinions ever challenging me to meet his best efforts with my own."

How many of us can say the same when we think of those who hold opinions with which we disagree? Are they objects of our derision and disdain? Or do we see them as people who challenge us to do more solid research, form stronger arguments, and express ourselves more eloquently?

Civility will go a long way toward addressing the ills of today's communications. But there are problems that go deeper and are cause for more profound concern.

We are living in a time when people can choose where they get their information. Choice is good. Yet people are turning to media outlets that are cynically propagating falsehoods to advance an ideological agenda.

To an astonishing degree, people believe these falsehoods. They are drawn to them because they reinforce their pre-existing worldview.

The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan liked to say, "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."

There was a time, not long ago, when we would differ on the interpretation of the facts. We would differ on the analysis. We would differ on prescriptions for our problems. But fundamentally we agreed on the facts.

That was then. Today, many feel entitled to their own facts when, in actuality, they are lies.

Many believe the president was not born in the United States. The evidence shows he was.

Many believe last year's military training exercise, Operation Jade Helm, was preparation by the Obama administration for a military takeover of the country. Of course, it wasn't.

Many buy into the preposterous and nasty assertions of a popular radio host and Internet entrepreneur who has claimed that some of the mass shootings  Newtown in 2012, San Bernardino in 2015  were hoaxes, merely ruses to manipulate the public into embracing gun control and confiscation.

You might think the percentage of Americans who believe these things has to be small. It is not.

What has taken hold is an alternate reality, a virtual reality, where lies are accepted as truth and where conspiracy theories take root in the fertile soil of falsehoods.

Fact-checking by mainstream media organizations has no effect. We are objects of suspicion, accused of hiding facts. Seeing opportunity, politicians exploit these fabrications for their own ends, repeating them  or staying silent when they know full well they are untrue.

The late astronomer Carl Sagan used to say that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." If you encounter extraordinary claims, ask for extraordinary evidence. There may be no evidence whatsoever.

Columnist Anne Applebaum of The Washington Post recently issued an ominous warning about this:

"If different versions of the truth appear in different online versions; if no one can agree upon what actually happened yesterday; if fake, manipulated or mendacious news websites are backed up by mobs of Internet trolls; then conspiracy theories, whether of the far left or the far right, will soon have the same weight as reality."

It is now possible, Applebaum noted, to "live in a virtual reality" where lies "are acclaimed as the hidden truth."

We must ask ourselves: How can we have a functioning democracy when we cannot agree on the most basic facts?

Every day when I walk into our newsroom, the first thing I see are the principles laid down for The Washington Post in the 1930s by a new owner. They begin like this: "The first mission of a newspaper is to tell the truth as nearly as the truth may be ascertained."

This recognizes that truth can be elusive. But it also demands that we be strivers. It calls upon us all to strive to find the truth  and then to tell the truth.

Notably, it also recognizes that there is a truth. It is not solely a matter of opinion. It is not a matter of ideology. It does not necessarily conform to what we want to believe. It does not necessarily make us comfortable. It may, in fact, cause extreme discomfort.

'Spotlight'

Since November of last year, with the release of the Oscar-winning movie "Spotlight," I  along with former colleagues at The Boston Globe  have come to be more widely known for an investigation of the Catholic Church that revealed a decades-long coverup of sex abuse by priests within the Boston Archdiocese.

The scandal ultimately took on worldwide dimensions. Fourteen years later, the Catholic Church continues to answer for how it concealed grave wrongdoing on a massive scale and for the adequacy of its reforms.

That investigation began with the case of one priest who was accused of abusing as many as 80 children. The lawyer for the plaintiffs  the survivors of the priest's abuse  said the cardinal and his lieutenants knew of his serial abuse and yet reassigned him from parish to parish without notifying anyone  not the parishioners, not the parish priest, not anyone in the community. The Church's lawyers called those assertions irresponsible and baseless.

One of The Boston Globe's columnists noted all that. And then she added that the truth might never be known because internal Church documents that could reveal it were under court seal, hidden from the public.

Our investigation began because we would not  could not  settle for the truth never being known. We sought to unearth the truth. And the result was a public good. An institution was held accountable. Children were made more safe.

Well after our first story was published in January, 2002, I received a letter from Father Thomas P. Doyle, who had waged a long and lonely battle within the Church on behalf of abuse victims.

He wrote this: "This nightmare would have gone and on were it not for you and the Globe staff. As one who has been deeply involved in fighting for justice for the victims and survivors for many years, I thank you with every part of my being."

"I assure you," he wrote, "that what you and the Globe have done for the victims, the church and society cannot be adequately measured. It is momentous and its good effects will reverberate for decades."

There is a lesson in Father Doyle's letter: The truth is not meant to be hidden. It is not meant to be suppressed. It is not meant to be ignored. It is not meant to be disguised. It is not meant to be manipulated. It is not meant to be falsified. Otherwise, evil will prevail, wrongdoing will persist.

On matters of public interest, truth needs to be revealed. And it needs to be respected.

With good reason, one of our columnists, George Will, was motivated by today's political environment to quote the poet James Russell Lowell. Lowell wrote this in 1845:

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side."

The strife of truth with falsehood continues to this day. And the decision is yours: the good or evil side?

The First Amendment

At the heart of the struggle between truth and falsehood is the First Amendment and the shield it provides for free expression. Our vibrant political system would wither without it. It protects the press, of course, but also movies and music and advertising and what you post on social media and your everyday conversations with friends, family and colleagues.

The First Amendment can be used for good, or it can be used for ill. The freedom it provides can allow falsehoods to be spread. But without it, truth can be forever suppressed.

As a statement of principle, the First Amendment enjoys overwhelming support among the American public, including students on college campuses. But when the principle is put to the test, and the circumstances become less abstract, support often weakens.

A Gallup survey this year on behalf of the Knight Foundation and the Newseum in Washington found that, when it comes to campus protests, nearly half of students say the following are reasons to curtail coverage by the press: People at the protest believe reporters will be biased; people at the protest have a right to be left alone; people at the protest want to tell their own story on the Internet and social media.

The First Amendment will mean nothing if it is endorsed in principle but abandoned in practice. It means nothing if you want its rights for yourselves but would deny them to others.

Core values

All of us who embark on careers find, sooner or later, that we must make difficult decisions that put our values to the test.

If you do not have core values, you will be lost. A set of principles, however, will provide a moral compass.

As you leave this remarkable place, I hope you will commit yourself to these principles:

Belief in free expression, not just for yourself but for all. Reverence for the truth, knowing that at times it may challenge the views you hold. Civility, even at moments of sharp disagreement.

And, finally, a willingness to listen to others, even those with whom you differ most.

If you do all that, you will earn more than the congratulations that deservedly come with your degree today.

You will earn our gratitude  for elevating the field of communications and for restoring discourse to a point that honors and strengthens our democracy.

This is your opportunity. More important, this is your responsibility.

Martin Baron is the executive editor of The Washington Post. Reprinted with permission.
Donald Trump arrives for a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan last week. Credit: Andrew Harnik

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There are certain phenomena that Americans only pay attention to on strictly fixed time schedules: Olympic pole vaulters. Cicadas. Cher farewell tours. The McRib.

This year marks the quadrennial appearance of commentators that declare every presidential election "the most important in American history." It's a phrase that has a certain ring to it  it rolls off the tongue more easily than "this election is easily the 13th most crucial in the history of the United States," but it's obviously nonsense.

For one, such declarations feed the impression that the fate of the republic lies in a single election, housed deeply within a single person. But politics isn't a song, it's an album  a series of elections over several years acting in concert with one another.

The 2016 presidential election has American citizens on especially high alert, as one major political party is about to nominate a person wholly unfit to hold the highest office in the land. And the other party is about to nominate Donald Trump.

But a wider view of the election suggests that the loser of the 2016 presidential contest might be the ultimate political winner.

Whether Trump or Clinton wins, either will likely be faced with a split Congress intent on thwarting their grand plans. Gridlock will ensue, as has been the case in recent congressional history.

But experience tells us whichever party loses in 2016 will likely see dramatic gains in 2018, when 70% of America's governors are up for election. And statehouses are where domestic proposals actually get done  governors and state legislatures are at the forefront of education, tax and social policy. The more local the elected official, the more he or she ostensibly represents the views of constituents.

And the opposition party has a leg up in these elections. Only three times since the Civil War has a party that held the presidency picked up congressional seats in midterm elections. After Barack Obama's 2008 election, Republicans were swept into office in 2010, giving America governors such as Wisconsin's Scott Walker, South Carolina's Nikki Haley, and Ohio's John Kasich. Currently, Republicans hold 31 governorships  a Hillary Clinton presidency could drive that number as high as 35 in 2018.

Gridlock at the federal level leaves the president to deal primarily with foreign policy; and Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State was uneven, to put it graciously. But Donald Trump recently suggested he gained foreign policy expertise by hosting a Miss Universe pageant in Russia  knowledge that will certainly come in handy when Trump has to negotiate a hostage release with Miss ISIS.

The 2016 election is even more perilous for Republicans in the long-term, as a Trump victory would cement this caustic windbag as the party's standard bearer. For the next four years, every GOP politician will have to wear Trump's obnoxious remarks like a lead necktie, dragging the party further to irrelevance. And the damage would be done by a president who isn't philosophically a member of their own party.

Keep in mind people, Trump's campaign behavior represents what he says when he is trying to get people to vote for him. Imagine a Trump free of the shackles of public approval  he'd probably do something crazy, like pretending to be his own spokesman and bragging about dating Madonna, then laughably suggesting it never happened. Oh, wait  he actually did that already? Then never mind.

But if Trump were to lose in 2016, the GOP would have two years to disinfect the party from his brief, virulent presence in it. Then, in 2018, Republicans could pitch things that really matter in states where they can actually make a difference. Republicans could continue to show how lower taxes, more liberty, and better educational choices can improve lives.

Sure, it's tempting to think every campaign is the most important we've seen, because every election is the only one aren't certain that we will survive. But like Donald Trump's wives, there's always another one coming. And if he were to win in 2016, it could pull off the double trick of ensconcing liberals both in the White House and statehouses around America.

Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM
A Baltimore Oriole: Colorful songbirds such as this breed in Wisconsin and are migrating to and through the state right now from their winter homes in the tropics. Credit: Jack Bartholmai

SHARE A Golden-winged Warbler: It is among the colorful songbirds that breed in Wisconsin but migrate to and from the tropics. Robert Kuhn Groups such as Bird City Wisconsin and the Natural Resources Foundations Great Wisconsin Birdathon have heightened their commitment to conservation by focusing attention on the annual voyage between birds summer and winter homes. Contributed by Carl Schwartz An Indigo Bunting: It is one of the songbirds that is now migrating through Wisconsin from its winter home in the tropics. Jack Bartholmai

By

Once again this May, Wisconsin finds itself at the epicenter of celebrations for International Migratory Bird Day. I like to think that this event has become more than just a "day," with celebrations now being held continentwide throughout both spring and fall, but most commonly in mid-May.

But more so than any other state in the nation, Wisconsin's eyes will be fixed on the spectacle of migration. That's not just because watching birds has long held a special fascination for residents here, but because groups such as Bird City Wisconsin and the Natural Resources Foundation's Great Wisconsin Birdathon have heightened our commitment to conservation by focusing attention on this annual voyage between birds' summer and winter homes.

The migratory paths for migratory birds span cities, states, countries and even continents. Wisconsin sits astride two such major pathways, allowing us to enjoy one of the most diverse collections of bird life in the U.S. More than 400 species have been recorded in the state. Yet many species face declining populations due to habitat loss, pollution, outdoor cats, window strikes and invasive plants. About 30% of Wisconsin's breeding bird species have low or declining populations, including 11 endangered species and 13 threatened species.

That's what makes our conservation efforts so important.

From its launch in 2010, Bird City Wisconsin has partnered with organizations such as the Milwaukee Audubon Society to mobilize a coalition of citizens and public officials to build healthier communities for birds and people. Bird City seeks to ensure that urban residents maintain healthy populations of birds and appreciate the important economic and ecological roles they play, controlling insect pests and generating millions in recreational dollars. It has publicly recognized 96 communities in Wisconsin for their work to conserve birds while celebrating IMBD.

But securing financial support for conservation has grown increasingly difficult. Cutbacks in funding for Wisconsin's Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have spurred creation of events like the Great Wisconsin Birdathon (wibirdathon.org) to seek individual support for priority projects under the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin's Bird Protection Fund.

An original champion for Bird City and founder of the Western Great Lakes Bird & Bat Observatory, ornithologist Noel Cutright was posthumously inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame on April 30. At the ceremony, Bill Volkert, retired DNR wildlife educator at Horicon Marsh, warned that "political influence over natural resources policy has reached a new height as those in charge of protecting and managing these resources work tirelessly to undo those very protections."

Volkert added: "This is not a new battle, but with a shrinking resource base, a human population approaching 8 billion and an ability to alter the land at a rate and on a scale as never before, we need voices and champions for conservation as never before. For we seek to protect and save those things that are not just precious to a few of us, but those very resources on which we all depend for our lives and sustenance, as well as our spiritual well-being, whether the vast majority of people actually take stock of this or not."

So May is a good time to reflect on what each of us can do to be a champion for conservation. Birders of all experience levels are grabbing their binoculars and searching for as many species as they can. They're scouring state natural areas, biking to swamps and walking along beaches. Some will sit in their backyards or neighborhood parks, marveling at the biodiversity close to home. Over the next month, they will be part of the annual Great Wisconsin Birdathon, whose teams raise money per species they spot, with the funds going toward bird conservation.

This Wednesday, my team, "Cutright's Old Coots," will set out at 3 a.m. in an effort to record at least 166 species in 18 hours, visiting birding hot spots across five counties in Southeast Wisconsin.

Since 2012, the Birdathon has raised more than $200,000 for projects such as monitoring mercury levels in Common Loons, enhancing stopover sites for migrating birds to rest and refuel, and growing Wisconsin's population of federally endangered Kirtland's Warblers and Whooping Cranes.

To see how Wisconsin leads the continent in IMBD events, check out a map of events: http://www.environmentamericas.org/events/

And to zero in on events in Wisconsin: http://www.birdcitywisconsin.org/Calendar.htm

Carl Schwartz chairs the boards of Bird City Wisconsin and the Western Great Lakes Bird and Bat Observatory and is editor of The Badger Birder, monthly newsletter of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.
Hartland fire incident found to be shooting, murder-suicide

The two adults and four children were all found to have gunshot wounds.
News / Regional

by Auxilia Katongomara

PUBLIC Transporters in Bulawayo have said the police and Bulawayo City Council must take action against pirate taxis as they are pushing them out of business.Speaking during a transport review workshop, BUPTA director Morgan Msipa bemoaned the influx of Honda Fit vehicles that are being used as unregistered taxis."We have these small vehicles, the Honda Fit. All routes are awash with these cars .The reason why I'm talking about this is that at every corner they are there."We know the economic situation is dire but if they want to do it why can't they be taxis for hire. If they wanted to be commuter omnibuses why can't they come and be part of us," said Msipa.He said routes such City-Newton West, D-Square-Emganwini as well as City-Hillside had been taken over by the pirate taxis and kombi crews."There is no point in me paying the required taxis and levies when I'm not protected. I think the police have to protect me."I think the traffic department of the city council has to protect me so that I can operate in an environment which is profitable without someone stealing," Msipa said."I don't know whether it's difficult for council to stamp their authority on the issue of these small cars. They are everywhere on every route competing for customers with us. This is what we are fighting every day."He said they had reached an agreement with the police for them to stop chasing kombis carrying passengers to avoid loss of lives."We engaged the police, we expressed concern and asked them to stop chasing kombis when they are carrying passengers. We then gave them a duty that when you see a kombi belonging to BUPTA, just take down the number plate and we will bring it to Drill Hall. Go to Drill Hall today they can confirm that. We actually escort that vehicle there," said Msipa.
Maan News Agency |  

NEGEV (Maan)  Thousands of Palestinians participated in the annual March of Return on Thursday afternoon near Bedouin towns in the Negev (Naqab) in southern Israel, commemorating the 1948 Nakba amid the conclusion of Israeli independence day celebrations.

Palestinians in Israel, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners emblazoned with support for the Right to Return, made their way across the Negev in the dry afternoon heat as they called for the implementation of the Right to Return for Palestinian refugees and Palestinians internally displaced from their villages in Israel.

The annual March of Return is usually held on Israels independence day to commemorate the Nakba  or the catastrophe  referring to the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and villages during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that wrought the state of Israel. The official commemoration of the Nakba is held on May 15 and is observed by millions of Palestinians and rights activists around the world.

The aim of the march was to highlight the internationally-recognized right of Palestinians who remain refugees or internally displaced to return to their homes and villages in Israel, a right which has been enshrined in international law following the adoption of United Nations Resolution 194.

Local Palestinians, activists, rights leaders, Knesset members, and leaders of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, participated in the 19th year of the annual march, launched each year from a site of a Palestinian village destroyed by Israeli forces in 1948.

A moment of silence was held in order to memorialize the Palestinians killed and displaced in 1948, and was followed by the crowd pledging to preserve the Bedouin lands of the Negev and renewing their commitment to the Right to Return.

The march was launched this year from the destroyed village of Wadi Zubala and continued near the Bedouin town of Rahat in order to underscore Israels ongoing destruction of Palestinian Bedouin villages throughout the Negev, as Israeli forces continue with a wave of demolitions against the approximately 160,000 Bedouins residing in villages not recognized by the state of Israel.

Member of Knesset and head of the Arab Joint List, Ayman Odeh, told the crowd that this march was particularly important because residents who were displaced from the village of Wadi Zubala in 1948 fled to the unrecognized Bedouin towns of Atir and Umm al-Hiran, both of which have been slated for demolition in order to make room for the construction of a residential complex for Jewish Israelis.

Odeh referred to the pending demolitions as the continuing Nakba, and added that the issue of Nakba is not an issue of the past, but an issue especially important for the future.

Recognizing the Nakba, and working on correcting this injustice is the only way to ensure a just peace and achieve real reconciliation between the two peoples.

Mohammad Barakeh, former Knesset member and head of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, gave closing remarks to the crowd: The Zionist movement hopes that adults will die young and the young will forget, but we insist on passing down memories [of the Nakba] from generation to generation.

We are here in the Negev to remember a time almost forgotten, when 600 to 700 thousand Palestinians were expelled to the Sinai and Jordan in 1948. Some forget the crimes of displacement in the Negev. But we are here to make our blood and the blood of our people in the Negev known, and their right to return to the Negev, and our peoples right to return [to their lands] everywhere.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

When you only hear bad news from a place, you form a negative opinion of it. But when I went looking for news about the economies of the most populous Middle Eastern countries, I was surprised to find that the IMF and/or World Bank is seeing between 3.5 and 4% growth in 2016.

You would think Turkish President Erdogans renewed conflict with Kurds in the countrys southeast, along with the occasional bombings in Ankara and Istanbul that have hurt tourism, plus the Russian cancellation of some joint projects, the fall in Russian tourism, and the cancellation of fruit and vegetable orders that all these things would have hurt economic growth. Well, maybe they did, but the Turkish economy is still set to grow 4% this year. Of course, you could argue that the economy might be growing 7% if Erdogan hadnt picked all those fights. And, it is not as if the profits are being equally spread around the population.

Still, it should be remembered that US GDP growth is about 0.5% and Brazils political turmoil is in part a reflection of massive economic problems in recent years. So Turkey is doing all right (it is the worlds 18th largest economy). Some 6 million new jobs have been created in the past six years, helping to account for Erdogans popularity.

Some of the surprising reasons for the economic growth are that consumer spending is strong people are buying appliances and going out to eat. Likewise, the steep fall in the price of petroleum has saved Turkish consumers $35 billion (Turkey is not an oil producer). In addition, the 2.5 million Syrian refugees in the country have boosted gross domestic product. They are spending their savings. Some of them have gotten jobs and are buying things they need in their new homes. And Syrian farm and other labor has added to productivity.

The $32 bn a year tourism industry fell over 16% in the first quarter, and that had to hurt. Although large numbers of Russian tourists have gone elsewhere, some of the slack has been taken up by Arabs, especially from the Gulf, who can no longer safely go to Beirut and who are nervous about Cairo and other Arab cities, where the politics is unpredictable or where police crackdowns interfere with fun. The Arab tourists arent just coming for hotel stays they are buying second homes and investing in the economy. So, while the loss of the Russians hurts (especially in places where they were concentrated, like Antalya), other tourists seem to have picked up some of the slack. But the tourism statistics probably dont count the Arab tourists buying homes there. Also, Turkey is a diversified economy with about $800 bn. in annual GDP, so a downturn in one industry might be offset by upturns in others.

There there is Egypt. Likewise, it is expected to grow 3  3.5% this year. Like Turkey, its consumers will save billions of dollars on lower petroleum costs. Its tourism revenue will be substantially off, which is why international banks lowered their estimates for the countrys growth rate from 4% to 3 or 3.5 percent. The Gulf oil states, even though their revenues have fallen, are still promising investments. The UAE says it will put another $4 bn into Egypt.

Because South Africa revalued its rand, Egypt even got a promotion it is now the second largest economy in Africa.

The IMF expects Iran to grow at 4% this year, as well. This growth will mostly come about as a result of increased oil sales, given the end of international sanctions.

Obviously, there are severe problems in all three economies. In Egypt and Turkey, adoption of Neoliberal policies has greatly increased inequality, so that we cant be sure the 3-4% growth will actually go to ordinary people as opposed to wealthy regime cronies. Rentier income like strategic rent from the UAE to Cairo typically goes to the government, not the average citizen. Also, Egypts population growth (unlike that of Turkey and Iran) is so high that the per capita growth on 3% GDP increase is minimal. In Iran, the proceeds from the extra petroleum sales will go straight to the state, and how much of that money will get out to the people is also a question.

Still, the regions most populous countries have growth statistics that many countries would envy and this despite the turmoil all around them.



Related video:

SABC: Egypt takes over as SA drops to 3rd biggest economy in Africa
May 12, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia- Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "the Company" (TSX-V: BFF; Pink: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce that it has commenced the process to upgrade the Company to the OTCQB(R) Venture Market. The Company currently trades on the Pink(R) Open Market.

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The OTCQB Venture Market, operated by OTC Markets Group Inc., is designed for entrepreneurial and development stage U.S. and international companies. To be eligible, companies must meet a minimum $0.01 bid price test, be current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. OTCQB companies cannot be in bankruptcy. These standards provide a strong baseline of transparency, as well as the technology and regulation to improve the information and trading experience for investors. OTCQB criteria include:

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-Minimum bid price test of $0.01 removes companies that are most likely to be the subject of dilutive stock fraud schemes and promotion

-A verified Company Profile displayed on www.otcmarkets.com that is current and complete

-Annual management certification process to verify officers, directors, controlling shareholders, and shares outstanding

About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/

Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a well-funded Canadian based exploration company whose primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main exploration focus is directed at lithium brine targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. The Company has 100% ownership in 87 claims in Clayton Valley, only 250m from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America. Nevada Energy Metals has also acquired, 100 claims (Teels Marsh West) covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Mineral County, Nevada, a highly prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties, located on the western part of a large evaporation lake where a phase one, 27 hole shallow auger exploration program has been completed and results are pending. Recently, the Company announced the addition of the San Emidio Desert lithium project, consisting of 155 claims (approximately 3,100 acres/1255 hectares) in Washoe County, Nevada. The Company's first lithium project, Alkali Lake, in Esmeralda county, is a 60% earn in option agreement from Dajin Resources Corp, where near surface lithium has been confirmed.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Rick Wilson

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 release.



Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements



The information discussed in this press release may include "forward looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included herein concerning, among other things, planned capital expenditures, future cash flows and borrowings, pursuit of potential acquisition opportunities, our financial position, business strategy and other plans and objectives for future operations, are forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as "may," "expect," "estimate," "project," "plan," "believe," "intend," "achievable," "anticipate," "will," "continue," "potential," "should," "could," and similar terms and phrases. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward looking statements are reasonable, they do involve certain assumptions, risks and uncertainties and are not (and should not be considered to be) guarantees of future performance. It is important that each person reviewing this release understand the significant risks attendant to the operations of the Company. Nevada Energy Metals Inc. disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement made herein.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
TORONTO, May 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Roxgold Inc. (" Roxgold" or " the Company") (TSX.V: ROG) today reported its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016, including development highlights from its Yaramoko project in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

For complete details of the unaudited Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements and associated Management's Discussion and Analysis please refer to the Company's filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or the Company's website (www.roxgold.com).

1. HIGHLIGHTS

For the three-month period ended March 31, 2016, and thereafter, the Company:

Advanced construction at the Yaramoko project to approximately 84% as at March 31, 2016 ;

; Developed the underground mine ahead of schedule and crushed first ore at the end of the quarter;

Continued construction progress at the Yaramoko project with approximately US$78 million spent as of March 31, 2016 , of the overall US$110.8 million cost estimate, and on track for first gold pour in the second quarter of 2016;

spent as of , of the overall cost estimate, and on track for first gold pour in the second quarter of 2016; Carried out hiring, training and other operational readiness activities;

Closed a bought deal equity financing totalling $23 million in March 2016 ;

in ; Acquired the Houko permit, adjacent to the Yaramoko permit, extending the Company's Hounde land position to 226km 2 ; Continued to intersect mineralization at the QV1 target at Bagassi South, located 1.8 kilometres south of the 55 Zone;

; Continued to intersect mineralization at the QV1 target at Bagassi South, located 1.8 kilometres south of the 55 Zone; Completed a maiden mineral resource estimate for the QV1 target at Bagassi South; and

Commenced an advanced definition and expansion drilling program at the 55 Zone

2. DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

The development of the Yaramoko project (the "Project") continued to advance considerably during the first quarter of 2016 with overall construction 84% complete as at March 31, 2016. Performance in the underground mine continued to exceed expectations with development rates in waste and ore above plan. Commissioning activities commenced in the processing plant and construction of the processing facility remains on schedule in accordance with the lump sum fixed price engineering, procurement and construction ("EPC") contract. The Project remains within its capital cost estimate and is expected to produce gold before the end of the second quarter of 2016.

As of March 31, 2016, the Company had spent approximately US$78 million and remains on target to complete the Project within the planned capital cost estimate of US$110.8 million.

Mine Development

Underground development continues to advance well, with the underground contractor, African Underground Mining Services ("AUMS"), delivering above plan development rates in ore and waste during the quarter.

The ramp has advanced 610 metres from the portal and opened up four levels (5270, 5253, 5236 and 5219), which are developing in ore. This progress has contributed to a Run-of-Mine ("ROM") pad inventory of over 23,000 tonnes in advance of the commencement of ore processing at the plant. The Company is encouraged by what has been observed in the ore drives with the orebody profile and thickness consistent with that of the block model. Initial face sampling of the crosscuts indicates that ore grades are also consistent with the block model.

The eastern ventilation shaft was completed with the raise borer breaking through surface soon after the first quarter. The first fan was assembled and installed in April 2016. The second (western) ventilation shaft raise bore is expected to be completed early in the third quarter of 2016.

The construction of the back-up diesel fired power station was completed and commissioned in February 2016 and is now reticulating 11kV power across the Project. Negotiations for a grid power offtake agreement are well advanced with Sonabel, the national electricity provider. Construction of the surface mine infrastructure, including workshops and offices were all completed during the quarter. All other required mine infrastructure is complete.

Processing Plant

As of the end of March 2016, the processing plant was approximately 90% complete.

In late March 2016, the plant crushed the first ore, essentially commencing production commissioning on the Project.

All materials and equipment required for the completion of construction and commissioning are on site and, in most cases, installed. Plant civil and concrete works are complete and all structural steel has been erected. The focus is planned to be on completion of piping installation across the processing facility as well as continuing with the installation of electrical and instrumentation cabling and equipment.

Several key packages, including the SAG mill, crushing circuit, thickener, reclaim apron feeder, and compressed air system have been commissioned and signed off by the respective vendors' representatives on site and are ready for ore commissioning.

The workshop, warehouse and reagents storage sheds are complete and are being fitted with equipment and are receiving stock. The office, processing plant mess and security buildings are complete and will be occupied in April.

The Project remains on schedule to pour first gold during the second quarter of 2016.

Operational Readiness

Roxgold's full operations team is in place and the focus remains on the development of training systems and start-up procedures. Reconciliation and reporting models, incorporating geology, mining and processing disciplines are also now in place with ore being delivered to the ROM pad.

3. FINANCING ACTIVITIES

A. Project Finance

On June 9, 2015, the Company signed a credit agreement (the "Credit Facility") with BNP Paribas and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking, for a total of US$75 million in order to fund the development of the Yaramoko project.

The Credit Facility has a six-year term and advances under the Credit Facility will bear interest at a rate of LIBOR plus 4.75% pre-completion and 4.25% post completion, respectively. A US$15 million cost overrun account, as required by the Credit Facility, has been funded through the proceeds of an equity financing completed in November 2014.

On March 4, 2016, the Company completed its third drawdown of approximately US$8 million ($11 million) from the US$75 million Credit Facility signed with BNP Paribas and Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking. As at March 31, 2016, the availability of the remaining approximately US$16 million of the Credit Facility for drawdown is primarily subject to a funding ratio of Yaramoko project costs funded by the Company as compared to project costs funded by the Credit Facility as of the date of each subsequent drawdown. The Company has continued to maintain this requisite funding ratio.

B. Equity Financing

During March 2016, AUMS entered into an escrow agreement with Roxgold for an eight month period for 8,979,286 shares, which it purchased from the Company through a private placement in 2015, on the basis that Roxgold does not utilize the Mining Contract Option during the escrow period. For more information please refer to the Company's March 8, 2016 press releases available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

On March 8, 2016, the Company closed a bought deal financing (the "Financing") of 28,750,000 common shares of Roxgold (the "Shares"), which includes the related over-allotment option of 3.75 million Shares, at a purchase price of $0.80 per Share, for aggregate gross proceeds in the amount of $23 million.

The net proceeds from the Financing are planned to be used (i) to replace the US$10 million Mining Contract Option provided by AUMS as discussed earlier, (ii) for regional exploration, and (iii) for general corporate purposes. For more information please refer to the Company's March 8, 2016 press releases available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

4. EXPLORATION ACTIVITIES

The Yaramoko permit covers approximately 196 km2 in the Province of Bale in southwestern Burkina Faso.

For the three months ended March 31, 2016

A. 55 Zone

During the first quarter of 2016, the Company finalized a plan to execute an advanced definition and expansion drilling program targeting the upper 430 metres of the 55 Zone. The Company intends to commence this 11,000 metre drilling program in the second quarter of 2016 with the expectation of adding additional ounces to the 55 Zone around where existing, current life of mine plan infrastructure is planned. This drilling will focus on depths from around 100 metres vertically to approximately 430 metres vertically. When available, the Company expects to be releasing drill results for this program, which commenced in April 2016, during the second and third quarters of 2016.

For more information on the 55 Zone infill drilling program, please refer to the Company's press releases dated April 14, May 19 and October 8, 2015, respectively, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

B. Bagassi South

During the three months ended March 31, 2016, the Company obtained further drilling results from the QV1 target area in Bagassi South. The results were part of an infill and definition program that were planned and executed to provide data that could potentially support a maiden resource estimate at QV1 scheduled for the second quarter of 2016. These results were released to the public in press releases dated January 14, 2016 March 15 and April 27, 2016. Highlights from this program include:

52.3 grams per tonne ("gpt") gold over 6.1 metres ("m") including 137.0 gpt gold over 0.8 m and 199.0 gpt gold over 1.0 m in diamond drill hole ("DDH") YRM-15-RD-BGS-099;

21.0 gpt gold over 6.7 m including 46.3 gpt gold over 0.7 m and 183.0 gpt gold over 0.6 m in DDH YRM-15-RD-BGS-104A;

56.0 gpt gold over 7.8 m including 127.0 gpt gold over 3.3 m in DDH YRM-16-DD-BGS-109;

8.6 gpt gold over 17.9 m including 70.1 gpt gold over 1.6 m in DDH YRM-16-DD-BGS-113; and

11.8 gpt gold over 8.8 m including 70.6 gpt gold over 1.4 m in DDH YRM-16-DD-BGS-107.

This program was successful in further delineating mineralization along the QV1 structure down to a depth of approximately 300 metres vertically in hole 104A where mineralization remains open along plunge.

Drilling on this target over the last year has seen the plunge length of the newly defined QV1 extension grow to approximately 800 metres. Drilling southeast of the dyke has been successful in discovering the continuation of the QV1 mineralization to the south of the dyke and growing additional plunge length there. Drilling along the main plunge of mineralization towards the end of 2015 continued to intersect high grade gold mineralization along the plunge line. Drilling in the first quarter of 2016 has further defined this plunge. The Company used this last drill data in conjunction with existing data to complete a maiden resource estimate at QV1 which was released on April 27, 2016. Please refer to the Company's press release dated April 27, 2016, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

For more information on drilling at Bagassi south and QV1, please refer to the Company's press releases dated May 5, May 19, August 11, 2015, respectively, and January 14 and March 15, 2016, respectively, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

C. Houko Permit

On March 18, 2016, the Company was granted the Houko permit, which lies adjacent to the Yaramoko permit and will expire on March 18, 2019. The Houko permit was acquired for 54,000 ($80,000) upon transfer of the permit. In addition, a once off payment of 36,000 ($53,000), along with 1.13 ($1.67) per ounce of gold is payable upon the announcement of a maiden resource on the Houko Permit.

The Houko permit lies to the south of the western arm of the Yaramoko permit and adjacent to the western border of the Yaramoko permit. The underlying geology of the Houko permit represents the contact between the Boni Shear Zone and the Birimain volcanic and intrusive suites, which Roxgold has been exploring on the adjacent Yaramoko permit. Roxgold defined an eight kilometre long geochemical trend along the Boni shear, in 2013, to the north of the Houko permit and this geochemical anomalism is thought to persist south along this trend. The permit is mainly overlain by loosely consolidated surficial material and laterite, making it an ideal target for mineralization under this cover.

5. EVENTS SUBSEQUENT TO MARCH 31, 2016

A. Maiden mineral resource statement for QV1 target

On April 27, 2016, the Company announced the results of a maiden mineral resource estimate for the QV1 target at Bagassi South. The resource estimate was undertaken by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. ("SRK") of Toronto and is based on 114 core boreholes totalling approximately 27,000 metres of drilling and has been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 ("43-101") Standards of disclosure for Mineral Projects. Highlights include:

Inferred mineral resource estimated at 563,000 tonnes at 12.14 g/t AU gold ("g/t Au") for 220,000 ounces of gold at a cut-off grade of 5.0 g/t Au;

QV1 structure remains open down plunge; and

Further exploration potential at QV Prime ("QV'") and foot wall ("FW") zone.

TABLE 1 - MAIDEN MINERAL RESOURCE STATEMENT, QV1 GOLD DEPOSIT, YARAMOKO PROJECT

SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., April 22, 2016

Inferred Mineral Resources Domain Category Quantity (t) Grade Au (g/t)* Contained Metal Au (oz) QV1 Inferred 474,000 13.13 200,000 FW Inferred 40,000 7.49 10,000 QV' Inferred 49,000 6.40 10,000 Total Inferred 563,000 12.14 220,000

*Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and have not demonstrated economic viability. All figures have been rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimates. Underground mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 5.0 gpt gold assuming: metal price of US$1,200 per ounce of gold, mining cost of US$90 per tonne, G&A cost of US$7.20 per tonne, processing cost of US$20.70 tonne, process recovery of 96 percent. For reporting, a capping value of 60g/t AU was selected for the QV1 structure.

For more information on the QV1 mineral resource estimate, please refer to the Company's press release dated April 27, 2016, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

B. Financing update

On April 27, 2016, the Company completed its fourth drawdown from the Credit Facility of approximately US$8 million ($11 million).

SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

For the three

month period

ended

March 31,

2016 For the three

month period

ended

March 31,

2015 Cost of operations General and administrative expenses 1,019,000 806,000 Exploration and evaluation expenses 898,000 252,000 Share-based payments 577,000 551,000 Depreciation 204,000 68,000 Operating loss for the period 2,698,000 1,677,000 Other expenses (income) Interest income (3,000) (49,000) Standby fees 113,000 - Change in fair value of derivative instruments 12,821,000 - Unrealized foreign exchange loss(gain) 2,606,000 (2,211,000) Indirect tax 40,000 49,000 (Loss)/income before income taxes (18,275,000) 534,000 Deferred Income tax (expense)/income - - Net (loss)/income for the period (18,275,000) 534,000 (Loss)/income per share (basic and diluted) (0.06) 0.01

Q1 2016 vs Q1 2015

General and administrative expenses increased compared to the corresponding period in 2016. The net increase is mainly due to additional travel to the Project required to support the transition from development to the production phase as well as for investor awareness. Additionally, there were a number of non-routine transactions completed in 2015, which required external consultations during 2016. Furthermore, external consultants have been hired to assist the Company in achieving and documenting its best in class environmental and social management tools.

Expenses for drilling and geological work for the three-month period ended March 31, 2016 reflect the drilling campaign at the QV1 target at Bagassi South. The results from this program were announced during the first quarter of 2015 and contributed to the maiden resource estimate announced in April 2016. The low drilling expenditures in the corresponding period of 2015 reflects the timing of when the drilling campaign commenced in 2015.

The year-over-year increase in Owners' costs included within E&E expenses for the first quarter of 2016 reflects the increased exploration activity during the first quarter as compared to the same period in 2015.

The other expenses during the three-month period ended March 31, 2016 are mainly due to the change in the fair value of the gold forward sale contracts. The forward sale contracts were entered into in July 2015 as a condition precedent to be able to access funds available through the Credit Facility. As the sale price of the forward sale contracts was significantly lower than the actual price of gold at March 31, 2016, it resulted in an increase to the liability relating to the forward sale contracts. Additionally, the Company incurred a foreign exchange loss as the majority of the Company's cash was held in US dollars during the quarter and the US dollar weakened during the same period. Standby fees incurred on unused funds from the Credit Facility also contributed to other expenses.

As a result, the Company's net loss for the three-month period ended March 31, 2016 totalled $18,287,000 compared to net income of $534,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2015. Consequently, the Company recorded a loss per share of $0.06 and income per share of $0.01 per share for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

QUALIFIED PERSONS

Ben Pullinger, P.Geo, VP of Exploration for Roxgold Inc., and Paul Criddle, FAUSIMM, Chief Operating Officer for Roxgold Inc., are Qualified Persons within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, have verified and approved the technical data disclosed in the press releases included herein by reference. This includes the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information.

About Roxgold

Roxgold is a gold exploration and development company with its key asset, the high grade Yaramoko Gold Project, located in the Hounde greenstone region of Burkina Faso, West Africa. The Company is currently in construction and expects to be producing gold in Q2 2016. Roxgold trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ROG and as part of the Nasdaq International Designation program with the symbol OTC: ROGFF.

"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."

These statements are based on information currently available to the Company and the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. In certain cases, forward-looking information may be identified by such terms as "anticipates", "believes", "could", "estimates", "expects", "may", "shall", "will", or "would". Forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on certain factors and assumptions regarding, among other things, the estimation of mineral resources and mineral reserves, the realization of resource estimates and reserve estimates, gold metal prices, the timing and amount of future exploration and development expenditures, the estimation of initial and sustaining capital requirements, the estimation of labour and operating costs, the availability of necessary financing and materials to continue to explore and develop the Yaramoko Gold Project in the short and long-term, the progress of exploration and development activities, the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange for the balance of the AUMS Mining Contract Option, and assumptions with respect to currency fluctuations, environmental risks, title disputes or claims, and other similar matters. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect.

Although the Company 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. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in the price of gold, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Roxgold Inc.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 12, 2016) - Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX:TMM)(NYSE MKT:TGD) ("Timmins Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1 2016"). The comparative period is the first quarter ended March 31, 2015 ("Q1 2015"). All results are presented in United States dollars ("US Dollars") unless otherwise stated. Readers should refer to the Q1 2016 management discussion and analysis and condensed interim consolidated financial statements for complete information.

"Q1 was a solid start to the year in terms of operations" stated Interim CEO Mark Backens. "We are seeing the benefits of the mine plan adopted in Q4 2015. Our cash costs for the quarter ($761/oz) and all-in sustaining cash costs ($848/oz) were particularly strong and were respectively 18% and 12% lower compared to Q1 2015. We were able to generate significant cash from operations and this allowed us to materially reduce our mine-level payables during the quarter. Based on this strong start to the year we remain on track to achieve our 2016 guidance of 75,000 to 85,000 gold ounces with cash costs of approximately $750 to $850 per gold ounce sold."

Q1 2016 HIGHLIGHTS

The Company entered into a definitive agreement to sell the Caballo Blanco Property for cash consideration of $12.5 million and the assumption of the $5.0 million contingent payment. The cash consideration will be used to settle secured debt, improving the Company's balance sheet and working capital position. An impairment charge of $12.8 million was incurred to reduce the carrying value of the asset from $29.9 million to its fair value of $17.1 million. The sale of the Caballo Blanco asset will be realized in Q2 2016 and the March 31, 2016 cash and cash equivalents ($9.7 million) does not include any funds received from the sale of Caballo Blanco.

The Company's cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis was $761 (all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis - $848), compared to $925 (all-in sustaining cash cost per ounce on a by-product basis - $1,055) during Q1 2015. This decrease in cash costs over the prior year was primarily driven by a decreased strip ratio and by more ounces being produced during Q1 2016.

Metal revenues were $28.6 million, compared to $29.5 million during Q1 2015. This represents a 3.0% decrease from the prior year. The average London PM Fix price was $1,183 per gold ounce, compared to $1,218 per gold ounce during Q1 2015. This represents a 2.9% decrease over the prior year and was a contributing factor to the decrease in metal revenues over Q1 2015. The decrease was partially offset by an increase in gold ounces sold of 24,667 ounces during Q1 2016 from 24,155 ounces during Q1 2015.

Earnings from mine operations were $6.3 million, compared to $2.7 million during Q1 2015.

Loss from operations was $8.6 million, compared to $0.2 million during Q1 2015. The difference was primarily due to the impairment of $12.8 million on the Caballo Blanco asset, partially offset by a reduction in cost of sales which were $22.3 million, compared to $26.8 million in Q1 2015. Excluding the Caballo Blanco impairment, adjusted earnings from operations were $4.2 million for Q1 2016.

Loss and total comprehensive loss were $10.7 million or $(0.03) per share, compared to $0.7 million or $(0.00) per share during Q1 2015.

Cash provided by operating activities was $2.4 million or $0.01 per share, compared to $7.5 million or $0.04 per share during Q1 2015. This represents a 68.4% and 75.0% decrease, respectively, from the prior period and was primarily due to a $5.8 million decrease in trade payables and accrued liabilities and a $3.5 million reduction in deferred revenue.

Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at March 31, 2016 were $9.7 million and $1.0 million, respectively, after investing $0.1 million on exploration, $0.2 million on sustaining capital, and $2.7 million on the Ana Paula property. Subsequent to March 31, 2016, the Company received $3.2 million of the $7.6 million VAT receivable.

Operating performance

The Company produced and sold, 25,120 and 24,667 ounces of gold, respectively, compared to 24,155 and 24,155 ounces of gold, respectively, during Q1 2015. The change from prior year is primarily due to an increase in average processing grade to 0.62 g/t Au, compared to the Q1 2015 average of 0.53 g/t Au, which resulted in more ounces of gold available for processing. More specifically, 40,038 ounces of gold were loaded to the leach pads, compared to 35,469 ounces of gold during Q1 2015. This increase was in accordance with the Company's mine plan.

Key developments

On January 26, 2016, the Company finalized an agreement with Sprott Resource Lending Partnership and Goldcorp Inc. (the "Lenders") to refinance the $10.2 million loan. The new credit facility has a maturity date of June 30, 2016. Interest is payable monthly at a rate of 12.0% per annum, and the principal amount outstanding is payable on the maturity date. In consideration of the refinancing, the Company will pay a bonus to the Lenders under the credit facility of $0.4 million on the earlier of the repayment of the loan and June 30, 2016. The bonus is payable in cash or in common shares of the Company at the option of each Lender, in relation to its proportion of the credit facility. Any shares issued in connection with the bonus payment shall be issued at a deemed price equal to the volume weighted average price per share on the TSX for the ten days immediately preceding issuance, less 10.0%.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

On May 11, 2016, the Company entered into a definitive agreement with Candelaria Mining Corp. to sell the Caballo Blanco Property. Total consideration to be paid is $12.5 million in cash and the assumption of the $5.0 million (present value - $4.6 million) contingent liability payable to Goldgroup Mining Inc. The transaction is expected to close on June 24, 2016 ("closing date"). The cash payments are to be paid in the following installments: $0.25 million non-refundable payment was received on March 18, 2016; $1.0 million up-front execution payment received on signing, which is non-refundable if the counterparty fails to close; $2.25 million up-front execution payment to be received 15 days post signing, which is non-refundable if the counterparty fails to close; $6.5 million on or before the closing date; and, $2.5 million at the earlier occurrence of Candelaria Mining Corp. receiving permits or one year following the closing date.



The cash proceeds from this sale will be used to settle secured debt.

SUMMARIZED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND OPERATING RESULTS

US dollars (thousands) except where noted First Quarter

Ended

March 31,

2016 First Quarter

Ended

March 31,

2015 Gold ounces sold 24,667 24,155 Silver ounces sold 14,671 15,309 Metal revenues $ 28,609 $ 29,492 Production costs, excluding depreciation and depletion $ 18,993 $ 22,599 Loss from operations $ (8,585 ) $ (222 ) Loss $ (10,720 ) $ (710 ) Loss per share, basic and diluted $ (0.03 ) $ (0.00 ) Cash flows from operating activities $ 2,373 $ 7,500 Total cash and cash equivalents, end of period (including restricted cash) $ 10,668 $ 24,994 Total assets, end of period $ 138,741 $ 312,411 Total cash costs per gold ounce on a by-product basis $ 761 $ 925 All-in sustaining cash cost per ounce gold $ 848 $ 1,055 Average realized gold price per gold ounce $ 1,160 $ 1,221

Management Change:

On May 12, 2016, Mr. Darren Prins, CFO, announced his resignation to pursue a career in the financial services industry. Although we are disappointed by this, we wish Darren continued success and congratulate him on this new opportunity.

Reminder of Q1 2016 results conference call:

The Company's senior management will host a conference call Friday May 13, 2016 at 11am (ET) to discuss fiscal 2015. Participants may join the call by dialing 416-340-2216 or 866-225-0198 (Canada and U.S. toll-free number) or via webcast on link: www.gowebcasting.com/7516.

A replay of the call will be available until May 18, 2016, by dialing 905-694-9451 or 800-408-3053 (Canada and U.S.). The passcode is 8924192. A live and archived audio webcast will also be available at www.timminsgold.com.

Technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Taj Singh, P.Eng., a Vice President of the Company who is recognized as a QP under NI 43-101.

About Timmins Gold

The Company owns and operates the San Francisco open pit, heap leach gold mine in Sonora, which provides a base of operations, allowing the Company to develop the Ana Paula gold project.

Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX) nor the New York Stock Exchange MKT accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements which relate to future events including projected production (and estimated cash costs). Such statements include estimates, forecasts and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, receipt of the requisite approvals for business and financial prospects, financial multiples and accretion estimates, future trends, plans, strategies, objectives and expectations, including with respect to liquidity, working capital management and to production, possible capital savings and estimates of pre-production capital at Ana Paula, exploration drilling, reserves and resources, exploitation activities and events or future operations. Information inferred from the interpretation of drilling results and information concerning mineral resource estimates may also be deemed to be forward-looking statements, as it constitutes a prediction of what might be found to be present when, and if, a project is actually developed.

In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans, "anticipates", believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, the Company does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.
[JURIST] The Florida American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [official website] filed a lawsuit [complaint, PDF] against the Marion County school district on Thursday, challenging their bathroom policy as anti-transgender. The complaint was filed after a school suspended a student for using a different restroom than that required under the policy. The school districts policy, adopted as Resolution No. 16-001 [materials], requires that students use the restroom based upon the gender they were born into, as opposed to the gender that they identify as, or instead use a single-user restroom. The ACLU alleges that the school district has violated Title IX of the Education Amendments of of 1972 [materials], which states in pertinent part, [n]o person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex  be subjected to discrimination under any [public] education program or activity. The ACLU believes the court should allow the student to use the restroom they identify with, revise all relevant District policies to ensure conformity with requirements of Title IX, and provide training to the relevant employees of the school district, along with removing the suspension from the students record.

On Friday the Obama administration stated that it would issue guidance [CNN report] to schools on ensuring transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment. This comes as several challenges have been brought to so-called anti-transgender bathroom policies. Earlier this week the Department of Justice filed a complaint challenging House Bill 2 [JURIST report], a North Carolina law prohibiting local legislatures from passing laws to protect transgender individuals right to use public restroom and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. In April the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled in favor of [JURIST report] of a transgender student where a school policy required that students use restrooms corresponding with their biological genders.
[JURIST] UN human rights experts expressed grave concern [press release] Friday over Belarus death penalty practices after reports surfaced that a man was executed while his case was before the UN Human Rights Committee [official website]. Belarus actions in killing the man, Sergei Khmelevsky, were in direct opposition with the committees order to not carry out the sentence while an investigation was still being conducted. According to the experts the countrys action constitutes a violation of their obligation under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) [materials, PDF]. While every other European country has eliminated use of the death penalty, and despite calls from human rights organizations to do the same, Belarus continues to use resort to the death penalty. Among those executed are seven more individuals whose cases were being examined under the ICCPR.

Belarus has faced continued scrutiny over human rights abuses. In August EU officials praised [JURIST report] Belarus president for his release of political prisoners. In June UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus Miklos Haraszti warned [JURIST report] that Belarus continues to sentence and imprison political opponents of the government. In March 2014 he called for the country to end its use of the death penalty, reiterating earlier statements [JURIST reports] and citing politically motivated courts and the lack of fair trials. In 2011 former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay suggested a need for UN intervention [JURIST report] in Belarus and demanded the nation free non-violent political prisoners. Although Belarus is an active member of the UN and has ratified many of its human rights policies, Pillay noted a sharp deterioration in human rights since the 2010 disputed re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994.
The UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) [official website], a body of independent experts, released closing remarks to its fifty-seventh session [materials] Friday, expressing concern about the use of excessive force [concluding observations] by Israeli forces against Palestinians. Last week the CAT engaged in dialogue with Israeli officials about the use of excessive force, especially against minors. The CAT also questioned officials about the standards for confinement and interrogation of detainees, focusing on those in administrative detention. Israeli officials said the nation has been facing an increase in violent attacks since 2015. Officials also said that a significant amount of attacks have been carried out by minors who may have been influenced by media and social networking and that Israeli forces faced complex situations trying to thwart minor attackers while trying not to harm them. Israeli authorities called the use of administrative detention, a scenario in which a detainee can be held without charge for more than a year, a preventive measure used at a rate in direct correlation to the increased number terrorist attacks. The panel asked about the 12 minors currently in administrative detention, to which Israel officials responded that it based some of those detentions on credible information as to the intention of the minors to commit terrorist attacks.

Recent conflicts between Israel and Palestine [HRW backgrounder] over settlements in the occupied West Bank have raised concerns over possible human rights violations. UN Special Rapporteur for Palestinian Territories Makarim Wibisono [official profile] urged [JURIST report] Israel in February to address its use of excessive force against Palestinians and to charge or release all administrative detainees. In January Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] urged [JURIST report] businesses to cease operations in Israeli settlements. In August UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged both sides of the conflict [JURIST report] to reconcile and move towards peace after an attack occurred in the West Bank village of Duma, where Jewish extremists allegedly set fire to a Palestinian home while the family slept.
[JURIST] The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] on Friday urged authorities in the Gambian capital of Banjul to release detained protesters. The UN stated that it has received reports [press release] that the protesters, who were detained for simply having exercised their rights to freedom of expression, opinion and assembly, have been tortured, denied medical care and denied visitation from family members. Among those individuals currently detained are two female opposition fighters, Fatoumata Jawara and Ngoi Njai, who have been reported to be in poor condition as a result of their detention. The UN also stated that it was concerned with Alhagie Ceesays condition, asking for evidence that he is not being tortured and that he receives his right to a fair trial. Director of the Teranga FM radio station, Ceesay has faced several medical emergencies as a result of his detention. Finally, the UN also asked for an impartial investigation into the death of activist Solo Sandeng.

The Gambian governments treatment of protesters has been an issue in recent weeks. Last month the High Court in Banjul charged [JURIST report] 40 people for offenses related to their participation in protest. In particular, these individuals were calling for free speech and an electoral forum. Earlier that month several human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, called for an investigation [JURIST report] into the death of Sandeng. Sandeng had been the National Organizing Secretary of the opposition United Democratic party and died in detention [JURIST article] after he was arrested following a peaceful protest.
[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Thursday in favor of House Republicans in a challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) [text, PDF]. Judge Rosemary Collyer found that the Obama administration is illegally spending money to fund subsidies under the act without congressional approval:

This case involves two sections of the Affordable Care Act: 1401 and 1402. Section 1401 provides tax credits to make insurance premiums more affordable, while Section 1402reduces deductibles, co-pays, and other means of cost sharing by insurers. Section 1401 was funded by adding it to a preexisting list of permanently-appropriated tax credits and refunds. Section 1402 was not added to that list. The question is whether Section 1402 can nonetheless be funded through the same, permanent appropriation. It cannot.

White House spokesperson Josh Earnest [official profile] dismissed the ruling, saying the Justice Department would decide whether to appeal. Collyers ruling has no immediate effect, as she placed it on hold anticipating an appeal by the Obama administration.

The ACA [JURIST backgrounder] has generated legal controversy and a series of court challenges since its passage. This lawsuit was filed in 2014, and Collyer allowed it proceed [JURIST report] last fall. In January the US Congress sent a bill [HR 3762] to repeal the ACA to President Barrack Obama [official profile], which he vetoed [JURIST report]. The National Conference of State Legislatures [official website] reports that between 2010 and 2015, at least 21 states have enacted laws attempting to challenge or completely opt out of mandatory provisions of the ACA. Most recently the ACA was amended by the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act [text], which allows states to consider employers with 51 to 100 employees as large employers, removing certain restrictions on small employers from those employers in this category. In June the US Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in King v. Burwell [SCOTUSblog materials] that tax credits available to those who buy health insurance through state exchanges are also available to those who buy it through the federal exchange. In 2014 the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that closely held corporations can deny contraceptive coverage to their employees for religious reasons.
News / Regional

by Nqobile Tshili

THE government requires $9 million to construct the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower to improve safety at the airport.The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Joram Gumbo, told legislators in the National Assembly on Wednesday that developing infrastructure at airports cannot be achieved immediately due to lack of resources.Minister Gumbo was responding to MDC-T Bulawayo proportional representation MP Nicola Watson who had asked him about the amount that had been raised by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ) for development projects since taking over the collection taxes from Air Zimbabwe.The Minister said CAAZ had raised $5 million and without giving an exact figure, added that part of that had been channelled towards the tower."Joshua Mqabuko control tower requires US$9 million and so far, the authority has paid US$5.2 million of which US$3.2 million has been committed towards capital projects such as the ATC simulator, Harare Sewer Project, Harare baggage handling equipment, purchase of utility vehicles, refurbishment of the fire tenders and the integrated security system," said Gumbo."CAAZ started collecting the passenger service and IDEF fees on 11 November 2014. To date, which was the date when you asked your question and I have not been able to update, the total sum collected was $5,154,910."He said it was clear that at the rate at which collections are being done, it would not be possible to raise the resources required for the tower among other security and facilitation demands.
News / Regional

by Melody Baya

A MAN from Cowdray Park suburb in Bulawayo has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for stabbing a commuter omnibus driver with a pocket knife .Phathisani Mafu, 22, stabbed Zibusiso Nhatarikwa, 26, of Nkulumane suburb, twice on the back and twice on his arms after being asked to pay the kombi fare.Mafu turned violent when the kombi driver decided to drive to a police station to settle the matter following his refusal to pay the fare, a court heard.Western Commonage magistrate Themba Chimiso suspended six months from Mafu's initial 18 months sentence."Six months will be suspended for the next five years on the condition that you do not commit a similar offence. And you are going to serve an effective12 months in prison," said Chimiso.Prosecuting, Mufaro Mageza said on March 16 at around 6PM, Nhatarikwa was driving his kombi from the city centre to Nkulumane suburb."On the way, he picked up five passengers including Mafu. The conductor asked for the fare and Mafu refused to pay. When Mafu saw that driver was about to make a U-turn to a police station since they were near Mabutweni police base, the accused pulled the hand brake and the commuter omnibus stopped," said Mageza."He then grabbed the driver from behind and stabbed him twice on the back with his pocket knife. When the driver attempted to escape, he stabbed him once on the lower right arm and once on the upper arm."The prosecutor said Mafu then escaped through the kombi window but was later arrested.
News / Regional

by Nqobile Tshili

WAR veterans are in full support of the One Million Man March being organised to show solidarity with President Robert Mugabe by Zanu-PF's Youth League, and those who are against the solidarity campaign should shut up, a senior official said yesterday. George Mlala, a member of the war veterans' Council of Elders, encouraged youths to attend the march.His sentiments come after Douglas Mahiya, the spokesperson of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association, was quoted in the private media saying the march was meaningless, ill-timed and would not improve the lives of the general public.Mlala slammed Mahiya, saying he was not speaking for all war veterans. "The march is not a new thing. We've done it before as war veterans. As for Mahiya, he is not qualified to talk on behalf of the war veterans. He's not our spokesperson. He's not part of the war veterans' leadership. He wasn't there when we elected the national executive in Masvingo," said Mlala.He said the solidarity march scheduled for May 25 should be attended by every youth who have benefitted under President Mugabe leadership.Mlala said the march should not be used for cheap politicking by attention seekers who want to advance their factional politics."We will support the march because it's not based on factional politics. This is not about individuals but the President. Mahiya is not representing us. It's a march organised to pay tribute to the President who has led the country peacefully for the last 36 years. The President has led peacefully despite economic challenges faced by the country brought by imposed sanctions," said Mlala.
Opinion / Blogs

QN. How and Why prophetic books were compiled in Ancient Israel and giving the reason why Zimbabwean prophets compile their prophecies? (25) - pt 26COMMENT OVERVIEW- In order for one to answer the above question,we rely on internal and external evidence. External evidence being the old testament commentators whilst internal evidence being the biblical references.- One should understand that it is challenging to answer any question without explaining the KEY words ,therefore,this means that it will be injust if the writer does not shed light .- The Fundamental Questions will be questioned below.- What is a prophetic book?- What is a prophet?- How information was gathered?- Who was the compiler of the prophetic books?- Why did they compile?- Why are the Zimbabwean prophets compiling their messages?- The above fundamental questions will be fully hammered on the ongoing article.HOW PROPHETIC BOOKS WERE COMPILEDAt this stage it is prudent for one to know how prophetic books were compiled by the later editors and I hope the writer will do enough justice on a plain language.>Number of old testament scholars have suggested that most of the prophetic books were compiled ,as the compilers relied on the oral tradition. The compilers will do research through the use of oral tradition. The eye witness will be normal the source ,this is true on the issue of early pre -canonical prophets for instance Samuel,Gad,Nathan, Ahijah, Elijah, Jadon to mention but few .- One should note that the information suffered exaggeration as the interviewed ended up exaggerating the prophetic duties of a certain prophet.>The prophets had secretaries, servants and disciples who might have compiled the information. This is valid to a certain degree.For example:- Jeremiah had his secretary named Baruch who wrote under the dictatorship of Jeremiah when the leaders of Judah had burnt the scroll. This is recorded in Jeremiah 36:4,36:20 .- Isaiah of Jerusalem had his disciples .This is recorded in Isaiah 8:16 ,B.W.Anderson believes that Micah the rural prophet might be one of the disciples who compiled the book of Isaiah after his death( note that on this article I won't explain the relationship of the rural prophet with Isaiah the townsmen)- Elisha had his servant Gehazi ,who is believed to have been the source .>Sometimes the prophets themselves wrote down prophetic books for their own. This include the following prophets .- Moses who is believed to have written the first five books even though some scholars disqualify the view and suggesting that the Pentateuch books were not prophetic books as such but historical books .The point is that Moses wrote something about his prophetic career ,this is supported by Exodus 17:14.(note that this doesn't make Moses as a canonical prophet, the reason won't be explained on this article).- The prophet of Jerusalem Isaiah is also believed to have written down some of his prophecies .This is authenticated by Isaiah 8:1 and Isaiah 30:8>On will be short sighted,if the writer ignore the view that sometimes the later editors collected the prophetic information and made their own additions. For instance the last Chapters of Amos which believed to have been the works of later editors, this has been further supported by Heaton who submitted that it is not Amos who wrote the last chapter of his book but the later editors as they went on to make errors.WHY PROPHETIC BOOKS WERE COMPILEDNumber of reasons have been brought forward by different scholars whyprophetic books were compiled.For instance- to preserve monotheism.- to confirm the prophecies.- for future generations.- the death being the threat.- Scholar Bruce submitted that the reason why they compiled propheticbooks is that after realising that they were at risk of loosinginformation they wrote down.N.B One should note that the compilation of prophetic books might havestarted during the Babylonian exile.REASONS WHY ZIMBABWEAN PROPHETS COMPILE PROPHETIC BOOKS- Zimbabwean prophets have compiled their prophetic books .This includethe following prophets.-Emmanuel Makandiwa-Blessing Chiza-Walter Magaya-Uebert Angel- The major reasons why they compiled is unknown but different reasonscan be brought forward inline with their actions after authoring orrecording their prophecies.It can be assumed that they compile prophetic books for the following reasons,- To educate the church.- For fame.- To preserve it for the future generation.- To prove that they are literary.- To get reward later as they go on to sell the compiled books .DEMANDS OF THE QUESTION- The question is clear .Explaining will be waste of time.CONTACTS+263777896159 (WhatsApp/Calls)Witness Dingani (Like Facebook page)
Opinion / Columnist

This week, flamboyant South African businessman and playboy Kenny Kunene ignited debate when he went on a rant on how beneficiaries of the popular "blesser" phenomenon, known as blessers, were nothing more than prostitutes.Kunene railed against the website  Blesserfinder, whose main aim is to connect women with men who are willing to part with a pretty penny for a nice time with younger women. According to Kunene, women who are taking part in this new phenomenon are no better than prostitutes who line up the streets and put a price tag on sex."You're bringing people together on the basis of transactions. That's transactional sex. That site must be closed. No black man pays a woman for companionship. They pay for sex," Kunene said.He also apologised to the women he used to bless."I apologise to all those girls who I directly or indirectly bought for sex. I realise that I was a pimp and I turned countless girls into prostitutes."The irony of Kunene's statements is that he is no saint himself, having at one point confessed to be involved with 15 women at one time.The businessman who claims to have given up his crown as the self proclaimed "Sushi King" for a quieter life with his girlfriend of three years, has a colourful history with members of the fairer sex who range from socialites like Khanyi Mbau to A-list actresses like Sophie Ndaba and reality TV star Dineo Ranaka.Kunene's statements were dismissed by some as the rant of a has-been blesser who had lost his fortune and was thus spoiling the fun for the heirs to his infamous throne.Others hailed the reformed playboy's statements as evidence that the blesser phenomenon, which is spreading like wildfire on social media, should be nipped in the bud. Some, however, said Kunene was a retired blesser who is now broke.Blessers however, are no longer a phenomenon restricted to South Africa, as youths in Zimbabwe, Swaziland and other countries have also caught the blesser bug and are running with the term.But what exactly is a blesser and who qualifies to be a blesser? In these days were hash tags on social media set the agenda, blessers can simply be described as the sugar daddies of the digital age.The term "blesser" came to be after young women  most who are jobless  would post pictures of themselves sipping cocktails on the beach, popping bottles in the club or getting their nails done, using the hashtag #blessed on social media. Some people started asking:Who's really blessing them? And just like that, a cultural phenomenon was born.A "blesser" (giver) blesses his "blessee" (recipient) with anything from money and weaves to overseas holidays, and Louis Vuitton bags.Think of him as the modern day "sugar daddy". So basically, when you have a "blesser" then your life is blessed financially. The blesser is usually older than the blessee, but this is not always the case, there are young blessers as well.According to Blesserfinder, the blessing phenomenon has nothing to do with one's religion, but has everything to do with what one is prepared to do for money. This has seen the site adopting a #MoralsMustFall hash tag so as to evade chancers.Unlike the term "sugar daddies" which encompassed all women's benefactors under one umbrella, there are levels to being a blesser it seems. In the land of the blesser, all animals are not equal as various tiers are used to differentiate one kind of blesser to another.According to these rankings Level One blessers are those that supply the basics from transport money to airtime. Level Two blessers buy fancy drinks in clubs and are interested in going for holidays at domestic resorts and attending major events with their blessee. At the apex of this pyramid are the Level Three blessers who start businesses and buy top of the range luxury vehicles, also doing international trips to places like Dubai with their blessees, giving them allowances of at least $2,000.The business arrangement is quite simple  the blesser gets to enjoy the company of a young, hot woman, while the blessee/blessed gets to buy all the bags and shoes she wants, as long as she is prepared to sacrifice body  and soul  for the rewards.When the sugar daddy gained in popularity in the early 90s, it was met with outrage by those that felt the trend worsened the spread of HIV/AIDS. Dramas were scripted, songs were penned as the Sugar Daddy became public enemy number one. As it trends on social media, it remains to be seen whether blessers will also receive the same treatment.So far, blessers can be found online through dating site  Blesserfinder but the identities of the blessers are rarely ever seen, because more often than not, they are married.
HORSHAM, Pa.Xgen Products recently returned from the Adultex trade show, hosted April 27-29 by Calvista in Australia.

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As expected, this was a great fashion show. The event was undoubtedly successful for both the Bodywand 360 and Lapdance Lingerie, said Andy Green, Xgen president.

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LINCOLN  The embattled director of the Nebraska Tourism Commission kept her job Friday, but Kathy McKillip will be on suspension until an investigation is completed into dozens of problems uncovered in a scathing state audit.

McKillip, the director the past five years, will be paid during the investigatory suspension but must turn in her office keys and have no access to her office or agency computers.

The nine-member board that oversees the commission voted 7-0 for the suspension after meeting in closed session for about an hour Friday morning.

The emergency meeting was called exactly two weeks after a state audit blasted the commission and its director for overspending an advertising contract by $4.4 million, hiring a convention speaker for $44,000 for a 90-minute speech and using McKillips daughter as a model in its advertising campaign.

McKillip, who is paid $86,364 a year, smiled and left the meeting without comment when asked for her reaction to the suspension.

Whether the suspension is a prelude to a dismissal is unclear.

Members of the commission declined to comment, saying that it was a personnel matter and they had been advised to remain silent by the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office, which is conducting the investigation of McKillip.

Thats the way the legal balls bounce, said John Chapo, the chairman of the commission, in declining to comment.

A week ago, both Gov. Pete Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman called on the commission to fire McKillip. The states top two travel associations also called for the replacement of the director to restore faith in the tourism agency, which became an independent state agency in 2012.

Prior to the commissions vote, a letter of support for McKillip from former University of Nebraska Regent Nancy Hoch was read. Hoch is a longtime friend and distant relative.

The letter stated that McKillip had turned a forgotten and underachieving part of state government into a vibrant promoter of state tourism.

Hoch blamed State Auditor Charlie Janssen and Heineman for orchestrating a political circus to get McKillip.

This is absurd, said Hochs daughter, Hannah, who read the letter on Friday. Theres no one with more integrity and work ethic than Kathy.

Hannah Hoch said that McKillip has a very strong personality that may have led to her problems.

Janssen has said that McKillip took advantage of taxpayers. The audit faulted McKillip for several things, including acting independently of her board, seeking an extra $750,000 from the State Legislature without getting board permission, and failing to adopt policies and procedures that would better track spending and contracts.

Heineman, who signed the bill that created the independent Tourism Commission, said that McKillip should be fired when was he asked to comment on the audit a week ago.

McKillip, who attended Fridays meeting but did not speak during it, has said that while there were lessons learned from the audit, no laws were broken and the commission would be tightening up financial oversight of its contracts.

One glaring problem from the audit was that tourism had allowed its marketing contract with Bailey Lauerman to be overspent by $4.4 million over the past three years.

Tourism had contracted to pay $3.2 million from August 2013 through June 2016 for marketing and website development services, but had been billed for $7.6 million worth of services.

The audit said that Tourism had no system to check purchase orders against its contracts, thus allowing an extra $4.4 million to be spent.

McKillip, in an official response in the audit, acknowledged the overspending, but said the problem was being corrected.

On Friday, Hoch, in her letter, said it was an error that should have been caught by tourism staff that can be easily corrected.

The Legislatures Appropriations Committee, when it discovered the lack of fiscal control earlier this year, ordered that tourism contract with another state agency, the Department of Administrative Services, to handle such fiscal matters and to ensure proper accounting and oversight of spending.

McKillips daughter appeared on the cover of this years state tourism guide and is pictured in tourism television ads, a calendar and posters. McKillip said her daughter was hired by the ad agency, and she played no role in the decision. But the audit questioned whether a state law was broken that bars state contractors from offering anything of value to a state official, and prohibits state officials from seeking favors for family members.

An official with the Attorney Generals Office said Thursday the office was still reviewing the audit to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.

The Tourism agency has 11 employees and a yearly budget of about $6 million, which is mostly funded by state lodging taxes.

Its main job is to promote tourism in Nebraska. But the agency also awards several hundred thousand dollars in grants each year to local visitors bureaus to advertise events such as horse shows, international volleyball tournaments and local festivals.

The travel groups have said that Tourism should remain an independent state agency. Ricketts and Heineman have blamed the move outside the purview of the governors office for the lack of financial oversight and control.
I am responding to Tom Martins May 10 guest column. Martin is incorrect in two ways when he states that the motto for the University of Nebraska at Kearney is Be a (Difference) Maker.  The correct phrase is We Are [Difference] Makers, and this is a marketing slogan, not the universitys motto as is stated on Wikipedia.

UNK is a part of the University of Nebraska system, and the motto for the system is Literis Dedicata et Omnibus Artibus or Dedicated to Letters and All the Arts. The individual campuses in the system do not have their own mottos.

With the reorganization of the General Studies curriculum in 2007-08, students can now satisfy the humanities requirement for graduation from UNK without taking a course in history, literature, or philosophy. Prior to the reorganization students were required to take both a history and a literature class, but they were never required to take a philosophy class.

Martin implies that UNK is somehow unique in not requiring students to take these classes. At UNL, students can satisfy the humanities requirement for graduation by taking three hours (one class) from the classics, English literature, history, modern languages, philosophy, or religious studies. The reorganization of the General Studies curriculum was brought about by the necessity to be able to assess student progress. Without the reorganization, UNK was in danger of losing its accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission, which would have resulted in the closure of UNK.

I find fault with Martins assessment that UNK graduates will join the ranks of non-college graduates who have never so much as read a primary document of history, a literary giant, or a philosopher. I have two bachelors degrees, a masters degree, a doctoral degree, and two-years of post-doctoral training at a medical school. I have never read a primary document of history or the works of any great philosopher, so in Martins view I must be a perfect fit to teach at UNK.

Im not sure what service I would provide my students, who want to pursue careers in nursing, pharmacy, medicine, radiography, and veterinary medicine, just to name a few professions, by having them read the primary works. Claude Bernard (1813-1878) is considered to be the father of physiology, so should my students read Introduction a letude de la medecine experimentale (1865) in which he describes the concept of milieu-interieur, drawing a distinction between the internal environment of the body and its surroundings? Or La Pression Barometrique (1878) by Paul Bert, considered a landmark work in environmental physiology where the lethal effect of high altitude ballooning was first attributed to a lack of oxygen?

Should they study Andreas Vesaliuss drawings of the human body in his book De Humani Corporis Fabrica ! (1543)? Or should students be introduced to sound anatomical and physiological concepts and asked to use critical thinking to solve real-life problems based on current knowledge, as I require of the students in my class?
with Lauren Vino  A website offers fake doctors notes; 16-year-old robber shoots self in groin; safety re: NYC vs. Jerusalem; North Korea has 1st bank robbery (ever?); VI6SIX banned license plate; man poses as a federal agent to get into Comic Con VIP; Adolf Hitler kneeling statue sells for $17 million; ghosts and sex; Laurens called-off engagement

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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
Brazil's acting President Michel Temer holds his first cabinet meeting , at the Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, May 13, 2016. Temer pledged Thursday to jumpstart the stalled economy and push ahead with a sprawling corruption investigation that has already ensnared top leaders of his own party and even implicated Temer himself. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
The Druids Alter, the Newgrange of the South East, the Red Hill, The Coshel, whatever you call it, Knockroe Passage Tomb is the by far the most important, intricate, complex and most interesting pre-historic site in this region and we are still literally, unearthing its secrets. It predates the Pyramids of Egypt and is considerably older than Newgrange or Stonehenge and yet, is still shrouded in mystery.

The Druids Alter, the Newgrange of the South East, the Red Hill, The Coshel, whatever you call it, Knockroe Passage Tomb is the by far the most important, intricate, complex and most interesting pre-historic site in this region and we are still literally, unearthing its secrets. It predates the Pyramids of Egypt and is considerably older than Newgrange or Stonehenge and yet, is still shrouded in mystery.

To this day it is used for pagan worship and all sorts of people go there to get closer to nature and modern day druids and others go there, cognisant of what Knockroe is - A special place where ancient clans came to bury their dead and to celebrate the coming of the new year and give thanks to the gods out of respect and fear of the elements as part of a series of similar sites dotted along the local landscape.

Knockroe resonates with people and you have to visit there to appreciate its beauty, its mysticism - where cremations were held and sacrifices were made; where depictions of life at that time were chiselled on to the huge boulders used to bind the two chambers there and which are still evident today.

It draws people like a magnet and when they leave, they feel enhanced by the experience of just being there.

And every year on December 21, the shortest day of the year people come to the Liguan valley, called after the river of the same name that separates Kilkenny from Tipperary, to watch the sun set in precise alignment with the length of the west tomb.

The people who built Knockroe did this on purpose and it is one of a group of burial mounds which are intervisible and aligned with the large mound on the summit of Sliabhnamon (there is no getting away from Tipperary).

At this point it is important to mention Prof Muiris OSullivan of UCD. The professor of archaeology has made Knockroe his magnum opus and if it had not been for his research and hard work we would not have Knockroe in the state that it is in today.

When I first visited there, 23 years ago, black polythene plastic sheeting was strewn around it and access was very difficult and it was deteriorating even faster than it had in all the millennia before. Now the site has been excavated, put back the way it was, preserved, cleaned up in the proper manner and fenced off. It is hugely impressive and it has the wow factor.

The Office of Public Works (OPW) has been criticised in this series for not giving enough care to various hidden heritage gems in County Kilkenny but here in Knockroe, the OPW is doing a fantastic job in what is a complex situation to enhance our knowledge of it and to eventually, have it opened up to as large a volume of people as possible without affecting its integrity. In tandem with Dr OSullivan, they are painstakingly working to ensure that it is eventually given the priority it should

Sad therefore to have to report that is a hard place to find. There is no signpost telling you where it is. To get there you drive to Callan from Kilkenny city and take the road to Carrick-on-Suir, At the Slate Quarries and opposite noted musician, John Delaneys fantastic pub, you turn right and at the top of the hill with the Slate Quarries on your right, you turn tight at the top the hill (not left as I did) and go on a couple of hundred yards before turning right again down a farm yard.

It is well worth going there and every child in the city and county should be brought here and be told how inventive our ancestors were and how these two tombs were not just built on a whim but as part of an aligned maize of cairns that have survived. The alignment of both chambers is wonderful to see, the quartz rock, the river Liguan, 150 yards away, with Coonans Hill and Carraigdoon facing you - Knockroe is magical,

And it was Dr OSullivan in 2010 who found that on December 21 when the sun does shine into the outer compartment of the west tomb it veers off the line and faces slightly further north than the setting point of the sun. Dr OSullivan argues that it is as if the changing of the entrance arrangement was a deliberate intervention in ancient times, possibly relating to an expansion or restructuring of the over all complex.

Nobody has a better feeling for Knockroe than Sean Power, who was born a few yards from it in a cottage that is now in derelict. The widower has an honesty that is rare and a knowledge of Knockoe that no expert can match.

He has witnessed the mad people coming down from Kilkenny and other parts on the shortest day of the year to give homage to deities or spirits. He smiles at the thought of them and throws his head in the air as if to say, they cant help it. But he understands why they come and that is why he never left Knockroe even though his new home a short distance away has a Tipperary postcode (Ahenny) even though he remains in County Kilkenny.

He has heard stories of late night-early morning covens but has never seen them and dismisses them. And growing up there, he never witnessed anything out of the ordinary at Knockroe but explained that it is a sacred spot and holds a special place in the hearts of the older people in the locality. He has great time or Dr OSullivan and you can feel the pride he has in the place.

I went there on Thursday of last week, on the longest day of the year and there was no sun and it didnt matter because the alignment of the west tomb doesnt allow the sun to come through the chamber on June 21.

According to Dr OSullivan, the tomb at Knockroe has proved to be a treasure trove of of information about the Neolithic age and it has a gallery of weather beaten, eroded megalithic art.

Some of the artwork in the west tomb is very similar to decoration in Gavrinis, Brittany and several of the stones decorated with megalithic art, show a unique similarity between Knockroe and Newgrange in the Boyne Valley

Although Knockroe is noted in the Ordnance Survey of the 19th century carried out by Slieverue man, John ODonovan it was not until the 1980s and the work of local antiquarian Johnny Maher and Con Manning from the National Monument Service that Knockroe was, so to speak, put on the map, Dr OSullivan explained in one of his many papers on the site.

The monument known locally as The Caiseal has two passages on the southern side. The eastern passage has a cruciform chamber with a sill stone towards the front of the passage with very large kerbstones on the southern side arcing around to the western passage. Quartz is scattered around the site. Although the western passage has a more simple design it is more interesting in that it has an alignment to the winter solstice and on both sides of the entrance are several large graded orthostats (large rocks) that give the impression of a court when viewed from the front.

Without Dr Muiris OSullivan, there is no telling what would have happened to Knockroe. We owe him and his team from University College Dublin (UCD) a huge debt for what they have done and continue to do. This article is in large measure, thanks to him and we hope he continues his love affair with the Druids Alter.

Thanks goes to Maire Ni Fhaircheallaigh of the Office of Public Works for all her help and kindness and meeting Sean Power was a pleasure that will long remain with me.
Education offered by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the subject of electrical engineering and information technology is convincing. For the criteria of overall studies situation, graduation within an appropriate period of time, and supervision by teachers, this subject is ranked in the top group. In addition, the subjects of mechanical engineering and chemical engineering / applied chemistry are in the top group as regards the category of overall studies situation.

The overall judgment of the students is based on very good results in the partial categories throughout. The subject of mechanical engineering, for instance, is in the top group for 11 of 13 categories. The subject of electrical engineering and information technology is top in 8 of 13 categories, examples being the supervision by teachers, studies organization, support during studies, IT infrastructure, laboratory exercises, and job orientation. KIT, hence, stands for efficient studies. In the category of graduation within an appropriate period of time, the subjects of architecture, chemistry, biology, electrical engineering and information technology, pedagogics, bioengineering, and chemical engineering are in the top group in Germany.

Research strength of KIT is reflected by all subjects. Publications in the area of electrical engineering and information technology are cited 3.4 times on the average. In the category of doctorates per chair, the subjects of civil engineering, electrical engineering and information technology, German studies, mechanical engineering and materials technology / science are top. The subject of German studies also is in the top group for third-party funding acquired per professor, the amount being EUR 156,000.

In the current CHE University Ranking published in the DIE ZEIT Studienfuhrer 2016/2017, students evaluate their studies conditions. Every year, one third of the disciplines is newly evaluated. This year, these were architecture, civil and environmental engineering, applied natural sciences, electrical engineering and information technology, mechanical engineering, materials technology / science, bioengineering, chemical engineering, process technology, mechatronics, chemistry, biology, psychology, German studies, English / American studies, pedagogics, and Romans studies.

For more information on the CHE ranking, click: www.ranking.zeit.de.

Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
Future development of climate and population influences the development and spreading of wildfires. (Photo: Almut Arneth)

Every year, about 350 million hectares of land are devastated by fires worldwide, this corresponds to about the size of India. To estimate the resulting damage to human health and economy, precise prognosis of the future development of fires is of crucial importance. Previous studies often considered climate change to be the most important factor. Now, a group of scientists, including researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has found that population development has the same impact at least. The results are presented in the Nature Climate Change journal (dx.doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2999).

Fires in forests and savannas are essential for many natural ecosystems: They contribute to natural rejuvenation and biodiversity of forests, for instance. However, they also emit large amounts of air pollutants, such as carbon black or ozone. In the future warmer and frequently drier world, the risk of fires will further increase, Almut Arneth, Professor of the Atmospheric Environmental Research Division of KITs Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, says. This increases the risk of damage to people. The environmental researcher and colleagues from the University of Lund in Sweden and the US National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado studied how fires of forests and savannas will develop and spread in the future. Their global model study considers factors, such as climate change or vegetation growth, but also anthropogenic impacts. As a basis, the scientists used satellite photos of wildfires from 1997 and later. These photos were linked with computer simulations of the development of vegetation worldwide as a function of climate change. In addition, the scientists took into account various scenarios of global climate models and country-specific population development.

The results turned out to be more complex than previously assumed: So far, we have thought that climate change increases the number of wildfires, Arneth says. In large parts of the world, however, the total area burnt did not increase, but decrease in the past century. But simulations of the impact of climate change exclusively produced a worldwide increase of fires in the future, in particular in North America, Southern Europe, Central Asia, and large parts of South America. Hence, there had to be another reason for the decrease in fires. When we extended our models to cover demographic factors, the impacts of climate change were reduced significantly, Arneth explains. According to her, the reason is that man largely suppresses wildfires by actively extinguishing these fires or due to the fragmentation of landscape. Roads or fields inhibit the spreading of forest fires. Hence, the number of fires decreases with increasing population density. In the future, growing population and conversion of rural into residential areas will slow down the formation of wildfires in Africa and parts of Asia and South America, she says.

But Arneth also emphasizes that this does not mean that the risk of fires for man and the environment will decrease. The number of residential areas in fire-susceptible regions is increasing. Due to the growing population density in these areas, the risk is higher for the people to suffer damage from fire. Vice versa, a low population density favors the formation of fires: Rural areas left by people moving to cities will become increasingly susceptible to wildfires, Arneth says. The study results will contribute to better assessing future fire risks and to improving fire management strategies: Spatial planning and climate policy have to be closely linked. The risk of wildfires can be reduced by careful planning and sensible use of the land surface.

More about the KIT Climate and Environment Center: http://www.klima-umwelt.kit.edu/english.

Being The Research University in the Helmholtz Association, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 9,800 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,300 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.
In 1987, Levon Helm, a former cotton farmer from Arkansas, sat brooding in his yard, trying to describe why his apparent success had turned to near- bankruptcy:

Well, its hard to put your finger on. You get behind financially and once you get behind financially, you seem to get behind spiritually. And your luck turns against you.

Levons perception of his situation is a common one. He had become quite successful, but had never learned to understand more about economics than, If you got it, spend it. As a result, throughout his life, he repeatedly found himself in monetary difficulties. He habitually lived in the moment and didnt invest much time analysing what his actions would need to be to assure a sound economic future. Unfortunately, his approach to his future is, to a great extent, the approach of the vast majority of people.

Lets take his comments one sentence at a time:

Well, its hard to put your finger on.

In this comment, Levon begins by stating that he doesnt really understand whats happened to him. As someone who hasnt given much thought into the subject of economic study, his personal outcome is a mystery to him  impossible to fathom.

You get behind financially and once you get behind financially, you seem to get behind spiritually.

He then relates a basic truth  that a bi-product of financial decline is a spiritual decline. Morals are often compromised in order to survive the financial debacle and, frequently, a sense of emptiness and failure takes over.

Your luck turns against you.

In this last statement, he disavows any personal responsibility for either his monetary problems or any human action that he might have taken that could have corrected the situation, since the elusive and incomprehensible bad luck has taken control - a force that he believed he could not have overcome.

And so, Levon led a life of repeated success and loss, never learning that, from the outset, the course of his economic life was of his own making. Had he chosen to understand and anticipate economic events and adjust for them, he could have taken charge of his financial life. Instead, he became a casualty of those events.

Unfortunately, his entire problem could be defined as a lack of human action.

Recently, I was asked the question, Once we know history, do we have any power to change it? My answer is that, in a vast economic world, with hundreds of millions of players, some of whom hold exceedingly high levels of power, the odds of changing that history in any meaningful way is very slight. It can be likened to a man standing in the ocean, watching the waves grow in height, then come crashing over him. He might wish that he could control the wave action, but the odds of him achieving this are so slight that its a non-starter.

What he can do, however, is learn to surf.

When we observe waves, were most fascinated by the big ones that grow to great heights, then come crashing down. And, in economics, we demonstrate the same excitement. Were drawn to the prospect of a great economic build-up. However, just as in nature, economic waves always end and, the bigger the wave, the bigger the crash. Many people choose either to stand back from the economic shore, where theyll be safe, but will be unlikely to prosper. Others hope that they can somehow control the economic waves and cash in on them. In most cases, this leads to a repeating boom and bust pattern.

However, those who learn to surf have figured out that they, as individuals, cannot control the economic waves, but they can learn to ride a wave, watch it carefully to anticipate when it will crest, then back out before it breaks. Theyre usually laughed at by their peers, as theyre the ones who sell just as the market is reaching its final, dizzying vertical ascent. However, by getting out early, they secure their wealth and will be ready and able to catch the next wave.

But this form of success can be taken further. The world is made up of some 200 jurisdictions. At any given time, some are advancing economically, whilst others have already crested and will soon come crashing down. The average investor will look around his immediate vicinity for a wave thats on the rise and hope that he can benefit from it. However, those who think internationally have a tendency to examine many jurisdictions at the same time, seeking opportunities. Each jurisdiction will be different, with its own parameters. There will be multiple concerns: geographical location and accessibility, the level of stability of governmental leadership (even a very poor leadership, if its predictable enough, can offer opportunity), its laws (some countries being more restrictive than others), and a local economic climate. Each country has a unique combination of conditions and may therefore be advantageous to some types of investment, but no one jurisdiction will be the best for all types of investment. Some jurisdictions will be easier to profit in than others and each will have a different set of opportunities.

Those who internationalise are therefore the equivalent of a surfer who is surfing several beaches at the same time, picking the best waves to try to ride, then backing out of each prior to its inevitable crash. This diversification offers considerably greater opportunity for the investor than he could ever achieve in any one jurisdiction.

Of particular interest is the fact that each jurisdiction undergoes periodic change. For example, the rise of the Nazis in Germany would have suggested the removal of all investments there, to be transferred to, say, Uruguay, where greater economic and political stability existed at that time. Similarly, there might be some investments in the US today that could have a promising future, but increased socialism, increased warfare, unpayable debt and the rise of a police state assure us that, in the near future, virtually all investment in the US stands to take a major hit. Therefore, the likelihood of success is limited. An investment in one of the countries that stand to become a net recipient when the US crashes take place, would therefore a more promising bet.

Likewise, those with foresight might be observing the recent election results in Argentina, which may provide at least a brief period of opportunity, and possibly an extended one. Further foresight will generate speculation as to the prospects of Venezuela  currently nearing meltdown, but still retaining great natural resources that could provide great opportunity for those who plan in advance, and time their investments to take place after the dust has settled on the meltdown.

Any forward-thinking investor who has spent time in Cuba will say that there is immense opportunity there, but that any investment today would be very risky. The task at present is to continue watching Cuba so that when conditions become favourable for investment, were poised to act.

This is the opposite extreme of our friend Levon. He firmly believes that he doesnt really direct his life. Life happens to him. He, in essence, is just along for the ride.

The choice for each of us is whether we wish to climb on the bus with him, avoiding taking responsibility for our lives, but also being collateral damage if that bus goes off the road, or whether we choose to employ human action. If we have the courage to choose the latter, we might also have the wisdom to learn to surf, and, beyond that, have the imagination to surf internationally.

Jeff Thomas

email: jeff.thomas1066@gmail.com
Editors Note: With the U.S. elections just half a year away, it is important for investors to now start considering how each presidential candidate could potentially affect their portfolio, particularly their gold investments.

Kitco News continues its new series  Gold-Ocracy  that asks veteran industry experts how they think Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and of course, the only Republican candidate left in the race  Donald Trump  could affect the global economy. Stay tuned every Friday as a new expert opinion is unveiled and as they share who they think would be best for gold and stock markets, as well as who they think the Federal Reserve fears most at the White House.

(Kitco News)  Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are leading in the polls, while Bernie Sanders made it clear hes not leaving without putting up a fight. The political climate isuncertain, to say the least, and U.S. politics have never been more exciting.

But, if we look at how some of these candidates  particularly frontrunners Clinton & Trump  could affect the worlds largest economy, we should worry. According to veteran market watcher Rick Rule, they would both be a disaster.

You can also catchup on previous articles:

Week 1 of the series included comments from famed financial commentator Dennis Gartman.

of the series included comments from famed financial commentator Dennis Gartman. Week 2 had comments from 25-year veteran commodities trader Vince Lanci.

had comments from 25-year veteran commodities trader Vince Lanci. Week 3 included insights from famed libertarian and contrarian investor Doug Casey.

included insights from famed libertarian and contrarian investor Doug Casey. Week 4 had longtime trend forecaster Gerald Celente saying Wall Street would be delighted with Clinton in the White House

had longtime trend forecaster Gerald Celente saying Wall Street would be delighted with Clinton in the White House Week 5 shares insights from famed economist Mark Skousen, who says Clinton is the less likely candidate to rock the Fed's boat.

shares insights from famed economist Mark Skousen, who says Clinton is the less likely candidate to rock the Fed's boat. Week 6 check out market visionary Keith Fitz-Gerald comments on the U.S. presidential candidates and why he thinks the U.S. central bank may not be too happy about Trump's lead.

check out market visionary Keith Fitz-Gerald comments on the U.S. presidential candidates and why he thinks the U.S. central bank may not be too happy about Trump's lead. Week 8 read now to find out why Dundees chief economist Martin Murenbeeld thinks Trump would likely hurt the dollar, and thus gold.

Expert: Rick Rule

Claim To Fame: President & CEO of Sprott U.S. Holdings

Which presidential candidate would be best for gold? Why? Both major party candidates are likely to hurt confidence in the U.S. economy and solvency, both will be good for gold, Rule argued. Gold moves on fear, neither candidate inspires confidence. Who would be best for U.S. economy and the dollar? Why? In the very near term, Clinton would be best for the economy and stock markets, she is a known item, a conventional fraud, he said. She would continue the Feds easy money policies, and she is a known item to the political elites. In the long term, these policies will be a disaster. Who would be best for stock markets? Why? In the near term, Clinton will be better for equity markets, she represents continuity, he repeated. Long term, the markets follow earnings, which follows the economy, both candidates are awful. Who do you think the Fed wouldnt want in the White House? Why? Trump. The Fed is an integral part of the elite, Trump's support represents a popular (although misguided) indictment of the elite, Rule explained. Of the candidates running now, who would be your best pick? (optional) If both were walking, in a cross walk, on a rainy day, I would not be able to find the brakes.

U.S. ELECTION UPDATE:

By Sarah Benali of Kitco News; sbenali@kitco.com

Follow @SdBenali
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By Andrew Binion of the Kitsap Sun

TACOMA  A Port Orchard attorney who tried to withdraw a guilty plea in a case where he filed court documents he knew contained lies was resentenced Thursday to 15 days in jail but might be eligible for electronic home monitoring.

Dennis X. Goss, 62, had pleaded guilty to a count of misdemeanor accomplice to false swearing in 2014  he had originally been charged with two counts of felony perjury, but the charges were downgraded following a deal with prosecutors.

He has been accused of making sexual overtures to a client's wife and later filed paperwork with the court denying he acted inappropriately.

Last month, Goss asked Pierce County Superior Court Judge Jack Nevin to allow him to withdraw the guilty plea. Goss claimed evidence had been withheld by prosecutors at the time of the plea deal.

Nevin denied the request and also found that, by attempting to withdraw the guilty plea, Goss breached the deal with prosecutors and was subject to resentencing.

Initially, Nevin had not given Goss any jail time but Thursday gave him 15 days  prosecutors asked for 30, according to court documents.

However, Nevin said Goss could be screened for jail alternatives. If he is found by the jail to not be eligible for alternatives to incarceration, he is to report to the jail June 13, said Chief Deputy Prosecutor Chad Enright.

The Kitsap County Jail has an electronic home-monitoring program, which fits inmates with a tracking bracelet on their ankle and requires them to stay at home.

Deputy Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the office, said those convicted of violent crimes and those with histories of sex offenses are ineligible, as well as those who fail a drug and alcohol test when being screened.

Enright said he expects Goss will be approved for home monitoring and said the 15-day sentence was fair.

"I would have liked to have heard Mr. Goss take more responsibility for his actions," Enright said.

Goss could face sanctions from the state Bar Association. A disciplinary hearing scheduled for earlier this month was called off and as of last month had not been rescheduled.
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By Tristan Baurick of the Kitsap Sun

TAHUYA  Tahuya State Forest's visitors are increasingly finding themselves caught in the crosshairs of target shooters.

"It's scary as heck to come around a corner, and there's someone with a pistol or rifle pointing down the trail," said Steve DeCoy, one of the many off-road motorcycle riders who use Tahuya's plentiful dirt roads and trails.

Target shooting is allowed under certain conditions at Tahuya and other public lands managed by the state Department of Natural Resources. But a growing number of recreational users  from hikers to mountain bikers to off-road vehicle drivers  want gun owners to find a safer place to shoot.

In response, DNR is considering new ways to manage or restrict shooting at Tahuya and three other state forests  Capitol in Thurston County, Harry Osborne in Skagit County and Yacolt Burn near Vancouver.

"DNR lands are getting more and more users and pressures," DNR recreation manager Brock Milliern said. "The extra amount of people is presenting conflicts with uses, and target shooting is a big part of that."

DNR will host a presentation and open house about target shooting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Tahuya at North Mason High School, 150 North Mason School Road in Belfair.

The four state forests are in areas experiencing population growth and greater demand for outdoor recreation opportunities. No longer used primarily for state-managed timber harvests and other resource extraction, these forests are fast becoming playgrounds for people who live in nearby urban and suburban areas.

Tahuya has a reputation as one of the region's best places for off-roading.

"For motorcycles, quads, Jeeps  it's the place to go," DeCoy said. "People drive for two hours to get there. They come from Everett and Snohomish County and Vancouver because there's no other place to go."

Recent motorized vehicle restrictions in other nearby state forests have channeled off-roaders to Tahuya.

Target shooters have been channeled to Tahuya as well. Herb Gerhardt, who has hunted and hiked in Tahuya for 40 years, says the closure of the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club in Central Kitsap and new shooting and recreational use limitations on private timberlands has concentrated gun enthusiasts in Tahuya.

"I find them shooting across trails, shooting into the woods," Gerhardt said. "They don't see anybody. They think they're OK, but they have no idea where the other trails and dirt roads are and where other people might be."

Of particular concern are the growing number of commercial brush pickers harvesting salal and other wild plants in Tahuya.

"Brush pickers might be anywhere in the woods," Gerhardt said.

Target shooting is allowed in Tahuya during daylight hours in areas with an earthen bank that can safely stop bullets. No shooting is permitted on, along or down trails and roads or within 500 feet of recreational sites and structures, according to DNR rules.

Tahuya is crisscrossed by roads and trails. It also is relatively flat with few earthen banks. Both factors severely limit the number of places people can legally fire guns. A gravel pit in Tahuya had been a popular and well-situated place for shooting, but the area is now near a trailhead and staging spot by off-roaders. DNR has restarted gravel extractions from the pit and likely would not allow shooting there.

"Tahuya is a good example of a place where target shooters have been pinched out, and now we have to find a good spot for them," Milliern said. "We know it's frustrating for shooters because they have no place to go."

Shooting is allowed in Green Mountain State Forest near Bremerton, but gunfire is rare there. That's probably because Green Mountain is close to a city, has many popular hiking trails and is regarded more as a park than a state timberland.

Suggestions on where to safely locate target shooting in Tahuya are trickling in from the forest's users, and DNR hopes to gather more ideas at Tuesday's meeting. Milliern said DNR could designate shooting areas and install dirt banks, walls, overhead baffles and other protective structures.

But build too much and shooters might take their guns elsewhere.

"One thing people enjoy about state lands is that it's not like a shooting range," Milliern said. "Target shooters also want to enjoy the natural environment. It's a challenge to find a balance that's desirable (for shooters) and also safe."

DeCoy isn't a gun guy himself, but he does want gun owners to have a place in Tahuya.

"I have two (adult) kids who are avid motorcycle riders and gun enthusiasts, and I want them to have a safe place however they're recreating out there," he said.
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It started with bedrooms. Now it involves bathrooms. What is it about other people's private lives that make some people go nuts?

What causes legislators to create laws to solve problems that don't exist? Why do some people hate government action  except when it suits their purposes, immoral though those may be?

We are talking about the ridiculous new law in North Carolina that says that transgender men and women must use public bathrooms of the sex stated on their birth certificates, not the sex with which they identify.

For once, Donald Trump said something sane. To wit, Caitlyn Jenner may use whatever bathroom she wants to use in Trump Tower.

Ted Cruz, who to our great relief exited the race for president, tried to stir people up about the North Carolina law. "It is simply crazy  that grown men would be allowed alone in a bathroom with little girls  you don't need to be a behavioral psychologist to realize bad things can happen."

Being transgender has nothing to do with pedophilia, for heaven's sake. And bathroom stalls have doors for a reason: privacy.

Does federal law, especially the Civil Rights Act, bar discrimination against transgender men and women? Yes, says the federal government. No, says the state of North Carolina.

Consequently, we are proud of Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who gave a brilliant defense of the Obama administration's position that North Carolina's law is no better than Jim Crow laws that discriminated against black Americans. America is moving haltingly but inexorably toward fairness, inclusion and equality, she said.

She said that North Carolina's bathroom law provides no boon to society. All it does is strip individuals of their dignity and respect, she said. States cannot legislate people's identity. She asked us to write a different story from the past chapters of intolerance: America must never again rob its people of their innate dignity or treat them as second-class citizens.

That is the America we should all want, not a country that permits some states to write laws that cruelly discriminate against people for something beyond their control, for behavior that hurts nobody. States should not be able to pass laws that humiliate and discriminate against someone because of their color, their religion or their gender.

Whether or not you are a Christian conservative or a committed religious believer of any other sort, you should not be able to demand that you should be able to throw stones, humiliate or destroy the life of someone just because you don't understand the path he or she walks. That is what the Taliban does. That is what the Islamic State does.

This is a country that does not impose religious beliefs on others. At least, that was the intent of the founding fathers. And mothers, bless their unsung hearts.

So North Carolina's absurd bathroom law is going to the courts. North Carolina insists it has the right to pass whatever laws it wants. The federal government insists North Carolina may not pass laws that inherently discriminate, and, if push comes to shove, it may withhold billions of dollars it gives North Carolina each year in benefits.

The courts will not rule to uphold discrimination. Meanwhile, businesses and entertainers by the score are warning North Carolina that they will not do business in a state that attempts to legalize impermissible discrimination and hatred by embarrassing laws that can't and won't be enforced.

The physically beautiful state of North Carolina, now personified by the egregiously bigoted state legislature and its governor, Pat McCrory, is being ridiculed around the world and for very good reason. What they are doing is evil.

Lynch noted correctly that change is discomforting and that people fear what they do not know or understand.

But that does not give them the right to impose pain and suffering, humiliation and denial of civil rights and lack of respect on others.

It is distressing that with all our problems, causing misery and inciting anger and hatred are still front and center in U.S. politics.

As Lynch pledged to the transgender community: "We see you. We stand with you. And we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. History is on your side.  It may not be easy. We will get there together."

Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
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By Larry Little

Once again this writer puts on his optimistic glasses, and with an attempt at balance looks at some current political events for their positive potential.

An interesting story within the story of our presidential election may well be found far from our shores. It's really two contrasting stories from the Philippines, which in conjunction may be helpful to our country.

The first is the story of the newly elected president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. In this paper last Tuesday was a Los Angeles Times article noting that Duterte has shocked their establishment, made many profane comments and joked about rape and killing thousands of criminals, "and warned that he might declare a 'revolutionary government' if he doesn't get his way." John Oliver refers to Duterte as the 'Trump of the East." A Wall Street Journal article on Duterte, quoted him as saying, "Forget the laws on human rights." That article further notes that he referred to Pope Francis as a "son of a bitch" in a country where 80 percent of people are Roman Catholic. But with every sound bite, Mr. Duterte's ratings jumped. His tough-talking approach contrasted with the stiff political correctness of his rivals and made him seem more like an anti-establishment figure with whom an ordinary voter could identify.

Does this sound familiar?

Secondly, as noted by CNN earlier this week, voters in the Philippines also elected by an overwhelming majority their first transgender politician, Geraldine Roman. The article notes that, "It's a significant milestone for the LGBT community in the Catholic-dominated Philippines, where gays, lesbians and transgenders have been publicly ridiculed by some politicians and public figures."

Bring to mind current events in our country?

Trying to make sense of the unique international connection between Trump and Duterte, one could dismiss Duterte, as one might try to do with Trump, as simply a chauvinist pig. But to do so misses two opportunities, one quite pedantic, and one quite complex, threatening and even potentially transformative. First, looking at Duterte one might see an exaggerated Trump and nothing more. However, one might ask the question of whether these two men rising to political stardom at the same time are maybe a symptom, or even change agents, of a profound social transformation.

Hillary Clinton may well have captured (whether unconsciously or not) in a phrase what these two men might be up to: they are perhaps "off the reservation." Beyond the negative implications of her phase to the Native American community, the phrase raises fascinating gender battle implications. Perhaps unconsciously, Trump jumped once again into the fray by saying at a rally in our state last Saturday: "I mean all of the men, we're petrified to speak to women anymore."

As for the second story, it seems to have some intersections with the bathroom dispute between the Justice Department and North Carolina. While there are many ways to look at the issues involved in both stories, one common aspect is the issue of gender, and the obvious tensions that may now be even more underground.

One might hope that the phrases "off the reservation" and "petrified to speak" should provoke a new look at some age old issues, reconstituted in our modern age. In that sense I applaud Woody Allen's son, Ronan Farrow, in May 11 CNN article. Writing about his personal experiences with his father, and of Bill Cosby, the article's headline, "Danger of Questions Unasked," is a wake-up call to use the opportunity presented by Clinton, Trump and the two in the Philippines.

Bottom line, we must begin to ask the tough questions regarding gender. If we fail to do so we will simply push further underground the tension that is clearly evident. The surface problems are obvious if one looks.

The fatherhood problems of today were identified years ago and largely ignored. While some groups are attempting now to address it, like fatherhood programs in Baltimore and an initiative by President Obama, the issues are deeper and more complex.

As I have noted before, that challenge could be thought of like cleaning up the slime oozing in a stream under New York in the movie "Ghostbusters"  underground and unrecognized, yet of powerful effect.

Rather than asking "who are you going to call?" We need to explore what's really in our gender wars' slime.

Dare we ask?
My uncle (by marriage) has left two ancient German language Bibles, one is dated 1836 and the other has a handwritten note dated 1788. Both have handwritten notes  all in German, all terribly faded and challenging to read. The older Bible is in terrible condition and appears to have been wet at one point. The other is pretty fragile as well. I have no use for them and would like to donate them or find appreciative new owners. I welcome any suggestions you might have.

The first thing I need to cover is that Bibles are the most common books on the planet, and the vast majority found in modern homes are not monetarily valuable. Of course the meaning of the word "valuable" depends on your point of view.

For example, many people have large, relatively heavy family Bibles printed in the 1880s or '90s with heavy covers. These are common, but they can be worth about $250 at retail if they are in excellent condition. Some people think that's valuable, while others think it's not. It just depends on an individual's mind set.

I was struck by the word "ancient" in the letter that was used to describe the age of these Bibles. An "ancient" German Bible might be the translation of the New Testament from the Greek into Gothic by Bishop Wulfia (circa 311-380). Or perhaps the Frankish translations of the Bible promoted by Charlemagne in the 9th century.

When many people think of an old German Bible, the one printed by Johannes Gutenberg (1398-1468) between 1452 and 1455 comes to mind. This Bible is sometimes called the "42 line' Bible because there were 42 lines to the page, but some of the earlier pages in this Bible only had 40 lines per page.

Many think that only about 180 of these Bibles were printed, and the second edition had only 36 lines per page. The original 15th century Gutenberg Bible is considered to one of the, if not the, most expensive book in the work. Single pages have sold for as much as $45,000!

One of the writer's Bibles, the one printed in 1836, is a Luther Bible, which is considered to be the most important translation of the Bible into German. It was completed in 1534 and is considered to be as important to the German language as the King James version of the Bible was to the English language.

The general rule for valuing Bibles (to which there are many exceptions) is in order to be valuable a Bible has to have been printed in America before the year 1800 and in Europe before the year 1700. This loose rule suggests that the two Bibles belonging to J.F. are of little monetary worth, and this is reinforced by their terrible condition.

As for a museum that might like them, the University of Tennessee might accept them if they have any sort of Tennessee connection. J.F. might also make inquiries at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C.; the Museum of Biblical History in Collierville, Tenn.; the Christian Heritage Museum in Hagerstown, Md.; or the Dunham Bible Museum, Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas.

Submit questions to Joe Rosson, c/o News Sentinel, 2332 News Sentinel Dr., Knoxville, TN 37921, or to rossoncrane@yahoo.com. Questions will only be answered in this weekly column.
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Knoxville Opera Guild will host the 11th annual Knoxville Croquet Tournament at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, at the UT RecSports Field Complex across from Dead End BBQ on Sutherland Avenue. Participation is open to the public, and no experience is necessary. Along with playing croquet, attendees will enjoy a gourmet brunch and high tea, raffle prizes, a bocce game and vintage automobiles. They can also participate in the vintage costume contest. The event benefits the Knoxville Opera. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased online at www.knoxvilleopera.com. For more information, please visit the website or call Audrey Duncan at 588-8371.

The 13 Panhellenic sororities at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have raised more than $40,000 in two years to fully fund the building of a school in Haiti. The sorority community was inspired to support the cause after hearing Ginny Carroll, founder of Circle of Sisterhood, speak about how educating women can break the cycle of poverty. The Circle of Sisterhood's mission is to leverage the power of sorority women to raise money to remove educational barriers for girls and women facing poverty and oppression. The school is scheduled to be built this summer. Tax-deductible donations to support the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation can be made on its website, www.circleofsisterhood.org.
Donald Traill/associated press Dev Patel attends the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival on April 14 in New York.

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By Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times

Actor Dev Patel has played many roles: a Slumdog Millionaire, a Marigold Hotel owner, a Network intern, an Airbender. Now he's grappling with impossible equations as Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan in "The Man Who Knew Infinity."

For the film, Londoner Patel had to master a Southern Indian accent and face one of his greatest fears: crunching numbers. "I suffer from mathematically induced brain freeze," said Patel, 26, laughing. "My dad is an accountant and a numbers wizard, so I've been quite the letdown in that area."

Based on a true story, Ramanujan is a low-level Indian clerk who's plucked from obscurity by Trinity College mathematician G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) and invited to work with the world's top minds at Cambridge, where he pioneers some of the most groundbreaking mathematical theories of the 20th century.

Patel recently sat down over coffee in Hollywood to discuss career highs ("Slumdog Millionaire"), flops ("The Last Airbender") and what it's like to work with scorpions (the critter, not the '80s band).

Q: Did you know anything about Ramanujan before making this film?

A: I didn't. It was only when I read the script I discovered this incredible character. I thought people needed to know about this man and his legacy. He was this great mathematician who rose up from absolute obscurity, poverty and no real education, and with this man G.H. Hardy created the most amazing mathematical equations the world has even seen. He was a spiritual man who thought all these equations came from God.

Q: You're British, but because you became known with "Slumdog" do people assume you were also plucked from obscurity out of India?

A: Ha! I won't mention names, but I remember going into a meeting in L.A. after that film and they had a translator and he was speaking very loudly and trying to get the point across. Finally I was like, "I'm from London, mate." They were really shocked by it. I've had more than one or two incidents like that.

Q: Did you grow up going back and forth between India and Britain?

A: I went to India as a kid, and I hated every minute of it. I didn't have my Game Boy, and aunties and uncles were all squeezing my cheek. It was hot, mosquitoes everywhere, I couldn't speak the language. I felt like an outsider. I really discovered India during "Slumdog" and fell in love with it.

Q: Why do you think "Slumdog" was such a success?

A: I'm not sure. On paper that film shouldn't have done well. It had no movie stars, was set in India, was half in Hindi. But it showed audiences are intelligent and what they want are diverse stories.

Q: And then there was "Airbender"

A: My finest piece of work. (Laughs)

Q: It was disappointment 

A:  for a lot of people.

Q: And for you?

A: It was a real reality check on the world of Hollywood and what I should dip my toes into. Well, I wasn't dipping. I was thrown right into the deep end. "Slumdog" was my first film. Normally you can go off the radar and make mistakes as a young performer, but ("Airbender") was this massive $150 million studio film. The craft services budget was probably the entire budget of "Slumdog." I was out of my depth. At that stage in my career it wasn't a good move. I wish I could have done it better.

Q: How did you recover from that?

A: After I did "Airbender" there was a big slump, partly because I didn't want to make the same mistake again, but partly because there was nothing. I wasn't that swashbuckling man or that beautiful.  Let's just say I have a face for radio. It's hard to put someone like me into films unless it's as the weird sidekick. I didn't want to do that. It took a while, but then "Marigold" came along.

Q: You shot some of "Infinity" on location in India, right?

A: We actually shot some in Ramanujan's hometown. We stayed at this coconut grove, really the only place in town that could accommodate us. I remember waking up one morning and seeing a dead scorpion outside my door. I asked the man that worked there where it came from. He said "nothing to worry about. They're in the trees." Very relaxing, it was.

Q: I've heard you now live in L.A.

A: Sort of. I shuttle back and forth between England, India and L.A., but I just bought my first official home here. I think I bit off more than I can chew, for sure. It's certainly not a Hollywood Hills mega mansion. It's more a shoebox, but it's my shoebox.
Chris Pizzello/associated press Kelly Ripa, left, poses with "Live! with Kelly and Michael" cohost Michael Strahan during an Oct. 12, 2015 ceremony honoring Ripa with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Strahan's last day on the show is Friday.

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By David Bauder, Associated Press

"Live with Kelly and Michael" host Kelly Ripa emerged from her brief "strike" recently on stronger footing, having extracted an apology from Walt Disney Co. officials for giving her little advance word that her co-host Michael Strahan was leaving for "Good Morning America."

Her audience gave Ripa a standing ovation upon her return, and ABC said Strahan was leaving nearly four months earlier than expected. (Strahan's last day on the show is Friday.)

It was hardly the first time television executives had botched a transition, nor the most spectacular. Here are some other dropped batons:

THE YOUNGER WOMAN

Jane Pauley had been a mainstay on NBC's "Today" show for 13 years, first as co-host with Tom Brokaw and later with Bryant Gumbel, when the show's executives were seduced by a younger woman.

Deborah Norville, seven years Pauley's junior, lit up the screen on NBC's early-morning newscast. She was reassigned to "Today" in late summer 1989 with a big new contract, given a more prominent role than predecessor John Palmer. Norville was widely viewed as Pauley's successor, certainly to Pauley, who quit before she could be pushed out.

During her last show, on Dec. 29, the New York Daily News wrote that Pauley "often looked like she'd rather have been queued up in a 5-hour rice line in Bucharest." Most unfortunately, the show featured a long report on a horse that had been racing 11 years but had to be retired.

The optics were horrible. Women dominate the morning news audience, and "Today" was serving up their worst nightmare onscreen: a loyal woman approaching middle age pushed aside for a sexy new model. The show's ratings instantly fell behind ABC's "Good Morning America." They didn't recover until Norville left on maternity leave 19 months later and was herself displaced by Katie Couric.

Norville fought depression, then battled back as an author and host of "Inside Edition."

"It was personally devastating to, in less than two years, go from 'NBC's fastest-rising star' to a pariah in television," Norville wrote for The Hollywood Reporter in 2012.

TEAM COCO

If you still have a "Team Coco" shirt in a back closet, you remember late-night television's worst transition.

NBC thought it was being foresighted when it announced in 2004 that five years later, Jay Leno would retire as "Tonight" show host and be replaced by Conan O'Brien. "I was blindsided," Leno recalled in a later "60 Minutes" interview, likening it to being told by a girlfriend that he was no longer wanted. He didn't feel much better five years later. He vacated the late-night perch, and was given a prime-time show that not many people watched.

Meanwhile, "Tonight" ratings sank after O'Brien took over and NBC executives worried that the quirky sensibility that worked for O'Brien's later-night show didn't translate to a more mainstream earlier audience. They floated a plan to cut the "Tonight" hour in half, giving part of Leno and part to O'Brien.

O'Brien rejected it early in 2010, and began negotiations for a contract buyout.

With the axe near, O'Brien's "Tonight" show became white hot. Ratings soared, and his persona as the put-upon employee fueled superb comedy. Fans rallied around, buying "Team Coco" shirts, and Leno was brutalized regularly by fellow late-night hosts David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel as a turncoat, someone who couldn't give up his seat of power. Besides a reported $45 million buyout, O'Brien earned another late-night gig at TBS, where he works today.

Leno's transition to Jimmy Fallon in 2014 went much more smoothly. Fallon was an immediate hit, and Leno gracious in his exit.

Even then, though, he made sure to note that leaving wasn't his decision.

STAR TIME

Star Jones, panelist on daytime TV's "The View," surprised that show's audience in July 2006 by announcing after a commercial break that she would soon be leaving after 10 years.

"That's shocking to me," co-host Joy Behar said. It shouldn't have been. The show's creator, Barbara Walters, said later that Jones had known for months that the show was going in a different direction. Jones said in a magazine interview that appeared that day that she had been fired.

As Jones made her announcement, Walters sat at her side, glaring.

To the proper television doyenne, few things were as important as appearances and the illusion that the ladies of "The View" were a convivial bunch. She told The Associated Press that day that Jones' announcement was a betrayal.

The next day, Jones was gone. Walters said Jones had been given time to find another job so the transition would appear smooth. "I would have loved for Star to have left and not said 'I was fired' and not make it look like the show was somehow being cruel to her," she said.

It was six years before she was welcomed back onto the ABC show as a guest.

CRYING CURRY

Two decades after the Norville debacle, the "Today" show managed to top itself with Ann Curry's tearful exit.

Curry was a loyal soldier, reading the news for "Today" starting in 1997 and remaining after she was passed over for Meredith Vieira as co-host when Couric left in 2005. When Vieira quit in 2011, Curry earned the job next to Matt Lauer. Yet "Today" started fading in the ratings, running neck-and-neck with "Good Morning America" in the spring of 2012 after many years of dominance, and executives worried that Curry and Lauer had little on-screen chemistry.

They decided to replace her with Savannah Guthrie.

Curry's final show made for excruciating television. She was in tears seated next to Lauer on the show's couch, telling viewers: "For all of you who saw me as a groundbreaker, I'm sorry I didn't carry the ball over the finish line. But man, I did try."

Again, the effect was immediate. ABC's "GMA" took over as morning television's favorite and while things have been looking up lately, "Today" remains in second place. Lauer's reputation with viewers took a beating, especially when Curry did little to discourage accounts that she partly blamed him for her demise. After reporting primarily on international stories, Curry left NBC News in January 2015.

"It was a hard time for everybody," Lauer told the Daily Beast in 2013. "I don't think the show or the network handled the transition well. You don't have to be Einstein to know that."
SHARE Amanda Sammons

By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

A special prosecutor soon will face a daunting decision  whether to seek criminal charges against a sitting judge in Campbell County.

In an interview this week, 3rd Judicial District Attorney General Dan Armstrong said he is nearing a decision on Campbell County General Sessions Court Judge Amanda Sammons.

"I suspect I will make a decision in the next couple of months," Armstrong said.

Armstrong is heading a criminal probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation of Sammons' actions in the boosting of a charge against a LaFollette mother without authority and without the woman's knowledge and allegedly lying about it both from the bench and in a written order.

The chief prosecutor for Campbell County, Jared Effler, determined a probe was necessary but bowed out of overseeing it because his employees routinely practice in Sammons' court.

Records obtained in late January by the News Sentinel showed Sammons ordered Campbell County Sheriff's Office jailers to elevate a child neglect charge filed against Krista Leigh Smith for failing to buckle up her children to aggravated child abuse, the toughest abuse law on the books.

She later said in a speech from the bench she never ordered the charge changed but instead, in confusion with another case she has never identified, increased the bond. She repeated that assertion in a written order.

The jailers, in turn, sought legal representation from attorney Charles C. Burks Jr. who told the News Sentinel the jailers intended to testify Sammons was lying.

Armstrong said TBI agents are "85 percent" finished with their criminal probe.

"We've got a couple more things to do, a few witnesses left to interview," he said.

Sammons, the special prosecutor said, "met with us and gave a statement." He said her written order also has been obtained by the TBI as evidence in the case.

Armstrong declined to say what charges are under consideration. Sammons, who also faces an ethics probe in a wide-ranging list of complaints involving abuse of power, remains on the bench and has racked up more complaints since the TBI probe was first announced.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Christopher Craft, who heads up the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct, said Thursday he could not comment on the status of the ethics probe while it is underway.

Sammons routinely fails to return messages for comment.

It is rare for a judge aware he or she is under criminal probe to remain on the bench and rarer still for charges to be filed against a sitting judge.

LaFollette mother Smith, 26, sat in jail two days in January, first under no bond, then under a $250,000 bond  unaware of any change to the charge she faced or why her bail was so high. Sammons then altered a record of the increase in Smith's charge by marking through it with a pen, jail records showed.

Caryville Assistant Police Chief Joseph Hopson stopped Smith's car Jan. 22 on U.S. Highway 25W when he said in a warrant that he saw "a small child unrestrained in the back seat." Hopson alleged Smith's other two children also were not belted in, with one sitting on a passenger's lap. He charged Smith with child neglect  a class E felony, the lowest-level felony charge available under Tennessee law. A conviction carries a penalty range of one to two years.

Smith spent the rest of that night in jail with no bond set on the child neglect charge, records show. The following day, according to Campbell County jail records, Sammons phoned the jail and ordered the charge "changed to aggravated child abuse and neglect" and bond set at $250,000. That charge is a class B felony, known as "Haley's Law"  so named in honor of a horrific abuse case in Campbell County several years ago.

Smith spent another 24 hours in jail, according to the records, before Sammons appeared to arraign her. Jail records show Sammons then dropped the bond to $500, scribbled through the word "aggravated" but failed to change the Tennessee code citation for aggravated child abuse, and initialed the changes.

A judicial magistrate authorized the original charge of child neglect based on Hopson's account. A General Sessions Court judge is authorized under the law to change a charge only after hearing evidence from both sides in a case and making a determination  in open court and on the record  that the evidence presented supports a change in the charge.

Sammons refused to step down from hearing Smith's case after news of the warrant change went public. Smith's attorney, Kristie Anderson, appealed to Campbell County Criminal Court Judge Shayne Sexton, who cited the ongoing TBI probe as cause to remove Sammons from the case.

Sexton and fellow Campbell County Circuit Court Judge John McAfee have repeatedly reviewed Sammons' decisions on a slew of issues, ranging from charging fees she shouldn't to removing children from their homes without cause. The pair has struck down her decisions in every appeal, and McAfee himself filed an ethics complaint against her late last year.

In the most recent allegation of misconduct uncovered by a months-long probe by the News Sentinel, Sammons ordered Campbell County Circuit Court Clerk Bobby Vann to charge citizens a drug-testing fee without approval from the state legislature as required by law.
SHARE Piles of trash are caught in Second Creek in downtown Knoxville Wednesday, May 11, 2016. City crews and police evicted roughly 40 people who had been living near the PSC Metals site and so far have hauled out 160 tons of garbage. The site has been contaminated for years, and the people living in the camp have disturbed the soil. The contaminated soil, along with body fluids and human waste from people at the site, have been contaminating Second Creek, which runs by the site. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Samples taken from the soil near a North Knoxville homeless camp contain high levels of harmful bacteria and a cancer-causing chemical.

That bacteria is also in samples taken from Second Creek.

October tests show water near the camp had 18 times more E. coli particles and 160 times more fecal coliform particles than samples taken immediately upstream from the site.

The bacterial counts for E. coli were also more than five times the safety standard set by the state for the creek. Fecal coliform counts were double the state threshold.

"It's a high number," said Jon Hathaway, an assistant professor in environmental engineering at the University of Tennessee who has been monitoring Second Creek for about two years. "You have high E. coli, which highlights the presence of fecal matter. Your probability of getting sick is higher."

"The test results are alarming and unacceptable," Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero said of the water tests. "Protecting our public waterways is vitally important. The three engineers and six technicians in the City's Stormwater Division work full-time to vigilantly monitor and improve our water quality."

A portion of the camp was on the former site of PSC Metals, where testing done by the company in 2015 showed "high levels" of cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. PCBs have been banned since the 1970s.

Homeless people at the camp had been digging for scrap metal on the site, exposing themselves to hazardous chemicals and disturbing the soil, possibly causing erosion and runoff into the creek, said David Brace, the city's public works director.

It does not appear anyone  the city, TDEC or PSC Metals  has tested the creek water for PCBs or any of the other 17 contaminants the city says are believed to be in the soil.

"That probably concerns me a lot more than the bacteria," said Hathaway.

"The PCBs are extremely persistent in the environment. Once that gets into the river, it's there for a long time."

Second Creek has long been on the state's list of impaired streams, which are polluted by human waste from homeless camps, stormwater runoff, and discharges from industry and agriculture.

First and Third creeks are also on the state's list.

The health of the city's creeks is important to the Tennessee River, Hathaway said. As Knoxville moves toward marketing itself as an outdoor destination, the river will continue to play a large role in attracting kayakers, paddleboarders and fishermen.

"We've got a lot of development around the river and Fort Loudoun Lake, and I think the city and a lot of residents would like for it to be a resource for the city," Hathaway said. "And all this water from the creeks is going into that. I think that, in terms of public health, is what concerns me."

The homeless camp dismantled by city officials last week had become the largest in Knoxville and expanded across several acres on both sides of Second Creek between Bernard and Fifth avenues. From that site, Second Creek runs for about a mile and a half  under the Interstate 40 and 275 interchange, through World's Fair Park and across UT Campus  before dumping into Fort Loudoun Lake.

The city evicted 40 people and hauled off 160 tons of garbage from the camp.

City officials said they wanted to stop homeless citizens who had been bathing and disposing of human waste in the creek. But they also wanted to stop them from digging for scrap metal on a contaminated industrial site, putting at risk their own health and potentially causing erosion and further contamination of the creek, Brace said.

"It's about cleaning the source, and that's the whole reason we were wanting to do it," he said. "No more digging at the PSC site, no more (human waste) in the creek, get the litter out of the creek and let it flow."

The city's role was to clean the litter and debris at the site, Brace said. PSC Metals, meanwhile, entered a voluntary remediation program with TDEC in January, said Eric Ward, a spokesman for the agency.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks Saturday, April 2, 2016, during a campaign rally at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Tennessee Republican lawmakers, some full-throated, some sotto voce, pledged to support presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump last week after he convincingly won the Indiana primary and his last two opponents, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, suspended their campaigns.

GOP members of the U.S. House from the Volunteer State expressed explicit support. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander said Trump was not his first choice and would focus on the GOP keeping a Senate majority. Republican Sen. Bob Corker said good things about a Trump foreign policy speech.

Most of this was predictable. So was the reaction by Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini.

"Donald Trump has built his campaign on fear, stoking the embers of racism, sexism, and xenophobia that still remain in this country, but that hasn't stopped the Tennessee Republicans from endorsing and actively campaigning for him," Mancini said.

Trump's incendiary rhetoric was, is and likely will be offensive on race, sex and country of origin. For that matter, Trump offends free-traders, proponents of muscular American foreign policy and sensible immigration reform, including yours truly. So, yes, Trump is offensive, but Mancini's divisive comments expose a cynical political strategy that has made Democrats an irrelevant minority in Tennessee.

Democrats from Mancini to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton practice identity politics, blaming the plight of the poor, the immigrant, the person of color, the gay and transgendered on some vast, right-wing, white, heterosexual, Christian conspiracy.

Mancini's mantra wins presidential elections but with devastating consequences. By blaming middle-aged white men of European descent, Democrats purposefully divide Americans by class, color and sexual orientation.

Sadly, identity politics that emphasize our differences exacerbate our differences. This wins votes. Until it doesn't. Many Trump supporters are so sick and tired of being labeled racist or xenophobic or homophobic for deviating from the left's multicultural meme, they've latched onto a know-nothing demagogue.

Stunningly, early polls from battleground states show Trump and Clinton neck-and-neck. Surprisingly, the backlash against identity politics and mushy multiculturalism has gone global. Right-wing parties, campaigning on populist, native-focused concerns, are winning unprecedented support in Austria, Germany, France and Denmark. Why? Morose economic growth and a tsunami of Arab migrants, welcomed with open wallets by governing elites, leave those who have lived and worked there for generations feeling ignored, unappreciated, maligned, strangers in their own land.

The more Mancini et al. cynically blame and shame, the more motivated some hardworking, white, Christian, heterosexual natives become to vote like their long-distance cousins in Europe. For their culture and their kind. Even if the American candidate is a clueless, unqualified blowhard.
Mark Harmon, Knoxville News Sentinel columnist.

Grammar and good sense come together on this point  media are plural. To assert mass media act uniformly is to assume a giant burden of proof. Nevertheless, many right-wingers routinely assert media are liberal, despite substantial evidence to the contrary.

It may be a trick of perspective. If you stand that far to the right, everything looks left. So it's best to find descriptive data that do not depend on the observer's perspective. Let's start with an intended expression of opinion, newspaper endorsements.

Editor & Publisher magazine has kept track of daily newspaper presidential endorsements since 1932. In only four of those elections have a majority of the nation's endorsing dailies opted for the Democratic candidate. The remaining 17 elections saw an endorsement edge for the Republican nominee.

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting and Media Matters for America sometimes counter the right-wing mantra by tallying conservative advantages in everything from think tanks quoted, to Sunday national news talk show guests, to most-used syndicated columnists, to language choice in political stories. Regarding your radio dial, check Talkers magazine's annual lists and surveys to confirm that conservatives outnumber liberals four or five to one.

Of course, you don't have to accept me or any researcher or organization as a neutral arbiter, but you can prepare yourself with a good toolbox of questions:

n Are the methods clearly stated and can they be replicated?

n Are the data published in a blind-refereed, peer-reviewed journal?

n Is the content analyzed subject to interpretation and thus needing multiple, neutral coders?

n Does the inquiry declare a preferred position, and thus any deviation from that preference is assumed to be bias?

n Does the work leave out important links such as assuming a reporter's personal beliefs automatically translate into content bias?

One particularly instructive article came out earlier this year in Public Opinion Quarterly. The trio of researchers looked at one year of political coverage from 15 news organizations  10,502 stories, using 749 online-recruited human judges to code.

The authors wrote, "(W)ith the exception of political scandals, major news organizations present topics in a largely nonpartisan manner, casting neither Democrats nor Republicans in a particularly favorable or unfavorable light. Moreover, again with the exception of political scandals, little evidence exists of systematic differences in story selection, with all major news outlets covering a wide variety of topics with frequency largely unrelated to the outlet's ideological position. Finally, news organizations express their ideological bias not by directly advocating for a preferred political party, but rather by disproportionately criticizing one side, a convention that further moderates overall differences."

The modern media range from remarkably apolitical local TV news to pick-your-preference ideological websites. When an operation like Fox News insists that it is fair and all competing news outlets are biased, that is isolating and cultish behavior.

Not everything can or should be explained by a left-right spectrum. Plenty of opportunities exist for media critiques and concerns, including superficiality, overlooked stories, ethical lapses, poor habits and concentrated ownership. The tired "liberal media" argument now is poised somewhere between misleading cliche and outright scam.
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New regulations by the federal Food and Drug Administration treat e-cigarettes like tobacco, including requiring FDA approval. That has the electronic cigarette industry in Knoxville complaining that dozens of area shops could be put out of business and people could lose jobs.

Yet, the regulations are as necessary as they are with tobacco. The possibility of addiction from the nicotine and the growing appeal to young people are ample reasons to establish regulatory control.

The FDA rule was issued last week, and it is more comprehensive than the mere regulation of electronic smoking or "vaping." The new rule also bans the sale of the product to children and includes regulation of hand-rolled cigars as well as hookah and pipe tobacco.

While perhaps not as harmful as cigarettes and other tobacco products, e-cigarettes have not been around long enough for a full understanding of the health risks. Thus, the FDA likely  and rightly  is trying to get out in front of the issue and control the practice of vaping instead of looking back later at a missed opportunity if serious health issues emerge. Think of the difference that the FDA, empowered by Congress, might have made a half-century ago in documenting the evidence that cigarette smoking and other tobacco uses were indeed harmful and even fatal.

The key date in regulating e-cigarettes is Feb. 15, 2007. All tobacco products since that date would fall under the FDA's regulation. That means that almost all e-cigarettes on the market, including every flavor and nicotine level, would require a separate application for federal approval. Each application could cost $1 million or more, with stores having three months to comply. Complicating the matter for vendors is the sheer number of flavors and nicotine levels, with some stores offering as many as 30 different flavors.

The FDA rule even has the U.S. House threatening to attach a rider to an appropriations bill that would allow more e-cigarette stores to stay in business by changing the "grandfathered in" date.

One reason for the FDA's action and sense of urgency is the alarming impact that e-cigarettes are having on underage smokers, which the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is extensive for both high school and middle school students.

The CDC estimates that as many as 3 million middle and high school students currently use e-cigarettes. The federal agency also said that among high school students, vaping has increased from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 16 percent in 2015.

Opponents of the regulations contend that the FDA rules will drive people back to tobacco  but is that the only alternative? That certainly is not a valid reason for the FDA to back off regulating e-cigarettes.

In fact, some advocates of regulation fear that e-cigarettes could be a gateway drug, leading adults and teens to use tobacco on a greater level. Others believe it could make smoking popular again as it was until the 1980s. That would undo years of federal efforts to get Americans, especially young people, to quit smoking or never start.

It would be helpful if the regulations came with an education program for both tobacco and e-cigarettes, but the regulations are needed regardless.
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Since the Supreme Court decision giving same-sex couples the right to marry, there has been a barrage of legislation to restrict other basic rights of the LGBT community.

Currently, across 22 states, there are more than 100 active anti-LGBT bills, including those that permit businesses to refuse service, mental health professionals to deny treatment and the most notorious legislation  to forbid people to use public restrooms that match their sexual identity.

The so-called "bathroom bill" in North Carolina goes much further, including taking away the right to sue employers for discrimination based on race, religion or sex; overriding local LGBT non-discrimination ordinances; and denying municipalities the authority to set higher minimal wages than the federal rate of $7.25 an hour. When the Justice Department declared HB2 to be a civil rights violation, Gov. Pat McCrory made the ironic statement that U.S. Attorney General Janet Lynch's action was "baseless and a blatant overreach of government."

Why do state legislatures want to bully LGBT people, transgenders in particular? Conservatives argue that laws like HB2 will protect young girls from being assaulted in bathrooms by men, a bogus claim used to defeat a non-discriminatory bathroom bill in Texas. The fact they ignore is that there have been no such incidents. None.

On the other hand, when the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assaults interviewed 6,450 transgender people in 2011, 64 percent of them responded that they had been sexually assaulted and 78 percent said they had been harassed because of their sexual identity. In 2015 alone, 21 transgender people were murdered because of their sexual identity.

It is unconscionable that state legislatures are trying to deny LGBT people basic civil rights, dignity and respect by demonizing them and using "religious freedom" as a sham excuse. It is the fear and hatred of anyone who's different, pure and simple.

Cheryl Peyton, Loudon
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I am hoping that a well-acted version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "South Pacific" at the Clarence Brown Theatre was historically inaccurate because of the lack of available talent and not staged in the name of political correctness. Heroine Nellie's views on race were typical for her generation. In addition, there were no integrated armed forces until President Harry Truman's executive order 9981 in 1948, three years after World War II. During the war, Ensign Nellie, offended by Emile's past relationship with a woman of color, would not have been working alongside nurses of color as her peers. As for enlisted men, sailors of color were limited to being cooks and stewards for officers with a few exceptionally bright sailors allowed in the ships' engine rooms. For example, Dorie Miller, a Navy cook, was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism at Pearl Harbor. The lesson of "South Pacific" beyond great music when properly staged teaches us what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement struggled so mightily for  that all people are to be measured by the content of their character, not what they inherit.

Thom E. Lakso, Knoxville
Alliant Corporation President given Tennessee Small Business Person of the Year Award





Mark Cuban (entrepreneur), Terry Douglas (Alliant President), Maria Contreras-Sweet (SBA Administrator). Image courtesy of SBA.





Alliant Corporations President, Terry Douglas, was awarded the 2016 Tennessee Small Business Person of the Year Award by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on May 2, 2016.



While its an honor to be recognized, said Douglas, these kinds of awards are solely a reflection on the outstanding people who do the work of Alliant day in and day out, and on our valued clients who give us the opportunity to deliver service excellence in support of their requirements. Without either one of those two essential ingredients, recipients of these kinds of awards are no more or less distinguishable than anyone else. So great thanks is due to the people who make Alliant what it is.



Douglas was also recognized by the SBA Tennessee District Office who presented him with an award on Thursday, May 5, 2016 in Nashville at the SBA District Office.



Alliant has made outstanding contributions to the small business community as a successful federal government contractor and a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business from the Volunteer State. Published May 13, 2016
Memphis-based Crye-Leike, the largest real estate company in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Mid-South, announced that it has retained its No. 6 ranking among the nations residential real estate brokerage firms.

RISMedias 2015 Power Broker Report ranked Crye-Leike No. 6 among the top 500 largest residential real estate brokerage firms in the United States. This ranking was based on Crye-Leike achieving 28,595 closed residential transactions by its 2,822 sales associates among its 84 branch offices in 2015. A transaction represents either the listing side or the selling side of a closed transaction.

Chief Executive Officer Harold E. Crye credits the companys success and No. 6 national ranking to its continued investment in technology, marketing and providing the companys sales force with live and online training and the right resources to increase business.

We maintain an in-house team of information technology specialists who harness the technical and global power of the Internet to reach homebuyers and to enhance our agents productivity and customer transactions, said Mr. Crye. We never stop innovating to adapt to the ever changing dynamics of the real estate services world. And our numbers prove it with our company website averaging over 12,000 visitors per day and over 30 million hits per month.

Having a robust Intranet, a wide array of services and comprehensive in-house training programs are important to help our sales associates keep their professional edge and succeed, said President Dick Leike. Crye-Leike College was founded in September 1988 and continues to offer new Crye-Leike sales associates free real estate training as well as continuing education for experienced associates.

"We have found in our almost 40 years in the business that if you surround your company with good people and give them the tools they need to success, then your company will grow to find success.

RISMedia President and CEO John Featherston congratulated Crye-Leike for its ranking in this years Power Broker Report.

With more than 82,000 real estate brokerage firms in the United States, Crye-Leike is among the nations most elite and accomplished real estate companies, recognized as a leader in closed residential transactions and sales volume for 2015, said Mr. Featherston.

Now in its 28th year, the Power Broker Report is based on responses from RISMedias 2016 Power Broker Survey, conducted in January, and ranks firms by closed residential transactions and sales volume for the prior year. More than 1,600 real estate firms from across the country completed the survey.

According to the report, the industrys largest and most successful local, regional and national brokerage companies collectively closed more than $1.1 trillion in residential sales in 2015, representing more than 3.45 million in closed residential real estate transaction sides.








By Choi Sung-jin



In Korea, small businesses often avoid growing into medium companies in order not to lose favors the government provides exclusively for these underdogs in the business jungle. Midsize companies, too, are shy of expanding to large enterprises, which have to go under the government's strict antitrust regulations.



These show how Korea Inc.'s well-intentioned policy of promoting small firms and controlling corporate behemoths can distort the laws of nature in the corporate ecosystem.



A recent case in point is the Samra Midas Group.



The SM Group has rapidly grown through aggressive mergers and acquisitions and is now seeking to acquire SPP Shipbuilding.



To do so, however, the group has to sell some affiliates' assets, not because it has cash-flow problems but because the acquisition would swell SM's total assets above 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion), qualifying it to be designated as a "large business group" by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC). If SM joins the club of corporate bigwigs, like the Samsung and Hyundai Motor groups, it is subject to up to 80 new business regulations.



"SPP Shipbuilding is currently under creditor banks' management, but we are confident of reviving it," said SM Group Chairman Woo O-hyun. "The problem is, other subsidiaries of our group should help the shipbuilding company to bring life to it, but that becomes difficult if we become a large business group."



Either the SM Group gives up the acquisition or it sells assets to avoid the FTC's designation, he said. The group has acquired some financially troubled companies, including Namsun Aluminum and Korea Line Corp., and stabilized their management but is now seized on by antitrust controls.



It is but one example of the "don't-call-us-big-business syndrome" spread wildly among midsized enterprises, which intentionally stop growing to avoid myriad regulations, like restrictions on new investment and inter-subsidiary transactions accompanying the designation as big business groups.



Last month, the FTC designated several companies that have grown by specializing in one area, such as Celtrion, Kakao, Kumho Petrochemical and Korea Investment Financing, as large business groups, touching off a fierce debate on whether the antitrust agency's criteria in designating big businesses are appropriate.



"It's a problem that the FTC put under control those businesses which have expanded by focusing on one field - not diversifying into many areas like an octopus - just because their assets are large enough," said Ban Won-ik, vice chairman of the Association of High Potential Enterprises of Korea.



The association estimates about 10 midsize groups or companies could become candidates for such designation.



Naver, for instance, has assets of about 4.4 trillion won and expects to add some 700-800 billion won this year, given the pace of its growth, which means the nation's largest Internet portal would come under antitrust controls next year. Nongshim, an instant noodle maker, and Dongwon Group, a food conglomerate, also will likely meet the criterion of 5 trillion won in assets soon.



On the surface, these candidate companies say they are "not planning steps not to be included in the big business groups," but appear to feel a considerable burden, business sources said. "Naver, which is already in the middle of controversy for monopolizing the domestic market, will go under far stricter regulations and supervision," an industry executive said.



Kakao and Celtrion, which have recently been designated as large business groups, are already experiencing difficulties. For starters, the launch of Kakao Bank, an Internet-only bank, may likely hit a snag because of the FTC rule that prohibits large business groups from jumping into the financial business.



Celtrion, a biotech company, has also entered into an emergency. "Bio and pharmaceutical businesses have to make massive investment into research and development, which often requires loan payment guarantees by the holding company and other affiliates," a company official said. "Now that Celtrion has become a large business group, we cannot make additional payment guarantees and even have to resolve all of the existing guarantees, within two years."



These regulations on large businesses sometimes keep companies with sufficient ability from taking over firms facing a financial crunch and normalizing their management. This explains why the SM Group attempted to acquire Dongbu Construction last year but abandoned it later. Had SM taken over Dongbu, with assets of more than 1 trillion won, the former might have been designated as a large business group. Dongbu is yet to find an acquiring firm.



"Corporate M&As have their right timing, and if they miss it, the value of companies on the block is bound to fall," said Lim Sang-hyuck, managing director of the Federation of Korean Industries. "Hit hardest will be employees of the acquired firms and their families."




Kumho Petrochemical protests Asiana Airlines' sale of terminal unit

By Lee Hyo-sik





Park Sam-koo Park Chan-koo

A Kumho sibling feud has been rekindled after a brief hiatus the past few months. This time, it is over Asiana Airlines' recent sale of Kumho Terminal to a privately owned firm by Kumho Asiana Group Chairman Park Sam-koo.

Kumho Petrochemical, headed by Park's younger brother, Chan-koo, is protesting the flagship carrier's decision to dispose of a 100 percent stake in Kumho Terminal to Kumho Enterprise for 270 billion won ($230 million).

Kumho Enterprise, which was set up late last year by the elder Park brother to buy back Kumho Industrial, Kumho Asiana Group's holding firm, will soon merge with Kumho Terminal, an operator of Gwangju Express Bus Terminal and five other regional bus terminals nationwide.

Kumho Petrochemical, which holds a 12.6 percent stake in Asiana Airlines, is accusing the airline of "breaking the law" and "damaging its corporate value" by selling Kumho Terminal. Kumho Industrial holds a 30.1 percent stake in Asiana Airlines.

One of Korea's major petrochemical product makers also demands that Kumho Asiana Group cancel its plan to merge Kumho Enterprise with the terminal operator, which reportedly holds 300 billion won in cash and other liquid assets.

But Asiana Airlines says there was nothing wrong with the sale of Kumho Terminal, stressing that it had to dispose of non-core assets to raise much-needed cash to lower its soaring debt-to-equity ratio.

"Selling Kumho Terminal is part of our ongoing effort to dispose of non-essential units and secure liquidity to improve our financial health," an Asiana Airlines spokesman said. "The sale proceeded in accordance with the law."

Last December, Kumho Enterprise, which acquired the bus terminal operator on April 29, borrowed hundreds of billions of won from investors and banks to make a 722.8 billion won payment to creditors for a 50 percent plus one share in Kumho Industrial.

Kumho Petrochemical is raising speculation that Kumho Enterprise will use the cash Kumho Terminal holds to pay back the money it borrowed.

"We believe that the purchase of Kumho Terminal by Kumho Enterprise is seriously flawed," a Kumho Petrochemical spokesman said. "We will soon decide whether or not to take legal action to nullify the sale."

The chemical company has already sent a letter to Kumho Terminal asking it not to merge with Kumho Enterprise. It has also asked Asiana Airlines to provide all the documents concerning its sale of Kumho Terminal, in preparation of a possible legal battle.

A dispute between the two brothers began in 2009 when Kumho Asiana Group fell into a liquidity crisis after it borrowed an excessive amount of money to acquire Daewoo E&C and Korea Express.

The two siblings have been engaged in a series of legal battles, blaming each other for the group's fall from grace. The two have also clashed over the use of the Asiana trademark and other matters over the past few years.

Kumho Petrochemical, which was separated from Kumho Asiana in 2010, continues to remain the second-largest stakeholder of Asiana Airlines.
TVA is seeking public comments on draft Environmental Assessments for two proposed power purchase agreements with solar generating facilities. TVA has tentatively approved 20-year agreements to purchase 30 megawatts of power, pending the outcome of the assessments.

Coronal Development Services is proposing the 20-megawatt Latitude Solar Center near Whiteville, Tenn. in Hardeman County. The 135 acre solar facility would connect to the TVA transmission system through a power line to the existing Bolivar Electric Authority substation.

Silicon Ranch Corporation is proposing the 10-megawatt Selmer North II Solar Project in McNairy County. The facility would occupy about 73 acres near Selmer, Tenn. and tie to the TVA transmission system through a connection to a nearby Pickwick Electric Cooperative power line.

Both facilities would consist of multiple rows of single-axis tilt photovoltaic panels to generate electricity.

The draft Environmental Assessments evaluate the anticipated environmental impacts of the construction and operation of the solar generating facilities and associated electrical connections. The documents are available at https://www.tva.com/Environment/Environmental-Stewardship/Environmental-Reviews.

The public can submit comments to Charles P. Nicholson, NEPA Compliance at: Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11D, Knoxville, TN 37902; or, by email at: cpnicholson@tva.gov. He can be reached at 865-632-3582 with questions.

Comments for the Latitude project should be submitted by June 6. Comments for the Selmer project should be submitted by June 13.

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8.7-inch S-Link screen in Renault Samsung's SM6 / Courtesy of Renault Samsung



By Ko Dong-hwan





SM6

Auto maker Renault Samsung's SM6 is selling so fast it has a waiting list of eager buyers, thanks to the car's new vertical screen in the center fascia.

The 8.7-inch S-Link screen is built with components from French automobile spare-parts maker Valeo. It is considered "the chic-est design introduced by a Korean automobile," according to the Hankook Ilbo.

"Users can maneuver the electrostatic touch screen as easy as using a tablet PC when controlling navigation, air-conditioning, audio and other features that guide driving," the SM6 catalogue says.

Demand for the screen  worth from 880,000 won ($751) to 1.2 million won has been higher than expected. The company thought only about half of the SM6 models would require a screen, but 90 percent of buyers are demanding it. It is standard equipment in the RE models and an option in others.

"We are telling consumers that they won't have to wait long for their car to arrive on their doorstep if they opt out of the screen," the company said. "But most of them chose to wait. We have requested more components to ship here and will hopefully meet the demands."
By Yoon Ja-young



The government is pressuring the public sector to switch to a performance-based pay system, but is meeting fierce opposition from workers. As labor unions have started contacting the opposition parties, it is likely to evolve into a political issue.



The Korean Financial Industry Union said Friday that the government is threatening the CEOs of state-run financial institutions with dismissal if they fail to adopt performance-based pay systems for their employees.



"As the government is threatening, management is forcing the employees to rubberstamp their agreement," the union said.



Currently, most workers at state-run enterprises and public institutions are paid under a seniority-based system. As they gain experience, their salaries go up with little difference in wage between high performers and low performers.



Performance-based pay is applied to managerial workers, but the government plans to expand it to most workers to enhance productivity. It also hopes that the measure will help create more jobs for young people.



The government is especially sticking to performance-based pay in the public sector, as Cheong Wa Dae considers it the only structural reform that it can achieve. President Park Geun-hye has been aggressively pushing for labor reforms, but lost momentum as voters turned their backs on the ruling Saenuri Party in the April 13 general election.



The government also wants to expand performance-based pay to the private sector in the future.



While experts agree that the public sector needs some reforms to enhance productivity, some also point out that it should be designed thoroughly to lessen side effects.



When performance-based pay is adopted, the annual wage gap between those rated as top workers and unproductive workers could be as much as 20 million won.



However, employees of state-run enterprises doubt that their performance could be evaluated fairly.



"Due to the characteristics of employment in the public sector, it is difficult to evaluate the output of each individual," said an employee of a state-run enterprise. "It is different from the private sector where profit-making is the objective."



A labor union member said that without fair criteria, it will only produce flatterers. "We are not opposing it without reason. We are saying that there should be discussion on how to make fair evaluations, but the government is just pressuring us."



When the government sets a guideline, labor and management must reach a consensus to adopt the system. Labor unions, however, are complaining that managers are adopting the system unilaterally.



The government plans to make 120 state-run enterprises and public organizations adopt the performance-based pay system. The finance ministry said that those not accepting it will face a wage freeze for the next year. Currently around half have agreed to introduce performance-based pay, but some of those say it was against their will.



With the two umbrella unions of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) saying that they will strike to oppose the government pressure, it seems to be evolving into a political issue. The main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea plans to investigate possible irregularities in the adoption of the system.




David Mason







Cover of "Solitary Sage" by David Mason, which covers the life and legacy of ninth-century scholar Choi Chi-won

By Jon Dunbar

Thousands of books have been written on him in Korean, hundreds in Chinese. But until David Mason came along, there were no English-language books on Choi Chi-won, Korea's famous "Solitary Sage."

Mason, an American professor at Chung-Ang University, recently published "Solitary Sage: The Profound Life, Wisdom and Legacy of Korea's Go-un Choi Chi-won," his tenth book.

Choi, a legendary scholar, poet and civil servant, was born in 857 at the end of the Silla Dynasty (57 BC - 935 AD), a figure of recorded history as well as myth and legend. He is an influential figure in Korean Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism. His descendants, the Gyeongju Choi clan, number 2.1 million today, the fourth-largest family in Korea. He was also known by his penname, Go-un, or "lonely cloud," after a youth spent in China led to a lifetime of alienation.

"Back in my early years (in Korea) I really identified with Choi Chi-won when reading his poetry," Mason said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Mason, who's lived in Korea 33 years, first heard folk tales about Choi while living in Gyeongju in the mid-'80s, but took a serious interest in January 1987 after discovering a monument to the man at Sanggye Temple.

"I've been collecting information about him since January 1987," said Mason.

"If you ask any Korean person at least above nine years old, they know his name," he said during a lecture for the Royal Asiatic Society on April 26. "He's in the school textbooks. He's been widely known and very much scholarship has been done on him for centuries. Folktales are told about him and he's very famous in the Korean context. And yet nobody had ever written a book about him in English."

Mason identified Choi as a key influence on Korea's education obsession; Choi's father sent him to China to study at age 12, threatening to disown him if he couldn't pass the civil service exam in 10 years. It took him six.

To this day, China has three shrines to him. "Chinese people line up and bow to him," said Mason. "Koreans aren't even aware that the Chinese have such regard for him."

He added that when President Park Geun-hye paid her first state visit to President Xi Jinping of China, he welcomed her with a quote from Choi.

But after finally returning home, Choi was no longer accepted by his countrymen, who treated him as an outsider, according to Mason. Working as a civil servant, he saw the corruption in the capital of Gyeongju, and wrote how to save the kingdom from collapse but after being ignored, he wandered off into the mountains.

"This is the last we hear about him in official records. The rest is legend," said Mason.

According to those legends, Choi became a Daoist sage, wandering Korea's countryside for 30 more years.

"This is unconfirmed," said Mason. "Choi's writings that survive never mention he was a convert or a student or a master, any such claim."

Those running spiritual and tourist sites across the country claim he visited them. Across the southern part of the peninsula are almost 100 places believed to have been visited by this solitary sage, 73 of which are now sacred sites.

Mason estimated Choi died around 935, the year Silla expired and the next dynasty, Goryeo, was founded. According to legend, he climbed a mountain and became a "spirit immortal."

Mason admitted in the interview that he doesn't believe all the legends. "I study the religions of the world but I don't really believe in supernatural events," he said. I believe in science and reality. I think a lot of those stories are symbolic."

That symbolism was powerful, though, and future kings cashed in on his influence to legitimize their rule. In 1023, Goryeo's King Hyeonjong declared Choi one of Korea's greatest figures, a date whose millennial anniversary Mason pointed out is only seven years away.

Visit Mason's website san-shin.org to learn about Choi.
"Gwaebul Buddhist Hanging Scroll at Bukjangsa Temple" / Courtesy of National Museum of Korea



By Kwon Mee-yoo

Buddha's Birthday falls on Saturday this year and the National Museum of Korea (NMK) exhibits a special Buddhist hanging scroll known for granting wishes to commemorate the 2560th birthday of Buddha.

Titled "Buddhist Hanging Scroll at Bukjangsa Temple: The Buddha listens to prayers," the thematic exhibition is a part of the NMK's series shedding light on large Buddhist hanging paintings, known as Gwaebul.

The centerpiece of this year's exhibit is the 13.3-meter-high painting from Bukjangsa Temple in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province. The painting, dating back to 1688, is one of the largest of its kind in Korea and the largest painting to be displayed at the museum.

The hanging painting was created with donations and support from Buddhist believers in the late 17th century and depicts Shakyamuni Buddha preaching on Yeongchwisan Mountain.

In the painting, Buddha is in a standing position, unlike the more common seated image, the first example of such a pose in Korean Buddhist art. With the standing Buddha as the main figure, the hanging painting also features an audience listening to Buddha's teachings.

"The composition changed because this painting was not for displaying inside the Buddhist sanctum, but for hanging outside during outdoor ceremonies," NMK curator Yoo Kyung-hee said.

The painting of Bukjangsa Temple is known for answering prayers, especially ritual ceremonies for rain. There are records of the hanging painting used during rain-calling ceremonies in the town chronicles.

Along with this hanging scroll, the museum showcases other Buddhist paintings that grant wishes.

The seven piece "Hanging Scroll of Arhat" from Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392) is displayed altogether for the first time. People prayed for the peace and safety of the country to this painting of Buddha's disciples.

The exhibit also reveals a painting of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva purchased last year. Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva symbolizes compassion and thus people prayed for salvation to this Bodhisattva.

"Back then, people's wishes and prayers were not for something grand. They were more trivial, such as wishes for health and happiness of the family," curator Yoo said.

Some of the paintings are in an even more familiar style, incorporating characteristics of folk painting. People often make wishes with mountain spirits and paintings of a deified tiger reflect such faith in the pursuit of good luck and virtue.

The Buddhist paintings are on display until Nov. 6. For more information, visit www.museum.go.kr or call 02-2077-9000.


By Bahk Eun-ji

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) has warned "Comedy Big League," tvN's comedy skit show, for violating human rights and using improper language.

The warning came after comedian Jang Dong-min was embroiled in controversy for mocking socially disadvantaged people on the show.

In an episode aired last month, Jang, 36, made fun of children from divorced families while playing a preschool boy. In the show, he sees one of his friends from a divorced family boasting about his new toy and asks: "Did your separated father send you money?" He keeps joking: "Great. You receive birthday presents from two families. That's a good financial move."

Jang then portrayed a child exposing his penis to his grandmother, which quickly drew criticism that he had made fun of child sexual molestation.

After the segment, a civic group promoting the rights of single-parent families sued the show's producers, tvN's executives and two actors, including Jang. The group withdrew the complaint after the cable TV broadcaster apologized and abolished the segment.
/Courtesy of Twitter



By Lee Han-soo

Seolhyun and Jimin from K-pop girl band AOA have apologized after sparking a national controversy over their poor history knowledge.

The controversial moment came during Tuesday's episode of variety show "Channel AOA" on cable network Onstyle. The two stars failed to recognize a picture of Ahn Jung-geun, a freedom fighter who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese resident-general of Korea, in 1909, before Japan's colonization.

The event sparked massive criticism from the public with numerous netizens pointing out the two stars' immature historical consciousness.

The controversy still rages, despite the stars' apologies on Instagram Friday.












By Choi Sung-jin



As North Korea enhanced the role of the Workers' Party during its congress last week, the relatively alienated military group may intensify provocations against South Korea, experts here said Thursday.



At a workshop discussing the North's future strategy after the rare congress of the ruling party, organized by the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), most participants said there is a high likelihood of military provocations by the reclusive regime and consequent aggravation of the inter-Korean relationship.



As part of his "leadership-enhancing" strategy, Kim Jong-un might also try to strengthen North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities more eagerly.



"The North Korean military, short of money because of the ongoing economic sanctions on the North, will likely have to mobilize funds through Room 39' of the Workers' Party," said Professor Chung Jiyung of Fudan University in China, referring to the party's secret agency for espionage and fund-raising. "In that case, the military could be subordinated to the party. Dwindling money leads to low morale, which the military may seek to raise through provocations against the South."



Cho Bong-hyun, a fellow at the IBK Economic Research Institute, predicted the North's five-year economic development plan, announced during the congress, could backfire. "The plan is lacking in detailed action plans and does not seem to be implementable," Cho said. "If it fails to produce any visible results, it will come back to the Kim regime like a boomerang."



North Korea's annual economic growth rate, which remains at 1 percent, could fall to -1 or -2 percent, Cho said.



All this will lead to an enhanced personality cult among the people and a reign of terror for the political and military elite in a North Korean version of populism, said Lee Ki-dong, a researcher at INSS, adding the young North Korean leader will feel tempted to resort to sophisticating nuclear and missile capabilities even more than before.




Scholars participate in a diplomatic forum held by the Korean Association of International Studies (KAIS) at Yonsei University in Seoul, Friday. From left are Prof. Sohn Yul of Yonsei University, Prof. Akihiko Tanaka of Tokyo University, Prof. Chu Shulong of China's Tsinghua University and Prof. Ha Young-sun of Seoul National University.

/ Courtesy of KAIS



By Kim Hyo-jin



Five-party nuclear talks without North Korea could be a good option to work toward Pyongyang's denuclearization, a Chinese international relations expert said, Friday.



Chu Shulong, an international politics professor at Tsinghua University in China, voiced his support for the idea, proposed earlier by President Park Geun-hye in January, while expressing concerns over the deadlock of the six-party talks aimed at resolving the North's nuclear development.



"The Korean government has proposed five-party talks on North Korean nuclear and regional security issues," Chu said during an international conference held in Seoul. "If the six-party talks cannot resume in the near future, this idea is worth trying."



Park unveiled the idea of replacing the long-stalled six-party talks with a five-party format following the fourth nuclear test by the reclusive country on Jan. 6. China, the North's chief ally, responded negatively at first but it is reportedly warming to the idea recently. Russia, another six-party member, also said it was "not a good idea" at that time.



The multilateral denuclearization forum, that also includes the United States and Japan, has been suspended since 2008.



Noting the concerns over the five-party format's longevity and practicality due to historical and territorial conflicts among the existing participants, Prof. Chu proposed including Mongolia as an alternative.



"Given the serious disputes among Japan, Korea and China on historical and territorial issues, one has the reason to worry how far the talks can go, even we have the process in the future," Chu said. "So, I suggest five-party talks between South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, and Mongolia."



Chu added it can lead to improved regional integration by dealing with not only security but also economic and social issues.



Dozens of scholars and students from South Korea, China and Japan gathered in Seoul Friday to discuss the future of the regional order in Northeast Asia.



The Korean Association of International Studies (KAIS) on Thursday began the three-day conference, titled "Contested Regional Order and China-Japan-Korea Relations" in commemoration of KAIS' 60th anniversary.



"The tripartite relations ushered in a new phase after the 2015 summits," said Choi Young-jong, president of KAIS. "We are holding the conference with experts from each country to share visions for the regional community and seek how to lay the groundwork for our goals."



The conference ends Saturday, with 45 graduate students from the three nations to have a freestyle discussion on possible measures for better tripartite cooperation.


By Jun Ji-hye

North Korea appears to have been deploying road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at military bases near its border with China, according to media reports Friday, in a move to show off its nuclear capability against the United States.

After tracking the development of the missiles, known as the KN-08, for the past two years, South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials have found that Pyongyang is in the process of deploying missiles at three or four border bases, the Chosun Ilbo reported.

The KN-08 is believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers, far enough to strike targets on the U.S. mainland.

The North has been constructing ICBMs bases near its border with China with the apparent aim of avoiding having its KN-08s destroyed by allies' precision bombing in the event of a contingency, the report added.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also said in February that Pyongyang "has already taken initial steps toward fielding this (KN-08) system, although the system has not been flight-tested."

It could be the North's second missile to be operationally deployed without test-firing, after the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs). The hostile state deployed the Musudans in 2007 without carrying out any test-firing, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The ministry refused to confirm whether the latest report was true or not.

However, a ministry official said intelligence officials from Seoul and Washington are carefully considering all possibilities and keenly monitoring the movements of North Korean soldiers.

"There have been a lot of talks about the North having inched closer to fielding the road-mobile ICBMs," the official said on the condition of anonymity. "But we need to check more information to confirm the details."

In February, there were media reports about the Kim Jong-un regime having formed a new brigade to deploy its KN-08 ICBMs.

At the time, reports said the KN-08 brigade is a subordinate unit of the Strategic Forces, which oversees all missile units in the North.

The KN-08 was first unveiled in a military parade in April 2012 during celebrations of the 100th birthday of North Korea founder Kim Il-sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un.

The North is believed to be developing its abilities to build a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on its KN-08 ICBMs to hit the U.S. mainland.

In its annual report to Congress, the Pentagon stated in February that if the KN-08 is properly designed and developed, it could be difficult to track because of its mobility.

On Feb. 7, Pyongyang launched what it claims is an Earth observation satellite called Kwangmyongsong-4, which is widely regarded as a cover for testing ICBM technology.
Nearly 100 Keller Williams Downtown Chattanooga agents and employees came to the Chambliss Center for Children campus Thursday for their annual RED Day.

Introduced in 2009, RED Day, which stands for Renew, Energize and Donate, is Keller Williams Realty's annual day of service. Each year on the second Thursday of May, associates spend the day away from their businesses serving organizations and causes in their communities.

The volunteers who came to Chambliss Center for Children tackled interior projects such as cleaning, painting, replacing ceiling tiles and organizing closets. Exterior projects included pressure washing sidewalks, mulching playgrounds, trimming hedges and cleaning the pool.

The folks from Keller Williams arrive bright and early ready to work hard, said Lesley Berryhill, director of communications for Chambliss Center for Children. Many have come here for years, while others are first-time volunteers with us. You can tell they enjoy working as a team to get the job done.
A Seoul court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a local politician who argued President Park Geun-hye defamed her by calling a talk show she hosted in 2014 as being pro-North Korean.

Hwang Sun, a former deputy spokeswoman of the now-defunct Democratic Labor Party, filed the defamation suit with the Seoul Central District Court in 2014, seeking 5 million won ($4,300) in compensation from President Park for criticizing her show at a meeting of senior presidential secretaries.

Upholding the original ruling, an appeals department of the court dismissed the appeal filed by Hwang.

The plaintiff had claimed she mentally suffered as the president said Hwang distorted the brutal human rights situation in the North.

The 42-year-old was indicted in February 2015 on charges of making flattering remarks about North Korea during the on-stage talk shows, in violation of the South's National Security Law.

The law bans any activity meant to praise or propagandize North Korean ideals. Seoul remains technically at war with Pyongyang since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Hwang said Park's remarks, which were made when Hwang was under investigation by prosecutors, had a negative impact on the results of the probe.

The court said in the original ruling that some of the remarks by the chief executive were simple opinions, which aren't liable for defamation compensation, and others were based on facts that cannot be illegal.

Hwang was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for two years, by the same court in February.

Her Korean-American co-host of the show Shin Eun-mi was deported in January last year because of similar allegations. She has been banned from entering South Korea for five years. (Yonhap)
Visitors take photos in front of a mural at Ihwa Mural Village in central Seoul. As hundreds of domestic and foreign tourists come to see the murals, residents complain of the noise they make and the wastes they leave behind.



By Lee Kyung-min

Ihwa Mural Village in Ihwa-dong, central Seoul, has been one of the city's must-visit tourist attractions in recent years.

Dozens of visitors  or hundreds on weekends  come to the hillside village, which had been an ordinary underdeveloped slum until recent years when artists transformed it by painting murals on various walls in the area. They take photos in front of various murals, wandering here and there through the hillside village to look for paintings.

Not all residents, however, are happy with the flood of tourists, expressing annoyance with visitors making noise, littering and often scribbling on the walls around the murals.

The situation has gotten worse recently as spring came and the number of tourists spiked accordingly, according to a resident.

"I heard many people living here complaining that they cannot stay indoors without wearing earplugs or headphones," he said. "It gets even more crowded on weekends."

Unable to bear the noise and disturbance, five residents covered up some of the murals with gray paint.

Police booked the five people without physical detention for defacing two murals near their homes, Friday.

Officials at the Hyehwa Police Station said the five may face charges of destroying property for causing damage to the city's iconic tourist sightseeing destination.

Of the five, three are suspected of pouring gray paint on a concrete staircase painted with sunflowers at around 8 p.m. on April 15. The remaining two allegedly poured paint on stairs decorated with fish at 12:10 a.m. on April 24.





A sign urges visitors to Ihwa Mural Village not to be loud for the sake of residents.

/ Korea Times photos by Lee Kyung-min



The costs to repaint the stairs are estimated at some 42 million won ($36,000) and 10 million won, respectively, according to police.

The booking followed complaints by the Jongno District Office and the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism demanding an investigation.

The five residents told police that they destroyed the paintings after the district office's years-long indifference to their complaints of the noise and disturbances.

"One of the men lives right next to the stairs," an artist living in the village, 61, said.

"He said he was constantly bothered by the noises tourists made, laughing, shouting and running around until past midnight," he added.

Repainting the walls is not likely for the time being, as the murals and paintings were made by art professors and volunteering college students under a ministry project in 2006.

"We don't have the authority to decide whether to repaint the stairs," an official from the district office said.

"We will hold hearings and discussions to give those affected the chance to address their issues, and reach an agreement. We will also seek cooperation of the culture ministry."

The murals began to appear in 2006 as the ministry launched a project to develop the poor neighborhood as a tourist landmark with a unique atmosphere, allocating a budget of 250 million won.

A total of 68 experts and painters offered consultations on the project to come up with design ideas, and 70 paintings were drawn there on walls, stairs and the exteriors of some houses.


Consultative body to be formed over Oxy scandal



By Kim Hyo-jin



President Park Geun-hye agreed Friday to hold talks with the three main ruling and opposition party leaders on a quarterly basis, according to Cheong Wa Dae and the parties.



The President also proposed forming a consultative body between the executive and legislative branches, if necessary, to investigate the humidifier disinfectant scandal that claimed more than 140 lives.



The President had her first meeting with key members of the ruling Saenuri Party, the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the minority opposition People's Party at the presidential office following last month's general election.



The participants included Saenuri Party floor leader Chung Jin-suk and chief policymaker Kim Gwang-lim, MPK floor leader Woo Sang-ho and chief policymaker Byun Jae-ill, and People's Party floor leader Park Jie-won and chief policymaker Kim Song-sik.



"The meeting will take place once every quarter and it could come more often if needed," Kim Sung-woo, the chief presidential press secretary, told reporters following the 90-minute meeting.



Kim also said that along with the quarterly meeting, the two sides agreed that their chief policymakers will hold talks with the finance minister as soon as possible to discuss pending economy-related issues.



The agreements drew attention as this could be a steppingstone to narrow the gap in differing opinions over key legislative priorities.



The governing and opposition blocs have traded barbs over labor reform, corporate restructuring, quantitative easing, introduction of a performance-based payment system and countermeasures for the high unemployment rate.



In the meeting, Park also said the government will try to share security information more closely with the parties and asked for concerted efforts in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue, according to Kim.



The meeting followed Park's vow to meet the leaders of rival parties as often as possible to strengthen communication following the ruling party's crushing defeat in the election.



Cautious optimism



Park has been expected to seek cooperation with the opposition parties which now outnumber the ruling party in the National Assembly. Saenuri won 122 seats, while the MPK captured 123 posts and the People's Party had 38.



The opposition side viewed the outcome as a "meaningful improvement" in relations between Cheong Wa Dae and the Assembly.



"The agreement on establishing the consultative body was a significant step forward and a result of the cooperative politics," Woo said.



People's Party floor leader Park Jie-won also described the President's willingness to cooperate with the Assembly as a meaningful step in the right direction.



Woo also said Park responded positively to the opposition leaders' request that the protest song "March for My Love" be designated as an official song for the ceremony to commemorate the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement.



The song had been banned from the event in 2009 by the government which saw its lyrics as too inflammatory.



"I will order the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs to find a solution that won't cause a division in public opinion," Woo quoted Park as saying.



The Saenuri floor leader said he asked the President to make a new ministerial post in charge of state affairs. In response, Park said she will consider it comprehensively as it requires the revision of the Government Organization Act.



However, Woo said it was a shame that Cheong Wa Dae showed no changes in its stance against revision to the Sewol special law and little response to the scandal of the Parent Federation.



The Parent Federation, a right-wing civic group, was accused of receiving funds from the Federation of Korean Industries to stage pro-government rallies.



The independent investigative body on the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry is scheduled to conclude in June under the current special law. Bereaved families of the victims have demanded the bill be revised to extend its operation period considering that the sunken ferry will be salvaged by July.
North Korea is likely to move away from its saber-rattling tactics and lean towards an engagement mode following the high-profile congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), a professor on North Korea studies said Friday.

North Korea ended its four-day congress on Monday, the party's first highest gathering in more than 30 years.

The congress appointed the North Korean leader to the party's chairmanship as Kim called for dialogue with South Korea during the key meeting held in Pyongyang.

"For the near future, North Korea is likely to use its suspension of nuclear tests as bargaining cards to promote its peacemaking overtures to the United States, especially on issues like the suspension of South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and the signing of a peace treaty," Koh Yoo Hwan, a professor at Dongguk University, said in a forum.

The forum was arranged by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation.

"North Korea has said it is open to talks and negotiations with South Korea and demanded they begin with military talks first," the professor said, quoting the North Korean leader.

"It was an offer to talk with South Korea in preparation for negotiations with the U.S. for a peace treaty," he claimed.

In the face of such a demand, the U.S. may eventually have to consider the China-proposed dual approach of seeking North Korea denuclearization and a peace treaty, he speculated.

The professor also claimed that the U.S. should start bargaining with North Korea by linking the two issues.

North Korea has recently stepped up efforts to bring the U.S. to the negotiating table to end the inter-Korean armistice for which the U.S.-led United Nations Command is the signatory for the South Korean side.

But the U.S. has been reluctant to engage with North, stressing that denuclearization should come first. (Yonhap)
By Joseph Babatunde Oduntan

Dr. Saka Ssali, host and managing editor of Voice of America's (VOA) "Straight Talk Africa" weekly program on April 27, called on President Salva Kiir of South Sudan and the rebel opposition leader, Dr. Riek Machar to put their ethnic and political differences behind them and together walk the long walk to peace for social and economic development in the young embattled oil rich African nation.

The veteran American journalist made this call when he moderated a discussion on South Sudan with his guests (Ambassador Garang D. Akuong, South Sudan envoy to the U.S., John Tanza, host of VOA "South Sudan in Focus," and Reath M. Tang, North American SPLA/M opposition representative.)

The guests, in their discussion on the way forward for South Sudan in the implementation of a peace accord signed by the two leaders in August 2015, were unanimous in their opinion that the two year civil war has retarded economic growth in the country, resulted in the death and displacement of many people, and put the country in huge debt with a large population of the people facing chronic starvation.

In view of the hardship and suffering faced by the people, they believed that South Sudan needs peace for the formation of a government of national unity to implement the Ethiopia peace agreement deal to enhance reconstruction, healing, and social and economic development of the war torn country.

They called on the two leaders to close ranks and work together for peace to move the nation forward.

The discussants agreed that within 30 months of formation and the working of the unity government, the two leaders must let peace rein in the country to prepare the minds of the people and make appropriate preparation for a national general election to forestall the growth of a viable democracy in the country to enable people to choose their leaders by way of the ballot box.

The United Nations, America and African Leaders have talked and amicably settled the civil war that almost divided the country two years after independence from Sudan in 2011.

Reports from Juba, the capital of South Sudan indicate that security is still tense with the presence of soldiers and weapons almost everywhere and people scared to move about freely.

President Kiir is of the opinion that he alone cannot bring peace to the country without the support of the opposition leader, Riek Machar and his followers. After a long delay, Kiir eventually met with the security request of Machar, that his soldiers must lay down their weapons before he could return to join the new government in the country.

The long awaited opposition leader, flew into Juba on April 26, 2016 with an apology to the government and people for his lateness. He was met on arrival at the airport by jubilant supporters shouting the slogan," We want a united South Sudan."

He was driven straight to the state house where the 15-member governing council were meeting and he was immediately sworn in as the first vice president to join hands and steer the country.

Political observers around the world are however scared about why Machar would hold President Kiir to ransome about still returning with a large number of soldiers and weaponry? With the new unity government in place, the country should be demilitarized for a physical manifestation that the war is over and everybody is a free citizen of the nation.

Many observers however believe that Machar's return to take up his former frontline position as one of the founding leaders of the country will forestall harmony, peaceful co-existence and support of the opposition group for the task of moving the nation into the limelight.

South Sudan has reached the dawn of a new era for peace, unity and rapid growth. The new national government of unity must quickly and successfully work to meet the aspirations of the people, gladden the hearts of its founding fathers and make their freedom fight and struggle meaningful to the world.

The writer is a freelance writer and a 1995 KOICA alumnus. Write to Oduntanjb.2013@gmail.com.
Elephant poachers have upped the ante in an attempt to supply Asia's appetite for ivory.



Armed with advanced weapons and utilizing war-like tactics, the poachers have turned the lucrative hunt for elephants and their tusks into a grim, ruthless science.



Even in Kenya, where elephants are under the protection of the government, poachers are still able to kill the intelligent creature by the thousands annually.



Last month, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya sent a powerful message that poachers have an implacable foe in Nairobi. Kenyatta ordered that the 105 metric tons of ivory and tusks Kenya confiscated from poachers be ceremonially burned.



Message: Ivory is useless if it isn't attached to living elephants. The president personally lit a pyramid of tusks.



"No one, and I repeat, no one has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death  the death of our elephants and the death of our natural heritage," Kenyatta said. The black market value of the tusks and recovered ivory was in excess of $100 million.



Kenyatta's point is well taken: The ivory should be considered worthless unless it is attached to living, breathing, thriving elephants. The ivory haul that the president helped burn represents the remains of 6,000 to 7,000 elephants. This is an untenable assault on an intelligent creature that has been on this planet in one form or another longer than humans.



This editorial appeared on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




By Joseph S. Nye, Jr.

CAMBRIDGE  Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presumptive US presidential nominee, has expressed deep skepticism about the value of America's alliances. His is a very nineteenth-century view of the world.

Back then, the United States followed George Washington's advice to avoid "entangling alliances" and pursued the Monroe Doctrine, which focused on US interests in the Western Hemisphere. Lacking a large standing army (and with a navy that in the 1870s was smaller than Chile's), the US played a minor role in the nineteenth-century global balance of power.

That changed decisively with America's entry into World War I, when Woodrow Wilson broke with tradition and sent US troops to fight in Europe. Moreover, he proposed a League of Nations to organize collective security on a global basis.

But, after the Senate rejected US membership in the League in 1919, the troops stayed home and America "returned to normal." Though it was now a major global actor, the US became virulently isolationist. Its absence of alliances in the 1930s set the stage for a disastrous decade marked by economic depression, genocide, and another world war.

Ominously, Trump's most detailed speech on foreign policy suggests that he takes his inspiration from precisely this period of isolation and "America First" sentiment . Such sentiment has always been a current in US politics, but it has remained out of the mainstream since the end of World War II for good reason: It hinders, rather than advances, peace and prosperity at home and abroad.

The turn away from isolation and the beginning of the "American century" in world politics was marked by President Harry Truman's decisions after WWII, which led to permanent alliances and a military presence abroad. The US invested heavily in the Marshall Plan in 1948, created NATO in 1949, and led a United Nations coalition that fought in Korea in 1950. In 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a security treaty with Japan. American troops remain in Europe, Japan, and Korea to this day.

While the US has had bitter partisan differences over disastrous interventions in developing countries such as Vietnam and Iraq, there is a bedrock of consensus on its alliance system  and not just among those who make and think about foreign policy. Opinion polls show popular majorities in support of NATO and the US-Japan alliance. Nonetheless, for the first time in 70 years, a major US presidential candidate is calling this consensus into question.

Alliances not only reinforce US power; they also maintain geopolitical stability  for example, by slowing the dangerous proliferation of nuclear weapons. While US presidents and defense secretaries have sometimes complained about its allies' low levels of defense spending, they have always understood that alliances are best viewed as stabilizing commitments  like friendships, not real-estate transactions.

Unlike the constantly shifting alliances of convenience that characterized the nineteenth century, modern American alliances have sustained a relatively predictable international order. In some cases, such as Japan, host-country support even makes it cheaper to station troops overseas than in the US.

And yet Trump extols the virtues of unpredictability  a potentially useful tactic when bargaining with enemies, but a disastrous approach to reassuring friends. Americans often complain about free riders, without recognizing that the US has been the one steering the bus.

It is not impossible that a new challenger  say, Europe, Russia, India, Brazil, or China  surpasses the US in the coming decades and takes the wheel. But it is not likely, either. Among the features that distinguish the US from "the dominant great powers of the past," according to the distinguished British strategist Lawrence Freedman, is that "American power is based on alliances rather than colonies." Alliances are assets; colonies are liabilities.

narrative of American decline is likely to be inaccurate and misleading. More important, it holds dangerous policy implications if it encourages countries like Russia to engage in adventurous policies, China to be more assertive with its neighbors, or the US to overreact out of fear. America has many problems, but it is not in absolute decline, and it is likely to remain more powerful than any single state for the foreseeable future.

The real problem for the US is not that it will be overtaken by China or another contender, but that a rise in the power resources of many others  both states and non-state actors  will pose new obstacles to global governance. The real challenge will be entropy  the inability to get work done.

Weakening America's alliances, the likely result of Trump's policies, is hardly the way to "make America great again." America will face an increasing number of new transnational issues that require it to exercise power with others as much as over others. And, in a world of growing complexity, the most connected states are the most powerful. As Anne-Marie Slaughter has put it , "diplomacy is social capital; it depends on the density and reach of a nation's diplomatic contacts."

The US, according to Australia's Lowy Institute, tops the ranking of countries by number of embassies, consulates, and missions. The US has some 60 treaty allies; China has few. The Economist magazine estimates that of the world's 150 largest countries, nearly 100 lean toward the US, while 21 lean against it.

Contrary to claims that the "Chinese century" is at hand, we have not entered a post-American world. The US remains central to the workings of the global balance of power, and to the provision of global public goods.

But American preeminence in military, economic, and soft-power terms will not look like it once did. The US share of the world economy will fall, and its ability to wield influence and organize action will become increasingly constrained. More than ever, America's ability to sustain the credibility of its alliances as well as establish new networks will be central to its global success.
World minus US leadership looms as certain possibility



There should be no more delay in accepting Donald Trump, the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential candidate, as a political reality. Not that the 69-year-old real estate manipulator makes much sense as president and surely would not help the U.S. become any greater were he to become president, but it cannot be ruled out that he may become the next person to sit in the Oval Office.



We South Koreans need to make preparations for a Trump presidency for two reasons: an unstable world with a leadership void as the result of a U.S. isolationist policy and, more immediately, a hole in our security left as the result of the possible U.S. withdrawal of its forces from Korea.



The former TV celebrity has spoken repeatedly about Seoul being a free rider, not paying for its own defense, and prospering at the expense of the U.S. It is not true, since Seoul pays for the majority of the expenses involved in keeping the 28,000 American troops here who the U.S. deployed to partly contain the Soviets in the Cold War and China now.



On the surface, Korea has been trying to act coolly, but it has recently shown its hand when it was reported that it was trying to contact the Trump camp to establish a private line of communication. A real risk is that Trump sees his pressure tactic working, possibly alienating Korea from the sure-fire Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, Seoul's erstwhile friend.



But when all the chaff is separated from the wheat, the bottom line is that Trump's nationalistic contention has a great deal of appeal in America, as shown by his strong popular support there. Even if Clinton is elected president in November, she would have to take up some of Trump's claim, finding herself under pressure to force Korea and its allies  Japan and Europe  to pay up.



Korea has relied on the U.S. as a key partner in defending itself against North Korea so much that it sometimes appears as if the vital help from the U.S. is being taken for granted. After all, it was the U.S.-led Allied forces that liberated South Korea from Japan and fought back the North Korean invasion backed by the Soviet Union and China in the 1950-1953 Korean War. Now, South Korea has grown tremendously economically, from one of the world's poorest countries to one of the most prosperous, and it is only logical for Seoul to become responsible for its own defense.



In this sense, Trump's assertion should be taken as a wake-up call for the South to start efforts to build up its ability to defend itself and thus reach a more equal footing with the U.S on its defense. Of course, this does not mean a sudden rupture of the two countries' alliance that has benefited both sides.



Still, Seoul being under U.S. protection has skewed its policy decision-making process so often and dramatically that Korea is stuck in a case of arrested development in setting its own course.



Trump's grievance about the Korea-U.S. free trade agreement should also be taken in the context of his protectionist tendencies that are popular with many Americans. He speaks about imposing big tariffs on China, describing it as a thief of American jobs.



Still, it is imperative that the government take into consideration all alternatives when and if Trump should become president and tries to implement his campaign pledges.



So far, experts in and outside the U.S. are arguing against Trump's views that, when put into practice, would make the U.S. an isolationist in diplomacy and a protectionist in trade, or with a little hyperbole send the world into unchartered territory along with it.



History shows that often the unthinkable has taken place regardless of the collective will of the world. For Korea, a middle power sandwiched at the crossroads of big powers, betting on its own wishful thinking that Trump loses in November is not enough. Rather, it is time to prepare for all contingencies. Often we are called on to do our best in any given circumstance and Trump may turn out to be a blessing disguised as a curse.




By Yoon Sung-won



KT is expected to become the telecom partner of U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla Motors in the Korean market.



Tesla is planning to roll out its relatively cheaper EV Model 3 here and has named KT as the provider of network services for its vehicles, according to industry sources, Friday. The companies have had detailed discussions to settle the final agreement, the sources said.



The Model 3 is an advanced EV that will have diverse wireless network services, or telematics, such as voice call, map searching, shopping and gaming, similar to a smartphone. The car is expected to be released after late 2017.



Tesla has established partnerships with telecom operators in other regional markets to provide mobile network services for its cars. It has worked with AT&T in the U.S. while cooperating with Telefonica and TeliaSonera in European markets.



The EV maker established a Korean subsidiary, Tesla Korea, in November and has been in talks with SK Telecom and KT, the nation's two biggest telecom operators, over forming a partnership here.













Under the leadership of Chairman Hwang Chang-gyu, KT has pushed to expand in the EV car and autonomous vehicle industries, which are expected to bloom in Korea.



It has cooperated with Korea's top automaker, Hyundai Motor, to provide a remote car condition monitoring service dubbed Hyundai Blue Link on its networks. KT is also known to be in discussions to set up more than 100,000 EV charging facilities at its regional branch offices and telecom offices nationwide, aiming to accelerate EV distribution here.



But a KT spokeswoman said: "We have nothing solid to confirm at the moment."

Tesla's Model 3 is considered a budget model costing about $35,000. Despite its relatively low price tag, the EV is capable of traveling up to 346 kilometers when fully charged, drawing wide global interest.
/Courtesy of Maple Match



By Lee Han-soo

"Maple Match," an online dating site developed by American Joe Goldman, 25, is looking to give Americans a Canadian half if Donald Trump wins the November presidential race.

Parodying Republican front-runner Trump's election slogan, the site's official slogan is "Make dating great again."

"Maple Match makes it easy for Americans to find the ideal Canadian partner to save them from the unfathomable horror of a Trump presidency," the site says.

Although the site is not fully operational, more than 13,000 have signed up, Goldman told the NBC TV network. A quarter of signees are from Canada.

"The response has been tremendous," Goldman said. "I'm getting people from all over, but the strongest responses have been from Seattle and New York City. Our first inquiries came from Billings, Montana."

The site has also received attention from Canada and Goldman has given interviews to three Canadian radio stations.
Reliance Partners announced the promotion of Jordan Chastain to the position of senior director of sales for the transportation division of the company.

The company is one of the fastest-growing insurance providers to the trucking and logistics market in the nation.

Mr. Chastain is a native of Gainesville, Ga. and a graduate of the University of Mississippis Risk Management and Insurance program.

Jordans work ethic has been instrumental in his success and the continued growth of our trucking division, said Reliance VP Jason Coleman. We are excited to see him take on additional responsibilities on our sales team.

Reliance Partners is a commercial insurance agency based in Chattanooga.

The companys staffing has more than tripled in size to 35 employees in less than a year. Visit reliancepartners.com for more information.
Ex-U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert Won't Appeal His Prison Sentence

By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on May 12, 2016 8:41PM

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has opted not to appeal his 15-month sentence on his bank violations conviction. Because of a statute of limitations in Illinois set on child sex abuse crimes, Judge Thomas Durkin was only able to pass down sentencing for Hastert for the hush money Hastert allegedly paid one of his victim's families to keep his crimes under wraps. Prosecutors requested a lighter sentence for Hastert, and Hastert's lawyers asked for probation; but Durkin called him a "serial child molester" and said the harsher sentence was justified, as many victims have come forward. Hastert's lawyer, Thomas Green, confirmed to the Associated Press today that his client would not appeal his sentence, and provided no further details.

Hastert's failing health may influence his surrender date, which has not yet been set. He pleaded guilty in October to one count of illegally structuring $950,000 in bank withdrawals paid to a "longtime acquaintance" to hide wrongdoings from his past.

NPR reported this morning that Illinois lawmakers may soon vote to change the law around Illinois' statute of limitations on sexual abuse crimes. Illinois currently allows victims of child sex abuse to bring charges against an assailant 20 years after they turn 18.
The Book About The Empty Bottle's History Is Coming Out June 7

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on May 13, 2016 5:55PM



The Ponys, photo courtesy Matador Redcords

In The Empty Bottle Chicago: 21+ Years of Music / Friendly / Dancing, out June 7, the club's fans, bands and employees recount the club's history. Personally, we were fonder of the tome's original title: The Empty Bottle Chicago: 20+ Years of Piss, Sh-t, and Broken Urinals, but we guess publisher Curbside Splendor decided that might not help the book get the widest exposure (though we noticed the book's URL on the publisher's site still reflects that first title).



It's a book! About The Empty Bottle!

The Ponys are likely among the contributors, too. They made a name for themselves at The Empty Bottle starting in 2001, before eventually signing to Matador Records and gaining an international profile in the mid-aughtsand they're also reuniting to play the venue's book release party on June 8. (It's at the Empty Bottle, of course.)

Over the years, The Ponys transformed themselves from a scrappy garage rock combo into a rock powerhouse unafraid to push boundaries or experiment with their sound. When they broke up after their final 2010 EP, Deathbed +4, Chicago lost one of its best bands.

if you missed them the first time around, though, the book release party will be your chance to see them. They'll be joined by The Goblins, a band that helped define the Bottle in the '90s, and Earring, a newer band still making their name on the club's stage. This show will kick off a series of 25th anniversary shows for the Bottle over the next few months, so look for more exciting lineups and, hopefully unexpected reunions.

We'll let The Ponys play us out:

Buy tickets to the Empty Bottle's June 8 book release party and show here for $20 apiece.
Chicago's Suburbs Have Lead In Their Water, Too

By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on May 13, 2016 8:51PM



Photo Credit: CarusoPhoto on flickr

It might be wise to invest in a water filter: About a dozen water systems in the Chicago area have exceeded the EPA lead standard twice or more since 2004, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis.

In Cook County, Berwyn and Forest View were the most affected municipalities. Other affected areas include York Township in DuPage County, Barrington and Volo in Lake County, and Marengo and Richmond in McHenry County. You can see the affected cities throughout the state laid out on a Tribune map here.

Local officials are not required to notify homeowners or take other action unless a water system continues to exceed the standard during a full testing cycle. Cycles can last up to three years. In other words, people may be told that their water is safe, even if their systems contain high levels of lead for years on end. It can be cheaper to keep citizens in the dark about their lead levels; removing lead service lines is extremely time-consuming and costly.

In water systems the analysis calls out as high in lead, more than 15 parts per billion of lead were found in the tap water of at least 10 percent of tested households. Lead contaminates drinking water after it leaves a treatment plant and passes through lead service lines and lead plumbing inside homes. Illinois is especially at risk of contamination, with more lead service lines than any other U.S. state.

Chicago itself hasn't exceeded the lead action level since 1992. However, that may because there isn't much data about lead levels in the city proper, which is a problem in itself. The city tests 50 houses every three years, which isn't very rigorous, especially given that no other U.S. city has more lead service lines.

Any house built before 1986 may have a lead service line, and should be tested for lead. Most water systems put anti-corrosive chemicals inside pipes to reduce lead exposurea treatment officials in Flint stopped to cut costs. A study done by the EPA in 2013 found that Chicago's street work and plumbing changes disrupted this protective coating, particularly in areas where the water main was replaced under the street. The replacement of water pipes has been accelerated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who prefers the work get done fast, despite the potential health risks.

After the criminal disaster in Flint, Mich., the EPA is stressing the importance of more frequent testing, and is urging local officials to be more diligent about providing consumer warnings. The EPA recently stated that there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Even small doses can cause permanent brain damage to a child, and can increase blood pressure in adults. The EPA also said that any home where lead levels are over 15 parts per billion should receive bottled water or water filters from the city.

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin has loudly criticized the EPA's response in Flint, and spoken at length about his concerns that Illinois and cities across the country will face similar problems. In a letter to the EPA, Durbin and U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth wrote, "The current tragedy in Flint, Michigan, is a startling example of what can happen when these issues go untreated. The EPA must not wait until another city faces a lead contamination water crisis before acting.
Jason Van Dyke's Family Says He's 'Not The Monster The World Sees'

By Sophie Lucido Johnson in News on May 13, 2016 4:20PM

The Chicago Tribune published an interview today with the family of disgraced Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, in which his wife insists he's "not the monster the world sees him as now."

In the interviewthe first Van Dyke's family has given since Van Dyke fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonaldthey characterize him as a family-loving dad and neighborhood block party organizer.

Tiffany, Van Dyke's wife and high school sweetheart, told the Tribune that while her husband is essentially a loving man, he has changed since joining the police force. The violence of the force had impacted Van Dyke, she said, noting that she and her husband were in marriage counseling prior to the shooting.

Still, the emphasis of the interview is Van Dyke's intrinsic gentleness and compassion, and the struggles his family has faced since the shooting. They've been placed "in a fishbowl," Tiffany said. She described how their lives have been turned inside out, noting that she and Van Dyke no longer allow their two daughters outside alone, and that the curtains of their home are always drawn.

The Tribune also spoke with Van Dyke's father, Owen Van Dyke, and McDonald's great-uncle, Rev. Marvin Hunter. Hunter said that while he could sympathize with Van Dyke's family, he considers Van Dyke himself as a "judge, jury, and executioner."

Van Dyke fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonalda black man16 times in October 2014. A chilling video of the shooting was released in November, which catalyzed a mass public outcry, a Department of Justice probe, and a damning task force report on the systemic racism within the Chicago Police Department. Van Dyke was suspended without benefits or pay after being charged with first degree murder last fall. He has declined to comment on record.

Read the full Tribune story here.


Sri Lanka was among the 171 countries that signed the Paris Agreement today (22) at the High- Level Signature Ceremony of the Paris Agreement held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This high-level signature ceremony is the culmination of negotiations held amongst member states who agreed on the landmark climate deal during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) held in Paris in December, last year.

Hon. Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Science, Technology and Research signed the Agreement on behalf of Sri Lanka.

The signature ceremony is a precursor to the ratification of the Agreement by each individual state, which is the most important step to ensure that the Paris Agreement is implemented globally. Some of the goals that the historic Paris Agreement intends to achieve include the prevention of an increase in global temperature of more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), requiring countries to set their own national targets beginning in 2020, and mandatory reporting, including non-binding transparency in implementing the Agreement.

After signing the Agreement, Minister Premajayantha delivered a national statement which highlighted the historical value the people and the Government of Sri Lanka had placed on the preservation of nature and the climate. He also recalled the launching of an economic development plan titled Sri Lanka NEXT  Blue Green era soon after the conclusion of COP21. In addition, the Minister referred to numerous initiatives that the government has and intends to undertake, so as to fulfil, in good faith, the countrys obligations under the Paris Agreement.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations

New York

22nd April 2016

High-Level Signature Ceremony of the Paris Agreement

New York, 22nd April 2016



Statement by

Hon. Susil Premajayantha, MP

Minister of Science, Technology and Research of Sri Lanka



Mr. Chairman

Excellencies



The Paris Agreement is historic. It provides hope for saving our only home, this planet we call Earth, by stabilizing the climate that is essential for the sustenance of Life.



Sri Lanka is a country that has historically valued the preservation of forests and waterways. Our ancestors realised the interconnected nature of all things. They acknowledged that all actions are not without consequences  that unsustainable consumption patterns and harm caused to the environment would in turn have consequences for the very sustenance of life on our Planet.



With the onset of rapid urbanization and development, we shifted away from these treasured values. With rising temperatures, droughts and floods beginning to take a toll on our communities we were quick to realise the need for urgent action on climate change and the need for coordinated, joint as well as individual and collective action.



I am honoured to join the world community today, to sign this historic Paris Agreement on behalf of the President, the Government and the people of Sri Lanka.



Manifesting the importance and priority given by the Government of Sri Lanka to these issues, the portfolio of environment in my country rests under the charge of the President. President Sirisena attended the COP 21 Meeting in Paris committing personally to take action on Climate Change.

-Soon after COP 21, an economic development plan titled Sri Lanka NEXT  Blue Green era, aimed at transformation towards a low carbon economy, was launched.



-Under this Programme, 10,000 climate resilient villages will be set up.



-Punarodaya, the national programme on environment conservation 2016-2018 will establish Climate Resilient Villages and Climate Smart Cities.



-Ministries have been directed to factor in GHG emission reduction in drawing up long-term plans.

-Sri Lanka will be a party to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol



-Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) have been submitted.



-Our aim is to achieve 20% renewables by 2020. It will be further increased by 2030.



-Forest cover will be increased to 32% from the present 29% by 2020.



-Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions have been prepared; and a National Adaptation Plan has been developed.

-The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the setting up of an Independent Climate Change Commission to deal with climate related problems and issues.



-Sri Lanka is committed to fulfil in good faith its obligations under the Paris Agreement and will work as a matter of priority, towards its early ratification, after completion of requisite legislative and administrative measures.



-In this endeavor, we look to the support and assistance of the international community, especially developed country partners for the implementation of national strategies, priorities and needs with respect to mitigation, adaptation, and mobilizing climate finance.



Thank you.
Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama led Sri Lanka delegation to the 12th US-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council Meeting in Washington which adopted a path breaking Action Plan to boost bilateral trade and investment.

The Council meeting was Co-chaired by United States Trade Representative Michael Froman and Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama. United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power participated as well, encouraging the Sri Lankan government to continue its vital progress on democracy, accountability, and human rights. Ambassador Froman noted that the election outcome has ushered in a new era of U.S.-Sri Lanka economic cooperation. Joint Statement issued at conclusion of the meeting is attached.

US Trade Representative Ambassador Michael Froman in his opening remarks stated that it is our first significant opportunity for engagement on trade and investment issues since the Sri Lankan presidential election last year. And he further stated With the Joint Action Plan that we will announce today, we hope to set forth a series of concrete and specific initiatives to strengthen Sri Lankas trade and investment regime and mobilize more of the Sri Lankan population to participate in a trade-oriented economy. (Full Statement attached).

Ambassador Samantha Power speaking at the Inaugural Session stated As part of its determination to deal with abuses of the past, the (Sri Lanka) government had committed to justice and reconciliation processes which will serve all Sri Lankans. I have never seen a country take such swift strides in such little time. And she emphasized that The United States we will seek to leverage our assistance this year to further support broad-based economic growth. (Full Statement attached).

Minister Malik Samarawickrama in his Inaugural Statement, among other issues, highlighted that government is seeking to stabilize the economy and implement a development strategy that is capable of giving our people sustained accelerated growth and a million jobs in the next 5 years. We are determined to break out of the cycle of stop-go policies, which have characterized our past. For this, we need to create a sustainable growth framework. And Minister highlighted that increased market access for Sri Lankan exports will be crucial for building a more prosperous, stable and peaceful Sri Lanka. (Full Statement attached below).

Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam speaking at the Inaugural Session noted that today is a landmark for TIFA process between our two countries, as we have representation at Cabinet-level from US side after long years. And in fact we have two officials of Cabinet rank from your side present, signaling no doubt, United States support for the ongoing transformation in Sri Lanka. (Full Statement attached below).

At the conclusion of the meeting, both governments pledged their commitment to deepening their engagement over the coming months in order to develop a detailed implementation plan for the Action Plan, with formal launch envisaged later this year. (Joint Action Plan attached).

During his visit to Washington, Minister Malik Samarawickrama met with several US investors and addressed a Business Roundtable Discussion hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce. Minister also met with several members of US Congress, including Representative David Price, Representative Steve Chabot and Representative Joe Crowley.

Prior to the commencement of the US-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Council Meeting, Minister Malik Samarawickrama held a bilateral meeting with Ambassador Michael Froman, US Trade Representative at the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Delegation of Sri Lanka to the TIFA Council Session included :Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama , Ambassador for Sri Lanka to the USA Prasad Kariyawasam, Secretary to the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations Gotabaya Jayaratne, Head  Agency for International Trade Saman Kelegama, Director General of Commerce Sonali Wijeratne, Director General of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka Duminda Ariyasinghe, Senior Assistant Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Trade Union Relations A. Wimalaweera, Asst. Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tilani Silva and Minister/Commercial of the Embassy of Sri Lanka Bandula Somasiri.

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Embassy of Sri Lanka

Washington DC



28 April 2016
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

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The Zhejiang Conservatory of Music was officially founded by Zhejiang provincial government and the Ministry of Culture on May 8, 2016.

A concert is held at the founding ceremony of of the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music on May 8, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

It's a public, full-time college focusing on undergraduate education while undertaking the task of developing postgraduates. In March, the conservatory independently recruited students nationwide for the first time.

The Zhejiang Conservatory of Music also focuses on internationalizing their school. Cooperating with the Mozarteum University of Salzburg, the conservatory will promote music communication between China and Austria.

Construction preparation started in 2012 and Zhejiang provincial government put the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music in a prominent position to achieve the aim of building a great cultural province.

One hundred years ago, Zhejiang was one of the birthplaces of Chinese modern music, cultivating many famous musicians, like Li Shutong, Gu Xilin, Zhou Dafeng and Shi Guangnan.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Clover POS systems are a great solution if you want to streamline your internal services and want to replace an old kit like cash registers, payment terminals and other equipment. Clovers point of sale solution allows you to get rid of all that and replace it with a more integrated system with state of the
PRESS RELEASE

Brazilian Senate Approves Impeachment of Rousseff; Interim Government Assumes Power to Cheers from Wall Street

May 12, 2016 (EIRNS)In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Brazils Senate voted to open an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff, which will now move forward in the Senate over the next 180 days. Rousseff is suspended from her office during that trial, and today handed power over to Vice President Michel Temerand his anointed Treasury Minister, former FleetBoston Global Bank president Henrique Meirelles.

In a press conference before leaving the Presidential seat, remarks to supporters as she left the building through the front door, and a 10 minute video call-to-arms released through social media, an unapologetic Rousseff reiterated that she committed no crime, accepted no blackmail from anyone, and is being ousted by "a fraudulent impeachment, a true coup." She promised to defend herself vigorously; it is not only my mandate which is at stake, she said, "but respect for the ballot box.... What is at stake here is the future of the country."

South America is in an uproar over the decision. The government of Argentinas President Mauricio "Panama Papers" Macri, like that of Barack "Killer" Obama, issued a statement "respecting" the institutions of Brazil in their unconstitutional coup.

Not so the Secretariat General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), whose head Ernesto Samper called a press conference today to warn that the Brazilian Senates decision raises serious concerns about the consolidation of the rule of law and democratic governability in Brazil, and therefore for the region as a whole. Samper stated that Rousseffs impeachment violates the Brazilian Constitution, because she was ousted not on the basis of a single criminal charge, but for administrative malfeasance. If the ouster of a president on such charges is accepted, any president in the region could be impeached on such grounds, opening the door for legislative majorities to criminalize administrative acts, so as to throw out governments elected by a majority of the voters. Without pronouncing itself on the interim government, Samper said, UNASURs General Secretariat considers Dilma Rousseff the Constitutional President of Brazil, until the trial is concluded.

Temers announced "Government of National Salvation" opens the door to rapid descent into ungovernability in South Americas largest nation. Temers people put out the word today that the new government intends to move quickly on the economic austerity program demanded by the British Empire interests which have installed him in power (with Obamas help), starting with ripping up pensions and labor rights. Temers Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes threatened earlier this week to bring criminal charges against pro-Dilma demonstrators who blocked roads in Sao Paulo, thus earning the sobriquet of "Temers pit bull."

Demonstrating that Temers government is mere toilet-paper for the imperial chaos operation, Jornal do Brasil reported today that fully 65% of the 55 Senators solemnly "voting their conscience" to remove the President are themselves compromised, either facing judicial actions currentlymany stemming from the so-called "Car Wash" bribery investigation; and some accused in the past (11 of those were found guilty in those actions).
PRESS RELEASE

Italian M5S Parliamentarians Push for Glass-Steagall at European Parliament Event

May 12, 2016 (EIRNS)A proposal for re-introducing a banking- separation system after the Glass-Steagall model was highlighted yesterday at the European Parliament by representatives of Italys Five Star (M5S) party, including the Vice President of Italys Chamber of Deputies, Luigi di Maio, and the M5S spokesman for financial policies at the European Parliament, Marco Zanni.

At a press conference in Strasbourg, first Zanni presented a set of proposals for a reform of the banking system which includes banking separation, and during the question-and-answer period both he and Di Maio elaborated the issue.

"In the framework of the European Banking Structural Reform," Zanni said,

"we have proposed a bank separation, a modern European Glass-Steagall Act which allows separating the good part, the useful part of the banking systemthe one that issues credit to the real economy and to familiesfrom the speculative part. The former must be protected, the latter must not."

During the questioning, an Italian TV reporter, who had evidently not paid attention, asked whether the simplest thing wouldnt be banking separation, adding, "like Obama did."

Di Maio answered:

"This is not only part of our programand by the way, my colleague Zanni mentioned it a moment agobut also of the set of proposals we introduced in the Parliament, before the scandals involving the four banks ... and especially before the bail-in. This idea of separating commercial banks from speculative banks is not only part of our election program but above all is a draft bill filed by our colleagues Villarosa and Pesco in the Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. It clearly intersects another set of proposals that address the central banks conflict of interests. We cannot allow private banks inside the Bank of Italy [central bank]. This mechanism creates a powerful conflict of interest that could also explain the lack of control on other banks involved in scandals, which ... have affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of families in Italy. "Therefore, banking separation is a must today, including because, from the technical standpoint, I have to be able to tell the Italian citizen: Take your money to a bank that makes loans to the real economy, or, take your money instead to a bank that plays with it in the stock market."

EIR followed up with a question to Zanni, who was recently in Washington on a visit organized by EIR, and met several members of Congress. We asked him to explain whether the debate about Glass-Steagall in the U.S.A. is more advanced.

Zanni:

"Yes, together with colleague Marco Valli ... we travelled to the United States. Since the two of us are working on the Banking Structural Reform, the legislative framework where we introduced the proposal of a European-wide banking separation, we decided to compare it with the American situation, where the debate is much more lively, since even two of the Democratic pre-candidates have pushed this issue a lot, i.e., re-establishing a simple law, the Glass-Steagall Act, which would make the American banking system safe. The American banking system has many of the same risks which were there before the 2008 Lehman crisis.
In a non-legislative resolution on Thursday, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) stressed the importance of the European Union's (EU) partnership with China. Nevertheless, the EU lawmakers were opposed to recognizing China's market economy status (MES) as set out in global trade rules.

China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Under the country's accession protocol, China will automatically transit to a market economy status for Europe by Dec. 11, 2016.

Meanwhile, the MEPs recognized that the Chinese market "has been the main engine of profitability for a number of EU industries and brands," adding that China is the EU's second biggest trading partner "with daily trade flows of over 1 billion euros."

MEPs proposed that China's exports to the EU must be treated in a "non-standard" way.

The resolution called on the Commission to come forward with a proposal that strikes a balance between these needs.

"The EU must to find a way to do this in compliance with its international obligations in the WTO, and in particular China's accession protocol," they stated.

Earlier this year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei has urged the EU to obey the WTO rules and stop its unfair treatment of China.

The EU is an important member of the WTO, a vital supporting force to the multilateral trade and international legal systems, Hong said, adding that China hopes the EU will fulfill its commitments to China's entry into WTO.

So far, over 80 countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Singapore and Australia, have recognized China's market economy status.
PRESS RELEASE

Rep. Gwen Graham and Rep. Walter Jones Demand Declassification of 28 Pages from House Floor

May 12, 2016 (EIRNS)Congresswoman Gwen Graham, (D-Fla.), daughter of former Senator Bob Graham, and Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) spoke today for one minute each on the floor of the Congress, demanding that the 28 pages of the 9/11 Joint Congressional Inquiry be declassified.

Graham said

"we need to know who was behind the attack on September 11, 2001. My father has been advocating this for twelve years. I have read them, my father has read them, and some of my colleagues have read them. We owe it to the people."

She quoted former Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson: "

As citizens of this democracy, you are the rulers and the ruled, the law-givers and the law-abiding, the beginning and the end."

No one has answered the question, "Why is it necessary to hide the truth from the American people?"

Congressman Jones then thanked Bob Graham for taking the lead to declassify the 28 pages. He said this is critical to the freedom of the American people. He cited his bill, H.Res. 14, and then addressed Obama directly.
It is not often that a single work of history can change the course of an entire field and upset the received notions and received knowledge of the generations but that is exactly what The Other Slavery does. Andres Resendez boldly argues that slavery, not necessarily disease and misfortune, was the one part of the colonial matrix that decimated the indigenous population of North America and that the institution of this other slavery was the model for all others.

When we think of slavery in the New World we immediately think of the capture and sale of African slaves who were then transported to North America. But, he argues, there was another kind of slavery in the New World  the other slavery  that predated and outlasted the African slave trade that was in many ways more fundamental.

While the archaeological record suggests that slavery between tribes existed before the coming of Europeans, their arrival transformed it and made it so widespread as to leave no part of North America untouched. The other slavery shaped the shared history of Mexico and later the United States, and was so deeply entrenched that it was ignored. Because it had no legal basis, it was never formally abolished like African slavery, the other slavery continued well into the 20th century.

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Resendez launches his thesis with a bang that might (and probably should) upset the most widely held idea about the colonization of the New World: That as bad as the Spanish, Portuguese and later the English were, most Indians died from diseases against which most had no immunity, which was no ones fault. Its the no harm no foul approach to colonization.

But if this were true, if disease was the culprit, wonders Resendez, why is there no mention of any major disease, much less pandemics, in the New World until 1519, a full 25 years after Columbus first set down on Hispaniola?

According to Resendez, the Spanish were well aware of disease at that time; they knew exactly what smallpox was and what it looked like, but they make no mention of it. He explains why smallpox was unlikely to cross the Atlantic: Smallpox was endemic in the Old World, and the majority of Europeans had been exposed to it as children and those who survived had lifelong immunity. European sailors and passengers were unlikely to have an active smallpox infection. And if they did it would have been hard for smallpox to cross the ocean, a journey of five or six weeks during which time an infected passenger would have died or recovered. The disease probably spread more slowly than previously thought.

Meanwhile, an institution was put in place almost immediately that had grave consequences for Indians in the New World: slavery.

Even if Indians did contract diseases against which they had no immunity (like Europeans did during the Plague) they would have (like the Europeans during the plague) rebounded within a few decades. The major difference between Indian and European populations was the fact that Indians were enslaved to work on gold mines and silver mines in alarming numbers beginning on Columbus second voyage whereas Europeans were not.

By 1520 whole Caribbean islands had been depopulated  the inhabitants moved to gold mines in what is now the Dominican Republic. Tens of thousands of Indians were worked to death even after the Spanish monarchy outlawed slavery.

As his narrative moves to Mexico, New Mexico and parts north, at each place and phase of the other slavery he shows a masterful grasp of the history and an astonishing command of archival material in not a few languages. He also shows, with startling clarity, how even after slavery was outlawed by the Spanish and then the Mexican and the American governments, those interested in profiting from the enterprise deployed a bouquet of legal terms and frameworks to continue the practice.

The perpetrators of this regime included explorers such as Cortes (the owner of the largest number of slaves in Mexico), territorial governors of New Mexico and U.S. officials. For many years white Southern colonists exported more Indians from the southeastern United States than they imported black slaves. Conflicts, such as the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, were in large part spurred by the ceaseless capture and conscription of Indians from all over New Mexico for export to the silver mines of Mexico.

Resendez doesnt spare the reader the shock of seeing a whole system of settlement, colonialism and capitalism that was built around the institution of the enslavement of Indians. And he includes some shocking instances of depravity and cruelty perpetrated in the New World in the name of crown and Christ. Nor does he omit the variations on that central theme as practiced by some tribes against others. In particular, Resendez illustrates how the horse empires of the southern plains of the Comanche and Utes became dominant and expanded their territory and their control not just by mastering the horse but also by becoming the masters of less fortunate Indians around them, including the Paiute, Pueblo, Mexicans and Apache.

What is profound about Resendezs argument isnt simply that there was a kind of slavery older, more widespread and more pernicious than African slavery (or that it continued longer) but that there is a clear and direct relationship between the two. In 1865-1866, he writes, southern states enacted the infamous Black Codes aimed at restricting the freedom of former slaves. Adopting tried-and-true tactics such as vagrancy laws, convict leasing, and debts, white southerners sought to nullify the provisions of the Thirteenth Amendment. The tactics he lists were pulled from the playbook that had kept Indians in servitude in the West and in Mexico long after slavery had been made illegal.

Lest this carefully researched and compelling book make readers feel bad about every aspect of the settlement of the New World, the conclusion should make us feel bad and think hard about our own times as well. The old slavery based on the legal ownership of certain racial groups had been, for quite some time, replaced with a kind of new slavery based less on race and without legal standing and more on economic vulnerability: mechanisms of control meant to deprive workers of their freedom in order to extract their labor.

Resendez concludes, the other slavery that affected Indians throughout the Western Hemisphere was never a single institution, but instead a set of kaleidoscopic practices suited to different markets and regions. The Spanish crowns formal prohibition of Indian slavery in 1542 gave rise to a number of related institutions, such as encomiendas, repartimientos, the selling of convict labor, and ultimately debt peonage.In other words, formal slavery was replaced by multiple forms of informal labor coercion and enslavement that were extremely difficult to track, let alone eradicate.

He is too careful a historian to make unsupported leaps and the book is wonderfully devoid of ideology, but there is a larger point hiding in these pages that has everything to do with the world in which we live today: The institution of the other slavery  the thinking behind it, the ways in which laws were passed and interpreted, how the practice of slavery itself took on many different guises  is alive today and in a world where the richest people exercise so much authority (in the form of political influence, economic power, and cultural capital) over a vast (and growing) underclass; where more and more jobs are in the service sector; where the poor are subjected to so many disproportionately onerous taxes and fines and fees. To think about the enslavement of Indians over the last 500 years can help us think about the ways in which people are enslaved today.

This book is, arguably, one of the most profound contributions to North American history published since Patricia Nelson Limericks Legacy of Conquest and Richard Whites The Middle Ground. But its not necessary to be into history to understand its power: Our world is still the world Resendez so eloquently anatomizes.

Treuer is the author of Prudence, a novel, and Rez Life: An Indians Journey Through Reservation Life.

::

The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America

Andres Resendez

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 448 pp, $30

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There is a certain perverse pleasure in imagining the world going down in flames. But what if it was more than a metaphorical conflagration? What if your neighbors, friends, colleagues, or family could ignite without warning, starting a chain reaction that could send entire cities up in smoke? What if this was happening simultaneously all over the world? And what if nobody knew how to stop it? In his new novel, The Fireman, Joe Hill drops us in just as everything is starting to go to hell, where nothing and no one is safe.

Its a page-turner  or perhaps page-burner is more appropriate  full of edge-of-your-seat tension and moral quandaries that simmer.

The fire contagion is a virus, Draco incendia trychophyton, also known as Dragonscale, that infects people and eventually causes them to burst into flame, often taking any nearby infected people with them. Harper, an elementary school nurse, volunteers at the local hospital to help the sick. When the hospital burns down and she too gets infected, her husband, Jakob, blames her desire to do the right thing. Rather than burst into flames, they make a pact to end their lives on their own terms. But Harper discovers shes pregnant, and that plan goes up in smoke too.

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Jakob convinces himself that shes infected him, and he attacks her. Only the reappearance of a fireman Harper met at the hospital saves her. This fireman doesnt fight the fire though, he embraces it. Somehow, he has learned to control his infection. Hoping that she can learn the Firemans secret to Dragonscale before she immolates or has her baby, Harper sets out into the New England forest with her rescuer. But her story is just getting started. In the ashes and cinder left over from a world reduced to the dead and the waiting to die, Harper finds that shes never been more alive.

The world of The Fireman is close to our own: George Clooney burned up trying to save the planet, and even Google isnt spared from the flames. The book is full of references to actual celebrities, books, music and movies. Hill uses the world we know and recognize to create a sense of loss; although this risks making the story feel dated, it instead deepens the post-apocalyptic feel and power of the novel. Its not just that the world is on fire, its that the world is on fire and we dont even have Oprah.

When the Space Needle falls, its reminiscent of the 9/11 attacks. Losses like this isolate Harper and the other characters from the world they knew, and that isolation keeps the reader focused on them while also reminding us that there is a whole world on fire outside.

Harper follows the Fireman, learning his name is John Rookwood, to a former summer camp that is a haven for the infected. It has food, shelter, an infirmary  and, instead of igniting, the people there glow with something they call the Bright. Although Harper hopes to have her baby there, the radio brings word of Cremation Crews, vigilante squads who hunt down the infected and execute them, led by a right-wing radio host turned incinerator who calls himself the Marlboro Man. And the camp is running low on food and medical supplies. When misfortune strikes one of the camps own, it isnt long before Harper discovers that Camp Wyndham might be just as dangerous as the outside world.

Much like Cormac McCarthys The Road and the television series The Walking Dead, The Fireman reminds us that, no matter what other dangers we think might be out there, other people are always the greatest threat.

While the novel invites comparisons to The Road, it also draws heavy inspiration from Stephen Kings The Stand. In fact, this is the first of Joe Hills works  hes published three other novels, a short story collection and two comics  where he acknowledges that hes operating in the same world as King, his father. His use of humor story strongly echoes Kings ability to turn a joke into a terrifying moment, and there are several references to Kings novels. Hill is walking the path blazed in part by his father but is by no means in his shadow. The Fireman is a work that stands firmly on its own merits and shows that Hill is a literary force of his own.

One of the most unusual and successful tricks that Hill pulls off is his mysterious narrator. Right at the very beginning, the reader learns that the schools shut down but would reopen when the crisis passed. As it happened, it never passed. So from the start, the narrator makes sure that the reader knows that there is no return to normalcy in the last chapter, that hope for a Disney ending is in vain. Throughout the story, the narrators asides tell the reader about events that happen just beyond the scope of Harpers knowledge. Sometimes its something she would have seen if shed just turned her head, or a momentary aside to direct the readers attention to a particular point. Other times the narrator clearly knows what is about to happen to one of our beloved characters, and wont tell us. This underlines the sense of a moral imperative: Someone is telling us this story, theres a reason why.

And despite being a big book, it has a driving intensity. Asides dont break the rhythm of the action; they keep a slow burn on the suspense and tension. Questions can only be answered by turning the page.

At the heart of what makes the story work, though, is Harper. Hills heroine discovers that the emotional abuse shes suffered from Jakob has left her broken and flawed, but she still shows compassion and empathy for other characters. Shes weirdly obsessed with Mary Poppins, full of self-doubt and anger that makes her swear just to piss off an obnoxious man, but has grace and dignity. And she spends the majority of the novel pregnant.

This is a story with a lot of meat on its figurative grill. Aside from clocking in at 768 pages, The Fireman brings into sharp focus just how far humanity can go to justify certain actions in the name of safety. At its core, the novel asks what it means to be a decent human being, to protect what and who you love, and how far youre willing to go in that protection. An imperfect world is burning to the ground and those who survive must find whats worth fighting for in it.

Fromson is a native Angeleno who co-founded and co-hosts the Shades & Shadows reading series.

::

The Fireman

Joe Hill

William Morrow: 768 pp., $28.99
Government approval of a merger that creates the second-largest cable and Internet service behemoth in the country is a rich prize that shouldnt be handed out casually.

So its proper to ask why the Federal Communications Commission sat on its finding that Charter Communications flouted customer-service rules until Tuesday, the very day it also approved Charters $78-billion merger with Time Warner Cable. And why the FCC slapped Charters wrist with a laughable $640,000 penalty, and failed to ensure that Charter would mend its ways in the future.

The issue involves cable modems, those little boxes that allow cable subscribers to connect to the Internet. For cable companies, modems have been a source of almost pure profit; they lease them to subscribers for a monthly fee that continues, essentially, forever, even though the fee pays back the cable firms hardware cost within a few months. Time Warner Cable, for instance, charges $10 a month for modems that customers could purchase on their own for $100 or less.

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The cable firms used to require these leases, until the FCC ordered them to allow customers to buy and connect their own boxes. The cable companies kept the right to certify outside devices for compatibility with their networks. But because cable modem technology is standardized, that presented no obstacle to customers, who could walk into their nearest electronics retailer, acquire a working unit on the spot and save money.

Except for Charter customers, that is. In June 2012, the company stopped allowing new customers or those switching to new price plans to attach their own cable modems to its network. It would require those customers to remove any that it found operating, and swap them out for Charter boxes.

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That continued until August 2014, when Charter started allowing customers to use their own modems again -- but only modems approved by Charter, which was stingy with its approvals. Of the 22 modems on its approved list, most were unavailable at major brick and mortar retailers, complained Zoom Telephonics, a modem maker that said it was shut out -- only six could be found at Wal-Mart or Best Buy, for example. Most also lacked the most advanced Wi-Fi technologies.

The date of the policy change is important: It came just before the deadline for objections to be filed to Charters planned takeover of cable systems that Comcast and Time Warner Cable would have to sell to get FCC approval for their own merger. The FCC later killed that deal, but that couldnt be known at the time. Charter apparently was trying to show that it was a good corporate citizen, to head off obstacles to its own expansion.

Meanwhile, Charter also prevented customers from saving money by acquiring their own modems. Unlike Time Warner Cable and other firms, Charter doesnt break out its modem fee as a separate bill item, but bundles the modem and Internet service together. The result is that its customers pay the same price whether they own their modems or rent them from Charter, which discourages them from buying their own.

Charter asserted that it was taking these steps to ensure its customers received the best on-line experience possible and the most up-to-date technology. Once the FCC got around to investigating -- three years after Charter imposed its restrictions, it found grounds to question those assertions.

Although the law allows cable operators to block connections of customer hardware only where the devices could harm the network or be used to steal services, Charter imposed limits that had nothing to do with harm to the network or theft of service, the agency concluded.

Its punishment, as outlined in a consent settlement released this week, deserves a prominent place in the annals of corporate wrist-slapping. The $640,000 penalty is barely a rounding error on Charters books -- it comes to about 18 minutes worth of revenue for the merged Charter/Time Warner Cable, which will be collecting about $18.6 billion a year. (The deal also involves the acquisition of the much smaller Bright House Network.)

Charter will have to allow the connection of any cable modem that meets common industry standards; it can test new models but cant take longer than three weeks to do so. But Charter will be permitted to continue discouraging customers from buying their own modems. The FCC declined, either in its consent settlement on the modem issue or in the terms of the merger approval, to require the company to break out its cable modem fee or give customers a discount for bringing their own. Indeed, Charter says it plans to extend to Time Warner Cable and Bright House customers its policy of bundling the modem and service fees invisibly together. (Those customers can keep their old plans as long as they wish, it says.)

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The FCC seems to have bought into Charters claim that its bundling is a boon to consumers, because its Internet rate is cheaper than the other cable firms Internet and modem fees taken together. On the surface, this makes it appear that customers are getting their modems for free. But it overlooks the obvious fact that subtracting the cost of the modem would make customers bills lower still. The basic problem is that Charter customers still dont know what the company is implicitly charging them for the hardware.

Oddly enough, the FCC recognizes that this is a genuine customer-service issue, because its already taking comments on a proposed rule to require separate billing. For some reason, the agency decided against imposing the rule on Charter when it could, despite evidence that Charter has used its lax regulation to its own advantage. If this is a harbinger of how strictly the FCC will be keeping an eye on the second-largest cable firm in the country after attending at the giants birth, Charters new customers will be feeling the pain.

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The Federal Reserve, under bipartisan fire for its handling of the economy, could face major changes no matter who becomes the next president.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, became the latest candidate to push for reforms as she joined a call by 127 members of Congress for more diversity at the Fed.

Clinton aligned herself with some of the partys top liberals in publicly chastising the nations central bank for what they said in a Thursday letter to Fed Chairwoman Janet L. Yellen was its disproportionately white and male leadership.

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And Clinton went further. She followed her rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), in saying bankers should not be allowed to serve on the boards of the 12 regional Fed banks.

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has supported congressional efforts to audit the Feds monetary policy decisions. And Trump told CNBC last week that he would most likely replace Yellen when her term expires in early 2018.

The Fed has been under fire from both ends of the political spectrum for its handling of the economy in the wake of the Great Recession.

Conservatives have criticized the Fed for being too aggressive in trying to boost the recovery, with the central bank more than quadrupling its assets to $4.5 trillion since 2008 through unprecedented stimulus efforts.

Liberals complain that the central bank hasnt done enough to help lower-income Americans get back on their feet, and that its policies have helped Wall Street more than Main Street.

Clintons Fed criticism puts her on record as wanting changes at the Fed.

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The Federal Reserve is a vital institution for our economy and the well-being of our middle class, and the American people should have no doubt that the Fed is serving the public interest, Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson told the Washington Post.

Thats why Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole and that common sense reforms -- like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks -- are long overdue, he said.

Neither Ferguson nor other Clinton campaign officials responded to emails and calls for comment Friday.

Each of the Feds regional banks has a board of nine directors. Three are required to be bankers, although they are excluded from the search and appointment of the regional Fed president.

Those 12 presidents help set the Feds monetary policy.

Sanders has said that if he were in the White House, the foxes would no longer guard the henhouse.

Board members should be nominated by the president and chosen by the Senate, Sanders wrote in a December opinion article in the New York Times. Banking industry executives must no longer be allowed to serve on the Feds boards and to handpick its members and staff.

In a message published Thursday, a top Fed official said having the president appoint regional Fed bank chiefs would be a grave mistake.

The current Fed governance structure may not be ideal, Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va., said in the banks quarterly economics magazine. But until there is a proposal that preserves the monetary policy independence that is so vital to the Feds mandate, we should stick to what we have.

Sanders was among the lawmakers who signed the letter to Yellen that was organized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.). They complained that the voices of women, African Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions.

The five members of the Fed Board of Governors are white, and three are men. There are two board vacancies.

All 10 voting members this year of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the monetary policy-setting body, also are white, and six are men.

In addition, 11 of the 12 regional Fed bank presidents are white, and 10 are men, with no African Americans or Latinos.

The lawmakers praised Yellen, the first woman to chair the Fed, for her strong leadership. But they said she needed to take steps to promptly begin to remedy the diversity problem.

Fed spokesman David Skidmore said the central bank was committed to fostering diversity in its leadership and has focused considerable attention in recent years on recruiting regional bank directors with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Minority representation on the boards of Fed banks and branches increased to 24% this year, from 16% in 2010, he said, and the proportion of female directors increased to 30% of the total, from 23%, during that period.

The Center for Popular Democracy, a worker advocacy group that studied Fed diversity, praised Clintons comments.

Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole and that common sense reforms  like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks  are long overdue, the group said.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

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Subaru is telling owners of some newer Legacy and Outback vehicles not to drive them because the steering can fail.

The company is recalling about 52,000 of the cars and SUVs from the 2016 and 2017 model years. It also has told dealers to stop selling them until theyre repaired. About 22,000 of the cars have been sold in the U.S., with the remainder still on dealer lots, Subaru said.

In documents posted Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Subaru said the steering columns may have been manufactured improperly by a parts supplier. The columns may not engage properly with the rest of the steering system. If this were to occur, the steering wheel may rotate freely and the driver would lose the ability to steer the vehicle, the documents said.

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The problem was discovered May 3 when the owner of a 2016 Outback reported trouble. Subaru said there have been no crashes or injuries. The Outback is Subarus second-best-selling vehicle.

The automaker said dealers will send technicians to a customers location to inspect steering columns. If they werent manufactured properly, they will be replaced starting in mid-May.

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The company will offer loaner cars until parts are available, Subaru of America spokesman Mike McHale said. We have the details of the owners and are contacting them directly, he said. Subaru does not know how exactly many cars will have the problem.

The recall covers 2016 Legacys and Outbacks made from Feb. 29, 2016 to May 6, 2016. Also covered are 2017 Legacys and Outabacks made from April 18, 2016 to April 29, 2016.

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There is a galvanic moment in the new Broadway musical Shuffle Along when Audra McDonald, playing actress Lottie Gee, is trying to goose a new song, Im Just Wild About Harry, with a propulsive beat. Her inspiration? The construction in the dreary hall where the all-black company is rehearsing. Gee starts beating out a percussive syncopation as a young chorus dancer thrillingly taps out the complex and subdivided counts.

What you hear is the sound of something being born that never existed before, says choreographer Savion Glover, who joined forces with director-librettist George C. Wolfe to reclaim a revolutionary show from obscurity with stars McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Brandon Victor Dixon, Joshua Henry and Billy Porter.

Their show, whose full title is Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, tells the story of the first production to feature an all-black creative team and to play to mixed audiences during its smash Broadway run in 1921. Wolfe and Glover had teamed up in 1996 for Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk, the hip-hop and rap musical revue retracing black history, which won Glover a Tony Award for his wildly innovative choreography.

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He is up for the same Tony for Shuffle Along, which earned 10 nominations earlier this month, including one for best musical. Sitting in the lobby of the Music Box Theatre in New York, where Shuffle Along is in residence, Glover, 42, humbly spoke of being the anointed heir of a tap dance tradition and discussed the cosmic consciousness that will dominate when he performs in concert with Jack DeJohnette on May 26 at the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge.

In tap rehearsals for Shuffle Along, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Brandon Victor Dixon were really sweating out your routines. No mercy?

Not only was I excited to teach them, but they were enthusiastic about wanting to do it. I always used to say, Things can be simplified. But they didnt want the simplified version. They pushed and pushed and pushed. As a tap dancer, I appreciated that. As a choreographer, my level of respect for them grew and grew and grew.

What was key in the rehearsal room?

You gotta listen; you gotta try to feel it out. Its not something that you perform. Its something that you have to really think about in terms of its interpretation. I could give them the vocabulary, but the interpretation is theirs.

How did you feel about the denigrating role of blackface in the original 1920s musical around which the new Shuffle Along is built?

I had images in my mind that I had to pull from in order to deliver the look of some of the numbers that were of the blackface era. It wasnt anything that I shied away from. Ive done productions before that led me to confront the whole minstrel era. It was not anything new to me or my vocabulary.

The ensemble of Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, is seen at the Music Box Theatre in New York. (Julieta Cervantes) (Test)

Black sexuality had been such a threat. The original Shuffle Along was the first show to demonstrate romance between two black characters. How did you choreograph that bold statement?

With an extreme level of sensitivity. And something that would be totally nonthreatening would be a soft-shoe.

How did you look upon the challenges that these African American pioneers had in expressing themselves?

Thats what we all want to do, express ourselves, but some of us are contradicted and misunderstood. I wouldnt say that we want to be understood. Like them, we just want to be. Unfortunately, you still have to prove yourself. You want to believe that the notion of being considered less than has passed us, but it has not. You can either go at it with aggression or with love. Hopefully with love.

How did you come up with the number that expresses the rivalry that developed after the original Shuffle Along creative team split in acrimony?

My inspiration for that was just to do a challenge, a battle, to be honest with you. I thought of the old challenges done by individuals and extended that to two groups.

You mean the tap challenges between dancers that were done in clubs in Harlem?

Yeah. You couldnt leave the Hoofers Club without a challenge. Some of these challenges would go on for months until someone was ruled a favorite.

Were you challenged?

Oh, yeah. Ive been challenged by, um, what I would call a young buck. [He laughs.] In my very aggressive years as a young man from Newark, I would have different labels on the bottom of my tap shoes: Yo Mama on one, Killer on another. I went through a period when you had to be ready to, what we used to call, cut em. You had to have a cut step so that when you were done with what you were doing, nobody had a chance. There was nothing sweet about it. Some people would actually leave in tears.

Savion Glover performs at the Monte Cristo Award ceremony honoring Shuffle Along director George C. Wolfe, presented by the Eugene ONeill Theater Center on May 9 in New York. (Jemal Countess / Getty Images / Eugene ONeill Theater) (Test)

Did you ever challenge one of your mentors, like Gregory Hines?

No. Thats the thing. Certain generations dont know how not to challenge. I came up in a time when you didnt even look in the direction of certain people. Who would think about challenging Jimmy Slyde? ... Thatd be like LeBron James challenging Michael Jordan, or Shaq trying to challenge Kareem-Abdul Jabbar. You just dont do that.

What were you most eager to learn from your mentors?

More about their lives than about their art. Thats what made my relationships with them so significant. It was father to son, especially when there was no male in [my] house. Dancing was secondary. A lot of lessons were learned at dinner versus the studio.

What lessons?

Respect. Manners. How to live in the world. How to deal with America as a black man in this country. Life lessons which had nothing to do with dance. But ultimately they would because wherever I am in my life is all going to come through my dance.

Where are you now versus where you were?

When I was in my teens, my dance was very aggressive: hard, edgy, just rough. Not really caring about an audience or anything but what was a part of where I was from. When you wake up every day to stolen cars and police sirens, thats different from Beverly Hills. As I got more mature, my dance became more spiritual. Now I am exploring the realm of cosmic consciousness. I just want to explore the unknown as far as sound and time and a persons space.

Is that what you intend to do in An Evening With Savion Glover and Jack DeJohnette in Northridge?

Definitely. Jack plays drums and piano, and hes an extraordinary man and musician. I didnt know it then, but my time with those cats [mentors] was all about exploration. Its about trying to navigate your way through this realm of cosmic consciousness, and its so blissful and joyful. We start the concert, and then its two hours later and I think, Oh, yeah. I guess we can stop now.

How does that cosmic consciousness play out in your art?

Its what I learned from all these men  Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, Gregory Hines. They wanted nothing from the world but peace and love, honor and respect. They were ferocious animals with their instrument. But they were also beautiful lovers with their instrument.

What does the term hoofer mean to you?

Im glad you asked me that. The Hoofers were a group of men. Period. Now, today, the word hoofer has become a professional tap dancer. Its wrong, very wrong. You have kids in Wichita from the Sally Dinkle Tap School calling themselves hoofers, and they have no idea who Lon Chaney is or George Hillman or Buster Brown. I dont care how many lyrics to John Lennon songs you know, youre not a Beatle! [Laughs.]

Do you consider yourself a Hoofer?

Because theyve allowed me to be one. Im just a tap dancer. To hoof just means to travel, to get from one place to another. We all do that.

A poignant aspect of Shuffle Along is the desire to save these artists of the past from oblivion.

In everything I do, I cant help but bring them into the room with me. There were times when I would stop in rehearsal, look to the sky and say, Give me something. Im very appreciative of their contribution and knowing they gave us the gift. They invented it. It didnt exist before. They created it out of nothing. I love making sure their stories are being told.

Follow The Times' arts team @culturemonster.
Collage-paintings that examine human frailty. A permanent collection exhibition that looks at the identities people create for themselves and others. The winners of Los Angeles C.O.L.A. grant program. And a show about the disappearing boundary between the man-made and the natural. Plus: A surreal play at LACMA, art by California prisoners, and a darkly comic documentary about the 2008 financial bust. Here are seven shows to see this week.

Elliott Hundley There is No More Firmament, at Regen Projects. The Los Angeles-based artist is known for his wild fusions of collage, assemblage, photography and painting  producing wall objects that come off as totally painterly, providing endless layers for the viewer to get lost in. For his fourth show at Regen, he has created a series of works inspired by the work of 20th century French dramatist Antonin Artaud. Expect a riotous, engrossing, obsessive tour examining different states of anxiety. Opens at 6 p.m. today and runs through June 18. 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, regenprojects.com.

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Reflections on the Self, at the California African American Museum. Drawn from the museums permanent collection, this wide-ranging exhibition looks at the representation of the self, examining the idealized and mythicized ways that artists have portrayed pop and cultural icons, from Malcolm X to Thelonious Monk to a New Orleans grand marshal. Also on view at the museum is Oh Snap! West Coast Hip Hop Photography, which will feature an array of hip-hop artists who came up in the 90s, such as Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur and others. Through Sept. 18. 600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, caamuseum.org.

C.O.L.A. 2016, at the L.A. Municipal Art Gallery. Every year, the Municipal Art Gallery features work by the winners of the City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Artist Fellowships, which honor a dozen mid-career artists from around the city  one of the rare municipal programs to directly fund artists in the United States. This year, the visual arts winners include Paolo Davanzo, Marsian De Lellis, Keiko Fukazawa, Megan Geckler, Won Ju Lim, Sarah Maclay, Blue McRight, Sandeep Mukherjee and Christine Nguyen. A separate public event in Grand Park will honor C.O.L.A.s three literary winners: Sarah Maclay, Claudia Rodriguez and Lynne Thompson. The art exhibition opens at 2 p.m. Sunday and runs through July 3; 4800 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. A reading with the literary winners will take place at Grand Performances at 7 p.m. June 11 at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, lamag.org.

------------

FOR THE RECORD

May 16, 11:38 a.m.: This article incorrectly states that the reading with C.O.L.A.'s literary winners will take place in Grand Park. It will take place June 11, at 7 p.m., at California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave., in downtown Los Angeles.

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Urbanature, at the Alyce de Roulette Williamson Gallery at ArtCenter College of Design. A group exhibition looks at the increasingly fraught ways in which the urban intrudes on natural world  and the ways in which nature has adapted to this new human-centric reality. Through July 3. 1700 Lida St., Pasadena, artcenter.edu.

Asher Hartman: The Silver, The Black, The Wicked Dance, at LACMA. Hartman is known for his wildly surreal theatrical pieces  like Purple Electric Play, which was staged at Machine Project last year and featured a giant tongue prop wiping the stage clean. For this performance, Hartman sets his unusual tale of predation at various locations, including the tar pits, the Great Plains and an imagined outer space setting. Should be good and weird. At 7:30 tonight and 5 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are free and will be available one hour before the performance. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, lacma.org.

Prison Arts Collective Presents, Through the Wall, at CB1 Guest Gallery. The downtown gallery is donating its arts space for an exhibition that features paintings, drawings and handmade objects by participants from the Cal State San Bernardino Prison Arts Collective, which offers art-making classes in three California state prisons: the California Institution for Men and the California Institution for Women in Chino and the California State prison in Los Angeles County. Any works sold help raise money for this program. Opens at 3 p.m. Saturday and runs through May 29. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

A screening of Boom Bust Boom, at the Skid Row History Museum & Archive. A comic look at the 2008 financial collapse (its narrated by Monty Python alum Terry Jones), this documentary looks at the unreliable nature of our economic system. Afterward, KPFK programming director Alan Minsky will lead a discussion. At 7 tonight, 440 S. Broadway, Mezzanine Level, downtown Los Angeles, lapovertydept.org.

FINAL WEEK

John Divola: Dents and Abrasions at Gallery Luisotti. This exhibition features a new series by Divola, who is known for capturing abandoned buildings and their environments in decidedly cool and unromantic ways. (No ruin porn here.) The pieces continue the artists tradition of marking the buildings in some way  with spray paint or found paintings  and then capturing the entire scene in a photograph. Through Saturday. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Building A2, Santa Monica, galleryluisotti.com.

Ed Ruscha, Editions, at Leslie Sacks Gallery. The show is a gathering of recent and vintage print editions  from 1982 to 2015  by the L.A. pop artist, including his inscrutable word-and-image pieces, which he has produced throughout his career, as well as his ghostly prints of ships from the 1980s. Through Saturday. 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, lesliesacks.com.

Noir: The Romance of Black in 19th Century French Drawings and Prints, at the Getty Museum. Figures in deep penumbra and sprightly creatures in dim settings. In the middle of Europes industrial revolution, some artists became intrigued by the non-color of the color black, creating prints and charcoal drawings that evoked the nocturnal, the dark and the deep recesses of the cosmos  not to mention the not-quite-real state of dreaming. Through Sunday. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, getty.edu.

Leap Before You Look: Black Mountain College, 1933-1957, at the Hammer Museum. Black Mountain College in North Carolina wasnt open very long, not even 20 years. But in its short lifetime, it brought together bands of seminal artists, musicians, dancers and thinkers  John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Cy Twombly, Ruth Asawa, Robert Rauschenberg and countless others  as both teachers and students. Key to that dynamism was the presence of Josef and Anni Albers, a pair of Bauhaus artists who fled Germany to join Black Mountain in the late 1930s. This critically acclaimed exhibition, which first opened at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, shows the far-reaching effects a single institution can have. Through Sunday. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

Jasmin Sanchez, Flux, at the Grand Central Art Center. The Orange County-based Sanchez is taking over the walls of the art center with drawings that meld landscape with abstraction and mapping to produce images that feel just a little bit magical. Through Sunday. 125 N. Broadway, Santa Ana, grandcentralartcenter.com.

ONGOING EXHIBITIONS

Daniel Joseph Martinez, If You Drink Hemlock, I Shall Drink It With You at Roberts & Tilton. A hallucinatory environmental installation by the L.A.-based artist takes on Jacques-Louis Davids seminal French revolutionary painting The Death of Marat as a point of inspiration. Martinezs mise en scene features the artist as the key figures in this famous murder, including Marat, and his killer Charlotte Cordray, among others. Through May 21. 5801 Washington Blvd., Culver City, robertsandtilton.com.

Linda Arreola: Architect of the Abstract, at the Vincent Price Art Museum. This one-woman exhibition looks at roughly a 10-year period in the work of this abstract Los Angeles artist. Arreola is known for creating taut, grid-like arrangements using bright blocks of color. Her work extends into the sculptural realm too. Through May 21. 1301 Cesar Chavez Ave., Monterey Park, vincentpriceartmuseum.org.

LA Rebels: Photographs by Janette Beckman, at Project Gallery. Beckman, who is known for photographing some of hip-hops most iconic figures (including Ice Cube and Dr. Dre), is showing two sets of works at this show. The first features her collaborations with artists, who often drew and painted over her photographs; the second is a series from the 80s that documents the El Hoyo Maravilla gang from East L.A. Through May 21. 961 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, projectgallery.com.

Deveron Richard, at Good Luck Gallery. Unicorns get groovy on light-up disco floors, polar bears rock lipstick and buxom birds wear rainbow dresses in the humorously electrified scenes imagined by this South Bay artist. Through May 21. 945 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, thegoodluckgallery.com.

Portraits and Autobiographies by Kim Abeles, at Post. The Los Angeles artist known for using smog  some of her works literally trap particulates onto their surfaces  takes a more inward view in this, her latest solo exhibition. The show includes self-portraits, photo-based works, research projects and sculptural works that often employ the body. Through May 21. 1206 Maple Ave., Los Angeles, postlosangeles.org.

PLAN, at the El Segundo Museum of Art. An exhibition organized by the Wende Museum and the El Segundo Museum of Art brings together works by disparate figures  from Camille Pissarro to Egon Schiele to Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid  exploring the idea of plans and planning. This includes references to five-year plans, a map for the projected Soviet invasion of West Berlin and other works that play with the idea of fate versus meticulous intention. Through May 22. 208 Main St., El Segundo, esmoa.org.

Abel Alejandre, Public Secrets, at Coagula Curatorial. The Wilmington-based artist, known for his hyper-detailed graphite drawings, is unveiling a new series of paintings at the gallery that contend with secrets  from the family sort to UFOs. All of this comes in advance of the opening of his public commission for the Westwood/Rancho Park Metro Station in May. Through May 22. 974 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, coagulacuratorial.com.

Gerald Davis, House With Buried Figure, at Ltd. Los Angeles. The Los Angeles painter has his first solo exhibition at the gallery with a series of eight, large-scale expressionistic canvases that depict quivering house-like structures obscuring a human figure within. Through May 27. 7561 Sunset Blvd., No. 103, Hollywood, ltdlosangeles.com.

Ramiro Gomez, On Melrose, at Charlie James Gallery. In his third solo exhibition at the gallery, the Los Angeles artist, known for creating works that insert the often invisible laborers who makes luxury possible, is turning his sights to Melrose Avenue  creating a series of paintings that take on iconic sites such as the Paramount Studios and Fred Segal. Through May 28. 969 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, cjamesgallery.com.

TRI(ed): Revisiting TRI Gallery, at Wilding Cran Gallery. In 1992, artist Rory Devine established a gallery in his home at Hayworth Avenue in L.A., in which he showed one work by three artists in one room of the house. That evolved into a storefront in Hollywood that lasted for 4 1/2 years. Over its life, the gallery presented more than 30 exhibitions. This show gathers work by artists who showed in the space, including figures such as Mary Heilmann, Kathleen Johnson and Leonardo Bravo, Trudie Reiss and George Stoll. Through May 28. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.

Margie Livingston: Holding It Together, at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles. Livingston doesnt make paintings; she makes paint objects  canvases wrapped in acrylic paint skin that she straps to her body, then drags through the citys streets. Part penance, part performance, these actions leave behind a work that is as much a wall hanging as it is evidence of something darkly destructive. Through May 28. 2685 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, luisdejesus.com.

Lily Simonson, Midnight Sun, at CB1 Gallery. The painter known for her electric renditions of icy snowscapes is having her third exhibition at the gallery, showcasing work that was inspired by a recent trip to Antarctica with the National Science Foundation. Expect otherworldly vistas from both above and below the ice. Through May 29. 1923 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, cb1gallery.com.

Catherine Fairbanks, Two Chimneys, at Wilding Cran Gallery. A pair of chimney sculptures crafted out of geologic layers of papier-mache evoke the ruined domestic buildings throughout the West. But while they may call attention with their scale and their dexterous construction, dont miss the pair of abstractions, on a rear wall, exquisitely woven together from different shades of horse hair. Through May 28. 939 S. Santa Fe Ave., downtown Los Angeles, wildingcran.com.

Delicious Taste, Re-Corded History, at C. Nichols Project. The duo of Grant Levy-Doolittle and Bruce Yonemoto, known as Delicious Taste, has created an installation that takes on the ephemera of our digital lives and marries it to pre-Columbian tradition. Phones, monitors and surveillance cameras are connected by a vast array of knotty wires that evoke ancient Andean quipus, the knotted strings that served as record-keeping devices. Through May 28. 12613 1/2 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista, cnicholsproject.com.

Popol Vuh: Watercolors of Diego Rivera, at the Bowers Museum. The Popol Vuh is a nearly 500-year-old Mayan text, written in Quiche, that recounts that cultures creation myths. This sacred text inspired a series of watercolors by Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, an artist who was preoccupied with indigenous themes. Now 17 of these paintings, on loan from a museum in Mexico, are on view at the Bowers. Through May 29. 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, bowers.org.

John Kilduff, at Daniel Rolnik Gallery. Kilduff, known as Mr. Lets Paint for his wild painting performances on treadmills, has a show at Daniel Rolnik that is part conceptual flower shop, part paean to vintage Americana. For the former, the artist is painting specially commissioned canvases of flowers for $100 a pop and in the area he calls The Cavern he is featuring works inspired by the show American Pickers, which includes renderings of bits of garage sale detritus, as well as a full-blown pinball machine crafted out of cardboard. Through June 1. 2675 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, danielrolnikgallery.com.

Amy Park, Ed Ruschas Every Building on the Sunset Strip at Kopeikin Gallery. Park takes Ruschas iconic 1966 photo book, which documented every building on West Hollywoods Sunset Strip, and re-creates it as a series of watercolor paintings  a 97-foot immersive environment that wraps the gallery and therefore the viewer. Its a new way of seeing a familiar Los Angeles work. Through June 4. 2766 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, kopeikingallery.com.

Joan Snyder, Womansong, at Parrasch-Heijnen. The prominent abstract painter has seven new canvases on view at this new Boyle Heights space, which explore aspects of landscape and the female figure, as well as one of the early stroke paintings for which she is well known. These are canvases composed of bold strokes of paint on gridded backgrounds  works that ride the divide between abstraction and conceptualism. Through June 10. 1326 S. Boyle Ave., Los Angeles, parrasch-heijnen.com.

43: From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson, at Self Help Graphics & Art. In partnership with the Social Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), the venerable Eastside print workshop and gallery is bringing together a panoply of L.A. artists  including David Botello, Sandy Rodriguez and Eye.One  to take on the issue of abuses of the state around the Americas. Through June 10. 1300 E. 1st St., Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, selfhelpgraphics.com.

A Shape That Stands Up, at Art + Practice. A group show that treads the line between abstraction and figuration features works by Amy Sillman, Henry Taylor, Sadie Benning and a host of other interesting names. Through June 18. 4339 Leimert Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, artandpractice.org.

Morgan Fisher and Karina Nimmerfall, Past Future Housing, at the MAK Center. This exhibition brings together two artists  one German, one from Los Angeles  who look at the question of mass-produced housing in the United States. This includes the creation of a fictional prototype for a new utopian city inspired by historic development plans for Los Angeles. Through June 25. Mackey Garage Top, 1137 S. Cochran Ave., Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, makcenter.org.

Peter Opheim: Fables of the Eleven Rooms and Six Houses, at Zevitas Marcus. Opheim paints clay renderings of bulbous Venus of Willendorf-ish figurines that are charmingly grotesque. The show includes 11 paintings, as well as a series of sculptures made from the discarded clothing of friends and family members. Through June 25. 2754 S. La Cienega Blvd., Culver City, zevitasmarcus.com.

Berman, American Aleph, at Kohn Gallery. This is the first comprehensive Los Angeles retrospective for the pioneering Southern California assemblage artist in roughly four decades. The artist, who was also the publisher of the influential arts and literary magazine Semina, had an international influence. The exhibition gathers works from the 1940s to his death in 1976, including numerous examples of his Verifax collages, photocopied and painted assemblages that play with the tropes of popular culture. This is one not to miss. Through June 25. 1227 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, kohngallery.com.

Ed Moses, Moses@90, at William Turner Gallery. To celebrate the prominent L.A. painters 90th birthday, this survey exhibition gathers works from throughout his career. This includes drawings from the 1950s to the 1970s, his more gestural paintings from the 1990s, as well as a slew of recent works. Through June 25. Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., E-1, Santa Monica, williamturnergallery.com.

Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920-1940, at the Japanese American National Museum. In the early 20th century, groups of Japanese American photographers all along the Pacific coastline launched photography clubs, through which they published and exhibited their work. Their striking imagery  ranging from abstract compositions to scenes of everyday life  drew the attention of artists such as Edward Weston and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Unfortunately, much of their work was destroyed or lost when Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps by the U.S. government during World War II. But examples remain and JANM has gathered more than 100 of these prints for a show that explores the history and legacy of the clubs. Through June 26. 100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, janm.org

Salomon Huerta, at Christopher Grimes Gallery. A new series of works by the Los Angeles artist features his watercolor portraits of celebrated boxers, including Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano and Mike Tyson  an intimate look at the hyper-masculine figures of one of the worlds most brutal sports. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. and runs through July 1. 916 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, cgrimes.com.

Marilyn Minter: Pretty/Dirty, at the Orange County Museum of Art. The New York-based painter and photographer has long played with the tropes of feminine beauty in works that seamlessly stir the alluring with the mildly grotesque. Through July 10. 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach, ocma.net

Alex Israel, at the Huntington. In 2012, the San Marino library and museum unveiled the first of its contemporary interventions with low-key works by Ricky Swallow and Lesley Vance. Now the museum is getting bolder, with a series of installations by painter Alex Israel, whose pop-inspired canvases and objects touch on topics such as celebrity, glamour and power. Through July 11. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, huntington.org

Jose Montoya, Abundant Harvest: Works on Paper / Works on Life, at the Fowler Museum. Throughout his life, activist, poet and painter Jose Montoya drew  on whatever was at hand: napkins, hotel stationery and notebooks. And in those drawings he recorded the quotidian aspects of Mexican American life in the United States: dogs and children, women and sailors, pachucos and pachucas, the architecture of low-lying Central Valley neighborhoods, industrial warehouses and agricultural settings, as well as the glamorous profile of lowrider cars. It is the first comprehensive look at this vital Chicano artists drawing practice. Through July 17. UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu.

Robert Mapplethorpe, The Perfect Medium, at the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Getty Museum. A two-part exhibition spread over a pair of L.A. museums explores the photographic legacy of an artist who brought as much grace to images of flowers as he did to S&M. The LACMA portion features early drawings, collages, sculptures, Polaroids, still lifes and archival material. The Getty will present his more formal portraits, along with the infamous X Portfolio, with its elegant S&M imagery. The LACMA runs through July 31. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, lacma.org. The Getty exhibit also runs through July 31. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Sam Maloof Woodworker: Life/Art/Legacy, at the Maloof Foundation. The foundation is celebrating the centennial of the birth of the renowned Southern California woodworker, whose elegant objects and furnishings are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the L.A. County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian. The exhibition will feature more than 60 objects from throughout the artists life, including furnishings, drawings, photographs and other ephemera. The show is part of a years worth of events that will celebrate Maloofs life and work. Through Aug. 27. 5131 Carnelian St., Alta Loma, malooffoundation.org

In Focus: Electric! at the Getty Museum. Electricity: It powers your home, it powers your work and it powers the phone on which you are likely reading this post. This photographic exhibition at the Getty gathers historic images that showcase the allure of light and power. Through Aug. 28. 1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood, Los Angeles, getty.edu.

Art of the Austronesians: The Legacy of Indo-Pacific Voyaging, at Fowler Museum. A look at the legacy of Austronesian-speaking peoples gathers art and artifacts from the Philippines, Indonesia and other points in the South Pacific. This includes nearly 200 works, from wood sculptures to ceremonial textiles to canoe prow ornaments. Through Aug. 28. 308 Charles E. Young Drive N., Westwood, fowler.ucla.edu.

Duchamp to Pop, at the Norton Simon Museum. Drawing mostly from the Norton Simons permanent collection, this exhibition looks at the influence Duchamp likely had on generations of artists, from assemblagists to pop painters  figures who have appropriated elements of the everyday world and transformed them into art. Through Aug. 29. 411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, nortonsimon.org.

Revolution in the Making: Abstract Sculpture by Women, 1947-2016, at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel. The debut exhibition at the citys newest gallery tackles more than half a century of sculpture by women, featuring key works by important international figures (Louise Bourgeois, Lee Bontecou) and key California artists (Ruth Asawa, Clare Falkenstein). Pieces range from the ethereal (Lygia Papes golden threads) to downright hilarious (Lara Schnitgers lacy/cat/fur assemblage sculptures). Altogether, the show offers an alternative to the narrative of the macho man postwar painting scene that has so dominated the story of 20th century art. Through Sept. 4. 901 E. Third St., Los Angeles, hauserwirthschimmel.com.

Claire Falkenstein: Beyond Sculpture, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. The 20th century California artist, whose name has is circulating once again after being included in the debut exhibition at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel, is now the subject of her own retrospective, tracking her entire career, from the 1930s to the 90s. (She passed away in 1997.) The artist, who worked in San Francisco and Los Angeles  as well as Paris  produced prints and murals, among other works, but she is best known for her sculpture: in particular, her often gritty assemblages made out of wire studded with chunks of glass. Through Sept. 11. 490 E. Union St., Pasadena, pmcaonline.org.

Hito Steyerl: Factory of the Sun, at the Museum of Contemporary Art. A video installation by the German artist takes the viewer into a dystopia where the movements of workers are harvested to create artificial sunshine. The piece, which debuted at the Venice Biennale in 2015, is a mash-up of contemporary communication, told as video game, news report documentary film and Internet video. Through Sept. 12. MOCA Grand Ave., 250 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, moca.org.

MOLAA at Twenty: 1996-2016, at the Museum of Latin American Art. The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach is celebrating two decades in existence with a show that draws from the museums permanent collection of more than 1,600 objects. These include works by renowned Modernists Joaquin Torres-Garcia and Wifredo Lam, Argentine conceptualist Leon Ferrari as well as contemporary figures such as Alexandre Arrechea and Patssi Valdez. Through Jan. 1. 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach, molaa.org.

Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. For one of its long-term installations, the museum has gathered works of video or film by contemporary African artists that explore the body and the looping nature of time. This includes pieces by figures such as Yinka Shonibare, Sammy Baloji, Berni Searle, Moatax Nasr and Theo Eshetu. Through Jan. 2. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.

Non Fiction at the Underground Museum. An emotionally charged exhibition curated by the late Noah Davis, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles brings together works that explore issues of race and violence. This includes important works from MOCAs permanent collection by artists such as Robert Gober, Kara Walker, Henry Taylor and David Hammons. Through March 2017. 3508 W. Washington Blvd., Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, theunderground-museum.org.

Geographically Indeterminate Fantasies, hosted by Providence College Galleries. Dont worry if youre nowhere near Providence College in Rhode Island. A new digitally-minded exhibition by the art writing team at Art F City features more than two dozen works by artists who use animated GIFs to create work  from Brenna Murphys dizzying electronic architecture to Jacolby Satterwhites pulsing alternate universe. Its the sort of thing that will encourage you to spend quality time online (and away from awful Facebook). pcgalleries.providence.edu.

Islamic Art Now: Part 2 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Contemporary works from LACMAs permanent collection by 20 artists who live in or have roots in the Middle East look at questions of society, gender and identity. Runs indefinitely. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire, lacma.org.
Frontier Communications anticipated hiccups when it took over Verizon Communications landline phone, television and Internet service systems in California last month -- but nothing quite like this.

The vast majority of Frontiers 2.2 million new California customers experienced a smooth transition, but as many as 10,000 subscribers have been grappling with phone and Internet outages and other snafus. Customers have been fuming over missed appointments by technicians and delays in accessing movies ordered months ago when Verizon managed the system.

The most serious hang up: dead phone lines.

Beyond a public relations nightmare for Frontier, the case is raising broader questions about whether the state Public Utilities Commission has devoted enough attention to monitor phone and cable companies. It also highlights how big cable mergers can create upheaval for consumers caught in the changeover.

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This is a real issue, and a real problem, state Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) said in an interview. This wont be the last cable company merger, and these change-overs should not be so traumatic for consumers.

At Gattos urging, the state Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing on Wednesday for Frontier executives to explain why there were so many problems.

The controversy has been an embarrassment to the Connecticut-based Frontier, which prides itself on high-quality customer service.

We are not taking this situation lightly, and we are working tirelessly to resolve these problems, Frontiers West Region President Melinda White said this week in her first extensive interview since the merger. But I am sincerely sorry for any customer who has experienced an issue, and our No. 1 focus is to resolve these issues.

Frontier declined to disclose the number of complaints it received. However, people familiar with the matter estimated the number at nearly 10,000.

Frontier completed its $10.5-billion purchase of Verizons wire-line services in California, Florida and Texas on April 1, taking control of Verizons extensive operations, which include nearly 500,000 customers in the Los Angeles region.

We are not taking this situation lightly, and we are working tirelessly to resolve these problems  Melinda White, Frontier West Region president

What followed was a series of problems that combined to overwhelm a customer call center in the Philippines that Frontier had planned to use only temporarily to help ease the transition. Instead, calls were dropped after customers had been on hold for hours. Other customers were given misinformation. And some subscribers found themselves trapped in an endless loop of automated phone prompts, unable to connect with a human.

You feel so helpless as a consumer, you call the company and they just give you a song and dance, said Case van der Linden, a 77-year-old retired communications worker who went without phone service for 13 days before it was restored Wednesday.

The Cerritos resident said his problems began mysteriously when the caller-ID function that previously displayed the number of an incoming call on his TV suddenly stopped working in late April. Then there were hitches while he talked with others on the phone.

The voice would go away, then it would come back, and then it would go away again -- you couldnt carry on a conversation, Van der Linden said. And then, on April 29, the phone just went dead.

The switch to Frontier comes as major phone providers like Verizon have been scaling back their landline phone operations to focus on higher-margin wireless phone service. Consumer advocates in California last year warned the PUC that Frontier would encounter service problems taking over Verizons systems because they alleged Verizon had not maintained the wireline network.

Verizon had not been taking care of their copper network, and I dont think [Frontier] realized how degraded Verizons networks turned out to be, said Paul Goodman, senior legal counsel for the Greenlining Institute in Oakland.

However, a Frontier spokesman said Thursday the company has had no issues with the copper line. A Verizon spokesman took issue with the characterization, saying that when Verizon turned over the system on April 1, complaints were well within the PUCs acceptable levels.

Verizon Californias network is in good condition and is maintained in accordance with the Commissions standards of safety and reliability, Verizon said in a report submitted last fall to the PUC. Verizon California has made significant investments in network infrastructure and has established as a top priority the maintenance of a safe network that provides high-quality service.

You feel so helpless as a consumer....On April 29, the phone just went dead  Case van der Linden, a Frontier customer in Cerritos

Other factors contributed to the missteps, including inheriting a backlog of 20,000 unresolved customer service requests from Verizon. Frontier also encountered an enormous headache when it discovered that serial numbers on hundreds of network terminal boxes installed at peoples homes did not match the serial numbers kept in Verizons master logs.

So when Frontier tried to send software updates to those terminals, the devices interpreted the signals as corrupt data -- and then the devices malfunctioned.

Many of the boxes with the wrong serial numbers were deployed around Long Beach. Some customers were also miffed because it took several weeks for Frontier to gain the rights to show movies, via the video-on-demand service. That meant customers did not have the ability to immediately watch movies they had previously ordered.

Then there were problems beyond Frontiers control, including a car crash in Hermosa Beach that took out a phone pole, leaving homes without service. And in Mar Vista, an ornery squirrel chewed through Frontiers lines, wiping out service for several blocks.

A squirrel eating the fiber is just one of those things that happens, but we understand that people have every right to be angry, said White, who canvased that neighborhood to reassure frazzled customers that Frontier was on the case.

Fewer than 1% of Frontiers new customers have experienced problems, White said. The PUC logged 584 complaints related to the Frontier switch-over in April, according to an official. May numbers were not available.

White said she was most pained by the fact that consumers had trouble even reaching the company to complain. Frontier soon will no longer use the offshore call center that appeared to be the source of much of the troubles, she said.

The offshore experience has been disappointing to say the least,  Melinda White, West Region President for Frontier

The offshore experience has been disappointing to say the least, White said. That was very tough for us to hear ... We are working fast and hard to get disengaged from the offshore operation as soon as possible.

Within a few weeks, all of Frontiers workers will be based in the U.S.

Frontier established an email, LetMelindaKnow@ftr.com, for people to report problems and set up a local command center in Pomona to help customers troubleshoot.

This has certainly impacted our brand and we will have to go out and reintroduce ourselves to consumers, White said. Our customers are extremely important to us, and our folks -- we have more than 5,000 employees in California -- are here to help.

Gatto, the state legislator, said hes still trying to figure out why there were so many glitches.

If it turns out that the problems were not so much related to technology but more customer-service related, then why was this company not better prepared for what could have been foreseen -- heavier than usual call volume? Gatto asked. One report of a squirrel or a bad truck accident should not overwhelm an entire system.

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Meg.James@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @MegJamesLAT
The Congressman tracks the fall from grace of fictitious Maine politico Charlie Winship (Treat Williams), a Vietnam vet with a drinking problem and very few damns left to give. Unfazed by a viral video of him putting his feet up during the Pledge of Allegiance on the House floor and mudslingers questioning his patriotism, Winship carries out a scheduled visit to Catatonk Island 20 miles off the Maine shore.

Locked in a turf war with commercial fishermen whose overfishing threatens the ecosystem and local livelihoods, Catatonks lobstermen count on Winships intervention to preserve their way of life. This sort of narrative usually focuses on the denizens  take Seducing Doctor Lewis or Waking Ned Devine for instance. But taken from the saviors vantage point, viewers dont experience the excitement of seeing unlikely heroes rallying, rising to the occasion with ingenuity, hope or purpose. Too bad filmmaker Robert J. Mrazek, a former legislator himself, chooses to stick with what he knows.

Earnest and well-meaning, The Congressman devolves into predictable schmaltz as Winship finds a kindred spirit in weary divorcee Rae (Elizabeth Marvel). Ultimately, it isnt Winship who grows from this ordeal but his accompanying chief of staff, the snobbish whippersnapper Jared Barnes (Ryan Merriman). Though sparklingly lush Maine locales compensate for the films TV-movie aesthetics, the story never rises above small-screen niceties.

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The Congressman

MPAA rating: R for some language and brief sexual material

Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

Playing: Sundance Sunset Cinemas, Los Angeles; Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pasadena; Laemmle Monica Film Center, Santa Monica
Bastian Mingers, executive team manager of Energy Storage Europe at Messer Dusseldorf in Beijing on May 10. [Photo by Chen Boyuan / China.org.cn]

The restructuring of energy use, including the development of renewable energy, is clearly important and frequently appears in global headlines. But while renewable energy is growing in importance, its storage is comparably less discussed.

The storage of renewables is more difficult than that of traditional energy because the generation of renewable energy tends to be unstable during a given time span, said Bastian Mingers, executive team manager of Energy Storage Europe at Messer Dusseldorf in Beijing on May 10.

"Renewables are a major issue for energy storage solutions. Take PV energy and wind power for example, which are going up and down. You can't estimate when you will need the power, so have to store the energy they generate," said Mingers.

He explained that the generation of PV energy and wind power is heavily affected by weather. In ideal conditions, the sudden surges will upset the power grid. Therefore, to store the energy by a capacitator will be necessary to "smooth the electric current."

Mingers compared new-type of energy storages to a Swiss army knife, since the latest energy storage products "can do more than just store energy" and are "more than just a battery."

Mingers admit that Chinese users in both the industrial and residential sectors are only beginning to understand the importance of power storage and how much difference a proper power storage product or solution will make on their electricity bills.

Messer Dusseldorf was a co-organizer of the 5th International Conference and Expo on Energy Storage and Microgrids in China, which was held from May 10-12. Messe Dusseldorf holds annual meetings on energy storage in San Diego, Mumbai and New Delhi, as well as its home turf of Dusseldorf.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Easily the most thrilling thriller in recent memory, Crush the Skull seems destined for cult status. Winner of the Nightfall Award for best horror film at the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival, it recalls the snappy meta horrors of the mid-1990s almost as though the glut of formulaic straight-to-VOD throwaways circa the mid-2000s never happened.

Upon breaking into a mansion, four hapless burglars see their master plan begin to unravel. Not only is the house empty, theres no way out amid the bare concrete walls and palladium-plated windows. Descending into the basement, they lift a plastic sheet uncovering a stack of DVDs that depict grisly deaths. So hes into low-budget slasher flicks  with really, really big special-effects budgets, Ollie (Chris Dinh) glibly says to Blair (Katie Savoy) moments before their sickening realization that they are trapped inside a serial killers dungeon fitted with Temple of Doom-style moving walls.

The tension doesnt relent from there, even when these dolts goof off. Filmmaker Viet Nguyen impressively sustains suspense and paranoia, qualities he first demonstrated with the 2010 short of the same title and its 2013 sequel that loosely serve as the basis for this film.

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As with the shorts, screenwriters Dinh and Nguyen here effectively devise dilemmas that force characters to second-guess themselves while also casting doubt in the minds of the viewers. Unlike the archetypes spoofed in a Geico commercial, the characters here have an inkling of their potentially fatal mistakes.

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Crush the Skull

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 23 minutes

Playing: Laemmle NoHo 7, North Hollywood
Writer/director Fernando Lebrijas Sundown is a distressingly sexist and tone-deaf spring break sex comedy cobbled together from references to other classic party films and sounds as though it was written by aliens approximating teen speak.

Aspiring DJ Logan (Devon Werkheiser) wants is to give his crush, Lina (Sara Paxton), a thumb drive with his latest EDM mix. Egged on by his obnoxious best friend Blake (Sean Marquette)  a vile Joe Francis in the making, who repeatedly greets groups of women by shouting a slang word for female genitalia  the pair follow Lina to Puerto Vallarta on an illicit spring break trip. They soak up the Mexican culture, where every local is depicted as either a shady grifter or a body to be sexually exploited, often both.

The first hour of the film is misogynistic, trans- and homophobic and downright degrading for everyone involved, including the audience. Sundown somewhat rights itself when the gringos are plunged into Puerto Vallartas seedy criminal underground, after a sex worker, Gaby (Camilla Belle), relieves Logan of his family heirloom Rolex as collateral for their night together. High jinks ensue, which allow for Logan and Blake to learn a little something about themselves, find love and achieve their dream of playing a mixtape in a nightclub.

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Theres only one question: What turn of events could have led once-promising actresses Belle and Paxton to appear in this shoddily made, offensive and unfunny film? Its a mystery.

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Sundown

MPAA rating: R for crude sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, some drug use, and for teen partying.

Running time: 1 hour, 43 minutes

Playing: In general release
Thomas Pikettys Capital in the Twenty-First Century is many things: a global bestseller, a cultural lightning rod, an academic game-changer.

What it has not been seen as, at least so far, is a potential movie.

A couple of New Zealand filmmakers hope to change that. Producer Matthew Metcalfe has acquired the rights to the French economists 2013 book and hired director Justin Pemberton (the energy-world exploration The Nuclear Comeback) to direct a documentary adaptation of it. On Friday at the Cannes Film Festival, the pair unveiled their plans for the film, with the participation  and appearance  of Piketty himself.

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FULL COVERAGE: 2016 Cannes Film Festival

My first reaction was a little skeptical too, said Piketty, as he sat in a suite for the New Zealand film commission here Friday afternoon, anticipating some reader reaction. I thought, Would this just be a series of interviews with economists? But Matthew really convinced me this could be done in a visual manner. And I thought, If it helps people buy the book  or finish the book  then it was a good thing. 

At its most basic, Pikettys book laid out a novel argument for why wealth inequality was built into the modern capitalist system  basically, that it was the result of the return of capital dwarfing economic growth. It then proposed a set of taxes that could correct those imbalances and stave off all kinds of potential turmoil, while acknowledging the political difficulties of the task.

Several years ago, Metcalfe was one of many people who was simply a fan of Capital. But the producer, who had made such movies as the Everest doc Beyond the Edge, began to think of ways it could become a movie. He contacted Piketty via his website and then spent the next few months convincing him and his French publisher this was a worthy undertaking.

Key to his pitch were those visual aspects. He, and later Pemberton, believed that the movie could work if the talking heads were minimized and other, more pop culture friendly portrayals used in their place.

The duo on Friday said that, to explain the ideas, they wanted to paste together clips and other archival material in the hope of better dramatizing the story. (They cited Errol Morris The Fog of War and Charles Fergusons Inside Job as reference points.)

Look at even something like Fred Flintstone, whose boss at the quarry lived in a house just a little bigger than his, Metcalfe said. And then look at how our view of capital changed years later, with [The Simpsons] Montgomery Burns, where hes living in a giant house with vicious dogs and killer bees.

The reason pop culture shows characters like this, he continued, is because they reflect us when we dont even know it reflects us. We can use them to tell our story. (Rights will be a hurdle, but one step at a time.)

Piketty, meanwhile, will be featured in the film. The author likely will sit for several interviews, guiding viewers through his ideas, though Pemberton said he didnt want to over-rely on the author, and Piketty said he really didnt want to be over-relied on. Ive done a lot of interviews. Most of them are on YouTube, he said dryly.

Pemberton said he didnt see the movie as a replacement for the book, but he thought it could serve as a necessary complement, particularly given how daunting the Capital reading experience could be.

Think about all those people who didnt buy the book, or all those people who bought the book and almost read it. I mean, its almost 700 pages, the director said. The audiobook is 26 hours. Thats a serious investment.

This is a way for a lot more people to understand its ideas. Math, he said, would be kept to a minimum.

Added the director: Its a challenge, but an exciting challenge.

Financing is in place via an assortment of film funds and private investors, the filmmakers said, and the hope is to begin shooting this summer. The film could be ready as early as the end of 2017.

Narrative adaptations of nonfiction books are not new: Moneyball did it to great effect five years ago, and The Big Short a few months ago further proved the Michael Lewis rule. (Piketty, incidentally, says he hasnt seen The Big Short.) But documentaries centering on economic books, even accessible ones, can be trickier affairs  a cinematic take on Freaknomics a few years ago, for instance, largely didnt work.

The gold standard of eat-your-vegetables filmmaking is, of course, An Inconvenient Truth, though that call to arms came with a prominent personality at its center and was the kind of wonky success not easily duplicated.

Then again, wealth inequality is in the air this presidential campaign season. And if the movie doesnt work, it likely wont erode interest in or credibility of the book anyway.

Its a risk, Piketty said. But in the end, I think it will be one worth taking.

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Twitter: @ZeitchikLAT
Italian luxury brand Bottega Veneta opened the doors of its new Beverly Hills maison last week, a 4,828-square-foot, two-story retail space at 320 N. Rodeo Drive that manages to augment the shopping experience with an immersive short course in Southern California architecture.

The Kering-owned label is no stranger to the storied shopping street, having opened its second U.S. store there in the late 1970s, and, until recently, occupying a single-level space at 457 N. Rodeo Drive. But its just the second in the brands new maison concept (the first, located in an 18th century palazzo, opened in Milan in 2013), a retail space designed to be less cookie-cutter and more reflective of geographic surroundings. In this instance, the man behind the concept  Bottega Venetas longtime creative director, Tomas Maier  was inspired by some of the architectural styles hed become familiar with on visits to Santa Barbara and Montecito during the last three decades.

I like that Mediterranean Revival [look] because its got a poverty to it  no ornamentation, no decoration, said Maier, singling out Lutah Maria Riggs design for the Montecito estate of Baron and Baroness Maximilian von Romberg, which served as the starting point. [Riggs] Von Romberg house is a great example, he said, because its Mediterranean Revival but its very modern at the same time. Its almost like the first step into Midcentury [style] because its so undecorated and unornamented.  What really inspired me was the idea of restraint in color, in surface, in the type of materials they used. Other architectural influences included the Spanish Colonial Revival style popularized by George Washington Smith and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue.

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The result is a retail space with an organic feel (well, as organic as youre likely to get on Rodeo Drive, anyway); based in a color palette of neutral, earthy tones, the walls and ceilings are bleached oak, the floors are tiled in various types of pale stone and corners are rounded. The architectural centerpiece of the first floor is a thick, curved plasterwork banister that arcs gracefully up toward a skylight-topped second floor that floods the space with natural light filtered through wooden slats.

The second floor showcases the labels mens and womens ready-to-wear collections of footwear and accessories, while the first floor is home to small leather goods, home accessories, luggage, eyewear, fragrances and handbags  including a bag that will be sold exclusively through the new store. The Beverly 71/16 bag is based on a design plucked from the Bottega Veneta archives  the numbers in the name refer to the year the design was originally introduced (1971) and the year it was reintroduced (2016)  and is slouchy with a gentle curve at the top. Two fabrications of the handbag are available exclusively through the new maison: a deerskin version in the intrecciato weave the label is known for ($3,800) and a crocodile skin version ($33,000). (In addition, a nappa leather intrecciato version is available online at bottegaveneta.com for $3,550).

I chose this bag because it was from the time  the 70s  that the company was very big in this town, Maier explained, and the bag has that very relaxed attitude that we laugh about Los Angeles [having]. It can be worn over the shoulder. Its smooshy. It can go with flip-flops. It can go with anything  that kind of thing.

With a long-established historical connection to the area and boutiques on Rodeo Drive and Melrose Place (which opened in 2013), such an overture to SoCal consumers hardly seems necessary. But Maier said its not an enticement as much as an acknowledgment.

When you are in a key market like this, I think its nice to embrace the market, embrace the local customer, embrace the town, he said. We have been in L.A. since the 70s, the second [Bottega Veneta] store in America was on Rodeo, so it is important to us  and we want to say that.

While most of the brands retail stores will continue to use the regular store concept thats been around (with minor tweaks) since 2001, Maier said more maisons are in the works, including a New York location scheduled to open in 2017.

It will reflect what I feel New York is about. I am a part-time New Yorker [and] I have a place there, so I know the city pretty well and I think the city can be a big inspiration, he said, declining to be more specific.

I will share with you, Maier said, that it is three landmark townhouses that we have fully restored, and then theyre combined on the inside so its a five-level store. Its going to be, I think, our biggest store in the world.

For more musings on all things fashion and style, follow me @ARTschorn.
You are in Venice. You have probably spent the last 20 minutes looking for a place to park. And you are walking into the Rose Cafe, a sprawling aircraft hangar of a restaurant that is somehow five times the size it appears from the street. Prints from skateboard-art godfather C.R. Stecyk III line the walls. Potted plants are suspended from the bar ceiling in macrame slings; the woven lamps hanging from the canopy over the patio look like something your mom may have picked up at Pier 1 in 1973. The wait for coffee and pastries in the morning is usually longer than the wait for a table on the vast patio.

Rose Cafe has been an institution in Venice since the late 1970s, a funky bit of stability in a neighborhood that changed its mood every couple of years and a hangout for what remains of the local arts community. The lovely mural of a rose on its exterior was  is  widely considered a civic treasure. The eggs Benedict and baked goods were iconic. You could always find a modest art show on the walls.

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The neighborhood mourned when the restaurant was taken over by the Sprout Restaurant Group, the company whose restaurants include Bestia, Otium, Moruno and Republique. Sprouts currency is the celebrity chef; Rose Cafe, although you would often bump into someone like Frank Gehry or Arnold Schwarzenegger, was the opposite of a destination restaurant, a place you went in spite of the food, not because of it. But the space, remodeled by Studio Unltd (which also designed Bestia and Otium), is still pretty recognizably Venice. Its the kind of place where you know you can get a soy milk chai latte with your breakfast burrito even before you are presented with a menu.

The chef is Jason Neroni, whom you may remember from the original Superba just a few blocks up the street, where he practiced a sort of abstracted Italian cooking that included familiar tastes and textures without actually duplicating an actual Italian dish. Rose Cafe took awhile to put together  Neroni opened the short-lived Marina del Rey seafood restaurant Catch & Release in the meantime. And when Rose reopened, it seemed as if it had always been there: sprawling deli cases, massive bakery, loud bar and leafy patios, lubricated with Verve espresso in the morning and Nick Meyer-designed cocktails at night. There is something to be said for a wine list whose go-to hearty red seems to be a Turkish Okuzgozu instead of a Napa Cabernet and offers sparkling Muller-Thurgau instead of Champagne.

If you liked Neronis cured meats at Superba, you will be happy with the charcuterie here: his famous porchetta di testa, head cheese cured to resemble pastrami; seared thumbs of soft rabbit mortadella served with a fried quail egg; blinding-white lardo with mulberries; and a sweet, butter-smooth chicken-liver mousse with a bit of onion jam  or all of them served on a plank. It is hard to find fault in a plate of grilled asparagus topped with a fried egg and sprinkled with nasturtium blossoms (there are a lot of flowers and eggs on the plates here); or his signature grilled cauliflower T-bone frosted with capers, almonds and raisins; or a sweet-skinned roast chicken with carrots and soft, white rolls.

The Killer Bee pizzas toppings include pepperoni and honey. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times )

Still, it is a huge job to serve the multitudes who course through a crowded restaurant this large, and it is often difficult to get the details right. One afternoon plate of burrata, Puglia-style cream-stuffed mozzarella from the local cheesemaker Gioia, is dressed up with strawberries, arugula, blossoms and toasted bread, like a Nordic take on a Caprese salad. It was lovely to look at, almost a Mothers Day display, but the flavors clashed oddly, the herbs and the sugary tartness of the berries making the cheese taste more bitter than bland. Crisp Brussels sprouts, a highlight at Superba, seemed almost to collapse into their puddle of dark broth. Baked sugar snap peas were limp, greased rather than flavored by the little mound of whipped lamb fat that came with them.

Neroni is well-known for his pasta, particularly his creamy, lightly smoked bucatini carbonara and his spaghetti in a miso-enhanced cacio e pepe. He was one of the first chefs in Los Angeles to embrace what has become a dominant style of stiff, grainy house-made pasta. (Dried pasta is almost always better bought than made  make your own tagliatelle, but buy your penne.) And the pasta here, even the eggy pasta used to make the English pea agnolotti, tends to be distracting: tough, dry, soggy on the surface but barely cooked through. A dish of spaghetti with Dungeness crab and local uni should be luxurious, almost sybaritic. It isnt.

Still, there is a lot to like here, including the pork belly in a mild Thai coconut broth; the eggplant with cherries; the brunch avocado toast with fried duck egg; and the flaky chocolate croissants. I am fond of the pepperoni pizza drizzled with honey, which is improbably good. The crisp black fried rice with squid and aioli is not quite as delicious as its equivalent at Dudley Market a few blocks away, but it is good enough. The farmers market produce is first rate. And everyone should try the dense chocolate tart, as bitter as it is tart, at least once.

jonathan.gold@latimes.com

Rose Cafe

A Venice neighborhood landmark gets a big, cheffy upgrade.

LOCATION

220 Rose Ave., Venice, (310) 399-0711, rosecafevenice.com.

PRICES

Charcuterie, $10; appetizers, $13-$24; vegetable plates, $13-$16; pastas, $18-$25; main courses, $16-$150; desserts, $9-$12.

DETAILS

Open Tues.-Thurs., 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fri. 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sat. 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Credit cards accepted. Full bar. Valet parking.

RECOMMENDED DISHES

Grilled asparagus; cauliflower T-bone; testa pastrami; Killer Bee pizza.

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Nearly 50 years after he left the White House, Lyndon B. Johnson continues to be a source of fascination, admiration and scorn. The Texas Democrat, who championed a liberal domestic agenda while escalating the war in Vietnam, left a seemingly contradictory legacy that has inspired dozens of major biographies, documentaries and pop-culture portrayals.

If you could separate Vietnam from his political record, hed be on Mt. Rushmore, said Robert Schenkkan, writer of All the Way.

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For the record

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11:01 a.m., May 13: In an earlier version of this post, All the Way writer Robert Schenkkan was identified as Bill Schenkkan.

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Premiering Saturday on HBO, the film stars Bryan Cranston as the notoriously hard-charging Master of the Senate turned commander in chief and is adapted from Schenkkans Tony-winning play of the same name. Bill Moyers famously said, The 11 most interesting people I ever met was Lyndon Johnson. Schenkkan observed. I think a lot of people felt that way.

Cranston was 7 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, propelling then-Vice President Johnson into the White House under the most tragic circumstances imaginable.

Johnson was really the first president that I paid attention to, said the actor recently via telephone, recalling his parents anxiety and despair in the months following Kennedys death. As children we are self-centered. That was the first time I realized that there was something outside of me that was important.

Directed by Jay Roach, All the Way begins in the traumatic wake of Kennedys assassination and covers the turbulent first year of Johnsons administration, culminating in his resounding victory over Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. The film suggests that Johnson was animated by a desire not to be seen as an accidental president who inherited the office thanks to tragedy.

To that end, he focuses on passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which pits Johnson and his Senate ally Hubert Humphrey (Bradley Whitford) against segregationist Dixiecrats, such as Sen. Richard Russell Jr. (Frank Langella) of Georgia, as well as movement leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. (Anthony Mackie), who were disappointed in the bills lack of protection for voting rights.

Despite the ever-present threat of violence  realized in the murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi  the bill was signed into law, but the triumph came at a price: the splintering of the civil-rights movement and the Democratic partys loss of the South for the foreseeable future.

In an election year marked by racist rhetoric and debates about ideological purity within both parties, All the Way is a reminder that political progress rarely comes without messy compromise or sharp-elbowed maneuvering. And as distant as the Jim Crow era might seem, its depiction of filibustering politicians arguing that the Bible does not say that we cannot build a wall betwixt ourselves and our neighbor will sound familiar to the modern-day viewer.

It feels really contemporary, Schenkkan observed. The cycle of politics that we entered into in 1964, we are possibly, hopefully, just now emerging from.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter (The Quiet American) grew up in Texas, where it was hard to escape the presence of LBJ. He spent close to five years researching and writing the play and its follow-up, The Great Society, which follows Johnsons later years in office. Originally commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, All the Way premiered on Broadway in 2014 with Cranston in the lead role. Fresh off the triumph of Breaking Bad, Cranston was honored with a Tony Award for the performance.

Executive producer Steven Spielberg, who had already collaborated with Schenkkan on the HBO World War II miniseries The Pacific and explored similar themes in his 2012 film Lincoln, quickly scooped up the rights through his Amblin Television banner.

Spielberg suggested Roach, whod ascended to the A-list with such broad comedies as Austin Powers and Meet the Parents but carved out a secondary niche with fact-based political dramas on HBO like Game Change and Recount. In a bonus twist, Roach was already working with Cranston on Trumbo, last years biopic about blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

The director, who studied economics at Stanford and contemplated law school before trying his hand at filmmaking, said he was inspired by a story about a politician who not only believed in the transformative power of government but, critically, had the legislative skills to effect real change.

Its become such a go-to political attitude these days that government is not going to help us, he said. I dont know if theres been a more capable president in terms of working the Legislature and actually getting helpful legislation passed.

Thats not to say that All the Way glosses over Johnsons rougher edges or his willingness to employ brutal tactics in the name of the greater good. In Cranstons rendering, the president is as crude and calculating as he is compassionate. Though he speaks earnestly of the Mexican children he taught in impoverished, small-town Texas, he is also ruthless enough to call an emergency press conference so as not to be upstaged by the televised testimony of civil-rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, who was trying to integrate Mississippis delegation at the Democratic Convention.

The issues raised by All the Way remind Whitford of the long-running White House TV drama The West Wing, where he had a featured role. The question on that show was always how dirty do your feet have to get without disappearing in the mud?

The film goes to very interesting contemporary political arguments, he added. Simply standing on principle is easy. Moving the progressive ball down the field, down by down, is hard. And youre gonna get a dirty uniform.

All the Way also foreshadows the quagmire of Vietnam. Johnson is told about the Gulf of Tonkin incident just after learning that the bodies of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner had been discovered in Mississippi  events that in fact happened within days of each other.

Sometimes history throws you a softball, said Schenkkan, who saw in the timing an extraordinary metaphor of one crime being committed, while another crime is being excavated.

A highly collaborative director, a trait he attributes to his background in comedy, Roach worked closely with Schenkkan to make the tale more cinematic. Story lines involving First Lady Lady Bird Johnson (Melissa Leo) and longtime aide Walter Jenkins (Todd Weeks) were beefed up, while Cranston, accustomed to playing to the 1,400-seat Neil Simon Theater, modulated his performance for the confines of the small screen.

Cranston may have taken it down a notch, but he wasnt always willing to turn it off. He often stayed in character as the crass, colorful Johnson between takes  not out of some Daniel Day-Lewis-esque commitment to craft, but mostly because it was fun.

Hed call women gals, sweetie and honey. Oh sweetie, look at you. Come over here and let me take a look at that dress. Boy oh boy, thats very flattering and it shows off your curves and I like it a lot, Cranston said, sliding into Johnsons raspy Texas drawl. I certainly didnt do that with Walter White.

The film also delves into the sometimes contentious relationship between Johnson and King. Facing internal pressure from the likes of Stokely Carmichael, the civil-rights hero was in a position where the entire movement was about to fall apart, said Mackie.

The actor, who says he previously turned down multiple offers to play King, was drawn to All the Ways portrait of a less saintly, more assertive figure, someone who could go toe-to-toe with the famously combative Johnson. It was the first time that I saw King written as I perceived him. He wasnt passive, in no way, shape or form. He was the aggressor. He wasnt taking no for an answer.

meredith.blake@latimes.com

All the Way

Where: HBO

When: 8 p.m. Saturday
To reduce frustratingly long airport screening lines, the union representing airport security agents is calling on the federal government to free up emergency funding to hire 6,000 additional officers.

Airport screening lines have been the topic of heated discussion in Washington as travel and tourism industry leaders press for a solution before the peak travel season hits this summer.

Transportation Security Administration officials and airline representatives agree that screening lines have gotten longer because the number of TSA agents has declined in recent years while the number of passengers has increased.

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The TSA now employs about 42,000 screeners, down from 47,000 in 2013. Meanwhile, the number of passengers flying through U.S. airports has jumped 15%, from 643 to 740 million a year, in that same period.

Adding to the delays: TSA agents are instructed to use more thorough screening techniques after terrorist attacks in Europe and news last summer that TSA agents failed to detect 67 of 70 fake bombs planted in luggage during regular security tests.

The TSA no longer allows regular fliers to use expedited security lines  known as TSA PreCheck  when standard lines get long.

Congress has already agreed to move $34 million to the TSA to hire nearly 800 new officers and cover overtime pay for the existing TSA screeners this summer.

But the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents TSA officers, said the nations airports need an additional 6,000 screeners to handle the rise in passenger traffic.

These additional TSOs [Transportation Security Officers] will at least begin to address the shortage of TSOs needed to reduce the delays passengers are facing in airports across the country, AFGE national President J. David Cox Sr. said. The group did not say how much it would cost to hire the 6,000 screeners.

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Roger Dow, president of the U.S. Travel Assn., the trade group for the countrys travel industry, commended government officials for acknowledging the problem.

Given the importance of travel to our economy and way of life, it is not an overstatement to call the TSA situation a national crisis, and fixing it needs to be a national priority, he said.

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The death of a Russian man who was in a San Diego immigration detention center was caused by hypertension and heart disease, the medical examiner has concluded.

Igor Zyazin was found not breathing in his bunk May 1 at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement jail. Personnel at the facility tried to revive him until paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead while en route to the hospital.

The 47-year-old Russian national had been in ICE custody since April 24, when he was arrested at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. An ICE statement said Zyazin was trying to enter the country after being deported in 2009. The reasons for his deportation were not released.

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At the time of his death, Zyazins case was pending and he was awaiting an interview with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. The ICE statement said he had no criminal record in the U.S.

The medical examiner said Zyazin suffered from aortic valve disease, which was a contributing factor in his death.

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Moran writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
Three years ago, Chris Silva lost his older brother to an altercation with sheriffs deputies so extreme that witnesses called 911 to make it stop.

In a county accustomed to violent encounters between citizens and law enforcement officers, this case stood out. David Silva died after nine law officers and a biting police dog set upon him; Silva, 33, was asleep when it all began.

But what really grabbed attention around the world was an unusual detail; sheriffs detectives confiscated the cellphones of witnesses who had videotaped what they believed was the beat-down of an intoxicated man. One witness claimed his video was deleted.

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A pathologist hired by the Kern County sheriff said Silva died of heart disease, complicated by obesity. His blood-alcohol level was slightly above the legal limit and he had small amounts of methamphetamine and an anti-anxiety drug in his system as well.

In his deposition, the county pathologist testified that he had been told by Sheriffs Department officials that no excessive force had been used. He said that he was not aware that deputies had sat on their hogtied, handcuffed suspects back for several minutes, compressing his chest. If I was misled, said the pathologist, thats new information, I change my mind.

A pathologist hired by the Silvas, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court, said David Silva died of asphyxiation.

So was it excessive force? A tragic accident? We may never have an official verdict.

Last week, just before the trial was scheduled to begin, Kern County offered to settle the case for $3.4 million. The family believed they had a strong case. After all, the federal judge assigned to hear it ruled that the jury could hear the claim that sheriffs detectives had tampered with the video.

For the sake of David Silvas five children, however, the family accepted.

Settling was a painful decision for Chris Silva, 34, a Home Depot supervisor. For three years, he has organized rallies, stood on sidewalks holding handmade signs demanding justice for his brother. He has traveled the country telling Davids story. In a conservative, law-enforcement-friendly town such as Bakersfield, it has sometimes been a lonely fight.

The Kern County district attorney had found that deputies used reasonable force. The FBI, which appeared to have reviewed documents but conducted no interviews, said that it did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute.

Chris is undaunted. He continues to push for a new federal investigation. We were one of the first, if not the first, families to stand up and call attention, he said. We allowed the public to know there is a problem here.

The notion that Kern County has a problem with deputies using excessive force was reinforced in December, when the Guardian published a five-part investigation claiming that Kern County law enforcement officers are the countrys most lethal and had killed more people per capita than in any other American county in 2015.

::

In dueling news conferences last week, each side spun the settlement in a predictable way.

Those deputies and officers involved in that incident killed David Silva, said Silva family attorney Neil Gehlawat. This settlement is a reflection of that reality.

This settlement represents for the Kern County Sheriffs Department a richly deserved black eye, said Tom Seabaugh, another family attorney.

Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said he opposed the settlement. He has maintained that his deputies did nothing wrong, and was not just unapologetic, but in my view, needlessly caustic. I havent heard the Silva family talk one time that they wish their loved one hadnt been a meth addict, he said.

David was not a meth addict, Chris Silva told me. And anyway, what does that have to do with nine officers beating him to death? Dont distract us from the obvious.

::

I met Chris and his mother, Merri, at Chris comfortable home here on Tuesday. Chris inherited the place from his father, Sal Silva, who died a year ago of a heart attack at age 57.

I wanted to know why the Silvas, who have been so persistent, agreed to settle.

Going to trial was what we planned and where my heart was, Chris said. Until you sit in a room with lawyers who convince you otherwise.

If it was only Chris and me, we could go to trial, Merri said, but we have to make sure the children are going to be OK.

The county, Chris said, first offered $200,000 to settle, then $2.1 million, before coming up to $3.4 million. The mediator told him she thought that was probably the best the family could hope for.

The lawyers said we had to think very hard about this, Chris said. The juries here are very conservative and very pro-police.

Even with a settlement, though, the Silvas arent going to pipe down. They have a website. They plan to post depositions. They want to publicize the names of the men they believe killed their loved one.

They are also considering creating a foundation in Davids memory to support a resource center for families of people who have experienced similar losses at the hands of law enforcement.

The biggest failure in this town is that there is not any kind of organization that has stood strong for us, Chris said. A foundation would be an outreach for families going through the same struggle as us, to find an easier path to pursue justice.

Thats the thing about this case.

The Silvas got a big settlement from Kern County. But did they get justice?

robin.abcarian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AbcarianLAT
Responding to public outcry, the California Coastal Commission on Thursday endorsed legislation that would ban private meetings and communications between individual commissioners, development interests, lobbyists, environmentalists and other parties with an interest in the planning agencys decisions.

At its monthly meeting in Newport Beach, commissioners voted 6 to 5 to support a bill by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) that would prohibit so-called ex-parte communications related to pending decisions such as the approval of development projects.

Jackson contends the measure will remove the possibility of backroom decision-making, improve transparency and help restore public confidence in the commission after the panel fired Charles Lester, the agencys executive director, in February with little public explanation despite overwhelming opposition to his termination.

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As is often said, admitting you have a problem is the first step toward fixing it, Jackson said. Im pleased to see that a majority of the coastal commissioners recognize that the publics trust has been significantly eroded in recent months, and curbing ex-parte communications is an important step to begin restoring that trust.

Commissioners Carole Groom, Effie Turnbull-Sanders, Wendy Mitchell, Mary Shallenberger, Vice Chair Dayna Bochco and Chairman Steve Kinsey voted to back the measure. Gregory Cox, Erik Howell, Mary Luevano, Roberto Uranga and Mark Vargas opposed the endorsement.

The support for Jacksons bill comes a day after Kinsey asked the commissions attorney and the state attorney general to determine whether he should recuse himself from voting on a massive development in coastal Newport Beach after he failed to properly disclose ex-parte meetings he held with project representatives.

Ex-parte communications are private verbal or written communications between a commissioner and an interested party that could influence a decision.

The Coastal Commission is one of very few state boards, commissions and agencies that have been allowed by the Legislature to have ex-partes, which is a somewhat unusual provision given that the commission follows a quasi-judicial process to make decisions.

The proceedings have been likened to a court where a judge hears evidence and applies the law before ruling. Some critics have said ex-partes, which are heavily used by development interests, can threaten the fairness of the commissions decision-making process.

Before the vote, commissioners opposed to Jacksons legislation said the elimination of ex-parte communications would remove a valuable and convenient source of information about projects and other matters that come before the panel.

They also contended that a ban would reduce both transparency about the decision-making process and the publics access to commissioners.

Im available and offer my presence for ex-partes, said Uranga, who is also a member of the Long Beach City Council. Im open to the public to be accessible and transparent. Ex-partes provide an opportunity to learn about a project.

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Without ex-partes, the commission would have to hold more and longer public meetings to get the same information, said Howell, who also serves on the Pismo Beach City Council.

Id like to have extended hearings, but I have a job. Ex-partes are more convenient, Howell said. I dont support the legislation. The public has a right to speak to us. We get more information and we make the best decisions we can.

Supporters of the bill said a ban would improve transparency by making sure that all information related to a commission decision is available to the public. They noted that the same information could be obtained by holding more workshops and longer public meetings as the commission has occasionally done in the past.

There are options to ex-partes that are more fair and transparent, Bochco said. Ten hour hearings can be mind-scrambling. But I want to know more about multiple hearings. The procedure sounds excellent. We would be able to absorb things and make a better decision.

In addition to supporting Jacksons bill, the commission voted 8 to 3 to back another pending legislative measure that would require people who lobby the commission to register with the state and disclose their clients with business pending before the agency.

Assembly members Mark Stone (D-Monterey Bay) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) say the measure would close a loophole in the government code that exempts lobbyists on the commission level from reporting details of their activities to the public.

The measure also would require lobbyists to report to the public the payments they receive from clients and how much they spend on lobbying for specific matters that come before the commission.

Before Wednesdays meeting, Kinsey, who is a Marin County supervisor, said he did the right thing by asking state attorneys to determine whether he should recuse himself from voting on the controversial Newport Banning Ranch project, which includes 895 homes, retail space and a hotel.

Kinsey requested the review following disclosures in The Times that he failed to properly disclose two ex-parte meetings he had with project officials Nov. 4 and Dec. 22.

The chairman filed the required disclosure form for the Dec. 22 meeting almost four months late May 2, after The Times brought it to his attention. As of a few days ago, Kinsey had not reported the Nov. 4 meeting, records show.

I had no intent to hide those meetings, he said during a talk early Thursday at a Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce breakfast. Whether I get to vote on Banning Ranch or not, I remain committed to the coast and its protection.

The commissions ex-parte rules require verbal and written communications to be reported to the agency on a disclosure form within seven days. If the communication occurs seven days before a commission meeting where the subject matter of the ex-parte is considered, it must be revealed orally at the public hearing.

Commissioners who fail to report an ex-parte can be prohibited from voting on the matter that was discussed or trying to influence the commissions decision. Disclosure violations also carry fines of up to $7,500, and commission decisions affected by a violation can be revoked.

dan.weikel@latimes.com

Twitter: @LADeadline16

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The Anti-Corruption Summit 2016 is the first of its kind to bring together world leaders, the banking and financial sectors, and non-government organizations to jointly discuss and implement combined plans to tackle corruption.

The Anti-Corruption Summit 2016 is the first of its kind to bring together world leaders, the banking and financial sectors, and non-government organizations to jointly discuss and implement combined plans to tackle corruption.[Photo/China.org.cn]

According to the World Economic Forum and the World Bank, corruption costs the world trillions of dollars each year.

Speaking at the summit, Huang Shuxian, deputy secretary of China's Central Commission for the Discipline Inspection, told the summit how China has been actively tackling corruption at home and internationally. Huang also put forward proposals to combat international corruption.

The fight at home

Under President Xi Jinping who came to power in 2012, China has launched a four-pronged strategy for the betterment of Chinese society. One aim of this strategy is to promote party integrity, clean governance and curb corruption.

The Chinese government is fighting to curb the spending of public funds on lavish dinners and gift giving, and officials taking gifts and special treatment in the way of bribes. Huang said that between 2013 and 2015, 65,000 officials have been disciplined for misconduct.

The government has also worked at strengthening the supervision of officials through cross-party inspections. Huang said that central authorities have sent teams to local authorities, government agencies, and state-owned companies to make sure that policies of the central government are "faithfully implemented" and to see whether there are violations of political discipline and rules.

These teams have visited nearly 200 Party organisations in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. "These measures have been an effective deterrent against corruption," Huang told the summit.

Huang said that China has a commitment to law-based governance, and that it will continue to fight corruption as it already has done.

Combating corruption internationally

China is already a member of 15 global and regional anti-corruption mechanisms and has championed initiatives such as the "APEC Beijing Declaration on Fighting Corruption," and has pushed for the establishment of a BRICS -- association of largest developing nations -- anti-corruption cooperation mechanism.

Huang also said that China has anti-corruption cooperation with 89 countries and regions, and has established extradition treaties and treaties of mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

These treaties will help China and other governments to go after fugitives with illegal assets.

In 2014 China launched "Skynet," an operation that goes after fugitives with illegal assets, which are often the profits of corruption. Since starting the operation, China has brought 1,657 fugitives of corruption and economic crimes back to China.

Finally, the Chinese government has cracked down on transnational bribery, and has handled over 14,000 bribery cases of both Chinese companies over-seas and foreign companies within China.

China's proposals for anti-corruption cooperation

On the whole, China's proposals at the summit called for better cooperation between governments in creating extradition treaties in order to bring to justice those who may have gained money through corruption. The other key point was that all governments should respect others' endeavours in tackling corruption.

Huang said that countries need to choose an anti-corruption model according to their "history, culture, and circumstance." Importantly, countries should respect each other's sovereignty in such issues, and should work together for mutual benefits.

The international community needs to expand cooperation. Multilaterally countries should actively chase after fugitives in order to recover illegal assets. At the bilateral level, countries should overcome political and legal barriers and sign extradition treaties.

Finally, countries should work towards a win-win and result-oriented cooperation. Every country should work to accommodate each other's interests while pursuing their own goals, this being especially true of developing countries.
Six years ago, the small city of Maywood was struggling to stay afloat financially. So it turned to its larger neighbor, Bell, for help, essentially handing over day-to-day operations to that city.

The arrangement ultimately helped expose massive corruption in Bell, leading to top city officials being charged and convicted in a scandal that garnered national attention.

Today, Maywood is back on the brink of financial collapse and struggling to find any kind of rescue plan. The 1.2-square-mile municipality  one of the smallest in Los Angeles County  has amassed $16 million in debt that it cannot repay, according to a state report reviewed by The Times.

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State auditors who examined the situation at City Hall found that city staff have been late with payments and failed to alleviate the crisis for years.

The revelations come as Maywood is facing political and legal problems as well. The Los Angeles County district attorney is investigating allegations that Maywood repeatedly violated state open meeting laws when hiring and firing top city officials and amending zoning changes, according to documents.

Its disheartening whats become of our city.  Eduardo De La Riva, councilman

Councilman Ricardo Villarreal, who until this week served as the mayor, said he was giving up that title in protest over what he described as mismanagement and other problems in the city.

Maywoods problems are the latest in a series of municipal woes facing the predominantly Latino working-class cities along the 710 Freeway in southeast Los Angeles County. The cities have been plagued for decades by City Hall scandals and financial mismanagement.

Maywood was on the edge of bankruptcy in 2010, when officials proposed laying off much of the City Hall staff, contracting out policing to the L.A. County Sheriffs Department and having Bell handle many administrative functions.

But those plans were scuttled after The Times revealed huge salaries paid to top Bell officials, which eventually led to criminal charges.

Maywood has yet to recover, according to the California state auditor, which has deemed the city a potential high-risk entity and is conducting an extensive review of its finances and operations.

The review is designed to assess Maywoods financial health and its potential for waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement.

Using publicly available information, the state auditor identified Maywood as an agency that is facing fiscal challenges that may affect its ability to continue providing services to its residents, State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in an audit proposal analysis in January.

The roughly $16 million that Maywood owes includes civil lawsuits and unpaid pension obligations. The city has failed to adequately address its problems, the state said.

The city still contracts out for most public services, the auditor said, noting that the 11 city employees primarily perform accounting, revenue-collection and code-enforcement functions.

In addition to its inability to meet its long-term debt obligations, the city also has a history of making accounting mistakes and incurring late fees, including $49,000 in 2014 because of late payments to its largest contractor, the Sheriffs Department. It also has relied on non-operating revenue, such as legal settlements, to finance its operations.

The audit proposal also noted that Maywoods elected officials had failed to adequately oversee a city manager, who was fired in December after two new council members were elected.

City leaders said they recognize the seriousness of Maywoods financial woes and vowed to take steps to fix them.

I knew we were in a precarious financial position. I knew we owed money, but I also understood we had taken measures to make sure we stayed in the black [rather] than operating in a deficit, Councilman Eduardo De La Riva said this week.

De La Riva also expressed alarm at how Maywood had gotten to this point.

It seems like were repeating history, making the same mistakes that we made in the past, he said. Its disheartening whats become of our city.

The financial pressure comes during a tumultuous period at City Hall. Last year, the council hired an interim administrator after dismissing the city manager. But in April, he also was let go and officials replaced him with another interim city manager.

Its a tragedy, said Pedro Carrillo, the interim city manager who was let go in April.

At council meetings, there has been much rancor and finger-pointing among leaders.

Villarreal said he gave up his mayors title to protest what he saw as violations in open meeting laws, among other things.

The district attorney sent a letter to the city citing several examples of situations in which the meeting law was not followed.

The actions taken were not in compliance with the Brown Act because there was no adequate notice to the public on the posted agenda for the meeting that the matters acted upon would be discussed, and there was no finding of fact made by the Maywood City Council that urgent action was necessary on a matter unforeseen at the time the agenda was posted, the letter read in part.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney said the investigation is still open.

Some in Maywood look with sadness at the spectacle and what it says about the citys leadership. Neighboring cities such as Bell, Vernon and Cudahy have had to enact reforms in the face of criminal investigations, recalls and threats of disincorporation from the state Legislature, but Maywood has not faced a similar reckoning.

The reality is Maywood has always been forgotten, said City Clerk Gerardo Mayagoitia. No one ever wants to look at Maywood because were such a small community, and yet theres so much corruption here that never stops. No one puts a stop to it.

ruben.vives@latimes.com

kim.christensen@latimes.com

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As Congress showed bipartisan support for legislation to address the nations opioid abuse epidemic, a lawmaker urged colleagues Thursday to look closely at the role of pharmaceutical companies, citing a Los Angeles Times investigation into the manufacturer of OxyContin.

In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) called the marketing of painkillers by drug companies the root cause of the problems.

She pointed to The Times investigation, which found that OxyContin, sold as a 12-hour drug, wears off early in many patients, exposing them to increased risk of addiction. Drugmaker Purdue Pharma, which has reaped $31 billion from the painkiller, had evidence of the duration problem for decades, but continued telling doctors it lasted 12 hours, in part to preserve revenues, The Times found.

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The problems created by companies like Purdue are felt deeply by families all across our country, said Gabbard, an Iraq war veteran who has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Purdue disputed The Times findings and noted the Food and Drug Administrations approval of OxyContin as a 12-hour drug.

The company responded to Gabbards comments with a statement noting the work Purdue has done to combat abuse, including the development of OxyContin tablets that are harder to snort and inject.

Opioid abuse and addiction is one of our top national health challenges, and thats why for more than a decade Purdue Pharma has undertaken efforts to help address this crisis, the company said.

Without offering specific proposals, Gabbard said lawmakers should demand action that holds pharmaceutical companies accountable who are profiting off of Americas addiction problem.

Weve seen for decades that major pharmaceutical companies have misled the FDA, doctors and patients about the safety and risks of opioid dependency  in their efforts to sell more drugs, Gabbard said.

Her remarks came as the House passed a bundle of bills to stem the opioid crisis. More than a dozen drug-related bills approved this week parallel similar legislation advanced in the Senate. In both chambers, the legislative effort has garnered bipartisan support. Congressional Republicans, particularly lawmakers facing tough reelection fights this fall, have trumpeted their response to the epidemic.

More than 190,000 people in the U.S. since 1999 have died from overdoses involving painkillers. Abuse of those painkillers is also blamed for the resurgence in heroin addiction.

The bills authorize grants to law enforcement and first responders, as well as programs to assist addicts and cut back on the diversion of prescription drugs to the black market. Congress is expected to send the legislation to the president this year.

Many patient advocates, law enforcement officials, clinicians and others on the front lines of the drug crisis have welcomed the bills, but said additional funding would be required for the programs to be effective.

harriet.ryan@latimes.com

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Just to be clear, Mimi was famous long before anyone made a movie about her.

People called her the Queen of Montana Avenue  but not because she was rich.

Now this 90-year-old who for nearly two decades slept in a strip-mall laundromat spends her days fielding interview requests from the likes of People magazine.

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She holds court as she has for years, just inside Fox Laundrys front door, in a plastic chair next to the soda machine. On the wall above her is a poster with her picture on it, advertising the documentary Queen Mimi.

The suns out. The skys blue. It was supposed to rain today, but it didnt. Thats life on planet Earth, she says, chatting on her cellphone. She wears tight black leggings, white flip-flops, a pink cashmere sweater. She has pink polish on her nails, pink streaks in her dyed blond hair.

Mimi was never a laundromat employee, although for years she folded clothes for tips. She still guards the place and barks, Dont slam it! when someone manhandles a dryer.

One of my favorite sayings is, yesterdays gone, tomorrows not here yet, live in the now. I made up my mind a long time ago to be happy.  Queen Mimi

Look at the Yelp page for Fox Laundry, and comments about her abound from those whove encountered Mimis brusqueness without context. But shes made many a friend at the laundry too.

Its where she became close to actor Zach Galifianakis, in the late 1990s, before he made it big. He has brought Mimi with him to parties. Shes been his red-carpet date. We talk about sex, Mimi and I, and we laugh a lot, he says at one point in Queen Mimi. At another: It is my honor to know that woman.

Thats just one of the surprises in the film, which opens Friday in Santa Monica. Another is the way Mimi is treated in one of the tonier parts of town.

By her side in the laundry is the metal laundry cart  complete with garment-hanging rack  that she wheels around her neighborhood, accepting its beneficence daily. She gets hugs, free food and drink, and deep discounts at chic restaurants. If there are lines, she is whisked to the front of them.

The cart holds her purse and peoples offerings: a large yellow rose, pastry, kiwi fruit. It also serves as a walker. Mimis back is severely bowed, maybe from the years in which her bedroom was the aisle between the single- and double-load washers, her bed a plastic lawn chair with a matching one placed in front of it for her legs.

She took a spill at the grocery store recently. Her left hands in a wrist brace. She wriggles the fingers of her right hand, which sparkle with rings shes found.

A young man walks in, nicely built, five oclock shadow, dragging a bulging garbage bag. Id like to crawl all over him, Mimi says, not so sotto voce, her deep blue eyes so twinkly and her grin so mischievous that she looks like a kid, even though shes lost her teeth and wrinkles groove every inch of her face.

Queen Mimi was more than five years in the making, funded through an online Kickstarter campaign.

Yaniv Rokah, an aspiring actor from Israel, was new to Los Angeles when he got a job as a barista at Cafe Luxxe, just across Montana Avenue from the laundromat.

He came in with the cafes rags, which the Fox staff washed in exchange for free drinks. He brought Mimi coffee, and she started coming to visit.

Outside Cafe Luxxe, thered often be a line of big-name industry types, he said. Nicole Kidman, Paul Haggis, theyd wait for half an hour  and here comes this shiny lady in bright pink, so full of life... It really was exciting to see someone so different.

Rokah had no filmmaking experience and no plan in mind when he started videotaping interviews with Mimi on his iPhone 4. I wasnt actually making a film, he said. I just knew that there was a story there that I wanted to capture.

The more he teased that story out of her, the more he felt compelled to share it  although getting Mimi to examine her life can be difficult. Before the movie, she had done a good job of shedding her past, even those she has loved.

One of my favorite sayings is, yesterdays gone, tomorrows not here yet, live in the now, she says. I made up my mind a long time ago to be happy.

Mimis full name is Marie Elizabeth Haist. She was born in downtown Los Angeles in 1925. She married in 1947. For 29 years, she was a suburban housewife  china cabinets in the dining room, sheets drying on the line in her Woodland Hills backyard.

That life, in her telling, began to unravel when her husband was unfaithful. In 1976, they divorced. She promptly lost the house. In her 50s, she began living in her van. When she couldnt pay her vehicle license fee, the van was towed away  everything shed held on to from her old life inside it.

She made her way to the Westside, where she lived on the street, lining plastic bags with newspaper to make shoes, eating food thrown out by restaurants. She slept behind bushes in front of what was then Bullocks Westwood, in doorways just off Pacific Coast Highway and on Montana.

One day she noticed the laundry and started hanging out there. One bitterly cold, rainy night, the janitor called the owner and asked if he could let her sleep inside. That one night turned into many. Stan Fox let Mimi have her own set of keys.

Friends she met on Montana took her in for stretches, offering beds and couches. They took her out to meals, at which she ordered her favorite lemon drop martinis.

Mimi never asked anyone for money, she says, even when she slept on sidewalks. If you asked a man, he might expect something out of you, so I just never did.

She also somehow never thought of herself as homeless. Shes known to demand that homeless people who wander into the laundromat leave.

Sometimes she still shuts her eyes at the laundromat, stretched out on a bench in front of the plate-glass window.

But Mimi doesnt spend the night there anymore. She has her own bed, in her own apartment right across Montana.

Rokah says getting that part of the story on film took some doing. Galifianakis rents the apartment for her. Renee Zellweger, who met Mimi through him, furnished the three small rooms. Neither wanted public attention for it.

In Queen Mimi, Galifianakis talks about first getting Mimi a cellphone so that she could more easily keep in touch. One thing led to another.

You see people that are down on their luck or on the streets and stuff, and rarely do we as a society try to reach out on a personal basis, he says. It just seemed like the right thing to do for a friend. And I should have probably done it sooner, to be honest with you.

As for Mimi, having a home hasnt made her a homebody. She likes to take her place at the laundromat each day, soon after it opens.

nita.lelyveld@latimes.com

Twitter: @latimescitybeat

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Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday threw his support behind an ambitious $2-billion plan to build housing for Californias mentally ill homeless population.

The governors action comes as cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco, have seen increases in homelessness in recent years, sparked in part by rising rents that have pushed poor people into shantytowns on city sidewalks and canyons.

Under the plan, the state would issue $2 billion in bonds, which would be repaid over 20 to 30 years with money provided under Proposition 63, the millionaires tax for mental health services that voters approved in 2004.

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Proponents said money from the bond, together with federal and local funding, would finance 10,000 to 14,000 new housing units for the states 116,000 homeless people, an estimated 30% of whom have mental illness.

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It would make the most significant boost in state funding for the homeless in years.

Though Browns support is an important milestone, the proposal faces legal and political hurdles. A two-thirds supermajority vote in the Legislature would be necessary for the plans passage, requiring the Democratic majority to find at least some support from Republicans.

Democratic leaders, noting support from some Republicans, including Sen. Bob Huff (R-San Dimas), said the governors backing  released as part of his revised budget  is a tremendous boost.

This a huge step forward to have the governor and the Legislature on the same page, recognizing that housing and homelesness is a big priority, said former Senate president Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who helped conceive the plan. Homelessness knows no partisan lines.

Los Angeles County has the most homeless without shelter in the nation, studies have found, and over the year, local officials have made tackling the problem a top priority.

1 / 16 One person counted in the homeless survey sleeps in an alley. Dozens of volunteers fanned out around neighborhoods in North Hollywood to conduct part of the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 16 Jasmine Yancey, of West Hollywood, was one of dozens of volunteers in North Hollywood to conduct part of the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 16 Benjamin Romero, 18, left and his brother Omar, 32, were among 41 volunteers who showed up at the Centro Maravilla Service Center in East Los Angeles on Tuesday night to count the areas homeless. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 16 Omar Romero, left, was drawn to the 2016 homeless census by a blast email to his work. He recruited his younger brother, Benjamin, a student at East Los Angeles College, to join him. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 16 Volunteers Omar Romero, left, and his brother Benjamin, make a three-hour trek to count the homeless in East Los Angeles on Tuesday night. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 16 On the third and final day of the 2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, volunteer Derrick Chambers checks out an encampment in an open area in Lancaster. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 16 Andrew Aldama, John Piscitello, Frances Sharpe and Glanda Sherman search the beach in the early morning for homeless people in Pacific Palisades. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 16 Benjamin Romero, 18, left, and his brother Omar, 32, survey neighborhoods near the 60 Freeway in East Los Angeles for homeless people as part of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authoritys 2016 homeless census. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 16 Volunteers drove and walked neighborhoods in Boyle Heights, Monterey Park and East Los Angeles on Tuesday night as part of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authoritys 2016 homeless census. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 16 Volunteer homeless counters gather Tuesday evening for a briefing in East Los Angeles. The volunteers broke up into teams in order to cover the most ground possible. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 16 About 40 volunteers in East Los Angeles on Tuesday night take part in a homeless census, an effort to get a count of the number of homeless in Los Angeles County. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 16 Kenneth Ferguson Jr., 22, left, who is homeless, talks with Marlon Sibrian, center, and Luis Medina at Union Station as teams of volunteers survey homeless youth. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 16 Brendan Tidwell, Marlon Sibrian and Javier Martinez walk through Union Station looking for homeless young people to survey. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 16 Brendan Tidwell, left, team leader Luis Medina and Javier Martinez walk through Union Station looking for homeless young people to survey. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 16 Brendan Tidwell, Marlon Sibrian, Javier Martinez and Luis Medina walk through Olvera Street looking for homeless young people. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 16 Jeff Hearly, 22, left, who is homeless, talks with Marlon Sibrian, center, and Luis Medina near Olvera Street. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

The city of Los Angeles has approved a $1.87-billion plan to boost homeless housing, but its unclear where the money would come from.

Mayor Eric Garcetti wants to spend $138 million this year on general homeless services, but the city is still looking for how to cover half those costs.

Los Angeles County has set aside $150 million and is talking about creating a millionaires tax or some other funding source to help pay for more homeless services.

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The state bond alone would not relieve the regions homelessness crisis. L.A. County leaders estimated that would take 15,341 more units of so-called permanent supportive housing to do that.

But they said the bond would be a significant boost.

The governor, in his budget proposal, placed part of the blame for the problem on local land use restrictions, and called on elected leaders to facilitate affordable housing construction.

Local land use decisions surrounding housing production have contributed to low inventories  even though demand has steadily increased, his message said.

The bond money would be awarded based on a competitive grant basis, leaders said. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis said that although its not clear yet how much of the bond funding would come here, she believes the county should get a large share, based on the size of its homeless population.

Supervisor Sheila Keuhl said the county would continue its effort regardless of whether the state bond moves forward.

No matter how much money we can put together, its going to be hard to solve the problem 100%, she said. If we were to address the whole problem, we would need more than that.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Ruth Schwartz, a longtime homeless housing official and executive director of Shelter Partnership in Los Angeles, said advocates had been calling on the state for years to get involved in helping ease the homeless problems.

Browns support of the measure represented a major shift, she said.

This is just a huge pivot for the governor, she said.

gale.holland@latimes.com

Twitter: @geholland

abby.sewell@latimes.com

Twitter: @sewella

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The Los Angeles city attorneys office Friday announced another legal victory in its fight to stop companies from delivering marijuana.

City prosecutors have shut down the Los Angeles operations of Speed Weed, a popular pot delivery company that served 25,000 customers across the Southland.

Cosmic Mind, the company that operates Speed Weed, has entered into a judicially enforced agreement to cease operating in Los Angeles next month, according to the city attorneys office.

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Its the second pot delivery service forced to close in the city. Prosecutors sued to shut down Nestdrop, a smartphone medical marijuana delivery app in 2014. The Nestdrop injunction was affirmed by an appeals court in March.

City attorney Mike Feuer said Speed Weed violated the restrictions of Proposition D since opening in 2014.

Under the measure passed in 2013, dispensaries and their landlords can be prosecuted if the shops arent properly registered or if they fail to operate a legal distance from public parks, schools, child-care centers and other facilities.

Proposition D does not provide immunity from enforcement for a medical marijuana business made up of a vehicle that is transporting, delivering or distributing medical marijuana, according to the city attorneys office.

This is another successful step in our sustained effort to uphold the voters will under Proposition D, Feuer said.

Representatives from Cosmic Mind could not be reached for comment.

More than 700 pot shops have closed in Los Angeles since voters approved Proposition D, according to the city attorneys office. City prosecutors have also filed 389 criminal cases against more than 1,500 defendants.

In a 2014 interview with The Times, Cosmic Mind owner Andrew Gentile said he paid business taxes and was operating legally under Proposition D. Speed Weed didnt have a storefront subject to the measures zoning rules, Gentile had said.

Gentile said he hoped to franchise Speed Weed wherever medical marijuana is allowed.

The company was founded in 2011 after Gentile studied operation manuals for Dominos Pizza, Papa Johns Pizza and FedEx. He learned how to build a network of hubs to limit the amount of marijuana or cash that any one driver carries, a precaution against robbery, he told The Times.

The companys delivery area stretched across 6,000 square miles, including all of L.A. County and the northern half of Orange County, Gentile said.

ben.poston@latimes.com

Follow @bposton on Twitter.

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UPDATES:

7:00 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify that the shutdown applies to Speed Weeds operations within the city of Los Angeles.
A manhunt is underway for a Bay Area man whom police say shot his pregnant ex-girlfriend in the head last month.

The U.S. Marshals have joined the search for Ricardo Colindres, 26. The Pacifica Police Department said Colindres disappeared after trying to kidnap his ex-girlfriend at 8:10 a.m. April 27 at the Casa Pacifica Apartments before shooting her in the head. A $2,500 reward is being offered for his arrest and conviction.

An assault like this on a member of our community is an assault on us all, said Don OKeefe, U.S. marshal for the Northern District of California. The fact that Ms. Johnson was eight months pregnant makes this act even more heinous, and only increases our resolve in bringing the perpetrator to justice.

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KGO-TV identified the woman as Marissa Johnson. A Go Fund Me account was created to help her family pay for medical expenses. Johnson and her unborn child were recovering.

Colindres has not been seen since the shooting, police said.

The handgun used in the shooting has not been recovered. Law enforcement officials said Colindres is considered armed and extremely dangerous.

Police say he moves around, but frequents Brisbane and Las Vegas. He has family in Brisbane, Lodi and Burson.

He was driving a silver 2003 Toyota Corolla with license plate 6CGN644.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the U.S. Marshals at 1-800-336-0102.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

For breaking news in California, follow VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter.

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A skydiving plane with 18 people on board crashed and flipped over Thursday in a Northern California vineyard, authorities said.

The pilot suffered a minor injury, but none of the passengers were injured, said Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

The single-engine plane took off about 2 p.m. from Lodi Municipal Airport, but the Cessna 208 had engine trouble just after leaving the runway, Gregor said.

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The pilot tried to bring the aircraft back to the airport, but the Cessna struck a pickup on its descent. The plane crashed and overturned in the vineyard in rural San Joaquin County, near Acampo, about a quarter-mile from the airport.

The driver of the Toyota Tacoma pickup, Cindy Martin, told the Lodi News-Sentinel that she saw the plane dip below the power lines before it struck her vehicle.

I thought, Oh my God, that plane is going to hit us -- and this is a new truck,  she told the news outlet. The planes passengers were pretty excitable, she said.

The plane is owned by Nevada-based Flanagan Enterprises Inc., according to FAA records. The companys president listed in Nevada public records, Ian Flanagan of Alberta, Canada, could not be reached for comment.

The crash is under investigation by the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board.

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For more California news, follow me @MattHjourno. E-mail me at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.
The agency charged with regulating Californias attorneys has failed to give a transparent view of its finances while its top tier of executives have enjoyed more generous salaries than the governor and attorney general, according to a scathing state audit released Thursday.

The review of the State Bar of California also questioned the spending by a special non-profit set up under a previous state bar executive, and the audit faulted the agencys leadership for a years-long delay in the program that compensates those who are swindled by corrupt and dishonest lawyers.

At the end of 2015, the review found, the state bar had about 5,500 pending claims by the victims of attorney theft  with an estimated $16-million shortfall for the payments. Some victims of misconduct could wait up to five years before receiving reimbursement, the review stated.

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The State Bars long delays in paying claims harm the people who are waiting and who may be counting on these resources to meet basic needs, according to the report released by State Auditor Elaine Howle.

The 68-page report is the latest setback for the nations largest state bar, which oversees more than 250,000 attorneys and is funded mostly by annual dues. The quasi-public agency, considered an arm of the state Supreme Court, oversees the licensing of attorneys, imposes a continuing education on active lawyers, and intervenes when people have disputes with their legal counsel. The bar also metes out discipline for misconduct, subject to the approval of the state supreme court.

The organization has long been bedeviled by conflict and controversy, with lawmakers publicly excoriating the agency for being inefficient and overly political. In recent years, internal strife has grabbed headlines beyond legal trade papers.

The recent saga erupted around 2014, when the bars board of trustees fired executive director Joe Dunn, a former state senator from Orange County and current congressional candidate. Dunn filed a whistle-blower lawsuit, alleging that the bar was altering records to conceal a backlog in complaints against attorneys.

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Acrimony escalated when parts of a confidential investigative report into Dunns tenure were released to journalists. An arbitrator later tossed out Dunns lawsuit, but gave him the option of amending some of his complaint.

Last month, Jayne Kim, a former federal prosecutor and the bars chief trial counsel, announced her resignation, months after the bars employees gave her a vote of no confidence.

The recent audit faulted the bar for paying its top 13 executives with salaries exceeding that of Gov. Jerry Brown, who annually receives about $183,000. Auditors noted that the state bars executive director has an annual salary of $267,000, while the directors of larger state agencies like the Department of Social Services, which has about 4,000 employees, receives about $220,000. The state bar has less than 600 employees between offices in L.A. and San Francisco.

The bars accounting practices were also criticized, with auditors knocking the bar for violating its own financial control policies and mis-classifying funds that have restrictions in how they are spent. Such errors distort how lawmakers and bureaucrats assess the organizations financial status, the audit stated.

Much of the criticism centered on the fund that compensates legal clients that are the victim of theft, which rose precipitously in 2009 amid the recession. Auditors noted that to process the 5,500 pending applications for compensation, the bar has 11 staff members, including three attorneys.

As the backlog stood, however, the bar began in 2012 to omit from its financial reports the estimates of the cost of the victim compensation program. Instead, the financial statements showed only the funds overall balance, which improved; the omission had the effect of masking the looming financial trouble, according to the audit.

Many of the difficulties in the compensation program owe to the roughly $91 million in outstanding debts since 2003 from attorney misconduct cases, according to the audit. State reviewers acknowledged it is difficult to collect money from resigned or disbarred attorneys, who may have little incentive or resources to pay. The bars top lawyer has filed hundreds of money judgments to recover the funds, the audit stated.

Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker, the executive director who succeeded Dunn, accepted the vast majority of the audits recommendations but faulted the report for using highly critical headlines that overstate the organizations issues and for not distinguishing between recent changes.

During the past few months, the bars new leadership has taken a reform-minded approach to resolving longstanding organizational, operational and fiscal challenges, Parker wrote.

We believe a close look at the audit findings shows we have made significant progress, Parker said in a separate statement.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Parker did take issue with criticism of her salary, noting that it is within the range of similar positions at other state bars. And she was clear about her view on the nonprofit that was set up in 2013 by Dunn, calling its operations highly unusual, according to her statement.

The non-profit was established to allow tax-deductible donations to support niche legal programs and legal aid to the indigent, according to the audit.

But the nonprofit ended up spending two-thirds of its funds on expenses unrelated to its stated purpose, including a $4,800 Sacramento hotel bill and a $17,000 state fair exhibit, according to the audit. The latter expenses occurred months before the non-profit was actually established, but it paid the bills anyway.

When the nonprofit developed a nearly $15,000 deficit in late 2015, the bar used general funds to cover the bill  without the state bars oversight board knowing or approving of the expenditure, according to the audit.

State auditors feared what may befall the agency if such lax financial controls go unchecked: Lacking proper oversight, the State Bar could create a similar nonprofit in the future and use it for questionable purposes.

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For more California news, follow me @MattHjourno. E-mail me at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.
The stepfather of a 2-year-old who went missing in San Diego more than a dozen years ago either injured the child on purpose or failed to seek medical help when the boy was hurt accidentally, a police detective said in a court document unsealed Thursday.

In her request for an arrest warrant, a detective noted that Tieray Dwayne Jones had made inconsistent statements to investigators after he reported Jahi Turner missing in 2002. For example, Jones denied at first that the child had suffered any falls, accidents or injuries while in the stepfathers care.

Investigators have expressed doubt that Jahi went missing on April 25, 2002. According to the affidavit, some witnesses told police they saw Jones at the apartment complex without his stepson on the day the child was reported missing. A day earlier, a neighbor saw Jones carrying three large trash bags toward the laundry room/trash area of the apartment complex where he lived at the time. Another neighbor saw him carry a white trash bag to the Dumpster.

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I dont want him hating me for something I cant control. The bump on his head has gone down I put ice on it.  Journal entry attributed to Tieray Jones

A journal entry attributed to Jones tells a different story.

Today for some reason he hasnt been moving or really talking, read the entry, dated two days before the toddler was reported missing. Jahi is starting to act really funny he wont get up off the floor. Hes not walking or talking when I tell him to get his cup he just looks at me.

I know its going to take some time, the journal entry continues. But I dont want him hating me for something I cant control. The bump on his head has gone down I put ice on it. Its gotten a little red.

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The search warrant affidavit  filed in San Diego County Superior Court on April 18  reveals many details about evidence collected after Jahis disappearance, much of which comes from interviews with Jones, statements from Jahis mother, Tameka Turner, other witness statements and circumstantial evidence.

The document does not explicitly reveal what new evidence led to Jones arrest in North Carolina last month. He has since been returned to San Diego County, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and felony child abuse causing death.

If convicted, he could be sent to prison for 25 years to life.

According to the search warrant document, Jones, who is now 37 years old, initially denied that Jahi had been injured before he disappeared, but he admitted to investigators later that the boy had fallen once but suffered no cuts or bumps.

In a call from the boys mother to Jones in March 2015, Jones alludes to what happened to Jahi as an accident, according to Det. Maura Mekenas-Parga. During the phone call, which was monitored and recorded by police, Jones stutters and stumbles over his words when asked to clarify what he meant.

I said if there was, if ah, if there was an accident or something, it would have been an accident, Jones said to his former wife, a U.S. Navy sailor who had just been deployed when Jahi disappeared.

What I am saying is that if it wasnt, and I did something, like, why? Jones continued, according to the affidavit. ... If it was an accident, sweetheart, I would have just said it was an accident.

Im not, I dont, I have never run away from anything.

After Jones called 911 the day Jahi was reported missing, he told police he had taken his stepson to a playground near Balboa Park, then left him alone for 15 minutes when he walked to a vending machine to get something to drink. The vending machine was more than 100 yards away.

He said the boy was gone when he returned.

The San Diego Police Department and scores of volunteers launched a massive search for Jahi in the park and surrounding neighborhood, through nearby canyons and even combing through tons of trash at the Miramar landfill. He was never found.

Judge David Danielsen ordered the arrest warrant document unsealed Thursday after requests from the media. The judge also relieved the county public defenders office of its duty to Jones after two private lawyers took up his defense.

In an email Thursday, attorneys Alex Ozols and Vikram Monder said: We read over the affidavit for the first time today and  there are clearly a lot of questions that need to be answered. We believe in Tierays innocence, we are going to fight for him until the end and we strongly believe that his son is still alive.

When questioned by investigators, Jones denied taking the trash out that day.

Forensic testing revealed that a childs onesie found in a laundry basket inside the family apartment had Jahis blood on it, as did an Elmo blanket recovered from a bed. Additional items of Jahis clothing, including a pair of Winnie the Pooh overalls, were found in a trash bin near the Jones apartment, mixed in with some of the mothers belongings.

Jones has pleaded not guilty and is jailed without bail.

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dana.littlefield@sduniontribune.com

Littlefield writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune
A daytime shooting in an Anaheim Hills park left a woman dead Thursday and forced police to shut down nearby schools as they searched for the gunman, who was taken into custody.

The shooting was reported shortly after 2:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Peralta Canyon Park, said Sgt. Daron Wyatt of the Anaheim Police Department.

Officers arrived and found a woman, believed to be in her 30s, with gunshot wounds. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, Wyatt said.

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Her name was not released pending the notification of her family.

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The shooter fled the area, and officers fanned out to search for him.

Several people, including a handful of children in the park, saw the killing and gave police a description of the shooter and his vehicle, Wyatt said.

Crescent Elementary School and Canyon High School were briefly placed on lockdown while authorities looked for the gunman, the Orange Unified School District told KABC-TV Channel 7.

Police located the suspect shortly before 3 p.m. in the parking lot of the Anaheim Police Departments satellite station in the 8200 block of East Santa Ana Canyon Road.

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The station, known as the East Station, is about three miles from the park and is part of a larger civic complex with a gymnasium and library.

The 49-year-old man was taken into custody, Wyatt said. His name was not released.

Police did not provide details on the nature of the relationship between the man and woman.

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For more California news, follow me @MattHjourno. E-mail me at matt.hamilton@latimes.com.
London's first Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan [File photo]

Sadiq Khan is the newly elected mayor of London. Many observers in Britain and from abroad have pointed to fact that Khan is a Muslim. This is important in the context of a hostile and divisive campaign run by Zac Goldsmith, which was echoed by Prime Minister David Cameron. Both seemed intent on smearing Khan and misrepresenting him as being soft on Islamic terrorism. In light of this, the fact that Londoners ignored that message and voted for a Muslim  despite the recent terrorist attacks in Paris  indicates how diverse, sophisticated and internationalist the London electorate has become.

Of course, there are real fears that London will face new terrorist attacks from home-grown terrorists coming from alienated Muslim communities in the U.K. The stark reality is that the breeding ground of such alienation is poverty, social exclusion and the lamentable, but predictable, consequences of British military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Khan's electoral profile and manifesto commitments revolve around socio-economic issues. He has emphasized the fact that his father was a bus driver and has sought to address the divisive impact of London's unaffordable property market. London suffers from extreme inequality. The poor  defined as those earning less than 60 percent of the national average income  constitute some 27 percent of city's population. Over 2.25 million of its inhabitants live below the poverty line and this includes 21 percent of working families. Indeed, the parasitic character of the London housing market exacerbated an already steep rise in inequality; for example, 860,000 people living in private rented accommodation live in poverty.

Critics from the right-wing such as Janan Ganesh, a political columnist at the Financial Times, argue that the success of London inevitably entails economic extremities and housing unaffordability. London, he says, is in a special league, like Hong Kong, New York and Tokyo, and, therefore, it cannot become an affordable city like Berlin. Ganesh argues that, nevertheless, Mayor Khan will be able to: leverage planning permission to pressure property developers to provide quotas for affordable housing; push the national government to extend the city limits into what is presently defined as the "green belt" (protected rural land); and build more low-cost or affordable rental accommodation. In truth there is a lot more that can be done.

Khan's campaign promises to build 80,000 homes a year, with 50 percent sold or rented at "genuinely affordable" prices. But his predecessor, Mayor Boris Johnson, failed to build even 24,000 new homes a year. So the question of how Khan will actually realize this objective remains?

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
Charges were dismissed Thursday against a group of demonstrators accused of blocking the 101 Freeway during a 2014 protest against the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., part of a series of Los Angeles demonstrations that drew national attention because of the high number of arrests police made.

Attorneys representing the seven Black Lives Matter protesters have long called for the misdemeanor charges filed against their clients to be thrown out, saying the demonstrators were peacefully exercising their free speech rights. In March, jurors rejected some of the charges against some of protesters but could not agree on a verdict on all of the counts.

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On Thursday, prosecutors said they would not seek another trial.

We analyzed the results of the first trial and decided not to retry the cases, said Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the city attorneys office.

The lawyers representing the protesters welcomed the decision but said it was long overdue.

It was the right thing to do, attorney Caree Harper said. They had a total change of heart this morning, which was a wise way to go.

Nana Gyamfi, a lawyer who represented six of the seven protesters in the case, said the decision should signal to city prosecutors that they should stop filing charges against protesters and instead use their resources to address the complaints about excessive police force that prompted the demonstrations.

Clearly, we feel like the cases should not have been brought in the first place, Gyamfi said. There was no need to have gone through this process.

The defendants -- Rosa Clemente, Haewon Asfaw, Povi-Tamu Bryant, Sha Dixon, Todd Harris, Damon Turner and Jas Wade -- were among 323 demonstrators arrested during protests over several days.

The group was accused of blocking the freeway near Alvarado Street on the morning of Nov. 26, 2014. They were ultimately charged with obstructing a thoroughfare and refusing to comply with lawful police orders, both misdemeanors.

The protests in Los Angeles came after a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer who fatally shot Brown. The death of Brown, a black 18-year-old, inspired greater scrutiny of how police officers use force, particularly against African Americans.

The grand jurys decision ignited demonstrations in cities across the country, some marked by violence, looting and burning buildings. L.A.'s protests were calmer, but the 300-plus arrests surpassed the arrest figures from other cities with more violent demonstrations, such as Oakland, St. Louis and Ferguson.

L.A. city prosecutors filed charges against 27 of those protesters -- fewer than 9% of those arrested.

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Times staff writer Stephen Ceasar contributed to this report.

kate.mather@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @katemather
The Obama administrations push to apply 1960s and 1970s equal-rights laws to the transgender community is likely to win favor in federal courts and may even get a surprising assist from the late conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Transgender rights has emerged as the new frontier in civil rights law and the latest battleground for the nations culture wars.

On Friday, the Obama administrations Education and Justice departments sent a letter to public school officials nationwide, warning them that schools must provide an environment free of discrimination and treat students consistent with their gender identity, even if thats different from the sex assigned at birth.

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Earlier this week, the Justice Department and North Carolinas Gov. Pat McCrory filed dueling lawsuits against each other, asking a judge to decide whether North Carolina House Bill 2, the so-called bathroom bill, violates federal civil rights laws. It says public bathrooms and changing facilities may be used only by individuals based on their biological sex [as] stated on a persons birth certificate.

Separately Friday, the Health and Human Services Department announced regulations forbidding sex discrimination in healthcare and health coverage, covering pregnancy, gender identity and sex stereotyping.

At issue in all these cases is a deceptively simple question: What is discrimination based on sex?

Neither Congress nor the Supreme Court has weighed in directly to decide whether federal law forbids discrimination against transgender students or adults. But Obama administration officials in recent years have put employers and schools on notice that they believe existing law protects transgender people.

To bolster their argument, attorneys for the Obama administration argue that the ban on sex discrimination has evolved since the 1960s, when it was seen chiefly as forbidding employers from denying women the right to get jobs that had been reserved for men. By the 1970s, the law had been expanded to forbid sexual harassment of women in the workplace.

By 1989, the Supreme Court, in Price Waterhouse vs. Hopkins, upheld a sex discrimination claim brought by a woman who was denied partnership at an accounting firm because some male colleagues thought she was gruff and aggressive, not feminine, in her attire.

Nearly a decade later, Justice Scalia spoke for a unanimous court in reviving a sex discrimination suit brought by a man who had worked on an oil rig off Louisiana and complained he was harassed, bullied and threatened with rape by the other men in showers. Scalia said this was clearly discrimination based on sex, even though it involved only men.

Male-on-male sexual harassment was assuredly not the principal evil Congress was concerned with when it enacted the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Scalia wrote in Oncale vs. Sundowner Offshore Services. But statutory prohibitions often go beyond the principal evil to cover reasonably comparable evils, and the words of the law can be easily read to forbid sexual harassment of any kind, he said.

The administrations lawyers cited both the Hopkins and Oncale decisions in Fridays letter to school officials. Together, they say the decisions stand for the proposition that sex-related mistreatment is broadly prohibited by civil rights laws.

Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch, in announcing Monday that the federal government would take North Carolina to court, condemned the law as state-sponsored discrimination. The Obama administration bases its view on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which protects employees from discrimination because of sex, and Title IX, adopted by Congress in 1972, which says schools receiving federal money may not discriminate on the basis of sex.

Last month, the administration won a significant victory in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a 2-1 decision, judges agreed with the administration and ruled for Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy from Gloucester, Va., who was told he could no longer use the boys bathroom.

Walter Dellinger, a North Carolinian and former solicitor general in the Clinton administration, predicted the state will lose its battle with the Justice Department.

The courts have interpreted the ban on sex discrimination very broadly. Im reasonably confident the 4th Circuit will strike down HB 2 because it reflects hostility to transgender people, he said.

But North Carolinas Republican governor called the administrations legal push a massive executive branch overreach. In his lawsuit, McCrory said federal officials should not be allowed to foist a radical interpretation of the civil rights laws on the states.

Schools have a duty to protect the privacy and safety of all students, said Jeremy Tedesco, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom in Arizona, which represents the Gloucester school district. Its common sense that boys shouldnt be in girls locker rooms. Physiological differences require distinctive and separate spaces.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Education Committee and his states former governor, said, This is the kind of issue that parents, schools boards, communities, students and teachers and should be allowed to work out in a practical way. ... The guidance issued by the departments does not amount to federal law and should not be treated as such.

Ed Whelan, a conservative legal analyst and a former Scalia law clerk, called Fridays announcement an absurd misreading of Title IX.

But Obama administration aides contend that the directive is meant to clear up confusion and comes in response to a request from school principals seeking legal and practical guidance.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest questioned how state officials would enforce a rule requiring people to use the bathroom assigned to the gender on ones birth certificate. He singled out Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, who has challenged the administrations action.

Is the Texas attorney general suggesting somehow that it would be practical to station a law enforcement officer outside of every public bathroom in an educational facility and check peoples birth certificates on the way in? Earnest said Friday. It certainly sounds like a government intrusion to me.

Its also unclear whether the issue of transgender students poses a real problem in schools.

In 2005, the Los Angeles Unified School District adopted a policy to treat transgender students consistent with their identity. And in 2013, the California Legislature adopted a measure to protect transgender students from discrimination.

Its been a nonissue, said Dr. Judy Chiasson, program coordinator for the LAUSDs Office of Human Relations.  I get calls from the media on occasion, but we havent had problems in the schools.

She was one of several school officials who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Virginia case. There, the high school principal had allowed Gavin to use the boys restroom, but he was forced to change after community activists persuaded the school board to adopt a new policy. That in turn led to the lawsuit and the 4th Circuit ruling.

Our experience has been that the fears of the adults are rarely played out, Chiasson advised the court. The students are very affirming and respectful of their classmates.

Times staff writer Christi Parsons contributed to this report.

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On Twitter: DavidGSavage
The Obama administration is directing public schools across the country to let transgender students use bathrooms that match their gender identity, a move that will expand nationally the argument over North Carolinas controversial bathroom law.

The letter going out Friday from officials of the Education and Justice departments sets out the agencies view of what schools need to do under current federal law to provide an environment for students free of discrimination.

The letter, first reported by the New York Times, carries no specific threat for schools that do not comply. But the threat is implicit because violations of federal civil rights law can lead to a loss of federal aid to a school district, or enforcement action by the Justice Department.

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The letter amplifies a national debate over gender identity and privacy that was kicked off by North Carolinas law declaring that transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that match the gender on their birth certificates. The states Legislature adopted the law to block an effort by the city of Charlotte that would have allowed transgender individuals to use facilities for the sex with which they identify.

The Justice Department and the state of North Carolina have already sued each other in federal court, with both sides seeking a ruling on whether the state law conflicts with federal civil rights legislation adopted half a century ago.

North Carolina officials argue that their law protects people who do not want to use private facilities with people of the opposite biological gender.

Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch, in announcing that the federal government would take the state to court, had condemned the North Carolina law as state-sponsored discrimination.

The Obama administration bases its view on Title IX of the civil rights law, which says that schools receiving federal money cant discriminate based on a students sex.

Officials concede that the law was not adopted with transgender individuals in mind, but say that discriminating against a student based on gender identity is a form of improper sex discrimination.

No student should ever have to go through the experience of feeling unwelcome at school or on a college campus, U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a written statement.

Educators want to do the right thing for students, and many have reached out to us for guidance on how to follow the law, King said.

We must ensure that our young people know that whoever they are or wherever they come from, they have the opportunity to get a great education in an environment free from discrimination, harassment and violence.

The dispute is far from resolved by either of the Obama administration actions this week. Their legal interpretation may empower some school districts that already agree with the administration, but those who disagree can probably just wait Obama out until his term ends.

White House officials said that no federal agencies would withhold any kind of aid until the issue has worked its way through the courts.

The litigation and new suits arising from the guidance will take time to resolve at the district and appellate levels, and litigants may seek stays, said Carl Tobias, professor at the University of Richmond law school. All of these suits may essentially prevent implementation until Obama has left office.

Even so, conservative critics are responding with fury to what they see as another unilateral action by Obama without approval of lawmakers.

Such deeply personal issues should be discussed and decided openly, said Rep. John Kline, a Minnesota Republican and chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

This latest edict disregards the will and concerns of millions of students, parents, teachers, school administrators and religious leaders, said Kline. The secretary has the audacity to say this will promote an environment free of fear and discrimination, but what about the students, parents, and families who dont share the presidents personal views?

School board members are perfectly capable of handling such questions, said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), a conservative ringleader in the House.

There is no need for a blanket federal restroom policy that covers every school in America, especially one that comes with the threat of retaliation from the Obama administration for failure to comply, Jordan said.

Obama aides contend the directive is meant to clear up confusion and help schools figure out how to handle the need. The letter comes in response to a request from school principals seeking legal and practical guidance, said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

Earnest argues that the critics are the ones creating confusion and encouraging government overreach.

He questioned how officials would enforce a rule requiring people to use the bathroom assigned to the gender on their birth certificate. He singled out Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton for his complaints about what he sees as a permissive bathroom rule at the local Target store.

Is the Texas attorney general suggesting somehow that it would be practical to station a law enforcement officer outside of every public bathroom in an educational facility and check peoples birth certificates on the way in? Earnest said Friday. It certainly sounds like a government intrusion to me.

Some school officials welcomed the letter. Los Angeles schools Supt. Michelle King said it helps the district in providing a school climate in which students feel welcome and comfortable.

This is yet another opportunity to help our students develop the values to contribute to an ever-changing society, King said in a written statement Friday.

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For more on the Obama administration, follow @ChristiParsons

Christi.Parsons@latimes.com

UPDATES:

12:54 p.m.: This post was updated with additional reporting and context.

This post was originally published at 5:18 a.m.
Tough week for Donald Trumps California delegate list

Its been a rocky couple of days for Donald Trumps campaign in California, after the presumptive nominees team submitted a list of delegates who would go to the national convention if, as expected, Trump wins the June 7 primary.

It started innocently enough. The California secretary of states office unveiled the official list Monday evening, a collection of establishment figures and lesser-known Trump fans.

But on Tuesday, Mother Jones reported that William Johnson, an avowed white nationalist, was on the campaigns handpicked list of pledged delegates, sparking an immediate outcry from Democrats. Tim Clark, Trumps campaign director in California, later said Johnson was included erroneously.

Another controversial figure soon surfaced: Guy St Onge, a YouTube pastor who has preached anti-Muslim messages. He also was removed as a Trump delegate, telling the Guardian he was standing down to take one for the team.

More apparent errors followed. Former Assemblyman Bob Pacheco said he was mistakenly placed on the list of Trump delegates. So did Mario Guerra, former mayor of Downey, who appeared on both Trumps and Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs slates of delegates.

In an interview, Guerra said he had intended to serve as a delegate pledged to Cruz, not Trump. He said that he asked the Trump campaign to remove his name from the list and that he did not intend to go to Cleveland for the convention.

Guerra, the treasurer of the California Republican Party, said he was flooded with emails and voicemails when he appeared on the list of Trump delegates -- a perhaps unsurprising reaction considering Guerra hails from a heavily Latino community.

My heart stopped when I saw your name. Really, Mario, is this true? read one note, which Guerra said came from a friend -- well, at least I thought so.

In all, five of Trumps 169 listed delegates have been swapped or announced their intent to swap since Monday.

There may be more changes coming, Clark said in an interview Friday. The campaign plans to submit an updated delegate list to the California GOP on Monday, and he said more revisions may happen as people evaluate their summer plans and vacation schedules.

Since the party is in control, we have the option to replace [delegates] and preserve alternate slots, Clark said, adding the Trump campaign plans to send a full slate of primary delegates and alternates.

Clark said the confusion over the list was not indicative of larger organizational woes.

Of the 169 delegate slots the campaign has discretion over -- the other three are reserved for party leaders -- five changes ... is a small percentage on a list of this size, he said.

Still, he acknowledged, its not often that something as arcane as Californias delegate slate makes national news.

Is there a little more attention given this year than in years past? Absolutely, Clark said. Its the nature of this election cycle.
Good morning. It is Friday, May 13. If youre taking public transit in L.A., your train is likely to be on time but your bus probably wont be. Heres what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Major donation

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Tech billionaire Larry Ellison is donating $200 million to USC for a new cancer research center. It matches the largest gift ever given to the university. The donation came about thanks to Ellisons friendship with Dr. David B. Agus, an oncologist who has treated Ellisons nephew as well as his good friend Steve Jobs of Apple. Before, we werent able to sequence cancer or do big data studies. We can make discovery after discovery, and the quicker we can apply them, the better, Agus said. Los Angeles Times

Famous in Santa Monica

Marie Elizabeth Haist, better known as the Queen of Montana Avenue, has long been famous in Santa Monica. For two decades, the homeless woman slept at the Fox Laundry. These days, she has her own apartment but still holds court at the laundromat. Her story is the subject of a new documentary, Queen Mimi. I made up my mind a long time ago to be happy, she says. Los Angeles Times

Financial problems

The small city of Maywood, which has struggled for years, is back on the brink of financial collapse, records show. The city has amassed $16 million in debt that it cannot repay and is facing political upheaval as well as an investigation by Los Angeles county prosecutors. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Warming trends: Red tuna crabs are washing up on Huntington Beach and Imperial Beach. The creatures are typically found in the waters off Mexicos Baja Peninsula, but warm waters created by El Nino have brought the crabs north. Associated Press

L.A. AT LARGE

New design: Radical flatness is coming to Pershing Square. The French landscape architecture firm Agence Ter was selected to make-over the downtown park known for its walls, hardscapes and homeless population. The winning design is very much a reaction to, if not an outright apology for, the visual clutter of contemporary Pershing Square. Los Angeles Times

Calls for peace: Hundreds of students walked out of Sylmar High School Thursday in a call for unity just days after a massive brawl broke out on campus. We want everybody to know that this little incident that happened at our school doesnt define Sylmar High School, said one high school senior. Mondays fight involved 40 students. Los Angeles Times

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Raising money: Two years ago, after three of its members were charged with crimes, the state Senate agreed to prohibit fundraising during the budget season in an effort to win back public trust. On Thursday, lawmakers reversed that decision. We cannot in good conscience or as a matter of good policy force our members to unilaterally disarm, play by a different set of rules and cease to defend themselves, said President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles). Los Angeles Times

Private talks: The California Coastal Commission voted Thursday in support of a bill that would prohibit private communications between commissioners and outside interests, whether theyre developers or environmentalists. State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) is sponsoring a bill to prohibit such ex parte communications on pending decisions. As is often said, admitting you have a problem is the first step toward fixing it, Jackson said. Los Angeles Times

Get out the vote: Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says Latino voters need to show up at the polls this fall if the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, is to be defeated. People like him wont talk that way, wont single out broad swaths of America the way he does, if he thought they would vote, Villaraigosa said. Los Angeles Times

CRIME AND COURTS

Cash seized: FBI agents found $2.3 million in cash in a home near Disneyland. The money is believed to have come from a drug-trafficking and money-laundering group in Mexico, authorities said. No one was arrested in connection with the raid in Anaheim. Los Angeles Times

Settlement reached: The family of David Silva received a $3.4-million settlement from Kern County, but did they get justice? Columnist Robin Abcarian visited his family to ask why they settled their lawsuit after two years of protests and fights over what they believe was excessive use of force by police. The lawyers said we had to think very hard about this. The juries here are very conservative and very pro-police, said Chris Silva. Los Angeles Times LINK: la-me-abcarian-Bakersfield-settlement

Surfing gang: What can be done to end the Bay Boys grip on Lunada Bay, a premier surfing destination in Southern California? LA Weekly

EDUCATION

Academic standards: Beginning in 2018, the California State Board of Education will judge schools on more than test scores. State educators will look at schools suspension rates, graduation rates, attendance and how well students are learning English. Los Angeles Times

Transfer students: Fifteen percent of students who will graduate from USC today began their higher education at community college. The private university stands out when it comes to the number of transfer students it accepts. You give opportunity to kids from all walks of life, said USC President C.L. Max Nikias. Washington Post

Thanks but no thanks: Thats what San Franciscos public schools are saying to Teach for America. School board members say they no longer support placing recent college graduates with little training in some of the citys neediest schools. Our goal as a district should be to get experienced, highly prepared, fully credentialed teachers with a track record of success into our high-needs, high-poverty schools, said school board President Matt Haney. San Francisco Chronicle

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Caught on tape: Home movies now in the possession of the GLBT Historical Society show what it was like to be a young gay man in San Francisco before Stonewall, the AIDS crisis and the legalization of gay marriage. In the case of gay home movies, the viewing experience is complicated, and enriched, by the knowledge of whats to come, for good and for bad. The New Yorker

French Laundry: Whats it like to eat at the best restaurant in California? For starters, its expensive and colorful. Business Insider

Wild West: This long read tells of the violent history of Calabasas. Curbed LA

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Los Angeles will have low clouds and a high of 75 degrees. San Diego will have clouds as temperatures reach 72 degrees. It will be sunny and 87 in Riverside. Sacramento will be partly sunny and 81. It will be cloudy and 62 in San Francisco.

AND FINALLY

Todays California Memory comes from Kathy Hamilton:

I grew up in the 1970s near New York City and dreamed of moving to Southern California to be like the Brady Bunch and Partridge Family with sunny skies and palm trees. I finally got a chance to visit my Hollywood actor cousin in 1980. He lived in Venice, meditated daily and worked part time delivering TVs. He put us in his van and we headed up to the Hollywood Hills to deliver a TV to none other than Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal. It was one of the biggest thrills of my life. I moved my family here in 1988 and have not looked back!

If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.)

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.
Im Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some story lines I dont want you to miss today.

TOP STORIES

The GOPs Odd Couple

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Ones a think tank conservative focused on fiscal restraint and rooted in the Republican establishment. The others a populist who says he wont cut Medicare or Social Security and positions himself as the ultimate outsider. After House Speaker Paul Ryan and Donald Trump met, they both made it sound as if they can work through their differences. Can the two share the GOP without driving each other crazy?

The Times Endorses Clinton on June 7

With California voters going to the polls in less than a month, The Times editorial board is endorsing Hillary Clinton in the states Democratic primary. We admire Bernie Sanders passion for progress and equality, the board writes, but our endorsement goes to the candidate who is more likely to translate ideals into action. Though that will come as a blow to Sanders supporters, the board felt that Clinton, for all her faults, is better prepared for the presidency. Read on to see how the board reached its decision.

Maywood Sings the Blues Again

$16 million. Thats how much Maywood owes and cant repay, according to a state report reviewed by The Times. The small municipality is facing political and legal problems too. If that sounds familiar for a city along the 710 Freeway, it is: Think of its neighbors in Bell, Vernon and Cudahy. Read on to see why Maywood, on the brink of financial collapse six years ago, is on the brink again and help isnt on the way.

In Brazil, an Impeachment or a Coup?

Rising unemployment. A multibillion-dollar corruption scandal. The Zika crisis. Growing concern about the Rio Olympics. Brazil is facing all of these, without a stable government, in the wake of President Dilma Rousseffs impeachment by lawmakers who face their own accusations of serious crimes. Rousseff left office, saying the new more conservative leaders took power via a non-military coup. Heres what South Americas largest country is facing.

The New Pershing Square: Flat, but Not Boring

Pershing Square in downtown L.A. is one of the citys oldest public spaces and one of its most maligned. Now, a French landscape architecture firm aims to make it more accessible, greener and flatter  including slicing off the top of a parking garage. As architecture Christopher Hawthorne writes, that will require a mix of public and private funding, as well as a willingness to move away from the car-centric infrastructure L.A. has held so dear.

The Queen of Montana Avenue

At the Fox Laundry in Santa Monica, Marie Mimi Haist rules the roost. That dryer door? Dont slam it! shell say. For nearly two decades, she lived there. Now, the 90-year-old has an apartment across the street, accompanies Zach Galifianakis on the red carpet, and is the subject of a new documentary. But as reporter Nita Lelyveld found out, Mimi still spends her days at the laundromat.

CALIFORNIA

-- The states schools will soon be on the hook for things like suspensions, attendance and graduation rates.

-- How tech mogul Larry Ellisons friendship with a USC doctor led to his $200-million cancer research gift.

-- The Coastal Commission is backing a bill to ban private meetings with panel members.

-- After an ugly brawl, Sylmar High School students walked out of class and are calling for unity.

NATION-WORLD

-- A federal judge has ruled that Obamacare is being funded unconstitutionally.

-- Mexico warns of repercussions if the flow of money from Mexicans living in the U.S. is blocked.

-- Pope Francis will set up a panel to consider ordaining women as deacons in the Catholic Church.

-- In the heart of Mormon country, a street is renamed for Harvey Milk.

-- Despite autism fears, heres why pregnant women should keep taking their prenatal vitamins.

HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS

-- Video: Chris Hardwick of The Talking Dead chats with us.

-- Movie review: George Clooney and Julia Roberts get mauled by Money Monster.

-- The latest from our team at the Cannes Film Festival.

-- Beyonce already reigns supreme as 2016s master of the fashion moment.

-- Hey L.A., what does black girl magic mean to you?

BUSINESS

-- What went wrong in the switch to Frontier? Software glitches, an offshore call center and one pesky squirrel.

-- When you buy digital content on Amazon or iTunes, do you own it? Not the way you probably think.

SPORTS

-- A documentary sheds new light on the killing of 11 Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

-- Neil Leifer and the art behind some of sports most famous photographs.

OPINION

-- The GOPs scorched-earth approach to Obamacare finally pays off -- except for the poor, of course.

-- Madeleine Albright a war criminal? Scripps Colleges baffling crusade for simple thinking.

WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING

-- Why Venezuela is imploding. (The Atlantic)

-- The racial mystery of anime. (The Verge)

-- Ugly website design is trendy. (Washington Post)

ONLY IN CALIFORNIA

This could get your motor running: The West Coasts biggest motorcycle museum is getting ready to open in Carmel Valley. It will feature winery owner Robb Talbotts collection of Italian race bikes, British bombers, Indian and Harley-Davidson board track racers and more. Take a spin through it here.

Please send comments and ideas to Davan Maharaj.
Just two years after California senators voted to bar themselves from fundraising during the busiest times of the legislative year, they voted Thursday to dump the blackouts because they were an inconvenience in tough re-election campaigns. Shame on them for abandoning this small step toward reducing the influence of money in lawmaking.

Its not as if senators had sworn off accepting money from lobbyists and special interests altogether  the ban was in effect just for a mere 30 days during the budget-writing season, which this year begins on Monday, and then again for the final 30 days of the legislative year. The money could flow freely the other 10 months of the year.

The situation at the time called for action. Two senators were under indictment for corruption, and a third was awaiting sentencing for voter fraud.

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Whats more, the blackouts were adopted to avoid harsher constraints, such as then-Sen. Alex Padillas proposal to prohibit fundraising by all legislators during the final 100 days of the session. Yes, they were a hardship for senators facing well-funded opponents who werent constrained by such rules (most notably, Assembly members). But the situation at the time called for action. Two senators were under indictment for corruption, and a third was awaiting sentencing for voter fraud.

Lets face it, the public is cynical enough about Sacramento without lawmakers pocketing campaign cash en masse from special interests during a crucial time for voting on legislation. Thats why the Assembly should have embraced similar fundraising timeouts last year, thus making it more likely the fundraising reform would last longer than a single election cycle. Instead, the Assembly held 42 fundraisers during last years first 30-day blackout.

The ostensible reason to lift the blackouts was to balance out uneven races such as the one Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose) is in. Beall is being challenged by Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), one of the moderate Democrats backed by oil industry money. Campos has raised substantially less than Beall  just $323,000 to his $596,000. She has, however, been buoyed by some $330,000 in independent spending by a group not constrained by fundraising limits: an independent committee funded by Chevron, Valero and others.

Lifting the blackouts might help Beall counteract the millions being spent by the oil lobby to protect Campos and other moderate Democrats. Those lawmakers forced Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) to drop a piece of last years climate change bill, SB 350, that would have cut petroleum use in half by 2030. Being attacked by one set of special interests, however, doesnt justify a lawmaker cozying up with others.

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A year ago, Hillary Clinton seemed to be on her way to a serene, obstacle-free coronation as the 2016 Democratic nominee for president. In an April 14, 2015, editorial, The Times bemoaned the fact that the Democratic race consisted of exactly one candidate with a truly national profile  the former secretary of state and U.S. senator from New York. The editorial did mention Sen. Bernie Sanders, but only as one of a group of second-tier figures that also included former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former U.S. Sen Jim Webb of Virginia (remember them?).

Today, as California prepares for its primary on June 7, Clinton is again on the verge of victory. But what a difference a year has made. In the intervening months, so many Democrats and independents have felt the Bern that the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont acquired the national stature that seemed improbable a year ago. His passionate excoriation of a rigged economy and his call for a sweeping political revolution energized millions of Americans, especially young voters, and he put Clinton on the defensive about her ties to Wall Street, her support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the trade policies of her husband Bill Clintons administration.

Yet even though he has proved a far more formidable challenger than we  or Clinton  expected, Sanders lacks the experience and broad understanding of domestic and (especially) foreign policy that the former secretary of state would bring to the presidency. Although Sanders has tapped into very real and widespread anxieties about economic inequality, deindustrialization and stagnant economic growth, his prescriptions are too often simplistic, more costly than he would have us believe and unlikely to come to pass.

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The Vermont senator has made the race more substantive and has forced his opponent to address issues that might otherwise have gone undiscussed, but in the end he has offered little reason to believe that he would be able to enlist recalcitrant Republicans in Congress in accomplishing his priorities. Rather, he told the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times, he would say to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell: Hey, Mitch, look out the window. Theres a million young people out there now. And theyre following politics in a way they didnt before. If you want to vote against this legislation, go for it. But you and some of your friends will not have your seats next election. If only it were that simple.

By contrast, Clinton, for all her faults  and they range from a penchant for secrecy to a willingness to modify her positions to suit the popular mood to a less-restrained view of the use of military force than we are entirely comfortable with  is vastly better prepared than Sanders for the presidency. She has The Times endorsement in the June 7 California Democratic primary.

Clinton may seem inauthentic to some or to lack that drink-a-beer-with-me quality that voters often look for in a candidate. But she has a grasp of the complexities of government and policy that is unmatched by any of the other candidates who ran for president this year  or by most candidates in most years. She is sober and thoughtful, in possession not just of the facts she needs to make her arguments but of a depth of experience that undergirds her decisions. These qualities are reassuring in juxtaposition to a primary opponent who does not offer, at the end of the day, a serious alternative and, and a likely opponent in the general election who is unprepared, unsuited for the job and dangerous.

Clinton would be the first woman elected president of the United States. But the real reason to support her is that she is the Democratic candidate most likely to get the job done.

From her early days as a childrens rights advocate to her role as an activist first lady in pressing for healthcare reform to her public service in the Senate and as secretary of State, Clinton has demonstrated a steely persistence and a keen intellect. She and Sanders agree on many broad goals, including expanding healthcare, regulating the financial sector and reducing Americas reliance on fossil fuels. But where Sanders offers audacious, utopian solutions, Clinton adopts a more incremental approach that has a better chance of success during a time of divided government and political dysfunction when negotiation and compromise will be more important than ever.

For example, Sanders wants to establish a single-payer, British style health insurance system he calls Medicare for all. Clinton counters with the obvious: It was difficult enough for President Obama to win congressional support for the Affordable Care Act (which many Republicans in Congress still want to repeal) and the emphasis should be on building on and improving on the ACA, not tossing it out and starting from scratch. Whats more, some experts say Sanders proposal would cost twice as much as he estimates it will and could increase the size of the federal government by as much as 50%.

When it comes to financial reform, Sanders has proposed a bill to break up financial institutions that regulators have deemed too big to fail. But the measure, which offers no clues as to how the Treasury Department would go about doing so, seems aimed at exacting a punishment on companies at the heart of the last recession, rather than addressing the behavior that caused it. To that end, Clinton has called for strengthening the Dodd-Frank Act signed by Obama in 2010, which had many of the right concepts but not necessarily the right details.

The two candidates offer a stark contrast when they discuss the issues facing the country. Sanders focuses  often in an inspiring way  on grand causes and doesnt sweat the details. Clinton is acutely conscious of the political and practical obstacles that must be negotiated in order to bring about change. In our view thats an asset.

Clinton is by no means perfect. On foreign policy, for instance, Sanders has faulted her for voting to authorize President George W. Bushs invasion of Iraq and warns that she would be more likely than he would to involve U.S. forces in overseas operations.

He is probably right, and that is a serious concern about the former secretary of State. But when to use military force is a difficult question for any president, and the ideal commander in chief will be neither too hesitant to use force when necessary to defend vital U.S. interests nor so reckless as to regard military action as a first resort. Although Clinton has made mistakes  not only the Iraq vote but also in pressing for military action in Libya as secretary of State  we dont see her as a reflexive advocate of military force. (Like Sanders, she opposes the use of U.S. ground combat forces in the war against Islamic State.) To the extent that she is less committed to restraint, we hope that she will keep in mind the lessons of recent U.S. escapades in the Middle East, which have been terribly expensive in money and lives and yet have repeatedly failed to achieve their goals.

Clintons campaign has been dogged from the start by issues related to transparency. Take the question of what Sanders called those damn emails  official messages Clinton sent and received on a private email server while secretary of State. It seems unlikely that she is in danger of criminal prosecution, but the fact that the FBI is investigating at all is embarrassing. The same self-defeating resistance to disclosure is evident in Clintons stubborn refusal to release the contents of speeches she delivered while out of public office to Goldman Sachs and other corporate audiences.

Clinton also has altered her positions in light of shifting political winds. She has come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiated by the Obama administration, even though as secretary of State she referred to it (before the final details had been agreed on) as setting the gold standard in trade agreements. In 2008, she said that abortion should be safe, legal and rare, and by rare I mean rare. This February, after being endorsed by Planned Parenthood, she dropped the rare.

Clinton, of course, isnt the only politician who adjusts some of her positions to suit the politics of the day. (Compare Obamas evolution on same-sex marriage.) Still, the perception that she is malleable has been a disadvantage in her race against Sanders, whose message has been remarkably consistent for decades. If she is the nominee, she will need to remind voters  or convince them for the first time  that, while she is open to compromise and willing to consider new facts, she too has core convictions.

As all the world knows, Clinton would be the first woman elected president of the United States. That would be a joyous, long-awaited, landmark moment in American history after centuries of discrimination and second-class status for half the population. But the real reason to support her is that she is the Democratic candidate most likely to get the job done.

Compared to the intoxicating altruism of the Sanders campaign, Clintons candidacy might seem unexciting. But nominating a candidate for president is, or ought to be, serious business. As Obama himself likely would admit after almost eight years in the White House, there is more to being president than grand promises, whether they are about hope and change or a political revolution. We admire Bernie Sanders passion for progress and equality, but our endorsement goes to the candidate who is more likely to translate ideals into action.

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MORE FROM OPINION

Donald Trump is not fit to be president of the United States

Bernie Sanders discusses his prospects of beating Donald Trump with the L.A. Times editorial board

Its officially doomsday for the GOP establishment
Almost five years ago, President Obama delivered a speech in which he acknowledged  and claimed credit for  the fact that the last U.S. combat troops would soon be leaving Iraq. The tide of war is receding, Obama said on Oct. 21, 2011.

What Obama didnt anticipate was that Islamic State, an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Iraq, would seize large amounts of territory in Iraq and Syria, inspiring and orchestrating terrorist attacks in the West. So in 2014 Obama promised to degrade and ultimately destroy Islamic State, but without getting dragged into another ground war in Iraq.

There are now about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, officially in a training and advisory role but increasingly in harms way.

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So far, the president has abided by that pledge. Yet signs of mission creep in Iraq are multiplying. There are now about 4,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, officially in a training and advisory role but increasingly in harms way. After a Navy SEAL was killed coming to the rescue of Kurdish and Christian fighters near Mosul, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said: It is a combat death, of course.

More such casualties are possible as U.S. forces assist in the counteroffensive designed to expel Islamic State from territory it occupies, a campaign that has achieved some success but faces significant challenges. Even if the casualty count remains small, the history of U.S. military involvement in the Middle East  and elsewhere, notably Vietnam  will inspire concern that the U.S. is on a slippery slope to just the sort of large-scale commitment Obama has forsworn.

One way to counter such concerns  and constrain Obama and his successor  is for Congress to approve an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Islamic State. Strangely, the administration is conducting its campaign against that group under resolutions passed during the George W. Bush administration that provided authorization both for retaliation against Al Qaeda after the Sept. 11 attacks and for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Obama has proposed a three-year AUMF that supposedly would rule out a repeat of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but its wording could justify lengthy and large-scale deployments so long as they were described as temporary and defensive. Congress needs to adopt more restrictive language.

Even if Congress imposes limits on U.S. involvement, the depressing prospect for the foreseeable future is that the U.S.  ideally with more support from its regional allies  will be engaged in a significant and at times dangerous struggle with Islamic State and similar groups, with no guarantee of achieving all of its objectives. For example, even if Islamic State were defeated in Iraq and Syria, political instability in both countries and elsewhere could give rise to similar insurgencies. As even the intervention-averse Obama has realized, it is impossible to extricate the U.S. entirely from a conflict thats metastasizing in many locations.

The tide of war has receded, but not as far as he or we thought in 2011.

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As different as they are, Sheryl Sandberg and Donald Trump both testify to Americas susceptibility to potentially dangerous fairy tales: narratives of can-do individualism promoted by wealthy celebrities blind to their own privilege.

This week, Sandberg received acclaim and wide media coverage for admitting that her book, Lean In  which received acclaim and wide media coverage when it was published in 2013  was wrong and based largely on her own, limited understanding of womens lives. After a personal tragedy  the death of her husband  Sandberg acknowledged that being a newly single mother had opened her eyes to the challenges many women face in the workplace.

Its admirable to admit mistakes, and Sandberg seems genuinely to regret her earlier stance. But while we applaud her honesty, let us not overlook the larger picture. The fact that Sandbergs one-size-fits-all, upper-class bootstrapism was ever held up as a primer for womens success was evidence all along of how intractable the problems are. The media glommed onto Sandberg precisely because her solutions were not social or systemic, but individualist.

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The shift to a more equal world, she wrote in Lean In, will happen person by person.

Although this sounds good, such an atomist philosophy lets the status quo off the hook way too easily. Sandbergs book spoke mainly of womens internal barriers to success and focused on removing these psychological hindrances. Left unexplored were the very real obstacles posed by sexism, classism, racism and the lack of affordable child care and universal parental leave. Hers was a largely behavioral prescription: Change your attitude, ladies, show more engagement at work (this is the leaning in part) and reap new success. The message was seductive, simple and inspirational  but insufficient and largely inapplicable to the millions of working- and middle-class women not possessed of Harvard MBAs or mentors such as Larry Summers (former secretary of the Treasury and past president of Harvard).

But the insufficiency of Sandbergs message took a back seat to the aspirational quality of the messenger. She was not really proposing practical solutions or policy; she was selling herself as a role model. Attractive, wealthy, smart and successful, Sheryl Sandberg was the message. America loves a winner and often prefers the dreamy cheerleading of charismatic celebrities to hard facts or political introspection. Fantasies of identification  Hey, maybe I too can be like this attractive person on TV have a way of distracting us from thoughtful analysis.

Trump disingenuously presents himself as a self-made man, proffering [his] story to America as a template for universal success. This approach works frighteningly well.

This is precisely how we have arrived at Donald Trump as the putative GOP presidential nominee. A wealthy, successful celebrity, with a family and lifestyle straight out of a glossy magazine, Trump too offers airy, inspirational pronouncements  not about womens professional advancement, certainly, but about Americas.

Like Sandberg, Trump posits his privileged personal life as a model for remedying the lives of millions: Im rich, therefore you can get rich through me. Like Sandberg, he lionizes corporate ambition, substituting a story of his own business success  of making great deals  for substantive policy proposals or critique.

And like Sandberg, Trump owes his success to far more than merely his own hard work. The scion of his fathers multimillion-dollar real estate empire, Trump disingenuously presents himself as a self-made man, proffering this faux Horatio Alger story to America as a template for universal success. This approach works frighteningly well. (Trumps presidential candidacy has even revived interest in his many [ghost-written] books claiming to teach others his art of the deal.)

While Sheryl Sandberg is to her great credit reconsidering her earlier prejudices, it is safe to say that Trump will not be demonstrating such self-awareness anytime soon. But because the stakes in his case are extraordinarily high, let us cultivate our own awareness instead.

In selecting the next leader of the free world, we must shake off the power of fantasy and resist the pull of charismatic, wealthy celebrities and their self-serving biographical tales of ambition and achievement.

Our media-drenched culture continually encourages us to identify with popular iconic figures, and even believe that they have transformative powers. Succumbing to such easy seductions might be fine when reading self-help books about ones career or kicking back with reality television. When choosing a president, it could prove catastrophic.

Rhonda Garelick is a visiting professor in comparative literature at Princeton University and professor of English at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Her latest book is Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History. Twitter: @rkgar

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German Ambassador to China Michael Clauss has emphasized that expectations of visa-free treatment for Chinese citizens should be viewed from a long-term perspective.

According to a written statement by the German embassy in Beijing, Clauss said: "I could imagine that as we look at the issue from the long run, say 5 to 10 years, Germany and China can grant visa-free treatment to each other."

Clauss made the remarks to reporters while attending the embassy's opening day on May 7 in Beijing.

In the statement, the embassy introduced progress Germany has made in visa facilitation. Since 2014, Germany has simplified visa application procedures and shortened processing times, with business visas granted within 48 hours. Moreover, frequent travelers and businesspeople can get a multiple entry visa for one or more years, without extra charge, it said.

During her visit to China last October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany will further shorten visa processing times, with the aim of granting visas to Chinese citizens within three days.

This year, Germany will set up 10 more visa application processing centers in China.

Since early March, processing centers in Wuhan, Jinan and Chongqing have already been up and running, while those in Shenzhen, Changsha and Hangzhou have been in operation since April. Upcoming ones in Xi'an, Kunming, Nanjing and Fuzhou will be put into use soon. By then, Germany will have opened visa centers in all Chinese cities approved by China's authorities.

The number of Chinese visitors to Germany has been on the rise in recent years. According to official data from the German side, it granted nearly 400,000 visas to Chinese travelers last year, up 16 percent from 2014. Many Chinese cities have launched direct flights to Germany.
The Obama administration is planning another series of raids that would lead to the deportation of Central American mothers and children found to have entered the country illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.

The news drew protests from several members of Congress and both Democratic presidential candidates.

The raids will target adults and children who crossed the border illegally after Jan. 1, 2014, a population of immigrants that the Obama administration has identified as priorities for deportation, according to Homeland Security spokeswoman Marsha Catron.

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We must enforce the law, Catron said, adding that federal agents will only target individuals who have already been issued a deportation order by an immigration court. She said agents would try to avoid conducting raids at sensitive locations such as schools, hospitals and places of worship, except in emergency circumstances.

The government detained more than 100 people in similar raids earlier this year, most of whom were women and children who had sought political asylum in the U.S. after fleeing turbulent Central American countries including Honduras and El Salvador.

News of another round of raids, which was first reported by Reuters, drew swift criticism from immigrant advocates.

These plans are callous, tone-deaf and absolutely wrong, said Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. Right now, these migrants need our nations protection, not deportation.

Salas said the raids come at a critical moment of tensions over illegal immigration that have worsened because of statements by Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has called for mass deportations and the construction of a large border wall.

At the same time, a case that will determine the fate of an Obama administration program that offered deportation protection to millions of immigrants with long-standing ties to the U.S. is pending at the Supreme Court.

The Obama administration and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] could not be more unhelpful by deciding to go through with these raids, said Salas, who warned they would cause fear in immigrant communities.

The raids appear to be at least partly an attempt by the administration to dissuade further illegal immigration from Central America.

Administration officials have said in the past that they believe smugglers have spread rumors in Central America that women and children who get to the U.S.-Mexico border are guaranteed asylum and that those rumors have prompted many people to embark on a dangerous route north.

In recent months, a large wave of families fleeing the region have sought asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Asylum cases, which require proof that the individual applicant has been targeted for persecution in his or her home country, are infrequently approved by immigration courts, and many immigrants end up with deportation orders. In the past, children have often not been targeted for removal by immigration agents.

Democratic presidential rivals Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, who are both vying for Latino votes, criticized the deportation plan Thursday.

I oppose the painful and inhumane business of locking up and deporting families who have fled horrendous violence in Central America and other countries, Sanders said. Sending these people back into harms way is wrong.

Sanders urged Obama to use his executive authority to extend a protection known as Temporary Protective Status to those fleeing Central America.

Clinton said she is against large-scale raids that tear families apart and sow fear in communities. She called for a plan to stop the root causes of the violence in Central America and expand orderly resettlement programs.

I am concerned about recent news reports, and believe we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night, she said.

She has softened her position on the issue since 2014, when she told a reporter that she believed immigrant children from Central America should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are.

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kate.linthicum@latimes.com

brian.bennett@latimes.com
Clinton looks to general election, while Sanders focuses on real delegates

As Hillary Clinton begins executing her general election strategy against Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders is outlining what he views as his admittedly narrow path toward wresting the Democratic nomination away from the former secretary of State.

In an interview on New York radio station WABC (with an eye toward the looming vote in neighboring New Jersey), the Vermont senator said that he has 45.5% of the current share of pledged delegates that have been awarded in primaries and caucuses so far, a figure on par with the latest estimates.

My goal is to make that 50% plus 1, he told WABC. In other words, as he put it, end up with more pledged delegates, i.e. real delegates: delegates that the people vote for.

If that were to occur, Sanders said he would head to the party convention in Philadelphia and do everything that we can to ensure the nomination.

Heres where his strategy gets murky.

First, to reach that 50%-plus-1 threshold would require a series of overwhelming victories in the 11 primaries and caucuses that remain. There are 897 pledged delegates still up for grabs, and Sanders would need to win more than 66% of them to hit his target, a steep climb given the proportional allocation rules.

Secondly, theres the matter of the audience Sanders would then need to win over.

During the WABC interview, Sanders continued to say that if he had the pledged delegate lead he would then seek to win over the elected leaders and party officials who represent the nonpledged delegates, or so-called superdelegates, that would be required to hit the magic number of 2,383.

The nomination, should not be won solely by someone who has all these establishment super PACs, he said, before correcting himself: superdelegates. That kind of Freudian slip is not the best way to begin that lobbying effort.

Clinton, of course, has a lopsided advantage among that group of voters, with more than 500 superdelegates to Sanders roughly 40.

Another superdelegate ostensibly on the sidelines, Vice President Joe Biden, all but added himself to the Clinton column this week in an interview with ABC News.

It was a conspicuous statement, coming several weeks before the White House has indicated President Obama will begin taking a more active role on the campaign trail in favor of a presumptive nominee.

White House aides have said Obama would remain on the sidelines until the primary voting is over, while reserving the right to wade in to avoid a messy floor fight at the partys convention.

For now the White House remains in a holding pattern.

President Obama is keenly aware of the significant stakes of the outcome of the next election, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday. And I assure you that over the next six months, the president will be actively engaged in that debate.
After watching Donald Trump gain traction on the campaign trail with talk of border walls and mass deportations, Indiana lawmaker Mike Delph decided it was time to take action in his state.

This year, Delph helped convince his colleagues in the state Senate to let him lead a special commission to study illegal immigration in Indiana. A Republican who has long supported stricter immigration measures, Delph said Trumps campaign had helped push the issue to a new level.

Its certainly made it easier for me to get the attention of my colleagues, Delph said. I felt politically the timing was right.

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He and others say Trumps success in the Republican presidential race has helped embolden those who favor stricter immigration enforcement at the local level. In Indiana and more than a dozen other states, lawmakers have pushed legislation targeting immigrants in the country without legal authorization in a year when Trumps campaign has thrust the issue into the spotlight.

In Arizona, legislators recently considered a law that would have stiffened sentences for immigrants in the country illegally and another that would have prevented such immigrants from acquiring city-issued identification cards.

In Georgia, legislators pushed a constitutional amendment declaring English the official language of state government.

In Wisconsin, Louisiana and at least 14 other states, lawmakers have weighed bills that would punish so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to fully cooperate with federal immigration officials, according to the National Immigration Law Center, which tracks such efforts.

While most of those bills have not ended up making it into law -- anti-sanctuary measures in Georgia and North Carolina are among the few exceptions -- Trumps campaign has demonstrated that anxiety over illegal immigration can help mobilize a significant chunk of Republican voters.

At his often-raucous rallies around the country, Trumps crowds sometimes spontaneously erupt into shouts of Build that Wall! A recent Pew Research Center report found that 84% of his supporters favored his plan to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, compared with 56% of Republican voters who preferred another candidate for the GOP nomination.

Trumps success is a flashing neon sign for Republicans and all politicians that this issue really matters, and voters want to see our laws enforced, said Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state who has helped draft legislation aimed at immigrants in the U.S. illegally for other states, including Arizonas controversial SB-1070.

That law requires police to determine the immigration status of someone arrested when there is reasonable suspicion that the person is not in the U.S. legally. Several other parts of the law were struck down by the Supreme Court.

There is no question that this is the driving force behind his campaign, said Kobach, who has endorsed Trump. Illegal immigration always gets the largest applause lines.

A spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors a border wall and a reduction of both legal and illegal immigration, said his group had seen an increase in local activists who reach out for help enacting immigration restriction measures in their communities.

I think that the intensity of feeling is probably higher than it ever has been before, said the spokesman, Ira Mehlman. Certainly the fact that immigration has been a prominent issue in the 2016 campaign has provided energy and added to the activism and efforts to implement policy initiatives at the state and local level.

But Mehlman said he didnt think the uptick in activism was motivated by the Trump effect alone.

Several pro-immigrant policies at the local and federal level have helped spur a backlash, Mehlman said, including President Obamas attempt in 2014 to shield several million immigrants in the country from deportation and the increase in the number of cities and counties refusing to cooperate with federal immigration officials.

Trumps rise may be a consequence of unenforced immigration laws as much as it is a driving force behind public opinion that something needs to be done, Mehlman said.

In recent years, as Congress has failed to pass comprehensive legislation that would decide the fate of the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally, activists on both sides of the issue have gone to battle at the state and local level.

Immigrant advocates have more often come out on top. They have won, for example, laws in at least a dozen states that allow immigrants in the country illegally to obtain drivers licenses.

They have also pushed more than 350 cities and counties around the country to pass ordinances restricting the ability of law enforcement authorities to turn over immigrants in their custody to federal immigration officials.

Advocates say cooperation between jails and immigration agents erodes trust in law enforcement among immigrant communities and can lead to violations of constitutional rights.

Those who favor stricter enforcement highlight crimes allegedly committed by immigrants who were released from custody instead of deported, such as last years death of Kate Steinle, a San Francisco woman who police say was shot by an immigrant from Mexico who had recently been released despite a federal order that the jail turn him over to immigration authorities.

Trump, who kicked off his campaign in June with a speech saying Mexico was sending rapists and drug dealers to the U.S., helped draw attention to the Steinle case. He held a news conference in California with family members of victims of crimes allegedly committed by immigrants in the country illegally, and he frequently mentions Kate on the campaign trail.

Wisconsin state Rep. John Spiros, who introduced a bill this year that would require municipalities to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, said he was motivated by Steinles death, not the presidential candidate who helped draw attention to it.

My bill was not motivated because of Donald Trump, said Spiros, whose bill passed the state House but failed in the Senate.

My bill was motivated because of a killing, he said. Because the federal government doesnt want to do anything, we have to do it ourselves.

Bill Ong Hing, an immigration law professor at the University of San Francisco, said he believes there will be a ripple effect of Trumps candidacy.

I have absolutely no doubt that the fact that he has thrived largely on anti-immigrant rhetoric is a direct license to local and state government officials who were leaning toward anti-immigrant legislation, Hing said. I really think they feel emboldened that hes thrived and they can do the same thing.

While Trump has described illegal immigration as a crisis, referring recently to the record number of people right now that are pouring across the borders of this country, data show otherwise.

Multiple studies show rates of illegal immigration are declining, with the exception of families fleeing violence in Central America.

According to recent estimates by the Center for Migration Studies, the number of immigrants living in the country without authorization has fallen to the lowest level since 2003, thanks in part to a major buildup of border security started by President George W. Bush and continued by Obama.

But one Arizona lawmaker who pushed a bill this year that would have barred immigrants in the country illegally from receiving city identification cards said he believes illegal immigration will pick back up soon.

They left when the economy tanked because the jobs, said Sen. John Kavanagh, whose bill was a response to a Phoenix proposal to issue identification cards to residents, including those who entered the country illegally, but which failed to get enough votes to pass.

When the jobs come back, theyll come back, Kavanagh said. If we dont build a wall, well be flooded with illegals.

Trumps candidacy had little to do with his support this year for several anti-immigrant measures, he said.

We in Arizona never needed permission to pursue immigration enforcement. Weve always been on the front line.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @katelinthicum
About half of the Republicans in California's U.S. House delegation aren't ready to say Donald Trump is their guy.

The New York businessman has been the presumptive nominee for more than a week, but five of the 14 California GOP lawmakers will not say outright that they are backing Trump.

Several couch their support by saying only that they will be for the "Republican nominee."

Most of California's Republican members of Congress have stayed out of the primary, especially as it seemed more likely that the June 7 contest here would be decisive. A handful endorsed a candidate early, but those endorsements stopped as the crowded field dwindled.

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) was one of the first members of Congress to publicly back Trump, telling Politico at the time, "We don't need a policy wonk as president. We need a leader as president."

He was the only congressional supporter from California until after Trump dominated the May 3 Indiana primary, pushing Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich out of the race.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) quickly became a frequent Trump surrogate on cable news and on Capitol Hill. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) has indicated he'll endorse Trump if he's the nominee. Hunter, Issa and McCarthy are Trump convention delegates.

Of the state's 41 Democratic lawmakers, all but four have lined up behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Rep. Paul Cook (Yucca Valley) (Irfan Khan/ Los Angeles Times) (Test)

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

When I make that endorsement I hope its going to be a ticket I can be proud of and one that is winnable.  Cook

I dont agree with him on everything, but he's right on immigration and he's right on cronyism in Washington.  McClintock on Trump

Some Republicans said they would vote for Trump because they can't support a Democrat.

"I dont agree with him on everything, but he's right on immigration and he's right on cronyism in Washington, said Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove. "I'd rather have somebody who Im not entirely sure would do the right thing as opposed to someone like Hillary Clinton, who I'm assured would do the wrong thing."

McClintock was selected as a delegate for Cruz, who will still appear on the California ballot. He is one of several House Republicans picked to be convention delegates.

Hunter, who said he doesn't plan to attend the convention, is a Trump delegate, though he said he didn't want to be.

Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Irvine), who supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and then Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, plans to vote for Trump.

She believes a Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders presidency is unacceptable and would damage our nation for decades to come, said Walters' campaign spokesman, Dave Gilliard.

Issa gave Trump a full-throated endorsement, calling him the "obvious choice" for Americans hurt by policies pushed by President Obama in the last 7 1/2 years. Issa is also a Trump delegate.

Rep. Paul Cook of Yucca Valley at first said that even though Trump's ascension was a "foregone conclusion," he wanted to see who Trump would pick as his vice presidential running mate before endorsing.

When I make that endorsement I hope its going to be a ticket I can be proud of and one that is winnable, Cook said.

But on Wednesday he endorsed Trump in a statement with his request that Trump choose someone to balance the ticket.

"He's tapped into the discontent and frustration pent up over the last eight years, and he represents an alternative to the normal political channels that have turned off so many Americans. I will support Donald Trump just as I have supported every Republican presidential nominee," he said.

See the delegation's presidential endorsements >>

Others just aren't there yet

Many of the Republican members were vague, allowing that they would support the GOP nominee without using Trump's name.

The Republican National Convention is July 18-21 in Cleveland, and any chance for a brokered convention faded when Cruz dropped out.

A vocal supporter of Cruz, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, said this week through a spokesman that he would support the Republican nominee, but did not mention Trump.

His wife, Rhonda Rohrabacher, is among Cruz's slate of California delegates.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hoping Trump's rhetoric will hurt GOP candidates down the ballot, and have tried to tie him to vulnerable Republicans.

Rep. Steve Knight, a Lancaster Republican seeking a second term in the 25th Congressional District, distanced himself from Trump during a recent debate in his district.

"We still got a convention," he told The Times in an interview after the debate. "And they are not going to cancel the convention and he still hasn't gotten enough delegates. So until that happens, I think this is a moot point, I think this is something for sensationalism."

Central Valley Reps. Jeff Denham and David Valadao each have shied away from endorsing another candidate after Bush ended his bid.

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Turlock) (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call)

I will be supporting the Republican nominee.  Denham via Twitter

Im going to stick with the winner from my party, obviously.  Valadao

Denham's 10th Congressional District and Valadao's 21st each has a large Latino population. Latino activists in California offended by Trump's comments that Mexican immigrants are murderers, drug dealers and rapists and his stance on immigration have promised large protests when Trump campaigns in the state.

Denham has said that he would support the nominee. Both he and Valadao have said they won't endorse before California's June 7 primary.

Nathan Gonzales, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report newsletter, said it makes sense for candidates worried about angering supporters to distance their election from Trump's.

Some congressional Republicans are going to have to form coalitions of Trump supporters and people who are offended by Trump, he said. The worst-case scenarios happen for Republicans when Republicans don't turn out to vote.

This list was compiled through conversations with the 55 members of Californias congressional delegation and their staffs, news reports and social media statements. It will be updated as members make or change endorsements. Members marked as "none" either have not endorsed a candidate, or it was unclear if they have. Send updates to sarah.wire@latimes.com.

Follow @sarahdwire on Twitter

Read more about the 55 members of California's delegation at latimes.com/politics

UPDATES:

12:53 p.m. May 16: This post was updated to reflect a new endorsement.

The post was originally published at 12:05 a.m. May 13.
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The Vantaa District Court of Finland has sentenced a Chinese man employed by Finnair to one year and eight months' imprisonment for smuggling undocumented migrants to Europe, reported Finnish national broadcaster Yle on Thursday.

The Chinese man, who worked as a steward for an Asian subcontractor of Finnair, was detained by the Finnish Border Guard in February on suspicion of aggravated facilitation of illegal entry into the country.

The man had allegedly smuggled 33 Chinese people in the past three years into continental Europe via Finland by helping them to bypass the border control at the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport without the required visas.

He used a staff identity card to open a side door at the airport, allowing the smuggled people to evade the border checks for entering the Schengen area. All of the migrants continued travelling to other Schengen countries.

Finnish media reported earlier that the steward charged the migrants 10,000 euros (US$11,370) for an adult, and 30,000 euros for a child. Among the 33 illegal travelers, 14 were underage persons.

The Finnish court, therefore, ordered the defendant to pay a total of 30,000 euros of his illegal gains to the state of Finland.

When the news was first reported in April, Chinese embassy in Finland reaffirmed Chinese governmental opposition to human smuggling.

The embassy said it had requested the Finnish authorities to handle the case impartially and in accordance with the law. It also called for protection of legitimate rights of the suspect.
In 2001, Steve DeAngelo agreed to help a friend by attending the delivery of nearly 200 pounds of marijuana in a Maryland trailer park and verifying the quality of the product. In exchange, DeAngelo said he would get 10 pounds of the cannabis that he planned to distribute to medical marijuana patients in that state, where he lived at the time.

Instead, the police swooped in, and DeAngelo ended up convicted of felony possession of marijuana with intent to sell.

Fifteen years later, DeAngelo runs what may be the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the U.S., but a new law says he will have to get a state license by 2018  and the state can reject applications from those with drug felonies on their records.

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DeAngelo, whose Harborside Health Center in Oakland has annual sales of $30 million, plans to go through the appeal process.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

My argument is simple: Cannabis should never have been made illegal in the first place, he said.

Still, industry leaders say the new law could hurt hundreds of growers and sellers who planned to apply for state licenses but who have felony drug convictions on their records.

Its a huge issue, said Casey ONeill, board chairman of the California Growers Assn., a 500-member group representing cannabis cultivators in the state. Twenty-five to 30% of our members are in this boat with felony drug convictions, he said.

ONeill, who grows cannabis and flowers at HappyDay Farms in Mendocino, was convicted of a felony marijuana cultivation charge in 2009. But he believes he will not have trouble getting a license because his conviction was expunged when he successfully completed probation without another offense.

He worries the new law will mostly hurt people of color, who he said bore the brunt of the war on drugs.

You have populations that have been disproportionately prosecuted for cannabis cultivation, and to then not be allowed to participate in the regulated economy, its like a double whammy, ONeill said. Its totally unacceptable.

The stakes are high. An estimated 1,250 medical marijuana dispensaries are operating in the state, with sales last year hitting $2.7 billion, according to industry groups.

The stakes are likely to get higher still in November, when voters are expected to be given the chance to vote on an initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. If California voters approve recreational use, the total state market for cannabis could reach $6.6 billion in 2020, according to a recent report by New Frontier, an industry data collection firm, and ArcView Market Research.

Because of that, licenses to grow and sell marijuana will likely be very valuable.

FULL COVERAGE: Marijuana regulation in California

One sign of nervousness over the potential for disqualifications is a bill introduced by Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) that was written in a way to specifically exempt DeAngelo on grounds that he is a major economic driver in the state. But law enforcement officials have fought any effort to make it easier for felons to get licenses.

California voters legalized medical marijuana sales and use in 1996, but the Legislature only last year approved regulation of the growing, transport and sale of cannabis under the oversight of a new state Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation. Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Lori Ajax as head of the new bureau.

The law signed by Brown in October says the state may deny a license to an applicant who has been convicted of an offense that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions or duties of the business he or she wants to operate.

A substantially related offense includes a felony conviction for the illegal possession for sale, manufacture, transportation or cultivation of a controlled substance, which includes marijuana, the law says.

Violent felonies and those involving fraud, deceit or embezzlement also are grounds for refusal of a license.

However, the licensing agency also may determine that the applicant is otherwise suitable to receive a license if that person would not compromise public safety, the law says. At that point, the agency will conduct a review of the nature of the crime and evidence of rehabilitation of the applicant before deciding whether he or she is suitable for a license.

A certificate of rehabilitation issued by courts in California is one piece of evidence accepted.

Ajax will look at the criminal histories of prospective dispensary operators on a case-by-case basis and is still drafting guidelines to be used in the process, spokeswoman Veronica R. Harms said.

The bureau will determine whether to issue a license based on the specific information contained in each application, Harms said. Many of the details about how to obtain a license will be determined during the regulations process.

Growers will have to get licenses from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

DeAngelo, who served three weeks behind bars, said his conviction was not expunged. Out-of-state convictions are not eligible for certificates of rehabilitation.

In response to DeAngelos situation, Bonta introduced a bill in February that would have exempted those with convictions outside the state as long as they are now authorized to operate in California.

One of the things that came up as a policy discussion was the experience of one of those cannabis industry leaders in the state, who has helped innumerable patients and who has helped with the economy, and hes from my own district, Bonta said. Thats Mr. DeAngelo. We wanted to make sure folks who have been good actors for a long time in California werent prevented from continuing to work in this industry.

However, Bonta said he has decided not to pursue action on the bill after it was strenuously opposed by law enforcement, including the California Police Chiefs Assn.

The medical marijuana regulations were built with strong protections against black market activity, said Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney, president of the association. A key component of these protections  and consistent with laws for other state licenses  is permitting the state to deny a business license to a person with a felony conviction if there is a public safety concern.

Watering down the rules, the chiefs said in a letter to lawmakers, sets a negative precedent by prohibiting the department from denying a license to a person with an out-of-state felony conviction. Such a rule has never applied to any other category of state licensing.

Although DeAngelo was not named in Bontas bill, it was customized to include language that fit his situation. That raised eyebrows by others in the medical marijuana community.

Its an inappropriate use of the legislative process, ONeill said. What we want to see is just a bill that says people who have a conviction for cannabis still get to play ball.

New, broader legislation may be needed, said Nate Bradley, executive director of the California Cannabis Industry Assn.

We want to open up the market as much as we can, Bradley said. A lot of these felonies are for doing things that are now legal under this bill.

DeAngelo said any legislation should be applied more broadly. He believes his clean record of running an Oakland dispensary that has served thousands of medical marijuana patients will help convince state officials that he deserves a state license.

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Im reasonably confident that I will be able to get a license, but I am still not satisfied with the treatment of prior felony convictions in the measure at all, said the 57-year-old ganjapreneur. Like ONeill, he worries about the impact on people of color, including those who may not have the means to hire a team of lawyers.

The law also troubles Alice Huffman, president of the California State Conference of the NAACP. She says she has a solution.

They should take everybody for low-level drug crimes if they havent re-offended in the last 10 years and just wipe their record clean so they can participate legally, Huffman said.

The clearing of records is justified, she said.

The war on drugs has devastated our community. It was mostly black and brown people who were targeted. I think its unconscionable to let this industry come into being and not include people who were victims of this war.

Bonta defended his attempt to help DeAngelo and other felons.

I believe in second chances and I believe in new opportunities, and we have people who do have felony convictions because of the way cannabis has been treated, Bonta said. Not every state sees medical cannabis as the medication that it is. The war on drugs had all kinds of conservative policies with horrible outcomes for vulnerable communities.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Follow @mcgreevy99 on Twitter

ALSO

A conversation with Californias first marijuana czar

California voters getting chance to fully legalize marijuana

Updates from Sacramento
Thirty feet beneath the murky waters of the Aucilla River, about 40 miles southeast of Tallahassee, archaeologists have found evidence of some of the earliest known humans in the Americas.

In submerged sediments that date back 14,550 years, a team of scuba-diving researchers has uncovered six stone artifacts  including knives and flaked pieces of rock  at the underwater site known as Page-Ladson. They also pulled up a mastodon tusk with cut marks on it that experts say were made when these ancient people butchered its carcass alongside a lake bed.

The findings, published Friday in Science Advances, provide the first indication that communities of hunter-gatherers were living in the southeast United States 1,500 years earlier than many scientists previously believed, suggesting a new story line for when and how people first came to the Americas.

See the most-read stories in Science this hour >>

"We are getting enough data now, particularly on the East Coast, to know that people have been around here for a very long time," said Dennis Stanford, an anthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History who was not involved in the work.

The underwater excavation of the Page-Ladson site in the Aucilla River, Florida.

From the 1930s through the early 2000s, the dominant narrative among archaeologists held that the first Americans were members of the so-called Clovis culture. These pioneers left their distinctive spearheads scattered across a region that now covers the United States, Mexico and northern South America, almost like archaeological bread crumbs.

Most researchers believed members of this group were the descendants of big game hunters who followed their prey across the Bering land bridge from Siberia into Alaska around 13,000 or 14,000 years ago. From there, they migrated down into Canada and very quickly spread across the enormous land mass to the south.

"If you disagreed with that you were relegated to being on the periphery of the science community," said Dennis Jenkins, senior research archaeologist at the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, who was not involved in the Florida discovery. "You were seen as a lunatic, or way out there on the fringe."

But over the past few decades, persuasive challenges to the Clovis-First narrative have begun to emerge.

In 1997, for instance, researchers confirmed that an archaeological site in Chile held evidence of human activity dating back to 14,500 years ago  a full millennium before the Clovis-First theory would allow. In 2002, Jenkins led an excavation that unearthed 14,300-year-old fossilized human feces in Oregon's Paisley caves. A handful of other pre-Clovis sites popped up too, including one in Wisconsin and another in Texas.

The 14,500-year-old butchered mastodon at Page-Ladson is now among the two or three oldest archaeological sites in the New World, and the oldest in the American southeast.

"It's important because it adds another site to the very small list of well-dated pre-Clovis sites," Jenkins said. "We don't find much evidence of these people because there weren't very many of them. We're looking for a very, very few people in a huge, huge haystack."

Researchers handle a Mastodon tusk from the Page-Ladson site. Its curvature is typical for an upper tusk from the left side. (DC Fisher / University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology) (DC Fisher, Univ. Michigan Museum of Paleontology )

The finding also adds a new wrinkle to another commonly held theory  that human hunters caused the rapid extinction of late Ice Age mammals like mastodons, mammoths and giant ground sloths. All of these megafauna disappeared around 12,500 years ago.

"However humans and mastodons interacted, it took at least 2,000 years for the process of extinction to run to completion," said Daniel Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan who worked on the study.

Fisher was responsible for interpreting the suite of cut marks on the nearly 7-foot - long mastodon tusk, which was found buried in sediment in one whole piece. His conclusion is that the cuts were made as these ancient people tried to rip the tusk from its base, perhaps to gain access to edible tissue inside.

"A tusk this size would have held over 15 pounds of tender, nutritious tissue in its pulp cavity and that certainly would have been of great value," he said.

The excavations at Page-Ladson are not new. In the 1980s and '90s, another research team lead by archaeologist James Dunbar and paleontologist David Webb spent several seasons at the site. Using radiocarbon dating, they determined that the site was more than 14,000 years old . But their findings, published in a book in 2006, were disregarded by the archaeology community at large.

"It was just impossible for them to accept at that time that there was anything older than Clovis," said Jessi Halligan, a geoarchaeologist at Florida State University who co-led the new work. "People said, 'Oh, it's an underwater site? We can't assess that. It's impossible to validate.'"

In 2012, John Ladson, who owns the Page-Ladson site, reached out to Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University. Ladson asked Waters if he might want to pick up where Webb and Dunbar left off.

Waters brought in Halligan, who specializes in underwater archaeology, and together they led excavations over three seasons, from 2012 to 2014.

The field work was challenging. The Aucilla River is cold, and the water is so dark and murky that divers can't see without using lights mounted on their caver helmets.

They used trowels to dig  five to 10 centimeters at a time  and marked the site off with string, just like they would on land.

But working underwater also has some benefits. "It's almost a zero-gravity environment, so you can dig upside down and sideways  whatever is the most convenient way to get in there," Halligan said.

Over three years, the team uncovered six artifacts in a layer of sand, fine gravel and mastodon dung as much as 15 feet below the riverbed. The artifacts were deposited next to what was once the western edge of a pond at the bottom of a sinkhole.

The radiocarbon dates came from bits of dung deposited in the sediment layers where the artifacts were found. The researchers also dated the sediments above and below the strata containing the pre-Clovis artifacts, just to be sure the layers hadn't mixed over time.

"The radiocarbon dating is impeccable," Jenkins said. "All things considered, I think the study puts the question of the validity of the site away."

The discovery of this biface stone tool and other stone artifacts in 14,500-year-old sediments in the Aucilla river suggests humans were living in the southeastern United States 1,500 years earlier than previously thought. (Texas A&M University Center for the Study of the First Americans) (Image courtesy of CSFA)

Not everyone agrees, however. Don Grayson, an anthropologist at the University of Washington, said the team that first started excavating back in the '80s raised concerns that the organic material they dated might be contaminated by ancient carbon coming out of the Florida aquifer.

"If so, that could mean the actual age of the dated material could be substantially younger than the radiocarbon ages obtained from the site," Grayson said. "Until they address this, I see no reason to accept their radiocarbon dates as accurate."

Halligan responded that the team dated the remains of plants that acquired their carbon during photosynthesis, not from any later exposure to groundwater. She added that their pretreatment methods would have scrubbed any contamination resulting from exposure to groundwater.

Waters said his group's work meets the high standard necessary to demonstrate that a site predates Clovis.

"One, you need clear evidence of human activity, usually in the form of stone tools. Second, these tools must occur in a solid geological context. And third, these artifacts must be dated using a reliable dating technique," he said. "At Page-Ladson, we meet all three criteria."

Now the researchers hope to turn to other questions.

"I want to see if we can find other sites with more information and features to give us a more complete picture of how these people were living," Halligan said.

Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn on Twitter and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

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The chairman of the California Coastal Commission, facing questions in the past week about his failure to report private meetings with developers planning to build on Banning Ranch, addressed those concerns Thursday morning during a discussion with Newport Beach residents and business officials.

Steve Kinsey said during the Chamber of Commerces Wake Up Newport meeting that hes become a bit of a lightning rod and admitted there have been lapses in his documenting of so-called ex-parte communications. Those are private verbal or written communications between individual commissioners and interested parties that could influence a decision.

During a Coastal Commission meeting Wednesday at Newport Beach City Hall, Kinsey asked the agencys attorney to determine whether he should recuse himself from voting on the Banning Ranch development in light of his filing issues.

Kinsey said Thursday that ex-parte meetings are intended to provide fair access to commissioners for anyone with an issue in front of the commission, whether applicants or opponents of a project.

Theres never been an attempt on my part to hide those meetings, he said.

Kinsey has acknowledged failing to publicly disclose a private meeting he attended Dec. 22 with developers of the proposed Banning Ranch project, which calls for 895 homes, 45,100 square feet of retail space, a 75-room hotel and a 20-bed hostel on 62 acres of the 401-acre coastal expanse overlooking West Coast Highway.

Kinsey has said he lost track of reporting the December meeting during the holidays.

This week, the Los Angeles Times asked Kinsey about an earlier undisclosed communication with representatives of developer Newport Banning Ranch LLC. Kinsey has not filed the required disclosure form about that Nov. 4 meeting, which also involved Commissioner Dayna Bochco and three Banning Ranch representatives, records show.

Bochco disclosed the meeting two days later. However, there is no record that Kinsey filed the appropriate public document, which contains the date, place, participants in the ex-parte discussion and a summary of it.

Ex-parte communications have become an issue since coastal commissioners fired Executive Director Charles Lester in February amid criticism that some commissioners were getting too cozy with developers.

Agency rules require commissioners to fully disclose meetings, phone calls and written communications that occur outside of official public meetings within seven days of the communication. They also must report ex-partes orally from the dais if they occur within seven days of the matter being heard by the commission.

Part of Newport Beachs Banning Ranch, the largest remaining parcel of undeveloped coastal land in Southern California, is proposed for a housing, retail and hotel development. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Those who fail to report a private contact can be prohibited from voting on the matter that was discussed and from trying to influence the commissions decision. Violations of the disclosure requirements also carry fines of as much as $7,500, and commission decisions affected by a violation can be revoked.

After Kinseys two private meetings with the developer, which included a five-hour site tour, he wrote a detailed memo in January to commission Deputy Director Sherilyn Sarb.

In it, he made reference to the tour and challenged commission staffs assessment of environmentally sensitive habitat on the Banning Ranch property. Staff scientists determined that those areas should be protected from development.

My overall impression is that the site has been so heavily degraded by historic oil operations that many of the areas identified as environmentally sensitive habitat in the staffs October presentation seem unwarranted, Kinsey wrote.

The proposal to build on the Banning Ranch property, known as the largest remaining parcel of undeveloped coastal land in Southern California, has faced scrutiny for years from some residents and preservationists who would prefer the land remain open space.

Newport Banning Ranch has argued that the project would clean up oil facilities on the property and provide public access to the land for the first time in decades.

The Banning Ranch Conservancy, a nonprofit group that opposes the project, has indicated it would like to purchase the property but said it has not raised enough money to do so.

After the Newport Beach City Council approved a larger version of the project in 2012, the conservancy filed a lawsuit alleging that the city had violated its general plan, which prioritizes open space in West Newport.

The conservancy argued that the city did not work with the Coastal Commission in prioritizing specific areas of preservation, in violation of city law. The group also alleged that the projects environmental report did not detail mitigation measures for the developments potential effects.

The case has made its way through Orange County Superior Court and Californias 4th District Court of Appeal and will next be heard by the California Supreme Court on an undetermined date.

Conservancy leaders say they hope the high courts eventual decision will force environmental documents to be redone, essentially putting the project back to square one.

Terry Welsh, president of the Banning Ranch Conservancy, said the controversy over Kinseys failure to file necessary ex-parte documents is a distraction from the real issue.

The focus should be on Banning Ranch, he said.

However, Welsh said there are discrepancies between developers interactions with commissioners and those of lower-budget preservation groups.

Not everyone can wine and dine at the same level, he said. Im all for transparency and leveling the playing field.

The Banning Ranch project was scheduled to go before the 12-member Coastal Commission this week, but Newport Banning Ranch asked the commission to postpone the hearing to give the developer more time to review a commission staff proposal that would further reduce the projects footprint.

The plan approved by the City Council proposed 1,375 homes, 75,000 square feet of retail space, a hostel and several parks on about 95 acres.

But after Coastal Commission staff recommended last October that the panel deny the project, Newport Banning Ranch scaled down the proposal to what it is now.

Newport Banning Ranch officials said they will continue to work with commission staff with the goal of the project going before the Coastal Commission within 90 days.

Meanwhile, a bill intended to ban ex-partes by commissioners is scheduled for a vote in the state Senate this week.

Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the author of the measure, said it would protect the integrity of the commissions quasi-judicial process  a court-like proceeding in which the panel hears from both sides much like a judge hears evidence before making a decision.

This bill will level the playing field between big-moneyed interests and those without such financial resources, Jackson has said of the legislation. It will remove the possibility of backroom decision-making or the perception that its occurring and will help ensure that decisions are made more openly and transparently.

Fry is a Daily Pilot staff writer. Weikel writes for the Los Angeles Times.
Along Calle Cuatro, toward downtown Santa Anas hip, rebranded East End, a greeting familiar to the citys longtime Latino community was recently etched into a new stores corner-facing window.

"Hola! it says, above a display of coiled green hoses rigged with zip ties so that they look like cartoon cactuses.

Now, frosted lettering saying hello to passerby in Spanish might not seem like anything major  especially since Santa Anas population is nearly 80% Latino  but when you consider that for the last five years, these few urban square blocks have undergone a hotly contested revitalization process that all but ignored its existing immigrant Latino base, a bilingual welcome (its English translation was inscribed below) existing on the exterior of a boutique grocer inside year-old food hall 4th Street Market seems downright revolutionary.

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Using food to intersect two worlds that dont often collide here, Alta Baja Market soft-opened late last month as a bridge between old and new SanTana.

In the space formerly occupied by chef Jason Quinns upscale Honor Roll, co-owners Delilah Snell and Natasha Monnereau are selling hard-to-find foods, drinks and goods from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, celebrating the bounty of a region that stretches from Southern California to the American Southwest to Mexico to parts between with price points for everyone.

I shop at Northgate Market [theres one a block away], but there needs to be more options for Latino products and also just goods that are from underrepresented makers, says Snell, a longtime local business owner, master food preserver, do-it-yourself advocate and food activist who started Santa Anas first farmers market more than a decade ago.

I personally think this is something that is confronting the border as a business. And the border is such a controversial, hot topic. Everybodys talking about it, but what people dont understand is that there are a lot of similarities and things we enjoy about the border. This all used to be one area.

Many of the items that Alta Baja will carry are personal favorites of the owners, who in both their personal and professional lives support emerging artisan food and drink vendors.

Snell owned Santa Ana eco-boutique The Road Less Traveled for eight years and is a co-founder of Patchwork Show, a twice annual multi-city arts and crafts fair, as well as Craftcation, a business conference for DIY makers that features lectures, panels and food workshops. Monnereau, a Level 1 sommelier, is a native of New Mexico, where she says green chile is a way of life.

In their spare time, they individually travel throughout Mexico and the Southwest, seeking out regional specialties and buying bulk items  like bolito beans, sorghum and chimayo chiles  to bring back for friends.

Though the women say their store is only about 60% stocked in preparation for a June grand opening (you can donate to their Kickstarter and help beef it up through the end of May), a half-dozen wooden cable reels, turned on their side and stacked two high, are even now stocked with hot sauces and salsas made in the adjacent East End Incubator Kitchens, Oaxacan michelada mixes, olive oil from Baja, California, plus dried chiles, uncommon cornmeals and heirloom beans from small growers in New Mexico.

Other items available at Alta Baja include eco-friendly cleaning supplies, South American pottery and, in collaboration with the nonprofit Latino Health Access, baskets made with newspaper advertisements, hand-woven by women who live nearby.

Once the liquor license and food-preparation permits are approved by the city, the market will also serve as a cafe, with beer and wine from Baja and New Mexico, plus a menu of affordable salads, casseroles and more (which you can take to go or eat at their adorable in-store seating area).

We want to carry things that are familiar to you but maybe youve never had before, Monnereau says. You wont find these products at your health food store.

Already, Alta Baja Market is becoming a unique space in Santa Anas rapidly changing downtown, attracting both the Fourth Street Markets non-Latino crowd, as well as activists who swore theyd never step foot in a building that symbolizes their gentrified neighborhood.

But given Snell and Monnereaus longevity in Santa Ana, embracing the entire community in their project was not only necessary but a no-brainer. The in-store murals were done by local artist Dino Perez. Interns are from Santa Anas Valley High School.

And starting in July, the store will launch an aggressive programming lineup of workshops, lectures, classes, food tours and monthly dinners that will feature cooking by everyone from notable O.C. chefs to neighbors who might be interested in launching a food truck but dont know where to begin.

Just because you target to people who have higher incomes, or people who just want to have micheladas all day for lunch, doesnt mean you cant do something for the immediate people around you, which is I think one thing that hasnt been addressed in a lot of this, says Snell.

Im not saying thats good or bad either way, but theres a community here that maybe they cant afford to shop here but they definitely appreciate your business because youre giving back to them.

--

SARAH BENNETT is a freelance journalist covering food, drink, music, culture and more. She is the former food editor at L.A. Weekly and a founding editor of Beer Paper L.A. Follow her on Twitter @thesarahbennett.
Visit the Achuar, a tribe of 6,000 indigenous people who still live traditionally in small Amazon communities along the Ecuadorean and Peruvian border, on a seven-day tour.

The excursion is offered by Gondwana Ecotours, whose founder, Jared Sternberg, was an English teacher in an Achuar village.

On the tour, participants explore the worlds largest river system; search for toucans, caimans and howler monkeys with Achuar guides; hike in Cotopaxi National Park and visit the Devils Cauldron waterfall.

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Dates: Aug. 1-8, Nov. 3-10; In 2017: Jan. 8-15, Aug. 3-10, and Nov. 2-9, 2017.

Price: From $2,795 per person, single supplement available. Includes accommodations at the Kapawi Ecolodge, all breakfasts, tours, Achuar guides and English-speaking Ecuadoran guide. International airfare not included.

Info: Gondwana Ecotours, (877) 587-8479

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China has formally indicted Ling Jihua, one of the countrys most powerful men until a Ferrari crash derailed his career in 2012, on corruption and state-secrets charges, state media reported Friday.

Ling, a top aide to former Chinese president Hu Jintao  a position similar to the White House chief of staff  was indicted on charges of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets, [and] abuse of power, reported the New China News Agency, Chinas official news service. His trial is to be in Tianjin, a metropolis of 15 million people a short drive from Beijing.

Ling sought and received a substantial amount of money and assets, said the news service. He illegally obtained state secrets and abused his power, which severely damaged public assets and the interests of people and the state. The circumstances are especially wicked. The report did not give a date for the trial, or offer further details concerning his alleged offenses.

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Ling, 59, is one of the highest-ranking Communist Party officials to be caught up in President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption drive, the most intense in Chinas recent history.

In the past three years, Xi has gotten credit as a successful and bold graft-buster, said Willy Lam, a Chinese politics expert and adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. So now he can use the Ling Jihua case to reaffirm his image as an incorruptible official, and also to scare his potential opponents.

Lings fall from power was the stuff of tabloids: In the spring of 2012, his 23 year-old son crashed a Ferrari during a late-night joyriding session in Beijing, killing himself and seriously injuring two young women, one of them naked. Ling allegedly tried, and failed, to engineer a cover-up, and the ensuing scandal ruined his political career.

For five years until 2012, Ling directed the Communist Partys general office, an administrative body that gave him access to classified information on other top authorities. After the crash, he was demoted to head of the United Front Work Department, an agency that oversees ethnic minority affairs. Authorities placed him under investigation for suspected serious disciplinary violation, shorthand for corruption, in December 2014.

In the summer of 2015, Lings younger brother, Ling Wancheng, defected to the United States, where he lived in a $2.5-million home in the Sacramento suburb of Loomis. He has since handed top-level Chinese government secrets to U.S. intelligence agencies, the Washington Free Beacon and the Financial Times reported in February, citing unnamed Washington officials.

Chinas top anti-corruption agency has reportedly dispatched agents to the U.S. in an attempt to repatriate him.

Of course [Chinese state media] wont mention his younger brother, but even before Ling Wancheng became big news, in Beijings political circles there was speculation that [Ling Jihua] had taken advantage of his position as Hu Jintaos right-hand man to steal some so-called state secrets, Lam said. But as to what exactly those state secrets might have been, well never find out, because the trial will be held in secret.

Nicole Liu and Yingzhi Yang in the Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

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In one life he was Elias Fouad Saab, also known as Sami Issa, a supposed playboy and habitue of restaurants and cafes who owned several jewelry stones, a boat and an apartment in the Lebanese coastal town of Jounieh.

But in his other life he was Mustafa Amin Badreddine, a guerrilla warfare puppet master nicknamed after a legendary scimitar known as Thu Al-Fiqar [Cleaver of Spines], a man pursued for decades by intelligence agencies for planning and conducting operations for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which the U.S. and other countries consider a terrorist organization. He was its top military commander.

Both identities ended when an explosion near the international airport in the Syrian capital, Damascus, killed Badreddine and injured several others, according to a statement released by the militant group Friday.

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Although Hezbollah could not immediately determine the cause of Thursdays blast, it pointed an implicit finger at Israel. It described the 55-year-old Badreddine as a great jihadi leader and a martyr who fought in the face of the [extremist] groups in Syria which form the spearhead of the American Zionist project in the region.

Lebanese politicians affiliated with the group were more overt.

Israel stands behind the assassination of the martyr Badreddine no matter which tools executed the attack, said parliament member Salim Jreissati in an interview with Lebanese broadcaster Al-Mayadeen on Friday at the funeral home. The battle is open.

The Israeli army declined to deny or confirm responsibility.

Two Israeli senior defense columnists wrote that Israeli involvement was unlikely, even though Badreddine had been in the governments sights for his involvement in attacks on Israelis in both Argentina and Bulgaria.

Israel has also conducted at least eight airstrikes in Syria since the beginning of the war there in 2011, including an attack in January of last year that, according to Israeli media sources, was meant for Badreddine.

Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the Israeli army had been involved in dozens of attacks against the Shiite group in an effort to prevent Hezbollah from obtaining game-changing weapons systems.

Whatever its source, the explosion cut short the career of a man widely considered to be the groups No. 2 leader as well as the heir apparent of Imad Mugniyeh, the Hezbollah operative assassinated by the CIA and the Mossad in 2008 in the Syrian capital, and Badreddines brother-in-law.

Thousands of people attended Fridays funeral services for Badreddine in Lebanons capital, Beirut.

Born in April 1961 in Ghobeiry, a run-down neighborhood on Beiruts southern outskirts, Badreddine rose to prominence as the operational head of Hezbollah when it first emerged in the 1980s, masterminding attacks against the Israeli army before its ouster from the south of Lebanon in 2000.

In 1983, he was arrested and sentenced to death in Kuwait for involvement in a series of seven explosions in the Gulf emirate that targeted the U.S. embassy there. But the sentence was never carried out; he later fled the prison, according to local media outlet the Kuwait Times, during Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Years later he was named by the special tribunal for Lebanon, an international court, as the principal organizer and strategist of the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The tribunals transcript describes a married man with six children who enjoyed the good life (concurrent girlfriends; an expensive Mercedes automobile), yet who had no passport, no drivers license and no bank accounts: an unrecognizable and virtually untraceable ghost  leaving no footprint as he passes.

He also appeared to be camera-shy. Until Friday, the last known photograph of Badreddine was a black-and-white photo that showed a wiry, cheerful-looking man sporting a head of disheveled curls. After his killing, Hezbollah released a photo of an older, bespectacled Badreddine in military fatigues.

Hezbollahs involvement in the war on Syria provided what would be the final battleground for Badreddine. The groups fighters have provided vital support for Assad against the predominantly Sunni armed opposition factions. The U.S. said last year that he was behind all of Hezbollahs military operations in Syria since 2011.

But the civil war has also exacted a heavy toll on Hezbollahs cadres and hurt its popularity in the Arab world.

Bulos is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Josh Mitnick in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

2:17 p.m.: This story was updated throughout with staff reporting.

This story was originally published at 8:56 a.m.
The U.S. Navy has fired the commander of the 10 American sailors who wandered into Iranian territorial waters in the Persian Gulf and were captured and held by Iran for about 15 hours.

In a statement Thursday, the Navy said it had lost confidence in Cmdr. Eric Rasch, who was the executive officer of the squadron that included the 10 sailors at the time of the January incident. He was responsible for the training and readiness of the more than 400 sailors in the unit.

A Navy official said Rasch failed to provide effective leadership, leading to a lack of oversight, complacency and failure to maintain standards in the unit. The official was not authorized to discuss the details publicly, so spoke on condition of anonymity.

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Rasch has been relieved of his command duties and reassigned, the Navy said.

Although this is the first firing by the Navy regarding the incident, several other sailors received administrative reprimands. The investigation is expected to be finished by the end of the month, and others are likely to be disciplined.

Rasch was promoted to commander of the unit in April  after the Iran incident occurred, but before the preliminary investigation was done.

The sailors, nine men and one woman, were detained after their boat drifted into Iranian waters off Farsi Island, an outpost in the middle of the Persian Gulf that has been used as a base for Revolutionary Guard speedboats since the 1980s.

The sailors were on two small armed vessels, known as riverine command boats, on a 300-mile journey from Kuwait to Bahrain, where the Navys 5th Fleet is located. The incident, while brief, raised tensions between the United States and Iran because of images Iran published of the soldiers kneeling with their hands on their heads. It caused political uproar at home, too, coming on the day of President Obamas final State of the Union address and months after the signing of a deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from financial penalties.

Navy Capt. Gary Leigh, commander of Riverine Group 1, decided to fire Rasch after Leigh reviewed the initial investigation. A Navy official said no action has been taken, at least so far, against Cmdr. Greg Meyer, who was serving as commander of the squadron when the incident happened. He is no longer in a command job.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the sailors made a navigational error and went off course.

An initial account said the planned transit path for the mission was down the middle of the Gulf and not through the territorial waters of any country other than Kuwait and Bahrain.

That account said the crew stopped when a diesel engine in one of the boats appeared to have a mechanical issue. The second boat also stopped.

At this point they were in Iranian territorial waters, although its not clear the crew was aware of their exact location, the report said.

While the boats were stopped and the crew was trying to assess the mechanical problem, two small Iranian craft carrying armed personnel approached. Soon after, they were joined by two more Iranian military vessels. A verbal exchange ensued between the Iranians and Americans, but there was no gunfire.

The sailors had been scheduled to meet up with a U.S. Coast Guard ship, the Monomoy, in international waters to refuel. But about 10 minutes before the refueling was supposed to take place, the Navy headquarters in Bahrain got a report that Iranians were questioning the crew members.

Soon afterward, the Navy lost communications with the boats.

The Navy launched a large-scale search-and-rescue mission, but it is not clear whether the Americans had already been taken ashore on Farsi Island. The Iranians eventually told the United States that the 10 sailors were safe and healthy.

Secretary of State John Kerry, in a series of phone calls, used the personal relationship he has formed with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to work out the crews release. Kerry credited the quick resolution to the critical role diplomacy plays in keeping our country secure and strong.

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: On 12 May Ricardo Anaya, the president of Mexicos right-wing opposition Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) party, said that his party would oppose attempts by the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) to water down anti-corruption legislation.

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On 12 May President Salvador Sanchez Ceren promised to bring El Salvadors mara street gangs to heel within 12 months and to enhance public security in the process.Sanchez Cerens ambitious promise comes amid renewed optimism within his government that the extraordinary measures announced in mid-March, including tighter controls in and around the countrys prisons to restrict access and contact between imprisoned gang leaders and their subordinates on the outside, and the launch of a special reaction force (Feres), have resulted in a significant fall in the murder rate. The evidence for this, however, is tenuous. While the total number of homicides in April was, at 352, down dramatically on the monthly average in the first three months of 2016, at 667, the Feres, for instance, did not even begin operating until 22 April. It seems more plausible that the fall in murders is the product of a unilateral truce declared by leaders of the warring Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 gangs on 26 March. Homicides plummeted after the gang truce indirectly brokered by the previous government in 2012, but since its collapse after Sanchez Ceren took office in 2014 and pursued repressive tactics against the gangs, El Salvador has been in the grip of unprecedented levels of violence.

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The national effort to engage Americans, particularly the Latino community, about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) continued at Enroll America's third State of Enrollment conference in Washington, D.C., where Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, exclusively told Latin Post about the health reform law's benefits for the people.

Congressman Castro, Bringing A Latino Texan Perspective

On May 12, Castro spoke to attended of the State of Enrollment conference, organized by Enroll America, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that has helped increase health care insurance enrollment. Castro's presence allowed him to speak from numerous perspectives: as a lawmaker, a Texan and a Latino.

The Lone Star State, however, are among the nearly three-dozen states that have yet to expand Medicaid. According to Enroll America data, 16 percent of Texans between 18 and 64 years old, regardless of ethnicity, are uninsured. The aforementioned uninsured rate, however, is a drop from 2013's 21.3 percent. Among Texan Hispanics, 23 percent are lack health insurance, especially Latino men compared to Latinas within the 18 to 34 age group, 32 percent to 28 percent, respectively.

According to Castro, the ACA, often referred to as Obamacare, "has been a lifesaver for so many Americans, including a great number of Latinos across the country." The congressman for Texas' 20th Congressional District, which includes Bexar County and home to a Hispanic uninsured rate of 19 percent, said it's "unfortunate" Texas has yet expanded Medicaid.

"They should do the right thing and expand Medicaid ... There are a lot of Latinos that are working hard every day but still, despite their hard work, are not able to afford health insurance but also to support their families," Castro told Latin Post on Thursday. "Expanding Medicaid would allow hardworking people to go see their doctor, make sure they're healthy to support their family."

"I've been pushing very hard for the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and the state legislature to expand Medicaid in our state as it would help over a million Texans," added Castro, noting the federal government will be 100 percent responsible of paying for the full ACA adoption in Texas and would save the state money over the long term.

Abbott opposes the ACA's Medicaid expansion and has even supported other states in blocking its development. In May 2015, Abbott filed an amicus brief to support fellow Republican Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, also home to a significant Latino population, in a lawsuit against Medicaid expansion. According to Abbott, the decision not to expand Medicaid is a "constitutional right."

The State of Enrollment

Thursday was the first of the two-day State of Enrollment conference in Washington, D.C., where approximately 700 participants across 48 states gathered for numerous sessions such as amplifying Latino outreach, streamlining and strategizing enrollment through technology, educating new enrollees on how to best understand and utilize their health plan and familiarizing with the health care law's exemptions, penalties and taxes.

"Enroll America members are excited," Castro said about the State of Enrollment conference. "They know the kind of profound impact on the lives of millions of Americans and they're excited about the upcoming enrollment season later in the year. The ACA is going to continue to grow and help more families."

The first day saw a keynote address from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell, who spoke about the next open enrollment period, which she projects will be a big success. Burwell acknowledged the in-person assistance has been critical in people enrolling or renewing their health plans.

The two-day conference includes other Latino leaders speak and discuss the ACA's impact toward the Latino community, including The Children's Partnership President of Mayra Alvarez. Thursday included Alvarez and other panelists discuss how even small community groups, churches, school and teachers can make an impact in the enrollment gains within their communities.

"It's energizing to see how receptive and passionate our partners are about our digital tools like the Get Covered Connector and Plan Explorer that offer them a better way to assist the uninsured and newly insured," Enroll America spokesperson Annette Raveneau told Latin Post. "The State of Enrollment Conference is helping them connect with each other and learn new methods of engaging the communities we all serve."

Based on data released in March, the HHS revealed 20 million Americans have gained health insurance coverage as a result of the ACA's first provisions went into effect in 2010, including 6.1 million millennials between the ages of 19 and 25. Within the Latino community, across America, the ACA helped the uninsured rate drop from 41.8 percent to 30.5 percent. Since 2010, approximately four million Latino adults gained insurance. Despite the declining uninsured rate, Latinos still represent the largest uninsured demographic in the U.S.

__

For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
A pair of immigrant rights groups has filed a formal complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charging that as many as 60 detainees at the Hudson County Correctional Facility have been denied proper medical care.

Filed by the Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) and First Friends of NJ NY groups, the complaint requests that DHS look into conditions at the federally contracted institution, which is described as one of the top three detention facilities with the most human and civil rights complaints.

Overall Number of Medical Grievances Filed Tops 100

Over the last two years, the Hudson facility reportedly received medical grievances from as many as 121 detainees held at the facility by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

Of equal concern, critics charge authorities at the facility "only took corrective action in 2.48 [percent] of these complaints, begging the question what role did ICE play to ensure that these complaints were fully addressed."

The complaint noted an additional 560 people were also taken to outside hospital treatments, 184 of which were hospitalized due to medical emergencies.

Data Shows at Least Eight Have Died While in ICE Custody

Issues of inadequate medical care have longed dogged ICE-operated immigrant facilities, with eight people dying from inadequate medical care while in custody over a two-year period beginning in 2010.

At Hudson, in one recent instance Nelson De Jesus Fernandez was hospitalized after officials at the facility failed to give him the blood thinning medication he needed to control his Behcet Disease, causing the Dominican Republic native to suffer a case of internal bleeding.

In another case, a detainee was denied ongoing care despite being a cancer survivor. Another individual was denied both physical therapy and additional surgery for a broken leg for no other reason than "the injury occurred prior to ICE custody."

Reports are many of the ICE facilities continue to receive passing ratings despite the U.S. Office of Detention Oversight finding several of them in default in terms of meeting all proper medical care standards.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing for a month-long raid of Central American women and children destined for deportation.

The orders include unaccompanied children who have since turned 18 years of age and any undocumented individuals who crossed into the U.S. since 2014. The only locations ICE is barred from raiding are courtrooms, schools and hospitals, according to a government source who spoke with ABC News.

Reuters, who first obtained the report, states that this would be the largest deportation sweep in President Obama's tenure.

"Current operations are a continuation of operations Secretary (Jeh) Johnson announced in January and March," ICE Spokesman Jennifer Elzea said in a statement. "We stress that these operations are limited to those who were apprehended at the border after January 1, 2014, have been ordered removed by an immigration court, and have no pending appeal or pending claim for asylum or other humanitarian relief under our laws."

More Raids, More Crossings

Operation Guardian began the New Year with weekend arrests of 121 people, primarily in southern states of Georgia, North Carolina and Texas. The Obama administration surreptitiously ordered sweeping immigration raids citing a need to maintain border security and curb illegal crossings.

As arrests rose through March, the number of children attempting to cross skyrocketed. U.S. Customs and Border Protection data suggests nearly 60,000 undocumented children -- either unaccompanied or with a guardian -- were apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border in a six-month span beginning last October.

"Families and unaccompanied children apprehensions spiked in December 2015, and in January 2016 the Department of Homeland Security launched immigration raids targeting families. Since then, monthly border apprehensions have dropped below 2014 levels," Pew Research Center researcher Jens Manuel Krogstad wrote in study released last week.

Democrats Denounce Obama's Actions

Hundreds of senators and House members called on Obama to end the raids as soon as they began. Democratic Presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., led the way, wowing to end the practice if elected in November.

"I am concerned about recent news reports, and believe we should not be taking kids and families from their homes in the middle of the night," Clinton said in a statement late Thursday. "Large scale raids are not productive and do not reflect who we are as a country."

Sanders echoed the sentiment, urging Obama to grant Temporary Protective Status for targeted immigrants, many who fled amid increased violence in their homeland.

The grassroots candidate said he opposes the operation because it condones "the painful and inhumane business of locking up and deporting families who have fled horrendous violence in Central America and other countries."
A group of students and parents joined in a legal battle over the controversial North Carolina bathroom bill. The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian nonprofit from Arizona represents the group on behalf.

According to News Observer, the lawsuit was filed on Tuesday at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, with the plaintiffs called themselves as North Carolinians for Privacy. The group named the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education as defendants.

On the lawsuit, it seeks the court to declare that the federal agencies "exceeded their authority by redefining "sex" in the Title IX non-discrimination law." It also argues that the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Education had improperly held that provisions of federal law banning discrimination in education settings on the basis of sex applied to gender identity and threatening North Carolina by withholding education funding.

The Reading Eagle cited that an ongoing legal battle is happening between the U.S. Justice Department and state officials as the LGBT community are also fighting for their rights in the country. The plaintiffs are made up of the students from the University of North Carolina and from other schools in elementary middle and high schools levels, as well as the parents of the underage children in North Carolina.

The Alliance's senior counsel of the group, Jeremy Tedesco issued a statement regarding their lawsuit. "The agencies must stop using falsehoods about what federal law requires to threaten student access to educational opportunities and financial assistance," Tedesco said on Wednesday, Reuters quoted.

They want the judge to put an end to the federal government's threats to withhold funding from public schools and universities. At stake in the battle are $800 million for public schools and $1.4 billion for universities.

The said lawsuit is the latest to have been filed following the ever controversial state bill, HB2 mandating people to access to bathrooms that match their gender identity on their birth certificates.
 Flash

The U.S. Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Romania, seen by Moscow as a security threat right on its doorstep, was certified for operation Thursday.

"This represents a significant increase in the capability to defend European allies against ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a ceremony at the missile defense site in Deveselu, a former air base some 200 km southwest of Bucharest.

"The threat to NATO allies from ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic area is real," said the NATO chief. "Missile defense is essential to our common security."

The Deveselu base is the first to feature the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense system, a land-based version of the sophisticated radar-tracking system installed on U.S. warships since 2004.

The anti-missile base is equipped with a SPY-1 radar system and a vertical-launch missile system armed with long-range SM-3 missiles.

Construction began in 2013, and the system's components became operational in December 2015. Its integration into NATO's ballistic missile defense capability is proceeding as scheduled, as the deadline is related to a NATO summit in July in Warsaw.

The new system provides "both a quantitative and qualitative increase in NATO's ballistic missile defense capability and capacity and strengthens NATO defensive capabilities," visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said.

Meanwhile, Romanian Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said the facility in his country expands the area covered by allied countries in Southern and Central Europe.

It will significantly reduce the risk of potential attacks from ballistic missiles from outside the Euro-Atlantic space, he said.

In addition to emphasizing the importance of the system for NATO's defense, all the speakers at the ceremony insisted that the site in Deveselu is not directed against Russia, saying it will not have the capability to undermine Russia's strategic deterrent.

Yet, Moscow sees the missile defense site as a threat.

On Thursday, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, vowed to take defensive measures for "securing the necessary level of security in Russia."

"From the very beginning of this whole story, we have said that according to the opinion of our experts, the deployment of this missile system represents a threat to Russia's security," Peskov was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying.

The defensive nature of the system is also under question. The SPY-1 long-range radar, part of the Aegis antimissile system, can be used to spy on missile tests and aircraft in Russian airspace, providing the United States with additional intelligence.

Mikhail Ulyanov, a senior official of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday that the missile defense system in Deveselu is not only aimed at neutralizing Russia's offensive capability.

He noted that as its vertical launching system could also be re-equipped with offensive cruise missiles, the Romanian site could easily and secretly be converted into a cruise missile base close to the Russian border.

Earlier this month, Andrei Kelin, another senior official from the Russian Foreign Ministry, described the deployment of the Aegis Ashore missile defense system as "a step toward the military and political containment of Russia."

The system could "only worsen" the already tense relations between Russia and NATO, he said.
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The world's largest cargo plane, Antonov AN-225 Mriya, arrived in India from Turkmenistan early Friday morning.

Antonov AN-225 Mriya, known as the Dream, landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

Local TV channels beamed live footage of the landing of the aircraft in India, which was designed by the erstwhile Soviet Union's Antonov Design Bureau in the 1980s.

The wide body aircraft is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes, a statement said.

It has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service, the statement said, adding the plane is specially built to undertake transcontinental route airlifting load between 180-230 tonnes.
Israel Santiago-Pacheco

Israel Santiago-Pacheco

(Courtesy photo)

A Bethlehem man admitted Friday he made a video of a 15-year-old girl in a shower and then jumped out a window after police arrived.

Israel Santiago-Pacheco, 30, of the 500 block of Broadway, admitted he left his cell phone on the shower head to shoot a video of the girl naked on Sept. 15. He recorded her two other times in her bedroom, according to Assistant District Attorney Erika Farkas.

When she saw the phone, the girl argued with him and he kicked her in the stomach. After police arrived, he jumped out a window, leaving a 1-year-old in his care without any supervision.

Santiago-Pacheco accepted a plea deal which gave him a time-served sentence. He has spent the last eight months in prison, and Northampton County Judge Anthony Beltrami approved his release and ordered him to spend an additional five years and four months on parole or probation.

He pleaded guilty to simple assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Defense attorney Vanessa Nenni said Santiago-Pacheco completed about two years of college in Puerto Rico and works as a computer repairman.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
UPDATE: Only 1 of 10 citations upheld in Easton wall collapse case

The owner of a Downtown Easton building is off the hook for the February collapse of a brick wall there.

City officials are dropping their citations filed against Luan of Kosovo LLC for damage to 323 Northampton St., according to a letter from city solicitor William Murphy.

Murphy sent the letter, announcing the end of the prosecution, to District Judge Antonia Grifo ahead of Friday's continuation of a hearing that began Thursday over the citations. Luan of Kosovo attorney Donald E. Souders Jr. provided lehighvalleylive.com with a copy of the letter Thursday night.

The city will continue to prosecute five citations filed against Bee Green Homes, the Bushkill Township-based contractor that had converting the building into a restaurant when the wall collapsed during a storm Feb. 24.

City officials plan to withdrawn the citations against Luan of Kosovo at Friday's hearing, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in Grifo's Downtown courtroom, according to Murphy.

Souders argued during Thursday's start to the hearing the city had not mentioned problems with safety on the site until after the wall fell. Stephen Nowroski, Easton's director of code enforcement, testified that Luann of Kosova owner Mick Aquaviva complied with all requests the city made.

Murphy's letter does not elaborate on the decision to continue prosecuting the contractor's citations.

The collapse forced the temporary closure of Just Around the Corner, a gallery of local art and gift shop across North Bank Street from 323 Northampton St. It also delayed the opening of the Easton Public Market from March 18 until April 15.

Work continues on the 323 Northampton St. redevelopment, with new steel girders in place.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A 29-year-old Easton man's attempt to flee police after breaking free from handcuffs early Friday ended with a 10-foot fall onto a scrap pile in a Wilson Borough garage, police said.

Rodney Allen Jacoby II, of the 1300 block of Northampton Street, is now in Northampton County Prison facing charges of escape, flight to avoid apprehension and resisting arrest.

Police took him to a local hospital before he was sent to prison because he was injured in the fall.

Jacoby and his live-in girlfriend, identified as 22-year-old Jessica Greiss, were taken to Wilson police headquarters late Thursday after Greiss was caught stealing nail polish from the 24-hour CVS, 1520 Northampton St., Wilson Detective Jason Hillis said.

Jacoby was with Greiss at the time of the theft, but isn't accused of taking anything from the pharmacy, the detective said.

Officers ran a background check on Jacoby and learned he was wanted in both Northampton County and Warren County in New Jersey. The warrant out of Warren County was for felony retail theft, Hillis said.

Sometime early Friday, while in custody at the headquarters, Jacoby managed to break free from his handcuffs and run away, Hillis said.

Wilson police, with the assistance of Easton and Palmer Township police, searched for Jacoby and found him a short while later hiding on a property in the 1500 block of Spruce Street.

He allegedly tried to again flee and ran toward a garage in the 1500 block of Ferry Street. The detective said he scaled the garage and attempted to jump on the roof.

"It didn't have a roof," Hillis said of the garage. "He fell 10 feet onto a scrap pile."

Jacoby, the detective said, didn't give up after the fall. He tried again to flee from the scrap pile but police used a Taser to subdue him.

Greiss, the live-in girlfriend, was released and will be charged with retail theft.

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Arron Rex said he had been sober for four years before he was caught with meth-making chemicals in his Bushkill Township garage.

"I got depressed," he told Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta. "This is what happened."

Rex, 29, was sentenced to nine to 23 months in Northampton County Prison for possession of the chemicals. He was on parole at the time of his Dec. 9 crime for another crime in New York.

Defense attorney Paul Aaroe said Rex has two bachelor's degrees and can still contribute to society.

"He indicated this was a relapse," Aaroe said.

Rex said he participated in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings while in prison. He has two children and another on the way.

"That's why I want to get out," he told the judge.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
For the second time in about as many weeks, a Lopatcong Township gas station was the victim of theft.

The Eagle Gas station on Route 22 reported Friday morning that someone burglarized the business while it was closed overnight, township police said. The same station was robbed at knifepoint on April 29.

In Friday's case, station employees discovered damage to the business and a missing cash register when they arrived to open for the day at 4 a.m., Lopatcong Township police Chief Jason Garcia said.

Someone smashed a window on the front door to gain entry into the business. The cash register was the only item taken, the chief said.

Officers found the stolen cash register nearby. Garcia declined to say if anything was taken out of the register.

The case is under investigation and police currently don't have any suspects or a description of the person or people responsible, the chief said.

The previous robbery occurred about 10 p.m. April 29. In that case, the suspect brandished a large knife, jumped the counter and chased the employee outside. The suspect ran away with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

He was last seen running west on Route 22 and has not yet been caught, Garcia said.

The robber was described as standing between 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet tall, wearing a maroon zip-up hoodie, white sneakers and long, dark shorts.

Anyone with information on either case is asked to call Lopatcong Township police at 908-859-2301.

Nick Falsone may be reached at nfalsone@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickfalsone. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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New Jersey State Police said a motorcyclist was hospitalized in critical condition May 12, 2016, following a crash 3.3 miles east of Exit 12 on Interstate 80 East in Frelinghuysen Township. (NJ Advance Media file photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

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UPDATE: Motorcyclist identified in Interstate 80 accident, still critical

The motorcyclist flown by medical treatment after a highway crash Thursday in Warren County was hospitalized in critical condition, according to New Jersey State Police.

The male rider, from East Stroudsburg, was riding a Harley-Davidson east on Interstate 80 at 3:22 p.m. when he came in contact with a tractor-trailer at mile-post 15.3, east of Exit 12, in Frelinghuysen Township, Trooper Lawrence Peele said.

The rider suffered serious injuries and was flown by a medical helicopter that landed on the highway to Morristown Medical Center, Peele said.

Authorities closed all eastbound lanes until about 5:40 p.m., according to the New Jersey Department of Transportation. The left and center lanes remained closed while police investigated the crash until about 9:35 p.m., resulting in significant delays in the area.

State police continued to investigate what caused the crash. There were no other injuries.

Police were not immediately releasing the rider's name pending notification of family and because of the degree of injuries he suffered, Peele said.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
A motorcycle rider was taken by ambulance for treatment Thursday night following a collision with a van in Warren County, according to reports from the scene.

It occurred about 7 p.m. in the area of a curve in the 100 block of Asbury Broadway Road in Franklin Township.

The rider was taken by the Franklin Township Rescue Squad to St. Luke's Hospital in Phillipsburg, reports indicated.

The motorcycle appeared to be a dual-sport bike designed for road and off-road use. There were no indications anyone in the GMC van was injured.

New Jersey State Police at Washington responded but had no information to release later Thursday night as the investigation continued into the crash, a trooper said.

Freelance photographer Rich Maxwell contributed to this report from the scene.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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Love Glastonbury? From tickets to headliners, sign up here for the latest updates from Worthy Farm

Leicestershire's Download festival has been listed as one of the 10 most gruelling music events in the world.

Social media app Loose Ends , which helps people organise their social life, put together a list of the top 10 most physically challenging festivals, based on advice from a website called the Music Festival Wizard.

The rock and metal festival, held annually at Castle Donington, is one of two festivals in the UK to make the list, the other being Glastonbury.

The list states Download made the top 10 because of the metal, rock and mosh pits.

Leicester band Hell's Addiction are playing at Download this year, and the members have also been as spectators many times before.

Hell's Addiction drummer Luke Morley, 27, of Thorpe Astley, said he agrees it is one of the most gruelling festivals.

"You go there for five days and you probably need two weeks to rest when you get back.

"You are out there drinking and dancing and jumping in mosh pits.

"It is definitely one of the most gruelling festivals  and I have been to a few.

"I went there in 2008 and there was a circle pit, which is like a mosh pit but you do it by running in a circle, which was about 400 meters round.

"I think it was recorded as one of the biggest circle pits ever at the time. When you are doing that all day, it wears you out."

Guitarist Liam Sargent, 36, of Mountsorrel , said: "It is gruelling. I have seen some of the biggest mosh pits of my life at Download  particularly when you get a heavy band.

"I suppose you are up against the elements, too. When there are 100,000 people the ground becomes a bog. It is a great atmosphere. A lot of people treat it as a holiday. That is their thing for the year."

Other festivals on the list include Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, in South Dakota, where there's bare knuckle brawling, and the SnowGlobe Festival in South Lake Tahoe, California over new year.
Construction company Acheson and Glover has denied that one of its quarries in Belcoo has been purchased by Tamboran following claims last week on social media of a possible new attempt to introduce the hydraulic fracturing process to the island of Ireland.

Cross-community group Belcoo Frack Free had noted that it had heard reports that Tamboran have bought or are in the process of buying the top quarry from Acheson and Glover.

However Acheson and Glover has denied this, issuing a statement to local media that we have had no such discussions and we have no plans to dispose of the quarry in question.

Tamboran Resources (UK) has submitted an application to the High Court in Northern Ireland to challenge the adoption of the Strategic Planning Policy Statement which includes a presumption against fracking in Northern Ireland.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer this week, anti-fracking group, Love Leitrim claimed that there had been further new developments that could assist Tamboran's' campaign to start fracking.

Planning officials in the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland have stated that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will be required for the current planning applications in progress to continue quarrying limestone at Cleggan quarry, noted a statement from the group.

This would seem to benefit Tamboran's case against Minister Durkan, who ruled that an EIA would be necessary for Tamboran's work on the same site.

Tamboran still have an application sitting with the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources.

Eddie Mitchell from Love Leitrim said "Any news from our Northern Ireland colleagues that Tamboran may be able to regain their licence in Northern Ireland and fulfil work programme requirements there would have implications for the industry gaining a foothold either North or South is extremely unwelcome news.

We call on people in Northern Ireland to contact their local representatives and let them know that they don't want fracking, he pointed out.

We also call once again on communities across Ireland to contact their political representatives in solidarity.

We are in the same struggle against Fracking whether its Northern Ireland or Ireland, Europe or New York.
A member of Ballinamore garda station was injured after his patrol car was rammed during a road interception on May 3.

District Superintendent, Kevin English, told the Leitrim Observer that the marked patrol car had been attempting to intercept a known disqualified driver at Church St, Ballinamore at 7.30pm when his garda car was allegedly rammed on three occasions.

The suspect fled the scene but was later arrested in Cavan after details of his vehicle were circulated through the Community Text Alert Scheme.

The man later appeared before a special sitting of Carrickmacross District Court charged with a number of driving offences.

The garda injured in the incident was removed to Sligo University Hospital where he was treated and released some hours later.

No member of the public was injured during the incident.

Public disturbance in Carrick estate

A number of people received facial injuries and three people were arrested following a public disturbance at Lis Cara housing estate, Leitrim Road, Carrick-on-Shannon at 9.30pm on May 6.

Gardai were called to the scene where they found at least six people involved in a public disturbance. Additional gardai had to be called to the scene to deal with the incident.

Three people were detained and brought to Carrick-on-Shannon Garda Station where they were charged.

Superintendent English, said he has deployed additional patrols in this area following this incident.

Tributes paid after emergency in Carrick

Tributes have been paid to staff at three Carrick-on-Shannon businesses, paramedics and local medical staff after they rushed to attend a woman who collapsed at a hairdressers on Bridge St last Wednesday, May 4.

The woman collapsed at around 5.30pm.

Staff from Ella Hair Studio, Cox's Pharmacy and The Bush Hotel immediately began CPR and were joined by paramedics and local doctors who continued treatment of the seriously ill woman.

She was flown by helicopter to Galway University Hospital but sadly passed away the following day.

Superintendent English said that he would like to thank the people who rendered assistance so quickly to the woman, paying a special tribute to the staff of Ella Hair Studio, Cox's Pharmacy and The Bush Hotel as well as local doctors and paramedics.

I would also like to thank anyone else who rendered assistance on this occasion, the Superintendent added.
Last week, I was called by a journalist who was looking to write a piece attacking local Liberal Democrat councillors in part of my region. He wanted to have a go at them for pledging to donate 10% of their pay to their local party to support campaigning on important local issues. In some areas this practise is called tithing.

Part of the call went something like this:

I understand you are a member of the Liberal Democrats Federal Executive and you were the candidate to take over from Sharon Bowles as MEP? Yes thats right. Sharon was an excellent MEP and I am sorry the election result I was not carry on her work in the Parliament. And I understand as a lawyer you have prosecuted bribery in the NHS. No, it was a government department.

Ah right. But you have called for the Lib Dems to take ethics more seriously. I have an article here where you talk about something called the Nolan Principles. Yes, they are very important rules for upholding standards. They need to be taken seriously. You must think it is extraordinary that [names of Lib Dem councillors] have to pay 10% of their pay to the party coffers?

My answer was no I dont think it is extraordinary and I went on to explain why it is a good thing.

The Liberal Democrats are a grassroots movement built on small donations from our members. When I stood for the European Parliament we raised 240,000 in my region. We wouldnt have held the one seat we did (by 10,000 votes) without it. The most common donation amount was just 25. Other parties are funded by multi-millionaires and trade union bosses who exert undue influence.

As far as I know, no Liberal Democrat donor has ever extracted a policy change from the party on the basis of their supply of money and I believe they never will. That is not true of other parties.

Liberal Democrat councillors are elected because of their hard work and the support of their local parties. It is entirely right that local groups have voluntary understandings between themselves that councillors donate a share of their pay to the local party, to be used for campaigns on local issues and to re-elect them, elect their colleagues. The amount donated varies between areas and there are exemptions for hardship.

This is not a fee for being a councillor. It is a contribution for being a Liberal Democrat councillor and receiving the support that goes with that.

I do the same thing in my work. As a self-employed barrister I pay a per centage of my professional fees to my chambers, which funds certain resources and support I share with other members of my chambers. Many self-employed professionals work this way.

In the 2014 European Elections I put my money where my mouth was. All leading Euro candidates including sitting MEPs signed Candidates Compacts pledging to make a contribution. Exact terms varied between regions but in South East England myself and Catherine Bearder pledged to give 10% of our salaries, if we were elected, to our regional parties (South East and South Central). It would be used support local campaigning on issues that really matter to people.

I am proud to have made this commitment, following the leadership shown by our Councillors, and I am only sorry that the electorate in 2014 did not give me the chance to make good on this pledge.

I salute councillors who do the same.

I dont think my defence of tithing was quite the response that the journalist hoped for. He chose not to run a story.

* Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup.
After Wednesdays fun and games in the Welsh Assembly, it has emerged that Kirsty Williams has been approached about possibly taking a seat in the Welsh Cabinet.

From the BBC:

BBC Wales also understands Mr Jones has discussed appointing Lib Dem AM Kirsty Williams as a cabinet minister. Meanwhile the Welsh Tories suggested they will not support Leanne Wood for first minister again without a deal. Neil Hamilton, UKIP assembly group leader, called on the smaller parties to stick together against Labour arrogance. The Plaid Cymru leader was backed by the Conservatives and the seven UKIP AMs, as well as her own party, in the controversial tied vote last Wednesday. Ms Williams was the only opposition AM to support Mr Jones.

The plot thickened:

Meanwhile, Labour and the Lib Dems confirmed talks were continuing between their parties, but refused to reveal what had been discussed. A well-placed Lib Dem source said Ms Williams had discussed an offer to take up a post as a cabinet minister.

Kirsty knows only too well that accepting such an offer would come with many risks attached. The sensible portfolio for her to hold would be health and I suspect that shed only do it if she was given carte blanche to sort stuff out. Extending her More Nurses bill, a key plank of the Liberal Democrat manifesto, would be an important part of that.

We shall have to wait and see what happens. There is no doubt that Kirsty would be a great minister, but she could come under attack for joining a government she had so heavily criticised. If she were able to make a real difference in office that people could feel, it could be a win-win situation, though. The downside is that there would be no distinctive Liberal Democrat voice in opposition to Labour. Much as Kirsty was right to back Jones the other day, Labour still has a massive attitude problem in Wales with that real sense of entitlement to power.

Kirsty and the party in Wales will no doubt be looking at all the aspects of a deal, particularly if the Tories are involved in some way. Watch this space

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
In the past couple of months, I have given some 30 talks and debates at schools, universities and community groups in Greater London and the South East making the case for remaining in the EU. With little over a month remaining before the referendum, an event which could profoundly change our country for the worse, now might be a good time to brainstorm with fellow campaigners on how we might best proceed.

Leavers know their strength is to appeal to gut emotion and take advantage of widespread lack of knowledge of the EU after decades of poor Conservative and Labour leadership and much media misinformation on the issue. Making the case for Remain is complex and is not easily communicated in soundbytes, nor does its often technical arguments make good headlines. Arguing we have the best British trade deal through our EU membership is hardly stirring. Leavers emotional appeal to nationalism, identity and our glorious past is. If we are to win the hearts and minds of the middle third, we need to inject emotion as well.

Catherine Bearder MEP is absolutely right not to cede the patriotic high ground to Eurosceptics. Remainers are patriots too because we know remaining in the EU is in our national interest. The difference is that the Leavers nationalism is atavistic whereas ours is inclusive and positive. I regularly use the line Leavers want to take their country back, we want to take our country forward!

Leavers argue we cannot tell the future. Whilst this is true, we shouldnt fall into the trap of agreeing with them. Professional forecasters, whether economists or weathermen, are needed to help companies and individuals plan and minimise risk. Forecasters are not scaremongering. The referendum is already causing uncertainty and a downturn in the economy, notably in investment. The status quo of EU membership is the safer option. We know what remain looks like (the present), but Leavers cannot describe, let alone agree, what out looks like. Can the leavers name one study which concludes we would be better off out? When interviewed by Andrew Neil, Kate Hoey MP couldnt.

The Leavers rarely address the real issues. The EU is less corrupt than the misrepresentation of it by the Leavers. They regularly discredit our EU membership by linking it to the Eurozone and Schengen crises. We should refocus the discussion on the actual referendum question. We need to emphasise what we would be leaving is primarily the Single Market, overwhelmingly supported by business, and an array of workplace, social, gender and environmental protections supported by many unions and NGOs. We cannot leave the Eurozone and Schengen because we are not part of these arrangements.

The EU should not be blamed for a host of made in Britain political and policy failures over the past decades. There were problems in housing, education and healthcare long before we joined the EU. The EU, which accounts for only 1% of UK government expenditure, can hardly be blamed for national austerity. On balance, the UK is a fairer and more prosperous country than before we joined.

Although we are able to consolidate, and even gain, support for Remain and liberal values in our campaign, neck and neck opinion polls suggest the wider public is not being won over by reasonable arguments alone. We can only hope that through our continued efforts in debates, on the streets and on the doorstep, enough voters hear our arguments, are registered to vote, and turn out to vote Remain on 23 June.

* Nick Hopkinson is chair of the Liberal Democrat European Group (LDEG) and former Director, Wilton Park, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Our EU membership is holding us back from trading with the rest of the world and awful EU regulation is to blame for struggling small businesses in the UK. Sound familiar? Its the broken record of the Leave campaigns business message. This group of politicians wants to portray the UK like a child who needs to have the umbilical cord cut, in order to be set free and conquer the world. In reality, leave or stay in the EU, there is plenty we could be doing to help business and trade, all of which is within our power today.

Lets start with tax. Current UK tax law runs into a total of a staggering 10 million words. Every Chancellor for the last 20 years has added to the problem and only recently has an office for tax simplification been set up, so far with little effect. Small businesses find it impossible to get through to HMRC on the phone while large corporates have easy access to HMRC officials in order to do deals like the one Google struck. Fixing the complexity in our tax system would really help our small business owners to thrive much more than repealing EU legislation actually designed to ensure the single market works for all.

When it comes to the internet, the UKs slowest recorded broadband speed is slower than at the base camp at Everest. This is like a 1900s steam train compared to Korea where speeds 25 times higher have been recorded. It is the lack of willingness to invest by government and industry in broadband infrastructure and not the EU which are to blame here.

Thirdly why are we even talking about expanding Heathrow ? Other big European cities like Paris, Madrid and Frankfurt, realised long ago that big airports and large urban areas do not mix.

Even if the much contested third runway gets the go ahead, there is the prospect of a 20 year legal battle plus the need to physically remove Boris Johnson from the runway before the bulldozers start work . Maybe I have missed something but I do not remember any politician in Brussels telling Cameron or Osborne where to locate a new runway. Gatwick could have its second runway, cheaper and faster than Heathrow should the government make that decision.

Finally, if the EU is so terrible how come Germany runs a trade surplus ? I have been to China twice since 2014 and the streets of Beijing are awash with Porsches and Audis, not cheap Japanese cars like those produced in the UK. Germans have long since valued apprenticeships and skilled trades rather than obsessing about half our school leavers having degrees as Tony Blair did. Only in recent years has the UK finally woken up and realised the critical need for a vocational education system that has helped to make Germany so successful.

In summary, rather than complain about the EU, why do we not take a long hard look in the mirror and get on and make our own lives easier? After all despite what Boris and Nigel might tell you, in many cases its not Brussels telling us what to do.

* Chris Key is dad of two girls, multilingual and internationalist. He is a Lib Dem member in Twickenham who likes holding the local council and MPs to account.
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The new Centra store on OConnell Street has won a major international retail award in Las Vegas.

The new concept Ryans Centra store clinched a gold A.R.E. Design Award for the best convenience store at the awards in the famous Nevada resort.

The awards were announced at Globalshop 2016, the worlds largest annual retail design show held in Las Vegas.

Centra clinched gold alongside other world renowned brands such as Lego, Honda, Under Armour, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.

The Centra store concept was acknowledged for responding to the new food trends on the rise in Ireland, transforming in-store experience and differentiating themselves from competitors.

The new design for Centra was recognised for unifying the convenience offer with a new Fast Fresh Kitchen concept  good food the way you want it  quick.

For our store in the heart of Limerick city to be recognised amongst elite international brands in Las Vegas is something that we could only have ever dreamt of. We are exceptionally proud and we are thankful to the community of Limerick for their continued custom, said James Ryan, store owner.
Wisconsin Republicans are gathering in Green Bay this weekend to rally around their U.S. Senate, congressional and legislative candidates, but the elephant in the room will be the name at the top of their ticket in November.

In a press release on Thursday, the state party announced the convention will focus on re-electing Sen. Ron Johnson and delivering Wisconsins electoral votes to a Republican Presidential nominee without mentioning presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump by name.

The omission is an indication the party is keeping its focus on state races and wont be lining up behind the brash billionaire anytime soon, Republican strategist Brian Fraley said.

There would have been a higher level of excitement about this convention if Trump had not done so well in the weeks following the Wisconsin primary, Fraley said. This is something the state party is going to have to deal with and state parties across the country are going to have to deal with to maintain a level of enthusiasm for down-ticket races.

Asked whether Thursdays press release was meant to downplay Trumps place on the ticket, state GOP spokesman Pat Garrett referred to a recent WisPolitics.com interview with GOP Chairman Brad Courtney, in which he said hell back Trump as the nominee and that other Republicans will come around once they consider the alternative.

GOP elected officials have expressed a range of reactions to Trump becoming the presumptive nominee, from Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, withdrawing as an alternate to the Republican National Convention because of his lack of enthusiasm for the nominee, to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, embracing the New York real estate mogul and reality TV celebrity as a populist who could help win legislative races.

Republican strategist Mark Graul said a lot of Wisconsin Republicans are taking their cue from U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Janesville, who last week said he wasnt ready to endorse Trump and this week said he would step down as Republican National Convention chairman if Trump wanted.

Ryan and Trump met privately with RNC chairman Reince Priebus of Kenosha on Thursday in Washington, after which they announced they had a few differences, but it was critical for Republicans to unify.

I think its fair to say that people are still getting used to Trump being the nominee, Graul said, noting Sen. Ted Cruz soundly defeated Trump here before Trumps win in Indiana knocked the Texas senator out of the race.

Im sure there will be lots of discussion about Trumps candidacy, Graul added. While we all know the name and some stuff about him, thats evolving on their part. A lot of us are waiting to see how that plays out.

Graul said it remains to be seen whether Trump will target Wisconsin during the general election, and the state party will focus on the U.S. Senate race and congressional races regardless. Fraley said theres no chance Trump wins Wisconsin in November because of the strength of the #NeverTrump movement and how soundly he was rejected here in the primary, so its unlikely hell visit the state before November.

Jim Miller, chairman of the 7th Congressional District GOP and an RNC delegate, said the party has gone into its state convention with some dissident voices in the past  in 2012 there were libertarians still seeking support for Ron Pauls candidacy after Mitt Romney clinched the nomination  but nothing like this years divide.

Ive spoken at a few Lincoln Day dinners and our message has been were going to have to unify, Miller said. I suspect that will be the theme  unify.

The convention will feature speeches Saturday by Johnson, Gov. Scott Walker  who at this time last year, a month before Trump joined the race, was polling nationally among the top three presidential contenders  Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Attorney General Brad Schimel, Fitzgerald, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, of Rochester, and the states five GOP members of Congress.

Ryan will be delivering the keynote address at a dinner Saturday night, but his remarks wont be open to the press.

The three-day event, which is expected to draw 800 to 1,000 attendees, also will feature training sessions, panels and a leadership seminar for grassroots activists.
A PRIEST has stepped aside from ministry following a child sex abuse allegation in County Limerick.

The Limerick Leader understands the alleged victim only came forward to gardai in recent months.

The garda investigation centres around sexual abuse claims from the early 1990s when the boy was aged 11 or 12, it is believed.

The priest, who is no longer ministering in the county, was living and working in east Limerick at the time.

It is thought that the complainant is now in his late thirties and resides in Limerick. A file has been prepared for the DPP.

In a statement from the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly to the Limerick Leader following a media query it confirms that a priest of the diocese has stepped aside from ministry while an alleged historical child safeguarding issue is being dealt with.

It is important to state that standing aside does not imply that what is being dealt with is either true or false, said a spokesperson.

As in all circumstances the wellbeing of children is at the heart of church activities and this action is in accordance with the churchs standards and guidance document on safeguarding children. All the relevant statutory authorities are aware of this matter. If anyone has any concerns in relation to the safeguarding of children, we advise that they contact gardai, Tusla or the archdioceses designated liaison person, added the spokesperson.
GARDAI have launched an investigation into the protests that led to lobby groups taking over the Limerick Courthouse and disrupting court proceedings, last week.

Last Friday, more than 100 protesters  a large majority of whom are believed to be from outside Limerick  picketed outside the Merchants Quay courthouse, during 169 repossession hearings that were due to take place.

During the second half of hearings, a large number of protesters forced the county registrar to adjourn the proceedings for more than an hour, as a result of jeering, taunting and chanting in the courthouse.

At least 10 individuals from various anti-eviction lobby groups filmed the courthouse protests and gardai interactions with mobile phones and cameras, and footage was subsequently published online.

It is understood that 32 regular and armed gardai from a number of countywide stations were deployed to the scene, and that a garda sergeant has been appointed to investigate the incident.

Following protests at the courthouse, the campaigners took to the streets and attempted to access a number of banks along OConnell Street, including Bank of Ireland, KBC and Ulster Bank. They also picketed outside the Augustinian Church.

Gardai were deployed to Ulster Bank to assist management in closing its front doors for an hour, in order to prevent the lobbyists from accessing the building.

The president of the Limerick Solicitors Bar Association, Daniel J OGorman wrote to the Limerick Leader this week to condemn the scenes of anarchy.

Mr OGorman, who was present on Friday, said that protest is an important and fundamental right of living in the democracy and society, but that the people involved in the court take-over bring shame to the word protest.

He had to flee from the bench, hurriedly followed by other members of the court staff. These were people who were simply doing their jobs and carrying out a public service. They did not ask or volunteer to be there. Members of the gardai and the legal profession were subjected to behaviour that was inappropriate and degrading, he stated.

He said that the incidents were both shocking and frightening.

In short, a courtroom of this State was taken over by persons who were clearly bent on chaos and thats what they achieved. There have been reports and photographs of what occurred at the courthouse Limerick last Friday which do not go any way to describe what went on.

A challenge of this nature tugs at the very fabric of our society. The courts of this country have often been the last hope for many a disadvantaged and dis-enabled citizen. If the pathway to our courts is impeded or blocked, our society is in danger.

Local activist Greg Doran, who took part in the protests outside the courthouse, defended the actions of the lobby groups, and said that they received a great reception going through the city.

He added that criticism and complaints about the protests were expected.

We are all labelled as protesters who dont want to pay for nothing, that we just want to cause trouble. But the average age there was 50. It wasnt a shower of lunatic left, young fellas trying to create war. There were genuine people there who suffered because of evictions, who are stressed out because of evictions.

He said that people when they go to repossession proceedings are treated like statistics and that solicitors are not doing the jobs that they are paid to do.

I was surprised by the reaction that we got from this. It was the like water charges. First, they laugh at you, then try criminalise you, and then you have them on the ropes. This is the same with this and every other movement we are going to do after this.

For further coverage and comment, see this week's Limerick Leader, broadsheet editions.
THE cream of the crop of Limericks film industry will be flying off to Cannes Film Festival, and will have the opportunity to showcase their selected shorts to a world of movie connoisseurs, next week.

Of the large Limerick contingent heading to the prestigious festival, director Steve Hall will bring his post-apocalyptic Safe; Paddy Murphy will showcase his local history-inspired drama The Cheese Box; Nigel Mercier will feature in Mothers Milk and Cookies, a Belfast-shot film; and Limerick City of Culture animation The Clockmakers Dream will be presented at an exclusive animation screening.

As well as a spot at the world-renowned Short Film Corner, there will be an exclusive event to promote Limerick film at the famous Morrisons Irish bar, in the heart of Cannes on Wednesday night.

When bar owner Robert Ryan, who is a Caherdavin native, discovered the long list of local Cannes nominees, he used it as an opportunity to promote Limericks film culture.

I know how hard it is to get things off the ground as we have had to beat our way to survive in Cannes but a little help from friends always helps, Robert told the Limerick Leader.

Actor and Richard Harris Film Festival director, Zeb Moore said that a number of special guests will be present at the informal, networking event, where people will have the opportunity to view the local films and to learn more about the local festival.

Local stalwart actor, Nigel Mercier said that he looks forward to promoting the local talent at Cannes.

Because these are all Limerick connections, it means that we will have our very own venue to put Limerick filmmakers, and we will be mentioning, there, that we will have Troy Studios at the end of the summer. That is what we are striving for. It is not just about promoting ourselves, it is to promote everybody in the film industry in Limerick.

He added that local filmmaking is really taking off this year. It is a strange coincidence that there are so many Limerick movies suddenly arriving into Cannes in the one year.

This is all down to a group of people, three or four years ago, who decided that they are going to do things for themselves and not wait for anybody else, and everyone around here has not sat on their arse and waited around. They got out and made things happen, he enthused.

Kevin Kiely, Jr, who stars in Paddy Murphys The Cheese Box  a biopic of a dark time in Kielys grandfathers life  said that the films are challenging and that people take notice of that.

The stories are the most important thing. It is a chance for all of us to create a conversation about making film in the Mecca of filmmaking.

This is all happening now because it takes a while to set all this up, it takes a while for us to figure out who works well together, and we can all tell stories that are important to us.

Young director, Steve Hall said that going to the festival is part of his ambition as a filmmaker, and is looking forward to networking with the international nominees.

We had a full Limerick crew, Limerick actors, and now the Limerick accent is going to travel, as well. And its crazy to think that a film we shot out in the Cratloe Woods is going to the Cannes Film Festival.

Director Paddy Murphy told the Leader this week: I hope that by bringing this to an international platform, we will see how people, on an international level, take it in, that is hugely important for me to get that feedback. And this will be an absolutely amazing experience, I think.
May 3, 2021, 9 PM

The Guernsey cow is featured on this souvenir sheet to be issued May 25 by Guernsey Post.

A $3 stamp from Kiribati shows a photograph of the memorial for the Battle of Tarawa.

By Denise McCarty

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati is issuing four stamps May 28 combining local scenes with the Statue of Liberty logo of World Stamp Show-NY 2016, the international stamp show taking place May 28-June 4 in New York City.

The stamps also reflect the theme days of the show. For example, for Armed Forces Day, the theme for May 30, a $3 stamp shows the war memorial for the more than 1,000 Americans who gave their lives during the Battle of Tarawa, fought in November 1943, on Betio.

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The $1.25 stamp intended for use in the philatelic passport at the exhibition pictures an island scene, and 25 and 75 stamps depict young people participating in Independence Day celebrations.

All of the stamp designs are based on photographs taken by Gwynneth and Hugh Bennet.

The Kiribati philatelic bureau will be represented at World Stamp-NY 2016 by Rushstamps (Retail) Ltd. at booth 1164.

Guernsey

The bailiwick of Guernsey in the English Channel pictures a famous export, the Guernsey cow, on its souvenir sheet with the World Stamp Show-NY 2016 logo in the selvage.

The sheet, which contains a single 2 stamp, was issued May 25. Andrew Robinson created the design.

This dairy cow known for its golden-colored milk originated on Guernsey many centuries ago, probably from cows imported from France. Two schooner captains first brought Guernsey cows to the United States in the 1830s and 1840s.

Guernsey Posts booth number at the show is 113. Stamps also are available from Guernsey's philatelic bureau.

More stories about new stamps:

A world of food on Swedens stamps; local cuisine in Norden series: New Stamps of the World

Angry Birds featured on recent U.N. stamps

Great Britain souvenir sheet celebrates 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II
Gov. Scott Walkers sharp criticism of faculty at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  depicting them as overpaid, groaning fussbudgets who barely interact with students, as one instructor put it  has drawn a point-by-point rebuttal from the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

The governor cited a number of statistics about the faculty that are either misleading or false, the Milwaukee AAUP said of a Walker statement citing salary, workload and student contact statistics.

Walker released his statement as UWM faculty prepared for a unanimous vote of no confidence in UW System President Ray Cross and the Board of Regents on Tuesday. UWM was the fourth campus where faculty declared no confidence in UW System leadership over their handling of budgetary, tenure and shared governance issues after a similar resolution was approved at UW-Madison on May 2.

Faculty and staff at UW-Eau Claire postponed a vote on a no confidence resolution Tuesday, while UW-Green Bay faculty overwhelming approved one on Wednesday. Faculty on the UW campuses of La Crosse and River Falls have also voted no confidence.

AAUP begins its rebuttal by saying that Walkers criticism of a declining amount of time spent by faculty with students ignores a recent emphasis on research at UWM that won the institution the highest national designation  R1  this year. This shows the success of UWMs research focus, and it enhances the value of a UWM degree for our students and state alike, the professors said. We would hope the governor would welcome this achievement, rather than bashing the faculty who have worked to make it possible on one of the lowest costs to educate per student of any R1 university in the country. UWM is a national low-cost leader.

Walkers citing of the average salary of a full-time UWM full professor  $101,700 in 2013-2014  is cherry-picking the statistics, AAUP said. Those top earners include less than 30 percent of UWM faculty, they said, adding that it would present a truer picture of faculty earnings to average out pay across the spectrum of faculty.

The source for salary figures cited by Walkers office, a state Legislative Reference Bureau UW System Overview published in January 2015, cites UWM average nine-month salary for full professors of $101,700. The same table also includes an average salary figure for all full time faculty  professors, associate professors, assistant professors and instructors  of $73,000.

Among other statistics refuted by AAUP is a 40 percent increase in spending per student since 2002-2003. That number is misleading because it blends together all sources of funding, the organization said, while state funding has declined precipitously in recent years. In fact, said AAUP, the bulk of the increase in per-student spending over the period cited by the governor comes from the steep increases in tuition that he elsewhere decries.

AAUPs numbers for instructor-student ratio vary wildly from Walkers.

AAUP, citing the UW System Accountability Dashboard as its source, calculates a ratio of 28.3 students per faculty, for 23,108 full time equivalent undergraduates in fall 2014 and 814 faculty.

Add in 861 instructional academic staff counted on the Dashboard in the mix, and the ratio moves to 13.8 students per faculty.

Walkers office cites a current ratio of 2.8 students per faculty member at UWM, and points to the same Accountability Dashboard as its source. The governor's office said it used headcount, a more inclusive number of students than the full-time students counted by AAUP. That calculates to 34.4 students per faculty member or 16.7 students per all levels of instructor.

Jessica McBride, the UWM instructor who paraphrased Walkers depiction of faculty as overpaid, groaning fussbudgets, questioned the motivation of Walker and the Republican-dominated state Legislature in an opinion piece at On Milwaukee.

Republicans engineered budget cuts so fast and big that it almost seems like part of the motive was to force administrators to monetize everything, using weakened tenure provisions to cast aside the liberal theorists whom conservatives consider ideological foes and whose research they, thus, devalue as nonessential, McBride wrote.

"He claims faculty have 2.8 students. He must be focusing on the sliver of people hired solely to research in the sciences, or something similar, to skew the number, because it's a ridiculous figure when you consider academic staff (and I don't know a single professor who teaches that few students). And UWM PR says it's completely wrong," McBride wrote.

It's not that I think there should never be fiscal study nor potential reform in a system this large; it's that I don't think it should be built on facile, insulting rhetoric about greedy, lazy professors, she said.
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Israel kills top terror leader who was fighting in Syria 13 May, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , |

BEIRUT (Christian Examiner)  The Israeli Air Force has conducted a strike in war torn Syria and eliminated Hezbollah's top military commander, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine was reportedly killed early Friday morning by the IAF strike. The Lebanon-based terror group's military operations chief was in Syria, organizing the Shiite group's assistance of President Bashaar al-Assad's forces against the Free Syrian Army (backed by the U.S.), the al-Nusra Front (backed by al-Qaeda) and ISIS.

A statement from the leaders of Hezbollah said on Al-Manar television in Beirut that Badreddine had expected to die as a martyr.

"He said a few months ago, 'I will not come back from Syria, unless a martyr or carrying the flag of victory.' He is the top commander Mustafa Badreddine. And he came back today as a martyr," Hezbollah leaders said.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Badreddine had a reputation for ruthlessness. He was sentenced to death in Kuwait in 1984 for his part in several bombings there. In a stroke of luck for the terrorist, he was released from jail when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded the oil-rich state in 1990.

In 2011, it is alleged he took part in the very public assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiz Hariri.

He was gifted at spycraft, as well. Lebanese authorities know Badreddine drifted in and out of Lebanon without ever being officially cleared for arrival or departure. He also had no bank accounts but was well supplied.

In December 2015, Israel struck at another Lebanese Hezbollah commander. Samir Kuntar was killed in Damascus by Israeli rockets. Samir spent 29 years in an Israeli prison for stabbing Israeli Jews, before he was released and went back to his terrorist ways.
Pro-Life Groups Protest Notre Dame Award to Joe Biden Contact: Eric Scheidler, Pro-Life Action League, 773-251-8792, eric@prolifeaction.org;

Shawn Sullivan, Apostolate of Divine Mercy, 574-286-7860, sullyatlaw@sbcglobal.net;

Monica Miller, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, 248-444-9096, mmmillerlife@gmail.com



CHICAGO, May 13, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Three pro-life organizations plan to hold a public protest when the University of Notre Dame confers its prestigious Laetare Award on Vice President Joe Biden during commencement ceremonies on Sunday, May 15. Though a professing Catholic who claims to support the Church's teaching that abortion is always gravely unjust, Biden has been a staunch supporter of legal abortion through most of his political career.



The Pro-Life Action League, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, and the Apostolate of Divine Mercy will join forces at Angela Boulevard and Notre Dame Drive from 9 a.m. to noon on May 15, to protest the award and display large photographs of the unborn victims of abortion. Monica Migliorino Miller, director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, explained: "Seven years ago the University of Notre Dame honored Obama, a pro-abortion president. Now it has once again turned its back on Catholic social doctrine by awarding the Laetare Medal to Bidena politician who advocates a law that has sent millions of unborn children to their deaths, in complete contradiction to Christ and His Church."



Miller, who was arrested at Notre Dame seven years ago while protesting on campus against President Obama's commencement address, further remarked, "We know that Notre Dame would never honor a person who supported laws that denied minority groups access to education, health care and housingbut it is painfully obvious that for Fr. Jenkins the murder of the unborn simply doesn't matter. And perhaps that is the real disgrace!"



The Apostolate of Divine Mercy's Shawn Sullivan offered the perspective of a local pro-life activist for why the Biden award is so wrong: "With the authentic pro-lifers working so diligently, at God's behest, to combat the advances of evil in abortion, Notre Dame's persistence in awarding the ambassadors of the culture of death is a significant blow to the morale of the faithful. We have diligently kept watch to keep abortion out of our community, and succeeded in removing South Bend's lone abortuarywhich sat in the shadow of Our Lady's Domeonly to have Father Jenkins again invite evil in through the front door."



Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, lamented Biden's abandonment of his pro-life principles: "Joe Biden once spoke out against Roe v. Wade. He even took part in the annual March for Life. But then he abandoned unborn children for political expediency and joined the pro-abortion majority in the Democratic party, while still claiming to be 'personally' opposed to abortion. Biden is eager to point out that his Catholic faith inspires him to support policies that care for the poor and disadvantaged. Why must he turn his back on the most vulnerable of all, the child in the womb?"



In addition to hosting the protest on May 17, Miller, Sullivan and Scheidler have also taken out ads in the Notre Dame Observer and the South Bend Tribune, denouncing the award to Biden. A copy of that ad can be seen here.



For more information please contact:



Monica Miller, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, 248-444-9096, mmmillerlife@gmail.com

Shawn Sullivan, Apostolate of Divine Mercy, (574) 286-7860, sullyatlaw@sbcglobal.net

Eric Scheidler, Pro-Life Action League, 773-251-8792, eric@prolifeaction.org

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As more planets are discovered outside Earth's solar system, scientists must update estimations about the likelihood that life has formed somewhere other than Earth.

SALT LAKE CITY  What are the odds that alien life exists elsewhere in the universe? At a major physics meeting, experts talked about updates to historic predictions about whether humans are alone in the cosmos.

In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake wrote an equation to quantify the likelihood of finding a technologically advanced civilization elsewhere in the universe. The so-called Drake equation took into account factors such as the fraction of stars with planets around them and the fraction of those planets that would be hospitable to life.

In the years since 1961, scientists have updated the values in the Drake equation to incorporate newly acquired scientific information. For example, when Drake wrote his equation, scientists didn't know for sure if stars other than the sun had planets around them; now, researchers have evidence that most stars host planets. But science wasn't the only thing that influenced Drake  even current events factor into his calculation. [The Father of SETI: Q&A with Astronomer Frank Drake]

Do you think life exists on Mars?

A lonely planet?

At the heart of the search for life elsewhere in the universe is the question "Is Earth unique?" said Matthew Stanley, a science historian at New York University. Stanley discussed the history of humanity's evolving view of its place in the cosmos at the American Physical Society April Meeting on Saturday (April 16), in a session focused on recent discoveries in planetary science.

Humans once thought that the Earth was not only unique, but at the center of the entire universe, Stanley said. Scientific investigations eventually showed that our planet is not even at the center of its own solar system  it is one of seven other planets and many smaller bodies orbiting the sun.

On the other hand, in the last 20 years, scientists have discovered thousands of planets around other stars, and most of those planets are not like Earth (they're big and gaseous, like Jupiter). And most solar systems are not like Earth's solar system (big planets orbit close to their parent star, whereas in Earth's solar system, the large planets orbit further out).

Does this suggest that Earth is unique? Stanley said that currently, this question is difficult to answer, because telescopes that search for exoplanets have a selection bias toward large, gas giant planets that orbit very close to their parent stars. With current technologies, these types of planets are easier to detect. With that in mind, scientists are still trying to estimate how many rocky and Earth-like planets are out there.

By one estimation, for every grain of sand on Earth, there could be as many as 10 Earth-like planets in the universe. That's according to Peter Behroozi, a Hubble fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, who presented during the same session as Stanley. (Of course, it is important to remember that the universe is a very big place, and at the moment scientists can search for life only on planets within the Milky Way galaxy.)

An artist's concept of planet system Kepler-47. As scientists learn more about the cosmos, estimations of the likelihood that life exists beyond Earth are changing. (Image credit: NASA)

Behroozi is working to link galaxy formation with planet formation. In a paper published in 2015 in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Socity, he and his co-author showed that larger galaxies produce a greater number of Earth-like planets than do smaller galaxies such as, for example, the Milky Way. But because there are many more Milky Way-size galaxies in the universe, that's where most Earth-like planets in the universe should be found. Thus, Earth's location in a Milky Way-size galaxy is not unique.

This work not only helps scientists make estimations about how many planets are currently in the universe, but how many will form, assuming the universe continues to grow and evolve in the same way it has in the recent past. In the 2015 paper, Behroozi and his colleague look far ahead into the future and estimate that "the universe will form over 10 times more planets than currently exist." The paper summary goes on to say that there is "at least a 92 percent chance that we are not the only civilization the universe will ever have."

A historical perspective

During his talk, Stanley re-traced the history of humanity's search for life beyond Earth, and showed how people are influenced by their own times and experiences when trying to predict what lies beyond this planet.

William Herschel, an extremely influential 18th century astronomer, believed that intelligent beings lived on the sun. In the 19th century, mainstream astronomers thought they saw artificial canals built by intelligent creatures on Mars and Venus. Observations of those two planets and the sun by space-based probes have disproved those ideas, but new research has also given rise to updated ideas about how and where life could exist elsewhere in the universe.

For example, Stanley said, in the last 40 years, scientists have adopted a broader view of the conditions under which life can exist. So-called extremophiles are organisms that live in environments that were previously thought inhospitable, like at the bottom of the ocean, under the ice in Antarctica and in areas that receive high doses of radiation.

Stanley said many aspects of the Drake equation need updating not only with new scientific evidence, but also with new perspectives. (It should be noted that there are scientists and writers who have dedicated entire books (opens in new tab) to updating Drake's predictions.)

Drake's equation, for example includes the variable L, which stands for "the length of time such [technologically advanced] civilizations release detectable signals into space," according to the SETI Institute.

When Drake wrote his equation in the 1960s, the value for L was thought of as the time between when a civilization discovered atomic energy and when that society managed to destroy itself through nuclear annihilation, Stanley said.

"That's a totally reasonable way to think about the length of time of a civilization at the height of the Cold War," he said. "But there's been recent work  arguing that we shouldn't think about 'L' in terms of nuclear war. We should think about it in terms of environmental destruction.  That is, it's the time between the discovery of a steam engine and catastrophic climate change."

The equation also includes the variable fc, which represents the fraction of alien civilizations that "develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence" (such as radio communications or television broadcast signals sprayed out into space), the SETI Institute said.

Today, however, many of Earth's communications no longer leak out into space, but are instead passed neatly between ground sources and satellites. There are still projects searching for leaky alien communications, and some scientists have proposed that humans should look for focused, laser-based systems used by alien civilizations to communicate between multiple planets or even multiple star systems. But Stanley's larger point is that to some extent, humanity can only look for alien civilizations that bear some resemblance to our own.

Today, the search for life on other planets is largely focused on telescopes that can study the atmospheres of distant planets and look for signs of biological processes. For example, high levels of methane (produced by many living organisms on Earth) or oxygen in a planet's atmosphere could be due to biological activity. And one day, researchers may be able to search for artificially created atmospheric elements.

"So even if we bomb ourselves back to the Renaissance or the Stone Age, the evidence that a civilization once existed on our planet [would not be] erased," Behroozi told Space.com.

The composition of a planet's atmosphere could even reveal how an intelligent civilization that once lived managed to kill itself, Stanley said.

It may be impossible for humans to be purely objective in their speculation about life the universe, Stanley said. He added that he thinks personal bias and human experiences will always infuse science, but that those things can also help lead to successes in science. Having different perspectives helps people look at things in new ways, which can lead to breakthroughs, he said. That's why, he said, it's actually a good idea for scientists to "talk to people outside your field  listen to marginal people. Get a diversity of people, people from different backgrounds, different genders [and] different kinds of cultures.

"I think it's actually helpful to embrace the fact that this is always how science is done," he said. "And to accept that everybody's different, everybody has weird ideas, and that's actually a source of strength rather than weakness."

Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
Taking a popular painkiller may be linked to decreased ability to empathize with others' suffering, a new study suggests.

The people in the study who took acetaminophen (sold as Tylenol and various generic labels) showed lower levels of empathy toward other people who talked about feeling physical and emotional pain than those who took a placebo, the researchers found.

"Acetaminophen can reduce empathy as well as serve as a painkiller," study co-author Dominik Mischkowski, a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health who was a Ph.D. student at The Ohio State University at the time of the research, said in a statement. [7 Bizarre Drug Side Effects]

Acetaminophen is the most common active ingredient used in drugs sold in the United States, and is found in more than 600 medicines, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. Each week, about 52 million people in the United States use a medicine that contains acetaminophen, according to the association.

In one experiment in the study, 40 healthy college students drank a liquid containing 1,000 milligrams of acetaminophen (the maximum recommended dose of Tylenol for adults over the course of a 24-hour period is 3,000 milligrams, or 6 pills per day), and another 40 college students drank a placebo solution without the drug. After one hour, the students read eight short scenarios in which people suffered some sort of physical or emotional pain. For example, one scenario was about someone who had experienced a knife cut that went down to the bone, and another was about someone else mourning the recent death of his father.

Then, the people in the study rated the intensity of pain that they thought the people described in the scenarios had experienced. It turned out that the people who took acetaminophen rated the pain of the people in the scenarios to be less severe than the people who took the placebo did. [5 Surprising Facts About Pain]

In the second experiment, the researchers looked at 114 college students, who took either acetaminophen or a placebo. The students received four 2-second blasts of loud noise and rated how unpleasant the blasts were. They were also asked to rate how unpleasant the same noise blasts would be to other anonymous people.

It turned out that the people who took the acetaminophen rated the blasts as less unpleasant to both themselves and other people compared with people who took the placebo, according to the study, published in May in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.

It is not clear why, exactly, the drug appears to be linked to lower levels of empathy, and more research is needed to examine the potential mechanism behind the link, the researchers said.

The study also had some caveats, the researchers said. For example, the people in the study were healthy and were not experiencing actual physical pain, said study co-author Baldwin Way, a psychology professor at The Ohio State University.

"That might be a slightly different context than someone who is taking this drug for a headache or a back ache or some sort of pain," he told Live Science.

Therefore, it is not clear if the link between taking the drug and lower empathy levels would also be present in people taking these drugs to deal with physical pain, he said.

Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.
In her race to secure the Democratic nomination for president, Hillary Clinton has recently drawn support from an unusual voter base  alien enthusiasts. First in a radio interview, then again on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Clinton expressed interest in making public files about UFOs and the mysterious Nevada site called Area 51.

"I would like us to go into those files and hopefully make as much of that public as possible. If there's nothing there, let's tell people there's nothing there," said Clinton, speaking with Kimmel. She confirmed that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had also gone looking for extraterrestrial information during his presidency and came up empty.

And that's what the public can probably expect from these "UFO files," experts told Live Science. [Flying Saucers to Mind Control: 7 Declassified Military & CIA Secrets]

"If anyone is expecting to find flying saucers or dead aliens or any of that stuff, I think they'll be very disappointed," said Jeffrey T. Richelson, senior fellow with the National Security Archive at George Washington University, of this hypothetical release, in an interview with Live Science.

The National Security Archive, a nonprofit founded in 1985 to uncover and archive government documents and release them to the public, holds the second-largest collection of declassified U.S. files (the federal government has the largest repository).

As part of the archive's efforts, Richelson edited a release of declassified Area 51 files in 2013 that included more than 60 documents. Among many other activities, these files shed some light on Area 51's role in the development of stealth programs and the test flights of covertly obtained Soviet MiG fighter jets during the Cold War.

What is Area 51?

Warning signs tell people to stay away from Area 51. (opens in new tab) Shutterstock.com (opens in new tab) ) (Image credit: SipaPhoto

Located in Nevada about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northwest of Las Vegas, Area 51 is a military base that is restricted to the public. Its official name is the Nevada Test and Training Range, which is part of the Edwards Air Force Base.

Over the years, people who have worked (and claimed to have worked) at Area 51 have added fuel to the UFO fire with claims of working with aliens or having access to alien technology gathered from spacecraft crash sites. [7 Huge Misconceptions About Aliens]

"It's important to separate [what really happened there] from what most people think of when they think of Area 51: that that's where there is alien technology, a crash that had occurred somewhere that had been picked up by the military and kept there in a super-secret base, and all that kind of stuff," said Roger D. Launius, associate director for collections and curatorial affairs at the National Air and Space Museum. "That piece of it is a folklore that has no bearing [on] and no relationship to any reality whatsoever."

The scoop on spy planes

What is real, added Launius, is the facility's involvement in highly classified aerospace research and development.

Area 51's connection to experimental aircraft may be a reason why people have connected it with extraterrestrial cover-ups. After all, it is a well-known yet super-secret base that has many strange aircraft fly in and out of it, Richelson said. By his estimation, further details about the different aircraft programs that have connections to Area 51 would be the most likely results of any actions Clinton would take to declassify documents about the facility.

Specifically, Richelson theorized that further declassification of Area 51 documents could fill us in on what has gone on there after the U-2, OXCART (the successor to the U-2), F-117 and SR-71 Blackbird secret aircraft projects, which were featured in the 2013 document release. It's a challenge to theorize about the contents of secret documents, but Richelson's best guesses were that the public might gain additional information about stealth-drone programs, such as the RQ-170 and RQ-180, and other exotic aircraft that were tested but never produced in significant numbers.

One aircraft that he said we could learn more about is the Northrop Tacit Blue, a battlefield surveillance aircraft that, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, "tested advanced radar sensors and new ideas in stealth technology." This unusual plane, with curves reminiscent of a to-go box, flew 135 times before the program ended in 1985.

Regardless of whether people are invested in extraterrestrial revelations, Launius said there is an important point to be made about Clinton's declassification discussions. "I would like to think that, whoever the president is  whether it's Mrs. Clinton or it's Mr. Trump, or it's somebody else, or the current president as well  that every piece of classified information that exists inside the federal government that is no longer necessary for our national security, should be declassified," he said.

While he is in favor of openness in regard to government records, Launius also notes that declassification does require significant effort and may take several years to complete, even with a presidential push.

Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
This CT scan of the coffin, dating from 644 B.C. to 525 B.C., shows the mummy's upper limbs and skull.

A miniature coffin discovered more than a century ago holds the remains of the youngest Egyptian ever embalmed as a mummy on record, researchers in England said.

A computed tomography (CT) scan of the coffin revealed that the coffin didn't hold mummified internal organs, as researchers had suspected, but instead contains the tiny mummy of a human fetus, according to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. The mummified fetus was likely at only 16 to 18 weeks of gestation when it died, likely from a miscarriage, museum officials said.

"This landmark discovery  is remarkable evidence of the importance that was placed on official burial rituals in ancient Egypt, even for those lives that were lost so early on in their existence," museum researchers said in a statement.

The British School of Archaeology originally uncovered the 17-inch-long (44 centimeters) coffin in Giza in 1907, and the Fitzwilliam Museum added the coffin to the museum collection that same year. The cedarwood coffin is a perfect miniature of a regular-size coffin from Egypt's Late Period, and likely dates to about 644 B.C. to 525 B.C., museum researchers said. It even has "painstakingly small" carvings on it, the researchers added. [Photos: 1,700-Year-Old Egyptian Mummy Revealed]

For years, museum curators assumed that the coffin held internal organs, which were routinely removed during the Egyptian embalming process. But curators found otherwise when they examined the coffin during preparations for the museum's bicentennial exhibition, "Death on the Nile: Uncovering the Afterlife of Ancient Egypt," which opened in February.

What they discovered in the coffin surprised them.

The left tibia (leg bone) is shown here in green. (Image credit: Copyright The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge )

The wood casket contained a small wrapped package, bound in bandages and covered with molten black resin. An X-ray of the coffin gave inconclusive results, but suggested that the container held a small skeleton. So, the researchers examined the tiny bundle with a micro CT scan.

The resulting CT images revealed that the coffin held the remains of a tiny skeleton, which the researchers left undisturbed.

"CT imaging has been used successfully by the museum for several projects in recent years, but this is our most successful find so far," Dr. Tom Turmezei, recently an honorary consultant radiologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, England, said in the statement. "The ability of CT to show the inner workings of such artifacts without causing any structural damage proved even more invaluable in this case, allowing us to review the fetus for abnormalities and attempt to age it as accurately as possible."

The CT scans showed that the fetus already had five digits on each of its hands and feet, as well as clearly visible long leg and arm bones. However, it's unclear whether it was a boy or a girl, and it's unknown what caused the miscarriage, if that's what really happened, the researchers said.

The CT images also indicate that the fetus' arms are crossed over its chest. This intricate positioning, coupled with the extraordinary detail on the coffin, suggest that ancient Egyptians placed great importance on the fetus' burial, the researchers said.

"The care taken in the preparation of this burial clearly demonstrates the value placed on life, even in the first weeks of its inception," said Julie Dawson, head of conservation at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

This discovery isn't the only one of its kind. King Tutankhamun's tomb contained two mummified fetuses, which were estimated to be at 25 weeks and 37 weeks into gestation. Archaeologists have also discovered a few other examples of miscarried babies in ancient Egyptian burials, the researchers said.

The public can view the miniature coffin at the Fitzwilliam Museum until the exhibit ends on May 22.

Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission at Fault for Politically-Motivated Charges Against Chief Justice Roy Moore, Says Local Organization



MONTGOMERY, Ala., May 13, 2016 /



"Chief Justice Moore has violated no federal court order and has done nothing wrong," Tom Ford, spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said. "The charges levied by the J.I.C. were the result of politically-motivated complaints fueled by transvestite Ambrosia Starling and organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign out of hatred for God and morality. We find in the charges no basis for suspension or further review. All six charges should be immediately dropped and this political travesty be brought to a halt."



Each of the charges against the Chief Justice are based on his administrative order from January 6, 2016  issued constitutionally within his administrative capacity as head of the judicial system and stating what were the legal and procedural realities in Alabama at that time. If the Alabama Supreme Court had believed that the Chief Justice's administrative order was inappropriate, it could have rescinded it, which it did not.



Ford continued, "The charges are prefaced by nothing short of a witch hunt, and are an attempt to paint a factual administrative order as an ethics violation. The J.I.C. has capitulated to the politically correct agenda of the radical Left and has essentially communicated that a conflict with their 'personal beliefs' about marriage, the Constitution, or the scope of judicial review can result in ethics charges against any Alabama judge. This should concern all of us.



"Chief Justice Moore has been a courageous champion for marriage and the rule of law and it's no surprise those who hate or refuse to stand for both have engaged in a coup to take him down," said Ford.



Sanctity of Marriage Alabama expects elected officials and pastors to publicly stand with Chief Justice Roy Moore recognizing that even as he stands for God's truth, for marriage, and for the law, he has done nothing to deserve these charges or suspension from his position.



Supporters of the Chief Justice, conservative organizations across the State, churches, and elected officials will rally at the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in Montgomery on Saturday, May 21st, 2016 from 11:00am  12:00 noon.

Share Tweet Contact: Tom Ford, 334-220-2319MONTGOMERY, Ala., May 13, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- Sanctity of Marriage Alabama faulted the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) Thursday for acting on politically-motivated complaints and filing unfounded charges against Chief Justice Roy Moore which resulted in temporary suspension from office on May 6, 2016."Chief Justice Moore has violated no federal court order and has done nothing wrong," Tom Ford, spokesperson for Sanctity of Marriage Alabama said. "The charges levied by the J.I.C. were the result of politically-motivated complaints fueled by transvestite Ambrosia Starling and organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign out of hatred for God and morality. We find in the charges no basis for suspension or further review. All six charges should be immediately dropped and this political travesty be brought to a halt."Each of the charges against the Chief Justice are based on his administrative order from January 6, 2016  issued constitutionally within his administrative capacity as head of the judicial system and stating what were the legal and procedural realities in Alabama at that time. If the Alabama Supreme Court had believed that the Chief Justice's administrative order was inappropriate, it could have rescinded it, which it did not.Ford continued, "The charges are prefaced by nothing short of a witch hunt, and are an attempt to paint a factual administrative order as an ethics violation. The J.I.C. has capitulated to the politically correct agenda of the radical Left and has essentially communicated that a conflict with their 'personal beliefs' about marriage, the Constitution, or the scope of judicial review can result in ethics charges against any Alabama judge. This should concern all of us."Chief Justice Moore has been a courageous champion for marriage and the rule of law and it's no surprise those who hate or refuse to stand for both have engaged in a coup to take him down," said Ford.Sanctity of Marriage Alabama expects elected officials and pastors to publicly stand with Chief Justice Roy Moore recognizing that even as he stands for God's truth, for marriage, and for the law, he has done nothing to deserve these charges or suspension from his position.Supporters of the Chief Justice, conservative organizations across the State, churches, and elected officials will rally at the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building in Montgomery on Saturday, May 21st, 2016 from 11:00am  12:00 noon. www.iStandWithJudgeMoore.com or Facebook: Sanctity of Marriage Alabama.
President George W. Bush to Welcome Delegates to World Congress of Families X, Tbilisi, Georgia on Monday, May 16 Contact: Larry Jacobs, Manager, World Congress of Families, 815-997-7106, media@worldcongress.org



TBILISI, Georgia May 13, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is the text of the welcome message from President George W. Bush to be delivered to the delegates of the World Congress of Families X at the Opening Ceremony on May 16: I send greetings to those gathered for the World Congress of Families X in Tbilisi, Georgia.



As the first sitting U.S. President to visit Georgia, I was honored and humbled by the appreciation and enthusiasm expressed to me by the Georgian people gathered in Tbilisi's Freedom Square in 2005. I repeat the words that I spoke to them then, 'Georgia is a beacon of liberty for this region and the world. The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone ... the American people will stand with you.'



Around the world, families provide that beacon of freedom and the source of help, hope, and stability for individuals and nations. As one of the pillars of civilization and the bulwark of liberty, families must remain strong and we must defend them. To ensure that future generations are prepared to face new opportunities and challenges, as President, I took steps to promote strong families, preserve the sanctity of marriage and protect the well-being of children. Laura and I have always believed in encouraging adoption and supporting the crisis pregnancy center programs to help us continue to build a culture of life.



I commend your efforts to recognize the importance of families in building nations. Your work improves many lives and makes the world better.



Laura joins me in sending our best wishes. The former U.S. President will be also honored with the "FAMLIA ET CIVITAS" (Family and Democracy) Award for his pro-life work to build a culture of life. The theme of the Tenth Jubilee, World Congress of Families X is "Civilization at The Crossroads: The Natural Family as the Bulwark of Freedom and Human Values."



World Congress of Families unites leaders worldwide in defense of family, faith, and freedom by: (1) Affirming the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (2) Promoting the natural family as the fundamental and only sustainable unit of society and (3) Defending the dignity and sanctity of every human life from conception to natural death.



This award comes more than a decade after Georgians celebrated and honored President Bush, by naming the road to the Tbilisi international airport "George W. Bush" Highway in recognition of the former President.



President Bush has greeted previous World Congress of Families events, including the World Congress of Families III held in Mexico City in 2004 which was also addressed by Mexican First Lady, Mrs. Martha Fox.



President Bush commended the efforts of the World Congress to "recognize the importance of families in our society. Around the world, families are the source of help, hope, and stability for individuals and nations. As one of the pillars of civilization, families must remain strong and we must defend them during this time of great change. Your work improves many lives and makes the world better," declared Mr. Bush. Here is the full text of Mr. Bush's greeting from 2004 at World Congress of Families III in Mexico City, worldcongress.ge/george-w-bush.pdf.



President Bush is the first sitting U.S. President to visit Georgia and his visit in 2005 to Tbilisi's Freedom Square was enthusiastically received by the Georgian people. "Georgia is a beacon of liberty for this region and the world," Mr. Bush said. "The path of freedom you have chosen is not easy, but you will not travel it alone ... the American people will stand with you."



A local Georgian official commented on the President, "As Georgians, we have a special connection to President Bush as he was the first U.S. President to visit our great homeland, one of the oldest Christian nations on earth. Mr. Bush won a place in our hearts as he danced to Georgian music and declared our nation to be a beacon of liberty and freedom for the world. He gave us hope that we could maintain our Georgian traditions of family, faith, and freedom while partnering with America and the West."



WCF Tbilisi 2016 will be the first World Congress of Families in the Eurasian and Caucasus region (on the Old Silk Road to China) and the first in an Orthodox Christian country. WCF X conferences and concerts will be held in multiple venues in Tbilisi including the opening ceremony in Tbilisi's State Philharmonic Concert Hall, the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel, and the closing ceremony in the historic Rustaveli National Theatre in Tbilisi. WCF X will be broadcast on Georgian TV stations and various international channels to more than 250 million viewers.



Previous Congresses have been held in Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw (2007), Amsterdam (2009), Madrid (2012), Sydney (2013) and Salt Lake City (2015). The Tenth Jubilee, World Congress of Families X  Civilization at The Crossroads: The Natural Family as the Bulwark of Freedom and Human Values - will take place in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia (May 15-18, 2016). This is the premier gathering of the world's largest network of pro-family leaders, parents, youth, lawmakers, scholars, religious leaders, and advocates united to support the natural family. WCF X is uniting global leaders to defend family and faith and to developing a pro-family agenda for Europe and the World.



To register and reserve your tickets for World Congress of Families X go to:

www.eventbrite.com/e/world-congress-of-families-x-tbilisi-republic-of-georgia-may-15-18-2016-tickets-22669828066?aff=es2.



Free press pass registrations are available for news media and reporters at:

www.eventbrite.com/e/world-congress-of-families-x-tbilisi-republic-of-georgia-may-15-18-2016-tickets-22669828066?aff=es2.



Free Student/Emerging Leader Registrations also available at:

www.eventbrite.com/e/world-congress-of-families-x-tbilisi-republic-of-georgia-may-15-18-2016-tickets-22669828066?aff=es2.



For more information on World Congress of Families X, visit the Congress websites: www.worldcongress.ge and www.worldcongress.org.

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Two local councillors have defended their decision to speak out against NAMA after the agency hit back at statements made at a recent county council meeting.

Cllrs Mae Sexton and Micheal Carrigy came in for criticism amid claims unscrupulous developers were buying back their assets at rock bottom prices.

That allegation was made by Cllr Sexton with Cllr Carrigy insisted the body was obliged to make public properties it intended selling on the open market.

In a front page article in the Leader last week, NAMA insisted all of its assets are openly marketed and sold to the highest bidder to ensure the highest achievable price is obtained for the taxpayer.

The agency also said Section 172 of the NAMA Act precluded debtors or parties associated with them from buying back properties.

Information about its borrowers could not be made public, said NAMA.

Reacting to that statement this week, Cllr Sexton said she would be making no apologies over her earlier comments, going so far as to predict NAMA was destined to become one of Ireland's greatest political calamities for many decades.

I simply asked NAMA by way of a notice of motion to provide Longford Co Co with a list of properties in Longford which are in NAMA. Their response was indicative of the contempt it displays when asked to answer questions and their lack of tranparency is reprehensible, she said.

As a democratically elected representative of the people I make no apologies for challenging matters of concern raised by those I represent.

 I predict that NAMA will prove, in the not too distant future, to be as big a controversy as Moriarity, Mahon, Flood, and the more recent Anglo unless it decides to make some attempt to engender confidence in the general public as to how it operates and does its business.

Cllr Micheal Carrigy likewise declined to retract his remarks.

If properties are being sold, they should be on the public market and that should go for the banks as well, he said.

Are the banks getting the maximum value for properties? I don't think so and that is exactly what it (NAMA) was set up for-to get the maximum value for the taxpayer.
Sports & Recreation, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 13 2016

NYS DEC and New York Sea Grant have launched the "New York's Great Lakes" website that will serve as an information clearinghouse and portal through which users can access specific resources.

Albany, NY - May 12, 2016 - The New York State Department of Environmental conservation (DEC) and New York Sea Grant have launched the "New York's Great Lakes" website that will serve as an information clearinghouse and portal through which users can access specific resources related to grant funding, research projects, and the priorities of New York's Great Lakes Action Agenda.

Information categories on the New York's Great Lakes website include: About NY's Great Lakes, Coastal Processes, Education, Energy, Fisheries, Funding Opportunities, Great Lakes Action Agenda, Great Lakes Communities, Invasive Species, Natural Ecosystem and Habitat, Recreation and Tourism, and Water Quality.

The "Contact Us" feature on the site allows users to submit comments and questions to Great Lakes Watershed Coordinators designated by the NYSDEC. Users may also subscribe to the NY Great Lakes Basin listserv for news, funding opportunity notices, and events.

DEC Acting Commissioner Basil Seggos said, "The new Great Lakes clearinghouse website brings us one step closer to addressing the information management and public outreach to diverse audiences across the state. It's also a useful tool in informing the public about New York's Interim Great Lakes Action Agenda."

"This comprehensive web-based resource spotlights the importance of New York's Great Lakes region, the coastal environment, and associated recreational and economic opportunities. This new website is a go-to resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the value and vitality of New York's Great Lakes region," said New York Sea Grant Associate Director Katherine E. Bunting-Howarth.

"This website is designed as the launching point for audiences of all backgrounds, from environmental researchers and agency personnel to teachers and students interested in New York's Great Lakes information," said New York's Great Lakes website project leader Brittney Rogers, based at the New York Sea Grant satellite office at Wayne County Cooperative Extension, Newark, NY.

As an example of the types of information and resources available through the new site, the Great Lakes Communities portal provides links to:

the New York Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Program,

the Great Lakes Coastal Resilience Planning Guide published by the NOAA Digital Coast Partnership,

National Weather Service Marine Forecasts, and

the New York State Department of State Office of Planning & Development Geographic Information Gateway.

Personnel with environmental agencies and organizations statewide helped test the website for user-friendliness and provided resources.

This website was developed by New York Sea Grant with funding from the Environmental Protection Fund, in support of the Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act of 2006. This website supports the goals of an Interim NYS Great Lakes Action Agenda, a plan for applying ecosystem-based management to complex environmental problems in order to conserve, protect and enhance our irreplaceable Great Lakes natural resources.
Local News, Travel & Local Attractions, Press Releases

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 13 2016

Please be advised of the following Community Events that will be taking place this weekend. These events may cause temporary road closures and/or traffic congestion.

Traffic advisories are in effect for this weekend in anticipation of several community events.

Wyandanch / Lindenhurst, NY - May 12, 2016 - Please be advised of the following Community Events that will be taking place this weekend. These events may cause temporary road closures and/or traffic congestion.

Wyandanch - Sat. May 14th 7:30 am - 4 pm: Witness Project/Walk of L.I. will be holding a walk-a-thon beginning at the Wyandanch Senior Nutrition Center. Heading west on Wyandanch Ave. to Straight Path, south to Wellwood Ave south to Farmers Ave., east to Indiana Ave. then south to Sunrise Highway past the Town of Babylon Town Hall to No. Monroe Ave. , making a left to Town Hall Pond.

Lindenhurst Village  Sun. May 15th 10am: Lindenhurst Community Cares will hold a walk against drug and alcohol abuse. The walk will begin at the Village Marina on So. Wellwood Ave., and proceed north to the Village Square at No. Wellwood Ave. and Hoffman Ave.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

Columnists Press Releases
home World To be Christian in Iraq is an impossible mission, says priest from Baghdad

A priest shared to a church in California what he went through when he was detained by jihadists in Iraq in 2006, and said that it's impossible to be a Christian in the Middle-Eastern country.

"To be Christian in Iraq, it's an impossible mission," Father Douglas said, as quoted by Express. "But even so, I'm not actually surprised when they attack my people. I'm surprised how my people are still existing."

According to the report, the priest was on his way home from a mass in Baghdad when the al-Qaeda conducted the attack. He was there when his church was bombed, after which he was taken as a hostage and was subjected to torture for more than a week.

"They destroyed my car, they blew up my church on front of me. I got shot by AK-47 in my leg. The bullet is still in my leg. And I had been kidnapped for nine days," he narrated. "They smash my nose and my teeth by hammer. And they broke one of my back discs."

Father Douglas is now staying in the Northern Kurdish terrirory and works with Christian refugees and displaced people who had no choice but to flee the violence in their homes.

The report says that the current estimates of Christians remaining in Iraq is less than 200,000. Non-government organization Open Doors USA said, given the current plight and flight of Christians from the Middle East, there is a chance that Christianity would be extinguished from the place of its roots.

There is an international outcry against the persecution of Christians in many parts of the world. They have been subjected to inhumane treatment, including murder, rape, abduction of youth and making them into sex slaves, and many more. They are forced to convert to Islam or suffer the consequences like having to pay a special tax, imprisonment, and even death. In March, the United States Secretary of State John Kerry declared the actions of the Islamic State aka Daesh as genocide.

"In my judgment Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups ... under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia (Shi'ite) Muslims," he said. "Naming these crimes is important, but what is essential is to stop them."

A petition for the United Nations to likewise declare the atrocitiies against Christians in Syria and Iraq as genocide had gathered 400,000 signatures.
home World Yemeni Christians, civilians suffering from war

Christians and other religious minorities are suffering in Yemen as much as those in other places in the Middle East. The predominantly Muslim country of 26 million people ranks 11th in the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most severe persecution because of their faith.

"There is no God, but God. Mohammed is the messenger of God; The Islamic State, God's curse on Christians," is the translation of the message scrawled on a Christian Yemeni's living room wall, reports the Human Rights Watch.

According to the group's Yemen & Kuwait Researcher Belkis Wille, the Christian man alias John was running a library in Taizz, and among his collection were Christian books. He was not worried about the various threats he received in recent years over his faith, but customs officials who confiscated his February 2015 shipment of Christian books have reportedly suggested burning them because "they were offensive to the community and religion." His lawyer was also told to be careful of people who might put into their heads to burn John's library if the shipments were to be allowed to get into the city. In April, he fled because of the escalating violence; and in September, masked men were seen entering his apartment and library, taking his Christian books into their vehicles, then burning them in a public marketplace.

The report also says that witnesses allege that the bombing of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Aden in December was done by Islamists, as well as the burning of the Church of St. Joseph in September. In March this year, unidentified men stormed into a church-run retirement home, killing 16 people including four nuns, and kidnapping a priest.

On Wednesday, a suicide bomber caused the death of six security personnel and two civilians and the injuries of 17 people, including the target, General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, commander of Yemen's First Military Region. Reuters reports that no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to the article by Human Rights Watch, Christians in Yemen, composed of native Yemenis and those who came to the country to find refuge, have felt and are feeling rather acutely the pressure and impact of war. There is an estimated 41,000 of them, although some might have already fled. Nonetheless, the Christians who are in the country along with other civilians -- some 80 percent of the population -- are in "a dire humanitarian crisis." According to Open Doors USA, the hunger crisis there is among the worst in the world.
The suicide bomber as shown in Islamic States propaganda release

The Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), formerly known as Boko Haram, released a statement claiming responsibility for yesterdays suicide bombing in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern Borno State. There are conflicting reports about the damage from the attack.

In the statement, the jihadist group claimed no less than 15 were killed and that 20 other people were injured in the suicide bombing. It went on to say that after planning in advance, it was possible for the brother Abu Anas al Ansari (pictured above) to detonate his explosive belt in the middle of the apostate Nigerian parliament gathering in Maiduguri. However, the numbers given by the Islamic State have widely differed with press reports from the region.

While the media corroborated the ISWAs information that two police officers were killed in the attack, the number of civilians killed has ranged anywhere from two to five people. Reuters, quoting rescue workers from the scene, reported five people were killed in the blast and that 19 others were left wounded. Nigerian news outlet The Vanguard reported only the two policemen at the gates of the Borno State Government Secretariat were killed in the attack.

Discrepancies in numbers have occurred previously as the government attempts to play down the impact of attacks.

Just hours before the attack at the Secretariat, another suicide bomber was confronted in the village of Sulaimanti just outside of Maiduguri. According to Nigerian officials, the bomber was attempting to enter a local mosque to detonate during early morning prayers. Residents attempted to restrain him before he detonated himself, which left five people badly injured.

Maiduguri has been frequently hit by suicide attacks in recent months. In late March, ISWA killed more than 20 after two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque in the village of Ummarari outside of Maiduguri. In late December, ISWA first launched a coordinated assault on Maiduguri by setting in motion at least two female suicide bombers. The two detonated as part of a wider assault, killing at least 15 people. As fighting raged on to a second day in the city, another woman detonating herself near a mosque, killing 20.

To the north of Maiduguri, the small village of Dawari was also attacked in the assault. However, Nigerian security officials have said their forces intervened and were able to kill 10 other would-be suicide bombers. (See LWJ report, Islamic State West Africa launches coordinated assaults in northeast Nigeria.)

The two suicide bombings come after the Nigerian military has claimed several successes in recent weeks. On Apr. 26, the military said it killed a top ISWA commander in Borno. While on May 1, the Nigerian military claimed it captured a key bomb making facility of ISWA in the town of Ngala. Additionally, the army has said it recaptured seven villages in northeastern Nigeria last week. But, in retreating in other areas of Borno, ISWA burned down two villages in recent days.

Yesterdays suicide bombing is intended to show that ISWA retains the operational capacity to strike in the heart of major, well protected cities like Maiduguri despite being pushed back elsewhere in the country. The rate of major attacks have waned in recent months as the Nigerian military continues to make gains in recapturing ISWA-held territory. This includes the use of female suicide bombers, which has slowed drastically compared to last year. However, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal, ISWA has used at least 113 female suicide bombers since June 2014.

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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Hezbollah announced the death of Mustafa Badreddine, its notorious senior military commander, in Syria early Friday morning. Badreddine was the successor of his brother-in-law and cousin Imad Mughniyah to the post, its highest ranking military official behind the organizations Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and his chief of intelligence.

Badreddine was one of the terrorists responsible for the 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut which killed 241 American servicemen, among a long and bloodstained career.

Though initial reports  including from sources sympathetic to Hezbollah  indicated that Badreddine was killed in an Israeli air strike, the Party itself was more ambiguous. When prominent commanders, such as Mughniyah or his son Jihad, were previously killed, the Shiite party was quick to point the finger at the Israelis. This time, its official statement confirming Badreddines death refrained from identifying those responsible or vowing retaliation.

According to local sources, an Israeli jet breached the airspace over Damascus, entering the Syrian capital from its southern outskirts. The plane carried out a pinpoint strike on a Hezbollah unit stationed near Damascus International Airport. In the subsequent explosion, Badreddine and two Iranian paramilitary commanders were killed, and wounding others in the process.

Hezbollahs statement confirmed that Badreddine was killed at the Airport, adding, however that the group was still in the process of determining whether he was killed in an airstrike, i.e. by the Israelis, or by rocket or artillery fire, meaning by Syrian rebels. The group maintained the ambiguity on Badreddines assassins during his funeral, with its deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem saying they would disclose their identity within a few hours.

He remained in the shadows and was known by various aliases over the years, inhabiting a dark, invisible, world, but Badreddine was one of Hezbollahs most illustrious members.

Mustafa Amine Badreddine  also known as Dhul Fiqar  was born in a Shiite suburb of Beirut in 1961 and was a member of Fatahs Force 17 along with Mughniyah. In the wake of Israels 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the two joined an embryonic Hezbollah. Since then, his infamous career has been meteoric, distinguishing himself early on as an expert bomb-maker, whereas Mughniyah was the master planner. Shortly after joining the group, he and Mughniyah were tapped to lead the October 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut. They oversaw and coordinated the entire attack until completion, watching from a nearby building as the barracks exploded. It was apparently during this attack that Badreddine developed his trademark technique of adding gasoline to the explosives to increase their destructive power.

Badreddines next exploit, once again alongside Mughniyah, was as part of the Kuwait 17 , who were members the Iran-based al-Dawa, an Iraqi Shiite fundamentalist group. The group carried out a string of seven terror attacks in Kuwait on December 12, 1983, killing five people and wounding 86. Their targets included the American and French embassies, the Kuwaiti airport, Raytheon Corporations headquarters, a Kuwait National Petroleum Company oil-rig and a government-owned power station.

He was arrested a month later, and after a 16-week trial was sentenced to death by Kuwait for masterminding the attacks. Unrepentant, he ordered the failed assassination of the Kuwaiti emir in 1985 while still in prison. He remained there until he escaped in 1990 during the chaos of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, fleeing to Iran. With the help of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he returned to Beirut and established Unit 1800 with Mughniyah, which abetted terror attacks against Israel from the West Bank and Gaza.

In 1992 he was placed in command of Hezbollahs central military force, laying down its strategy to combat Israeli forces stationed in Lebanon, and taking an active role in planning many of the operations and attacks on the IDF until their withdrawal in May of 2000. Badreddine took the lead role in planning and overseeing, Hezbollahs 1997 ambush of the IDFs Shayetet 13 commando troops in south Lebanon, one of the heaviest blows suffered by the Israelis during their 18 year presence in the country. The commando force was making its way inland to assassinate a Hezbollah leader in the village of Ansariya, south of Sidon. Unbeknownst to the Israelis, Hezbollah had intercepted surveillance footage of the planned raid, and mined the area with explosives. As the force entered an orchard near Ansariya beach, Hezbollah fighters detonated the IEDs  killing 12 commandos, including the force commander  and opened fire on the attacking Israeli force.

Badreddine went on to coordinate the activities of Hezbollahs Unit 3800 (previously known as Unit 2800) , which promoted attacks on Sunni, US and British forces in during the Iraq war, and the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. In 2011, the UN-established Special Tribunal for Lebanon indicted Badreddine for the murder, prompting an enraged Nasrallah to threaten to cut off the hand of anyone who tried to extradite him or his co-conspirators.

After that, he was rumored to have been replaced by Talal Hamayeh as the head of Hezbollahs external operations and fled to Iran. However, Badreddine reappeared in Syria in 2011 to command Hezbollahs military operations, and had a crucial role in uniting the disparate Iranian-proxy Shiite militias in 2012 to shore up Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. While in Syria, he led Hezbollahs critical 2013 ground offensive in Qusayr, and in 2015, was commanding operations in southern Syria alongside IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.

Badreddine is the latest high profile Hezbollah commander to be killed in Syria, following on the heels of the assassination of Samir Quntar in late 2015, and the Mazraat Amal strike earlier that year which killed six individuals including Jihad Mughniyah, and field commander Mohammad Issa, responsible for the groups operations in Syria and Iraq. Hezbollah quickly blamed Israel for both attacks.

However, Badreddines stature makes his death the most serious blow to the organization since Israel assassinated his predecessor Mughniyah in Damascus on Feb. 12, 2008, and that is likely animating Hezbollahs reluctance to point an accusatory finger at the Israelis. Hezbollahs overextension in Syria requires that the group react cautiously, lest it place itself in a situation where the magnitude of its loss requires a retaliation against the Israelis that will lead could lead to a larger war.

David Daoud is an Arabic-Language Analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

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Both papers investigate the 'weekend effect' - that patients admitted to hospital over the weekend are at an increased risk of death. However, the findings suggest that this overshadows a much more complex pattern of weekly changes in quality of care

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. 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.

In the first study, a research team led by the University of Birmingham found no association between weekend mortality and senior doctor staffing levels, a factor often linked to the weekend effect. The second study, which looked specifically at acute stroke care, found no difference in 30 day post-admission survival between weekends and weekdays. However, the researchers reported several patterns of weekly variation in the quality of stroke care, both by day of the week and time of day, noting in particular that patients admitted overnight on weekdays had lower odds of survival.

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.

Writing in a comment piece in The Lancet, Professor Nick Black from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine discusses the implications the studies. He 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 writes: "In the past few years, politicians, the media, clinicians, and managers have become increasingly interested in the risks involved in being admitted to hospital at weekends.

"Widespread interest in England about the possible dangers of being admitted to hospital at weekends has prompted several studies into why this might be, three of which have been published this week.

"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."

Publication
A project that aims to reduce child deaths in Ethiopia by increasing uptake of community care services will be evaluated by the School, following a major grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The School's evaluation, called Dagu (an Afar word meaning 'exchange of information'), also aims to build capacity for large-scale public health evaluation at four leading universities in the country.

Earlier programmes in Ethiopia have successfully led to an increase in the provision of child health services in the community, including trained health extension workers and pharmaceutical supplies at health posts. However, the uptake of local services to manage childhood illness remains low. Around 184,000 children under the age of five die each year in Ethiopia, often from preventable illnesses that could be treated at a community level.

The School has received 3 million to lead a five-year evaluation of the Optimising the Health Extension Program in Ethiopia. This project, initiated and led by the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health and implemented by UNICEF and PATH, aims to increase the uptake of existing community health services for children under five and address barriers that limit access to care. This could lead to a further reduction in child deaths, and effective evaluation will be a critical component.

Dagu brings together academics, policy makers from regional health bureaus, and implementers as well as the Ministry of Health, to spearhead new ways of delivering services. It integrates research activities at the University of Gondar, Hawassa University, Mekelle University and Jimma University, coordinated through the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, while strengthening their research degree programmes and research systems - boosting their capacity to carry out public health evaluation within their regions in the future.

Professor Joanna Schellenberg, an epidemiologist at the School and Principal Investigator of the evaluation, said: "Child survival in Ethiopia has improved dramatically in recent years, but it will be hard to sustain the pace of change. Left untreated, common childhood illness, such as acute respiratory infection or diarrhoea, can quickly become life-threatening. In many communities health workers and services are available to treat these conditions, but they are not always used."

Dr Ephrem T Lemango, Director of Maternal and Child Health at the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health said: "This funding will allow us to find out whether and how efforts to increase uptake of community based care are working, and to help us to make important changes to further increase their uptake. I am delighted that the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine will be working with four leading Ethiopian universities, strengthening their ability for future evaluation within their country."

The Ethiopian government, UNICEF and PATH will work to increase the uptake of two existing programmes: Integrated Community Case-Management and Community Based Newborn Care, both of which have previously been rolled out on a large scale in four regions in Ethiopia. The project will boost the availability of these services at health posts, while promoting health service uptake and increased community knowledge around childhood illnesses.

Dagu will study the ways in which the root causes of low demand for community child health services are addressed, and track the project's progress. PhD students from the four Ethiopian universities will be supported by grants to work on the evaluation. By the end of the project, the researchers will be able to assess whether the interventions to increase uptake of community care for sick children have been successful and cost-effective. The findings will be used to advise the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health on policy development and plans to roll out the programme more widely across the country.
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All The Goals: Michael Carrick

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It's Carrick, you know... and now you know where you can see every goal he scored for the Reds.
EXI is a mozambican company which has been acting in the Information and Communication Technologies segment since it creation in 1991. The company provides solutions and services to medium and large companies, NGOs and the Government of Mozambique, among others.

Interview with Jose Murta, Managing Director at EXI - Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao

What is your assessment of the IT sector in Mozambique? What can people expect from the IT companies working here?

I think the industry here is still very embryonic, although we have some multinationals with a strong presence in the country, including IBM, Oracle, Hitachi and Fujitsu. Solutions and services are available here, but of course, it depends on the customer making good use of this and creating business advantage as a result. That's probably the driver that still needs to develop. But the IT sector is growing fast. Mozambique has opened to the world, so we have companies coming in, and I see it changing fast.

We do follow world developments, so in a sense the solutions available are quite modern solutions. I wouldn't say the latest ones, but based on quite recent technology. That's my perception.

The government plays a major role, but the business side of it also needs to be more mature, in order to generate higher demand for high-value IT services.

I'm very enthusiastic about the perspectives for our company in this environment.

What are the opportunities that you see arising here in your sector, relating to the development of the economy?

Our country's economy is mainly based on services, which is also traditionally the case for our inland neighbours. But lately, we are seeing business opportunities arising from oil and gas initiatives, and it looks like this is going to grow. The government's stimulus, along with the presence of oil and gas multinationals, has brought perspective to this new domain, and we have been closely attentive to the new opportunities, because they will surely need IT and associated services.

Although at the moment we are going through some kind of a difficult moment, I believe this will be overcome, as the economy enters a new and better phase.

What are EXI's core competitive advantages?

Our core competitive advantage lies in the fact we are able to build modern applications based on new technology and we offer a turnkey solution. But we also try to understand something that is known nowadays as an 'architectural approach' in the implementation of these technologies, and in so doing, I believe we bring an innovative approach to our relationship with our customers, which should help us achieve greater visibility in terms of strategic relations between their business and what IT can do for them.

Who do you work with and what do you bring to this segment?

In order to do what we do, we can't go alone. We have international manufacturers such as Fujitsu, Hitachi or Oracle, with whom we have maintained very close and strong relationships over the past 20 years. Our role here is to understand our clients' business and their business processes, and build applications that meet their current requirements, as well as provide life-cycle management of such applications and the infrastructure in place. But we are backed by international providers of world-class technologies.

This combination, along with our local knowledge, and the capacity to build useful applications, is how we believe we offer good value to our customers.

What kind of client do you work with?

Over the years, we have developed a strong presence in the government's systems. The government is attractive because it needs large systems, and the business model we adopted made sense in that context.

We also ended up developing applications for insurance companies. Emose, one of Mozambique's foremost insurance companies, runs our operational software in order to support its operations. In that particular case, we provide a comprehensive solution, from the infrastructure, datacentre and operational support, through to the application itself.

Our core competitive advantage lies in the fact we are able to build modern applications based on new technology and we offer a turnkey solution.

We also offer Human Resources software for airline and telecom companies, as well as infrastructure solutions for some of these companies, mainly on behalf of the international suppliers I made reference to. We also have presence among sea transport and overland distribution companies.

We have some other smaller applications as well. Essentially, we develop custom-built applications and we then stay with the customer for the life-cycles of those products. This is basically our experience.

The private sector is something we are very interested in, because its purpose is different to that of the public sector. It faces greater day-to-day challenges, and it needs to be competitive. As a result, we are very keen to grow our presence in the private sector. Over the years, this has not been easy, mainly because many of the new companies come from outside so we still need to build some trust, and we probably need to be more visible to them. We need to work out how to achieve that. But that's our main concern, so we are working on it.

You also work with the American government. Could you please shed some light on that?

I would say that's a flagship project for the company, because it was very successful. The American government had a program in place to develop the North of the country and its infrastructure, where they sought to register 150,000 pieces of land, as well as distribute land use rights. This project required a software, for which they issued a tender. We won this tender and developed the application over a year to meet the project's requirements. This application was to be controlled by a British company specialising in land matters, called HTSPE (nowadays DAI). It was a very successful project and it is still underway, in that we continue to provide service for maintaining the application through its life cycle. It all went very well and I believe that they were quite happy with our performance.

Are there any other large projects of interest you would like to share with us?

Our major projects have been with governments, and these are very interesting because they involve large databases, as well as keeping with the law, since government projects need to be sensitive to legal provisions. Therefore, the processes we implement on the application must reflect the law. As a result, these projects imply quite a specific way of doing things, and we have undertaken three such projects, out of the government's six so-called 'pillar projects'.

One of them, is the creation of the aforementioned land-management system, which is a very modern application that includes a Geographical Information System (GIS) and runs on a very powerful Oracle database environment.

But we have also built a system for the Police, called 'e-Ocorrencias', which means that someone who goes to a police station can register, based on due process, as well as providing information centrally.

Another system that we built but which has not yet been implemented due to some difficulties, is called 'e-NUIC'. What this does is provide certification from birth, when a person is registered; after which all of that person's acts as a citizen are registered, through processes that are in full accordance with the law.

These are very interesting projects. Of course, they are necessarily linked to reforms, which means that there are some difficulties. This is a challenge we need to continue working on and we also need to be attentive to the opportunities for us to keep helping on that front.

What is your vision for EXI in the medium term?

One of our aims is to consolidate our presence at the government level in order to ensure our systems contribute to improving the country's life, which includes easier conditions for doing business. You need to have reliable flows of information, as well as public workers discipline in providing services to the interested parties: other companies and businesses, other government institutions and the public in general. I think this is a major business opportunity and together we need to find the best ways in order to ensure this becomes feasible and sustainable. There is much to explore in terms of technology and the way we provide business models, etc.

At another level, we are aiming to grow in the private sector, particularly in oil and gas. We need to see what's going to happen, but we believe we can offer good quality local services, based on generally accepted principles when it comes to providing these services; with service-level agreements and the like. We really want to aim for this business and we are waiting to see how things develop. In the meantime, we are proactively setting up relationships with international providers. We are currently deepening our relationship with Oracle, for instance, and we will continue to do so.

Of course, we would need to see things pick up on the oil and gas front, in order to be more explicit about what we are dealing with, the companies involved, etc.

Is there anything else you would like to mention?

We enjoy doing this, because we believe it's very interesting. We try to learn about what's going on in the world, current trends and what makes sense in this market, in order to blend in maturity and ensure sound interface interplay. It's quite a challenging thing to do, to combine the technology with the organisation, networks and strategies. It's an interesting business, which we thoroughly enjoy doing, and we believe that we have done some notable work, which we hope will be more economically useful and visible in future.

For more information, please visit: www.exi.co.mz
Interview with Mike Mulcahy, CEO of GreenCape

What are some of the biggest drivers for the uptake of green technologies and practices in South Africa?

The biggest driver is the shifting economics that are involved in the prices of energy in South Africa. About ten years ago energy in South Africa was very cheap and largely driven by coal power generation. Over the last ten years weve seen a fundamental shift in those economics. Both with renewables becoming increasingly competitive and with the shortage of energy generation supply in South Africa. From 2007 the country started to experience load shedding which is where areas are switched off from the national grid for two to four hours. That shortage of supply in combination with the increase in competitiveness in renewable energy has really exploded the growth of the renewable energy sector in South Africa. The last leg of that has been the procurement program run by the national treasury and department of energy. Through an independent power procurement office that has been a world leading program in terms of transparency and competitiveness as well as the results they have been able to generate.

What is the predominant policy and legal framework for environmental resource management in the Western Cape?

The Western Cape has been a leading region in trying to develop and design policies that are supportive of the green economy. Theyve published a green economy strategic framework. In 2010 a combination of the city of Cape Town, the trade investment promotion agency and the regional government established GreenCape. As an entity we specifically focus on the green economy. It was about understanding the shifting economic fundamentals and positioning the province to take advantage of this new economy that was emerging. In the last two or three years weve seen a real push towards this becoming the main stream economy in the region rather than an alternative or new economy. The principles that are imbedded with the green economy have translated into almost run of the mill business in the region.

The Western Cape has been a leading region in trying to develop and design policies that are supportive of the green economy.

South Africa is ranked as the thirtieth driest country in the world with extreme climates and rainfall fluctuations and the Western Cape Province itself is classified as a water stressed region. What are some of the policy initiatives in place to insure integrated and sustainable management of water?

Water has been a huge focus and recently in the last six to eight months there has been a drought in South Africa which has increased the focus on water. There are a range of interventions that the provincial government has supported through GreenCape. These revolve around increasing the quality and quantity of water supply. Positive steps Such as removing alien invasive vegetation along the berg of the catchment are a start, so if you pull out all the blue gums it increases the quantity of supply. There is also the work we have been doing in the Saldanha Bay region which is an incredibly dry part of the province. With the industrial development that is scheduled to happen there it is a real requirement to insure that there is enough water for industrial development and one of the projects we have been involved in is looking at a water exchange network which basically means decreasing the requirement of possible water to industries. For example; if there is a steel mill it will eject water that is perhaps too high in temperature or contains too much chlorine so there should be a downstream industry that can use that as their primary water rather than using fresh potable water. There is a big opportunity in Saldanha Bay to look at the types of interventions such as this. The drive behind all of that sentiment is the fact that we are trying to see what you can do before you reach desalination and if there is sufficient planning done upfront you will find that there are a range of interventions that make more economic sense than desalinization. With all of this said there is still a large amount of work to be done looking at where the appropriate sites are. There is a gas to power program that has been driven by the IPP office and theyve included desalinization as part of the broader aim of what that program could achieve which is looking at some of the technologies that have been internationally available. I think AQWA is probably the company that has done the most work on its seawater cooled LNG-to-power stations that have combination desalinization plants.

South Africa is in the midst of an energy crisis that is resulting in rising energy prices, rolling blackouts and the changing energy policies and incentives. To what extent have end users begun exploring alternative means to ensure their energy security?

Great question and the answer is that the last year has been an incredibly exciting time from an international investment perspective which you see in companies like Tesla opening an office in Cape Town and BYD the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer who are investigating the process of establishing here. You see it in local battery manufacturers that are doing vanadium batteries. Theres a huge appetite for energy independence and for both industry and residential areas to look at what they can do to make sure that their energy is secure. What we have done as part of the regions energy security game changer with the city of Cape Town is to try to look for opportunities that we can have some quick wins to try to increase the security of supply for the region as well as getting the price trajectory of new build electricity under control. Much of this has revolved around the city of Cape Town being the first municipality to allow small scale embedded generation. That basically entails putting PV on your roof and you can sell it back to the city. Theres a lot work in electricity grid optimization and supply and demand management. From South Africas perspective no one cared about these ten years ago. There was no imperative. It was cheap and plentiful. Now there is both scarcity and price concerns so the appetite for all sectors of the economy to understand what they can do about their energy has increased. One of the programs we are working on at the moment is to try to make sure that all of the municipalities in the Western Cape have a mechanism to allow them to buy power back from residential and commercial customers. At the moment there are two and we hope that by June there should be ten and by the end of 2017 all twenty-five should have a mechanism to allow them to purchase power back. Underpinning that is a lot of work to design a smart meter standard for South Africa. GreenCape is the technical lead to develop that standard so working together with the city of Cape Town, the city of Johannesburg, Eskom and a range of stakeholders we have advanced to being able to have a smart metering system that meets the local condition requirements which will allow this embedded generation technologies to really take off. Linked to that is South Africas legacy structured around how they have handled electricity pricing and making sure that the pricing, price signals and the embedded subsidies and cross subsidies that are in their electricity price are well thought through, so you end up in a situation that people are making decisions based on economic fundamentals rather than having crazy subsidies flying around. The examples of when it goes badly have been seen in Spain and Europe where you have inflated prices that overheat and crash the market. We think that South Africa has an opportunity to learn from those lessons and to really have the value of the underlying energy reflected in the tariff. The natural resources that are available in South Africa have meant that the revealed prices for utility scale renewable energies are in the region of four to five euro cents per kilowatt hour which opens up a massive opportunity for how renewables are perceived in the country and where they fit in relative to other technology choices. The last point on this is the renewable energy programs; the 6,000 megawatts that have been allocated of which about 3,000 are connected to the grid. Those renewables are now the cheapest new build electricity that South Africa can buy. The revealed prices are cheaper than new coal and are cheaper than new gas so renewables form the first layer of procurement and the rest of the system will be put into place to balance the variability of those technologies.

The Cape Town area particularly has emerged in the last five years as South Africas renewable energy and green tech hub. To what extent would you argue that the Western Cape government has made both the ease of doing business and the green economy key priorities of its administration?

The evidence is here. The underlying focus that the provincial government has had on the green economy started in 2009-2010 with the establishment of GreenCape and to demonstrate this here are some of the high level figures of the successful renewable technology developers. Over sixty per cent are based in the Western Cape. Of the manufacturing capacity that has been set up to service those projects, close to seventy per cent of those are based in the Western Cape. GreenCape has been the first African member of the international clean tech cluster network. This is a network of world leading green regions and the cluster development agencies that support those regions. There are about a dozen clusters which include Japan, Europe and USA that are part of this network and GreenCape is the first African member. The intention with that international cleantech cluster network is to try to link to the C40 cities network. There is now a formal signed agreement between the ICN and the C40 network and all of it is about how cities and regions can deal with these mega-challenges and what they can learn from each other. Companies in the Western Cape can teach companies in Denmark or in the USA and they can teach us how to promote the green economy.

What factors are providing and adding the impetus for transitioning to more sustainable methods used in Western Cape agriculture?

Agriculture is one of the primary economic drives of the region and recently weve had a big focus together with the department of agriculture to look at what alternatives there are such as rotational cropping and looking at the viability of bio-fuels. Water is a massive concern and there is an interesting ground-breaking program called FruitLook which uses satellite images to measure the transpiration of water losses on agricultural fields and give farmers real-time information of where they should water and when they should water. When you overlay how much water is evaporating with what the expected weather conditions are you get a much higher yield from the water that youre effectively putting into that field. Weve set up an agricultural portal that is accessible to farmers in the region and the intention is to show the farmers case studies where a farmer has tried out this sustainable farming technique whether its using thermal solutions for pasteurizing milk or rotational cropping or putting PV on pack houses, we can capture many of these investments that the agricultural sector has already broadly made and make those available to a range of farmers so that they can essentially figure out which things make sense in their contexts and then push a bunch of that information through the various agricultural industry associations conferences and meetings.

Would you say that it is becoming more economically feasible for farmers to adopt green technologies?

Yes it is. Its about understanding the niches within each market. For example; there is a big apple and a big citrus industry in the Western Cape which necessitates large pack houses that have cold storage for long periods of time. Cold storage is a natural match for PV. The more the sun is shining the harder you have to run the fridges so your load profiles match really well. This means that the business case for why you would invest in rooftop PV on a pack house is significantly different to the business case as to why invest in rooftop PV for another process. And finding the niches where the economics are changing is a lot of the work that we are doing and then making that information available to the farmers. The rotational cropping using triticale is another fantastic example and theres a lot of farming happening in the Swartland that is for wheat and on a five year rotational cycle planting triticale has increased the yield on almost all of the farms that have experimented with it. The results are now being seen from many of the attempts that were made in 2009-2010. Its no longer a case of arguing why should you go green, for the environment or because its green and supports the environment. Now it makes sense because its commercially viable and its in your best interest. This is the shift from it being seen as an alternative economy to it being the mainstream economy. This is how we do things in the Western Cape.

Tell us about some of the forthcoming projects that you have in the pipeline for growing the green economy in the Western Cape?

The most exciting one is the proposed special economic zone in Atlantis. We are the project management office to turn an industrial area in South Africa, in Atlantis, into a special economic zone that will have a specific focus on green technology manufacturing. This is a program that we are working on with the national department of trade and industry as well as the city of Cape Town. We started about two or three years ago trying to turn Atlantis into a green technology hub and there are many results that we have started to see. In the last year there has been close to seven hundred million rand of direct investment into Atlantis and into manufacturing for green economy components. It includes a big international investor called Gestamp renewables. Theyve invested into Atlantis to manufacture steel towers for the wind industry but there are many other investments that have happened in Atlantis around renewable energy. Business incubation, around clustering, around the Gestamp investment and theres a Danish company called Resolux which has opened up in Atlantis to manufacture the internals for the towers, the ladders, the platforms, the wiring and so on. There has also been a large investment in two companies expanding. One looking at green building materials for residential use such as double glazed glass and the other one looking at geotextiles such as recycled PET that is turned into a geotextile that is used for retention banks and constructions programs such as the Gautrain or skyscrapers. Basically to hold sand and dirt and its a very green process using a hundred per cent recycled water bottles. We are very excited about the possibility of Atlantis being designated as a special economic zone.

When are you hoping that it will be official?

We submitted the application in February this year and the statutory time frames are six months for the department of trade and industry to evaluate it. We are very optimistic that the evaluation will happen next month and then theres a period of public comment so we anticipate that before August this year that the designation should hopefully take place which really opens up a broader opportunity for Atlantis. Another project that we are working on in Atlantis specifically is around LNG-to-power. The same IPP office that has run all the renewable energy procurements has also begun running LNG-to-power as a procurement. LNG is broadly seen as a transition fuel as well as a complimentary fuel to manage the variability of renewables. Atlantis is a really interesting region because there is a peaking power station that is owned by Eskom, the national utility, which is effectively running on diesel. Its a 1,000 megawatt facility and is extremely expensive to run. The hypothesis is that if we can develop a site thats owned by the city of Cape Town and thats adjacent to Ankerlig for a 1,500 megawatts and make that site available to a range of private sector players to bid in this ipp office program, then that site will allow the infrastructure requirements to have both importation in saldanha as well as the pipeline to Atlantis to supply both Ankerlig as well as this ipp project. If you have two and a half gig watts of gas you have a sufficient justification to build that infrastructure. At the moment with just the 1,000 megawatts at Ankerlig you dont have enough financial viability for someone to make the investment into building that infrastructure. Added to that we think theres a very interesting grid stability argument. A lot of the renewable energy projects are located in the Northern Cape which is all on the western region grid. Ankerlig is also on that western region grid so you have a power station close to a load centre in the city of Cape Town that is on the same infrastructure as the renewable energies. Its an elegant solution for balancing power. We've commissioned an environmental impact assessment on that site and the expectation is that the city will make that site available to any project developer that would like to bid into this upcoming procurement for gas to power.

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Because Everything she says means everything

The list of Donald Trumps controversial opinions is endless, and up there with all of them is his tendency to err on the side of sexist. In fact, a recent poll revealed that currently seven out of 10 women feel negatively about him.

Enter Spencer Turnick and 100 naked women.

At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump will be greeted by Turnicks latest installation, Everything She Says Means Everything, with women holding large round mirrors.

I could never have imagined there would be such a heightened attention to the male-versus-female dynamic of this Cleveland juggernaut of a convention, Tunick told Esquire (opens in new tab). But I feel like doing this will sort of calms the senses. It brings it back to the body and to purity.

The mirrors, he adds, communicate that we are a reflection of ourselves and the world that surrounds us.

Turnick usually uses men and women to for his pieces, but this time it will be just women.

'I have two daughters9 and 11and I want them to grow up in a progressive world with equal rights and equal pay and better treatment for women, and I feel like the 100 women lighting up the sky of Cleveland will send this ray of knowledge onto the cityscape, Tunick says. I think it will enlighten not only the delegates but set the vibe of the weekend, set a tone.

Turnick  who Lady Gaga did her NYU undergraduate thesis on - also emphasises that supporters off all political parties can participate, including Republicans.

We really are reaching out to people of all parties. This is a work Republican women can participate in. It's not so much a protest as it is a representative artwork, says Tunick, who incidentally went to the New York Military Academy, which Trump attended as well.

But is he worried that it might be broken up, given the circumstances? Who knows what will happen, says Tunick, I hope police participate in the project, too. I've had a lot of cops participate in the past.

We cant wait.
The restructuring of the ocean carrier alliance system, triggered by merger and acquisition activities by shipping companies, is a logical business development, but if not carefully monitored and regulated, could also represent a move toward reduced services for shippers, said Mario Cordero, Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC).

Cordero articulated this concern during remarks he made at the 2016 International Trade Symposium hosted by the Virginia Maritime Association in Norfolk. Cordero participated on a panel entitled Ocean Carrier Mergers & Acquisitions.

At the end of the day, alliances are supposed to benefit the shipper by providing increased choices, increased competition and increased efficiencies. With the number of ocean carriers decreasing through merger and acquisition activity, and alliances restructuring themselves into larger entities, it is not unreasonable to ask, Is the shipper really going to benefit? Cordero said. Over the past several weeks, I have heard a lot of very positive sounding commitments from carriers about how new alliance structures are going to increase efficiencies, reduce congestion, help address environmental concerns, and most importantly, lead to even more choices for the shipping public. It is going to take careful, diligent and aggressive oversight to make certain the changes that are taking place among container carriers do not harm the American shipper.

Last months announcement unveiling the new OCEAN Alliance has prompted questions about a larger reordering of the alliance system. The OCEAN Alliance pulls its membership from three existing alliances and as such, the emerging belief is that other new carrier agreements will need to be formed. Cordero has said he is not opposed to new alliances in concept, but he believes they must actually be beneficial to international trade and the American consumer and not result in anticompetitive practices.

We have an existing benchmark for performance across a number of different factors, and that is current carrier performance. As these new alliances begin to take form and potentially go into operation next year, the Commission will focus on whether the lines are exceeding past results, especially in terms of reliability, shipper satisfaction, and the efficient flow of containers out of the terminal gate toward final destination, Cordero said. The very last messages I want to hear are from shippers telling me that their choices have been reduced and service diminished as a result of these new alliance structures, or that port congestion is increasing because cargo is now transiting fewer gateways. The Federal Maritime Commission will work diligently to protect and enhance the international, intermodal supply chain.
The world's largest cruise ship, Harmony of the Seas  which cost US$1 billion to build over 32 months  has been finished and was delivered to owner Royal Caribbean International.

The immense floating town has 18 decks and will be able to carry 6,360 passengers and 2,100 crew members.

At 66 metres (217 feet), it is the widest cruise ship ever built, while its 362-metre length makes it 50 metres longer than the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Barcelona will be Harmony's home port for the next few months  it has 34 seven-night voyages scheduled, first sailing June 7  before relocating to Port Everglades, Florida, for the winter Caribbean cruising season.

The ship was built for the US-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) by the STX France boatyard in Saint-Nazaire on the Atlantic coast. It has 16 guest decks.

Its not only the biggest cruise ship in the world, its also the most expensive ever built, said Richard Fain, head of RCCL, during a ceremony which featured blaring music and tightrope walkers performing splits over the aquatheatre at the back of the ship.

Richard said: Harmony of the Seas is the product of our zealous spirit of continuous improvement, where we have combined revolutionary ship design with the technological strides that have defined the Royal Caribbean brand, Thank you to STX France for their ongoing partnership in building our ships, which continue to introduce unexpected industry innovations.

Among the on-board attractions are The Ultimate Abyss, a 10-storey slide from the top deck to the main deck which RCCL bills as the worlds biggest ship-mounted waterslide.

During the traditional ceremony at the ships AquaTheater a flag was exchanged and all the crew and workers were honoured. The ceremony was attended by key personnel from STX France and Royal Caribbean International. Harmony of the Seas has been under construction for 32 months where several major milestones were reached including the first float out on water and the keel laying.
Jack Fusco was named chief executive and chairman of Cheniere Energy Monday, ending a leadership search that began after activist investor Carl Icahn ousted the companys founder.

Fusco's installation as Chenieres new chief comes after a messy boardroom drama led to the December ouster of founder Charif Souki, who raced ahead of competitors to build plants that could cool natural gas into liquid form in order to export it.

Fusco will take the reins at Cheniere energy little more than two months after the first train at the Houston companys massive liquefaction plant at Sabine Pass rumbled to life, generating both the lower 48s first liquefied natural gas and significant cash for Cheniere.

Our priorities will be focused on continued execution and completion of the LNG trains, both under construction and under development, and further commercialization of our LNG portfolio, Fusco said.

Jack Fusco was most recently executive chairman of Calpine Corp. Under Fuscos employment agreement with the company, he has agreed to purchase $10 million worth of Chenieres shares by the end of the year.

Cheniere's CEO and co-founder Charif Souki, left in December months after activist investor Carl Icahn boosted his stake in the company. Icahn and others questioned the ambitious growth track pursued under Souki.

Icahn's firm has a 13.9 percent stake in the company, making it Cheniere's largest shareholder, according to FactSet.

Cheniere Energy Inc., based in Houston, is the first company with government permission to export natural gas from the shores of the continental U.S.
Shipbuilder ASL Marine has secured a total S$156 million worth of contracts from its shipbuilding, shiprepair & conversion, shipchartering and dredging engineering divisions.

The contracts secured are mainly from repeat customers in the region as well as in the Middle East, the US and Europe, it said, adding that there are potential additional orders from a certain customer upon successful delivery of current projects.

The shipbuilding and shiprepair & conversion contracts are expected to be delivered over the next one to two years and the shipchartering contracts will have a tenure of two to five years.

All of the above contracts are not expected to have a material financial impact on the consolidated net tangible asset and earnings per share of the Group for the financial year ending 30 June 2016.

Headquartered and listed in Singapore since 17 March 2003, ASL Marine owns and operates shipyards in Singapore, Batam (Indonesia) and Guangdong (China), providing a comprehensive range of marine engineering services spanning myriad sectors/ industries.
The subsidiary of Fincantieri Vard Holdings Limited (Vard) has signed a letter of intent with an international shipping company for the design and construction of two ships from small cruise. The hulls will be built in the Romanian shipyard in Tulcea while the delivery of the units is provided, respectively, in the first quarter of 2019 and 2020, at the Vard site Langsten, Norway.



The parties shared the intent to arrive at the signing of the contracts at the beginning of the third quarter of this year.



The ships, for which Fincantieri will participate by providing some important parts made in Italy, are designed by Vard Design in Alesund, Norway, in cooperation with the customer, with a specific emphasis on the quality of the stands, certified ice-class , the highest anti-pollution and safety requirements. They will have a length of 137 meters, a width of 22 and a gross tonnage of about 14,500 tons, accommodating 240 passengers in 120 cabins.



This success reinforces the Vard diversification strategy, implemented in close collaboration with Fincantieri, which has already given important results with the achievement of prestigious goals, such as a letter of intent for four luxury cruise ships to small for the French shipowner Ponant, a subsidiary of the Artemis group ( holding company of the Pinault family) .



Fincantieri owns 55.63% of the VARD capital and consolidates the results in full.




Ship Finance International Limited announced that it has agreed to sell the 1998 built VLCC Front Vanguard to an unrelated third party.

Ship Finance has simultaneously agreed to terminate the corresponding charter party for the 18-year old crude oil carrier with a subsidiary of Frontline Ltd.

The vessel is expected to be delivered to its new owner by the end of June, and the net sales price is approximately $24 million, including a compensation of $0.4 million from Frontline for the early termination of the charter.

Ship Finance said the divestment of older vessels is part of its strategy to renew and diversify the fleet, and the proceeds are expected to be reinvested in new assets.

Following this sale, the number of vessels on charter to Frontline will be reduced to 13 vessels, including 11 VLCCs and two Suezmax crude oil tankers.
The FY 17 Energy & Water Development (E&WD) and Related Agencies appropriations bill has been approved by the U.S. Senate in a 90-8 vote, significantly increasing funding in Fiscal Year 2017 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program.

The House version of this bill, which passed out of the Appropriations Committee last month, is awaiting floor action.

Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) President Michael J. Toohey underscored the work of Chairman Cochran and Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Senate E&WD Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), as well as Senate Majority Leader McConnell, that was key to the passage of this strong funding bill.

Strong, effective leadership was demonstrated today in negotiating and passing this important appropriations bill that offers record funding to modernize our Nations inland waterways transportation system. Recapitalizing this critical link in the transportation supply chain enables the U.S. to be prepared for expected export growth, Toohey said Thursday.

Also praising the bill's passage was the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) President and CEO Kurt Nagle, who also commended the work of Mikulski, Alexander, Feinstein and McConnell as well as Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

This is extremely important legislation that will aid our economy and environment, and the ability of Americas ports to handle increasingly larger cargo and passenger ships, Nagle said. It reflects substantial advocacy by AAPA and our member seaports to appropriate crucial funding to maintain and improve our nations navigation infrastructure and provide more donor equity."

We now look to the House leadership to bring this bipartisan bill to the House floor for a vote soon, he added.

Of the bills passage, on the Senate floor Alexander said it was an excellent result for the American people.

The overall size of the Corps Civil Works mission portion of the Senate bill is $6 billion and adds $1.380 billion to the Administration request.

The bill increases the Construction account funding level by $723.65 million to $1.81 billion.

Within the Construction account, $375.65 million is made available for Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) priority navigation projects, an amount that makes full use of estimated Inland Waterways Trust Fund annual revenues. Commercial operators support that fund through a 29-cent-per-gallon fuel tax that pays for half of new construction and major rehabilitation on the inland waterways system. Among the priority navigation projects, Olmsted Lock/Dam will receive $225 million, per the Presidents request, with additional potential funding for the other projects to be allocated by the Secretary of the Army taking into account WRRDA 2014 priorities.

Investigations receives $126.5 million, which is $41.5 million above the FY 17 request by the Administration.

On the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP), WCI is requesting that $10 million be dedicated to Pre-Construction Engineering and Design (PED) for NESP, but the Secretary of the Army will also decide whether to allocate these funds.

The Corps Operations & Maintenance (O&M) account funding level is a record level at $3.17 billion, nearly $467 million higher than the Administrations requested level. Additional O&M money was provided at $700 million for flood storm damage risk reduction, shore protection, aquatic ecosystem restoration, and related Corps mission projects as authorized by law.

Surpassing the WRDDA 2014 target, $1.3 billion is provided from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF).

Mississippi Rivers & Tributaries (MR&T) receives $368 million for flood damage risk reduction efforts.
Genting Hong Kong, a unit of Malaysia's gaming giant Genting, is building 10 cruise ships worth 3.5 billion euros ($4 billion) in anticipation of higher demand from the Chinese market.

Genting has signed an order for 10 ships with the Lloyd Werft Group, comprising two mega cruise ships for Star Cruises and eight vessels for Crystal Cruises.

"We are focused on delivering a world-class vacation experience for Chinese cruise passengers," said Genting and Genting Hong Kong Chairman Lim Kok Thay.

The signing ceremony was attended by Uwe Beckmeyer, State Secretary of Maritime Affairs, Erwin Sellering, Prime Minister of the State Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Martin Gunthner, Senator for Economics and Port Affairs of Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, Chairman of Genting Hong Kong.

The two mega cruise ships will be among some of the worlds largest and will be built for Gentings Star Cruises brand and deployed in the Chinese market. The 201,000 ton vessels will be known as Global-class and will include 5,000 lower berths each.

The eight other vessels will be built for Crystal Cruises and comprise of 6 river cruise ships, an expedition yacht and an Exclusive Class vessel.

Delivery of the Global-class vessels is scheduled for 2019 and 2020.

Lloyd Werft Group was formed last month with Gentings acquisition of Nordic Yards three shipyards in Wismar, Warnemunde and Stralsund, Germany. Prior to the acquisition, Genting only had the Lloyd Werft shipyard in Bremerhaven.

The formation makes it one of just four shipbuilding groups with the ability to build large cruise ships using the two large covered dry docks in Wismar and Warnemunde.

We are pleased that Genting chose Lloyd Werft Group for the construction of their new vessels as the company has built all but one of its new cruise ships in Germany for the Star, Dream and NCL brands due to the companys desire for quality-built cruise ships, says Rudiger Pallentin, the Managing Director of Lloyd Werft Group.

Genting Hong Kong pioneered year-round cruising in Asia 23 years ago with Star Cruises and later acquired the Norwegian Cruise Line to become the third largest and most profitable cruise line on a per berth basis in the US.

Genting Hong Kongs stable of brands include Crystal Cruises for the international luxury cruise market, Dream Cruises for the Asian luxury cruise market and Star Cruises for the contemporary cruise market.
The Danish government said on Friday it wanted to scrap plans to build five offshore wind farms as their output would become too expensive for consumers.

The government estimates it would cost consumers 70 billion Danish crowns ($10.63 billion) to buy electricity from the plants with a total combined capacity of 350-megawatts.

"Since 2012 when we reached the political agreement, the cost of our renewable policy has increased dramatically," said Lars Christian Lilleholt, energy minister in Denmark's Liberal party government.

"We can't accept this, as the private sector and households are paying far too much. Denmark's renewable policy has turned out to be too expensive," he said.

Denmark produced more than 40 percent of its electricity from wind power last year, a world record, and it has a goal of increasing this share to 50 percent by 2020.

Subsidies for wind power producers had to increase as power prices fell sharply since 2012, and producers had to get more money to make production profitable.

Nordic average power prices fell to 21 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) in 2015, down from 31 euros/MWh on 2012.





($1 = 6.5876 Danish crowns)



(Reporting by Erik Matzen; Editing by Jon Boyle)
Wintershall Norge AS has awarded a four-year service contract to Halliburton Norge AS to support its Maria Projects in the Norwegian Sea.

The contract is effective immediately and will be used for drilling-associated services on Wintershalls Maria development in the Norwegian Sea. The agreement, which contains incentives for efficient well deliveries, can also be used for other Wintershall activities.

At an uncertain time for the industry, this contract provides a timely boost for the supplier market while laying the groundwork for efficient construction of our operated development and exploration wells over the rest of the decade, said Bernd Schrimpf, Managing Director of Wintershall Norge.

Wintershall and Halliburton will immediately begin collaborating on detailed engineering work prior to the start of drilling for the Maria development in the first half of 2017.

Early next year, Halliburton will provide services supporting the drilling of six development wells on Marias subsea templates located at a depth of around 300 meters on the Halten Terrace in the Norwegian Sea.

With this contract, we are further pressing ahead with our first operated development in Norway. By using clear performance incentives, we are creating value for Wintershall, our partners and the Norwegian E&P supply chain, said Hugo Dijkgraaf, Wintershall Director for the Maria Project.

Through the contract Halliburton will supply drilling services and associated tools, drilling and completion fluids, cementing, and coring. There is also an option for plugging and abandoning services.

The four-year contract contains options to extend for up to four additional years.
1846 - Congress declares war against Mexico. Commodore David Conner is responsible for the landing of the Army at Vera Cruz. In April 1847, Commodore Matthew C. Perry relieves Conner. On Feb. 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed ending hostilities.

1908 - The Navy Nurse Corps is established by Public Law No. 115, though nurses have been volunteering onboard Navy ships prior to the Civil War.

1908 - The Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, later called Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, is authorized for the enlargement and dredging of the Pearl Harbor channel and locks to admit the largest ships as it becomes a coaling station for the U.S. Navy.

1944 - USS Francis M. Robinson (DE 220) sinks Japanese submarine RO 501 (ex-German U 1124) en route to Japan on her maiden voyage, 400 miles south-southwest of the Azores.

1964 - The first all nuclear-powered task group, USS Enterprise (CVAN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN 25), is organized and deploys to the Sixth Fleet. The task group departs in July and circumnavigates the globe without refueling, returning that October.

(Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division)
A team from International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Marine Environment Division has won the best Portfolio Solution Award in the 8th International Waters Conference (IWC8) organized by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) in Negombo, Sri Lanka (9-13 May).

The award was given for the project with the best strategy for scaling-up investments aimed at addressing global environmental issues facing international waters, including the oceans.

International waters is one of the five thematic portfolios of GEF funding, with around 90 related projects being featured at IWC8 and some 300 currently underway worldwide.

IMO's team presented the "Glo-X" partnerships model, embracing two separate projects - GloBallast and GloMEEP.

Glo-X is being used to accelerate legal, policy and institutional reforms in developing countries to implement the Ballast Water Management Convention and MARPOL Annex VI while, at the same time, leveraging private sector partnerships to accelerate R&D and technological innovations through forming global industry alliances and facilitating information exchange.

When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, it set a new development agenda for the 2015 - 2030 period.

Two SDGs (Ensure access to water and sanitation for all and Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources) are of particular relevance to the GEF's IW investments. The official theme of IWC8 is Scaling Up GEF IW Investments from Source to Sea and Beyond in the Context of Achieving the SDGs.

IMO's winning entry was selected from a large number of submissions made by GEF international water projects and the award was based on oral presentations from the final eight nominees.

IMO's Jose Matheickal, on behalf of the IMO team, delivered the award-winning presentation during the conference, which is being attended by over 300 participants from various UN agencies, donor agencies and member Governments. This is the fourth international award won by the IMO projects team.
An investigation into the cause of a fatal North Sea helicopter crash is focusing on the parts of the aircraft that connected the rotor blades to the main body of the helicopter, investigators said on Friday.

An Airbus H225 Super Puma helicopter ferrying passengers from a Norwegian oil platform operated by Statoil crashed on April 29, killing all 13 people on board.

Since then the helicopter model, a workhorse of the oil industry, has been grounded for commercial flights in Norway and Britain. Investigators have ruled out human error, saying that the crash was caused by a technical fault.

On Friday a preliminary report by the Norwegian Accident Investigation Board said it was focusing on a specific section of the aircraft.

"The (investigation board) is currently focusing on the examination of the MRH (main rotor head) suspension bar assembly, the main gearbox and the main rotor head," it said.

The report did not say whether the problem was attributable to design, production or maintenance issues. Design and production are the responsibility of Airbus Helicopters, while maintenance is handled by the operator, CHC Helicopter.

On May 4 European safety regulators ordered checks on all H225 Super Pumas, including three metal struts that help to connect the rotor assembly to the helicopter.

The Super Puma has been in operation since the 1970s and there are 800 in operation worldwide.

Any conclusion over the cause of the crash would be premature at this stage, investigators said.

"It is very complicated work and we have a lot of work ahead of us," investigation leader Kaare Halvorsen told a news conference.

The accident happened suddenly, Friday's report said. "Everything appeared to be normal until a sudden, catastrophic failure developed in 1-2 seconds," it said.

The helicopter was cruising at 2,000 feet when the main rotor head and mast suddenly detached, it said.

"The helicopter impacted on a small island and caught fire. The main wreckage thereafter ended in the sea where it came to rest at a depth of 1-9 metres. The accident was not survivable."

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by David Goodman)
At its third annual Celebrating Education event, held at McBride High School on Thursday, May 12, the Port of Long Beach recognized scholarship and high school internship recipients and announced a new initiative to broaden its educational outreach through a specialized academy at Cabrillo High School, which is located in the vicinity of the Port.

The Port of Long Beach Academy of Global Logistics was announced by Harbor Commission Vice President Lou Anne Bynum at the event. Mayor Robert Garcia, education leaders, teachers and others were also in attendance celebrating the Ports education accomplishments.

Created in partnership with the Long Beach Unified School District, the new academy will be a four-year global trade and logistics pathway that will provide a unique opportunity to bring real world experiences to the classroom. The academy will be one of the districts many small learning communities, which offer incoming high school students a wide variety of academic and professional educational opportunities.

Mayor Garcia expressed his support for the Ports new academy, As an advocate for education, Id like to congratulate the Long Beach Unified School District and the Port of Long Beach on the creation of the new Academy of Global Logistics," he said. "The district is known for its small learning communities and this is a prime example of how industry and educators can partner to nurture and train the leaders of tomorrow.

In addition, the Port announced the award of scholarships totaling $59,500 to 40 students from Long Beach-area high schools; California State University, Long Beach; and Long Beach City College. Since 1993, the Port of Long Beach has awarded $667,150 in scholarships to 391 students pursuing careers in international trade and the goods movement industry.

Representing the Board of Harbor Commissioners, Bynum said, On behalf of my colleagues, I am so excited to recognize these great students and partner with Long Beach Unified School District on the new Global Logistics Academy at Cabrillo High School. As chair of the Ports education subcommittee and an education professional I know that we can change young peoples lives by giving them real world experiences and preparing them for a career in global logistics.

The Port of Long Beach is one of the worlds premier seaports, a gateway for trans-Pacific trade and a trailblazer in goods movement and environmental stewardship. With 175 shipping lines connecting Long Beach to 217 seaports, the Port handles $180 billion in trade annually, supporting hundreds of thousands of Southern California jobs.
At the base of Mount Fuji lies the Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji. CATC Fuji has provided the Marine Corps with a forward-based platform for vital training, troop readiness and force projection.



As far back as 1198 A.D., the training grounds that lie in the shadows of Mount Fuji have been used to train elite fighting forces. First it was the samurai of the Kamakura Shogunate, today the Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji provides Marine Corps Installations Pacific with a vital forward based platform for training, readiness, and force projection.



As Marines were trained in the warrior ethos from the moment you enter boot camp, Gunnery Sgt. Jeffery Burry, the Camp Fuji operations chief. Thats what makes the training here so special. Marines are training on the same ground where some of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen honed their skills. You cant get that anywhere else in the Marine Corps.



When the Shogunate fell, the Imperial Japanese Army took over until the surrender of Japan after World War II. The U.S. Army took over the training area in order to prepare their troops for the terrain and hardships of the Korean War. In 1953 the base was turned over to the USMC, where it remains today as an essential training ground for Marine Corps Installation Pacific and III Marine Expeditionary Force.



Camp Fuji supports training across all aspects of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, said Col. Todd R. Finley, the commanding officer of CATC Fuji. It has the capacity to support anything from MAGTF level operations to company level training movements.



With more than 300 acres of live-fire ranges and maneuver areas, along with a flight line, provide realistic, valuable training opportunities required to ensure combat readiness of US forces stationed throughout the Pacific. The large scale combined arms training exercises, including live-fire artillery ranges, cannot be completed anywhere else in the region.



CATC provides the continuity units need to stay mission ready, said Burry. Not only do we give them a unique training opportunity they cannot get anywhere else, but Camp Fujis environment provides unique training factors and challenges.



Well above sea level, the altitude of CATC Fuji provides some of the roughest training environment in the world.



According to Burry, Units must hike up steep hills to reach the training grounds, and if that was not enough, the thin air and harsh winters require even the heartiest of men to pause.



We can get up to two feet of snow on the ground some winters, explained Burry. The elevations and harsh winters create a unique and extreme training environment. When we train in such extreme conditions, it makes it easier to go out into real situations and complete our mission.



Located two-and-a-half miles from Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces Camp Fuji, training units regularly participate in infantry level training simulations with JGSDF soldiers, strengthening relationship between Japan and the United States. When not running and gunning in the field, JGSDF and CATC Fuji conduct exchange programs, where noncommissioned officers from both camps visit the others resident professional military education programs to learn about each other traditions and customs.



According to Finley, these exchange programs play an important role in forging an everlasting partnership with JGSDF.



Being this close to our counterparts allows us to build friendships and successful working and training relationships, said Finley.



Rich in a warrior history and full of extremes, Camp Fuji plays a pivotal role in MCIPACs mission to provide the Marine Corps with a forward-based platform for vital training, troop readiness and force projection while also fostering critical partnerships in the Indo-Asian-Pacific region.
The recent news of Pacific Exploration and Exploration Corp. (PRE:TSX) offers fresh reminder to energy investors how dangerous the investment field of energy stocks can be. When a company goes to bankruptcy, in most cases shareholders get wiped out. Your shares, no matter how low the cost basis is, are worth zero! Recently, the day traders have been chasing "trash" stocks, stocks that are heavily in debt and close to bankruptcy. Every long-term investor needs to double and triple check reality before putting his/her hard-earned money into these names. You need to make sure your companies can "make it" first.

The problem I see is that many heavily indebted energy companies really depend on the market, or a higher oil price, in order to survive bankruptcy. If you invest in a few of these companies, you will need to check the oil price every day and night. That's why I have been advocating that investors put money in companies with strong balance sheets and strong free cash flows. These types of companies not only offer great upside with minimum risks, they can also take advantage of the downturn and come out as winners.

Pan Orient Energy Corp. (POE:TSX.V) is at the top of my list. At the current share price of CA$1.10, if you can hold on to the stock for at least one year, I believe there is almost no downside. Let me explain why. The company is in the process of selling off assets and returning cash to its shareholders. It just distributed CA$0.40 back to the shareholders this year. Not long ago it distributed another CA$0.75 to shareholders.

Right now Pan Orient has about CA$0.80CA$0.90/share in cash and no debt. It has been in the process of selling all of its assets in Canada, Thailand and Indonesia, except for the one that Talisman Energy Inc. (now part of Repsol Oil & Gas) will pay for and drill in Q4/16. With the rebound of oil, the interest in buying oil assets worldwide has been on the rise. If Pan Orient can successfully sell the assets during 2016, I can see its cash balance increase to around CA$2/share by the end of 2016.



POE oil sand assets in Canada. Source: Company Presentation.



POE Batu Gajah assets in Indonesia currently under divestment. Source: Company Presentation.



POE Thailand assets under divestment. Source: Company Presentation.



POE East Jabung assets optioned by Talisman. Drilling scheduled for Q4/16. Source: Company Presentation.

Here comes the exciting part. What's the upside of the East Jabung drilling by Talisman in Q4/16? Here are some simple calculations based on the recent oil price and the 51-101 report:

"Mean estimated ultimate recoverable (EUR) oil prospective resources of 44 million, 28 million and 51 million barrels net to Pan Orient's 49% working interest in three respective potential reservoir horizons at the Anggun prospect." Total 123 million barrels, or US$1.23 billion worth close to CA$30/share assuming $10/barrel! How about the high case? At least three times larger. I can tell you when Talisman starts drilling, likely in Q4/16, it will be one of the most followed events in the energy space.

Here is my calculation: if Talisman successfully makes a major discovery, the share price will obviously explode. If Talisman fails, the chance is very high Pan Orient will have around CA$2/share in cash in the next 12 months. Then the company can choose to pay another dividend, or do other things to reward the shareholders. That's why I see very little downside to the stock. The insiders were agreeing with me as we saw a big purchase of 220,000 shares from the open market by Gerald Macey, chairman of the board, in the past month.

If Pan Orient is on the extreme conservative side, Canacol Energy Ltd. (CNE:TSX; CNNEF:OTCQX)is at the opposite end of the spectrum. It has some debt, net US$209 million, according to the company. The company just started to flow natural gas at 90 million cubic feet/day (90 MMcf/day). At this rate, the company has over an 80% operating margin and will generate EBITDAX at around US$150million/year. Using the current pipeline, I was told it can easily achieve 100110 MMcf/day with no upgrade and that will further increase the cash flow. Canacol's plan is to double production again in 2018 with a new pipeline.

The thesis of Canacol Energy is very simple. It takes advantage of the long-term natural gas shortage in Colombia and becomes probably the most profitable energy company on earth at the current oil price. Its natural gas costs about US$1/million Btu to produce and it sells for over US$5. The profit margin is estimated to be 84%! It is probably one of the energy companies with the highest profit margin at the current oil price.

Canacol also has a huge inventory of oil reserves and targets. Oil majors, including ExxonMobil Corp. (XOM:NYSE), Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS.A:NYSE; RDS.B:NYSE), ConocoPhillips (COP:NYSE) and others, are carrying out drilling to earn their interests. Once the oil price recovers, these properties will provide more upside to the company. In particular, ConocoPhillips is going to drill important fracking wells in Colombia in Q2/16 and Canacol gets free carry. This will set the stage for significant oil discovery there. Right now you can consider it as a "free option."

Here is the bottom line: Canacol is in a high margin, high free cash flow gas business with huge exploration and growth potential. No wonder insiders were busy accumulating shares before the big rise. Three executives exercised 315,000, 233,500 and 100,000, a total of about 650,000 shares at CA$23.38. They wrote a check for about CA$1.5 million to the company without selling a single share to "cover their cost"; selling shares is common in this kind of situation. This indicates their bullish view toward the company.



Canacol 2P reserves. Source: Company Presentation.



Plan of growth. Source: Company Presentation.



Colombia gas shortage. Source: Company Presentation.



Big jump in free cash flow. Source: Company Presentation.

The third and final stock has an even simpler thesis. It is Cub Energy Inc. (KUB:TSX.V), a company that has been almost completely forgotten by the investment community. It is a natural gas driller in Ukraine. As we know, the natural gas price in Ukraine is very high thanks to Russian domination. Natural gas prices varied from $69/thousand cubic feet ($69/mcf) last year versus $2/mcf in the U.S.

When the war broke out in eastern Ukraine, the country imposed extra taxes to support the war. As a result, the natural gas royalty almost doubled. Now with the war ended, the royalty has gone back to the original level. The company is quite nimble, and has used the downturn to increase its interests from 30% to 35% with an option to increase to 40%. In addition, it also increased its acreage by 50%. Basically all the conditions went back to prewar or better, except the stock price is still ~70% below the prewar level. That creates a good opportunity for investors who can tolerate Ukraine's geopolitics. Attached is the three-year chart of the company. In the past three years, the company didn't issue any shares; it kept its head down and continued to develop its business. Currently its 2P reserve has an NPV of $0.20, five times the current stock price.

The company's CEO is the largest shareholder of the company and has been taking good care of the business. Now that the war has ended, drilling has started, interests have increased and the royalty has been reduced; Cub Energy should start to show strong cash flow and growth soon.

Chen Lin manages a family fund and writes about it in the popular stock newsletter What Is Chen Buying? What Is Chen Selling?, published and distributed by Taylor Hard Money Advisors, Inc. While a doctoral candidate in aeronautical engineering at Princeton, Lin found his investment strategies were so profitable that he put his Ph.D. on the back burner. He employs a value-oriented approach and often demonstrates excellent market timing due to his exceptional technical analysis.

Want to read more Energy Report interviews like this? Sign up for our free e-newsletter, and you'll learn when new articles have been published. To see recent interviews with industry analysts and commentators, visit our Streetwise Interviews page.

Disclosure:

1) The following company mentioned in the article is a sponsor of Streetwise Reports: Pan Orient Energy Corp. The following company mentioned in the article is a billboard advertiser of Streetwise Reports: Cub Energy Inc. The companies mentioned in this article were not involved in any aspect of the interview preparation or post-interview editing so the expert could speak independently about the sector. Streetwise Reports does not accept stock in exchange for its services. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

2) Chen Lin: I own, or my family owns, shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: Pan Orient Energy, Cub Energy and Canacol. I personally am, or my family is, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this article. Comments and opinions expressed are my own comments and opinions. I determined and had final say over which companies would be included in the article based on my research, understanding of the sector and interview theme. I had the opportunity to review the article for accuracy as of the date of the article and am responsible for the content of the article.

3) Articles may be edited for clarity. Streetwise Reports does not make editorial comments or change experts' statements without their consent.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise during the up-to-four-week interval from the time of the interview until after it publishes.

All charts and images provided by Chen Lin.
Parliamentary Coup in Brazil

In an overnight Wednesday session, majority fascist Brazilian senators voted to impeach Rousseff without just cause - following majority lower house members in mid-April voting the same way.



An 11th hour Supreme Court appeal on her behalf was denied, along with a separate appeal to bar vice president/interim president Michel Temer from replacing her ministers with ones he and other fascists usurping power choose.

Rousseff must now step down for 180 days until a Senate trial convicts or exonerates her. Removing her requires a two-thirds majority. A previous article explained no legitimate grounds for impeachment exist.



She committed no crimes. Charges allege budgetary practices similar to what many government employ legally without opposition.



Her supporters held an overnight vigil. Street protests are planned. Once officially notified of suspension, shell address the nation on national television, making her case before the Brazilian people.



No legal basis justifies removing her. The US-manipulated scheme involves replacing social democracy with neoliberal harshness.



Telesur cited an O estado de Sao Paulo report, indicating Temers Brazilian Democratic Movement Party intends sweeping social program cuts, harming the nations poor hardest.



Attorney General Eduardo Cardozo addressed Senate members, explaining impeaching Rousseff is entirely for illegitimate political reasons.



He called proceedings against her a coupI will be on the right side of history because I defended the Constitution, he added.



The Congresso em Foco parliamentary watchdog broadsheet published names of 81 senators involved in 24 corruption investigations.



Ahead of Wednesdays vote, Rousseff called proceedings against her a coup. (T)o have an impeachment, there needs to be a crimeAnd none was committed, she asserted.



Brazil is rife with public and private corruption, corporate crooks and high-level opposition figures involved along with numerous other government officials, Rousseff untainted and uncharged.



Voting to impeach her ended over 13 years of Workers Party rule under Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Rousseff. US-supported fascists are poised to take over.

By Stephen Lendman

http://sjlendman.blogspot.com

His new book as editor and contributor is titled Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.

http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html

He lives in Chicago and can be reached in Chicago at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.



Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday through Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

 2016 Copyright Stephen Lendman - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Why We Are So Bad at Solving Problems

Before you raise your voice, please allow me to say that I do indeed know this starts to feel like a set of Russian dolls, and this is a re-run of a re-run. Its just, I didnt start it. Got a mail yesterday from the people at OpEdNews.com asking if I would allow them to repost something I wrote over a year ago. And since Im notoriously bad at remembering anything I wrote even just 24 hours ago, when I read what they wanted to republish, it was almost like a whole new world opened up for me. And I kind of liked it.

And only then I saw that what they had read, which was published May 2, 2015 as Quote Of The Year. And The Next. And The One After, was actually largely a rerun of a January 1 2013 article. But, you know, when someone tells you Your essay is excellent. And as one who has been closely attuned to such matters for nearly 50 years I can say with confidence that your theme is fresh and current as any other we should be reading and heeding today. In fact, I think it is timeless., A) you feel young, and B) you say: who am I to disagree with that?

So this today went up at OpEdNews.com, and is now once again up at The Automatic Earth as well. Because I do still think its relevant and important to acknowledge that we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change., and that we are nowhere near realizing how true that is, and how much that denial, unfortunately, guides our existence. Were either not even smart monkeys, or were that at best. We need a lot more self-reflection than we are getting, or were going down. And my bet, much as it pains me, is on door no. 2. From May 5, 2015:

I very rarely read back any of the essays I write. But maybe thats not always a good thing. Especially when they deal with larger underlying issues beneath the problems we find ourselves in, why these problems exist in the first place, and what we can and will do to deal with them. Not all of these things can and perhaps should be re-written time and again. Commentary on daily events calls for new articles, but attempts to define the more in-depth human behavior behind these events should, if they are executed well, be more timeless.

Not that I would want to judge my own work, Ill leave that to others, but I can still re-read something and think: thats something I would like to read if someone else had written it. Since a friend yesterday sent me an email that referenced the essay below, I did go through it again and thought its worth republishing here. Its from New Years Day 2013, or almost 2.5 years old, which should be a long enough time gap that many present day readers of The Automatic Earth havent read it yet, and long enough for those who have to enjoy it all over again.

I am not very optimistic about the fate of mankind as it is, and that has a lot to do with what I cite here, that while our problems tend to evolve in exponential ways, our attempts at solving them move in linear fashion. That is true as much for the problems we ourselves create as it is for those that  seem to  simply happen. I think it would be very beneficial for us if we were to admit to our limits when it comes to solving large scale issues, because that might change the behavior we exhibit when creating these issues.

In that sense, the distinction made by Dennis Meadows below between universal problems and global problems may be very useful. The former concerns issues we all face, but can -try to  solve at a more local level, the latter deals with those issues that need planet-wide responses  and hardly ever get solved if at all. The human capacity for denial and deceit plays a formidable role in this.

I know that this is not a generally accepted paradigm, but that I put down to the same denial and deceit. We like to see ourselves as mighty smart demi-gods capable of solving any problem. But that is precisely, I think, the no. 1 factor in preventing us from solving them. And I dont see that changing: were simple not smart enough to acknowledge our own limitations. Therefore, as Meadows says: we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change. Heres from January 1 2013:

Ilargi: I came upon this quote a few weeks ago in an interview that Der Spiegel had with Dennis Meadows, co-author of the Limits to Growth report published by the Club of Rome 40 years ago. Yes, the report that has been much maligned and later largely rehabilitated. But thats not my topic here, and neither is Meadows himself. Its the quote, and it pretty much hasnt left me alone since I read it.

Heres the short version:

[..]  we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change.

And here it is in its context:

Limits to Growth Author Dennis Meadows Humanity Is Still on the Way to Destroying Itself

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Professor Meadows, 40 years ago you published The Limits to Growth together with your wife and colleagues, a book that made you the intellectual father of the environmental movement. The core message of the book remains valid today: Humanity is ruthlessly exploiting global resources and is on the way to destroying itself. Do you believe that the ultimate collapse of our economic system can still be avoided?

Meadows: The problem that faces our societies is that we have developed industries and policies that were appropriate at a certain moment, but now start to reduce human welfare, like for example the oil and car industry. Their political and financial power is so great and they can prevent change. It is my expectation that they will succeed. This means that we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change.

I dont really think that Dennis Meadows understands how true that is. I may be wrong, but I think hes talking about a specific case here . While what he makes me ponder is that perhaps this is all we have, and always, that its a universal truth. That we can never solve our real big problems through proactive change. That we can only get to a next step by letting the main problems we face grow into full-blown crises, and that our only answer is to let that happen.

And then we come out on the other side, or we dont, but its not because we find the answer to the problem itself, we simply adapt to what there is at the other side of the full-blown crisis we were once again unable to halt in its tracks. Adapt like rats do, and crocodiles, cockroaches, no more and no less.

This offers a nearly completely ignored insight into the way we deal with problems. We dont change course in order to prevent ourselves from hitting boundaries. We hit the wall face first, and only then do we pick up the pieces and take it from there.

Jacques Cousteau was once quite blunt about it:

The road to the future leads us smack into the wall. We simply ricochet off the alternatives that destiny offers: a demographic explosion that triggers social chaos and spreads death, nuclear delirium and the quasi-annihilation of the species Our survival is no more than a question of 25, 50 or perhaps 100 years.

Without getting into specific predictions the way Cousteau did: If that is as true as I suspect it is, the one thing it means is that we fool ourselves a whole lot. The entire picture we have created about ourselves, consciously, sub-consciously, un-consciously, you name it, is abjectly false. At least the one I think we have. Which is that we see ourselves as capable of engineering proactive changes in order to prevent crises from blowing up.

That erroneous self-image leads us to one thing only: the phantom prospect of a techno-fix becomes an excuse for not acting. In that regard, it may be good to remember that one of the basic tenets of the Limits to Growth report was that variables like world population, industrialization and resource depletion grow exponentially, while the (techno) answer to them grows only linearly.

First, I should perhaps define what sorts of problems Im talking about. Sure, people build dams and dikes to keep water from flooding their lands. And we did almost eradicate smallpox. But there will always be another flood coming, or a storm, and there will always be another disease popping up (viruses and bacteria adapt faster than we do).

In a broader sense, we have gotten rid of some diseases, but gotten some new ones in return. And yes, average life expectancy has gone up, but its dependent entirely on the affordability and availability of lots of drugs, which in turn depend on oil being available.

And if I can be not PC for a moment, this all leads to another double problem. 1) A gigantic population explosion with a lot of members that 2) are, if not weaklings, certainly on average much weaker physically than their ancestors. Which is perhaps sort of fine as long as those drugs are there, but not when theyre not.

Its quite simple, isnt it? Increasing wealth makes us destroy ancient multi-generational family structures (re: the nuclear family, re: old-age homes), societal community structures (who knows their neighbors, and engages in meaningful activity with them?), and the very planet that has provided the means for increasing our wealth (and our population!).

And in our drive towards what we think are more riches, we are incapable of seeing these consequences. Let alone doing something about them. We have become so dependent, as modern western men and women, on the blessings of our energy surplus and technology that 9 out of 10 of us wouldnt survive if we had to do without them.

Nice efforts, in other words, but no radical solutions. And yes, we did fly to the moon, too, but not flying to the moon wasnt a problem to start with.

Maybe the universal truth I suspect there is in Meadows quote applies specifically to a specific kind of problem: The ones we create ourselves.

We cant reasonably expect to control nature, and we shouldnt feel stupid if we cant (not exactly a general view to begin with, I know). And while one approach to storms and epidemics is undoubtedly better than another, both will come to back to haunt us no matter what we do. So as far as natural threats go, its a given that when the big one hits we can only evolve through crisis. We can mitigate. At best.

However: we can create problems ourselves too. And not just that. We can create problems that we cant solve. Where the problem evolves at an exponential rate, and our understanding of it only grows linearly. Thats what that quote is about for me, and thats what I think is sorely missing from our picture of ourselves.

In order to solve problems we ourselves create, we need to understand these problems. And since we are the ones who create them, we need to first understand ourselves to understand our problems.

Moreover, we will never be able to either understand or solve our crises if we dont acknowledge how we  tend to  deal with them. That is, we dont avoid or circumvent them, we walk right into them and, if were lucky, come out at the other end.

Point in case: were not solving any of our current problems, and whats more: as societies, were not even seriously trying, were merely paying lip service. To a large extent this is because our interests are too different. To a lesser extent (or is it?) this is because we  inadvertently  allow the more psychopathic among us to play an outsize role in our societies.

Of course there are lots of people who do great things individually or in small groups, for themselves and their immediate surroundings, but far too many of us draw the conclusion from this that such great things can be extended to any larger scale we can think of. And that is a problem in itself: its hard for us to realize that many things dont scale up well. A case in point, though hardly anyone seems to realize it, is that solving problems itself doesnt scale up well.

Now, it is hard enough for individuals to know themselves, but its something altogether different, more complex and far more challenging for the individuals in a society, to sufficiently know that society in order to correctly identify its problems, find solutions, and successfully implement them. In general, the larger the scale of the group, the society, the harder this is.

Meadows makes a perhaps somewhat confusing distinction between universal and global problems, but it does work:

You see, there are two kinds of big problems. One I call universal problems, the other I call global problems. They both affect everybody. The difference is: Universal problems can be solved by small groups of people because they dont have to wait for others. You can clean up the air in Hanover without having to wait for Beijing or Mexico City to do the same.

Global problems, however, cannot be solved in a single place. Theres no way Hanover can solve climate change or stop the spread of nuclear weapons. For that to happen, people in China, the US and Russia must also do something. But on the global problems, we will make no progress.

So how do we deal with problems that are global? Its deceptively simple: We dont.

All we need to do is look at the three big problems  if not already outright crises  we have right now. And see how are we doing. Ill leave aside No More War and No More Hunger for now, though they could serve as good examples of why we fail.

There is a more or less general recognition that we face three global problems/crises. Finance, energy and climate change. Climate change should really be seen as part of the larger overall pollution problem. As such, it is closely linked to the energy problem in that both problems are direct consequences of the 2nd law of thermodynamics. If you use energy, you produce waste; use more energy and you produce more waste. And there is a point where you can use too much, and not be able to survive in the waste you yourself have produced.

Erwin Schrodinger described it this way, as quoted by Herman Daly:

Erwin Schrodinger [..] has described life as a system in steady-state thermodynamic disequilibrium that maintains its constant distance from equilibrium (death) by feeding on low entropy from its environment  that is, by exchanging high-entropy outputs for low-entropy inputs. The same statement would hold verbatim as a physical description of our economic process. A corollary of this statement is an organism cannot live in a medium of its own waste products.

The energy crisis flows seamlessly into the climate/pollution crisis. If properly defined, that is. But it hardly ever is. Our answer to our energy problems is to first of all find more and after that maybe mitigate the worst by finding a source thats less polluting.

So we change a lightbulb and get a hybrid car. Thats perhaps an answer to the universal problem, and only perhaps, but it in no way answers the global one. With a growing population and a growing average per capita consumption, both energy demand and pollution keep rising inexorably. And the best we can do is pay lip service. Sure, we sign up for less CO2 and less waste of energy, but we draw the line at losing global competitiveness.

The bottom line is that we may have good intentions, but we utterly fail when it comes to solutions. And if we fail with regards to energy, we fail when it comes to the climate and our broader living environment, also known as the earth.

We can only solve our climate/pollution problem if we use a whole lot less energy resources. Not just individually, but as a world population. Since that population is growing, those of us that use most energy will need to shrink our consumption more every passing day. And every day we dont do that leads to more poisoned rivers, empty seas and oceans, barren and infertile soil. But we refuse to even properly define the problem, let alone  even try to  solve it.

Anyway, so our energy problem needs to be much better defined than it presently is. Its not that were running out, but that we use too much of it and kill the medium we live in, and thereby ourselves, in the process. But how much are we willing to give up? And even if we are, wont someone else simply use up anyway what we decided not to? Global problems blow real time.

The more we look at this, the more we find we look just like the reindeer on Matthew Island, the bacteria in the petri dish, and the yeast in the wine vat. We burn through all surplus energy as fast as we can find ways to burn it. The main difference, the one that makes us tragic, is that we can see ourselves do it, not that we can stop ourselves from doing it.

Nope, well burn through it all if we can (but we cant cause well suffocate in our own waste first). And if were lucky (though thats a point of contention) well be left alive to be picking up the pieces when were done.

Our third big global problem is finance slash money slash economy. It not only has the shortest timeframe, it also invokes the highest level of denial and delusion, and the combination may not be entirely coincidental. The only thing our leaders do is try and keep the baby going at our expense, and we let them. Weve created a zombie and all were trying to do is keep it walking so everyone including ourselves will believe its still alive. That way the zombie can eat us from within.

Were like a deer in a pair of headlights, standing still as can be and putting our faith in whoever it is we put in the drivers seat. And too, what is it, stubborn, thick headed?, to consider the option that maybe the driver likes deer meat.

Our debt levels, in the US, Europe and Japan, just about all of them and from whatever angle you look, are higher than theyve been at any point in human history, and all weve done now for five years plus running is trust a band of bankers and shady officials to fix it all for us, just because were scared stiff and we think were too stupid to know whats going on anyway. You know, they should know because they have the degrees and/or the money to show for it. That those can also be used for something 180 degrees removed from the greater good doesnt seem to register.

We are incapable of solving our home made problems and crises for a whole series of reasons. Were not just bad at it, we cant do it at all. Were incapable of solving the big problems, the global ones.

We evolve the way Stephen Jay Gould described evolution: through punctuated equilibrium. That is, we pass through bottlenecks, forced upon us by the circumstances of nature, only in the case of the present global issues we are nature itself. And theres nothing we can do about it. If we dont manage to understand this dynamic, and very soon, those bottlenecks will become awfully narrow passages, with room for ever fewer of us to pass through.

As individuals we need to drastically reduce our dependence on the runaway big systems, banking, the grid, transport etc., that we ourselves built like so many sorcerers apprentices, because as societies we cant fix the runaway problems with those systems, and they are certain to drag us down with them if we let them.

By Raul Ilargi Meijer

Website: http://theautomaticearth.com (provides unique analysis of economics, finance, politics and social dynamics in the context of Complexity Theory) 2016 Copyright Raul I Meijer - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Raul Ilargi Meijer Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




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LUDLOW -- FloDesign spinoff DaVinci Arms is bringing its firearm suppressor technology to a market of gun enthusiasts who want less bang for their buck.

"On a .22, with our suppressor, a shot makes less noise than a BB gun. You hear a 'thwack,' and that 'thwack' is the noise of the bullet hitting the target," said designer Joe Salvador, director of new product development for DaVinci Arms in Ludlow.

The first few hundred DaVinci suppressors and barrel shields are in production now at a Ludlow contract manufacturer and should hit store shelves in a few months. In keeping with DaVinci's theme, the models have Italian names like "Bambino" for the small .22 caliber and "Leggero," meaning lightweight.

At the same time, DaVinci, through Salvador and CEO Wayne Thresher, has participated in Valley Venture Mentors startup advising programs and is now competing for investment capital in the Valley Venture Mentors Accelerator program.

Salvador said he brings 3D-printed plastic models to Valley Venture Mentors meetings instead of the real thing. There aren't a lot of "gun people" at VVM, but Salvador said its good for him to hone his pitch to skeptical people who aren't familiar with guns and gun culture.

DaVinci isn't alone as a local company in the suppressor business. Yankee Hill Machine in the Florence section of Northampton, which is moving to Easthampton, makes them, as does Troy Industries in West Springfield.

Suppressors are not legal in Massachusetts. But the law doesn't apply to manufacturers of the equipment, Salvador said.

Firearms giant Ruger, across the border in Connecticut, where suppressors are legal, is in the business now as well.

The $580 million Pentagon contract to manufacture the next generation of sidearms for the U.S. Army that Smith & Wesson is competing for requires that the handgun have a noise suppressor, according to published reports.

Hiram Percy Maxim invented the suppressor - he called it a silencer and the names are often used interchangeably - in Hartford in 1908.

"So the industry has a long history here in the Connecticut River Valley, having grown up alongside the firearms industry here," Salvador said.

The federal government restricted the sale of silencers in 1936 out of fear that poachers would use them to silently take animals illegally.

Over the years, the silencer took on a sinister reputation most folks associate with villains.

But that's changing as more gun enthusiasts find out about them.

The ATF reports that the number of registered suppressors grew 38 percent in 2014 to 792,282 in February 2015, the most recent statistics available.

"We had that big surge in firearms sales," Salvador said. "In the past few years, owners have filled their safes with guns. Now they are starting to accessorize those purchases. That's what a suppressor is, it's an accessory like a holster or a scope."

The American Suppressor Association, an industry group, is working to make silencers legal in more states. As of now, they are legal to own in 41 states and legal to use in hunting in 36 of those 41. Since 2011, 16 states have legalized suppressor hunting and three states have legalized suppressor ownership.

Two bills are pending in Massachusetts, Salvador said.

Also, there is a proposed federal law that would make suppressors easier to buy in places where state law allows their purchase. As it stands now - even in states where it is legal - purchasers must wait as long as a year for the federal government to process a required $200 tax stamp.

The new proposed process is much more like buying a handgun, Salvador said.

But why buy a suppressor?

Some buyers just like gadgets, Salvador said.

But the big push now is for safety.

Suppressors work through the use of a set of baffles, like an engine muffler. They get the noise from the shot down below 140 decibels, the point at which OSHA says hearing loss occurs.

With suppressors, people can shoot on a target range without hearing protection equipment. It's safer because they can now hear someone instructing them or warning them.

Hunters can use a suppressor to protect their hearing instead of muffling their ears and missing that telltale sound of a deer hoof breaking a twig, or the warning shout: "Don't shoot, it's a hiker in a brown coat!"

Salvador said suppressors also help shooters retain control of their firearms and help avoid the flinch some develop from the sound of the gun.

And suppressors can help keep the noise from gun ranges to a minimum, lessening the sound impact on neighbors.

Hearing loss is an especially worrisome problem for the Armed Forces, and that concern helped lead to the birth of DaVinci. Salvador said the federal government spends $2.26 billion a year treating veterans' hearing loss through the VA health care network.

Thresher said the Marine Corps came to FloDesign in Wilbraham in 2007 and 2008. Thresher still serves as president and CEO of FloDesign while serving as managing partner of DaVinci.

The Marines wanted FloDesign to adapt the technology it uses to make jet engines quieter and wind or water turbines more efficient into making a durable silencer.

The Marines wanted a silencer that was permanently affixed to the M4 rifle and at least as durable as the barrel of that rifle. They also required that the suppressor open up so Marines could clean out the accumulated metal shavings and carbon waste and keep it functional.

Most suppressors on the market are welded shut.

Salvador showed how he's designed a DaVinci Arms suppressor so it can be taken apart without a tool kit. One locking ring is reverse-threaded and can be used as a wrench to get the rest of it open.

That ring and many other aspects of the design are now covered by DaVinci's patents.

Thresher and Salvador spun off from FloDesign in July after raising money from investors. They moved into space at Ludlow Mills a few months ago.

The Pentagon is still evaluating DaVinci's design for the Marines.

Thus far, DaVinci has four models. They have designed suppressors in four sizes fitting firearms that use a number of popular ammunition calibers. One size fits rifles and handguns that use the .22-caliber long rifle and 9mm rounds. One fits rifles that use 5.56mm or .308 Winchester. A fourth model fits rifles that use 7.62 mm or .30-caliber size of ammunition.

Rem Sport of Ludlow is making the suppressors and a barrel guard for DaVinci, but with success, Thresher and Salvador hope to start making the products at the Ludlow Mills location as their business grows.

The local suppliers and manufacturers are why it makes sense to grow DaVinci here in Massachusetts despite gun laws that now make the suppressors illegal to own here.

"The companies here are big in the precision manufacturing, in the firearms space, in the aerospace industry," Salvador said. "That's why we need to be here."
MBTA-Green-Line-Refurbished-Trolley-2-300x169.jpg

An MBTA Green Line refurbished trolley.

(Photo Provided)

BOSTON -- Despite talk of expanding the Green Line, Massachusetts Turnpike drivers are a little surprised to see trolley cars in Lee.

But the Green Line cars are an occasional sight on the highway from Stockbridge to Boston, as James Taylor would say. For example, this sighting posted to Twitter:

Another #MBTA Green Line trolley headed through Framingham for service this morning. #MassDOT pic.twitter.com/4aZM09S7IN  Lee Toma (@LeeToma) May 12, 2016

Why are the cars heading west? The T is sending them out for rehabilitation and retrofitting at the Alstrom USA plant in Hornell, New York, in the Southern Tier west of Binghamton and south of Buffalo.

Trucks hauling the cars take the Mass. Pike to the New York State Thruway. They have police escorts.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the $104 million project car project, which began last year, has nothing to do with CRRC MA's contract to build 284 subway cars for the MBTA at a new plant in East Springfield.

The first delivery of the Orange Line cars from Springfield is expected in March 2018 and production, at least on this contract, is expected to last five years.

All the cars getting repaired entered service in 1986 and 1987; the current rehab project is expected to keep them on the rails for another 25 years.

The work includes upgrades to the cars' HVAC systems and replacement of auxiliary lighting, flooring, seats and othe equipment, as as well overhauls of roofs, door systems, brake equipment and pantographs -- that arm on top of the trolleys that transmits power from the wires.

All the Green Line cars will be rehabbed and returned to service by early 2017.
Subaru Recall

Subaru is telling owners of some newer Legacy and Outback vehicles not to drive them because the steering can fail. The company is recalling about 52,000 of the cars and SUVs from the 2016 and 2017 model years. It also has told dealers to stop selling them until they're repaired.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS / RICK BOWMER)

CHERRY HILL, N.J. -- Subaru has recalled 52,000 Outback and Legacy vehicles from model year 2016 and 2017 and has asked owners not to drive them until they can be checked and, if necessary, replaced.

The company said the use of a wrong tool could have resulted in the improper machining of one of the steering column shafts.

The government file makes no mention of any crashes involving the steering columns.

The recall applies to cars manufactured from February through May 2016, according to the documents.

Subaru said dealer technicians will inspect the steering columns. If the vehicle contains a steering column with one of the affected lot numbers, the steering column must be replaced, Subaru said. Until the vehicle has been inspected, owners are advised not to drive their vehicle.

The company told the federal government that the problem came to light May 3 when the owner of a 2016 Outback complained to a dealer. The dealer subsequently alerted the automaker.

The company investigated and started screening its inventory on May 6 following its own investigation.

Subaru Recall by MassLive2
Each week, MassLive showcases pets available for adoption at shelters at rescue organizations in Western Massachusetts.

With the participation of the shelters listed below, many animals should be able to find a permanent home.

We also provide some pet related news items that we hope you will enjoy.

"A wild tune: Alaska moose harmonizes with home's wind chimes"

By Mark Thiessen, Associated Press

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Forget "Uptown Funk." The Alaska wild is grooving to the smooth "moose-ic" of wind chimes.

Britta Schroeder shot video of a moose playing one-part harmony with the wind chimes on the porch of her rural cabin near Denali National Park and Preserve, and it's quickly making its way across the Internet.

Schroeder heard the chimes around 10:30 p.m. May 4. She looked out the window of her home near Healy, Alaska, about 10 miles north of the park's entrance, but it didn't look windy.

The chimes continued to sound for two to three more minutes. Then she heard a thump on her porch.

"My dogs' ears perked up," she said. "I knew it was going to be an animal."

Sure enough, there was a moose, rubbing its head against the wind chimes and gumming the glass disc pendulum that hangs down from the middle of the instrument.

She opened the door of her cabin wide enough to get her cellphone through to shoot video but still keep her dog inside.

Schroeder said a cow and two moose calves had spent some time near her cabin since last summer but she had not seen the family since March. She assumes the mother has kicked the calves out, and this one returned to her yard.

As for the "moose-ical" interlude, Schroeder isn't going to venture a guess as to what attracted the moose to the wind chimes.

Apparently even moose live by the adage that it isn't a party until something is broken. The animal probably left after it snapped the wooden base of the chimes in half, Schroeder said. A little glue made it good as new.

___

Associated Press writer Samantha Shotzbarger contributed to this report from Phoenix

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WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS SHELTERS:

Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society

Address: 163 Montague Road, Leverett

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 548-9898

Website: www.dpvhs.org

Address: 171 Union St., Springfield

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12:30 to 5:30 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 781-4000

Website: www.dpvhs.org

The following is a video of Trudy, a dog available for adoption at the T.J. O'Connor Animal Adoption and Control Center in Springfield.

Thomas J. O'Connor Animal Control and Adoption Center

Address: 627 Cottage St., Springfield

Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, noon-4 p.m.; Thursday, noon-7 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 781-1484

Website: tjoconnoradoptioncenter.com

Westfield Homeless Cat Project

Address: 1124 East Mountain Road, Westfield

Hours: Adoption clinics, Thursday, 5-7 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Website: http://www.whcp.petfinder.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/westfieldhomelesscatprojectadoptions



Westfield Regional Animal Shelter

Address: 178 Apremont Way, Westfield

Hours: Monday-Friday, noon-5 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 564-3129

Website: http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/ma70.html

Franklin County Sheriff's Office Regional Dog Shelter and Adoption Center

Address: 10 Sandy Lane, Turners Falls

Hours: Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 676-9182

Website: http://fcrdogkennel.org/contact.html

Polverari/Southwick Animal Control Facility

Address: 11 Depot St., Southwick

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 569-5348, ext. 649

Website: http://southwickpolice.com/chief-david-a-ricardis-welcome/animal-control/

Berkshire Humane Society

Address: 214 Barker Road, Pittsfield

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 447-7878

Website: http://berkshirehumane.org/

Purradise Feline Adoption

Address: 301 Stockbridge Road, Great Barrington

Hours: Monday and Tuesday: Closed; Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.; Friday,10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m.

Telephone: (413) 717-4244

Website: http://berkshirehumane.org/contact-us/


Members of the Rotary Club of Springfield celebrated their 101st anniversary Thursday with the presentation of three Paul Harris Fellowship Awards along with several grants to local agencies.

The celebration was held at the Colony Club in Springfield with an estimated 100 guests. Claiming the distinguished awards were:

Andrew Morehouse,

Mike Garreffi,

Sue Orenstein,

Other grant recipients were: The KEVS Foundation, The Gray House and the Springfield Libraries.

For more information on the Springfield Rotary, visit: www.springfieldmarotary.org
120415-stephen-crosby-gaming-commission.JPG

Stephen Crosby, chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, conducts a commission meeting at the MassMutual Center in Springfield.The Gaming Commission has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Association of Black Business and Professionals and a $10,000 grant to the Springfield Regional Chamber to assist small businesses in the city.

(THE REPUBLICAN FILE)

SPRINGFIELD  The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Association of Black Business and Professionals and a $10,000 grant to the Springfield Regional Chamber to assist small businesses in the city.

Both organizations will partner with the city of Springfield to bring the "Interise" program to the city, expected to begin in September, "to assist businesses in growing and ramping up for future opportunities," according to a news release from the office of Mayor Domenic J. Sarno.

The program will focus on engaging minority, women and veteran-owned businesses.

"We realize that small businesses are the backbone of our economy in Springfield," Sarno said. "We thank the Gaming Commission and our local partners for supporting our advocacy for small businesses in getting them prepared for the increased economic activity in Springfield. This program will help give them the tools they need to continue to grow, create jobs and invest."

Richard Griffin Jr., the City's Senior Project Manager in the Office of Planning & Economic Development, along with Robert Jones, of the Association of Black Business and Professionals, appeared in front of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday to discuss the program and award.

According to the announcement, the program will fill a gap in the education and development of established entrepreneurs by providing a hands-on, capacity-building program to owners of existing small businesses.

The Interise StreetWise "MBA" program is designed to provide small business owners "with business knowledge, management know-how, and the networks needed to grow established small businesses, according to the Interise website.

In Springfield, the business organizations and city will use the program to aid local businesses in developing three-year "strategic growth action plan" that will detail the strategies and tactics the business owner and staff will take to increase revenue and improve access to capital, according to the city.
According to a recent report http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/by-the-numbers-a-gigantic-list-of-google-stats-and-facts/ , by the time you read this sentence, an average of 2.3 million Google searches were conducted. No doubt, Google is our go-to resource. We use it so much that "Google" has become a verb as in, "Just Google it."

Theres more you can do with Google than merely finding an article, products for sale or websites. Here are seven Google tricks youll use time and time again.

Kim Komando, Special for USA TODAY

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/komando/2016/05/13/7-great-google-features-you-probably-dont-use/84314142/
Chief Master Sgt. Timothy Horn, Air University command chief, addressed the importance of communication within an organization during the inaugural Alabama Leadership Conference hosted by Troy Universitys Continuing Education program, May 12, 2016, Montgomery, Alabama.

The Alabama Leadership Conference invited approximately 130 business leaders and young professionals from across the state to learn how to develop leaders within their respective organizations from experienced leaders within the community.

Horn was invited to share his perspective of how to best communicate from a military standpoint.

There is such a definite emphasis in the Air Force regarding leadership development and they are a part of our community. Plus having the schools that are at Maxwell and Gunter made it seem like a good fit with what were trying to achieve here, said Stephen Woerner, Alabama Leadership Conference planning committee member.

Horns presentation was titled, Communicating Your Vision to All. He discussed the importance of a vision and mission statement and how to make them encompasses the entire organization to enhance cohesion.

He explained that before a vision statement can be formed, there must be a foundation that combines the companys core values and core purpose, these two things hold an organization together as it grows and changes. He used the Air Forces core values, integrity first, service before self, and Excellence in all that we do, as an example.

Organizations must change without compromising their core values or who they are. We have had our core values as long as our existence and as an organization I am proud to say that we have changed. We have stayed who we are, but we have progressed, said Horn.

Another method that brings the team together is the mission statement. Horn said that this is not meant to say who you are, but what you do. He focused on the Air Forces mission statement, Fly, Fight and Win in air, space and cyberspace, he noted its deliberate inclusiveness and agreed that everyone in the Air Force can market themselves to this statement.

During his presentation, he also elaborated on the importance of ensuring the message is being conveyed from people on all levels of the organization.

Every member of an organization should be able to connect their day-to-day duties to that vision statement in some way, shape or form. If that goal is achieved, that vision then creates a synergy throughout the organization. That synergy will have a tangible, positive impact on productivity, He said.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a consultation into whether changes should be introduced to the chilling requirements of Qurbani meat and offal supplied from slaughterhouses in England and Wales during the period of Eid al-Adha.
by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, May 12, 2016

Gizmodo threw Facebook under the bus, reporting that the team that runs the Trending topics section routinely removes certain right-wing political sites from the section, even when data showed they were trending. It doesn't take much to piss off right-wingers, so a bunch of them in the Senate banged out a letter to Facebook saying WTF?

No, this was not a letter to a news organization (which the government has historically tried to regulate into being unbiased," or at least limiting its regional influence); it was to a social media platform that, let's face it, has more influence over Americans than any media company in history.

Depending on whether major news organizations run stories they do or dont like, many argue that these media companies  especially newspapers owned by families or billionaires  are biased toward the left or the right, reflecting the views of the owners.

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Thanks to cable TV, we have "news" organizations that are biased by design. And the shift of readers to digital has more "news" organizations compromising their "editorial integrity" every day with native advertising. Argue all you want about how consumers like how native "flows" within regular editorial  it is selling out by any other name.

Throughout the 20th century, when most families read newspapers for their news, there were arguments back and forth about how if the news wasn't slanted one way or another, just the choice of stories gave the press enormous power to "set the agenda" of what was important  and how local, national and international news should be considered.

Behind all of it, just as at Facebook, were and are human beings (algorithms are programmed by humans, and so contain all kinds of biases as well). Watch the same story on three or four of the major network evening news programs and you will see a profound difference in everything from voice inflection to choice of words to facial expressions that transmit the personal feelings of the reporter in spite of efforts by the parent organization to be "fair and balanced." If you read the same story in different newspapers (or news sites) from around the world, you will often wonder if they are talking about the same event.

All of this is to put to rest the idea that news, whether delivered by the "press" or social media, is in any way unbiased. And as we have seen to date, no amount of government pressure or direct intervention will resolve this. It is not an organizational issue (although it may have been at Facebook), it is a human issue. If the feds tolerate Fox news, they have no moral high ground on which to stand and complain about the choices Facebook is making.

Unless, of course, they decide in the long run that Facebook has become too powerful, too influential (much like newspapers and the Big Three Networks in the last century) and they decide to regulate it  which, by Facebook's consumer-generated-content DNA, will be totally impossible.

Finally, it is a singularly sad commentary on our society as a whole that Facebook has become a primary source of news, thanks very much to news organization co-opting themselves by begging for their traffic. If Facebook leans left or right should not even be a thing. Especially with a world of relatively credible news just a click or two away.
by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, May 12, 2016

The social robots are coming.

And there just may be a new ad model that comes along with them.

Plenty of features of the coming social robots were detailed at the Rework Connected Home Summit in Boston this week.

The relatively small devices can recognize faces, detect moods as well as learn and self-adjust over time.

One of the more intriguing social robots discussed at the conference was Jibo.

Unlike Amazons highly popular Alexa, which recognizes voice and executes commands, such as turn on the lights, play music or order me a... whatever, Jibo is designed to become sort of a family member.

It can do the normal things that voice-controlled, central command hubs typically do, but it essentially has character.

Its not a remote control, but lives in your home, said Blake Kotelly, vice president of design at Jibo, a well-funded Boston company with some 80 employees. Dentsu also invested $3 million in the company some time ago.

The relatively small, table-top robot has a face, a screen that moves to look up, down and sideways while recognizing who its facing.

The screen movements and interactions are synched to voice and surrounding activity.

For example, in one demonstration, Jibo interacts with a child while reading book, so that the child has to answer simple questions as part of the dialog.

I caught up with Kotelly after his presentation to explore where marketing and advertising might fit in the world of social robots.

Kotelly said that Jibo is essentially a platform and outside entities will create functions that will connect through it.

An overly-simple example would be a pizza delivery company aggregator.

And this is where marketing and advertising comes in.

The pizza aggregation function could be created by an agency whose client is Bobs Pizza, though more realistically it would be a major pizza delivery outfit.

When the consumer says Hey, Jibo, order me a pizza, the robot automatically links to the pizza aggregator app and the consumer is presented with all the local pizza options, with Bobs Pizza as the recommended or default choice.

This is where it can get a little tricky, obviously.

The pizza aggregator would not have to identify that the company represents Bobs Pizza, according to Kotelly, since the robot steps aside while the consumer and pizza aggregator negotiate a transaction.

The obvious next step is for the agency for Saras Pizza to create its own pizza aggregating app, with Saras Pizza always the go-to pizza place.

This would be where each consumer would decide which aggregator they prefer, Kotelly said, so that the market essentially self-corrects.

The consumer also could just ask Jibo to order a pizza from Dominos, if thats their choice.

The key here is that new messaging capabilities are being created between devices, like Jibo, and consumers in their homes.

Those conversations will be increasing over time and they often will lead to linkages outside the home.

The inside-the-home devices are likely to become more trusted advisors over time, especially as they learn more about individual consumer needs and desires.

Many of those needs and desires will be fulfilled by the Jibos of the world reaching out and opening the doors to their consumers.

The coming challenge of the Internet of Things for marketers is how and when to properly enter that opened door.
by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, May 13, 2016

It seems WebMD has been around for as long as theres been an Internet--it predates YouTube by more than a decade--and if theres a trusted brand on the Web, that might be it. Last year, WebMD Websites reached more people each month than any other government or private healthcare Website there is, according to comScore.

Also, of course, you may associate it with pain, suffering and panic because it is a go-to place for people who need answers about medical crises or conditions, theirs or someone elses, real or imagined.

At its first NewFronts presentation, WebMD seemed to want to stress the other half because its also a big player in the softer side of healthcare, as in beauty, nutrition, exercise. That side carries a big pot of advertising gold. All those are also categories that have blown up on the Internet as its moved toward video.

Us too! WebMD seemed to be saying. Kristy Hammam, the editor-in-chief, noted WebMD has 76 million unique users each month, and nearly half of that audience is visiting the site for lifestyle-oriented wellness content. Its creating video for them that has become a major business proposition for WebMD that, like so many other video content outlets, used NewFronts to announce a new wing just to develop branded videos for its advertisers.

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'WebMD has become part of the cultural landscape, and we are better positioned now than ever before to help connect consumers with the content that they want and need,' said David Schlanger, the CEO.

Hammam said that-- perhaps well below the radar--WebMD also attracts 26 million people who exercise at least twice a week, more than any site, and claims to reach more frequent recipe shoppers than any food or recipe site. A lot of this stuff is being seen on cellphones; Hammam says mobile use has grown 160% year-over-year.

The site is in the midst of creating 15 new health/beauty/lifestyle areas to widen its appeal with short, snackable pieces of info in series with names like What They Dont Tell You and In Plain Sight. Thursdays NewFronts showed the flexibility and depth of WebMds site, with a snippet of advice comparing free-range parenting to the helicopter mom version, a logical (if not trendoid) extension of what a health site could be doing.

Whats actually pleasant about WebMDs approach is that its style with the lifestyle pieces is decidedly less sugary than the same kind of health and lifestyle videos you can find everywhere else. You can watch most of these ones without overdosing on ebullience and exclamation points.

Schlanger says WebMD is well aware of the competition. There are how-to videos all over the place, he said.

Bigger plans seem aimed to up the volume by leaning on a little star power. The event showcased newswoman Soledad OBriens three-part Teens and Stress series for WebMD, and a cameo appearance by celeb chef Giada de Laurentiis to discuss healthy eating.

The bigger effort involves a partnership between WebMD and Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, a cancer victim and survivor. Her a five-part series,Path To A Breakthrough that traces cutting-edge medical innovations begins later this year.

But that association may go further; at the NewFronts, WebMD said it is exploring syndicating a short weekly health news featurette, Wellness Wednesday to stations' local newscasts, featuring Roberts. Also, WebMD is working on a in-waiting room television service, though thats still in preliminary stages.

WebMD doesnt seem to be shying from the part of the Website that dispenses medical information and prevention advice.

Hammam said afterward that WebMD has done some unusual coverage of the zika virus, sending a reporter just using a smartphone to chronicle how Puerto Rico is combatting the threat, and Hamman and Schlanger said that predictably, WebMD traffic spikes at times of health and wellness concerns.

pj@mediapost.com
by Larissa Faw , May 13, 2016

Nathan's Famous and its agency MME are celebrating the renowned hot dog hawkers 100th anniversary with a new campaign commemorating its past with some help from some New Yorkers who are pretty famous in their own right.

The overarching style of these commercials is celebrity open mic, stated Don Raskin, senior partner, MME and account lead on Nathans Famous. There was no formal script and we only chose people who had a passion for this iconic brand. It was really important to us that the spots sound authentic and reflect the genuine connection the celebrities have with Nathans.

The summer-long campaign running through Labor Day weekend is designed to appeal to New Yorkers through traditional media including in-store materials, outdoor signage, radio and print advertising.

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The creative features well-known personalities including Whoopi Goldberg, Regis Philbin, Kathy Griffin and Walt Frazier as well as local New York radio personalities. They include Evan Roberts (WFAN); Rich Kaminski (WLTW) and Skeery Jones (Z100).

Celebrities for the campaign were selected based on, "who we felt personified the different aspects of the brands personality, such as authentic New York; quirky; and original," the agency said.

The celebs tell their favorite Nathans Famous memory and wish the brand a happy 100th anniversary.

The 60-second radio spots will air on New York area stations including, WFAN, Lite-FM and Z-100.

Outdoor signage will appear on the flagship store in Coney Island.

The print ads will run in a special section of the NY Daily News on May 22nd and there will be a special Nathans pull out section in the Sunday NY Daily News.

There will also be a New York Post wrap, appearing on May 25th as well as a front cover wrap. Both of these four-color sections will highlight a special sale of Nathans hot dogs for five cents-- the original price of a Nathans dog in 1916-- to encourage people to visit the Coney Island restaurant from 11am  2pm on May 28th.

This effort was a fun project because so many celebrities were eager to wish Nathans a happy 100th anniversary, says the agency. It selected the featured personalities We "who we felt personified the different aspects of the brands personality, such as authentic New York; quirky; and original."

MME has been the agency of record for Nathans Famous restaurants for twenty-six years.
by Larissa Faw , May 13, 2016

Philippine Department of Tourism (PDOT) is embarking on what it calls Southwest Asia's first "social-first" tourist campaign to encourage travelers to visit its country.

The group is working with Beautiful Destinations, which operates the largest travel and lifestyle portfolio on Instagram and Snapchat. This agency's contributors total more than 1,200 influential content creators ranging from National Geographic photographers to everyday travelers with smartphones.

As part of this Philippines project, five travelers, including the agency's CEO and founder Jeremy Jauncey and head of brand partnerships Tom Jauncey, will travel to top Philippine destinations, including Cebu, the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines, Bohol and Pangasinan, home of the Hundred Islands Natural Park.

The campaign will then share moments throughout each day of the trip on the Beautiful Destinations Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as PDOT's Instagram and Facebook pages.

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In Manila, the PDOT will host an "InstaMeet" between the Beautiful Destinations team members and local travel and lifestyle influencers from the Philippines whose photos have been featured on the Beautiful Destinations Instagram page.

Collectively, these pages will reach more than 10 million followers. Their videos will also stream outside the Philippine Center at 556 Fifth Avenue, New York, giving passersby a glimpse of the teams daily adventures in the Philippines locations they visited.

The tourism board will also use the social first content captured during the trip in traditional marketing efforts.

The Philippines is a good fit for this type of social media campaign, the agency says.

With the highest percentage of its population highly active on social media compared to any other country, the Philippines has been called the "social media capital of the world."

The tourism bureau is also savvy with social media, having direct messaged founder Jauncey's personal Instagram account to say it would like to partner with the agency.
A new molecule that blocked ion channels in lab cells could significantly reduce the cycles of airway inflammation and infection that eventually result in fatal destruction of the lungs in people with cystic fibrosis. The researchers who discovered this suggest treatments based on the new molecule  a protease inhibitor  could potentially prolong the lives of people with the life-limiting disorder.

Share on Pinterest The researchers believe treatments based on the new molecule could prevent the significant lung damage seen in people with cystic fibrosis and potentially increase their quality of life, as well as life expectancy.

Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, the team  including researchers from Queens University Belfast in the United Kingdom  explains how the new molecule prevents activation of the epithelial sodium channel ENaC.

Experiments on cell cultures in the lab showed that the molecule has the potential to improve airway hydration and significantly improve mucus clearance.

Senior and corresponding author Dr. Lorraine Martin, from Queens University School of Pharmacy, says:

This strategy could prevent the significant lung damage that results from chronic cycles of infection and inflammation, with potential impact on quality of life as well as life expectancy.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder that damages the internal organs, especially the lungs and digestive system. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease affects around 100,000 people worldwide.

As treatments have advanced, the number of adults with CF has steadily increased. Only 30 years ago, a person with CF was not expected to reach adulthood. Today, around half of patients with CF live more than 30 years, and some even live into their 50s and 60s.
At next weeks International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm, Sweden, researchers will reveal the creation of an ingestible robot that, in experiments, unfolded in the stomach to remove a swallowed button battery. Share on Pinterest The origami robot unfolded from an ingestible capsule in a stomach model to remove a lodged button battery.

Image credit: Melanie Gonick/MIT

Every year, more than 3,500 people in the United States swallow button batteries, which are commonly used to power toys, games, watches, hearing aids, among numerous other products. While the batteries pass through the body in most cases, in other cases, they can become lodged in the esophagus or stomach. When this happens, an electrical current can form around the battery. This produces an alkaline chemical called hydroxide, which burns the tissue. Current treatment to remove a lodged button battery may include bronchoscopy or endoscopy, which involve inserting cameras into the body to identify and remove the foreign object. However, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, suggest their ingestible origami robot could offer an alternative treatment option. The researchers, including Daniela Rus of MITs Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, are not new to the world of origami robots. Last year, the team reported on their creation of an origami robot, revealing how the robot folds itself up and crawls away once batteries are attached to it. Now, the researchers have created a newer version of the device, which they say boasts a significantly different design.

New robot made of biocompatible material Both the earlier and the updated device consist of a material that shrinks in response to heat, and on either side is another material consisting of a number of slits. This outer material regulates how the robot will fold when the heat-sensitive material contracts. Additionally, both devices incorporate a stick-slip motion. This is the process by which the robot propels itself in the body, allowing the device to attach to a surface through friction but free itself when the body flexes. Unlike the earlier device, the updated version is made from a biocompatible material: a form of dried pig intestine used for sausage casings. The heat-sensitive material is made from Biolefin  a biodegradable shrink wrap. Because of the new material, however, the team had to make some other changes to the device. In order for the stick-slip motion to work, the robot must be stiff enough  a requirement that the new, biocompatible material fails to fulfill by itself. As such, the team reduced the number of slits on the device, so that when it folds, the stiffness of the material increases. However, the researchers note that in order to move through the body, the device does not rely solely on the stick-slip process, due to the presence of stomach fluids. In our calculation, 20 percent of forward motion is by propelling water  thrust  and 80 percent is by stick-slip motion, says Shuhei Miyashita, who was at MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory when the research was conducted. In this regard, we actively introduced and applied the concept and characteristics of the fin to the body design, which you can see in the relatively flat design.
Discovery opens door to development of new drugs to control weight gain and obesity.

It's rare for scientists to get what they describe as "clean" results without spending a lot of time repeating the same experiment over and over again. But when researchers saw the mice they were working with doubling their weight within a month or two, they knew they were on to something.

"About twenty years ago there was a big step forward in our understanding of obesity when researchers discovered that our appetite is controlled by a key molecule called leptin. Leptin is a hormone which is produced by our fat cells, and is delivered by the blood to the brain to signal the brain that we are full and can stop eating," explains Dr. Maia Kokoeva who is affiliated both with McGill University and the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre. "But even though receptors for leptin were discovered soon after in the hypothalamus, a brain area that regulates food intake and body weight, it has remained unclear how exactly leptin is detected."

So about four years ago, Kokoeva and her team set out to explore which brain cells might play a role in the process of leptin sensing and weight gain. The answer, it turns out, lies in the median eminence.

"Protection" and "preservation" cells in a busy place

The median eminence is a brain structure at the base of the hypothalamus. It is a bit like a busy hub or market place through which hormones and molecules of various kinds travel in both directions between the brain and the bloodstream to ensure that the body functions smoothly.

The McGill research team has now discovered that without a particular group of cells (known as NG2-glia cells) in place in the median eminence, the leptin receptors in the brain never receive the messages from the body telling it that it is sated.

"Most of the brain is a well-protected fortress, designed to shelter delicate nerve cells," says Kokoeva. "The median eminence is outside these protections, and so can be a dangerous environment for the nerve cells that detect leptin. We think that the NG2-glia cells act to support and shelter the leptin receptor neurons, enabling them to instruct the body when to stop eating."

Crucial role of the median eminence in weight gain

"We developed an interest in NG2-glia cells in this specific part of the brain because unlike neurons, during much of our adult lives these cells are constantly dividing and they do so most actively in the median eminence," says Tina Djogo, a McGill doctoral student and one of two lead authors on the study which was published this week in Cell Metabolism. "But though these cells were first described about thirty years ago it has been difficult so far to pinpoint their exact functions in the adult brain."

Because of their particularly high turnover in the median eminence, the researchers wondered if the NG2-glia cells might play a role in leptin sensing and therefore in appetite control. So they used a drug to kill the NG2-glia cells in the median eminence of a group of mice and then watched to see whether there was a difference in food intake. The results were stunning.

Within three days after they started to receive the medication, some of the mice dubbed "gainers" had already started to eat more compared with the control group of mice who had not received medication. And by 30 days afterwards, the weight of some of the mice had doubled - from 25 grams to around 50 grams.

"But what was most exciting to us, was that even though NG2-glia are found across the brain" explains Sarah Robins, a research associate who was also a lead author on this study, "it was only when we removed these cells from the median eminence that we saw this clear increase in body weight."

A possible explanation for weight gain in brain tumour patients

The researchers then corroborated the role of the NG2-glia cells in the median eminence in appetite control through experiments using genetically modified mice, and also by using irradiation. This latter discovery suggested an explanation for a previously unexplained phenomenon in human brain cancer survivors.

"People who have been treated for brain tumours using radiation to block cell proliferation often become overweight," says Kokoeva. "However, there has never been any satisfactory explanation, but our experiments in mice now suggests that the reason for this weight gain may be the loss of NG2-glia in the median eminence as a result of radiation."

The researchers are hopeful that the identification of NG2-glia in the median eminence as crucial elements in body weight and appetite control will pave the way to new targeted anti-obesity approaches directed towards maintaining or raising the NG2-glia population in the median eminence.

This research was supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research operating grants, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, the Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), the Excellence Initiative Synergy, and the Friedrich Bauer Stiftung.
A sleeping pancreas releases less insulin, but how much insulin drops each night may differ from person to person, suggests a study in Cell Metabolism. Up to 30 percent of the population may be predisposed to have a pancreas that's more sensitive to the insulin-inhibiting effects of melatonin, a circadian rhythm hormone. People with this increased sensitivity carry a slightly altered melatonin receptor gene that is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes.

Large-scale studies have identified over 100 genes related to an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes - a disorder in which someone has abnormally high blood sugar levels due to a lack of insulin. On the list of risk factors is a single change to the melatonin receptor gene MTNR1B, found in 30 percent of the population. It's known that the MTNRIB receptor makes cells sensitive to melatonin, but Hindrik Mulder of Lund University in Sweden and Leif Groop, of Lund University and the University of Helsinki in Finland wanted to understand what this gene variant could be doing in the pancreas.

"Type 2 diabetes is a polygenetic disease, so it's not one gene that causes the disease: there are probably hundreds of genes that jointly predispose individuals, from which you can infer that the contribution of each individual gene will be quite small," says Mulder, co-senior author on the study, whose lab studies the pancreas.

The researchers present data from pancreatic islets derived from humans who have one or two copies of the risk variant of the MTNR1B gene. Those who have two copies have higher levels of the melatonin receptor than those with one or no copies. This increase in melatonin receptors makes a person's pancreas more sensitive to melatonin.

In follow-up experiments, the researchers used insulin-secreting cells and mouse islets to increase or decrease the number of melatonin receptors on insulin-producing beta cells. As expected, mice and islets with very few melatonin receptors secreted more insulin in the presence of high levels of melatonin compared to those with many melatonin receptors, from which less insulin was secreted.

Mulder and Groop then tested their hypothesis on 23 non-diabetic people with the MTNR1B risk gene variant and 22 people without. They asked each person to take 4 milligrams of melatonin (about the amount found in commercial pills) at bedtime for three months. By the end of the study, individuals without the risk gene variant had three times the level of insulin secretion than those with the gene variant.

The researchers say that this doesn't mean that the occasional melatonin pill is necessarily dangerous for the one in three people with the MTNR1B risk gene variant or that anyone should rush out and get a genetic test to see if they are carriers. "This is just a hypothesis, but I think it raises questions that maybe prolonged use of melatonin is not so harmless," Mulder says.

The results make sense, he adds, since melatonin is a known hormone that helps the body keep time. "We don't typically eat or are physically active at night, so our energy demands drop and we don't need maximum insulin secretion," Mulder says. "A likely explanation is that, as melatonin levels rise, they tell our beta cells not to release as much insulin." Another hormone, glucagon, is also known to ensure that glucose levels in the blood are sufficient when we do not eat, for instances during the night.

The researchers will continue to explore the relationship between type 2 diabetes risk genes and the pancreas. They hope their studies will help inform future approaches to personalized medicine.

The authors received financial support from The European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, the Swedish Research Council, The Pahlsson Foundation, The Medical Faculty at Lund University, Diabetes Wellness Sweden and the Swedish Diabetes Foundation, The Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Family Ernfors Fund, The European Research Council, The Sigrid Juselius Foundation, The Folkhalsan Research Foundation, and The Academy of Finland.
A review of select sickle cell disease education materials reveals that many of these patient resources are too difficult for most U.S. adults to understand, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Researchers reviewed 13 free patient-education materials, giving them scores based on health literacy. They found that the materials require too high a level of reading and math skills to be helpful to most Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that an appropriate Literacy-Index score should fall in or above the 90th percentile. The scores for the materials evaluated in this assessment ranged from the 44th to the 76th percentiles. Eight of the 13 materials scored within the acceptable range for cultural sensitivity.

Many issues that affect the lifelong health of people with sickle cell disease were not covered in the materials. Management of sickle cell disease differs from childhood to adulthood, and no specific guidelines were offered for each stage of life in the materials assessed. Finally, perhaps the most complex issues in living with sickle cell relate to accessing information on pain management and routine care. The materials examined in this study did not address these issues directly.

"This study supports the importance of health literacy as a key consideration in the development and revision of patient education materials for people with sickle cell disease," researchers suggest. "Health departments should assess the suitability of materials they distribute in their communities."
Despite being the third leading cause of death in the USA, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung disease) face significant challenges in accessing care, with treatment costs remaining out of reach for many, and hospitals failing to provide recommended standards of care, according to a new report commissioned by The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, presented at the American Thoracic Society conference in San Francisco.1

Written by 28 leading US experts in the field of respiratory health, the Commission provides the first comprehensive look at COPD care in the USA by interviewing patient representatives, caregivers, health-care providers, insurance and pharmaceutical companies to identify the challenges patients face on a daily basis, and how these could be resolved.

"This report reveals a real patchwork of care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The disease is the third leading cause of death in the USA, and disproportionately affects some of society's most vulnerable people, yet many patients lack access to basic therapies to improve their quality of life," says Dr MeiLan K Han, lead author of the Commission from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. "As a physician, I can discuss best treatments with my patients, only to later find out it isn't covered by their insurance, or the co-pay is simply too high. This report aims to move us from debating what ideal care could look like, back to a discussion of what patients are actually facing on a day to day basis." 2

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. People with COPD suffer from increasing breathlessness and treatment usually includes drugs such as inhalers and pulmonary rehabilitation. COPD can be due to a number of factors, including smoking but also other environmental causes such as prolonged exposure to wood smoke or air pollution.

About 15 million adults (6.5% of the population) in the USA have a diagnosis of COPD, but some studies have found that up to 28.9 million people have evidence of pulmonary obstruction, suggesting that over half of Americans with COPD are undiagnosed. The disease disproportionately affects people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and older adults.

Although access to drugs such as inhalers has improved, the report finds that patients may face co-payments of $75 or more per drug. As a result, many patients report skipping days, not taking full dosages, or not collecting refills. Among patients with COPD, only half of medication doses are taken as prescribed. By comparison, up to three quarters of medication doses are correctly taken for other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease (figure 4). The high cost of COPD drugs is partly because there are no generic inhalers licenced for use in the US.

In addition, pulmonary rehabilitation is repeatedly described by patients as the most helpful intervention in terms of improving their quality of life. But access is still limited because of a shortage of programmes that are geographically convenient for patients, and variable insurance coverage.

Every year, over 10 million physician visits, 1.5 million emergency department visits, and nearly 700000 hospital stays are linked to COPD. One in 5 hospital admissions for COPD are readmitted within a month, putting a huge strain on resources. The Commission also highlights poor standards of care, as only 1 in 3 hospital admissions offered patients the standard recommended treatments. They add that the absence of written protocols for inpatients, as has already been established for other diseases, has led to COPD being a low priority in hospital.

Recent requirements by Medicare have focused on reducing the rates of hospital re-admission, but the report authors say most re-admissions for COPD are due to poor access to care or support outside hospital, and that preventing admission in the first place through improved diagnosis, access to treatment and care should be a priority.

The authors say that caring for patients will require better education for patients and physicians to improve diagnosis and treatment. They add that better coordinated action among insurers, the pharmaceutical industry and physicians is needed to reduce the financial burden on patients which could in turn increase adherence to medicines, and ultimately reduce overall healthcare spending.

Finally, the author say that more research is needed to understand the disease and develop new treatments. Unlike other chronic diseases where the amount of funding more or less matches the burden of the disease, COPD ranks 14th most funded research category by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), despite being the third leading cause of death in the USA (figure 5).
New research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine suggests two simple ways dermatologists can make patients more comfortable during full-body skin cancer checks: respect patient preferences for the physician's gender as well as whether, and how, they prefer to have their genitals examined. The findings are published online in JAMA Dermatology.

"This study identifies barriers to getting skin checks. Giving patients choices that reduce embarrassment during an exam may make a person more likely to get regular skin checks, leading to higher rates of skin cancer detection," said lead author Laura Ferris, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Dermatology, Pitt School of Medicine and member of the Melanoma Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.

Estimates suggest that one in five people will develop skin cancer over the course of a lifetime. Rates of melanoma, which account for less than one percent of skin cancer cases but the vast majority of skin cancer deaths, have tripled over the last 40 years.

The best way to prevent skin cancer is to use adequate protective measures during sun exposure, perform regular self-examinations, and, for those patients at increased risk of developing skin cancer, obtain annual full-body screenings from a dermatologist, said Ferris.

The current study was born out of an observation from Ferris' own dermatology practice: many women wanted female physicians and were uncomfortable having male students in the room during their exams. While a strong preference for a same gender physician has been documented among patients undergoing colonoscopies, there wasn't much data available about dermatology, Ferris explained.

In the new study, the researchers at three institutions, including UPMC, administered an anonymous survey to 443 adults undergoing a full-body screening for skin cancer.

Overall, people generally preferred a physician who shared their gender. Breaking the data down by gender, one third of women and nearly one fifth of men expressed a gender preference. Among this group, nearly all (99 percent) of the women preferred a female physician, and almost two thirds of the men preferred a male physician.

The biggest predictor of preferring a female physician among women was being under age 30. Young women have one of the fastest growing rates of melanoma, so taking physician gender preference into account in this group may have an especially large impact, Ferris noted.

Typically, patients are asked to completely disrobe for a skin cancer screening. When asked about clothing preferences, nearly half of women and 40 percent of men preferred to leave their undergarments in place during the exam.

"What we learned is that a substantial number of people preferred to leave their undergarments on and have us work around them," said Ferris.

Less than 1 percent of melanomas are found in the genital region, so with 31 percent of women and 13 percent of men preferring not to have their genitals examined at all, another important message from the study is that physicians need to balance the benefit of occasionally finding a genital melanoma with causing a lot of people discomfort or anxiety, she added.

The researchers are now focused on putting their findings into practice. "When we think about the relative risks and benefits of cancer screening, if we're causing people discomfort, then we need to think of that as doing harm. Our study provides some easy ways to reduce that harm," Ferris said. "In the age of personalized medicine, taking simple steps, such as offering a choice of physician gender and degree of disrobement during an examination, can allow us to personalize the skin cancer screening examination to minimize discomfort."

The study was funded by National Institutes of Health grants UL1-TR-000005 and P50CA121973.
Extensive burn injuries are usually treated by transplanting layers of skin from other parts of the body. Although this is a commonly used method, the wounds do not always heal completely. A research group headed up by plastic surgeon Stefan Hacker of MedUni Vienna's Department of Surgery has been able to show that soluble factors from white blood cells improve tissue healing following skin grafting. The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Burn victims often have extensive wounds, as the damaged skin cannot be saved and therefore has to be removed. Usually, skin is transplanted from the upper thigh or back of the patient onto the injured area. These wounds are more likely to heal completely in younger patients, but the process takes considerably longer in older patients and those suffering from certain diseases (e.g. diabetes). Sometimes complications occur, requiring new operations or leaving disfiguring scars.

In an animal model, a research group led by Stefan Hacker, surgeon at the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at MedUni Vienna, has now demonstrated a method, whereby soluble factors from white blood cells induce a significant improvement in tissue repair. In this method, white blood cells are stressed by irradiating them with gamma radiation so that they release certain proteins that stimulate angiogenesis and tissue regeneration. The secreted factors are processed to produce a medication, which can be applied to the wounds. The study has shown a doubling of the number of blood vessels and also quicker and better skin growth than in the control groups. The study project was planned and conducted in collaboration with Rainer Mittermayr of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology and Michael Mildner from MedUni Vienna's Department of Dermatology.

The study is a good example of translational research that could very quickly benefit patients. Stefan Hacker: "Clinical application in humans should not be restricted to burn injuries but can also work for other types of wounds, for example it could be beneficial for poorly healing diabetic skin ulcers or for wounds after microsurgical tissue transplantation." The study was conducted and financed within the framework of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Cardiac and Thoracic Diagnosis and Regeneration (director: Hendrik Jan Ankersmit) at MedUni Vienna's Department of Thoracic Surgery.
Scientists have developed a material that can mimic cartilage and potentially encourage it to re-grow.

Cartilage is flexible connective tissue found in places such as in joints and between vertebrae in the spine. Compared to other types of connective tissue is not easy to repair.

The researchers from Imperial College London and the University of Milano-Bicocca have developed a bio-glass material that mimics the shock-absorbing and load bearing qualities of real cartilage. It can be formulated to exhibit different properties, and they are now hoping to use it to develop implants for replacing damaged cartilage discs between vertebrae.

They believe it also has the potential to encourage cartilage cells to grow in knees, which has previously not been possible with conventional methods.

The bio-glass consists of silica and a plastic or polymer called polycaprolactone. It displays cartilage-like properties including being flexible, strong, durable and resilient. It can be made in a biodegradable ink form, enabling the researchers to 3D print it into structures that encourage cartilage cells in the knee to form and grow - a process that they have demonstrated in test tubes.

It also displays self-healing properties when it gets damaged, which could make it a more resilient and reliable implant, and easier to 3D print when it is in ink form.

One formulation developed by the team could provide an alternative treatment for patients who have damaged their intervertebral discs. When cartilage degenerates in the spine it leaves patients with debilitating pain and current treatment involves fusing the vertebrae together. This reduces a patient's mobility.

The scientists believe they will be able to engineer synthetic bio-glass cartilage disc implants, which would have the same mechanical properties as real cartilage, but which would not need the metal and plastic devices that are currently available.

Another formulation could improve treatments for those with damaged cartilage in their knee, say the team. Surgeons can currently create scar-like tissue to repair damaged cartilage, but ultimately most patients have to have joint replacements, which reduces mobility.

The team are aiming to 'print' tiny, biodegradable scaffolds using their bio-glass ink. These bio-degradable scaffolds would provide a template that replicates the structure of real cartilage in the knee.

When implanted, the combination of the structure, stiffness and chemistry of the bio-glass would encourage cartilage cells to grow through microscopic pores. The idea is that over time the scaffold would degrade safely in the body, leaving new cartilage in its place that has similar mechanical properties to the original cartilage.

Professor Julian Jones, one of the developers of the bio-glass from the Department of Materials at Imperial, said: "Bio-glass has been around since the 1960's, originally developed around the time of the Vietnam War to help heal bones of veterans, which were damaged in conflict. Our research shows that a new flexible version of this material could be used as cartilage-like material.

"Patients will readily attest to loss of mobility that is associated with degraded cartilage and the lengths they will go to try and alleviate often excruciating pain. We still have a long way to go before this technology reaches patients, but we've made some important steps in the right direction to move this technology towards the marketplace, which may ultimately provide relief to people around the world."

The researchers have received funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to take their technology to the next stage. They are aiming to conduct trials in the lab with the technology and develop a surgical method for inserting the implants. They will also work with a range of industrial partners to further develop the 3D manufacturing techniques.

Professor Justin Cobb is the Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery at Imperial's Department of Medicine. He will be co-leading on the next stage of the research.

Professor Cobb added: "This novel formulation and method of manufacture will allow Julian and his team to develop the next generation of biomaterials. Today, the best performing artificial joints are more than a thousand times stiffer than normal cartilage. While they work very well, the promise of a novel class of bearing material that is close to nature and can be 3D printed is really exciting.

"Using Julian's technology platform we may be able to restore flexibility and comfort to stiff joints and spines without using stiff metal and all its associated problems."

Professor Laura Cipolla, from the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca, added: "Based on our background on the chemical modification of bio- and nanostructured materials, proteins, and carbohydrates, we designed a new chemical approach in order to force the organic component polycaprolactone to stay together in a stable way with the inorganic component silica."

The team also includes PhD student Francesca Tallia from Imperial's Department of Materials and senior researcher Laura Russo, from the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences at the University of Milano-Bicocca.

The technology still has a number of regulatory hurdles to overcome before it reaches clinical applications for both applications. The team predict it will take ten years to for both technologies to reach the market. They have patented the technology with Imperial Innovations - the College's technology commercialisation partner.


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"This report reveals a real patchwork of care for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The disease is the third leading cause of death in the USA, and disproportionately affects some of society's most vulnerable people, yet many patients lack access to basic therapies to improve their quality of life," says Dr MeiLan K Han, lead author of the Commission from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA."As a physician, I can discuss best treatments with my patients, only to later find out it isn't covered by their insurance, or the co-pay is simply too high. This report aims to move us from debating what ideal care could look like, back to a discussion of what patients are actually facing on a day to day basis."Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an umbrella term used to describe progressive lung diseases including emphysema and chronic bronchitis. People with COPD suffer from increasing breathlessness and treatment usually includes drugs such as inhalers and pulmonary rehabilitation. COPD can be due to a number of factors, including smoking but also other environmental causes such as prolonged exposure to wood smoke or air pollution.About 15 million adults (6.5% of the population) in the USA have a diagnosis of COPD, but some studies have found that up to 28.9 million people have evidence of pulmonary obstruction, suggesting that over half of Americans with COPD are undiagnosed. The disease disproportionately affects people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and older adults.Although access to drugs such as inhalers has improved, the report finds that patients may face co-payments of $75 or more per drug. As a result, many patients report skipping days, not taking full dosages, or not collecting refills. Among patients with COPD, only half of medication doses are taken as prescribed. By comparison, up to three quarters of medication doses are correctly taken for other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease (figure 4). The high cost of COPD drugs is partly because there are no generic inhalers licenced for use in the US.In addition, pulmonary rehabilitation is repeatedly described by patients as the most helpful intervention in terms of improving their quality of life. But access is still limited because of a shortage of programmes that are geographically convenient for patients, and variable insurance coverage.Every year, over 10 million physician visits, 1.5 million emergency department visits, and nearly 700000 hospital stays are linked to COPD. One in 5 hospital admissions for COPD are readmitted within a month, putting a huge strain on resources. The Commission also highlights poor standards of care, as only 1 in 3 hospital admissions offered patients the standard recommended treatments. They add that the absence of written protocols for inpatients, as has already been established for other diseases, has led to COPD being a low priority in hospital.Recent requirements by Medicare have focused on reducing the rates of hospital re-admission, but the report authors say most re-admissions for COPD are due to poor access to care or support outside hospital, and that preventing admission in the first place through improved diagnosis, access to treatment and care should be a priority.The authors say that caring for patients will require better education for patients and physicians to improve diagnosis and treatment. They add that better coordinated action among insurers, the pharmaceutical industry and physicians is needed to reduce the financial burden on patients which could in turn increase adherence to medicines, and ultimately reduce overall healthcare spending.Finally, the author say that more research is needed to understand the disease and develop new treatments. Unlike other chronic diseases where the amount of funding more or less matches the burden of the disease, COPD ranks 14th most funded research category by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), despite being the third leading cause of death in the USA (figure 5).Source: Eurekalert
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To study this mystery, Chen's team developed a new computational method to define where different glioblastoma subtypes develop in the brain. Using clinical images derived from 217 brain tumor patients, Chen's team discovered that proneural and neural glioblastoma subtypes tend to occur closer to the center of the brain in a region called the subventricular zone (SVZ). In contrast, mesenchymal and classical glioblastoma subtypes tend to develop farther from this region.The subventricular zone is a unique region of the brain where neural stem cells, which ultimately give rise to all cell types in the brain, reside. During brain development, these stem cells migrate outward from the center region. During this process, the stem cells transform into the dozen or so different cell types that compose the human brain."Our study suggests that if a cancer-causing mutation occurs in the neural stem cell population in the SVZ, it gives rise to the proneural or the neural glioblastoma subtype. On the other hand, if the same mutation occurs in a different cell population located farther away from the SVZ, it will give rise to other subtypes," said Chen.Through a mouse model of glioblastoma developed by Lionel Chow, a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Chen's team was able to confirm this hypothesis. In Chow's model, all glioblastomas arise as a result of the same mutations. Nevertheless, the brain tumors that form closer to the SVZ tend to be proneural or neural subtypes, while tumors form farther from the SVZ tend to be classical or mesenchymal subtypes."Because glioblastoma subtypes respond differently to distinct therapies, subtype discrimination will be increasingly important," said Bob Carter, chair of neurosurgery at UC San Diego Health. "Refinement of this non-invasive method for determining glioblastoma subtypes may achieve the goal of personalizing glioblastoma therapy without subjecting our patients to surgery."Source: Newswise
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Tips to Heart-Healthy Valentine's Day:

Choose nuts and dry fruits instead of a box of chocolates.

Plan an active outing such as skating, trekking and collecting wood for a campfire.

Cook a fancy dinner together at home. This will not only save the extra money and calories, but also ensure privacy.

If you must go to a restaurant, choose healthy options. Choose crispy raw veggies instead of french fries. Avoid the extra buttery topping on the salad and keep away from alcohol and the breadbasket.

Desserts are the most important part of a Valentine Dinner. Indulge in a moderate helping of truffles or cake without much of the butter-sugar toppings.

Finding true love is not about chemistry, but rather to find the right person who will be with you through thick and thin. A good relationship is not about what looks right, what you think should be right or what your friends and relatives think should be right. It is about the feeling of being right.The beginning of any relationship can start with lack of trust, suspicions and feelings of insecurity. Mutual attraction can pave way to better understanding. Remember that first impressions are not always reliable. Special days like Valentine's Day and the partners' birthdays can be the right excuse for spending time together and building a stronger relationship. healthy relationship lasts long and every day is a Valentine's Day once you find the right person. The connection of heart is based on mutual respect, trust, honesty, support, equality and a sense of fondness and affection for each other. Personal space could be very little, yet this little space goes a long way in maintaining the bond of love and friendship.Nurturing a romantic relationship has to be done very delicately. Investing time and effort into a relationship helps in understanding each other. Find things you enjoy doing together and take time-out from your busy schedule exclusively for those meetings.Communication issues are of prime importance to make any relationship work. Resolve any conflicts or misunderstandings by talking out things quietly and clearly. The relationship can last long if you feel comfortable expressing your own opinions, thoughts and feelings around your partner. If you are genuinely interested and comfortable when your partner is doing the same, the relationship is bound to go further.Sam Keen, a noted American author, professor and philosopher, once said, "You might come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."So, this Valentine's Day, go ahead to find the right person and make every day of the rest of your life a Valentine's Day.A Valentine dinner is one of the most important events of Valentine's Day. A few tips and some planning can help you get through the big night without adding inches to your waistline during those intimate meals and dissolute desserts.
"If you cant fly, then run, if you cant run, then walk, if you cant walk, then crawl, nut whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward." - Martin Luther King Jr

Walking has numerous benefits and everyone is waking up to the possibility that if there is no regularized period of walking every day, then a big chunk of their life span will be eaten away by diseases that range from cardiovascular disease to depression.

Benefits of Walking

Helps in Maintaining an Ideal BMI: The body mass index is critical to staying healthy and it is a mirror of ones health.

Improves Blood Circulation : Blood circulation is improved when regular exercise, in the form of walking, is incorporated into an individuals life.

: Blood circulation is improved when regular exercise, in the form of walking, is incorporated into an individuals life. Secretion of Oxytocin : The secretion of the hormone oxytocin, also called the love hormone, improves the mood of the individual and helps in fighting away the blues.

: The secretion of the hormone oxytocin, also called the love hormone, improves the mood of the individual and helps in fighting away the blues. Instills a Routine : A brisk walk daily sets a routine that people will get used to and begin to look forward to. This is especially rewarding for people who are at home as it gives them a me time when they can collect their thoughts and get ready for the day.

: A brisk walk daily sets a routine that people will get used to and begin to look forward to. This is especially rewarding for people who are at home as it gives them a me time when they can collect their thoughts and get ready for the day. Keeps Diseases at Bay: Lowers risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke.

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Walking every day is a must. However, the pressures of life and the concrete jungles that dot life in a city force most urban citizens to relegate walking to weekends when they can find their way to the park. While walking at the park is fun, the long commute to the park and the traffic snarls make it impossible as an everyday event. This does not mean that people living in cities cannot find their space for a relaxing walk, here are top 4 trends in walking for health that everyone should know.

Hit the Stairs: This may not be suitable for senior citizens, but it is a great fitness regimen for younger people looking to lose weight fast. Popular chef and food expert Padma Lakshmi is believed to have lost all her post-baby weight by running up and down the stairway in her apartment. Care should be taken that knees are not hurt in the process, but stair climbing is a great way to lose weight in the thighs.

Initially climbing the stair should involve every step, however, over time and practice, two steps at a time should be taken. This will increase the intensity of the exercise and get the body pumping blood really hard.

Mall Walking: Malls are mushrooming almost at every corner of the city and it is a perfect place to walk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S, has stated that mall walking is the perfect bet for senior citizens as it is devoid of traffic and there is no risk of seniors wandering off.

In addition to the benefits of walking, mall walking will aid in connecting the walkers with people as they watch families spend time at the mall. This is a safer option than walking on the road, where the risk of being knocked down is very high.

Find Your Way to the Museum: Every city has a museum that displays its history and the traditions that make it rich, but these wonderful places of interest are rarely frequented. They are almost empty most of the days, except for maybe rare holidays. So if crowded malls are not your cup of tea, then heading to the museum would be the next best thing to do. The long and spacious buildings are great for leisurely walks and they can be interesting too, discovering how forefathers lived many centuries ago.

Walking with dinosaurs will acquire a completely different meaning here; just remember to keep moving, though lest you are mistaken for an artifact.

Places of Worship: While it is definitely wrong to disturb the devout, walking along the outer perimeter of temples, churches or mosques is great as it will be peaceful, spacious and invigorating. Many traditions include walking around the place of worship as a part of the ritual, in a bid to keep weight in check. Walking every day at a place of worship would be an extension of that.

Festival days and important days of prayer should be noted and walking on those days should be avoided to prevent being dragged into crowded processions.

These places are available in plenty in a city and if any of these are close to home, then walking there is the best thing to do. Most of these places have a good security system in place which keeps walkers relatively safe; there is also an absence of traffic hazards with help available close by. In the event of an emergency, there will always be people to help out. The air conditioning available in malls and museums may encourage more walkers to get into a routine. Moreover, window shopping can boost your brain health.

To enhance the benefits of walking, walk with:

Pet: Walking with a pet is a great stress buster, but it will not be possible to walk inside the mall with one, maybe in a ground outside.

Spouse or Partner: Walking is more fun when someone is walking along . The strain of walking is erased and it will be engaging to talk to someone during a walk. It is also a lot safer if there is someone to support in case of any medical emergency that may arise.

Baby: This can turn out to be a great time for mothers to bond with their babies. Babies love looking at bright lights and colors and will enjoy a stroll in a mall. Devoid of vehicular pollution, this may just be a lot better for their developing lungs.

Walking is great for the body and trying out these new venues could turn out to be exciting and a welcome change from routine. Just make sure that there isnt too much money in the wallet when you are out walking at the mall. Otherwise, you could walk your way back home with a lot of impulsively bought goods. Happy Walking!
The key to healthy weight gain lies not only in how much you eat, but also in the food choices you make. Eating unhealthy foods such as fries, desserts and junk food would result in an increase in fat mass, not lean muscle. Additionally, it is a sure shot way to create future health problems like hypertension , elevated cholesterol levels and diabetes.

In order to nourish the body as well as gain weight in a healthy manner, incorporate super foods that are protein-rich, high in fiber. Foods like nuts, nut butters, whole grains, eggs and cheese pack in a punch of both calories and nutrients aid in healthy weight gain.

However, since they are calorie dense, eating these superfoods in moderation is recommended, else it will result in obesity and obesity-related ailments.

For gaining weight, experts recommend 50% calories from carbohydrates, 25-30% calories from protein and the remaining 20-25 % calories from fats.

Along with making the correct food choices, weight lifting exercises are essential for an increase in muscle mass, which is the right way to gain weight.

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Superfoods for Healthy Weight Gain

Enlisted below are some of the superfoods that promote healthy weight gain:

1. Starchy Foods

Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, whole grain bread, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta and brown rice are high-carbohydrate foods with a negligible amount of fats and proteins.

They are abundant in vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants which benefit other body functions.

Along with proteins, carbohydrates are vital for muscle building since carbohydrates have a protein-sparing effect.

Carbohydrates stimulate the release of insulin, which pushes amino acids into muscle cells to begin the process of muscle repair.

In order to build muscle and gain weight, the body needs both calories and nutrients from these starchy foods.

A cup of boiled corn kernels provides 143 calories, 31 grams of carbohydrate and 4 grams of fiber.

2. Peanut Butter

Peanut butter brims with the goodness of healthy fats, vitamin E, fiber and protein.

An excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and oleic acid, it boosts HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) or good cholesterol levels and lowers LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol levels.

Being a good source of skin-friendly nutrients like vitamin E, zinc and magnesium, peanut butter helps maintain smooth and supple skin.

Peanut butter also aids muscle mass build-up.

A tablespoon of peanut butter provides 94 calories with 8 grams of fat and 4 grams of protein.

3. Cheese

In addition to being delicious, cheese is host to a bevy of nutrients  protein, calcium, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and phosphorus.

Being a rich source of calcium, cheese maintains bone health and lowers the risk of osteoporosis.

The B-complex vitamins, zinc and vitamin A content in cheese assist in maintaining strong hair and healthy and glowing skin. Cheese contains casein and whey protein that help the body build muscle.

A slice of cheddar cheese provides 113 calories along with 9 grams of fat and 7 grams of protein.

4. Nuts

Nuts like walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, pistachios and peanuts are some of the most nutrient-dense foods providing nutrients like B complex vitamins, vitamin E, healthy fats and antioxidants.

Being high in protein and fiber, they play a significant role in maintaining stable blood glucose and lipid levels and are one of the best in-between snacking options.

About 30 grams of nuts can provide approximately 160 to 190 calories.

5. Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa or Higher)

Dark chocolate improves blood flow, prevents the formation of blood clots and maintains a good lipid profile thus boosting cardiovascular health.

Dark chocolate contains phenylethylamine which has a positive effect on mood and cognitive health. The epicatechin and resveratrol compounds in dark chocolate possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

With 100 grams providing 546 calories along with 31 grams of fat, dark chocolate can serve as an occasional treat.

6. Breakfast Cereals

The combination of cereals with milk or yogurt is the perfect way to start the day on a power-packed note with the right blend of carbohydrates, proteins and calcium.

It is better to opt for dense, fiber-rich breakfast cereals such as granola or muesli over flaky or puffed cereals.

Adding dried fruits and nuts like raisins, apricots, walnuts and almonds enhance the nutritional profile and calorie content significantly.

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7. Eggs

Eggs are a powerhouse of protein, zinc, vitamins A, D, B 12, phosphorus and folate.

The high biological value of egg protein makes them a perfect post-workout food.

Egg yolk is a source of omega-3 fats and choline which boost brain health. Additionally, it contains antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin which promote eye health.

One large scrambled egg provides 90 calories, 6.7 grams of fat and 6.1 grams of protein.

Here is a sample meal plan to healthy weight gain:

Breakfast  Paneer paratha / Egg bhurji with chappati

Mid-Morning  A glass of fresh fruit juice

Lunch  Salad, brown rice and sprouts khichdi with curd

Evening Snack  Peanut butter sandwich

Late Evening Snack  Lentil and spinach soup

Dinner  Whole wheat pasta with vegetables and cheese

Health Tips

Some tips to gain weight the healthy way:
The following are some of this week's reports from the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) Project, which translates and analyzes content from sources monitored around the clock, among them the most important jihadi websites and blogs. (To view these reports in full, you must be a paying member of the JTTM; for membership information, send an email to [email protected] with "Membership" in the subject line.)

Note to media and government: For a full copy of these reports, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to [email protected]. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.

EXCLUSIVE: Al-Qaeda Bangladesh Lashes Out At America: 'This Is The Same America, 43% Of Whose Citizens Are Born As Illegitimate... Is The Top Producer Of Pornography In The World'

On April 26, Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) took responsibility for the April 25 killing of gay rights activist Xulhaz Mannan and his friend Samir Mahbub Tonoy in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. As per a statement issued by Ansar Al-Islam (AQIS's Bangladesh branch), Mannan and his friend were killed for spreading homosexuality among Bangladeshi Muslims with the help of the U.S. and Indian organizations.

The statement quotes Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri as saying that although Al-Qaeda does not support the Islamic State (ISIS) as any kind of a legitimate caliphate, it does not mean that all acts committed by the ISIS are wrong and illegitimate. However, it does call for restraint on the part of ISIS in the punishments it metes out to apostates and new converts to Islam. In recent years, a number of secular and liberal Muslim writers, as well as non-Muslim foreigners, have been killed by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Bangladesh.

EXCLUSIVE: Al-Zawahiri: The Mujahideen In Syria Must Unite; Syrians Must Beware Both Saudi And 'Crusader' Plots

On May 8, 2016, Al-Qaeda issued a new audio message from its leader, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, after several month of silence. In the message, Al-Zawahiri calls on the jihad groups in Syria to unite because this is a matter of life and death for them. He urges the Muslims of Syria to reject the initiatives of Saudi Arabia and its allies in the region, and assures them that the jihadis will defeat "the Eastern and Western Crusaders war machine" - i.e., both Russia and America - as well as their allies, the Syrian regime and Iran. Addressing the relationship between Al-Qaeda and its affiliate in Syria, Jabhat Al-Nusra (JN), he hints that the ties between them are strong and that they should remain so, for the world will not accept JN as legitimate in any case, unless it completely changes its nature to suit the superpowers.

EXCLUSIVE: Bin Laden's Son Calls For Targeting Jewish, U.S., Western Interests, Suggests Building Mega Army In Syria To Liberate Jerusalem

On May 9, 2016, pro-Al-Qaeda individuals released a video featuring a recorded message by Hamza bin Laden, son of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, where he speaks about Jerusalem.

Praising the wave of stabbing attacks by Palestinians against Israelis over the past year, he calls upon Muslims to join in the fight to defend Jerusalem. He also urges Muslims living outside Palestine to "participate in the intifada" of their Palestinian brethren by "killing the Jews and attacking their interests everywhere."

EXCLUSIVE: American Who Claims To Be An ISIS Fighter Spreads Propaganda Via Telegram Group, Twitter

An American claiming to be an ISIS fighter, is active on both Telegram and on Twitter, though more so on the former. He posts numerous updates on ISIS statements and military efforts, as well as general propaganda. As of this writing, his Telegram group boasts 349 members. On Twitter, he mainly circulates news stories relating to ISIS.

ISIS Releases Android App For Teaching Children Arabic Alphabet

On May 10, 2016, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) Telegram accounts posted a link to an ISIS app for teaching children the Arabic alphabet.

Called Hurouf ("Letters"), the app works on Android devices, and offers various interactive learning functionalities. For example, children can learn the Arabic alphabet, trace letters on the screen, scribble on a drawing board, identify letters placed inside colorful balloons, and even receive feedback for completing tasks.

ISIS-Affiliated Media Body Releases Android App That Plays ISIS Songs

On May 4, 2016, the Al-Battar media company, which is closely affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), released an Android app that allows users to listen to ISIS nasheeds (religious hymns) on their mobile devices.

Pro-ISIS French Media Body Releases Android App

On April 24, 2016, the An-Nur Media Center, a group of Francophone Islamic State (ISIS) media operatives that distributes ISIS content in French and Arabic, released an Android app that delivers ISIS-related content to user's smartphones.

British ISIS Fighter Posts Updates From Iraq On His Instagram Account

A British ISIS fighter from Colchester in Essex, England, on Instagram and claiming to be in Kirkuk, Iraq, shares updates from the Islamic State. The fighter seems to be active on a host of encrypted mobile applications. In his byline, he predicts that his Instagram account will soon be suspended, and lets followers know he is accessible on other platforms: "Soon to be blocked, if u need help or anything inshallah take a contacts not intending to come back on insta for a while."

On Instagram, British ISIS Fighter Showcases His Photographic Skills - And Attempts To Recruit

A British ISIS fighter residing in Raqqa, Syria, the de-facto capital of the Islamic State, regularly shares stylized photos via Instagram. He identifies himself as "Britani Kashmiri," likely meaning that he is of Pakistani origin.

Women's ISIS-Affiliated Media Group Announces Arrival Of One Of Its Members In Land Of The Caliphate

On May 9, 2016, a women's-only media group, Hafidat 'Aisha ("Granddaughters of 'Aisha), affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), announced that one of its members, who was in charge of preparing and uploading daily reports, has arrived in the land of the Caliphate. The report did not specify the country she arrived in.

French Official ISIS Distribution Back On Facebook

The An-Nur Media center [Centre Mediatique An Nur Media] distributes ISIS multimedia materials in French and Arabic. It is operated by Nashir Fr, the organization's official media outlet in French, and is affiliated with other French ISIS media groups, such as Dar Al-Munasir, Khlifah-Info and Info-Sensibles.

Graphic: ISIS Executes Man For Homosexuality In Manbij, Syria

On May 8, 2016, the Islamic State (ISIS) published photos of the execution in the Syrian town of Manbij of a man convicted of engaging in homosexual relations. As per the organization's usual custom, the man was executed by being cast off a roof in the center of the town, after which he was also stoned. A crowd of men and children were present to witness the execution.

Pro-ISIS Australian Cleric Musa Cerantonio Arrested For Planning To Join Islamic State

On May 9, 2016, pro-ISIS Australian cleric Musa Cerantonio cleric was arrested in Cairns, Australia, along with four others, over a plan that they were attempting to join the Islamic State. Reports reveal that the men had intended to travel to Syria by first sailing to Indonesia in a small boat.

Saudi Court Sentences Woman To Six Years In Prison For Swearing Loyalty To ISIS

Al-Arabiya.net, a news website connected to Saudi TV channel Al-Arabiya, reported that a specialized criminal court has handed down a six-year prison sentence to a woman who had sworn loyalty to the leader of Islamic State (ISIS) Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, communicated with pro-ISIS Twitter accounts, and posted tweets commending terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia.

Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) Video Documents Takeover Of Town Near Aleppo, Showcases Captured Iranian Soldiers

The Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP) has released a video documenting its role in the takeover of the town of Khan Touman, southwest of Aleppo, Syria.
Future Cooperation Between Iran, Russia, Iraq And Lebanon Will Also Include Yemen; The Prospects For A Resistance Axis Victory Over The Zionist Regime Are Now Greater Than Ever

Supreme Leader Khamenei's Strategic Affairs Advisor Ali Akbar Velayati and Basij Commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi recently addressed geopolitical changes in the Middle East, particularly the role played by Iran, and claimed that Iran, which champions the values of the Islamic revolution and leads the Shi'ite Resistance Axis, has emerged victorious and has cemented its status as a regional superpower. Naqdi stressed Iranian supremacy vis-a-vis the "defeated" U.S. and Israel, while Velayati outlined the Shi'ite Iran's regional cooperation with Russia - the reemerging global power that has returned to the Middle East.

Following are excerpts from their statements:

Khamenei's Advisor Velayati: Russia, A Superpower With A UNSC Veto Power, Coordinates With Iran, The Major Regional Power

In a February 22, 2016 interview that he gave to the YJC website, which is identified with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ali Akbar Velayati, the top strategic affairs advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the head of the Center for Strategic Research, referred to the cooperation between Iran and Russia in the Middle East, claiming that it focuses primarily on Syria but also takes place in Central Asia and the Caucasus, and in the future will also include Yemen. Velayati attached special importance to the Putin-Khamenei summit [on November 23, 2015], which, he said, demonstrates the eastwards turn of Iranian foreign policy (as opposed to the US and Western orientation preferred by the Iranian pragmatic camp and the Iranian foreign ministry), and emphasized that Iran does not agree to military cooperation with the U.S. in Syria or in general. He claimed that Iran should maintain its presence in Syria and Iraq in order to repulse terror attacks on Iran's own borders:



Ali Akbar Velayati (image: YJC.ir, February 20, 2016)

"Russia and Iran see eye to eye on most Syria-related matters. Full coordination exists between the Bashar Al-Assad government, the Syrian army, the popular forces under the command of [Iranian] General Qassem Soleimani and Russia's air force. Without this [cooperation], the victories [in Syria] would not have been possible...

"It is worth noting that the other side constitutes a powerful array comprised of states from the world and the region: America, the Western countries, the indirect presence of NATO, the Zionists, countries in the region that obey America [i.e. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf states] and their activists, such as the Islamic State [ISIS] and Jabhat Al-Nusra. This vast array is present in a small state [Syria] with limited capabilities that for five years has been subject to attempts to topple its regime. But this country resists, thanks to the courage and wisdom of Bashar Al-Assad, [and thanks to] popular [Syrian] support and help from Iran...

"I met with President Putin and the latter expressed his opinion on a solution to the Syrian crisis, saying: 'I keep my promise regarding support for the Syrian people's government and regarding coordination with Iran.' An unprecedented development has taken place in the region: Russia, a military superpower with a veto power in the UN Security Council is coordinating with Iran, the major power in the region, on regional matters, not only on the Syrian issue. I believe that in the future, cooperation between Iran, Russia, Iraq and Lebanon will also encompass Yemen. There is [also] a plot against the defense of Central Asia and the Caucasus, and cooperation between Russian Iran exists on this matter [as well]. Such cooperation is unprecedented in the history of the region...

"We have no problem cooperating with the Russians on armaments. [This] cooperation between Iran and Russia has a glorious future..."

The Putin-Khamenei Summit Proves The Depth And Importance Of The Bilateral Ties

"The private meeting between President Putin and the [Supreme] Leader Khamenei lasted two hours. This proves the depth and importance of the ties between Iran and Russia... The length of the meeting indicates its importance. I do not recall that the [Supreme] Leader ever met with a foreign party for two hours... This meeting was no doubt a turning point in the history of Iranian foreign policy, because our foreign policy has never known a meeting this important. This meeting determines the future of Iran's foreign policy and is considered proof of the leader's [Khamenei] eastward look...

"Aside from Russia and China, we have no strategic ties with any country, for the Leader determines the strategic ties according to the constitution..."

Had We Not Placed Our Defensive Walls Outside Our Boundaries We Would Have Had To Place Them Today In Hamedan And Kermonshah

"The ultimate objective is to exterminate ISIS. Generally speaking, it is impossible to make definite predictions about diplomatic and strategic matters, but it is [nevertheless] possible to say that there is a good chance that the resistance axis will vanquish the Zionists, who seek to expand and their occupation in Palestine. Today, the chance for a victory of the resistance axis is greater than ever before.

"They [the Western forces and their regional allies] want to conquer the fortresses one by one. As the Leader [Khamenei] said, had we not placed our defensive walls outside Iran's boundaries, today we would have had to position [the defensive walls] against the terrorist groups in Hamedan and Kermonshah [within Iran itself]...

"Iran will not talk with America about military cooperation in Syria even if America wants this. As far as I know, nothing like that is happening... This is an important and strategic decision in Iran's foreign policy. Iran will not agree to military cooperation with America."

Saudi Arabia Was Unsuccessful In Yemen; How Can It Succeed In Syria, Which Is Farther Away?

"[The matter of the] relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is up to the Saudis themselves... Iran has no problem with Saudi Arabia...

"Regarding the introduction of Saudi forces to Syria, Saudi Arabia cannot do more than it has done in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has 800 kilometers of border with Yemen, and they [the Saudis] used all their conventional and nonconventional resources [in Yemen], yet they did not succeed... What can Saudi Arabia do about its distance from Syria? If Saudi Arabia had any special capabilities [of its own], it would have used them in Yemen instead of [employing] Sudanese and Somali mercenaries... In Syria there are forces from more than 80 countries that are fighting the legitimate Syrian government. What hidden powers does Saudi Arabia possess that it can use [in Syria]?

"Anybody seeking to intervene in Syria must do so with the consent and approval of the legitimate Syrian government. The Syrian government itself invited Russia and Iran to help it. Additionally, a UN Security Council decision is needed if [anyone] wants to intervene. Even if America agrees to Saudi presence in Syria, Russia and China will veto it. Therefore it [Saudi Arabia] will not obtain the approval of the Security Council and will be unable to intervene in Syria."[1]

Basij Commander Naqdi: If We Continue On This Path, In 10 Years Muslims Will Control Temple Mount In Jerusalem

Basij Commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi said at a Basij conference on February 22, 2016: "...Leader [Khamenei] said that the main conflict for the Islamic Republic [of Iran] is between the arrogance [the U.S.] and Islam.



Mohammad Reza Naqdi (Image: Tasnim, Iran, February 23, 2016)

"I [once] said, in an interview with Palestine TV, that in 2015 Muslims will control Temple Mount [in Jerusalem]. [The interviewer] laughed and said: 'We don't [even] have baby formula in Gaza. This is impossible. It's a delusion.' I told him that before the Islamic Revolution [in 1979], the Americans controlled Iran, and what is the situation today? [Only] a few years ago, Iraq was under American occupation and today it is in the hands of the Shi'ites. In the past, Lebanon was held by the Israelis, but today it has expelled the Israelis. Gaza [also] resisted and expelled them. Yemen was a colony of Al-Sa'ud [the Saudi royal family], but now it is not. Today Israeli ships in the Mediterranean and Saudi ships in the Red Sea are being sunk by the Muslims. If we continue on this path, in 10 years Muslims will control Temple Mount.

"If We Survive This Sensitive Juncture And The Enemy Infiltration, We Will Be Confronting An Enemy That Has Been Disarmed, And The Career Of America And Israel Will Be Over"

"Four and a half years have passed since the sanctions [were imposed on Iran], and we see that they have had no effect. [The Westerners] themselves admitted that they thought starvation would drive people to take to the streets [to protest against the government] - but they [the West] suffered a defeat. After sanctions were imposed on Russia, Russian officials asked Iran: What did you do during the sanctions that you are still standing on your feet? Well, this is all thanks to the grace of God. Despite all the plots inside the country, we are still standing.

"Now, after America has admitted that Iran has defeated it, a new path has begun, whose final step is [a Western] infiltration [of Iran]. If we survive this sensitive juncture and the enemy invasion, we will be confronting an enemy that has been disarmed, and the career of America and Israel will be over."[2]

Endnotes:

[1] YJC.ir, February 20, 2016.
Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis met on Friday, 13 May, with president John W. Galanis and a delegation from the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA). The Director General of the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad, Michael Kokkinos, also participated in the meeting.



During the meeting, which was carried out in a friendly atmosphere, there was an exchange of views on current issues of Greek interest. Mr. Amanatidis noted that Greece is managing and is turning a new page, and he was briefed on AHEPAs current activities and programme.



Mr. Amanatidis reiterated the governments will to further deepen and strengthen cooperation with Greeks abroad. In this context, he presented an outline of the initiatives that are to be undertaken by the government in the immediate future and are aimed at satisfying longstanding requests of Greeks abroad.



Finally, Mr. Amanatidis did not omit to thank AHEPA for its enduring and constructive contribution, with particular emphasis on its active assistance in confronting the refugee crisis.
M. LAJCAK: Good day. I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to meet for the third time in the past three months with my Greek counterpart and friend, Minister Kotzias. As you know, the first visit I carried out was to Athens, and I am very pleased that the Minister accepted my invitation to visit Slovakia. This alone shows the trust that exists between our two countries and the high degree of mutual understanding. Greece is an important partner for Slovakia. Greece is an ally of ours in the European Union and NATO.



We share common views on many issues. We are united by our strong support of the European project. The statehood of our two countries is founded on a strong anti-fascist tradition. Our relations have developed traditionally in a friendly, transparent and constructive atmosphere. Greece is a very important tourism destination for Slovak citizens. Moreover, Slovakia is a very good destination for Greek university students who come to Slovakias universities to study. There are certainly differences between us on some issues, but we agreed with my Greek counterpart to intensify the meetings and other forms of communication between us to further develop our relations.



As regards Slovakias Presidency of the Council of the European Union, it is obvious that many of our priorities are priorities of interest to Greece. The migration crisis is a crisis for the whole of the European Union and not just for Greece or Italy. We have to help Greece to manage these refugee flows. The current development of the situation with the migration issue gives us some hope so that at least we can look to the future with optimism.



With regard to the process of reviewing the Greek reform programme, we are prepared to support its speediest possible completion so that the next tranches can be disbursed to Greece. We want to express our solidarity with Greek citizens, who have to suffer painful reforms similar to the ones we suffered in the past.



We talked about a wide range of issues, the Western Balkans. In the Western Balkan region, both Slovakia and Greece have interests and show interest in the region. The issue of the Western Balkans will be one of the themes during our Presidency. We agreed that we must develop further bilateral meetings on all the other levels as well, including at the highest level. On the occasion of the Slovak Presidency, it is natural that many delegations and high-level officials will be coming from the Greek side to Slovakia, and thus there is ground and opportunity for our further developing our relations.



Mr. Kotzias, Thank you very much for the productive talks and meeting we had.



Please, Mr. Kotzias, you have the floor.



N. KOTZIAS: I am very grateful for the invitation of the Slovak government and, in particular, of my friend Miroslav. It was a pleasure to meet with him again, because he is a foreign minister whom we respect and appreciate in Europe. I am pleased that I will be in Bratislava again in three months, for the Informal Council of Foreign Ministers on 2 and 3 September. And I extended an invitation to the Foreign Minister of Slovakia to attend the International Conference on Security in the Mediterranean, which we are hosting in Rhodes on 8 and 9 September.



I also had the pleasure of meeting with the President of the Republic, with the Parliaments European Affairs Committee, and with Deputy Prime Minister Pellegrini. Of course, the main weight of our discussions was with the Foreign Minister.



We agreed to meet at least once a year to develop our cooperation in all sectors, from tourism and investments to cooperation between businesses in sectors of new technologies. We are two ministers who are also very interested in culture.



Our two countries are linked by centuries of common history and we are associated with the birth of Christianity in the region, with the alphabet, in the first phase of Slovak history. In modern history we are linked by our common concern, which was satisfied, for Slovakias joining the European Union, which happened during our Presidency and is one of the things that it is apparent, and shown by history, that we did well.



I would like to take this opportunity the thank the Slovak leadership and people for the support and solidarity they have shown us during this period of our economic crisis and the refugee crisis, and despite certain differences that arose on one or the other issue, the convergences we have in terms of interests and outlooks are much greater. We agreed on the need for security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean, we jointly support the resolution of the Cyprus problem, and in our many meetings we have developed creative thinking on the integration of the states of the Western Balkans into the European Union.



As I said to Minister Lajcak during his visit to Athens, the Hellenic Republic fully supports the success of the upcoming Slovak Presidencys programme. The success of the Slovak Presidency will be the success of a friendly state, as well as living proof that, in the EU, the best presidencies are those of small and medium-sized states. I say this knowing the Presidencys programme and its people.



Miroslav, once again I thank you very much for the invitation, for the hospitality and for the talks we had.



JOURNALIST: From what I know, you talked about the issue of tourism in Greece. Slovakia has a very firm tourism base in Croatia and offers assistance to its tourists in this country. Are you thinking, as minister, of creating something similar in Greece? That is, providing services for Slovak tourists in Greece?



M. LAJCAK: This was not one of the main topics of our talks today. In Greece we have quite an extensive network of honorary consuls who can help Slovak citizens there, when needed. But if we need to help in some other form, for example  as is the case in Croatia  by sending police to Greece, perhaps we can look at that in the future.



JOURNALIST: A question for the Greek minister. The number of migrants reaching Greece from Turkey has fallen recently. To what extent does the Greek side fear that, if the EU-Turkey doesnt work or is breached, a large number of migrants will be trapped on its territory, given that Greeces northern border with FYROM is closed?



N. KOTZIAS: Thank you very much for the question. It really is a central question.



We have to say that the implementation of the agreement has so far been successful. The number of those passing from Turkey to the Greek islands has fallen from 3,000 or 4,000 to 100. And there are days when no one passes over to the Greek islands, as well as days when the number reaches 150 or 160. So all sides need to take care that this agreement is implemented into the future.



I hope that there wont be any deviation from this agreement and that Turkey will implement all of the conditions. It is in this direction that all of the member states of the Union are working, along with the Dutch Presidency, the future Slovak Presidency and the European Commission. Should there be different developments  and I hope and dont think this will be the case  the refugee flows will not be headed to just Greece. I often invoke the strong example that the United States, which is the most technologically advanced country in the world, built a wall to stop the influx of economic migrants from Central and Latin America, and 43 million made it across, with 14 million still there illegally. I say this to underscore that the refugee problem is not a Greek problem, and should there be any deviation from the agreement, it wont concern Greece alone.



I would like to make two more brief observations, if I may. The first is that the refugee problem has a source: the war in the Middle East. And there was not sufficient funding for the refugees who lived in the countries around Syria. The second is that what unites us with Slovakia is that neither of us is the cause of these wars. We are just paying for them. Thank you very much.



JOURNALIST: I would like to as Minister Lajcak whether he supports a model similar to the agreement that has been signed with Turkey for an agreement between the EU and the countries of North Africa.



M. LAJCAK: You know that, recently, in Valetta, there was a conference of EU and African states, and we are expecting the results of that conference to go into effect. Migration and the migration crisis are a complex issue. The agreement signed with Turkey was principally aimed stopping the refugee and migration flows on the so-called Balkan route  from Turkey, through Greece, towards the Balkans  but apparently there are also other, alternative routes.



JOURNALIST: A question for the Greek Foreign Minister. From what you said in your speech, you expressed your confidence and desire that the agreement with Turkey will be fulfilled. But do you see any possibility of its not being fulfilled? And what would be the consequences of this non-fulfilment on the part of Turkey of the obligations deriving from this agreement? Do you think that the political crisis in Turkey and the prime ministers recent resignation are a factor that might lead to the agreements being breached?



N. KOTZIAS: Every agreement is like a tango. It takes two. I have to think about how to dance well with my partner. I cant think constantly about what will happen if she steps on my feet. And if I do think about it, I dont have to say so in public. Thank you very much.
WATERTOWN TOWNSHIP  Three people were injured in an accident that took place at the intersection of M-19 and Marlette Road Wednesday afternoon.

According to the Sanilac County Sheriffs Office, deputies were called to the scene around 4:17 p.m., where 40-year-old Applegate man Matthew Bailey and his passenger, 32-year-old Heather Bailey, were traveling west bound on Marlette Road, and Bailey failed to stop at the intersection. As a result, Bailey collided with a southbound vehicle, driven by a 54-year-old Tecumseh man, James Rochford.

Baileys vehicle rolled several times before landing on its wheels.

The Sandusky Fire Department had to use its Jaws of Life to free Heather Bailey from her vehicle. Both Matthew and Heather Bailey were transported to McKenzie Memorial Hospital by Sanilac EMS for treatment of their injuries, while Rochford was taken to Marlette Regional Hospital for treatment.

Deputies were also assisted on scene by the Michigan State Police Caro Post, Sandusky Police Department and Marlette EMS.
Nicola Thorp, 27, had been told in December that her flat shoes were unacceptable in London while on assignment. She was sent home without pay after refusing to change her shoes.

But Thorp fought back, writing up an online petition asking for it to be made illegal for employers to require female workers to wear heels at work.

Simon Pratt, the managing director of the Portico employment agency, said Wednesday night the firm had changed its policy to allow workers to wear flat shoes if they prefer.

Thorp's petition had attracted more than 54,000 signatures before the company's policy was changed.
A separate confidential settlement was made with doctors involved in Martinique Stoudemire's health care, said her attorney, Patricia Streeter. The deals came last month just before jurors were to hear closing arguments in a civil trial in federal court.

Stoudemire said she had one shower in two weeks while in segregation for an infection at a women's prison in 2006. The segregation occurred after an amputation, but she said the cell wasn't equipped for a disabled person.

"Ms. Stoudemire did testify," Streeter told The Associated Press this week. "It was a painful and very humiliating experience for her. ... It was worth it to settle the matter and let her have a clean start."

Stoudemire of Oak Park filed the lawsuit in 2007 after her release from prison for robbery. The litigation lasted nine years, mostly because the state appealed key decisions by U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow.

A federal appeals court in 2013 summarized what occurred in prison:

"Stoudemire was left to care for herself. She was forced to crawl from her bed to the toilet. On one occasion, she had to urinate into a bowl. On another occasion, she defecated on herself. The staff neglected Stoudemire's hygiene. She received only one shower during her two weeks in segregation and was required to dress her wounds herself, which put her at risk of infection."

Susan Davis, now retired, was warden at Huron Valley prison. She said she was never informed that Stoudemire's needs weren't being met.

Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz declined to explain why the state chose to settle the case.
BAD AXE  Huron County mosquitoes may avoid slaughter this year.

Support is bleeding as officials near closer to retreat on plans for a kill program.

County Commissioner Sami Khoury says he got a call from Hurons State Rep. Ed Canfield this week, and that the legislator strongly opposes funding a mosquito abatement program by way of a millage.

Canfield also represents Tuscola, where residents have renewed a 0.65-mill tax every six years for its mosquito abatement program since the 1997 inception. Each of Tuscolas 23 townships has a technician assigned to perform roadside treatments, and crews treated 2,247 flooded woodlot sites in 2015, according to its annual report.

Huron commissioners say it would take a similar millage to cover the $2.8 million in startup costs. Gladwin-based APM Mosquito Control last year gave a $70,000 estimate to spot-spray Huron County. The company said it would charge $43.65 per acre for ground spraying.

Khoury, in late April, said he would support a millage. He said most residents in his district (Brookfield, Fairhaven and Sebewaing townships, and Sebewaing and Owendale vilalges) would, too.

Board Chair John Bodis also leaned in that direction.

Id hate to have taxes raised, but this may be something we need to do, Bodis said, in late April.

But, Bodis this week said hes talked with a diverse group of individuals in his district (Bad Axe and Verona and Sigel townships) and not one is in favor of a millage.

Commissioner Rich Swartzendruber says a few residents are positive toward the idea, but have questioned the millage rate and costs.

Commissioner Clark Elftman says his constituents dont support the program because of the costs. And the money could be better used elsewhere, he says.

If a millage has to pass, Id rather see it for the child advocacy center than mosquito abatement, Elftman said.

Support for creating a local abatement program picked up speed this year as Zika virus concerns festered.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Zika virus spreads primarily by an infected mosquito. Common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes  similar to dengue and chikungunya diseases spread through the same mosquitoes that transmit Zika.

Its a concern for pregnant women: a mother already infected with Zika virus near the time of delivery can pass on the virus to her newborn around the time of birth, and a pregnant woman can pass Zika virus to her fetus during pregnancy, the CDC says. Zika causes microcephaly and other birth defects, according to the CDC.

But the chance of contracting Zika via local transmission by mosquitoes in Michigan is extremely low to non-existent, according to MSU Extension, which says Michiganders have more to worry about with West Nile, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and Lyme disease.

And officials say there have been no locally transmitted cases.

But it hasnt stopped the Legislature from taking preventative measures.

A Michigan House committee in late April approved an amendment to the state budget to inject $250,000 to set mosquito traps in certain areas of the state and to educate the public about Zika virus. The committee unanimously voted to shift money from a Great Lakes restoration fund into the abatement program, the Associated Press reported.

One certainty: Absent an epidemic, bats will have plenty of pests to sink their teeth into this summer.
Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare

Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV.
A Marine major will face a court hearing Friday to determine if he will stand trial for allegedly lying on the stand while facing a 2014 disciplinary board on allegations of sexual misconduct with two Naval Academy midshipmen.

Maj. Mark Thompson may be charged with making a false official statement and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, Rex Runyon, a spokesman for Marine Corps Installations Command, told Military.com.

Thompson, a former instructor at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, was acquitted at a 2013 court-martial of sexual assault in a 2011 incident in which the two young women alleged he had sex with them at his home. But he was convicted of fraternization and indecent sexual contact with a midshipman.

An administrative board of inquiry concluded in 2014 that Thompson should not be discharged from the Corps after the major claimed one of his accusers, identified by The Washington Post as Sarah Stadler, was lying about the relationship the two had shared -- one that he claimed was only professional.

But an extensive Washington Post investigation published earlier this year has cast serious doubt on the veracity of Thompsons claims, and prompted the Marine Corps to open a new investigation into the officer's behavior.

During conversations between Post reporter John Woodrow Cox and Stadler, the former midshipman located a cell phone -- believed to be missing during the court-martial -- that contains text messages apparently contradicting some of Thompson's claims.

In one instance, while Thompson claimed he never saw Stadler following her May 2011 graduation, text exchanges reveal the two were together the night after, according to Post reports.

The reporting also caused the Naval Academy to remove another instructor, Maj. Michael Pretus, on new allegations of sexual misconduct tied to events allegedly involving Thompson. Pretus had been previously investigated on allegations of sexual misconduct prior to being assigned to teach at the academy, but the investigation was ultimately closed.

The Post reported Pretus was removed by Naval Academy officials who said they weren't aware of the previous accusations. He is now expected to be a witness for the prosecution in Thompson's case.

Thompson's Article 32 pre-trial hearing will be held Friday morning at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
A key Senate panel on Thursday voted to approve a 1.6 percent pay raise for troops, requiring women to register for the draft and overhauling the military health care system.

The Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved the proposals as part of the fiscal 2017 defense authorization bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which sets policy goals and spending targets for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

The panel, headed by Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, voted 23-3 in favor of the legislation, which would authorize $602 billion in funding for the Defense Department and national security programs at the Energy Department.

"This is a reform bill," McCain said in a statement. "The NDAA contains the most sweeping reforms of the organization of the Department of Defense in a generation."

1.6 Percent Pay Raise

The Senate committee opposed a proposal from its counterpart panel in the House, chaired by Rep. William "Mac" Thornberry, a Republican from Texas, to give service members their biggest pay raise in years: a 2.1 percent increase.

In a statement this week defending his proposal, Thornberry said, "It gives our troops the full pay raise to which they are entitled under the law."

The Senate panel instead supported the White House and Defense Department recommendation of a 1.6 percent raise for next year. While that's higher than the 1.3 percent raise troops received this year and the 1 percent they got the previous two years, it's lower than the 2.1 percent raise called for under existing law to match private-sector wage growth.

According to the Pentagon's own budget documents, the law calls for a military pay raise to equal the annual increase in the wages and salaries of private industry employees as measured by the Employment Cost Index, or ECI, which is calculated by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Women and the Draft

The Senate panel's version of the legislation would also require women to register for the draft beginning Jan. 1, 2018, and create a commission to to study whether the so-called selective service is still needed.

The language comes as more women are applying to infantry and other combat jobs after the Pentagon ordered each of the individual military services to open previously closed positions to female troops. Capt. Kristen Griest, for example, was expected to become the Army's first female infantry officer this week after making history last summer when she became one of the first women to complete Ranger School and earn the Ranger tab.

Specifically, the Senate bill includes a provision that would amend the Military Selective Service Act to include women in the requirement to register for the selective service, according to a statement on the legislation released by the Senate committee.

"Because the Department of Defense has lifted the ban on women serving in ground combat units, the committee believes there is no further justification in limiting the duty to register under the Military Selective Service Act to men," it states. "Furthermore, each uniformed chief of the services testified to their personal support of including women in the requirement to register for selective service."

A new National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service also "will examine whether the current global security environment still demands a selective service process designed to produce large quantities of combat troops, or whether a system based on the acquisition of certain critical skills and abilities for military and civilian service is more appropriate," the release states.

Health Care Reform

Last year, Congress approved overhauling the military retirement system. This year, the Senate committee wants it to do the same to the military health care system.

The release on the Senate legislation cited the January 2015 report from the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission that concluded the military Tricare program has eroded in quality and become financially unsustainable.

The commission recommended doing away with the three Tricare programs for military families, reservists and working-age retirees (not elderly retirees in the Tricare for Life program) in favor of a new health care program, similar to the one for federal civilian employees, that would allow recipients to choose from a list of commercial health care plans.

The Senate bill, however, would authorize three "new and improved" Tricare plans called Tricare Prime, Tricare Choice and Tricare Supplemental, according to the release. It would eliminate existing cost-shares for services provided under the current Tricare Standard plan and replaces them with fixed co-payments to lower overall costs for beneficiaries, the document states.

The legislation also seeks to improve access to health care by expanding so-called telehealth services and requiring a standardized appointment system in military treatment facilities, among other provisions.

-- Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry.
This article originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

These 3 veterans diverged from the traditional career path and launched their own tech startups.

What is noticeably missing from the ranks of most top-tier tech companies in the United States is the presence of military veterans. Over the last decade, many of the technology companies that have come to dominate the consumer and enterprise markets were not founded by veterans. There are likely many reasons for this trend, but contributing factors include a lack of entrepreneurial role models in the military community and a military transition process that is optimized for helping Veterans become employees, not entrepreneurs.

Current transition support programs offer educational experiences that are dominated by exercises in composing resumes, tailoring cover letters and rehearsing for job interviews. Topics like venture capital, bootstrapping a business, and finding cofounders are noticeably absent from the Department of Defenses Transition Assistance Program.

The underrepresentation of entrepreneurial topics in TAPs is not due to a lack of interest. A recent report by the U.S. Small Business Administrationsuggests that 25% of all returning post-9/11 veterans want to start a business.

It can be difficult for a veteran to find the resources to launch a business, and even more complicated for veterans to break into the niche domain of technology entrepreneurship. In a practical sense, many transitioning veterans simply do not have the experience, network, or capital to effectively compete with Silicon Valley technology startups.

There are several groups working diligently to bridge this divide. Patriot Boot Camp is one such program. Patriot Boot Camp is a nonprofit that provides free technology entrepreneurship education, mentorship, and community support for military veterans. The program has been around since 2012 and has graduated more than 500 military veterans and military spouses. Many of these entrepreneurs have gone on to launch and grow technology companies.

As these veteran-led tech ventures mature, new opportunities are developing for veterans to work together and build communities of significance. An ecosystem is emerging where successful veteran founders can support and nurture the next generation of aspiring entrepreneurs.North Carolina-based ProctorFree and South Carolina-based inKind are two examples of veteran-led tech companies that have developed into formidable startups.

Nick Black was a U.S. Army officer from 2006 to 2011 who cofounded the company inKind. Blacks startup team has embarked on a mission to create more meaningful and personal connections between nonprofits and donors. They have developed a software platform to help nonprofits create stories around their current charitable work to include opportunities for supporters not only to support but also purchase and directly donate the exact items needed. inKind is working with Habitat for Humanity and other nonprofits conducting brick and mortar projects before scaling and expanding to serve new nonprofit vertical markets.

Mike Murphy is a former U.S. Army noncommissioned officer who cofounded ProctorFree in 2013 to provide an innovative way for teachers to administer and supervise online exams. Since its launch, the company has grown to employ 25 part-time and full-time employees.

ProctorFrees product continues to flourish and evolve as the company on boards new educational partners.

ProctorFree and inKind are examples of veteran-led companies that have sprouted beyond the concept phase to become brooding technology enterprises. As these companies continue to expand, their cofounders serve as shining entrepreneurial archetypes for other veterans with bold new ideas and startup ambitions. When these companies reach new stages of maturity though, they encounter new challenges related to growth.

Like all companies, ProctorFree and inKind require capital to grow. Since most technology startups do not have an abundance of physical assets, conventional bank loans and Small Business Administration lending programs are not available or practical. In order to grow, tech companies overwhelmingly partner with venture capitalists who will infuse cash into a company for an equity stake. For most veterans, the realm of venture capital can seem like forbidding foreign soil. In a practical sense, venture capitalists simply may not understand or value the military experience of cofounders.

Brandon Shelton, an Army infantry and military intelligence officer from 19982006, recognized this dynamic and launched Task Force X Capital Management last year to meet the needs of promising veteran-led startups. TFX is an advisory and investment firm specializing in helping veterans grow companies; the group recently made investments in both ProctorFree and inKind.

The emergence of TFX is a positive sign that military veterans are making inroads in the venture capital community and that veterans are investing in other veterans to enable business stability and profitability. There is, however, a long way to go before veterans are proportionately represented in the venture capital industry.

The National Venture Capital Association estimates that in 2015 venture investments in the United States totaled more than $58.8 billion. Through TFX, veterans are only tapping into some of that capital, but are choosing to work with venture investors who share their military experience, integrity. and sense of camaraderie.

All investment money is not the same, said Mike Murphy.

We use our common background to get to difficult conversations quicker, added Black. The value of having a venture investment from another military veteran is that they will stand shoulder to shoulder with you.

The Kauffman Foundation, a private foundation focused on entrepreneurship, reports that 73% of entrepreneurs ranked their professional network as a key to their success. If leveraged effectively, the military community can be an extremely powerful professional network.

Veterans building successful technology companies and supporting the next generation of aspiring entrepreneurs has the potential to create a virtuous cycle that will transform Americas technology landscape. A decade from now, the list of influential U.S. technology companies could represent a new cadre of enterprising veteran cofounders.

This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.

More articles from Task & Purpose:
Garth Brooks World Tour

When: 5 more shows (7 and 10:30 p.m. May 13-14; and 7:30 p.m. May 15, 2016

Where: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids

Tickets: $74.98

Contact: vanandelarena.com or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Will he play "Thunder Rolls"?

Will he play "Papa Loved Mama"?

Of course. Country superstar Garth Brooks said to local media, and again in concert on Thursday night at Van Andel Arena, he's here to deliver the hits.

But he'll also surprise you along the way. He may play anywhere form 6 to 12 songs during his encores.

"We just listen to him talk to the audience, which is our clue to what he might play next," said band leader and Ann Arbor-born Dave Gant in an interview a few days before the concert.

SEE THE CONCERT SETLIST BELOW

If you're going to any of Garth's remaining 5 shows on the "Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood," be ready for the hits, and be ready for a few covers.

On Thursday night he paid homage to two musical heroes, Michigan native Bob Seger ("Night Moves"), and country music legend George Strait ("Amarillo By Morning").

Oh, and if you want to hear your favorite "album cut," bring those signs.

During the second encore he looks to signs that fans bring to the concert for suggestions of what to play next.

On Thursday, a woman asked for "Lonesome Dove," off his "Ropin' the Wind" CD (1991). And a young couple celebrating their anniversary asked for "Make You Feel My Love."

As for the next five shows, you never know.

Have fun Grand Rapids.

Garth Brooks Set List May 12, 2016 (Van Andel Arena)

1. Man Against the Machine

2. Rodeo

3. Two of a Kind (Working on a Full House)

4. The River

5. Two Pina Coladas

6. Papa Loved Mama

7. Ain't Going Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)

8. Unanswered Prayers

9. That Summer

10. Thunder Rolls

11. In Another's Eyes (with Trisha Yearwood)

12. American Girl (Trisha Yearwood)

13. How Do I Live (Trisha Yearwood)

14. Prize Fighter (Trisha Yearwood)

15. She's in Love with the Boy (Trisha Yearwood)

Encore 1

16. Shameless

17. Callin' Baton Rouge

18. Friends in Low Places

19. The Dance

Encore 2

20. In Lonesome Dove (fan request/sign)

21. Make You Feel My Love (fan request/sign)

22. Night Moves (Bob Seger tribute)

23. Amarillo By Morning (George Strait tribute)

24. Standing Outside the Fire

John Gonzalez is a member of the Life + Culture team at MLive. He covers food, beer, travel, events and coordinates Michigan's Best with MLive's Amy Sherman. Email him at gonzo@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Complete Michigan travel, destination and event information available via Michigan.org
Garth Brooks World Tour

When: 5 more shows (7 and 10:30 p.m. May 13-14; and 7:30 p.m. May 15, 2016

Where: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids

Tickets: $74.98

Contact: vanandelarena.com or call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Earlier in the day, country superstar Garth Brooks said to local media he could sense that something special was about to happen.

"This will be the loudest concert this place has ever seen. It's gonna be stupid," he said, making a prediction of what was in store for fans.

"It's going to be anything goes tonight."

He was right.

On Thursday night he performed the first of six shows at the Van Andel Arena as part of this "Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood."

By the time this lengthy stretch of the tour comes to an end, he and his crew will have performed 16 shows in 17 days.

That grind, and the 11,000 fans who are expected to see him perform at each show this weekend, only fueled his engine even more.

I don't recall this same energy in Chicago in 2014 when he returned to the stage after a 15-year break, and I don't remember feeling this same excitement when he performed in Detroit last year.

Maybe it was because this was his first-ever show in Grand Rapids.

Or maybe the crowd's outpouring of emotion even caught him and wife Trisha Yearwood a little off guard.

They knew it would was going to be a great night. But not this good.

Pat yourself on the back, Grand Rapids.

You were relentless song-after-song, singing every lyric, anticipating those signature moments and showering both entertainers with screams, applause and adulation.

You were on your feet all night, and that only made Garth want to give more.

He seemed tireless in his two-hour, 24-song set that ended just before 11 p.m.

It will be interesting to see how he keeps up this pace.

As he does on most nights, he played all the hits, including "Friends in Low Places," "Unanswered Prayers," "Thunder Rolls," and his admitted favorite, "Callin' Baton Rouge."

Trisha came out midway through the show to sing some of her bigger hits (including "American Girl," "She's in Love with the Boy"), and of course there was a duet.

The whole show seemed so natural that you almost felt as if you dropped in on friends who were having one heck of a backyard party.

I won't spoil many of the show's highlights.

I'll just say that the band is awesome, from longtime drummer Mike Palmer to expert guitar slinger Johnny Garcia (of Trisha's band) to Garth's band leader (and Ann Arbor native) Dave Gant, the whole show will blow you away.

Garth is up for the challenge. I know that. He said as much when we talked about the tour and even reminisced a little about his shows in 1990 and 1991 at the Allegan County Fair.

My hope is that each night's audience just keeps getting better and better.

He's ready.

"When you get to rock into a place like this, which is just nothing but compact dynamite when you walk in, (you know) this is going to to be six stupid shows. It's going to be fun," he said at the news conference.

Indeed.

Garth Brooks Set List May 12, 2016 (Van Andel Arena)

1. Man Against the Machine

2. Rodeo

3. Two of a Kind (Working on a Full House)

4. The River

5. Two Pina Coladas

6. Papa Loved Mama

7. Ain't Going Down ('Til the Sun Comes Up)

8. Unanswered Prayers

9. That Summer

10. Thunder Rolls

11. In Another's Eyes (with Trisha Yearwood)

12. American Girl (Trisha Yearwood)

13. How Do I Live (Trisha Yearwood)

14. Prize Fighter (Trisha Yearwood)

15. She's in Love with the Boy (Trisha Yearwood)

Encore 1

16. Shameless

17. Callin' Baton Rouge

18. Friends in Low Places

19. The Dance

Encore 2

20. In Lonesome Dove (fan request/sign)

21. Make You Feel My Love (fan request/sign)

22. Night Moves (Bob Seger tribute)

23. Amarillo By Morning (George Strait tribute)

24. Standing Outside the Fire

John Gonzalez is a member of the Life + Culture team at MLive. He covers food, beer, travel, events and coordinates Michigan's Best with MLive's Amy Sherman. Email him at gonzo@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

Complete Michigan travel, destination and event information available via Michigan.org
Aaron Dworkin, new Dean of U-M's SMTD

Aaron Dworkin, dean of the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance, immediately began thinking big in the creation of M-Prize the largest chamber music competition in the world. The competition is the largest both in number of applications received - 172 - and prize money awarded, with a $100,000 Grand Prize going to one of 29 semifinalists during the senior finals concert at 5:30 p.m. on May 19 at Hill Auditorium.

(Courtest of Kevin Kennedy)

ANN ARBOR, MI - Before he even began his tenure as dean of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in July 2015, Aaron Dworkin was envisioning how the school could bring visibility to chamber music.

It didn't take him long, as Dworkin and the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre & Dance will host the largest chamber music competition in the world in Ann Arbor next week during the inaugural M-Prize.

The competition is the largest both in number of applications received - 172 - and prize money awarded, with a $100,000 Grand Prize going to one of 29 semifinalists and 120 participants during the senior finals concert at 5:30 p.m. on May 19 at Hill Auditorium.

In addition to the Grand Prize, another $100,000 will be distributed among the top three winners in three different categories -- strings, woodwinds and "open" -- in Junior (ages 18 and under) and Senior (ages 19-35) divisions.

"We look at what we were doing at U-M and how we could be at the forefront of this field (of chamber music)," Dworkin said. "We looked at what the direct opportunities for our students and faculty were, but also asked 'What role are we playing in the field as a whole?' I thought a competition format would be a great way to bring awareness, attention and visibility to this craft."

Opening the field up to a number of different categories and styles of music, Dworkin said, was another way for M-Prize to separate itself from other chamber music competitions. The "open" category can feature any type of instrumentation, including percussion, voice or technology and music that contains a significant amount of improvisation such as jazz, bluegrass and world music.

Providing a versatile field of participants that will showcase a variety of styles and genres of music was intentional, Dworkin said, particularly as chamber music continues to become more embedded in popular forms of music like pop and rock.

"It is definitely growing and being presented in ways that are incredibly accessible in places like community centers and even bars, retirement homes and community parks," he said. "It's incredibly flexible in that it can be acoustic or amplified and there are so many ways it can be presented. We see M-Prize as another step toward embedded this music in our communities."

The Donald Sintra Quartet, named in honor of their former U-M professor, is one of 29 groups competing in the inaugural M-Prize competition May 17-19.

While the large cash prize might be the first thing to grab people's attention, semifinalist Dan Graser of the Donald Sinta Quartet said there is plenty of incentive to participate that goes beyond money.

Graser, who holds two degrees from U-M, said one of those incentives is that the winner will be presented by U-M's University Musical Society on their chamber arts concert series next season.

Creating visibility in chamber music at U-M and drawing attention to the world's top acts, he said, are what make M-Prize an impressive event in its first year.

"I like the idea of having an open category -- it's a very forward-looking competition," Graser said. "The caliber of judges is really impressive, as well.

"When I saw that Aaron was taking over as the new dean, I knew he was going to make big things happen quickly, but I had no idea he would come up with something so huge, so quickly. The alumni are extremely impressed by that. I think a lot of us who have graduated from U-M really like to see new leadership that is really behind the idea of U-M and Ann Arbor being a center of great chamber music - and not just in a traditional sense, but in the future of chamber music."

Dworkin brought an impressive resume with him to Ann Arbor since he was selected to lead the U-M SMTD in March 2015. Receiving a bachelor of arts and a master of fine arts degrees in violin performance from U-M, he went on to create and lead the Sphinx Organization, a leading national nonprofit, which provides K-12 performing arts education and mentorship opportunities for minorities and students in underserved communities.

A MacArthur Fellow, President Obama's first appointment to the National Council on the Arts, Governor Rick Snyder's appointee to the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and member of the Royal Philharmonic Society in London, Dworkin is recognized as one of the foremost international leaders committed arts education and advocacy.

From the format to the prize pool to a screening jury including Donald Sinta (professor emeritus of saxophone, University of Michigan), Glenn Kotche (Wilco drummer and percussionist/composer) and Jeffrey Zeigler (former cellist with the Kronos Quartet), Dworkin believes M-Prize offers the best of the best in chamber music. In addition, there has been a concentrated effort to involve both students and faculty in organizing the competition.

"We wanted this to include the top groups and jurors, as well as the top prize pool, which led to the three-division competition format," he said. "Being able to claim we are hosting a field like this, not only in our state, but on our campus and through the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, is very exciting."

The quality of M-Prize extends to the field of semifinalists Dworkin referred to as "simply extraordinary," including The Chrysali5, led by U-M alum and composer Jeremy Kittel.

The Chrysali5, an new acoustic supergroup led by violinist/composer and U-M alum Jeremy Kittel, will compete in the senior open category of the first M-Prize chamber music competition, May 17-19.

As a member of several groups, bands and ensembles, Kittel has made a name for himself composing in multiple musical genres, drawing from traditional roots, jazz, Celtic, Classical and electronic.

In addition to his own projects, he has composed and arranged for classical artists like Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble as well as pop and rock bands like My Morning Jacket, Camera Obscura and Jars of Clay.

It only seemed fitting he would be a part of a competition encouraging a diverse field of participants in its "open" category.

"I think there has been a collective creative push for decades to expand the umbrella of chamber music, both in the U.S. and beyond," Kittel said. "I think it's great for chamber music and certainly for participants, U-M and Ann Arbor. It's certainly wonderful to see my own school showing that kind of ambition to create this type of competition."

Both Kittel and Graser agree M-Prize will offer other opportunities beyond competition, with the possibilities of future collaboration between both contestants and jury members.

"A lot of times, the people who judge you end up not only being colleagues, but in the future, you collaborate with them artistically," Graser said. "It's always a great opportunity to network and play for incredible artists as well as get very valuable feedback."

For a complete schedule of the semifinal, final and Grand Prize Gala Concert competitions, as well as a listing of all the semifinalists visit MPrize.umich.edu. Free tickets are required for the Grand Prize Gala Concert and must be picked up in advance of the concert at the Information Office in the Earl V. Moore Building, 1100 Baits Dr., Ann Arbor, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 734-647-6310 for more information. Grand Prize Gala Concert seating is limited.

Martin Slagter covers higher education for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at mslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter.
mspfound.jpg

Douglas Stanko, 64

UPDATE: Florida police track sex offender's cell phone to find missing Michigan woman, girl

HAMBURG TWP, MI - The Amber Alert for a missing 7-year-old girl and her mother has been canceled.

Sapphire Palmer, 7, and Amanda Hayward, 30, were found about 6 p.m. May 12 in Florida, according to a press release on the Hamburg Township Police Department's Facebook page. Both appeared to be in good physical health.



"Sapphire has been taken into protective custody by Florida Child Protective Services pursuant to a court order," according to the post. "Douglas Stanko had left the area prior to arrival of law enforcement officials."

Hayward and Palmer were reported missing after they left their Hamburg Township home about 3 a.m. May 10.

Hayward's purse was found a few miles from their home and her father reportedly expressed concern about her erratic behavior and fears of being spied on.

She was believed to possibly be carrying a 9mm Hi Point semi-automatic handgun, according to the previous alert.

The two were also traveling with 64-year-old Douglas Stanko, a registered sex offender.

His roommate and property manager said he is good friends with Hayward and wouldn't hurt the two.

Darcie Moran covers cops and courts for MLive and The Ann Arbor News. Email her at dmoran@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter @darciegmoran.
PLYMOUTH, MI -- Plymouth-Canton Community Schools bus monitor Rocky Perillo entered a not guilty plea at his arraignment Thursday on two felony charges of criminal sexual conduct.

The initial charges against Perillo, who was hired by Durham School Services in 2014, are not related to his time as a bus monitor working with special needs students for Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and do not involve Plymouth-Canton students, said Northville Township Police Lt. Paul Tennies.

Northville police arrested Perillo, 46, at about 10 a.m. Wednesday, and he was arraigned in 35th District Court in Plymouth on Thursday, where he pleaded not guilty to the two felony charges, according to Mary Ann Dziekan, clerical supervisor for the 35th District Court.

Perillo is charged with first degree criminal sexual conduct involving a person under 13, which is punishable with a 25-year minimum prison sentence; and second degree criminal sexual conduct involving a person under 13, which is punishable with a 15-year prison sentence.

Perillo is being held in Wayne County Jail, and his probable cause conference has been set for 8:30 a.m. May 20 before Judge Michael J. Gerou.

The alleged incident that led to Perillo's arrest involved a juvenile who was 9 years old at the time, Tennies told The Ann Arbor News, and it occurred within the past five years, when Perillo was living in Northville Township.

He now lives in Plymouth Township, and since his arrest, another potential victim has come forward in a separate incident stemming from Perillo's time as a home health care provider. Plymouth Township police are investigating that incident.

"He's continued to have access to children and vulnerable adults, which is a concern," Tennies said. "So we are asking any other potential victims to come forward."

Anyone with information potentially related to this case can contact the Northville Township Police Department at 248-349-9400.

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools and Durham School Services issued a joint statement saying Perillo has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.

"Safety is our top priority, and we will continue to keep that as our focus across all areas of our business," their statement reads. "We would like to reassure P-CCS parents and members in the community that we have a stringent hiring process for bus drivers and monitors. There are many steps taken before employment, this includes drug and alcohol testing and a criminal background check. Monitors and drivers are also fingerprinted which is sent to the state police who forward the information to the district.

"The alleged incidents were not reported until after the employee was hired by Durham and therefore did not show up on his background check."
kid.jpg

HAMBURG TWP, MI -- Florida police found the missing Hamburg Township woman and her daughter by tracking the cell phone of the man with whom they traveled.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office's reported Michigan authorities pinged Douglas Stanko's cell phone and found it in Homosassa, where 30-year-old Amanda Hayward's mother lives.

Homosassa is about 74 miles north of Tampa.

Hayward and her 7-year-old daughter, Sapphire Palmer, went missing at 3 a.m. Tuesday, May 10 in Hamburg Township. Michigan State Police issued an Amber alert on May 12 after the investigation found they were likely traveling with 64-year-old Stanko, a convicted sex offender who lives in Ypsilanti.

The Citrus County Sheriff's Office found Hayward and Sapphire at about 6 p.m. Thursday. Multiple police agencies approached Hayward's mother's home and located Hayward and Sapphire.

Everyone at the residence cooperated with law enforcement, police said. Stanko was not at the residence and was apparently en route to Michigan.

Florida Child Protective Services took Sapphire into protective custody after a Michigan judge signed an order.

Police said Hayward did not have a 9mm handgun Hamburg Township Police believed she was carrying. Her father verified the gun is in Michigan, according to the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

Hayward was scheduled to call into a Michigan court hearing at 10 a.m.

Hayward's father, Darryl Hayward, told police his daughter had been acting paranoid recently.

Stanko's roommate, 64-year-old John Horton, said Hayward was supposed to testify against her ex-husband this week for a domestic violence case.

At 6:30 a.m. May 10, Hayward's purse, including her credit cards and cash, was found on the side of the road several miles from her home. Sapphire did not show up to school on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At about 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 11 in Ypsilanti Township, a member of the Livingston and Washtenaw Narcotics Enforcement Team found the Hayward's unoccupied, black 2001 Chevrolet Prizm.

Police said Hayward and Sapphire were traveling with Stanko in his red, 2001 Ford Escape.

Hayward told Click on Detroit she and Sapphire were alone.

"Nope, I am not traveling with anybody," she said. "No one has touched her and no one has harmed her."

Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Larry Lemke made his very first hand-contoured map of the Gelman dioxane plume in 1998, a year after he moved to Ann Arbor.

At the time, a lot was still unknown about the extent of the toxic pollution spreading through the area's groundwater from the former Gelman Sciences site on Wagner Road, and exactly where it was heading.

Today, there still are many uncertainties, though data from scattered monitoring wells paint a rough picture of the plume.

Lemke, a hydrogeologist and director of the Environmental Science Program at Wayne State University, has spent years studying the issue, analyzing the complexities of the area's geology and modeling the spread of the plume, which most maps depict as a big, amorphous blob -- one that's slowly moving in the general direction of the Huron River, but not quite there yet.

Lemke isn't convinced it's that simple.

"As far as 1,4-dioxane transport to the Huron River, it's probably already there, and it's going to persist for many decades to come," the professor said this week, presenting an alternate theory on how the pollution may be spreading.

Lemke believes finger-like extensions of the plume may be finding preferred-flow pathways underground, cutting between monitoring wells that are spaced far apart and perhaps not screening at the right depths.

"Is it possible that there could be a significant plume -- if that's what you want to call it -- of 1,4-dioxane that is moving past the monitoring-well network that we have in place? That's a very real possibility," he said.

"Could it be moving by and bypassing the monitoring-well system and going to the north? The model suggests that's a possibility."

Lemke believes at least some of the dioxane already has hit the Huron River downstream of Barton Pond. He didn't go as far as suggesting that dioxane has reached the river at levels that would be dangerous.

And he emphasized he believes there's a low probability the plume will contaminate Barton Pond, where the city gets its drinking water.

An estimate of the extent of the Gelman dioxane plume. Plume boundaries shown here are based on a map created by Washtenaw County in February 2016. Larry Lemke believes the plume is more complex than maps such as this suggest.

Lemke spoke before a small crowd of citizens and public officials at the latest meeting of the Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane.

Michigan Department of Environmental Quality officials and a state attorney who is preparing to make the state's case in court for a better strategy for addressing the plume were in attendance for the presentation.

Lemke said most maps of the plume, as drawn by the county and others, show some migration in recent years, though not all that much.

So, why is that?

"The role of groundwater modeling -- it's not definitive. But it can be very suggestive. It can be very useful in guiding us in how we think about what's going on and where we look for the 1,4-dioxane and where it may be," Lemke said.

Under one theory, Lemke said, it's possible the ongoing pump-and-treat remediation efforts over the last several years have done a really good job of hydraulic containment, arresting the progress of the plume.

"But I think that's a pretty low-probability explanation, particularly since we have been scaling back the amount of pumping and we don't really have strategically located pumping wells at the leading edge -- or at least the identified leading edge -- of the plume," he said, emphasizing that map depictions of the plume's edge are just guesses based on limited monitoring data.

Lemke said a more probable explanation is that the plume actually is advancing more than maps show, but there just aren't enough wells to detect it.

He challenges the Gaussian plume paradigm, the idea that there's a smooth gradation of dioxane. He calls that an unrealistic oversimplification.

He demonstrates his alternative to the Gaussian model using a Play-Doh Fun Factory in which colored dough is pressed through a series of pores, creating strands that spread out as they come out the other end.

"Those actually represent what I think are preferred-flow pathways for groundwater," Lemke said.

Lemke uses the demonstration to simplify his point. He and his graduate students have spent years collecting and analyzing data, creating complex models to better understand the plume and how it might be moving.

"You're looking at six, seven years of modeling work now coming to fruition," he said of the research findings he presented this week. "It could have been done much faster if we had hired a consulting firm to do this and they put lots of resources and lots of dollars behind it, but this was done in academia, which chugs along very slowly, and students come and students go."

Larry Lemke made his very first hand-contoured map of the Gelman dioxane plume in 1998, a year after he moved to Ann Arbor.

When they first built a three-dimensional model and started to calibrate it, they found they had to include the Allen Creek watershed.

"As far as 1,4-dioxane transport to the Huron River, the Allen Creek is important for groundwater flow and it may be a sink for 1,4-dioxane," Lemke said.

Using the model, which makes some assumptions about the permeability of the sandy and gravely ground through which the dioxane-contaminated water is moving, they were able to track the theoretical migration of particles from Wagner Road east through Ann Arbor toward the Huron River. The model allows both vertical and horizontal movement of groundwater.

"If we just have a purely deterministic model, which is all aquifer and all aquitard, and we release those particles, here's what happens -- they travel from west to east, almost like railroad tracks, until they get to either the Huron River or they get to the Allen Creek drain," Lemke said, noting the creek -- much of it buried underground in pipes -- discharges to the river near Argo Dam.

Adding a stochastic component to the model, Lemke said, gives a more complex picture with more particles going farther in different directions. With sequential-indicator simulation, he said, it's even more complex.

"And I really like this one because I can see preferred-flow pathways, I can see areas that are bypassed, and I can at least have a conceptual model that lets me explain why I could have a well with (no dioxane detected) and wells farther afield that have 1,4-dioxane," Lemke said.

"And it starts to look a little bit like the Play-Doh model."

With that model, he said, there's a much higher probability that dioxane could leave the groundwater prohibition zone in Ann Arbor and head north.

The modeling shows some particles reaching the river faster than others, depending on whether they go through a preferred pathway or a longer, more-torturous route. With a model using preferred-flow pathways, the fastest particles could travel from Wagner Road to the Huron River in anywhere from 4.7 to 17 years, while 74 to 351 years was the average.

Based on the modeling, Lemke concludes dioxane probably already has reached the Huron River somewhere. And for the dioxane that's still traveling, it could be around in Ann Arbor's groundwater for many years to come.

The different modeling shows anywhere from 10 to 56 percent of the particles ending up in the Allen Creek.

"The implication here is that the Allen Creek drain, whichever model we use, may be a sink for 1,4-dioxane," Lemke said.

Vince Caruso, a member of the Allen's Creek Watershed Group, said that's a concern, especially since there are places where people have direct access to the creek and there's talk of daylighting other parts in the years to come.

A map of the Gelman plume produced by the county showing where the plume is believed to be advancing in Ann Arbor and the spacing of monitoring wells.

Lemke said the place of concern with the highest probability of dioxane entering the system is the West Park area or downstream from there.

"It's in the lower reaches where the water table and the surface elevations are starting to come closer and closer to one another," he said. "That's a much more logical place to go looking for the 1,4-dioxane at this time if it is seeping out."

Could people near Ann Arbor's West Park be exposed to dioxane?

Bob Wagner, the DEQ's Remediation and Redevelopment Division chief, said he enjoyed Lemke's presentation and appreciates the work he's done. Local officials and the DEQ are in agreement that more monitoring is needed.

The DEQ actually has proposed putting an extra $700,000 worth of Clean Michigan Initiative funds toward the Gelman plume in the state's next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. The DEQ would be able to use the money for a wide range of items, including installing more wells and doing additional modeling.

Matt Naud, the city of Ann Arbor's environmental coordinator, said he appreciates Lemke's work, too, and he believes there's room for the DEQ to partner with Lemke to do some additional modeling.

Lemke compares "plume hunting" via monitoring wells to the board game Battleship. He said it's easy to find the large aircraft carrier and it's relatively easy to find the battleship, but it's a lot harder to find the smaller cruiser.

"So, if we think of a plume as like a flotilla of ships in our Navy coming by, and I've got a very closely spaced monitoring well network ... boom, I'm going to get a hit," he said. "I'm going to get a couple hits. I'm going to detect that plume.

"If on the other hand I have a very widely spaced monitoring network, which is what we have here, maybe I'm OK if I have a very wide, Gaussian-type plume -- one of these anomalous, ameboid-type things," he said. "But on the other hand, if I have fingers that are coming through and my 1,4-dioxane is really going through these preferred-flow pathways, and I'm not lucky enough to have put just serendipitously my monitoring well in the right spot, I could easily miss it.

"And to compound this, this is not just a two-dimensional game. This is a three-dimensional game."

"There's a concern that if the groundwater with 1,4-dioxane in it somehow gets north of M-14, it's a downhill path to Barton Pond from there, and I think that's essentially right," Lemke said.

Lemke discussed the potential for dioxane to migrate toward Barton Pond and whether it would meet the radial flow of water from the pond escaping around Barton Dam. Though the DEQ has suggested such radial flow could keep dioxane from getting into the pond, acting as a natural hydraulic barrier, Lemke said the topography indicates the radial flow would be a very localized phenomenon right near the dam, not a barrier around the pond.

He also notes there are elevations as high as 950 feet heading into the Bird Hills area, and it's about a 150-foot drop from there to the pond.

"And you can see that there are a couple of drainages where the surface water is flowing down into Barton Pond, and groundwater tends to follow surface-water flow," Lemke said. "There's a concern that if the groundwater with 1,4-dioxane in it somehow gets north of M-14, it's a downhill path to Barton Pond from there, and I think that's essentially right. So ... just because there's a dam here, it is not protective of the groundwater infiltrating into Barton Pond.

"The good news, though, is this head differential is going to work to our advantage," he said, adding that dioxane headed north is far more likely to find a path to the river south of Barton Pond because it's 25 feet lower there.

But he said it's still conceivable that the dioxane could find its way to Barton Pond if there's a preferred-flow pathway.

"It could happen," he said. "We just don't know enough. We don't have the monitoring wells -- the control points -- to completely rule that out. The odds are in our favor that (below Barton Dam) is going to be a more preferred discharge point for any 1,4-dioxane that wants to get up there, but if enough of it got up far enough west, west of this pond, we could envision a potential scenario -- a low-probability but high-consequence scenario -- that could influence Barton Pond."

Lemke emphasized that no model fully captures reality, but it's important to proceed with multiple working hypotheses.

"The role of groundwater modeling -- it's not definitive. But it can be very suggestive. It can be very useful in guiding us in how we think about what's going on and where we look for the 1,4-dioxane and where it may be," he said.

"A model is not supposed to tell us the answer the way it is. A model is supposed to inform us about the range of possibilities that could be out there."

Ryan Stanton covers the city beat for The Ann Arbor News. Reach him at ryanstanton@mlive.com.
SALINE, MI -- After watching countless people over the years try their luck on "The Price is Right," Saline student Alex Bromley recently got his own chance to "come on down" and compete on the popular CBS game show.

Ironically, he couldn't hear announcer George Gray call his name. That's one of the differences between watching the show on TV and experiencing it in person - the audience can't hear the announcer, and instead the crew holds up cue cards with the next contestant's name.

When he saw his name, the Saline High School senior ran down from the back of the studio where he was seated with his mom, high-fiving people as he made his way to Contestant's Row. Bromley's mom, Jill Bromley, had gotten tickets to the show for Feb. 3, Alex's 18th birthday. They were visiting his brother Tripp Bromley, who is stationed in San Diego with the Marines, and made the trip to Los Angeles for the show.

"I've been watching it my entire life because my mom's been watching it since she was a kid too. So we wanted to get on the show bad," Alex said, adding that he records "The Price is Right" nearly every day and watches it when he has time. "Throughout my childhood, it was just on. I've grown to really, really like the show. It's really entertaining because it's one of those you can really get into."

People who attend the show are interviewed to see if they would make good contestants. Alex's natural enthusiasm combined with his lifelong knowledge of "The Price is Right" and the fact that it was his birthday made him a good pick.

When he got his chance, he won big - as anyone who saw the episode air on May 5 already knows.

Alex won his "squeeze play" game, spun an 85 on the big wheel to advance to the showcase and then won his showcase, underbidding by $8,859 while his competitor overbid by $678. In all, he won $40,386 worth of prizes.

"[The showcase] is the first time they let you see what you're going to look like," he said. "When you're in the showcase, they roll out a TV for the two people. ... When you see it, it's like oh my gosh I'm actually on TV. I got pretty nervous."

From all his prizes, Alex decided to keep a trip to South Africa, a trip to Miami, a luxury bed, TV and a robotic grill cleaner. Contestants get 10 days to decide which prizes they want, he said, and you have to pay income tax on the value of whatever you keep.

Alex is headed to Miami in July with his dad, Phil Bromley, and then to South Africa with his mom in August, saying they were too impatient to hold off on the trips.

His brother didn't fare as well on the show, which Alex enjoyed bringing up after the fact.

"Brotherly love, I had to rub it in a little bit," he laughed. "He's like, 'You don't know what it feels like to lose,' and I'm like, 'You're right, I don't because I won everything.'"

It was hard to keep his excitement to himself for the three months between when the show filmed and when it aired, Alex said, but contestants have to commit to secrecy. His family gathered at Phil's office to watch the episode together.

"A bunch of the classes around the high school were watching it too, so that was really cool like getting text messages and tweets about me [winning the showcase]," Alex said, adding that watching it back was very different from actually being on the show. "I didn't remember getting as excited as I did."

Even before he was called down as a contestant, Alex talked to Drew Carey during commercial breaks in the episode Tripp appeared on. Alex plans to attend Washtenaw Community College in the fall and then transfer to the University of Michigan to study business, and Carey gave him advice on preparing for college after high school.

"He's a really nice guy," Alex said. "Everyone behind the scenes was rooting for me and it was really cool."

Lauren Slagter covers K-12 education for The Ann Arbor News. Contact her at 734-255-1419, lslagter@mlive.com or on Twitter @LaurenSlagter.
The Australian-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and the Myanmar Womens Entrepreneurs Association will hold a conference on women in business tomorrow at the Parkroyal hotel.





The Women in Business and Leadership Development Conference will feature more than 20 speakers and include a leadership session by newly appointed National League for Democracy MP for Dagon Daw Thet Thet Khine. More than 300 people are expected to attend the event, which costs K10,000 per ticket.

The greater part of the Myanmar population  women  can face a great many challenges when it comes to working, such as pay gaps and discrimination.

Special Feature: 50 Outstanding Myanmar women

This issue is not particular to Myanmar, as a McKinsey Global Institute report revealed in 2015 that more gender equality would cause global GDP to spike US$12 trillion by 2025.

The Asian Development Bank predicts Myanmar will be the Asias fastest-growing economy in 2016 and early 2017.

The economy needs women, said Australian-Myanmar Chamber of Commerce CEO Verity Lomax.

At this critical stage in Myanmars transformation, women can be on the forefront of positive change and contribute significantly to long-term economic development. Supporting and empowering women in business globally makes good economic sense.

The conference will be broken up into three parts: an inspiration session, business breakout discussions and leadership development. Daw Thet Thet Khine will talk about developing a strong and effective voice.





This conference aims to inspire women to grow themselves and their business, said Ms Lomax. Speakers at the event will openly discuss success stories and how they overcame challenges, which I believe will act as a great motivation to Myanmar women.

Remarks will mainly be delivered in Myanmar language with English translation.

The event will run from 8:30am to 5pm. Though the conference will focus on women in the workforce, Ms Lomax hopes men will come as well.

We think it is important for men to be a part of the conversation on the importance of women in business, she said.
Though many big names from the United Kingdom have hopped the pond  and two continents  to enter Myanmar, there is room for trade and investment between the two countries to grow. The Myanmar Times speaks with UK Trade and Investment CEO Catherine Raines, who calls the Southeast Asian nations market a fantastic opportunity, though not always easy to navigate, and says now is the time to take the plunge.





Can you tell us about UK Trade and Investment?

The UK was the first, after the lifting of sanctions here, to open a trade and investment office. We are absolutely committed to improving, supporting, and enhancing trade and investment in both directions between the UK and Burma. We see it as a fantastic opportunity and one in which we really want to be involved in. [It] is kind of a new beginning for the country.

How would you characterise the level of trade and investment now?

Theres lots more potential. I think when British companies understand the level of expansion, the level of growth here, they are going to become even more enthusiastic than they already are. Ive just been with a group of Burmese business people. We were talking about the opportunities across infrastructure, healthcare and many other sectors, and it is clear that there is just a world of opportunity here which matches really well with British expertise.

It just seems to me that theres an enormous amount of commonality between what the Burmese are looking for and what the British are doing, so the opportunities are fantastic.

Where are people investing now and where should they be investing?

Kind of everywhere. That sounds like a flippant answer, but actually its a serious one. Even if you just take infrastructure, the opportunities are there in road, in rail, in airports. It really is across the board.





How would you describe British companies attitudes toward Myanmar?

I think it is a very exciting opportunity but theres a history and people need to understand that its different. And thats really what the job of UK Trade and Investment is to do.

How do you pitch businesses on coming to Myanmar?

For me, theres something about being in at the beginning. Like in a lot of Asian cultures, if youre there at the start, if youre willing to be a partner when the risk might seem higher or when youre the ground-breaker, then that actually gathers a huge amount of respect from your Asian partner.

So now is absolutely the right time to come to Burma, because to be here will generate relationships that will last forever and be extremely well respected. I think thats quite an easy sell, actually.

What are the main concerns that companies have?

Access to financing. Clearly the banking system needs to be developed here, and corporate governance. But the indications are that the system is moving in the right direction. Its early days. And actually, I think thats something where the British government can help as well ... I think we can work as partners.

Are Myanmar partners able to meet international standards?

This is why the development of corporate governance is so important. I think what British companies are going to be looking for are things like an independent board and properly published, audited and laid accounts, and I think there is evidence that Myanmar companies are starting to do that. There are companies here doing that.

I dont want to say Rome wasnt built in a day, but I cant think of another phrase [laughs]. We have to move in that direction and the more the community sees that [firms with good governance] are the companies where the joint-ventures take place and the investment is realised, then the more it will promote good governance, because good governance will be seen to make good business sense.

How do opportunities in Myanmar compare regionally?

Thats such a tricky question. Myanmar is so brilliantly placed between China and India that actually if companies are looking for a broad ASEAN spread, then I think Myanmar has to be one of a number of countries that they would consider.

What does UKTI do to help Myanmar companies head to the UK?

Thats absolutely the flip side of our job. The first bit is exporting from the UK here to Burma and the other bit is inward investment from Burma to the UK.

We have effectively a pitch-book of opportunities and were able to give Burmese companies help, whether they are companies looking to invest in assets of their own or [make] capital investments.

How many Myanmar companies have invested in the UK?

[Lisa Weedon, former UKTI Yangon director:] None yet. There are exports of Burmese goods to the UK, most of which are minerals, wood  finished teak products  and food: beans, pulses and prawns ... those kinds of products. In terms of actual Burmese investment in the UK, were not there yet, but hopefully we will be there in the coming years.

How are sanctions still affecting the market? Are British companies concerned?

[Ms Raines:] There are some ... I think the risk particularly around the corporate governance piece is very important for people. So that whole thing around due diligence ... I think is very important.

[Ms Weedon:] Sanctions remain an issue for UK companies, particularly those multi-nationals which have strong US interests or US clients or customers, because they are essentially subject to the same sanctions as US companies.

As you know ... there are companies here doing business. So these are not insurmountable challenges. There are partners you can work with here and there are ways you can do business here. It requires a greater level of due diligence, undoubtedly. Companies are very aware of that.

What will UK trade and investment look like in Myanmar over the next five years?

[Ms Raines:] For us, for me as the CEO of the overall organisation, Burma is one of the markets around the world that Im considering to be one of our future great potential markets.

We want to be looking now at what we can do to really grow our presence over the next three to five years. We see it as very much a potential market for British business. Youve only got to look at the growth thats been forecast by the IMF in Burma: 8.6 percent, fastest-growing country in the world if that turns out to be right. Why would you not want to trade with that nation?
Yangon's zoning plan will finally go from draft to law this year, YCDC officials said earlier this week.





The city plan was first drawn up in 2013 by a working committee with recommendations from urban planners and representatives from YCDC, the Ministry of Construction, Yangon Heritage Trust, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

An urban planner involved in the process said last year the goal was to legislate the proper use of urban land and limit high-rises.

The plan has remained in draft form since, however, with the former Yangon government busy with other priorities, according to U Toe Aung, deputy director of YCDCs Department of City Planning and Land Administration.

Officials say the plan is almost ready to become law.

The draft has already been drawn up for the main 18 townships in Yangon, and well add the townships we left out, he said. Then we will submit it to the Yangon Region government and parliament.

Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein will form a committee to discuss and approve the draft. The plan is expected to become law within the year, according to U Than Htay, head of YCDCs building engineering department.

If the zoning plan could be firmed into law, it would improve the building-permit process in Yangon, he added.





Yangon lacks rules to balance the citys colonial buildings with modern high-rises, according to U Than Htay.

The zoning plan will fix that.

Requests to build eight-storey buildings are judged using YCDCs by-laws, examined by the building engineering department, and advanced to the YCDC committee level for approval.

Requests to build high-rises are examined by the High-Rise Inspection Committee (HIC), then confirmed by the YCDC committee.

U Than Htay said Yangons building standards were deteriorating, and must be controlled with a new, strong law like the zoning plan.

The plan is very necessary for Yangon, he said. Its difficult to decide on permits. The zoning plan has already fixed that and will arrange what kind of buildings should be in what zone.
The Ministry of Construction is negotiating with state and region governments to set new housing policies aimed at helping working-class people and squatters.





The discussions are aimed at developing affordable housing for working-class people and temporary shelters for squatters, U Min Htain, director general of the ministrys Department of Urban and Housing Development (DUHD), told The Myanmar Times on May 9.

The minister for construction has requested temporary shelters be built for squatters, he said. Building rental housing depends on approval from the Union government and getting funds.

The number of informal tenants in Yangon has surged from an estimated 65,000 at the end of 2013, and could be as high as 2 million  although no official survey has been made. Yangon needs as many as 100,000 new apartments a year to keep up with the inflow of new residents, and Mandalay also struggles to provide housing.

As activity on previous idle industrial zones ramps up the government has bulldozed shanty towns and moved squatters out of those areas. Forced evictions in Yangon and Mandalay earlier this year led to the creation of a new breed of roadside squatters, according to the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission.

The Ministry of Constructions plan for temporary shelters is still in the early stages. The ministry has requested that 200 square feet shelters be built, but the land on which to build them has not been selected, U Min Htain said.

The high number of squatters in Myanmars large cities like Yangon and Mandalay have caused logistical difficulties with providing temporary housing, and there are difficulties in determining who is actually a squatter and who may be trying to take advantage of the new housing policies, U Min Htain added





In a meeting held at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry office on April 25, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said that squatters will be settled at locations convenient for them near industrial areas, but that the regional governments and departments will have to verify they are genuine squatters.

Supplying low-cost housing units is also a priority for the government. New Construction Minister U Win Khaing said the ministry will begin a pilot project in Nay Pyi Taw to supply apartments priced at under K10 million, which will be scaled up if successful.

Yangon Region government called a closed tender in April 2015 to build affordable housing on a plot at the corner of Mya Nandar and Shwe Li roads in Dagon Seikkan township. Three developers will build 15,000 low-cost units on the government-owned site.

U Yu Khine, director of the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development in Yangon Region government, said that some 2000 apartments in low-cost housing projects in Shwe Pyi Thar will also be sold, but it is too early to say how they will be sold or the specific price because the region government has not decided.

The former government set a target of building 1 million residential units between 2011 and 2031, in 81 towns and cities across the country.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Dogs lie panting in the shade outside Pop Soul beauty salon in Bahan township. Trishaw drivers snooze in their sidecarts. Even in the late afternoon, the Yangon heat saps energy of man and beast alike.





But then Ma Htet arrives, flouncing into the salon with an entourage of assistants carrying make-up and accessories. Fresh off a contracted gig, the make-up artist and Facebook celebrity appears unperturbed by the brutal hot season. She doesnt have much time, she says, checking her watch before sitting down and crossing one never-ending leg over the other.

One thing is immediately clear  this is a woman with transformative power.

This is also a woman transformed, one of Myanmars few transgender icons. Looking at her flawlessly painted fingernails, one would never guess that Ma Htet was born Ko Okkar Htet.

I wanted to be a girl when I was just a young teenager, the 34-year-old says. But because of my family, especially my mom, I pretended to be a boy.

Fresh off a complete sex change operation in Bangkok last month, Ma Htet now presents as an attractive Myanmar woman. Long jet black hair cascades to her shoulders, and synthetic curves attest to an earlier breast implant procedure. She has also undergone vocal cord surgery to deepen her register and a rhinoplasty, her initial operation in 2010.

For the first time in her life she feels like her exterior matches her interior. Ma Htet said that, growing up, she used to wear mens clothing and act like the other boys at school. Along with most Myanmar Buddhists, her parents believed life as a man was of a higher order, more noble and pure. She tried to make them happy, but always felt locked in an identity she never wanted.

She chose to become a hairstylist in order to live more openly, believing that the industry was more forgiving to people like her.





"Most people think a man is gay if he chooses hairstyling, make-up artistry or fashion design as a career, she said. So it allowed me to stop worrying about hiding my true self. Most people understood."

As her career took off and she began to bring in higher commissions for weddings and fashion shows, she started to consider revealing her true self in a more complete way. At age 29  when still presenting as a man  she underwent the rhinoplasty in Thailand. Two years later, in 2012, she began presenting as a woman and went back to get breast implants.

"I didnt do all of this for fame, Ma Htet says. Some people have criticised me but I dont care. I did this with my own income, as I wanted. I dont have time to moan about discrimination  they did what they wanted and I did what I wanted."

Legally, Myanmar citizens are not allowed to change their gender, one reason why all of Ma Htets surgeries were performed in Thailand. Persecution of the LGBT community is well-documented, often under section 377 of the penal code that criminalises unnatural sex. But she said she has never felt threatened or in danger because of her operation. Discrimination exists, but in her case it has taken a modern form: less police brutality, more incendiary social media criticism.

With criticism, however, has also come wide-reaching fame and status. Her Facebook page  Ma Htet Pop Soul  has a following of nearly 450,000 accounts, and high-powered stars such as Ms Myanmar Khin Wint War and actor/model Aung Ye Lin have sought her services. Fashion designer YStone says shes one of the best make-up artist in the business, and shes even done some of her own modelling, as well as taken interviews with local media.

Ma Htet thinks she is one of only three women in Myanmar who have undergone a total sex change operation, which she said cost her US$10,000 in Bangkok. But several she-males number among her assistants, dressing as she dresses and studying make-up artistry under her guidance.

In the large mirror behind her, one assistant checks her hair and flashes a fierce, sexy, pouty face before flouncing out the door in a flattering imitation of Ma Htets entrance half-an-hour earlier. Her influence is huge.

Some other gay men and she-males want to do as I have done, she says. But many cant afford the surgeries. Others are scared of the pain  Ive spent so much money and time and suffering.

Suffering both physical and emotional: Her sex change operation, now more than a month ago, continues to make sitting down uncomfortable, and she said the breast implants hurt for eight months.

The surgeries also fractured her already tenuous family relationships. Getting silicone breasts, against your parents wishes, is not exactly model son behaviour in still-conservative Myanmar. But as she has completed the transformation, she said her family has come around; the sex change operation was the first surgery shes had with her parents blessing.

Things seem to have come full circle now, as they are encouraging her to consider posterior implants to accentuate her waist. This time, shes the one saying no.

I feel like this [surgery] is my last, she said. I feel like my mission is over.
Mountaineer Joe Simpson, of Touching the Void fame, followed his soldier fathers World War II footsteps. His mission  to understand a man who, like many of his peers, rarely expressed his feelings





When you are about to lose a parent, says Joe Simpson, people tell you to take the opportunity to discuss things because you will never get the chance again. My eldest brother told me to do that. I never did. And thats what I regret.

One of Britains best-known explorers, Joe recently spent five weeks filming in remote parts of Myanmar following the footsteps of his late father, who served there during World War II.

Joes journey threw up powerful questions that he continues to wrestle with, as do many people. Such as: Why dont fathers and sons talk to each other more? And: Which of us, really, has the slightest idea what our parents have lived through  and why dont we try to find out before its too late?

Joe was born in Malaya, the fifth child of Lieutenant-Colonel Ian Simpson (Da) and his wife Geraldine (Ma). Joe knew that his father was in the Gurkhas, but that was about it until 1978, when Joe was 18 and the Imperial War Museum asked veterans to provide materials for its collection. It turned out that he was a Chindit  forerunners of the SAS. He had landed at night behind Japanese lines in the Burmese jungle and fought the Japanese. I was fascinated.

There were 1350 men in his fathers regiment, the Prince of Wales 4th Gurkha Rifles. After four months in the jungle, only 25 men and eight officers emerged capable of fighting. I heard that his commanding officer was killed in an attack  mortally wounded and then decapitated. I remember, as an 18-year-old, being pretty alarmed by that.

Ian didnt share much more but it turned out that he had kept a diary, written in secret, against army regulations. I remember thinking, theres a map, and diary  you could follow in his footsteps 





The situation in Burma in the late 1970s made any such trip impossible, but that has changed. Late last year, Joe went there with the jungle explorer Ed Stafford. They took with them Ians diary and map. I was probably walking the same tracks Da had walked down.

Being there significantly changed Joes understanding of what his fathers force went through. I always thought the scary thing would be worrying about being found and fighting your way out. But they depended on supply drops, sometimes having to eat roots. And the heat was unbelievable. No matter how much we drank at the end of the day, our piss was still brown. Sorry to be crude, but thats an indicator of dehydration  as a climber, I know how significant that is.

And there was serious disease. If you were wounded, or if you got sick, and they couldnt cut an airstrip in the jungle, which they often couldnt, you would die.

On many occasions, soldiers were left behind with a pistol and some rations. There were many occasions where their own medics shot them because they couldnt be moved and they didnt want to leave them to the Japanese. And Da did this.

Its striking that Joe is so gripped by soldiers being left for dead because perhaps the most famous thing about Joe Simpson is that he was once left for dead himself.

In 1985, he was caught in a storm, high on a mountain in the Andes. He broke his right leg, and his friend and climbing partner, Simon, lowered him and had to cut the rope he was hanging from. Joe fell into a crevasse. Simon gave up hope of finding him. For three-and-a-half days Joe crawled back to camp, close to death. The story of that disastrous expedition was later told in his book Touching the Void, subsequently turned into a film.

It was only when I got back to England that the psychological trauma hit me. One night, I mustve been screaming because I woke up and found my father with me. He touched me on the shoulder and said, Its all right, Ive seen this. He was very understanding. Hed obviously seen it in the past. He understood what was going on. It was perhaps what we call post-traumatic stress. He said, Dont worry about it. And that was it. But I felt embarrassed. I made damned sure it would never happen in front of my father again.

Looking back, Joe says this attitude seems a bit ridiculous, but that was how he felt. I was brought up in a particular way  boys dont cry. He is most impressed by the evidence that his father could empathise. It wasnt something Id seen before, he says. I never saw it again, either.

Sometimes Joe feels jealous of the relationship his friends have with their fathers. Theres a sort of friendship and communication that just didnt exist with us.

Ians own father was a soldier before him  a working-class boy who joined up underage in World War I, lived in India, then joined the Somali Camel Corps in World War II. Joes mother, Geraldine, the daughter of a doctor, came from Ireland. When Joe was a child, the family rarely settled for more than a couple of years  moving between Malaya, Gibraltar, Northern Ireland and Germany. At eight years old, like his brothers and sisters before him, Joe was sent to boarding school in England.

It pretty well bankrupted our parents, but it was to give us a continuity of education. My mum agreed to us going but I remember her telling me it tore her heart out. And I dont think you should be separated from your family at that age. Back then, you went away and didnt see your parents for a long time. Just letters every now and then. After my mother died, we found all these letters from all of us. She kept them all, for some peculiar reason. There were letters from me, aged eight or nine. I read them and burst into tears. What was very apparent was that this was an appallingly homesick, lonely child. But Da was sent to boarding school from India, when he was seven. So I never thought I could complain.

On balance, he believes that the separation he experienced can also be helpful. It makes you more independent, which has advantages. But in relationships it means you are less open because you are used to being rejected.

Ian Simpson died in 2010. I felt more alone in the world, Joe says. I had all that time when he was ill, towards the end, when I could have sat down with his diary and said, Explain this, what happened here, what happened there? I cant believe I didnt.

To be fair, the reticence went both ways. Today, Joe has written eight books. Before Ian died, he gave him one of those books for Christmas and a bottle of whisky.

I went into the kitchen and was talking to my sister, Sarah. I popped my head round the door and he was reading it. So I went back and said to Sarah, Da is reading my book! She said, Oh, hes read them all, he thinks theyre great. He never said a word! If you had a son who had written a book, you would probably say you were proud of him. If hed written an award-winning book that beat Stephen Hawking into second place [for the 1989 NCR Non-Fiction Award] and was made into a film, youd think he might have mentioned it. But no.

He didnt give much away. It sounds like Im criticising him, but thats how he was. A good soldier. A good man. A good father. Were just one of those bloody families who dont talk.

Joe married two years ago. He and Corrinne live in Sheffield and have a place in Ireland too. He has no wish to be a father. Never had children, never wanted them. Cant stand the buggers, he jokes.

As a young man, he thought about a military career in order to get a bursary into university. His father called him a blithering idiot.

He said, I havent brought you up to be an independent individual only for the army to tell you what to do. I dont think he would have chosen to be a soldier. He was training to be a dentist when the war broke out. He stayed on only because when they got de-mobbed there were a lot of soldiers looking for jobs and he didnt have any particular qualifications, so the army became his career. He gave us every opportunity. Ma and Da couldnt afford a house because they were paying school fees. Everything I achieved in my life was down to them.

In Myanmar, when Joe arrived at Yangon after weeks in the jungle, he found the Prince of Wales 4th Gurkha Rifles at the cemetery. The names of the men were in my fathers diary. Now it hit home. My father probably helped to bury these men. He probably watched them die. It felt as if something that had only been a story was suddenly true, suddenly real. And I really did appreciate Da. I was always immensely proud of him. I just found it difficult to tell him  and I never did.

I wish wed been closer. I wish we could have talked. I wish I had shared things I did in my life with him. I wish I could show him the photographs, and tell him where wed got lost  and he would call me a blithering idiot. But its not going to happen. Its like Ive said goodbye and what I really wanted to do was say hello.

 The Guardian
Fifty years of military rule left Myanmar riddled with problems, including electricity shortages, a thriving trade in illegal teak, a completely broken education system, notorious crime and drug cases that have never been satisfactorily solved, and a host of other ills.





With a new government taking power earlier this year, everyone hopes the country is on the verge of taking a turn for the better.

Such optimism also extends to the arts. At a speech at last months Myanmar Academy Awards ceremony, Myanmar Motion Picture Association chair Lu Min said he could change everything in the local film industry within three months  including stamping out the problem of pirated DVDs  if only he had the support of the new government.

But some local documentary filmmakers beg to differ with that rosy assessment, comparing the domestic film industry to a frog hiding under a big flat stone, not knowing or caring about anything but eating and sleeping. Some blame this lethargy on unsophisticated audience expectations, or on poor technology, or on lack of support from the government.

They say local directors, especially those who focus on fictional dramas, neglect developments in other countries and keep creating the same movies over and over again. Theres a long way to go before Myanmar produces its own James Bond-quality action movie, complete with good actors and competent filmmaking techniques.

I want support from the government, as we all do, said 30-year-old documentary filmmaker Ko Soe Moe Aung. But we cant blame every problem on the government. The government is not god. We have to try to make progress ourselves, step by step.

In recent years a number of Myanmar documentaries have been well-received on the international film festival circuit, but have failed to gain popularity at home. Meanwhile, the countrys low-quality dramatic movies enjoy wide audiences around the country but are virtually ignored overseas.





Documentary films are nothing new in Myanmar. The first, made in the 1920s by U Ohn Maung, captured the funeral of politician U Tun Shein.

Starting in the 1930s, A1 Film and British Burma Film Production made not only fiction films but also documentary films. AV Media was established by U Win Tin Win in 1989 and started producing VHS tapes, but the industry went silent in 2000 when AV ceased production of documentary films.

The revival began in 2003 when international filmmakers began holding workshops in Yangon in cooperation with local writers, artists and directors.

But the real boost came with the release in 2010 of the Cyclone Nargis documentary When Time Stopped Breathing. The 90-minute feature, directed by The Maw Naing and Pe Maung Same, won awards at several international film festivals and caught the attention of young directors in Myanmar.

This was the time when young people especially started to get interested in making documentary films and short films, said 32-year-old filmmaker Ko Thaikdi.

The growth of documentary sector has been led by young directors, partly because established filmmakers dont see them as economically viable.

Making these films independently allows us to reveal the reality and truth of our society, Ko Thaikdi said. It is a mirror that shows the current situation in the human world. I am sure that documentary and short films can point out the needs of our country and what needs to be reformed.

We dont like the mainstream film situation. We dont see anything special coming from Myanmar commercial films these days, Ko Soe Moe Aung said.

Also, if you want to shoot fiction or a drama, you need a distributor or producer. Some young directors cant afford it. Also, we think its not good to shoot fiction or dramas as your first film if you dont have sufficient life experience first.

He said filmmakers should learn the basics by making short films or documentaries before tackling feature-length dramas.

Most local filmmakers skip the fundamentals and go straight to feature-length drama. Thats why they are not high-standard. Here they come again with another love story or comedy. Its the same thing over and over again. I dont want to be like that because such films are not suitable to be shown abroad.

A documentary category has been included in the Oscars since the 1940s, but no such recognition exists from the MMPA, despite the fact that Myanmar documentaries are of higher quality than local dramas and are finding success overseas.

Its too soon and impossible for us to give awards to documentary films like in the other countries, said documentary director Ko Myo Min Khin, 32, who is also an organiser of the Wathann Film Festival held annually in Yangon. We dont even have a cinema where we can show our documentaries.

To be eligible for a Myanmar Academy Award, films must first be shown in cinemas in Myanmar. Movies released directly to DVD or shown only at festivals are not considered.

Our films should be shown in cinemas to get more interest from the audiences, said independent film director Ma Thu Thu Shein, 32.

I dont want an Academy Award, but I do want recognition from the audience that we are filmmakers too. We are not an industry that produces products. We create the art, culture and history of our society.

The Wathann Film Festival was held for the first time in September 2011, organised by a group of local independent filmmakers with the aim of encouraging more directors, creating independent cinema and providing space for screening documentaries and short films. But those films still havent been shown in local cinemas alongside commercial films.

Ko Thaikdi suggested that the new government should create a film department under the Ministry of Culture rather than keeping it under the Ministry of Information, and should also take steps toward starting cultural exchanges with other countries, forming a film institute and producing a film law.

Some of us went to Poland, where we had the chance to learn about their film institute and film laws, he said.

He added that the law in Poland stipulates that cinema owners, film producers and distributors pay a 1.5 percent government tax, which is used to support projects by young, talented filmmakers.

If our film industry wants to improve, we need to join hands and stop being selfish, Ko Soe Moe Aung said. And if we can reach an international audience and make money with our films, we can help reduce our countrys dependence on natural gas, oil, jade and even teak.
Forget the TV remote: Studies show men are now hogging the tablets too. A new initiative seeks to get young women enthusiastic about technology and the role it can play in their everyday lives.





It wasnt too long ago that the majority of village libraries in Myanmar were poorly serviced, lacking furniture, electricity and the latest books, let alone computers.

This began changing last year when Beyond Access Myanmar started a project to equip 90 community libraries throughout the country with tablet computers, providing access to the internet and giving library visitors exposure to the latest news, job search websites and other useful resources.

Follow-up surveys conducted by staff at these libraries have revealed that the tablets are being used roughly twice as often by men as by women.

In response to this disparity, Beyond Access Myanmar is launching a program called Tech Age Girls Myanmar with the aim of giving young women the opportunity to learn IT skills and hone their leadership qualities.

In Myanmar, only 35 percent of library visitors are girls and women, said U Thant Thaw Kaung, founder of the Myanmar Book Aid and Preservation Foundation (MBAPF), which is also involved with the Tech Age Girls program.

Daw Ah Win, the foundations project manager, said that girls living in Yangons Dagon and South Okkalapa townships dont even know about desktop and laptop computers, let alone girls living in rural villages.

They pay K5000 to get access to Facebook at mobile phone shops and know how to use Facebook with their smartphones, but they dont know how to use other useful applications like Gmail and Google for general knowledge, or how these applications can help their studies, she said.





Daw Ah Win added that when she visited the town of Maubin in Ayeyarwady Region to learn how much young women there knew about IT, many of them did not even know how to define the word technology.

Beyond Access Myanmar is launching the Tech Age Girls program in partnership with the MBAPF, US-based nonprofit organisation IREX, Ooredoo and the Ministry of Information.

About 100 girls aged 16 to 20  from 20 active libraries in five regions  have been selected to participate in a year-long program, which starts on May 16.

In preparation, one librarian from each of the 20 participating libraries was brought to Yangon for a one-week training session in digital literacy, leadership and other skills. They will return to their own regions and teach these skills to the five girls selected from each library.

During the one-year program, the selected girls will complete courses in graphic design, text and video editing, and social media tools. In the final step of the program, one outstanding student from each of the libraries will be selected for additional training.

While this program is just getting under way, librarian Ma Poe Ei Zar from the Maubin Community Development Center  a computer learning centre attached to the community library  has been visiting nearby villages once a week, bringing along two computer tablets in an effort to expose village girls to technology.

There are 88 villages in Maubin township, about one-third of which have their own libraries. But only a handful are active.

The girls are not totally interested in technology. They think it has nothing to do with them, Ma Poe Ei Zar said. I insist that there are helpful applications that affect their daily lives, such as weather forecasts. But they are still reluctant to learn.

Some girls from villages near Maubin town have smartphones and they have Facebook and Viber applications. They think those are the only apps that can be used with smartphones. I explain them that they can use other educational apps with smartphones, she said.

Surveys conducted by Beyond Access Myanmar have revealed instances where access to apps other than Facebook has helped improve lives.

When floods struck Myanmar last August, one librarian packed her computer tablet and cycled to a relief camp in Taikkyi township in Yangon Region. Once there, she was able to use the Myanmar-language May May maternal and child health app to help a pregnant women prepare for delivery and connect with a nearby clinic.

In another instance, 10 unemployed young women used internet-connected tablet computers at U Wisara Community Library in Sagaing to find jobs at local hotels and small businesses.

U Thant Thaw Kaung said that students who complete the Tech Age Girls program will have opportunities to work as an intern at local NGOs and work in their villages to develop their own community and to improve technology literacy.
I must have been in the wrong place. The brown, non-descript interior and faux-velvet conference chairs didnt look like they belonged to the best restaurant in Yangon  which is how John Dees steak joint had been described in a mysterious message passed to me by a fellow gastronaut.





I fumble in my pocket for the crumpled note. Its gone.

Glancing around me, I realise something is up. Im no business mastermind, but if I were going to open the best restaurant in Yangon, it wouldnt be in the vacant, charmless lobby of the Golden Butterfly Hotel. I look around for clues. Theres no sign above the door and, save for a few lugs in the corner, no one around.

There was more to this caper than Id bargained for.

As I slide sideways into one of the empty tables, I feel a sudden blow to the chest. Some dame is thrusting a menu at me, and I spot the words John Dees Steaks House scrawled across the top of the page. The pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.

Scanning the menu, I notice that burgers start from only K3500, and a half rack of ribs with sides is only K8500. It didnt add up. Id recently paid a visit to Big Tony  Tony Roma that is  and that clip joint was charging double at best.

Something hinky was going on.

I order the Butterfly Burger (K3500)  a quarter-pounder with cheese, bacon and fried mushrooms. It looked great in the picture, but Id been fooled by that bunco before. No one plays me for a sucker and gets away with it. Just to be on the safe side, I order a full rack of ribs (K13,500) and a side salad with blue cheese dressing (K2000).





Ten minutes crawled by like a sick cockroach. I was hungry. Real hungry. So hungry I could taste it.

The broad brings over my food and I eye the plates suspiciously. Just as I thought  this butterfly was nothing like its mug shot. Its bigger and juicier, with more mushrooms. And Im no palooka, but I know you dont find onion rings like this anywhere in this greasy city. Big Dee was no chiseller, that was for sure.

I scribbled a few notes in my notebook. I was going to crack this case wide open. I could see the headline in The Myanmar Times now: Yangons best burger case solved.

Id give you the lay on the ribs, but Big Tony wouldnt like that. Lets just say that when Yangon find outs what those other flim-flammers are up to, John Dee is going to find himself frying up a few more of his Australian steaks.

John Dees Steak House

Golden Butterfly Hotel

12 Ko Min Ko Chin Road, Bahan township, Yangon

Restaurant Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Food: 10

Drink: n/a

Service: 6

Value: 10

X-factor: 8
Oman may be the anti-Dubai. Although the Persian Gulf country is found just south of the famed emirate, it boasts no glittering skyscrapers. Instead, low whitewashed buildings skirt the coast of the capital, Muscat, its sole tall edifices the colourful minarets of mosques. Five times a day, a person  rather than a recording, as is common in other Gulf cities  recites the call to prayer from each.





The aesthetic is no accident. When Omans ruler, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, overthrew his father in 1970, he inherited a country with 6 miles (10 kilometres) of paved road, three schools and one hospital. Qaboos father, Sultan Said bin Taimur, had been so suspicious of the outside world, particularly the West, that he banned things such as radios and sunglasses. Qaboos set about developing Oman using its moderate oil wealth, but he pledged to keep its traditions and culture intact.

Almost 50 years later, Omans infrastructure is first-rate, with approximately 18,000 miles of paved road, more than 1500 schools and about 250 hospitals and medical centres serving its population of more than 4 million. Yet Qabooss cultural vision was evident as soon as I arrived at Muscats airport in late February. Omani men strolled by in national dress, a crisp long robe called a dishdasha, and the sweet, spicy scent of frankincense  long an Omani commodity  soaked the air.

Fellow tourists, while in evidence, didnt seem to come in hordes as in neighbouring Gulf cities, although the time of year I was there is peak for visitors. With temperatures in the 70s and 80s Fahrenheit during the day and cooler at night, its dream weather. In my light long-sleeved shirts and pants, with the aim of dressing respectfully in a Muslim-majority country, I felt comfortable and at ease.

{modal url=http://www.mmtimes.com//files/images/mte/2016/di288/oman-2-large.jpg} {/modal}

While Omans tourist sector is, like the rest of the country, well developed, it takes a bit of effort to see some of the truly stunning sites. My two-week trip in the north and east of the sultanate included some of these out-of-the-way places. And while I kind of cheated  I travelled with a guided tour  its possible to rent a car and do it on your own.

After spending a few days in the capital getting acclimated and exploring Old Muscat, the main souk and the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, I flew to the first of these remote locations: the Musandam Peninsula. You have to look closely at a map to understand how this part of Oman is separate from the rest of the country. Positioned north of the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah, the enclave protrudes into the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about 30 percent of the worlds oil travels daily.

In the regional capital of Khasab (population 18,000), toothbrush in hand, I boarded a dhow, or traditional Omani boat, with 10 other tourists for an overnight sail. Dhows, made of wood, were originally lashed together using coconut rope rather than nails. Today, they are still used for trade, as well as to ferry tourists such as me around the stark and beautiful khors  or fjords  of the peninsula. Tiny villages hug the tan, rocky shores, layer upon layer of sediment rising up behind them  a beginning geology students dream. Dolphin sightings are common, their fins a shiny streak, as are Iranian speedboats carrying smuggled goods, such as Marlboro cigarettes, to the Islamic republics shores only about 50 miles across the strait.





After a leisurely float among the khors and a swim in the chilly waters off the dhow, the captain anchored for the night in a small cove. A tiny boat arrived with dinner: lightly spiced chicken, rice, lentils and other dishes emblematic of Omani cuisine, which embodies the cultures seafaring and imperial past with its mix of Indian, Persian and African fare and spices.

That night the wind picked up, rattling the vessels fabric roof, and I tossed for a good hour in my sleeping bag before slumber took over. But by morning, all was calm, and the boat made its return to Khasab. My next stop, via a flight back to Muscat and a southerly drive into the interior, was the desert.

The Wahiba Sands, named for one of the Bedouin tribes that inhabit them  the Bani Wahiba  consists of almost 5000 square miles of rippling orangey desert in eastern Oman. At the edge of the great expanse, my guide let out some air in the tires of our 4WD so the vehicle wouldnt get stuck on the way to our overnight locale, a bit cheesily named the Safari Desert Camp. As he worked over the tyres, I took my first steps in the sand. The only sound was the wind constantly brushing over the dunes and making narrow rivulets of sand on the flatter terrain.

After about an hours roller-coaster-like drive past occasional forlorn outposts housing camels, I arrived at the decidedly un-cheesy camp. Small huts made with long, narrow sticks were scattered about a plateau, the interiors outfitted with vibrant red Bedouin textiles and attached open-air bathrooms. Groups of elderly Omani men sat together in the reception area. My visit happened to coincide with the camp hosting them as part of a local nonprofit organisations mission to ensure that Omans elderly are provided services and companionship. After a buffet dinner in the dining hall, local musicians sang and played the oud and drums for the greying crowd.

Early the next morning, I joined a group on the camps outskirts for a camel ride. I had heard that camels are ill-tempered, and the fact that many of them sported crocheted muzzles around their mouths  ostensibly to keep them from spitting on us  seemed to confirm this rumour. Yet the camel right behind mine seemed friendly enough, stretching its neck and batting its long eyelashes at me as I stroked its head and cooed. And one camel left behind  the would-be rider who had reserved her was a no-show  followed us forlornly a quarter-mile back when it realised its fellow camels were leaving.

My sense of camel humanity affirmed, I enjoyed the fiery sun beating down on my head as our caravan made its way farther into the desert, the vista one of the most incredible Ive ever seen, with endless undulating dunes and camels not designated for tourist rides ambling in the distance.

My last stop was in the mountains of Jebel Akhdar, about a three-hour drive west from the desert and near the historic city of Nizwa. Jebel Akhdar is made up of the central section of the al-Hajar Mountains, which sweep the country from the Musandam Peninsula south through Muscat and end near the seaside town of Sur.

Wikipedia calls Jebel Akhdar Omans wildest terrain, and the term struck me as appropriate. On a steep, curvy drive up to the Saiq Plateau, situated at 6500 feet (1970 metres) among rugged peaks, the rain commenced, its brownish waterfalls plummeting down the sides of the crags. In some places, the water created large pools that our vehicle had to traverse. Such rains can prove dangerous in Oman, as floodwaters quickly fill wadis (dry riverbeds), sometimes surprising hikers and campers. Many have drowned this way, as well as by trying to cross torrential wadis in cars.

Safely delivered to the plateau and in better weather the next day, I hiked through the nearby villages of al-Aqr, al-Ayn and al-Sharayjah. Areas of terrace farming were carved into the rocky summits and dotted with tiny mosques and crumbly stone and concrete houses.

While following my guide and fellow hikers, I had to walk on aflaj, Omani irrigation systems in which water runs through channels dug into the earth; the channels I saw in Oman were constructed of concrete. Some of the aflaj on the hike seemed to be almost carved into the side of a mountain, with the view from my narrow walkway a sheer drop to the left or right. I swallowed my fear of heights and tried to laugh when the guy behind me advised that I fall toward the mountain if I lost my balance. Itll hurt less that way, he joked. Despite some sweaty palms, the experience was well worth it.

 The Washington Post

IF YOU GO

Where to stay

Atana Khasab Hotel

Khasab Coastal Rd., Khasab

011-968-26-730-777

atanahotels.com

Perched on a rocky cliff overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. Each room has a private balcony. Rooms from US$175.

Safari Desert Camp

Wahiba Sands

011-968-92-000-592

safaridesert.com

Huts and tents on a desert plateau. Buffet dinner and breakfast included, transport and camel rides extra. Tents from $130.

Sahab Hotel

Saiq Plateau, Jebel Akhdar

011-968-25-429-288

sahab-hotel.com

Soak in an infinity pool and hot tub at 6500 feet amid marine fossils dating to 270 million years ago. Studios from $161.

What to do

Dolphin Khasab Tours

011-968-99-566-672

dolphinkhasabtours.com

Full or half-day dhow cruises of the fjords of the Musandam Peninsula. Overnight trips may be available upon request. $54 per adult for a full day, $41 for a half-day.

Information: omantourism.gov.om
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has welcomed close cooperation with the United Nations and other international agencies in Myanmar, while cautioning that the crisis in Rakhine State should be kept in perspective even if it does receive the most media attention.





Participants at the meeting with about 20 UN agencies, including the World Bank and the Asia Development Bank, said they were pleasantly surprised at the warm reception they were given on May 11 by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is well known for being critical of international agencies in the past.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in her capacity as foreign minister, spent most of the one-hour meeting listening to the views of the assembled agency heads. It was not a lecture, one participant said. We were expecting a list of dos and donts but there was hardly a single dont, he said.

However on the controversial topic of Rakhine State, where hundreds of thousands of mostly stateless Muslims are facing desperate living conditions and restrictions under enforced segregation from the Buddhist majority, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was said to have urged caution.

She was quoted as saying that despite the limitations of the 1982 Citizenship Law, it should still be possible to resolve the status of the stateless community under the different levels of citizenship available. Her position, and refusal to address the issue publicly, has her coming under criticism from the international community and her fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners.

However she also asked the assembled agencies to keep the issue in proportion, saying that Myanmar faced many difficulties and that Rakhine was not the biggest, one participant said.

Rakhine State, where militants among the Buddhist Arakan majority are also chafing against rule by Nay Pyi Taw, is among the most sensitive and complex issues inherited by the new government after decades of military misrule.





Deep-seated nationalist sentiments among the Bamar majority have been exploited by some militant Buddhist monks who do not trust the new government.

Government officials said privately they were dismayed by a New York Times editorial this week accusing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of taking a cowardly stance following reports that she had urged Scot Marciel, the new US ambassador to Myanmar, to refrain from issuing public statements using the term Rohingya, as many of the stateless Muslims in Rakhine identify themselves.

But in what appears to be a significant change in policy, international aid workers are encouraged that the new government appears to have renounced use of the term Bengali to describe the stateless Muslims, dropping a word that implies they are illegal immigrants rather than long-term residents.

Terminology distracts from the real issues, said one aid worker who asked not to be named. He said he hoped that moving on from a debate over terms would help the government tackle the real issues at stake for the worlds largest stateless community in terms of rights to healthcare, education and freedom of movement.

The foreign minister provided little clarity on such concrete issues, but her generally positive message was welcomed.

Few of the UN agencies at the meeting want to comment publically but Bui Thi Lan, Myanmar representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said the mood was positive and that she was looking forward to working with the new government in their endeavours to eradicate hunger and malnutrition, while improving rural livelihoods in Myanmar .

Daw Aung San Suu Kyis stress on cooperation rather than control is said to have contrasted with her approach recently towards international non-government organisations (INGOs). Aid workers in that sector said that in some meetings she had been more in lecturing mode and more direct in her requests.

One such request from her office, made during the transition period before the government took over on March 30, related to information on how to exercise more control and limitations over the media in their access to parliament, and over MPs contacts with the media, aid workers said.
Nearly 50 companies will suspend jade mining operations on May 15 because of ongoing fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army in Hpakant township. Excavators also said the difficulty of transportation during rainy season was a contributing factor in the temporary halt.





U Zaw Shan Lwan, vice chair of Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that most companies are based near Lone Khin village where fighting recently erupted. The prep work on Uru stream is also complicating operations.

Uru stream is being prepared for monsoon season, so it will be closed on May 15. The jade mining sites that have to cross the stream will have to suspend until the work is finished, he said, adding that other companies could choose to continue mining until rainy season starts next month.

But the recent skirmishes in Hpakant have made both companies and civilians fear for their safety. Eight bombing incidents were carried out on May 8 and 9, and were believed to be connected to the clashes.

We are not safe in the current situation after terrorists fired bombs from motorcycles, said the manager of one of the mining companies who asked that his name not be used.

A police outpost was also the site of a bombing in the past few days. After this, we decided to suspend our mining for now.

In a statement released on May 11, the Tatmadaw accused the KIA of orchestrating the bombings, and of using heavy artillery and hand grenades against army bases and police stations. Seven civilians were allegedly taken by the KIA from Nant Yar village, Hpakant. The Tatmadaw meanwhile said it had seized a KIA training school and five hideouts.

U Sann Aung, member of a conflict resolution team, said yesterday that brokering negotiations with both sides was not going well, and blamed the Tatmadaw for refusing to curb its offensive against the KIA.





I think the fighting will continue over the coming days because the Tatmadaw hasnt reduced its offensive against the KIA. I saw the Tatmadaws statement and we spoke with the KIA about the seven people arrested. They said it was related to drugs, he said.

In addition to being a jade-rich town that has become synonymous for funnelling vast profits into large companies and military conglomerates, Hkapant is also known as an epicentre of methamphetamine and heroin use.

Following the bombings, the state government deployed security troops to Hpakant.

Kachin State MP for the National League for Democracy U La Sai from Hpakant township said he has no plan to address the fighting in parliament.

I think it is happening because of a misunderstanding on both sides. I believe it will stop soon, he said.

According to official figures, 858 companies are mining 8025 plots across 22,558 acres in Hpakant township under official agreements with the government. Official export revenue from jade mining totals around US$1 billion, while watchdog groups have estimated the total proceeds for 2014 exceed $34 billion.
Improving the efficiency of the countrys dams and canals could more than double the supply of water to rice-growing areas and could boost rice exports, the deputy agriculture minister says. Speaking to reporters, U Tun Win described the focus of his departments efforts over the next 100 days.





The two-decades-long neglect of dams and canals had weakened the nations production, said the deputy minister. He said repair work would start with Thaphan Seik dam  one of the longest dams in Southeast Asia  in Sagaing Region.

During the next 100 days, we will deepen dams that have silted up and repair leaks in canals, he said, describing the task as immense because it covered the entire country. We will do everything we can with the budget we have, he said.

Thaphan Seik had been selected as the first as it delivered water to most areas in Sagaing, Myanmars second-biggest rice bowl.

We will deepen the dam so it can store more water and repair cracks in the canals. One canal can deliver water to 500,000 acres, but because of cracks that capacity has fallen to about 200,000 acres. Our repairs will enable the dam and the canals to greatly increase the volume of water supplied to farmlands, he said.

Many of the countrys 500 dams are not supplying sufficient water to farms and defective canals are losing water. The reduction of capacity in silted-up dams can led to flooding in the rainy season and premature drought in summer.

U Tun Win said the river water pumping plan developed by General Myint Aung in Ayeyarwady Region allowed the export of 1.5 million tonnes of rice after domestic consumption needs had been satisfied.

But the amount of rice exported rice last year was 1.8 million tonnes. Despite building and developing 500 dams over the past 24 years, we have increased our rice export volume by only 0.3 million tonnes. This is just not good enough. We have to get to work on those dams, he said.





Translation by Thiri Min Htun
El Nino is weakening, but it hasnt gone away, say weather experts. The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology announced on May 5 that though sea temperatures were falling, indicating a reduction in the strength of the weather phenomenon, its impact would continue to be felt through June.





One result was the current high temperatures, as well as rain and thundershowers in Upper Myanmar. The monsoon was due to arrive during the second week of May in southern Myanmar, said DMH director U Kyaw Lwin Oo.

The impact of El Nino is still apparent in abnormal weather conditions, though the intensity is declining. Upper Myanmar experienced thunderstorms, strong winds and hail in April, and Lower Myanmar faced hot and dry weather conditions, with no rainfall, he said.

Five people died and houses, schools, monasteries and pagodas were damaged by strong winds on April 29-30, said the Department of Relief and Resettlement. The DMH warned of similar conditions during May.

DMH deputy director U Kyaw Moe Oo predicted some relief from high temperatures as the monsoon arrived in Lower Myanmar,adding that the next weather phenomenon, starting in September, was La Nina.

La Nina is the opposite of El Nino and will bring cool and wet weather, he said on May 9, adding that the phenomenon would strengthen from 40-50 percent strength in September to 70pc by the end of the year.

The winter will be cooler than usual and October and November will be very rainy, he said.

According to DMH, temperatures in Dawei hit record at 39.5 Celsius on May 7, Phyu reached 42.3C and Nyaunglaybin 43C on May 8, the latest of a series of heat records set in April in 18 townships, including Namsan, Heho, Meiktila, Yamethin, Chauk, Taungdwingyi and Loikaw.





On May 10, the department warned of downpours from May 12 to May 16 in all regions due to the unstable atmosphere caused by the high temperature.

According to Department of Rural Development figures, 129 townships and 731 villages face water shortages due to the effect of El Nino. Mandalay, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions are suffering the most. We have distributed more than 5 million gallons of drinking water to villages and townships throughout the country, said U Kyaw Thu Aung, deputy director of the department, on May 10.

Nearly 150 villages in Mandalay Region, 117 villages in Bago Region and 58 villages in Ayeyarwady Region, and 52 villages in Rakhine State have experienced water shortages since March, said the department.
When the new government came to office promising a 100-day plan, public expectations were raised. Today, nearly half-way through those 100 days, the public may finally find out what some of the ministries are actually planning to do. Perhaps.





Yesterday the Ministry of Information  an institution held over from the previous military-backed government  announced that state media would release details of ministerial plans from today on a daily basis.

The government also said it would let people know the timing of various ministry disclosures through the Ministry of Informations Facebook account and a telephone hotline (1883).

After President U Htin Kyaw took office on March 30 the ministries enthusiastically embraced the 100-day initiative, but little information has emerged since then, leaving the plan concept more of a gimmick than a reality.

National League for Democracy senior official U Win Htein said the government had decided to move ahead as ministers had already submitted their priorities for the 100 days to State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

I think the ministries have identified the priorities that need to be tackled in the interests of the people. Also people should know about the government plan, U Win Htein said.

Confusion remains among the public, however, over the starting date for the 100-day plan. Yangon Regions police force announced this week that their 100-day plan crackdown on criminal gangs which has extended to illegal massage parlours and late-opening bars  had started on May 1.

In Nay Pyi Taw, U Myo Aung, chair of the municipal council, yesterday held a ceremony to inaugurate the capitals own 100-day plan which, like Yangon, focuses on security, rule of law and cutting crime rates.





U Myo Aung also took the opportunity to make a strong political statement, saying that it was time that the police force  currently under military control  should become more democratic, implying it should be under civilian rule.

What I want to say to the police force is that you need to bravely arrest and take action against bad people who committed offences while you need to protect honest and sincere people as your relatives, he said. So it is important that the police do not treat people as culprits. It is time for the Myanmar police force to quickly change in line with democratic ways while a democratic country is being established.

U Myo Aung said implementation of the capitals 100-day plan would be continuously assessed by committees comprising the police at township or district level as well as city elders, ward-level representatives, village youths, business people and the media.

Myanmar Police Brigadier General Win Tun said police were needed for security of the state and rule of law, and they had to build the trust of people and carry out their duties fairly.

Police also need to follow the law. Police have treated people badly, he said candidly. I respectfully admit that the image of police that people see is still bad, he added.

Translation by Thiri Min Htun
Opponents of the controversial Yangon Parkway Hospital scored a major victory yesterday as the lower house voted to cancel the project.





The US$70 million, 250-bed hospital was slated for development on a Ministry of Health-owned plot in downtown Yangon.

Health officials and campaigners critical of the project have argued that the 4.4-acre site just down the street from Yangon General Hospital could be put to better use for the public. The private hospital facility, they maintain, would be financially out of reach for most Yangon residents.

During yesterdays parliamentary debate, seven MPs discussed the long-term lease to Malaysian firm IHH Healthcare through a Singaporean subsidiary. The parliamentarians agreed with representative U San Shwe Win who had proposed cancelling the project. He said the hospital would bring no benefit to the people and the agreement has not been conducted transparently.

Health Minister Dr Myint Htwe also supported scrapping the hospital deal. Considering all sides, and based on my expertise, I would support cancelling the project, he said.

The minister added that the agreement was signed on January 9, and US$13,313 was transferred to KBZ bank for 75 percent of the sites total area. The property was leased at $4.5 per square metre. Another $2.58 million in rental money was transferred to the Department of Medical Cares bank account in Singapore.

IHH Healthcare broke ground at the Lanmadaw township site in January and had anticipated the project would be complete by 2020.





The Myanmar Times was not able to immediately reach the Malaysian investors or local partners in the hospital project for comment.

Dr Tay Zaw Kyaw, an organiser from the black ribbon campaign against militarisation of the health ministry, welcomed the Pyithu Hluttaws decision to stand by popular opinion. Not only health workers but also regular people are against the Parkway Hospital project because they want to protect this land for our people, he said. We all know there is not enough space for patients in the public hospitals. In Yangon, many medical wards are full so we need a new public hospital building.

The contested empty plot is on the corner of Bogyoke and Alan Pyay Pagoda roads in Lanmadaw township. Critics are hoping that the land will be used to alleviate the strain on the overburdened and underfunded public health system and could better serve as an additional wing of Yangon General Hospital just down the street, or as a training facility. According to official statistics, there are 0.4 nurses for every 1000 people nationwide.

We have no problem with the Parkway Hospital if they move to another place. We are not attacking private hospital investment necessarily, but just protecting our public land, said Dr Taw Zaw Kyaw.

Former Yangon Region MP Daw Nyo Nyo Thin also welcomed parliaments decision. The parliament should also decide on other projects such as the Yangon New City Project, because the previous government signed off on many of these development although there is no benefit for the country, she said.

Former Union Solidarity and Development Party MP U Nay Myo Aung supported the former ruling partys decision to back the project.

The previous government did this project because they thought it would meet the needs of the people, he said.

Additional reporting by Shwe Yee Saw Myint
Students of the Yangon School of Political Science say the authorities have rejected their application for an interfaith march in downtown Yangon, but announced they will take a different route instead.





The students were told that the march planned for May 14 could take place, but not on the planned route downtown, they announced at a a press conference yesterday. In defiance of the authorities, the group said they will go ahead with the peace walk anyway and will march on Saturday from Twante township to downtown Yangon.

They allowed the interfaith peace walk only in the Bo Sein Mann grounds in Tarmwe, but we dont want to do it there. Our intention is to give a message to the public about people of all colours living together peacefully, said Ko Aung Zaw, a YSPS student.

The interfaith peace walk would have involved youth from all religions, as well as those without religion. YSPS had organised about 500 to 1000 people to gather at the Bahai chief office at Kyauk Myaung in Tarmwe, after which they would then walk past religious buildings on Banyardala, Thein Phyu, Bo Aung Kyaw, Merchant and Sule roads. The end point was planned at Mahabandoola Park, where all walkers would pray in silence, YSPS said.

The students had submitted their application for the walk in each township they would pass through a week ago, but only found out yesterday that they would not be allowed to follow their preferred route through the city, according to group leader Ko Htet Aung Lin.

He said the authorities changed their reasons for rejecting the applications, even after the students had amended their plans.

[The authorities] did not want to grant permission for speeches by religious leaders along the way. After agreeing to scrap the talks, the authorities said our march would obstruct traffic and thus could not go ahead, Ko Htet Aung Lin told reporters.
It's time to end the killing on Yangons streets, say animal lovers. They have asked the new Yangon Region government and Yangon City Development Committee to suspend the policy of poisoning stray dogs.





After YCDC staff put down a family of strays, including puppies, on May 8, an animal lover who had fed the dogs posted a picture of their bodies on social media, along with an appeal to stop the slaughter.

Now supporters have come together in an appeal to the authorities, animal lover Daw Wai Wai Moe told The Myanmar Times on May 10.

We will ask all departments concerned to stop poisoning stray dogs. It makes our country look very bad. Those dogs should be allowed to live out their lives, she said, adding that she and others had asked the government for a meeting to discuss the issue.

Rosey Tulip, who feeds and vaccinates stray dogs, has appealed on Facebook for the government to stop killing strays, and asking for a plot of land to be found for an animal shelter.

Comment FOC: Yangon's poisoned streets

According to YCDCs Veterinary and Slaughterhouse Department, the policy is aimed at protecting the public from rabies and to improve the citys environment under a 1922 law. YCDC also offers free rabies inoculation as well as surgical castration to keep down the stray population, Dr Hla May Oo, the assistant head of the department, told The Myanmar Times on May 10.

We have to poison stray dogs every day because of our procedures. We are trying to prevent the spread of rabies and to control the dog population, but we dont have enough money for vaccines and other drugs. If we get the cooperation of social organisationsthat can provide drugs, we might be able to suspend the poisoning program, she said.





There are an estimated 100,000 stray dogs in Yangon Regions 33 townships.

Bago Region MP Daw Hla Hla Win, a founder of stray dog shelters in Shwegyin township, Bago Region, said officials should meet with animal lovers to find a better way of dealing with canine overpopulation and the spread of disease.

I dont like the poisoning of dogs. But I dont blame the staff who administer the poison. Animal lovers should take responsibility for the strays they feed, she said.

An organisation led by Min Lee, the wife of the former US ambassador to Myanmar, has signed an agreement with YCDC for a three-year project to create a rabies-free zone based on vaccination and castration instead of poisoning. But the project, which was due to start last March, has not yet got off the ground, said YCDCs U Hla May Oo.
From fictional Gotham to real-life metropoles around the world it is customary for new city leaders, in super-hero fashion, to vow to rid their streets of crime and evil villains.





It is no surprise then to learn this week that U Phyo Min Thein, Yangons recently appointed NLD chief minister, is pushing police to crack down on the villainy and nefarious activities blighting Myanmars largest city. It is all part of the new governments wider 100-days timetable for tackling rule-of-law issues.

This country has more than its fair share of evil villains  a good number of them with major financial interests in Yangon whose criminal profiteering can be seen writ large across the city skyline in various property developments as well as in more discreet investments.

Yet they do not appear to be the target of this particular crackdown.

Instead police chiefs have been focusing attention on bars that stay open past licensing hours and raiding and closing down illegal massage parlours.

It is true that licensing laws are widely considered part of good city management, though the haphazard ways they are applied in Yangon do little to support the development of the international-standard hospitality sector that is required if the city is to fulfill its tourism dreams.

But closing down massage parlours without considering a practical alternative is going to cause far more problems than it solves.





The 100-day timetable theme makes for a catchy soundbite: so catchy one might even think it had been thought up by some international consultant with a masters degree in over-paid vacuous activities.

But it means very little in reality and, when it comes to solving crime and the causes of crime, it is potentially dangerous  encouraging dramatic, headline-grabbing police action, instead of sensitive, ongoing policing that tackles the root causes of problems.

Closing down massage parlours will not end prostitution. It will however leave women with little option except to work on the streets, increasing their exposure to all sorts of dangers.

Among those dangers will be dealing with the kind of police corruption  widely reported by sex workers in this city  that sees workers trapped in police set-ups and then forced to pay bribes or offer their services for free in order to avoid punishment in a legal system that is powerfully stacked against them.

If police want to end criminal activities around the sex industry they might start by looking within their own ranks.

Shutting down massage parlours during a high-profile anti-crime crackdown is typical of the reactionary, back-to-front thinking that occurred too often under the last government and puts moral indignation above womens rights and safety.

It is the same kind of attitude that saw police clear shops of contraceptives ahead of Thingyan festival and forced bars to reduce their opening hours so women would go home earlier, instead of focusing efforts on catching the culprits of sexual assault.

As for the other targets of this 100-day crackdown which apparently began on May 1, police told press this week that the 70 people they had captured so far included army and police deserters.

There was no mention if the army deserters had been under- age or forcibly recruited, but given the Tatmadaws history of such practices it is possible at least some were.

It is true that laws about military desertion are not unique to Myanmar, but on the scale of crimes perpetrated by members of the armed forces, desertion sits very far down the list in terms of magnitude or damage caused to others.

Yangon and the country as a whole needs some heroes to help rid it of the crime and corruption that have caused so much misery and held its people back for so long.

But superheroes do not pick on vulnerable souls who find themselves working in massage parlours or unable to stand life in the army any longer.

If Yangons leaders and those in charge of the country really want to end crime, they must avoid short-term reactionary policing that tackles only the lowest-level criminal activity and achieves nothing but temporary surface-level results.

It will take courage and determination to stand up to ingrained corruption that has allowed the most serious crimes to flourish, but that is what the country needs. Those who would be true heroes should not get distracted on the way by picking on sex workers and other easy targets to make it look they are achieving something within an unrealistic deadline.
[May 12, 2016] The LGL Group, Inc. Reports Q1 2016 Financial Results

The LGL Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT: LGL) (the "Company"), announced results for the quarter ended March 31, 2016. Summary of Q1 2016 Results: Revenues were $4.8 million, down 12.0% from Q1 2015

Net loss of ($0.1) million, or ($0.05) per share, improved 29.2% compared to Q1 2015

Adjusted EBITDA per share was $0.01 versus $0.03 in Q1 2015

Order backlog was $9.0 million, up 2.5% from Q4 2015 The Company's newly elected Chairman of the Board and CEO, Michael J. Ferrantino, Sr., stated, "Although we were disappointed by the 12% revenue decrease, we were encouraged by the $335,000 increase in our backlog over the previous quarter. Most of the decrease is a result of the continuing price compression in the frequency control commodities market rather than lost business. We view this price compression as a secular trend and have been actively transitioning our product mix, strategic focus, and marketing efforts towards more lucrative and higher margin markets. Profitability appears to be in reach, given our lower cost structure, as we gain greater traction in these markets. As we advance into our second quarter with the increase in backlog, we do expect shipments to pick up." Positive Cash Flows from Operations; Solid Capital Position Net cash provided by operating activities was $0.1 million for the quarters ended March 31, 2016 and 2015. Total cash and cash equivalents was $5.6 million, or $2.09 per share, at March 31, 2016, consistent with our cash position at December 31, 2015. Adjusted working capital (accounts receivable, net, plus inventory, net, less accounts payable) was $5.0 million as of March 31, 2016, compared to $5.2 million as of December 31, 2015, which reflects the continuing effort to manage working capital levels to operating activity. 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders The Company also announced that its 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "2016 Annual Meeting") will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2016, at 9:00 a.m., local time, at the Company's headquarters, 2525 Shader Road, Orlando, FL 32804. The record date for stockholders to receive notice of, and to vote at, the 2016 Annual Meeting was April 19, 2016. Frederic V. Salerno, Jr. and Hendi Susanto have been nominated for election to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board"). Mr. Salerno is the Strategic Sourcing Manager for Brunswick Corporation and brings over 25 years' experience in operations and supply chain management. Mr. Susanto is Vice President, Equity Research, Technology Leader, for Gabelli & Company, and brings extensive experience in evaluating investments in technology, mergers and acquisitions, convertible debts and restructuring. Additionally, one incumbent member of the Board, Patrick J. Guarino, has decided to retire and will not stand for re-election at the 2016 Annual Meeting, which, pending the results of the 2016 Annual Meeting, will increase the size of the Board to eight members. Marc Gabelli, former Chairman of the Board, added, "On behalf of management and the entire Board, we extend a sincere thank you to Mr. Guarino for his practical guidance, mentoring and contributions during his tenure on the Board. We will surely miss his advice and council. All of us wish him the very best in his retirement." About The LGL Group, Inc. The LGL Group, Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary MtronPTI, manufactures and markets highly-engineered electronic components used to control the frequency or timing of signals in electronic circuits. These components ensure reliability and security in aerospace and defense communications, synchronize data transfers throughout the wireless and internet infrastructure, and provide low noise and base accuracy for lab instruments. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, the Company has additional design and manufacturing facilities in Yankton, South Dakota and Noida, India, with local sales offices in Sacramento, California and Hong Kong. For more information on the Company and its products and services, contact Patti Smith at The LGL Group, Inc., 2525 Shader Rd., Orlando, Florida 32804, (407) 298-2000, or visit www.lglgroup.com and www.mtronpti.com. Caution Concerning Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements made in reliance upon the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21 E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "potential," "should," "continue" or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions or performance. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to us and our current plans or expectations, and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect current plans, anticipated actions and our future financial condition and results. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.







THE LGL GROUP, INC. Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations - UNAUDITED (Dollars in Thousands, Except Per Share Amounts) For the three months ended March 31, 2016 2015 REVENUES $ 4,756 $ 5,404 Costs and expenses: Manufacturing cost of sales 3,257 3,605 Engineering, selling and administrative 1,661 1,960 OPERATING LOSS (162 ) (161 ) Total other income (expense) 36 (17 ) LOSS BEFORE INCOME TAXES (126 ) (178 ) Income tax provision - - NET (News - Alert) LOSS $ (126 ) $ (178 ) Weighted average number of shares used in basic and diluted EPS calculation 2,665,434 2,616,485 BASIC AND DILUTED NET LOSS PER COMMON SHARE $ (0.05 ) $ (0.07 )

THE LGL GROUP, INC. Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Dollars in Thousands) March 31, 2016 December 31, ASSETS (Unaudited) 2015 Cash and cash equivalents $ 5,576 $ 5,553 Accounts receivable, less allowances of $34 at March 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015, respectively 2,544 2,606 Inventories, net 3,550 3,546 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 359 247 Total Current Assets 12,029 11,952 Property, plant, and equipment, net 3,023 3,165 Intangible assets, net 461 475 Other assets 208 211 Total Assets $ 15,721 $ 15,803 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Total Liabilities 2,139 2,076 Total Stockholders' Equity 13,582 13,727 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 15,721 $ 15,803 Reconciliations of GAAP to Non-GAAP Measures To supplement our consolidated condensed financial statements presented on a GAAP basis, the Company uses certain non-GAAP measures, including Adjusted EBITDA, which we define as net income (loss) adjusted to exclude depreciation and amortization expense, interest income (expenses), provision (benefit) for income taxes, stock-based compensation expense and other items we believe are discrete events which have a significant impact on comparable GAAP measures and could distort an evaluation of our normal operating performance. These adjustments to our GAAP results are made with the intent of providing both management and investors a more complete understanding of the underlying operational results and trends and our marketplace performance. The presentation of this additional information is not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for net earnings or diluted earnings per share prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. Reconciliation of 2016 GAAP Loss Before Income Taxes to Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA: For the three months ended (000's, except shares and per share March 31, March 31, amounts) 2016 2015 Net loss before income taxes $ (126 ) $ (178 ) Interest expense 6 5 Depreciation and amortization 204 228 Non-cash stock compensation (16 ) 13 Gain on disposal of assets (43 ) - Adjusted EBITDA $ 25 $ 68 Weighted average number of shares used in basic and diluted EPS calculation 2,665,434 2,616,485 Adjusted EBITDA per share $ 0.01 $ 0.03 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160512006494/en/

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Kinshasa (AFP) - Britain may seek EU sanctions against those to blame for "acts of repression" in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a British envoy said on Friday.

"We are talking to our European colleagues about targeted sanctions against those responsible for actions or decisions involving violence against citizens and intimidation of the opposition," said Danae Dholakia, Britain's special envoy to the Africa's Great Lakes region.

On Wednesday, DR Congo's Constitutional Court ruled that President Joseph Kabila, in power since 2001, can stay in office beyond 2016 without being re-elected, a move that sparked fierce protests from the country's main opposition party.
Donald Trump, who issued a December press release calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, said Wednesday such a ban hasn't been called for yet and it was only a suggestion.

It's the latest lightning-speed evolution for the real estate tycoon as he pivots from the provocateur who upended the Republican primary to a general election candidate preparing to square off with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

We have a serious problem, and it's a temporary ban  it hasn't been called for yet, nobody's done it, this is just a suggestion until we find out what's going on, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told Fox News Radio's Brian Kilmeade Wednesday.

READ: Donald Trump: Ban all Muslim travel to U.S.

But when Trump first introduced the proposed ban back in December he explicitly said in both a speech and in a press release: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.

Timing

Trump is scheduled to spend the day in Washington, meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has so far withheld endorsing the businessman, and Republican party officials in hopes of bridging the gap between them. Ryan and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus both swiftly condemned Trump's call for a ban in December.

Trump's proposal is not who we are as a party and violates the Constitution, Ryan had said in December.

This is not conservatism, he had said. Some of our best and biggest allies in this struggle and fight against radical Islam terror are Muslims.

READ: Donald Trump: Rudy Giuliani for 'radical Islam' commission

Trump's presidential rivals at the time had also slammed his proposal, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who has since endorsed Trump and been tapped to lead his transition team should he win the White House.

This is the kind of thing that people say when they have no experience and don't know what they are talking about. We do not need to resort to that type of activity nor should we, Christie had said on the Michael Medved radio show. What we need to do is to increase our intelligence activities. We need to cooperate with peaceful Muslim Americans who want to give us intelligence against those who are radicalized.

'Temporary'

Trump on Wednesday also put a new emphasis on the temporary nature of his proposed ban in an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.

No, it was never meant to be  I mean that's why it was temporary, he said, when asked if he would consider backing off the controversial ban.

Sure I'd back off on it. I'd like to back off on it as soon as possible, because frankly, I'd like to see something happen. But we have to be vigilant, he said. There is a radical Islamic terrorism problem that our president doesn't even want to talk about.

Trump was also pressed by Van Susteren on what kind of exceptions he might make to the total and complete shutdown he originally proposed. He pointed to Muslim military service members, while continuing to stress his desire to see the ban lifted once some sort of progress was made in the fight against terror.

(Muslim military members) would all come back, he said. I mean we have exceptions, and again, it's temporary, and ultimately it's my aim to have it lifted. Right now there is no ban. But I'd like to see  there has to be an idea, there has to be something.

As the presumptive GOP nominee explained, Ideally you wouldn't have the ban for very long. I mean, we just have to find out what's happening.

-cnn


It has hit the Media Houses the past few days that from the Euro Bond of 2014 USD 250 Mio. (interest to be paid by 10, 75% plus bank charges) were send from Bank of Ghana to UBA Bank to generate interest. This is against the respective provisions of the 1992 constitution after which no FOREX is supposed to be transferred into a private bank.

On top the Government is borrowing the same money back from the Nigerian owned bank at a rate of over 20% from the account on call which regenerates less profit than fix bank accounts. The questions needs to be raise what in an election year the intention is behind this strange logic as it can also be used to finance political activities by sharing the up-blown interest generated subsequently to the disadvantage of the Ghanaian Tax payer, the citizen of a great Nation.

Much has been spoken and written about, but the central points have so far not been addressed.

Why did the Government borrow more money than it can make use of as Bonds come with interest and bank fees? Is UBA Bank a Guarantor to ensure that anytime the money is needed by the Government it has the capacity to pay it back promptly including interest? Most of all: When a Government, as a strategic instrument, so massively uses the financial market it pushes a Bank to the point that it lends the fresh money out which comes at a higher cost for the Corporate and Private Borrower to cover the interest to be paid to the Government, their operational cost and risk factors involved. As a consequence this strategic instrument is promoting and cementing the high interest rate in the country everyone is complaining about. Manufacturing needs long time financial instruments with low or moderate interest to be operational. Only trade can somehow manage on short-term basis higher interest rates. This is a clear contradiction to the interest of Ghanas economy and declared economy development plans.

(Advise: This money could be used to limit the interest for Corporates by 16-18% as a first step into the much needed direction with the right mindset and instruments available in the Handbooks of Rules and Regulations for operating Banks and Financial Institutions. It is not rocket sciences but basic principles even for Non-Professionals like Politicians easy to understand)

Author: Dipl.-Pol. Karl-Heinz Heerde, Sakumono Estate, Block D10, Aprt. 10, Tema West, Ghana, phone +233(0)265078287, [email protected] , 10.05.2016
The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, is following closely the developments in Guinea-Bissau. She expresses her deep concern about the implications of the decision taken by the President of the Republic on 12 May 2016, to dismiss the Government.

The Chairperson reiterates that only a genuine and inclusive dialogue, based on the respect of the country's Constitution, will enable the Guinea-Bissau stakeholders to find a consensual solution to the crisis facing their country, and create necessary conditions to consolidate peace and stability, as well as enable post-conflict reconstruction.

The Chairperson calls all the Guinea-Bissau political actors to exercise restraint, uphold the country's interest and preserve peace and stability of the country. She reiterates the determination of the AU to stand by the people of Guinea-Bissau and its readiness to support any genuine efforts to promote dialogue towards a peaceful solution to the crisis.
The Honourable Stephane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today issued the following statement on the threat of closure of refugee camps in Kenya:

Canada is very concerned about the Government of Kenya's decision to disband its Department of Refugee Affairs and its intention to close the refugee camp at Dadaab.

We appreciate the long-standing generosity of Kenya toward asylum seekers and refugees, and urge the Government of Kenya to ensure that protection and the provision of basic humanitarian assistance remain accessible to those who need it.

Canada continues to call on the Government of Kenya, and all governments, to respect international refugee law and uphold the rights of refugees. All returns must be voluntary and conducted in accordance with domestic and international laws and while respecting the principle of non-refoulement.

Canada supports the tripartite agreement between Kenya, Somalia and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the repatriation of Somali refugees from Kenya. Canada has provided significant support for refugee operations in Kenya, including more than $13 million to the UNHCR in Kenya and Somalia since 2015. Canada will also continue to support efforts to create the conditions in Somalia that would allow for a lasting solution based on a dignified and voluntary return for refugees.
Damascus, Syria: A joint aid convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the United Nations (UN) was refused entry to Daraya today, despite having obtained prior clearance from all sides that it could proceed.

Daraya has been the site of relentless fighting for more than three and a half years, and we know the situation there is desperate, said Marianne Gasser, Head of ICRCs Delegation, who was part of todays convoy. Civilians trapped here urgently need humanitarian aid. We hoped todays distribution might prove to be a first step and lead to more aid being allowed in. Unfortunately, we were prevented from entering and eventually had to turn back.

The convoy was due to provide essential medical supplies to the towns field hospital, distribute baby milk and lead a vaccination campaign for children under 12, as well as distribute hygiene and school materials. This would have been the first ever aid delivery to the town, which has been under siege since November 2012.

Communities in Daraya are in need of everything, and its tragic that even the basics we were bringing today are being delayed unnecessarily. As a neutral humanitarian organization, we must be able to provide aid impartially and safely, said Mrs Gasser. There must be minimum conditions for independent humanitarian action in Syria, which were not met today. We urge the responsible authorities to grant us this access immediately.

Beyond allowing this initial convoy through, the ICRC and its partners need concerned authorities to let it provide other essentials such as food, and allow it to help restore basic services like water and electricity.
Ghanaians continue to make inroads into Americas inventors hall of fame as Victor B. Lawrence Ph.D, Associate Dean and Batchelor Chair Professor of Stevens Institute of Technology, was adopted into the American National Inventors Hall of Fame at the 44th induction ceremony held last Thursday, May 5, 2016 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC.

In a write up by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Victor Lawrence was adopted into the Hall for his invention of Signal Processing in Telecommunications.

For Victor Lawrence, the journey leading to the National Inventors Hall of Fame began in his native country Ghana where his rise was powered by hard work and discipline, two values he said, was instilled in him by his mother at a young age.

Victor said he was a young student living just a few meters from the Florida Launching pad when the US space programme was lifting off in the 1960s, and listened via shortwave radio as President John F. Kennedy announced his goal of landing a man on the moon and closely followed news report of John Glenn orbiting the earth.

These events, he said, inspired him to pursue a career in science and engineering as his talent took him to the University of London, in England.

On completion of his doctorate in England, he was recruited by Bell Labs to help with the analog to digital conversion of the companys communication network.

His appointment with Bell Labs brought him to New Jersey, in the United States where over 30 years, his patented work in signal processing resulted in faster and more reliable travel of data over telephone lines, improving transmission for the modern Internet.

Victor also developed methods of including more information in a signal, facilitating the introduction of digital video and radio and the development of high-definition and digital television.

Speaking of his legacy, Victor said its not the technical achievements from his past but rather the ways he continue to use his skills to work with others to improve humanity.

Victor is particularly proud of his leadership role in providing Internet connectivity to Africa and his role in imparting knowledge to students, encouraging them to begin their own creative journey.

You have to stand on somebodys shoulder before you can see far. And so, its very important that I have a strong shoulder for others to stand on, so they can see far and they can do greater things. Victor Lawrence said.

His Excellency, Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith, Ghanas Ambassador to the United States of America was at the ceremony to congratulate Victor Lawrence on his achievement.

Also at the ceremony was Ghanas former Ambassador to China, Mrs Mameley Coffie, Mr. Quarshie-Idun, a prominent Ghanaian Lawyer, family members and friends of Victor Lawrence.
13.05.2016 LISTEN

The relationship between Christianity and Politics is a historically complex subject and a frequent source of disagreement throughout the history of Christianity , as well as in modern politics between the Christian right and Christian left .

There have been a wide variety of ways in which thinkers have conceived of the relationship between Christianity and politics, with many arguing that Christianity directly supports a particular political ideology or philosophy. Along these lines, various thinkers have argued for Christian communism , Christian socialism , Christian anarchism , Christian libertarianism , or Christian democracy . Others believe that Christians should have little interest or participation in politics or Government

An emerging tradition of political thought, Christian libertarians maintain that state intervention to promote piety or generosity can be unethical and counterproductive.

Christians, along with people from other faith communities and beyond, have been very concerned by the growing presence of extremist parties in local elections and their threat to community cohesion. Churches of a range of denominations have stated that racism, in all its forms, is a sin, and a denial of Gods love for each of Gods children.

The nature of racist and extremist activity has begun to change recently alongside political parties and this is not healthy for Ghanaians, the Church rather should pray for peace and upon that they can fulfil their God sent mission.

The Challenges facing the Church today

Churches have unequivocally rejected the message of political parties as being contrary to Gods love and have encouraged Christians to vote accordingly or reject any political parties that attempt to stir up racial and religious hatred and fear on strangers. Christian faith challenges all exclusive claims of tribe, tradition and political commitment. The Gospel invites us into the space created by Christ, and to find those who were previously our enemies and forgive them. It therefore breaks down the enmity between us: enmity caused by different traditions, and national, political and religious loyalties. The Gospel opens up for us a view of wholeness, justice and living in right relations which sees the whole world as potential brothers and sisters. True politics may therefore be seen in the light of this vision as being the nourishing of humanness in corporate life and of finding ways of human beings living with each other in peace. This is the challenge to politics in Ghana; the challenge to Christians is to nourish such a politics. In the final part of Breaking down the Enmity we tried to give some consideration to what such a politics would look like in Ghana. In particular we saw it as important that the Church and Ghana Government should work together but not party level that has created violence which cannot be accepted by the Church of God.

It gave the relation of faith and politics a sharp and particular focus. How will Christians of different traditions to respond to the Green book and its implications? What is the questions being raised by the Green book, does it speak the truth which God have ask the Church to guild?

In proclaiming the Lordship of Christ we witness to the God who is not the God of exclusive traditions and political loyalties, but to him who invites us all and includes all who wish to come into his Kingdom. We therefore have to say `No' to a politics which attempts to impose total and exclusive commitment. Christians should say `No' to politics of violence to those who demand a total commitment to loyalism and a similar No' to those who seek to bring disunity to United Ghana and are prepared to use any means to achieve it. Such a `No' may help in the end to open a way to a more constructive politics in Ghana, where the questions raised in Understanding the Signs of the Times can be addressed.

We the Church are only looking forward to Ghana that works in this article we examined the way people in other parties will relate their faith to politics and how this will affects the already volatile atmosphere of conflict in the face loving citizens of Ghana. We here will outline some of the changes going on in Ghanaian society over recent decades, particularly in relation to the death of peace loving individuals. We tried to see what further changes are required in order for the Ghanaians to face the realities of the Ruling party. We also sought to envisage what a more Christian politics might mean in the Republic of Ghana and how the Churches could be better signs of the Covenant Community and of the Kingdom towards Peace and Stability.

This document gave our considered assessment of the political parties and the injustice where Men of God are looking on. It is our view that the most important aspects of the Church are: a) The recognition of the reality that Ghanaians are of one destiny which should not allow someone who is looking for his selfish gains to divide the country. b) The obligation on the Government of both the owners of the Green book achievement and the Ghanaians society is to rather look for peaceful atmosphere without corruption where the wealth of the nation will not fly away. We believe that the process which the Green Book represents whatever the precise details is of vital importance only to the party not the Church of different denomination. It is, therefore, our view that any future materials of such nature will have to retain these two aspects.

Today we live in a new situation in which the old stories and their understandings have to be re-examined in a context which puts an emphasis on the finding of ways to live together and on the safeguarding of the rights and identities of both communities. The challenge of a new situation means that we have to face the reality of the past and its various legacies. One of these legacies is a history of violence and intimation.

It is now also clear that the traditional stories have repressed the complexity of situations. Christian faith has at its heart the memory of a victim; Jesus Christ. As we remember him, the liberating activity of God is expressed and we are offered the possibility of remembering the people we have diminished, rejected and injured the people that we have made victims. We are offered the possibility of a new start, of establishing new relationships with those we have victimised. In this perspective, how can we remember our past events in ways that help forgiveness and the forming of new communities of respect which are able to take others into consideration?

Gods word that should guide us to peace

In the tender mercy of our God, the dayspring from on high shall break upon us,

to give light to those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death,

and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Luke 1: 7879

Salvation is our gift through the coming of his Son our Saviour Jesus Christ,

and by him that will make all things new when he returns in glory to judge the world.

Christ the son of righteousness shine upon us, gladden our hearts

and scatter the darkness from before us to resist the work of darkness.

PENTECOST Church Preach peace but not politics

Jesus said Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. John 14: 27, 28

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who after he had risen from the dead ascended into heaven, where he is seated at the right hand of God to intercede for us

and to prepare a place for us in glory? These are the words we as a Church should preach to the world and not politics.

The Christian church focuses on being fed out of God's Word and seeks to align itself with what it says. The secular church allows the ways of the world to seep into the beliefs and practices of the Christian church, thereby diluting the truth.

If we find something in the church that is contrary to Scripture but is taught in the secular world, then that church has become in part secularized. The more we find from the world in the church, the more that church is secularized.

Following is a list of things that, in my opinion, are examples of secularization in the church. Of course, this list is not exhaustive nor is it authoritative. It is my opinion. Nevertheless, it is offered as food for thought.

In this document an attempt will be made to articulate biblical principles and practical guidelines that inform and govern the attitudes and relationships that church leaders and members should maintain towards matters of a political nature.

Biblical and Theological Foundations for Political Involvement as Humanity lives in a world in which not only nature, but all socio-economic and political systems have been tainted and severely compromised by evil. The result of the fall (Gen. 3) has been that Gods mandate to humanity to care for the creation (Gen. 1:26) has suffered progressive decline, complex distortion and manipulation.

The story of the Bible is the story of Gods plan to restore His creation following the 3 devastation caused by the fall. Before Gods restoration plan is fully realized at the Second Coming of Christ, however, imperfections continue in the creation and human systems; and any participation by the Church in political arenas should be accompanied by full awareness of the fact and not lies. For this reason, the Church maintains a clear line of demarcation between Church and State, while taking their civil responsibility seriously.

God bless the Church and sanctify his children to reject anything that does not conform to his teaches of the word.

God bless our motherland Ghana, God bless NPP, God Bless every truth.

Philip Odei Tettey (Church of Penticost Ireland).
File Photo

13.05.2016 LISTEN

With the aid of powerful antibiotics, the unbelievable promiscuity among young people that began with the late 1960s anti-Vietnam War cry, Make Love and not War, has persisted into the twenty-first century even defying the stigma associated with teenage motherhood, where most of the mothers are children unable to take care of themselves. Age-old sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like gonorrhoea and syphilis have been no deterrence.

And if the terrifying sight of dying victims of AIDS has not been able to limit the unbridled promiscuity, shouldnt todays more insidious and dangerous practice of men posting their bedroom antics on social media turn young ladies from premarital sex?

The recent pornographic posting in the social media emanating mostly from the tertiary institutions of West Africa, and Ghana in particular, have brought back memories of a personal experience many years ago. It was a conversation I overhead (more like eavesdropped on) all those years ago that scared the living daylight out of me that turned me completely off the male species. It was not until well into my late twenties before I could allow myself to be kissed by a man who eventually became a real soul-mate and life-long double.

It was during the latter stages of the long vacation before I entered Form Five. I was preparing for the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Levels. My cousin, who was preparing for his final year at the university, was visited by this friendalso entering his final yearfrom a nearby town with whom he exchanged visits during the holidays.

I was my cousins pet and usually ran errands for him, and also cooked for him whenever the adults were away. In return, he helped me with the pile of past questions in physics, mathematics and chemistry that I was practising in preparation for the impending mock examinations.

On this occasion, my cousin sent me to buy soft drinks for him and his visitor. As I returned from the shops and began cleaning glasses and coasters to serve them, I heard my cousins friend recounting his conquests during the just ended term at the female hall of his university (name withheld). What aroused my curiosity were the really gross details of the description of his conquests: gory anatomical comparisons and all. I felt sick, and the gentleman who was facing the door as I entered my cousins room with the tray of glasses and soft drinks might have noticed the utter revulsion in my face. He did not say a word to me, not even thank you. I did not ask or ever say anything about it to my cousin, and never spoke to his friend again on his subsequent visits, apart from monosyllabic yes and no answers!

I remember thinking to myself, If this is what happened to the women in the universities, someone who was supposed to love another human being describing them in such demeaning graphic detail, what was supposed to have been a private affair between two intelligent consenting adults, then I would have none of it!

At the time, I had male friends and acquaintances from the boys schools in my school district, people with whom we travelled on the trains to and from school. Nothing serious, but I resolved there and then never to even reply to a letter from any boy. I maintained that resolve through Sixth Form, university and post-graduate school outside Ghana.

The insecurity of the male species

From the comments of lecturers, male students and other staff at the university during my undergraduate years, I came to the worrying conclusion that most men were immature, insecure and mentally weak. In all honesty, they struggled to hide those inadequacies by trying to take as many women to bed as they could. And I am still convinced today that most rapists even in marriage situations are in that sad category of the male species.

Most of those men essentially never grow up. They take their insecurities to the world outside the four walls of the university or higher education. They carry them to work and end up as the pot-bellied managers and senior officers who want to go to bed with young female applicants as a condition of employment. They are the ones who frustrate women at work, often making crude and unwanted passes, with suggestions of career progression.

Some even enter into Christian ministry as so-called pastors, bishops, evangelists, and the like. These are the types that strip women on beaches at midnight, to feed on their depraved fantasies, with the lies of delivering such women. And yet, it remains inexplicable how loads of Ghanaian women, especially, fall for these charlatans.

Mary Magdalene was a prostitute who carried a multitude of evil spirits of lust. When she met Jesus, he had pity on her and drove those spirits out of her. She did not have to sow a seed of faith nor meet him after his preaching service. He did it in the plain view of everyone. Mary showed her gratitude by pouring very expensive oil on Jesus feet and wiping it with her precious hair.

On the contrary, it is such errant men who in politics have made Africa a laughing stock of the world. Just as they consider women as mere trophies to be won and used, these men see political office as personal prizes. They go around at election time promising heaven on earth, which they know they can never deliver. Once installed in office, state coffers become their personal tills. They simply loot them like there is no tomorrow. They steal with hands, mouth and feet! National positions become their personal fiefdoms. Even when they cannot bend to pick up a pen from the floor, they stick tenaciously to elected (more like stolen) positions; waiting for their children to grow and take over, or else their countries must burn to ashes.

Advice

All you young ladies out there deserve better than these grown up boys. My grandmother used to say that Akatasia in Mfantse means akata do esie (covered and hidden) for that very special person on that very special night. Keep it hidden for that special person. The shame of a real husband whose wifes naked body gets exposed to outsiders is much greater than that of the woman. Wait for Mr Right. Remember that any man who wants you to send him photos of your nakedness means you no good. And any man who thinks the only way to demonstrate your love is to go to bed with him before he has said hello to your parents, is not worth your time. Just tell him to shove his love where the African daylight does not reach!

I shall return with my beaded gourd, God willing.

Naana Ekua Eyaaba has an overarching interest in the development of the African continent and Black issues in general. Having travelled extensively through Africa, the Black communities of the East Coast of the United States as well as London and Leeds (United Kingdom), she enjoys reading, and writes when she is irritated, and edits when she is calm. You can email her at [email protected] , or read her blog at https://naanaekuaeyaaba.wordpress.com/.
Afoko

13.05.2016 LISTEN

Former Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Haruna Esseku says suspended National Chairman Paul Afoko came to the partys office one time accompanied by a pack of dogs.

That was when he was summoned to appear before the Council of Elders last year, he disclosed.

Afoko was suspended indefinitely after the National Executive Committee (NEC) upheld an overwhelming decision by the Disciplinary Committee.

The Disciplinary Committee took the decision to suspend Mr Afoko after the National Council of Elders in September, wrote to it, demanding amongst others, that Mr. Afoko, be made to step aside until after the 2016 elections.

Speaking exclusively on 3FMs Sunrise hosted by Winston Amoah, the former chairman narrated how Mr. Afoko stormed a meeting arranged by the Council of Elders with dogs he claimed to be his guards.

"Afoko within six months after taking office with Kwabena Agyepong; between the two of them, they had gone to change all the names in our banks. Those who control the finance, they changed them and the two of them became the most senior people to sign the cheques.

That alone was not considered all that serious. The money we knew once he was the chairman he would use the money for party purposes but the reports that were coming in didnt indicate that.

We decided to call him and set a date to meet and advise him quietly but he didnt come.

When he did not come one of our elderly ladies gave us a hint that he was holding another NPP meeting at that same moment somewhere in Accra so we called it disrespect for us.

Then he chose another day to visit us the National Council of Elders which he came followed by dogs.

We asked our chairman C.K to go and advise him on how to behave when he comes into the office to see us but he came back telling us that he, Afoko, said he couldnt part with his dogs because they were his guards.

C.K also said he couldnt tell us the number because if he did we would be very surprised.

We asked somebody else to go and see whether he can get him somehow to retire the dogs, he had already gone. So, you can see that nobody is talking in his favor.
The girls dormitory of Ghana Senior High School (Ghanass) in the New Juabeng Municipal Assembly of the Eastern Region has been renovated by government, a few weeks after fire gutted it.

The renovation was conducted after some weeks of audit.

The girls dorm was razed down by fire on March 17, a disaster that displaced some first and second year students.

Most of the affected students had to go home.

But a fully refurbished dorm was handed to the school on behalf of government by Deputy Minister of Education Alex Kyeremeh on Wednesday.

Mr Kyeremeh expressed worry about fire disasters in senior high schools, calling for audit of some of these school buildings.

We need audit in all our buildings so that we will be able to forestall future occurrences.

Some of the students expressed happiness about the new building.

"It is so beautiful. It wasn't like how it was. Now we can learn with much ease," said Pearl Korantemaa.
IOM Libya this week released its latest Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report. The DTM Round 3 provides a comprehensive overview of the latest numbers and mobility patterns of internally displaced persons (IDPs), asylum seekers, migrants and returnees in the country, providing a baseline for full country coverage to be used for coordinating and planning humanitarian assistance.

The report identified 417,123 IDPs in Libya, half of whom are under the age of 18. This number is a result of three waves of displacement  the first taking place in 2011; the second from 2012 to mid-2014, and the third and largest, which began in mid-2014.

The report also identified 234,699 migrants in the country for a variety of reasons including labour, transit, or forced migration. It notes that migrants and asylum seekers in Libya continue to face marginalisation and discrimination which, combined with weakened social or consular networks, leave them increasingly vulnerable to exploitation.

Transit migrant populations contain mixed flows of migrants and asylum seekers, many of whom are vulnerable groups at risk of exploitation. IOM has recorded 14 maritime incidents between 30th March and 1st May 2016 on the Central Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy. Some 1,580 individuals were rescued, while 753 are missing, presumed drowned.

Only 35 percent of migrants are currently living in private accommodation, while the rest are staying in informal settings, market places, transport points or unfinished buildings. Another 4 percent are in detention centres. Men make up 89 percent of the migrant population, and the main countries of origin are Niger, Egypt, Ghana and Mali.

IOM's figures indicate 47 percent of all IDPs in Libya originate from Benghazi, the metropolitan center which also is hosting the largest proportion of IDPs in the country. There are also a significant number of IDPs from Sirte and Tripoli.

Most recently, displacement from Sirte to Bani Walid and Tarhouna, due to a spike in military conflict in Sirte, has been flagged as a growing concern. The DTM has identified 20,000 IDPs in Bani Walid  82 percent of them from Sirte. However, this number is expected to continue to increase, with thousands more being displaced daily from Sirte.

Displaced populations are forced to flee due to conflict and a lack of security, destruction of property, and limited access to health and schooling. Much of the conflict is concentrated in urban areas, with IDPs often fleeing from one neighbourhood to another. But some now travel longer distances.

Due to the stresses of multiple displacements, financial insecurity, and difficulty in accessing protection, the coping capacity of many IDPs is being eroded, and the ability of host communities to address their needs is severely overstretched.

The DTM characterizes the living conditions of many IDP households as unsafe or unhealthy. While most are hosted in private settings in urban areas, 16 percent are taking shelter in collective or non-formal settings, sharing living spaces in unfinished or deserted buildings, tents, caravans or makeshift shelters.

As a result, they often lack access to basic services such as water, sanitation, hygiene and electricity: minimal requirements for a safe, dignified and healthy environment. These situations are particularly acute in the areas of Al Kufrah, Dirj, As Sidr and Marandah.

Concurrently, the report did find that the number of IDPs returning to their homes is increasing. The total number of returnees currently stands at 149,160 individuals. The majority are returning to Warshefanah and to the south of Tripoli. Returns to Sabratah, Derna, Gwalesh and Ajdabiya were also noted.

But damaged health and educational facilities, lack of security  characterized by increased crime and the presence of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)  are hindering prospects for safe and sustainable return for many IDPs. This has been exacerbated by rising prices and the limited financial resources of the IDPs, which has limited their ability to carry out necessary repairs to their homes.

The report was prepared using the DTM's third round of data collection. The DTM is a system that enables the development and maintenance of baseline information on displaced populations. It provides evidence for targeted assistance and better understanding of the push and pull factors related to displacement and/or migration. In Libya it focuses on tracking IDPs, returnees and migrants through the publication of monthly reports, alert snapshots, maps and raw data. In Libya DTM is co-funded by the European Union and UK DFID.
Kweku Baako Jnr

13.05.2016 LISTEN

The pathologically self-serving Akufo-Addo detractor, also popularly known as The Idiot-of-Irmo, South Carolina, and recently known as The Cretin-of-California, did not put forth any meaningful grist, by way of worthwhile criticism, against the three-time flagbearer of the countrys main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) to warrant the sort of banner headlines afforded the patent guff shamelessly passed off as questions worthy of critical examination by any well-meaning and morally responsible Ghanaian citizen, except the avowed, albeit thoroughly defeated, detractors of Ghanas former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice (See  Takes on Africawatch, Kweku Baako and Paul Afoko Ghanaweb.com 5/13/16).

Indeed, absolutely no meaningful attempt is made to question the credibility of the supposedly aggrieved Mr. Paul Afoko, the duly suspended National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, vis-a-vis the Serbian military training affair, alleged attempts to preempt the election of Mr. Afoko and the purported reactivation of a hitherto dormant party account by Akufo-Addo partisans. As usual, all we are served with is a facile presumption of innocence on the part of the suspended NPP National Chairman.

Needless to say, this anti-Akufo-Addo propaganda spin, like all the rest before it, will not wash. If anything at all, it will further confirm what many a keen observer of NPP affairs has invariably come away with, vis-a-vis the running factional shenanigans raging in the party, and the decision by the anti-Akufo-Addo faction, of which Dr. McHypocrite is a frontline operative, to keep the party perennially riven at all costs, even while also feigning absolute non-involvement or complete innocence.

For starters, even if the party were truly in need of conflict resolution experts, it would still be grossly remiss and flagrantly unfair to involve The Asantehene, knowing full well that the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana does not approve of the interference of monarchs and chieftains in either the internal or external affairs of any legitimately constituted and registered political party in the country.

But even more significant and worthy of note is the fact that elaborate institutional structures exist within the party to deal with disciplinary and constitutional matters, which clearly explains the justified suspension of unruly Fifth Columnists like Messrs. Afoko, Agyepong and Crabbe, among a remarkable number of others. One also wonders why the axe of party discipline has not been brought to bear on the pate of McHypocrite.

Perhaps the most obvious and logical answer is that McHypocrite is more of a marginal annoyance than an effective Vidkun Quisling, though gauging by prime media play afforded his at once lurid and jejune antics, one would think McHypocrite were a major force to reckon with.

On the question of the reactivation of a hitherto dormant party account by operatives of the Akufo-Addo playbook, as it were, what is worthy of public attention and discourse is not whether, indeed, any such account was reactivated but rather the basis upon which such reactivation was effected.

It goes without saying that no keen observer of NPP politics expected a mischief-making McHypocrite to highlight this most critical aspect of the issue, because any bold and honest attempt to doing so would undesirably expose the seamy underbelly of the anti-Akufo-Addo factionalists.

Thus it is absolutely no accident that McHypocrite would choose to attack Mr. Kweku Baako, the meticulously sleuthing editor-publisher of the New Crusading Guide, for so deftly and poignantly exposing Mr. Afoko for the reprobate liar that he has clearly and absolutely proven himself to be, especially in the matter of the Serbian military training affair.

And then, also, isnt it predictably strange that McHypocrite should conveniently fail to mention the clearly circumstantial involvement of Mr. Paul Afoko in the acid-dousing slaying of Mr. Adams Mahama, the former Upper-Easts NPP Regional Chairman?

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs
Richard Ahiagble, Head of Corporate Communications, Airtel Ghana

13.05.2016 LISTEN

[13th May 2016, Accra] Airtel, Ghanas fastest growing telecommunication network has held a sensitization workshop for representatives from leading media houses to educate them on Airtels data bundles and notification systems in place to alert customers when their data bundles are getting exhausted.

Facilitating the workshop, the team from Airtels Corporate Communications and Product and Innovation function took participants through the companys data bundle automatically generated notifications that are pushed to customers once their data usage reach 50%.

Speaking to participants at the session, Louis Manu, the companys Head of Product Development and Innovation said In response to customer feedback and to ensure our customers have the best experience on our network, we have instituted the automated notification system that alerts them when they reach a pre-defined threshold of usage.

For instance an Airtel customer will receive their first notification when they have used 50% of their data bundles, then at 75% another notification is pushed to the customer. If the customer takes no action to renew the bundle, a third notification will be sent at 90%, at 95% and then finally at 100% when the bundle is completely used.

He continued We have had this notification system in place for some time now. What we have done over the last couple of weeks is to further reinforce them as an early warning system to give our customers the opportunity to renew their bundles. At Airtel our preference is to preserve the customers freedom to subscribe to the data bundles that meet their requirements and budget. Our observation over the past few months since the automated alert was implemented is that some subscribers either ignore or delete these alerts.

He emphasized that when a customer chooses not to renew a data bundle, telecom operators systems are designed to automatically transition that customer to PAYG for the customers convenience. He explained that the customer could be in the middle of an online exam or a business transaction and the transition enables them to continue such transactions. Imagine the extreme inconvenience customers might find themselves in if the data bundle lapsed in the middle of an exam or a critical transaction and that subscriber was not reverted to PAYG in order to continue what they were working on. He encouraged customers not to ignore such messages or delete them without reading.

The number one cause of customer complaints regarding disappearing airtime can be traced to those who did not take action or deleted notifications without reading them, thereby allowing the system to revert to PAYG. To ensure this incidence is curtailed, we have introduced what we call flash messaging  which is basically an advanced form of notification that pops up when a data bundle is at 95% usage. The notification does not disappear from the screen until you take action to purchase a bundle or dismiss it. This is one of the innovative ways we are resolving this challenge and is in direct response to feedback from our customers.

Airtels Head of Corporate Communications, Richard Ahiagble said We take every customer feedback seriously and strive to investigate and expedite action on such complaints. Our Customer Experience team are relentless in their effort to resolve all customer issues at all touch points  via our call centers, shops or social media platforms. The team also shed light on some of the causes of high data usage or what some have referred to as disappearing credit. According to Mr. Ahiagble, a major cause of disappearing credit is the fact that, some customers leave their data on unaware that background processes and Apps on their smartphones are automatically being updated. Sometimes WIFI is also not secured allowing third parties to use the WIFI resource without the knowledge of the subscriber.

We recognise that customers need more education about these and many other issues that come up and we will continue to use all available channels including social media to create awareness to ensure that they have the best experience on our network. He concluded.

Airtel Ghana is the industry leader in the provision of superior voice, data and enterprise solutions to all customer segments.

The company has also instituted rewards schemes through the Airtel Rewardz programme to celebrate and reward customers for simply using their phone lines.

Airtel Ghana has won several awards for its commitment to customer service including being recognised as the most socially devoted brand on social media by Socialbakers, a global social media analytics firm for attaining a 89% Total Response Rate on Facebook for customer queries. A brand is considered by Socialbakers as socially devoted if it scores at least 65% of audience queries on its social media platforms.

About Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 353 millioncustomers across its operations at the end of January 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com

About Airtel in Africa

Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com, or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana.
Johannesburg (AFP) - Dangerous working conditions, scant safety standards, inhumane living quarters and violent racism -- South African gold miners endured decades of hardship underground.

Their stories were laid bare on Friday when a court ruled that up to 500,000 miners and their families could pursue a class-action suit against their employers over silicosis, a fatal respiratory disease contracted from breathing in dust underground.

Here are four first-person testimonies contained in the ruling:

-- BONGANI NKALA led the legal battle to allow the class-action suit. He was diagnosed with silicosis in June 2012.

"Blasting underground created a lot of dust and much of it remained in the workplace, even after the walls were sprayed with water, as we could still see it, as well as taste and smell it.

"I was never provided with any respiratory equipment. I inhaled all the dust I was exposed to.

"I had to walk eight kilometres (five miles) through the tunnels underground to get to my workspace.

"The dust would settle in our hair, face and clothes while we worked."

-- BANGUMZI BENNET BALAKAZI started working in the mines in 1974 aged 21 and stopped in 1999. He has tuberculosis and silicosis.

"It was very painful for me to leave my village to work on a mine far away from home. However I wanted to provide for me and my family.

"I cannot remember anything being said about dust and the need at all times to protect oneself against it.

"My daily routine started at 3:00 am in the morning, when we were woken up by a siren.

"Once down underground, it was hot and humid.

"The heat made it impractical to wear masks all the time. The hot conditions underground also made it very difficult for me to breathe with the mask on. Over time, the mask became so dusty that I could no longer use it.

"Soon after the blasting had finished, miners returned to the blasted area almost immediately, whilst the area was still full of dust.

"The white miners only returned to the blast area after most of the dust had settled.

"I was treated very badly by the white miners and supervisors.

"They often kicked or beat us with their fists. I was constantly being referred to as a 'kaffir'."

-- WATU LIVINGSTONE DALA lived in a dormitory with 15 other miners. He was made unemployed in 2007 at the age of 45, and suffers from silicosis.

"I became a winch driver. I was responsible for cleaning rocks from underground slopes and gullies, after rock blasts. As a result, my job constantly put me in direct contact with dust and heat.

"Sometimes, you could barely see in front of you. The dust was also suffocating and got stuck in our noses and ears.

"I remember being told by our supervisors that we should only make sure to wear the masks when there were... safety representatives inspecting the mine.

"Mine management was only concerned with us having to work all the time. We worked like slaves."

-- MALEBURU REGINA LEBITSA'S husband died in 2010 aged 55. He worked in the gold mines from 1972 to 1998.

"My late husband left work on the mines when his former employer found that he was medically incapacitated and that he was no longer able to perform his duties.

"When he returned home from the mines his health deteriorated and, as he became weaker, his ability to support his family was severely undermined.

"Along with thousands of other mineworkers, (he) had contracted silicosis as a result of their employment."
File Photo

13.05.2016 LISTEN

Yet again, another casualty has been recorded on the global media scene. The Independent Newspapers in the United Kingdom is about going all digital, thereby burying its print edition forever. At its peak, The Independent was churning out half a million daily prints and then it went down to an abysmal low of 50, 000 daily.

There are not enough people, Independent editor Amol Rajan wrote who are prepared to pay for printed news, especially during the week.

More Newspapers will disappear. Im worried about the future of Journalism, Simon Kelner, the former Editor in Chief of the Independent Newspaper said.

Press Gazette research estimates that roughly about 300 local newspapers in the UK have been closed in the past ten years.

Its amazing how digital is torpedoeing print from right, left and centre. The iconic Newsweek magazine went all digital few years ago.

Here in Nigeria, PM News and The News magazine have vanished from the newsstands and vamoosed into the digital space.

It is indeed a tough and rough time for print around the world.

Should media professionals be worried? I don't think so!

We must understand that change is constant. It is highly imperative that media professionals get on the digital train. No need to fight it, just embrace it.

Media professionals must wake up to the reality that their audience have migrated online. It therefore behoves on these professionals to see opportunity in this migration.

It wont be business as usual anymore. Media professionals must put on their thinking caps and take a dive into the digital space to mine the treasures available there.

From experience, Im certain that media professionals stand to make more money from the digital space than what was made during the golden era of print. Like I mentioned earlier, for this opportunity to be maximised, media professionals must put on their thinking caps and be creative. They must be ready to jettison old mind-sets.

What has made a particular newspaper the most read in Nigeria may not necessarily be applicable on the digital space.

Newspapers that will provide engaging, shorter, sharable and interesting contents online will win big and amass massive audiences.

Print may be distressed and on life-support. Junk may have taken up the digital space. But, in the end (and, very soon, too), only quality will matter.

Very soon, junk will give way to top quality on the digital space.

Newspapers that focus not merely on reporting events and breaking news, but go on to break down those complex figures to the understanding of the layman will win big. Thats why Data and Development Journalism will flourish in this digital age.

The future of the media is bright. Be encouraged, fellow Journalists!

Samuel O. Adeyemi is a Journalist and Certified Media Strategist. He writes from Lagos.
Robertsport (Liberia) (AFP) - When an empty oil tanker drifted onto a Liberian beach, it disturbed golden shores usually troubled only by baby crabs, and raised rumours of everything from an Islamist invasion to a ghost crew.

Robertsport is more usually known as a surfers' paradise, attracting beach bums from afar to its epic breaks and chilled nightlife.

But when visited by AFP journalists this week, the vessel was under police guard after episodes of attempted looting.

Authorities in Liberia are investigating the Panama-flagged tanker, named Tamaya 1, which drifted onto the shore on May 3, but for now its backstory is unknown.

"Citizens of Cape Mount noticed the presence of the ship for more than three days and could not see anyone coming out of it. That created security concerns, people even got panicked", said the superintendent of Grand Cape Mount County, Tenneh Kpadebah.

"Some youths went in and they discovered that no crew members were there and no one was in the vessel.

"I called security officials because this is a security matter, and they have deployed men around the vessel," she added.

The ship sits metres from the shore, painted red with Chinese characters imprinted on its side, with burnt sections visible on the walls of its control room and mast.

Sergeant Himie Merchant, who is part of the team guarding the ship, said his police support unit were called in after reports of looting.

- Rumours rife -

Officers arrested some of the looters, while others escaped, Merchant said. However it is not known what -- if anything -- was actually taken from the ship.

Still the rumour mill in the area was running at full capacity, said Merchant, who is seeking to play down fears among the local community of an elaborate terrorist plot by west African jihadist group Boko Haram.

"There is no security threat. Because (there is) news going to town saying that Boko Haram entered Cape Mount; but of course, it's not true."

Palm trees rustled, and waves lapped the shore as he spoke, but the idea of gunfire and attackers seemed very off.

On Friday, a security source confirmed to AFP that the vessel's lifeboat had been located 200 kilometres (125 miles) down the coast, spreading the mystery even further afield.

"The lifeboat of Tamaya 1 was seen floating on the ocean yesterday in Buchanan (a port city). No one was on board," the source said.
13.05.2016 LISTEN

THE MACHIAVELLIAN POLITICAL CROSS-DRESSER CALLED ASIEDU NKETIA

Sammy Awuku, the National Youth Organizer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has called for the immediate arrest of Asiedu Nketia, the General Secretary of the New Democratic Congress (NDC).

Awukus position stems from the following statement reportedly made by the NDCs General Secretary:

The very party people who will be calling on the Electorate Commission (EC) to remove names of aliens and minors from the register when the opportunity comes for registration to be done, these are the very parties who will go and pick aliens and line them up to have their name on the register in a bid to get advantage over each otherall political parties including NDC.

These statementsif indeed trueare deeply troubling in all of their manifestations of political implications.

There is, however, a tempting tendency to treat this subject matter dismissively as a conspiracy theory because one cannot imagine a prominently conscious leader of a major political organization in the country, and an incumbent one at that, bringing down the heavy hammer and gavel of self-indictment upon the head of his party and those in opposition without, possibly, his not having had intimate knowledge of or access to some high-profile incriminating evidence of sorts.

Evidently, Asiedu Nketia appears to know more about the inside workings of men and women involved in Ghanas underground economy of voter fraud than he was probably willing to reveal to the public.

And if this were indeed the case, what has prevented him from making this explosive information to the investigators at the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the EC?

Yet we cannot blame the NDC alone for this purported breach of the countrys electoral laws, as there is a high possibility that all the other parties might equally be guilty of the same crime(s) electoral breaches.

The idea that each of the political parties might want to gain some advantage over each other in the upcoming general elections could be the primary motivating factor instigating and feeding these widespread allegations of voter fraud. But we all know these serious allegations will go nowhere as has happened in many a situation, granted that incumbency advantage makes for easy owning and manipulating of the BNI.

And what about the Ghanaian parliament?

We better not take this trajectory there, the Ghanaian parliament, that is, since this institution is almost non-functional and non-functioning when it comes to its mandate of defending the public interest and the national interest.

What is more, the intrusive presence of executive dominance and incumbency advantage in the body politic of public diplomacy is such that it takes precedence over parliamentary assertiveness, prerogatives and privileges, thus potentially inactivating or undermining the constitutive jurisdiction of parliamentary assertivenessprimarily.

Worse of all, executive advantage and incumbency advantage also trump the collective wisdom of popular sovereignty, as it is forced onto the background of social and political irrelevance, and in effect, usurping or assuming the moral voice of popular sovereignty and rather, ironically, making it their own. In that case what should have been the moral conscience of the masses rather become a mere appendage to political opportunism as well as to parliamentary and executive dictatorship, with the masses moral conscience losing its commanding oversight of societal evil.

It is for this very reason and more that cross-dresser Asiedu Nketia, popularly known as General Mosquito, should have been compelled by the powers that be to provide additional information on the role of political parties, including the NDC, in registering minorsto all the appropriate authoritiesand creating unnecessary problems for the EC and Madam Charlotte Osei. Admittedly, this is just one effective way we can improve our sick democracyinformation sharing.

But, Asiedu Nketias unfair advantage, regarding the notion that all the political parties were allegedly involved in the scandal of registering minors and his other comment that, the NPP is in denial and playing ostrich are probably closer to the political truth than we are ready to admit. Yet, for Ghanaians to sit down on the fence and allow this sham two-party system to destroy the country beats our imagination. Here, listen to Rt. Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, the Chairman of the National Peace Council:

Ghana is bigger than any political party, so lets break our silence and speak against the registration of minors. Ghana doesnt belong to either the NDC or the NPP, it belongs to all

Of course, Rt. Rev. Prof. Asante could not have stated the case against the brutal dictatorship of this sham two-party system any clearer. What is more, there is so much evil being perpetrated by the leaderships of this two-party system that is, regrettably, ignored by the larger public. For instance, we have the questionable instance of the NDC allegedly putting up a US$20 million ultra-modern facility headquartered in Adabraka, a suburb in Accra, which Asiedu Nketia and others in the leadership of the party are refusing to tell the public how they came by that money.

Listen to Asiedu Nketia:

Its more expensive to rent an apartment than build a new officePer the calculations we made, we realized that it will be cheaper to build a new headquarters than spend huge sums on rentswe took this decision because the NDC has come to stay.

So, if we may ask: Why the initial denials by Asiedu Nketia, Anita De-Sooso, Yaw Boateng Gyan, and others that the NDC had nothing to do with the building?

On the other hand, we cannot make a categorical or authoritative statement on what to make of an allegation published in The New Statesman, a paper connected to the NPP and its flagbearer, Akufo-Addo, that the owner of the ultra-modern complex may have been Alfred Woyome, the man at the center of the countrys most scandalous judgment debt controversy!

Here is exactly what the paper reportedly claimed after having associated the Ahwois, Kojo Twum-Boafo, Alban Bagbinwith the complex in question:

Inside sources within the NDC, which the paper cannot independently verify, tell the paper that the construction work is allegedly a kickback gotten from the Chinese as a result of the NDCs growing relationship with the Chinese.

It is also categorically strange for Asiedu Nketia to tell the world he was not going to be forthcoming with the cost for the ultra-modern complex facility. No transparency and accountability to the publicin other words.

And yet the same public keeps voting for the same wicked, unimaginative politicians and for the clueless, visionless political partiesthe NPP and the NDC particularlyas though the country cannot offer a better alternative in the form of a third-party coalition.

Seriously, this should have been a serious question for the BNI and parliament to have taken up and fully investigated and, even if they had done what we are suggesting here, the outcome(s) of such a high-profile investigation would have been insidiously buried as all the other major scandalous controversies that have stalked this party to date.

This is how executive dominance and incumbency advantage contribute to the destruction of the country as well as to the further weakening of bureaucracy.

Both executive dominance and incumbency advantage, it turns out, have a way of usurping the jurisdiction of the BNI through the instruments of political patronage and outright bribery of its leadership.

Thus, the political economy of Asiedu Nketias undue advantage makes perfect sense in the scheme of political realism. Simply put, politics boils down to comparative advantage or undue advantage. The leadership of the NDC is taking full advantage of these concepts because it knows the leadership of the NPP will be doing likewise when it takes over the reins of power.

In fact, no one expresses this political sentiment better than Charles Wereko-Brobby, a Chief Policy Analyst at the Ghana Institute of Policy Options (GIPPO):

When people are in opposition, they see every action of the incumbent as tantamount of gaining undue advantage but when they get into power they forget that the rules of engagement have to be very tight so that they do not suffer unduly from the abuse of incumbency advantage

We have to have rules of engagement and people now in opposition are saying that we should have rules on what the president can do and cannot do. We dont have laws and the absence of laws create the opportunity for people in power to abuse it. I happen to have been one of the drafters of so far so very good in 2004 which was also produced using state funds.

I remember the NDC protested vehemently against that particular document. Now the NPP is shouting. But the very sensible view that is emerging is that, there should be laws and proper rules of engagement.



FINAL THOUGHTS

Ghanaweb has also reported on the following scandalous allegations (our emphasis):

Myself [Mathias Mokono Wilson, an ex-NDC accountant] and Asiedu Nketia went to the bank and withdrew money on behalf of the ECthere are a lot of cheques drawn on behalf of the EC which I dont have the receiptsIf I go, they will tell me that I have embezzled money. They used me as a scapegoat. When I finished issuing the checks then they fired

Where did this sensational story go? Did the accountant make those serious allegations to save his skin or to spite the NDC, Asiedu Nketia, Kofi Adam? What did parliament and the BNI make of this story? And how did Asiedu Nketia wiggle himself out of this sensational dragnet?

Nevertheless, the anorexic-looking cross-dresser Asiedu Nketia can sometimes be brutally, unrepentantly, and wickedly honest.

But guess what?

Ghana undoubtedly needs another non-partisan National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), to investigate and then prosecute all the political criminals in the NDC and the NPP, another good reason for the non-establishment parties to bury their differences, to coalitionize with each other, and to come together as a formidable bloc to displace our proverbial corrupt duopolistic leeches, the NDC and the NPP.

Yes, a non-partisan criminal prosecution of the hardened criminal elements in the NDC and the NPP is what we want. It is not exactly rocket science to figure out that the NDC and the NPP will not prosecute each others instinctive political criminals, all these because they both belong to the same amoral cloth of greedy bastards.

None of themwe repeatnone of them believes in the law of retaliation, the so-called Hammurabis Code or retributive justice, for they have never found a reason to force them to equate political equalization with political equality in terms of equitable re-distribution of national wealth and retributive justice. Perhaps, rather, they believe in this maxim, sometimes wrongly attributed to Mahatma Gandhi:

An eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth would lead to a world of the blind and toothless.

Of course, none of the political leaderships of the NDC and the NPP either wants to go blind or toothless. This is what our winner-takes-all schadenfrude duopoly simply boils down to!

CONCLUDING REMARKS

On the track Gospel Ghetto late rapper Tupac Shakur said the following:

Everyones ashamed to the youth cause the truth looks strange

And for me its reversed, we left them a world thats cursed, and it hurts

Cause any day theyll push the button and all good men like Malcolm X and Bobby Hutton died for nothing

Dont them let me get teary, the world looks dreary

Before we find world peace, we gotta find peace and end the war in the streets

Here, as elsewhere, Tupac was making a direct reference to society turning truth upside down to confuse the youth. The other interesting point he made which we cannot simply gloss over is that, this truth which society has succeeded in turning upside has the potential to render the hard-fought battles (and tireless efforts) which great men like Kwame Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, and Nelson Mandelawaged to free Africa from the yoke of colonialism and slavery, useless and pointless.

We bring up this interpretation in the light of impunity, anomie, and the magnitude of political corruption the country is engulfed in even as the elite politicians enrich themselves at the expense of the masses.

For instance, why no institution of state and/or any of its appendages would dare take on Asiedu Nketia, then a board member of the Bui Authority, and his dubious relationship with the Bui Dam Project beats our imagination.

It is as if the political morality question of conflict of interest does not matter in our body politic.

Also, his complete silence on how much the ultra-modern complex facility cost is another interesting case in point. No wonder a wealthy businessman associated with the NDC would donate an expensive building to the NDC, to be used as the headquarters by one of the regional branches of the party [NDC] and this never generated public outcry.

This author remembers a scandalous story told him by a prominent member of the NPP, that the elites [of the NPP] share national booties among themselves while largely ignoring their food soldiers, while the elites of the NDC make sure their foot soldiers get a fair share of the pie of national booties.

Strangely, and understandably, this NPP member would claim to like and love the NDC for this very reason. And the question is not that our politicians are not intelligent. They arecertainly. Except that the collective intelligence of this special breed of political animals functions so well in orchestrating political criminality, running down the society, stealing and lying.

And whether we like it or not, The Ghanaian duopoly has contributed to creating this dangerous breed of criminal masterminds. The point is that the NDC and the NPP, both of which represent the extreme polarities of Ghanas duopoly, are nothing more than spitting images of each other.

This duopoly is in effect a one-party system of professional thieving brigades, liberally given a 4- to 8-year mandate of continued cyclic plundering of the nations wealth for the benefit of a few.

Signing away our depletable wealth of national resourceson the cheapto multinational companies from without for lack of technocratic vision and transforming technology, as well as of pragmatic, prudent leadership, has remained the source of the countrys downfall and underdevelopment.

And both parties are guilty of these heinous crimes committed against and in the name of the state.

From the shady oil deal (E.O. Group) to the controversial Woyome judgment debt scandal, we can only say that these high political crimes committed against the state and its people on a daily basis represent a scandalous travesty of the callous, dangerous political mindset of the ruling elite.

And with the kleptomaniacal crony capitalism which the NDC calls social democracyAnd with the resource-rich Akan-ethnocracy and kleptomaniacal ethnic politics which the NPP calls free-market capitalismthis rich country is bound to remain in the grips of a vicious cycle of crushing poverty until

As an aside, though, this interesting political cross-dresser called Asiedu Nketia has a sharp, acidic tongue that has successfully managed to dissolve, even reduce serious, critical issues of enormous national significance to a public display of comic and teasing wisecracks, and in the process eventually disarming politicians and critics from the opposing camp, the NPP mostly.

The evil genius in the persons of Akufo-Addo and Asiedu Nketia is what is killing the country. Is it any wonder that NPPs Yaw Adomako Baafi would characterize Asiedu Nketia as possessed and arrogant wizard?

And how about Akua Donkors characterization of Akufo-Addo as being more dangerous than Gitmo 2?

Now, let us hear out Kennedy Agyapong too (our emphasis):

I will not sit here and blame only the NDCHe [Asiedu Nketia] has a point if he says all political parties register minors

Sammy Awuku should petition the appropriate authorities to arrest both Ken and Asiedu Nketia for interrogation. It is interesting how Ken catches Awuku, his party mate, in the act of lying. Hear him, the man Awuku, speak so confidently, so innocently, so childishly, and so angelically:

I want to say for the record that we [the NPP] do not bus in foreigners. Ghanaian elections are for Ghanaians and Ghanaians deserve the right to choose who their leaders should be It is clear that people in government are aiding foreigners to treat our constitution like a piece of trash...if it came from the mouth of an opposition activist, you would see the national security apparatus discerning heavily with the cohesive machinery of the state

REFERENCES

Ghanaweb. Sammy Awuku Calls For Asiedu Nketias Arrest. May 6, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Dont Blame EC For Bloated RegisterPolitical Parties Told. May 10, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Ill Not Disclose Cost of New NDC HeadquartersAsiedu Nketia. October 17, 2014.

Ghanaweb. Abuse Of Incumbency Claims Against Mahama FlawedTarzan. April 23, 2016.

The New Statesman. NDC Struggles To Find Owner For $20M Office. Courtesy of Ghanaweb. December 12, 2011.

Ghanaweb. NDC Pays EC GHC5.4M. February 12, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Exposed! Asiedu Nketia Sells Blocks To Bui Dam. February 17, 2011.

Ghanaweb. Asiedu Nketia Is An Arrogant Wizard. February 26, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Akufo-Addo More Dangerous Than Gitmo 2Akua Donkor. January 15, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Sammy Awuku Calls For Asiedu Nketia's Arrest. May 6, 2016.

Quote Investigator: Exploring The Origins of Quotations. An Eye For An Eye Will Make The Whole Blind: Mohandas Gandhi? Louis Fischer? Henry Powell Spring? Martin Luther King?
Washington (AFP) - The US government is ready to loosen a ban on arms exports to Libya, in a bid to help the country's fledgling unity government fight the Islamic State group, officials and diplomats have told AFP.

Under White House-backed plans, the United Nations would carve out exemptions to an embargo introduced by the Security Council in 2011, during Moamer Kadhafi's failed attempt to suppress a popular uprising.

"If the Libyan government prepares a detailed and coherent list of things that it wants to use to fight ISIL and responds to all the requirements of the exemption, I think that Council members are going to look very seriously at that request," a senior administration official told AFP.

"There is a very healthy desire inside of Libya to rid themselves of ISIL, and I think that is something we should be supporting and responding to," the official said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

Kadhafi's regime was deposed with the help of NATO airpower in 2011 and he was ultimately killed in October of that year, but the country has been in turmoil since.

Dozens of militia groups have carved up the country into virtual fiefdoms, and two rival governments have been formed.

Western nations and many Libyans have watched in horror as the jihadist IS group has emerged from the chaos to control a swathe of central Libya around Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

With its port and airport, there are fears the jihadists could use the Mediterranean city as a staging post for attacks on Europe.

They have already hit nearby oil installations, choking much-needed oil revenues.

The Pentagon earlier this year estimated that as many as 6,000 Islamic State fighters were in the country, with a standing call for foreigners to join them.

US President Barack Obama's administration and its European allies have been eager to help the government establish itself and take on the jihadists.

When asked earlier this year about his greatest mistake in office, Obama cited Libya: "Probably failing to plan for the day after what I think was the right thing to do in intervening in Libya."

But the West has had to avoid the risk of appearing to interfere and, in so doing, undermining the fragile government.

- 'What are your needs?' -

Officials in Washington, Rome and elsewhere have recently toned down talk of sending a contingent of troops to the country to train and assist Libyan fighters, instead waiting for the government to request help.

"All the talk about what we might do, or could do, it responds to the needs of the Libyan government. When we talk about training or we talk about equipment, we are having a conversation about 'what are your needs?'" said the US official.

US actions in Libya have been limited to strikes against a suspected Islamic State training camp and a suspect believed to be involved in deadly attacks in neighboring Tunisia.

The US has also covertly sent a small group of special forces to Libya to gather intelligence and liaise with some militias, according to The Washington Post.

Loosening the arms embargo will be discussed when US Secretary of State John Kerry meets with his counterparts from regional powers in Vienna on Monday.

But it is not yet clear what weapons Libya might request and diplomats warn the government may struggle to come to that meeting with a concrete request amid factional fighting.

The UN-backed Government of National Accord is still very much a work in progress, struggling to extend its writ across Tripoli and the country.

Many militias refuse to come under government control, including those under the command of powerful renegade general Khalifa Haftar.

Officials and independent observers say that Haftar has received substantial military support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, calling the strength and utility of the embargo into serious question.

Other militias have been linked to Al-Qaeda.

If the arms embargo is to be eased, officials and diplomats say Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj will have to find a force both willing to fall under government control and battle jihadists who have shown they will fight to the death.

IS fighters, including two suicide bombers, on Thursday killed four Libyan fighters and wounded 24 in their latest foray into territory controlled by the government.

Sensing an attack may come soon, jihadists have begun pushing toward the coastal town of Misrata.

Sarraj's government will also have to address concerns about foreign arms falling into the wrong hands or fueling militia rivalries.

"There is no unified chain of command, there are still factional armed forces that are still more focused on fighting each other than on fighting ISIS," said Frederic Wehrey, a Libya expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"The real danger is that these factional militias would use the arms against each other."

Meanwhile the government has taken small steps to take control of ministries and begin to eke out a truly national military.

Earlier this week the government announced the creation of a "Presidential Guard" to protect government buildings, border posts, vital installations and VIPs.

"It's incremental progress, but it is tangible," said the US official.
Law professor Ken Attafuah has expressed disappointment in the President for appearing to falter while answering a question as to if has taken a bribe.

The criminologist said the Presidents hesitating answers showed that he did not carry the conviction of truth-telling.

The President has been the subject of jokes on social media with transcripts of the BBC interview and the video, making rippling rounds on the internet.

The president had granted an interview Thursday after the UK summit on fighting global corruption.

After a few questions, BBC Focus on Africa presenter, Peter Okoche appeared to have knocked off the president after he asked him have you taken a bribe?.

The president did come round to answer that he has not taken a bribe.

Weighing in on the issue, the law professor Ken Attafuah said on Joy FMs Super Morning Show Friday, I thought that the president was doing well throughout the interview, I mean he was very natural until that question was posed

He said the presidents moment of disintegration was not good enough for a man noted for his communication skills.

Professor Ken Attafuah

He gave an indication of someone who was thinking of answering a question A simple yes or no straight away would have been clear Prof Ken Attafuah assessed.

The President before answering the question asked the interviewer for clarification. Did he mean him as President or as a human being?, the President wanted to know.

Professor Attafuah said throwing back of the questionwas completely unnecessary.

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com|[email protected]
13.05.2016 LISTEN

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. has announced financial results for the 12 months to March 31, 2016.

The company delivered increased full-year revenues and profitability. Rising demand for new products in North America, Western Europe and China offset the impact of negative foreign exchange movements and slowing or declining sales in emerging markets.

In a statement, Nissan says said operating profit rose more than 34% to 793.3 billion yen for fiscal-year 2015, representing a 6.5% margin on net revenues that reached 12.19 trillion yen for the period.

On a management pro-forma basis, which includes the proportionate consolidation of results from Nissans joint venture operation in China, net revenues increased to 13.4 trillion yen in fiscal 2015, up 7.7% year-on-year. Pro-forma operating profit rose by 30.2% to 935.5 billion yen compared with fiscal-2014, representing a profit margin of 7.0%.

Globally, Nissan sold 5.42 million vehicles in the period, a 2.0% rise year-on-year.

These solid results reflect the success of our continuing product offensive, particularly in the North American market, said Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive officer. Encouraging demand for new models, combined with continued cost efficiency, helped us withstand currency headwinds and volatile trading conditions in several emerging markets.

In the coming year, we will deliver further product innovation  particularly in autonomous-drive systems  and rising synergies from the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Looking ahead, we expect continued improvement in Nissans underlying performance as we focus on the demanding goals of the Power 88 mid-term plan. However, we have adopted a cautious outlook for the current fiscal year given continuing market and exchange rate volatility.

FY2016 Outlook

Nissan expects to sell 5.6 million units in fiscal 2016, up 3.3% and equivalent to global market share of 6.3%.

Recently-launched models including the Nissan Maxima, Altima, Titan pick-up truck, and Infiniti Q30 are expected to contribute to global sales growth in the coming year.

Based on Nissans solid outlook for unit sales and cautious view on foreign exchange rates, the company has filed fiscal year forecasts to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Calculated under the equity accounting method for our joint venture in China, the forecasts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017 are:

Nissan FY2016 Outlook  TSE report basis  China JV equity basis 1

Net revenue 11.8 trillion ($112.4 billion/98.3 billion) Operating profit 710.0 billion ($6.8 billion/5.9 billion) Ordinary profit 800.0 billion ($7.6 billion/6.7 billion) Net Income2 525.0 billion ($5.0 billion/4.4 billion)

Calculated on exchange rate of JPY 105/USD and JPY 120/EUR

Since the beginning of fiscal year 2013, Nissan has reported figures calculated under the equity method accounting for its joint venture with Dong Feng in China. Although net income reporting remains unchanged under this accounting method, the equity-accounting income statements no longer include Dong Feng-Nissan's results in revenues and operating profit.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande paid a lightning visit to restive Central African Republic on Friday for talks with its leaders while drawing down France's military presence.

Hollande's visit to the former French colony is sensitive because of accusations that French peacekeepers sexually abused children in the country.

There are currently three investigations under way into the accusations against the French troops.

"Today, Operation Sangaris comes to an end," Hollande said after meeting President Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in a peaceful vote in February seen as a step toward reconciliation after years of sectarian violence.

"I decided (to launch Sangaris) in December 2013 because chaos had unfortunately engulfed the Central African Republic and because massacres were being committed," he said.

The Sangaris military operation, launched to help quell inter-communal violence, is due to end in December this year, after a progressive draw-down.

From a peak of 2,000 troops at the height of the crisis, their number is down to 650, a French aide said. In due course the remaining French forces will join the UN's Minusca peacekeeping operation.

"Our troops are being called to other fronts," he said. "France still faces the threat of terrorism."

However, the leader vowed continued support for Bangui.

"France will always be there," said Hollande, who last visited the country -- one of the poorest on the planet -- in December 2013 and February 2014.

"I have returned now that the transition has succeeded, and stability restored," he said, pledging to ensure international support for the country's development.

Touadera meanwhile said his government would "rise to today's challenges, which are peace, security, national reconciliation and cleaning up the state's finances" in a country rife with corruption.

Hollande visited the flashpoint majority Muslim neighbourhood of PK-5, which was at the epicentre of the deadly fighting that pitted the mainly Christian anti-balaka militia against the Muslim Seleka rebels.

- 'No impunity' -

Hollande said that any French or UN soldiers in Central Africa found guilty of sexual abuse of minors would be held accountable.

"If anyone is found responsible, there will be no impunity," he said.

Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the mother of French photographer Camille Lepage -- who was killed in the Central African Republic in 2014 -- meanwhile urged Hollande to help uncover the circumstances of her death.

"We have agreed that justice must be had, we need to know," he responded.

Hollande is due to travel late Friday to Nigeria for a regional summit focused on fighting the jihadist group Boko Haram.

The summit will also be attended by the United States, Britain and the three neighbouring countries which have also been the target of attacks from the jihadists -- Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people since 2009, according to World Bank figures.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - North Korea has supplied pistols to the Democratic Republic of Congo that ended up in the hands of Congolese peacekeepers serving in the UN mission in the Central African Republic, according to a UN report.

A panel of experts "found that pistols with characteristics similar to those produced in DPRK were issued to certain members of the FARDC (armed forces), as well as to Congolese national police that were deployed to MINUSCA," the UN mission in the Central African Republic, said the report seen by AFP Friday.

Congolese soldiers and police said the arms were delivered in 2014 as part of a training program of the presidential guard and special police units carried out by some 30 North Korean instructors.

The same type of pistol is sold on the black market in Kinshasa, said the report.

North Korea is banned from selling weapons under UN sanctions.

The report also said Rwanda continues to train Burundian refugees with the goal of overthrowing President Pierre Nkurunziza.

Despite denials from Kigali, the support to Burundian insurgents continued in 2016, it said.

The experts confirmed allegations of involvement by Rwanda that were outlined in a previous report in February.

"Similar outside support continued through 2016," said the report. "This took the form of training, financing, and logistical support for Burundian combatants crossing from Rwanda to DRC."

The experts met Rwandan nationals who said they had been involved in the training of Burundian combatants or had been sent to the DR Congo to help support the armed Burundian opposition.

Contacted by the panel, the Rwandan government denied the allegations of involvement and said it was not aware of the recruitment of Burundian refugees in a Rwandan camp.

Burundi has been in turmoil since Nkurunziza announced plans in April 2015 to run for a third term, which he went on to win.

More than 400 people have been killed and 240,000 have fled the country in a conflict that the United Nations fears could slide into ethnic warfare, similar to the conflict that led to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
13.05.2016 LISTEN

By Lydia Asamoah, GNA

Accra, May 11, GNA - Ghana Employers' Association (GEA), has held it 2nd Women in Human Resource (HR) Conference, with a call on professional women to take every opportunity that comes their way to positively impact the society.

'Women do have a critical role to play at all levels of business, from the entry level, all the way to the top. They need to adopt integrated approach and they should walk through their talk,' Mrs Freda Yahana Duplan, Managing Director of Nestle Ghana Limited said at the opening of the conference.

She said because women have much resilience to succeed in managing their homes and children, they should put the same zeal in their professional work, combine with strong work ethics and influence with integrity to enable them give out more to their employers.

On the theme: 'Women in HR: Creating Opportunities, Raising Aspirations,' the conference was attended by top female HR professionals drawn from various sectors including banking, manufacturing, private security firms, mining companies and educational institutions.

It afforded participants the opportunity to share ideas on the peculiar challenges facing women in HR in the country and ways of addressing them.

The conference, further sought to provide a platform for women HR practitioners to share experiences and practices that would help them enhance their career prospects, optimise their professional potentials, advancement in the corporate world and improve productivity at the workplace.

Mrs Duplan urged professional women to plan their schedules properly while 'outsourcing some of their chores', especially at home, so they could have extra time to rest, and make themselves look good and perform better on the job market.

'Women also need to engage their husbands and make them supportive. You need to communicate, share and negotiate with your partners, as you work together with them.'

'Professional women should not bring their emotions at play in their professional duties, they should be well prepared, and have their facts ready to confront any challenges. There is no need to cry at the work place,' Mrs Duplan advised.

She also advised employers to provide flexible working hours for women to work effectively.

She said: 'As we do in Nestle, we have flexible working conditions for women, especially nursing mothers have four months maternity leave, plus additional two months leave without pay to take care of their new born babies.

'When the mothers resume after six months we have a special place for them on the work premises where they could nurse their babies while working.'

Ms Florence A Larbi, Managing Director of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, who is also an Executive Council Member of the GEA reiterated the need for pregnant mothers to have more time to nurture their babies upon delivery.

She said the GEA is in the process of developing a paper on the need to extend maternity leave from the statutory three months to four months to Parliament to enable the law makers legislate it and make it a law.

'We want to start from there and then push along for better working conditions for professional womenwhile we need to work efficiently to justify our salaries, we also need to take care of the children to develop their emotional capabilities for the job market in the future,' Ms Larbi said.

She urged employers to make provisions for nursing mothers to work from home through their laptops, phones, and video conferencing.

'All these can help women to be productive everywhere they are,' she said.

Statistics indicates that in the US and Europe, HR is totally dominated by women. The Forbes List of the Top 10 Best-Paying Jobs for Women in 2011 revealed that 71 per cent of HR managers are women.

In Ghana, many women have contributed to the advancement of the HR profession. At the same time, many women are occupying various junior, middle and senior HR management positions.

GEA started the women in HR Conference in 2015 in acknowledgement of women's contribution to the field and to bring together practitioners to share ideas and find ways to address the peculiar challenges of women in the profession.

Other speakers at the conference included Mrs Irene Stella Agyenim-Boateng of Professional HR Consult, Ms Antoinette Arkoh of Nestle Ghana and Mrs Eva Richter-Addo of Zenith Bank Ghana Limited.

GNA
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business IPR policy is a good move by the government: Experts No pharma company is taking up patent issues with the WTO as they are looking to sort out the issue through treaties, says Kewal Handa, Former MD of Pfizer.
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business Cabinet approves national IPR policy, DIPP to be nodal agency The Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) will be the nodal department to co-ordinate, guide and oversee implementation and future development of IPRs in India.
India has taken a crucial first step to speeding up its insolvency regime by passing the country's first national bankruptcy law. The breakthrough is expected to help India tackle its mounting bad debt problem after two of the country's largest lenders provided unprecedented guidance on non-performing loans last month.

India's central bank governor has said there is no chance of a "Lehman moment" in India. Speaking to CNBC, Raghuram Rajan, the governor of Reserve Bank of India said while there is no banking crisis in India, it is important that banks clean up bad assets.

"There is absolutely no chance we will have a 'Lehman' moment," Rajan said, referring to the collapse of the US bank that triggered a chain reaction which led to the 2008 financial crisis.

"It is about ensuring that the assets are cleaned up and investors have a good idea of the balance sheets of the bank and that process is under way and some banks have cleaned up much faster than the pace that we had set for them," he added.

He said the Indian economy is a recovering economy and while there are bad news, overall the country is getting stronger.

"I think we are a recovering economy and when you talk about structural reforms, we have seen a playout in the past few days. For example we have a bankruptcy bill that was legislated last week and we also have a monetary policy committee that lays the framework that was also legislated last week. I think structural reforms are happening, are on their way and you see more green shoots."

India has taken a crucial first step to speeding up its insolvency regime by passing the country's first national bankruptcy law. The breakthrough is expected to help India tackle its mounting bad debt problem after two of the country's largest lenders provided unprecedented guidance on non-performing loans last month.

The country's bad loans problems have been estimated to be much bigger than New Zealand's USD 170 billion economy. Earlier this week an analyst from India Ratings and Research, a credit ratings agency and a unit of Fitch Ratings told Reuters that about Rs 13 lakh crore (USD 195 billion) of bad loans are already stressed.

In their first-ever report, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank revealed the depth of the problem. According to Axis Bank, 225 billion rupees of its loans is on a 'watch list.' The bank expects to put 60 percent of those to default in two years. ICICI Bank, one of India's top private lenders said about 525 billion rupees of its loans has been put on watch. These loans were made to sectors such as steel and power.

The true extent of these bad loans was laid to rest after data from Axis Bank and ICICI hit the wires but the long-term impact of this continues to baffle both investors and analysts who compare the mounting loans problem to that of the US subprime crisis. But Rajan thinks they are different.

"Ours is not a retail problem. It is a wholesale problem. There are big projectsand it is not because of corrupted lending or corruption. It was because the world changed."

He explained that these projects were set up with fairly high levels of leverage when things looked good, but then the economy slowed. "What we need to do is restructure the debt for some of these projects, put them back on track. It is not that there are acres of real estate that are unoccupiable. It's actually a power plant that can produce power and India is a growing economy that needs power. We just need to make sure the debt levels are appropriate."

Rajan has given the banks a deadline of March 2017 to fully disclose and provide for bad debt. However, investors are concerned that the central bank governor won't be around to see the end of this. With his tenure coming to an end in September this year, there is speculation if he will run for the second time.

Rajan assumed office in September 2013 in the midst of a crisis for the Indian economy. An allegedly corrupt government, high levels of current account deficit and over dependence on external factors such as the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy had been plaguing the economy.

India was one of the countries to be grouped under the notorious "Fragile Five" along with Indonesia, Turkey, Russia and Brazil after the Fed's decision to roll back its bond-buying program hit emerging markets. However, analysts have pointed out that Rajan's economic reforms and optimism surrounding the election of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled India out of the weak emerging economies to one of the fastest growing today.
business Nifty best case 2016 target at 9K; see 15% EPS growth: Nomura Early in the year when the Nifty was trading at about 7,200, Nomura put out a note saying it expects Nifty to rise 15 to 25 percent in a year (8,200-9,000). With the benchmark having risen about 8 percent already, Prabhat Awasthi, Head of Equities and India MD, Nomura, feels confident that the targets will be taken out.
Despite all the odds, and calls for property collapse, house prices continue to go from strength to strength in the US, the UK and Australia.

In last weeks Money Morning, I covered the US economy. Today well cross the Atlantic to see whats happening in the UK.

Australians really should take note of what happens abroad, since the US leads the UK, which in turn leads Australia in and out of the real estate cycle.

Back in February, 2015, it emerged hedge funds had been taking out short positions against stocks focused on the London housing market.

The funds were shorting Londons largest house builder, Berkeley Group Holdings [LON:BKG], and UK property website Zoopla Property Group PLC [LON:ZPLA], in the belief that the London residential property market had peaked and was headed for a downturn.

First heres the chart of Londons largest house builder, the Berkeley Group.

The Berkeley Group weekly chart

Source: Market Analyst

Click to enlarge

You can see that the long term trend has pretty much been up all the way to early 2016. Its low percentage trading, against the trend.

Heres the chart of property website Zoopla Property, another of the companies mentioned being shorted in early 2015

Zoopla Property weekly chart

Source: Market Analyst

Click to enlarge

The hedge funds got the trade completely wrong. Zoopla Property is now into all-time new highs. Thats a stock you want to be long on. Its breaking over all prior tops, the trend is clearly up.

Here is where the Cycles, Trends and Forecasts knowledge of the real estate cycle is a real advantage to your trading on the share market. The share price of both these stocks went up, and this is precisely what the real estate cycle predicted would happen.

We are led to believe that, because fund managers control so much money, they must know what they are doing.

However, when we bring up the charts we learn that hedge fund managers are just taking guesses on what they think is going on. They clearly have no knowledge of the real estate cycle, or they would not take a short position against 200 years of repeating history.

House prices in England and Wales have experienced the fastest year-on-year rise in 17 months. Values are up 8.9% since April 2015, and nearly 50% compared to 2009.

In London, house prices rose 11% year on year in April.

Average property prices in the capital have now topped 600,000. In 2009 the average house price in London stood at 321,917.

Meanwhile prices have hit record highs in nine of the 10 regions in England and Wales. This is the first time this has happened in the same month since the height of the boom in 2007.

House prices can only rise like this if there is some confidence in the economy and the expectation that youll still be in a job this time next year. The overall trend on UK unemployment is down, coming off highs of 8.4% in October 2011, to be currently around 5.4%.

Hedge funds making the wrong calls against property is a consistent pattern we have followed for years. Every other week some fund manager is calling a property collapse. No one comes out and suggests what might push property prices higher. The extraordinary infrastructure spending and technological innovation are a couple factors that quickly come to mind. It all adds to the value of the land.

Despite all the odds, and calls for property collapse, house prices continue to go from strength to strength in the US, the UK and Australia. There is plenty more strength to go.

Overlay the structure of the real estate cycle over everything you see and read. Combine that with some basic chart reading, and youll be in the top 1% of investment knowledge. Nobody else does this.

Knowing the real estate cycle is your secret weapon in markets. It has been repeating for more than 200 years now. To make it work for you and time it all to your advantage, go here .

Regards,

Terence Duffy

For Money Morning
The ASX 200 is trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16 times. P/E ratio is just the market price of a share divided by earnings per share (EPS).

Only seven years ago, the S&P/ASX 200 was trading at lows not seen since 2004. Over the course of a two year period (late 2007-early 2009), the market dropped more than half. From its peak of 6754 points, the market tumbled to 3344 in a relatively short time.

Source: Investing.com

Before the drop, the ASX was overvalued. This also coupled with the global meltdown that originated out of the US at the time. However, after what seemed like the end of the financial world, the ASX recovered remarkably quickly. Just six years later, it was again nearing the 6000-point level.

Source: Investing.com

But did it recover a bit too quickly? During the crisis, it didnt seem to end. However, the effect for some of us didnt last long enough, and I say that with the greatest respect to those people who lost their homes. However, some had it even worse, losing their entire retirement funds.

And these people are still living in the aftermath of what took place seven years ago. Theyve had to take on a second job. Many have been driven out of retirement just to survive. People were left bloodied along the waybut the market seems to have shrugged things off without a care.

Now, in 2016, the doomsday voices are getting louder. A market catastrophe is heading our way, according to some. An article in the Australian Financial Review this morning highlighted Deutsche Banks view on the Aussie market. The article opened as follows:

Global uncertainty is clouding the Australian share markets ability to hang on to its high valuation, but the domestic economy is on track and investors should take bouts of weakness as buying opportunities in selected value stocks.

The ASX 200 is trading at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 16 times. P/E ratio is just the market price of a share divided by earnings per share (EPS).

Where does the forward come in? Using the expected value of EPS, rather than the current value, creates this forward-looking metric. And according to Deutsche Bank, the ASX 200 has been trading at this elevated level for the past two years. The bank now states that this is fair value, or in laymens terms, the new normal.

Source: IBES, Deutsche Bank

But instead of taking Deutsche Banks comments at face value, lets look at what value investors have to say  in particular from esteemed investors like Warren Buffett.

Before we do, why do we want to see what value investors are doing?

Value investors are concerned with buying undervalued stocks for the long term. It means that, if value investors are more active in the market, its a good sign that stocks are undervalued. Even the whole market could be undervalued under this scenario. Yet if the opposite is true, then many stocks, or even the whole market, could be overvalued.

Now lets see what Buffett thinks of the Australian market. Back in 1999, Buffett predicted that the share market would drop simply by using the eponymous Buffett Ratio.

The share market did in fact drop. It was the eve of the tech boom, and markets became overinflated.

OK, so whats this ratio?

The Buffett Ratio measures the total market value of all publicly-traded companies as a percentage of a countrys business sector. So in order to calculate this ratio, all we need is the market cap of all Aussie stocks, plus Australias gross domestic product (GDP) figures.

To keep things simple, think of it as a price-to-sales ratio for the whole of Australia. The average for the Buffett Ratio is typically around 100%.

To demonstrate its assumptions, if we look at the market in 2007, the Australian Buffett Ratio reached a peak of 151%.

Keep this in mind; the market capitalisation of the ASX is $1.62 trillion. This includes all indices within Australia. Meanwhile, the latest Australian GDP figures are around $1.59 trillion.

Therefore, the current Buffett Ratio for Australia is around 101.88%.

So while it might be arguable that the Aussie market is overvalued, its probably not overvalued by much. Instead of listening to the noise in the market, listen to value investors.

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

PS: If you want to lay down a little money on the hottest corner of the ASX right nowbut you dont know your way around the small-cap sectorthis report is for you. Get access now (free).
The chronicle of a life split between urban Manhattan and rural Montana.
May 13, 2016 Terrorists Commit War Crimes, U.S. State Department: "We continue to have dialogue with them." Russia asked the UN to blacklist Ahrar al Sham and Jaish al Islam as terrorist groups. The U.S. rejected that. "We continue to have dialogue with them," said the State Department. A day later Ahrar al Sham joins al-Qaeda in breaking the ceasefire in Syria and in assaulting and ethnically cleansing a village loyal to the Syrian government. Meanwhile Amnesty International accuses both groups of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, including by use of chemical weapons, and of other war crimes. May 11 Russia's bid to blacklist Syrian rebel groups at UN blocked by US, others The U.S. and other countries at the United Nations Wednesday blocked Russias bid to blacklist two rebel groups in Syria saying it would undermine the war-torn countrys halt in fighting. Reuters reported that Britain, the U.S., France and Ukraine blocked the bid to blacklist Jaish al-Islam [(Army of Islam)] and Ahrar al-Sham. Moscow claimed the groups should have been excluded because of their ties to militant groups including ISIS and Al Qaeda. May 11 - State Department Daily Press Briefing QUESTION: -- on this issue? Both Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam  I mean, they have exactly the same bylaw, almost the same bylaws. They dont have a constitution. They have what they call internal document. They espouse the same dogma, they believe the same thing, they practice the same practices as Jabhat al-Nusrah and as al-Qaida. Why shouldnt they be designated as a terrorist organization? MS TRUDEAU: So we constantly review information. We are constantly assessing these groups. At this stage our position is that these groups are members of the cessation of hostilities. We continue to have dialogue with them. If our position changes, well make that assessment then. But we are in constant review of this. May 12 - Syria's al-Qaida branch seizes central Alawite village DAMASCUS, Syria  Syria's al-Qaida branch and allied fighters from ultraconservative rebel factions on Wednesday seized a village of President Bashar Assad's minority Alawite sect in central Syria, following fierce clashes with government troops.

...

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group tracking the conflict, said families disappeared from Zaara after the militants overran the village. Along with Syria's al-Qaida branch known as the Nusra Front, other hard-line factions that took part in the raid on Zaara included Ahrar al-Sham and Faylaq al-Rahman. May 13 - Syria: Armed opposition groups committing war crimes in Aleppo city Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud district of Aleppo city have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate attacks that have struck civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques, killing and injuring civilians and displaying a shameful disregard for human life, said Amnesty International.

...

Two of the armed groups attacking YPG forces in Sheikh Maqsoud - Ahrar al Sham and Army of Islam - have sent their own representatives to the UN-brokered negotiations over the Syria conflict in Geneva. The other armed groups have approved other delegates to represent them at the talks. The international community must not turn a blind eye to the mounting evidence of war crimes by armed opposition groups in Syria. [...], said Magdalena Mughrabi [interim Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.] Posted by b on May 13, 2016 at 15:17 UTC | Permalink Comments
The big surprise of the Brexit debate for me so far has been the remarkable lack of reaction in the markets to the prospect of a vote to leave. Perhaps some of the warnings have got a little too extreme  World War Three, anyone?  or perhaps the markets are confident that we will vote to stay.

Carney got a little carried away with threats of a recession if we leave the EU

Nonetheless, this is, for investors, turning into the Scottish referendum mark II and I remain convinced that it is right to stay fully invested and hang the consequences.

Another possible reason is that perhaps life really will go on if we leave. I had this thought again when I read the AGM update from housebuilder Bovis Homes (BVS), which said that no discernible impact has been felt from the impending referendum so far.

Nor, when you think about it, is it likely to be in this sector. Even if all the EU citizens went back home and there wasnt a corresponding mass return of expatriate Brits, we would still be short of houses. Bovis says that there will be more completions in the second half, after the Brexit vote, than in the first half, just as happened last year.

Bovis shares have unjustifiably lost nearly a third of their value from a peak of 12 last August and, just as they looked to be on the rise again, they slipped back on the update. When they fell even more heavily the following day I decided to nip in and buy a stake.

My only reluctance was that I already own shares in Barratt Developments (BDEV) and Taylor Wimpey (TW.) and was a little reluctant too overload my portfolio with housebuilders. The three combined stakes form about 15% of my current portfolio but only about 6% of the actual outlay, which shows how much shares in my first two investments have soared.

I was even more pleased when Barratt issued a similarly encouraging update. Barratt shares have also come well off the top but, as with Bovis, this is only because they had raced ahead too far. The business is fundamentally strong.

Finally, along came Galliford Try (GFRD), which is more into construction than Bovis or Barratt but I still regard it as being primarily a housebuilder. Like Bovis, it has seen its shares lose a third of their value over the past nine months, a serious overreaction.

Galliford is still working off the last remaining legacy construction contracts won by underbidding on price to produce poor or non-existent profit margins. Otherwise all three strands of the business are growing well.

I intend to remain overweight in housebuilders. This is the best defensive sector in the Brexit debate in my opinion.

Mark Carney Wades in on Brexit Debate

On the subject of Brexit, I suspect that the intervention of Mark Carney will prove a defining moment. Just as David Cameron was looking increasingly desperate  evoking Commonwealth war graves was a real sick-bag moment  up pops the Governor of the Bank of England to add a more measured tone to the dire warnings.

Admittedly even Carney got a little carried away with threats of a recession if we leave the EU but he is seen as independent and knowing something about finance and the economy so his warnings are likely to carry weight with the general public, who are unaware that the banks record on forecasting leaves a lot to be desired.

Even as he spoke, Carney was revising down previous growth forecasts, a reminder of how difficult it is to see more than a few months ahead.

Carneys warnings sent shares lower. I took the opposite view. His warnings make a vote to remain in the EU more likely and therefore, if you believe the Brexit doomsday scenario, make the end of the world less likely. Another reason to stay invested.

Rodney Hobson is a long-term investor commenting on his own portfolio; his comments are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice.
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Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process.
The global luxury housing market lost some of its sheen last year as financial markets became unsettled and many wealthy buyers began to look for less expensive homes.



``The return of realism,'' is how Dan Conn, chief executive of Christie's International Real Estate, described the high-end market that stretches from San Francisco to Singapore.



Sales in a sector whose average home prices start at $2.2 million slowed in 2015, increasing by 8 per cent, half its 2014 pace. The decline most likely reflects stability rather than weakness, according to a report released Thursday by Christie's.



Properties in London and Hong Kong are sitting on the market longer. On average, homes sold for prices 19 per cent below the original asking price, compared with 14 per cent below the asking price in 2014. The number of luxury-home sales in the often sizzling Manhattan market dipped 5 per cent last year. Falling oil prices led sales in Dubai to tumble 25 per cent.



``You can't have massive double-digit growth year after year after year,'' Conn said. ``In some ways, there is a limit.''



But a luxury market that experts say is normalizing still looks otherworldly when compared with conventional real estate. Some homes include cigar rooms with specialized ventilation and wine collections displayed in climate-controlled glass walls, for example, instead of in cellars.



Around the world, a single square foot in a luxury home varies dramatically _ from $200 in Monterrey, Mexico, to $4,500 in Monaco. The highest price paid for a home last year was $194 million for the Barker Road Estate in Hong Kong, which, judging by pictures, was still something of a fixer-upper.



Not all luxury markets reflected the consequences of weaker global economic growth. The cheaper euro helped to boost pied-a-terre purchases in Paris.



Yet in an emerging trend, the luxury market last year reached beyond the traditional hubs of global commerce and posh resort towns. Places with humbler reputations enjoyed sharp increases in high-end sales, a pattern likely to continue through 2016, Conn said.



Christie's reported a 40 per cent jump in the sales of luxury properties in Portland, Oregon, for example. And Auckland, New Zealand, experienced a 63 per cent surge in luxury home-buying.



Atlanta, supported by an expanding film industry, reported a 25 per cent increase, while an improving auto industry boosted luxury home sales in the Detroit area by 17 per cent.

Baby boomers looking to cash out of the Vancouver housing market, which has attracted Chinese expatriates, moved to nearby Victoria, which enjoyed a 45 per cent increase in luxury sales.



Other brokerages see similar phenomena at the top-tier of housing. During the first three months of 2016, Redfin reported that luxury sales prices dropped 1.1 per cent from the same period a year ago.



Average luxury home prices in Miami Beach, Florida, plunged 13.7 per cent to $5.7 million, according to the Seattle-based brokerage. Homes for Boston-area Brahmins fell 11.8 per cent to $3.2 million. San Francisco tech gurus saw the average luxury sales price dip 4.7 per cent to $4.4 million, while the Washington, D.C., area slid 4.2 per cent to $2 million.



The main culprit appears to be a volatile stock market. The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index plummeted until mid-February, only to undergo a jagged recovery such that the net worth of millionaires and billionaires has been in near constant flux. The turbulence has left luxury buyers wary about spending lavishly on housing, said Nela Richardson, Redfin's chief economist.



``I'm not saying there is a recession among the 1 per cent, but if you look across all luxury goods you're seeing softness,'' Richardson said. ``I think that is attributable to the stock market.''



This doesn't mean an absolute retreat from luxury housing.



In Florida, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood have registered price gains after Miami became overheated. San Francisco's recent excesses have spilled across the bay to the more affordable Oakland, where average luxury home prices climbed nearly 50 per cent in the past year to $2.4 million.



``There are only so many tech billionaires who can buy in San Francisco,'' Richardson said.





(Canadian Press)


As Australian financial institutions crack down on lending to foreign buyers it has been revealed that Chinese interest in Australian property skyrocketed during 2015.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.comMelbourne 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.
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Local hula group inspires global connections When the pandemic ushered everyone indoors, Moorpark resident and longtime dancer Lisa Rauschenberger decided to get people back outsidesocially distanced, of course. She began to hold weekly hula lessons at...

Teens face high stakes in the Oval Office A press room befitting Americas commander in chief was set up inside the Reagan Library in Simi Valley. Journalists and others gathered inside. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you all...

Tigers soon to prowl in new enclosure The brand-new Bengal tiger exhibit at Americas Teaching Zoo at Moorpark College is nearly complete, and some other animals hangouts are getting a makeover, too. Mara Rodriguez, zoo development coordinator,...
When Texas Republicans assemble for their state convention Thursday, they will debate and vote on whether Texas should secede from the United States.

Theres almost no chance Texas Republicans will actually vote in favor of seceding - not least because most of the party wants nothing to do with this - but the fact were even mentioning secession and the Texas GOP convention in the same sentence suggests that the once-fringe movement has become a priority for at least some conservative grass-roots Texans.

To be sure, that seems to be a relatively small group. The Texas secession movement says 22 out of the 270 county GOP conventions passed some kind of independence resolution this spring. A party official said hed be surprised if that were the case, and the Houston Chronicle was able to confirm only 10 counties. But 10 is a lot more than the one county that passed an independence resolution in 2012.

Texas Republicans say these independence resolutions are just a handful of tens of thousands of various resolutions to be considered at their convention. But it does seem as if the secession movement is growing, or at least organizing, and may have become too big for party officials to ignore. Sure enough, the Houston Chronicle reported that on Wednesday, a committee that decides what issues will appear at the convention voted overwhelmingly to put Texas secession up for debate.

This is pretty big. This is really pretty huge, Tanya Robertson, a GOP official who has advocated for a secession vote, told the Houston Chronicle.

Given secession is actually coming up for a vote among Texas Republican party insiders, heres a rundown of what you should know about it:

First, some history:

Lets boil down Texas history in two paragraphs*:

In 1836, a scrappy Texas won its independence from Mexico in a bloody war (Remember the Alamo?). The newly minted Republic of Texas experimented with running itself as its own country before going broke and voting to join the United States.

In 1861, Texans voted to secede and join the Confederacy during the Civil War. When the war was over, the Supreme Court decided - in a case that involved none other than Texas, albeit on the non-secession side - that states cant secede unilaterally and any attempt to do so will be absolutely null.

Heres what modern-day secessionism looks like:

As Texass earlier history makes clear, a variant of the Texas secession movement has refused to die. It has ebbed and flowed in Texas for the 150 years since. The modern secession movement revved up again in the 1990s under a controversial leader, Richard Lance McLaren, who took a more violent tack to get his point across - including kidnapping. He is currently serving a 99-year prison sentence related to that incident.

The Texas Nationalist Movement took over from there and has advocated a more political approach. It has attempted to get language advocating for secession on GOP primary ballots, and every four years, its tried to prod a skeptical and reluctant Texas Republican Party to debate secession at its state convention.

So far, things seem to be going according to plan:

At a 2009 rally, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry, R, hinted at secession (albeit tongue in cheek; he later made clear he doesnt support the idea). A subsequent 2009 Rasmussen poll found 1 in 3 Texans think their state has the right to secede, but if it were put to a vote, 75 percent of voters would decide to stay with the United States.

Tidbits here and there since Perrys remark hint at a growing movement. After the 2012 presidential elections, the Texas Nationalist Movement reported that its membership had gone up 400 percent and its Web traffic was up 900 percent. Bumper stickers and signs advocating for secession began popping up in the state.

A 2012 WhiteHouse.gov petition to secede earned more than 125,000 signatures and a response from the White House. (The response: No.) Last year, the group held speaking tours to try to promote its cause and get a nonbinding resolution on the GOP primary ballot.

Today, the movement says it has advocates in most Texas counties and 200,000 members statewide (although those numbers are hard to verify and are just a small percentage of the states population of 26.9 million).

Which brings us to 2016, when at least 10 Republican county conventions - there are 254 counties in Texas, but some have two conventions - passed some kind of item expressing support for Texas independence or at least for debating it.

Despite Perrys joke, most Texas Republican leaders want nothing to do with this:

The reasons are fairly obvious, but well spell them out anyway: Texas Republicans think that the secession movement is unrealistic and unconstitutional and that it opens them up to Democratic attacks that theyre wasting their time on extreme ideas instead of actually governing the state. (Republicans dominate the state: In the 2014 general election, Republicans swept all 15 statewide races on the ballot and maintained their 16-year winning streak. They also have firm control of both houses of the Texas legislature and all of the states governing boards.)

Texas Republican leaders would much rather ignore this pesky secession movement. But in recent years theyve been forced to deal with it.

This fall, the group tried to get 75,000 signatures to get a secession-related resolution on Marchs GOP primary ballot. It read: If the federal government continues to disregard the constitution and the sovereignty of the State of Texas, the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.

In December, the state party took matters into its own hands and voted down the idea. The movement doesnt even have Republican in its name, one state party official said. Another said he was sorry we are even having the conversation.

In return, the secessionists immediately laid the blame at the partys feet: They are of the same mindset as the bureaucrats in Washington, the group said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, probably didnt help quell the movement when he called for a convention of states this January. This is an idea that pops up among Republicans from time to time - Marco Rubios a fan - to help states regain some of the control from the federal government.

Lubbock County GOP chair Carl Tepper told the Houston Chronicle his county approved a resolution advocating for secession if such a convention fails to fix Texass problems with the federal government.

So whats going to happen at the state party convention?

The Houston Chronicles Dylan Baddour wrote that the fact that at least 10 counties are coming to the state convention supporting independence resolutions makes it difficult for party leaders to sweep this under the rug. Its possible there will be some kind of a vote on the floor.

But if it comes to that, party leaders will probably try to keep the vote as quiet and dispense with it as quickly as possible. It almost certainly wont pass, and it almost certainly wont become part of the partys official platform.

Still, its impressive the secession movement has made it this far. Then again, its had 150-odd years to practice pitching this.
Someone should sue the President for ...
Sacramento, CA  Elections officials say that, with a week and a half left until the May 23 deadline more than 70 percent of the states eligible citizens have now registered to vote.

Thursday, Secretary of State Alex Padilla released the second of three reports from his office that gauge voter participation. These latest figures reflect registration activity as of April 8, 60 days ahead of the June 7 primary election.

Downtrend In Republican Registrations

Padillas latest report, compared to April 2012 data, shows that registered Republican voters, at roughly 4.8 million  over 27 percent of the voter total  are down in number by nearly three percent. Democrats, who now make up about 7.5 million  nearly 44 percent of the total  have incrementally increased. About 4.1 million  or 24 percent of voters thus far  have registered with no party preference, which is up more than two percent.

The American Independent Party, which shows over 474,000 supporters, gained three percent in this latest report over the same time back in 2012. All other parties continue to show support in fractional numbers, with Libertarian, Peace and Freedom and Miscellaneous trending slightly up; the Green Party on the downtick.

Compared to the April 2012 report, the county with the biggest percentage of voter gains this time around is Central Valley neighbor San Joaquin County, where registrations are up by nearly 12 percent.

500,000+ Voters Use Online Registration This Past Month

Padilla also reports that, since April 6, his office counted over a half-million transactions by voters on the states online registration website. These include new registrations as well as updates to existing ones. Nearly 53 percent were by young voters in the 17-35 age range.

Interestingly, Padilla points out that the online activities seemed to spike in the days immediately before and after the New York primary on April 19; Pennsylvania-Maryland-Rhode Island-Delaware-Connecticut primaries April 26; and the Indiana primary on May 3.

Further urging the surge, Padilla states, Whether youve recently turned 18, become a new US citizen, or just want to vote for the first timeregister today. You can even register from your smart phone at Register-To-Vote-dot-C-A-dot-gov. He adds that it is quick and easy to make your registration current by providing an updated address, name or party affiliation change online.
Sacramento, CA  While backing Democratic Governor Jerry Browns Revised May budget that calls for more rainy day funding to prepare for the next economic downturn, Mother Lode Republicans say the fiscal focus must remain on the drought, water, fires and roads.

Assemblyman Frank Bigelow called for reining in spending and paying down debt, adding, The Legislature must focus on critical priorities that benefit all Californians like education, new water storage and lifting Californians out of poverty. It is also imperative the administration and the legislature work together to properly manage our forests to decrease the threat of wildfire.

Other republicans continue to chastise Brown for his continued push for funding of the $64 billion bullet train linking Northern and Southern California.

State Senator Tom Berryhill acknowledges, He was spot on in recognizing there is a finite pot of money and that a healthy reserve will help us weather the next recession. We will see if he rejects the massive spending projects the legislature is sure to send him over the coming months. Berryhill adds that he is disappointed that roads and bridges were not made a priority in the budget once again.

More details regarding the Browns revised budget can be found in an earlier story by clicking here.
An SUV with two people inside crashed into the Halifax River Friday morning, according to the Daytona Beach Fire Department.

An SUV traveling on Orange Ave. lost control and crashed into the Halifax River

2 people, a man and a woman, were inside

The couple swam to nearby docks; sustained minor injuries

The crash happened around 7:30 a.m. near the Fire Station 1 located on 301 South Beach Street.

Crews from the fire station heard the crash and went outside to help the couple inside the vehicle, the fire department said.

The SUV lost control while driving west on Orange Avenue and hit a light pole on the south side of the street before landing in the water, officials said.

The driver of the SUV was able to climb out of the window, while the passenger got out through the back door.

According to officials, the couple was able to swim to the nearby docks where they were assisted by emergency personnel.

The man and the woman sustained minor injuries but refused transportation to a medical facility.

A wrecker company was called to remove the vehicle from the water.
Leaked documents have revealed internal guidelines on how Facebook creates the "Trending" section of their website.

Documents detail how Facebook 'Trending' items are picked

Facebook has team of news editors who decide, along with algorithm

The social media giant came under fire this week after an anonymous employee accused the company of suppressing conservative viewpoints.

Facebooks Trending section along the side of their page is intended to show users what topics are making news and what Internet users are talking about.

But what determines what items appear there?

Many thought it was based on what topics were being talked about the most and most recently on Facebook. However, leaked documents accessed by The Guardian show how the Trending section is created  and theres a lot of human judgment involved in the process.

The documents show that Facebook has a team of news editors that can inject stories into its trending topics module, and those editors also have the power to blacklist topics for removal.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to his social media service to address the issue and to reassure Facebook users that it does not permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or the suppression of political perspectives.

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LUBBOCK -- Workforce Solutions South Plains will host a Youth Career Fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, June 1, at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. The event is free and open to the public, although the focus will be on youth between the ages of 14-24.

There will be a variety of employers looking to hire, training providers available to discuss career options, and special guest speakers NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba and rocket scientist Olympia LePoint.
The Senate passed a $960 million budget fix Thursday aimed at closing a looming deficit in the coming fiscal year.



The 21-15 party-line vote during a special session means that proposal, which includes $821 million in spending cuts to the previously approved budget, awaits a vote by the House Friday.



Democrats said the budget proposal, negotiated with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy just prior to the end of the regular legislative session, puts state spending at its lowest level since 2011.



I got into politics in 2008, so I have never actually seen the good times, but this has certainly by far been the most difficult yet, said Sen. Dante Bartolomeo, D-Meriden. Weve had to make really difficult decisions and all cuts were on the table.



Democrats also said the budget includes structural changes that help the state close even larger deficits projected for the foreseeable future.



Republicans disagreed with the characterization, saying the budget doesnt include any policy changes that alter the way future legislatures will craft their budgets.



I would argue that cuts are not structural change, said Senate Minority Len Fasano, R-North Haven. Its a way of saying I dont have enough money to pay for that item, therefore Im not going to pay for that item. I would argue thats not structural change.



Republicans proposed a series of amendments during more than three hours of debate that would have forced lawmakers to define and adopt a spending cap, required legislative approval for state employee union contracts, and raided the Citizens Election Fund to increase aid for social services.



In all, Republicans proposed six amendments, all of which failed in votes.



Republicans also said the failure to adopt the policy changes they sought means the budget fix doesnt help the state address future deficits.



We now are in a position where the facts cannot be avoided any longer, but we still are not facing them to the extent that we must to turn the state around and to help our economy recover, Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, said Thursday.



Democrats, though, say the complaint ignores a number of changes in the spending plan, beginning with the way the budget is put together.



Language in separate legislation to implement the budget would also prevent the legislatures nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis from projecting deficits based on assumptions on the cost to continue providing the current level of services.



Advocates for the so-called current services method say it allows lawmakers to see what it would cost to continue state government in its current form.



Malloy said that ending current service projections is a structural change that forces projections and budget proposals based on what the state can afford to spend, instead of continuing to increase spending on autopilot.



This is a critical, structural reform that changes how we will do business in the future, and its another step towards making the long-term reforms that we need to implement to be successful both now and down the road, Malloy said in a statement Thursday morning.



Malloy also expressed support for the legislature to adopt a spending cap  something residents put into the state constitution more than 20 years ago  and legislative approval for state labor contracts.



Democratic lawmakers said the budget includes structural changes even without those proposals, listing a reduction of the state workforce and changes to nonunion employee benefits as examples.



The Democrats budget accepts Malloys proposed $255 million in labor savings, which Malloy has said will be achieved by shedding 2,500 state jobs through retirements, attrition and layoffs.



OFA has said the cuts produce savings going forward, reducing projected budget deficits in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 by more than 40 percent. OFA has previously said the state is on course for deficits exceeding $2 billion in each year.



The remaining $140 million in changes to next years budget come in the form of new revenue  largely fund transfers and update assumptions. It includes no tax or fee increases.



Republicans also attacked the cuts made by Democrats, saying they fall too hard on municipalities, hospitals, and social service providers.



Cuts include $43 million to hospitals, a figure that doesnt include the impact on federal reimbursements, as well as $8.7 million in grants for mental health and addiction services and $8.5 million intended for a 1 percent pay raise for private service providers.



The proposal also calls for $106.4 million in cuts for municipal aid compared to the originally approved budget. Markley said the budget fix means the legislature would simply pass our problems onto others.



Bartolomeo, though, said the budget separates hospital funding into its own line item, a move that limits the amount any governor can cut in future rescissions.



She also said lawmakers tried to mitigate cuts whenever possible, including finding ways to add municipal aid back in and restoring funding for social services compared with some of Malloys proposals.



What we as legislators have continued to hear is they want us to make cuts to the budget and live within our means, but nobody wants us to make cuts to their program, and thats really difficult, Bartolomeo said.



The Senate was also expected Thursday night to vote on legislation that would eliminate the usage of bail for defendants charged solely with misdemeanors unless a judge determine they pose a safety risk.



Additionally, the bill would gradually raise the age of the juvenile justice system to 20.



msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 twitter: @reporter_savino






Gov. Dannel P. Malloy expressed confidence today that lawmakers will adopt his criminal justice reform package despite the Senates decision not to vote on the bill early Friday morning.



Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven, said shortly after midnight that Democrats decided not to engage in a lengthy debate during Thursdays special session amid concerns that the bill would not pass in the House.



We didnt get the same level of assurance from them on that bill that we did on the budget, he said, referring to the House Democratic caucus.



Looney estimated the bill would have elicited four hours or more of debate, and members of his own caucus want to know for sure the House would approve the bill before they subject themselves to that kind of ordeal.



Senate Republicans filed 16 amendments to potentially introduce as part of the debate.



Malloy told reporters around 10 a.m. Friday that his staff believes House Democrats do, in fact, have enough votes to approve his proposed criminal justice reforms



The governor chalked up the Senates decision to the fact that hours were getting late, nerves were getting frayed.



Malloys bill would gradually lift the age of the states juvenile justice system to 20 for most offenses, allowing young adults to have their criminal records shielded from public viewing.



It would also eliminate the issuance of a monetary bail for defendants charged solely with misdemeanors and require judges to offer a 10 percent cash only option for bail set on felony charges.



Exceptions can occur when judges determine the defendant poses a risk to themselves, another individual, or the general public.



Malloy said the bill is part of a broader series of changes that have helped drive a drop in the states crime rate, which reached a 48 year low last year.



The states prison population and recidivism rates have also steadily declined.



What weve shown is smart criminal policies trump...stupid or dumb criminal policies, Malloy said.



The bill introduced as part of Thursdays special session included revisions from Malloys original proposal, including making it easier to transfer Class A felonies to adult court. In addition, a judge could transfer most Class B felonies out of the juvenile justice system.



Malloy said hed be willing to make further modifications to get broader support for the bill.



If Ive proven anything this legislative session, its that Im more than happy to compromise to reach a final product, and Im also more than happy to lead to reach a final product, he said.



Sen. Eric D. Coleman, D-Bloomfield, said he wasnt as open to further compromises, particularly those offered by lawmakers who still wont support the bill.



I think theres been all the effort that was reasonably made to reach some sort of compromise, said Coleman, who co-chairs the legislatures Judiciary Committee. I dont have any confidence that therell be any kind of compromise. The Senate Republicans have taken a caucus position against the bill, which I think is very short sided.



Should the House adopt Malloys proposal today, Coleman and Looney both said they expect the Senate to return for a vote early next week.



msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 twitter: @reporter_savino






HARTFORD  A Connecticut man who spent 48 years on the lam after escaping from a work camp in Georgia is in poor health and will ask officials to commute the rest of his 17-year sentence because returning him to prison would amount to a death sentence, his lawyer told The Associated Press on Friday.



Robert Stackowitz, 71, was arrested Monday at his home in rural Sherman, after officials processing his Social Security application discovered a warrant for his arrest.



Imprisoned on a robbery conviction, he escaped in 1968 from a prison work camp in Carrolton, Georgia. Hes now detained on $75,000 bail pending an extradition hearing June 6.



Stackowitzs lawyer, Norman Pattis, said his client suffers from heart failure, bladder cancer, diabetes and other ailments.



Hes in poor health and this is effectively a death sentence, Pattis said.



Pattis said he will ask the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles next week to commute Stackowitzs sentence, as well as pardon him for any crimes related to his escape. Pattis arguments include that Stackowitz has spent the past 48 years living a law-abiding life in Connecticut and is fully rehabilitated.



After 50 years of lawful behavior and living as a good citizen, wed like to think hes paid his debt to society, Pattis said. Frankly, why law enforcement would care about this man at this point is a mystery to me.



The Pardons and Paroles Board will review Stackowitzs case upon his return to Georgia, board spokesman Steve Hayes wrote in an email to the AP on Friday.



The board will consider all information, including the circumstances of his arrest, conviction, escape and his conduct in the 48 years since his escape, Hayes wrote.



Pattis also provided previously undisclosed details of Stackowitzs life before the robbery and on the lam, including stints as a high school auto shop teacher, Ford dealership mechanic and boat repairman.



Pattis gave the following account:



Stackowitz grew up in Bridgeport and did modeling as a child. He later got married and had a daughter. He divorced at age 22, which broke his heart and prompted him to hit the road traveling for a while.



Stackowitz ended up in Georgia in 1966, where he met two other men who asked him to be the getaway driver for a home burglary in Henry County, Pattis said, but the homeowner was there, and the burglary turned into a home invasion robbery. Pattis said no one was injured.



All three men were arrested and sentenced to prison.



While in prison, officials learned of Stackowitzs mechanic skills and allowed him to tune up the wardens car and work on school buses at a facility next to the prison camp, Pattis said. It was at the bus facility where he escaped from custody.



Stackowitz, apparently with enough cash to buy a plane ticket, went straight to an airport and flew back to Connecticut. He went on to teach automotive class at Henry Abbott Technical High School in Danbury and worked at a few Ford dealerships, Pattis said.



He eventually settled in Sherman, a small town in western Connecticut along the New York border where he repaired boats at his home. In Sherman, he went by the alias Bob Gordon, but some people also knew him as Bob Stackowitz, Pattis said.



Stackowitz never remarried, but lived for several years with a woman who later died of cancer, Pattis said.



This is a great guy who made horrible mistakes as a young man, Pattis said. He would freely admit that what he did was wrong. My hope is that Georgia officials will be inspired by a realistic view of justice.







Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.






WALLINGFORD  As both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and IndyCar Series hit their stride this season, two local men are joining the racing circuits.



Greg Myerson and his company, World Record Striper Company, have agreed to partner up with Premium Motorsports to sponsor the No. 55 car for the next three Sprint Cup races.



Premium Motorsports approached Myerson almost a year ago after he appeared on ABCs Shark Tank  where he struck a deal with Mark Cuban for 33 percent of his company.



When they first called I was excited but there wasnt anything I could do, Myerson said. A year later things were a lot better and we were able to get other sponsors, its just a matter of coming up with more money.



Myerson, a lifelong NASCAR fan, said the plan is to make it a long-term sponsorship.



I am meeting with Premium owner Jay Robinson and we are going to discuss possible licensing deals to keep the sponsorship going, Myerson said.



World Record Striper Company will sponsor the No. 55 car at the AAA 400 Drive for Autism on Sunday at the Dover International Speedway and then in the NASCAR All-Star race on May 21st and the Coca-Cola 600 on May 29, both at Charlotte Motor Speedway.



The No. 55 car, which will be driven by Reed Sorenson, is painted two shades of blue with the World Record Striper Company logo on the hood, the trunk and the back sides of the car.



There is also a striped bass on the back side tires.



I designed everything, Myerson said.



Sorenson has been racing on and off in NASCAR since 2005 and has registered five top-five finishes in his career.



Myerson has never attended a NASCAR race in person, but watches regularly.



I get to push the car out of the garage and be in the pits and garage, he said.



He will also be setting up a World Record Striper Company booth to sell products.



In July 2015, the Rev. Will Marotti, of New Life Church, formed Marotti Racing and less than a year later will be racing at the Indianapolis 500 on May 29th.



Marotti Racing partnered with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Marotti himself will be on the timing stand with four or five other team members in the pit for the 100th showing of one of the worlds most famous races.



To break in at 100th race is really a dream come true, Marotti said Thursday from Indianapolis.



Marotti knew getting to the Indianapolis 500 in the teams first year was a long shot.



We needed to get sponsor and bring money to the table, that was the goal for this year, Marotti said. An Indy owner told us we hit the lottery to be able to pull it off this year.



The partnership with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and team owner Sam Schmidt almost didnt happen. Marotti and another team were in talks about a partnership, which didnt pan out.



Hes a wonderful person, great mentor, teacher and hes really been a blessing to us, Marotti said of Schmidt.



Schmidt was a driver himself and was injured in a car accident during a practice at the Walt Disney World Speedway before the 2000 racing season.



The accident left Schmidt a quadriplegic, but that didnt stop him from starting the Schmidt Peterson team in 2001.



Marotti has been in Indianapolis preparing from the race, but comes home as often as he can to spend time with his family.



This wont be Marottis first time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.



He has gone to the race eight times in person and has listened to the race ever since 1969.



My first race I went to was in 1982, Marotti said.



I was so excited to see my hero Mario Andretti and before the green flag even dropped Mario was taken out by a rookie and didnt even finish a lap.



Veteran driver Oriol Servia will be behind the wheel for the No. 77 car. The Spaniard has raced in seven Indy 500s and finished as high as 4th place in 2012.



ppaguaga@record-journal.com 203-317-2235 @PetePaguaga on Twitter






What in the heck is that? was the first thought that came to mind when Grace Muldoon brought a bucket with a really weird looking fish in it at the Annual Daffodil Childrens Fishing Derby at Hubbard Park.



The first thing I thought of was a fish with some sort of disease that took away most of its scales.



Then, when I got a better look at it, I realized that I was looking at a mirror carp.



It was my first ever look at a mirror carp, and it struck me as odd to find it in Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park (NO, it was not named after Mirror Lake). Ive been fishing and watching folks fishing at Mirror Lake for a good 60 years now and have never seen a mirror carp caught there.



I have been aware of their existence, but have never seen one caught here in Connecticut. However, Mike Beauchene, Supervising Fisheries Biologist with DEEP Inland Fisheries, says they are not all that uncommon and are considered eligible when it comes to recording record carp.



I contacted Iain Sorrell, a well known carp fishermen here in Connecticut as well as abroad, and he told me, Carp genetics are such that they will produce occasional mirror carp even though the population is all common carp.



Taking it a step further, I checked out mirror carp on Wikipedia and got this for an answer:



Mirror carp are a type of fish, commonly found in Europe. The name mirror carp originates from their scales resemblance to mirrors. They can grow in excess of 60 pounds.



The difference between mirror carp and its wild ancestor, the common carp, is both genetic and visual. Biologically they are similar. Common carp have an even scale pattern, whereas mirrors have irregular and patchy scaling, making many fish unique and at times even possible to identify individual fish on sight.



This has lead to most carp in the UK over 40 pounds being nicknamed.



This lack of scales is widely believed to have been bred in by monks in order to make the fish easier to prepare for the table.



The current British record (as of Dec. 13, 2009) is a carp known as Two Tone due to its coloration, caught from Conningbrook Lakes, Ashford, Kent and weighing 67 pounds, 14 ounces. Two Tone was found dead in his lake on Aug. 14, 2010.



The current world record as of June 2012 stands at 101 pounds, 4 ounces, caught from Aqua Lake in Hungary by Roman Hanke.



Over the years I have really taken an interest in carp fishing, even though I do not fish for them as much as I would like to. However, I do notice quite a number of area carp fishermen using Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park to do their carp fishing. They handle the carp they catch very gently and return them back to the water unharmed.



Because of my interest in carp fishing, I discovered a book sold by the American Fisheries Society called Carp In North America, authored by Edwin L. Cooper. It was first printed in 1987 and can be purchased from the American Fisheries Society, 5410 Grosvener Lane, MD 20814 for $22. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in carp fishing.



For years, carp in Connecticut were looked at as trash fish, not even worthy of the time and effort it would take to catch them. However, over the years, they have morphed into a much sought-after fish because they are so thrilling to catch.



Just imagine catching a lunker carp like the CT state record carp caught by Michael Hudak in the Connecticut River in 2012 on freshwater tackle. The carp tipped the scales at 43 pounds,12 ounces.



Records are made to be broken and I firmly believe that there are larger carp waiting to be caught here in Connecticut, with the Connecticut River and Mirror Lake being a possible location for such a catch.



My barber, Glenn Agnew of the Village Barber Shop in South Meriden, is an ardent carp fisherman and he thinks that Hanover Pond in South Meriden holds the new record. Only time will tell.



In Europe, carp fishing has been recognized as a sport for more years than I can count. It is really great to see that the sport of carp fishing is growing in leaps and bounds here in Connecticut. I cant wait to see where and when the new state record for carp is hit.



DAddario fishing derby



Any time an outdoor event is held, you can count on one thing: You are at the mercy of Mother Nature and whatever kind of weather she wants to give you.



Such was the case of this years Carl DAddario Childrens Fishing Derby sponsored by the City of Meriden & The Meriden Rod & Gun Club.



Last year, mild weather brought out a record number of children to fish Mirror Lake in Hubbard Park. This year, with the promise of unsettled weather, with rain and cooler temperatures in the forecast, the outlook was ominous at best.



I usually arrive a bit earlier than the rest of the gang to make sure things are going as planned and, as I turned into the Hubbard Park, the amount of cars taking up the available parking places hit me like a slap in the face.



There were also two benefit races going on at the same time. However, a phone call to Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation, Chris Bourdon, was all it took to get things squared away. Mike Rohde was there running one of the events and was very helpful in getting the parking problem fixed and all of the events went on as planned  in the rain.



Just to show you how important a chance to fish is in the lives of some families, adults with children began to show up to register the kids even with the rain coming down pretty good.



About 8:30, Inland Fisheries showed up as promised with about 300 trout for the excited kids to stock into Mirror Lake before the 10 a.m. start. The children in attendance had a ball stocking the trout. Having seen the trout being put into Mirror Lake only intensified their fishing efforts.



Surprisingly, the trout were a little slow in attacking the bait offering of the 45 kids in attendance, but given a little time to get used to their new surroundings, the trout started to show up at the weighing table to be checked in.



Also on hand representing the Meriden Rod & Gun Club were those two World Famous hotdog chefs, Ray Guest and Jim Dobensky, serving up hot dogs and cold drinks for all of the participants. Rumor has it they learned their trade while serving in the Meriden Fire Department before retiring.



Bicycles were awarded to the children in each class with the largest fish. Every one of the participants came away with a prize of some sort, plus a deeper appreciation for the joy of fishing.



About 40 fish, including trout, yellow perch and sunfish, were weighed in for the contest. Bait for the event was supplied by Fishin Factory of Southington.



Daffodil fishing derby



The 13th Annual Daffodil Childrens Fishing Derby held on April 23 at Mirror Lake was the best in years, according to Chris Bourdon, Assistant Director of Parks & Recreation.



Bourdon said 71 boys and girls participated, representing 18 different communities in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A total of 49 fish were caught, breaking the previous record of 20.



The prize for biggest fish went to Grace Muldoon for the mirror carp she caught. Jocelyn Tkacz took the honors for the most fish caught.



Nine different children caught multiple fish during the derby, including my friend Ashley Donahue, who caught a perch and largemouth bass.



Bourdon thanked Lunker City for donating fishing lures. He also thanked Ray and Ryan Thayer and Rich Kliewen for lending a hand in the event.



Plum Island lures



Representatives from Plum Island Swim Baits, the new striped bass lure that is causing so much excitement, will be at the Fishin Factory in Southington this Saturday, May 14 from 9 a.m. to noon. Stop in and check their new lures out.



St. Jude archery shoot



The New Haven Raccoon Club hold its annual St. Jude 3-D Archery Shoot this Sunday, May15 from 7 a..m. noon.



The event will feature a novelty shoot across the club pond. Breakfast will be available for the early risers.



The New Haven Raccoon Club is located on Route 17 in Durham. All proceeds from the shoot go to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.



QRWA canoe race



The Quinnipiac Downriver Classic Canoe & Kayak Race is the longest running race in Connecticut.



This years event, the 36th annual, begins at the DOT parking lot on Route 322 along the Southington/Cheshire line and ends five miles downstream at Red Bridge in South Meriden.



Registration is at the starting line from 9-10:30 a.m. Entry fee is $18 per paddler. Canoe rentals are free.



Contact Dan Pelletier at 860-754-8702.



Thats it gang, gotta run, See ya and God Bless America and watch over our troops wherever they may be.










Certainly a large percentage of teenagers must be bemused to see politicians arguing about which public restroom transgender people should use, or whether gays should be allowed to marry.



The younger generation is not focused on such divisive issues, and poll after poll bears this out.



Just take a look at American high schools. Its prom season now, and across the country, gay students are dancing the night away with their significant other, and transgender teens are routinely named prom kings or queens by classmates.



When prom is a bad experience for LGBT students, most often, its adults who are to blame.



Unfortunately, such stories abound.



In April, school administrators at Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wisconsin, told a transgender high school junior he either had to step down from prom court, or run for prom queen because he wasnt born a male.



Amid pressure from the student body, the school district eventually reversed course.



Meanwhile, earlier this month, a student at Catholic high school Bishop McDevitt in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was kicked out of her prom for wearing a tuxedo. The junior, who is gay, said she received a last-minute email telling her the suit went against the schools dress code.



The teenager was subsequently invited to attend prom, with a date, at nearby William Penn Senior High School. The principal there, Brandon Carter, said he extended the invite because We do embrace all.



Thankfully, the vast majority of schools make prom a welcoming event for all attendees. And Maloney High School in Meriden is on that list.



The Record-Journal reports that, recently, a petition urging the school district to allow a gay male senior at Maloney to wear a dress to the upcoming prom garnered a large amount of support.



School Superintendent Mark Benigni has pointed out that Maloney students are allowed to wear what they wish to prom, as long as its formal attire.



Thats a reasonable rule, one all high schools would be wise to follow.



Heres hoping that prom night 2016 is a magical occasion for kids. All of them.






A job well done



Editor:



In January of 2013 The Coalition for a Better Wallingford went before the Town Council beginning the process of alerting, and educating the community about the opiate/heroin epidemic that was just beginning to take a greater toll on our townspeople. At that meeting the Council asked, how can we help? One of the first initiatives recommended was to have a safe medication drop box program at the Wallingford Police Department.



Two years of opportunity passed without any progress. Then in March of 2015, Wallingford welcomed a new police chief, William Wright and a new deputy chief, Marc Mikulski. Wallingfords new Chief announced that his police force would be available every day to take back any unused or unwanted medications at the counter in the lobby of police headquarters. He also made it clear that no information needed to be given unless it was given voluntarily.



Forward to April 30 2016s National Takeback Day. This year thousands of police departments including Wallingford collected 447 tons in one day. In Connecticut alone the 60 safe medication drop box programs over the year of 2015 took in a staggering 23,000 pounds. These medications safely taken in and disposed of would not enter our waterways and would not contribute to misuse and addiction.



With our lawmakers focused on the epidemic it was announced another 11 safe drop boxes will be installed at state trooper barracks across the state.



So how has Wallingfords counter program worked? I am happy to report that our Wallingford PD collected 548 pounds in the last 12 months. This total on a monthly basis exceeds the average for the 60 safe drop box programs. Chief Wright, Deputy Chief Mikulski and the whole department deserve our praise for a job well done. As a community the work needs to continue.



Larry Morgenstein, Wallingford



Best interests



Editor:



The state of CT is spending thousands of dollars on welfare payments and services on Syrian refugees while at the same time Gov. Malloy is terminating thousands of state employees.



This may be a noble gesture but the governors main priority is to protect the interests of Connecticut residents. On another matter, the states of Kansas and Maine have passed laws requiring able bodied adults receiving food stamps to participate in Workfare programs. In Maine, able bodied adults receiving food stamps plunged by 80 percent from 13,332 recipients in Dec. 2014 to 2678 in March 2015. In Kansas, the caseload dropped by 75 percent. Kansas had been spending $5.5 million dollars per month and it now spends $1.2 million monthly. Connecticut is in a financial mess.



To the Governor, and the Democratic and Republican leaders, the time is now to suspend Political Correctness. All decisions should be based on the best interests of Connecticut taxpayers.



Ralph J. Esposito, Meriden






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In an age when zombies, violence, soapy dramas and boisterous sitcoms rule, its comforting to let a few hours of thoughtful, moody and altogether masterful television slow down life a bit.

Wallanders final season on PBS delivers such an experience. In some ways, its like sinking under a blanket on a gloomy day and spending quiet time with a friend whose absorbing stories captivate you.

Of course, bear in mind that this particular mystery series, inspired by the novels of Henning Mankell, also can leave a grim residue. Its subject matter is murder and mayhem, and theres a bleakness about the Swedish landscape that gets under your skin.

The fourth and final season of Wallander premiered May 8. If you missed the first story, The White Lioness, it can be found online at pbs.org. The subsequent two, airing this week and next and featuring empathetic and reliably thorough inspector Kurt Wallander at their center, are more than worth your attention.

Kenneth Branagh, who has portrayed the Swedish cop with engaging realism since 2008, feels the atmospheric and complex series has been a gift to him.

At a recent PBS press session, Branagh, who also is an executive producer on the series, described it as a very satisfying meal that you take a while to sort of digest.

There also was the ritual of going to Sweden to shoot Wallander, which helped him get into the mood of his character.

I found it magical, he said, a very, very, very special time.

Viewers also may find themselves mesmerized by the dusky scenery captured so dramatically by Wallanders cinematographers: Shivery beaches, stark aerial views of roads, the melancholy sounds of geese in the night.

The stories, filled with painful secrets and gritty homicides, are chilling as well.

In A Lesson in Love (8 tonight), Wallander finds a womans knife-slashed body in the woods outside her home. He initially suspects members of a motorcycle gang, who are hot-tempered and had reason to seek vengeance on the lady. When the victims daughter is nowhere to be found, the detective fears for her life as well.

In The Troubled Man (8 p.m. May 22), the series crowning story, Wallander is urged by daughter Linda to draw on his police instincts to find her father-in-law. Wallander suspects the retired naval officers disappearance has something to do with his obsession with a decades-old submarine mystery. When he comes upon someone elses shocking death, Wallander is more determined than ever to solve what turns out to be his last case.

As always, its Wallander, the man and detective, who keeps us most riveted throughout. Branagh indicated the character isnt easy to play, but thats what he loves about him.

(Hes) incapable of any sort of small talk or phoniness, he said. Hes almost too intense for everything  life, his job, etc.

Portraying him was especially challenging in season four. Wallanders most formidable antagonist here is not someone he is chasing, but something that is chasing him: Alzheimers disease.

He discovers slowly but startlingly, at the age of 55, that he, like his dad before him, is beginning what Branagh called a journey into a certain kind of darkness and isolation.

In tackling the portrayal, the actor said, you try and be as honest and true and unfussy about it as someone like Kurt Wallander would be.

As someone who isnt used to asking for aid, Wallander keeps his diagnosis from his daughter and colleagues as long as possible.

I was listening and talking to a lot of people specifically about the ways in which people who are dealing with dementia either hide from themselves or certainly hide from their loved ones how serious the condition may be, Branagh said.

It helped to have such a sensitive writer  Peter Harness, who also penned the third season of Wallander and several episodes of Doctor Who  at the helm of both stories, Branagh said.

However, its Branagh wholl be remembered most in this poignant farewell. His portrayal of a man forced to let go of not only the methodical job he was so good at, but eventually life itself, is heartbreaking.

This Emmy-winning actors interpretation of the diseases earlier symptoms  forgetfulness, dizziness, catatonic-like stares  as well as its more advanced manifestations  flailing wildly out of frustration and paranoia, even scaring people close to you  were hauntingly familiar. I saw something similar happen to my mom.

Still, as Wallander walks the beach at the end, his caring daughter and beloved granddaughter not far behind, were left strangely warmed.

Just moments now, Dad, he tells an image hes conjured up of his late father (David Warner). They dont join up.  My life doesnt join up. I cant remember.

Someone else will remember, his dad replies, remember for you.

Jeanne Jakles column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she writes online at mySA.com/Jakle. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net.
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Yard House is now open at 849 E. Commerce St. in The Shops at Rivercenter.

It features 130 tap handles that include 44 regional craft beer offerings from 25 Texas breweries.
(Bloomberg)  Pfizer Inc., the U.S.'s biggest drugmaker, introduced a new policy designed to restrict sales of seven of its drugs that have been used in lethal injections at prisons across the U.S., saying it strongly objects to the use of its medicines for the purpose of capital punishment.

The company's new distribution system will limit sales to specific wholesalers, distributors and direct purchasers, who must then pledge not to resell the drugs to correctional institutions for use in executions. Any government purchasing groups must certify that the medicines they buy are for their own use, for medically prescribed patient care, and won't be sold or shared with any others.
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Billy Calzada

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San Antonio is set to gain an area code in less than 18 months, forcing telephone customers to use 10-digit dialing for local calls.

San Antonios the last large city in Texas to go through this process, after Austin, Dallas and Houston, said Jason Haas, attorney for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, at a local meeting Thursday to explain the change.
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A man already arrested on other warrants was linked by San Antonio Police Department investigators to the death of a man who was found with multiple gunshot wounds in February.

Matthew Fontenot, 22, was charged with murder Thursday in the shooting death of 27-year-old Antwine Boyd, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. Fontenots bail was set at $100,000.

Boyd was found Feb. 21 at an apartment complex at 4830 Ray Bon Drive, where police said EMS spent 30 minutes attempting to revive him.

Witnesses told investigators that Fontenont and Boyd were having problems with one another.

Moments before the shooting, Fontenot was walking around the complex asking people if they had seen Boyd because he was going to kill him, the affidavits states.

Detectives noted they were led to Fontenot after witnesses told them Fontenot was going by the street name Black.

U.S. Marshals arrested Fontenot on outstanding felony and misdemeanor warrants on April 12.

During an interview with SAPD detectives, Fontenot admitted to knowing Boyd and that he was at the scene at the time of Boyds death, but that denied any involvement in the shooting.

An acquaintance of Fontenots, also in jail, told investigators that he gave Fontenot the gun the day of the shooting. Fontenot called his friend asking for a handgun because he was afraid someone was trying to get him, detectives said.

The friend tried to convince Fontenot to leave the complex, but he told his friend it was his hood and he was not going anywhere, the affidavit states.

Hours after giving Fontenot the gun, the friend told police he called him on the phone saying he shot Boyd and that he needed to be picked up from the complex. The friend attempted to pick him up, but there were too many cops at the complex, according to the affidavit.

Detectives said several days after the shooting, Fontenot gave the gun to his friend and told him to get rid of it.

Fontenot was still in jail as of Thursday evening, having been held previously on both the warrants and a charge of possession of a controlled substance.

jbeltran@express-news.net

Twitter: @JBfromSA
A 38-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault Thursday in the killing of Ishmael Mohammed Jr., also known as 'Junior the Wendy's Guy,' at the University of Texas at Austin, according to a release from the Austin Police Department.

Nikolas Ray Eller, who was already in jail on unrelated charges, is being held on a $150,000 bond in the Travis County Jail.
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SAN ANTONIO  Judson High School is asking students to return yearbooks featuring a former teacher of the year accused of encouraging teenage boys to get naked and perform sexual acts on each other.

RELATED: Former San Antonio-area teacher charged again after 2nd alleged victim comes forward

San Antonio police arrested Jared Anderson, 28, on March 17 on charges of indecency with a child and sexual performance of a child.

School officials were alerted to Anderson's presence in the 2016 yearbook after a teacher noted an Instagram post from a student featuring a page from the yearbook about the school naming Anderson teacher of the year.

RELATED: Police: Central Texas high school student sexually assaulted children, shared photos after church

Officials had instructed the yearbook vendor to remove the page after the allegations against Anderson surfaced, Judson ISD spokesman Steve Linscomb said. Employees had also thumbed through random yearbooks to ensure the page had been removed.

Judson High School Principal Jesus Hernandez III issued a letter to parents Thursday informing them of the misprinted copies, Linscomb said. Students exchange the misprinted yearbooks for copies without the page, a cost covered by the vendor.

RELATED: Ex-West Texas teacher pleads guilty to sex with 2 students

The high school had issued 258 copies of the yearbook as of Thursday, but received 37 copies featuring the page that day, Linscomb said.

"We want this yearbook to be a good and positive memory of their year at Judson High School and we want it to be the correct yearbook for each student," Linscomb said.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
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SAN ANTONIO  Police in Seguin have arrested two people suspected of killing a man who was found dead under a bridge along the Guadalupe River on May 3.

Gabriel Perez, 41, faces charges of murder and tampering with evidence, and Andrea Middleton, 23, faces the sole charge of tampering with a evidence for their alleged roles in the death of 54-year-old Gumaro Castaneda-Escatel.
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The U.S. Treasury Department has hit the common-law wife of a Mexican drug lord  who ordered the killing of a federal agent during the 1980s  with sanctions for holding assets and conducting business for him.

RELATED: Leaked photos purportedly show gun-toting female assassins for Mexican drug cartels

The Treasury announced Wednesday it has frozen any U.S.-based assets held by Diana Espinoza Aguilar  the wife of Rafael Caro Quintero, who founded the now-defunct Guadalajara Cartel.

Espinoza Aguilar holds some assets belonging to the drug lord under her name, the Treasury said.

"Today's designation of Diana Espinoza Aguilar demonstrates yet again that her reported common-law husband, fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, relies heavily on the support of his family members," John Smith, acting director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement. "Treasury, in coordination with DEA, is committed to targeting Caro Quintero until he is brought to justice and his organization is dismantled."

RELATED: Report: Boyfriend turned in Mexican drug cartel assassin queen 'La China' after she went rogue

Espinoza Aguilar had links to drug trafficking prior to meeting Caro Quintero, the Treasury said.

Mexican authorities arrested Espinoza Aguilar and her then-husband, a Colombian drug trafficker, in 2008. She was later sentenced to prison on drug trafficking and money laundering-related offenses.

Espinoza Aguilar met Caro Quintero while incarcerated in Puente Grande prison in the Mexican state of Jalisco, according to the Treasury.

RELATED: 'La Patrona,' financial operator for Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman captured in Mexico

Caro Quintero masterminded the kidnapping and killing of U.S Drug and Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985.

The drug lord was convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison but was released in 2013.

Federal officials believe Caro Quintero has since returned to drug trafficking.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
When Cary Plotkin Kavy was in the seventh grade, a teacher told her mother that Kavy would always be an average student.

After her mother shared that with her, Kavy never got a B again, said longtime friend and colleague Jane Bockus.

Kavy went on to become a straight-A student in high school, a Phi Beta Kappa at Southern Methodist University, and an honor student at the SMU Dedman School of Law.

She excelled as a lawyer, excelled as mother, excelled as wife, excelled as friend, Bockus said. All you had to do was tell her you cant do that, and off she went.

Kavy died Tuesday after battling brain cancer. She was 58.

Kavy spent her entire legal career with the San Antonio law firm Cox Smith, which merged with Dykema last year to become Dykema Cox Smith. She headed the firms community/regional banking practice, handling everything from bank acquisitions and sales to enforcement proceedings and regulatory compliance issues. Financial reform legislation following the Great Recession created a more challenging environment for community banks, and Kavys clients let her know.

More Information Cary Plotkin Kavy Born: June 4, 1957, Milwaukee Died: May 10, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Parents William Plotkin and Anna Rodebaugh; sister Leesa Carr. Survived by: Husband Jeff Kavy; children, Emily, Hannah and William; sister Lorrene Gaynor; brothers Bill Plotkin and wife Pat, Jordan Plotkin and wife Carla, and John Plotkin; brother-in-law Bill Carr; and many nieces and nephews. Services: A graveside service will be Sunday at the Kavy family cemetery in Windsor, Vermont. See More Collapse

I think she was a shoulder to cry on and, from time to time, a person to scream at just because they didnt have anybody else to turn to when the changes took effect, said Jamie Smith, vice chairman of Dykema Cox Smith in Texas.

Besides working together at the firm, Kavy and Bockus were jogging buddies. Kavy liked to organize themed outfits for certain runs, including dressing up as pirates, Fiesta queens and bridesmaids while wielding water pistols or soap-bubble guns.

Bockus recalled the firm hosting a retreat with an Hawaiian-themed dinner. Kavy talked me into showing up in a coconut bra and grass skirt, Bockcus recalled. She was hilarious.

Kavy enjoyed traveling, particularly to Spain, horseback riding and sewing, Bockus said.

Diagnosed with glioblastoma on June 23, Kavy had surgery to remove the tumor the next day. She returned to her law practice but had to stop working when she started radiation treatments in August, said her oldest daughter, Emily Kavy. In October, Kavy was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid builds up in the skull.

Throughout this, I never heard Cary pity herself, said husband Jeff Kavy. She never gave up and she was never scared.

Kavy died at home, surrounded by family, according to her wishes. Her last wish, to buried on the familys farm in Vermont, will happen Sunday, Jeff Kavy said.

pdanner@express-news.net
I confess I was as surprised as anyone at Donald Trump winning the Republican presidential nomination. Had I been a consultant to Jeb Bush or Ted Cruz or any of the others in the herd that began the campaign last year, I would have offered the conventional advice: Ignore the guy. Hes going to step on his tongue once too often and disappear.

It seemed like such a safe prediction.

But my surprise at Trumps success is tempered by the fact that I dont regard myself as particularly knowledgeable on national political dynamics. I remind myself regularly that on election eve in 1980, I predicted Mondale over Reagan.

But after watching Texas politics for 50 years, I do think I understand its political currents. So I was even more surprised last week when the citizens of Austin told ride-hailing sharing companies Uber and Lyft they could take a hike.

I had my first Uber ride nearly two years ago in Austin. It felt so natural. A hig -tech, cool new transportation option in Texass high-tech, coolest city.

Not only does Austin feature Dell, but in the past year it has become host to Apples second largest workforce, 5,000 workers in a brand-new million-square-foot office complex. Google has also invaded downtown Austin office space. And there are hundreds of smaller tech companies.

One of these days Austins classic slogan, Keep Austin weird, will likely morph into Keep Austin wired. (News flash: I thought I was being clever, but I Googled the phrase and guess what: You can already get the T-shirt.)

I felt a strong connection between Uber and Lyft and the high-tech community for two reasons. One is that both companies are based in San Francisco. The second is that when San Antonios City Council passed an ordinance practically designed to push the two firms out of the city, it was the budding Tech Bloc activist organization that led the charge to change City Councils mind.

One of its main arguments: You hurt our ability to attract a tech-savvy workforce by painting us as a backward small town. As with Austin, the key issue was whether Uber and Lyft drivers would have to pass fingerprint security checks as cabbies do. A smart compromise was reached: Drivers could voluntarily submit to the FBI fingerprint check, and customers who wanted that could choose drivers from that pool.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler suggested that same compromise more than a year ago, but Uber and Lyft werent interested. Instead they invested in a 20,000 signature petition drive asking voters to overturn the citys ordinance requiring fingerprinting.

Then the companies combined to spend roughly $8.5 million to blanket the city with TV ads, mailers and other communications. For perspective, consider that Adler set a record when he spent $1.2 million on his mayoral election two years ago.

To put it gently, Uber and Lyft made a few mistakes. One was to air ads that didnt fare well under fact-checking. Then there was this: Apparently after exit polling showed them not faring well in early voting, they texted and called their customers to urge them to the polls. This resulted in at least one lawsuit and one Federal Communications Commission complaint.

One irritated loyal customer was longtime Austin journalist Harvey Kronberg, who admits one of the reasons he likes Uber is that I occasionally enjoy a bottle of wine and like being outside jail more than in it.

Kronberg said Uber has his cellphone number as part of an implicit contract.

They use it to locate me and send a car, he said. To get 12 calls a day and also texts as part of a political campaign was a violation of that contract.

I suspect theres one more reason Austin voted down Uber and Lyft. Unlike San Antonio, the home of South by Southwest doesnt have to worry about being seen as uncool and backward for doing so.

This column first appeared as the Last Word on KLRNs Texas Week with Rick Casey. The program appears Friday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Since it is now down to Hillary, Donald and Bernie, I have personally heard at least four people say they are not going to bother to vote this year. One of them said it will be the first time she has not voted. America is in a bad position.

Ann M. Dwyer

Child, system abuse

Re: Charges follow two child deaths; More counts added in bound-toddlers case, front page, Saturday:

We have been told that pet ownership has many requirements. Get a pet, have it neutered. Be responsible for a creature you have chosen to care for.

Now lets talk about people who have child after child. They are born  and born and born  to individuals who have no idea what parenthood means. The children are abused physically and mentally, left unattended and unloved. Sometimes, money provided by the government is spent for the parents, not the children.

I think its time for all of us to take a serious look at what we provide as taxpayers for these people who abuse the system.

Marlene C. Michaels, New Braunfels

Stick to the secular

Re: Politicians join Austin rally to hear evangelist, State, April 27; and Abbott, Hagee prayerful at event, State, May 3:

It seems that Gov. Greg Abbott is fixated on putting crosses and In God We Trust stickers on law enforcement vehicles, while Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is fixated on transgenders in bathrooms.

It makes me wonder if they are committed to the concept of separation of church and state as expressed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. What a wonderful concept. Without this concept, we would be like a Middle Eastern country, where religion reigns supreme. Look at the results: constant warfare between religious groups.

I hope Abbott and Patrick are as conscientious and devoted to their secular state duties as they are to attending prayer rallies.

The great agnostic orator Robert G. Ingersoll once said, Hands that work are better than lips that pray.

Gilbert Whitsey
The Texas Supreme Courts finding that the states deeply flawed public school finance system is constitutional is disappointing and a blow to Texas public school education.

But the courts long awaited decision in what the court described as the most far-reaching funding challenge in Texas history, should not be interpreted by state officials as a victory in any form.

The system is far from perfect and its many problems were duly noted in the high courts ruling against the 600-plus school districts that were plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed in 2013.

The all-Republican court found that despite its imperfections, the current school funding system  serving more than 1,000 schools with an enrollment of more than 5 million students  meets minimum requirements set out in the state constitution.

It is safe to say that the current Texas school system leaves much to be desired. Few would argue that the state cannot do better, wrote Justice Don Willett in a 100-page opinion Friday.

Hes right. Working to resolve the school funding woes should not have to wait until the 85th Legislature convenes in January, when the issue will be competing with other hot button items for lawmakers attention.

Lawmakers have been waiting three years for direction from the judiciary before moving forward with any public school finance reforms. There is no longer any reason to wait.

This important issue merits its own special session and we urge Gov. Greg Abbott to call one.

The Supreme Court makes clear in its ruling that the power to affect change in the public school finance arena is within the sole purview of the state Legislature.

Our judicial responsibility is not to second-guess or micromanage Texas education policy, the court said.

It added, Texas more than 5 million school children deserve better than serial litigation over the increasingly Daedalean system. They deserve transformational, top-to-bottom reforms that amount to more than Band-Aid on top of Band-Aid. They deserve a revamped, nonsclerotic system fit for the 21st century.

In a concurring opinion Justice Eva Guzman writes, The court hold Texass school-finance system passes the threshold of constitutionality, But this is not an endorsement of the system.

Guzman explains that, though she fully joins in the courts opinion, she chose to write separately to further emphasize that there is much work to be done, particularly with respect to the population that represents the majority of the students base  economically disadvantaged students.

We agree. Texas children deserve more than the bare minimum education that those entrusted with setting the state budget are willing to fund. Regrettably, the Texas Legislature has a history of balancing its budget on the backs of its school children.

The state is still trying to recover from massive public education cuts in 2011. It comes in at 38 on a list ranking the states and the District of Columbia on annual per-student education funding.

This was the seventh lawsuit the school districts have brought against the state over public school financing. The courts ruled against the state in five of those lawsuits.

If state lawmakers had the best interest of the school children at heart they would not have to be taken to court repeatedly to get them to do right by them.

There are some tough public school finance decisions ahead that will have major impact on the economic future of our state. It is worrisome that, given lack of a mandate from the court and the current political climate in Austin, those decisions may not be in the best interest of the states children.
Are Insects Conscious? Project Syndicate. More to feel guilty about.

American Indian rock opera shines unflattering light on Calif. pioneer McClatchy (Chuck L)

Zuckerberg wants to meet with conservatives amid Facebook bias allegations CNN (furzy)

Heres Facebooks guide to how its Trending Topics tool works Recode (EM)

Mossack Fonseca

Asias War on Drugs The Diplomat (resilc)

China?

Brazil?

Refugee Crisis

Europe Sells Out Project Syndicate (Sid S)

High Court challenge over Conservative election expenses Channel 4. Richard Smith: Theyve got a QC after them who thinks they broke the law by defying the Commissioners

Brexit?

The Economics Of Brexit: Which Side Should We Believe? Defend Democracy Press

Bank of England says Brexit slowdown could even mean recession Reuters

Grexit?

Frances Socialist Government Survives a Vote, but Remains Fractured New York Times

Corruption

Ukraine/Russia

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

FBI Hid Surveillance Devices Around Alameda County Courthouse East Bay Express (guurst)

Imperial Collapse Watch

Clinton E-mail Haiball

Clinton emails: State evolves on when diplomacy is classified Politico (furzy). Translation: evolves = fudges. The Perfect Storm Circling Hillary Clinton Reason (fresno dan). Note the bit re the Russians thinking of leaking sounds pretty improbable.or more accurately, the idea that theyd leak that they were thinking of leaking is unheard of.

2016

Judge strikes down Obama health law insurance subsidy in victory for House GOP Washington Post (furzy)

Congressman X tell-all rattles Washington RT (Wat)

Weiner Filmmakers on Documenting a Sex Scandal Rolling Stone (resilc)

Dana Milbank swallows his pride and some newsprint CNN (furzy)

Politics is Kayfabe: Oh yeah! TechRepublic

FORMER GREEK FINANCE MINISTER: Why Hillary Clinton is a dangerous person Business Insider (heresy 101)

US Congressmen: Drop baggage fees to cut airport congestion BBC

Arson in Texas fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 raises more questions Associated Press. Bob: Thats gotta be the craziest rube-goldberg device ever. Whomever set it could probably not have seen that it would cause the damage that it did. That story really does suck in its lack of detail.

Teen with brain tumor barred from prom McClatchy (furzy)

Dont Be a Drama Queen: Inmate Left To Die From Withdrawal Intercept (martha r)

Gunz

Online auction for gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon Martin halted Associated Press. Bob is not happy: Zimmerman had told Orlando, Florida, TV station WOFL that the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department, which took it after he was acquitted in Martins 2012 shooting death. I think there would be pretty broad based support for not giving him or letting him carry a gun. OK, Ill even pretend that he might have had a reason to be afraid, but he killed a guy. No gun after body. The anti gun people should be paying him, and they still arent pointing at shit like- the pistol was returned to him by the U.S. Justice Department Write him a check for the value of the gun, if you have to, but dont ever let him carry one again. His behavior after the arrest, threatening a girlfriend with a gun, would seem to support my argument. Make those gun fuckers own him. Trayvon Martin death: Zimmermans gun returns to auction BBC

Fed

Central banks are about to go to war Charles Hugh Smith Committee Behavior and the Federal Reserve Conservative Economist Fed too white and male, say Democrats Financial Times. Id take this more seriously if the Dems cared at all about how the Fed failed to see the crisis coming, defended the banks rather than reforming them, and engineered a flagging recovery whose main accomplishment is greatly exacerbating wealth and income inequality. Gender mix is small beer compared to that, but Team Dem cares only about optics and identity politics.

Iran Hits Saudis Where It Hurts, Offers Discounts On Asian Crude OilPrice (resilc)

Equity outflows hit nearly $90bn in 2016 Financial Times

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour (Kittie Wilson via Lawrence R):

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt have released a new report, Fees, Fees and More Fees: How Private Equity Abuses Its Limited Partners and U.S. Taxpayers, which we have embedded at the end of this post. The study covers the major developments in private equity since the publication of their landmark book, Private Equity at Works, namely, the SECs and medias exposure of widespread misconduct in the private equity industry. Even though Appelbaum and Batt use a judicious academic writing style, the information they marshall is damning. Even though much of the terrain will be familiar to NC regulars, I encourage you to read it in full, since it recaps a wide range of abuses in a compact form, It also discusses the weak enforcement efforts of the SEC, the IRS tardy moves to target loopholes and abuses, and limited partner complacency and capture.

A partial list of important issues:

IRS Failure to Crack Down on Monitoring Fee Tax Dodge

As Lee Sheppard wrote in Tax Notes, Private equity often seems like a tax reduction plan with an acquisition attached. Weve repeatedly criticized monitoring fees, based on the work of Oxford professor Ludovic Phalippou and other experts, as fees for nothing.

Portfolio companies enter into monitoring fee agreements with their new private equity overlords, supposedly because the general partners will be doing work on behalf of the companies. In fact, these are not arms length agreements, and the monitoring agreement are set up so that almost without exception, fees are to be paid whether or not the general partner gets out of bed on behalf of its investee company. We wrote about the tax aspects of that abuse, based on a paper by University of North Carolina law professor Gregg Polsky in 2014:

The monitoring fee abuse is so crass that unlike pretty much anything related to tax, it is easy to explain. You may recall that once a private equity firm buys a company, it typically makes the company sign an agreement to hire the private equity firm or an affiliate* to provide various services to it for a flat fee per year for a long period of time, typically ten to twelve years. That means that the payment to the private equity firm is tax deductible to the portfolio company. Well, you might say, whats wrong with that? The wee problem is that when you look at these agreements, its clear no business would enter into this arrangement. While the portfolio company has an unambiguous obligation to make payments to the private equity firm, the private equity firm is under no obligation to do anything to justify getting these fees. Im not making this up, as this highly engaging video called Money for Nothing by Professor Ludovic Phalippou of Oxford attests. The entire video is worth watching, and the critical section starts at 8:00 Here is his translation of the services agreement: I may do some work from time to time

I do some work, only if I feel like it. Subjective translation: I wont do anything.

Ill get [in this case] at least $30 million a year irrespective of how much I decide to work. Subjective translation: I wont do anything and get $30 million a year for it.

If I do decide to do something, Ill charge you extra

I can stop charging when I get out (or not), but if I do I get all the money I was supposed to receive from that point up until 2018. This payment for non-services doesnt wash with the IRS. For an expense to be deductible, the payment must have compensatory intent, as it is supposed to pay for something and that payment has to be reasonable in terms of what was received. The Money for Nothing scheme that Phalippou describes should be a non-starter, yet its widespread and the IRS has failed to intervene.

Appelbaum and Batt take up the fact that these monitoring fee payments are in fact disguised dividends, and should not be tax deductible to the portfolio company. They also point out that the worst of the money for doing nothing abuses, termination of monitoring fees and evergreen fees, are egregious tax abuses.

Three major unions, the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers, as well as five other public interest groups, including Americans for Financial Reform and Public Citizen, sent a letter to the Treasury Department and IRS, in parallel with the publication of the Applebaum and Batt study. It points out that the media has reported on this abuse for over two years, yet the agency has failed to act. Moreover, a tally that was inherently incomplete identified close to $4 billion of dubious monitoring fee payments in five years. The letter also pointed out the broader effects, that these payments deprive companies of cash flow they could use to invest in operations. Please forward the letter at the very end of the post to your Representative and Congressman and express your opposition to this abuse.

Failure to Regulate Private Equity Firms as Broker-Dealers

This is another topic weve written about that has not gotten as much attention as other forms of private equity chicanery. Many take transaction fees that clearly require them to register as broker-dealers. Not only are almost no private equity firms complying, but the few that do are not taking the private equity transaction fees through their broker-dealer units. From the report:

Because transactions of this type create potential conflicts of interest, they are typically covered by securities laws designed to protect investors. Securities laws require that anyone engaged in the business of affecting transactions in securities for the account of others must register as a broker and be subject to increased oversight by the SEC to ensure fair behavior. The SEC requires that the advice that is provided is suitable and imposes penalties on broker-dealers for violating this standardA whistleblower case filed in 2013 by a former PE executive identified 200 cases of unregistered broker-dealer activities related to private equity LBOs over the prior decade, including 57 cases worth $3.5 billion in fees.

As weve stressed, the SECs failure to address abuse is troubling on two fronts. First, this is a long-standing, clear-cut violation and theres no rationale for letting sophisticated players who are advised by highly paid securities lawyers to get away with it. Theres no rationale to support the SECs do nothing posture. As Appelbaum and Batt point out, requiring that private equity firms adhere to broker-dealer standards would increase oversight and force improvements in conduct.

Second, the sanctions for acting as an unlicensed broker-dealer are serious: dollar-for-dollar for the transaction value. The size of potential fines is a powerful lever for requiring more serious settlement payments on other fronts.

Third is that, astonishingly, the SEC has been giving miscreant private equity firms eligible issuer waivers despite their flagrant, ongoing violation of broker-dealer rules.

Debunking General Partner Propaganda That SEC Settlements Come Out of Limited Partners Pockets

Limited partners have been grumbling about multi-million dollar private equity fines out of the mistaken belief that the sweeping indemnification agreements that they sign means they are on the hook for those charges. And reading the language in the limited partnership agreements weve obtained from KKR, Blackstone, Carlyle, Apollo, and TPG, as well as other players, that would seem to be a reasonable conclusion. The SEC orders, which it publishes on its website, do not contain any prohibition that the general partners not hit the limited partners up for these bills.

However, it turns out that the SEC order does not disclose the full terms of the deals with the miscreants. From the section of the report on indemnification provisions:

In the context of possible SEC enforcement actions related to abusive fee practices of general partners, however, it is important to note that the SECs Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent that accompanies settlements in administrative proceeding and enforcement actions prohibits GPs from activating the indemnification clause in the LPA. The GP must make restitution and pay any fines. Unlike the SECs enforcement order, which is published, letters of acceptance, waiver and consent are not public documents; many LPs mistakenly believe they will bear some or all of the legal expenses and penalty the SEC imposes. This would be true in cases of civil lawsuits or collusion or price fixing, but not in SEC settlements.

Chastising Weak SEC Enforcement

The study comes down hard on not just how few actions the SEC has taken to date, but also how paltry the fines have been relative to the magnitude and scope of abuses:

With only six cases brought by the SEC in the three and a half years since general partners of PE funds have had to register as fund advisors, results are not reassuring. No matter how egregious the PE firms behavior or how inconsequential the firm, the SEC has not insisted on an admission of guilt. Financial penalties have been trifling in relation to the size of the PE firm, and other remedies available to the SEC have been waived. Self-dealing appears to be widespread among PE firms. TPG and other PE firms continue to flaunt the fact that they will waive their fiduciary responsibility to their investors whenever it is in their own best interest to do so. The SECs enforcement actions appear too timid to have the effect of putting the industry on notice that it will have to change deep-seated behaviors that enrich PE firm partners at the expense of other stakeholders

In a speech yesterday in San Francisco, SEC enforcement chief Andrew Ceresney, in a speech that almost entirely recited old SEC bromides, did say that more enforcement actions were coming. But the SECs posture on private equity at best looks likely to parallel the one it took on financial-crisis related misconduct: to slap big players with one settlement, even if they had clearly engaged in numerous abuses. And the SEC is also showing a predisposition to hit big firms with relatively easy-to-prove misconduct, rather than more fundamental, widespread forms of grifting. For instance, the KKR settled with the SEC over the misallocation of broken deal expenses.

Yet the agency failed to sanction the private equity kingpin for the much larger abuse of its misleading investors about the status of its captive consulting firm, KKR Capstone. The Wall Street Journals Mark Maremont reported that KKR was billing its in-house consulting firm to portfolio companies as if it were an independent entity, contrary to the understanding of limited partners.

The SECs failure to act not only seemed unjustifiable at the time (we debunked the KKR assertion that KKR Capstone was not an affiliate here); it is even more difficult to fathom in light of the fact that the Ceresney made clear that the SECs standard was the representations made by the firm when it was marketing its fund. By all accounts, investors were surprised to learn that KKR Capstone was being billed to portfolio companies, and not included in KKRs hefty management fees.

So while it is encouraging to see unions and public interest groups taking the work of experts like Appelbaum, Batt, and Polsky seriously and demanding regulatory action, it will clearly take a good deal more pressure to embarrass the SEC into doing its job.

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private-equity-fees-2016-05

Monitoring-fee-letter-Final-Draft

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There are good reasons to harbor serious reservations about The Donald, given that he changes his position as frequently as most people change their clothes. But so far, he has been consistent in making an argument that is sorely underrepresented in the media and in policy circles: that our war-making in the Middle East has been a costly disaster with no upside to the US. Trump even cites, without naming him, Joe Stiglitzs estimate that our wars have cost at least $4 trillion.

As Lambert put it, I hate it when Trump is right.

If you think Trump is overstating his case on Hillarys trigger-happiness, read this New York Times story, How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk.

And on Clintons role in Libya, which Obama has since called the worst decision of his presidency:

Mrs. Clintons account of a unified European-Arab front powerfully influenced Mr. Obama. Because the president would never have done this thing on our own, said Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser. Mr. Gates, among others, thought Mrs. Clintons backing decisive. Mr. Obama later told him privately in the Oval Office, he said, that the Libya decision was 51-49. Ive always thought that Hillarys support for the broader mission in Libya put the president on the 51 side of the line for a more aggressive approach, Mr. Gates said. Had the secretaries of state and defense both opposed the war, he and others said, the presidents decision might have been politically impossible.

And yes, thats this Ben Rhodes.
Astronomers detect precious element in space

(Nanowerk News) A team of astronomers from The University of Manchester, together with collaborators from the Centro de Astrobiologia and the Deep Space Network, Spain and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, have detected a rare gas 4000 light years away from Earth. The discovery, made using the largest antenna of NASA's Madrid Deep Space Communication Complex (70 metres in diameter), could help scientists to understand more about the history of this important element.

Helium-3 is a gas that has the potential to be used as a fuel in nuclear fusion power plants in the future, and is crucial for use in cryogenics and medical imaging techniques. There is very little of it available on Earth, so most of it is manufactured in nuclear laboratories at great cost. There are thought to be significant supplies on the Moon, and several governments around the world have signalled their intention to go to there to mine it, which could trigger a new space race.

The gas is produced in low mass stars, less than twice the mass of the Sun, which expel most of their matter into space at the end of their lives, forming a planetary nebula (the Sun will do this in about 5 billion years). This should begin to slowly enrich the Universe in helium-3. Of all elements produced in stars (and that ranges from carbon to uranium), helium-3 is the one that takes longest to reach space.

Team leader and Professor of Astrophysics Albert Zijlstra discusses the impact of the find.

The team leader, Lizette Guzman-Ramirez, started to research Helium-3 as a PhD student at The University of Manchester, before moving to the European Southern Observatory in Chile. She teamed up with Albert Zijlstra and Malcolm Gray from The University of Manchester and colleagues from Spain and Mexico to search for helium-3 in a planetary nebula 4000 light years away from Earth, and to measure how much is produced in its star. The team detected an unexpectedly high amount of the gas, almost 500 times higher than its relative percentage on Earth, and several times higher than any of the teams models had predicted.

The detection proves that Helium-3 is produced at the centre of stars like the Sun, and is ejected into space at the end of the life of the star  however, the large amount that was found remains unexplained. The star may have been more productive than models assume, but if this is true for all stars there would be much more Helium-3 currently in the Universe than is the case.

Further research on other planetary nebulae will be needed, but as the emission is extremely weak and hard to detect, the Square Kilometre Array will be needed to do the research - headquartered at Jodrell Bank, this international project is currently in development in Australia and South Africa, and will be the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope.
Puerto Rico Senator Carmelo Rios Santiago was one of the guest speakers at the Workforce Summit Thursday, May 12, 2016 presented by Above Board Chamber of Florida. The summit, held at the Harborside Event Center in Downtown Fort Myers, featured an open job fair for those seeking employment opportunities, in addition to a panel discussion and luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for business owners, professionals, human resource managers, and investors. Ricardo Rolon / The News-Press

SHARE From right, Jackie Beard, an enrollment specialist at Florida Southwestern College, speaks with Joan Garcia and David Guatarasma during a job fair at Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Thursday morning, May 12, 2016. Ricardo Rolon / The News-Press Cape Coral Mayor Marni Sawicki was one of the guest panelists at the Workforce Summit Thursday, May 12, 2016 presented by Above Board Chamber of Florida. The summit, held at the Harborside Event Center in Downtown Fort Myers, featured an open job fair for those seeking employment opportunities, in addition to a panel discussion and luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for business owners, professionals, human resource managers, and investors. Ricardo Rolon / The News-Press Kristy Rigot, system director of human resources for Lee Memorial Health System, addresses the crowd attending a panel discussion during the Workforce Summit presented by the Above Board Chamber of Florida at Harborsided Event Center Thursday afternoon, May 12, 2016. Ricardo Rolon / The News-Press

By Casey Logan, The News-Press

Southwest Florida employers are hiring and many desperately need quality workers, panelists and others attending a workforce summit in Fort Myers said Thursday.

"There are many people in Southwest Florida right now that don't have jobs and they've given up," said Jeanne Sweeney, founder and CEO of the Above Board Chamber. "We want to tell everybody what's out there. That's what this is about. These jobs absolutely exist."

The chamber, in partnership with Southwest Florida International Airport, hosted the summit at Harborside Event Center. The event included dignitaries from Puerto Rico.

The two economies are each in a state of flux, but in different ways. The Southwest Florida economy has a shortage of qualified workers in a wide range of industries, while Puerto Rico's economic decline has reached a crisis point, forcing skilled professionals there to leave in search of greater stability.

Since 2000, the Puerto Rican population in Florida has doubled to more than 1 million, according to the Pew Research Center. At that rate, Florida will soon surpass New York as the state with the largest Puerto Rican population in the United States. Puerto Ricans are now the second largest Latino group in Florida behind Cubans, according to census data, representing about 5 percent of the state's population.

"My point being here today is to express what we want to happen with this joint venture," said Puerto Rico Sen. Carmelo Rios Santiago. He called his island "the Hong Kong of the Caribbean," with a skilled workforce and a good place to do business: "Now, you have another horizon to look at."

Brenda Thomas, executive vice president of the Lee Building Industry Association, referenced the expected 17 percent job growth in the construction industry in Florida over the next two years. Thomas called construction the No. 2 growth industry in the nation, behind health care.

"We have every type of job available," Thomas said, noting it is a diverse industry crushed several years ago in Florida by the building bust, when many people moved away to find work or reinvented themselves.

Today, there is huge demand as the industry also faces an aging, retiring workforce, where the average age is 59.

"We need to bring in the next generation of workers," she said.

Thomas said the earning potential in the construction trades makes it possible to receive a six-figure salary with experience. A relative recently got a $27-per-hour job locally as an air-conditioning tech, she said, as well as a $7,000 signing bonus.

"We need to help grow our people," she said. "Our schools are not training our kids to go into these jobs."

Kristy Rigot, system director of human resources for Lee Health, said the employer of 12,000 people has seen a 64 percent increase in job openings this year. The system, which had two recruiters at the event, hired more than 500 nurses last year, she said, and it still has more than 200 nurse openings.

Peg Elmore, business services director for jobs-connector CareerSource Southwest Florida, said "we have thousands of job openings that are going unfilled."

Elmore touted the University of Puerto Rico, an institution she recently learned about, calling it "phenomenal." The university is the main public university system of the island and graduates a lot of engineers. It has 11 campuses and 58,000 students. She noted a few things Puerto Rico has going for it: residents are U.S. citizens, so no visa is required, and they're bilingual.

"There is a great talent supply in Puerto Rico," she said.

Kevin Brady, with the Florida Small Business Development Center at FGCU, talked of the importance of transportation to the state's future workforce, which will attract logistics companies involved in international trade. He said Airglades Airport in Clewiston will handle perishable cargo, which would relieve Miami International Airport of that job. It is hoped that dirt will start being moved for that project by late summer 2018.

"This is going to be impressive," he said. "These jobs are going to require bilingual people. We're going to develop the middle of the state."
Jeff Koterba May 4, 2016. Castro Cuba Cruise

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Seeking re-election

I have been honored to have served on City Council these past three and one half years. It has been very challenging and contentious at times. But, be that as it may, I feel I have done my best for the citizen of Marco Island.

One of my major accomplishments with help of Chief Murphy, Deputy Chief Byrne, then City Attorney Saunders and Commissioner Fiala we were able to convince County Commissioners of Marco's need for a part time ambulance in season. This past season we had part time (12 hours per day) ambulance for five months (Dec. 1 through May 1).

There have been other accomplishments such Smokehouse Bay Bridge (Herb Savage Bridge). The fertilizer ordinance, which I resurrected from 2011 to get reconsidered by council, which they approved; pushed for a referendum which passed (approved by a majority of City Council) to build a new community center in Mackle Park (capped at $3.5 million). Construction bids where open May 5, 2016 at 2 p.m. and contract will be awarded soon to begin construction.

There are major hurdles ahead and the most important at this time is for Marco Island Fire Rescue to obtain a certificate of convenience and necessity (COPCN) to preserve our level of service for transport for the residents of Marco Island.

Parking is a problem on Marco Island, which will have to work with the businesses, especially the restaurants due to the change in Marco's parking requirement (which the free standing restaurants lobbied for) in 2010 from one parking space per four seats to one parking space per 200 square feet. That change further compounded the parking problem in Marco Island.

Problem solving has been one of my most important assets throughout my career. I started my career as a cost accounting clerk, attained a degree in accounting. My career advanced to where I attained the position of controller, then a plant manager and to a chief operating officer of a manufacturing company. With your help, I can continue to serve the residents (taxpayers, utility rate payers and businesses) to solve problems and improve the health, safety, welfare and quality of life on Marco Island.

My wife Joan and I have lived on Marco Island for more than 13 years. We had two children. We both retired in 2002. We have been married for 55 years and will be celebrate our 56th wedding anniversary in September.

Respectfully submitted.

Amadeo R. Petricca

Marco Island

Don't buy the sound bites and political rhetoric! Vote informed

We, at SWFL Citizens Alliance, hope you will make your decision based on each candidate's position on key issues and their principles and values. Don't be a victim of sound bites and political rhetoric!

May 17, 6:30 p.m., at the Marco Island, Rose Auditorium at the Marco Island History Museum, come meet and hear Senate District 28 candidates Rep. Hudson, Rep. Passidomo and House District 106 candidates Kirkpatrick, Rommel and Smith answer tough questions about the real issues.

All have confirmed they will attend and our moderators will be Naples Daily News' Brent Batten and James Madison Institute's Don Orrico along with a student moderator from Marco Island Academy. MIA will also be providing ushers for this event.

There are many issues to be addressed including the return of local control in k-12 education to improve quality outcomes for our children, Medicaid expansion and Lake Okeechobee water issues. You will have ample opportunity to submit your questions at the forum.

Florida's Budget for 2016-17 is $83 B of your tax money. Please come and then "Vote informed"!

You can submit questions in advance to Info@SWFLcitizensalliance.com and check out our 25 question Questionnaire and Constitutional survey that has been given to all candidates several months ago. http://floridacitizensalliance.com/liberty/25q-questionnaire-for-florida-legislators/.

Keith Flaugh

Marco Island
Large fishing boat going out for a sunset cruise in Destin, Florida

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By Bill Walsh

It's that time of the year, tarpon season!

You can tell the big game enthusiasts now around the docks and marinas; they are the ones with the jaunty step and permanent smile. Their legendary tarpon has arrived en masse here in Southwest Florida; and fortunately, this year, are ravenous.

By way of background, the tarpon loves warm water. So when, our so-called winter hits here in November, they, like so many of our northern neighbors, head south. They spend those chilly months hanging around the relatively warmer Florida Keys.

Then as spring arrives and the reproduction juices start to flow they school up and head north. Luckily for us, they are a coastal fish hugging the shoreline and inshore waters on the way. They also feed heavily on the way as they head to their secret spawning grounds somewhere northwest of Tampa. But on the way, they create an excitement that, for many anglers, is a once in a lifetime. These are not docile small fish. Hereabout the average weight of most tarpon hovers between 125 and 150 pounds with a length that easily exceeds six feet.

Over this short spring period, these fish will provide many an angler the thrill of their lifetime with spectacular explosive strikes; rocketing runs complete with leaps and twisting jumps.

Most all tarpon are released. As spectacular the catch, they are dreadful as table fare. With oily flesh and circular bone structure they are persona non grata for us; but not for all creatures. For accompanying these great fish on their journeys, are "wolf packs" of equally sizable sharks; hammerheads, bulls, tigers. For these predators, it's like having a traveling lunch bucket.

"Hungry? Let's go over there and nail that hooked tarpon" And that's not an infrequent occurrence in the midst of their spawning run.

Our article this week is going there.

This tarpon charter trip went down just a few weeks back. A young couple from the wilds of Minnesota, who had endured a cold, crushing winter were down here for a week of warmth and sun. Jim, an avid walleye angler back home, had caught word of the torrid tarpon action underway here and coaxed his wife Jill to join him on a "tarpon only" charter.

He called and we had an open morning with a good incoming tide running and we made the date; just the two of them with an "sunrise" start. Think they expected at least a half-hour run to the fishing grounds and were totally surprised when we pulled up five minutes outside Capri Pass on the edge of the channel.

"The tarpon are this close inshore?" Questioned Jim with an incredulous tone.

"Right here, Jim, along this flats drop off" was my response while busy setting a couple of stern portions of cut catfish on 13/0 circle hooks strung to 100# leader finished to 80# test fluorocarbon line.

"What about chum, Captain" was his follow-up question.

"Good question, Jim, We used to use block chum out here but, we began to draw too many sharks So we'll start here a la carte."

With the bait soaking, wasn't much to do except conversational small talk and nervous watching of the rods and baits. Thirty slow minutes in, Jill asked "How long does it usually take, captain?"

"Jill, sometimes ten minutes; sometimes never; this is fishing. There is no timetable" and just then the port side rod went off with a scream. We got Jim to the rod; retrieved the second bait and pulled the anchor. We were off and running.

We were being taken west into deeper water and this tarpon was super active with thrilling jumps. It cleared the water several times and showed as a smaller hyperactive tarpon; maybe 50-60#. Jill had the camera on video and Jim was immersed in the struggle. At the very last minute, as his tiring catch neared the boat, we all saw a gray / brown shadow whiz by the boat.

I yelled "hammerhead; hurry" and Jim picked up the pace to get the tarpon alongside for release. He never made it. Seconds later, just thirty feet from the boat there was a virtual explosion as the eight foot hammerhead nailed the tarpon cutting the line and the tarpon in half.

Jill had filmed the event right to the end and was holding back tears. Jim was crushingly disappointed but recognized that we humans are just pawns in this waterborne symphony of nature. We headed home with a mess of film and a memory that would last a lifetime.

But that's not the first time we've been engaged in such an event with sharks and tarpon. This one will spell out the humane conduct of a fellow charter captain in rescuing a threatened tarpon.

It's a late April early morning a few years back, and with a charter for three Navy middle-east veterans, we're heading back the Caxambas inside waterway to the deeper holes adjacent to the southern edge oyster bars. We're in company with two other charter boats based at, the then named, Marco River Marina.

We all have gotten glowing reports on the stacked tarpon working the ladyfish and threadfin herring holding in those deeper depressions. As we approach our target area, we all plainly see the surface rolls from the feeding tarpon.

All three of us anchored up, giving the companion boats, enough room to at least begin a tarpon fight. All of a sudden, there is a shout of "fish on" from the charter closest to our port side. And simultaneously, a huge tarpon goes skyward not 25 yards behind their boat. We retrieved our lines to avoid a tangle and all sat mesmerized as the struggle commenced.

The tarpon performed another herculean leap alongside our boat and as it landed we all saw a mammoth shadow beneath. We all had clear view of the shadow; no mistake; it was a huge hammerhead shark heading after the hook impaired tarpon.

The other charter captain was valiantly trying to get the tarpon boat side and released; but to no avail. This tarpon was not going to the boat; he was going to exit the premises.

Having the time, as the tarpon, shark fracas surged back and forth, and faced with the alternative of having this valiant tarpon torn to shreds, he reached for his line cutters and cut the tarpon loose. A disappointing moment for the angler but a courageous moment for the captain who did the right thing.

We finished our day sans a tarpon catch but buoyed by the display of nature in the raw and the humane nature of people who fish.

Go tarpon!

Capt. Bill Walsh owns a charter fishing business and holds a U.S. Coast Guard license. Send comments to dawnpatrolcharters@compuserve.com.
JRobert and Doc Phenorton entertain. The Goodland Civic Association held their Holiday Bazaar over the weekend, moving to a new location, Margood Harbor Park, and enjoying beautiful weather. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

SHARE The Tommie Barfield Drum Club lays down a beat with the help of JRobert. With a cast of hundreds, the Marco Island Beautification Advisory Committee-sponsored Arbor Day celebration planted a golden trumpet tree in Mackle Park. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent Jesse Richmond has JRobert sitting in as part of the nonstop entertainment. The Goodland Civic Association's Holiday Bazaar let people get a headstart on their Christmas shopping Saturday and Sunday at Margood Park. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent JRobert in his studio. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent JRobert in his studio with his Rhodesian ridgeback "MIcco," as in Miccosukee. Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

By Lance Shearer

JRobert has made a career making music on Marco Island, but his reach extends around the county, South Florida and the world. After decades of performing at venues around Southwest Florida, including Quinn's at the Marriott, the Snook Inn, Stan's and the Little Bar in Goodland, along with countless shows at corporate events and weddings, he is backing away from live music to focus more on his work in the studio.

He has placed pieces of original music on national television shows including "The Big Bang Theory" and "Madam Secretary," and has collaborated on scores for PBS shows including the forthcoming "Great Florida Cattle Drive." Through his Mangrove Studios, he collaborates with other musicians and producers in far-flung venues such as Nashville and Atlanta, as well as those down the road from his Marco Island home.

Music from JRobert can mean tunes on any of a myriad instruments. He plays a steel-string 1967 Martin guitar, his exquisite Spanish classical guitar, a guitar/banjo hybrid, traditional banjo, mandolin, harmonica and ukulele, along with Dobro, standup bass, drums and keyboards. And mentioning all those instruments actually leaves out the two Robert is best known for, the steel drum and the violin, or fiddle.

Like Sting or Cher, JRobert is one of those one-name artists who need no surname to identify themselves. Around these parts, he is instantly recognizable by his soul patch and his broad-brimmed sun hat, and has little need for his birth name, Julius Robert Houghtaling. He is a genuine Florida Cracker, a fourth-generation "at least" Floridian, and tells stories of how his granddaddy rode into church on a horse, and the old days in Bradenton where he was born.

He worked as a cowboy, in the citrus and beekeeping fields, and in remote wilderness areas for the Forest Service, before making music his career.

His parents and brothers still make their life from agriculture, with citrus groves in Ruskin, and that lifelong of Florida and nature colors all his original compositions. He spent years as a traveling musician, opening concerts for headliners including Bonnie Raitt, Charlie Daniels and Jimmy Buffett, but was always drawn back to the Sunshine State.

Up until a few years ago, JRobert was playing 300 gigs a year, but he has always found time to contribute his talents to perform for a worthy cause. In addition to the total body of his musical oeuvre, it was this pro bono work that led the Marco Island Foundation for The Arts to recognize him as their 2016 artist of the year. He will be honored at a luncheon on Saturday, May 21, at Wesley United Methodist Church on Marco Island.

"I have no idea. Hundreds? Oh, easily," said JRobert, asked how many benefit shows he had played over the years, then starting to tick off some of those he could remember. "I've done 'Magic Under the Mangroves' at the Conservancy for years, the YMCA in Naples and on Marco, the MS Foundation, the Sanibel and Captiva Conservation Foundation, David Lawrence Center, out at Big Cypress with Raiford Starke, St. Jude's Children's Hospital in St. Pete  "

Just recently, he played for the Cultural Carnivale sponsored by CAMIG, the Cultural Alliance of Marco Island and Goodland, and the Harbor Arts Festival put on by the Goodland Arts Alliance.

"Any excuse to promote local artists and the arts scene is a good thing," he said. "My whole premise is, it boosts artist to get together. All the musicians should hold hands with the videographers, painters, sculptors, and theater arts and dance arts. It's the power of synergy  one plus one equals three."

While he can play a wide variety of genres, JRobert's own music is tropical, "islandy," and on the mellow side. He has put out numerous albums, with tunes including "Land of the Walking Tree," "Life in the Bicycle Lane," joined by one of his most recent tunes, "Gift of the Glades."

"Songs are like children  I can't really say one is my favorite," he said, adding he is shying away from releasing new material. "These days, you put them out there, and people just rip them off the Internet. I'm really blessed to have performed when I did, back when live music was still live," in the days before backing tracks became ubiquitous.

J makes his living with his corporate gigs  "that's how I can afford to do all the benefits," he said  and those take him up and down both coasts of Florida. Mostly, he plays a single, but his son Martin sits in with him on a regular basis, and he has put together ensembles up to 10 pickers strong for large gatherings.

When he has free time, he spends it with his wife Debra, the librarian at Tommie Barfield Elementary on Marco Island, or sailing on "Blue Water," his 35-ft. trimaran.

"I get out about once a month," he said. "Sailing helps me forget everything. When I get back, I hear things I didn't before."
SHARE Locally-collected mosquitoes are sorted according to their species as they are studied at the Collier Mosquito Control District offices on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, in Naples. (David Albers/Staff) black culex mosquito on white background Research entomologist Mark Clifton studies locally-collected mosquitoes at the Collier Mosquito Control District offices on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, in Naples. (David Albers/Staff) Collier County Mosquito Control District is currently upgrading it's laboratory equipment that will allow them to react more quickly when determining viruses that local mosquitos may carry. This allows us to gets the results back in a matter of hours instead of days,  said executive director Patrick Linn. (Luke Franke/Staff)

By Lance Shearer

Mosquitoes, jokingly called Florida's state bird, have a longer history in Southwest Florida than humans. Now this old pest could be carrying a new threat that's no laughing matter  the Zika virus.

Not every mosquito is a potential carrier for Zika. The salt marsh mosquitoes that swarm over the area by the millions, particularly during the warm, wet summer months, do not carry the threat of Zika  or malaria, West Nile virus or Dengue fever, for that matter.

"The salt marsh mosquito, aedes taeniorhychus, is almost entirely a nuisance mosquito," said Patrick Linn. As executive director of the Collier Mosquito Control District, he is the area's first line of defense for Zika, which has been implicated in paralysis and birth defects, and is a growing epidemic throughout the tropical zone of North and South America.

The two breeds of mosquito that are carriers for Zika, dengue and Chikungunya  Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopict  thrive in containers, like plastic tubs and bird baths, that hold water. The female lays the eggs on the walls of a container filled with water.

"We have had one confirmed case of Zika in Collier County, and that was travel-related," brought back from a destination where the infection has taken hold, said Linn. "You can take steps to protect yourself. The community can exert enormous positive impact. Buckets, flowerpots, tarps, yard debris, birdbaths, anywhere with standing water is a breeding ground for aegypti," the primary Zika carrier, he said. "Tires are a big offender."

While insect repellent with DEET will repel the mosquitoes, you cannot avoid them by not going out at dawn or dusk. "They're daytime biters," and often found in residential neighborhoods once a population is established.

Coastal areas of Collier have been hit with aerial spraying this spring, said Linn.

"I have sprayed Isles of Capri and Goodland a couple times this year. We fly low over Marco Shores, and I think that's been sprayed four or five times. On Marco Island itself, we haven't seen the numbers."

He added that reports indicate Marco is on track to have a particularly notable outbreak of another insect pest.

"The no-see-ums  actually biting midges  have been really bad this year on Marco."

The Mosquito Control District is geared up to combat the Zika-carrying mosquitoes, with a five-tiered response, said Linn.

"In level one, and that's where we are now, there's no significant population of the disease-carrying mosquitoes. We survey for all of them." Level two also indicates a low risk of infection, but sees more aggressive mosquito spraying.

Level three, with a high risk of local transmission, means that limitations on pesticide use imposed by the state and the EPA would be eased. At each level, the district is in regular contact with other health authorities; Linn had a workshop scheduled next day with representatives of the Depts. of Health and Agriculture.

Level four would indicate active local transmission, and level five is a full-fledged outbreak.

"Then, we start to ask for state and Federal support, and do everything we can short of asking people to curtail their lives," he said. But the CMCD does not wait for an outbreak to occur, continually monitoring mosquito populations and conducting spraying operations.

Fittingly enough when combating a flying foe, the CMCD wages an air war against the mosquito. Anyone who has lived in the area long enough shares the memory of being awakened at dawn by a string of DC-3s roaring overhead at treetop level spewing clouds of fog, prompting the belief we were being attacked by the Cuban Air Force. It has been 15 years since the CMCD last flew the DC-3, and they have gone to low volume spraying from a much fixed wing aircraft and helicopters.

"That was diesel fuel and Baytex," Linn said of the old-school approach. "Now we use ultra low volume, very tiny droplets, just one quarter of an ounce per acre." The aerial spraying is augmented with truck-mounted and handheld sprayers, particularly effective against the Zika-carrying aegypti mosquitoes. "They tend to be shy," he said.

And what about eradicating mosquitoes altogether, as some have proposed?

"It would be nice to live in a world without mosquitoes, but they've always been here," said Linn, raising also the possible unintended consequences of interfering with nature and the food chain. "Besides, we can't."
SHARE Pope Francis arrives for a special audience with Superiors General of Institutes of Catholic Women Religious in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Pope Francis said Thursday he is willing to create a commission to study whether women can be deacons in the Catholic Church, signaling an openness to letting women serve in ordained ministry currently reserved to men. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP) Pope Francis greets participants in a special audience with members of the International Union of Superiors General in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Thursday, May 12, 2016. Pope Francis said Thursday he is willing to create a commission to study whether women can be deacons in the Catholic Church, signaling an openness to letting women serve in ordained ministry currently reserved to men. (L'Osservatore Romano/Pool photo via AP) Ursula Pfahl, a devout Catholic and former religious studies professor, supports the Pope recent comments about the possibility of women becoming deacons of the church. "This pope is open to the world and open to the faithful and listens to them, Ursual said. "I'm not surprised that he is taking a new approach to issues that have been floating around." (Luke Franke/Staff) Ursula Pfahl, a devout Catholic and former religious studies professor, supports the Pope recent comments about the possibility of women becoming deacons of the church. "This pope is open to the world and open to the faithful and listens to them, Ursual said. "I'm not surprised that he is taking a new approach to issues that have been floating around." (Luke Franke/Staff)

By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News

Bridget Mary Meehan was excommunicated from the Catholic Church at the same time she became an ordained priest in 2009. The Sarasota woman is a bishop through the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

"We say excommunication is a badge of honor," Meehan said. "Pope Benedict made saints of two formerly excommunicated nuns, so it's the price you pay for being a prophet."

Pope Francis has made many strides forward since he took his post as head of the Catholic Church, and Thursday's announcement that he would study the ordination of women as deacons is being called a step in the right direction by many church leaders who say he's merely catching up with modern day views parishioners already hold.

"We've been doing it for 10 years," said Meehan, who added that, throughout the world, there are 225 ordained women priests. "It's nothing new for us, but we're delighted now that Pope Francis is going to open this up."

He said he will create a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons. Pope Francis said Thursday he agreed the matter should be given more careful consideration, telling hundreds of nuns from around the world that he himself always wondered about the role of deaconesses in the early church.

"Constituting an official commission that might study the question?" the pontiff asked aloud in response to questions from some of the sisters.

"I believe yes. It would do good for the church to clarify this point. I am in agreement," he said, according to a report from the National Catholic Reporter.

"I accept," the pope said later. "It seems useful to me to have a commission that would clarify this well."

Ursula Pfahl, vice president of business development for Bigham Jewelers, is also a devout Catholic. She's followed the Pope's comments on long-standing Catholic beliefs and feels his most recent comments speak to him as a person.

"It shows is that this pope is a man who is open to the world," she said. "He is open to the things and issues that affect people today and the fact that he is considering instituting a formal exploration of a potential role of deaconesses in response to comments and questions made during an audience, shows again he is a man who listens and who is in the world, and of the world, and a man of God."

The order of deacons was reinstituted in the Catholic Church following the reforms of the 1960s, and while deacons cannot celebrate the Eucharist like a priest, a deacon can preach at Mass, preside at weddings and funerals and perform baptisms. The church restricted ordination as a deacon to "mature married men" over 35.

Many protested that limitation, saying the earliest Christian texts also speak of "deaconesses" and arguing that the modern church should also allow women deacons.

Meehan acknowledged that the timing of the decision by Pope Francis comes during a need for priests within the church.

"They are really in trouble all over the world with the shortage of priests," she said. "Big, big trouble."

Allowing women to become deacons could relieve some of that burden, Meehan said. Deacons can perform baptisms, funerals and weddings but they cannot perform mass, give the Eucharist or receive confessions.

Rev. Allison Farnum has been with Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers since 2008. The Unitarian Universalist Church ordained its first female minister in 1863, Farnum said.

"She went through all kinds of hell having to fight tooth and nail for her calling," Farnum said of Olympia Brown.

Today, female clergy are commonplace. In fact, Farnum said, more than half of the ministers across the country are female.

Farnum said Pope Francis cares about justice and equity and sees this as the beginning of a natural progression, if the Catholic Church is really going to affirm women's leadership that she says has been going on for a millennia. "But this is finally acknowledging it."

"This is not only an idea whose time has come, but a reality recovered from history," the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author at "America" magazine, wrote on Facebook.

"Their preaching at Mass would mean that the church would finally be able to hear, from the pulpit, the experience of over half its members," Martin wrote. "Taken together, all this would be an immense gift to the church. This news fills me with immense joy."

During a global meeting of bishops at the Vatican last October, a Canadian archbishop asked that the church set up a process for ordaining women deacons, a proposal that seemed to go nowhere and which was quickly opposed by conservative commentators.

"If you've opened the diaconate to women, you are opening up the door to female priests," Chad Pecknold, a theologian at Catholic University of America, told the Washington Post at the time.

Quebec Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher anticipated that criticism, telling Catholic News Service that "the diaconate in the church's tradition has been defined as not being ordered toward priesthood but toward ministry."

A number of other scholars and theologians and even a few bishops and cardinals have agreed, and over the years have kept the debate over deaconesses alive.

Now their arguments will get an official hearing

USA Today contributed to this article.
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By Melhor Leonor of the Naples Daily News

To allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice was one directive to every school district in the country from the Obama administration Friday, in a historic letter that tells districts to re-establish the way they view sex and gender.

The "Dear Colleague" letter sent by the Department of Education and the Department of Justice cements the administration's view that under Title IX, the federal law that protectsc students against gender-based discrimination, how a student identifies sexually overrides the gender listed on their birth certificate.

It cautions districts against violating the law and putting in peril their federal funding.

Districts across the country, and here in Southwest Florida, have been navigating the politically divisive issue for years while grappling with the legal repercussions.

A spokesman for the Collier County public school district, Greg Turchetta, said that the implications of the letter go beyond which bathroom students should use and said that the district's legal department would need to study its impact on the district.

"We believe in the importance of complying with Title IX and providing students equal access to education," he said. "The district will need to look carefully at the  Dear Colleague letter and accompanying manual from the Department of Education to determine the scope and implications of these federal requirements."

Turchetta wouldn't expand on how the district reacts to requests by transgender students to use the bathroom that aligns with their sexual identity, only saying that students have been "offered gender neutral facilities."

It was the case for Sarah Oliver. Her 11-year-old daughter who currently attends a district public elementary school began identifying as a girl since she was a toddler.

In elementary school, the issue of which bathroom her daughter would use wasn't a dilemma: her classrooms had single bathrooms for both boys and girls to use.

But next year, Oliver's daughter, whose name she did not wish to include in this story, will be attending middle school, where gendered bathrooms with multiple stalls are the norm. Through meetings with school staff, whom she says have been very welcoming and accommodating, they found an approach everyone was content with.

"They said, 'Would it be acceptable if (your daughter) were to use the restroom in the front office and change there for gym?'" Oliver said, adding that her daughter was asked for her input individually and approved. "It's not total equality, but given the lack of guidance, everyone was happy with it."

"She doesn't belong in the boys bathroom."

The letter goes beyond which bathroom students will use. It touches on which pronoun educational staff should use for transgender students whichever one the student prefers  and also asks districts to carefully evaluate how students are placed on gender-segregated sports teams.

In murky language, it tells districts to decide on a student's placement not based on "stereotypes," but on "competitive skill" and "sound, current and research-based medical knowledge."

Some local school board members regarded the letter as overstep into local issues by the federal government.

"The Obama administration's message is 'we don't trust local leaders,'" said school board member Erika Donalds. "It is the definition of intrusive, and it flies in the face of local control in education."

"Once again the federal government is stepping on areas where I think they don't belong," said board member Roy Terry.

Terry added that while the letter may be an intrusion, the Collier County public school district should be proactive about the issue and help find "reasonable accommodations" where they are needed.

"Teachers and students, when they go into the restroom, expect a reasonable level of privacy," he said. "We may need to look at the fact that maybe we can no longer have gang bathrooms. Maybe we need to have a lot of individual bathrooms that people can use."

Candidates for one of two open seats on the Collier County school board evidenced some of the political division that exists on the issue. All candidates running for the District 2 seat opposed allowing transgender students use the bathroom of their choice.

"Girls should use the girls room, boys should use the boys room," said Louise Penta. "We have much bigger issues in our schools that need our attention, we have already wasted countless time, resources and money on the transgender issue."

John Brunner said that while he "sympathize(s) with those with transgender identities conflicts ... physical body parts should dictate which bathroom a student or visitor to our campus use. If surgically altered, apply this rule to current body parts."

Stephanie Lucarelli said that the issue has been blown up for political purposes, and added she fears the flexibility called for by the letter could be abused.

"I would be very concerned about having my kids in a bathroom with children who want to take advantage of a situation where anybody can use any bathroom," she said.

Neither Erick Carter nor Lee Dixon, the two candidates running to represent district 4, would comment on how they believed the district should approach gendered-bathroom use by transgender students.

Oliver, the mother of a transgender daughter, said that the letter opens the door for something she didn't think would be possible when she visited her daughter's future middle school weeks earlier.

"At some point between now and the start of school, I'll talk to the principal and lead guidance counselor. I sort of expect them to say (my daughter) can use the girl's bathroom," Oliver said.

"I think that's what she would like to do."
By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News

Grocery bills are no match for Daphne Tull.

The East Naples resident buys hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars worth of groceries and whittles the bill down to almost nothing.

She is a coupon queen, a savings maven.

But she doesn't clip, print and stack for herself. Tull has volunteered for St. Matthew's House for about five years and donates to their food pantry by buying canned goods, boxed foods and toiletries for cheap by using coupons and shopping grocery store sales.

"Doing this gets me up in the morning," Tull said. "It charges me up. It's become my passion."

Tull's first grocery run for St. Matthew's House about five years ago cost $1,902.35 but came out to $287.71 with her coupons. She collected the money in a big orange piggy bank she keeps on her kitchen counter.

"I get excited about couponing and what you can do with so little," she said. "We use spare change. What a difference you can make using the spare change you never miss."

At her kitchen table, Tull researches deals and spends hours clipping and printing coupons. She fills grocery carts with goods, packs them into the trunk of her car and delivers them to St. Matthew's House several times a week.

"It can be a full-time job," she said.

On Tuesday, Tull went to an East Naples Publix to buy a round of groceries for the food pantry. She bought several bottles of pasta sauce, boxes of rice, cereal, barbecue sauce, deodorant, razors, female hygiene products, shampoo, toothpaste and cat food.

She bought about $170 worth of groceries and paid nothing. She got the bill down to about $40 using coupons, and the rest she paid using gift cards she got back from previous shopping trips.

"The first time I got money back from the store, I cried," Tull said. "I never thought I could coupon for groceries and get money back."

The receipt printed out like a scroll. She smiled with victory when the cashier handed it to her.

In the five years Tull has volunteered for the organization, she has seen the pantry come dangerously close to running out of groceries in the summer.

Vann Ellison, president and CEO of St. Matthew's House, said the pantry serves up to 500,000 hot meals a year. The organization's 2014 annual report states that the pantry gave out about 7,400 bags of groceries.

"The need in the community is consistent," Ellison said. "We run on a deficit five or six months out of the year. That goes for cash and resources. Daphne has been a real blessing to us here. She does a super job of trying to meet those needs."

Now that season is over and the slower summer months are around the corner, Ellison said it becomes more challenging to meet the needs of the community when shelves go bare.

"That's why I do this. No one should go hungry here," Tull said. "Whatever I can do to help feed people, I will."

Tull first started couponing with her daughter for their personal groceries.

In 2011, Tull was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that caused her to lose her hearing. She stopped wanting to leave the house.

"I was in a dark place," Tull said. "I would sit out on my lanai at night and cry. I became so full of anxiety about having to communicate with people knowing that I couldn't hear."

Tull's daughter took her mother grocery shopping and helped her at checkout until she started feeling more comfortable with leaving the house. When she got her hearing aids, Tull felt more confident shopping by herself.

She decided she wanted to try couponing again, but for charity. That's when she got the cartoonish orange piggy bank and started filling it with change. When it was full, she took it to Publix and bought as much as she could with the money.

"I came to St. Matt's in a crisis. I needed St. Matt's as much as anybody else there needed St. Matt's in their life, to get me through that crisis," Tull said. "It's changed my life working at that pantry."

Tull's hearing loss doesn't allow her to entertain herself with television or music. She spends most of her free time surrounded by the sound of computer keys clicking and her printer chugging out coupons.

"As hard as it, I don't know that I would be the same person had I not lost my hearing," she said. "I have so much purpose now. I'm a better person. I stopped looking at myself and having life be about me, and it's about looking at other people in need and helping them."

----

The Naples Daily News, in partnership with the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, Community Foundation of Collier County and United Way of Collier County, has launched Satisfy the Hunger, an initiative that will keep the shelves of food pantries well-stocked during the lean summer months.

On Friday, personal hygiene products will be collected in front of the Naples Daily News building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Everything from soaps and shampoos to socks and towels will be accepted, as well as food and monetary donations.

Monetary contributions will be matched 100 percent up to $70,000 by campaign partners Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation, Community Foundation of Collier County and United Way of Collier County.

Find out more at naplesnews.com/satisfy.
Sandra McClinton Second VP of Democratic Women's Club of Florida Former Chair of Lee County Democratic Party

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By Sandra Mcclinton, Cape Coral Second VP, Democratic Womens Club of Florida

Former chair, Lee County Democratic Party

Fracking is a danger to the state's delicate ecosystem and shallow, interconnected underground waterways.

It could increase global warming by releasing methane gas, risk earthquake tremors in brittle limestone, and hurt property values and tourism business.

Fracking, short for hydraulic fracturing, involves shooting water, sand and chemicals underground to wrestle out the natural gas and oil from the rock formations.

During the 2016 Florida legislative session, about 50 environmental groups gathered at the capital to protest fracking-empowering legislation. Thirty-two counties and 48 Florida cities already have passed either a resolution or ordinance against fracking using their precious home-rule power.

Some local areas that have banned fracking are Bonita Springs, Estero, Cape Coral and Fort Myers Beach. The Florida Association of Counties was against the pre-empting home rule clause of the bills.

Rich Templin, political director of the AFL-CIO, has said the state's one-million-strong union voted against fracking technologies.

Southwest Florida and the Panhandle have become epicenters for oil and gas exploration within the state. The industry has spent about $15 million to buy mineral rights covering vast acreage in Collier, Lee and Hendry counties.

Four Democratic state senators  Sen. Darren Soto, Sen. Dwight Bullard, Sen. Jeff Clemens, and Sen. Eleanor Sobel  sponsored SB 166, a statewide ban on fracking, but it didn't get a hearing in the Republican-dominated Legislature.

The all-Republican Lee legislative delegation has led the way in pro-fracking bills. They took up fracking bills SB318/HB191. The Lee legislative delegation members are: Rep. Dane Eagle, Rep Matt Caldwell, Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, Rep. Ray Rodrigues, Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen, and Sen. Garrett Richter.

SB318/HB191 would have regulated fracking throughout the state, but also would stop local bans on fracking.

The House bill was filed by Rodrigues, R-Estero, and Rep. Cary Pigman, R-Avon Park. Richter, R-Naples, sponsored the similar bill in the Senate. Ironically, the conservatives who are against big government were voting to take away home rule for counties and municipalities.

I've bookmarked a great website "votesmart.org" that tracks how elected officials vote on bills. The following representatives voted for HB 191 that would allow fracking but regulate it at the state level: Caldwell, Fitzenhagen, Eagle and Rodrigues. The bill passed the state House on March 27 with a 73-45 vote.

The Senate bill, an act relating to the regulation of oil and gas resources, would have imposed a temporary moratorium on fracking permits until a study of Florida's hydrology is completed to determine what potential impact the operations will have on the state's geology and fragile water supply.

Richter argued that we need this statewide, regulatory framework instead of hundreds of individual sets of rules.

Templin of the AFL-CIO argued that this bill would facilitate fracking in the state. By a 10-9 vote, a Senate committee rejected the bill. Benacquisto voted against the bill, but then changed her mind and reintroduced the bill to keep it alive for the remainder of the session. Later, Richter withdrew his bill.

The grassroots efforts paid off in blocking this harmful legislation this time. We don't need fracking in a place such as Florida. The limestone bedrock and the shallow aquifers is a recipe for disaster.

The Republicans appear to have lost touch with their constituents. They missed the memo from the cities and counties signaling that it is unacceptable to have fracking anywhere in Florida.

The legislators disregarded constitutional local control and have for years ignored Florida legislation that would entirely ban fracking.

It is expected that pro-fracking measures will come up again next session, so it is up to you to contact your local legislative delegation and let them know you are going to hold them accountable.

Ask them to totally ban fracking in Florida. Just tell them, "not in our frack yard!"

Editor's note: A viewpoint advocating for fracking's benefits was published in Thursday's Daily News and on naplesnews.com
Two local people, one of them a cancer survivor, will go through a hair-raising experience this weekend to raise funds for the CARE Cancer Support Centre.

Helen Walsh from Willow Park is having her hair shaved off while Paddy ODonoghue from Honeyiew Estate is having his hair dyed green on Saturday May 14 in Shenanigans bar, Thomas Street, Clonmel at 8.30pm.

This event has a personal meaning for me because I had ovarian cancer in 1998, says Helen Walsh.

I lost all my hair having undergone major surgery and chemotherapy. There was no support centre available at that time. Such support would have been wonderful.

Helen and Paddy are urging that this event is strongly supported because cancer touches the lives of virtually everyone, either directly or indirectly.

Such a devastating diagnosis requires more than just medical intervention but also the support that is available through CARE in Clonmel, says Helen Walsh.

The CARE Centre provides emotional support, information and practical help to anyone in South Tipperary who has or has had cancer and to those who care for them.

Services provided include counselling, support groups, complementary therapies, Yoga, Tai Chi and art classes.

CARE does not receive any government funding and depends on donations and fundraisers to do its excellent work.

All services are provided free of charge. The centre is open Monday to Friday from 10am to 2pm.

For further information contact 052-6182667 or call into the centre at 14 Wellington Street Clonmel.
CALIFORNIA

SAN FRANCISCO

Parkside Lending, a national wholesale and correspondent lender, has hired Linda Jacopetti to support its government lending programs.

Jacopetti brings over 25 years of industry experience to her new position at Parkside.

Most recently she ran the government program at Bank of America and prior to that spent six years at Countrywide Home Loans growing its government lending channel.

FLORIDA

MIAMI LAKES

American Bancshares Mortgage has hired Charlie Suarez as regional manager for the state of Florida.

He will be responsible for recruiting new broker offices and mortgage loan originators throughout Florida.

Prior to joining ABSM, Suarez served as senior vice president for Equity Mortgage Bankers.

Before this tenure, he also served with Hayhurst Mortgage, Colonial Bank, Q Financial Direct and WMC Mortgage.

NEVADA

LAS VEGAS

Sackett National Holdings Inc. said that Scott Stucky has been appointed executive vice president, software and data solutions, for SNH financial subsidiary SettlementOne.

Prior to joining SNH, Stucky served as chief strategy officer and chief operating officer for Idaho Falls-based DocuTech Corp., a provider of compliance documents and services to the financial services industry.

He also served as vice president of San Diego-based Del Mar Database, and was the owner of The Stucky Group, a sales and business development consulting firm.

NEW YORK

ALBANY

Ernst Publishing Co. said that Cisco Gonzalez has joined the company as director of the project management office.

Previously, Gonzalez was vice president, business liaison consultant at Wells Fargo.

He started at the national bank in 2011 as assistant vice president, operational risk consultant.

TEXAS

ADDISON

Mid America Mortgage Inc. has retained mortgage banking and capital markets executive Michael Lima as managing director of its whole loan trading division.

Prior to joining Mid America, Lima served as chief risk officer for Guardian Mortgage Co.

In addition, he was a senior vice president with Nationstar Mortgage, and spent the majority of his early career, 17 years, with Fannie Mae, ultimately serving as director of single-family business.

Are you a mortgage professional who recently changed jobs? Let us know! Send your announcement and photo (if available) to Glenn McCullom at glenn.mccullom@sourcemedia.com.
'ECT is a degrading, damaging, memory robbing procedure'



The drugging of America's youth

"We also recommend that the class II designation include ECT treatment for children and adolescents meeting the criteria for treatment resistance and in need of a potentially life-saving intervention for the conditions previously indicated and for MDE [Major Depressive Episode] associated with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder." [Emphasis added]



Electroshock therapy may cause death

(NaturalNews) The American Psychiatric Association is pressuring the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to permit the use of electroshock therapy (ECT) on children and adolescents resistant to current therapies and drugs. The treatment, an archaic technique invented in the 1930s, sends jolts of electricity into the brain, inducing a seizure. It's associated with numerous side-effects , including short and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and death.As recently reported , the FDA is considering a draft rule to declassify the risk of electroshock therapy or electroconvulsive therapy, from a Class III device, the highest risk category, to a Class II, defined as moderately risky. ECT has remained a Class III device since 1979, and is therefore subject to the highest level of regulatory control.However, if ECT devices are recategorized to a Class II, opponents fear that the treatment could be used on a much larger population, which now may include children, because the devices would be eligible for "off-label" use.If the FDA grants the APA's request, children unresponsive to psychiatric drugs will be subjected to the harsh and arguably inhumane treatment."ECT is a degrading, damaging, memory robbing procedure that should have been outlawed years ago," said Lee Spiller, Executive Director of Citizens Commission on Human Rights. "Shock machines are one of a number of devices that were on the market prior to today's laws. They were essentially grandfathered in."Citizens Commission on Human Rights is holding a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m. EST, to protest the APA's push to subject children and teenagers to electroshock therapy. CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating "abuses committed under the guides of mental health."The event will march in protest at the APA's annual convention in downtown Atlanta.Currently, approximately 8 million children in the U.S. aged zero to 5-years-old, are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and antipsychotics, as well as drugs for anxiety and ADHD, states CCHR Rather than curb this epidemic, the APA wants to subject children and teenagers to more harmful treatments, including electroconvulsive therapy , which has the ability to permanently damage one's cognitive abilities. reported that the treatments cost $4,000, 99 percent of which is paid for by insurance.The APA penned a letter March 10 to FDA commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. stating:The long-term impacts of electroconvulsive therapy on children are largely unknown, which is why the procedure is regulated in 13 states. Texas and Colorado currently ban the treatment for use on children 16 and younger; Missouri requires a court order; while Tennessee permits ECT for children only if they have been diagnosed with mania or severe depression.Children "eligible" for ECT would include patients with the following disorders who have not responded to treatment: "catatonia, manic episodes (in bipolar disorder), schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder."The APA claims that ECT is rarely used on children and teens; however, that could soon change under the newly suggested provision."When a decision is made to use ECT in a child or adolescent, it is virtually always related to significant functional disability with a lack of response to other treatments and/or the existence of severe and potentially life-threatening symptoms such as inadequate oral intake due to catatonia, significant suicide risk, or extreme and repeated self-injury," wrote the APA.It claims that ECT effectively reduces suicide among children; however this is based on retrospective studies, which often include data of lower quality because it's based on reports given from memory.The APA says no children or teens have died from ECT; however, this claim may be inaccurate, as ECT-related deaths are often blamed on other causes, such as heart failure or suicide. On the other hand, ECT-related adult deaths have been reported. Six patients in Texas died within two weeks of receiving the treatment in 2014; four of the deaths were ruled as suicides. Click here to read the story of a woman who underwent electroshock therapy. The treatment caused her to lose her job, and left her disabled, unable to care for herself.
Washing their hands of the whole thing

Throwing antibacterial soap in the wash



(NaturalNews) Although antibacterial soaps are useful in some respects, there is a growing body of scientific literature that suggests they do more harm than good. As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) is calling on antibacterial soap manufacturers to provide additional information about their products in order to determine an official ruling.Scientists found that common antibacterial compounds present in soap, including triclosan and triclocarban, may increase the risk of infections, change stomach bacteria and breed superbugs by causing bacteria to become more resistant to prescription antibiotics, according to an article byThese antibacterial soaps have been under the watchful eyes of the FDA for many years, and have even been prohibited in some regions of the country. Not all bacteria are created equal, however. Humans are largely made of bacteria. Although antibacterial soaps do an excellent job of killing bad bacteria, they do an equally excellent job of killing good bacteria.To add insult to injury, there is evidence that antibacterial soaps don't actually clean hands any better than traditional soap and warm water. There are instances when these antimicrobials can be helpful, civil engineer Patrick McNamara of Marquette University in Milwaukee told ARS. Triclosan, for example, can be useful when doctors scrub their hands for minutes before surgery.On the whole, however, instances when antimicrobials are helpful are few and far between. "There's evidence that there is no improvement with using soaps that have these chemicals relative to washing your hands under warm water for 30 seconds with soaps without these chemicals," McNamara said.At this moment in time, the FDA has deemed triclosan and other antimicrobials safe. Regardless, they are calling into question whether these chemicals enhance personal care products for the better. Consequently, the FDA has called on antibacterial soap manufacturers to provide data that demonstrates their products are more effective at keeping people germ free than normal soaps.In a 2014 study headed by microbiologist Blaise Boles of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, researchers tested 90 adults and discovered that 37 of them had boogers that harbored triclosan. Oddly enough, the researchers found that antimicrobial snot doubles the risk of the bacteria accumulating in the nose, a common cause of respiratory infections.When rats were exposed to triclosan, the researchers found that triclosan made it harder instead of easier for the critters to keep staph invasions at bay. Triclosan appears to make the bacteria stickier, enabling them to latch onto the surface of cells. This stickiness may explain why staph builds up in the nostrils.Two other recent studies from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, found that both triclosan and triclocarban hinder microbial communities from disintegrating waste, making them less potent, and enabling the bacteria to become more resistant to antibacterial drugs It is anticipated that the FDA will make a decision in September about whether these antimicrobials ought to be prohibited from all soap products. In the meantime, you may want to replace your antibacterial hand wash with organic handmade soap . Many small business offer all natural soap. Although these soap bars tend to be more expensive than antimicrobial soaps, they are actually good for both your skin and the environment."We want to slow the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria so that our current antibiotics can continue to help medical patients," Dan Carey, team member at Marquette University, told sources. "If using hand soap without antimicrobials can help, I think it would be worth it to try and change consumer behaviour."
A 'miracle of modern chemistry' turns out to be a health and environmental nightmare

An even greater threat emerging?

(NaturalNews) The chemical PFOA , formerly used in the manufacturing of DuPont's Teflon, has been found to have contaminated groundwater in many U.S. locations and throughout the world.DuPont began phasing out the use of PFOA (also known as C8) in 2005, after it was revealed that the company had for decades covered up the numerous health risks associated with the chemical. This revelation led to a record $16.5 million fine being levied by the EPA , and a $300 million class-action lawsuit filed by residents living near a West Virginia DuPont factory, after being poisoned by the PFOA that contaminated the local water supply PFOA is part of a family of substances known as PFCs (perfluorinated chemicals).From a recent report published by the(EWG):"C8 was a key ingredient in making Teflon, the non-stick, waterproof, stain-resistant 'miracle of modern chemistry' used in thousands of household products."Internal documents revealed DuPont had long known that C8, also known as PFOA, caused cancer, had poisoned drinking water in the mid-Ohio River Valley and polluted the blood of people and animals worldwide. But the company never told its workers, local officials and residents, state regulators or the EPA. After the truth came out, research by federal officials and public interest groups, including EWG, found that the blood of almost all Americans was contaminated with PFCs, which passed readily from mothers to unborn babies in the womb. In 2006 the EPA confirmed that PFOA is a likely human carcinogen."Aside from causing cancer, PFOA has also been linked to "hormone disruption, heart disease and other serious health problems."Ten years later, DuPont has stopped using PFOA in its products, but the company's promise to clean up water supplies has not been fulfilled.Sharon Lerner wrote in a recent article posted by PFOA has been found in drinking water in Hoosick Falls, New York; Bennington, Vermont; Flint, Michigan; and Warrington, Pennsylvania, among many other places across the United States. Although the chemical was developed and long manufactured in the United States, it's not just an American problem. PFOA has spread throughout the world."As in the U.S., PFOA has leached into the water near factories in Dordrecht, Holland, and Shimizu, Japan, both of which were built and operated for many years by DuPont."Lerner reports that extremely high levels of PFOA were found in the blood of workers from both the Dordrecht and Shimizu factories and in the groundwater of areas nearby.While health officials and environmentalists are still busy trying to measure the extent of PFOA contamination and its effects on human health, a new threat may be emerging:"Production, use and importation of PFOA has ended in the United States, but in its place DuPont and other companies are using similar compounds that may not be much  if at all  safer," reports"Few have been tested for safety, and the names, composition and health effects of most are hidden as trade secrets. With the new PFCs' potential for harm, continued global production, the chemicals' persistence in the environment and presence in drinking water in at least 29 states, we're a long way from the day when PFCs will be no cause for concern."Meanwhile, DuPont has continued to play down the dangers of PFCs, and the EPA has been accused of dragging its feet in dealing with the problem:"Even as DuPont maneuvers to minimize its responsibility for letting a known hazardous compound contaminate the homes, water and bodies of all Americans, the public remains vulnerable to future disasters because of the gaping holes in the nation's chemical safety net. ..."DuPont must be held to its promises to clean up the mid-Ohio Valley and compensate those who were harmed. The EPA and governments worldwide must act swiftly to thoroughly assess and control the hazards of next-generation PFCs. Most importantly, Congress must learn from the tragedy of C8 and enact an effective chemical safety law that protects public health, not the industry's profits."Anyone familiar with the EPA's track record  as well as that of Congress and the rest of the federal government  is unlikely to be holding their breath, waiting for that to happen. ...
When agencies no longer function as designed, they become useless

The people can do a better job taking care of themselves

(NaturalNews) If you were to suggest to most Americans that certain government agencies either should not exist, or should be dramatically scaled back, chances are good you'd either get some weird stares, or stern insistence that life as we know it would end without such agencies.Granted,level of bureaucracy is necessary for a modern society, but in all honesty, many of us have been conditioned by media , academia and governments themselves to believe that without the heavy hand of regulation, the world as we know it would end, and end badly.But just as requiring doctors, lawyers, hair stylists and mechanics to have all sorts of government licensing and certifications has not ended malpractice or poor legal representation and bad service, the existence of a plethora of government agencies micromanaging every aspect of our lives hasn't led to flawless representation either.What's more, many of the same agencies exist at the federal, state and local levels, with responsibilities overlapping so much, that sometimes no one knows who is in charge.Take the still-unfolding lead water scandal in Flint, Michigan. It's easy to blame city and state environmental control and water quality officials for switching the city's water supply to a polluted source, while failing to ensure that water was properly treated and sanitized. But the federal agency that is supposed to oversee state and local environmental operations failed miserably in its role, and yet no one has really been held to account for those failures, even though some state and local officials have already been charged with criminal conduct by the Michigan attorney general's office.Because you see, that isproblem with too much bureaucracy: Even though it is vital to a modern society (and ensuring that we are drinking clean water most definitely counts as "vital"), when that bureaucracy cannot hold itself accountable to the very people it supposedly serves, then we have a problem with an agency not really fulfilling its obligations to the people.In the Flint case, in fact, local, state and federal environmental officials basically conspired to cover up the fact that the water was contaminated with levels of lead many thousands of times higher than federal limits, because officials at all three levels of government but chose not to act until the news broke in the media.What good are all the agencies and departments if the personnel who run them are unaccountable? While state and local officials may be held to account, the Environmental Protection Agency regional director, Susan Hedman, was simply allowed to resign , meaning she will likely still be eligible for a fat government (taxpayer) pension, even though she is partially responsible for poisoning scores of children with lead-tainted water in Flint. And what's more, Flint is hardly the EPA's only water failure As Americans, we have a right to expect that the agencies and departments our tax money pays for are not working to actively circumvent laws, rules and regulations that were put in place to ensure the maximum level of public safety. Water rules that are being violated, when identified,, and the offending officials, if they have violated statutes or regulations, be held to account. The same applies to rules concerning air quality, factory and agricultural run-off, and any other environmental protections that were put in place to protect our health, preserve our land and ensure that we leave a viable country to the next generation.That can't  and doesn't  happen when other considerations and concerns, be they political, ideological or financial, get in the way of bureaucrats and public servants doing the job they were hired or appointed to do. The bureaucracy, on some level, is necessary, but it ceases to be effective, and thus becomes, when it no longer functions as designed.It's hard to say at this juncture where all the chips will fall with regard to the Flint water tragedy, but one thing has become clear: If we can't trust our agencies atto work as designed, then they are of no use to us.Besides, who's to say that We the People can't take better care of ourselves
No congressional oversight

Little-noticed policy change

A slush fund is the last thing this out-of-control agency needs

(NaturalNews) The shameful federal agency that was responsible, in large part, for poisoning scores of mostly African-American children with lead in Flint, Mich., as well as one of the worst river contaminations in Colorado history, has a secretit uses to fund shadowy operations that are beyond oversight.As reported by, the Environmental Protection Agency fund , which amounts to some $6.3 billion, comes from some 1,300 obscure spending accounts that are essentially out of reach of Congress, public watchdogs and the media.The accounts, created via EPA's "Superfund" program, are notsecret because the agency does acknowledge their existence . However, trying to get specific details about deposits into the accounts, as well as expenditures, has proven difficult at best.reported that the EPA has deposited more than $6.3 billion into an estimated 1,308 special accounts over the course of 25 years, from 19902015, according to the agency's website, having spent more than half of that amount. The agency has not disclosed specifics of what it spent the money on, or released any public information regarding account balances or expenses.Some of these expenses, as we have reported in the past , are most likely being used to fund EPA paramilitary teams like the one sent to terrorize the small Alaska community of Chicken in the fall of 2013, for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act The questioned the need for the raid , as well as the tactics used by heavily armed EPA agents "Did it really take eight armed men and a squad-size display of paramilitary force to check for dirty water? Some of the miners, who run small businesses, say they felt intimidated. Others wonder if the actions of the agents put everyone at risk. When your family business involves collecting gold far from nowhere, unusual behavior can be taken as a sign someone might be trying to stage a robbery. How is a remote placer miner to know the people in the jackets saying POLICE really are police?"As further noted by, the EPA's " special accounts" are generally financed by settlements between the agency and parties held responsible for pollution at Superfund sites. Congress does not get a say on how funds are spent once they are deposited."This is the very definition of an out-of-control agency, if they can raise their own money and not have to go to Congress to have it appropriated," Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Energy and Environment toldHowever, an EPA spokeswoman told the news service that her agency managed the accounts "in accordance with the law, congressional intent, and EPA policy and guidance."The spokeswoman continued, "In fact, EPA management of Superfund special accounts has been reviewed periodically. EPA has responded to [Government Accountability Office], [inspector general (IG)], congressional, public and press inquiries regarding special accounts."However, none of those reviews have occurred recently, meaning they are not done regularly, either.The EPA's IG wrote in 2009 that the, "EPA lacks transparency in its public reporting of special accounts. Such transparency is needed to understand how special account funds are being utilized."Two years before that assessment, the Center for Public Integrity reported that the EPA had been diverting funds from those accounts , noting that "there are hundreds of these accounts, and the EPA doesn't need congressional approval to spend the money in them, unlike the Superfund trust fund."The center added:"Before 2000, all money recovered from companies for site cleanup work performed by the EPA went back to the Superfund trust fund to be spent on cleaning up other sites. But a little-noticed change in agency policy that year allowed cleanup reimbursements reached in settlements to be tucked away into site-specific accounts to be used only for future work at those sites. ..."The EPA Inspector General's office, which has criticized the agency for holding all of these funds in special accounts longer than needed, is currently reviewing how the money is managed. Other federal oversight agencies also are scrutinizing the accounts."In the years since its 2007 report, the center has not reexamined the Superfund accounts."EPA generally does not report financial information on individual special accounts due to potential enforcement and/or procurement activities at individual sites," an agency spokesman admitted, adding that "aggregate information on special accounts, beginning in [fiscal year] 2011, can be found ... within the congressional justification document."However, asnoted, the disclosure is very limited in scope and buried in the document.In recent years, Congress has appropriated some $1 billion in Superfund activities. The special accounts also accrue millions of dollars in interest each year.Also,investigation found that the EPA will often begin spending trust fund dollars on Superfund sites before ever securing funds from responsible polluters. Furthermore, the agency deposits all settlement money into a special account instead of reimbursing the trust fund first."That means trust fund money EPA doesn't immediately replace is unavailable for its congressionally approved purpose of cleaning orphan sites. The EPA keeps such funds in special accounts for years, or sometimes decades, according to the IG,"reported.All of this, you will recall, is coming from an agency involved in covering up the lead poisoning of children in Flint, while shirking responsibility for the massive spill of millions of gallons of toxic water from the Gold King Mine in Colorado.A slush fund hidden from Congress and the American people is about thething a rogue EPA needs.
Electroshock therapy lacks safety studies

Millions of kids experiencing the side-effects of psychiatric drugs could be subjected to electroconvulsive therapy

(NaturalNews) Citizens Commission on Human Rights is holding a rally in Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m. to protest the American Psychiatric Association's recommendation that electroshock therapy (ECT) be used on children and teenagers unresponsive to psychiatric drugs.CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating "abuses committed under the guise of mental health." The rally will take place in downtown Atlanta at the APA's annual convention. Participants will meet at the North end of Woodruff Park, on Peachtree Street Northwest and Auburn Ave Northeast.Electroshock therapy or electroconvulsive therapy is an archaic treatment invented in the 1930s that sends jolts of electricity into the brain, inducing a grand mal seizure. It's associated with numerous side-effects, including short and long-term memory loss, cognitive problems, unwanted personality changes, manic symptoms, prolonged seizures, heart problems and death."ECT is a degrading, damaging, memory robbing procedure that should have been outlawed years ago," said Lee Spiller, Executive Director of CCHR. "Shock machines are one of a number of devices that were on the market prior to today's laws. They were essentially grandfathered in."Currently, the U.S Food and Drug Administration is deciding whether or not to declassify the risk of electroconvulsive therapy, from a Class III device, the highest risk category, to a Class II , defined as moderately risky. Since 1979, electroshock therapy has been categorized as a Class III device, making it subject to the highest level of regulatory control.Opponents fear that if the FDA decides to declassify the risk level of ECT the treatment could be used much more freely, because the devices would be eligible for "off-label" use. Though the FDA has requested safety data since 1978, no ECT manufacturer has ever provided a Pre-Market Approval or any clinical trials illustrating the treatment's safety and efficacy.The American Psychiatric Association is the driving force behind the risk level declassification of ECT, as well as the push to use the treatment on children and teenagers unresponsive to current drugs and therapies.In other words, under the APA's recommendation, if psychiatric drugs aren't working for children, the next step could be electroshock therapy, a treatment that can permanently damage cognitive abilities, handicapping children for life. The APA, however, argues that the damage caused by mental illness may be just as severe.Though proponents say electroconvulsive therapy is safer than when it was first developed in the 1930s, the procedure still involves sending up to 460 volts of electricity into the brain, as we've previously reported.Currently, approximately 8 million children in the U.S. are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants and antipsychotics, as well as drugs for anxiety and ADHD, according to CCHR . One million of these children are between the ages of 0 and 5."Children are being drugged simply because psychiatry has pathologized normal childhood behaviors, and repackaged them as 'mental disorders.'" As a result, millions of children are "being drugged for behaviors reclassified by psychiatry as 'disease,'" CCHR states in its press report for Saturday's protest."Children are becoming addicted to these drugs, many of which are in the same class of highly addictive drugs as cocaine, opium and morphine. Yet the American Psychiatric Association is doing nothing to stop this epidemic."Quite the opposite, they are now calling on the FDA to allow them to electroshock children who don't respond to 'treatment' (drugs.) This opens the door for millions of children experiencing side effects from the drugs, to be reclassified as 'treatment resistant' and to undergo electroshock as 'treatment.'" Click here to read the story of a woman who underwent electroshock therapy. The treatment caused her to lose her job, leaving her disabled and unable to care for herself.
According to MBLMs 2015 Brand Intimacy Reporta comprehensive ranking of brands based emotionthe health & beauty" industry ranked third for brand intimacy, after automotive and retail.

Consumers are much more discerning with products they apply to their bodies and this is understandably so," said Mario Natarelli, MBLMs managing partner. Benchmarking brand intimacy as a measure of the bonds these consumers form reveals opportunities for brands and pathways to growth and profit."

Retail sales in health and beauty in the United States came in at US$87.21 billion in 2013 and the global beauty market grew by 4.5 percent annually over the last 20 years.

MLBM defines brand intimacy as an essential relationship between a person and brand that transcends usage, purchase and loyalty." According to the report, intimate brands create enhanced business performance. The report analyzes the responses of 6,000 consumers and 52,000 brand evaluations across nine industries in the U.S., Mexico and United Arab Emirates.

Chanel was the top most intimate brand in the industry, according to the report. The remaining brands among the top 10 include: Clinique, bareMinerals, Estee Lauder, Olay, MAC, Dove, Lancome, LOreal and Bobbi Brown. Also of note, Sephora, (a major retailer of health and beauty products) ranked third in MBLMs retail category and 15th overall.

Additional findings of the report include:
Can a proper exercise save you from depression? A study of University of California at Davis Medical Center found that exercise may help people with depression cope the struggle.

33-year-old Knoxville woman Heather Troupe said that proper exercise has helped her cope the struggle with despression, Washington Post reports.

Troupe is now a fitness instructor. She was diagnosed with chronic severe depression and a prescription for an antidepressant at the age of 16. She began using elliptical machine for the hope that she can sweat away what was ailing her.

Just like Troupe, Erika Howder of Arlington, Vancouver said helped her survived postpartum depression she developed after having her first baby about 14 years ago. She made visited a therapist for help just a few weeks after that birth. While she was waiting for the date of her appointment, she decided began to run on a treadmill. "

I felt an improvement almost immediately," Howder said. "I know I could have tried meds, but most have side effects. Running gave me the antidepressant I needed without any other issues." She canceled her appointment and never looked back," she added. After that, she decided to cancel her appointment.

A group of researchers at the University of California at Davis Medical Centre found that exercise increased the level of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, a chemical messenger that is distributed in the brain, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The study of University of California researchers examined 38 healthy volunteers who rode stationary bicycles. They used a type of advanced MRI scanning to measure GABA and glutamate levels in the brain immediately before and after the exercise sessions.

The result showed that neurotransmitter increases in parts of the brain that process visual information and help regulate heart rate, emotions and even some cognitive functions.

A professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and lead author of the study, Richard Maddock, hopes the findings of their study will encourage more doctors and patients to consider exercise as therapy for depression and even postpartum.

"It's becoming more accepted, but there hasn't been enough research in this area to make people confident," Maddock said.
Around 50,000-year-old axe fragment, about a size of a thumbnail was discovered in north-western Australia.

Archeologists say this might be the oldest of its kind.

"This is without doubt the oldest axe in the world," Peter Hiscock, the University of Sydney academic who analyzed the fragment, told AFP.

The small flake of basalt with weight of 0.16 g was unearthed from a rock shelter called Carpenter's Gap in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in the 1900s but its value was just recently recognized.

The findings about the fragment, was published in the journal Australian Archaeology.

They unburied the hatchet  scientists found and dated the world's oldest axe.

Archaeologists have deduced based on examining the piece that axe production was probably invented within Australia shortly after people arrived. It also means ancestors were good at creating the tools they needed.

"We know that they didn't have axes where they came from," Prof Sue O'Connor of the Australian National University told BBC.

O'Connor was among those who dug the fragment along with other artifacts.

"There are no axes in the islands to our north. They arrived in Australia and innovated axes," he added.

Another observation is that the axe might have been just a chip from the actual blade and it was just resharpened.

"Australian stone artifacts have often been characterized as simple. But clearly that's not the case when you have these hafted axes earlier in Australia than elsewhere in the world," she explained.

Axe blades made from harder stone are commonly found in discrete locations around the globe such as Australia and northern Asia.

Hiscock, said axes were only developed in Australia's tropical north. This could be a sign that there were two kinds of settlement in the area or that humans left the technology as they dispersed.

The discovery of the primitive piece leads to discovery of dispersal of humans and the nature of their occupation on Australia, the study says.
Following the deaths of several endangered animals, wildlife activists are calling the Surabaya Zoo in Indonesia the "Zoo of Death" and are demanding a complete change in the zoo's management.

According to activists, many of the more than 2,200 animals in the zoo are all crammed in cages too small for their sizes and are not being fed well.

One of the most controversial incidents at the zoo was the death of a rare Sumatran tiger that died last April.

According to Petrus Riski of the Indonesian Wildlife Communication Forum, steps to control the overpopulation of animals should be put in action. "It can be done by sending them to other conservation facilities," he said.

Zoo keepers claimed that most of the deaths are due to natural causes, and said that the tiger's death was still unexplained. However, activists are keen to put the zoo on spotlight, referring to a string of unusual deaths in the zoo.

One of these incidents was the 18 month-old African lion that was found dead hanging in its cage in 2014. A giraffe was also found dead with about 18kg of plastic in its stomach, which are suspected to be thrown into the cage by zoo visitors. About 45 Komodo dragons, which are large lizard species found only in eastern Indonesia, died while fighting each other in overcrowded cages.

The zoo director said "bureaucratic hurdles" are keeping them from improving the zoo's conditions.

"We've been trying to resolve these issues one by one," said Director Aschta Boestani Tajudin. "I hope in three to four months from now we can finally solve the problem."

Just recently, an endangered Sumatran elephant named Yani died in Bandung Zoo in the city of Bandung in Java Island. The zoo is said to be just one of the many ill-maintained zoos in Indonesia.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said the two pieces of aircraft debris found in Mauritius and South Africa "almost certainly" came from Malaysia Airline flight MH370.

In March 2014, the whole world was stunned when a Boeing 777-200ER, carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers suddenly disappeared as it crashed in crashed in the Indian Ocean, south west of Australia.

Malaysia Airlines says the plane lost contact less than an hour after takeoff. Until now, the mystery of its vanishing is yet to be solved.

A report from the ATSB has found that the recent debris may be from an engine cowling segment and from a panel segment from the main cabin of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft registered 9M-MRO, the registration number of the missing plane.

"Part number 3 was initially identified from the partial Rolls-Royce stencil as a segment from an aircraft engine cowling. The panel thickness, materials and construction conformed to the applicable drawings for Boeing 777 engine cowlings," the report said.

ATSB concludes both pieces of debris were from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. Here's why. #MH370 pic.twitter.com/7h35KcKD5X  David Molko (@davidmolkoCNN) May 12, 2016

"Part number 4 was preliminarily identified by the decorative laminate as an interior panel from the main cabin. The location of a piano hinge on the part surface was consistent with a work-table support leg, utilised on the exterior of the MAB Door R1 (forward, right hand) closet panel (Figure 2). The part materials, dimensions, construction and fasteners were all consistent with the drawing for the panel assembly and matched that installed on other MAB Boeing 777 aircraft at the Door R1 location," it added.

ATSB concludes both pieces of debris were from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777. Here's why. #MH370 pic.twitter.com/7h35KcKD5X  David Molko (@davidmolkoCNN) May 12, 2016

BBC noted in an article that the pieces seem credible because no other 777 has ever crashed in the area where they found the debris.

At present, more than 105,000 sq km of the southern Indian Ocean sea floor has been searched for the missing aircraft. Australia, Malaysia and China who are spearheading the search said that in the absence of "credible new information" they will halt the search by the middle of the year.

Aside from the recently recovered two debris, the search team locating traces of the plane in the southern Indian Ocean has also found three other debris - July 2015, in Reunion Island; December 2015, in Mozambique; February 2016, in Mozambique.
Curiosity killed the raccoon.

Widespread outage occurred early Wednesday morning, in Seattle's Ballard, Fremont and Wallingford.

According to reports, a raccoon triggered the power disruption at around 3:00 a.m.

An animal entered one of our substations causing this most recent outage. Still investigating and hope to get everyone powered up asap.  Seattle City Light (@SEACityLight) May 11, 2016

"Seattle City Light believes a raccoon wandered into the a substation at 8th Avenue NW and Leary Way and somehow de-energized the system.The incident caused a string of feeder lines to fail, causing the outage," report from King 5 said.

Jeff Pierce, who claimed he saw the raccoon, told KIRO7 that he heard an explosion and then saw the shocked animal inside the substation. "I realized there were two workers in hard hats with flashlights with a raccoon between them," said Pierce.

"They were like, 'This guy is really dazed,' and I was like, 'He is?' And they said, 'Yes, he's the one that knocked out all the power,' and I was amazed," he recalled.

So what caused the most recent power outage in Seattle? A raccoon at the Canal substation #Q13FOX @SEACityLight pic.twitter.com/LRoLK0L7bn  Adam Mertz (@AJMertz) May 11, 2016

However, authorities said the raccoon that Pierce saw was not the same raccoon responsible for the power disruption. Reports said the suspect raccoon did not survive as it was electrocuted by 26,000 volts when it came into contact with electrical equipment inside the substation.

Meanwhile, electricity is now back for about 38,000 customers affected by the outage.

Just last month, a little weasel shut down the Large Hardon Collider, the largest and most powerful atom smasher on the planet worth the $7 billion. According to Gizmodo, it did not get into the tunnel of the particle accelerator but managed to chew on a 66-kilovolt power cable. The scientific machine was also interrupted in 2009 after a bird dropped a baguette on it.
This might be the luckiest frog right now. Or maybe not.

A frog with an oversized penis has confused the Internet recently, but scientists have revealed that it's actually a third leg.

Australian Keith Leech shared the image of the frog on Facebook, captioning it with "What the Frog."

Gerry Marantelli from the Australian Amphibian Research Centre insisted it is not a male appendage.

"It's not a penis, frogs don't have them, but penises did evolve from legs' during embryonic development so an extra leg is part way there," he told Buzzfeed news.

Professor Ross Alford from James Cook University meanwhile told News.au.com that it might be a "tailed frog," which is well known for its penis-esque qualities.

According to British Columbia's Frogwatch Program, the tailed frog is a small frog with a noticeable "tail" that functions as a copulatory organ used to fertilize the eggs of the female internally. Tailed frogs are mostly aquatic, but adults may come out during wet seasons to hunt on land.

So how do frogs copulate if a male frog does not have a penis? During amplexus, the stage where the frogs embrace, the female discharges eggs while the male sheds sperms over the eggs.

"The fertilization is external and in water. So it essential that the sperm should be able to enter the egg before the jelly formation. For this purpose the sperms should remain in as close a contact with egg is possible," explained World of Biology.

This frog is just one of the world's weirdest frogs. Others include the tomato frog, which appears to have a ketchup skin, the glass frog which has a translucent skin that makes you literally see all the organs inside it, the pinocchio-nosed frog which has a spike on its nose that points upward and the Turtle frog which looks like a ybrid of both species, among others.
After successfully identifying more than 2,000 exoplanets, NASA's Kepler telescope is ready to retire next year. The baton will be passed to its successor, TESS who is not only tasked to identify more exoplanets, but also to find signs of life and another Earth.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be sent to outer space immediately after Kepler resigns. According to a report, TESS will be launched next year and its ability to observe the outer space is way better than Kepler. Kepler has the capacity to observe 100,000 stars in one patch per day while the upgraded version, TESS can scan the whole sky looking for brighter stars.

Experts predict that TESS might just be the telescope to help mankind find another Earth-like habitable planet or probably any signs of life.

@SpaceBrendan @NASAKepler TESS will conduct an "all-sky" survey. We will have overlap with the Kepler field of view. pic.twitter.com/cQpn10OJgJ  NASA_TESS (@NASA_TESS) May 10, 2016

In a video released by NASA Goddard, they said that since that dawn of time humans are already asking if we are alone in the universe. And with TESS, they believe we now have the technology to finally answer that question. They added, TESS's mission is to "seek worlds beyond our Solar System" and this can be achieved by searching the ''entire sky for shadows of another Earth." NBC news event reported that NASA told Congress that they now have the technology to find alien life.

NASA is known for evading questions pertaining to alien life, UFOs and the like, but with TESS they are more driven to finally put a stop to conspiracy theories and to once and for all prove whether or not alien life exists.

TESS is a project of NASA and MIT. It will use four cameras to scan the entire sky looking for Earth-like planets. NASA said the mission will observe 500,000 brightest stars in the sky. While Kepler found more than 2,000 exoplanets, they are expecting TESS to do better than that and find 3,000 Exoplanet candidates.

NASA added that by "using TESS data, missions like the James Webb Space Telescope can determine specific characteristics of these planets, including whether they could support life."
NASA's space aircrafts including the International Space Station serves as the eye of mankind on anything unusual happening in the outer space. But it can also give us a glimpse on the most unusual activities on Earth.

A recent eruption of a volcano in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the 'silent' volcano Mount Sourbaya, covered in ice sheets and which haven't erupted in 60 years, was seen spewing ashes, and NASA caught it on camera. According to scientists, the colors present on the photo suggests there was indeed an eruption. And if not for NASA, the eruption of the silent volcano will go unnoticed.

Before modern technology, hundreds, maybe thousands of volcanoes and their activities remain unnoticed because there are no human habitations near them.

"Before the advent of satellites and seismic monitoring, volcanic eruptions in distant places would mostly go unnoticed unless they were absolutely extraordinary" said NASA in a statement.

The mountain, which was 'silent' for 60 years, seemed to have erupted twice "releasing impressive amounts of lava" said RT. NASA was able to photograph the event which happened on April 24 and May 1.

LiveScience said that the eruption could have gone unnoticed because no single soul lives near Mount Sourabaya. But thanks to a NASA satellite, the eruption was immortalized in a photo.

"Today, scientists can pick up signatures of events occurring far from any human observers" said NASA.

NASA said the image was captured using the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite. The image shows two false-color and was built from a combination of shortwave-infrared, near-infrared and red light that detects heat signature of an eruption.

"Both images show the heat signatures (red-orange) of what is likely hot lava, while white plumes trail away from the crater. The band combination makes the ice cover of the island appear bright blue-green" NASA added.

NASA said the last eruption of the volcano was in 1956.
Chrissy Turner, an 8-year-old girl from Utah, is the youngest ever to be diagnosed with a rare type of breast cancer. Her diagnosis quickly spread in the headlines garnering the interest of leading oncologists in the United States.

Now, the girl who dreamed of becoming to be a dragon rider when she grew up is in remission.

"It was the hardest thing we've ever gone through as a family," Chrissy's mom, Annette Turner, 43, told People in an exclusive interview. "But Chrissy is a fighter."

According to her GoFundMe page, Chrissy was diagnosed last October with an extremely rare form of breast cancer called Secretory Breast Carcinoma. The diagnosis came after her parents persisted to do an ultrasound on the lump under Chrissy's right nipple that was painful to touch.

Chrissy underwent mastectomy last December, removing her right breast. Her parents are glad to announce that Chrissy's cancer is in remission, but she still needs to undergo series of treatments and tests.



"We are eternally grateful to everyone," said Annette. "Everyone's support helped us get through this. People have been phenomenal. We've been helping Chrissy through this, one hug at a time."

The eight-year old girl is now a survivor of cancer, just like both of her parents. Chrissy's mom is a survivor of cervical cancer, while her dad Troy Turner, an equipment specialist at Hill Air Force Base, won his bout against Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Secretory Breast Carcinoma is a rare but distinct subtype of breast carcinoma affecting only on in a million people, usually adult women. It is originally known as juvenile breast carcinoma that occurs in young children, but most reported cases were in adults of both sexes.

The number of children below 10-years of age diagnosed with cancer is deeply depressing. Just a few days ago, Vinny Desautels, a seven years old boy who grew his hair to donat to cancer patients, was diagnosed having an aggressive malignant mass on his eye.


A 15-year-old student in the East Bay is being charged with assault after police say he beat up his PE teacher.

The incident at Mt. Diablo High School in Concord was caught on cellphone video. The 27-second video shows the student and teacher throwing punches.

"The student was walking towards the gym. The teacher told him he couldnt be there," Concord Police Cpl. Chris Blakely said. "Some words were exchanged between him and the teacher and it lead to a physical altercation."

Authorities said the fight happened Wednesday afternoon during a gym class. In the video, which was taken by another student, teens can be heard cheering in the background.

The student can be seen in the video throwing more punches at the teacher, whose face is already bloody.

"And nobody is doing anything to help the teacher," parent Shawna Delarosa said. "That's disgusting."

Another student questions what the video, which started mid fight, does not show. The student notes the teacher is fighting too.

"If a student swings at you, you should just back off," student Sabina Villaro said. "I was surprised that the teacher actually kept with the fight."

In addition to being charged with assault, the student has been suspended from school and may be expelled pending a further investigation. The teacher has been placed on administrative leave, school officials said.

The Mt. Diablo Unified School District is unable to comment on the incident, citing issues regarding student discipline are confidential.

The district on Thursday sent out a message to parents via phone and letter, which said in part:

"As some of you may have heard, we had an incident on campus yesterday afternoon involving an altercation between a student and a teacher. As a result of this incident, the student has been suspended in accordance with district policies for student discipline, and the teacher has been placed on administrative leave. This will allow us to follow due process and conduct a thorough investigation, respecting due process for all involved.

We take the safety and security of all students, staff and visitors very seriously. We must also respect the privacy of those involved, and not disclose any more specifics about the incident while the investigation is ongoing."
A 30-year-old man faces five felony charges that accuse him of beating a University of Kansas woman he met on Tinder and holding her captive for five days, NBC News reported.

Shane Steven Allen is in custody at the Douglas County Jail on $100,000 pending a June 24 hearing on one count of kidnapping and four counts of aggravated battery, according to jail records and the county district attorneys office.

Allen kidnapped the 20-year-old woman on April 12, according to the charges. That night, he accused the woman of flirting with one of his friends and punched her in the eye, knocked her to the ground and beat her, the arrest affidavit said.

Allen would not let the woman go home and returned her to her sorority on April 18, according to police.
COLUMBUS  A 23-year-old Columbus man facing six felonies stemming from a late-night chase with police earlier this month is scheduled for a preliminary hearing May 26 on the charges in Platte County Court.

Defendant Garrett Spence is accused of leading police on a pursuit May 1 through the northwest section of the city and onto county gravel roads before the vehicle he took without permission was disabled by a spike strip and he was arrested following a foot chase.

Judge Frank Skorupa set Spences bond at $250,000, 10 percent allowed for release, during a brief first appearance hearing. Spence has been in custody at the county jail since his arrest the night of the chase.

Spence is charged with operating a motor vehicle to avoid arrest, possession of a stolen firearm, delivery of a controlled substance, conspiracy to commit a Class 2A felony, possession of a deadly weapon while committing a felony and possession of a firearm while committing a felony.

The penalties for the felonies range from two years to 50 years imprisonment.

Spence was arrested in connection with the 20-minute chase that began at 10:21 p.m. when an officer spotted the vehicle he was driving in the 4700 block of Howard Boulevard.

The SUV drove through a couple of residential yards in Columbus before Spence fled northbound on 48th Avenue. The pursuit reached speeds around 80 mph on rain-soaked gravel roads as the suspect drove as far north as 355th Street before heading back toward Columbus on 190th Avenue.

He was able to avoid a spike strip before turning west onto 325th Street, then south on 48th Avenue, where the SUV's speed reached close to 100 mph on the blacktop.

Police successfully deployed a second spike strip near 48th Avenue and Lost Creek Parkway, flattening the tires on the vehicle that continued south on the avenue.

The vehicle stopped near Cubby's at 48th Avenue and 27th Street, where the suspect fled on foot before being captured by a city officer and county sheriffs deputy.

Spence is also awaiting a county court hearing next week in which he is accused of trying to pass phony $5 bills at Cubby's in November after being identified from a photo lineup by two of the convenience stores employees.

He faces a charge of attempted first-degree forgery in connection with that case.

The attempted forgery charge is a Class IV felony, punishable by up to two years imprisonment.

Court records in the forgery case detail a police investigation that began the afternoon of Nov. 11 with a report of a disturbance at a 14th Street home where Spence was staying with his girlfriend and her mother. The defendant had left the home before police arrived.

The mother reported having heard rumors that Spence was making counterfeit currency, but was unable to provide much more information, Officer Troy Urkoski wrote in his probable cause statement supporting the defendants arrest.

Later that day, the mother reported finding poorly made counterfeit money in the pocket of jeans owned by Spence.

A few days earlier, police took a report of a male suspect attempting to pass bogus $5 bills at the convenience store. The transaction was captured on store video.

Urkoski said multiple witnesses identified Spence from the video and a police photo lineup as the forgery suspect.
Authorities confirm a suspect is in custody after two police officers were shot early Friday morning in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Ian MacPherson, 32, of Manchester, was apprehended around 5 a.m. and charged with two counts of attempted capital murder, the office of Attorney General Joseph Foster announced.

Both officers are expected to survive the shooting  one was sent home from the hospital Friday, the other moved to Boston to continue his treatment closer to his family, authorities said.

The incident began around 2 a.m., when Manchester Police Officer Ryan Hardy saw a man who fit the description of the suspect in the robbery of a Shell gas station on Thursday. Hardy radioed in that he saw the suspect, then radioed again that he was shot, according to the attorney general's office. He was wounded in the face and torso.

That incident happened near the intersection of Second Street and Ferry Street.

About 30 minutes later, officer Matthew O'Connor saw the suspect on Rimmon Street near Putnam Street. When he told him to put his hands up, Foster's office says, the man shot O'Connor in the leg.

Officers returned fire, but the suspect fled into the woods. MacPherson was later taken into custody, authorities said. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.

"There was a large volume of shots, possibly 10 to 12," Putnam Street resident Bob McKenna told necn. "Within a minute there were 15 cruisers... the street was covered."

"Police rolled up, had their guns drawn and told us to stay in the house and out of the windows for our safety," said Floyd Johnson, another area resident.

The massive manhunt forced people to stay inside their homes for hours.

"My mom came in and said 'get on the ground,'" said neighbor Breanna Violette. "There's police everywhere. They have guns."

By noon, police announced the area was safe - but they did not confirm an arrest for several more hours.

Hardy is in stable condition at a hospital in Boston, according to Foster. O'Connor was treated and released from a local hospital.

Before joining Manchester Police, Hardy served from 2012 to 2015 as an officer with the Derry Police Department.

"Hardy served the Town proudly and well," Derry Police Chief Edward B. Garone wrote in a statement. "He was highly regarded by his peers, supervisors and all members of the Derry Police Department. He is in our thoughts and prayers and we wish him a swift recovery."

During the investigation Friday morning, there was a heavy police presence in Manchester, with both Massachusetts and New Hampshire State Police helicopters seen circling overhead.

Police originally told residents of the area around Wayne, Putnam and Rimmon streets to shelter in place. That was lifted shortly after 10 a.m.

Schools on the west side of the city are closed Friday, according to the Manchester school system. Affected schools include Gossler Park Elementary, Northwest Elementary, Parker-Varney Elementary, Middle School at Parkside and West High School.
The Hope Gala is JDRFs most high profile networking opportunity and most successful annual fundraiser in the Greater Bay Area. Join NBCs Sam Brock and Telemundos Gabriela Dellan at this black tie event on May 21, 2016. The event includes a cocktail reception, silent and live auctions, presentation of the Living & Giving Award, a gourmet dinner, dancing, and the YLC After Party. With over 400 attendees, the Hope Gala is a fun and inspirational event that offers supporters the opportunity to be socially conscious community leaders who help turn Type One into Type None.

Each year, the Living and Giving Award is presented to individuals or organizations who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to JDRF. The 2016 Honoree, Chara Schreyer, was selected for her extraordinary support of type 1 diabetes (T1D) research. More than thirty years ago, Charas daughter Justine was diagnosed with T1D at the age of four. Since then, Chara has been dedicated to accelerating the pace of life-changing research for all those affected by T1D. She is president of Kadima Foundation which also contributes to JDRF and funded the Justine K. Schreyer Endowed Chair in Diabetes Research at the UCSF Diabetes Center and the Justine Kathryn Schreyer Diabetes Care Center at UCSF.

Learn more by clicking here
State government workers in Illinois are the highest paid in the country, according to an Illinois Policy Institute report released Friday.

An average government worker in the state makes $59,088 a year plus benefits like health insurance and pensions, the report claims. This is $10,000 more than the national average for state workers. Wages in the report were indexed for cost of living.

Salaries for Illinois state workers have increased by 41 percent since 2005, according to state and federal data. In the same time, private sector earnings have remained roughly the same.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has been locked in contract negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees for over a year. The union is seeking over $3 billion in higher salaries and benefits for Illinois government workers. The raises range from 11.5 to 29 percent.

AFSCME claims its middle-class salaries and benefits are under attack, but the numbers say otherwise, Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute, said in a statement. Not only do state workers in Illinois make more than the private-sector workers who pay their salaries, the average pay for state workers in Illinois is out of step with their peers in the other 49 states.

An AFSCME spokesman rebuffed the new study, pointing instead to a 2013 University of Illinois study. According to Robert Bruno, a U of I labor and employment relations professor who worked on the study, Illinois state workers are not overpaid.

"When you control for education and other demographic variables, it turns out that public sector workers suffer a wage penalty," Bruno said. "So it's a myth that state workers in Illinois are overpaid, and to lay the blame for the state's budget woes and underfunded pensions on state workers is just plain false."

His study found that Illinois' local and state government workers earned 13.5 percent less on average than private sector workers with comparable education.

Last year, Rauner asked AFSCME for a temporary salary freeze in exchange for new merit pay and incentive bonuses. Rauner's office did not respond to Ward Room's request for comment.

The Illinois Policy Institute is a non-profit think tank based in Chicago that supports limited government and free-market principles.
Chicago Public Schools officials have confirmed that the district has been holding conversations on massive budget cuts for the next school year, 20 percent cuts that would be the biggest in the district's history.

CPS officials have been discussing school budget cuts in excess of 20 percent with principals in order to prepare school communities for devastating cuts next year. These meetings have taken place individually and in small groups," CPS spokesperson Emily Bittner said.

The proposed cuts would certainly impact teachers, which has many CPS parents outraged.

"When we are told by our principal that one out of every five teachers may lose their job, that breaks my heart because we have the most amazing teachers at that school,"said CPS parent Lynn Ankney. "Seeing the waste going on in the district-- it's maddening and it's got to stop."

Principals are being asked to assist in coming up with ways to cut costs, from laying off teachers, to raising class sizes, and cutting resources.

"I can no longer make the decision between cutting a teacher and a counselor. I need them both," Schurz High School principal Dan Kramer said at an LSC meeting Thursday.

CPS officials called for a revamped funding plan from lawmakers in Springfield, blaming the deficit in part on the funding formula that they say costs the district more then $500 million each year, and the $74 million reduction in funding proposed by Governor Rauner.

But parents don't entirely buy that argument, many saying that they've done their part.

"We are hosting the fundraisers to bring in the basic services that you take granted in the elite private schools you send your kids to," Jeff Jenkins said.

"We are hosting the fundraisers to bring in the basic services that you take granted in the elite private schools you send your kids to," Jeff Jenkins said.

"Every year we cut a little bit more, and we figure out ways to make it work," said parent Vanessa Reu. "You get to the point where there is nothing left to cut."

CPS enrollment dropped by 6000 students this year, which is another contributing factor, according to the governor's office.
It was a Sunday like any other for the Wauconda Fire District. The gold shift firefighters had all chipped in and gone to buy food for dinner when they had to drop their groceries on a moment's notice.

"We were next in line at Jewel to pay and we got a call for a fire alarm, so we put our groceries back in our carts and responded to the call," said Lieutenant E.J. Miller.

The call was minor, but when they returned to Jewel, they found a thoughtful surprise.

"We came back to find our groceries were bagged up for us already. Thought that was kinda odd, so we got back in line," Miller said. "Then one of the employees at Jewel came and told us that a customer had paid for our groceries."

Whoever paid for the food left no note, not even a receipt.

"It was a big surprise," said firefighter and paramedic Seth Dishno. "Nothing we expected. It's done wonders for the community. It's nice to feel appreciated, that the community feels that way towards us."

"I thought it was great," said firefighter and paramedic Chris Stephens. "A good thing for the community to do."

With no note, the only way the Wauconda Fire District could say thank you was in a Facebook post. But they decided to take that act of kindness, and pay it forward.

The firefighters took the money they were going to spend on their dinner, and gave it to a local food pantry instead.

"We talked to the food pantry and the money that we had donated will go to feed over 200 families that they take care of," said Miller.

"It does make a huge difference to feel the kick back from the community and then to be able to pass that on to the community is huge," Dishno added.

"The town of Wauconda and the other eight municipalities in which we serve are great communities," said Wauconda Fire District Chief Mike Wahl. "And we are very proud."
About a thousand people gathered Thursday in Coronado, California, to honor a U.S. Navy SEAL killed in an ISIS attack last week in Iraq.

The memorial at Tidelands Park, organized by the Naval Special Warfare, began with a bagpipe procession. Family of Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Charles Keating IV then offered emotional words about his loss.

He was my idol, Keatings brother, also a Navy SEAL, told the crowd. He was my best friend.

During the tribute, Keating was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and a second combat ribbon.

Keatings mother shared some of her sons words as a way to honor him.

The most important lesson is to have respect for all people, she recalled.

Family's "favorite picture" in memorial program for fallen Navy Seal. #nbc7 pic.twitter.com/T5CgXZzGPJ  Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) May 12, 2016

The private memorial followed the arrival of Keatings body at the Naval Air Station at Naval Base Coronado Wednesday.

A bugler played Taps at the end of the hour-long ceremony.

Keating IV died May 3 about 14 miles north of Mosul in an attack launched by 125 ISIS fighters, Pentagon officials said. He was part of a small force sent to fend off the attack.

After the emotional ceremony, U.S. Navy Chaplain Dennis Kelly said Keating should be remembered for how he lived his life, on duty and off.

"He lived life. He was passionate about life and he had a joy that was just throughout everything he did," Kelly said. "'Moderation is for cowards' was kind of his motive."

The family is asking, in lieu of flowers, any donations be made to the Navy SEAL Foundation.
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he is prepared to forfeit billions of dollars in federal education funding following an Obama administration directive over bathroom access for transgender students.

The directive, issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina, requires that public schools allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that align with their gender identities.

Patrick said during a news conference Friday he is prepared to forfeit the $10 billion received from the federal government every two years money he said was earmarked by the state for free meal programs.

"In Texas, [Obama] can keep his 30 pieces of silver. We will not yield to blackmail from the President of the United States," Patrick said.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he is prepared to forfeit billions of dollars in federal education funding following an Obama administration directive over bathroom access for transgender students.

"So Barack Obama, if schools don't knuckle down to force girls showering with boys and force 8-year-old girls to have to endure boys coming into their bathroom  he's taking money from the poorest of the poor. The president of the United States will be ending the free breakfast and free lunch program  that's what he's saying," Patrick added. "We will make sure in Texas the poorest kids don't go hungry, by the way, even if the president is happy to take food off the table of the poorest of the poor. We will find a way in Texas."

Patrick didn't say how that funding might be replaced by the state legislature.

He urged Texas superintendents to defy the directive, which Obama was expected to address in letters to schools Friday. The guidance does not impose legal requirements but clarifies expectations for districts that receive federal funds. Schools that do not comply could be found in violation of Title IX.

Patrick's remarks Friday came moments after more than half the state's 1,200 school districts lost a major lawsuit claiming Texas unconstitutionally underfunds public schools.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick spoke with NBC 5s Kristi Nelson about the Texas GOP convention in Dallas and the issue of transgender rights with public restrooms.

The issue of transgender bathrooms was thrust into the national spotlight amid a polarizing battle between the federal government and North Carolina over the state's limiting bathroom law.

Kent Scribner, the superintendent of the Fort Worth Independent School District, recently made the controversial decision to allow transgender students to use restrooms that align with their gender identities.

Patrick has been vocal in expressing his discontent over that decision and has called for Scribner's resignation on more than one occasion.

Before the Fort Worth School Board meeting Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick again called for the resignation of Superintendent Kent Scribner over a guidelines issued regarding transgender children and bathrooms.

"President Obama, in the dark of the night  without consulting Congress, without consulting educators, without consulting parents  decides to issue an executive order, like this superintendent, forcing transgender policies on schools and on parents who clearly don't want it," Patrick told NBC 5 Thursday night.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) addresses the GOP Convention in Dallas, Texas, May 13, 2016.

"This is not about equal rights," he added. "This is President Obama sticking his finger in the eye of every parent in America who says Im not going to tolerate this. We're going to see an explosion of home schoolers we're going to see an explosion of private schools and we're going to pass the school choice bill."

During a speech at the Texas GOP Convention in Dallas Thursday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for Republican conservatives to stand together against the Democrats and support Ted Cruz as a possible Supreme Court Justice.

Patrick said the announcement would cause a shift in focus in terms of the presidential election.

"Parents will not tolerate this. This will end up in the Supreme Court which underscores why this presidential election is so important. The president has just made this the number one issue. This is going to infuriate parents all across the country and school teachers," said Patrick.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told delegates at the Texas GOP convention in Dallas on Thursday he would help defend North Carolinas law on transgender restrooms.

Dallas Independent School Distict School Board Vice President Miguel Solis, however, praised the directive.

"News of the White House reaffirming the notion that all children deserve schools void of discrimination is a validation of school boards that have passed nondiscrimination polices and superintendents that created guidelines to match them. Make no mistake, the bold stance the Fort Worth ISD Board Administration recently took has caught the eye of the nation and we as a society are better because of this," he said in a tweet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Next week, 55 Connecticut students will travel to Washington, D.C. to compete at the National Invention Convention and Entrepreneurship Expo.

The young Connecticut inventors were selected from the semi-final competition held in Storrs just a few a weeks ago.

Among the 200 students from 15 states heading to D.C. are three local students from the Talcott Mountain Science Academy.

Us students, were like the next generation," Dash Corning, a seventh grade student at Talcott Mountain Science Academy, said. "We're going to be the people that have to clean up the world and create new things."

And they are doing just that.

Using Bluetooth technology, the Forget-Me-Not will automatically remember items, such as your phone, keys or laptop and alert you if you forget them before you leave your home.

There are a lot of things on the market that help you find things. This helps you remember things," Emma Ruccio, a sixth grade student at Talcott Mountain Science Academy, said.

All of the students from Talcott Mountain Science Academy have a personal connection to their inventions.

Me and my cousin went to play on the ice by a lake, we decided that it looked thick enough so we went on it and it started to crack and we almost fell in," Ryder Bidwell, a sixth-grade student at Talcott Mountain Science Academy, said.

This is a danger Ryder hopes his invention will help avoid.

My invention is an app with an add-on accessory that allows you to detect the thickness of ice," Ryder said. Its a plastic box with an artometermicropod processor on the inside attached to an ultrasonic sensor."

Plug that into an app that Ryder also created by himself, and you have the Ice Alert.

Dash Corning used his passion for online gaming to create a new parental control software.

Argus works by analyzing patterns of keystroke and the behaviors of the user rather than the content of the web page or game," Dash said. This is the outcome of the algorithm and as soon as it crosses the threshold of gaming, then it will start counting up the likeliness that youre playing a game and once it gets to 100 it will alert your parent."

When I first saw it I couldnt believe it, I was just amazed that he could do that it was great," Dash's mother, Laura, said.

Coordinators of the National Competition are expecting a lot more greatness that will kick off this time next week.

Its going to be the trip of a life time," Danny Briere, CEO of STEMIE Coalition, said. "Kids are going to be able to go and meet other kids just like them and see other inventions and just have a general good time.

The Connecticut Invention Convention is raising travel funds for the student inventors through a GoFundMe page and through a mobile cause campaign.
A former executive director for the Derby Senior Center is accused of stealing money from the center and has been arrested.

Sarah Muoio, 30, of Milford, has been charged with one count of first-degree larceny and turned herself in to police on Friday morning.

Mayor Anita Dugatto fired Muoio in January and said in a statement on Friday that she is "deeply troubled by the magnitude of the allegations."

In the days leading up to the termination, a senior administrative assistant said Muoio had missed work for personal reasons and told police that the executive director gave her three file folders and told her to hide them and then asked her to shred them, but she reported it to the mayors office instead.

No charges have been filed and Derby Police have not yet made an arrest.

Then an audit discovered discrepancies in the centers financial records dating back to 2011 and city officials contacted police in February, according to court documents.

"As Director of the Senior Center, Sara was responsible for managing the daily operation of the facility and its programs. She was also entrusted with the well-being of our elderly community members. Her actions exploited our most vulnerable citizens and betrayed the trust and confidence of our City. I am appalled by the fact that these actions took place repeatedly over her tenure as a City official," Dugatto said in a statement.

The treasurer of the senior center told police they should have $28,000 in a savings account, but the detective wrote the, account shows an actual balance of $15,559.44.

One detective wrote he received, information that Sarah Muoio had used the DSC Webster Bank accounts to purchase personal items on numerous occasions and court documents said there were more than 200 questionable transactions from the DCS account for more than $21,700.

A search warrant connected to the case listed the items police seized from Muoio's home, including a Baxton white queen-size bed, a carpet sample and eight used paint cans.

Detectives also searched two of Muoios computers and a bank account.

Muoio posted a $10,000 court-set bond and has been released. She is due in Derby Superior Court on May 25.

NBC Connecticut knocked on Muoio's door earlier this month when the allegations surfaced to see if she had any comment, but nobody answered. Her attorney had no comment, other than that they will proceed through the court system.

Mayor Dugatto said she will take whatever action is necessary to seek full restitution to make the Senior Center whole again.
COLUMBUS  A 35-year-old man headed to prison for a January drunken driving incident across the street from the sheriffs office was sentenced this week to 60 days in jail for assault stemming from a violent argument with his girlfriend in April.

Platte County Court Judge Frank Skorupa sentenced William Jarecki to the jail time for his conviction of third-degree assault in a fight that erupted April 9 when the defendant arrived at the Columbus mobile home the couple shared.

The judge ordered the jail time to be served concurrently with the 30 months to five years in prison Jarecki received last week in district court for his conviction of third-offense refusal of an alcohol test in connection with the Jan. 10 DUI incident near the Platte County Sheriffs Office.

Third-degree assault is a Class I misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and $1,000 fine.

In a plea deal with the Platte County Attorneys Office, Jarecki pleaded no contest to assault in exchange for the prosecution dismissing charges of strangulation, criminal mischief and third-degree assault.

Strangulation is a Class IIIA felony and carries a maximum penalty of up to three years imprisonment and 18 months of post-release supervision.

Court documents describe the April 9 incident as a violent argument that got underway when an angry Jarecki arrived at about 11:30 p.m. at the couples trailer.

Columbus Police Officer Colin Alexander wrote in his probable cause arrest statement that the 33-year-old victim reported the couple argued verbally, then the situation became physical.

During the encounter, Alexander wrote the victim said Jarecki held her on the ground and had his hands around her throat, making it difficult for her to breathe. The victim said when she was able to get up, her boyfriend pushed her out the door of the residence, the officer wrote.

Alexander said the victim also reported that Jarecki damaged her cellphone to keep her from calling police, threw a bottle of alcohol through a two-pane sliding glass door and damaged two flat-screen televisions and a 7-inch tablet device.

The estimated damage to the victims property was $1,545.

In the January DUI case, Jareckis red 2006 Kia Spectra was idling at 3:48 a.m. in a lot at the corner of 14th Street and 27th Avenue with the hazard lights flashing. The sleeping defendants foot was on the brake pedal.
While air temperatures might be climbing, water temperatures are still dangerously cold and doctors are encouraging you to be safe.

"When water gets to 60 degrees or below, it can be very dangerous and even life-threatening," Kevin Borrup, associate director of the Injury Prevention Center at Connecticut Children's Medical Center, said.

Four weeks ago, a water rescue was made in the Connecticut River and units from Weathersfield, Glastonbury, and Rocky Hill all responded. It was their quick response that was critical to the victims survival from the cold waters.

"In temperatures around 58 degrees, you're really only talking about 10 minutes before people start to lose functionality in their extremities," James Ritter, the public information officer of the Wethersfield Fire Department, said.

"When you're emerged in cold water, your body will continue to cool off until it meets the temperature of the water," Borrup said. "Granted, this does happen slowly and you have more time, but the colder the water the more dangerous it is."

This is something that can be difficult for children to understand because the air is hot and they want to swim.

"My children will go right in," Signe Damdar, of Newington, said, who added that it wise to take precautions and teach them.

Children are much more vulnerable than adults when exposed to cold water because much of their body can be submerged so quickly. Officials encourage parents to always have a personal flotation device and always make sure your children are within arms reach.
Dahlia Bryan barely lived to tell her story. She was stabbed six times by Curtis Moorley -- the father of three of her children.

Moorley is in the United States with a green card. He was born in Trinidad and Tobago. After the brutal knife assault, Bryan was certain he would be deported.

The ordeal began in July 2012. She and Moorley had been arguing at their Hartford home because Bryan had a male friend over. She said, without notice, Moorley attacked.

By the time I had really realized what had taken place, there was a knife at my throat, Bryan said, fighting back tears.

The children were in the home during those terrifying moments, but they were unharmed. Bryan was rushed St. Francis Hospital, where doctors described her conditions as critical with life threatening injuries.

The doctor said he doesnt understand why Im alive because those injuries should have killed me, Bryan explained.

The wounds run deep, both physically and mentally. She showed us graphic pictures of the lacerations held together by staples and stitches.

Thats one of the defense stab wounds I had on my arm, Dahlia explained. And thats the one in my back, thats the first one I received.

These days, she goes about life trying to feel normal but the painful details of that terrible night are always with her.

I still struggle on a daily basis from the injuries that I have to this day, she said.

She also struggles with the fear that Moorley will attack her again.

He was let out of prison after serving four years. The prosecution cut him a deal that reduced his original charge of attempted murder to assault in the first degree, which is still a felony.

From what I was told by the prosecutor, he would be deported after he served the maximum time allowed on his sentence, said Bryan.

But when Moorley got out on special parole this past January, he was released right back into Hartford -- not to immigration.

Where did it go wrong? Bryan asked. Whats going on here?

According to court transcripts, during the sentencing, Moorleys own attorney said, We do anticipate that this will result in Mr. Moorleys deportation. 

We reached out to the States Attorneys office and they declined an interview, but an official told us they reported Moorleys crime to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), when it first happened. They also said the prosecutor, judge, Moorleys his own attorney and even he believed he would be deported.

A spokesperson for ICE told us its the states fault they couldnt deport Moorley.

He declined to go on camera, but said in an email that because Moorley has a Green Card and the charges were substituted down from attempted murder to a class B felony, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is precluded from pursuing removal charges. The final conviction does not reach the standard required for the individual to be placed in immigration proceedings.

Yet, according to a 2014 memo from the Department of Homeland Security, the #2 priority removal enforcement includes:

Aliens convicted of a "significant misdemeanor" including domestic violence or sentenced to time of 90 days or more

He wanted to kill me, said Bryan. No doubt about it.

Karen Jarmoc. with Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence. said she has contacted ICE personally to try to have violent domestic assaulters deported, but her concerns fall on seemingly deaf ears.

ICE is not acting on that opportunity, said Jarmoc. They are almost trying to think of every reason why the offender should be able to stay, as opposed to why this is risky and harmful to a victim who is here as a U.S. citizen.

Jarmoc also said that when the perpetrators arent deported, it empowers them and emboldens them to strike again.

Victims of domestic violence are being threatened and harmed by individuals who are either here on a Green Card or not here legally and yet it seems to be a passive approach by ICE in terms of just a lack of initiative to address this, said Jarmoc.

With ICE blaming the state, and the State of Connecticut saying its up to ICE to act, Bryan and people like her are caught in the middle.

We asked Bryan what was her biggest fear.

That one day I am going to find him outside my doors, said Bryan.

Just days after the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters' interview with Bryan, she said Moorley showed up at her home. She wasnt there, but her children were.

The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters further pressed the States Attorneys office about this case and they took Moorley back in custody for allegedly violating a no contact order for Bryan. They are now asking ICE to review his case.
The National Fire Protection Association, one of the nations top fire safety groups, is adding an important safety message to educational materials that could save lives after an NBC 5 investigation highlighted new fire research showing sleeping with the bedroom door closed could provide lifesaving time to escape a house fire.

That message was not often promoted by the nations leading fire safety groups. But now, NBC 5s reporting caught the attention of the NFPA which said it will make changes by adding the following language, A closed door may slow the spread of smoke, heat and fire to its education guidelines. NFPA guidelines shape the fire messages taught by firefighters across the United States.

If you cant get out of your house the best thing you can possibly do is get a closed door between you and where the fire is, said director of firefighter safety research at Underwriters Laboratories, Steve Kerber.

For years, Kerber has conducted hundreds of fire studies with fire departments across the country.

In a report last fall, NBC 5 Investigates suited up with the Fort Worth Fire Department at their new training facility to illustrate the difference a closed door can make.

Wearing air packs and safety gear, firefighters light a fire in a hallway outside a bedroom. Using a thermal imaging camera, the door glows from the heat of the fire in the hallway.

On the other side of the door, the temperature is approximately 600 degrees, said Lt. Kyle Faulkner, with the Fort Worth Fire Department.

But the door is such a good barrier that inside the room the temperature is only about 100 degrees. Hot, but still survivable.

To see what happens without the door, firefighters open it and the room quickly heats up to more than 150 degrees -- too hot to survive.

Firefighters have long known that a closed door can slow the flow of smoke. But, in 2012 UL conducted a series of tests with the New York City Fire Department to see how fires spread through modern homes. After setting fire to 20 abandoned town homes the research showed closed doors not only blocked smoke and toxic gases, they also kept out dangerous heat.

Its very important that when everyone goes to sleep at night that they sleep with their doors closed, said Kerber.

Despite ULs research, NBC 5 Investigates found the NFPA, The American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agencys U.S. Fire Administration was not teaching people to sleep with closed doors in many safety materials they publish.

FEMA said it tested the closed-door message in focus groups and found some people didnt like it, so they decided not to include it.

In a written response, a FEMA spokeswoman said, We have learned that we cant tell our customers everything that we know is important.

Definitely get those extra seconds because of how precious those extra seconds are, said Lexi King, who survived a house fire 11 years ago that killed her parents and brother in Corpus Christi.

Her brother always slept with his door open while Lexi kept hers closed.

When asked what she would say to a safety group, not putting the closed-door advisory near the top of their fire safety guidelines, Lexi said: Look at where I am right now. And look at whats not next to me  which is my family members.

In November, the NBC 5 report was aired on NBCs Today Show.

Within days, NFPA posted a message saying it would hold a meeting to reconsider the closed door message.

They did actually look at the news reports as well and certainly had access to the UL research, said NFPA Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy, Lorraine Carli.

The committee decided to make a change by adding the language.

This will have a lot of impact with the fire service because the Education Message Advisory Committee sets the messages for the people that are doing fire safety education all over the country, Carli said.

The Red Cross and FEMA are changing as well.

In an email a FEMA spokeswoman said, The group consensus was to incorporate closed bedroom doors into fire safety messages.

Lexi King is convinced the message will save lives. NBC 5 shared the news with King who said it makes her feel a like something positive is coming for the tragedy her family endured.

Its the whole nation thats being impacted and thats huge, thats so many people, so many little ones that could be saved, said King.

To have all of the fire service organizations come together around such an important message is great, said Kerber.

For Kerber, the message means years of research may now make a difference for more families.

To have them all respond positively and include this important message...I think will save lives around the world, said Kerber.

Back in Fort Worth firefighters are now teaching people to sleep with the door closed using a smoke simulator in fire safety presentations for children and parents.

And now Americas top fire safety group wants everyone to learn that lesson.

Going forward you will see fire departments and fire safety educators using this message, said Carli.

Experts said if you close your bedroom door at night you still need smoke detectors installed both inside and outside each bedroom of the house and check the batteries regularly.

The smoke detector is still the first line of defense to alert you so you can get out quickly.

The closed door is there to buy extra time for firefighters to reach you in case youre unable to get out.
North Texas may be facing a busy summer dealing with the West Nile virus, according to some experts.

Dr. James Kennedy, with the University of North Texas, just started his annual mosquito surveillance for the city of Denton and said, after just a few weeks of trapping and testing, conditions are looking very similar to 2012 when North Texas saw a lot of cases of the illness.

"This winter's been very mild, very warm spring. Right now the temperatures are getting much warmer than what we would expect in May," said Kennedy.

So far, his weekly mosquito traps have netted the bugs in big numbers, too. He said few have been of the breed that carry West Nile, but that's to be expected right now with the storm season keeping area waters from getting stagnant.

"That's going to go away and we're going to have wet conditions, and I think we're going to have a bumper crop of mosquitoes," he said.

Several North Texas communities, including nearby Lewisville, have already launched spray trucks this season after getting positive West Nile tests in their traps.

Kennedy urges people not to be scared by the outlook, but to definitely take mosquito season seriously and follow the CDC's recommendations to prevent getting bitten.

Like many biologists in the area, Kennedy also said his concern is much more focused on West Nile than the Zika virus.

"We're going to see it [Zika] in the human population before we see it in the mosquito population," he said.

How to Protect Yourself From Mosquito Bites

Dress in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent.

in long sleeves, pants when outside: For extra protection, spray thin clothing with repellent. DEET : Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent.

: Make sure this ingredient is in your insect repellent. Drain standing water in your yard and neighborhood: Mosquitoes can develop in any water stagnant for more than three days.

It has been recommended in the past that to avoid mosquito bites you should avoid being outdoors during Dusk and Dawn (the 4 Ds). While this is true for mosquitoes that commonly carry the West Nile virus, other types of mosquitoes that are more likely to carry Zika, dengue and chikungunya are active during the day. When outdoors, no matter what time of day, adjust your dress accordingly and wear insect repellent containing DEET, picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus as your first line of defense against insect bites.
Jana Chenault said the spacious one-story ranch with its chic contemporary design is her dream home.

Chenault replaced all the flooring with engineered wood  layers of plywood pressed together with a solid wood top layer. It's known for its durability, but just seven months after moving in the home, she started noticing problems. The veneer of several of the engineered wood planks appears to be separating from the wood beneath and the damage is in at least four separate living areas and the hallway.

"It seems like every time I walk through, I find more," she said. "It's never been wet. I don't know what's making it do that."

The flooring was installed just nine months ago and is still under warranty, so Chenault called the warranty company and asked for an inspection. The inspector found that moisture levels in buckling boards are high, but low in adjoining boards.

"Water is known to damage engineered wood in this manner, and the elevated moisture levels indicate excessive moisture.," the inspector wrote. "If the source of the water can be located and stopped then board replacement may be possible."

Chenault insisted that most of the buckling areas have never been wet and added that she has no kids or pets that could have damaged the floor. She also pointed out the seemingly random nature of the bulging.

Still, the warranty company declined her claim saying "there is no indication of a manufacturing defect."

Chenault bought her flooring at First floors Carpet One in Dallas. Mohawk manufactured the flooring. NBC 5 reached out to both companies.

"Unfortunately wood is a living species that has multiple unforseen responses to its environment," a Mohawk official wrote. "Since I have not personally seen the floor myself, I cannot validate that it's a defective floor."

But the Mohawk official apologized for the inconvenience and agreed to replace the flooring and pay for installation. The president of First Floors Carpet One offered to personally oversee the installation of Chenault's new floor.

It's essential that the flooring you choose be durable. Here are Consumer Reports top picks. The non-profit also gives great advice on installation. Consumer Search, a division of Ask.com, also analyzed hardwood versus engineered wood.
A man identified by Denton police as the driver who slammed into a minivan and killed two children in February has been arrested and charged with two counts of manslaughter.

Denton police said Luis Alberto Bonilla was speeding in his Ford F-350 pickup truck when he crashed into the back of a Nissan minivan stopped at a red light Feb. 6. The crash pushed the minivan through the intersection and into a sedan and a pickup truck stopped in the eastbound lanes.

Police said during their investigation of the crash witnesses reported Bonilla was driving his truck erratically and was seen weaving in and out of traffic, never attempting to stop or slow down. Witnesses said he was seen holding his cell phone immediately after the crash.

The crash killed an 11-year-old girl, identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner as Leslie De Luna, who was riding in the minivan's third-row seat. Her siblings, boys ages 8 and 4, were in the middle row and were transported to Children's Medical Center in Dallas in critical condition.

The 8-year-old boy died from his injuries, police said. The 4-year-old survived the crash but his current condition is not known.

A man and woman who were in the front seats of the minivan, along with Bonilla, were all treated for minor injuries at Denton Regional Medical Center and later released. The drivers and occupants in sedan and pickup were not injured.

Bonilla, who was arrested Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., is being held in the Denton City Jail on $25,000 bond for each manslaughter charge.
Firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze at a Dallas apartment complex Friday morning. [[379376751,C]]

Dallas Fire-Rescue officials said they responded to Mandalay Palms apartments in the 3100 Cliff Creek Crossing Drive at 8:04 a.m.

Authorities said firefighters extinguished the fire in less than one hour, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue's Jason Evans.

No injuries were reported.

The cause of the fire is undetermined and under investigation.

The American Red Cross responded to help an unknown number of residents who were impacted.

Check back and refresh this page for the latest update. As this story is developing, elements may change.
NBC 5 Responds has received more than 300 complaints about TV, internet and landline outages since Frontier Communications took over those services from Verizon on April 1.

On Thursday Frontier announced that if you didn't have service, you won't have to pay for it.

Rachel McGallian, Frontier's vice president of marketing of the South Region wrote, "Customers are at the forefront of Frontier Communications' priorities. We thank them for their patience and for allowing us to serve them. Bill credits will be issued to every customer who reported a service outage. This credit will be reflected automatically on the customers bill no later than the end of June. At this time, no customer action is needed in order for the bill credit to be applied. More information regarding Frontier's recovery plan in the Dallas area will be forthcoming."

This announcement comes one day after Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi met with Frontier leaders to formalize an action plan to address customer concerns there. Frontier's Florida action plan includes a U.S.-based call center, a rapid response team and a credit for anyone who had an outage.

NBC 5 Responds reached out to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Marc Rylander, the AG's director of communications wrote, "Our office has received numerous consumer complaints about the recent sudden switch from Verizon to Frontier Communications. Texas customers have reported problems such as service interruptions and outages, billing issues, and even VOD issues. The Office of the Attorney General is currently looking into these complaints and has begun a process of working with Frontier for their quick resolution. Frontier has indicated that they have been able to resolve most of the problems and, in many instances, has begun to issue credits or refund checks directly to consumers. The Office of the Attorney General is committed to responding to consumers and encouraging good and responsible business practices in Texas in the most appropriate and effective ways available."
The governing board of the biggest school district in Texas has voted to rename seven schools previously named for Confederate leaders.

The Houston school district board voted Thursday to rename the following schools:

Lee High School formerly named for General Robert E. Lee will be named for longtime Houston educator Margaret Long Wisdom.

Johnston Middle School formerly named for General Albert Sidney Johnston becomes Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School.

Jackson Middle School named in honor of General Stonewall Jackson will be named for Hispanic community activist Yolanda Black Navarro.

The school named for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, located in the Northside neighborhood, becomes Northside High School.

Confederate Postmaster General John H. Reagan's namesake high school located in the Houston Heights neighborhood will now be called Heights High School.

Sabine Pass commander Dick Dowling was the man behind Dowling Middle School, it has been renamed Audrey H. Lawson Middle School

And in the least drastic change, the board also approved changing Lanier Middle School, which was named for poet and Confederate veteran Sidney Lanier, to Bob Lanier Middle School, for the former Houston mayor.

When it embarked on the renaming process, the district said it wanted names to represent its modern values and diversity, in accordance with its non-discrimination policies.

The new names will go into effect with the 2016-17 school year according to KPRC-TV.
Richardson police have arrested a man after his girlfriend disappeared several days ago.

Bardwell Family

Jason Michael Lowe is in the Richardson City Jail, charged with murder, according to police.

His girlfriend, 27-year-old Jessie Bardwell, was last seen over the weekend.

Officers said Lowe was first arrested on Thursday on several drug charges, but a murder charged was added on Friday afternoon after police felt they had enough evidence to suspect foul play was involved in Bardwell's disappearance.

"Through the course of our conversation with Mr. Lowe we found some discrepancies in what he had been telling us and what we have been able to find out. And that is part of the case that we are able to build so far," said Sgt. Kevin Perlich with the Richardson Police Dept. That's why he has been charged in the manner that he has," said Sergeant Kevin Perlich.

Bardwell's parents called police Monday when they hadn't heard from her.

Police are actively search for Bardwell, but are treating this as a homicide case.

"We're following up on tips that we're getting, any information or leads that we have and we are trying to find her. Until we do, this will be an open investigation," Perlich said.

Bardwell moved to Richardson from Alabama back in December. She's originally from Mississippi.

NBC 5's Cory Smith contributed to this report.
OSCEOLA  The third time might be the charm for some.

For Christian Schleif, it took 10 attempts to reach his goal of getting the highest score possible on the ACT.

The Osceola High School student was one of 21 Nebraska seniors to record a perfect score on the ACT or SAT college preparatory exams. The group is possibly a record number to achieve those feats in the state.

Gov. Pete Ricketts recognized the students on Thursday.

He applauded their achievement and urged them to stay in Nebraska -- or return here -- when they enter the work force.

We want you in this state, he said. When you get ready to make the decision ask yourself -- did the governor of that (other) state ask you to stay, because I did.

A perfect score on the ACT is 36 and it's 2,400 on the SAT. The ACT is the more common exam taken in Nebraska; SAT exams are required more often by schools on the coasts.

Those who get a perfect ACT score -- known as 36ers -- are a select group. Of the 1.9 million students who took the ACT, less than one-tenth of 1 percent earn a perfect score. Nationally, just 1,598 students earned perfect scores last year.

Ed Colby, senior director of public relations for ACT, said he can't definitively say this is the most Nebraska seniors to ace the test, though it appears likely. The fact that more students in the state are taking the ACT may have contributed to the larger number.

Last year, 88 percent of seniors took the test compared to 76 percent a decade earlier.

Schleif took his first ACT exam when he was in seventh grade. He took it nine more times, with the final and perfect test coming in February.

My score just kept going up and I wanted to see how high it could go, he said.

His previous high score was 34. His reaction to getting a 36 was a bit subdued.

I guess Ive tried so many times that after you take it you say, Oh well. I have another chance to take it again, he said.

The perfect ACT score goes along with Schleifs 4.0 grade-point average.

To prepare for the ACT, he took practice tests, which he recommends other students do, too. Another bit of advice: time management.

You need to pay attention to the time because you dont want to get behind, he said.

In addition to his stellar academics, Schleif, the son of Tom and Kristi Schleif of Osceola, has also been active in extracurricular activities while at high school. He is part of the state-qualifying 3,200-meter relay track team and has been part of student government, one-act plays and band.

He plans to attend the University of Nebraska at Kearney, possibly to study computer science.

The Lincoln Journal Star contributed to this story.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton doesn't want to release his office's communications with lawyers for an El Paso preacher who tried to stop health benefits for gay partners of city employees.

The El Paso Times reports that Paxton is essentially asking himself for an opinion, saying his office doesn't have to release its communications with lawyers who worked with his top deputy on the case before the deputy joined Paxton's staff.

Paxton's office said in an appeal Monday to his office's open records division that the requested information was exempted from public disclosure.

The attorney general's office says the "appropriate firewalls" are in place to ensure that requests from that office to exempt records from disclosure are treated the same as any other.

As Paxton has battled his own indictment last year on felony charges alleging violations of state securities law, he's continued to fight for conservative evangelical causes.

This year he hired lawyers from the Liberty Institute, a Plano-based advocacy group that handles cases for conservative evangelicals.

Jeffrey Mateer, now Paxton's first assistant attorney general, represented El Paso Bishop Tom Brown and his group before the Texas Supreme Court while he was still with the Liberty Institute.

Last month, Paxton's office filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Brown and his Word of Life Church in their 6-year-old dispute over El Paso's domestic-partners ordinance.

Former El Paso Mayor John Cook and his attorney, Mark Walker, then filed the request for communications about the case between Brown's lawyers and the attorney general's office.

Paxton spokeswoman Teresa Farfan said last month said that Mateer was deliberately "screened from the matter due to his prior participation."
A court hearing Friday over the licensing of immigrant detention centers in Texas is likely to delve into the unresolved question of whether children illegally crossing the southern U. S. border can be held for long periods at facilities that federal officials say are vital to prepare for another wave of immigrant families this summer.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continues housing children at two detention centers in Texas while it appeals California U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee's ruling last July ordering that the children should be released "without unnecessary delay."

The federal agency has said it is trying to comply with the order by using additional resources to process and either release or return families "as expeditiously as possible." The agency has also -- through the private prison firms that run its two Texas detention centers -- sought to have the facilities licensed as child care centers so that the care of immigrant children can be properly reviewed.

But immigrant advocates are challenging whether the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has the authority to license such detention centers as child care facilities. A hearing on the lawsuit is set for Friday in an Austin courtroom.

Advocates say the lawsuit is part of their broader legal efforts to have federal officials again adhere to a longtime agreement that called for children and their families to be held only for a short time before being released to family, friends or others while their cases are decided.

Federal officials say these ongoing courtroom battles -- in Texas and California -- make it more difficult for them to respond to this summer's expected influx of immigrant families. They believe the centers help deter illegal immigration.

Austin-based Grassroots Leadership wants a temporary injunction that would delay the granting of a child care facility license to the 2,400-bed South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley. The other Texas detention center, the 500-bed facility in Karnes City, was granted a temporary license in April.

"This is part of a broader effort, both federal litigation and a lot of advocacy, calling on the administration to not make the largest trend in locking up families since Japanese internment part of its immigration legacy," said Bob Libal, Grassroots' executive director.

While illegal immigration has tended to rise during the summer months, federal immigration officials have not offered predictions for this summer, only saying that during the current fiscal year, each month -- except for March -- has seen record monthly apprehensions of families at the border.

ICE spokeswoman Jennifer Elzea called the licensing of Karnes "an important step" in improving oversight and transparency of family detention centers.

The two Texas centers, both south of San Antonio, opened in 2014.

Immigration advocates say the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services has ignored concerns that keeping children at the centers is physically and mentally harmful to them.

The Texas agency declined to comment ahead of the hearing.

"To the extent state inspections and the enforcement of safety standards can safeguard children in any residential facility, the children will be less likely to suffer alleged harm based on detention if (the agency) is allowed to regulate the facilities," lawyers with the Texas Attorney General's Office said in court documents filed Tuesday.

ICE is also facing problems at its third family detention center -- in Pennsylvania -- as state officials there in January announced they wouldn't renew its child care license. The facility, which has a capacity for 96 residents, remains open pending an appeal.

ICE has suggested it might change how it houses families and children caught at the border but has offered few specifics. The agency recently sought potential service providers to run state-licensed residential care facilities for families and children held by the agency, ideally in Arizona, California, New Mexico and/or Texas.

What is happening in Texas could set a precedent for bypassing licensing laws if officials decide to open new detention centers in other states, said Wendy Cervantes, vice president of immigration and child rights for Washington, D.C.-based First Focus, an advocacy group for children and families.
A triple shooting in a southwest Dallas mobile home park left two men dead and one injured late Thursday night, police say. [[379354421,C]]

Dallas police said they were called to a mobile home park on the 3900 block of South Ledbetter Drive just before 11:40 p.m. and found a man who had been fatally shot.

Officers then found a second man with gunshot wounds, who police said was transported to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Police said a third man was injured during the incident, though his condition is not known.

The third man and another man fled the scene and drove more than 15 miles to the Highland Park Emergency Room on Lemmon Avenue. Their car was found spattered in blood and had a bullet hole in the front windshield.

Investigators said it appears the shootings stemmed from a fight that broke out at the mobile home park. Police called the men who fled the scene "persons of interest" and detained the driver.

The names of the victims have not yet been released.
A federal jury in Fort Worth on Friday found two men guilty in the 2013 murder of a drug cartel lawyer in Southlake.

After deliberating over two days, the jury found Jesus Gerardo Ledezma Cepeda, 59, and his cousin Jose Luis Cepeda Cortes, 60, of stalking and conspiring to murder Juan Jesus Guerrero Chapa on the Southlake town square in May 2013.

Prosecutors said the two stalked Guerrero for months using high-tech surveillance tools including remote cameras and GPS tracking devices on his car.

The actual gunmen and the cartel leader who ordered the hit have never been arrested.

They all worked for the Beltran-Leyva carte, prosecutors said.

Defense attorneys claimed Guerrero became the de facto head of Mexicos violent Gulf Cartel after its former leader Osiel Cardenas was arrested.

Ledezma Cepedas attorneys had argued he was ordered to track down Guerrero and if he had not, the cartel would have killed him or his family.

Cepeda Cortess attorneys argued he never knew Guerrero would be killed and thought he was helping his cousin, a private detective, hunt down Guerrero because he had not repaid a loan.

Ledezma Cepedas son, who also was charged in the case, pleaded guilty and testified against the other two family members.
For a 70-year-old Florida woman, seeing came after believing.

Mary Ann Franco was blind for 23 years. The former nurse lost her vision in 1993 after she was involved in a car crash and suffered a stroke.

"Nothing. I couldn't see anything. However Hell felt, I felt like I was there," Franco said.

Franco, however, didn't allow blindness to stop her. For two decades, she took up hobbies like painting, drawing and even skydiving.

"So you can't see, so what? Get up and get moving and stuff, and I did," Franco said.

But after falling on uneven tiles in her home, Franco needed spinal realignment surgery. She woke up in the hospital and noticed something different  she could see.

Dr. John Afshar, Franco's neurosurgeon, was shocked by the outcome.

Afshar, whose procedure was not meant to help Franco's vision, believes blood flow may have been restored to an area in Franco's spine where nerve cells were dormant.

"She's my miracle patient. She basically amazed me," he said.

With her newly regained vision, Franco is working toward her driver's license and plans to visit family in Michigan, including grandchildren who she hasn't been able to look at since they were babies.

"Everything comes back so nice and easy," she said from behind the wheel.

Franco said she never gave up believing her eyesight would be restored.

"I always knew in my heart that God was going to let me have my eyesight back. I knew it," she said.
A replacement worker for Verizon is facing drunken driving and assault and battery charges after he hit a picketing Verizon worker and a police officer with his pickup truck in Westborough, Massachusetts, on Thursday, police said.

George A. Pulling, 55, of Ohio, is charged with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (vehicle), 4th-offense driving under the influence of alcohol, disorderly conduct and operating a motor vehicle without a license. Authorities initially said he was from Florida.

Westborough police said they were assisting with a labor dispute involving picketing Verizon workers and replacement workers staying at the Extended Stay Hotel at 180 East Main St. around 8:20 a.m. Thursday.

Verizon workers in several states have been striking since contract talks broke down in mid-April. They have been without a contract since Aug. 1, 2015.

Four police officers were assisting the replacement workers as they drove through a picket line of about 80 people. A pickup truck operated by Pulling was being escorted through the line, as picketers yelled and screamed at him.

Pulling then accelerated while in the middle of the picketers and ended up with one of those picketers  Joseph Rooney, 47, of Roslindale  on the hood of the truck, police said.

Pulling continued onto the ramp leading onto Route 9 west, where he finally stopped, causing Rooney to be tossed onto the road, according to police. Rooney was treated at the scene by paramedics and transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

One of the assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon charges was for allegedly hitting Rooney and the other was for allegedly hitting one of the police officers with the mirror on his truck.

Police said Pulling is expected to be arraigned in Westborough District Court on Thursday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
A British delivery driver has been sentenced to at least 12 years in prison for a jihadi-inspired plot to attack American military personnel in England.

A judge said Junead Khan was a "committed supporter" of the Islamic State group and planned to kill air force personnel using a knife.

The 25-year-old's work for a pharmaceutical firm took him past U.S. air bases in eastern England, and prosecutors said he discussed ways of targeting them with an ISIS militant in Syria.

A jury convicted Khan last month. Passing sentence Friday at Kingston Crown Court, Judge Andrew Edis said Khan planned a "horrifying" murder "in order to create terror and terrorist propaganda in this country."
Take a walk through the exhibit hall at the Texas State Republican Convention in Dallas and you'll see signs of a divided party.

Supporters of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who are still yearning for a brokered convention, sit side-by-side with supporters of Donald Trump, who are working to unite the party behind their candidate.

Unifying the party will take more than courting Cruz supporters. Trump must also make inroads with the GOP's minority voters.

"We're looking for a complete-180 when it comes to the current rhetoric of Donald Trump," said Artemio Temo Muniz, chairman of the Federation of Hispanic Republicans.

Though Trump's blunt rhetoric has endeared him to many in the GOP, Muniz said minorities have been mischaracterized and attacked by the Republican frontrunner, whose policies could harm his election chances.

"He's looking to deport 11 million undocumented workers. That's a non-starter with us. We believe that if you're going to have a chance at winning the presidency you have to repair that. We need to hear something that's reasonable, something that's free-market based. It's really up to him whether he's going to accomplish that," Muniz said.

Muniz said the party as a whole needs to do a better job of attracting minority voters.

"They're just twiddling their thumbs, and to me it's discouraging," he said.

For African-American voters like Linda Drain, having a likely nominee will give the party a chance to focus its efforts on expanding its brand and being more inclusive of minorities. She said part of that responsibility now falls to Trump.

"It's our party. (African-Americans) have conservative values," she said. "I'd want him to unite everybody and not divide by talking about different races and sending different people home and building walls."

Linda Smiley originally supported Cruz. She takes issue with the way Trump attacked her candidate and with some of the remarks he's made about minorities. But her biggest concern about a Trump nomination is his stance on key conservative issues such as abortion. Trump's conservative opponents say he has flip-flopped on the issue for several years.

"He is going to be representing the Republican Party, and as a party I don't think many of us feel that way," Smiley said. "He needs to make it clear what he's going to do when he becomes president."

Clarity is what members of the LGBTQ-wing of the party are looking for from Trump. He has said little throughout the primary season about issues important to their coalition.

"He has an opinion on everything and everybody, and I'm very surprised that he has not made any statement about the LGBT community," said Jeff Davis, chairman of the Log Cabin Republicans of Texas. "He hasn't said anything adversarial, which makes me hopeful. At the same time we're starting with a blank slate with Trump."
STROMSBURG  Stromsburg native Randy Gissler was watching a Nova program on the Vikings.

The Vikings in 800 A.C. made steel as strong as what we have today, said Gissler. It got my interest in Vikings, war and steel started. And then I met Woody.

Michael Woody Woodard owns Unlimited Welding in Stromsburg, which does custom metal fabrication, including design, drafting, assembly, sanding and polishing.

Were like a complete and total factory, said Woodard.

Gissler grew up in Stromsburg, and after 48 years living elsewhere, came back to his hometown to care for his mother. He found an old dinner bell at her house and approached Unlimited Welding about building a base for it. The business' walls are decorated with metal work done by the crew.

The stuff in the showroom is to show what we do and the quality of the custom work we do, said Woodard.

Gissler saw the pieces as works of art and was inspired.

I looked at the work he had on display on the walls of the shop and thought, We should put on an all-metal art event to draw people to Stromsburg, he said.

Stromsburg is already the Swedish capital of Nebraska and hosts an annual Swedish Festival. Gissler wanted to tie the festival to the towns Swedish identity and the Vikings' history of metal-working.

He contacted artists and art studios in Lincoln and Omaha to gauge their interest.

I wanted to be able to get 10-15 artists for the event, said Gissler. Then word got out and people started calling.

As of Thursday, Gissler estimated 36 artists will show up for the Swedish Steel art event set for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday in downtown Stromsburg. Most of the artists hail from Omaha or Lincoln, but a scattered few are coming from as far away as Wayne and Cambridge.

A few artists even offered to give demonstrations of their trades, such as a blacksmith who will bring a portable forge and an Aurora artist who makes Damascus knives.

Its going to be a good place to mingle with the artists, said Gissler.

Originally, Gisslers metric for success was going to be attracting a few hundred people. But as interest has grown, hes now hoping to hit 1,000 attendees for the free event.

Woodard said he looks forward to seeing the diversity of metal work at the festival and hopes it will increase interest in Stromsburg. The town features several restaurants and a coffee shop downtown, which will be open Saturday.

We really think this metal art fest could end up being bigger than the Swedish Festival, said Woodard. The towns definitely getting behind it.
Tune in on Saturday, May 21 to watch the NBC4 Life Connected Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Special that airs at 7:30 p.m. The award-winning Life Connected series celebrates several Asian Americans who live and work throughout Southern California.

The 30-minute special, hosted by NBC4 Reporter Ted Chen and Today in LA Traffic Anchor Holly Hannula, includes stories by Reporter Patrick Healy looking at the cross-cultural mix that makes up the bustling Sawtelle district in West Los Angeles. Reporter Hetty Chang sits down with the Daria Jazmin who was featured on NBC's "The Voice" and her sister as they perform together and talk about their Chinese heritage.

Ted talks with Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu, and his Korean history that brought him to his current seat. Renowned photographer Nick Ut, who captured the well-known photo of the Napalm girl during the Vietnam War, shares with Reporter Gordon Tokumatsu his experience covering and shooting some of the biggest stories of our time.

Also, watch the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month public service announcement on the main channel, CoziTV and at NBCLA.com which features NBC4 journalists sharing what their heritage means to them.
A San Bernardino man paralyzed in a work crash is back home after a five-year battle over workers' compensation insurance.

Family members welcomed Nicolas Mercado, 54, home after years in hospitals and assisted living centers following a December 2011 trucking crash.

"We get to enjoy him every day like we did before and he's part of our everyday life now," said daughter Lorena Roque.

His attorneys blamed the California Insurance Guarantee Association, or CIGA, the state agency that took over the case after Mercado's insurance company went bankrupt. Mercado won several workers' compensation rulings to have his home modified to accommodate his wheelchair, but CIGA appealed those rulings.

The I-Team first reported on Mercado's situation in November and contacted CIGA about the case.

"We've looked into this and we think perhaps we could have taken a different path," CIGA Executive Director Wayne Wilson, who personally reviewed Mercado's records at the NBC4 I-Team's request, told NBC4 in November.

Wilson pointed out that CIGA is spending tens of thousands of dollars each month on Mercado's care, and has paid to add a ramp and widen some doorways. He went on to tell NBC4 it hasn't been enough.

CIGA reviewed Mercado's case and, after about six months and $165,000 in renovations, Mercado is again living with his wife of 35 years.

"It was so hard for me to go to bed without him next to me," said wife Linda.
Nearly 700 people packed the Laguna Hills Community Center Thursday night to voice their concerns over what they call a proliferation of sober living homes in Orange County.

Some said they understand the need for sober living homes but question why there are no laws governing how many and how close they are to one another.

Warren Hanselman said all he wants is a good neighbor, that he could tolerate. But the number of drug treatment homes in his San Juan Capistrano neighborhood keep growing.

"We're not against sober living," he said. "We're not against having people in recovery in our neighborhood, but it should not become a concentration."

By his count there are 31 facilities in the city of San Juan Capistrano, two on his street of Paseo Terraza.

David Ludwig lives next door to one of the homes.

"They're doing drug delivery and medication delivery and therapy of all kinds in a residential neighborhood, not in a clinical setting where it belongs," he said.

Photos point to what the men say are ongoing issues  drug paraphernalia tossed aside, cars blocking sidewalks, residents outside smoking and paramedics being called to the home.

"We had a police call with guns drawn wandering though the neighborhood," Ludwig said.

Cities have tried to regulate these rehab homes but state law protects residential care facilities of six people or fewer.

"Cities don't have the power right now to say you can't locate here we can't discriminate against one house over another," said Heather Stratman, CEO of the Association of California Cities.

In San Juan Capistrano, the director of Solutions For Recovery, said he's abiding by all state laws and he's licensed.

"We're not out there partying having a great time and all that stuff," said Jeff Dougherty, a residential manager. "We don't have people dying in the driveway. We're saving lives that's the important part of this."
Weeks after students at a South Los Angeles High School campaigned their way to becoming the first school in their district to open a gender-neutral bathroom, a new White House directive says public schools must accommodate transgender students.

The directive, issued by the the Obama administration on Friday, mandates public schools to permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity.

In April, students clashed with protesters at LAUSD's Santee Education Complex in South Los Angeles who rallied outside the campus to protest the recent opening of a gender-neutral bathroom on the campus.

The school that month dedicated a 15-stall gender-neutral bathroom, making it the first Los Angeles-area school to have such a facility. The bathroom was the result of a campaign by the school's Gay Straight Alliance, which collected hundreds of petition signatures in support of the idea.

"I think that Santee is going to be looked at as a model for how to move forward in different public spaces especially in high schools across the country," said Santee's Gay Straight Alliance Advisor Jose Lara.

Alonzo Hernandez, one of the students who campaigned for the restrooms, watched his effort grow into a national debate.

"I've been here since freshman year... I was a girl and now that I'm transitioning it's like, where do I go?," Hernandez said.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials threw their support behind the directive, which comes amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina.

The guidance, issued jointly by the U.S. departments of Education and Justice, states that transgender students are protected under Title IX, which prohibits K-12 districts, colleges and universities that receive federal dollars from discriminating against students based on sex.

"We applaud President Obama's guidance that public school districts allow transgender students to attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex,'' LAUSD Superintendent Michelle King said in a statement.

"As the second-largest school district in the country, L.A. Unified has long been a leader in respecting the needs of all students and staff,'' she said.

King said the guidance is "yet another opportunity to help our students develop the values to contribute to an ever-changing society'' and LAUSD "remains committed to providing a safe learning environment for everyone, including transgender students, and ensuring that the entire L.A. Unified family has equal access to our educational programs and activities.''

The guidance letter states that schools must treat students according to the gender they identify with, upon being notified of the student's transgender status.

This includes allowing students to take part in sex- segregated activities or use bathrooms and other facilities that match the student's chosen gender identity.

Schools are also obligated to respond quickly and effectively when dealing with harassment against transgender students, and to protect the privacy of students on issues related to their transgender status.
In a touching gesture, a security guard in downtown Los Angeles gave a homeless man his jacket, and a passerby was there to capture the moment with his camera.

"It looks good on you," Victor Rivera told the homeless man in Spanish. "All you need now is the badge to be a security guard!"

Victor Rivera, 50, works as a security guard at Discount Jewelry, a block away from the Jewelry District. After seeing a man sleeping next to his store at the corner of 8th Street and Broadway and walking up and down the street almost every day, he decided to step in.

"He was very dirty and I felt bad for him," Rivera told NBC4 in a phone interview. "So I gave him the jacket. It's too big for me."

A witness named Jason Steiner, who happened to be passing by at the time, snapped a couple of pictures of the heartwarming moment. In one of the photos, Rivera can be seen giving the homeless man the OK sign, signaling that the jacket looked good on him.

Rivera and the homeless man struck up an unlikely friendship more than a year ago, when Rivera started bringing clothes for the man. Since he started working at Discount Jewelry a year and a half ago, he's given the man a shirt, sweatshirt and cash for a cup of coffee, Rivera said.

"He's a good person," Rivera said. "He doesn't offend anyone."

Rivera doesn't speak English and the homeless man doesn't speak Spanish, so the two gesture to communicate, Rivera said.

Rivera doesn't even know the man's name, he said.

Rivera, who fought in the Salvadoran Civil War in the '80s, comes from humble beginnings. That's why he takes the time to help out some of the men he sees sleeping on his street by providing them with clothes and shoes.

"I have a heart for that," he said.
The Los Angeles City Council will proclaim May 13 as Ritchie Valens Day to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the late beloved rock 'n' roll pioneer behind hits like "La Bamba" and "Donna."

Born Richard Steven Valenzuela in Pacoima on May 13, 1941, Valens was surrounded by Mexican mariachi music, as well as flamenco guitar, rhythm and blues and jump blues. He also has a parked named after him in his hometown -- Richie Valens Recreation Center in the 10700 block of Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

Valens' father Joseph Valenzuela encouraged him to take up guitar and trumpet as a child, and Valens later taught himself to drum. Valens joined a dance band, the Silhouettes when he was 16 years old.

In May 1958, he auditioned for Del-Fi label owner Bob Keane, who spotted his raw talent. Under Keane's direction, Valens cut a few sessions at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles.

In his second session, he recorded the classic teen love ballad "Donna" and the song he would be most known for, "La Bamba."

Valens was touring the Midwest on Feb. 3, 1959 when the plane he was in crashed in an Iowa cornfield, killing him, along with Buddy Holly and J.P. Richardson, known as "The Big Bopper," in what would become known as "The Day the Music Died."
A $1,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man who attacked a newspaper photographer at a park Tuesday night.

Victorville Daily Press photographer David Pardo was taking pictures at Hesperia Lake for an upcoming summer guide, when a woman who he had taken photos of told him to delete them because she felt he had violated her privacy, the newspaper reported.

Pardo declined, citing company policy, but assured the woman he would not publish the pictures, the newspaper said. Before he left the park, the woman met with Pardo again, this time with two men.

One of the men allegedly swung at Pardo, knocking him to the ground. The man then grabbed the camera equipment, smashed it and threw it in the lake, and continued to punch and kick the photographer, the newspaper reported.

"It's my hope that this small reward will prompt bystanders who witnessed this attack and can identify these people to come forward so that law enforcement can get this man off the streets before he hurts anyone else," Daily Press Editor Steve Hunt said in an article published on the newspaper's website Thursday. "This was a cowardly act."

Pardo declined medical attention after the attack, said Karen Hunt, a San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman at the Hesperia station.

The newspaper said Pardo suffered an injury to his jaw and later went to the hospital.

Sheriff's deputies are investigating the attack as an assault, Hunt said.
A pair of surfers could be seen criss-crossing with whales near the Golden Gate Bridge on Thursday as the giant mammals frolicked and breached in the water.

A few times, the windsurfer and kite-surfer got a little too close to the swimming whales, following them and cutting into their path. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration guidelines prohibit whale watchers from getting too close to whales and other marine mammals.

Migrating humpback whales have been swimming into San Francisco Bay in unprecedented numbers over the past two weeks  an onslaught that experts say could be caused by an unusual concentration of anchovies near shore.

Just Monday, whales were spotted swimming near Crissy Field.

As many as four humpbacks at a time have been spotted flapping their tails and breaching in bay waters, apparently feeding on the anchovies and other schooling fish during incoming tides, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.

NOAA guidelines require people to restrict their activities within 100 yards of marine mammals. They also prohibit people from following behind a whale or approching directly in front of a whale. Whale watchers should avoid excessive speed.

Marine mammals are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and large whales, such as sperm and humpback whales, are also protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Violators can be fined up to $10,000 for each violation, or criminal prosecution with a fine of up to $100,000 or imprisonment for up to one year or both.

It's normal for gray whales to wander into the bay, but humpbacks generally feed farther offshore and are not accustomed to navigating shallow water and narrow straits such as those in San Francisco Bay, the Chronicle reported.

Mary Jane Schramm, a spokeswoman for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, said she and other marine experts worry that the whales could swamp boats while breaching, get hit by a ship or spooked by people who paddle or sail out to see them.

"I had never seen humpback whales before, and it was awesome," said Laurie Duke, 54, who volunteers at the Marine Mammal Center and Golden Gate Cetacean Research. "They were mostly coming partially out of the water, showing their tails.'

Schramm said the animals could get into trouble if they head any direction except west because the potential for disease and skin problems is greater in fresh and brackish water.

"The deeper they get into the bay, the more acoustically confusing it becomes," she said of the whale's sense of direction.

The whales are migrating north after likely giving birth in the waters off Mexico and Central America, Schramm said.

Schramm's biggest fear is that the giant visitors will go the way of Humphrey, a famous 40-ton humpback who caused pandemonium in 1985 when he swam through the Carquinez Strait, up the Sacramento River and into a creek.
A Miami Beach man is accused of promising foreign students jobs, but then forcing them into prostitution.

46-year-old Jeffrey Jason Cooper is behind bars without bond and facing federal charges.

Officials said Cooper recruited female students from Kazakhstan through the State Department's Summer Work Travel Program.

It's alleged that Cooper promised false jobs in a fake yoga studio but when the victims got to Miami Beach, investigators said they were advertised for his prostitution and erotic massage enterprise.

Cooper's attorney, Manuel Herrera, explained his client's side of the story: "Two individuals have accused Cooper of engaging in prostitution, forcing them into it. He maintains his innocence and has no knowledge of the allegations of the government."

The Department of Justice said several agencies investigated the case including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Cooper was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury this week on charges that include sex trafficking, wire fraud, bringing foreign nationals to the U.S. for prostitution and using a facility to operate a prostitution enterprise, according to the DOJ.
Two employees in Miami-Dade County's Community Action Agency are facing charges after authorities say they stole funds that were supposed to help low-income residents with paying their energy bills.

Iraida Macias, 53, and Earlene Finney, 55, were booked into the Miami-Dade jail Friday on charges including grand theft, petit theft, official misconduct and organized fraud.

Macias was being held Friday on $50,000 bond while Finney was released on her own recognizance, jail records showed. It's unknown if they've hired attorneys.

Authorities say they received an anonymous complaint that Macias and Finney were circumventing the application process of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a federally-funded program administered by Miami-Dade.

Macias and Finney were interviewers whose job it was to determine if applicants met the income limitations necessary to receive the financial benefits, authorities said.

Between June 2010 and September 2012, Macias' FPL account received about $4,100 in LIHEAP funds, while Finney received about $6,200 from the program between 2010 and 2014, authorities said.

"Every theft by a governmental employee is a betrayal of the public trust. It is particularly disappointing when workers charged with helping the poor steal some of that money for themselves," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "With the filing of criminal charges, Im certain that these individuals now understand that they have committed serious offenses just to put a few extra dollars into their pockets."
DAVID CITY  Change is coming in a big way to the Butler County Fairgrounds.

By a margin of 1,185 to 1,181, voters approved the Butler County Agricultural Societys $1.95 million bond proposal to build an exhibition hall and event center.

The measure won in all but four precincts, including the three wards of David City, but the northwest townships of Savannah and Alexis made up for the losses by voting against the measure 179 to 74. Other areas where it lost were Franklin-Bone Creek, 83 to 81; Oak Creek-Center, 141-121; and Plum Creek-Richardson, 99-53.

As in many Butler County election issues, the David City vote was key. This election, the citys 10-year extension of a 1.5 percent sales tax may have been a decisive factor in the ag societys proposal. City voters provided a third of the support for the ag society bond, with 433 in favor while 188 were opposed. The David City sales tax extension passed by a margin of 490 to 318.

The bond issue will raise $1.95 million over 15 years to pay for the 100- by 170-foot building to be built south of the grandstand.

Before the election, ag society members said if the bond was passed, construction of the event center would begin following this years fair in July.

A similar measure failed by 174 votes in 2012, but the ag society revamped its proposal and moved the building site to the center of the fairgrounds.

A large multipurpose room will hold up to 864 people in banquet seating with rectangular tables, and 660 people in the more social arrangement of round tables.

The design includes a kitchen and bar, which can serve both the multipurpose room and a large meeting room with a capacity of 330 people.

The Butler County Fair is set for July 19-24.
A woman's death after she had plastic surgery at a South Florida clinic has been ruled accidental, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

Hialeah Police said 29-year-old Heather Meadows of West Virginia was undergoing a plastic surgery procedure at Encore Plastic Surgery in Hialeah when she went into cardiac arrest.

Meadows was rushed to Larkin Community Hospital Palm Springs Campus where she later died.

"She did talk with the doctor on the phone and he seemed to know what he was doing and he was alright," said Beverly Kennington, Meadows' aunt.

Investigators said the autopsy has been performed on Meadows and the Medical Examiner's Office said the findings "point toward an accidental death during a medical procedure."

In addition, police said a complete and final report is expected in the near future and the case remains open. Investigators also said there is no evidence of criminal activity related to Meadows' death.

While several patients poured in and out of Encore Plastic Surgery Friday morning, one of those patients, 43-year-old Antoinette, canceled her appointment and demanded a full refund after learning what had happened.

"I don't really care about what they did and what they didn't do, I'm just not going in there to have surgery, that's it," she said after coming all the way from New York to get a Brazilian Butt Lift.

Antointte said she paid $4,000 for the procedure. She said it could have cost as much at $12,000 elsewhere.

A doctor at that clinic was the subject of an NBC 6 Investigation earlier this week.

Dr. Osak Omulepu was ordered to stop doing his signature Brazilian Butt Lift and liposuction procedures after a handful of patients came forward claiming he botched their procedures.

There is no indication that Omulepu was involved in the Meadows incident.

It is not known what procedure Meadows was having performed at the clinic, or which doctor was performing the procedure.

Police said the clinic is properly licensed to perform plastic surgery procedures.
Things are looking up for a malnourished puppy that was tossed from a car and abandoned in Fort Lauderdale a few weeks ago, thanks to a group of workers at a nonprofit art gallery.

At the Girls' Club Foundation art gallery in Fort Lauderdale, the rescued eight-month-old red Pit Bull mix is making new friends.

"He's worth saving and that's why I named him Rebel," said Shirley Cardona.

Cardona and Sarah Michelle Rupert each take turns taking care of Rebel, making sure he gets the medical attention, training and puppy play time he deserves. They're sharing his story in hopes of preventing another dog from being thrown from a moving car.

"The car must have been going 10 or 15 miles per hour and slowly continued at that pace down the block, before I really realized the dog was being dumped out of the car," Rupert explained.

Animal lovers at the nonprofit organization felt it was only right to help Rebel find his forever home. They've reached out rescue shelters in Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach.

"Every animal shelter that we came across, they were full or they didn't have space for him or they didn't have the resources for him," Cardona said.

The women believe Rebel deserves the best.

"We really need to find him a home. He's been living at the gallery for a couple of weeks and doing really well, but he needs a family," Cardona said.

If you or someone you know would like to give Rebel a forever home, call the gallery at (954) 828-9151 or email sarah@girlsclubcollection.org.

To read about more animals that are in need of good homes, visit our All About Animals section.
The Departments of Justice and Education sent a letter Friday to every public school district, instructing them to allow transgender students to use whatever restroom they feel comfortable using.

Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie said his district already follows the federal guidelines, with each school working to accommodate students whose parents have identified them as transgender.

"It's a milestone day for equity, justice, and tolerance," Runice said. "We will do everything to make sure that every student is safe, that every student's concern is addressed in the school."

Miami-Dade Public Schools said it has a long-standing, non-discrimination policy which includes gender identity: "To ensure that our schools continue to be safe havens of hope and opportunity while protecting the privacy rights of all of our students."

"You know, growing up, I was not allowed to use the girl's bathroom. Now I can, that is absolutely amazing," said Jazz Jennings, a transgender activist in South Florida.

The letter comes in the wake of the Justice Department suing North Carolina over a new state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.

The administration has said the law violates the Civil Rights Act.
Some high school students know how to make waves among their classmates in all the right ways. Rebecca Chery is one of those kids.

"I think of myself as hard working but easy going, and just ready for any kind of challenge," Rebecca said, describing herself.

The junior at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek has been meeting challenges all her life. Her Haitian immigrant parents speak almost no English, they don't have much money, they can't help with homework, but Rebecca found a way to excel, anyway.

"There are opportunities out there so that you can succeed and nothing should stop you," Rebecca said, explaining her philosophy of perseverance.

Her older sister pushed her academically, and now Rebecca is ranked eighth in her class and on her way to MIT for a prestigious summer science program.

"I think she's a true inspiration to the school," said guidance director Tom Weber. "You know, she's extremely intelligent but she's humble, and she's not going to impose herself on people but just through her actions, she's a role model."

Rebecca's classmates look up to her, seeing the role model Mr. Weber described.

"When I see someone who has that kind of work ethic and who's actually working toward her goals instead of just talking about them, it motivates me to want to do the same," said classmate Janet Lopez.

Rebecca is the kid who's always being asked for help.

"She inspires a lot of people, like I see people come up to her and ask her for help, like, 'Hey, I don't know how to do this,' and she's always hands-on. She's always ready to help people," said classmate Meghan Coote.

Excelling academically on her own isn't enough for Rebecca. She's drawing on her own life experiences, growing up economically disadvantaged, to help other kids who are in similar situations.

"They don't work as hard as they feel like they should, they feel that it's not worth it and because of their home life that it's not gonna get better for them and that's why I created the outreach program to prove that they can do whatever they want to," Rebecca explained.

She recruited her friends and they formed a new organization at school, Monarch Minority Leaders. The club's goal is to pair at-risk classmates with adult mentors in the community and student mentors at school. It's all about providing support systems.

"So with this outreach program I want to create that support system for other kids so that they can be motivated to excel."

Rebecca wants to be an engineer someday, possibly a computer engineer. She's already programmed for success, and now, Rebecca is sharing the code with her classmates.
A mail carrier who worked in Miami Beach and her boyfriend are facing charges after authorities say she stole credit cards that they used to make purchases.

Nasheria Nicole James, 28, and James Lorenzo Macklin, 29, were arrested Thursday, according to Miami Beach Police arrest reports.

James is charged with organized scheme to defraud, unlawful possession of a stolen credit or debit card, and unlawful possession of five or more identities. Macklin is charged with grand theft and fraudulent use or possession of personal identification. It's unknown if they've hired attorneys.

According to the reports, several complaints were made by Miami Beach residents that they weren't receiving their mail. One resident said their American Express card that they were expecting in the mail never arrived and was later used to make $430 in purchases at a WalMart, the report said.

Authorities later discovered the card had been used by James and Macklin, the report said.

When James met with detectives, she said she had been a U.S. Postal Service mail carrier for about two years and admitted to stealing mail in the past five months, the report said. James said she would keep mail that felt like it had credit cards inside and had stolen about 10 cards that she gave to Macklin, the report said.

Detectives later found multiple pieces of mail at James' home as a well as a notebook containing personal information of 17 people, including their names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, the report said.
A woman who was trampled by moviegoers after a man caused a panic during a 2012 showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a Miami Beach theater has been awarded $1.7 million for her injuries.

A Miami-Dade jury recently gave the award to 34-year-old Maria Navas in her civil lawsuit stemming from the July 31, 2012 incident at the Regal Cinemas on Lincoln Road.

NBC 6 reached out to Regal for comment Friday but didn't immediately hear back.

Navas was on a first date at the theater when two men got into an argument. According to Miami Beach Police, one of the men left the theater and returned wearing black gloves and screamed "this is it!"

His actions caused a panic inside the theater and sent a hundred moviegoers fleeing for the exits, according to an arrest affidavit. Navas was trampled by the crowd and suffered a fracture to her right foot that required two surgeries that put 18 pieces of plates and screws in her foot. She now says she has permanent damages.

"I think about it every day," Navas said Friday. "I would be in a different place in my life right now then waiting four years for this to end."

The incident happened just days after 12 people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting in an Aurora, Colorado theater during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Navas' attorneys argued that theater staff did nothing to diffuse the argument and didn't stop the man from returning to the theater. They also said that the theater should have had heightened security measures in light of the Colorado incident.

"The evidence showed that they failed to do anything at all, especially in light of the Aurora situation," attorney Jason Brenner said.

The man arrested in the incident was later sentenced to four months' probation.
Facing a growing backlash over extremely long waits at airport security, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is asking fliers "to be patient" as the government takes steps to get them onto planes more quickly.

Travelers across the country have endured lengthy security lines, some snaking up and down escalators, or through food courts, and into terminal lobbies. At some airports, lines during peak hours have topped 90 minutes. Airlines have reported holding planes at gates to wait for passengers to clear security.

Johnson said Friday the government is working to ease the lines, although travelers should expect to wait as they travel this summer. Whatever steps TSA takes, Johnson said, it won't neglect its duty to stop terrorists.

"Our job is to keep the American people safe," Johnson told reporters at a news conference. "We're not going to compromise aviation security in the face of this."

The Transportation Security Administration has fewer screeners and has tightened security procedures. Airlines and the TSA have been warning customers to arrive at the airport two hours in advance, but with summer travel season approaching even that might not be enough.

Airlines are expecting a record number of fliers this summer, meaning more passengers and bags to screen. Johnson said TSA is working with airlines to enforce limits on carry-on bags and their size. Passengers often over-pack carry-ons to avoid paying the $25 checked bag fee most airlines charge. Two U.S. senators this week suggested that airlines should drop those fees. But that doesn't appear to be a solution either.

The TSA still scans checked luggage. And even that might not ease checkpoint problems. On Thursday, a video surfaced of giant lines at Chicago's Midway airport. Southwest Airlines  which is the only U.S. airline that doesn't charge for checked bags  is the predominant airline at Midway.

In the past three years, the TSA and Congress cut the number of front-line screeners by 4,622  or about 10 percent  on expectations that an expedited screening program called PreCheck would speed up the lines. However, not enough people enrolled for TSA to realize the anticipated efficiencies.

Congress this week agreed to shift $34 million in TSA funding forward, allowing the agency to pay overtime to its existing staff and hire an extra 768 screeners by June 15 to bring it up to the congressionally mandated ceiling of 42,525.

But that might barely make a dent on the lines. Even as it boosts hiring, the agency loses about 100 screeners a week through attrition. And J. David Cox, the president of the union representing the TSA officers, this week sent a letter to congressional leaders suggesting that 6,000 additional screeners are needed.

After the press conference, Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who sits on the House Transportation Committee, suggest that TSA should tailor screeners' schedules to fit the volume of passenger traffic in lines, rather than conforming to shift schedules.

Airlines and airports have hired extra workers to handle non-security tasks at checkpoints  such as returning empty bins to the beginning of the line  as part of an effort to free up as many TSA employees to handle passenger screening.

The help can't come quickly enough for travelers.

Friday morning, American Airlines held at least five flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport because of passengers stuck at security lines, according to airline spokesman Ross Feinstein.

On the 7:20 a.m. flight to Las Vegas, 52 of the 160 passengers were not onboard 10 minutes before departure. American held the plane an extra 13 minutes. That allowed 23 passengers to hop onboard, but 29 still missed the jet and arrived on later flights.

At another American hub, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, security lines peaked at one hour and 45 minutes on Thursday.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian told The Associated Press Thursday that "the longer lines get the more passengers are going to miss flights and there's not much you can do about that."

The biggest help to ease lines is to have more fliers enroll in the PreCheck program.

PreCheck gives previously vetted passengers special screening. Shoes, belts and light jackets stay on. Laptops and liquids stay in bags. And these fliers go through standard metal detectors rather than the explosive-detecting full-body scanners most pass through.

PreCheck security lanes can screen 300 passengers an hour, twice that of standard lanes.

The TSA's goal was to have 25 million fliers enrolled in the program. But as of March 1, only 9.3 million people were PreCheck members. Getting once-a-year fliers to join has been a challenge.

Johnson Friday said that 10,000 people applied for PreCheck Thursday, up from 8,500 a day in April and 7,500 in March. Still, at that pace, it will take more than four years to reach 25 million members.
Nearly two dozen students at a Westchester County school were taken to the hospital with norovirus while on a trip to Washington, the school district said.

Twenty-two students at Isaac E. Young Middle School in New Rochelle came down with a stomach bug while on a trip to the nation's capital earlier this week, the district said.

All of the students were taken to a hospital afterward for evaluation, and 10 of the students were treated for dehydration.

School officials said that test results showed that the sickened students came down with norovirus.

It's not clear what caused the illnesses, but the students are expected to return home to New Rochelle Friday evening.

The school district said that parents had been kept informed "every step of the way" and that all of the students are safe.
Four more boys have been arrested and charged in connection with the burning of a Jewish school bus in Brooklyn.

The boys  an 11-year-old, 12-year-old and two 14-year-olds  were arrested Thursday, less than a week after they allegedly set the bus on fire.

All four boys have been charged as juveniles with arson and criminal mischief.

Detectives initially learned that at least one of the suspects was aware that the bus was associated with a Jewish organization. Hate crime charges were filed, but dropped Friday after further investigation, police said.

A fifth boy, who is 11-years-old, was arrested earlier this week in connection with the Sunday evening fire. He received the same charges and was also charged as a juvenile.

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Tuesday after the 11-year-old boy's arrest that police were looking for more young suspects in the burning of the bus.

Boyce said the group brought flat cardboard boxes on board the unlocked bus then set them on fire.
A 21-year-old New Jersey man took his girlfriend to a wooded area, put a revolver to her head and pulled the trigger, but the weapon didn't fire, police said Friday.

Jason Driesse, of Lincoln Park, was arrested two days after the May 3 incident and charged with first-degree attempted murder, West Milford police said.

Driesse drove his girlfriend to a secluded area in West Milford known as the Long Pond Ironworks on the evening of May 3, investigators said. They walked along a trail into the woods until they came to a large rock where he asked her to sit.

Driesse allegedly handed a pencil and notebook to his girlfriend and instructed her to write down what he was about to say. She became upset and refused.

Driesse pulled some latex gloves out of his pocket, slipped them on and rested the barrel of a silver revolver against his girlfriend's head, police said. She pleaded for her life. Driesse pulled the trigger, investigators said.

The weapon didn't fire. Unable to fix his gun, Driesse and his girlfriend walked out of the woods.

During the ride back to his girlfriend's home, Driesse said that if she had run, he would have shot her in the back, according to investigators.

Two days later, Driesse was arrested at his home. In addition to first-degree attempted murder, he was charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes.

Driesse was being held in lieu of $750,000 at the Passaic County Jail.

The West Milford Police Department said it had no information on whether Driesse has retained a lawyer who could comment on his behalf.
A Long Island school district said it is investigating after a boy with autism was left on a bus alone earlier this week.

Jeanine Vitucci said that her 7-year-old son Anthony, who is nonverbal, was left on a bus for more than two hours Wednesday after the bus made its rounds through North Bellmore.

To think that my son was sitting in front of somebodys house, not knowing where he was, sitting alone on an enclosed bus, she said. I dont know if he was hysterically crying, banging on the door to get out. I dont know if he got out, if he was was roaming the streets.

Vitucci said that she put Anthony on the bus in front of their home at 8:05 a.m. Then, at 10:40 a.m., she got a call from the principal saying the 7-year-old had just gotten to school.

She said she was told that Anthony was initially marked absent when he didnt get off the bus at school. The bus driver, who apparently had forgotten the boy was on the bus, drove to a relatives house, where the bus sat parked for hours.

Nassau County police are trying to track the bus route Wednesday morning with historical data from its GPS unit. But Vitucci said the mistake should have never happened in the first place.

The matron has to hand each child to a teacher, she said. Theres a protocol they have to follow.

The school district said Thursday that it was investigating the incident and will take appropriate action.

The safety and security of our students is our highest priority, the district said.

But Vitucci said that she is worried that her son will be safe every day when he gets on the bus.

Every day is gonna be nerve wracking, traumatic day, she said. It will never be the same.
The mother of a Columbia University student who hasnt been seen in more than a week flew to New York from her Kentucky home Friday to make a tearful appeal for her daughter's return.

The university sent an alert to students, faculty and others associated with the college Friday to be on the lookout for Nayla Kidd, a 19-year-old student who hadnt been in contact with friends or family members since May 5.

Dr. LaCreis Kidd arrived, exhausted, at about 8 p.m. to join the search.

"For her to be missing right now, I can't wrap my head around that at all," she told NBC 4 New York.

Her daughter hasn't responded to voice mail and text messages, she said.

Kidd said last spoke to her in April about rent money.

Her daughter was first reported missing by friends.

Kidd has also asked Neal Gossett, a private investigator, to look for clues into her daughter's disappearance.

A Facebook page has also been set up to help find Kidd, a School of Engineering and Applied Science student.

"Our community is deeply concerned whenever a student is missing, the university said. The University is in contact with Nayla Kidds family and is cooperating with the New York Police Department.

Nayla Kidd has brown eyes and is described as being about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing 120 pounds.

Anyone with information on Kidds whereabouts should call the Columbia University Public Safety office at 212-854-5555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
A 22-year-old man died after he was found shot inside of an overturned BMW in Brooklyn, police said.

The BMW overturned on East 82nd Street, near Farragut Road, in Canarsie Thursday night sometime before 11 p.m.

Neighbors called police after witnessing the flipped vehicle and a trail of damaged cars.

After the driver was freed from the vehicle, it was discovered that he had been shot in the torso.

He was rushed to Brookdale Hospital but died along the way. His name is being withheld pending family notification.

Police said the man had been shot before the BMW crashed. It's unknown if he was the only person in the car or if someone else was with him.

A medical examiner will determine his cause of death as police continue their investigation.

There have been no reported arrests.
Police say a man started picking fights with fellow subway commuters and then punched and choked one of them.

A 32-year-old man was on a southbound A train last Friday in Brooklyn when the man sitting next to him became belligerent and started arguing with him.

The man then got into an argument with another commuter, and when the first commuter tried to intervene, the man attacked.

He punched and choked the victim as the train rode down the tracks towards High Street, according to police.

When the train got to High Street and the doors opened, the suspect took off.

Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
An NYPD inspector overseeing the department's highway unit has committed suicide, the department announced.

The NYPD said in a statement that Inspector Michael Ameri was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound a short distance from his home in West Babylon Friday afternoon.

It's not clear why he killed himself.

Ameri had been questioned at his home by federal investigators and NYPD Internal Affairs officers about police escorts given to influential businessmen and whether any NYPD officers took gifts in return, law enforcement sources told NBC 4 New York.

Ameri's death comes more than a month after NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced that two high-ranking officers had been placed on modified duty and two others were transfered in the federal investigation into potential conflict of interest rules and federal criminal laws. Other officers have since been suspended in connection to the probe.

Ameri was divorced and the father of a teenage son, according to officials.

"We are heartbroken at the loss of Michael Ameri and ask that you keep his family in your prayers during this traumatic time," the NYPD Captains Endowment Association said. "Inspector Ameri is known as a dedicated police officer who excelled in all of his command assignments."
An off-duty police officer shot and killed a man after some sort of dispute at a bar in New Jersey early Friday, prosecutors said.

A Newark officer shot and killed 37-year-old Michael Gaffney at Paddy's Place on Rosemont Avenue in Union at about 1 a.m., according to the Union County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors said that the officer and Gaffney were both at the bar when they got into a fight.

A witness said that the officer's pregnant wife tried to pull the two men apart, and that Gaffney sucker-punched the off-duty cop after the altercation. Both men then went to the ground, and the officer pulled out his gun and fired three times.

Gaffney was pronounced dead at the scene. The officer, who hasn't been identified, was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Mark Pasuco, one of Gaffney's friends, said the 37-year-old had a teenage daughter who had just made the honor roll.

"This poor girl lost her father," Pasuco said.

No one at the bar was able to comment on the shooting Friday.

The Newark Police Department has declined to comment on the shooting. No charges have been filed in the case.

The Union County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the shooting, and no arrests have been made in the case.
A Florida family's rescue dog did some saving of his own this week.

Haus, a 2-year-old German shepherd, was bitten three times in the leg by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake while apparently trying to protect his owners' 7-year-old daughter, NBC affiliate WFLA reports.

According to WFLA, Haus went behind the family's pool in Tampa to retrieve his toys Wednesday when Donya DeLuca heard screams from her young daughter Molly.

DeLuca believes Haus was injured while preventing the snake from reaching Molly.

"He had every opportunity to run, and he didn't," DeLuca told WFLA. "He was protecting Molly, and my mother I think."

Haus was rushed to a local veterinary hospital, where he was placed in the intensive care unit. He's receiving continuous doses of anti-venom and is expected to recover.

"We love him and we cherish him, but I feel indebted that he saved our daughter," DeLuca told WFLA.

Donations to a GoFundMe account to help pay the vet bills quickly topped the family's goal of $15,000 on Friday.
London's new mayor Sadiq Khan wants Donald Trump to go to the British capital so that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee can meet a "mainstream Muslim" and "educate" him about Islam and its compatibility with "Western liberal values."

Khan, the son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, said in an interview with NBC News Friday that Trump's "ignorant" views on Islam were "inadvertently playing into the hands of extremists" who prey on young Muslims.

"To suggest that it's incompatible to be Western and to be Muslim is, I think, really, really risky," Khan said.

The real-estate businessman suggested a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. after a deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, by alleged ISIS sympathizers in December.
A German court denied an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor the opportunity to testify at a former Nazi SS guard's trial Friday, NBC News reported.

Joshua Kaufman, who traveled from Los Angeles to Germany, planned to talk about how he removed bodies from gas chambers at Auschwitz death camp. Around 1.2 million people  most of them Jews  were killed at the site.

Reinhold Hanning, 94, is on trial accused of being accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people. Although Hanning was not directly involved in any killings at Auschwitz, prosecutors accuse him of facilitating the slaughter in his capacity as a guard at the camp.

Judge Anke Grudda stressed that the decision was based entirely on German law and was not out of "reasons of respect or disrespect."

"It is not fair," Kaufman told NBC News. "They know who I am. I lost my whole family, I survived five concentration camps and I represent the dead people. They should at least respect me."
Advocates say immigration fraud in our region is getting worse. One victim, Felipe, says he followed the rules on his quest to become an American citizen  such as paying taxes and saving up to buy his home.

But that dream has been damaged by the very person who claimed to be helping. For $9,500 plus fees, Felipe believed that Andre Salomon of Salomon Multi-Services would file his immigration papers. Felipe says Salomon claimed to be a lawyer and, according to court papers, promised to work closely to immigration and bring the necessary satisfaction.

But now, two years later, Salomon admitted to us  he never even submitted the application.

Advocates tell us, immigration fraud spikes whenever the topic of immigration is in the news. The Pennsylvania Attorney Generals Office has worked 39 such complaints  the majority from our region. But theres no way to fully measure how much of the fraud occurs because so many victims never tell law enforcement.

Attorney Vanessa Stine, of Friends of Farmworkers, tells us that new victims arrive in her office every week.

Sometimes, the fraud is based on shared heritage. Other times, like Felipes case, it hinges on a single word: notario. The word signifies a specialized attorney in many Spanish-speaking countries. But in the United States, its a notary public with no authority to practice law.

Its a very misleading name, said Michael Borgen, the Philadelphia District Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Borgen says, some immigration servicers may promise to fast-track applications or offer legal services theyre not qualified to provide.

Often, it damages an immigrants chance at citizenship permanently.

Its targeting people who are really not aware of what benefits theyre eligible for, says Borgen.

But the NBC10 Investigators discovered  even after the accused go to court, they dont always follow the rules.

In February of last year, after finding him liable for more than 57-thousand dollars in damages  a judge prohibited Andre Salomon from advertising or offering immigration services.

And yet, when we visited Salomons office last month, we found those very words painted right on the wall of his waiting room. When we asked about it, Salomon suddenly climbed onto a stool and began covering up the painted writing with paper, as our cameras rolled.

Salomon said he didnt see the writing  even though he walks through the door beneath it every day. He showed us other spots where the words had been hidden from view and insists he never told anyone hes an attorney, nor called himself a notario.

Salomon tells us now, submitting Felipes application wouldve exposed him to deportation  a distraction, according to Stine, from Salomons own wrongdoing.

The judge ordered Salomon to pay Felipe more than 28-thousand dollars in restitution and damages. Salomon made only his second payment just the day after we started asking him questions about the case  but he has still paid less than ten percent of the total he owes.

As for the victim, himself  Felipe says the loss of nearly 10-thousand dollars is overshadowed by his loss of confidence in the American system, as Salomons business remains open.
Robert Wilson III, the Philadelphia police sergeant killed during a robbery at a video game store last year, will be honored by President Obama with the Medal of Valor, the administration said Friday.

Obama will bestow the honor posthumously to Wilson and 12 other officers at The White House on Monday. Wilson's family is expected to be in attendance.

The medal was commissioned by Congress in 2001 to honor first responders who showed exceptional courage while working to preserve human life.

The 30-year-old father was killed on March 5, 2015 when two men attempted to rob a North Philadelphia GameStop store.

Wilson was inside the store in full uniform when the men entered and announced a robbery. The officer got into a shoot out with them while protecting store staff and customers. Wilson was struck six times by gunfire and later died.

The officer's alleged killers 29-year-old Carlton Hipps and 25-year-old Ramone Williams face murder charges.

Wilson is the lone fallen officer to receive the award this year.
It's the tale of the police officer who saved a gosling with an assist from mother goose.

On Mother's Day, Sgt. James Givens of the Cincinnati Police Department helped reunite a patient mother goose with her gosling who was tied up in a balloon string, NBC affiliate WLWT reported.

Givens was sitting in his patrol car on Sunday when the mother goose began pecking at his door. After following her, Givens found the baby goose tied up in a balloon string from a Mother's Day balloon.

Concerned the geese may attack, Givens called upon his partner, Specialist Cecilia Charron, who has pets of her own, to help.

I put my foot on the balloon and thats the only way I got ahold of the baby because the baby was running off, Charron told WLWT. "As soon as we got the baby free, I set the baby down and mommy and baby went into the Mill Creek and swam off."

Givens stood nearby and recorded the event on his phone. It showed the mother goose watching the rescue of her little one. Givens posted it to YouTube on May 9 where it has since been viewed more than 700,000 times as of May 12.

It says that we are supposed to protect and serve. I guess that includes wildlife besides people, Givens told WLWT.

The Cincinnati Police Department has received calls and emails from as far as the United Kingdom and Italy thanking the officers for their compassionate work, a spokesman told NBC.

"We're getting a lot of phone calls and emails saying 'way to go,'" said Tiffaney Hardy, director of communications for the Cincinnati Police Department.
Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group said Friday its top military commander Mustafa Badreddine was killed in an explosion in the Syrian capital of Damascus, a major blow to the militant group.

Badreddine, 55, had been supervising the group's involvement in Syria's civil war since Hezbollah fighters joined the battles along with President Bashar Assad's forces against militant groups trying to remove him from power, according to pro-Hezbollah media.

Hezbollah said several others were wounded in the blast. It said it was investigating the nature of the explosion and whether it was the result of an air raid, missile attack or artillery shelling. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV that is close to the group earlier said Badreddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike but later removed the report.

Badreddine was one of four people being tried in absentia for the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The 2005 suicide bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others was one of the Middle East's most dramatic political assassinations.

Badreddine's death is the biggest blow to the militant group since the 2008 assassination of his predecessor, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a bomb attack in Damascus. After that, Badreddine, known among the group's ranks as Zulfiqar, became Hezbollah's top military commander.

"Early information from the investigation shows that a strong explosion targeted one of our centers near the Damascus International Airport leading to the martyrdom of brother commander Mustafa Badreddine and wounded several others," Hezbollah said in a statement issued Friday.

Hezbollah said Badreddine was a "great jihadi leader" that he had joined "the convoy of martyrs on top of them his comrade and close friend Mughniyeh.

The group said it will be receiving condolences starting Friday morning in their stronghold south of Beirut.

Badreddine was the brother-in-law of Mughniyeh and was suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people. He was detained in Kuwait and imprisoned for years until he fled jail in 1990 after Iraq's Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait.

Over the past 30 years, Israel has killed some of the group's top leaders. In 1992, Israeli helicopter gunships ambushed the motorcade of Sayyed Abbas Musawi, killing him, his wife, 5-year-old son and four bodyguards. Eight years earlier Hezbollah leader Sheik Ragheb Harb was gunned down in south Lebanon.
It's Friday the 13th, but don't let superstition keep you home on this night of incredible shows. In Chula Vista, 93.3 presents their annual Summer Kick Off Concert. With acts like Gwen Stefani and Ariana Grande playing, no doubt this will be one people talk about. Meanwhile, another band that came from the OC punk scene many moons ago, Pennywise, kicks off the first of three nights at the Observatory. Tonight's show displaced Andrew Bird, but the whistling troubadour will sound amazing at the Music Box nonetheless. Rounding out the night, Night Moves is at the Casbah with our friends the Verigolds; and the Rocket Summer play in the open air at Quartyard.
Eater San Diego shares the top stories of the week from San Diegos food and drink scene, including a peek at Carnitas' Snack Shack's new Embarcadero location, word about a popular Asian bakery's expansion and a look at a just-launched coffee bar in North Park.

Carnitas' Snack Shack Opens at Embarcadero With Cocktails

The beloved San Diego eatery opened its third location at North Embarcadero, an all-outdoor space that's now serving its pork-centric menu along with a new fish taco, soft-serve ice cream and brunch dishes. A cocktail bar and new drink list are also among the new features.

85C Bakery Cafe Announces Two New Locations

Taiwanese concept 85C Bakery Cafe shared that it plans to open at least two more locations in the San Diego area in addition to its Balboa Mesa store. The popular bakery, which specializes in Asian-inspired breads, cakes and pastries, will launch in Mira Mesa this June, followed by the opening of a National City shop in July.

North Park Coffee Bar Brews Up SF's Sightglass Coffee

Craft coffee fanatics should make a beeline for North Park's new Communal Coffee, a hip new coffee bar powered by San Francisco cult coffee roaster, Sightglass Coffee. The buzzy cafe is also serving a light food menu, and shares space with floral bar Native Poppy.

The Lodge at Torrey Pines Previews Revamped Grill

Award-winning resort The Lodge at Torrey Pines will unveil its multi-million dollar renovation of its casual eatery, The Grill, next month. Eater has a sneak peek at the redesign and its overhauled menu, which features dishes cooked on its new custom wood-fired grill and smoker.

Yakitori Yakyudori Owner Opening Fourth Restaurant

Fans of Yakitori Yakyudori, Hinotez and Yakitori Taisho will soon have a new spot to add to the rotation. The restaurants' owner is bringing a new location to Clairemont Mesa Boulevard: Yakitori Hino, which is scheduled to open by fall 2016. The new spot will reportedly be similar in concept to Yakitori Taisho's high-end menu of grilled skewers.

Candice Woo is the founding editor of Eater San Diego, a leading source for news about San Diegos restaurant and bar scene. Keep up with the latest Eater San Diego content via Facebook or Twitter, and sign up for Eater San Diegos newsletter here.


Emergency responders, doctors and extraordinary San Diego citizens were honored at the Spirit of Courage Awards on Thursday.

For over 30 years, The Burn Institute has recognized the courage and valor in life saving efforts.

Among Thursdays recipients were two San Diego Fire Fighters, credited for risking their own lives to save two children.

Luis and Esmerelda Castro were at death's door, losing consciousness in their beds as their home in Mount Hope was going up in flames.

Two local firefighters pushed the very limits of their training to get both of them out of the burning house.

It was an emotional reunion between San Diego Firefighter Dallas Higgins and the victim's Uncle Ramon Vasquez.

I got off of work and I came straight here. I just want them to know how grateful and appreciative I am, Vasquez said.

Higgins and fellow firefighter Joe Zakar were presented the Spirit of Courage Award for their life saving efforts.

We were very fortunate to have saved two children's lives that day. I'm blessed to have been able to be a part of that, Zakar said.

In November last year, firefighters were called to the Vasquez house.

In a back bedroom, was three-year old Esmerelda Castro, her five-year old brother Luis, and 12-year old brother Fernando.

It is every firefighters dream and it's every firefighters nightmare, Zakar said.

Higgins was the first one through the window and discovered that Fernando was already dead. He pulled Luis, who was barely breathing, to safety.

But Esmerelda was still inside.

I know she is there but conditions are just getting so bad it's driving me out. It was probably one of the most frustrating things, Higgins said.

Dallas came out with second degree burns on his ears, head and back.

Then, Zakar went in found Esmerelda on the floor, unconscious but alive.

You never want to see children hurt. In the job that we do, every day I think the calls that affect us the most are children, Zakar said.

Six months later, the family is still recovering but the prognosis is good.

These fire fighters gave two small children a second chance at growing up and hope to the Vasquez family.

Despite significant burns Esmerelda was released from the hospital in March and will start kindergarten in the fall. Luis is doing better but still hospitalized.

The Vasquez family is also rebuilding their home.
San Diego-headquartered Premier Food Concepts LLC, which operates the Luna Grill chain of fast-casual Mediterranean-style restaurants, plans to open new locations in Pacific Highlands Ranch and Mira Mesa, bringing its companywide total to 24.

A company statement said a May 25 opening is planned at 5950 Village Way in Pacific Highlands Ranch, with a May 27 debut slated for its restaurant at 8430 Mira Mesa Blvd. in Mira Mesa.

Luna Grill recently opened its first-ever Los Angeles County restaurant, in the city of La Canada Flintridge. Officials said the companys newest eateries feature a recent redesign known as Luna 3.0, with a mix of vintage, modern and organic elements resembling European or Scandinavian design.

Luna Grill was founded in 2004, and its current locations include three in the Dallas-Fort Worth market, according to its website. Most of its restaurants are located throughout Southern California, serving items including kabobs, falafel, salads and wraps.

Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter.
A man pleaded guilty in the smuggling deaths of two unauthorized immigrants found in the trunk of a car in August 2014.

The migrants were found dead at the San Ysidro Port of Entry after being exposed to high temperatures with little ventilation.

Eduard Ervemac Saavedra, 44, a citizen of Peru, pleaded guilty on two counts of encouraging and inducing illegal aliens resulting in death and two counts of bringing illegal aliens into the United States for financial gain Thursday.

As part of the plea agreement Saavedra admitted to enticing another man, Nicholas George Zakov, 43, to smuggle the migrants into the U.S. with the prospect of $3,500 cash.

After recruiting Zakov, Saavedra arranged for Tarcisio Casas-Blanco and Jose Aurelio Quiroz-Casas, both Mexican citizens, to be hidden in the trunk of Zakovs Dodge Challenger in Tijuana.

Saavedra directed Zakov to enter the U.S. through the San Ysidro Port of Entry with Casas-Blanco and Quiroz-Casas remaining in the trunk.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers later discovered Casas-Blanco and Quiroz-Casas unresponsive inside the trunk.

Despite efforts to revive the men they died of hyperthermia and mechanical asphyxiation.

Zakov is a U.S. citizen and has pleaded guilty to alien smuggling charges in the deaths of Casas-Blanco and Quiroz-Casas.

He was sentenced to 84 months in prison.

Saavedra faces three years to life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 25, 2016.
A pedestrian bridge in San Ysidro will open in July at the El Chaparral port of entry, the Governments of Mexico and United States announced Thursday.

The Pedrestrian West Facility (PedWest) will begin processing travelers heading into the U.S. beginning on July 15.

Pedestrians can cross through the west side of the El Chaparral port of entry and reach the PedWest entry building as well as the new multimodal transit facility on Virginia Avenue.

The bridge will eventually allow southbound pedestrians to cross into Mexico and include a multimodal transit center in Tijuana.

More than 50,000 vehicles and 25,000 pedestrians cross the border at the El Chaparral-San Ysidro port of entry every day.
An overwhelming show of public support embraced the funeral procession of a U.S. Navy SEAL Friday in Coronado, California.

The military town located southwest of downtown San Diego has long been a home to the U.S. Navy and the SEAL program. On Friday, residents lined the streets holding American flags in honor of Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Charles Keating IV.

Coronado school kids, encouraged to wear red, white and blue Friday, held signs and watched the procession for the island's adopted son.

Keating was killed in combat on May 3 about 14 miles north of Mosul in an attack launched by 125 ISIS fighters, Pentagon officials said. He was part of a small force sent to fend off the attack.

A native of Arizona, Keating made a home with his new wife Brooke and her family in Coronado, near the headquarters for SEAL Team One.

U.S. Navy SEALs from around the country arrived in San Diego to attend the funeral service held at Sacred Heart Church Friday.

After the service, a funeral procession traveled along 6th Avenue to Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma.

Krista Keating-Joseph, told NBC 7 San Diego her son wished to be buried as close as possible to Coronado Amphibious Naval Base. Keating wanted to be near his beloved SEAL Team One, she said, instead of in Arlington National Cemetery.

Images: Navy Chief Special Warfare Operator Charles Keating IV Laid to Rest

Keating lived in Coronado with his wife, Brooke, and her family. The two married before he deployed, the family told NBC 7.

And many of his neighbors stood on sidewalks and in intersections to show their appreciation for his service.

I think the expressions of other people to this family are really important to realize that their sacrifice wasnt in vain, said Coronado resident Jane Stewart.

School students were encouraged to spend their lunch break along the procession route.

"It's part of being part of this particular community," said Jennifer Moore, Principal of Coronado High School.

She said as educators, they have an obligation to allow students to make a connection with the bigger picture of what's happening in the world.

"This is one of those opportunities," she said.

About a thousand people gathered Thursday in Coronado to honor a U.S. Navy SEAL killed in an ISIS attack last week in Iraq. NBC 7s Artie Ojeda reports.

In a ceremony Thursday Keating was awarded the Silver Star, the Purple Heart and a second combat ribbon.

A grandson of an Arizona financier involved in the 1980s savings and loan scandal, Keating is the third U.S. service member to be killed in combat in Iraq since U.S. forces returned there in 2014.

The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, any donations be made to the Navy SEAL Foundation.
San Diego firefighters will soon start wearing military appreciation T-shirts on Sundays.

The shirts, with a blue digital camouflage design, carry the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department logo on the front and back, the American flag embroidered on the right arm and a Support Our Troops yellow ribbon on the left arm.

The idea for the shirt came to us from a Fire Captain and Firefighter/Paramedic at our Pacific Beach fire station, San Diego Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said. Once we worked out the details, we were only too happy to support it. We not only have a large number of veterans within our ranks at San Diego Fire-Rescue, but we are proud to honor and support the men and women serving in the military in our community and across the nation.

The T-shirts are approved to be worn by on-duty firefighters on Sundays only. The shirts are available for purchase by firefighters and the general public at the San Diego Firefighters L145 gift shop, at 10405 San Diego Mission Road, Suite 201, in San Diego.

Donations will benefit local veterans and military organizations.
For the last eight years a program within the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) has welcomed in thousands of refugees, helping them learn the basics before putting them in classes with local students.

Many come from refugee camps or countries where girls are not allowed to go to school.

Refugee children first go to a New Arrival Center (NAC) where they learn English as well as basic studies before entering classes with the rest of the students at the school.

They come from countries as diverse as Somalia, Haiti, Thailand, Syria, Burma as well as many others, and they often speak more than a dozen languages among them.

Now the District is planning to decrease a students time at the NAC and integrate them into the school sooner.

Were changing a little bit of the experience of arriving new to our school system, but we want to make sure they are both acquiring a language and acquiring graduation credits, Fabiola Bagula of SDUSD said.

One superintendent told NBC 7 students will still spend some part of their day in the NAC to learn English, but they will be placed in math classes, and progressively others, with students in the school.

NAC teachers will travel with the students to class  all in an effort to make sure they get the necessary courses to graduate, according to the District.

It's not without support. It's with support. We don't want anyone to fail, Bagula said.

The president of the Teachers Union said their concern is the level of support will not be adequate, leaving students who do not have basic skills without recourse.

The concern of our members is before you can just throw the students in there they need a set of foundational skills to be able to access, Lindsay Burningham of the Teachers Union told NBC 7. Some of these students are starting from the basics and through the New Arrival Center program they've been able to be successful as we've seen with students being able to graduate this year.

Change is hard for everybody and there's an interpretation if they want change it must mean what I did was wrong, and that's not what we're saying, Bagula said. We're saying we need to strengthen our practice. We need you in a different way.

The District says between refugee students who are placed in the NAC first and those who are not, 12% more graduate when the not placed in the NAC initially.

The president of the Teachers Union said out of 36 students at Crawford High Schools NAC 35 will graduate this year.

The District will make a decision about the change in the next week.
Tieray Jones, the man charged with killing 2-year-old Jahi Turner, kept a journal with Jahis mother, Tameka Turner, in which they wrote to each other when they were apart because of Tamekas Navy duties, according to the arrest warrant released Thursday.

That notebook was found in Jones apartment on April 25, 2002, the first day investigators began looking for the missing child, the court document details.

Hundreds of volunteers and police officers spent weeks searching for traces of the 30-pound toddler when he was reported missing in 2002. Law enforcement officers raked through 5,000 tons of garbage at the landfill, but came up with nothing.

Detailed in the arrest warrant is a journal entry from April 23, 2002.

According to the court document, Jones wrote, Today for some reason he hasnt been moving or really talking. Jahi is starting to act really funny he wont get up off the floor. Hes not walking or talking when I tell him to get his cup he just looks at me. I know its going to take some time. But I dont want him hating me for something I cant control. The bump on his head has gone down I put ice on it. Its gotten a little red.

In the arrest warrant, authorities suggest that entry is evidence suggesting Jahi suffered a fatal physical injury while in Jones care.

According to the court document, A board certified child abuse doctor has looked at the symptoms described in the journal and believes them to be consistent with blunt force abdominal trauma or a serious head injury. Both of which could be fatal if not treated by a medical professional.

The arrest warrant was released by Judge David Danielsen Thursday after NBC 7 Investigates and CBS affiliate KFMB filed a motion for it to be unsealed and released to the public.

Click here to read the search warrant.

In court Thursday, Jones was represented by two new attorneys: Alex Ozols and Vik Monder. Previously Jones was being represented by a public defender.

In a statement to NBC 7 Investigates, Ozols said he and Monder were reading the arrest warrant for the first time Thursday morning in court.

We are confident that your investigative team will be able to see that the affidavit is only one side of the story and that there are clearly a lot of questions that need to be answered, he said. We believe in Tieray's innocence, we are going to fight for him until the end and we strongly believe that his son is still alive."

The newly released arrest warrant detailed that when questioned by investigators, Jones at first denied that Jahi Turner had any falls, accidents, or injuries, while Jones was taking care of him. He then admitted to one fall, but stated that the fall took place on the other side of the bed from what he had told Tameka Turner.

The document also states the child abuse expert also saw evidence of triggers for abuse, particularly Jahis problem with wetting the bed. On Tuesday, April 23, 2002, Jones complained to Tameka Turner that Jahi Turner had 'peed the bed' Monday night.

Jones is charged with one count of murder and one count of felony child abuse causing death, authorities said. Both carry a 25-years-to-life sentence if convicted. Jones was arrested in North Carolina earlier this year.

When the announcement of his arrest was made, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said, "Jahi's disappearance rocked the community to its core 14 years ago. It's without a doubt one of the highest profile unsolved cases here in San Diego County."

Though new evidence has been uncovered in the case, authorities have not found Jahi's body or remains, police said.

On April 25, 2002, Jahi allegedly disappeared from a playground at 28th Street and Cedar Street in San Diego's South Park neighborhood. According to police, Jones told officers he was with the toddler at the park when he left to get a drink for Jahi. Jones said he returned 15 minutes later and Jahi was gone.

Officials say the last reported sighting of Jahi was April 22, 2002. A huge search for Jahi ensued, including a week-long police search of the Miramar Landfill, where authorities took the extreme measure of systematically raking through 5,000 tons of garbage.

According to the arrest warrant, on April 24, 2002, Jones wrote in his journal, You still havent called. The money has been deposited but I cant use the card. I let him sleep in the bed but I put a bag under his blanket. And he peed to, glad the bed didnt wet. I washed the little bit of stuff I could that he pissed in. We walked to the store but I couldnt use the card.

At the time of the childs disappearance, Jahis mother was deployed aboard USS Rushmore.

NBC 7 Investigates is working for you. If you have more information about this or other story tips, contact us: (619) 578-0393, NBC7Investigates@nbcuni.com. To receive the latest NBC 7 Investigates stories subscribe to our newsletter.
The national union that represents Border Patrol agents is drawing criticism about its March endorsement of presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Some of that criticism is coming from within the rank-and-file of the union, as agents question their own organization.

The vice president of the National Border Patrol Council said the organization endorsed Trump because he was the only candidate focused on border security - an issue that directly impacts agent safety.

"This endorsement was based on one facet and one facet alone," said Shawn Moran, VP of the National Border Patrol Council. "It was about increased border security and that's why we endorsed Donald Trump for president."

Some rank-and-file border patrol agents have questioned their own union.

In Texas, a local union tried to disavow itself from the endorsement, an effort that failed by one vote.

The issue is also raising concerns among immigrant rights advocates, who say Trump's comments show a lack of respect toward Mexican nationals and toward immigrants.

"The specific concern is that Mr. Trump has used hateful rhetoric. He has made disparaging comments about Mexican nationals that overgeneralize," said Pedro Rios, the director of the American Friends Service Committee.

Moran said presidential candidates making comments that offend some is not unheard of, stressing the decision was about agent safety.

"I believe that if you look into everything that every candidate has ever said, you could find something to disagree with and that would paint that candidate in a poor light," Moran said.

Moran said 122 agents have lost their lives in the line of duty since the organization's inception. In the last 10 years, 30 agents have died in the line of duty.

Immigrant rights advocates say 46 people have lost their lives after encounters with BP agents since 2010. That's the year agents were captured on video torturing Anastasio Rojas by using a Taser gun on him repeatedly, as he begged for mercy before dying.

Rios, who has worked with immigrants for decades, said amping up the divisive rhetoric on the topic of immigration is not just unnecessary, but possibly dangerous.

"If they are endorsing someone with that hateful rhetoric, then suddenly, we question whether the agents themselves believe this hateful rhetoric," said Rios. "I think it places a lot of questions and a lot of needless tension in the community."
The dark-colored sedan that fatally struck a man in Burke, Virginia, Thursday night briefly pulled over to the side of the road before leaving the scene, witnesses say.

And now, Fairfax County police want to know if anyone saw anything that can help identify the hit-and-run driver.

They've put up a blinking temporary sign at the scene where 33-year-old Matthew Calendine died, on Shiplett Boulevard. "Police seek witnesses for crash," it reads. "On 5/12 at 9 p.m. Call 703-280-0543."

Calendine was walking along the curb on when he stumbled into the road at about 9 p.m., Fairfax County police said.

One car swerved to avoid him, but a second vehicle struck him.

Good Samaritans tried to help Calendine, neighbors said, but he died at the scene.

Witnesses in the area said the striking vehicle pulled over for a moment before driving away. Police say the vehicle has been described as a dark-colored sedan.

"It's crazy man, it's still a little shocking," said Christian Farinas, who lives nearby. "This is a commonly used road, people are walking here to get to work, to get home. Its terrible."

Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call police at 703-280-0543 or 703-691-2131.
A Virginia woman who got caught in a bidding war between two home improvement contractors told NBC4 Responds when she tried to cancel her contract with the highest bidder, the company didnt want to hear it and pushed back.

The Leesburg homeowner sought multiple estimates, as is recommended, but what was supposed to be a fairly standard home improvement job turned into an epic disaster.

The homeowner said she got a quote from a home improvement company, signed a contract and put down a $21,000 deposit. According to the contract, if she wanted to cancel she could "at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction by providing in writing the intent to rescind."

She said when she got a quote from another contractor who would do the job for less, she called to cancel the first contract and sent them a certified letter the third business day after the transaction.

So I just told him that I was getting a better deal with someone else and I thanked him for his time, the homeowner said.

But canceling wasn't as easy as the contract claimed, she said. The company told her since it received her cancellation request after the third day, it would not cancel the job.

He got very mad and told me I couldn't and just wouldn't accept it, she said.

She found herself with two contracts, and the first company told her it already moved forward with the job.

NBC4 Responds contacted the company, which emphasized the written cancellation came too late, even though it was post-marked the third business day after the transaction.

The company admitted it was hoping the homeowner would allow them to do some of the work but agreed to just refund her $21,000 deposit.
The mayor of District Heights, Maryland, James L. Walls Jr., was found dead in his home Thursday, the mayor's office confirms to News4.

Police said there were no immediate signs of foul play in the death of the 39-year-old. He was found inside his home on Council Drive about 12 p.m. Thursday, police said.

Gov. Larry Hogan offered his family's condolences.

"We send our deepest and most heartfelt prayers to the family, friends and loved ones of Mayor Walls, as well as the entire District Heights community as they mourn the loss of a dedicated and beloved public servant.

According to the city's website, Walls was serving his third term as mayor after being re-elected in 2014. He was the youngest person ever elected to the post in the city of about 6,000.

An autopsy will be conducted to determine his cause of death.

Stay with News4 and NBCWashington.com as we continue to update this story.
Several students at a Maryland middle school were taken to a hospital after drinking something that made them feel sick Friday morning, officials said.

Montgomery County Police responded to a 911 call that about 10 children at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring consumed alcohol and/or NyQuil, police said.

The students went to school not feeling well after drinking liquid something, according to Montgomery County Public Schools. The students went to the nurse, who called 911. Some students were taken to the hospital, and some teachers went with them for support.

MCPS did not confirm what the students were drinking due to the investigation.
A 14-year-old boy was found dead in his family's Dale City, Virginia, townhome Thursday night -- and the 17-year-old boy who lived in the downstairs unit of the home has been charged with his murder, police say.

Police were called to the home in the 15000 block of Brazil Circle about 8:45 p.m. after a relative found Luis Erick Coca-Crespo, 14, dead.

The boy, who went by Erick, had suffered blunt force trauma injuries to his head and upper body, police said. A law enforcement source told News4 he also was bound.

Erick's family rented out the lower level of the townhome to the alleged killer's family, police said. The two families were distant relatives, police said.

Police have not released the suspect's name and he is being held at a juvenile detention center.

Police would not say what the motive was for the murder. According to a law enforcement source, the 17-year-old became angry with Erick.

Erick's parents are traveling back to Dale City after receiving the tragic news that their youngest child was killed. They went to Bolivia last week after Erick's grandfather died.

The boy's older sister, aunt and uncle were looking after Erick while his parents were out of town. They were not home at the time of the murder.

A family friend said Erick was friendly and kind.

"For such a good kid, who would want to hurt him? You know, he's so soft-spoken, well-mannered kid," Liz Padilla said.

Padilla said Erick's mother cut her hair for many years.

"So, it's really hard because, you know, he would always sit there at the stairways and talk with me while his mom was cutting my hair," Padilla said. "That's why it's hard to think - he's such a good kid and for it to happen in his own home and where his mom would think he'd be safe."

Erick was in the eighth grade at Mary G. Porter Traditional School, a school that says it challenges students with rigorous academics and "strong performance expectations." The school sent a letter to parents saying it will offer extra counseling for students and staff affected by his murder.

The 17-year-old will appear in court on Monday. He is currently being charged as a juvenile, but the teen may eventually be tried as an adult, according to the Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert.
A dozen student-athletes at a Virginia high school were suspended for a year for alleged locker room misconduct, but many in the community believe the punishment is too extreme.

The school system says it learned in March of the "allegations of misconduct involving some of its student-athletes at Culpeper High School. It would not comment more specifically about the disciplinary actions or the nature of the alleged misconduct.

A 365-day suspension is excessive, parent Traci Johnson said.

If the accusations are serious, the school at least should communicate the severity to parents, Johnson said. Otherwise, she worries it will do more harm than good.

"They are potentially ruining their futures, especially our children who are juniors that have colleges coming to look at them, some of them Division 1 colleges, Johnson said.

Her daughter, Culpeper junior Breglyne Johnson, said it feels like a witch hunt. She said the alleged misconduct is not serious for criminal charges. She has made more than 300 wristbands showing support for the suspended students and handed them out to supporters.

The parents of the accused student-athletes didnt want to talk to News4 as theyre still in the midst of appeals.

News4 reached out to the Culpeper CountySheriffs Office but hasnt heard back.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the New Hampshire Senate reached agreement late Thursday on a bill to ban gay conversion therapy on minors after a debate over religious freedom nearly derailed the effort.

"Who among us would want to be converted from the essence of who we are? I don't think any of us would," Republican Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley said during debate.

Gay conversion therapy is the practice of trying to change someone's sexuality or gender identity. Both the Senate and House have now approved a bill barring licensed counselors from engaging in the practice with anyone under age 18. The chambers passed bills including slightly different language, which means they'll need to reach agreement before sending the legislation to Gov. Maggie Hassan's desk.

Hassan, a Democrat, praised the Senate's passage of the bill, saying it sends an important message to young people that they can be who they are.

The Senate's passage of the bill comes after two weeks of emotional debate. The measure looked certain to fail earlier Thursday, when lawmakers tabled it after being unable to reach agreement over language regarding religious freedom. The final bill says people licensed to provide counseling services under state law, from nurses to marriage counselors, can't engage in the practice. It also includes language saying the law cannot infringe on religious freedom, intended to ease concerns that the bill would prevent priests and other religious leaders from talking to teenagers about their sexuality.

Democratic Sen. David Pierce, who is gay, made several personal appeals to his colleagues to back the ban. Pierce said he realized he was gay at age 11 and struggled to accept it. Research shows gay and lesbian teenagers are more likely to commit suicide than their peers and the risk increases if they undergo conversion therapy, Pierce said.

"I worked my way through it, but there was no person sitting next to me telling me I was sick and needed to be cured," he said.

The American Psychological Association and other major health organizations have discredited gay conversion therapy and states are beginning to pass bans on the practice for minors. California, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois and Washington, D.C., ban the practice for minors and Vermont is likely to join them. But efforts in Hawaii and Colorado failed this year.

Republicans who opposed the bill expressed concern that it would prevent priests from counseling teenagers.

The bill passed on a voice vote after a key amendment cleared with support of all 10 Democrats and six Republicans.
A federal appeals court delayed the execution of an Alabama inmate on Thursday in order to review lawyers' claims that it would be unconstitutional to execute him because he is no longer competent because of strokes and dementia.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the stay about seven hours before Vernon Madison, 65, was scheduled to die by lethal injection at a state prison in Atmore. The appellate court said it will hear oral arguments in Madison's case in June.

Madison was convicted in the 1985 killing of Mobile police Officer Julius Schulte. Schulte had responded to a domestic call involving Madison. Prosecutors said Madison crept up and shot Schulte in the back of the head as he sat in his police car.

Attorneys for the Equal Justice Initiative, which sought the emergency stay, say that strokes and dementia have left Madison frequently confused and disoriented. They argued he has an IQ of 72, can no longer walk independently and at one point talked of moving to Florida because he believed he was going to be released from prison.

"Mr. Madison suffers from dementia, has no independent recollection of the offense he was convicted of and consequently does not have a rational understanding of why the State of Alabama is attempting to execute him," attorneys with EJI wrote in the stay request.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, in cases involving mental illness, that condemned inmates must possess a "rational understanding" that they are about to be executed and why, but left it to lower courts to sort out what that looks like in individual cases.

Attorneys for the state of Alabama had asked the 11th Circuit to let the execution proceed after a circuit judge last month found Madison competent and a federal judge said there were no grounds to reject that conclusion or to appeal it.

"Both the family of Julius Schulte and the citizens of Mobile, Alabama, who lost a dedicated law enforcement officer as a result of Madison's crime, are entitled to see justice carried out in this case," lawyers with the attorney general's office wrote.

U.S. District Judge Kristi K. DuBose this week agreed with a lower court that Madison could be executed. DuBose cited testimony from a court-appointed expert that Madison could answer questions about his case, despite a decline in his health. She also noted Madison's reported response that, "my lawyers are supposed to be handling that," when the warden came to read him the death warrant.

Madison's attorneys on Thursday had also sought a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing Alabama's sentencing method is similar to one struck down in Florida. The jury in Madison's third trial made an 8-4 recommendation of life in prison, but the trial judge sentenced him to the death penalty. Madison's first two convictions were overturned.

One other inmate in Alabama has been put to death this year after a lull of more than two years because of difficulty obtaining lethal injection drugs and litigation over the death penalty.

Christopher Eugene Brooks was executed in January for the 1992 rape and beating death of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell.
Four U.S. citizens were given relatively light sentences by a federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday for their roles in a bloody but failed coup in the tiny West African country of Gambia, NBC News reported.

The four men pleaded guilty to various firearms violations and conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act, which makes it a crime to plot the overthrow of the leader of a country that the United States isn't at war with.

The 2014 coup sought to oust Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and replace him with Cherno Momodou Njie, a highly successful businessman and former state housing official in Texas.

Defense attorneys argued that had the coup succeeded, the U.S. government would have hailed the defendants as heroes.
Lena Dunham is mourning the death of actor Nick Lashaway, who appeared in an episode of Dunham's "Girls."

The MetroWest Daily News in Massachusetts reports the 28-year-old Lashaway was killed in a car accident in Framingham on Sunday evening.

In an Instagram post Wednesday that features a shot of Dunham and Lashaway from a season two episode of the HBO comedy, Dunham calls Lashaway "a talented, funny and kind person" and says she'll remember "his playful smile" and "easy instincts."

Aside from "Girls," Lashaway starred as a young Fox Mulder in a 1998 episode of "The X-Files." He also had small roles in films including Steve Carell's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "The Last Song," which co-starred Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth.
The former admissions officer of Phillips Exeter Academy has been charged with sexual assault in connection to an incident that allegedly occurred in the 1970s.

Arthur Peekel, now 74 and living in Illinois, is the latest official from the elite prep school in Exeter, New Hampshire, to be accused of abuse.

On Monday, a North Carolina man said Peekel abused him at the age of 14 when he visited the school as a prospective student and was allegedly molested  charges he and his parents brought to the principal, he said.

"As this was happening to me, all I could think of was, you know, this man is going to kill me," Lawrence Jenkens told necn in a Skype interview.

Jenkens went on to graduate from the school in 1977; Peekel resigned in 1974, a year after the incident allegedly took place.

Peekel turned himself in to Exeter police on Friday, the department confirmed. He has been arrested and charged with two counts of misdemeanor sexual assault dating back to November and December of 1973.

It was not immediately clear if Peekel had an attorney. He was released on $25,000 personal recognizance bail.

The conditions of his release require him to turn over his passport and sign an extradition waiver. He is also not permitted to have contact with minors.

"The Exeter Police Department takes any allegations concerning the sexual abuse of children very seriously, and we want to assure the community that we are conducting a complete and impartial investigation into each claim," Chief William Shupe said in a statement.

Police have received multiple allegations of abuse since Phillips Exeter acknowledged a teacher was forced into retirement five years ago over two incidents dating back decades. The school has hired a law firm to investigate.

"We are deeply indebted to the survivors who have stepped forward, and we hope their courage will embolden others to do the same," the school wrote in a letter posted on its website, which administrators directed necn to when asked about Jenkens' allegations. "We are all shocked and angered by the experience described by Mr. Jenkens."

Peekel went on to teach in Illinois, where he was named Teacher of the Year in 1992. He retired from Rolling Meadows High School in 2004. School officials said no allegations have been made against him during his tenure there.

Necn's Katherine Underwood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A 19-year-old Massachusetts man who is accused of vandalizing a school and committing a hate crime is set to be arraigned Friday.

Police say Ciaran Dillon broke into Winthrop High School, used a sledge hammer to trash it and drew swastikas on a whiteboard.

Police also say Dillon stole media equipment, including cameras and computer equipment.

They say he was in the school overnight for a couple of hours. It's unclear exactly how he may have gotten in, but it appears through a back door.

Police were called to the scene when a morning janitor found the destruction. At first, police didn't know if the suspect was still in the school, so they delayed the opening until 11 a.m.

The media room and locker sustained the most damage, which is estimated to be between $10,000-20,000, according to police.

Police say Dillon was once a student in Winthrop but wasn't currently.

Dillon is being held on $10,000 bail. He'll be arraigned Friday in East Boston district court.
Authorities in Massachusetts say two people have been arrested in connection with distributing heroin sharing a moniker with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Fifty-five-year-old Mark Hunter and 39-year-old Seneca Johnson, both of Springfield, are facing drug charges after their arrest Wednesday afternoon.

Springfield police say narcotics detectives raided a heroin distribution house on Westford Circle after a lengthy investigation.

Investigators timed the raid to when the suspects were leaving the home that had been under surveillance.

When they arrested them, police say they found a large amount of heroin on them with the label "Donald Trump" stamped on it.

When they searched the house with a warrant, detectives found even more heroin labeled "Donald Trump." In all, police say they found a total of 193 bags.

A large quantity of cocaine, $124 in cash, drug paraphernalia and packaging material was also found during the search.

It's unclear if Hunter and Johnson have attorneys.
Police in Chelsea, Massachusetts, say an off-duty officer was killed in a motorcycle crash in Lynn Thursday night.

Officer John Bruttaniti, 41, was killed while on his way home.

The crash happened around 10:30 p.m. on Route 1A between Commercial Street and Marine Street.

State police say for some reason Bruttaniti lost control of his motorcycle and hit another one. He then slammed into a utility pole.

Thanks to all for all the well wishes on the passing of Officer John Bruttiniti. He was an incredible Officer and an absolute Gentlemen.  Chief Brian Kyes (@ChiefKyes) May 13, 2016

Bruttaniti was a former firefighter for Thelsea Fire and was also an Iraq War veteran.

Police Chief Brian Kyes said in a statement, "He was an incredible Police Officer and an absolute Gentlemen and will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him."
A woman who sustained life-threatening injuries during a deadly rampage in Taunton, Massachusetts, was released from the hospital Friday.

The Bristol County District Attorney's Office confirms that Kathleen Slavin had been released, noting that she would need the support of the community in Taunton.

Prosecutors say that Arthur DaRosa broke into a home on Myricks Street and stabbed Slavin and her 80-year-old mother, Patricia Slavin, who died from her injuries.

The younger Slavin was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

DaRosa allegedly went on to attack three others at the Silver City Galleria mall, where teacher George Heath was stabbed to death and others were injured.

Off-duty police officer Plymouth County deputy sherrif Jimmy Creed shot DaRosa to death.
A Massachusetts home that has been tagged with a swastika has a disturbing past.

The swastika was found on the garage door of a home on Stephen French Rd. in Swansea.

In June 2013, police say, the man who lived in the home, Christian Wilson, shot and killed Mitchell Stevenson, 37, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, outside Wilson's home. Police say Wilson, 43, then went inside his home and took his own life.

To this day, the foreclosed house is still empty.

Neighbors tell necn affiliate WJAR a for sale sign was put up in front of the home within the past week. Police say the real estate company plans to remove the swastika.

Authorities say they are not considering it to be a hate crime, but rather a crime of opportunity since no one lives in the home.
Woburn, Massachusetts, police responded to a disturbance Friday morning on Webster Ave. that left two men with stab wounds. A suspect was quickly identified and questioned.

After receiving multiple 911 calls shortly before 10am, officers went to Webster Ave. where they found two men, each suffering from a stab wound. They were transported to an area hospital with injuries that are not considered life threatening.

Woburn Police Chief Robert Ferullo said, "We do not believe that there is any danger to the public," and added, "the individuals were known to each other."

The incident is under investigation by the Woburn Police Depertment.
Two more Connecticut residents have tested positive for the Zika virus, including a pregnant woman, according to the Department of Public Health.

The pregnant woman is nine weeks along and traveled to the Dominican Republic in late April. She became ill on April 28.

The non-pregnant woman returned from Puerto Rico in April and developed a rash on April 29, according to DPH.

As we head into the summer travel months, it is very important for travelers to Zika affected areas to take precautions to avoid mosquito bites. This is particularly critical for pregnant women or women planning to become pregnant, who should postpone travel to these areas if at all possible, cautioned DPH Commissioner Dr. Raul Pino.

Both women and their doctors have been informed of the diagnoses, DPH said.

According to the DPH, 6 out of 252 patients tested for Zika in Connecticut have had positive results.

In March, a 17-year-old from Danbury was the first pregnant Connecticut woman to find out she had contracted the Zika virus. She found out she was pregnant in March while, visiting her fiance in Hondouras. She said she is, "in a state of shock", since finding out the news.
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Verizon union leaders will be calling for replacement workers to be pulled off the job after a protesting worker was hospitalized after police say a drunk replacement worker ran him down on a picket line in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Fifty-five-year-old George Pulling pleaded not guilty Thursday in Westborough District Court to two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, driving under the influence of alcohol and operating without a license.

The incident happened around 8:20 a.m. when officers were assisting replacement workers in driving through a picket line of about 80 protesters.

Police say the Ohio man accelerated and struck 47-year-old Joseph Rooney with his pickup truck. Pulling allegedly continued driving with Rooney on his hood before stopping on an on-ramp to state Route 9 West, tossing the Roslindale man.

Officials originally said Pulling was from Florida.

Rooney was taken to UMass Memorial Center-University Campus for treatment.

Verizon workers in several states have been striking since contract talks broke down in mid-April. They have been without a contract since Aug. 1, 2015.




Broadland church to host new theology course Broadland church to host new theology course

2016: BroadGrace church in Coltishall will be hosting a Union Learning Community from this September. Union is a new theology course aimed at trainee church planters, pastors and other Christian workers. Tony Rothe treports.
Are you old enough to remember the mood ring? That groovy 70s creation with a liquid crystal stone that changed color based on skin temperature and supposedly reflected your mood or attitude at the time. Mine was always the same color for some reason.

Well, Microsoft Research has one-upped the mood ring and patented the mood shirt. In a one-page filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Microsoft describes it as a wearable device that conveys information to a user. The device includes a master soft circuit cell and a plurality of actuation soft circuit cells.

These cells are physically connected and controlled by the master cell, which is configured to wirelessly receive actuation instructions and activate a combination of the actuation cells based on the actuation instructions it has received. The system also conveys affective state information to a user.

What that means is the sensors hidden in the garment read things like heart rhythm, skin temperature and physical movement to determine your mood. The actuators stimulate your nervous system with things like pressure, heat or music vibrations.

Actuators could be chosen to suit a persons needs to create a feeling of pressure or temperature, perhaps to calm down someone having a panic attack, or play relaxing music.

The patent says, The wearable device implementations interacts with the users senses in a manner than can mitigate a negative affective state, e.g. stressed or sad among others, and enhance a positive affective state, e.g. calm or happy, among others.

But will it survive the washing machine?
Yesterday we noted the light sentence given a Westborough, Mass., man who entombed a Verizon worker in an underground utility shed in 2013. Today comes news that another Verizon worker picketing in that same small town was struck by a pickup truck operated by a replacement worker who police say was driving on a suspended Florida license  allegedly while intoxicated  at just past 8 oclock Thursday morning.

From an entry on the Westborough Police Departments Facebook page:

On May 12th, at approximately 8:20 AM, the Westborough Police Department was assisting with a labor dispute involving striking Verizon workers and replacement workers. Four Officers were assisting the replacement workers as they drove through a picket line consisting of approximately 80 picketers. A pickup truck being operated by George A. Pulling, age 55, of Naples Fla., was being escorted through the line. The picketers were yelling and screaming at the driver as he was moving along. Pulling accelerated while in the middle of the picketers and ended up with one of the picketers, Joseph Rooney, age 47, on the hood of the truck. He continued onto the ramp leading onto Rte. 9 west where he finally stopped causing Rooney to be tossed onto the road.

Rooney was treated for injuries described as non-life threatening.

Pulling was arrested for assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (vehicle) 2 counts, one on Rooney and one on Officer LeeAnne Baker who was struck by the mirror on the vehicle, DUI alcohol 4th offense and operating a motor vehicle without a license. His license in Florida was suspended therefore his right to operate in Massachusetts is suspended.

Reports of alleged vandalism to Verizon equipment continue to mount.

And industry experts are warning Verizons business customers that they should be on the alert for negative impacts on their accounts and services, as Verizon employees normally attendant to those accounts and services are now busy replacing the strikers.

The strike, which began on April 13, will enter its second month tomorrow without any hint of an impending settlement.

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Door damaged in suspected arson

POLICE detectives have appealed for information after a firecracker was put through a letterbox in Tadley, in a suspected arson.

According to Hampshire Constabulary, police were called at 10.50pm, on Tuesday (May 10) to an address in Hillcrest in the town, after a firecracker was placed through the letterbox.

No-one was injured.

Minor damage was caused to the door.

One pump from Tadley Fire Station was also sent to the scene at 10.56pm.

Firefighters handed the incident over to the police, before departing the scene at 11.07pm.

Anyone with information, or who heard, or saw anything suspicious in the area at the time, is asked to contact olice staff investigator Josh Brown, at Basingstoke CID, quoting reference 44160176081.
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